him and beeing builded vppon him by faith It is certaine there may be other wants and deformities where these essentiall partes are Now those deformities and wantes may bee both in pointes of doctrine and practise as may plainely bee prooued by examples of the Churches of God established in all ages For the leauen of euill and daungerous pointes of doctrine let the Churches of the Corinthes about the resurrection also counting fornication among indifferent thinges and the Colossians aboute ceremoniall obseruation of dayes and abstinence of meates and worshipping of Angels testifie Yea let the Churches of Galatia generallye infected with daungerous doctrine bee witnesse Wantes in pointes of knowledge and doctrine appeared manifestly to be in the Apostles the Church at Ierusalem touching the vocation of the Gentiles As for practise in gouerning and ordering the Churches if we search the times we shall easily find both deformities disabilities or wantes yea euen in the holsome censures of the Church which are here in question The Corinthians vnreuerent and scandalous yea almost prophane comming to the Lordes table is an example of a foule and corrupt behauiour of a Church Of wants and disabilities in the practise of Church gouernment let vs marke whether they may not be found euen in some Church which that most painefull Apostle Saint Paule laboured so plentifully to make perfect consider I say diligently and you shall finde that same famous Church of Rome where not long after Paule died for the testimonie of Christ so weake and defectiue in duties of gouernment as that they could not separate from them such as preached Christ contentiously and with so spitefull minds against Paule as tended to the cutting off of so good and faithfull a guide from amongest them You will not say they deserued it not nor yet that the better sort woulde not doe it for then also their faulte was worse You cannot say they knewe it not or it was secrete for Paule was in prison so as the knowledge therof coulde not come to him but by the information of brethren yea it is manifest by the same Epistle that the greater number of that Church did corruptly demeane and carrie themselues in the same Againe that pestilent chaire of ambitious vsurpation ouer the assemblies was crept into the Church whereof Saint Iohn maketh mention in these wordes I wrote vnto the Church but Diotrephes who seeketh the preheminēce among them receyueth vs not wherefore if I come I wil declare his deedes which he doeth pratling against vs with ambitious wordes and not therewith content neither himselfe receyueth the brethren but forbiddeth them that would and casteth them out of the Church First here is as much deprauation of discipline as Browne can tell vs of Secondly it is plaine that the same Church remained then vnable to remedie it which the Apostle signifieth by purposing a time to come rebuke him which needed not if the Church according to his demerite could haue chastened him Thirdly hee yet intituleth them the Church whereby all men may see the Apostle was farre frō Brownes mind For he neither insinuateth that the Church was now disanulled by such corruption nor giueth any caueat for men to withdraw or withhold themselues from ioyning with the same which certainly had bene necessarie both for that time present and all posterities ensuing Consider likewise what I haue before obserued vpon the 11. to the Cor. in the 11. sect So that turne you which way you will this shall bee sufficiently proued alwayes that a Church that is to say an assembly consisting of the essentiall partes of a Church of God may bee chargeable of diuerse other wantes and deformities both in doctrine gouernment which being so the other bulwarke also which your leader had builded for you to perswade you boldly to go from vs is beaten downe to the ground namely that the failing of any necessarie point in the publique practise of gouernement breaketh the couenant of a Church Yeld your selfe therfore for here must you needes be taken 22 But nowe let vs come to applie this same generall question to our particular congregation which if it bee tried in the essentiall parts aforsaid shall vndoubtedly be found a Church of God howsoeuer in some other things impure and defectiue He excepteth but against his owne knowledge cōscience that we haue no power nor order in vse to separate the vnworthy First this is no way of the essence of a Church as I shall proue Also I haue saide before that we both may and doe discerne of the Communicants and debarre the vnworthie And I brought places of his owne writings that testifie the same If hee doubt whether wee doe it let him inquire If the reader woulde see where the lawe doeth warrant it let him reade at the beginning of the ministration of the Communion in the Church bookes there shall he see it His sophisticall fetch in making this discipline all one with Christs power gouernment is bowlted out in another place To holde the church of Englande to bee without Christs discipline is they vnaduisednes of him that putteth all vpon the spurre and neuer looketh at his way To discerne the worthy and vnworthy in the assemblies to admonish the inordinate to suspend finally excommunicate the vnruly ones which is the discipline wherof our question is all men know the church of England by law professeth and dayly practiseth therefore it cannot bee said to be without the very discipline of Christ this very discipline I say as touching all the parts and duties of censuring although not ordered administred by such a course as the worde appointeth Which if he consider better hee may more truely hereafter affirme that the church of England administreth the discipline corruptly then that it wanteth the same that the outward forme and ordering of the discipline is popish but not the substāce so How much we labor according to our places to recouer that libertie the word giueth to euery cōgregation for executing the discipline as it is vnpossible for you to report of it that come not among vs so it is a shame for him to define of it that otherwise knoweth vs not 30 But then he woulde haue vs crie out by name against those that restraine vs yea though it cost vs our liues I answer All men in this cannot be tied to one rule for the maner of proceeding neither in any other case of suffering for the truth but euery one is to be left brotherly stirrings vp excepted to the particular preparations and thrusting forth of the spirit Your leader therefore hauing such a particular feeling of so great a charge and bond of duty to venture his liuing life in this case and specially holding the discipline so deare aboue vs as he pretendeth cannot keepe backe himselfe in this case but with ranke cowardlinesse and being guiltie of
matter looke the 16. verse and the meaning thereof In this place we say that their preaching is not the word of message from God neither may we partake with them in the Sacraments But in steade of a thousand other places heare him as patiētly as you may this one sentence against all kinde of communicating with our assemblies of Englande thus blasphemously barking They hold still the Priesthoode of Antichrist which is the tollerating and dispensing with wickednesse by such wicked preachers to make Christ and Belial agree Therefore thus saith the Lord I feede not my flocke at Paules crosse in London or Saint Maries in Cābridge or in your English parishes O ye my sheepe goe ye not thither as though there were my folde and there I rested and fed my flocke c. Sith he still iustifieth all his doctrines and dealings to be fautles let him and his friends nowe see howe they can reconcile these things with his subscription His 4. interrogatorie was this VVill you promise also quietly to behaue your selfe and to keepe the peace of this church and that you will not preach nor exercise the ministerie vnlesse you be lawfully called thereunto To this also hee answered affirmatiuely and that he would perfourme the same accordingly The latter part of this interrogatorie Browne confesseth in his answere to my Admonition but the former part he hideth in his bosome His proud chalenge will not suffer him nowe to shrowde him selfe from shame in neither First therefore to beginne with the former part hauing bounde him selfe by the thirde article to frequent our assemblies according to lawe and to acknowledge the same Church of Englande which doeth consist of these assemblies to be the Church of God Now doth he in the fourth place tye him selfe to the good behauiour towardes this Church which hath necessarie relation to the Church before so mentioned This I so lay downe that the slipperie shifter should not thinke to escape me by drawing an interpretation from these wordes to his conuenticles at his pleasure There be 3. notes of difference that will not suffer these wordes this church to be vnderstoode of his conuenticles 1. That the title of the Church of Englande can not without great insolencie be attributed to any other then that which is established by the law of the land and that he sheweth him selfe to see well ynough in his 62. section of his Answere to my Admon where for the same reason though it helped his cause neuer a whit he quarelleth with me for calling the church at Corinth The church of Corinth 2. Their conuenticles can not be said to be frequented according to the lawe without the like insolencie of speach as in the former note For by this forme of wordes is alwayes intended the lawe of the land whensoeuer the law of God is spoken of it is euer set downe with those or the like plaine wordes of difference els let them shewe one instance to the contrary But the third difference is most cleare for hauing bound him selfe to frequent and hold the peace of our Churches he is taken faster then that any struggling can giue him hope of escape Thus hauing voyded the doubtfulnes of his subscription let vs nowe come and try how well his heart his hande haue gone together that I may rake no further in his filthie confusions whereof I suppose the reader would be as wearie as my selfe let the former cited places of his writings be here likewise called to witnesse what a friende he is to the church of England and what peace he entertaineth with our assemblies As for his practise euen since his subscription omitting all that was before and namely his runnning ouer the sea and carying many with him the parish where he dwelt of late doeth testifie as is saide before that it is farre from a peaceable and quiet behauiour towardes the Church but much more the parish of Olaues in Siluerstreete a poore woman in the which he hath so strongly seduced that whereas my selfe sometimes had hope by satisfying her propounded doubts in writing to haue wonne her into our assemblies church exercises which of many in that parish was greatly desired he hath againe by so large a writing and heape of wordes ouerwhelmed the seelie woman who belike thinketh v. or vi sheetes of paper must needes confute one and confirmed her in her sottish separation so as at this day in respect of inferiour meanes we see vtterly no hope of her recouerie As for excommunication gone out against her she altogether contemned it before halfe a score of the parish and boasted of Bro. spreading of his writings against me to a hundreth miles distance from London Besides this somewhat later he hath disturbed the cōgregatiō at Dertford drawn away some railed opēly dispersed writings as of chalenge against the lecturer there for discouering vnto his auditorie the danger of that schisme Beholde is not this quiet behauiour and tending to the peace of this Church the latter part of his last interrogatorie being this that he shoulde not preach nor exercise the ministerie vnlesse he be lawfully called thereunto is aswell obserued and kept by him I warrant you I thinke hee dares not for the euidence of proofe that he knoweth to be against him deny that he hath since his subscribing preached in priuate houses namely amongst the rest one Lordes day not farre from Ludgate hauing a litle before in the same house earnestly contēded against in reasoning disswaded frō publique hearing He was at the same time by one M. W. soundly resisted in the same his schismatical dealing who rightly iudged it not meete in a time of the great assēblies of the church to the publike exercises of the worde and prayer to make priuate meetings for the same at our pleasure And M. W. after he had spoken in this matter what the Lord then gaue him departed with some others that went with him to the next sermon and left Browne with the rest that liked better to tarrie to their cursed cōuenticle Wherin Bro. tooke vpon him to exercise the ministerie of preaching howbeit he saith he was earnestly requested vnto it by those that were present Now that poynt therfore wil I leaue to the lerned to decide namely whether this was a lawful calling to that ministrie yea or no. Besides the subscribing to these interrogatories hee furthermore wrote his submission a point or 2. whereof I will likewise set in the vewe of the Reader Fiftly saith he I refuse not to communicate in the Sacraments For I haue one childe that is alreadie baptized according to the order and lawe and by this time in mine absence if God haue giuen my wife a safe deliuerance and the childe doe liue I suppose it is also baptized in like maner Further my seruants being three doe orderly come to their owne Parish Church according to the lawe and communicate also according to the
mercie if so be the Lord will yet heare vs for this and remoue our iniquities from before his presence and so the plagues which he hath deuised against vs for the same For our many and strange sinnes doe procure many and strange iudgements whereof this is not the least to breake in amongst vs. Yea the Lord for his great mercy grant our Magistrates sincere hearts still to purge the Church of all offences our ministers skilfull boldnesse to doe the message of God as becommeth them euerie priuate man humilitie to the diligent attendance of the worde and the whole body of this Church a ioyfull growth and going forwarde to the fulnesse of Christ that so all enemies mouthes may bee stopped and the mightie name of Iehouah be magnified ouer all Amen Come Lord Iesu come quickely Faults in the print Pag. 4. line 7 for rites reade remembrance pag. 22. li. 31 read importunitie pag. 36 li. 18. one sense pag. 37 li. 16 such lowde li. 20. force of it pag 51. li. 14. dastardlike pag. 63. li. 6. are to shewe pag. 66. li. 10. no vse pag. 114. li. 31. wrester pag. 115. li. 13. thought and sickenesse The doubts and obiections of a certaine disciple of Robert Brownes vvherein being vrged to come to Church the said partie desired first to be resolued ACcording to Christian dutie I require you in Gods behalfe that you will resolue mee of these doubts following by good euident proofe and warrant out of the worde as it is your duetie to doe For where as in doubtes that may arise concerning any thing in the booke of common prayer the preface annexed to the same booke by permission of her Maiestie not onely giueth all men free libertie but willeth them to demaund the resolution of such doubts of the Bishop of the Dioces or of the pastor of the parish I therefore for the quieting of my conscience doe desire to be resolued for he that doth any thing in religion with doubt of conscience is condemned because hee doeth it not of faith for whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne and the reward of sinne is death Set downe in writing your proofes by euident Scriptures out of Gods word that I may examine them by other Scriptures and vse no sophisticall reasons nor vaine philosophie for I am forewarned by the holy Ghost that we be not deceyued by such Among the rest I will at this time deale with you but with two things the one is the want of gouernement and discipline according to the rule of Gods worde And the other is the abuse and pollution of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for want of discipline according to Gods word Let vs make tryall of the true gouernement and discipline of the Church of God according to Christs commandement to put it in vse First to tel my neighbour his fault charitably between him and mee alone and so forth by admonitions if hee bee obstinate then by excommunication by the consent of the Church and all to call him to repentance and amendment of life and we see that neither you nor wee can put this in vse in your Church assembly as God hath commanded But on the contrary you must haue sworne men after the institution of the Papists First to go tel the Bishop or some of his hirelings or Courtkeepers they without admonishion will alone excommunicate and for money will resolue by the cannon law of the Papists before we see repentance and amendment of life Thus I see the commandement of God reiected and broken through their traditions which is sinne And also for the Lords Sacrament of the Supper trial should bee made by the gouernement of the Church of a sanctified people so to be a cōmunion of Saints so worthy receiuers by tryall of their faith and repentance and by the rule of Gods worde the other refused for their wicked life vntill they repent and amend their liues But in your assemblies or Church from 16. or 18. yeeres old or vpward all are compelled by lawe to come though he be a couetous person a proud person a drunkard a defrauder of right or oppressor or blasphemer which in contempt of God in his life and manners maketh but a tush or a light matter of sinne and of Gods iudgement for sinne of which sort are the greatest number in your parish besides railers and liars and such like And nowe I demaund whether Christians are to ioyne and partake as one body with them in the Sacrament being vnreformed yea or no. Seeing we are forbidden to eate with such or to haue felowshippe with them by the commaundement of the holy Ghost vnlesse it bee in worldly affaires For proofe Reade these Scriptures 1. Cor. 59 10 11 12 13.2 Thes 3.14.6.2 Tim 3.1 2 3 4 5. Rom. 16.17 18. Ephe. 5.7.8.1 Thes 5 21.22 Answere me as I haue sayd by the worde of God only and alone without the iudgement of man for I can not be resolued thereby they are so contrary one to an other ¶ An Answere resolutorie to the doubtes and obiections aforesaid THREE poyntes you put downe vnto me whereunto you require mine answere First is a comparison of the true gouernement of the Church with ours The second is of disorders that fal out at the ministration of the Lords supper The third is your question drawne from the two former poyntes 1 To the first I graunt you that you say thus farre as namely that wee cannot redresse faultes so fully as is to bee wished 2 To the seconde it is vntrue that you say the lawe compelleth all aboue xvi yeres olde without any exception to communicate for the lawe intendeth a worthines as may appeare by prouiding censures for the vnworthy Againe it is vntrue that you charge vs to make a confuse mingling with open offenders without discerning for both wee may and doe debarre those that are notoriously knowne to be in life offensiue and do both enquire and are readie to receiue any iust and probable information against whom-soeuer in our charge that walke inordinately Yea informe you vs duely of those sinners which you say our Parish is so ful of and you shal not find them I trust to disquiet you at the Lordes table If you say we cannot performe this so throughly as by an Eldership then I graunt so much of your second poynt also 3 Herehence you aske whether Christians are to ioyne and partake as one body with them in the Sacrament being vnreformed I answere that in respect of outward ioyning and partaking wee may and ought not to withdrawe our selues for the presence of the wicked My reasons are these first because the presence of the wicked hindreth not the celebratiō of the riter of Christ nor the communicating of his body and blood to the faithfull ones I prooue that thus if the presence of the wicked should hinder the actiō we must grant that their presence doth it either in respect of it selfe simply
assumption His proposition carrying the force of a conuexiue falsely inferreth the feyning of a counterfait Christ and a counterfaite Church vpon the deniall of his power and authoritie to be of the essence of a Church For they do not thereby as hee beareth men in hand separate Christ and his Church from his power and gouernement Men of meane vnderstanding knowe that there are propper accidents to thinges which cannot be separated from them and yet are not of their essence For example heate cannot bee separated from the fire nor mouing from the sunne yet are neither of those properties any part of their essence nor doeth hee that saith heate is not of the essence of fire nor motion of the essence of the sunne deny therefore the fire to be hote or the sunne to haue his motion And concerning these offices in question touching which Browne so arrogantly challengeth M.C. to answere whether they be of the essence of the Church I would the reader should aske of him or his friends if he thinke it good whether the kingdome Priesthood of the sonne of God and man the word incarnate be partes of his essence or accidentes vnto him rather and so whether hee that shall say they are not of his essence doeth thereby dispoyle him of his offices I feare not vnlesse you take him in some desperate fit hee will answere no. Why then if a thing may truely be remoued from the essence and neuerthelesse necessarily admitted in the Subiect howe followeth it that they that deny the kingly power or authoritie of Christ to bee of the essence of a Church doe there-fore make or feyne a Church that is without it This being voyded let vs nowe trye whether Christs power authoritie and office of gouerning bee of the very essence of a Church as hee woulde haue it This shall we soundly try out by examining by the word of God what are the essentiall causes of that which is truly may be called the Church of God And first for the matter of a Church I suppose it will-be readily yeelded vnto to bee Christ the head corner stone and Christians who are as liuely stones to bee builded vppon him to a spirituall house For so the Apostles Peter Paul playnely declared according to which proportion hee is likewise called the head and we that beleeue in him the members as Saint Paul sayth that vnder the feete of Christ God hath subiected all thinges and hath appoynted him ouer all thinges to bee the head to the Church which is his body euen the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all thinges To the same end Christ compared him-selfe to a vine and those that beleeue in him to the braunches of the vine Like whereunto is that of the Oliue and the braunches grafted therein as Saint Paul deliuereth it The matter of a Church wee haue Let vs nowe see what may be the fourme Neither will it bee hard to find that if wee consider that the setting together of prepared stones maketh the building the vniting of the head with the members fourmeth the body and the continuance together of the stocke with the braunches giueth the being of a tree For so is it likewise agreeable to all reason that the vniting and knitting together of Christ and Christians bee graunted the formall cause of a Church Nowe this vnition is by two meanes the one eternall the other seruing but for this life The eternall vnition is by the holy Ghost whereby we are flesh of his flesh bone of his bones and made finally complete and perfect in one God through that one and only mediator betweene God and man Iesus Christ This is peculiar and proper to the Catholique Church which is the whole company of the elect of God and doth not pertaine to the members of a particular Church as they are only considered members of any particular Church but as they are also in that regard members of the Catholique The tēporal vnition which as I sayd serueth for this life is by faith which shall cease in the day of the reuelation of the Saincts of God when we shall be possessed of the full fruition of all those things we hoped for as the holie word doth testifie for mortalitie shall be swallowed vp of life perswasion of possession and faith of the fulnesse of the spirit and perfect being in God through Christ Meane time faith is as the engrafting of the braunches into the stock whereby they are vpholden whilest that by the sappe and spirit of life proceeding therefrom they be growne and established And as the braunch to be ingrafted needeth those his enwrappings and bindings to support and defend it against sundrie inconueniences till it be able to be without them and afterward they are of no vse vnto it so doth faith support and desend the tender conscience against all the stormes of temptations till there be that perfect growth in Christ that is vtterly freed from them at which time in like sort faith doth cease But heere withall thys faith must be vnderstood to admit a twofold consideration the one in respect of Gods the other in respect of mans beholding and iudging thereof In regard of God that onely is acknowledged which is vnfeigned and sealed vp with his holie spirit of promise But in regard of man a feigned faith may also stand in the reckoning sith man cannot iudge of the heart but must therfore accept rest in the sound confession of the mouth and so according to this latter consideration hath the Reader the right vnderstanding of faith in this question concerning the fourming of visible Churches for man to discerne of ioyne with them Now that faith doth engraffe and vnite vs vnto Christ and so is the proper fourme of particular visible Churches I needed not at all stand heere to prooue if there were not in this man against whom I deale a iust suspition of fundamentall Apostacie heerein For if he had beene indeede perswaded thereof to this day we should neuer by him haue beene thus brought to the proofe of the being of our Church as now he hath prouoked vs. Therefore although this cause hath beene alreadie so handled by the worthie seruants of God against the common Aduersarye as that he whosoeuer at this day shall call it into question is more worthie the sharpest discipline then any disputation Yet for to stop importunate mouthes whatsoeuer and to make cleere to the world the confutation of Brownes false conclusion heere in hand it is requisite that after the large labour of others I also point at some profes for this purpose shewing that visible Churches in as much as they stand in the accompt of visible Churches are vnited vnto Christ by faith only First let all the planting of Churches thoroughout the story of the Actes be considered and see if the holy Ghost do not euery where testify this vniting vnto Christ
scope being seene let vs take also a short viewe of the handling of his matter Setting downe discipline first in two points as if he woulde begin at the two maine heades thereof he maketh the gathering of a Church one and the guiding of it the other as though you might vnderstande howe the light of the fire can be before there be fire the vse of an instrument before the instrument be fourmed and the action of a liuing thing before the same liuing thing be engendered But in these disputes of discipline the man must bee remembred that wee speake not of discipline at randon but strictly of the discipline of a church Which therfore hauing continuall relation to a Church as haue the actions of a man to a man can no more be presupposed to be the discipline of a church before the same church be then can the actiōs of any man be ascribed vnto him or reported of him before the man himselfe that should do them be begotten But if he will needes haue the gathering of a Church to bee a part of the discipline what part will he referre it vnto For hereby we shall find him as farre at oddes with himselfe as hee is with the trueth His diuision of the kingdome of Christ which hee taketh to differ nothing from the discipline as I haue declared you haue heard before What part thereof is the gathering of a Church to bee referred vnto Perhaps hee will answere the last part namely separation But alas poore man hee forgot that his owne definitions haue quite debarred him all such escape For separation sayth he of the wilfull or grieuous offender is a duetifulnesse of the Church in withholding from them the Christian Communion and felowship by pronouncing and shewing the christian Communion to be broken by their grieuous wickednesse and that with mourning fasting and prayer for them and denouncing Gods iudgements against them And this he calleth not separation from the prophane world but separation from the Church The same hee sayth of the other two partes trying out wickednesse and rebuke they be duties of the church sayth he therefore the Church is presupposed first to be say I and so he in this dissenting both from truth and from himselfe sheweth that nothing but the spirit of lies doeth lead him And why doeth hee say The Church must bee gathered of the worthie and not rather of beleeuers according to the vsuall speach of the Scriptures Forsooth he knewe that if hee granted the Church to bee gathered of beleeuers there needed no more to bee saide to his confutation He was so wise therefore for himselfe as to choose rather a worde more impertinent and lesse perspicuous both to reserue a vauntage of cauilling and to darken the light vnto his reader In the tenth of Matthew whence he fetcheth his phrase Christ giueth no commaundement to the twelue to gather Churches as lthough for that ende they shoulde enquire who was woorthie but onely that they should carie thorow the cities of Iudea the sound of the cōming of Messiah for the wakening of the people preparing their minds to receiue their saluation now comming so neare towardes them and there inquiring out of the worthy is not enioyned them for gathering of congregatious in townes and cities but for their direction touching the places where they should looke for intertainment whilest they taried in any towne or citie And therefore sayeth our Sauiour In whatsoeuer citie or towne ye shal come inquire who is worthie in it and then hee saith not gather all such together to bee a Church but there abide ye till ye go thence as appointing them in euery towne where they come to take vp their lodging in the house of him whom they heard most specially to be spoken of for an honest and religious life The rest of his quotations here are from his purpose they concerne not gathering of Churches but partly the behauiour in Churches and partly euery seuerall Christians discerning of contemners And Malachie among the rest is fowly forced when as because he sayeth The Lorde reiected their offerings because they offered the scrobled and the lame and thesicke and the blinde Browne sayth It figureth the reiecting of our Sacraments when dogs and swine do cōmunicate therein when papists Atheists drunkards Maygamsters blasphemers raylers fighters and such like are presented as sweete bread at the table of the Lord. Where he should compare the blind and lame sacrifices with the defect and defilement that may bee in the Sacraments and seruices of the Church hee to serue his owne turne compareth them with the vnworthie receyuers and disordered members of a Church which was very clenly cogging Besides that it is vntrue that euerie vnworthy receiuer by and by is a dog or a swine for the description Christ giueth of them by their properties is such as rightly agreeth with those only who with open malice and wilfull stubbornesse tread vnderfoot blaspheme godlinesse and ragingly persecute the professors of the same Such found Paule and Barnabas of the Iewes at Antioch But such therefore is not euery vnwoorthie Communicant or that doth deserue excommunication His heaping vp of Papists Atheists with the rest sheweth that his pen was in running and he must needs fill vp the nūber Finally it is false that they were no sacrifices because the Lorde reproueth the bringing of such by the people and the accepting of them by the Priest For they keeping them to the kind of cattel that God had ordeyned for his sacrifices as sheepe oxen c. it ceased not to be a sacrifice although a faultie one when they offered the lame and the blind of those because the fault was in the qualitie and not in the substance Whereas if they should haue killed a dogge or an hogge or an asse then it had beene vtterly no sacrifice His corrupt opinion in vrging the retayning of euery trespasse of our brothers till wee see him repent I haue discouered before Nowe when hee sayeth This libertie and power euery Christian must holde or else hee is the seruant of men and not of Christ And therehence argueth from the more to the lesse If a particular Christian cannot want it how shall the whole Church be without it and yet be named the Church of Christ It is manifest that hee maketh the reproouing of offending brethren to be of the essence of a Christian and so reasoneth from the deniall of the more probable to the deniall of the lesse probable But his reasoning is sophisticall and the consequence popish heresie His reason is sophistical in that he maketh it lesse probable for a church to faile in matters of discipline than for a christian in his own particular of monishing his brother when as contrariwise it is more probable because to the discipline of a Church is required a consent and consent is neuer free from the clogges crossings of cōtradictorie
iudgements which a particular Christian being lesse subiect vnto it is therefore lesse likelie equall or probable that hee should faile And for more proofe experience teacheth this euerie where For in Churches where the discipline of Christ is either not wholy or not soundly established you shal alwayes find some particular members diligent and sound in their duties this way And I referre to the reader the consideration of many particular members of the English assemblies in this behalfe I said there was popish heresie in the consequence and the reader shall testifie no lesse when he considereth that if the reproouing offending brethren bee of the essence of a Christian and no man can denie the doing thereof to be a worke it foloweth that works are of the essence of a Christian and consequently of a church as I haue iustly charged him other where Behold stil whitherto his incōsiderate course doth carie him If his disciples abhorre this and graunt that a particular man ceaseth not to be a Christian for his default in this dutie euen so must he grant by the same necessitie that a Church ceaseth not to be a Church for her defaults in discipline It is true that such a christian is a weake christiā according to the proportion of his wants and errours and such a Church is a diseased Church and that according to the measure of her imperfections but yet still a Christian and yet still a Church for the essentiall causes aforesaid He sayth Euery particular christian is a king and Priest vnto God This is true But to what ende are we kings sayth he forsooth to holde the scepter of Gods worde to iudge the offenders and for nothing else No. For so it is in his wise definitions also Well if this be all when his disciples and he haue best learned to be this kinde of kings as they haue too well learned this lesson alredie what can they be found but those hypocrits which spy motes in other mens eyes but marke not the beames in their owne and by that name shalbe commanded of the iust iudge with shame at length to looke into themselues which before were wholy occupied in the beholding others But whosoeuer will not wilfully close their eyes if they shall suffer themselues to be remembred that the most immediate neere and principall end except Gods glory which is the principall end of al ends of christians being kings vnto God is to mortifie our own affections and euill lusts and to subdue sinne in our selues they will leaue with worthie detestation so loose a teacher and be skilfull to espie this grosse sophisme which almost euerie where he committeth vnder colour of some part of a thing denying the same thing wholy And thus it fareth with him almost in euerie sentence of the page we haue in hande If a particular Christian doe not vpholde his libertie and power in iudging and rebuking particular offenders he is vtterly without the Kingdome and Priesthoode of Christ In like maner sayth he if the Church doe not openlie rebuke and excommunicate it hath no interest in the Priesthood and Kingdome of Christ and so is none of his Church Againe If it cannot excommunicate it hath not the Keyes of the kingdome of heauen to binde and loose reteyne or remitte sinnes and to shut the gates of heauen against anie Which is as much to say as a Christian must shewe the effectes of Christes Kingdome in all thinges or else in none And a Church if it hath it not in all respectes it hath it in no respect And thus belike because Browne is not yet so madde as that hee will suffer no clothes vpon him wee shoulde not beleeue diuerse of his great friendes who say he is madde or out of his wittes whereby they seeke to excuse his dealings The Church hath as I sayde before the woorde of God which because it openeth comfort in Christ to the penitent and shutteth it vp from the obstinate is therefore called the Keyes of the kingdome of heauen as also the power of God vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth called also in another place the sauour of life to life in those that are saued and the sauour of death vnto death in those that perish These Keyes are diuersly administred or dispensed as generally particularly openly priuately by the seuerall members or by a ioynt number of the Church and so either simplie or else ioyned with some personall restraint as suspension or excommunication Nowe where the Keyes are not all manner of wayes thus dispensed doeth it followe that there they are not dispensed at all Hee needeth not tell vs that the Church hath libertie and right by the woorde to vse them all and so stande harping vpon this ill tuned string that it hath power to iudge those that are within when as this in the meane time which shoulde haue gained his cause lieth vnprooued namely if the Church vse not all her right shee vseth none and if shee exercise not her power of iudging euerie way then doeth shee not exercise it any way This I say beeing prooued had put life into his cause which nowe remayning vnprooued maketh his impudent conclusion wherein he boasted to haue prooued this ridiculous That which hee calleth a fonde answere of M. Cartwright was because it was fondly vnderstood of him The point is explained by me before The rest of his 37. page being chiefly of the Corinthians discipline and abuses in the Sacrament I haue made breathlesse in my discourse of Communicating Thou hast heard beloued what this great maister can say to prooue discipline of the essence of a Church Let vs nowe heare him returning to the rest of his obiections and cauils at M. Cartwright his letter touching this point M. Cartwright hauing truly said that Church assemblies are builded by faith onely vpon Christ the foundation the which faith so being whatsoeuer sayeth hee is wanting of that which is commaunded or remayning of that which is forbidden is not able to put that assemblie from the right and title of so being the Church of Christ For that fayth can admit no such thing as giueth an vtter ouerthrowe and turning vpside downe of the trueth Hereunto hee addeth By this title of the faithfull the Apostle in his Epistles noteth out the Churches of God beeing all one with him to say To the faithfull or to the Saintes as to the Churches of such a place VVhat soeuer wanteth vnto this or is more than ynough it wanteth or aboundeth to the disgrace and vncomelinesse or to the hazarde of the continuance and not to the present ouerthrowe of the Church And although besides fayth in the sonne of God there may be manie thinges necessarie for euerie assemblie yet bee they necessarie to the comely and stable beeing and not simplie to the being of the Church This sounde and sober doctrine of prudent distinguishing discerning things differing in their proper kindes
thus layde downe by this reuerende man beeing wrangled at in other things as you haue heard there remayneth that which Browne sayeth agaynst his reason of entituling the Church with those tearmes the faithfull and of the Saints The Apostle indeede almoste in all his writings to the churches saluteth them by the title of Saints or faithfull as namely at Corinth Ephesus Philippi and Colosse in the steade of calling them Churches of those places as putting them in remembrance of that whereby they stoode and had their being of a Church Like as also writing to Timothie and Titus hee calleth them his naturall sonnes in the fayth and according to the fayth as noting by that without anie addition of other woordes though Browne sayeth it coulde not bee shewed their state and beeing in Christ Whereas if discipline and iudging offendours had beene of the essence of a Church and of a Christian Saint Paule woulde rather haue vsed these or such like titles To the Saintes and displinate ones at Corinth Ephesus Philippi and Colosse and to Timothie and Titus my naturall sonnes in the Discipline or according to the Discipline and iudging offenders So when the Eunuch comming by the water said See here is water what doth let me to be baptized Philip should not haue answered him If thou beleeuest with all thine heart thou mayest but rather If I may see thee disciplinate or indued with the power of Christ to iudge and rebuke particular offenders then mayest thou bee baptized That the woorde Saintes and faithfull are Synonyma and signifie all one and no differing thing in those places it is easily proued by that the Apostle saluting the faithfull at Philippi doeth it by the title of Saintes onely without the addition of the woorde faythfull In like sort directing his second Epistle not onely to the church at Corinth but to the rest of beleeuers also in all that prouince hee vseth the woorde Saintes alone to signifie them Whereas if Saint Paul had meant any higher thing by the woorde Saintes then hee doeth by faythfull in other places the Corinthians should not haue tolde to whom his direction should haue perteined since they being men coulde iudge no further than of the outwarde profession This is made yet more then manifest by comparing the direction of the first Epistle herewith for there placing his titles iust oppositely and calling the Churche at Corinth Saintes and the rest of professours by the title of those that call on the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ hee sheweth his flat iudgement to stande for the indifferent vse of those woordes which confuteth the errour of Browne imagining the woorde Saintes to implie actuall holinesse and not the profession of fayth whereby and that onely euery one that holdeth it are in all humane iudgement esteemed to stande vnder the sweete harbour of Christes imputation And when I thus speake of esteeming Christians onely by their profession of the true fayth I woulde not bee so vnderstoode as this garish fellowe taketh maister Cartwright pages 6. and 7. but of such a profession as sheweth at leaste some good notes of gladnesse and willingnesse to the woorde and meanes of fayth though they be not atteined neither to so high a pitch of knowledge nor so set a course of holy practise as either to subdue thēselues in all outward actions or censure offending brethren in their particular trespasses Therefore when hee demaundeth howe they that shewe forth a wicked and vnholy profession shall still bee called the Saintes and Church of God His answere is ready The Apostle called the Church at Corinth Saints notwithstanding their manifold vnholy practises wherewith the ioynt assemblies were to bee charged generally and also the particular members seuerally in regarde of their present standing in the faith of Christ who not onely taketh away the imputation of our sinnes our sinnes I meane of the elect onely in the sight of God and of all such professours as I haue spoken of as touching the iudgement and estimation of man but also by dayly degrees carieth vs finally to the toppe of inherent perfection For the hope whereof and this present profession whence that probably so ariseth vntill apparant appostacy breake forth all the members of a Church are to bee reckoned Saintes and sanctified ones in Christ like as Paul entituleth the Church of Corinth This man saith though Paul wrote his Epistle to the Church Saints at Corinth yet doth he not thereby call the incestuous person or other grosse sinners mēbers or parts of that Church In all poynts of the question of a Church I see that a strange blindnes hath possessed him in the steede of more then an ordinary knowledge which hee pretendeth For if the incestuous person were not a member of the church at Corinth why did they separate him Doth not separation or sundring necessarily argue a vnion or being together The distinction of Saint Iohn serueth not in this case for hee speaketh of Aposttaes from the catholique faith not of moral offenders that are to be reconciled to their places And when he saith they went out from vs but they were not of vs hee signifieth that they were not of the catholique Church which is the number of the elect which distinction of catholique particular Churches if Browne would obserue in any measure it woulde no lesse auaile to the comfort of his owne confused conscience then to the wel regarded peace of our Church For a particular Church being a conuenient number of such as doe in one vniforme agreed course of the outward ioynt worship of God professe that righteousnesse which is by the faith of Iesus Christ consisteth both of the elect and reprobate vnfeigned counterfeit Christians being therfore rightly resembled by that net cast into the sea that gathereth all kinds of things And so as touching the eye of man all are to be accounted members of that Church which ioyne together thus in one profession And if open offences breake out in any then appeareth diseased or rotting members but yet members till they be separated I meane still as in the eye and iudgement of man according as it behooueth vs to speake in all this question of the state and condition of particular Churches The rest of his 41. page against M.C. was matter of his owne finding like a bad husband that loues to make long haruest of a litle corne M. C. to prooue that there may be sundry thinges necessary to the comely and stable being and yet not simply to the being of a Church giueth two instances from the people of Israel which neglected for the space of 40. yeeres the holy Sacrament of circumcision and the Passeouer also as it seemeth one onely time excepted and yet ceased not therefore to be the Church of God and to haue the Sanctuarie amongest them Browne saith this matter is shamefully abused but we shall see anon where the shame resteth
the Bi. authority shall still be holden in no better case then his books haue left it Againe he hath these cleere full words both for himselfe and his followers None of you all can shew any fault false doctrine or wickednes in vs. By this time therefore I beleeue the reader seeth that I haue left this wauering weathercock as naked of all defence to couer his shame euen as is my naile according to the prouerb But now let vs looke further also into his subscrip He confesseth that secondly he subscribed that where the word of God is duly preached and the sacraments accordingly ministred there is the Church of God But he dissembleth keepeth from the reader another fourme of words for that article which was offered him thus 3. Do you acknowledge the Church of England to be the church of Christ or the church of God and wil you promise to cōmunicate with the same in praiers sacramēts hearing of the word and wil you frequent our Churches according to law or no to this he subscribed affirmatiuely Heere againe let the craftie foxe turne him which way he wil and he is taken For howsoeuer he would maintaine quarelling vpō the first forme of words of Preaching the word duly ministring the sacramēts accordingly yet whē as he bound himself to frequent our Churches according to lawe he hath at one gripe choaked all his former writings Let the congregation of Toolyes Church in Southwarke testify whether for almost this two yeares space that he hath bin Schoolemaister there dwelt amongst thē he haue at any time cōmunicated with them in the Sacra and whether vpon their late vrging of him thereunto he hath not to defeate them remoued his dwelling into another parish left a troublesome stinke behind him in their Church Yet some perhaps will obiect that he doth sometimes cōmunicate with our assemblies in the word Heare the word sometimes I confesse but communicate with vs therein I deny that he doth How doth he heare as a censor to iudge not as a brother to learne as the Spider goeth likewise to the flower but not to gather hony as the Bee and thus the Deuill also may be said to cōmunicate in the word with vs. I confesse I speake vehemētly but I protest the loue of God constraineth me for before his subscrip Brown being about Stamford was earnestly intreated of M. Far. M. Har. Londoners that forasmuch as he had graunted thē it was not vnlawful to heare the Word in our assemblies that he would by some writing perswade his followers at London thereunto seeing they did at that time vtterly cōdemne hearing with vs. They obteined his letters which as they testify perswaded indeed to hearing in our assemblies not as children addressing thēselues to the sincere milke of the word to grow therby nor as mē plowing vp the furrowes of their harts to receiue the seed of the holy word to a perfect rooting in thē but in stead of these other cōditiōs of their hearing were put down as trying looking into iudging of the doctrine behauiour of the preachers and that so they might come as by occasion in the way of protestation for such respects Also he gaue them a special exceptiō of preachers which ouerthrew the whole matter for when they were to auoid all that opposed themselues to their course what a doubtfulnes must he needs bring vpō thē to heare any sith as they haue wickedly condemned our assemblies for no Churches of God so we cannot choose but hate and pursue them as enemies of all true peace sacred vnity saying with the Prophet Dauid Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and do not I earnestly contend with those that rise vp against thee c. Now also since his subscription in his Libell against me he putteth downe his distinction of hearing in these words VVhile they raile resist the truth for so he taketh his way doctrine only to be we may heare them as enemies but ioyne with thē as brethren we dare not And now I suppose you see how he heareth our Sermons and will graunt vnto me that this is not to communicate in the word with vs although he had giuen his hād promise therunto But alas who would iudge otherwise of this matter if he haue but a little looked into Browns bookes which he stoutly iustifieth to be without false doctrine or fault Euery where in thē hath he disclaimed both our praiers preaching Sacraments as none of the Lords and therfore how shall he be taken what shew so euer he maketh to cōmunicate with vs in any of them two or three places of his infinite number wil I shortly set down and so leaue this point also to the readers further consideration But indeed saith he is the Lords message a blind reading of seruice and though they preach yet is that the Lords gold which they bring when they take and leaue the flocke as the wicked bishops appoint them and neither can nor wil plant or refourme the church haue I sent them saith the Lord or cōmanded them whē they cause my people to erre by their lyes their slatteries saying ye are his people church though ye be polluted abhominable haue these dumme dogs tollerating preachers my letters seales I neuer gaue them saith the Lord they are stollen counterfaite yea they haue the seales and licenses of their wicked bishops and if they haue my message why hold they their peace at the wicked B. discharging as if they had his message only be it therfore O ye Prelates that ye put Moses seate for Moses doctrine can you preach the Lords word doctrine or minister his sacramēts to preach some truth as wicked mē may do to preach the Lords word of message is not al one for his message cānot be without his gouernmēt Then a little after Ye haue not yet saith he cast off the yoke of Antichrist and receyued all things concerning my kingdome and gouernment Therfore because ye haue not planted builded my church saith the Lord that it may be visible nor purged clensed it frō open abhominations both ye all the works of your hāds with your praiers sacra are vncleane accursed Within fewe lines after this yet forsooth it is made great wickednes not to heare these preachers for they sit in Moses seat and are not blinde guydes Nay they sit in the seate of Antichrist and if they were blinde they shoulde not haue had this sinne c. Againe within fewe lines But yet these wicked preachers rise vp against this and cry out that they haue the chiefe they haue the worde and the Sacraments and as for the gouernement and discipline it is but an accessary and hangby needefull in deede but yet they may be without it and be the Church of God notwithstanding But for this
Lawe Hereupon hee addeth To all these poyntes that they are true I do subscribe with mine hande and name this 7. of October Anno Dom. 1585. Here I obserue that he testifieth it to be orderly done to come to our owne parish Churches which is more then his writings can well beare howsoeuer he thinke to shift it Also in that he sayth he refuseth not to communicate in the Sacraments perhaps he stoppeth the crye of his conscience which telleth him he communicateth not in the Sacraments with our congregation by this foolish and deceitfull perswasion namely that he satisfieth his promise by communicating in the Sacraments though but in his owne conuenticles But his argument of fact that he giueth to bring credite withall vnto the same assertion as in these wordes For I haue one childe thas is already baptized according to order and Lawe c. this I say stoppeth vp that starting hole against him And then it woulde bee shewed in what congregation of ours hee hath communicated in the Sacraments since the day of his running ouer sea Nay if his behauiour bee truely obserued when hee commeth into our congregations I doe not thinke it can bee proued that hee hath since that day so much as ioyned with them in their prayers To this last place of the matter of Brownes subscription I haue reserued one thing which is good for al to know and some to prouide for and that is this Answering to my Admonition for that point of his subscription which I had obiected against him as a proofe of a vile conscience he graunteth that he had subscribed but he denieth that he had so subscribed as that he should be prooued against himselfe thereby in anie thing Thereupon he setteth me downe though vntruly as you haue heard certaine fourmes of the pointes whereunto hee did subscribe and there withall telleth mee what handsome interpretations of his owne wordes he can make whereby giuing one hand to the satisfying of the authoritie that then dealt with him with the other hee stroketh the eyes of his foolish followers that they might sleepe still in the opinion of his good meaning As though the dealings of Rob. Browne had not otherwise bene vile ynough except he had by this means shewed that he hath not one haire of an honest man about him Read beloued and then testifie The first article of his subscription he reporteth thus The bishops ciuill authoritie Browne did acknowledge lawfull in his subscription and their magistracie to bee obeyed Well how doe you thinke he maketh this agree with his bookes euen thus hee telles you that hee doeth by those wordes neither iustifie those for brethren which doe persecute nor allow an idle and Lordly ministerie in the Church as a part of the brotherhoode How the reader can conceyue this that he denieth vpon his subscription I knowe not but thus much I am sure this his explication certifieth that the BB. being by the Queene and her lawes allowed the titles of Lordes are accounted of Browne not to bee members of the Church And by this answere it appeareth he coggeth this imagination into his disciples that hee allowed the BB. ciuill authoritie but therewithall denied them their ecclesiasticall ministerie Howbeit in plaine wordes he subscribed to their authoritie To couer himselfe in the 2. article hee is faine to hide the trueth as I haue before discouered For the third though he vse the same craft yet in that hee cannot but confesse that hee subscribed that his childe was baptized according to order of lawe to salue his credite with his companions in this hee saith But yet it was done without his consent and contrary to an order he had taken and appointed for it was baptised in England he being beyonde the sea If it were contrarie to his purpose howe coulde it argue his not refusing to communicate in the Sacrament On the other side if hee tell his disciples true of his meaning herein that hee had taken other order for his childs baptizing but that his being beyond sea crossed his purpose how agreeth that with his neglecting of the same order taking for his later childes baptizing which euen at the time of his subscription he alledged by way of coniecture as if God had giuen his wife safe deliuerance to be baptized also according to lawe He was nowe in Englande when hee might haue taken better order if the first were such an errour But because he had no such colourable excuse for this he tooke a shorter way though no lesse shamefull in stepping ouer that part of the article as though there had beene no such thing Also for his alleaging his seruants comming to Church according to lawe whereby he perswaded vnto the BB. his owne conformitie that way he excuseth this to his companions to be for that he was not to force his seruants agaynst their conscience and custome being newly come to him Adding this beside that he neuer came to the same Church with them the parson beeing a common drunkard and infamous by sundrie faults Againe confessing he promised the BB. on the one side that he would come to Church according to order of lawe On the other side hee perswadeth his disciples that hee might well ynough doe so for that there was no lawe to force him to take such a parson for his lawfull minister neither to ioyne with him in the prayers and Sacraments Thus hath hee first manifestly mocked authoritie so as that place of Iude which hee had wrongfully writhen towardes mee returneth nowe againe with full force vppon his owne heade And secondly hee apparantly sheweth that hee continueth his olde course of seducing the seelie sheepe euen as heretofore In summe if all that is here sayde touching his subscription bee melted together as in one lumpe where shall wee find a more perfect image of a pestilent schismaticke and one more voide of all conscience than is this Browne though Rome it selfe be raked through to find him Howe well doe these notes which were long agoe obserued to be the verie properties of all heretikes agree with this mans maners namely to shrinke from their doctrines as ashamed when they are pressed with them and neuerthelesse still vnderhande to glorie in teaching such things Againe as an other testifieth It is not ynough to bee heretikes vnlesse they bee also hypocrites These are they that come in sheepes clothing Sheepe they are in shew foxes for craft but wolues in act and crueltie Neither is it in price with them to followe vertue but to colour vices as with a certaine painting of vertue To the 108. 14 No part of Church Discipline can bee wanting but the Church doeth straight way goe to ruine thereby Againe there may be a true Church of GOD without the Presbiterie These two axiomes will not well agree as the Admonition supposeth Browne sent me glewe which he sayde was strong ynough to holde them together I haue tryed it and it will
of stopping that violent streame of seducing wherein daily such numbers of the yonger and weaker sorte of Christians are caryed out of our assemblies principally because the zeale of such being greater then their knowledge becommeth an apt pray and bootie for the instruments of deceit to practise vpon And this agreeth with the exhortation of the Church when she sayeth Take vs the foxes the litle foxes corrupting the vines whilest our vines bring foorth the first grape the other benefite is that hereby those impure mouthes shall be dashed that hertofore in their malitious defence of corruptions haue made no conscience to clothe all those that haue duetifully vrged the proceeding of our church vnto perfection in one liuerie with these schismaticall spirites that so they might purchase vnto them both from magistrate and common people equall hatred and auoydance This booke shal by the grace of God testifie vnto all that make any conscience to discerne truth from lyes that there is as much difference betwixt those whō they in their bitternesse woulde thus match together as is betweene that childe that in tender affection reprooueth and laboureth the refourming of his mother whome hee seeth by her vndiscreete behauiour to become a reproche among women and him that vnder pretence of the hate of her vncomely behauiour shoulde plucke out her bowels and forsake her In this my trauaile I haue cared as much as I could to husbande the time vnto the reader and therfore haue both cut off many idle discourses which the aduersarie woulde haue drawne mee into and also haue so sounded the matters that I haue delt with by al the writings printed or otherwise that are probably vouched theirs as that I hope the godly spirit shall find me no trifler but such a serious and sincere disputer as the weight of the cause hath required I was I graunt in comparison of others as a woman of too weake a constitution to conceiue and bring forth any such child but the Lord hath had his way purpose herein And as I protest before the Lord his holy angels with much feare and trembling I haue from the beginning applied my selfe vnto this worke so yet in the doing thereof through the mercifulnesse of my God I haue bin assisted with much cōfort and great assurance euen in some things that seemed at the first so in wrapped by Satan with so many intricate folds knittings as could hardly or neuer by me for I shame not to acknowledge my weaknesse herein bee brought to any cleare triall and expedite dissolution Of mine aduersaries I rather knowe the nature then the number Although as it hath beene obserued sundrie among them from time to time haue laboured to be leaders and so vpon the spurre of emulation haue gallopped as hard as they could yet without all question there is none among them that can iustly take the garland from Rob. Browne His writings doe foreiudge the cause agaynst all his competitors And albeit newe maisters are risen among them that nowe in a fresh hote moode condemne his coldnesse and colourable dealing and that worthily yet they must euen Barow and Greenwood with the rest acknowledge him the shop of their store and the steele of their strength for arguments obiections and shiftes to colour and if it were possible to vphold their crasie cause withall Let them not disdaine therefore that he should beare the name as the father of that familie and brood which of late yeares in a quarell for the Discipline haue made that rende in the assemblies of Englande But some will obiect that these that I name agree not among themselues and therefore cannot be accounted of one familie I am not ignorant that they are at oddes betweene themselues but yet so as that neither partie will ioyne member-like with our Churches in the woorde and Sacraments In doctrine I knowe they differ but diuersitie of practise was cause thereof Barow and Greenewood nakedly discouered their profession and are prisoners Browne cunningly counterfeiteth conformitie dissembleth with his owne soule for libertie They fullie beleeuing the Church of England to be no Church of God but vtterly to be auoyded in al things as his writings haue taught them made conscience to separate themselues at all poynts accordingly He though hee haue contriued that cup whereby he hath thus transformed them as into beasts yet himselfe taking better delite in humane shapes liketh not to enter with them into their lot Hence cōmeth that grudge quarrell and heartburning among them They expostulate with him as a coward and one that shrinketh in the wetting He againe nippeth them for their egernesse in running before their olde maister and thereby obscuring his light as though the truth forsooth had first bin reuealed by them It seemeth they would not heare a sermon to gaine their libertie But it is manifest that he to redeeme trouble hath learned to apply himselfe to all times places and persons Nowe in this their iarre manie strange paradoxes and grosse absurdities haue passed betweene them arguing both sides to haue trusted in their strength and therefore to haue beene destitute of the spirit of truth to guide their pennes Barow and Greenwood denie that our preachers doe preach the woorde and that they doe or can beget fayth They say The wicked haue no woorde of God no graces of GOD no spirituall or sanctifyed graces that they doe no good that they may not teach testifie preach or counsaile anie woorde of GOD anie religion or dutie of religion That they haue no kinde of promise nor blessing and that there is no Communion to bee had with them in spirituall graces They denie fayth to come necessarily by the woorde of GOD and say It may bee begotten without anie promise of the woorde Beeing demaunded what faith doeth beleeue They aunswere God without anie consideration of his woorde and promise Likewise beeing asked howe they came by their fayth it seemeth they aunswered as it pleased God namely by his spirite but not acknowledging the outwarde meanes Some of them graunt our preachers beget fayth or beleefe of the woorde but not the fayth of Christ Hee prooueth it not the fayth of Christ because it hath not good woorkes And that also he prooueth full wisely forsooth because they haue euill woorkes Which hee specifieth to be Idolatrie Rebellion and Bondage They say our ministers bring a newe Gospell That the lawe in their mouthes and the sacrifices or presumptuous ministerie of Korah Dathan and Abiram are alike And they make no better account of our Parish meetings than of the meetings at the groaues and hill altars O wofull men and drunken with the wine of their owne headie conceites Browne againe for feare all these reproches shoulde light vppon him because hee commeth into our Churches minseth the matter euerie where with these ill stampt distinctions Of the better and woorser sort of our preachers wherein hee leaues his meaning doubtfull still
mourning or whatsoeuer tendeth to his recouerie but I exclude both our priuate excommunicating of him as you doe in this replie as also our owne sundering and separating from the congregation for his cause which is the thing in question betweene vs. Whereas I say that by our proceeding by such course as I presuppose euery wise Christian to haue walked in towards the offending brethren this at the least shall come to passe by it that it bee sufficiently knowne wee hate their sinne an vpright heart must needes vnderstand by that clause at least an implying of some better benefite and fruite of our labours as in refourming or remoouing him which being most wished of vs if we enioy not yet the other neuer fayling vs when we cannot attaine to the chiefest must likewise content vs. Was there then any reason or came it from the leading of a good spirite to referre that to the partes of duetie as graunting thereby some further dueties left vndone which in open euidence pointeth at more excellent effects or fruites of our labours intended by vs. Truely I doubt whether any learned Papist woulde so foolishly haue cauilled for his credite sake The like shamlesse cauilling is also in the beginning of his 7. page 8 But he saith If the Church bee established and refuse to debarre him whome they confesse to bee so wicked and vnrefourmed all are made wicked by our complaining Nowe if hee had said If the Church be established and doe not debarre him c I had then good cause giuen to haue made here his answere as also if in stead of these words all are made wicked by our complaining he had said that Church or spirituall bodie is now thereby dissolued separated from their knitting vnto Christ For if he meane not so he can neuer conclude against me that particular mēbers may depart their assemblies and if he do meane so you shall heare what I say to it hereafter 9 In saying the action of communicating is spiritual I exclude not al kind of outward ioyning but shew the essentiall ioyning to be spiritual by faith wherein the wicked cannot come neare vs. As for the outward ioyning such as it is I haue proued it before both dutiful voide of the infection of their sin yet still he vrgeth that I warrant him to be a companion or brother in Christ by communicating with him I denie that as before If you aske howe then I should bee brought to communicate with him in any sort I answer the Church requireth my presence as a member I by the bond of coherence participate with the whole in the holy action By so doing it falleth out in consequence that I participate in the signes with that vnworthie one because hee is vnseparated Nowe if you marke I doe not partake with him at all by my verie act of communicating but onely in as much as I communicate with the Church which being simply and absolutely a duetie as before proued cannot bee controlled neither ought to bee pretermitted for that which hath no true appearance of euill in it I meane in the eyes of those that haue learned to iudge righteous iudgment And that it hath not so much as iust appearance of euill in it vnto such is shewed alreadie by the reasons giuen to prooue that there is no sinne in this manner of communicating 10 But he cryeth that in this wise I admitte a diuision in the Communion I heare his crie wishing it had more sense and lesse opportunitie An inwarde diuision he denieth not but there may be Nowe what haue I sayde whereby he shoulde finde that outward diuision he speaketh of when as I expresly acknowledge an outwarde ioyning As for the ministers part in deliuering the signes to such a one it doeth not follow because he deliuereth them vnto him that he doth it to warrant his damnation or of set purpose to further his destruction For neyther the deliuering nor the things deliuered but onely his vnworthie receiuing is cause of his owne damnation Neither is that knowledge if it be granted that the minister hath of his vnworthinesse a warrant to withholde the signes if most voyces haue helde him in for that can he not doe of himselfe onely therefore it remaineth that hee thus farre also suffer him in the Sacrament and waite for the time when the Lord shall either more fullie reueale him or graciously deliuer the Church from the contagion of him In the meane time hee teacheth him the signe not as hee is woorthie or vnwoorthie but as hee is yet vndiuided from them Hee that thinketh these thinges can neuer fall out euen where discipline is best established hee hath little experience and lesse iudgement 11 Whether I haue grieuouly abused the place to the Corinthes in that sort that I haue alleaged it let the iudgement be with the godly reader as also whether your leader hath committed that wherwith he chargeth me vpon the same chapter When he saith that Paul proueth it to be no Sacrament at all to the Corinthes and not as I suppose it to bee a Sacrament to some and not to other some The same spirite sayth likewise in another place Paule condemneth euen the Supper and saith this is not to eate the Lordes Supper His drift is to denie against mee that any can haue hope to partake and communicate comfortably and profitably with those amongst whom any knowne wicked ones are admitted in this action therefore also he saith before in his reply that if there be any open breach of the couenant by any one knowne to the rest the sacrament is of no force Againe hee hath these words The communion is not a diuision that is halfe good to the one part and halfe bad to the other part but eyther wholly good or wholly bad Let not the reader beleeue that I say or suppose it to be a Sacrament to some and not to other some I acknowledge both sorts to receiue the sacrament that is the consecrated Elements one to their comfort but the other to their condemnation And to leaue other pointes that might here be examined and to keepe to the question the strength of the two last quoted propositions standeth vpon that place to the Corinthes taken in such sense as hee deliuereth it Let vs therefore come to examine that whether it be gold or stubble He saith Paul proueth it to be no sacrament at al to the Corinthians by these two weightie arguments First that the forme and institution of the Supper was violated by them all 2 That so was the end and vse And first to answere his literall abuse of Paules wordes in the 20 verse which is this VVhen yee come together in one this is not to eate the Lordes Supper Mee thinke a learned diuine shoulde not be ignorant that this is a kinde of excessiue negation very vsuall in the scriptures and is therefore here like as in all other such
laboured not in those dayes in the businesse of the sacrifices it seemeth verie probable in that hee was not able being about nintie yeeres olde for the bodily labour thereof to offer the sacrifices and in which regarde the Priestes had leaue to cease at fiftie yeeres of their age Hee sate I graunt in the Temple sawe the seruices of the Lorde perfourmed and blessed likewise the people but that he offered the sacrifices and especially without his sonnes by no lawfull vse of the text it can be profered 16 Hitherto your leader hath added his poore furniture to helpe you to prooue that particular members may depart from the bodie of the Congregation for default of separating the vnworthie Now he coÌ„meth to bring your proofes in proportion that he might make you still beleeue hee doeth not seduce you Wherein though I coulde willinglye forbeare him in respect that his copie hath deceyued him yet I suppose it may be good for him that his insolent behauiour haue some repressing The six places of Scripture which you quote I sayde doe concerne our priuate conuersation and behauiour towardes inordinate brethren and haue not a syllable touching our dealings in publike Church meetings and exercises Here he thinking me to lie wide open runneth violently vpon me with the place of the Corinths to dispatch mee at a blowe but therein dooing the euill spirite of malice and reuenge that set him on blinded his iudgement that hee could not see howe sure a warde I had till hee ranne his owne hande vpon the poynt thereof For I said not as hee telleth you that none of those places haue anie thing concerning publique Church meetings and exercises but my speeche was that they had not anye thing touching our dealinges in publique Church meetings and exercises Wherein if your iudgement bee so weake that as yet you perceyue no difference call to minde the question which is whether particular members of a Church may depart or withdrawe themselues from that bodie if they knowe any vnworthie ones at the Lordes table You point mee to Scriptures to prooue they ought I aunswere that those Scriptures giue vs rules concerning our priuate conuersation and touch not our dealinges in the Church Nowe I would aske you whetherto you referre this worde our If you referre it to the whole bodie of the Church then you chaunge the question and flee your ground but if it be suffered to haue the naturall relation to particular members then may you see that your leader hath not a little abused you If out of the last verse of the chapter for it was quoted thus 1. Cor. 5.9.10.11.12 13. he shall yet striue to saue himselfe in this maner because this place requireth the church to excommunicate the incestuous which must be done by voyces and consent of the particular members therefore it speaketh of particular members dealing in the church Marke the end and you shal see his gaine The question is whether particular meÌ„bers may depart froÌ„ the church as before or no. This place you say inferreth some dealing of particular meÌ„bers in the Church I graÌ„t it what shal you get by that You wil say this that I theÌ„ haue vniustly denied this place to haue any thing concerning particular meÌ„bers dealing in the Church If I haue denied any thing that might hinder you to find the truth theÌ„ haue I delt vniustly But we see that by your gaine For if by this obtained your cause be neuer the better he hath fed you then with woordes and made you neuer the fatter Thus you must applie it to the question if you will endeuour to make gaine of it If this place warrant particular members to haue dealing in the Church then it warranteth them to separate themselues in the case aforesayde and so doe you not see yron and flaxe knitte together of a knotte Is some dealing all dealings Will your leader neuer vnlearne so grosse a fallation You see nowe if I let you haue this it doeth you no good and for my part I will none of it it can pleasure mee nothing If you aske why then I made my negation so generall I aunswere first that in denying those places to concerne particular members in the Church I did it not to interuert or hinder the truth as nowe appeareth Secondly it is the lawfull libertie of any man in reasoning to vse chaunge of wordes so that our sense be kept which shall easily bee especially both sides hauing sounde hearts to seeke the trueth If the question stil be made the line to measure them by and therefore whereas I saide those Scriptures touch not our dealings in the Church what man of honest minde or that had anye sparke of trueth left in him considering the question woulde not haue vnderstoode by that worde dealings our tarying or departing from the Lordes Table at the sight of the vnworthie Salomon sayeth The wisedome of the wise is to vnderstande his way but the foolishnesse of fooles is vnto deceite 17 The rest of the places you quoted to proue your purpose are not according to the copie you gaue him but these 2. Thes 3.14 2. Tim. 3.1.2.3.4.5 Ro. 16.17.18 Ephes 5.7.8 1. Thes 5.21.22 and all these I saye with that to the Corinthians spoken off before the question beeing rightly considered and taken make nothing for you For in as much as any of them concerne our behauior in publike so much do they appoint the dueties of particular meÌ„bers towards others ioyntly but nothing of their owne departing or tarying separately Againe whatsoeuer any of them say of separating to bee practised of particular members there can they not bee vnderstood of Church meetings but of priuate conuersatioÌ„ But to iumble these things together without discerning and as it were to liue in that grosse sophistication of taking all respects for some is as it seemeth your leaders ioy 18 But hee chargeth mee by so vnderstanding those places with such seditious doctrine as may bring in rebellion against Magistrates put downe acquaintances of men familiarly in marriage loose al bonds of obedience in children and seruantes and cut off all entercourse of marchandize and bargaining with professors These will proue but such lâ—wde soundings as an empty barrell euer yeeldeth Paul aduertiseth Timothie that in the last dayes should come perillous times wherein men should bee louers of themselues couetous vainglorious proud c. hauing a forme of godlines but denying the face of it and that therefore he should auoyde such Iohn sayth to the elect Lady If any man come vnto you and bring not this doctrine receiue him not to house neither bid him Godspeede By which Scriptures you see particular persons by name warranted to auoyde priuate conuersation with inordinate professours This place also to the Corinthes though it be written to al the Church yet is it concerning particular mens practise in their separate and priuate places and behauiour And though your leader
that preiudice whereby now his taste is made so vnsincere in al things you may see that as in these poynts there is no such danger as he talked of so neither in the great question betwixt vs of ioyning with the Church at the Lords Table where the vnworthy ones are For the keeping of the bond of vnity in the Church hath an expresse lawe and charge which no generall wordes of other places much lesse preposterous zeale can dispence withall or take away 19 It seemeth to mee by a speech in his 7. Page that he secretly giueth you this answere for that namely if the Church at any time separate not the vnworthy or cannot doe it it is thereby fallen from the couenant of life and ceaseth to bee a Church of Christ so that you may safely goe from them I will not yet say much of this matter I had rather the author woulde recant it if it might please God then that I or any other should stand to cōfute so grosse an error for if he hold that obedience and holy life are causes of our iustification and whereby we enioy the couenant of life and not tokens or fruites only his case is worse then that hee can truely enioy the name of a Christian 20 The rest of his 11.12 and 13. pages shall receiue this answere it seemeth the author of them was not wel in his wittes but malice had made him as those in Bedlem that talke quite out of order and sense For I pray you taketh hee not vppon him there to proue out of your quotations that wee are warranted and commanded to depart from the communion where the vnworthy is not separated for I had denied that those Scriptures intended any such thing Nowe that wherein he occupieth him-selfe in stead thereof is to prooue not without some prophane abuse of the Scriptures by a sort of foolish syllogismes that haue neuer a true assumption that I am herein an heretique the question in the meane time which should bring forth that consequence lying altogether vnprooued the gaine that hee shall get by it is that hee lost the vantage of so much time and hath put himselfe for a laughing stocke to all that shall read his writing I speake not of his inward and higher reckonings I pray God bee mercifull vnto him in them for his Christs sake As for me I will not answere a foole according to his foolishnes Yet there is one thing which in the middest of his rage against me hee vttereth whereof I must admonish you The Sacrament of the Lordes Supper saith he is a Sacrament of order or orderly communion and addeth that order or orderly communion is the very fourme matter manner or essence and nature thereof As he lighteth here vppon popish phrases so you are to feare him in substaunce his diuinitie is sicke to the death when he thus defineth the Sacrament of the Lords Supper The outward matter of this Sacrament is bread and wyne the four me is the blessing and separating of them to that vse with their distributing to the members of the Church Orderly communicating is a fruit or effect of gouernement and a beautifull ornament to the Sacrament but nothing either of matter or fourme and therefore not of the essence of the Sacrament Of his learned vse of logicke termes I will here say nothing for shame I had much rather to couer his nakednes altogether if the trueth would suffer it Thus much for refutation of his defence of your quotations Now I will come to his cauilles at the reasons where-with I prooue that particular members ought to deale no further in this case then by processe of admonition Which wordes if you vnderstand rightly and as the question in controuersie will guide you like as afore I haue declared you shall see his first argument full of vaine words wherein he saith there is more required of particular members then admonition and reckoneth vp mourning lamentation prayers c. which thing are nothing at all in question betwixt vs. For onely this is betwixt you and mee and which hee bringeth here in the last place you say particular members may depart from the Lordes Table for the presence of the wicked thereat I reason against you negatiuely and shewe what dueties are required of one toward another by order of discipline and beyond which wee haue no commandement from God whereby I exclude not those thinges which are not at all in question but that which you hold in question against mee If you had brought mee to a reasonable aduersary wee should neuer haue spent time in such friuolous cauillings 22 Well at length I trowe hee falleth close to the question and will proue euen out of those places that I alledge for the vnitie and knitting together of this body that same separation of the members which is here in controuersie And thus he disputeth What places enforce an outwarde vniting in the Sacrament with the members of Christs body only the same inforce a deuyding or refraining in the Sacraments from those that outwardly are manifest to bee no members of his body But all these places enforce such an outward vniting with members onely Therefore they inforce a refrayning and diuiding in the Sacrament from open wretches which are knowne to be no members I may graunt you this argument in some sort and yet you are as neere your purpose as you were at the first For if hee vnderstand by deuiding and reframing the action of the whole body of the Church then is it that which they ought ioyntly to execute against the vnworthy and that is nothing to the question but if hee meane this those places which command an vniting in the Sacrament with the members of Christs body only do by the same reason command particular mēbers to refraine or depart if any open vnworthy do cōmunicate which had bene rightly to the purpose then his proposition is apparantly false And I reason against him from the same places thus If the members of a Church or spirituall body haue no further promise of life and continuaunce in Christ then as they like the members of a naturall body continue in the vnitie of the same Church or Spirituall body then it followeth necessarylie that what members so euer separate themselues from their spirituall body or Church the same doe separate them-selues from the life of Christ thereby But the first is true and infallibly prooued by those places I quoted whereas vnitie and holding together of the members is made the essentiall fourme of the body Therefore the latter followeth thereof 23 I say that as corrupt and vnworthy members can be no cause why those that are whole should forsake the body so no open grosse communicantes can bee any cause why wee that are faith-full shoulde forsake the Church Your leader makes you beleeue that you hold not this question I thinke in deede he knoweth not what hee holdeth
But I say vnto you marke it well as it lyeth you vppon for in your standing vppon this poynt that particular members of a Church may depart or refraine from the Lordes table if vnworthy ones remaine there vnseparated it doeth necessarily fall out thereupon that eyther you holde that particular members may forsake a Church of God which now I perceiue your leader renoūceth or else that the couenant of a Church is broken before God by the failing of any necessary poynt in practise Which implying the couenant to bee helde by woorkes is the high way to Popery This thing haue I noted once or twise before And here nowe also the thirde time the reader may see that I am not ouer hastie to take him at such aduantage But withal I trust there appeareth good hope of victory to this side when as the aduersary after much labour to keepe the aduantage thereof hath nowe flatly forsaken one of his holdes and that which remaineth for him to flee vnto is able to kill him with the stench thereof though no man should pursue him any further 24 He foloweth the comparisō of mēbers of a natural body with the members of a Church And first hee saith that as euery particular mēber of a body may shake of the rotten and yet not forsake the bodie so may euerie particular member of a Church This is plaine beggerie for no particular member of a bodie can doe that of it selfe and if it could his conclusion therby should make but for sole excommunication His seconde comparison is thus propounded applied As the members of a natural bodie refuse to vse the seruice of the rotten ones so ought the members of a spirituall bodie refuse to communicate in the sacraments with such Euery man that considereth what I haue said seeth that he fighteth here with his shadow and not with me for I imploy no such members in any seruice But to cleare his eyes it may bee God shall make this a medicine when he shal giue him to meditate that it is quite contrarie to his ordinance in the naturall bodie for the whole members to forsake their places or to refuse to nourish themselues in the vnitie of their bodie because of some rotten ones that doe indaunger them Neither haue his other comparings any more worthie thing against me though too much to bewray his owne vnlearnednesse For whereas he esteemeth that euerie member of a natural bodie withholdeth and keepeth away blood and nourishment from the rotten it is manifest that hee is as ignorant in naturall things as in diuine For blood commeth plentifully inough to rotten members so long as they are vnseparated onely it nourisheth them not as of olde but is peruerted by them to the increase of their rottennesse Let him follow this veine no longer if hee haue any wit in his head 25 After this he beareth you in hand that hee fully satisfieth a question which I should be readie to make in these or such like wordes VVhat if the Church or the rest of the bodie will not withdrawe themselues from that dead and rotten member neither will cast it off what shall one member doe To this he answereth First That if one member doe cast it off the rest will not be angrie Which is the same begging he vsed euen now Secondly that it is a token the rest of the members are not so liuely c. which is a verie colde answer If he had saide it is a token the rest of the members are dead with it so as you may safely depart from them hee had satisfied the question This he would haue you to vnderstand but he durst not vtter it For it is the fashion of an heretique to keepe more poison in his heart than he vttereth with his mouth 26 The first part of his next point is beggerly That a member cannot forsake one congregation of Christ goe to another without guilt of schisme and forsaking the bodie of Christ I prooued in my first answere which yet remayneth vntouched by him His obiection that one Congregation is not the whole Church of Christ c. is an vnlearned cauill For euery particular Church touching the knitting together of the members partaking with Christ the head through that same bodily vnitie is in the same sort to bee considered as the whole Church and we can no more forsake a particular Church and yet bee of the whole than can a finger forsake his hand and yet be of the bodie Take heede therefore vnto your selfe braunches broken off doe shortly wither and after that become fit for nothing but for the fire 27 His obiection of forsaking the Popish Church I haue answered before The next is a pretie dialogue of woordes which because hee made it for his owne recreation I will not hinder him His oppositions are but his owne vnprooued and vnsauerie suppositions How truly he chargeth me therein with diuerse iniquities let the godlie consider my writing and so iudge Whereas he soweth the seedes of newe questions to drawe in other discourses I am not one for his toothe to nourishe them 28 He would make you beleeue that hee prooueth our Church a monstrous and false bodie so that you may hold it safe to forsake vs and this he will do out of mine own words because forsooth I confesse it may haue vnsound corrupt members vnseparated yea which we are not able to separate By which reason if you haue a fellō on your finger which causeth mortification therein if either you wil not or cannot get it cut off you are therby a monstrous false body But here ought to be no question of deformitie but of the being of a church Then he chargeth me to say that it may be a church of God though it haue the discipline and gouernement of Antichrist in stead of Christs and that I confesse we haue offices rites orders c. after the popish institution I know what I haue said he is readie to snatch before any thing fal to the ground But nowe vpon good cause of the question this I answere freely It may be a true Church of God though therein diuerse rites be corruptly instituted and the censures and offices popishly caried and ordered If you doubt that I will prooue it thus VVhatsoeuer hath the essentiall partes of a Church of God the same must needes be confessed to be a Church of God But a Church of such gouernement and orders may haue the essentiall parts of a Church of God Therefore a Church of such gouernement and orders may be a true Church of God The first part no man that hath vnderstanding can doubt of The seconde is also manifest thus that whereas there are but two essentiall partes of any thing to witte matter and fourme the matter of a Church is Christ the heade-corner stone and a people who are as liuing stones to bee layde vpon him the fourme is the comming vnto
purpose Secondly where hee sayth The vnregenerate part is condemned though the man bee iustified in Christ it is all a like absurde but much more dangerous The absurdity that it hath equall with the former is in this that if his phrase of speech bee graunted sound yet the distinction he offreth thereby is in deed no distinction but a playne axiomaticall contradiction The whole is good a part is euil Browne is sound his braine is sicke Are not not here speciall contradictions and of the same force as if one should say a part of the whole is not good or Brownes brayne is not sound which if any mā should speake would not euery one of sense answere that if the latter be true the former is false and so on the contrary the like consideration receiueth his saying for if part of the man be condemned it cannot be said the man is iustified And contrarywise if the man be iustified it cannot bee said part of him is condemned but if any such thing were truely to be pronounced it must thus be deliuered part of a regenerate man is condemned and part is iustified Againe in that hee esteemeth a regenerate man to haue some part of him vniustified hee holdeth him no further iustified then so farre as his inward renouation or inhaerent holynes hath proceeded which neuer being perfect in this life maketh that no man is wholly iustified in this life and so consequently no man to bee saued in the life to come For after death commeth iudgement Here except the man can fetch fire out of Popish purgatorie I knowe not howe hee will dissolue these bandes besides if a man bee iustified no further then hee is renewed and so his iustification consist in the transmutation of inhaerent qualities then is that false which the Church of Christ hath euer holden that our iustification standeth onely in the free remission of sinnes and not imputing our iniquities through Christ but on the contrary his righteousnesse being imputed vnto vs as ours this imputation belike serueth nowe to the vse after wee are once regenerate Further if there bee any part in vs that sinneth not then is there some part in the regenerate man that fulfilleth the law in it selfe For that which in it selfe fulfilleth not the lawe cannot in it selfe bee exempt from sinne and if it bee not in it selfe exempt from sinne it cannot bee absolutely sayde not to sinne Beyond all this if wee be iustified but in respect that wee are regenerate and regeneration consisteth in good woorkes it followeth that wee are iustified but in respect of workes Nowe in this what difference is betwixt him and Glouer whom hee sayth hee confuted let the godly learned iudge as also whether I haue iniuriously inferred these conclusions vppon his assertions Let this also answere his 43. number To the rest from the 30. to the 47. thus much onely say I it is a wonder and astonishment that any should bee found so sottish as to admire and addict themselues to the teaching and leading of such a sencelesse guide and vngodly liuer To that which is from the 47. to the 57. 3 I charge him to haue set down this doctrine we must neuer forgiue our brother hauing offended vs except hee first repent thereof and seeke reconciliation Against it I oppose places of Scriptures which conteine some speciall contradictions thereunto which I vnderstoode in these two poynts first in that his deniall of forgiuenesse is vniuersall without all exception of inward or outwarde Secondly it is extended vnto all kindes of offences without exception The first is resisted by all the Scriptures I oppose the second by those which require a franke and absolute forgiuenes after the example of Gods gratious pardon to vs like as loue couereth a multitude of sins which things when hee sawe I ment as appeareth by his 31. Section yet he cauilleth as though I did as vniuersally contradict him and so disanull the doctrine of proceeding by reprehensions to the censures of the church in matters necessary His answere to the purpose is that the worde Neuer was not in his booke nor inwardly was not meant whereby hee would make you beleeue his proposition was not vniuersall Such shiftes serueth him to keepe many simple ones in his snare But the godly wise suspect him so much the more His wordes are these Christ hath giuen power to euery Christian to retaine the sinnes of euery brother whom he knoweth to trespasse against him not to forgiue him except hee see him repent The first contradiction to trueth is plaine in these latter woordes Not to forgiue him except hee repent hee confesseth the trueth is wee should inwardly forgiue him Nowe to forgiue not to forgiue or no forgiuenesse some forgiuenesse euery man seeth to bee contrary and his proposition also to haue bene generall Secondly the former part put downe in these woordes indefinitely to reteine the sinnes of euery brother is neuerthelesse too vniuersall especially being put downe by a distribution of publique and priuate sinnes in the next lines following and still without any exception Circumstance also doth further inforce it for whereas in the same place he vrgeth this practise of reprouing with so hard a penaltie as the losse of our interest in Christ if wee suffer our selues to be straited in the matter what place leaueth hee for suffering couering passing ouer any our brothers trespasses I would their owne practise did not too much confirme their iudgement in this to bee corrupt To that which is from the 57. to the 60. 4 The admonition sayth Browne teacheth that any one of a Church may excommunicate if the rest will not ioyne with him For proofe some quotations are set downe the most were missed His answere bringeth some faire shewes to the contrary Indeede hee hath two notable trickes of an heretike one is ambiguitie of speech and deliueraunce of his minde The other is tergiuersation and colourable shrinking when hee is pressed with his falshode what reasons I had to iudge him a teacher of such doctrine I commit the viewe of them here to the consideration of the godly to whom in this and all the rest I submit my selfe In his booke of vnlearned and witlesse definitions against the lawe of veritie hee defineth the kingdome of Christians to bee their office of guyding and ruling with Christ to subdue the wicked and make one another obedient to Christ Nowe marke whereunto this tendeth hee sayth in another place answering this obiection that the sinne is the ministers in disordered administration of the Sacraments not ours wee aske them doeth not the Church partake with the minister and is not euery Christian a King and a Priest to rule with Christ by open rebuke if no other doe in season rebuke and by with-holding those from their communion and felowshippe which are without the couenaunt and yet more clearely speaking against the Bishoppes authoritie and
rule in the Church with disauowing their suspendings and callinges of ministers Nay surely sayth hee the least in the kingdome of God shall bee able by the woorde of God in their mouth is to plucke vp and roote out such plants if none other will ioyne with them I meane they shall pronounce them by the worde of God to be abhominable and haue no fellowshippe with them in the Church and so to them they are vtterly plucked out of the Church For they are kings and priests vnder Christ to execute the Lords gouernement against such and therefore ought not to loose their right which is euen their heritage and glâ—rie Now weigh these places with his proposition as I haue put it downe in these wordes Any one of a Church may excommunicate if the rest will not ioine with him The antecedent part hee giueth in these cleare tearmes Euerie Christian is a King and Priest to rule c. and The least in the kingdome of God shall bee able c. if none other will ioyne with them The consequent is prooued in that euery such are abled to execute the Lords gouernment against the wicked Of which gouernement excommunication is a part as himselfe in his diuisions declareth number 48. Nowe in his defence hee hath but one place of speciall harbour and that same also will fall about his eares if it be touched For where he hath those words Yet we say not that euerie one of a Church may excommunicate for we ought to tell the Church c. Immediately foloweth But what if the rest of the Church will not ioyne with vs therein Surely then as we prooued before wee must set our selues agaynst them all we must not be afrayde of their faces as the Lord commaundeth least he destroy vs before them Nowe wherein seemeth this setting of our faces agaynst them to be but according to the nature and original of that obiection in our sole separation of the vnworthie As though hee should say If they will not doe it then we must doe it and so his deniall of the same before to be expounded to holde till time that wee haue laboured in vaine for the Churches consent But when I vnderstood him so I perceiue I did him too much fauour For he will haue it vnderstoode not of separating some one member but of separating the whole Congregation from the Church of God For he sayth We must set our selues agaynst them all by rebuke denouncing iudgement and forsaking felowship In the practise whereof it followeth that either wee our selues forsake a Church of Christ which he denieth in another place or else doe separate the same congregation from the Church of Christ In all which it may truely bee attributed to him in a plaine sense that was ascribed to Ieremie in a mysticall sense namely to bee a fitte man to plucke vp and roote out destroy and throwe downe euen kingdomes and nations according as in those onely wordes he vrgeth the place of Ieremie in his answere to Master Cartwright pag. 26. To that which is from the 60. to the 67. 5 The Admonition chargeth him with this conclusion that one default of a congregation in separating the vnworthy may disanull it for being a Church I neede not goe farre for proofe of this if the handling of the last point be remembred For if one may cast off a whole congregation when hee cannot obtaine their voyces to the separating of some offendour and hee will not say that a man may cast off a congregation of Christ it is manifest hee holdeth that one default of separating the vnwoorthie disanulleth a Church His answere hath not the strength of a rushe in it His owne woordes are If any one such open and manifest offence as is open murther idolatrie adulterie bee founde amongst anie and they are become so negligent or wilfull or are brought into such spirituall bondage that they will not or can not cure such offendours but that offences remaine and reigne still among them incurable Then the couenant is broken with them all And this is but to feede his disciples with winde For hee will againe at his pleasure interprete this negligence wilfulnesse and bondage to bee whensoeuer a Congregation consenteth not to the motion of separating the vnworthie as besides the places alreadie cited these may further testifiie In the 18. pag. agaynst Maister Cartwright hee sayeth Those that holde the couenant to day may breake it to morrowe This is but a short time to prooue either bondage wilfulnesse or negligence Againe hee sayeth Any grosse wickednesse committed by all is the breaking of the couenant by all Nowe hee will interprete it grosse wickednesse when anie Congregation consenteth not to the motion of one or some fewe for the casting out of any wicked one Let these woordes bee witnesse And is not this a message from Christ when one or a fewe persons doe iustly rebuke a Congregation for ouerthrowing the Lordes discipline and treading his scepter vnder foote And is not his scepter cast downe and his kingdome polluted when hee which is manifestly knowne and prooued to deserue separation cannot bee cast out This one defaulte of separating the vnwoorthie hee accounteth the treading vnder foote of the scepter of Christ yea compareth it in the same place to bee equall with Apostacie therefore grosse wickednesse and therefore also by his doctrine of force to disanull a Church Wherevpon it followeth as the Admonition truely inferreth that seeing Saint Paule calleth the Corinthian Church a Church of God notwithstanding their grossest kinde of negligence and vile continuance in securitie touching the separating of the incestuous person either Saint Paule was to bee blamed for so dooing or else Browne is a daungerous schismatike in teaching such doctrine contrarie to him The mystes which hee casteth before his disciples eyes to extenuate this sinne of the Corinthians are scattered and brought to nought in my second answere to the question of communicating What hee can make of this worde incurable or any other tearmes of vauntage hee can deuise the rest of his writings here cited being considered let the godly reader iudge The manifolde conclusions of heresies which hee woulde make the reader beleeue to bee in my assertion declare but the full swarme that lurketh in his waspish breast My answere is either they are no heresies or none of mine To that which is from the 67. to the 72. 6 It maye plaine ynough appeare to the wise reader that the Admonition taketh such a course in setting downe the sixe corrupt opinions of Browne as that the former for the most part openeth the way and giueth light to that which followeth So here considering what hath bene proued in the last point afore going to witte that one breach of dutie in the practise of gouernement breaketh the couenant and disanulleth a Church it followeth hereof necessarily that he iudgeth the couenant betwixt God and his Church to
bee holden and kept by workes His onely answere to the purpose for this is That hee calleth not discipline the couenant but sayth that the couenant is kept by discipline Which is altogether as much as I lay to his charge howsouer hee catcheth at a feather to mainteine some quarelling as appeareth by my maner of setting downe the trueth opposed to his falshoode within fiue lines following For there I say Not by workes but by faith is the couenant kept on our part Nowe since he confesseth as much as I meant to charge him with and that which I charge him with is popish heresie it followeth that Browne teacheth popish heresie yet hee contendeth earnestly Num. 69. That hee speaketh in no place of keeping the couenāt by faith or by works But if he be so mad that he vnderstandeth not practise to be workes then is he too mad to bee talked withall And is not I pray you the keeping or executing of discipline the practise and workes of the Church From this maner iustifying or condemning the Churche by workes Glouer turned it to the iustification of particular Christians by woorkes Howe thinne the sheeres were that wente betweene these two let all sounde Christians iudge To the 72. 73. He accounteth discipline the groundworke of the Church sayth the Admonition Browne sayth He vseth no such worde as groundworke Let the reader iudge These bee his wordes in the place that I quoted Hauing discoursed after his wilde maner against all sorts of the ordinarie ministerie in England sayth hee The Popes olde house was destroyed in England and they are called to builde it anewe And by and by after Let vs welcome wise gentlemen they tooke in hand to build the Lords house and now mo then twentie yeeres are past in studying for the groundworke If his hand had not bene so hastie to write but his head more considerate to reade the leafe that was quoted perhaps he woulde not haue denied the word for feare of the reproch of impudencie yet suspecting such a thing might bee founde in him he addeth Neuerthelesse whosoeuer denieth that the discipline that is the power and authoritie of Christ is essentiall to the Church and auoucheth that it is but an accident or hang-by the same is an heretike and blasphemer of Christ Scilice◠si sanum haberes sinciput A Church which consisteth of beleeuing people builded so by fayth vppon Iesus Christ the heade corner stone is in a two folde condition to be considered the first is the verie knitting vnto Christ wherein alone standeth the life and beeing of a Church and in nothing else For it is hee saith the Apostle that giueth saluation to the bodie he maketh it through his paied raunsome and imputed righteousnesse iustified holy and vnblameable without spot or wrinkle The second is in that by this vnion with Christ all things of his mediation so of his kingly office are in a measure cōmunicated therunto so as it now practiseth obedience holy behauior vnto the Lord these cōditions are no other then such as wee may beholde in euery particular christian For first apprehending Christ by faith he becōmeth one with him Next is begun by cōmunication a change of the inherent qualities to a practise of holy life Now I would knowe of that great diuine whether a man be iustified and so a Christian in the apprehending of Christ or else in the renuing of his inherent qualities If he say By renuing he knoweth his companions If hee graunt it by apprehending then his groundwoorke hath fayled him And like as euerie one particularly is iustifyed for a Christian through their onely vniting with Christ by fayth euen so are manie together iustified for a Church of Christ through such vnion with him onely And then if this vnion giue it the forme of a Church it muste necessarilie bee a Church before it practise discipline because our discipline in question hath no place but in an vnited bodie or congregation Nowe nothing can bee but in respect that it hath all the essentiall partes of beeing Whence must needes followe that the Church hauing first a beeing before it exercise discipline consisteth of all the essentiall partes before it exercise discipline and so discipline muste bee founde no essentiall part at all Plentifull confirmation hereof haue wee in the Scriptures from the practise of the Lordes chiefe instrumentes in the planting and refourming of his Churches Those three thousand soules that were gayned at one prosperous preaching of Peter may not bee denyed the name of a Church of GOD sith of those things that are there recorded to bee done of them some are onely proper to a Church and haue no place at all in other meetings For these being nowe baptized are saide to haue continued in the dayly exercise of the worde prayer thankesgiuing breaking of breade and communicating of their substance Nowe if the censuring discipline in question had bene essentiall to their beeing of a Church so as without it they coulde not haue done those thinges which onely perteyned to a Church as the Apostle woulde first haue bene mindfull to establish the same so the holy Ghost would not haue failed the setting downe thereof especially addressing himselfe in that storie to describe the memorable beginnings and framings of the Churches as a patterne in such cases vnto all ages ensuing Therefore whereas the holie Ghost voucheth it a Church apt to exercise the word and Sacraments whose very being it defineth by the onely ioynt and willing receiuing of Christ Iesus preached vnto them for the remission of sinnes without any mention making of the discipline we speake of it is plaine inough that he accounteth not of discipline as a thing without which those conuerts could not be made a visible Church The like is of the congregation in Samaria Act. 8.5.6 and 12. called a Church of God cap. 9.31 The maner of Paule Barnabas and others in the planting of the Churches at Antioch Iconium and Lystra doe yet further enlighten this that I haue said in the other For first they gathered congregations vnto Christ by the preaching of the Gospel in those cities after that as they found them growne to a fitnesse at other returnes vnto them they furnished thē with Elders orderly elected among them This their order I say declareth that the erecting of discipline and ordeyning of Elders therefore doth not make a Church of Christ for that if the Apostles had so iudged they would neuer haue deferred the establishing of it to times after the gathering and planting of them Yet further to confirme this thing Paule writing thus to Titus for this cause left I thee in Creta that thou shouldest redresse the things remayning and appoynt Elders in euerie Citie as I commaunded thee teacheth vs both that the Apostles gathered Churches without this discipline and also helde them in the
accounte of the Churches before that was added to them Which thinges prooue discipline not to bee of the essence of a Church as clearly as can bee wished Nowe touching reformation of declined Churches let vs see what some examples in that course doe afoord vs. When Asa the first renowmed reformer of the declining Churches of Iudea began to set in hand so glorious an enterprise he that considereth the hystorie shall see that among other things the discipline of the Church lay as a thing cast downe and neglected as appeareth by the reformation thereof which immediately I shall speake of If then discipline had bene of the essence of the Church there had not beene at that time nor in the dayes of Abija his father anie Church of GOD remayning at Ierusalem but the latter is false and is prooued by the protestation of Abija alittle before he ioyned battell with Ieroboam and the testimony of the spirit of God in deliuering that hystorie who sayth That the Israelites were depressed the same time and the children of Iuda strengthened because they stayed vpon the Lorde the God of their fathers Therefore the former also is false namely that discipline is of the essence of a Church Also if discipline shoulde make it a Church or bee necessarie to the beeing thereof it appeareth that notwithstanding all Asaes reformation yet was it as then no Church for the godly to resorte vnto sith the reedification of discipline is ascribed not to Asa but to his sonne Iehosaphat after him Neither may any with probabilitie coniecture that Asa set vp discipline and let it fall againe For to haue an vpright heart all the dayes of his life which thing the holie Ghost testifieth of him and to suffer that which the Lorde had made him see to bee woorthie reformation to goe downe againe are two thinges contrarie and cannot bee verifyed of one and the same subiect But nowe all men that sauoure the woorde of the Lorde must needes acknowledge that the Church of Iudea in Asaes dayes was a glorious habitation of the Lorde and the Temple at Ierusalem a place then for his faithfull seruantes to doe their sacrifices and seruices vnto him insomuch as that many of the Israelites fledde from their owne coastes to dwell in Iudea seeing thus the Lorde to bee amongest them So must they of like necessitie confesse that which therehence firmely is concluded to witte discipline not to bee of the essence of a Church Lastly to come to the woorthie Iehosaphat who feared no slaunderous imputation of arrogancie or singularitie to himselfe neither accompted it anye impeachment to the dignitie of his father Asa though in repayring and beautifying the house of GOD hee shoulde exceede him in some poyntes considering I say his course of proceeding if discipline were necessary to the being of a Church then all that he did in the beginning of his raigne was worthy no commendation For what good could hee bee said to haue done to the Church when as all that he had done could not by this mans saying gaine it the worthy name of a visible Church for as touching the reformation of the discipline it appeareth to haue bene about the latter end of his raigne after the Lord had by his Prophet rebuked him for yelding wicked Ahab assistance in his enterprise Wherfore as I hope to heare of no man so impudent as to say that the Church of Iudea was then no apparant Church of God I meane in his time before the reuiuing of the discipline so am I sure that none but such as are growne to that impudency will hereafter affirme discipline to be of the essence of a Church Let all the likers of Brownes writings nowe consider whetherto his reproches reach when hee saith that by denying discipline to bee of the essence of a Church wee seclude Christ and the Church of Christ from the power authoritie and discipline of Christ and as he saith other-where that so wee make Christ a dead Christ yea an Idoll or counterfaite Christ and the Church an Idol or counterfait Church If we haue committed this thing then these Kinges and those Apostles are guilty thereof But because hee seemeth to haue fortified himselfe in this as in a Castle let vs also euen heere make proofe of the strength of his walles And first what meaneth hee to say wee faine a counterfaite Christ and a counterfait Church Is it because wee remooue discipline from the being of a Church Why then thus hee disputeth They that holde the power authoritie and gouernement of Christ not to bee of the essence of a Church doe faine a counterfaite Christ and a counterfaite Church But they that say discipline is not of the essence of a Church hold the power authority and gouernement of Christ not to be of the essence Therefore they that say discipline is not of the essence of a Church feigne a counterfaite Christ and a counterfaite Church This beloued is indeed the maine piller whereuppon all Brownes and Brownists schismaticall building standeth and thus by the grace of God I will ouerthrowe it First to lay the way open and auoyde ambiguitie The woorde gouernement that it may beare the same sence with the worde authoritie where-with it is coupled as a synonymie must be taken for the office of gouernement and not as it is vsed sometime for the action of gouernement For example When one sayth Dauid had the gouernement of the children of Israel there hee meaneth the office of gouernement But if hee say Dauids gouernement replenished the Israelites with the knowledge of God then he meaneth by gouernmēt not the office but the action or administration of gouernment Again the word power may be vsed in a double sence one whē it is vnderstood for might strength or efficacious force which is that the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresseth In this sense cannot power in this place bee taken because that kinde of power of Christ is no other then his diuine essence which he hath from the father by an eternall generation in as much as hee is begotten of the substance of the father so is coessentiall with him For this is a farre differing thing from his auth oritie or office of gouernement and therefore may not as one thing stand ranged with those wordes The other is whē the word power meaneth nothing else but authoritie iurisdiction or gouernment As where he saith All power is giuen me in heauen and in earth here the worde is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore signifieth not the force might of Christ whereby he executeth all things in his gouernment but his authoritie or office of gouernement And in this sense we admit and receiue it here as of the same sort with those wordes wherewith it is coupled The entrance thus paued I answere to his syllogisme denying both proposition and
by faith and nothing else The first three thousand soules that Peter gayned at one Sermon are sayd to haue receyued the word and therevpon to haue beene added vnto the Church by Baptisme The whych receyuing of the word wherevpon they were baptised cannot be otherwyse vnderstood for the Lords wayes are one then the same whych Phillip demaunded as the thyng by whych alone the Eunuche could obteyne the seale of a Christian namely fayth and so is it also expounded within two verses in the same former places of the second of the Actes when the story sayth of the same assembly these wordes And they that beleeued were in one place and had all things common But nothyng can more explayne and confirme that example then another lyke vnto it of the gathering of a Church by Phillip in a Citie of Samaria where the Text expressely sayth That assoone as they beleeued Phillip which preached the things that concerned the Kingdome of God and the name of Iesus Christ they were Baptized both men and women Then Symon himselfe beleeued also and was baptized c. The same lykewise is the flat doctrine of the Apostles euery where Let the louers of truth behold and beare witnesse Christ sayth the Apostle hath redeemed vs from the cursse of the Lawe when he was made a cursse for vs for it is written Curssed is euery one that hangeth on tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus that we might receiue the promise of the spirit through faith But the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be giuen to them that beleeue VVherefore the lawe was our schoolemaister to bring vs to Christ that we might be made righteous by faith for yee are all the sonnes of God by faith in Iesus Christ The same Apostle sayth VVe haue boldnesse entrance and confidence by faith in Christ And expressely That Christ dwelleth in vs by faith Now iudge whether the sunne can giue thee clearer light to reade then the playne tearmes of the Apostle doo teach thee to acknowledge our vniting vnto Christ by faith If any man desire to see more varietie of places let him looke these quotations where he shall see by the abundant testimonie of the spirit that we are all reconciled vnto God by faith accepted for our faith vnited vnto a bodie and engrafted into Christ the liuing stock by faith Thus then if matter and fourme be the essentiall causes whereof any thing consisteth and whereby the being of any thing is acknowledged I hope we haue heere with Ma. C. found out and proued the essentiall causes of a Church so as no man needeth to be perplexed in discerning the beeing thereof if he haue atteyned such a minde as can rest in the wisedome of God Heere we meete with that foolishe and vayne exception of Browne agaynst Ma. C. namely That Christ is the life and essence of the Church and not faith which is as though faith had not direct relation to Christ and Christ to faith in this consideration of a Church wherein neyther can fayth bee considered without Christ nor yet Christ as theyr head without faith And if Ma. C. hauing set downe that Christ is the foundation of the Church and that the assemblies are laid vpon him by faith should haue added in such expresse words that faith is the life of the Church were faith to be taken heere without respect of the foundation named before Or were it a harder speech then that which S. Paule vttereth when he sayth VVe stand by faith What difference is there betweene VVe liue by faith and we stand by faith But Habacuck the Prophet missed not the very words The iust shall liue by faith But yet cannot Browne abyde this that by faith only the Church is vnited vnto Christ Wherefore because Ma. C. sayth that nothing besides faith in the Sonne of God is necessary to the very being of a Church he replyeth saying That then belike children which yet through want of discretion cannot haue faith shall be without the essence and life of the Church O deepe Diuinitie worthy a Cambridge degree if I should requite him with his owne tearmes Christ hath these words He that beleeueth not is condemned And the writer to the Hebrewes VVithout faith it is impossible to please God What cause had Browne more to obiect this of childrens faith against Ma. C. his discourse of the beeing of a Church then against these generall axiomes of Scripture touching the being of a Christian or in state of saluation for it lyeth as indifferently against the one as the other And if he had whereby to be reconciled with those Scriptures so as his obiection should not lye agaynst them a little equitie would haue lead hym to haue applyed the same to Ma. C. his conclusion likewise If his knowledge be no better then he sayth he must learne that infants of parents that be within the couenant are not to be accounted without all fayth as his writing supposeth for if they be elect then haue they the spirit and so faith in power habilitie and inclination though not in outward profession and action Lyke as also at the same time they can not be denied to haue reason for as much as they haue a reasonable soule although it be but potentially and not in acte or outward gesture If they be not elect and so haue not the annoynting of the spirit nor therefore any faith in the sight of God yet receiue they so much from the faith of their parents as to be by it accepted of the visible Church for a holie seede and partakers of the promises because they iudging but as men haue no cause at all to doubt thereof This man vrgeth out of Habacuck that The iust shall liue by his owne faith but there was no cause for it is not sayd that infants shall be saued or liue in the sight of God by their parents faith but onely that by it they are of men to be reputed within the couenant and of the visible Church Yet he standeth to it that Not by the faith of the parents but by the promise made to the righteous and their seede the children are reckoned in the Church O trifeler how are the parents within couenant and partakers of the promises but by faith And how doo the promised blessings descend vnto the children but in regard that their parents beleeued Wherefore this foundation will stand vnmoued against all Papists and Apostates that particular visible Churches are vnited vnto their head Christ by faith and by faith do they stand And certainely it is strange how this should be doubted of by any that esteeme themselues iustified by faith sith one member hath not a seuerall lawe of life by it selfe but looke by what lawe and tenure one by himselfe enioyeth
the state of being in Christ by the same also doth another and consequently many together euen till you haue reckoned the whole number of the Church militant Now for the kingly authoritie and gouernement of Christ sith no corner of the world no not the vttermost borders of his enemies are without it how can his Church whereof himselfe is the head be imagined to be without it And yet it followeth not because the Church nor no action therein cannot be exempted from hys rule and gouernment that therefore hys rule authoritie or gouernment should be of the essence thereof I haue shewed before that though proper accidents be perpetually in theyr subiects yet are they not of theyr essence And heere I say furthermore that if Christes power and authoritye be of the essence of all assemblyes whych are subiect vnto it then is it of the essence of Popish and Heathenish Synagogues for hys throne is also pight in the middest of hys enemies Agayne if it followe that where Christes gouernment and authoritie is not made thus essentiall there it may be concluded Christ is not made essentiall it followeth equally on the contrarie that where hys authoritye is so made essentiall there he is graunted to be essentiall also and then seeing Browne will haue it to be of the essence of the assemblyes where it is admitted he most vnwarely maketh Christ of the essence of Popish and Heathenish companyes as I sayd before for as much as they are all vnder hys kingly authoritye and gouernment and as well sitteth he to direct the course of hys enemies in all poynts of theyr rage and malice to theyr owne destruction as hys elect in the waye of righteousnesse to theyr saluation euen so the Scriptures in all places and namely the last quotations do apparantly testifye By thys that is sayd I hope it is cleerely proued that Ma. C. vpon good groundes hath delyuered that Christ is the head or foundation and the assemblyes or particular Churches are vnited vnto or builded vpon hym by faith and that nothing besides faith in the Sonne of God is necessarye to the very being of a Church Also hauing found the essence of a Church it followeth that all thyngs else attributed therevnto and namely Christes gouernment as occupyed in that subiect are referred by the learned to the place of accidents and so was it well ynough gathered by Browne him selfe saue that where he interpreteth the word accident by the word hang by he rather poynteth at the desert of an Heretick then noteth out the nature of such an accident Thus much to hys proposition His assumption beguileth with a grosser kinde of sophisme as from the denyall of any thyng in part to conclude the denyall of the same thing in the whole For vpon the denyall of discipline followeth not the denyall of all Christes power authoritye and gouernment except Christ haue no further authoritye and gouernment then is to be executed by the Elderships of Churches But I haue proued before that Christes gouernment is absolute ouer both freends and enemies professours and not professours of his name And heere further concerning his Church I say the administration of hys gouernment is twofold proper and communicated By hys proper gouernment I meane that which he hath reserued onely to himselfe as not being limitted or shut vp within any boundes of lawes or orders reuealed vnto the creature but is executed according to his infinite wisedome by the secret hand of his diuine power and that both extraordinarily and ordinarily and both wayes to the calling and fauing of his elect which are the true beleeuers and to the hardening and condemning of the reprobate which are the counterfeite Christians The extraordinary wayes are seene in hys immediat iudgements to the confounding of the wicked and succouring the godly The ordinarie by making the word of exhortation and reprofe and euery thing of ordinary edifying the sauour of life vnto life to those that are saued and the sauour of death vnto death to those that are damned Hence flowe calling comfort reioysing and growing vp to perfection to the former but reiecting horror continuall hardening and finall perdition to the latter His communicated gouernment is that which being limitted within the compasse of certayne Lawes and Cannons of hys holy word he hath committed to be outwardly executed by the hand of the members of particular Churches accordingly This consisteth in their outward vsing the Word Sacraments c. and in their politicall guiding concerning both the manners and necessities of all and euery of them This latter part onely of the communicated gouernment which is the politicall guiding of the Church is that same discipline which generally all Ecclesiasticall Writers speake of and which is now with vs in question whether it be of the essence of a Church Let therefore the godly Reader consider what an odious iangler Browne is who vpon any denyall of the last and most inferiour though yet no base but a worthy part of Christes gouernment in his Church concludeth a denyall of all and euery whit of his power authoritie and gouernment therein And therefore where the Reader findeth in Brownes writings Discipline and Christes gouernment matched together as though they were synonymies that is dyuers wordes but of one signification there let hym smell thys hys Sophistry and reiect the lewd seducer so offering it And though he pretend the place to the Corinths to approue hys phrase saying Paule calleth this Discipline the power of our Lord Iesus Christ beleeue hym not For the Apostle speaketh not there of Christes power as it is taken for hys authoritye and office of gouernment but for hys diuine might strength and efficacious power by which he is with hys Church to the end of the world and promised to be in the middest of two or three that should be so gathered together in hys name Heerevpon Paule doth not call as he sayeth Discipline the power of Christ but encourageth the Corinthians to minister the discipline of Excommunication vppon the incestuous person arming them therevnto with the mighty presence of Christ by which it should bee made effectuall This double vse of the word power I preuented before And nowe let Browne knowe that whereas by alleadging the Scriptures he shifteth I may say coggeth in a diuers sense the pitfall of Homonymie which he prepared for his reader is discouered and so become a snare vnto himselfe Next from two or three places that set forth the efficacie of the worde by magnificent and worthy titles as 1. Corinth 4.20 The kingdome of God is not in worde but in power Psalm 110.2 The Lorde shall sende the rodde of his power out of Syon And 1. Corinthians 10.4 The weapons of our warre-fare are mightie through God from these places I say he concludeth thus So then if the power of the woorde to binde and loose to remitte or retaine
mens sinnes to promise life and to rebuke and giue ouer to execration bee taken from Christ or the Church of Christ what remaineth but an Idoll or counterfait Christ an Idol or counterfait Church Here both he proceedeth in his double faced fallation last noted conueying him-selfe by the word power from Christes office to his deuine essence whereby he accomplisheth all thinges in his gouernement whether by the meane and ministerie of men or otherwise as I obserued before in the distribution of his gouernement and also heapeth vppon it an impudent petition of the principle as if the discipline being remooued from the Church foorth-with the woorde shoulde bee without Christes power to bind and loose to remitte or retaine mens sinnes which is not so much to extoll the worthy discipline as he pretended as it is eyther to clogge and chaine vp Christes diuine power thereunto or else to make discipline the diuine force and efficacious power of Christ himselfe which is his essence Whether soeuer of which as one must needes bee graunted not Master Cart-wright but Browne shall bee found the absurd blasphemer in this case The bulwarke of his cause is beaten downe there is not a weapon left him of any strength vnbroken if this be well weyed which is by me deliuered And if the reader consider that although the discipline bee a kind of the authoritie of Christ yet is it not all nor the principall of his authoritie and that although hee vse it many times as a chariot for his holy worde to ride vppon to subdue rebellious spirites yet hee vseth it neither most chiefely nor most ordinarily but the simple preaching of the worde is his continuall scepter and sword wherby hee saueth his people and conquereth his enemies beateth downe euery strong holde pearseth to the diuision of the soule and Spirite and of the ioyntes and marrowe and iudgeth the very cogitations and conceiptes of the heart This I say if the reader consider seeing there are no greater effectes in the whole kingdome of Christ then these which hee executeth by his worde yea when it is not assisted by the discipline for the woorde may stande without the discipline so cannot the discipline without the woorde hee will not only stay him-selfe as in a refreshing shadowe of Christes gracious gouernement where hee seeth the worde deliuered and taught but also acknowledge and testifie that it is a most malicious deuise of Satan practised by such instruments as Browne vnder a quarell for the holy discipline to drawe thousandes of soules from the most ordinary and mighty meanes of Christes gouernment and administration of his kingdome that so lying scattered from the folde they might bee out of all hope of ordinary rescue when the deuourer shoulde find them Let not Browne nowe hence-foorth aske what part of discipline may bee wanting and the Church notwithstanding haue the essence and name of a Church For although Mast Cart. not framing him-selfe to Brownes sense and writings as with whome hee medled not in his letter vseth the woorde discipline in a larger sense as comprehending all the behauiour concerning a Church in outward dueties and so amongest the rest the dayly planting and building by the calling and offering of the woorde by the ministers and the hearing receiuing and obeying of a people yet Browne can-not thinke to vse the worde in that sense sith his owne writings haue bounded him and set him in a scanter compasse namely within the politicall guiding of a Church which I haue lately before spoken of as generally all his writinges and namely his most vnlearned definitions and diuisions Numb 48. doe testifie Where defining the kingdome of Christ to bee his office of gouernement whereby hee vseth the obedience of his people to keepe his lawes and commaundementes to their saluation and well-fare hee deuideth the same in ouerseeing and trying out of wickednesse rebuke and suparation By which place vnlesse we will imagine of a discipline that hath larger limittes then the kingdome of Christ wee see what Browne vnderstandeth by discipline Within the polliticall guiding of a Church therefore must he bee contented to bee restrained in all this disputation of discipline And as for his busie hunting after Contradiction in M.C. his woordes in saying discipline is not of the essence of a Church and yet for want of all discipline to take away the essence and name of a Church his labour is vtterly lost as I haue prooued before in speaking of proper accidents And though in wordes hee vrge the shewe of a contradiction without discipline there may bee a Church and without discipline there can bee no Church Yet is it an empty barrell without liquour For when the reader shall haue added the word some to the former and the worde all to the latter that the first may bee read thus without some discipline there may bee a Church and the other thus without al discipline there can be no Church he shal plainly discerne that Browne did but dreame of a contradictiō After those his shiftings turnings to auoid the euidence of M C. reasons to hoodewinke his reader from the sight of thē hee setteth on as though hee would proue the contrary of M.C. conclusion namely that discipline is of the essence of a Church Wherein when he hath spent three or foure pages with many vaine and abused quotations of scripture after his wonted manner the whole course of his arguing comes all to this that the woorde of God giues the Church authoritie to obserue the behauiours of the seuerall members and to binde and loose remitte and retaine sinnes by ecclesiasticall censures and so exercise the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Therefore such iurisdiction is of the essence of a Church A worthy Captaine of so vnworthy a schisme Set this in a due fourme and I thinke him-selfe if it were possible woulde blush for shame to see it It is thus Whatsoeuer the worde of God commandeth to bee vsed of the Church that same is of the essence of the Church But the woord commandeth the discipline to bee vsed of the Church Therefore is the discipline of the essence of the Church If this bee the good reasoning let vs see whither it will bring vs. Whatsoeuer the word of God cōmandeth to be vsed of the Church the same is of the essence of the Church But the word commandeth good works to bee vsed of the Church Therfore good works are of the essence of the Church Likewise Whatsoeuer the word of God commandeth faith to bring forth the same is of the essence of faith But the word of God commaundeth that faith bring forth good workes Therfore good works are all of the essence of faith And thus it will come to passe that euery commaundement being made of the essence of a Church and of a particular Christian as a member euery transgression likewise shall ouerthrowe the Church and the state of a Christian His
of discipline which is common to our Churches are grossely deceiued in the matter of the Supper are notwithstanding holden in the rowle of the Churches of God In this respect also certaine assemblies of our profession which hauing the vse of the discipline permitted vnto them and not suffered to haue the vse of the Sacrament of the Lordes supper are not therefore when the Lordes Churches are mustered and their names written and enrouled vp cast out as vnfit to be in any account of the Lordes hoste Browne saith the Dutch Churches erre in transubstantiation but he iudgeth it not an heresie If he can vnderstande any difference betweene transubstantiation and consubstantiation he may acknowledge to the correction of his rashnesse howe well he was ouerseene when he wrote it Then in that he accounteth it an error not an heresie he declareth what a crooked rule his affection is to iudge by calling al things that he esteemeth amisse in my writings heresie though he knowe not whether I will defende them or no when they are shewed me and yet pleadeth for popish transubstantiation that it should not be condemned for an heresie As for the Lutherish consubstantiation there can not but grosse absurdities followe thereof euen to the ouerthrow of Christs humanitie and that it is stoutly mainteined by furious and brawling writings and followed in the persons that withstand them by prison banishment Browne if he were not a very emptie vessell of all good learning and reading woulde neuer haue made doubt of it That there are some Churches of our profession which hauing discipline are withheld from the vse of the lordes Supper it maketh nothing against him but against vs as he imagineth but in deede it is such a wounde to his cause as he can neuer cure For if a Church maye be without the vse of one of the Sacramentes and yet be a Church howe much more may it be a Church if it want the discipline in question Touching M. C. comparison of the bodye of man most proper to set out the state of the Church and a thing often vsed in the Scriptures to such purpose Browne being not able to escape the euidence of the trueth that appeared in it passeth it ouer with a deepe silence in his answere and onely in the margent of M. C. epistle setteth downe this worde A fopperie for a full confutation wherein me thinkes the Reader may well allowe his wit though not his honestie M. C. his last illustration of the former reasons is thus set downe Was not Hierusalem after the returne from Babylon the Citie of the great King vntill such time as Nehemias came and builded vp the walles of the Citie To say therefore it is none of the Church of God because it hath not receiued this discipline me thinkes it is all one with this as if a man woulde say It is no Citie because it hath no wall or that it is no vineyarde because it hath neither hedge nor ditch It is not I graunt so sightly a Citie or vineyarde nor yet so safe against the inuasion of their seuerall enemies which lye in wayte for them but yet are they truely both Cities and vineyardes Agaynst this Browne trifleth beyonde all measure And first as if M. C. had sayde that the walles of Hierusalem by precise testimonie out of the Scripture signified Discipline whereas hee draweth the similitude but indifferentlye as from anye Citye though Hierusalem bee named as a famous instance in steade of all others in lyke case and that hee doeth touching the vse of a wall which is most apt to set foorth the effecte and fruite of the Discipline because as the one is the defence of a citie whereby it is continued so the other preserueth a Church in health and stable standing And it is most sottish that vpon some places of Scripture and the chiefe of them touching onely the Catholique Church and so quite from the question of a particular by which the Church may be said to be builded in the walles of a city to reason as though it may not therefore in any wise be compared also with the Citizens Burgesses of a Citie which are compassed with discipline as with walles seeing Saint Paul doeth tearme them citizens of the Saintes So is it more then childish that he citeth the Psalmes for the praising of the citie by the walles and gates thereof sith euery Grammar boy coulde haue tolde him it to be a trope of Synecdoche a part for the whole Againe such is his follie in citing Nehemiah where he knoweth not that the maner of speach is to debase the being of a thing as though it were not vpon want of some chiefe ornament or speciall point of commoditie that belongeth vnto it as also that the building of part of the citie is called the building of the citie The praises of Ierusalem therefore taken from the walles and gates thereof is as I haue said a speach wherein the lesse is taken to note the greater is more effectuall then if he named the whole or the greater parts thereof For seeing the Lord loueth the wal so much or the gates more then other cities how much more the whole citie and although he thinke it is no Church til the walles be builded yet the reader shal obserue that the people of God sacrificed as in the temple which was the place only appointed for the sacrifice when only the foundation of the temple was laide and found therein that mercie comfort from the Lord for the which they solemnly praised his holy Name And accordingly is it meet for Christians in a careful endeuour of further building to be thankful euen for the foundations though Browne can find no matter of thanks vnlesse we had all whereas if he stil withdraw til he find such a church yea as that hath the walles of discipline made vp in all the parts that he respecteth as his best writings intend he shall neuer ioyne with any Church if he could liue whilest the world endureth But to proceede to the rest of his cauils there needeth no great remembrance to bring forth what a citie may be without a wall and vineyard without a hedge And if he had conceiued of the being definition of a city any whit more scholerlike than a waterbearer he would with the learned all that be skilful in the state of things haue defined it by the lawes and policie and not by the walles thereof For if it should happen to be dismantilled it ceaseth not therefore to be a citie When as therefore a number of men may meete together to associate themselues by certaine lawes and agreements amongst themselues without hauing a wall it is euident that a citie may bee without a wall Likewise let al indifferent men iudge whether a space of ground set and furnished with plants or hearbs hath the substance of a garden orchard or vineyard
and is rightly to be called so I speake not of what course we take in making orchards or vineyards but of what course may be taken in this busines in regard of the substance of the things And so if a man not fearing or not foreseeing such outwarde violences as a fence might keepe out doe replenish as is aforesaide his ground adioining to his house or otherwhere for the vses of orchard garden or vineyarde shall they not in deed be such things and so truely called of him And if afterward finding or conceiuing a discommoditie of the want wil he not say I must sense in my orchard-garden or vineyard If Browne scorne to be taught these things of the learned or of common sense yet at least let him lay his hand on his mouth and hearken to the prophet by whom the Lord said Ierusalem shalbe inhabited without a wall He spake so after the maner of men amongst whō that might come passe for the deepe peace and great securitie they should haue Now to become of a citie no citie is no mending but declining case but the Lord speaketh thereby of their bettering and happier state and therefore the want of a wall taketh not away the being of a citie And I pray you in a citie besieged the walles in many breeches through the batterie being entred tell me what it is that the souldiors afterwards are said to sacke must you not say they sacke the citie Also Esay doth manifestly declare that the Lord planted his vineyard yer euer he hedged it or did other cost vnto it And when he magnifieth his mercy thus towardes his church in saying that by this means he had left nothing vndone which he could do to his vineyard he therby declareth that he had done more to it than many that haue vineyards vse to do And therfore more than was necessarie to the very being of it Again by the same reason that they denie it to be a vineyard because it hath no hedge they might denie it to bee a vineyarde because it hath no watchtower winepresse and such other Moreouer when the Lord tooke away the hedge as there he threatneth he would I would knowe what the enemies of the Church did tread vnderneath their feete did they not treade the the Lords vineyard But it may bee thought a shame to stand so long in the proofe of this which Browne is not ashamed with tedious strife of words to denie When as these things by the grace of God are thus established the contrarie mistes dispelled which the aduersarie had cast in to darken the trueth and discipline founde not to be of the essence of a Church which is the verie knife whereby al the sinewes of the Brownists contentious arme against the Church of Englande from which they draw their disciples are cut asūder yet in the knitting vp of this point there be two things which in as fewe wordes as I can I woulde admonish the reader of First that although M. Cartwright in his Epistle to M. H. and I in these my defences doe thus farre speake to the iustifying of the Church of Englande wherein we haue receyued that spirituall life and comfort which doe worthily drawe out of vs these duties yet haue wee through the grace of God nothing lesse in our minds than to iustifie anie corruption that may bee espied in it So vnworthie a burthē is it therfore that Browne laieth vpō vs out of the Prophet charging vs when we auouch the Church of England notwithstanding the defects and corruptions that it hath to be yet a Church of GOD from which no faithfull man is to separate as though we pleaded for and boulstred vp iniquitie and corruption by the glorious titles of The Temple of God The Temple of God The cases are too vnlike for a man that is well in his wittes to compare together The Iewes so pleaded the prerogatiue of the Temple to confute the Prophetes threatning of iudgements for their sinnes and transgressions as though it could not be true that by any means God should forsake them to whom hee had made such plenteous promises that so long as they kept the external worship which God had appointed they thought themselues not so far chargeable with their wicked maners Directly contrary both in iudgement and affection are wee vnto them by the grace of God in all this busines We esteeme the state of our Church in some respects grieuous and lamentable ynough full of prouocations of the heauie displeasure and indignation of the Lorde which as wee acknowledge to bee most iust if they had bene powred downe vpon vs now long ago so wee are out of doubt they wil come if we find not grace to turn and seeke the Lorde more dutifully while the day of his long suffering yet endureth And for this cause we earnestly beseech those rhat are the Lordes remembrancers not to keepe silence neither to giue him rest as also the Prophets whome the Lorde hath sent to lift vp their voyces as a trumpet to tell the people their sinnes and Israel their transgressions Onely withall wee admonish that whatsoeuer the Lorde hath ioyned together no man doe separate Which being a vniuersall precept of the eternall GOD bindeth as well euerie particular member to keepe the vnitie of the Church which the Lorde hath gathered by the preaching of Christ crucified as it doth the Church it selfe to the ioint vse of all holie dueties and meanes of her encrease In both of which wee humblie craue an equall regard and consideration Otherwise as the ministerie of him that crieth to the Churches to repent and bee mindfull of those things from whence they are fallen to strengthen the rest that are readie to die that their workes may be full before the Lord. And to buy golde of Christ to enrich them and white garmentes to couer their nakednesse As I say his ministerie breaketh not the heade but is like that wine and oyle of the Samaritane powred into their woundes for a gratious recouerie of health so on the contrarie he that seeing the mournefull estate of anie Church tending to desolation and ruine shall fall a gathering by himselfe or anie way shrinke from bestowing all his strength to the vpholding and rebuilding thereof he playeth that enuious Onans part that abhorred the building of his brothers house respecting more the spread of his own name than making conscience of Gods holy ordinance And as his sinne is so much greater than Onans by how much the ouerthrow of many Churches alreadie gathered is greater than the refusall to reuiue the name of one house or familie by so much the greater iudgement also is to bee feared from the Lorde Yet was Onans sinne reuenged by GOD with death The other thing that I would haue the reader perfect in is this that this Troublechurch Browne not receyuing the loue of the trueth touching the being of a
case of want or bondage of this discipline Browne sayth I falsifie the case as though he had onely spoken of heathenish husbands frō whom it should be lawful for the wiues to go when they became in danger of persecuting by thē The reader seeth the issue here betwixt vs to be this whether Bro. hath taught that wāt or bōdage of discipline is cause sufficient for a wife to go away from her husbād These be my prooues out of his writings Let the reader iudge Speaking of a place of Paul to the Corinthes he hath these words And therefore hee teacheth the woman which beleeueth to abide with the vnbeleeuing man and the seruant which beleeueth to keepe with his master except they be froward persecute or the whole Church be helde there in bondage or they cannot hold the true worship and all Christian duties with the sufferance of other and the safetie of their liues For then they may flee c. Here his exception being disiunctiue putteth three cases wherein the wife may goe from her husband 1. For frowardnesse and persecuting by him 2. For the bondage of the Church where they dwell 3. As it seemeth to me if she be in daunger by others But I intermeddle onely with that wherewith I haue alreadie charged him If we will knowe what he meaneth by the bondage of the Church let other places of his giue the interpretation In his answer to M.C. pag. 37. shewing howe he vnderstandeth the discipline of the Church to faile he sayth Though some preacher or other person offende yet doeth not therefore the discipline of the Church faile or want except the Church be negligent or wilfully refuse to redresse such offences or is brought into bondage that it cannot redresse them Here he interpreteth bondage to bee when a Church cannot redresse faults In the 15. Pag. of the same booke hee sheweth what hee esteemeth the cause of that bondage in these words What is a church without this power we speake of yea what are those assemblies which in stead of it doe holde that Antichristian power of the spirituall courtes or rather are held in bondage by it Nowe if the wife ought to goe from her husbande where the Church is in bondage and that same bondage must bee vnderstoode when as a Church hath not power and free libertie to censure and redresse offences without restraint of anie spirituall Courtes it followeth to bee his doctrine as I haue charged him that a wife ought to goe away from her husbande if hee will not goe with her onely for the want or bondage of the outwarde discipline where they dwell Neither doe I by that word onely adde any thing that is not his For if the wife may goe from her husbande for this one cause amongst others it followeth and is necessarily intended that for this only she may goe from him His cauill at my word enforce is as witlesse for whatsoeuer is taught as a thing giuen in charge and commandement from God that same enforceth the conscience to a practise Whether Browne by a charge and commandement as from God doe enforce the wife to such dealing with her husband let these speaches of his be called to witnesse It or the Church must hold the true flocke and seeke the right shepheardes and depart from others This is commanded to all and therefore though the husband will not yet the wife must doe it or the husband though the wife be against it And by and by after For we shew that so farre we must be from hearing or receiuing of such pastours ministers and from dwelling in their Parishes that the wife may not tarie for the husband to flee from them if he be vntoward Also in the very place where he accuseth me for this matter his owne wordes do againe answere for me Browne saith he hath not one worde of enforcing but onely the husbande or wife in such a case haue libertie and it is their duetie Nowe where any thing is laide vpon vs as a duetie vnto God what libertie the conscience hath to choose the doing or not doing of it let all that haue any conscience iudge His Number 78. is answered To the 79. 9. The admonition hath these wordes I heare besides that there is one among you who whispereth already in corners that we must not beleeue in the holy Ghost This I protest was no guesse or light coniecture of mine but a thing testified by two sufficient witnesses vnto me the man also I can name if it were conuenient and he was then in the same schisme with Browne for the matter of Discipline 10. To that which is from the 80. to the 97. I answere not To that which is from the 97. to the 104. 11 The reader must vnderstande that the admonition entreth 2. general accusations against Browne to prooue him a man not to be followed but forsaken one is vnsound and dangerous doctrine the other his wauering and changeablenesse The first and most grieuous I trust is now made manifest the latter needeth fewer wordes the proofe of it standeth in these iiii poynts 1. Whether he haue condemned the arte of lodgicke as vnlawfull for Christians and yet vsed it him selfe 2. Whether he haue heretofore prouoked all true worshippers to flee out of England as to auoyde the displeasure of God and yet both dwelleth here him selfe hath counselled a resorting to our sermons 3. Whether he haue subscribed 4. VVhether his two assertions concerning discipline haue in them that which is contrary yea or no. If these thinges be found true then it followeth that the man is mutable also euen as necessitie of time place do draw straine him As for the first point cōcerning lodgicke it is a wonder to see how the poore man rūneth frō one corner to another to hide his nakednes when he hath all done the best defence he hath is that which serueth him alwaies euen a face that cā neuer shew one token of shame or modestie in it O desperate impudencie doeth Bro. deny that he hath cōdemned the arte of lodgicke as vnlawful what can he say to induce any of his disciples to beleeue him thus he beginneth assone as he hath giuen me the lie In deed vaine lodgicke is named in the margēt and so is vaine philosophie named by sundry writers also vaine arts vaine false sciences that out of the scripture yet are neither those learned writers nor the scriptures cōdemned therefore He woulde haue the reader beleeue that there is a vaine lodgicke a good lodgicke that he spoke but against the vaine lodgicke This is to please a child with a plumme when he hath hurt him before with throwing him downe But his vaine epethite was in deede no distinction of lodgickes but onely as an ouerfilling of his furious penne and conceited forme of his malitious vtterance for all lodgicke and phylosophie is by him condemned as by the
the place where it is and will not come and dwell there now that was beyond Sea where he was at that time they are vnworthy thereof It is come to passe vpon those as it is written that they desire to see one day of the Sonne of man and cannot see it If the whole Church which you must vnderstand to be those of his iudgement be persecuted it ought wholly to flee and if lawes be made against all though as yet they be not executed on some yet the persecution is generall and they are called away Now Browne shall doo well to tell vs what bands of lawes were then so straight and now relaxed that they should then flee out of England as out of Aegipt and now dwell with vs againe as in Ierusalem Till he shew vs this he must be contented to haue it written as in great letters vpon his forehead A wauering minded man is vnconstant in all his wayes To the 107. This concerneth the third argument which the admonition vseth to proue Brownes leuitie and changeablenesse What can be more contrarie and therefore absurd then to condemne the Church of England for no Church of God as also the officers that take on them execute the gouernmēt thereof for prowd Prelats Antichristiā vsurpers such as we may not medle with and yet himselfe whē he is brought to the triall to subscribe allow approue all this doth the Reader think it reasonable that this man should beare himself vpō the names of Wickliff Luther Caluine as though they had euer cōmitted such things I speake not neither as reproching any mā that returneth frō errour to a sounder mind for I would if it were Gods wil that might be seen in Brown but I speake to the worthy detestation of him that not changing his iudgemēt only for feare of trouble practiseth ratifieth the same things which he hath so bitterly prescribed against vnto all men in publike writings Yea whilest he doth this and hath withal his owne hand of subscription extant against him yet still seduceth carieth away frō the ordinary assemblies as many as he cā The state of which persons so led out by him if we consider but a little as they exceedingly proue it so we shall not a little see it to be greeuous lamentable For how vtterly vnlike is he to that good Shepheard that giueth his life for his Sheepe and if his doctrine were good how altogether like is he to that hireling Shepheard that whē he hath led his Sheep out of the fold into the plaines there chargeth thē to abide all dangers shifting in the meane time any way for his own safety must not that wo cleaue fast vnto him that was denoūced against those that laid importable burthens vpō other mens shoulders but thēselues touched thē not with the least of their fingers full many of his poore disciples lie in prisons whilest he laugheth at liberty and touching that for which they suffer addeth aflictiō to their bands by all his behauior Browne cōfesseth his subscribing but yet with brasen face demandeth what was amisse therin euen this verely that his own writings daily practise are as directly against it as black to white hote to cold and nay to yea And heer his immodest daring vngratious tearmes enforce me to lay him open wheras my adm had somwhat vnnecessarily spared him The Bishops ciuil authority saith he Br. did acknowledge lawfull in his subscription their magistracie to be obeied This is sufficiēt against himself yet he hath clipped the cōpasse for the words are I do humbly submit my self to be at my Lord of Cant. commandemēt whose authority vnder her Ma. I wil neuer resist nor depraue by the grace of God c. Heere is not ciuill authority only as he would helpe it but the authority that he hath vnder her Ma. which al mē know is as well ecclesiasticall as ciuil This Br. promised neuer to depraue but he hath falsified his promise subscriptiō in that he hath not hitherto by publike writing recāted those bookes which therfore liue as the expresse image of his mind to teach the contrary Some places I will rehearse that all may see how Br. thinketh of the Bi. procedings of their authority it selfe In his declaratiō of gathering his scismatical church telling how he withstood Harisons entring into the Ministery by the Bishops meanes these are his words When he that is Harison had talked with R. B. and shewed him the matter wherabout he went he receiued this answer that it was vnlawfull to vse M. Greenhams help or any mans else for the Bish authorising So he shewed him how he had dealt cōcerning the Bishop and was so far from seeking licence ordaining or authorising at his hāds that he abborred such trash pollutions as the marks and poyson of Antichrist And speaking of their fourme of ordaining O worthy outward calling saith he Do not the Bishops pray whē they make ministers and shall we condemne their praiers for the foxe is a father in the church whē he praieth for grace are not our ministers duly examined they are posed by M. Exam. Beware ye priests that you cā speake Latin in any case forget not your Cathechisme c. Then followeth Breath vpon thē ye Bi. and giue thē your gratious spirits which ye call the holy ghost so shall they be those good spirits like frogs that come out of your mouths to make battaile against vs. Kneele downe ye preachers that the B. may ordaine you sitting in his chaire his holy hāds shal blesse you they are washed frō bloud as was Pilates as the nose of a wolfe which wil rauen no more Then must you take your licenses in parchment and pay well for them prepare a boxe for your waxe print your message therein and keepe touch with the Bishop least he open your boxe and your calling flie away behold this is their outward calling In another place he hath these words We say therefore O yee Prelates not by your Lodgicke Oracles but by the word and doctrine is Paules Crosse Ierusalem or is the Lords name there is not your name sounded there as by the blast of a Trumpet my Lord Bishop there controlleth in his name the Preacher standeth vp as the VVolfe doth in a visard he hath the Bishops name in parchment for that is his licence it is a theeues quittance though he came in by the windowe it is the scourcoasts passport though he roaue out for his pray My Lords face is in the waxe a print and marke of holynesse who can preach without it It is the seale of ghostly message Three such seales haue threefold grace but the money which buyeth them hath that grace seuen hundreth fold Is this now the Lords name when his Gospell must hang on parchment or on the name and markes of those Romish beasts Is this his name when his glad
tidings ceasse except the parchment hold and his message misseth except a waxemarke giueth it Is this Ierusalem where such Bishops raigne or should we call it the throne of the Lord is it not rather the seate of iniquitie to which as the Prophet saith the wicked do approch c. And a little after Now therefore yee Preachers because yee subscribe that the Lords gouernment is wanting and yet set vp other Lords or suffer them in his place and because you cannot neither will you preach but by their good leaue and licence therefore you cannot preach my word VVhat do you at Paules Crosse or what should my messengers do there do not there the Bishops as also in your parishes tread downe the Lords Sanctuarie and are not the people as they ouer whome the Lord did neuer beare rule yet you say the Bishops gouernment is tollerable and take the teeth of those VVolfes for a discipline to the Sheepe Againe within few lines This is now the throne of the Bishops which in the dioces parishes and cathedrall Churches is lift vp against Christ From it doth come foorth their lawes and iniunctions by which all men euen small and great rich and poore free and bonde are made to receiue a marke in their hand or in their forehead For all are made thralles and slaues to their pollicie to build the Church and to worshippe God after their deuisings c. Nowe yet more apertly if it were possible to shewe how he depraueth their very authoritie I must trouble the reader with mo of his places In his declaration telling of his owne authorizing by the Bishops among other like he hath these words that he thought it lawful first to be tried of the Bishops then also to suffer their power though it were vnlawful if in any thing it did not hinder the truth but to be authorized by them to be sworne to subscribe to be ordained and receiue their licensing he vtterly misliked and kept himselfe cleare in those matters howbeit the Bishops seales were gotten him by his brother which he both refused before the officers and being written for him would not pay for thē and also being afterward paid for by his brother he lost one and burnt another in the fire and another being sent him to Cambridge he kept it by him til in his trouble it was deliuered to a Iustice of peace and so frō him as is supposed to the B. of Norwich Yet least his dealing in this manner should encourage others to deale in worse manner he openly preached against the calling and authorizing of preachers by Bishops and spake it often also openly in Cambridge that he taught among them not as caring for or leaning vpon the Bi. authority but only to satisfie his duty and cōscience Also in the same discourse he hath these words This he that is himself iudged not only to be against the wickednes of the Bi. but also against their whole power and authority for if the authority of the Church and of the forwardest brethren or elders therein be aboue the Bi. how should it not follow but that the Bi. may be cōmanded accused charged by the Church yea also discharged and separated as is their desert but now because of their popish power and canon lawes they haue lift vp their authority more high then the Church cā take accompts of them and not only by force do thrust out and trouble whom they list but also raigne as Lords Dukes in their dioces their authority must needes be vsurped And a little space after he saith thus of them that They rule by three sorts of lawes as by the ciuill the canon the common lawe which are three kingdoms vnto thē or as the Popes triple crowne and by pretēding the fourth law which is the word of God they ouerrule too too much Agreeably with this he saith in another place Behold cā they be Ierusalē which is called the throne of the lord whē there the Bi. sit as in the throane of Antichrist What throne hath Christ but by his gouernment which they say is wanting and what is the throne of Antichrist but that Lordship in their dioces with such sway of popish officers with such romish traditiōs A little after VVhat shal we answere they say they call no preachers to preach but God the Church the Queene and people agree to receiue them so their parishes are churches and those great assemblies are the flocke of Christ for they are faire cages though the birds are vncleane knowe you not an honest woman for she doth loue fornicators so may you knowe the true Church for she loueth such Prelates O church of price O the famous church of England Tell ye the church that is tell ye the Bi. of the dioces the church can giue him authority to authorize both the church it selfe and the Gospell as if God should intreate such a Prelate to be good vnto him c. And by and by after Yet is this church of England the piller and ground of truth for the Bi. ouerride it they are the truth and it is the ground it is the beast and they are the riders it stoupeth as an asse for thē to get vp the whip of their spiritual courts and the spurres of their lawes and the bridle of their power do make it to carie thē VVe giue say the Bi. then we take say the Preachers hold take you authority but on this condition that you preach no longer then we list Marke you this say the preachers for we haue no authority but by the bishops and if they giue it vs why may they not take it away so the theefetaker doth please the theefegiuer and the yong wolfe wanteth whē the old wolfe is angry Lastly thus he writeth in another place of his declaration Now wheras they mingle ciuill and church offices it was answered by the word of God that such mingling was flat Antichristianitie for Christ himselfe refused to be a ciuill Iudge and diuider of lands and forbad his Apostles to meddle in such manner Againe it is written No man that goeth on warfare entangleth himself with the affaires of this life for if once ecclesiasticall persons as they call them get ciuill offices they become that second beast which is Antichrist for they get the image of the first beast which is the power and authority of wicked Magistrates that confirme their authority so they giue a spirit to the image that it should speake that is their church lawes and orders hauing got ciuill power both to deceiue men by shew of Religion and to force them with threates and penalties Now would I knowe of the reader what it is that Browne by these places hath spared vnto any Bishop in England or left vndepraued in their authority Furthermore for the vnlawfulnes of medling with or complaining to their courts officers behold how vehemēt he is as in all his dealings Also
because the iudges and officers of the court do wrest Gods law by their popish canon law and respect persons take rewards which is forbiddē in Deuteronom and by their profession they must needs do so or else they cannot hold their office how shall any make complaynt vnto them for church matters which can be counted none of the Church And seeing Christ hath commanded to complaine to the church against the sinner how shall Christes ordinance be broken by complaining vnto such wretches Furthermore seeing the scripture sheweth that the church hath nothing to do to iudge those that are without how shall any complaine of such a number of wicked men as neuer were worthy to be counted the Church Againe seeing no godly man may seeke iudgemēt vnder the vniust as Paule sheweth if he haue a matter against a brother why should we seeke to such for iudgemēt Again because those canon officers are strāgers neither knowne to the churches nor dwelling among thē no maruaile though Christ say that his sheep will not follow nor seeke to strangers but will flee frō them Moreouer because they bring the churches into bondage as it is written because they deuoure because they take their goods because they exalt thēselues and as it were smite the people on their face cast thē in prison they do all these things besides the church gouernment and therefore ought to be reiected in no case to be suffered So he concludeth Thus it is manifest by the word of God that such prowd Prelates and Antichristiā vsurpers haue no authority nor power of the church neither is their suspēdings to be counted suspensions by the Church nor their calling of Ministers a calling by the Church Hauing then thus condēned our Bishops authority disauowed as vtterly vnlawfull to meddle with their courts and officers How strange is this that he seeth not his subscription to the B. authority to haue gainesaid all his writings yea how monstrous is it that he should thus fetter other men frō any way vsing or applying themselues to their courts officers and yet himselfe of late being iustly called in question by the Minister of the parish where he dwelt for not communicating according to the order appointed made his speedy recourse to a Doctor and iudge of such courts and by his meanes cut off and forestalled the intended proceeding of the minister congregation there against him O worthy Captain guide of so vnworthy a schisme But perhaps his Proctors will pleade for him that his subscription and late practise haue now cancelled all his former writings so as they cannot henceforth in any equity be vrged against him No no let thē know that I hold him heere faster than that all of them can be able to wring him out of my hands I answer therefore that since the time of his subscription first he hath written that which is against both the Bi. and their authoritie as in these words Thus your writing condemneth you of iniquity that speake not one word in the pulpit against the restraint by popish discipline that ye cannot separate How sore do you labour and how much do you suffer that dare not speake a word by name against those officers and courts neither name nor protest openly against those wicked against whom you would haue vs protest particularly and by name And by and by after But why labour you not also to charge them openly though it cost you your life and liuing Also in his Libell against my admonition he hath these words Thou hast written it heeretofore that there is no Aegipt in England and hast thou now found vs out to be in Aegipt Doest thou not perceiue that thou and thy partakers abusing your knowledge to persecute those which are come out of Aegipt are worse then Aegipt yea princes of Sodome and people of Gomorrha looke thou to it that thou remain not in Aegipt Thou hast confessed that we were once come out of Aegipt thou canst not say so of thy selfe if still thou iustifie thy Aegiptian doctrine pollutiōs as is to be seen by thy pamphlet Let the reader now bethinke him what Bro. calleth Aegiptian doctrine sith my booke containeth no doctrine but the doctrine of the church of England and so it was iudged alowed by authority Also whether he accompt Englād as Aegipt which he would deny in another place whether he exclude the Bishops frō the number whē he calleth me all my partakers that do persecute him and his followers Princes of Sodome and people of Gomorrha Again when my admo demandeth what gaine their departing frō our church heer in England hath gotten thē he denieth not that they are departed but answereth thus We haue gained by fleeing from persecuting wolues not wealth nor bellycheere nor fauour in the world but losse imprisonment all maner euil speaches and death it selfe Nay he is so far frō recanting his former course as that he thundreth iudgements and inuocateth vengeance euen the bloud of all those of his sect that haue died any way by pursuite of law vpō the heads of all those that haue been meanes and partakers to their trouble these are his words It is thy manner and thy partners to force to threaten to make stirrings and hurly burlies and to driue man wife asunder thine and their outrage cannot be satisfied with bloud thine their railings slander false accusations haue brought diuers of vs to death some by the Gybbet some by long imprisonmēt some by flight and pursuite some by extreame care thought sicknes some by Seas some by necessity and want some by changing aire dwelling place the bloud of all these shall be vpō thine thy partners heads These places are sufficiēt being writtē since his subscription to proue that he still continueth to oppose himself against the authority gouernment of our Bishops as also to the vnity peace of our Church Secondly to those that obiect his subscriptiō to cut off the allegation of his former writings against him I answere that Brown hath in writing since his subscription iustified all his former cause doctrines in euery point therefore hath again cancelled his subscription and reuiued all his bookes This I lay down by his own euidēt words in two places of his libell against my admo let the Reader consider iudge Glouers popery saith he or popish heresies being long ago by many diuines refuted needed not Bredwells childish refutation wheras the cause wherin Bro. hath stood as yet is refuted by none Now the places aboue cited shew that a chiefe part of Bro. cause is touching the authority proceeding of the Bishops which he vtterly detesteth And seeing then he auoucheth his cause to stād as yet vnrefuted he intendeth not that his subscriptiō should any whit empaire the same for then he could not say so but meaneth therfore that
not prooue vnlesse some vnlawfull Arte be vsed with all He mistooke me much in iudging I vnderstood no differncee betwixt Discipline and Presbiterie I knowe the office and the officer is not all one but where the officer wanteth there the office also wanteth as touching the execution thereof And therefore where the Presbiterie wanteth which himselfe maketh the onely executors of the censuring discipline there that discipline also by his rule is wanting For whie else doth he say the Church of England is without this discipline if the same may bee graunted to be where the Eldershippe is not Nowe his answere explicating his seconde enunciation which I vrge agaynst the first sayeth His meaning was that a Church remayneth still though all the officers of discipline should die at once because forsooth yet still the office and right of gouernement shoulde remaine I replie that the gouernement which hee speaketh of in this case cannot bee sayde to bee actually but potentially And if he holde it sufficient to auouche the apparancie of a Churche whereof is and was the question in the conference alleaged by a potentiall hauing of discipline wee shall soone ende the controuersie for the assemblies of Englande But I may not heere omitte to note the dealing of this double faced Ianus In the conference which the Admonition citeth against him through the occasion of his writings agaynst the Church of England it was obiected to him that it seemed hee had condemned our Churches in that they were not guided by Presbiteries Hee denied his writings to import any such thing Hereupon they demaunde whether then hee woulde graunt that there may be a true Church of God without the Presbiterie He answered yea Nowe in his writing agaynst mee hee denieth not that hee answered so but declareth his meaning to bee otherwise than they tooke it So that if they had further vrged his writings agaynst his answere it nowe appeareth that he could cunningly haue turned the table vpside downe as the painter did who beeing hired to paint a tumbling horse made him running which when hee that set him a woorke found fault withall the painter turned the table vpside downe and then the horse which before appeared running seemed plainely to lie tumbling But what dealing was this for a diuine to a question propounded of the constitution of a church necessarie to the acknowledging of it as appeareth by this occasion of the question before rehearsed to make answere concerning an accidentall case of a constituted Church And this answere beeing but as the lining of his wordes the outside seeming altogether correspondent to their purpose So dealeth hee generally in all his writings and actions for this his schismaticall course and namely in most of the points of his subscription as that no childe can better represent the visage of his father that begot him than this man doeth the spirit of him that gaue those doubtfull answeres at Delphos 15 The rest I answere not till you come to his conclusion number 120. Whereunto thus much I say let it be O Lorde as this man hath desired namely be thou iudge whether of our wayes be approoued in thine eyes and whether of vs hath the strength of trueth in his mouth and bee mercifull vnto our iniquities for thy sonne Iesus Christes sake Psalme 8.2 Out of the mouthes of babes and suckelings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemie and auenger FINIS AT LONDON Printed by Iohn VVindet and are to be solde at the Rose in Povvles churchyard 1588. NON SOLO PANE VIVET HOMO Luke 4. Verbum Dei manet in aeternum Rom. 1.17 2. Pet. 3.1 Cantic 2.15 That this schisme may worthily take the name of Browne As appeareth in a writing that came from Brownes hand of this matter See further pag. 135. Pro. 10.11 1. Pet. 4.14.15.16 Rom. 14.23 Matth. 18.15.16.17 verses Ezech. 18.20 This at least is come to passe that howsoeuer it fall out with them 1. Cor. 11.22 Ephe. 1.22.23.1 Cor. 12. Ephe 4.15.16 Col. 2.19 Rom. 12.4.5.6.7.8 The likenesse is in qualitie not in equalitie 1. Cor. 1.1 Out of the places quoted before 1. Cor. 1.12.13 A lier hath need of a good memorie The lawes enforce not a confusion at the Lords supper Pag. 4. A discouerie of Brownes Discipline Rom. 14.2.3 Act. 13.2.3 Act. 14.2.3 1. Tim. 3.2.3.4.5.6.7 Compar with titus 1.5 1. Tim. 3.8.9 compa with Act. 6.5 That Christians may partake in the Sacrament with wicked ones and not be defiled with their sinne The playne sense of the question Matth. 18.15.16.17 The presence of the wicked in it selfe doth not hurt vs. Pag. 4. The presence of the wicked in respect of our knowledge of them hindereth not Pag. 5. Pag. 6. That I do not allowe him for ◠worthy member Pag. 7. The reason why thus I communicate Ephes 4.3 Ver. 15.16 1. Cor. 1.12.13 Heb. 10.25 Iud. 19. That there is no sinne in this maner communicating Pag. 6. Pag. 7 How it cōmeth to passe that I thus communicate How the mininister may deliuer the sacramēt to one that he knoweth to be vnworthie Ansvver to master C. pag 37. In his replie pag. 5. In his replie pag. 4. The sacrament not disanulled for the wickeds sake Gen. 32.28 Iere. 7.22 1 Cor. 1.17 vers 14.16 Verses 21.22.28 Verse 1. Verse 2. That is by the like euill behauiour Verse 18. Verse 19. Pag. 3. of his reply 1. Cor. 1.2 The Corinthian Church more disordred in communicating then the English assemblies Verse 27.29 Iude. 4.7.8.10 Verse 12. Verses 20.21.22.23 3. Iohn 9.10 Pag. 8. Pag. 9. That particular members can proceed no further then admonition Matth. 18.18 Sect. 6.9 In the Preface to the booke of the liues of Christians VVhether a particular man can cast off a whole congregation The Popish Church no Church of God 2 King 17. Ier. 3.3 Pag. 10.15 That the godly may not depart the Communion for the sinne of the Minister 1. Sam. 2.12.15.16.17.18.19.20.21 Matth. 23.2.3 Iohn· 10.4.5 Ansvvere to M. C. pag. 66. Sam. 2.17 Cap. 2.24 2. Sam. 12.14 Isai 52.5 Ezech. 36.20 Rom. 2.24 1. Sam. 1.1.2.3 Prou. 14.1 The true sense of those scriptures vvhich commonly the Brovvnists cite to proue their separation from the communion A dicto secundū quid ad simpl Pag. 12.13 2. Tim 3.1.2.3.4.5 Ver. 10. 1. Cor. 5.9.10.11.12 Title against par prea and hired lectures Answ to M. C. Pag 13. Ver. 9. Br. great place in the Epist to the Cor. discussed Ver. 10. Ver. 12. Act. 13.10.11 1. Pet. 2.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20.21.22.23.24.25 chap. 3.1.2.3 ad 7. Matth. 5.31.32 Mark 10.6.7.8 Ephes 5.22 c. col 3.18 c. Eph. 6. 1.2 c. Tit. 2.4.5 1. cor 7.21 2. Thes 3.14.15 Ethes 5.6.7.11 Ephes 4.1.2.3 c. to the end of the 16. Heb. 10.25 Iud. 19. Also pag. 3. Pag. 13. Orderly communicating is not of the essence of the Sacrament Mat. 26.26.27.28 See the 6. Section Eph. 1.22.23 1. Cor.
12. eph 4.1.2.3 c. to the 17. Col. 2.19 Rom. 12.4.5.6.7.8 Pag. 15. Sect. 8. 19. Pag. 16. 1. Cor. 12.27 Sect. 14. That it may be a true Church of God though diuersly corrupted in doctrine and maners 1. Pet. 2.4.5.6 1. Cor. 15. ca 6.12.13.14.15.16 c. Col. 2.11.16.18 Gal. ca. 2. ca. 3. ca. 4. Act. 10.11 cap. 1. Cor. 11.20 c Philip. 1.15.16 Cap. 2.20.21 3. Iohn 9.10 Discipline as much depraued in the Church where Diotrephes was as in the Churches of England The Church of England hath the essentiall parts of a church of God Pag. 17. In the defence of the Admonition to the followers of Browne sect 7. The Church of England not without the discipline but doth administer the same in a corrupt course See the defence of my Admonition Sect. 13. The comparison of leauen with the wicked in a congregation discussed Matt. 13.33 Chap. 5. â— Browne in â—lat Donatisme Wicked members of a Church vnseperated doe not vnsactifie the whole Mat. 3.20 ca. 15.3.4 Luk. 11.4.6 Mat. 7.29 mar 1 21.22 maâ— 21.15.33 c. to the 45 cap. 22.34 35. cap. 23.2.3 c. Luk. 1.8 Cap. 2 22.37.41 Reue. 2.20 Reue. 2.14.15 Ver. 13.16.19.24 Iude ver 12. 3. Iob. 9.10 Iam. 1.2.3.4 chapters 1. Thes 3.10.11 Ver. 10. Col. 2.16.18 Gal. 3.4.5 1. Cor. 15.12 2. Cor. 12.20 chap. 13.2 2. Cor. 6.14.15.16 Chap. 10.2.7.10.11.12 Chap. 11.3.4.19.20 chap. 11.15 1. Cor 12.13.14 cap. 6.12.13.14.15.16 c. ca. 8. 1. Cor cap. 10.7.14 15.16.17.18.19 20 21. That no man ought to depart from the church of England for the wants or corruptions therein Pag. 18. â— Cor. 5.2 Verse 1. Eccles 7.28.6 petition Rom. 1.23.24 2. Thess 2.11 2. Tim. 3.13 Browne the fountaine of Glouers heresies Browne the father of a twofold schisme Browne dangerously corrupt in matter of iustification A regenerate man hath no part of him vnder condemnation B. holdeth a Christian iustified but by his renouation Rom. 3.22.24 ca. 4.23.24.25 ga 1.4 ca. 3 11.12.13.22.2 cor 5.19.21 eph 1.3.4.5 6. Heb. 1.3 c. B. holdeth that there is some part in a Christian that sinneth not B. gaue Glouer his hold The first corruption wherewith the admonition charged B. proued Answ to M.C. Pag. 38. Pro. 10.12 1. Pet. 4.8 Pag. 39. Read his declar of the ioyning together of certaine persons toward the latter end The second corruption wherewith the admon chargeth B. proued Num. 55. Title against parish prea and hyred lect c. Answ to M.C. Pag. 17. Answere to M. C. pag. 28. See my second answere to the question of coÌ„municating with the vnworthie The third corruption wherewith the Adm. chargeth Br. prooued Answere to M. C. pag. 30. Sect. 21i The fourth corruption wherewith the Adm. chargeth Br. prooued Browne holdeth the keping of discipline the keeping of our couenant with God And B. is not much behind him in other places as shall be shewed The 5 corruption wherewith the Ad chargeth B. proued Harrison calleth it the chiefe corner stone vpon the 122 Psalme Tit. against Parish Priests hired lect c. last leafe b 1. Pet. 2.4.5.7.9 c Ephes 5.23 d Ephes 5.24.26.27 1. Cor. 1.30 Psal 36 7.8 Cant. 2.3 Isai 4.3 4. e Ephes 4.16 Col. 2.19 1. Ioh. 1.3 Rom. 8.32 Apoc. 3.20.21 Psal 36.8.9.10 f 1. Cor. 6.17 g 1. Pet. 2.4.5.7.9 Ephe. 5.1 2. Col. 3.0.10 1. Thes 1.6 Psal 17.15 The Archpapists and counsell of Trent hold so Discipline is not of the essence of a Church Act. 2.41.42.44.45.46.47 Act. 2.38.41 Act. 11.20.21.26 Act. 13·43 48 Cap. 14.1.21.22.23 Tit. 1.5 2. Chro. 3.4.18 2. Chro. 19.8.11 2. Chro. 15.17 2. Chro. 15.8.9 c. 2. Chro. 17.5.6.7.8.9 2. Chr. 19.5.11 Answ to M.C. Pag. 33.34.25.36 In the place last quoted and his 72. section against my admonition Brownes greatest argument to proue disc to be of the essence of a Church Here is Harison also vppon 122. Psal answered for this matter 1. Cor. 5.4 ca. 4.18.19 2. cor 10.4.8 cap. 13.4 Psal 110.2 Mat. 28.18 Pag. 35. This hath bene done once or twise before Yet I must craue the readers patience thus farre The matter of a Church 1. Pet. 2.4 5. Eph. 2.20.21.22 Eph. 1.22.23 cap. 4.15.16 Col. 1.18.22.23 ca. 2.19 Ioh. 15.5 Rom. 11. The fourme of a Church Eph. 5.30.31.32 Gal. 5.2.5 Ioh. 17.21.23 Rom. 8.23.24 1. Cor. 13.8.12.13 Hebr 11.1 1. Cor. 15.53 Iohn 17.23 2. Cor. 5.4 a Rom. 11.20.21 Visible Churches are vnited vnto Christ by faith only Act. 2.41 Act. 8.36.37 Act. 2.44 Act. 8.12.13 See also Act. 3.15.16.20.25.26 cap. 4.4.10.11.12 cap. 10.38.42.43 cap. 11.20.21.23.24.26 ca. 13.39 Galath 3.13 Verse 14. Verse 22. Verse 24. Verse 26. (a) Eph. 3 12.1â— (b) Ro. 3.21.22.24.25 ca. 5.1.2.10.11 Ephes 4.12.13.15 Coloss 1.21.22.23 cap. 2.5.6.7.12.13.14.15 1. Thess 1.2.3.7.8 1. Tim. 1.4 Hebr. 3.6 cap. 4.2.6 cap. 11.1 Rom. 11.20.23 Iohn 1.12 Pag. 35. Rom. 11.20 Habac. 2.4 Pag. 34. Iohn 3.18 Hâ—br 11.6 All infants are not without faith as Browne supposeth (b) Luke 1.15 Iere. 1.5 Habac. 2. Answer to M. C. Pag. 35. (a) Psalm 45. and 68.19 Luke 3.17 Psalme 110. Prou. 15.3 Matth. 28.18 Ioh. 17.2 1. Cor. 15.24.25 Rom. 9.17.18.19.20.21.22.23 Philip. 1.28.29 2 Thess 1.9.7 cap 2.10.11.12 The bounds of Christes power and gouernment not considered of Browne Harrison also beguileth with the same fallation Psal 122. and is heere therefore aunswered (d) Iesa 11.2 Psal 45.8 Ioh. 3.34 cap. 1.16 1. Cor. 1.30 Coloss 2.3 Ephes 4.7 1. Pet. 2.5.9 Reuel 1.6 ca. 5.10 Christ executeth his gouernment in his Church partly by the secret hand of his power partly by the outward hand of his members (a) 2. Cor. 2.15.16 (b) 2. Tim. 3.16.17 (c) 2. Cor. 2.15.16 VVhat must be vnderstood by the word Discipline in all the controuersie betweene the Brownists and vs. Browne greatly abuseth his disciples with this sophism So likewise Harrison vpon the 122. Psalm 1. Cor. 5.4 Math. 28.19.20 Luke 24.49 Acts 1.5.8 Math. 18.19.20 Answ to M.C. Pag. 34. 2. Cor. 1.21 2. cor 10.4 Heb. 1.3 cap. 4.12 Esa 11.4 Iohnas 3.5.6 2. Sam. 12.7.13 Act. 24.25 ca. 26. â—8 ca. 2.3.8 Answ to M.C. Pag 36 38. Pag. 35·36 Pag. 37.38.39.40 Other fourmes of Brownes reasoning to proue disc of the essence of a Church Pag. 37. Brownes writings hold not together Num. 48. B. subtil phrase worthie to be obserued Mala 1.13 Matth. 7.6 Act. 13.45.46 Pag 38 Browne maketh good workes the essence of a Christian Pag. 39. Numb 55. Matth. 7.3.5 By the keies B. vnderstandeth nothing but the censures of the Church so do Harâ— soâ—…ereth is their answere Matth. 16.19 Rom. 1.16 1. Cor. 1.18 2. Cor. 2.15.16 Pag. 40. The wordes Saints and faithfull synonymies in Pauls epistles 1. Tim. 1.2 Tit. 1.4 Act. 8.36 37. Philip. 1.1 Pag. 41. 1. Cor. ca. 11. ca. 5 largely set downe in the latter discourse of communicating 1. Iob. 2.29 The Definition of a particular Church Act. 2.38.41 ca. 8.5.6.8.12.13 comp with cap. 9.31 Rom. 1.17 cap. 3.21.22 Philip. 3.9 Math. 13.4 Pag. 42. Exod. 12.25 cap. 13.5 The keeping of the Passeouer a long time neglected by the people of Israel Exod. 12.14 Verse 17. Verse 24. After Tremelius translation Num. 9.1.2.3 Deut. 16.5.6 Circumcision a long time neglected by the people of Israel Iosh 5.7 Ver. 9. Exod. 4.24.25 If a church may be without a Sacrament then much more without this discipline Discipline to a Church as a wal to a Citie or a hedge to a vineyarde Pag. 43.44.45 Ephe. 2.19 Nehem. 2.3.5 Ezra 3. Pol. Arist lib. 1. Zecha 2 4â— Esay 5. The Church of EnglaÌ„d by these writings not iustified in any of her corruptions Here is also Harison answered for that he sayth to this purpose vpon the 122. Psalme Iere. 7.4 Esay 66.6.7 Esay 58.1 Matth. 13.6 Reuel 2.6 Reuel 3.2.3.18 Psal 144.4.5 Prou. 27.6 Luk. 10.33.34 The Church of England should be reprooued but not forsakeÌ„ Gen 38.8.9.10 Pag. 7.8.9.10.11 Rom. 5.20 Gal. 3. 4. cap. Browne dangerously erreth touching the couenant Def. uam 38. Brownes faith In his declararation of the gathering togither of certaine persons etc. By Brownes Faith himselfe is prooued no Christian The 6. corruption wherewith the Admonchargeth Bro. prooued Tit. against par preach hired c. â—itl against par pr. hyred lect c. Browne proued to be a committer of the same things he condemneth and is contrary to him selfe in all those poyntes wherewith the admonition chargeth him Brownes first contradiction prooued Lodgicke and the originall thereof briefly poynted out In his booke of Lâ—ef Diuis Ans to M.C. pag. 44.56.57 in his couf with M.E. and M.P. in his repl to the quest of communio and in his Answ to my Admonition Cap. 2.8 Brownes second contradiction proued Rom. 14.5.23 Titl against disordred preaching at Paules c. England by Brownes writings is Aegipt but by his practise Ierusalem In the same title Decl. of gathering and ioyning together of certaine persons c. Title against disordred preaching at Paules Crosse c. Brownes third contradiction proued Math. 23.4 Luke 11.46 Browne a subscriber and yet a detester of the Church of England Title against parish preachers and hired lect c. Titl against disordred preaching at Paules Crosse c. Title against disordr pr. at Paules Crosse c. Luke 12.14 Luke 22.25 2. Tim. 2.4 Reu. 13.15 Answer to M.C. Page 16.17 1. Cor. 5.2 1. Cor. 6.1 Iohn 10. 2. Cor. 11.20 Called S. Toolies in Southwarke Browne stripped of all excuse In his reply to my answere to the question of communicating * He supposed he had spoken it to our minister Numb 20. Numb 28. Numb 77. Numb 3. Numb 77. Or Olaues How Browne sometimes heareth our Sermons Psal 139.21.22 Numb 105. Title against parish preachers and hired lect c. Titl against disordr preach at Paules crosse c. M. Edmondes Brown the patternâ— of a notorious ill conscience Iude vers 8. Clemens Stro. lib. 7. Barnar ser 66. in Cant. cantic Def. 51.53