William Gouge on election and reprobation

[Carbon]

Q. What believe you concerning God’s particular decree of men?

A. That God from all eternity elected some to be saved in Christ, and left others to be damned for their sins.

Q. What is the principal end that God aimed at therein?

A. The Glory of his mercy and his justice.




William Gouge, A short catechism wherein are briefly handled the fundamental principles of Christian religion. Needful to be known of all Christians before they be admitted to the Lords Table. Whereunto are added sundry prayers (London, 1635), unpaginated.

 

[atpollard]

Not too shabby.

I always wondered about "Justice" being the "principal end". This part of Romans 9 always stuck in my mind:

Romans 9:19-24 [NASB]​

19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" 20 On the contrary, who are you, you [foolish] person, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? 21 Or does the potter not have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one object for honorable use, and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with great patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon objects of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 namely us, whom He also called, not only from among Jews, but also from among Gentiles,​

Clearly, God wishes to "make known the riches of His glory upon objects of mercy", which is half the equation. What about the part linked to "His wrath" about "and to make His power known"?

Is there anything innately wrong with God raising up enemies to make known the POWER of God by defeating them?
I think of the end of Romans 1 as men climb ever more confidently to new heights of depravity, unaware of just how terrible the fall from that height will be when they are confronted with the Truth they so confidently rejected and then mocked. I suspect even the demons tremble when they think of WHO these mortals will one day face and how terrible that moment will be. Demons rebelled, but probably never mocked God.

So I have to wonder, Is it wrong for God to make His power known to a universe (people/creation) that knows and thinks so little of it?
Is it wrong for God to give men plenty of rope to hang themselves with to reveal just how GREAT God really is?

I just wonder about such things.