seueritate That is Neither haue I therefore sayd this that the ecclesiasticall discipline should be neglected and that euery one should be suffered to do what he will without rebuke and without a certaine medicinable reuenge terrible lenittie and seueritie of loue In the 37. Chap. of the same booke hauing spoken of the corne and the chaffe mixed together the wheate and the tares growing together the good fishes and the had in the same nette together vnto the end of the world he then inferreth Nec propterea tamen ecclesiastica disciplina negligitur à constantibus diligentibus prudentibus dispensatoribus Christi vbi crimina ita manifest antur vt nulla possint probabili ratione defendi That is Notwithstanding the ecclesiasticall discipline is not therefore neglected of the constant diligent and wise dispensers of Christ where the crimes are manifested in such sort that they can in no probable maner be defended In the fourth Chapter of his booke after the conference with the Donatists taking aduantage of a saying which they vttered which was this Nec causae causa praeiudicat nec personae persona That is neither doth cause preiudicate cause neither one person another Hee saith that the cause and person of the tares doth not preiudicate the cause and person of the wheat growing together in the same field vntill the haruest come The cause and person of the chaffe doth not preiudicate the cause and person of the corne beeing together in the same floare vntill the last winnowing The cause and person of the goates doth not preiudicate the cause and person of the sheepe kept together in the same pastures vntill the great shepheard shall separate them to the right hand and to the left in the last day The cause and person of the euill fishes doth not preiudicate the cause and person of the good fishes though they bee held in the same nette to be separated in the last shoare Then he addeth Quibus parabolis figuris ecclesia praenunciata est vsque in finem seculi bonos malos simul habitura ita vt nec mali bonis obesse possint cum velignorantur vel pro pace tranquillitate ecclesiae tolerantur si eos prodi aut aâ—cusari non oportuerit aut alijs bonis non potuerit demonstrari ita sanè vt nec emendationis vigilantia quiescat corripiendo degradando excommunicando caeterisque coertionibus licitis atque concessis quae salua vnitatis pace in ecclesia quotidie fiunt secundum praeceptum Apostolicum charitate seruata qui dixit si quis autem non obaudit verbo nostro per epistolam hunc notate nolite commisceri cum eo vt erubescat non vt inimicum existimetis sed corripite vt fratrem Sic enim disciplina seruat patientiam patientia temperat disciplinam vtrumque refertur ad charitatem ne fortè aut indisciplinata patientia foueat iniquitatem aut impatiens disciplina dissipet vnitatem That is to say By which parables and figures the Church is foreshewed that it shall haue the good and the bad together vnto the ende of the world so as the euil cannot hurt the good when either they are not knowne or else are tolerated for the peace and tranquilitie of the Church if it be not behoueful that they shal be manifested or accused or that it cannot be shewed to others that be good euen so verelie as yet the watchfulnesse of redressing may in no wise rest in rebuking degrading excommunicating and in other lawfull and allowable restraints which the peace of vnitie receiuing no dammage are daylie practised in the Church without any hindrance or breach of loue according to the Apostles precept which sayd If any obey not our word note him by an Epistle and haue no fellowship with him that he may bee ashamed and esteeme him not as an enemie but admonish him as a brother For in so doing the discipline doth keepe patience and patience doth temper the discipline and both are referred vnto charitie least either vndisciplined patience should foster iniquitie or impatient discipline might dissolue and scatter the vnitie Thus farre Augustine by which words he sheweth that albeit the good and the bad shall alwaies euen to the end of the world bee mixed together on heapes in the Church so that oftentimes open sinners cannot bee all cast foorth without daunger of schisme and therefore are to be tollerated for the peace of the Church yet the discipline is not to sleepe but sinners are to bee rebuked such as beare publike office if they deserue are to be degraded and depriued The notorious wicked are to bee excommunicated where the multitude is not guiltie with them but that they may be forsaken of all and so made ashamed but loue according to the rule of Saint Paule is to sit at the stearne and to order the whole matter least the seueritie of chasticing discipline if it were not mixed and tempered or as I may say delaied with patience might breed tumults and schismes and separations or least on the other side if tollerating patience were not sharpened by the seueritie of discipline it might nourish all manner of wickednes We see then what was the practise of the auncient Churches and that touching the Ecclesiasticall censures the mixture of patience and seueritie whollie referred vnto loue doo make a soueraigne plaister and medicine to salue and cure the sores of the Church Where these be not tempered together there is great decay for as the rigorous seueritie of Donatisme without any aswaging the heate of seueritie with the mixture of loue and patient tolleration doth rend vp and furiouslie teare all in peeces so doth ouermuch or a loose sufferance for it deserueth not the name of patience not regarding Gods honor nor mens saluation suffer the Lords field to ouergrowe with tares and fill the Lords Courts with Goates and Swine whereby holie things are greatlie prophaned the weake are made to stumble and many are cast downe Touching this first point then in controuersie betwéene the Donatists and the Churches I will conclude it with that which Augustine writeth in his treatise De vnitate Ecclesiae Chapt. 16. where hauing shewed in the former parts of the same booke that the controuersie was not about the head which is Christ but about the bodie which is his Church For touching the head they agreed and touching the bookes of holie Scripture and their authoritie there was no dissent at all betweene the Donatists and them Then further he commeth to this poynt that as Christ the head is to bee sought for and knowne onlie in the Canonicall Scriptures so the Church which is his bodie is likewise to be sought for found out and iudged onely by the same bookes of Scripture Then he calleth for triall not by those darke places of the Byble which are spoken in figures and may be expounded diuers waies in probable sense but from the manifest cléere
Rome is the true Church for that hath many spots I answere that we doo not take it that the spots doo make it a true Church but because there bee onely spottes and not fundamentall errors The foolish cauill here is that I assume that which I should prooue Doo I not prooue it by answering the vile and shameles slaunders of yours when ye affirme euerie spot in our Churches to be blasphemies and heresies and abominations and Egyptian sores You must prooue these your slaunders true and I will cease Now we come to the arguments which were set down at the first No Apocrypha is to be brought into the publike assemblies all read prayer is Apocripha Here you say I haue nothing to vtter and yet oppose against both proposicions to royle the doctrine with my feete least others should drink of it I sayd your proposition is false because the exposition of the scriptures by the preacher and the prayers of the preacher are not canonicall which your proposition doth exclude Your replie is that the Sermons and prayers of of the Preacher be the liuely voyce of Gods owne graces which ye mention in your proposition and so neither Canonicall nor Apocripha and so not excluded Touching the Paraphrase vpon the Psalmes in meeter I holde not Canonicall in some respects If you banish all writings that be not Canonicall then ye banish then Your answere is that it I will affirme them to be Apocrypha as ye say I cannot but doe you will prooue they are not to be brought into the publike assemblies Your proofes doe follow First no mans writings are giuen by the testimonie of Gods spirit whome alone we are to heare No mans writings are without errors and imperfections The Church is builded vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets If we might bring in mens writings then al mens writings which are agreeable to Gods word No mans writings carie that maiestie that the pen of the holy ghost No mans writings are authentike confirmed by signes and wonders The scripture is all sufficient al men must walk by that one rule To think there were not rules enough prescribed by the Lorde for his house is blasphemous and papisticall Then ye say the gifts to prophesie are not Apocryphall and so ye conclude your proposition that onely Gods word and the liuely graces of his holy spirite are to be offered vp vnto him in the publike assemblies Then touching your assumption I sayd I see not how our speech to God should be called Apocrypha Ye replie y t it answereth not you which do not holde an other mans writing to be our speech vnto God Finally because I said that Apocrypha is that which is not Gods vndoubted worde vnto vs yee say I haue ouerthrowen my selfe and cast out all read prayer in as much as I deny them to be Canonicall And so affirming that I haue not in both writings made one direct answer to this most firme proposition Onely the Canonicall scriptures and liuely voice of Gods own graces are to be brought into the publike assemblies for doctrine and prayers But mens writings are neither Canonicall nor the liuely voice of Gods owne graces Now master Greenwood hauing thus played the man in erecting as he supposeth so mighty a piller that cannot be shaken could content himself to go no further I might end here saith hee with this vaine man considering the whole matter is proued against him And all that solloweth but repetitions of the same cauills but that I must cleare my selfe of his vnconcionable slaunders Hee â—â—â—â—mphing thus fully what shall I doe now I aunswere first that hee is much deceiued and would deceiue others as it is written The deceiuers shall wax worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued For like as one that among many Apples doth hide and sell one Crab so he among many true principles doth bring in one false conclusion which deceiueth his Schollers For if he did reason thus wee must heare onely the voice of Gods spirite therefore all things in the Church are to be tried by the voice of the spirit No mans writings are without errors and imperfections therefore meÌ„ cannot ground vpon them any further than they be consonant to the Canonicall scriptures The Church is builded vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets therfore our faith is to rest no further vpon the sayings and writings of men than they be prooued by the doctrine of the Apostles Prophets he should conclude a truth which is vnanswerable But now where master Greenwoods conclusioÌ„ is after this sorte therefore nothing but the Canonicall scriptures and the liuely voice of Gods graces is to bee brought into the publike assemblies he concludeth falsely as shall appeare For if nothing but the perfect rule it selfe is to bee brought into the Church If nothing done by man which hath errors in it is to haue place in the assemblies If nothing but eyther such or that which is the liuely voyce of Gods owne graces is to be vttered in the congregation then must bee tast foorth not onely al written prayers but also y e whole bible vnles it be in y e Hebrew Greeke with the Sermons and praiers of the Pastors For there is no translation of the Bible without errors and the bookes are thus farre mans writing respecting onely the translation And furthermore we decide not controuersies by any translation of the Bible but by the authentike copies of the Hebrew and Greek in one of which the olde testament is set downe by the Prophets in the other the new testameÌ„t by the Apostles So that your conclusion doth not shut out onely the Psalmes in méeter but the whole scriptures vnles you will be so bolde as to say that translations be without errors and so the perfect rule And now touching the second part will Master Greenwood bee so vnwise as to affirme that the errours in the Sermons and in the prayers of the Pastors bee the liuely voyce of Gods owne graces He will assuredly denie it for the graces of GOD all simple men know bring not foorth errors Then let him marke his conclusion no mens writings are without errours and imperfections therefore no mens writings are to be brought into the publike assemblie is not this conclusion as strong no translations of the Bible no Psalmes in meeter no Sermons nor Prayers of the Pastors are without errors and imperfections therfore none of these are to be brought into the publike assemblies Is there any so voide of sense that can not tast howe sower this Crabbe is which Maister Greenewood conueieth in among so many sweete Apples But he replieth further to confirme his matter by argument thus if anie mens writings may bee brought into the publike assemblies then al mens writings which are thought to be agreeable to Gods word may be brought in To prooue the consequence of this proposition he saith If God commaunde any to be brought in as being agreeable
testimonies which also he alleageth out of many bookes both of the old and newe Testament to prooue that the Church should bee spread ouer all the kingdomes and nations of the world He answereth the places of Scriptures which they alleaged to prooue that the world at sundrie times had so fallen away from God that a verie fewe true worshippers remained and why might not they be now as those fewe He sheweth that there be innumerable testimonies to prooue that the open bad did communicate together with the good in the Sacraments and that the good were fewe in comparison of the bad so mixed with them of which after he hath cited many he commeth at the last as it were to a conclusion that al other things remooued hee would haue them shewe their Church out of the holie Scriptures and from the places which are not darke And then it followeth Quisquis ergo huic epistolae responderese praeparat ante denunciationem mihi dicat illi codices dominicos ignibus tradiderunt illi simulacris gentium sacrificauerūt illi nobis iniquissimam persecutionem fecerunt et vos eis in omnibus consensistis Breuiter enim respondeo quod saepè respondi aut falsa dicitis aut si vera sunt non ad frumenta Christi sed ad eorum paleam pertinent ista quae dicitis non inde perit ecclesia quae optimo iudicio ventilata istorum omnium separatione purgabitur That is to say Whosoeuer therefore prepareth himselfe to answere this Epistle let him before the denouncing say vnto me such deliuered the Lords bookes to the fire such sacrificed to the Idols of the Gentiles such haue persecuted vs most vniustlie and you haue consented vnto them in all things For I answer brieflie which I haue often answered either ye speake things which are false or else if they bee true that which ye speake pertaineth not to the corne of Christ but to the chaffe thereof the Church doth not perish thereby which winnowed with most perfect iudgement shall bee purged by the separation of that same chaffe He addeth Ego ipsam ecclesiā requiro vbi sit quae audiendo verba Christi faciendo aedificat super petram audiendo faciendo tolerat eos qui audiendo non faciendo aedificant super arenam Vbi sit triticum quod inter zizania crescit vsque ad messem non quid fecerint vel faciant ipsa zizania Vbi sit proxima Christi in medio filiarum malarum sicut lilium in medio spinarum non quid fecerint vel faciunt ipsae spinae Vbi sunt pisces boni qui donec ad littus perueniant tolerant pisces malos pariter irretitos non fecerint aut faciant ipsi pisces mali That is to say I seeke the Church where she is which in hearing the words of Christ and doing them doth build vpon a rocke and which hearing and doing doth tolerate those which hearing and not dooing doo build vppon the sand Where that wheate is which groweth vp among the tares vntill the haruest come not what the tares haue done or what they doo Where that spouse of Christ is in the middest of the euill daughters as the lillie among the thornes not what the thornes haue done or what they doo Where the good fishes be which vntill they come vnto the shore doo tolerate the euill fishes held in the same nette together not what the euill fishes haue done or what they doo Thus haue I laide open that the Church in olde time was full of open wicked men both of ministers and people That the Donatists vnder the colour of zeale and seueritie against sinne did separate themselues affirming that all were polluted and fallen from the couenant which did communicate in the worship of god and Sacraments with such notorious euill men All men may see by that which I haue noted that the Donatists did maintaine this their opinion with the same Scriptures and argumēts that the Brownists doe maintaine it withall nowe And receiued the same answers to confute them which we make nowe to confute the Brownists This was the maine point of Donatisme and as it were the pith substance therof it is one of the foure chiefe pillers of Brownisme Yea but now the Brownists doe separate themselues from a worship which is Idolatrous full of blasphemies and abhominations The Donatists did rend themselues from an holy and true worship Indeede where the worship is Idolatrous and blasphemous a man is to separate himselfe But there are many and great corruptions before it come to that for it is the true worship of God where the foundation is layd and standeth sure If there be timber Hay and stubble built vpon the foundation the fault is great such things are not to bee approued But yet there is Gods true worship And now to come to the verie poynt of the matter I doe affirme wil stand to iustifie that there were greater corruptions in the worship of God euen in those Churches from which the Donatists did seperate themselues than be at this day in the worship of the Church of England So that if Brownisme be any thing to be excused in that the Donatisme may as iustly therein be defended For if wee consider matters which concerne doctrine what can any man shew so corrupt in this our Church as in the publike worship to pray for the soules of the dead and to offer oblations for the dead This corruption was generall in the Church then yea long before the dayes of Augustine as it appeareth in Cyprian and by Tertullian which was before him and nerer to the time of the Apostles who in his booke De Monogamia reasoning against second mariage for hee was fallen into that error woulde perswade any woman that had buried her husband not to marie againe because he being seperated from her in peace not diuorced she was to pray for his soule and yearely to offer oblation for him thus he writeth Et pro anima eius oret refrigerium interim ad postulet ei in prima resurrectione consortium offerat annuis diebus dormitionis eius That is And let her pray for his soule and craue refreshing for him nowe in the meane time and his felowship in the first resurrection and let her offer yearely vpon the day of his departure It will bee said by some ignorant man that this was but the minde and practise of some few which were corrupt and superstitious I answere it was the practise of the Church in generall and the corruption so auncient that the same Tertullian in his booke De corona militis speaking of it certain other things saith they were obserued by tradition from the Apostles they were obserued so generally in the Churches and no scripture to warrant them These bee his wordes Oblationes pro defunctis annua die facimus Wee make oblations for the dead in the yeerely day The doctrine of Purgatory