LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

PART VI.

EZEKIEL XXXIII. 11.

—why will ye die, O house of Israel?

* 1.1WE have led you through the chambers of Death, through the school of Discipline, the school of Fear. For why will ye die? Look upon Death, and fear it, and you shall not die at all. Thus far are we gone. We come now to the house of Israel; Why will ye die, O house of Israel? To name Israel is an argument. Take them as Israel, or take them as the house of Is∣rael; take the house for a building, or take it for a family, and it may seem strange and full of admiration that Israel, which should prevail with God,* 1.2 should embrace death; that the house of Israel, compact in it self, should ruine it self. In Edom it is no strange sight to see men run on in their evil wayes:* 1.3 In Meseck or the tents of Kedar there might be at least some colour for a reply: but to Israel it is gravis expo∣stulatio, a heavy and full expostulation. Let the Amorites and Hittites, let the Edomites, let Gods enemies perish; but let not Israel, the people of God, die. Why should they die? The Devil may be an Edomite; but God forbid he should be an Israelite. The QƲARE MORIEMINI? why will ye die? we see is levelled to the mark, is here in its right and pro∣per place; and being directed to Israel is a sharp and vehement expro∣bration: O Israel, why will ye die? I would not have you die. I have made you gentem selectam, a chosen people, that you may not die. I have set before you life and death:* 1.4 Life, that you may chuse it; and Death, that you may run from it: And why will ye die? My sword is drawn to affright, not to kill you; and I hold it up, that I may not strike. I have placed Death in the way, that you may stop, and retreat, and not go on. I have set my Angel,* 1.5 my Prophet, with a sword drawn in his hand, that at least you may be as wise as the beast was under Balaam, and sink and fall down under your burden. I have imprinted the very image of Death in every sin. And will ye yet go on? Will ye love Sin, that hath such a foul face, such a terrible countenance that is thus clothed and apparrel∣led with Death? Quis furor, ô cives? What a madness is this, O ye Is∣raelites? As Herode once upbraiding Cassius for his seditious behaviour in the East,* 1.6 wrote no more but this, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Herode to Cas∣sius: Thou art mad. So God may seem to send to his people, GOD, by his Prophet, to the Israelites: You are mad. Therefore do my people run on in

their evill wayes, because they have no understanding.* 1.7 For now look up∣on Death; and that affrighteth us: Look upon God, and he exhorteth us: Reflect upon our selves, and we are an Israel, a Church of God. There is no cause of dying, but not turning; no cause of destruction, but impenitency. If we will not die, we shall not die; and if we will turn, we cannot die at all. If we die God passeth sentence upon us, and condemneth us, but killeth us not, but perditio tua ex te, Israel, our de∣struction cometh from our selves. It is not God, it is not Death it self, that killeth us, but we die because we will.

Now by this touch and short descant on the words so much truth is conveyed unto us as may acquit and discharge God as no way accessory to our death. And to make our passage clear and plain, we will proceed by these steps or degrees, and draw out these three Conclusions: 1. That God is not willing we should die; 2. That he is so far from willing our death that he hath plenteously afforded sufficient means of life and salvati∣on; which will bring in the third and last, That if we die, our death is vo∣luntary, that no other reason can be given of our death but our own will. And the due consideration of these three may serve to awake our Shame, as Death did our Fear, which is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.8 as Nazianzene speaketh, another help and furtherance to work out our salvation.

And that God is not willing we should die, is plain enough, first from the Obtestation or Expostulation it self; secondly, from the Nature of God, who thus expostulateth. For 1. Why will ye die? is the voice of a friend, not of an enemy. He that asks me why I will die, by his very que∣stion assureth me he intendeth not to destroy me. God is not as man,* 1.9 that he should lie. What he worketh, he worketh in the clear and open day. His fire is kindled to enflame us, his water floweth to purge and cleanse us, his oyl is powred forth to supple us. His commands are not snares, nor his precepts accusations. He stampeth not the Devil's face upon his coyn. He willeth not what he made not;* 1.10 and he made not Death, saith the Wise man. He wisheth, he desireth we should live; he is angry and sorry if we die. He looketh down upon us, and calleth af∣ter us; he exhorteth and rebuketh and even weepeth over us,* 1.11 as our Sa∣viour did over Jerusalem: And if we die, we cannot think that he that is Life it self should kill us. If we must die, why doth he yet complain? why doth he expostulate? For if the Decree be come forth, if we be lost already, why doth he yet call after us? How can a desire or command breathe in those coasts which the power of an absolute will hath laid waste already? If he hath decreed we should die, he cannot desire we should live, but rather the contrary, that his Decree be not void and of no effect. Otherwise to pass sentence, and irrevocable sentence, of death, and then bid us live, is to look for liberty and freedome in Ne∣cessity, for a sufficient effect from an unsufficient cause; to command and desire that which himself had made impossible, to ask a dead man why he doth not live, and to speak to a carcass and bid it walk. Indeed by some this, Why will ye die? is made but sancta simulatio, a kind of holy dis∣simulation: so that God with them setteth up Man as a mark, and then sticketh his deadly arrows in his sides, and after asketh him why he will die. And, Why may he not, saith one, with the same liberty damn a soul as a hun∣ter killeth a deer? A bloody instance! As if an immortal soul, which Christ set at a greater rate then the world itself, nay, then his own most pre∣tious blood, were in his sight of no more value then a beast, and God were a mighty Nimrod, and did destroy mens souls for delight and pleasure. Thus though they dare not call God the Authour of sin (for who is so sin∣ful that could hear that and not anathematize it?) yet others, and those

no children in understanding, think it a conclusion that will naturally and necessarily follow upon such bloody premisses. And they are more en∣couraged by those ill-boding words which have dropt from their quills. For say some, Vocat, ut induret; He calleth them to no other end but that he may harden them; He hardeneth them, that he may destroy them; He exhorteth them to turn, that they may not turn; He asketh them why they will die, that they may run on in their evil wayes, even up∣on Death it self. When they break his command, they fulfil his will: and it is his pleasure they should sin, it is his pleasure they should die. And when he calleth upon them not to sin, when he asketh them why they will die, he doth but dissemble: for they are dead already horribili decreto, by that horrible antecedaneous decree of Reprobation. And now tell me; If we admit of this, what is become of the Expostulation? what use is there of the Obtestation? why doth he yet ask, Why will ye die? I cal∣led it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a reason unanswerable: But if this phansie, this in∣terpretation take place, it is no reason at all. Why will ye die? The an∣swer is ready (and what other answer can a poor praecondemned soul make? Domine Deus, tu nôsti, Lord God, thou knowest. Thou con∣demnedst us before thou madest us: Thou didst destroy us before we were. And if we die, even so good Lord; For it is thy good pleasure. Fato volvimur, It is our destiny. Or rather, Est Deus in nobis: Not a Stoical Fate, but thy right hand and thy strong irresistable arm hath de∣stroyed us. And so the Expostulation is answered, and the Quare mori∣emini? is nothing else, but Mortui estis. Why will ye die? that is the Text: The Gloss is, Ye are dead already.

But, in the second place, that this Expostulation is true and hearty, may be seen in the very nature of God, who is Truth it self, who hath but one property and quality, saith Trismegistus, and that is Goodness. There∣fore he cannot bid us live when he intendeth to kill us. Consider God before Man had fallen from him by sin and disobedience, and we shall see nothing but the works of Goodness and Love.* 1.12 The heavens were the works of his fingers. He created Angels and Men: He spake the word, and all was done.* 1.13 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉? saith Basil; What necessity was there that he should thus break forth into action? Who compelled him? who per∣swaded him? who was his counsellour? He was all-sufficient, and stood in need of nothing.* 1.14 Non quasi indigens plasmavit Adam, saith Irenaeus; It was not out of any indigencie or defect in himself that he made Adam after his image. He was all to himself before he made any thing, nor could million of worlds have added to him. What was it to him that there were Angels made,* 1.15 or Seraphim, or Cherubim? He gained not. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Aristotle; For there could be no accession, no∣thing to heighten his perfection. Did he make the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Athenagoras calleth it, as an instrument to make him musick? Did he clothe the lilies, and dress up Nature in various colours, to delight him∣self? Or could he not reign without Man? saith Mirandula, God hath a most free and powerful and immutable will, and therefore it was not ne∣cessary for him to work, or to begin to work, but when he would: For he might both will and not will the creation of all things without any change of his will. But it pleased him out of his goodness thus to break forth into action.* 1.16 Will you know the cause, saith the Sceptick, why he made world? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, He was good. Nihil ineptius, saith one, quàm cogitare Deum nihil agentem; There is nothing more vain then to conceive that God could be idle or doing of nothing. And were it not for his Good∣ness we could hardly conceive him ad extrà agentem, working any thing out of himself, who was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all-sufficient and blessed for evermore,

infinitely happy, though he had never created the heaven and the earth, though there had neither been Angel nor Man to worship him: But he did all these things because he was good. Bonitas, saith Tertullian,* 1.17 oti∣um sui non patitur; hinc censetur, si agatur: Goodness is an active and rest∣less quality, and it is not when it is idle: It cannot contain it self in it self. And by his Goodness God made Man, made him for his glory, and so to be partaker of his happiness; placed him here on earth, to raise him up to heaven; made him a living soul, ut in vita hac compararet vitam, that in this short and transitory life he might fit himself for an abiding City,* 1.18 and in this moment work out Aeternity. Thus of himself God is good, nor can any evil proceed from him. If he frown, we first move him; if he be angry, we have provoked him; if he come in a tempest, we have raised it; if he be a consuming fire, we have kindled it.* 1.19 We force him to be what he would not be; we make him Thunder, who is all Light.* 1.20 Boni∣tas, ingenita; severitas, accidens: Alteram sibi, alteram rei Deus praestitit, saith the Father: God's Goodness is natural; his Severity, in respect of its act, accidental. For God may be severe, and yet not punish. For he striketh not till we provoke him. His Justice and Severity are the same, as everlasting as Himself, though he never speak in his wrath, nor draw his sword. If there were no Hell, yet were he just; and if there were no Abrahams bosome, yet were he good.* 1.21 If there were nei∣ther Angel nor Man, he were still the Lord, blessed for evermore. In a word, he had been just, though he had never been angry; he had been merciful, though Man had not been miserable; he had been the same God, just, and good, and merciful,* 1.22 though Sin had not entred in by A∣dam, and Death by Sin. God is active in good, and not in evil. He cannot do what he doth detest and hate, he cannot decree, ordain, or further that which is most contrary to him. He doth not kill me before all time, and then in time ask me why I will die. He doth not condemn me first, and then make a Law that I may break it. He doth not blow out my candle, and then punish me for being in the dark. That the con∣viction of a sinner should be the onely end of his exhortations and expo∣stulations, cannot consist with that Goodness which God is, who, when he cometh to punish, facit opus non suum, saith the Prophet,* 1.23 doth not his own work, doth a strange work, a strange act, an act that is forced from him, a work which he would not do.

And as God doth not will our Death, so doth he not desire to mani-his glory in it, which (as our Death) proceedeth from his secondary and occasioned will. For God, saith Aquinas,* 1.24 seeketh not the manifestation of his glory for his own, but for our sakes. His glory, as his Wisdome and Justice and Power, is with him alwayes, as eternal as himself. No quire of Angels can improve, no raging Devil can diminish his glory, which in the midst of all the Hallelujahs of Seraphim and Cherubim, in the midst of all the blasphemies of Men and Devils is still the same. And his first will is to see it in his Image, in the conformity of our wills to his, where it shineth in the perfection of beauty, rather then where it is decayed and defaced, in a damned Spirit; rather in that Saint he would have made, then in that Reprobate and cursed soul which he was forced to throw in∣to the lowest pit: And so to receive his glory is that which he would not have, which he was willing to begin on earth, and then have made it per∣fect and compleat in the highest heavens.* 1.25 Exinde ad mortem sed antè ad vi∣tam. The sentence of death was pronounced against Man almost as soon as he was Man; but he was first created to life. We are punished for being evil, but we were first commanded to be good. God's first will is, that we glorifie him in our bodies and in our souls:* 1.26 But if we fru∣strate

his loving expectation here, then he rowseth himself up as a migh∣ty man, and will be avenged of us, and work his glory out of that which dishonoured him,* 1.27 and write it with our blood. In the multitude of the people is the glory of a king, saith the wisest of Kings; and more glory, if they be obedient to his laws then if they rebel and rise up against him. That Common-wealth is more glorious where every man filleth his place, then where the prisons are filled with thieves and traytours and men of Belial. And though the justice and wisdome of the King may be seen in these, yet it is more resplendent in those on whom the Law hath more power then the Sword. In heaven is the glory of God best seen, and his delight is to see it in the Church of the first born and in the souls of just men made perfect:* 1.28 It is now indeed his will, which primarily was not his will, to see it in the Devil and his Angels. God is best pleased to see his creature Man to answer to that pattern which he hath set up, to be what he should be, and what he intended. And as every artificer glo∣rieth in his work, when he seeth it finished according to the rule, and that Idea which he had drawn in his mind; and as we use to look upon the work of our hands or wits with that favour and complacency we do up∣on our children when they are like us; So doth God upon Man, when he appeareth in that shape and form of obedience which he prescribed. For then the Glory of God is carried along in the continued stream and course of all our actions, breaketh forth and is seen in every work of our hands, is the echo of every word we speak, the result of every thought that begat that word. It is Musick in Gods ears, which he had rather hear then the weeping and howling of the damned; which he will now hear, though the time was when he used all fitting means to prevent it, even the same means by which he raised those who now glorifie him in the highest heaven.

God then is no way willing we should die; not by his natural Will, which is his prime and antecedent Will. For Death cannot issue from the Fountain of Life. By this Will was the Creature made in the begin∣ning, and by this preserved ever since: by this are administred all the means to bring it to that perfection and happiness for which it was first made. For the Goodness of God it was which first gave being to Man, and then adopted him in spem regni, designed him for immortality, and gave him a Law by the fulfilling of which he might have a taste of that joy and happiness which he from all eternity possessed. And therefore, secondly, not voluntate praecepti, not by his Will exprest in his commands, precepts and laws. For under Christ this Will of his is the onely destroy∣er of Death, and being kept and observed swalloweth it up in victory. For how can Death touch him who is made like unto the living Lord? or how should Hell receive him whose conversation is in heaven?* 1.29 If we do them, we shall even live in them, saith the Prophet: And he repeateth it often, as if Life were as inseparable from God's Laws as it is from the li∣ving God himself; by which, as he is Life in himself, so to Man, whom he had made,* 1.30 he brought life and immortality to light. And these his Pre∣cepts are defluxions from him, the proper issue of his natural and primitive Desire, of that general Love of good-will which he did bear to his Creature and the onely way to draw on that Love of friendship, that nearer relation, by which we are one with him, and he with us,* 1.31 by which he calleth us his children, and we cry, Abba, Father. His first Will ordained us for good; his second Will was published and set up as a light to bring us to that good for which we were made and created.

But we are told there is in God voluntas permissionis, a permissive Will,

or a Will of permission. And indeed some have made great use of this word permission, and have made it of the same necessitating power and efficacy with that by which God made the heaven and the earth. For we find it in terminis in their writings, Positâ peccati permissione, necesse est ut peccatum eveniat, That upon the permission of sin it must necessarily follow that sin must be committed. They call it permission, but before they wind up their discourses, the word, I know not by what Logick or Grammar, hath more significations put upon it then God or Nature ever gave it. Romani, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant, say the antient Britons in Tacitus; The Romanes,* 1.32 where by fire and sword they lay the land waste, and turn all to a wilderness, call it Peace. So here the word is permission; but, currente rotâ, whilst they are hot and busie in their work, at last it is excitation, stirring up, inclining, hardning; Permittere is no less then Impellere, Permission is Compulsion, and by their Chymistry they are able to extract all this out of this one word, and more, as, That God will have that done which he forbiddeth us to do; That God doth not will what he telleth us he doth will; That some are cast asleep from all eternity that they may be hardned: And all this with them is but permission. And to make this good, we are told That God hath on purpose created some men with an intent to permit them to fall into sin. And this at first sight is a fair Pro∣position, that carrieth truth written in the very forehead: But indeed it is deceitful upon the weights; One thing is said, and another meant. God hath created some: And why some, and not all? For no doubt the condi∣tion of creation is the same in all. And why with a purpose to permit them to fall into sin? Did he not also create them with a purpose that they should walk in his commandments? Certainly both, and rather the last then the former. For God indeed permitteth sin, but withal forbiddeth it; but he permitteth, nay he commandeth us to do his will. Permission looketh upon both, both upon Sin, and upon Obedience: on the one side it meeteth with a check, on the other with a command; that we may not do what is but permitted, and forbidden; and that we may yield ready obedience to that which is not permitted onely, but commanded. It was a custome amongst the ancients 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.33 to number and cast up their accounts with their fingers, as we do by figures and counters; whence Orontes the Persian was wont to say, Eundem digitum nunc de∣cem millia, nunc unum ostendere, that the same finger with some alteration and change did now signifie Ten thousand, and in another posture and motion but One. The same use some men have made of this word permis∣sion which they did of their fingers. In its true sense and natural place it can signifie no more then this, A purpose of God not to intercede by his Omnipotency, and hinder the committing of those sins which, if he per∣mitted not, could not once have a being: But men have learnt so to place it that it shall stand for Ten thousand, for Inclination and Excita∣tion and Induration, and all those fearful expressions which leave men chained and fettered with an inevitable necessity of sinning; and so they make that which in God is but merely permission infallibily effective, and so damn men with gentler language and in a softer phrase: He permitteth them. That he doth; that he must do: but their meaning is, His abso∣lute will is that they should die. And let them shift as they please, and wind and turn themselves to slip out of reach, after all defalcations and subtractions they can make, it will arise near to this sum, which I am almost afraid to give you, That God is willing we should die. For to this purpose they bring in also Gods Providence. To this purpose? I should have said, to none at all. For though God rule the world 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by this law of Providence, as Nazianzene calleth it,

though he disposeth and ordereth all things and all actions of men, yet he layeth not any law of Necessity upon all things. Some effects he hath fitted with necessary causes,* 1.34 that they may infallibly fall out, saith A∣quinas; and to other effects, which in their own nature are contingent, he hath applyed contingent causes; so that that shall fall out necessarily which his Providence hath so disposed of; and that contingently, which he hath left in a contingency. And both these in the nature of things necessary and contingent are within the verge and rule of his Providence, and he altereth them not, but extra ordinem, when he would do some extraor∣dinary work,* 1.35 when he would work a miracle. The Sun knoweth his sea∣sons, and the Moon its going down, and this in a constant and unchangea∣ble course; but yet he commanded the Sun to stand still in Gibeon, and the Moon in the valley of Ajalon.* 1.36 But then I think all events are not as necessary as the change of the Moon or the setting of the Sun; for all have not so ne∣cessary causes: Unless you will say, to walk or stand, to be rich or poor, to fall in battel or to conquer, are as necessary effects as Darkness when the Sun setteth, or Light when it riseth in our Horizon: And this indeed may bring in a new kind of Predestination, to walk or to stand, to Riches and Poverty, to Victory and Captivity, as well as to everlasting Life and everlasting Perdition.

But, posito, sed non concesso; Let us suppose it, though we grant it not, that the Providence of God hath laid a necessity upon such events as these, yet it doth not certainly upon those actions which concern our ever∣lasting welfare, which either raise us up to heaven, or cast us down to de∣struction. It were not much material (at least a good Christian might think so) whether we sit or walk, whether God predetermin that we be rich or poor, that we conquer or be overcome. What is it to me though the Sun stand still, if my feet be at liberty to run the wayes of Gods command∣ments? What is it to me if the Moon should start out of her sphere, if I lose not the sight of that brightness which should direct me in my way to bliss? What were it to me if I were necessitated to beggery, so I be not a predestinate bankrupt in the city of the Lord? Let him do what he will in heaven and in earth; let the Sun go back, let the Stars lose their light, let the wheel of Nature move in a contrary way, let the pillars of the world be shaken; Let him do what he will, it concerneth us not fur∣ther then that we say, Amen, so be it. For we must give him leave, who made the world, to govern it. If all other events and actions were ne∣cessary, we might well sit down, and lay our hands upon our mouth: But here lis est de tota possessione: We speak not of riches and poverty, or fair weather and tempests, but of everlasting life and everlasting damna∣tion: And to entitle God either directly or indirectly to the sins and death of wicked men, so to lay the Scene that it shall appear, though masked and vailed with limitations and distinctions; and though they be not po∣sitive, yet leave such premisses out of which this conclusion may easily be drawn; is a high reproch to Gods infinite Goodness, a blasphemy (how∣ever men wipe their mouthes after it) of the greatest magnitude. Not to speak the worst; it is to stand up, and contradict God to his face; and when he sweareth he would not have us die, to proclaim it to all the world that there be thousands whom he hath killed already, and destroy∣ed before they were, and so decreed to do that from all eternity which in time he swore he would not do.

I speak not this to rake the ashes of any of those who are dead, that either maintained or favoured this opinion, nor to stir the choler of any man living, who may love this child for the fathers sake; but for the ho∣nour of God and his everlasting Goodness, which I conceive to be strange∣ly

violated by this doctrine of efficacious Permission, or by that shift and evasion of a positive Efficiency joyned (as it is said) inseparably with this Permission of sin, which is so far from colouring it over, or giving any loveliness to it, that it rendreth it more horrid and deformed, and is the louder blasphemy of the two, which clotheth, as it were, a Devil, with Light, who yet breaketh through it, and rageth as much as if he had been in his own shape. Permission is a fair word, and bodeth no harm, but yet it breatheth forth that poysonous exhalation which killeth us: For but to be permitted to sin is to be a child appointed to death. The an∣tients, especially the Athenians, did account some words ominous, and therefore they never used to speak them. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 they called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Prison they called the House;* 1.37 the Hangman the Common Officer; and the like. And the Romanes would not once men∣tion Death, or say their friend was dead; but, Humanitus illi accidit: We may render it in the Scripture-phrase, He is gone the way of all the earth.* 1.38 What their phansie led them to, Religion should perswade us, to think that some words there be which we should be afraid to mention when we speak of God. Excitation to sin, Inclination, Induration, Reprobration, as they are used, are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ill-boding words. But yet we must not, with the Heathen, onely change the language, and mean the same thing, and call it Permission, when our whole discourse driveth this way, to bring it forward, and set it up for a flat and absolute Compulsion. For this is but to plough the wind, to make a way which closeth of it self as soon as it is made: This is not to teach men, but to amaze them. Sermo per deflex∣us & anfractus veritatem potiùs quaerit quàm ostendit, saith Hilary; When men broach these contradictions to known and common principles, when they make these Meanders, these windings and turnings, in their discour∣ses, they make it also apparent that they are still in their search, and have not yet found out the Truth. Let us therefore fontem à capite fodere, as near as we can, lay open the ground of this mistake and errour, and we shall find it to be an errour as great as this, and to have the same tast and relish with the fountain from whence it flowed.

They who make Gods permissive will effective, at the very mention of Gods will think of that absolute will of his which cannot be resisted, by which he made the heavens and the earth, and so acknowledge no will of God but that which is absolute and effective; as if that will of his by which he would have us do something were the same with that by which he will do something himself; and so in effect they make not onely the conversion but the induration of a sinner the work of Omnipotency. But were not men blind to all objects but those they delight to look on, they might easily discern a great difference, and that Gods will is broken eve∣ry day. His natural Desire, which is his will to save mankind, is that fulfilled? If it were, there could be no hell at all. His Command, that is, his will, what moment is there wherein that is not resisted? We are those Devils who kindle that fire which he made not for us. We are those sons of Anak, those giant-like fighters against Heaven, who break his commands with as great ease as Samson did his threads of tow. We are those Leviathans, who break the bounds he hath set us,* 1.39 who esteem iron as straw, with whom the threatnings which he darteth at us are accounted as stubble. And can we, who so often break his will, say that his will is alwayes fulfilled?

Again, we must not imagin that all things that are done in the world are the work of his hand, or the effect of that power by which he bring∣eth mighty things to pass. Nor can we so much forget God and his Good∣ness, as to imagin that upon every action of man he hath set a DIXIT, ET

FACTƲM EST, He spake the word, and it was done; he commanded, and it became necessary. For some actions there be which God doth neither absolutely will, nor powerfully resist, but in his wisdome permitteth to be done, which otherwise could dot be done but by his permission. Nor doth this will of Permission fall cross with any other will of his: Not with his Absolute will; for he absolutely permitteth them: Not with his Primary and Natural will: for though by his Natural will he would bring men to happiness; though he forbid sin, though he detest it, as that which is most contrary to his very nature, and which maketh Men de∣vils and enemies to him; yet he may justly permit it: And the reason is plain. For Man is not as God, qui sibi sufficit ad beatitudinem, who is all-sufficient, and Happiness it self; and therefore he was placed in an estate where he might work out his own happiness, but still with a possi∣bility of being miserable. And herein was the Goodness and Wisdome of God made visible. As from his Goodness it was that he loved his crea∣ture, so in his Goodness and Wisdome he placed before him good and e∣vil, that he might lay hold on happiness, and be good willingly, and not of necessity. For it is impossible for any finite creature, who hath not his completeness and perfection in himself, to purchase heaven, but upon such terms as that he might have lost it; nor to lose it, but upon such terms as that he might have took it by violenee. For every Law supposeth as a possibility of being kept, so also a possibility of being broken, which cannot be with∣out permission of sin.* 1.40 Lex justo non est posita. If Goodness had been as essen∣tial to Man as his nature and soul, by which he is: if God had interceded by his Omnipotenty, and by an irresistable force kept Sin from entring into the world; the Jews had not heard the noise of the trumpet under the Law, nor the Disciples the sermon on the mount under the Gospel; there had been no use of the comfortable breath of Gods Promises, nor of the terrour of his Threatnings. For who would make a law against that which he knoweth will never come to pass? A Law against sin supposeth a permission to sin and a possibility of sinning. Lastly, it standeth in no shew of opposition to Gods Occasioned and Consequent will. For we must suppose sin, before we can take up the least conceit of any will in God to punish. Omnis poena, si justa est, peccati poena est, saith Augustine in his Retractations; All punishment, that is just, is the punishment of sin; and therefore God, who of his natural goodness would not have man commit sin, out of his justice willeth man's destruction, and will not repent.* 1.41 Sic totus Deus bonus est, dum pro bono omnia est, saith Tertulli∣an; Thus God is entirely good, whilest all he is, whether merciful or severe, is for good. Minus est tantummodò prodesse, quia non aliud quid possit, quàm prodesse: His reward might seem too loose, and not carry with it that infinite value and weight, if he could not reach out his hand to punish as well as to reward: and some distrust it might work in the creature, that he could not do the one, if he could not do both. So then sin is permitted, though God hate sin. That which bringeth us to the gates of Death is permitted, though God hath tendered his will with an oath that he will not have us die. Though he forbiddeth sin, though he punisheth it, yet he permitteth it. I have said too little; Nay, he could not forbid and punish it, if he did not permit it. Yet Permission is permission, and no more; nor is it such a Trojane horse, nor can it swell to that bulk and greatness, as to hide and contein within it those monsters of Fate and Necessity, of Excaecation and Excitation, of Incli∣ation and Induration, which devour a soul, and cannot be resisted; which bind us over unto Death, when the noise is loud about us, Why will ye die? For this Permissive will of God, or his will of Permission, is not operative

or efficacious: Neither is it a remitting or slackning of the will of God, upon which sin (as some pretend) must necessarily follow; nor is it terminated in the thing permitted, but in the permission it self alone. For to permit sin is one thing, and to be willing that sin should be committed is another. It is written in the leaves of Aeternity, that God will not have sin committed, as being most abhorrent and contrary to his nature and will; and yet this permission of sin is a positive act of his will: for he will permit sin, though he hath clothed it with Death, to make us afraid of it; and upon pain of eternal damnation he for∣biddeth us to sin, though it were his will to permit it. These two, To be willing to permit sin, and To be willing that sin should be commit∣ted, are as different in sense as in sound; unless we will say that he who permitteth me to be wounded when I would not look to my self and hold up my buckler, did cast that dart at me which sticketh in my sides. We have been told indeed, Qui volens permittit peccata, certè vult voluntate permissivâ ab aliis fieri, That he that is willing to permit sin, by that permissive will is willing also to have that sin committed. But it is so unsavoury, so thin and empty a speach, that the least cast of the eye pierceth through it. It is a rotten stick whitled by unskilful hands to make a pillar to uphold that fabrick of the phansie, the absolute decree of Reprobation. Take away this supporter, That God will have that to be done which he permitteth, that is, That he will have that to be done which he forbiddeth, and down falleth th•• Babel of Confusion to the ground.

And now what is God's Will? This is his will, even your sanctification.* 1.42 S. Luke calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the counsel of God; and so doth S. Paul. His counsel is his wish, his desire, his will, his natural, sincere and constant will. And it savoureth of much vanity and weakness to talk and di∣spute of Gods decree, which in respect of particulars must needs be to us most uncertain, when we certainly know his will, when he crieth, To day, if you will hear his voice; when his precepts and his laws are promulged, HODIE, To day, to enquire what he did before all eternity. We may rest on the Goodness of God, who would not have created us if he had not loved us; I have made thee, I have formed thee,* 1.43 I have created thee, saith God, for my glory: On the Mercy of God, with which it could not consist to precondemn so many to misery before they were: On the Justice of God, which cannot punish without desert; and that could not be in the Creature before he was:* 1.44 On the Wisdome of God, which doth nothing, much less doth make Man, for nought; doth not stamp his image upon him to deface it, nor useth to make and unmake, to build and pull down, to plant and dig up: On the Grace of God, which hath appeared unto all men,* 1.45 that they may know him to be the onely true God, and him whom he hath sent, Christ Jesus.

But now we are told that some places of Scripture there are which seem to give God a greater hand in sin then a bare and feeble and uneffe∣ctive permission. For God biddeth the Prophet, Go, tell the people;* 1.46 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and be converted. Now to make their heart fat, and their ears heavy, and to shut up their eyes, is more then a bare permission; it is in a manner to destine & appoint them to death. Most true, if it can be proved out of this place that God did either. But it is one thing to prophesy a thing shall be done, & another to do it. Hector in Homer foretelleth Achilles death, & Orodes the fall of Mezentius in Vir∣gil, and our Saviour the destruction of Hierusalem▪ but neither was Hector's prophesy the cause of Achilles death, nor Orodes's of Mezentius, nor our

Saviour's of the destruction of Hierusalem. Go, and tell them, maketh it a plain prediction what manner of men they would be to whom Christ was to speak, stubborn and refractory, and such as would harden their faces against the truth. If you will not take this interpretation, our Sa∣viour is an Interpreter one of a thousand,* 1.47 nay, one for all the world: He telleth his disciples that in the multitude was fulfilled the prophesy of Esay, which saith, By hearing you shall hear, and not understand, &c. For this peoples heart is waxen fat, and their eyes have they closed, that they might not see. And here, if there eyes were shut, it were fit one would think, they should be opened. True, saith Chrysostom, if they had been born blind, or if this had been the immediate act of God: but because they wil∣fully shut their eyes, he doth not say simply, They do not see; but, Seeing they do not see, to shew what was the cause of their blindness, even a per∣verse and froward heart.* 1.48 They saw the miracles; they said he did them by Beelzebub. He telleth them that he is come to shew them the will of God; they are peremptory and resolute that he is not of God; and being corrupt Judges against their own sight and understanding, they were justly punisht with the loss of both. For it is just that he should be blind that putteth out his own eyes. Yet was not this incrassation or blinding through any malevolent influence from God; but this action is therefore attributed to God, because whatsoever light he had afford∣ed them, whatsoever means he had offered them, whatsoever he did for them, was through their own fault and stubbornness of no more use to them then colours to a blind man, or as the Wise-man speaketh, then a mess of pottage on a dead mans grave.* 1.49 We might here sylvam ingentem commovere, meet with many other places of Scripture like to this; but we will touch but one more, and it is that which is so common in mens mouthes, and at the first hearing conveyeth to our understanding a shew, and appearance of some positive act in God, which is more then a bare permission.* 1.50 God telleth Moses in plain terms, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And here I will not say with Gerson, Aliud est littera, aliud est lite∣ralis sensus, That the letter is one thing, and the litteral sense another; but rather with Hilary,* 1.51 Optimus est lector, qui dictorum intelligentiam ex dictis potiùs exspectet quàm imponat, & retulerit magìs quàm attulerit, He is the best reader of Scripture who doth rather wait and expect what sense the words will bear, then on the sudden rashly fasten what sense he please, and carry away the meaning, not bring one; nor cry, This must be the sense of the Scripture, which his presumption formerly had set down. Sure I am, none of the Fathers, which I have seen, make this induration and hard∣ning of Pharaoh's heart a positive act of God: Nor S. Augustine himself, who was more likely to look this way then any of the rest, although he interpreteth this place of Scripture in divers places.* 1.52 I will but mention one; and it is in one of his Lent-Sermons, Quoties auditur cor Pharaonis Dominum obdurasse, &c. As often as it is read in the Church that God did harden Pharaoh's heart, some scruple presently ariseth not onely in the minds of the ignorant Laity, but also of the learned Clergy. And for these very words the Manichees most sacrilegiously condemned the Old Testa∣ment. And Marcion, rather then he would yield that Good and Evil pro∣ceeded f••om the same God, did run upon a grosser impiety, and made ano∣ther, two Principles, one of Good, & another of Evil. But we may lay this, saith he, as a sure ground & an infallible axiome, Deus non deserit nisi priùs deserentem, God never forsaketh any man till he first forsake God. When we continue in sin, when the multitude of our sins beget Despair, & Despair Ob∣duration; when we add sin to sin, & to make up the weight that sinketh us; when we are the worse for Gods mercy, & the worse for his judgments, when

his mercy hardeneth us, and his light blindeth us; God then may be said to harden our hearts, as a father by way of upbraiding may tell his pro∣digal and thriftless son, Ego talem te feci, It is my love and goodness hath occasioned this, I have made thee so by sparing thee when I might have struck thee dead, I have nourished this thy pertinacy; although all the father's love and indulgency was grounded upon a just hope and expectation of some change and alteration in his son. Look upon e∣very circumstance in the story of Pharaoh, and we cannot find one which was not as a hammer to malleate and soften his stony hearts; nor do we read of any upon whom God did bestow so much pains. His ten plagues were as ten commandments to let the people go: And had he relented at the first, saith Chrysostome, he had never felt a se∣cond: So that it will plainly appear that the induration and hardning of Pharaoh's heart was not the cause but the effect of his malice and rebel∣lion. Magnam mansuetudinem contemtae gratiae major sequi solet ira vin∣dictae; The contempt of Gods mercy (and there is mercy even in his judgements) doth alwaies make way for that induration which calleth down the wrath of God to revenge it. We do not read that God de∣creed to harden Pharaoh's heart; but when Pharaoh was unwilling to bow, when he was deaf to Gods thunder, and despised his judgments, and scorned his miracles, God determined to leave him to himself, to set him up as an ensample of his wrath, to work his Glory out of him, to give him up to his own lusts, which he foresaw would lead him to ru∣ine and destruction. But if we will tie our selves to the letter, we may find these several expressions in several texts, 1. Pharaoh hardned his heart; 2. Pharaoh's heart was hardned; 3. God hardned Pharaoh's heart; and now let us judge whether it be safer to interpret God's induration by Phara∣ohs, or Pharaoh's by God's. If God did actually and immediately har∣den Pharaoh's heart, then Pharaoh was a meer patient, nor was it in his power to let the people go, and so God sent Moses to bid him do that which he could not, and which he could not because God had hardned him: But if Pharaoh did actually harden his own heart (as it is plain e∣nough he did) then God's induration can be no more then a just permissi∣on and suffering him to be hardned, which in his wisdom and the course he ordinarily taketh, he would not, and therefore could not hinder Suffi∣cit unus Huic operi; One is enough for this work of induration, and we need not take in God. To keep to the letter in the former shaketh a main principle of truth, That God is in no degree Authour of sin: but to keep to the letter in the latter cleareth all doubts, preventeth all objecti∣ons, and openeth a wide and effectual door to let us in to a clear sight of the meaning of the former. For that Man doth harden his own heart is undeniably true; but that God doth harden the heart is denied by most, is spoken darkly and doubtfully by some; nor is it possible that any Chri∣stian should speak it plainly, or present it in its hideous and monstrous shape, but must be forced to stick and dress it up with some far-fetcht and impertinent limitation or distinction. For, lastly, I cannot see how God can positively be said to do that which is done already to his hand. In∣duration is the proper and natural effect of Sin: And to bring in God a∣lone is to leave nothing for the Devil or Man to do, but to make Satan of a Serpent a very Flie indeed, and the Soul of man nothing else but a forge and shop to work those sins in which may burn and consume it everlasting∣ly. God and Nature speak the same thing many times, though the phrase be different. That which the Philosopher calleth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.53 ferity and brutishness of nature, and in Scripture is called hardness of heart. Every man is shaped & formed & configured, saith Basil, to the actions of his life, whether they be good or

evil. One sin draweth on another, and a second a third, and at last we are carried 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, of our own accord, and as it were by the force of a natural inclination, till we are brought to that extremity of sin which the Philosopher calleth Ferity, a shaking off all that is Man about us; and the holy Ghost,* 1.54 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a reprobate mind. And such a mind had Pharaoh, who was more and more enraged by every sin he had commit∣ted, as the Wolf is most fierce and cruel when he hath drawn and tasted blood. For it is impossible that any should accustome themselves to sin, and not fall into hardness of heart, and indisposition to all goodness. Therefore we cannot conceive that God hath any hand in our death, if we die; and that Dereliction, Incrassation, Excaecation, Hardness of heart are not from God, further then that he hath placed things in that order that, when we accustome our selves to sin, and contemn his grace, blind∣ness and hardness of heart will necessarily follow, but have no relation to any will of his but that of Permission. And then this Expostulation is reall and serious, QƲARE MORIEMINI? Why will ye die? —

Now to conclude; I have not been so particular as the point in hand may seem to require, nor could I be in this measure of time, but onely in general stood up in defense of the Goodness and Justice of God. For shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?* 1.55 Shall he necessitate men to be evil, and then bind them by a law to be good? Shall he exhort and be∣seech them to live, when they are dead already? Shall his absolute Do∣minion be set up so high from thence to ruine his Justice? This indeed some have made their Helena: but it is an ugly and ill favoured one. For this they fight unto death, even for the Book of life, till they have blot∣ted out their names with the blood of their Brethren. This is drest out unto them as savoury meat set for their palate who had rather be carried up to heaven in Elias fiery chariot then pace it thither with trouble and pain. That GOD hath absolutely decreed the salvation of some parti∣cular men, and passed sentence of death upon others, is as musick to some ears, like David's harp, to refresh them, and drive away the evil spirit. Et qui amant, sibi somnia fingunt. Mens desires do easily raise a belief; and when they are told of such a decree, they dream themselves to hea∣ven. For, if we observe it, they still chuse the better part, and place themselves with the Sheep at the right hand: and when the controversie of the inheritance of Heaven is on foot, to whom it belongeth, they do as the Romanes did, who, when two Cities contending about a piece of ground made them their Judge to determin whose it was, fairly gave sentence on their own behalf, and took it to themselves. Because they read of Election, they elect themselves; which is more indeed then any man can deny, and more I am sure then themselves can prove. And now, O Death,* 1.56 where is thy sting? The sting of Death is Sin; but it cannot reach them: and the strength of Sin is the Law; but it cannot bind them: For Sin it self shall turn to the good of these elect and chosen Vessels. And we have some reason to suspect that in the strength of this Doctrine, and a groundless conceit that they are these particular men, they walk on all the daies of their life in fraud and malice, in hypocrisie and disobedience, in all that uncleanness and pollution of sin which is enough to wipe out any name out of the book of Life.* 1.57 Hoc saxum defendit Maulius, hinc ex∣cidit. For this they rowse up all their forces; this is their rock, their fun∣damental doctrine, their very Capitol: and from this we may fear many thousands of souls have been tumbled down into the pit of destruction; at this rock many such elect Vessels have been cast away.

Again, others miscarry as fatally on the other hand. For when we speak of an absolute Decree upon particulars unto the vulgar sort, vvho

have not cor in corde, as Augustine speaketh, who have their judgement not in their heart but in their sense, they soon conceive a fatal necessity (and one there is that called it so, fatum Christianum, the Christian mans Destiny) t••ey think themselves in chains and shackles that they cannot turn; when they cannot be predestinate not to turn, but to die because they will not turn. I will give you a remarkable instance, and out of Mr. Calvine; Quintinus,* 1.58 the Father of the Libertines (as Calvine him∣self calleth him) as he rideth in company, by the way lighteth upon a man slain and lying in his gore: and one asking, Who did this bloody deed? he readily replyeth, I am he that did it, if thou desire to know it. And art thou such a villain, saith the party again, to do such an act? I did it not my self, saith he; but it was God that did it. And being ask't again, Whether may we impute to God those hainous sins which in justice he will and doth so severely punish? So it is, said he; Thou didst it, and I did it, and God did it. For what thou or I do, God doth; and what God doth, that thou and I do: for we are in him, and he in us; he worketh in us, he worketh all in all. Quintinus is long since dead, but his errour dyed not with him.* 1.59 For it is the policy of our common Enemy to remove our eye as far as he can from the Command; and he cannot set it at a greater di∣stance then by fixing it on Eternity, that so, whilst we think upon the De∣cree, we may quite forget the Command, and never fly from Death, be∣cause, for ought we know, we are killed already; never do our duty, because God doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth; never strive to be better then we are, because God is all in all.

Let us then walk on in a middle way, and neither flatter nor afflict our selves with the thought of what God may do, or what he hath done from all eternity. Let us not busy our selves in the fruitless study of the Book of life,* 1.60 which no man in heaven or in earth is able to open and look in∣to, but only the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In that book, saith S. Basil,* 1.61 no names are written but of them that repent. Let us not seek what God decreeth, which we cannot find out; but hearken to what he command∣eth, which is nigh us, even in our mouthes.* 1.62 The book of Life is shut and sealed up: but he hath opened many other Books to us, and biddeth us sit down and read them? The book of his Works, of which the Crea∣tures are the leaves, and the characters the Goodness, and Power, and Glory of God: The book of his Words,* 1.63 The Book of the Generation of JESƲS CHRIST, to be known and read of all men: and if these words be written in thy heart, thy name is also written in the book of Life. And the book of thy Conscience; for the information of which all the Books in the world were made. And if thou read and study this with care and diligence and an impartial eye, and then find there no bill or indictment against thee, then thou maist have confidence towards God that he ne∣ver past any decree or sentence of death against thee, and that thou art ordained to life. This is the true method of a Christian mans studies, not to look too stedfastly backward upon Aeternity, but to look down upon our selves, and ponder and direct our paths, and then to look for∣ward to eternity of bliss. We read of the Philosopher Thales, that lift∣ing up his eyes to observe the course of the stars, he fell into the water: Which gave occasion to a damsell called Thressa of an ingenious and bitter scoff, That he who was so busy to see what was done in heaven could not observe what was even before his feet. And it is as true of them who are so bold and forward in the contemplation of God's eternal Decree, many times they fall dangerously into those errours which swallow them up. They are too bold with God, and so negligent of themselves; talk more what he doth, or hath done, or may do, then do what they should;

are so much in heaven, and to so little purpose, that they lose it. But the Apostle's method is sure,* 1.64 to use diligence to make our election sure, and so read the Decree in our Obedience and sincere Conversation, and if we can perswade our selves that our names are written in the book of Life, yet so to behave our selves,* 1.65 so to work on with fear and trembling, as if it were yet to be done. As it was told the Philosopher that he might have seen the figure of the stars in the water, but could not see the water in the stars: All the knowledge we can gain of the Decree is from our selves: It is written in heaven, and the characters we read it by on earth are Faith and Repentance. If we believe and repent, then God speaketh to us from heaven, and telleth us we shall not die. If we be dead to sin and alive to righteousness, we are enrolled, and our names are written in the book of Life. Here, here alone is the Decree legible; and if our eye fail not in the one, it cannot be deceived in the other. If we love Christ, and keep his commandments, we are in the number of the elect, and were cho∣sen from all eternity.

Be not then cast down and dejected in thy self with what God hath done or may do by his absolute Power. For thou maist build upon it, He never saved an impenitent, nor will ever cast away a repentant sinner. Behold, he calleth to thee now by his Prophet, QƲARE MORIERIS? Why wilt thou die? Didst thou ever hear from him, or from any Prophet, a MORIERIS, that thou shalt die, or a MORTƲƲS ES, that thou art dead already? Thou hast his Prayers, his Entreaties, and Beseechings; He spreadeth forth his hands all the day long.* 1.66 Thou hast his Wishes; Oh that thou wert wise, so wise as to look upon the MORIEMINI, to consider thy last end. Thou hast his Covenant, which he sware to our fore-fathers, A∣braham, and his seed for ever. His Comminations, his Obtestations, his Expostulations thou mayest read; but didst thou ever read the Book of life? Look on the MORIEMINI, look on the Deaths head in the Text; look not into the Book of life. Thou hast other care that lieth upon thee, thou hast other business to do. Thou hast an Understanding to adorn, a Will to watch over, Affections to bridle, the Flesh to crucifie, Tempta∣tions to struggle with, the Devil to encounter. Think then of thy Du∣ty, not of the Decree; and the sincere performance of the duty will seal the Decree,* 1.67 and seal thee up to the day of redemption. It is a good rule which Martine Luther giveth us, Dimitte Scripturam ubi obscura est, tene ubi certa; Where the Text is dark and obscure, suspend thy judgement, and where it is plain and easy, express and manifest it in thy conversati∣on; which is the best descant on a plain song. Thou readest there are vessels made to dishonour:* 1.68 Whether God made them so, as some will have it, or they made themselves so, as Basil and Chrysostom interpret it, it concerneth not thee. That which concerneth thee is plain, thou mayest run and read it,* 1.69 that thou must possess thy vessel in honour, and build up thy self in thy holy faith. The Quare moriemini? is plain. It is plain that God is not willing thou shouldest die, but hath shewed thee a plain passage un∣to life. He hath not indeed supplied thee with means to interpret riddles and untie knots and explain and resolve hard texts of Scripture; but he hath supplied thee with means of life, hath brought thee to the gates of paradise,* 1.70 to the wayes of life, to the vvells of salvation. The lines are fallen to thee in a fair place. Behold, he hath placed thee in domo Israelis, in the house of Israel, in domo salutis, in the house of salvation.

Which is next to be considered.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Prov. 7.27.
• * 1.2

  Gen. 32.28. Psal. 122.3.
• * 1.3

  Psal. 120.5.
• * 1.4

  Deut. 30.15, 19
• * 1.5

  Num. 22.23.
• * 1.6

  Philostrat. in vit. Herodis.
• * 1.7

  Isa. 5.13.
• * 1.8

  Orat. 20.
• * 1.9

  Numb. 23.19.
• * 1.10

  Wisd. 1.13.
• * 1.11

  Luk. 19.41.
• * 1.12

  Psal. 8.3.
• * 1.13

  Hom. in Famem & siccitatem.
• * 1.14

  l. 4. c. 28.
• * 1.15

  Athenag. Le∣gat. pro Christi∣anis.
• * 1.16

  Sext. Emperic. adv. Mathe∣mat. pag. 327.
• * 1.17

  Adv. Marci∣on l. 2.
• * 1.18

  Heb. 13.14.
• * 1.19

  Heb. 12.29.
• * 1.20

  Tert. advers. Marc. l. 2. c. 11.
• * 1.21

  Luk. 16.
• * 1.22

  Rom. 5.12.
• * 1.23

  Isa. 28.21.
• * 1.24

  Aqui 1. 2 2. q 132. art. 1. ••
• * 1.25

  Tert. ibid.
• * 1.26

  1 Cor. 6.20.
• * 1.27

  Prov. 14.28.
• * 1.28

  Hebr. 12.23.
• * 1.29

  Phil. 3.20. Ezek. 20.11, 13, 21.
• * 1.30

  2 Tim. 1.10.
• * 1.31

  Rom, 8.16.
• * 1.32

  Vita Agricol••
• * 1.33

  Naz. Or. 3.
• * 1.34

  Prima part q. 22. art. 4.
• * 1.35

  Psal. 104.19.
• * 1.36

  Josh. 10.12.
• * 1.37

  Helladius apud Photium.
• * 1.38

  Josh. 23.14. 1 Kings 2.2.
• * 1.39

  Job 14.27, 29.
• * 1.40

  1 Tim. 1.9.
• * 1.41

  L. 2. adv. Mar∣cion.
• * 1.42

  1 Thess. 4.3. Luke 7.30. Acts 20.27.
• * 1.43

  Isa. 43.7.
• * 1.44

  Psal. 89.47.
• * 1.45

  Tit. 2.11. John 17.3.
• * 1.46

  Isa. 6.9, 10.
• * 1.47

  Job 33.23. Matth. 13.14, 15.
• * 1.48

  Matth. 12.24.
• * 1.49

  Eccl. 30.18.
• * 1.50

  Exod. ••.3.
• * 1.51

  De Trin. l. 8.
• * 1.52

  Feria 4. post 3. Dominic. in Quadrages. Pharaoh non potentiâ sed pa∣tientiâ Dei in∣durabatur, I∣dem, Ser. 88.
• * 1.53

  Ar••stot. l. 7. Eth c. 1.
• * 1.54

  Rom. 1.28.
• * 1.55

  Gen. 18.25.
• * 1.56

  1 Cor. 15.55, 56
• * 1.57

  Sen. Controv.
• * 1.58

  Contr. Liber∣tin. c. 13. And yet his own followers use the same words, bring the same Texts, and apply them as the Libertines did. Vide Piscat. Aphorismos.
• * 1.59

  Fortaliter con∣stitutum est quando & quantoperè u∣nus▪ uisque no∣strûm pietatem colere vel non colere debeat. Piscator. ad Duplicat. Vor∣stii, p. 228.
• * 1.60

  Rev. 5.3, 5.
• * 1.61

  Comment in Isai. 10.
• * 1.62

  Rom. 10.8.
• * 1.63

  Matth. 1.1. 2 Cor. 3.2.
• * 1.64

  2 Pet. 1.10.
• * 1.65

  Phil. 2.12.
• * 1.66

  Isa. 65.2. Rom. 10.21. Deut. 32.29. Luke 1.55, 73.
• * 1.67

  Eph. 4.30.
• * 1.68

  Rom. 9.21. 2 Tim. 2.20.
• * 1.69

  1 Thes. 4.4. Jude 20.
• * 1.70

  Psal. 16.6.