Prophet dy out of Ierusalem so especially is it decreed of this Prophet who for his eminency and excellency is called The Prophet which is the Messias that he shall dy in Ierusalem And as for the rest of the Prophets it hath ordinarily been true and so also it will bee that they haue been put to death and are to dy in Ierusalem because in that Citty the wickednes of thē who gouerne the people doth abound Now Herod who was called Antipas was a very wicked Kinge and very scandalous He was an adulterer and an in cestuous person for he tooke his owne brothers wife from him He was a murtherer a sacrilegious man for he had taken away the life of the great Saint Iohn Baptist and as it should seem he also went about to murder Christ our Lord secretly least the people being instructed by his holy doctrine might growe to abhorre Herods wicked life He was also a most vaine giddy creature for to reward the dance of a girle he promised the one halfe of his kingdome if need had been and he paid the life of Saint Iohn for it He was moreouer a false and dissembling person for he pretended that he murdered Saint Iohn for the complying with his oath whereas indeed that was not the cause but for the contenting of a wicked woman and for the setling and securing of his owne wicked life Now Christ our Lord resoluing to discouer the authority of the Kinge of heauen and earth and of the Lord of al creatures which himselfe had in his hand for the reproofe and punishment of all the powerfull men of this world and to shew how free he was from all humane feare and to giue an example to the Prelates of his Church of that holy liberty which in such case they were to vse towards the Kinges of the earth and to discouer also how vile and contemptible sinnefull men are in the sight of God how rich and noble and great Lords soeuer they might chance to be and particularly meaning to declare to them who bad him take heed of Herod that he knew well enough all the fetches and designes of that crafty man that he had no need to be tould therof by any other I say to declare and discouer all these thinges he spake this word Tell that foxe c. Which was to say vnder a metaphor Tell that crafty and dissembling man who by the wickednes of his life giues a pestilent odour of ill example that whatsoeuer ēdeauour he may vse he can take no part of my life frō mee till my selfe shall voluntarily part with it as I will do when the time ordained by my eternall Father shall arriue Being therefore most conuenient for these ends which wee haue touched that Christ our Lord should speake with this authority of a Lord he did yet obserue great modesty and Benignity therin For he might well haue said Tell that wicked man that adulterer that murderer and sacrilegious person yea or tell it to that diuell for all this had fitted him he deserued it well but Christ our Lord would not vse any of these termes but fell vpon a more moderate word as this was Tell that crafty and dissembling man that he hath no power to stop the course of my life And so shewing the authority and holy liberty which the Prelates of the Church are to vse towardes the great men of this world and discouering also his owne diuine wisedome he did joyntly teach vs that moderatiō wherewith we are to exeroise that authority and liberty Other examples which may breed the like difficulty in the mindes of ignorant men are the reprehensions which Christ out Lord gaue to the Scribes and Pharisees of the people of Israell in very seuere wordes which did greatly confound and grieuously wound them for he would say sometimes as Matt. 12. You generation of vipers you can not speake well being so wicked This wicked adulterous generatiō asketh signes At other times he would say as Matt. 23. Woe be to you Scribes and Pharisees you hipoctites Wo be to you who are blinde and guides of the blinde And Ioh. 8. You are of the diuell and him you haue for your Father and you cooperate to his wicked ends Now let vs see the mystery of these words of Christ our Lord how they were not contrary to that Charity and Benignity which he taught vs but full of conformity to the same And let vs also see who they be who may vse such wordes and to what kinde of persons for what ends they may be vsed The Scribes and Pharises who were the Doctours and should haue been the true Religious mē of Israell were at that time not onely wicked but wicked they were in all extreamity and their sinnes were very publicke very contrary to all Religion And with being so wicked they yet would needes sell themselues for good and holy and they accompanied their wicked life with ill precepts which were most pernicious to the people For by their wicked life and peruerse directions and with their pretences and deceits they corrupted the manners of ignorant people and they were blind obstinate And besides these sinnes which were ordinary in them they harboured that supreme wickednes of hindering the saluation which Christ our Lord came to worke in the soules of men calumniating his most holy life and attributing to Belzebub those most euident and expresse miracles which he wrought by diuine power and persecuting him to whom they should haue carryed all veneration and exhibited al obedience as to the true Messias and yet desiring and procuring by all the waies they could to put him to death who came to giue thē life These men being such as I haue said it was necessary that Christ our Lord who was sent by his Father to giue testimony to the truth and to take scandalls out of the world and to giue remedy to soules vsing the authority which he had of Sauiour of the world King of heauen should reprehend vice and that concerning publicke sinnes he should reprehend them publickely and that concerning grieuous very hurtfull sinnes he should reprehend them grieuously according to the quality and perniciousnes of the same that so they who were faulty might well feele the great hurt they did and all the rest of the people might be disabused and not haue cause to follow either the ill exāple or ill precepts of their wicked Teachers and gouernours And now that Christ our Lord might execute this so important office for the saluation of soules which was ordeined to the ends of true Charity such reprehensions of his were necessary as might declare the grieuousnes of the hipocrisy and other sinnes of those Teachers and the hurt they did to the people and the damnation which they prouided for themselues by committing such sinnes and he tould them who was the principall Author thereof namely the diuell whom they obeyed and the
like a man who indeed is holy be austere and rigorous towards thy selfe and benigne and pitteous towards others and let men see and heare it said of thee that thou commaundest others to doe thinges which are light and easy to be performed and that thy selfe vndergoest heauy and performest hard thinges As for that which concerneth the chastisement and correction of inferiours the vertue of Benignity doth not teach that they should not be corrected for this vertue is not contrary either to that of Iustice or to that of Charity both which oblige Princes that they should correct chastise their vassailes Lords and Masters their seruants slaues parents their children For the Apostle faith of that Superiour who gouerneth the cōmōwealth It is not in vaine that he hath power and authority to punish as we see by the sword he carrieth but it is giuen him vpon great cause and reason and for a great good vse for he is the Minister of God for the punishment of such as doe ill and for the execution of iustice vpō their persons That which Benignity doth teach and exact is this that since correctiō and punishment is necessary and most important for the generall good of the commonwealth and for the particular members therof which is to the end that they who are faulty may amend and the rest may feare punishment and take warning by others it must be executed with that moderation sweetnes which may carry most proportiō to this end as Christ our Lord hath taught vs by his example This moderation sweetnes consisteth in that when the inferiours commit small faultes the Superiours doe not exaggerate and enforce them too much nor correct them with too grieuous punishments but that they moderate their wordes and deedes according to the fault So faith Saint Dorotheus Be not to great nor too seuere a punisher of faultes and defects which are not great And so also when faultes are cōmitted through ignorāce or through great weakenes or vpon some vehement temptatiō and not with malice obserue that moderation in making the reprehension and inflicting the punishment as that you affront not the offender with ill wordes but that the paine he is to suffer may lessen according to the ignorāce and weaknes wherewith the fault was made And sometimes when the person who sinned through ignorance or passion is such as that of himselfe he growes to know his fault and hath much compunction for it and doth cordially put himselfe vpon amendment and that noe hurt or ill example of others groweth by it the vertue of Benignity doth require that the punishment be remitted or moderated at least very much So saith Saint Gregory Some faultes are to be punished very gently for when men sinne not by malice but by ignorance or weakenes it is necessary that the correction and punishmēt be tempered with great moderation And in another place as the fault of them who sinne by ignorance may be tolerated in some sorte so they who commit it wittingly and wilfully must be seuerely punished And that it is more conuenient to pardon a fault sometimes then to inflict punishment the Venerable Bede doth affirme saying Not allwaies are they to be punished who offend for sometimes clemency doth more good both to the Superiour for the exercise of his patience and to the inferiour for his amendment When faultes are great vnexcusable by any ignorance and that it be necessary to inflict due punishment that which Benignity requires is that the Superiour who correcteth and punisheth be not moued to it by anger and passion but that in his heart he haue pitty of the delinquent and that he commit no excesse in punishing but that he temper and moderate it in such sorte as that it may not seeme cruelty or too much rigour for els he who correcteth and punisheth will receiue more hurt by his owne passion and the excesse which he vseth then he who is punished will receiue good So doth Saint Gregory aduise speaking to a Superiour Let such as are good finde by experience that thou art sweet towards them and let such as are euill finde by experience that thou hast zeale in correcting and punishing their faults In which punishment thou art to obserue this order that thou loue the person and that thou abhorre and persecute the vice procuring that the vice may be destroyed that the person may be amended and preserued and according to this let the punishment be moderated in such sorte that it reach not soe farre as to proue cruelty so thou happen to hurt and to loose him whom thou desirest to amend keepe And to the end that the correction punishment may be imposed with that moderatiō which Benignity requires let the Superiout procure that he do it not whilest he findes himselfe angry and altered or enflamed with choler but let him stay till his heart be calme and quiet And before he punish or reproue let him lift vp his heart to God and desire fauour and grace from heauen to the end that he may do it with such moderation as is fit and to such end as he ought which is that the delinquēt may amend and so others may take warning by his example that the diuine Maiesty may be serued and glorified by all This doth S. Dorotheus declare to vs by these wordes Our Predecessors forefathers the holy men did teach vs that if any Superiour being in anger did reprehend his subiect chollerickely in such sorte as reprehending the other he satisfied his owne passion anger it did amount to be a kinde of reuenge and he discouered the vitiousnes of his owne heart wherby he disedified them whom he was to reforme And for this reason it is fit that first he bridle his owne choler and be wholly in the hands of reason before he punish other folkes All this moderation which is necessary to the end that correction and punishment be imposed with Benignity the Apostle teacheth vs speaking thus to his disciple Saint Timothy Argue that is to say conuince such as erre with reasons and authorities and entreate thē also Which is as much as to say admonish the good by way of request and in sweet manner to the end that they may profit such others as are weake and pusillanimous to the end that they may get vp into heart and reprehend and correct the wicked with feruour zeale but yet this you must doe with much patiēce In a word you must correct such as are faulty without shewing your selfe angry or in passion but let them see that you haue a calme and quiet heart THE VI. CHAPTER Of the Benignity which Christ our Lord did vse in touching sicke and leprous persons with his owne sacred hands IT belōgeth to Benignity to shew the sweetnes of loue in life and conuersation with men And a great sweetnes of loue it is that a man placed in dignity should drawe neere to
them good and to giue them comfort and that although wee may be placed in high estate and they in lowe wee must not yet disdaine to vse this charity and sweetnes towards them And that when our neighbours make vs expect ◅ while and come not so soone as wee desire wee must not yet be angry with them nor loose the peace of our heart but wee must endure with patience and expect and speake to them with Benignity i◠imitation of this example of Christ our Lord. THE IX CHAPTER Of the Benignity which Christ our Lord shewed to little children and what he taught vs thereby THe parents of little childrē Matth. 19. Marc. 10. Luc. 18. seeing the power which Christ our Lord had to cure all diseases by touching sicke persons brought those little children to him and not onely them who were able to goe vpon their owne feet but also their sucking babes who could not speake nor goe but in the armes of others and they offered thē to him that he might touch them and giue them his benediction and they had confidence that by this meanes such of thē as were sicke would recouer their health and they who were not not sicke would continue whole Their parents vsed this very often and with much importunity for they who had children were many and did so much esteeme this good of their children that no man would want it by his will and euery one desired to preuent his neighbour and be the first to get a blessing for his sonne The Apostles seeing this and conceiuing that it was a thing vnworthy of the authority and grauity of our Lord to employ himselfe vpon such a light and meane thing as this and thereby to hinder greater matters thinking also that because the exercise was so frequent and vsed with so great importunity and ill manners by those parēts who brought their children that our Lord would be troubled and vexed thereby did vse seuerely to reprehēd such as brought the children and would shake them off as threatening them that so they might not come to our Lord. So saith Saint Chrysostome giuing a reasō therof The disciples droue away the little children and forbad them to come to our Lord in respect of his dignity and the authority of his person And S. Hierome declaring another reason saith The disciples thought that as other men are wont to be disquieted and displeased by such importunities so also would our Lord be by the frequency and importunity wherby they offred their children And Saint Ambrose addeth another cause to this and faith The disciples also did thus least otherwise our Lord might haue beē oppressed that is much straigthened and tired by the multitude of people which came to him some thrustling and iustling others by occasion of the children whō they brought Now our Lord perceiuing how the Apostles hindred litle children frō approaching to him though he knew their zeale and the intention wherewith they did it which was not ill yet he liked it not because it was not so agreable to the diuine spirit of the same Lord but to the humane spirit of the disciples And shewing both by his countenance and his wordes that he liked it not he called reprehended them saying Suffer little children to come to mee and doe not hinder them for of such is the kingdome of heauen I meane that heauen doth belong not onely to those little children for the purity innocency and grace they haue but that the same kidgdom of heauen shall be also giuen to men who in their practise of humility simplicity and purity of life will become like little children And so for that which little children are in their owne persons by diuine grace which is to be acceptable to God worthy of heauen and for that also which they represent in others namely to be men who are humble innocent and pure whom I loue and esteem much and embrace with my very bowells and blesse with my gifts therfore will I suffer them to approache to me and I will admit them to my embracements and blessings and therefore see you giue them noe impediment in comming Our Lord hauing thus reprehended his disciples he called them who brought the children and making those children come neer him he put his hands vpon their heads and embraced them and gaue them his holy blessing with his hands with his words he recommēded them to his heauenly Father and he made them partakers of his diuine grace by the efficacy of his benediction By this act Christ our Lord discouered to vs his Benignity and most sweet condition in that a Lord of so great Maiesty and who was euer ēployed in so great and high workes should descend to a thing which in all apparance was so poore and meane and belonging wholly to men who had no waighty businesse in hand and that he should doe it with so cheerfull a countenance and with so much gust and sweetnes that their parents others of kinne who brought the children should presume to bring them so often and so importunately and to interrupt the continuance of his discourses and the working of his miracles and to ēploy so large spaces of time in this so meane exercise And not onely did Christ our Lord discouer his Benignity to vs by this proceeding but he manifested it to be so great and so admirable that it doth incomparably exceed all that which men can conceiue and beleiue therof For although it were much which the Apostles knew of the Benignity and piety and meeknes of our Lord yet they could not beleiue or vnderstand how it could possibly arriue so farre as this but did rather thinke that our Lord was to disdaine such a poore imployment and that he would be troubled and offended by the disquiet and importunity which they gaue him in this kinde But indeed it was farre otherwise with him for the meannes of the action pleased him much and the time it cost was held by him to be well employed and the labour trouble which they put him to was sweetly and gladly endured by him Let vs imitate this Benignity of our Lord in descending to doe such thinges as are poore and meane in the account of men when charity requires it at our hands and to treate and conuerse with poore and meane people though wee may seeme perhaps to loose somewhat of our right and dignity thereby if yet it doe import for the assisting and comforting them in their necessities for gaining them to Christ our Lord doing that which the Apostle did in imitation of Christ when he said I haue made my selfe all thinges to all men I haue accommodated my selfe to the inclination and gusts of all men in all lawfull thinges thereby loosing somewhat of mine owne right liberty that I might saue as many as I could THE X. CHAPTER Of the Benignity which Christ our Lord shewed towards wicked persons who came to him with a
corrupt intention OVr Lord shewed great Benignity in yeelding so liberally and sweetly to all that which the persōs who came to him desired of him with good intention and true desire of finding remedy by his meanes but he discouered it much more in yeelding liberally to that which was desired of him with a corrupt minde and with a meaning to calumniate him and to drawe some word out of his mouth or to note some action wherby they might defame him and condemne him to death There came to him a man of the Lawe Luc. 10. after a counterfeit manner to tempt him and he asked him what he was to doe for the obtaining of eternall life but our Lord did not discouer his treachery nor reprehended his wickednes but graunted that which he desired instructing him with wordes full of sweetnes concerning the truth of what he was to know and doe for the obtaining of eternall life There came a Pharisee to him Matth. 22. who was learned in the Lawe to aske him which was the greatest commaundment of the Lawe and he came with a malitious minde and not with a desire to vnderstand the truth but to finde matter whereof to accuse him And yet he without shewing any feeling or disgust either in his countenance or wordes did answere to the questiō with much facility suauity and he taught him the truth The Pharisees did often inuite him to eate with them Luc. 7. 11. Matth. 22. not with charity but with a peruerse and malitious intention which was to see if he did or said any thing which might be taxed and finding nothing whereof they could take hould wherewith to hurt him they procured to serue themselues of his piety and religiousnes towardes the making good their ill purpose and therefore they inuited him vpon their Sabboth daies and would place sicke persons before him to the end that curing them vpon the Sabboth they might accuse him for not obseruing it And our Lord knowing the malice and wicked intention wherewith they inuited him did not yet excuse himselfe from going but with great facility graunted the suite they made accepted their inuitation and he went to their houses and did eate with them and comfort them by his presence illuminate them by his doctrine and edify them by his example And though he vsed most exact temperance in eating and drinking yet to accommodate himselfe to them to shew himselfe affable and benigne towards them he fed vpon those ordinary meats which they vsed And euen this was a proofe of his very vnspeakeable Benignity that coming into the world to suffer for man and carrying such an intense loue towards the Crosse and such a most ardent desire to abstaine from all earthly comfort and regalo and to take all that to himselfe which was most painfull and grieuous that so he might suffer the more for man and satisfy the diuine Iustice more perfectly and discouer and exercise that loue so much the more which he carryed both to the eternall Father and to the whole race of mankinde yet neuertheles he did in many things remit much of this rigour at some times and did both in his feeding and cloathing serue himselfe of ordinary and vsuall things so to shew himselfe more appliable and sweet towards them with whō he conuersed and fed to make himselfe more inuitable by all men and to giue them all the greater hope of their saluation So saith the venerable Abbot Euthymius It was fit that our Lord who came to take away finne should be benigne and sweet and that he should accommodate himselfe to the weakenes of men to gaine them for heauen as he did and for this cause he went to the table of sinners and fed vpon their meates though he did it in a most temperate and religious manner as it becometh holy men to doe And although at times he condescended thus to the vsuall custome of men for the winning of them he did not for all this giue ouer his manner of austere and painfull life which he also exercised at certaine times as namely during those forty daies which he fasted in the desert This was said by Euthymius wherby it is cōfirmed that so to admit of the inuitatiō of sinfull people and especially such as did inuite him with a malitious minde as if it had been but to eate with them was a worke of supreme Benignity whereby he shewed his most sweet loue in the strength whereof he had a meaning to cōfort and saue all the world Especially he shewed this vnspeakeable Benignity in the time of his Passion For being in the house of Caiphas Matth. 23. Luc. 22. before that Councell of vniust Iudges they asking him whether he wore Christ and the Sonne of God or no our Lord seeing that they asked it not with a desire of knowing the truth or for the doing of Iustice but onely from his answere to take occasion of blaspheming him and condemning him to death and accusing him to Pilate to the end that he might execute that vniust sentence which they had giuen against him And obseruing that by reason they were so wicked so vaine and proud they were most vnworthy of any answere yet neuertheles that soueraigne Maiesty of Christ the Kinge of glory refused not to giue them answere and disdained not to speake to them but in very modest wordes was content to declare to them who he was by saying thus Herafter when my Passion is at an end the Sonne of man shall be sitting at the right hand of the power of God which was as much as to say that he was to raigne discouer his power and authority as he was God coequall to the eternall Father And they enducing another question hereupon saying Therefore belike thou art the sonne of God he answered also to that saying your selues say that I am so which was to answere truth but with very modest and humble words whereby though he gaue to vnderstand that in very truth he was the Sonne of God yet he affirmed it not expressely as it was fit not to doe to such as would not profit by it though the answere had been more expresse cleer And by answering them after this manner he also shewed his inclination to answere them more plainely and directly to what they asked if they would haue knowen the truth to haue beleeued it And this he signified by saying If I tell you what you aske you will not beleeue mee and if I aske you any thing to the end that I may teach you truth you will not answere mee Our Lord by answering these questions which were asked by Iudges so wicked so cruell and so vndeseruing of any respect at this hands did shew how free his heart was from all passion and choler since he answered with so great serenity peace of minde and therby he preuented that aspersion which they would haue cast vpon him if he had been wholly
faith as this in Israell And many shall come from the East and from the West and from all the parts of the world out of the nations of the Gentiles and by meanes of faith and obedience to my Ghospell shall sit in company of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and the rest of the Patriarches and shall raigne with God and on the other side they who be the children of the kingdom which are the Iewes who descēd from the Patriarchs and to whom the promise of the Messias and of his celestiall kingdome was made shall the most part of them be excluded from that Kingdome and shut vp into eternall torment Christ our Lord praised the faith of the Centurion for the reproofe of the infidelity of those Iewes who belieued not in him at all of the weak faith of some others who belieued in him and to confound them by this example and to mooue them to penance for their fault and to perswade with them who belieued not and to encrease their faith who beleeued And so he was pleased to expresse himselfe to this effect This Centurion being a Gentile and not hauing read the Prophets nor hauing been brought vp in the Lawe of God nor in any discipline but of the warre and not hauing seene my workes and miracles but onely heard relation of mee hath beleeued my truth and my power with so great and so firme a faith and on the other side the children of Israell who are descended from the Patriarches who haue read the Scriptures and know the Prophecies which speake of mee and who were looking for mee and haue seen my miracles and heard my doctrine some of these haue not belieued in mee nor will receiue my truth but persecute the same others haue beleeued it so imperfectly that none of them hath arriued to so great a Faith as this man hath and as he confesseth in honour of mee They I say notwithstanding the many causes motiues which they haue had to beleeue my truth with a perfect faith haue not beleeued it as they ought and this man hauing had so few motiues as he had to beleeue in me hath beleeued with so great perfection that he hath farre outstripped all the rest And therefore this man though but a Gentile and all the other Gentiles also who throughout all the parts of the world shall be conuerted to mee and shall be like this man in his faith and obedience to my word shall be admitted into the Kingdom of heauen in company of the holy Patriarches whom they haue imitated and on the other side the children of Israell who according to the extractiō of flesh blood descend from Patriarches if they doe not penance and reforme their infidelity and disobedience by true and constant faith and reall subiection to my commaundments shall be excluded from the Kingdome of heauen and condemned to eternall torments In this sort did Christ our Lord praise the faith of the Centurion and thereby did he correct the infidelity or at least the weake faith of the Iewes And he did it with much reason for the faith of this man was so great that some of the Saints conceiue that he did truly know and beleeue the diuinity of Christ our Lord and that it was couered with the veile of his sacred humanity For thus saith Saint Hierome The wisdome of the Centurion is discouered in that with the eyes of faith he saw the diuinity which lay hid vnder that veile of humanity And the same doth Saint Augustin confesse saying in the person of the same Centurion If I being a man subiect to others haue yet power to commaund how much more hast thou it ô Lord whom all the powers of the earth obey and serue Wee are to profit by this example of Christ our Lord in praising such seruants of God as liue in a more eminent degree of vertue then the state and condition of their life seemeth to exact at their hands for the admonishing and correcting of others who by reason of their vocation and of the parts and gifts which God hath bestowed vpon them were obliged to greater vertue As when for the correcting of some Prelate who may be straight handed in giuing almes and negligent withall in the gouernment of his subiects we may praise some Lord who being a secular man is yet most liberall in giuing almes and most vigilant in procuring that his seruants and vassailes may be vertuous And as if for the reproofe and amendment of a Religious man who were remisse in making Prayer and doing Penance and were full of tepidity in the exercise of vertue and imperfect in the performance of his Obedience we should praise a secular Cauallier for being much giuen to prayer and diligent in the mortification of himselfe and full of feruour in the exercise of vertue and very obedient to his Ghostly Father For we frame the reason after this manner If a Lord or a Cauallier being a secular man be of so great recollection so great vertue such purity of life such diligence in the doing of good workes his vocation not seeming to bind him altogether to it how much more reason is it that a Prelate make himselfe a possessor of these vertues whom his state obligeth to be a perfect man and a Religious person whom his Religion obligeth to procure to be perfectly vertuous And so to reforme some very wise and learned man who wanteth spirit and deuotion we may praise a man who is wholly ignorant but yet full of the spirit of God and of true deuotion saying If this rude creature hauing so little knowledge of God and of his workes and mysteries and being able to vse so little discourse of reason haue yet so great loue of God and so great feeling of his goodnes and of his mysteries and workes so great gust of diuine things and maketh so great estimation of vertue and spirituall blessings how much more is it reason that a wise and learned man to whom God hath giuen so great wit knowledge for the comprehending of truth both diuine and humane and so great light of reasō to discourse and passe by meanes of visible thinges to the knowledge of such as are inuisible and by the creatures to come to the knowledge and loue of the Creatour haue such deuotion as was said before or at least procure to haue it In this sort did the Apostle S. Paule following this example of Christ our Lord cōmend the Gentiles who were conuerted for the most excellēt vertues which they had and the admirable workes they did and for those most high gifts which God had communicated to them by meanes of their faith to the end that so the Iewes who were in their infidelity might know their errour and be in confusion for their wickednes and might be awaked by the vertue of the Gentiles and encouraged to the incitation thereof This did he signify by saying Rom. 11. For as much as I