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
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
the first made with Abraham continued with Isaak Iakob he after renued with the whole Church sundry tymes upon their repentance in regard wherof the scriptures give very honourable testimony of al every one of them as that they were the Lords pleasant plant vineyard hedged in planted with the best plants yea a noble vyne whose plants were all natural yea natural branches though they did oft tymes degenerate into the plant of a strange vyne and were therefore oft tymes forsaken of God and in the end for their infidelitie quite broken off Lastly when Iohn Baptist the fore-runner of Christ Christ himself and his Apostles were to repayr the desolations of Sion and to plant the Gentiles into the root of the Iewes and to make them one inheritance and one body with them they did not by the coactive lawes of men shuffle together good and bad as intending a new monster or Chymera but admitted of such and none other as confessed their sinne and iustified God as were not of the world but chosen out of it and hated of it as did receive the word gladly and communicate â—â— of them in all things as every one had need and that in gladnes and singlenes of hart as received testimony by the H. Ghost himself that they were such as should be saved as were al of them purchased with the blood of God as for al whom there was cause to thank God as whom the Apostle did remember in his prayers with gladnes being perswaded that God could perfect his good work begon in the as became him to iudge of them all being al partakers of the grace of God with him in the confirmation of the Gospel and after all whom he longed from the verie hart root in Christ as for all whom he gave thanks alwayes making mention of them in his prayers without ceasing remembring their effectual fayth diligent love and patient hope in the Lord Iesus which did grow in every one of them Here is no such mingle mangle as M. B. would make of good and bad but al good and so avowed by the Holy Ghost though without doubt many of these were masked and hollow-harted hypocrites whose goodnes was but as the goodnes of Ephraim and Iudah like the morning cloud and like the dew which falleâ— in the morning â—ades away And now I will come to the two parables Mat. 13. with which as with two mighty Engines Mr B. others will needs push over the partition wall of separation of the saynts from the world of righteousnes from unrighteousnes of light from darknes of Christ from Beliall of the beleevers from the vnbeleevers And for ingresse into the exposition of these two parables of the field and draw nett I do desire it may be considered that for the atteyning of the right sense of the scriptures we must remember to interpret the more dark and obscure places by places more playne and easy and so parables being dark speaches and more hardly vnderstood without expresse exposition Mat. 13. 10. 11. Mark 4. 11 12 are not to expound playne rules but to be expounded by them Which proviso alone being observed might stand in stead of all answer to whatsoever out of these perverted parables could be objected The point is Mr B. following I confesse the most beaten way makes the field the visible Church and the tares scandalous offenders seen and discovered Wherevpon it must follow that as the Lord forbids the servants to meddle with the tares or with the plucking them vp but will haue them the wheat to grow together in the feild till the harvest so both ministers and people are strâ—ytly inhibited and forbidden any way to admonish censure wicked and scandalous persons in the Church but must let them there remayne without disturbance till the last judgement The venemous weeds the noysome tares Idolaters hereticks covetous persons blasphemers and all whose nature is to overspread and choak the wheat must be suffred still to grow with it And thus at once by this one prophane glosse all the texâ—s of scriptures and commaundements of Christ both for admonitions and excommunications are vtterly voided and aÌ„nihilated The brethren nay the ministers themselves may not medle with the tares the wicked to admonish or reprove them they must be let alone the sword of the Censures so gratiously given to cut of rotten members must no more now be drawn out but must rust in the sheath of this expositioÌ„ notwithstanding all the playn scriptures to the contrary Lev. 19. 17. â— Thes. â— 14. 1 Tim. 5. 30. 2 Ep. 4. 2. Mat. 18. 15. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. All the power of our L. Iesus Christ given to his Church for the rooting out of obstinate offenders casting down of every thing exalting it self against the knowledge of God is not onely weakened but even disanulled by this vnreasonable exposition that tares that is notorious offenders must still be suffred to grow in the feild the Church And if the parable be thus meant hovv can it be defended that any Church should cast out any offenders whomsoever how dare the Prelates in Engl with their substitutes take this forbidden weedhook into their hands vse it against any tare amongst them if any tares be to be plucked vp why not all if all be to be let alone why meddle they with any Indeed I must needs acknowledge will not wroÌ„g them that if they should execute their owne canons as they have framed them they should not very oft practise against this expositioÌ„ nor gather the tares froÌ„ among the wheat but the wheat froÌ„ amongst the tares But to proceed It may be some wil answer that Christ doth not here absolutely forbid his disciples the vse of the Censures against the wicked but rather acquaints theÌ„ before haÌ„d what wil be the estate of the Ch how the wicked wil be suffred to continue in it vncensured And if this were so it made nothing against me nor for Mr B it were the Churches sin so to suffer them I deny not but Churches vsually are to negligent remisse through want of zeal faithfulnes to the Lord in this duty But it is plain the Lord Iesus layes a flat inhibition against the weeding out of these tares expresly coÌ„maunds to let them alone this coÌ„mandemeÌ„t also he backes with two substantial reasons the first least they pluck vp the wheat with the tares v. 29 the 2. because the Lord hath appointed another time the tyme of the harvest for the plucking them out v. 30. Now some being ashamed of the grosnes in deed of the iniquity of this exposition would fayne moderate qualify the matter by turning it off to these these sinns sinners Some say that by the tares are meant the ministers onely that they are not to be medled with though they transgresse least the
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
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
our selves our witnes is not true but if the word of God beare witnes with vs and against you it must stand And for the advauntage which you suppose you have gayned at vs where we acknowledge our differences to be onely your corruptions it will nothing at all enrich you or better your Church For there are corruptions essentiall and in the very causes constitutive matter forme aswell as els where there are corruptions which eat out the very heart of a thing as well as such as hinder the working onely or steyn the work And we may truely say of all the abhominable doctrines and devises in Rome that they are but so many corruptions of those pure truthes holy ordinances which that Church at the first received from Christ the Lord. And for your similitude of a man whom you say corruptions make not a false man but a corrupt man you are deceived in it whether you consider a man naturally or morally Naturally what is death but the corruption of the man as generatio corruptio are opposed And what is rottennes but the corruption of the body Now these do more then make a corrupt man or corrupt body they do destroy the very being But consider a man morally as in the case of religion he must be considered then morall corruptions vices do eyther make a false man or els a traytor a theif a cousener is a true man which patronage I hope Mr B. will not vndertake The second rank of reasons which Mr B. brings against us are certayne greivous sinns wherewith he sayth all in our way are polluted for which according to our own principle no man may ioyn himselfe vnto vs. The sins he nameth are a renunciation of Gods mercy and of all good things and men with them vnthankfulnes to God and the Church spirituall vncharitablenes audacious censuring a desire to hinder yea to extinguish all the spirituall good they publiquely enioy and a wish of destruction vnto the people and the like Greivous accusations certaynly but if to accuse be to convince who shal be innocent not the Lord Iesus himselfe nor his holy Apostles whose examples in vndergoing the like reproches and in patient bearing of the same at the hands of wicked men if we had not before our eyes eyther our harts would break in vs for sorrow or we should be provoked to render reproach for reproach so sin against God Our first supposed sin is that wofull entrance before named for which I refer the reader to that which hath been before answered But they in England sayth Mr B. enter by baptisme renouncing the Divill and sin So do the Papists as loud as they and with as many godfathers and godmothers crossing and blessing themselves against the Divill and all his works as much as they do And for the renunciation of Gods mercy and all good men and good things in them in the Church of England because we refuse communion there it is a foule charge layd vpon vs but to which we are no more lyable then were the Levites when they forsook Ieroboams Church and repayred to Ierusalem the place which the Lord had chosen For in Israell which they forsook were to be found both good persons and things 1 King 14. 13. and 19. 18. Now where in the last place Mr B. chargeth vs not to make vnclean what God hath cleansed Act. 10. 1â— we on the contrary advise him not to account that clean which sinn and Antichrist doth defyle Let him or any other man on earth shew vnto vs by the word of God that a Church gathered and consisting of persons for the most part defyled with all manner of impiety is clensed by God or that the dayly sacrifice the service book is as a lamb without spot or that the spirituall courts so miscalled are sanctified of God for the government of his kingdome on earth or that the Court keepers the Archflamins and Flamins the Provinciall and Diocesan Bishops with theyr Chauncelers Commissaryes Archdeacons and other officers are his holy ones vpon whome he hath put his Vrim and Thummim and then let vs beare our rebuke if we do not returne to the Church of England and humble ourselves vnder her hand as Hagar did her selfe vnder the hand of her mistresse Gen. 16. 9. The second sinn wherewith Mr B. chargeth vs is our great vnthankfulnes 1. to God that begat vs by his word eyther by denying our conversion â—r els accounting it a false conversion 2. towards the Church of England our mother whom we desire to make a whore before Christ her husband condemn â—â—r c. And this accusation he shutteth vp with most bitter execrations against vs as vnworthy to breath in the ayre For the thankfulnes of our harts vnto the Lord our God for his vnspeakeable mercies we leave it vnto him that knowes the hart and for the manifestation of it vnto men we referr them to our entyre though weak obedience to the whol revealed wil of God and ordinances of Christ Iesus which we take to be the most acceptable sacrifice of thankfulnes which by man can be offered to the Lord. And for our personall conversion in the Church of England we deny it not but do and alwayes have so done iudge and professe it true there and so was Luthers conversion true in the Church of Rome els could not his separation from Rome have been of faith or accepted of God The same may be sayd of all the persons and Churches in the world which have forsaken Rome Our third imagined sinn is spirituall vncharitablenes appearing in our deep censures vpon all at least not inclinable vnto vs condemning such as know not our way as blinded by the God of this world the Divell such as seâ— it yeeld not vnto it as worldlings fearefull convinced in conscience going on in presumptuous sin such as forsake it having formerly enclyned vnto it Apostates and if they oppose it godles persequuters hunters after soules such as shall certainly grow worse worse so as men shall say God is revenged on them c. If any one man have thus peremptorily defined eyther in word or writing as Mr B. witnesseth it was that one mans fault and is not to be imputed to the rest of vs more then Mr B. most malicious hateful accusatioÌ„s in this book to all the Ministers people in the Church of Engl. wherof I doubt not but thowsaÌ„ds are ashamed and to which they would be more vnwilling to subscribe then he to the Bishops canons I for mine own part onely exhort all men in all places as they look to be approved at that day when the secrets of all hearts shal be disclosed that they deale faithfully in the Lords busines take heed they neyther forbeare through partiall praejudice or fleshly feare to inquire after the truth nor with hould it in vnrighteousnes if they have found it
be saved Rom. 10. 10. Thirdly if the new Testament speak of ordeyning Elders in the Church then doth it necessarily conclude yea expresly affirm that there were Churches before Elders were ordeyned in them But the first is manifest Act. 14. 23. therefore the second Neyther can Mr Bâ—shift of the place by saying such assemblyes are called Churches by Anticipation any more then the Papists can the scripture 1 Cor 11. 26. against transubstantiation by alledging that the Apostle speaks by Posticipation For why may not the Papists as well answer that Paul calles Christs body bread not because it is bread but because it was bread before the words of consecration as Mr B that Luke calls the assemblyes without officers Churches not because they were so but were so to be after the Elders were ordeyned amongst them neyther is it true which you affirme for confirmation of your distinction that heaven and earth were so called before they were Gen. 1. 1. the meaning of Moses onely is that God created heaven and earth first and when before they were not If yet it be further answered by any that the Church Act. 14. had Apostles over them it must be remembred that Luke in that place and action of ordination notes out three distinct orders of people the Apostles ordeyning Elders the Elders ordeyned and the Churches in which the Apostles ordeyned Elders Of the same nature is the fourth Argument grounded vpon 1 Cor. 12. 28. where God is sayd to have appointed or set in the Church Apostles Prophets Teachers necessarily implying a Church before wherein they were appointed as a Sheriffe appointed in a shyre a Maior in a City a Constable in a Parish a Steward in a familie do necessarily presuppose the Shyre City Parrish Familie wherein they are appointed And indeed where should the Lord set his stewards but in his familie Is any societie capable of the Lords officers but his corporation Is not the Eldership an ordinance given to the Church so the Elders called the Elders of the Church In the Church is not an ordinance given to the Elders nor ever called their Church in the whole New Testament Fifthly they with whom the Lord makes his Covenant to be their God and to have them his people to dwel amongst them as in his temple which have right to the promises of Christ and to his presence they are the Church of God of Christ. Gen. 17. 7. Lev. 26. 11. 12. Mat. 18. 17. 20. Apoc. 1. 11. 13. Heb. 8. 16. But a company of faythful people though they have no officers amongst them may be received into Covenant with God may be his temple and have him dwell amongst them may have right to Christ and to his promises presence except we wil say they may not be gathered in Christs name may not be called may not come out from among unbeleevers nor separate themselves touch none unclean thing Mat. 18. 17. 20. Act. 2. 39. 2 Cor. 6. 16. 17. except they have Ministers going before them For they that may separate themselves from unbeleevers may be the temple of God that is the true visible church which the temple typed out Men are not to come out of Babylon and there to stand stil remember the Lord a farr of but must resort to the place where he hath put his name for which they need not go eyther to Ierusalem or to Rome or beyond the seas they may find Siòn the Lords mountain prepared on the top of every hil If they as lively stones couple themselves together by voluntary profession covenant they are a spirituall building the Lords Temple 6. If a company of faythful people without officers be not a Church then if all the officers of a Church should dye or fall away the Church should be nullified and become no church and to come nearer home graunting for a while the parish of Worksop to be a company of faythfull people if Mr Bernard should leave his Vicaridge for a better then the church of Worksop should be dischurched and remayne a Church no longer and thus an assembly might be Churched and vnchurched and Churched agayn every week in the time of persecution or plague by having and loosing and recovering againe her officers and thus the officers should not be the eyes or tongue of the body for the body remaynes a true though an imperfect body without them but the head of it yea the Pope though he hold himself the head of the Church yet acknowledgeth it a Church without him and in the time of vacancy Wee read Rev. 2. 5. that the Lord threatens to remove the candlestick from the Ephesians except they amend Now the candlestick is the Church chap. 1. 20. and to remove the candlestick is to dischurch the assembly or to wipe it out of the beadrowl of Churches Here is sin the discharging an assembly but that the death of the officers should do it is no where found We will acknowledge the Ministers to be the lights starres candles in the the candlestick the Church that the Ministers death or fall is the removing of the light in a great measure but we may not graunt them to be the Candlestick that is the Church wherein they are set as 1 Cor. 12. 28. which may stand still though they fall 7. If a company of Saynts where no officers are be not a true visible Church then may they have no visible communion together eyther publick or private the reason is because the communion of saynts is an effect or property of the Church and the Church a cause of it the invisible Church of invisible communion and the visible Church of visible communion And as we can have no fellowship with Christ in his merits and other works of mediation till we be in our persons ioyned vnto him by faith and grafted in him as the braunches in the vine so neither can we have communioÌ„ one with another in any spirituall grace or work till we be vnited one to another in love as the members of the body vnder the head Communion in works whether naturall civil or religious doth necessarily presuppose vnion of persons Yea if such a company be not a Church I see not how their seed can have right to baptism no nor how their own baptism caÌ„ be accounted true in the right ends vses of it For 1. baptism is within and not without the Church Ephe. 4. 4. 5. Secondly it is the seal of the covenant which is the form of the Church to the faithfull and their seed Act. 2. 38. 39. Thirdly it is of the members into the body of Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. 13. Lastly where the essentiall causes of a Church are to be found viz. matter and form there is a Church But this may be in such assemblies as have no officers ergo The former proposition is evident in it self for the essentiall causes give being vnto the th
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
he so much as commaund them any thing and here the Lord sets a people apart to be his and separates them from others in respect of some special peice of service appointed them The things you speak are contrary but neyther of them true The Lord never did nor will take people vnto him but by their submission and obedience vnto his commaundements and for that speciall service of God enioyned the Israelites it was an effect of their separation from other people and covenaunt with God and no cause by or for which they became the Lords separated people We must alwayes consider the Church of God principally and properly in the persons of men and secondarily in their works as we must first consider the vineyard in the trees and afterwards in the fruites they bring forth And so was Israel separated and set apart from other people Your addition thaâ— by other people is meant such as worshipped nâ—â—â—he true God which is nothing to you which worship Iesus Christ c. and that there is no place to prove that Israelites were to separate from other Israelites for their corruptions as false matter is like that which goes before For first Papists and Anabaptists with Idolaters and Heretiques many mo do worship Iesus Christ from whose societies notwithstanding you professe separation 2. The Ismaelites Edomites did worship the true God though not after a true manner and yet the Israelites were a people separated from them so as an Edomite though he had voluntarily joyned himself to the people of God might not beare any publick office amongst them to the third generatioÌ„ which you too ignoraÌ„tly expound pag. 248 of his admission into the Church Yea I do further adde that even Israelites and those which came of Israel or Iaakob were coÌ„maunded to separate themselves from Israelites and that for an vsurpation in the ministery as the scriptures make it playn Num. 16. as afterwards also vpon Ieroboams defection in the ministery worship holy dayes which he forged in his own hart 2 Chron. 11. 13. 14. 15. 16. with â— King 12. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. And thus is the exposition cleared against your frivolous exceptions of such scriptures in Levit and els where as make mention of the separation of the Iewish nation from all other nations which do fitly also serve to confirm justifie the separation of all the Churches in the new testament from such people and assemblies in all nations as of whom the Lord by his revealed will cannot besayd to accept as I am sure he cannot prophane and godles persons Now bycause the yssue of all controversies depends vpon the true exposition of the scriptures whose letter men will bring on both sides and that Mr B. takes speciall exception in this place against the expositions we give of such scriptures as seem to vs most materiall for our separation I wil therefore take in his exceptions as I return whence I came and make manifest as God inableth me the insufficiencie of them The next place that comes into coÌ„sideratioÌ„ is Act. 2 40. where â—ayth Mr B. Peter speakes to the Iewes of such Iewes as denyed Christ renounced the very foundation even Iesus Christ which is if we will beleeve him nothing to them that profesie him to be the true Messias It seemes then that separation is not to be made from the Papists for they hold Iâ—sus Christ to be the true Messias the very foundation yea even the merit of their works do they found vpon the merit of Christs obedience derogating lesse in truth though far too much from theÌ„ vertue of his Preisthood then you do in the constitution of your Church from the dignity of his kingdom in the outward government administration of it 2. Your nationall Church is so farre from being separated from them that deny Christ as it is indeed for substance compact and gathered of such to wit of impure and prophane persons who whatsoever they do professe â—â— word do deny in deed and visibly both God and our Lord Iesus Christ as the scriptures do expresly testifie And to deny that apparant wicked and prophane men or Churches do rayse the foundation of religion is a prophane errour tending to libertiuism and which foundeth all religion and Christianity in the brayn and nothing in the heart Lastly Peters exhortation vpon the occasion in hand was that the faithful Iewes should separate from that froward generation wherevpon the generall doctrine is rightly raysed that the faithfull at all tymes must be separated from all froward generations And of this duty wee are to make the greater conscience considering the words of the Apostle which are that we save our selves from such froward generations as indeed considering the duty we ow vnto our brethreÌ„ for their humbling if they be froward in sinne the discomfort wee haue in continuing communion with them the want of that godly furtherance wee should haue by our brethren in our holy communion and lastly the daunger wherein wee stand eyther to be corrupted by them or at least to haue our zeal and other graces of God decayed in vs our salvation doth not a little consist in our departure from the assembly of the prophane as Beza rightly notes vpon this scripture Of the same nature with the former place is the next in order where the Apostle Paul both departs himself separates the disciples from such as were hardened and would not obey but spake evill of the way of the Lord before the multitude Act. 19. 8. 9. But this you say proves not our purpose and your exceptions are First that our way is not the way of God 2. that if is were yet wee have not spoken to all your Church made it known to all nor haue found all hard hearted and 3. that the place teacheth separation from such obstinate wicked which will not bee wonne to the Church and that here is a departing of some true members of the Church from such as be not the Church but not of members of the true Church forsaking meÌ„bers of the true Church That our way is the way of God appeareth by this very scripture amongst many others wherein also wee haue both the reformists at home and reformed Churches abroad giving testimony with vs for the substance of it But put the case ours be not yet if the way of the reformed Churches be the way of God our separation is justified by this scripture For first your convocatioÌ„ house Church representative is hardened against the way of the reformed Churches blaspheming and persecuting it and all them that eyther seek or plead for it And their act being the cheif is by your own graunt to be accounted the act of all though the rest come not to consent so that you are all by your own words to be acounted a disobedient and hardened people vpon the former praemises namely that the way of the