to their consultations what course they were best to take for their owne credits proceed to the qualities wherewithall they affirme that their Elders by the worde of god must needes be indued Chap. XV. Their vncertaintie where to find the particular offices of theyr Aldermen FOr my better enterance into this poynt followinge I will beginne with some of their owne groundes Thea gouernment of the church saith Martin must be by these officers and offices alone and by no other which the Lord hath set downe and limited in his word And the demonstrator Corah Datha◠and Abiram were punished hauinge no warrant of that they tooke in hand A very good caueat for their Elders Let vs then see what those particular duties are which they ascribe vnto them But here you must vnderstand that euery parish is to be deuided into seuerall Tribes according to the number of their Elders euery Elder hauing one of them assigned vnto his charge And their office is if any thinge be done amisse priuatly within their compasses to reproue or correct the offenders priuatly but if the offender be obstinate or the offence publick they must bring them to the Eldership Secondly they must know euery house and particular person in the parish that they may enforme the ministers of their estate If any straūger come to dwell within their seuerall tribes they must signifie the same vnto the pastor that hee may examine his religion Thirdly if any infants are to be baptised they must likewise giue the pastor notice therof Fourthly at the time of the communiō they must all ioyntly see that no excommunicate persons come into the church likewise helpe and assist the pastor at Geneua the Elder ministreth the cuppe take heede that none come to the Lords table whose religion and honesty should not be knowen vnto them and with whom the pastor and Doctor should not haue dealt before In general tearmes their whole duety is to helpe to informe and to aide the pastors and Doctors to haue a vigilant eye to the obseruation of all such ceremonies lawes and orders as they themselues with their fellow Senators should constitute and ordaine Now surely it were a goodly fight I haue occasion often to repeate it to see the noblemen and gentlemen of England discharginge all these duties in their owne persons and especially ministringe the cuppe at the holy communion In what reputation shoulde the ministers be that shoulde haue such eyes such aiders such informers What would the people thinke you say when they should see these noble men and gentlemen come to the Pastors with their caps in their hands seuerally saying May it please you Sir there is a stranger come lately to dwell within my Tribe another there is a childe to be Baptised within my tribe another this and that fellow are obstinate persons within my Tribe and altogether if they know any that presumed to come to the Communion Oh Sir here is a fellow you haue not spoken withall and when I say the people shoulde see these things c. on the other side likewise perceaue and heare their Ministers as I imagine giue a nodde with their heads and aunswere vnto them very well yee haue done your duties and we commend you for it bring this take away that c would they not fall downe think you and worship these Rabbies But you must remember alwaies that they hate superiority Equality that is it which pleaseth them Indeede they talke of an equality amongst themselues but otherwise they affect no small superiority ouer all men besides Well it is meete we should now consider what proofe they haue for all these particular dueties out of the word of God And here I pray you first of all remember that Beza is brought to this issue that whether there were any such Elders at all euer instituted by Moises from whom they fette them or not he hath nothing else to say but probabile est it is probable there were such And muche to the same effect it is that he bringeth for their seuerall offices For speaking of them especially besides that he nameth onely this one office as finding no others in the old Testament vz. that the duety of the chiefe rulers of the Synagogues was non admittere ad Synagogas quos Hierosolomitanum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indicasset not to admit them to the Synagogues whome the Councell at Ierusalem had cast out he bringeth but this simple demonstration for the proofe of it Horum proculdubio partes fuerunt out of doubt it was their partes thus to doe Proculdubio probabile est out of doubt it is probable Notable proofes Whosoeuer will take the paines to reade that parte of his Booke de Presbyterio shall finde little else in it but his probabilities and groundlesse assertions Sauing that he further saith there is mention made in the new Testament of gouernors and ruling Elders which we deny with all the ancient fathers to haue any relation to their deuised Elders and thereupon whatsoeuer hath beene thought meete to be the office of rulers is ascribed belike at Geneua vnto them The treatise is surely vnworthy such a mans as maister Beza would be accounted And vppon the like conceipt also our Englishe Reformers haue taken vppon them to set downe all the former duties mentioned of their Elders not that they find them in the word of God but because they fit their turnes and doe account them necessary to set vp their own kingdom For proofe whereof I wil only trouble you with one mans authority but that shall be authenticall both with the brotherhood of England and also with them of Geneua where the book for the excellency of it hath been reprinted The author of that booke hauing at large described the said duties with a kind of so forth alia huiusinodi so as they may adde more when they list the force of truth doth wringe from him these words First that all these said duties speciatim in Scripturis non exprimantur are not specially expressed in the Scriptures Why then let your Elders remēber your former rule least for vsurping such offices as they haue no warrant for out of the word of God they perish with Corah Dathan and Abiram Yea but saith he though the Scriptures doe not expresse them yet that there should bee suche Archrulers with these offices as were in veteri Iudoeorum Ecclesia in the old Church of the Iewes it greatly tendeth ad ordinem decorum vtilitatem fructum Ecclesi◠to the order decency profite and fruit of the Church And what if this be denied or who shall iudge whether they be so profitable or not or when will they prooue that the duties mentioned did belong to the Archsynagogians And yet for all these vncertainties or as Cartwrights terme is meere beggeries he proceedeth to another Consistorian demonstration There are no other Elders mentioned in the Scriptures to whont these so
of Bishops and so we may call them From whom Trauerse if he be the author of the defence of ecclesiasticall gouernment of the booke of ecclesiasticall discipline first dissenteth then secondly also frō himselfe For in his said defence hee is most peremptorie and bringeth diuerse reasons for it vz. That ruling Elders are not comprehended vnder the name of Bishop yet in his other booke he saith generally of all their Elders both Ministers and Rulers They are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gouern rule ouersee Now if their dutie set downe in the scriptures be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their office is surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must needes comprehend them aswell as the Ministers of the word But that I may omit their thwarting thus the streame runneth from Cartwright and Iunius fountaines The titles of Christs vicars and of good prelates do both agree saith Cartwright vnto the Elders which onely gouerne And Iunius thus in effect The scriptures do call both Ministers Elders indifferently sometimes Prophets as The spirites of the Prophets are subiect to the Prophets sometimes Episcopos id est inspectore◠Bishops that is ouer-seers as Take heed to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy Ghost hath made you ouer-feers to feed the Church of God c. sometimes rulers or laborers rulers as We beseech you brethren that you know them which labour among you and are ouer you in the Lord sometimes ductores seu duces leaders or captaines as Obey them that haue the ouer-sight of you and submit your selues for they watch for your soules as they that must giue account c. sometimes pastors as He therefore gaue some to be Apostles some Prophets and some Euangelists some Pastors and teachers sometime Elders as When they had ordained them Elders in euery Cittie c. sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers as Where Paul saith thus of himselfe that I should bee a Minister of Iesus Christ toward the Gentiles ministring the Gospel of God c sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers as I am Paule whom thou persecutest but arise and stand vpon thy feete for I haue appeared vnto thee for this purpose to appoint thee a Minister and a witnesse both of the things which thou hast seene and of the things in the which I wil appeare vnto thee sometime deacons that is Ministers as Who is Paule Who is Apollo But the Ministers by whome yee beleeued c. And againe the same Iunius in the booke before noted of both their kinds of Elders Sunt salterrae sunt lux mundi in sua ecclesia singuli They are the salte of the earth they are the light of the worlde euery one of them in their seuerall Churches If Augustine Ambrose Ierome Chrisostome and all the rest of the ancient Fathers were now aliue and should vnderstand to what purpose these scriptures were thus alledged would they not wonder that euer any men should lyue that durst with such boldnes and so little shew of truth so abuse the word of God themselues their readers and all the world Nay I am perswaded that if M. Caluin himself that first deuised these officers were now aliue he wold be greatly ashamed of this corruption so notorious an abuse But God hath dealt with them already according to his wonted custome in such a case For they are wonderfully diuided and doe confound themselues in their expositions of the seuerall places as when I come vnto that point it shall in some sort appeare But of all these confused number of names for their Elders if I were asked vpon which I gessed they would in time most properly insist I feare it wil proue to be that of Arch-synagogians or of Arch-rulers of their saide gouernment deduced as they confesse from the synagoge For saith the Counter-poison God hath ordained for the rulers of the synagogue Churchrulers or Elders Likewise Cartwright The chiefe of the synagogue are the same which wee call Elders ancients of the church And Beza also Archisynagogi dicuntur qui particularium ecclesiarum negotia administrabant propterea censētur ecclesiae nomine Mat. 18.17 They are called Arch-rulers of the synagogue who did manage the affaires of particular churches are therefore in Math. 18. tearmed by the name of the church But the said Cartwright passeth Their Synagogues saith he being the same that our churches in euery one of them beeing not one but many princes the vrging of that example bringeth diuers chiefe gouernors or Archbishops intocuerie particular church His meaning is as I take it that if they be vrged too farre so constrained to speake their consciences which peraduenture as yet they would bee loth to do they must thē of necessitie deale plainly with vs tell vs roundly that all the Elders which they looke for esteeme them as wee list that haue no such diuine insight into them they are indeed and must be our chiefe gouernors our Archbishops and our Princes Surely such artizans meane persons as should occupie these roomes in most parishes if they had their platforme might well haue been contented with his former titles giuen vnto them of Christs vicars Gods prelats though they had wanted these But it would be remembred that if such as are vnder the Ministers bee of this great honor what are we to think of the Ministers themselues that are so far aboue them I had forgotten to tell you how Cartwright affirmeth though falsly that the word priesthood is sometime taken in the ecclesiasticall writers for this kinde of Elders Whereby I coniecture that their graund pastors especially in such cities as haue many parishes vnder one consistorie must be if not summi sacerdotes the high priests yet at the least principes sacerdotum the princes of Elders or rather reges regum kings of kings But by what titles they will maintaine their owne greate preheminence aboue their Elders I do not greatly regard it This is strange that after so many disputations and libels against the names of our Archbishops to prooue them Antichristian or vnlawfull wee hauing but two of them in all England they would now if they might be suffred impose vpon vs seuen or eight Archbishops in euery parish What a wringing wresting is there of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Beza Cartwright and others as being for the imperiousnes of it vnmeet to agree with the Ministers of the Gospell And yet now their new deuised Elders worthy men for the most part I warrāt you may euery one of them lawfully be called an Archbishop I would gladly know for my learning why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ioined to this worde Bishop should be rather an vnlawfull name for some Minister than whē it is ioined to all their own Synagogians
of our seruice of God and all our lawes orders ceremonies and priuileges thervnto appertaining to haue had the Geneua discipline established in place thereof may greatly reioice at their good discretion considering that if then they had preuailed we had admitted of that forme of church-gouernment which the very cheefe supplicators instigators of them at that time do now themselues condemne as you haue heard into the pit of hell and so they might haue bene as readie to haue set forward this second deuise as they were for the former But men I hope will be more carefull hereafter then to be carried away with euery noueltie if it haue but any shew of reasonable probabilitie And maister Cartwright with the rest of his chiefe adherents might certainly do God and the church great seruice if without any longer standing vpon the maintainance of their own credits they would be content to confesse their former ouersights in laying downe those false principles wherevpon the new hereticks do build and acknowledge the truth vz. that the present gouernment of the church of England as both holy and Apostolicall and that the reformation of religion already made by her maiesties most princely care and heauenly direction is such a reformation abuses there may be and it were heresie to dreame of any puritie as euery good Christian ought to praise God for it from the bottome of his heart and not onely to allow of it but to maintayne and defend it both with his goods and life Maister Cartvvright began well in his epistle against Harrison but he should do better if hee would so continue and proceede forward One extremitie is best discerned by the other Barrovves folly may teach him wisedome The consequence doth often shew the grossenesse of the Antecedent And many learned men haue bene brought by the importunitie of such kind of aduersaries to see their own mistakings and so to grow vnto a farre better moderation As euen in the chapter following and in this very cause of discipline it will appeare I trust vnto you CAP. XXXIIII Of their disagreement concerning the necessitie of the Consistoriall gouernment IT were very hard if the fauourers of the Geneua platforme should vrge the same vvith any pretence of necessitie They talke of pastors doctors elders deacons widdowes and of many things els but as yet besides their obstinacie to continue in the course which they haue begun for the maintenance of their credits they are not throughly agreed almost in any thing To tell vs therfore of a matter that should be necessarie and withall to confesse in effect that they know not what it is should argue in my opinion some very great rashnesse and follie When maister Caluin dealt with maister Bullinger and others for their good fauour and friendship towards the continuance of his new deuised platforme in Geneua as you haue heard at large in the second chapter there was not a word you may sweare it of any necessitie that all oother churches should be enforced to submit thēselues to that deuise M. Caluin himselfe at that time as I am persuaded did not so much as dreame of any such matter A very graue and learned man of the French nation hath faythfully reported that when the forme of the Geneua discipline was first admitted of by the ministers of France in one of their cheefest synods which hath bene kept there of late yeares about the Church affaires it was not then receaued by them in that assemblie as a necessary order prescribed by Christ that ought alwaies to be continued but as a forme of discipline conuenient and fit for the afflicted estate of their churches in those times which might afterwards bee altered and changed as occasions should require And because you might not doubt of the certayntie of this report You shall vnderstand that the author of it was himselfe present in the sayd assemblie and not a man of the meanest account amongst them With whom also another great person of that countrie a man of state and great learning agreed when hee affirmed to one of very good place in England as the same partie hath told me that the forme of discipline which is now receaued by the French ministers was neuer meant by them to be otherwise admitted of then for an interim till things might be better considered of and ordered These testimonies I vrge no further then as reports neyther would I haue you to giue any further credit vnto them then as you shall thinke meet vpon this my bare relation Howbeit whether the persons specified did make any such report or not it seemeth to mee that the thing it selfe is true which they are sayd to haue reported For thus I find it set downe in the end of the forme of Ecclesiasticall discipline agreed vpon by the resolution not of one but of fiue generall Synods of the reformed Churches of the realme of Fraunce These articles say they vvhich are here contayned touching discipline are not so decreed vpon amongst vs but if the profite of the church shall require they may bee chaunged But it shall not bee in the povver of one priuate man to do it vvithout the aduise and consent of a generall councell In all maister Caluins time for ought I find the necessitie which now is pretended for the consistoriall discipline was no where insisted vpon A church in those daies might haue had all the true notes of the church of Christ although it had wanted that platforme of Geneua Maister Caluin in his Institutions could find but tvvo necessary Simbola ecclesiae dignoscendae verbi predicationem sacramentorum obseruationem signes of discerning the church the preaching of the vvord and the obseruation of the sacraments Bertrand de Loque in like sort he was able to bring forth no other substantiall notes of the Church but those tvvo No more was Philip of Mornay the lord of Plessis He maketh mention indeed of a third marke vz. the lawfull vocation of pastors but hee sayth that it is not a marke of substance In the great assemblie at Poictiers in France 1561 vvhere Peter Martir A Marlorat N. Galatius and diuers other ministers of the reformed churches were present maister Beza being there also and hauing his turne to speake before the king of Fraunce the queene of Nauarre the cardinall of Lorraine and sundrie other bishops hee durst not insist vpon any other firme and certaine notes of the visible Church of Christ but the two notes mentioned purum dei verbum sincera sacramentorum administratio the pure vvord of God and the sincere administration of the sacraments There are sayth hee some that do adde ecclesiasticall discipline and the fruits of preaching sed c. duabus illis erimus contenti but c. vve vvill bee content vvith these tvvo first Agreeably to this doctrine that there are but two necessarie and substantiall marks of the church the cheefest learned men in Christendome both
abroad and here at home with vs haue entred into the combat with the cruell and mortall enemies of true Religion the papists But now it is found out by maister Beza and some others forsooth that all the sayd learned men were deceaued and that the platforme of the Geneua discipline is an essentiall note of the church of Christ and as necessary as the word of sacraments If I should deliuer these two points vnto you vpon my bare word without any further proofe I thinke you would scarsely beleeue me Heare therefore my vvitnesses not to be excepted against I tell you And first for the pretended necessitie maister Beza shevving the true markes of the church saith Cartvvright addeth to the tvvo former the discipline framed according to the vvord Conf. 5.7 So that vvhatsoeuer necessitie commeth vnto the vvord and sacraments in that they are notes the same commeth also vnto the discipline by maister Bezaes iudgement And surely that is sufficient Hee were a presumptuous cōpanion that would not rest in Bezaes iudgement Well then you see the necessitie of their discipline now marke the essentialitie of it In a certaine draught of discipline whereof you shall heare in the Chapter agreed vpon and subscribed vnto by Cartvvright and many other ministers of his bent for a conclusion of that worke they haue set downe these words Atque haec disciplina c. And this discipline the title vvhereof is inscribed The discipline of the church described in the vvord of God is taken out of the most pure fountains of the holy scriptures and c omprehendeth the necessarie and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is essentiall discipline of the church common for al times Take that away from any thing that which is of the essence and being of it and as I take it it presently ceaseth to haue any being at all From the conceit of this necessitie of the Geneua discipline these and many other such like speeches haue bene vttered in printed bookes to the simple people The want of the Eldership is the cause of all euill It is not to be hoped for that any Common-wealth will flourish without it The discipline is no small part of the gospell It is of the substance of it Without this discipline there can be no right religiō They that reiect this discipline refuse to haue Christ raigne ouer them And denie him in effect to be their king or their Lord. Scis c. you know there is one and the selfe same author of doctrine and discipline to what purpose therefore should we receiue one part of the word without the other In some sense of necessarie the ecclesiasticall discipline is necessary to saluation It is necessarie in regard of Gods holy ordinance and appointment the contemptuous breach of whose commandements be they great or little in our account is damnable to all those that despise them For the vse of the censures the office of elders is in his place necessarie The deacons office is not so directly tending to the saluation of the soule But yet being Gods ordinance it is of the necessitie of obedience In effect the ministerie of the censures of the church is in the same absolute degree of necessitie to saluation vvith the ministerie of the vvord and sacraments It is much that hath bene hitherto noted for the pretended necessitie of this Sauoyan church-gouernment but that is most memorable that Trauers affirmeth of the French churches of the churches of the low-countries vz. in effect that it is become alreadie to be one of the articles of their creed Thus he setteth downe their words following contayned as hee sayth in their confessions VVe beleeue the true Church ought to bee gouerned by that policie and discipline vvhich our Lord Iesus Christ hath ordayned namely so that there bee in that Pastors elders and deacons And the Churches of the Low-countries VVe beleeue that this true church ought to be ruled and gouerned by that spirituall policie vvhich God himselfe hath taught vs by his vvord so as there bee in it pastors and Ministers Elders and Deacons vvho may make the Seigniorie of the Church By that which here is sayd being compared with that which hath bene sayd before of our Englishmens pretended deacons how they are altogether excluded frō hauing any place in their seigniorie it appeareth that they disagree from the Churches of Fraunce and of the Low-countries in some of the articles of their beleefe But you shall heare maister Trauers very graue collections vpon the sayd two of those Churches confessions It is very vvorthie the obseruation sayth he that these Churches vvherein there are an infinite number of godly men c. in such a confession as they declare their fayth in haue thought it a necessarie article to set dovvne this point of the pollicie or discipline of the church and that in declaring of it they say not vvhat they suppose but vvhat they beleeue vsing the same vvord vvhich they do vse in the articles of faith and doctrine The papists talke much of the Colliers faith that beleeued as the Church beleeued but what the church beleeued hee knew not And truly as Trauers sayth it is worthy the obseruation indeed that seing as I sayd and haue at large shewed it in the former chapters there is not a church in Europe which hath receaued that platforme that can tell for her life which way as yet to turne her selfe for the full maintainance of it there should bee any that would presume to thrust it into their beleefe except they do approue of the Colliers faith and will say they beleeue whatsoeuer maister Beza beleeueth although neyther he himselfe nor they do know what hee beleeueth in that point I do rather therefore incline to thinke that Trauers wresteth their words against their meaning and that they only purposed by that phrase of speech we beleeue to shew but their minds and opinions of that forme of discipline not suspecting that any man would inforce that they euer meant therby to make it an article of their beleefe But howsoeuer either they or any other haue formerly meant in the heat of their desires towards their beloued platform and so haue gone much too far in vrging the necessitie of it as being an essentiall note of the church yet vpon better aduise it seemeth that they are growne a little more coole Maister Caluin loued the eldership as well as the best of them because it was the workmanship of his own hands but yet he thought it not meet to make it an essential note of the church or a matter of the importance of saluation The Anabaptists with whom he dealt in his time kept him from that extremitie and made him to reuerēce other churches and to acknowledge them for such churches of Christ although they wanted the forme of his censuring discipline as that it was not lawfull for any
Iustice. By this the wealth and honour of the Realme woulde be encreased and contentions brawles and vnnecessary pleas would be preuented idle men of all sortes might be sette in order and the poore men greatly comforted The nobility and comminalty might haue their right Men would not grudge at triflinge charges for Warre Souldiers woulde bee made obedient to their Captaines patient and couragious It woulde bring strength and victorie and keepe out of Kinges Dominions ignoraunt wicked and flattering men Here out of the defence of Ecclesiasticall gouernement Pag. 121. 122. 123. 127. 134. Whereof commeth it that Arrians Valentinians and Anabaptistes with other detestable Heretiques are so rise in many places in this land is it not thereof that there is no Eldership Whereof commeth it that horrible blaspheming the holye and most reuerend name of God quarrelling and fighting dronkennes filthy speaking fornication adultery slaundering and such like runne ouer almost in euery place Is it not hereof that there is no Eldership Whereof commeth it that in so many excellent lawes prouided against rogues and beggers there are yet such numbers is it not hereof that the office of Deacons is abolished These are singular commodities indeede which these Elderships woulde bring with them if these men might be trusted But haue they brought forth these fruicts and effectes in those countries where they are established or are they but vaine wordes of ambitious men that by such godly pretences doe little else but seeke their owne glory Consider I pray you what very learned and graue men haue written in other countries of these and such like men as these and their fellowes are together with the estate of some of those countreis wher they haue their Elderships Maister Bullinger writing to a Bishop in England of our English innouators saith thus They imitate in mine opinion those seditious Tribunes of Rome who by vertue of the Agrarian Lawe bestowed the publicke goods that they might priuately inritch themselues that is that you meaning the Bishops being ouerthrowen they might succeede in your places c. But they goe about to erect a Church which they shall neuer aduaunce as they desire neither if they shoulde can they euer be able to continue it And after in the same Letter I woulde to God there were not in the Authors of this Presbytery libido dominandi an ambitious desire of rule and principality Nay I thinke it ought especially to be prouided for that there be not any high authoritye giuen to this Presbytery c. Whereof manie thinges might bee saide but time will reueale many thinges which yet lie hidde Maister Gualter in like sorte writeth thus to the Bishop of London for the time being Many doe vrge in these daies vnder a plausible name of Ecclesiasticall Discipline I know not what a platforme without the which they denie that any Churches can continue But I doe greatly feare least they bringe vs in an Aristocratie which will shortly degenerate into an Oligarchie and become the beginning of a newe Papacie For their onely labour is to sette vs vp a Presbyterie whereinto certaine honest men are indeede admitted but yet so as the Ministers will doe in a manner what they list It was of late decreed by the Ministers at Heidelberge that no man should bee admitted to the Lords Supper except he first offered himselfe to the Pastor For Paules rule is not helde sufficient there vz. that euerie man should trie himselfe The Elders did not agree to this decree but yet notwithstading it is vrged in the name of the Presbytery nay of the whole Church c. But there was not long since suche an example of a new tyrannie there as may iustlie feare anie that careth for the liberty of the Church There is there an Heluetian the Gouernour of the Colledge of Saint Denis as innocent and godly a man as liueth Howbeit Oleuianus the Pastor warned him by the crier of the Presbyterie in the name of all the Elders that he should not come to the Lordes Supper adding this cause that he could not admit him absque animi sui offensione without the offence of his minde The party tooke this dealing as it was reason in euill part and defireth to know what he hath committed that deserued such a punishment But they answered him not otherwise then that they continued in the same minde Whereuppon he offered a Supplication vnto the prince Elector that he would compell them to shewe the fault if there were any that he had committed But vntill this daie he coulde extort nothing else in effect from them This is their goodly order this is their Discipline Quare video nobis seriò vigilandum esse ne ex Romanae hydrae vix domitae vulneribus noua capita pullulent wherefore I see we are to be vigilant least new heads doe budde out of the woundes of the Romish hydra scarsely yet subdued And in another letter to the Bishop of Ely of the same matter he addeth that the Prince Elector vppon the said parties complaint did moue the Elders to shew what hee had committed that they dealt so with him Sed ne hoc ab illis impetrare potuit but he could not preuaile so much Marry at the last saith Maister Gualter being many waies more earnestly vrged thereunto they fell to coining of lies and perswaded the Prince that he abstained from the Lords supper of his own accord and now of that his voluntary forbearing woulde knowe the cause of them Many such things are done which it woulde be too long to rehearse Seeing they beginne in this sorte hauing not as yet any full possession of their new kingdom what shall we thinke they will doe si merum imperium obtineant if they obtaine an absolute authority By this letter also it seemeth that long since by Oecolampadius meanes notwithstandinge Zwinglius withstood it there was such a like forme of regiment erected in Basill but shortly after saieth Maister Gualter he was compelled to giue it ouer againe learning by experience that he had attempted a matter of greater discommodity then profite I cannot therefore dislike of them that oppose themselues to these endeuours who so busily in these daies pleade this for matter c. There are in Germanie and in another certaine plâ—â—e hee meaneth I thinke Geneua that denie the kingdome of Christ canne continue except the Discipline which they haue deuised be receaued in euery place I doc containe my selfe that I may not bee saide to haue begonne the fight Sin illi Classicum cecinerint but if they sound vp the Alarum I cannot choose but defend the doctrine of truth and the libertie of the Church not doubting but that many will ioyne with mee herein The same Gualter also again in another letter to the said Bishop of Ely I shall not neede to vse many wordes what I thinke of your innouators sith I haue done it in my last
and ordination of Ministers and of theyr disagreement about the same Cap. 16. fol. 183. Of theyr Aldermens ioynt-office with the ministers in binding loosing of sins of their disagreemēt therin C. 17. f. 190 Of the first institution of the old Deacons and of the disagreemēt about the new disciplinary Deacons Cap. 18. fol. 198 Of certayne Widdows which are made Church-officers of the disagreement which is about them Cap. 19. fol. 215. Of the charge to bee imposed vppon euery parish by meanes of the pretended Eldership Cap. 20. fol. 227. Of theyr desire that those thinges which haue beene taken by Sacriledge from the Church might bee restored againe to the mayntenance of theyr Elderships Cap. 21. fol. 233 They take from Christian Princes and ascribe to theyr pretended regiment the supreme and immediate authority vnder Christ in causes Ecclesiasticall Cap. 22. fol. 250. In the oppugning of Princes authoritye in causes Ecclesiasticall they ioyne with the Papists Cap. 23. fol. 258. Their disagreement in suppressing the authoritie of princes in church-causes in the aduancing of their own C. 24. f. 268 In what causes more particularly theyr Elderships are to deale as they pretend Cap. 25. fol. 281. Those things they reprooue as vnlawfull in others they allow in themselues Cap. 26. fol. 298 How they deale with the auncient Fathers Ecclesiasticall Histories and generall Councels when they are alledged against them Cap. 27. fol. 329. Theyr dealing with all the new writers and manye reformed churches when they make against them Cap. 28. fol. 354. Howe they depend vppon theyr owne Synodes and fauourers Cap. 29. fol. 364. How falsely they alledge the auncient fathers for their pretended parish-Bishops and Elders Cap. 30. fol. 381. How and with what disagreement they wrest and misconstrue the Scriptures in the behalfe of theyr discipline C. 31. f. 396. What account the solliciters for this pretended gouernement doe make each of other Cap. 32. fol. 416. Of the prayse disprayse of this pretended regiment C. 33. f. 421 Of theyr disagreement concerning the necessitie of the Consistoriall gouernement Cap. 34. fol. 436. Of the pretended commoditie that the Elderships would bringe with them and of the small fruites that they bringe foorth where they are Cap. 35. fol. 450. FINIS CHAP. I. Howe vnder pretence of the Prophetes loue to Syon some men would gladly set vp their owne fancies THe holy Prophet Esay foreseeing the miserable captiuitie which the Iews for their transgressions were to sustaine vnder the kinges of Babell did thinke it necessary to prepare their heartes to patience by assuring them that the Lord in his due time would worke their ioyfull and happy deliuerance To the which purpose amongst many other most notable perswasions prophecies he vseth these wordes for Syons sake I will not hold my peace and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest vntill the righteousnes therof breake forth as the light and saluation therof as a burning lampe that is donec erigam piorum animos spe futurae salutis c vntill I may confirme the minds of the godly saith Caluin with the hope of their restitution againe so as they may vnderstand and be fully perswaded that God will be the deliuerer of his Church The false Prophet H.N. the moste illuminated father of the family of loue counterfaiting the imitation of the Prophet of God in this place doth take vppon him to tell the world of a farre greater captiuitie not of 70. yeares but of more then a thousand and fiue hundred yeares that is euer since the Apostles times Wherein saith he darkenes of error hath ouershadowed the earth lumen vitae incognitum factum est the light of life hath been made vnknowen and the trueth hath been hid as vnder the maske of Popery vntill this day of loue He turneth the whole doctrine of our saluation into a vaine mysterie an allegoricall conceit of his own leauing the Church no mediator at all besides himselfe He hath framed a platforme or new kingdome and gospell of his owne inuention bearing this title Euangelium regni dei the gospell of the kingdome of God Into this kingdome as Vicegerentes he hath brought for our ministers his seniores sanctae intelligentiae Elders of the holy vnderstanding patres familiae Christi fathers of the family of Christ and for our Archbishops and Bishops his Primates or principall Elders his seniores parentes Elder fathers and I know not how many illuminated and deified gouernours And perseuering in these and in many other such like very grosse fond imaginations he lewdly presumeth to apply the said place of the Prophet to himselfe and his owne conceites for the better animating of his followers to sticke fast vnto him saying O Syon tua causa non silebo c O Syon for thy sake I will not hold my peace and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest vntill the righteousnes thereof breake forth as the light saluation thereof as a burning lampe that is in effect vntill the holy gouernment of the family of loue bee established vppon the earth T.C. a man I confesse not to be sorted with H.N. were it not vpon this occasion wil needs take vpō him likewise the person of the Prophet and to aduertise vs of a wonderfull seruitude that hath continued in the Church of God in effect with H.N. from the apostles times also which yet remaineth as he saith in the church of England From the which seruitude he reckoneth that it shall neuer be deliuered vntill it submit it selfe to be newly reformed again by the aduise of his deepe vnderstanding assisted with those that diligently wait vpon his illuminated deuises after the maner of Geneua To winne himselfe therefore the better credite for bringing this to passe hee laieth about him and would haue al things turned topsie turuie as they say euen the vpside downe Our ministery their callings our seruice our sacraments and all we haue is out of ioint Councels fathers histories they are but dishcloutes with him he shaketh them off as it were with a shrugge they are indeed as after it shal appeare no body in his handes but he flingeth them here and there at his pleasure He in like sorte with the assistance of his partakers hath framed after the fashion of Geneua a platforme and newe kingdome or rather an infinite number of litle petite kingdomes but yet euery one of them of an absolute power aswell ouer Lordes Earles Dukes Princes Kinges and Kingdomes as ouer the meanest whosoeuer vnder them This kingdome he would impose vpon this land Wherein for our Archbishops Bishops ministers c hee placeth his graund Elders whome he tearmeth pastors his second sort of Elders whome he tearmeth Doctors his third sorte of Elders whome he tearmeth Gouernors ioyning vnto them Deacons to carry their purses and widdows to wash their feete where neede shall require And with this deuise he is so possessed that hee
their setting vppe of their short plat of discipline bannished the cittie The causes before mentioned of this their bannishment were giuen out thus in generall termes Tyranni esse voluerunt in liberam ciuitatem voluerunt nouum pontificatum reuocare They would haue beene tyrants ouer a free cittie they would haue recalled a new papacy And here beganne the Consistorian humor which raigneth nowe amongst the factious sorte in England to shew it selfe but yet in a more secrete sorte by their priuate letters one to an other Their fauourers and partakers whome they lefte behinde them at Geneua presently after their departure entered into faction and refused to receiue the communion with vnleauened bread as it had beene ordered they should doe by the said Synode at Lausanna The ministers that remained in the cittie after them were greatly disgraced For in that they continued their ministery there without the newe Discipline they were said to hold otiosam functionem an idle function The Senate of two hundred that expelled the said three preachers was termed by Caluin tumultuos a perditorum hominum factio a tumultuoas faction of rakehells castaway es Beza saith that in that councell the greater part ouercame the better But then by the way they were not all of them such manner of men as Caluin reporteth The chiefest magistrates of the cittie euen the Syndickes were termed factionum et discordiarum duces the ringleaders of factions and dissentions They were resembled to Nabucadnezar and the exiles to Daniell And generally they gaue it out against all their backe frendes that they went about to ouerthrowe the Church and that they had obdurated themselues against the Lord Iesus Christ. These and such like speaches you must thinke were giuen out then secretly but since they are published in printe for other ministers instructions which may hereafter receiue any checke about that kinde of discipline Hetherto for ought I finde the pretended discipline had no great successe I must therfore proceede on forward These three preachers being thus banished their friendes at Geneua were maruailous earnest to haue them thither againe Many letters were procured from certaine churches and learned men to the magistrates in that behalfe as you shall partly perceaue by diuerse epistles set out vnder the title or together with Caluins epistles Euery one likewise in the Cittie that held for the discipline did his best with the people But Maister Caluin was the man whom they all of them most desired for the rest being else where placed they cared not much Vnto these endeuours may be added some very wise courses taken by Maister Caluin in the time that he discontinued from Geneua Cardinall Sadolet hauing written to the Geneuians in dislike of the alteration both of their state and of the Romish religion admonishing them to returne to their olde byace Maister Caluin aunswered him and iustified as he thought meete their proceedinges therein to their very good contentment Also where some that of his owne friends had greatly laboured to discredite the ministers of that cittie which were lefte to the griefe of the magistrates endeuoured to haue brought them vtterly into contempt for executing their ministerie without the pretended Discipline c. Maister Caluin staied that course by writing vnto them that he doubted not but that their ministers deliuered vnto them the chiefe heads of Christian religion which were necessary to saluation and that also they ioyned thereunto the right vse of the Sacramentes And then saith he where those two pointes are performed illic substantia ministery viget there is the substance of the ministerie and a lawfull honour and obedience is to be giuen to that Ministery Lastly the mutinie mentioned which was about refusall to communicate with vnleauened bread he likewise appeased by perswading the authours of it that it was a matter of indifferencie for the which they ought not to disquiet the peace of the Church By which occasions together with the former sutes mentioned the Citie as I iudge hauing conceaued a better opinion of maister Caluin then they had before and supposing that if he came againe amongst them he would vse a great deale more mildnesse and moderation in his proceedinges then hee had earst done they were at the last contented after two yeares bannishment and more to recall him vnto them vz in the yeare 1541. Whilest his friendes were labouring for him as you haue heard he himselfe perceiuing that hee shoulde returne thither was still harping to his friendes vppon this string how he might haue the Citie so bound to the forme of Discipline which he had in his head as that afterwardes they might not when they list start from it And therefore as soone as he was come thither hee imployed his studie that way especially At the first offering of his paines to the Senate he told him that the Church there could not possibly continue except there were same certaine forme of Church gouernement established Whereupon the Senate ordered at his request that he and fiue other of the Ministers should conferre together about such a forme as they thought meet and that hauing so done they should offer the same to the consideration of the said Senate Here then you shall see the strength of maister Caluins wit He wisely saw that notwithstanding the Bishops ecclesiasticall authoritie had been vtterly disgraced and was thereupon reiected as being forsooth Popish and tyrannicall yet it was not good for the Church that the ministers should bate the citie one ace of an ecclesiasticall authoritie aequiualent at the least to that which their Bishops formerly had enioyed amongest them Howbeit he well perceiued withall that for the bringing of this matter about there must be verie good pollicie and circumspection vsed or else that it would be a thing impossible to bring a people hauing gotten their libertie into the like or a worse seruitude then they were in before His plot therefore as I take it was as followeth He laboured to perswade the people and the Magistrates that as there was a ciuile Senate for the gouernement of the Citie and the territories thereof in ciuile causes so by the word of God there should be an ecclesiasticall Senate for the gouernment of the same Citie and territories conteining aboue twentie parishes in causes ecclesiasticall And to this purpose he wanted not I warrant you very many probable reasons The persons that should beare authoritie in this Senate I nothing doubt but that he could haue been very well contented they should haue been all of them ministers euen as the ciuile gouernment did then wholly consist of ciuile persons But by reason of the great authoritie that the preachers had before intituled the ciuile magistrates vnto for the bannishment of their Bishop for their dealing in Church causes wherewithall they were in some sorte possessed hee very wisely considered with Farellus and Viretus that if they tooke that course
great hatred and malice Insomuch as writing to his friendes he complayneth in this manner We haue too many of a hard and vntamed necke who vpon euery occasion do endeuour to shake off the yoake that by their tumultes they mighte abolish the lawfull order of the Church There are in that nomber both olde men and young men The youth especially is here most desperate And to Viretus Nisi dominus c. except the Lorde doe rebuke the sea and the windes I see there are greate stormes toward vs which they mooue who ought rather to appease them I dare not call you hether for many causes The chiefest is for that I am afrayd how at the length we must giue place vnto them who will neuer end vntill they haue ouerthrowne all Likewise to the same Viretus Many are such children that they are affrayde at the ridiculous shaking of a head c. Si desistam totum consistorium ruat necesse est if I desist there is no remedy but downe falleth the consistorie Great tumults were vp amongst them in the cittie and therefore he altered his former mind touching his not calling of Viretus and requesteth him most earnestly as beeing more gratious then himselfe to come and helpe to appease them You cannot possibly doe a thing sayth he that shall be more gratefull vnto me then if you shal make a good ende of these quarrells me ad Garamantas relegato though I be bannished into the farthest partes of the worlde And in another epistle Eo prorupit improbitas vt retineri qualemcunque ecclesiae statum diutius posse meo praesertim ministerio vix sperem Impiety hath gotten such a head that I canne scarsely thinke there can anye tollerable state of the Church continue here especially by my ministery These dissentions proceeding thus on for a time at the last they came to this issue vt maior Senatus receptum et bactemus seruatum ecclesiae ordinem repente conuelleret Nos restitimus that the greater Senate did sodainely ouerthrowe the order of the Church which had beene receiued and kept But we withstood them An argument of very good subiection Much trouble would surely haue come of it but that vpon a sermon preached by Maister Caluin and after vppon a motion made by him and the rest of the ministers to the Senate order was taken that for the quieting of all partes the said sentence of the greater Senate should be suspended vntill the state of Geneua had taken the aduise of foure Heluetian citties their neighbours and friendes touching the pointes in question vz. about the authoritye of their Consistorie to suspend men from the communnion as they sawe cause which is the verye scepter of that pretended Syon When this course was taken marke I pray you Maister Caluins pollicy He knew as in effect he saith that none of the magistrates of anye of those fower citties woulde write any aunswere to the cittizens letters of Geneua but by the aduise of their ministers Wherevpon whilest the Syndickes with their councells were conferring about their letters to be sent to the foresaid citties how and what they should write yea peraduenture who should endite them Maister Caluin presently speedeth a messenger one Budaeus with his priuate letter vnto his priuate friendes as to Maister Bullinger c. and with other letters also to the rest of the said Ministers ioyntly of purpose to prepare and pre-occupate their mindes beforehand against their magistrates should write thither Now I am come to the very panting or short breathing of the Consistoriall pretended Discipline whether it shoulde liue or die at Geneua The daunger it lay in was exceeding great but maister Caluin applied all his skill and medicines for the recouerie of it Few Phisitions will take such paines for their patientes In his said letters hee omitteth no point of his oratorie faculty The aduersaries of his discipline he painteth out in their collours as that their Senate was possessed with a lamen table blindnesse that they had dealt contumeliously with poore straungers that they had vsed Farellus very hardly that diuerse of them were such as shamed not to defend Seruetus the hereticke and that they were Sathans Ministers that stirred vp these strifes He indeuoureth to moue all commiseration towardes himselfe and his associates in respect of their paines and daungers vndertaken in the behalfe of that Church as that for seuen yeares together they had been impugned by all those that sought to liue riotously from vnder the yoake that for the space of foure yeares nothing had been pretermitted by the wicked whereby they might by little and little ouerthrowe the state of that Church and that for the last two yeares their condition was no better then if they had liued amongest the professed enemies of the Gospell He ascribeth very much vnto the ministers to whome he writ which was an especiall meanes to procure their good fauours As when he saith now the matter is come to this point that all our ecclesiasticall orders shall be quashed nisi istinc afferatur remedium except there come a remedie from you Againe you must so deale as if the state of our Church were in your handes Againe nunc extremus actus agitur now the last act is vpon the stage and the enemies of the Gospell are beginning alreadie to triumph against Christ his doctrine his ministers and all his members Againe so perswade your selues that if Sathan be not now bridled by you habenas ei laxatum iri he will get the libertie of his bit hereafter at pleasure And againe I beseech you brethren by the name of Christ to thinke that it is no common matter that is committed vnto you but that the consultation to be had is of the state or very being of our Church He touched furthermore all other points which hee was sure would be especially regarded by them being themselues ministers in that he saith that if their aduersaries get the victorie the whole authoritie of the ministerie is not onely gone in Geneua but that it will be subiect to euery base rake-bels reproches Which if it should happen he telleth them that he was resolued to depart thence Vnto all these artificiall points thus insisted vppon by him he addeth another of no lesse importance to drawe the said ministers mindes vnto the bent of his bowe For notwithstanding hee ascribeth so much vnto them as before hath been shewed yet he qualifieth all in such sorte as that they might suspect that except they did concurre with his desire he would hardly for his part yeald to anie thing that might crosse him He writeth vnto them very moderately of his cōsistoriall platforme He saith he is not ignoraunt how diuerse learned men do not thinke that forme of Discipline that hee writeth for to be necessary but yet hee addeth what his owne opinion is of it and that he trusteth no man of iudgement
long they account it since it was in any good reparation saith plainely not as Cartwright affirmeth that it flourished most in Constantines time but thus we must needs confesse in deede that this gouernement of the Church fell to decaye long before the Councell of Nice But yet one step further after maister Cartwrights dubling where speaking in his second booke of the corruption as he tearmeth it that one Bishop had a preheminēce giuen him aboue other ministers which he cannot deny to haue been an ordinance in Alexandria from Saint Marks time c. he saith from the first day wherein this deuise was established corruption grew in the Church c. And the first resistance by any setled Church against that corruption was by those that abolished that deuise of man and receaued the order in the Apostles times touchinge the equality of Ministers as the Bohemians Merindols the Churches in Germany and Geneua See what carieers are here From Geneua to the Apostles times and thence backe againe to Geneua at a leape From Saint Markes time till the time here limited the pretended Presbitery with all the complements thereof as nowe it is vrged hath lyen alla-mort No one setled Church that is in Cartwrightes language no one particular parish in all the world for a 1500. yeares did euer account it vnlawfull for a Bishop to haue authority aboue other Ministers Or thus there hath not bin vpō the face of the earth within the space of a thou sand fiue hundred yeares so much as in any one parish such an equality amongest the Ministers of the worde of God as is now pretended to be in the Presbitery at Geneua and so consequently in all that tyme not suche a Presbitery Or thus within the compasse of the Heauens there hath not beene one Church for aboue 1500 yeares that euer dealt so with Bishops as of late they haue beene dealt withall especially in Geneua and in some other such places as haue followed therein the example of that Citty Well hitherto then you see that since we came from Geneua vz the yeare 1541. the men themselues that talke so much of their Geneua platforme cannot finde it flourishing in the daies of all the auncient fathers nor in all the world for the space of aboue 1500. yeares The fathers alas some of them were but simple men some were ambitious and some were ignoraunt They poore men had small experience and lesse pollicie They wanted iudgement and zeale either to discerne or to keepe in her virginitie this gallaunt Dalila They chopped and chaunged the institution of Christ at their pleasure Any examples that shall be fet from them are very dangerous They were but men But if you will leape ouer all them and come to Geneua there you shall finde wise men learned men humble men zealous men nay rather Angelles then men there you shall see the glorious rankes of Elders sitting vppon their thrones the worshipfull company of Deacons attending vpon the contributions the well Disciplined multitude bringing in the price of their lands and goods and powring all downe at the Deacons feete there Christ carrieth hys owne scepter in Bezaes hand there this pretended holy Discipline so disgraced by the fathers so corrupted and so defaced there she raigneth there shee flourisheth and there she is magnified The Church of Geneua saith a good fellow is the purest reformed Church forsooth in Christendome Againe Geneua is the chiefest place of true comfort in Earth Now what is here said of Geneua and her Ministers except you extend it to all other Churches and Ministers that follow the Geneua platforme they will be angry with you and thinke themselues as I suppose to be very greatly disgraced But I will leaue them clawing one of another and come to the Apostles times to see if the Geneua Church-gouernment may be found out amongest them For either there or no where The Apostle Saint Iohn liued much longer then any of the rest of the Apostles did Saint Ierome saith that he liued after Christes passion threescore eight yeares So as the Apostles times after the largest accompt are not further to be extended Now as Baronius collecteth out of Eusebius Saint Marke was Bishop of Alexandria about 19. yeares and died about the thirtith yeare after Christes ascention So as Saint Iohn out-liued Saint Marke some 38. yeares After this reckoning if the Church of Alexandria should haue departed from Christes institution and so cleane haue disgraced the glory of this fained Eldership when there was a Bishop made there according to Cartwrightes assertion then before wee can finde the Geneua platforme in such perfection as it is in that Citie we must cut of the said 19. yeares wherein Saint Marke had departed so grossely from Christes ordinance from the before mentioned 68. yeares the full extent of the apostles time which being done you haue but eleuen yeares wherein there is any hope for the pretended puritie and practise of the Geneua Discipline to shadow or shrowd her selfe Yea but where Saint Ierome saith that there were Bishops in Alexandria from Saint Markes time c. Cartwright hath this shift vz that the wordes from Saint Marks time may be taken exclusiuely to shut out Saint Marke Whereby to saue Saint Markes credite that an Euangelist should not be thought to haue broken the necke of Christes gouernement he woulde haue this great defection to haue been presently after Saint Markes time and so hee excludeth Saint Marke after the Geneua fashion quite and cleane out of his Bishopricke and will needes suppose that hee was neuer Bishop contrary to Saint Ieromes expresse wordes in sondrie places and contrarie to the full consent and agreement of all the auncient fathers and of all the ecclesiasticall histories But be it as hee would haue it yet let the reckoning be newly cast vp againe and it falleth out that this supposed departing from Christes institution was about thirtie and eight yeares before S. Iohn died Which standeth hardly with the reputation of the Apostles times in my opinion But that is no great matter We know saith the authour of the foresaide booke that was sent vs from Scotland Diotrephes to haue been in the Church euen in the Apostles times and we are assured he could neuer be gotten out of it since the first houre that he set his footing therein And therefore we cannot greatly maruaile though euen in their time there had been a diuerse gouernment from this of the Lordes appointment which we labour for For euen in the Apostles times the mistery of iniquitte beganne to worke And what will they say of Saint Iohn the Apostle and of all the rest of them that out-liued Saint Marke as they haue done of all the auncient fathers was there so small intelligence amongst those most prouident and wise holy men that there could be so notorious a defection in Alexandria so famous a Citie and they neuer to heare of it Or
Geneua at the least that of all likelyhood as diuers housholdes by his owne rule do concurre together to make one conuenient parish So diuerse parishes in one citie suburbes and territorie thereof may be vnited and rightlye beare the name of the church Except wee shall thinke that Christ referring as they suppose his Apostles to the imitation of the Iewes church gouernment they were so negligent workemen as there being at that time 400. Synagogues in that one citie they had erected in all their times but one congregation christian church or parish answerable to one Synagoge it being lawfull for them by the square of that platforme to haue erected if they had could 400. But let this passe as a thing impertinent and to returne to the maimed pining Parishes at Geneua You will say did not Cartwright know the ecclesiasticall gouernment of that citie when he writ his bookes or shall we once conceaue that he thought to condemne that regiment which in other places hee doth so greatly extoll certainly for mine owne part although I do not greatly respect what he will saie that hee either knoweth or thinketh yet I suppose he will neuer for shame denie it but that he misliketh that forme of church regiment For first besides the premises being vrged with Caluins authoritie who thought the church of Geneua with all her sayde Parishes to make but one body of a church his answere to that point in effect is this Admit Caluin so thought I am of opinion that if Caluin had not soe thought hee would neuer haue erected vp such an Eldership And if Beza did not thinke so still I iudge hee would alter it Secondly also vppon another occasion he resembleth the order of certaine reformed churches which in this sence must be necessarily either of Scotland Flaunders or Geneua vnto the custome in S. Ieromes time when Bishops besides their one onely church had certaine other congregations belonging to their ouersight c. and in mislike thereof sayth for parte of his answere to this pointe being pressed by his aduersary against him I appeale to the institution of God and vse of the purer times after the Apostles But amongst other qualifications which he maketh least we should thinke that where such reformations are made as haue diuers parishes belonging to one Eldership there the old Diocesse and Bishops are in effect not abrogated but a little altered he sayth that one in such Eldership is aboue the rest but for a time as Caluin was chosen thereunto euery two yeares and not during his ministerie Which authority ouer many parishes but for a time although he will not plainly condemne it in the reformed churches which hee fauoreth yet speaking against the order of the church of England both he his companions doe make it a steppe whereby Sathan did aduaunce the kingdome of Antichrist Lastly as hitherto you haue found M. Cartwright with his friendes opposite in this matter vnto Geneua and Scotland differing also much from the churches in the Low countries so he seemeth to mee to crosse himselfe For in his second booke hee sayth that particular churches are nowe in steed of Synagogues and that their Synagogues were the same that our particular churches are And in his third booke he writeth thus For my part I confesse that there commeth not to my minde whereby I could precislie conclude out of the olde testament that there was an eldershippe amongst the Iewes in euery of their Synagogues If that can not then be shewed out of Moses who was so faythfull in setting downe all that was committed to his charge and that Christ commaunded no new thing but such as Moses instituted how hath hee vrged so mightely that we must haue his Elderships in euery Parish We shall see peraduenture that in shorte time M. Cartwright will giue ouer this holde and betake himselfe to the citie consistories framing new Diocesses to bee subiect vnto them as in other countries you haue heard they are Well I would wishe that before their Elderships were graunted vnto them they should agree together where they ought to place them But nowe to the seuerall partes of euery Eldership CHAP. 8. Of Bishops generally of the pretended equalitie of Pastors or new parish Bishops and how the chiefe impugners of Bishops beginne to relent IN the olde testament the high Priest besides that he was a figure of Christ had also vnder Moses Iosua the Iudges and Kinges for the better ordering and gouernment of the church authoritie and iurisdiction ecclesiasticall within that countrie of Canaan vnder whom for the same purpose were other Priests at least 24. that were called Principes Sacerdotum Princes of the Priestes all of them inferior to the high Priest but superior to the rest In the new testament our Sauiour Christ whilst hee liued on the earth had his Apostles and in degree vnder them his 70. Disciples After his ascentiō the same inequality of the ministery of the word continued in the Church by all mens confession as long at the least as the Apostles liued In the Apostles times Saint Marke was Bishop of Alexandria Saint Iames was Bishop of Ierusalem Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus and Titus was Bishop of Crete if the ancient fathers and Ecclesiastical histories be of any credite The Apostles hauing receaued the promise of the holy Ghost after a short time dispersed themselues by aduise into diuerse regions And there by painefull preaching and labouring in the Lords haruest they planted no doubt very many Churches As the number of Christians grew and had their particular assemblies and meetings in many Cities and countries within euery one of their circuites they placed pastors in euery congregation they ordained certaine Apostolicall men to bee chiefe assisters vnto them whom they placed some one in this particular countrey another in that and some others in sondry Cities to haue the rule and ouersight vnder them of the Churches there and to redresse and supply such wantes as were needefull And they themselues after a while and as they grewe in age and escaped the crueltie of tyrantes remained for the most part in some head Citty within their compasse to ouersee them all both Churches Pastors and Bishops or Superintendents and to giue their directions as occasions required and as they thought it conuenient When any either of these Apostolicall assistantes or of the Apostles themselues dyed there were euer some worthy men chosen and appointed to succeede them in those Cities and Countries where they had remained For wee may not idlely dreame that when they dyed the authoritie which was giuen vnto them ceased no more then we may that the authoritie of Aaron of his naturall sons expired and ended with them Besides it is manifest by all Ecclesiasticall hystories that many Churches were planted after theyr deathes And furthermore it coulde not be but that some Churches especially vnder those Apostles that were soonest put to
men had offered in the beginning to the Bishops to performe al due obedience vnto them if they would be content to reforme religion they were now againe constrained to make the same knowen more generally both to the Emperour and to all the sayd Princes still offering for their parts as much as they had done before and that if they would but cease to impose vppon them their intollerable burdens of single life of mens vnlawfull and wicked traditions which they did further specifie and to forbidde them to doe those things which God commaunded they should doe that then they would with all their hearts most willingly yeeld vnto their Episcopall iurisdiction and to the restoring of the same where it had beene abolished Vouchsafe I pray you to heare their owne testimonies to this purpose You shall thereby well perceaue that if they were now aliue in England and should finde their names so vsed as they are against the gouernment of our Bishops they would take it in very ill part and be heartily sory for it Thus the authors of the Augustane confession and all the learned men that haue subscribed thereunto in which nūber Caluin is cōprehended haue professed touching this matter The Bishops might easily retain the obedience due vnto them if they vrged vs not to keepe those traditions which wee cannot keepe with a good Conscience They impose a single life and will receaue none that will not swear neuer to teach the pure doctrine of the Gospell Againe we haue ofte protested that we doe greatly approoue the Ecclesiastical pollicy and degrees in the Church as much as lieth in vs doe desire to conserue them We doe not mislike the authoritie of Bishops so that they would not compell vs to doe against Gods commaundement Furthermore we doe here protest and wee would haue it so recorded that we would willingly preserue the Ecclesiasticall and Canonicall pollicy if the Bishops would cease to tyrannise ouer our Churches This our minde or desire shall excuse vs with all posterity both before God and all nations that it may not be imputed vnto vs that the authority of Bishops is ouerthrowen by vs. Besides I would to God saith Melanchthon I woulde to God it lay in me to restore the gouernment of Bishops For I see what a manner of Church we shall haue the Ecclesiasticall pollicy being dissolued Video postea multo intolerabiliorem futuram tyrannidem quà m antea vnquam fuit I doe see that hereafter will grow vp a greater tiranny in the Church then euer there was before Moreouer mira dissipatio erit Ecclesiarum ad posteritatem c. There will be a wonderfull confusion of Churches left to our posterity except they may now bee ioyned together againe and haue certain Bishops who may be enforced to gouerne the church and looke vnto them more diligently then in times past they haue beene looked vnto Againe by what right or law may we dissolve the Ecclesiasticall pollicy if the Bishops will grant vs that that in reason they ought to graunt Et vt liceat certe non expedit And if it were lawfull for vs so to doe yet surely it were not expedient Luther was euer of this opinion whom many for no other cause I see doe loue but for that they thinke they haue cast off their Bishops by means of him and haue obtained a liberty minimè vtilem ad posteritatem which will not be profitable for our posterity For tell me what estate will the Churches be in hereafter if all the olde orders be abolished and that there bee no certaine rulers ordained To the same effect also saith George Prince Anhalt Earle of Ascaine Lord of Sewest and Brewburge vtinam c. I would to God that those which carry the names and titles of Bishops would shew themselues to be Bishops in deede I wishe they would teach nothing that is disagreeable to the Gospell but rule their Churches thereby O quam libenter c. Oh how willingly and with what ioy of hart would we receaue them for our Bishops reuerence them obay them and yeeld vnto them their iurisdiction and ordination c. Id quod nos semper Dominus Lutherus etiam c which we alwaies and Maister Luther both in words and in his writings very often haue professed And Caluin himselfe writing to Cardinal Sadolet concerning the course that had beene held at Geneua as touching the reformation of Religion and in excuse thereof against his challenge doth shew himselfe to be of the same minde he was of when he subscribed to the said confession of Augusta professing that for his part he could haue beene well content that the Bishop there should haue kept his authority and iurisdiction still so that he woulde haue yeelded to the bannishment of Poperye For thus hee writeth Talem nobis Hierarchiam si exhibeant c. If they bring vnto vs such an Hierarchy or Priestly gouernment wherin the Bishops shall so rule as that they refuse not to submit themselues to Christ that they so depend vppon him as theyr only head and be content to referre themselues to him in which Priestlye gouernment let them so keepe brotherly society amongest themselues that they be knitte together by no other rule then by the truth then surely if there shall be any that shall not submitte themselues to that Hierarchy or Priestly gouernment reuerently and with the greatest obedience that may be I confesse there is no kinde of Anathema or curse or casting to the diuell whereof they are not worthy And againe in the same Epistle he vseth these wordes following tending to the great commendation of the authority of Bishops Statue quaeso c. Sette before your eyes I pray you the ancient face of the church as it was amongest the Grecians in Chrys. and Basils times and as it was amongest the Latinists when Cyprian Ambrose and Augustine liued and then behold the ruins of that face as now they are retained in the Church of Rome And there will appeare as great difference betweene them as the Prophets describe vnto vs betweene the excellent estate of the Church that flourished vnder Dauid and Salomon and that Church which in Zedechia and Ioachims dates was fallen into all kinde of superstition and had defiled altogether the purity of the worship of God This Epistle was written by Caluin to the Cardinal 1539. at such time as being remoued from Geneua he remayned at Strasburgh where hauing great acquaintance with Melanchthon Bucer and diuerse other learned men hee carried himselfe in such sort as was greatly to their likings Insomuch as whilest he remained at Strasburgh the Colloquies at Wormes and Ratisbone being appointed by the Emperour for the compounding of controuersies in Religion the learned men that were sent thither for the Protestants reckonned Caluin a meete man to take thither with them Which I thought good to obserue because hereby it will further
of vnitie which pretence deceaued the auncient fathers euen many of the best of them But least any man shoulde imagine that I doe Beza iniury in applyinge his wordes to the purpose for the which I bring them and that he writ not thus against such Bishops as did imbrace and maintaine the true religion which we all professe but against Popish Bishops Cartwright him-selfe wil cleare both me and Bezaes meaning For he a man of the same spirit hath brought both those places and vrged them for Bezaes iudgment against our Bishops nowe in England Beza saith he is so farre from allowing Archbishops that our kind of Bishops he calleth counterset Bishoppes reliques of Poperie such as will bring in Epicurisme and soe he proceedeth on with the rest of Bezaes wordes to Knox as before they are set downe But I shall not needed to labour much vpon this point Beza will himselfe vouch safe you shall see to deliuer his mind as plainly as one would wish In his treatise that he writ into Scotland about the yere 1579. of three sortes of Bishops mentioned in the third Chapter vz. the Bishops of God of man and of the deuill He writeth thus by no good direction I am sure of that ancient and the most godly Councell that euer was helde since the Apostles times vz. the honourable councell of Nice The Nicene Councell pretending ancient custome confirmed the patriarchship and made a way for the horrible papacy of Rome sliding on and vnderlaid the seate for the harlot that sitteth vpon seauen hils And afterward where M. Caluin spake as you haue heard of the forme of Church gouernment which was then concluded vppon that it differed not from that which God had prescribed Beza is bold if Field his translator haue dealt well with him to call it a deuillish Oligarchie making the fathers of the said Councell to be the deuisers or at least the aduancers of the Bishops of the deuil Vnder which member of his diuision hee bringeth all the Bishops in Europe excepting his owne parochiall Bishops notwithstanding anie reformation of religion whatsoeuer And therefore aduiseth all godly Princes that at once they abolish them Neither is hee in effectanie thing more gratious or bountifull to his second sort of Bishops the Bishops of men But before you heare his censure of them you shall vnderstand how he describeth such a kinde of Bishop The Bishop of man sayth he brought into the Church by the alone wisedome of man besides the expresse word of God is a certaine power to one certaine pastor aboue his other fellowes yet limited with certaine orders or rules prouided against tyrannie They which did beare this office of Bishop are called Bishops in regard of their fellowe Elders and the whole Cleargie as watch-men set ouer the Cleargie And I maruell why the ministers after the Apostles time shoulde not haue as greate neede of such watch-men as they had when the Apostles themselues liued who were then their watch-men by all their confessions But nowe let vs see what Beza will doo with these kinde of Bishops Surely by his aduise down they must as wel as the former or to vse his translators phrase they must bee chased awaie And his chiefe reasons are these First because that vnlesse this roote also be plucked vp it wil come to passe that the same fruit will sprout and bud forth againe Secondly for that Christ as he falsely supposeth hath shut this superiority out of the church And thirdly because as hee saith Where the remnants of this gouernment by a few are not cleane taken awaie the word of the Lord is openly hindered Hee meaneth I thinke his counterfet platforme of discipline for the inordinate vrging whereof some few disordered persons haue beene put to silence But what hath he to do with that You see then the mans boldnesse and with what presumption hee aduanceth himselfe against all the learned Fathers against all the generall Councels against all the flourishing Churches that haue beene in the worlde since Christs time against the iudgementes of all the chiefe learned men almost of ourage that which is most with him euen against the iudgement of his superior master Caluin and you see also the pit and smoke from whence the Locustes amongest vs of late yeeres came that with their venemous libels and railing discourses haue infected the harts of many good men with a dislike of the holy calling of our Bishops That some haue been mis-lead heeretofore with the violent streame of this faction I wonder not But for mine owne parte I shall little pittie anie of them heereafter if when they shall see these things they will notwithstanding yeld ouer themselues to bee seduced by so grosse so palpable so childish illusions but especially if they shall heare Beza himselfe begin to alter his mind and to sing a new song I will not affirme much for his alteration but when hee hath opened himselfe a little further vnto you account of him as God shall moue your harts Surely he will not proue a man in my opinion for anie to build their faith vppon In his confessions he once affirmed that the constitutions of the auncient fathers concerning Bishops Metrapolitanes and Patriarches their seates limites and authoritie were made optimo zelo with the best zeale It was then I trust a zeale ioined with knowledge And hauing both such zeale and such knowledge did they agree in the Councell of Nice vppon such a deuillish Oligarchie Of late yeres he hath written two or three Letters to the now Lord Archbishop of Canterburie with an other manner of stile then I suppose hee woulde haue done if he had thought him to haue been the Bishop of the deuil For thus he indorsed them Reuerendissimo viro et in Christo patri Domino Archiepiscopo Caentuariensi serenissimae Reginae Conciliario et totius Angliae primati To the most reuerend man father in Christ the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie Councellor to the Queenes maiestie and primate of all England And one of them was thus subscribed Amplitudini tuae addictissimi in Christo Theodorus Beza A. Sadeel nomine totius nostri caetus nec non totius Ecclesiae Geneuensis Most addicted to your greatnes Th. B.A.S. in the name of our assembly and also of the whole Church of Geneua But it is of especial consideration that hee writeth in the other Letter It should seeme that the sayd now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury hath written somwhat vnto Beza as concerning his ouer-busying of himselfe about our Church without anie lawfull commission And in defence of himselfe he answereth thus Caeterum reuerende mi Domine But my reuerend Lorde in that you thought it meet to moue vs in your Letters that wee should thinke well of that kingdome and likewise of your Church and the gouernment thereof surely it troubled both mee and Sadeel in some sort as beeing greatly afraide least anie sinister rumours are brought to
you of vs or least those things which we haue written of Ecclesiasticall policie properly against that Antichristian tyrannie as necessitie required are taken by some in that sense as if euer we had meant to compel to our order those churches that thinke otherwise then we doo of it and the gouernors of them agreeing els with vs in the truth of doctrine agreeable to the word of God and that except they followed our order we accounted otherwise of them then their godlines and dignitie and mutuall brotherhood doth require c. Farre be this arrogancie from vs. Quis vllum nobis in vllam Ecclesiam imperium tribuit Who doth giue vs authority ouer anie church Far be it from vs that we should thinke so the substantiall matters be kept there ought nothing to be graunted to antiquitie nothing to custome nothing to the circumstances of places times and persons c. Againe in his booke against D. Sarauia hauing spoken of the tyrannie of Popish Bishops hee maketh this exception Neque tamen But wee doo not therefore accuse all Archbishops and Bishops now so called of tyranie For what arrogancie were that Nay so as they doo imitate the examples of the olde holy Bishops and indeuor as much as they can to reforme the house of God so miserably deformed according to the rule of Gods word why may we not acknowledge al of them now so called Archbishops and Bishops obey them and honor them with all reuerence So far we are from that which some obiect vnto vs most falsly and most impudently as though we tooke vppon vs to prescribe to anie Church in anie place our examples to be followed like vnto those vnwise men who account wel of nothing but of that which they doo themselues And to the same effect a little before If now the reformed Churches of England being vnderpropped with the authoritie of Bishoppes and Archbishops do continue as this hath happened to that Church in our memorie that she hath had men of that calling not onely most notable martyrs of God but also excellent pastors and doctors Fruatur sane ista singulari dei benificentia quae vtinam illi sit perpetua Let her truly inioy this singular blessing of God which I wish may be perpetuall vnto her Furthermore it should seeme that Zanchius as moderate and learned a man as euer fauoured the pretended Elderships was appointed some 12 or 16. yeres since to draw a confâ—ssion of religion for the Churches of France others as Melanchthon had done the Augustan confession for Germanie Accordingly hee drew it and in the same speaking of Bishops he vseth these wordes Non improbamius patres c. Wee doo not disalow the fathers in that after a diuers waie of dispensing the word and gouerning the Church they multiplied diuerse orders of Ministers seeing it was lawfull for them so to do as it is vnto vs and seeing it appeareth that they did it for honest causes appertaining at that time to the order decencie and edification of the Church And in the next article Hac ratione c. By this reason vz. that the nurseries of dissentions and of schismes may be taken away wee thinke that these thinges which were ordained before the Councell of Nice concerning Archbishops nay as touching the foure Patriarches may be excused and defended When this booke was perused and this clause found in it then forsoth a deuise was had for the staying of it vnder pretence that now it was thought more meete that there should be a harmonie made of all the confessions of diuers churches But Zanchius himselfe maketh this the chiefe cause if I vnderstand him why his booke dyd mislike some of them for that hee had written as before is mentioned of Bishops For so hee sayth Magnus quidam vir c. A certaine great man meaning Beza as it is supposed did write vnto mee of this matter as followeth Your confession was read by mee and N. others with great delight It is written most learnedly and in a most exquisite methode and if you except that which you adde towards the end touching Archbishops and the Hierarchie mihi summopere placuit it pleased mee exceedingly Vpon this occasion as it seemeth Zanchius printed his said confession with certaine annotations In the which annotations he sheweth three reasons for his allowance of Archbishops Bishops The first is grounded vpon the practise of the primitiue church presently after the Apostles times the second is for that hee thought it his dutie in the draught of his said booke to haue regard to those reformed churches which retaine both Bishops Archbishops and the third because all the reformed Churches generally although they haue chaunged the names yet in effect they doe keepe the authoritie as where they haue superintendents and generall superintendents Nay saith he where these new base Latine names are not admitted Ibi tamen solent esse aliquot primarij penes quos fere tota est authoritas yet there are in those places vsually certaine chiefemen that doe in a manner beare all the sway But I pray you be pleased that I may deliuer vnto you the maner of his setting down of his first reason and that in his owne words for they carry with them a notable condemnation of other mens great pride rashnes Cum haenc conscriberem fidei confessionem c. When I writ this confession of faith I writ all the thinges in it of a good conscience and as I beleeued so I freely spake the scriptures teaching men so to doe And my faith first of all and simply doth rely vpon the word of God then somewhat also vpon the common consent of the whole ancient Catholicke Church if the same bee not repugnant to the scriptures For I beleeue that what thinges were defined and receiued by the auncient Fathers assembled in the name of the Lord with a generall consent of them all and without any contradiction of the holy Scriptures the same surely although they be not of the same authoritie with holy Scriptures yet did they proceed from the holy Ghost Heereof it commeth to passe that those things which are of this nature neither would I neither dare I with a good conscience disallow them And what can be shewed more certainly out of histories out of the councels out of the writings of all the ancient fathers then that those orders of Ministers of the which we haue spoken haue bene ordained and receiued in the Church by the generall consent of all christian common-wealths And who then am I that should presume to reproue that which the whole Church hath approued This is true and religious humilitie Thus all graue and discreet godly men haue euerwritten Those that contemne all the learned Fathers that went before them doe open a windowe to their owne discredite by those that shall come after them That which this godly and great learned man ascribeth to the
the Church committed So as then these parochiall Doctors were cleane out of request And is not this the lightnes and fleshly minde which the Apostle renounceth in that they come thus vnto vs with yea and nay But as yet you see not all the vncertainties follies iarres squaringes and contradictions which I finde about this matter Iunius saith that of doctors some were prophets some were doctors Beza he holdeth that S. Pauls meaning was to diuide Prophets into Pastors doctors Whose diuisions or opinions cannot both bee true if the rules of diuisiō be duly obserued For by the first euery prophet is a doctor and by the second euery doctor is a prophet Furthermore as Iunius very cunningly will draw both a prophet and a doctor out of a doctor as Beza wringeth the doctor out of the prophet so Trauerse he can fetch him out of a Bishop Of Bishops saith he some are pastors and some are doctors By whose extraction euery Geneua school-master that teacheth but petits is now become a Bishop And peraduenture I doe espie his pollicie in it A great while it went vnchecked amongst them for an Ecclesiastical canon as though the king of Persia had made it that a Doctor was inferior to the Pastor and to holde the second place But since it was better considered of wisely foreseene that Cartwright some others might more safely take vpon them the office of doctors thē of pastors who are tied more strictly to the obseruation of diuers ceremonies they seeme to mee to bee quite come about and to assigne the first place mentioned vnto the Doctor so no maruaile if they make him a Bishop The office of teaching saith the learned discourser is the chiefe principal office in the church And afterward The office of a Doctor is to teach With whom the godly Sermoner seemeth to agree when he saith Mans soule hath two parts vz. reason or the minde and the hart or the affection By the fall of Adam there is darknes in the mind and rebellion in the hart Now the Lord to cure these diseases hath giuen remedie to his Church First a Doctor to teach vs and then a Pastor to exhort vs c. And Fenner-likewise doth place the Doctor before the Pastor But of this matter I haue no great regard whether soeuer goeth first as proud commeth after And peraduenture they haue some way to shift it I will not therfore stand greatly vppon it especially hauing some other of their Doctoral points to aduertise you of which are of greater importaunce For as yet they are not agreed for any thing I can find whether their Doctors in that they are Doctors bee Ministers to take as wee commonly speake the cure and charge of soules vpon them in particular parishes or not In the whole treatise of the discipline of Fraunce the rules and orders sette downe for making of Ministers doe belong altogether vnto such as our men tearme Pastors And the same course is also held in the seruice booke of Scotland But most plaine it is in the generall Synode of Hage vz. that Doctors are not such Ministers where hauing set downe after the newest fashion the foure functions left vs as they say by Christ vz. Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons it presently followeth in this manner Nemo sine legitima vocatione c. No man ought to take vpon him to preach or administer the sacraments without a lawfull calling although he be a Doctor an Elder or a Deacon Whereby it appeareth as I said that their Doctors in some places beyond the seas are no Ministers without some further calling And yet our English reformers are generally of another iudgement making Ministers of the worde to comprehend aswell Doctors as Pastors as it appeareth in all their seuerall treatises I will not quote any other places than their subscribed new draught of discipline and their Captaines resolution that the officers mentioned Ephes. 4. were all of them assuredly Ministers of the word Lastly if they should bee able in time to compasse this point that their Doctors by vertue of that calling might goe for such Ministers yet a new controuersie thereupon ariseth not inferiour to any of the rest vz. whether it appertaineth to these kinde of Ministers of the word to be Ministers also of the sacraments Caluin thinketh that this is a part of the difference betweene the Pastor and the Doctor Quod Doctores nec disciplinae nec sacramentorū administrationi praesunt That Doctors haue neither to deale with the discipline ' nor with the administration of sacraments But Cartwright little esteeming Caluins iudgement in this matter is most earnest to the contrary who grounding himself as he would seem vpon diuers reasons examples and authorities giueth out these Oracles The Ministers of the word sacraments cannot be pulled in sunder It is a perpetuall ordinance that the same should bee the Ministers of the worde and sacraments These wordes are plaine inough to expresse a mans mind But you may not giue any faith vnto him For as I suppose hee hath altered his iudgement And yet if you will peruse the place you shall not finde him more peremptorie in any one point throughout all his writings In the new draught of discipline wherunto he hath subscribed it is thus defined The Church-officers are first the Ministers of the worde c. And those are Pastors Qui doctrinam sacramenta administrant Who administer doctrine and the sacraments or Doctors Qui versantur in sana doctrina docenda conuincendis erroribus Who are occupied in teaching of wholesome doctrine and in confuting of errors And thus his second sort of Ministers of the word is quite debarred and cut off from the administration of the sacraments Not to gratifie I suppose either Caluin or the truth but because it concerneth most their owne present estate For as the Doctor for their sakes began to be aduanced a steppe higher than he was before so is hee now likewise as I imagine in the same respect disburdened of that base office They can finde in their harts to preach but vrge them to administer the sacraments and their common answere is this we haue nothing to doe with that duetie it belongeth to the Pastors and we are Doctors The matter is they will not obserue the orders of the Church in the administration of sacramentes whereupon it is now come to passe that there may bee certaine Ministers of the worde who haue not authoritie to administer the sacramentes But let them goe They haue not written truth in the tables of their harts and therefore she hath forsaken them CHAP. X. Their Aldermen must be men of good calling AS concerning the number of these pretended rulers there will bee a more fitte place to speake of that hereafter Now you shall first knowe what manner of men they must bee In most parishes of England no doubt but
the brethren must content themselues with very meane fellowes Husbandmen Taylors Butchers Carpenters Shomakers Thatchers Dawbers and such like Indeed at Geneua they flaunt it out For there hauing twelue in number they must all be men of state vz. Two of the Lordes of the little Councell foure of the Councell of three score and six of the Councell of two hundred Which policie pleaseth the Ministers there so greatly that to their commendation be it spoken they wish the like order to bee obserued in all places as neerely as may bee M. Beza speaking hereof saith That there must bee consideration had that Princes and Noblemen and such as haue authoritie be chosen to be of the Segniorie Who being so chosen saith Cartwright and his demonstrator if they should disdaine to ioyne in consultation with poore men they should disdaine not men but Christ himselfe According to some proportion of which precept as Iiudge the saide Cartwright in another place affirmeth that is the practise of the Churches reformed after his fashion to choose such Elders as are able to liue without charging the Church any whit So that as neere as they can they will haue the chiefest and the richest to be their Elders that so the honourable estate of the Ministers might shewe it selfe with greater glory For as it is set downe in the seuenth Geneuian article In case one of the two Lordes of the Councell chosen should then also bee a Syndicke yet he must not bee in the consistorie but as a common Elder to gouerne the Church with the rest of the companie Yea and which is more Euerie such officer is to be continually resident vpon his charge and that in his owne person What not a substitute to bee admitted for a Nobleman It is well Then Kings Princes Magistrates Lords Gentlemen looke well to your charges Marke if it please you how you are raunged and giue place to your betters For saith Danaeus Your degree or kind Longè est dissimile ac inferius ordine pastorum Is farre vnlike and inferiour to the order of pastors You are but made their assistants as the 70. were to Moses Ergo quae inter eiusdem Collegij Curiae assessores siue consiliarios ipsum praesidem differentia est eadem est inter presbyteros pastores eiusdem And therefore knowe this that there is as much difference betwixt you the pastors of your consistories wherin you serue as is betwixt a king and his councellors Fie vppon superioritie may these Ministers say fie vpon it Indeede we saith one of them in effect do rest not in names carrying shew of worldly rule and lordly commaundement c. but of seruice guiding leading ouerseeing directing such like Which maketh me to remember the Frier in Chaucer that desired of the Capon but the liuer of a white loafe but a shiuer and after that a rosted pigs head but for him he would not any beast were dead They wil seeke to be no higher than be aboue princes They wil take nothing vpon them men of great humilitie but euen to be guiders leaders ouerseers and directers And as for names of any great shew or honor they care not for them so they may haue but onely the estimation which is due to men that haue such vaine titles Euen Chaucers Frier vp and downe But what names will please them you shall finde that after a sort in the next chapter CHAP. XI Their disagreement about the name of their ruling associates YOu must not thinke but that in agreeing by what name their pretended gouernors must properly bee called they will be very curious For in christening but of priuate persons their new discipline prouideth that no names be giuen Quae paganismum vel papatum resipiunt which smell either of paganisme or popery but such especially as are in the scriptures And therefore for Robert Alice and such like c. some of them as one noteth haue deuised these names for their children The Lord is neere More triall Reformation Discipline Ioy againe Sufficient From aboue Free gift More fruit Dust names in our English phrases not very vsual or oft found in the scriptures As if for example where we read Adam knew Eue or Kain killed Abell we should say after their fashion Red knew liuing and Possession slew vanitie If they should translate the scriptures they would doe it as it seemeth very properly But now if in a matter of so little weight in respect of that I haue in hande they haue thus bestirred themselues and that with so great discretion you must thinke that for their Aldermen the sinewes of their owne strength they haue left no one corner in their heads vnsearched to set them out to the world in their best colours indeed euery man almost as his fancie hath lead him By that which hath bin said alredy in the sixt chapter it followeth consequently that if vppon their agreement together which I neuer looke for it happen that their pretēded regiment shalbe called Synedriū then their new Aldermen whether they be Princes Magistrates Lords Gentlemen or where they want Coblers Tinkers Brokers or Tapsters they must bee called as I suppose Synedrians if Councell then Councellors if Consistorie then Consistorians if Eldership then Elders if Assembly then Assemblistes if Deaconship then Deacons if Church then Churchians if Senate then Senators and if Synagogue then Archisynagogians To these also may be added some other so as you wil content your selues to see some little more crossing Presbyterorum proprio Christianis vocabulo comprehendi pastores doctores nemo nescit No man is ignoraunt saith Serranus that amongst Christians this word Priest doth properly signifie a pastor and doctor that is Ministers of the worde Nay sayth Cartwright in effect that is a lie by your leaue The name of Elder most properly agreeth to those which haue the gouernmēt only And Trauerse his scholler wil not shrinke frō him an inche Those Elders saith he which onely rule proprio nomine presbyteri appellantur if you will speake properly are to bee called Priests or Elders I thinke he meaneth amongst Christians It seemeth also that they bee called not simply Elders but Elders of the people For Beza is resolute that adiecto epitheto the rulers in the Synedrion or Consistorie had this addition to their names to be tearmed seniores populi Elders of the people with whom notwithstanding his credit an other incountreth a Bussard in respect but yet a fellow as confident as Beza saying Seniores populi non erant ex eclesiastico Synedrio sed ex ciuili The Elders of the people were not of the ecclesiasticall Senate but of the ciuill By whose iudgement then our Elders may not haue that epithete which Beza affirmeth was due vnto them Besides if we shall beleeue Beza Cartwright c. these Elders are cōmended vnto vs in the scriptures vnder the name
certaine that the Barrowists woulde not and not they onely but euen some others of a little better credite then any of our English botchers who will needs haue the people to haue in effect as great an interest in the execution of the Church censures as all the rest both ministers and Eldermen Thus Vrsinus writeth hereof Fiat excommunicatio c Let excommunication be done by the consent and authoritie of the whole Eldership ecclesiae and of the Church not of the Church alone nor of the Ministers or presbytery alone For this power is not giuen by Christ to a few or to Ministers onely although the administration and execution of it is committed oftentimes to fewe or to one Minister sed toti ecclesiae but to the whole Church If he will not heare them and others tell the Church Potentes dominantur vos autem non sic Princes beare rule like Lordes but you may not do so The consent therfore of the Church is to be required 1. Because it is Christes commaundement 2. For the authoritie of the action 3. That no man bee iniuried 4. Least the Ministery should be changed into an Oligarchy or Popish tyranny Thus farre Vrsinus In whose iudgment you see the Eldership is to be charged alreadie though it be but newly set vp with the same faults that are imputed to our church-gouernment by the brotherhoode amongest vs that is with the alteration of Christes institution with Lordlinesse and with a Popishe tyranny c. So as by this deuise the people are to bee vnderstoode in the person of the Apostles as well as their Elders and the one hath no more authoritie to binde and loose then the other But nothing will content them long Giue them the head euery yeare will bring forth a new platforme It will not be inough for maister Beza to say Neque enim eis assentior qui non nisi totius ecclesiae c. I doe not agree with them who will not haue any man excommunicated but by the consent of the whole Church and of euery man particularly For Christ hath giuen this authoritie sani iudicij hominibus to men of sound iudgement that is to the colledge of Elders according to the manner of the Iewes Vrsinus and those that are of his opinion will aunswere that the rest of the Church are not of their wits that it is but his pride and his Elders presumption to take so much vppon them that they would be Lords ouer their brethren and for the place of Mathew that they know Christes meaning aswell as he and all that take his part Of the third ioynt office that Cartwright saith dothâ—belong vnto his pretended Elders to bee executed ioyntly with the ministers as it was touched in the beginning of the 16. chapter I shall haue a more fit place to speake in the 22.23.24 and 25. chapters following CHAP. XVIII Of the first institution of the old Deacons and of the disagreement about the new disciplinarie Deacons IN the apostles times when after Christes ascention they began to preach in Ierusalem such was the charitie of those that professed the Gospell that many of them solde all or the most part of that which they had and brought the price of it to the Apostles feete The especiall reason that moued them as I take it so to do was this The greatest part that at the first did followe the Apostles were of the poorer sorte Who vppon theyr newe embracing of that so comfortable a doctrine did giue ouer themselues to the carefull meditation and throughly learning of it leauing their trades though not altogether yet surely as I suppose for the most part vntill at the least that they grew to bee more fully instructed therein To the which purpose they kept asmuch together with the Apostles as possibly they could and had their holy assemblies their exhortations praiers and the administratioÌ„ of Baptisme secretly in priuat houses for fear of the Magistrats Now as I said the most of these being poore men and the Apostles themselues hauing nothing to liue vpon When any of the richer sorte did ioyne themselues to that meeting or congregation they sold such thinges as they had or thought meete and brought the price of it vnto the Apostles not onely for theyr owne maintenaunce but committed the distribution of it vnto them for the reliefe also of the rest that wanted and were not able to prouide for themselues those thinges that were necessary This charge as well for the saide religious exercises in their priuate assembly as for this distribution equally to be made as the occasions required the Apostles took vppon them more particularly for a short time then they did afterward vz. vntill the number of Christians in Ierusalem increased from 120. vnto fiue thousand at the least and did grow daily more and more so as they were as I thinke constrained to haue diuerse Congregations And then because they found it to be some hinderaunce vnto the execution of their generall Commission for the further dispersing of the Gospell they caused seuen men to be chosen such as were knowen to be of honest report and full of the holy Ghost and wisedome Vnto whom that businesse was more specially committed Who thenceforth might not onely according to their honesty and discretion take into their hands such money as shoulde be brought from time to time to the godly disposed for the purpose mentioned but also in the Apostles absence agreeably with the fulnes of the holy Ghost whereby they held the mysterye of faith in a pure conscience were to teach to comforte to moue to confirme in the faith the brethren in theyr particular congregations or meetings and likewise to offer their common praiers in al their names vnto the Lord and to baptise the children of the faithfull For the Apostles in appointing of these newe officers had as well regard to the Soules of the people as to their bodies And because at that time which was the infancy and first spring of the Church there were not such meete men as might be made Priests or as they tearme them now a daies preaching Elders it pleased the Apostles to haue them trained vp in that exercise and to make the office of Deacons a degree and a step to the fulnes of Priesthood Which is expressed by Saint Paul when he saith of Deacons qui bene ministrant gradum bonum sibi acquirent they that minister well shal purchase to themselues a good degree And this order or office of Deacons being thus as you haue heard first instituted at Hierusalent was afterward vppon the same occasions and for the same ends ordained in other Churches where alwaies they executed all the parts mentioned of their offices so long as the Churchâ—s continued wherein they were placed Or if it happened as it did after in IerusaleÌ„ that their Churches were dispersed so as contributions collections ceased yet they continued their
preaching their exhorting and confirming of the weâ—ke brethren their baptising of children the rest of the duties mentioned as they might be suffered and accepted of wheresoeuer they came Examples of such Deacons and offices as here I haue spoken of we haue in the scriptures deliuered to vs by S. Luke wher he setteth down the actions of Steuen and Phillip both of theÌ„ Deacons how they preached how Phillip baptized and what is sayd of any one of them must be vnderstood of the rest Vnto these examples and for the further proofe of these premises I might adde the generall consent of all the ancient Fathers and the ordinary practise of all Churches either in theyr times or since especially for the continuall practise of the Priestly part of the Deacons office But as in times of dispersion they could not execute the other part consisting in collections distributions so afterwards God blessed his Church in such sort that indeed it needed not For when great men Lords Princes Kings and Emperours had embraced the doctrine of Christ so as men had the Gospell brought as it were home to their doores and might frequent with commendation the publicke assemblies and practise of religion and withall follow their owne trades and particular callings more diligently when also the saide great men Lordes Princes and Emperours besides many other well disposed Christians had prouided for the ministers and for the poor sufficient maintenaÌ„ce for the one partly by the tithes which are due vnto them and partly by other gifts according to their places and for the other that is the poor by setting them on worke such as were able by prouiding of hospitals and such like meanes for those that were impotent that part of the Deacons office became to be in time superfluous And since they haue applied themselues to the more materiall part of their office whereby they might obtaine the other good degree of Priesthood With these points I thought good to acquaint you before I came to the Disciplinary conceits about Deacons For euen now as though there were no prouision made either for the ministery or for the poore they are most instant for I know not what kind of Deacons But as therin they haue cut off themselues from the truth so are they at great disagreement one with another Our Englishe reformers are all of them peremptory that we must haue suche Deacons as they imagin were in the Apostles times But the GeneuiaÌ„ ministers do think their platform of discipline to be the paragoÌ„ of the world although they haue no such Deacons in it There is in Geneua an Hospitall whereof there are foure Proctors and ouerseers and these foure are with them in steed of Deacons For otherwise they haue not so much as the name of Deacons there By which rule if we shall square the pretended discipline we haue such officers already as may serue our turnes for Deacons vz. Proctors of Spitle-houses maisters and ouerseers of hospitals as sufficient honest and fit meÌ„ to execute their places as ther is any I assure my self in Geneua But peraduenture the matter which they shoot at is this They would haue an Hospitall in euery parish And yet there is no such thing at Geneua In al their whole Territory they haue but one hospitall Wel let Geneua therin do what it list our men will needs haue another kind of Deacons what kind is that Surely no such kind as was in the Apostles times But they know not indeed what they woulde haue The Deacons which our men doe require must not inter-meddle for a 1000. li. with any part of the office that belongeth to a minister Their deaconship in no case may be reckned to be a step to the ministery How beit som other meÌ„ as wise as learned as they are do hold a contrary opinioÌ„ First all the ancient fathers are generally against them in both the points mentioned so is the practise of the church of God euer since the Apostles times All the learned meÌ„ in Germanie for ought I find that maintaine the Augustane confessioÌ„ are against theÌ„ Yea what if some of their chiefe Captaines be against them The Deacons in Fraunce were once within these fewe yeares allowed to catechise publickly in theyr reformed Congregations And as yet one parte of their office is to go through families and to catechise them at home priuately To bee a Catechist with our men is the especiall dutie of their Doctor whom they make a Minister of the worde So as then there is no more difference in that respect betwixt their Doctorall minister and the French Deacons sauing that the one doth catechise publicklie and the other priuatelie If all this bee nothing then let vs heare Beza the Consistoriall oracle who turneth himselfe into euerie mans colours Truth is mightie and driueth men to their shiftes when hauing rashly ouershot themselues they will still to maintaine their credits impugne it Heare him I praie you how hee plaieth his prize It is saith hee absurde to thinke that Deacons had the office of preaching committed vnto them But in his confessions thus The office of pastors and Doctors is to preach and saye prayers vnder which duties I doe comprehend the administration of the sacraments and the blessing of mariages according to the perpetuall vse of the Church although oftentimes Deacons did supplye these thinges insteed of the Pastors Againe The fathers and late writers who supposed that the office of preaching did belong to Deacons decepti sunt were deceiued But in his annotations vppon the 1. of Tim. 3.9 That the Deacons must holde the misterie of faith thus DiaconoruÌ„ enim erant nonnullae etiaÌ„ in docendo partes quoties necesse fuisset vt ex Stephano et Philippo apparet the Deacons had also some thing to do in teaching when it was needfull as by the example of Steuen and Philip it is manifest Againe in his booke against D. Sarauia finding himselfe as I suppose to be preiudiced by his said annotation or hauing beene reproued for it by Cartwright c. or fearing some inconuenience that might ensue thereof hee would gladlye get him some startinge hole Cartwright to auiode the example of Steuen the Deacon saith in effect that he was no preacher but an Apologizer But Beza hath not learned that euasion as yet He hath another which is indeed as good as none at all Stephen the Deacon saith hee although hee was most worthy to be apreacher yet in that he was only a Deacon in the Church of Ierusalem he is not sayde to haue taught in the Church but in the Synagogues of the Iewes As it is nowe constantly helde our Church assemblies are the same in effect that the Iewes Synagogues were So as then bee-like Deacons may not preach in Cathedrall churches which I resemble to the temple of Hierusalem but they maie preach in Countrie parishes One of the places which Beza
not simply as he is the second person in Trinitie God aboue all but as he is the sonne of God manifested in the flesh Nay he goeth further and sayth that Christ hath all this authoritie not only as he is both God and man but that he hath it euen as he is man Cartvvright sayth that our sauiour Christ in the gouernment of kingdoms and common-vvealths and in the superioritie vvhich he hath ouer kings iudges hath no superior But if we shall beleeue the sayd motioner he is as directly contrarie vnto him in this assertion as he was in the former For sayth he our sauiour Christ as he is King of kings Lord of lords and the ruler and disposer of all kingdoms of the earth he hath receaued that authoritie of his father and so hath it 1. Cor. 15.24 If it shall be maruailed that the humble motioner peraduenture some swaine in respect of Cartvvright dare thus presume to incounter with such a Goliah especially hauing an whole armie no doubt that will and his vizgerent Trauers that dooth already assist him he may be easily satisfied in that Beza on the other side a man of farre greater account in Scotland than Cartvvright is in England hath promised and pawned his iudgement to backe the motioner in these points For hee is wholy of the motioners opinion Pater non nisi in persona filij manifestati in carne mundum regit God the Father sayth he doth not gouerne the vvorld but onely in the person of his sonne manifested in the flesh And agayne he alloweth of the Fathers where they hold that Proprie humanae naturae respectu dicitur datum esse filio potestatem coeli ac terrae vvhen it is sayd that povver is giuen to the sonne of heauen and earth it is spoken properly in respect of his humane nature receaued The world is gouerned only by Christ as he is manifested in the flesh therefore not onely as Cartvvright sayth as he is God The gouernment of the world is committed to the sonne of God as he is manifested in the flesh therfore contrary to Cartvvright he hath therein a superior Christ the sonne of God hath the gouernment of heauen and earth assigned vnto him properly in respect of his humane nature which he hath receaued and therefore not only as he is the sonne of God coequall with the Father as Cartvvright affirmeth So as whatsoeuer either Cartvvright Trauers or any of their followers shal enforce against the authoritie of christian princes in respect vz. that they with all the heathen gouernors do hold their scepters immediatly vnder christ as he is God only and not as he is their mediator it is all but as vntempered morter nothing fit for the purpose as other of their friends do iudge and as it seemeth by Beza in the place quoted might peraduēture if it were thorowly followed touch them neerer then they are aware of as men not fully persuaded of the most high and mighty prerogatiue of the person of Christ Iesus But let that go I am glad to heare that christian magistrats may haue somthing to do vnder Christ as he is their mediator And what if it may appeare that holding their gouernment vnder him as mediator they may haue some authoritie also vnder him as he is the head of the church I know that would come quite cam to Cartvvrights humor Neuerthelesse it is reason that men should be heard The humble motioner affirmeth that the Lord Iesus hath the regiment and povver ouer all principalities either in heauen or earth not simplie as hee is God but as he is Christ God and man and so the head of the church Let these places of scripture Ephesians 1. vers 20 21 22 23. and Colossians 1. vers 16 17 18 19 20. be effectually considered where there is speech of the great prerogatiue which Christ hath in the world as he is head of the church and they do wholy run that way In so much as Caluin writing vpon one of those epistles Ephes. 1. ver 23. sayth Nihil impedit quo minus de vniuersali gubernatione accipias There is no impediment vvby you may not vnderstand it of Christs vniuersall gouernment But more fitly to this purpose Beza where speaking of Christ as the head of the Church and of such officers as he hath appointed vnder him he accounteth the ciuile magistrat for one as before it hath bene noted But Snecanus is resolute and accounteth them aduersaries Anabaptists that shall denie it affirming that by rulers and gouernours Rom. 12. and 1. Cor. 12. where the Apostle speaketh of the body of Christ the ciuile magistrats are vnderstood as well as their Aldermen that they are to be reckoned inter officia ecclesiae nay inter dona ecclesiae Ephesi 4. though they be not there named and that it is therefore great rashnesse to exclude the ciuile authoritie out of the church Nisihanc simul tollere velint Except they meane to abolish it altogether Indeed I like this exception well and so I do also of his opinion For me thinketh that if kings and princes be ioint cōmissioners vnder Christ the head with their pastors doctors and aldermen assigned by the Apostle for the gouernment of the church they might be well content and reckon it no disparagement vnto the best of them that the prince their soueraigne should beare the chiefest and the greatest sway amongst them And all this maketh directly against Cartvvright euen as though men of purpose should haue studied to haue disgraced him which surely needeth not For if his own writings were narrowly looked into there is sufficient in thē to discipher him in his colours I meruaile what he meaneth when he writeth that a king was necessarie for the Israelits to shadow out to them the kingdome of Christ. Would he leaue his scholers at libertie to reason as the Apostle doth whē they should see their time Christ is now come in the flesh being our high priest hath performed the worke of our saluation therfore the priesthood of Aaron being but a shadow of Christs priesthood ought now to cease And euen so they when they list The kingdome of Christ is now come vnto vs therefore the hauing of a king being but a shadow of Christs kingdome ought now to cease Surely this commeth neare to Snecanus cōiecture vz. Nisihāc simul tollere velint But to omit surmises many such thinges els which I maruel at in him you shall find him so violent in this cause as rather then he will graunt that Christian magistrats may bee subordinate heads or cheefe gouernours in church affaires vnder Christ their sauiour within their own dominions he can be cōtent to reason as if he were a notorious S winkfeldian and meant to abolish all the ministers of the word as needlesse instruments vnder Christ for the building feeding and comforting of his church For thus he argueth
priest prophets if they be Christs substitutes as he is a prophet and kings by the same proprietie of speech if they be Christs immediat substitutes as he is a king And so I will go to the next chapter wherby you shall perceaue more particularly that call them as ye list they challenge authoritie like princes or rather popes to deale in many matters CAP. XXV In vvhat causes more particularly their elderships are to deale as they pretend YOu haue heard before of certaine of the seuerall and ioint offices of their counterfeit church-aldermen and likewise in the chapter how they challenge to themselues in their elderships the whole gouernment in all church-causes Now for that it might bee doubted how farre these words Church causes should extend they haue taken great paines to cleare their meaning in that behalfe and so haue vsed the matter to my vnderstanding as that they haue left out no one cause of what nature soeuer but that either directly or indirectly by hooke or crooke they haue brought it vnder their lee and with-within their compasse Read their sayings and then iudge as you see cause All crimes saith Knox that by the lavv of God deserue death deserue also excommunication as vvilfull murderers adulterers sorcerers vvitches coniurers charmers giuers of drinke to destroy children open blasphemers as denyers of the truth raylors against the Sacraments c. And hovv will they proceed in the execution of this censure vpon such manner of sinnes the same order doth specifie A superintendent must direct his letters of summons to the parish church where the offender dvvelleth or if the offender haue no certaine dvvelling place then to the chiefe tovvne and best reformed church in that diocesse vvhere the crime was committed appointing to the offender a certain day and place vvhen vvher he shal appeare before the superintendent his assessors to heare that crime tried as touching the truth of it and to ansvver for himselfe vvhy the sentence of excommunication should not be pronounced against him Here are then new summons and nevv citations Here is authoritie challēged not only to appoint such offices and to vse such iurisdiction but that which seemeth strāge to me indeed to trie a murderer and such like offendors as touching the very facts whether they committed them or not Do they impanall a iurie thinke you as we do in England for triall of the fact or are the elders of the consistorie iudges of the facts as they be of law That is not expressed But what if the partie vpon his summons appeare not That is no great matter Inquisition being taken of the crime he is the next Sunday to be excōmunicated not for his contempt in not appearing but for the very fact it selfe as in their form of excommunication in such cases it is expressed For the inquisition of the crime taken in his wilfull absence shall be a conuiction for his soule let his body escape the temporall magistrats hands as it may This is round dealing A man is condemned of murder and neuer heard for sitting but of one citation in a matter of life and death out goeth their excōmunication Call they this proceeding after the new discipline But to follow this case to the end It happeneth that this murderer is aftervvard pardoned by the magistrat but yet though hee professe repentance he may not be receaued till after fortie daies of triall and vntill hee hath satisfied the kinred and friends of the man that vvas slaine You may say what if they will not be satisfied That I warrant you is prouided for Then ought the church to put moderation to the vnreasonable in case the ciuile magistrat hath not so done before It is very well what the king will not they may Besides when it is sayd that the church ought to put such a moderation you must vnderstand that except the parties do agree to be so put out flieth againe as I suppose their foresaid slipperie censure Againe for all other offences that fall not vnder the ciuile svvord and yet are slanderous and offensiue to the church as fornication drunkennesse vsed svvearing curssed speaking chiding fighting bravvling and common contempt of the order of the church breaking of the sabboth vvāton vain vvords vncomly gestures negligēce in hearing of preaching or obtaining from the Lords table vvhen it is publikely ministred suspicion of auarice or of pride superfluitie or riotousnesse in cheare or raiment c. All these likewise do come by certaine degrees within the compasse of their censures all according to the word of God you must suppose or els you do them wrong Vnto these may be also further added ministers apparell vvomens lasciuious dissolute or too sumptuous attire either publikely or priuatly dauncing all games that bring losse stage-plaies of all sorts haunting of tauerns or tipling houses all inordinat liuers and all such like matters according to the discretion of the eldership cuirelinquenda sunt vvhervnto they are to be left From which discretion it proceeded as I take it that for some disorders committed in Edenburgh about a Robin-hood which the prouost and bailifs would haue staied the vvhole multitude vvere holden excommunicate But yet I haue not done with these causes They grow vpon me more and more And it is no reason that our owne brotherhood of England should be pretermitted They vz. the elderships shall suffer no levvd customs saith the admonitioner to remaine in their parishes either games or othervvise You know their meaning Maipoles Ales maigames moricedances all must downe How doth Robin-hood stick in their stomacks Besides all that haue liued vvith offence to the congregation although they haue suffered the punishment of the lavv for it yet because they offended therby both God the church they are vvithin the limits of the elderships to be censured by them The demōstrator is also very bountiful The office of the church gouernors saith he is to decide controuersies in doctrine and maners so far as pertaineth to conscience and the church censures That is if any shall refuse their said decision they will not indeed whip him or hang him those are ciuile punishments But so farre as the church-censures will reach haue at him Will he run to trouble his neighbour either to the Chancerie to the Kings-bench or cōmon pleas may haue both cōscience and iustice of his eldership at home Such a fellovv shal pay for it It is wisely therfore considered of the humble motioner where he telleth the lords of her maiesties priuie coūsaile that the church is to censure such a partie vvho is apparantly troublesome and contentious and vvithout reasonable cause and vpon meere vvill and stomacke doth vex molest his brother to trouble the countrie Apparātly troublesome that is apparantly to their conceits without reasonable cause vz. to be approued by thē And how can they know how reasonable the cause is except
scriptures nor in all the fathers nor in all the world whervpon they might insist but did wholy rely vpon a pretended cannon of the councell of Neece Which cannon after much trouble many letters written and answers receaued was prooued to their faces by the said AffricaÌ„ bishops to be a most false and a counterfeit cannon At this time these arguments for the Popes authoritie had neuer bene heard of Neyther thou art Peter nor confirme thy bretheren nor feed my sheepe nor vnto thee vvill I giue the keies of the kingdome of heauen nor any of the rest which now are alleaged out of the scriptures As the bishops of Rome by their practises did grow in greatnesse so their parafits by their flattering did draw and wrest the scriptures to maintain their pride In as much that of later times euen as children do imagin that the bels do ring whatsoeuer they will sing so there is almost nothing in the scriptures meÌ„tioned no not from the sunne in the firmament to a peece of siluer found in the mouth of a fish that was catched with an angle in the sea but that the scholemen and other popish writers do presently conceaue with themselues that it tendeth to the setting forth of the popes great power glorie You haue heard in the second chapter by what arguments M. Caluin induced the ministers magistrats of Zuricke and so likewise as I take it of the other three cities there mentioned to write as they did for the obtaining of his presbytery at Geneâ—a It thâ—n sufficed him that they were content to say but thus much for his sake that this platforme of discipline did cast but an eye as it were toward the word of God He neither vrged them with the Iewes Sanedrim nor with their sinagogues nor with tell the Church nor with the elders that rule wel nor with any such persuasioÌ„s It is true that although when hee first deuised that platforme 1537. I suppose he had not thought of many places in the scriptures wherevpon he might build it yet before his sayd practises with them of Zuricke 1553 c. hee had in some of his commentaries and other writings made mention of those places specified but yet hee had done it very modestly rather thereby to prooue his owne platforme to be lawfull than to impeach the forme of church-gouernment allowed of and established in any other reformed churches So as when he dealt with them of Tigurine for as much as he himselfe was persuaded that the forme of discipline then at Geneua was not onely in it selfe lawfull but for that place also most fit and conuenient he alleaged not any one text of scripture for the continuance of it there but onely shewed what mischiefe would ensue in that place if it were abolished and therefore craued their assistance in manner and forme as he gaue them direction Marrie after it was by his means more fully established then for the better preseruation of it you would hardly bethinke it what wringing and wresting there hath since bene made of the scriptures to vnderprop it with this translation with that note with such an interpretation and with such a collection In so much as now there is seldome mention made of elders in the old or new testament of the words congregation and church of the greatest and cheefest iudges of bishops of rulers of thrones and of the kingdome of Christ but maister Beza Iunius Danaeus Cartvvright Trauers and all their schollers do thinke they heare a sound that ringeth out most plainly in their eares a formall peale of their presbyteri platforme Hauing occasion to talke vpon a time with an artizan of Kingston about his refusall after the purest fashion to be examined vpon his oth because I saw how peart hee was rapt out text vpon text full ignorantly God knoweth I was so bold as to examin him in the second petition of the Lords praier demaunding of him what he thought was meant by this word kingdome therâ— mentioned Whereunto he made in effect this answer without any staggering VVe pray sayth hee that our heauenly father vvould at the last graunt vnto vs that vve might haue pastors doctors elders and deacons in euery parish and so be gouerned by such elderships as Christs holy discipline dooth require And surely as it was with this fellow so is it with the most of those that talke so much of reformation as well with the schollers as with very many of their maisters put them out of their theame of rayling against the orders of our church and of extolling the pretended platforme of their counterfeit discipline and for other points which are of the substance of religion you shall find them most ignorant And as I take it the reason thereof is this because they haue found this phantasticall deuise magnified and extolled so exceedingly by a most lewd application of all those places of scripture in a manner vnto it which are written of the spirituall gouernment of the holy ghost in the harts of the faithfull as hereafter it will further appeare vnto you that they almost care for no other points so as they can bable of discipline and whet their tongues like rasors to wound all those that do impugne it You may remember that in the fift chapter for the finding out of the beginning and institution of this pretended eldership we were carried by degrees first to the return of the Iewes froÌ„ their captiuitie theÌ„ to Mâ—ses time thirdly almost to the daies of Noah they might as well haue brought vs within a generatioÌ„ of AdaÌ„ Now according to these deuises the scriptures are framed to serue euery one of their purposes For the manifestatioÌ„ where of I wil take no very long course nor enter into any ful discussing of those places which I find to be peruerted that worke being performed alreadie in diuers learned mens writings and as it wil appeare to al the world more fully hereafter only my meaning is that ye might perceaue and still obserue how agreeably al things concur together in the building setting out of their disciplinary Babel It is nothing els but as oft I haue sayd a meere fantasticall dreame And therefore by Gods prouidence that men might the better discern it and so take heed least they should be deceiued with such a vanitie it is framed according to the nature of such a fancy with discords contrarieties disagreements nouelties with stretching straining the scriptures as ech maÌ„ is disposed I know not with how many paltries vnlearned deuises Cartvvright who hath out-run his fellowes a very great way pretendeth that he is able to hammer his eldership out of the 4 of Exod. because Moses and Aaron when they came into Egipt did cal together as God had coÌ„manded theÌ„ the elders of the children of Israel Here you heare indeed that there is mention made of elders Wherevpon Cartvvright finding that name after one or two vnlikelihoods brought
not to expecte for the vnderstanding of those things which are spoken in the Scriptures out of the words themselues sed imponere but to impose a meaning vppon them non referre sed adferre not to deliuer the true sense of them but to bring a sense of their owne not a yeelding to the wordes but a kind of compulsion inforcement or violence offered to make that to seeme to be contained in thē quod ante lectionem praesumpserit intelligendum which they presumed should be vnderstood by them before they read them Whosoeuer doe deale with the Scriptures in this sort well they may speak proud things exalt themselues promise mountaines bragge of the Prophets of Christ of his Apostles and verisimilia mentiri as many such men in former times haue done whereby for a season some may be deceaued but yet as Sainct Cyprian saith mendacia non diu fallunt It will come to passe as alwaies it hath done hitherto that after a short time the couering of their deuises with so many sleights and falshoodes groweth to be detected and then they are paid to their vtter discredite the wages and full hire of such vnrighteous dealing CHAP. XXXII What account the sollicitors for this pretended gouernment doe make each of other WE haue Christ and his Apostles and all the Prophets on our sides we are assured wee see Gods glorie The order that we contend for is that which God hath left the euerlasting truth of God The matters that wee deale in are Gods and we may not for our parts leaue them The matters we deale in are according to the very will of God There is nothing in our bookes that should offend any that either bee or would seeme to be godly Gods cause by vs is truely and faithfully propounded No no Gods cause is the matter why wee are troubled well may they confer and yeelde for neuer shall they ouerthrow the trueth which we vtter It is not possible for vs to conceale the trueth wee can doe nothing against it but for it Wee are the poore seruaunts of God and professors of the Gospell we are the poore little ones of Christ we are the foolish things of the world chosen to confound the wise wee propound nothing that the Scriptures doe not teach the writers both olde and new for the most part affirme the examples of the Primitiue Church and of those which are at these daies confirme We stay our selues within the bounds of Gods word wee seeke not to pleasure our selues but the Lord and our bretheren we seeke not the admiration of men we will patiently abide vntill the Lord bring our righteousnes in this behalfe vnto light and our iust dealing as the noone day We are of immortall seede we are the lawfull successors of those men who through faith quenched the violence of fire we are those vnto whom the Lorde made this promise I will not faile thee we may boldly say the Lorde is my helper I will not feare what man can doe vnto me we are the chiefe seruaunts of God most worthy faithfull and painefull Ministers feeders of Christs flocke vnreprooueable modest and watchfull Nowe we the seruauntes of God must reason with you the Proctors of Antichrist Paul spake frankely against superstition so doe these Paul was accounted a foole in the world so are these Paul counted mens traditions dong and drosse so doe these They haue one common cause Paul was persecuted and so are these Our side detesteth sinne and wickednes preaching the gospell with all faithfull diligence Our Ministers quietly suffer all euill at the handes of the Magistrates onely refusing to doe euill at their commaundement as did Iohn Baptist Peter and Iohn the Euangelist professing they must rather obey God then men God knoweth we altogether seeke to doe good There is none of our side God be praised but that he hath some competent knowledge of the Scriptures and in life very honest Ours doe follow Christ and labour so to doe more and more They of the wicked sort take part with their aduersaries but the godly doe ioine with vs. We deserue praise of the law and of the Church of God Our zeal when they raile vnmeasurably is to be measured with the zeale of Moises Elias of the Prophets of Iohn Baptist of Paul of the Apostles of Iohn the elder and of Christ. Indeede there is almost nothing spoken in the Scriptures to the commendation of the true Prophets and Ministers of God or which may well be applied to such as truelie feare the Lord and walke in his waies but they seeme to appropriat the same vnto themselues and their followers with the same faith and sinceritie I feare that one in the Gospell sustaining the person of those which trusted in themselues that they were iust and despised others saide vz. O God I thanke thee that I am not as other men extorcioners vniust adulterers I fast twise in the weeke I giue Tithe of all that euer I possesse There is also another reproofe sette downe by the same Euangelist of such kinde of men which I wish they maie look in time to escape Yee are they which iustifie your selues before men but God knoweth your hearts To whome though for mine owne part I leaue them to be iudged yet I haue thought it meete to let you vnderstand what Barrow and Greenewood not priuately but in Printe haue published of them Two men who peraduenture haue beene themselues of the same minde and integritie that these presentlie are of and by their owne harts they doe take vppon them to iudge of these mens hartes nowe They meaning our English Consistorians are most pernicious deceauers presumptuous shepeheardes chiefe Rabbines Baalmites wretched disciples of Caluin blasing starres and paragons of the Countrye new founde Martins saincts glosing hypocrits with God fasting pharisaicall preachers miserable guides counterfeyt false prophets Sycophants trencher-priests that will cunningly insinuate into some great noble mans house Pharisies in precisenes outward shewes of holynes hypocrisie vaine-glory couetousnes resembling or rather exceeding them Conscience brokers most daungerous and pestilent seducers Sectary precise preachers abalienaters of the harts minds of the people from theyr pastors to draw them to themselues The perfidy and apostacy of these reformists is great The perfidye and treacherye of these miserable guides treacherous watchmen sworne waged marked souldiers of Antichrist garding his verye throne and person building the harlotte a false Church Theyr dealing is counterfeyt and corrupt They intangle poore soules by theyr counterfeyt shewes of holynes grauitie austerenes of manners c. These Scorpions so poyson and sting euerye good Conscience so leauen them with hypocrisie c. that such proselytes as are wonne vnto them become twofolde more the children of hell then they
no longer this wonderfull thing that Trauerse speaketh off is this vz. that as it seemeth some of the said Churches so highly by him commended haue by vertue of their discipline excommunicated alreadie some great princes or Kinges If he had not himselfe published this matter in print and propounded the same as a president for the honour of his discipline I would not haue presumed yee maie be sure to haue touched it Neyther yet will I further meddle with it then onely to set downe his wordes After a long discourse how where there discipline is on foote there is nothing in effect amisse no priuate administration of the sacraments no baptizing or reading of seruice by Deacons no commutation of pennaunce no respect of persons he saith thus Memorable is that rare but right christian example of Theodosius the Emperor publicklye humbling himselfe vnder the hande of God and professing his repentance for his bloodye commaundement and the cruell execution done accordinge to it A president well worthy so christian a prince the honour of the Discipline yea and of the whole church of that age Such Theodosians haue the reformed churches of this age to speake off to the high honor of almighty God and his onlye begotten sonne Christ Iesus king of kinges Wherein a Prince of bloode royall and by birth within a step or two to one of the greatest Kingdomes of these partes of the worlde and for princely giftes worthy to haue borne a Scepter in his hande and a Diademe vpon his heade when as another Dauid hee hadde been ouerthrowen by Sathan and committed things for which the name of God was euill spoken off endured to heare the seruant of God as Dauid did Nathan to rebuke him lamenting his offence openly before the publicke assembly of the Church desired pardon of God and reioyced heauen and earth men and Angels with his conuersion from sinne to the obedience of the liuing God blessed for euer Amen Whose christian president both a crowned King and also a worthie sonne of that noble Father haue followed after that by terror of as barbarous crueltie as hath beene commited in any age they had done otherwise then Daniell and the yonge princes brought vp with him did in a case not vnlike to theyrs c. Hitherto Trauers And what this importeth iudge you I will aunswere no questions who these Theodosians are As princes like it let them allow it And thus of the commendation of this gouernment which if it were true indeed and that it had by any lawfull title so Regall an authority as here you see is pretended who would not almost fall downe and worshippe it But you must belieue them with discretion Men that thinke they know this platforme as well as the best of those that haue extolled it do carrie a farre differing opinion of it And therefore they haue been bold to write of it as followeth It is a sillye Presbytery or Eldership A sequestred withdrawen Presbyterye A sweeping new reformation A presumptuous irregular Consistory which hath no grounde in the worde of God A second beast Let them consider how far the â—auinge of such a Consistorie and Pastor in one Congregation differeth from that Apostolicall sea of Rome and that holy father that sitteth therein Of this Consistorie through the whole testament they can shew no warraunt They make themselues transgressors of the worshippe of God disturbers violaters of that holy order which Christ hath established in his Church These deceitfull workemen not onelye builde theyr owne timber and stubble deuises but most highly prophane that heauenly frame and gratious gouernement of Christ. In their leauened and corrupt writings of discipline and theyr supplications vnto the Parliament are declared theyr pernitious forgeries and sacrilegious prophanation of Gods holy ordinance They fetch their reformation from the primatiue defection That counterfeyt reformation which these counterfeit preachers pretende is as euill as that which is alreadie Both these factions pontificall and reformists woulde assume the whole gouernment of the Church into theyr owne handes How can o these forgers these coyners of religion seeme sue to cast out the heape of humane traditions as contrary and such as cannot bee ioyned vnto or with the testament of Christ and yet bring in these forgeries of theyr owne Is it likely or possible that our Sauiour Christ woulde fetch his patterne for the Elders of his Church and the executing of these high iudgements from that corrupt degenerate Synedrion of the Iewes which by the institutioÌ„ of God was merely ciuile and not ordayned for causes ecclesiasticall as appeareth Exod. 18. Num. 11. Deut. 1 The priestes bearing the charge and hauing the deciding of all ecclesiasticall causes Num. 18. Deut. 17. But this Councell of theyrs was now mixed of the Elders of the people and the Priestes and handled all causes both ciuile and Ecclesiasticall indifferently Mat. 26.3 Act. 4.5 If by the light of Gods word you examine and measure the secret Classis the ordinary sette Synods and Councels of ministers as they tearme themselues which these reformists now priuilie bring in and would openly set vp they shall no doubt be found as new strange antichristiaÌ„ as preiudicial to the libertie of the Saincts and to the power right and duties of the whole Church and as contrary to the gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ as the gouernement by Bishops c. what shew so euer of former antiquitie or of present necessitie they may pretend It is a new r adulterate forged gouernement in shew or rather in dispight of Christs blessed gouernment which they in pride rashnes ignoraunce and sensualytye of theyr fleshly hartes most miserablye innouate corrupt and peruert Theyr most exquisite plots of gouernment which they can deuise vnto theÌ„selues are but the instruments of foolish shepeheards to theyr owne perdition and of as many as are gouerned by them There is great difference we may perceiue hereby betweene the opinions of these two sorts of men concerning this presbyteriall forme of the new pretended discipline If any that are possessed with the former mens conceites shall lightly esteeme what this second sort of fellowes doe hold or thinke of their platforme he is to be put in mind that they are not so lightly to be regarded Diuerse ministers well reckoned of heretofore for their learning are lately fallen from Cartwright and his secte into another more new frenzy of Barrowisme In a letter that was taken not long since I find some points to this effect The preachers of Midleborow and Flushing haue both giuen ouer their vnlawfull callings M. Iohnson hath written a most learned discourse concerning the striking of a newe couenaunt with some conferences had in that country It is also reported and I am perswaded by that which I haue seene that the report is true vz. that maister Penry is entered in like manner into this
Christiā whosoeuer to separat himselfe either from their assemblies or from the receiuing of the Lords supper with them But if any so did he assigneth him his place amongst certain old hereticks Olim duae fuerunt haereticorum sectae c. In times past there vvere sayth he tvvo sorts of hereticks vvhich troubled the Church greatly The one sort of them vvere called Puritans the other Donatists And both of them vvere in the same error that these dreamers are in seeking for a Church vvherein there should vvant nothing that might be desired Therefore they diuided themselues from the vniuersall society of Christians least they should be defiled vvith other mens impurities But vvhat came of it Dominus eos cum tam arroganticoepto dissipauit The Lord himselfe scattered them vvith that their proud attempt Where by the way it is meet to be obserued that a man may sticke so fast to the Geneua discipline as he may prooue himselfe to bee either a puritane or a Donatist or both Maister Beza in like maner by reason of some opposition which hath bene made against the Sauoyan platforme is growne as it seemeth to some kind of moderation For speaking of the pretended necessitie of it hee sayth that the doctrine onely vz. vvhat vve are to beleeue is absolutely necessarie and also further addeth that seeing a man sometimes may be saued vvithout the participation of the sacraments the same may bee sayd much more of the vvant of ecclesiasticall discipline Now verely we are to thanke him he hath done much for vs. We may be saued though the memorie of this discipline were vtterly buried But the point which I chiefely note is this that there is great difference in maister Bezaes iudgement betwixt the necessitie of the first two notes of the church and this third of his own deuise And therein he giueth in effect the flat lye to maister Cartvvright for charging him to hold that all the said 3 notes as they are notes were equally necessarie And Trauers also is checked by his good maister in that he wil needs make as it hath bene said the censures of his cōsistories to be in the same absolute degree of necessity both with the word and sacraments But I wil follow M. Beza whilest I haue him in his good mood The vvhole church vvanted circūcision in the vvildernes saith he vvhilest they vvere in Babylon they neither had temple nor sacrifices and yet neuerthelesse they ceassed not to be the people of God And the same may then be said much more of the ecclesiastical discipline vz. Ecclesias vt illa careant tamen ecclesias verè pias Christianas esse posse si doctrinam praecipuorū dogmatum purā ac sincerā habuerint That the churches that vvant that discipline may notvvithstanding bee indeed godly and Christian churches if they retaine the doctrine of the cheefest grounds pure and sincere Now if Beza will giue this testimonie of a church that wanteth both his discipline and the sacraments hauing but only the principall grounds of religiō what should he say of those churches which haue not onely a better discipline then that which hee vrgeth but also the said sincere grounds with the doctrine true vse of both the holy sacramēts in as great reuerence at the least as they haue them at Geneua You shall heare him what he is driuen to say of the present estate of the church of England The places haue bene cited in the eight chapter to another purpose He must be pardoned to come in with his If because any thing from him that soundeth not after the Geneua tune is very much But if the churches of England sayth he being vnderpropped vvith the authoritie of Bishops and Archbishops do firmely abide as this hath happened in our memorie to that church that shee hath had men of that order not onely vvorthie Martyrs of God but most singular pastors and doctors fruatur sane ista singulari Dei beneficentia quae vtinam illi sit perpetua Let her enioy this singular goodnesse of God vvhich I pray shee may so do for euer And in another place speaking likewise vvith some good tearmes of the Church of England and of our Archbishops and Bishops he turneth himselfe cleane about and sayth that they of Geneua do not prescribe to any church to follovv their peculiar example like vnto ignorant men vvho thinke nothing vvell but that they do themselues Againe also the same maister Beza in his booke which Erastus confuted not in that which Beza hath since published but in the written and true copie of it he speaketh in this sort Nomine ecclesia Geneuensis in the name of the church of Geneua to those that account the Geneuian Eldership to be but humanum commentum a humane deuise Petimus vt quemadmodum patienter ferimus ipsos a nobis c. dissentire VVe desire of them that as vve suffer them patiently to dissent from vs c. so they vvould heare vs modestly refelling their arguments nullo cum ecclesiarum preiudicio quas sibi credit as administrant VVithout any preiudice to those churches that they haue taken the charge of For vvhere some do obiect that vve account those churches that vvant either excommunication or such an eldership to be no churches it is obiected immerito Deus testis est vndeseruedly on our parts God is our vvitnesse and it is much more a slander vvhere it is giuen out that vve do bring a nevv tyrannie into the church nostra velle reliquis obtrudere and endeuor to obtrude our forme of discipline vnto the rest of the reformed churches Non est ita fratres It is not so brethren Furthermore in like manner in the same place afterward Quicunque vero hanc disciplinam in suis ecclesiis non modo inutilem verumetiam noxiam fore iudicant fruantur sane suo sensu c. VVhosoeuer do iudge this discipline not only vnprofitable but hurtfull to their churches let them enioy their ovvn sense They vndoubtedly do see vvhat their flocks will indure neither doubt vve but that men of so great learning and of so great antiquitie our reuerend bretheren in the Lord haue their reasons Et quis nos constituit alieni gregis iudices And vvho hath made vs iudges of other mens flocks He seldome hath vttered a truer speech But how these sayings do agree with that which he hath sayd before in the third chapter you may not curiously scanne it Indeed he should seeme to be farre now from his former opinion when he sayd in effect That it vvas to little purpose for any church to admit of the gospell and to reiect his discipline But he writeth in mine opinion as it hath bene sayd of old time some courtiers in the world do vse to speake that is for the most part as the present occasion serueth their turnes Such companie they may fal into as they wil commend him to the skies whom
not past an hower before they had in an other company depraued peraduēture most egregiously And maister Beza you must imagine hath bene an old courtier and knoweth wel what policie meaneth Plaine dealing certainly is best but often-times it falleth out that it is not the readiest way for hammering and busie farre reaching heads to compasse their purposes If this excuse do seeme too simple let any that list make a better No man doth wish it more heartily as I thinke then my selfe that maister Beza should thinke well of the present church-gouernment established in England so he do it plainly faithfully and directly which will not happen I feare it in hast Neither haue I alleaged his former words to that purpose as though I tooke all that for gold which he can make to glister The point I prosecute is this that you might perceaue how they begin to leaue off from vrging the Geneuian platforme with such important necessitie as formerly they haue done But most of all it pleaseth me to see how maister Cartvvright draweth homeward For as the Anabaptists by their madnesse kept maister Caluin within some good compas and as maister Beza hath bene compelled in some sort to retire himselfe from his former eagernesse so assuredly the phrenetical giddinesse of these our new vnbrideled schismatickes who for pretended puritie are many degrees beyond al the Sauoyan disciplinariās hath wrought a miracle to my vnderstanding vpon M. Cartvvright For heare him how for feare of falling into flat Donatisme he was fain to plead against one that had bene his scholer in the behalfe of the church of England so bitterly before by himselfe impugned The ordinarie assemblies sayth he of those vvhich professe the gospell in England are the churches of Christ which he proueth in this sort Those assemblies vvhich haue Christ for their head and the same also for their foundatiō are Gods churches Such are the assemblies of England therefore c. Againe they that haue performed vnto them the speciall couenant vvhich the Lord hath made with his churches of pouring his spirit vpon them and putting his vvord into their mouthes are the churches of God but such are the assemblies in England therefore c. Hereunto may be added sayth he further the iudgement of all the churches of Christ in Europe all vvhich giue the right hand of societie in the house of God vnto the assemblies vvhich are in England Againe to prooue that the church of England is the church of God notwithstanding it want the pretended discipline he vseth this distinction that as it is in mans body so is it in this matter there are certaine parts essentiall and such as vvithout the vvhich a man cannot stand and some seruing either to his comlinesse or to his continuance And of this latter sort he maketh the discipline and lastly he writeth thus To say that the church of England is not the church of God because it hath not receaued this discipline me thinks is all one vvith this as if a man vvould say It is no citie because it hath no vvall or that it is no vineyard because it hath neither hedge nor ditch Thus farre maister Cartvvright In which his manner of speech you find a very great alteration from his ancient stile And as concerning the necessitie whereof I intreat the wind you see is turned There is no more necessity in England of the Geneua platforme then that euery citie in this realme should be walled about And besides the pretended discipline is become not to be any longer of the essence of the church but as appertaining to the comlinesse of it But how these things will accord with the premises namely his subscriptiō before mentioned to the new booke of discipline where the same discipline is made to be essentiall or whether maister Cartvvright hath changed his iudgement againe since he writ that answer to Harrison I will leaue it to be discussed by them that know his vnreuealed mind better then I do In the meane time that which he hath graunted I thinke it meet to take hold of And this I will adde vnto it that if maister Cartvvright would but conferre with some that haue skill in fortification to know of him whether an old thicke wall of lime and stone made many hundred yeares since or a new sleight wall slubbered ouer and wrought with vntēpered morter some few yeres ago whether I say of these 2 walles are of better defence for any citie I should be in good hope that he would in short time leaue the disciplinarie walles of Geneua and content himselfe with the ancient fortifications of the church of England and the rather because he seeth as I sayd in the former chapter what a giddie and itching humor his nouelties haue bred in the vnstayed sort of many fantasticall people CAP. XXXV Of the pretended commoditie that the elderships vvould bring vvith them and of the small fruits that they bring sorth vvhere they are THat which hath bene sayd of the commendation of this pretended regiment may fitly be applied to this place But now further of the commodities which they say it would bring with it inseparable consequents belike thereof I will trouble you only with three mens testimonies who it seemeth haue collected together that which is thought fit to be published to this purpose If vve had this gouernment God vvould blesse our victuals and satisfie our poore vvith bread hee vvould cloath our priests vvith saluation and his saints should shout for ioy It is best and surest for our state and there is nothing comparable to the establishing of it for her maiesties safetie It vvould make men to increase in vvealth and that they vvould not easily be dravvne after any great man to sedition and rebellion That her Maiesties person hath bene so oft in danger that we haue had some dearth of late yeares and that the Spaniards attempted to inuade this land they ascribe it to the want of this their gouernment It vvould cut off contentions and sutes of lavv c. by censuring the partie that is troublesome and contentious and vvithout reasonable cause vpon euill vvill and stomacke should vex and molest his brother and trouble the countrie If this gouernment vvere restored then you should see learning nourished young and olde called from blindnes to light from wickednes to vertue and pietie Then many woulde change their studies from Law Phisicke Musicke scholing c. and manye would leaue their trades and parentes would thinke theyr cost well bestowed and diuerse waies comforted to preferre their children to the studie of Diuinity Then there woulde be an vnity of the Church Then should the Papist quaile the Anabaptist waile and the Atheistes be amazed There could not bee so many seduced hanged aud quartered as there are Then no licences could steale away mens daughters the people should finde out the trueth and perfection of
more they are forbidden They make no account of the death of Christ. They are altogether godlesse The Church is made a pray to all men there is such disdain and contempt of the worde in the whole estate Confusion of Church and pollicie doth grow from day to day and threatneth vtter extermination It is the Lord that woonderfully continueth the light amongest vs and that keepeth the face of a ministerie in Scotland There is no good entertainment but a very great pouertie in the most part of all the ministerie The greatest part of our Priestes our Ministers their mouthes haue lost the trueth and their persons haue lost their reuerence the Lord hath made them contemptible in the eyes of men Floudes of iniquitie doe flow ouer great men There is no great man but whatsoeuer liketh him hee thinketh it lawfull The Gentlemen Earles Lordes and Barons they are so dronke with sacrilege that before they part with that geare they had rather part with the life of their soules they had rather loose their soules a hundreth times then bestowe a halfepeny vppon the Church Our owne meane Lordes doe fall into such proud contempt that they are readie to take vp open warres agaynst God so as that Iulian was no greater professed ennemy then they are like to be if they continue The great men in this country are become companions to Theeues and pirates oppressors and manifest blasphemours of God and man ye see murther oppression and bloud is the onely thing that they shoote and marke at The Lord hath no greater enemies then the great men in this country c. They are burning and scalding slaying and murdering vsing all kinde of oppression and raging so as if there were no king in Israel And generally thus This countrey is heauily diseased The sinnes of the land craueth that all pulpits sound iudgement If you looke to the growth of sinne more vgly sinnes were neuer committed The land is ouerburdened with the birth of iniquitie The best haue taken a lothing of the word of God The waight of Gods wrath that hangeth ouer this land is insupportable O vnhappy and wrathfull countrey c the more that knowledge groweth conscience decayeth See ye not slaughter in great measure oppression murther without mercy see ye not all law and equitie trampled vnder foote Is there any cleane place in the countrey c without the cries and lamentable voices of terrible murther oppression and bloud The most part of this countrey is giuen ouer to a straunge delusion to preferre the leauen of the Pharises and dregges of papistry before the word of God There is none that seeth the confusion of this countrey to grow so fast that can looke for anie redresse in his owne time all runneth on to a desolation and miserable confusion Faith is scarsly to bee found yea not faith in promises let be faith in Christ Iesus God hath giuen vs ouer to be deceaued by the mightie power and working of the diuell Hitherto this learned preacher Whereby a man may see that some countries may be in as euill a case that haue the Geneuian platforme set vp amongest them as some other that care not a figge for it But oh say the authours of the first admonition is reformation good for Fraunce and can it be euill for England Is Discipline meete for Scotland and is it vnprofitable for England Againe Surely God hath set these examples before your eyes to encourage you to go forward to a through and speedy reformation And likewise maister Cartwright Whereas maister Doctor would bring vs into a foolish paradise of our owne selues as though we need not to learne any thing of the Churches of Fraunce and Scotland he should haue vnderstanded that as wee haue been vnto them an example and haue prouoked them to follow vs so the Lord would haue vs also profite and be prouoked by their example Whereunto I make no other aunswere but this that I pray vnto almightie God withall my very soule for the long and happy continuance of the blessed example which this Church and realme of England hath shewed in this last age of the worlde vnto all the kingdomes and countries in the earth that professe the Gospell with anie sinceritie and that also of his infinite mercie not onely the kingdomes of Fraunce and Scotland but all other Christian kingdomes and countries may taste so plentifully of his heauenly graces as that they may become dayly better and better examples to stirre vp another to the right and true pathes of all godly vnitie and obedience of heartie and sincere profession of religion and of such righteousnesse and holinesse of life as may be worthy the professors of the same This onely I trust I may say without any offence that as I thinke we haue better causes of incouragement at home to pray for the present forme of Ecclesiasticall gouernment and Discipline that we may haue it still then we can finde abroad the premises of this chapter being true why wee shoulde eyther wish or desire to haue any forraine platformes or practises of I knowe not what kinde of pragmaticall discipline brought in amongst vs. A Discipline deuised at Geneua established there by cunning and obtruded by practises vppon other Churches A Discipline the more it is looked into by the fauourers of it the moe doubtes and imperfections they daily finde in it A Discipline the originall whereof is vnknowne and therefore hath no warraunt in the worde of God A Discipline so lately hatched that as yet it hath no certaine name agreed vpon A Discipline of that nature as they know not well how to bestowe her A Discipline that banisheth such Apostolicall Bishops as Christ appointed admitteth like an adulteresse of those who indeede shoulde serue her to haue an equall commaundement ouer her A Discipline that will haue Doctors of her owne and when she hath them she knoweth not howe to bestowe them A Discipline of such humilitie as forsooth Princes and Noblemen must bee but her inferior officers A Discipline so disdainefull as she forgetteh the very names of her sayde officers or at the least knoweth them not though they be Noblemen or Princes A Discipline that wil needs seeke in the scriptures for those new kind of rulers but she is ignorant where to finde their qualities Whether she would haue them to be Lay-men or Ecclesiasticall shee is not yet resolued A Discipline that when she entertaines her seruants casteth them of againe at her pleasure without anye offence committed by them A Discipline that hauing seruants doth want a warrant for their imployment either in their particular or in their generall offices which she woulde faine assigne vnto them She would haue Lay-menne to make her ministers to be her confessors and to bind and loose her sinnes A Discipline that will needs haue