A Second Parallel, Part 1 · Comparison 3
Of Free-will.
ARMINIANS.
THe Arminians differ from Orthodoxal Diuines about Free-will in two points:
1. They teach, Hag. Confer. pag. 502. & sequent. That the will of man hath some operation of it selfe in the first act of our conuersion, and doth cooperate with grace. God giueth grace sufficient to conuert, but doth not so determine the will, but that it may out of it's freedome admit grace, or not.
Their main reason is, God doth not beleeue, but wee; therefore l we worke euen in our first conuersion, otherwise the assent should bee Gods, not ours.
2. They teach, that the will of man hath power to hinder and resist the worke of grace in his regeneration and conuersion. Arminius in his Orat. to the States, pag. 53. I beleeue according to the Scriptures, that grace is not (vis irresistibilis) an irresistible force or power, but that many doe m resist the holy Spirit. Hag. Confer. pag. 502. The question is, whether grace, which worketh in man faith and conuersion, cannot be hindred, but is an irresistible operation, such as God vseth in raising the dead. They alledge to proue, …hat man may resist grace, Act. 7. 51. Yee stiffe-necked, and of vncircumcised hearts and eares, yee hauehave alwaies n resisted the holy Ghost. And Matth. 23. 37. How oft would I hauehave gathered your Children, as a Hen gathereth her Chicken vnderunder her wings, and yee o would not.
APPEALER.
APpeal. p. 84. It is supposed by some that the difference betweene the Pontificians and vsus consists in this, that the will of man concurreth and cooperateth with diuine grace in the first very instant, and point of conuersion: wee teach that the will of man doth not cooperate in the first point, but in progresse of our iustification, so Keckerman in his Systeme, a better Logician, than Diuine. This Assertion of Keckerman he refelleth from pag. 85. to 89. and pag. 92. he insisteth vpō the same reason with the Arminians. If this were not so, then faith and repentance were no the actions of man, neither could man be said to beleeue and repent, but the holy Spirit.
Appeale, pag. 89. The Councell of Trent addeth, that a man may resist the grace of God; admit: then, first man hath m free-will against God; Saint Steuen, in terminis, hath the very word, foreign, you n resist, nay fall crosse with the holy Ghost, not suffering him to work the worke of grace in you. And what said our Sauiour, How often would I, and thou wouldst o not? If the Councell meant of stirring, preuenting, and p operating grace, I thinke, no man will deny it: if of adiuuant, subsequent, and cooperating grace, there is, without question, in the naturall will of a regenerate man so much of Adam remaining, and carnall concupiscence, as may make him resist, and rebell against the Law of God.
l We answer with Saint Augustine in his first booke De gratiâ & libero arbit. cap. 16. It is certaine, that we will when we will; but he makes vsus to will that is good, of whom it is said, Pro. 8. The will is prepared by God; and God worketh in vsus to will, Philip. 2. It is certaine that we work when we worke, but he worketh in vsus to worke, by giuing most efficacious power to the will, who saith, I will make you to walke in my waies, Ezek. 36. Faith and repentance are our workes, because in vsus, though not of vsus: actions and passions denominate the subiect, not the cause; God is the efficient cause of faith and repentance; but the subiect, in which these vertues are wrought, is man, who therfore is said to beleeue and repent, because these things are wrought in him, but not by the power of his own will, but by the effectuall worke of grace, stirring the will, and making it freely to assent vntounto, and beleeue the Gospell. Bernard. de lib. Arbit. What doth free-will? I answer, in one word it is saued, or cured; this worke cannot bee done without two; one by whom, the other in whom it is wrought. God is the Author of it, (the health or cure of the will) free-will is only capable of it.
m
Grace is two-fold,
Outward.
Inward.
Outward,
Offered in the ministery of the Word.
Inward,
Enlightning and inciting only.
Renewing and regenerating.
Men can, and do resist outward, and inward, only enlightning grace; but not renewing, and regenerating grace, so far as to hinder their conuersion; or, after they are cōuerted, vtterly to cast away the spirit of sanctification, and thereby fall away totally, & finally. If God should giuegive no other grace, but such as man at his pleasure might reiect, or repell, hee should hauehave no kingdome within vsus: and if he could not by his grace absolutely subdue, and conquer the stubbornesse of mans will, he should not be omnipotent. If grace doth not determine mans will, but mans will the influxe and effect of it, the peace and grace of God should not rule in our hearts, but eueryevery man should be ruled to righteousnesse, as well as to sinne, by his owne free-will; which was the expresse heresie of Pelagius, and Caelestius, as Prosper in precise termes sets it downe in his Chronicle, in the yeare of our Lord, 414.
n To the place in the Acts I answer: First, That Saint Steuen speaketh of the Iewes resisting the Spirit of Prophecie, not the Spirit of regeneration: the Iewes gain-said, withstood, and opposed the Word of the holy Ghost, vttered by the Prophets, not the secret working of the holy Ghost by grace in the hearts of such, whom he would, and did conuert. Secondly, We confesse, that men vncircumcised in heart, (such as were these Iewes, whom Saint Steuen vpbraideth) not only can resist, but can doe no other then resist the holy Ghost; but regenerating grace by circumcising the heart, remoueth that hardnesse whereby it resisteth grace, and then it cannot resist, because that, which makes it resist, is taken away; as Saint Augustine inferreth vponupon that of Ezechiel the eleuenth, I will take away your stony-hearts, and giuegive you an heart of flesh. His inference is, Chap. 8. of Predestination of Saints, This grace which is secretly conueighed into the hearts of men, is not refused or repelled by any hard heart, for it is therefore giuen, that the hardnesse of the heart may first be taken away.
o Not to insist vponupon the distinction of the double will of God [well knowne to the learned by the notions of signi, & beneplaciti, his commanding, or declaratiue will, which is not alwaies fulfilled; and his powerfully working, and absolute good will and pleasure, which is alwaies fulfilled:] I further answer, that this place of Scripture rightly interpreted, as it is by Saint Augustine, makes against, and no way for the Arminians, and Appealer; for Christ saith not, How often would I hauehave gathered you Scribes and Pharises, and those Rulers and Gouernours of Ierusalem, which killed my Prophets, and you would not; but how often would I hauehave gathered your Children, that is, the inhabitants of Ierusalem, and I did also though you would not, but did what you could to hinder their gathering vnderunder my wings, that is, their assembling to the true Church, and sheltring themselues vnderunder the shade thereof. Quos volui, te nolente congregaui, Whom I would gather I gathered, though thou wouldst not. So Saint Augustine vponupon these words.
p If by operating grace, hee meaneth that grace whereby God circumciseth the heart, Deut. 30. openeth the heart, Acts 16. conuerteth the heart, Ierem. 31. taketh away a stony heart, Ezek. 36. writeth his Law in the heart, Ierem. 31. worketh faith in the heart by the mightinesse of his power, Eph. 1. and 2 Thess. 1. 11. foreign; no man, I suppose, [who is well catechised in the principles of Religion] will maintaine, that such grace may be resisted: For this were to make the impotencie of mans will to preuaile against the omnipotencie of God, and to disappoint his purpose, and frustrate his worke. Saint Augustine [that Delian diuer into the depth of this mystery] resolueth the contrary in many places in his booke of Predestination of Saints, Chap. 8. Why doth he complaine, sithence no man doth, or can resist his will? Doth the Apostle answer, O man, it is false, that thou sayest? No he saith no such thing: But, who art thou, O man, that answerest God? And de Corrept. & Gratiâ, cap. 12. The weaknesse of mans will is helped in such sort, that it is led by diuine grace indeclinably and vnconquerably [insuperabiliter ageretur:] and what is [vnconquerably] lesse then [irresistibly!] if grace vnconquerably lead the will, the will cannot conquer grace in striuing against it. And Chap. 14. ibidem. No will of man resisteth God, when God will saue. And hee confirmeth his Assertion with a reason, prouing that the will of man neither doth, nor can resist the will of God; for, saith he, To will and to nill are so in the power of him that willeth or nilleth, that it can neither hinder Gods will, nor conquer his power. And in his first booke of questions to Symplician, 2. Quest. The effect of Gods mercy cannot be in mans power to frustrate it, if he list; or that God should hauehave mercy in vaine [if man would not take hold of it] because if God would hauehave mercy on those who are reluctant, and withstand it, he could so call them, as it might befit them, that is, be effectuall vntounto them. Saint Bernard in his booke of Free-will followeth Saint Augustine close; There is made a creation of the will by Christ into liberty, and that without vsus; if into, then not out of liberty, or freedome of will: if without vsus, then it is not in our Power to hinder this worke of God.