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Article X

Of Free Will.

The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

ISA 64:5-6

You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
who remembers You in Your ways.
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved.
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousness are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.

(NKJV)

John 6:44

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

(NKJV)

Ephesians 2:4-5

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

(NKJV)

So we see that man as we are can not chose unless God has brought light to us and light is the general call that the Fathers has given in the death of Christ and the preaching of the word. We need the spirit to move us but we also need to chose Christ should we turn away we will be left in our dead state. So God can and has drawn all men but men chose to either give up their nature or hold on to it.

I will admit here that I do believe in the free will of man so that is where I stand and my view of this article comes from.

Written by:

Allen Bailey; aspirant of the Anglican province of America

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