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A02584
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The reconciler: or An epistle pacificatorie of the seeming differences of opinion concerning the true being and visibilitie of the Roman Church Enlarged with the addition of letters of resolution, for that purpose, from some famous divines of our Church. By Ios: Exon.
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Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 12709A; ESTC S103708
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25,794
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138
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your Assertion Not to trouble therefore your weightier affairs with my needlesse interposition As that controuersie about the Altar Iosuah 22. had presently a faire end vpon the ful vnderstanding of the good meaning on both sides so I trust in God this shall haue In which I am so perswaded that if it were to bee discussed there after our Scholasticall manner it might well bee defended either pro or con with out preiudice to the Truth according to the full stating which your Aduertisement and Reconciler haue afforded And thus with tender of my due obseruance and Prayers for your happinesse I rest Your Lordships in Christ to be commanded IO. PRIDEAVX From Exon Coll. Marij 9. No. ¶ To my Reuerend and learned friend M. Doctor PRIMEROSE Preacher to the French Church in LONDON WOrthy Master Doctor Primerose you haue beene long acknowledged a great light in the Reformed Churches of France hauing for many yeeres shined in your orbe the famous Church of Burdeaux with notable effects and singular approbation both for iudgment and sinceritie both which also your learned writings haue well approued So as your sentence cannot be liable to the danger of any suspition Let me intreate you to declare freely what you hold concerning the truenesse and visibilitie of the Romane Church as it is by me explicated And with all to impart your knowledg of the common Tenet of those foraine Diuines with whom you haue so long conuersed concerning this point which if I mistake not onely a stubburne ignorance will needs make litigious It grieues my Soule to see the peace of the Church troubled with so absurd a mes prison In exspectation of your answer I take leaue and commend you and your holy labours to the blessing of our God Farewell from Your louing Brother and fellow-labourer IOS EXON To the Right Reuerend Father in God and my very good Lord IOSEPH Bishop of Exceter Right Reuerend Father in God I Haue beene so busied about my necessarie studies for preaching on Sunday Tuesday and this Thursday that I could not giue sooner a full answer to your Lordships Letter which I receiued on Friday last at night whereby I am desired to declare freely what I think concerning the truenesse and visibilitie of the present Roman Church as it is by your Lordship explicated and what is the common tenet of the forraine Diuines with whom I haue so long conuersed beyond the Seas concerning that point I might answere in two lines that I haue read your Reconciler and iudge your opinion concerning that point to be learned sound and true Though that if I durst fauour an officious lie I would willingly giue my Suffrage to those Diuines which out of a most feruent zeale to God and perfect hatred to Idolatry hold that the Roman Church is in all things BABEL in nothing BETHEL And as they which seek to set right a crooked tree bow it the cleane contrary way to make it straight so to recouer and pull out of the fire of eternall damnation the Roman Christians I would gladly pourtray them with sable colours and make their religion more black in their owne eyes then they are in ours the hellish coloured faces of the flat-nosed Ethiopians or to the Spaniard the monstrous Sambenit of the Inquisition But fearing the true reproch cast by Iob in his friends teeth Will you speake wickedly for God and talke deceitfully for him and knowing that we must not speake a lie no not against the Deuill which is the Father of lies I say that the Roman Church is both BABEL and BETHEL and as Gods Temple was in Christs daies at once the house of Prayer and a den of theeues so shee is in our dayes Gods Temple and the habitation of Deuils the hold of euery foule spirit and a cage of euery vncleane and hatefull bird which I proue thus The Church is to be considered three manner of wayes First according to Gods right which he keepeth ouer her and maintaineth in her by the common and externall calling of his Word and Sacraments Secondly according to the pure preaching of the Word and externall obedience in hearing receiuing and keeping the Word syncerely preached Thirdly according to the election of grace and the personall calling which hath perpetually the inward working of the Holy Ghost ioyned with the outward preaching of the Word as in Lydia Thence commeth the answere of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Iesus Christ To begin with the last consideration these only are Gods Church which are Iewes inwardly in the spirit aswell as outwardly in the letter whose prayse is not of men but of God who are Nathaniels and true Israelites in whom there is no guile Inuisible to all men Visible to God alone who knoweth them that are his and each of them to themselues because they haue receiued the Spirit which is of God that they might know the things which are freely giuen to them of God and the white stone which no man knoweth sauing he that receiueth it Of this Church called by the Apostle the people which God foreknew Rom. 11. there is no controuersie amongst our Diuines In the second consideration these onely are the true visible Church of God amongst whom the Word of God is truly preached without the mixture of humane traditions the holy Sacraments are celebrated according to their first institution and the people consenteth to bee led and ruled by the Word of God As when Moses laid before the faces of the people all the words which the Lord commanded him and all the people answered together All that the Lord hath spoken we will doe the Lord said vnto Moses Write thou these words For after the tenor of these words I haue made a couenant with thee and with Israel And Moses said to the people Thou hast auouched this day the Lord to bee thy thy God to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Statutes and his Commandements and his Iudgements to harken vnto his voice And the Lord hath auouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee that thou shouldest keepe all his Commandements This condition of the Commandement GOD did often inclucate into their eares by his Prophets As when hee said to them by Ieremiah This thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice and I will be your God and yee shall bee my people and walke yee in all the wayes in that I haue commanded you that it may bee well vnto you So in the Gospell Christ saith My sheepe heare my voice and I know them and they follow me But a stranger will they not follow but will flie from him For they know not the voice of strangers where he giueth the first marke of the visibly true and pure Church to wit the pure preaching and hearing of Christs voice As likewise Saint Iohn saith He
Hosea said of Ephraim Ephraim is ioyned to Idols let him alone So Christ saith vnto vs Come out of Babylon my people that yee be not partakers of her sinnes and that ye receiue not of her plagues Her sinnes are a spirituall leprosie And we run away from leprous men though true men and our neerest and dearest friends crying what they are loth to cry Vncleane vncleane lest their breath should infect vs Her sinnes are infidelitie not negatiue but priâ—atiue not in whole but in part As Saint Paul a beleeuing lew was in vnbeliefe when he persceuted the Church And Saint Paul saith vnto vs Be ye not vnequally yoked together with vnbeleeuers c. Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the vncleane thing and I will receiue you and will be a Father vnto you and yee shall bee my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almightie A faithfull subiect will not take a traitour though a subiect by the hand nor I a Papist in matter of his Religion Neither will honest women 〈…〉 with the greatest Lady thogh shee be a great ones wife This I haue euer taught priuately Preached publikely published in Printed Bookes against Papists during these thirtie three yeares of my Ministrie in the French Churches without any aduantage to our Aduersaries without any contradiction of our diuines without any acception taken against it by our Churches or any particular among the brethren which all in their name Preach and publish that they are of the same mind calling themselues The Reformed Churches and our Religion The reformed religion For as the good Kings of Iuda did not build a new Temple call to God a new people set vp a new Religion but repurge and clense the old Temple restore the ancient Religion exhorted Gods people to shake off the new inuentions of the new patched Religion and to returne to the Lord their God by the olde way which their fathers had beaten and Moses had traced vnto them in the Law And as Zorobabel Esdras Nehemiah Ieshuah builded the Wals of Ierusalem vpon the ancient foundation euerie man building next himselfe Euen so the Protestant Diuines haue euerie one next himselfe not builded a new Church vpon a new foundation but repurged the auncient Church of idolatrie superstition false interpretations of the Scriptures and traditions of men whereof shee was fuller then euer Augeas his Stable was full of mucke but beaten downe and burned with the fire of Gods word the Wals of Wood Hay Stubble which the Babylonian builders had raysed vpon the old foundation which is Christ Iesus and edified vpon it a faire Palace of Siluer Gold precious Stones This same is the opinion also of my Collegues of the French Church of this Citie of London If any selfe-conceited Christian thinketh this an aduantage rather then a disparagement disgrace to that punke the Romane Church and taketh thereby occasion to perseuere to be her Bawd or Stalion and to runne a whoring with her I say with the Psalmist The wicked hath left off to bee wise and to doe good And with the Angell Hee that is vniust let him he vniust still And he which is filthy let him be filthy still For neither must an honest heart speake a lie for the good that may come of it Nor conceale in time and place a necessarie truth for any euill that may insue of it If it harden more and more the flintie hearts of some vnto death it will soften and melt the iron hearts of others vnto life that seeing among vs the mudde and dirt of humane traditions wherewith the Pope and his Clergie had furred and soyled the bright-shining glasse of the Gospel wiped away from this heauenly mirror of Gods fauor they may come vnto vs and beholding with open face as in a glasse the glorie of the Lord may be changed with vs into the same image from gloire to glorie euen as by the Spirit of the Lord. Which last effect I pray with my heart your Reconciler may haue with those that are children of peace And so recommending your Lordship with all your learned eloquent sound and vsefull labours to GODS most powerfull blessing and my selfe to the continuance of your godly Prayers and old friendship I remaine for euer Your Lordships most humble and affectionate Seruant Gilbert Primrose From London the 26. of Februarie 1629. ¶ To my VVorthy and much respected Friend Mr. H. CHOMLEY MAster Cholmely I haue perused your learned and full reply to Master Burtons answere wherein you haue in a iudicious eye abundantly righted your self and cleared a iust cause so as the Reader would wonder where an Aduersarie might find ground to raise an opposition But let me tell you Were it a Booke written by the pen of an Angest from Heauen in this subiect I should doubt whether to wish it publique How true how iust soeuer the plea be I find such is the selfe-loue and partialitie of our corrupt nature the quarrell is inlarged by multiplying of words when I see a fire quenched with Oyle I will expect to see a controuersie of this nature stinted by publike altercation New matter still rises in the agitation and giues hint to a fore-resolued opposite of a fresh disquisition So as we may sooner see an end of the common peace then of an vnkindly iarre in the Church especially such a one as is fomented with a mistaken Zeale on the one side and with a confidence of knowledge on the other Silence hath somtimes quieted such like mis-raised brabbles neuer interchange of words This very question was on foot some fortie yeares agoe in the hote chase of great Authors but whether through the ingenuitie of the parties or some ouer-ruling act of Diuine Prouidence it soone died without noyse so I wish it may now doe Rather let the weaker title goe away with the last word then the Church shall bee distracted For that Position of mine which occasioned your vindication you see it sufficiently abetted and determined by so reuerend authoritie as admits no exception I dare say No learned Diuine of our owne Church or the foraine can but subscribe in this our sense to the iudgement of these Worthies To draw forth therefore this cord of contention to any futher length were no lesse needlesse then preiudiciall to the publike peace Hee is not worthy to bee satisfied that will yet wrangle As for those personall aspersions that are cast vpon you by malice be perswaded to despise them These Westerne parts where your reputation is deseruedly precious know your Zeale for Gods truth no lesse feruent though better gouerned then the most fierie of your Censurers No man more hateth Popish Superstition only your fault is that you doe not more hate errour then iniustice and cannot abide wrong measure offered to the worst enemie Neither bee you troubled with that idle exprobration of a Prebendary retribution who would