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    "The cause of God and truth," says Dr. Whitby. He says the holy fathers taught that justifying faith may fail. But they understand this with respect to acts which flow from the habit of faith, he says.

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    "The cause of God and truth," says Dr. Whitby. He says the holy fathers taught that justifying faith may fail. But they understand this with respect to acts which flow from the habit of faith, he says.

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    6 views1 page

    Chapter 5 Introduction 1

    Uploaded by

    itisme_angela
    "The cause of God and truth," says Dr. Whitby. He says the holy fathers taught that justifying faith may fail. But they understand this with respect to acts which flow from the habit of faith, he says.

    Copyright:

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 1

    Chapter 5 Introduction

    The
    CAUSE OF GOD AND TRUTH.
    Part 4
    Chapter 5—Of Perseverance

    Introduction.
    Dr. Whitby says,[1] “it were easy to confirm this doctrine (of the saints’ apostasy) from the concurrent suffrage of the
    ancient fathers; but this seems to him unnecessary, after the confession of the learned Vossius, communem hanc fuisse
    antiquitatis sententiam, ‘that this was the common judgment of antiquity, or of the ancients;’ and that antiquitas tota
    indeficibilitati adversatur, ‘all antiquity was contrary to this doctrine,’ of the indefectibility of the saints.” But it should
    be known, that Vossius, who sets himself with all his might to prove these assertions, not only in the same place[2]
    owns, that the holy fathers (Austin and Prosper) held, “that God decreed from eternity to bring some by infallible
    means to eternal life, whose faith and love therefore should either never fail, or being lost, should be restored before
    the end of life; seeing God’s purpose of saving them whom he hath once chosen to life, can by no means be made
    void.” In which Austin thought the writers before him agreed with him, as appears from his book De Bono
    Perseverantiae; but Vossius also in his next thesis observes,[3] that the fathers distinguished faith into three degrees,
    the last of which they call a perfect, solid, rooted one; and this they say can by no means be lost. He also farther
    observes,[4] that “when the holy fathers teach that justifying faith may fail, and sometimes does really fail, they
    understand this with respect to acts which flow from the power and habit of faith; for this power, which we may call
    the seed of actual faith, they own, is not utterly taken away, at least in the elect.” What is the sense of these ancient
    writers may be better judged of by what will be produced under the following Sections.

    ENDNOTES:

    [1] Discourse, &e. p. 489; ed. 2. 468.

    [2] Hist. Pelag. 1. 6, thes. 12, p. 565.

    [3] Ibid. thes. 13, p. 571, 572.

    [4] Ibid. p. 575.

    http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/Cause_of_God_and_Truth/Part%204/chapter5/chap05_intro.htm[11/2/2010 10:45:20 AM]

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