Ezekiel 18:24

But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, [and] doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked [man] doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

Ver. 24. But when the righteous.] He that is good in his own eyes, and passeth for good in the esteem of others, but yet is not really righteous, if such a one do utterly fall away, and lose that little that he seemed to have, what wonder? Comman grace can never hold out, or stretch to eternity. Bellarmine saith well, That which is true grace, veritate essentiae, only may be lost: not that that is true veritate firma soliditatis, with the truth of firm solidity; which latter, being rightly understood, may be called special, as the other common grace.