Exod. 9. c. 16.; Psal. 33. c. 15.;
Prou. 16. a. 4.; Rom. 9. c. 11. 12. 13. Where he saith not onely, that Esau was
ordeyned to be hated before hee did any euill (for in so saying, he should not
seeme to exclude any thing, but actuall sinne, and incredulitie) but saith
expresly, before he was borne, whereby he excludeth the originall sinne, and
all that, which might be considered in the person of Esau by his birth, from
the cause of the hate.
Therfore anone after, when hee
sheweth how the reprobate murmur, and reply, hee doth not say, that they speake
in this sort; Why doth not GOD hate others alike, seeing they are also borne in
the same corruption that wee bee? the Apostle speaketh no such words, but hee
saith their reason is in this sort; Who can resist his will? for heereof mans
reason gathereth, that they are vniustly condēned. And yet S. Paul doth not
answere, that God would so, because hee saw that they would be corrupt, &
so consequentlie, that the cause of his decree should be groūded on their
corruption (the which answer had bin clear and resolute, if it had been true)
but forasmuch as hee saith plainlie, it so pleased GOD, and it was not in their
power to change this his good pleasure, hee brideseth mans wisedome, that it
might reuerence and wonder at Gods mysteries, as it is most iust to doe. And
also incourageth the elect, to honour the grace of GOD, which is declared and
made famous by such a comparison. In this sort then, the other places of the
scripture which conduct and lift vs vp to behold the soueraigne will of God,
which is the only rule of iustice, ought to be expounded. Esa. 54. g. 16.; 1.
Sam. 2. c. 25.; Ioh. 6. g. 64. 65. in the same. 10. d. 26; in the same. 12. f.
39. 1. Pet. 2. b. 8.; & in diuers other places. (Theodore Beza, The
Chief Points of Christian Religion On Predestination and A Brief Catechism [Reformed
Retrieval, 2022], 6-7, spelling retained from original)
