An Antidote Against Heresy, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Of Freewill.
Truth.SInce this lamentable fall of our firſt parents and by means of the ſame, the nature of man is ſo wholy corrupted, and the whole race of mankind brought into that miſerable bondage under ſin, that no man is able, by any natural power in himſelf, to beleeve in God, or turn unto him, to will or think, much leſs do any thing that is good and acceptable in the ſight of God.
Errours.Adverſaries to this doctrine were of old certain Philoſophers, out of whoſe ſchools crept the doctrine of Freewill, taught firſt by Pelagius, and now followed by the Anabaptists, Arminians, Socinians, Papiſts, &c. who ſay; That natural men have a power and freedom of will to chooſe & do thoſe things that God commands, and to omit or refuſe thoſe things that he forbids: for otherwiſe, ſay they, God gave his Law in vain; in vain alſo are all counſels, exhortations, precepts, promiſes and threatenings; rewards and puniſhments: neither can a man be juſtly puniſht for not doing thoſe duties that are impoſſible for him, or he not able to perform. That our Freewil was not loſt in the fall, but only weakened, that we are but half dead, and have ſome life and power ſtill left in us to ſtir up our ſelves; that grace is only an help to weak nature: and the like.
Although by the fal of our firſt parents,Antidote the Image of God was defaced and our nature corrupted, yet man remains ſtill a creature reaſonable and capable of grace, having the ſame parts and faculties that he had before, and in them ſome reliques of Gods image; in the underſtanding ſome light and knowledg of God, and ſome notions of good and evil: in the will a liberty in natural and civil actions, and in all things a freedom from compulſion. But there is a fourfold eſtate or condition of man: 1. Of Creation. 2. Of Corruption. 3. Of Renovation. 4. Of Glorification. All the queſtion is about the ſecond, what power a man in this condition hath to convert himſelf or to do good; and it is reſolved, according to the Scriptures, that man by nature hath no power at all to do good, or turn himſelf to God. For 2 Cor. 3.5. We are not ſufficient of our ſelves to think any thing as of our ſelves; but our ſufficiency is of God. Phil. 2.13. It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his own good pleaſure. Eph. 2.1. We are by nature dead in ſin; as unable to turn our ſelves unto God as a dead man to raiſe himſelf to life. Joh. 15.5. Saith our Saviour, Without me ye can do nothing. Joh. 6.44. No man can come unto me, except the Father draw him. Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God, that ye beleeve, &c. Mat. 16.17. Fleſh and blood cannot reveal Chriſt unto us &c.
Concil. Arauſic. cap. 19. If man could not retain, without the grace of God, what he had received; how ſhall he recover, without the ſame, what he hath loſt. Ambroſ. lib. 1. de vocat. gent. Never let a man truſt his own ſtrength, now it is broken, that could not ſupport him when it was ſound and freſh about him. Bern. de gra. & lib. arb. It were better we had never b…en, then to be at the diſpoſing of our own will: It is our own will that makes us the devils ſlaves, not his power; it is Gods grace that makes us his ſervants, not our own will. More teſtimonies might be brought; but whom theſe few will not ſuffice, thouſands more will never ſatisfie; Cui pauca non ſufficiunt, plura non proderunt. Concil. Arauſic. cap. 25.
Object. But if it be ſo; God may ſeem unjuſt to require that of us in his Law, that we are not able to perform.
Sol. Not at all: for in our firſt Creation God gave us ſufficient abilities which we loſt by our own voluntary fault, according to that Eccleſ. 7. God made man upright, but they have found out many inventions: It is not unreaſonable then or unjuſt with God to require his own of us again, though we have prodigally loſt or miſpent it.
Object. If man hath no power in himſelf to do good; to what end then are exhortations, admonitions, precepts, promiſes, or any preaching?
Sol. They are not in vain, but the means ordained of God to ſoften our hearts, and bend our wills to his Will. St Paul ſaith, God worketh in us both the will and the deed, and yet ceaſeth not to exhort us unto both: Our Saviour invites us often to come unto him, and yet faith, No man can come unto me except the Father draw him, Ioh. 6.44.