Davenant - Houston-Packer Collection BT810 .D38 1641

and44 holy life. fit to punifb fuch faults at all. Valerius Maximus telleth that Popilius a Roman Pretour fitting in judgement on a woman vvho had in a bitter pafíion Rain her mother, be- caufe fhehad murdered her children, neque damnavit neq se abfelvit, neither cleared her nor condemnedher, And Aulus Gel'lius reperreth of Dolabella the Proconful of Alia, that whena woman of Smyrna was brought before him vvho had poyfoned her husband and Con for murdering a fonof hers which the had by a former husband, he turned her over to the Areopagus, which was the gravel} and molt renowned judge. ment-feat in the world. The Judges there not daring to ac- quit her being Rained with a double (laughter, nor yet to punifhher beingprovoked with juf grief, commanded the ac- culer and the offender to come before them an hundred years after. And fo I 2(either was thewomans far,`ijuflifaed, the Laws not allowing it; nor yet the woman punifhrd, be- caufefhe was worthy tobe pardoned. If wife Magiürates have fpared fuch offenders as have been over- forayed withpaffions, whichdid but incline not determine them to their irregular a&ions, they would never have punifhed any trefpaffers, ifthey had thought them to be fuch by invincible neceffirie. Or if offenders did think that their offenfes were their d:Rinies, and that when they murder, Real, commit adultery, make infurre&ions, plot treafons, or praftice any other outragious villanies, they do them by theneceffitie of Gods unalterable decree, and can do no otherwife ; they would and might complain of their punifhrnents as unjufl-, as Zeno's fervant did : When he was beaten by his wafer for a fault, he told him out of ties own grounds that he was unjuf}ly beaten, be- caufe he wasfato coaflus peccare, confrcined to make that faule by his undeclinable fate. TheAdrumetine (7)) Monks, miffed by S. Augufline, Epift. toe. ad Sixtum Presbyterum, (which he calleth a book whereinhe fettethdown his opini on concerning Gods grace) did fo teach Grace that they de. nyed Freewill. And this S. Augufine confuted in his book 'De gratia eq. libero arbitrio. And thinking the grace of God (as S. Augufline taught) to be fuch as couldnot Rand with freedome of will, they thought that no man could he punifhed for his faults, but rather prayed for that God would give himgrace to do better. AgainR this S Augufine dire- aedhis other book, De Cnrreptione gratia r In which difcourfe though it be Grace that is Rill named, yet Prede- flination is included. For as Kimedoncius faith truly in his Preface I$Y Pat..7l2ux.1.3 Gelll.az; c. 7. 1 Negaeab folutummu- lieris venefi- cium eft; quod per lepes non licuit : neq; nocens damnata punitáqueà qua digna veniafuit.

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