reade further Exod. 16.8.1 Sam. 8.7 Num. 16. chap. throughout I haue in this place gentle and indifferent reader to desire thée diligently to marke the sly and crafty dealing of this peuish Familye For in my Articles which I exhibited vnto them for my further satisfaction I added this clause of the outward calling of the minister which then I did suspect they denyed and since by their faythles demeanour of concealing that clause I am certainely perswaded to be true where also it shall not be amisse if besides their fond behauiour in ouerhipping that which they néedes must confesse to be truely reported of them by me to consider also how guilefully they protest that No man is able iustly to blame accuse detect or burthen them as transgressors of the lawe beīt agaynst any the Quéenes Maiesties proceadinges in causes Ecclesiasticall c. And yet in this place by me quoted out of the lamentable complaynt sent 34. They deny without their Familye their is no lawfull calling of Ministers Their wordes be these For to be a teacher or minister of the holy worde is not euery mans office but his only which is thereunto euen lyke as was Aaron called and elected of God whose rodde or staffe greeneth blossometh and beareth fruit as lykewise his which is a true disciple of the worde and louer of the truth hath receiued the learning and administration of his holy word with integritye of singlenes of hart of the Elders in the house of Loue obediently and euē so is growē vp vnder thobediēce of the loue in the holy vnderstādings till vnto the Elderdome of the man Christ and taught to the kingdome of God. And the same is by thē in playne wordes affirmed but more skoffingly and contemptuously in the same booke sent 34. But of that place more hereafter in the addition to the Article They with their cauill as it is common vnto them with their brethren the Papistes and Anabaptistes who alwayes not being able to criminate and blame the doctrine taught flye straight wayes to the persō of the preacher demaunded A Syr what auctoritye haue you to minister and who layd handes on your who called you c. as also their forefathers the old Pharisies which demaūded of S. Iehn the Baptist the same question with that learned man M. Musculus I aunswere Qui legitimé vocati non sunt quaestionem de vocatione mouent They which are not called lawfully first moue a controuersie about a lawfull calling which obiection M. Bullenger in his booke agaynst the Anabaptistes doth aunswere learnedly and at large Bullenger agaynst the Anabaptistes 3. booke 4. chap. 90. leafe An addition to the 5. Article of an outward calling SVch an one as in euen so with his vnderstanding and thoughtes become incorporate in all obediēce of the word to the truth of God and lyfe of Christ and euen so acknowledge the truth the same verily bideth rightly in the doctrine of Christ and is apt to minister the holy word of truth and to be a teacher of the people c. No man can teach the word of Christ and his doctrine but such as first haue bin obedient disciples of Loue. No man ought to busy himselfe about the word but the Elders in the Familye c. No man knoweth Christ nor the father nor yet also the seruices or Ceremonies of Christ but euen onely those which are euen so through Christ as we haue rehearsed renewed or regenerated in their spirite and mynde neither doth it also behoue or belong vnto any other to set forth any seruices of Ceremonies of Christ nor to preach or declare the Euangely but such are those whiche are sent of Christ himselfe for otherwise it is all false The Disciples of Christ could not vnderstand the clearenes of Christ before the fifty day taht the holy Ghost was poured vpon them much lesse then verely can now the Scripture learned which haue not kept the passeouer from death into lyfe and from flesh into spirite with Christ nor yet atteined through the power of the holy Ghost to the clearenes of Christ vnderstand out of the knowledge of the Scripture the clearenes of the word of Christ nor yet set forth or teach accordyng to the truth his ceremonies or seruices nor also preach or declare the Euangely of Christ ARTICLE 6. of HN. of vniting into God. ANd the Elders of the Familie sayth HN. are illuminated from God they are Godded with God they are incorporate into God with whō God also in one beyng is Hominified or become man. Theophilus WHat error is this if it were rightly sene vnto whilest the vine braunch is to be vined in the vine Iohn 15. he that is ioyned vnto the Lord is one spirite with him and are made partakers of the godly nature 2. Pet. 1.4 William Wilkinson TRue it is that a certaine godly and learned man affirmeth writyng vpon the fall of S. Peter When God leaueth vs to our selues their is not hope to stay from rūnyng headlong into sinne right so it fareth in Gods iudgement with this coale Prophet HN. and his dreamyng Disciple Theophilus For the maister on still fallyng from phantasie to phantasie and from one errour into an other and the scholer bringeth in stones and morter to build vp the confused heape of all impitie In the former clause was shewed that they vtterly cōdemne and mislike all Ordination and Election of Ministers with their Familie now if follweth to be handled what priuiledge and prerogatiue his Elders purchase vnto themselues by the admission they haue into that blynd societie HN. affirmeth very soberly as it séemeth that the Elders of his broode are illuminated and Godded with God or incorporated into god c. his scholer Theophilus laboureth to strengthen his Assertion with the testimony of Scripture to that ende by him wrested and wrongly alledged wherein seyng he cā not slippe the coller with me as erst he did in leauyng the former sentence now to outcountanaunce the truth with the impudencie of his forehead hee asketh What an errour is this if it were rightly seene vnto what errour do you aske truly an horrible palpable errour it is flat against the truth of the sacred scripture straungely saueryng of those dregges whiche you haue déeply dronke both at the hand of the Anabaptisticall Sinagogue and also of the Romish harlot sea of Antichrist But whereas you added a Caueat which is If it be rightly sene vnto I aunswere he that putteth on the Christall spectacles of Gods word and taketh in his hād the Lanthorne of holy write to looke diligently to your steppes shall straight trace out a théefe and a rebell agaynst the Lord. But first to procéede orderly let me aunswere your authorities and then in a word or two wil I set downe the horriblenes of that opinion You say The vine braunche is vined into the vine I finde no such wordes in the
A Confutation OF CERTAINE ARTICLES deliuered vnto the Familye of Loue with the exposition of Theophilus a supposed Elder in the sayd Familye vpon the same Articles By William Wilkinson Maister of Artes and student of Diuinitye Hereunto are prefixed By the right reuerend Father in God I. Y. Byshop of Rochester certaine notes collected out of their Gospell and aunswered by the Fam. By the Author a description of the tyme places Authors and manner of spreading the same of their liues and wrestyng of Scriptures with Notes in the end how to know an Heretique Prou. 30.12 There is a generation that are pure in their owne conceit and yet are not washed from their filthines AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Daye dwelling ouer Aldersgate An. 1579. Cum Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis PErusing ouer this little treatise of M. Wilkinsons I could not but alowe his diligence and painefull trauell in this hereticall and schismaticall world and I would hartely wishe of God that our Church of England might be well weeded from to to grosse errors for it is high tyme. Richard Ely. ¶ To the right Reuerend Father in Christ and his very good Lord Richard by the prouidence of God Byshop of Ely W.W. wisheth all ioye and peace both in body and soule with happynes in the Lord euerlastyng WIse Salomon the sonne of holy Dauid a prudent kyng and a peaceable Prince Reuerēd father in Christ very fittely in his sweet songes resembled the Churche of God vnto a Vine and the enemies thereof vnto rauenous and greedy Foxes For that the Vine beyng a spreadyng plante diligētly trimmed and paynfully attended vnto stretcheth abroad his sappy braūches and broad leaues for a succour and harbour in a storme and is a comfortable gladsome fruite to him that eateth it or tasteth the liquor of the same Whiche Vine the Foxes sometymes spoyle and endamage by robbyng the fruite sometyme by bruysing the young and tender braunches therof before they be able by their grouth to succour themselues frō so many sortes of assaultes most daūgerous And not lesse aptely our Sauiour Christ the Sonne of God in his holy and diuine Sermons likeneth it vnto a field wherein good seede is sowne by the paynefull husbandman corrupt seede scattered by the hād of the enemyes Of both which similitudes albeit many excellent notes may be gathered yet the whole scope of them both in my iudgemēt is this to shew that shootyngs vp and encrease of Gods Church beyng but frō a feeble and weake begynnyng is continually by Sathan and his mischieuous ministers not a little disquieted that thereby the gladsome fruite and looked for encrease therof is much let and hindered What the remedy and redresse therof is I leaue to your Lordshyp to cōsider whom with the rest of your godly and learned brethren and Reuerend Fathers Gods diuine prouidence hath placed ouer vs as in a high watchtower to foresee and discry the subtle assaultes of so slye and cruell enemyes And I hartly wish that it might not iustly be affirmed or beyng iustly affirmed I would that the losse of the soules of many poore Christians did not auouch the truth of the assertion that euen frō the tyme wherein the first scourge wherewith the Lord afflicted his Churche in the bloudy dayes of Queene Mary began neither in and from that tyme alone but euen long sithēce also to the great hurt of Christes church hinderaunce of his chosen many false Christes arose and while the watchmen slept many lying seers and seducyng Prophets vnder Lambes skinnes craftely crept into the sheepfold priuily whisperyng peruerse thynges to seduce and beguile the simple And though the word of God his name be praysed haue a cleare free passage amongest vs and the bloudy bandoges of the Romish Sinagogue be tyed vp that by thē the sheepe of Christ are in lesse daunger to be worryed yet is not the encrease of that heauēly seede so great with grief be that hard which is spoken with sorrow as many as do weene most men do wish for For the roaryng Lion dayly rūneth about his ministers are not idle zeale in hearyng and charitie in practising waxeth cold but specially the continuall labour of Gods husbandmen beginneth to fainte thornes bryers grow vp in the Lordes field the deuill transformyng him selfe into an Angel of light deceiueth many The reason is as I take it that those which ought to be breakers of Gods bread to satisfie relieue the hungry soules of his Saintes cānot breake that which they haue not neither are able many of them being vnarmed to withstād the enemy or those which are able either can and will not bycause they are sleepy or beyng both able willing hauing a watchful eye vpō the Lordes inheritaūce they dare not aduenture beyng diuers wayes discouraged with the sundry manifold fetches of Heretiques especially not beyng acquainted with the daunger of that poyson which dayly floweth frō our Louely Familie to be sure of their owne safetie keepe them selues out of gunshote Of the Heresie it selfe in one worde to vtter the truth of that which almost by the experience and practise of three whole yeares I haue proued to be true it is the most pestiferous deadly Heresie of all others because there is not almost any one particular erroneous Schismaticall phantasie whereof the Familie of Loue hath not borrowed one braunche or other thereof to peece vnto thēselues this their brokē Religion The encrease of this Familie is great that dayly because the withstanders are not many the defenders are wily as Serpentes would fayne in lyfe seeme innocent and vnblameable In profession of the one they boast very much of the other they walkyng very closely do iustifie them selues because fewe haue to finde fault with them yet haue they their lothsome spottes and ougly deformities as in this booke to the diligent reader playnely may appeare Their bookes are many disorderly and confusedly written both for matter and manner of thynges deliuered in them their phrases are such as the Scripture speaketh of cloudes with out water and lightenyng without rayne their blossomes are as dust and their fruite as rottennesse The proofe hereof I referre to the sequele of the Treatise which ensueth the which I desire your Lordshyp the rather to accept because that within this Isle of Ely and other where within your Lordshyps Dioces diuers doe suspect that to be true whiche common fame reporteth that dayly those swarmes increase which in the end I feare me will wonderfully disquiet as it hath already begonne in diuers places and molest the Church of god The Lord vouchsafe when his pleasure is somewhat to cut them shorter and graunt to those vnto whom the care of his Church and ouersight of his flocke belongeth vigilant and watchfull eyes carefull harts willyng myndes and strōg and hable bodyes to finde out and to roote out beyng
founde whatsoeuer doth disquiet the buildyng vppe of Sion that we may keepe the spirit of vnitie in the bonde of peace and be but one folde vnder the shepheard Iesus Christ our Lord who blesse your Lordshyp with the fulnes of all spirituall blessinges to the honour of his name and profite of his Churche Amen Cambridge September 30. Anno. 1579. Your Lordshyps most humbly bounden William Wilkinson ¶ To the godly and Christian Reader Peace from God the Father and our Lord Iesus Christ THat which auncieÌ„t writers and learned men reporte to be the singular commendation and especiall prayse of a good Historiographer geÌ„tle Reader to coÌ„ceale nothyng of the truth for feare or to vtter any vntruth for for euill will neither yet to flatter or claw for fauour that same me thinkes is necessarily to be required of all those whiche take in hand to testifie of any matter whatsoeuer For els how should we possibly looke for truth of those men whose myndes are wedded to affections whose handes and pennes are let out for lucre and toungues let loose to testifie an vntruth who are wholy blinded with disdayne and beyng egged on with euill will haue set them selues to sale committyng whatsoeuer is vnhonest with vnsatiable greadines CoÌ„cernyng my selfe in simplicitie of hart I testifie and soleÌ„nely protest before the whole world calling God to witnesse whom I know to be a sharpe reuenger and seuere iudge agaynst those which abuse his blessed name to any vntruth agaynst myne owne soule if in this treatise I haue vttered ought for enuie or malice of those people against whose opinions my whole stile and writyng is especially directed I haue truely quoted rightly alledged and faythfully as I am hable reported whatsoeuer I haue either heard by word or read by writyng concernyng the errour of those men who terme themselues to be of the Familie of loue Whiche I haue the rather done beyng thereto required by that dutie that I owe vnto the Churche of Christ whiche is the felowshyp of the faythfull and societie of the Saintes of God â–ª as also beyng by a Christian Magistrate thereunto coÌ„maunded I could not chuse I say but I needes must testifie the truth of that whiche both I haue heard and sene which also I am ready at any tyme to auouch before any person beyng called thereunto either priuately or openly Wherein also I haue not sayd so much as I might truely and could iustly hauyng refrayned for their sakes especially which are my very frendes beyng somewhat ouertaken with the lime of that secte and are bewitched with the blyndnesse of those vnsauery opinions Concernyng my further knowledge in that Heresie I referre thee good reader vnto that which ensueth most humbly beseeching thee to blesse and further me with thy most feruent prayers as I hartly desire the promotion and furtheraunce of Gods true Religion the encrease of a true fayth in the feare of God the quietnesse of our English Church and the vtter ruine and abolishyng of all Papistry Atheisme and Hereticall sectes and Schismes whatsoeuer Cambridge Septemb. 30. Readyng certaine bookes of H.N. and conferring with certaine of that Louely Fam. I was by them requested to set downe vnto them in writyng for my further instruction those doubtes whiche either by meanes of the vnusualnesse of their Methode in writing the noueltie of their farre fetched phrases there wrong and wrested Allegories there Diuinitie not heard of or their rough â—ottyng stile I did not vnderstand I deliuered vnto them in the moneth of August 1578. those Articles which follow hereafter in this booke and desiryng earnestly to be fully satisfied in that behalfe I receiued the aunswere deliuered to the common carrier in London whiche beyng intercepted by my worshypfull frend came not into my handes vntill the third of Aprill last past Anno. 1579. The aunswere whiche I shall set downe if first I shall geue you to vnderstand what I can testifie concernyng them and their Fathers of their monstruous Hereticall opinions ¶ A brief view of the heresies and errours of HN. conteined and confuted in this treatise by pag. as herein they are to be found 1. Article HN. sayth we haue no Church 2. 2. Article HN. sayth we haue no truth 5. 3. Article HN. sayth we haue no Baptisme 11. 4. Article HN. sayth we haue no forgeuenes of sins 12. 5. Article HN. sayth we haue no Ministrie 13. 6. Article Of beyng vnited and Godded with God. 15. 7. Article What HN. sayth of him selfe and his extraordinary callyng Wherein is declared agaynst the Familie that first he was D. George his Scholer secondly he is one of the heretiques whereof Christ and his Apostles did foretell thirdly HN. agréeth with the old heretiques in sundry their heresies and opinions 20. 8. Article What is necessarily required in HN. his Disciple 34. 9. Article Of HN. his Reuelations 44. 10. Artic. Of shrift vsed in HN. his Familie 49. 11. Artic. HN. misliketh the Preachyng of the word and what he termeth it 51. 12. Artic. HN. his Iudgement of Preachers not admitted by his Familie 56. 13. Artic. HN. sayth it is lawfull for one of his Familie to dissemble 61. 14. Artic. HN. maketh God the Author of sinne and the sinner guiltes 63. 22. Articles of the Libertines 66. Theophilus Proofes confuted whereby he proueth HN. his doctrine is the truth 67. ¶ With a brief token how to know an Anabaptist gathered out of Zuinglius Bullinger and Caluin whiche declare the opinions and behauiour of Heretickes from tyme to tyme. ⧠A very brief and true description of the first springing vp of the Heresie termed The Familie of Loue which conteineth the places where and the parties by whom the sayd Heresie was broached WHoâ— as long tyme the singular mercy and leuitie of the Lorde in the happy dayes of good kyng Edward the vj. a Prince of blessed remembraunce was by the carnall profession of many and looâ—e lyfe of the greatest part abused in the end by Gods â—â—st scourge ouer England it came to passe which alwayes ensueth the contempt of so precious pearles that Amos long before Prophesied of the Epicures of Israell there followed a greuous famine not onely of bread for the comfortyng and susteinyng of the outward man but also the foode of the soule whereby our lyfe to Godward is prolonged was taken away And it was a very daungerous thyng to confesse Christ openly not onely for feare of Excommunication but for daunger of the losse of lyfe also And so farre had the Prince of darkenesse confirmed his kyngdome of ignoraunce in this worthy Iseland that the worshyppers which worshypped in spirite and truth durst not openly assemble themselues for feare of the TyraÌ„nous hatred of the Scribes and Pharisies the rest of the oiled broode of the Popishe Sinagogue They were compelled secretly to meete in priuate houses so fearefull a thyng was it for fleshe bloud to abyde the extreme fury of the Romish Baalamites which
waxed so heate and such dayly dauÌ„ger honge ouer their heades that professed the sinceritie of the Gospel So scorchyng was the flame of those most bloudy tymes that those men whoÌ„ the world was not woorthy of some of them were tryed by bondes and Imprisomnentes some of them by most bitter tormentes of Fire and Fagot such imminent and present perill abode those who professed them selues to be fauorers of Christes truth Which great distresse and calamitie draue diuers of the Children of God to wander from place to place not hauyng where they durst at any tyme rest long together In the which tyme of their continuall tossing sometymes they had ease and comfort by their feruent Prayers and by the participation of the blessed word Sacramentes they got some space to breath them agaynst that fiery triall which hourely they looked for Neither had this affliction albeit it was mighty bene so greuous if Sathan there had stayd his rage but his priuate hatred long concealed brake forth into open enmitie who beyng an old Dragon and subtle Serpent dayly raysed vp some which priuily spake peruerse thynges entanglyng the simple sorte and drawyng such weakelynges after them as they dayly met withall to be their Disciples The auÌ„cient and famous Towne of Colchester was in the troublesome tyme of Queene Maries persecution a sweete and and comfortable mother of the bodyes and a tender nourse of the soules of Gods children which towne was the rather at that tyme frequented because it aforded many godly and zealous Martyrs whiche continually with their bloud watered those seedes whiche by the preachyng of the worde had bene sowne most plentifully in the hartes of Christians in the dayes of good Kyng Edward This towne for the earnest profession of the Gospell became like vnto a Citie vpon an hill and as a candle vpon a candlesticke gaue great light to all those who for the comfort of their conscience came to conferre there from diuers places of the Realme and repairyng to common Innes had by night their Christian exercises whiche in other places could not be gotten For proofe whereof I referre the Reader vnto that whiche is truely reported by M. Foxe in his booke of Actes and Monumentes that at the kynges head in Colchester and at other Innes in the sayd Towne the afflicted Christians had set places appointed for theÌ„ selues to meete at where least Sathan should bee thought to bee idle or his venemous or deadly hatred agaynst Christes poore afflicted members should seeme to bee lesse then his open professed enmitie hee styrred vp diuers Schismaticall spirites whiche euen in that great trouble of the Church sought to be teachers of that wherof they had no vnderstandyng and thereby turned the knowledge of Gods testimonies which in many of them though it was small yet somewhat to vayne and contentious â—anglyng whereby the deare Saintes of God were not a litle disquieted at such tyme especially as some of them beyng coÌ„demned to death looked to tast of the same cup whiche had bene in full measure powred out vnto their brethren For not onely in the priuate assemblies of the godly did these spider catchers swarme together to peruert the right wayes of the Lord but also in diuers prisons in London they kept a continuall haunt where they scattered their deuilish cocle of abhominable Heresie among such as were committed for the loue of the Gospell For the testimony of the truth hereof vouchsafe good reader to read the booke of M. Foxe before alledged where hee reporteth the letter of a wicked Promoter named Thom. Tye the Popish Priest of Muchebently and Steuen Norish a false Iudas and betrayer of Gods Saintes in the tyme of their trouble where he vseth these wordes There is sayth this popish priest one Iohn Kempe and Henry Harte who is the principall of all those that are called Frewil meÌ„ for so they are termed of the Predestinators the sayd Harte hath drawen out xiij Articles to be obserued among his company and as farre as I do beleue there comes none in their brotherhode except he be sworne The other Iohn Kempe is a great trauailer abroad in Kent what his doctrine is I am not hable to say Hetherto M. Foxe And that thou mayest know the better what this Henry Harte was consider I pray thee what is reported of him Where that zealous and faythfull seruaunt of God Iohn Careles in his examination by Doctor Martin verifieth that to bee true whiche in the former place those two were burdened withall by Steuen Norish Of this Henry Harte sayth Iohn Careles it had bene good for him if he had neuer bene borne for many a simple foule hath hee shamefully seduced beguiled and deceiued with his soule Pelagian opinion both in the dayes of kyng Edward and since his departure This Harte write a Confutation of certaine Articles of Christian Religion writte by Iohn Careles and sent vnto William Tyms prisoner in the Kynges Benche The companions also of the same Henry was one M. Gibson who sought to peruert turne froÌ„ the truth xij godly ChristiaÌ„s which were Martyred Of this vngracious coÌ„pany also was one Trewe of Kente who albeit before for the truthes sake he lost his cares for perswadyng the people from goyng to Masse yet afterward happenyng into the coÌ„pany of Pelagians he became deadly enemy to good Iohn Careles as appeareth by Careles his examination whiche he with his owne hand penned before he dyed in prison as in this booke of Martyrs is to be sene at large Now if any man will demaunde what is this to the Familie agaynst whom ye purposely mynde to deale I aunswere that from this preseÌ„t yeare in the which this happened the doctrine of HN. began to pepe out and although it haue a more louely name then the Heresies of the Libertines Anabaptistes and Pellagians had yet it is to him that is disposed to see very certaine by that coÌ„parison which in this booke followeth of all the sectes that the grouÌ„d of all these Heresies were brought into England by Christopher Vitels and his complices out of Delph in Dutchland where it had bene happy for our English Church if with the first Brokers thereof they had bene buryed and forgotten Theire doctrine was then 1. The godly haue in them selues free will to do good 2. They could not away with Predestination Neither caÌ„ this Louely Family abide the most blessed and comfortable doctrine of Predestination as is apparauntly to be sene in their first Epistle to M. Rogers where they vtter this deuilish blasphemous speach Your brethren in Christ for their good faythes cause they haue in your licentious doctrine of Predestination and free election fill all the prisons almost in England But to adde somewhat which is hable by the mouth of a liuyng witnes to be iustified who in Q. Maries tyme was present at the brochyng of this doctrine by Vitels the Ioygner his testimonie
of the man from the true fayth in Christ the light of lyfe to the addictyng of him selfe to the lye or darcknes or euer such tyme as they become conuerted to their God and are regenerated in the spirite of their mynde is the greatest Antichrist which also frō the very begynnyng as likewise in the very corporall appearaunce of Christ in the flesh like as S. Iohn also expresseth impugne it and persecute it in the truth of God and that in the inwardnesse of the man to the establishyng of all vnrighteousnesse in him and not onely a certaine disordred or abused Papistrie yea or euer the Papistrie was thought of which no Pope also or such outward fleshly creature could or can euer worke or bryng to passe And therefore deceiue not your selfe in the point to iudge the Author to be a maintainer of any fleshly or creature like Pope with his adherentes in their abusion of Ceremoniall seruices Ceremonies but he driueth his matter onely as in his worke beyng well noted you may sée to this point to wit that after the entraunce of the darknesse once chaunced the manly generations beyng falne away from the fayth towardes God which was established by Christ in his Apostles and Disciples the old Fathers grew out of a zealousnes of the mynde towardes God and his righteousnesse to institute certaine Ceremonies and seruices so neare as they could out of their insight and comprehendyng that they by their diligent study and searchyng of the Scriptures had attained vnto concerning Gods truth hit the same that resembled or were conformablest to the holy and diuine Scriptures to a commemoration of the thyngs wrought and brought to passe before with Christ and his holynes in the very true beyng to the susteinyng and staying vp of the ignoraunt people in the tyme of darknes from fallyng into any greater absurdities enormities and errours that might haue happened vnto thē and which also did happen vnto many such as maliciously and obstinately not rightly seyng but rather in meanyng to set vp some better degressed and winded of them selues there from and maliciously blasphemed and continewed the same tell that the light of Gods truth might spryng foorth agayne or be erected in the seruice of the loue accordyng to the promises and goeth not about to establish the same in and of their ceremoniall much lesse abused seruice and Ceremonies where about men presently so greatly striue and varie now in this present tyme of the light of loue whiche he affirmeth to be the day of the cleare righteous iudgemēt of God wherein god will restore all thynges to their right to wit bryng or set the lye in his lying beyng to be condemned in the hellish caue and the truth likewise in his right fourme or degrée to wit to preuayle florish and beare sway ouer the vnrighteousnes for euer more Whereby that the will of God might euē so be accomplished in earth as in heauen Wherefore me thinkes that should be very small discernyng in such as can not distinct the shadowes figures or image of a thyng from the body it selfe or the very true beyng either substaunce of the same And that he speaketh of mens ignoraunce in that place and touchyng their slender knowledge vnderstandyng in Gods worde that layeth he forth flatly to the effectuall word and not the imagelike or written word wherein the right Christians are not iniuried but the conceited Christians detected Rochester THe rest of the booke from the 34. Chapter vnto the end is of the callyng of the Gentiles and of the grace of God offred to the world in the last age of the world which seemeth to be the best part of that booke Familie of Loue. IT is well that ye like some part of the booke and if ye could therewithall note that there were a defectiō frō the truth and that there were also by that meanes no difference to bee had betwixt a ceremoniall either letter doctour Christian and an vncircumcised Heathen so had ye then somewhat for your part Rochester THus haue you a tast of this booke gathered as the tyme would serue whereby it appeareth to be no such precious price of worke as of some it is supposed to be Such fayre shewes and glorious titles may soone deceiue the simple to haue such bookes in more admiration then the holy Scriptures But we haue Moses and the Prophetes let vs heare them and iudge all others by them Family of Loue. I do not so collect by the authors wrighting that he would prefer his writing aboue the scriptures geuen by inspiration of God and brought forth and written by the holy Fathers in times past But if you had well marked or considered the same he witnesseth as by a concordable and vniforme testimonye either by record of the same their writynges what the Lord will now accomplish in these last dayes wishing euery one in the same booke to search the Scriptures whether that they also mētion and record not the very same affirmyng also therewith that God is not ne cannot be a God of contentatiō but of peace vnitie And that God moreouer hath stirred him vp to bee a seruiceable instrument or as his elect minister to bryng downe accordyng to his promises written in the Scriptures all controuersies growne among men about their misunderstanding of the scriptures to bryng the same to an end And doth also in the same booke vncouer sundry secret thinges which they that haue seing eyes may by ententiue reading of the same together with the Lordes assistaunce well perceiue and vnderstand that no selfewise or enuious scripture learned could or can euer attaine vnto it agayne What iniurie were it seing that it procedeth by the same spirite to valew it equall with those same sacred scriptures that were tofore written by the holy one of God. Also ye may remember that the fleshly Iewes had also for their aunswere to Christ enuying agaynst him being the truth it selfe the same testimonye that ye alledge to wéete that they had Moses and the Prophets c But who were in the meane time greater persecutours of him then they Rochester WE are sure that the holy Scriptures were wrighten by the spirite of Loue and truth the holy ghost And conteine all true and necessary and sufficient doctrine for our saluation let vs not hould vpon men proue all thinges hould that which is good beleue not euery spirite but proue the spirites Family of Loue. I Graunt that right discerning is good and commeth from the Lord and through him from them whome he and not themselues placeth and by them that are set in the right place of iudgement by the Lord himselfe and not by those that sitt on their owne stoole for it is to be doubted that so many as take vpon them that office of iudgemēt or medling with gods matters or euer Christ be come vnto them or haue a liuing shape in them that they all will
the Ceremoniall law is néedefull to be obserued HN. termeth our Baptisme an handfull of water Who soeuer is not Baptised accordyng to the forme or maner of Iohn that is with the water of repentaunce confessing their sinne he is no Christian No man sayth HN. can Minister the vpright seruice or Ceremonies of Christ truly but the regenerate HN. denyeth the outward admission of Ministers The Familie shal be in all perfection euerlastyngly vpō earth to the end that Gods will might be done in earth as it is in heauen HN. beasteth perfection in this lyfe and in many places HN. sayth that this testimony and publishyng of the ioyfull message videl his Gospell is the kyngdome of perfection and that all the seruices and prophecies which are gone out from God doe lead hereunto and rest and cease herein HN. his sayth Familie must not conceale or dissemble their Religiō but they must hold it out before euery one whō the Lord stirreth vp in their wayes In HN. his Familie is the true most holy of the euerlastyng beyng of God from whence the vpright seruice of the Familie is ministred whereunto all seruices and prophecies which are gone out from God and his truth do lead as to the right and very true perfection that God might euer be declared vpon earth HN. sayth of all preachers without his Fam. that they are vnilluminated vnregenerated vnrenewed vngodded vnsent good thinkyng which out of their literall knowledge come into the shéepefold of the beleuers besides the Church of Christ Which Christ calleth théeues wolues murtherers false hartes and Scripture learned HN. alloweth confession of sinnes in his Familie and forgeuenesse of the same and clensing whiche he calleth Purgatorie HN. sayth that the Romishe Church hath obediently grounded it selfe on the seruices and ceremonies which are the prefiguration of true Christianitie and her seruices and with diligence and feruēcie obserued the same to a good discipline or ordinaunce of the congregations HN. sayth that the annoyntyng with oyle which the Papistes vse is a Sacrament of the holy Churche of Christ and signifieth vnto vs the annoyntyng of Priests and Elders with the holy Ghost HN. alloweth of the Pope because sayth he through his seruice of the holy word the true clearenes of Christ was spread abroad in all landes HN. of the Popish Hierarchie namely Cardinals Bishops Parish priestes signifiyng the Leuiticall Priestes Deacons or helpers of the Parish Priestes Sextons or kéepers of holy thynges Monkes whiche signifie such as dwell alone and are through the loue of righteousnes sanctified and therfore seperated from the world and all that is fleshly for to liue euen so as sanctified ones of God. All the aforesayd sayth HN. hath bene vsed in tymes past in his true beyng whē the light of lyfe had his clearenes but now is become darkned HN. condenmeth as many out of their knowledge whiche they take out of the Scriptures brought in certaine seruices and ceremonies in any other wise and order then the Churche of Rome appoynted as vnorderly reiectyng and blasphemyng the Catholique Church of Rome and rentyng the consent and nurturable sustentation of the same It is mere lyes and vntruth which the Scripture learned through the knowledge whiche they get out of the Scripture institute preach and teach HN. sayth God raysed him vp which lay altogether dead without breath and lyfe from the death annoynted him with his godly beyng named him selfe with him and Godded him with him selfe All the Scripture speakyng of Christ of his séede of his commyng in his glory is in this day of the Loue fulfilled HN. sayth that the prophecies 1. Edras 4. d. Esay 3. e. and 11. b. Ezech. 39. c. Soph. 3. b. Zach. 2. b. are in this day of Loue fulfilled Moreouer the raysing vp and Resurrection from the dead commeth to passe also in this same day through the appearyng of the commyng of Christ in his maiestie acaccordyng to his saying Iohn 6. e. I will rayse him vp agayne in the last day In this day are all prophecies fulfilled The seruice of Loue is the perfection it selfe All sayth HN. shall perishe without the Familie of Loue. ¶ Hereticall affirmations and vngodly expositions of Scriptures by HN. out of the documentall sentences EVen thus haue the seruices of the testimonyes of the holy spirite of Loue their ministrations among the perfect ones and do remoue the midle wall which is betwixt the perfect and vnperfect ones To make euen so of twayne that it be one namely God and the man in one true being of Iesus Christ cap. 1. sent 4. Nothing can come from the true perfection but all humble and méeke vertues and righteousnes which flow out of perfection cap. 1. sent 7. He alledgeth that there is a perfection in his lyfe to proue it he quoteth 1. Cor. 13. b. cap. 1. sent 9.10.2 Pet. 1. d. The perfect can bring forth nothing but all good and loue quoted as a profe Iohn 13 14.16 he leadeth thē into all truth Cap. 2. sent 1. ¶ Christ is taken on  1. With an imagination of knowledge Cap. 2. sent 1. Videl 2. Good thincking of the hart  3. Or out of the text of the letter No man can teach the word of doctrine of Christ but such as haue bene disciples obedient of the loue cap. 2. senten 1. Vnilluminated Scripture learned and vnsent preachers cap. 2. sent 2. The word that is ministred speakeable or in letters out of the Loue and out of the true lyfe is also Christ after the fleash cap. 2. sent 4. For euen so among the beleuers of the word the word became flesh and dwelt among them and Iesus was in such sort borne of the virgin Mary out of the séede of Dauid after the flesh that is of pure doctrine out of the séede of the Loue and whosoeuer feadeth of the ouerflowne word and his lyfe beleuingly in his soule he eateth truely the flesh of Christ and drinketh his bloud and is raysed vp by Christ in the last day to eternall lyfe and becommeth euen so in his new birth Consubstanciated with Christ after the spirit cap. 2. sent 5. As also for that the seruauntship of the Law should be noe Gal. 3. c. heire with the beleuer cap. 3. sent 10. That same was the complaint of Abraham which he or euer he had a sonne or an heire complayned before the Lord that he had obteined no. Gen. 15. a. séede out of the beliefe And supposed euen so that his seruaunt that is his seruauntship out of the law should be his heire but the sonne wich shall be borne out of the spirite that is out of the fayth of Abraham cap. 3. sent 11. As long as the young ones are childish and not yet growne vp vnto the Elderdome of the perfect being they are yet vnder the ordinance of the
Church for his mother The Church is Noahs Arke out of the which he that is must néedes be drowned Christianus non est qui in Christi ecclesia non est sayth Cyprian He is not a Christiā which is not of the Church of Christ They be Antichristes which goe out of the Church and deale agaynst the Church The which Church of Christ if your Family be Shew me out of the scriptures these markes wherby the Church ought to be knowen this if you can truely doe I confesse that you haue the Church if ye cannot beware least the further ye wander from the shepfold the further ye goe astray from Christ and encrease you owne damnation Therefore loke well to your standing The doctrine is very true yet the place quoted by HN Fol 16. sent 38. out of S. Iude to proue it is very impertinent hauing no such proofe in it as he alledgeth it for For how hangeth this reason together God hath reserued vnto the Angels which kept not their first estate but left their owne habitation euerlasting chaines vnder darknes vnto the iudgement of the great day which S. Peter calleth their damnation Therefore he that turneth away from the comminalty of Loue which as you tearme is the Church of God bringeth euen so ouer himselfe the iudgement of his condemnation But it were hartely to be wished that his fault in abusing Scripture were the least which in the eyes of God is damnable so should not his cancred and poysoned Heresies besides his owne guilt draw with them likewise the soules of those that stumble vpon him And thus much for HN his text Now to Theophilus exposition Theophilus YOu say that this clause It is the hill of the Lord is spoken of the loue it selfe and not of the familie W. Wilkinson THen belike you would haue me take your meanyng to be this The loue the is God ye say for so in the next clause ye expound it is the hill of the Lord whereon his Church is builded What a perplexitie of speach is this the ye can not vtter your mynde so the I may vnderstand ye If you meane the God is onely the foūdation of his Church I graunt yet hath not your Paraphrasis vpon HN. his wordes as yet forced thus much Ergo God is the foundation of your Loue Familie Ye take in hād to explicate HN. his meanyng but the old Prouerbe will still belike be true An euill expositor marreth the text For herein you do but rayse dust with your shufflyng tell vs there is a marke if we could sée it when ye haue dimmed it with a darke exposition so that it can not be sene For in my simple iudgement you leaue the wordes very doubtfull For whereas you make a circumloqution and say it may not bee denied for as much as God is loue and the other must consequently or necessarily follow I vnderstand HN. very well when he sayth God is loue it is very true and therefore I take it that in diuers places he vseth this diffuse terme the loue for the Lord our God as a worde that is equiualente of signification But whereas you say the other must consequently or necessarily follow I vnderstand not yet what you meane for it is as though ye bad me looke stedfastly and yet shut myne eyes For what is the other which you adde Is the sence this the Familie of Loue by you pretended is Gods Church that God is the grounde of that your Familie Geue me leaue to vse your own wordes neither is the consequent good nor doth it follow of necessitie for which you induce it For to let passe your learned and weightie Parenthesis for how is an house to be builded on an house with a sad interrogatorie ministred in the same what a necessarie consequēt is this God is the hill of the Lord or this God is the foundation of his Church Ergo your pretended Familie is the Church of god How this consequent doth halte in his followyng he that knoweth what a consequent meaneth can easely consider But it séemeth that you are no great gatherer of necessary consequentes albeit ye iumbling stumbled on these wordes To follow consequently or necessarily vnwares But if hereafter vppon a further deliberation by you had you shall enforce your consequent more necessarily I shall hit on your meanyng the better so shape you a fitter aunswere And thus much of the first Article An addition to the first Article out of HN. THe Familie and cōmunaltie of the same house vid. of the loue is Gods chosen people of Israell and he him selfe with them is Ierem. 24. a. 31. d. Ezech. 27. c. Apoc. 21. a. their God and will likewise bide their God from generation to generation euerlastingly And if they chaunce to transgresse in any thing God will then 1. Chron. 3. chastē teach and informe them but he will no more withdraw his grace and mercy frō them Psal. 89. c.d. For God hath chosen none other house nor Ierem. 7. b. Temple but 1. Cor. 3. b. c. 2. Cor. 6. b. c. the godly childrē or Communialtie of loue For the F. of L. is the mercy seate of the loue that is of the Lord the schole of grace Exhor Cap. 12.44 Heb. 5. a. The rest prepared from the beginnyng for the people of God and all repentaunt persons It is the Sion and Ierusalem from whence the law was prophesied Esay 2. Mich. 4. to come The Familie of Loue is the true tabernacle of God which shall in all perfection be euerlastingly vpon earth For so it hath pleased God to the end that his will and iudgemēt of his righteousnes may be done vpō earth as it is in heauen Math. 6. Luke 11. All prophesies ministratiōs which are gone from God doe tend or lead to the Familie of Loue as to an euerlasting very true perfect good most holy seruice of the loue that is the Lord which shall remaine in the same clearenes in his ministery euerlastingly to the end that the same most holy Prophet good frō henceforth might perpetually be declared vpon earth W. Wilkinson THese haue I good Reader put downe as a tast that thou mightest bee somewhat acquainted with their horrible blasphemies and thereby thou knowyng them mightest more carefully eschew and auoide them ARTICLE 2. HN. No truth HN sayth that he can not perceiue nor find the true belief in Iesus Christ amongest any people vpon earth that walke without the Communialtie of loue and liue vnto them selues and that same is appeared and manifested vnto the holy ones of God in the Communialtie 1. Iohn 1.3 a. of the loue through the appearyng Mat. 25.3 d. Act. 1.11 d. of the comming of Iesus Christ out of the most high heauen So can not likewise the same most holy belief become rightly witnessed or confessed by any other people nation or communialities but onely by the 1. Cor. 12. a.
b. Ephes 4. b. communialitie of the holy ones in the loue or by such as walke and liue 1. Pet. 1. b. 1. Iohn 3. b. 4. b. obediently vnder the gracious word and his seruice of loue W. Wilkinson HN. sayth he can not perceiue or finde the true belief c. to this I aunswere that it is Gods iust though secret iudgement that when men aske amisse they do not obtaine when they knocke at the wrong doore they are not let in and beyng on sléepe when the bridgrome commeth and wāt light in their lampes they enter not in with him into the Mariage That HN. hath not founde nor perceiued the truth the reason is he wil not learne Pro. 8.8.9 he stoppeth his eares charme the charmer neuer so wisely Psal. 58.4.5 The Lord will guide thē that be méeke in his way Psal. 25.9 but knowledge entereth not into a froward soule and a foole that séeketh wisedome findeth her not for the Lord withstandeth the proud geueth grace vnto the humble 1. Pet. 5.5 The Israelites sought God as a people desirous to know his wayes but because the feare of him was learned by mēs preceptes Esay 29.13 they were selfe conceited wise Esay 5.21 Therfore did they heare and not vnderstād sée and not perceiue their hart was fat their eares were heauy and their eyes were shut Esay 6.9.10 Where note curteous Reader that this holy Prophet for so wil the Ioigner néedes haue vs for to take him HN. and our Papistes vse the selfe same weapō and by the same knife séeke to cut the throate of gods Church which they hādle after this sort Your Church ye Protestates was not alwayes visible neither did it alwayes appeare vnto the world Therefore it is not the true Church What a faint Consequent and weake reason this is especially with our Papistes which can not abide an Argument drawen from the Negatiue by this which followeth beyng the like may easely be proued I sée no sunne sayth the blind man neither heare I any swéetnes of song or pleasaūt Musicke sayth the deafe man Therfore there is no sunne sayth the one nor song quoth the other HN. the sonne of perdition and the Romish broode of old Hipocrites can not see the truth or will not therefore there is no truth at all The communialitie of the holy ones in the loue for so vnlesse ye terme them they will bee angry out of measure créepe in corners as owles doe at noone euen as did the Anabaptistes in the first spryng tyme of their heresie therefore there is now no Familie of Loue neither were there any Anabaptistes any where in tymes past this Argument as it is euidēt in the one so will it not be denied by the other Albeit in déede it be a féeble kinde of disputyng farre swaruyng from all rule of reason For the seyng or not seyng of mortall man doth not approue or disproue the truth of the immortall god Pharao kyng of Egypt saw Moses and Aaron and confessed the miracles by thē wrought to be true miracles yet saw he not a reason to perswade him to let Israell goe Iohn Baptist did as it were point out Christ with his finger saying Behold the lambe of God. The Iewes cōfessed that Christ had done all thinges well The Pharisies saw their thoughtes disclosed yet reasoned they thus The Scribes and Pharisies and rulers beleue not on him but onely the rude and accursed multitude Therfore is he not the Messias And if I should vse the like forme of Argumēt as this is trow ye the Familie would thinke the consequent necessary Before the dayes of Queene Mary or An. 1555. at the furthest this Louely Familie was neuer sene nor heard of onely the hatchers of this Familie the Libertines the Arriās the Anabaptistes the Free will men and Catharistes were than extant but as yet this broode of Locustes had not broken out of the bottomlesse pitte neither had it the name of Loue which it now hath Therfore the Familie of Loue neither is the Church of God neither is the holy truth of God in that their conuenticle but vnto them and their Patriarch HN. I leaue such kind of reasonyng most hūbly beséechyng God to giue them eyes to sée tongues to confesse the truth to Gods glory and the safegarde of their soules in the appearaunce of his Christ After HN. had told his Disciples where he could not finde the truth now he telleth them where he foūd it vz. HN. THe same is appeared and manifested vnto the holy ones of God in the Communialtie of Loue. W. Wilkinson SO that then belike vnlesse it be graunted him that he founde it there all his labour is lost Secondly it was not founde out there before he founde it and to that purpose it is whiche in his new Euangely he sayth He will declare the secrete misteries of God and make relation of thynges hidden from the world vntill his new day c. And he is annointed with the holy Ghost Godded with God in the spirite of his loue made heyre with Christ in the heauenly goodes of the riches of God elected to be a minister of the gracious worde which is now in the last tyme raysed vp by God accordyng to the promise Ierem. 33. Which is ment of Christ wherein HN. blasphemeth What if for all these his great boastyng crakes his swellyng wordes of vanitie turne to smoke out of the fornace and dust before the winde what then if for all his outfacyng of the simplicitie of the Gospell and shouldring out the sonne of God the Lord lay opē his folly to the world and his shame vnto the sonnes of men And if he founde no truth or if it be truth yet not of his findyng Was there no truth before he told it Was there no Gospell before his heape of confusion and huge lompe of shapeles and vnshamefast heresies If there was as most vndoubtedly there was a light before darkenes and an Arke of God before Dagon the Philistian Idoll why boasted he then thus presumptuously that the truth was of his findyng onely Neither is it yet agréed among his new peruertes concerning the age of this new founde heresie For some of his Sectaries beyng demaunded where his Church was from the Apostles tyme vntill the appearaunce of HN. this new found Prophet of theirs he aunswered not onely obscurely to the question but also fondely to the purpose and vnfittely to satisfie a waueryng conscience It was in the land of the liuyng among the holy ones But thus doth the Lord suffer their eyes to dazell who are quicke sighted to séeke out Phantasies to féede the it itchyng eares of them whō no doctrine can content HN. alledgeth 1. Iohn 1. a for proofe The wordes be these That whiche we haue sene and heard declare we vnto you that ye may also haue fellowshyp with vs and that our fellowship
may be with the Father and with his sonne Iesus Christ Where S. Iohn teacheth he is a true witnes because he saw and heard secondely he was a profitable minister because he kept it not to him selfe but declared it vnto others Thirdly the profite that doth ensue to the Children of God by S. Iohns declaration that ye may haue fellowship with vs. Lastly to make his message more amiable in the sight of men and mē to embrace the same more gréedely he addeth that our fellowship may be with God the Father with his Sonne Iesus Christ and to entise them more effectually to take hold of Christ he sheweth that Christ commeth not bare or naked but clothed and accompanied with all his mercies to the encreasing of his children and comfort of the godly This worde fellowship geueth vs to vnderstand that among the godly there ought to be a mutuall féelyng of infirmities with a supplying of all comfort both in thynges spirituall and temporall This doctrine conteineth the true Exposition of the Article of our belief I beleue the communion of Saintes So that HN. might euen aswell haue founde his Communialty nay with much more ease and lesse labour in the belief as in S. Iohn the Apostle But let vs sée the application of this place of S. Iohn The faithfull haue fellowship with the Apostles and God the Father in or with Christ Iesus Therfore this fellowship is in the familie of your loue onely and there is no societie in truth but yours Not so For many a day before HN. was heard of was there a Communialitie of Saintes neither was it a Communialitie of goodes of which the Anabaptistes did dreame neither that filthy and graceles Communialitie of the Femal kinde of wiues virgins c. whiche the Nicholaitanes did dote of But this it was that made HN. so farre to ouershoote him selfe that wheresoeuer he founde this word Communialitie or fellowship straight way he imagined that it might proue vnto vs the Familie of his new inuention For neither did the woordes Actes 2.44 Act. 4.32 And all that beleued were in one place and had all thinges common meanyng that quoad ad vsum to helpe and releiue the necessity of such as could not labour there ought to bee a mutuall contribution among the faithfull of the irtemporall blessynges as there is in all Churches rightly gouerned proue quoad possessionem accordyng to priuate right no man ought to enioy any landes or other possession to the mainteinance of his callyng and nourishyng of his familie though in holy Scripture it bee set downe for an vnfaillible truth that Phillip the Deacon had a house so had Mathew and Peter and Ioseph of Aramathia Lidia a purple seller and Cornelius the Capitaine had priuate abidyngs and great wealth so had Philemon a faythfull Preacher and companion of Paule the Apostle both house and seruauntes yet no Communitie HN. THyrdly hee telleth them how hee founde the truth Through the appearyng of Iesus Christ out of the highe heauen W. Wilkinson TO proue that Christ appeared vnto him hee citeth Math. 25. d. wherein is conteined how Christ shall come in his second commyng to seperate the shéepe from the goates c. Act. 1.11 b. the men in white garmentes sayd he shall come agayne so as ye haue sene him go into heauen Thus then yf Christ did appeare in his body to HN. and in his second commyng or if he appeared not otherwise than did he not appeare to HN. at all and doth the mighty Rabby of the Familiely which is very like to be true or els with the Sadducies hee denieth the resurrectiō or with Himeneus and Philetus he affirmeth that the resurrection is past already HN. THe same most holy beliefe cannot become vprightly witnessed nor confessed by any other people c. William Wilkinson THis is the last part of HN his assertion wherein he sheweth where onely the truth and true beliefe is to be looked for that is in the Familye of Loue of his coigning and not els where The morter whereby he laboureth to build is vntēpered the stones are very precious but neyther fitte nor coucheable in that place wherein he sayth they shall be layd The place by him alledged 1. Cor. 12. a. b. proue that although there be diuersitye of giftes in Gods Church yet is it thereby builded vp For there is but one spirite whereby and one Lord to whome the Church is builded And this he amplifyeth by diuers examples and similitudes of the body of man c. And Ephe. 4. b. he sheweth that there is but one Church one Fayth one Baptisme and yet are there diuers functions instituted of God for the building vp of the Church as Apostles Euangelistes Pastors and teachers yet doe all these diuers giftes tend this one and the same end .1 to the gathering together of the Saintes .2 to the edification of the Church .3 to the vnitye of fayth And to touch S. Paule his meaning and scope Therefore Christians ought to liue charitably together in loue Doth this then proue that if men should agrée they had the truth and none but they that doe agrée doth vnitye of mindes proue a truth in doctrine S. Peter and the rest of the Apostles in their feruent prayer affirme that 1. Pontius Pilate .2 the gentiles .3 the Iewes agreed to put Christ to death Act. 1.27.28 Was here truth because they had vnitye Euen so though I graunt all to be true that S. Paule affirmeth as no doubt it is very true yet hath not HN fitly alledged these places 1. Cor. 12. b. Ephe. 4. b. to proue that the truth is no where taught but in his Familye HN. VVIthout the Familie is nothing but good thinking tedious trauaile labour and misery Theophilus SO then this is very true sauing that you haue put truth for true beliefe the rest of the wordes are spoken or referred to the rest which God hath reserued to his chosē in that house and to the seruice of that house Loke better on the text William Wilkinson VVHensoeuer any man shall be without or depart from the Church he shall neyther finde rest in bodye nor peace in conscience as they doe very well knowe who haue departed and falne away from the knowne truth or which at any tyme suffer their consciences to wauer halte betwixt God and Baal truth and errour light and darknes God for Christ his sake keepe vs from falling away from the truth or standing in mammering therof knowing that Neuters and Hipocrites with Lukewarme brethren shall be spewed out of Gods mouth which HN and his Familye must take heede and harken to whiche geueth any man liberty so he be of their Familye to embrace and lyke of what religiō he list in his new Euangely cap. 1. sent 4. Now if there be nothing but trauaile misery c. Why wishe ye peace and health vnto them which are dogges and not of
the houshold of Fayth permitting them what religion they will. But hereby ye thought to stretch your Familye from sea to sea and from one end of the world to another So that here you shewe what kindred acquaintaūce your Heresie hath with the Anabaptistes who affirme that for their quietnesse sake they may confirme them selues to any Religion of the people amongest whō they dwell How neare you and these mē iumpe I leaue to the discrete Reader to discerne M. Bullinger his censure on them is this Of this iudgement was that beast Dauid George sayth he and this sect is the most pestilent of all others Thus much sayth M. Bullinger who was acquainted with thē as hee him selfe testifieth I did put truth for true belief thinkyng them to be all one neither as yet haue ye shewed any difference betwixt them I haue looked on HN. his text sufficiently God geue you grace to looke better on the Testament and to come backe to the truth whence ye haue slydden and kéepe me in that which I doe and haue professed HN. THe true light hath not bene declared by any of them all that haue taken on set forth and taught before the same and without the same Familie of loue Heb. 9. b. 10. Theophilus YOu shuld do wel to alledge the text as it is and not your owne imagination which is that there is hath bene or can be any more thā one true light vz. Christ or the loue whiche presently is appeared to his chosen in the house of loue or of god For before and without the Church and his seruice there cā be no truth taught W. Wilkinson THat our blynde southsayer told vs there is not any truth to be foūd without his fond Familie although it hath by me bene handled in that part of this Article which immediately goeth before yet this learned Elder of this Louely Familie barketh and brauleth stil against vs and will not suffer playne and manifest truth to stop his mouth And although the place by me alledged out of HN. be verbatim and word for word as I alledged it yet will he not be satisfied but as it were facyng me out with a carde of x. he séeketh to ouerrunne me with his eloquēce sayth to blanke me withall that I haue mistaken and falsified the author But because he taketh me vp for an Imaginer of the text vouchsafe gentle and curteous Reader to way myne Imagination as he pleaseth to terme it The place by me rised out of the 1. Exhort of HN. Cap. 16. sent 9. fol. 42. is in the very first line thus Therefore the holy nor the most holy the true nor the most true light which the most highest hath presently in his most holy seruice vnder the obedience of the loue geuen vnto vs for to be declared forth hath not Heb. 9. b. 10. a. bene declared by any of thē all that haue taken on set forth and taught any thyng before this same or without this same our seruice of the loue Are not these my very wordes sauyng that for breuities sake I pretermitted your long and vnnecessary Parenthesis Haue I not delt truly with your houshold-father in that I truly and faythfully as from his owne mouth did report his wordes Am I not vniustly charged and falsely blamed for my Imagination in the text of so worthy an Author But seyng it is not expedient that I be myne owne iudge of myne innocencie I refer me to the sentence of the indifferēt Reader whom also I desire to be aduertised that he hath heard me take an Elder halting in his word whē as the fayth of their Familie HN. I meane in the booke by him intituled Dictata per HN. or documentable sentences sayth nothing can come from the true perfection but all humilitie and meeke vertues and righteousnes floweth from all perfection Now if to slaunder and misreport be a worke of righteousnesse and worthy of their perfection let them glory therein I had rather in that sort be vnperfect As for me and those that desire not hand ouer head to receiue all that comes from euery mā it is sufficient and shal be that if they lauish out any vntruth that I be pardoned for not sealyng vnto it before I way it in Gods ballance least it proue light and try it at the touchstone least it be counterfeite The places of Scripture by HN. quoted are very impertinent and absurdely alledged hauyng not any thrée wordes that sounde toward such a sense as he would father on them Theophilus THere hath not bene is ne can be any more thā one light which is presently appeared vnto his chosen in the house of loue or as HN. sayth our house of loue W. Wilkinson WHy then haue ye left the Churche into the which ye were Baptised why did ye promise ye would manfully fight vnder Christes banner and continue his faythfull souldiour and seruaunt to your liues end and now lyke a runnagate Apostata a cowardly souldiour or rather a traiterous Iudas ye betray his Saints to Sathā breake truce with the son of God into whose obedience ye were sworne Why do ye like children past grace insolently taunt and checke your mother and impudently tread vnder your féete the Lordes pearles as most filthy swine why come you not to the light that your workes may be sene how they are wrought in God what meane you to frame and imagine to your selfe a new Churche For whereas so oftē you affirme that you haue no church but ours no assemblies but ours why doth HN. terme it our Familie or seruice doth not this word our Familie note a particular secte or faction in the possession of a few Ye say very truely there can not bee any truth without the Churche If this be true then your doctrine is false for there is but one Lord one fayth one redeemer one spirite of sanctification one Abrahā the father of the faithful one Isaac one Iacob one body wherof we all are mēbers The Churche hath but one head and one body As for deridyng and scoffing Ismaell he shall be cast out with the bondmayd his mother prophane Esau shall haue no part in the Lordes inheritaunce neither your Schismaticall Familie vnles ye repent hartely for that which is past They Iewes cryed the Temple of the Lord yet were they a stiffenecked peopel you cry the schoole of grace the mercy seate the Familie of the Lord and yet all is but hypocrisie For the Iewes had an externall tabernacle instituted of god Therfore they might boast better thā you You haue coined and inuented a Schisme yet very cōfidently you affirme your conuēticle is the Church without the which is no truth to be looked for An Addition of HN. vnto the 2. Article NO mā sayth HN. how wise soeuer he be in the knowledge of the Scriptures can by any meane vnderstand or comprehend the wisedome of God but onely they
that be of the Familie who soeuer is without the Familie is inueigled with wiles subtletie and falsechode For no man rightly accordyng to truth of the Scriptures nor accordyng to the spirituall vnderstandyng of the godly wisdome can deale in or vse the true Gods seruice nor the seruices of the holy worde but onely the Illuminate Elders in the godly wisedome whiche walke in the house of loue The wise men of the world and the Scripture learned haue not knowen the veritie of the heauenly truth nor yet obteined or gotten the clearenes with Christ. It is mere lyes and vntruth what the Scripture learned through the knowledge they got out of the Scriptures institute or teach c. They preach in deede the letter and Imagination of their knowledge but not the word of the liuyng God. Therefore sayth he they are mē whose knowledge doth imagine much in them ARTICLE 3. of HN. No Baptisme WIthout the Familye of Loue sayth HN there is no true Christian Baptisme This same is the schole of grace to an euerlasting remission of sinnes ouer all such as cleaue there vnder There is no true Christianitye but the Comminalty of the holy ones in the loue of Christ Iesus Ion. 17. c. Ephe. 4. a. h. All other that haue not the Christian doctrine of the seruice of the loue forgoing their Baptisme It is not meete and conuenient that men should count such vnbeleuers and vnbaptised ones for Christians neither yet also for men at whose handes one should any way suppose or trust to finde any word of Ioh. 1. a. 3. a. gods truth or yet any workes Mar. 1. a. righteousnesse or Gods seruice that God regardeth or accepteth They are without Christes body Theophilus COnsider better of the text Rather vnder the obedience of the father and his loue vnder the obedience of Christ and his beliefe and the obedience of the holy ghost and his renewing of the lyfe and minde c. to be baptised in the name of the father the sonne and the holy ghost c. William Wilkinson WHat account HN. maketh of our Church and the truth therein taught is already declared Now followeth it to be vnderstode what his opinion is of our Sacramentes And first to speake of baptisme For of the holy Sacrament of the supper of our Lord he hath written very litle what he attributeth to our Church therein is playne that vnlesse we haue our foregoing in the doctrine of the loue we are not to be counted of him and his Fam to be baptised ones To the which I will aunswere briefly if first he shall satisfy me in this demaund Whether when there was no Family of Loue there were no vpright baptisme in England If he say there was a lawfull baptisme than is there an vpright baptisme without the foregoing of his louely doctrine and without his Family a true Christian baptisme If he say there was none than doe I aunswere that these Famelers in England are not rightly baptised speake the truth worke righteousnes or an acceptable worke in the sight of god To the which if the Familye shall further aunswere though then they were not yet since they haue bin rightly baptised This it may be Vitels the Ioyner will aunswere to approue his hereticall behauiour at Cholchester ad to this I am to reply that if the Fam. acknowledge a rebaptization then are they hypocrites all the sort of them For they in their last cōfession being a rehearsall of their doctrine beliefe and religion affirme that they doe deale simply and playnely c We haue say they nor vse any other Ceremonyes lawes statutes nor Sacramentes of Baptisme and supper of the Lord then such as are ministred in the Church of England But I say that the Church of England vseth not rebaptization Therefore if they be rebaptised they be double faced dissemblers Furthermore if they shall affirme that they vse not other Sacramentes c. than is vsed in the Church of England that is in their Fam. in the Church of England because it was sayd in the first Article that we haue no Church without their Family I aunswere They pretend in their confession they deale faythfully with all men If this be their fayth what I pray you is their falshode Furthermore I let passe to repeate much lesse to confute that fond opinion of those vaine heads which thought the partyes baptised of heretiques ought to be rebaptised agayne Of this opinion the Fam. of Loue semeth to lyke very well for because they affirme before that without this Fam. there is no Christian baptisme And thus much for this Article is sufficient As for you frend Theophilus ye huddle vp so that no man can vnderstand you when you shall learne to speake out of the mouth and leaue to fumble with your c. I will tell you my minde more art large An addition of the 3. Article of HN. HN. Reproueth our doctrine with this terme and handful of water an Elementish water Whosoeuer is not baptized according to the forme and manner of Iohn who baptized the people confessing their sinnes flowing with the water of repentaunce into their hartes he is not rightly baptized neyther may he boast els that he is a Christian ARTICLE 4. HN. No forgeuenes of sinnes WIthout he Familye fayth HN. there is no forgeuenes of sinnes for this is the true Christianitye the Familye of Loue wherein God himselfe 2. Cor. 6. b. Apoc. 21. a. dwelleth liueth and walketh Theophilus FOr so it is agreable with the Scripture William Wilkinson THe truth of this exposition I must gladly graunt and willingly confesse vz. No pardon of sinnes without the Church of Christ For truely it is sayd No man must seuer or put in sunder that which God hath lincked together and so in our Créede the Communion of Saintes and forgeuenesse of sinnes are ioyned together And S. Paule sayth that Christ gaue him selfe for the Churches to satisfy it and clense it by the washyng of the water through the woorde that hee might make it a glorious Church spotlesse and without wrinckle c. And I know very well that we are naked in our selues and poore but in Christ and his Churche so many as are members of that head are clothed richly with the manifold graces of God and continaully enriched And to this purpose fitly sayth the spirite of god by Esay the Prophet God is in the Churche and the 21. of the Apocal. 3. a. is fitly alledged and the truest hetherto that HN. hath cied As for his place out of the Corinth there is no such thyng nor any steppe of such a sence as he séemeth to alledge it for All the Article if it should be geuen yet shall you not thereby proue that without your particuler conuēticles and Schismaticall assembles is no remission of sinnes For the promise of the keyes and the remission is geuen to the Church which
is Christes spouse not to an harlot and shameles strumpet Ierusalem aboue is frée and is the mother of vs all but your Agar is in bōdage and is cast forth with her children The Lord geue you grace to consider in what case you are There is no fauour of God to them that forsake his truth and cleaue vnto errour Most of your illuminates haue ben professors though now most deriders of the ghospell and skoffers of Religion making a profession of religion but inwardly hauing denied the power thereof The further you walke in darcknes the greater is your daunger An addition to the 4. Article THe same doctrine is in diuers other places affirmed that there is no pardon c. 1. Exhort cap. 11. sent 10. cap. 15. sent 29. c. cap. 18. sent 7. Euang. cap. 41. sent 7. ARTICLE 5. HN. No Ministery WE must haue respect vnto the seruice ministred in the Familie by the Elders thereof For God hath chosen vnto him selfe the Familie of loue and this seruice of the holy and gracious word for their ministration is the safe making ministration Neither is there any minister of the worde rightly called but by their Familie Theophilus BEcause their exercise is obedience and loue accordyng to the requiryng of his word William Wilkinson TRue it is that Gods ministery is an holy and sacred thing in thought not to be violated in word and déede greatly to be had in reuerence For they which are Gods messengers doe bryng the glad tidynges of deliueraunce from sinne and Sathā vnto the people of God. They are Gods watchmen and do warne vs of the commyng of the enemy which like a roaryng Lion goeth about séekyng how hee may deuoure vs. And because their mouthes should kéepe knowledge of them must wee aske for the vnderstandyng of the word and enquire after the will of our God yet doth not all this proue that that ministration which is by you of that faythlesse Familie forged is the true and holy ministration For sometyme as now in your Familie it cōmeth to passe that false Prophetes will say thus sayth the Lord and yet the Lord hath not spoken They will presume to preach without a vision and prophesie without a burthen runne when God biddeth them not go take the testimonies of the holy ones in their mouthes when yet the Lord sendeth them not Heretiques will with a face of the Churche séeke to out-face both the children of God and the truth also Thus then not euery one that pretendeth is called in déede for some come not in at the doore but clyme in at the windowes and as many as come before Christ and set downe a contrary requiryng as ye do he is a Wolfe séeketh but to rauin Not euery one that crieth Christ Regeneration the spirite a perfect and true incorporatyng into the vpright beyng a consubstantiation and counityng with God is a true teacher and faythfull Christian Nor euery that taketh vpon him to expounde knoweth the meanyng of the word For many of you when as ye would be Doctours of the word had néede to be instructed in the very principles of fayth and first grounde of Religion So the true Ministers haue both a publicke and externall callyng by man as also a priuate and internall callyng by God which who so hath not he is an hereticall intruder and no propheticall Minister of God nor Preacher of the most holy one The whiche internall and externall callyng to the Lordes haruest to be a true labourer if any man shall pollute with his lewde life and light conuersation he is at the Lordes hand to be beaten with stripes without number Yet if any man shall say well and doe euill whiche God forefend with man it may discredit him that doth speake well and yet do amisse with God euill déedes doe not disanull the truth of doctrine as good déedes proue not euill doctrine to be true A ring of gold in a swines snowt ceaseth not to be a ryng of gold though a swine weare it pearles are pearles before dogges or swine The broad seale of England is highly to be honored for the Maiestie of the Prince therein appeareth though some tyme the partie that may cary it may bee a lewde person and a Godles Atheiste The word and Sacramentes ministred by wicked men cease not by their administration to haue their force For the wickednes of man can not ouerthrow the institution of god Where I in good conscience testifie that I speake not to defend corrupt life in any man but to vphold the truth of good liquor in an vnsauery vessell and gods good worde and sacramentes in a minister of an euill lyfe and conuersation For that Iudas and Iames in their ministery gaue the same word and wrought to the same wonders yet the one a reprobate the other an holy one and a perfect Saint of God. So then this reason that in corners your froward Familye vseth to whisper agaynst euill men though Gods Ministers is Anabaptisticall Your Ministers liue not as they teach Therefore their doctrine is not true In Scripture I know this reason is often vsed Your lyfe is not according to the law your profession Therefore you are hypocrites and dissemble with me sayth God. The former fond argument I neuer hard of any man that is sound for iudgement and sincere for godlynes The same reason is by your Familye and by your good minded brethren the Papistes alledged agaynst the truth now preached after this sort We worke better then you therefore our religion is truer they yours The first exposition if you know what proposition meaneth I deny and also the argument More than we they marke I graunt so had they néede that will haue heauen by desert or els will-naue none of it but better they doe not Quod non est ex fide peccatum est What is not of fayth c. The Pharisie gaue more almes tithes c. than the Publican yet was the Publican more iust by much then the Pharisie Not to worke but to worke well in Gods sight is commendable Non tam quid quam quomodo operamur inquiret dominus Not so much what as with what fayth we worke that will God demaund Thus haue I obiter and by the way touched your Families Papisticall Anabaptisticall argument whereof the one will be saued by the fulfilling of the lawe the other will haue markes concurre with fayth in the matter of Iustification cleane contrary to S. Augustine who sayth Opera sequuntur iustificatum non praecedunt iustificandum The workes we doe follow as fruites and goe not before as the efficient cause of our iustification And thus much of the worthines of the Ministery and ministers thereof Whome I counsell you to reuerence in better sort both in worde and writing than ye haue done For you know what Christ sayth he that despiseth you despiseth me c. and
Ioh. 12. e. 35. HN. his other places Iohn 8. b. 12. I am the light of the world And Ephes 5. c. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand vp from death and Christ shall giue the light The first proueth that without Christ is nothyng but darknes and condemnation and out of the body of Christ which is his Churche is no health nor comfort of body or soule which when ye can shew me by the Scriptures truly alledged that ye are I will acknowledge my selfe to be in an errour vntill ye can so do say not euery one that sayth the lord c. Heretiques in crying the Churche haue alwayes sought to bryng in a schisme to disturbe and disquiet the state of the Church HN. ANd euen so out of this high Maiestie of God doth this true light shew forth his seruice through the illuminated or Godded man with whom the most hyest through the selfe same light and his seruice is also manned witnessing and declaryng how that the true light consisteth not in the knowledge of this or that but in an vpright and true beyng of God and his eternall life Iohn 17. c. Theophilus exposition THat is through the new creature which is incorporated into God by the power of his word W. Wilkinson IT is not in this place certaine to bee gathered by any apparaunt circumstaunce wherfore or to what end all these authorities are wrong in by HN. for if he meane that no man ought to minister without a callyng as it seemeth hee would fayne meane if hee could vtter it the proposition I confesse is true and I aske him what outward callyng he had and by whom he was called or who admitted him vnto that Propheticall function whiche so often he boasteth of yet are these places by him very vnskilfully cited and vnaptly to the purpose the whiche he doth alledge them so that herein I blame his euill choyse for hee might better for profe haue quoted Iohn 1.25 Num. 17.9 2. Sam. 6.7 Heb. 4.5 But if hee brought them for his illuminated or Godded man as it is like that hee did because vnto that place he made his directorie g. I accuse him that he quoteth scripture with an euill conscience For that in none of those places by him cited there is any word of illumination Goddyng or mannyng The places of the Actes he dealeth lyke a théefe that dare not make a playne stepe least he should be taken for he treadeth but ouerly dare not set downe either Verse or Letter to direct the Reader but vsing onely his old ragged and running maner of quotatiōs very impertinently to no purpose doth he abuse the Reader As also in the places of S. Peter and S. Paule he hath by his direction set vs to séeke that which we shall neuer finde Lastly the place out of S. Iohn 17. c.. is idle and emptie hauyng no one sillable tendyng to any such end as he alledged it for As for HN. it is very like that hee thought the world would allow his wordes without proofe and as his Disciples vse to doe hand ouer head he would take whatsoeuer commeth from him without examination which his opinion is grounded of the old doctrine of the Papistes that doctrine of teachers ought not to be further shifted or iudged by the hearer of the which point we shall haue occasion to speake more Article 8. pag. 89. THE 7. ARTJCLE Conteinyng HN. his blasphemy what he boasteth of him selfe and his miraculous and extraordinary callyng HN Sayth that he is moued with the good nature of God and that hee is raysed vppe from the dead to iudge the earth with righteousnesse Theophilus HEre are his wordes wrested and wrongly alledged his meanyng subuerted and misconstrued Read Euang. cap. 3. sent 11. cap. 28. sent 3. and Dictata cap. 5. sent 4. and ye shall see he pointeth on Christ William Wilkinson THis Article as it is one of the most blasphemous and Hereticall of all the rest so in the Exposition and saluyng therof Theophilus doth so freate and vary his old eloquence as vnlesse I were acquainted with his melancholie and whot complexion I should hardly beare such coales as he heapeth vpon me The houndes wherewith he persueth me are two the first is wrestyng the second is wrongfull alledgyng subuertyng and misconstruyng his meanyng to the which vnlesse I withstand with playne dealyng naked truth it séemeth that I shall finde small fauour at his handes And first whereas hee burtheneth me with wrongfull alledging HN. him selfe shall explayne his owne meanyng who will say agaynst him selfe much more then I in the former clause did accuse him of or for these wordes of his He is indued with the good nature of God the wordes be as playne as can be in the place by me alledged which is also more clearely by him aduouched in his wofull Euangely where he hath these woordes HN. out of grace accordyng to the prouidence of God and of his promises Iohn 6. raised vp by the highest God from the dead annointed with the holy Ghost in the Elderdome of the holy vnderstandyng of Christ Iohn 14. Codeified or Godded together with God in the spirite of his Loue made heyre with Christ in the heauenly treasures of the riches of God Illuminated with the heauēly truth the very true light of the perfect beyng in the spirite Apo. 21. Elected to be a minister of the gracious word stirred vp now at this last tyme accordyng to the promise Ieremy 33. Thus you sée he hath word by word vttered that whiche you maliciously affirme that I haue wrongfully alledged what blasphemy these wordes conteine no man can be ignoraūt but he that will not sée cōcerning his wordes I purposely abstaine to cōfute for that they are learnedly by a godly man confuted already Concernyng his meanyng I shall hereafter set down proofe that arrogantly and Luciferlike he taketh vppon him that which is proper to Christ onely where likewise I will touch the places by you cited and proue that HN. pointeth not out Christ as ye affirme After the day of Loue seyng the same is last or newest day wherin the vniuersall Actes 17. d. compasse of the earth shal be come iudged with righteousnes There shall no Apoc. 10. a. day of grace appeare any more vpō the earth but a seuere Heb. 10. c. or sharpe iudgement ouer all vngodly We acknowledge that there is none other light nor life more that is true nor hath bin neither in heauen nor vpon earth but this same light which is now in this last time through the loue of God the father reueiled come vnto vs that same whereon Moses Deut. 18.6 and all the Prophets of God haue witnessed Esay 60. a. Iohn 5. c. and which the holy Apostles of Christ Actes 2.3.4 7.10.13 c. and the Euangelistes haue published These be HN. his owne wordes out of the which because they were to tedious
to repeate I made out of them this Collection HN. sayth he is indued with the good nature of God and that he is raysed vp from the dead to iudge the earth with righteousnes also the day of Loue by him preached is the last day and there shall be no day of grace hereafter Neither was there any trueth before him or besides him or shal be after him To the fourme of wordes he hath framed a wrangle the matter he graunteth belike to be true Thirdly I affirme that HN. sayth he was prophecied of by Moses and all the Prophets and Apostles and the Euangelistes to proue this he alledgeth Deut. 18.6 Esay 60. a. Iohn 5. c. To the which Theophilus replieth thus Theophilus REade the place againe you shall finde he sayth that the light or lyfe is it which is prophecied of and not himselfe and leaue your lying for very shame William Wilkinson TO the which his reprochfull reply and childish cauill I thinke I shall aunswere fully and satisfy sufficiently Yf first I be able to iustifie which gods assistance I hope I shall that HN. presumptiously taketh on him that which is prophecied on and proper vnto Christ Secondly I will cōparing him with Dauie George and their heresies mutually with other proue that it is very like to be true which they deny and Maist Rogers doth charge him with HN. to be Dauie Georges scholler and that in impietye he goeth far beyond him Thirdly by comparing him and his opinions with Gods worde I will shew that he is not the perfect Prophet but the most pestilent Archheretique that euer was and that he was so prophecied of by the Prophets Apostles and Euangelistes In the which place to display all his wrestinges of the scriptures I neither am able they being infinit nor willing because I desire to be briefe onely I will by a few geue a tast what the rest are which I haue not touched HN. HN. Alledgeth ▪ Esay 60. a. to proue the light shewed by him was fore spoken of by Esay W. Wilkinson IT is manifestly ment of Christ his first comming HN. HN. Sayth that all the scriptures heauenly testimonyes and spirituall voyces of the eternall trueth which are gone forth from the holy spirite of Loue that is of God are brought to light through him William Wilkinson THis is blasphemous agaynst the Prophecy of Christ and agaynst the Scriptures Math. 17.5 Marc. 9.28 Iohn 1.18 Col. 23. HN. HN. Sayth yet once more he hath appointed a day in the which he will iudge the earth with righteousnes Act. 17. g. and this in the next sentence 3. he doth apply to his appearaunce in these wordes this day and now is the day fulfilled in the Loue and this once more sayth he is meant of himselfe for profe he quoteth Act. 17. g. 31. verse W. Wilkinson THis is particularly ment of Christes first comming in the flesh prophecied euen in the selfe same wordes Agge 2. cap. 7. verse and in Christ fulfilled Heb. 12. cap. 27. verse HN. HN. Quoteth Esay 2. a. 2. Miche 4. a 1. to be meant of the restoring of the decayed state of Gods Church which is redyfied by him William Wilkinson THis is manifestly meant of Christ HN. HN. Citeth Math. 24. verse 14. Esay 67.22 g. Psal. 95.7.8 Heb. 3.7 and the 4.7.8 Apoc. 14.6 to be spoken of his Euangelye by him published William Wilkinson WHich is vnderstode of the preaching of the gospell by Christ and his Apostles HN. HN. Sayth hee is an elected Minister of the gratious worde stirred vp in the last time according to the promises Ierem. 33. read the whole chap. W. Wilkinson IT is meant of Christ HN. HN. Sayth the testimonye of his Euangelie is not alone the Euang. of the kingdome promised to be published in all the world to all people but also all the testimonies which HN. hath set forth in the glasse of righteousnes William Wilkinson BLasphemous agaynst the gospell and a thing accursed Galla. 1. chap. 8. ver He taketh that vnto him which belongeth vnto Iohn Baptist Mallachi Math. 11.10 HN. HN. Sayth the misterye of the kingdome of God his righteous iudgements Math. 25. d. Actes 16.17 d. Iude. 1. and the comming of Christ now in the last tyme in the resurrection Ezech. 37 6. Iohn 5. c. Rom. 8.6 Phil. 3. b. 11. ver of the dead is declared vnto him as an elected vessel from the mouth of God himselfe God hath be gone a new miraculous worke now in this day of Loue whereof we witnes with vs his elected ones wherin the scripture is fulfilled Esay 43 6. c.a. Esay 57 b. HN. Sayth he will declare the secret misteries of God and make relation of thinges hidden before the beginning of the world Math. 13.11 b. Iohn 6. The day of Loue. Psal. 118. c. is the appearaunce and comming Math. 24. c. 30. ver Luk. 17.20 ver Actes 2. a. of Christ Iesu our Lord in the resurrection Esay 26. c. 1. Cor. 15. f. of the dead wherein the law the Prophetes and all that is written of Christ becommeth fulfilled Luk. 24. e. The day of Loue preached by HN. is the day of the last comming of Christ in iudgement with many thousandes of Saintes Esay 3. b. Math. 4.24 d. 37. 25. d. 31. Iude. 1. b. Whiche places manifestly proue beyng meant of the second comming of Christ that the resurrection of his comming is perfected past already HN. Sayth that this testimonie that is his Euang and publishing of the ioyfull message is the same comming and all seruices and prophecies which are gone out from God doe leade herevnto and cease herein HN. Sayth Behold ye dearely beloued presently euen from the selfe same day becommeth the scripture in all fulfilled of that which it mentioneth of Christ of his seede and of his glory and Lordlynes Therefore all scriptures was vntill now vnperfect and not fulfilled contrary to that which Iohn sayth 19.28 HN. Sayth that all the prophecies Esdr 4. d. Esay 3. c. 11. b. 12. Ezechi 39. d. 21. Zopha 3. b. 9. ver Zach. 2. b. 10. 11 Numb 24. a. 5. 6. are in this day of Loue presently fulfilled all the which places are particularly meant of Christ and applied blasphemously by HN. to him for to proue the day of his comming The Familye compare and make equall HN. his wrightinges with the holy scriptures because say they they are written with the same spirite William Wilkinson THus with as great breuitye as I could I haue set downe a few of his blasphemies for that his vayne and blinde idle and impertinēt alleadging of Scriptures is infinite and without number for almost he neuer citeth any scripture aright for the children of God it shall not be vnprofitable to consider that to leaue the Lordes hye way and the cleare sunne shine of his truth is to entangle our selues with
are sayd to be of that Fam shall most assuredly affirme my assertion to be true For diuers of theÌ„ haue priuely whispered abroad in the eares of the simple as also with some men of wealth who theÌ„selues haue tould it me and are ready to testifie the thing it selfe to be true that they of the Familye haue disuaded and dehorted some not to put their sonnes to schole or vniuersitye for that simple wrighting and reading say they is sufficient for a Christian without any further knowledge of the Latine or Greeke tongues or any other facultye of learning whatsoeuer So that by this meanes they seeke to discredit learning to deface the learned and to strengthen ignoraunce to be the hye way vnto true deuotion and to aduaunce the glory of God which is flat Poperye so that thereby they labour to put out the eyes of this land the Vniuersityes I meane the vtilitye whereof as it is vnspeakeable for that froÌ„ them come the most skilfull stearesmen to gouerne both the state ecclesiasticall and ciuill in this land so also is the antiquitie of such kinde of discipline and good nurture of youth most auntient and in sondrye places of Scripture commended and confirmed by the worde of God and so hauing troden vnderfote this most precious orchards of the Lord they might not onely runne vncontrouled but also bring the commen wealth vnto that estate that the Anabaptistes brought the frée Cityes of Germany vnto in the tyme of their seditious tumult and vnfaythfull rebellion But for a playner and euidenter profe I desire thée geÌ„tle reader But thée especially which art haplesly gratious with that graceles company to marke diligently thou shalt sée it to be true the very few of the Fami or none at all be furtherers of learning or fauorers of learned men much lesse doe they traine vp their children in the knowledge of the liberall sciences either in the commen scholes of this realme or in the vniuersities to the robbing both of Gods Church the common wealth of many a toward wit being also vtterly vnthankfull to the florishing state and peaceable gouernement of this noble realme wherein they might vse all meanes possible to further and promote the glorye of Ged and also discharge some part of the debt wherein they are bound to the countrye wherein they were bred and brought vp Furthermore it is to be vnderstode that if this first steine of the 8. Article concerning the renouncing of knowledge by the disciples of the Familye be thus to be expounded that no man ought to seeke neither can attaine vnto any knowledge but onely those which be spirituallye minded and regenerated standing wholye subiect vnto their Familye of Loue which is taught by the bookes of HN. then doth the Familye accuse all the churches in England the perticuler congregations of the faythfull I meane yea the generall and visible Church in EnglaÌ„d to be vnrenued in spirite and vnregenerate for that the visible and generall Church of England neither hath nor now doth allow the sect and schisme of the Fami of vnregeneration For that they affirme they know nothing before they new birth quoting for profe Iohn 3. a. Except ye be borne agayne of water and the holy ghost ye cannot enter into the kingdome of God. Thus couertly they affirme that there is no truth taught in the Church of England which is the second Article wherewith I charge HN. in this boke pag. 23. he auoucheth here to be true and that we haue nothing but a literall not hauing yet attained vnto the experimentall knowledge wherof he dreameth So that first they acknowledge no truth without their Fami secondly he that is not regenerate can not speake the trueth c Herein then was HN. much ouerséene that whilest he would faine haue his sect to be some singuler thing he put no difference at all betwixt the knowledge of the learned and the blindnes of the ignoraunt but either of them alike which came to be made frée of his sect and incorporated into his Fami and had a longing to be instructed by him must equally cast of and renounce all their learning and knowledge whatsoeuer albeit they had studied sore and swet not a little for it before they could obtaine it So that betwixt the well practised and expert man in the holy word and those which be simple and playne men which neuer hard if there were any such thing as men vse to call learning there is no great difference but all is one wherein a man of meane witte may easely perceiue that at the fist entring into HN. his schole HN. maketh all his schollers to be a lyke and equall towardnes placing theÌ„ all in one fourme to learne one lesson wherein it had ben well if for his credit sake he had vsed a further forecast and more sober discretion The reason and Argument wherby HN. would fayne perswade vs that we should know and vnderstand more then we do if we would suspect our knowledge and confesse it to be lesse and that beyng wholly naked of our owne skill whiche we haue learned out of the word of God we might be warmely clad with his excéeding learnyng and so stand single myndedly obedient vnto his documentable Sentences it is the same Sillogisme and seducyng fallations wherewith the Deuill beyng a subtill Sophister beguiled and blynded our graundmother Eue in Paradise That is if he would forgoe that measure of knowledge which God had bestowed vpoÌ„ her and if she would be indued with a more excellent knowledge of good and euill she might easely attayne thereunto by eatyng the forbidden fruite and breakyng the expresse commaundement which she confessed she had receaued from the mouth of God. This then is the iudgemeÌ„t of HN. that we should abiure recant all such knowledge of the word of God as we haue already learned out of the word take vnto vs such glosing ExpositioÌ„s as he would teach vs So that we should be alwayes learning but neuer attainyng vnto the truth contrary to the doctrine of S. Peter which sayth That we haue a most sure word of the Prophetes to the whiche if ye shall take heede ye shall doe well And S. Paule sayth we must not bee as children waueryng and caryed about with euery winde of doctrine nor as cloudes caryed about of wyndes nor as vnstable mynded men whiche are vnconstant in all their wayes but we should be grounded and rooted in the truth holdyng the mistery of fayth in a pure conscience knowyng that if the Heathen writer onely indued with the light which God gaue him naturally without the knowledge of his word could say Cognita iudicio constant incognita casu That is that which we know to be true it is vndoubtedly to be embraced but thynges vnknowne proue true but vpon aduenture therfore ought we not to forgoe the one to finde the other for if we waâ—e indifferent whether we kept
letter not profitable say the Anabaptistes for we are all taught from god The Messalians sayd it was not necessary neither yet the Sacramentes and so sayd the Familie of Loue for in diuers places ye shall sée them make small accompt of Sermons so that some of them will sit in the streetes in the tyme that the word of God is preached Yet all these agréeyng amoÌ„g them selues are at iarre with the holy Ghost who in the whole course of the Scripture doth singularly commende the hearyng of the word but especially S. Paule to the Romaines whiche maketh it the mother of Fayth whiche fayth is the hand whereby all the promises of God are apprehended and taken hold of and without the whiche it is vnpossible to please god Hebrues 11. chapter 6. verse Much more might be sayd agaynst this horrible heresie but because euen the repeatyng of it doth strike a horrour and quakyng into the children of God to thinke how wicked a thyng it is for a mortall man to mislyke that which the Lord hath ordained as a meanes wherby he will haue the sparkles of his grace continually to to be kyndled in vs the onely remembraunce shall rest herein consideryng that the more myer is stirred the sauour is the noysomer and hurtefull to those that are standers by ARTICLE 13. of HN. Of dissemblyng and concealyng Religion HN Sayth it is lawfull for one of his Familie to dissemble and conceale his Religion contrary to his owne doctrine Euang. cap. 3. sent 8. cap. 25. sent 6. 1. Exhort cap. 6. senten 8. where he biddeth them confesse it before all men amongest the adulterous and sinfull generation sent 1. Theophilus THe adulterous and sinfull generation of the ignoraunt world if they repent and turne may finde mercy but to the enemyes or enuious of the loue of Christ and to the obstinate which turne theÌ„ away there from There is no mercy promised looke the text W. Wilkinson THeophilus beyng demaunded of Onions aunswereth of Garlike for the question beyng whether a man may hide his Religion beyng demauÌ„ded of it either openly by the Magistrat or priuatly by his ChristiaÌ„ brother he aunswereth that there is no mercy without the Familie which is nothyng to the purpose Therefore it were to be wished that his wisedome would be ruled by his owne counsell videl looke better oâ— the text 2. sent Theophilus HE biddeth them confesse their beliefe among the sinfull generations and false hartes of the Scripture learned c. and not to reueile the secretes of God Math. 7. chap. 6. vers to the bloud thirstie ones and aduersaries to all truth whiche lye in wayte to deuoure theÌ„ more then a true man is bound to confesse his treasures to a theefe or a murtherer William Wilkinson FIrst I will aunswere vnto HN. his Article and secondly to Theophilus Exposition Concernyng the certaintie of this Article our Famblers will in no wise admit the same albeit Theophilus in this place acknowledge it to be true So that diuers that are sayd to be welwillers that way haue being openly called to accompt before a Magistrate set downe their haÌ„des in a certaine schedule the copy wherof I haue wherein they affirme it altogether vnlawfull to speake one thyng with the mouth and thinke the contrary with the hart So that herein they and their Prophet HN. are at variaunce for he as is before declared to auoyde trouble willeth them to conceale their fayth as also Theophilus proueth by his théeuish similitude This I know to to be true by the report of a worshipfull freind in Cambridge that whereas one Allen a weauer being committed for the opinions of the Fami and HN. he contrary to his promise made departed and fled away and being afterwardes mette by a iustice of peace which knew him by sight asked him his name and he sayd his name wrs Allen the iustice demaunded if he had about him no bookes of HN. he aunswered no the Iustice alighting from his horse searched him and found diuers bokes about him Now let the Famlers and Allen himselfe coâ—fesse whether that herein he did dissemble or not and whether by HN. his doctrine that art of his was lawful I could by many liuing witneses proue this to be true and shew wherein diuers of them haue dissembled but I cease And least the Familye should affirme that they are slaundered in this Article HN. his owne wordes shall speake for himselfe after this sorte Shew not your selues in any wise bare before the enemies let them not see you be now by them whilest that the wicked world beareth rule euen as though ye were dead and were not and had no speach in your mouth Psal 38. b. vers 13. and walke eueÌ„ so as inuisiblie and vnknowen before all such as are without the Familie of Loue and make manifest themselues as enemies there agaynst as also before them that turne theÌ„ away therefrom And in his documentall sentence HN. exhorteth his Fami to the same thing in the same wordes Thus haue not much prate or disputation with the straungers or with them that fall away from the seruice of Loue nor with the vnwilling ones and resisters The which places being throughly waied no man can be ignorant that HN. geueth leaue to his Familie to dissemble if to dissemble be as Salust doth define it Aliud in linqua aliud in pectore clausum habere that is to haue one thing in the tongue and another in the thought But the profe of the truth of this Article I leaue to the commen practise of the Fami and to the knowledge of those men that haue had to deale with them concerning their Louely doctrine albeit I must and will confesse that I haue mette with a few which haue delt more playnely herein then they are commenly wonte to doe wherein I doe geue them some better lyking in that they deale truely Now if any man be desirous to vnderstand further of this heresie let him reade the excellent learned man M. Lambert Daneus in his comentaries vpon S. Augustine de heresibus ad Quod vult Deum where the same is learnedly handled and art large who reporteth among all the opinions of the Priscilianistes this was not the least that they held a man must not open tâ—â— secresie of their sect as appeareth by this verse Iura perinra secretum prodere noli Swere and forswere hid thinges doe not declare Of this heretique did that monster of mankinde and wild heretick Dauid George learne this opinion of whome somewhat is sayd before and of him it is very like to be true that HN. learned it as he did diuers other pointes of this his louely doctrine and from HN. his filthy pit drew Vitels that poysoned water wherewith he infected diuers honest and godly men in the troublesome tyme of Q. Marye by perswading them that they might kéepe their consciences to themselues and be preseÌ„t at the masse
they are of my chosing out of HN. is truth but that they are my Articles that is vntrue for they are as I made the title in the inscriptiō of my Articles which I deliuered to the Familie Errours out of the bookes of HN. Agayne if they be true Articles and onely my additions vnto them be false how cōmeth it to passe that Theophilus in his notes vpon my title afore the Articles where I say that they are faythfully and truly gathered there he aūswereth they are vnfaythfully lyingly slaunderously maliciously or vncharitably gathered But let it be that HN. sayth truth as for my additions whiche he mentioneth I deny that I haue added any one word to the text of HN. whereby it might either be empared or his meaning and sence peruerted and herein I referre the whole determination therof to him which shall peruse this my labour with an vnparciall eye The place whereon I gathered the Articles is this But if they videl our old sinnes and paramoures which we loued sent 17. take or lay hold on vs with force and violence that thē although we cry there cōmeth not any power nor help vnto vs for to withstand them in their force and violence and euen so rauish vs agaynst our will so are we giltles of the transgressing for we haue cryed to be released from the Tyrāny of the euill and there is no helpe come vnto vs Of which guitltles transgressing the law likewise witnesseth where it sayth a womā which is violently taken in the field whereas there is not any helpe and so rauished and although she cry aloude yet gottē no helpe she shal be giltles of the trāsgressing Now the proposition which Theophilus gathered vpō these wordes of HN. is this When we cry c. and haue no helpe we shall be free from that transgression for beyng condēned for it The which interpretatiō of his is vtterly vntrue for God is not bound by duety to geue ought to any man his giftes are of his mercy not of our merite So that albeit being prayd vnto he yeld not vnto our requestes at the first yet is not his withholdyng of his grace a sufficient warrant to geue vs libertie to offend For who shall wryng from the Lord that whiche he will not geue or if presently he doe not enable vs to resist and preuayle agaynst sinne who I say shall accuse God to be accessary vnto our sinnes as HN. and his Scholler Theophilus in this place flatly affirme And be it true as it is most true that Christ sayd vnto his Apostles Aske and it shal be giuen you seeke and ye shall finde knocke and it shal be opened vnto you c. and S. Iames sayth The prayer of a righteous man auayleth much if it be feruent yet because our prayers are not so perfect no not in the iust man as they ought to be therfore cōmeth it to passe that we obtaine not at Gods hand because we aske amisse neither did Christ obtaine at his fathers hād that the cup of his death might passe from him for that it was not so agreable with Gods will nor expedient for the accomplishyng of our saluation So that when we accomplish not the cōdition in our prayers that God hath prescribed in his word we are not to bynde or charge God with his promise for that he knoweth better what to geue vs thē we know what or how to aske of him So that now we sée that it is but a vayne kyndnes which Theophilus in this place threapeth on God when as either hee will haue God to bow vnto him at euery becke or els by and by he will make him the authour of sinne For what is this that Theophilus doth els burthen him withall that if we pray not helpe come thē are we guiltles of the transgression But to accuse God to be accessory to our misbehauiour which thyng be far frō him Now if Theophilus cā not comprehēd this what is it not truth because he can not conceiue it Gods iudgementes are alwayes true and iust though often secret and those thynges whiche we vnderstand not at the first let vs rather reuerence and worshyp them then wonder at them God when he leaueth vs to our selues and punisheth one sinne with an other doth that most righteously in him selfe that sinfull flesh doth sée no reason in Shall the pot reason with the potter because he made him not a vessell vnto honor shall the axe extoll it selfe agaynst him that heweth therewith may God make his creatures as séemeth best to his singular wisedome and shall he not dispose them as he will when he hath created them God geueth his children pardon in his mercy yet he that flyeth to his mercy not first fully hauing satisfied his iustice deceaueth his owne soule ere he be aware So that when any man shall presume vpon repentaunce fall in hope to rise true it is he that hath promised pardon vpō repētaunce hath not promised that we shall liue till to morrow that we may haue leysure to repēt he that is not fit to day the Lord knoweth how fit he wil be to morrow Now it is also most assuredly true that albeit God in respect of him selfe for Christes sake doth fréely forgeue both the fault and the punishment yet because he will not haue men dally with his iustice vpon the opē sinnes of the godly committed before men hee taketh open punishment least the enemy should haue a cause to rayle This is manifest by kyng Dauids example he sinned openly in the sight of God and before Israell God freely forgaue him both the punishment and the fault yet before men because the enemyes of God had openly a cause to blaspheme therfore the Lord tooke away the child that was borne in adultery Furthermore when he numbred the people and had continued in the same sinne without any notable repentaunce 9. monethes and 20. dayes after albeit he prayed hartly yet was his sinne punished by a great and seuere scourge as is manifestly to be sene in the place of that History By which places it is to be vnderstode that we ought not to offend in hope of pardon neither that God is faultie who will not boulster vs in our faultes nor so easly be satisfied in his iustice as we imagine of But if Theophilus déeme that herein he is not fully satisfied for that this question is of him that prayeth before sinne committed and both these examples are not sufficiently playne I further aunswere him that before Iudas honge him selfe he was sory and made a shewe of outward repentaunce as by his restitution may easly be perceiued yet God stayed him not here but because hee should be a notable spectacle of Gods vengeaūce to them that were then vnborne that no man be so hardy to sinne agaynst his conscience he ranne so farre that he caste himselfe willingly and wittyngly away and yet albeit God