Controv. V: Whether the decree of election is made according to foresight of faith and perseverance
III. Has the decree of divine election — or of the predestination of certain human beings to salvation — been made according to a theoretical foresight of faith and perseverance, as of an impulsive cause, or rather of an antecedent condition? And is this the sense of the phrases that we are elect in Christ, in faith, through faith, not without faith — or that without faith no one pleases God (Hebrews 11:6)? Yet that very faith, foreseen, is wholly from grace and is God's gift, which they confess; but it is destined for those whom God foresaw with most certain foresight as going to use well the means granted them, and going to do what lies in them, and not going to spurn grace by themselves or in their greater ones — through whose contempt grace comes to be denied to later generations. So that this election, made thus according to foreknowledge, is nonetheless eternal, certain, and immutable? The Lutherans affirm the earlier points; the Reformed deny.
Latin
III. An decretum Electionis divinæ, seu Prædestinationis quorundam hominum ad salutem factum sit secundum præscientiam theoreticam fidei & perseverantiæ, tanquam causæ impulsivæ, vel potiùs conditionis antecedentis; Et hic sit sensus phrasium, electos nos esse in Christo, in fide, per fidem, non sine fide, aut sine fide neminem placere Deo, Hebr. XI. 6.? Quæ tamen ipsa Fides prævisa, sit in solidum ex gratiâ, & Dei donum, quod fatentur; verum illis destinatum quos prævidit Deus certissima præscientia, benè usuros mediis sibi concessis, & facturos quod in se est, nec spreturos gratiam per se, aut in suis majoribus, quorum ob contemptum fiat ut Gratia posteris denegetur? Ut nihilominus hæc Electio, ita facta κατὰ πρόγνωσιν, sit æterna, certa, & immutabilis? Affirm. priora Luther. Negant Reform.