for that I say many such returned to professe the Gospell againe as members of the Church and were receiued For saide the Donatists the Church is holie consisting of such as be called foorth and separated from the vnpure and wicked world and therefore no separation being made but such villanous traitors so vile Idolaters and their childrē being communicated withall all your assemblies through this mixture are none other before GOD but heapes of abominable vncleane persons Your teachers are the sonnes of Apostates and traitors and no Ministers of Christ Now looke vpon the Donatists of England Antichrist hath béen exalted according to the prophesie of S. Paule he hath sate in the Temple of God boasting himselfe as God persecuting and murthering Gods true worshippers He is disclosed by the glorious light of the Gospell his damnable doctrine cursed Idolatrie and vsurped tyrannie are cast foorth of this land by the holie sacred power of our dread Soueraigne Ladie Quéene Elizabeth whom God hath placed settled vpon the Throne of this noble Kingdome The true doctrine of faith is published and penalties are by lawes appoynted for such as shall stubbernlie despise the same Our Donatists crie out that our assemblies as ye may see in their printed bookes and that the people were all by constraint receiued immediatlie from Idolatrie into our Church without preaching of the Gospell by the sound of a Trumpet at the Coronation of the Queene that they bee confused assemblies without any separation of the good from the bad They affirme also that our Ministers haue their discent and ordination and power from Antichrist and so are his marked seruants Hereupon not vnderstanding the manifest Scripture that the Apostasie hauing inuaded the Church it continued still euen then the Temple of God in which Antichrist did sit and that the verie Idolaters were within the Church were sealed with the signe of baptisme professed Christ in some points rightlie their children from ancient discent being within the couenant of God and of right to bee baptized the Ministerie of Christ so farre remaining as that it was the authentick seale which was deliuered by the same in a mad furie like blind hypocrites they condemne the reformation by ciuill power and purging Gods Temple by the authoritie of Princes because the Church of Christ is founded and built by the doctrine of the Gospell Herein they are deceiued that they imagine the Princes take vpon them to compell those to bée a Church which were none before whereas indeed they doo but compell those within their kingdome ouer whome the Lord hath set them which haue receiued the signe of the couenant and professe themselues to bee members of the Church accordinglie to renounce and forsake all false worship and to imbrace the doctrine of saluation What other thing did Iosias and other holie Kings of Iuda when they compelled the multitude of Idolaters which were the seede of Abraham and circumcised to forsake their Idolatrie and to worship the Lord It is most cléere also that where the reformation of the Kings was not perfect as appeareth in the bookes of the Kings and Chronicles yet all the foulest things being abolished and the substance of trueth brought in they were reputed godlie Churches where many were false brethren and open offenders The Brownists blinded with their swelling pride and not séeing the euident matters of the Scriptures without all order of that holie discipline of Christ accuse condemne and forsake our Churches vnder the appearance of feruent zeale and rigorous seueritie against all sinne not inferiour to the Donatists as if they were the onely men that stood for Christ and his kingdome they crie out aloude and proclaime all the Ministers of our Churches to be Antichristian the sonnes of the Pope false Prophets Baals Priests that prophesie in Baal and pleade for Baal persecutors of the iust bearing the marke the power and life of the beast because they say our ordeiners bee such They say wee haue no word of God no Sacraments nor true Church but that all is vtterlie polluted and become abominable our assemblies they call the very Synagogs of Antichrist vtterlie fallen from the couenant of God and all that ioyne with them through the pollution of open sinners which are not cast foorth and therefore they haue separated themselues and crie aloude vnto others to doo the same if they will be saued What rule of discipline haue they obserued in this Haue these things béen brought foorth scanned discussed and iudged in the Synods of the learned Pastors and teachers of the Churches Nay but euen as Augustine saith of the other furor dolus tumultus furie deceipt and tumult do beare the sway Then I conclude that in this poynt of accusing condemning and manner of separating themselues from the Church the Donatists and the Brownists doo agree and are alike Some man will here replie that I build vppon a weake ground or rather vpon the sand in prouing the Brownists and the Donatists to bée all one because they are alike in accusing and condemning the Churches and separating themselues from the same For the matter resteth not simply vpon the actions but whether there were iust cause The question will bee whether the Brownists doo that iustlie which the Donatists did vngodly For the Donatists did accuse the Churches and Ministers falsely condemned them most wickedly and therefore their separation could not bee good because it was from the true Churches of Christ but now if the Brownists obiect open and manifest crimes such as cannot be denied their case doth differ farre May not a man separate himselfe from those assemblies where he seeth open sinners suffered on heapes to remaine in the bosome of the Church and where idolatries blasphemies and abominations are committed where the Ministers and gouernment be Antichristian but he must bée a Donatist Moreouer it is certaine the Donatists did condemne all Churches in the world the Brownists doo condemne onely the assemblies as they generally stand in England which is a very great difference The Donatists hold that the Sacraments or the efficacie of them doth depend vpon the worthines of the Minister the Brownists are not of that mind The Donatists did rebaptize the Brownists doo vrge no such thing It may be also they are vnlike in some other things if it be so why should they be termed Donatists Indeed if there be such differences the Brownists haue great wrong to bee called Donatists and to bee condemned with so wicked a sect But what if it fall out otherwise and that it be shewed and prooued manifestlie that they be all one in these things Shall wee not then say they be euen brethren shall they not stand or fall with the Donatists shall they be vngodlie Schismatickes and not these I will procéede from poynt to poynt to compare them together that it may appeare whether there be difference Touching the first it is most true that the Donatists did accuse and condemne
the Churches and the Ministers of the Churches most falselie and I say the Brownists are as false accusers as they and condemne as iniustlie in all crimes which they obiect and shall in no wise bee found vnlike in this poynt Yea will it bee sayd how shall that appeare All men doo knowe that the Brownists may without any false accusing lay greeuous faults to the Church of England I graunt they may and I say likewise the Donatists might lay as great faults to the charge of many Churches then and in some points greater yet be no liers This is to be prooued by comparing the Churches of those times with ours for so shall wee see how farre both haue iustlie accused or might accuse and where they meete together as false accusers The Brownists may stand foorth and accuse the church of England in this manner That there bee heapes of open sinners not separated from among the good but suffered and admitted to the Lords table at least wise in many or in the most assemblies There be prophane ignorant persons that despise the holie religion There bee swearers and cursers There bee those that are puffed vp and swell in pride and vaine glorie There be swarmes of drunkards gluttons and vnchast persons There be couetous worldlings and greedie vsurers extortioners oppressors bribers and defrauders There be liers backbiters and slanderers There bée enuious hateful and contentious persons yea what sinnes almost are wanting Where shall a man goe but he is readie to fall into companies of wicked men This is not alone among the common people but verie many of those that should bee guiders lights and patternes of godlinesse vnto others are nothing lesse Who is able to deny these things heauen and earth will witnesse against him We may lift vp our voyces and say wee haue sinned with our fathers wee haue done wickedlie We may confesse that our iniquities are heaped vp and reach aboue the clowdes and that shame and confusion of face is due vnto vs. Wee may crie saue Lord for the godlie cease the faithfull are diminished from the children of men The complaints that the Prophets doo make euerie where against the Church of Israel may verie well be applied against vs. Where is loue where is fidelitie where is mercie where is trueth But now shall wee thinke that the Donatists had no such things to accuse the Churches of in those daies Could they not say your assemblies are full of couetous men proud persons both men and women Had they not iust cause to complaine that many walked in hatred and discord Doo ye imagine that there were no vngodlie Ministers or will ye suppose that Augustine and other holie men stoode to cléere and iustifie the Churches that way against the Donatists and other Heretickes Nay let their words bee heard what they testifie in this behalfe Cresconius alleaged this saying of the Lord I will giue ye shepheards according to my heart which shal feede yee with knowledge and vnderstanding Ieremy 3. This he cited to prooue that the Pastors ought to bee faithfull Augustine maketh answere thus Scio completum est tales Apostoli fuerunt tales etiam nunc etsi pro ecclesiae latitudine perpauci non tamen desunt That is I knowe it is fulfilled such were the Apostles such also there be now though very fewe in respect of the largenes of the Church yet they are not wanting This is a plain testimonie that in the time of Augustine the faithfull sincere godlie Pastors were verie fewe in comparison Many testimonies may be brought out of diuers ancient writers for this matter but I will bring but some fewe and first out of Cyprian which alone are sufficient being both large and cleere Cyprian was in the time of persecution before the Donatists sprung vp and after one persecution was ouer he wrote an Epistle de lapsis of those that fell and denied Christ In which first he triumphantly reioyceth ouer them which stoode then he mourneth dolefullie for those that fell and after that he sheweth why God sent that persecution Si cladis causa cognoscitur medela vulneris inuenitur Deus probare familiam suam voluit If saith he the cause of the slaughter be knowne the cure of the wound is found also God would prooue his familie Et quia traditam nobis diuinitus disciplinam pax longa corruperat iaceÌ„tem fidem poenè dixerim dormientem censura coelestis erexit That is and because long peace had corrupted the discipline deliuered vs of God the heauenlie censure hath raised vp the faith lying along I may say almost sleeping Then shewing that God did not punish them so much as they deserued he setteth foorth the greeuous open sinnes committed in the Church Studebant augendo patrimonio singuli obliti quid credentes aut sub Apostolis ante fecissent aut postmodum facere deberent insatiabili cupiditatis ardore ampliandis facultatibus incubabant That is They studied euerie one to increase their patrimonie and hauing forgotten either what the beleeuers had done before in the time of the Apostles or what they ought to doo afterward they all did applie themselues to increase their riches with an insatiable burning heate of couetous desire Here is one sinne that ouerspread then he addeth further Non in Sacerdotibus religio deuota non in ministris fides integra non in operibus misericordia non in moribus disciplina There was not deuout religion in the Priests there was not the sound faith in the Ministers there was not mercie in workes there was not discipline in manners And what more Corrupta barba in viris in foeminis forma fucata Adulterati post dei manus oculi capilli mendacio coloraâ—i Ad decipienda corda simplicium callidae fraudes circumueniendis fratribus subdolae voluptates Iungere cum infidelibus vinculum matrimonij prostituere cum gentilibus membra Christi Non iurare tantum temerè sed adhuc etiam peierare Prapositos superbo tumore contemnere venenato ore sibi maledicere Odijs pertinacibus inuicem dissidere The beard was corrupted or disguised in men the beautie was counterfeit or painted in women The eyes corrupted from the forme in which Gods hands had made them the haires were set out with a false colour subtill fraudes to deceiue the hearts of the simple deceiptfull pleasures to circumuent the brethren They coupled themselues in mariage with infidels they prostituted the members of Christ with the heathen they did not onely sweare rashlie but also forsweare They contemned their gouernours with swelling pride and cursed themselues with venymed mouth being at discord among themselues with stiffe hatreds Are not these horrible sinnes which ouerflowed in the church Is there no more Yes he saith Episcopi plurimi quos ornamento esse oportet ceteris exemplo diuina procuratione contempta procuratores rerum secularium fieri derelicta cathedra plebe deserta per alienas prouincias oberrantes
against all sin iudge repute them as christian brethren which it may be are not his fall is not great although he be ouer fauorable for through humility he is below Wheras on the other part such as condemne with vncharitable rigor they are lifted vp with swelling and so their fall is deeper This is my meaning in that I saide I had rather answer to God for mercy than for rigour now as I eschew it in my self so would I be loath seeing rigor aboundeth among many to giue any occasion to nourish the same by my writing If I sin in this yet I trust it is so as no godly charitable man wel aduised wil make an outcry against me for it if I shake hāds with sin let me be condēned for it otherwise I craue that I may follow the rule of the Apostle But now it wil be said by the third sort which finde fault with my book that I haue broken this rule towards the Brownists as also that rule of S. Paul who willeth to instruct with patience such as be contrary minded because I charg them not only with foule Schisme but also with heresies and for which I take it that obstinacie if it be found in thē wil make them heretickes They differ not frō vs say some in matters of faith but doo ouer shoot thēselues that on the right hand for answer vnto these first touching the rules of Paul I know he himself did practize thē And he that gaue these rules so far as wee are come let vs proceed by one rule c. and instructing with patience c. said also beware of dogs beware of euill workmen beware of the concision Philip. 3. Why did S. Paule this but mooued with the danger which the Churches were in by them Men haue not now the consideration what it is to condemne the whole worship the Ministrie as Antichristian and so vtterlie to take away the credite and power of the Ministrie and preaching Gods word Will they esteeme it to bee lesse than that which the false Apostles did Againe I see men are ignorant what the power of Donatisme was how it preuailed and spread not onelie among the common sort but had hundreths of preachers to publish and set it foorth Neither doo men knowe the foulenes of Donatisme nor the poynts of it and that maketh them offended that I terme the Brownists Donatists hold it as a schisme and heresie Cresconius the Donatist writing against Augustine doth reprehend him for calling them hereticks because they held the same doctrine as hee saith and if they offended it could bee but as in a schisme Augustine replieth that Schisma inueteratum est haeresis Inueterate schisme is heresie And sheweth that some thinges they helde were hereticall The Churches haue condemned it not only as a schisme but also as an heresie I haue out of large discourses of the controuersies betweene the Churches and the Donatists drawen foorth brieflie all the chiefe heads of Donatisme and how they did stand to maintaine them and with what scriptures I compare the Brownists and them together in all poynts generallie held and will stand to iustifie that they bee full Donatists euen in the rankest Donatisme If I haue not set down the Donatisme aright and if the Brownisme be not the same let me haue the shame for euer that I haue giuē them the title and can not iustifie that they are worthie of it Let the Brownists chuse which part they will either to affirme that the Donatists had the truth or else to cleere thēselues frō Donatisme I will ioyne with them or rather against them in either And in the meane time I do exhort al other to be sober minded and discreet and not to thrust the simpler sort headlong into it by exclaiming that they bee ouer hardlie dealt withall For what say some If these that are called Brownists bee godly men and but ouerseene in some matters we will chuse to ioyne with thē rather thā with the publike assemblies of our Church These men are they in compassion of whō I write Now the chiefe heads in which I compare them are these The Donatists did falselie accuse and condemne the Churches and al the Ministers to be vtterlie polluted and al their worship and separated themselues without all order of discipline So haue the Brownists done The Donatists tooke beginning by occasion of one man whom they held to be no Minister of Christ but after they made their defence that all were polluted and all the Ministers the generatiōs of Traitors Iudasses and persecutors of the iust that the Churches in the beginning after the times of persecution were not well ordered by separation of the faithfull from the wicked For because there were many both Ministers and people which in time of persecution to saue their liues had denied the faith sacrificed to Idols and deliuered the holie Scriptures to the persecutors and when Constantine gaue peace being become Christian returned and were not cast foorth Hereupon the Donatists said all were vtterlie polluted that because some such did ordaine Ministers at least as they reported they accused all the Ministers to bee the sons of traitors which ordained them and so were no ministers of Christ had no true praier nor Sacraments The Brownists affirme that all our assemblies which openlie committed Idolatrie were at the sound of a Trumpet at the coronation of the Queene called to be Churches that the bad were not separated frō the good that our ordainers were Idolaters that we are their children no Ministers of Christ but Baals priests persecutors so haue no word of God nor no Sacraments nor true church all being polluted with the open sinnes committed Thus both make the holie things of the Lord which indeed are vnchangeable or els we could haue no cōfort as namely the word of God the praiers the Sacraments the ordination of Ministers to be polluted destroied by the wickednes of men The Donatists held that Princes were not to compell vnto religion so cried out of persecution gloried of their sufferings multitude of martyres And what do the Brownists These things with the rest will better appeare in the seuerall comparisons as they followe in my booke I now intreate the reader not to iudge of any one thing vntill he haue read the whole I also desire that the sayings of the ancient writers which I alleage may be wel waied for proofe of that for which I cite them If any shall say what shall we ground vppon men I answer I alleage them but to shew what the controuersie was how it was disputed on both sides for this they are sufficient witnesses Beleeue their reasons as ye find they be confirmed by the holie Scriptures I haue set downe the Latin least any should thinke I haue not dealt plainlie And touching the last part of this my booke which is an answer to Master Greenwood
separation from Caecilianus and those that claue to him The deuision grewe greater and greater they had assemblies and Bishops on Donatus part in processe of time in great number They condemned not only the Church at Carthage and the neighbour Churches in Aphrica as guiltie therewith but all Churches through the world as wrapped together in the guiltines of those Churches of Aphrica They pronounced them all polluted vncleane abominable and vtterlie fallen from the Couenant of God through the pollution of such as had committed sacrilege and were not seperated They said there were no Ministers of Christ no Sacraments so no true Church among them but heapes of wicked polluted sacrilegious persons whose teachers were all generations of traitors Iudasses persecutors of Gods Saints and that as many as would bee saued must seperate themselues and ioyne with the pure selected companie of Donatus And for these respects they baptized again all such as fell vnto them as not being baptized before but polluted with a prophane washing Now through the shew of burning zeale and stiffe rigorous seueritie in condemning sinne and by the vehement outcries which they made that the discipline was not duely executed in as much as the prophane were mingled together in the assemblies with y e pure and no seperation made many of the people not well settled and grounded in the trueth were terrified and turned vnto them taking them to be most zealous holie men and the onlie true Church in earth and with excéeding bitternesse condemned all other as abominable Idolaters and cursed traytors whose worship God abhorred It was before the daies of Augustine that this sect began and in his time was greatlie spread And when he wrote that it was against all equitie to condemne as they did at the first the whole world for the sinne of Caecilianus because if he were guiltie yet the Churches farre off knew not so much but might rather iudge him cléere being cléered in iudgement They maintained the matter to prooue that there were no true flocks nor pastors after another sort and did affirme that as the Church of Carthage and the Churches elsewhere in Aphrica were fallen from God by the pollution of the sacrilege of Caecilianus and other so all other Churches in the world were destroyed by the like sacrileges committed in the daies of persecution by wicked men among them whose sinnes were open and knowne and no seperation made For thus speaketh Parmenian a Donatist Bishop as Augustine doth set it downe in his first booke against him and third Chapter Dicit etiam Parmenianus hinc probari consceleratum fuisse orbem terrarum criminibus traditionis aliorum sacrilegiorum quia cum multa talia fuerint tempore persecutionis admissa nulla propterea facta est in ipsis prouincijs separatio populorum That is Parmenian also saith that from hence it is prooued that the world hath been together made wicked or hainouslie polluted with the crimes of treason and of other sacrileges because when many such things were done in the time of persecution there was no seperation of the people made for the same in the Prouinces Marke well this saying of Parmenian the Donatist for it doth expressie set downe the ground of Donatisme The words of Petilian another Donatist Bishop to prooue all the Ministers of the Churches to be but successors of traitors as Augustine doth report them in his second booke against him Chapt. 8. are many I will onely recite the chiefe of them This Petilian hauing before saide that he which is baptized by one that is dead his washing doth profite him nothing then procéedeth to shewe how farre as he saith an vnfaithfull traitor may be accompted dead while he liueth And for this be frameth a comparison betwéene Iudas and the Pastors of the Church condemning them as the worse For after he hath set forth that Iudas was an Apostle when he betraied Christ and spirituallie dead when he had lost the honour of an Apostle and as it was foretold by Dauid that another should haue his place so Matthias succéeded him in the Apostleship He would haue no foole here dispute that Matthias dare away triumph and not iniurie which by the victorie of Christ had the spoyle of the traitor Then he demandeth how canst thou by this déede challenge to thy selfe the office of a Bishop being the heire of a more wicked traitor Iudas Christum carnalem tradidit tu spiritualem furens Euangelium sanctum flammis sacrilegis tradidisti Iudas betraied Christ carnal thou spirituall being in furie thou hast deliuered the holie Gospell to the fire Iudas legislatorem tradidit perfidis tu quasi eius reliquias legem dei perdendā hominibus tradidisti Iudas betraied the lawgiuer to the wicked thou hast betraied as it were his reliques the lawe of God vnto mē to be destroied Si hominis mortui testamentū flammis incenderes nonne falsarius punireris quid de te ergo futurum est qui sanctissimam legem dei iudicis incendisti If thou shouldest burne the will of a dead man shouldest thou not bee punished as a falsifier what then shall become of thee which hast burnt the most holie lawe of GOD the Iudge Iudam facti vel in morte poenituit te non modò non poenitet verumetiam nequissimus traditor nobis legem seruantibus persecutor carnifex existis Iudas repented him of his deed at least in death but thou doest not onely not repent but also being a most wicked traitor remainest a persecutor and a tormentor of vs that keepe the lawe Cresconius a Grammarian one as it seemeth that taught some Grammar schoole tooke vpon him to write against Augustine in the defence of Petilian or rather of the whole Donatisme and he laieth to the charge of Caecilianus the vnpardonable sinne against the holie Ghost in betraying the scriptures to the persecutors vsing this argument Holie men of God deliuered them as they were led by the holie Ghost Augustine in the 4. booke against Cresconius Chapt. 8. Petilian though otherwise full of great bragging being verie vnwilling to haue open disputation in any open assembly of learned men vsed this arrogant speach Indignum est vt in vnum conueniant filij martyrum progenies traditorum It is an vnworthie thing that the sonnes of the Martyres and the generations of traitors should be assembled together Thus much may suffice for this poynt Where we see that the Donatists departed disorderlie out of the Church condemning it not for any poynt of doctrine for therein they did not disagree but for that many which in the time of persecution dissembled many which reuolted and to saue their liues did sacrifice to the Idolls many which deliuered the bookes of holie Scripture to bee burned and betraied the names of the brethren when the storme was ouer there was a sodaine calme the Emperour Constantine being become Christian such ioy in all Christian lands Christianitie magnified with such honour
communicate with them are polluted and cast away or reade the bookes and writings of theirs which are spread marke well the sentences and places of Scripture which they alleage and quote and what reasons they drawe out of them and then looke vpon these For I will note the chiefe Testimonies of holy Scripture that the Donatists did alleage to proue that all Churches were polluted by the mixture of open sinners and that a separation was commaunded by God from such assemblies which are these Come out from among them saieth the Lord and touch no vncleane thing and I will receaue yee and I will be your Father and you shall be my Sonnes and my Daughters saith the Lord God Almightie 2. Cor. 6. Haue no fellowship with the vnfruitefull workes of darkenes but rather reprooue them Ephes 5. Bee not partakers of other mens sinnes 1. Tim. 5. A little leauen dooth leauen the whole lumpe and take away the euill from among yee 1. Cor. 5. Ifanie which is called a Brother be a Fornicator an I dolater or couetous c. with such see that yee eate not 1. Cor. 5. What hath the Chaffe to doo with the Corne Ierem. 23. Also depart depart come out from thence and touch no vncleane thing come out from the middest thereof and seperate your selues yee that beare the vessels of the Lord. I say 52. All these and some other did Parmenian the Donatist Bishop alleage in his Epistle Wee may not thinke that these Scriptures were alleaged onely by some one Donatist for Augustine in his booke De vnico Baptismo against Petilian Chapter 14. saith Magis enim solent in ore habere quando peccatis aliorum alios criminantur ad excusandum nefas separationis suae videbas furem concurrebas cum eo c. For they are wont rather to haue in their mouth when they accuse some to be guiltie or polluted by the sinnes of other to excuse their wicked seperation Thou sawest a theefe and diddest run with him Psal 50. And be not partakers of other mens sinnes depart and come out from thence touch no vncleane thing he that shal touch that which is vncleane shal be poluted and a little leauen dooth leauen the whole lump and other such like Now what the estate of the question was and how they held men polluted if they did not seperate themselues the disputation betweene the Catholique Bishops and the Donatists which were assembled at the cōmaundement of the Emperour dooth shew Where the names of the Donatist Bishops that had subscribed their consent to that conference were two hundreth seauentie and nine but some of them were not there Thus Augustine reporteth their words in the conference of the third day Chapter 4. Quia in eo quod dicebant diuinis testimonijs velut astruebant non esse malos in ecclesia tolerandos sed ab eis recedendum propter contagium peccatorum Itase dicere demonstrabant vt tamen ignoratis peccatis alienis neminem maculari posse faterentur Because euen in that which they saide and which they did as it were confirme by the Scriptures that the euil are not to be tolerate in the Church but wee must depart from them for feare of the contagion of their sins they shewed that they spake it to be vnderstoode thus that neuerthelesse they confessed that no man could be spotted with other mens sinnes which are secret In this conference the Donatist Bishops stoode vpon this that the Lord saith of the Church Esay 52. There shall no vncircumcised or vncleane passe through thee anie more And vpō that which is writtē by the Prophet Hag chap. 2. Ask the Preests concerning the Lawe If a man carrie holie flesh in the lappe of his garment and the lappe of his garment shall touch the bread c. Shall he bee sanctified The Priests answered no. Then if a man that is vncleane touch any of those things shall it not bee vncleane The Priestes answer it shall bee vncleane So is this people and so is this Nation before me saith the Lord and so is the whole work of their hands yea that which they haue offered there hath been vncleane Stay now and see whether the very same Scriptures bee not in the mouthes of the common sort of the Brownists and whether the writings of the chiefe Brownists bee not euerie where spatred with the quotations of them And to proue the same thing which the Donatists held and maintained by them namelie that such as communicate with open sinners are polluted by their sinnes and therefore they separate themselues But that this agreement betweene them may yet more fully appeare I will proceed further and shewe how these matters were discussed For otherwise it maye bee some man will imagine that the auncient Fathers might defend the Churches against those allegations of the Donatists after such a sort as wee canne not truly defende ours at this day Whereas therefore it was by the Donatists vrged depart depart come out from among them seperate your selues touch no vncleane thing c. the answere was by the Pastors of the Churches that this seperation was not to bee made in bodie when the Church is pestered with open sinners but in heart and not consenting in minde vnto the sins openly committed by those with whom they did communicate in the Church These be the wordes of Augustine against Parmenian in the second booke Chapt. 18. Qua verba isti carnaliter sentientes per tot diuisiones seipsos minutatim in ipsa vna Aphrica conciderunt Non enim intelligunt neminem coniungi cum infidelibus nisi qui facit peccata Paganorum vel talia facientibus fauet Nec quenquam fieri participem iniquitatis nisi qui iniqua vel agit vel approbat Quis autem communicat tenebris nisi qui per tenebras consentionis suae dimisso Christo sequitur Belial quis ponit cum infidelibus partem suam nisi qui eius infidelitatis fit particeps Ita enim templum dei esse desinit nec se aliter simulachris adiungit Qui autem sunt templum dei viui in medio nationis tortuosae ac peruersae apparent sicut luminaria in mundo verbum vitae habentes nihil eos quod pro vnitate tolerant inficit nec angustiantur quia in illis habitat deambulat deus exeunt de medio malorum atque separātur interim corde ne forté cum id facere per seditionem Schismatis volūt prius a bonis spiritualiter quam a malis corporaliter separentur That is to say which words they vndetstanding carnally for he had before repeated their allegation Come out from among them and touch no vncleane thing they haue cut themselues by morsels into so many diuisiōs in that one Aphrica for they doe not vnderstand that no man is ioyned with Infidels but he that doth commit the sinnes of the Pagans or else doth fauour those that doe such things neither that any
man can be made partaker of the iniquitie but he that eyther doth the wicked things or else doth approoue them And who hath felowship with darknes but he that by the darknes of his consent forsaking Christ doth follow Belial who putteth his part with infidels but he which is partarker of that infidelitie for that way he ceaseth to be the tēple of God neither otherwise dooth hee ioyne himselfe to idols And they which are the temple of the liuing God and in the middest of a crooked and peruerse generation appeare as lights in the world hauing the word of life nothing doth infecte them which they tolerate for vnities sake neither are they pent vp in anie straight because God dooth dwell in them and walke in them And they depart out of the middest of the euill and in the meane while are seperate at leastwise in heart least perhaps while they would doo that by sedition of Schisme they should rather be spirituallie separated from the good than corporallie from the bad Thus farre Augustine for seperation in heart when it cannot be in bodie Againe he saith answering Parmenian to this sentence bee not partaker of other mens sinnes chap. 20. Nos dicimus quod qui non facit malum nec facienti consentit facientem arguit firmus atque integer inter iniquos tanquam frumentum inter paleas conuersatur We say that he which dooth not commit euill nor consent to him that dooth and rebuketh him that dooth he is conuersant firme and sound among the wicked as the corne among the chaffe Now whereas the Donatists did replie that the separation from the open sinners which God commandeth could not be meant of a separation onelie in heart and mind for so we ought to be separate from the heathen with whom yet it was lawfull to eate for S. Paul willeth If an infidell bid thee to a feast goe but if anie that is called a brother bee a fornicator an idolater or couetous with such see that yee eate not this must néedes be vnderstood of a bodelie separation the Brownists pressing this Argument also as the Donatists did say we might eate common bread with infidels yea at the same common table with such vngodlie Christians as Paul forbiddeth to eate with and therefore the commandement of the Apostle they say is plaine which all men ought to obey that if open sinners come to the holy table of the Lorde wee ought not there to eate with them But let vs see the answer of Augustine in the third booke against Parmenian Chap. 3. His words in déede are manie but I will set them downe because they be so full and pregnant to declare wherein the controuersie lay betweene the Donatists and the Churches and why the Donatists made separation In hac velut angustia quaestionis non aliquid nouum aut insolitum dicam sed quod sanitas obseruat ecclesiae vt cum quisque fratrum id est Christianorum intus in ecclesiae societate constitutorum in aliquo tali peccato fuerit deprehensus vt anathemate dignus habeatur fiat hoc vbi periculum Schismatis nullum est atque id cum ea dilectione de qua ipse alibi praecipit dicens vt inimicum eum non existimetis sed corripite vt fratrem non enim estis ad eradicandum sed ad corrigendū quod si se non agnouerit neque poenitendo correxerit ipse for as exiet per propriam voluntatem ab ecclesiae vnitate dirimetur Nam ipse dominus cùm seruis volentibus ZiZania colligere dixit sinete vtraque crescere vsque ad messem praemisit causam dicens ne forte cum vultis colligere Zizanea eradicetis simul triticum Vbi satis ostendit cum metus iste non subest sed omnino de frumentorum certa stabilitate certa securitas manet id est quando ita cuiusque crimen notum est omnibus omnibus execrabile apparet vt vel nullos prorsus vel non tales habeat definsores per quos possit schisma contingere non dormiat seueritas disciplinae in qua tantò est efficacior emendatio prauitatis quantò diligentior confirmatio charitatis tum autem hoc sine labe pacis vnitatis sine laesione frumentorum fieri potest cùm congregationis ecclesiae multitudo ab eo crimine quod anathematizatur aliena est Tunc enim adiuuat praepositum potius corripientem quam criminosum resistentem tunc se ab eius coniunctione salubriter continet vt nec cibum cum eo quisquam sumat non rabie inimica sed coertione fraterna Tunc etiam ille timore percutitur pudore sanatur cum ab vniuersa ecclesiasc anathematizatum videns sociam turbam cum qua in delicto suo gaudeat bonis insultet non potest inuenire That is to say As it were in this straight of the question I will not speake any thing that is new or vnwonted but that which the soundnes of the Church dooth obserue that when anie of the Brethren that is of the Christians which haue place within in the vnitie of the Church be taken in some such sinne that hee may bee accounted worthie to bee excommunicate let it bee done where there is no danger of a Schisme and the same with that loue of which hee commaundeth elsewhere saying esteeme him not as an enemie but admonish him as a Brother for yee are not to roote vp but to amend If that hee shall not acknowledge himselfe neither reforme himselfe by repentance hee shall depart out and by his owne will shall bee cut from the vnitie of the Church For the Lord himselfe when he saide to the seruants which would gather the tares suffer both to grow together shewed a cause saying least peraduenture while yee goe about to roote vp the tares ye pluck vp also with them the wheate Where hee dooth plainelie shew that when there is no such feare but there remaineth a full securitie of the vndoubted stabilitie of the corne that is when the crime of any one is so knowne to all and appeareth execrable vnto all that either it can haue no defenders at all or else not such by whome there may a Schisme fall out let not the seueritie of discipline sleepe in which the curing of the disease is so much more effectuall as the confirmation of loue is more diligent Then also this may bee done without any blot of peace and vnitie and without hurting the corne when the multitude of the assemblie of the Church is free from that crime for which the excommunication is denounced For then they rather helpe the pastor that dooth chastice than the guiltie offendor which resisteth then euerie man dooth healthfullie abstaine from his fellowship and not so much as eate meate with him not of an enemie like mad rage but of a brotherlie reprehension Then hee also is stricken with feare and healed through shame when seeing himself
testimonies which also he alleageth out of many bookes both of the old and newe Testament to prooue that the Church should bee spread ouer all the kingdomes and nations of the world He answereth the places of Scriptures which they alleaged to prooue that the world at sundrie times had so fallen away from God that a verie fewe true worshippers remained and why might not they be now as those fewe He sheweth that there be innumerable testimonies to prooue that the open bad did communicate together with the good in the Sacraments and that the good were fewe in comparison of the bad so mixed with them of which after he hath cited many he commeth at the last as it were to a conclusion that al other things remooued hee would haue them shewe their Church out of the holie Scriptures and from the places which are not darke And then it followeth Quisquis ergo huic epistolae responderese praeparat ante denunciationem mihi dicat illi codices dominicos ignibus tradiderunt illi simulacris gentium sacrificauerūt illi nobis iniquissimam persecutionem fecerunt et vos eis in omnibus consensistis Breuiter enim respondeo quod saepè respondi aut falsa dicitis aut si vera sunt non ad frumenta Christi sed ad eorum paleam pertinent ista quae dicitis non inde perit ecclesia quae optimo iudicio ventilata istorum omnium separatione purgabitur That is to say Whosoeuer therefore prepareth himselfe to answere this Epistle let him before the denouncing say vnto me such deliuered the Lords bookes to the fire such sacrificed to the Idols of the Gentiles such haue persecuted vs most vniustlie and you haue consented vnto them in all things For I answer brieflie which I haue often answered either ye speake things which are false or else if they bee true that which ye speake pertaineth not to the corne of Christ but to the chaffe thereof the Church doth not perish thereby which winnowed with most perfect iudgement shall bee purged by the separation of that same chaffe He addeth Ego ipsam ecclesiā requiro vbi sit quae audiendo verba Christi faciendo aedificat super petram audiendo faciendo tolerat eos qui audiendo non faciendo aedificant super arenam Vbi sit triticum quod inter zizania crescit vsque ad messem non quid fecerint vel faciant ipsa zizania Vbi sit proxima Christi in medio filiarum malarum sicut lilium in medio spinarum non quid fecerint vel faciunt ipsae spinae Vbi sunt pisces boni qui donec ad littus perueniant tolerant pisces malos pariter irretitos non fecerint aut faciant ipsi pisces mali That is to say I seeke the Church where she is which in hearing the words of Christ and doing them doth build vpon a rocke and which hearing and doing doth tolerate those which hearing and not dooing doo build vppon the sand Where that wheate is which groweth vp among the tares vntill the haruest come not what the tares haue done or what they doo Where that spouse of Christ is in the middest of the euill daughters as the lillie among the thornes not what the thornes haue done or what they doo Where the good fishes be which vntill they come vnto the shore doo tolerate the euill fishes held in the same nette together not what the euill fishes haue done or what they doo Thus haue I laide open that the Church in olde time was full of open wicked men both of ministers and people That the Donatists vnder the colour of zeale and seueritie against sinne did separate themselues affirming that all were polluted and fallen from the couenant which did communicate in the worship of god and Sacraments with such notorious euill men All men may see by that which I haue noted that the Donatists did maintaine this their opinion with the same Scriptures and argumēts that the Brownists doe maintaine it withall nowe And receiued the same answers to confute them which we make nowe to confute the Brownists This was the maine point of Donatisme and as it were the pith substance therof it is one of the foure chiefe pillers of Brownisme Yea but now the Brownists doe separate themselues from a worship which is Idolatrous full of blasphemies and abhominations The Donatists did rend themselues from an holy and true worship Indeede where the worship is Idolatrous and blasphemous a man is to separate himselfe But there are many and great corruptions before it come to that for it is the true worship of God where the foundation is layd and standeth sure If there be timber Hay and stubble built vpon the foundation the fault is great such things are not to bee approued But yet there is Gods true worship And now to come to the verie poynt of the matter I doe affirme wil stand to iustifie that there were greater corruptions in the worship of God euen in those Churches from which the Donatists did seperate themselues than be at this day in the worship of the Church of England So that if Brownisme be any thing to be excused in that the Donatisme may as iustly therein be defended For if wee consider matters which concerne doctrine what can any man shew so corrupt in this our Church as in the publike worship to pray for the soules of the dead and to offer oblations for the dead This corruption was generall in the Church then yea long before the dayes of Augustine as it appeareth in Cyprian and by Tertullian which was before him and nerer to the time of the Apostles who in his booke De Monogamia reasoning against second mariage for hee was fallen into that error woulde perswade any woman that had buried her husband not to marie againe because he being seperated from her in peace not diuorced she was to pray for his soule and yearely to offer oblation for him thus he writeth Et pro anima eius oret refrigerium interim ad postulet ei in prima resurrectione consortium offerat annuis diebus dormitionis eius That is And let her pray for his soule and craue refreshing for him nowe in the meane time and his felowship in the first resurrection and let her offer yearely vpon the day of his departure It will bee said by some ignorant man that this was but the minde and practise of some few which were corrupt and superstitious I answere it was the practise of the Church in generall and the corruption so auncient that the same Tertullian in his booke De corona militis speaking of it certain other things saith they were obserued by tradition from the Apostles they were obserued so generally in the Churches and no scripture to warrant them These bee his wordes Oblationes pro defunctis annua die facimus Wee make oblations for the dead in the yeerely day The doctrine of Purgatory
them therefore they doo not pray Because I saide it is an helpe to such as bee not otherwise throughlie able I must confesse that our whole Ministerie is vnable a reason worthie a Brownist There be other causes whie all Churches vse prescript forme yea whereas all Ministers be able to pray without a booke Where I saide yee speake fondlie to call that the cause which dooth but manifest the cause yee replie that I haue forgotten mine atts because there be mo causes than one there be instrumentall causes I graunt there be moe causes than one And it is certaine that the efficient cause is manifolde if you meane by fetching the cause of their sorrowing from the booke in the time of their begging at Gods hand the efficient cause instrumentall I would haue yee but answer whether the instrumental cause cannot goe with the action but the action is ouerthrowne or disgraced I would also demaund whether it followe which yee collect there is an instrumentall cause which is an helpe therefore there is nothing else Are these things other than trifles I saide yee did answere nothing to that saying of our Sauiour When ye pray say our Father which art in Heauen c. Luke 11. Yee seeme that yee will not answer vnles I conclude from this place by Syllogisme but yet afterward yee doâ— And indeede what needeth a Syllogisme where the words are of themselues sufficient without anie further consequence or collection If our Sauiour commaund to say those words praying then is it most cleere that to vse a prescript forme of words in praying is not idolatrie nor a thing most detestable But yee say yee manifested in your first writing that our Sauiour did not commaund to vse those words when wee pray but to pray according to that forme Saint Matthew say you and Saint Luke keep not the same words nor that number of words hee saide not reade these words or say thâ—se words by roate when ye pray These reasons I haue slilie passed ouer as you accuse me What reasons If it be a reason there is but one for Christs speech is plaine when yee pray say thus therefore we may vse those words But must wee vse them of necessitie and neuer none other Not so but wee may vse and it is necessarie for vs to vse particulars which are conteined in those generals which are the ground and direction of all prayers Your one reason or that which hath shew of reason is in this that Saint Luke dooth omitte for thine is the Kingdome c. And that in the fourth and fift petitions they expresse the same matter with some difference of words As though the question were about such a precisenes in words that wee might not expresse the same petition in another phrase but it ceaseth to be the same Now where I conclude that it is therefore lawfull to vse a prescript forme of prayer which is framed according to the Scriptures in the assemblies To this yee replie that because no mans writings are without error it is pernicious and blasphemous doctrine which I collect This yee affirme stoutlie and for proofe bring nothing but those stale cauills which I haue sundrie times answered and now yee will answer to the two places alleaged Numb 6. and Luke 11. The priestes yee say were not commanded to vse those verie words of the blessing when they blessed the people the reason yee bring is from the Hebrew words which are as you say Coh teborcu thus shall yee blesse Where the worde Coh is an aduerb of similitude as we say after this manner which cannot be to say the same but according to the same instructions This word Coh is vsed throughout the Bible in this manner in all the prophets when they say thus saith the Lord. To this I answer first let all men of anie meane learning in the Hebrew bee witnes how vnfit Master Greenewood is to reason from that tongue when hee can not so much as reade two words of it aright For he saieth Coh teborcu and it is Coh tebaracu Then for the matter it selfe this learned Hebrucian saith that Coh being an aduerb of similitude as we say after the same manner it cannot be to say the same but according to the same instructions Where ignorance boldnes are met together what childreÌ„ they bring foorth We must beleeue that the Lord when he saith thus shalt thou blesse and prescribeth the words willeth the Priests not to speake the same words but the like And when our Sauiour saith When ye pray say thus Our father c. It is as much as if he should say in any wise say not these wordes at any time but the like For thus is not the same but the like God sayd to Moses I will send thee to Pharao that thou maiest bring the children of Israel out of Egypt Moses draweth backe saying when I shall come to the children of Israel and shall say vnto them the God of your fathers hath sent me vnto ye If they shall say vnto me what is his name what shall I say vnto them The Lord sayd Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel Eheie hath sent me vnto ye Moreouer God sayd to Moses Thus shalt thou say vnto them The God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaak the God of Iaacob hath sent me vnto ye Exod. 3. vers 13 14 15. Now according to Master Greenwoods exposition of Coh Moses is not commanded to say those words but the like If they should demaund what is his name that hath sent thee he may not say Eheie hath sent me because God sayd Coh that is thus which is not the same words but the like He might not say the God of Abraham the God of Isaak the God of Iaacob hath sent me vnto ye which GOD saith is his name and memoriall for euer because God sayd Coh that is thus shalt thou say but hee must say the like words He saith further that Coh is so vsed in all the Prophets when it is sayd thus saith the Lord. That is GOD hath not spoken these very words which wee bring might the Prophets say but the like It is a like thing that Master Greenwood or some other Hebrucian among the Brownists hath read ouer al the Prophets in the Hebrew tongue to finde how Coh is euerie where vsed when he could not reade two words right And now what shall we say of the Scriptures the words if wee shall beléeue the Brownists are not Gods words but the words of the Prophets Is this wholesome doctrine Did the Prophets bring any one word which GOD did not put into their mouth I pray ye Master Greenwood or any other Brownist tell me did not God speake in the Prophets all the words that they vttered euen at the verie instant when they say thus saith the Lord How can it then so wickedly be sayd they were not the very same words which God spake but