to resort keepe vnto But the first is false saith the same Apostle in the place last quoted therefore the latter standeth firme cannot be denied of any that with the least indifferency cōpareth our cōmunicating with theirs For if you wil obiect they had the right order of discipline so haue not we that maketh them the greatlier in fault aboue vs as hauing more meanes in their hands yet came shorter of a holy profession in outward behauior then we and so sealeth vp my conclusion more surely to conuince you But I returne againe to my former purpose I hope I haue made it manifest that neither the forme of the institution was violated by the Corinthians nor yet the abuses committed were done by them all And now I suppose it will not be hard to prooue that the most vnworthie among them did also eate the outward sacrament First if those had not eaten the sacrament at all they could not haue beene charged with eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord vnwoorthelie without discerning his bodie and so to their condemnation But they are charged so therefore we must needes graunt they did eate it The assumption is prooued in the 30. verse saying For this cause many among you are weake and sick and many sleepe Wherein the Apostle by these effectes leadeth them to acknowledge the cause namely their sinne such and so as he had propounded it in the 27. 29. verses Whereby behold and if you will suffer the point of truth to pearce into your heart cast out that furious spirit that saith The Communion can not be good to one partie and bad to another and acknowledge by this case of the Corinthians that manifest indignities may be committed by some and apparant vnworthie ones may communicate with others when they cannot be remoued and neither disanull the sacrament nor yet infect or make guilty all the Communicants with their sinne Neither doth this place alone affoord this instruction for you but euen that place of Iude also where inueying against such filthy professors as whose grosse sinnes could not be altogether secrete in any Church wheresoeuer they liued yet doth he graunt it might come to passe that they should impudently thrust themselues into the Church feastes of charitie wherein also the Lords Supper then vsed to be celebrated though so also they should be but as spots and staines therein In the which place neither doth the Apostle once insinuate that the action should thereby be disanulled vnto them nor all to be made wicked by their meanes in communicating yea contrarywise implyeth to the comfort of the godly that they might by prayer through the holie Ghost in the circumspect obseruing one another keepe both themselues and others from the contagion of all such Now I woulde wishe you W. F. and all of your learning to fixe your eyes heere a little in the meditating of these two places and amongst other things bethinke you what was the cause that neither Paule in consideration of that great disorder in the Church at Corinth nor yet Iude in respect of those wicked ones which he calleth spots in the Church feastes no nor Iohn that I may touch you vtterly to the quick in testifying that Church to be ambitiously vsurped vpon ouerweyed and therefore corrupted in the discipline do yet in the least syllable directly or indirectly account those assemblies thoroughly leauened or the couenant broken or yet perswade any of them to withdrawe from the rest and to gather a part And after you haue diligently sought and considered it may be you shall finde no cause but this namely that the Apostles were as farre from your leaders minde and iudgement in this matter as Heauen and Hell are distant and deuided asunder Now against his odious repetitions and senselesse collections I oppose the plainenes and simplicitie of mine answeres but where I call our dealings by admonition and labouring for the Church censures a kind of protesting against the sinne of the vnworthy he mistaketh me as though I meant an open excepting against thē at the Lords table 12 I say there is no further power giuen to a particular member in proceeding against the vnworthy than by processe of admonition Your replier vrgeth me with diuers Scriptures which he supposeth warrant me some further proceeding The first is Giue not that which is holy vnto dogs Inasmuch as this may be brought to Church assemblies it belongeth to the practise of the whole ioyntly not to a particular member seuerally and alone like as other precepts also of Church gouernement The second is Let him be vnto thee as an heathen and publican that is to say when the Church hath for his sinne separated him for so his binding by the Church is set down in the next verse with the efficacy therof to bridle the obstinate and stiff-necked The third is If an Angell from heauen or Paule preach otherwise hold him accursed I hold him for a cursed instrument of Sathan and not a blessed seruant of God whosoeuer bringeth vs another doctrine then the Lord hath left vs in his word but what is this to the purpose in hand His fourth and fifth places Be not thou partaker of other mens sinne and follow not a multitude to do euill I haue answered before where I haue shewed how far and in what sort we may partake with the vnworthy in the Sacrament and haue proued it to be without guilt of their sin The like I answere to his other two places out of Timothy He quoteth Ierem. 1.17.18 If he meant that euery priuate man should take vpō him as with Ieremies cōmission either for the parts of his duty towards the Church or the manner of carying himselfe in his place he seduceth you dangerously for so euery priuate man may publikely denounce the iudgemēts of God against Princes Ministers people contend with them all if they faile in their duty yea if they but iudge them to faile in their duty for I trow he wil not ascribe to them such sure reuelations as had the Prophet and so what should an Eldership do in the Church yea or any other gouernors whē as if they proceed not according to my expectation in any thing I so any priuate man may disanull their doings If otherwise he cite the place but for the generall doctrine that may therehence be deriued vnto all namely whatsoeuer the Lord cōmandeth any of vs to do be it a matter that seeme neuer so dangerous fearefull to vs that we obserue to do it to the vttermost without fearing the faces of any if I say he quote the place for this let him know that whē he shall proue particular members of a Church to haue receiued such a commandement frō the Lord as is heere in question then this place of the Prophet Iere. shal make for his cause in the meane time I cannot but iudge
inferred this absurditie vpon your leaders interpretation thereof namely that so the Corinthians were vnsanctified and become no Church of God because they had not remoued the incestuous person Your leader salueth that sore with fyue excuses in the behalfe of the Corinthians but indeede all will not make a plaster of a haire breadth to couer so mortall a wound First he sayth The wickedman remayned not among them which is apparantly false else why did Paule appoynt hys remoue And touching the space of time it will be found reasonable long if you consider how long it must be ere Paule being at Philippi in Macedonia could heare out of Corinth in Achaia the vndoubted truth of theyr disorder His second excuse is They communicated not with him in the Sacraments being knowne But it is certayne they dyd else why dyd Paule rebuke them for miscarying themselues in the matter And that they knewe of him there is no reason to doubt first because if the matter had beene vnknowne and vnconuinced to them they had beene still free from blame and as I sayd before Paule had no reason to checke their security 2. I would aske him how Paule came to the knowledge of it by reuelation no for he sayth It is heard for truth or for certaine Well had he it by reports they must come from Corinth and then must you eyther say they were some pike-thanke spyes that without cause so accused the Church which is great reproch to the Apostle in that he should without cause and yet so peremptorily accuse them of neglect of duty or else confesse that they were of the faithfullest brethren who being not able by themselues to preuayle with the Church sought by this meanes of telling Paule to do it and then you see the case as cleere as may be 3. Your leader sayth He was not conuinced belike he had vowed the number of fiue and so this must fill vp tale His 4. excuse is That they wanted not Christes power and discipline to seuer him being in bondage to popish discipline I perceiue he is almost drawne dry for what is this to the purpose The Corinthians still communicated with him in the Word and Sacraments in consideration whereof by your leaders iudgement it had beene lawfull for as many as made conscience of the matter to haue forsaken the assemblyes and then it followeth that eyther you may forsake a true Church of God which hold you haue alreadie renounced or else that the Church at Corinth was now disanulled become a leauened lumpe and so fallen from Christ which is blasphemie too abhominable so that whether you looke forward or backward heere that foxe I meane that Heretick is taken Fifthly he sayth They refused not to seuer him but onely neglected it Yes it must be sayd except when we speake fauourably that they in effect refused to seuer him else could there haue beene no iust complaynt made agaynst them to the Apostle They refused perhaps not in playne words but in lending the deafe eare to the complaynings and securely neglecting the meanes of theyr healthie state Howsoeuer it was in such sort it seemes to be as that they that infourmed it to Paule had no hope else to get remedie But if one should graunt it onely a negligence in the meane tyme the forwardest and soundest brethren must eyther still communicate with him whome they would remoue or else forsake the assemblyes and so I haue you agayne at the same poynt you were at before Thus you see what extremities error bringeth you into when it is traced out to the end If you take the comparing of the wicked with leauen to be in quantitie that is that the Apostle should vnderstand the wicked to haue as thorow power and force to make wicked a whole Church being suffered amongst them as hath leauen to make sowre a whole masse of meale in which it lyeth then was the Corinthian Church now leauened throughout and consequently become no Church of God when Paule wrote his first Epistle 32 Of all the other cauils of your leader at my answere to the comparison of leauen because as it seemeth you are little capable of them and they are easily iudged by all that haue some giftes of learning both as concerning my speeche wherein he hunteth for contrarietie and also my Logick which he told you would not fadge I aunswere heere no further but freely giue it vp to the verdict of the godly learned If your leader haue any thing empaired it or gotten therein at my handes by his worthy Reply let hym enioy it for hys gayne onely this I may tell you in secrete if hys teeth would serue hym no better for to eate his meate then his Logicke doth to discusse a question rightly you must feede him with spoone-meate or that which is minced if you meant to keepe him long aliue he may freely bid fye of all Logitians and no reproch to himselfe therein The rest of my answere he sayth is nothing but a tedious repetition of former matters But if you looke vpon it agayne you shall see among other things a playne demonstration of your schismaticall and therefore very dangerous estate Wherein for asmuch as he hath forsaken to defend you let it stirre you vp to the better and earlyer consideration of all his other dealings which if you shall do with humble calling vpon the name of the Lord I trust it will please him in mercie to reach you his hand of conduct to bring you out of that vast wildernesse wherein you haue lost your selues and make you to see those good things that concerne your stable peace euen in this Church though poore diseased and piteously neglected yet such as the Lord vouchsafeth to beget and nourish to himselfe many children by Depart from the foolish man when thou perceauest not in him the lips of knowledge Prouerbs 14 7. ¶ A Defence of the Admonition to the followers of Browne made in reply to a raging Libell of Brovvnes sent abroade in sundrie written copies against the same WHen I came to the knitting vp of my Confutation of Glouer Christian Reader I iudged it a labour much tending to the benefit of many to write some short admonition to his followers whereby his vnsoundnes being vrged againe vnto them by rehearsall and iustly aggreeued by the dangerous consequences their hearts might be pricked if it were possible to seeke and to embrace the way of truth againe In the entrie whereof I considered the originall of their euill estate to be deriued from a former fountaine vnto which also my labour of cleansing must descend if I would obtaine my desired fruites thereof It is not any new thing but of old obserued and witnessed vnto by the written word that the Lord in his righteous iudgement payeth sinne with sinne and euery degree of declining from his truth with some other deeper downefall vnto Apostacie Therefore when I beheld and perceiued all that I could
assumption His proposition carrying the force of a conuexiue falsely inferreth the feyning of a counterfait Christ and a counterfaite Church vpon the deniall of his power and authoritie to be of the essence of a Church For they do not thereby as hee beareth men in hand separate Christ and his Church from his power and gouernement Men of meane vnderstanding knowe that there are propper accidents to thinges which cannot be separated from them and yet are not of their essence For example heate cannot bee separated from the fire nor mouing from the sunne yet are neither of those properties any part of their essence nor doeth hee that saith heate is not of the essence of fire nor motion of the essence of the sunne deny therefore the fire to be hote or the sunne to haue his motion And concerning these offices in question touching which Browne so arrogantly challengeth M.C. to answere whether they be of the essence of the Church I would the reader should aske of him or his friends if he thinke it good whether the kingdome Priesthood of the sonne of God and man the word incarnate be partes of his essence or accidentes vnto him rather and so whether hee that shall say they are not of his essence doeth thereby dispoyle him of his offices I feare not vnlesse you take him in some desperate fit hee will answere no. Why then if a thing may truely be remoued from the essence and neuerthelesse necessarily admitted in the Subiect howe followeth it that they that deny the kingly power or authoritie of Christ to bee of the essence of a Church doe there-fore make or feyne a Church that is without it This being voyded let vs nowe trye whether Christs power authoritie and office of gouerning bee of the very essence of a Church as hee woulde haue it This shall we soundly try out by examining by the word of God what are the essentiall causes of that which is truly may be called the Church of God And first for the matter of a Church I suppose it will-be readily yeelded vnto to bee Christ the head corner stone and Christians who are as liuely stones to bee builded vppon him to a spirituall house For so the Apostles Peter Paul playnely declared according to which proportion hee is likewise called the head and we that beleeue in him the members as Saint Paul sayth that vnder the feete of Christ God hath subiected all thinges and hath appoynted him ouer all thinges to bee the head to the Church which is his body euen the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all thinges To the same end Christ compared him-selfe to a vine and those that beleeue in him to the braunches of the vine Like whereunto is that of the Oliue and the braunches grafted therein as Saint Paul deliuereth it The matter of a Church wee haue Let vs nowe see what may be the fourme Neither will it bee hard to find that if wee consider that the setting together of prepared stones maketh the building the vniting of the head with the members fourmeth the body and the continuance together of the stocke with the braunches giueth the being of a tree For so is it likewise agreeable to all reason that the vniting and knitting together of Christ and Christians bee graunted the formall cause of a Church Nowe this vnition is by two meanes the one eternall the other seruing but for this life The eternall vnition is by the holy Ghost whereby we are flesh of his flesh bone of his bones and made finally complete and perfect in one God through that one and only mediator betweene God and man Iesus Christ This is peculiar and proper to the Catholique Church which is the whole company of the elect of God and doth not pertaine to the members of a particular Church as they are only considered members of any particular Church but as they are also in that regard members of the Catholique The tēporal vnition which as I sayd serueth for this life is by faith which shall cease in the day of the reuelation of the Saincts of God when we shall be possessed of the full fruition of all those things we hoped for as the holie word doth testifie for mortalitie shall be swallowed vp of life perswasion of possession and faith of the fulnesse of the spirit and perfect being in God through Christ Meane time faith is as the engrafting of the braunches into the stock whereby they are vpholden whilest that by the sappe and spirit of life proceeding therefrom they be growne and established And as the braunch to be ingrafted needeth those his enwrappings and bindings to support and defend it against sundrie inconueniences till it be able to be without them and afterward they are of no vse vnto it so doth faith support and desend the tender conscience against all the stormes of temptations till there be that perfect growth in Christ that is vtterly freed from them at which time in like sort faith doth cease But heere withall thys faith must be vnderstood to admit a twofold consideration the one in respect of Gods the other in respect of mans beholding and iudging thereof In regard of God that onely is acknowledged which is vnfeigned and sealed vp with his holie spirit of promise But in regard of man a feigned faith may also stand in the reckoning sith man cannot iudge of the heart but must therfore accept rest in the sound confession of the mouth and so according to this latter consideration hath the Reader the right vnderstanding of faith in this question concerning the fourming of visible Churches for man to discerne of ioyne with them Now that faith doth engraffe and vnite vs vnto Christ and so is the proper fourme of particular visible Churches I needed not at all stand heere to prooue if there were not in this man against whom I deale a iust suspition of fundamentall Apostacie heerein For if he had beene indeede perswaded thereof to this day we should neuer by him haue beene thus brought to the proofe of the being of our Church as now he hath prouoked vs. Therefore although this cause hath beene alreadie so handled by the worthie seruants of God against the common Aduersarye as that he whosoeuer at this day shall call it into question is more worthie the sharpest discipline then any disputation Yet for to stop importunate mouthes whatsoeuer and to make cleere to the world the confutation of Brownes false conclusion heere in hand it is requisite that after the large labour of others I also point at some profes for this purpose shewing that visible Churches in as much as they stand in the accompt of visible Churches are vnited vnto Christ by faith only First let all the planting of Churches thoroughout the story of the Actes be considered and see if the holy Ghost do not euery where testify this vniting vnto Christ
because the iudges and officers of the court do wrest Gods law by their popish canon law and respect persons take rewards which is forbiddē in Deuteronom and by their profession they must needs do so or else they cannot hold their office how shall any make complaynt vnto them for church matters which can be counted none of the Church And seeing Christ hath commanded to complaine to the church against the sinner how shall Christes ordinance be broken by complaining vnto such wretches Furthermore seeing the scripture sheweth that the church hath nothing to do to iudge those that are without how shall any complaine of such a number of wicked men as neuer were worthy to be counted the Church Againe seeing no godly man may seeke iudgemēt vnder the vniust as Paule sheweth if he haue a matter against a brother why should we seeke to such for iudgemēt Again because those canon officers are strāgers neither knowne to the churches nor dwelling among thē no maruaile though Christ say that his sheep will not follow nor seeke to strangers but will flee frō them Moreouer because they bring the churches into bondage as it is written because they deuoure because they take their goods because they exalt thēselues and as it were smite the people on their face cast thē in prison they do all these things besides the church gouernment and therefore ought to be reiected in no case to be suffered So he concludeth Thus it is manifest by the word of God that such prowd Prelates and Antichristiā vsurpers haue no authority nor power of the church neither is their suspēdings to be counted suspensions by the Church nor their calling of Ministers a calling by the Church Hauing then thus condēned our Bishops authority disauowed as vtterly vnlawfull to meddle with their courts and officers How strange is this that he seeth not his subscription to the B. authority to haue gainesaid all his writings yea how monstrous is it that he should thus fetter other men frō any way vsing or applying themselues to their courts officers and yet himselfe of late being iustly called in question by the Minister of the parish where he dwelt for not communicating according to the order appointed made his speedy recourse to a Doctor and iudge of such courts and by his meanes cut off and forestalled the intended proceeding of the minister congregation there against him O worthy Captain guide of so vnworthy a schisme But perhaps his Proctors will pleade for him that his subscription and late practise haue now cancelled all his former writings so as they cannot henceforth in any equity be vrged against him No no let thē know that I hold him heere faster than that all of them can be able to wring him out of my hands I answer therefore that since the time of his subscription first he hath written that which is against both the Bi. and their authoritie as in these words Thus your writing condemneth you of iniquity that speake not one word in the pulpit against the restraint by popish discipline that ye cannot separate How sore do you labour and how much do you suffer that dare not speake a word by name against those officers and courts neither name nor protest openly against those wicked against whom you would haue vs protest particularly and by name And by and by after But why labour you not also to charge them openly though it cost you your life and liuing Also in his Libell against my admonition he hath these words Thou hast written it heeretofore that there is no Aegipt in England and hast thou now found vs out to be in Aegipt Doest thou not perceiue that thou and thy partakers abusing your knowledge to persecute those which are come out of Aegipt are worse then Aegipt yea princes of Sodome and people of Gomorrha looke thou to it that thou remain not in Aegipt Thou hast confessed that we were once come out of Aegipt thou canst not say so of thy selfe if still thou iustifie thy Aegiptian doctrine pollutiōs as is to be seen by thy pamphlet Let the reader now bethinke him what Bro. calleth Aegiptian doctrine sith my booke containeth no doctrine but the doctrine of the church of England and so it was iudged alowed by authority Also whether he accompt Englād as Aegipt which he would deny in another place whether he exclude the Bishops frō the number whē he calleth me all my partakers that do persecute him and his followers Princes of Sodome and people of Gomorrha Again when my admo demandeth what gaine their departing frō our church heer in England hath gotten thē he denieth not that they are departed but answereth thus We haue gained by fleeing from persecuting wolues not wealth nor bellycheere nor fauour in the world but losse imprisonment all maner euil speaches and death it selfe Nay he is so far frō recanting his former course as that he thundreth iudgements and inuocateth vengeance euen the bloud of all those of his sect that haue died any way by pursuite of law vpō the heads of all those that haue been meanes and partakers to their trouble these are his words It is thy manner and thy partners to force to threaten to make stirrings and hurly burlies and to driue man wife asunder thine and their outrage cannot be satisfied with bloud thine their railings slander false accusations haue brought diuers of vs to death some by the Gybbet some by long imprisonmēt some by flight and pursuite some by extreame care thought sicknes some by Seas some by necessity and want some by changing aire dwelling place the bloud of all these shall be vpō thine thy partners heads These places are sufficiēt being writtē since his subscription to proue that he still continueth to oppose himself against the authority gouernment of our Bishops as also to the vnity peace of our Church Secondly to those that obiect his subscriptiō to cut off the allegation of his former writings against him I answere that Brown hath in writing since his subscription iustified all his former cause doctrines in euery point therefore hath again cancelled his subscription and reuiued all his bookes This I lay down by his own euidēt words in two places of his libell against my admo let the Reader consider iudge Glouers popery saith he or popish heresies being long ago by many diuines refuted needed not Bredwells childish refutation wheras the cause wherin Bro. hath stood as yet is refuted by none Now the places aboue cited shew that a chiefe part of Bro. cause is touching the authority proceeding of the Bishops which he vtterly detesteth And seeing then he auoucheth his cause to stād as yet vnrefuted he intendeth not that his subscriptiō should any whit empaire the same for then he could not say so but meaneth therfore that
to the whole as members do in a naturall body consider what foloweth how absurd it is that you say That a particular mēber may separate it selfe frō the whole in consideration of some vnworthy and vnclene parts Is it meete that because some yea let it be that the most of the mēbers of a body be brokē lamed or diseased the rest that are sound shuld forsake the vnitie of the body were it not to destroy the whole in stead of strengthning the whole against the infection of those parts were not that to cōspire against the whole vtterly disable it to withstand the cōtagion of the parts for take away knitting togither of the mēbers and is not then the body destroied whereas on the cōtrary if the sound mēbers continue in a bodily vnitie though some parts be long time sicke there is possibilitie of their recouery yea though they should not yet may the body liue though with some inconuenience of their maime or blemish But if you say they being corrupt not separate may else infect mee and herein seeme to ground your selfe vpon that place to the Corinthians Know you not that a little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpes I answer the Apostle doth there vrge them to the excommunicating of the incestuous person but stirreth no mā to depart from the Church no not in case of so secure a negligence as the Corinthians had committed It is one thing that we being humbled and afflicted at the dangerous examples of euil mēbers amongst vs must labour to separat thē for the better helth of the whole bodie and this in deed is the purpose of S. Paul to teach the Corinthians in that place but it is farre another thing to say as you meane That all the sounde members must separate themselues if the vnsounde remaine vnseparated and of this the Apostle there giueth no inkeling which certainely had bene necessarie if the daunger to euery particular mēber should be altogether such as you pretend For whereas you vnderstand the comparison of the leauen to be such as that the remaining of vnsounde members in the Church should be accounted of as great force to infect the whole Church as the leauen in leauening a whole lumpe you are greatly deceyued For those two things in that case are compared in likenesse of nature not in there equalitie of effecting Like as you should say the conuersation of two or three righteous men conuerteth a whole companie euen as a little salt sauoureth a whole pot full of liquor we know it were a trueth that you should speake but if I should therof gather that you make those two causes of equall force in respect of their matter to worke their effect should I not doe you great wrong No doubt I should For the liquor neuer faileth to be seasoned of the salt but it is commonly tried that the greatest number of a companie remaineth wicked still notwithstanding the righteous Such also if you marke it is the similitude of the leauen for the effect of it followeth necessarilie in the masse of meale but it is not of such necessitie that in a whole congregation all become vnsanctified for some Let the Church at Corinth be an example hereof If the whole congregation had bin infected and so vnsanctified through the remaining of that wicked man amongest them woulde the Apostle thinke you haue still intituled them The Church of God and sanctified ones in Christ Iesu there had bene no reason in it What then will some say to what ende did the Apostle put them in minde of the effect of leauen when he chalenged them for their negligence euen to the ende that they being put in minde of the resemblance that is betwene the nature of leauen the wicked in that both are disposed to infect that which is neere them might haue more care to vse all the meanes that God hath put into their hands to auoide the daunger For as the remaining with the godly tendeth to the reforming of the wicked so the remaining with the wicked tendeth to the deforming of the godly yet doeth neither of both fall out alway necessarily especially vpon a whole companie or congregation Therefore seeing a Church is as the bodie of Christ and the same bodie consisteth also of many members euerie of which is so to exercise the office of his place as that all may concurre to the conseruation and encreasing of the whole vnto a perfect body it followeth necessarily that no true member ought to separate it selfe for any cause so long as there is life in the bodie and abiding with the head For I trust you wil not say that the remaining of a knowne wicked one doth ipso facto extingish life in the bodie and separate the same from the heade Christ Neither may you thinke to auoide me by obiecting that you separate not your self from the bodie by going from one congregation to another in that euerie faithfull congregation in respect that Christ is the head thereof hath this same resemblance of a bodie For if that be a good reason then Paule saide not well to the Corinthians that to addict themselues so seuerally to diuerse teachers of the same Gospell tendeth to the parting of Christ We knowe well they all helde Christ the foundation vnder which teacher soeuer they professed it yet in that some chose Paule with neglect of the other Apostles some Apollo others Cephas and others held Christ without esteeming the meanes of teachers they were iustly charged to be in dāger of schisme whilest they so continued Howe then can they be excused that forsaking the congregation whereunto through the prouidence of God by their dwelling they are gathered and ioyned doe consort themselues with some others as the affection of their speciall liking leadeth thē Howe can they I say bee excused for beeing guiltie of parting Christ To conclude therefore for this time since it is as I hope plainly prooued First That the presence or remayning of the vnworthie in a Congregation cannot keepe backe the benefite of Christ from the faithfull of the same Secondly That particular members haue from the Lord no further power authoritie in case of offences than by admonition and that their chiefe regarde must be by vnitie to prouide for the continuance of the whole congregation which in this case is considered as the bodie of Christ. Thirdly That the practising and proceeding of particular members beyond the limittes of admonition as namely for some offences to depart from one Congregation where the reason of their dwelling requireth them to be and ioyne themselues to another breedeth schisme and diuision of Christ It followeth of the first point that you may ioyne with vs and of the two latter that you ought not to depart from vs of this Congregation vnlesse you will shewe your selfe to bee a rebellious member to the bodie and bee found guiltie of diuiding Christ Of which things now I
betraying the good cause yea who ought to go before all others in suffering for this reformation but hee onely that pretendeth to holde the same at a higher price and to seeke for it with a more feruent zeale than all others But we haue experience sufficient of him what great things he hath suffred and how And this we know whatsoeuer he discourseth otherwhere of his fugitiue life that although some others haue bene hanged for his heresies he hath not only bene contented to let them go without his companie but comming also to some triall of his courage before authoritie there was not onely no shew of that Heroical spirit which he woulde haue you see in his writings but contrariwise shifting answeres with subtill reseruations shamefull and disorder like giuing backe from the trueth it selfe and finally a most hypocriticall subscription least hee shoulde haue felt affliction in the least of his fingers Of any of these if you doubt I will bee readie to shewe you prooues 31 In my first answere I shewed you the right vnderstanding of that comparison of the leauen which S. Paule vseth in the 1. to the Cor. 5. cap. that you might see if that place so commonly obiected of your leader to warrant your separating from our assemblies be but rightly vnderstoode it quickeneth our care and diligent indeuours to remoue corruptions but teacheth no man to forsake his Church I gaue you to vnderstande that the comparison is there of qualitie not of quantitie I speake not of like force and like nature without regarde of like woorking I knowe we consider of the natures of things by their effects and therefore I saide also that Paule putteth vs in minde of the effect of leauen The leauen in sowring the meale wherwith it is mingled and the vngodly in corrupting those with whom they keepe companie haue herein both a like nature yea and their effectes when they doe come to passe are both alike For it is true that when the wicked drawe others after them to become also of euill conuersation that before were not so the effect is like to the sowring of the meale which before was not so but now the measure of working of the one and of the other is not the same in both subiects Which that I may helpe you the better to vnderstand consider that the matter subiect to the sowring of the leauen is meale a thing altogether and wholy disposed to receiue the impression thereof without resistance But the matter whereon the wicked doe worke in this comparison is a company consisting of two sorts of men contrarily disposed and tempered the one apt to be infected the other hauing a supernatural power to hold out their contagion So that though the sowring that the one maketh the corrupting that the other worketh be alike yet are they not equal For of the meale all is infected but not all of such a cōpanie and so is it in the comparison that I gaue you By the salt all the liquor is seasoned but so is not alwayes a wicked company by two or three righteous men cōuerted Againe the leauen in one night so wreth the meal wherwith it is mingled you dare not say that the case is the same with a whole cōgregation and yet you say more if you hold that by warrant of this scripture you must depart frō the sacrament where you see vnworthy ones admitted for so you account the whole congregation to be leauened that is vnsanctified in a moment But I must further remēber you that as in diuers places the scripture speaketh of leauen in the ill part so our Sauiour Christ propoundeth a similitude by the same in the good part Which if you applie and vrge as farre foorth as you haue done this you must say that where faith regeneration by the gospel is once begun there do al become faithful renued euen as of 3. pecks of meale all becommeth leuened Which if you doe say all the worlde will crie shame of you If you feare so to abuse this place why feare you not also in the other Moreouer whereas your leader teacheth you to applie these woordes of Saint Paule A little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe as though the Apostle had giuen you to vnderstande thereby that one knowne and so proued a wicked man remayning vnseparated in a Church vnsanctifieth the whole and bringeth a nullity vpon it hee doeth too grossely and shamefully abuse miscary and seduce you For by leauening Paul meant corrupting them with euill manners Like as to the Galathians hee meaneth by the same speech the corrupting of that Church with false doctrine and not the disanulling of either So that if God haue yet left you the vnderstanding to make difference betweene sicke and dead and that which is vnpure and that which is not nowe at all your leader can no longer misleade you in this poynt For if hee dare auouch it that whatsoeuer congregation is corrupt either in manners or doctrine the same is not to bee reputed or ioyned with as a Church of God we can soundly and so may safely proue and denounce him for a Donatist and not worthy to liue in any land of Christian gouernement His vnsatisfied dalyance with my comparing of salt with the righteous argueth the man either so pursued by the hande of God that whilest hee controlleth all men himselfe is vtterly spoyled of vnderstanding or else of so reprobate a mynde that hee wilfully closeth his eyes and stoppeth his eares at those thinges that haue speciall force to affect the senses to the reformation of his iudgement And after that hee hath altogether thus abused you in the scope of my comparison least hee should leaue you any light at all in it hee takes it to his owne stithie and hammers it a newe for so hee presumeth it shalbe fit for the schollers of his learning The Lorde giue you eyes to see and a heart to abhorre his most dangerous and pestilent conclusion for thus hee teacheth you euen the same doctrine which right nowe I called Donatisme that like as sweete water intermingled with poyson is poysoned and turned into the nature of poyson so the notorious wicked openly mingled in one outward Church with the righteous or the righteous with them they become one wicked crewe together euen all of them poysoned and infected together As touching the author of this sentence I haue litle hope as in all the rest to preuaile ought by my answering onely for your sakes my deare brethren that haue not as yet sounded the deepenes of Satan in him I will herein also lende my labour to weigh out this matter by the waightes of the Sanctuary And although my 11. 28. Sections do sufficiently couer him with shame and confusion for this poynt yet shall this bee further also euen as the nayle of Iahel to pearce through the temples of Sisara downe into the earth First this his bold