sure_."

Such a person is a new creature in Christ Jesus. Operative Grace
goes out into cooeperating Grace. He becomes a worker with God, and as
he grows in Grace and in knowledge, his will becomes more and more
free as it comes more and more into harmony with God's will.

Again we ask, What has the human will to do with this great
change? We answer, Two things.

First, man can and will to go to church where the means of Grace
are, or he can will to remain away. If he deliberately wills to absent
himself from where their influence is exerted, he remains unconverted,
and _on himself is the responsibility_. If, on the other hand, he
wills to go where God speaks to man in His ordinary way, he does so
much towards permitting God to convert him.

Secondly, when the means of Grace do carry renewing power, and he
is made to realize their efficacy--though it be at first only in an
uneasiness, dissatisfaction with self, and an undefined longing after
something better--he can, as we have seen, permit the work to go on.
Thus he may be said, negatively, to help towards his conversion. On
the other hand, he can shake off the good impressions, tear away from
the holy influences, resist the Spirit, and remain unconverted.
Clearly, _on himself is all the responsibility_ if he perish. God
desired to convert him. He "_rejected the counsel of God against
himself_." Luke vii. 30.

And thus our Lutheran doctrine of _Grace through the means of
Grace_, clears away all difficulties and avoids all contradictions. It
gives God all the glory, and throws on man all the responsibility.

Sailing thus under the colors of scriptural doctrine, we steer
clear of the Scylla of Calvinism on the one hand, and also escape the
Charybdis of Arminianism on the other.

We give to Sovereign Grace all the glory of our salvation just as
much as the Calvinists do. And yet we make salvation as free as the
boldest Arminian does. Whatever is excellent in both systems we
retain. Whatever is false in both we reject. We refuse to make of man
a machine, who is _irresistibly_ brought into the kingdom of God,
and forced indeed to accept of Sovereign Grace. On the other hand, we
utterly repudiate the idea that man is _himself_ able to "get
religion," to "get through," to "grasp the blessing," or to "save
himself." To such self-exaltation we give no place--no, not for a
moment!

With Luther we confess, "I believe that I cannot