concur with the grace of his reproof, and turn, he will bestow greater favours upon them.

Q. 21. How is it shewn that if a man resist, or neglect the graces of God, they shall be taken from him? and that, if he be lost, the fault is his own?

A. This also is manifest throughout the whole Scripture. But, that this point may be fully understood, we must consider the different degrees of fatal consequences that flow from an obstinate abuse of these graces of God. (1.) These graces are withdrawn from them; not, indeed, all at once, for God, out of his infinite mercy, waits patiently for sinners, and repeats his endeavours for their conversion; but if they still resist or abuse his graces, they are lessened, they are diminished, they are given seldomer, and in a weaker degree. Thus our Saviour says of the unprofitable servant, "Take the pound away from him;.... for, from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him," Luke xix. 24, 26. How so? If he hath not, how can any thing at all be taken from him? The sense is, he that hath not improved what he hath, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. The same is repeated on several other occasions. (2.) The more the graces of God are weakened or withdrawn from sinners, by their repeated abuse of them, the more their passions become strong in their hearts, and get the greater ascendant over them, till, at last, they become miserable slaves to them; "My people heard not my voice," says Almighty God, "Israel hearkened not to me, so I let them go according to the desires of their heart; they shall walk in their own inventions," Psal. lxxx. 12.; and St. Paul assures us, that whereas the wise men among the Heathen nations, by the light of reason itself, came to a clear knowledge of the existence of God, and of his

power and divinity, but, "because, when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God," by a correspondence with the light he gave them, but continued in their idolatry, therefore, "God gave them up to the desires of their hearts.... God delivered them up to shameful affections . . . and delivered them up to a reprobate sense," Rom. i. (3.) If their obstinacy still increase, and they go on shutting their eyes against the light of truth, which God offers them, he then permits them to be seduced by falsehood, to "give heed to spirits of error and doctrines of devils," 1 Tim. iv. 4. Thus, "Because they received not the love of truth, that they might be saved; therefore, God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying, that all may be judged, (or as the Protestant translation has it, that all may be damned,) who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity," 2 Thess. ii. 10. This strong text clearly shews two great truths: first, That God gives to all the offers of the truth; and, secondly, That the source of their damnation is entirely from themselves, in refusing to receive it. (4.) If, therefore, they still continue in their perversity, and die in their sin, a dreadful condemnation shall be their portion for ever; to them "God swears in his wrath that they shall not enter into his rest," Psal. xciv. 11. On them he pronounces that dreadful sentence, "Because I called, and ye refused, I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded; ye have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my apprehensions, I also will laugh at your destruction, and will mock when that which ye feared shall fall upon you. When sudden calamity shall fall upon you, and destruction, like a tempest, shall be at hand; when tribulation and distress shall come upon you; then shall they call

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upon me, and I will not hear, they shall rise in the morning, and they shall not find me; because they have hated instruction, and received not the fear of the Lord, nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices," Prov. i. 24. Their condemnation is prefigured in the fate of Jerusalem; which had been rebellious to all the calls of God, which our Saviour laments in these affecting words: "O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered together thy children, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her. wings, and thou wouldst not! Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate," Matth. xxiii. 3. "I would, and thou wouldst not!" This is their great crime. I sent you my prophets and servants, my graces, and lights, and holy motions, but these ye killed and destroyed, and gave no ear to them! The miserable fate of all such unhappy sinners, prefigured in Jerusalem, drew tears from the eyes of Jesus, when he wept over that city, and said, "If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are for thy peace, but now they are hidden from thy eyes; for the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies.... shall beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone," Luke, xix. 42. These are they, who, having been invited to the marriage supper of the great King, rejected his invitation, and killed his servants, for which reason," he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city," Matth. xxii. 7.; declaring, that “not one of them should taste of his supper."

Q. 22. What is the result of all these truths? A. The result is very plain, namely, though God Almighty has been pleased to ordain that none shall be saved who have not the true faith of Jesus Christ, and are not in communion of his holy Church; yet this is no way inconsistent with the infinite goodness of God; because he gives to all sufficient graces, suitable to the state they are in, by which they are enabled, if they correspond with them, to be brought to the true faith and Church of Christ; and that, if any are lost, it is not owing to any want of goodness in God, but to their own abuse of the graces bestowed upon them. On some, indeed, he bestows these graces more abundantly, giving them five talents, to others he gives more sparingly, to some two, and to some only one; but he gives to all sufficient for their present wants, and will give more if those be improved, till at last he bring them to the knowledge of his truth, and to salvation.

Q. 23. But suppose a person in the wilds of Tartary or America, where the name of Christ had 、 never yet been heard: suppose also, that this person should attend to the dictates of conscience, enlightened by such graces as God is pleased to give him, and constantly comply with them; yet, how is it possible such a person could be brought to the knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ?

A. This case is certainly possible; and if it should happen, it is not to be doubted but God Almighty would, from the treasures of his infinite wisdom, provide some means to bring such a person to the knowledge of the truth, even though he should send an angel from heaven, if necessary, to instruct him. "The hand of the Lord is not shortened, that he cannot save," in whatever difficulties a poor soul may be; he has, in former

times, done wonderful things in cases of this kind, and he is no less able to do the same again; and since he has so clearly ordained, that out of the true Church, and without true faith in Christ there is no salvation, there can be no doubt, but that, in the case proposed, he would take care effectually to bring such a person to that happiness.

Q. 24. Is there any authority from Scripture to prove this?

A. There can be no stronger proof from Scripture than from facts there related; now we have in Scripture two beautiful examples of God's acting in this manner in similar cases, which shews that he would do the same again, if any case should require it. The one is the Eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. He, following the lights that God gave him, though living at a great distance from Jerusalem, got acquainted with the worship of the true God, and was accustomed to go from time to time to Jerusalem to adore him. But, when the gospel began to be published, the Jewish religion could no longer save him, and, therefore, being well disposed, by his fidelity to the graces he had hitherto got, Almighty God did not forsake him, but, when he was returning to his own country from Jerusalem, the Lord sent an angel to St. Philip to go meet him, and instruct him in the faith of Christ, and baptize him, Acts viii. 26. The other example is of Cornelius, who was an officer of the Roman army, of the Italian band, and brought up in idolatry; in the course of rotation, his regiment coming to Judea, he saw there a different religion from his own, and the worship of one only God. The grace of God moving his heart, he believed in this God, and following the further motions of divine grace, he gave much alms to the poor, and prayed earnestly to this God to direct him what to do. Did God