The Doctrine of King James, Doctrine 6
THE DOCTRINE OF THE Catholicke Church concerning FreeWill, and Gods effectuall Grace.
PErdidit nos liber a Voluntas, &c. Free-will hath vndoneTatianus Assirius. Orat. Co…t. Gentes. vsus; and we who were Free, are now brought into bondage, and sold by sinne.
Spiritus Sanctus assu…scit, &c. The Holy Spirit vsethIreneus, lib. 3. cap. 19. to dwell in Man-kinde, and to dwell with Men, WORKING the will of God in them.
Quando rogamus ne in tentationem veniamus, &c. Cyprian de Orat. Dom.When wee pray that we doe not goe into Tentation, we are admonished of our owne infirmitie and weaknesse by this prayer; lest any man should insolently extoll himselfe, lest any man should proudly, and arrogantly ascribe any thing to himselfe, &c.
Dei est, inquam, Dei omne quod possumus; inde viuimus, inde pollemus, &c. Idem epist▪ prima.
It is Gods, I say, it is Gods, All that wee can doe:Id epist. 1. thence we liue, and thence is our strength.
Retributione bonitatis ac pietatis paternae, &c. TheId. epist. 77. Lord by the Retribution of his goodnesse, and Fatherly kindenes, rewardeth in vsus, that which himselfe hath wrought, and honoureth that which himselfe hath perfected. For it is of Him, that we overcome, and that the enemie being subdued, we doe attaine to the victorie of a most mightie combate.
Quicquid à nobisrectè geritur, &c. Wee must takeBasil de vi…. Solit▪ cap. 17. heed, that whatsoeuer is well done of vsus, our soule doe ascribe the causes of our vertue vntounto the Lord, ascribing NOTHING to our owne POWER.
Vt decor animae fiat, & efficax, &c. That there may…l. in Psa. 29. be Beautie in the Soule, and a power effectuall vntounto those things that are necessary, there is need of Divine Grace.
Anima omnis humana, maligno seruitutis iugo, &c. Id. in Psal. 4….Every Soule of man is subiect to the miserable yoke of bondage, vnderunder the common Enemie of mankinde, and being deprived of the Freedome of her Maker, she is carried away captiue, by reason of sinne.
Quaniam igitur humana natura à boni iudicio fraude Gregorius Nyllenus de Orat. Dou…ica.inducta aberrauit, &c. Because humane nature, being seduced by subtiltie, erred from the true iudging of good, and inclined our Will to the contrary, all mischiefe inuaded the life of man, and brought it into the power thereof, &c. Because we were incompassed and inthralled by this tyrannie, being brought into bondage of death by the incursions of our affections and perturbations as it were by certaine executioners and enemies, therefore doe wee rightly pray, That the Kingdome of God may come vponupon vsus. For wee cannot otherwise put off, nor avoide, the wicked Power of corruption, vnlesse the quickning power in steed thereof doe get dominion in vsus. If then we doe pray, that the Kingdome may come vponupon vsus, by the force of these words wee doe begge; Let me be freed from corruption, let me be deliuered from death, let me bee loosed from the bands of sinne, that death reigne no longer ouer me, that the tyrannie of sinne and wickednesse, be no longer effectuall against vsus.
Libertatem sui que potestatem ac propriam voluntatè, &c. Id. ib.Man changed the freedome, & power of himselfe, and his own Will, with the heauy and noysome slauery of sinne.
Q… Christum f…quitur, &c. Hee that followeth…. Christ, if he be asked why hee would be a Christian, he may answer, because it was my Will. Which when he saith, he doth not denie, that it was Gods Will also▪ For the Will of man is prepared▪ of God, it is Gods grace, which causeth that God is worshipped of a Saint.
Quando dicit, Nemo potest venire me, &c. When heHierome adr. Pelag. 3. saith, No man can come vntounto mee, he breaketh the proud freedome of Will; which if it would goe vntounto Christ, vnlesse that bee done which followeth, (Except my heauenly Father draw him) it shall will in vaine▪ and striue in vaine. And this is also to be noted, That he which is drawne, doth not runne of his owne accord, but is brought, either drawing backe, and slowe; or vnwilling.
Libero arbitrio malè vtens homo, &c. Man abusingAugustine, Encher. ad Laurent. cap. 30. Free-will, lost both it and himselfe. For as hee that kills himselfe, kills himselfe by life, yet by killing himselfe comes not to liue; neither can raise himselfe vp againe, when hee hath killed himselfe: so likewise when by Free-will sinne was committed, sinne ouercomming, Free-will it selfe was lost: for of whom a man is ouercome, to him hee is in bondage. This is verily the sentence of the Apostle Peter: which being true, what can be the liberty of a bond-slaue, but onelyonly a delight in sinning? Hee serueth God freely, who willingly doth the will of his Lord. And by the same reason hee is free vntounto sinne, that is the seruant of sinne. Wherefore he shall not be free vntounto Righteousnesse, except being freed from sinne, hee begin to be the seruant of Righteousnesse.
Et si homines … bona, q…pertinem, &c. AlthoughIdem▪ de Pr…dest. Sanct… cap. 10. men doe those good things which belong to the worship of God; it is Gods doing that they doe what he commanded. Therefore these things are commanded to vsus, and yet are shewed to be the gifts of God, that it may be vnderstood, that they are our workes, yet God worketh that we doe worke them.
Tantum quippe Spiri… Sancto accenditur voluntas▪ &c. Their will is so much kindled with the Holy Ghost,Ide…do correp. & gra. cap. 12. that therefore they are able to worke because they will; and therefore they will, because God worketh that they will.
Plenissimê declaratur omnia, &c. It is most fully declared,Prosper de voc. gent. lib. 1. cap. 9. that all things which pertaine to the obtaining of life etenall, without Gods grace, can neither bee begun, increased, or perfected; and any election, that boasteth of Free-will, that sentence of the Apostle doth most invincibly withstand, when he saith, who hath discerned thee?
Si quis vt à peccato purgemur, &c. If any man do… … Councell cap. 4.affirme, that our Will doth seeke God, that wee may be purged from sinne, and doth not confesse that by the infusion of the Holy Ghost, and his working in vsus, it is wrought that wee should Will to bee purged, he resisteth the Holy Ghost, saying by Salomon: The Will is prepared of the Lord; and he resisteth the Apostles wholesome teaching: It is God that worketh in vsus, both to Will and to doe, of his good pleasure.
Quoties bona agin…s, De…s in nobis &c. As often asIbid 9. we doe any good workes, God in vsus, and with vsus, worketh that we worke.
… peccati, nunc s…rvus Iustiti…, &c. Yee were before the seruants of sinne, now the seruants…. Scem▪ 1 14. of righteousnesse, &c, Sinne before falsly said that thou wast a free-man▪ when it held thee a wretched bond-man. But Grace no… calleth thee a seruant, whom truly to make free, shee hath adopted to bee a sonne of God.
Quid enim aliud potuit, &c. What can bee borne ofPetrus Diaconus de Incar. & gra. cap. 6. a seruant but a seruant? For Adam did not beget sons when he was a free-man, but when hee was a seruant of sinne. Therefore as eueryevery man is of him, so eueryevery man is by him the seruant of sinne.
Regnante peccato habet liberum arbitrium, sed liberum Fulgentius de Incar. de gra▪ cap. 19.fine Deo, &c. When sinne raigneth, man hath Freewill, but free without God, and therefore miserably, and slauishly free, because not made free, by the free gift of Gods MercieMercy. This the Apostle doth euidently insinuate, saying: When yee were the seruants of sinne, yee were free vntounto Righteousnesse. Therefore hee cannot be the seruant of Righteousnesse, which is free vntounto Righteousnesse, because as long as hee is the seruant of sinne, he is not found fit to serue any thing else but sinne. From this slauery of sinne no man is made free, but he that is freed by the Grace of Christ our deliuerer; that so being freed from sinne, he may become the seruant of God.
Ipso fatit vt faciamus, &c. God worketh that weeId. de praedest. ad Meximum lib. 1. worke, by whose working in vsus▪ all the good that wee doe, is wrought. Of whom it is said to the Hebrews: Let him make you perfect in eueryevery good worke, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight.
Ad indignam mente veniens Deus, &c. God comming to an vnworthy soule, makes her worthy by commingGreg. Mag. … ▪ …. …. cap. 22. to her; and worketh in her those workes which hee may reward▪ though hee found NOTHING in her but that which he might punish.
Profectus hominis Dei d…numest, &c. The profitingIsidore Hispal. Sent. lib. 2. cap 5. of man is the gift of God. Neither can any man bee amended of himselfe, but of the Lord. For man hath not any thing of his owne that is good, whose way is not his owne, as the Prophet witnesseth: I know Lord that the way of man is not his owne.
Aguntur Spiritu Dei, vt & ipsi, &c. Men are actuatedAnselme in Rom. 8. by the Spirit of God, that they may act that which is to bee done, and when they hauehave done it, they may giuegive thankes, to Him by whom they were actuated. For the Spirit of God which actuateth them, is both their leader and helper in their actions.
Verba non sunt mea, sed Apostoli, &c. They are notBernard de lib. arb. & gra. my words but the Apostles, who attributes all the good that may possibly be, vntounto God, and not to his owne Will; euen to thinke, to will, and to doe. If then God worketh these three things in vsus, (that is, to thinke good, to will it, and to performe it) he worketh in vsus, the first indeed without vsus, the second with vsus, and the third by vsus. For by sending in a good thought he preuenteth vsus; by changing our wicked Will, hee ioynes it to him by consent, and by giuing power to our consent, this inward WORKER, shewes himselfe outwardly in our manifest worke.
Post peccatum ante reparationem, &c. After sinne, and…. Lombard. lib. 2 dist. 25 Ex Hug. de S. Vict. before the restoring of Grace; the Will is oppressed, and ouercome of concupiscence, and is weake in euill, and hath no grace in good, and therefore it can sinne, and it cannot chuse but sinne, and that damnably.
Operans Gracia, est quae praeuenit, &c. Working, (orId. lib. 2. dist. 26. …. operating) Grace is that which preuenteth the good Will: For by it the Will of man is freed, and prepared, that it may bee good, and that effectually it may will good. But cooperating Grace followeth the Will when it is good, in helping it.
Gracia Dei mecum ostendit vt spepo, quòd ipsa est causa Bradwarden de causa. Dei. lib. 1. cap. 40.efficiens, &c. The Grace of God with mee, I hope will shew, that Grace is properly the efficient cause of eueryevery good act: I meane Grace freely giuen, which is an habite poured into the soule freely by God. Vertue, and chiefly the chiefest vertue, Grace of Charity is no selfe EFFECTVALL than Vice. But Vice effecteth euill acts, wherefore Grace or Charity effecteth good acts. And that I may say nothing of vices, morally gotten, who doth not know, who doth not feele, what acts one Radicall vice effecteth, that law of the members, that tyrant of nature, that source of sinne, Concupisence, or the lustfullnesse of our flesh, which also the Doctors often call Originall sinne? A witnesse hereof is experience, too common, too forceable. A witnesse also is the Apostle, when hee saith, I am carnall, sold vnderunder sinne, for what I doe, I allow not. For I doe not that which I would, but that which I hate that I doe. Seeing then that lust is so violent, so effectuall, so manifoldly actuous, how doth Charity represse, diminish, and ouercome it, if she doe nothing at all, if she moue nothing at all, if shee be altogether idle?
Qua Gratia non noua Voluntas creatur, &c. By which Grace, there is not created a new will, neither is theCassander Consul… ▪ Art, 18… will inforced being vnwilling, but the will being sicke is healed, being depraued, is rectified; and is changed from euill into good. And by an inward kinde of motion is drawne, that of vnwilling it may become willing, and may freely consent to the Diuine calling; and afterward the same Grace cooperating, it may obey the will of God, and by the same Grace perseuering in good workes, may also through the same Grace enter into the inheritance of the heauenly Kingdome. This Doctrine of the Grace of God and Free-will the sounder Schoole▪men strongly defended against the Pelagians, among whom was Thomas Brauarden (or Bradwarden) called in his time the profound Doctor, who wrote an excellent worke (which he calleth a summe) against Pelagianisme, increasing in his dayes. And how much many of them did attribute to Grace, Bonauenture alone may testifie: This (saith he) is the dutie of godly mindes, that they attribute nothing to themselues, but all to the grace of God, wherein how much soeuer a man doth giuegive to the Grace of God, hee shall not depart from pietie, though by giuing much to the Grace of God, hee take away something from the power of Nature, or Free-will; But when something is taken away from the Grace of God; and that is giuen to Nature which belongs to Grace, there may be danger.