IT is but ignorance, if any man finde it strange that the state of Religon (especially in the dayes of peace) should be exercised and troubled with controversies: for as it is the condition of the Church militant to be ever under trialls, so it commeth to passe that when the fiery triall of persecution ceaseth, there succeedeth another triall, which as it were by contrary blastes of doctrine, doth sift and winow mens faith, and proveth them whether they know God aright, even as the other of afflictions discovereth whether they love him better then the world. Accordingly was it foretold by Christ, saying: That in the latter times it should bee said, Loe here, loe there is Christ; which is to be understood, not as if the very person of Christ should bee assumed and counterfeited, but his authority and preheminence (which ought to bee truth it selfe) that should bee chalenged and pretended. Thus have we read and seene to bee fulfilled that which followeth: Ecce in deserto, ecce in penetratio: while some have sought the truth in the conventicles and conciliables of Heretickes and Sectaries: others in the externe face and representation of the Church, and both sorts been seduced. Were it th • n that the controversies of the Church of England were such as did divide the unity of the Spirit, and not such as doe unswaddle her of her bands the bands of peace) yet could it be no occasion for any pretended Catholicke to judge us, or for any irreligious person to despise us: or if it be, it shall but happen to us all as it hath used to doe; to them to bee hardened, and to us to endure the good pleasure of God. But now that our contentions are such, as we need not so much that generall Canon and sentence of Christ: Erratis nescientes Scripturas, &c. as wee need the admonition of Saint Iames: Let every man bee swift to heare, slow to speake, slow to wrath: And that the wound is no way dangerous, except wee poyson it with our owne remedies. As the former sort of men have lesse reason to make themselves musicke in our cord: so I have good hope that nothing shall displease our selves which shall bee sincerely and modestly propounded for the appeasing of these dissentions. For if any shall bee offended at this voyce: Vos estis fratres, yee are brethren, why strive yee? hee shall give great presumption against himselfe, that hee is the party that doth his brother wrong. The controversies themselves I will not enter into, as judging that disease requireth rather rest then any other cure. Thus much we all know and confesse, that they bee not of the highest nature: for they are not touching the high mysteries of faith: such as detained the Churches after their first peace for many yeares, what time the heretickes moved curious questions, and made strange anatomies of the nature and person of Christ; and the Catholicke Fathers were compelled to follow them with all subtillity of disputations and determinations, to exclude them from their evasions, and to take them in their owne Labyrinths; so as it is rightly said: Illis temporibus ingeniosa res fuit esse Christianum: In those dayes it was an ingenious and subtile matter to bee a Christian: Neither are they concerning the great parts of the worship of God; of which it is true, that Non servatur unitas in credendo, nisieadem adsit in colendo: There will bee kept no unity in beleeving, except it bee intire in worshipping: such as were the controversies in the East and West Churches touching Images, and such as are many of those which are betweene the Church of Rome and us, as about the adoration of the Sacrament, and the like. But wee contend about Ceremonies, and things indifferent, about the externe policie and government of the Church: In which kinde, if wee would but remember, that the ancient and true bonds of unity, are one Faith, one Baptisme, and not one Ceremonie, one Policie. If wee would observe the league among Christians, that is penned by our Saviour Christ (Hee that is not against us, is with us) if wee could but comprehend that saying, Differentia rituum commendat unitatem doctrinae: and that, Habet religio quae sunt aeternitatis, habet quae sunt temporis: Religion hath parts which belong to eternity, and parts which belong to time.

And if wee did but know the vertue of silence, and slownesse to speake, commended by Saint Iames, our controversies would (of themselves) close up and grow together. But most especially, if we would leave the overweening and turbulent humours of these times, and renue the blessed proceedings of the Apostles and Fathers of the Primitive Church; which was in the like and greater cases, not to enter into assertions and positions, but to deliver counsels and advices, we should need no other remedy at all. Si eadem con • ulis frater, qua affirmas, debetur consulenti reverentia, cum non debetur • ides affirmanti: Brother, if that which you set downe by way of assertion, you would deliver by way of advice, there were reverence due to your counsell, where credit is not due to your affirmation. Saint Paul was content to speake thus: Ego, non Dominus; I, and not the Lord: & secundum consilium meum, according to my counsell. But now men do so lightly say, Not I, but the Lord; yea, and binde it with heavie denunciations of his judgements, to terrifie the simple, which have not sufficiently understood out of Salomon, that the causlesse curse shall not come: Therefore seeing the accidents are they which breed the perill, and not the things themselves in their owne nature, it is meet the remedies bee applied unto them by opening what it is on either part that keepeth the wound greene, and formaliseth both sides to a further opposition, and worketh an indisposition in mens mindes to be reunited; wherein no accusation is pretended. But I finde in reason, that it is best built by repetition of wrongs, and in example that the speeches which have been by the wisest men, De concordia ordinum, have not abstained from reducing to memory the extremities used on both parts. So as it is true which was said, Qui paccem tractat non repetitis conditionis: dissidit, is magis animos dulcedine pacis fallit quam aequitate componit. And first of all, it is more then time that an end were made of this unmodest and deformed kinde of writing lately entertained, whereby matters of religion are handled in the stile of the stage. Indeed bitter and earnest writing is not hastily to be condemned: for men cannot contend coldly and without affection about things they hold deare and pretious. A politicke man may write from his braine without touch or sense of his heart, as in a speculation that pertaineth not unto him; but a feeling Christian will expresse in his words a character either of zeale or love: the latter of which as I would wish rather to be embraced, as being more fit for the times, yet is the former warranted also by great examples. But to leave all reverend and religious compassions toward evils, or indignation toward faults, to turne religion into a Comedy or Satyr, to search and rip up wounds with a laughing countenance, to in • ermix Scripture and Scurrilility sometime in one sentence, is a thing farre from the devout reverence of a Christian, and scant beseeming the honest regard of a sober man. Non est major confusio quam serii & joci: there is no greater confusion then the confounding of jest and earnest. The majestie of religion, and the contempt and deformity of things ridiculous, are things as distant as things may be. Two principall causes have I ever knowne of Atheisme, curious controversies and prophane scoffing. Now that these two are joyned in one, no doubt that Sect will make no small progression. And here I do much esteem the wisedome and religion of that Bishop, which replied to the first pamphlet of this kinde, who remembred that a foole was to be answered, but not by becomming like unto him, and considered the matter hee handled, and not the person with whom he dealt. Iob speaking of the majesty and gravity of a Iudge in himselfe, saith: If I did smile, they beleeved me not; as if he should have said: If I diverted or glanced unto conceit of mirth, yet mens mindes were so possessed with a reverence of the action in hand, as they could not receive it. Much more ought this to be amongst Bishops and Divines disputing about holy things: and therefore as much doe I mislike of him, who as it seemed, pleased himself with it, as no mean policie. That these men are to be dealt withall at their own weapons, and pledged in their owne cup. This (no doubt) seemed to him as profound, as when the Cardinall counselled Iulius the second to encounter the Councell of Nice with the Councell of Lateran; or as lawfull a chalenge as M. Iewell made to confute the pretended Catholicks by the Fathers.

But these things will not excuse the imitation of evill in another: It should contrariwise be with us as Caesar said: Nil malo quam eos similes cum sui, & me mei. But now, dum de bonis contendimus, in malis consentimus; while we differ in good things, we resemble in evill. Surely if I were asked of these men, who were the more to bee blamed, I should perhaps remember the proverbe, That the second blow maketh the fray; and the saying of an obscure fellow, Qui replicat multiplicat, he that replieth multiplieth. But I would determine the question with this stutterer: Alter principium malo dedit, alter modum abstulit: by the one means we have a beginning, by the other we shall have none end.

And truely, as I doe marvell that some of those preachers which do call for reformatiō (whom I am farre from wronging, so farre as to joyne them with these scoffers) doe not publish some declaration, whereby they may satisfie the world, that they dislike, their cause should be so sollicited: so I hope assuredly, that my Lords of the Cleargy have no intelligence with these other libellers; but do altogether disallow that their dealing should be thus defended: For though I observe in him many glozes, whereby the man would insinuate himselfe into their favour; yet I finde too ordinary, that many pressing & fawning persons, do misconjecture of the humours of men in authority, and many times veneri immolant suem, they seeke to gratifie them with that they most dislike. For I have great reason to satisfie my selfe touching the judgement of my Lords the Bishops in this matter, by that which was written by one of them, whom I mentioned before with honour. Neverthelesse, I note, there is not an indifferent hand carried toward these pamphlets as they deserve. For the one sort flieth in darknesse, and the other is uttered openly. Wherein I might advise that side out of a wise writer, who hath set it downe, that punitis ingeniis gliscit authoritas; and indeed we ever see it falleth our, that the forbidden writing is thought to be a certaine sparke of truth that flieth up in the faces of them that seeke to choke and tread it out; whereas a booke authorized, is thought to bee but temporis voces, the language of the time. But in plaine truth I doe finde to my understanding, these pamphlets as meet to be suppressed as the others. First, as the former doe seeke to deface the government of the Church in the persons of the Bishops and Prelates: so the other doth lead into contempt the exercise of religion in the persons of sundry Preachers; so as it disgraceth the higher matter, though in the meaner person. Next, I finde certaine indiscreet and dangerous amplifications, as if the civill government it selfe of this estate, had neere lost the force of its sinewes, and were ready to enter into some convulsion, all things being full of faction and disorder; which is as unwisely acknowledged as untruly affirmed. I know his meaning is to inforce this unreverent and violent impugning of the government of the Bishops, to bee a suspected fore-runner of a more generall-contempt.

And I grant there is a sympathy between both the estates: but no such matter in the civill policie as deserveth a taxation so dishonourable. To conclude this point: As it were to bee wished that these writings had been abortive, and never seene the Sunne; so the next is, that seeing they be common abroad, that they bee censured of all that have understanding and conscience, as the untemperate extravagants of some light person: yea further, they may beware (except they meane to deprive themselves of all sense of religion, and to pave their owne hearts, and to make them as the high way) how they bee conversant in them, and much more how they delight themselves in that veine, but rather to turn their laughing into blushing, and to bee amazed as at a short madnesse, that they have in matters of religion, taken their disport and solace. But this perchance is one of those faults which will bee soonest acknowledged, though I perceive neverthelesse, there wants not some which seeke to blanch and excuse it. But to descend to a more narrow view and consideration of the accidents and circumstances of these controversies, wherein either part deserveth blame and imputation; I finde generally in causes of Churchcontroversies, that men do offend in some or all of these five points: 1. The first, the giving of occasion unto controversies, and also the inconsiderate and ungrounded taking of the occasion. 2. The next is the extending and multiplying of controversies to a more generall opposition and contradiction then appeareth at the first propounding of them, when mens judgements are least partiall. 3. The third is the passionate and unbrotherly practises and proceedings on both parts towards the persons each of others for their discredit and suppression. 4. The fourth, is the courses holden and and entertained on either side, for the drawing of the practizants to a more streight union within themselves, which ever importeth a further destruction of the intire body. 5. The last, is the undue and inconvenient propounding, publishing, and debating of the controversies. In which point the most palpable error hath been already spoken of, as that which through the strangenesse and freshnesse of the abuse first offereth it selfe to the conceits of all men.

Now concerning the occasion of controversies, it cannot be denied but that the imperfection in the conversation and government of those which have chiefe place in the Church, have ever been principall causes and motives of schismes and divisions: For whilest the Bishops and governours of the Church continue full of knowledge and good workes, whilest they feed their flock indeed, while they deale with the secular estates in all liberty and resolution, according to the majesty of their calling, and the pretious care of soules imposed upon them; so long the Church is situate, as it were, upon an hill, no man maketh question of it, or seekes to depart from it: But when these vertues in the Fathers and Elders of the Church have lost their light, and that they wax wordly, lovers of themselves, and pleasers of men: then men begin to grope for the Church as in the darke, they bee in doubt whether they bee the successors of the Apostles, or of the Pharisees; yea, howsoever they sit in Moses Chaire, yet they can never speake, tanquam authoritatem habentes, as having authority, because they lost their reputation in the consciences of men, by declining their steppes from the way which they trace out to others; so as men have need continually sounding in their eares, this saying, Nolite exire, goe not out, so ready are they to depart from the Church upon every voyce: And therefore it is truely noted by one who writeth as a naturall man, that the hypocrisie of Friers did for a great time, maintaine and beare out the irreligion of Bishops and Prelates. For this is that double policie of the spiritual enemy, either by counterfeit holinesse of life to authorize and establish errors, or by the corruption of manners to discredit and call into question truth and lawfull things.

This concerneth my Lords the Bishops, unto whom I am witnesse to my selfe, that I stand affected as I ought: no contradiction hath supplanted in mee the reverence I owe to their calling: neither hath any detraction or calumnie embased my opinion of their persons; I know some of them, whose names are most pierced with these accusations, to be men of great vertues, although indisposition of the time, and the want of correspondence many wayes, is enough to frustrate the best indevours in the Church. And for the rest generally, I can condemne none, I am no judge of them that belong to so high a master, neither have I two witnesses: and I know it is truely said of Fame, Pariter facta atque infecta canebat. Their taxations arise not all from one coast: They have indifferent enemies, and ready to invent slander, more ready to amplifie, and most ready to believe it, & magnes mendacii credulitas, credulity is the allurement of lies. But if any be who have against the supreame Bishops not a few things, but many: if any have lost his first love, if any bee neither hot nor cold, if any have stumbled to folly at the threshold, in such sort that he cannot sit well that entred ill; it is time they returne whence they are fallen, and confirme the things which remaine. Great is the weight of this fault, Et eorum causa abhorrebant homines à sacrificiis Domini: and for their cause did men abhor the worship of God. But howsoever it be, that those have sought to defame them, & cast contempt upon them, are not to beexcused. It is the precept of Salomon, That the Rulers be not reproched, no not in thought, but that wee draw our conceit into a modest interpretation of their doings. The holy Angell would give no sentence of blasphemy against the common slanderer, but sayd, Increpet te Dominus, the Lord rebuke thee. The Apostle Saint Paul, thought against him that did polute sacred justice with tyrannous violence, hee did justly denounce the judgement of God in saying, Percuciet te Dominus, the Lord shall strike thee, yet in saying, Paries dealbate, he thought he had gone too farre, and retracted it: whereupon a learned Father sayd: Ipsum, quam vis inane, nomen & umbram sacerdotis cogitans expavit. The ancient Councels and Synods, as it is noted by the Ecclesiasticall story, when they deprived any Bishop, never recorded the offence, but buried it in perpetuall silence. Onely Cham purchased his fathers curse with revealing his fathers disgrace: and yet a much greater fault is it, to ascend from the person to the calling, and to draw that in question. Many good Fathers rigorously complained of the unworthinesse of Bishops, as if it did presently forfeit & cease their office. One sayth: Sacerdotes nominamur & non sumus, we are called Priests, and are not. Another sayth: nisi bonum opus amplectaris Episcopus esse non potes, except thou undertake the good worke, thou canst not be a Bishop; yet they meant nothing lesse then to move doubt of their calling or ordination.

The second occasion of cōtroversies, is, the nature & humor of some men. The Church never wanteth a kinde of persons that love the salutation of Rabbi, not in ceremony or complement, but in an inward authority which they seeke over mens mindes, in drawing them to depend upon their opinion, and so seeke knowledge at their lippes: these men are the true successours of Diotrephes, the lovers of preheminence, and not Lord Bishops; such spirits doe light upon another sort of natures which doe adhere to these men, Quorum gloria in obsequio, stiffe fellowes, and such as zeale marvellously for those whom they have chosen to bee their masters. This latter sort of men for the most part, are men of young yeares, and superficiall understanding, carried away with partiall respect of persons, or with the enticing appearance of godly names and pretences. Pauci res ipsas sequuntur, plures nomina rerum; plurima nomina magistrorum: few follow the things themselves, more the names of the things, most the names of their masters. About these general affections are wretched accidentall and private emulations and discontentments. All which breake forth together into contentions, such as either violate truth, sobriety, or peace. These generalities apply themselves. The Vniversities are the seates and continent of this disease, whence it hath been, and is derived into other parts of the realme. There some will be no longer è numero, of the number: there some others side themselves before they know the right hand from the left. So as it is truely said Transeunt ab ignorantia ad prejudicium: They leap from ignorance to a prejudicate opinion, and never take a good judgement in their way. But as it is wel noted: Inter juvenile judicium, & senile prejudicium omnis veritas corrumpitur: When men are indifferent and not partiall, then their judgement is weake and unripe, through want of yeares; and when it groweth to strength, and ripenesse, by that time it is forestalled with such a number of prejudicate opinions, as it is made unprofitable, so as between these two all truth is corrupted; while the honourable names of sincerity, and reformation, and discipline, are put in the forward, so as contentious and evill zeales cannot be touched, except these holy thinges are first thought to be violated. But howsoever they shall inferre the solicitation for the peace of the Church: not to proceed from carnall sinnes: yet will I ever conclude with the Apostle Paul: Cum sit inter vos zelus & contentio, nonne carnales estis? While there is amongst you zeale and contention, are ye not carnall? And howsoever they esteem the compounding of controversies, to favour of mens wisedome and humane policie, I thinke themselves led with the wisedome which is from above; yet I say with Saint Iames, Non est ista sapientia de sursum descendens, sed terrena, animalis, diabolica. Ibi zelus & contentio, ibi inconstantia & omne opus provum. Of this inconstancy it is said by a learned Father: Procedere non ad perfectionem, sed ad permutationem. They seeke to goe forward still, not to perfection, but to change.

The third occasion of controversies, I observe to be an extreame and unlimited detestation of some former heresie or corruption of the Church acknowledged & convicted. This was the cause that produced the heresie of Arrius, grounded chiefly upon detestation of Gentilisme; lest the Christians should seeme by assertion of the coequall divinity of our Saviour Christ to approach to the acknowledgement of more Gods then one. The detestation of Arrius heresie produced that of Sabellius, who holding for execrable the dissimilitude which Arrius pretended in the trinity, fled so farre from him, that he fell into the other extreame, to deny the distinction of persons, and to say they were but onely names of severall offices and dispensations; yea, most of the heresies of the Church have sprung up of this root, while men have made it their scale to measure the bounds of their religion, taking it by the farthest distance from the errour last condemned. These be Posthumi haeresium filii, heresies that arise of the ashes of other heresies that are extinct and amortised. This manner of apprehension doth in some degree possesse many of our time: they thinke it the true touch-stone to try what is good and holy, by measuring what is more and lesse opposite to the institutions of the Church of Rome, be it ceremony, be it policie or government; yea be it other institution of greater weight, that is ever most perfect which is removed most degrees from that Church; and that is ever polluted and blemished which participateth in any appearance with it: this is a subtile and dangerous conceit for men to entertaine, apt to delude themselves, more apt to delude the people, and most apt of all to calumniate their adversaries. This surely, but that a notorious condemnation of that position was laid before our eyes, had long since brought us to the rebaptizing of children baptized according to the pretended Catholicke religion. For I see that which is a matter of much like reason, which is the reordaining of Priests, is a matter very resolutely maintained. It is very meet that men beware how they be abused by this opinion, and that they know it is a consideration of much greater wisedome to be well advised: whether in the generall demolition of the institutions of the Church of Rome, there were not (as mens actions are unperfect) some good purged with the bad, rather then to purge the Church as they pretend, every day anew, which is the way to make a wound in her bowels, as it is already begun.

The fourth and last occasion of these controversies (a thing which did also trouble the Church in former time) is the partiall affectation and imitation of forraigne Churches: for many of our men, during the time of persecution, and since, having been conversant in Churches abroad, and received a great impression of the government there ordained, have violently sought to intrude the same upon our Church. But I answer, Conveniamus in eo quod convenit non in eo quod receptum est: let us agree in this with every Church, to doe that which is convenient for the estate of it selfe, and not in particular customes. Although their Churches had received the better forme, yet many times it is to be sought. Non quid optimum, sed è bonis quid proximum: Not what is best, but of good things what is next and readiest to be had. Our Church is not now to place, it is setled and established. It may be in civill States a republique is better then a kingdome: yet God forbid that lawfull kingdomes should be tied to inovate and make alterations: Qui mala introducit, voluntatem Dei oppugnat revelatam in verbo: Qui nova introducit, voluntatem Dei oppugnat revelatam in rebus: He that bringeth in ill customes, resisteth the will of God revealed in his word: He that bringeth in new things, resisteth the will of God revealed in the things themselves. Consule providentiam Dei cum verbo Dei: Take counsaile of the providence of God, as well as of his word. Neither yet doe I admit that their forme (although it were possible and convenient) is better then ours, if some abuses were taken away. The party and equality, is a thing of wonderfull great confusion, and so is an ordinary government by Synods, which do necessarily ensue upon the other. It is hard in all causes, especially in matters of religion, when voyces shall bee numbred and not weighed. Equidem (saith a wise Father) ut verè quod res est scribam, prorsus decrevifugere omnem conventum Episcoporū: nullius enim consilii bonum exitum unquā vidi: consilia enim non minuunt mala, sed augent potius. To say the truth, I am utterly determined never to come to any Councell of Bishops: for I never yet saw good end of any Councell: for Councels abate not ill things, but rather increase them: which is not so much to bee understood of generall Councels, as for Synods gathered for the ordinary government of the Church, as for deprivation of Bishops, or such like cases, which mischiefe hath taught us the use of Archbishops and Patriarkes, and Primates, as the abuse of them since hath caused men to mislike them. But it will bee said, Looke to the fruits of the Churches abroad and ours. To which I say, I beseech the Lord to multiply his blessings & graces upon these an hundred fold. But yet it is not good we fall a numbring them. It may bee our peace hath made us wanton. It may be also (though I would be loath to derogate from the honor of those Churches, were it not to remove scandals) that their fruits are as torches in the darke, which appeare greatest a farre off. I know they may have some more strict order for the repressing of sundry excesses. But when I consider of the censures of some persons, as well upon particular men as upon Churches, I think of the saying of a Platonist, who saith: Certe vitia irascibilis partis animae sunt gradu praviora quam concupiscibilis tametsi occultiora. A matter that appeared well by the ancient contentions of Bishops: God grant we may contend with other Churches as the Vine with the Olive, which of us beareth best fruits: and not as the Brier with the Thistle, which of us is most unprofitable. And thus much touching the occasion of controversies.

Now briefly to set down the growth and progression of these controversies, whereby will be verified the wise counsell of Salomon, that the course of contention is to bee stopped at the first, being else as the waters, which if they get a breach, will hardly ever be recovered. It may be remembred, how that on their part who call for reformation, was first propounded some dislike of certaine ceremonies, supposed to bee supersticious: some complained of dumb Ministers, who possessed rich Benefices: some made invectives against the idle and monasticall continuance within the Vniversities, by those who had livings to be resident upon, and such like causes. Thence they went on to condemne the government of Bishops, as an Hierarchy remaining to us of the corruptions of the Romane Church, and to except to sundry institutions, as not sufficiently delivered from the pollutions of former times. And lastly, they are advanced to define of an onely and perpetuall forme of policie in the Church, which (without consideration of the possibility, or foresight of perill, or perturbation of the Church & State) must be erected and planted by the Magistrate. Here they stay. Others not able to keep footing on so steep a ground, descend further, that the same must bee entred into, and accepted by the people at their perill, without attending the establishment of authoritie; and so in the mean time they refuse to communicate with us, reputing us to have no Church. This hath been the progression of that side, I meane of the generality; For I know that some persons (being of the nature not onely to love extremities, but to fall to them without degrees) were at the highest streame at the first: the other part that maintaineth the present government of the Church, hath not kept one ten or neither. First, those ceremonies which they pretended to be corrupt, they maintained to bee things indifferent, and opposed the examples of the good times of the Church, to that chalenge that was made unto them, because they were used in the latter superstitious times: then were they also content mildly to acknowledge many imperfections in the Church, as Tares came up amongst the Corne, which were not as yet according to the wisedome of our Saviour Christ, to be without strife pulled up, lest it might spoile and supplant the good corn, but to grow on together till the harvest. After this they grew to a more absolute defence & maintenance of orders of the Church: and stifly to hold that nothing was to be innovated, partly because it needed not, and partly because it would make a breach upon the rest. Thence (exasperate through contention) they are fallen to a direct condemnation of the contrary part, as of a sect: yea and some indiscreet persons have been bold in open preaching to use dishonourable and derogative speech, and censure of the Churches abroad: and that so farre, as that some of our men (as I have heard) ordained in forreigne parts have beene pronounced to be no lawfull Ministers. Thus we see the beginnings were modest, but the extreames violent: so as there is now almost as great a distance of either part from it selfe, as was at the first of one from the other. And surely (though my meaning and scope be not (as I said before) to enter into the controversies themselves) yet I doe admonish the maintainers of the above named discipline, to weigh and consider seriously, and attentively, how neer they are unto those with whom I know they will not join. It is hard to say that the discipline which they say we want, is one of the Essentiall parts of the worship of God: and not to affirme, that the people upon perill of their salvation without staying for the Magistrate are to gather themselves unto it. I demand if a civill State should receive the preaching and baptisme, and exclude the sacrament of the supper: were not men bound upon danger of their soules, to draw themselves to congregations, where they might celebrate that Ministery, and not content themselves with that part of worship which the Magistrate hath authorised? This I speake not to draw them into mislike of others, but into a more deep consideration of themselves. Fortasse non redeunt, quia progressuum suum non intelligunt, Againe I say, to my Lords the Bishops that it is heard for them to avo • d blame in the opinion of an indifferent person, in standing so precisely, in altering nothing. Leges novis legibus non recreate descunt, Lawes being not refreshed with new lawes, wax sowre. Qui mala non permutat, in bonis non perseverat, without change of ill, a man can not continue the good: to take away abuses, supplanteth not good orders, but establishes them. Morosa moris retentio res turbulenta aque ac novitas est, A contentious retaining of custome is a turbulent thing as well as innovation. A good husbandman is ever pruning and stirring in his vineyard, or field; not unreasonable indeed, nor unskilfully, for he lightly ever findeth somewhat to do. We have heard of no offers of the Bishops of bils in Parliament, which no doubt proceeding from them to whom it properly appertaineth, would have every where received acceptation, their own constitutions, and orders have reformed little. Is nothing amisse? can any man defend the use of excommunication, as a bare processe to lackey up and downe, for duties and for fees, it being the greatest judgement next unto that generall judgement at the last day? Is there no means to nurse and traine up Ministers? (for the yeld of the Vniversities will not serve, though they were never so well governed) to traine them I say not to preach (for that every man adventureth confidently to doe) but to preach soundly and handle the Scriptures with wisedome and judgement. I know Prophecying was subject to great abuses; and would be more abused now, because the lease of persecution is encreased. But I say, the onely reason of the abuse was, because there were admitted to it a popular auditory, and it was conteined with a private conference of Ministers. Other thinges might be spoken of. I pray God inspire the Bishops, with a fervent love, and care of the people, and that they may not so much urge thinges in controversie, which all men confesse to bee gracious, and good. And thus much for the second part.

Now as to the third part of unbrotherly proceeding on either part, it is directly contrary to my purpose to amplifie wrongs, it is enough to note and number them: which I doe also to move compassion and remorse on the offending side, and not to animate chalenges and complaints on the other. And this point (as reason is) doth chiefly touch that side which doe most: Injuriae potentiorum sunt, injuries come from them that have the upper hand. The wrongs of them that are oppressed, of the government of the Church towards the other, may hardly bee dissembled or excused: they have charged them as though they denied to pay tribute to Caesar, and withdraw from the civill magistrate their obedience, which they ever performed and taught: They have sorted and coupled them with the family of Love, whose heresies they have laboured to descry and confute: they have been swift of credit to receive accusations against them from those that have quarrelled with them. But for speaking against sin and vice, their examinations and inquisitions have been streight, swearing them to blanks & generalities (not included within the compasse of matter certaine, which the party that taketh the oath is able to comprehend) which is a thing captious and strainable. Their urging of subscription to their owne Articles, is but lacescere & irritare morbos Ecelesiae, which otherwise would spend and crush themselves, Non consensum quaerit, sed dissidium auget, qui quod factis praestatur, verbis exigit: hee seeketh not union but division, which exacteth inwardly that, which men are content to yeeld in outward action. And it is true, there are some, which (as I am perswaded) will not easily offend by inconformity, who notwithstanding make some conscience to subscribe. For they know this note of inconstancie & defection from that which they have long held, shall disable that good which otherwise they would do. For such is the weaknesse of many, that they thinke their Ministeries should thereby be discredited. As for their easie silencing of them, in such great scarcity of Preachers, is to punish the people and not them. Ought they not (I meane the Bishops) to keep one eye open to looke upon the good that those men do; not to fix them both upon the hurt that they suppose commeth by them. Indeed such as are intemperate and incorrigible God forbid they should be permitted to teach. But shall every inconsiderate word, sometimes captiously wa • ched, and for the most part hardly inforced, be as it were a forfeiture of their voice & gift in teaching? As for particular molestatiōs, I take no pleasure to recite thē. If a minister shal be troubled for saying in Baptisme, Do you believe? or, dost thou believe? If another shal be troubled for praying for her Majesty without addition of her stiles, whereas the very form of prayer in the book of Common prayer hath (thy servant Elizabeth) and no more. If a third shall be accused upon these words uttered touching the controversies, Tollatur lex & fiat certamen, whereby was meant, that the prejudice of the law removed, other reasons should be equally cōpared of calling for mutinie and sedition: as if he had said, Away with the Law, and try it out by force. If these and other like particulars be true, which I have but by rumour, and cannot affirme, it is to bee lamented that they should labour amongst us with so little comfort. I know restrained government is better then remisse. And I am of his opinion that said: Better it is to live where nothing is lawfull, then where all things are lawfull: I dislike that lawes bee contemned, or disturbers unpunished. But lawes are compared to the grape, which being too much pressed, yeeldeth an hard and unwholesome wine. Of these things I may say, Iram viri non operatur justitiam Dei: the wrath of man worketh not the righteousnesse of God. As for the injuries on the other part, they are, Ictus vermium, as it were headlesse arrowes, they are fity and eager invectives: and in some fond men, uncivill and unreverent behaviour towards their persons. This last invention also which exposeth them to derision and obloquie by libels, chargeth (as I am perswaded) the whole side; neither doth that other, which is yet more odious, practised by the most • or • of thē, which is calling in as it were to their aid, certain mercenary bands, which impugned Bishops & other Ecclesiasticall dignities, to have the spoile of their endowments and livings. Of this I cannot speake too hardly: It is an intelligence between incendiaries and robbers, the one to rob or fire the house, the other to rifle it. And thus much touching the third part.

The fourth part wholly pertaineth to them which repugne the present Ecclesiasticall government, who although they have not cut themselves from the body and communion of the Church: yet they effect certaine cognisants & differences, wherein they seek to correspond amongst themselves, and to differ from other: and it is truly said, Tam sunt mores Schismatici, quam dogmata Schismatica: There be as well Schismaticall factions as opinions. First, they have impropered to themselves the names of zealous, syncere, & reformed, as if all other were cold, minglers of holy things, and prophane, and friends of abuses. Yea to be a man endued with great vertues, and fruitfull in good workes, yet if he concurre not fully with them, they terme (inderogation) a civill and morall man, and compare him to Socrates or some heathen Phylosopher: whereas the wisedome of the Scripture teacheth us contrariwise to denominate him religious according to the workes of the second table: because they of the first are often counterfeited and practised in hypocrisie. So saith Saint Iohn, that a man doth mainly boast of loving God whom he hath not seen, if he loveth not his neighbour whom he hath seen. And Saint Iames saith, This is true religion to visit the fatherlesse and widow; and so that which is but Phylosophicall with them, is in the phrase of the Apostle, true religion and Christianity. As in affection they chalenge to themselves the said vertues of zeale, and the rest, so in knowledge they attribute to themselves light, and perfection. They say the Church of England in King Edwards time, and the beginning of her Majesties, was but in the cradle: and that the Bishops of those daies did somewhat for day-breake, but the maturity and fulnesse of light proceeded from themselves. So Sabinus Bishop of Heraclea of Macedonia, said, that the Fathers in the councell of Nice were but infants, and ignorant men: that the Church was not so to persist in their decrees, as to refuse that farther ripnesse of knowledge which the time had revealed. And as they censure vertuous men by the names of civill and moral, so doe they censure men truely, and godlywise who see the vanity of their assertion) by the names of Politique, saying that their wisedome is but carnall, and favouring of mans braine. So likewise if a Preacher preach with care and meditation (I speake not of the vaine Scholasticall forme and manner of preaching) but soundly indeed, ordering the matter he handleth distinctly, and draweth it downe from authorising of it by strong proofes and warrents: they censure it as a forme of preaching, not becoming the simplicity of the Gospel, and referre it to the reprehension of Saint Paul speaking of the intising speech of mans wisedome. Now for their owne manner of preaching, what is it? Surely they exhort well, and worke compuction of minde, and bring men vell to the question, Viri fratres quid age • us? but that is not enough, except they resolve this question. They handle matters of controversies weakly and obiter, and as before a people that will accept of any thing in doctrine or manners: there is little but generality and repetition. They move the bread of life, and tosse it up and downe, they breake it not: They draw not their directions downe ad casus conscientiae, that a man may be warranted in his particular actions whether they be lawfull or not; neither indeed are they able to doe it, what through want of grounded knowledge, what through want of study and time. It is an easie thing to call for observation of the Sabbath day, and to speake against unlawfull gaine: but what actions and workes may be done upon the Sabbath day, and in what cases; and what courses of gaine are lawfull, and what not: to set this downe, and to cleare so the whole matter with good distinctions and decisions, is a matter of great knowledge and labour, and asketh much meditation and conversation in the Scriptures and other helpes which God hath provided & preserved for instruction. They carry not equall hand in teaching the people their lawfull liberties as well as their restraines and prohibitions. But they thinke a man cannot goe too farre in keeping a commandement; they forget that there are sinnes on the right hand as well as on the left, and that the sword is double edged, and cutteth on both sides, as well the superstitious observances, as the profane transgressions. Who doubteth but it is as unlawfull to shut where God hath opened, as to open where God hath shut? to binde where God hath loosed, and to loose where God hath bound? Amongst men it is as ill taken to turne backe favours, as to disobey commandements. In this kinde of zeale (for example) they have pronounced generally and without difference all untruth is unlawfull, notwithstanding that the Midwives have been reported to have been blessed in their excuse, and Rahab is said by faith to have concealed the spies. Farther, I heard some Sermons of mortification, which (I think) with very good meaning they have preached out of their owne experience and exercise: and things in private counsell not unmeet, but surely no sound conceits: much like to Parsons his Resolutions, or not so good, rather apt to breed in men weak opinions, and perplexed despaires, then filiall and true repentance which is sought. Another point of great inconvenience and perill, is to intice the people to heare controversies, and all manner of doctrine: they say no part of the counsell of God is to bee suppressed, nor the people defrauded. So as the difference which the Apostle maketh between milke and strong meats, is confounded; and his precept that the weake bee not admitted to questions & controversies, taketh no place. But most of all it is to be suspected as a seed of further inconvenience for manner of handling the Scriptures: for while they seek expresse Scripture for every thing; and that they have in a manner deprived themselves and the Church of a speciall helpe, and support by embracing the authority of Fathers, they resort to naked examples, conceited inferences and forced allusions, such as doe bring ruine to all certainty of Religion. Another extremity is that excessive magnifying of that, which though it be a principall and holy institution, yet hath limites as all things else have. We see (in a manner) wheresoever they find in the Scriptures the word spoken of, they expound it of preaching. They have made it almost of the Essence of the sacrament of the Lords supper to have a sermon precedent. They have (in manner) annihilated liturgies and formes of divine service. As for the life of the good Monkes and eremites of the Primitive Church, I know they will condemne a man as halfe a Papist, if he should maintaine them as other, then prophane, because they heard no preaching. In the meane time, what preaching is, and who may be said to preach, they make no question. But as farre as I see every man that speaketh in chaire is counted a preacher. But I am assured, that not a few that call wholly for a preaching ministerie, deserve to be of the first themselves, that should be expelled. These and some other errors and misproceedings, they doe fortifie and increase by being so greatly addicted to their opinions, and impatient to heare contradiction or argument. Yea I know some of them, that would thinke it a tempting of God to heare or read what may be said against them. As if there could be a Quod bonum è tenete, without an Omne probate going before. This may suffice to offer unto themselves a view and consideration whether they do well or no, & to correct & asswage the partiallity of their followers and dependents. For as for any man that shall hereby enter into a contempt of their Ministery, it is but his owne hardnesse of heart. I know the word of exhortation doth chiefly rest upon these men, and they have zeale and hate of sinne. But againe let them take heed that it be not true which one of their adversaries saith against them, that they have but two small wants, knowledge, and love. And so I conclude the fourth part.

The last point teaching the due publishing, and debating of these controversies, needeth no long speech: this strange abuse of Antiques and Pasquils hath been touched before. So likewise I repent not that which I said before, that a character of love is more proper for debates of this nature, then that of zeale. As for all direct and direct glaunces or levels of mens persons, they were ever in these cases disallowed. Lastly, whatsoever is pretended, the people is no meet judge or arbitrator; but rather the moderate, quiet, and private assemblies of the learned. Qui apud in capace loquitur non disceptat, sed calumniatur. The Presse & Pulpit would be morefreed and discharged: neither promotion on the one side, nor glory and heat on the other, ought to continue these chalenges at the Crosse, and such places. But rather all Preachers especially such as are of a good temper, and have wisedome, with conscience ought to inculcate and beat upon a place, peace, silence, and sufferance. Neither let them feare Solons law which compelled in factions, every particular person to range himselfe on the one side, or the other: nor the fond calumnie of neutrality. But let them know that it was true which was said by a wise man, that neuters in contention were better or worse, then either side.

These things have I in all syncerity and simplicity, set downe touching the controversies which now trouble the Church of England, and that without all art or insinuation: and therefore not likely to be gratefull to either part. Notwithstanding I trust what hath been said, shall finde a correspondence in their minde, who are not embarked with partiality, and which love the whole better then the part. Whereby I am not out of hope that it may doe good. At least I shall not repent my selfe of the meditation.