CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

We may answer this by that known distinction, of an Ignorance merae negationis and pravae dispositionis: It's true mere negative Ignorance doth excuse;¹ The Heathens and Pagans that never heard of Christ, though they have other sins they are damned for, yet the mere ignorance of Christ who was never revealed to them, doth not condemn them, Infidelitas negativa non damnat, but then there is an affected and wilful Ignorance, this doth not excuse but accuse and aggravate, and such is the Ignorance of all those that live under the means of grace, and where the Name of Christ is preached; It's thy wilful and wicked disposition in thee that makes thee thus blind; You say, as those in Job, let the knowledge of the most High depart from you, Job 21.14. Seeing you will not see, and hearing you will not hear, Therefore your condemnation is the greater. It's disputed among Casuists, whether God may not have mercy upon natural fools, that cannot know any thing of God or Christ because of a natural incapacity; But thou art a voluntary fool, and dost wilfully deprive thy self of all knowledge, and how then shall God be gracious unto thee? In the next place you may say, If the estate of an ignorant person be thus dangerous, how comes it about that there are so many ignorant persons? Why cannot all say with the Apostle, We know that we know? 2 Cor. 8.1. There are some outward causes or inward causes, or causes from the ignorant man himself, or in respect of others.

We may answer this by that known distinction, of an Ignorance merae negationis and pravae dispositionis: It's true meer negative Ignorance doth excuse;¹ The Heathens and Pagans that never heard of Christ, though they have other sins they are damned for, yet the meer ignorance of Christ who was never revealed to them, doth not condemn them, Infidelitas negativa non damnat, but then there is an affected and wilfull Ignorance, this doth not excuse but accuse and aggravate, and such is the Ignorance of all those that live under the means of grace, and where the Name of Christ is preached; It's thy wilful and wicked disposition in thee that makes thee thus blinde; You say, as those in Job, let the knowledge of the most High depart from you,