example the distressed person beginning to sing Ps 51. O Lord consider my distresse c. hee would then in derision speak vnto them Oh you are in great distresse sure c. Ps 137.1.2.3.4 As the cruell scoffing Babylonians of old required songs and mirth of the Iewes in their captiuitie saying vnto them Sing vs one of the songs of Zion euen then when the Iewes sate weeping by the riuers of Babell and had hanged vp their Harps vpon the Willowes so this cruell scoffing Brownist did then require songs and mirth of his captiue maides when they had hanged vp the Harpes of their mirth and had rather to haue fit weeping than singing yea and constrained thē to sing so as the Babylonians could not do the Iews 9 By alledging Scripture after the manner of the Brownists to defend maintaine the crueltie which hee vsed towards his maides as namely That if a man smite his seruant or his maid with a rod and they die not vnder his hand but continue a day or two dayes he should not be punished because they are his money Exod. 21.20 21. Whereas this Scripture can be no warrant for his crueltie both because his maids were no bondslaues vnto him bought with his money as also because that law was in peculiar to the Iewes and euen then was a iudiciall Statute and did not free the offendour from all guilt of sinne but onely from the punishment of the ciuile Magistrate 10 By his carnall securitie in the middest of all his impietie by his vsuall sleeping in the time of Gods worship and this not onely when M. Iohnson preached for then he plainely professed that hee did settle himselfe to sleepe accounting M. Iohnson a false Teacher and vnworthie to be hearkened vnto but thus also hee slept when M. Ainsworth taught And yet further which is more strange hee did not onely sleepe whiles other preached and prayed but euen when himselfe hath beene praying at home with his familie his manner hath beene to fall asleepe in the middest of his prayer as diuers then present haue testified 11 By his notable hypocrisie in the middest of all his iniquitie and this not onely in his generall Seperation according to which together with the rest of his companions hee sayth vnto all the reformed Churches in the world Stand apart I am purer and holier than you Nor yet onely by separating from other Franciscan separatists and namely from Dan. Studley whom in speciall manner hee condemneth and sayth vnto him Stand apart Studley for I am holier than thou But further euen aboue many other of M. Ainsworths companie wherein he resteth he pretendeth more puritie is more smooth in his words stricter in the separation and makes greater shew of holinesse and pietie The iniquitie of Daniel Studley appeares notable 1 By his oppression and preuenting of Iustice thorow the whole tenour of his administration as hee himselfe being pressed and prosecuted by some of master Ainsworths people hath beene brought to acknowledge in generall The terrour and feare of Studley haue bin heauier thā weights of lead vppon the fainting armes of the poore people that they durst not deale against him Though the Pharisies laid heauy burthens vpon other mens shoulders Mat. 23. yet among them al we read of none called Studley nor yet of any one whose manifold oppressions are so often witnessed 2 By a shamefull and vile manner of dealing with one euen of the same maids who comming out of the hands of Mansfield fell into the hands of Studley was saine to cry out of Studley as well as shee had done of Māsfield before 3 By his cruel nipping and pinching euen of his owne wife as she her selfe hath testified vnto diuers and is in part noted before Many people talke of Fairies nippes and of the blew arms they make but it is hard to say whether Fairies of the separation doe nip harder 4 Studley indeed in this point dealt more gently with the d Eli. Ap. maid whom though he drew and haled violently at the first yet did he not hang her vp so cruelly but laid her and threw her vpon his bed in more easie maner And yet in matters of suite and question by the threeds of his substill shifts hee doth as it were tye and bind the hāds of many both men and women which stand hanging in the cords of doubt and feare waiting long for an issue and yet put off with delayes And yet not so but that he himself also hath now long time hung in feare with the cord of de position as it were about his neck waiting whē he should be turned off from the ladder of his dignitie 5 By executing iudgement vpon himselfe before the Iudges of the Congregation had pronoūced the sentence of cōdemnation against him For as Achitophel and Iudas that hanged themselues before the time and as those theeues that murther themselues before the time to preuent the sentence of the law cannot be defended therein so Daniel Studley deposing himselfe and leauing his office before sentence whether of despaire to keepe it seeing the people so against him or whether in hypocrisie policie to moue the people vnto commiseration alwaies his vntimely and vnorderly executing of himselfe cannot bee iustified howsoeuer the cause of his condemnation might be ten times more iust then the cause that Mansfield had against his maid 6 By vsing such rigor towards his wife in threatning beating her cōtrary to that of the Apostle Col. 3.19 in so much that by his cruelty she hath sought though not to eat her wooll yet to eate her word by labouring that shee might not be called to speak those things which she knew of her husband had alreadie told in secret yea hath charged some to whom shee complained of her miseries that they should not vtter the same during her life for feare of his rage against her And yet the greatnes of her misery hath made her to opē her grief the regard of her word would not suffer her to deny the same when she was called to account for it 7 By his tyrannie common vnto him with other of the separation in drawing those that had forsaken their error to returne vnto their vomit againe and to eate vp though not the excrements of their bodies yet the excrements of their error It is most ordinary with the Brownists to charge those that leaue their schisme and returne vnto the cōmunion of the true Churches to be as dogs returned to their vomit as though the fellowship of the Saints in the holy things of God in other true Churches were but as the vomit of dogges whereas indeed their separation is but as the excrements and dung of schismatikes vnto which dung notwithstanding they are often drawne to returne and to eate vp the same As for example Edward Benet hauing begun to purge out some of the excrements first by entertaining ciuill cōmunion with the Church of England
to cut off my selfe from that their schisme wherein I haue stood with them And though I cannot but expect much reproach and many hard sentences which they of the Separation will for this cause passe vpon me yet my hope is that the Lord which of his mercie hath giuen mee leaue to see my error and his truth will now also strengthen me by his grace to beare the euill speeches which in this case they vse to poure out vpon those that leaue them Surely I am readie to halt and my sorrow is euer before me When I declare my paine and am sorrie for my sinne Then mine enemies are aliue and are mightie and they that hate me wrongfully are many They also that reward euill for good are mine aduersaries because I follow goodnesse Forsake me not O Lord be not thou farre from me my God Hast thee to helpe me O my Lord my saluation WILL. GILGATE About a moneth or six weekes after this when by the mercie of God he was something recouered of his sicknesse he then by his practise confirmed further that which he had written before both by embracing the communion of the Churches which he refused before in hearing the Word and praying with them c. As also by going vnto M. Ainsworths Church with which he had ioyned himselfe before and there openly in the middest of their Congregation renounced his fellowship with them testifying that they were in Schisme and for further proofe hereof did afterwards giue vnto Master Ainsworth diuers Arguments in writing to proue them to be in manifold Schisme and so finally left them quite CHAP. VIII Letters that passed betwixt M. Ames and M. Robinson touching the bitternesse of the Separation ONe point of Schisme which M. Gilgate obiected vnto M. Ainsworth was for their separation in priuate from those particular persons which might be discerned to be true visible Christians euen by their owne confession This point because it is further discussed in diuers Arguments and Writings betwixt Master Ames and Master Robinson wee haue thought it meet to publish them as they came vnto our hands because they serue much for the declaration and manifestation of their Schisme herein G. M. and P. SIr I doe not desire to multiplie many Letters noâ— many words in this one Letter I will passe by therefore your censure Your manner of separation also I omit whether it be like or dislike to that of the first reformed Churches for you haue yrons ynow in the fire about that question Neither will I trouble you about my associates here whom you deeme euill of though they be vnknowne vnto you Onely that one point which containeth indeed the very bitternesse of Separation I would desire you againe to consider of as you doe me viz. Whether there be not a visible Communion euen out of a visible Church These reasons seeme to euince it 1 Whomsoeuer I can rightly discerne to haue communion with Iesus Christ with him may I haue visible communion the reason is because that from visible descrying of that inward communion doth necessarily follow externall communion Neither can other sufficient reason be giuen why we should communicate with visible Churches but only because wee visibly discerne that they haue communion with Christ Now quatenus ipsum de omni conuertuntur But we may discerne euen by your confession of some out of a visible Church that they haue communion with Christ Ergo 2 That which is lawfull for them to doe which are no members of a visible Church that is lawfull for others to ioyne with them in for that which is no sinne in the principall is none in the accessorie Cateris paribus And it cannot be simply vnlawfull to ioyne in any action that is lawfull Quatenus talis but it is lawfull for Christians conuerted euen before they ioyne in any Church perhaps wanting knowledge of the true Constitution perhaps oportunitie to worship God Therefore 3 It is necessarie that before the couenant making which you hold to be the forme of a Church they that are to make it should ioyne together in prayer for direction assistance and blessing yet they are not a Church vntill after Therefore it is not only lawfull but necessarie also that there be a communion out of a visible Church You may easily conceiue the forme and force of this Argument If you answere that they are a Church in desire that is to forsake your position for desire to be doth imply that as yet they are not A velle ad esse non sequitur ratio I will not be further tedious vnto you Fare you well Feb. 25. Your louing friend WILLIAM AMES Mercie and peace be with you Amen SIr because I doe vnderstand by many that you maruell I answer not your reasons hauing had your writing so long in mine hands I thought good to returne you a briefe answere Your reasons to prooue visible communion out of a visible Church follow Though that be not the question betweene you and mee But whether we which are or deeme our selues to be of a visible Church may lawfully communicate with such as be of no Church Reason 1 I deny that externall communion doth necessarily flowe from the discerning of inward communion with Christ which is your first reason for then I haue externall communion with the Angells and faithfull departed this life Externall communion is a matter of externall relation and order vnder which men out of the Church are not Acts 2.41,47 The order set by Christ and his Apostles is that such as receiue the word and are to be saued ioyne themselues foorthwith vnto the Church and a large remnant it is of the confusions which Antichrist hath brought into the worlde that men fearing God should remaine out of the true Church For the further cleering of these things If an innocent person in mine absence be excommunicated from the Church vpon the testimony of two or three yet will I for order sake and so am bound forbeare communion with him till I haue manifested his innocencie to the Church On the other side Though I know some great wickednesse by a brother which he denies and I can not prooue I must still for order sake keepe communion with him in the Church till God discouer him It is euident therfore that in cases I am both to forbeare communion with a godly man till we be orderly ioyned together and to keep communion with a wicked man till we be orderly dis-ioyned Adde vnto these things that vpon this ground I may also lawfully admit one out of the Church to the Lords Supper to the choise of Officers censuring of offendors And all other exercises of externall communion if by the iudgement of Charitie I deeme him holie in his person And how can I denie him one part of externall communion to whom I affoord an other but I make a schisme in the communion of Saints and this also may serue for answere to the latter part
of your proofe touching visible Churches for they haue not onely internall communion with Christ but externall also in the order which hee hath set For which wee stand and for the want of which alone wee withdrawe our selues as wee doe in this case not daring to breake Christs order for mens disorder Reason 2 The summe of the second Argument is That because it is lawfull for some such as are not yet members of a true Church to pray therefore others of a Church may ioyne with them in prayer I doe first answer That men in a Church are bound to and from many things wherein men not in the Church may vse more libertie and vppon the same ground you might more soundly argue thus Because two or three persons excommunicated vppon false testimonie may pray together and therefore the brethren of the Church may forthwith pray with them Though prayer bee in it selfe a lawfull thing and they holie in theyr persons that perfourme it yet it is vnlawfully perfourmed out of the Church in which men ought to bee and therein to vse it So that although there bee neyther Vitium personae nec vitium rei Yet is there Vitium ordinis relationis and this externall religious order and relation is the Church-order and religious communion a worke doth presuppose religious vnion of persons Reason 3 Touching men ioyning in prayer before they enter couenant and so before they be in a Church whence you doe take your third Argument I doe answere First for that there is not the like reason of them and vs which are or take our selues to bee in the order of an established Church They then breake no order though wee should Secondly such persons are ioyned in will and purpose at the least the which is accepted as the deed 2. Corinth chap. 8. verse 12. though the outward ceremonie bee not as yet performed So is Abraham said to haue offered vp Isaack Hebrewes chapter 11. verse 17. and Priscilla and Aquila to haue laied downe their owne neckes for Paules life Rom. chapter 15. vers 3 4. Which notwithstanding they did onely in will and purpose Your axiom à velle ad esse non sequitur ratio hath his vse especially in rebus naturalibus But the vrging of it thus absolutely in matters of religion tends to depriue the Church of her greatest spirituall comfort Lastly consider the couenant in concrete and prayer is a part thereof And when men are so met with a purpose to vnite and do beginne prayer for the sanctification of it They are in the doore comming into the house and not without The Iewes were not to haue religious communion with persons vncircumcised and yet I doubt not but when a godlie Proselite was to be circumcised they might lawfully ioyne with him for the sanctification of the Ordinaunce I cease further to trouble you and doe heartily salute you in the Lord God wishing you from him all prosperitie and in him resting Leyden this second of the weeke Your louing friend IOHN ROBINSON SIr I did maruell indeed at your silence when an answer was promised do no lesse maruell at this your answer that being so deliberate it is no more sound and pertinent As for the state of the question it was set downe in your owne wordes thus in the thesis Whether there be visible communion out of a visible Church not to bee denyed or dissembled in this your answere as it is more than once when you would draw it to an hypothesis In the answer to the first Argument your denial is very strange the reasons of it as weake The Scripture doth euery where reason from that communion which we haue with Christ to that which we ought to haue one with another Our best Diuines doe put one in the definition of the other Sanctorum communio est actus officium singulorum membrorum inter se ez vnione formali cum Christo spiritu ipsius profluens the sence is acknowledged by all good writers The words are taken from reuerend Iunius The same sentence is elsewhere by him expressed so fitly for you if you doe not despise it that I hope it may something preuaile with you Ex illa autem societate saith hee communione quam Sancti cum Christo habent omnino sequitur altera haec consociatio atque communio qua membra inter se consociata coagmentata sunt nam idem qui nos adunauit sibi eo ipso quod diuersa membra adunat sibi eadem inter se adunauit quae cum it a sint facile Christianus quilibet nobis assensurus est si imperturbato animo ad haec legenda expendenda venerit non posse quenquam Christianum bona fide renunciare communioni alterius quem Christus aut adâ—unxit sibi aut se adiuncturum spem facit The place note well worth your serious reading Reason shewes the same truth For are you more holy than Christ that you should beate him from your communion whome Christ hath made a member of his body doth not our internall communion one with an other flow from that internall communion we haue with Christ Whence then doth our externall flow but from that externall which wee haue with him or which is the same from visible discerning of that internall Your instances of Angells and Saints departed doe make directly against you for we doe not visibly and particularly discerne of them and their communion with Christ but in extraordinarie cases and at such times we may haue sensible communion with them When the heauenly company did celebrate the birth of our Sauiour saying Glorie bee to God on high c. I hope you will not say it had beene sinne for the Sheepheards to say Amen to it nor for the Disciples to haue giuen the like assent to any worship perfourmed by those which came out of their graues at the resurrection of Christ Your other instance of an innocent excommunicate hath no force at all for your selfe doe not say that it is not simply vnlawfull to haue any communion with him at all but onely for some time nor that co nomine because he is out of the Church but for order sake Now I do not speake of such a necessitie as bindeth semper ad semper neyther am I against the confederacie of circumstances but consider it simply scandall and contempt remoued it is lawfull to communicate with such a one As for that consequence of yours If one part of communion then to all It doth better serue the Anabaptist to exclude children from Baptisme than you to exclude Christians from priuate communion because you will not admit them to some part of the publique He that can spie schisme in admitting to one part before then to all might farre more easily see the same in excluding visible Christians from all if he were not some way blinded For is it not a monstrous breach of charitie to afford no more communion to
I can haue no resolution of peace in my thoughts thereabout The first maine cause of this griefe is our reiecting communion with all the reformed Churches on earth and all true Christians in the same euen those whom our selues do account true Churches we do yet forsake and separate from their communion this practise can haue no warrant frō Gods word And for the reproofe of our seueritie in this euill course consider how you called master Abram to repentance for ioyning to the Dutch Church of London and how neuer a word was spoken of those great scandals he fell into before vpon which he departed and left the Church Secondly as wee despise all other worship in true Churches so our own maner of exercise on the Lords day is with such confusion and contradicting one another so that euen our owne profession of separation is indeed quite ouerthrowne thereby for example Thomas Cocky in his prophesie witnessing against England saith their ministerie is Antichristian and being so they can beget no true faith and no true faith can haue no true saluation and so consequently in the Church of England is taught no saluation a fearefull sentence in my iudgement Againe our beloued master de Cluse in his doctrine of prophesie laboured to proue separation from a true Church for any corruption obstinately flood in this doctrine was by another in prophesying then shewed to be absolutely contrary to that place of Reu. 2.24 which how vnsoundly it was concluded by our Teacher was then obserued by many Also it was since by another deliuered in the way of prophesie that euen amongst our selues did raigne many sins as namely fulnesse of bread pride and idlenesse fulnesse of bread in that many were not satisfied with neither spirituall nor temporall food pride in that many did striue to go aboue their calling idlenesse in that many were negligent in their calling If these things be so and be not redressed by the admonition of this prophesie wee must according to master de Cluse his doctrine make a new separation how oft do the Brethren except one against another for their doctrine whereby much heart-burning and strife is kindled betwixt them These things being well considered I entreate you well to mind whether this new way of prophesying on the Lords day can bee for the edification of the Church or not CHAP. XI Of the dissension betweene Iohn Iohnson the father and Francis the sonne and betwixt the brothers George and Francis IN the writings and dealings of George Iohnson there appeares more simplicitie plainnesse then in Francis whose politique shifts and courses are as the way of an Eagle in the ayre now such courses are much to be suspected whereas commonly plaine dealing and honest dealing are as louing companions that go hand in hand together To omit manifold instances of this crooked and vncertaine dealing of Francis Iohnson let this one authentique testimony thereof giuen both by the French and Dutch Ministers deputed of their Presbiteries to be considered indifferently Narrauit nobis Ioannes Iansonius Anglus se hominem septuagenarium ex Anglia in hanc vrbem difficili itinere venisse vt duos filios suos Franciscum Georgium Iansonios dissidentes quorum ille pastorem agit coetus Anglici qui degit apud nos hi◠ab eodem coetu excommunicatus est in gratiam reduceret quumque hoc negotium reconciliationis ageret incidisse se in controuersiam cum filio suo Francisco senioribus totoque caetu cui praeest ille cui componendae commodius remedium inuenire non potuisse dixit quam si se ad Belgicam Gallicam Ecclesias quae in hac vrbe sunt consilij auxilijque causâ conferret Quâ causâ petijt à nobis vt ipsi consilio ope nostra adesse vellemus summittens controuersiam totam iudicio arbitrario duarum praedictarum Ecclesiarum Nos vero honesti senis petitioni id concedendum putauimus vt à Francisco nonnullis senioribus coetus Anglicani supra dicti peteremus an etiam parati essent eandem controuersiam arbitrario earundem Ecclesiarum aut synedriorum vtriusque iudicio summittere cui quaestioni licet multis id conati sumus responsum Categoricum obtinere ab illis nequiuimus Quod cum videremus existimauimus nos nihil porro apud illos in hoc negotio effecturos Cuius rei testimonium petenti Ioanni Iansonio denegare noluimus Actum Amstelredami inter deputatos synedrij Ecclesiae vtriusque Belgicae Gallicae octauo Nouembris anni millesimi sexcentesimi secundi stilo nouo Ioannes à Vinea in Ecclesia Gallobelgica Minister Euangelij Petrus Plancius administer Euangelij Iacobus Arminius administer Euangelij in Ecclesia Belgica Simon Goulartius administer verbi in Ecclesia Gallobelgica Francis Iohnson excommunicateth his father and brother 1 TO curse any man rashly and vniustly is sinne but to curse parents is more vile 2 But in M. Iohnson the pure Separatist father of the Frāciscan order for him to curse his own father is yet more vile 3 When hee did this and drew his whole company to consent and approue thereof it was the more vile for poysoning others with his sin 4 This curse being not a common reproch or euil speech but the heauie curse of excommunication in giuing his father to the diuell is not this more fearefull 5 This censure giuen out vpon so sleight a cause yea so vniust a cause while the father sought peace betwixt his children was it not the more horrible for the son so to entertaine the father a stranger so to condemne him for contention that passed the seas only to make peace 6 This done so violently and cruelly that no aduice counsell no nor threats of the Dutch Church might restraine or stay the rage of Saint Francis 7 This done against such a father as had bin at so great cost in bringing vp his son to learning he to vse his Sophistrie euen against his Father how vile 8 Thus to iudge and condemne his father who also with so much labor cost and griefe had sued to sundry Iudges and nobles in England for releasing of that son as may appear by the generall copies of those humble petitions and supplications which Iohn Iohnson made for his sons Francis and George vnto the high Commissioners and to others Furthermore in that M. Iohnson did thus proceed to excōmunicat his father after he had before cōdemned his brother George this also doth aggrauate his offence for the reiection of his brother first might something haue softened his heart and the conscience thereof might haue staied him from greater crueltie towards his father Lastly in that M. Francis did continue persist obstinatly vnto the death of his father without reuocation of his error or recōciliation to his father sending his father downe to the graue with this curse vpon his backe rolling the stone of his censure vpon the graues mouth sealing it vp with his cōsent as it