as in me lyeth firmely to be the true Church of Christ and the body of this State And I haue caried my selfe with that sincerity and singlenesse of heart that I may safely protest againe with S. Paul I speake the truth in Christ I lie not Rom. 9.1 c. my conscience bearing me witnesse in the holy Ghost I renounce the hidden things of dishonesty not walking nor writing in craftinesse 2 Cor. 4.2 2.17 1.12 nor handling the word of God or diuine things decitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending my selfe to euery mans conscience in the sight and feare of God I am no Innouator inventer or fauourer of new things in Religion I search for the old and out of all kinde of Authors deduct allegations authorities consequences and reasons against the new I cut off extrauagant needlesse and endlesse questions priuate opinions both of these and former ages and comprehend the necessary points of Religion agreed vpon by the Scriptures Fathers and moderne diuines within their owne true limits I set downe the most substantiall points agreed vpon betwixt the Romans and vs and shew withall their vnnecessary additions and corruptions I search how corruptions came into the Church as they will doe into all societies of Men in continuance of time I shew how they were discouered opposed and reformation wished and sought for in all former ages and by what power policies and cunning they preuailed after Sathan was loosed I finde and shew the out-cries of historians and other learned men Emperours Princes Clergy and people yea of their owne writers against them all before Luthers time And all this while I shew the continuance of all necessary sauing doctrine in many other famous Churches beside the Church of Rome yea and within that Church also a sufficient visible number of many hundred thousands farre and wide spread in Countries and Nations and continewing till Luthers time which refused the gouernment errors and corruptions of the Papacy and taught the same substance of doctrine which Protestants now teach Yea the better part of the Church of Rome it selfe excepting onely the Papacy and the faction that maintained it held with great liberty the same most necessary points of Faith which we doe vntill by the Councell of Trent which was not a free end generall Councell but guided wholly by the Papall faction that liberty was taken away and the errors of the Papacy were imposed generally vpon all vnder paine of Anathema or depriuation of saluation Vpon due search of these and many other things which heere I deliuer vnto thee in the Scriptures Fathers Histories and all kinde of Authors of either Religion I haue by the grace of God attained to that perfect knowledge and assurance of the Verity Antiquity and Sufficiency of the Protestants doctrine to good life in this world and eternall saluation in the world to come that any mortall man can desire to haue and am as willing if God haue so decreed iâ— expedient and the times desire it to suffer for it as the holy Martyrs were for this same Religion in the Primitiue Church not writing any thing in substance which I will not willingly seale with my blood This is it deare Christian Reader which I present vnto thy view in this worke being a Summe or Abridgement of many great volumnes written on both sides vpon these points and thus briefly deliuered for thy greater case in reading and perfecter iudging of Truth and Errour Sincerity and Corruption Antiquity and Nouelty To answer all the Romish bookes lately come abroad in great numbers punctually following their owne method had beene an endlesse labour both to Writers and Readers and therefore for my part I thought better to gather their principall motiues and reasons out of the chiefest of their bookes and separating them into seuerall Chapters to giue them their full answer in their proper places so answering many bookes in one Among the store of all other Allegations I haue most willingly and commonly referred the Reader to the late Writers of our owne Nation and that especially for these Reasons First for the excellency of our Authors surpassing others both in multiplicity of reading profundity of Iudgement and sincerity of affection in deliuering the truth As we finde in our learned Bishops Iewel Abbots Bilson Morton Vsher Downham Hall White Andrew c. And our Doctors Fulke Raynolds Whitakers Field Favour White Prideaux c. And other Diuines Master Foxe Perkins Hooker and many other whose worthy labours I doe heartily commend to the diligent reading of our English men The Romish affected very well know that those English which haue fled from vs and written on their side haue in shew of wit and learning gone beyond not onely all former but all other of this Age So that Bellarmine takes most out of them in the points whereof they haue written as Sanders Allen Stapleton c. And therefore let no man contemne their owne Countreymens wits and learning but acknowledge their worth and make high account of their learned labours Secondly to shew that I bring no new thing of my selfe but what is fully confirmed by our most approued writers and that I also thankfully remember and honour them Per quos profecerim Thirdly to shew the vnity of the Writers of our Church from the beginning of the Reformation to this time contrary to the Romish slanders which charge vs with continuall varying from our selues Fourthly to shew to our English men especially where they may read in our learned English Writers more fully of the points which I deliuer briefly for their better instruction and satisfaction Fiftly because my selfe am aged and not fit by reason of the encreasing weakenesse of my body and memory hereafter if any flourishing busie wits list to oppose to manage this cause without much disparagement to it and to my selfe I thought good to alleadge many worthy Diuines now liuing that they might take vpon them the defence of their owne writings by me alleadged or impose it vpon others more able in body then my selfe Further I confesse that it much troubled me that I could not make my booke shorter without either making it too obscure and vn-intelligible or else cutting off much matter fit to giue the fuller satisfaction For by this length of it I doubt it will become tedious to many to reade it thorow and cary away the matter in their memory But I haue helped this Inconuenience as much as I could 1 by distinguishing the whole matter into Chapters euery Chapter being as it were a seuerall Treatise by it selfe which may be read alone without reference to the rest And 2 by dividing the Chapters if they be long into Sections and sometimes also the Sections into Subsections and Paragraphes marked thus § setting downe the summes of the Chapters and Sectâ—ons in the beginning and before them for the quicker finding or refinding of the matters therein contained and the easier view and
vniuersall both in time and place §. 4. See Aug. in Psal 92. continued throughout all Ages and dispersed in all places in which sense onely the Church is Catholicke and one then it is a point of faâ—th and not of sight For it is visible totally at any one time or place to any mortall eyes Some part thereof being in Europe some in Asia some in Africa for place some part in heauen triumphant some on earth militant some not yet in the world for time We beleeue therefore that there is one Catholicke Church we see but a small part of it that is one vniuersall company of Christians spread ouer the whole earth and continuing from the Apostles times till the day of Iudgement part whereof is now in heauen part on earth and part yet to come called to be professors of Gods worship and partakers of his glory through Iesus Christ his sonne And though this whole company be neuer visible to men at once yet some parts thereof liuing vpon earth are alwayes visible to men by their persons and profession some at one time some at another some in one Countrey some in another as the Church of Jerusalem and of Antioch of Rome Corinth Galatia c. In the Apostles times the seuen Churches of Asia in S. Iohns time the Churches of England France and other Nations in our time §. 5. Secondly if you take the Church for the company of Christians liuing in any one particular Age and thereunto apply the propheticall promises you must admit a threefold distinction one of the parts of the Church another of the promises appliable to the seuerall parts and a third of the times wherein they are to be fulfilled For a D. VVhite Reply to Fisher pag. 52. most of the promises though in generall termes made to the Church in common to shew what the whole is in respect of Gods outward vocation or what the office and duty of the whole Church is yet doe appertaine formally and indeed onely to the better part of the common subiect As your owne Doctors teach b Cornel. de â—apide com Esa cap. 2. v. 4 Cum Deus aliquid Synagoga vel Ecclesiae permittit quamvis amplâ— vniuersal bus vâ—rbis â—â— tamen de bonis proba tantum qui saeâ—â—s amicitiam cum deo promittente paâ—iscente seruant intelligendum The Scriptures giue vs a distinction of the Called and Chosen saying Many be called but few chosen Mat. 20.16 The Called are the Professors and the Profâ—ssors saith your c Bellar. de Ecclesâ— militant lib. 3. cap. 2. §. nostra autem sententia Bellarmine are the members of the true Church though they be reprobi scelesti impij reprobates wicked and impious For saith he to be a member of the Church there is not necessarily required any inward vertues but onely outward profession But I hope you will not say that to this company in grosse these promises doe belong of purity vnspottednesse eternall life but onely to the better part thereof that is the Chosen that truely beleeue and holily liue according to Christs doctrine which company because who they are is onely knowne to God the discerner of the hearts and not to men who see onely their persons and profession but not their hearts may well be called in respect of men The invisible Church as visible to God onely The Holy Ghost describing the true members of the Church calls them such as should be saued Acts 2.47 The Lord added to the Church such as should be saued And this is the ordinary doctrine of d Aug. de Bapt. contra Donatisâ—as lib. 6. cap. 3. Auari raptores faencratores inuidi malevoli ad sanctam ecclesiam dei non pertinent quamvis esse videantur illa autem columba vnica pudica casta sponsa sine macula ruga hortus conclusus sons signatus paradisus cum fructu pomorum c. non intelligitur nisi de bonis sanctis iustis intimâ—m supereminentem spiritus sancti gratiam habentibus S. Augustine that true godly men such as shall be saued are the only heires of the promises the couetous rauenous vsurers enuious malevolous do not belong to the holy Church of God though they seeme to be in it That onely Doue that chaste and pure Spouse without spot or wrinkle that garden inclosed fountaine sealed paradise of Pomegranats c. is not vnderstood but of the good holy and iust such as haue the inward and supereminent grace of the holy spirit Thus Saint Augustine Againe e Aug. ib. lib. 7. cap. 51. he saith All things considered I thinke I shall not rashly say that some are so in the house of God that they are also the very house of God which is said to be built vpon a Rocke which is called his onely Doue his faire Spouse without spot or wrinckle c. for this is in the good faithfull The like De vnitate eccle cap. vlt. Epist 48. De Bapt. cort Donat. lib. 5. c. 27. in praesatione in Psal 47. De doctr Christiana lib. 3. cap. 22. In the rules of Tychonius De corpore Domini bipartito and holy seruants of God euery where dispersed and yet conioyned in spirituall vnity and in the same communion of the Sacraments whether they know one another by face or not And it is certaine that others are said so to be in the house that they belong not ad compagem domus to the frame of the house nor to the society of fruitfull peacefull righteousnesse but as the chaffe among the Corne c of whom it is said They departed from vs but they were not of vs. In many other places Saint Austen hath the like Insomuch as Bellarmine being ouerpressed with the Scriptures and Fathers and especially Saint Augustine §. 6. cannot but yeeld and saith in plaine tearmes f Bellar. de eccle milit lib 3 cap. 2. §. notaâ—dum autem that wicked men without any internall vertue are no otherwise members of the Church then our excrements and diseases are parts or members of our bodies as our hayres our nayles and euill humours in our bodies and elsewhere g Ib. cap. 9. §. Ad vltimum aâ—o malos non esse membra viva corporis Christi hoc significari illis scripturis obiectis He saith that euill men are no other then dead members of Christs body and hee citeth many learned Papists that say Malos non esse membra vera nec simpliciter corporis ecclesiae sed tantum secundum quid aequivocè That euill men are not true members nor simply of the body of the Church but onely after a sort and equiuocally His Authors alleadged there are Iohannes de Turrecremata Alexander de Ales Hugo B. Thomas Petrus à Soto Melchior Canus alij I will conclude this point with Saint Augustine who saith h Aug lib. 2. contra Creâ—conium
vntollerable in the Church of God Since all this you haue deliuered with such plentifull and pregnant proofes as I haue nothing for the present to say against them I must needs thankfully confesse that they sway much with me yet will I not be rash to resolue vpon a sudden without further meditation and consultation with men of better iudgement than my selfe but I promise you if you at our next meeting can as well satisfie me in the particular points of Doctrine as you haue now presently in these generall obiections I shall be very inclinable with all due reuerence to returne vnto your Church Antiquis Deare friend I pray God blesse your meditations and consultations I haue told you the truth from my heart so farre as my reading and iudgement could direct me Quaere doctiores Inuenies praesumptiores Seeke more learned you shall haply finde them that will presume more of their learning as Saint Augustine said such as will seeke rather the victory than the Truth I am old past my climactericall yeere as they call the yeere 63. other men may haue death at their backes I haue him alwayes before my face I was neuer dissembler and least of all now hauing one foot in the graue Meditate vpon that I haue said and especially reade the holy Scriptures the Cloud and Pillar to guide you to the land of Promise the Light and Lanterne to your feet quicke and liuely in operation to moue your heart And when you are either to reade meditate or conferre first shut your selfe in your Closet or priuate Chamber there fall downe humbly vpon your knees and pray the most gracious God to illuminate your minde and make pliable your heart for true diuine faith For all your reading and conference study and meditation can worke no more than humane faith builded vpoÌ„ humane testimonies which may prepare good entrance and introduction to diuine faith which must afterwards bee fully wrought confirmed and sealed by the holy Ghost all our planting and watring is nothing without this The testimony of the Church of histories of former ages which yet onely the Romish pretend to relie vpon and call vs thereunto and wherein we proue our selues superiors and which are the greatest assurances that mans wit or humane meanes can afford yet are farre short of begetting the Faith that assureth of the Truth and saueth either them or vs without the diuine working and assurance of the holy Ghost whose guidance and heauenly influence seeke for by seruent and diligent prayer And so I commend you to Gods grace FINIS An Appendix Christian Reader after J had sent this booke to the Printer there came to my hands a worthy learned booke of Doctor Morton Bishop of Couentry and Liechfield entituled The grand Imposture of the now Church of Rome which J commend vnto thy diligent reading for thy yet-fuller satisfaction in that main point There thou shalt see many of those Histories which I haue alledged briefly especially in my later Chapters more largely discoursed thorowly vrged against all possibility of contradiction And now for a peroration or conclusion beside my former proofes J offer vnto thee these three waighty considerations to meditate vpon I. Of the excellent benefit of pure Primitiue Religion II. Of the euils of false or corrupted Religion III. Of the great blessings of the Reformation thereof Thinke not thy time lost nor thy labour long in reading them CHristian Religion I. Of the excellent benefit of pure Primitiue Religion when the excellency of it was once knowne was embraced as the greatest benefit that euer came vnto Mankind because it not onely brought men out of darkenesse into light to the knowledge of the true God and of themselues and of the most comfortable meanes of their saluation but also because it trained vp men in all things profitable for this present life and made a second heauen vpon earth That City Countrey and Nation was found to prosper in wealth peace honesty diligence in euery Calling faithfulnesse among men sobriety in themselues obedience to Magistrates and all kind of goodnesse where it was receiued and where both people and Gouernours feared God and serued him as he had prescribed â—â—â—y 11.6 For it wrought a wonderfull blessed change in all true beleeuers hearts farre beyond all Lawes and Ordinances of Man Of Wolues they became Lambes of Vultures Doues of Leopards Kids of Aspes and Cockatrices Innocents and Children of Barbarous Sauage and rude people they became ciuill deuout iust cleane peaceable and holy All vices rooted out all vertues planted in their hearts and practised in their liues Whereupon followed peace loue vnity prosperity and felicity in the Christian world Pliny lib. 10. Epist 97. citat à Baronio anno 1â—4 num 3. Pliny certified the Emperour that vpon his thorow-search and full knowledge of Christians he found them strongly bound together by Sacraments or oathes not to do any wicked thing But not to commit these robberies murders deceit or deny any things committed to their trust or keeping c. Baron tom 2. an 195. nu 21. Euseb Praeparat Evangel lib. 6. cap. â— Baronius cites Bardezanus Syrus giuing this testimony to the Christians that in whatsoeuer City or Countrey they liued Persia Media Parthia Aegypt or other barbarous Nations they quite changed the nature and qualities of men to forsake and abandon theit old wilde vniust beastly customes and become iust chaste honest charitable suffering people And although some Emperours and Princes for a time persecuted Christians vpon misinformation that they were enemies to their state and dignity and a rebellious kinde of people yet in time they found the contrary and fauoured them aboue all others Tertul. ad Scapulam liber pag. 162 163. Tertullian writing to Scapula the President tels him A Christian is no mans enemy much lesse enemy to the Emperour whom Christians know to be ordayned by their God and they are compelled by their Religion to loue reuerence and honor him and to seeke his safety with the safety of the whole Empire And therfore they professe say Colimus Jmperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit vt homineÌ„ à deo secundum quicquid est a deo consequutum solo deo minorem We honour and obey the Emperour so farre as is lawfull for vs and needfull for him that is as a man next vnder God and hauing obtained of God whatsoeuer he is being inferiour to God alone Origen testifies that the Church of God was euer calme and quiet at Athens though the Athenians were turbulent and seditious So also at Corinth Alexandria Origen contra Celsum lib. 3. Baron tom 2. an 1â—5 n. 2. and euery where the Church was farre more excellent then the best composed Common-wealth Gregory the great Bishop of Rome Greg lib. 7. epist 8 cited by Kâ—ng Iames Remonstr pag. 137. Apolog. for the oath of Allegiance pag. 94. 600 yeares after Christs birth professeth that
interuallo a great Way behind them in the manner not in the matter of their writing I know it vnfit for me yea vnfit for a Christian and I hate it in my heart to bean Author or Inuenter of new opinions of Religon We must learne of S. Iude Iude v. 3. onely earnestly to contend for the faith which was once that is first deliuered to the Saints Therefore the Materials of my building I create not but fetch them from the Garden of Eden the holy Scriptures and the large Forests and rich Quarries of others but the choice of all the Timber and Stone the squaring ioyning forme and frame of the worke is mine which I haue set together without any impairing of the strength or beauty I hope of any peece Such graue and holy Authors words as vndeniable witnesses add waight and authority to my discourse more then from my selfe it could haue and it will be a great ease to the Readers as Iudges to haue the whole pleadings abridged and laid in one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or short view before them with the witnesses names annexed to euery Article whom they may more fully examine vpon euery occasion This I haue aymed at how neere I haue come vnto the marke I must leaue to others to Iudge The first part of this worke I now publish which concerneth the generall exceptions against our Reformed Church which I hope I fully cleare and satisfie in this small Volumne The second part which handleth the particular doctrines controuerted I am compelled to put off to another time Those my labours I am bold or rather indeed I am bound to dedicate vnto your Honour 1 As to my most bountifull Patron furnishing me with increase of meanes both to liue in better sort without want and thereby without contempt and especially to furnish me with many vsefulll bookes of all kindes and sides in perusing examining and extracting the quintessence whereof is my daily labour and my greatest worldly contentment The honour and fruits whereof are due debts vnto your bounty 2 As to our Reuerend Bishop and generall Father of the Clergy in this your Diocesse of Lincolne appointed according to the order of christs Apostles deliuered in Scripture a As appâ—â—reth by the subscriâ—tions of the second Epistle to Timothy in the Originall Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To Timotheus ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians And the like to Titus ordained the first Bishop of the Cretians And by the Text Tit. 1.5 cap. 2. cap. 3.1 2 8 9 10 c. To gouerne part of Gods Church not onely for the b Ordination Tit. 1.5 1 tim 4.14 5.21 2â— 2 tim 2.2 Ordination of Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in euery Congregation but also for c Iurisdiction 1 Tim. 1.3 4.11 5. per tot 6.3 4 5 20. 2 tim 2.14 tit 1.10 11 13. 3.10 c. Iurisdiction or power or ouer-fight that they teach found doctrine and liue without scandall 3 As to a most eminent and excellent builder of Gods Spirituall house by your diuine wisdome learning preaching and writing 4 And yet further To the most Noble and famous builder of Gods externall and visible houses by your d The beautifull Chappell at Lincolne Colledge in Oxford a magnificent Library at S. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge the mother and â—â—rse-place of of his learning another at Westminster his Dignity built and furnished by his cost as also another at Lincoln his Bishopricke with store of excellent bookes Founding also â—ew Fellowes and other Students with yeerely maintenance for euer in Cambridge with many other workes of Piety and abundant charity Oxford Westminster Lincoln Leicester and other places materiall buildings enriching beautifying and amplifying Churches and Colledges with Chappels Libraries Fellowships and Schollerships in both the Vniuersities and else where and furnishing them with the most excellent and necessary bookes that can bee gotten Which With other your most pious and Noble works draw the hearts and tongues of all men which I can heare mention your name to glorifie God for you and you for glorifying God and our Church and Nation with such worthy Monuments of your Piety Cost and Labours In regard of all these I could not hold my hart would breake if I did not in some sort vent the fulnesse thereof and honor your Bounty your Fatherhood your spirituall Graces and your materiall magnificall Beneficence by the best meanes I can with this dedication of my poore labours And let me adde that which all men will easily conceiue 5 To receiue honour from you by prescribing your much honoured name before my labors And finally as in these many respects I am bold and bound So 6 I doe most willingly and humbly offer my labours to your Fatherhood to be viewed Iudged approued or censured by your graue Wisedome Learning Piety and Authority For the continuance and encrease whereof and of all your temporall and eternall happinesse I shall dayly pray as becommeth Your Lordships much bounden ANTHONY CADE To the Reader DEare Christian Reader whatsoeuer or of what Religion soeuer thou art if there be any of these three things truly rooted in thy heart either the care of Gods Glory or the saluation of thy soule or the loue of thy Country with the peace strength happinesse and flourishing estate thereof as I hope all these three are conioyned in thee by them all of them or any of them I humbly and heartily entreat thee to reade not with prejudice but with an honest and good heart with indifferency patience aduisednesse and with continuall waighing considering and examining the things which I haue with great labour and diligence gathered and heere set before thee Rom 9.1 c. I doe protest before God as Saint Paul did for the Hebrewes that I haue great heauinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart for my deare brethren English people that are seduced and withdrawen from the sincerity of the Gospell and my hearts desire and praier to God is and my endeuours both by example of life and holy doctrine Rom. 10.1 c. continually tend that way that they might be saued eternally and in this world liue comfortably and happily For I beare them record the greatest number of them that they haue a zeale of God but not according to knowledge And it may bee many of their seducers are themselues first seduced by the cunning of their greatest Rabbines who yet the most of them know full well and very often confesse in their writings as I shall manifestly shew in handling the chiefe points controuerted betwixt vs that Protestants hold the truth and themselues haue swarned from pure Antiquity In tender commiseration therefore and yerning bowels of compassion vnto the seduced I haue vndertaken this great labour with neglect of my selfe my health and state to doe good to their soules and good to my Country by vniting them so far
perswaded to correct things manifestly amisse and to reforme themselues There needs no Counsell thoâ—e need no syllogismes there need no alleadging of places of Scripture for the quiering of these stirres of the Lutherans but there is need of good minds of loue towards God and our neighbour and of humility c. Thus writes Contarenus I might cite your Thu anus and many others that lay the fault of the diuisions rents and differences in the Church vpon your Pope and Prelats Bad Statists and worse Christians But I pray you what other differences of moment do ye finde among the Protestants Antiquus When the Diuines of the Reformed in France were called to the Mompelgart colloquy in the yeare 1586 they looked for no more differences then of our Lords Supper which you spake of but they found more of the Person of Christ of Predestination of Baptisme of Images in Churches Antiquissmus They found those fiue indeed And it was a wonderfull prouidence of God that so many seuerall Countries Kingdomes and States abandoning the abuses of the Church or rather Court of Rome and making particular Reformations in their own dominions without generall meetings and consents should haue no more nor greater differences then these And of these the first two of Christs presence in the Sacrament and of the communication of properties of the diuinity and humanity in the person of Christ are in a maner all one and reconciled both alike Concerning the two next the differences among the Fathers who notwithstanding still continued members of the same true Catholik Church may well excuse the differences among the Protestants And for the fifth difference concerning Images it proued no difference at all Both sides therin fully agreed But these are not the Tithe of the differences amongst your men and in these fiue which you reckon many of your owne men differ one from another and yet with you are good Catholiks Antiquus Happily I might insist vpon many other differences among you if I carried a minde rather to number then to weigh them But I will name onely one more the great and scandalous dissention among you about the gouernment of your Church betwixt the Bishops and Formalists on the one side and the Puritans or Separatists on the other side Antiquissimus Both these sides agree in all necessary sauing points of doctrine But in this very point of gouernment D. Field Appen first part pag. 120. first pull out the beame out of your owne eyes before you stare vpon our motes Some of your Doctors hold that the Pope is aboue Generall Councels some that he is not Some hold that the pope hath the vniuersality of all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction in himselfe Others hold the pope to be onely the Prince Bishop in order and honour before other which are equall in commission with him and at the most but as the Duke of Venice among the Senators of that State Some hold that the pope may erre Iudicially Others that the pope cannot erre Iudicially Some hold the pope to be temporall Lord of al the world Others hold that he is not so Some hold that though the pope be not temporall Lord of the world yet in ordine ad spiritualia he may dispose of the Kingdome of the world Others hold that the pope may not meddle with Princes States in any wise §. 5. Antiquus The differences among Protestants you say are not great but I am sure their dissentions are great bitter scandalous and odious while they write most virulent inuectiues one against another damne one another most grieuously for their different doctrine without shew of any touch of Christan mortification or moderation Antiquissimus Those that do so are much to blame It is farre from mee to defend them Yet you know sometimes very holy and well mortified men may happen into strange contentions euen for smal matters Saint Paul and Barnabas appointed by the Holy Ghost to ioyne for the worke of the ministry in planting Churches among the Gentiles Acts 13.2 which they did very laboriously cheerefully with good successe and though they suffered persecution in doing it yet were comfortably deliuered and allwayes found God who had sent them present to protect and blesse them and afterwards they were sent by the Church to Ierusalem to the Apostles and elders Acts 15.1 2. about questions that troubled the Church and by the whole Councell of Apostles they were sent againe Iointly to the Churches of Antioch Syria and Cilicia and other Nations to giue them notice of the decrees of the Councell to direct and confirme the brethren now hauing deliuered their message and done their businesse imposed at Antioch and were so to go forward to Syria and Cilicia They fell to contention and for a matter of no great moment to wit Barnabas would haue Iohn to goe with them and Paul refused him the contention grew so sharp that they parted company and went seuerall wayes See how flesh and blood boyled in these good mens hearts Euen in those mens hearts whom God had made speciall choyce of and Ioyned them together for his most especiall and extraordinary workes vpon whom the Church of God after fasting and prayer had laid their hands and separated them to goe Ioyntly together about that holy busines who had power to doe many miracles and extraordinary workes Acts 15. who made report of the wonderfull successe which God gaue them in conuerting the Gentiles to the great admiration and consolation of the Apostles whom the Apostles sent againe with their decrees to the Churches euen these holy men fell out for a light cause and parted company Haply some man might say Are these to be accounted truely mortified and holy men who were carried away with such a humor of pride and sâ—lfe will that neither of them would yeeld to other are these guided by the spirit of God the spirit of peace loue concord humility are these fit to teach others that cannot ouerrule their owne passions or haue they no part of the spirit of God but are men ouerborne with haughtinesse wilfullnesse stubbornesse vnfit for men of this profession able to make men vtterly distaste and abhorre whatsoeuer they preach Thus would some men gather out of this action But Saint Paul a chosen vessell yet still an earthen vessel who knew well he had his cracks and his flawes himselfe gathereth another thing 2 cor 4.6 2 Cor. 4.6 God who hath commanded the light to shine out of darknes hath shined in our hearts to giue the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Chirst But we haue this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of vs. Secondly At the first Councell of Nice many Churchmen offred vp to the Emperor Constantine Bills of Complaint one against another Zozomen hist lib. 1. cap. 16. which the Emperor tooke very ill and said this was worse then