the gall of your bitternesse it is returned backe to your selfe and you must drinke it You haue drawne your sword to slay such as be of vpright conuersation and it is entred into your owne bowels You vvould kindle a hellish fire in an heauenly fellowshippe and pester the Paradise of GOD vvith the pest and poyson of Satan You bring in vvorkes of the flesh hatred emulation wrath contention sedition enuie lying rayling heresie for you are the first Father of this calumnie that in our Church are Teachers of false Doctrine to defend as you thinke a Spirituall cause This is intollerable in the Church this is to shame the Church so farre as you may It were but a iust recompence of your presumption to pay you home with your owne money Neither is it alway reproueable said Nazian Radentem vicissim radere I know he commends Hero the Martyr that he came out against the Cynicks of his time Canis aduersus veros canes but where the iniurie concernes my selfe I will not so requiâ—e you You haue iudged my conscience to be corrupt done what you could to defame me I will not doe the like to you I am bound by the Apostles precept recompence to no man euill for euill And againe Be not ouercome of euill but ouercome euill with goodnesse Ver. 21. I remember mine owne lesson in the Alphabet for Sions Schollers it is dangerous to fight against Satan with his owne armour to giue rebuke for rebuke and pay home one calumnie with another for I know there is no difference inter prouocantem et prouocatum nisi quod ille prior in maleficio depraehenditur I esteeme it neither wisedome then manhood Cum virtute vincere liceat vitio superari aut etiam superare quod multo sceleratius est When a man may ouercome by vertue to suffer himselfe be ouercome by vice in another or which is much worse to striue by it to ouercome others But where your reproaches are not priuate nor personall onely but publicke concerning the whole Church I cannot of dutie but speake of them as they are vnder such names and stiles as they deserue for the cause is common and the Ministrie of a publicke Office-bearer in the Church is for the benefit of others where it is good and honest the defaming of it is not without the preiudice of many that should receiue good by it In this you haue degressed so inordinately out of the compasse of Christian dutie that I am forced to come to you with a fire from God to burne vp extinguish and vndoe your vncouth fire and with an holy anger as the hammer of God to beate downe the horne of your pride That same holy Spirit which at one time descended in the likenesse of a Doue at another discended in the similitude of Fire Meekenesse alway is not to be vsed there is a time when it becommeth Moses the meekest man of the earth to be angrie I dare not say I can rule anger as he did but shall doe what I may to restraine it I know then onely is anger good when it is a seruant to reason and a Souldier fighting for the truth Tunc neruus quidam animae est indignatio fortitudinem ad res bene gerendas praebens And here if any shame of this conflict arise vnto you it is not by my deede you haue drawne it vpon your selfe As the dirt which the Sea foames and casts vp in her flowing returnes backe againe without difficultie into her owne bosome in the ebbing so is it beleeue me with you you haue here but foamed out your owne shame your reproaches and calumnies which you haue here heaped vp and dawbed together with vntempered morter so soone as they are touched fall backe vpon your selfe and it is not my rebuke but your owne returning vnto you You haue drawne me from mine accustomed course of studie vnto a field of Contention which I like not It had beene greater pleasure to mee and profit to others I had spent this time vpon some other subiect meeter for edification of the soules of men and doubtlesse or now I had done so if you had not interrupted me but since you haue kindled a fire in the Church and your selfe falne into it and like to draw others with you into it also I will not be so vndutifull as to leaue any thing vndone that I may doe to quench it And if in pulling you out of this fire I handle you more roughly then otherwise I would and my speeches be sharper then you like wel of to heare yet I hope to speake nothing against your selfe but against your sinne not to seeke a fault in you by searching your conscience but to rebuke it where you by word plainly manifest it and in this if not you yet at least the Christian Reader will excusemee your danger is so desperate the danger wherein simple ones are drawne by you yea the perill imminent to the whole Church so euident by this trumpet of Sedition you haue blowne into it like another Bichraean Sheba that I am forced to doe as I haue done Yet by Gods grace two things I shall keepe Patience and Loue the one in my selfe Cauendum enim est ne vindictae cupiditate amittatur ipsa patientia quae pluris est habenda quam omne quod potest inimicus etiam inuito auferre The other toward you I haue and I will loue you whether you will or not neither shall your raging in this Feauer alienate mine affection from you But indeed I looked for better fruits from you and expected you should haue beene answerable to your stile Theagrius The husbandrie of God should abound in fruits of the Spirit which are loue peace gentlenesse goodnesse meekenesse but how farre you haue digressed from these I hope you will see better when you come to your selfe againe Surely if mine enemie had defamed me I could haue borne it or if mine aduersarie had exalted himselfe against mee I would haue hid my selfe from him but it was thou O man euen my familiar and my companion who delighted to consult together and goe to the house of God as companions What can the most professed enemie of the Gospell doe more then you haue done You haue rewarded me euill for good and so haue brought your selfe vnder the danger of that fearefull sentence He that rewardeth euill for good euill shall neuer depart from his house I wish your eyes may be opened to see it and God may giue you grace in time to repent of it But now to come to the matter The spight of your furie runnes first against my name and that with such violence as declares a great force of inordinate affection in you to ouer-runne it if you could For so you begin THE ADMONENT RIght loued brother while I am in expectation of the answere you promised to my Letters I receiued by euenture your Apologie written in
two as vndoubted proofes in your consistorie to improue the honestie of all the rest Since in mine Apologie I remitted you to three renowned Bishops in our neighbour Church Latimer Ridley Cranmer lately euen in our Fathers daies honoured vvith the honour of martyrdome that you who cannot endure to see any honour vpon a Bishops head may lay downe your combe of contempt and thinke more honourably of them This cannot be but an euill affection in you that you haue an eye to see the euill of the one and not an eye to see the goodnesse of the other Nay you will not suffer it to be thought that such grace or godlinesse or conscience can be in a Bâ—shop as to make him a worthie Martyr of Christ but rather which I told you before as the ignorant Gentiles were seduced of olde to esteeme it a iust cause of persecution of a man if he had once been named a Christian so are the simple people abused by you and such as you to disdaine a Preacher were he neuer so honest otherwise if once he be named a Bishop Aâ—d because your horne cannot reach vnto all you thinke to trie your manhood in the killing of oâ—e and when you haue loadned me with your contumelies then you lay on this as one ouer-laid vpon it That I am an abhominable man for if so be not you haue done me wrong to conceiue so abhominably of me as you haue confessed you doe What shall I say Anger is cruell wrath is raging but who can stand before enuie But Mr. Dauid you are not the first Egyptian who hath esteemed an Israelite an abhomination nor the first Pharisie that hath abhorred a Publican Are you the great Chamberlaine of the house of God Are all the vessels of honour in it committed to your custodie Are â—ou keeper of the Booke of life wherein the names of the heâ—es of grace are registred Haue you the balance of the Sanctuarie or is the fan put into your hand to seperate Chaffe and Corne Speake no more presumptuously and let not such arrogancie come out of your mouth leasâ—it proue true vpon you which Augustine hath to Parmenian Quonâ—am patientiam miseri isti perdâ—derunt festinant se ante tempus velut a palea separare leuissimam paleam vento de area ablatam seipsos demonstrarâ—nt Because you haue lost patience and make hast before the time to separate the Chaffe and Corne counting at your pleasure some men abhominable and some men approued you haue declared your selfe to be but chaffe and most light chaffe carryed out of the compasse of charitie by the winde of your owne pride Trie your selfe M â— Dauid and see what spirit doth leade you It hath beene Satans pollicie in all ages to vent out his wares of hatred enuie and strife vnder colour of Religion and to cause weake Christians to breake the band of brother-hood and loue for small causes or rather conceits What pittie was it to see such a Schisme in the Church of Constantinople for the space of thirtie yeeres betweene some that allowed the banishment of Iohn Chrisosâ—ome and others who allowed it not that the one would not communicate with the other And againe to see such a pride in some Catharans of Ierusalems Church as to separate themselues from the fellowship of other Christians as vnworthie of their companie and all through a vaine conceit of their owne puritie and sanctitie beyond others wherein they proceeded so farre that they would not keepe companie with Gregorie Nyssen a worthie Bishop and excellent teacher the Brother of Basill the great who hauing come vpon the expenses of the Emperour Theodose for reformation of some Churches in Arabia and afterwards visiting by this occasion Ierusalem hee found a miserable Schisme in it and because the Schismatickes sought to strengthen their faction by drawing Ambrosia and Basilissa women reputed notable for pietie among the people vnto their opinion he preuented it by his Letter to them disswading them from fostering any diuision in the Church his reasons I wish were pondered by you I bring but one of them Vnum odium sanxit cum Serpente vitae nostrae Legislator at â—athari isti foedus cum Serpente faciunt odium mutuum in seipâ—os conuerâ—unt There is but one hatred which the Law-giuer of our life hath allowed namely that Christians should hate the Serpent but these Catharans make a couenant with the Serpent while they turne their hatred against Christians Perceiue out of this how farre oftentimes good men vnder a shew of godlinesse are carryed out of the compasse of Christian dutie Learne you by other mens example to become wise doubtlesse they were godly learned and professors of the truth yet you see to what extremitie the high conceit of their owne puritie and holinesse did carrie them I wish we had none like them in our bowels but though I would not point at you your owne words bewray that you are sicke of this same disease in that you dare call your brother abominable who worshippeth the Trinitie with you professeth and beleeueth all the Articles of Faith which you professe This in the iudgement of Nyssen will proue you to stand with the Serpent against Christ not with Christ against the Serpent Turne you turne you Mr. Dauid turne the penne and edge of your sword turne the hatreâ— of your abhorring heart against the Diuell not against any that stand for Christ Angues vorando sana fit Ciconia suffer not foster not nourish not such Serpents in your bosome worrie them deuoure destroy them with the Stroke so may you happilie recouer of this euill But now you proceede THE ADMONENT AND if you will needes delight in learning wee may by your learning learne to speake learnedly and shall not despise to take any good lesson from you concerning learned writing eyther of Grammer Rhethoricke or Logicke or any point of Philologie Shortly I lay open my stuffe and permits it to your cenâ—uring and I shall consider and correct at your admonition THE ANSVVERE COnsider I pray you whether it be your shame or no that your deedes should be so far contrarie to your words Here you say yee will not despise to take a good lesson and after this you pray mee to communicate to you any light that I haue but if it be as you say that you would be a Disciple how presume you to condemne your Master before you heare him Let your skill in Grammer Rhethoricke Logicke be as great as you suppose it and then I thinke no man shall match you yet you know these are but hand-maides to Theologie Though Hagar be with childe let her not despise her Dame shee is but a seruant and will neuer get that honour as to bring out an heire of the promise God hath learned me that which all the Grammer and Rhetoricke of East-Lowthan could not haue learned mee hath not learned you nor many others that brag with you
to defend your owne though with the interest of theirs And againe you say That such as shall be liberall to speake against you appearingly you call them carnall contentious Spirits Demi-gods as if God had set his tribunall in their tongue or made them Iudges of mens Consciences Libellers of lies Shemeis Raylers Busie-bodies Night-birds c. THE ANSVVERE DOe you not here speake as one of the children of men set on fire whose teeth are speares and arrowes and their tongue a sharpe sword Are you not heere blowing at the coale to kindle if you can a fire among brethren To strengthen your feeble cause you cry for a partie and goes about not with the godly policie of S. Paul to deuide Pharisies and Sadduces but with the godlesse impietie of the Serpent to sowe the seede of dissention among brethren That euill-one doth it in the night when men are sleeping and you are not afraid to doe it in the day and all men looking vpon you Is it true which you haue said speake you iustly and haue you iudged vprightly Will you throw these words of mine against my brethren are you become so brazen-fac'd haue you shaken off all shame and taken libertie to say what you like yea euen against your owne light for you dare not say plainely to it but appearingly say you I call them so Are not my words plaine said I not in mine Apologie I am sure no well aduised Christian will fight with such armour if I thinke no Christian will doe it farre lesse will any brother of the Ministrie doe it Are they who are contrarie minded in Church-gouernment otherwise stiled by mee then Reuerend Fathers or Brethren God knowes they are so in my heart as I haue termed them in speech Yet you say I haue iniured them in their name My speech was then against a lying Libeller and some other professours whereof some are preposterously zealous others prophanely presumptious to giue out rash iudgement of all men I knew not then that you had beene one of that sort but since my words haue beene to you like the breath of the Hart to draw such a Serpent as you out of your denne and make you know your selfe in your owne colours I cannot but tell you plainely that you are one of them to whom all these Epithets rehearsed by you are competent a few onely excepted Carnally contentious a rayling busie-bodie a Demâ—god vsurping Gods tribunall you haue here declared your self but of others I cleare you that you are not a night-bird a chatterer in secret a biter behinde backes For the height of your pride and stoutnesse of your conceit carries you so farre that you thinke it too little for the greatnesse of your reputation to be a Pestilence walking in darknesse Nay for the honour of your name you must be daemonum meridianum a plague that destroyes at noone and an arrowe that flies by day to slay the innocent This is wickednesse more then enough and yet Vt sit supra modum peccans peccatum you will adde drunkennesse to thirst and not content to slay one you will as I said be a fire-brand in the Church to burne all kindling continuing encreasing fierie contention among brethren It became you rather of Christian dutie if you knew it to bring words of modestie truth and loue like water to quench the fire that is then by words of strife and contention to kindle it where it is not et sic oleum camino addere Thinke you Mr. Dauid to goe betweene vs and our brethren beleeue mee they neede not your patrocinie at our hands nor we yours or any mans at theirs euen the Lord knowes how wee haue tendred their names they are our brethren wee dare goe neerer them then you to liue with them to die with them where discrepance of iudgement is about things externall God knowes it is with our mutuall griefe where consonance is as blessed be the Lord it is in all points of Faith it is with our mutuall ioy And since the beginning of this Controuersie I did euer thinke it a lamentable thing to see such as agree in vnitie of faith disagree in a matter of Discipline and that those who could happily haue concorded on a scaffold to scale the truth of God professed by them both if so the Lord had called them vnto it should thus vnnecessarily discord for a question of externall Church-gouernement in it selfe not absolutely requisite to Saluation But this as I said in mine Apologie is the pittifull condition of humane infirmitie If I cannot mend it I shall at least mourne for it and will daily pray to my God that he would set peace in Ierusalems borders and vnite the hearts of his seruants into one Neither will I despaire of it but will pray the Lord to stirre vp in this Church such a man as Athanasius was and blesse the worke of this Vnion in his hands A powerfull instrument of the Lord was hee to conserue puritie of Doctrine by his singular constancie with peace among Preachers by his godly wisedome for this was he renowned as Columen Ecclesiae in his time Many times was hee banished by deceit and often-times forced to flie to eschew the furie of his enemie but none of all his sufferings purchased him such commendation as this that when hee came home and found a Schisme among the Fathers of the Church for a greater cause then any that is among vs praised be God yet he happily composed it Vtraque enim parte leniter humane accersita verborumque sententia diligenter accurrate perpensa postaquam Concordes reperit nec quantum ad doctrinam quicquam inter se dissidentes ita negotium transegit vt nominum vsum ipsis concedens rebus ipsos constringeret For calling both the parties with meekenesse and loue vnto him and iudiciously pondering either of their opinions he perceiued that concerning Doctrine there was no difference the diuersitie was about words the matter vvhich either of them beleeued one and the same hee did therefore so compose this discord that leauing vnto them free the vse of the words names hee bound them both with necessitie of the matter it selfe I wish againe that such an Athanasius were among vs for I can see nothing but strife about words and persons there being otherwise agreement both in the matter of Doctrine and Discipline The same power of gouernement that now is in our Church was alway in it now vnder the name of a Bishop before vnder a name equiualent to it And when both the names were silent yet the power of them both euer exercised by some When the name was not the matter remained the power I meane in substance But now contention is growne to such heat that an Office tollâ—rably lawfull needfull in it selfe is thought vntollerable vnder such a name and for such persons as are with it or against it A lamentable matter for the which I sigh within