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Teachings of Hübmaier
189
tainly seem to be plainly with the Arminians. He would, however, find himself in congenial company among those who to-day call themselves "moderate" Calvinists. One thing is certain, he was not an antinomian:
"Grace comes to us, not from us, so that no one can boast except of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever maintains that God will have sin, does not know what sin is. If any one says, 'If God did not will it, I would not sin,' I affirm, on the contrary, that God does not will that we sin. We set ourselves in opposition to his revealed will. We ought not to sin in order that the mercy of God may be more richly displayed, but we ought not to sin that we may not make ourselves unworthy of mercy, and expose ourselves to the penalties of divine justice.[1]
"… The people have learned only two things, without bettering their lives: the first, in that they say, 'We believe, faith saves us'; the second, 'By ourselves we can do no good.' Now both are true. But under the cloak of these half-truths all wickedness, unfaithfulness and unrighteousness has won the upper hand, and brotherly discipline in the meantime has grown more cold in many than before in a thousand years. Yea it is true and is fulfilled, the common proverb: 'The older the worse.' 'No better, but much worse.' 'The older the colder.' 'The longer the world stands the worse it is.' This stroke we must suffer from the godless, but it cries to God that we suffer this because of our own
- ↑ Freedom of the Will, Op. 23.
