CHAP. VI.
Of the last and full execution and accomplishment of Gods eternall counsell, aswel towards the elect as the reprobate.
FOrasmuch as God is iustice it selfe, it is necessary that he should saue the iust, 1 and condemne the vniust. Now they amongst men are onely iust, who beeing by faith ioyned to Christ 1, grafted 2. rooted in him 3, & made one body with him 4, are iustified and sanctified in him, and by him: whereof it followeth, that the glorie to the which they are destinate 5, to the glory of God 6. appertaineth to them as by a certaine right or title. On the other part, they vvhich remaine in Adams pollution, and death, are iustly hated of GOD: and so condemned by him, not excepting so much as them vvhich die before they sinne, as Adam did 7. But both these maners of executing Gods iudgements, aswel in these, as in the other which are elected, are in three sorts: 2 whereof we haue already declared the first. For the elect in that same moment that they haue receiued the gift of faith haue after a certain sort passed fro~ death to life 8, whereof they haue a sure pledge 9. But this their life is hid in Christ, till this corporall death make them to step a degree further, and that the soule being loosed out of the bands of the bodie, enter into the ioy of the Lord. Finally, in the day appointed to iudge the quicke and the dead 11, when that which is corruptible and mortall, shal be clad with incorruptiblenesse and immortalitie and GOD shall bee all, in all things, then they shall see his maiestie face to face, and shall surely enioy that vnspeakeable comfort and ioy, which before all beginning was prepared for the~; which is also the reward that is due to the righteousnesse and holinesse of Christ: who was giuen for their sinnes, & raysed againe from death for their iustification: by whose vertue and spirit, they haue proceeded and gone forward from faith to faith, as shall manifestly appeare by the whole course of their life, & good works 12. Whereas altogether contrary, the reprobate, conceiued, borne, 3 and brought vp in sin, death, and wrath of God 13, when they depart out of this world they fall into another gulfe of destruction, & their soules are plu~ged in that endless pa⟨…⟩tie 14, vntill the day come that their bodies and soules being ioyned againe, they shall enter into euerlasting fire, which is prepared for the diuel & his Angels 15.
Then by these two wayes (which are cleane contrarie one to another) the last issue and end of Gods iudgements shall set forth manifestlie his glory to all men, forasmuch 4 as in his elect he shall declare him selfe most iust, and most mercifull. Most iust I say, for 5 that he hath punished vvith extreame rigor and seueritie the sinnes of his elect in the person of his Sonne, neither did receiue them into the felowship of his glory, before he had fully & perfectly iustified and sanctified them in his sonne: And most mercifull, forasmuch as hee freely appointed with himselfe to elect them, and according as he had purposed, chose them freely in his Son, by calling, iustifying, and glorifying them, by meanes of that same faith, which he had giuen them through the same grace and mercie.
On the other side, touching 6 the reprobate, their corruption and infidelitie, with such fruites as come thereof, and testimony of their owne conscience, shall so reproue and accuse the~, that although they resist & kick against the prick: yet the most perfit iustice of God shal be manifest and shine by all mens confession, in their iust condemnation.
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