painefull for the common good but thinke that much I am affraide too much which is bestowed in writing Assure your self some Citizens Physicians Lawyers Gentlemen and Courtiers shall be renowmed in the Church of God when a number of idle-bellied Ministers shall perish in obliuion For they haue taken time froÌ„ their worldly affaires and pleasures to encounter with the Familists Brownistes Martinistes Atheistes the monsters of our daies when these haue suffered them to rage and make their praie either with none at all or with colde resistance they haue cut the throats of those spirituall Harpies and brought them to their bane when these haue either nourished or encouraged them by their silence Miles Mosse Manie Ministers of the word write much but preach little Miles Christianus If Ministers by their writing neglect not their dutie of preaching produce them not as offenders eyther for their preaching or writing whether it be much or little If they do their partes let their paines then in writing and preaching â—e as quicke spurres to pricke them forward either which preach litle to preach more or which neither write nor preach vnto one of them or which preach much but write nothing vnto more diligence It is a praise for a Minister eyther to write or preach if he can doe eyther and not both of them but to write and preach too as it is a double labour so it deserueth a double honor as neither to write nor preach if men be not otherwise by the Church profitablie employed is a double sinne and so bringeth a double shame Note them not as faultie that write much preach litle but blame them which preach little or nothing and plaie much Were some whome I could name in their studies writing when they are either at the Pondes with their Spaniels ducking or in the Allies with their mates bowling I am sure they would thinke them much iniured that priuely much more in publike monuments are disgraced as faultie which bestow that time profitably in writing for a generall benefite which others bestow vainly often times wickedly for a short and priuate pleasure And yet is it an vntruth that They which write much preach litle For howsoeuer it be true in some which either will not or cannot preach and I woulde to God they which cannot do both would yet do the one and which cannot do the one woulde do the other at the least yet true is it not in all nor in the most and best approoued Writers who I am sure both ordinarily in their owne places euerie Sabbaoth day and extraordinarily too when either by authoritie or friends they are called forth doe preach and that as often and as commendably as other men which doe not write but onely preach And they by good experience doe finde that writing is no hinderance but a furtherance vnto preaching Would you cast your eies from vanities vpon the labours either of Maister Caluine Beza Musâ—ulus Bullinger Sadeele and other famous Writers abroade or of some of your painefull brethren at home you would be enforced to confesse not that they which write much preach litle but that they which write much so God blesseth their good indeuours do preach much and be as glorious lights vnto the Church by their preaching euen most profitable preaching much as by writing Miles Mosse And yet as Paul saide Hee was not sent to baptize but to preach though both were necessarie duties of his calling so must it be said of Paules successors preach they must in season and out of season write they neede not but as opportunity is offered and occasion doth requeire Miles Christianus Yet Paule saide He was not sent to baptize but to preach And yet Saint Paule was sent both to preach and to baptize and as well to write as either to baptize or preach And as he had not done his parte if he had neglected either preaching or baptizing so had he not done his duetie if he had not written For the same God which elected him to preach and minister the sacraments appointed him also to write S. Paules successours are to followe his steppes Your selfe doth say They neede not write but as opportunitie is offered and occasion doth require Therefore when oportunitie is offered and occasion doth require they not onely may but must also write I wot wel as al the Disciples and Apostles were not but some were so are not all ministers of the worde but some to write Now when is not opportunitie offered to write The ende of all writing is either to instruct the rude or to reprooâ— the froward or to confute the aduersaries or to admonish the vnruly or to exhorte the godly or to some such good ende or other and when is there not iust opportunitie offered and occasion giuen for some or others to be occupied in these matters The more that either ignorance and wickednesse is rooted and aduersaries doe arise the more earnestly ought men to exercise themselues herein If at any time men haue no we both matter and occasions manifolde to imploy their gifts and talents for the publike benefite Thus in fewe shordes you haue ouerthrowen whatsoeuer in your former words you haue vttered against the multitudes of writings in these our daies He that will write vppon no iust occasion is a fond man but they that can and may and will not write vpon iust occasion offered is both wicked against God and iniurious to the Church Miles Mosse My fellowe Ministers therefore I intreate that they consider seriously howe farre the liuelie voice exceedeth the dead letter the other I leaue to the censure of auctoritie Miles Christianus This is your conclusion wherein you make a request which is that Your fellow Ministers would seriously consider namely how farre the liuely voice that is preaching exceedeth the dead letter which is writing I also intreate your fellow Ministers and your betters and your inferiours and your selfe and all men to consider your wordes and that seriously For my parte I haue seriously considered of them and I obserue some things in them worthy due and serious consideration First I note therefore that you so write as if by euident demonstration you had prooued that Preaching farre away surpasseth writing whereupon you say My fellowe Ministers therefore c. which is nothing so you haue insinuated such a thing but not prooued it Nexte I note that you who so basely haue spoken of books and writings in the premises are nowe by the force of trueth driuen to saie and confesse that the benefites of writing are excéeding great howbeit the liuely voice that is preaching farre excéedeth the dead letter that is writing Other things are besides to be considered which in the discussing of your assertions shall be reuealed Miles Mosse Preaching doth farre exceede writing Miles Christianus He is verie blind that séeth not much vnthankefull that will not acknowledge most impudent that dare denie the benefites of writing and
MILES CHRISTIANVS OR A iust Apologie of all necessarie writings and writers Specialie of them which by their labored writings take paines to build vp the Church of Christ in this age And in a publique and diffamatorie Epistle lately set forth in Print are vniustly depraued 1. Tim. 5. 20. Them that sinne rebuke openly that the rest also may feare Allowed by auctority LONDON Printed by Iohn Wolfe and are to be sold at his shop right ouer against the great South doore of Pauls 1590. To Miles Mosse Minister of the Word and Bacheler of Diuinity Miles Christianus wisheth more soundnes of iudgement more substance of learning with more wisedome and discretion in all his actions YOu haue published of late Maister Mosse à little Treatise entituled A short Catechisme c. you fore-saw I doubt not whither it shoulde go from what into whose hands it would come how many eies woulde see and how many eares heare it and heare of the same and therefore vpon mature deliberation for may I thinke otherwise you commended it yet the worke of other heads and your selfe withal the corrector and abridger thereof with many titles and notable words vnto the present age and posterity to ensue Of which Booke I haue nothing or verie little but of the Preface or dedicatorie Epistle of yours which I woulde to God had neuer beene written or more Christianly soberly and aduisedly penned I haue many thinges to say Nowe that you may perceiue my quarrell against you is iust not picked by mee but ministred by your selfe I haue sette-downe all your wordes without either adding vnto or taking from them any whit and where you say well you shall haue the praise due for good deseries but where you haue slidde from the truth and broached vnsound and noisome assertions I haue both laide them open and confuted them also for your owne good if admonished you will see your faultes and reforme your iudgement and for the common benefit of our Church and Countrey to whose seruice I haue dedicated my selfe and studies And this haue I donne as hee knoweth to whome the verie ground not of mine onely but of your writing also is knowen not of any setled ill-will to your selfe to whome I wishe all good but through an vtter detestation of your Paradoxes which neither for mee had beene confuted in an open booke had not they by your selfe to the great dishonour of God in a publike writing and vulgar tongue both in Towne and Countrey beene dispersed I am no aduersarie to your person but to your opinions which if you change I am changed if not assure your selfe to heare that you would not when you will persist to holde that you should not maintaine Miles Mosse To the right Reuerende Father in God Edmond by Gods permission Bishop of Norwich c. There is no ende of making manie bookes saith the Preacher And he spake the truth whether we respect the varieties of matter and inuention whereof there was neuer measure in anie age or whether we respect the multitude of writings which haue ouerflowed all the bankes of modestie and discretion in this present age The one I ascribe vnto the varietie of wits The other to the iniquitie of the time Miles Christianus THere is no end of making many books said the Preacher and he said truely and his ende in saying so was excéeding good and neither to discourage men from wryâ—ing nor to esâ—range any godly man or woman from reading holy bookes He was no aduersarie vnto any good helpe vnto godlines whether it be writing or preaching much or little and his owne practise which vttered thrée thousand Prouerbes and made a thousand and fiue songs and diuers bookes besides and the practise of the Prophets after him and of the Apostles Euangelists and other holy men after them also do shew both the good vse and great neede men haue of bookes in euerie age But what is your ende M. Mosse in alleaging this saying of the Preacher There is no end of making manie bookes I feare me you ayme not at that marke which the Preacher did you haue another ende then he had and therefore yâ—ur meaning is corrupt Indéede the varietie of matter and inuention in all ages hath beene wonderfull yet can you not saie and say truely it was without measure vnlesse you condemne simply the varietie of wits and inuention which are the worthie giftes and graces of almightie God bestowed vpon man nor that this varietie of matter and inuention hath bene manifested in all ages by written bookes For both the heathen people were a long time without the benefite of bookes and the Iewes and Church of God till Moises daies which was many ages from the creation of the world vtterly voyde of all helpe of the written word And saie you not your selfe within a few lines after the writings of the ancients were few If fewe how were they without measure And if beyond all measure againe how were they few Last of all interpreting the saying of the Preacher so as if he spake onely of this present age and latter time wherein we liue you mistake him much For albeit he foresawe the multitude of writings that were to come abroade in the latter daies yet no doubt he ment properly the writings which he saw were attempted in his daies or extant in the world afore his time which neither can be said to ouerflow or to haue ouerflowed the bankes of modestie and discretion because there be multitudes of them that is no sufficient cause yea no cause at all Of good thinges the moe yea the greater multitudes the better and there be multitudes of writings which you dare not without impudencie auouch to haue ouerflowed the bankes of modestie and discretion And of such bookes it is not the iniquitie but the felicitie of the latter time to haue good store Miles Mosse The Writings of the ancients were few but such as were an honor to themselues and benefite to posteritie The writings of this time are manie but such as disturbe the Church and fome out their founders shame Miles Christianus You write your pleasure of all writers both ancient and of this time but vntruely of each vnsoundly of all And that you maie palpably sée and perceiue both the truth of mine and the falshood of your wordes I will before your eies place some propositions pregnantly arising from your verie spéech Miles Mosse The writings of the ancients were few Miles Christianus You do no sooner sée this but me thinkes the red colour commeth into your chéeks Were the writings of the ancients but few What ancients meane you that were but few The Schoole-men and others immediately afore our time or the Fathers and other writers afore them Or the Apostles Euangelists prophets afore them Or the Ancient Heathen whether philosophers orators historiographers or poets If you meane the Schoole men and our immediat predecessors read our countrie
S. Iames or S. Paules Epistles Doth it confute Were they dead and had no force and power to ouerthrow the kingdom of errors and Antichrist our aduersaries the Papists would neuer procéed so hardlie against our writings as they do He foresaw somwhat who at Paules crosse in London publikely did say we meaning the Papists either must roote out printing or printing will roote out vs They also foresaw somewhat who at the late and last Councell holden at Trent so carefully decreed for the publishing of some and prohibiting of other bookes who by their open writings haue condenmed a great number of our labours as hereticall and daungerous and miserablie shauen mangled depraued which they cal censuring and purging the worthy monuments both of the ancient Fathers and best noted writers of this age they foresaw that our writings though they may be reputed but dead letters yet would giue a deadly blow vnto poperie which thing M. Luther also foresaw as his Epitaph doth witnesse Pestis eram viuus moriens ero morstua Papa They are not dead which bring the Pope vnto his death He was a Bishop of Portingal that durst not send vnto another Bishop as ranke a Papist as himselfe one of our bookes being yet a confutation of an Epistle of his without the speciall fauour of a Cardinal Impossible was it for one of the vulgar people to come by one of those bookes when a Bishop might not reade it no not when it concerned himselfe but by the licâ—nce of a Cardinal What thought they it would worke in the simple peoples minde when they doubted it might infect a Bishop And if you marke it well our home Papists which will heare the Sermons of some Preachers wil neuer or very hardly be drawne to peruse anie of our bookes neither may they It seemeth therefore that in our writiggs there is life when they hate our bookes as monsters O that Gods children were as carefull to keepe men from bad euery word of some of them being warrants vnto diuelish mindes to commit sinne g as the wicked are politike to keepe ill men from good bookes and that we made as much conscience not to reade theirs as they doe not to read our writings if we did sure I am as there be few ProtestaÌ„ts among them so would there be lesse Papistes and Traitors and other wicked men among vs neither would so manie of vs reuolt vnto their idolatrie being bewitched by their inchaunted bookes seeing so few of them turne vnto the true religion because they will not acquaint them selues with our bookes containing sound and forcible perswasions vnto the truth For they know ours vnto that which we hold as we know theirs to be perswasiue vnto that which they maintain and both they and we and all men know that bookes well and pithily penned are not dead letters which can not moue but of great force to perswade either vnto sinne or virtue Miles Mosse My selfe though I haue alwaies desired to benefit the Church as I could and haue found by experience no one thing more necessarie for the benefit thereof then a sufficient forme of teaching the principles of religion yet to publish one of mine owne I durst not partly because it is a thing which craueth the consent of many partly because the world is scarse able to containe the Catechismes alreadie printed Miles Christianus Now you speake of your owne experience We will therefore consider it the more seriously But what is it which by experience you haue found out Namely that no one thing is more necessarie for the benefit of the Church then a sufficient forme of teaching the principles of religion This you speake of a publike wrâ—ting and a sufficient prescribed forme of catechising to be published as this whole section doth plainely demonstrate Now surely Maister Mosse I would you knew your selfe In the sentence nexte immediately going before you intreated all your felowe Ministers to consider seriously how farre the liuely voice namely preaching doth exceed the dead letter that is writing here you sing a Contre-tenor and saie y e by your experieÌ„ce ye haue found that No one thing is more necessary for the benefit of the Church than a sufficient published fo me of teaching the principles of religion If no one thing and so not preaching by your â—lone experience is not more necessarie for the benefite of the Church then a certaine prescribed Catechisme which is a booke or writing then reâ—oke your former saying that Preaching doth farre exceed writing for some writing is as necessarie for the benefit of y â— Church as preaching But if preaching doth farr excéed writing then renounce this saying No one thing is more necessary for the benefit of the Church than a certain sufficient Catechisme For if the one be true the other must néedes be false Againe if true it be that the liuelie voice exceedeth farre the dead letter and a Catechisme being a printed Booke is but a dead letter then true it is not that a certaine prescribed Catechisme which is a dead letter is as necessary as the liuely voice which is preaching and if the liuely voice far excéedeth the dead letter then is not a Catechisme which is but a dead letter as necessarie for the benefite of the Church as preaching which is the liuely voice Hereof it followeth that either in this you affirme more than euer you found true by your experience or in the other saide more than you could affirme by any certaine knowledge either your knowledge is better then your experience or your experience to be praised before your knowledge Either your experience is ill and your knowledge good when you say preaching dooth farre excéede writing and the liuely voice the dead letter or your knowledge is not sounde and your experience good saying that for the benefite of the Church a certaine prescribed forme of Catechisme is as necessarie as preaching and the dead letter as the liuely voice A sufficient forme of Catechising is necessarie you say Maister Caluin approoues it I graunt it But you are much insufficient either to inuent or appoint that same sufficient Catechisme for all Churches That belongeth not vnto you and a fewe like your selfe but vnto publique authoritie And yet such is your Spirite you insuâ—uate that you woulde so doe were it not partly that it requireth the consent of many partly that there be very many Catechismes already the one manifesteth either your stomach that you will not aske or your owne weakenesse that cannot attaine the consent of many thereunto the other some arrogancie in you that being but one priuate man would yet prescribe vnto all Churches a certaine forme of Catechising were there not too many alreadie The consent of some though they be many men is no cause to vndertake such a worke except that some be of auctoritie the multitude of Catechismes is not let on the other
side but that one of many or one Catechisme for all may be appointed to all and euery Church by those that haue the gouernement of vs all Miles Mosse This Catechisme hath beene about these twentie yeares extant in the Church had in it at the first the consent of diuers great Diuines in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge whereof some haue yeelded to nature and some continue to this day The one shall excuse me of noueltie the other of singularitie Miles Christianus You that haue condemned al writings afore do now commend a writing vnto our Church and you which preferred preaching far aboue writing and tearmed all books but dead letters doe now extoll one booke as a thing so necessary for the benefite of the Church as preaching and the liuely voice of any minister of the word Diuersly haue men béene and are affected towards bookes that which one commendeth another doth condemne and contrari-wise againe some which like many well yet like one aboue all Tarquinius Priscus was rauished with the workes of Sibyl Amalthea Sâ—ipio Africanus with Xenephon de Cyriâ—paedia Cardinall Poole with Ciceroes booke de Reipublica Cyprian with Tertulian Hierome vvith Origen vpon the smaler Prophets Carolus Magnus vvith S. Augustine de Ciuitate Dei Thomas Aquinas vvith Chrysostoms imperfect vvork vpon Mathew Miles Mosse with this Catechisme theÌ„ which no one thing no not preaching is more necessary for the benefite of the Church in your iudgement This Catechisme you commend first for the long time it hath continued in the Church euen about these tvventy yeares Next for the good approbation which it hath receiued from diuers and they great diuines in the Vniuersity of Cambridge The one whereof shall excuse you so you say of nouelty the other of singularity No Miles the goodnes of the Booke and approbation giuen thereunto by great diuines as you tearme them can much lesse shall and I thinke will neuer excuse you either of nouelty or singularity For is it not nouelty let those reuerend whom you call great and all Diuines bée iudge to commend that vnto the publique Church now which at the first and euer since for these twenty years til this your publication was but for priuate housholders And for one priuate man of a selfe-wil vncommanded or without the licence of his Superiors vnder-hand to deriue that into publique Churches and Schooles which was made but for priuate families especialie when Catechismes already by lawful authority bée appointed both for Schooles and Churches I thinke no wise man iudge you thereof as you liste but will iudge it singularity Miles Mosse Since the publication hereof it hath beene before this foure times imprinted which argueth the good approbation which it hath receiued as well from those in authority as from the particular Churches of this land Miles Christianus The praises of this booke haue not yet an end but you further commend it from the often imprinting of the same For since the publication thereof say you it hath beene before this foure times imprinted Be it so which argueth you say the good approbation which it hath receiued asvvell from those in authority as from the particular Churches of this land But you are deceiued much The often imprinting thereof doth no whit argue the good approbation which publique authoritie doth giue vnto a booke I could name bookes vnto you within lesse than twenty yéeres foure times imprinted which yet neuer by publique authoritie were approoued It followeth not A booke is often imprinted therefore it is allovved by authority You know or at least may know that Printers commonly doe gaine most by those bookes which are most forbidden Whereby you may note into what a peruerse and froward generation we are fallen wherein men most earnestly desire though they buie theÌ„ most déerelie the things which by wholsome statutes and Proclamations be most straightlie prohibited to be either bought or solde I say not that this Catechisme is so Yet must I tell you howsoeuer you say it is by authoritie approued because it hath béen foure times imprinted I haue séene diuerse impressions of the same could neuer yet sée as in authorized bookes Seene and allowed or any thing to that effect till this last impression and publishing thereof by your meanes Neither doth it followe It hath béene foure times within these twentie yeares imprinted therfore the particular Churches of this lande do approoue it You are neuer able to prooue that the particular Chuches of this lande haue approoued the same I thinke your meaning is it hath béene approoued by all because it hath béene taught in some particular Churches Which is as weake an argument as the former For the teaching of it in some argueth not that it is approoued of all Now vnlesse all haue approoued the same neuer say The particular Churches of this land haue approued it And when our prudent Gouernors haue so approued that they do commende it vnto all Churches to be taught then as some few Churches alreadie by the toleration of our milde Gouernours haue so all Churches of this lande will in déede approoue the same In the meane season you cannot but by Supposition which is deceiptfull say that it is or euer hath beene approued by the particular Churches of thâ—s land Miles Mosse And yet it hath fallen as it sometimes happeneth with a Trauailar into the handes of euill companie Some haue abridged it of the right some haue bolstered it out with more than the owne In both they haue beene verie preiudicial to the authors Miles Christianus You haue shewed the good now you declare the ill successe that this Booke hath found And yet it hath fallen into the handes of euill companie you say If it haue done euil men good it was wel for them that it happened so but il for it if it haue béene abused in their companie But what hath fallen out Some haue abridged it of the right some haue bolstered it out with more thaÌ„ the owne In both they haue bin verie preiudiciall to the authors Had you showen either what they had left out which should not be omitted or what they had put in y e might not be added you had done well and might iustly haue thought them preiudiciall to the authors and euill men but when you so say and yet showe no fault much lesse prooue their actions faultie manie will thinke you preiudiciall vnto them and an euil man so to attaint them in a publique writing The men are well knowen to be better men then your selfe and by their laborâ— to haue done more good seruice to the Church than your selfe hetherto hath done Miles Mosse The thinges which I haue aimed at in this labour are principalie two The one is more shortnesse in the answeres for the capacitie and memorie of the simple and the other is more direct and euident proofes of Scripture to the purpose Questions and answeres I
haue added none more than I suppose them to haue beene entended of the first founders or so necessarie as they might not be omitted Miles Christianus But what hath your selfe done to the booke if one may aske you Haue you so published the same as at the first by the Authors the first founders diuers great Diuines in the Vniuersity of Cambridge it was published Haue you restored the same to the first integritie No you say Haue you not And yet call you them Euil men which haue altered it you hauing your selfe varied also from the first founders But what is it you haue done You haue aimed you saie at two things the one is more shortnes in the ansvvers for the capacity and memory of the simple and the other is more direct and euident profs of scripture to the purpose And is this all No you saie For you haue added besides questions and ansvvers Uerie well then you haue both made some answers shorter which were long that is Abridged and you haue Added questions and answers too that is bolstred it out vvith more then the ovvne Haue you thus done by your owne confession and blame you other men naming them Euil and saying they haue béene preiudiciall very preiudicial to the Authors and yet haue done but that which you haue done and no more But you haue reasons for your doing For you saie that you abridged it for the capacity and memory of the simple and inlarged it but by such things as you suppose vvere either intended of the first founders or so necessary as they might not be omitted And may not they where they abridged it say also they did it for the capacity and memory of the simple and where they inlarged that they either supposed their additions were intended by the first founders or so necessarie that they could not be omitted Be these reasons good alleadged for your selfe and be they not as strong alleadged by and for them And then what praise purchase you but they deserue the same And why are they reproched as ill doing but that which you did and vppon so good groundes as you haue done Is this wel done of you that ill done of them Are they il men doing as you do you a good man doing euen as they Are they preiudiciall to the aucthors and not your selfe And let al men that haue iudgement iudge whether that by your abridging and adding you haue bettered and not rather worsered this Catechisme of so manie great Diuines of Cambridge and whether it were not much better both at the first as the Authors did it and since as other men did publish it then now You say you haue aimed at more direct and euident proofes of Scripture to the purpose I doubt not of that but how wel you haue hit the marke let others say I will not nowe vnfold One thing only I wil tel you but the truth as he knoweth who knoweth all things opening your booke as our Sauiour did the booke of the Prophet Esay I founde this question What callest thou the Catholique Church This answere The Catholique Church the number of faithfull people vvhich are haue bene and shalbe to the worlds end in all places all vvhich are knovven to God and cared for of men These proofs Iob 10. 16. 2. Tim. 2. 19. Matth. 18. 14. The first proofe Iob. 10. 16. is to show that the Catholike Church is the number of faithful people vvhich are haue beene and shalbe to the vvorlds end in all places I turned to that place in Iob and I found the wordes to be these But let it encrease hunt thou me like a Lion returne and shevv thy selfe marueilous vpon me Here is no word to the purpose for which it is quoted You made me to muse but thinking it might be a fault of the Printer and that Iob might be set for Iohn I turned vnto the tenth of Iohn the 16. verse where in déed our Sauiour Christ speaketh of his Church and of one Church and of the encrease and perpetuitie of the same But by your leaue that place neither will proue that The Catholike Church is the number of faithfull people vvhich are haue beene and shalbe to the vvorlds end in all places For though it be true that the faithfull people which are haue beene and shalbe to the worlds end are of the Catholike Church yet are not the faithfull people the Catholike Church For then should manie which neither had haue or shal haue Faith be excluded from the mysticall bodie the Catholike Church of Christ and yet both our Sauiour dyed and shed his pretious bloud for them and they were elected vnto life euerlasting before the foundations of the world so well as they which by hearing the word of God preached hane attained faith b They are in an errour which expounded this Artickle The holy Catholike Church of the visible Church as the Papists do and they are not in the right way which expounded it onely of the Faithfull For the holy Catholike Church which vve belieue in our Creed is not the companie of the Faithfull onely but the whole company of Gods elect and chosen whether euer or neuer they doe belieue The second proofe 2. Tim. 2. 19. is truely quoted But the third and last Matth. 18. 14. alledged to proue that the Catholike Church as you say the companie of the faithfull is cared for of men is nothing so nor so The wordes of S. Mathevv in that place be these So is it not the vvil of your Father vvhich is in heauen that one of these litle ones should perish where our Sauiour plainely sheweth that his prouident care is excéeding great euen ouer litle ones of this world he saith not that men haue a care of his people the litle ones of this world or that they be cared for of man But the contrary we may sée in the holy Scriptures For the vvorld hateth them because they are not of the world but chosen out of the vvorld Neither haue you misapplyed onely this text of Matthew but ouer and that peruerted the good meaning too of the Authours For where in the former editions it is thus I belieue that God knoweth them al and hath a most tender care ouer them which is very true you set downe in yours Al vvhich are knovvn to God and cared for of man the former of which is true the latter most false And yet are you a good man and they ill you a benefactour and they preiudiciall to this booke Fel it into ill company when it came into theirs and was it happy by lighting into your handes This one place maketh me to thinke you haue not dealt soundly in other Miles Mosse And in these I haue not trusted my self alone because euery man aboundeth too much with his owne sense but haue consulted with diuers godly and learned brethren that two might be better then one and a three-folde aâ—arde