The Formula of Concord, Epitome article 2: as a corpse cannot revive itself
The doctors of the Reformed School repeat and press these and similar points everywhere, and so do the theologians of the Augsburg Confession already mentioned, especially in the book they call the Book of Concord.
'We believe,' they say, 'that just as a dead body cannot bring itself to life or restore bodily life to itself, so a man who is spiritually dead because of sin has no ability whatever to call himself back to spiritual life.'
So they condemn the errors of those who teach: 'Although unregenerate man, as to free choice, is before his regeneration too weak to begin his conversion, turn himself to God by his own strength and obey God's law with his whole heart, yet once the Holy Spirit has made a beginning by the preaching of the word and offered his grace to man in the word, man's will by its own natural strength can in some way contribute something, however small, weak and feeble, to help and cooperate in conversion, apply and prepare itself for grace, grasp it, embrace it and believe the Gospel.' Epitome of the articles in controversy among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession, article 2.
Latin
XIX. Ista & similia passim repetunt & plurimum urgent, non tantum Scholae Reformatae Doctores, sed & jam dicti Theologi Confessionis Augustanae, praesertim in eo qui liber Concordiae apud ipsos dicitur. Credimus, inquiunt, quantum abest, ut corpus mortuum seipsum vivificare, atque sibi ipsi corporalem vitam restituere possit, tantum abesse ut homo, qui ratione peccati spiritualiter mortuus est, seipsum in vitam spiritualem revocandi ullam facultatem habeat. Et propterea damnant errores eos qui docent, Licet homo non renatus, ratione liberi arbitrii, ante sui regenerationem infirmior quidem sit, quam ut conversionis suae initium facere, atque propriis viribus sese ad Deum convertere, & legi Dei toto corde parere valeat: tamen si Spiritus Sanctus praedicatione verbi initium fecerit, suamque gratiam in verbo homini obtulerit, tum hominis voluntatem, propriis & naturalibus suis viribus quodammodo aliquid, licet id modiculum, infirmum & languidum admodum sit, conversionem adjuvare, atque cooperari, & seipsam ad gratiam applicare, praeparare, eam apprehendere, amplecti, & Evangelio credere posse. In Epitome articulorum de quibus controversiae ortae sunt inter Theologos Augustanae Confessionis. Articulo 2.