294 The fecondBooke of .Diuinitie, CHAP. r. Laflly, for the thorow-iuflifying ofGodsmoll righ- teous Decree , efpecially ofReprobation, which pro. phane Dogs doe moil of all barke again(} , hee both alleageth theWill of God, as the rule of all Righteouf- netfe, and his Soueraigntie, as the Lord and Creator of all things; in whofe hands wee bee,as Clay in the hands of thePotter , to deale with vs as feemeth good in his owne eyes , and to concludehis wonderfull Lenitie and Mildnetfe , not oncly in fo long fitffering and forbearing of the v'icked, but.befides, in the aboundancecf bief_ fngs, wherewith he loadeth them , whichbring vpoet them a more iutl Damnation. Wherefore that which &lech.'i8.and force obietçt out of theProphet, that God will not, that eife-wbere. is, delighteth not , nor taketh pleafure in the death of a Sinner, bath .a readie anfwere : for God, fo farre forth as it is the ouerthrow anddeflruetion of his Creature,hath no pleafure in it, but as it is a punifhment of finne, and a meanes to declare his Iuflice : Neither canGod there. fore be laid ftrfl,and of himfeife tohate his Creature;for bee hatethnone whichhaue not in themfelues the caufe of hatred,euen their owne finne being that,for which a_ lone he aaually hateth any thing : and hisDecree to de_ íiroy them,was not becaufe hehated them :for,the caufe of this Decree is hisowne moil holy pleafure,that fo he might nianifefl in them the glorie of his Iuflice. from etcrnitie. Pourthly;Predetlination is from euerlafling, Ephef.I. v.4. Heebath clsofcn vs before the foundation of the World o Rom.9.I1. were laid. And of o Jacob and Efate it is faid,that before that they had done good or euill, or before they were, theone was hated,t e other loued.In theEpiflle to T r - r x.Tirn.i.9. M OT H I E , P That the pssrpofe and grace of God toface vr,wassitien tovs (that is, prepared for vs inChritl) be- fore the euerlafling ?'uses, aning the whole courte of yeeres, which bath runne on euer Croce the beginning of the World : in one word, before the World was ; Which, faithh e isnow made maniff `vnto ys by the ap- pearance
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