C.H. Spurgeon
You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say. But you have never heard an Arminian prayer, because the saints in prayer appear as one, in word, in deed, and mind. An Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about his free will; there is no room for it.
Fancy his praying this way: “Lord, I thank thee that I am not like those presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free will. I was born with power by which I can turn to thee myself. I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace as I have done, they might all have been saved, Lord, I know that you do not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. You give grace to everybody. Some do not improve it, but I do. There are many who will go to hell as though bought by the blood of Christ as I was. They had as much of the Holy Spirit given to them. They had a good chance and were as blessed as I am. It was not your grace that made us to differ. I know that it did a great deal, still I turned the point. I made use of what was given to me, and others did not. That is the difference between me and them.”
This is a prayer to the Devil, because nobody else would offer such a prayer as that. So when the Arminians are talking very slowly, there may be some wrong doctrine, but when they come to pray, the true thing slips out.
I ask you again: Did you ever meet a Christian man who said, “I came to Christ without the power of the Spirit”? If ever you did meet such a man, you need not hesitate in saying, “My dear sir, I quite believe it, and I believe that you went away without the power of the Spirit, and that you know nothing about the matter, and that you are now in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”
Do I hear one Christian man saying saying, “I sought Jesus before he sought me. I went the Spirit. The Spirit did not come to me”? No, beloved, we are obligated, each one of us, to put our hands to our hearts and say:
Grace taught my soul to pray,
And made mine eyes o’eflow;
‘Twas grace that kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.
Is there a solitary person, man or woman, young or old, who can say, “I sought God before he sought me”? No, even you who are a little Arminian will sing:
Oh yes, I do love Jesus
Because he first loved me.