permovetur, impellitur, inhibeturque, sed Deus in singulorum animis, veluti clavum tenet_. And concerning the wicked God saith: _I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and multiply my signes and wonders in the land of Ægypt_. And again: And _indeed for this cause, have I raised_ (made thee stand, _feci ut existeres_, as _Beza_ notes) _thee up, for to shew in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. And as yet exaltest thou thy self against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?_ And further the Text saith: _He turned their hearts, to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants_. 2. God also ruleth and ordereth his creatures by leading, drawing, inciting and moving their wills to his own ends and purposes, as sometimes to good, as in his own people: _For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God_. And so was our Saviour _led_, or driven (ἐκβάλλει, ἤγετο, ἀνήχθη) _into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil_. To this agreeth the blessing and prophecie of _Noah_: _God shall perswade_, or allure _Japhet_, _to dwell in the tents of Shem_. Sometimes God inciteth the creatures to evil by the ministery of Satan, as is manifest in these examples. For the Text saith, _And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, to say, Go number Israel and Judah_. And another place saith: _And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number the people_. Whereby it is plain that Satan was the instrument, as sent and ordered of God to move _David_ to number the people, that thereby the King and people might be punished, and the King thereby brought to a deeper sight of his sins, repentance, and a closer trusting and adhering to his God. So when the Lord intended to have _Ahab_ to go up to _Ramoth Gilead_ that he might be slain, he sent forth an evil Angel, to be a lying spirit in all _Ahabs_ Prophets, and said unto him, _Thou shalt perswade him, and prevail also: Go forth and do so_. So that what God orders, Satan doth but execute. So when God intended to punish and destroy _Abimelech_, and the Men of _Shechem_, he sent an evil spirit between them to divide them, and so accomplisht his will upon both parties, as saith the Text: _Thus God rendred the wickedness of Abimelech which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren. And all the evil of the men of Shechem, did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal._ 3. God ruleth his creatures by permission, or his will of not impeding them to act according to their wills and power, as in these cases. For God speaking of his people of _Israel_ saith: _But my people would not hearken unto my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts, and they walked in their own counsels._ Agreeable to which is that in the _Acts_: _Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own