81 / 808
V
E
R.
5.
Rorn.9
cleared.
69
9e(desthat
Gddtat
ón
he
ityand
that
with fuch
a
will
as
doth
expect
with much
patience
their
converGon,
and all
for the obtaining
of
moft jolt things
:
But for this
latter
it
is
plaine
the argument
of
the
Potter
is à
pari or
minari,
if
it
be
compared
to
God.
Shall we think
that Godhath leffepowerover
his
creatures
then the Pottery
God,I
fay,whocreateth
and
maketh the clay,
hee
difpofeth
r
And to
ufe
this fimilitude
to
Arminius his
order
is
to
illuftrate
a
thing by that which bath nothing
like
;for
Gods worke(by
guinncth where;
that
vlrminius
conceiveth) hath no refemblance
to that the Potter
his
patieace
doth,as
is
already
filmed.
For
,
the matter anfwered.
endeth.
Firft,he
conceiveth
notthe
queflion
right:They
aske
not
whether Gods
induration be
caufe
of
his
anger,
but whether
God
may be angry at
them
who
come
to
this flare
of
being hardned
y
Now
this
is
certaine
,
that
men
hardned
and
forfaken, are the object
about which Gods anger
is
exercifed,
as a
malefactor punifhedis the object about which the Ma-
giftratesanger
is
exercifed,
though punifhment
is
not the
caufe
why
he
is
angry,but the
effect
of
it
;neither
is
there
one word
in
this verfe,which
teftifieth God
to
harden fuch,with
whom
he
is
angry for finne,unleffeto
beare with patience,
lignifie
to harden, and
veffels
made or
prepared to
deftruction,
men now having
by
finne
provoked
God
:
the
fiat
abfurd,
that
an act
of
patience fhould be
induration oppofed to mercy
;
the o-
ther equivocall,
as a
veffel
prepared to glory
is
nota
vefí'ell
now belee-
ving and fanctified,and actually fitted
for
glory;fo
on the contrarie.
For the
fecond it
is
falfe
that
here
is
any thing to
teftifie
Gods
w ill
unrefiftible
,
which the
Apoftle did never except againfi,
but
rather
j
u-
ftifie, and
yet
maintaine
it
equall by
a
comparifon
fore-
confirued. And
this
is
no
argument why
his
decreeing will fhould
not
be irrefiftible
;
this
I
fay,that
he ufeth patience
toward thofe whom
he
bath
decreed
to
reject,
he
conceiveth the will
of
God to
have corne to election, and o
e
therwife to
include
in
appetite
as it
were,of
having fome
thing which
hee.will not worke by
his
omnipotencie, but he whole omnipotency
is
not
in
every
thing,he
is
not
aGod omnipotent;for there
are
fome things
in
which he
is
not omnipotent
;
not to
name
the
fame
things he would
have
of
us, he hash
covenanted to work them
in us,
I
insipid
my
fpirit
in
yaw hearts,and
make
you
&c.& that there
is
no
power
inGod
which
is
not
infinite
and
omnipotent; true
it
is
that theverfe
fetteth downe juftends,
and
that therefore God bath
power
to
purpofe
and
worke moft jufily
that which
is
decreed anddone
to
fo juft
purpofe.Thefe
are collections
which
his
head
bath
deduced, but not once imagined by
the Apofile
:
and
marke now
how the
Apofle
hath foyled the caufe
of God,
by
firugling folaborioufly
and
myfticaly againfi
that which might
fo eafi-
ly
be anfwered:They feeme
to
murmure
againft
God
;
if
he
be angry
at
them who
are
hardned by
his
will
,
or
a
decree
of
his
will irrefrftible:
The
plaine anfwere
is ,
God
is
not
unjufi
though
he
be
angry,
becaufe
the decree
of
his
will diddetermine
thehardningofnone,
but fuch
who
fhould firft
by their ungratefull and horrible unbeleefe provoke
his juft
anger and
induration, (whereas you thinke
that
hee did decree to bring
you to this
with
a
will uurefi
tole)
the truth is,
he
did decree
nothing
about