Prefatio close: Arminian fabric; elect unto faith; Anglican defense

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And what hurts more: from the Arminian school new teachers have come out who try to shake the catholic Church's most settled doctrine, and to raise I know not what new fabric of election and reprobation, wholly unknown to orthodox churches. What Papists assign to foreseen works, these assign to foreseen faith and unbelief. So they think they have secured Divine justice if, before the world's foundations were laid, God is said to have chosen only those he foresaw would believe the offered call and persevere in faith to the end; and, on the other side, to have reprobated only those he foreknew would refuse grace, remain unbelieving, and die in unbelief. Fine theologians indeed — who bring in a man already justified by faith, already set in adoption and salvation, before God has predestined him or chosen him to salvation in Christ! Splendid heralds of Divine grace — who will not trace the difference of good and bad wills in believing or not believing to the electing God's special mercy toward believers, but strain to refer whatever difference there is to a contingent act of free choice in admitting, keeping, and exercising grace. How much better — and closer to the Apostle's mind — is Augustine, scourge of the Pelagians (On the Predestination of the Saints 1.17): "God chose the faithful, but that they might become so, not because they already were. By choosing he makes them rich in faith, as heirs of the kingdom." So after Pelagius arose, Augustine and Catholics generally held and ratified this: people were chosen not from works but unto good works, not from faith but unto faith. That is: the elect became faithful and eager for good works; they were not chosen because God foresaw they would be such. This doctrine must be defended in the schools and preached in the churches. When Papal writers pour out their error's poisons everywhere, let us with no less care prepare antidotes for our own. Aristotle's saying is known. Let us also count it shameful to fall silent in God's cause while enemies of the truth shout against us on every side with writings and noise. Lest neighboring error's contagion seize ours too, I will, according to my slender measure, undertake to explain that most true doctrine which this Church of England has commended to all her people to embrace in the matter of predestination. And as far as I can I will refute those sophisms by which adversaries try to overturn the Church's sound teaching and to settle their new inventions.

Latin

Et quod magis dolendum est, e schola Arminiana prodierunt novelli doctores, qui fundatissimam Ecclesiae catholicae doctrinam labefactare conantur, & novam nescio quam atque orthodoxis Ecclesiis plane incognitam electionis & reprobationis fabricam exstruere. Quod Papistae praevisis operibus, id isti fidei & infidelitati praevisae assignandum putant: Et sic demum Divinae justitiae prospectum opinantur, si ante jacta mundi fundamenta eos tantum elegisse dicatur, quos ad oblatam vocationis gratiam credituros, & in fide ad extremum usque perseveraturos praeviderit; Ex adverso eos solos statuatur reprobasse, quos gratiam repulsuros, incredulos, & in incredulitate morituros praesciverit. Bellos scilicet Theologos, qui hominem fide prius justificatum, & in adoptionis & salutis statu positum, quam a Deo praedestinatum, aut ad salutem in Christo electum introducunt! Praeclaros gratiae Divinae praecones, qui discrimen bonarum & malarum voluntatum in credendo aut non credendo nolunt ad Dei eligentis specialem erga credentes misericordiam reducere: Sed quicquid hoc discriminis est, satagunt ad contingentem liberi arbitrii actum in admittenda, retinenda & exercenda gratia revocare. Quanto melius, & ad mentem Apostoli accommodatius Pelagianorum flagellum Augustinus de praedest. Sanct. lib. 1. cap. 17. Elegit Deus fideles, sed ut fiant, non quia jam erant. Eligendo facit divites in fide, sicut heredes regni. Fuit igitur post Pelagium exortum Augustini atque omnium adeo Catholicorum explicata ac rata sententia, homines fuisse electos non ex operibus, sed ad opera bona, non ex fide, sed ad fidem. Hoc est, qui electi sunt fideles & bonorum operum studiosi evaserunt; non quia tales futuri praevidebantur a Deo, electi fuerunt. Hanc doctrinam in Scholis propugnare, hanc in Ecclesiis praedicare oportet. Nam cum Pontificii alii errorum suorum venena passim diffundunt, nos etiam haud minore industria paremus nostris salutaria antidota. Notum est illud Aristotelis, &c. Nos etiam turpe ducamus in causa Dei obmutescere, cum hostes veritatis scriptis & clamoribus suis undique nobis obstrepant. Ne igitur vicini erroris contagio & nostros tandem corripiat, pro meae tenuitatis modulo suscipiam explicationem verissimae ejus doctrinae, quam Ecclesia haec Anglicana in praedestinationis negotio suis omnibus amplectandam commendavit. Refellam etiam pro virili illa sophismata, quibus adversarii sanam Ecclesiae doctrinam subvertere, atque nova sua commenta stabilire moliuntur.

About this text

John Davenant — Dissertationes duae from the 1650 Cambridge Latin. Honest partial through De praedestinatione Cap. 1 subject tip; Cap. 1 mid-Thesis and remainder remain; De praedestinatione Cap. 1 Prolegomena IV distinguishing conditions tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Variae (Pelagian opening) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Scholastici / Vasquez Arg. 1 tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 2 praescientia tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 3 (1 Cor. 2:9) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 4 (2 Tim. 2:21) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 5 (1 Tim. 2:4) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 6 (James 2:5) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 7 (Apoc. 3:11) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 1 (common inefficacious will) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 2 (Vasquez physical vs moral media) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 3 (king/prize / victory foresight) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 4 (optimum modus / crown of justice) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 5 (acceptor personarum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 6 (misericordia/congruitas) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 7 (equal disposition) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 8 (few saved / major part) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 9 (Stephen / glory from others' sins) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 10 (mere beneplacitum / Predestinati) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III reprobation ratio (foresight of sin) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 12 (efficacious election / free choice) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 13 (hortation/prayer) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 14 (decree/execution conformity) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arminianorum open tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 1 Sol tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 7 (τρόπος; Rom. 9:22) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 8 (ordo exsecutionis) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 9 (Christus fundamentum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 1 (amor ad salutem) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 2 (actualis vitae datio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 3 (qualis existens) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 4 (justitiae satisfactio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 5 (natura vitae aeternae) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 6 (Christus a decreto) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 7 (Evangelium invertitur) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 8 (arcana/revelata) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI (Orthodoxa sententia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 2 (gratia specialis) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 3 (Scripturae) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 4 (vocatio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 5 (adjutorium) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 7 (inconveniens) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 8 (perseverantia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 9 (unica ratio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 10 (abyssus) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 11 (efficacia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 12 (segregativum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 13 (pura gratia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VII open (reprobatio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VII Junius trifariam tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VIII open (adversariorum) tip; Cap. VIII peccata-causa tip; Cap. VIII fewer-reprobates tip; Cap. VIII Argentina tip; Cap. VIII dives-misericordia tip; Cap. VIII Corvinus tip into Cap. IX; Cap. IX Ab Adae tip; Cap. IX Ab Adae Christus omnibus+Minor tip; Cap. IX Arg. 3 Sol tip; Cap. IX vocatione Evangelica tip; Cap. IX vocatione Sol cont. tip; Cap. IX Arg. 6 Sol cont. tip.

English follows locked 1650 Cambridge Latin of De morte Christi Cap. 1-6 opening (origin + Thesis 1 + Cap. 2 Rat. 1-ultima + Cap. 3 Satisfit through Obj. 17 + Cap. 4 Thesis 2 tip through Mem. 1 close + Cap. 4 Mem. 2 through Mem. 3 tip + Cap. 4 Mem. 3 possible-faith through Thesis 2 close + Cap. 5 Thesis 3 tip through Mem. 2 Scripture close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Rat. 1-4 + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Huberiana objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 elect-from-eternity objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Scripture elect objections tip through Cap. 5 thesis close + Cap. 6 opening tip through Arg. 1 close before Arg. 2), reconstructed from the Internet Archive PDF (pdftotext + tesseract) of the Roger Daniel folio with DjVu OCR check. The 1683 reprint was not used as copy-text. No modern English was copied.

Witnesses

Copy-text Locked Latin, De morte Christi Cap. 1-5 densify through Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip (Daniel 1650) (Latin)
Print Facsimile Internet Archive PDF of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)
Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.