NO Apostle , no Prophet , no Euangelist , no true pastor or teacher can haue his owne name put vpon the Disciples which he gathereth : but as they bee all gathered onely by Christes doctrine and vnto Christ alone , according as it is written , one is your Doctor , euen Christ : Matth. 23. so are they onely by his title called Christians . But it hath béen the manner of olde , and euen from the time of the Apostles , in Gods Church , when any wicked schisme or heresie hath sprung vp , to call the scholers and followers by the names of the first masters of the same , and chiefe leaders . As of Montanus , the Montanists ; of Nouatius , the Nouatians ; of Arrius , the Arrians ; of Pelagius , the Pelagians ; of Donatus , the Donatists ; of the Pope , the Papists , &c. And who shall reprehend this as vaine , or condemne it as a thing vniust , seeing wee followe his example , who saith to the Angell of the Church of Pergamus , Reuel . 2. Thou hast them which hold the doctrine of the Nicholaitanes ? Now , there is a sect in England commonly called Brownists , not because Browne was the first originall of it , but for that he hath written and published bookes in maintenance and enlargement thereof , and with more skill and learning than others which either as yet haue followed , or gone before him . Many men thinke that they bee sprung vp but of late , whereas in very déede it is well knowne there was a Church of them in London 20. yeares past , and one Bolton a principall doer therein , whose fearefull end is not forgotten . I haue termed them the Donatists of England . How iustly , and how charitablie , and with what due consideration , it standeth me now vpon to shewe ; least the ignoranter sort of such as somewhat fauour them , should imagine , that I haue iniuriouslie and falselie giuen them this odious title , to worke their vniust discredite . For Donatisme in olde time , about twelue hundred yeares past , was condemned as a detestable proud Schisme and heresie , that began at Carthage in Aphrica , and was vehementlie withstood by the faithfull Pastors , and cut downe by the holie Scriptures , as no learned godlie man will denie . The holie Father Augustine was the chiefe that did ouerthrowe them , as his writings which are extant , answering to their writings at large doo declare . Now , my purpose at this time is to compare them together , the Donatists and the Brownists , from point to point out of the writings of Augustine . If it fall out cléere and manifest that they agree together , as euen as two peeces of cloath that are of the same wooll , the same threed , colour , working & breadth : and that an Egge is no liker to an Egge , than they be each to other : I hope all that be sober minded will not blame me for giuing them the same title . Their originall , first , ( of the Donatists I meane , and how they cut off themselues ) is to bee noted & set foorth ; which was this . From the birth of our Sauiour Christ , for the space of thrée hundred yeares & more , there were euer anon great and greeuous persecutions raised vp against the Church , by the Romane Emperours , vntill the Emperour Constantine the great imbraced the holie Gospell , and gaue peace to the Christians . In those daies of persecution , such as through feare , or otherwise , did deliuer to the cruell persecutors , either the bookes of the holie Scriptures , that they might burne and deface them , or the vessells appointed for holie vse in the publike assemblies , that they might carrie them away ; or the names of the brethren , that they might finde them out : such ( I say ) were called traditores , that is , deliuerers or traitors . There was a rumour that such offence had béen by some committed , as no doubt it was by many . Now , as Augustine reporteth in his Psalme against the Donatists , there came certaine Bishops from Numidia vnto Carthage , a famous Citie in Aphrica , to ordeine a Bishop , and found Caecilianus alreadie ordeined and placed in the Seate : then were they wroth that they could not ordeine . They ioyned together , and layd a crime vpon Caecilianus . They say his ordeiner deliuered the holie bookes and was a traitor : whereupon they will haue him reputed no Minister of Christ , but the sonne of a traitor . There was no assemblie of the learned Pastors for to iudge in this case according to Christes ordinance and discipline : the accused and the accuser did not stand foorth for triall . There were no witnesses produced to prooue the crime : neither were matters scanned by the Scriptures . But furor , dolus , & tumultus , that is , furie , deceipt , and tumult , did beare the sway , as Augustine sheweth in the same his Psalm . They assembled which were the accusers , and Caecilianus is condemned being absent , by Tigisitanus Secundus , as hée sheweth in his first booke against Parmenian Chap. 3. and in his third booke against Cresconius Chap. 40. Now was there great stirre and deuision begun : Donatus , he steppeth foorth and requireth of the Emperour Constantine to haue Iudges ( not of Aphrica , out beyond the seas ) to heare the crime which was to be obiected against Caecilianus . The Emperour appointed that the matter should bee heard at Rome , where Caecilianus was cléered , and Donatus and his part receiuing repulse appealed , accusing Meltiades then Bishop of Rome , that he was also traditor , as Augustine reporteth in his first booke against Parmenian , Chapt. 5. and so they require to haue the cause heard by the Emperour , vnto whom they had appealed : where hauing also the repulse , as false accusers , they say the Emperour was corrupted through fauour . They made a separation from Caecilianus and those that claue to him . The deuision grewe greater and greater , they had assemblies and Bishops on Donatus part in processe of time in great number . They condemned not only the Church at Carthage , and the neighbour Churches in Aphrica , as guiltie therewith , but all Churches through the world as wrapped together in the guiltines of those Churches of Aphrica . They pronounced them all polluted , vncleane , abominable and vtterlie fallen from the Couenant of God , through the pollution of such as had committed sacrilege , and were not seperated . They said there were no Ministers of Christ , no Sacraments , & so no true Church among them , but heapes of wicked polluted sacrilegious persons , whose teachers were all generations of traitors , Iudasses , & persecutors of Gods Saints , and that as many as would bee saued must seperate themselues , and ioyne with the pure selected companie of Donatus . And for these respects they baptized again all such as fell vnto them , as not being baptized before , but polluted with a prophane washing . Now , through the shew of burning zeale , and stiffe rigorous seueritie in condemning sinne , and by the vehement outcries which they made that the discipline was not duely executed , in as much as the prophane were mingled together in the assemblies with the pure , and no seperation made : many of the people not well settled and grounded in the trueth , were terrified and turned vnto them , taking them to be most zealous holie men , and the onlie true Church in earth : and with excéeding bitternesse condemned all other as abominable Idolaters and cursed traytors , whose worship God abhorred . It was before the daies of Augustine that this sect began , and in his time was greatlie spread . And when he wrote that it was against all equitie to condemne ( as they did at the first ) the whole world for the sinne of Caecilianus , because if he were guiltie , yet the Churches farre off knew not so much , but might rather iudge him cléere , being cléered in iudgement . They maintained the matter to prooue that there were no true flocks , nor pastors after another sort : and did affirme , that as the Church of Carthage , and the Churches elsewhere in Aphrica , were fallen from God by the pollution of the sacrilege of Caecilianus and other : so all other Churches in the world were destroyed by the like sacrileges committed in the daies of persecution by wicked men among them , whose sinnes were open and knowne and no seperation made . For thus speaketh Parmenian a Donatist Bishop , as Augustine doth set it downe in his first booke against him , and third Chapter . Dicit etiam Parmenianus ; hinc probari consceleratum fuisse orbem terrarum criminibus traditionis , & aliorum sacrilegiorum : quia cum multa talia fuerint tempore persecutionis admissa , nulla propterea facta est in ipsis prouincijs separatio populorum . That is , Parmenian also saith , that from hence it is prooued , that the world hath been together made wicked , or hainouslie polluted with the crimes of treason and of other sacrileges : because , when many such things were done in the time of persecution , there was no seperation of the people made for the same in the Prouinces . Marke well this saying of Parmenian the Donatist , for it doth expressie set downe the ground of Donatisme . The words of Petilian another Donatist Bishop , to prooue all the Ministers of the Churches to be but successors of traitors ( as Augustine doth report them in his second booke against him Chapt. 8. ) are many , I will onely recite the chiefe of them . This Petilian hauing before saide , that he which is baptized by one that is dead , his washing doth profite him nothing : then procéedeth to shewe how farre ( as he saith ) an vnfaithfull traitor may be accompted dead while he liueth . And for this be frameth a comparison betwéene Iudas and the Pastors of the Church , condemning them as the worse . For after he hath set forth that Iudas was an Apostle when he betraied Christ , and spirituallie dead when he had lost the honour of an Apostle : and as it was foretold by Dauid that another should haue his place , so Matthias succéeded him in the Apostleship . He would haue no foole here dispute that Matthias dare away triumph and not iniurie , which by the victorie of Christ , had the spoyle of the traitor . Then he demandeth , how canst thou by this déede challenge to thy selfe the office of a Bishop , being the heire of a more wicked traitor ? Iudas Christum carnalem tradidit , tu spiritualem ; furens Euangelium sanctum flammis sacrilegis tradidisti . Iudas betraied Christ carnal , thou spirituall ; being in furie thou hast deliuered the holie Gospell to the fire . Iudas legislatorem tradidit perfidis : tu quasi eius reliquias legem dei perdendam hominibus tradidisti . Iudas betraied the lawgiuer to the wicked : thou hast betraied as it were his reliques the lawe of God vnto men to be destroied . Si hominis mortui testamentum flammis incenderes , nonne falsarius punireris ? quid de te ergo futurum est , qui sanctissimam legem dei iudicis incendisti ? If thou shouldest burne the will of a dead man , shouldest thou not bee punished as a falsifier ? what then shall become of thee , which hast burnt the most holie lawe of GOD the Iudge ? Iudam facti vel in morte poenituit : te non modò non poenitet , verumetiam nequissimus traditor nobis legem seruantibus , persecutor & carnifex existis . Iudas repented him of his deed , at least in death : but thou doest not onely not repent , but also being a most wicked traitor , remainest a persecutor and a tormentor of vs that keepe the lawe . Cresconius a Grammarian ( one as it seemeth that taught some Grammar schoole ) tooke vpon him to write against Augustine in the defence of Petilian , or rather of the whole Donatisme , and he laieth to the charge of Caecilianus the vnpardonable sinne against the holie Ghost , in betraying the scriptures to the persecutors , vsing this argument : Holie men of God deliuered them as they were led by the holie Ghost , ( Augustine in the 4. booke against Cresconius , Chapt. 8. ) Petilian ( though otherwise full of great bragging ) being verie vnwilling to haue open disputation in any open assembly of learned men , vsed this arrogant speach : Indignum est vt in vnum conueniant filij martyrum , & progenies traditorum . It is an vnworthie thing that the sonnes of the Martyres and the generations of traitors should be assembled together . Thus much may suffice for this poynt . Where we see that the Donatists departed disorderlie out of the Church , condemning it not for any poynt of doctrine ( for therein they did not disagree ) but for that many , which in the time of persecution dissembled , many which reuolted , and to saue their liues did sacrifice to the Idolls : many which deliuered the bookes of holie Scripture to bee burned , and betraied the names of the brethren ; when the storme was ouer , & there was a sodaine calme , the Emperour Constantine being become Christian , such ioy in all Christian lands , Christianitie magnified with such honour : for that ( I say ) many such returned to professe the Gospell againe as members of the Church , and were receiued . For , saide the Donatists , the Church is holie , consisting of such as be called foorth and separated from the vnpure and wicked world : and therefore no separation being made , but such villanous traitors , so vile Idolaters , and their children being communicated withall , all your assemblies through this mixture are none other before GOD , but heapes of abominable vncleane persons . Your teachers are the sonnes of Apostates and traitors , and no Ministers of Christ . Now looke vpon the Donatists of England : Antichrist hath béen exalted according to the prophesie of S. Paule , he hath sate in the Temple of God , boasting himselfe as God , persecuting and murthering Gods true worshippers . He is disclosed by the glorious light of the Gospell : his damnable doctrine , cursed Idolatrie , and vsurped tyrannie are cast foorth of this land by the holie sacred power of our dread Soueraigne Ladie Quéene Elizabeth , whom God hath placed & settled vpon the Throne of this noble Kingdome . The true doctrine of faith is published , and penalties are by lawes appoynted for such as shall stubbernlie despise the same . Our Donatists crie out , that our assemblies , ( as ye may see in their printed bookes ) and that the people were all by constraint receiued immediatlie from Idolatrie into our Church without preaching of the Gospell , by the sound of a Trumpet at the Coronation of the Queene , that they bee confused assemblies , without any separation of the good from the bad . They affirme also that our Ministers haue their discent and ordination , and power , from Antichrist , and so are his marked seruants . Hereupon , not vnderstanding the manifest Scripture , that the Apostasie hauing inuaded the Church , it continued still euen then the Temple of God in which Antichrist did sit , and that the verie Idolaters were within the Church , were sealed with the signe of baptisme , professed Christ in some points rightlie , their children from ancient discent being within the couenant of God , and of right to bee baptized , the Ministerie of Christ so farre remaining , as that it was the authentick seale which was deliuered by the same ; in a mad furie , like blind hypocrites they condemne the reformation by ciuill power , and purging Gods Temple by the authoritie of Princes , because the Church of Christ is founded and built by the doctrine of the Gospell . Herein they are deceiued , that they imagine the Princes take vpon them to compell those to bée a Church which were none before : whereas indeed they doo but compell those within their kingdome ouer whome the Lord hath set them , which haue receiued the signe of the couenant , and professe themselues to bee members of the Church , accordinglie to renounce and forsake all false worship , and to imbrace the doctrine of saluation . What other thing did Iosias and other holie Kings of Iuda , when they compelled the multitude of Idolaters which were the seede of Abraham , and circumcised , to forsake their Idolatrie and to worship the Lord ? It is most cléere also , that where the reformation of the Kings was not perfect , ( as appeareth in the bookes of the Kings and Chronicles ) yet all the foulest things being abolished , and the substance of trueth brought in , they were reputed godlie Churches , where many were false brethren and open offenders . The Brownists blinded with their swelling pride , and not séeing the euident matters of the Scriptures , without all order of that holie discipline of Christ , accuse , condemne and forsake our Churches , vnder the appearance of feruent zeale , and rigorous seueritie against all sinne , not inferiour to the Donatists ; as if they were the onely men that stood for Christ and his kingdome , they crie out aloude and proclaime all the Ministers of our Churches to be Antichristian , the sonnes of the Pope , false Prophets , Baals Priests , that prophesie in Baal , and pleade for Baal , persecutors of the iust , bearing the marke , the power and life of the beast , because they say our ordeiners bee such . They say wee haue no word of God , no Sacraments nor true Church , but that all is vtterlie polluted and become abominable : our assemblies they call the very Synagogs of Antichrist , vtterlie fallen from the couenant of God , and all that ioyne with them , through the pollution of open sinners which are not cast foorth : and therefore they haue separated themselues , and crie aloude vnto others to doo the same if they will be saued . What rule of discipline haue they obserued in this ? Haue these things béen brought foorth , scanned , discussed , and iudged in the Synods of the learned Pastors and teachers of the Churches ? Nay , but euen as Augustine saith of the other , furor , dolus , & tumultus , furie , deceipt and tumult , do beare the sway . Then I conclude , that in this poynt of accusing , condemning , and manner of separating themselues from the Church , the Donatists and the Brownists doo agree and are alike . Some man will here replie , that I build vppon a weake ground , or rather vpon the sand , in prouing the Brownists and the Donatists to bée all one , because they are alike in accusing and condemning the Churches , and separating themselues from the same . For the matter resteth not simply vpon the actions ; but whether there were iust cause . The question will bee whether the Brownists doo that iustlie , which the Donatists did vngodly . For the Donatists did accuse the Churches and Ministers falsely , condemned them most wickedly , and therefore their separation could not bee good , because it was from the true Churches of Christ : but now if the Brownists obiect open and manifest crimes , such as cannot be denied , their case doth differ farre . May not a man separate himselfe from those assemblies , where he seeth open sinners suffered on heapes to remaine in the bosome of the Church , and where idolatries , blasphemies and abominations are committed , where the Ministers and gouernment be Antichristian , but he must bée a Donatist ? Moreouer , it is certaine the Donatists did condemne all Churches in the world ; the Brownists doo condemne onely the assemblies as they generally stand in England , which is a very great difference . The Donatists hold that the Sacraments or the efficacie of them doth depend vpon the worthines of the Minister : the Brownists are not of that mind . The Donatists did rebaptize ; the Brownists doo vrge no such thing . It may be also they are vnlike in some other things : if it be so , why should they be termed Donatists ? Indeed if there be such differences , the Brownists haue great wrong to bee called Donatists , and to bee condemned with so wicked a sect ? But what if it fall out otherwise , and that it be shewed and prooued manifestlie that they be all one in these things ? Shall wee not then say they be euen brethren ? shall they not stand or fall with the Donatists ? shall they be vngodlie Schismatickes , and not these ? I will procéede from poynt to poynt , to compare them together , that it may appeare whether there be difference . Touching the first , it is most true that the Donatists did accuse and condemne the Churches and the Ministers of the Churches most falselie : and I say the Brownists are as false accusers as they , and condemne as iniustlie in all crimes which they obiect , and shall in no wise bee found vnlike in this poynt . Yea , will it bee sayd , how shall that appeare ? All men doo knowe that the Brownists may without any false accusing lay greeuous faults to the Church of England . I graunt they may : and I say likewise , the Donatists might lay as great faults to the charge of many Churches then , and in some points greater , & yet be no liers . This is to be prooued by comparing the Churches of those times with ours : for so shall wee see how farre both haue iustlie accused , or might accuse , and where they meete together as false accusers . The Brownists may stand foorth and accuse the church of England in this manner : That there bee heapes of open sinners not separated from among the good , but suffered and admitted to the Lords table , at least wise in many , or in the most assemblies : There be prophane ignorant persons that despise the holie religion : There bee swearers and cursers : There bee those that are puffed vp and swell in pride and vaine glorie : There be swarmes of drunkards , gluttons and vnchast persons : There be couetous worldlings , and greedie vsurers , extortioners , oppressors , bribers and defrauders : There be liers , backbiters , and slanderers : There bée enuious , hateful and contentious persons : yea , what sinnes almost are wanting ? Where shall a man goe but he is readie to fall into companies of wicked men ? This is not alone among the common people ; but verie many of those that should bee guiders , lights , and patternes of godlinesse vnto others , are nothing lesse . Who is able to deny these things ? heauen and earth will witnesse against him . We may lift vp our voyces and say : wee haue sinned with our fathers , wee haue done wickedlie . We may confesse that our iniquities are heaped vp and reach aboue the clowdes , and that shame and confusion of face is due vnto vs . Wee may crie , saue Lord for the godlie cease , the faithfull are diminished from the children of men . The complaints that the Prophets doo make euerie where against the Church of Israel , may verie well be applied against vs . Where is loue , where is fidelitie , where is mercie , where is trueth ? But now shall wee thinke that the Donatists had no such things to accuse the Churches of in those daies ? Could they not say your assemblies are full of couetous men , proud persons both men and women ? Had they not iust cause to complaine that many walked in hatred and discord ? Doo ye imagine that there were no vngodlie Ministers ? or will ye suppose that Augustine and other holie men stoode to cléere and iustifie the Churches that way against the Donatists and other Heretickes ? Nay , let their words bee heard what they testifie in this behalfe . Cresconius alleaged this saying of the Lord , I will giue ye shepheards according to my heart , which shal feede yee with knowledge and vnderstanding . Ieremy . 3. This he cited to prooue that the Pastors ought to bee faithfull . Augustine maketh answere thus : Scio , completum est , tales Apostoli fuerunt , tales etiam nunc , etsi pro ecclesiae latitudine perpauci , non tamen desunt . That is , I knowe it is fulfilled , such were the Apostles , such also there be now , though very fewe in respect of the largenes of the Church , yet they are not wanting . This is a plain testimonie that in the time of Augustine the faithfull sincere godlie Pastors were verie fewe in comparison . Many testimonies may be brought out of diuers ancient writers for this matter : but I will bring but some fewe , and first out of Cyprian , which alone are sufficient being both large and cleere . Cyprian was in the time of persecution before the Donatists sprung vp ; and after one persecution was ouer , he wrote an Epistle de lapsis , of those that fell and denied Christ : In which first he triumphantly reioyceth ouer them which stoode ; then he mourneth dolefullie for those that fell : and after that he sheweth why God sent that persecution . Si cladis causa cognoscitur , & medela vulneris inuenitur , Deus probare familiam suam voluit . If ( saith he ) the cause of the slaughter be knowne , the cure of the wound is found also , God would prooue his familie . Et quia traditam nobis diuinitus disciplinam pax longa corruperat , iacentem fidem , & poenè dixerim dormientem , censura coelestis erexit . That is , and because long peace had corrupted the discipline deliuered vs of God , the heauenlie censure hath raised vp the faith lying along , I may say almost sleeping . Then shewing that God did not punish them so much as they deserued , he setteth foorth the greeuous open sinnes committed in the Church . Studebant augendo patrimonio singuli , & obliti quid credentes , aut sub Apostolis ante fecissent , aut postmodum facere deberent , insatiabili cupiditatis ardore ampliandis facultatibus incubabant . That is , They studied euerie one to increase their patrimonie , and hauing forgotten either what the beleeuers had done before in the time of the Apostles , or what they ought to doo afterward , they all did applie themselues to increase their riches with an insatiable burning heate of couetous desire . Here is one sinne that ouerspread : then he addeth further . Non in Sacerdotibus religio deuota , non in ministris fides integra , non in operibus misericordia , non in moribus disciplina . There was not deuout religion in the Priests , there was not the sound faith in the Ministers , there was not mercie in workes , there was not discipline in manners . And what more ? Corrupta barba in viris , in foeminis forma fucata . Adulterati post dei manus oculi , capilli mendacio colora●i . Ad decipienda corda simplicium callidae fraudes , circumueniendis fratribus subdolae voluptates . Iungere cum infidelibus vinculum matrimonij , prostituere cum gentilibus membra Christi . Non iurare tantum temerè , sed adhuc etiam peierare . Prapositos superbo tumore contemnere , venenato ore sibi maledicere . Odijs pertinacibus inuicem dissidere . The beard was corrupted , or disguised , in men : the beautie was counterfeit or painted in women . The eyes corrupted from the forme in which Gods hands had made them , the haires were set out with a false colour : subtill fraudes to deceiue the hearts of the simple ; deceiptfull pleasures to circumuent the brethren . They coupled themselues in mariage with infidels ; they prostituted the members of Christ with the heathen : they did not onely sweare rashlie , but also forsweare . They contemned their gouernours with swelling pride , and cursed themselues with venymed mouth , being at discord among themselues with stiffe hatreds . Are not these horrible sinnes which ouerflowed in the church ? Is there no more ? Yes , he saith , Episcopi plurimi , quos & ornamento esse oportet ceteris , & exemplo , diuina procuratione contempta , procuratores rerum secularium fieri , derelicta cathedra , plebe deserta , per alienas prouincias oberrantes negociationis quaestuosae nundinas aucupari . Esurientibus in ecclesia fratribus habere argentum largiter velle , fundos insidiosis fraudibus rapere , vsuris multiplicantibus foenus augere . That is , very many Bishops , which ought to bee an ornament and an example vnto other men , despising the deuine cure , became factors in worldly matters , leauing the chaire , forsaking the people , wandring through other Prouinces , did hunt after faires or markets of gainefull trafficke . The brethren hungring in the Church they had siluer in great plentie : they would in rauening manner get lands by subtill fraud , increase their gaine with vsurie . What shall we say , did this holie Cyprian falselie accuse the Churches of his time , in laying these greeuous crimes to the charge both of the Pastors and the people ? Doubtles he spake the trueth . It will be demaunded whether Cyprian and the rest of the godlie did worship together with those open sinners , ioyning with them in praier & receiuing the Sacraments . We see it is manifest they did : for he describeth not the heathen , or such as had been cast foorth of the Church , but such as God sent chasticement vpon to raise vp the faith which was almost , as he saith , a sleepe . He doth also testifie in plaine wordes , that the godlie could not separate themselues from the Church , because of such open sinners , without proud obstinacie and sacrilegious presumption . He speaketh vpon this occasion : there were certaine which had suffered imprisonment for the Gospell ; among whom was one Maximus an Elder , and certaine brethren , which when they came out of prison , separated themselues from the Church , taking offence at the open sinners which were not cast foorth , as it appeareth by the words of Cyprian . For hauing testified his gladnes that they had forsaken their schisme , and did returne againe into the Church : he addeth , Nam etsi videntur in ecclesia esse zizania , non tamen impediri debet aut fides , aut charit as nostra , vt quoniam zizania esse in ecclesia semper cernimus , ipsi de ecclesia recedamus . Nobis tantummodo laborandum est , vt frumentum esse possimus , vt cum caperit frumentum dominicis horreis condi , fructum pro opere nostro & labore capiamus . That is , Although there bee tares seene to be in the Church , yet neither our faith nor our charitie ought to be hindered , that because wee alwaies perceiue tares to be in the Church , wee our selues should goe out of the Church : wee must onely labour that we may bee corne , that when the corne shall begin to belayd vp in the Lords barnes , wee may receiue fruit for our work & labour . Then further he addeth : Apostolus in Epistola sua dicit , in domo autem magna , non solum vasa sunt aurea , & argentea , sed & lignea , & fictilia , et quaedam quidem honorata , quaedam vero inhonorata : nos operam demus , & quantum possumus laboremus vt vas aureum , vel argenteum simus . The Apostle his Epistle saith , but in a great house there are not onely vessels of gold and siluer , but also of wood and earth , and some vnto honour , and some vnto dishonour : let vs doo our endeuour , and labour what we can , that wee may be vessels of gold , or at least of siluer . Finallie he saith : Caeterum fictilia vasa confringere domino soli concessum est , cui & virga ferrea data est . Esse non potest maior domino suo seruus : nec quisquam sibi quod soli filio pater tribuit vendicarit , vt se putet vniuersa posse zizania , humano iudicio segregare : superba est ista obstinatio , & sacrilega presumptio , quam sibi furor prauus adsumit , & dum sibi semper quidam plus quam mitis iusticia deposcit , assumunt , de ecclesia pereunt : & dum se insolenter extollunt , ipso suo tumore caecati , veritatis lumen amittunt . But it is graunted onely to the Lord to breake the earthen vessels , to whom also the yron mace is giuen . The seruant cannot be greater than his Lord , neither shall any challenge that to himselfe , which the father hath giuen to the sonne alone , that he should think he can by humane iudgement seuer all the tares . That is a proud obstinacie and sacrilegious presumption , which wicked furie doth take to it selfe . And while some doo alwaies take more vpon them , than meeke iustice dooth require , they perish out of the Church : and while they insolentlie extoll themselues , being blinded with that very swelling of theirs , they lose the light of the trueth . What can be more manifest than these testimonies , which shewe that there were greeuous open sinnes committed by multitudes in the Church , not onely of the common sort , but euen of the teachers ? We see they did communicate together , as in the old Church vnder the law , heapes of notorious wicked men did flock vnto the Temple and worship at the same Altar and Sacrifices with the godlie . Hierom in his Epistle to Paulinus sheweth , there were many of all sorts , both men and women , which did presumptuouslie , ignorantlie , & with baine glorie prattle of the scriptures , and so abuse the holie word of God . And in the Ministrie there were that had stepped from seculer learning to deale with the Scriptures , which being able to rowle out words , thought they made goodlie sermons . Therefore if the Donatists had but complained that there were multitudes of open sinners in the Church , as proude , couetous , hatefull persons , irreligious and prophane abusers of the Scriptures , and not only of the common sort , but also of the teachers : their complaint had béen true . But when they proceeded thus ; That all that did communicate with any such open sinners , were polluted by them , and fell from God : and so termed all the Pastors wicked traitors and Iudasses , wretches , whose worship and praiers were abominable , and all the people that ioyned with them prophane and heathen : therein they became false accusers and wicked coudemners : they did with most intollerable pride and sacrilegious treacherie publish a diuorse betweene Christ and his spouse . The Brownists offend in the same degree in accusing , condemning , and casting foorth the Churches of Christ , affirming that by open sinners admitted to the Lords table , all are fallen from the couenant of grace , haue no true Sacraments , nor Church , but are as an heape of polluted heathen , whose worship and praiers are abominable .