Dr. H. Pag. 78.
By which mens actions are so ordered & predetermined by the will of God, even to the taking up of a straw, ut nec plus boni nec minus mali, that it is neither in their power to do more good, or commit less evil than they do; and then according to that Doctrine, all treasons, murders, and seditions are to be excused, as unavoidable in them that commit the same, &c.
Ans. There is, I remember, a very noted story out of Hol∣land, concerning an Anonymous Libeller, who would needs father it upon the reverend and learned Dr. Carolus de Maets, that God hath decreed and determined, that all things should be done in that time, manner, place, and order, that in time they are done; and that according to this decree and divine determinati∣on, a man cannot do more good or evil than he doth or omitteth: quite leaving out the explication that was used by the ju∣dicious Professor, viz. that in a divided sense, a man may do more good, and avoid more evil than he doth. Just so doth our Historian proceed, making the Calvinists to affirm that ab∣solutely, which they affirm not but with a distinction. In sensu composito, a man cannot do more good than he doth, nor ab∣stain from more evil than he abstaineth from; but in a divi∣ded sense he may. Which made our Divines of Great Britain, in the Synod of Dort, among the Heterodox assertions which they rejected, place this; Hominem non posse plus boni facere quam facit, nec plus mali omittere quam omittit: falsum hoc est & absonum, sive de homine irregenito & ani∣mali intelligatur, sive etiam de renato & gratia sanctificante