Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §41

Providence phrases that offended: efficacious providence, physical impulse, judicial acts

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Men took offense at certain phrases drawn from the writings of Zwingli, Martyr, Calvin, Beza, Zanchi, Rennecher, Piscator, and others. By those phrases the Theologians meant, with Holy Scripture, three things.

First: God's efficacious Providence around evils and around the wicked — spoken of in the biblical phrases of hardening, of blinding, of sending a lying spirit, of handing over into a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28), of drawing a callus over, of sending the ἐνέργεια — the working — of error (2 Thessalonians 2:11), and the like.

Second: a motion, or impulse, of sinning causes — not a merely moral one, but a physical one — seeing that in God we all are moved: as when He sent Joseph (Genesis 45:7; 50:20), drove Shimei to curse (2 Samuel 16:10), and drove Ahab's prophets to deceive and to lie (1 Kings 22:22–23), and so on.

Third: God's acts in this whole Providence around the wicked are judicial and penal — either as penalty for one's own crime, as in Pharaoh, in the unbelieving Jews, in Judas the traitor, and the like; or as penalty for another's crime, such as Absalom's incest, Jeroboam's schism, and the lying spirit that was to lead Ahab on, and so on.

Latin

Offenderunt Viri ad phrases nonnullas, excerptas ex scriptis Zwinglii, Martyris, Calvini, Bezae, Zanchii, Rennecheri, Piscatoris, &c. quibus illi Theologi cum Scripturâ S. voluerunt 1. Providentiam Dei efficacem circa mala, & malos, ex phrasibus, indurandi, excæcandi, indendi Spiritum mendacii, tradendi in reprobum sensum, callum obducendi, mittendi ἐνέργειαν efficaciam erroris, &c. 2. Motionem causarum peccantium vel impulsionem, non certè moralem, sed physicam, ut qui omnes in Deo movemur, prout misit Josephum, Gen. XLV. 7. L. 20, impulit Simehum ad maledicendum 2. Sam. XVI. 10. Prophetas Achabi ad decipiendum, mentiendum, Reg. XXII. 22. 23. &c. 3. Tandem actus Dei, in hac omni Providentia circa malos, judiciales & penales, seu in poenam delicti proprii in Pharaone, Judaeis incredulis, Juda proditore, &c. seu in poenam delicti alieni, qualis fuit incestus Absalomi, Schisma Jeroboami, spiritus mendax inducturus Achabum, &c.

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.

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