# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1857_S60 # AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) On the Doctrine of Election of Grace and Some Matters Connected with It, etc. 60 ...of sin through enticing pleasure, and its actual consummation, points: so also all outward power of choice — which, just like the spiritual power of choice, only carries itself out in the decision for one of the impulses set in motion — for which reason man is still able, in some measure, even out of fear of the Lord (which is akin to the trembling that accompanies the faith of devils), to prefer the civically honorable to that which brings him shame before the world —,*) is expressly ascribed to him through the revealed Word of truth, and is thus confirmed as that which is turned toward the ethical; because at bottom, and in its very essence, it is one with that [inward freedom], and is, only on account of a perverted inclination that has become fixed toward certain objects, of connately created basic drives with which it had bound itself together — no longer present for the life that is from God. This is clearly spoken for by 1 Corinthians 7:37: "Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will," etc.; compare 2 Samuel 24:12ff., Numbers 30:14. Of morality under the old nature of the letter treat, among others, Romans 10:3, 2:15. To the state of innocence is to be referred Sirach 15:14-15 (libertas contradictionis, according to church dogmatics), 16f. (libertas contrarietatis). To the state of grace, Deuteronomy 30:19.**) (To be continued.) *) Note. Quenstedt, II, p. 169f. (de viribus naturalibus residuis:) "Objectum voluntatis sunt pudor de turpiter gestis et amor honestatis externae naturalis — in- primis quae legis sunt, Rom. 2, 14. 15. (1, 32.) — Habet homo nondum regenitus aliquo modo in potestate sua actiones sacras externas, quae extrinsecus actio- nibus spiritualibus serviunt, ac proinde paedagogicae sive ad conversionem manu- ductoriae vocantur, ipsius vero conversionis hominis neque pars sunt neque causa, quales sunt: ingredi templum, audire verbum Dei, de eo disserere, Scripturae libros legere — Act. 13, 7., 17, 19. sqq. — Non est vero hic confundendum studium ac desiderium commune sciendi res divinas cum desiderio aeternae salutis inde percipi- endae — Forma virium naturalium est habilitas et aptitudo facultatum animae naturalis, ad apprehendendum verum naturale et perficiendum bonum naturale. No- tanter dicimus, consistere formam — in aptitudine et habilitate —, non in actu, usu et operatione. Licet enim nonrenatorum mens generaliter cognoscat et apprehendat aliquod verum vel falsum, per pathos tamen et contumaciam affectuum particularis notitia menti eripitur, et quia voluntas a Deo est aversa et corrupta, ideo fit alienior ab illis vestigiis notitiarum in mente etc. — Sumitur autem hic "naturale" non stricte, sed laxius, quatenus includit quoque res civiles, morales, artificiales et sa- cras externas, et sic opponitur naturale "spirituali" i. e. rebus mere spiritualibus et sacris internis. Et constituuntur a theologis nostris duo hemisphaeria, circa quae voluntas hominis versatur, inferius et superius; illud priores, hoc posteriores res complectitur. [Latin retained as printed — a direct quotation from Quenstedt.] **) Note. Gerhard, loc. de lib. arb., p. 4: "Libertas assignatur arbitrio primum habito respectu ad modum agendi, quia talis est, ut voluntas quatenus talis libere agat, hoc est, non cogatur aut violenter rapiatur externo motu, nec ex naturali in- stinctu solum agat, sed sponte sua seu interno motus principio aliquid vel amplectatur vel rejiciat; hoc sensu liberum et voluntarium sunt synonyma, ac voluntatem non liberam dicere est perinde ac si quis dicere velit calidum absque calore. §. 5: Vocatur haec libertas a coactione, qua fit, ut non possit voluntas cogi ad faciendum aliquid contra suam inclinationem" (that is, against its own tendency, the [Latin retained as printed — a direct quotation from Gerhard; the German gloss continues onto the next page.]