stead and office in iudging the children of God saying My iealous conceiuing can not stande otherwise towards thee but that thou art a presumptuous whore and shalt be constrained to drinke the bitter cursed water of my ielousie If these be not Luciferian voyces I am much deceiued then he saith that what the Prophetes Christ haue written that must be fulfilled in him and with him and that all the generations of the earth must submit them selues vnto the mercy seat and godly maiestie which is in him Thus I suppose my coniecture standeth firme where I saide that Dauid George was the hatcher of this heresie and layde the egge but H. N. brought foorth the chickens How wel they agrée in vaunting them selues doth well appeare and that the sonne is farre worse then the father Surely I could well haue spared my penne in writing this and other their wicked opinions with their patrones haue buried it in silence had it not the zeale of the Lordes house carried me so farre that I could not stay vntill I had published suche matter as came to my handes whereby I sawe the glory of Christ Iesus to be so defaced séeing these wicked impes to place them selues so high in the mindes of many simple people here in England it pitieth me to sée them so snared in this bewitched errour A man would thinke that these things are so vaine absurd that none y were in their right wits would once bend their mindes to imbrace the same In déed if I did not know many of theÌ„ and am truely certified by some of the same fellowship that there are in Engand at the least 1000. in diuers partes of this realme which do hold this vain monstruous opinion of H. N. I would not haue traueled any further But eueÌ„ for their sakes who in déede are simply deceiued and not maliciously holde any thing doe I write and if this my labour may by the Lords will conuert any of that fellowship and bring them into the plaine and manifest way whiche Christ Iesus hath left in his word I haue my expected desire There is no one thing in my opinion that hath so much preuailed with this simple sorte which are members and professours of y Familie of Loue as a certeine shew outwarde face of a holy conuersation which some of their illuminate Elders do séeme to vse Wherein they followe the steppes of the Pelagians and Papists directly whose doctrine of works howe by them we are in the fauour of God and accepted doth in diuers treatises manifestly appeare destroying the worke wrought by Christe our Lorde â–ª by whose bloud we are cleansed and by whose stripes we are healed without this faith in Christ all our works be they neuer so godly are méere impietie If he woorke in vs the will and the déede what haue we to boast of workes If we haue nothing which we haue not receiued what fauor with God doth our works purchase If euerlasting life be the frée gift of God what haue our workes to do in that matter of our saluatioÌ„ It standeth not vpon so â—ickle a point as the vncertaintie of our workes but in suche errours they wander which leaue the wholesome precepts of the holy Ghoste reuealed by the scripture and imbrace the doctrins of men It séemeth that the simple truth which by the Scriptures we be taught and the promises of Christe our Lorde made vnto vs doeth not content their curious heads but vainly they wander in euery vncerteine way estéeming H. N. and his sayings expressed in his book to be of no lesse value and credite then the sacred Scripture written for our comforte not as the workes of men but by the finger of GOD euen the holy Ghoste And whereas H. N. doeth boast him self y he can not erre he saith that with the same lying spirite that is in the Pope affirming the selfe same thing As for the Pope it is manifest ynough without proofe But bycause some may thinke that I auouch that of H. N. that is not to be proued I will set downe his wordes as they are written in his booke intituled The prophesie of the spirit of Loue the 13. chapter where you shall perceiue y H. N. doth couple him self with Moses with y Prophets with Christ and his Apostles very presumptuously affirming that he him selfe can no more erre then they His wordes be these H. N. Chap. 13. verse Moyses the Prophetes Christe and his Apostles and his Minister H. N. they iudge to erre or misse the right rather then acknowledge themselues in their imagination to be ignorant and lying In my opinion H. N. in these words doth somewhat ouermatch the Pope for the Pope doth acknowledge that as he is a man he may erre but as he is Christes vicar or deputie vpon earth he can not erre but H. N. without any distinction doth affirme that he can no more erre then Christe or his Apostles And in déede his bookes are thought amongest his disciples to be of equall authoritie with the scripture and they do affirme that they are written with the same spirit But if their bare affirmation may stand for good proofe then indéed it is somwhat they say but the holy ghost hath taught vs another lesson saying beléeue not euery spirite but trie the spirite whether he be of god And that we may rightly discern this H. N. other wise called Henrie Nicholas which taketh vpon him to be that great prophet sent to rebuke the world of sinne hath written his bookes intituling one The prophesie of the spirite of Loue wherin he prophesieth of many thinges to happen to the Church of GOD before this time but God be thanked his wordes are no warrants he is proued a false prophet and since our Sauiour Christe published vnto the world y glad tidings of his glorious gospel to our great comfort the office of prophesying or foretelling of thinges to come hath ceased in Christes Church Many haue risen and taken vpon them to prophesie and foretell thinges to come â–ª but they haue ben counted false prophets euen as H. N. is Christ our Lord did forewarne vs that in the latter times such false prophetes should rise and false Christes and such daungerous dayes that if it were possible the very Elect should be deceiued Blessed be the Lorde our God which by the light he hath giuen his children in the holy scripture hath so instruct vs that the very childreÌ„ babes are able to confute these false techers false prophets And least the Papistes should imagine that this H. N. should be a professor of the Gospell I will declare manifest causes to proue that he is a right chickeÌ„ of the Church of Rome and harboured many yeares by Granuella a Cardinal Howe he extolleth the Pope to be that great Priest of the West howe he openeth the misteries of the Masse in a book intituled A declaration of the masse
dominion in vs it raigneth not in vs we are not seruauntes to sinne this the scripturs teach in many places but that we shall quench it vtterly or subdue if with all the motions thereof the scriptures teach vs no such doctrine being rightly vnderstoode Looke I pray you what that holy vessell saint Paul spake of himselfe after he was regenerate Romaines 7. verse 14. I am carnal sold vnder sinne for I allowe not that which I doe For what I would that doe I not but what I hate that do I. It is not I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me Againe verse 23. I delight in the law of God concerning the inwarde man but I see an other law in my members rebelling against the lawe of my minde and leading mee captiue vnto the lawe of sinne which is in my members When he entred farre into the consideratiō of this his frailtie he exclaymed said verse 24. A wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me frō the body of this death And in these extreame considerations and battell which we haue with sinne cōtinually euen vntil death make an end saint Paul by the spirite of God doth plainely arme Gods children and sheweth the remedie in like cōflicts saying I thank god through Iesus Christ our Lord c this is brought to passe by him that sinne is not imputed vnto vs But as Dauid saide Blessed is the man whose sinnes are couered And this is wrought only without vs not in vs as you imagine So y our battell is continual and neuer ended in vs vntill we be dissolued and at rest with Christ Iesus contrary to your assertion You sée no cause you say that we shoulde be enimies to so good a doctrine as you professe If your doctrine were good and agréeable to the holy scriptures we woulde embrace it but because it is contrarie there vnto we reiect it To forsake that false sinfull nature with you we simply agrée but with the Poet we say Naturam expellas furca tamen vsque recurret To be at defiance there with and bidde battell against it we agrée but to conquer it to kill it or subdue it vtterly in this life that we deny That God can doe this by his powre in vs we denie not but that he will do it in vs as you affirme the scriptures allowe not of For it standeth not with the glorious office of Christ Iesus that such perfection and such a conquest of sinne should be wrought in vs but that we féeling our miseries our wants our weakenesse◠might sue by peticion in earnest prayer for strength for mercy for deliuery which all the Godly in Christ his church haue euer done For we are neuer nearer vnto our God nor neuer more accepted with him then when we feele sinne as a burthen or loade lye heauely vpon vs nor neuer further of then when by illusion of sathans persuasion we imagin sinne to be quenched or conquered All such as ouercome in the battell you say shall knowe the name written in the white stone mencioned by Iohn You say further that such as haue no lust to ouercome that earthly sinfull nature but haue more lust to take part therewith knowe nothing thereof although they boast of their knowledge or fréedome neuer so much This knowledge therefore you would conclude to be in you and not in vs Your knoweledge we enuie not nor your séeking to serue the Lord vprightly For our whole care studie minde is bent to do the same and we pray you hartely to ioyne your selues to vs that you and we may serue the Lorde our God as he hath commaunded and not H. N. and his precepts Looke into the holy bookes of our God and deale not with the darke riddles of H. N. Set not vp his bookes in your mindes so highly The Scriptures are our comfort and our stay without H. N. He exerciseth a greate Popedome among you You had rather speake and vse his phrases not found in holy scripture then content your selfe with the phrases of the holy Ghost You often mencion these tearmes the lying being the vpright fréedome Godded with God the newest day the louely being of the loue c. Are these to be founde in the holy Scripture or are they not deuised by H. N. to bring admiration to his doctrine by straunge and vnaccustomed speach If the loue of God be in you as you woulde haue vs beléeue it is loue the Lorde Iesus and his holy worde and let H. N. with new tearmes and phrases goe Belieue not that God hath wrought in him any such a worke as you pretend examine his doings and sayings better you wil credit nothing that is spoken against him be it neuer so true you except it as lyes and heresies what soeuer testimony his neighbours famyliers who knewe him long vppon their oth shall affirme but according to your conceiued opinion you like him you imbrace him you onely credit his testimonies dislyking others which if you continue as you begin there is neither hope nor helpe nor conference that can doe you good vntill the Lorde shake away the mist of darknesse which ouer shadoweth your eyes through the doctrine of H. N. that you cannot beholde the bright beames of Christ his glorious gospell Your authors doctrine is not sufficiently knowen vnto some of you the fragments whereof you are but meanly acquited with the secreat part of his purpose I doubt as yet is not extant and more of his works are abroad then are come to your handes therefore for the loue of God looke better into his minde and credite not his bare sayings without warrant of holy scripture neither beléeue that almightie God hath wrought in him any such extraordinary power as is imagined The cause the moued me to write these thinges is a little booke came to my handes of late called Mans falling away his comming againe and Lordlynesse In the first section you shall finde this written worde for word H. N. his words See and marke ye beloued in the beginning when god made al things wel then was the Lorde one Lorde of his kingdome and one God of his workes there was also no more but one God and one man and they were one and had in all one order being and nature for God was all that the man was and man was all that God was Beloued when God looked on the man which he had made according to the like being of his godhed then looked he vpon him selfe as the same clerenesse of his liuing godhed Likewise when the man looked vpon his God his ientle clene vnspotted manhode in all full comlinesse in all honestie fayrenesse in all fashion and being according to the same Godhed so this was al one God the man. I pray you loke into this doctrin whiche your Authour H. N. teacheth examine it by thy holy scriptures and iudge rightly therein whether this can by any colour of
knowen the way of righteousnesse then after they haue knowen it to turne from the holy commaundement giuen vnto them Also the Epistle of Iude verse 4. For there are certeine men crept in whiche were of olde ordeined to this condemnation vngodly men they are whiche turne the grace of GOD into wantonnesse which denie God the onely Lord and our Lord Iesus Christ. Thus hath the holy Ghost decyphered all false teachers and giuen warning to his children to beware of them It is necessarie that heresies be saith S. Paul that those that are perfect may be manifested And surely Gods children haue thereby great triall and exercise of their faith and the Lorde our God can make such heretiques to serue his purpose euen to his owne glory that his childreÌ„ being strengthened by him may not be ouer taken in the sleightes and subtilties of Satan nor his impes but in the great temptation and seas of errours may abide stedfast in the Lorde Iesus and in his promises maugre the malice of the diuell If euer there were disturbers of the Church whereby these scriptures and prophesies may be fulfilled I thinke that nowe is the time For what with the bloudie Papistes with their fire and fagot continuall warre with horrible murders on the one side and the Anabaptistes Free will men Arrians Pelagians and the Familie of Loue on the other side Christes Church hath little rest and small fauour in the sight of man but spurned at on euery side But blessed be the Lorde our God who in the middest of all calamitie and miserie which his children daily suffer yet can not be driuen back by any torment to denie the Lord Iesus nor his known truth manifested to all the world and the Lord raiseth vp stil some of his children to withstand Sathan and all his rable which striue against grace And surely these and like errours are great exercises of our saith how constant we will abide in the day of triall Therfore though the world rage neuer so much yet our graund captaine biddeth vs to be of good chéere saying Ego vici munduÌ„ I haue ouercome the worlde In whose coÌ„fortable promises we stay our selues and assuredly beléeue that although the ship of Christ be tossed vp downe with boistrous winds yet perish it caÌ„not nor the lest y pertaine to him No dout many of Gods déere children fal into many snares of errors but they by grace are called backe againe if not willingly yet forceably so that they can not perish in those wayes For as our sauiour saith that such times should come that if it were possible the elect should be deceiued But it is not possible to be deceiued and perish though our God doth many ways trie vs and maketh vs examples and patterns one of vs to an other that his louing kindnes might appéere more notable in our preseruatioÌ„ we be prouoked thereby to shewe a thankful hart in obedience to his will also be occasioned to craue at his hands continually a perfect perseueraÌ„ce of our faith in him euen to y end Which we shal be sure to obtaine so that no false doctrine of H. N. Vittel nor any other shall preuaile once to touch vs bicause our hope resteth in the Lord Iesus And I verily beléeue y although some of Christes houshold be entered into those steps of H. N. yet I dout not but the Lord in mercy wil cal theÌ„ if they wil not come he wil forceably compel them if they be his Therefore you that are entered into the Familie through the swéete sugred persuasions of Vittell or any others I beséech you euen for y Lord Christes sake consider from whome you are departed euen from our Lorde Iesus who hath bought you whose armes are stretched abroade ready to receiue you againe with the reioycing of Angels ouer your conuersion How acceptable you should be vnto Christ his Church by proofe shal be perceiued but especially how beneficiall you shall be thereby to your owne souls and what rest to your conscience none can expresse but such as taste the same are partakers of the same grace of God in Christ Iesus For this is vndoubtedly true that to wander astray is a propertie belonging as well vnto Gods chidren as vnto others and their often falling is by many examples of the Scriptures made manifest but that they continue streying and neuer returne home or that by falling they willingly wallowe in the myre is a certaine note and mark that they pertaine not vnto the Lorde Iesus nor are partakers of his death Therefore if ye willingly perseuere and continue followers of H. N. Vittell or any such you are strangers in Christes schoole and it will be sayde vnto you Depart I knowe you not Auoyde therefore the daunger ye be in acknowledge that your teachers may erre and are mortall men For since the Apostles times there haue bene none so priuiledged but that he might erre The olde writers did euer giue that title vnto the holy Scripture and desired to be beléeued no further theÌ„ they agréed with the same but your teachers will néedes haue their doctrine to be credited and beléeued without examination or triall Assuredly if you did discerne them aright by the holy historie you should easily perceiue theÌ„ deceiuers and your selfe deceiued For if it be a trueth they teach vnto you why teach they in corners which trueth loueth not Euery truth is able to defend it selfe especially the truth of God and it is of that courage boldnesse y there is no power be it neuer so mightie but it dare stand fast and abide the triall so inuincible a vertue is truth Did Christe or his Apostles being threatened not to publish a truth câ—â—ceale the same for feare of life No verily to the losse of life and limme they stoode in the quarell of God against the tyrants of the world and preuailed But Christopher Vittell your teacher thinketh it sufficient to seduce you in corners and suffer you to be imprisoned but for him selfe he is safe ynough A good sheepeheard saith Christ will giue his life for his sheepe but your shepheards wil not hurte their fingers for their Familie but lurke in corners and delude and deceiue greatly your simplicitie Alas why are you so bewitched or so berest of sense so to imagine that a mortall man an obscure Authour whome you neuer sawe nor knewe hath onely the truth and all the world else seduced and deceiued for so he him selfe confesseth and that any other truth then the scriptures teach is of necessitie to be beléeued or that his Glasse of righteousnes which you neuer sawe hath in it the wisedome â–ª of God fully made knowne or his Euangelium regni Gospell of thâ— kingdome is that testament sealed by Christes bloud Surely beware I aduise you betimes prouoke not the Lord our God so vengeance with these absiâ—rde blasphemies For it is witnessed He will hasten his comming and will not be
and apparantly before them 7 That we must liue without sinne The vpright freedome is this that the heart minde and spirite is wholy released purged or purified from all wicked nature which hath reigned ouer him and that there dwell liue nor rule any other thing in him namely in all his spirit thought mind soule but alone the true godheade with his louely being of the vpright loue yea to be so wholy replenished with all the vertues of God and that there flow nothing else in him namely in this spirite and minde but the spirituall heauenly and liuing waters 8 Howe H. N. iudgeth of vs because we acknowledge our selues to be of the Church of Christ. For that cause if thou nowe account not thy selfe for an whore but esteemest thy selfe for the faithfull espoused wife of Christ my ielous conceiuing can not stand otherwise but that thou art a presumptuous whore whiche playest the hypocrite with Christe and couertly committest whoredome thou shalt be constrayned to drinke the bitter cursed water of my ielosie 9 No man be he neuer so learned or godly can vnderstand or interpret the scripture but onely the Elders in the Familie The Scripturely learned man hath no knowledge of Gods matters he can not vnderstande any tittle much lesse expounde or interprete the same to others all Scripture appeare to suche couered secrete in signes and parables nor can comprehend what the same according to the trueth is What such conceiueth or speaketh is false and lyes It is assuredly giuen to the family of Loue to vnderstand the secretes thereof It is assuredly all false lyes seducing and deceitfull what the vngodded or vnilluminate men out of the imagination of their knowledge and out of the learnednes of the scripture bring foorth preach and teach they preach in deede the letter and the immagination of their knoweledge but not the word of the liuing god Let them esteeme themselues as holy as they wil they are a false Christianitie a diuelish synagogue or schole 10 That all men must submit themselues vnto the godlie wisdome in H. N. Seeing nowe that I my father finde out in deede that the Lorde the moste highest hath reuealed his mercie seate y possession of his most excellent Maiestie and heauenly riches in thee and with the same being of the perfect Godhead made a godly dwelling with thee so were it meete and conuenient that al the generations of the earth submitted them selues vnto the same mercie seate and godly Maiestie assembled them thervnto 11 Howe the Elders are Godded with God. It becommeth not that any shoulde take in hand to teach but only the Illuminate Elders in the Familie which also haue receiued the word of life from the liuing God and are euen through the same Godded with God or incorporated to God with whom also God in on◠being and power of his spirite is Hominified or become man. An admonition to Christopher Uittell THe cause that moued me to set foorth this litle piece of work hath not ben as I doubt you will imagine of a malicious minde towardes your Familie the Lord is my witnesse I lament you and malice you not but of a sincere affection I owe vnto all Gods children ▪ who by you are deceiued with the doctrine of H. N. whom I haue manifested and made throughly knowne vnto the world And I would to GOD that you coulde haue contented your selfe with the Authours bookes and not haue published them to our brethren the simple ones in the countrie who are led easily into any newe doctrine which they neuer heard by your subtile persuasion And for as much as I knowe your person and what capacitie is in you I doe verily thinke that the drift of H. N. is not vnknowne to you namely to set vp him selfe as a Prophete to tread downe Christe Iesus our Lord and to destroy the effect of his office These things you sée well ynough in H. N. and yet you cease not still to ertall your Authour and his bookes and miserably seduc◠the simple Doe you thinke to escape the heauie stroke of Gods hande No he commeth and will not be slacke to take vengeance of such as lead the simple and blinde out of the wayes of the Lorde our GOD and make them partakers of doctrines of men possessed with Sathanicall spirites It is necessarie that offences come but woe bee to them by whome they come it were better that a milstone were hanged about his necke and hee cast into the Sea. If this doctrin be not offensiue to Gods children iudge it your selfe Consider that the bloud of those simple ones will be required at your handes which perish by deceite Cursed is he that leadeth the blind out of the way Woe bee vnto him that saith sweete is sower and sower sweete Your erronious spirite is well knowne to Gods Church I heard you at Paules Crosse recant the blasphemies of Arrius doctrine the copie of which is foorth comming and now Sathan hath possessed your minde with infinite moe blasphemies of H. N. Is this no sinne thus to deceiue the simple You are one of those Elders that kéepe all the Commaundements of our GOD and yet are a blasphemer and a sinner in the highest degrée Your deceite is knowen your trecherie is manifest some of your owne Familie can testifie that you are an hypocrite and a dissembler and liue of the spoyle of the poore and haue left your arte and calling to liue méere ydlely by sowing heresies as it were of purpose to the destruction of many simple people Alas haue you a pleasure in their destruction Doth it delight you to leade them headlong to perdition Will not a day come when the Lord our God will charge you with this matter most sharplie Remember in time mortall man that thou shalt answere for euery soule that is peruerted Although they perish thou shalt not escape the Lordes handes The more thou leadest into errour the more grieuous shall be thy destruction and damnation Thinke not that thy counterfet shewe of a holy life can any thing auaile Now thy visard cloake is pulled off I doubt not but the simplest wil espie thy deceit and be no more deceiued with thy pretences to gather their money daily to set foorth the workes of H. N. and inrich thy selfe as wil bee proued If thou feare not the vengeance of God yet let the shame of y world driue thée to confesse thy fault and as thou diddest before recant the errour of Arrius so nowe come foorth out of thy denne and recant the blasphemie of H. N. that the poore and simple may be brought into the wayes of Christe our Lord out of which they haue wandered ouer long Then shal the Church of Christ reioyce ouer your conuersion and Sathan and his ministers shall be put to flight the poore strayinge shéepe shal be brought to the folde of Christe Iesus and you shall be willingly receiued into the
sinners c. but repent least that chaunce to you that came vpon them And againe looke I pray you howe you stumble in your owne tale You would prooue that none hath receiued their ministerie from the mouth of God you'speake of Paule did not Christ speake to him after his ascention from heauen and I pray you tell mee what ministration that euer was true came froÌ„ other then Gods owne mouth you are taught to flee such boasters like enough for so Satan hath alwayes taught his children And as concerning the badge whereby you woulde knowe them is as you set downe by publique declaration which is vtterly false For Moyses onely shewed his ministration to the Israelites Abraham to his children Noc to his familie Lott to his housholde and all the Prophets to Gods peculier children the Apostles in priuate houses c. And nowe to be short the disciples of Christe â–ª or his worde which are taught by the doctrine of Christ our sauiour out of the mouth of H. N. do confesse freely before all men the ground of their faith and religion and though you will not credit it yet it doth not followe that it is not so except this reason as God forbid should alwayes holde like as it hath holden of late Because men say I am a theefe therefore no proofe of lawe the testimonie of my neyghbours with whome I liue nor mine owne words against so simple an alligation must be permitted but all is vntrue nowe except it be to proue your false words slaunderous brutes trewe Here we finde will and vniustice on your parte to haue more rule then equitie or good reason And nowe therefore master Rogers will I euen out of loue to an admonition of you to your preseruation display vnto you a little of the difference betwixt the doctrine of H. N. yours He exhorteth according to the doctrine of Iesus Christ mentioned in the Scriptures to true repentâ—unce godly loue an vpright faith and dutifull obedience c. euen like as many of you at this day in words do but yet he with more power for he manifesteth according to the trueth that none among all the children of men shal be found meete in the sight of the Lord to beare the names of Christians boast they neuer so much of their Christianitie freedome or iustification by Christe in their vnregenerated life as they wil which hath not submitted them selues in true repentance vnder the obedience of Gods holie lawe which is administred vnto them in the seruice of Loue for to become first disciples of the same worde to a reformation of their owne wayes and not to go presently foorth with the knowledge and teach others as you do before they be come taught and reformed thereby neyther yet to iudge others therwith as you now do before they be come first iudged thereby which he calleth the true baptisme in the name of the father And then being so taught vnto Iesus Christ in the holie lawe to take vp in the beleefe their crosse daily on them with Christ against the sinne which he calleth the true baptisme in the name of the Sonne vntill that Christe which is the way the trueth and the life it selfe haue gotten a liuing shape or fourme in them by faith and that they through the Spirite of loue or Christ be raised vp againe in a newe life which he calleth the true baptisme in the name of the holy Ghost wherevnto all the Familie of Loue or of God at this day are louingly called and doe meane by Gods assistance most earnestly to endeuour themselues but yet with much more quietnesse mought they haue rest by such enimies to all godlynesse as you are Although you be vnaquainted with this doctrine â–ª or rather true baptisme here following yet would wee not therefore haue you belye vs according to your accustomed manner and saye that we deny the holy sacrament therof And although this infallible Christian doctrine of Loue Faith Obedience and Life which is taught by H. N. in the seruice of Loue accordeth with all Scriptures remaineth yet vnknowen much lesse practised amongst you free ones or Lybertines and this true repentance which is taught vnder the obedience of the holy lawe of God the Father this true crosse of Iesus Christ which is taught vnder the obedience of the beleefe of God the Sonne and this true resurrection or newenesse of life which is taught vnder the obedience of the loue of God the holie Ghoste is nowe blasphemed despised and resisted as an vnneedefull thing of you yet is the same neuerthelesse by the Familie of Loue or of God found to be the olde and true way corespondent with all the doctrine of the Apostles of Iesus Christ and therefore so needefull that without it looke ouer the Scriptures againe so mâ—ny as be wise among you there shall no man finde mercie with God or els through Iesus Christ become saued Then Alas master Rogers â–ª alas what haue you done I hope nothing yet but out of ignorance I would then you woulde looke better into the matter for if H. N. be a minister of the Lord then you haue much ouershot your selfe I leaue Stephan Bateman to the righteous iudgement of the Lord as one in whome there is small hope of any goodnesse Wherefore the Lorde God for his Christes sake graunt you eyes of vnderstanding and a repentant heart to aske forgiuenesse for so maliciously blaspheming Gods loue and trueth extended towardes vs out of mercie vndeserued and to aske mercie for deprauing such a gratious worke of God published forth nowe in the last time to all mens preseruation that desire to walke â–ª therein whereof we shal be right glad and then shal you be deliuered from that lying spirite which nowe seeketh like as in times past with moste horrible slaunders lyes to deface all good all such as indeuour themselues therevnto So shal it come to passe to Gods glorie your saluation our comfort Amen Your vnknowen friend The aunswere of I. R. to â–ª the letter of the Familie I Receiued a letter from you as from an vnknoweÌ„ friend conteining matter inuectiue against my booke as also verie many contumelious slaunderous speaches touching my honestie both which to aunswere you shall finde me readie and willing although not with like speach of disdaine sauouring of the spirite of enuie and not of loue To all which speach touching my honestie this shall serue for answere the Lord deale so and so betwéene vs as you vniustly charge me with waightes measures wares c but the contents of my booke disquieteth your moode the which you shal finde more large in aunswering 1 The first matter you tell me that no honest man woulde assay to defende so vnhonest attempts to defend my honestie I will not in this place my protestation shall serue but if the cause be dishonest then I am worthy great reprehension but you mistake me vtterly that I reprehend
sufficient to answer for him were they weyed in the balance of equitie You terme the saide Familie simple howe much are they bound to laude the Lorde and to giue him most high thankes and praise that they are simple Moses saith Would God that all the Lordes people could prophesie and that the Lord would put his spirite vpon them So doe I wish from the bottome of my heart that all the Lordes people were simple concerning euill and malice then strife contention enuying backbiting lying persecuting for coÌ„scieÌ„ce cause theft â–ª murder whoredome dronkennesse Idolatrie and such like should not beare so great dominioÌ„ as it doth Is it an odious matter in your eyes to be simple I pray you peruse well these few sentences of Scripture here following The testimonie of the Lorde is pure and giueth wisedome to the simple God thou knowest my simplenesse my faultes are not hid from thee He taketh vp the simple out of the dust lifteth the poore out of the mire The Lorde preserueth the simple When thy worde goeth foorth it giueth light and vnderstanding euen vnto the simple A simple mans wisdome is despised and his wordes are not heard Timely in the morning do they arise to murder the simple and poore Reioyce thou greatly O daughter Sion be glad O daughter Hierusalem for loe thy King commeth vnto thee euen the righteous and Sauiour lowly and simple is he The poore simple sheepe that had a respect vnto me knewe thereby that it was the word of the Lord. You say the zeale of the Lordes house carried you so farre that you could not stay till you had published suche matter as came to your handes I for my part can not so conceiue that it was the Lordes zeale for there coulde not any one deale in such sort vse such spenches in writing as you haue done if he were carried by the zeale that the lord doth require It may rather be gathered that you had such a zeale as Iesus the sonne of Syrach writeth of where he saith Zeale and anger shorten the dayes of life and also There is nothing but wrath zeale fearefulnesse vnquietnesse feare of death ' rigours anger and strife c. But my desire is of the Lorde that he would plant the true zeale in vs all and then the loue v3 to loue God aboue all and our neighbour as our selues shoulde not be so despised and had in contempt with many as it is nowe in these dayes You say that Syr William Moore a worthy Iustice in Surrie had the examination of one or two of the Familie who vttered much matter which you are loth to write and yet in the end of your booke you haue set downe the Articles that were confessed before Syr William Moore the 28. of May 1561. by two of the Familie of loue You would haue it appeare to the readers as though there wer two at one time before a worshipfull Iustice of Peace and one or two at an other time before Syr William Moore and all those confessours were but two parties and one matter as you well knowe for you haue or haue had the written copie of the Articles with the names of those two parties that as it is said were the confessours of the saide Articles before Syr William Moore who was not at that time v3 the 28 of May. 1561. knowne or called by the name of Syr William Moore for he was but an Esquire What false and forged matter is set downe in the saide Articles and that the confessours of them are nor neuer were of the Familie of Loue I leaue to the iudgement of the same two parties and of all those that haue had haue or shall haue the cause in question and will consider of it with indifferencie Concerning the citizen your neighbour whome you doe so often name in your booke to discredit him as much as in you lyeth although you haue nâ— iust cause so to doe I leaue to the iudgement of all those discreet wise sober and honest citizens his neighbors who haue had at any time to deale with him there or else where and also to the discreete wise sober vertuous and godly learned that haue had at any time conference with him I hope you will from hence foorth take heede how you mâ—ke any such attempts to speake or write vpon report nor belye wrest ne peruert any authours writings for lyars shall haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone What Authour hath written any booke if one shoulde deale therewith as you haue done with this Authours writing but there might be founde many faultes c. To me as I suppose you are vnknown but if I should write what I haue heard of you and of Maister Bateman your furtherer in this your attempt vpon report happily you nor he wold scarse take it in good part It were good and according to the rule of the holy Scripture that all fault finders wold first looke into them selues that it be not saide Hypocrite first cast out the beame out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearely to plucke out the moâ—e that is in thy brothers eye c. I haue presumed to be so bolde as to certifie you my minde touching a fewe pointes of your booke hoping not lesse but you will take this my simple plaine and rude hand writing in good part although it lacke good Methode and doe wish that my time of leasure woulde haue permitted me to certifie you my minde in many other paintes of your booke but for as much as my time wil not serue thereto I am constrained to hold my self coÌ„tented Thus M. Rogers I bid you farwel wishing to you as to my self althogh there be many ways paths walked in of those that do trauell in religion â—reuer the right pathway be found which is to followe Christe Iesus our Sauiour in his footsteps yet I hope our God will in the end bring vs all into the same right path and that our sinnes shall be by and through the death passion and bloudsheading of our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ done away and be of the number of those that shall be set on the right hand to whoÌ„ our sauiour Iesus Christ when he coÌ„meth in his glory al the holy Angels with him shal say vnto Com ye blessed childreÌ„ of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you froÌ„ the beginning of the world c. to the end I might through the power of the lord be one of the number of the elect haue I had my exercise in the Scriptures And to the end that I might be furtherer in the vnderstanding of the Scriptures I haue read diuers Authors who haue set too their helping hand to the opening of the Scripture so farre foorth as the Lorde gaue them vnderstanding thereof and although some haue in diuers pointes varied in iudgement Salomon saith
Therefore to conclude for our true principles we referre you to the briefe rehersall and for any other difference to these premisses and all other doubtes we haue sufficiently resolued you as wee thinke in plaine speeche out of hartie loue Let this therefore suffise for an aunswere at this time The Lorde for his mercie graunt you and vs all inclyned heartes to doe his will but first to leaue our owne will and to indeuour vs with all the elect of God and Christe to the renouation in the spirite vz. that wee all in one heart of godly loue mought as liuing stones bee fast couched or coupled together in Iesus Christe to an holy house temple or familie of Loue or of God in as much as God is Loue and not any longer to striue but much rather as seruanntes of the Lorde in all meekemindednesse to humble our soules vnder this his great grace loue and mercie wherevnto wee all are so louingly called and warned by him and his holie Gospell in the ministration of the loue in the last time Amen This aunswere is to your first Letter Your louers and friends F. L. The answere of I. R. to the reply of the Family of Loue. BY perusing of your reply to my first answere I perceiue that our conference is to small purpose for that you cōtinue stil of the same mind you were and your crabbed slaunderous words towards me is nothing impaired with your smooth answer saying we charge you not with weightes wares c. If you of purpose had not charged me here with what néeded any mention of such slaunders but as in other thinges so in this you bewray your stomacks and of what spirite you are You take witnes My Lord of Canterburie whose minde concerning your great Rabby Vittell is knowen to many You affirme the cause I take in hande is surely dishonest The cause is Christes whose office and death is impaired and made of no effect by your doctrine of perfection and shadowed by H. N. so darkely that the children of GOD abiding in the vnitie of his Church do greatly lament your follie You say I haue belyed and slaundered my poore neighbours impudently and yet you shewe no matter wherein only you finde fault with vnorderly setting downe your Authours spéech No man can kéepe order with him that is without order Of adding diminishing you often charge me and shewe not in what place nor in what sentence I will not vse your vnhonest tearmes of impudencie but surely you deale in this case as the Papistes are woont to charge the doctrine of Christs Gospell which we professe that it bréedeth sedition that it pulleth Princes out of their seats openeth a gap to liber tie c. which howe truely these are imputed the eies of al do at the last behold The feare of our rigorous dealing forceth you to lurke in corners you say what rigour I pray you was euer shewed either to you or your companions the Papistes for their conscience Imprisonment you would say vpon submission which is no rigor Of such an houshold as we haue challenged to our selues you say you are strangers we confesse our selues to be of no other houshold then of Christes staying vpon the puritie of his word if you will be straungers from the same willingly it is great pitie You had rather follow H. N. then Christ and yet confesse that H. N. signifieth not any mans name but hath some other meaning which you ne wee can tell What a lamentable case is this that men hauing any sence or vnderstanding would credite such vncerteine wayes to follow an Authour doctrine so egerly and yet confesse you are ignoraunt who he is or what he is As for your confession published as I saide it is a mockerie for it is sounde and agréeing to vs Why halt you so cunningly Why will you dance in a nett and not be séene Do you in your confession impugne the doctrine of predestination or the possibility of the law c. or doe you once mencion the same therein and yet in your letters you shewe your dislyking of such doctrine terming it licentious Is not this déep dissembling and yet call it plaine dealing I would not haue you accuse your selues as you vniustly charge me but vse a simple and playn trueth and shew your minds truely and not hide it craftely and set downe pointes of doctrine agréeable with vs and say it is your confession of faith where you conceale the chéefe matters in variance betwéen vs Oh when will you deale plainly a wicked doctrine requireth shiftes and delayes but trueth openeth her selfe plainly to al in y day light And for your weakelings which haue recanted you say they were suche as coulde scarsely read english You forget your selfe very much was Sharpe and his companie which recanted at the crosse were they suche as you would beare vs in hand simple Sharpe was a teacher and others that I could name were not of the least account among you yet to help their weakenesse you call them simple men c. I know that some of thē haue followed the doctrine of H. N. these 18. yeares I take you not to be so olde a scholler in the Family You say you wil not conuince vs by the testimonies of the scriptures for it lyeth not in your power neither were you so dealt withall Surely this is very straunge It is the Lord that hath conuinced you and brought you vnder his Crosse but I pray you came this to passe by reuelation or by mans ministery If man was the minister you would haue vs beléeue that H. N. was he but it appeareth not that you are vnder Christes Crosse for in patience he suffered all wrongs and there was no deceipt nor guile found in his mouth He commanded his doctrine to be published to all the worlde not in corners but on the house toppe not faintly and fearefully but boldely and couragiously he suffered contumelious spéech and slaunderous but you do vse spéech of slaunder and disdaine as appeareth so that you haue not learned Christes crosse but H. N. his crosse As for Maister Knewstubs doings as yet not exstant you rashly and foolishly cauill at him before you heare him and condemne his doinges before you sée them and say that he will display himselfe euen as I haue done This is impudencie in the highest degrée to iudge and condemne a man before he be heard what he can say this doeth bewray of what mind and spirite you are What conference can do you good It séemeth your heart is hardned with the riddles of H. N. y so make your selues knowen to all Gods children it had bene more agréeable to the spirite of God to haue suspended iudgement vntill the worke had bene séene My adherentes in diriston you often name I tel you truly that the church of Christ Iesus are those adherents for I mainteine no other doctrine then y which in Christs Churche by publique
Howe he commendeth euery trifling toye in the Masse by the booke may at large appeare Howe he allowed confession worse then auricular may appear by diuers his owne words which least any should carpe at me I wil set down Howe he agréeth with the Papistes in extolling workes as efficient causes of our saluation I haue before toucheâ— Al which do proue that he is no professour but an enimie to the Gospell of Christe our Lorde H. N. in the first exhortation Chapter 13. Diuision 12. IT is expedient that they shoulde make manifest their whole hart with all their counsels mindes willes and thoughtes together with all their doings dealings and exercises naked and bare before the eldest in the Familie of Loue and not to couer or hide any thing be it what it is before him what their inclination nature draweth them vnto By this it doth appeare that nothing must be kept vntolde or vnreuealed to the eldest Elder in euery their seuerall conuenticles for else it can not be vnderstoode that one man in one countrie shoulde heare all the rest particularly And here they step one foote before the Papistes in my opinion For where the Pope requireth but a confession of the act committed H. N. requireth a declaration of the thought and what the inclination of our nature draweth vs vnto And yet in moe speciall pointes they agrée with the Papistes namely in the possibilitie of the Law to be kept of euery one that will séeke to performe the same And wheras I shewed before that H. N. and the Pope doe both boaste that they can not erre I thinke it not amisse to let H. N. tel his owne tale touching this matter that his scholers may behold that I slaunder him not neither do make his doctrine worse then it is In the first exhortation Chapter 13. Diuision 11. Fol. 31. They ought to beware that they distrust not the eldest in the familie of Loue nor suspect any maner of euil or vnwisdome by him nor yet in any wise persuade them selues that the exercises documents and instructions which are taught or set foorth before them by the father of the Familie of Loue or oldest Elder are too sleight too childish or too vnwise for them to follow after or to obey but with perfect heartes humbly and singly minded as good willing children to receiue the same instructions proceeding out of the wisdome and counsel of the eldest and to stand euen so submitted till they come vnto the manly oldnesse in the Loue. Here is shewed that none must suspect the oldest Elder touching any false Doctrine that he might vtter â–ª nor to thinke any vnwisdome to be in him in which affirmation howe arrogantly doth he challenge that vnto him which is only due to Christ our Lord and to the holy scripture written by the spirite of god And although he bost that he hath the spirite of God and that he is Godded with God God in him Hominified or made man yet are not wée to beléeue suche lying spirites whiche vtter such absurd and blasphemous doctrine contrarie to the Scriptures of god And bycause I am entered into that high point of Diuinitie which amongst the Familie is counted a misterie I thinke it not impertinent to set before the eyes of all the professours of H. N. and his doctrine what the meaning of those termes are to be Godded with God for as they be straunge vnwoonted and vnaccustomed speaches so the doctrine taught in the same is more strange and absurd It were conuenient that we that professe Christe should be content with such phrases as the holy Ghoste doth vtter in the sacred Scriptures and not to séeke curiously strange termes which are not in the holy historie nor consequently can not be gathered out of the same of which number this is one to be Godded with God and vngodded with man the meaning of all such tearmes is this as it is taught by H. N. and imbraced of the Familie They holde as a principle in the schoole that after regeneration we sinn not fortifying this their assertion with this place of the Euangelist S. Iohn He that is borne of God sinneth not hee that committeth sinne is a seruaunt of sinne Againe God heareth not sinners All which places are very truely saide and alledged but to a wrong purpose for the places do not proue that the regenerate man sinneth not but sheweth y sins are not imputed to a regenerate man to condemnation and death He that is borne of God or regenerate sinneth not That is to his distruction euerlastingly The Scriptures do teach vs to distinguish sinnes in this sort to commit sinne is one thing but to abide in sinne or to dwell in sinne or sinne to haue dominioÌ„ in vs as S. Paul saith Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies and in the epistle to the Romanes Commit not wickednesse with greedinesse is another thing The last perteineth not to the elect of God For as the children of God do daily fall thorough frailtie and humane imperfections so they are daily renued by the spirite of God which driueth them to repentaunce But with the wicked the case is otherwise For they sitte downe in the seate of the scornefull they committe wickednesse with gréedines saying tush God séeth vs not such sinners God heareth not and such be seruantes vnto sinne Now in the Familie it is otherwise taught and otherwise beléeued For they affirme that after we be regenerated which they terme The vpright freedom we actually sin not neither in thought nor déed And y we may heare the Authour H. N. vtter his own spéech I will set downe what he writeth touching this matter In the Dialogue deuision 26. follio 40. The true freedom is this that the man in his heart minde and spirite be wholy released purged and purified from all wicked nature and sinne whiche hath raigned ouer him and that there dwel liue nor rule any other thing in him namely in all his spirites thoughts mind and soule but alone the true Godhead with the louely beeing of the vpright loue and wholy to be replenished with all the vertues of God and that there â—â—owe nothing else in him but spirituall and heauenly waters Hereby it may appeare what the Authour H. N. thinketh touching regeneration whiche they call The vpright Freedome And as I haue conferred with diuers of the same familie to vnderstand these mysteries which in the end with much a do I haue found out to be y after we be regenerat we sinn not And when I haue required somewhat out of y holie scripture to proue this in the end I haue receiued this for answer God doth promise to dwell with the man that is of a lowly mind humble heart Also ye are the Temples of the holie Ghost And againe the father and I wil make our habitation in man Nowe where Christ dwelleth there also is the father and the holie Ghost where or in
what man soeuer God thus dwelleth it may be well verified God dwelleth in him if God dwell in him then the contrarie can not remaine in the same bodie God is pure and will not dwell in a corrupt vessell Two contraries can not be in one place Christ and Beliall can not dwell in one temple Light and darknes can not be together That man y hath God thus dwelling in him may be called Godded or god dwelling in him so y by this reason man is God ded with God and God Hominified in man This their Rabbynes or Illuminat Elders do teach and whatsoeuer this Godded man doth speake thinke or do it cannot be euill neither may be so iudged by any What vain doctrine this is may wel appeare euen in it self yet I was long acquainted much trauelled in y matter before I could get this great mysterie opened vnto me which y yong ones in the Familie can not explicat except he come vnto the state of an illuminate Elder And as I haue before proceeded so you shal sée the authour H. N. vtter his owne words whereby no suspicion shall arise that I haue spoken that I can not proue H. N. in the dialogue Chapter 16. diuision 16. It becommeth not that any should take in hand to teach but onely the illuminat Elders in the Familie of Loue whiche haue receiued the worde of life from the liuing GOD and are euen so through the same Godded with God or incorporated to God with whome also God in one being and power of his spirite is hominified or become man Therfore it is assuredly al false and lyes seducing and deceitfull what the vngodded or vnilluminat men out of the imagination of their knowledge and out of their learnednesse of the scriptures bring forth institute preach or teache They preache in deede the letter but noâ— the word of the liuing god Let them esteem them selues as holy as they will they are a false Christianitie and diuelishe Synagogue or schole â–ª Now maist thou perceiue how this H. N. estéemeth all preachers and teachers that are not thus Godded or thus illuminate In déede I confesse that without the spirite of GOD which his children be partakers of we can not sée nor perceiue the mysteries conteined in his worde muche lesse declare the same to others But that we must be Godded with God because the scriptures vse no such phrases neither hath any writer before vs in Gods church vsed any such proud spéeches I thinke with the Author they are to be reiected in that sence that he meaneth For béeing thus Godded or illuminate he standeth vpon his tiptoes and saith H. N. out of the prophesie Chap. 3. Although ye dissemble with me and how craftily so euer ye couer you before me yet are neuerthelesse all the counsels and falshoods of your hearts manifest before mee and so much the more naked and bare before the eyes of my heart and spitite If these words do not proue H. N. to be a wicked deceiuer let the indifferent Reader iudge He affirmeth that the secretes of our hearts are knowen vnto him which knowledge perteineth only vnto the Lord our God For he is witnessed by the holy scripture to be the searcher of the hearte and reignes of man. Thus how H. N. teacheth his family that he is Godded with God I haue described the rather because it is one of y chéef mysteries secrets of their schoole which verie fewe do vnderstand except the illuminate Elders who also are Deified or Godded till they doe growe vnto the manly oldenesse in the loue as they vse to speake These blasphemies doe require a longer discourse then my simplicitie is able to atteine vnto but I hope Almightie GOD will rayse vppe vnto his Churche some good man who will take some paines learnedly to confute this horrible doctrine In the mean season these briefes I haue set downe mindinge to let some of the Family sée the vanitie of their Authourand his doctrine howe contrarie to the Scriptures of God they be In the Booke of H. N. intituled EuangeÌ„lium Regni The Gospell of the kingdome which is a title that none of Gods children durst euer giue vnto any of their Bookes and in déede it is another Gospell then that which is conteined in the Newe Testament of our Sauiour Christe How â–ª H. N. aduaimceth the Pope and his Cardinals doeth manâ—â—estly appeare in the 13. Chapter of the same Booke â–ª The Apostle Paule did arme Gods children a forehand to beware of suche as should bring vnto vs another gospel yea although he were an Angell it is also â—â—â—â—ifled that our aduersarie doeth transforme himselfe into an Angell of light to deceiue Gods childreÌ„ if it were possible â–ª Euen so H. N. in all his writinges how doth he transforme himself to be deified with God God in him to be Hominified Which in plain 〈◊〉 are y he is made euen as God God in him is become man â–ª which is hortiâ—â—e blasphemie For we haue the spirite of God by participation and not Deified For that belonged to Christ our Lorde who as S. Paule witnesseth thought it no robberie to be equal with god No man would suppose that in this great light where Christ Iesus and his glorious Gospell doth shine that such dotinges and dreames of men possessed with a fantasticall spirite could take any déepe roote in the heartes of men but alas we sée y there is no errour bee it neuer so absurd senselesse y hath not many fauourers this hath the more for that the Authour H. N. teacheth that an outwarde shewe of a holie life doth chéefely please God when as without faith our life and works are impietie and wickednesse and you shal neuer in all the writings of H. N. that I haue read heare him aduance or once speake of our faith in Christ Iesus but he doth raunge from matter to matter in his writings so obscurely and darkly that he thinketh neuer to be espied what his scope of doctrine is which in déed is not so plainly set forth in his smal treatises as they are in a booke intituled SpeculuÌ„ iustitiae The glasse of righteousnesse vnto which booke the authour doth still referre his reader to be fully certified of which booke they make suche bragges that all the world is not able to control the doctrine contained in the same and still their Elders do beare their pupils in hande that the booke shall be published From day to day great collections haue bene made and sent into Flanders there aboute but hitherto all in vaine Yet I haue talked with some of the Familie that hath read certain fragments of the same booke and they say no man can resist the spirite which the authour doth shewe foorth in that booke They thinke it is long lacking but I suppose it will neuer be missing Howe vainely they boast of such bookes is well verified in one of the Familie who speaking vnto a man of
our simple people out of the plame wayes of the Lorde our God and hath put so many toyes of this authour H. N. into their heades that I feare me they will not easily be remoued What trauell he hath taken howe he hath trudged from countrie to countrie and howe he will not once moue his speach if any learned or godly persons that hath any true knowledge of the worde be present is very wel known but among the simple he is péerelesse and in déede the oldest Elder of our English Familie amongst whome he hath his maintenance His wife is resident in London with whom as is supposed he hath not bene these two-yeares In corners doth this man créepe and dare not shewe his head nor maintaine that doctrine which he hath taught but certaine of his pupils haue béene imprisoned who in the end haue subscribed against thâ— doctrine of H. N. which Vittel doth teach Euerie doctrin whiche is true dare abide the light but the doctrin of H. N is kept in corners dare not abide the light a certeine Argument that it is a counterfet doctrine For no one man dare once open his mouth or put penne to paper to defende their Author in England but amongst the simple whose capacitie is like vnto waxe which will easily receiue euerie seale or print among such will he sound his trumpe He saith the last trumpe shall blowe by which he vnderstandeth the last doctrine which shal be published vpon earth â–ª which is as he saith this doctrine of H. N. How he miserably doeth expound the holie scripture vnto the simple people in corners my heart doth lament how he driueth the true sense of the holie Ghost into allegories it pitieth me to heare and other wise to interpret the holie scripture is to sticke in the letter as he vntruly affirmeth But woe be vnto those simple people which doe giue eare vnto such false teachers they can not with the Lorde our God pleade simplicitie and ignorance by no meanes can excuse them If the blinde leade the blinde they both fall into the ditche The greatest gréefe that I conceiue against y Nouices of y Family is that some of them haue béene prosessours of Christ Iesus Gospel according to the brightnesse thereof which by his good will and pleasure he hath reuealed in this latter age most plentiously and now by the doctrine of this Vittell are declined so farre that the true sense of the Gospel they despise and followe the baine and fantasticall humor of Vittels allegories a man vtterly vnlearned more fitte to be a scholler in Christes schoole then an Illuminat Elder in the Familie and so a teacher He that neuer learned Christe Iesus truely â–ª howe caÌ„ he teach Christ Iesus to others And in déede if he taught Christe Iesus he were to be borne withall but that is not the marke they shoote at To set vp H. N. as a Prophet to aduance his preceptes to credite his spéeche to beléeue that he is Godded with God and cannot erre is their whole indeâ—our But amongst the rest in déede they insinuate a good life which they pretende to followe which is as the visard and cloake to hide al the rest of their grosse and absurde doctrine and the hooke and baite whereby the simple are altogether deceiued And this is the subtiltie of Sathan who otherwise could not preuaile with such bewitched doctrine except it were shadowed vnder the cloake of outward holinesse For there is no sound argument a good life is all that is required for vs to do with this the Familie doe séeme to presse Gods children often in conference For if y will serue to saluation I sée not how the Iewe or Turke can be excluded whose workes outwardly if they be viewed shall condemne vs. Howe close vnto the letter of the lawe doeth the Iewe sticke How willingly doe they abide as vagrant and banished men in euerie countrie How pitifully doe they reléeue their brethren whiche want so that none is found to want that which another is not ready to supply which are notes markes of charitie or loue and truely in my opinion we come not néere the Iewe in this point But I pray you what doeth all this auaile without a true and a righte fayth in Christ Iesus the sonne of God The Turke likewise is a great diligeÌ„t obseruer of his Alcaron a great faster or absteiner a great giuer of almes diligent in prayer seuere in kéeping his worde and promise verie charie in kéeping his Sabbathes verie obedient to Princes and Magistrates and to speak truth in many outward vertues doth farre excell vs Christians to our shame it may be spoken but what doth all this auayle For so much as they blaspheme Christ the sonne of God and denie his Godhed and resurrection they haue no part nor fellowship with vs of the promise of God touching Christ our Lord neither are partakers of his mercie which through Christe we féele in our heartes to our great consolation comfort Without faith it is vnpossible to please God. Therefore aright faith in Christe our Lord is cheefely to be required and sought after and then our workes will of necessitie follow For it is the proper fruite of that excellent trée a true faith can neuer be without his works which sticke so close together that they are inseparable A faithfull man can neuer be without good-workes no more then fire can be without heate and yet a faithful man is not without sinne as H. N. doth auouche of his regenerate man We haue many examples to proue that a faithfull man or a regenerat man doth sinne often and to vse the wordes of the Prophet Dauid Septies in die cadit iustus seuen times a day doth the righteous fal This caÌ„not be vnderstood but of a faithfull and regenerat man Dauid was regenerate when he fell into whoredome and murther Peter was regenerat wheÌ„ he denied with cursing Christ our lord Paule was regenerate when he solemnly pronounced those wordes Christe Iesus came into the world to saue sinners of the which number I am the greatest And I am persuaded that we are neuer so néere vnto God our Lorde as when we féele sinne moste heauie God calleth not such as be emptie or féele not the loade of sinne but Come vnto mee all ye that are loaden with sinne I wil refresh you I speake not of the reprobate who in déede féele in this life a hell in their conscience and do dispaire but GODS children do féele themselues wounded with sinne euen to death but by grace giuen from aboue they doe apply that souereigne salue that wholsome medicine Christe Iesus whose passion hath purchased whose bloud hath cleansed whose death hath cured all our diseases and maladies This comfort doth H. N. take away from his Family and placeth in stéed thereof his owne preceptes without comfort to a troubled minde For his doctrine is That wee must growe vp vnto the manly oldnesse
in the loue which in playne tearmes is to growe to perfection and to be without sinne which they affirme in this life to be brought to passe If this be good doctrine then the holie Scripture is contrarie 1. Iohn first Chapter If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. Likewise Paule Rom. 8. verse 20. The creature is subiect to vanity not of his owne will but by reason of him that subdued it vnder sinne To the Galathi Chapter 5. verse 17. The flesh Iusteth against the spirite and the spirite against the fleshe continually These are contraries the one to the other so that ye cannot doe the same thinges that ye would And Almightie God did pronounce vpoÌ„ man at the beginning this saying God sawe that the wickednes of mans heart was great and all the imaginations and thoughtes of his heart were euill continually Gen. Chapter 6. verse 5. The whole scope of the holie Scripture doth proue that God hath shut vp all vnder sinne Now if H. N. or his Il luminate Elders will still auouch that they are without sinne then may I as truly aledge y they are without christ Let the terrible example of Sharpe and Allin moue you to coÌ„sider how desperat a doctrine you imbrace whose souden deaths without any comfort in Christ may remaine as an example to all posteritie For the Author of this errour is Satan who in a desperate state leaueth his pupils For it was pride that caused almightie GOD to execute his iudgement vpon him his state béeing angelical so likewise he séeketh to bring man into the same destruction by the same meanes through pride and presumption that we are pure without sinne and so exalting our selues we might haue the swifter damnation For Almightie God hath cast our condition state so lowe that without his mercie set foorth by Christe we all perishe as is witnessed by Paule * God hath included vs vnder sinne * Also both Iewes and Gentiles are vnder sinne as it is writteÌ„ There is none righteous no not one c. We are neuer so néere vnto our God as when we féele our sinne as a burthen or heauie loade lying vppon our conscience nor neuer further off then when we féele or testifie that we are without sinne which persuasion Sathan doth féede our humours withall contrarie to the holie Scripture Therfore I conclude that this principle to liue in this life without sinne is méerely the suggestion of Sathan and not of the spirite of god Christ Iesus came into the worlde to saue sinners And againe I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentaunce If Henrie Nicholas and his Illuminate Elders be now without sinn Christe came not for to saue them * For there is none other name vnder heauen giuen to men by which we shal be saued but Christ Iesus Therefore manifestly it appeareth that H. N. and his Illuminat Elders are clean excluded and haue no néede of Christe for his office and death doeth properly belong to sinners then consequently not to them Therefore ye nouices of the Family which sée not into what daunger Christopher Vittell H. N. doeth miserably bring your troubled mindes looke wel betimes espye their subtiltie leaue the doctrine which is without comfort and hath no warrant in the holie scripture forsake those péeuish and darke riddles of H. N. and cleaue vnto the holie scripture leaue the phantasies of H. N. and his scholler Vittell and by little and little ye shall espie their craft and subtiltie how they set vp them selues and not Christ Iesus how they teach false doctrine which dare not abide the light nor they are not able to defend and yet persuade you in corners that it is the spirite of God by whiche they speake How gréeuous ye are vnto the Church of GOD may appeare by the trauell which is taken for your sakes what offence ye giue what stumbling blockes ye are vnto the simple whome ye ought not to offend no not the least let your conscience beare witnesse * It is necessarie that offences come but woe bee vnto them by whome they come Know this for certeine without the Arke there is no saluation except ye abide in the vine Christe ye bring foorth no fruite ye cannot serue two maisters béeing so contrarie If ye cleaue to H. N. and his doctrine ye haue no parte nor fellowshippe with Christe Iesus for H. N. destroyeth the office of Christe our Lorde and taketh away the comfort of his Gospel in stéede whereof he placeth his vpright fréedome with a perfection in this life suche as the holie Scripture alloweth not For our battell is continuall and shall neuer haue end vntill our flesh be dissolued and we at rest in Christe If we must atteine to suche perfection in this life as H. N. sheweth then our Sauiour Christe did in vaine teache vs to pray continually Forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue c. Also Leade vs not into temptation Which petitions are without effect if his doctrine be true Therefore as ye loue your own soules beware of his doctrine examine it better acknowledge Christ Iesus and his Gospell and leaue the drowsie dreames of a doting Dutchman and the erronious spirite of Christopher Vittell arude and vnlearned Ioyner And although they boast neuer so much of the spirite yet vse the counsell of the holie Ghost Beleeue not euerie spirite but trie y spirit whether he be of God. Think not within your selues that they cannot erre it is a priuiledge not giuen to mortal man but only to our immortall God. God is true and all men are liers Beléeue not that his Bookes are written by the spirite of God for God is not contrarie to himselfe the doctrine of H. N. is manifest contrarie to God the doctrine published by Christ in his gospel If ye continue in the Family of H. N. ye denie Christ. We may not hold of Paule or Apollo for they were not crucified for vs we are counted Christs friendes if we doe those things that he commaundth What haue we to dâ—e with H. N. or his commaundementes â–ª Deceiue not â—our selues with your pretenced the we of a holie life but confesse with the Prophet Dauid Psalme 130. If thou Lorde shouldest looke straightly vpon sinnes Lorde who should abide it â–ª Euen the holâ—est y euer were being â—arthly men haue néede to call vppon God in this manner with the beloued Prophet Dauid If you imagine that your workes do helpe or profite you to saluation ye are with the Pelagians and Papistes demers of the grace of God in Christe our Lord in which doctrine of merite there is no comfort nor consolation If ye continue still in the Family of H. N. there is neither hope nor helpe for you Christes sacraments you conteâ—ine which are to vs the seales and cognisances of our redemption and tokens of his couenant and promise Ye haue forsaken the
fayth which Christe Iesus planted in you and haue digged vp puddels of corupte waters vnto your selues Consider I pray you front whence ye are departed and whether you are come ye are gone from the comfortable promises in Christe Iesus touching the forgiuenesse of our sinnes our consolation redemptiō are driuen too fro with many vaine persuasions of H. N. that first you shall be made partakers of the holie vnderstanding then inioye the vpright fréedome to be frée from sinning and lastly come to be an Illuminate Elder to be Deified with God with such fantasies are ye fedde and suche doctrine are ye taught but how these thinges agrée with the holie Scripture is partely shewed before Miserably is your simplicitie deceiued through these false teachers and yet howe vnwilling ye are to sée this your nakednesse made manifest by proofe I can testifie Haue a regard at the last vnto your owne soules whiche Christe hath déerely bought if you perteine vnto him let them not be snared in such doctrines of men yea men of the worst sort But if there be any loue of GOD in you loue the Lorde Iesus and be of his Churche which you can not be imbracing H. N. and his doctrine Consider his loue his mercie and his patience in suffering vs to fall into many temptations that our returne might be the more ioyfull to him I pray you marke but this one thing in their teaching how they driue the true sense of the holie Ghost into allegories And when so euer any texte of the holie Scriptures is alledged by any of Gods children they aunswere that we little vnderstande what is meant thereby and then if they be pressed to expounde the place by and by it is drawne into an allegorie For they take not the creation of man at the first to be historicall according to the letter but méere allegoricall alluding that Adam signifieth the Earthly man the Garden the Woman the Serpent to be within man and applying stil the allegory they destroye the trueth of the historie H. N. in the first Epistle deuision 19. For. H N. biddeth his Familie Come eate of the tree of life that standeth in y midst of the paradise of the Lord Come eate and taste of the hidden bread of the Loue and liue eternally And as they expound this place thus euen so doe they all the whole course of the scripture leauing nothing certeine to our fayth for by as good righte may they make an allegorie of Christes death and Passion and say that CHRIST signifieth annointed and so alluding and following that sense denie that the man Christe Iesus died and so by application of the Allegorie diminish our faith and hope And in déede when I was earnestly solicited by some of the Family to imbrace that way which the mercie of the Lord kept me from the first steppe that I should haue entered into the depth of their diuinitie was to learne the signification of the Hebrue names of the Scripture and thereby to expound the same What a miserable case is this to sée the holie Scriptures thus drawen from the true sense into Allegories whiche may be taken many wayes euen as the vaine imagination of man can deuise And surely it is verie pernicious and hurtefull thus to expound the holie Scripture and yet the simple people not séeing the deceipte hereof doe thinke that these bée notable men and haue the spirite of GOD and that they teache them suche thinges therby as they neuer heard of before I denie not but sometimes the allegory may be well applied and to good purpose but when we applie the allegorie to destroy the true sense of the holy ghost it is by no meanes to be admitted For if we take such true histories as the holy Ghost hath left to his Church wherby he sheweth what his will is and drawe the same into an allegorie what do we leaue certain that our faith may depend vpon and where is our hope if allegories may haue place For as I saide before they expound this place of Saint Paule 1. Cor. The last trumpe shall blowe and the dead shall rise c. The last trump is the last doctrin whiche shal be blowne vpon the earth whiche is this of H. N. And the dead shall rise that is ▪ such as were dead in sinne shall be raised vp by the same trumpe of doctrine What a horrible matter is this to sée the holy Scripture thus drawen like waxe vnto euery purpose A man would thinke that no man hauing his senses would euer credit such fantasies and vanities but I know too many that haue a speciall liking of this teaching do unbrace it as the trueth of god Many partes of this our countrey is pitifully snared by such vaine techers as Christopher Vittell is yea not a few ministers of the simple sort are her with intangled with sorrow I speak it and I wold to God that the chiefest place in this realme were frée of these men If we should examine what is the cause of this errour surely our sinnes is the chiefe which doth prouoke the iustice of GOD to afflict vs with such false teachers and the negligence of our ministers which eyther can not or will not impugne their errour in countrie townes where it is imbraced The malice of Sathan is not behind who séeing the ioyful succéeding of the Gospell of Christ the sonne of God doth stirre his stumps in his members to impugne the same There is no Apothecarie in the worlde able to qualifie the bitternesse of his potion or medicine as our enimie is to qualifie the bitter and poysoned doctrin of H. N. Vittell with such swéete pretences of a holy life and vpright conuersatiō which in déed are but mere visars cloaks to shadow horrible blasphemie Such subtiltie hath Sathan that nowe enuying Christ ▪ Iesus his gospel doth stirre vp his members to disquiet the Church of God with this absurd senslesse errour And surely we were forewarned of such seducers that in the latter times would deceiue the simple the holy Ghost doth set thē foorth what kind of men they should be proud boasters y they haue the spirite of God as is witnessed 1. Tim. 4. vers 1. In y latter days some shal depart from the faith and shal giue heede vnto the spirites of errour doctrines of diuels And againe the 2. Epist. 3. chap. vers 5. Hauing a shewe of godlinesse but haue denied the power thereof turne away therefore from such Also Peter 2. Epist. 2. Chap. vers 1. But there were false Prophets also among y people euen as there shall bee false teachers among you whiche priuily shall bring in damnable heresies euē denying y Lord that hath bought them bring vpon them selues swift damnation and many shal follow their damnable wayes by whome the way of trueth shal be euil spoken of The same Chapter verse 21. For it had bene better for them not to haue
slacke You once did abhorre the Pope as Antichrist and nowe doe imbrace an Authour a right chicken of the Church of Rome who hath opened the mysteries of the Masse and euery trifling toy therein at large in his booke intituled A declaration of the Masse Alas brethren is your faith which once you had in the mercifull promises of Christe Iesus come to this that an obscâ—re man whose person you knowe not and whose books you did neuer vnderstand aright hath stopped that liuely fountaine that did once flow in you Assuredly it is the malice of sathan that hath brought this to passe y you being led out of the way into the bypathes of mans deuices might perish in the same But my hope is that as many of you as pertaine vnto our Lord and sauiour Christ Iesus and are members of the holy communion of Saints shall at the last be brought to sée howe déepe you are fallen and how sore ye haue ben wounded eueÌ„ to death by that deceiuer Christopher Vittell a man borne as it were of purpose for that intent whose erronious spirit the Church of God hath tasted many ways And marke this thing well that man that once is entred into heresies not wel reclaynied is subiect to manifold temptatioÌ„s of our enimie which is well proued in your instructer Vittel who teaching the monstruous opinion of Arrius many yeares together now is possessed with infinite moe errours and is the childe of destruction tenne folde worse then before It is a wonder to sée that men hauing once knowne Christ Iesus do now notwithstanding denie the effect of his office which the doctrine of Henrie Nicholas doth in many pointes and yet is beléeued and imbraced very gréedily of you yea aboue measure It should appear that Christ was not surely fixed in your mindes for if he had no blast of H. N. Vittell nor any could haue separated you from the loue of Christ Iesus Such wandering errours are they subiect vnto that perfectly doe not imbrace our Lord Christ according to his promises manifested and declared in his worde but féede themselues with fantasies and deuices of men yea such men as neuer lerned Christ Iesus truly Such are verified in the scripture Exiére à nobis sed â—on erant de nobis They went out froÌ„ vs but they were not of vs. Euery errour that hath bene in the worlde hath had some patrones and defenders learned and skilfull men in science and arte but this errour of the Familâ—e hath neither Authour nor disciple which are indued with true knowledge or learning For H. N. doth despise such as bring foorth any doctrine out of the learnednesse of the Scripture he saith it is all seducing and lyes that such doe preach or teach yea and it is further auouched by H. N. that none of vs in the Church of God â—an teach the truth of Christ Iesus but only he and such Illuminate Elders as are brought vp in his Familie But as I haue before procéeded it is â—â—uenient that their Authour speak himselfe that the Familie may iudge that I deale indifferently His wordes be these In the prophesie Chap. 8. verse 6. Strangers which walke not with the Familie of Loue or deale falsly therwith tast not of the louely beeing for earthly are all their mindes and thoughtes The Scripturely learned man hath no knowledge of Gods matters hee can not vnderstand any tittle much lesse expounde or interprete the same to others All Scripture appeare to such couered secret in signes and parables neither comprehende they what the same according to the trueth is It is giuen onely to the Familie of Loue to vnderstande the sesecretes thereof Hereby it is manifest that H. N. doeth signifie vnto his Familie that none can speak the truth but he his Elders nor none can vnderstande the scripture but they Upon this persuasion it coÌ„meth to passe y few or none in the Familie doth credite or beléeue any other that teach except H. N. or his Elders How pernitious this matter is if you credite his speach shal appeare And if truth be tied except he be sent If H. N. can proue vnto vs that he is sent of God as he boasteth then he is to be credited but we haue shewed that his voyces are not the voyce of God reuealed to vs by Christe Iesus but méere contrarie therefore by no meanes to be credited For none that is sent by God will teach any doctrine contrarie to that whiche is reuealed in the scripture For we are not to beléeue him although he be an Angel from heauen For H. N. teacheth not Christ but himself extolling him selfe his doctrine and his wisdome which is a token and marke that he is not led by the spirite of God but is puffed vp with the arrogant pride of his minde in boasting maner whiche Gods children did neuer follow For the holie spirite doeth promise to dwell in the man that hath a lowly and humble heart and not in the proud and arrogant person that boasteth himselfe The spirit of God is neuer boasting but in humilitie méekenesse and patience doth set foorth the glory of God christ And because we may better take a â—â—ll vewe of H. N. and his spirite I will set downe his owne words wherby it may be the better discerned of what spirit he is His wordes are these In the preface to his crying voyce Although our cause for a time bee condemned and dispised yet the iust and vpright vnderstanding ones doe prayse and commende our godlie wisedome In the first exhortation Chapter 16. My children and you Familie of Loue giue â—are to me your father liue according to my doctrine that it may goe wel with you take heede to my doctrine and what I doe set foorth and teach that it may be a seale of life a witnes of truth in our heartes For it is your life Eodem libro capitulo If you humble your selues vnto the schoole of grace wherevnto you are called by me H. N. in the house of life and forsake your ignorant knowledge and good thinking then shall yee liue and inherite the peace In the Prophesie Chapter 4. O Ye Caynish ceremonie ministers and ye persecuters murtherers of the Abellishe vpright heartes ye haue falsely iudged the vpright harts as men worthy to be rooted out of the earth If therefore thou ceasse not from thy wicked workes and from thy iudging of God his matters whiche doubtlesse thou vnderstandest not therefore iudgest falsely if thou repent not all the curses of the Lawe shall be executed against thee In the last time the glorious Lordlinesse of the Lorde God shall in vs become manifested and declared in vs fulfilled Here mayst thou discerne H. N. and his boasting spirite howe he commendeth his godly wisedome then how he extolleth his doctrine saying that his doctrine is their life then he promiseth that his Family shall if they giue eare vnto him and his doctrine liue
mollifie your stonie heartes and renewe a right spirite within euerie one of you that your conuersion may be to Gods glorie and the reioysing of his Churche If it please you to reade these simple instructions which I haue written for your sake hurt thereby you can not haue if any good happen and that the Lord doe hereby open your eyes to beholde your errour giue glorie to the Lord our GOD whose mercie is ouer all his creatures and imagine as trueth is that I haue not so contumeliosly vsed your Authour H. N. as he hath bitterly dealt with vs in iudgeing the Church of Christ and all others that are not of his Family I will vse his owne spéeche In the first exhortation Chapter 7. 1 All such as beleue not the Loue nor are baptised in the name of the Father it is not meete to account suche vnbeleeuers and vnbaptised ones for Christians at whose handes we should looke to finde any word of trueth Capitulo eodem 2 The day of the Lorde and righteous iudgement of God shall burne in wrath and furie ouer all vngoldly which haue despised the Loue and her seruice and shal cōsume them as a fire to euerlasting condemnation in the fire of hell which is prepared for the diuell and his angels Article 10. 3 We confesse that no man shall obteine grace nor forgiuenesse of sinnes at Gods handes without the same commonaltie of holy ones in the Loue. In the sixt Chapter 4 But seeing we can not perceiue or finde the true beleefe of Christe among any people vpon earth that walke without the commonaltie of the loue but the same is manifested vnto the holy ones of GOD in the commonaltie of the Loue nor can bee witnessed by any other people or nation but onely the commonaltie of the holy ones in the Loue. In the prophesie Chap. 18. verse 38. 5 Ye shall through the requiring of the gratious word in the seruice of loue become incorporated to the louely nature of God. 1 Here I haue repeated certeine sentences taken out of H. N. whereby first is shewed that none can haue the truth which beléeue not in the loue y is whiche beléeue not as they do nor are baptised in the name of the father which they take not to be y sacrament of baptisme but a mysterie excéeding my capacity to vtter of incorporating vs into God. 2 Thē such as despise the Loue her seruice shal be consumed with fire euer lasting that is their teaching and seruice 3 No man can obteine grace nor forgiuenes except they ioyne with their commonaltie 4 No people vppon earth can truely beléeue in Christ but their Family and such as walke with them 5 Last of all they shall become incorporated to the nature of God through their seruice of Loue. Here ye may sée the summe of that godly wisdome that is in your Author his déepe diuinitie And surely in my minde it requireth no large discourse to confute the same the spéeche of it selfe doeth sufficiently bewray the minde of their Authour the effect whereof is he and his Family haue onely the trueth and all the world else are deceiued But I may boldly say and more truely that no people in the world that haue any religion but they hearing H. N. and his doctrine will iudge him to be a false Prophet a vain boaster and a deceiuer of suche as put any confidence in him whose doctrine is so absurde senslesse without comfort that none but idiotes or men without true religion will imbrace the same And although many simple people doe imbrace this vaine way by the subtiltie of Christopher Vittel and others yet I haue no doubt but the Lorde in mercie will beholde their simplicitie and giue vnto them a right spirite to discerne trueth from falshod If I were disposed to lay abroade euerie odious matter and euery Tragedie that I haue intelligence of in the Family I should but infert the eares of Gods children with much vile matter which I had rather burie in silence then by naming the persons to make them abhorred of the multitude I think it conuenient therefore to couer their turpitude rather then by manifesting the same to publishe such odious stuffe as would euen defile my pen to write Syr William Moore a woorthy Iustice in Surrey had the examination of one or two of the Familye who vttered much matter which I am loth to write I do gather it vpon this grounde that forsomuch as their Illuminat Elders do not sinne and what so euer they commit it cannot be sinne therfore if they fall into anye acte be it neuer so vngodly it can not be counted sinne as it procéedeth from them because they are Deified And what acte so euer they do it can not be sinne no more then the Prophete Osees whiche was commaunded to take a Harlot to his wife and to beget children in fornication and he did so Uppon such false and vaine persuasions what vile doctrine doeth followe the verie simple may perceiue I doe absteine therefore from further declaring or dylating of any such matter as this is least I should euen infecte the ayre therewith And if any of the Family doe suppose that I write maliciously without proofe let them signifie their minds vnto me and I shall satisfie them priuately of all such matter as I haue intelligence with the processe wholy and particularly And if they denie that Henrie Nicholas doeth boaste himselfe to haue the Spirite of GOD as I haue affirmed and not by participation but Godded with God or incorporated into GOD as he vseth to speake for my discharge I will let H. N. tell how and in what manner he hath it that you the Family and all other may perceiue what he is rightly His wordes be these The first Chapter of the prophesie the 2. diuision The Lord God of heauen moued me in his minde or spirit his power compassed me with a rushing noyse and the glorie of the same God became greate in my spirite of his loue in such wise that the clearenesse of God wholy inuironed me and shined round about me wherethorough the sight of mine eyes became clearer then the christall and mine vnderstanding more brighter then the Sunne He doeth not let to vtter vnto the Familie how mightely and gloriously the God of heauen is in him so that his sight and vnderstanding became clearer then the christall or the sunne whiche if it be true then it is méete that all generations of the earth submit themselues therevnto as he saith in his dialogue And surely this his boasting doeth darken the glorie of Christe Iesus with his Family excéedingly And this is beléeued credited among them the more pity and the simple are deluded and mocked with such vaine boasting spirites and it increaseth daily in the countrey and créepeth as a canker euery where through the smooth speach of their Elders But how close they kéep them selues and will not
vtter their mindes to any other that is not of their companie I can be both an eye witnes and eare witnesse which is a very subtil persuasion of sathan For that man that wil not vtter his griefe or sicknes and where the paine is howe or when caÌ„ he be healed it is an vnpossible cure Euen so in the Family they are so close and so warie in their speach that they will not vtter their griefe to any that can ease them Therfore so long as they continue in that minde they are remedilesse I shall not néede to confute their doctrin by the testimonies of holy scripture which in déede is easie to be done I doe reserue the same to some zealous pastour in Christs schoole which I dout not but as occasion serueth they wil be willing to perfourme It is ynough for me to beginne the skirmishe to display the Familie to make readie the way to discrie their force that others may come after and ouerthrowe their camp and put them to silence for euermore He that will rightly consider the originall of this heresie with the Authours what persons taught it first and when it did increase and growe shall sée that euen when the Gospell began to shine againe being couered with clouds and darkened with dreames of men then began Sathan in Dauid George to enuie the prosperitie of the Gospell Dauid died An. 1556. and then Henrie Nicholas supplyed his turne and followed his steppes not in Dauids name but in his owne name as a Prophet sent of God to rebuke the world and to bring them as he saith to the right wayes But more truely may it be affirmed that they peruert the simple which were entred into the right and plaine wayes of Christe our Lorde and haue brought them from the pure waters which are drawne out of the fountaine which the holy Ghoste by the scriptures doth offer vnto vs and doe giue them dregges and puddle which vngodly men haue digged out of the myre of their owne imagination and do deliuer it as drink sent of God to quench their thirst but they deceiue them most shamefully For to all our senses it doeth appeare to be ranke poyson and doeth slay the soules of euery one that doth vsually drink thereof If these simple admonitions may doe the least of you good giue glorie and prayse vnto the Lorde our God if not I haue discharged my dutie whiche I owe vnto Christe Iesus and his Churche in letting you sée the beginners of your bewitched follie And I shall not let to make my humble prayers vnto the Lorde our GOD euen for his sonne Christe Iesus sake that he will open your eyes and mollifie your stonie heartes that you may beholde the Lorde Iesus which was crucified for you who with his bloud hath cleansed washed your sinnes be they neuer so great that in his goodnesse and mercy he wil take away this erronious spirit wherewith ye are possessed and create in you a right spirite to be obedient to his will and not to the will of mortall men which seduce you and leade you headlong to destruction and that he wil bestowe vpon you his grace to sée rightly into his word without the vaine shadowes of allegories which deceiue you and leaue to vs nothing certaine and that you may â—leaue vnto the Gospel of Christ Iesus and forsake the vain trust you haue in your Deifying and to liue without sinne which I instantly desire our Lorde God to bring to passe for his sonne Christ Iesus sake Amen Certein absurd speeches taken out of the bookes of H. N. as errours of the Familie of Loue. 1 Howe and in what manner the Lorde God hath appeared to H. N. THE Lord God of heauen moued me in his minde or spirit his power compassed me with a rushing noise and the glorie of the same God of heauen became great in my spirite in such wise that the clearenes of God wholy inuironed me and shone round about me where thorough y sight of mine eyes became clearrer then the christall and mine vnderstanding brighter then the sunne When I then perceiued or vnderstoode it so the Lords meaning and will vnto me euen such as his beeing or essence spake vnto me For the being of God gaue forth his sound and voyce and spake vnto me H. N. through the spirit of his loue all these wordes 2. The secrets of our hearts are knowne to H. N. For although ye dissemble with mee and howe craftily so euer ye couer you before me yet are neuerthelesse all the counsels and falshoodes of your hearts manifest before mee and so muche the more naked and bare before the eyes of my heart and spirite For no beloued no ye can not bide couered before me nor before the face of my God. 3 H. N. can no more erre then Christ and his Apostles They doe iudge Moyses the Prophets Christe and his Apostles and his Minister H â–ª N. to erre and misse the right rather then to acknowledge them selues in their imagination to be ignorant and lying 4. The scriptures are fulfilled in H. N. and his Familie To the end nowe in the very last the Scripture and all what God hath spoken by his holy Prophetes and what is written of Christ should in vs and with vs become fulfilled to the honour and glory of God and to our ioy like as it standeth written Luke 1. ca. 24. vers 44. This is assuredly the heartie mercifulnesse of God ouer vs nowe in the last time to the end the glorious Lordlynesse of GOD should in vs become manifested and declared and the Scripture fulfilled 5 No man must mistrust H. N. in doctrine nor any euill to be in him They ought to beware that they distrust not the eldest in the Familie of Loue â–ª nor suspect any maner of euill or vnwisedome by him nor yet also in any wise persuade them selues that the exercises documents and instructions whiche are taught or set foorth before them by the Father of the Familie of Loue or oldest Elder are too slight too childish or too vnwise for them to followe after or to obey but with perfect hearts humbly and singly minded euen as good willing children vnto obedience to receiue the same instructions proceeding out of the wisdome counsel of the Eldest and to stand eueÌ„ so submitted always vnto the manly oldnesse in the loue 6 The maner of shrift vsed in the Familie It is expedient that they make maninifest their whole hearte with all their counselles myndes willes and thoughtes together with all their doinges dealings and exercises naked and bare before the Eldest in the Familie and not to hide any thing bee it what it is and al what their inclination and nature draweth them vnto and al things wherwith they become teÌ„pted in their heatrs If ye chaunce to offende or committe sinne confesse the same before the priestes and Elders and let all appeare nakedly
God and for that they alledge the wordes of S. Peter Submit you selues to the ordinaunces of the higher powers 24 They denie that Christ is equal with God the Father in his Godhead vppon this place of Scripture My Father is greater then I. 25 It is odious for them to say God the Sonne for they denie him to be God as is aforesaide 26 They denie the Trinitie scorning them that say God the Father God the sonne God the holy Ghost as though by saying these wordes they shoulde affirme to be thrée Gods. 27 They holde that no man should be baptised before he be of the age of xxx yeares And therefore haue diuers of them béene baptised at those yeares and vpwardes 28 They holde that euerie man ought first to be in an errour before hee canne come to the knowledge of the trueth 29 They say that as Christ raised the dead cleansed the lepre gaue sight to the blind and walked on the waters so doe they 30 They holde that heauen and hel are present in this worlde amongst vs and that there is none other for proofe thereof they alledge the xvij of Matthewe of Christes transfiguration that as the cloude remoued Peter did sée Elias and Moses so if the clowde were remoued away both heauen hell should be visible vnto vs. 31 They holde that they are bound to giue almes to none other persons but to those of their sect and if they do they giue their almes to the diuel 32 They holde that they ought not to burie the deade vppon this place of Scripture Let the dead burie the dead 33 They holde that they â–ª should so prouide that if any perish all should perishe so that euerie one of them should reléeue him with his goodes that decayeth 34 They holde that none ought to receiue the sacraments before he receiueth their whole ordinaunces as first he must be admitted with a kisse then his féete must be washed then handes laide on him and so receiued 35 They holde the Popes seruice this seruice now vsed in the Churche to be naught yet to be by them vsed as frée in the Lorde to whome nothing is vncleane 36 They hold that all men that are not of their congregation or that are reuolted from them to be dead 37 They holde that no Bishop or Minister should remaine still in one place but that they ought alwayes to be wandring from country to countrie 38 They holde that the Angels Raphael Gabriel and others were borne of a Woman 39 They hold that they ought not to say Dauids Psalmes as prayers for they are righteous and without sinne 40 They hold there ought to be no Sabbath day but that all should be like and for that they alledge The Sonne of of man is Lord ouer the Sabbath day 41 They hold that as God made heauen and earth by Iesus Christe vz. the word so did he it by them 42 They hold themselues to be Maries and say that Christ is come foorth in their fleshe euen as he came foorth of the virgin Marie 43 They holde that there was aworlde before Adams time as there is nowe 44 They hold y they ought to kepe scilence amongest them selues that the bertie they haue in the Lorde may not be espied of others 45 They holde that no man should be put to death for his opinion therefore they condemne Maister Cranmer and Maister Ridley for burning Ioane of Kent 46 They can not abide any exposition of Scriptures but their own conferring one place of Scripture with an other and so to say their mindes of it without any other bodies exposition 47 If any of them be conuented for his opinion and doeth denie the same by open recantation he taketh that to be a glorie vnto him as though he had suffered persecution in this doing and yet still inwardly mainteyning these opinions 48 They bragge verie muche of their owne sincere liues iustifying themselues saying Marke how purelie we liue 49 If they haue any thing to doe touching the ordering of their temporal thinges they must do it by aduise as to aske counsell of the Lorde vz. they must go to one of their Bishops or Elders and to aske of him counsell what he shall do and he must follow it 50 When they giue their almes there is a hat set by the Bishop or Elders vppon a table and then euery one of the congregation doth put vnder the hat that he is disposed to giue all which money commeth to the Bishops or Elders handes and so the same is by him or them distributed as they will but to whome none of the congregation knoweth 51 They haue certaine sleightes amongest them to answere any questions that shall be demaunded of them with deceiuing the demaundant as for example if one of them be demaunded howe he beléeueth in the Trinitie he will answere I am to learne of you so prouoketh the demandant to shew his opinion therein which done he will say then I do beléeue so by the which wordes he meaneth that he beléeueth the demaundant saith as he thinketh but not that he thinketh so 52 They do decrée all men to be infants that are vnder the age of thirtie yeres so that if they be demaunded whither Infantes ought to be baptised they answere yea meaning thereby that he is an infant vntill he attaine to those yeres at which time â—e ought to be baptised and not afore 53 Their Bishoppes Elders and Deacons do increase in riches and become wealthy but their disciples become poore and fall to beggerie I. R. To the reader SInce the imprinting of this booke of the displaying of the Familie of Loue I haue beene answered by diuerse letters but from whome they were sent it is not expedient that I declare for as much as I doe but guesse at the matter by the reading whereof you shal perceiue that some in the same Family are touched so neerely that they begin to kicke and spurne against the trueth and stirre vp themselues with all the poore skill they haue which God knoweth is but a little to defende both their Authour and his doctrine Many are the causes that haue moued me to publish these their priuate letters with my aunsweres there vnto Especially ij the one is that the Godly learned seeing wherein these of the Family are grieued touching our doctrine may plentifully in places conuenient confute their opinions and defend the puritie of doctrine which is taught An other cause is the bookes haue come into diuers mens hands who neuer heard of the family of loue which do imagine that I haue deuised this my self their errors are so grosse hauing no occasion so to doe Therefore I haue for my discharge let the worlde see that such there are as I haue manifested And some there are you may perceiue that can say somewhat to defende their authour and his doctrine Some wil not thinke it well done to make that common
ouershot my selfe and if you can prooue it to me I shall gladly receiue it and will be redie to recant and cal backe all my wordes and aske mercie in like fourme as you haue prescribed but hitherto as I am persuaded and as my conscience beareth me witnesse I haue not in any point slandered you nor of malice spokeÌ„ any thing against you for if I did know any nerer way to saluatioÌ„ then y which our sauiour Christ hath taught in his Gospell I woulde with all gréedenesse imbrace it And if I can vnderstand that euer this your doctrin was taught publikly since christ our Lord his assention by any godly writer in Christs Church I will ceasse and subscribe vnto you otherwise blame me not though I continue in that minde which the Lorde in mercie by his Christ hath made manifest to me to my comforte The God of mercie and consolation giue you a right spirite to depend vpon the puritie of his worde written by the holy Ghoste and not to depend vpon the vncertainetie of man giuing testimonie to him selfe so shall both you and I bee brought to sée rightly into our weakenesse shall heare y ioyful voyce y Paule heard My grace is sufficient for thee For y Lords power loue is manifested made kno wen vnto the worlde through our weakenesse and all our righteousnesse is Sicut pannus menstrualis God in mercie giue vs all his grace that in séeking the true way that ledeth to life euerlasting we be not led into y by paths of errour but leade vs and guide vs O Lorde so shall we knowe thy ways aright imbrace our sauing health in Christ declared to all nations If it please you to reply I shall receiue it thankfully London the 12. of Februarie Your friend I. R. A Letter of the Familie to I. R. written by E. R. M. Rogers these are to signifie vntd you that I haue perused a booke wherof you are the authour In your preface you say you haue vsed this order to set downe the authors owne speach not adding or diminishing any thing with the name of the booke Chapter or folio I do wish that your word and deede had agreed therein I call to minde that I haue read many authours bookes within this 35. or 36. yeares and among them all I haue not found any writer that hath taken such an order as you haue done for who so euer will write to confute an Authour he should set downe the Authours owne wordes as they stande written in his bookes and so to confute them by the Scriptures orderly and not to take out here some and there some and of diuers sentences and part of diuers sentences to make one sentence You haue added and diminished in diuers places and to inlarge your booke withall you haue set downe the most part of the sentences in two places as y readers may perceiue if they do confer your booke with the Authours bookes wâ—y them with indifferencie I am fully persuaded that the sober discreet wise and godly learned do ne wil not allowe of it that any Authour should be so abused as you haue abused this Authour in wresting belying and peruerting his writings Salonton saith A false record wil make a lye A false witnesse shall not remaine vnpunished and hee that speaketh lyes shall not escape I pray God open the eyes of your heart that you may see your ignorance and repent You do ground one point of your matter vpon Adrian Gisling a man of credite as you say y he did read in a Duche booke intituled the Glasse of righteousnesse wherein the Authour doth certifie his Familie of Loue that they must passe foure most terrible castels full of combersome enimies before they come to the house of Loue the first is Iohn Caluine the second the Papistes the third Martine Luther the fourth the Anabaptistes howe good of credite so euer Adrian Gisling is of he hath not at any time read any such matter in any of that Authours bookes he might perhaps read of such matter in some other booke hauing that title I my self haue read ouer diuers of the bookes and also the booke called the Glasse of righteousnesse of that Authours writing that you take your occasion against and there is no such Castles written in any of his bookes therfore Adrian Gisling is therein vtterly deceiued and I do beleeue no lesse but those other thinges that you haue written vpon reporte against â— Author to make him odious vnto the people is as contrarie I suppose you should haue done well if you had not come in with a flourish to attempt battell and beginne a skirmish against those that haue no pleasure or delight in warre or battell but much rather doe desire peace vnitie It is not reckoned for a manly part that an armed souldier should take vp weapon and fight with a naked childe It is written Let not him that putteth on his harnesse boast him selfe as he that putteth it off If the little vnarmed childe Dauid doe come to battell with his sling and stones one of the stones may happen to hit Golias in the forhed be he neuer so well appointed for battell and trusteth in his owne strength But what you haue done you can not vndo it is too farre past your hands And where you call in doubt that the familie will carpe as you terme it at your booke and do offer if they do answere it a speedie replie will be performed I for my parte I giue GOD thankes am not ignoraunt of the Lande of strife and contention that ye walke in and as it appeareth ye haue a pleasure therein I haue wandered vppe and downe there ouerlong and consumed much time there about to my greate greefe and sorrowe for those that doe loue strife and contention would haue other like to them selues S. Paule saith The seruants of the Lord must not striue And Saint Iames saith If ye haue bitter enuying and strife in you hearts reioyce not neither be lyars against the trueth and then following where enuie and strife is there is vnstablenes all maner of euill workes In the Homilie for whitsunday the second part ye may read this sentence But to conclude and make an end ye shall briefly take this short lesson where so euer ye finde the spirit of arrogancie and pride the spirit of enuie hatred contention crueltie murther extortion witchcraft Necromancie c. assure your selues that there is the spirite of the diuell and not of GOD albeit they pretend outwardly to the worlde neuer so much holinesse I haue no desire pleasure nor delight to carpe at your booke nor to striue or contend with you or any one neyther is there any other who doe desire peace and vnitie that will haue any delight or pleasure in strife and contention but leaue euery one to the Lorde Salomon saith The sinne of the wicked is his owne snare Saint
Paule saith Euery man shall beare his owne burthen And Vengeaunce is mine and I will recompence saith the Lorde My heartie desire is of the Lorde that hee will for his sonne Iesus Christes sake be mercifull vnto vs all and forgiue vs all our sinnes and poure into vs his holy spirite that we may learne of him where hee sayth Learne of mee for I am meeke and lowly in heart Saint Peter sayth Christe hath suffered for vs leauing vs an ensample that wee should followe his steppes And Christe sayth Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie Againe Bee yee mercifull as your heauenly father is mercifull And further What so euer yee woulde that men shoulde doe to you euen so doe to them This is the lawes and the Prophetes c. Many other suche fruitfull and comfortable documentes we may read in the holie and sacred Scriptures ▪ which being well considred of we could not striue contend enuie belye nor persecute one an other of vs for as much as we are all creatures of one Gods creation It is written Malachie 2. c. Haue we not all one Father hath not one God made vs Why doth euery one of vs then despise his owne brother S. Paule saith Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe If ye byte and deuoure one another take heede least ye be consumed one of an other If any doe erre for a time let euery one whome God hath deliuered out of errour doe his best according to the rule set downe to vs in the holy scriptures to help the burdened fraile weake and erring man hoping vpon the goodnesse of the Lord and waite when the Lord of his meere goodnesse and mercy will open the heart of the erring man for those causes are betweene God and his creature and God wil be auenged on all such as wilfully willingly do erre and haue a pleasure to remaine therin but he wil be mercifull vnto al those that haue a desire to reture and seeke him in true repentance It is not Christian like that one man should enuie belie and persecute an other for any cause touching conscience William Tindale compareth them to Antichrists disciples that do breake vp into the consciences of men compel them either to forsweare themselues by the Almightie God and by the holy Gospell of his mercifull promises or to testifie against them selues Againe he saith secrete sinnes pertaine to GOD to punish and open sinnes to the king He saith also A Christian man hath Christes spirite Nowe is Christ a mercifull king if therefore thou be not mercifull after the example of Christ then hast thou not his spirite If thou haue not Christes spirite then art thou none of his Romanes 8. nor hast any part with him If any man do willingly erre he shall haue euerlasting damnation for his rewarde at Gods hand vnlesse he do earnestly repent Is not that punishmēt sufficient which God hath ordeined but that one Christian must vexe torment belye and persecute an other Salomon saith Without doubt they doe erre that imagine wickednesse the enuious man the lyar the persecuter of his poore brother imagineth wickednesse therefore he is not voyde of errour I haue not read in any of the authors bookes y he hath striued enuied rayled at slandred belied or wished per secution to any man or hath named contumeliously any man but his writing striuing is against the nature of y sinne which hath borne so long dominion in the man c. And where you take exception as though the Authour were against the learned in the Scripture bicause he vseth in diuers places of his writings the false Scripture-learned Answere There is not any true meaning man which readeth the scripture that can of right take any exception thereat Can any true honest or plaine hearted man be offended with any godly and learned Preacher to heare him speake against and rebuke murder theft adulterie couetousnesse Idolatrie and such like Are we not al scripture learned that do read talke of the scripture Doth not euery man approue his sect or opinion as much as in him lyeth by the scripture Doth not this author also approue the testimonie of his writing by record of the scripture He speaketh not against those that do desire to walke according to the counsell of the scripture but against the false harts of the scripture learned that haue more desire to be talkers thereof then to do what the scripture requireth An exsample The Merchant that vseth his trade in balance weight and measure c. according to the rule of the scripture as ye may read Leui. 19. g. Deu. 25. c. Pro. 11. a. 16. b. 20. b. Eze. 45. c. and Miche 6. c. may well be taken for a true Merchant but he that vseth deceit fraude guile c. may be taken for a false Merchant yet both are merchants Our sauiour Christ saith Not all thei that say Lord Lord shal enter into the kingdome of heauen but hee that doth my fathers will which is in heauen Happie are they that heare the word of God and keepe it If ye loue me keepe my commandements Before God they are not righteous which heare the lawe but the doers of the lawe shall be iustified S. Iames accounteth him happie that is a doer of the work and not a forgetful hearer and see that ye be doers of the worde and not hearers only S. Iohn saith Blessed are they that doe his commandements that their power may be in the tree of life and may enter in through the gate into the citie The Preacher saith Let vs heare the conclusion of all things Feare God and keepe his commaundements for that toucheth all men Happily ye may obiect as some haue done that I haue communed with and say it is vnpossible to do and keep the cōmandements Answere What the scriptures last before recited doth require you haue heard and many more there might be alledged to the like effect wherof I haue here set downe some for an ensample if you please you may examine them by the Scripture as Exodus 20. a. Leuit 22. d. 26. a. Deut. 5. b. 10. c. 11. b. Iosu. 22. a. 3. Reg. 8. f. Psalme 78. a. Prouerb 2. a. 3. a. 4. a. 7. a. 19. b. Ezech. 18. Ecclesiast 2. c. Matth. 19. b. Iohn 15. b. 1. Corinth 7. d. 1. Timothie 6. c. 1. Ioh. 3. d. 5. n. Apoca 12 d. c. And S. Hierome saith Accurssed be he which saith God cōmaunded vnpossible thinges And againe he which saith y we can fulfil the cōmandments of God wout the grace of God accursed be he You say no one man dare once opē his mouth or put pen to paper to defend the author in England but you are therin deceiued there be y hath done both as some of your own familiar friends can testifie Neuerthelesse the authors own writings are
authoritie is taught and preached put vp your deriding termes for they best become your selues Nowe touching the Church you alledge H. N. in diuerse places of his Prophesie to say that that fleshly and wicked nature that lying being that hath oppressed the little ones murdered the holyones and spilt innocent bloud on the earth which hath béene a wicked whore vppon earth c who woulde euer iudge H. N. by these words to mean our corrupt wicked nature not rather a congregatiō or societie of mē per secuting the iust for how can our wicked nature be said to persecute to murder to spill bloud when this is done by the whole power knowledge and consente of men The wicked nature of man can neuer bee properly tearmed or called a whore And as I haue collected it to bee spoken againste the Church of Christ which we professe and you to be those holiones persecuted So in my iudgement herein I haue not falsified corrupted nor maliciously slan dered your Authour as you haue collected of me You say wee challenge our selues to be of the persecuting Church and so your selues haue beene in times past but nowe the Lorde hath made you sée and you are ashamed of that whorishe nature and you abhorre her hope by Christes might not only in you to be disclosed but abhorred reiected for euermore If this be spoken of our wicked nature can you reiect it cā you cast it of for euer We rather by y scripturs affirme y we may kéepe it vnder not to raigne in vs or beare rule in vs or haue dominion ouer vs but vtterly to quench sinne or reiect it for euer the holy Ghost teacheth vs not Whosoeuer hath béene rightly scholed in Christes Church can by experience tell you that to kéepe vnder sinne by grace we may but to extinguishe the motions we can not and all those places of holy scripture which tende to the abolishing of sinne are rather as markes to ayme at or leuell at then to hit the pricke of perfection which shall neuer be in this life ▪ You meruel notwithstanding Touching Christs perfection we doubt not but stedfastly beléeue he was and is perfecte and hath fulfilled for vs all the law which God required of vs perfectly but we vtterly denie this to be wrought as you affirme in vs For neither doeth he worke this perfection in vs nor by vs but merely without vs in déed this is a principall difference betwéene you and vs and I doubt not but touching this argument you shall heare more hereafter It blemisheth ouer much Christes triumph ouer death and hell if wee shall also triumphe by strength in him Our triumph standeth not in doeing but in beléeuing in him which did The glorie of Christe Iesus his office and death is by this doctrins impaired darkened and shadowed as I haue often saide therefore better consider of it it sauoreth to much of presūption and pride attributing that to bee wrought in vs which is not and mightely herein you deceiue your selues and others His shape to be wrought in vs you affirme Paul. Cor. 1. 13. When that which is perfect is come thē that which is vnperfect shall bee done away but this shall not bee vntill mortalitie shall put on immortalitie and corruption incorruption In the same chapter 4. lines after the place recited ther shal you find S. Paule opening his meaning more fully when that perfection shal be wrought Saying Cor. 1. Cha ▪ 13. ver 12. For nowe we see through a glasse darkely but thē shal we see face to face nowe I knowe in parte but then shall I knowe as I am knowen c. doeth not S. Paul plainly meane that this perfection shal not be brought to passe in this life but in the life to come Who hath eyes to sée and beholdeth not these thinges You affirme vs to maintain sinne and that we are aduocates for sinne you take part with righteousnesse but with more modesty you might say that wee acknowledge with the Scriptures that sinne is still lurking in vs against which we haue dayly fight and combate notwithstanding our election and redemption and you affirme a perfection to be wrought in vs by Christe which the scriptures allowe not That christ is able to work such a work in vs we denie not for all thinges are to him possible but it is said Omnia quod voluit fecit in celo in terra He doth al things y he wil in heauen in earth but that it standeth with his wil reueiled in the scriptures we denie We are no mainteners of sinne we are humble acknowlegers of our sins imperfections You mention often y Christ must haue in vs a liuing shape by shape if you meane a perfecte fourme then wee deny any such shape or fourme to bee in vs but if you meane by shape to bee like minded to him therein we agrée with you as the scriptures teach But herein wee affirme that as it standeth with the weake condition of a mortall creature to be like that excellent creator of heauē and earth or like minded so our humaine frailtie must striue to attaine as néere the pricke as standeth with his good wil and pleasure to graunt vs You pray vs to suffer you in rest with your folishnesse I woulde you thought as you speake but your wordes are Ironia for you accompt it high wisedome although you tearm it foolishnes Your disquietnesse I neuer sought it is your amēdment it is your cōuersiō frō H. N. to Christ Iesus y I séek to bring you to In the matter of predestination you desire not to be taken so short for you say you allow it simply and reuerently in his kinde you like not to contende therein nor desperately to séeke libertie thereby yet I will put you in mind what you your selfe haue spoken thereof in your first letter saying your lycentious doctrin of predestination and frée electiō which is the cause of the fulnesse of prisons in Englande this day Now sée how you agrée with your self if you haue better cōsidered the matter I woulde be glad and giue the Lorde hartie thanks but if herein you speake as your manner is somtime affirming sometime denying then we say you are vnstable and wauering in your wayes Nowe whereas I affirmed to be without sinne is a priuiledge belonging onely to Christ Iesus our Lorde you say if the case be so then in vaine was this written vnto the congregations Let the same minde bee in you which was in Christ Iesus c. You further say we charge you that by your owne power without Christ this is brought to passe that sinne is subdued in you but we tell you plainely that this perfection that you speake of nor such a subduing of sinne as you meane is not wrought in vs neither standeth it with Christes good will to worke the same so effectually as you imagine Sinne is kept vnder and hath not
speach be qualified or expoundedsoundly or christianly if you haue not this booke among you I shall be content to sende you either the book or the coppie therof that you may examine your Authours doctrine better For in my opinion this is blasphemie And where you say that the world shall knowe ere it belong what your meaning is therin I am vncertain except you would that these our conferences should be published whiche if it be your mind send me word for I am not ashamed of any thing that I haue written and then lette the children of God in the world iudge where trueth and plaine dealing is then shall appeare the difference of doctrin betwéen vs The Lorde worke his will in vs that in all our actions wee seeke his glory and not our owne praise Amen The 16. of March. 1578. Your friend I. R. A briefe Apologie to the displaying of the Familie IT doth appeare by reading of these discourses that in the familie there are some who to defende their author and his doctrine haue vsed some diligence what clamors they haue vttered against me doth appeare how often they haue charged me with falcifying their Authors sayinges is manifeste howe they doe discredite such testimonie as is produced against H. N. of such as knew the man longe and were his familiers is shewed What vntruethes what slaunderous speaches what raylinge wordes what caueling what wrangling which doeth bewray the familie of what spirite they are and with what spirite they are guided Many friuolous matters I haue not touched as not worth aunswere and many things are but slenderly handled as the nature of a priuate letter which requireth briefenes will permit Of all whiche falsefying and peruerting of their author only they shew one place wherin I collect that H. N. speaketh against the Church which he tearmeth a whore which they affirme is spoken againste the wicked nature of man But whither of vs more truly haue shewed the true sence of the wordes iudge I pray thée Howe they tearme vs frée ones libertines howe they call the doctrine of predestination licencious how they impunge the confidence we haue in Christes death calling it our bragge how they affirme the Lawe possible to be kept and many other such matters doth manifestly by reding these letters appeare Wherby the godly Christian may as time occasion shal serue hauing conference w any in the family sée in what matters these men are captiued so to indeuour to heale y sore now the wound is opened And where as I protested in my preface that I haue dealt truely and faithfully not maliciously and corruptly as I am accused For further proofe hereof I will briefely declare my euidence that the worlde may sée the exclamations they make are friuolous cauilles Touching the storie of Dauid George â–ª it is published by the vniuersitie of Basill in print out of which I haue collected the story truely For H. N. as before I haue shewed the testimony of his neighbours I haue to shewe being a liue and of honest credite in the Duch Church For their doings in Munster I haue shewed my opinion and the reasons that moued me so to thinke Also the articles which they published what coherence agréement they haue with the Family and how the Anabaptistes hold none of the same Althogh I know that Martin Luther Iohn Sleydan and others do call them generally Anabaptists I haue declared the reasons that moued me to thinke the contrary Let euery man credite these things as God shall moue only I cleare my selfe that of malice I haue done herein nothing The other matters are produced 〈…〉 the bookes of H. N. and gathered b◠〈…〉 ference with the family Now tou 〈…〉 〈…〉 the confession which I say two 〈…〉 〈…〉 Familie made before a worshipful Iustice of peace they deny that they were of their Familie but this is certaine the parties are liuing and followers of one Allyne of Woneherst a great companion of Christopher Vittells which Allin died soudenly by the high way going to Farnam to be examined before y bishop of winchester Thus haue I briefly touched the stories which the familie doe discredit Nowe if I mighte vtter my simple coniecture touching the saide Familie with out offence For as much as their beginning was in Englang about the latter end of Quéene Maries rainge when many of our brethren were entred into that gulfe of fréewill teaching that common grace reserued in Adam was appropriate to vs also and likewise certeine Arrians with Pellagians ioyning together found an author for their purpose vnder a newe deuised name of Familie of Loue. What do they teach but the old 〈…〉 ry leuin of such heretiques as were long agoe knowne and condemned and in déede take from them the weapons of the foresayd heretikes and you shall finde them vnarmed and naked and yet vnder a newe visor they woulde not bee noted as any touched with their doctrine but that they are newe matters broched by H. N. onely and not knowen in the worlde vntill now Surely the papistes do not magnifie their pope as the Family do H. N. whose bookes and doctrine may not be discredited neither can he erre For by no meanes can they be brought to acknowledge that H. N. may erre Therfore this newe Pope deludeth the pore Family with his darke spéeches and ranging stile without conclusion wher in they imagine that very diuinely and with such maiestie their authou 〈…〉 written that we simple ones 〈…〉 vnderstand and no mauell for su 〈…〉 doubte he vnderstandeth not him 〈…〉 For if a man will followe his qu 〈…〉 on s of Scriptures whiche hee 〈…〉 downe so thick and so close in the 〈…〉 giue of his bookes and epistles a 〈…〉 meanly excercised in the holy scrip 〈…〉 may well perceiue how farre from the purpose of the holy ghost H. N. hath applied them The Lord of mercie consolatioÌ„ giue theÌ„ the true vnderstanding of thy holy word let not sathan leade the simple shéep out of the waies of the Lorde our god but giue thy people O lord the wit of serpeÌ„ts to beware of sathaÌ„s sutilties who enuying the prosperity of thy gospell setteth himselfe against the same by raysing vp olde sectes vnder newe cloaks so that thy people being preserued vnder thy defence may euermore extol and magnifie thy glorious name and reioyce ouer the conuersion of our brethreÌ„ that they being brought home again into thy folde we may all praise thy â—â—orious name and with one voyce aâ—â—â—inde may cry Veni domine Iesu 〈◊〉 Amen I. R. Matth. 28. Rom. â— â–ª Acts. 9. Actes 10. â— Pee 3. Gene. 4. 6. 7. 8. 9 19. Exod. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14 1â— 20. 32. Num. â—2 Iosu. 1 â— 6 7. 10. Iudith 1 â–ª 5 7. 1â— 1. Reg. 4. 5. 17. 31. 3. Reg. 18. 22. 4. Reg. 1. 2. 17. Psal 1. Rom. 1. Ezech. 37. Dani. 5 3. D. Cooper Cron. Image of both chur ches â—usebius Gesuerus The dung of tâ—eâ—â—d ingâ—dâ—eâ—h the mistle Matâ—â—â—lus Raâ—tholomens Ortuâ—â—anitatis Proph. cap â— diuis 5. Esai 53. Rom. 4. Iohn 3. 16. Rom. 7. Rom. 3. Psal. 14. Actes 4. Mat. 18. By baptisme he mea â–ª neth not the sacrament of Baptisme * which is in him Proph. cap 1. diui 2. Cap. codâ— diui 5. Cap. 3. diuisi 2. Diui. 3. Cap. 13. diui 8. Cap. 19. diui 3 â–ª Diui. 11. Exhort 1. cap â–ª 13. diuisi 11. Ibi. di 12. Exhor 1. cap. 15. di 26. fol. 40 Proph. cap 11. fol. 27. Proph. cap. 13. fol. 27. Exhor cap 11. fol. 44 Dia. cap. 7 fol. 45. Exhort fol 43. cap. 16. Aba 1. a Acts. 13. f Scripture euil applied The opinioÌ„ of the Familie of Loue concerning predestination Rom. 6. a. b. c. c Ephc. 4. â— Collos. 2. b 2. Timo. 2 c. d. Gall. 3. d Iohn a Prou. 14 a b Prou. 19. a c 3. Reg. 20. b. d 1. Reg. 17. f. e 2. Tim. 2. d f Iam. 3. c. g Prou. 29. â— h Gala. 6. â— i Rom. 12. d. k Matt. 11. d l 1. Pet. 2. d. m Matt. 5. â— n Luke 6. c o Matt. 7. b. p Gala. 5. c. q Gala. 6. a. Ephes. 4. a. Thess. 5. b. r Rom. 15. a. s Iam. 5. d. t Prou. 14. â— u Matt. 7. c. x Luke 11. c y Iohn 14. b z Rom. 2. b. a Iames. 1. d b Apo. 22. d c Eccle. 12. â— d Num. 11. g e Psal. 19. b. f Psal. 69. a. g Psa. 113. b h Psal. 116. b i Psal. 119. c k Eccle. 9. d. l Iob. 24. c. m Zach. 9. b n Zach. 11. c. o Eccl. 30. d p Eccl. 40. â— q Apo. 21. c r Matt. 7. â— â–ª s Matt. 25. â— t Prou. â—7 c Prophesie 11. fol. 27. Sect. 1 Sect. 2. Sect. 6. â—â—printed at London by Henrie Middleton for George Byshop