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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19650	An apologie, or defence, of those Englishe writers [and] preachers which Cerberus the three headed dog of hell, chargeth wyth false doctrine, vnder the name of predestination. Written by Robert Crowley clerke, and vicare of Sainct Giles without Creple-gate in London	Crowley, Robert, 1518?-1588.	1566 (1566)	STC 6076; ESTC S119169	136,938	214

Austens name But bycause I promised before to proue mine affirmation as well by the iudgement of Auncient writers as by Scripture I will adde the iudgement of one or two moe whose autoritie and antiquitie is not to be dispised Of the which Ambrose shall be one Writing vpon the Epistle to the Romans he sayth Sicut per vnius delictum in omnes homines in condemnationem sic per vnius iustitiam in omnes homines in iustificationem vitae Hoc est sicut per vnius delictum omnes condemnationem meruerunt similiter peccantes ita in iustitia vnius omnes iustificabuntur credentes Si qui autem condemnationem hanc generalem esse putant simili modo iustificationem generalem accipient Sed non est verum quia non omnes credunt Sicut enim per inobedientiam vnius hominis peccatores constituti sunt plurimi ita et per vnius obedientiam iusti constituentur multi Quos supra omnes dixit hic plures multos significat Plures enim delictum Adae secuti sunt praeuaricando non omnes multi iusti constituentur non omnes Non ergo in eos regnauit mors qui non peccauerunt in similitudine preuaricationis Adae That is to say Euen as by one mans sinne giltinesse came vpon all men to condemnation so did iustification of lyfe come vpon all mē through the righteousenesse of one man That is euen as by the sinne of one man all men that doe sinne as he dyd haue deserued condemnation euen so all that do beleue shall be iustified in the righteousenesse of one man And if any doe think that this condemnation is general let them in lyke maner take the iustification to be generall But that is not true bycause all men doe not beleue For euen as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one man many shall be made righteous The Apostle doth here call those same many that he did before call all For many haue in sinning folowed the sinne of Adam but not all and many shall be made righteous but not all Death therefore hath not raigned ouer them which haue not sinned in lyke sort as Adam did These be the wordes of Ambrose Which though at the first sight they séeme to incline to the errour of Pelagius yet when they be well weighed they giue a good and sounde meaning That is that sinne neuer raigned in any of Gods elect For although the elect of God in as much as they be the childrē of Adam be partakers of Adams sinne and in Adam condemned yet are they by Christe deliuered from that condemnation so that sinne hath in them no dominion at all Which thing appeareth in them by the fayth in Christ which when they come to knowledge they doe both by wordes and workes declare That this is the meaning of Ambros doth very plainely appeare by that he sayth that all the beleuers shall be iustified For what nedeth iustification where no condemnatiō was Thus much I thought good to write concerning y ● simple meaning of this auncient Father least any mā of simplicity mistaking his meaning might think y t he should denie y e Elect to be conceyued and borne in originall sinne from which neuer any that was borne Christ only excepted coulde be frée But this is his meaning that in the Elect and chosen Children of God this sinne hath no dominion as it doth appeare by their obedience that they shewe in beleuing the Gospell but in the Reprobates it beareth rule still For Christ hath not killed it in them And to make an ende of this matter Saint Paule sayth thus in his eyght chapter to the Romans Who shall laye any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that doth iustifie who is it that shall condemne If all mankinde then be elected in Christ as Cerberus sayth then shall no sinne be layde to any mans charge For who dare accuse Gods chosen children And so shall Cerberus doctrine be the destruction of all vertue as he hath afore affirmed of the doctrine we teache of Predestination As for that which Cerberus citeth out of the seconde chapter of S. Iohns first Epistle the other places that he sendeth the Reader vnto I doe nowe passe ouer as sufficiently aunswered by that I haue written concerning S. Paules meaning in the fift to the Romans Cerberus The fift of Pelagius errours was that riche men being baptized except they did vtterly renounce and forsake their riches though they seeme to doe some good yet is it not accepted neither can they haue the Kingdome of God A filthy and an abhominable errour directly repugnant both to the state of the common wealth and also to the worde of God which sayth Charge them that be riche in this world that they be not exceding wyse c. And that they doe good and be riche in good workes c. The sixt errour is that the grace of God and the helpe of God is not giuē to euery one of our works but that it is in free choyse in the lawe and in doctrine This errour is exceding wicked and execrable that mā by the law by doctrine and by free choise is able to doe any maner of good worke whatsoeuer it be without the grace and helpe of God For as S. Paule sayeth we are not sufficient of our selues to think any thing as of our selues but our ablenesse cōmeth of God And againe It is God that worketh in vs both the will and the dede euen of good will The seuenth errour is that the grace of God is giuen according to our deseruing Vile and abhominable is this errour also and contrary to the manifest minde and words of the Apostle which sayth If it be of workes then is it no more grace for then were deseruing no more deseruing The eyght errour is that none can be called the children of God except they be all together made without sinne This errour is lyke wicked with the rest directly repugnant to the open Scripture where it is written If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. For as S. Iames saith of himselfe and of all other In many things we sinne all Crowley In these foure errours Cerberus can finde nothing to charge vs with all and therfore he goeth about to get himselfe credite among the simple Christians by calling these errours filthy and abhominable exceding wicked and execrable vile and abhominable and lyke wycked with the reste But if a man might come to reason with Cerberus I thinke it woulde fall out in the ende that he is not so cleare of the sixt errour as he would séeme to be when he calleth it exceeding wicked and execrable For if he were asked why feared he to translate Saint Paules words according to his meaning when he saide to the Philippians Deus est qui operatur

for then shoulde the lyke haue bene wrought in the Iewes that came to take Christ for when he sayde I am they al fel to the ground but it was wrought within by the power of the spirite Saint Augustine therefore sayth very well Qui fecit te sine te non te iustificat sine te Ergo fecit nescientem iustificat volentem He that made thee without thee doth not iustifie thée without thée therefore he made thée when thou knewest not but he doth iustifie thée being willing To this doe the wordes of Sainct Paule agrée when he sayeth Deus est qui operatur in vobis velle operari It is God that worketh in you both the will and the worke that is according to the will But first the will So that before we follow the drawer we are by the same drawer made willing to follow Thus doth S. Austen and so doe we that Cerberus barketh so at vnderstand the will of man to be frée To conclude this matter and to see what mans freewil is able to doe sée what S. Austen sayeth Creatus est primus homo in natura sine culpa in naturae sine vitio creatus est rectus nō se fecit rectū Quid se autem ipse fecerit notum est Cadens è manu Figuli fructus est Regebat enim cum ipse qui fecerat voluit deserere à quo factus erat permisit Deus tanquā dicens Deserat me inueniat se miseria sua probet quia nihil potest sine me Hoc modo ergo ostēdere voluit Deus homini quid valeat liberum arbitrium sine Deo The first man was created in nature without blame in nature without fault he was created vpright he did not make himselfe vpright It is knowne what he made himselfe Falling out of the hande of the Potter he was broken For he y ● made him did gouerne him but he was willing to forsake him that had made him And God suffered him so to doe as it were saying thus Let him forsake me that he maye finde himselfe and that he maye by his miserie proue that without me he can doe nothing By this meane therfore would God shewe vnto man what frée will is able to doe without God This maye suffise to as many as will be satisfied But I feare me that Cerberus and his felowes are none of them By this it appeareth that we runne not into the extremities as Cerberus sayth we doe For we neyther teache fatall destinie nor popishe will libertie but we affirme that man hath a choyse and that in some meaning the same is frée and yet notwithstanding Gods forknowledge predessination and election to be infallible As shall more playnely appeare when I shall come to the place wherein I am by Cerberus charged with the setting forth of such a doctrine as is worthily mysseliked of many In the meane while I must say something of y ● wherin I with others be charged and playnely affirmed to be Pelagiās And that it may appeare whether we be so or no it shall be néedefull that we set downe the opinion of Pelagius as we finde it written by S. Austen in a booke of more authoritie than is that Epistle that Cerberus buildeth vpon Saint Austen being requested by one named Quod vult Deus to write a Cataloge of heresies he satysfieth hys request And thus he writeth of Pelagius heresie Pelagianorum est heresis hoc tempore omniū recentissima à Pelagio Monacho exorta c. At this time sayth he there is the heresie of the Pelagians which is the newest of all and sprang out of one Pelagius a Monke Which maister one Celestius did in such sorte followe that their followers are also called Celestines These men are such enimies to the grace of God whereby we are predestinated to be adopted or chosen to be his children through Iesus Christ and whereby we are deliuered from the power of darkenesse that we may beleue in him and be translated into his kingdome for which cause he sayd No man cōmeth vnto me except it be giuen vnto him of my Father and wherby Charitie is poured out in our hearts that fayth may worke by loue that they beleue that man is able without it to do all the cōmaundements of God whereas if that were true it might séeme that the Lord had in vaine sayde Sine me nihil potestis sacere Without me you can do nothing Whether we be of this mind with Pelagius or no let all the world that séeth our writings or heareth our doctrine iudge Or whether Cerberus and his fellowes be like to be of this minde which finde fault with our doctrine bycause we teach that there is an elected and chosen number to whome God hath giuen fayth and hath poured out loue in their hearts so that they maye come vnto Christ and by their works of obediēce to Gods wil shew forth the liuely fayth in Christ that in their election they haue receyued freely at Gods hand Let all the worlde I say iudge betwixte vs. We say that there is a certayne chosen number which in mercy are chosen to be the children of God images of the sonne of God Iesus Christ and inheritoures of his kingdome And that none can be of this number but those onely to whome it is giuen fréely without any maner deseruing eyther past present or to come And that they being thus chosen predestinated must alwayes acknowledge that it is God that worketh in them and that of them selues they are not able so much as to think a good thought And yet assure them selues that Hell gates can not preuayle agaynst them that is that the power of the Diuell shall not be able to hurte them And that though they be still sore assaulted and sometimes sore woūded yet they shal neuer be ouercome but shal ouercome in Christ and triumph with him in immortalitie for euer But Cerberus and his company say that al mankind is elected and that there is no reprobation at all and cōsequently no election For if there be none resused then is there none election but a generall acceptation And this their election they say is so vncertayne that no man can thereby be certaine of his saluation but al men must still remayne in doubte of damnation by sinne whereas S. Paule hath sayde that there is no damnation to them that be grassed into Christ And Christ himself saith that it is not possible that the elected sorte shoulde be seduced They say also that the power of mans Frée will is to receiue or refuse the grace of God which is indifferently offred vnto al. Which if it be true then must he be able also of himselfe to do that God commaundeth which is the playne errour of Pelagius Well I leaue these two opinions to the iudgement of the reader to consider which of them is most like to be that which Pelagius helde

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