laboured not in those dayes in the businesse of the sacrifices it seemeth verie probable in that hee was not able being about nintie yeeres olde for the bodily labour thereof to offer the sacrifices and in which regarde the Priestes had leaue to cease at fiftie yeeres of their age Hee sate I graunt in the Temple sawe the seruices of the Lorde perfourmed and blessed likewise the people but that he offered the sacrifices and especially without his sonnes by no lawfull vse of the text it can be profered 16 Hitherto your leader hath added his poore furniture to helpe you to prooue that particular members may depart from the bodie of the Congregation for default of separating the vnworthie Now he coÌ„meth to bring your proofes in proportion that he might make you still beleeue hee doeth not seduce you Wherein though I coulde willinglye forbeare him in respect that his copie hath deceyued him yet I suppose it may be good for him that his insolent behauiour haue some repressing The six places of Scripture which you quote I sayde doe concerne our priuate conuersation and behauiour towardes inordinate brethren and haue not a syllable touching our dealings in publike Church meetings and exercises Here he thinking me to lie wide open runneth violently vpon me with the place of the Corinths to dispatch mee at a blowe but therein dooing the euill spirite of malice and reuenge that set him on blinded his iudgement that hee could not see howe sure a warde I had till hee ranne his owne hande vpon the poynt thereof For I said not as hee telleth you that none of those places haue anie thing concerning publique Church meetings and exercises but my speeche was that they had not anye thing touching our dealinges in publique Church meetings and exercises Wherein if your iudgement bee so weake that as yet you perceyue no difference call to minde the question which is whether particular members of a Church may depart or withdrawe themselues from that bodie if they knowe any vnworthie ones at the Lordes table You point mee to Scriptures to prooue they ought I aunswere that those Scriptures giue vs rules concerning our priuate conuersation and touch not our dealinges in the Church Nowe I would aske you whetherto you referre this worde our If you referre it to the whole bodie of the Church then you chaunge the question and flee your ground but if it be suffered to haue the naturall relation to particular members then may you see that your leader hath not a little abused you If out of the last verse of the chapter for it was quoted thus 1. Cor. 5.9.10.11.12 13. he shall yet striue to saue himselfe in this maner because this place requireth the church to excommunicate the incestuous which must be done by voyces and consent of the particular members therefore it speaketh of particular members dealing in the church Marke the end and you shal see his gaine The question is whether particular meÌ„bers may depart froÌ„ the church as before or no. This place you say inferreth some dealing of particular meÌ„bers in the Church I graÌ„t it what shal you get by that You wil say this that I theÌ„ haue vniustly denied this place to haue any thing concerning particular meÌ„bers dealing in the Church If I haue denied any thing that might hinder you to find the truth theÌ„ haue I delt vniustly But we see that by your gaine For if by this obtained your cause be neuer the better he hath fed you then with woordes and made you neuer the fatter Thus you must applie it to the question if you will endeuour to make gaine of it If this place warrant particular members to haue dealing in the Church then it warranteth them to separate themselues in the case aforesayde and so doe you not see yron and flaxe knitte together of a knotte Is some dealing all dealings Will your leader neuer vnlearne so grosse a fallation You see nowe if I let you haue this it doeth you no good and for my part I will none of it it can pleasure mee nothing If you aske why then I made my negation so generall I aunswere first that in denying those places to concerne particular members in the Church I did it not to interuert or hinder the truth as nowe appeareth Secondly it is the lawfull libertie of any man in reasoning to vse chaunge of wordes so that our sense be kept which shall easily bee especially both sides hauing sounde hearts to seeke the trueth If the question stil be made the line to measure them by and therefore whereas I saide those Scriptures touch not our dealings in the Church what man of honest minde or that had anye sparke of trueth left in him considering the question woulde not haue vnderstoode by that worde dealings our tarying or departing from the Lordes Table at the sight of the vnworthie Salomon sayeth The wisedome of the wise is to vnderstande his way but the foolishnesse of fooles is vnto deceite 17 The rest of the places you quoted to proue your purpose are not according to the copie you gaue him but these 2. Thes 3.14 2. Tim. 3.1.2.3.4.5 Ro. 16.17.18 Ephes 5.7.8 1. Thes 5.21.22 and all these I saye with that to the Corinthians spoken off before the question beeing rightly considered and taken make nothing for you For in as much as any of them concerne our behauior in publike so much do they appoint the dueties of particular meÌ„bers towards others ioyntly but nothing of their owne departing or tarying separately Againe whatsoeuer any of them say of separating to bee practised of particular members there can they not bee vnderstood of Church meetings but of priuate conuersatioÌ„ But to iumble these things together without discerning and as it were to liue in that grosse sophistication of taking all respects for some is as it seemeth your leaders ioy 18 But hee chargeth mee by so vnderstanding those places with such seditious doctrine as may bring in rebellion against Magistrates put downe acquaintances of men familiarly in marriage loose al bonds of obedience in children and seruantes and cut off all entercourse of marchandize and bargaining with professors These will proue but such lâ—wde soundings as an empty barrell euer yeeldeth Paul aduertiseth Timothie that in the last dayes should come perillous times wherein men should bee louers of themselues couetous vainglorious proud c. hauing a forme of godlines but denying the face of it and that therefore he should auoyde such Iohn sayth to the elect Lady If any man come vnto you and bring not this doctrine receiue him not to house neither bid him Godspeede By which Scriptures you see particular persons by name warranted to auoyde priuate conuersation with inordinate professours This place also to the Corinthes though it be written to al the Church yet is it concerning particular mens practise in their separate and priuate places and behauiour And though your leader
rule in the Church with disauowing their suspendings and callinges of ministers Nay surely sayth hee the least in the kingdome of God shall bee able by the woorde of God in their mouth is to plucke vp and roote out such plants if none other will ioyne with them I meane they shall pronounce them by the worde of God to be abhominable and haue no fellowshippe with them in the Church and so to them they are vtterly plucked out of the Church For they are kings and priests vnder Christ to execute the Lords gouernement against such and therefore ought not to loose their right which is euen their heritage and glâ—rie Now weigh these places with his proposition as I haue put it downe in these wordes Any one of a Church may excommunicate if the rest will not ioine with him The antecedent part hee giueth in these cleare tearmes Euerie Christian is a King and Priest to rule c. and The least in the kingdome of God shall bee able c. if none other will ioyne with them The consequent is prooued in that euery such are abled to execute the Lords gouernment against the wicked Of which gouernement excommunication is a part as himselfe in his diuisions declareth number 48. Nowe in his defence hee hath but one place of speciall harbour and that same also will fall about his eares if it be touched For where he hath those words Yet we say not that euerie one of a Church may excommunicate for we ought to tell the Church c. Immediately foloweth But what if the rest of the Church will not ioyne with vs therein Surely then as we prooued before wee must set our selues agaynst them all we must not be afrayde of their faces as the Lord commaundeth least he destroy vs before them Nowe wherein seemeth this setting of our faces agaynst them to be but according to the nature and original of that obiection in our sole separation of the vnworthie As though hee should say If they will not doe it then we must doe it and so his deniall of the same before to be expounded to holde till time that wee haue laboured in vaine for the Churches consent But when I vnderstood him so I perceiue I did him too much fauour For he will haue it vnderstoode not of separating some one member but of separating the whole Congregation from the Church of God For he sayth We must set our selues agaynst them all by rebuke denouncing iudgement and forsaking felowship In the practise whereof it followeth that either wee our selues forsake a Church of Christ which he denieth in another place or else doe separate the same congregation from the Church of Christ In all which it may truely bee attributed to him in a plaine sense that was ascribed to Ieremie in a mysticall sense namely to bee a fitte man to plucke vp and roote out destroy and throwe downe euen kingdomes and nations according as in those onely wordes he vrgeth the place of Ieremie in his answere to Master Cartwright pag. 26. To that which is from the 60. to the 67. 5 The Admonition chargeth him with this conclusion that one default of a congregation in separating the vnworthy may disanull it for being a Church I neede not goe farre for proofe of this if the handling of the last point be remembred For if one may cast off a whole congregation when hee cannot obtaine their voyces to the separating of some offendour and hee will not say that a man may cast off a congregation of Christ it is manifest hee holdeth that one default of separating the vnwoorthie disanulleth a Church His answere hath not the strength of a rushe in it His owne woordes are If any one such open and manifest offence as is open murther idolatrie adulterie bee founde amongst anie and they are become so negligent or wilfull or are brought into such spirituall bondage that they will not or can not cure such offendours but that offences remaine and reigne still among them incurable Then the couenant is broken with them all And this is but to feede his disciples with winde For hee will againe at his pleasure interprete this negligence wilfulnesse and bondage to bee whensoeuer a Congregation consenteth not to the motion of separating the vnworthie as besides the places alreadie cited these may further testifiie In the 18. pag. agaynst Maister Cartwright hee sayeth Those that holde the couenant to day may breake it to morrowe This is but a short time to prooue either bondage wilfulnesse or negligence Againe hee sayeth Any grosse wickednesse committed by all is the breaking of the couenant by all Nowe hee will interprete it grosse wickednesse when anie Congregation consenteth not to the motion of one or some fewe for the casting out of any wicked one Let these woordes bee witnesse And is not this a message from Christ when one or a fewe persons doe iustly rebuke a Congregation for ouerthrowing the Lordes discipline and treading his scepter vnder foote And is not his scepter cast downe and his kingdome polluted when hee which is manifestly knowne and prooued to deserue separation cannot bee cast out This one defaulte of separating the vnwoorthie hee accounteth the treading vnder foote of the scepter of Christ yea compareth it in the same place to bee equall with Apostacie therefore grosse wickednesse and therefore also by his doctrine of force to disanull a Church Wherevpon it followeth as the Admonition truely inferreth that seeing Saint Paule calleth the Corinthian Church a Church of God notwithstanding their grossest kinde of negligence and vile continuance in securitie touching the separating of the incestuous person either Saint Paule was to bee blamed for so dooing or else Browne is a daungerous schismatike in teaching such doctrine contrarie to him The mystes which hee casteth before his disciples eyes to extenuate this sinne of the Corinthians are scattered and brought to nought in my second answere to the question of communicating What hee can make of this worde incurable or any other tearmes of vauntage hee can deuise the rest of his writings here cited being considered let the godly reader iudge The manifolde conclusions of heresies which hee woulde make the reader beleeue to bee in my assertion declare but the full swarme that lurketh in his waspish breast My answere is either they are no heresies or none of mine To that which is from the 67. to the 72. 6 It maye plaine ynough appeare to the wise reader that the Admonition taketh such a course in setting downe the sixe corrupt opinions of Browne as that the former for the most part openeth the way and giueth light to that which followeth So here considering what hath bene proued in the last point afore going to witte that one breach of dutie in the practise of gouernement breaketh the couenant and disanulleth a Church it followeth hereof necessarily that he iudgeth the couenant betwixt God and his Church to
accounte of the Churches before that was added to them Which thinges prooue discipline not to bee of the essence of a Church as clearly as can bee wished Nowe touching reformation of declined Churches let vs see what some examples in that course doe afoord vs. When Asa the first renowmed reformer of the declining Churches of Iudea began to set in hand so glorious an enterprise he that considereth the hystorie shall see that among other things the discipline of the Church lay as a thing cast downe and neglected as appeareth by the reformation thereof which immediately I shall speake of If then discipline had bene of the essence of the Church there had not beene at that time nor in the dayes of Abija his father anie Church of GOD remayning at Ierusalem but the latter is false and is prooued by the protestation of Abija alittle before he ioyned battell with Ieroboam and the testimony of the spirit of God in deliuering that hystorie who sayth That the Israelites were depressed the same time and the children of Iuda strengthened because they stayed vpon the Lorde the God of their fathers Therefore the former also is false namely that discipline is of the essence of a Church Also if discipline shoulde make it a Church or bee necessarie to the beeing thereof it appeareth that notwithstanding all Asaes reformation yet was it as then no Church for the godly to resorte vnto sith the reedification of discipline is ascribed not to Asa but to his sonne Iehosaphat after him Neither may any with probabilitie coniecture that Asa set vp discipline and let it fall againe For to haue an vpright heart all the dayes of his life which thing the holie Ghost testifieth of him and to suffer that which the Lorde had made him see to bee woorthie reformation to goe downe againe are two thinges contrarie and cannot bee verifyed of one and the same subiect But nowe all men that sauoure the woorde of the Lorde must needes acknowledge that the Church of Iudea in Asaes dayes was a glorious habitation of the Lorde and the Temple at Ierusalem a place then for his faithfull seruantes to doe their sacrifices and seruices vnto him insomuch as that many of the Israelites fledde from their owne coastes to dwell in Iudea seeing thus the Lorde to bee amongest them So must they of like necessitie confesse that which therehence firmely is concluded to witte discipline not to bee of the essence of a Church Lastly to come to the woorthie Iehosaphat who feared no slaunderous imputation of arrogancie or singularitie to himselfe neither accompted it anye impeachment to the dignitie of his father Asa though in repayring and beautifying the house of GOD hee shoulde exceede him in some poyntes considering I say his course of proceeding if discipline were necessary to the being of a Church then all that he did in the beginning of his raigne was worthy no commendation For what good could hee bee said to haue done to the Church when as all that he had done could not by this mans saying gaine it the worthy name of a visible Church for as touching the reformation of the discipline it appeareth to haue bene about the latter end of his raigne after the Lord had by his Prophet rebuked him for yelding wicked Ahab assistance in his enterprise Wherfore as I hope to heare of no man so impudent as to say that the Church of Iudea was then no apparant Church of God I meane in his time before the reuiuing of the discipline so am I sure that none but such as are growne to that impudency will hereafter affirme discipline to be of the essence of a Church Let all the likers of Brownes writings nowe consider whetherto his reproches reach when hee saith that by denying discipline to bee of the essence of a Church wee seclude Christ and the Church of Christ from the power authoritie and discipline of Christ and as he saith other-where that so wee make Christ a dead Christ yea an Idoll or counterfaite Christ and the Church an Idol or counterfait Church If we haue committed this thing then these Kinges and those Apostles are guilty thereof But because hee seemeth to haue fortified himselfe in this as in a Castle let vs also euen heere make proofe of the strength of his walles And first what meaneth hee to say wee faine a counterfaite Christ and a counterfait Church Is it because wee remooue discipline from the being of a Church Why then thus hee disputeth They that holde the power authoritie and gouernement of Christ not to bee of the essence of a Church doe faine a counterfaite Christ and a counterfaite Church But they that say discipline is not of the essence of a Church hold the power authority and gouernement of Christ not to be of the essence Therefore they that say discipline is not of the essence of a Church feigne a counterfaite Christ and a counterfaite Church This beloued is indeed the maine piller whereuppon all Brownes and Brownists schismaticall building standeth and thus by the grace of God I will ouerthrowe it First to lay the way open and auoyde ambiguitie The woorde gouernement that it may beare the same sence with the worde authoritie where-with it is coupled as a synonymie must be taken for the office of gouernement and not as it is vsed sometime for the action of gouernement For example When one sayth Dauid had the gouernement of the children of Israel there hee meaneth the office of gouernement But if hee say Dauids gouernement replenished the Israelites with the knowledge of God then he meaneth by gouernmēt not the office but the action or administration of gouernment Again the word power may be vsed in a double sence one whē it is vnderstood for might strength or efficacious force which is that the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresseth In this sense cannot power in this place bee taken because that kinde of power of Christ is no other then his diuine essence which he hath from the father by an eternall generation in as much as hee is begotten of the substance of the father so is coessentiall with him For this is a farre differing thing from his auth oritie or office of gouernement and therefore may not as one thing stand ranged with those wordes The other is whē the word power meaneth nothing else but authoritie iurisdiction or gouernment As where he saith All power is giuen me in heauen and in earth here the worde is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore signifieth not the force might of Christ whereby he executeth all things in his gouernment but his authoritie or office of gouernement And in this sense we admit and receiue it here as of the same sort with those wordes wherewith it is coupled The entrance thus paued I answere to his syllogisme denying both proposition and
mens sinnes to promise life and to rebuke and giue ouer to execration bee taken from Christ or the Church of Christ what remaineth but an Idoll or counterfait Christ an Idol or counterfait Church Here both he proceedeth in his double faced fallation last noted conueying him-selfe by the word power from Christes office to his deuine essence whereby he accomplisheth all thinges in his gouernement whether by the meane and ministerie of men or otherwise as I obserued before in the distribution of his gouernement and also heapeth vppon it an impudent petition of the principle as if the discipline being remooued from the Church foorth-with the woorde shoulde bee without Christes power to bind and loose to remitte or retaine mens sinnes which is not so much to extoll the worthy discipline as he pretended as it is eyther to clogge and chaine vp Christes diuine power thereunto or else to make discipline the diuine force and efficacious power of Christ himselfe which is his essence Whether soeuer of which as one must needes bee graunted not Master Cart-wright but Browne shall bee found the absurd blasphemer in this case The bulwarke of his cause is beaten downe there is not a weapon left him of any strength vnbroken if this be well weyed which is by me deliuered And if the reader consider that although the discipline bee a kind of the authoritie of Christ yet is it not all nor the principall of his authoritie and that although hee vse it many times as a chariot for his holy worde to ride vppon to subdue rebellious spirites yet hee vseth it neither most chiefely nor most ordinarily but the simple preaching of the worde is his continuall scepter and sword wherby hee saueth his people and conquereth his enemies beateth downe euery strong holde pearseth to the diuision of the soule and Spirite and of the ioyntes and marrowe and iudgeth the very cogitations and conceiptes of the heart This I say if the reader consider seeing there are no greater effectes in the whole kingdome of Christ then these which hee executeth by his worde yea when it is not assisted by the discipline for the woorde may stande without the discipline so cannot the discipline without the woorde hee will not only stay him-selfe as in a refreshing shadowe of Christes gracious gouernement where hee seeth the worde deliuered and taught but also acknowledge and testifie that it is a most malicious deuise of Satan practised by such instruments as Browne vnder a quarell for the holy discipline to drawe thousandes of soules from the most ordinary and mighty meanes of Christes gouernment and administration of his kingdome that so lying scattered from the folde they might bee out of all hope of ordinary rescue when the deuourer shoulde find them Let not Browne nowe hence-foorth aske what part of discipline may bee wanting and the Church notwithstanding haue the essence and name of a Church For although Mast Cart. not framing him-selfe to Brownes sense and writings as with whome hee medled not in his letter vseth the woorde discipline in a larger sense as comprehending all the behauiour concerning a Church in outward dueties and so amongest the rest the dayly planting and building by the calling and offering of the woorde by the ministers and the hearing receiuing and obeying of a people yet Browne can-not thinke to vse the worde in that sense sith his owne writings haue bounded him and set him in a scanter compasse namely within the politicall guiding of a Church which I haue lately before spoken of as generally all his writinges and namely his most vnlearned definitions and diuisions Numb 48. doe testifie Where defining the kingdome of Christ to bee his office of gouernement whereby hee vseth the obedience of his people to keepe his lawes and commaundementes to their saluation and well-fare hee deuideth the same in ouerseeing and trying out of wickednesse rebuke and suparation By which place vnlesse we will imagine of a discipline that hath larger limittes then the kingdome of Christ wee see what Browne vnderstandeth by discipline Within the polliticall guiding of a Church therefore must he bee contented to bee restrained in all this disputation of discipline And as for his busie hunting after Contradiction in M.C. his woordes in saying discipline is not of the essence of a Church and yet for want of all discipline to take away the essence and name of a Church his labour is vtterly lost as I haue prooued before in speaking of proper accidents And though in wordes hee vrge the shewe of a contradiction without discipline there may bee a Church and without discipline there can bee no Church Yet is it an empty barrell without liquour For when the reader shall haue added the word some to the former and the worde all to the latter that the first may bee read thus without some discipline there may bee a Church and the other thus without al discipline there can be no Church he shal plainly discerne that Browne did but dreame of a contradictiō After those his shiftings turnings to auoid the euidence of M C. reasons to hoodewinke his reader from the sight of thē hee setteth on as though hee would proue the contrary of M.C. conclusion namely that discipline is of the essence of a Church Wherein when he hath spent three or foure pages with many vaine and abused quotations of scripture after his wonted manner the whole course of his arguing comes all to this that the woorde of God giues the Church authoritie to obserue the behauiours of the seuerall members and to binde and loose remitte and retaine sinnes by ecclesiasticall censures and so exercise the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Therefore such iurisdiction is of the essence of a Church A worthy Captaine of so vnworthy a schisme Set this in a due fourme and I thinke him-selfe if it were possible woulde blush for shame to see it It is thus Whatsoeuer the worde of God commandeth to bee vsed of the Church that same is of the essence of the Church But the woord commandeth the discipline to bee vsed of the Church Therefore is the discipline of the essence of the Church If this bee the good reasoning let vs see whither it will bring vs. Whatsoeuer the word of God cōmandeth to be vsed of the Church the same is of the essence of the Church But the word commandeth good works to bee vsed of the Church Therfore good works are of the essence of the Church Likewise Whatsoeuer the word of God commandeth faith to bring forth the same is of the essence of faith But the word of God commaundeth that faith bring forth good workes Therfore good works are all of the essence of faith And thus it will come to passe that euery commaundement being made of the essence of a Church and of a particular Christian as a member euery transgression likewise shall ouerthrowe the Church and the state of a Christian His