A DEMONSTRATION OF the trueth of that Discipline which Christe hath prescribed in his worde for the gouernement of his Church in all times and places vntill the ende of the worlde ¶ Wherein are gathered into a plaine forme of reasoning the proofes thereof out of the scriptures the euidence of it by the light of reason rightly ruled and the testimonies that haue beene giuen therevnto by the course of the Churche certaine hundreths of yeares after the Apostles time and the generall consent of the Churches rightly reformed in these latter times according as they are alleaged and maintained in those seuerall bookes that haue bin written concerning the same MATTH 21. 38. The husbandmen said among themselues this is the heire come let vs kill him and let vs take his inheritaunce LVKE 19. 27. Those mine enemies which would not that I shoulde raigne ouer them bring hither and slea them before me ¶ TO THE SVPPOSED GOuernours of the Church of England the Archbyshops lord Byshops Archdeacons and the rest of that order MAnie and most euident haue our declarations bin concerning the truth of that gouerment which Christ hath prescribed in his word for the ruling of the Church which we haue manifested vnto you both by our writinges speches as occasion hath bin offered neuer hath any one of you taken in hand to saye any thing against it but it hath made his eyes to dazzle as the clearest sun-shining wherby he hath beene driuen to wander hyther and thyther groping for euasions and yet coulde not escape but hath fallen into infinite most monstrous absurdities and blasphemous assertions as by their writinges yet extant it may appeare so forcible is the trueth to amaze the gainesayers thereof and so pregnant is falsehood to beget and bring forth thousands of absurdities and euery one worse then other And will you still continue in your damnable and most deuellish course Haue you solde your selues vnto Sathan to fight for him vntill you be dampned in Hell with him Haue you morgaged the saluation of your soules bodies for the present fruition of your pompe and plesure is it because you see not what you should do It may be so for many are so blinde that they grope euen at noone day but me thinkes it can hardly be so vnlesse you be they that haue eyes and see not for the cause hath bene by the blessing of God so managed that many ploughmen artificers and children do see it and know it are able by the worde of God to iustifie it and condemne you to bee aduersaries vnto the gospell in resisting it But you think that gouernment not so needfull your fault but small if it be any in continuing your course begon The necessitie of the thing is many wayes apparant both in that it hath so plentiful warrant from Gods owne worde as the course of this booke doeth euidently declare and also in that the gospell can take no roote nor haue any free passage for want of it and the greatnes of your fault appeareth by this that in so doing you are the cause of all the ignorance Atheisme schismes treasons poperie and vngodlines that is to be founde in this land which we challenge to prooue to your faces if we may indifferently be heard and whereof in the meane while we will giue you a taste for the first it is cleere that you are the causers of that damnable ignoraunce wherein the people are so generally wrapped for that you haue from time to time stopped the streams of knowledge in those places where the Lord in mercie bestowed the same and in stead of able and painefull ministers haue pestered the Churche eyther with presumptuous proude persons that are esteemed learned and take no paines to bring the people vnto the knowledge of Iesus Christe or which is the greatest nomber such ignorant asses and filthy swine as are not worthy to liue in a well ordered common-wealth and that you are the cause of all atheisme it is plaine for one may as in deede many doe professe it and you saye nothing to him for it If the most filthy liuer will fawne vpon you and bribe your seruants you will not onely fauor him but assiste him against any godly minister or other but if any that feare God refuse to come vnder the leaste of your popish ceremonies he shal be molested till his pursse be empty or else by your tyrannous dealing hee haue made shipwrack of a good conscience And are not you the cause of all schismes that make a hotch-pot of true religion and poperye and so giue some an occasion to fal into this course and others into that And it is as cleare that you are so farre the cause of all treasons as without you they had not bin for if euery Church had had hir gouernement according to Christs institution our yong gentlemen and studentes had not bene for want of teaching and carefull ouersight made a prey vnto the seducers and consequently to those practises which haue broght the bodies of so manie vnto Tyborne and their soules into hell and who but you be the cause of poperye whilest you vse them so well let them doe what they list yea and keepe them in office and authoritie vnder you yea whiche more is giue them such offices as none that is not popish can execute I speake not of the ignorance which by your means raigneth euery wher which as they confes is the mother of their deuotion and you are the wretched fathers of that filthye mother whereby you muste needes bee grandfathers at the least to al kinde of popery And who can without blushing denie you to be the cause of al vngodlines seeing your gouernment is that which giueth leaue to a man to be any thing sauing a sound Christian For certainly it is more free in these dayes to be a papist anabaptist of the family of loue yea anye moste wicked one whatsoeuer then that which we should be and I could liue these twentie years any such in England yea in a Byshopps house it may be and neuer be much molested for it so true is that which you are charged with in a Dialogue lately come forth against you and since burned by you that you care for nothinge but the maintenaunce of your dignities be it to the damnation of your owne soules and infinit millions mo Enter therefore nowe at the last into the serious consideration of these things remember that one day you must be presented before the tribunall seat of Iesus Christ to be arraigned for all the soules that haue gone to hell seeing you will needes be the rulers of the Church since the gospel first appeared in this land then shall you not bee excused with this the Queene and Councell wil haue it so nor with that our state cannot beare it For it shal be sayde vnto you why do you not infourme them better of my will why taught you them not to
worship with trembling and feare to kisse the sonne least he bee angry why did you not tell them that all states must be ruled by my worde not my word by them and their pollicies When these things shal be laid to your charge your consciences shal aunswere that if you had done so you should haue lost your dignityes whiche you loued and sought for especially then shall you wishe that the mountains would fall vpon you and the hills couer you from the presence of the lambe and from the presence of him that sitteth vppon the throne And I am perswaded that you are in league with hell and haue made a couenaunt with death yea you doe perswade your selues that there is no God neyther shall there be any such day of account or it were vnpossible that you should giue your eyes anye sleepe or take anye rest in your bedds vntill you had vnto the Lord by repentance and the Church by confession vnburdned your souls of these hellishe wayes wherein you haue so long walked Repent repent be not ashamed to amend though others haue founde you out the way iudge your selues whyle you haue time least you be made fyrebrandes of hell beyond all time Let our challenges that wee haue made in the name of the Lord be hearkened vnto Let vs bee disputed with before indifferent iudges let the holy word of God bee the touch-stone to trye our diâ—â—ntations by and then shall it easily appeare who hath the Lord on his side and who not The trueth wil preuaile in spite of your teeth and al other aduersaries vnto it for God disdaineth to be crossed by dust and ashes Therefore be not obstinate so long as vntill you be found fighters with God but preuent his wrath lest it breake foorth against you like fyre that none can quench because of the wickednes of your inuentions Venture your byshopprickes vpon a disputation and wee will venture our liues take the challenge if you dare if the truth be on your side you may hereby be restored to your dignities and be no more troubled by vs but if the trueth be against you what shal it profit you to win the whole world and afterward loose your own souls If you refuse still our offer then must you needes be guiltie eyther of this that you know your cause will not abide the tryal or of this that you wil take no pains to confute vs that keep such a sturre in the Church do not think that because you haue humane authority on your side therfore you are safe for he whose authoritie is on our side is the greatest to whose voice all the deuils in hell shall stoup much more the sillie arme of sinfull fleshe We haue sought to aduaunce this cause of God by humble suit to the parliamente by supplication to your Conuocation house by writing in defence of it and by challenging to dispute for it seeing none of these means vsed by vs haue preuailed If it come in by that meanes which wil make all your heartes to ake blame your selues for it must preuail maugre the mallice of all that stande against it or such a iudgement must ouertake this lande as shall cause the cares that heare thereof to tingle make vs be a by-word to all that pas by vs. The Lord open your eyes that you may see the confusions whereof you are the cause and giue you true repentance or confounde you in all your purposes that bee against him and the regiment of his sonne Iesus Christ. The same Lord for the loue he beareth to his poore people open the eyes of her Maiestie and the Honorable Councellers that they may see your godlesse practises and in pitie to Gods people rid vs from you and turne awaye his iudgementes which the reiecting of his holy yoke hath deserued not punnishing them that mourne for the desolation of Sion with those that spoile and make hauock of the Lords inheritaunce Amen TO THE READER INfinite and vnspeakeable Christian Reader are the miseries froÌ„ whiche Iesus Christe our Sauiour hath freed vs and the benefites and blessings wherewith in this life he beginneth and for euer will continue to adorne vs. The consideration whereof if our â—â—thankfulnes vnto his Maiesty were any way proporcionable to that which we endeuour vnto towards men shoulde make vs continually to deuise all the daies of our life to studie howe wee might shew our selues at least in some sort carefull to glorifie his blessed name aboue all thinges that we desire by how muche as his loue towardes vs excelleth whatsoeuer can else according to our wish befall vnto vs but if we do with equall ballance on the other side looke into the course of mans life howe well this dutie is performed we shal see that men declare themselues rather bent to spit in his face and to defie him then any way to honour him as their head and Soueraigne for to saye nothing of the prophane life and godlesse couersation wherewith the generall number that professeth Iesus Christ is wholy defiled wee see that many nations people and languages are very willing to receiue Iesus Christe as their priest to sacrifice for their sinnes but that he should become their king to prescribe lawes vnto them whereby they may bee ruled is of all other things the most vnsauory yea if it be offered the most grieuous tydinges and vnreasonable request wherein albeit manye nations that haue renounced that whore of Rome are heynously sinnefull against his glorious maiestie yet is there none in the whole worlde so far out of square as Englande in reteyning that popishe hierarchie firste coyned in the midst of the mistery of iniquitie and that filthie sinck of the Canon law which was inuented and patched together for the confirming and increasing of the kingdome of Antichrist Wherein as great indignitie is offered vnto Iesus Christ in coÌ„mitting his Church vnto the gouernement of the same as can be by meane vnderlings vnto a king in committing his beloued spouse vnto the direction of the mistresse of the Stewes and enforcing hir to liue after the orders of a brothelhouse For the reformatioÌ„ wherof while some haue written and others according to their callinges carefully stoode howe heynously it hath beene taken howe hardly they haue bene vsed and what shamefull reproches haue beene offered euen vnto the course of the Gospell for spyte that hath beene borne vnto reformation almost by all estates and degrees lamentable experience hath taught many of vs but our posterity shall knowe it more particulerly and the Church thoroughout the world shall discerne and iudge of it more euidently when their bodies are rotten in the dust their soules if they repent not in eternall and intollerable torments who haue reiected a request so holy profitable and reasonable yea and handled the intreaters for the same so cruelly vnchristianly and vnlawfully but they would gladly perswade themselues if their conscience would let them that they
haue onely executed iustice vpon vs as malefactours and they perswade men that we desire a thing not warranted by the worde not heard of in the Church of God vntill within this few years nor tollerable in any christian common-weal whatsoeuer The whiche monstrous slaunders albeit they haue bene manye wayes and by many men of most worthie gifts detected and made knowne in those seuerall bookes that haue bene published concerning the same yet haue I thought it necessarie in another course to write also of it The course of my enterprise is first in respect of the fauorers of the desired reformation secondly of the aduersaries of the same the fauourers of it are also of two sorts ministers of the word priuate persons both I hope may haue profit by it Concerning the former when these wofull troubles that were renewed vpon vs by that wretched subscription that was euery where vrged did begin to increase I thought it meete to betake my selfe vnto that which I had read or might any way by studie finde out concerning the cause and collected all into a briefe sum and referred euery thing vnto some head whiche beeing euer present with me might furnish me to answere in the defence of the trueth though it were of a sodden by which thorow the blessing of God I found such profite in my seuerall troubles that I thought it a course not altogether vnprofitable for others also and vpon that occasion betooke my selfe vnto a more serious meditation about the matter and communicating the thing with diuers very worthy men I found encouragement hartening on generally by all whom I made acquainted therwith so that I trust the iudgments yea and wishes also of others so iumping with mine many ministers that loue the cause and haue not so thorowly studied it as were meet they should may reape some profit therby Now concerning priuate men that loue the cause som haue great affaires in hand and haue no leasure to read the seuerall books of this argumente some when they read are not of sufficient capacity to conceiue the force of a reason or to make vse of it to enform themselues in the grounded knowledge of the cause thereby some which is the generall falt of our religious gentlemē will take no paines to read some are poore and not able to buie the books which might let them see the cause al these I hope may finde helpe in some measure hereby Nowe concerning the aduersaries vnto the cause they are of two sortes also they that know it and they that are ignoraunt of it the former if they write anye thing against it are contented to deal in so rouing a course as may rather arise vnto great volumes then soundly to saye anye thing againste the cause Wherein D. Whitgifte but especially D. Bridges haue giuen vs an euident example and these with others of their iudgment though non in these latter dayes haue written more vnlearnedly then they of any argument of diuinity whatsoeuer are cōtented to make the world belieue if mē will be so wilfully seduced that our arguments be no arguments that they be grounded vpon false foundations that we are not able to conclude our cause in any forme of reasoning The course that is here taken I trust shall shew that they are liars the other sort of aduersaries be they that be meerly ignorant of any thing either for it or against it and perswading themselues that the sway and shew of the worlde must needs cary the truth with it do like blind bayardes boldly venture to say any thing against it and think they do wel Now of all these sorts of people I haue to request some thing I hope I shall obtaine my request at the least at the hands of some of thē The first sort of fauorers which be the ministers I intreat that as they tender the glory of God and honour of the cause which they stand in so they would diligently imploy themselues in this that they may be founde able to defend the same by sounde and euident grounds out of the worde so muche the rather for that the aduersaries doe greatly triumph when they meete with one that professeth the cause and is not able to defende it and confute the gainsayers of it The secoud sort of fauourers be the priuate persons that loue the cause whom I beseech to be carefull as of all other pointes of religion of this that they growe in the knowledge of the word of God whereby they may be able vpon their owne knowledge to defend the truth and not giue the enemie any occasion to think or say that they be of that minde because such and suche ministers whom they do affect do thinke so Now concerning the former sort of aduersaries to wit they that know it I pray them to looke into their owne hearts and they shal finde they mislike it eyther because it correcteth their excessiue pompe and maintenaunce or requireth more trauaile in their ministery then they are willing to vndergo or at the least controlleth that dissolutnes of behauior wherin they willingly wallow and if it would please god to bring them to a serious meditation of this that it is the will of the mighty God before whō they must be called to giue an account whiche they doe resist they would I doubt not more carefully looke about thē And lastly for them that being ignorant of the cause speake euill of that they know not let them if they will bee admonished vouchsafe to reade this little book and wey the reasons with an vpright iudgment which shal cause thē at the least to suspend their sharpe censures which so vsually appeare in their ordinary communication concerning vs al let vs know for one day we shal be sure to feel it that the controuersie is not about goats woolle as the prouerbe sayth neither light trifling maters which may safely be folowed or reiected as in deed the enemies of this cause do confidently affirme but about no les matter thē this whether Iesus Christ shal be king or no For if none is said to be a king but he that ruleth by the scepter of his lawes then the turning out of these orders which christ hath prescribed in his word for the ruling of the Church is to giue him the tytle and denye him the authority belonging to the same and so in trueth to make him an Idol making him to cary a shew of that which he is not with the crucifiers of him to put a reede in his hand in stead of his yron rod and crowning him with thorns in stead of the crown of greatest glory which is the cause that so many Atheists spit in his face and so many godles persons do make but a iest of him but when he commeth to shew him-selfe in his glorious maiestie it shal be said vnto all these sorts of aduersaries Those mine enemies whiche would not that I should raigue ouer them