Bicknell on Article XVII: Of Predestination and Election

The words of our Article on this subject are perfectly justified. No one can render to God more than he is bound to render, for God has a claim on the whole life of man. There is a very real truth that underlies the distinction between ‘ precepts ’ and ‘counsels.’ Some laws of God are binding upon all Chris- tians without exception, as Christians. But there are other duties to which all Christians are clearly not called, as, for instance, the ministry. Those, however, who receive a call from God to one of these special duties, are bound to obey at the peril of their souls. The ‘counsel’ has become a ‘precept’ for them. They do not earn merit by complying, but they would disobey God by

*The term ‘supererogation’ comes from the Latin versions of Lk. 10%. Quodcumque supererogaveris=6 te dv mpocdaravijoys. Hrogare=to disburse money ; supererogare, ‘ to pay over and above,’

refusing. This principle is clearly seen in the case of the rich young ruler (Mk. 10!7%°), The command to sell all that he had was clearly not a command to do ‘a work of supererogation.’ ‘One thing thou lackest ’ shows that his life still came short of God’s purpose for him. Further, the command was an ‘ad hominem’ command. Our Lord did not give it to all His dis- ciples. By refusing it the man did not simply fail to earn merit, but he endangered his entrance into the Kingdom of God at all (v. 73). Neither in St. Paul nor in the Gospels can any basis be found for ‘works of supererogation.’ Lk. 171° quoted in the Article is perfectly clear.

Of Predestination and Election.

Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly de- creed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting sal- vation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so ex- cellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s pur- pose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption : they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religious]

De praedestinatione et electione.

Praedestinatio ad vitam est aeternum Dei propositum, quo ante jacta mundi fundamenta, suo consilio, nobis quidem occulto, constanter decrevit, eos quos in Christo elegit ex hominum genere, a maledicto et exitio liberare, atque (ut vasa in honorem efficta) per Christum, ad aeternam salutem adducere. Unde qui tam praeclaro Dei beneficio sunt donati, ili spiritu ejus, oppor- tuno tempore operante, secun- dum propositum ejus vocan- tur, vocationi per gratiam parent. justificantur gratis, adoptantur in filios Dei, uni- geniti ejus Jesu Christi ima- gini efficiuntur conformes, im bonis operibus sancte ambu- lant, et demum ex Dei miseri- cordia pertingunt ad sempi- ternam felicitatem.

in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.

As the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeak- able comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God : so, for. curious and camal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God’s Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no Jess perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, we must re- ceive God’s promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture : and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed. which we have expressly de- dared unto us in the Word of God.

Quemadmodum _praedesti- nationis et electionis nostrae in Christo pia consideratio, dulcis, suavis, et ineffabilis consolationis plena est vere pus, et his qui sentiunt in se vim spiritus Christi, facta carnis, et membra, quae adhuc sunt super terram, mortifican- tem, animumque ad coelestia et superna rapientem; tum quia fidem nostram de aeterna salute consequenda per Chris- tum plurimum stabilit atque confirmat, tum quia amorem nostrum in Deum vehementer accendit : ita hominibus cu- riosis, carnalibus, et spiritu Christi destitutis, ob oculos perpetuo versari praedestina- tionis Dei sententiam, perni- ciosissimum est praecipitium, unde illos diabolus protrudit, vel in desperationem, vel in aeque perniciosam impurissi- mae vitae securitatem ; deinde promissiones divinas sic am- plecti oportet, ut nobis in sacris literis generaliter pro- positae sunt, et Dei voluntas in nostris actionibus ea se- quenda est, quam in verbo Dei habemus, diserte revela- tam.

An Article of 1553 with slight alterations. The whole question of Predestination was a burning question at the time. The most important point to notice is that it keeps to the language of Scripture throughout. The similarity between the Latin of the Article and the Vulgate is especially close. The chief passages on which it is based are Ro. 828-30, 971 and Eph. 13-11,