Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §17

Part I Protheoria: Obstacles — any error turned into heresy; verbal and private dissent

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They went as far as they could! It belongs to pious Theologians of every sort to lend a helping hand — not by words or writings only, but also by deeds; that is, with hearts and tongues and pens kindled by true charity, and with domestic discords composed among the partners of the same Faith and of the same Token. That latter point, as concerns all or most, is more to be wished than hoped for, so long as there is still room for human affections and infirmities.

There are already in the rank of Protestant Men those who turn any Error into Heresy, or any Dissent into something Fundamental or Essential, as their passion wills! Nevertheless that dissent has very often been merely verbal, and has turned on phrasing or on the manner of stating a thing — for example in the words realiter, oraliter, sufficienter, efficaciter, and so on. Often it has turned on the mode of the thing — for instance the manner of presence or of being-present in the Eucharist. Or on the circumstances of the thing — for instance the Breadth of Redemption, whether also for the reprobate, while the thing itself and its substance remain unmoved. Often too the dissent is not in what was truly handed down, but in things fastened on by consequences not born in the teaching but brought in from outside — and certainly rejected; for example, that the Reformed deny God's Omnipotence, that they make God the author of Sin, that they assert a Stoic necessity, and so on. Finally, the private quarrel of Theologians more than the public quarrel of Confessions has pulled Brethren apart in more than one question: as in the Supralapsarian question, now nearly laid to sleep, and in very many others of that kind.

Latin

Ibant quo poterant! Piorum certe quorumcunque Theologorum est, ministram operam adhibere, neque dictis tantum, aut scriptis, sed et factis; scilicet vera charitate accensis et cordibus, et linguis, et calamis, compositisque domesticis dissidiis, inter consortes ejusdem Fidei, atque Tesserae. Quod posterius, de universis aut plerisque, optandum magis est quam sperandum, donec erit humanis affectibus atque infirmitatibus locus. Sint jam in Protestantium Virorum ordine, qui Errorem quemvis in Haeresin, aut Dissensum quemvis in Fundamentalem vel Essentialem, pro libidine vertant! Nihilominus persaepe verbalis ea dissensio fuerit, et circa phrasim vel enunciandi modum; ex. gr. in vocibus realiter, oraliter, sufficienter, efficaciter, &c. Saepe circa rei modum, puta rationem praesentiae vel adessentiae in Eucharistia. Aut circa rei circumstantias, puta Latitudinem Redemptionis — an et pro reprobis — manente re et substantia immotis. Saepe etiam dissensus non in vere traditis, sed in affictis, per consequentias non innatas, sed illatas, certe rejectas; v. gr. de negata a Reformatis Dei Omnipotentia, de Deo auctore Peccati, de Stoica necessitate asserta, &c. Denique dissidium privatum Theologorum magis, quam publicum Confessionum, in non una quaestione, Fratres distraxit: Qualiter in quaestione Supralapsaria, fere sopita, aliisque id genus quam plurimis.

About this text

Samuel Strimesius — Prefatio through Controversiae Post Lutherum Controv. III-XIII + XV Tolerantia, Hexades Annotationum Prooemium and Annotatio I through Decem Theses / Francus plus Annotatio II §.I-§.VI and Annotatio III §.I–§.VII (through Cassellanum 1661) from Ingenua in Controversias Evangelicorum (Frankfurt an der Oder, 1708). Honest partial; Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio III §.VIII+ fruits / §.IX+, Hexades theses body, deeper Controversiae / Part II remain.

English follows the locked 1708 Francofurti ad Viadrum Latin of Prefatio §I–II, Crimina defenses through III, Part I Protheoria through Controversiae Obices/Historia/Varii gradus, Formula Discord/Disparitas, Ulterius confirmatur / Classes / Formula protest / triplex differentia, Coena Domini Controversiae Priores through Precariae Hypotheses (Controv. print pp. 34–40), Controversiae Post Lutherum Natae Controv. III–XV tip (providence through De Tolerantia mutua; Controv. print pp. 40–78), Hexades Annotationum Prooemium H.I–§.III (Hexades print pp. 1–4 / PDF ~182–185), and Annotatio I De Augustana Confessione §.I–§.VIII tip (Hexades print pp. 5–24+ / PDF ~186–205+), reconstructed from Google Books PDF page images (ONB copy, id 3epYAAAAcAAJ) with pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Sister Halle digitization of Ingenua in Arminianismum (DOI 10.25673/65287) remains Anubis-blocked — skipped; Controversias only. Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio I §.IX+, Hexades theses body beyond §.VIII, and remainder of Controversiae / folio remain.

Witnesses

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