A IVSTIFICATION OF SEPARATION from the Church of England Against Mr Richard Bernard his invective INTITVLED The Separatists schisme By Iohn Robinson And God saw that the light was good and God separated between the light and between the darknes Gen. 1. 4. What communion hath light with darknes 2 Cor. 6. 14. Anno D. 1610. To the Christian reader TWo severall treatises good reader have been formerly published by several men in answer to Mr Bernards book yet have I thought it meet to adde a third not as able to speak more then they but intending something further namely an examination of the particulars one by one that so in all points the salve might be answerable vnto the soare applying my self therein to such a familiar and popular kinde of defence as Mr B. hath chosen for his accusations where the former answers onely intended a summary discovery of the insufficiency of his probabilities to disswade from reasons to disprove the things he opposeth The zeal Mr. B. manifesteth here and every where both in word and writing is exceeding great as all men know And surely fervent zeale in Gods cause is a temper wel befitting Gods servants neyther is there any more bastardly disposition to be found in a Christian then indifferency in religion It makes no matter of what religion the man is that is indifferent in it for Christ vvill spue out of his mouth as loathsome the lukevvarm whether wine or water Yet as the case of religion is most weighty so is the affection of zeale in it most dangerous if it be eyther pretended onely not in truth or preposterous and not according to knowledge And therefore as there is singular vse of this fyery zeal for these frozen times of ours so are we to take great heed that our fyre be kindled at the fyre of the altar vvhich came from heavē For as Luke Act. 2. 23. speakes of fyery tongues vvhich came from heaven so doth Iames 3. 6. speak of a tongue vvhich is set on fyre of hell And this we are the more carefully to mynd not onely because almost all men have taught theyr tongues in the generall to speak goodly words and that zealously also for advantage but more specially and with respect to the busines in hand for that many of the weaker sort have theyr tender harts rather affrighted from the truth of the Lord by the deep protestations and obtestations of their guids then any way stablished in those perplexed pathes wherein they walk with them by sound reasons Now as the Lord is to be intreated for those people that he would vouchsafe them wise and stable harts that they may try all things and hold that vvhich is good and neyther suffer themselves to be withheld nor withdrawn from the truth by any such semblances of zeale or other passion though never so solemn and seeming never so sincere so for theyr better direction herein I have thought it not amisse to commend vnto their godly harts two or three considerations by way of caution in this case First therefore it must be considered that there are some of that hoysterous and tempestuous disposition that they can doo nothing calmly or a litle theyr vnruly affections which should follow after leysurely do force on so violently theyr vnderstanding will and whol man as there is no stay with them but in all their motions they are like vnto those beasts which for the vnequall length of theyr hinder leggs cannot possibly goe but by leapes Such a stormy nature with a very litle zeal amongst may make a great stir in the world but is iustly to be suspected And that especially which is the 2. caution in such men as are suddaynly caryed and as it were transformed from one contrary to another without eyther competent tyme or means A suspitious course for all thing ordinarily whither in grace or nature are wrought by degrees and the passage from one extreme to another without due means as it can hardly be sound so can it not possibly be vnsuspected Now ther are many men to be found which are violent in all things but constant in none And though all things be with thē as the figs in Ieremyes tvvo baskets the good very good and the evill very evill yet are they ever shifting hands out of the one basket into the other Today they will lift vp and advance a cause and person to heaven and to morrow they will throw downe both it and him to the lowest hell It is good to have such men in a godly iealousy and there zeale with them And that chiefly which I desyre may be observed in the third place when this theyr zeale rises and falls as the tymes serve Almost all men will at tymes manifest zeal but the most have this gift withall that they wil be sure to take the strongest syde or that part at least which hath some hope of prevayling And so whylst there remaynes hope of bearing things over at the breast they are very forward and fervent in there courses but when that hope shaketh theyr edg is of and they turne theyr backs shamefully vpon the truth yea and oft tymes theyr faces agaynst it And herevpon it comes to passe that many formerly great advauncers of the cause of reformation have of late tymes not onely fouly forsaken but violently opposed the same both in us and them also amongst themselves which doe in any measure desyer it publishing theyr books vnto the world so filled with empty words and swelling vanityes as they not onely bewray the weaknes of theyr cause but the evill and corrupt disposition of theyr hearts as rather striving to manifest theyr servil◠affections for insinuations into the favours of the myghty then to bring any thing of weight for the conviction of the adversary The application of this I leave to the godly and wise reader as he shall see iust cause And so leaving those things which are more generall I desyre in particular and for the present purpose that the christian reader take knowledg of this one thing that as the pretence of zeale in the forward Ministers against all corruptions is as a thick mist holding the eyes of many wel mynded from seing the truth so the person with whom I now particularly deal trusts to this insinuation above all others conveyghing himself vnder this colour into the harts of the simple and hereby making way most effectually not onely for his sage-seeming counsels advertisements for the quenching of their affections towards the truth but also for his idle guesses and likelyhoods with such personall comparisons and imputations as wherewith his book is stored to alienate mens harts from it But the godly reader is to consider that to accept the person in judgement is not good especially in the cause of the Lord and that the faith of our glorious Lord Iesus is not to be held in respect of persons but
Barnabas coÌ„ming among them is not said to have ioyned theÌ„ vnto the Lord but to have exhorted them which were ioyned to coÌ„tinue with the Lord. vers 23. and to have perswaded others to ioyn themselues unto the Lord also vers 24. but that this course ordinary set by Christ should be held in the replanting of Churches after the vniversall apostasie of Antichrist is a thing impossible There were then no Ministers but popish Priests and are they the Lords meanes Mr Bernard Shall the man of sin be consumed by himself or by the breath of the Lords mouth Are false Ministers the Lords ordinary means of planting Churches Or are popish massepreists or the popish Bishops from whom they have their authority and so the Pope himself from whom they have theirs true Ministers And is the Church of Rome a true visible Church For it is not possible there should be a true Ministery in a false Church These are the inconveniences and discommodities Mr Bernard speaks of by which he sayth we would wring the truth from him But it is certayn they are such playne demonstrations as do evince his pretended truthes of popish and popular errours And for the gathering of a Church M. B. I do tell you that in what place soever by what means soever whether by preaching the gospell by a true Minister by a false minister by no minister or by reading conference or any other meanes of publishing it two or three faithfull people do arise separating themselves froÌ„ the world into the fellowship of the gospell and covenant of Abraham they are a Church truely gathered though never so weak a house and temple of God rightly founded vpon the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets Christ himsef being the corner stone against which the gates of hell shall not prevayl nor your disgracefull invectives neyther Indeed * the Pharisees thought bycause they had Abraham for their father and did descend of him by ordinary succession were the formall Teachers of the Church that therefore God could not possibly cast them off or have a Church without them even so it is with the Pharisaicall formall clergy in Rome and England they think that Christ hath so tyed his power and presence vnto their ceremony of succession that without them he knowes not how to do for a Church but must needs have it passe through their fingers But as Iohn Baptist told the old Pharisees that God was able of the stones to raise vp children vnto Abraham though they all every one of them like vnfruitfull trees should be cut downe and cast into the fâ—râ— so say I vnto their children the Pharisees of our â—yme that though the Lord reject them and every one of them for their apostacy and rebellion yet can he by the seed of the word cast with what hand soever rayse vp vnto Abraham children vnto himself a Church They that are of the faith of Abraham they are the children and seed of Abraham and within the covenaunt of Abraham though but two or three and so of the same Church with him by that covenaunt Your last argument to prove the officers the Church Math. 18. and directly to disprove our supposed popularity is that it is against the dignity and office of the Ministers who represent Christs person vnto the Congregation 1 Cor. 4. 1. having authority from him to preach administer the sacraments vse the censures which none but such as represent him can give them which the body of the people do not by office nor take from them c. This indeed is the thing the dignity of Preisthood is it which goes nearest you and that you keep last as Iacob did Beniamin whom of all his sonnes he was loathest to part with Gen. 42. 4. 43. 14. But first if your meaning be that the Ministers by their office represent Christ in his office it is little lesse then blasphemy for Christ is the husband and mediatour of his Church by his office and herein not to be represented by any other man or angel The ministers in publishing the gospell and word of reconciliation are in Christs stead and therein to be obeyed as himself but what if they speak the vision of their own hart and publish heresy false doctrine or lead a scandalous and prophane life their office is no dispensation for them neyther are they now any longer in the stead of Christ but of the Divel whom they resemble as children their father and are so to be reputed Besides there is no force in your argument bycause the body of the Church represents not Christ by office as the Ministers do therefore it is no way equall with the Ministers nor may medle with them but the contrary May not a man as well argue thus Bycause the wife no way represents her housband in office for she is in no office the same may be sayd of the children aâ— the steward and the bayliffe doe therefore the wife is no way superiour vnto them she may not reprove or displace them in her husbandâ— absence what evil soever they doe in their office or persons but on the contrary they may rebuke her and turne her out of doores and her children with her if there be cause For they represent the maister in office she not Now wee know well the Church is the wife and spouse of Christ the Ministers stewards Thus having cleared the way of such obiections as wherewith Mr Bernard would stumble the reader I come in the next place as I have formerly ordered my course to declare that the Church Math. 18. 17. is not the officers but the whole body meeting together for the publique worship of God and that 1 Cor. 5. proves the same by practise which is in the former place enjoyned by rule Onely I must needs by the way make a step into his 2. book amongst his score of reasons there against popularity and so remove as it were with my foot such of them as are tumbled in by him to make rough the playn wayes of the Lord. And they are as the authour numbers them the 7. 12. 13. 17. 18. The 7. Reason is that if a sort of persons professing Christ together without officers haue the power of such officers in themselves they may do all the officers may do Wee say not that the Church hath the power of the officers but the power of Christ as is expresly affirmed 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. and 2. it followes not that bycause the Church hath the power of Christ for all things therefore it can injoy all things without officers The power is one thing which is inseparable from the body the vse of the power an other thing which in many cases it may want Civil corporations have the Kings power and charter as well without as with officers and yet it may be there are liberties in their charter they cannot enjoy without officers they
other impietyes and this both the practise of your Church and your doctrine pleading for succession and ordination from Rome Romish Bishops do necessarily confirm All the massepreists ordeyned in Queen Maries dayes for that end were vpon their conformity to the orders then continued Ministers in their severall congregations in Queen Elizabeths dayes by vertue of their former ordination And so are such masse-preists at this day though ordeyned at Rome received and continued amongst you vpon the aforenamed conditions Now it is your own constant affirmation every where that ordination makes the minister Wherevpon it followes that no new ordination no new minister but the old massepreist reformed of such impieties wherein Rome exceeds England 2. it is your doctrine in your first book that the ministery makes the Church gives denomination vnto it in your 2. book that the Church of Rome is a true Church wherevpon it followeth necessarily that the ministery in the Church of Rome is a true Ministery except a false ministery can make a false Church And if any order of ministery be it is that of the parish preists for they are the likest the Pastours in their severall charges Whence I do also conclude that since the Romish preists office is a true office though vnder corruptions as it was true Iob overshadowed with byles eyther the English preists must haue the same office with thē though with the byles cured or els they are not the true ministers of Christ. And for the name preist at which you say we catch you do idly draw it from the Greeks since it is most evident that with the office the name was tanslated vnto you from the Latine and Romish Church their sacerdos being your Priest in your books of ordination and common prayer which you haue from them otherwise why do you not turn the Greek words praesbyter proistamenos preists in your English Bibles which are translated from the originalls The sum of the 2. Arg. is that the Ministers of the Church of Engl are Pastours and Teachers that is good sheepheards such as do keep feed and govern the flock and as are qualified with gifts and vnderstanding and instruct them that are vnlearned If in stead of Pastours and Teachers you had put Parsons Vicars your writtes of presentation and institution would haue proved it But that you are Pastours and Teachers such as Paul speaks of Ephe. 4. by holy writ you can never manifest 2. though the things were true you speak both for your power and practise yet except you administred those things by a lawfull calling in a lawfull office and to a lawfull assembly you were not true Pastors and Teachers But it is not true you say of your selves that you play the good sheepheards in feeding that is in providing pasture for the sheep and in governing ordering them to fro at it Your Prelates govern or rather reign but teach not your parish Preists some of them that can list teach so much as they dare for feare of their imperious Lords but govern not Your 3. Arg for your Ministers is that they are called sent of God of his Ch therefore are true ministers Their calling sending of God you make his preparing of them with gifts graces to be able to exequute in some measure the office wherevnto he doth appoint them But herein you are greatly mistaken the Lords inabling men with gifts is one thing and his calling them to vse them in such and such an order is another thing and though the Lord calls none but he inables them yet he inables many he never calls Many counsellers judges lawyers and others in the land are very able to discharge the office of ministery but are not called therevnto of God if they be it is their sin not to obey the heavenly calling and to become ministers And as a man may be qualified with gifts for the ministery and yet not called of God to vse them so being qualified accordingly he may be a true Minister of the Church though he be never called of God at all as we now speak So was Iudas who was never inwardly called of God that is perswaded by the work of Gods spirit in his heart in the zeal of Gods glory and love of the salvation of men to take vpon him the office of an Apostle And what true calling of God the Ministers in the Church of England haue to take vpon them their offices charges as they do appeares in their easy forsaking them vpon a litle persecution yea before it come near them Of which more hereafter Now for the calling of the Ministers by the Church albeit we put of the more full handling of it to the 4. Arg. yet something must be sayd for the present And first though it were true you say that the Church of England were the true Church of Christ yet were not your Ministers called and sent by the Church except a Lordly Prelate be the Ch of England for by such a one is every Minister amongst you called and made 2. I deny here as alwayes your nationall Ch to be the true visible Church of Christ and that which in this case you say is largely proved I hope is sufficiently refuted But here a demand you make in your answer to Mr Sm must be satisfied namely why true ministers may not arise as well out of a false Church as a false ministery out of a true Ch The latter I agree vnto for the Church may erre and through errour or otherwise chuse a man uncapable of the Ministery by the word of God Whereupon it followes that the Minister makes not the Church as you erroneously affirm for then the Church should in the very instant become a false Church when she sets vp a false Minister But your inference I deny For first evil may arise from good though by accident without any externall cause comming between as sin did from the angels in heaven and our first parents in paradise but so cannot good from evil 2. the officers are 1. of 2 by 3. in and 4 for the Church 1. of it as members of the body and so must be members of a true Church before they can be true officers 2. by it in respect of their calling as Gal. 1. 1. and therefore except they can eyther be true officers by a false calling or that a false Church can give a true calling they cannot be true in it 3. in it as the accidēts or adjuncts in the subject without which being true they can have no more true existence then reason can have without a reasonable soul or subject 4. for it and therefore since the Lord hath appointed no ministery for a false Church there can by the word of God be no true ministery in it and this I wish them to consider which still adhere to the Church of England though they wholy dislike
over Gods heritage as you would make them controuling all but to be controuled by none much lesse essentiall vnto the Church as though it could not be without them least of all the Church it self as you and others expound Math. 18 But we hold the Eldership as other ordinances given vnto the Church for her service and so the Elders or officers the servants and ministers of the Church the wife vnder Christ her husband aâ— the scriptures expresly affirm Of which more hereafter And where further you advise the reader to take from the Iay other birds feathers that is as you expound your self to set vs before him as we differ from all other Churches Therein you make a most inconsiderate and vnreasonable motion If a man should set the Church of England before his eyes as it differeth but from the reformed Churches it would be no very beautiful bird Yea what could it in that colour afforde but Egyptian bondage Babylonish confusion carnal pomp and a company of Iewish Heathenish and Popish ceremonies Whatsoever truth is in the world it is from God and from him we have it by what hand soever it be reached vnto vs Came the word of God unto you onely vnto it we have good right as the Israel of God unto whom he hath committed his oracles Rom. 3. 2. Towards the end of the Preface you do render two reasons vpon which you do adventure to deal against vs as you do the one coÌ„fidence in your cause the other the spirituall injury which some of late have done you in taking away part of the seale of the Ministery Touching the first as it is to vs that know you wel no new thing to see you confident in all enterprises so doth it much behoove you to consider how long and by what meanes you have been possessed of this your confident perswasion I could name the person of good credite and note to whom vpon occasion you confessed and that since you spake the same things which here you write as confidently as now you write them that you had much a doe to keep a good conscience in dealing against this cause as you did But a speach of your own vttered to my self ever to be remeÌ„bred with fear and trembling can not I forget when after the conference passing betwixt Mr H. and me you vttered these wordes Wel I wil returne home preach as I have done and I must say as Naaman did the Lord be merciful unto me in this thing and therevpon you further promised with out any provocation by me or any other that you would never deale against this cause nor with-hold any froÌ„it though the very next Lords day or next but one you taught publikliâ— against it and so broke your vâ—w the Lord graunt not you conscience And for the seale of your Ministerie deceive not yourself and others if you had not a more authentick seal in your black box to shew for your Ministery at your Bishops visitation then the converting of men to God which is the seal you meane this seale would stand you in as little stead as it doth many others which can shew as â—â—â—re this way as you and yet are put from their Ministerie notwithstanding And wil you charge your Bishops Church representative to deale so trecherously with the Lord as to put downe his Ministers and Officers which have his broad seal to shew for their Office and Ministerie What greater contumely do these vipers these schismaticall Brownists lay vpon your Church then you doe herein The Church of England acknowledgeth no such seale as this is The Bishops ordination and license conformitie vnto their ceremonies subscription to their articles devout singing and saying their service-book is that which will beare a man out though he be far enough eyther from converting or from preaching conversion vnto any And here I desire the reader to observe this one thing with me When the ministers are called in quaestion by the Bishops they alledge vnto them their former subscription conformity in some measure at least their peaceable cariage in their places but when they would iustify their ministerie against vs then their vsuall plea is they haue converted men to God herein acknowledging to let passe their vnsound dealing that we respect the work of Gods grace in any at which they know the Bishops and their substitutes if they should plead the same with them would make a mock for the most part I do most freely acknowledge the singular blessing of God vpon many truthes taught by many in the Land and do and alwayes shal so far honour those persons as the Lord hath honoured them herein But that the simple conversion of sinners yea though the most perfect that ever was wrought should argue a true office of Ministerie the scriptures no where teach neyther shall I ever beleeve without them This scripture 1 Cor. 9. 1. 2. is most frequently alledged for this purpose But as vnsoundly as commonly For if simple conversion should argue an Apostleship then should a common effect argue a proper cause an ordinarie work an extraordinarie office for the conversion of men is a work common to extraordinarie and to ordinarie officers yea to true and false officers yea to such as are in no office at all as hereafter shall appeare And what could be more weakly alledged by Paul to prove himself no ordinarie but an extraordinary officer an Apostle which was the thing he intended then that which is common to ordinary officers with him Might not the Corinthians easily have replyed Nay Paul it followes not that you are an Apostle immediately called and sent by Christ because you haue begotten vs to the Lord have been the instrument of our coÌ„versioÌ„ for ordinary Ministers Pastors Teachers called by men do beget to the Lord as wel as you The bare conversion of the Corinthians then is not the seal Paul speakes of but together with it their establishment into a true visible Church and that with such power and authority Apostolicall as wherewith Paul was furnished by the Lord. Of which more hereafter But the father of these childreÌ„ you say you are which thus vnnaturally fly from you and whereof we so injuriously have deprived you in which respect also you make this your hue cry after vs and them for through the gospel you have begotten them And have you begotten them vnto the faith as Paul did the Corinthians and are you their father as Paul was the father of the Corinthians then it must needs follow that before you preached the gospel vnto them and thereby begot them to the Lord they were in the same estate wherein the Corinthians were before Paul preached vnto them that is unbeleevers and without faith and so were to be reputed And how then true matter of the Church for which you so much contend Besides these your begotten children were baptised long before you saw their faces some twenty
our care be not to offend the Lord and if with the offence of a private person though never so base be joyned the offence of the Lord better offend all the both lawfull and vnlawfull Magistrates in the world then such a little one Mat. 18. 6. Lastly where Mr. Ber. concludes this decade of counsayl with that which is written Rom. 14. 17. 18. he misinterprets the Apostles words if he put them down as it seems he doth for a reason of that which goes before For the Apostles in that place hath no reference at all to the authority of the Magistrate whose kingdome indeed doth stand in meate and drinke and the like bodily things wherin he may command civilly is to be obeyed in the Lord but the Apostles purpose is to admonish the strong in fayth to take heed of abusing theyr ChristiaÌ„ liberty in the vnseasoÌ„able vse of meats drinks the like to the offence of the weak brethren as though the kingdom of God stood in the pereÌ„ptory vse of those things that they were therein to shew the libertie of the gospel Furthermore howsoever the kingdome of God be not meat drink yet is the kingdom of God much advanced or hindred both in a mans self and in others in the seasonable or vnseasonable vse of them A man in vsing them or rather abusing them with offence to a weak brother may destroy both him and himself also in breaking the law of charity Rom. 14. 15. 20. It remaynes now we come to the second rank of counsayls as they are devided by the authour for what cause I know not neyther wil I curiously enquire but wil take them as I find them 1. Omit no evident and certayn commandement imposed of God If there be nothing but probabilitie of sinning in obeying the precepts of men sâ—t not opinion before iudgement Wofull counsel God knoweth and in deed such as directs a course to harden the heart of him that followes it in all impiety For he that wil at the first do that by mans precept which is like or which he thinks to be sinne wil in time do that vpon the like regard which he knowes to be sinne and so fall into all presumption against God Men are rather to be admonished especially in the case of religion about which wee deale that if the Lord shall touch their tender harts with fear and iealousy of the things they do they rather suspend in doubtful things except they can in some measure overcome their doubting by faith till in the use of all good meanes the God of wisdome and father of lights give to discern more plainly of things that differ least being head-strong hard-mouthed against the check of conscience which the Lord like a bit puts into their mouthes they provoke the Highest to withdraw his hand to lay the reyn on their necks so they even run head long vpoÌ„ those evils without fear upoÌ„ which at the first they have adventured with feareful troubled coÌ„sciences which is oft times the iust recompence of such errours froÌ„ the Lord. Rom. 1. 27. 28. 2. Let ancient probabilitie of truth be praeferred before new conjectures of errour against it As this rule shewes by what tenure Mr B. holds his religion namely by probabilities likelihoods of truth so if he mean that this way wherein we by Gods mercy walk is any new way or our rules conjectures I do hope by the good hand of God herein assisting me to make it manifest that this way is that old and good way after which all men ought to ask and to walk therein that so they may find rest vnto their souls And that we are not guided in it by conjectures neyther goe by guesses but by the infallible rule of Christs Testament 3. Mark and hold a difference betweene these things the equity of law and exequution between established truths generally and personall errors of some between soundnes of doctrine and erronious application between substance circuÌ„stance the maner the matter between the very being of a thing and the wel being thereof between worship and conveniency between a commaundement and a commaundement to thee between lawfulnes and expediency and between that which is given absolutely or in some respect The sixt and 7. rule in the former rank being the same in substance might well have been bound vp in the same bundle with this had not the authour labored to supply that in the number of his counsayls which is wanting in their weight But to the point There is a difference indeed to be held betwixt the lawes of the Church of England with the ordinances and doctrines by law established and the personall exequutions excercises applicatioÌ„s of theÌ„ the difference is betwixt evil worse the worse of the twayne by far I deem the lawes ordinances with sundry of the doctrines For though the whole cariage of the courts miscalled-spirituall be most corrupt abhominable and though the pulpits be made by very many especially in the greatest places the stages of vanity falsehood and slaunder so that as the Prophet sayd what is the wickednes of Iacob Is not Samaria And what ar the high places of Iuda Is not IerusaleÌ„ so may we say what is the sink of all brybery and extortion Is not the Consistory What is the theater of carnall vanity Is not the pulpit Yet in truth the the lawes are worse then those which exequute them and the ordinances by them established then those which minister them Let but the last Canons which are as well the lawes and doctrine of the Church of England as the Canons of the counsel of Trent are the lawes and doctrine of the Church of Rome be severely and sincerely exequuted as becomes the lawes of the kingdom of Christ the Church all in the land having any feare of God would fynd and complayne that their bondage were increased as was the bondage of the Israelites vnder the Egyptians Exo. 5. But what though there were neyther Statute nor Canon law enacted for the confusion in the assemblyes collected and consisting of all the parish inhabitants be they Atheists adulterers blasphemers and how evill not what though no law ecclesiasticall or civil did coÌ„firm the transcendent power of the Bishops Archbishops for the placing and displacing of Ministers for the thrusting out and receiving in both of Ministers and people and so fâ—r innumerable other corruptions Yet these things being vniversally practised in the land the Church were nothing at all the more pure onely it had the more liberty of reformation which now by the lawes and cannons as by iron barres is shut out What Statute or Canon was there that the Corinthians should suffer amongst them the incestuous person vnreformed And yet for so doing this litle leven levens the whole lump What Parliament or Convocation-house amongst the Galathians had decreed the mingling of
those purposes they are vayn and frivolous to be forborn in or about the worship of God which abhorrs all such vanity Lastly as we live in a very indifferent age for religion wherein the most are indifferent of what religion they are yea whither they be of any or none so no mervayl though men staÌ„d stisâ—y for indifferency of things And when they have amongst them such devises as they neither can approve for good nor wil condemn as evil they baptize them into the name of indifferent things But the truth is there is nothing simply indifferent in the vse but be it never so base or meane a ceremony circumstance or appurtenance to any solemn action it is eyther good or evill according to the furtherance or hinderance which it affoardeth to the mayn If it give furtherance to a naturall action it is naturally good if to a civil action civily good if to a religious action religiously good and so to be reputed otherwise it is vayne at the least and vanity as it is every where evil so is it in the matters of religion the taking of Gods name in vayn The next thing which Mr. Bern. vndertakes is to set downe how scrupulosity of conscience ariseth in men for which disease if it arise surely he sheweth himself a physitioÌ„ of no value for the healing of it but eyther smothereth the same vnder the authority of the Magistrate or dispenseth with it vpon good meanings or forceth it on without assurance or entangleth it with new doubts In the first enquiry which he wils men to make into themselves touching scrupulosity of coÌ„science amoÌ„gst other things he speaks thus If the ground vz. of doubting be not a iudgement enlightened convinced it is not trouble of conscunce but a dislike working discontentment vpon some other ground And this in the margent he wils the reader to note well as in deed he may note it and brand it too for il vnadvised counsayl For howsoever no mans conscience ought to scandalize or be troubled at the vse of lawful things for the larger conscience the better in that which is lawfull and that such doubts in the heart do arise from weaknes of fayth and weaknes of faith from want of knowledge yet since we all know but in part that our fayth is according to our knowledge and our conscience according to our fayth when a doubt or scruple ariseth in our hearts touching the lawfullnes of things yea though it be of very ignorance we must not passe it over lightly without trouble least it prove as a thorn in the heele and rankle inwardly Neyther are such scruples alwayes so easily removed as Mr. Bern. maks account Weak and tender consciences do oft tymes stick at a very strawe and there must they stand til the Lord give strength to step over The thing intended and promised by Mr. Bern. in the next place is satisfaction to the perplexed conscience and direction in that case which he is so far from performing by sound and resolved counsayl as were meet as in stead therof he propounds sundry doubtes and quaeries of his ovvn vvhich he leaves vnsatisfyed to the further entangling of his perplexed patient abusing also his reader too much in performing questions where he promiseth answers Wel howsoevr it be an easier thing to ty knotts then to loose them and that a simple man may cast a stone into a ditch vvhich a wise man cannot get out agayne yet are not those questions which Mr. Bern. propounds and so leaves vnanswered so dark doubtfull that a man needs take so long a jorney as the Queen of Sheba did for resolution The first quaere of weight being the 4. in order I vvil set down vvord for vvord though it be large because it is of speciall consideration The question then is Why a man should be more scrupulous to seek to have warrant playnly for every thing he doth in ecclesiasticall causes even about things indifferent more then about matters pollitick in civil affaires Men in these things know not the ground nor end of many things which they do yeeld vnto vpon a generall command to obey authority and knowing them not to be directly agaynst Gods will and yet every particular obedience in civill matters must be 1. of conscience 2. as serving the Lord so must every servant his maister which cannot be without knowledg perswasion that we do wel even in that particular which we obey in Which mâ—n vsually for conscience sake enquirâ— not into but do rest themselves with a generall commaundement of obeying lawful authority so it be not agaynst a playne commaundement of God What therefore doth let but that a man may so satisfie himselfe in matters Ecclesiasticall Though as playne a vvarrant must be had from Gods vvord for the things vve do in matters politick as in causes cclesiastical and that obedience in the one as vvell as in the other must be of conscience yet notvvithstanding the same vvord of God vvarranteth vnto vs clean and an other and different course of obedience in things civil and in things ecclesiasticall And the grosse ignorance or vngodly concealment of this difference is the cause of great confusion It must therefore be considered that this difference stands in tvvo poynts 1. the nature of the things and their proper ends 2. the povver immediate by which they are imposed from which two ariseth necessarily a third difference to be made in the conscience of obedience vnto them First then it cannot be denyed but matters civill and politick do come vnder the generall administration and goverment of the world and do respect the outward man for this present life On the other side matters ecclesiasticall come vnder the special administration of the Church and serve for the edification and building vp of the inward man to life eternall Secondly Magistrates and men in authority do enact and impose their civill decrees and ordinances upon theyr subiects by a Kingly and Lordly power as being Kings and Lords civilly over the outward man and his outward estate Math. 20. 25. and may by their Kingly and Lordly power commaund in their owne names and that vpon occasion to the civill hurt and hinderance of many of theyr people are therein to be obeyed notwithstanding Rom. 13. 1. 2. 3. c. Mat. 22. 21. But in causes ecclesiasticall not so There is no King of the Church but Christ who is the King of Saincts and Saviour of Syon no Lord but Iesus who is the onely Lord and Lawgiver of his Church And all his lawes statutes tend to the furtherance and advancemeÌ„t of every one of his subiects in their spiritual estate neyther King nor Kezar may or ought to impose any law to the least praeju dice of the same neyther ar they therin if they should to be obeyed Our civil liberty we may loose without syn without syn vndergo bodily domages
fashion vs Mr B. and all others may see the dissimilitude betwixt them vs in the refutation of that supposed consimilitude A third evill for which Mr B. would bring our cause into suspition is The matter of defending our opinions and proving our assertions by strange and forced expositions of scriptures Where he also notes in the margent that the truth needs no such ill means to mainteyne it What the means are by which the Prelacy against which we witnes is mainteyned all men know The flattering of superiours the oppressing of inferiours the scoffing reviling imprisoning persequuting vnto banishment and death of such as oppose it are the weapoÌ„s of the Prelates warfare by which they defend their tottering Babel And were it not for the arm of â—lesh by which they hold and to which they trust they and their pomp would vanish away like smoke before the wynde so little weight have they or theyrs in the consciences of any But let us see wherin we mislead the reader by deceiptful allegations of scriptures 1. In quoting scriptures by the way that is for things coÌ„ming in upon occasion but nothing to the mayne poynt c. And wherefore is this deceiptfull dealing thus to alleadge the scriptures Because the simple reader is hereby made beleve that all is spokeÌ„ for the question controverted He is simple careles also that wil not search the scriptures before he beleve that they ar brought to prove if he any way suspect it which who so doth can not be deceived as is here insinuated It were to be wished we both spake and wrote the language of Canaan and none other and not onely to vse but even to note the scripture phrase soberly may be to the information and edification of the reader 2. By vrging commandements admonitioâ—s exhortations dehortations reprehensions and godly examples to prove a falsity What is falsity but that which is contrary to truth and so the word of God being truth whatsoever is contrary vnto any part of it whither commaundement admonition exhortation c. is false so far forth as it is contrary The similitude you take from a naturall child who for his disobedience is not to be reputed a false child but no good child is like the rest of the your similitudes The proportion holds not Men may have such children as ever were are and wil be disobedient to their dying day yet they remayn theyr children whether they will or no but if any of Gods childâ—en prove disobedient and will not be disclaymed he can dischilde them for bastards as they are and the true children of the Divil Ioh. 8. 44. 3. In alledging Scriptures not to prove that for which to the simple it seems to be alledged but that which is without controversy taking the thing in questioÌ„ for granted For this I take to be his meaning though he expresse it ill The instance he brings of one of vs cyting Act. 20. 21. to prove that all truth is not taught in the Church of England is I am perswaded if not worse mistaken by him For who would bring Pauls example to shew what the Ministers of England do and not rather what they should do what they do is knowne well enough and how both they in preaching the will of God and the people in obeying it are stinted at the Bishops pleasure 4 By bringing in places setting forth the invisible Church and holynesse of the members to set forth the visible Church by as being proper thereto as 1 Pet. 2. 9. 10. That the Apostle here speaketh not of the invisible but of the visible Church appeareth not by our bare affirmation which we might set gaynst Mr B. naked contradiction yea though he bring in D. Allison in the margent to countenance the matter but by these reasons 1. Peter being the Apostle of the Iewes wrote vnto them whose Apostle he was vvhom he knew dispersed through Pontus Galatia c. 1 Pet. 1. 1. But Peter was not the Apostle of the invisible but of the visible Church which he knew so dispersed where the invisible Church is onely knowne unto God 2 Tim. 2. 19. 2. The Apostle vseth the words of Moses to the visible Church of the Iewes Ex. 19. 6. which do therefore well agree to the visible Church vnder the gospell whose excellency graces and holynes do surmount the former by many degrees 3. Peter wrytes to a Church wherein were Elders and a flock depending vpoÌ„ them to be fed governed by them 1 Pet â— 1. 2. 3. which to affirm of the invisible Church is not onely a visible but even a palpable error 4. The Apostle wrytes to them which had the word preached amongst them Chap. 1. 25. And this Mr B. himselfe pag. 118. 119. makes a note and testimony of the visible Church and to that pupose quotes the former chap. v. 23. as he doth also this very chap. ver 5. which is the same with v. 9. 10. to prove the form of the visible Church And thus I hope it appeares to all men vpon what good groundes this man thus boldly leadeth vs with deceiptfull dealing in the scriptures And this instance I desire the reader the more diligeÌ„tly to observe as being singled out by Mr B. as a pickt witnes against vs countenanced by D. Allisons concurring testimony but especially because it poynts out the Apostolick Churches clean in contrary colours to the English Synagogues being vnholy and prophane and this is the cause why Mr B. and others are so loth to haue this Scripture ment of the visible Church 5. By inferences and references as if this be one this must follow and this Mr B. calles a deceiveable and crooked waye for the intangling of the simple To this I have answered formerly and do agayne answer that necessary consequences inferences are both lawfull necessary If Mr B. had to deale with a Papist agaynst Purgatory or with an Anabaptist for the baptizing of Infants he should be compelled except I be deceived to draw his arrowes out of this quiver And what are consequences regulated by the word which sanctifieth all creatures but that sanctified vse of reason wil any reasonable man deny the vse and discourse of reason If all the things which Iesus did had been written the world could not have conteyned the books if all the dutyes which ly vpon the Church to performe had been written in expresse termes as Mr B. requires a world of worlds could not contayne the books which should have been written Neyther are inferences references iustly made any way to be accounted wyndings but playne passages to the truth troden before vs by the Lord Iesus and all his holy Apostles which scarce alledge one scripture of three out of Moses and the Prophets but by way of inference as all that will may see But the truth is Mr Bern. hath
place Onely let the indifferent reader iudge whither Mr B. in blazing abroad the personal infirmityes of his adversaries without any occasion neyther sparing the living nor the dead have not come to the very highest pitch of the most natural rayling that may be A practise which all sober mynded men do abhor from The next that comes in Mr B. way are the two brethren Mr Francis Mr George Iohnson whose contentions he exaggeâ—ateth what he can to make both their persons and cause odious True it is that George Iohnson together with his father taking his part were excommunicated by the Church for contention arising â—t the first vpon no great occasion wherevpon many bitter and â—eprochful termes were vttered both in word and writing George â—ecoÌ„ming as Mr B. chargeth him a disgracefull libeller It is to vs iust cause of humiliation all the dayes of our lives â—hat we have given and do give by our differences such advantages â—o them which seek occasion agaynst vs to blaspheme the truth â—hough this may be a iust iudgment of God vpon others which â—â—ek offences that seeking they may find them to the hardening of â—heyr hearts in evill But let men turne theyr eyes which way soever â—hey will and they shall see the same scandalls Look to the first â—nd best Churches planted by the Apostles themselves and beâ—old dissentions scandall strise byting one of another About two hundred yeares after Christ what a styrr was there about moone-shyne in water as we speak betwixt the East and West Churches when Victor Bishop of Rome excoÌ„municated the Churches in Asia for not keeping the Iewish feast of Easter at the same time with the Church of Rome And to come nearer our own tymes how bitter was Luther agaynst Swinglius Calvin in the matter of the Sacrament how implacable is the hatred at this day of them whom they call Lutherans against the followers of the other partyes Take yet one instance more and in it a view of the very height of humayne fraylty this way The exiled Church at Frankford in Queen Maryes dayes bred and nourished within it self such contentious as that one accused another to the Magistrate of treason wherevpon Mr Knox was compelled to fly for feare of trouble I could also alledge to the present purpose the state of the reformed Churches amongst which we live whose violent oppositions fiery coÌ„tentioÌ„s do far exceed all ours but I take no delight in writing these things neyther do I think the needles dissentions which have bene amongst vs the lesse evill because they are so common to vs with others but these things I have layd downe to make it appeare that Mr B. here vseth none other weapon agaynst vs then Iewes and Pagans might have done against Christians and Papists against such as held the truth against them yea and then Atheists and men of no religion might take vp against all the professions and religions in the world And to go no further the irrecoÌ„ciliable emnity betwixt the Prelates reformists about cap surplice crosse and the like which the patrons of them acknowledg trifles might well have stopped Mr B. mouth from vpbrayding any with fyery contentions vpon small occasions And touching the heavy sentence of excommunication by which the father and brother were dilivered vp to the Divill as Mr B. speaketh I desyre the reader to consider that if excommunication be as indeed it is so heavy a sentence and that by it the party sentenced be delivered over to the Divill the Church of England is in heavy case which playes with excommunications as children do with rattles And to allude to the word Mr B. vseth in what a divelish case are eyther the Prelates and convocation house which have ipso facto excoÌ„municated all that speak or deale against theyr State Ceremonyes servise book since the curse causâ—es falls vpon the head of him from whom it comes or the reformists wherof M. B. would be one by fits such as seek for and interprise reformation And for the particular in hand howsoever it may seeme an odious thing vnto the naturall man which savors not the things of God nor the vnpartiall ordinances of the Lord Iesus and would be a matter of wonder that a man should censure or consent to the censuring of his father or brother in the Church of England where a good word of a freind or a small bribe may stay the excommunication of the grossest offender yet if there be iust cause though with extraordinarie sorrow for the occasion Christ in his ordinance must be preferred before father and brother yea mother sister also Yea it shal be the seal of his ministerie upon that sonne which in the observance of the word of the Lord and in the keeping of his covenant sayth vnto his father mother brother yea own children I know you not The next Mr. B. obiecteth is Mr Burnet who died of the plague in prison whether he was committed by the Archprelate And so did Mr Holland and Mr Parker in the same City at the same tyme as I remember and so did Iunius and Trelâ—atius the two divinity professors at Leyden at an other tyme vpon the same infection And was the plague Gods fearfull correcting rod vpon these men because their religion was false or rather would any man knowing the scriptures and the Lords dispensations towards his Church argue as this man doth * If iudgment thus begin at Gods house what shall the end of them be which obey not the gospell of God But if Mr B. will bring against vs all the persons which the Bishops have killed in their prisons by this and the like meanes as David did Vrijah by the sword of the Amonites he may overthwelm vs with witnesses but his argument shal be much what of the same nature with that of the Caian haeretiques which affirme that Cain was a good man and conceaved by a superiour power vnto Abel because he prevayled against him and slew him Lastly for Mr Smyth as his instability wantonnes of wit is his syn our crosse so let M. B. all others take heed that it be not their hardning in evill Mr B. in proceeding to point out the hand of God writing heavy things against vs chargeth us by Mr Whytes testimony with such notable crimes and detestable vncleannesses as from which they in the Church of England eyther truely fearing God or but making an apparent shâ—w thereof are so praeserved by God as they cannot be taynted with such evils as some of vs oft times fall into As the witnes well â—its the cause and person alledging him who according to the Proverb may ask his fellow c. so have his slaunders been answered as Mr Bernard knowes whereof it seems the party himself is ashamed and so might Mr B. have been had he not been shameles in accusing the brethren Now for the things objected it
or can as Mr Ber. knoweth right well for the good graces of God in many wee do both know acknowledge them and it is our great grief though their owne fault that we cannot have communioÌ„ with the persons in whom so eminent graces of God are and if there be any of them which are sory for our departure from the assemblies we are much more sory so have more cause for their continuance in the same In which their estate whilst we withdraw ourselves from them we do in no sort condemn their persons which stand or fall to the Lord much lesse any good thing in them or truth amongst them It is one thing simply to condemn that which is good for evill and another thing to forbeare the vse of it in the concrete for the commixture of evil from which in that vse it is inseparable When Paul forbad the Corinthians to eat and drink in the Idol temples 1 Cor. 10. 20. â—1 he did not condemne meat drink Neyther did the same Apostle when he directed the same Corinthians to excommunicate the incestuous person and so to have no fellowship with him 1 Cor. 5. enjoyne them to renounce the fayth which that person professed or the baptisme which they with him had received And as a Church excommunicating an offender for some one scandalous sin and so refusing all communion with him cannot be chalenged for renouncing or reiecting the faith which that person professeth or any other personall good thing appearing in him so neyther may any person or persons forsaking a Church and all fellowship with it for some one or few iust causes iustly be accused as renouncing or disclayming the other good things there remayning Lastly let me ask Mr B. whether he disclayme one God subâ—â—sting in three persons one Lord Iesus God and man and withall the Christian vertues of zeale patience temperance humility meeknes and the like And why not he as well in refusing communion with the Church of Rome where these things are to be found as we in disclayming the Church of Engl. where the same and other the like good things are known to be Thus when a mans eyes are blynded by partiality towards himselfe and his mouth opened by mallice against his adversary it is mervaylous to see what vnequall judgment he will passe But least Mr B. in charging our beginning as he doth as accursed vncharitable vnnaturall and vngodly might seeme to curse where God curseth not he annexeth certayn portions of scripture which he also sets downe at large as though they made largely against vs and our separation and the end why he alleadgeth them is to prove that there is cause of reioycing in the Church of England The scriptures are these Rom. 15. 17. 18. Act. 10. 34. 35. Rom. 14. 17. 18. To which I do answer first in generall There may be oft tymes is cause of reioycing in the events and issues of things by a speciall hand of God determining them though the secundary meanes and instruments which the Lord vseth for the producing and bringing forth of these issues events as of light out of darknes be most accursed Wherein more or els hath a christian heart cause of reioycing then in the death of Christ And yet what can be imagined more abominable then the meanes and instruments of working it But to speak nearer Mr B. purpose If some Iesuite or other sent by the Pope into America amongst the Pagans and Infidels should there perswade any to beleeve confesse one God and his sonne Iesus Christ made man for the redemption of the world that they should also give vp their lives for these truthes there were cause of reioycing in theyr testimony and yet I suppose Mr B. knowing as he doth would be loath to have communion in the Iesuits Ministery More particularly The Apostle Rom. 15. 17 18. in commendation of his Apostleship layes downe the effects of it and how great cause of reioycing he had that God by his ministery had planted the Churches of the Gentiles whom he further describes by theyr obedience in word and deed And how serves this for the Church of England Thus. It serves first to exclude all those word Saynts for whom Mr B. pleads so much in his book Secondly it serves to shew what small cause there is of reioying for the English Churches being planted of such vniversally so still continuing as are indeed abhominable and disobedient to every good work reprobate The second Scripture is Act. 10. 34. 35. Of a truth I perceave that God is no accepter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnes is accepted of him And is it so What sacrilegious presumption then is it in the Church of Enland to compell God to accept of persons and to accept for his people servants such as neither fear him nor work righteousnes but the coÌ„trary to offer vp theyr persons sacrifices to him in the name of Christ in whome they have no portion to seale vp the covenant of his grace and peace vnto them in the sacraments with whom it never came into his hart to strike hand neyther hath he peace with them The third Scripture is Rom. 14. 17. 18. The kingdome of God is not meat not drink but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy G. for whosoever in those things serveth Christ is acceptable to God c. Hence to let passe the drift of the Apostle in this place els where opened thus much must necessarily follow that where righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost are not nor men in those things serving Christ there the kingdome of God is not nor these men his subiects And where Gods kingdom is not there is the kingdome of Satan and they that are not the subiects of the one are the slaves of the other And so I leave it to the godly reader to iudge whither the assemblyes in England gathered at the first and at this day consisting of such persons for the most part as do not thus nor in these things viz righteousnes peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost serue Christ but the contrary can be rightly by the word of God accounted the kingdome of God Church of Christ. Thus the 3. Scriptures which Mr B. stretched out like a threfold coard to hold men in the assemblies are in truth and in their right meaning as a three stringed whip to scourge those that fear God out of them With such a renunciation of the truth must be interteyned much vntruth saith Mr Ber. as first thou must beleeve their way to be the truth of God then condemne our Church as a false Church when themselves have published that the differences betwixt vs and them are but corruptions Nâ—w corruptions do not make a false Church but a corrupt Church aâ— corruptions in a man make but a corrupt but no false man If we beare witnes of
especially that they oppose it not eyther in hatred or contempt of the persons professing it or in flattery of the Prelates and others of their trayne whom most directly it impugneth And for the rest whose harts ar vpright before the Lord myne harty prayer is that according to theyr integrity their comforts may be that together with my self they may find mercy with the Lord for all those ignorances infirmityes wherewith the sonns of men ar cōpassed about in the dayes of their flesh And for you Mr B. where you take God to witnesse and the Lord to iudge that you do not oppose vs of hatred or mallice nor of purpose to vex vs or to encrease our afflictions knowing as you doe the terrours of the iudgments of the Lord I would seriously advise you considering what you have spoken and threatened vpon some personall provocations to take heed you be not to bould with such deep protestations as these are nor please your selfe too much in them because you fynd them sometimes profitable to serve your turne vpon simple people The second poynt of our vncharitablenes spirituall Mr B. makes a most vngodly desire as ever was heard of to have the word vtterly extintinguished amongst them Egiptian darknes to come over them rather then it should be preached by such as do not favour our course And therevpon he inters into a large commendation of preaching the gospell as though we eyther despised or vndervalued it and on the other syde into a most base extenuation of the constitution of the Church and of orderly proceeding in preaching as things little or nothing regarded by the Prophets Apostles and other holy men of God For this man thus to accuse vs as if we desired that the light of the gospel might be put out in the land and that darknes might cover all is a most vngodly impious slaunder as ever was heard of and in truth one drop of that gall of bitternes which the Christian reader he confesseth in the preface is like to find in his book We are glad and do reioyce for every spark of knowledge kindled in the heart of any person in the land beseeching him which is both the authour finisher of all grace that the same may break out into a perfect flame But because we are taught that the least evill may not be practised for the greatest good Rom. 3. 8. nor aly told for God Iob. 13. 9. who needs not mans sin for the accomplishment of his righteousnes we advise all men to take heed how they adventure to tread the maze of their owne good meanings without warrant of Gods word or to do that which is good in it self without a lawful calling vnto it pleasing thēselves in the vncertain events of things which are onely in the hands of God and rather to turn their feet from every evil way into the steppes of righteousnes commending by faith the issues and events of things vnto the Lord whom alone they concerne and rather to chuse neyther to buy nor sell then to receive the character or mark of the beast or the number of his name Rev. 13. 17. knowing that he which worshippeth the beast and his image and receaves his character in his forhead or in his hād shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God of the pure wine powred into the cup of his wrath and shal be tormented with fyre and brimstone in the sight of the holy Angels and before the presence of the Lambe Rev. 4. 9. 10. And for the concluding of this point I would onely demaund of Mr B. whether those godly ministers whom he brings in pag. 130 to bear down all before them be not of that company which rather chuse to be silenced by the Prelates yea so perswade others also then to submit to their ceremonies subscription I think he wil not deny it if he be asked the question And do these godly Ministers there or other in Engl. mynded as I speak desier that the word may vtterly be extinguished in the land that Egyptian darknes may come over all Indeed the Prelates so charge them as the cause of all Papisme and Atheisme in the land but Mr B. I know iudgeth otherwise of them and so would he do of vs if the beame of mallice did not blynd his right ey when he looked towards vs. Now for the preaching of the word and gospell of salvation as Mr B. doth but worthily and according to the excellency of it magnify and advance the same so doth he most iniuriously and deceiptfully oppose it vnto the holy order within which the Lord hath rainged it and to the true constitution of the Church and other the ordinances thereof with which it consorteth necessarily by the Lords appoyntment and so they make together a most heavenly harmony And thus to set the ordinances of Christ at iarre amongst themselves and in the commendation of one principall to bury the rest as vile and vnnecessary is a most effectuall delusion and deep deceipt by which the mistery of iniquity is much advantaged in the false assemblyes and the hearts of the simple fast held in the snares of error and impiety The Bishops those of their sect do in their sermons writings extoll prayer But to what end That they may depresse preaching and oppresse preachers and so establish theyr service-saying Preists in the Ministery Mr. B. here and so the forward sorte commonly will magnify preaching but as he here so they oft tymes with an evill ey to the right gathering lawfull goverment and orderly administration of the holy things of in the church Wel the Lord sees this haulting on both sydes will avenge the quarrell of his very meanest ordināce least cōmandement vpō all these deceiptful workers Who is wise that he may vnderstād these things prudent that he may take knowledge of them for the wayes of Iehovah are righteous and the iust shall walk in them but the rebells shall fall in them And for the preaching of the gospel would Mr B. but turne his eye a litle upon himself and his nationall Church he might finde that every text brought by him for the advancement of preaching is as a sworn evidēce both against himself the Church for which he pleads The more needfull vision is for which he quotes in the first place Prov. 29. 18. where vision is not the people perisheth or is made naked the more desperate is the estate of the Church of England wherein the greatest part of the Parishes by far have dark midnight for vision the more vnlawfull and vngodly is the ministery of that Church to which preaching is but an accident and no way essentiall or necessary the more accursed is the Prelacy of the same Church which for indifferent things and so not necessary as themselves acknowledg blynde the eyes and stop the mouthes of the best seers and paynefullest preachers in all