other particulars whereof some shall be after mencioned An angry man stirreth vp strife and a furious man aboundeth intransgression 2. The Pasto◠of the true Church must be louing cōpassionate but their Pastor vnnatural vnmerciful that to his own father yea for the time which his Father was with his Brother G. I. hee would not so much as once see him or relieue his necessitie though he were not yet excommunicated frō thē This I heard iustified to his face before many witnesses and he could not deny it so true it is that he that begetteth a foole begetteth himselfe sorrow as the wise man speaketh For the teacher 1. The teacher of a true Church is sincere their teacher steined with Hypocrisie as in his dealing concerning G. I M. Sl 2. The teacher of a true Church must bee vnreprooueable but their teacher is spotted againe and againe with Apostasie in their account as before hath beene noted 3 The teacher of the true Church must take diligent care to keepe the Church from errors their teacher hath beene a meanes to bring in and defend false Doctrines as the latter of those two before mencioned and others that may bee alleaged For the Elders 1. The Elders of a true Church must bee indued with the spirit of God their Elder Da St with the spirit of vncleanes 2. The Elders of a true church must see the lawes of God kept their Elder would defend the transgressing of them in himselfe and others 3. The Elders of a true church doe gouerne their owne houses orderly but the Elders mencioned most disorderly as else where is cited 4. The Elders aforesaid must bee louing their Elder D St cruell and tyranicall in so much that some of their owne mēbers haue complained that if they had a matter as cleare as the sunne against him yet durst they not deale with him for it 5. The elders of a true church must be vnreprooueable but their Elder St Mer hath as their teacher beene noted for Apostasie For the Deacons 1. The Deacons of the true Church of Christ must haue a pure conscience must not bee giuen to filthy lucre But their Deacon Christoph Bow for his deceiuing of many poore euē of their owne companye of halfe that which the Magistrates of Narden had giuen them weekelye was thereupon when it came to light through widdow Colgates meanes called Iudas the purse-bearer in Narden for so doing Not to speake of many such like instances that by him may be giuen And for the Elders ioyntly 1. The church of Christ doe priuately admonish a priuate sin of a holy louing affection but their Elders could call R W before thē in the first place for a priuate thing threatē her excōmunication for that which after ward for shame they let fall And for the peoples vncleanes cousning disgracing backe-biting vndermining one of another amongst themselues it is a thing so common and well knowne of them at home and abroad that I neede not in this place to speake further of it heauen and earth can beare me witnesse against thē in those things oh that they would apply vnto themselues and their practise that which the Prophet Ieremie speakes Will they steale murther and commit adulterie c. And yet crie the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Are these then this beautifull yea moste wonderful church rauishing the sences to conceiue of it are these the Saints then marching in such a heauenly and gracious aray where euery stone hath his beauty his burthen and his order where no law is wrongfully wrested or wilfully neglected no truth hid or peruerted or rather haue they not deluded many poore soules with such sweete wordes who when they haue seene their estate and their expectations so frustrated haue vsed these wordes They neede neuer seperate themselues if they liue thus for any Godly societie will quickely thrust them out from them so practising as they doe Certainely this their description of a visible Church is as cleare a testimony and as pregnant a sentence of condemnation against themselues and their practise as may be possible But yet that their hypocrisie may further appeare let me giue the reader a taste also of their dealing in condemning others euen in those things that they would and doe practise themselues that in these particulers 1. They condemne others for communicating with open offenders and yet practise it themselues as is before shewed 2. For making men to sweare to accuse themselues yet M. Ih. practised the same to one I. L and it is moreouer a common practise among them both publikely and priuately so to doe yet would their Elder Dan Studly neuer so much as denye the matter of incest with his wiues Daughter for the clearing of himselfe though hee were requested for the satisfying of weake Btetheren so to doe 3. They condemne the Dutch churches for baptising the seede of those that are not members of their church and yet M. Iohnson with the rest could offer to receiue M. Deuksberies childe to Baptisme and were offended at G I for witstanding it and yet he neyther was nor would ioyne himselfe as a member vnto them 4. In like manner doe they deale with the Dutch churches of Amsterdam for hauing but one church in the Cittie And yet M. Iohnson to vrge others to ioyne to them which for diuers disorders amongst them would not so doe could alleadge that there was no warrant for two seuerall churches to be in one city in the scriptures 5. In the place aboue quoted they giue the like sentence against the Dutch and French Churches for deciding matters by the elders without the body of the church and not suffring in this respect the 18. of Mat rightly to be obserued amōgst them and yet their Elders viz M. Fr Ih. and his fellowes could decide one T. Canadyes matter who had accused himselfe to be rid of his wife and this without their knowledge or consent But the said Canady not resting in the Elders determination brought it to their Church alleadging that he had iniury done to him in that W H could bee seperate frō his wife on his owne accusation of himselfe of adultery he could not And further to iustify the bringing of matters in the third place to their Elders for so they practise before the matter bee brought to the whole church they could alleadge the very same reasons against M. P. that they had before condemned in the Dutch And for the 18 of Mat. how it is made a matter of partialitie and enuie yea a cloake to couer filthines withal at eueuery pinch amōgst them would grieue ones heart to consider 6. They condemne the Dutch French aforesaid for worshipping God in the Idoll Temples of Antichrist yet themselues suffer their poore to receiue the almes of the Dutch which is a Sacrifice Phil 4. 18. in the same
heads by wicked and vngodly excommunications Are they then the holy assembly of Saints marching in such a heauenly order after the Lamb whether soeuer hee goeth whereunto no vncleane thing entreth nor remaineth whether these accusations bee true or no let the sequele declare And first that Master Fr. Ih. hath vtterly disproued the maine drift of all his booke and so betrayed his owne cause As Christ alleaged against the Pharises the example of their owne Children that they might be their iudges so may I his owne writings against himselfe that they may be his iudge which thus I shew The drift of His booke is by the description of a true church to discouer the false This discription as oft elsewhere so also he hath Page 196. last answer to M. Iac viz. That a true visible Church of Christ is a company of faithfull people called out by the word of God and seperated from the world and the false waies thereof gathered and ioyned together in fellowship of the Gospell by a voluntary profession of the faith and obedience of Christ. And his meaning of this discription doth further appeare by cōparing it with the third false Doctrine alleadged by him Page 158. of the same booke as also with the 17. Art of ther confession where hee expoundes it by seperating his Church from vanitye Idolatrie dissolute life and all false workes of darkenes This discription so propounded and expounded he thus ouerthroweth page 47. of the same booke before cited where he affirmeth that the Israelites in Egipt were Gods Church prooues it by Exod. 4. 22. 23. euen then while they sinned with the Idols of Egipt alleadging Ezek. 20. If they committed Idolatrie with the Idols of Egipt how were they then a company of faithfull people seperated from all false wayes If he say this their sinne was not their generall estate as he answers in an other case to M. H. Page 49. The place quoted by himselfe out of Ezek. 20. shewes the contrary affirming none of them to haue for saken the Idols of Egipt If he say this their sin was not of obstinacie the same scripture sheweth that they were admōished v. 7. yet they rebelled against him v. 8. And as for the nature of their jdolatry it was heathenish will he then say that Idolaters in their generall estate with heathenish jdolatrie rebelling after admonition are such a faithfull people seperate frō all false waies as he describes a true Church to be If not how were they Gods Church To vse Tullies words testimonium tuum quod in aliena releue est hoc contrate graue c. Thine owne testimony which in an other case is of small weight this against thy selfe is of much moment And heere he must remēber that he describeth not a true Church what it ought to be but what it is if it bee a true Church as the drift of that place where this description is set down declares As that 1. It is for the clearing the question betwene them 2. For the discerning of the true church frō the false 3. Bids M. Iac compare their best asemblies with this description c. Otherwise his aduersary might haue answered that though the Churches of Englād agreed not with that descriptiō yet might they haue beene true Churches notwithstanding and he had writtē nothing to any purpose against him Moreouer in the answere to the preface of the same booke Sect. 6. M. Fr. Ih. thus speakes Any Church though truely constituted if they will rather abide in error then obey the voice of Christ are not true churches And yet the Iewes in Egipt rebelling after admonition are Gods church by his account how well these thinges hang together let the Reader judge In like māner M. Ih. denies not page 87. of the booke before cited that the Iewes in Christs time yea and after his death were true Churches which had despised admonition before Lu. 7. 30. Math. 23. 37. yet this which M. Iohns acknowledges M. H. Barrow calles blasphemy so well they agree together Is it possible so to ouerthrow the maine drift of his owne writings and perceiue it not Or is it not veryfied which the wise man speaketh The euill man is snared by the wickednes of his owne lippes And yet this booke he saith he did not make alone but consulted with others heerein and namely with Maister Ains-worth a man that hath turned his coate as oft as euer D. B. if not oftner whome hee tearmes approoued in Christ and Daniel Studly an elder of ther Church a man not alone for his filthinesse wlth his wiues Daughter but also for supporting of manifest shamefull vncleannes and cousning amongst them in others fitter for the stewes thē to be an elder in any christiā society No better is his dealing in condemning the Dutch French Churches for despising their admonition and yet acknowledge the Iewes in Christ time to be a true church dispising more admouition and that of greater sinnes then euer they admonished the Elders of these Churches of hée that wauereth in his owne testimony how shall his witnesse be receiued but he is not alone content to confute M. Ih. viz himselfe except he doe also by his description cut off from being true churches in their account all the churches of Christ that euer haue bin since the Apostles daies 2. now are yea and 3. thēselues which thus I pooue If no church that hath beene since the Apostles daies or now is that we reade of be seperate from al false waies in their accompt then by his description and in their account must they be no true churches but the former is true therefore the latter The proposition is vndeniable from his owne description The Assumption is as certaine as will appeare in that they account the very using of the Lords Prayer as a Prayer to be a false way which was vsed from the Apostles age as Tertullian saith Premissa legitima ordinaria oratione ius est super struendi extrinsecus petitiones c. The lawfull and ordinary prayer speaking of the Lordes prayer being premised c. 2. For the Churches that now are their dealing with the Dutch and French Churches declare it sufficiently howsoeuer they seeme to put difference betweene those churches in the Low Countries whome they haue admonished and those that they haue not yet to put the matter out of doubt let him tell us if they account it not Apostacy for one of them so much as once to heare the word preached in any congregation Dutch or French in all the Lowe Countries besides Or if he can let him name any one church on the face of the earth now that holdeth not false wayes yea euen in their constitution in their account Neyther shall he shift off the matter with his distinction of faultye and false worshippe for when hee hath put downe the difference whereby he distinguisheth the one from
A DISCOVERIE of Brownisme OR A briefe declaration of some of the errors and abhominations daily practised and increased among the English company of the seperation remayning for the present at Amsterdam in Holland A wicked man deceiueth his neighbour and leadeth him into a way that is not good Pro. 16. 29. By Thomas White LONDON Printed by E. A. for Nathaniell Fosbroke and are to be solde at his Shop at the West end of Paules 1605. To the Reader TWo extremities dangerous there are which in these dayes bringe no small detriment or annoyance to the Church of God The one Atheistical prophanes which is fearful and the other hipocritical contention which is abhominable And these howsoeuer they seeme to differ the one from the other yet the one is strengthned and hardned by the other and this with a mutuall reciprocation Against both these the holy Ghost applies a soueraigne remedie Heb. 13. 14. Followe after peace and holines without which no man cā see God And Luk 1. 14. 15. That we being deliuered from our enemies might serue him in holines and righteousnes to auoyde prophanes before his face to flye hypocrisie all our dayes Of the latter of these or rather of both for the former oft times proceedeth from the latter howsoeuer for a while enuy palliateth it selfe vnder the name of zeale as both are signified by one Greeke word I haue giuen an instance in this treatise following in that congregatiō which God hath made as a spectacle for others to beware of rash heady and contentious courses This haue I done all other peaceable meanes being before vsed for the discharging of mine owne duety both to God and his Churches the staying of others who would neuer be so affected to them as they are if they knew their fearefull estate If eyther for the breuity or rudenes of the stile it satisfie thee not for the former I cōfesse that I haue rather endeauoured to point at things briefely then by dilating to fill vp large volumes of purpose omitting many the vilest thinges partly for offending chaste eares partly for sparing them vnlesse further occasion be ministred by thēselues And as for the rudenes of the stile either by superfluous repetitions or redundant speeches let the inconuenience both of time place something excuse me being but newly arriued neyther enioying health nor help of bookes in the penning therof my minde also many waies distracted about other businesses The time to come may bring foorth some further thing more answerable to thine expectation In the meane time accept this in the best part And the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all thinges A BRIEFE DISCOVERYE of some of the errors and abhominations dailye practised and increased amongst the English Companye of the seperation remaining for the present at Amsterdam in Holland IT may seeme strange that any who pretend aboue all other sinceritie in Religion and there-vpon forsake their owne natiue Country should yet notwithstāding be found to abound aboue others with all kinde of debate malice adulteries cousonages and such other like enormities And that so much the more in the dayes of their banishment and extreame pouertie which outward affliction doth euen humble the wicked And yet so farre from repentance that when they are shewed and admonished of their euill dealinges they seeke to couer hide cloake reproach and reuile their admonishers of better counsaile which for mine owne part I could haue borne in silence committing it to him that iudgeth iustly the sonnes of men yet least others be deceaued by thē as some of vs haue beene and should be drawn by them through their painted colour of holinesse to partake with their abhominations and vnfruitefull workes of darkenes to runne with them to that fearefull extreamitie in cōdemning al other churches men I thought it my duetie according as my leasure which is small my abilitie which is lesse would permit vpō experience to giue warning to others of their leaders euil dealing wherby their people are deuoured And although I knowe I shall object my selfe heerein but to the reproach of virulent and venemous tongues yet shall I be content to beare it that others may reape benefit thereby Neither doe I this any way to discourage the true vpright hearted but rather that all that call vpon the name of the Lord may learne to cast frō them the cloake of hypocrisie and the leauen of contention and maliciousnes and so not in showe but in deed departe from jniquitie least they reape the fruites thereof as these haue done I haue already written to their leader M. Fr. Iohnson of his with the rest of their elders falshood shiftings and other contraryties as also laying to their charge partaking in and with their church in these blasphemous doctrines 1 That they held it lawfull for a man to liue with her that is not his wife rather then to reueale himselfe which first denyes the prophecy of Christ secondly destroyes the nature of repentance and thirdly is a fundamētal error cōtrary to these scriptures Math. 3. 2. 8. Rom 3. 8. 6. 1. Heb. 6. 2. That there are qualities in God not essentiall that loue in God is not of his being but that the selfe same loue that is in god that is also in vs which ouerturnes the nature of God and the simplenes of his being and is a ground of famulisme and a blasphemous Doctrine contrary to these scriptures Ex. 3. 14. Es. 43 25. 1. Iohn 4. 8. To this he promised answere and performed it not though he tooke no small paines by falsifying to discourage the witnesses but was content to let it lye vpon him vnanswered so becomming by his own confessiō a dūbe Minister Now therfore I see no further cause of writing to him but will turne to the Christian Reader giuing him a taste of their dealing both in writing and practise profession conuersation and yet laying that to their charge wherof due proofe can bee made as the Reader shall well perceiue by my proofes their answers iudging indifferently They indeede are the men that accuse others of simplicitie absurdity inconstancy in turning their coates of being hearers and not doers of the word of retayning open offenders so becomming cages of euery vncleane bird of being neither willing nor able to iustifie their estate and this not alone of their country-men but against those Churches also with whome they liue 1. But what if themselues haue 1. betrayed their owne cause in writing 2 Giuen the blacke letter of condēnation not alone to the churches of Christ that eyther are or haue beene since the Apostles daies but also to thēselues their practise by their describing of a visible Church 3. Doc practise that amongst themselues which they condemne utterly in others haue amongst themselues open and notorious cousners and such other like offendors 4. Haue giuen themselues ouer to Sathan and brought the curse on their owne