not all possibilitie of amendment being taken from him My opinion to the contrary is that no man hath filled up the full measure of his iniquity till death As touching the possibility of amendment I acknowledge none in man without the regenerating grace of God whereby he gives man repentance Neither do I know any time in the course of mans life wherin any man is excluded from possibility of repentance by the grace of God We know God gave the thiefe repentance upon the crosse Our Saviour gives us to understand that God calleth some at the very last houre of the day Paul admonisheth Timothy to carrie himselfe gently towards them that are without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if so be God at any time may give them repentance that they may come to amendment out of the snare of the devill by whom they are led captive to doe his will Of old it was wont to be said Inter pontem fontem and the like is usuall amongst us Betweene the stirrop and the ground Mercy I askt mercy I found All this which followeth and which you have transcribed out of Bishop Hooper I finde nothing that contradicteth any of these assertions of mine or that justifieth any of your opposite assertions not in this which immediately followeth thus Every man is in Scripture called wicked and the enemy of God for the privation and lacke of faith and love that hee oweth to God Et impij vocantur qui non omnino sunt pij that is They are called wicked that in all things honour not God beleeve not in God and observe not his commandements as they should doe which we cannot doe by reason of this naturall infirmity or hatred of the flesh as Paul calleth it against God In this sense taketh Paul the word wicked So must we interpret S. Paul and take his words or else no man should be damned In all this I finde nothing to that purpose whereto you alledge it Yet by the way I am not of Master Hoopers opinion in saying that They were called wicked meaning in holy Scripture that in all things honour not God beleeve not in God and observe not his commandements as they should which wee cannot doe by reason of this naturall infirmity c. For all this is verified of the very Saints and children of God here on earth and I doe not finde that the Saints of God in holy Scripture by reason of their infirmities not honouring God not beleeving in God not observing his commandements in such measure as they should as God knowes and our consciences well know that in many things we offend all are therefore called wicked Especially considering that the Greeke word which Master Hooper aimes at and which hee renders by the word wicked in English is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appeares by his reference to Rom. 5. 8. In this sense saith Bishop Hooper taketh Paul this word wicked when he saith that Christ died for the wicked Now this state noted by S. Paul in these words is not the state of grace but the state of sinne precedent to justification and the state of enmity against God as appeares by the two next verses Much more being justified by his bloud we shall be saved by his life 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne c. Whereby it is manifest that the state of sinne in which we were when wee were reconciled to God by Christs death was the state of enmity against God And indeed otherwise there were no place for reconcilement which consists in making them friends which before were enemies Neither doe I know any Divine of master Hoopers opinion in construing S. Paul in this manner as if these sinners 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he cals wicked for whom Christ died were onely such as doe not honour God beleeve in God and observe his commandements as they should which wee know is incident to the very children of God and to the most righteous Saints that are on the earth who yet are never accounted in holy Scripture for ought I know the enemies of God Yet such are they termed for whom Christ died and who S. Paul saith are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne I willingly grant that Christ died to procure the salvation of none but such as sooner or later should become the Saints of God to honour him beleeve in him and observe his commandements though not in such measure as they should by reason of the flesh which they carie about them still lusting against the spirit and this seemes by this place undoubtedly to be the opinion of Bishop Hooper though he erreth in the interpretation of S. Paul who in this place considereth not what shall be their condition sooner or later for whom Christ died but only sheweth what was their condition when Christ died for them thereby the more to commend the love of God towards us who sent his Sonne to die for us when wee were sinners and reconciled us to himselfe by the death of his Son what time we were his enemies And I am perswaded your selfe are of the same opinion with me in this though I will not say that the evidence of S. Pauls text seemed so plaine unto you this very way I have interpreted it that therefore you concealed S. Pauls passage mentioned by master Hooper thus When he saith that Christ died for the wicked and in the margent referres us to Rom. 5. 8. all which you have handsomly left out to what end I know not But hereby it comes to passe that the reader may be to seeke of that passage of S. Paul in case he have no other meanes to judge thereof then your transcribing it As for the reason of Bishop Hooper to justifie this interpretation of S. Pauls text it is nothing consequent as when he saith So we must interpret Saint Pauls words or else no man should be damned If S. Paul had said Christ died for all the wicked or for all sinners then indeed we should be driven to seeke out some such interpretation of the word wicked or sinners or else none should bee damned But S. Paul doth not say Christ died for all that are wicked or for all sinners but for us sinners his words are these God commendeth his love to us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Now he writes unto Christians and for such onely hee died though they were not Christians when Christ died for them but rather in the state of enmity against God And thus to appropriate Christs dying for mankinde doth manifestly appeare to bee master Hoopers meaning as before I shewed albeit he deviates from the right interpretation of S. Pauls Text in the place mentioned by him That which followeth doth in my judgement carie a greater shew of justifying your former assertions and yet but a shew neither as when he saith Now we know that Paul himselfe S.
Pharaoh after the seventh plague And notwithstanding the former contempt of Gods word and his law you professe that God unfainedly loves all such in whom such a contempt is found because for sooth as yet they have not filled up the full measure of their contempt And as for such in whom is found a farther degree of contempt then this all possibility of amendment is taken from them Now Mr. Hooper doth not make any such distinction much lesse doth hee cast himselfe upon any such uncoth assertions as you deliver hereupon as before I have shewed Secondly your doctrine of filling up the measure of iniquity proceeds of men in state of nature but Mr. Hooper delivers that before rehearsed of men in the state of grace And in my judgement his meaning is no more then this that imperfections of faith and holinesse may and doe still consist with the â—ate of grace in this life but contempt or hate of Gods word and transformation of our selves into the image of the Devill cannot stand with the state of grace not denying but that all contempt and hatred of Gods word and the fruits of the image of the Devill in us in case they are broken off and an end is set unto them by repentance are borne by Christ upon the Crosse and satisfaction made for them by the death of Christ as well as for originall sinne nor affirming that any man once brought unto the state of grace doth at any time breake forth so farre as to contemne or hate Gods word or to transforme himselfe into the image of the Devill But his meaning in my judgement is onely this that Christ hath made satisfaction for the imperfections of our faith and holinesse although wee continue therein untill death but hee hath not made satisfaction for the contempt and hatred of his word and for our transformation of our selves into the image of the Divell as hâ— calleth it in case men doe continue therein unto death Imperfections may and shall continue and still bee pardoned but contempt must not This hath seemed to others as well as to my selfe an harsh sentence and I have taken some paines to cleare it but how little it serves your turne to that purpose whereto you alledge it is easily discovered SECT III. That Gods will and pleasure is never frustrated albeit his unspeakable love take no effect in many to whom it is unfainedly tendered CHAP. XVI In what sense God may be said to have done all that he could for his vineyard and for such as perish I Have now waded thorow fifteene Chapters of these your Contemplations and should by this in reason be pretie well acquainted with the manner of your discourse But I finde my selfe as much pusâ—ed in searching after the coherence of the parts of the first Section here as hitherto I have beene in any part of the Treatise But it may be I doe but labour to gather that which you never strewed and then no marvell if I labour in vaine As in other parts so in this it may be your purpose was to write Quodlibets well such as they are I purpose to consider them as I finde them To summe up the particulars in the first place you discover unto us the causes of conceiving difficulties and of ignorance in assoiling them and that is because we extend this Maxime Both parts of contradictories cannot bee true not so farre as we should and the reason thereof is you say because we extend our power to the utmost yea farther then justice or goodnesse can accompany it To this you adde 〈◊〉 our nature is humourous and inconstant and therefore nothing can imply any constant contradiction to our nature and that looke what is constant and still the same that will at one time or other contradict our humour And humours you say enraged with contradiction arme power against whatsoever contradicts them By the way you tell us that the use of power in creatures sensitive is to satiate their appetite of sense in man to accomplish his will and desire of good And that being corrupt his power becomes an under-commander unto his unruly appetites as in voluptuous men and that in men esteemed good motions of equity are so weake that men yeeld their consents to such proposals as were they firme they would offensively contradict them And the reason why they yeeld is lest upstart appetites which custome countenanceth should bee enlarged by reluctance But love you say is not alike set on divers objects but divides itselfe unequally when it comes to opposition betweene sense reason our selves and friends or common equity And the inconveniences whereto the world and flesh exposeth us are reducible to two heads the blinding of the judgement and consequently the abusing of power and authority Then againe you returne to our unconstant humour and upon the backe of that tell us that though none doth good yet we may doe lesse evill then others And lastly that they who love equity are hardly drawn to dispense with injustice and at last having sate long you hatch an excellent Maxime that where judgement is infallible and love to justice invincible there â—s not possible to transgresse in judgement All which when I compare together and with your theame proposed How God may be said to have done all that he could for his vineyard it cals to my remembrance a certaine mad fellowes discourse when I was a Scholler at Winchester that would talke of master Killigree and Abbey lands fat venison and such like uncoherences a long time together But let us examine them apart Both parts of contradiction cannot be true and it is as true that both parts of contradiction cannot be false But whereto this tends and how pertinent to your purpose in this place I cannot devise Onely you tell us that the not extending of this Maxime so farre as we should is the cause why wee conceive difficulties in your wilde discourse premised as also of our ignorance in assoiling them A strange conceit and whereof I see no colour of reason neither do you take any paines to explicate it by accommodation or instance but let flie at randome as if you would imploy your readers in seeking after sense and reason where there is none to be found And if this were true your selfe should have assoiled the difficulties conceived in the points proposed by extending this Maxime to the utmost to serve your turne and shewed how by not extending it so farre as is meet difficulties are conceived and no meanes found to assoile them but your selfe have taken no such course And who was ever knowne not to extend this Maxime to the uttermost where can you finde any limitation or confining of it what doe you meane to abuse your readers patience with such incredible fictions Againe herehence it followeth that whosoever doe extend this maxime so farre as naturally it would reach they shall not be apt to conceive difficulties in the points proposed nor be
It is manifestly untrue first in generall that to produce a reward and punishment no cause is required but the producing of the fact which is to bee rewarded or punished Consequents naturall follow I confesse upon antecedents naturall but it is not so with consequents morall such as are rewards and punishments And in particular the case is cleare that something else was required to Absolons defiling Davids Concubines then Davids defilâ—ng of Bethsheba For both the counsell of Achitophel and Absolons corruption in yeelding thereto and the pâ—nishing hand of God herein were found in this and none of all these was found in Davids sinne Or doe you meane this of the possibility of Absolons sinning as he did so that to the punishing of David no other thing was required but Absolons reducing his power of defiling his father Concubines into act Now this I confesse is a truth but such a truth as might make any wise man ashamed to accommodate himselfe to the grave profession of it though he did not affect any singularity of conceit therein For t is as much as to say that to defile Davids Concubines no other thing was required then to defile them for this is to reduce possibility granted as you say by Gods decree into act and that is enough But by your leave it is not enough to salve your credit to say that a possibility hereof was granted by Gods decree For you have plainly professed that God hath decreed not a possibility of a proportionate end or correspondent consequent to every cogitation but a proportionate end and correspondent consequent And therefore if the defiling of Davids concubines by Absolon was a proportionate end or correspondent consequent to Davids former cogitations and actions then by your doctrine this deiling of Davids concubines by Absolon his sonne was everlastingly decreed by God and not the possibility of it And how absurd a thing it is to say that God decreed the possibility of any thing whereas all contingent things are possible in their owne nature without the decree of God as the whole world was possible and that not by the decree of God But it seemes you have reference to the possibility not of the punishment but of the time for which correspondent punishment is decreed as appeares by that which followes as when you say Did we that which we doe not but might doe many things would immediately follow which now doe not which though it be granted you yet herehence it would not follow that No other cause should be required to the producing of them then our producing of the antecedent But by this you justifie that upon Davids adultery Absolon his defiling Davids concubines and upon Sennacheribs blasphemy against the God of Israel Adâ—amelech and Sharezar his sonnes slaying him with the sword in the Temple of Nisroch his god did inevitably follow For these things did befall them and those things which doe befall you and us doe come to passe as you professe in the next place though not as absolutely decreed by God and in the first place yet because he decreed them as the inevitable consequents of some things which hee knew he would doe By all which it cannot be avoided but that Absolon defiling his fathes concubines in speciall and all the sinnes of man whereby God doth punish former sinnes in generall are by this your opinion decreed by God as inevitable consequents of some things which God knâ—w would be done Now let us examine this a little further You speake indifferently of good and evill that doth befall men And these indifferently you prosesse to be ordayned by God upon the foresight of some thing in man So then like as the damnation of any man is ordayned by God not absolutely and in the first place but upon the foresight of some evill thing in the person damned so the salvation of any man is not decreed absolutely by God and in the first place but upon the fore sight of some good in the person saved or to be saved which good must be eyther faith or good workes or both or which is worst of all some thing which is lesse evill as suppose naturall humilitie in the state of nature Yet you will not seeme to be an abetter of their opinion that maintayne election to be upon the foresight of faith or workes Yet let me have one bout with you more in the point of reprobation also God foreseeing some evill in man say you doth purpose to condemne him Now because like as no evill can exist without Gods permission so God could not foâ—see evill but upon presupposall of his purpose to permit it it followeth that the decree to permit sinne is before the decree of God to damne for sinne therefore permission of sinne is in Gods intention before damnation and consequently it must be after it in execution as much as to say God doth first damne men for sinne and afterwards permit them to sinne Hereupon you will reflâ—ct upon us with an interrogatorie saying Will you maintayne that God did first decree to damne men for sinne and secondly to permit them to sinne I answere If I did maintayne this I should looke to be confuted by reason and not to be cried downe without reason or contrarie to all reason Nay I had rather maintayne an harsh opinion according unto reason then a plausible opinion in contradiction unto manifest reason Secondly I answere by negation For I doe not mayntayne either of these to be subordinate unto other in Gods intention but rather coordinate because neither of these thinges decreed is the end of the other but both joyntly make up an integrall meanes tending to the manifestation of Gods glorie in the way of justice according to that of Aquinas who professeth that reprobation includeth the will of God of permitting sinne and of inferring damnation for sinne Now let us proceed to that which followes It is absurde to say we have a possibilitie to doe what we doe not but rather you should say we have an abilitie to doe what we doe not For possibilitie is of a passive signification not active And abilitie to obey God I confesse we had in Adam and in Adam we have lost it That which you call the absolute necessitie of Gods decres is not in respect of Gods act in 〈◊〉 For his decrees are most free but in respect of the event ensuing upon supposition of Gods decree So then thinges freely decreed upon this supposition must necessarily come to passe Both that which should and that which doth befall us floweth alike you say from the absolute necessitie of Gods decree Now because your present discourse is not of Gods power but of his wisedome that you might not seeme beside the text you tell us in the close that herein is seene Gods incomprehensible wisedome that nothing falls out without the circumference of it whereas that all things fall out as God hath decreed it is rather the fruit of his power
Heathen who doe not so much as know God nor ever were acquainted with his word and Gospell CHAP. XIIII Of Gods infinite love to mankinde YOur theame runnes in an indefinite current as touching the object of Gods love but it appeares by your discourse ensuing that you have a farther reach and doe extend this love of God towards all and every one For by the last clause of the first section it appeares that you conceive the notion of love infinite to bespeake as much namely that therefore it must extend to all and every one And this reason of yours is soone dispatched in lesse then two lines all the rest of your first section is wide enough from the marke you shoot at and yet unsound enough in many particulars First you maintaine that blessing and cursing both cannot proceed out of the mouth of God Secondly that God is the author of being to all and therefore loves all Thirdly that in as much as he gives being to all he loves all For he hateth nothing that hee hath made All these I will examine in their order Touching the first you beginne with the authority of St. Iames Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing my brethren these things ought not so to be And he doth illustrate it with similitudes drawne from naturall things as from a fountaine that sends not forth at the same place sweet water and bitter and from trees which bring forth proper fruit onely according to their kinde Can the figtree beare Olive berries or the Vine figs And you seeme to conceive that these reasons of the Apostle as you call them which indeed are but illustrations have more force to prevaile then the Apostles authority for thus you write If the Apostles authority could not perswade us to beleeve his reasons would inforce us to grant that the issues of blessing and cursing from one and tho same mouth are contrary to the course of nature and argue the nature of man to bee much out of tune Herein I am not of your minde I am rather of Abrahams minde If they will not beleeve Moses and the Prophets neither will they beleeve though a man rise from the dead And yet a man rising from the dead were as fit to make faith of the state of the dead in my judgement as these illustrations secluding S. Iames his authority are of force to prove that it becomes not a man out of the same mouth to send forth blessing and cursing For fountaines send forth water and trees bring forth fruit by necessity of nature But man speakes by freedome of will and as a man may be induced to curse so in case he curseth and be challenged for it by a brother hee may answer as David did unto his brethren And what have I now done is there not a cause For if all curses were causelesse Solomon would never have told us that The curse which is causlesse shall not come I never yet read of any that censured Elisha for cursing the children that mocked him saying Come up thou bald head come up thou bald head and indeed it is said He cursed them in the name of the Lord. And yet this curse of his had a very bloody issue two Beares comming out of the wood and tearing forty two of them And in the booke of Iudges the Angell of the Lord bids the people curse Meroz Curse ye Meroz saith the Angell of the Lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants of Meroz because they came not to helpe the Lord to helpe the Lord against the mighty And as curses may have their due course so blessings may bee causelesse For as for him that blesseth himselfe in his heart when hee heareth the word of Gods curse saying I shall have peace though I walke after the stubbornnesse of my heart herein he doth but adde drunkennesse unto thirst and the Lord will not bee mercifull to that man And if some doe sinne in blessing themselves how much more doe others sinne in blessing idols Wee well know that out of our Saviours mouth came forth cursings sometimes as well as blessings at other times For he cursed the figtree and anone it withered And therefore it were fit to distinguish betweene cursings and cursings yea and betweene blessings and blessings lest otherwise we confound truth and errour good and evill And to this purpose I thinke fit to distinguish betweene cursing as it signifies onely the pronouncing of a curse and cursing as it signifieth cursed speaking And S. Iames as I take it speakes of cursing as it signifies cursed speaking and not as it signifies the bare pronunciation of a curse which may bee done without cursed speaking and in an holy manner as when our Saviour cursed the figtree and Elisha the children that mocked him moved undoubtedly thereunto extraordinarily by the Spirit of God Like as when prophane persons blesse themselves and superstitious persons blesse their idolls their actions are unholy enough and doe bring the curse of God upon their persons For they shall multiply sorrow upon their heads that runne after other gods Now S. Iames useth fit similitudes to illustrate this duty of blessed speaking and to move them to refraine from cursed speaking considering that Gods Spirit is as a fountaine of holy life in their hearts and therefore they should send forth nothing but sweet water not indifferently either sweet water onely or bitter water onely but sweet water and that onely And seeing they are trees of righteousnesse of the Lords planting that hee may be glorified therefore to bring forth nothing but good fruit but that of divers kindes like unto that tree of life that bare twelve manner of fruits and gave fruit every moneth And yet if sometimes they breake forth into cursed speaking it is the lesse strong considering they are in part carnall and but in part spirituall and therefore in part out of tune though nothing like so much as they were in state of nature when they sent forth nothing but bitter water neither blessing their brethren nor God no nor themselves neither Not one of these instances say you but holds as truely in God as in man He being the tree of life cannot bring forth death To cause the vine to bring forth figges were not so hard a point of husbandry as to derive cursednesse or misery from the fountaine of blisse For a spring to send forth water sweet and bitter fresh and salt is more competible then for hatefull and harmefull intentions to have any issue from pure love But God is love yea love is his essence as Creator Why doe you not speake plainely and tell us that out of Gods mouth cannot proceed blessing and cursing Yet the Lord protesteth to Abraham saying Blessed shall hee be that blesseth thee and cursed shall he be that curseth thee And tells the Iewes to their face that he would curse their blessings Yea
cannot be judged by your text what you borrow out of Bishop Hooper and what you doe not Yet upon consulting Bishop Hoopers Preface unto his exposition of the tenne Commandements I finde that both this sentence following Every man is called in the Scripture wicked and the enemy of God for the privation and lacke of faith and love that he oweth to God and all that followeth hereupon to the end of this eighth Section of yours is taken out of that Preface of his and I wonder not a little what you meant not to discover so much neither by expresse profession nor by changing the letter that thereby at least it might be taken to be another mans discourse and not your owne Well I am willing to consider what you alledge out of him and whether his writings bee so consonant as you speake to your deductions First you call him A learned Bishop and blessed Martyr Et quis Herculem vituperat You adde that this exposition of the ten Commandements made by him Is a fit Catechisme for a Bishop to make I am perswaded the whole Church of England hath a reverend opinion of his learning of his holinesse of his martyrdome and that this Catechisme of his is worthy of a Bishop but it followeth not herehence that every Bishop in England doth neither doe I thinke you your selfe expect they should concurre with him in every opinion of his expressed in this booke In his declaration of the ninth Commandement Fol. 80. he justifieth mendatium ossiciosum and professeth that it is required in some cases Doe you looke that all the Bishops of England should concurre rather with Bishop Hooper then with Bishop Austine in this opinion Vpon the eighth Commandement Fol. 74. he complaines saying A great pitty it is to see how farre that office of a Bishop is degenerated from the originall in the Scripture it was not so at the beginning when Bishops were at the best as the Epistle of Paul to Titus testifieth that willed him to ordain in every City of Creet a Bishop and Fol. 79. as sharpely as closely censureth the Bishops of his dayes for arrogating to themselves so much wit as to rule serve in both states in the Church and in the Civill policie and to the contrary professeth that one of them is more then any man is able to satisfie and that it is not possible that one should doe both well and that it is a great oversight of the Princes and higher powers of the earth so to charge them with two burthens when none of them as hee saith is able to beare the least of them both Doe you expect that all the Bishops in England should bee of his judgement in this On the same commandement Fol. 73. as touching those who have great Forrests or Parkes of Deere or Conies which pasture and feed upon their neighbours ground or Columbaries whereas Doves assemble and haunâ— and those feede on the poores corne hee referres it to the charitie of every man whether the keeping of such beasts bee not against Gods lawes and mans lawes and whether it bee not suffered rather for a few mens pleasures then for many mens prosit Doe you thinke that either Church or State are precisely of his opinion as it is manifested by this Vpon the seventh Commandement Fol. 69. he maintains that upon divorse in case of adultery it is lawfull to marry another and not so onely but that the adulterous partie ought to be put to death Do you wish that the Church and State of England would bee of the same minde with him in this Vpon the fourth Commandement he avoucheth that although the ceremony of the Sabbath be taken away which appertained onely to the common wealth of the Hebrews yet one day of the weeke to preserve and use the word of God and his Sacraments is not abrogated and that therefore in this are two things to bee observed the one ceremoniall during for the time the other morall and never to be abolished as long as the Church of Christ shall continue upon the earth Againe This Sunday saith he that we observe is not the commandement of man as many say that would under the pretence of this one law binde the Church of Christ to all other laws that men have ungodly prescribed unto the Church but it is by expresse words commanded that wee should observe this day the Sunday for our Sabbath as the words of Saint Paul declareth commanding every man to appoint his almes for the poore in Sunday the text saith in one of the Sabbath it is an Hebrew phrase and it is as much as to say in the Sunday as you may read the same manner of speech in Luke and John of the women that came to the Sepulchre to annoint the dead body of Christ. Luke saith In one of the Sabbaths early they came to the Sepulchre and so saith Iohn by the same words the which was the Sunday as no man doubteth for t is our faith that Christ roso the third day I presume you will not prescribe to all the Bishops and Divines in this kingdome to bee of Bishop Hoopers opinion in this point Now if in these particulars it bee lawfull to differ from him in opinion without offence of Church or State I hope wee shall have as great liberty to differ from him in other things also upon good ground Yet I speake not this as if I found this godly Bishop to justifie that Tenet of yours for confirmation whereof you make use of his authority And that Tenet of yours is this that there is a certaine time when the wicked have filled up the full measure of their iniquity though they live many years after and such you conceive was the case of Pharaoh after the seventh plague And that from that time forwards all possibility of amendment is taken from them And until that time God doth unfainedly love them But having made up that measure and so having their soules betrothed unto wickednesse he hates them That then they become reprobates and not till then and from thence to their lives end it is not Gods will and pleasure they should repent but rather that it is Gods good will and pleasure that they should have their hearts hardned Your words are these in the precedent Section pag. 180. God loves all men unfainedly as they are men or aâ— men which have not made up the full measure of iniquity but having made up that or having their soules betrothed unto wickednesse he hates them And againe He necessarily hates them being once become reprobates or having made up the full measure of iniquitie And pag. 179. It was no branch of Gods good will and pleasure that Pharaoh should now repent or be willing to let Israel goe Rather it was his good will and pleasure specially after the seventh plague to have the heart of Pharaoh hardned And a little after God plagued Pharaoh for not doing that which now he could