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Life of Jerom Zanchius
Some Account of the Life of Jerom Zanchius It has been asserted[1] that this great divine was born at Alzano, a town of Italy, situate in the valley of Seri, or Serio. But the learned John Sturmius, who was not only Zanchy's contemporary, but one of his most intimate friends, expressly affirms, in a speech[2] delivered on a public and…
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Absolute Predestination
Observations on the Divine Attributes, Necessary to be Premised, in Order to Our Better Understanding the Doctrine of Predestination. Although the great and ever-blessed God is a being absolutely simple and infinitely remote from all shadow of composition, He is, nevertheless, in condescension to our weak and contracted faculties, represented in Scripture as possessed of divers Properties, or Attributes, which,…
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Chapter 1: Wisdom and Foreknowledge
The Divine Wisdom and Foreknowledge of God. I.—With respect to the Divine Wisdom and Foreknowledge, I shall lay down the following positions:— Position 1.—God is, and always was so perfectly wise, that nothing ever did, or does, or can elude His knowledge. He knew, from all eternity, not only what He Himself intended to do, but also what He would…
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Chapter 2: The Will of God, Part 1
II. The Will of God, with regard to which we assert as follows: Position 1.—The Deity is possessed not only of infinite knowledge, but likewise of absolute liberty of will, so that whatever He does, or permits to be done, He does and permits freely and of His own good pleasure. Consequently, it is His free pleasure to permit sin,…
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Chapter 3: The Will of God, Part 2
Position 5.— God's hidden will is peremptory and absolute, and therefore cannot be hindered from taking effect. God's will is nothing else than God Himself willing, consequently it is omnipotent and unfrustrable. Hence we find it termed by Augustine and the schoolmen, voluntas omnipotentissima, because whatever God wills cannot fail of being effected. This made Augustine say,[1] "Evil men do…
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Chapter 4: The Will of God, Part 3
Position 8.—Since, as was lately observed, the determining will of God being omnipotent cannot be obstructed or made void, it follows that He never did, nor does He now, will that every individual of mankind should be saved. If this was His will, not one single soul could ever be lost (for who hath resisted His will?), and He would…
