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Thou arte not a God that louest iniquitye.
He hardeneth vvhom he vvyll.
DAued in thys fyfth psalme setteth forth a confort to al the faythful, & geues thē councel how to behaue them selues as often as their enemies cruelly persecute them, and gylefully, and violently oppresse them. Hys ad∣uise
is that they should haue recourse to the defence of God, whoe will not fayle to represse in good time, all their crueltye. And seyng it is so that ryght and equitye are pleasyng vnto him, it can not otherwise be but that he wold take vengeance of all wicked and vn∣ryghteous men. For howe can it be y• such shoulde auoyde hys Iudgement, and abyde vnpunyshed, sith he is the Iudge of the world? For hys offyce is to destroye all the wycked, for he ha∣teth all wyckednesse, and hath already prepared a reward for the proud. And although he deferre the punyshment and vengeance for a whyle, yet he wil at laste goe vp into hys Iudgemente seate, & will openly declare that he is a iuste Iudge enemy to the wicked & a frend to the good and ryghteous.
Now then to agree thys place with that other which sayth, God hardens whom he wyll, there nedeth none o∣ther doctryne but that whiche maye bee gathered out of thys sentence, to weete, that God hateth all iniquitye, that is to saye, althoughe he woorke
by Satan and by the wycked, & vseth their iniquitye to execute hys Iudge∣mentes: Yet he is not author of sinne, neyther doth synne please hym, for al∣wayes he setteth before hym a iuste & holy purpose, so that he condemneth & punisheth righfully & Iustly those y• he dryueth by hys secrete prouydence, whether it seemeth good vnto hym. Verely he hardeneth whom he wyll, yet is there no vnryghteousnesse in hym, for he doth nothyng but y• which is ryghteously done. And not only he foreseeth the ruyne of the wicked: but also theyr fall is appoynted by hys councell and will. As Salomon say∣eth. Prouerb. 16. that not onely the destruction of the vnryghteous and proude was knowen before: but also they were appoynted to perdition, e∣uen as God by hys bountye and mer∣cye keepeth the faythfull, and suffe∣reth not the deuill to haue power on them, nor them to be suppresse wyth synne. So also, he doth not only geue ouer those and denyes them his grace
whom he wil punishe: but also he blin∣deth them and geueth them ouer into a reprobate sense, deliueryng them to the power of the deuill. Shall we then attribute vnto God any thyng at all in euyll woorkes bycause that if he denyed not hys grace, no man shoulde bee geuen into a reproued sense? It is certayne that the wic∣ked are geuen into a reprobate sense not only by the sufferyng of God: but it commeth to passe through hys iuste Iudgement, & hys vpryght order that the wycked are vexed by thys rage, as∣wel through their own concupiscence, as by the force of the deuill. Yet we must not lay any fault on God, for the rootes of synne ar stil remayning in a synner. Therfore, when we finde such sentences in the Scripture, that God hymself blyndeth or hardeneth ye hart of man, they assigne not the begyn∣ning vnto God, neyther do they make hym author of euil, so as y• fault ought to bee imputed vnto him. It is sayd that God geues ouer the reprobate to diuerse desyres, is thys to saye that he
depraueth or corrupteth their heart? Not so, for the reason why the hart of man is subiect to froward desyres, is forasmuch as it was already corrupt and faulty. Moreouer it is sayd that God blyndeth and hardeneth. May a man say therfore that he is the author or mynyster of synne? God forbyd, but rather by thys meanes he taketh ven∣geance and punysheth synnes, & that he doth Iustly wythout doyng them wrong, in asmuch as they haue refu∣sed to be ruled by hys spryte. It follo∣weth then that the spryng of synne is not in God, neyther may the fault bee imputed to hym as thoughe he tooke pleasure in euel doyng. Thus it boo∣teth man nothyng to hast with God endeuoryng to lay hys faultes and of∣fences on hym. And thys is the reason whatsoeuer euyll ther is, it procedeth from the euyll appetite of men.