ABSTRACT
As in the Scriptures, so in FQ I, predestination is not a constant topic. Instead, it is implied by the hero’s Christian armor and hinted at by references to ‘grace’ (vii 12, viii 1) before being explicitly recognized under difficult and challenging conditions (as in Rom 8, Eph 1, 2, and 6, and 1 Pet 1), where the assurance it gives is most needed. Knowing he is chosen gives Redcrosse a glimpse into the spiritual dimension of life (cf Herbert’s ‘Coloss. 3.3. Our Life Is Hid with Christ in God’), and by calling attention to God’s initiative helps him pursue a middle way between the two extremes of undue selfpreoccupation with which he has been tempted-first pride, and then despair. ‘All the good,’ says the narrator, ‘is Gods’ (x 1). In keeping with both the Scriptures and Article 17, knowledge of election does not paralyze Redcrosse or make him smug but helps prepare him for ‘good workes, which God hathe ordeined, that we shulde walke in them’ (Eph 2.10).
