During a walk the other day this thought popped into my head: if I were not a Calvinist because of Scripture, I think I would nevertheless instinctively understand something like Calvinism from my experience in sanctification, in which I progress only as God continually overcomes me. The lingering deceitfulness of sin in my heart is such that I would not maintain my faith unless God granted it to me purely for His own reasons. There is nothing in me that could have generated faith; I believe, and am sustained in belief, because of something external to me.