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007 - Sections 59-75 Discussion Part I-b · Bondage of the Will

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Speaker 1: Sections fifty nine through seventy five of the Bondage of
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Speaker 1: the Will by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Discussion first part
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Speaker 1: continued section fifty nine. There is that of Isaiah one nineteen,
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Speaker 1: if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
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Speaker 1: fat of the land, where according to the judgment of
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Speaker 1: the diatribe, if there be no liberty of the will,
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Speaker 1: it would have been more consistent had it been said
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Speaker 1: if I will, if I will not. The answer to
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Speaker 1: this may be plainly found in what has been said before. Moreover,
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Speaker 1: what consistency would there then have been had it been said,
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Speaker 1: if I will, ye shall eat the fat of the land?
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Speaker 1: Does the diatribe, from its so highly exalted wisdom, imagine
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Speaker 1: that the fat of the land can be eaten contrary
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Speaker 1: to the will of God? Or that it is a
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Speaker 1: rare and new thing that we do not receive of
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Speaker 1: the fat of the land, but by the will of God.
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Speaker 1: So also that of Isaiah thirty twenty one, If ye
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Speaker 1: will inquire, inquire ye return come to what purpose is
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Speaker 1: it saith diatribe to exhort those who are not in
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Speaker 1: any degree in their own power. It is just like
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Speaker 1: saying to one bound in chains, move thyself to this place.
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Speaker 1: Nay I reply, to what purpose is it to cite
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Speaker 1: passages which of themselves prove nothing, and which, by the
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Speaker 1: appendage of your conclusion, that is, by the perversion of
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Speaker 1: their sense, ascribe all unto free will? When a certain
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Speaker 1: endeavor only was to be ascribed unto it and to
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Speaker 1: be proved. The same may be said, you observe concerning
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Speaker 1: that of Isaiah forty five twenty, assemble yourselves and come,
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Speaker 1: turn ye unto me, and ye shall be saved. And
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Speaker 1: that also of Isaiah fifty two one through two. Awake, Awake,
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Speaker 1: shake thyself from the dust, loose the bands of thy neck,
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Speaker 1: and that of Jeremiah fifteen nineteen. If thou wilt turn,
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Speaker 1: then will I turn thee. And if thou shalt separate
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Speaker 1: the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.
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Speaker 1: And Malachi more evidently still indicates the endeavor of free
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Speaker 1: will and the grace that is prepared for him who endeavors.
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Speaker 1: Turn ye unto me, Saith the Lord of Hosts, and
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Speaker 1: I will turn unto you, Saith the Lord. Malachi three seven,
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Speaker 1: section sixty. In these passages, our friend diatribe makes no
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Speaker 1: distinction whatever between the voice of the Law and the
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Speaker 1: voice of the Gospel, because forsooth it is so blind
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Speaker 1: and so ignorant that it knows not what is the
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Speaker 1: law and what is the gospel. For out of all
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Speaker 1: the passages from Isaiah, it produces no one word of
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Speaker 1: the law save this, If thou wilt, all the rest
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Speaker 1: is gospel, by which as the word of offered grace,
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Speaker 1: the bruised and afflicted are called into consolation, whereas the
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Speaker 1: diatribe makes them words of the law. But I pray
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Speaker 1: THEE tell me what can that man do in theological
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Speaker 1: matters and the sacred writings, who has not even gone
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Speaker 1: so far as to know what is law and what
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Speaker 1: is gospel, or who, if he does know, condemns the
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Speaker 1: observance of the distinction between them. Such an one must
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Speaker 1: confound all things heaven with heell, and life with death,
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Speaker 1: and will never labor to know anything of Christ, concerning
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Speaker 1: which I shall put my friend diatribe a little in
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Speaker 1: remembrance in what follows, Look then, first at that of
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Speaker 1: Jeremiah and Malachi. If thou wilt turn then will I
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Speaker 1: turn THEE and turn ye unto me, and I will
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Speaker 1: turn unto you? Does it then follow from turn ye,
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Speaker 1: therefore ye are able to turn? Does it follow also
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Speaker 1: from love the Lord thy God with all thy heart?
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Speaker 1: Therefore thou art able to love with all thine heart?
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Speaker 1: If these arguments stand good, what do they conclude but
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Speaker 1: that free will needs not the grace of God, but
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Speaker 1: can do all things of its own power? And then
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Speaker 1: how much more right would it be that the words
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Speaker 1: should be received as they stand. If thou shalt turn,
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Speaker 1: then will I also turn thee? That is, if thou
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Speaker 1: shalt cease from sinning, I also will cease from punishing.
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Speaker 1: And if thou shalt be converted and live well, I
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Speaker 1: also will do well unto THEE in turning away thy
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Speaker 1: captivity in thy evils. But even in this way, it
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Speaker 1: does not follow that man can turn by his own power.
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Speaker 1: Nor do the words imply this. But they simply say
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Speaker 1: if thou wilt turn, by which a man is admonished
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Speaker 1: of what he ought to do. And when he has
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Speaker 1: thus known and seen what he ought to do but
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Speaker 1: cannot do, he would ask how he is to do it?
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Speaker 1: Were it not for that Leviathan of the diatribe, that
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Speaker 1: is that appendage and conclusion it is here tacked on,
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Speaker 1: which comes in and between, and says, therefore, if man
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Speaker 1: cannot turn of his own power, turn ye is spoken
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Speaker 1: in vain. But of what nature all such conclusion is,
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Speaker 1: and what it amounts to, has been already fully shown.
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Speaker 1: It must, however, be a certain stupor or lethargy, which
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Speaker 1: can hold that the power of free will is confirmed
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Speaker 1: by these words, turn ye, if thou wilt turn and
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Speaker 1: the like, and does not see that for the same
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Speaker 1: reason it must be confirmed by this scripture. Also, thou
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Speaker 1: shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
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Speaker 1: seeing that the meaning of him who commands and requires
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Speaker 1: is the same in both instances. For the loving of
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Speaker 1: God is not less required than our conversion and the
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Speaker 1: keeping of all the commandments, because the loving of God
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Speaker 1: is our real conversion. And yet no one attempts to
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Speaker 1: prove free will from that command to love, although from
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Speaker 1: those words, if thou wilt, if thou wilt here turn
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Speaker 1: ye and the like, all attempt to prove it. If therefore,
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Speaker 1: from that word love the Lord thy God with all
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Speaker 1: thy heart, it does not follow that free will is
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Speaker 1: anything or can do anything. It is certain that it
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Speaker 1: neither follows from these words. If thou wilt, if thou
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Speaker 1: wilt hear, turn ye, and the like, which either require
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Speaker 1: less or require with less force of importance than these
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Speaker 1: words Love God, love the Lord. Whatever therefore or is
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Speaker 1: said against drawing a conclusion in support of free will
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Speaker 1: from this word love God, the same must be said
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Speaker 1: against drawing a conclusion in support of free will from
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Speaker 1: every other word of command or requirement. For if by
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Speaker 1: the command to love the nature of the law only
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Speaker 1: be shown, and what we ought to do, but not
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Speaker 1: the power of the will, or what we can do,
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Speaker 1: but rather what we cannot do, the same is shown
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Speaker 1: by all the other scriptures of requirement. For it is
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Speaker 1: well known that even the schoolmen, except the Scotinians and moderns,
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Speaker 1: assert that man cannot love God with all his heart.
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Speaker 1: Therefore neither can he perform any one of the other precepts.
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Speaker 1: For all the rest, according to the testimony of Christ,
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Speaker 1: hang on this one. Hence, by the testimony even of
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Speaker 1: the doctors of the schools, this remains as a settled
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Speaker 1: conclusion that the words of the law do not prove
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Speaker 1: the power of free will, but show what we ought
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Speaker 1: to do and what we cannot do Section sixty one.
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Speaker 1: But our friend diatribe proceeding to still greater lengths of inconsiderateness,
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Speaker 1: not only infers from that passage of Malachi three seven
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Speaker 1: turn ye unto me an indicative sense, but also goes
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Speaker 1: on with zeal to prove therefrom the endeavor of free
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Speaker 1: will and the grace prepared for the person endeavoring. Here
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Speaker 1: at last it makes mention of the endeavor, and by
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Speaker 1: a new kind of grammar, to turn signifies with it
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Speaker 1: the same thing as to endeavor, so that the sense
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Speaker 1: is turn ye unto me, that is, endeavor ye to turn,
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Speaker 1: and I will turn unto you, that is, I will
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Speaker 1: endeavor to turn unto you. So that at last it
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Speaker 1: attributes an endeavor even unto God, and perhaps would have
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Speaker 1: grace to be prepared for him upon his endeavoring. For
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Speaker 1: if turning signify endeavoring in one place, why not in
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Speaker 1: every place? Again it says that from Jeremiah fifteen nineteen,
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Speaker 1: if thou shalt separate the precious from the vile, not
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Speaker 1: the endeavor only, but the liberty of choosing is proved,
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Speaker 1: which before it declared was lost and changed into a
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Speaker 1: necessity of serving sin. You see therefore that in handling
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Speaker 1: the Scriptures, the diatribe has a free will with a witness,
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Speaker 1: so that with it words of the same kind are
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Speaker 1: compelled to prove endeavor in one place and liberty in another,
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Speaker 1: just as the turn suits, but to away with vanities.
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Speaker 1: The word turn is used in the Scriptures in a
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Speaker 1: twofold sense, the one legal, the other evangelical. In the
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Speaker 1: legal sense, it is the voice of the exactor and commander,
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Speaker 1: which requires not an endeavor but a change in the
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Speaker 1: whole life. In this sense, Jeremiah frequently uses it, saying,
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Speaker 1: turn ye now, every one of you from his evil way,
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Speaker 1: and turn ye unto the Lord, in which he involves
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Speaker 1: the requirement of all the commandments, as is sufficiently evident.
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Speaker 1: In the evangelical sense, it is the voice of the
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Speaker 1: divine consolation and promise, by which nothing is demanded of us,
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Speaker 1: but in which the grace of God is offered unto us.
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Speaker 1: Of this kind is that of Psalm one hundred twenty
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Speaker 1: six one, when the Lord shall turn again the Captivity
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Speaker 1: of Zion, and that of Psalm one hundred and sixteen
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Speaker 1: seven turn again unto thy rest o my soul. Hence Malachi,
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Speaker 1: in a very brief compendium, has set forth the preaching
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Speaker 1: both of the law and of grace. It is the
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Speaker 1: whole sum of the law where he saith, turn ye
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Speaker 1: unto me, and it is grace where he saith, I
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Speaker 1: will turn unto you. Wherefore, as much as free will
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Speaker 1: is proved from this word love the Lord, or from
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Speaker 1: any other word of particular law, just so much is
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Speaker 1: it proved from this word of summary law turn ye.
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Speaker 1: It becomes a wise reader of the scriptures. Therefore to
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Speaker 1: observe what are words of the law and what are
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Speaker 1: words of grace? That he might not be involved in
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Speaker 1: confusion like the unclean Sophists, and like this sleepily yawning
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Speaker 1: diatribe section sixty two. Now observe in what way the
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Speaker 1: die tribe handles that single passage in Ezekiel eighteen twenty three,
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Speaker 1: As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the
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Speaker 1: death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn
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Speaker 1: from his wickedness and live. In the first place, if
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Speaker 1: it says the expressions shall turn away, hath done, hath committed,
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Speaker 1: be so often repeated in this chapter, where are they
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Speaker 1: who deny that man can do anything, only remark, I
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Speaker 1: pray the excellent conclusion. It set out to prove the
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Speaker 1: endeavor and the desire of free will, and now it
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Speaker 1: proves the whole work that all things are fulfilled by
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Speaker 1: free will. Where now I pray are those who need
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Speaker 1: grace in the Holy Spirit for it? Pertly argues thus saying,
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Speaker 1: Ezekiel says, if the wicked man shall turn away and
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Speaker 1: shall do righteousness and judgment, he shall live. Therefore the
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Speaker 1: wicked man does that immediately and can do it. Whereas
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Speaker 1: Ezekiel is signifying what ought to be done, but the
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Speaker 1: diatribe understands it as being done and having been done,
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Speaker 1: thus teaching us by a new kind of grammar that
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Speaker 1: ought to be is the same as having been being exacted,
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Speaker 1: the same as being performed and being required, the same
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Speaker 1: as being rendered. And then that voice of the all
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Speaker 1: sweet Gospel, I desire not the death of a sinner,
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Speaker 1: and so forth it perverts. Thus would the Righteous Lord
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Speaker 1: deplore that death of his people which he himself wrought
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Speaker 1: in them? If therefore he wills not our death, It
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Speaker 1: certainly is to be laid to the charge of our
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Speaker 1: own will. If we perish, for what can you lay
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Speaker 1: to the charge of him who can do nothing, either
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Speaker 1: of good or evil. It was upon this same thing
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Speaker 1: that Pelagius harped long ago when he attributed to free
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Speaker 1: will not a desire nor an endeavor only, but the
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Speaker 1: power of doing and fulfilling all things. For as I
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Speaker 1: have said before, these conclusions prove that power, if they
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Speaker 1: prove anything, so that they make with equal, nay with
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Speaker 1: more force against the diatribe, which denies that power of
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Speaker 1: free will, and which attempts to establish the endeavor only
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Speaker 1: than they do against us, who deny free will altogether.
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Speaker 1: But to say nothing of the ignorance of the diatribe,
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Speaker 1: let us speak to the subject. It is the Gospel
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Speaker 1: voice and the sweetest consolation to miserable sinners. Where Ezekiel
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Speaker 1: saith I desire not the death of a sinner, but
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Speaker 1: rather that he should be converted and live. And it
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Speaker 1: is in all respects liken to that of Psalm thirty five,
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Speaker 1: for his wrath is but for a moment in his
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Speaker 1: willingness is life. And that of Psalm thirty six seven.
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Speaker 1: How sweet is thy loving kindness, O God? Also for
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Speaker 1: I am merciful and that of Christ Matthew eleven twenty eight.
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Speaker 1: Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
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Speaker 1: and I will give you rest, And also that of
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Speaker 1: Exodus twenty six. I will show mercy unto thousands of
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Speaker 1: them that love me. And what is more than half
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Speaker 1: of the Holy scripture but mere promises of grace, which mercy, life, peace,
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Speaker 1: and salvation are extended from God unto men? And what
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Speaker 1: else is the whole word of promise? But this I
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Speaker 1: desire not the death of a sinner. Is not this
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Speaker 1: saying I am merciful. The same is saying I am
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Speaker 1: not angry, I am unwilling to punish. I desire not
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Speaker 1: your death. My will is to pardon, My will is
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Speaker 1: to spare. And if there were not these divine promises
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Speaker 1: standing by which consciences afflicted with a sense of sin
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Speaker 1: and terrified at the fear of death and judgment might
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Speaker 1: be raised up, what place would there be for pardon
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Speaker 1: or for hope? What sinner would not sink in despair?
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Speaker 1: But as free will is not proved from any of
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Speaker 1: the other words of mercy, of promise, or of comfort,
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Speaker 1: so neither is it from this I desire not the
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Speaker 1: death of a sinner, and so forth. But our friend diatribe, again,
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Speaker 1: making no distinction between the words of the law and
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Speaker 1: the words of the promise, makes this passage of Ezekiel
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Speaker 1: the voice of the law, and bounds it. Thus, I
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Speaker 1: desire not the death of a sinner. That is, I
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Speaker 1: desire not that he should sin unto death, or should
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Speaker 1: become a sinner guilty of death, but rather that he
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Speaker 1: should be converted from sin if he have committed any,
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Speaker 1: and thus live. For if it do not expound the passage,
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Speaker 1: thus it will make nothing to its purpose. But this
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Speaker 1: is utterly to destroy and take away that most sweet
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Speaker 1: place of Ezekiel. I desire not the death. If we,
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Speaker 1: in our blindness, will read and understand the scriptures, thus
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Speaker 1: what wonder if they be obscure and ambiguous. Whereas God
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Speaker 1: does not say, I desire not the sin of man,
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Speaker 1: but I desire not the death of a sinner, which
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Speaker 1: manifestly shows that he is speaking of the punishment of sin,
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Speaker 1: of which the sinner has a sense on account of
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Speaker 1: his sin, that is, of the fear of death, and
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Speaker 1: that he is raising up and comforting the sinner lying
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Speaker 1: under this affliction and desperation, that he might not break
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Speaker 1: the bruised read nor quench the smoking flax, but raise
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Speaker 1: him to the hope of pardon and salvation, in order
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Speaker 1: that he might be further converted, that is, by the
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Speaker 1: conversion unto salvation from the fear of death, and that
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Speaker 1: he might live, that is, might be in peace and
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Speaker 1: rejoice in a good conscience. And this is also to
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Speaker 1: be observed that as the voice of the law is
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Speaker 1: not pronounced but upon those who neither feel nor know
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Speaker 1: their sins, as Paul saith by the law is the
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Speaker 1: knowledge of sin Romans three twenty. So the word of
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Speaker 1: grace does not come but unto those who, feeling their sins,
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Speaker 1: are distressed and exercised with desperation. Therefore, in all the
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Speaker 1: words of the law, you will find sin to be implied,
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Speaker 1: while it shows what we ought to do. As on
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Speaker 1: the contrary, in all the words of the promise, you
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Speaker 1: will find the evil to be implied, under which the
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Speaker 1: sinners or those who are raised up labor. As here
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Speaker 1: I desire not the death of a sinner clearly points
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Speaker 1: out the death and the sinner, both the evil itself
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Speaker 1: which is felt, and the sinner himself who feels it.
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Speaker 1: But by this love God, with all thine heart is
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Speaker 1: shown what good we ought to do, not what evil
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Speaker 1: we feel, in order that we might know how far
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Speaker 1: we are from doing good Section sixty three. Nothing therefore
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Speaker 1: could be more absurdly adduced in support of free will
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Speaker 1: than this passage of Ezekiel. Nay, it makes with all
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Speaker 1: possible force directly against free will. For it is here
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Speaker 1: shown in what state free will is, and what it
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Speaker 1: can do under the knowledge of sin, and in turning
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Speaker 1: itself from it. That is, that it can only go
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Speaker 1: on to worse and add to its sins desperation and impenitency,
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Speaker 1: unless God soon come in to help and to call
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Speaker 1: back and raise up by the word of promise. For
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Speaker 1: the concern of God in promising grace to recall and
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Speaker 1: raise up the sinner, is itself an argument sufficiently great
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Speaker 1: and conclusive that free will of itself cannot but go
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Speaker 1: on to worse, and, as the scripture saith, fall down
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Speaker 1: to hell, unless indeed, you imagine that God is such
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Speaker 1: a trifler that he pours forth so great an abundance
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Speaker 1: of the words of promise, not from any necessity of
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Speaker 1: them unto our salvation, but from a mere delight in loquacity.
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Speaker 1: Wherefore you see that not only all the words of
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Speaker 1: the law stand against free will, but also that all
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Speaker 1: the words of the promises utterly confute it, that is
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Speaker 1: that the whole scripture makes directly against it. Hence you
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Speaker 1: see this word I desire not the death of a sinner,
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Speaker 1: does nothing else but preach and offer divine mercy to
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Speaker 1: the world, which none receive with joy and gratitude. But
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Speaker 1: those who are distressed and exercised with the fears of death.
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Speaker 1: For they are they in whom the law has now
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Speaker 1: done its office, that is, in bringing them to the
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Speaker 1: knowledge of sin. But they who have not yet experienced
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Speaker 1: the office of the Law, who do not yet know
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Speaker 1: their sin nor feel the fears of death, despise the
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Speaker 1: mercy promised in that word Section sixty four. But why
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Speaker 1: is it that some are touched by the law and
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Speaker 1: some are not touched. Why some receive the offered grace
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Speaker 1: and some despise it. That is another question which is
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Speaker 1: not here treated on by Ezekiel, because he is speaking
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Speaker 1: of the preached and offered mercy of God, not of
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Speaker 1: that secret and to be feared will of God, who,
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Speaker 1: according to his own Counsel ordains whom and such as
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Speaker 1: he will to be receivers and partakers of the preached
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Speaker 1: and offered mercy, which will is not to be curiously
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Speaker 1: inquired into, but to be adored with reverence, as the
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Speaker 1: most profound secret of the divine majesty, which he reserves
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Speaker 1: unto himself and keeps hidden from us. And that much
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Speaker 1: more religiously than the mention of ten thousand Corichian caverns.
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Speaker 1: But since the diatribe thus pertly argues, would the Righteous
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Speaker 1: Lord deplore that death of his people, which he himself
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Speaker 1: works in them? This would seem quite absurd. I answer,
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Speaker 1: as I said before, we are to argue in one
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Speaker 1: way concerning the will of God preached, revealed and offered
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Speaker 1: unto us, and worshiped by us, and in another concerning
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Speaker 1: God himself, not preached, not revealed, not offered unto us,
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Speaker 1: and worshiped by us. In whatever therefore, God hides himself
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Speaker 1: and will be unknown by us, That is nothing unto us.
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Speaker 1: And here that sentiment stands good. What is above us
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Speaker 1: does not concern us, And that no one might think
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Speaker 1: that this distinction is my own. I follow Paul, who,
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Speaker 1: writing to the Thessalonians concerning antichrist saith. Second Thessalonians two four,
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Speaker 1: that he should exalt himself above all, that is God
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Speaker 1: as preached and worshiped, evidently intimating that any one might
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Speaker 1: be exalted above God as he is preached and worshiped,
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Speaker 1: that is, above the word and worship of God, by
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Speaker 1: which he is known unto us and has intercourse with us.
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Speaker 1: But above God not worshiped and preached, that is, as
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Speaker 1: he is in his own nature and majesty. Nothing can
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Speaker 1: be exalted, but all things are under his powerful hand. God.
20:00
Speaker 1: God therefore is to be left to remain in his
20:02
Speaker 1: own nature and majesty. For in this respect we have
20:06
Speaker 1: nothing to do with him, nor does he wish us
20:08
Speaker 1: to have, in this respect anything to do with him.
20:11
Speaker 1: But we have to do with him as far as
20:13
Speaker 1: he is clothed in and delivered to us by his word,
20:17
Speaker 1: For in that he presents himself unto us, and that
20:20
Speaker 1: is his beauty and his glory, in which the Psalmist
20:23
Speaker 1: celebrates him as being clothed. Wherefore we say that the
20:27
Speaker 1: Righteous God does not deplore that death of his people,
20:30
Speaker 1: which he himself works in them. But he deplores that death,
20:33
Speaker 1: which he finds in his people, and which he desires
20:36
Speaker 1: to remove from them. For God Preached desires this, that
20:40
Speaker 1: our sin and death being taken away, we might be saved.
20:44
Speaker 1: He sent his word and healed them Psalm one hundred
20:47
Speaker 1: seven twenty. But God hidden in majesty, neither deplores nor
20:51
Speaker 1: takes away death, but works life and death and all things.
20:55
Speaker 1: Nor has he in this character defined himself in his word,
20:59
Speaker 1: but as we deserved unto himself, a free power over
21:02
Speaker 1: all things. But the diatribe is deceived by its own
21:06
Speaker 1: ignorance in not making a distinction between God Preached and
21:09
Speaker 1: God Hidden, that is, between the Word of God and
21:12
Speaker 1: God himself. God does many things which he does not
21:16
Speaker 1: make known unto us in his word. He also wills
21:19
Speaker 1: many things which he does not, in his word make
21:21
Speaker 1: known unto us that he wills. Thus, he does not
21:24
Speaker 1: will the death of a sinner that is in his word,
21:27
Speaker 1: but he wills it by that will inscrutable. But in
21:31
Speaker 1: the present case we are to consider his word only
21:34
Speaker 1: and to leave that will inscrutable, seeing that it is
21:38
Speaker 1: by his word and not by that will inscrutable, that
21:41
Speaker 1: we are to be guided. For who can direct himself
21:44
Speaker 1: according to a will inscrutable and incomprehensible. It is enough
21:48
Speaker 1: to know only that there is in God a certain
21:51
Speaker 1: will inscrutable. But what, why, and how far that will wills?
21:57
Speaker 1: It is not lawful to inquire, to wish, to know,
22:00
Speaker 1: to be concerned about, or to reach unto. It is
22:03
Speaker 1: only to be feared and adored. Therefore, it is rightly said,
22:07
Speaker 1: if God does not desire our death, it is to
22:10
Speaker 1: be laid to the charge of our own will. If
22:12
Speaker 1: we perish. This, I say is right if you speak
22:16
Speaker 1: of God preached, for he desires that all men should
22:19
Speaker 1: be saved, seeing that he comes unto all by the
22:22
Speaker 1: word of salvation. And it is the fault of the
22:25
Speaker 1: will which does not receive him as he saith. Matthew
22:28
Speaker 1: twenty three thirty seven. How often would I have gathered
22:32
Speaker 1: thy children together? And thou wouldest not? But why that,
22:36
Speaker 1: Majest THEE does not take away or change this fault
22:38
Speaker 1: of the will in all, seeing that it is not
22:41
Speaker 1: in the power of man to do it, Or why
22:44
Speaker 1: he lays that to the charge of the will which
22:46
Speaker 1: the man cannot avoid. It becomes us not to inquire.
22:51
Speaker 1: And though you should inquire much, yet you will never
22:53
Speaker 1: find out, as Paul Saith Romans nine twenty, who art
22:57
Speaker 1: thou that repliest against God? Suffice it to a spoken
23:01
Speaker 1: Thus upon the passage of Ezekiel. Now let us proceed
23:04
Speaker 1: to the remaining particulars Section sixty five. The diatribe next argues,
23:10
Speaker 1: if what is commanded be not in the power of
23:13
Speaker 1: every one, all the numberless exhortations in the scriptures, and
23:17
Speaker 1: also all the promises, threatenings, expostulations, reproofs, as severations, benedictions
23:23
Speaker 1: and maledictions, together with all the forms of precepts, must
23:26
Speaker 1: of necessity stand coldly useless. The diatribe is perpetually forgetting
23:32
Speaker 1: the subject point and going on with that which is
23:35
Speaker 1: contrary to its professed design. And it does not see
23:39
Speaker 1: that all these things make with greater force against itself
23:42
Speaker 1: than against us. For from all these passages it proves
23:47
Speaker 1: the liberty and ability to fulfill all things, as the
23:50
Speaker 1: very words of the conclusion which it draws necessarily declare.
23:54
Speaker 1: Whereas its design was to prove that free will is
23:57
Speaker 1: that which cannot will anything good without grace, and is
24:01
Speaker 1: a certain endeavor that is not to be ascribed to
24:04
Speaker 1: its own powers. But I do not see that such
24:08
Speaker 1: an endeavor is proved by any of these passages, but that,
24:12
Speaker 1: as I have repeatedly said already, that only is required
24:15
Speaker 1: which ought to be done, unless it be needful to
24:18
Speaker 1: repeat it again as often as the diatribe harps upon
24:21
Speaker 1: the same string, putting off its readers with a useless
24:24
Speaker 1: profusion of words. About the last passage which it brings
24:28
Speaker 1: forward out of the Old Testament is that of Deuteronomy
24:32
Speaker 1: thirty eleven through fourteen. This commandment, which I command THEE
24:36
Speaker 1: to day, is not above THEE, neither is it far off.
24:40
Speaker 1: Neither is it in heaven that thou shouldst say, who
24:43
Speaker 1: of us shall ascend up into heaven and bring it
24:45
Speaker 1: down unto us, that we may hear it and do it.
24:48
Speaker 1: But the word is very nigh unto THEE in thy
24:51
Speaker 1: mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
24:55
Speaker 1: The diatribe contends that it is declared by this passage
24:59
Speaker 1: that what is command, and it is not only placed
25:01
Speaker 1: in us, but is downhill work that is easy to
25:05
Speaker 1: be done, or at least not difficult. I think the
25:09
Speaker 1: diatribe for such wonderful erudition. For if Moses so plainly
25:13
Speaker 1: declare that there is in us not only an ability,
25:15
Speaker 1: but also a power to keep all the commandments with ease?
25:19
Speaker 1: Why have I been toiling all this time? Why did
25:22
Speaker 1: I not at once produce this passage and assert free
25:25
Speaker 1: will before the whole world? What need now of Christ?
25:28
Speaker 1: What need of the Spirit? We have now found a
25:31
Speaker 1: passage which stops the mouths of all, and which not
25:35
Speaker 1: only plainly asserts the liberty of the will, but teaches
25:38
Speaker 1: that the observance of all the commandments is easy. What
25:41
Speaker 1: need was there for Christ to purchase for us, even
25:44
Speaker 1: with his own blood, the spirit, as though necessary, in
25:48
Speaker 1: order that He might make the keeping of the commandments
25:50
Speaker 1: easy unto us, when we were already thus qualified by nature. Nay,
25:55
Speaker 1: Here the diatribe itself recants its own assertions, where it
25:59
Speaker 1: affirms that free will cannot will anything good without grace,
26:03
Speaker 1: and now affirms that free will is of such power
26:06
Speaker 1: that it can not only will good, but keep the greatest, nay,
26:10
Speaker 1: all the commandments with ease. Only observe, I pray what
26:16
Speaker 1: a mind does where the heart is not in the cause,
26:19
Speaker 1: And how impossible it is that it should not expose itself?
26:23
Speaker 1: And can there still be any need to confute the diatribe,
26:26
Speaker 1: who can more effectually confute it than it confutes itself.
26:31
Speaker 1: This truly is that beast that devours itself. How true
26:35
Speaker 1: is the proverb that a liar should have a good memory.
26:39
Speaker 1: I have already spoken upon this passage of Deuteronomy, I
26:42
Speaker 1: shall now treat upon it briefly, if indeed there be
26:45
Speaker 1: any needs so far to set aside. Paul, who Romans
26:49
Speaker 1: ten five through eleven so powerfully handles this passage, You
26:53
Speaker 1: can see nothing here to be said, nor one single
26:55
Speaker 1: syllable to speak, either of the ease or difficulty of
26:59
Speaker 1: the or impotency of free will, or of man, either
27:03
Speaker 1: to keep or not to keep the commandments, except that
27:07
Speaker 1: those who entangle the scriptures in their own conclusions and
27:10
Speaker 1: cogitations make them obscure and ambiguous to themselves, that they
27:15
Speaker 1: might thus make of them what they please. But if
27:19
Speaker 1: you cannot turn your eyes this way, turn your ears
27:22
Speaker 1: or feel out what I am about to say with
27:24
Speaker 1: your hands, Moses saith. It is not above thee, neither
27:30
Speaker 1: is it far from thee. Neither is it in heaven,
27:33
Speaker 1: neither is it beneath the sea. Now, what is the
27:36
Speaker 1: meaning of this above thee? What of this far from thee?
27:40
Speaker 1: What of this in heaven? What of this beyond the sea?
27:45
Speaker 1: Will they then make the most commonly used terms in
27:48
Speaker 1: even grammar so obscure unto us, that we shall not
27:51
Speaker 1: be able to speak anything to a certainty, merely that
27:54
Speaker 1: they might establish their assertion that the scriptures are obscure.
27:59
Speaker 1: According to Migrat, these terms signify neither the quality nor
28:03
Speaker 1: the quantity of human powers, but the distance of places only.
28:07
Speaker 1: For above thee does not signify a certain power of
28:10
Speaker 1: the will, but a certain place which is above us.
28:13
Speaker 1: So also far from thee in heaven beyond the sea
28:17
Speaker 1: do not signify anything of ability in man, but a
28:20
Speaker 1: certain place at a distance above us, or on our
28:24
Speaker 1: right hand, or on our left hand, or behind us,
28:26
Speaker 1: or over against us. Some one may perhaps laugh at
28:30
Speaker 1: me for disputing in so plain a way, thus setting,
28:33
Speaker 1: as it were already marked out lesson before such great men,
28:37
Speaker 1: as though they were little boys learning their alphabet, and
28:40
Speaker 1: I were teaching them how to put syllables together. But
28:43
Speaker 1: what can I do when I see darkness to be
28:46
Speaker 1: sought for in a light so clear, and those studiously
28:50
Speaker 1: desiring to be blind who boastingly enumerate before us such
28:53
Speaker 1: a series of ages, so much talent, so many saints,
28:57
Speaker 1: so many martyrs, so many doctors, and who with so
29:00
Speaker 1: much authority, boast of this passage, and yet will not
29:03
Speaker 1: deign to look at the syllables, or to command their
29:07
Speaker 1: cogitations so far as to give the passage of which
29:09
Speaker 1: they boast one consideration. Let the diatribe now go home
29:14
Speaker 1: and consider and say how it can be that one
29:17
Speaker 1: poor private individual should see that which escaped the notice
29:20
Speaker 1: of so many public characters and of the greatest men
29:23
Speaker 1: of so many ages. This passage, surely, even in the
29:27
Speaker 1: judgment of a schoolboy, proves that they must have been blind,
29:30
Speaker 1: not very unfrequently. What therefore does Moses mean by these
29:35
Speaker 1: most plain and clear words, but that he has worthily
29:39
Speaker 1: performed his office as a faithful lawgiver, And that therefore,
29:43
Speaker 1: if all men have not before their eyes and do
29:45
Speaker 1: not know all the precepts which are enjoined, the fault
29:48
Speaker 1: does not rest with him. That they have no place
29:51
Speaker 1: left them for excuse so as to say they did
29:54
Speaker 1: not know, or had not the precepts, or were obliged
29:57
Speaker 1: to seek them elsewhere. That if they do not not
30:00
Speaker 1: keep them. The fault rests not with the law or
30:03
Speaker 1: with the law giver, but with themselves, seeing that the
30:06
Speaker 1: law is before them, and the law giver has taught them,
30:09
Speaker 1: and that they have no place left for excusation of ignorance,
30:12
Speaker 1: only for accusation of negligence and disobedience. It is not
30:17
Speaker 1: saith He necessary to fetch the laws down from heaven,
30:21
Speaker 1: nor from lands beyond the sea, nor from afar. Nor
30:24
Speaker 1: can you frame as an excuse that you never had
30:27
Speaker 1: them or heard them, For you have them nigh unto you.
30:31
Speaker 1: They are they which God hath commanded, which you have
30:34
Speaker 1: heard from my mouth, and which you have had in
30:37
Speaker 1: your hearts and in your mouths. Continually you have heard
30:40
Speaker 1: them treated on by the levites in the midst of you,
30:43
Speaker 1: of which this my word and book are witnesses. This
30:46
Speaker 1: therefore only remains that you do them. What I pray
30:51
Speaker 1: you is here attributed unto free will. What is there
30:56
Speaker 1: but the demanding that it would do the laws which
30:58
Speaker 1: it has, and the taking away from it the excuse
31:01
Speaker 1: of ignorance and the want of the laws. These passages
31:05
Speaker 1: are the sum of what the diatribe brings forward out
31:07
Speaker 1: of the Old Testament in support of free will, which
31:11
Speaker 1: being answered, there remains nothing that is not answered at
31:14
Speaker 1: the same time, whether it have brought forward or wished
31:17
Speaker 1: to bring forward more seeing that it could bring forward,
31:20
Speaker 1: nothing but imperative or conditional or uptative passages, by which
31:26
Speaker 1: is signified not what we can do or do do,
31:29
Speaker 1: as I have so often replied to the so often
31:31
Speaker 1: repeating diatribe, but what we ought to do and what
31:35
Speaker 1: is required of us in order that we might come
31:38
Speaker 1: to the knowledge of our impotency, and that there might
31:41
Speaker 1: be wrought in us the knowledge of our sin. Or
31:44
Speaker 1: if they do prove anything by means of the appended
31:47
Speaker 1: conclusions and similitudes invented by human reason, they prove this
31:52
Speaker 1: that free will is not a certain small degree of
31:54
Speaker 1: endeavor or desire only, but a full and free ability
31:58
Speaker 1: and power to do all things without the grace of
32:01
Speaker 1: God and without the Holy Spirit. Thus, nothing less is
32:05
Speaker 1: proved by the whole sum of that copious and again
32:07
Speaker 1: and again reiterated and inculcated argumentation than that which was
32:12
Speaker 1: aimed at to be proved. That is the probable opinion
32:16
Speaker 1: by which free will is defined to be of that impotency,
32:20
Speaker 1: that it cannot will anything good without grace, but is
32:23
Speaker 1: compelled unto the service of sin, though it has an
32:26
Speaker 1: endeavor which nevertheless is not to be ascribed to its
32:29
Speaker 1: own powers. A monster truly, which at the same time
32:34
Speaker 1: can do nothing by its own power, and yet has
32:36
Speaker 1: an endeavor within its own power, and thus stands upon
32:39
Speaker 1: the basis of the most manifest contradiction Section sixty six.
32:45
Speaker 1: Now we come to the New Testament, where again are
32:48
Speaker 1: marshaled up in defense of that miserable bondage of free
32:50
Speaker 1: will and host of imperative sentences, together with all the
32:54
Speaker 1: auxiliaries of carnal reasons, such as conclusions, similitudes, and so
32:59
Speaker 1: forth called in from all quarters. And if you ever
33:02
Speaker 1: saw represented in a picture, or imagined in a dream,
33:05
Speaker 1: a king of flies, attended by his forces, armed with
33:08
Speaker 1: lances and shields of straw or hay, drawn up in
33:11
Speaker 1: battle array against the real and complete army of veteran warriors,
33:15
Speaker 1: it is just thus that the human dreams of the
33:18
Speaker 1: diatribe are drawn up in battle array against the hosts
33:21
Speaker 1: of the Word of God. First of all, march is
33:25
Speaker 1: forth in front that of Matthew twenty three thirty seven
33:28
Speaker 1: through thirty nine, as it were the Achilles of these flies.
33:32
Speaker 1: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy
33:36
Speaker 1: children together? And thou wouldest not if all things be
33:40
Speaker 1: done from necessity, says the diatribe, might not Jerusalem here
33:44
Speaker 1: have justly said in reply to the Lord, why dost
33:47
Speaker 1: thou weary thyself with useless tears? If thou didst not
33:51
Speaker 1: will that we should kill the prophets, why didst thou
33:53
Speaker 1: send them? Why dost thou lay that to our charge,
33:57
Speaker 1: which from will in thee was done of necessity by us?
34:01
Speaker 1: Thus the diatribe I answer, granting in the mean time
34:06
Speaker 1: that this conclusion in proof of the diatribe is good
34:08
Speaker 1: and true. What I ask is proved thereby that probable
34:13
Speaker 1: opinion which affirms that free will cannot will good. Nay,
34:17
Speaker 1: the will is proved to be free, whole and able
34:20
Speaker 1: to do all things which the prophets have spoken, And
34:23
Speaker 1: such a will the diatribe never intended to prove. But
34:26
Speaker 1: let the diatribe here reply to itself. If free will
34:30
Speaker 1: cannot will good, why is it laid to its charge
34:33
Speaker 1: that it did not hear the prophets whom as they
34:36
Speaker 1: taught good? It could not hear by its own powers.
34:40
Speaker 1: Why it is Christ in useless tears weep over those
34:43
Speaker 1: as though they could have willed that which He certainly
34:46
Speaker 1: knew they could not will. Here, I say, let the
34:50
Speaker 1: diatribe free Christ from the imputation of madness according to
34:54
Speaker 1: its probable opinion, and then my opinion is immediately set
34:58
Speaker 1: free from that Achilles the flies. Therefore, that passage of
35:03
Speaker 1: Matthew either forcibly proves free will altogether, or makes with
35:07
Speaker 1: equal force against the diatribe itself and strikes it prostrate
35:10
Speaker 1: with its own weapon. But I here observe, as I
35:14
Speaker 1: have observed before, that we are not to dispute concerning
35:17
Speaker 1: that secret will of the divine majesty, and that that
35:22
Speaker 1: human temerity, which, with incessant perverseness, is ever leaving those
35:26
Speaker 1: things that are necessary, and attacking and trying this point
35:29
Speaker 1: is to be called off and driven back, that it
35:32
Speaker 1: employing not itself in prying into those secrets of majesty
35:35
Speaker 1: which it is impossible to attain unto, seeing that they
35:38
Speaker 1: dwell in that light which is inaccessible, as Paul witnesseth
35:42
Speaker 1: for Timothy six sixteen. But let the man acquaint himself
35:46
Speaker 1: with the God Incarnate, or as Paul saith with Jesus crucified,
35:51
Speaker 1: in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
35:54
Speaker 1: but hidden, For in him there is an abundance, both
35:58
Speaker 1: of that which he ought to know and of that
36:01
Speaker 1: which he ought not to know. The God Incarnate, then
36:04
Speaker 1: here speaks, Thus I would, and thou wouldst not. The
36:09
Speaker 1: God Incarnate, I say, was sent for this purpose, that
36:13
Speaker 1: he might desire, speak, do, suffer, and offer unto all
36:17
Speaker 1: all things that are necessary unto salvation, although he should
36:21
Speaker 1: offend many who, being either left or hardened by that
36:24
Speaker 1: secret will of majesty, should not receive him. Thus desiring, speaking, doing,
36:29
Speaker 1: and offering is John one. Five saith. The light shineth
36:33
Speaker 1: in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And again
36:37
Speaker 1: he came unto his own, and his own received him
36:40
Speaker 1: not eleven. It belongs also to this same God Incarnate
36:44
Speaker 1: to weep, to lament, and to sigh over the perdition
36:47
Speaker 1: of the wicked, even while that will of majesty from
36:51
Speaker 1: purpose believes and reprobates some that they might perish. Nor
36:55
Speaker 1: does it become us to inquire why he does so,
36:58
Speaker 1: but to revere that God who can do and wills
37:01
Speaker 1: to do such things. Nor do I suppose that any
37:05
Speaker 1: one will coavilliingly deny that that will which here saith.
37:09
Speaker 1: How often would I was displayed to the Jews even
37:12
Speaker 1: before God became incarnate, seeing that they are accused of
37:16
Speaker 1: having slain the prophets before Christ, and having thus resisted
37:19
Speaker 1: His will. For it is well known among Christians that
37:22
Speaker 1: all things were done by the prophets in the name
37:25
Speaker 1: of Christ to come, who was promised that he should
37:28
Speaker 1: become incarnate. So that whatever has been offered unto men
37:31
Speaker 1: by the ministers of the Word from the foundation of
37:33
Speaker 1: the world may be rightly called the will of Christ
37:38
Speaker 1: Section sixty seven. But here reason, who is always very
37:42
Speaker 1: knowing and loquacious, will say this is an excellently invented
37:46
Speaker 1: scape gap, that as often as we are pressed close
37:49
Speaker 1: by the force of arguments, we might run back to
37:52
Speaker 1: that to be revered will of majesty, and thus silence
37:56
Speaker 1: the disputant as soon as he becomes troublesome. Just as
37:59
Speaker 1: estrologe do, who by their invented epicycles, elude all questions
38:04
Speaker 1: concerning the motion of the whole heaven, I answer it
38:08
Speaker 1: is no invention of mine, but a command supported by
38:11
Speaker 1: the holy scriptures. Paul Romans nine nineteen speaks. Thus, why
38:16
Speaker 1: therefore doth God find fault for who hath resisted His will? Nay,
38:22
Speaker 1: but O man who art thou that contendest with God
38:26
Speaker 1: hath not the potter power, and so on and before
38:30
Speaker 1: him Isaiah fifty eight two. Yet they seek me daily
38:34
Speaker 1: and desire to know my ways. As a nation that
38:36
Speaker 1: did righteousness. They ask of me the ordinances of justice,
38:40
Speaker 1: and desire to approach unto God. From these words, it is,
38:45
Speaker 1: I think sufficiently manifest that it is not lawful for
38:48
Speaker 1: men to search into that will of majesty. And this
38:52
Speaker 1: subject is of that nature that perverse. Men are here
38:55
Speaker 1: the most led to pry into that to be revered will,
38:59
Speaker 1: And therefore there is here the greatest reason why they
39:02
Speaker 1: should be exhorted to silence and reverence. In other subjects,
39:06
Speaker 1: where those things are handled for which we can give
39:08
Speaker 1: a reason, and for which we are commanded to give
39:11
Speaker 1: a reason, we do not this. And if any one
39:14
Speaker 1: still persists in searching into the reason of that will,
39:17
Speaker 1: and do not choose to hearken to our admonition, we
39:20
Speaker 1: let him go on and like the giants, fight against God,
39:24
Speaker 1: while we look on to see what triumph he will gain,
39:27
Speaker 1: persuaded in ourselves that he will do nothing either to
39:30
Speaker 1: injure our cause or to advance his own, for it
39:34
Speaker 1: will still remain unalterable. That he must either prove that
39:38
Speaker 1: free will can do all things, or that the scriptures
39:41
Speaker 1: which he adduces must make against himself, and whichsoever of
39:45
Speaker 1: the two shall take place, He vanquished lies prostrate, while we,
39:49
Speaker 1: as conquerors, stand upright Section sixty eight. Another passage is
39:55
Speaker 1: that of Matthew nineteen seventeen. If thou wilt enter into life,
39:59
Speaker 1: keep the command with what face? Says the diatribe? Can
40:04
Speaker 1: if thou wilt be said to him who has not
40:06
Speaker 1: a free will? To which I reply, is therefore the
40:11
Speaker 1: will according to this word of Christ free? But you
40:14
Speaker 1: wish to prove that free will cannot will anything good,
40:18
Speaker 1: and that without grace it of necessity serves sin. With
40:21
Speaker 1: what face, then do you now make will wholly free?
40:26
Speaker 1: The same reply will be made to that also, if
40:29
Speaker 1: thou wilt be perfect, If any one will come after me,
40:32
Speaker 1: he that will save his life, if ye love me,
40:36
Speaker 1: if ye shall continue in a word, as I said before,
40:39
Speaker 1: to ease the diatribe's labor in adducing such a load
40:42
Speaker 1: of words, let all the conditional ifs and all the
40:45
Speaker 1: imperative verbs be collected together. All these precepts, says the diatribe,
40:50
Speaker 1: stand coldly useless if nothing be attributed to the human will.
40:55
Speaker 1: How ill is that conjunctive if accord with mere necessity?
41:00
Speaker 1: I answer, if they stand coldly useless, it is your
41:03
Speaker 1: fault that they stand coldly useless. Who at one time
41:06
Speaker 1: assert that nothing is to be attributed to free will,
41:09
Speaker 1: while you make free will unable to will good, and who,
41:12
Speaker 1: on the contrary, here make the same free will able
41:15
Speaker 1: to will all good. Nay, you thus make them to
41:18
Speaker 1: stand as nothing at all, unless with you the same
41:21
Speaker 1: words stand coldly useless and warmly useful at the same time,
41:25
Speaker 1: while they at once assert all things and deny all things.
41:30
Speaker 1: I wonder how any author can delight in repeating the
41:32
Speaker 1: same things so continually, and to be as continually forgetting
41:36
Speaker 1: his subject designed, unless, perhaps distrusting his cause, he wishes
41:41
Speaker 1: to overcome his adversaries by the bulk of his book,
41:44
Speaker 1: or to weary him out with the tedium and toil
41:46
Speaker 1: of reading it. By what conclusion, I ask, does it
41:50
Speaker 1: follow that will and power must immediately take place? As
41:54
Speaker 1: often as it is said, if thou wilt, if any
41:57
Speaker 1: one will, if thou shalt, do we not most frequently
42:01
Speaker 1: imply in such expressions impotency rather and impossibility. For instance,
42:08
Speaker 1: if thou wilt equal Virgil in singing my friend mebeus,
42:12
Speaker 1: thou must sing in another strain. If thou wilt surpass
42:16
Speaker 1: Cicero friend Scotus instead of thy subtle jargon, thou must
42:20
Speaker 1: have the most exalted eloquence. If thou wilt stand in
42:24
Speaker 1: competition with David, thou must, of necessity produce psalms like his.
42:29
Speaker 1: Here are plainly signified things impossible to our own powers,
42:33
Speaker 1: although by divine power all these things may be done.
42:36
Speaker 1: So it is in the scriptures that by such expressions
42:39
Speaker 1: it might be shown what we cannot do ourselves, but
42:42
Speaker 1: what can be done in us by the power of God. Moreover,
42:47
Speaker 1: if such expressions should be used in those things which
42:49
Speaker 1: are utterly impossible to be done, as being those which
42:53
Speaker 1: God would never do, then indeed they might rightly be
42:56
Speaker 1: called either coldly useless or ridiculous, because they would be
43:00
Speaker 1: in vain, whereas now they are so used that by them,
43:04
Speaker 1: not only the impotency of free will is shown, by
43:07
Speaker 1: which no one of those things can be done, but
43:09
Speaker 1: it is also signified that a time will come when
43:12
Speaker 1: all those things shall be done, but by a power
43:15
Speaker 1: not our own, that is, by the divine power, provided
43:19
Speaker 1: that we fully admit that in such expressions there is
43:22
Speaker 1: a certain signification of things possible and to be done,
43:26
Speaker 1: as if any one should interpret them. Thus, if thou
43:29
Speaker 1: wilt keep the commandments, that is, if thou shalt at
43:32
Speaker 1: any time have the will to keep the commandments, though
43:36
Speaker 1: thou wilt have it not of thyself, but of God,
43:38
Speaker 1: who giveth it to whom he will, they also shall
43:42
Speaker 1: preserve thee. But to take a wider scope, these expressions,
43:47
Speaker 1: especially those which are conditional, seem to be so placed
43:50
Speaker 1: also on account of the predestination of God, and to
43:53
Speaker 1: involve that as being unknown to us, as if they
43:57
Speaker 1: should speak Thus, if thou desire, if thou wilt, that is,
44:02
Speaker 1: if thou be such with God that He shall deign
44:04
Speaker 1: to give THEE this will to keep the commandments, thou
44:07
Speaker 1: shalt be saved. According to which manner of speaking it
44:11
Speaker 1: is given us to understand both truths, that we can
44:14
Speaker 1: do nothing ourselves, and that if we do anything, God
44:18
Speaker 1: works that in us. This is what I would say
44:22
Speaker 1: to those who will not be content to have it
44:24
Speaker 1: said that by these words our impotency only is shown,
44:28
Speaker 1: And who will contend that there has also proved a
44:30
Speaker 1: certain power and ability to do those things which are commanded.
44:35
Speaker 1: And in this way it will also appear to be
44:37
Speaker 1: truth that we are not able to do any of
44:39
Speaker 1: the things which are commanded, and yet that we are
44:42
Speaker 1: able to do them all. That is speaking of the
44:45
Speaker 1: former with reference to our own powers, and of the
44:48
Speaker 1: latter with reference to the grace of God Section sixty nine.
44:53
Speaker 1: The third particular that moves the diatribe is this, how
44:57
Speaker 1: there can be it observes any place for mereness necessity
45:00
Speaker 1: there where mention is so frequently made of good works
45:03
Speaker 1: and of bad works, and where there is mention made
45:06
Speaker 1: of reward I cannot understand, for neither nature nor necessity
45:10
Speaker 1: can have merit, Nor can I understand anything but this
45:14
Speaker 1: that that probable opinion asserts mere necessity, where it affirms
45:18
Speaker 1: that free will cannot will anything good, and yet nevertheless
45:22
Speaker 1: here attributes to it even merit. Hence, free will gains
45:27
Speaker 1: ground so fast as the book and argumentation of the
45:29
Speaker 1: Diatribe increases, that now it not only has an endeavor
45:34
Speaker 1: and desire of its own, though not by its own powers, nay,
45:38
Speaker 1: not only wills good and does good, but also merits
45:41
Speaker 1: eternal life according to that saying of Christ Matthew five twelve.
45:45
Speaker 1: Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, For great is your reward
45:49
Speaker 1: in heaven, your reward that is the reward of free will.
45:54
Speaker 1: For the diatribe so understands this passage that Christ and
45:58
Speaker 1: the Spirit of God are nothing, for what need is
46:01
Speaker 1: there of them? If we have good works and merit
46:04
Speaker 1: by free will. I say these things that we may
46:07
Speaker 1: see that it is no rare thing for men of
46:09
Speaker 1: exalted talent to be blind in a matter which is
46:11
Speaker 1: plainly manifest, even to one of a thick and uninformed understanding,
46:16
Speaker 1: And that we may also see how weak arguments drawn
46:19
Speaker 1: from human authority are in divine things, where the authority
46:22
Speaker 1: of God alone avails. But we have here to speak
46:26
Speaker 1: upon two things. First upon the precepts of the New Testament,
46:29
Speaker 1: and next upon merit. We shall touch upon each briefly,
46:33
Speaker 1: having already spoken upon them more fully Elsewhere, the New
46:37
Speaker 1: Testament properly consists of promises and exhortations, even as the
46:42
Speaker 1: Old properly consists of laws and threatenings. For in the
46:46
Speaker 1: New Testament the Gospel is preached, which is nothing else
46:49
Speaker 1: than the word by which are offered unto us the spirit,
46:52
Speaker 1: grace and the remission of sins obtained for us by
46:55
Speaker 1: Christ crucified, and all entirely free through the mere mercy
46:59
Speaker 1: of God Father, thus favoring us unworthy creatures who deserve
47:04
Speaker 1: damnation rather than anything else. And then follow exhortations in
47:09
Speaker 1: order to animate those who are already justified and who
47:12
Speaker 1: have obtained mercy, to be diligent in the fruits of
47:15
Speaker 1: the spirit and of righteousness received, to exercise themselves in
47:19
Speaker 1: charity and good works, and to bear courageously the cross
47:23
Speaker 1: and all the other tribulations of this world. This is
47:26
Speaker 1: the whole sum of the New Testament. But how little
47:29
Speaker 1: Erasmus understands of this matter is manifest from this. It
47:33
Speaker 1: knows not how to make any distinction between the Old
47:36
Speaker 1: Testament and the New, for it can see nothing anywhere
47:39
Speaker 1: but precepts by which men are formed to good manners only.
47:44
Speaker 1: But what the new birth is, the new creature, regeneration,
47:48
Speaker 1: and the whole work of the spirit. Of all this,
47:51
Speaker 1: it sees nothing whatever, so that I am struck with
47:54
Speaker 1: wonder and astonishment that the man who has spent so
47:57
Speaker 1: much time and study upon these things should know so
48:00
Speaker 1: little about them. This passage therefore, rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
48:05
Speaker 1: For great is your reward in Heaven agrees as well
48:08
Speaker 1: with free will, as light does with darkness. For Christ
48:12
Speaker 1: is there exhorting not free will, but his apostles, who
48:16
Speaker 1: were not only raised above free will in grace and justified,
48:20
Speaker 1: but were stationed in the ministry of the Word, that is,
48:22
Speaker 1: in the highest degree of grace, to endure the tribulations
48:26
Speaker 1: of the world. But we are now disputing about free will,
48:30
Speaker 1: and that particularly as it is without grace, which by
48:33
Speaker 1: laws and threats or The Old Testament is instructed in
48:37
Speaker 1: the knowledge of itself, only that it might flee to
48:39
Speaker 1: the promises presented to it in the New Testament Section seventy.
48:45
Speaker 1: As to merit or a proposed reward, what is it
48:49
Speaker 1: else but a certain promise? But that promise does not
48:53
Speaker 1: prove that we can do anything it proves nothing more
48:56
Speaker 1: than this. If any one shall do this thing or that,
49:00
Speaker 1: he shall then have a reward. Whereas our subject inquiry
49:03
Speaker 1: is not what reward is to be given, or how
49:07
Speaker 1: it is to be given, but whether or not we
49:09
Speaker 1: can do those things for the doing of which the
49:11
Speaker 1: reward is to be given. This is the point to
49:14
Speaker 1: be settled and proved. Would not these be ridiculous conclusions.
49:19
Speaker 1: The prize is set before all that run in the race.
49:21
Speaker 1: Therefore all can so run as to obtain. If Tsar
49:26
Speaker 1: shall conquer the Turks, he shall gain the kingdom of Syria.
49:29
Speaker 1: Therefore t Sar can conquer and does conquer the Turks.
49:33
Speaker 1: If free will shall gain dominion over sin, it shall
49:36
Speaker 1: be wholly before the Lord. Therefore free will is wholly
49:39
Speaker 1: before the Lord. But away with things so stupid and
49:43
Speaker 1: openly absurd, except that free will deserves to be proved
49:47
Speaker 1: what it is by arguments so excellent, Let us rather
49:51
Speaker 1: speak to this point, that necessity has neither merit nor reward.
49:56
Speaker 1: If we speak of the necessity of compulsion, it is true.
50:00
Speaker 1: If we speak of the necessity of immutability, it is false.
50:04
Speaker 1: For who would bestow a reward upon or ascribe merit
50:07
Speaker 1: to an unwilling workman. But with respect to those who
50:11
Speaker 1: do good or evil willingly, even though they cannot alter
50:15
Speaker 1: that necessity by their own power, the reward or punishment
50:19
Speaker 1: follows naturally and necessarily, as it is written, thou shalt
50:23
Speaker 1: render unto every man according to his works, Proverbs twenty
50:26
Speaker 1: four twelve. It naturally follows, if thou remain under water,
50:31
Speaker 1: thou wilt be suffocated, If thou swim out, thou wilt
50:35
Speaker 1: be saved. To be brief. As it respects merit or reward,
50:39
Speaker 1: you must speak either of the worthiness or of the consequence.
50:44
Speaker 1: If you speak of the worthiness, there is no merit,
50:47
Speaker 1: no reward. For if free will cannot of itself will good,
50:51
Speaker 1: but wills good by grace alone. For we are speaking
50:54
Speaker 1: of free will apart from grace, and inquiring into the
50:57
Speaker 1: power which properly belongs to each who does not see
51:01
Speaker 1: that good will, merit and reward belong to grace alone. Here,
51:06
Speaker 1: then again the diatribe descents from itself, while it argues
51:09
Speaker 1: from merit the freedom of the will, And with me
51:13
Speaker 1: against whom it fights, it stands in the same condemnation
51:16
Speaker 1: as ever that is its asserting that there is merit, reward,
51:20
Speaker 1: and liberty, makes the same as ever directly against itself,
51:24
Speaker 1: seeing that it asserted above that it could will nothing good,
51:28
Speaker 1: and undertook to prove that assertion. If you speak of
51:32
Speaker 1: the consequence, there is nothing, either good or evil, which
51:36
Speaker 1: has not its reward. And here arises an error, that,
51:40
Speaker 1: in speaking of merits and rewards, we agitate opinions and
51:44
Speaker 1: questions concerning worthiness, which has not existence, when we ought
51:48
Speaker 1: to be disputing concerning consequences. For there remains as a
51:52
Speaker 1: necessary consequence the judgment of God and a hell for
51:55
Speaker 1: the wicked, even though they themselves neither conceive nor think
51:59
Speaker 1: of such a reward word for their sins. Nay, they
52:02
Speaker 1: utterly detest it, and, as Peter Saith execrate it second
52:06
Speaker 1: Peter two ten through fourteen. In the same manner, there
52:10
Speaker 1: remains a kingdom for the just, even though they themselves
52:14
Speaker 1: neither seek it nor think of it. See that it
52:16
Speaker 1: was prepared for them by their father, not only before
52:19
Speaker 1: they themselves existed, but before the foundation of the world. Nay,
52:23
Speaker 1: if they should work good in order to obtain the kingdom,
52:26
Speaker 1: they never would obtain it, but would be numbered rather
52:29
Speaker 1: with the wicked, who with an evil and mercenary eye
52:33
Speaker 1: seek the things of self even in God, whereas the
52:36
Speaker 1: sons of God do good with a free will, seeking
52:39
Speaker 1: no reward but the glory and will of God only,
52:43
Speaker 1: ready to do good even if which is impossible, there
52:46
Speaker 1: were neither a kingdom nor Hell. These things are I
52:50
Speaker 1: believe sufficiently confirmed, even from that saying of Christ only
52:54
Speaker 1: which I have just cited Matthew twenty five thirty four. Come, ye,
52:58
Speaker 1: blessed of my Father, receive the Kingdom which was prepared
53:01
Speaker 1: for you from the foundation of the world. How can
53:04
Speaker 1: they merit that which is theirs and prepared for them
53:07
Speaker 1: before they had ever existed? So that we might much
53:10
Speaker 1: more rightly say, the Kingdom of God merits us its possessors,
53:15
Speaker 1: and thus place the merit where these place, the reward,
53:18
Speaker 1: and the reward where these place. The merit for the
53:21
Speaker 1: kingdom is not merited, but before prepared. And the sons
53:26
Speaker 1: of the Kingdom are before prepared for the Kingdom, but
53:29
Speaker 1: do not merit the Kingdom for themselves. That is, the
53:33
Speaker 1: Kingdom merits the sons, not the sons the Kingdom. So
53:37
Speaker 1: also Hell more properly merits and prepares its sons, seeing
53:40
Speaker 1: that Christ saith depart ye cursed into eternal fire prepared
53:45
Speaker 1: for the devil and his angels Matthew twenty five forty one,
53:50
Speaker 1: Section seventy one. But says the diatribe, what then, mean
53:54
Speaker 1: all those scriptures which promise a kingdom and threaten hell?
53:58
Speaker 1: Why is the word reward so often repeated in the scriptures?
54:01
Speaker 1: As thou hast thy reward, I am thy exceeding great
54:05
Speaker 1: reward again, who rendereth unto every man according to his work?
54:10
Speaker 1: And Paul Romans two six, who by patient continuance in
54:13
Speaker 1: well doing seeks for eternal life, and many of the
54:16
Speaker 1: same kind Romans two six and seven. It is answered
54:21
Speaker 1: by all these passages the consequence of reward is proved,
54:24
Speaker 1: and nothing else, but by no means the worthiness of merit,
54:28
Speaker 1: seeing that those who do good do it not from
54:31
Speaker 1: a servile and mercenary principle in order to obtain eternal life,
54:35
Speaker 1: but they seek eternal life. That is, they are in
54:38
Speaker 1: that way in which they shall come unto and find
54:41
Speaker 1: eternal life. So that seeking is striving with desire and
54:46
Speaker 1: pursuing with ardent diligence, that which always leads unto eternal life.
54:51
Speaker 1: And the reason why it is declared in the scriptures
54:54
Speaker 1: that those things shall follow and take place after a
54:56
Speaker 1: good or bad life, is that men might be instructed, monished, awakened,
55:01
Speaker 1: and terrified, For as by the law is the knowledge
55:04
Speaker 1: of sin Romans three twenty, and an admonition of our impotency,
55:09
Speaker 1: and as from that it cannot be inferred that we
55:12
Speaker 1: can do anything ourselves. So by these promises and threats
55:16
Speaker 1: there is conveyed an admonition by which we are taught
55:19
Speaker 1: what will follow sin, and that impotency made known by
55:23
Speaker 1: the law. But there is not by them anything of
55:26
Speaker 1: worthiness ascribed unto our merit. Wherefore, as the words of
55:30
Speaker 1: the law are for instruction and illumination, to teach us
55:34
Speaker 1: what we ought to do, and also what we are
55:37
Speaker 1: not able to do, so the words of reward, while
55:40
Speaker 1: they signify what will be hereafter, are for exhortation and threatening,
55:45
Speaker 1: by which the just are animated, comforted, and raised up
55:49
Speaker 1: to go forward, to persevere and to conquer, that they
55:53
Speaker 1: might not be wearied or disheartened, either in doing good
55:56
Speaker 1: or in enduring evil. As Paul exhorts his Corinthians, saying,
56:00
Speaker 1: be ye, steadfast, knowing that your labor is not in
56:03
Speaker 1: vain in the lord Fris Corinthians, fifteen fifty eight. So
56:08
Speaker 1: also God supports Abraham saying I am Thy exceeding great
56:12
Speaker 1: reward Genesis fifteen one. Just as in the same manner
56:16
Speaker 1: as you would console any one by signifying to him
56:20
Speaker 1: that his works certainly pleased God, which kind of consolation
56:24
Speaker 1: the scripture frequently uses. Nor is it a small consolation
56:28
Speaker 1: for any one to know that he so pleases God
56:31
Speaker 1: that nothing but a good consequence can follow, even though
56:34
Speaker 1: it seemed to him impossible Section seventy two. To this
56:40
Speaker 1: point pertain all those words which are spoken concerning the
56:42
Speaker 1: hope and expectation that those things which we hope for
56:46
Speaker 1: will certainly come to pass. For the pious do not
56:49
Speaker 1: hope because of these words themselves, nor do they expect
56:53
Speaker 1: such things because they hope for them. So also the wicked,
56:56
Speaker 1: by the words of threatening and the future judgment, are
56:59
Speaker 1: only terrified and cast down, that they might cease and
57:02
Speaker 1: abstain from sin, and not become proud, secure, and hardened
57:06
Speaker 1: in their sins. But if reason should here turn up
57:09
Speaker 1: her nose and say, why does God will these things
57:13
Speaker 1: to be done? By his words, when by such words
57:16
Speaker 1: nothing is affected, and when the will can turn itself
57:20
Speaker 1: neither one way nor the other. Why does he not
57:22
Speaker 1: do what he does without the word, when he can
57:24
Speaker 1: do all things without the word. For the will is
57:28
Speaker 1: of no more power and does no more with the word.
57:31
Speaker 1: If the spirit to move within be wanting, nor is
57:34
Speaker 1: it of less power, nor does it do less without
57:37
Speaker 1: the word, if the spirit be present. Seeing that all
57:40
Speaker 1: depends upon the power and operation of the Holy Spirit,
57:44
Speaker 1: I answer, thus, it pleaseth God not dig the spirit
57:48
Speaker 1: without the word, but through the Word, that He might
57:52
Speaker 1: have us as workers together with him, while we sound
57:55
Speaker 1: forth in the word, without what he alone works by
57:58
Speaker 1: the breath of his spirit within wheresoever it pleaseth him,
58:02
Speaker 1: which nevertheless he could do without the word. But such
58:05
Speaker 1: is not his will. And who are we that we
58:08
Speaker 1: should inquire into the cause of the divine will. It
58:11
Speaker 1: is enough for us to know that such is the
58:14
Speaker 1: will of God, and it becomes us bridling the temerity
58:18
Speaker 1: of reason, to reverence, love, and adore that will for Christ.
58:22
Speaker 1: Matthew eleven, twenty five and twenty six gives no other
58:26
Speaker 1: reason why the Gospel is hidden from the wise and
58:28
Speaker 1: revealed unto babes than this. So it pleased the Father
58:32
Speaker 1: in the same manner, also he might nourish us without bread.
58:36
Speaker 1: And indeed he has given a power which nourishes us
58:39
Speaker 1: without bread. As Matthew four four saith man doth not
58:43
Speaker 1: live by bread alone, but by the word of God.
58:46
Speaker 1: But yet it hath pleased him to nourish us by
58:49
Speaker 1: his spirit within, by means of the bread, and instead
58:52
Speaker 1: of the bread used without. It is certain therefore that
58:56
Speaker 1: merit cannot be proved from the reward, at least out
59:00
Speaker 1: of the scriptures, and that moreover, free will cannot be
59:03
Speaker 1: proved from merit, much less such a free will, as
59:06
Speaker 1: the diatribe set out to prove, that is, which of
59:09
Speaker 1: itself cannot will anything good. And even if you grant
59:13
Speaker 1: merit and add to it moreover those usual similitudes and
59:17
Speaker 1: conclusions of reason, such as it is commanded in vain,
59:21
Speaker 1: the reward is promised in vain. Threatenings are denounced in vain.
59:25
Speaker 1: If there be no free will. All these I say,
59:29
Speaker 1: if they prove anything, prove this, that free will can
59:32
Speaker 1: of itself do all things. But if it cannot of
59:37
Speaker 1: itself do all things, then that conclusion of reason still remains. Therefore,
59:42
Speaker 1: the precepts are given in vain, the promises are made
59:45
Speaker 1: in vain, and the threatenings are denounced in vain. Thus
59:49
Speaker 1: the diatribe is perpetually arguing against itself as often as
59:53
Speaker 1: it attempts to argue against me. For God alone, by
59:56
Speaker 1: his spirit works in us both merit and reward. But
1:00:00
Speaker 1: He makes known and declares each by his external word
1:00:03
Speaker 1: to the whole world, to the intent that His power
1:00:07
Speaker 1: and glory and our impotency and vileness might be proclaimed
1:00:10
Speaker 1: even among the wicked, the unbelieving, and the ignorant. Although
1:00:14
Speaker 1: those alone who fear God receive these things into their
1:00:17
Speaker 1: heart and keep them faithfully, the rest despise them Section
1:00:23
Speaker 1: seventy three. It would be too tedious to repeat here
1:00:27
Speaker 1: each imperative passage which the diatribe enumerates out of the
1:00:31
Speaker 1: New Testament, always tacking to them her own conclusions, and
1:00:35
Speaker 1: vainly arguing that those things which are so said are
1:00:38
Speaker 1: to no purpose, are superfluous, are coldly useless, are ridiculous,
1:00:43
Speaker 1: are nothing at all. If the will be not free,
1:00:48
Speaker 1: and I have already repeatedly observed, even to disgust that
1:00:51
Speaker 1: nothing whatever is affected by such arguments, and that if
1:00:55
Speaker 1: any thing be proved, the whole of free will is proved.
1:00:59
Speaker 1: And this is nothing less than overthrowing the diatribe altogether,
1:01:03
Speaker 1: seeing that it set out to prove such a free
1:01:06
Speaker 1: will as cannot of itself do good but serve sin,
1:01:10
Speaker 1: and then goes on to prove such a free will
1:01:12
Speaker 1: as can do all things. Thus throughout, forgetting and not
1:01:15
Speaker 1: knowing itself, it is mere cavillation. Where it makes these remarks.
1:01:20
Speaker 1: By their fruits, saith the Lord, ye shall know them.
1:01:23
Speaker 1: Matthew seven sixteen and twenty. He calls works fruits, and
1:01:27
Speaker 1: he calls them ours. But they are not ours. If
1:01:30
Speaker 1: all things are done by necessity, I pray you are
1:01:34
Speaker 1: not those things most rightly called ours, which we did
1:01:37
Speaker 1: not indeed make ourselves, but which we received from others.
1:01:41
Speaker 1: Why should not those works be called ours, which God
1:01:44
Speaker 1: has given unto us by his spirit? Shall we then
1:01:47
Speaker 1: not call Christ ours, because we did not make him,
1:01:51
Speaker 1: but only received him again? If we made all those
1:01:55
Speaker 1: things which are called ours, therefore we made our own eyes,
1:01:59
Speaker 1: we made our own hands, we made our own feet.
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Speaker 1: Unless you mean to say that our eyes, our hands,
1:02:05
Speaker 1: and our feet are not called our own. Nay, what
1:02:10
Speaker 1: have we that we did not receive? Saith Paul Fris
1:02:12
Speaker 1: Corinthians four seven. Shall we then say that those things
1:02:16
Speaker 1: are either not ours, or else we made them ourselves.
1:02:21
Speaker 1: But suppose they are called our fruits because we made them?
1:02:24
Speaker 1: Where then remains grace and the spirit? Nor does he say,
1:02:28
Speaker 1: by their fruits, which are in a certain small part
1:02:31
Speaker 1: their own, ye shall know them. This cavillation, rather, is ridiculous,
1:02:36
Speaker 1: superfluous to no purpose, coldly useless, nay absurd, and detestable,
1:02:42
Speaker 1: by which the holy words of God are defiled and profaned.
1:02:46
Speaker 1: In the same way also is that saying of Christ
1:02:48
Speaker 1: upon the cross trifled with Father. Forgive them, for they
1:02:51
Speaker 1: know not what they do Luke twenty three thirty four. Here,
1:02:56
Speaker 1: where some assertion might have been expected, which should make
1:02:59
Speaker 1: for free will, recourse, is again had to conclusions. How
1:03:04
Speaker 1: much more rightly says the diatribe. Would he have excused
1:03:07
Speaker 1: them on this ground because they have not a free will,
1:03:11
Speaker 1: nor can they if they willed it do otherwise? No,
1:03:15
Speaker 1: Nor is that free will which cannot will anything good
1:03:18
Speaker 1: concerning which we are disputing, proved by this conclusion either,
1:03:23
Speaker 1: But that free will is proved by which it can
1:03:25
Speaker 1: do all things concerning which no one disputes to accept
1:03:28
Speaker 1: the Pallagians. Here where Christ openly saith they know not
1:03:33
Speaker 1: what they do? Does he not testify that they could
1:03:36
Speaker 1: not will good? For how can you will that which
1:03:40
Speaker 1: you do not know? You certainly cannot desire that of
1:03:43
Speaker 1: which you know nothing. What more forcible can be advanced
1:03:47
Speaker 1: against free will than that it is such a thing
1:03:49
Speaker 1: of naught that it not only cannot will good, but
1:03:52
Speaker 1: cannot even know what evil it does and what good
1:03:55
Speaker 1: it does? Is there then any obscurity in this saying
1:03:59
Speaker 1: they know not what they do? What is there remaining
1:04:02
Speaker 1: in the scriptures which may not, upon authority of the diatribe,
1:04:05
Speaker 1: declare for free will? Since this word of Christ is
1:04:09
Speaker 1: made to declare for it, which is so clearly and
1:04:12
Speaker 1: so directly against it. In the same easy way, any
1:04:16
Speaker 1: one might affirm that this word declares for free will,
1:04:19
Speaker 1: and the earth was without form and void Genesis one two,
1:04:23
Speaker 1: or this and God rested on the seventh day Genesis
1:04:26
Speaker 1: two two, or any word of the same kind. Then
1:04:30
Speaker 1: indeed the scriptures would be obscure and ambiguous, Nay, would
1:04:34
Speaker 1: be nothing at all, but to dare to make use
1:04:37
Speaker 1: of the scriptures in this way argues a mind that
1:04:40
Speaker 1: is in a signal manner, a contemner both of God
1:04:43
Speaker 1: and man, and that deserves no forbearance whatever. Section seventy four.
1:04:49
Speaker 1: Again the diatribe receives that word of John one twelve
1:04:53
Speaker 1: to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Thus,
1:04:57
Speaker 1: how can there be power given unto them to become
1:04:59
Speaker 1: the sun of God if there be no liberty in
1:05:02
Speaker 1: our will? This word also is a hammer that beats
1:05:06
Speaker 1: down free will, as is nearly the whole of the
1:05:09
Speaker 1: evangelist John. And yet even this is brought forward in
1:05:12
Speaker 1: support of free will. Let us, I pray you just
1:05:15
Speaker 1: look into this word. John is not speaking concerning any
1:05:19
Speaker 1: work of man, either great or small, but concerning the
1:05:22
Speaker 1: very renewal and transformation of the old man, who is
1:05:25
Speaker 1: a son of the devil, into the new man, who
1:05:27
Speaker 1: is a son of God. This man is merely passive,
1:05:31
Speaker 1: as the term is used, nor does he do anything,
1:05:35
Speaker 1: but is wholly made. And John is speaking of being made.
1:05:39
Speaker 1: He saith, we are made the sons of God by
1:05:41
Speaker 1: a power given unto us from above, not by the
1:05:44
Speaker 1: power of free will inherent in ourselves. Whereas our friend
1:05:49
Speaker 1: diatribe here concludes that free will is of so much
1:05:52
Speaker 1: power that it makes us the sons of God. If not,
1:05:56
Speaker 1: it is prepared to aver that the word of John
1:05:58
Speaker 1: is ridiculous and stands coldly useless. But whoever so exalted
1:06:04
Speaker 1: free will as to assign unto it the power of
1:06:06
Speaker 1: making us the sons of God, especially such a free
1:06:09
Speaker 1: will as cannot even will good? Which free will it
1:06:13
Speaker 1: is that the diatribe has taken upon itself to establish.
1:06:17
Speaker 1: But let this conclusion be gone after the rest which
1:06:20
Speaker 1: have been so often repeated, by which nothing else is proved,
1:06:24
Speaker 1: if anything be proved at all, than that which the
1:06:27
Speaker 1: diatribe denies, that free will can do all things. The
1:06:31
Speaker 1: meaning of John is this that, by the coming of
1:06:35
Speaker 1: Christ into the world, by his gospel, by which grace
1:06:39
Speaker 1: was offered but not works required, a full opportunity was
1:06:43
Speaker 1: given to all men of becoming the sons of God
1:06:45
Speaker 1: if they would believe. But as to this willing and
1:06:49
Speaker 1: this believing on His name as free will, never knew
1:06:52
Speaker 1: it nor thought of it before. So much less could
1:06:55
Speaker 1: it then do it of its own power. For how
1:06:57
Speaker 1: could reason, then think that faith in Jesus as the
1:07:00
Speaker 1: Son of God and Man was necessary, when even at
1:07:03
Speaker 1: this day it could neither receive nor believe it. Though
1:07:06
Speaker 1: the whole creation should cry out together there is a
1:07:09
Speaker 1: certain person who is both God and Man. Nay, it
1:07:12
Speaker 1: is rather offended at such a saying, as Paul affirms
1:07:15
Speaker 1: First Corinthians one seventeen through thirty one. So far is
1:07:19
Speaker 1: it from possibility that it should either will it or
1:07:22
Speaker 1: believe it. John therefore is preaching not the power of
1:07:27
Speaker 1: free will, but the riches of the Kingdom of God
1:07:30
Speaker 1: offered to the world by the Gospel, and signifying at
1:07:33
Speaker 1: the same time how few there are who receive it,
1:07:36
Speaker 1: that is, from the enmity of the free will against it,
1:07:40
Speaker 1: the power of which is nothing else than this Satan
1:07:43
Speaker 1: reigning over it and causing it to reject grace and
1:07:46
Speaker 1: the spirit which fulfills the law. So excellently do its
1:07:50
Speaker 1: endeavor and desire avail unto the fulfilling of the law.
1:07:54
Speaker 1: But we shall hereafter show more fully what a thunderbolt
1:07:57
Speaker 1: this passage of John is against free will. Yet I
1:08:01
Speaker 1: am not a little astonished that passages which make so
1:08:04
Speaker 1: signally and so forcibly against free will are brought forward
1:08:07
Speaker 1: by the diatribe in support of free will, whose stupidity
1:08:11
Speaker 1: is such that it makes no distinction whatever between the
1:08:13
Speaker 1: promises and the words of the law. For it most
1:08:16
Speaker 1: ridiculously sets up free will by the words of the law,
1:08:19
Speaker 1: and far more absurdly still confirms it by the words
1:08:22
Speaker 1: of the promise. But how this absurdity is may be
1:08:27
Speaker 1: immediately solved, if it be but considered with what an
1:08:30
Speaker 1: unconcerned and contemptuous mind the diatribe is here disputing with
1:08:34
Speaker 1: whom it matters not whether grace stand or fall, whether
1:08:37
Speaker 1: free will lie prostrate or sit in state, if it
1:08:40
Speaker 1: can but by words of vanity, serve the turn of
1:08:43
Speaker 1: tyrants to the odium of the cause Section seventy five.
1:08:49
Speaker 1: After this it comes to Paul, also the most determined
1:08:52
Speaker 1: enemy to free will, And even he is dragged in
1:08:55
Speaker 1: to confirm free will, or despisest thou the riches of
1:09:00
Speaker 1: his goodness and patience and long suffering, not knowing that
1:09:03
Speaker 1: the goodness of God leadeth to repentance Romans two four.
1:09:07
Speaker 1: How says the diatribe, can the despising of the commandment
1:09:10
Speaker 1: be imputed? Where there is not a free will? How
1:09:13
Speaker 1: can God invite to repentance? Who is the author of impenitence?
1:09:18
Speaker 1: How can the damnation be just where the judge compels
1:09:21
Speaker 1: unto evil doing? I answer, Let the diatribe see to
1:09:25
Speaker 1: these questions itself. What are they unto us? The diatribe said,
1:09:30
Speaker 1: according to that probable opinion that free will cannot will
1:09:34
Speaker 1: good and is of necessity compelled to serve sin. How therefore,
1:09:39
Speaker 1: can the despising of the commandment be charged on the
1:09:41
Speaker 1: will if it cannot will good and has no liberty,
1:09:44
Speaker 1: but is necessarily compelled to the service of sin? How
1:09:47
Speaker 1: can God invite to repentance? Who is the author of
1:09:50
Speaker 1: the reason why it cannot repent while it leaves or
1:09:53
Speaker 1: does not leave grace to that which cannot of itself
1:09:57
Speaker 1: will good? How can the damnation be just where the judge,
1:10:01
Speaker 1: by taking away his aid, compels the wicked man to
1:10:04
Speaker 1: be left in his wickedness, who cannot, of his own
1:10:06
Speaker 1: power do otherwise? All these conclusions therefore recoil back upon
1:10:11
Speaker 1: the head of the diatribe. Or if they prove anything,
1:10:15
Speaker 1: as I said, they prove that free will can do
1:10:17
Speaker 1: all things, which, however, is denied by the diatribe, and
1:10:22
Speaker 1: by all thus these conclusions of reason torment the diatribe
1:10:27
Speaker 1: throughout all the passages of Scripture, seeing that it must
1:10:30
Speaker 1: appear ridiculous and coldly useless to enforce and exact with
1:10:34
Speaker 1: so much vehemence when there is no one to be
1:10:36
Speaker 1: found who can perform. For the apostles intent is by
1:10:39
Speaker 1: means of these threats, to bring the impious and proud
1:10:42
Speaker 1: to a knowledge of themselves and of their impotency, that
1:10:46
Speaker 1: he might prepare them for grace when humbled by the
1:10:48
Speaker 1: knowledge of sin. In what need is there to speak
1:10:52
Speaker 1: of singly all those parts which are brought forward out
1:10:55
Speaker 1: of Paul, seeing that they are only a collection of
1:10:58
Speaker 1: imperative or conditional passages, or of those by which Paul
1:11:01
Speaker 1: exhorts Christians to the fruits of faith. Whereas the Diatribe,
1:11:05
Speaker 1: by its appended conclusions, forms to itself a power of
1:11:08
Speaker 1: free will such and so great, which can, without grace
1:11:12
Speaker 1: do all things which Paul, in his exhortations prescribes. Christians, however,
1:11:17
Speaker 1: are not led by free will, but by the spirit
1:11:19
Speaker 1: of God Romans eight fourteen. And to be led is
1:11:23
Speaker 1: not to lead, but to be impelled. As a saw
1:11:27
Speaker 1: or an axe is impelled by a carpenter, and that
1:11:31
Speaker 1: no one might doubt whether or not Luther asserts things
1:11:34
Speaker 1: so absurd. The diatribe recites his own words, which indeed
1:11:38
Speaker 1: I acknowledge, For I confess that that article of Wickliffe,
1:11:43
Speaker 1: all things take place from necessity, that is, from the
1:11:45
Speaker 1: immutable will of God. And our will is not compelled, indeed,
1:11:49
Speaker 1: but it cannot of itself do good, was falsely condemned
1:11:53
Speaker 1: by the Council of Constance, or that conspiracy or cabal. Rather, nay,
1:11:59
Speaker 1: the diatribe itself defends the same together with me, while
1:12:02
Speaker 1: it asserts that free will cannot, by its own power
1:12:04
Speaker 1: will anything good, and that it, of necessity serves sin,
1:12:09
Speaker 1: although in furnishing this defense it all the while designs
1:12:12
Speaker 1: the direct contrary suffice it to have spoken. Thus, in
1:12:16
Speaker 1: reply to the first part of the diatribe, in which
1:12:20
Speaker 1: it has endeavored to establish free will, let us now
1:12:23
Speaker 1: consider the latter part, in which our arguments are refuted,
1:12:27
Speaker 1: that is, those by which free will is utterly overthrown.
1:12:31
Speaker 1: Here you will see what the smoke of man can
1:12:33
Speaker 1: do against the thunder and lightning of God. End of
1:12:37
Speaker 1: Section seventy five,