![]() The next revival of the same controversy in substance, though under certain modifications, took place after the Reformation. Gottschalc himself expiated (by a death in prison) his audacious anticipation of the rights of private judgment and free inquiry in a dark age. Council warred with council in the case of Gottschalc. But while he held that the predestination of men applied to the punishment for their sin, he was far from holding, as his opponents alleged, that men were predestined to the commission of sin. His view of predestination embraced an element which may be reckoned an advance on the Augustinian doctrine for according to him, predestination was twofold: comprehending the punishment of the reprobate, as well as the salvation of the elect. Not that in this respect he was at variance with Augustine, but the point seems to have been specially and formally mooted in the discussions of this age. And the controversy in his hands assumed this peculiar modification: it was not merely the application of gracious influence, but the reference of the atonement, that was exhibited under the limit and the regulation of divine sovereignty and purpose. It was the doctrine of predestination on which he chiefly insisted. Gottschalc, a monk of Orbais, distinguished himself by his advocacy of the doctrines of Augustine. Towards the middle of the ninth century, these questions again assumed distinctive prominence in the history of theological speculation. Does man now sin because he is essentially affected with the taint of the first sin, and is he involved in the responsibilities of the first sinner? Or does he sin wholly on his own account, and by his own free act, without the bias of his connection with Adam – except for whatever connection remains between example on the one hand and imitation on the other? Supposing there is a scheme of saving grace is grace simply a divine and external aid to the will of man, which already operates freely in the direction of what is good – thus establishing a meritorious claim upon God to bestow such aid? Or is grace a supernatural influence, creating in man the very liberty itself to will and to do what is good? In the latter view of divine grace, as bestowed in divine sovereignty, and therefore according to a divine purpose, can be reconciled with human responsibility? These are the questions which produced the sharp encounter of keen and conflicting wits between Pelagius and Augustine of old. The extent to which the intellect itself has been weakened and clouded by the corruption of our nature, renders us less able to penetrate into the deep mysteries of human duty and destiny. The entrance of sin into the world has vastly complicated this relationship so that, considered in its various bearings, it involves some of the most difficult problems with which the human intellect has ever attempted to grapple. The relation of man to his Creator has engaged the attention of earnest and thoughtful minds from the days of the patriarch of Uz to the most recent controversies of modern times. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. ![]() Produce your cause, saith the LORD: bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. The main errors by which they are fallen off from the received doctrine of all the reformed churches, with their opposition in divers particulars to the doctrine established in the Church of England, are discovered and laid open out of their own writings and confessions, and confuted by the Word of God. 1642.Ī Discovery of the old Pelagian Idol Free Will, with the new goddess contigency,Īdvancing themselves into the Throne of the God of Heaven, to the Prejudice of His Grace, Providence and Supreme Dominion over the children of men
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