An Answer to Blasphemous Cavillations by an Anabaptist, Section 31
ADVERSARIE.
Christ commandeth Iohn to preache vn…o the seuen Congregations Among whome were bothe elect & reproba…e to whom he vsus…th no such maner of doctrine,The 31 secti…. as ye teach. …ha… the elect coulde not fall from their election but warneth them to take hede that they lose n…t that which they had g…ten but labore to increase threatning them with destruction if …hey forsake …he grace, whereof they were made par…akers nether discouraged be the most wicked of them, as ye do, saying, that by the preordinance of God, they of necessitie must perish, but willeth them to repent and amend, and they shoulde liue yes knew he bothe who were elect and who were reprobate▪ To the congregation of Ephesus, he saith that she was fallen from her first louelove,Apocal. 2 and without she remembred from… whence she was fallen, repented, and did her first workes, the Lord wold shortly come and remoue her candilstick out of her place. The congregation of Smirna he commandeth so be faithfull vntounto the death and so shoulde she receaue the crowne of life. If Christ had bene of your opinion, he had not vsed such maner of doctrine. In vaine shoulde he exhorte the reprobate to be faithfull, whom he had cast away. and superfluous were it, to exhort the elect, whō he knew, to be predestinate so that they coulde not fall. In the congregation of Pergamus were two most detestable sectes, that is Balaamites, and Nicholattains. whom the Lord did hate, then were they not beloued, and so consequently were they not elect after your opinion yet willeth he them to be conuerted, and to receaue a new name written in whi…e stone. In the cōgregation of Thiatyra was the fals prophetesse Iesabell to whom he gaue space to repent▪ and (as Peter saieth),2. Pet. 3. the long suffering of the Lord is saluation, then might she hauehave repented not withstanding she did not repent, then was she reprobate, likwise vntounto them which committed fornication with her, that is idola…rie is repentance granted. The congregation of Sardis thogh in name she did liue,Apo. 3 yet in dede she was dead. And that of her which was yet a liue was in danger of death. wherefore he willeth her to call to remembrance,Apoc. 7 what she had heard and what grace she had receaued and to repent her of her imperfect workes, and watch, lest the Lord shoulde like a thief come vponupon her Vnwares. If the congregation of Sardis was elect, then in vaine doth the Lord threaten her after your opinion, and if she was reprobate, what auaileth it to watche and repente. The congregation of Philadelphia, he commandeth to holde fast that which she hath that no man take away her crowne (as Peter saith Beware lest ye with▪ 2. Pet. 3other men be also plucked away through the err…r of the wicked, & fall from your owne … what shoulde they feare the losse of that which (as you say) they can not lose. The congregation of Laodicia which was n…her hote nor colde, but wretch…ed miserable, and poore and blynd and naked, if ye say it was elect yet the Lord threatned it that he wolde spew it out of his mouth. if you say that they were reprobate, yet might, they bene saued, gr…we …eruent and repent. And where they were poore they might hauehave boght of Christ tried gold in the fier to make them rich and where they were naked they might be clothed with whyte raym…nt …f right…snes to couer their filthie nakednes Moreouer they might hauehave gotten the salue of true kn…wledge, by the spirit of God to an…t their blynd eyes, b…re we se, how that there is none of these cōgregatiōs so elect, but they might fall, & therefore hauehave nede of exhortations to be consiant vntounto the …. Le…t perchance as Paul the elect vessel of God, feareth him self they shoulde become cast aways & reprobates, & againe there be none so reprobate, but they be here cōforted, space of repētance granted thē to turne frō their wickednes, & liue. So wolde I exhort you to repent, and turne from your errors, and to seke for this salue of true knowledge to anoint your blind ignorant eyes▪ that ye might porc… ue, how ye be partakers of all the f…ltes which were found among the seuen congregations, by that ye are infected with this poysoned error of mere necessi…e, and stoicall destinie, more then they. God grant that ye may be also partakers of the merciemercy and grace offred to the said congregations: first ye participate with the congregation of Ephesus in that there is of you which call them selues Apostles, & are liers. with the cōgregation of Smirna in that there be among you which call them selues Iewes. … spirituall Israelites, and are of the congregation of Sathan. with the congregation of Pergamus in that Sathan dwelleth among you. and ye are become persecuters of Antipas, that is of the faithfull: and in that ye mainteine the doctryn of Balaam giuing the people occasion of sinne, with the congregation of Thiatira in that ye hauehave the spirit of the prophetesse Iesabell, teaching a careles, and liberti… life: with the congregation of Sardis, in that ye hauehave a name that ye liue, and yet are dead, and in that your workes are not perfect: for ye teache that by no meanes can they be perfect in this world…. with the cōgregation of Philadelphia in that as is afore said, ye are become the cōgregatiō of sathā, where as ye wold be estemed faithfull lewes of Christes cōgregatiō with the cōgregatiō of Laodici…, in that ye are wretched, miserable, blynd, naked, and nether hote nor colde: for ye thogh ye exhort your disciples to do wel, yet to pull all earnest feruentnes from them, ye say they can neuer at…eine to any perfectiō during this world. Take hede therefore that Christ spew you not out of his mouth. Behold I stād, saieth the Lord, at the doore & knocke: if any mā heare my voice & opē the doore I wil come in to him & wil suppe with him & he with me. Open the doore in time: refuse him not which calieth by his voice. And so you shalbe certein of your election: but if you shut your doore and refuse him which calleth, and if you do not obey his voice then are ye cast awayes without ye repent in time. Thus it becometh vsus all to talke reueren…y of gods election so far onelyonly as we fele by experi…nce the spirit of God worke in vsus: So that when we fele the spirit of God increase in vsus. we may be assured that we are in his fauor, but when we be led away frō one vice to an other as Dauid was in abusing Bear seba & killing Vrias, letvs not presume then to be beloued of him which hated all workes of iniquitie.
ANSWER.
When I did first read this your blasphemous rayling, I did wonder to what purpose, ye wolde rehearse the aduertisementes, admonitions, and exhortations giuen to the seuen Churches in Asia, & vntounto all other churches in their names and conditions, seing that nothing in the same can serue your purpose, yea altogether the holie Gost through yt hole worke, doth manifestly fight against your pestilent errors. and therefore I say at the first sight, I did wonder, to what purpose ye wolde trauail, where ye were assured tolose your labor. But when I came to your cōclusion, which ye make in maner of exhortation to vsus, I did perceaue, that easie it is to fynd a staf (as the prouerbe saith) to beat the dogge, which mā wolde hauehave killed.To the 1. But to the matter. Ye boldely affirme (how so euer ye be able to proue) that the Apostle vseth no such maner of doctrine, as we teach, &c. If ye vnderstand, that because he teacheth not in those seuen epistles, or letters, in expresse and plaine wordes, that from the beginning som be elected to life euerlasting, & others be reprobate, that therefore he teacheth it in no place,quid v… let locus ex parte negans. ye are not ignorāt of ye answer, and therefore I omitt it. But I aske, if you do not think that the Apostle doth dedicat this his hole worke to those seuen congregations, so doeth him self witnes (as in the first chapter is euident) then what so euer is conteined in this hole vision, apperteineth to the instruction, exhortation, admonition, comfort, and before aduertisement of those cōgregations, no les then that, which is conteined in these words by you rehearsed.Apoc. 7. Then let vsus heare what is writen and spoken by him in this mater, I sawe (saith he) foure Angelles standing vponupon the foure corners of the earth holding the foure windes of the earth that the windes shoulde not blow vponupon the earth &c. And I saw an other angell ascending from the vprising of the sonne. &c. And he cryed with a loude voice to the foure Angelles, to whom power was giuen to hurt the earth & the sea (saying), hurt not the earth nether the sea, nether yet the trees, vntil we hauehave sealled the seruantes of our God in their foreheades. I pray you, why were these, who were to be marked in the foreheades, more called the seruantes of God, by the voice of the Angell. then others? I knowe you will answer, because of their good workes, and godlie intentions. But from whence I praie you did it procede, that ye workes, and intention of the one sort were good, and of the other wicked? If you say, from their own fre wil, and power. the holie Gost doth proue you liers, as before I hauehave declared, and our Apostle assigneth also an other cause,Apocal. 13 saing, And power was giuen to the beast vponupon all tribes, tongues and natiōs, and all those that dwelt vponupon the earth, did worship him, whose names are not writen in the book of life, of the lambe, who was killed from the beginning of the worlde. Here it is plaine that our Apostle against your affirmation, teacheth that some do worship the beast and so do finally perish: and other do not worship him, and attein to life▪ & that because the names of the one are written in the booke of life, and the names of the others are not written, and that more plainely he speaketh in these wordes:Apocal. 14 Then I loked, and lo a lambe standing on the mount Zion, & wt him a hundreth, fortie & foure thousand hauing his fathers name written in their foreheades &c. and they sang as it were a newe songe, before ye throne, and before the foure beastes & the elders, & none coulde learne the song except those hundreth fortie and foure thousand, which were boght from the earth &c. and aftre in the 17 chapt.Apocal. 17 is mencioned of these inhabitantes of the earth, who shall wonder vponupon the beastwhose names are not written in the book of life, from ye creation of the worlde. if in these places I say ye Apostle maketh no differēce betwext one sort of men & an other, let ye reader iudge. if there be differēce betwext boght & not boght, writtē in ye book of life, & not writtē, to learn ye newe …og & not to learne ye same, thē no dowt or Apostle putteth as plaine a differēce, as we do, yea ye hole scope of his reuelatiō is to declare, yt there is a nōbre of y• elect called ye spouse of ye lābe, whō it behoueth to be cōplete before y• cōsumatiō of all thīgs com, & before yt ye īnocēt blood that hath bene shed, be reuēged vpō those yt dwell vponupon the earth. and therefore aduise with your selues how ye be able to proue, that S. Iohn taught no such doctrine as we teach. But admitting that he had neuer spoken, nether yet of any nombre chosen, that can not fall vtterly from their election, nether yet of any nombre reprobate, who must nedes be apprehended with the beast, and with him be cast into the lake of fyre. Is it therefore a good argument, that all those that teach such maner of doctryne be fals teachers? or that no such doctryne is conteined in the holie Scriptures? I wil make the like reason: Nether Moises, nether Iohn the Baptist in any expressed wordes, hauehave left to vsus written▪ that Christ Iesus shoulde be born of a virgin, that he shoulde suffer in Ierusalem▪ that his disciples should all be sclādered, and flee from him, that he shoulde rise againe, and ascending into the heauen, shoulde send the holie Gost visibly vponupon his Apostles. nether Moises I say nether yet Iohn, who were excellent teachers, hauehave taught in expressed wordes any such doctrine, Ergo the teachers of it be fals teachers, & it is not written in gods scriptures. your argument is no better, admitting that the Apostle had neuer made mētion of any sort elected.
But now shortly to answer to all which without purpose ye heape to gether in this place,To the 2. 3. 4. 5 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. I say first, ye oght to hauehave made a difference betwext those seuen congregations where Christ Iesus had bene preached, and receaued. and the rest of the worlde wc thē remained, or after was to remaine in blindenes,how exhortatiō threatnings cō solations and the doctrine of r…pentance oght to be vsed. & error. for to those yt hauehave by publicke profession receaued Christ Iesus, be they elect, or be they reprobate do appertein exhortations threatning, ye doctrine of repētāce, consolatiō propheciīg .& reuelatiō of thīgs to com, but to those yt yet remaine manifest enemies of the trueth, apperteine onelie ye cōmon calling to ēbrace the trueth, with the threatnīg of destructiō, if they contiune vnfaithfull. And therefore becaus these former cōgregatiōs (as said is) had professed them selues to be of gods housholde they were intreated as his domestical seruantes.
If any aske the cause why are som so amiably, and others so strangely intreated, I answer, no other cause can be assigned, but that it pleased gods infinit wisdome and goodnes to make that plaine, and euident difference, betwext those that once be receaued in his houshold (be it by externall profession onelyonly) and those that remaine in blindenes, that the one he commonly doth visit, but the other he doth as it were neglect, and destroy. for what other cause can we assigne, that God so louingly did often call to repentāce the people of Israel so often offending from the daies of Moises vntounto ye comming of Christ Iesus, that he sent vntounto them Prophetes to exhort, to rebuke, and to declare the estate of things to come: and in this mean ceason, the space of two thousand yeres, permitted the Gentiles to walke in their own waies? And now after the reiection of the Iewes, what cause can we assigne, that among vsus Gentiles, God vseth to stirre vp, now one countrie, now an other to receaue the trueth, to detest and abhorre our former superstition, Idolatrie, and wickednes, and of so long cō tinuāce, hath left bothe ye Iewes, & turkes drowned still in their blindnes, & damnable errors? we shall find none other cause, I suppose, then did the Apostle se when that he said,Act. 15 to God are knowen all his workes, euen frō the beginning, and that he will reuele his secretes to such as please him. ye do not heare in all this reuelation of Iohn, that Babilon is exhorted to repētance yt the blasphemous beast is rebuked, ether of his tyranny, ether of his blasphemie, with any promes made to him, that if he will conuert, he shall be receaued to merciemercy and fauor. No the sentence irreuocable is pronounced by the Angel, that he shall come to destruction.
But Ephesus, Smyrna, Theatira, and the rest of the congregations, which before had professed Christ Iesus▪ and yet were become not manifest ennemies, but were fallē som in decay of life, some in corruption of manners, and som in heresies, were exhorted to returne to repent, and to be feruent, to continue, with sharp threatning, if they did the cōtrarie. And why this? because that God before had planted among them his trueth, which yet vtterly they had not refused, and therefore doth he honor them as his domesticall seruantes, but in vaine (say you) for if they be of the elect,An obiection of the Anabaptiste they cannot perish: if they be of the reprobate sorte, they can not be saued. This is of you vnreuerently reasoned, wil ye not suffer God to order his houshold, as best pleaseth his wisdom? This order hath he appointed that the trompet of his worde to exhort, to rebuke, to encourage, to offer merciemercy to the penitent, and to threaten death, to such as do declyne, shall clerely sound in his Church, so long as he doth acknowledge it to be his. Not that by the word preached, he that was reprobate in gods eternall counsel, may be the elect, and so changed: but that the worde preached, and often repeted, maketh a difference betwext the elect, and the reprobate, euen before man.
Albeit to you it appere superfluous, that God shall fede his children by his own word, which because the reprobate do refuse, therefore do they beare a testimonie of their own iust condemnation in their owne conscience. Albeit I say, this appeare superfluous, yet God hath commanded and established the same, as a thing most necessarie and expedient, for the establishing of his children, and for the manifestation of his owne glorie.
I wōder that ye wil not affirme that superfluous it is for a man to till and manure the ground,A…bread is necessary to the bodie, so is gods worde to the soule. to prepare for victuales, to eat and drinke, & to do such other things as be necessarie for the conseruation of the life corporall, seing that God hath appointed the daies of man which he cannot excede, and also that our heauenlie father wil prouide for his childrē, seing he prouideth far the birdes of the ayre. Assuredly the one ye may cōclude aswel as the other. But herein, I saie, appereth your foolish blyndnes. first that ye make no difference betwext the houshold seruantes, & those that be without. and secondarely, that ye vnderstand not the vse, the profit, and the effect of gods word preached. Is not ye kingdom of heauen compared to a nett casten into the sea gathering together all sortes of fishes? whereof albeit that the seperation can not perfectly be made, till the nett be drawen to the drie lād vponupon the last day: yet daily by the worde by exhortacion, by rebuking & threatning, do many things com to light, which before lay hid. how many do followe Christ, for a time, and fall back from him, albeit, that to the end he cryeth, that they shoulde continue. S. Paul affirmeth that he did write his sharpe epistle to the Corinthians for a trial of them,1 Cor. 2. if they wolde in all things be obedient. if they as true shepe wolde heare the voice of their true pastor, acknowledge, & follow it, which he witnesseth that they did.2 Cor. 7. And there for he saith, now do I reioyce, not that ye did sorow, but that ye did sorowe to repentance. By the which was not onelyonly the Apostle comforted as he him self doth confes, but also were they newly confirmed, that the Spirit of God, was not vtterly extinguished before.The elect hauehave great profit by the preaching of gods worde. How the aduersaries abuse Gods word in making fals conclusions vponupon many places thereof And so albeit, ye can se no frute nor necessitie of gods worde preached, except that the nature of the reprobate be changed, yet do gods children fele in experience, how comfortable it is to hauehave their dull spirites stirred vp by frequent exhortacions: yea how necessarie it is, that their dulnes and vnthankfulnes be sharply rebuked.
The third thing, in which I perceaue you horribly to erre in all this youre long discourse of the seuen Churches, is that where so euer there is precept or commandement giuen to repent, and to continue in faith, or to liue a godlie life, or where so euer mention is made, that space and time is granted to repent, there streight waies ye conclude, then may men kepe the commandementes: then may they repent, and so be saued, althogh before they were reprobate. For this ye affirme of Iesabel, she might (say you) hauehave repented, and hauehave bene saued, and likwise vntounto them that committed fornication with her, is repentance granted. But how vaine is this conclusion, God commandeth that which is righteous, Ergo man may do all that is commanded. God giueth place of repentance to all men, Ergo all men do, or may repent. How vaine I say be these conclusions, such as be not infected with the pestilent opinion of their own power, fre will, and iustice, may easely espie. when ye hauehave proued that God commandeth nothing, which man may not do by his own power fre, will, and strength, and that repentance so procedeth from, man that in him self, it lieth ether to repent, or not to repent, then may ye sing this song, which so o…t ye repete: God commandeth, God giueth space of repentance, God offereth merciemercy to all, Ergo of their own power, they may repent. But and if we be not sufficient of our own selues to think one good thoght, if repentance be the fre gift of God, and if to receaue merciemercy procedeth of his own fre gift also, then harp so long as ye list vponupon that one string, I will answer that except ye make it better aggre with gods scriptures, I must nedes say, that he is worthie to be mocked that continually harpeth vponupon a discording string.To the 11. 12. 13 14. & 15.
As we do not contemne your exhortacion, if we coulde be persuaded, that it did procede from the spirit of lenitie, so can we not acknowledge our selues to be infected with the poysoned error of mere necessiti…, and Stoicall destinie, nether yet that we teache a careles, and libertine life, nether that we giuegive occasion of sinne to the people. finally that we can not confes that we teache, and mainteine idolatrie (as most vniustly ye accuse vsus) without any further probation. for that any such crymes reigne and are permitted amongest vsus without punishement, ye be neuer able to proue. We do not denie, but that among vsus hauehave bene men infected with all crimes, which ye lay to our charge. for som of you were once of our nombre, so far as man coulde iudge: but as you hauehave made your selues manifest, so hauehave others also. But yet it semeth far repugnant to equitie and charitie, that the treason of Iudas should be laid to the charge of the faithfull Apostles. If I list to take my pleasure in examining your liues, and applying the offences of those churches to your faction, I doubt not to bring better testimonie for my affirmations then ye hauehave broght against vsus. But that I omit to better opportunitie, willing you in the mean ceason to remēbre that he which speaketh alwaie what he listeth, is compelled some tymes to heare that which he wolde not. At one worde to answer to your sclanderours, and malicious accusations, we appele from your sentence vntounto him, whose trueth we maintein, not that we feare, but that with your confusion we coulde reiect your vennom, in your own stomockes againe, but that we are determined not to cōtēd with you in dispitesull railing, and vniust accusations, which is your purpose in this hole book in wc ye thus procede.