Councell for Councels abate not ill things but rather increase them which is not so much to bee understood of generall Councels as for Synods gathered for the ordinary government of the Church as for deprivation of Bishops or such like cases which mischiefe hath taught us the use of Archbishops and Patriarkes and Primates as the abuse of them since hath caused men to mislike them But it will bee said Looke to the fruits of the Churches abroad and ours To which I say I beseech the Lord to multiply his blessings graces upon these an hundred fold But yet it is not good we fall a numbring them It may bee our peace hath made us wanton It may be also though I would be loath to derogate from the honor of those Churches were it not to remove scandals that their fruits are as torches in the darke which appeare greatest a farre off I know they may have some more strict order for the repressing of sundry excesses But when I consider of the censures of some persons as well upon particular men as upon Churches I think of the saying of a Platonist who saith Certe vitia irascibilis partis animae sunt gradu praviora quam concupiscibilis tametsi occultiora A matter that appeared well by the ancient contentions of Bishops God grant we may contend with other Churches as the Vine with the Olive which of us beareth best fruits and not as the Brier with the Thistle which of us is most unprofitable And thus much touching the occasion of controversies Now briefly to set down the growth and progression of these controversies whereby will be verified the wise counsell of Salomon that the course of contention is to bee stopped at the first being else as the waters which if they get a breach will hardly ever be recovered It may be remembred how that on their part who call for reformation was first propounded some dislike of certaine ceremonies supposed to bee supersticious some complained of dumb Ministers who possessed rich Benefices some made invectives against the idle and monasticall continuance within the Vniversities by those who had livings to be resident upon and such like causes Thence they went on to condemne the government of Bishops as an Hierarchy remaining to us of the corruptions of the Romane Church and to except to sundry institutions as not sufficiently delivered from the pollutions of former times And lastly they are advanced to define of an onely and perpetuall forme of policie in the Church which without consideration of the possibility or foresight of perill or perturbation of the Church State must be erected and planted by the Magistrate Here they stay Others not able to keep footing on so steep a ground descend further that the same must bee entred into and accepted by the people at their perill without attending the establishment of authoritie and so in the mean time they refuse to communicate with us reputing us to have no Church This hath been the progression of that side I meane of the generality For I know that some persons being of the nature not onely to love extremities but to fall to them without degrees were at the highest streame at the first the other part that maintaineth the present government of the Church hath not kept one ten or neither First those ceremonies which they pretended to be corrupt they maintained to bee things indifferent and opposed the examples of the good times of the Church to that chalenge that was made unto them because they were used in the latter superstitious times then were they also content mildly to acknowledge many imperfections in the Church as Tares came up amongst the Corne which were not as yet according to the wisedome of our Saviour Christ to be without strife pulled up lest it might spoile and supplant the good corn but to grow on together till the harvest After this they grew to a more absolute defence maintenance of orders of the Church and stifly to hold that nothing was to be innovated partly because it needed not and partly because it would make a breach upon the rest Thence exasperate through contention they are fallen to a direct condemnation of the contrary part as of a sect yea and some indiscreet persons have been bold in open preaching to use dishonourable and derogative speech and censure of the Churches abroad and that so farre as that some of our men as I have heard ordained in forreigne parts have beene pronounced to be no lawfull Ministers Thus we see the beginnings were modest but the extreames violent so as there is now almost as great a distance of either part from it selfe as was at the first of one from the other And surely though my meaning and scope be not as I said before to enter into the controversies themselves yet I doe admonish the maintainers of the above named discipline to weigh and consider seriously and attentively how neer they are unto those with whom I know they will not join It is hard to say that the discipline which they say we want is one of the Essentiall parts of the worship of God and not to affirme that the people upon perill of their salvation without staying for the Magistrate are to gather themselves unto it I demand if a civill State should receive the preaching and baptisme and exclude the sacrament of the supper were not men bound upon danger of their soules to draw themselves to congregations where they might celebrate that Ministery and not content themselves with that part of worship which the Magistrate hath authorised This I speake not to draw them into mislike of others but into a more deep consideration of themselves Fortasse non redeunt quia progressuum suum non intelligunt Againe I say to my Lords the Bishops that it is heard for them to avoâ—d blame in the opinion of an indifferent person in standing so precisely in altering nothing Leges novis legibus non recreate descunt Lawes being not refreshed with new lawes wax sowre Qui mala non permutat in bonis non perseverat without change of ill a man can not continue the good to take away abuses supplanteth not good orders but establishes them Morosa moris retentio res turbulenta aque ac novitas est A contentious retaining of custome is a turbulent thing as well as innovation A good husbandman is ever pruning and stirring in his vineyard or field not unreasonable indeed nor unskilfully for he lightly ever findeth somewhat to do We have heard of no offers of the Bishops of bils in Parliament which no doubt proceeding from them to whom it properly appertaineth would have every where received acceptation their own constitutions and orders have reformed little Is nothing amisse can any man defend the use of excommunication as a bare processe to lackey up and downe for duties and for fees it being the greatest judgement next unto that generall judgement at the last day Is there
to themselves light and perfection They say the Church of England in King Edwards time and the beginning of her Majesties was but in the cradle and that the Bishops of those daies did somewhat for day-breake but the maturity and fulnesse of light proceeded from themselves So Sabinus Bishop of Heraclea of Macedonia said that the Fathers in the councell of Nice were but infants and ignorant men that the Church was not so to persist in their decrees as to refuse that farther ripnesse of knowledge which the time had revealed And as they censure vertuous men by the names of civill and moral so doe they censure men truely and godly-wise who see the vanity of their assertion by the names of Politique saying that their wisedome is but carnall and favouring of mans braine So likewise if a Preacher preach with care and meditation I speake not of the vaine Scholasticall forme and manner of preaching but soundly indeed ordering the matter he handleth distinctly and draweth it downe from authorising of it by strong proofes and warrents they censure it as a forme of preaching not becoming the simplicity of the Gospel and referre it to the reprehension of Saint Paul speaking of the intising speech of mans wisedome Now for their owne manner of preaching what is it Surely they exhort well and worke compuction of minde and bring men vell to the question Viri fratres quid age◠us but that is not enough except they resolve this question They handle matters of controversies weakly and obiter and as before a people that will accept of any thing in doctrine or manners there is little but generality and repetition They move the bread of life and tosse it up and downe they breake it not They draw not their directions downe ad casus conscientiae that a man may be warranted in his particular actions whether they be lawfull or not neither indeed are they able to doe it what through want of grounded knowledge what through want of study and time It is an easie thing to call for observation of the Sabbath day and to speake against unlawfull gaine but what actions and workes may be done upon the Sabbath day and in what cases and what courses of gaine are lawfull and what not to set this downe and to cleare so the whole matter with good distinctions and decisions is a matter of great knowledge and labour and asketh much meditation and conversation in the Scriptures and other helpes which God hath provided preserved for instruction They carry not equall hand in teaching the people their lawfull liberties as well as their restraines and prohibitions But they thinke a man cannot goe too farre in keeping a commandement they forget that there are sinnes on the right hand as well as on the left and that the sword is double edged and cutteth on both sides as well the superstitious observances as the profane transgressions Who doubteth but it is as unlawfull to shut where God hath opened as to open where God hath shut to binde where God hath loosed and to loose where God hath bound Amongst men it is as ill taken to turne backe favours as to disobey commandements In this kinde of zeale for example they have pronounced generally and without difference all untruth is unlawfull notwithstanding that the Midwives have been reported to have been blessed in their excuse and Rahab is said by faith to have concealed the spies Farther I heard some Sermons of mortification which I think with very good meaning they have preached out of their owne experience and exercise and things in private counsell not unmeet but surely no sound conceits much like to Parsons his Resolutions or not so good rather apt to breed in men weak opinions and perplexed despaires then filiall and true repentance which is sought Another point of great inconvenience and perill is to intice the people to heare controversies and all manner of doctrine they say no part of the counsell of God is to bee suppressed nor the people defrauded So as the difference which the Apostle maketh between milke and strong meats is confounded and his precept that the weake bee not admitted to questions controversies taketh no place But most of all it is to be suspected as a seed of further inconvenience for manner of handling the Scriptures for while they seek expresse Scripture for every thing and that they have in a manner deprived themselves and the Church of a speciall helpe and support by embracing the authority of Fathers they resort to naked examples conceited inferences and forced allusions such as doe bring ruine to all certainty of Religion Another extremity is that excessive magnifying of that which though it be a principall and holy institution yet hath limites as all things else have We see in a manner wheresoever they find in the Scriptures the word spoken of they expound it of preaching They have made it almost of the Essence of the sacrament of the Lords supper to have a sermon precedent They have in manner annihilated liturgies and formes of divine service As for the life of the good Monkes and eremites of the Primitive Church I know they will condemne a man as halfe a Papist if he should maintaine them as other then prophane because they heard no preaching In the meane time what preaching is and who may be said to preach they make no question But as farre as I see every man that speaketh in chaire is counted a preacher But I am assured that not a few that call wholly for a preaching ministerie deserve to be of the first themselves that should be expelled These and some other errors and misproceedings they doe fortifie and increase by being so greatly addicted to their opinions and impatient to heare contradiction or argument Yea I know some of them that would thinke it a tempting of God to heare or read what may be said against them As if there could be a Quod bonum è tenete without an Omne probate going before This may suffice to offer unto themselves a view and consideration whether they do well or no to correct asswage the partiallity of their followers and dependents For as for any man that shall hereby enter into a contempt of their Ministery it is but his owne hardnesse of heart I know the word of exhortation doth chiefly rest upon these men and they have zeale and hate of sinne But againe let them take heed that it be not true which one of their adversaries saith against them that they have but two small wants knowledge and love And so I conclude the fourth part The last point teaching the due publishing and debating of these controversies needeth no long speech this strange abuse of Antiques and Pasquils hath been touched before So likewise I repent not that which I said before that a character of love is more proper for debates of this nature then that of zeale As for all direct and direct glaunces or levels of mens persons they were ever in these cases disallowed Lastly whatsoever is pretended the people is no meet judge or arbitrator but rather the moderate quiet and private assemblies of the learned Qui apud in capace loquitur non disceptat sed calumniatur The Presse Pulpit would be morefreed and discharged neither promotion on the one side nor glory and heat on the other ought to continue these chalenges at the Crosse and such places But rather all Preachers especially such as are of a good temper and have wisedome with conscience ought to inculcate and beat upon a place peace silence and sufferance Neither let them feare Solons law which compelled in factions every particular person to range himselfe on the one side or the other nor the fond calumnie of neutrality But let them know that it was true which was said by a wise man that neuters in contention were better or worse then either side These things have I in all syncerity and simplicity set downe touching the controversies which now trouble the Church of England and that without all art or insinuation and therefore not likely to be gratefull to either part Notwithstanding I trust what hath been said shall finde a correspondence in their minde who are not embarked with partiality and which love the whole better then the part Whereby I am not out of hope that it may doe good At least I shall not repent my selfe of the meditation FINIS
more narrow view and consideration of the accidents and circumstances of these controversies wherein either part deserveth blame and imputation I finde generally in causes of Church-controversies that men do offend in some or all of these five points 1. The first the giving of occasion unto controversies and also the inconsiderate and ungrounded taking of the occasion 2. The next is the extending and multiplying of controversies to a more generall opposition and contradiction then appeareth at the first propounding of them when mens judgements are least partiall 3. The third is the passionate and unbrotherly practises and proceedings on both parts towards the persons each of others for their discredit and suppression 4. The fourth is the courses holden and and entertained on either side for the drawing of the practizants to a more streight union within themselves which ever importeth a further destruction of the intire body 5. The last is the undue and inconvenient propounding publishing and debating of the controversies In which point the most palpable error hath been already spoken of as that which through the strangenesse and freshnesse of the abuse first offereth it selfe to the conceits of all men Now concerning the occasion of controversies it cannot be denied but that the imperfection in the conversation and government of those which have chiefe place in the Church have ever been principall causes and motives of schismes and divisions For whilest the Bishops and governours of the Church continue full of knowledge and good workes whilest they feed their flock indeed while they deale with the secular estates in all liberty and resolution according to the majesty of their calling and the pretious care of soules imposed upon them so long the Church is situate as it were upon an hill no man maketh question of it or seekes to depart from it But when these vertues in the Fathers and Elders of the Church have lost their light and that they wax wordly lovers of themselves and pleasers of men then men begin to grope for the Church as in the darke they bee in doubt whether they bee the successors of the Apostles or of the Pharisees yea howsoever they sit in Moses Chaire yet they can never speake tanquam authoritatem habentes as having authority because they lost their reputation in the consciences of men by declining their steppes from the way which they trace out to others so as men have need continually sounding in their eares this saying Nolite exire goe not out so ready are they to depart from the Church upon every voyce And therefore it is truely noted by one who writeth as a naturall man that the hypocrisie of Friers did for a great time maintaine and beare out the irreligion of Bishops and Prelates For this is that double policie of the spiritual enemy either by counterfeit holinesse of life to authorize and establish errors or by the corruption of manners to discredit and call into question truth and lawfull things This concerneth my Lords the Bishops unto whom I am witnesse to my selfe that I stand affected as I ought no contradiction hath supplanted in mee the reverence I owe to their calling neither hath any detraction or calumnie embased my opinion of their persons I know some of them whose names are most pierced with these accusations to be men of great vertues although indisposition of the time and the want of correspondence many wayes is enough to frustrate the best indevours in the Church And for the rest generally I can condemne none I am no judge of them that belong to so high a master neither have I two witnesses and I know it is truely said of Fame Pariter facta atque infecta canebat Their taxations arise not all from one coast They have indifferent enemies and ready to invent slander more ready to amplifie and most ready to believe it magnes mendacii credulitas credulity is the allurement of lies But if any be who have against the supreame Bishops not a few things but many if any have lost his first love if any bee neither hot nor cold if any have stumbled to folly at the threshold in such sort that he cannot sit well that entred ill it is time they returne whence they are fallen and confirme the things which remaine Great is the weight of this fault Et eorum causa abhorrebant homines à sacrificiis Domini and for their cause did men abhor the worship of God But howsoever it be that those have sought to defame them cast contempt upon them are not to beexcused It is the precept of Salomon That the Rulers be not reproched no not in thought but that wee draw our conceit into a modest interpretation of their doings The holy Angell would give no sentence of blasphemy against the common slanderer but sayd Increpet te Dominus the Lord rebuke thee The Apostle Saint Paul thought against him that did polute sacred justice with tyrannous violence hee did justly denounce the judgement of God in saying Percuciet te Dominus the Lord shall strike thee yet in saying Paries dealbate he thought he had gone too farre and retracted it whereupon a learned Father sayd Ipsum quam vis inane nomen umbram sacerdotis cogitans expavit The ancient Councels and Synods as it is noted by the Ecclesiasticall story when they deprived any Bishop never recorded the offence but buried it in perpetuall silence Onely Cham purchased his fathers curse with revealing his fathers disgrace and yet a much greater fault is it to ascend from the person to the calling and to draw that in question Many good Fathers rigorously complained of the unworthinesse of Bishops as if it did presently forfeit cease their office One sayth Sacerdotes nominamur non sumus we are called Priests and are not Another sayth nisi bonum opus amplectaris Episcopus esse non potes except thou undertake the good worke thou canst not be a Bishop yet they meant nothing lesse then to move doubt of their calling or ordination The second occasion of cōtroversies is the nature humor of some men The Church never wanteth a kinde of persons that love the salutation of Rabbi not in ceremony or complement but in an inward authority which they seeke over mens mindes in drawing them to depend upon their opinion and so seeke knowledge at their lippes these men are the true successours of Diotrephes the lovers of preheminence and not Lord Bishops such spirits doe light upon another sort of natures which doe adhere to these men Quorum gloria in obsequio stiffe fellowes and such as zeale marvellously for those whom they have chosen to bee their masters This latter sort of men for the most part are men of young yeares and superficiall understanding carried away with partiall respect of persons or with the enticing appearance of godly names and pretences Pauci res ipsas sequuntur plures nomina rerum plurima nomina magistrorum few follow
the things themselves more the names of the things most the names of their masters About these general affections are wretched accidentall and private emulations and discontentments All which breake forth together into contentions such as either violate truth sobriety or peace These generalities apply themselves The Vniversities are the seates and continent of this disease whence it hath been and is derived into other parts of the realme There some will be no longer è numero of the number there some others side themselves before they know the right hand from the left So as it is truely said Transeunt ab ignorantia ad prejudicium They leap from ignorance to a prejudicate opinion and never take a good judgement in their way But as it is wel noted Inter juvenile judicium senile prejudicium omnis veritas corrumpitur When men are indifferent and not partiall then their judgement is weake and unripe through want of yeares and when it groweth to strength and ripenesse by that time it is forestalled with such a number of prejudicate opinions as it is made unprofitable so as between these two all truth is corrupted while the honourable names of sincerity and reformation and discipline are put in the forward so as contentious and evill zeales cannot be touched except these holy thinges are first thought to be violated But howsoever they shall inferre the solicitation for the peace of the Church not to proceed from carnall sinnes yet will I ever conclude with the Apostle Paul Cum sit inter vos zelus contentio nonne carnales estis While there is amongst you zeale and contention are ye not carnall And howsoever they esteem the compounding of controversies to favour of mens wisedome and humane policie I thinke themselves led with the wisedome which is from above yet I say with Saint Iames Non est ista sapientia de sursum descendens sed terrena animalis diabolica Ibi zelus contentio ibi inconstantia omne opus provum Of this inconstancy it is said by a learned Father Procedere non ad perfectionem sed ad permutationem They seeke to goe forward still not to perfection but to change The third occasion of controversies I observe to be an extreame and unlimited detestation of some former heresie or corruption of the Church acknowledged convicted This was the cause that produced the heresie of Arrius grounded chiefly upon detestation of Gentilisme lest the Christians should seeme by assertion of the coequall divinity of our Saviour Christ to approach to the acknowledgement of more Gods then one The detestation of Arrius heresie produced that of Sabellius who holding for execrable the dissimilitude which Arrius pretended in the trinity fled so farre from him that he fell into the other extreame to deny the distinction of persons and to say they were but onely names of severall offices and dispensations yea most of the heresies of the Church have sprung up of this root while men have made it their scale to measure the bounds of their religion taking it by the farthest distance from the errour last condemned These be Posthumi haeresium filii heresies that arise of the ashes of other heresies that are extinct and amortised This manner of apprehension doth in some degree possesse many of our time they thinke it the true touch-stone to try what is good and holy by measuring what is more and lesse opposite to the institutions of the Church of Rome be it ceremony be it policie or government yea be it other institution of greater weight that is ever most perfect which is removed most degrees from that Church and that is ever polluted and blemished which participateth in any appearance with it this is a subtile and dangerous conceit for men to entertaine apt to delude themselves more apt to delude the people and most apt of all to calumniate their adversaries This surely but that a notorious condemnation of that position was laid before our eyes had long since brought us to the rebaptizing of children baptized according to the pretended Catholicke religion For I see that which is a matter of much like reason which is the reordaining of Priests is a matter very resolutely maintained It is very meet that men beware how they be abused by this opinion and that they know it is a consideration of much greater wisedome to be well advised whether in the generall demolition of the institutions of the Church of Rome there were not as mens actions are unperfect some good purged with the bad rather then to purge the Church as they pretend every day anew which is the way to make a wound in her bowels as it is already begun The fourth and last occasion of these controversies a thing which did also trouble the Church in former time is the partiall affectation and imitation of forraigne Churches for many of our men during the time of persecution and since having been conversant in Churches abroad and received a great impression of the government there ordained have violently sought to intrude the same upon our Church But I answer Conveniamus in eo quod convenit non in eo quod receptum est let us agree in this with every Church to doe that which is convenient for the estate of it selfe and not in particular customes Although their Churches had received the better forme yet many times it is to be sought Non quid optimum sed è bonis quid proximum Not what is best but of good things what is next and readiest to be had Our Church is not now to place it is setled and established It may be in civill States a republique is better then a kingdome yet God forbid that lawfull kingdomes should be tied to inovate and make alterations Qui mala introducit voluntatem Dei oppugnat revelatam in verbo Qui nova introducit voluntatem Dei oppugnat revelatam in rebus He that bringeth in ill customes resisteth the will of God revealed in his word He that bringeth in new things resisteth the will of God revealed in the things themselves Consule providentiam Dei cum verbo Dei Take counsaile of the providence of God as well as of his word Neither yet doe I admit that their forme although it were possible and convenient is better then ours if some abuses were taken away The party and equality is a thing of wonderfull great confusion and so is an ordinary government by Synods which do necessarily ensue upon the other It is hard in all causes especially in matters of religion when voyces shall bee numbred and not weighed Equidem saith a wise Father ut verè quod res est scribam prorsus decrevifugere omnem conventum Episcoporū nullius enim consilii bonum exitum unquā vidi consilia enim non minuunt mala sed augent potius To say the truth I am utterly determined never to come to any Councell of Bishops for I never yet saw good end of any