34 ?l Srtdlapfirians dciri;se po íffiible condition annexed to it, is equivalent to a bare ne- gation. It is all one for me to offer a piece of money toone blind man upon condition he will open hiseyes and tell me what piece of money it is and what Ramp it bath, and todeny it flatly to another:For the one bath it no more then theother. And it is all one for a man that hath a daughter to bellow in marriage,to tell her fuiter á 1 will give you my daughter, if you will [pan the earth, or touch the heavens with your fin- ger, and to tell him plainly, Set your heart at rep°$; 1 will ne- ver beslowher upon you: For the fuiter fpeedethboth wayes alike. And it is in circum !lance a great deal worfe. For it is a denial! under colour of the contrary, a denial! joyned with a fcofF, a derifion, as was that of the Jcbufres, a. Sam. 5.6. who told David that he thould not enter into the fort of Zion except he tool¿ away theblind and the lame. Their meaning was, They would never deliver it up unto him : and becaufe they thought it impofiiblc for him to take away the blind and the lame, they told him if he did fo, then theywould yield it up. It was an ironical! and Icofling denial! of hisdemand. If the King fhould make an unrepealable law, that no Ger- mane fhould be made a citizen of London or free denifonof the Kingdome, and then make a decree togive Come bounti- full gratuities,but to the citizens of London or to the fubie&s of the Kingdome onely,and to none but them; and yet for all this fhould command it to be proclaimed, that he will give them to the Germanes upon condition theywill be made free.. men of London, or be incorporated into the Kingdome : would not any man fay, that the King in thiscafe did diáíem- ble and delude the poore Dutchmen? And if any should fay, there vvouid benodifl'embling in it ; for if they would be- comecitizens or fubjels, they fhould have the prornifed gra- tuities : a man might truly anCwer, that therefore the King doth counterfeit and cofen them, becaufe he maketh a tender of them upon a condition not poflìble by hisown de- cree. In like manner, if God haue made a decree, that fuch men flail never believe, and yet offer them heaven on conditi- on they will believe; it maymoll truly bePaid, that GodBoth not onely dense them heaven, but denie it with a bitter deri7 flon , which is farre from that candour and goodneffe that dwelleth in him. And thus have I (hewed the contrarietie of this opinion to foure principali Attributes of God : which is my fecond gee ucrall reafon againft it. 4nfirtr.
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