Answer to a Popish Pamphlet Called the Touchstone of the Reformed Gospel, Part 2 · Subpart 19
19. THat by the fall of Adam wee hauehave lost our freewill, and it is not in our power to choyſe good, but onlie evill.
VVHichWhich he ſayeth is contrary to 1. Cor. 7. 37. and Prov. 23. 26. wher the Lord requireth us▪ To giuegive to him our heart, which if wee hauehave not freedome of will, why doeth the Holie Ghost require this of us? (ſayeth he) To which I anſwere, that all ſuch precepts are the Rules of our dutie, but not proofs of our abilitie by nature, which when we ſee we are not able to performe of our ſelves, it is to drive us by praier to him who onlie can inable us, and (as is ſaid Philip. 2. 13.) Who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleaſure, & as we ſee the proof thereof, Ioel. 2. 12 compared, with Lam. 5. 21. as alſo Ezek. 18. 31. Where, though the Lord ſayeth, Make you a new heart, yet cap. 36. 26. he ſayeth, I will give you a new heart &c. For as Auguſtin ſpeaketh (tom. 7. de gra. & l. arb. c. 16.) To the Pelagians of old who objected ſuch places, That God cōmands us to do what we are not able, (to wit of our ſelves) that we may know what wee ſhould ſeeke of him, who can make us able, and workesin us both the will & deed. So Bernard de gra. & lib. arb. And as for Scholaſticks, how much (ſayeth their Caſſander. conſult. art. 18) They ha…e aſcribed to Divine grace, in place of the rest, Bonaventure doeth witneſſe, ſaying, This is the profeſsion of all pious minds to aſcribe nothing to themſelves, but all to the grace of God.
Next, as to that 1. Cor. 7. 37. wher it is ſaid, That he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no neceſſitie, but hath power over his owne will and hath ſo decreed in his heart that he will keepe his virginitie, doth well. This Text (I ſay) maketh nothing for mans naturall freewill, a-like to good as to that which is morallie evill, nor was there ever any learned Romaniſt (to my knowledge) that alleadged this place to prove freewill. For Cardinall Cajetan, Aquinas, Catharinus and others upon this place, ſhoweth that the Apoſtle heere ſpeaketh onlie of a fathers power over his child, and that as he willeth or pleaſeth he may diſpoſe of his virgin, either to marrie her, or keepe her unmarried, as he ſhould find her inclination, or the fitnes or unfitnes of times. As wee hauehave the like ſpeech Act. 5. 4. of Peter to Ananias though in another matter.
The ſecond place which he bringeth, is Iohn. 1. 11. 12. which ſayeth, That Christ came to his owne and they received him not, but as many as received him, he gaue them power to become the ſons of God. which plainlie implyeth a libertie of will, (ſayeth he) To whom I anſwere. 1. That this Text implyeth no liberty of will by nature in them who received Chriſt, to receive him. but that he that gaue them power to become the ſonnes of God, gaue them grace alſo to receiue him, whil as others did not receive him, & this is according to the Apoſtles ſpeech, 1. Cor. 4. 7. Who made thee to differ from another? & what haſt thou which thou hast not received? and according to 2. Cor. 3. 5. That we ar not able to think any thing as of our ſelves, but our ſufficiencie is of God, wheron ſayeth their owne Eſtius (and with him Lyra) The greeke Commentators as Chriſostome, Theophylact, and O Ecumenius, explicating the Apoſtles meaning, ſpeaketh after thi… manner (ſayeth he) That there is not ſomething on our part, and ſomthing on Gods part in the first worke of our converſion, but plainlie, that there is nothing on our part, no not the leaſt thing, but all to be aſcribed to God.
The third place which he bringes is Deut. 30. 19. where Moſes having ſet before the people life & death, &c. he biddeth them chooſe life. To which place my former anſwere to Prov. 23. 26. ſufficeth, Therfore alſo ſayeth their Hugo de S. victore, (Miſcell. 2. lib. 2. Tit. 137.) That for doing good ther is a three fold grace, a preventing, a cooperating, and a following grace. The first giveth us the will to choyſe, the ſecond, the abilitie to do, and the third, the perſeverance to continue. Eſtius likewiſe on 2. Cor. 3. 5. To this purpoſe citeth the words of the councell of Orange, whereby they decreed, That he was deceived with an hereticall ſpirit, who will ſay, that a mā by the power of nature can but think as becometh him any good that belongeth to eternall life, let be to choyſe the ſame.
The fourth place is Luke 13. 34. O Ieruſalem, Ieruſalē, how oft would I gathered thy children, as an Hen does her brood under her wings, but ye wold not. Which Text ſhoweth indeed the perverſnes of mans will by nature, and the oppoſition thereof to the will of God, but no freedome therof by nature, to wil that which is morallie good & tendeth to ſalvation.
As for the teſtimonies of fathers. He bringeth firſt Hilarie, ſaying, That he would not that there ſhould be a neceſsitie for men to bee the ſonnes of God, but a power. To which I anſwer 1. That Hilarie wrote 12. bookes of the Trinitie, but he telleth not which of them. 2. Hilarie ſpeaketh of a manichean neceſsitie or coaction, which we alſo deny to bee in mans will at all, or in his firſt converſion, and by power, hee means not the power of freewill by nature, but that power or efficacy of grace which our Saviour giveth, Iohn 1. 11. Therefore alſo of this power, & againſt the forenamed coaction, Proſper ſpeaketh thus, (de vocatione gentium) Wee both belieue & feel by experience (ſayeth hee) that grace is ſo powerfull, that yet wee conceive it not to be any wayes violent.
The ſecond teſtimonie which hee bringeth is, Augustins, ſaying, To conſent or not to cōſent to Gods calling, lyes in a mās own wil. To which I anſwer 1. That he cites, l. 1. ad ſimpl. q. 4. wheras in that whol book ther ar but two queſtions. 2. I anſwer to the words of Auguſt. out of Auguſtin himſelf in his 107. epiſtle to Vitalis. That not only, not to cōſent to Gods calling lyes in mans will which is perverſe by nature, but alſo to conſent to Gods calling lyeth alſo in a mans owne wll, for grace takes not away the liberty of the will which is by Gods creation, but the pravity therof which is frō mans corruption. So that (as he ſaid before l. de gra. & l. arb.) It is ſure that we will freely whē we will, but it is he that maketh us will that which is good, of whom it is ſaid, It is God who worketh in us both the will and the deed.
In this ſenſe alſo doth Cyrill ſpeak whom hee bringeth, ſaying. W…e cannot any wayes deny freedome of will in man. And Auguſtin alſo ſpeaking againſt manichean coaction, and ſaying, How ſhould our Saviour reward everie one according to their works if there were not freewill? conforme wherunto ſayth the haromnie alſo of the cōfeſſions of the reformed Churches, & ours in particular, 1647. cap. 9. God hath indued the will of man with that natural libertie, that it is neither forced, nor by any abſolute neceſsity of nature determined to do good or evill. So that wee acknowledge the will to be free, as freedome is oppoſed to coaction, but not free, as able of it ſelf to choyſe the good that tendeth to ſalvation, or that it is equallie propenſe to good as to evill, as the Pelagians of old, & now papiſts maintaine. Therefore (ſaid Bernard de gra. & lib. arb.) Let no man think that therfore it is called freewill which wee hauehave, becauſe it hath an equall power & inclination to good as to evill, ſeing it could fall by it ſelf, but not riſe but by the holie Ghoſt.