A confession of faith made by common consent of divers reformed churches beyond the…A confession of fayth made by common consent of diuers reformed churches beyonde the…

¶ Of free will, and of the strength or force of Man. Cap. 9.

WE teach in this controversy, (which hath always bred much contention in the Church) ¹that the condition or state of man is three ways to be considered. First, what ²man was before his fall, that is to wit, that he was righteous, and had freewill to continue in goodness, or decline to il, howbeit, he choose to do wickedly, whereby he entangled himself and all mankind in the snares of sin and death, as it is before declared: Secondarily we must consider in what case ³man was after his fall, he was not bereaved of his understanding, his will was not taken from him, & he clean changed ⟨p. 20⟩into a stone or a block, yet those gifts were so altered & diminished in him, that they were not so excellent, or able to do so much, as they were before his fall. For his knowledge was darkened, his will was made bond, whereas before it was free: for now it serveth sin not unwillingly, but willingly, for it is called Will, & not Will, therefore as touching wickedness or sin, ⁴man not compelled either of God, or the Devil, but of his own motion, doth evil, and in this behalf hath freewill, to do mischief. Whereas we see it full oft come to pass, that God hindereth the wicked enterprises and counsels of man, that he hath not his purpose, we must not thereby gather, that he taketh from man the liberty he hath to do evil, but that he preventeth him, by his might and power, of that intent, which ⁵otherwise man had freely determined to do, as Josephs brothern did by their own freewill appoint to dispatch Joseph out of his life, howbeit they could not do it, because God had otherwise by his counsel determined.