{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/211/2110848.htm","path":"chr/ecf/211/2110848.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/211/2110848.htm","text":"Of the main purpose of God and His daily Providence.\nFor 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 \u201cwilleth all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,\u201d for as He says, \u201cit is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish,\u201d and again it says: \u201cNeither will God have a soul to perish, but recalleth,\u201d meaning that he that is cast off should not altogether perish. 1755 For He is true, and lieth not when He lays down with an oath: \u201cAs 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.\u201d 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: \u201cTurn from your evil ways, and why will ye die, O house of Israel?\u201d 1757 And again: \u201cHow often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not;\u201d and: \u201cWherefore is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting? They have hardened their faces and refused to return.\u201d 1758 The grace of Christ then is at hand every day, which, while it \u201cwilleth all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,\u201d calleth all without any exception, saying: \u201cCome unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.\u201d 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: \u201cFor all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;\u201d nor can we believe that \u201cdeath passed on all men.\u201d 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: \u201cFor God made not death, neither rejoiceth in the destruction of the living.\u201d 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 p. 426 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.\n1 Tim. 2:4, Matt. 18:14, 2 Sam. 14:14.\n425:1756 425:1757 425:1758\nS. Matt. 23:37, Jer. 8:5.\n425:1759\nS. Matt. xi. 28.\n425:1760 425:1761","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XI: The Wor...","type":"page"}