A. W. Pink

Among the “decrees” of the Council of Trent (1563), which is the awed standard of Popery, we find the following: —

If any one shall affirm, that man’s free will, moved and excited by God, does not, by consenting, cooperate with God, the mover and exciter, so as to prepare and dispose itself for the attainment of justification; if moreover, anyone shall say, that the human will cannot refuse complying, if it pleases; but that it is inactive, and merely passive; let such an one be accursed!

If anyone shall affirm, that since the fall of Adam, man’s free will is lost and extinguished; or, that it is a thing titular, yea a name, without a thing, and a fiction introduced by Satan into the Church; let such an one be accursed!

Thus, those who today insist on the free will of the natural man believe precisely what Rome teaches on the subject! That Roman Catholics and Arminians walk hand in hand may be seen from others of the decrees issued by the Council of Trent: — “If any one shall affirm that a regenerate and justified man is bound to believe that he is certainly in the number of the elect (which, 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 plainly teaches. A.W.P.) let such an one be accursed”! “If any one shall affirm with positive and absolute certainty, that he shall surely have the gift of perseverance to the end (which John 10:28-30 assuredly guarantees, A.W.P.); let him be accursed”! In order for any sinner to be saved three things were indispensable: God the Father had to purpose his salvation, God the Son had to purchase it, God the Spirit has to apply it. God does more than “propose” to us: were he only to “invite”, every last one of us would be lost.

- A. W. Pink, God’s Sovereignty and the Human Will

• Free Will, A Doctrinal Misconception
• The Nature Of The Human Will
• The Bondage Of The Human Will
• The Impotency of The Human Will