LIBRARY OF P^^iNCETON MAR 2 5 ;:007 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY MAR 7 191-10 VIE f)i: J. CALVIN PAR ^Z- THEODORE DE BEZE NOIIVRLLE EDITION, PUBLIKE ET ANNOTEE PAR ALFRED FIUNKUN de la bililioUi^fiue Mazarine PARIS :53, RUE DE SEINE M DCCC LXIX VIE DE J. CALVIN PARIS. — TYPOGRAPHIE DE CH. MEYRUEIS 13, rue Cujjis. - 1869. INTRODUCTION. c^ GALYIN ET SON OEUVRE. L y avait a Paris, en 1540, iin jeiine homme siir lequel il semblait que quelque fee bienfaisante eiit epuise lous ses dons. II appartenait a line famille noble, avait des parents haut places, et venait d'atteindre vingt et un ans. NTRODUCTION. Ses adversaires memes avoiient que c'etail alors le plus- charmant cavalier qu'on put voir, bien fait, spirituel, I'air fin et distingue, de manieres exquises, tres-estime des grands, tres-recherche des dames. Gertes, les elegants gentilslionimes ne manquaient pas a la cour de Fran- cois F*^; mais ce qui y faisait de Theo- dore de Beze un type a part, c'est qu'il avait approfondi sous les meilleurs maitres la philosophic, la jurispru- dence, les langues anciennes, le grec surtout, et pouvait lutter d'erudition avec les hommes les plus savants de son temps. De tout cela d'ailleurs, il ne se souciait guere, c'etait la poesie qu'il aimait par-dessus tout; et a Tepo- que dont nous parlons, sa reputation ^^ id CALVIN l^ECRET PROVIDENCE. TRANSLATED^- *. "■•■■•' "•) 1951 BY JAMES LILLIE NEW YORK : ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET. 1840. • X > Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty, by JAMES LILLIE, mthe Clerk's Office of the Southern DistrictofNew York. W. B. & T. SMITH, PRINTERS, 89 Nassau, and 128 Fulton Streets. CONTENTS. Translator's PreTace, 3 Calumniator's Preface, 7 John Calvin's Reply to the Calumniator's Preface, 9 Articles alleged by tiie Calumniator to be taken from the Works of John Calvin, 15 Art. I. God, by a simple and pure act of his will, created the greatest part of the world for destruction, - 15 Art. II. God not only predestinated to damnation ; but he also predestinated Adam to the causes of damna- tion ; whose fall he not only foresaw, but deter- mined from Eternity by a secret decree, and ordained that he should fall ; and that this might come to pass in his time, he set forth the apple, the cause of the fall, ---. 33 Art. III. The sins which are committed, are committed not only by the permission, but also by the will of God. For it is frivolous to make a distinction between the permission and the will of God, so far as sin is concerned. Those who do so, wish to gain God's favour by compliments and adula- tion, 38 Art. IV. That all the crimes which any man commits, are the good and just works of God, 54 Art. V. That no adultery, theft, or homicide is committed, without the will of God being concerned. Ins. Cap. 14. Distinc. 44, 59 11 CONTEXTS. Art. VI. The Scripture openly testifies that crimes are ap- pointed, not luerely by the will, but by the au- thority of God, 59 Art. VII. What men do in sinning, they do by the will of God, since very often the will of God is inconsistent with the precept, 63 Art. VIII. The hardening of Pharaoh, and con.^equently his obstinacy and rebelhon, were the work of God, even by the testimony of Moses, who ascribes the whole rebellion of Pharaoh to God, 77 Art. IX. The will of God is the highest cause of the harden- ing of man, .78 Art. X. Satan is a liar by the command of God, - - - - 83 Art. XI. God gives will to those doing wrong ; He even sug- gests wicked and dishonourable affections, not only perraissively but efficaciously, and that lor his own glory, 85 Art. XII. The wicked, by their wickedness, do God's work rather than their own, 93 Art. XIII. We sin necessarily by the design of God, when we sin by our own, or by chance, 95 Art. XIV. The wickedness which men perpetrate by their own volition, proceeds also from the volition of God, 95 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE, If the principles discussed in the following pages were merely theoretical, the translator would deem the time which he has bestowed on preparing them for the press, little better than thrown away. This, however, in his judgment, is not the case. On the contrary, he is per- suaded, that the subject treated is eminently practical, and that the glory of God, no less than the good of man, is essentially involved, in maintaining the doctrine that " all things are of God." The form in which the subject is presented, will, it is hoped, not be uninteresting, as it seems to combine the spirit and point of actual debate, the calmness of solitary determination, and the clearness and force of consecutive reasoning. The desire to unite these seem- ingly incompatible advantages, has given to speculative discussions the shape of dialogues. But there is much force in the objection urged by Hume against the prac- tice, that the author has some opinions of his own to maintain, and tliat tlie arguments which he puts into tJie iv translator's preface. mouth of his antagonist are not always the best that might be found, nor presented in the language most fitted to give them their full weight. Here, however, the reader does not hsten to Hervey musing under the feigned names of Theron and Aspasio ; nor to the amia- ble and ingenious Berkeley idealising as Hylas and Philonous: but he hears the greatest of the Reformers vindicating his principles, point by point, against every cavil, that an objector both subtle and fluent could devise. It is not believed that the enemies of Calvinism, will, in general, disclaim their champion, though his vizor is down ; while those who are opposed to them will be satisfied with the defence. There has been recently, and still is, some difference in opinion as to what doctrines were really maintained by Calvin; and opposing controversialists have respec- tively appealed to his authority in defence of their own sentiments. A distinguished writer* has amused himself in ima- gining how the stern Reformer would look, were he to return to earth, on some calling themselves Calvinists, and how quickly he would tell them to begone to the camp of Arminius. The fine fancy of that gentleman will not be wanting to enable him to imagine how Cal- vin would deal with himself in the case supposed. Though dead, he yet speaks in this httle volume, and commands him no longer to assume the uniform of the * Dr. Chaiiniiig. TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. V Christian host, but to betake himself forthwith to the camp of Infidel. It is probable that many, besides the writer referred to, may be offended with the plain language of the Re- former. The translator, however, did not feel at liberty to consult the taste of such, by softening epithets which modern courtesy has discarded. So far as this had been done, the fidelity of the translation must have suffered ; and besides, he is not disposed to concur in the indiscrimi- nate condemnation, which it is but too common to pro- nounce on every thing like severity and indignation in theological debate. He more than suspects that the call for mildness, proceeds fully as often from indifference to all doctrinal distinctions, as from Christian meekness. He cannot shut his eyes to the fact, that the loudest cen- sors of such asperities, are often the very men who go the greatest lengths in political invective. The reason is, they are interested in their politics. Let them remem- ber that we Christians are interested in our creed ; and that if they feel justified in their warmth, because they beheve their property and even liberty are involved ; we are not ashamed of our zeal when convinced that riches inexhaustible and liberty everlasting, are at stake. The names which Calvin frequently applies to his assailant, and which perhaps will be most apt to shock a merely modern ear, are dog and swine. It must not, however, be forgotten that Christ himself uses the same expressions, and that in tliis He is followed by an Apos- VI TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. tla. The question for consideration is whether Calvin applies the terms as Christ and Peter did. This is a point for Christian wisdom to determine ; and the translator knows not the authority now living on the earth, whose judj^ment on this matter is entitled to out- weigh, or even balance the Reformer's. It was at first intended that notes should be appended to the text, for the purpose of explaining what might seem obscure, and enforcing what the necessary limits of his reply prevented the author from insisting on. The purpose, however, has been abandoned. Second thoughts suggested it as more respectful to the celebrity of the author, as well as becoming the obscurity of the translator, to send forth the work in its naked majesty. Should the attempt help, in any measure, the present age to appreciate more adequately than it does, him, whom when but 22 years old, Scaliger honoured as the most learned man in Europe, whom Melancthon distinguished among the mighty as pre-eminently '' the divine ;"* and who almost persuaded Bolingbroke to be a Christian; above all, if it shall be blessed by Almighty God to advance his own honour in the maintenance of his truth, and the salvation of men in the reception of it; the labour of the translator will not have been in vain. minebeck, 15 May, 1340. O' 6£o\oyoi. CALUMNIES OF A CERTAIN FELLOW AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF JOHN CALVIN, ON THE SECRET PROVIDENCE OF GOD, WITH CALVIN'S REPLIES, CALUMNIATOR'S PREFACE. John Calvin, though your name is very famous in ahiiost the whole world, and your doctrine has undoubt- edly many abettors, yet it lias also many adversaries. Now, as it is my eager wish, that doctrine were one, as truth is one, and that all if possible might harmonise in it, I have supposed that you should be frankly informed, of the objections continually made to your doctrine, that if they are false, you may refute them, and send the refutation to us, that so we may be able to withstand the gainsayers : and let your reasons be such as the people can understand. Though there are many things in regard to which many differ with you, yet deferring other matters to another time, I shall at present handle with you, the single argument concerning fate or predestination, both because this point is exciting great tumults in the chiuch. Vlll TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. which we would fain see terminated ; and because in this instance, the arguments of the adversaries, cannot as yet be refuted, from the books which you have hitherto pubhshed. I will here set down in a desultory way, certain arti- cles taken from your books, and tossed about in this discussion; I will then subjoin what is ordinarily alleged against each article, that you may perceive what requires an answer. JOHN CALVIN'S REPLY TO THE CALUMNIATOR'S PREFACE, That ray doctrine has marxj adversaries, is neither unknown nor astonishing to me : for it is no new thing for Christ, beneath whose standard I contend, to be the object of abuse to many babblers. On this account alone I grieve, that through my side is pierced the sacred and eternal truth of Godrwhich ought to be reverently esteemed and adored by the whole world. But when I see that from the beginning, truth has been subject to the many calumnies of the wicked, and that Christ himself (for the Celestial Father has so decreed) must needs be the mark for contradiction, this also should be patiently endured. The virulent assaults of the wicked, however, shall never make me repent of that doctrine, which 1 am assured has God for its author. Nor have I so little profited, by the many conflicts in which God has exer- cised me, that I should now be alarmed at your futile outcry. Besides, so far as you are privately concerned, my masked adviser, this is some consolation, that you could not be ungrateful to a man, who had obliged you more than you deserved, without at the same time be- traying foul impiety against God. I know indeed that to you Academicians, there is no sweetei' game, than under 1 I ANSAVER TO THE colour of doubt, to plnck wp every particle of faith in me hearts of men : and how witty in your apprehension that raillery is, which you cast against the secret provi- dence of God, is sufficiently evident from your style, dissemble it as you may. But I summon you and your companions to that Tribunal, whence by-and-bye the Celestial Judge, by the lightning alone of his face and breath, will effectually prostrate your audacity. Mean- Vv'hile, I am confident, that I can soon render your smartness as offensive to honest and wise i^eaders, as it is secretly pleasant to yourself. You demand of me a refutation of your treatise which you sent to Paris from Geneva, by stealth ; that un- known to me, the poison might be scattered far and wide, without its antidote ; and while you affect some desire of information, you suppress yoin* name, for no reason that I can imagine, but because you were aware, that I had something at hand, which would at once de- stroy the credit of you and your gang. From many marks, however, I can conjecture, nav I may conclude,- who you are ; but it is of no importance to me, whether you wrote with your own hand, or whether you dictated to a Scottish preacher of your frenzies, with the design of his carrying to Paris, what it was unlawfrd to publish here. I could wish indeed, either that this pamphlet had another author, or that you were a different man from what you are ; and that you will never be till you have felt the loveliness of candour. Though in your intercourse with me you were never deficient in respect, yet it was easy to see how prone you are by nature to cavil. This vice, which you aggravated by childish whims, I endeavoured to correct, but in vain ; because your natural tendency had been aggravated by a wretched vanity, wiiich strained after the praise of acute- ness, on the ground of a few very silly, and worse than insipid jokes. Nor can you defend yourself by the ex- ample of Socrates, who was wont to sift by his objections, opinions of every kind. For, while that man was illus- trious, for many distinguished excellencies, they were all CALUMNIATORS PREFACE, XI Xarnished by that vice, in which alone, you, with no less impropriety than eagerness seek to rival him. You demand of me a refutation of your treatise, such as the people can understand. Now, I have hitherto laboured to accomodate myself, to the apprehension of the simples*, by a style of instruction, at once perspicu- ous and pure. But if you receive no statement as argu- ment, except what the sense of carnal man approves, by such proud disdain, you do, with your own hand, bar the approach to that doctrine, the knowledge of which begins in reverence. JNor am I ignorant of the jibes of you, and those like you, with which you assail God's mysteries; just as if everything m.ust lose its grace and authority, that does not strike your fancy. And what is meant by requiring me to refute eveiy one who shall choose 10 rail at me ? For even Socrates, whose authority you falsely allege, would have submitted to no such rule. I for my part have no fondness for indiscriminate imita- tion ; but if there ever wa?, not only in this age, but in any other, a man who constantly set himself against the wicked, by dissipating their calumnies ; even those who dislike and injure me, will give me some credit for that kind of industry. Wherefore your rant is the more in- tolerable, because, while with the blind impetuosity of impudence, you trample on all my labours, you enjoin a task already three or four times accomplished. But you maintain there is one point, on which I am worsted by my adversaries; in so far as no sufficient materials for a defence, can be found in anything which I have hitherto published. That point, you say, is pre- destination or fate. I would it had been your design, either modestly to inquire, or at least to dispute with candour, rather than by outraging all decency, and for the sake of extinguishing the light, to confound things the most opposite. Fate, according to the Stoics, is a necessity springing out of a changeable, and complicated labyrinth, and binding in some measure God himself. Instructed by the Scriptures, I define predest ination, as the free counsel of God, by vvliich he regulates 'ffie' hu- XU AlJSWER TO THE man race, and all the individual parts of the universe, ac- cording to his own immense wisdom, and incomprehen- sible justice. Now, if the depravity of your disposition, and the lust of contention, and the pride of the devil so bUnd you, that you see nothing at midday, yet this dis- tinction will demonstrate to all readers who have eyes, what fairness there is in your criticism. Besides, had you not grudged even a glance at my books, you might thence have inferred, how little pleased I am with that profane word fate ; nay you would have read, that the same objection was Jong ago, malignantly and invidiously brought against Augustine, by foul fellows, and men like yourself; and in the reply of that pious and holy doctor, there is a brief statement of what is sufficient for my defence to day. In the articles too, which you say have been extracted from my books, the case with me is the same as with that author of happy memory. As ihe malevolent were aware, that this doctrine was not popular, they with the design of aggravating the dislike of it, flung about pas- sages, partly mutilated, partly distorted, so that it was impossible for the uninformed, to come to any but an unfavourable judgment. But though at first sight many supposed them extracted from his writings, yet he com- plains that they were falsely imputed to him ; inasmuch as they had either industriously heaped together broken sentences, or by changing a few words, had artfully corrupted pious and sound doctrine, in order to create offence in the minds of the simple. That those articles which you boast of propounding from my books, are precisely of the same kind, wise and honest readers will easily discover, even though I were silent; and to such it will not be troublesome, to compare my doctrine with your foul calumnies. And this I maintain, first of all, that you act neither a manly nor an ingenious part, when you specify no passages, to show intelligent readers, that I write what you allege. For what can be more unjust, when I have published so many books, than vaguely to declare, that out of about fifty volumes, four- XI] 1 teen articles have bf.en gathered. It had unquestiona- bly been better, were a drop of honesty in you, either to quote my sentences word for word: or if you perceived anything dangerous to have warned your readers of what passages to beware. Whereas, by branding all my works promiscuously, you would destroy the remem- brance of them ; and what in my books, might be read without any offence, you malignantly corrupt for your own convenience, and so render hateful. Now while I do not blame the prudence of Augustine, in so temper- ing his replies as to avoid odium, when he met the un- principled craft of his adversaries, yet I think it better frankly to repel your slanders, than to give the smallest symptom of turning my back. 1* ARTICLES GATHERED FROM THE LATIN AND FRENCH WORKS OF JOHN CALVIN, OJT THE SUBJECT OF PREDESTINATION. Article First, i. e. Calumny First. God, hy a_ simple arid pure act of his will, created the greatest part of the world for destruction, Aminst the First. o Such is the first article ; take likewise what is said against it. They say, the first article is against nature, and against Scripture. Of nature they allege thus. Every animal naturally loves its offspring ; now this na- ture is from God ; from which it follows that God loves his offspring. For he would never make animals love their offspring, if he himself likewise did not lov^i his. And this they prove by the following argument. The Lord hath said, " Shall I cause to bring forth, and shall I not bring forth," (Is. Ixvi. 9.) Hence by a parity of rea- son, they deduce the argument, God makes animals love their offspring; therefore he himself loves his offspring. But all men are the offspring of God; for God is the Father of Adam, from whom all men are sprung: there- fore he loves all men. But to create in order to destroy, 16 ONSECRET is not the part of love, but of hatred. Therefore he created no man for destruction. Besides creation is a work of love, not of hatred ; consequently in love, not in hatred, God created all men. Moreover, there is no beast so savage, (not to speak of man,) as to design the misery of it's young, in their production. How much less God ? Were he not worse than even a wolf? Christ argues thus; " If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more God? Your adversaries also argue thus: If Calvin though wicked, would yet be unwilling to beget a son for misery, how much less God ? These and such like things they speak concerning nature. Of Scripture on the other hand, they speak thus: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good ; therefore, man, whom he had made, was very good. But if God had created him for destruction, he had created a good thing for destruction, and loves to destroy what is good ; which is impious even to think. Besides God created one man, to place him in paradise, which is a happy life ; therefore^ he created all men for a happy life. For all were created in one. And if all fell in Adam, all must have stood in Adam, and that on the same condition as Adam. Again, " I have no plea- sure in the death of the wicked." Again, " God is not wilhng that any should perish ; but would that all should come to the knowledge of the truth." Again, if God created the greatest part of the world for destruction, it follows that his anger must be greater than his mercy ; and yet the Scriptures declares that he is slow to anger; so that his anger extends only to the third or fourth gene- ration, while liis mercy reaches even to the thousandth. J. Calvin^ s Reply to the first article and the criticism of the Calumniator, The first article you take hold of, is, that God, by a simple and pure act of PROVIDENCE, 17 his will, created the greatest part of the world for destruction. Now, all that about " the greatest part of the world," and " the simple pure act of the will of God" is fictitious, and the product of the workshop of ^^our malice. For, though God from the beginning decreed what- soever was to come to pass with the whole human race ; yet this way of talking is no where to be met with in my writings, that the end of creation is eternal de- struction. Therefore like a swine, you upset with your snout, a doctrine of good odour, in order to find in it something of- fensive. Besides, though the will of God is to me the highest of all reasons, yet I everywhere teach, that where the reason of his counsels and his works, does not appear, the reason is hid with him ; so that he has always decreed justly and wisely. Therefore I not only reject, I detest the trifling of the Schoolmen about absolute power, because they separate his justice from his authority. Now see, dog, what you gain by your froward barking. 1, subjecting as I do the human race to the will of God, loudly declare that he decrees nothing without the best 18 ONSECRET reason, which if unknown to us now, shall be cleared up at last. You, thrust- ing forward your ''simple and pure act of will" impudently upbraid me with that, which I openly reject in a hundred places or more. At the same time, I do acknowledge this as my doctrine, that not merely by the permission of God, but by his secret counsel also, Adam fell, and in his fall, dragged down all his descend- ants into everlasting perdition. Both as- sertions, as I perceive, are offensive to you, as repugnant at once to nature and Sci'ipture. Your argument from nature, is founded on the love which every ani- mal naturally feels towards its own off- spring. You hence infer, that God w^ho has inspired even brute beasts with this affection must love men no less, since they are his offspring. But it is too gross to insist on findinsf in God the author of o nature, whatever you discern in the ox, and the ass ; as if God were bound by the very same laws which he has given to his creatures. To secure the continu- ance of every race of animals, God has endowed each with the appetite of gene- rating offspring. Now expostulate with PROVIDENCE. * 19 him, why from all eternity content with himself alone, he kept his energy, as it were, barren. Undoubted ly he must be always like himself. If then, you may be judge, he violated the order of nature, so long as he chose rather to be without offspring, than to put forth his productive power. Besides, while beasts fight even to death, in behalf of their young, how comes it that God allows little infants ta be torn and devoured by tigers, or bears, or lions, or wolves ? Is it because his arm is too short to reach forth protection to his own ? You perceive how wide a field is open to me, if I cared about ex- posing your follies ; but this alone is enough for me, that there are evidences of God's love, toward the whole human race, sufficient to convict all who perish, of ingratitude. Nor yet is this inconsist- ent with that peculiar love which he re- stricts to the lew, whom he is pleased to select among many. Certainly he openly declared, by his ancient adoption of the family of Abraham, that he by no means embraces the whole human family, with equal regard. So by rejecting Esau, and pieferring his younger brother Jacob, 20 ONSECRET he gave an illustrious proof of that free favour, which he bestows only on whom he pleases. Moses proclaims that one nation had been chosen by God to the rejection of all the rest. The prophets every where affirm, that the only reason of the superiority of the Jews, was the unmerited favour of God. Will you deny him to be God ; because in this you discover no resemblance to a tiger or a bear ? It was not in vain that Christ addressing the little flock (and not the human race, nor even indiscriminately the Jewish nation) said, " fear not, it has pleased the Father to give you the king- dom ;" because none but those whom he reconciles to himself, in his Only Begot- ten Son, experience his paternal love, in the hope ^of eternal life. Now^, if you mean to subject God to the laws of na- ture, you will accuse him of injustice, in condemning us all to the penalty of eter- nal death, on account of the sin of one. One sinned, all are dragged to punish- ment ; and not only so, but from the crime of one they all contract contagion, and are born corrupted and tainted with a mortal malady. Worthy Critic ! what PROVIDENCE. 21 have you to say to this ? Will you con- demn God as cruel, because he has pre- cipitated all his offspring into ruin, for the fault of one man ? For though Adam destroyed himself and his descendants, yet we must ascribe the corruption and the guilt, to the secret determination of God ; because, the sin of one man were nothing to us, if the Celestial Judge did not doom us to eternal ruin on account of it. And observe, how skilfully you quote a passage of Isaiah to gloze your error. Whereas it seemed incredible, that the Church of God, which in Babylonish captivity, not only was deprived of her children, but had become barren, should, with renovated vigour, be more fruitful than before ; God speaks thus : " Shall not I, by whose strength women bring forth, be able also to produce offspring?" Under this pretext, you compel God to assume all the properties of the brutes. You audaciously argue, because God makes animals love their offspring, that he too must love his offspring. Though this were admitted, it would not follow that he loves them in the same way. Be- 2 22 ON SECRET sides, this does not prove, that he may not as a juot Judge reject those, whom, as the best of Fathers, he folio vvs with affection and indulo^ence. Again, you object that creation is a work of love, not of hatred ; that conse- quently God creates from love, and not from hatred. But you do not distinguish, that though all are odious to God in Adam, yet his love shines in creation. Therefore, any one endov/ed with mod- erate judgment, and candour, will ac- knowledge the frivolity of that which you fancy so plausible. What follows, it is not so much for me to refute with my pen, as for the magistrate severely to punish by the sword. Shall it be imputed to my books, that men are unde'Mably born to misery ? How comes it that we are exppsed fipl n>erely to temporal mise- ries/ bijt al^o to eternal death, if not be- ' cause God has cast us mto a common condemnation, on account of the sin of one man. In this miserable ruin of the human race, it is not my opinion that is read, but God's manifest work that is beheld. You, with no misgiving, vomit the impious declaration, that God is worse PROVIDENCE. 23 than any wolf, if he resolves to create men for misery. Some are born blind, others deaf, and some are prodigiously deformed. If you, indeed, may be judge, God is cruel in afflicting his offspring with such disadvantages before they come into light. But by-and-bye you shall feel, how much better it had been for you, never to have seen at all, than to have been so perspicacious in discus- sing the secrets of God. You, forsooth, accuse God of injustice, nay call him a monster, if he manage the human race, in a manner different from what we do our children. Why then does he create some dull, others stupid, and others idiots ? As some of the Jews fables of the fauns and satyrs being unfinished, because their IMaker was cut short by the Sabbath, will you be so absurd as to maintain that such persons slipped in- complete out of the hands of God ? Such sad sights should rather teach us reve- rence and modesty, than produce a debate out of our brains with the Maker of heaven and earth. If I meet an idiot, I am admonished by the sight, what God might have created me. As many as 24 0N6ECRET are stupid and dull, just so many minors does God present, in which I may behold a power, no less awful than wonderful. But you allow yourself to rail at him as worse, than a wolf, for consulting so ill for his creatures. True, Christ declares, that God who is good, acts more kindly towards his sons, than men who are evil ; but before you can turn this to your purpose, you must prove, that all are equally the sons of God. Now, it is clear, that all lost eternal life in Adam ; whereas the grace of adoption is special. Whence, it will rather follow, that so many as are alien- ated from God, are abhorred by him. Your texts, are darts hurled at random, by the hand of a madman. God saw the things which he had made, and they were very good ; hence you infer that man was very good ; and again conclude, that God was unjust if he created a good being for destruction. The nature of man's original rectitude I have sufficiently expounded, and more than sufficiently, in many passages. Doubtless he was not better than the devil, before he had fallen from his in- PROVIDENCE. 25 tegrity. Now were 1 to grant 3^ou, that man, as well as apostate angels, was created for happiness ; and yet maintain, that in respect of future defection, they were destined to destruction ,; what will you make of it ? For, undoubtedly, God knew what would happen to l>oth ; and what he himself would do^the at the same time decreed. As to permission, we shall consider it afterwards in its own place. But now if you object that the foreknowl- edge of God, is not the cause of evil, I would only demand of you, if God iore- saw the fall, both of the devil and of man before creation, why did he not by sl timely precaution prevent their proneness to fall? From the beginning of the world, the devil forthwith alienated himself from the hope of salvation ; man as soon as created, overwhelmed himself and pos- terity in fatal ruin. If their perseverance was in the hand of God, why did he suf- fer them to fall ? Nay why was neither furnished w^ith even a moderate degree of constancy ? Turn as you will, I will hold this principle, that however Vv^eak and liable to fall, man might be created, this weakness was very good ; because 2* S6 ON SECRET I his ruin was so soon to show that out of ' God, there was no strength, no stabiUty. Whence it is also evident, that your prating about men being made for hap- piness, is lame and thoughtless assertion. For though I acknowledge that there was nothing in man contrary to salvation, I prove that happiness was not predesti- nated for all in the secret council of God. I I will briefly repeat the same thing in \ other words. If the natural completeness, with which man was endowed at his first creation, be alone considered, then he was made for happiness, inasmuch as no cause of death will there be found. If on the other hand we inquire concerning secret predestination, we come upon that deep abyss, which should call forth instant admiration. Besides, if you were imbued with the slightest relish for piety, you would readily acknowledge that these words " all things were very good," were not intended to express their perfection, as if the Holy Spirit declared, that nothing was wanting to the excellence of any creature, but rather to cut oflT occasion of railing from you, and those like you. PROVIDENCE. 27 For, however, you may deny that it was good for men to be created under this law, by which his fall was immediately to corrupt the whole world, yet God de- clares that this arrangement was pleasing to himself, and therefore most upright. That you may the better understand the meaning of Moses, he is not asserting how just or upright man was ; but to quell your barking, he teaches that the consti- tution established by God in regard to man, could not be surpassed in rectitude. Accordingly, although in speaking of each of God's works, he declares that God saw what he had made, and they were every one good, he does not affirm any such thing of man in particular ; but to the narrative of his creation, he only adds in general, " w^hatever God made was very good," under which declara- tion, it is unquestionable, we must com- prehend what Solomon teaches, that the wicked are created for the day of evil. The sum is ; though man by nature was good, this rectitude, which was frail and fading, was not inconsistent with the di- vine predestination, which doomed him to perish for his own sin, who, consider- ON SECRET ing merely the purity of his nature, nay the excellence with which he was adorn- ed, had been created for happiness. And therefore you falsely and foolishly infer that he was created to perish though good ; when it is manifest he fell by his own infirmity, and did not perish till he became obnoxious to a just condemna- tion.- That these two things are mutually harmonious, we shall see more clearly by-and-bye. You object that God does not desire the death of the sinner. But mark what follows in the prophet, ih6 invitation -of all to repentance. Pardon, therefore, is offered to all who return. Now we must ascertain, whether the conversion which God requires, depends on every man's free will, or whether it is the special gift of God. In so far then, as all are invited to repent, the prophet properly denies that the death of the sin- ner is desired. But the reason why he does not convert all, is hid with himself. Your hacknied quotation from Paul, that God would have all men saved, I have, in my judgment, elsewhere suffi- ciently shown, lends no countenance to your error. For it is moie certain than PRO VID KNCB. 29 certainty itself, that Paul is not there speaking of individuals, but refers to or- ders and classes of employments. He had been enjoining prayers, in behalf of kings and other governors, and all who exercised the office of magistrate. But inasm.uch as all who then bore the sword, were the professed enemies of the church, it might seem absurd that the church should pray for their salvation. To ob- viate the difficulty Paul extends the grace of God even to them. There is perhaps more colour in the words of Peter, that "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance;" if, however, there is any ambiguity in the former clause, it is removed by the explanation, which is im- mediately subjoined. Certainly in so far as God would receive all to repentance, he would have no one perish. But in order to be received they must come. Now, the Spirit every where proclaims, that divine grace first comes to men, who till they are drawn remain the willing slaves of carnal contumacy. If you had the smallest judgment remaining, would you not perceive the wide difference between so ONSECRET these two : that the stony hearts of men, become hearts of flesh, so as to lose all self-complacency, and suppliantly entreat for pardon ; then, when they are thus changed, that pardon is received. God declares that both these are the gifts of his kindness, the new heart for repent- ance, and the gracious pardon of the suppliants. Unless God were ready to receive all who truly implore his mercy, he would not say, " return unto me, and I will return unto you." But if repent- ance were the effect of the will of man, Paul would not say, '* if peradventure God mllow their parent. " Be ye holy," says he, " for I am holy." Therefore by the same rule it will be said, " Commit ye sin, for I commit sin." J. Calvin's Reply, In the fourth article you add to your forgeries ; of which fact, I would have readers warned, only on this account, that they may judge of the matter by its own merits, instead of by youi foetid calum- nies. Not that. I shrink from your objec- tion; I merely complain, that my language is changed, for the malignant purpose of distorting my doctrine, into 56 ONSECKET sometliing odious. You contend with me just as if I had said, that sin is a just work of God ; a sentiment uniformly held up to detestation, in all my writings. Therefore, just in proportion as your puerility seems subtle to yourself, is it in reality ridiculous. You infer that justice is evil, injustice good, that God is the servant of sin, and unjustly punishes what he does himself; all which are monsters fabricated in your own brain, and diligently refuted by me, as my books testif}^ But you shall by-and- bye feel, how detestable is the crime, to trifle in your railing way with the hidden mysteries of God. Now that you may know you have no business or controversy wdth me, but with that celestial Judge, whose tribunal you shall not escape ; Job, by no other surely than the Spirit's impulse, declares that to have been the work of God, which was done both by Satan and by robbers ; and yet he does not tax God with sin but blesses his holy name. It is certain that the selling of in- nocent Joseph by his brethren, was an atrocious crime ; yet Joseph ascribing the same work to God, contemplates his PROVIDENCE. 57 immense goodness, in thereby giving food to his father's family. When Isaiah calls the Assyrians the rod in the hand of God, he makes God the author of the horrible carnage, which through him was to be effecled ; but without casting the smallest stain on God. Jeremiah cursing those who did the woik of God neolioent- 1}^, means by the work of God, whatsoever cruelty an impious adversary inflicted on the Jews. Now expostulate with him, as if he said that God sinned. In fine, all who are acquainted with the Scrip- tures, are aware that such testimonies might be multiplied so as to form a volume. But what need is there of w^oi ds, when the thins: is clear of itself. Was it not an illustrious display of the grace of God, that he did not spare his Son ^ Of Christ too that he gave himself up f Here you, with impure and sacrilegious mouth, affirm that God sinned, if the sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son was his work. But every pious man along with Augustine, has no difiiculty in unty- ing this knot. When the Father deliver- ed up the Son, and the Lord his own body, and Judas his Lord, why in this 5 58 ON SECRET surrender (48 Ep. to Vin.) is God just and man guilty ? If not because in the one thing which the}^ did, the causes were dif- ferent, on account of which they did it» Therefore, Peter does not scruple openly to assert (Acts iv. 28,) that Pilate, Judas, and the rest of the wicked, did what the counsel and hand of God had decreed ; as a little before he had declared (Acts ii. 28,) that Christ was delivered by the deter- minate counsel and foreknowledge of God. If you quibble about the word foreknowled2:e, vou are abundantly re- futed by the " determinate counsel ;" and the former passage leaves not the shadow of doubt, when it declares that Pilate and the wicked did, what the counsel and the hand of God, had decreed to be done. If you do not comprehend so great a secret, wonder w^ith the apos- tle, and exclaim, oh the height ! but do not madly insult. If you would be teachable, a fuller explanation w^ere ready for you, in my other writings ; it is now sufficient to beat down your inso- lence, lest weak minds should be shaken. PROVIDENCE. 59 Article Fifth. That no adultery^ theft, or homicide is com- mitted, without the will of God being con- cerned. Ins. Cop. 14. Distin. 44. Article Sixth. The Scripture openly testifies, that crimes are appointed not merely by the will, but by the authority of God. Against the Fifth and Sixth. Against the fifth and the sixth your adversaries say many things, and liiese especially. If God wills sin, and is the author of sin, God hiiuscltis to be punished. For sin should be visited altogether on its author. If God wills sin, the Devil does not will sin ; for the Devil is in all things contrary to God. If God wills sin, he loves sin; and if he loves sin he hates righteousness. If God wills sin, he is worse than many men, for many men are unwilling to sin. JVay, the nearer any one approaches the nature of God. the less he wills sin. Why then does Paul say, the good I would I do not; but the evil I would not, thaFl do? Why does not Paul will, what God wills .' Or why does Paul will what God does not will ? Lastly, they demand what Scripture testifies that crimes are appointed not merely by the will but by the authority of God? J. Calvhi's Reply, It was owing to that very divine pro- vidence which you oppose, that you hap- 60 ONSECRET pened to mark the passage in the fifth article. Readers will perceive, that I am there reciting in the person of my ad- versaries, the objections which are ordi- narily brought against my doctrine. You snatch at that mutilated passage ; and do you not deserve that every one should spit in your face ? In the sixth article, though you do not specify the place, your impudence makes a still wider bound, that I, who, as often as sin is mentioned, uniformly give the most solemn warnings, that the name of God must be kept wide apart, that / should anywhere have said, that crimes are perpetrated not only by the will, bat by the authority of God. Certainly I shall willingly suffer any- thing to be said against a blasphemy so prodigious, only let not my name be so unrighteously coupled with it. How far you succeed in deceiving fools, I know not ; but I have no fear, should any one choose to compare your figments with my writings, but your dishonesty will render you execrable as you deserve to be. You contend if God loves sin,hehates righteous- ness, and you bring forward many things of the same import. For what purpose f PR OV IDENCE . 61 If not to subscribe my language. For it is not yesterday for the first time, nor the day before, but many years since, I have distinctty used this language, (book on Eternal Predestination,) " If in tne spoil- ing of Job, there was a work common to God, to Satan, and to robbers, how shall God be exempted from whatever blame belonos to Satan and his instruments ? Beyond all question human actions are distinguished by their object and design, so that his cruelty is condemned, who digs out crows' eyes, or kills the stork, while the merit of the Judge is praised, who sanctifies his hands by the slaught- er of the wicked. And why shall the condition of God be worse, so that his justice may nt)t separate him from the crimes of men?" Let readers only run over what I there subjoin, nay, let them peruse the whole passage in that treatise, where I dispute about the Providence of God, and they will easily perceive, how all your mists are there sufficiently, and more than sufficiently dispelled. Let them add, if they please, what I have written on the second chapter of Acts. When men commit theft or homicide, 5» 62 ONSECRET they therefore sin, because they are thieves and homicides. Now in theft and homicide, there is a wicked desisn. God who employs their wickedness, is to be placed in a higher position, for he has an entirely different object, inasmuch as he intends to chastise one, and exercise the patience of another ; and thus he never swerves from his nature, that is, from perfect rectitude. Wickedness being always estimated from the design con- templated, it is evident that God is not the author of sin. The sum of the whole matter is this ; since the cause of sin is an evil will in men, when God executes his righteous judgments by their hands, he is so far from being involved in blame, that he brings forth the light of his glory out of darkness. In that tract too, which roused these furies from deep hell against me, the following clear distinction frequently occurs, that nothing is more iniquitous, or more preposterous, than to draw God into fellowship in gailt, when he executes his judgments by the hands of the Devil and the wicked ; since there is no affini- ty in their ways of acting. PROVIDENCE. 63 Besides I have published a work twelve years since, which more than sufficiently vindicates me from your putid calum- nies ; and should have protected me from all annoyance, if in you and those like you, there were one drop of humanity ; for I boast not how skilfully I have re- futed that phrenzy, by which the liber- tines (those monsters) had fascinated many. It is certain I professedly un- dertook the management of that cause, and have luminously demonstrated that "God is not the author of sin. Article Seventh. What men do in sinning they do hy the will of God, since very often the will of God is inconsiste?it with the precept. Against the Severith, On the seventh they ask. if the will of God is often inconsistent with the precept, how is it possible to know when he wills, and when he does not will what he enjoins. For if Calvin say we must always do what God com- mands, whether he will it or not, it follows that God would sometimes have his will resisted. For if he com- mands me not to commit adultery and yet wills that I 64 ONSECRET shall commit adultery, and yet I ought not to do so, I ought, in that ca?e, to act contrary to his will. Now, then, when he gives this universal command to the Israelites, " Do not commit adultery," whether does he will that all should ohey him, or that some should, and others not? Here your adversaries demand tome dis- tinct reply, Calvin. If you say. that he chooses a part should coMunit the sin, and a part not, God will be in- consistent with himself in the same precept. They also allege that God is a liypocrite, if heYenjoins one thing, and wills another; that he has honey in his mouth, and gall in his heart. If it is objected to them that God has two wills contrary to each other, the one open, that is to say in his precepts; the otiier hid ; they ask who opened that hidden will to Calvin? For if Calvin and his party know it, it is not hidden; if they are ignorant of it, why do they make assertions about a thing unknown? They also maintain that two contraries cannot exist together, at the same time, in one subject. But to will at once the same thing, and not to will it, are contraries. Besides, if God have two wills inconsistent with each other, it is credible that Calvin (an imitator of God, of course.) has two wills, and that he says one thing, and thinks another. Therefore we are unwilling to l)elieve Calvin, as a man double-tongued, double-hearted, and double-willed. Again, it God, when he commands justice, wills in- justice, it follows, that the Devil ordering injustice, may will justice. And if God, in saying oi;e thing, and will- ing another, does not sm, it follows, if any one imitate him in this he does not sin; lor to imitate God is cer- tainly not wrong. Therefore it will be lawfiil to exhort men in this way ; — lie, say one thing, and carry another in your breasts, that ye may be like your Father, who says one thing, and wills another. They also ask, with which will God speaks, when he commands us to pray, "Thy will be done;" and " who- soever doeth the will of my Father, who is in heaven, PROVIDENCE. 65 the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother." So Paul, " Thou art called a Jew, and resiest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and dost approve things that are excellent, and hast learned the law," &c. &c. Certainly here the will of God is what the law commands, and if that will is good, whatever will is contrary must be evil. For whatever is contrary to good is evil. So in regard to the declara- tion of Christ, " how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not ;" Christ certainly speaks of his open will, which had been expressed in so many ways. Now if he had another will contrary to that, his whole life was mere hypocrisy, which is horrible even to think of. In fine, they say, if God enjoins what he does not will, there are not too wills, but a lie ; for whoever says he wills what he does not will, lies; and to command merely in words is to lie, and not to will. J. Calvin's Rejjly. To answer the seventh is no concern of mine. Produce the passage, where I affirm that the will of God is very often contiary to the precept; for such a thing never came into my mind, even in a dream. But on the contrary I have faithfully expounded, amongst other things, how the will of God is simple and one, though between his secret counsel and his doctrine, some seeming discrepan- cy may appear. Whoever shall modestly and soberly submit to the omnipotent God, wdll easily understand, so far as the 66 ONSECRET scanty measure of man's intelligence may reach, how God, who forbids whore- dom, and punished the adultery of David by the incest of Absalom, always wills one and the same thins:, thouoh in differ- ent ways. Therefore, lest the filth of your lies should cast the smallest stain on me, this may be briefly testified to the reader, that your allegations about me holding two contrary wills in God, are most wicked fictions of your own ; since I everywhere teach, that the most perfect harmony subsists between God's hidden counsel, and the outward word of his doctrine. I grant that Augustine men- tions different wills ; but these so harmo- nious with each other, that the last day will demonstrate how consistent he was in all his complicated modes of action. This being settled, now fight with your- self to 3^our heart's content " about God forbidding what he wishes to be done, or enjoining what he does not w^ish, and thus commandinofhiswillto be resisted." Tnall this filth I recognise nothing belonging to me. On the contrary this is the sum of my doctrine. The will of God, which is expressed in the Law, clearly proves that PROVIDENCE. 67 rectitude is approved by him, and iniqui- ty detested. And be3^ond all doubt, he would not denounce punishment against evil-doers, if they pleased him. Still what he is not willing should be done, and forbids any one to do, he may, never- theless, in his own ineffable counsel, de- termine shall be done for a different end. If you here retort on me, that God is in- consistent with himself, I shall ask in re- turn, does it become you to prescribe the law to him of never transcending the range of 3^our judgment ? Moses pro- claims that God has his own secrets ; while the Law reveals what it is useful for man to know. Will you suppose that nothing is lawful for God, that is not per- fectly plain to you ? In the book of Job after the depth of his counsel is cele- brated, which swallows up all human comprehension, this clause is at length added, " Lo ! these are the extremities of his ways, and how little is heard of him !" You will allow no counsel to God, that is not brought under your eye. Now you are either more than blind, or you see that when God in his word forbids you adulter}^ he is unwilling you should 68 ONSECRET be an adulterer ; and that yet in the adulteries which he condemns, he exer- cises his just judgments ; which undoubt- edly he could not do, unless both his knowleage and his will were concernedr If you would have the thing stated more briefly ; — he does will that adultery should not be committed, in so far as it is pollution, — a violation of sacred order, — in fine a transgression of the law ; in so far as he employs adulteries, and other enormities in the execution of his vengeance, he certainly does not unwill- irjgly discharge the duty of a judge. For though we will not praise the Chaldeans and Assyrians for cruelly wading through scenes of horrid slaughter ; yea though God himself declares, that he would be avenged on them ; yet again he else- where informs us, that sacrifices were in this way prepared for him. Will you deny that God's will is concerned in that w^hich he dignifies with the honourable name of sacrifice. (Is. xxix. and xxxiv. cap. ; Jer. xlvi. ; Ezek. xxxix.) At length then awake, and acknow- ledge that when men are driven headlong by depraved a])petite, God in secret and PROVIDENCE. 69 ineffable ways manages his own judg- ments. You think the quibble subtle, when you ask ; in prohibiting adultery, does God will that all should commit it, or only a part ? For if I answer a part, you infer that God is inconsistent with himself. Now you have a definite answer, that God demands chastity of all, because he loves it in all ; yet expe- rience itself, though 1 were silent, shows different ways of willing. For if his will were equally efficacious that all should be chaste, he would without doubt render all chaste. Now as chastity is his pecu- liar gift, it is easy to infer that he wills differently what he enjoins in the word, from what he realises by the Spirit of regeneration. Nor on this principle, is theie any reason that your shameless tongue should upbraid God with hypoc- risy ; as if he had honey in his mouth, and gall in his heart. For God pretends nothing either in commanding or forbid- ding ; but sincerely reveals his nature. And in that secret counsel by which he guides all the actions ofmen, you will find nothing contrary to his justice. Whoredom displeases God the author of 6 70 ON SECRET chastity ; yet the same God determined to punish David by the incestuous out- rages of Absalom. Human blood he forbids to be shed, because as he follows his image with his love, so he guards it with his protection ; and yet out of impious nations, he raised up executioners of the sons of Eli, because he determined to slay them. Such is the express doc- trine of the sacred history. If your bhndness is a hindrance to you, yet all who have eyes perceive, that it is quite consistent for God to abhor whoredom and slaughter, in so far as they are sins, or (what comes to the same thing,) to abhor the transgression of his law in whoredom and slaughter, and yet to execute his own ju:igments, in taking just vengeance on the sins of men, by means of slaughter, and wickedness of every kind. However dexterous you may fancy your query if there is any secret will of God, how did I happen to find it out ; I shall have no difficulty in answering it, provided I may be allowed to follow the Holy Spirit as my master. For if Paul testifies that God dwells in light inacces- PROVIDENCE. ' 71 sible ; if the same apostle with good reason exclaims that his ways are incom- prehensible, why ma}^ I not be allowed to admire his secret will thouoh it be con- o cealed from us ? The wisdom of God is extolled in the book of Job, with numerous and splendid eulogiums, that mortals may learn not to measure that wisdom by their own apprehensions. Will you then ridicule all discourse about what is con- cealed ? Or will you upbraid David with speaking foolishly of the judgments of God, when he acknowledges them to be a great deep ? From all the prophets and apostles, I learn that the divine counsel is incomprehensible. I embrace what they declare with no hesitating failh. Why should this modesty be im- puted to me as a fault ? And think not to escape by saying, that I refer to ex- amples that are not applicable ; for surely I have the very same subject in hand as Paul had, when he exclaims concerning the depth of the riches of wisdom — the incomprehensible judgments, the un- searchable ways of God, in secret elec- tion or reprobation ; — and yet ceases not openly to assert, that God follows whom Mi 72 O N S E C R E T he pleases with mercy, and dooms the rest to destruction. In fine, give up all fondness for your puerile dilemna, for the Scriptures assure me of the secret will of God ; asserting what I have learned from them I do speak of an ascertained truth ; but be- cause I do not reach so great a height, I reverently adore with fear and trembhng what is too sublime for the angels them- selves. Often therefore in my writings I admtjnish my readers, that on this sub- ject nothing is better than a learned ignorance ; for those rave like madmen who arrogate to know more about it than is fit. You now perceive how confident I am about that will of God, of which the Scriptures are the witnesses ; still it is secret, inasmuch as, z^;//?/' God wills this to come to pass, or that ; and how he wills it, even the intellects of angels can- not comprehend ; while your pride so far infatuates you and your fellows, as to tempt you to annihilate whatever eludes 01 transcends your capacity. Your objections about contrarieties are now sufficiently removed. You attack PROVIDENCE. 73 me indeed with this scurrihty ; if I am an imitator of God, you deny that any faith is due to a double-tongued, a double- hearted, and a double-willed man ; but it is too foolish to annoy me. By-and- bye you shall know w^hat it is to imitate the Devil, by ascending on high to become like the Highest. That which alone tor- tures me, is the insane blasphemies wherewith you defile the sacred majesty of God, of which, hovv^ever, he will him- self be the avenger. As the will of God, wdiich he has de- livered in his law, is good, I grant that whatever is contrary to it is evil : but when you babble about the contrariety of that hidden will, by which God distin- guishes between the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath, and freely uses both according to his pleasure, you exhale a vanity as detestable as it is false, from the foetid ditch of your igno- rance. I confess Christ speaks of his open will, when he says, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, but ye would not ;" he casts the same reproach on the Jews, as Moses did in his song. 6* 74 ON SECRET And indeed we know that God actually performed what these words imply ; since the doctrine of the law, the exer- cises of piety, and the various benefits by which God bound that people to him- self, were nothing else than the spreading of his wings for their protection ; had not their own unsubdued wildness hurried them elsewhere. When therefore Christ had tried so frequently, and in so mauy ways, to recall by his prophets, that perverse nation to obedience, he reasona- bly complains of their ingratitude. For in restricting your remark to the life of Christ, you display your ordinary want of skill, as if he were not the true God, who from the beginning had not ceased to spread over them the wings of his favour. Then, you infer that if he had another will, contrary to his expressed will, his whole life must have been a scene of hypocrisy ; as if, forsooth, it were inconsistent to allure by invitation and benefits, and to withhold from the heart, the secret impulse of his Spirit. That the futility of this calumny may be more manifest, w^hen he complains that he had been disappointed, inasmuch PROVIDENCE. 75 as the vine which he had expected to bring forth sweet fruit, had produced sour ; what is your opinion about this, my worthy turner of sentences ? Will 3^ou impute ignorance to him, to salve his reputation for veracity ? The Jews disappointed God ; therefore according to you, w^hile sitting doubtful what would turn out, the event deceived him ; as if truly a style of speaking, referring merely to the result itself, could be violently applied to the secret foreknowledge of God. He says elsewhere, " you w411 surely fear me ;" and. they hastened to corrupt their ways. God promises himself some fruit from the punishments inflicted ; he afterwards complains that he had been deceived. Can you disentangle yourself from this passage likewise, only by sup- posing that God is bound by, and depend- ant on, the free will of man ? As if it were not sufficiently clear, that for the purpose of enhancing their crime, he assumes the character of man, w^io says that his labour is lost, when the result does not correspond. Undoubtedly, those whom God determines efficacion^y to gather to 76 ON SECRET himself, he draws by his Spirit, and as this is entirely dependant on himself, he promises that he will do it. Therefore as many are called, who do not follow, it is 'perfectly certain that that mode of gatheiing, which Christ laments as hav- ing been fruitless and vain, must differ from the efficacious, of which mention is made elsewhere. As in Isaiah (xi. 12 j and Iviii. 8 ; xliii. 5 ; lii. 12 ; liv. 7.) *' He will gather the dispersed of Judah ;" and " the glory of the Lord will gather you." Also " I will gather you from the west." Again " your God will gather you ;" and that because he had just be- fore said, that God had bared his arm, to make his power conspicuous in the sioht of the nations. And therefore he repeats a little after ; " for a moment I have left thee, bat with everlasting mer- cies w^ll I gather thee." What I have said of the precepts, abundantly suffices to confound 3^our blasphemies. For though God gives no pretended commands, but seriously de- clares what he wishes and approves ; yet it is in one way, that he wills the obedience of his elect whom he effica- PROVIDENCE. 77 clously bends lo compliance ; and in another that of the reprobate whom he warns by the external word, but does not see good to draw to himself. Contumacy and depravity are equally natural to all, so that none is ready and willing to assume the yoke. To some God promises the spirit o'l obedience ; others are left to their own depravity. For however you may prate, the new heart is not promised indiscrimi- nately to all ; but peculiarly to the elect, that they may w^alk in God's precepts. Good critic, what think you of this ? When God invites the whole crowd to himself, and withholds knowingly, and willingly his Spirit from the greater part, while he draws the few by his secret in- fluence to obey, must he on that account be condemned as guilty of falsehood ? Article Eighth. The hardening of Pharaoh^ and consequently his obstinacy and rebellion, were the work of God even by the testimony of Moses, who ascribes the whole rebellion of Pha- raoh to God. 7S ONSECRET Article Ninth. The will of God is the highest caiise of the hardening of man. Agamst the Eighth and Ninth. On the eighth and ninth they inquire what IMoses means, when he writes that Pharaoh hardened his own heart? Shall we interpret thus ; Pharaoh hardened his own heart, that is God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But this truly will be much more violent, than if yon were to say God hardened Pharaoh's heart, that is God allowed Pharaoh to remain in the natural hardness of his heart, because Pharaoh had refused to obey him. In the next place, they ask concerning that passage, "To day if ye will liear his voice, harden not your hearts." Now if you interpret this, let not God harden your hearts, it will be very absurd, as it would be enjoin- ing men to do God's work. For if it belongs to God to harden hearts, it is impossible to ct)mmaud men either to harden them, or not to harden them ; any more thau to add, or take away, a cubit from their stature. J. Calvin'' s Reply. Here again I entreat the honesty of my readers, to compare my language, and the whole strain of my teaching, with your garbled articles. Thus, Avhen 3^oar calumny is detected, all the odium which you labour to excite, will vanish of its own accord. Meanwhile, I do not deny, that I have taught along with rROVlDElVCE. 79 ISIoses and Paul, that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Here you expostulate with me to the contempt of Moses, and treating his word as of no account, ask " When the same Moses declares, that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, why have recourse to that violent interpreta- tion — God hardened Pharaoh's heart ?" Now I need go no further for an explana- tion, than the ninth article, which while you quote, you either distort or misun- derstand. For if the will of God is the highest, or remote cause of hardening, then when man hardens his own heart, he himself is the proximate cause. I everywhere distinguish between primary and remote causes, and those which are mediate and proximate ; for while the sinner finds la himself the root of de- praved feeling, tliere is no reason why he should transfer his fault to God. I have somewhere declared that to do so, is just to act like the maid servant of Medea in the ancient Poet, " I would," says she, " that the pines had never fallen in the grove of Pehon, felled with hatchets to the ground." For when an impure woman felt herself stimulated 80 ONSECRET by her own lust, to betray her father's kingdom, this foolish attendant accuses neither her shameless passion, nor the allurements of Jason, but complains that a ship had been built in Gieece. Thus when a man conscious of crime, seeks pretexts of extenuation in remote causes, he ridiculously forgets himself You now perceive though God in his own way hardens hearts, yet every one is justly responsible for his own hardness, because every one is hardened by his own wick- edness. The case is different when hearts are inclined to obey God. For as by nature we are all prone to contumacy, no one will desire to act aright, unless he is acted upon. And yet when the Scrip- ture says that hearts are prepared by God, and that the faithful prepare themselves to present to God, a voluntary worship ; it is not inconsistent with itself, but shows distinctly that divine worshippers per- form their duty spontaneously, and wiih the voluntary affection of their hearts, and yet this is not inconsistent, with God performing his part, by the secret influence of his Spirit. The case is different as I PROVIDENCB. 81 have already said in regard to hardening. For God does not govern the reprobate by the spirit of regeneration, but subjects and dooms them to the Devil, and by his secret government, so manages their de- praved affections, that they do nothing which he has not decreed. These things, therefore, harmonise very well ; that however God hardens whom he pleases, yet every one is to himself the cause of his own hardening. Lest I should be tedious, pious, and fair readers may take the help of this re- mark of Augustine, (Book fifth against Julian, chap. 3,) " Whereas the apostle declares that men are given over to vile affections," this is rashly and unskilfully restricted to sufferance, because the the same Paul elsewhere joins powder wdth sufferance, saying, " if God willing to show his power, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction," «&c. And though that holy teacher had never spoken on this subject, the authority of God should of itself be more than enough for us. It is not 1 who have said that God takes aw^ay under- standing from princes of the earth, to 7 82 N S E C R E T cause them to err ; or that he held the heart of Pharaoh, that it should not be turned to humanity. I have not said that God turned the hearts of the nations, or strengthened them in hatred of liis peo- ple, or hissed for the Egyptians and employed them as hammers. / have not said that Sennacherib was a rod in God's hand ; but the Spirit so pronounces. What ? when the Scriptuie also tells us that Saul was seized by a wicked spirit of God, will you refer this to allowance and permission merely ? How much better is the judgment of Augustine, (Book on Holy Predestination.) " If Satan and the wicked sin, it is of themselves ; if in sinning they do this or that, it is by the power of God dividing the darkness as he pleases." Whatever God openly declares, you impute to me. Let the same Augustine answer you lor me, (On Grace and Free Will 'to Val.) *' Scripture if diligently studied, shows not only that God is the Lord of the good volitions of men, which he himself forms out of evil, and directs them when produced to good results and eternal life ; but that those volitions which re- PROVIDENCE. 8S tain their worldly character, are so in the power of God, that he by a most secret, but most just judgment, inclines them as he pleases, and when he pleases, either to confer blessings, or inflict pun- ishments." Article Tenth. Satan is a Uai' by the command of God, Asrainst the Tenth* Against the teutii they ar^ne thus. If Satan is a liar by the command of Cioci, a liar is righteous, and Satan is righteous. For if to couuuand a Hei.srighteons, (as it certainly is, if Calvin spoak ir«th,) then to obey by lying is also righteous ; for the rightenusne.ss of obedience is estimated by the righteoasuess of the precept. And as it is unrighteous to obey an unrightifious precept, so to obey a righteous precept is rigiiieous. Now if Calvin say that Satan is not ob-dieiit in lying, that is, that he has no intention of obeying (iod, we will reply accord- ing to CLilvin's own opinion, that this disobedient lying likewise, is done by the command of God ; and that in this disobeJient lying also, Satan is obedient; inasmuch as God has commanded him not to be obedient in lying. J. Calvhi^s Reply, In the tenth article, behold against v/hom you hurl your virulent darts. For 84 ON SECRET it is no peculiarity of mine that 3'Ou op- pose, but the dictate of the Spiiit of God. Thus the Scripture speaks expressly, whom shall I send, and who will go lor us ; and immediately after, God, ad- dressing Satan, bids hirii go, to be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets, to deceive Ahab. Now^ bark as much as you please ; you will no more bury the glory of God by ^^our rail- ing, than you will by spitting darken the glory of the sun. Here too it is better to speak in the words of Augustine, than in my own. "' When God testifies that he sends false prophets, and that his hand is upon them that they may deceive, he does not mean that his patience alone is concerned, but his pov/er also." As to your prating about Satan not being obedient in lying b}- the command of God, it is not wonderful if you entangle yourself in many knots, by not acknowl- edging that God in an inexplicable way, so employs at his pleasure the working of Satan, as to illustrate the justice and equit}^ of his own government ; without, however, freeing his instrument from blame, w^hom he compels against his own PROVIDENCE. 85 will to execute the divine judgment. Though your bitterness should rail a hundred times, this certainly is not the voice of Calvin, but of God ; " I have commanded my sanctified ones." (Is. xiii. 3.) Nov/ if you imagine that God takes more to himself than is proper, he will himself find out a way to be freed from vour accusation. Article Eleventh. God gives ivill to those doing wrong ; he even suo;gcsts wicked and dishonourable affections^ not only permissivehj but efica- ciouslij, and that for his oivn glory. Aminst the Eleventh. Against the eleventh they allege : Calvin refers to God what belongs to the Devil, as the Scripture every- where testifie.^. Now if God suggests wicked and dis- honourable affections, and yet commands us to resist such atfections, he cominmds ns to resist himself. F-very good gift is from above, and cometh down from the Fat er of lights Are wicked afteciinns even, a good gift? Does darkness (for depraved aitectioiis are cer- tainly darkness.) descend from the Father of lights? W!iy then is he not called the Father of darkness? Janes distinctly writes that no man is temjited by God, but every one by liis own lust. But t(» suggest base alfections, is to tempt. Now as for your salvo about 8G ON SECRET God doing this for his own glory, they say it is ridicu- lous, for glory does not ordinarily accrue from lying. When Nebuchadnezzar experienced the divine justice and power, in being changed for his pride into a brute nature, he ascribed glory to God, for he perceived and concluded that God is just. It is God's pleasure to be praised by all nations; "praise the Lord all ye nations." It behoves him, therefore, to do those things, which all nations may be able to know, and moreover praise. But no nation will ever acknowledge, that it is just to pnnish men, for what God himself has suggested. For we ask, if God should punish us for having a beard, would he not do us an injury ; when he, himself has given us the beard, and It was not optional whether we should have it or not? What man with a beard could ever praise him ? Now if Calvin will say that this is the secret Providence of God, and to us unknown, we shall answer that God has indeed secrets unknown to us ; but so far as justice is concerned, it is known to us and revealed in the Gos- pel: according to which revealed Gospel, (as Paul teaches), and not according to that hidden judgment of Calvin, God will judge the world. And so it will be understood by all", both righteous and wicked. For all, both righteous and wicked, will see that it is just that they who have disobeyed the truth, (not hidden like Calvin's,) but open like that of the Gospel, should be punished; and that they who have obeyed it should receive rewai-d. "The wrath of God," says Paul, " is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighte- ousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteous- ness." But if the opinion of Calvin is true, the wrath of God is revealed against a!l the innocent. For if he suggests depraved affections, he is angry and hales them before the depraved affections. For to suggest depraved affections is a work of hatred ; he consequently hates the innocent, inastnuch as sin springs from depraved affec'ions, or raiher siu is depraved alTectiou. PROVIDENCE. 87 J. Calviii's Reply. You o'o on imao^mins: monsters, that having vanquished them, you may cele- brate a triumph over an unoffending ser- vant of God. The passage where I have ever spoken thus, you will not find ; and therefore though I were silent, your min- gled folly and impudence are alike pow- erless. If the wicked defile themselves by slaughter, adulter}^, rapine, fraud, I teach that this comes of their own wick- edness ; that God, however, who brirgs light out of darkness, so rules within them, by his own secret and incompre- hensible government, as by means of th^ir wickedness, to execute his just de- terminations. If you oppose this, con- tend with God himself, who will easily receive your insane assaults. If you had one drop of modesty and docility, this distinction which constantly occurs in my writings, would undoubtedly appease you. If the wicked examine themselves, the testimony of conscience will abundantly convince them that they must not seek elsewhere for criminality, because they 88 ONSECRET find the root of wickedness within, in their own hearts ; and yet God by sway- ing their vohtions withersoever he plea- seth, makes a good use of their evil. Murmur as you please I have now clear- ly shown, that in doing so, your quarrel is not with me but with God. I would that from the heart you did acknowledge God as the Father of lights, just as the Apostle Paul defines him, (i Tim. vi.) lest in your audacity you break through to the inaccessible light, nay, lest in your sacrilegious insolence you turn that light into darkness. Moreover, you absurdly infer from the doctrine of James, because every perfect gift descends from the Father of lights, therefore awful judgments that strike the pious with fear aud trembling, do not descend from the same source. You still more absurdly ask me, whether I reckon vicious and perverse affections among good gifts ; as if forsooth the spirit of wisdom, judgment and prudence, differ- ed not at all from the spirit of sleep and giddiness ; as if too the spit it of regene- ration, whicli renews the faithful in the image of God, were none other than that PROVIDENCE. 89 evil spirit of God, who drives the repro- bate to phrenzy, as we read of Saul. With similar shamelessness you cla- mour about m}^ teaching that God exe- cutes his determinations for his own glory, by means of Satan and the repro- bate. That Satan is the instrument of his anger, God clearly testifies both by his word, and by experience. Now with what desigTi shall we say that God does work by the hand of Satan, if not to il- lustrate his own glory ? You think you elude this by a witty retort, that righte- ousness is not ascribed to God on ac- count of lying ; but w^ill you hinder God from bringing forth from your wicked- ness, the materials of his own glory ? Certainly by nothing less than his out- rageous pride, could Pharaoh prevent the divine glory from shining forih, inasmuch as he had been ordained to this very- end. You allege that Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iv. 34,) gave glory to God when he con- fessed his justice ; and to show you with what confidence I despise your blunt darts, I wiUingiy lend you a hand in this matter, and suirgest what vou did not "90 N S E C R E T think of; that when Joshua exhorted Achan to give glory to G(jd, it is with no other design than that the latter should disclose the lie, and discover his own sa- crilege. Bat the question now is, whether there is only one way of illustrating the divine glory, for if this do not shine forth by the lies of men, Paul must have been at fault, when he said, " let God be true and every man a liar," and immediately asks, " if our unrighteousness commend the righteous- ness of God, is God himself unrighteous?" As to your objection, that God would be praised for his benefits, it is indeed true, provided you allow, that the wood out of which God brings and leads forth his praises, is both thick and extensive. And here your pride, in osttmtatiously despising the art of reasoning, is suitably punished, as you are always arguing ne- gatively trom the species to the genus. Nor will I honour with any long refuta- tion your scurrilous jibe that God were unjust to punish men for having a beard, inasmuch as they only carry the beard which he himself has created. For who has ever said that iniquity was created PROVIDENCE. 9! by God ? Though he does ordain it in' his incomprehensible counsel, to just and righteous ends. Begone, then, with that foolery of yours, of confounding the beard which naturally grows in sleep, with vo- luntary wickedness. Play the madman as you please, this will remain fixed with us, that they are justly punished, whose wicked affections are ordained and di- rected by God to the execution of his judgments, because their own consci- ences condemn them. And see how you entangle yourself; for while you acknow- ledge that God's secrets are unknown to us, you on the other hand object that his justice is known to us. But if any one should ask you, is there any justice in God's secrets, or is there not, will you deny that there is any ? Moreover, how will you say that God's justice is known to us, when David and Paul look up to it with astonishment, be- cause their sense fails ihem ? Do the mighty abyss, and the rich depth of wis- dom, in the judgments of God, contain justice in themselves ? Why then will you deny that God is just, whenever the 92 ON SECRET reason of his operations is concealed from you. As a distinction worthy of notice, is made in the Book of Job, (c. xxviii.) be- tween the unsearchable wisdom of God, from which the human race is warned off, and that wisdom which has been delivered to us in the law ; so you also, unless 3'Ou mean to confound everything, should have distinguished between that profound and admirable justice, which cannot be comprehended by the human mind, and the rule of justice which is prescribed in the law, for the regulation of the life of man. I acknowledge that God will judge the world, according to the revealed doctrine of the Gospel ; but he will at the same time vindicate the equity of his secret providence against all wranglers. Now, if you had the smallest experi- mental acquaintance, with that Gospel which you prate about, you would easily understand how God remunerates the justice which is commanded in his law, and never defrauds those of the promised crown, who heartily obey his precepts ; and yet justly punishes all the disobe- PROVIDENCE. 93 dient, whom he also terms his servants, because he has their hearts in his hand. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar, a furious robber, and slave of Satan, is not without reason called by Jeremiah a servant of God. (Jer. XXV. 9.) And if I have taught that God opens up a way for his own purposes, by inciting the hearts of men this way and that, why should the statement be imputed to me as a crime, when prophets have said precisely the same thing ; these being in fact the words of the sacred his- tory, (2 Sam. xxiv. 1,) " And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel ; and he moved David against them to say, Go, numbei the people." Article Twelfth. The wicJced., bij their wiclcedness, do God's work rather than their own. Against the Twelfth, Of (he twelfth they discourse thus, if it be so, God is ani;ry with what is good ; for if impiety is the work of God, impiety is good ; for all the works of God are good. And if impiety is good, then piety is evil, inas- 8 94 ON SECRET much as it is the opposite ofimpiety. Therefore, when Scripture ?ays, " hate evil,"' "love good,"' it enjoins the h)ve of impiety, and the hatred of piety. They allege besides, that such an article, savours sufficJeotly of a kind of Libertinism, ^and they are surprised you are so hostile to Libertines. J. Calvhi's Reply. I again testify before God, angels, and the whole world, that I never spake thus, and that what was correctl}^ spoken by me, is most wickedly and calumniously perverted by you. But if it seem absurd to you that the wicked should do God's w^ork, upbraid Jeremiah, whose words these are " Cursed is the man who doeth God's work neghgently." 'Now, he refers to a massacre, which you will not clear of criminality, as it is manifest, it was prompted by avarice, crueUy, and pride. The Chaldeans were impelled by their own ambition, and lust of plunder, to forget equity, and inhumanly to wade through rapine and carnnge. But as it pleased God by their hands to punish the Moabites, their wickedness did not pre- vent the execution of the divine judgment. Here, dog, your bark is, then impiety is good ; as if God were impious, when he PROVIDENCE. 95 Rcc mn -^("In'es in his own wonderfal way, hui.un wickedness, to a different end froui that intended by the perpetrator. Nay, you scruple not to taunt me with th.^ Libertines, a sect whose ravings have been by me especially exposed, so that I have no new defence to offer. Article Thirteenth. We sin necessarily by the design of God, when we sin by our own, or by chance. Article Fourteenth. The wickedness vjhich men jjerpetrate by their own volition, irroceeds also from the volition of God, j^^ainst the Tiirteenth and Fourteenth. Against the thirteenth and fourteenth, they argne in this way. If we sin necessarily, uU adinonitions are in vain. In vain are the people admonished by Jeremiah, " I set belbre you the way of life and death. Whoever thall remiin in this city, shall die by tiie sword, by f-i- mine, or pestilence: but he who flees to th.e Chaldeans shal: live."' TfM-se things, I say, were decl.ired to them in vai;i, if it weve as impossible for tbem io flee lo the Clraldeaii«f, as to swallow a mountain. Now if Calvin shall say, that precepts are given for the purpose of ren- 96 ON SECRET dering men inexcusable, we reply that this is futile. For if you command your son to eat a rock, and he do it not, he is no more inexcusable after the injunction than be- fore. In the same way if God say to me do not steal, and I steal necessarily, and I can no more abstain from stealing, than I can eat a rock, 1 am no more inexcusable after the precept than before, nor more excusable, before the precept than after. In fine, if Calvin's opinion is true, a man is inexcusa- ble even before the precept; so that there is no occasion for a precept to ensure that inexcusableness. For if the wicked man is reprobate, before he is wicked, that is, before he exists, viz. from Eternity, and so sins neces- sarily, he is already inexcusable, and condemned before the precept, which is against all laws divine and human. For all laws condemn a man after the crime, and on ac- count of the crime. But that God of Calvin condemned and reprobated the wicked before they existed, not to say before they were wicked, or had sinned ; and because he condemned them before they sinned, he compels them to sin, that he may appear, forsooth, to have condemned them justly. In 'fine, Calvin, they here contrast your God, and theirs in this way. The Nature of a False God. A false God is slow to mercy, prone to anger, creating the greatest part of the world for destruction, and pre- destinating them not only to damnation, but to the causes of damnation. Therefore he decreed from eternity, and still determines, and brings it about, that they should sin necessarily, so that neither thefts, nor adulteries, nor homicides are committed, except by his will and impulse. For he suggests to them wicked and base affections, not only permissively but efficaciously, and hardens them ; so that while they live impiously, they do God's work rather than their own, and cannot do otherwise. He makes Satan a liav ; so that it is no longer Satan, but the God of Calvin, who is the father of lies, as he has often one thing in his mouth, and another in his heart. P R O V I D E .X C B . 9T The Nature of the True God. Bnt the God vv'r.om nature and reason, and f^cripture proclaim is evidently oppo.^ed to tlie other, for he is prone to mercy, and slow to anger. He created the comaion father of all in his own imn^e, like himself, that he might place him in paradi.^e; and endow him w;th a blessed existence. This God wishes all to be saved, and none to peri.ii ; and therefore sent his Son to earth, whose riirhteon^ness more than abounded where sin abounded, and the light of whose righteousness illumines every man tiiat comes into the world, while he exclaims, " Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He suggests good and hon- ouiable affections, and frees men from the necessity of sinirng into wh'ch they had cast themselves by disobe- dience, and hcfi.s all manner of s.ckiiess and disease ainon^ the peopia, so that he never denied a favour.to any one that be.;ouj;ht him. No.v th'.s Go J comas to destroy the works of that Ca'.vinis'ic God, and to turn him out of doors. And thase two Gods as they are by nature Gontrary to one another, so t Jey beget c;iildren equally unlike. The one produces children who are merciless, proud, savage, envious, sanguinary, false, thinking one thing, and speaking another, impatient, malicious, seditious, contention?, ambitious, avaricious, lovers of plea- sure, more than lovers of God; in a word, filled with ail bad and vile atfections, whic!i their Father himself inspires them with. But the other God produces men, who are mer iful, modest, meek, benevolent, beneficent, abhorring blood, open, speaking truth front the fulness of the heart, patient, henign, jdacable, peaceable, abhor- ring quarrels and strife, despisers of honour, liberal, lovers of God, more than tlie lovers of })leasure ; in fine fi'h.'d with all good and honourable affections, which ti,eiro.vn Fatlier inspires them with. ^^uc'i are tri.' things. Oh Calvin, which your adversa ries allege respecting your doctrine ; and they advise men to judge of the doctrine bv the fruit. Now they 8* 98 ON SECRET affirm that you and your disciples, bring forth many of the fruits of your God ; for thai you are generally litigi- ous, eager for vengeance, tenacious and mindful of an injury, and tainted with the other vices which your Fa- ther inspires. But if any one should say that this is not the fault of the doctrine which is sound, and does not produce such men ; they reply that it does produce such men, which is evident from the fact, that many who have adopted that creed, are become such, while formerly they were not so wicked. Whereas those who believe the doctrine of Christ become beUer; but they say that your doctrine evidently makes men worse. Besides, when you maintain that you have sound doc- trine, they reply that you are not to be believed. For, if your God very often says one thing, and thinks and wills another, there is reason to fear that in imitation of your God, you are doing the same thing, and deceiving men. It is true, I have at one time, been rather fond of your doctrine, and have defended it though it has not been al- together satisfactory to me ; b^^cause I have attributed so much to your authority, as to imagine it unlawful even to think anything in opposition to it. But now that I have listened to the arguments of your adversaries, I have nothing to reply. Your disciples doubtless attempt a reply, and among tlieir own partizans, loudly boast of the truth; but when they close with your adversaries, they waver, and seek a poor protection in your books. For your reasons are obscure, and are almost entirely of the sort, which fall out of the memory, as soon as the book is laid aside, and yield no conviction to opposers. Whereas the arguments of your adversaries, are clear, keen, easily remembered, and apprehensible by the il- literate — the very description of men who chiefly follow- ed Christ. Hence it happens that your disciples, in general, lean more on your authority, than on reason. And when they cannot refute their opponents, they re- gard them as heretics, and obstinate persons, withdraw from their society and warn all to do the same. Now, PROVIDENCE. 99 as it is my opinion, that we should attend to what is said, and not to the person speaking, so I judge that all must be lieard. and every thing proved, that what is good may be held fast. Wheiefore, Oh Calvin, if yon have any true, plain, solid arguments, by which the adversaries may be repel- led, I entreat you to publish them for the defence of the truth. You know what is written, " a month and a wis- dom shall be given you, which none shall bo able to resist." For my part, wherever I can lay hold of truth, I am prepared to follow ; as well as to exhort others to do the same. But if by chance you are mistaken, I be- seech you, Calvin, give glory to God. That will be more honourable to you, than to persevere in error. If you are just and true, I do not think I need entertain any fears about your indignation, on account of this epistle, lathe first place, because it belongs to you to be informed of these things ; and in the next place, because if you feel (as you say,) that all things come to pass necessarily, you will believe also that it was impossible, that this let- ter should not have been written by me. Farewell. J. Cahiii's Reply. What you mean in the last article but one, I no more understand, than if you intended to confound human apprehen- sion by magical mutterings. For what is it to sin by chance f And who, ex- cept yourself has conjured up such mon- sters ? I have said somewhere, that those things which seem to happen by chance, are governed by the secret Pro- vidence of God. Who will allow you to 100 ON SECRET infer from this that sin is fortuitous ? And then as for what is found in my writings, did it originate with me ? Or has it not rather God for its author ? If the hatch- et of a man cutting the branches of a tree, fall and wound the head of a passenger, will you regard this as a matter of chance ? But the Holy Spirit, by Moses, declares that such a man is slain by God. Will you say that God, like one drunk, deals his blows at random, right and left, without discrimination ? Now if you fancy thcit men sin without the knowledge of God, how will God judge the world ? And if the transac- tions of the world escape his notice, how will he have the advantage of mortals ? Because I maintain that God is perfect- ly aware of the sins of men, you go so far in your phrenzy, as to accuse me of framirig a false God. If I should grant you what you demand, that God is igno- rant of sin, what kind of Gofl pray you will he be f And will you still boast tb.at the people are with you, when depriving God of intelligence, and dignifying him with the same title that Lucretius did his PROVIDENCE. 101 images, you fabricate a dead idol in his place ? As to your argument that teaching is supertluous, precepts useless, admoni- tions vain, upbraiding and threats ab- surd, if men sin necessarily ; if Augus- tine's book to Valentinus, " Concerning Corruption and Grace," a work expressly devoted to this subject, is not sufficient to dissipate these objections, 3^ou are un- worthy to hear a word from me. As my refutation of Piohius, and vour master Servetus, in regard to this calumny, is quite satisfactory to all reasonable and candid readers, I will nov/ merely re- turn this brief answer to your boasting. If you will allow God to command no- thing, that man has not power to obey, God will make it plain enough, when he shall place you at his tribunal, that he made no vain assertion by the mouth of his apostle, when he declared that to be impossible to the law, which he himself performed by his own grace. (Rom. viii. 4.) It is certain that a perfect righteous- ness is exhibited in the law, which would be prepared and set forth to all, if our strength were adequate to yield obedi- 102 ON SECRET ence to the commnnds of God. Now Paul declares it was impossible to attain to rigljteousness by the law. What dis- pute then have you on this point with Calvin 't It" you steal necessarily, you suppose that you aie no less excusable, after the precept than before. Paul, on the contrary, when he confesses that he was sold under sin, at tlie same time freely exclaims, that the law worketh wrath, because the shield of necessity is in vain held forth, v.hen every man is convicted by his conscience of voluntary mahgnity. Tell me, when the hook was in your hand, of late years, for the pur- pose of stealing wood, to warm your house, was it not your ovv-n will that prompted you to steal ? If this alone suffice for your just condemnation, that knowinolv and willinolv vou snatched at a base and wicked gain, by your neigh- bour's loss, you may rave as you please about necessity, without being in the least justly acquitted. x\s to your ob- jection, that no one is justly condemned, unless on account of crime, and after crime, I have no quarrel with you on the former point, since I everywhere teach PROVIDENCE. 103 that no one perishes, except b}^ the just judgment of God. At the same tiiiie I may not dissemble that a secret v^nom lurks in your l?ingu'jge ; for if the simiH- lude you propose is admitted, God will be unjust for involving the whole family of Abraham, in the guilt of original sin. You deny that it is lawful lor God to condemn any man, except on account of actual sin. Innumerable infants are, to this day, hurried out of life. Discharge now your virulence against God, for pre- cipitating into eternal death innocent babes torn from their mother's breasts. Whoever detests not this blasphemy, when it is openly detected, may curse me to his heart's content. For I have no right to demand exemption from the rail- ings of those whr> spare not the Almighty himself. As to the latter point, do you not see how offensive is your loquacity. For even your master Servetus, and Pighius, and such like dogs, would say at least, that those were condemned before the creation of the world, whom God fore- knew to be worthy of death. You, for- sooth, will not allow" him to doom any 104 ON SECRET one to eternal death, till such time as he becomes obnoxious to earthly judges, by the actual perpetration of crime. Hence let the reader learn how prodigious must be that phrenzy, which unhesitatingly subverts by jeer and banter, the whole course oi^ divine justice. It remains that I vindicate the glory of the true and eternal God, from your sa- crilegious revilings. You loudly charge me with thrusting the Devil into the place of the true God. My defence is brief and easy. As all my writings clearly testify, that I had no other design, than that the whole w^orld, should piously and holily devote itself to God ; and that all should cultivate in good conscience true righteousness with each other ; so my life is not inconsistent with my doctrine ; nor will I be so unjust to the grace of God, as to compare myself with you, and those like you, whose innocence is nothing more than compliment and self-flattery. This only will I say, if any upright and fair judge should decide betwixt us, he would readily recognise reverence for God, both in my writings, and in my life ; while everything proceeding from PRO V IDENCE . 105 you, savours of nothing but mere bur- lesque upon religion. Now, briefly to confound 3^our calum- nies, can anything surpass your want of principle in contending that God would be slow to mercy, and prone to anger, if he ordained the greater part of the w^orld to eternal death ? Beyond all question, fancy what kind of God you please, he alone is to be worshipped by all the pious ; who, with the exception of the family of Abraham, suffered the whole human family to wander in fatal dark- ness, for more than twenty-five hundred years. If you charge him with cruelty, for determining that innumerable nations should be overwhelmed in death, while one family alone was distinguished by the life giving light ; the answer is evi- dent, that while the nations were spared from day to day, and the world was not swallowed up a hundred times in a year, just as often did God afford illustrious displays of his patience. Nor in truth has Paul any hesitation iu praising God's lenity and long-suffering, even when he maintains, that the vessels of wrath were fitted for destruction, by his secret de- 9 106 ON SECRET cree. If you are not satisfied with his testimony, I think I may safely despise vour barkino^. For God n jeds no defence at my hand, but will sufficiently vindi- cate his own justice, although all impure tongues should emulousl}^ conspire to overshadow it. Wherefore, 3^ou and your gang, may hurl aloft your blasphe- mies as you please, to fall back again on your own heads. It is no hardship to me, patiently to endure your levilings, provided the God whom I serve is not reached ; and I must be allowed to sum- mon you to his tribunal, where he will in his own time appear, to avenge that doc- trine, w^hich in my person you furiously oppose. Readers of any discernment will ap- preciate the value of your discourse, about the nature of the true God, when they observe that in all inquiry upon the subject, you make common sense the starting point. The existence of God it is tiue was admitted by all nations and ages ; since the principle and seed of this knowledge, was naturally implanted in the mind of man. But how shall rea- son define what God is, when with all PROVIDENCE. 107 her perspicacity, she can do nothing but turn the tiuth of God into a He, thereby adulterating all the knowledge and light of true faith and rehgion ? ' The Holy Spirit commands us to become fools, if we would be disciples of the heaven- ly doctrine ; inasmuch as the natural man is unable to receive or taste aught of it. You on the other hand would have the human faculty decide on the myste- ries of God ; and reason, which in its bhndness, utterly extinguishes the divine glory, you not only set up as a guide and mistress, but presume to prefer to Scrip- ture itself. So that, it is not wonderful if you allow the most opposite religions to be promiscuously confounded ; esteem- ing the Turk steeped in the dreams of Mahomet, and adoring, I know not W'hat, unknown divinity, no less a w^orshipper of the true God, than the Christian, who with the unwavering faith of the Gospel, calls on the Father of our Redeemer. Now, although so many indirect jeers at all the first principles of our faith do not aloud declare that you are the open, earnest patron of the infidels, yet your object was, by palliating the superstitions 108 ON SECRET of all nations, to subvert the religion of the sacred oracles of the true God. From that reason doubtless, which is the moth- er of all errors, has sprung that God of yours, who indiscriminately resolves that all shall be saved. As if forsooth, the word election which occurs so often in the Scriptures, had absolutely no mean- ing ; when the law, the prophets, and the Gospel, everywhere proclaim, that they are called and enlightened to salva- tion, who were chosen in God's eternal counsel before the foundation of the world ; and unambiguously declare that the fountain and cause of life, is the free love of God, which embraced not all, but whom he pleased. What do you gain by a hundred railings on the other side ? You bewilder the simple by raising a mist, about God wishing all to be saved. If this is inconsistent with that election, predestinated his own children to life, I demand why the way of salvation is not thrown open to all. That eulogium of the law is well known and celebrated, *' behold I have this day set before you hfe and death." If God determined to o^ather all v/ithout distinction into salva- PROVIDENCE. 109 tion, why did be not set life equally be- fore all, instead of distinj^aishino- but one nation by this prerogative ; and that for no other reason, if we believe Moses, ex- cept his free favour for those, whom he chose for his own. You say that Christ was divinely sent, in order that his righteousness might su- perabound wherever sin abounded. But this one word proves, that you came forth from beneath, at the prompting of Satan. You insolently deride Christ, while you seek to cover up everv, the grossest, falsehood, in the colours of piety. For if the righteousness of Christ has superabounded, wherever sin abound- ed, the condition of Pilate or Judas, will be no worse than that of Peter or Paul. And though I should say nothing of Pilate, Paul denies that the righteousness of Christ, can be separated from the faith of the Gospel, (Eph. vi. 9.) Will you tell us what Gospel was in France, and other remote nations at the time when Christ lived on earth ? What ? Was God not the same before the coming of his Son ? Why then did he seal up the treasure of salvation till the fulness of time ^ You 9* 110 ON SECRET must burst into laughter at Paul's doctrine, about the mystery being hid before in God, which was revealed in the promulgation of the Gospel. And now that the sound of the Gospel is pro- claimed, the righteousness of Christ comes to none but those, who receive it by faith. Now whence have you faith ? If you answer by hearing ; it is indeed true ; but the hearing is not independent of the special revelation of the Spirit, Isaiah (liii. 1,) exclaims in surprise, at the fewness of those to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed ; and when Paul restricts the gift of faith to the elect, he refers to that passage as evidence. You allow no distinction. Christ indeed cries, " Come unto me all ye that labour," but he also exclaims in another place, " no man comes to me, except the Father draw him." Nor does he contradict him- self, when inviting all without exception by the external voice, he yet declares that no man perceives anything, except as it is given him from heaven ; and that none come to him except those who are given him by the Father. Another passage you no less foully be- PROVIDENCE. Ill smear, with your swinish snout ; (John i. 4,) alleging that every man that comes into the world, is illuminated with the light of Christ's righteousness. As if John did not add immediately after ; "the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not ;" intend- ino- to declare, that w^hatever reason and intelli2:ence had been oiven to men at first, were suffocated and ahuost destroy- ed ; and that the only remedy remain- ino;, is the li2:ht which Christ bestows on the blind. It is no doubt true, that Christ denied mxcrcy to none that asked it ; but you do not reflect that vows and prayers are dictated by the Holy Spirit ; nay that faith w^hich is the fruit of gratuitous election, is the key which opens the gate to prayers. While you are ignorant of these first principles, the denial of w^hich reduces the gospel to a level with the rites of Proserpine and Bacchus, it is surprising that any called christians should be found, entangling themselves w^ith errors so enormous. As to your flippant inso- lence, about my disciples being like my God, cruel, envious, calumnious, proud, 112 ON SECRET carrying one thing on their tongue, another in their heart, I will undertake to refute it not so much by word, as by fact. As I have no delight in evil speak- ing, let your crimes remain unnoticed by me ; except that I am at liberty, and it is worth while, to testify bet'fjre God to this one thing, that although 1 have fed you in my house, I never beheld a man prouder, more deceitful, or more destitute of hu- manity than yourself. That man is without all judgment, who do(^s not per- ceive 3'OU to be, at once an impostor, an abandoned cynic in 3^our impudence, and a buffoon avowedly scoffing at reli- gion. 1 would fain know in what you accuse me of barbarity ; unless possibly you refer to your master Servetus ; yet the judges themselves, two of whom w^ere his zealous patrons, are witnesses to the fact of my having interceded in his behalf. But enough of myself, and more than enough. What fruits my doctrine produces, not only in this city, but wdde and far through many lands, I leave for the consideration of all. From this school, which you so atrociously assail, God dailv chooses vie- PROVIDENCE. 113 tims, of the best and sweetest odour, to illustrate the doctrine of his Gospel. The students theie, (of whom the number at least is respectable,) exemplify a painful abstinence, and yet are conspicuous for patience and gentleness ; or discarding former luxuries, they are forw^ard and contented in the practice of frugahty. Denying themselves and the world, they all aspire to the hope of a blessed immor- tality. But because it is inexpedient foi me to boast, let the Lord answer for me, by those displays of his favour, which he has given in behalf of that doc- trine, which is in vain assailed by your foetid abuse. But I should like to be informed by you, respecting your character, when you favoured this doctrine. You allege that it had not been sufficiently under- stood by you, in consequence of your be- ing hampered by my authority, so that you held it unlawful to form any opposite opinion. You must assuredly have been too dull, not to comprehend in several years, what I both taught you familiarly at home, and so frequently expounded in your hearing in the public assembly. 114 ON SECRET Now there are many competent wit- nesses to prove, thnt although I tailed in the various attempts I made to correct and care 3^our depravity of temper, yet so long as 3^ou kept up appearances with me, you were restrained as by a bridle ; so that the cause of your alienation, may well seem to have been, that very licen- tiousness, which sought uncurbed, to break to the impiety in which you now glory. You tell us you mind what is said, not who speaks. Would that you had brought yourself before this, candidly to profit b}^ the labours of others, and thus to form a habit of docility. As it is, your only accomplishments being auda- city and garrulity, you seek consequence for yourself, by despising others. For my part, I arrogate nothing to myself, but I think I have deserved this of the church, that if I may rank among the faithful servants of God, my authority should not be lendered odious. If you said that a lew unlearned men hung on my nofl, or were infiuenced by mv repu- tation, you might give some colour to vour calumny ; but now while you make PROVIDENCE, 115 it my fault that illiterate men are dis- pleased with my doctrine, who will believe yon that learned and ingenious men alone relish my books ; nay that such men are held thunderstruck by mere authority, from forming an indepen- dent opinion ? So far as your authority goes then, nothing is proved that is not rendered plausible to the vulgar. And this, for- sooth, is the reason why yon deter all from liberal learning ; and to gain more disciples, boast to your followers, that all study is vain and frivolous, which is em- ployed in philosophy, logic, and other arts, and even in theology^ itself. You object that the followers of Christ were of this character ; as if there were any inconsistency between literature, and the Chr istian faith. Here let readers observe the difference between you and me. I maintain that the wisest men are bhnded by their own pride, and never even taste the heavenly doctrine, till such time as they become Ibols, and com- manding their own notions to be gone, devote themselves in meek simphcitv to the obedience of Christ. For human 116 ON SECRET reason is utterly undiscerning, and hu- man acuteness stupid, in the mysteries of God. Therefore, 1 say that humihty is the beginning of true wisdom ; a hu- mihty that empties us of all carnal wisdom, so that faith may begin in reverence for divine mysteries. You invite illiterate men to come forward, and despising all learning, and inflated merely with the breath of arrogance, audaciously to de- cide on the mysteries of heaven ; nor will you acknowledge any as legitimate arbiters, except those, who satisfied with common notions, stoutly reject what- ever does not suit their fancy. The Apostle Paul will easily answer another reproach, which you cast on my disciples, for they have his authority, for leaving you and such like heretics to yourselves ; rather than by listening to you, voluntarily to pollute their ears with your blasphemies. You deny that such is the proper course, for that all should be heard. As if, indeed, there were no meaning in the command, to avoid a heretic who refuses to repent, after the second and third solemn admonition. If any man denied you a hearing, you PROVIDENCE. 117 would have some ground for complaint ; but when you went away vanquished from the public assembly, at which you had full scope to babble, nay to which you had been summoned and almost dragged ; what limit, pray, will there be, if pious ears must be always open, till your appetite for God-reviling may be satiated ? You take no oidinary plea- sure in ridiculing all pious principles. Would you have the sons of God so stu- pid, as either to be pleased with your insolence, or to listen unmoved to your sacrilemous revilino^. So far as the cause itself is concerned I am confident I have so answered 3^ou, that all judicious readers may easily dis- cern, that that Spirit has not been with- held from me, to whom it belongs to grant a mouth and wisdom, which if you persist in resisting, you will betray an obstinacy equalled only by your disgrace. I shall not cease to wish and to pray, though I dare scarcely hope, that you may at length yield to manifest truth. As to your concluding cavil, that I have no reason to be provoked at your abuse, if I believe that your writing was neces- 118 ON SECRET sary ; it is indeed to my mind a serious and efficacious exhortation to self-pos- session, inasmuch as nothing is more use- ful, or better adapted, for bridling indig- nation, than David's admonition, "let him curse for God has so commanded." David, it is true, was well aware that Shimei was instigated by that same lust for railing, with which you now boil ; but believing that the impetuous abuse, which the railer fancied himself utterins' at random, was ordered by the secret Providence of God, the monarch is re- strained by his religious convictions. For no man will ever endure with calm moderation, the assaults of the Devil and the wicked, who does not turn his thoughts from them to God alone. May God quell thee, Satan ! Amen ! Geneva, 5th January, 1558. 3216CJ„ 6611 03-0R-07 32180 MC '" Princeton Theological Semina, Libraries 1 1 012 01349 9076