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| Chapter VII. Of the main purpose of God and His daily Providence.
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Chapter VII.
Of the main purpose of God and His daily Providence.
For the purpose of God
whereby He made man not to perish but to live for ever, stands
immovable. And when His goodness sees in us even the very smallest
spark of good will shining forth, which He Himself has struck as it
were out of the hard flints of our hearts, He fans and fosters it and
nurses it with His breath, as He “willeth all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth,” for as He says, “it
is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these
little ones should perish,” and again it says: “Neither
will God have a soul to perish, but recalleth,” meaning that he
that is cast off should not altogether perish.1755
| 1755 1 Tim. ii. 4; S. Matt. xviii. 14; 2 Sam. xiv.
14. |
For He is true, and lieth not when He lays down with an oath: “As
I live, saith the Lord God, for I will not the death of a sinner, but
that he should turn from his way and live.”1756
For if He willeth not that one of His
little ones should perish, how can we imagine without grievous
blasphemy that He does not generally will all men, but only
some instead of all to be saved? Those then who perish,
perish against His will, as He testifies against each one of them day
by day: “Turn from your evil ways, and why will ye die, O house
of Israel?”1757
And again:
“How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not;” and:
“Wherefore is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a
stubborn revolting? They have hardened their faces and refused to
return.”1758
The grace of
Christ then is at hand every day, which, while it “willeth all
men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,”
calleth all without any exception, saying: “Come unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh
you.”1759
But if He calls
not all generally but only some, it follows that not all are heavy
laden either with original or actual sin, and that this saying is not a
true one: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God;” nor can we believe that “death passed on all
men.”1760
And so far do all
who perish, perish against the will of God, that God cannot be said to
have made death, as Scripture itself testifies: “For God made not
death, neither rejoiceth in the destruction of the
living.”1761
And hence it
comes that for the most part when instead of good things we ask for the
opposite, our prayer is either heard but tardily or not at all; and
again the Lord vouchsafes to bring upon us even against our will, like
some most beneficent physician, for our good what we think is opposed
to it, and sometimes He delays and hinders our injurious purposes and
deadly attempts from having their
horrible effects, and, while we are rushing
headlong towards death, draws us back to salvation, and rescues us
without our knowing it from the jaws of hell.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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