'l. i! i 120 Of the.ature, I(novledge, Will "not predeftinate. But they had been i'redeftinated, if they had been " fuch as would have returned, and remained in holinefs and truth. so that Gods fore-decreeis to many acaufe of (landing, and to none a caufe of falling. "Obj. 13. That all thofe faithful and Saints who are fore-decreed it to eternaldeath, when they return to their vomit, fee indeed to do it "by their own vice : bot the caufe of that vice is the fore-decree ofGod, t which fecretlÿ withdràweth from them.gaodwills: "Refp. indeed to all that relapfe from faith to infidelity, from eç Holinefs to filthinefs, and are not purged by emendation before the "end of their lives, nothing.but eternal death is due : But it is wicked- " nefs to afcribé the caufe of fuch mines to God who though he fore- "know by his eternal knpwledge; what reward he will give to. every "mans deferts, yet this his Impofftbility of being ideceived, cloth not Note this you that are cc bring into any man either a nece)Tty or a will *of finning. If there- for hit firft predetermr- "fore any wan fall from Godlinefs, he is carryed headlong by his own nons andads. sling all forbidden Volt= cc will ; he is drawn by his own concupifcence he is deceived by his "own perfwafion. There the Father Both nothing 5 the Son lothno- " thing the Holy Ghott cloth nothing : nor Both any thing of the will "of God intervene in. euch a bufinefs ; by whole help we know many c' are kept from falling, but none impelled tofall:. 'c Obj. 54. That this great part of chrifiian faithful Catbolicks And " Saints -arhó are fire-decreed to twine and perdition, if they begof God "perfeverance in FlalineJP, (hall not obtain a, itecaufe sods decree can- "not be changed, by which he foreordaaned, prepared and fitted them "to fall away, "Ref?. To the breach of the Law, to thencgleel of Religion, to the "corrupting of difcipline, to the forfakingof the faith, to theperpetra-. "ting of any fn whatever,. there is no predeftination (or fore decree ) "of God at all.' Nor omit be that men fhould fall into filch evils by e` him, by whom men rife out of fuch. If therefore men live in holi- "nefs, if they profit in virtue, if they remain in good ftudies, it is the "manifeft gift of God, without whom the fruit of no good work is ac- a' quired. But if men fall away from there, and pals over to vice and " fin, God there fendeth themno evil temptation, nor doth he forfake "him thatwill fall a*ay, before be be forfaken byhim. And for the ec molt part he keepeth men from forfakino him, or if they depart cloth' 'It v Br " caufe them to return. But why he upholdeth one and not another, it is "neither poffrble to comprehend, t nor lawful to fearch ; teeingit may fuf- " fice to know, both that it iSt of him thatmen ftaud, andit is not of him "that they fallaway. "©bj. 15. That all the faithful and Saints who are predef#inated to "eternal death when they fail by fo difpofedof by Gad, that they 't neither can nor will be delivered repentance. "Re Ref?. Falfly faid and foolilhly: Fòr they that fall away from faith "and holinefs, as they fell by their wills, fo by their Wills they rife' d' not : But God taketh the way of amendment from none ; nor "depriveth any of the pofftbility of good : For he that turneth him- "felf from God, taketh from hinifelf both the will and the power of "good. It's no good confequence, as the Objecters think, that God " taketh away repentance from men, becaufe he giveth it them not ; " and that he cafteth down thole that he taketh not up. For it is ".óqe thing w act the innocent into - a crime - which. God cannot . "dol)'
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