Display of Popish Practices, Slanders · Slander 6
The ſixth Slaunder.
The Scripture manifeſtly witneſſeth, that wicked actes are aſsigned to God, not only willing, but the authour thereof.
THE AVNSVVER.
WIit thou Diuel neuer leaue to Slaunder: No one man within all memorie hathe beaten downe eyther more vehemently, or more Godly, thys blaſphemie of the Lybertines, than Caluin, and wil it not ſhame thée ſo ofte to vrge the ſame lye in other wordes? Howe often hauehave I aunſwered alreadye, wyth howe manye Teſtimonies taken out of Caluine himſelf, hauehave I layde open your impudency? I will not repeate againe nowe that I hauehave ſayde a thouſand times. Yet it ſhall be labour worth, to ſée what occaſion thou tookeſt to patch this flaunder. Caluin wrot in his booke of eternall Predeſtination, againſt Pyghius and Siculus, out of whoſe puddles you hauehave drawn your vncleane filthyneſſe.In his booke of eternal prodeſt. of Saints. 20. ca. Auguſtines ſentence (ſayth he) muſt be kept: when God will any thing to be done that muſte not be done, but by mē willing, that he togither inclineth their hartes, that they become willing, and worketh in their hartes not onelye by helping, but alſo in iudging, that they, who had no ſuch purpoſe, may fulfil that counſel, which his hand hath determyned. And by and by, here truely it may eaſily be gathered, howe vaine and inconſtant that defence of diuine tuſtice is. That thoſe things whiche be euill, are not done by his will, but only by his ſufferance. Truely, for as much as they are euil which are done of men with an euill minde (as I will ſet down more plainely anone) I graunt they do in no caſe pleaſe God. But whereas they fayne that he ſuffereth thoſe thinges being idle, whyche the Scripture pronounceth to be done, not only with his will, but he being authour, is too fryuolous a ſhifte. Thus farre Caluine, whom indéede thou thoughtſt to hold entāgled in thy ſnares, whē thou readeſt theſe things, but how fooliſhely, I will ſhew anone. For I will gratifye thée, and alleage another like place out of Caluines booke againſte the Lybertynes, Chap. 14. The Lord (ſayth he) is highly diſpleaſed, when we ſuppoſe yt any thing procéedeth from any other place, and do not beholde him, that we may acknowledge him, not only as the chiefe cauſe of al, but alſo as authour, determining by his counſel al things by this or that mean. So therfore let vsus cōclude, as wel proſperity as aduerſitie, Raines, Windes, Hayles, Froſt, faireneſſe, abundāce, famine, warre, & peace be the workes of God: & the creatures, which be inferiour cauſes, be only inſtrumēts whyche he hath in vſe to execute his will, and therefore, that he vſeth them as he pleaſeth, turneth them whyche waye ſoeuer he will, and bringeth them to that poynte, that it may altogyther be performed that he hath determyned. Theſe be Caluins words, whiche if thou takeſe, as if he ſayd, that God were the authour of wicked acts, or willeth ſinne, thou certainely excéedeſt all impudency, ſéeing Caluine in thoſe places confuteth that ſame blaſphemie. And byeauſe manye, that they maye diſolue the Argument of the Lybertines, do ruſhe out into another error, not muche leſſe to be reproued, as thoſe whiche determyne an idle ſufferaunce of God in moſt matters for the action, therefore before all things he hath thoughte this error to be refuted. He teacheth therefore, that God executeth his worke, no leſſe by euil inſtruments than by goodtand therefore, ſéeing he alwayes worketh as foreign al ſufficient of himſelfe, not as an idle beholder, nor only the geuernour of the verye ende, but to come in betwixt as the very authour: the author, I ſay, not of the worke, whiche euill inſtruments do wickedlye: (for thys thou haſt added of thine owne ſtore Sycophant) but of that worke whyche God doth moſt fuſtly by them, then alſo when they doe moſte wickedlye. Caluine doeth not teache, that wicked actes are committed, God eyther being willing or the author of them: but he teacheth that whiche is moſte true, albeit the euil inſtrument ſinne by cauſe he worketh with a depraued will, yet God doth nothing leſſe than ſinne, when he worketh well by an euill inſtrumente, and that he is the authour of this hys moſte holy worke. So by Satan and the wicked, he continually exerciſeth and confirmeth his Churche. So, ſo ofte as he pleaſeth, he reuengeth the wicked, by the hands of the wicked. So he chaſtized his people by the Aſſyrians. So he woulde by Abſolom puniſh the adulterie of Dauid, when Dauid himſelfe was ſaued. So by Ioſephs bréethren, he prepared a place of refuge for hys Church. If thou denyeſt theſe, I call thée to the teſtimonie of the Scriptures, which indéede almoſt infinite we hauehave cited in the depelling of the thirde ſclaunder, that I may omitte thoſe things whiche we hauehave ſo often deſcribed word for word out of Auguſtine and Caluine vppon the ſame matter. Doeſt thou now Deuill acknowledge thyne owne impudencie.
The Sycophants Arguments to the fifth and ſixth Sclaunder.
AGAINST the fifth and ſixth, they ſay both many other things, and eſpecially theſe: if God willeth ſinne, and is the authour of ſinne, God himſelfe is to be puniſhed, for ſinne muſt needes be puniſhed in the authour of it. If God willeth ſinne, the Deuill willeth not ſinne, for the Deuill is contrarie to God in all thinges, if God willeth ſinne, he loueth ſinne, and if he louelove ſinne, he hateth righteouſneſſe. If God willeth ſinne, he is worſe than manye menne, for many menne will not ſinne, but howe muche ſo euer any one commeth nearer to the nature of GOD, ſo muche the leſſe hee wylleth ſinne. VVhy then ſayeth Paule, The good that I woulde doe I doe not, but the euill that I woulde not, that I doe? VVhy willeth not Paule that whyche God willeth, or why willeth Paule that which God willeth not? Finally, they aske what Scripture doth witneſſe, that wicked actes are committed to God, not onelyonly being willing, but the authour thereof.
THE AVNSVVERE.
WHat ſhoulde I (Sycophante) contende with moe wordes agaynſt thée? thou art out of thy wittes, when thou thinkeſt vsus ſo fooliſhe, as that wée ſhoulde euer thynke that GOD willeth, or loueth Sinne, or that euils are cominitted to GOD as the Authoure. But what ſoeuer in thys place thou haſt ſottiſhlie wreſted agaynſte vsus, who knoweth not, that they are drawen from hym whome thou doſt ſtriue againſt? Therefore thou art not only ſhameleſſe and a lewde man, but alſo vnthankefull, which diſſembleſt by whom thou haſt profyted.