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
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
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
to resort keepe vnto But the first is false saith the same Apostle in the place last quoted therefore the latter standeth firme cannot be denied of any that with the least indifferency cōpareth our cōmunicating with theirs For if you wil obiect they had the right order of discipline so haue not we that maketh them the greatlier in fault aboue vs as hauing more meanes in their hands yet came shorter of a holy profession in outward behauior then we and so sealeth vp my conclusion more surely to conuince you But I returne againe to my former purpose I hope I haue made it manifest that neither the forme of the institution was violated by the Corinthians nor yet the abuses committed were done by them all And now I suppose it will not be hard to prooue that the most vnworthie among them did also eate the outward sacrament First if those had not eaten the sacrament at all they could not haue beene charged with eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord vnwoorthelie without discerning his bodie and so to their condemnation But they are charged so therefore we must needes graunt they did eate it The assumption is prooued in the 30. verse saying For this cause many among you are weake and sick and many sleepe Wherein the Apostle by these effectes leadeth them to acknowledge the cause namely their sinne such and so as he had propounded it in the 27. 29. verses Whereby behold and if you will suffer the point of truth to pearce into your heart cast out that furious spirit that saith The Communion can not be good to one partie and bad to another and acknowledge by this case of the Corinthians that manifest indignities may be committed by some and apparant vnworthie ones may communicate with others when they cannot be remoued and neither disanull the sacrament nor yet infect or make guilty all the Communicants with their sinne Neither doth this place alone affoord this instruction for you but euen that place of Iude also where inueying against such filthy professors as whose grosse sinnes could not be altogether secrete in any Church wheresoeuer they liued yet doth he graunt it might come to passe that they should impudently thrust themselues into the Church feastes of charitie wherein also the Lords Supper then vsed to be celebrated though so also they should be but as spots and staines therein In the which place neither doth the Apostle once insinuate that the action should thereby be disanulled vnto them nor all to be made wicked by their meanes in communicating yea contrarywise implyeth to the comfort of the godly that they might by prayer through the holie Ghost in the circumspect obseruing one another keepe both themselues and others from the contagion of all such Now I woulde wishe you W. F. and all of your learning to fixe your eyes heere a little in the meditating of these two places and amongst other things bethinke you what was the cause that neither Paule in consideration of that great disorder in the Church at Corinth nor yet Iude in respect of those wicked ones which he calleth spots in the Church feastes no nor Iohn that I may touch you vtterly to the quick in testifying that Church to be ambitiously vsurped vpon ouerweyed and therefore corrupted in the discipline do yet in the least syllable directly or indirectly account those assemblies thoroughly leauened or the couenant broken or yet perswade any of them to withdrawe from the rest and to gather a part And after you haue diligently sought and considered it may be you shall finde no cause but this namely that the Apostles were as farre from your leaders minde and iudgement in this matter as Heauen and Hell are distant and deuided asunder Now against his odious repetitions and senselesse collections I oppose the plainenes and simplicitie of mine answeres but where I call our dealings by admonition and labouring for the Church censures a kind of protesting against the sinne of the vnworthy he mistaketh me as though I meant an open excepting against thē at the Lords table 12 I say there is no further power giuen to a particular member in proceeding against the vnworthy than by processe of admonition Your replier vrgeth me with diuers Scriptures which he supposeth warrant me some further proceeding The first is Giue not that which is holy vnto dogs Inasmuch as this may be brought to Church assemblies it belongeth to the practise of the whole ioyntly not to a particular member seuerally and alone like as other precepts also of Church gouernement The second is Let him be vnto thee as an heathen and publican that is to say when the Church hath for his sinne separated him for so his binding by the Church is set down in the next verse with the efficacy therof to bridle the obstinate and stiff-necked The third is If an Angell from heauen or Paule preach otherwise hold him accursed I hold him for a cursed instrument of Sathan and not a blessed seruant of God whosoeuer bringeth vs another doctrine then the Lord hath left vs in his word but what is this to the purpose in hand His fourth and fifth places Be not thou partaker of other mens sinne and follow not a multitude to do euill I haue answered before where I haue shewed how far and in what sort we may partake with the vnworthy in the Sacrament and haue proued it to be without guilt of their sin The like I answere to his other two places out of Timothy He quoteth Ierem. 1.17.18 If he meant that euery priuate man should take vpō him as with Ieremies cōmission either for the parts of his duty towards the Church or the manner of carying himselfe in his place he seduceth you dangerously for so euery priuate man may publikely denounce the iudgemēts of God against Princes Ministers people contend with them all if they faile in their duty yea if they but iudge them to faile in their duty for I trow he wil not ascribe to them such sure reuelations as had the Prophet and so what should an Eldership do in the Church yea or any other gouernors whē as if they proceed not according to my expectation in any thing I so any priuate man may disanull their doings If otherwise he cite the place but for the generall doctrine that may therehence be deriued vnto all namely whatsoeuer the Lord cōmandeth any of vs to do be it a matter that seeme neuer so dangerous fearefull to vs that we obserue to do it to the vttermost without fearing the faces of any if I say he quote the place for this let him know that whē he shall proue particular members of a Church to haue receiued such a commandement frō the Lord as is heere in question then this place of the Prophet Iere. shal make for his cause in the meane time I cannot but iudge
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
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
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
or else in respect of vs that so iudge and esteeme of them Now that the very presence it selfe of the wicked hindreth not it is clere by the storie of the institution of the Supper by our Lord Iesus himself who would not haue suffred that wicked Iudas to haue bene present at the celebrating of the feast if the very presence of a wicked man could haue depriued the rest of the benefit of the action Besides this point should cause vs continually to doubt in the action because there may be some hypocrite vnworthy receiuer alway amongst vs and yet his sinnes so secretly caried as the Church cannot detect him But I suppose you will say that the presence of the wicked hindreth the coÌ„munion of the faithful in respect of those faithfull that see such amongst them as are vnworthy communicants I answere First if the making voyd the benefit of the Sacrament depend vpon the knowledge that the faithfull haue of the vnworthynes of some that are present then you grant me thus much that as many of the faithful as are not priuy to such presence so many do soundly enioy the benefit of the Sacrament Nowe then let vs see howe it commeth that the rest should be depriued That the presence of the vn worthy in respect of the knowledge and priuity of some of the faithful there present cannot any way hinder the action to them I proue it thus and putting the case by your selfe I say particularly you your self if otherwise in Christ you come worthy cannot be damnified by another in that a ion For this sentence is perpetual and vniuersall The righteousnesse of the righteous shall bee vppon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall bee vpon himselfe You wil aske mee but if I see one there that I esteeme vnworthy howe can I outwardly ioyne with him and not be partaker with his sinne I answere first our esteeming of any vnworthy coÌ„meth either by heare-say or our own certain knowledge That which cometh by heare-say is to bee beleeued no further than the credit and competencie of the witnesses doe reach If they haue bene truely reported or our selues haue knowne any thing by them then no doubt if we haue walked wisely and faithfully wee haue also proceeded by admonitions so farre with them as that it is sufficiently knowne we hate their sinne Which course if you shal obserue is there any more required at the hands of you a particular member and if you haue thus walked towards them in the vprightnes of our conscience doing the dueties of a particular member to your fellow members how can the presence of any vnworthy one which you see there hinder the benefit of the communion vnto you For the righteousnesse of the righteous shall bee â—ppon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall bee vppon himselfe If you obiect that we haue not an Eldershippe and that therefore you cannot proceed by admonition in such sort as is appoynted by the word I answere that hindereth not but that you may so farre sufficiently make knowne your hatred to sinne in whomsoeuer as may testifie against and giue euident checke to the prophane presumptioÌ„ of any vnworthy ones in your knowledge Neither are you herein to feare ioyning with such which you doe not because they presume to the Lords table at the same time that you come For the action is spiritual and the ioyning spiritual by one faith in Christ Iesus Which faith as you haue in common onely with the faithfull so are you incorporated vnto Iesus Christ onely with the faithfull The rest may be said to be at the Communion but yet are none of the CoÌ„munion according as S. Paule saith They eat and drinke their owne damnation But you wil say as touching the outward sensible ioining I am not to bee excused Yes your former protesting against their sinne doth clere the matter to the full peace of your coÌ„science inasmuch as there is froÌ„ the Lord no further power granted to any particular meÌ„ber But it semeth by your quotations you wil deny this to be true And because the places meÌ„tion separating shuÌ„ning the coÌ„panie of inordinat brethren you wil gather froÌ„ thence to separate your self froÌ„ the CoÌ„munion if you espie any vnworthy ones there Indeed if you proue that euery particular meÌ„ber of a coÌ„gregatioÌ„ hath this power then haue they far more thaÌ„ I haue spoken of but this wilbe found a chiefe thing wherin you haue ouershot your self By the scriptures that you quote you say it maybe proued That we are forbidden to eate with such or to haue felowship with theÌ„ vnles it be in worldly affairs Now if your exceptioÌ„ of worldly affaires be wel gathered then this is it you would say That those places of scripture do proue that we are directly forbidden to eate or outwardly ioine with theÌ„ at the Lords table I haue considred the places and am sory to see you so mis-taught I would you had drawn one argumeÌ„t out of your 6. places that I might quickly haue seene your building I am Perswaded if you had heard the places but read vnto you without the peruers wresting of others you wold haue vnderstood them more truly than now ye haue applied theÌ„ I returne them therefore againe to your better coÌ„sideratioÌ„ protesting vnto you in the feare of the Lord that if you examine them in the humilitie of your heart with a simple desire of the truth you will see and testifie that without great wroÌ„g doing to the word of grace you cannot conclude froÌ„ those places that either we are forbidden the outward ioining at the Lordes table or else haue libertie giueÌ„ vs in worldly affaires as you terme it to vse familiar conuersation with inordinat brethren For it is most certain euident that in all those places read them who will the precept and admonition of the Apostle is concerning priuate conuersation and behauiour towards inordinat professors there being not a syllable set downe touching our dealings in publike Churches meetings exercises But here although your euidence haue thus failed it wilbe required perhaps at my hands that I set down some profes to the coÌ„trary to the ouerthrow of this your opinioÌ„ to make my last argument the stroÌ„ger which was that a particular member hath no further to deal in this case than by proces of admonitioÌ„ 1. RemeÌ„ber that the church is the body of christ who is the head ther of This body also consisteth of many meÌ„bers hauing distinct offices placing which body as also euery meÌ„ber therof receiue from the head life increase but so as that they be not sundred distract but set together by ioints seames with loue Now if the church be thus reckoned the body in respect of the head whervnto it groweth the particular meÌ„bers be meÌ„bers of the same body in respect that they grow coÌ„tinue in it serue vnto the vse
to the whole as members do in a naturall body consider what foloweth how absurd it is that you say That a particular mēber may separate it selfe frō the whole in consideration of some vnworthy and vnclene parts Is it meete that because some yea let it be that the most of the mēbers of a body be brokē lamed or diseased the rest that are sound shuld forsake the vnitie of the body were it not to destroy the whole in stead of strengthning the whole against the infection of those parts were not that to cōspire against the whole vtterly disable it to withstand the cōtagion of the parts for take away knitting togither of the mēbers and is not then the body destroied whereas on the cōtrary if the sound mēbers continue in a bodily vnitie though some parts be long time sicke there is possibilitie of their recouery yea though they should not yet may the body liue though with some inconuenience of their maime or blemish But if you say they being corrupt not separate may else infect mee and herein seeme to ground your selfe vpon that place to the Corinthians Know you not that a little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpes I answer the Apostle doth there vrge them to the excommunicating of the incestuous person but stirreth no mā to depart from the Church no not in case of so secure a negligence as the Corinthians had committed It is one thing that we being humbled and afflicted at the dangerous examples of euil mēbers amongst vs must labour to separat thē for the better helth of the whole bodie and this in deed is the purpose of S. Paul to teach the Corinthians in that place but it is farre another thing to say as you meane That all the sounde members must separate themselues if the vnsounde remaine vnseparated and of this the Apostle there giueth no inkeling which certainely had bene necessarie if the daunger to euery particular mēber should be altogether such as you pretend For whereas you vnderstand the comparison of the leauen to be such as that the remaining of vnsounde members in the Church should be accounted of as great force to infect the whole Church as the leauen in leauening a whole lumpe you are greatly deceyued For those two things in that case are compared in likenesse of nature not in there equalitie of effecting Like as you should say the conuersation of two or three righteous men conuerteth a whole companie euen as a little salt sauoureth a whole pot full of liquor we know it were a trueth that you should speake but if I should therof gather that you make those two causes of equall force in respect of their matter to worke their effect should I not doe you great wrong No doubt I should For the liquor neuer faileth to be seasoned of the salt but it is commonly tried that the greatest number of a companie remaineth wicked still notwithstanding the righteous Such also if you marke it is the similitude of the leauen for the effect of it followeth necessarilie in the masse of meale but it is not of such necessitie that in a whole congregation all become vnsanctified for some Let the Church at Corinth be an example hereof If the whole congregation had bin infected and so vnsanctified through the remaining of that wicked man amongest them woulde the Apostle thinke you haue still intituled them The Church of God and sanctified ones in Christ Iesu there had bene no reason in it What then will some say to what ende did the Apostle put them in minde of the effect of leauen when he chalenged them for their negligence euen to the ende that they being put in minde of the resemblance that is betwene the nature of leauen the wicked in that both are disposed to infect that which is neere them might haue more care to vse all the meanes that God hath put into their hands to auoide the daunger For as the remaining with the godly tendeth to the reforming of the wicked so the remaining with the wicked tendeth to the deforming of the godly yet doeth neither of both fall out alway necessarily especially vpon a whole companie or congregation Therefore seeing a Church is as the bodie of Christ and the same bodie consisteth also of many members euerie of which is so to exercise the office of his place as that all may concurre to the conseruation and encreasing of the whole vnto a perfect body it followeth necessarily that no true member ought to separate it selfe for any cause so long as there is life in the bodie and abiding with the head For I trust you wil not say that the remaining of a knowne wicked one doth ipso facto extingish life in the bodie and separate the same from the heade Christ Neither may you thinke to auoide me by obiecting that you separate not your self from the bodie by going from one congregation to another in that euerie faithfull congregation in respect that Christ is the head thereof hath this same resemblance of a bodie For if that be a good reason then Paule saide not well to the Corinthians that to addict themselues so seuerally to diuerse teachers of the same Gospell tendeth to the parting of Christ We knowe well they all helde Christ the foundation vnder which teacher soeuer they professed it yet in that some chose Paule with neglect of the other Apostles some Apollo others Cephas and others held Christ without esteeming the meanes of teachers they were iustly charged to be in dāger of schisme whilest they so continued Howe then can they be excused that forsaking the congregation whereunto through the prouidence of God by their dwelling they are gathered and ioyned doe consort themselues with some others as the affection of their speciall liking leadeth thē Howe can they I say bee excused for beeing guiltie of parting Christ To conclude therefore for this time since it is as I hope plainly prooued First That the presence or remayning of the vnworthie in a Congregation cannot keepe backe the benefite of Christ from the faithfull of the same Secondly That particular members haue from the Lord no further power authoritie in case of offences than by admonition and that their chiefe regarde must be by vnitie to prouide for the continuance of the whole congregation which in this case is considered as the bodie of Christ. Thirdly That the practising and proceeding of particular members beyond the limittes of admonition as namely for some offences to depart from one Congregation where the reason of their dwelling requireth them to be and ioyne themselues to another breedeth schisme and diuision of Christ It followeth of the first point that you may ioyne with vs and of the two latter that you ought not to depart from vs of this Congregation vnlesse you will shewe your selfe to bee a rebellious member to the bodie and bee found guiltie of diuiding Christ Of which things now I
are made mockeries and matters of persecution I iudge it superstition to make them vnchangeable As the names of things are not too stiffely to bee stoode vppon so I doubt whether the mockeries and persecution you meane bee cause inough to alter these Howbeit whatsoeuer may bee graunted in such respects for the names and some other outward circumstaunces as thinges not essential yet touching the order of ordeyning by choise for as much as that is the wisedome of the worde and necessary to the auoyding of confusion such respects can haue no force at all against it In that hee calleth this sticking to the ordeyning of Elders superstition I would but haue giuen it to his rashnes saue that hee addeth that it is to make in force the Popish Sacrament of orders Which bewrayeth him for a wicked betrayer of Gods trueth in that hee yeeldeth the hard vrging of the holy ordinaunce of God to giue maintenance or force to the lewde and braine-sicke imaginations of man I surcease to prosecute the absurdities of these assertions more curiously as annoyed with the stench that floweth from such Gangraenes onely if hee shall bee your leader in this poynt also as in others then both you and your fellow disciples must now at length leaue to moue any more quarrels about the calling of our ministers For you heare that no solēne nor set order in their calling is necessary yea he telleth you in plaine words That the obedience of the worthy vnto them is a calling by man and the agreement of the wisest is a choosing I cal you to witnes of this his francke gift lest hereafter hee woulde reuoke it 4 My answere to your question hee sayth is darke doubtfull shifting vntrue and cauelling The three last let him take to him-selfe my conscience is cleere in whatsoeuer seemeth darke or doubtfull I am ready yea desirous to giue as good addresse as the reasonable reader shall require Your question was in this sort propounded Whether Christians may ioyne and partake as one body in the Sacrament with wicked ones Whereby I conceiued your iudgement to bee this that if there bee any at the Sacrament that you knowe to bee vnworthy you ought not then to communicate but goe away as fearing least you coulde not communicat but bee partaker of their sinnes To this I answered as deliberatly and playnely as I coulde and so as may easily appeare I allowe no other ioyning with such then as their presence and eating at the same table may bee called a ioyning Which I prooue wee may and ought to susteine not securely and carelessely as hee taketh mee but with this condition vnderstoode if wee can-not remoue them which I supposed my whole drift and reasons following must needes haue made you perfect in So my first reason is not as hee hath shaped it but thus if the presence of the wicked cannot hinder the celebrating of the remembrance of Christ nor the effectuall cōmunicating of his body and blood to the faithful ones thē may we hauing faith effectually comunicate notwithstanding their presence But the first is true therfore the latter followeth Herehence he gathereth many absurdities and grosse errors with bringing in Traitors infidels Turkes Popes to the cōmuniō But he misrekoned in three points which caused him to erre in the sūme First in that hee vnderstandeth mee to speake of a carelesse communicating which he could not haue done if the Lord had not smitten him with blindnes sith I afterwards plainely declare what dueties hath bene done of vs before communicating The second what I answere to your question concerning dueties of vs that is to say particular members to do in this case hee receiueth as though I spake of the body of the congregation how it should be caried ordered in the Sacraments The third he putteth an impossible case as though Infidels Turkes Popes remayning such should come to our communion In all which you may see him full of that same vaine Philosophie and Sophisticall cauilling which you feared to find in your answere Such is the stuffe of his third page mingled with the most odious comparisons and spitefull collections that his heart could deuise 5 But here if he say I haue then pared the question made it more particular then it was propounded I answere it was most expedient for your better instruction to vnderstande and so to vse your question as it might best fitte and be applyed to the particular members of a congregation and so of our Parish whereof by your dwelling you should be a member Besides to haue vnderstood it of a whole congregation I had no reason because I could not suspect you doubted my iudgement in that to witte whether a Church ought to debarre the knowne wicked from the communion especially howsoeuer you might doubt hee that replied had no reason at all to doubt it seeing what high account I made of the ordinaunce of God in that behalfe Againe consider the busines is with you you I say who dwelling in our Parish do most vnkindly as we take it separate your self from vs. On the other side you suppose you haue cause so to do till you can be resolued of some thinges whereat your conscience sticketh You choose to declare your greeuances by writing In your writing you complayne of lacke of order amongst vs to discerne of the communicants and there-hence you require to bee answered Whither it bee lawful for Christians to ioyne in the Sacraments with vnreformed ones Whereby who seeth not that you propound the case for your selfe as though if there can be a course shewed whereby a carefull Christian may settle his conscience to communicate although some wicked ones be present and partake in the signes with vs that then you would be content to ioyne with vs or else not Thus taking the question whether best for your instruction or no I nowe referre it to the iudgement of all men I answered vnto it I hope cleerely I am sure sincerely Whereunto if this your leader would haue replied with like affection to do you good he must haue done it taking the question in the same sense Else if hee had nothing to say to the question so taken what needed this prodigall expence of time when as hee might in a worde haue onely admonished that I mistooke the question and so an ende Nowe to stoppe vp these starting holes knowe you that if in the question you meane by the worde Christians the whole body of a Church or cōgregation I answere that they ought to discerne of the vnworthy and separate them to the vttermost of their power and that by howe much the more they are negligent in this duetie by so much the greater is their sinne So that herein I suppose you and I differ not in iudgement On the other side if the worde Christians be taken as I vnderstoode it for particular members of a congregation as you one and I another in this congregation or
places to bee restrained within due regards of circumstances and conferences of other scriptures as within the naturall intended listes and necessarie described compasse of the holy Ghost that vttered them For example the Lord saide vnto Iacob Thy name shal not from henceforth be called Iacob but Israel Againe speaking by his Prophet he sayth For I spake not to your fathers nor commanded them when I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices And Paule sayeth likewise in another place Christ sent me not to baptise but to preach the Gospel Let these three suffice for the rest Now we knowe that Iacob was called Iacob afterwarde but not onely by that name The Israelites were commaunded burnt offerings and sacrifices but so as chiefly to beholde in them the Messias to come Also we knowe Paule did baptize therefore when hee sayeth I was not sent to baptize hee giueth vs to vnderstande that the chiefe dutie and charge of his Apostleship was to preach the Gospel in comparison whereof the baptising hee vsed was not to be spoken off Nowe seeing the holy Ghost thus in other places vseth the like generall negation which must bee so limitted as I speake of maruaile not though in this place also he denie that to be done by the Corinthians which was not done as it should be by many or perhaps by the most of them Now for the arguments which he forceth vpon the Apostle I say he is too bold to snatch that which the Apostle neuer meant to giue him and that in two points For neither doth the Apostle affirme that the essentiall fourme of the institution was violated nor yet that the foule abuses committed were done by them all The first I prooue thus When Paule had said VVhen you come together in one this is not to eate the Lords Supper immediatly he sheweth them the reason why For saith he Euerie one in eating taketh first his owne Supper and so one is hungrie but another druncken Heere is nothing controlled touching the substantiall fourme of the institution which consisteth in the consecration and distribution of the bread and wine but onely the disorder that was among them in disposing of themselues and vsing it against which he opposeth the repetition of the institution as he had deliuered the same vnto them before and that being done in the 23.24.25 verses he therehence deducteth that thing in the 26. verse which he would afterwards and doth apply to their reproofe euen to the verie ende of the cause Now neither is that same thing any whit of the fourme of the institution but onely touching the vse and end wherevnto they should haue prepared and applied themselues in that action Like as the most cleere stroke of that sentence plainely and onely soundeth in these words For as often as you shall eate this bread and drinke this cup you shall declare the Lords death vntill he come The things in them disagreeable to this and therefore to be blamed he declareth to be that there was of the riche of them which respected chiefely to feast and feede their bellies in that comming together and made no difference by their behauiour betweene the holie Supper of our Lord and ciuill banquettings Now seeing the Apostle thus particularizeth these offences of the Corinthian communicants and withall specifieth nothing to be reprooued in the Ministers touching the fourme of the institution who is he that dares beleeue this presumptuous spirit who careth not what he faceth vpon the word of God to mainteine whatsoeuer his corrupt braine hath once conceiued The second point which I sayd he snatcheth is that he auoucheth these abuses among the Corinthian Communicants to haue beene committed by them all Which thus I refell To retaine all the Apostle his traditions euen as he had deliuered them to the Corinthians and yet all those same Corinth to transgresse them in no lesse matter then in celebrating the Lords Supper are two things directly contrary But the Apostle testifieth for them in the first therefore he chargeth them not with the latter That he testifieth the first appeareth where he beginneth with this exhortation Be yee followers of me euen as I am of Christ and immediatly subioyneth I praise you brethren that you remember all my things and retaine the traditions as I deliuered them vnto you Wherby it is manifest that the Apostle addressing himselfe to those points whereof he was informed touching the vnseemely behauiour that was among them at Praier and at the Lords Supper first confirmeth the minds and approueth the iudgemēts of such brethren as had soundly vpheld the truth in those things and afterwards deliuereth that which the guilty should find themselues reproued in 2. That some withstood that prophane disorder polluted not themselues with the rest in their behauiour at the Lords Supper it is necessarily inferred vpō that Paule saith There were dissentions among them euen at their cōming together at the Lords Supper This is the first thing in that matter whereof he sheweth his dislike but withall confirmeth such as held the truth affirming that greater matters then those yea euen heresies should grow among thē by which they should be so far frō being damnified that contrariwise they should become more manifest famous by thē And as the Apostle in this verse voydeth these of the feare of that conclusion he had set down before to wit that they came together not with profit but with hurt pointing the same now directly to be applied to that part which gaue the occasion of dissention So likewise doth he therby as manifestly declare that he includeth not all the Corinth in the reprehēsiōs that follow 3. If they were all alike in this offence then were they all a disordered wicked cōpany and so in all mens eyes ten times worse in euery point of celebrating the Lords Supper then the assemblies of England are from which notwithstāding he laboureth thus with all his strength to draw hold you Now if the Corinthiā church was fallen wholy to be a grosse disordered cōpany and your leader holdeth plainly that open grosse wickednes breaketh the couenant it followeth that they had also broken the couenāt so by flat cōsequence could not be a Church of God whē Paul thus wrote vnto thē which me think should be clearer then any candell to make you see your leaders impudēcy who blusheth not by this meanes to giue the Apostle the lye to his teeth Hence as by the way this may be deducted which I aduise you well to consider Either the Corinth Church was now no Church of God nor brotherhood for faithfull men to resort and keepe thē to or else a Church of far greater disorder in cōming together to the Lords Table then ours of England particularly of this congregation is ought yet to be holden a Church of God brotherhod for faithful mē
the man to talke very idely Also if he do not as impertinētly cite the 11. of the Reuel v. 4.5 it is because I lacked his treatise that might make that scripture plaine easy vnto me which was promised now some 4. or 5. yeres ago in a certaine booke the title wherof is thus stoutly subscribed By me Robert Browne 13 An Apostle saith he is but one member and yet might any one Apostle or messenger of Christ forsake or cast off whole Cities or Churches that refused or withstood their message therefore I trow it must be concluded that particular members or priuate men may cast off whole Churches or spirituall bodies if their execution of discipline fayle in any part Alas alas that euer you should beare your selfe vpon such a rotten prop. Consider now againe the comparison and you will euidently see the error Apostles that is to say publike persons of an extraordinarie embassage and so of giftes and that were not by any reason of theyr calling to settle in any one congregation are compared with priuate men or particular members of no extraordinarie sending nor giftes and such as by all reason of their calling are all theyr lyfe long necessarie remoue of dwelling considered to abyde members of one congregation these persons I say of so contrarie condition which I set abroade chiefely to preuent some thyngs heereafter are compared in one action that is in forsaking But as there is no resemblance betwixt the subiects or things to be forsaken so there is no reasonable proportion betweene the causes of theyr forsaking The Apostles forsooke Churches or assemblyes that were without Christ we must forsake Churches and congregations of Christ The Apostles forsooke them for refusing the couenant offered and wee must forsake them for vnperfect obseruing of the fruites of the couenant receyned Behold the fraude and flee from it So hys instances of the Synagogs of the Iewes in Antioch Ephesus are powred out like water vpon the groūd since those were not Churches plāted in the new couenāt therfore none at al for Christiās to be mēbers of And heerabouts he trauerseth much ground as if he would meete me but neuer walketh that way which it was likely I would come 14 His demaund concerning the Popish Church whether we be schismatiques for departing from that is friuolous for that is fallen from the foundation and hath no knitting with Christ hauing denyed the faith Also the decree of God touching his forsaking of her is now for a good time gone out against her as cleerely as in times past against the Israelites and the one is no more within the couenant and protection of the Lord than the other Touching that he saith that To denie Christes discipline and gouernment is to denie Christ he saith truth But concerning the question in hand he beggeth thereby that he shall neuer get For vnlesse he will say and so can proue that what congregation soeuer faileth or is restrained so as it doth not execute all ecclesiasticall censures or cleereth not the sacraments from all offences to the communicants the same denieth Christ and falleth from the foundation except I say he can proue this he hath nothing against vs towards the denying of Christ nor yet to proue that particular members may separate themselues from such a Church which he maketh you beleeue to be a matter most euident Yet I must answere him VVhether if the Church will ioyne in the Sacrament with an vnlawfull Minister a VVolfe a hireling a theefe those amongst them that knowe and can proue him such a one may withdraw themselues That the sinne corruption of the Minister is no cause for the godly to withdraw frō the Sacramēt it followeth in good proportion to be cōcluded frō that which hath bin hitherto disputed of the mēbers of a Church in generall And heere moreouer for direct confirmation the examples of Ely and his Sonnes may suffice vs with whom it was lawful for the people to sacrifice and receiue spirituall blessings by their hande though their liues were most offensiue and namely the sonnes notoriously wicked So I say of the Scribes and Pharisees whome it was lawfull to heare Nowe if hee meane by theeues such as leade not in by the doore Christ hee doeth iniurie and dealeth captiously for they that gather not vnto Christ but haue strange voyces which the sheepe acknowledge not those are rather the great antichristian deuourers which bring another foundation besides Christ Iesus and are not to be inrolled with such as teach the doctrine of faith truly But heere yet I muste insist a little because I knowe that Browne in a certaine place excepteth two thinges agaynst this example of Elie his sonnes One That the better sort of the people did withdrawe themselues from the Sacrifices because of their sinne and the other is That Elie ministred and not his sonnes when Elkanah and his wiues came to offer I answere Whereas the text doeth testifie saying Therefore the sinne of the young men was verie great before the Lorde for men abhorred the offeringes of the Lorde It giueth not the least shewe of arguing that there was nowe no offering of the Lord for the faithfull sort to come vnto for the flat contrarie is auouched nor yet that anie as in duetie did abstaine from the Sacrifices for then also by the whole course of Brownes doctrine Elkanah Hannah and Samuel in not abstaining did partake with the sinnes of the Priestes and were become wicked with them yea and so consequently their sacrifices should haue bene accursed vnto them so farre should they haue bene from bringing such a blessing as they did but when it is sayde The people abhorred the offering of the Lorde because of the sinne of the young men what is it but to aggrauate the sinne of the Priestes and shewe the extent of their iniquitie to reache euen to the making of the people thus to sinne This is confirmed by Elie his woordes when rebuking his sonnes hee sayeth thus according to Tremelius translation Doe not so my sonnes for this is no good report which I heare that you turne away the people of the Lord. And this is that sinne which the woorde often opbraydeth vnto loose professours that they make the name of God euill spoken of for their sakes Nowe that he saieth touching Elies offering the sacrifices and not his sonnes is miserablie destitute of all probabilitie For first the text sayeth Elkanah and his wife went vp out of his citie euerie yeere to worshippe and to sacrifice vnto the Lorde of hostes in Shiloh where were the two sonnes of Elie Hophni and Phinehas Priestes of the Lorde If these bee mentioned for Priestes of the Lorde in Shiloh who shoulde doubt that they offered the sacrifices of the people that thither repared for that end and so of Elkanah amongst the rest And that olde Eli
will bee loath to loose his place aboue many others hecause hee hath stood so much heretofore vpon deniall of this which I affirme thereof yet hath hee nowe to thinke that neither the auncientie of his error nor the inconuenience hee dreameth of can yeelde him strength inough to keepe it The inconuenience shall bee met withall afterward Here I will shewe the reasons of my iudgement out of the place I wrote vnto you sayth Paul in an Epistle that you shoulde not company together with fornicators This verse you see is of shedding or sorting out our company Then followeth and not altogether with the fornicators of this worlde or with the couetous or with extortioners or with idolaters for then you must goe out of the world But nowe I haue written vnto you that you company not together If any that is called a brother be a fornicator or couetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one eate not In these verses wee are directed both what persons to shunne and also in what conuersation or company In appoynting the persons hee excepteth for those that were not as yet come to religion and setteth downe this rule to hold in all those that are counted brethren in the Church Of his exception hee rendreth two reasons first because the number of those that professed not Christ was then so great as they could not auoyde them and liue in the worlde Secondly because Christians are not charged with their censuring but they are reserued to Gods iudgement Why brethren are subiect to those priuate censures as I may speake he giueth this reason because we ought to looke into and iudge one of another The conuersation is set out by one kinde named for all to witte eating of meate which is alwayes a very notable marke and fruite of familiaritie I know your leader would haue you vnderstand this of eating bread at the Lordes table onely but the 10. verse deliuereth the whole text from this iniury For if the Apostle would haue had them taken his meaning in this place to be directly of their meeting companying at the Lordes Table as you take it what needed hee to haue excepted those that were out of the Church and no brethren with whō the Church neither had nor might haue company at the Lordes Table Yea how absurdly had he reasoned in saying thus for then you must go out of the world as though he should say if you altogether debar the wicked that are without the Church from your company at the Lordes table then may you as well get out of the worlde for you cannot liue in it When your leader is so grossely ouershot in such playne points it lieth you vppon carefully to consider whether the hand of God be vpon him in as heauy a iudgment as fell vpon Elymas the sorcerer for peruerting the straight wayes of the Lorde By this that is sayd I trust it is cleere ynough that the doctrine which he calleth so seditious is not mine but the Lords and therefore if it haue any such dangerous consequences as your replier reckoneth you see that his accusation must reach higher then mee But alas how doth it grieue me in your behalfe yours I meane with the rest of your company I would if it pleased God that you knewe or could discerne rightly with what sorowe I am sundry times affected for you when I consider which I doe often what numbers as I heare of you whereof many haue otherwise good partes in them are so intollerably abused and ouer caryed by that wretched man For euen in this doth it follow thinke you that if wee tye our selues to this rule of sorting our company in priuate conuersation that then the knot of marriage should bee loosed the bondes of obedience broken and outward acquaintances quite shaken of c. Is there no meane betwixt these two extremities but that we must be either vnnatural or carelesse Surely if we should take this course in all the Scriptures wee should make a strange religion by and by I meane if we receiue some generall sayings of the Scripture without their peculiar exceptions and declarations in other places As for example Thou shalt doe no manner worke on the seuenth day and thou shalt not kill what should the seruice and ceremonies doe in the Church or the Magistrate in the common wealth if these bee not limitted and declared by other special places and exceptions And if you grant me this that places are to be compared with places and generals declared vnderstood by specials why thē shal you see this knot sone vntied or rather that ther was no knot nor difficultie as your leader hath mislead you For that those places of dissorting our selues frō the wicked make nothing against obedience to Magistrates wee haue Matt. 22.21 Rom. 13.1.2 with diuers others to declare them Againe that they debarre no dueties in marriage 1. Cor. 7.3.4.5.12.13 with many other places that you knowe doe warrant vs. The like also may bee sayde of children to parents and in the rest So that then conferring these places together we see flatly that as on the one side we are bound generally to shun priuate conuersation with vngodly ones so on the other side we must necessarily obserue withall whatsoeuer speciall dueties are to bee required at our handes by any one And thus at length it will fall out being as from both sides resolued that touching Magistrates parentes maried folkes and masters the general prohibitions of not eating nor keeping company must bee vnderstood of shunning the malice of sinne and seducing yea that our doings must be with a kind of mourning and afflictiō for their sakes but not forbidding necessary dueties which other bonds of commandements doe straitly bind vs to Touching other acquaintances and dealing with brethren those prohibitions reach not beyond their inward familiaritie delightful accompanying which is euer stained with fowle tolerations and neglect of Christian reprehensions And therefore haue we for these cases other golden rules also to guide vs by When as Saint Paul sayth If any man obey not this our saying in this letter note him haue no companie with him that hee may bee ashamed yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother Wee must so auoyde his company as hee may not finde want of loue and brotherly kindnes in vs but onely a chiefe loue of vertue that thereby he may take shame at his sinne To the same purpose sayth hee in another place Let no man deceiue you with vaine woordes for such thinges commeth the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience Bee not therefore companions with them Likewise a litle after And haue no felowship with the vnfruitefull woorkes of darkenes but euen reproue them rather This conferring and resoluing of places together if your leader had grace to vse hauing also vngorged himselfe of
betraying the good cause yea who ought to go before all others in suffering for this reformation but hee onely that pretendeth to holde the same at a higher price and to seeke for it with a more feruent zeale than all others But we haue experience sufficient of him what great things he hath suffred and how And this we know whatsoeuer he discourseth otherwhere of his fugitiue life that although some others haue bene hanged for his heresies he hath not only bene contented to let them go without his companie but comming also to some triall of his courage before authoritie there was not onely no shew of that Heroical spirit which he woulde haue you see in his writings but contrariwise shifting answeres with subtill reseruations shamefull and disorder like giuing backe from the trueth it selfe and finally a most hypocriticall subscription least hee shoulde haue felt affliction in the least of his fingers Of any of these if you doubt I will bee readie to shewe you prooues 31 In my first answere I shewed you the right vnderstanding of that comparison of the leauen which S. Paule vseth in the 1. to the Cor. 5. cap. that you might see if that place so commonly obiected of your leader to warrant your separating from our assemblies be but rightly vnderstoode it quickeneth our care and diligent indeuours to remoue corruptions but teacheth no man to forsake his Church I gaue you to vnderstande that the comparison is there of qualitie not of quantitie I speake not of like force and like nature without regarde of like woorking I knowe we consider of the natures of things by their effects and therefore I saide also that Paule putteth vs in minde of the effect of leauen The leauen in sowring the meale wherwith it is mingled and the vngodly in corrupting those with whom they keepe companie haue herein both a like nature yea and their effectes when they doe come to passe are both alike For it is true that when the wicked drawe others after them to become also of euill conuersation that before were not so the effect is like to the sowring of the meale which before was not so but now the measure of working of the one and of the other is not the same in both subiects Which that I may helpe you the better to vnderstand consider that the matter subiect to the sowring of the leauen is meale a thing altogether and wholy disposed to receiue the impression thereof without resistance But the matter whereon the wicked doe worke in this comparison is a company consisting of two sorts of men contrarily disposed and tempered the one apt to be infected the other hauing a supernatural power to hold out their contagion So that though the sowring that the one maketh the corrupting that the other worketh be alike yet are they not equal For of the meale all is infected but not all of such a cōpanie and so is it in the comparison that I gaue you By the salt all the liquor is seasoned but so is not alwayes a wicked company by two or three righteous men cōuerted Againe the leauen in one night so wreth the meal wherwith it is mingled you dare not say that the case is the same with a whole cōgregation and yet you say more if you hold that by warrant of this scripture you must depart frō the sacrament where you see vnworthy ones admitted for so you account the whole congregation to be leauened that is vnsanctified in a moment But I must further remēber you that as in diuers places the scripture speaketh of leauen in the ill part so our Sauiour Christ propoundeth a similitude by the same in the good part Which if you applie and vrge as farre foorth as you haue done this you must say that where faith regeneration by the gospel is once begun there do al become faithful renued euen as of 3. pecks of meale all becommeth leuened Which if you doe say all the worlde will crie shame of you If you feare so to abuse this place why feare you not also in the other Moreouer whereas your leader teacheth you to applie these woordes of Saint Paule A little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe as though the Apostle had giuen you to vnderstande thereby that one knowne and so proued a wicked man remayning vnseparated in a Church vnsanctifieth the whole and bringeth a nullity vpon it hee doeth too grossely and shamefully abuse miscary and seduce you For by leauening Paul meant corrupting them with euill manners Like as to the Galathians hee meaneth by the same speech the corrupting of that Church with false doctrine and not the disanulling of either So that if God haue yet left you the vnderstanding to make difference betweene sicke and dead and that which is vnpure and that which is not nowe at all your leader can no longer misleade you in this poynt For if hee dare auouch it that whatsoeuer congregation is corrupt either in manners or doctrine the same is not to bee reputed or ioyned with as a Church of God we can soundly and so may safely proue and denounce him for a Donatist and not worthy to liue in any land of Christian gouernement His vnsatisfied dalyance with my comparing of salt with the righteous argueth the man either so pursued by the hande of God that whilest hee controlleth all men himselfe is vtterly spoyled of vnderstanding or else of so reprobate a mynde that hee wilfully closeth his eyes and stoppeth his eares at those thinges that haue speciall force to affect the senses to the reformation of his iudgement And after that hee hath altogether thus abused you in the scope of my comparison least hee should leaue you any light at all in it hee takes it to his owne stithie and hammers it a newe for so hee presumeth it shalbe fit for the schollers of his learning The Lorde giue you eyes to see and a heart to abhorre his most dangerous and pestilent conclusion for thus hee teacheth you euen the same doctrine which right nowe I called Donatisme that like as sweete water intermingled with poyson is poysoned and turned into the nature of poyson so the notorious wicked openly mingled in one outward Church with the righteous or the righteous with them they become one wicked crewe together euen all of them poysoned and infected together As touching the author of this sentence I haue litle hope as in all the rest to preuaile ought by my answering onely for your sakes my deare brethren that haue not as yet sounded the deepenes of Satan in him I will herein also lende my labour to weigh out this matter by the waightes of the Sanctuary And although my 11. 28. Sections do sufficiently couer him with shame and confusion for this poynt yet shall this bee further also euen as the nayle of Iahel to pearce through the temples of Sisara downe into the earth First this his bold
comparison seemeth to haue craued at his handes at the least some one example out of the Scriptures shewing vs when or where the spirite of God disauoweth any Church for the cause of some notorious wicked ones among them If I therefore in exemplifying against him shall bring a cloud of witnesses all of them testifiyng as with one mouth the flat contrary I hope I shall enclose the trueth of this cause more strongly then that any wylie or vndermining foxes shall bee able to enter in hereafter to violate the same And to beginne with the Churches of which wee haue the life and liuely voyce of our Sauiour Christ to testifie and after that to enquire of the Apostles it may not bee denied me but that in the Church of Ierusalem the Lorde did dwell and that there were offered the Sacrifices and performed the rites of his holy worshippe which he accepted at the handes of his seruantes in the dayes of our Sauiour his comming in the flesh Nowe in the outward body of this Church were corrupt Scribes superstitious Pharises and epicurish Sadduces this last sort denied the resurrection and the two former also corrupted many thinges in the doctrine and sur-charged the Iewish Church with importable burdens of traditions being indeed the ordinary teachers of the people but so yet the pestilent and notorious corrupters of true religion these are in your leaders comparison to be resembled by the poyson on the other side there were though of smaller nūber that in the middest of the same congregations paid their vowes vnto the Lord in the simplicitie of their heart being in the meane time openly mingled in one outward Church with such vnrighteous ones Of this sort we may reckon diuers by name as Symeon Zacharias Marie Anna Elizabeth c. Here therefore we should conclude by your leaders rule that those being the sweete water and not reseruing their worshipping of God religious seruices to separate meetings but performing them in the congregations of notorious wicked teachers very falsely instructed people were now also impoysoned become one wicked crewe together with the rest But I trust you will confesse that the scriptures are contrary so consequently therfore that your leader doth seduce you Again to be as briefe likewise as I may in the rest Our sauiour in his own words deliuered vnto Iohn that the Church at Thyatira had so that wicked Iezabel amongest them as that they were guilty of permitting her to teach seduce the seruantes of God making thē to cōmit fornication to eate meats sacrificed vnto idoles The Church at Pergamus was charged to haue amongst thē those that mainteined the doctrine of Baalam of the Nicolaitans Nowe by your leaders rule these had also so impoysoned the rest that not one amongst thē could be said to hold fast the faith nor keep the name of Christ nor serue him purely so as to be exempted frō the punishmēt that should light vpō the rest in the day that the Lord should visite but the word of the Lord saith directly to the contrary therefore your leader is found a blasphemous seducer in his cōparisō And that wee may touch likewise the Apostles testimonies When Iude acknowledgeth spots in the Church feastes are not those spots the wicked ones which he there inueigheth against If then he had approued your leaders doctrine hee would not haue written them preseruatiue instructions to keepe out their contagion for such mingling had nowe by his rule impoysoned all but it laye vpon his fidelitie to haue told them that whensoeuer it should come to passe that they so mingled they shoulde count themselues no longer Churches of God but infected and wicked companies euen all the sort of them The same doe I say of the Church wherein Diotrephes was But those Apostles writings are farre contrary hereunto Therefore your leaders comparison is abhominable I omit to speake of the Churches which Saint Iames not condemneth but expostulateth with concerning proud dispisers of the poore vnbrideled pratlers lippe Christians enuious men contentious prouokers vncleane liuers c. which were among them As also the Thessalonians who had their inordinate walkers busy bodies and such as laboured not duely in their callings Yea herein their blame being much the greater that they permitted such amongst them hauing bene admonished of that matter once before And nowe I come to the Colossian Galathian and Corinthian Churches these had in the middest of them such as seduced mightily and preuailed dangerously yea some in the fundamental points of religion and articles of our faith The Corinthians touching practise had such as stirred vp strifes emulations anger contentions commotions and tumults such as maried with infidels such as with open speaches depraued Pauls writings the sounder sort being guilty of harkening vnto and tollerating such as thus in their vanity and iniquity wrought his disgrace and in his the truths yea shall I say further not as delighting to blaze the sinnes and corruptions of these Churches but iustly indeuouring to extinguish this Church-firebrand which Satan in the throng of all our heapes of woes hath hurled amongst vs. Besides that I haue deliuered in the 11. Section it is certaine the Corinthian Church was outwardly mixt with such as by carnal eloquēce prophaned the temple of God vsed indifferent thinges with manifest offence to the weake esteemed fornication amongst indifferent thinges and committed no obscure kinde of idolatry in eating at the tables of Idoles meates sacrificed to the deuill Nowe then if these Churches by al this mixing were not become impoisoned and wicked crewes but remayned still of reuerend account among the Churches of God for the righteous sake which were not heerein impeached by the wicked then is your leaders comparison framed to the great fall of truth and himselfe prooued to be a pernitious schismatike by it But the Apostle cleereth the first in many places of those his Epistles so as I hope no man will aske me particular proofes thereof therefore the latter must necessarily be graunted of all sides And then by the way let me obserue thys one thing If a few holding the true worship of God in synceritie mixed with many bearing an outward profession with them but otherwise of verie offensiue life yea some notoriously wicked and not separated from amongst them haue beene notwithstanding rightly accounted Churches of God for faithfull men comfortably to ioyne vnto and no man exhorted to withdraw from their assemblyes then is there vtterly no cause for you and the rest to disclaime the Churches of England as you do and to separate your selues from vs for those impurities that are amongst vs therefore the fyrst being true by most of the examples aforesayd it remayneth by the latter that you labour to the Lord for mercy and so returne Lastly in my first answere touching the similitude of leauen I
inferred this absurditie vpon your leaders interpretation thereof namely that so the Corinthians were vnsanctified and become no Church of God because they had not remoued the incestuous person Your leader salueth that sore with fyue excuses in the behalfe of the Corinthians but indeede all will not make a plaster of a haire breadth to couer so mortall a wound First he sayth The wickedman remayned not among them which is apparantly false else why did Paule appoynt hys remoue And touching the space of time it will be found reasonable long if you consider how long it must be ere Paule being at Philippi in Macedonia could heare out of Corinth in Achaia the vndoubted truth of theyr disorder His second excuse is They communicated not with him in the Sacraments being knowne But it is certayne they dyd else why dyd Paule rebuke them for miscarying themselues in the matter And that they knewe of him there is no reason to doubt first because if the matter had beene vnknowne and vnconuinced to them they had beene still free from blame and as I sayd before Paule had no reason to checke their security 2. I would aske him how Paule came to the knowledge of it by reuelation no for he sayth It is heard for truth or for certaine Well had he it by reports they must come from Corinth and then must you eyther say they were some pike-thanke spyes that without cause so accused the Church which is great reproch to the Apostle in that he should without cause and yet so peremptorily accuse them of neglect of duty or else confesse that they were of the faithfullest brethren who being not able by themselues to preuayle with the Church sought by this meanes of telling Paule to do it and then you see the case as cleere as may be 3. Your leader sayth He was not conuinced belike he had vowed the number of fiue and so this must fill vp tale His 4. excuse is That they wanted not Christes power and discipline to seuer him being in bondage to popish discipline I perceiue he is almost drawne dry for what is this to the purpose The Corinthians still communicated with him in the Word and Sacraments in consideration whereof by your leaders iudgement it had beene lawfull for as many as made conscience of the matter to haue forsaken the assemblyes and then it followeth that eyther you may forsake a true Church of God which hold you haue alreadie renounced or else that the Church at Corinth was now disanulled become a leauened lumpe and so fallen from Christ which is blasphemie too abhominable so that whether you looke forward or backward heere that foxe I meane that Heretick is taken Fifthly he sayth They refused not to seuer him but onely neglected it Yes it must be sayd except when we speake fauourably that they in effect refused to seuer him else could there haue beene no iust complaynt made agaynst them to the Apostle They refused perhaps not in playne words but in lending the deafe eare to the complaynings and securely neglecting the meanes of theyr healthie state Howsoeuer it was in such sort it seemes to be as that they that infourmed it to Paule had no hope else to get remedie But if one should graunt it onely a negligence in the meane tyme the forwardest and soundest brethren must eyther still communicate with him whome they would remoue or else forsake the assemblyes and so I haue you agayne at the same poynt you were at before Thus you see what extremities error bringeth you into when it is traced out to the end If you take the comparing of the wicked with leauen to be in quantitie that is that the Apostle should vnderstand the wicked to haue as thorow power and force to make wicked a whole Church being suffered amongst them as hath leauen to make sowre a whole masse of meale in which it lyeth then was the Corinthian Church now leauened throughout and consequently become no Church of God when Paule wrote his first Epistle 32 Of all the other cauils of your leader at my answere to the comparison of leauen because as it seemeth you are little capable of them and they are easily iudged by all that haue some giftes of learning both as concerning my speeche wherein he hunteth for contrarietie and also my Logick which he told you would not fadge I aunswere heere no further but freely giue it vp to the verdict of the godly learned If your leader haue any thing empaired it or gotten therein at my handes by his worthy Reply let hym enioy it for hys gayne onely this I may tell you in secrete if hys teeth would serue hym no better for to eate his meate then his Logicke doth to discusse a question rightly you must feede him with spoone-meate or that which is minced if you meant to keepe him long aliue he may freely bid fye of all Logitians and no reproch to himselfe therein The rest of my answere he sayth is nothing but a tedious repetition of former matters But if you looke vpon it agayne you shall see among other things a playne demonstration of your schismaticall and therefore very dangerous estate Wherein for asmuch as he hath forsaken to defend you let it stirre you vp to the better and earlyer consideration of all his other dealings which if you shall do with humble calling vpon the name of the Lord I trust it will please him in mercie to reach you his hand of conduct to bring you out of that vast wildernesse wherein you haue lost your selues and make you to see those good things that concerne your stable peace euen in this Church though poore diseased and piteously neglected yet such as the Lord vouchsafeth to beget and nourish to himselfe many children by Depart from the foolish man when thou perceauest not in him the lips of knowledge Prouerbs 14 7. ¶ A Defence of the Admonition to the followers of Browne made in reply to a raging Libell of Brovvnes sent abroade in sundrie written copies against the same WHen I came to the knitting vp of my Confutation of Glouer Christian Reader I iudged it a labour much tending to the benefit of many to write some short admonition to his followers whereby his vnsoundnes being vrged againe vnto them by rehearsall and iustly aggreeued by the dangerous consequences their hearts might be pricked if it were possible to seeke and to embrace the way of truth againe In the entrie whereof I considered the originall of their euill estate to be deriued from a former fountaine vnto which also my labour of cleansing must descend if I would obtaine my desired fruites thereof It is not any new thing but of old obserued and witnessed vnto by the written word that the Lord in his righteous iudgement payeth sinne with sinne and euery degree of declining from his truth with some other deeper downefall vnto Apostacie Therefore when I beheld and perceiued all that I could
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
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
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
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
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