O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Ver. 37. How often would I, &c.] How then could they perish whom God would have saved? It is answered, Voluntas Dei alia est praecepti, revelata antecedents, alia beneplaciti, arcana consequens. By the former God willed their conversion, but not by the latter. A king wills the welfare of all his subjects; yet he will not acquit those that are laid up for treason, murder, and the like foul crimes. A father is willing to give his son the inheritance; yet if he prove an unthrift, he will put him beside it, and take another. "How oft would I have gathered?" that is (say some), by the external ministry of the prophets, sent unto thee,Matthew 23:34,35. Not by internal regenerating operation of the Spirit.
Even as a hen gathereth her chickens] Columbarum masculus ipse ovis incubat, sicut Christus ipse ecclesiam suam fovet. (Chytraeus in Lev 12:1-8) Of unreasonable creatures, birds, and of birds, the hen excels in kindness to her young; so that she doubts not, in their clarence, to encounter a kite, a dog, &c., Iniquo et impari proelio, though with greatest disadvantage.
And ye would not] Men may nill their conversion, then, though called by God, Quo nihil est verius, sed et nihil turpius, saith one. Men are not damned, because they cannot do better, but because they will do no better. Cesset voluntas propria et non erit infernus, If there were no will, there would be no hell, John 12:39. Therefore they could not believe; they could not, that is, they would not, saith Theophylact out of Chrysostom, who yet usually extolleth man's freewill more than is fit.