A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §64

Lutherans still differ: elect according to foreknowledge cannot finally fall, and believers have sure inward certainty of pardon

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Once more the gap from the Remonstrants is not a single point.

1. Lutherans grant that those elect according to God's foreknowledge cannot make a final exit from faith and grace, because that foreknowledge in God is, by hypothesis, infallible.

2. They likewise grant every believer an inward, infallible assurance that his sins are forgiven and that he will be saved. That assurance rises from what faith is — trust in God's mercy in Christ — while the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit (Romans 8:16).

Such trust braces the soul more firmly than anything else. It is a pledge like Rahab's cord of twice-dyed thread (Joshua 2:18), buried deep in the heart; an anchor that holds us to God through the waves so that even the last crisis does not make us panic.

It is also real fuel for godliness and a spur to love God. The closer the harbor comes into view, the harder we gasp for it — with sighs and groans no speech can render.

And because this trust is born only of the regenerating Spirit, it in turn sets the spirit on fire; we treat that more fully elsewhere.

Latin

Discrimen rursus non unum ab ipsis Remonstrantibus apparet. 1. Fatentur Lutherani, Electos secundum praescientiam Dei, non posse finaliter excidere a fide & gratia, ex hypothesi illius in Deo Praescientiae, quae infallibilis sit. 2. Iidem quoque, dari subjectivam certitudinem, in unoquoque credente, eamque infallibilem, remissionis suorum peccatorum, suaeque salutis; Idque ex natura fidei, seu fiducia de misericordia Dei in Christo, Spiritu Sancto testante cum Spiritu nostro, Rom. VIII. 16. Quae fiducia firmissimum sit animae nostrae columen; arrha quaedam, instar funiculi fili dibaphi, Jos. II. 18. sed cordibus alte condita; & quaedam velut anchora, qua in Deum mediis in fluctibus defixi, ne in extremo etiam discrimine expavescimus; Sed & verus pietatis fomes, & divini amoris incentivum. Quo enim propius portum intuemur, hoc magis, suspiriis & gemitibus enarrari nesciis, ad portum anhelamus. Et quemadmodum haec fiducia nonnisi ex Spiritu regenerante est, ita etiam spiritum accendit, ut nos alibi pluribus.

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

Copy-text Locked Latin, Prefatio section I tip (Schrey & Hartmann 1708) (Latin)
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Checked print pdftotext Part I Protheoria pages 126-135 (Latin)
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