Chapter 45 [XXIII]—The Reason Why One Person is Assisted by Grace, and Another is Not Helped, Must Be Referred to the Secret Judgments of God.

You must refer the matter, then, to the hidden determinations of God, when you see, in one and the same condition, such as all infants unquestionably have,—who derive their hereditary evil from Adam,—that one is assisted so as to be baptized, and another is not assisted, so that he dies in his very bondage; and again, that one baptized person is left and forsaken in his present life, who God foreknew would be ungodly, while another baptized person is taken away from this life, “lest that wickedness should alter his understanding;”307    Wisd. iv. 11. and be sure that you do not in such cases ascribe unrighteousness or unwisdom to God, in whom is the very fountain of righteousness and wisdom, but, as I have exhorted you from the commencement of this treatise, “whereto you have already attained, walk therein,”308    Phil iii. 16. and “even this shall God reveal unto you,”309    Phil. iii. 15.—if not in this life, yet certainly in the next, “for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.”310    Matt. x. 26. When, therefore, you hear the Lord say, “I the Lord have deceived that prophet,”311    Ezek. xiv. 9. and likewise what the apostle says: “He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth,”312    Rom. ix. 18. believe that, in the case of him whom He permits to be deceived and hardened, his evil deeds have deserved the judgment; whilst in the case of him to whom He shows mercy, you should loyally and unhesitatingly recognise the grace of the God who “rendereth not evil for evil; but contrariwise blessing.”313    1 Pet. iii. 9. Nor should you take away from Pharaoh free will, because in several passages God says, “I have hardened Pharaoh;” or,” I have hardened or I will harden Pharaoh’s heart;”314    See Ex. iv. 21, vii. 3, xiv. 4. for it does not by any means follow that Pharaoh did not, on this account, harden his own heart. For this, too, is said of him, after the removal of the fly-plague from the Egyptians, in these words of the Scripture: “And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.”315    Ex. viii. 32. Thus it was that both God hardened him by His just judgment, and Pharaoh by his own free will. Be ye then well assured that your labour will never be in vain, if, setting before you a good purpose, you persevere in it to the last. For God, who fails to render, according to their deeds, only to those whom He liberates, will then “recompense every man according to his works.”316    Matt. xvi. 27. God will, therefore, certainly recompense both evil for evil, because He is just; and good for evil, because He is good; and good for good, because He is good and just; only, evil for good He will never recompense, because He is not unjust. He will, therefore, recompense evil for evil—punishment for unrighteousness; and He will recompense good for evil—grace for unrighteousness; and He will recompense good for good—grace for grace.

CAPUT XXIII.

45. Ad occulta ergo Dei judicia revocate, quando videtis in una causa, quam certe habent omnes parvuli, haereditarium malum trahentes ex Adam, huic subveniri ut baptizetur, illi non subveniri ut in ipsa obligatione moriatur; illum baptizatum in hac vita relinqui, quem praescivit Deus impium futurum, istum vero baptizatum rapi ex hac vita, ne malitia mutet intellectum ejus (Sap. IV, 11): et nolite in istis dare injustitiam vel insipientiam Deo, apud quem justitiae fons est et sapientiae: sed sicut vos exhortatus sum ab initio sermonis hujus, in quod pervenistis, in eo ambulate, et hoc quoque vobis Deus revelabit (Philipp. III, 16 et 15), et si non in hac vita, certe in altera: nihil est enim occultum quod non revelabitur (Matth. X, 26). Quando ergo auditis dicentem Dominum, Ego Dominus seduxi prophetam illum (Ezech. XIV, 9); et quod ait Apostolus, Cujus vult miseretur, et quem vult obdurat (Rom. IX, 18): in eo quem seduci permittit vel obdurari , mala ejus merita 0911 credite; in eo vero cujus miseretur, gratiam Dei non reddentis mala pro malis, sed bona pro malis, fideliter et indubitanter agnoscite. Nec ideo auferatis a Pharaone liberum arbitrium, quia multis locis dicit Deus, Ego induravi Pharaonem; vel, induravi, aut indurabo cor Pharaonis (Exod. IV-XIV, passim). Non enim propterea ipse Pharao non induravit cor suum. Nam et hoc de illo legitur, quando ablata est ab Aegyptiis cynomyia, dicente Scriptura: Et ingravavit Pharao cor suum et in isto tempore, et noluit dimittere populum (Id. VIII, 32). Ac per hoc et Deus induravit per justum judicium, et ipse Pharao per liberum arbitrium. Certi ergo estote quia non erit inanis labor vester, si in bono proposito proficientes perseveretis usque in finem. Deus enim qui modo illis quos liberat non reddit secundum opera eorum, tunc reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus (Matth. XVI, 27). Reddet omnino Deus et mala pro malis, quoniam justus est; et bona pro malis, quoniam bonus est; et bona pro bonis, quoniam bonus et justus est; tantummodo mala pro bonis non reddet, quoniam injustus non est. Reddet ergo mala pro malis, poenam pro injustitia; et reddet bona pro malis, gratiam pro injustitia; et reddet bona pro bonis, gratiam pro gratia.