An Antidote Against Popery, Treatise · Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV. Of Free-will in our Vocation.
The state of the Question.
THE Question is not, Whether Man after the Fall, hat… the essence and facultie of the wi… still remayning, and free of coaction, (which Augustine proveth agaynst Celestius) nor of the free vse thereof, which hee hath i… thinges civill, and others depending onelie on the power of Nature: But, Whether by natura in the state of corruption, it is so free, that it may bee called indifferent, eyther to good or evill? And, Whether in the first act o… conversion, the will hath such a power of it selfe, naturallie, to will and concurre with GOD, that it needeth not a full change, and totall reparation; but onlie (as the Papistes holde) some helpe onlie; leaving it in indifferencie of turning it selfe eyther way; and that it needeth an excitation onlie to answere GOD when Hee calleth, to accept of Salvation when Hee offereth, and to cooperate at first with Him, when hee converteth? Therefore, sayeth the Councell of Trent, Sess. 6. Can. 4 If anie man say, that our Free-will beeing moved and excited by GOD, doeth not coopeperate, by assenting to GOD, who excyteth and calleth vsus; and, that it disposeth not, and prepareth it selfe for the grace of justification, nyether can dissent if it will, but is miere passiue therein, let him bee accursed.
Whereas wee holde in the contrarie, That it hath no power naturallie to will that which is morallie good, tending to Salvation; and, that grace comming to an vnregenerate man in the first act of his conversion, is not a co-working grace with his will, (as it is after) but a sole-working grace vponupon his will; not onelie helping and excyting it alreadie willing but changing and reforming it; and of nilling (as Augustine speaketh) making it willing: not by anie Manichean coaction, but by a gracious and powerfull inflexion; that so all the glorie of the worke may redound to Him alone, to whom all glorie belongeth, and who is both the Author and sinisher of our Fayth.
1. Authoritie of Scripture for vsus.
2. COR. 3.5. Not that wee are sufficient of our selues to thinke anie thing as of our selues; but our sufficiencie is of GOD.
VponUpon which wordes sayeth Haymo, heere the Apostle destroyeth all confidence in Free-will. And there-after hee setteth downe this to bee the Apostle's meaning, That not onlie ar… w e vnable (sayeth hee) to doe a…e thing without the merciemercy of GOD, and His preventing and following grace, but …lso to think: for the grace of GOD preventeth vsus, that wee may will; and it followeth vsus, that wee may performe: Therefore did the PSALMIST say, Thy merciemercy shall prevent mee, and thy merciemercy also shall follow mee. For if wee cannot so much as thinke, howe can wee bee able to performe?
Lykewyse, (sayeth Estius on these wordes) the Fathers of the Councell of Orange did vse this same Testimonie of the Apostle,Concil. Arausic cap. 7 et cap 4. (sayeth hee) where-by they decreed, That he was deceaved with an hereticall spirit, who will say, That a man, by the power of nature, can thinke, as becommeth him, anie good that belongeth vntounto eternall lyfe; or that h e can choose the same, or consent vntounto the saving Preaching o… the Gospell, without the illumination and inspiration of the holie Ghost.
See also the ordinarie glosse, and Lyra, on these wordsMore-over, (sayeth hee) the Greeke Commentators, as Chrysostome, Theophylact, and Oecumenius, explicating the Apostle's meaning, speake after this manner; That there is not something on our part, and something on GOD'S part; but that playnlie there is nothing on our part; no, not the least thing; but all is to be ascrybed vntounto GOD. Therefore sayde our Saviour, Without Mee you can doe nothing;Iohn 15.5 to wit, which is truelie good, and acceptable to GOD.
PHIL. 2.13. For it is GOD who worketh in you, both to will, and to doe, of His good pleasure.
According to which wordes, (sayeth Augustine) the LORD preventeth him who is vnwilling,Aug. in Enchirid c. 23 to make him willing; and Hee followeth him who is made willing, that hee will not in vayne. And in lyke manner, sayeth Bernard; The facultie of the will,Bern. de grat. & lib. arbitr maketh vsus to will; but Grace maketh vsus to will that which is good. And a little after, Let no man, therfore (sayth he) thinke that it is called Free-will, because of anie indifferent power, or facultie it hath betweene good and evill; seeing by it selfe it can fall, but can not ryse, but by the Spirit of GOD: Immittendo bonam cogitationem qua praevenit, & immutando malam voluntatem (sayth hee) quae sibi per consensum jungit. Therefore, wee must beware (saith hee) lest when wee feele these thinges invisiblie to bee wrought in vsus, that eyther wee attribute the same to our will, which is infirme, or to anie necessitie in GOD; which is not, but to Grace Onlie, whereof Hee is full.
In lyke manner sayeth Lombard vponupon these wordes; Wee then doe will, but GOD worketh this will in vsus: wee also worke, but GOD worketh this working in vsus. It is expedient, then, that wee both belieue and professe so, (sayeth hee) because it is both pious and true; that so our Confession may bee humble, and all may bee ascrybed to GOD.
EPHES. 2.5. Even when wee were dead in sinnes, hee hath quickened vsus together with CHRIST.So Ezek. 36.26
Remarke, then, that as the whole power of quickening the dead, and raysing him from death, is from GOD onlie, and no part thereof from the dead who is raysed; even so the whole power and efficacie of our first resurrection and conversion, is from CHRIST onlie, who is the Way, Veritie, and Lyfe; and no part thereof is from naturall free-will.Bern. de grat. & lib arbitr Therfore, sayeth Bernard, neyther couldst thou create thy selfe, when thou wast not, nor justifie …hy selfe, beeing a sinner: neyther beeing dead, ca…st thou r…yse thy selfe from the dead.
1. COR. 4.7. Who hath made thee to diffe… from another? (or, discerneth thee, say the Rhemistes) and what hast thou, which thou hast not receaved?
VponUpon which wordes, (sayeth Estius) rightlie therefore doeth Augustine vse and inculcate this sentence of Paul, agaynst the Polagians; that so hee might teach, That all the good whereby one doeth differ from another, or excell his neyghbour, is given from GOD: and therefore,Aug. l. 2. contr. duas epistolas Pelagianor. c. 7. & lib. de cor rep. et grat. c 7. & ep 46 ad…alentinum. that neyther grace is given according to mens merits, neyther that anie are predistinate vntounto lyfe for foreseene works; but that as well Predestination, as Grace, which is the effect of Predestination, is altogether and mierelie of free merciemercy, as Augustine writeth. And in lyke manner by these wordes they are condemned, who say, that equall helpe of grace beeing given or offered, oftymes it falleth out, that this man doeth embrace the same, and that man not; or that this man doeth so, more or lesse: so that the differing of the one from the other, is of mans free-will, and not by the grace of God. Which thing wee doubt not, (sayeth hee) is altogether against the Apostles doctrine.
2. Witnessing of Antiquitie.
Aug. tom. 7. de grat. & lib. arbitr c. 16. Ibid. c. 17.IT is sure (sayth Augustine) that wee will freelie when wee will, but hee maketh vsus to will that which is good, of whom it is sayd, it is GOD who worketh in vsus both the will and the deed. And agayne, To will that which is good, he worketh it in vsus without vsus, (sayeth hee) but when wee will, and will so that wee performe, then hee cooperateth with vsus: so that without him, eyther working in vsus to will, or cooperating with vsus when wee will, wee are altogether vnable for anie worke of pietie. In lyke manner, (sayeth Bernard) Free-will maketh vsus willing indeede,Bern. de grat. et lib. arbitr but Grace onlie maketh vsus to will that which is good. To will, proceedeth from our selues, or nature; but to will that which is good, proceedeth from Grace, let no man then, (sayeth hee) thinke that therefore it is called Free-will which wee hauehave, because it hath an equall power, or inclination, as well to good, as to evill, seeing it could fall by it selfe, but can not ryse, but by the holy Ghost. And thereafter hee asketh, What, then, is this all that our Free-will doeth, that it consenteth? It is, (sayeth hee) but not that this consent is from it selfe, seeing wee are not able to thinke anie thing (which is lesse than consent) of our selues, as of our selues: For they are not my wordes, but the Apostles, that all that which can bee good, that is, to thinke, and to will, and to performe, hee attributeth all vntounto GOD, and nowyse to his owne free-will. Therefore wee must beware (sayeth hee) when we finde that these things invisiblie are wrought in vsus, and with vsus, that eyther wee attribute the same to our Free-will, which is vnable, or to anie necessitie in GOD, which is none, but to Grace onelie, whereof Hee is full.
And if wee will heare a whole Councell:Concil. Arausic can. 4 If anie will contende, (sayeth the Councell of Orange) that GOD expecteth our will to bee purged from our sinnes, and doeth not confesse that this willingnesse to bee purged, is not wrought in vsus by the infusion and operation of the holie Spirit, hee resisteth the holie Spirit, speaking by Salomon, saying, The will is prepared of the LORD. As also the Apostle most wholesomelie declaring, that it is the LORD that worketh in vsus both the will and the deed.
3. Confession of partie.
Bell. l. 6. de lib. arbitr. cap. 5 §. huc …eni{que} Ibid. l. 6. c. 15THE Scripture therefore (sayth Bellarmine) both by wordes & similitudes every where cryeth, That a sinner can not in anie sort dispose himselfe to receaue grace… and agayne, The conversion of a man to GOD, (sayeth hee) as anie other good action, as it is an action, it is from free-will onelie, not secluding GOD'S generall ayde, (to wit, in whome wee moue) but as it is a good action, it proceedeth onelie from Grace. And surelie the Orthodox Fathers (sayeth their Cassander) hauehave ever contended agaynst the Pelagians and Manichees, Cassand. consult. art. 18That the righteousnesse whereby we are justified before God, is not to be attributed to the power of free-will vitiate by sinne, but to the singular grace of GOD, whereby no new will is created; but beeing vnwilling, it is made willing; beeing depraved, is corrected; and of evill, turned to good; and by an inward motion, is so drawne, that of nilling, it is made willing, that willinglie it may yeelde to GOD'S calling. Yea, h…w much most part of the Schoole-men hauehave attributed to devyne grace heerein, in place of all, BONAVENTVRE doeth witnesse; For this is the duetie of godlie mindes, (sayeth hee) to attribute nothing to themselues, but all to the grace of GOD. Whence it is, that how much one ascrybeth to the grace of God, he departeth not from pietie; altho ascrybing much to the grace of GOD, hee should with-drawe some from the power of nature, or free-will: but when anie thing is with-drawne from the grace of GOD,Florū theol. quest. in 2. sent. disp. 24. & 25. de li. art potest de vsu, cōclus. 1 Veg. l. 6. in concil Trid. cap. 8 1. 2. q 111. art. 2. and ascrybed to nature, which belongeth to grace, there the danger is (sayeth hee.)
And this is proven, because the beginning of our justification is from preventing grace, (sayeth Iosephus Angles) & from the calling of GOD, who sayth IOHN 15. Yee hauehave not chosen mee; and from Predestination, which is also the onelie worke of GOD, ROM. 9. Who sayeth, It is neyther in him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but in God that showeth merciemercy. The same doth Andreas Vega acknowledge, and Aquinas, with others.