An Answer to a Great Number of Blasphemous Cavillations

writing upon these words of Peter, affirming that by the determinate counsel and prescience o• God, was Jesu• betrayed and crucified, by the hands of wicked men, because (sayeth he) Peter appeareth to mean, that wicked men obeyed God, whereof of two absurdities, one must needs follow: to wit, that either God is the author of evil, or that men committing all kind of iniquity do not sin, because they seem to obey God. I a•s•er, that wicked men do not obey God how so ever it be that they put in execution those things, which God hath with him self appointed. for obedience proceedeth from a voluntary affection, which earnestly thirsteth to please God, bu• we know that the wicked have a far other purpose. moreover no man obeyeth God, but such as hath his will known. Obedience then dependeth upon the knowledge of gods will. And so as the will of God is revealed in his law, so likewise it is evident, that who so ever transgresseth against his will revealed, hath his conscience to witness against him, that neither he doeth the will of God. neither yet that he obeyeth him. To the second •e sayeth, I constantly deny that God is author of evil: for in this word evil there is the notation and propriety ⟨p. 167⟩of a wicked affection, which never falleth nor can fall in God. The evil work ought to be judged by the purpose and end, to the which every man tendeth in his action. When men commit theft, or murder, therefore they sin, because they are thieves and murderers. In the theft and murder, there is wicked counsel, which never tendeth to please God, but to satiate their inordinate appetites. But God who useth their malice, is to be placed in glory above them. for he looketh to an other end: for the one he will punish, and the patience of the other he will exercise. And so he never declineth, nor boweth from his own nature, that is from a most perfect righteousness. So that Christ was betrayed and crucified, by the hands of the wicked, it was done by the ordinance of God. But the treason and the slaughter, which by them selves were most odious and wicked, ought not to be judged nor accounted the work of God.