An Answer to Blasphemous Cavillations by an Anabaptist, Title page – Preface
AN ANSWER TO A GREAT NOMBER of blasphemous cauillations written by an Anabaptist, and aduersarie to Gods eternal Predestination. AND CONFVTED By Iohn Knox, minister of Gods worde in Scotland. Wherein the Author so discouereth the craft and falshode of that sect, that the godly knowing that error, may be confirmed in the trueth by the euident Worde of God.
PROV. XXX. ¶There is a generatiō that are pure in their owne cōceit, and yet are not washed from their filthines.
Printed by Iohn Crespin. M.D.LX.
To the Reader.
FOr the vnderstanding of the nombres, the readers shall obserue, that as the writer in his pestilent booke hath deuided the hole into certē argumētes, so lykewise hauehave I deuided myne answers into certen Sections. And because that many things in his railing reasons are either vnworthie of any answere, or els not necessarie to be answered so oft as he repeteth the same, I thoght good to signe those thinges in euerie seuerall section, which I thoght in the same moste necessarie to be answered. And this I hauehave done as well in his reasōs, as in myne answers, so that the figure of 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. which be marked in the mergēt of his reasons, are answered where the lyke nombre is foūd in myne answers. This I thoght good to admonish the reader.
The Preface.
AMongest the manifold blessinges where with God hath blessed his chosen childrē (whom before all begining of times he hath predestinate to life in Christ Iesus) it is not the least (most deare brethrē) that he hath giuen vntounto vsus plaine aduertisment,Ephes. 1. 3 how diuerse, vntounto dyuerse persons shalbe the effect and operation of his word: so oft as it is offered vntounto the worlde.2. Cor. 2. 1… To wit, that as he him self was appointed by his heauenlie Father ād forespokē by the Prophetes,Esaie 8. 14 to be the Stone of offē se, the stombling block, and a snare to the two houses of Israel, and yet that he shoulde be to others the Sanctuarie of honor, the Rocke of refuge, & author of libertie: so should his word (I say) truely preached be to some foolishnes and the sauor of death,2. Cor. 2. 16 and yet vntounto others, that it shoulde be the swete odore of life,1. Cor. 1. 28 the wisedo me and power of God (and that to saluation) to all those that beleue. I purpose not at this present to intreat nor to reason, how and why it is that gods eternall worde, which in it self is alwayes one, worketh so diuersly in the heartes of those to whō it is offered, but my onelie purpose is in few wordes to admonish vsus (to whom it hath pleased God of his owne fre mercy more playnely to reuele the mysteries of our redēptiō thē he hath done to many ages be fore vsus) not to esteme this a small and common blessing of God that we hauehave not onelyonly his trueth, but also the effect and operation of the same cōfirmed to vsus by experience of all ages. Great & infinite is that benefit of God, and rightly can it neuer be weighed, when so euer he doth offer his trueth vntounto the world. But such is either the dulnes of man orels his extreme ingratitude, that he will not acknowledge the face of theveritie,Iohn 1. 5 shyne it neuer so bryght. The ingratitude of the Iewes, is hereof vntounto vsus a sufficiēt witnes. For albeit that lōg they did looke for the Messias and Sauior promised, yet neuertheles, when he came with wonderous signes & workes super naturall,Matt. 27. 38. they did not onelyonly not know him,Act. 2. 23 but also refusing and vtterly denying him, they did hang him bewext two theues vpō a crosse. The cause hereof in some parte we know to be the carnal libertie which cōtinually they did thirst after, and their preconceaued opiniō of worldlie glorie: which because Christe Iesus appeared not to satisfie according to their fantasie and expectation, therfore did they contēpteously refuse him, ād with him all gods mercies offered vntounto them. Which fearfull example (deare bretherē) is to be obserued of vsus. For by nature it is euident, that we be no better, then they were. And as touching the league & societie with God, which prerogatiue long made thē blessed, we be farre inferior vntounto thē. For in cōparisō of that league made with Abrahā the tyme is shorte, that the Gētiles hauehave bene auowed for gods people & beloued spouse of Christe Iesus▪ yea Paule feareth not to call thē the very natural brāches and vsus the brāches of a wilde oliue. And therfore if their cōtēpt was so punished, that blindnes yet remaineth vpō thē, what oght we to feare? They not considering the office of Christe, & the cause of his cōming, were offended with his presence and doctrine.Companions of the trueth And doeth any mā thīck that we be free frō the same dangers? Few shalbe found, that in mouth praise not veri…ie, & eueryevery mā appereth to delyte in libertie. but such cōpanyons do follow bo… the one and the other, in this life, so that both are despised and called in doubt, whē they be of fered moste plainly to the world. To speake this mater somewhat more planely, it is a thīg (as I suppose) by many cōfessed that after darknes light hath appeared: but alas, the vices that hauehave abounded in all estates and conditiōs of persons, the terrible crueltie which hath bene vsed against the saintes of God, and the horrible blasphemies which hauehave bene & daily are vomited furth against Christe Iesus and his eternall veritie, hath giuen (and iustly may giuegive) occasion to the imprudent beholder of such confusion, to preferre the darcknes of superstition, which be fore did reigne, to the light of saluation, which God of his greate merciemercy hath now of late yeres offered againe to the vnthankfull world. For what naturall man can think that the iustice of faith, planelye and truely preached should be the occasion of sinne? That grace and merciemercy offered shoulde inflābe the heartes of mē with rage and crueltie? And that gods glorie declared shoulde cause mē impudētly to spew furth their vennom and blasphemies against him, who hath created thē? The naturall man (I say) can not perceaue how these incōueniences shoulde follow gods worde, & therfor do many disdein it, a grea…e nōber deny it, and few as it becōmeth with reuerēce do imbrace it. But such as with graue iudgemēt shal consider what was the common trade of liuing, when Christe Iesus, him self did by preaching and working, call men to repentā ce, what was the intreatement of his dearest seruāts, whō he sent furth to preach the glad tydinges of his death and resurrectiō, and what horrible sectes followed, and daily did sprīg after the publication of that ioyfull attonement made betwene God and man by Christe Iesu, by his death, resurrectiō, and ascēsiō, such (I say) as diligētly do obserue these former pointes, shall not onelyonly hauehave mater sufficient to glorifie God, for his graces offered (be the liues of mē neuer so corrupted, and the confusion that thereof insueth neuer so fearful) but also they shall hauehave iust occasion more steadfastly to cleaue and stick to the trueth, whose force & effect they se alwaies to hauehave bene one frome the begīning. The giuers of these offēses shall no doubt sustein the wo pronounced against them by Christe Iesus.Matt 1. 7 But yet must the childrē of God vnderstand, that of necessitie it is, that such offēses come: that the elect may first be tryed,1. Cor. 11 19 and after be partakers of that blessing pronoūced by our master in those wor des:Luke 7. 13 Blessed is he that is not offended in me. The cause of these my former wordes is, that as Satā euer frome the beginnīg hath declared him self ennemie to the fre grace and vndeserued louelove of God,Sathan hath euerraged against the fre mercies of God. so hath he now in these last and moste corrupted daies most furiously raged agaīst that doctrine, which attributeth all praise and glorie of oure redemption to the eternall louelove and vndeserued grace of God alone. By what meanes sathā first drew mākynd frome the obediēce of God,Ephes. 2. 8 the scripture doeth witnesse. To wit, by powring into their hartes that poison,How Satan drew māfirst from God. that God did not louelove thē: and by affirming that by transgressiō of gods cōmandemēt they might attein to felicitie and ioy: so that he caused them to seke life where God had prounced death to be. This same practise hath sathan euer frome the beginning vsed to infect the Church with al kynd of heresie, as the writings of Moises, of the Prophetes, of the Apostles, & of the godlie in the primatiue Church do playnelie witnes. But alas to such blasphemie did neuer the deuil draw mā kynd as now of late daies, in the which no small nōbre are become so bolde, so impudent, and so irreuerent, that opēly they feare not to affirme, God to be vniust, if that he in his eternal coūsel hath elected more one sort of mē thē an other to life euerlasting in Christe Iesus our Lord: which thing of late daies, is more planely come to oure knowledge thē before we could hauehave suspected, and that by the sight of a book moste detestable & blasphemous, cōteinyng (as it is intiteled, The cōfutation of the errors of the careles by necessitie) with that odious name do they burden all those that either do teach, ether yet beleue the doctrine of gods eternall predestination▪ which booke writtē in the english tōgue doeth cōtein as well the lies and the blasphemies imagined by Sebastian Castalio, and laid to the charge of that moste faithfull seruāt of God, Iohn Caluine as also the vane reasōs of Pighius, Sadoletus & Georgius Siculus, pestilēt Papistes, & expressed ennemies of gods free mercies.The cause of the writing of this worke. The dispitefull railīg of wt booke, & the manifest blasphemies in the same cōteined, togither with the earnest req̄sts of som godlie brethren, moued me, to prepare an answere to the same: others I dowbt not might hauehave done it with greater dexteritie, but with reuerēce & feare do I lay the talēt cōmitted to my charge, vpō ye table of the Lord to brīg to his church such aduātage as his godli wisdō hath appointed. But lest that some shoulde thīk, that my labors might better hauehave bene bestowed in some other exercise, I thoght expediēt to admonish all brethrē, & charitably to requyre of thē, not to esteme the mater to be of small weight & importāce▪ for seing that gods fre grace is opēly impugned & disdainfully refused, I iudge it the duetie of euerie man that loketh for life euerlasting, to giuegive his confession to Christe Iesus, whose glorie is by these blasphemers to ye vttermoste of their power suppressed. Some do thinke, that because the reason of man can not atteine to the vnderstanding, how God shall be iust making in his counsel this diuersitie of mankīd, that therefore better it were, to kepe silēce in al such mysteries, then to trouble the braynes and myndes of men with curious disputatiōs. I willingly confesse, that al curiositie oght to be auoided, and that with great sobrietie we oght to contemplate & beholde that incomprehensible mysterie of our redēption. But yet I say, that the doctrine of gods eternal predestinatiō is so necessarie to the Church of God, that without the same,The necessitie of the doctrine of gods eternall predestination. can faith neither be truely taught, nether surely established: mā cā neuer be broght to true humilitie, & knowledge of him self nether yet cā he be rauished in admiration of gods eternal goodnes, and so moued to praise him as apperteineth. And therefor we feare not to affirme that so necessarie as it is that true faith be established in or har tes: yt we be broght to vnfined humilitie, & yt we be moued to praise hī for his fre graces receaued, so necessary also is ye doctrin of gods eternall predestination. For first there is no way more proper to buyld and establish faith, thē whē we heare and vndoubtedly do beleue,The stabilitie of faith. that our election (which the Spirit of God doth seale in our hartes) cōsisteth not in our selues, but in the eternal and immutable good pleasure of God. And that in such firmitie that it cā not be ouerthrowen nether by the raging stormes of the world, nor by the assaultes of sathan, nether yet by the wauering and weaknes of our own fleshe. Then onelyonly is our saluation in assurance, whē we fynd the cause of the same in the bosom and counsell of God. For so do we by faith apprehend life and peace manifested in Christe Iesus,Rom. 5. 1. that by the directiō and guyding of the same faith we looke farther: to wit, out of what fountaine, life doth procede. In Christe Iesus now presētly do we fynd libertie ād life,Iohn 14. 6 1. Cor. 1. 30 he is made vntounto vsus of God, wisdome, & righteousnes and sanctification and redēption: and in the promes of his Gospel is foūded the stabilitie of our saluation. But yet we hauehave a ioy which, far surmounteth this.Ro 1. 26 For albeit that we should heare that the mercies & the graces of God were offered vntounto all men, and albeit also that we should fele that our heartes were somwhat moued to beleue, yet onles the very cause of our faith be knowen, oure ioye and comfort cā not be full. For if we shall think, that we beleue ād hauehave embrased Christe Iesus preached because our wittes be better then the wittes of others, and because that we hauehave a better inclination and are of nature more tractable then be the cō mon sorte of men, sathan (I say) can easely ouer throw all comfort buylded vponupon so weak a ground. for as the heart of man is vain and inscrutable, so may it be, that those that this day be tractable and obedient, hauing also som zeale toward godlines, yea and also bothe sense and feling of gods merciemercy, such (I say) may shortly here after become stubborn in some cases, disobedient in maters of greate importance, tempted with lustes, and finally they may be left so barren, that rather they shal tremble at the sight of gods iudgemētes, thē that they can reioyse in the free adoptiō of his children. And therefor (I say) that except our comfort be grounded vponupon that foundation which neuer can be moued, it is not perfect.The vnmouable ground of faith. And that ground is this: That when we vnderstand that presently we beleue in Christe Iesus, because we were ordeined before the beginning of all tymes to beleue in him:Rom. 8. 29 as in him we were elected to the societie of eternall life, then is oure faith assuredly grounded,Ephes. 1. 14 and that because the giftes and vocatiō of God are without repentance.2. Thes. 2. 13 and he is faith ful that hath called vsus.2. Pet. 1. 2. & 20 his infinite goodnes which moued him to louelove vsus in an other thē in our selues, that is in Christe Iesus,Rom. 11. 29 according to his free beneuolēce, whiche he had purposed in him, is to vsus a towre of refuge, wt satan is neuer able to ouerthrowe nor ye gates of hell shall neuer preuail against it. For how so euer we be changeable, yet is God in his counsel stable and immutable, yea how weak, how feble, how dull that euer we be, yet is there nothing in vsus (euen when we be in our owne iudgement most destitute of the Spirit of God) which he did not se to be in vsus before we were formed in the wombe, yea and before the beginning of all tymes, because all is present with him. Which imperfections, infirmities and dulnes, as they did not stoppe his merciemercy to elect vsus in Christe Iesus, so can they not compel him now to refuse vsus. And frome this foūtaine doth flow this our ioye, that with the Apostle we are bolde to crye: who is able to seperate vsus from ye louelove of God which is in Christe Iesus?Rome. 8 for seing that the father, who hath giuen vsus for a peculiar inheritance to his onelie Sonne, is so mightie, that owte of his hand is none able to take vsus away, what danger can be so great? what sinne is so greuous, or what desperation so depe, that is able to deuoure vsus? for seing it is God him self who will absolue vsus from all iniquitie: and seing that Christe Iesus his Sōne wil aduowe vsus to appertein to his bodie, what is he that dare ryse against vsus to condemne vsus? The comfort hereof doeth none fele except the chosē childrē of God, and that in the daye when mans iustice faileth, and the batt…lle of their conscience is most greuous and fearefull. Therefore as faith springeth frome election, so is it established by the true knowledge of that doctrine onelyonly which this day is moste furiously oppugned, by those who do not vnderstand the same.
And frome that same doctrine floweth the verie mater of trew humilitie. For while we beholde the condition of those whom nature hath made equall to be so farre diuers the one from the other, it is vnpossible but that the children of God in their own heartes vnfeinedly shalbe humbled. For whither so euer they shall directe their eyes, they shall behold fearefull examples of blyndnes and of such iniquitie as all men iustly oght to abhorre: but when they cōsider them selues to hauehave receaued light in the midst of such dareknes, and them selues to be sanctified in the midst of so wicked a generation, from what fountaine can they say that this procedeth? who hath illuminated their eyes, while that others abyde in blyndnes? who doth brydle their affections, while that others do follow the same to perdition? yf they say nature, their own conscience shall conuict them: for nature hath made vsus all equall: by nature are we the childrē of wrathe as wel as other: Ephes. 2. If they say education, reason, or their own studie, common experience shall diclare their vanitie. For how many hauehave bene no rished in vertue,Ham. Ishmael. Esau. Abshalom. Achitophel. Iudas. and yet become moste filthie in life? And by the cōtrarie how many hauehave lōg remained without all vertuous education, and yet in the end hauehave atteined to gods fauor? And therfore we say that such as attribute any thing to them selues in the grace of their election hauehave not learned to giuegive to God the honor which to him apperteineth,The Niniuites. Manasses. Paul. Magdelene. The thiefe. because they do not frely cō fesse what maketh thē to differre frō others. It is vniuersally receaued for a sentēce moste true, that as humilitie is the mother of all vertue: so it is also the roote of all godlynes. But how is it possible,What humilitie is that that man shalbe humbled, that can not abyde to heare the former miserie in the which he was borne? neither yet the means by the which frome the same he was delyuered? If a begger being promoted to greate honours by the liberalitie of a king, should be remēbred of his former condition: and for declaration of his gratitude he should be commanded to reuerēce the embassador, or herauld that thus should say vntounto him: Remēber and call to mynde how wretched, poore, ād miserable somtymes thow wast, and praise the goodnes of the king, by whose merciemercy and gentlenes thow liuest now in this honorable estate: If this begger (I say) should stomake that his pouertie should be so often obiected vntounto him, who wold saye, that either he were humble, either yet thankfull to the king? No more can it be said that such as can not abyde the mētion of gods eternall electiō (by the which onelyonly the elect be extolled to dignitie in Christe Iesus) be either humble in gods presēce, either yet thankfull, for that infinite benefite, which excedeth all measure. To wit, that we be elected in Christe Iesus to life euerlasting, and that God according to the good pleasure of his eternall counsel, hath made separation betwext those who did fall into equall perdition, as touching the offence and sinne committed. Such as desire this article to be buried in silence, and wold that men should teach and beleue, that the grace of gods election is common vntounto all, but that one receaueth it, and an other receaueth it not, procedeth either from the obedience or disobedience of man, such disceaue them selues, and are vnthākfull and iniurious vntounto God. For so long as they se not, that true faith and saluatiō (as in the discourse shalbe more plainely declared) springe from election and are the gifte of God, and come not of our selues, so long are they disceaued and remayn in error. And what can be more iniurious vntounto gods free grace,Ephes. 2. 8 then to affirme, that he giueth no more to one, thē to an other? seing that the hole scriptures do playnely teach, that we hauehave nothing which we hauehave not receaued of fre grace & mere merciemercy, ād not of our workes, nor of anythīg in vsus, lest any mā shoulde boast himself Ephes. 2, 28. And therefore let wicked men rage as they list we will not be ashamed to confesse always, that onelie grace maketh difference betwext vsus and the rest of the world. And further we feare not to affirm, that suche as fele not that cōfort inwardly in their cōscience, can neuer be thākfull to God, neither yet willing to be subiect to his eternall counsel, Which is the onelie cause that these wicked men moste vnreuerently do storme & rage against that doctrine which they do not vnderstād. But let vsus (deare brethren) be assured, that none other doctrine doth establishe faith, nor maketh mā humble & thankfull vntounto God, & finally y• none other doctrine maketh mā carefull to obey God according to his cōmādemēt, but that doctrine only, which so spoileth man of all power & vertue, y• no portion of his …aluatiō consisteth within him self, to the end that the whole praise of our redemptiō may be referred to Christe Iesus alone whō the Father of verie louelove hath giuen to death for the deliuerance of his bodie,1. Cor. 1. 30 which is the Church,1. Iohn. 4. 10 to the which he was appointed head before the beginning of all tymes.Ephes. 1. 22 To him therefor with the Father and holie Gost, be all praise and glorie for euer and euer. So beit.