Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §61

Lutherans still differ from Arminians on free choice, prevenient grace, passivity, and inward effectual work

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Still, the Lutherans differ from the Arminians on more than one point.

1. The Augustan brethren suppose no powers of free choice in corrupted man; nor do they want that will's synergy with grace in a Pelagian or Semi-Pelagian sense — which the Book of Concord itself condemns.

2. They acknowledge prevenient grace, which goes before every human doing in conversion — as above at p. 350.

3. They profess with us that in the first moments of conversion a person stands merely passive and receptive toward first, converting grace.

4. They also hold that the elect according to foreknowledge never finally resist effectual grace in the event itself, and so are converted infallibly — otherwise contradiction follows.

5. Nor do they define grace's efficacy by outward moral persuasion alone, with the Remonstrants, or as what only gives a power to believe while the act hangs on the human will.

But they do acknowledge in the elect a peculiar inward work of the Holy Spirit: it produces the act of faith and conquers the will, which with full willingness has embraced Christ and is then most ready, after rebellion, to obey.

Latin

Interim tamen discrimen Lutheranorum ab Arminianis rursus non unum est. 1. Nullas supponunt Augustani Fratres in homine corrupto vires Lib. arbitrii; nec hujus volunt συνέργειαν cum Gratia, sensu Pelagiano, aut Semi-Pelagiano, reprobatam in ipso Libro Concordiae. 2. Gratiam praevenientem agnoscunt, quae praeveniat omnem hominis operationem in Conversione, ut supra p. 350. 3. Hominem in primis suae Conversionis momentis se habere mere passive, receptive, in ordine ad Gratiam primam & convertentem nobiscum profitentur. 4. Iidem quoque, Electos κατὰ πρόγνωσιν, ipso eventu Gratiae efficaci nunquam finaliter resistere, atque adeo eos infallibiliter converti, alias implicari contradictionem. 5. Nec etiam Gratiae efficaciam definiunt sola externa & morali suasione, cum Remonstrant, aut quae det tantum credendi potentiam, actu ab hominis voluntate suspenso. Agnoscunt vero Fratres in Electis operationem Spiritus S. internam peculiarem, productricem actus fidei, ac victricem voluntatis, plena lubentia Christum amplexae, & ex rebelli deinceps pronissima ad obsequendum.

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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