372 The Suibl4pf :rams a'otrsne taketh timely confequent and judiciarie will ofgiving-up obftinate men to their own hearts lulls, and of permitting them to dash againft Chrift and other means of eternall life , and fo to fall into endlefhe miCerie and mifchief, as we may fee Pfal.8t. It, u Proa'. Re(t. i z. and Rev. zz. i t. Which made Profper fay, r' They that ad Vincent. Q.11 obied.x6. have derifed Gods invitingwill, fhallfeelhis revert g in w volun.tateem Now if this be the meaning of thefe Scriptures ,then do Dei fpreve- they not thwart that which bath been laid of Gods graeious runt invitan- intent of promoting the eternall good ofmen by his bleflings tem,volun- bellowed upon them. For argumentum ab eventi ad intent- tatem Dei tionem Dei non valet : becaufe no finfull event is properly via- under Gods decree, but his prefcience onely, or at molt under dicantem. , a permiíllive decree; and many things happen in the world which are betide the antecedent and principali purpofe of God : not becaufe there is ?ny want of power in God, but becaufe his will is oftentimes conditionall , and therefore not effe led becaufe the condition is not performed. But by the opinion ofabfolute Reprobation the gifts both of Nature and Grace have another (I) end: Either God doth not mean them to thole that perifh, although they doenjoy them, becaufe they are mingled in the world with the Ele&, to whom onely they are directed ; or if he do , hemeaneth they (hall have them , and be lifted up by them above the common rank of men, ut lapfugraviore ruant, that their fall may be the greater. And fo much is faid by the chief defen- xCalv.rn ln. ders of it. x God fendeth hcs word to reprobates, faith Cal- vine, that they might be mademore deaf; he fettethup a light before them,to make them theblinder; hegiveth them a remedie, that they might not be healed. And, Y itfhouldnorItemabfrsrd unto us, faith Beza, that Godfhould offer hisgrace in the word and Sacramenrs to force reprobates in theChurch,not to this end that they might befazed by it, but that they might be leffe ex-. cufable then others , and obnoxious to the forer punifhment. Speeches like to thefe bath Mawovius in his Dilputations, a Chq , faith he, knocketh at the hearts of reprobates, who be I aoweth neither can nor will open into him ; notthat he may 1.3.c24 -rz.r 3. Ecce, vocem adeus did - git, fed ut magìs obfur- defcant; lu- cem accen- dit, fed ut reddantur cmciores ; doctrinam profert, fed quâ magìs obftuve- fcant; remedium adhiber, fed né fanentrir. y Eel. P-r,etiíd. ,in c. g. ad Rom. p. 434 Abfurdum videri nondebet, Deum reprobis quibufdam , qui in pccleffa Dei verfan- tur, gratiam fuam in verbo fio five etiarn per fact amenta fija offerre i non cum in fi- nem ut per earn ferventur; fed contra , ut minus habeantexcufationis quám teli- qui, & tandem gravis puniantur. a Macc. did). t 4. pua. i r, 12. Pulfat Chriflus ad ofl.ium reproborum , giros novit nec pofiè nec velle aperire ; non ut intret, fed par- tini ut exprobret ilhs impotentiam fus. ipforum culpâ contrafkam;partim ut con- demnationem in ibis angcar, arc. eater
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