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to thee, O man, what has been determined (statutum) in heaven? Look to it, that thou perform what thy most holy and most righteous 'Creator and Redeemer hath enjoined; and thou canst not but be safe, and saved (tutus et salvus). Otherwise thou wilt be disappointed who pro'misest thyself salvation. Therefore diligence 'should be applied to faith and good works; as if ' on these alone salvation depended, and immu❝nity from all danger of reprobation. Thus should ́ all unbelief, and every certain and willing violation of the divine law, be shunned; as if, setting 'aside every consideration of the hidden decree, ' damnation would thence follow. He who acts ⚫ differently from this, and forms, a priori, a judg'ment of his eternal condition, miserably perverts the secret counsels of God, which he ought silently to revere.'1

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"Thou most justly inveighest against their ex'plication, being rigid and evidently unjust, who 'think that absolute reprobation, proceeding from

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mere hatred, is to be opposed to free and gra'tuitous election. For indeed what can God hate except sin; and his creature, not in itself, but because of sin? For, this being set apart, God saw all things which he had made, and pro'nounced them very good. But how can God shew himself, a lover of man, (pixávpwnov,) if he hate man, as man? Thou wilt therefore go before me also, as to those words to which I most willingly assent; that the sentence is eminently pious, and most sweet, that we were elected in 'Christ unto salvation, gratuitously, of mere Epistola Ludovico Crocio.

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VOL. VIII.

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mercy, and the good pleasure of God: but that 'the other is not sufficiently pious, nor indeed 'tolerable, (namely) that others perish deservedly, ' even if they had not been lost in Adam, because 'God so placed Christ as head over his church, 'that not all, but we who are elect should be 'saved.'-'I wish that odious forms of speech of 'this kind, had never fallen from any pious and 'learned professor of the reformed religion: or, if ' at any time they had rashly passed the fence of 'his teeth, (pxos odovтwv,) being condemned, they 'had been immediately consigned to eternal obli'vion. Of this kind of chaff, there were certain 'improper speeches, which not a few of the divines ' at Dort desired to have rejected and corrected; 'which would then have been done, had not perhaps too much indulgence been given to the opinion (or estimation, estimationi) of certain persons. Concerning which I wrote somewhat more largely to my illustrious colleague D. 'Crocius.'1

'All men, within the pale of the church espe'cially, have from the mercy of God such common

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helps to salvation, that the neglect of them 'makes any of them justly guilty of their own 'condemnation. Besides the general will of God, 'he has eternally willed and decreed to give a special and effectual grace to those, that are predestinate according to the good pleasure of 'his will;" whereby they do actually believe, 'obey, and persevere, that they may be saved. 'So that the same God, that would have all men 'to be saved if they believe, and be not wanting 'Epistola D'Hermanno Hildebrando.

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to his Spirit, has decreed to work powerfully ' in some, whom he hath particularly chosen, that they shall believe, and not be wanting to his Spirit, in whatsoever shall be necessary to their 'salvation. It is not the foresight of faith, or of any other grace or act of man, whereupon this 'decree is grounded; but the most gracious good 'will and pleasure of God from all eternity, ap'pointing to save those whom he hath chosen in Christ, as the head and foundation of, the elect. "This decree of God's election is absolute, unchangeable, and from everlasting. God does not, either actually damn, or appoint any soul 'to damnation, without the consideration and respect of sin.'1

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'Thou well rememberest, my Crocius, when my too unfavourable state of health had torn me away, against my will, from that assembly of 'learned men; that a question was indeed fallen ❝on, and not an unseasonable one, in the hundred ' and thirty-second session, concerning the rejec'tion of certain more harsh and incommodious expressions, which are found every where in some of the writings of the reformed teachers; 'which use to lay a stumbling stone in the way ' of the weaker, and to afford calumny to enemies. Our British divines were wholly (intent) on 'this; and also those of Hesse, and you of Brema, were not wanting to press this wholesome counsel, more earnestly than usual, by urging reasons ' for it. I do not dispute whether better or more ' votes conquered. Certainly the rejection of in

1 Middle way.

mercy, and the good pleasure of God: but that 'the other is not sufficiently pious, nor indeed ' tolerable, (namely) that others perish deservedly, ' even if they had not been lost in Adam, because 'God so placed Christ as head over his church, 'that not all, but we who are elect should be 'saved.'-'I wish that odious forms of speech of 'this kind, had never fallen from any pious and 'learned professor of the reformed religion: or, if ' at any time they had rashly passed the fence of 'his teeth, (pxos dóvTwv,) being condemned, they ' had been immediately consigned to eternal obli'vion. Of this kind of chaff, there were certain 'improper speeches, which not a few of the divines ' at Dort desired to have rejected and corrected; 'which would then have been done, had not perhaps too much indulgence been given to the opinion (or estimation, estimationi) of certain persons. Concerning which I wrote somewhat more largely to my illustrious colleague D. 'Crocius.'1

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All men, within the pale of the church espe'cially, have from the mercy of God such common

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helps to salvation, that the neglect of them 'makes any of them justly guilty of their own 'condemnation. Besides the general will of God, 'he has eternally willed and decreed to give a special and effectual grace to those, that are predestinate according to the good pleasure of his will;" whereby they do actually believe, obey, and persevere, that they may be saved. 'So that the same God, that would have all men "to be saved if they believe, and be not wanting 'Epistola D'Hermanno Hildebrando.

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'to his Spirit, has decreed to work powerfully ' in some, whom he hath particularly chosen, that 'they shall believe, and not be wanting to his Spirit, in whatsoever shall be necessary to their 'salvation. It is not the foresight of faith, or of any other grace or act of man, whereupon this 'decree is grounded; but the most gracious good 'will and pleasure of God from all eternity, appointing to save those whom he hath chosen in Christ, as the head and foundation of, the elect. "This decree of God's election is absolute, un'changeable, and from everlasting. God does not, either actually damn, or appoint any soul 'to damnation, without the consideration and respect of sin.'1

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'Thou well rememberest, my Crocius, when my too unfavourable state of health had torn me away, against my will, from that assembly of 'learned men; that a question was indeed fallen ❝ on, and not an unseasonable one, in the hundred ' and thirty-second session, concerning the rejec'tion of certain more harsh and incommodious expressions, which are found every where in 'some of the writings of the reformed teachers; 'which use to lay a stumbling stone in the way ' of the weaker, and to afford calumny to enemies. 'Our British divines were wholly (intent) on 'this; and also those of Hesse, and you of Brema, ' were not wanting to press this wholesome counsel, more earnestly than usual, by urging reasons 'for it. I do not dispute whether better or more ' votes conquered. Certainly the rejection of in

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Middle way.

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