Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	apostle_n	believe_v	holy_a	5,671	5	4.8590	4	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16691	The rasing of the foundations of Brovvnisme Wherein, against all the writings of the principall masters of that sect, those chiefe conclusions in the next page, are, (amongst sundry other matters, worthie the readers knowledge) purposely handled, and soundely prooued. Also their contrarie arguments and obiections deliberately examined, and clearly refelled by the word of God.	Bredwell, Stephen.	1588 (1588)	STC 3599; ESTC S106388	120,820	166

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 teÌ„poral 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

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 nuÌ„ber 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 theÌ„ to coÌ„mit fornication to eate meats sacrificed vnto idoles The Church at Pergamus was charged to haue amongst theÌ„ 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 theÌ„ could be said to hold fast the faith nor keep the name of Christ nor serue him purely so as to be exempted froÌ„ the punishmeÌ„t that should light vpoÌ„ 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 coÌ„parisoÌ„ 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 eloqueÌ„ce 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

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 couenaÌ„t 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 Sciliceâ— 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 coÌ„municated therunto so as it now practiseth obedience holy behauior vnto the Lord these coÌ„ditions are no other then such as wee may beholde in euery particular christian For first apprehending Christ by faith he becoÌ„meth one with him Next is begun by coÌ„munication 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 theÌ„ 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

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

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 theÌ„selues 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 meÌ„bers 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

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 meÌ„ber may separate it selfe froÌ„ 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 meÌ„bers of a body be brokeÌ„ 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 coÌ„spire against the whole vtterly disable it to withstand the coÌ„tagion of the parts for take away knitting togither of the meÌ„bers and is not then the body destroied whereas on the coÌ„trary if the sound meÌ„bers 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 maÌ„ 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 meÌ„bers amongst vs must labour to separat theÌ„ 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 meÌ„ber 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 daÌ„ger 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 theÌ„ 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

Parish then doe I answere as before I did which was this in effect That wee may and ought to communicate and not goe away or with-drawe our selues from the Lordes Table though wee see some that wee knowe to bee notorious offenders at the same time partake in the signes with vs. This was prooued by the argument a little aboue rehearsed namely because those wicked can-not hinder the celebrating of the remembrance of Christ nor the communicating of his body and blood to vs that come with faith My reason for that is this If the presence of the wicked should hinder vs that must it doe either simply in it selfe or else in respect of vs that knowe them to be wicked but neither of those waies can wee bee hindered by them and therefore not at all That the presence of the wicked in it selfe hindereth not I shewed in a worde as a thing which needed no great proofe And that it hindereth not in respect of vs that knowe them if wee haue borne our selues wisely and charitably towardes them by processe of admonition which I vnderstoode to bee such as our Sauiour appoynteth I proue first by a perpetuall Cannon out of Ezechiel Secondly from the boundes and limittes of a particular members duetie in this behalfe And heere in deede wee growe to the issue of that whole controuersie I say a particular member ought to admonishe and at length to tell the Church but not to with-drawe him-selfe though the Church shoulde not separate the same vnworthy one You I perceyue holde the contrary namely that a particular member ought to with-drawe and go away from the congregation in such a case Howe this poynt is debated commeth hereafter to bee spoken of Here I will stay a litle to take away what hee bringeth of any shewe against so much of myne as I lately rehearsed 6 Touching my distribution of presence simply and in respect of our knowledge by which I proue the vnworthy cannot hinder the effectuall communicating of the worthy let the godly wise iudge whether I haue altered or shifted away the question or hee rather bearing therein a brand of Gods iudgement vnderstoode not what hee read If you doubt what I meane by the presence of the wicked I vnderstande not their presence as by-standers or lookers on but as receiuers at the same time of the Sacramental signes of the body blood of Christ and this my example of Iudas coulde not but teach you Your leader confesseth that Iudas eate the Passeouer but was not at the newe institution of the communion If it did much concerne the businesse in hande I woulde nothing feare to haue him my aduersarie in it but that part of my diuision as I did not there so I will not here insist vpon because it is of both sides confessed that the presence of the wicked in it self hindereth nothing The other part is that their presence hindereth not in respect of our knowledge of them Your answere is it hindereth in respect of our knowing and communicating with them as though I also had not graunted a kinde of outwarde ioyning and communicating Your replier sayth this is sinne but he bringeth not one argument to proue it In deede if I shoulde so ioyne with an vnworthy one in the Sacrament as approuing him thereby to be a liuely and sound member of the body I shoulde sinne in calling euill good otherwise it can be no sinne vnto mee to mee I say that haue performed those dueties of reforming or remoouing him which Christ commaundeth and so I woulde haue you vnderstand mee in all places Which if you doe as you had no other cause if you had weyed my whole answere together you shall finde a large acquittance for the cauilles at the place of Ezechiel and many other debtes which your replier demaundeth at my handes Nowe for proofe that this communicating is no sinne vnto mee at all I will shewe you first that it is not the sinne of allowing him for a sounde member that is vnsound and secondly that there is no other sinne in it For the first I reason thus If I approue him for a sounde member neither in the sight of GOD nor to his owne conscience neither in the knowledge and iudgement of the Church then can it no waye bee sayde I approue him But I doe it not by any those wayes and there-fore not at all That I doe it not in the sight of God it is manifest for he beholdeth the heart therfore knoweth that I do not so allow him Again that I do it not neither to his own conscience or in the knowledge and iudgement of the Church my former proceeding by the commaunded course of admonition hath abundantly cleered it If you inferre that in this sort also I may goe to Masse if I will you are wyde For the question is of the behauiour of a member in that body wherof it is a member and not in a strange body whereof it is no member And so it followeth not that because I holde my selfe bound to keepe the vnitie of that liuing body whereof I am a member euen with some inconuenience of sicknesse and vnsound partes that therefore I may as well ioyne my selfe to a strange body and so become a member of Satan Yet this is your great leaders Sophistrie If you yet insist vrging me with the outward action communicating I answere I doe that not as a thing of mine owne head or which I might at my choyse refraine but as a duetie necessarily enioyned me of God by his prouidence through my being and placing there and iustly required of mee by the Church or spirituall body through that same inforcing lawe of the coherence and being together of the partes and members which is the expresse ordinance of God as amongest other places the fourth of the Epistle to the Ephesians from the first verse to the ende of the sixteene and Philippians 2.4 Hebrewes 10.25 Iud. 19. doe notoriously proue it So that vnlesse I holde the congregation whereof I am nowe disanulled and become no Church of Christ for the not separating an vnworthy member which is Anabaptisticall heresie I cannot voluntarily either absent my selfe from their assemblies to holy exercises or yet depart away being come together without breach of the bonde of peace sundring the cement of loue empairing the growth of the body of Christ and incurring the guilt of schisme and diuision And thus much for the former of my two poyntes namely that my communicating in such sort as is saide is not the sinne of calling euill good or an vn-sounde member sounde Nowe that I sinne not at all in it I proue it as in my former answere because I haue perfourmed the duties of a priuate man or particular member and beyond which I am commanded nothing of the Lord nothing I say in this course of duetie for I exclude not hereby our prayers

mourning or whatsoeuer tendeth to his recouerie but I exclude both our priuate excommunicating of him as you doe in this replie as also our owne sundering and separating from the congregation for his cause which is the thing in question betweene vs. Whereas I say that by our proceeding by such course as I presuppose euery wise Christian to haue walked in towards the offending brethren this at the least shall come to passe by it that it bee sufficiently knowne wee hate their sinne an vpright heart must needes vnderstand by that clause at least an implying of some better benefite and fruite of our labours as in refourming or remoouing him which being most wished of vs if we enioy not yet the other neuer fayling vs when we cannot attaine to the chiefest must likewise content vs. Was there then any reason or came it from the leading of a good spirite to referre that to the partes of duetie as graunting thereby some further dueties left vndone which in open euidence pointeth at more excellent effects or fruites of our labours intended by vs. Truely I doubt whether any learned Papist woulde so foolishly haue cauilled for his credite sake The like shamlesse cauilling is also in the beginning of his 7. page 8 But he saith If the Church bee established and refuse to debarre him whome they confesse to bee so wicked and vnrefourmed all are made wicked by our complaining Nowe if hee had said If the Church be established and doe not debarre him c I had then good cause giuen to haue made here his answere as also if in stead of these words all are made wicked by our complaining he had said that Church or spirituall bodie is now thereby dissolued separated from their knitting vnto Christ For if he meane not so he can neuer conclude against me that particular meÌ„bers may depart their assemblies and if he do meane so you shall heare what I say to it hereafter 9 In saying the action of communicating is spiritual I exclude not al kind of outward ioyning but shew the essentiall ioyning to be spiritual by faith wherein the wicked cannot come neare vs. As for the outward ioyning such as it is I haue proued it before both dutiful voide of the infection of their sin yet still he vrgeth that I warrant him to be a companion or brother in Christ by communicating with him I denie that as before If you aske howe then I should bee brought to communicate with him in any sort I answer the Church requireth my presence as a member I by the bond of coherence participate with the whole in the holy action By so doing it falleth out in consequence that I participate in the signes with that vnworthie one because hee is vnseparated Nowe if you marke I doe not partake with him at all by my verie act of communicating but onely in as much as I communicate with the Church which being simply and absolutely a duetie as before proued cannot bee controlled neither ought to bee pretermitted for that which hath no true appearance of euill in it I meane in the eyes of those that haue learned to iudge righteous iudgment And that it hath not so much as iust appearance of euill in it vnto such is shewed alreadie by the reasons giuen to prooue that there is no sinne in this manner of communicating 10 But he cryeth that in this wise I admitte a diuision in the Communion I heare his crie wishing it had more sense and lesse opportunitie An inwarde diuision he denieth not but there may be Nowe what haue I sayde whereby he shoulde finde that outward diuision he speaketh of when as I expresly acknowledge an outwarde ioyning As for the ministers part in deliuering the signes to such a one it doeth not follow because he deliuereth them vnto him that he doth it to warrant his damnation or of set purpose to further his destruction For neyther the deliuering nor the things deliuered but onely his vnworthie receiuing is cause of his owne damnation Neither is that knowledge if it be granted that the minister hath of his vnworthinesse a warrant to withholde the signes if most voyces haue helde him in for that can he not doe of himselfe onely therefore it remaineth that hee thus farre also suffer him in the Sacrament and waite for the time when the Lord shall either more fullie reueale him or graciously deliuer the Church from the contagion of him In the meane time hee teacheth him the signe not as hee is woorthie or vnwoorthie but as hee is yet vndiuided from them Hee that thinketh these thinges can neuer fall out euen where discipline is best established hee hath little experience and lesse iudgement 11 Whether I haue grieuouly abused the place to the Corinthes in that sort that I haue alleaged it let the iudgement be with the godly reader as also whether your leader hath committed that wherwith he chargeth me vpon the same chapter When he saith that Paul proueth it to be no Sacrament at all to the Corinthes and not as I suppose it to bee a Sacrament to some and not to other some The same spirite sayth likewise in another place Paule condemneth euen the Supper and saith this is not to eate the Lordes Supper His drift is to denie against mee that any can haue hope to partake and communicate comfortably and profitably with those amongst whom any knowne wicked ones are admitted in this action therefore also he saith before in his reply that if there be any open breach of the couenant by any one knowne to the rest the sacrament is of no force Againe hee hath these words The communion is not a diuision that is halfe good to the one part and halfe bad to the other part but eyther wholly good or wholly bad Let not the reader beleeue that I say or suppose it to be a Sacrament to some and not to other some I acknowledge both sorts to receiue the sacrament that is the consecrated Elements one to their comfort but the other to their condemnation And to leaue other pointes that might here be examined and to keepe to the question the strength of the two last quoted propositions standeth vpon that place to the Corinthes taken in such sense as hee deliuereth it Let vs therefore come to examine that whether it be gold or stubble He saith Paul proueth it to be no sacrament at al to the Corinthians by these two weightie arguments First that the forme and institution of the Supper was violated by them all 2 That so was the end and vse And first to answere his literall abuse of Paules wordes in the 20 verse which is this VVhen yee come together in one this is not to eate the Lordes Supper Mee thinke a learned diuine shoulde not be ignorant that this is a kinde of excessiue negation very vsuall in the scriptures and is therefore here like as in all other such

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 iudgemeÌ„ts 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 vpoÌ„ that Paule saith There were dissentions among them euen at their coÌ„ming 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 theÌ„ by which they should be so far froÌ„ being damnified that contrariwise they should become more manifest famous by theÌ„ 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 repreheÌ„sioÌ„s that follow 3. If they were all alike in this offence then were they all a disordered wicked coÌ„pany 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 notwithstaÌ„ding he laboureth thus with all his strength to draw hold you Now if the CorinthiaÌ„ church was fallen wholy to be a grosse disordered coÌ„pany and your leader holdeth plainly that open grosse wickednes breaketh the couenant it followeth that they had also broken the couenaÌ„t so by flat coÌ„sequence could not be a Church of God wheÌ„ Paul thus wrote vnto theÌ„ which me think should be clearer then any candell to make you see your leaders impudeÌ„cy 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 theÌ„ to or else a Church of far greater disorder in coÌ„ming 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 meÌ„

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 coÌ„pareth our coÌ„municating 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 theÌ„ 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 vpoÌ„ him as with Ieremies coÌ„mission 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 iudgemeÌ„ts 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 wheÌ„ 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 coÌ„mandeth 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 wheÌ„ he shall proue particular members of a Church to haue receiued such a commandement froÌ„ 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

the man to talke very idely Also if he do not as impertineÌ„tly 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 grouÌ„d since those were not Churches plaÌ„ted in the new couenaÌ„t therfore none at al for ChristiaÌ„s to be meÌ„bers 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 froÌ„ the SacrameÌ„t it followeth in good proportion to be coÌ„cluded froÌ„ that which hath bin hitherto disputed of the meÌ„bers 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 whoÌ„ 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 theÌ„ 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 froÌ„ 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 afflictioÌ„ 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

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 prehemineÌ„ce 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 froÌ„ 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 coÌ„science 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 substaÌ„ce so How much we labor according to our places to recouer that libertie the word giueth to euery coÌ„gregation 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

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 coÌ„panie 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 coÌ„uerted 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 coÌ„gregation and yet you say more if you hold that by warrant of this scripture you must depart froÌ„ 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 remeÌ„ber 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

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. Â¶ 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

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 gouernmeÌ„t not the office but the action or administration of gouernment Again the word power may be vsed in a double sence one wheÌ„ it is vnderstood for might strength or efficacious force which is that the greeke word ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ 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 wheÌ„ 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 ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ but ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ And therefore signifieth not the force might of Christ whereby he executeth all things in his gouernment but his authoritie or office of gouernement And in this sense we admit and receiue it here as of the same sort with those wordes wherewith it is coupled The entrance thus paued I answere to his syllogisme denying both proposition and

by faith and nothing else The first three thousand soules that Peter gayned at one Sermon are sayd to haue receyued the word and therevpon to haue beene added vnto the Church by Baptisme The whych receyuing of the word wherevpon they were baptised cannot be otherwyse vnderstood for the Lords wayes are one then the same whych Phillip demaunded as the thyng by whych alone the Eunuche could obteyne the seale of a Christian namely fayth and so is it also expounded within two verses in the same former places of the second of the Actes when the story sayth of the same assembly these wordes And they that beleeued were in one place and had all things common But nothyng can more explayne and confirme that example then another lyke vnto it of the gathering of a Church by Phillip in a Citie of Samaria where the Text expressely sayth That assoone as they beleeued Phillip which preached the things that concerned the Kingdome of God and the name of Iesus Christ they were Baptized both men and women Then Symon himselfe beleeued also and was baptized c. The same lykewise is the flat doctrine of the Apostles euery where Let the louers of truth behold and beare witnesse Christ sayth the Apostle hath redeemed vs from the cursse of the Lawe when he was made a cursse for vs for it is written Curssed is euery one that hangeth on tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus that we might receiue the promise of the spirit through faith But the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be giuen to them that beleeue VVherefore the lawe was our schoolemaister to bring vs to Christ that we might be made righteous by faith for yee are all the sonnes of God by faith in Iesus Christ The same Apostle sayth VVe haue boldnesse entrance and confidence by faith in Christ And expressely That Christ dwelleth in vs by faith Now iudge whether the sunne can giue thee clearer light to reade then the playne tearmes of the Apostle doo teach thee to acknowledge our vniting vnto Christ by faith If any man desire to see more varietie of places let him looke these quotations where he shall see by the abundant testimonie of the spirit that we are all reconciled vnto God by faith accepted for our faith vnited vnto a bodie and engrafted into Christ the liuing stock by faith Thus then if matter and fourme be the essentiall causes whereof any thing consisteth and whereby the being of any thing is acknowledged I hope we haue heere with Ma. C. found out and proued the essentiall causes of a Church so as no man needeth to be perplexed in discerning the beeing thereof if he haue atteyned such a minde as can rest in the wisedome of God Heere we meete with that foolishe and vayne exception of Browne agaynst Ma. C. namely That Christ is the life and essence of the Church and not faith which is as though faith had not direct relation to Christ and Christ to faith in this consideration of a Church wherein neyther can fayth bee considered without Christ nor yet Christ as theyr head without faith And if Ma. C. hauing set downe that Christ is the foundation of the Church and that the assemblies are laid vpon him by faith should haue added in such expresse words that faith is the life of the Church were faith to be taken heere without respect of the foundation named before Or were it a harder speech then that which S. Paule vttereth when he sayth VVe stand by faith What difference is there betweene VVe liue by faith and we stand by faith But Habacuck the Prophet missed not the very words The iust shall liue by faith But yet cannot Browne abyde this that by faith only the Church is vnited vnto Christ Wherefore because Ma. C. sayth that nothing besides faith in the Sonne of God is necessary to the very being of a Church he replyeth saying That then belike children which yet through want of discretion cannot haue faith shall be without the essence and life of the Church O deepe Diuinitie worthy a Cambridge degree if I should requite him with his owne tearmes Christ hath these words He that beleeueth not is condemned And the writer to the Hebrewes VVithout faith it is impossible to please God What cause had Browne more to obiect this of childrens faith against Ma. C. his discourse of the beeing of a Church then against these generall axiomes of Scripture touching the being of a Christian or in state of saluation for it lyeth as indifferently against the one as the other And if he had whereby to be reconciled with those Scriptures so as his obiection should not lye agaynst them a little equitie would haue lead hym to haue applyed the same to Ma. C. his conclusion likewise If his knowledge be no better then he sayth he must learne that infants of parents that be within the couenant are not to be accounted without all fayth as his writing supposeth for if they be elect then haue they the spirit and so faith in power habilitie and inclination though not in outward profession and action Lyke as also at the same time they can not be denied to haue reason for as much as they haue a reasonable soule although it be but potentially and not in acte or outward gesture If they be not elect and so haue not the annoynting of the spirit nor therefore any faith in the sight of God yet receiue they so much from the faith of their parents as to be by it accepted of the visible Church for a holie seede and partakers of the promises because they iudging but as men haue no cause at all to doubt thereof This man vrgeth out of Habacuck that The iust shall liue by his owne faith but there was no cause for it is not sayd that infants shall be saued or liue in the sight of God by their parents faith but onely that by it they are of men to be reputed within the couenant and of the visible Church Yet he standeth to it that Not by the faith of the parents but by the promise made to the righteous and their seede the children are reckoned in the Church O trifeler how are the parents within couenant and partakers of the promises but by faith And how doo the promised blessings descend vnto the children but in regard that their parents beleeued Wherefore this foundation will stand vnmoued against all Papists and Apostates that particular visible Churches are vnited vnto their head Christ by faith and by faith do they stand And certainely it is strange how this should be doubted of by any that esteeme themselues iustified by faith sith one member hath not a seuerall lawe of life by it selfe but looke by what lawe and tenure one by himselfe enioyeth

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 incoÌ„siderate 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 christiaÌ„ 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

and is rightly to be called so I speake not of what course we take in making orchards or vineyards but of what course may be taken in this busines in regard of the substance of the things And so if a man not fearing or not foreseeing such outwarde violences as a fence might keepe out doe replenish as is aforesaide his ground adioining to his house or otherwhere for the vses of orchard garden or vineyarde shall they not in deed be such things and so truely called of him And if afterward finding or conceiuing a discommoditie of the want wil he not say I must sense in my orchard-garden or vineyard If Browne scorne to be taught these things of the learned or of common sense yet at least let him lay his hand on his mouth and hearken to the prophet by whom the Lord said Ierusalem shalbe inhabited without a wall He spake so after the maner of men amongst whoÌ„ that might come passe for the deepe peace and great securitie they should haue Now to become of a citie no citie is no mending but declining case but the Lord speaketh thereby of their bettering and happier state and therefore the want of a wall taketh not away the being of a citie And I pray you in a citie besieged the walles in many breeches through the batterie being entred tell me what it is that the souldiors afterwards are said to sacke must you not say they sacke the citie Also Esay doth manifestly declare that the Lord planted his vineyard yer euer he hedged it or did other cost vnto it And when he magnifieth his mercy thus towardes his church in saying that by this means he had left nothing vndone which he could do to his vineyard he therby declareth that he had done more to it than many that haue vineyards vse to do And therfore more than was necessarie to the very being of it Again by the same reason that they denie it to be a vineyard because it hath no hedge they might denie it to bee a vineyarde because it hath no watchtower winepresse and such other Moreouer when the Lord tooke away the hedge as there he threatneth he would I would knowe what the enemies of the Church did tread vnderneath their feete did they not treade the the Lords vineyard But it may bee thought a shame to stand so long in the proofe of this which Browne is not ashamed with tedious strife of words to denie When as these things by the grace of God are thus established the contrarie mistes dispelled which the aduersarie had cast in to darken the trueth and discipline founde not to be of the essence of a Church which is the verie knife whereby al the sinewes of the Brownists contentious arme against the Church of Englande from which they draw their disciples are cut asuÌ„der yet in the knitting vp of this point there be two things which in as fewe wordes as I can I woulde admonish the reader of First that although M. Cartwright in his Epistle to M. H. and I in these my defences doe thus farre speake to the iustifying of the Church of Englande wherein we haue receyued that spirituall life and comfort which doe worthily drawe out of vs these duties yet haue wee through the grace of God nothing lesse in our minds than to iustifie anie corruption that may bee espied in it So vnworthie a burtheÌ„ is it therfore that Browne laieth vpoÌ„ vs out of the Prophet charging vs when we auouch the Church of England notwithstanding the defects and corruptions that it hath to be yet a Church of GOD from which no faithfull man is to separate as though we pleaded for and boulstred vp iniquitie and corruption by the glorious titles of The Temple of God The Temple of God The cases are too vnlike for a man that is well in his wittes to compare together The Iewes so pleaded the prerogatiue of the Temple to confute the Prophetes threatning of iudgements for their sinnes and transgressions as though it could not be true that by any means God should forsake them to whom hee had made such plenteous promises that so long as they kept the external worship which God had appointed they thought themselues not so far chargeable with their wicked maners Directly contrary both in iudgement and affection are wee vnto them by the grace of God in all this busines We esteeme the state of our Church in some respects grieuous and lamentable ynough full of prouocations of the heauie displeasure and indignation of the Lorde which as wee acknowledge to bee most iust if they had bene powred downe vpon vs now long ago so wee are out of doubt they wil come if we find not grace to turn and seeke the Lorde more dutifully while the day of his long suffering yet endureth And for this cause we earnestly beseech those rhat are the Lordes remembrancers not to keepe silence neither to giue him rest as also the Prophets whome the Lorde hath sent to lift vp their voyces as a trumpet to tell the people their sinnes and Israel their transgressions Onely withall wee admonish that whatsoeuer the Lorde hath ioyned together no man doe separate Which being a vniuersall precept of the eternall GOD bindeth as well euerie particular member to keepe the vnitie of the Church which the Lorde hath gathered by the preaching of Christ crucified as it doth the Church it selfe to the ioint vse of all holie dueties and meanes of her encrease In both of which wee humblie craue an equall regard and consideration Otherwise as the ministerie of him that crieth to the Churches to repent and bee mindfull of those things from whence they are fallen to strengthen the rest that are readie to die that their workes may be full before the Lord. And to buy golde of Christ to enrich them and white garmentes to couer their nakednesse As I say his ministerie breaketh not the heade but is like that wine and oyle of the Samaritane powred into their woundes for a gratious recouerie of health so on the contrarie he that seeing the mournefull estate of anie Church tending to desolation and ruine shall fall a gathering by himselfe or anie way shrinke from bestowing all his strength to the vpholding and rebuilding thereof he playeth that enuious Onans part that abhorred the building of his brothers house respecting more the spread of his own name than making conscience of Gods holy ordinance And as his sinne is so much greater than Onans by how much the ouerthrow of many Churches alreadie gathered is greater than the refusall to reuiue the name of one house or familie by so much the greater iudgement also is to bee feared from the Lorde Yet was Onans sinne reuenged by GOD with death The other thing that I would haue the reader perfect in is this that this Troublechurch Browne not receyuing the loue of the trueth touching the being of a

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