13. But the cause is not as
though God were unwilling to grant grace for perseverance to those in
whom He has begun the good work, for that is contrary to St. Paul, Phil.
1, 6; but the cause is that they wilfully turn away again from the holy
commandment, grieve and embitter the Holy Ghost, implicate themselves
again in the filth of the world, and garnish again the habitation of the
heart for the devil. With them the last state is worse than the first."
(1077 41f.; 835, 12.)

It is not because of any deficiency in God that men are lost; for His
grace is universal as well as serious and efficacious. The _Formula of
Concord_ declares: "However, that many are called and few chosen is not
owing to the fact that the call of God, which is made through the Word,
had the meaning as though God said: Outwardly, through the Word, I
indeed call to My kingdom all of you to whom I give My Word; however, in
My heart I do not mean this with respect to all, but only with respect
to a few; for it is My will that the greatest part of those whom I call
through the Word shall not be enlightened nor converted, but be and
remain damned, although through the Word, in the call, I declare Myself
to them otherwise. _Hoc enim esset Deo contradictorias voluntates
affingere_. For this would be to assign contradictory wills to God. That
is, in this way it would be taught that God, who surely is Eternal
Truth, would be contrary to Himself [or say one thing, but revolve
another in His heart], while, on the contrary, God [rebukes and]
punishes also in men this wickedness, when a person declares himself to
one purpose, and thinks and means another in the heart, Ps. 5, 9; 12,
2f." (1075, 36.)

It is a punishment of their previous sins and not a result of God's
predestination when sinners are hardened; nor does such hardening
signify that it never was God's good pleasure to save them. "Moreover,"
says the _Formula_, "it is to be diligently considered that when God
punishes sin with sins, that is when He afterwards punishes with
obduracy and blindness those who had been converted because of their
subsequent security, impenitence, and wilful sins, this should not be
interpreted to mean that it never had been God's good pleasure that such
persons should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. For both
these facts are God's revealed will: first, that God will receive into
grace all who repent and believe in Christ; secondly, that He also will
punis