The conuerfion oftheThcefe eueryway miraculous. the good Theefe. Ser. 40. 619 left. The doubtwhich in this (torie dothmoft grauell mensthought, is,That oftwo theeueswhich werecrucified on either fide ofour Sauior, the one fhould be failed, and theotherdamned. S. eilig. renders two reafons thereof.Andfirft of all weare tofuppofe, that there it not anycaufe ofpredeftination: Beforethat theyhaddone eithergoodor euill, Ilotted Jacob , andhated*is ; So faith SaintPaul. And inanother place Bathnot the Potterpower outofthefame mapor lumpe, to makeone vefll for honour,andanotherfardif,oner?Some for toferue inthe kitchin, and Ionic to fervpon the table. The judgements of Godare fecret, whichwee muftrather reuerence than inquireinto, crying out with the fame Apoftle, o altitudes aiuìtiarum,&c. Secondly,it isto be fuppofed, that of ourvocation to faith, there is likewife nocaufegiuen. And there forein this point, we mutt take Saint .Augulline along with vs,whofaith, carehim trahat,huncnon trahatf idefl Adfidtm noli iudi- care,finon vuerrare.ludgenot,whyhedrawer thismantes Faithandnot that. And here Saint elugufiinebrings in the example ofPharaoh andWebuchad- nezzar, whom God fought to draw vnto him with one and the fel fe-fame kind of forceand violence : But the one did followhim that lent him his hand to di- reEt him, and theother refufedtobe guidedby hint. They were both men ac- cording to nature ; both Kings,according to their dignirie;both had finnedalike, &oadculpara, forthey had made Gods people flaues,and vfed them very ill and hardly; and quoadpanam, they were both of thempunifhed with(tripes from heauen. The warningwas alike toboth : but how thencomes it to paffe, That the meanes being inboth alike, theends fhould be fo dïuers and different e That theone fhould acknowledge Gods power, and repenting his wickedneffe, for- rowedwith teares, and faid, i Nebuchadnezzar pra f andglorc the King oft-ha- rem; Butthe other perfifting in his obftinacie, faid, 1knownot the Lard, Who is the Lord? &c. In thisaccount may come in thofe two feruants of Pharaoh, which were fellow-prifoners with fofeph, whereof the one was faued, and the other hanged. Wemay likewife put into the reckoning thofe two, of whom Saint (Matthew faith, that grinding in onemill, 'The onefha11 a,receiued, andthe other re. Sid. And thofe two, who ftandingbyAaron, whenhe was offering incenfc, the one wasftrucken dead,and the other remained aliue. And as inthe Tribunall of iudgement, God (hall put the fheepeon theTight hand , and the goates onthe left,and (hall feparate the good fillies from thebad, and chaffe from the corne, and the tares from the wheat ; fo in the Tribunall of the Croffe, Leo the Pope faith,he condemned the blafphemous theefe,and faued the good theefe. The fccond moral] reafòn,was to teach vs in thofe two theeues , theeafieft and the fafcft way to heauen: Towit, That a foule fhould hue betweene hope and fcare.Feare is the bridle which holds inHope;Hope is theanchorwhich f2- curetteFeare. Feare makes thee a coward,confidering what thou art, & the fmal worth that is in thee: But Hopemakes theeconfident, confidering what God is, and his infinite clemencie. Vpon thefe twovertues, God imployethall his fa- llouts, Godseyes arevponchofe thatfeare him, and thole that troll in his mcrcie : For he hath his eyes nayled vntothofe which feare him, and place their hopes on hisgoodneffe.facob prophefied offachar, That he shouldbe a ftrong Affe,cow- ching downe betweene two burthens. It is acommonfaying,That thofeare not to betruftcd thatliuebetween twoKìngdomes: becaufeborderers(for the moft part) art a bold and vnruly people. But here it is quite otherwife, Thebell people forheauen,arethofethat linebetween theFeareof hell, and the Hopeof heauen. Saint ,iuguilinedeclares theextraordinariehappineffe of thisverrue of Feare, Mat. a4. Thenatureof Hope and Fcare. Gtn.49.
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