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A13320 A myrror for Martinists, and all other schismatiques, which in these dangerous daies doe breake the godlie vnitie, and disturbe the Christian peace of the Church. Published by T.T. Nash, Thomas, 1567-1601, attributed name.; T. T., fl. 1590. 1590 (1590) STC 23628; ESTC S118084 30,611 40

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schismes wherby he might ouerthrow faith corrupt the truth diuide the vnitie of Christs Church This title and name of Christianitie whereof Cyprian speaketh is that cloke of schismatiques by which they would séeme holy and good to the detriment of the godlie Schisme according to Saint Augustines opinion springeth from a certaine hatred amongst brethren Many causes hereof are rehearsed by the fathers of the Primitiue Church but they all agrée that there be foure especiall meanes to hatch them all which foure haue a soueraigne supremacie and a supreame soueraigntie in this latter age of the worlde The first they set down is the contempt of Bishops to whom as Ierome saith euer since Saint Markes time the gouernment of the Church belonged In hoc omnes sunt docti c. By so much bee they nowe accounted better learned by howe much they can whet their tongues sharper and shoote out more poisoned arrowes euen bitter wordes against them The second is ambition or as some thinke enuie at the preferment of others This caused of olde Arrius Donatus and Nouatius to straine theyr braines to finde out their monstrous assertions being found to teach and preach them openly neither shall the sectaries of our daies euer cléere themselues from this suspition The third cause is false loue All men desire to bee commended for theyr skill They thinke nothing to be truly sayd or well done but that which they themselues doe The fourth is couetonsnesse this caused Balaam to curse Gods people and Simon Magus to desire the giftes of the holy Ghost and hope of gaine is said to be it that caused Paulus Samosatenus to fall into his damnable opinions This contagion hath so spread it selfe like a canker through the veines and hearts of the world at this daie that there is almost no hope of anie recouerie In respect whereof it cannot be sayd as it was of Iay rouse daughter that it is euen nowe dead but as they sayd of Lazarus that it alreadie stinketh These causes considered it may easily be séene what schisme is namely a separation of a congregation either through hatred and contempt of Bishoppes ambition selfe-loue or couetousnes by which there ariseth a diuersitie either of minde or opinion or spéeches or election of gouernours whether ecclesiasticall or ciuill which things doe both bréede and increase that hatred contempt c. Howbeit all Schisme is not to be condemned For there is a separation which we may iustly allow commend as when certaine partes separate themselues from the whole because they will not be corrupted and infected with vngodlynes In this respect Abraham is commended because he forsooke Caldea his natiue Countrie Lot Sodome and Iohn Baptist was no Schismatique though he departed from the Leuitical Priesthood himselfe being of the same Tribe Paul departing from the Scribes and Pharesies the Gentiles conuerted from the Iewes and we from the Church of Rome For Christ came not to send peace but a sworde and to seuere men from their owne household But if the body it selfe being good and some members being putrified and defiled are departed awaie such a schisme is most detestable both because the Church séeing it is a bodie of diuerse partes when it is diuided is after a sort ruined and also because the parts thereof being distracted and torne a sunder doe perish forsomuch as they do fall from eternall life They that separate themselues in this kinde of Schisme what other thing do they but rip vp y e seamlesse coat of Christ and breake the limites he hath set by disquieting the peace of his Church casting innummerable bones of debate to set men together by the eares so destroying their owne soules and so much as in them lyeth the whole Church vnles Christ vouchsafe his mercie to restore and preserue the same Here a question may be asked why God doth suffer his Church to be troubled and turmoiled by Schismes innouations and fantasticall deuices of the which greate learned men are many times the authors in such wise that not onely affinities kindreds friendships and whole families are subuerted as if Bellona or the furies were among them but also Cities Prouinces and kingdomes brought thereby to vtter desolation Moses the man of God answereth this question thus If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dremes and giue thee a signe or a wonder and the signe or the wōder which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs goe after other Gods which thou hast not knowen let vs serue them Thou shalt not hearken to the wordes of that Prophet or dreamer of dreames for the Lorde your God proueth you to knowe whether yee loue the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soule The cause then we sée is as cléere as the light why the diuine prouidence sometime suffereth certain teachers in the Church-learned men to preach and maintain new opinions sayth Moses That the Lord your God might trie or proue you And in verie déede this is a sore temptation that hee whome thou iudgest to be a Prophet a disciple of the Prophets whom thou reputest to be a Doctor and teacher of the truth whome thou doest reuerence and greatly loue that he I saie should sodainly and couertly sowe hurtfull errours which thou canst not quickly find out nor easily condemne To make this place of Moses more manifest I will set before thée some Ecclesiasticall examples When that vnhappie Nestorius was turned from a shéepe to a woulfe how grieuously did he then teare spoile the flock of Christ when as they themselues were bitten of him which for the most part as yet tooke him for a shéepe and therfore laie more open to be deuoured of him For who wold haue thought y t he could easily haue erred which was elected to be Bishop of Constantinople by a generall consent of learned men who was beloued of the best and reuerenced of all men who dailie handled Gods word and confuted the pernitious errours both of the Iewes and also of the Gentiles Who would not haue beléeued that this man did teach and preache nothing but the truth that he had bin of a sound iudgement But he to make a waie for his owne heresie denying the diuinitie of Christ inueighed against the blasphemies of all heresies And this is that which Moses sayd The Lorde your God doth proue you whether ye loue him or not Many things are reported by Zozomenus in his Ecclesiasticall storie of the wickednesse of this Nestorius where amongst other things he setteth foorth the wonderfull and terrible iudgement of God vpon this heretique whose tongue with the which he had blasphemed Christ was immediatly after his death found eaten consumed from within his mouth with wormes But to leaue Nestorius in whom there was more cause of wonder then matter of profite more fame then desert who was for a time more
bodie of the flesh and of the bones of Christ that we be most néerely conioyned vnto him and the giftes which we haue bee deriued vnto vs by God through the flesh of Christ giuen for our sake vppon the crosse and so by the flesh of Christ we be coupled and vnited to God And in the Gospel of Saint Iohn Christ praieth thus for his Church Cause you that they may be one euen as I am in thée and thou art in me The vnitie of the Church therfore by the places alleadged consisteth in the spirit in the word of God in the Sacraments in a most néere bond with Christ who is the head of all the members of the Church This vnitie we must by no meanes breake but first séeke all the waies that possible we can to make the same safe and sound Bernard an ancient Father of the Church saith that neyther praier sacrifice nor anie thing else pleaseth God better then our concord and vnitie and that nothing grieueth the deuill more then that we should liue in vnitie For if we fast saith he the deuill seareth it not because he neuer eateth if we watch he careth not because he neuer sleepeth if we praie he regardeth it not because he neuer praieth but that we should be in vnitie it displeaseth him because we being men and on the earth should doe that which hée could not doe being an Angell in heauen Wee knowe it now by experience that Fratrum odia acerbissima and that inimici hominis domestici eius that the hatred of brethren is most grieuous and that a mans enemies shall be they of his owne housholde The Church of God neuer receiued more detriment by the tyrannie of papists then she hath and doth dailie by the cruell hatreds of false and dissembling brethren If therefore ye intend to be citizens of that heauenly Ierusalē Subtraite vos ab omni frate ambulante inordinatè Withdrawe your selues from euerie brother that walketh inordinatly and vnderstand that the earthly Ierusalem is builded as a citie that is at vnitie in it selfe Of the Primitiue Church it is said that they continued with one accord in praier and the multitude of them that beléeued were of one heart and of one soule If ye wil abide in this vnity then must ye be alwaies constant in the truth and not depend vpon men For through inconstancy the peace of the church which is the bond of vnitie is many times broken when as our affections and likings of men is such that therafter as ye loue thē so ye like their doctrine For ye regard the messenger and not his message ye looke vpon the earthen vessell and not vpon the heauenly treasure therein contained And hereof it commeth to passe that ye doe contemne and despise not onely wholsome doctrine but also the minister and preacher thereof and then commeth such a nicenes and choice liking of some that at the last followeth also an vtter loathing of others whom before ye greatly liked Thus hath the common multitude alwayes behaued thēselues towards the ministers of the Gospell Yea thus was our sauiour Christ himselfe handled among the Iewes who one while would néeds make him a king and anon after was ready to kill him one while they called him Rabbi and another while a Samaritan saying that he had the deuill they which once loued his doctrine sayd afterward this is a hard saying And as Christ himselfe so also were Apostles rewarded at their auditors hands and no meruaile for the disciple is not aboue his master It is inough for the disciple if he be as his master is Therefore Iohn the Baptist had such estimation for a while when he first began to preach the Gospell that he was taken of most men for the Messiah yet stood he not long before he lost his head When Paul Barnabas had wrought that notable myracle vpon y e lame man the people were blindly carried with such inconsiderate zeale that in all hast they would haue done sacrifice vnto them as vnto God but in a moment this hot zeale was so cold towards Saint Paul that they stoned him almost for dead The same Apostle was of the Galathians also reputed for an Angell of God insomuch that if it had bin possible they would haue pluckt out their owne eies for him to do him good but afterward they tooke him for no better then their enemie And why Forsooth because hee preached vnto them the truth Consider and sée if the verie like inconstancie and far worse if worse may be hath not bin among you In the beginning of her Maiesties most happie raigne you had those learned and graue fathers in great estimation which during the time of Quéene Mary suffered exile for the testimony of the gospel some in Geneua some in Frankford and some other in other partes of Germanie and at their first returne to the Church of Englande beeing placed by her Maiestie in the roomes of greatest charge in the Church as tried and approued men that had borne the whole heate and burthen of the daie ye estéemed of them worthily ye were very glad to sée and heare them ye embraced theyr most wholsome doctrine and so ye begun to runne wel in a good course but ye persisted not ye were soone wearie of your olde men and yee must needes haue new and I feare me that this propheticall saying of the Apostle is verified vpon many of you The time will come when they wil not suffer wholsome doctrine but hauing their eares itching shall after theyr own lusts get them a heape of teachers and shall turne theyr eares from the truth and shall be giuen vnto fables Be not carried about with euery winde and goe not into euery way for so sayth the wise man doth the sinner that hath a double tongue Such double walking and such dissembling talking will at the last and that ere it be long cause greater diuision and contention among you to the wofull ruine of vs all if it be not amended betimes And if we goe forwarde in discorde and bitter contentions as we haue hetherto done it is greatly to be feared least GOD haue appointed and ordayned that same agaynst vs which in time past he did in the raignes of Dioclesian and Maximian the Emperors when as there were like strifes and contentions in the Church as notably appeareth in the Ecclesiasticall historie written by Eusebius the effect of which history is diligently to be marked for this cause to wit for that in those daies the Church of Christ flourished But the people were vnthankful vnto God and impenitent and the ministers of the Church were ambitious and stirred vp grieuous and hot contentions among themselues Wherefore God being angry with them gaue them into the hands of tyrants who raised vp greater persecutions agaynst the Church then euer was heard of before For thus writeth Eusebius