set a Louse by the iudgemeÌ„t of Erasmus He wyll conclude vpon the wordes of hys Austen that so destinie shoulde be no destinie or at the least destinie fighting against it selfe Nay he wyll not stay there but as though destinie and Gods predestination were all one thing he wyll conclude that it is also a Kingdome not onely deuided but also fiercely fighting agaynst it selfe And then knitte vp the matter with hys maner of exclaming O miserable absurditie c. Cerberus his heart would haue brust if he might not haue borowed his fellowes bable to fetch one flourishe wythall Euery childe may sée sayth Cerberus what absurditie must néedes follow And euery wise man may sée say I that there can no absurditie followe vpon that necessitie that we teach For it taketh away no fréedome that mans will hath or euer had Neyther doth Gods predestination sight against it selfe bycause Cerberus wyth his fellowes were predestinated before the worlde was in this time of the world thus to go about to deface those that doe truely teach that Gods prescience prouidence and predestination is infallible For what wise man wil say that the Potmaker is contrarie to himselfe bycause he maketh of his clay some vessels to serue in honourable vses and some other to vses cleane contrarie Or who wil say that God is contrarie to hymself bycause he hath made and doeth daylie make some of his creatures to be deuourers and destroyers of the rest or that nature doth fight against it self bicause it doth bring forth both helthsome foode and poyson Surely I thinke there is no man of that minde but Cerberus and his fellowes and that Austen that Cerberus citeth for his purpose But how worthy credit that Austen is is afore sufficieÌ„tly declared But Cerberus hath found in an Englishe Booke entitled against a priuie Papist two Argumenes one in these words Whatsoeuer was in Adam was in him by Gods wil ordinance sin was in Adam Ergo sinne c. The other speaking of the lying spirite in these words God commaunded him to sinne but God commaundeth nothing which he ordeyneth not so he ordeyned him to sinne Cerberus mislyketh much with these two Arguments The maior proposition in the first Argument is false sayth Cerberus Wherfore the conclusion can not be true But S. Austen in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium sayth that the maior is true Ergo it is lyke that Cerberus sayth not truely Saint Austens wordes be these Haec sunt magna opera Domini exquisita in omnes voluntates eius tam sapientèr exquisita vt cuÌ„ angelica humana creatura peccasset .i. non quod ille sed quod voluit ipsa secisset etiaÌ„ per eandem creaturae voluntatem qua factum est quod Creator noluit impleret ipse quod voluit benè vtens malis tanquam summè bonus ad eorum damnationem quos iustè praedestinauit ad poenam ad eorum salutem quos benignè predestinauit ad gratiaÌ„ Quantum enim ad eos â—â—tinet quod Deus noluit fecerunt quantuÌ„ verò ad omnipotentiam Dei nullo modo id efficere valuerunt Hoc quippe ipso quod contra voluntatem Dei fecerunt de ipsis facta est voluntas eius Propterea namque magna opera Domini exquisita in omnes voluntates eius vt miro inestabili modo non fiat praeter eius voluntatem quod etiam sit contra eius voluntateÌ„ Quia non fieret si non sineret nec vtiquè nolens sinit sed volens Nec sineret bonus malè fieri nisi omnipotens etiam de malis facere posset benè That is to say These are y â— great workes of God sought out according to all his wylles and yet wysely sought out so that when the nature both of Angels and man had sinned that is had done not the thing that he wylled but that it selfe wylled euen by the same will of the creature wherby that thing was done that y â— Creator was not willing should be done he fulfilled that which he would haue done euen as he that is best of all vsing well euen those things that are euill to the condemnation of those whome he hath iustly predestinated to paine and to the saluation of those whom he hath louingly predestinated to frée mercy As touching themselues they did y â— which God was not willing they should do but as touching the almightie power of God they were by no meanes able to bring that to passe For euen in the verie same thing that they did contrarie to the wil of God his will was wrought vpon them For that cause therefore the workes of the Lord are great searched out according to all his willes So that after a maruellous and vnspeakable maner that thing that is done euen contrarie to his will should not be done without his will For if he would not suffer it it should not be done neyther doth he suffer it being vnwilling but willing Neyther would he that is good suffer a thing to be euill done except the same being almightie were also able to worke a good effect of those things that be euill Thou maist sée here gentle Reader how great cause Cerberus hath to mislike with this Argument S. Austen sayth that after a maruellous and vnspeakable maner that thing that is done contrarie to the will of God is not without his will And thou mayst be bolde rather to consent vnto that which was written against a priuy Papist hauing Austen also on thy part than by Cerberus his misliking to be persuaded that that writer hath taught an vntrueth Of the other Argument Cerberus sayth that it was maruell that any man coulde be so blinde as not to sée how the same might with much more strength and force and manifest truth be turned against himselfe that made it in this sort God commaunded Adam and doth commaund all men to abstaine from sinne But he commaundeth nothing which he ordeineth not Ergo God ordeyned Adam and all men to absteyne from sinne But what hath Cerberus wonne by this I graunt the Argument to be good But that the conclusion is against vs I denie For we affirme that when man abstaineth froÌ„ sinne the same is done by Gods will and ordinance as wheÌ„ he committeth sinne the same is also by the wil and ordinance of God as by the words of Austen afore written doth plainly appeare As for Cerberus his argumeÌ„t and the conclusion that he inferreth therevpon I referre to the iudgement of all wise men that will weygh the afore written words of S. Austen Who shall thereby easily perceyue that no such conclusion can follow vpon such premisses But to his Also if God in his secret counsell c. I must say some thing Else will Cerberus say that Gods secret will and eternall ordinance is contrary to his open word and written law When Ionas was sent to Niniue the open word coÌ„maundement of God was that he
Retractations and not reuoked But Cerberus purpose was craftily to cause all that would harken vnto him to estéeme both Caluin vs as most arrogant heretikes that wyll not sticke to compare one of our time with that auncient Father and to accept his iudgement without either reason or learning directly against the iudgement of him whom al the Church of Christ hath these many hundred yeres worthily reuerenced For who séeth not that Cerberus can not be one of those Gospellers that do accompt Caluin to be fully sufficient in auctoritie to encounter with Austen sith he writeth so bitterly against all thē that eyther write or preach that that Caluin hath in writing most euidently proued and defended Yea he alleageth Austen against Caluins doctrine and woulde seme thereby to triumphe ouer him and all that be of his minde As for the place that he cyteth out of Caluin I leaue for Cerberus to seke out at his leysure and when he hath founde it to note where it may be sound◠But I beleue it will be harde for him to find in Caluines workes that sentence in those wordes Cerberus There remaineth then as before I promised briefly to note those thyngs which I thinke worthye to be reproued about the doctrine of Predestination as it is now a dayes taught of many Wherin least I should seme to speake without assured grounde and bicause wordes in preaching in talke or disputation wherof I haue heard great abundance in thys matter may rashly passe with small aduisement and eyther easely be denied or soone forgotten I am determined to touch nothyng but their very wordes whych are set forth in Print And bicause the taking and aunsweryng of their whole bookes were a matter long and tedious being commonlye stuffed on the one side wyth an heape of opprobrious and outragious wordes against such priuate persons as they take in hand to write agaynst and on the other side filled rather wyth obscure subtelties than wyth plaine affirmations I haue thought it best therfore to take certayne sentences whych contayne manifest affirmatiōs out of diuers late printed Englyshe bookes wherein the summe and effect of this doctrine which manye doe for iust cause mislike is fully plainelye and simplye declared Crowley Nowe Cerberus beginneth to growe to the performance of his promise in noting those things in the doctrine of predestinatiō now preached as seme to him mete to be reproued And by the way he will not taunt vs but thus he sayth that in preaching talking and reasoning wordes may passe vs rashly and with small aduisement and be either easely denied or sone forgotten Wherfore he will touche nothing but that which we haue written and set forth in Print Well contented but yet I would Cerberus should knowe that we neither preache talke nor dispute with such rashnesse or small aduisement but that we are able and will by Gods helpe stande to all that we haue spoken therein and he is able to charge vs withall As for the outragious wordes that we vse towardes them that we write against shalbe found modest inough when they shalbe compared with the words that in this hys aunswere he vseth towards vs. Let him therfore procede in noting those things that he misliketh Cerberus I reade in an Englyshe booke set forth by Robert Crowley and entituled the confutation of .xiii. Articles c. these wordes Adam therfore beyng so perfect a creature that there was in him no lust to sinne and yet so weake that of himselfe he was not able to withstand the assault of the subtile serpent no remedye the onely cause of his fall must nedes be the predestination of God Thou seest dearly beloued in the conclusion of this sentence one point declared wherin the controuersie doth consist For where he plainlye affirmeth that Gods predestination is the only cause of Adams fall which is the sountayne of all sinne other hauing a much more reuerend opinion of God and of hys holye predestination do set their fote or rather their heart and soule agaynst their sayd conclusion Estemyng it far better to be torne in manye thousande pieces than to thynke or say that Gods fore-ordinance or predestination is the cause of any sinne or euil I besech thee let not thine eies be blinded or thy minde musfled wyth malice eyther agaynst the one partie or the other but in the ballāce of vpright iudgement waye the difference The one sayth as in this conclusion manifestlye appeareth and as afterwarde yet more plainly he affirmeth that the predestination of God is the onelye cause of Adams sinne and so consequently of all euill The other affirmeth directly contrary That God or his predestination is the cause of no sinne or euyll but the only cause of all goodnesse and vertue And herewyth agreeth the holye and diuine Apostle Sainct Iohn in hys Epistle saying All that is in the worlde as the concupiscence of the fleshe the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father Al good things that are in the worlde are no doubt of God our heauenly Father but whatsoeuer in the worlde is concupiscence lust sinne euill or wickednesse the same is not of God our heauenlye Father S. Iohn doeth piainly and precisely affirme The lyke playnenesse vseth also the holye man Iesus the sonne of Sirach in these wordes Say not thou it is the Lordes fault that I am gone by for thou shalt not doe the thing that God hateth saye not thou he hath caused me to go wrong for he hath no neede of the vngodlye The verye same thing is plainely declared in these Scriptures folowyng and in other places almost innumerable Psal 5. Pro. 19. Ieremie 7. 19. Oseae 13. Iob. 34. 36. Rom. 7. 1. Corin. 14. Iacob 1. Exod. 34. Deut. 5. 2. Reg. 14. Psal 81. 144. Prou. 1. Sap. 1. 2 11. 12. 15. Eccles 2. 18. Esay 5. 30. 55. 65. Lament Iere. 3 Ezech. 18. 24. 33. Ioel. 2. 4. Esdr 1. 2. 7. 8. Math. 23. Act. 17. 1. Timoth. 2. 4. 2. Pet. 3. The same sayth Austen also plainely in these wordes Non ergo casus ruentium nee malignitatem iniquorū neque cupiditates peccantium praedestinatio Dei aut exitauit aut suasit aut impulit sed plane praedestinauit iudicium suuin quo vnicuique retributurus est pro vt gessit siue bonum siue malum quod Iudicium futurum non esset si homines Dei voluntate peccarent Neither the falles of them that fall nor the wickednesse of them that be wicked nor the luste of them that offende hath the predestination of God eyther prouoked moued or compelled but without doubt he hathe forcordeyned his iudgement wherby he will recompence euerye man according as he hath done whether it be good or euyll the whiche shoulde be no iudgement if men did sinne by the will of God Crowley I do acknowledge that this English booke that Cerberus saith he hath read was of
my writing I acknowledge also that Cerberus hath cited the wordes truely euen as I wrate them But that I ment by them as Cerberus doth conclude vpon them I vtterly deny For he concludeth that I haue affirmed that Gods predestination is the onely cause of all euill Whiche I neuer ment to teache neither do my wordes duely considered giue any occasion of such conclusion I graunt my words might haue bene more explaned and my meaning set forth more at large and all occasions of suche calumniations cut off if I had sene that before I wrate that booke whiche I thanke my Lord God I haue sene since Wherfore I minde by the help of God to do that now y e I was not so well able to do then that the Reader may perceiue that I haue with Austen profited in writing My words that Cerberus citeth are these Adam therefore being so perfect a creature that there was in him no lust to sinne and yet so weak that of him selfe he was not able to withstande the assault of the subtile serpent no remedie the only cause of his fall must nedes be the predestination of God Cerberus findeth no fault with any of these wordes till he commeth to no remedy And then no remedy I must be condemned as one that affirmeth Gods Predestination to be the onelye cause of Adams sinne and so consequentlye of all sinne But I haue not saide that Gods predestination was the onelye cause or anye cause of Adams sinne My wordes be that Gods Predestination is the onelye cause of Adams fall Nowe Cerberus can not sée howe Adams fall may be good and therefore he sayeth that it is the fountaine of all sinne and that to be the cause of that fall is to be the cause of all sinne But suche as haue eyes to sée do sée that as Gods predestination is the cause of Adams fall so Adams fall is good For it is the meane whereby God hath shut vp all vnder vnbeliefe that he might haue mercye on all And the meane whereby the Scripture shutteth vp all vnder sinne that the promise which is of the faith of Iesus Christ might be giuen to the faithfull I write therefore now as I wrate before in my Consutation of Shaxtons Articles that for asmuch as there was in Adam nothing to moue him to sinne for lust to do contrarie to Gods wil was not yet entred into him Sathan the enimy had no power then neither hath anye power yet ouer anye creature of God further than God doth limit and appoint him it must nedes followe that the only cause that Adam was assaulted ouerthrowen by Satan was the predestination of God which is euer all one with his vnsearcheable will counsel The fall of Adam thus considered neyther is nor can be counted sinne for it is the performance of Gods purpose whiche is euer good although vnsearchable by mans feble vnderstanding And yet I do not denie Adams fall to be sinno in Adam himself for it was Factum cōtramandatum Dei A dede done contrary to the commasidentent of God And so it had a cause in Adam himselfe which was the power of his wil whereby he consented to y e enticement of Satan who vsed the woman as his instrument therin Of thys will and the power therof Sainct Austen writeth thus De libero arbitrio lib. 3. Cap. 18. Cum autem de libera voluntate rectè faciendi loqui 〈…〉 de illa silicet in qua homo factus est loquimur When we speak of the will that is frée to do wel we speake of that will wherein man was made And againe in his booke De natura gratia Cepite 43. speaking of man he saith Quis enim eum nescit sanum inculpabilem factum libero arbitrio atque ad iustè viuendum libera potestate constitutum Who knoweth not that man was made found vnblameable and that he was ordeined with frée choyse and frée power or libertie to liue righteously And againe in his boke De Correptione gratia Cap. 11. Istam gratiam non habuit homo primus qua nunquam vellet esse malus sed sanè habuit in qua si permanere vellet nunquam malus esset sine qua etià m cum libero arbitrio bonus esse non posset sed eam tamenper liberum arbitrium deserere posset Nec ipsum ergo Deus esse voluit sine sua gratia quē reliquit in suo libero arbitrio quoniam liberum arbitrium ad malum sufficit ad bonum autem nihil est nisi adiuuetur ab omnipotenti bono quod adiutorium si homo ille per liberum non deseruisset arbitrium semperesset bonus sed deseruit desertus est Tale quippe erat adiutorium quod desereret cum vellet in quo permancret si vellet non quo sieret vt vellet The firste man had not thys grace whereby he shoulde neuer be willing to be euill but yet he had that grace whereby he might haue bene alwayes preserued from euill if he would haue continued therin and without which also he coulde not by frée will be good but yet he was able by frée wil to forsake it God therfore would not haue him to be without his grace whō he had left in his owne fréewill For fréewil is able inough to do euil but to do good it hath no power at al except it be holyē by the almightie goodnesse which helpe if that man had not by fréewill forsaken he shoulde haue bene good for euer but he did forsake and was forsaken For the helpe was such that he might forsake it when he woulde and suche wherin he might remaine if he woulde not such whereby it might come to passe that he should be willing By these places of S. Austen we maye see of what minde he was concerning the frée will of man before his fall It was suche that hée mighte consent to what hée woulde But the grace to be willing to consent to nothing but that which was good was not giuen vnto mā that man might haue experience of the power of his own will and so for euer after ascribe al the glory to him that worketh all in all The cause of Adams fall therfore euen by the iudgement of S. Austen of whome Cerberus maketh suche boast was not in himself For God had fore appoynted that by that meanes man should haue experience of hymselfe and so learne to trust in one stronger than hymself But the cause that made his fall sinne was in himselfe For he did willinglye consent to the perswasion of his wife who also had in like maner consented to the persuasion of the Serpent If Cerberus could consider the fall of the first man after this sort he would neuer conclude that I teaching that the Predestination of God was the onelye cause of mans fall shoulde withall conclude that it is the onlye cause of all sinne and euill For I do
spiritualis intelligens aterna verax bona pura iusta misericors liberrima immensaepotentiâ—e sapientiae c. That is to saye God is a spirituall essence vnderstanding euerlasting true good pure iuste mercifull moste frée of vnmeasurable power and wisdome c. Nowe if God do permit any thing to be done which he is not willing should be done how is he almightye Other therefore as learned as Melancthon haue sayd in my iudgement truly that to permit and to will is alone in him that can not be enforced to permit or suffer that which he is not willing should be But as I haue declared before we affirme not that the actions wordes and thoughtes of man as they are willed or permitted by God are or can be sinne For he being altogether good and nothing else but goodnesse can not will or permit anye thing that is euill The euill therefore that is in mens thoughtes wordes or actions commeth of the Deuil and mens own willes which God doth will or permit as a meane eyther to set forth his mercie in forgiuing or his iustice in punishing whiche in that respect can not be other than good What Cerberus hath wonne by citing these words of Melancthon let y â— learned that haue read other mens writings vppon this matter iudge I haue sayde that I thinke to be true But now Cerberus thinketh to paye vs home To be shorte sayeth he it is surelye to be maruelled at that althoughe they doe thus accuse Gods Predestination to be the onely cause of Adams sall which is in dede not onely sinne but also the very welspring of all wickednesse and the silthy fountaine of all our vncleannesse that yet they dare affirme themselues to be the onely friendes and louers of Gods Predestination c. Cerberus will be shorte now Well let him be aunswered as shortly He hath all this while laboured to proue that was neuer denied that is that the sinne of Adam in his first fall is the cause of al the sinne that hath bene is or shalbe committed by his posterity For we hold that after Adam had once sinned neyther he nor anye of hys posteritie being naturallye brought forth in this worlde could of them selues do any other thing than sinne The cause wherof we say is that concupiscence and lust to do euil which entred into him from him is descended into his posteritie But what is this to the cause of Adams fall Thys concupiscence was not in Adam before his fall It could not therefore be the cause therof And as I haue declared before Adams fall coulde not be the cause of all sinne for sinne was before Adam fell We knowe that sinne is not a creature but it is a falling away of the creature from that order that the Creator did commaunde the creature to continue in But this was in y â— Aungels Ergo before the fall of maÌ„ By y â— fall of man therfore was declared what mans fréewill was able to do It was able to admit sinne and so by freewill sinne entred into man and by man into the world that is into all naturall men And yet we say not that either mans freewill or man himselfe is euill as he is Gods creature and fréewill Gods gifte I conclude therfore that as the fall of Adam was the performance of Gods purpose so was it no sinne but excéeding good as euery performance of Gods purposes muste néedes be And so the Predestination of God being the cause therof is no cause of sinne Let Cerberus maruel as much as he will how we can graunt God to be the cause and not the Autour of sinne For we do not say that Gods Predestination is the cause of sinne Much lesse doe we say that he is the Autour as Cerberus doth charge vs by occasioÌ„ of certayne wordes written by Iohn Knoxe against an aduersarie of Gods Predestination Although Iohn Knoxe being yet liuing able to defend his owne writings I might refer Cerberus to his aunswere yet I wil not sticke to write a few lines in the defence of his doctrine in this point Cerberus séemeth to mislike with Knoxe for two things one is for that he saith that we assigne to the prouidence of God all things that the Ethnickes and Ignoraunt attributed vnto fortune And the other is for that hée sayth that we know and beholde God to be not onelye the principall cause but also the authour of all things appointing them to the one parte or so the other by hys counsell Thys is sayth Cerberus suche a wyde wandring blasphemie as hath not lightly bene hearde of And although Cerberus would haue vs marke the wordes the very sense of theÌ„ as though he would set forth the same so plainely that al men might easely perceyue the meaning of theÌ„ yet with his leaue he sheweth that he himselfe did not sée that he would haue other to marke For what mad man woulde write words in such meaning as Cerberus would haue vs thinke that Iohn Knoxe wrate his That is to call God deceyisull vnfaythful and vntrusty Rough hard sierce and cruel Bawdy beastly and shamelesse Imperious malapert and proude Blinde and wythout eyes Wicked to be abhorred and altogether naught Was there euer man so farre beside himself as to wryte of God in this meaning I durst appeale to Cerberus himselfe though he be the dogge of Hell whyther in conscience he doe thinke that it were possible that any reasonable man may so far forget him selfe as to write words in any such meaning Let Cerberus therfore loke better vpoÌ„ Iohn Knoxe words and seke a better sense in them than this If he wil do so he shall finde that Iohn Knoxe meaning is that where as the Ethnickes and Ignorant attributed vnto fortune a power to giue or take away to preserue or destroy to helpe or to hinder We which know y â— there is no such power in any other thaÌ„ in God do assigne all these things to his prouidence knowing y â— nothing commeth to passe by Fortune or chauÌ„ce but that God by his prouidence doth gouerne and rule all things appoynting them to the one parte or the other by hys counsell And when he appointeth anye to that thing which in them is sinne as was the murder of Sinacharib in his owne sonnes yet in Gods purpose it is good for it is the execution of his iust iudgement or the meane whereby his glorie shal be the more aduaunced in shewing mercie If Cerberus be not certified with this aunswere let him seke for further aunswere at the hands of him whose writings he hath so maliciously peruerted Cerberus But now to returne againe to Crowley After that he hath written that Gods predestination is the onlie cause of Adams fall then goeth he foorth in the same boke and the same Article vnto the next execrable wickednesse committed in the world saying Now what say we to Cain was he not predestinated to slea his brother No saye
the fourth Chapter of the Actes of the Apostles Conuenerunt enim in Ciuitate ista aduersus filium tuum Iesum quem vnxisti Herodes Pòntius Pilatus cum gentibus populis Israel ad faciendum quaecunque manus tua consiliū tuum decreuerunt fieri That is to say In this same Citie meaning Ierusalem Herode and Pontius Pilate with the Heathen and the people of Israell gathered themselues together agaynst thy childe Iesus whome thou hast annoynted to doe vnto him whatsoeuer things thy hand and counsell haue first decréed to be done What those things were it is manifest in the hystorie of the Gospels They called him a Samaritane they sayd he had a diuel they sought to take him in his aunsweres they went about to stone him to death they accused him they condēned him and fastened him to a Crosse then rayled vpon him What could men do worsse than to vse themselues so towardes the sonne of God But S. Peter sayth that all these things were done according as the hand counsel of God had first decréed to be done Wherfore I think my minor in my first Argument that Cerberus findeth such fault withall to be sufficiently proued But nowe Cerberus hath made of my minor a maior and framed an Argument for his purpose which I must say some thing to otherwise wyll Cerberus glorie in his Arte. God doth not onely foresée but also predestinate all things yea euen sinne and euyll c. But he is Authour of all that he predestinateth Ergo he is the Authour of sinne The first part saith Cerberus is their owne assertion And for my part I acknowledge it so to be But not in that meaning that Cerberus sayth it For it is not our hare assertion without proufe but we are able by playne Scriptures and reasōs to proue that God doth both foresee and predestinate all things as I haue before proued in the confirming of this same proposition being the minor in mine Argument But for more ample proufe the Reader may consider that which is written in the Psalm 138. where Dauid the Prophet sayth thus Lorde thou hast proued me and hast knowē me Thou hast knowen my downesitting and my vprysing Thou vnderstandest my thoughts long since Thou hast searched my path and my coutch rounde about and hast foreséene all my wayes For loe there is not a worde in my mouth Beholde thou Lord knowest all things This is sufficient for the proufe of the first parte of this proposition Which is that God foreséeth all things For the proufe of the second part which is that God predestinateth all things I haue cited the words of Peter in the fourth of the Acts wherin is affirmed y t the power counsel of God did first apoint those things to be done which were done to Christ by Herod Pilate the Gentiles y e people of the Iewes Reasons also we haue to proue the same which are these If God should not foresée all things he could not be prouident in all things but it must néedes be graunted that he is prouident in al things Ergo he doth foresée all things If God did not predestinate all things then might his prouidence be deceyued but his prouidence cannot be deceyued Ergo he doth predestinate all thinges This may suffice for the proufe of our assertion Now let vs see howe Cerberus annecteth hys minor to this maior which is this But God is the Author of all those things that he predestinateth And to proue this doth Cerberus make much a doe yea and much more than néedeth For we will not sticke to graunt him that God is the Author of all that he predestinateth Well sayth Cerberus then I conclude that God is the Authour of all sinne euyll I denie that Argument It were but follie to reason much with this bawling Curre about the rules of Logicke For it seemeth by his conclusion that he knoweth no Logicke at all For if he did he would not so shamelessely inferre a necessarie cōclusion vpon the graunting of pure particulers For it is a generall rule among Logitians that A puris particular ribus nòn necesse est sequi veram conclusionem It is not a thing of necessitie that a true conclusion shoulde followe vpon those propositions that be pure particulers As in thys Argumēt that Cerberus hath made the maior and minor are Agayne he concludeth more than is graunted in the Antecedēt which is also contrary to the rules of Logick For though it be graunted that God is the Authour of all that he predestinateth yet is he not the Authour as Cerberus doth conclude that he is That is to say the cause the spring the fountaine the roote the beginning and Authour of any thing that is not good For none euil thing can spring of him that is altogether good nothing but goodnesse it selfe As I haue sayd already therefore so I say agayne God is the cause spring fountaine roote beginning and Author of al things that haue any being For he only hath his being of hymself all other things haue their being of him And he alone is the worker of al actions Nam in eo viuimus mouemur sumus In hym we lyue moue haue our being And as these things spring of God the fountaine of goodnesse so are they al excéeding good And as the actiōs are wrought by him so are they excéeding good also although in thēselues they be excéeding euyll as is the Diuell and al his Angels and members and all those works that are wrought contrary to the cōmaundement of God And the wordes and thoughts that are of the same kinde As I haue sufficiently proued before by examples taken out of the holy hystories Let Cerberus therfore loke vpon his Logiek againe and learne to frame a Syllogismus better Peraduenture being in his mad moode when he wrote this answere to his friendes letter he had quite forgotten the fourtene moodes of the thrée fygures wherin the Logicians do vse to forme their Syllogismusses To giue him occasion therefore to call himselfe to remembraunce I wyll set downe those short memoriall Uerses which the teachers of Arte vse to print in the minds of their Scholers to the end that they should not in disputatiōs be abused by such as Cerberus is which vse to frame Arguments without eyther fygure or moode The Uerses are these Barbara Celarent Primae Darij Ferioque Cesare Camestres Festino Baroco secundae Tertia grandè sonans recitat Darapti Felapton Adiungens Disamis Datisi Bocardo Ferison Now if Cerberus be acquainsed with these Uerses Let him shewe in which of these fygures and moodes hys Syllogismus is formed And if he find it in none of thē then let hym desire some more skilfull than hymselfe to take this matter in hande For hys Arte wyll not serue him to goe thorowe withall so long as he medleth wyth them that knowe what Arte is I know that the matter conteined
not to be feared the feare whereof caused the Stoikes so to deuide the causes of things that they pulled away some things from necessitie and thrust some things vnder it and amongst those things that they would not suffer to be vnder necessitie they haue placed our willes lest they should not be frée if they should be subiect to necessity c. But we hold that al things our willes altogether are subiect to Gods prouideÌ„ce Ergo there is more difference betwéene the Stoikes and vs than Cerberus sayth that there is And it is no dilusion at all that we vse in y t we refuse to cal it Fatum or destinie although we know that Priscianê° Tullie Eusebius Chrisippus other do in their sorts speake of Fatum after such sort that to the negligent Reader there may séeme smal difference betwene them and vs in the matter of Gods eternal and euerlasting prouidence and predestination For we follow herein S. Austen whose sentence Cerberus would faine frame against vs. But I pray thée gentle Reader marke well the wordes of S. Austen euen in the same booke out of which Cerberus citeth matter against vs. Yea and in the selfe same Chapter which is the first of the fift booke where the wordes that he fathereth vpon S. Austen are not found But these wordes are found there Prorsus diuina prouidentia regna constituuntur humana Quaesi propterea quisquam fato tribuit quia ipsam Dei voluntatem vel potestatem sati nomine appellat sententiam teneat linguaÌ„ corrigat Cur enim nòn hoc primum decit quod postea dicturus est cum ab illo quisquaÌ„ quaesierit quid dixerit Fatum Nam id homines quando audiunt vsitata loquendi consuetudine nòn intelligunt nisi vim positionis syderum qualis est quandò quis nascitur siue concipitur quod aliqui alienant à Dei voluntate aliqui ex illa etiam hoc pendere confirmant That is to saye The Kingdomes of this worlde are altogether ordeyned by the prouidence of God Which if any man haue giuen vnto destinie bicause he doeth call the will or power of God it selfe by the name of destinie let the same continue in his opinion but let him reforme his tong For why doth he not at the first say that which afterward he will say when any man shal aske him what he doth call destinie For when men do heare that thing they do not by the common maner of speach vnderstande any other thing than the force of the position of the starres as the same is when any is borne or conceyued which some men do seperate from the will of God and some do proue that the one doth hang vpon the other In these wordes S. Austen doth plainly affirme that euen Kingdomes of this world are appointed by Gods prouidence and yet he denieth that the same should be said to be appointed by destinie Wherefore in affirming the one and denying the other we doe but as S. Austen doeth How aptly Tullie is cited for the purpose of Cerberus shal plainly appeare in mine answere to that which here followeth Cerberus The same order of causes also is not forgotten of our meÌ„ that in al points their doctrine might agree wyth the Stoicall doctrine As in an English booke translated out of French lately set forth in print entitled a briefe declaration of the table of predestination where he sayth Seyng God hath appointed the end it is necessarie also that he should appoint the causes which leade vnto the same ende As if he should saye Like as God hath appointed some man to be hanged so hath he appointed him also to steale as a cause leading vnto the same end whervnto he hath appointed him Or else it was his destinie to be hanged Ergo it was his destinie to steale Or thus which is all one he was appointed by Gods predestination to be hanged Ergo he was appointed by Gods predestinatioÌ„ to steale For seyng God hath appoynted the ende sayth he it is necessarie also that he should appoint the causes that leade vnto the same ende As for ensaple If thys be true which they say that God doth predestinate all things or that God doth both appoint the end of all things and also the causes which leade vnto the same end then doth it follow may truly be sayd that Marten Swarth wyth hys men was appointed and predestinate of God to be slaine at the battel of Stoke And furder it foloweth as God appoynted Marte his fellowes to this end so was sir Richard SymoÌ„ the Priest appointed predestinate of God to poure in the pestilent poyson of priuie conspiracie traiterous mischiefe of vayne glorie into the heart of LaÌ„bert his scholer as a cause leading to the same ende Item that the sayd Lambert was appointed predestinate of God to consent and agree vnto the pestiferous persuasion of his master Sir Richard in the pride of Lucifer to aspire vnto the high type of honor in deposing if it possible were the ryght and most noble heire of England and eleuating hymself lyke a trayterous villaine into the royall throne of the same and that thus he was appointed of God to doe as another cause leading vnto the same ende which God ordeyned Item that the Irysh men were appointed of God to be Rebellious traytours against their Soueraigne Lord the King of England and to maintayne the false and filthy quarrell of the said Lambert as another cause leading to the same end Item that the Ladie Margret sister vnto King Edward the fourth was appoynted and predestinated of God to be a traytouresse to Englande and to employ all hir wyt sorce and power to the vtter destruction of hir naturall countrie as another cause leading vnto the same end Item that the sayd Ladie Margret was appoynted of God to conduct and hire Marten Swarth and hys men to inuade the Realme of England as another cause leading to the same end Item that the sayd Marten Swarth the Earle of Lincolne the Lord Louell the Lorde Gerarde and diuers other Captaines of the Rebels were appointed or predestinated of God to be of such valiant courage in maintayning the false quarrell of trayterous Lambert that they were slaine on the other side many a true English mans bloud at the battell of Stoke which was the ende of this wofull Tragedie and by this theyr manifest forme of doctrine was altogether and euery part appointed and ordeined of God both the end and also the causes aboue rehearsed and other innumerable whych did leade vnto the same ende Crowley Here are many words and little matter Great Items and small summes A great deale of descant and no good plaine song Seing God hath predestinated the ende it is necessarie also that he should appoint the causes which leade vnto the same end sayth an English booke entitled a declaration of the table of Predestination And what hath Cerberus said here to disproue
thou seest here by example the same which Tullie calleth Series causarum the continuall order of causes appointed of God And our men euen in like maner call it the causes appointed of God to leade vnto the same end which he hath ordeyned Whereof followeth the force of cannot chuse which is called Fati necessitas Fatall necessitie or the necessitie of Gods ordinaunce for as you haue heard Fatum is nothing else but a decree or ordinance of God Which necessitie is set forth of some men vnder the name of Gods predestination now oftentimes the same thing is set forth also by thys word prouidence Which name of prouidence likewise the Heathen Stoikes vsed for the same purpose as Cicero sayth Pronoca anus fatidica Stoicorum quam Latinè licet prouidentiā dicere Pronoca in Greke saith he the olde wyse of the Stoikes that setteth forth theyr destinie which in Latine was called Prouidētia the prouidence of God But let them cal it prouidence predestination preordinance or what they will this is no doubt the very Stoikes opiniō that God hath so appoynted and preordeyned all thyngs that of meere necessitie they come to passe And whatsoeuer men do whether it be good or euill they can not chose but do it Which necessitie Seneca also manifestly declareth in these wordes Necessitates omnium rerum quas nulla vis rumpat fatum existimo The necessitie of all thinges sayth he which no force or violence can breake that same I holde to be destinie Crowley Nowe Cerberus can no longer kéepe it in He must néedes breake out in an exclamation against the doctrine of prouidence predestination preordinance For sayth he it is none other thing than the very opinion of y t Stoikes call it what we will Who séeth not the destruction of England c. If God doe by his prouidence gouerne all things If God haue predestinated or preordeyned all things so that they shall come to passe in such time and order as God by his prouidence predestination and preordinance hath appoynted that they shall then must no man be so blinde as not to sée that Englande must be destroyed Then must all Commonweales come to confusion Then shal no King sit safely in his kingdome nor any subiect in his possession Yea no man shall be ruled by the right of a law but if God do leaue the matter to mans discretion to vse the matter as he shall sée cause and doe but put to his helping hand when he séeth that man goeth about to bring things to good effect but in any case determine vpon nothing tyll the same shall be by mans wysedome deuised and enterprised then shall England and all other Commonweales slourish styll then shall all Princes safely sit in their Kinglie seates then shall all subiectes quietly enioy their possessions and euery man be ruled by the right of a lawe Thus much followeth vpon the pityfull complaynt that Cerberus maketh vpon the doctrine of Gods prouidence his predestination or preordinance but I would gladly know what Cerberus thinketh to be the cause that in King Edwarde the fourthes dayes Marten Swarth Syr Richard Simon and the rest made such a styrre in England Was it for that they were persuaded in this doctrine that Cerberus seemeth to make the cause of all such doings Surely I suppose there was not one of them that did once dreame of any prouidence of God For those that take such matters in hand are cōmonly as great enimies to Gods prouidēce as is Cerberus himselfe And shall Cerberus wordes make vs afrayde to say that God in his prouidence had predestinated preordinated all those things to be done yea that it could not otherwise be but that those things must then be done Surely I can sée no cause why we should feare so to say Let Cerberus and his fellowes conclude what they wil. For I am sure S. Austen in the x. Chapter of his fift boke De Ciuitate Dei will take our parte herein His wordes are these Si autem illa definitur esse necessitas secundum quam dicimus necesse esse vt sit aliquid velità fiat nescio cùr eam timeamus ne nobis libertatem auserat voluntatis That is to say If we call that thing necessity whereby we say of anie thing that it must needes be or that it must néedes be so done then do not I see why we should feare least that should take from vs the libertie of our will When we say therefore that of necessitie Marten Swarth and the rest must make such a styrre as they did in King Edward the fourthes dayes do we take frō them the libertie of their wil No sayth S. Austen For they did whatsoeuer they did with the frée cōsent of their willes and felt no constraynt at all But Cerberus is not so satysfied he wyll be inquisitiue to knowe what shoulde be the cause why God woulde in his prouidence predestinate these men to doe these things I wil answer with S. Austen I can not tell God doth know a cause but he hath not made Cerberus and me priuie to it Occulta causa esse potest iniusta nòn potest That is The cause may be secrete but it can not be vniust Is there any iniquitie with God God forbyd What Seneca thought of destinie we passe not But with S. Austen we saye Omnia verò fato fieri nòn dicimus imò nulla fieri fato dicimus quoniam fati nomen vbi solet à loquentibus poni id est in constitutione syderum qua quisque conceptus aut natus est quoniam res ipsa inaniter asseritur nihil valere monstramus Ordinem autem causarum vbi voluntas Dei plurimum potest neque negamus neque fati vocabulo nuncupamus nisi fortè vt fatum à fando dictum intelligamus id est a loquendo Nòn enim abnuere possumus esse scriptum in litteris sanctis semel locutus est Deus duo haec audiui quoniam potestas est Dei tibi Domine misericordia quia tu reddes vnicuique secundum opera eius Quod enim dictum est semel locutus est intelligitur immobilitèr hoc est incommutabilitèr est locutus sicut nouit incōmutabilitèr omnia quae futura sūt quae ipse facturus est Hac itaque ratione possumus à fando fatū appellare nisi hoc nomē iam in aliare soleret intelligi quo corda hominū nolumus inclinari That is to say We say not that al things do come to passe by destinie yea we say that nothing is done by destinie For we do plainely shew that the name destinie is of no value in the place where men vse to place it in speaking that is in the constitution of the heauenlie signes wherein euerie man is conceyued and borne bicause the thing it selfe is vainely affirmed As for the order of causes wherein the will of God is of great force and power
altered at Gods pleasure as by examples we sée it hath As at the redde sea when the water stoode still on heapes like hilles and when at the word of Iosua the sunne stoode stil and moued not c. The fourth and last is that which al the businesse is about And Cerberus would faine make all men beleue that we make no difference betwéene this fourth and the first Of this necessitie doth Melancthon write thus Quartus gradus est mutabilium quae tamen vocantur necessaria necessitate consequentiae id est quae suns quidem re ipsa mutabilia sed nòn mutantur vel quia sic à Deo decreta sunt vel quia sequuÌ„tur ex causis quae nòn mutantur cum tamen mutari potuisseÌ„t vel quia cum suâ—t contradictoriae simul verae esse nòn possunt c. That is to saye The fourth degree of necessities is of those things which are mutable which are notwithstanding called necessarie by the necessitie of consequence That is to say which are in déede mutable but are not chaunged eyther for that they be so decréed of God or else for that they doe follow vpon causes that are not chaunged where as notwithstanding they might haue bene chaunged Or else for that when they be done the fiat contraries of them can not at the same time be true What haue I written against Shaxton more than this The thoughts the wordes and the déedes of men are of themselues mutable but as God hath decréed so shall it come to passe in all mens thoughts wordes and déedes It followeth therfore that though y e teachers of sects the muderers the theues and the drunkerds might haue withholden the consent of their willes from those wicked doings yet God hauing decréed to punish eyther them or others by that meane the thing must fal out according to that decree and yet God remayne iust and mans wil vnconstrained as I haue before sufficiently declared As touching the Text of Austen that Cerberus citeth out of his booke De Predestinatione Dei Cap. 2. I will first note what Erasmus and the rest of the learned sort doe thinke of that booke Hoc opusculum de Praedestinatione Dei noÌ„ esse Augustini vel ipsa breuitas arguit Deinde hoc docot quod Augustinus fortiter refellit praedestinationem esse ex operibus nostris Videtur fragmeÌ„tum alicuius libri cuius studiosus quispiam prooemium clausulam attexuit That is to say This little worke of the predestination of God is by the verie shortnesse thereof shewed not to be of Austens writing Moreouer it doth teach that predestinatioÌ„ is of our workes which thing Austen doth mightely refell It séemeth to be a scrap of some booke wherevnto some man beyng desirous therof hath fastened a proeme and conclusion Here thou mayst sée gentle Reader of what authoritie this booke is that Cerberus maketh so much of I wil not therfore spend any time in aunswering these words Cerberus Many things do offer themselues in this matter to be spoken but my purpose of briefnesse causeth me to growe to an ende I haue thought good therefore in few wordes to note one point more of euill doctrine which now a dayes is taught and it springeth also out of this foresaid proposition that Gods predestination causeth all sinne and wickednesse this it is that sinne is not the cause of Reprobation nor of Gods hatred towardes the wicked which are damned which thing in deede to be short I graunt must needes follow if the former conclusioÌ„ be true that sinne commeth of Gods predestination or that Gods predestination was the cause of Adams fall which was the originall of sinne For if sinne or the orignall thereof came of God or of hys ordinance and from God commeth nothing but that which is holie iust and good then is sinne no sinne and cannot be the cause of Gods hatred towardes them that perish except we should saye that God hateth them for that thing which is holie iust and good And least I should be thought through pretence of breuitie to passe ouer wythout plaine proufe of that which I say that thys part of doctrine is also set forth and taught I will rehearse one sentence of theirs published in print which is so open and manifest that it may serue as well as a thousand I read in the forenamed booke translated out of French into English toward the latter end of the booke vppon this place thus noted in figures and these verie words follow Rom. 9. c. 11. 12. 13. He sayth not onely that Esau was ordeyned to be hated before he did any euil for in so saying he should not seeme to exclude any thing but an actual sinne incredulitie But he saith expressely before he was borne whereby he excludeth originall sinne and all that whych might be considered in the person of Esau by hys byrth from the cause of hate Touching the Text whervpon it is spoken assuredly Inke serueth not worsse to make Iuorie white than these words to open the minde and sence of the Apostle as it were easy to proue if shortnesse would suffer to make a digression but touching that parte of doctrine thou feest that he speaketh of two opinions the one that actual sinne or incredulitie should be the cause of Gods hatred toward the wycked The other that originall sinne is the cause of Gods hate toward them Thys man agaynst them both taketh occasion vpon thys exaÌ„ple of Esau to exclude all that is in man eyther outward sinne or inwarde eyther originall sinne or actuall from the cause of Gods hate so that if it be true which they say God doth hate men neyther for their outward wicked life nor for their inwarde diuelish luste but for hys owne pleasure onely Crowley The purpose to be briefe causeth Cerberus to cut of many things that offer themselues to be spoken Yet for all the hast he must néedes note one poynt more of euill doctrine Which is that sinne is not the cause of Reprobation c. I would faine know how Cerberus could aunswere this Argument All causes are in order before their effectes but sinne was not before Reprobation Ergo sinne could not be the cause thereof Cerberus will denie the minor For he holdeth that sinne was before ReprobatioÌ„ The minor therefore must be proued thus Whatsoeuer was before Reprobation is eternall but sinne is not eternall Ergo sinne was not before Reprobation If Cerberus wil doubt of y â— maior it shal be proued thus Whatsoeuer was before ElectioÌ„ is eternall but Election and ReprobatioÌ„ are of like antiquitie Ergo whatsoeuer was before reprobation is eternall The maior is manifest by the wordes of S. Paul to the Ephesians Cap. 1. Sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem As he elected vs in him before the worlde was made And if Cerberus wyll doubt of the minor as perhaps he will then let him shew vs how there can be a choyse
Palaestine I think it good to rehearse them first in Latine after in Englishe as they are gathered togither by Augustine And theÌ„ to shewe according to your request what parte of their doctrine which they teache vnder the name of Predestination my selfe and other doe mislyke To the ende that you and other may the better iudge who are in deede worthy to be called Pelagians and whether some parte of their doctrine be not for iust cause misliked Crowley Here Cerberus vseth all his Retorique at once to persuade his dearely beloued friend whose letter he sayth he aunswereth that he and other of his minde be falsely and wrongfully accused to be enimies of Gods holy predestinatioÌ„ c. And to this ende he will in as fewe words as possibly he can set forth what shamefull doctrine is now taught c. But first he will set forth both in Latine and in Englishe those errours which the olde Heritike Pelagius with other did holde and also reuoke c. That men may the better iudge who are in deede worthy the name of Pelagians for he thinketh that he hath proued that we against whom he writeth are those that should be called Pelagians and whether some parte of oure doctrine be not for iuste cause misliked Now let vs sée how he noteth Pelagius errours out of Augustine first in Latine and then in Englishe Which when we haue weighed we shall sée who are moste lyke Pelagius he his or I and mine For this is his purpose I am sure for that he toucheth me first by name and setteth himself and such as he is against al such as I am affirming that whereas we accuse them as enimies of Gods Predestination they are in déede y e most intire louers and we the enimies therof My chief labor therfore in this Apologie shall be to make the truth hereof to appeare playnely to all the indifferent hearers Cerberus The wordes of Austen are these Episto 106. tomo 2. Obiectum est enim eum dicere Quia Adam siue peccaret siue non peccaret moriturus esset 2. Et quod peccatum eius ipsum solum laeserit non genus humanum 3. Et quod infantes in illo statu sunt quo Adam suit ante praeuaricationem 4. Et quod neque per mortem vel praeuaricationem â—de omne genus humanum moriatur neque per resurrectionem Christi omne genus humanum resurgat 5. Et diuites baptizatos nisi omnibus abrenuntient si quid boni visi fuerint facere non reputari illis nec eos habere posse regnum Dei 6. Et gratiam Dei atque adiutorium non ad singulos actus dari sed in libero arbitrio esse vel in lege atque in doctrina 7. Et dei gratiam secundum merit a nostra dari 8. Et silios Dei non posse vocari nisi omnino absque peccato fuerint effecti 9. Et non esse liberum arbitrium si Dei indiget auxilio quoniam in propria voluntate habet vnusquisque facere aliquid vel non facere 10. Et victoriam nostram non ex Dei adiutorio esse sed ex libero arbitrio 11. Et quod poenitentibus veni a noÌ„ detur secuÌ„dum gratiam misericordiam Dei sed secundum moritum laborem eorum qui per poenitentiam digni suerint misericordia Haec omnia Pelagius anathematizauit The first of Pelagius errours which Augustine here citeth is that Adam shoulde haue died whether he had sinned or not sinned This is as you heare one of Pelagius wicked errours that sinne is not the cause of Reprobation or casting away death sprong out of Gods ordinance or some other way came not of mans sinne saith he whether man had sinned or not sinned yet should he haue dyed contrary to the manifest Scripture which sayeth that by one man sinne entred into the worlde death by the meanes of sinne Roma 5. b. And the wyse man sayth that God created maÌ„ to be vndestroyed And againe he saith God hath not made death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the liuing he created al things that they might haue their being yea all the people of the earth hath he made that they shoulde haue health that there should be no destruction in them and that the Kingdome of Hell should not be vpon earth for righteousnesse is euerlasting and immortall but vnrighteousenesse bringeth death Wicked and abhominable therfore was this errour of Pelagius which affirmeth that whether man had sinned or not sinned he shoulde haue dyed And here in the very beginning of Pelagius errours I reporte me to themselues euen to themselues I saye that blowe the trumpet of defamation against other with the termes of pestilent Pelagians whether those whome they so accuse nowe to be Pelagians holde this errour or whether they themselues which woulde take some mote of errour out of other mens eyes haue not this Pelagius beame sticking fast in their owne let they themselues be iudges or let their owne doctrine iudge both in print and preaching whereof some parte shall be hereafter rehearsed Yea let all the worlde iudge which haue hearde the doctrine of both parties who they are that in this point ought worthily to be called Pelagians Crowley After Cerberus hath set downe in Latine certaine of Pelagius errors to y e number of .xi. he repeteth y e first in Englishe that is that Adam should haue dyed though he had not sinned And bycause his purpose is to proue that we are those that holde this Pelagian heresie he vnderstandeth Pelagius meaning to be that sinne was not the cause of Reprobation or casting away but that heath sprong out of Gods ordinaunce And so at the last he concludeth that Pelagius and we are all one in thys point for we teache the same doctrine What moued Pelagius to teache that doctrine I knowe not neyther did I at any time so much as once thinke to holde or desende it And I thinke I may be bolde to say in the name of all that haue written or preached the doctrine that Cerberus misliketh that not one eyther hath or will teache it Although Cerberus doe boast that hereafter some parte of our doctrine shall be shewed whereby all men may be able to iudge that we are al one with Pelagius in this point For mine owne parte I will put all men out of doubt that I beleue and haue doe and will if God permit wache that if Adam had not sinned he had neuer dyed And that God did create man to be vndestroyed And that God made not death as the wise man writeth But by one man sinne entred into the the worlde and by sinne death And I can not sée that any of my breathren haue or doe teache any otherwise either in writing or preaching Wherefore Cerberus doth vs open wrong to ioyne vs with Pelagius in thys errour As for the doctrine that I haue written and
not teache that it is the cause of any euill or sinne at all In vaine therfore doeth Cerberus make his Antitesis or comparison of contraryes when he sayth The one affirmeth that the Predestination of God is the onelye cause of Adams sinne and so consequentlye of all euill And the other affirmeth directly contrary that God or his Predestination is the cause of no sinne or euil And much more vaine is it that he citeth so manye testimonies of Scripture to that purpose For I affirme that which he woulde make men beleue I denye and denye that which he would haue men to thinke I do affirme But one thing I woulde gladly learne of Cerberus That is where he findeth eyther in Scripture or in auncient writer that Adams fall is the fountayne of all euill We may manifestly proue by Scripture that sinne was before Adam fell otherwise there coulde haue bene no tempter to entice him to sinne For God tempteth no man to euill And man had in himselfe no concupiscence or lust to sinne therfore euill was before Adam fell And consequently Adams sal was not the fountain of al euil Sainct Austen in the .ix. Chapter of his firste booke of Retractations sayth that when he with others had diligently searched from whence euill might spring it was agréed vpon amongst them that it had none other fountaine than the frée choyse of the will Mans fall can not then be the fountaine of all euill for there was euill in Aungels before man was made and that sprang out of the frée choyse of the will that was in the Aungelles But graunt that the fall of man had bene the fountayne of all euill might not Gods predestination be the cause of mans fal but it must straight waye follow consequentlye that the same is the cause of all the euill that springeth therof Then tell me maister Cerberus how it may be that Gods predestination is not the cause of all the euill that springeth of the frée choyse of will For this ye wil not deny I am sure that God hath predestinated both men and Aungels to haue the frée choise of wil. And his will alone according to which he hath predestinated all things is the cause why men and Aungels haue the frée choyse of wil. Shal we say therefore that consequently it is the cause of all euill bicause it is the cause of that whereout all euilles do spring No thou hell hound not so God is altogether good and the fountaine of all goodnesse and from him can spring nothing that is not good All those things therfore that spring out of the frée choise of the will are exceding good as God or his predestination is the cause of them and the euill that is in them commeth of the instrument whereby God doth worke those things I pray you therfore loke better vpon your consequently c. As for the sentence that Cerberus citeth oute of S. Austen Non ergo casus ruentium c. I thynke if a man should vpon a Moneth warning require to sée the place where S. Austen writeth those wordes it would be hard for Cerberus to shewe it him And therfore I blame him not though he haue not quoted the place But to do him a pleasure I haue sought it in S. Austens workes and founde it In decimo articulo falso Augustino imposito In the x. of those articles that were falslye ascribed to S. Austen Of what auctoritie that booke of S Austen is may easely appeare to them that will reade his Retractations for it is not mentioned among the bookes that he retracted and reformed in suche pointes as he himselfe misseliked But lest maister Cerberus should saye as the Papistes vse to say of the Protestantes and as some Frée wil men haue said of vs that teache the doctrine of predestination that this is the common shift of all heretikes and obstinate defenders of vntruthes to diminish the auctoritie of Scriptures and sayings of Doctours that are alleaged against them by saying that the same are not autentike or that they maye be suspected not to be the writings of them in whose name they be set abrode I will admit this saying of S. Austen as his owne and that therein he ment as he wrote and that his meaning is true Let vs weigh the wordes of S. Austen therfore and see how his meaning may be true yet agrée wyth the doctrine that we teache The predestination of God sayth he hath neither stirred vp counselled nor enforced the falles of thē that do rush downe headlong nor the malignitie of them that be wicked nor the desiers of them that do sinne but doubtlesse he hath predestinated his iudgement whereby he will rewarde euerye man according to his doings whether the same be good or euill Whiche iudgement should not be if it were the will of God that men shoulde sinne I haue translated these wordes somewhat otherwise than Cerberus doth But whether of vs both better expresse the meaning of S. Austen let the learned iudge And whether I haue not translated theym so that they may serue better for Cerberus purpose than as they are translated by himselfe Let vs therefore loke to the meaning and howe they make with vs or against vs. Sainct Austen teacheth that Gods predestinatiō doth not stir vp entice or enforce any man to sal to be wicked or to haue a desire to sinne And which of vs doth teach y e cōtrary Euen you sir saith Cerberus when ye say that y e Predestination of God must nedes be the only cause of Adams fall To this I haue sufficiently aunswered before if any aunswere wil satisfie Cerberus But yet for further aunswere I saye nowe that I haue not at anye time saide or written that Gods predestination did stirre vp entice or driue Adam to fall Wherfore I haue not taught contrary to S. Austen in thys pointe But Cerberus will saye that our meaning is not alone with S. Austens Let vs therefore examine S. Austens meaning I vnderstand his meaning to be that when man doeth fall is wicked or desireth to sinne his will is not by Gods Predestination stirred vp enticed or compelled thervnto but doth fréely consent therevnto being stirred vp prouoked and driuen forwarde by the tempter and by none other meane if we speake of the first man for in him was not before his fall that concupiscence that is nowe in vs was in him after his fall Whether thys be y e true meaning of S. Austen or no let the learned iudge And why may not the same meaning be gathered of my wordes when I saye that Adam being so perfect a creature that there was in him no lust to sinne and yet so weake that of himselfe he was not able to withstand the assault of the subtile serpent no remedie the onlye cause of his fall must nedes be the Predestination of God I say not that Gods Predestination did stir prouoke or dryue him forward to fall
And why maye I not meane as S. Austen doth in the eleauenth chapter of his booke De correptione gratia where he sayeth as I haue cited before Nec ipsum ergo Deus esse voluit sine sua gratia quem reliquit in su◠libero arbitrio quoniam liberum arbitrium ad malum sufficit ad bonum autem nihil est nisi adiuuctur ab omnipotēti bono quod adiutoriū si homo ille per liberum non deseruissaet arbitrium semper esset bonus sed deseruit desertus est Tale quippe erat adiutoriū quod desereret cum vellet in quopermaneret sivellet non quo fieret vt vellet God therfore sayth Austen would not suffer him to be without his grace whom he had left in hys owne frée choise for free will is able inough to do euill but to do good it hath no power at all except it be holpen of the almighty goodnesse which help if that man had not by his frée wil forsaken he should haue bene good for euer but he did forsake was forsaken For the help was such that he might forsake it when he woulde and suche wherein he might remaine if he woulde not such whereby it might come to passe that he should be willing Doth not S. Austen affirme here that the help of God which Adam had was not suche that by it he might be willing neuer to forsake it And what other cause of this can you find thā the Predestination of God which is according to his euerlasting will vnto the whiche all things are and must be subiect If Cerberus will not be satisfied with thys let him remember the saying of S. Paule which S. Austen doth so often vse to stop the mouthes of the vnaunswereable enimies of Gods frée grace and predestination O altitudo diuitiarum sapientiae scientiae Dei. Quám incomprehensibilia sunt iudicia cius inuestigabiles viae cius O the depenesse of the richesse of the wisedome and knowledge of God Nowe incomprehensible are hys iudgementes and hys wayes past finding out Stay here maister Cerberus go no further I charge you lest ye be thrust headlong into hell for your proube presumption Cerberus And although there be some places of Scripture whervpon they would ground this opiniō that men should sinne by the wyll of God or that God should predestinate or ordeyne men to sinne as where it is sayde that God hardened the heart of Pharao and such like yet partayneth it nothing to that purpose if it be wayed with the rest of the Scriptures For as Austen saith Ipse quasi cos indurat quia iusto iudicio indurari sinit Lib. de essentia Diuinitatis He doth saith Austen as it were harden them bicause that with his iust iudgemēt he suffreth them to be hardened And in his booke De libero arbitrio gratia Cap. 21. he sayeth Where at any time we reade in the scripture that mē be seduced or their hearts hardened of God there may we not doubt but that their wicked deseruings went before lest ye runne sayth he into the saying of Salomon Insipientia viri violat vias cius Deum autem causatur in corde suo The foolishnesse of a man defileth his wayes but he sayeth in his heart God is the cause of this hardening of heart Melancthon in his common places speaketh very plainely saying Nec figure illae verborum offendunt c. Neither sayth he do these figuratiue speaches offēd As I wil harden the heart of Pharao such like For it is certaine that in the Hebrew phrase they signify a permission or suffring and not an effectuall wyl of God as Lead vs not into temptation that is to say Suffer vs not to be led into temptation These are Melancthons woordes And marke what he sayth of the Hebrew phrase for al men know him to be a man learned But to be short it is surely to be maruelled at that although they do thus accuse Gods Predestination to be the only cause of Adams fal which is in dede not onely sinne but also the very welspring of al wickednesse and the filthy foūtaine of all our vncleānesse yet they dare affirme themselues to be the only friendes and louers of Gods Predestination al others to be the enimies of Gods holy Predestination which doe not subscribe to this their fantasticall imagination Moreouer if it should be said that they make God the Autor of sinne they would crie naye and saye they were slaundered But whether God be not the autor of that whereof he is the onelye cause let the vncorrupted heart iudge Also to saye the truth when they see their time and place they are bolde inoughe yea euen to vse the terme Autor in that same manifest sense as in a boke set forth by Iohn Knox against an aduersarie of Gods Predestination as he calleth hym where in the. 158. pagine he sayth thus Therfore whatsoeuer the Ethnickes and ignorant did attribute vnto Fortune wee assigne to the prouidence of God And straight way he sayth We shall iudge nothing to come of fortune but that all cōmeth by the determination of hys counsell And furder it displeaseth him when we esteme any thing to procede from any other so that we do not behold hym and know him not only the principall cause of al things but also the auctour appointing al things to the one part or to the other by his counsell Marke well his wordes and the very sense therof All commeth of God sayth he God is the principal cause and God is the auctour of it whatsoeuer it be God appointeth al things both to the one part and to the other both to the wicked and to the godly all things nothing is excepted aswell damnation as saluation as well sinne as vertue as well wickednesse as holynesse yea if it happen to be murder it selfe for that a little before he rehearseth Whatsoeuer it be it procedeth from none other saith he but frō God God so hath appointed it God is the principal cause of it Yea and not onely the principall cause but also the auctor of it Here seest thou those playne termes which sometime for a little nice lispyng they can not or will not speake that God is the auctour of all murder and mischiefe As for fortune I knowe it to be an Heathenish fable but where he saith that God is not onelye the principall cause but also the auctour of all things without any exception and that whatsoeuer the Ethnickes attributed vnto fortune that same we ought to ascribe to the prouidēce of God it is suche a wide wandring and large blasphemye as hath not bene lightlye heard For who knoweth not that vnto fortune the Ethnickes ascribed treason and craftie conspiracie As where they call her Insidiosa Persida Malesida Vnto fortune they ascribe cruell murder and tyrannicall mischiefe As when they call her Aspera Dura Saeua Truculenta Vnto fortune they ascribed filthy lust and
this consequence So far as I am able to iudge we may graunt him all that he hath said and yet affirme still that if God haue appointed the ende he hath also appointed the causes that leade to the same end But I will vnderstand Cerberus as I suppose he meaneth that is that God doth neither appoint the end nor causes that leade therevnto If this be not his meaning then hath he ment nothing but to make simple men suppose that he is able to saye much And sée gentle Reader how well he agréeth wyth S. Austen whose authoritie he woulde faine vse both in steade of a sword and buckler In the eyght chapter of his fift booke De Ciuitate Dei S. Austen sayth thus Qui verè nòn astrorum constitutionem sicut est eum quidque concipitur vel nascitur vel incoatur sed omnium connexionem seriemque causarū qua fit omne quod fit Fati nomine appellant nòn multum cum cis de verbi controuersia laborandum atque certandum est quandoquidem ipsum causarum ordinem quandam connexionem Dei summi tribuunt voluntati potestati Qui optimè veracissimè creditur cuncta scire antequam siant nihil inordinatum relinquere à quo sunt omnes potestates quamuis ab illo nòn sint omniū voluntates That is to say As for those men which do call by the name of destinie not the constitutiō or order of the celestial signes as y ◠same is at the conception birth or beginning of any thing but the knitting together order of all causes whereby euerie thing that is done is brought to passe we néede not much to labour and contende with them about the controuersie of that word bicause they do attribute to y ◠wil power of God that order and certain knitting together of causes which is verie well and truely thought to knowe all things before they come to passe and to leaue nothing vnordered of whom al powers haue their being although all mens willes doe not spring of him Here mayst thou sée gentle Reader howe Cerberus falleth out with him whose authoritie he woulde séeme chiesly to leaue to Austen sayth that whatsoeuer is done commeth to passe by that knitting together and continuall order of causes which the Stoikes call destinie But Cerberus will haue al set at six and seauen and that nothing should come to passe by any such order Austē sayth that it is verie well and truely thought that God doeth knowe all things before they come to passe and that he doth leaue nothing vnordered But Cerberus will none of that For then must Marten Swarth his men Syr Richard Simon Priest and his scholler Lambert the Irish men Lady Margret the Earle of Lincolne the Lorde Louell with the rest that rebelled in King Edwarde the fourthes time be appoynted and ordeyned of God to doe as they did But rather than it should be so Cerberus wyll say with Cotta that there is no God at all For so doth S. Austen conclude vpō Ciceroes disputation that he hath agaynst the Stoikes His wordes be these Quomodo igitur ordo causarum qui praescienti certus est Deo id efficit vt nihil sit in nostra voluntate cū in ipso causarum ordine magnū habeant locum nostrae voluntates Contendit ergo Cicero cum cis qui hūc causarum ordinem dicunt esse fatalem vel potiùs ipsum fati nomine appellant quodnos abhorremus praecipuè propter vocabulū quod nòn in re vera consueuit intelligi Quod vero negat ordinem omnium causarum esse certissimum Dei praescientiae notissimum plus eum quam Stoici detestamur Aut enim deum esse negat quod quidem inducta alterius persona in librii de Deorum natura facere molitus est Aut si esse consitetur Deum quē negat praescium futurorum etiam sic dicit nihil aliud quà m quod ille dixit insipiens in corde sur non est Deus Qui enim non est praescius omnium futurorum non est vtique Deus That is to say How doth the order of causes then which is certayne to God that knoweth them before bring to passe that there should be nothing in our will seing 〈…〉 wils to beare a great sway euen in the order of causes it selfe Let Cicero therefore striue with them that say that this order of causes is fatall or rather that do giue it y ◠name of destinie which thing we do abhorre chiefly for the name which is not accustomed to be vnderstanded in the thing it selse But where as he doth denie that the order of all causes is most certaine and knowen to the prescience of God we do detest him more than the Stoikes did For either he doth denie that there is a God which thing in his bookes concerning the nature of the Gods he doth vnder an other mans person endeuour to do or else if he do confesse that there is a God whom he denieth to know of things before they come to passe euen so saying he doth none other thing than did that foolish mā which said in his heart there is no God For he that doth not knowe afore hand all things that are to come doubtlesse the same is not God If Cerberus had had so much leysure as to read ouer this ninth Chapter of S. Austens fift booke out of the which he would faine finde matter against vs no doubt he would not haue bragged so much of S. Austens authoritie But by like he trusted some other mens notes gathered out of S. Austen and neuer saw the bookes of S. Austen himselfe I speake this in his fauor But sée gentle Reader how well Cicero serueth for the purpose that Cerberus doth alleage him for And as thou findest him in this point so trust him in the rest Cicero doth not only reason against them that say there is a destinie called in Latine Fatum but also against all that say there is a God that hath knowledge of things to come And so consequently he affirmeth that there is no God at all Spoyling God of his foreknowledge as S. Austen sayth rather than he would suffer man to be spoyled of his frée will But y ◠religious minde sayeth S. Austen doeth choose both doeth confesse both and with the faith of godlinesse doth cōfirme both That is to say the foreknowledge of God and the libertie of mans will So that whatsoeuer man doth we say and beleue that he doth it with the consent of his will Cerberus Alas who seeth not the destruction of England to follow this doctrine who seeth not the confusion of all common weales to depend herevpon What Prince may sit safely in the seat of his kingdome What subiect may liue quietly possessing hys owne What man shall be ruled by right of a lawe if thys opinion may be perfectly placed in the heartes of the people But to be short
is the cause of Gods hate or eternal death and put the same into the one side of the ballaunce then take and put into the other side this saying of S. Paul to the Romanes was that then that was good made death vnto me God forbid but sinne was made death vnto me Then wey both these sayings together with the hand of good aduisemēt in the indifferent ballāce of vpright iudgement and put not in aboue three graynes of wilful partialitie thus shalt thou plainly see that the Apostle agreeth farre better with the Maiestie of God and hath a much more reuerent opinion of hys iudgements than these men haue yea thou shalt easily perceyue whatsoeuer they say that neyther Gods pleasure nor Gods ordinance or predestinatiō nor none other thing that is good is made death or the cause of Gods hatred agaynst any man but sinne is the very grounded cause why God hateth taketh vengeaunce and punisheth man by death and destruction according to that which the same Apostle sayth Death is the reward of sinne And the wordes of O see are also manifest plaine where he saith O Israell thou doest destroy thy selfe but in me onely is thy helpe In which words of the holie ghost thou seest how manifestly God doth as it were purge him selfe from being the cause or worker of mans destruction so that the perdition and destruction of man is altogether to be attributed vnto hym selfe And God being cleare neyther accessarie nor partaker thereof as the chiefe and hygh Iudge of heauen and earth vnspotted and wythout blame gyueth the sentence of euerlasting death vpon man for his own wicked deseruing and offence But on the other side sayth God vnto man in me only is thy helpe In God onely onely in God is our helpe and saluation in him onely and of him altogether and not of our selues commeth our saluation and all whatsoeuer belongeth therevnto The same is also set forth by all those Scriptures whych are before rehearsed to proue that sinne and euill commeth not of Gods predestination for vpon that conclusion dependeth also thys proposition that sinne is not the cause of Reprobation or of Gods hatred towards man Crowley Yet once againe hath Cerberus a snatch at Knoxe Whether he do report his words truly or not I knowe not for I haue not seene that booke of his neither haue I cause to thinke y t al is Gospel that Cerberus saith Much more adoe than néedeth doth Cerberus make to proue that an Argument à contrarijs simile and dissimile doth not alwayes conclude necessarilie For as he sayth who séeth not that they do not holde in all pointes This therfore that Cerberus hath here written is but dalliaunce and as it were dauncing about the bushe The questiō is whether the sequele be good in the matter that Knoxe doth vse it in or not We must therfore consider the matter and how Knoxe doth applie this maner of reasoning to this matter The matter therfore is a question moued concerning the cause why Esau shoulde be hated of God and Iacob beloued before any of them had done eyther good or euill yea and before they were borne and therfore before there could be in them any deseruing at all Now Knoxe sayth that if Esau were hated for his euill deseruing then must it néedes follow by an Argument following of the nature of contraries that Iacob was beloued for his well deseruing Nowe I must thinke well of Knoxe for I knowe hym to be not only learned but also godlie and therefore not like to ouershoote himselfe so farre that he woulde stretch an Argument taken out of the place of contraries further than the nature thereof will suffer I must thinke therfore that he meant that if God do in choosing and refusing in louing and hating respect nothing but the well deseruing of one sort and the euill deseruing of y e other as the common opinion of the Papistes is then it must néedes follow by an Argument of the nature of contraries that if he hated Esau for his euill deseruing he must needes loue Iacob for his well deseruing If Cerberus be not satisfied with this let him looke for furder aunswere at Knoxes owne hand for he is yet liuing and able to aunswere for himselfe As for the similitude of a King or Prince that Cerberus vseth to deface Knoxes Argument withall may serue him among such as know not that God is frée frō al mens affections and that he can not be moued to loue vs the better for the giftes that we bestow vpon him nor the worsse for that we take from him and spoyle him of any treasure that he ought to haue The nature of God is not to hate but to loue For S. Iohn sayth God is loue And as the wise man sayth he loueth all things that be and he hateth none of the thinges that he hath made Neyther hath he ordeined or made any thing hating the same that he ordeyned or made For in that he made or ordeyned them they are all excéeding good Wherefore when we say or when it is sayd in the Scriptures that God doth hate any of his creatures as it is said that he hated Esau it is meāt that he loued not Esau or those other creatures whome he is sayde to hate so well as he loued the others of whome it is sayd that he loued them It can not be denied but must néedes be confessed that God loued al his creatures in that he would make them some thing where as before they were nothing and in that he would giue them some part of that which is proper to himselfe For to be is proper to God And whatsoeuer hath any being it hath the same of God When God giueth a being to his creatures he sheweth that he loueth them but when he giueth them an euerlasting and blessed being then he loueth them so that the other loue in comparison of that seemeth but an hatred And therfore it is sayd that he hateth them whom he appointeth not to that euerlasting blessed being but leaueth thē to themselues that in them he may haue occasion to exercise his iustice and by them to gyue occasion to hys dearlie beloued to sée and consider the excéeding greatnesse of his loue and mercie towardes them But Cerberus séemeth to haue the whole Scripture on his side For he sayth that all the Scripture teacheth vs that God neuer hateth and punisheth vs without our owne deseruing Which saying I graunt to be true but not in that sense that Cerberus would haue vs to vnderstande it For Cerberus woulde haue vs to thinke that God could not be compted iust if he shoulde refuse any man in whome there were not sinne that might moue God to refuse him and to that ende he citeth the wordes of the wise man For this is his opinion as it appeareth before that in Christ all mankinde is elected and so consequently that Esau was elected in Christ But
their doctrine whych thyngs if you diligently weye and consider readyng the same wythout partiallitie then haue I my desire Crowley I am glad that Cerberus is nowe come to an ende Much adoe he had to let slip so manie things as offered themselues to be spoken off But now he hath coÌ„cluded concenting him selfe wyth fewe wordes in purging him selfe of those things that his friende charged him with and setting forth the Pelagians errours c. Yet euen in the winding vp of y e matter he hath found one part of doctrine hanging vpon the Article of Gods eternal predestinatioÌ„ which is to be misliked of al meÌ„ if Cerberus be not deceyued and that is That as the only will purpose of God is the chiefe cause of Election and Reprobation so his free mercie in Christ is an inferiour cause of saluatioÌ„ c. Here Cerberus doth of purpose leaue out the ende of that glose shutting vp the matter wyth his c. I will therefore set downe the words that follow which are these and the hardening of the heart an inferiour cause of damnation Now this glose is some thing more plaine than it was before as Cerberus hath cited it with his c. He thought belike that the Bible wherin he findeth this glose is not in euerie mans hande and therefore his c. should cause men to thinke that the rest of the glose must be as good stuffe as he thinketh the first part to be That is worthy to be misliked of all men importing a sophisticall search of bottomlesse secretes and drawing from Christ Such shifts doth Cerberus vse to make meÌ„ mislike with that which he himselfe liketh not But to proue this part of doctrine to be such as Cerberus assirmeth it to be he vseth two reasons One is that the eternall purpose of God springeth out of hys frée mercie in Christ wherefore that frée mercie cannot be inferiour to Gods eternall purpose more than the fountaine from which streames of water do slowe can be inferiour to the streames that flow from it The other is of the mediation of Christ For if God did in his eternall will and purpose elect vs before Christ had appeased his wrath by his mediation then was it but a vaine thing for Christ to be a Mediatour neyther had we any neede of his mediation Although I would gladly content my self to haue defended mine own writings and other mens wherewith Cerberus findeth fault euen with as fewe wordes as he vseth in purging himselfe and other of that which his friend layeth to his charge yet may I not so shortly slip ouer this matter wherewith Cerberus hath shut vp his aunswere For if Cerberus would haue sought how to haue set forth to be séene his owne wilfull ignorance and errour in the chiefe pointes of our Religion he could not haue found a better meane thaÌ„ he hath vsed in these two reasons that he maketh against the doctrine conteyned in the glose wherewith he misliketh For what greater errour can there be than to holde that with God there is time past and time to come and that any of the essentiall properties of God do spring out of other in time as though there had bene or could haue bene a time wherein God lacked those properties Or that the sonne of God the seconde person in Trinitie should in his diuine nature in time make mediation to God the Father that thereby he might purpose to saue man whom he was before purposed to destroy For striuing against him that hath sayde that the only will and purpose of God is the chiefe cause of Election and Reprobation and that his frée mercie in Christ is an inferiour cause of saluation c. He sayth that the purpose or will of God to saue vs must néedes spring out of the frée mercie of God and that therefore the will or purpose of God in sauing must of force be inferiour to his mercie euen as streames that issue from fountaines are inferiour to the fountaines that they come from And to proue this he citeth the words of Ecclesiasticus the. 2. Chapter Secundum enim magnitudinem ipsius sic misericordia illius cum ipso est That is Euen according to his owne greatnesse so is his mercie with hym He citeth also the saying of S. Iames. Cap. 2. of his Epistle where he sayth Iudicium enim sine miscricordia illi qui nòn sacit miscricordiam Gloriatur autem miscricordia aduersus iudicium That is He that sheweth no mercie shall haue iudgemeÌ„t without mercie But mercie reioyseth against iudgement And againe he citeth the words of Dauid in the Psalm 145. Miscricordia eius super omnia opera eius That is His mercie is vpon all his workes All this ado he maketh to proue that Gods will and purpose are inferiours to his mercie But how well that is by these Scriptures proued I referre to the iudgement of the indifferent Reader Sirach sayth that those which feare the Lorde will prepare their heartes and humble their soules before the Lord. Let vs fall into the handes of God and not into the hands of men For euen as his greatnesse is so is his mercy Sirach his purpose is to set forth the effect of y e feare of God which worketh in y e hartes of meÌ„ a true turning to God with an assured hope of forgiuenesse at his hande bicause they be persuaded that he is no lesse readie to forgiue penitent sinners than he is able to punish the impenitent S. Iames sayth that the merciful shall finde mercie minding to persuade all men to shew mercie one to another Assuring themselues that vnlesse they do so they can finde no mercie with God and on the contrarie if they do shew mercie they shall not néede to feare iudâ—ement for mercie shall preuaile against iudgement And Dauid the Prophet hath said that Gods mercie is vpon all his workes although it please Cerberus to cite his wordes otherwise for his purpose For he sayth that Dauid hath said that the Lordes mercie is aboue all his workes Which words though they be true yet hath not Dauid so sayd neyther maye I suffer Cerberus to cause the Prophet Dauid to speake as he woulde haue him that his fantasie might be maintained by the Prophetes words Dauids meaning is to teach that the Lord God sheweth mercie vpon all his works so that there is not one of the works of God that hath not cause to praise him for his louing kindnesse and mercie Both y e Hebrue and Gréeke Text and al the translations in Latine and English too so many as I haue seene do giue thys sense of the Prophetes wordes How can Cerberus proue then by these Scriptures that the mercie of God is the fountaine of his wil purpose All that he doeth therefore is nothing else but a setting forth of his owne wilfull ignoraunce whereby he is fallen into the filthy errour of them that imagine of God as of a man and
that he is moued with affectiōs as men be Whereas in God His vnderstanding his vnmeasurable power his vnsearcheable wisedome his mercifull goodnesse his truth and iustice his chastenesse and fréedome in all poyntes to wyll what he lusteth to do what it pleaseth him and to purpose appoynt what liketh him are essentiall properties without which he neyther is nor can be God To imagine therefore that there was a time wherein God was purposed to destroy man and that his mercie in Christ hath chaunged that purpose and caused him now to purpose and will to saue man is to imagine y t there was a time wherin God was not so mercifull as he is now so not so perfectly God as he is now And that by experiēce he hath learned some what more wisedome than he had at the first and therefore may be wiser hereafter than he is now How great absurdities these are I leaue to the iudgement of the indifferent Readers But Cerberus will saye that though I haue sayde some thing against him yet I haue sayd nothing for him whose wordes I haue taken in hande to defende but in my wordes I séeme to fight against them both I aunswere I haue not taken vpon me to defend eyther mine owne or other mens wordes sucder than in conscience I thinke them to be true And if I did thinke that the wryter of that glose did meane as grossely as I perceyue by his open wordes that Cerberus doth I would not spare him more than I haue spared Cerberus but for as much as his wordes séeme not to me to haue any such meaning as to teach that there was a time wherein God was mercilesse towards mā that his mercy first sprang out of his will and purpose as Cerberus doth plainely teach that his wil and purpose sprang out of his mercie I must not refuse to take that good meaning of his wordes which may séeme to me to be according to the truth of Christian religion The wordes of Paule whervpon this note is made are these I will haue mercie on him to whō I wil shew mercie Upon this it is noted in the margine that as the onlie will and purpose of God is the chiefe cause of Election and Reprobation so his frée mercie in Christ is an inferiour cause of saluation and the hardening of the heart an inferiour cause of damnation I vnderstand the meaning of these words to be that as the only wil purpose of God is the chiefe cause that there was an Election and choise of some and a refusall of other some so the shewing forth of his mercie in Christ is an inferiour cause that is an instrumentall cause whereby saluation is wrought in the elected according to Gods will and purpose and the hardening of the hearts of the reprobates an instrumentall cause of damnation in the reprobates according to the same eternal wil and purpose He therefore that sayth we must ascende to an higher cause of Election than that which appeareth in the execution of Gods mercie in Christ doth not teach to set vp the essentiall properties one aboue another as thoughe one were fountaine of another and that God lacked the one till it sprang out of the other but he teacheth that the same mercie that we sée executed in Christ in time was decreed in the eternall will and purpose of God before all time and so was the refusall of thē whose heartes we see hardened in time If any man do sée cause to iudge otherwise of this glose I am well pleased that the same vse his owne iudgement in enterpreting the meaning therof And if I may perceyue any mans iudgement herein to be sounder than mine I trust I shalbe ready to condescend to that And least any man should thinke that herein I doe followe mine owne fantacie without example of any thing that I sée in the auncient Fathers I will sette downe the wordes of S. Austen that haue bene a meane to confirme me herein In his 14. booke De Ciuitate Dei 〈◊〉 11. Chapter S. Austen writeth thus Sed quia Deus cūcta presciuit ideo hominē quoque peccaturum ignorare nòn potuit secundum id quod praesciuit itque disposuit ciuitatem Dei debemus asserere nòn secundum illud quod in nostram cognitionem peruenire nòn potuit quia in Dei dispositione nòn fuit Nec enim homo peccato suo diuinum potuit perturbare consilium quasi Deum quod statuerat mutare compulerit cum Deus praesciendo vtrūque preuenerit id est homo quem bonum ipse creauit quam malus esset futurus quid boni etiam sic de illo esset ipse facturus Deus enim etsi dicitur statuta mutare Vnde tropica locutione in Scripturis sanctis etiam poenituisse legitur deum iuxta id dicitur quod homo spera 〈…〉 rat vel naturalium causarum ordo gestabat nòn iuxta id quod se omnipotens facturum esse praesci 〈…〉 rat That is to saye But bycause God did know all things before hand and therfore could not be ignorant that man should sinne we must teach that the holie Citie is such a thing as he did foresée and appoint that it should be not such as we could not come to the knowledge of bicause it was not in that disposition or order that God made Neyther was man by his sinne able to disorder the purpose of God as though he shoulde haue constreyned God to chaunge the thyng that he had once decréed séeing that God by his foresight did preuent both that is to say both how the euill man should become whom he had created good and also what thing he woulde make of him euen when he shoulde in such wise become euill For although it be sayd that God doth chaunge his purposes whereof it commeth that by a figuratiue speach it is reade in the holie Scriptures that God did repent the same is spoken according to that which man hoped for or that which the order of naturall causes did import not according to that which the almightie did know before hand that he himself would do Againe the same Austen in his booke De diuersis questionibus 83. and the. 15. 16. 17. questions sayth thus Deus omnium quae sunt causa est Quod autem omnium rerum causa est etiam sapientiae suae causa est Nec vnquà m Deus sine sapientia sua Igitur sempiternae sapientiae suae causa est sempiterna nec tempore prior est quam sua sapientia Deinde si patrem sempiternum esse inest deo nec suit aliquandò non pater nunquam sine filio fuit Omne praeteritum iam nòn est Omne futurum nòn dùm est Omne igitur praeteritum futur 〈…〉 non deest Apud d 〈…〉 m autem nihil deest Nec praeteritum igitur nec futurum sed omne praesens est apud deum That is to saye God is the cause of
the freewill men Here thou seest dearly beloued who they are that so odiouslie are noted with the name of freewyll men Not only the Papistes against whom he pretendeth there to wryte but namely all those that saye God hath not predestinate any man to cōmit murder or such like wycked abhomination These call they free-will men these cal they Pelagians In dede such as so maintayn freewil that a mā by freewyl wythout the grace and helpe of God may abstayne from euill or do good as the blinde Papistes doe and as before it is proued that Pelagius did holde or as before is rehenrsed that Willyam Samuell sayth that man maye deserue God those I saye might worthily be called Pelagians bicause they hold eyther al or some part of hys errours But those which teach that all murder and mischiese spryngeth out of Gods predestination or that any mansleaer is predestinate of God to kyll hys neighboure or any adulterer to lye with his neyghboures wyfe or any traytour predestinate of God to conspire against hys Prince or any rebell to ryse against his Soueraigne as these men most plainly assyrme they holde in thys poynt the errour of the Manicheans whych was as ye hearde before by the wordes of Austen Hominem peccatum vitare nòn posse That a man can not eschewe euill or can not choose but commit sinne These men I say whych affirme that Caine was predestinate to murder hys innocent brother Abell And as in the same boke and the same Article also he sayth that the most wicked persons that haue bene were of God appointed to bee wycked euen as they were They hold the errour both of the Stoikes and also of the Manicheans That is to say as Austen declareth in the ninth .xvi. chapter of the first boke of his Retractations that euil hath his original of Gods ordinance not of mans freewil For if murderers theues adulterers traitours Rebelles be of God predestinated and appoynted to be wicked euē as they are and can not choose but of mere necessitie by the ordinance of God commit al such wickednesse euen as they do then what is our lyfe but a mere destinie all our doyngs Gods ordynaunces and all oure imaginations braunches of Gods predestinatiō And I doubt not but the Stoikes and Manicheans would also temper the matter wyth a great discretion of wordes as these men wyll saye that we must speake more reuerentlie of the matter But seyng they plainely holde these principles and when they see theyr tyme speake plainely thereof them selues as you maye well perceyue by that whych hath alredy and shal yet be more largely rehearsed I see no cause why it should not of al mē be plainely declared Agayne if it be a trueth why should it not be plainly spoken if it be a truth that traitours be predestinate of God to conspire the destructiō of their Princes and Rebels predestinate of God to make insurrectiō against their soueraines If I say it be a trueth that God hath so predestinated thē that they must of necessity can not choose but commit such wyckednesse why shoulde it not be plainly spoken except a man should be ashamed to speake the trueth But in what Scripture is that written Or is it not rather written For thy lyfe shame not to say the trueth And surelye to say as it is I see not well howe any man can speake more plainely in thys matter than they them selues doe For what can more plainly be spokē thā that Gods predestination is the cause of Adams fall And that Caine was predestinate to slea his brother And that God is both the principal cause and also the author of all thyngs both on the one side and on the other appoynting al things to al men And whatsoeuer the Ethnickes ascribed vnto fortune that same we ought to attribute vnto the prouidence of God And that the most wycked persons that haue bene were of God appointed to be wicked euen as they were Crowley Here it appeareth that the chiese quarrell that Cerberus had when he wrate this aunswere to his friendes letter was against Crowley If the spirit of loue had led him he might haue had conference w t Crowley for belike he knoweth him well ynough not thus maliciously by setting out his answere in print haue gone about asmuch as lieth in him not only to discredit the doctrine y t Crowley preacheth but also to bring him in displeasure with his Prince as one y e teacheth theues murderers traitors rebells al other naughty persons to defend their wickednesse by Gods predestination ordinance But Crowley shal by Gods helpe be able to cleare him selfe of all this to make the malice of Cerberus so knowne to al men that he shal from henceforth haue little credit amōg such as doe not fauour the errour of our new Pelagians For answere to al y ◠Cerberus hath in this his returne to Crowley written I might referre the Reader to that whiche I haue already written But least Cerberus should thinke that that were but a shift I will aunswere to his Taùtologie or repeticion of the same wordes and matter that is before written and answered and chiesly bicause he doth here inferre more playnely that which before he meaneth to conclude I haue saide that Gods predestination was the onely cause of Adams fall that Caine was predestinate to slea his brother Abell and that the most wicked persons that haue bene were of God appointed to be wicked euē as they were For the first I referre the Reader to that which I haue alreadie written thereof For the seconde I say that as God predestinated Abell to be a figure of Christ and his Churche in suffering so he predestinated Caine to be a figure of the cruell persecuting Iewes other that haue do shall persecute Christ his Church And as Caine in sleaing his brother Abell was a figure of the cruell persecutours so was not the murder euill but as it was the execution of Caines wicked will it was abhominable sinne and deserued no lesse punishment at Gods hand than it had in deede And as concerning the power of Caines will whereby he consented to do this deede it was altogether bound to the will of Sathan by the sinne that his Father Adam had first committed was not deliuered from that bondage bicause he was none of them whome Iesus Christ the sonne of God had deliuered and made frée as doeth well appeare by that he sayeth My sinne is greater than that it can be forgiuen He had not receyued the spirite of Adoption whereby he might cry Abba Father Wherefore it is manifest that whatsoeuer he did was abhominable in Gods sight for he lacked fayth whereby mennes workes are made acceptable before God For without it it is impossible to please God As it is written Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo Without fayth it is not possible to please
should say vnto thē Yet fortie dayes and Niniue shalbe destroyed The effect doth declare that his eternall purpose was not to destroy them for they were not destroyed Neyther was this cōmaundement contrarie to his eternall purpose but he did vse it as a meane whereby to bring his eternall purpose to passe which was to shew mercie in forgiuing the sinnes of the Niniuites When Moses was sent to Pharao the open word and commaundement was thus Say vnto Pharao let my people go that they may offer sacrifite vnto me But his eternall purpose was that by the stubbornnesse of Pharao in refusing to do his commaundemēt he might haue iust occasion to shew his power vpon him in pouring out vpon him and his people the manifold plagues that we reade of in the holie Histories and that thereby his name might be made knowen in all partes of the earth So that this cōmaundement was not contrarie to the eternal purpose but did concurre run together with it to that ende that in the eternal purpose was prefixed When Iesus Christ began to preach the open word was Repent and beleue the Gospell but the eternall purpose was that for his doctrine miracles he shoulde be hated of his countriemen and kinsemen for the most part and by them be deliuered to the Heathen to be crucified and made a sacrifice for the sinnes of the world So that this open word was not against the secret purpose of God 〈…〉 as S. Paule doth terme it it was to them that perished the sauor of death vnto death and to them that be saued the sauor of life vnto life For in the one sort it did worke beliefe and by beliefe saluation and in the other it did manifest and make open the vnbeliefe that was in their heartes before and so make them vtterly without excuse As our Sauiour himselfe sayth Now haue they nothing to pretend for excuse The Law and the Gospell are both written preached and the open word is do this and thou shalt haue this but the eternall purpose of God is that those that haue cares to heare should heare and obey and so enioy the reward promysed and that they which lacke such eares should haue the iust condemnation of their owne consciences These two therefore be not contrarie the one to the other but doe concurre and runne together to one ende Much more might be said to this effect without either faire words or finely framed fetches and so the inconuenience that Cerberus would conclude clearely auoyded But I will content my selfe with one saying of Austen writing vpon the ninth Psalme His wordes be these Non in toto corde consitctur Deo qui de prouidentia eius in aliquo dubitat Sed quia iam cernit occulta sapicutiae Dei quantum sit inuisibile premium cius qui dicit gaud 〈…〉 in tribulationibus quemadmodum omnes cruciatus qui corporaliter inferuntur aut vt exerceant conuersos ad Deum aut vt conuertantur admoneant aut iustè damnationi vltimae praeparent obduratos sic omnia ad diuinae prouidētiae regimen referrantur quae stulti quasi casu temere nulla diuina administratione fieri putant ait Narrabo omnia mirabilia tua c. That is to say That man which doth doubt of the prouidence of God in anye thing doth not shew himselfe thankful or praise God in all his heart But bicause he doth now sée the secretes of the wisedome of God how great the inuisible reward of him is which sayth we reioyce in troubles and how all afflictions which are brought vpon the body eyther to exercyse those y ◠be conuerted vnto God or that they may admonish them to conuert or that they may prepare to the last damnation those that be iustly made hard hearted and that so all those things might be referred vnto the gouernement of Gods prouidence which foolish men do suppose to be wrought by chaunce at aduenture and by no diuine prouidence he sayth I will declare all thy wonderous workes c. We maye be bolde therefore I thinke to say that this which Cerberus hath done in writing this spitefull aunswere to his friendes Letter if any such were was gouerned by Gods prouidence And yet we are not Genethliaci or declarers of mens fortunes or destinies such as were banished out of Rome for we say not y ◠it is Cerberus his fortune or destinie to be hanged or drowned or that he shal die a natural death before he shalbe as great a fauourer of Gods predestination as he doth now shew himself to be a mortall foe therof But we knowe that if God haue predestinated any of these things the same shall vndoubtedly come to passe in such sort as he hath appointed And yet shal not Cerberus his will be enforced But if he hang himselfe it shall be with the full consent of his will And if he shalbe a fauourer of our side it shalbe with the frée choyse of his owne will gouerned by the prouidence of God As there be some yet liuing that can testifie that once they were of the same minde that Cerberus is now and that with consent of will And now they be of one minde with me and that with assent of will also We leaue Cerberus and his fellowes therefore to him that by his prouidence gouerneth al things And yet do we our selues vse the meanes that God in prouidence hath appointed to be vsed and we teach all other to do the same committing the successe to him that knoweth what he hath determined to worke in all his creatures And we conclude this matter with Austen saying Quapropter voluntates nostrae tantum valent quantum Deus eas valere voluit atque praesciuit ideo quicquid valent certissimè valent quod facturae sunt ipsae omninò facturae sunt quia valeturas atque facturas ille praesciuit cuius praescientia falli nòn potest Quapropter si fati nomen alicui rei adhibendum placeret magis dicerē fatum esse infirmioris potentioris voluntatem qui eū habet in potestate quà m illo causarum ordine quem nòn vsitato sed suo more Stoici fatum appellant arbitrium nostrae voluntatis auserri That is to saye Wherefore this is the cause why our willes are able to doe as much as God would did know afore hand that they should do and therefore loke what they are able to do that are they most certainly able to do and what so euer they shall do they shall in déede do bicause he whose prescience or foreknowledge cannot be deceiued did know afore hand that they should do it Wherefore if I could allow the name of destinie to be giuen to any thing I would rather say that destinie were a thing belonging to the weaker and will to the stronger which hath it in his power than that the liberty of our will should by that order of causes which y ◠Stoikes
not after the common custome but after their own maner do cal destinie But Cerberus is not yet aunswered We must yet solue him one other question Which now he will propone Cerberus Yet would I further aske them a question seeing it is the decree ordinance and wyll of God expressed in his word that man should not sin how crepte they into that secret councel where God ordeined decreed and willed the contrarie that is to say that man should sinne But I heare their answere already published in print standing in the third leafe seconde page of the firste Blast in that traiterous truÌ„pet set forth agaynst the regiment of women where Fol. 2. Pa. 2. briefly and couertly toucheth this close and priuie counsell of God in these wordes The secrete counsell of God excepted But in Fol. 3. Pag. 2. he sayth I am sure that God hath reuealed to some in this our age that it is more than a Monster in nature that a woman shall raigne and haue Empire aboue man This may be the Apocalips of some men in thys our age but sure I am it is not the reuelation of S. Iohn the Euangelist nor of any other olde Apostle or Prophet These new reuelations which are reuealed vnto men of our age out of a secrete counsel decree and ordinance of God contrarie to the open worde and commaundement of God are meete for those which delight in the daÌ„nable dreames of some doting destinie and may well be called inspirations of olde Arrians reuelations of blinde Anabaptistes or vnwritten verities of superstitious Papists rather than the secrete counsel of God reuealed vnto men of our age But to conclude That Angell or spirite which contrarie to the manifest word of God hath reuealed vnto men of our age that a woman bring right inheritour to the Crowne of a Realme ought not to be ruler thereof that same spirit and Aungell of darknesse hath reuealed vnto meÌ„ of our age that Caine was predestinate to murther his brother Abel and the most wicked traytours murtherers theeues that lyue are ordeyned of God in his secrete counsell contrary to his open worde to be wicked euen as they are and to commit such murther these and treason euen as they doe The same conclusion and newe reuelation is also playnly set forth in the other late printed English boke before named translated out of French into English where an on after the beginning speaking of Gods wyll he sayth By the vertue wherof al things are made yea eueÌ„ those thyngs whych are euill and execrable Yet when he hath plainly affirmed that by the vertue of Gods wil euill and execrable things are made least the horrible face of Sathan should be perceiued in the burning flame of those terrible wordes The matter is afterward trimly couered with a cloke of vnsauerie subtiltie for he declareth his mind to be that those euil and execrable things which are wrought by the vertue of Gods will are not euill and execrable in that they are wrought by his diuine counsell As if he should say though they be in deede euil and execrable things which the counsell of God worketh yet are they not in that respect or therfore euill bicause God worketh theÌ„ But for as much sayeth he as they proceede from the Prince of ayre c. Or to speak it in more vsual termes bicause the diuel or wicked men do work it which neuerthelesse as they plainly hold and affirme are the instrumeÌ„tes of God appointed her vnto in doing the same do nothing else but that which God hath ordeyned them to do so ordeyned that they can not chose but do it eueÌ„ as they do which opinion Prosper defending the sentence of Augustine writeth vehemently against in these wordes Praedestinationem Dei siuè ad malum siuè ad bonum c. That the Predestination of God sayth he d 〈…〉 worke in all men eyther vnto good or vnto euill it is most foolishly sayd as though a certaine necessitie should driue men vnto both seyng in good things the will is to be vnderstande not wythout grace in euill things the will is to be vnderstand without grace RespoÌ„ ad obiect Gal. cap. 6. But that which Prosper and Aug. do here most truly call a most folish saying The same do these men call the most hygh profouÌ„d wisdom for God say they predestinateth al things Ergo al things must come to passe of necessitie Crowley A man might maruell what moued Cerberus to moue that question the aunswere whervnto he himself sayth is alredie published in print But when I consider what spirit it is that hath moued him in this sort to aunswere his friendes letter I leaue off that maruell For I sée his purpose is by this meane to entangle and trouble vs with by matter neyther pertinent to the thing we haue in hande nor tending to any good ende What haue we to do with the matter of the Blast which booke I neuer reade of or with Reuelations or Apocalipses We haue the question of Gods ProuideÌ„ce Prescience Predestination in hande To dispute of those matters did neyther appertaine to Cerberus in hys aunswere neyther doth it appertaine to me in this Apologie I wyl therefore passe ouer both those questions and shape him another maner of answere to his demaund than y â— which he imagineth that he hath séene set forth in print His question is how we crept into y â— secrete counsell where God ordeyned decréed and willed that maÌ„ should sinne He imagineth that this can not be aunswered otherwise than by an Apocalips or ReuelatioÌ„ But Cerberus shall well vnderstande that we can aunswere him by playne Scripture proue that it is not against Scripture that God shoulde ordaine decrée and will that man shoulde sinne First S. Paule writing to the Romanes sayth thus AnnoÌ„ habet potestatem Figulus luti ex eadeÌ„ massa facere aliud quidem vas in honorem aliud vero in contumeliam That is to saye Hath not the Potmaker power ouer his Claye out of one lumpe to make one vessell to honor and another to dishonor And in the same place he sayth thus Nunquid dicit sigmentum ei qui se sinxit quid me fecisti sic That is Doth the earthen vessell say vnto him that made it Why haste thou made me so And the same S. Paule writing to Timothe sayth In magna autem domo non solum sunt vasa aurea argentea sed lignea fictilia quaedaÌ„ quidem in honorem quâ—dam autem in contumeliam That is to say In a great house there be not onely vessels of Golde of Siluer but also of Timber and of Earth some seruing to honor and some to dishonor These Alegories doth S. Paule vse to shew that there is no iniquitie with God though he do appoint his creatures at his good will and pleasure some to honor and some to dishonor To the same purpose doth S. Paule
where none are refused This might suffise for our desence in this matter that Cerberus doth now charge vs withall But bicause he sayth that this our conclusion is the sequele of a proposition that we affirme that is that Gods predestination causeth all sinne and wickednesse I must take some what more paine in the defence of that which we haue written First I must say that Cerberus hath belyed vs For we saye not that Gods predestination doeth cause any sinne Then I must also denie and haue alredie proued that Adams fall was not the originall of sinne Thirdly we denie that the originall of sinne came of God wherfore the conclusion that Cerberus maketh is not against vs. But Cerberus hath found one sentence of ours so open and manifest that it maye serue as well as a thousand It is in the latter ende of the forenamed English booke translated out of French vpon the words of Paul Rom. 9. c. He saith not only c. Cerberus can not sée how this Text of Paul may by those words be better opened than Iourie may be made white with ynke But for hast to come to an ende he will not stande to proue this although he might easely do it as he sayth But touching the two opinions one that actuall sinne or incredulitie the other that originall sinne is the cause of Gods hatred towardes men this fellow sayth Cerberus taketh occasion vpon the example of Esau to exclude all that is in man c. A little helpe woulde make this man of one minde with Origine who writing vpon this parte of Paules Epistle to the Rom. and these verse wordes Iacob haue I loued but Esau I haue hated saith that Iacobs soule being yet without a bodie did purge it selfe and when God saw the purenesse of it he tooke it and put it into that bodie wherin Iacob was borne and Esau his soule which had not cleansed it selfe he put into a bodie made out of the same lumpe but not to honour as the other was bicause the soule of Esan was not worthie of such a bodie So he loued Iacob as Origine thinketh bicause Iacobs soule had cleāsed it self before it came into y ◠body he hated Esay bicause his soule had not cleāsed it selfe If a man should aske this question of Cerberus why did God loue Iacob and hate Esau what could he aunswere if he wyll not say Quia voluit bicause he woulde If he will saye that God respected the actuall righteousnesse and sinne that was in them then shall he be found to ioyne with Origine If he shall saye that he respected originall sinne in Esau and did therfore hate him then may it be asked why he did not hate Iacob for the same For both were defiled therw t alike But if Cerberus wil say that God had respect to y e workes that they should do in the time of their life then doth he ioyne with the Papistes And that he would not séeme to do His best waye therfore shalbe to ioyne with vs and say That God loued Iacob and hated Esau bicause it pleased him so to doe And if any man shall stand vp to dispute the matter any further then to aunswere with S. Paule O homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo O thou mā who art thou that darest take vpon thée to reason wyth God Cerberus That verie same thyng sayth Knoxe in the. 141. pag. of hys foresayd booke where his wordes are these Further I saye that if Esau was hated for his euill deseruing then must it needes follow that Iacob was loued for hys well deseruing by the Argument following of the nature of contraries As well it might be said it must needes follow by the contraries that if a King or Prince hate one mā whych hath well deserued his hate by stealing from him his ring his chain or some great Iuel thē doth he not loue any other man but he whych hath well deserued hys loue by giuing to hym a ryng a chain or some great treasure as though he should say bicause iustice worketh on the one side therfore mercie hath nothing to doe on the other side or as though God were not both iust mercifull Iust in damning for their offence those which are damned and mercifull in sauing without their desert those which are saued And who seeth not that neyther simile nor dissimile neyther like thyngs nor thyngs contrarie do holde in all poyntes for nothing is so like whych in somethyng is not vnlike neyther any thing so contrarie whych doth in all things varie Christ is likened to a Lion but did he euer rauish or deuour and shedde any innocent bloude Latimer wysheth that al Byshops were like Byshop Diuell in diligence thē ought not the Diuell and a Byshop to differ in all thyngs And most specially and plainely doeth the Scripture beate in our heads aboue al other things that the nature of contraries doe not holde in both sides of Gods reward mans deseruing For as they are inseparable relatiues in the one part so on the other side the one hath neuer any relation to the other for as Gods hatred and vengeaunce hath euer relation to mans deseruing so hath Gods loue and mercie neuer any relation to mans merite Yea all the Scripture teacheth vs that God neuer hateth or punisheth man wythout his owne deseruing For as the wyse man sayth Et cum qui nullam poenam commeritus sit cōdemnasse a tua potentia iudicas alienum And thou Lord sayth he estemest it a thyng contrarie to thy power to haue condemned him whych hath not deserued punishment What should be sayde of the Cananites and the Israelites if the nature of contraries do alway hold and haue such relation of the one to the other must it not then necessarily follow as he sayth by the nature of contraries that if the Cananites were cast out of the fortunate land that floweth wyth milke and hony for their euill deseruing that on the other side the Israelites were brought and planted into that same happie and blessed rest for their well deseruing But what sayth the Scripture Speake not in thy heart after that the Lorde thy God hath cast them out before thee saying for my righteousnesse the Lorde hath brought me in to possesse thys lande naye but for the wickednesse of those Nations the Lorde doth cast them out before thee So plainly speaketh the holie ghost here that thou mayst easily perceyue how grosse and vayne their saying is which affirme That if God hate an euill man for his owne euill deseruing then must it nedes follow that he loueth a good man for hys owne well deseruing For the hatred of God and euerlasting damnation are iust rewardes of mans euil deseruing but the loue of God and euerlasting life are free gyftes of God for Christes sake wythout any part of mans owne deseruing Take therefore this saying of theyrs No sinne neyther originall nor actuall