Bullinger:¹

We do freely grant both their propositions; to wit, that we are justified by grace, and that works belong to the grace of God, or be the gift of God: but we deny their consequence, and say that it is false; to wit, that works do justify. For if that be true, then may we in like manner truly say, A man doth see; an hand doth belong unto a man: and thereupon infer, therefore a hand doth see. But who would gather so vain a consequent? For all do understand, that a man doth consist of sundry members, and that every member hath his effects and offices. Again, what is he which knows not, that the grace of God, which is otherwise undivided, is divided and distinguished according to the diverse operations which it works? For there is in God a certain (as it were) general grace, whereby he created all mortal men, and by which he sends rain upon the just and unjust: but this grace doth not justify; for if it did, then should the wicked and unjust be justified. Again, there is that singular grace, whereby he doth, for his only-begotten Christ his sake, adopt us to be his sons: he doth not, I mean, adopt all, but the believers only, whose sins he reckons not, but doth impute to them the righteousness of his only-begotten Son our Saviour. This is that grace which doth alone justify us in very deed.

Bullinger, Decades, 3rd Decade, Sermon 9, 1:329-330.

Credit to Tony for the find.

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¹Marginal references and footnotes not included; some spelling modernized.

Harris:

Ob[jection]. I but (will some say) I am not only free from all gross sins, but I have received many gifts and graces of God’s Spirit, for I have a good measure of knowledge, and am able to repeat you a sermon, almost word for word; besides that, I have faith, and am able to pray, &c.

Answ[er]. There are graces of two sorts. First, common graces, which even reprobates may have. Secondly, peculiar, such as accompany salvation, as the Apostle has it, proper to God’s own children only. The matter is not whether we have the first sort of graces, for those do not seal up God’s special love to a man’s soul, but it must be saving grace alone that can do this for us. Now that’s saving grace that tends, first, to humbling of the man in whom it is: Secondly, to mercy towards others: Thirdly to edification of others &c. Search then, is the grace you speak of in yourselves such, as that the more you know, the more you understand, the more you believe, the more humble you are, and base in your own eyes, the more mercy you show to your brethren, the readier you are, and desirous to build up others, and the more thankful to God for a Christ? Then you say somewhat to the purpose, else not.

Robert Harris, “The Nineteenth Sermon. Matth. 5:9. Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall bee called the sonnes of God,” in The Works of Robert Harris, (London: Printed by R.Y. for J. Bartlet in Cheape-side in the Gold-smiths-row at the signe of the Gilt-Cup, 1635), 421.

[Note: It seems a shame that so many of us who have been humbled by grace, have not the spirit of grace, which Harris calls for.]

Ridgeley:

Common restraining grace extended to the wicked to restrain sin and effect outward civic good:

1) When the providence of God is said to be conversant about sin, it is in suffering or permitting it, not in suggesting, or tempting to it ; for no one ought to say, as the apostle James expresses it, When he is tempted, that he is tempted of God; for God cannot tempt any man; but, when he is tempted, he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed, chap. i. 13, 14. But, so far as the providence of God denies restraining grace,[1] from whence corrupt nature takes occasion to break forth, it is conversant about sin occasionally, not effectually; as when the banks, or flood-gates, that keep the waters within their due bounds, are broken down, by the owner thereof, who does not think fit to repair them, the waters will, according to the course of nature, overflow the country; or if the hedge, or inclosure, that secures the standing corn, be taken away, the beasts, by a propensity of nature, will tread it down, and devour it; so if that which would have a tendency to restrain, or prevent sin, be taken away, it will be committed; and the providence of God may do this, either in a way of sovereignty, or as a punishment for former sins committed, without being charged as the author of sin. It is not the same, in this case, as when men do not prevent sin in others, when it is in their power to do it, since they are under an obligation hereunto: But God is under no obligation to extend this privilege unto sinful mem; and sometimes he suffers that wrath, which he will not restrain, to break forth as having a design, some way or other, to glorify himself thereby; as the Psalmist says, Surely, the -wrath of man, shall praise thee ; the remainder of wrath thou shall restrain Psal. lxxvi. Thomas Ridgely, A Body of Divinity, (Philadelphia: William Woodward, 1815), 2:55.

2) It is allowed, by those who deny the extent of Christ’s death to all men, as to what concerns their salvation, that it may truly be said, that there are some blessings redounding to the whole world, and more especially to those who sit under the sound of the gospel, as the consequence of Christ’s death; inasmuch as it is owing hereunto, that the day of God’s patience is lengthened out, and the preaching of the gospel continued to those who are favoured with it; and that this is attended, in many, with restraining grace, and some instances of external reformation, which (though it may not issue in their salvation) has a tendency to prevent a multitude of sins, and a greater degree condemnation, that would otherwise ensue. These may be called the remote, or secondary ends of Christ’s death, which was principally and immediately designed to redeem the elect, and to purchase all saving blessings for them which shall be applied in his own time and way: Nevertheless others, as a consequence hereof, are made partakers of some blessings of common providence, so far as they are subservient to the salvation of those, for whom he gave himself a ransom. Thomas Ridgely, A Body of Divinity, (Philadelphia: William Woodward, 1815), 2:303-8.

Restraining grace extended to believers:

1) Now the care of Christ, extended to his Church, consists, 1st, In his separating them from, and, as it were, gathering them out of the world, or that part of it that lieth in wickedness, as the apostle says, The whole world lieth in wickedness, 1 John v. 19. or, as the word may be rendered, in the wicked one; upon which account it is called, Satan’s kingdom. He gives them restraining grace, brings them under conviction of sin, and humbles them for it ; and, by the preaching of the gospel, not only informs them of the way of salvation, but brings them into it. Thomas Ridgely, A Body of Divinity, (Philadelphia: William Woodward, 1815), 2:506.

[1] Again, it is undeniable that the Reformed doctrine of Common Grace predates Abraham Kuyper by centuries. The concept of common restraining grace was held by many Scottish theologians (Rutherford, Durham, et al), as well as by may English Puritans and Continental Divines.

Hodge:

11. What is the common doctrine of the Reformed Churches as to the internal call?

That it is an exercise of the divine power upon the soul, immediate, spiritual, and supernatural, communicating a new spiritual life, and thus making a new mode of spiritual activity possible. That repentance, faith, trust, hope, love, etc., are purely and simply the sinner’s own acts; but as such are possible to him only in virtue of the change wrought in the moral condition of his faculties by the recreative power of God.–See “Conf. of Faith,” Chap. x., Sections 1 and 2.

Common grace preceding regeneration makes a superficial moral impression upon character and action but is generally resisted. The act of grace which regenerates, operating within the spontaneous energies of the soul and changing their character can neither be co-operated with nor resisted. But the instant the soul is regenerated it begins to cooperate with and sometimes, alas1 also to resist subsequent gracious influence prevenient and co-operative. But upon the whole and in the end grace preserves, overcomes, and saves. Regeneration is styled by the Reformed Theologians Conversio habitiualis seu passiva i.e., the change of character in effecting which the soul is the subject and not the agent of action. Conversion they style Conversio actualis seu activa, i.e., the instantly consequent change of action in which the soul still prompted and aided by grace is the only agent.

13. What is meant by “common grace,” and how may it be shown that the Spirit does operate upon the minds of those who are not renewed in the heart?

“Common grace” is the restraining and persuading influences of the Holy Spirit acting only through the truth revealed in the gospel, or through the natural light of reason and of conscience, heightening the natural moral effect of such truth upon the understanding, conscience, and heart. It involves no change of heart, but simply an enhancement of the natural powers of the truth, a restraint of the evil passions, and an increase in the natural emotions in the view of sin, duty, and self-interest.

That God dose so operate upon the hearts of the unregenerate is proved, let, from Scripture, Gen. vi. 3; Acts vii 51; Heb. x. 29; 2d, from universal experience and observation.

14. How does common differ from efficacious grace?

lst. As to its subjects. All men are more or less the subjects of the one; only the elect are subjects of the other.–Rom. viii. 30; xi. 7; 2 Thess. ii 13.

2d. As to its nature. Common grace is only mediate, through the truth, and it is merely moral, heightening the moral influence natural to the truth, and exciting only the natural powers of the soul, both rational and moral. But efficacious grace is immediate and supernatural, since it is wrought directly in the mu1 by the immediate energy of the Holy Ghost, and since it implants a new spiritual life, and capacity for a new mode of exercising the natural faculties.

3d As to its effects. The effects of common grace are superficial and transient, modifying the action, but not changing the nature, and its influence is always more or less consciously resisted, as opposed to the prevailing dispositions of the soul But efficacious grace, since it acts not upon but in the will itself, changing the governing desires, and giving a new direction to the active powers of the soul, is neither resistible nor irresistible, but most free, spontaneous, and yet most certainly effectual.

AA Hodge, Outlines of Theology (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1879), 448-450.