An Answer to Blasphemous Cavillations by an Anabaptist, Section 39
ADVERSARIE,
As for the sentēce which ye alledge God maketh hard hearted, whom he will, and of whom he will he hath merciemercy,The 3. Argument. this place hath bene very vnresonably wrested of some of you,The 39 section. so that therby you hauehave burdened God to be the cause of condemnation, who at his pleasure receaueth or resiseth such as hauehave either of paine or pleasure deserued nothing at all. God forbid that any man should conceaue such a phantasie of God, but we must first learne how God lightened all men that cam into this world which light who so refuseth, him the Lord by long sufferance, with bountifull benefites and fatherly corrections doeth call to repentance. But if we louing darknes better then light, will vtterly refuse light, or after we hauehave bene by the goodnes of God partakers of gods grace, do forsaik the couenant of the Lord, then hath he merciemercy on whom he will, and that for his own saik, and others he maketh hard hearted, that is he giueth them ouer to their own hearts lustes, So that the cause of their induration, is not the will and pleasure of God which doeth nothing without a iust cause, but their obstinate wickednes which will not be reformed. These suffer iustly and the other receaue grace by the mercy fo God which may when he will, hauehave merciemercy, on whom he will, and that besides his couenant.
ANSWER.
Because that nothing resteth to the end of this y or book (your blasphemies and raling excepted) which is not sufficiently before answered, I intēd onelyonly to touch those things which you vniustly lay to our charges,To ye 1 and frākly cōfesse in what pointes you and we do manifestly dissent in opinion, and doctrine. and first I say that most vniustly you accuse vsus, laying to our charge that we burden God, to be the cause of cōdemnation, the which we all with one cōsent impute to mā, to sinne, and to ye deuil the first soliciter to sinne. And therfor, except that ye can note, and euidently conuict some one (or mo) of vsus, that so hath written or affirmed of God, ye can not be purged from the horrible crime of vniust accusatiō, ād detestable sclāder. We vtterly dissent from you that God lighteneth eueryevery man, that commeth into this world, in such sort as you affirme, that is, hat he calleth all to repentance & offereth light of saluatiō to all, so that God refuseth none, except such as vtterly refuse light, or such as hauehave bene partakers of gods grace, and do forsaik the couenant of the Lord. for besides the euident testimonies of the scriptures, the common experience frō the begīning doeth witnes, that God in that maner hath not illuminated eueryevery man. for how many do perish in their mothers bellies? how many sodenly die before their reason can iudge of good and euill? how many are depriued of natural reason & vnderstanding? Yea how many remaine wylde & brutishe, liuīg like beastes and eating one another? how many do continewe all their life without any other knowledge of God, thē the visible creatures of God do teach them? which I think ye will not affirme to be sufficiēt illuminatiō to prouoke them to repentance or to atteine to life. I pray you what light had Esau refused when God pronounced this sentence: the elder shal serue the yonger. vpō the which the Apostle as before we hauehave declared doeth conclude that yer the children had donne either good or badde, the one was loued, & the other was hated.
That God doeth nothing without a iust cause,To ye 3 most willingly we cōfesse. But that there is no iustice in God, to the groud whereof, your blind reason doeth not pearse, we constantly deny. And therfor we must nedes affirme, that to seke an other cause of gods workes, then his holy will, is more thē impietie. for the causes be knowen to his wisedom alone, why some he hath chosen to life euerlasting in Christe Iesus his Sōne. and why that others are left in perdition the cause may be secrete (as Augustine speaketh) but vniust can it not be. because it procedeth from gods will, which is the perfecte rule of al iustice and equitie. If that ye crye till that the mountaines resound againe: the obstinat iniquitie of the reprobate will not be reformed, and …hat is he cause of their induration: in fewe and sobre wordes we āswere: That in mā there is no wickednes which God may not reforme, if so be his godlie wil and good pleasure.TO t…e 4. Albeit of these your wordes: God may hauehave merciemercy when he will, on whome he will, and that besides his couenante. some suspition may arise, that greatly you do not esteme that inestimable benefite granted vntounto vsus in Christe Iesus his onelyonly Sōne. yet will I so fauorably interprete your wordes as I can. If ye vnderstand that such as this day be ignorant of God, ennemies to his trueth, & persecuters of his saintes, may sodenly or after this, be called to the trew knowledge of yt communiō which is betwext God and man, by Christ Iesus, I do fully agre with you. for so was Abraham, so was Paule, and so were the Gentiles: who long did liue without trew, knowledge of God, and without (as touching their owne apprehension) the assurance of his couenant and league. But if you vnderstād that God can or will receaue to merciemercy at any time such as he hath not elected to life euerlasting in Christ Iesus his Sonne before all times, we vtterly abhorre that error, as a pestilence most perniciouse. Now to that which foloweth.