IT is no new matter to see the faithfull and profitable admonitions of God his preachers currishly reiected of them / which should gladly and thankfully heare and embrace them / which should obay them / which should to their vttermoste promote them / which should employ themselues to defend them : and yet it is as olde a custome as it is lamentable / to finde such as shuld be most frends / most foes . To leaue the eldest times / when * a a Gen. 4. 8. Abel found no worsse freende then Came / his owne brother / when Ismael * b b Gal. 4. 29. persecuted Isaac / when Esau * c c Ge. 27. 41. Iacob / when Ioseph * d d Ge. 37. 23. was persecuted by his owne brethren / when Moses * e e Exod. 12. 13. 14. was fame to flee from Egipte bicause of the Iewes / and so forthe till the time of the Prophetes / when * f f Iere. 26. 8● Ieremie found least fauor at the priests hands / when Ozeah saythe that Gilead the * g g Ose. 6. 8. colledge of priestes was a citie of wicked doers / and polluted with bloud / when Amos was so ill entreated by * h h Am. 7. 10. Amazia the priest of Bethel / yea leauing these / and comming nearer / when our sauioure Christe crieth * i i Math. 23. 13. 14. &c. woe to the Scribes and Phariseis / exact intexpreters of God his lawe / bicause of their hypocrisie / who though they would faine seeme holy / yet had they not the heartes to yeelde to the truth preached by oure sauioure / bicause their credite and gaine ( as they thought ) lay another way : they therfore yeelded not / but in steede therof they slaundered Christes person / and his doctrine / they bent themselues wholely against hym / they persecuted hym / yea the texte is plaine / that Phariseis and priestes all of them / * k k Ioh. 11. 47 counselled againste hym / lefte him not till they broughte him to hys death / nay which is more / one of his owne compame / one of the principall / one of the * l l mat. 26. 48 twelue / Iudas letrayed him . Lette vs caste oure eyes vppon the Apostles / they founde not onely the Phariseis & priestes theyr masters cheefe persecutors / to be theirs also / but diuers * m m 2. Corinth. 11. 26. false brethren / I say brethren / but false brethren / neuertheles they went and were taken for brethren / these I saye they were endanngered by : so then / to ouerpasse the examples of the church since / as they are reported in the Ecclesiasticall histories ( bicause we haue and may haue euer best lighte by the scriptures ) this is it I wold say / that in these our dayes / the preachers finde not lesse fauoure / nay they are not more slaundered and persecuted / by any / then not onely by the learned of the popishe professyon / but also by suche as woulde seeme pillers of the true religion . And surely a straunge thing it is / and a maruellous case / and muche to the dismay of many that it should be so / sauing that in perusing the scriptures / it is found to haue beene commonly vsed . There were two little Treatises lately sette forthe / both tending to one ende / namely to admonishe the parliament / what it had to doe touching religion / and tending to one ende / they beare one name / that is / an Admonition to the parliament . The matters therin contained / howe true so euer they be / haue founde small fauoure . The persones that are thoughte to haue made them / are laide in no worsse prison then Newgate . The men that sette vpon them / are no worsse men the Bishops . The name that goeth of them / is no better then rebelles / and great woordes there are / that theyr daunger will yet proue greater : well / whatsoeuer is said / or done against them / or whosoeuer speake or worke against them / that is not the matter : but the equitie of their cause is the matter . And yet this I will say / that the state sheweth not it selfe vpright / if it suffer them so to be molested / for that which was spoken only in the way of admonition to the parliament / which / was to consider of anye suche admonition / and to receiue it or reiecte it / without further matter to the Authors : except it contained some wilfull maintenaunce of manyfest rebellion / or treason / which it cannot be proued to doe . Againe appealing as they doe to that hyghest Court of Parliament / from the lower of the Bishops / and Commissioners / bicause they finde not equitie at their handes / nor cannot / the Bishops / who are in their Admonition most touched / being cheefest in Commission / alledge the Parliament what it will ( as some say it was not in fourme of lawe / and Imprinted / and yet I trowe there may be founde presidentes of the like / as that of Roderike Mors / the way to Common wealthe / the Complaint of the beggers / and such like . ) All honest men shall finde lacke of equitie / if their safetie be not prouided for in this respecte / yea / and their appeale thought vppon / heard / and yeelded vnto . If it were the case of any number / for worldly respectes / this high Courte were to prouide for it / but being the case of the whole church of Englande / and Irelande / and in deede God his cause / all good consciences shall condemne that Courte / that prouideth not for it / but reiecteth it . The scripture is plaine / it * n n Math. 10. 14. 15. shall be easyer for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of iudgement / then for such a Court. God giue it grace to prouide for it / or euer it be dissolued / and pardon the negligence already committed / for otherwise surely / there is none other thyng to be loked for / then some speedie vengeance to lyght vpon the whole land / prouide as well as the politique Macheuils of Englande thinke they can / though God do his worste : but shut God out of your assemblies and courtes / as hetherto in this youre laste Parliament you haue don nothing therin as you ought / no though you haue bene solicited / but haue suffred them that were your solicitoures / to be molested / you shall finde / bothe that you oughte to haue soughte the * o o Mat. 6. 33 kingdome of God first / and also you shal finde / if you consider not youre owne wayes in youre heartes / howe you thinke it a time to builde seeled houses / to deuise lawes for the preseruation and prosperitie of your common wealth / and neglecte God his churche / leaue that waste / prouide not for that / you shall finde ( as the * p p Ag. 1. 5. 6. Prophet saith ) yee shall sowe muche / and bring in little / yee shall eate / and not haue inoughe . As for the Conuocation house / whereof many haue conceiued a maruellous opinion / and which should of duetie loke to these matters / common experience dothe proue / that they doe for the most parte apply them selues to the time / and seeke rather to please and followe worldly pollicie / then sincerely to promote Gods cause / and to publishe his truth . And hereof their last conuocations can be good witnesses . But you say the Bishops are good men / & great clearkes / they knowe what they haue to doe / and possyble some of them doe / excepte the God of thys worlde haue bl●nded their eyes / and so did some of the popishe bishops : but you were deceiued by them / and you are like to be deceiued by these / if you truste them so farre / as experience teacheth . Neuerthelesse you shall die in * q q ●ze . 33. 8. your synnes / you shal both * r r ●at. 15. 14 fall into the ditche . But some will say that the admonition hindered other things . As who shuld say that to further Gods cause / is to hinder other matters that be profitable for the common wealth / doth the knowledge of God / and the promoting of hys glory / hinder profitable lawes ? that is a thyng that I would gladly learne / for I coulde neuer vnderstand it before . Wherfore this may be as a seconde Admonition / wyth the like mynde as afore by them / to craue redresse of the great abuses in oure Reformation of Religion / some being continued from the papistes / some deuised by the fantasticall heades of vayne menne / and some though not maintayned / yet suffered and not reformed vnto thys day / yea and further / as they afore / doe againe appeale to thys hyghe Courte of Parliament from all other Courtes / being ready to defende that whych I wryte touching the substance of it againste all men / and that vppon the pearill of my lyfe . Let me be but vprightly heard and interpreated . The matter is Goddes / ouerpasse it not lightly / for we maye not ( thoughe you deuised lawes to cutte vs off / as by some one byshop you haue bene ere nowe prouoked ) for oure partes thus leaue it . The other bokes are shorte ( as it was requisite to present to you ) and therefore they haue not so muche tolde you how to Reforme / as what to Reforme . They haue tolde you of many things amisse / and that very truely / they haue tolde you in generall / what were to be restored / but howe to doe these things / as it is the hardest poynte / so it requireth / as themselues saye / a larger discourse . I meane therfore to supplie ( as shortly as I can / bicause I wryte as they dyd to you ) some thing that may make to the expressing of the matter / so plainely / that you may haue sufficient lyght to proceede by / till they whych are endued wyth greater giftes / discusse it more exactly / or till we our selues / who haue begon / maye haue further oportunitie to proceede / if it be neglected of theyr part which coulde we it better . And yet this I dare say / for the substance of those Treatises ( which is it that galleth the aduersaries mooste / howe so euer they quarrell with them vpon wordes ) that it is so grounded vpon the vndoubted truthe of God his booke / that the diuell of hell / cannot wyth his coloures blemishe it / saue he may seeke to suppresse it by violence : nor any but he / and those whome he hathe deceiued / or whome God hath not yet giuen so much light vnto / will or can stand against it . I would / and doe therefore earnestly admonishe them that knowe / to knowe as they ought / and to doe as they knowe / and to beware of the * * vnderstand this of the deuill / as Ioh. 12. 31 Ih. 14. 30. Ephe. 6. 12 2. Cor. 44. Ma●. 2. 2. 3 Rom. 10. 2 God of this worlde / that he deceiue them not / for the time will come / that this * dung shall be throwne openly in their faces / to their euerlasting shame / that maintain it / like as at this day it hathe befallen to the sencelesse Papistes / who will neuer giue ouer / til they can neither wil nor chuse with shame inough . Next I woulde / and doe earnestly ad●●onishe those that are ignorant / to learne to knowe / and to beware of a blinde zeale / which is more violent & vniust / then oughte else / carying men headlong / to maintain that / they haue no reason for / and wickedly to gainstand the expresse truth / to their endlesse perdition . Now to the matter / I say that we are so skarce come to the outwarde face of a Churche rightly reformed / that although some truth be taught by some preachers / yet no preacher may withoute greate danger of the lawes / vtter all truthe comprised in the booke of God. It is so circumscribed & wrapt within the compasse of suche statutes / suche penalties / suche inst●uctions / suche aduertisements / suche articles / suche canons / suche sober caueats / and suche manifo●●e pamphlets / that in manner it doth but ●●epe out from beh●●de the screene . The lawes of the lande / the booke of common prayer / the Queenes Iniunctions / the Commissioners aduertisements / the bishops late Canons / Lindwoodes Proumetais / euery bishops Articles in his d●ocesse / my Lord of Canterburies sober caueates / in his licences to preachers / and hys highe Courte of prerogatiue or graue fatherly faculties / these together / or the worste of them ( as some of them be too badde ) may not be broken or offended against / but with more daunger then to offende against the Bible . To these subscribing / and sub 〈…〉ing againe / and the third subscribing / are re〈…〉 red / for these / Preachers and others are endi 〈…〉 are fined / are priso●ned / are excommunicated / are banished / and haue worse things threatned them : and the Bible / that muste haue no further s●●pe / then by these it is assigned . Is this to professe God his worde ? is this are formation ? He that could not abide straunge fire in the olde law / but burnt * s s Leui. 10. 12 them that vsed it / what will he doe to vs in the newe lawe / that erect a new and straunge course / or worde / to rule his church by ? What did the Pope but so ? he did suffer God his worde to haue a course as farre as it pleased him / so that he might haue the whole authoritie aboue it . so dyd the Popishe churche : but we say the * worde is aboue Ephe. 2. 20 the church / then surely it is aboue the Englishe churche / and aboue all these bookes afore rehearsed . If it be so / why are not they ouer ruled 〈◊〉 / and not it by them ? Here falleth forthe to be ●●swered a shift of descant to turne and winde this 〈…〉 er . Forsothe these are not repugnant / saythe 〈◊〉 to the woorde of God / no nor yet say we / are 〈◊〉 consonante / no more is chaffe like to quenche 〈◊〉 no nor yet can it abide the fire . But gold can . ●●uen so are these vnable to quenche the lighte of 〈◊〉 gospell / no * t t 1 Corrin . 3. nor yet can they ▪ abide the courte o● the gospell / but true religion abideth the triall of the word of God. As wel reasoned / it were to say / lay hay or stubble on the fire / for it wil not quench the fire / and therefore it will not be consumed by the fire / as to say receiue this reformation / for it is not repugnant / therefore it will abide the triall of the word / but the scripture abideth no suche distinction of contrary / and diuers / for he that is not with me / take he the Iewes parte / the Turkes / the Papistes / or the hipocriticall Englishe protestantes parte / * v v Mat. 12 30 he is against me sayth Christe . Another / he talketh for the Quenes supremacie / Out saythe he / may not the Queene doe thys and that / but you muste 〈…〉 her to a reckening : howe allowe you then hir supremacie in Ecclesiasticall things / ( which are in deede to be determined in conferences and councels / and that by the warrant of the worde ) you will proue very Anabaptistes / not suffering Magistrates / nor any politique orders besides / and so he runneth away with alleaging scriptures that commaunde obedience to magistrates / and say things must be done orderly and decently / and he deuiseth many foule names / and reproches for vs . But heere hir Maiestie is to be humbly intreated / that of hir clemencie / shee will abide vs ( who are bound by duetie / and obedience to God ) freely to discusse all things as they are set * * Deu. 4. 4 Ios. 1. 8. forthe in the woorde of God / though her Maiestie otherwise thinke it straunge / and also haue in owe to exasperate hir Maiestie against vs pore men / who are farre vnable to abide hit displesure / and would be sory to offende her / if it might please God to encline her Maiesties heart to consider of our cause / and not to be turned from vs by the importunatenesse of oure aduersaries / nor by other preiudice of oure persones or places : but to deale with vs euen according to the truthe of the matters we deale in / which are according to the very woorde of almightie God / or else if it will not fall out so / we will be content to abide hir displeasure and sharp punishment . Out if it fal out ●o / then as an 〈…〉 oure Magistrate may not take the authoritie of the highest into hys hantes / no more may any Magistrate v●urpe Gods. To Ce 〈…〉 * * Math. 11 ▪ 21. geue that whych is Cesars / & to God that whych is hys / saythe oure sauioure . Non● is so high at her common wealthe / as hir maiestie : none so vse the sweard but shee / and whom shee appointeth vnder hir / according to the lawes of thys land / so that it be not repugnant to their vocation / as to ministers . Likewyse / none is so hygh in the churche as Christe / none to doe any thing / nor any thing to be done in hys churche / but as it is appointed in hys woorde / eyther by precise or generall direction . And therfore it is allowed and commaunded to Christian men / to trie all y y 1. Th. 5/21 * things / and to holde that whiche is good / whosoeuer forb●dde wythoute exception / Prince / or other / so that if we examine euerye thyng done in thys churche of God in Englande by the worde of God / and holde that whiche is good / though the lawe be offended / that lawe is to be reformed / and not we to be punished / for whatsoeuer our personnes or places be / if oure matters we deale in / be Gods / her maiestie we trust / remembreth what the scripture sayth : he that despiseth you * z z Lu. 10/1● despiseth me / and he that receyueth you / receyueth me . As we know thys case to be cleare / so we trust and dayly pray / that God wyll open her maiesties heart / to consider of it and vs . But to these men agayne / let them shewe vs ( if they can ) by what aucthoritie they may en●oyne vs ( if God hys worde beare them to be magistrates ) to obserue the boke of Common More say● for this boke / then we say for the Bible . prayers / bothe in matter and manner / as in theyr laste Canons they forbid theyr ministers to depart from one or other ? it is wycked to say no worse of it / so to attribute to a booke / in deede ●ulled out of the vile popish seruice booke / with some certaine rubrikes and gloses of their owne deuise / suche authoritie as only is due to God hys booke : and inditements / imprisonments / and suche extremities vsed agaynst them which breake it / is cruell persecution of the members Cruel persecution . of Iesus Christe . And of all other greeuous enormities layde vppon thys churche of God in England / this is the greatest / that it is not lawfull to vtter that whych we learne truely oute of the scriptures . We must be in daunger of a premunire if we folowe not the lawes of the land / thoughe they be agaynste the scriptures / and in daunger of a twelue monthes imprisoment / if we speake agaynst the booke of common prayer / though it be agaynste the word of God. In deede if there were order taken for conferences / Acts. 15. 2 such as the scriptures commendeth to the church for the triall of truthe / when it is hard & darke / then were the dealing not harde / but vprighte . As for the Conuocation house I tolde you before what it was / and what may be looked for at theyr handes / and somewhat more shall be sayde of it heereafter . If that were sayd for the Bible / whych is sayd for the booke of common prayer / and whych God sayth in his law for hys *& *& Deut. 4. 2 woorde / then were the dealyng vpryght and and good . Now if they meane by / not repugnant that it is consonante in all and euerye the contents thereof wyth the woorde of God / that can they neuer proue . But coulde they proue that / yet they snare the church of God betweene that boke and other bookes / whych they obtrude with straight charge to be obserued / whych bookes doe differ amongs themselues : as the booke of common prayer / and the iniunctions about wafers / the boke of common prayer and the aduertisements about the churche vestures / the Canons against the pontificall / in not ordering of ministers / sine titulo , the preface of the last boke of homilies / and of the last newe Bible agaynst the booke of Common prayer in the manner of reading of the scriptures . And in many things the bishops articles in theyr seuerall diocesses differ from thys booke / as aboute the standyng of the communion table / & fetchyng the dead to church / and such lyke / but the courte of Faculties / that Thus shal they be perplexed / that follow mens heades . for marrying wythoute asking the banes / and many moe things differeth from it and all other theyr bookes / but cheefely from God hys Bible : what say we to thys case ? we are neyther free to folowe the Bible / nor out of doubt what to doe by these bookes / but to followe God and hys woorde / we are so free / that we are by the Apostle forbidden to become seruants *a *a 1. Cor. 7/23 of men . If thys be true / as who can denye it / then is it your partes to rid our churche of these shrewde encombrances . And whereas it was meant to bridle papists / make direct lawes against them . Directe lawes agaynst papistes . Further / wheras our church yet misseth of the right course of the scriptures in our reformation / let youre learned men be driuen to drawe a platforme out of God his boke ( wher it is descrybed at ful ) according to hys will in the same reuealed / and the examples of the best Churches beyonde the seas / as Geneua / Fraunce / &c. And the only The cause that all 〈…〉 ches ●o no● agree . cause why our church differeth from the churches reformed of the straungers / or amongs our selues / or they amongs themselues / is because one church suffereth not it selfe so to be directed by the course of the scriptures as an other doth / except it be in those things of order / wherin one parishe may many times differ from an other Churches may differ in matters of order . wythout offence / folowing the generall rules of the scripture for order / as in appoynting tyme and place for prayers / and so forth . So that we are so farre off from singularitie wherwyth we are commonly charged / that we desire to drawe by one line with the primitiue churche / and the churches best reformed at thys day / for we say there is but one * b b Phil. 3. 16 line throughout all countreis / and at all times as the scripture speaketh / there is one * c c Eph. 4. 4. body / one spirite / one hope / one Lorde / one fayth / one baptisme / one God and Father of all which is aboue all / and through al / and in vs all . The persons and causes that are to deale and to be dealt with in the church are certayne / and expressed in the scriptures . The lyfe of the worde is the ministerie of the same / howe shall they heare wythout a * d d Ro. 10. 14 preacher sayth the Apostle . The former tretises therfore haue rightly spoken against the bastard / idol / and vnpreaching ministerie of thys church . And therefore thys I say / that first you must prouide a suffycient Sufficient ●rouisyon for the minsteric . mayntenance for the ministerie / that in euery parishe they may haue a preaching pastor / one or moe / that may only entend that charge . Is not the scripture plaine : Thou shalt not * e e ● . Cor. 9. 9. 10. 11. 12. &c. Deu. 25. 4 ● . Ti. 5. 18 Ro. 15. 27. Deu. 18. 1 mousel the mouth of the Oxe ▪ that treadeth out the corne ? for our sakes no doubt thys is wrytten / that he that careth should care in hope / that they whych sowe you spirituall things / myght reape of you temporall things / whych is no bad exchaunge for you . Nowe / to your handes oure auncestors haue raised a maintenance / which is not so embeseled away / nor the propertie so altered / but that ( though mennes deuotion be colde to the ministers ) the state may easely by law restore the same prouision againe / without losse in manner to any partie . If none other way may be founde / then haue the bishops and cathedrall churches temporalties inough / to redeme those liuings that be impropriated / or otherwyse out / and to better those liuings whych are too small / and as I thynke to be employed to other good vses of the church also . But we will not stande wyth you so muche in the manner of the raisyng of theyr prouision / for raise it as it shall please God to put you in minde / so that you prouide sufficiently for your ministers / that they maye be of abilitie to maintaine their charge / and to bestowe vpon fitte furniture of bokes and honest hospitalitie . But in the meane while / vntill a sufficient prouision be made / it is no better then sacrileage and spoyling of God to kepe backe any way the prouision which hath bene made in that respecte / and the cursse of God threatned by Malachie to those that spoiled y● * f f mal. 3. 8. 9 Leuites then of their prouision / belongeth / and wil light vpon our spoilers nowe / & vpon them in whose hands it is to redresse it / if they doe it not . Also there must be orders taken and looked vnto / for bestowing of vniuersity liuings the bestowing of the liuings prouided in the vniuersities ( now dennes of many theeuish non-residentes : ) not to the greedy vse of many cormorant masters of colledges / and at theyr wicked pleasure / as they are / but to the brynging vp for the moste parte of such as wil be content to be employed vpon the charge of the ministerie / when as the church shall haue nede of them / and to take from them that haue moe liuings / all saue one / and that to / except they will be resident / and be able and willyng to discharge it / hauing besides the allowance which afterwards shal be spoken of by God hys grace . And thys prouision must so sufficiently be established / that it may be paide wythoute adoe / and not to be mat. 10. 17 2. cor. 2 67 Ministers maintnance is not to be recouered by excommunication . Vnburdening of benefices . sought for / or worme by suspensions / or * excommunication / which are applied by the scriptures to a farre more proper and spirituall vse / & not at all to thys . And also there are many charges going out of benefices / wherof they shoulde be vnburdened . Next / you must repeale your statute or statutes / whereby you haue authorised that ministerie that now is / making your estate partly to consist of Lordes spiritual ( as you cal them ) and making one minister hygher then another Repealing of statutes / appoynting also an order to ordayne ministers / which order is cleane differing from the * scriptures / wherefore you muste haue the Act. 1. 31. Act. 6. 3 Act. 14. 23 1. ti. 3. 2. 7 Tit. 1. 6. order for these things drawne oute of the scriptures / which order is this . When any parishe is destitute of a pastor / or of a teacher / the same parish may haue recourse to the next conference / and to them make it knowne that they maye procure cheefely from the one of the vniuersities / or if otherwise / a man learned / & of good report / The chusing of ministers . whome after triall of hys gyftes had in theyr conference / they may present vnto the paryshe which before had bene wyth them aboute that matter / but yet so / that the same parishe haue him a certaine time amongst them / that they may be acquainted wyth his gifts and behauioure / and geue their consentes for his stay amongste them / if they can alleage no iust cause to the contrary : for he may not be sent away again / which is so sent to a parishe / except a iust cause of misliking / the cause alleaged being iustly proued against hym / either amongst themselues in theyr owne consistorie / so that he will appeale no further for hys triall / or els in the next conference / or counsell prouinciall / or nationall / vnto which from one to another he may appeale / if he fynde hymselfe cleare / and if he geue ouer / they maye proceede as afore for another . And when suche an one is founde / to whome the parishe muste geue consent / bicause there is no iust cause to be alleaged agaynste him / the nexte conference by whose meanes he was procured / shall be certified of the parishes liking / wherupon they shall amongst themselues / agree vpon one of the ministers / which shall be sent by them to the same parishe / and after a sermon made according to the occasion / and earnest prayer to God wyth fasting according to the example of the scriptures made by that congregation to God / the it would please him to direct them in theyr choise / and to blesse that man whome they choose / he shall require to know their consent / which being graunted / he & the elders shall lay their hands on him / 1. ti. 4. 14. to signifie to him that he is lawfully called to that parishe to be pastor there / or teacher . Now / for as much as I haue made mention of a pastor / and a teacher / of a consistory in each parish / of a conference / and of a counsell prouincial / and national / I wil as brefely as I can declare / what eache of these meaneth / and what the vse of them is . Ther is required in euery wel reformed church these two things : A righte ministerie * g g mat. 9. 38 of the worde and sacraments / and a right h h mat. 18. 17 * gouernement of the churche / which two things are by our sauioure commended to hys church / before there were any churches gathered . And in the Apostles time / when they had gathered seuerall churches or congregations / they not onely teache what shoulde be / but they establishe orders accordingly . In the ministerie therefore / after rehearsall made of those rare and extraordinarie functions of Apostles / Prophets / and Euangelistes / there is declared in the last place those ordinarie functions of * i i Ephes. 4● 11. 12. 13. Two sorts of minysters only . The difference of their offyces / and wherein they are alyke . shepheards and teachers / which endure in euery well ordered church / till we all meete together into the vnity of faythe and knowledge of the sonne of God. There are then in the ministery only two sortes of ministers / namely pastors & teachers / which doe not differ in dignitie / but in distynction of office / and exercise of theyr gifts / and yet in many things their office is so like / that they are confounded in the name of Elders / as also the gouernours are with the ministers in the same name cofounded . But these two offices differ in this / that the pastor or pastors / are they that haue the ouersight & charge of the whole parish / to instruct to admonish / to exhort / & to correct bi doctrine al and euery one in the assemblies or in the priuate houses of the same parishe / and to minister the sacraments in the same parish . The teacher ( saue that in the consistory of the same parishe / and in all conferences of ministers / he is to be ioyned with the ministers ) shall in such places as prouision is made for him / & being lawfully called as afore / onely intend lectors / and expositions of the scriptures / to the end that there may be set furth / and kepte a soundnes of doctrine / a right & naturall sence of the scriptures / and playne and manifest proues of the articles of the Christian religion / so that he oughte to be an exquisite and mighty man in the scriptures . The vse of suche an one The vse of the doctors office . is most nedeful / wher the frie of the churche ( as I might call it ) is / to enter them well which after shuld be emploied to the ministrie / whether it be in the vniuersitie or elswhere / that such be brought vp to this turne . So that in deede the titles of oure vniuersitie doctors / and bachelors of diuinitie / are not onely for vayn glory sought Vniuersitie doctors and bachilers of diuinitie . and graunted / but there they are the names of course / conferred rather by the prophane iudgments of them that know not what office of the church they belong too / and by the importunate sute and meanes made / by such vaine men as desire to clime / and to haue hygh names / and also of a blinde custome partly / which ( besydes the graces gotten easely by frendship / or corrupt brtherie / compounding I should say / althoughe no shew of learning be vttered / nor exercises kept ) doth in respect of continuance of standing in manner throw these titles vpon many dolts / which neither do / nor can do any thing that is required in a teacher or doctor . And a plaine case it is / the ostentation and outwarde glorye is soughte by these names / & by the name of master of Arte / which is esteemed many degrees beneathe the titles of Doctor / or Bachelor in diuinitie / for otherwise they would not offer those titles to suche as the vniuersities would shewe pleasure vnto / as to noble men and others / as though they were noble names / nobilitating them that otherwise wer vnnoble / and adding to their nobilitie that without them were noble . And thus haue they turned vpside downe / and made a mockery of God hys or●●● / conferred vpon his churche for the benefite of the same / excepte they will not be ashamed to professe themselues heerein to folowe the Heathenish tradition . heathenish tradition of prophane scholes which rather seke by suche titles to aduance learning / as they say / then by their learning to aduantage the church of God. For none other are true teachers or doctors / but they which doe teache / and be founde meete / and be called by the churche to teache / how so euer the vniuersitie doctors seeme to haue some indelible Caracter / that once and euer doctor / as the popishe priestes once shauen / were euer priestes / and can neuer be no priestes after / but such doctors as these / though they had neuer so many graces / shall be but idol doctors / as truely doctors / as an image ●s a man / whych hath nothing but the shew of a man / eyes and see not / eares and heare not / and so they / teachers & doctors / and teache not . These vaine names become suche vaine men / but the churche of God they become not / and are forbidden by oure sauioure . * h h Mat. 23. 8 . Be not you called Rabbines / and to be called Rabbines is the matter with oure doctors / but to teach / that is to base or needelesse for them . I haue spoken the mere of thys / bicause the abuse is great / and not thoughte of / for howsoeuer it will be faced out / the name is not a name ●f dignitie / but a name of duety to be done to the church of God / by him that hath the excellent gyft of faithfull & right expounding of the scriptures / and of the vndoubted prouing and auouching of all the articles of our christian religion / whych is moste requisite in place where I said before / and very requisite euery where / & is to be had where competent prouision may be made for suche an one . Thus you see breefely howe these two differ / and what is the vse of the teachers or doctors office . Now the pastors in their charges and parishes The vse of the pastors office / and that it is requisite in euerye congregation . / haue not only to propounde sounde doctrine / but also charge to exhort / and to admonish publiquely and priuately them that they finde to neede it / and to examine them / and to Cathechise them in their faith / vpon whome onely lyeth the charge of the whole congregation / whether there be a teacher / or doctor or no. For if the doctor faithfully kepe his lectures / and answer hys calling by godly life there is no further thing to be required of him / saue that in the consistorie ( againe I say ) he app●y hymselfe with the pastors to guide and directe the rest of the assistantes / and in lyke sorte ioyne himselfe with the pastors in theyr conferences councels / and such like meetings . But euery congregation must haue a pastor / I saye not a parsone vicare or stipendarie priest / or curate ( as they call him ) but a pastor or shepherd / which is able / and dothe intend feeding of them / euery way / by preaching doctrine / by exhorting to the same / and to godly life / by admonishyng offenders / by conference wyth them / by visityng the sicke / to teache and counsell them / by Cathechising the congregation / by making prayers / by ministring the sacraments / and examining before hand the communicantes / and whatsoeuer he is directed vnto by the prescripte of the woorde of God. And these two offices thus set vp / according to the scriptures / there remaineth no vse The good that ensueth of the erecting of a ryghte ministerie . of fat canons / prebendaries / petie canons / synging men / quiresters / virgirs / and the rest of that crue / nor yet of rouing preachers / which preach quarter sermons / nor of stipendarie curates / & that vnbrideled ( vntituled cleargye I shoulde say ) but that the liuings of the former might be ●estowed vpon the maintenance of the righte ministerie / and the latter to be no longer an vnprofitable burden to the churche . And further / such prouision being made / there shal be no nede of such dignities / as they call them / nor of qualifications for many beneficens / as pluralities / trialities / totquors / and I wot not what conferring of benefices / or prebends vpon bishops / to amende their liuings forsothe . All thys good commeth of the erecting of a right ministerye / besides the faithfull discharging of so greate a charge as the feedyng of Chrystes flocke is . And also thys I say / it is so farre of that anye can take vyon him the charge whych our Lord Bishops do / as they say / one of them to be parson L. bishops take farre more charge vpon them / than they are able to discharge . ( pastor they seme to meane ) of a whole diocesse ( moste diocesses containing diuers shires ) yea / and some one of a prouince ( containing many diocesses ) that in deede it is in manner too much for one to take charge of one only parish / and to say truth / if euery parysh were able ( as it wold be prouided for / by restoring impropriations by augmenting of the liuings / & by ioyning moe paryshes in one ) if euerye paryshe I Respects require ●ather two p●stors ouer one flocke then one ouer many . say / were by some suche meanes made able / it were meete euery paryshe had two pastors at least / bothe for the common charge that lyeth vpon the shoulders of the pastors / and for sondry vses that theyr congregations haue to employ them vpon / or cheefely / bicause in the sycknesse of the one / the other myght supplye . And the pastor or pastors being ryghtly called / maye not be put away / but for such causes / and in such sort as was sayd before / nor he or they maye not leaue their charge / for he or they haue a necessyty * n n ● . cor. 9. 16. The pastor maye not leaue hys ●lock at hys ●wne plea●ure . of tarying on theyr charge laide vpon them with their charge / except by the good order o● the churches it be thought expedient / or when the shepe are wolues / & so they dryuen to flie from them : so that our resignations wil not stand with the word of god / m●ch lesse wil our non residents abide the triall / both seruing the couerousnesse of gredy bellied wolues / the one to fleece wythout care of feedyng / excepte it be themselues eyther in some chaplams roume / or in some other stye / to spare theyr labor where they should entende : The other serueth hym that euer gapeth for a greater pray / or to make mony when other shyftes sayle . And further / I wyll not excuse all those that eyther resygne / or suffer them selues to be depryued to auoyde further trouble / wythout consyderation of theyr flocke / if the same conspire not generally against them / seeing they oughte to giue theyr lyues for their Ih. 10. 11. flocke . But thys is not thought to be so needefull / nor in deede were so nedefull / if to reade the scryptures / the homilyes / and the course of oure booke of common prayers were inough / for then a boy of ten yeares olde may do the ministers office / for the substance of their offyce is not in the yeares / but in the reading . And in deede boyes and sencelesse asses are oure common minysters for the moste parte / for / but common reason may serue thys turne / and doe thys feat well inough . It is in deede les●● busye then popyshe priestes Our course ● religyon ●estroyeth ●ys care of Chrystes ●ocke . seruyce / bycause the kalender and the rubrikes of the booke are fewer : and playner then his portuise and pie were / so that lesse clarkes then popyshe priestes / whych had but some blinde Latin in their b●lly / may serue for our store / & therfore in deede the blindest bussarde of them / if hee wyll keepe hys conscience to hymselfe / nay he is not so narowly loked vnto / if he wyll subscribe to our Articles of Christian religyon before hys ordinarye / and blindely reade them at hys benefyces / he shall not onely be seruing priest ( I vse their owne termes ) but he may haue one Benefyce or moe / and nothyng shall / nor may be sayde against hym / and so he proui●● hys quarter sermons or pay his Ordinarie for that default and suche lyke / he is as good a Pastor as the ●●st . And yet I thynke verely / the laste Parliament A good statute of the last parliament / taketh little effecte / by the negligence and corruption of the Ordinaries as they call them . saue thys / meant very well in this respecte / by a statute prouided in this case / so that many a leud Priest of them ( if the Ordinarie had bene good / not being corrupted by bribes / or by their bribed offycers and seruaunts ) would haue bene remoued / and the benefyces readye for better pastors / but I can heare of none / of few so badde / but he is where he was / and my Lorde Byshoppe hys great frende commonly / for it seemeth by some of them / that they sin●ll my Lords the Byshoppes meanyng / is to make their hande nowe / and to money themselues nowe / and prouide for their wyfe and children somewhat , honestly ( I will not say pompously ) for fear of after claps against a rainye day / whatsoeuer tyme or change come / and thys humoure these Priestes / and all other Time seruers f●e●● full handsomely / and it serueth their purposes in deede fullye . No / no / thys is not that mynisterie / whych we haue ne●●e of / and whych God erected in hys churche / reading Reading of Homilyes came in by abuse / and maintenieth an ●ooll ●● 〈◊〉 . an Homilie / is Popishe and s●nd / whether they ●●●edes homilies / or anye other auncient wryters homilies / whych in tymes past vpon the lyke erroure were 〈…〉 sed so supplie the lyke lacke of preaching a● thoughe afterward they red them or sung them in an vn 〈…〉 tongue : or they ●● our bishoppes homilies in oure owne tongue / for fayth commeth by hearing / and hearing not by homilies : but by the * o o Ro. 10. 17 The ministery of faith is the preaching of the same . worde of God / & in deede readyng of the word is as good / and better preaching / then readyng of homilies / but the ministerie of faythe is the preaching of the same / oute of the woorde of God / by them that are sent of God. How can they preach except they be * p p Ro. 10. 15 sent / as it is wrytten / howe beautifull are the feete of them whych bryng good tidings of peace : they must be sent of God / endued wyth the gyftes of God / furnyshed wyth hys graces vnto that ministerie / that they may be able to bring the good tidings of peace / and good thyngs to their congregations / that their feete may be beautifull to them / that they may knowe that they are iewels of God bestowed vpon hys churche / that euerye churche may be assured they haue a treasure of their minister or ministers . Thys is the ryghte way to bryng the ministerie into credyte and estimation The waye to bring the ministerie ●nto credite ● estimation . / their giftes giuen them of God / & theyr paynfulnesse / and honest lyfe amongst their congregations / & not to make some of them Lordes / Graces / Earles / Prelate / and Register of the Garter / Barons / Suffraganes / some of them ryche Deanes / Archdeacons / masters of Colledges / Chauncellors / Pre●●ndes / rych persons and vicares / and thoughe some of them be poore inoughe / to gette them credite by their rochets / hoodes / cappes / clokes / tippets and gownes / or suche lyke implements vsed by the * q q Math. 23. ● . 6. 7. 11. ●ur sauior orbiddeth ●ys miny●ers to seke ● be noted ● outward ●parel and ●uises . Phariseis whyche claimed hyghe roumes / and made large borders on their garmentes / & loued to be greeted / and to be called Rabbi / whyche thyngs by our sauioure are forbidden his ministers / and an order enioyned / that they which loke for it / shuld not haue it / but be least esteemed . Thys is true / reade the scriptures youre selues I pray you / if you finde it not so / disproue vs / if it be founde so / strengthen vs by your authorities / and lette the worde of God haue the free course that it ought to haue . They be but pretences to serue the glorious course that some of oure ministers are entred into / when they say / it is the credyte of the ministerie / and the vpholding of the same / and thys way of oures / is the discrediting and ouerthrowing of the ministerie / & of all good orders / and to bring confusion into the churche / and as they pretende playne Anabaptistrie . But they are no better but pretences and flat vntruthes / for it is God hys owne order set by our sauioure and hys Apostles in his church / and I trust ( as breefely as I can ) to make it appeare to be God his order / and the lest order / and the onely order which should be in the churche of God. And as The couetous abuses that are too common among the byshops . for the order whych they pretend to be maintained by them / it may be that they knowe their order when they ride in their scarlet roa●es before the Queene / and howe to poll their cleargye as they call them / and all other in their diocesses / & howe to lease oute benefices to the patrones / or by the persone or vicare and patrones meanes royally to lease them out to some other / or to alienate the house / or the gleebe for a round summe of money to their Lordships chestes / or brybes to their wiues / or to their children / or to their offycers / or seruauntes / that they may haue their share thereby / or how to kepe their courtes / and gette them officers for their best aduauntage / or howe to rattle vp these new fellowes / these yong boyes that will not obey at a becke to their articles / aduertisements / canons / caueates / and such lyke stuffe of their owne forging / or whatsoeuer proceedeth / or is from / or : for their Lordly estate and degree / or howe to pleasure their frende / or frendes / or freendes freende / with a Benefice / or wyth a Pr 〈…〉 : so that it maye bee a good turne to themselues / comming by simonie away / or howe to lease out their owne temporaltyes of their bishopprickes / yea & possible akenate them from their successors / and howe to matche their sonnes and their daughters together / with great summes of money passing betweene them / and how to purchase lands and leases in their wiues & childrens names / bicause if they were priests / their children cannot inherite / nor are legitimate by the lawes / and howe to raise fines and rentes / and many suche good orders moe / they are verye skilfull in / and keepe very diligently . I woulde for experience / some of their doings were examined / and then no doubt we shoulde see manye of Examination of the byshops doings very expedient . these goodly orders brought to lyght . And tyll it be examined / I would that they whych are honest men / woulde bryng to lyghte their doings whych they knowe / for as finely as they haue handled the matters / there are some which know inough / and I trust they will impatt it ere long to the state / that they whych are of so sharp a sight to see who offende them / may themselues lie open / and shew how they offend God and his church / and howe vtterly vnnecessary they are / and to be remoued from their roumes / and their roumes from the churche / whych by them are continued to stall the popishe Bishops in their pompe againe / if euer their tyme serue them heere . For good orders / lette vs heare any one they make / but euen as the lawe directeth them / which any other temporall officers myght / and woulde doe as well as they / if the lawes dyd not prohibite it . And there is none other but lawes with them / no God his booke / no brotherly talke with them / they will not runne in a premunire for any of all their brethren / nor for any of God hys matters neyther / they will not haue the Queenes displeasure for any of them all / they wil not be defaced The Bishops owne talke / and extreme cruelties . whatsoeuer commeth of it / nay they wil raile vpon / and reuyle their brethren / they will persecute and prisone them / they will stirre her maiestie and all other agaynst them / they will sterue / stiffle / and pine them to death . Howe many good mennes deathes haue they bene the cause of / by an inwarde sorrowe conceyued of their doings ? howe sodainly dyed master Pullen after they began to rage ? M. Horton ? M. Caruell and many others ? and howe did they kill the good mannes heart / olde good M. Couerdale ? although they pretended they wold prouide for him / after much adoe from the counsell / and as they say / from the Queene to them / & yet they allotted hym a small portion / and paide hym by fittes / and sometymes wyth base golde / and mony if they had any worse then other / whych I haue heard very crediblye reported . Olde D. Turner was muche beholding to them / being a good man / & an auncient preacher / neuer shauen nor greased / & yet he had no small stirre by them / M. Leauer / M. Samson / and some other / at this day learned & godly / howe haue they greeued their good heartes ? vtterly leauing some of them wythout lyuing / to the wyde worlde / to shifte as they can . And yet they may not shyfte some of them by those giftes whych God hath giuen them / they may neyther preache / nor teache chyldren publikely nor priuately . And they that are in some liuings / what sorowe doe they holde them wythall / and howe ticklishly doe they holde them to / euermore in danger of being called before the hyghe Commissioners / and to loose those liuings . How many haue they driuen to leaue the ministerie / and to liue by Phisicke / and other suche meanes / or to leaue their countrey ? Howe many students haue they discouraged from the studie of diuinitie / and to chaunge their mindes since they sawe their dealings / and to chaunge their studies also ? Howe many poore Artificers and other commoners in this citie / and elsewhere / haue they ill entreated ? brought vp slaunders vpon ? and by their ill vsage and lacke of diligent conference / haue they not suffered to fall / but haue bene the cause that they haue fallen into errors ? Contrarywise / what incouragement and fauor haue they shewed to papists ? how haue they opened their eares to their complaints against the ministers / and shut their eares when Papists haue bene complained vpon / or slightly ouerpassed it . Yea some of them haue sayde / that conformable Papistes were more I wis you shall synde Precisions / as you call them / better subiects then these / as b●d as you make them . tollerable then these precisians and godlye men that seeke for reformation ? Hanson of Oxforde / whych amongst other articles was charged iustly / and is yet to be proued that he sayde Storie was an honest man / & was put to death wrongfully / and had frendes alyue would reuenge hys death one day / howe slightly dyd the Byshop of Canterbury vse hym : what frendshippe founde Thurlbie in hys house ? may poore preachers be halfe so wel vsed / or such other poore men / which led by the word of God / doe freely vtter their consciences against the abuses in our Reformation ? Or rather shal not they find harder dealyng then Hanson did : will not they take on more agaynste the author of thys booke and suche lyke / then against Hanson ? Lette vs proceede / who be their Chauncelloures ? but most suspected papistes / I heare not of one of them that is no briber . Who be their summers but the vertest varlets ? What are the Canonistes ? What are they but suspected Papistes ? and where haue they their moste countenaunce / but of the byshops ? to be theyr cheefest doers / and hyghe Commissioners wyth them / to wryng their brethren / if they be God hys children / and to let papistes scape scotterfree / or to be punyshed but lyghtly : what causes deale they in for the good of the church ? certainly fewe at all / but as they should doe they deale in none . How are matters dealt in in their courts / but all for mistresse money ? who can recken their disorders ? in those former Treatises you reade of a blessed companie / doe you not ? howe stiffe & sturdie are they in the maintenance of their disorders ? how haue they shaken of the honest sutes of many honest worshypfull citizens and others : yea / of honorable personages whych haue dealt with them for those whome themselues ought to haue had most care of ? Howe lyghtly haue they esteemed the learned letters of manye famous men at home / & abrode / wrytten vnto them in the same case ? howe many honest men haue they by their flatterie and tirannie peruerted / and drawne to their side ? wherof many lyue wyth wounded consciences at thys day amongste them / and yet for feare of losse of lyuyng ( for they muste haue a lyuing they say ) doe therfore serue the bishops appetites . What a charge are they to their cleargie ? and what a summe haue they yeerely / that myght be saued ? and it is no smal matter that mamtayneth their courtes / all whych charges myght be saued also / and matters belonging to the gouernment of the church myght be better / & more godly ended . To conclude thys parte wythall / what is more expresly forbidden in the scriptures / then those names and offices whych they haue . Oure sauioure sayth expresly to hys Apostles / * * Luke . 22. 25. 26. you shal not be called gracious Lords : and surely they were as * * Apostles as worthy to haue ben Lordes / as our bishops but they might not / being expresly forbidden it . worthy as any ministers were since / or shall be / yea / they were the Archbuylders / not the Archbishops / nor was there anye Archbuilder of them one more then another / and not anye since are allowed to haue the name of Archbuilders . And albeit any woulde haue called them gracious Lords / and geuen it them / yet they myghte not haue taken it / but oure menne though they haue vsed the same texte / and other learned men as a playne text vse it also / agaynste Of the lordship of byshops . the dignitie that the Pope chalengeth aboue all other byshops / and against hys two swordes ▪ yet it meaneth no suche matter wyth oure men / but that they may be Lords ouer their brethren / and vse ciuill iurisdiction also . It forbiddeth them to seeke it / they say / but if it be offered to them / they take it . Our sauioure refuseth to deuide the land Luke . 12. 13. 14. Ioh. 6. 15. Ih. 18. 36. mat. 20. 28 betweene the two brethren when it was offered hym / he auoydeth when they soughte to make hym a king ? what thinke you he would haue taken it / if it had bene orderly offered by the whole state ? no / he sayth : my kingdome is not of thys worlde / or a worldly kingdome / I came not to be ministred vnto / but to minister / and euen so he telleth hys disciples / it muste be amongste them . And yet further / dothe that text forbid ambition in the ministers / and allowe it in princes ? for he disproueth not the kings that they are lordes / and exercise authoritie ouer their nations / and haue great titles / for not onely there / but the scripture is playn / that they may so doe / and yet not be ambitious / whych they may be / if they contente not themselues wyth their owne countreys / and titles / but couet others . But in thys place he sheweth / that they muste not exercise authoritie as mat. 20. 27 If bishops ●oe take Lordshyp vpon them others are forbidden to ●iue it them . 1. Pet. 5. 3 ciuill magistrates doe / and may doe / nor be one aboue another / you shall not be so / he that is cheefe among you / let hym be your seruaunte / so that if they will take it / it may not be giuen them . The apostles / they also auoided it amongst themselues / and they forbid it in others / as the place of Peter is playne / and so playne / that it is a worldly wyse way to seeke some other shyfte to face oute the matter / and to vnderprop thys ruinous Hierarchie wythall . The scryptures are playne agaynst it / and therfore some other deuice must be found at a pynche / to flap the world in the mouth wyth somewhat : to tel them that good and auncient chronicles make mention of the lordly degree of bishops / and to bring forthe the heraldes craft to helpe out the matter / to blase the armes of such worthy prelates as haue ben of long time before . This were a worldly wise way / and as I heare / is entended to be practised . But surely if thys be practised / they must also practise to stoppe the course of the scriptures / for else the scriptures will on the other side display as faste / the follie of suche proude men . Heere some keepe hote schooles / what say they / euery one as good as another amongst the ministers ? shall not one be better then another ? what is disorder if thys be not ? well thys is God hys order / and in dede as I sayd afore / the best order . How is that saith another ? Thus I say . First / let no one minister meddle in any cure saue hys owne / but as he Not one minister to meddle in anothers cure without order . is appointed by common consent of the next conference / or counsels ( as afore ) prouinciall or nationall / or further if it may fall out so / generall of all churches reformed : A conference I call the meeting of some certaine ministers / and other brethren / as it might be the ministers of London / at some certaine place as it was at Corinth / or 1. Cor. 14 A conference . of some certaine deanrie / or deanries in the countrie / as it might be at Ware / to conferre and exercise them selues in prophesying / or in interpreting the scriptures / after the which interpretation / they must conferre vppon that whiche was done / and iudge of it / the whole to iudge of those that spake / and yet so / as some one be appoynted by all / to speake for them / as they shall amongs them selues agree what shall be spoken / whych thyng was alwayes vsed among the Apostles / one to speake for the rest / whych conferences may sometime be more generall then other sometime / as occasion of the Churches may require / to call the brethren together . At which conferences / any one / or any certaine of the brethren / are at the order of the whole / to be employed vppon some affaires of the church / which they shall shewe to be needefull for the same . So was Iohn & Peter sent by the Apostles to Samaria / to confirme Act. 8. 14. Philips worke . So was Paule and Barnabas sent from Antioche to the businesse appointed them by the Lord / and yet so ( which I wold Act. 13. 2. haue well marked ) that the holy Ghost sayde to the congregation : Separate me Barnabas and Saule for the worke whereunto I haue called them / he myght haue called them forth wythout these words to them of the assemblie / but that he would shewe how he approued of that order / and the more the order is commended / that he would haue Saule / one of his Apostles / to be thus sent by those wherof none were of the Apostles . At thys assembly also / the demeanours of the ministers may be examined / and rebuked / as Paule witnesseth he did in an assembly rebuke Peter . Gala. 2 , 14 Thys is that which I call a conference / where sondry causes within that circuit / being brought before them / may be decided and ended . But it is to be vsed continually / for the exercise of the ministers / and others / as it shoulde seeme by the Apostle in the place to the Corinthes / to exercise their gates in the interpretation of the scriptures . I call that a ●●ynode pro●●nciall / whych is the meeting of certaine of the cons●storie of euery parishe ●f Synode prouincial / ●ationall & ●●nersall . wythin a prouince / which is of manye conferences / as it myghte be that whyche is called Canterburies prouince / if it be not to large / and therefore of some one or moe diocesses : where great causes of the churches / whych could not be ended in their owne consistories / or conferences / shall be heard and determined / and so they shall stande / except when a more generall Synode / and councell of the whole land be / whych I call nationall / and they will haue it hearde there / to whose determination they shall stande / excepte there be a more general Synode of all churches / and that they will haue it heard there / and determined / whereto they shall stande / as it was at Ierusalem / except it be a great matter of the fayth / or a great matter expresly agaynst the scriptures / as that was in the Nicene councell of the mariage of ministers / where the whole councel wold haue concluded agaynst it / had not one manne Paphnutius wythstoode them / or that assembly Ioh. 7. 51 where Nicodemus onely withstoode the rest / or that at Antioche where Peter and Barnabas Gal. 2. 14 and all the Iewes were entred into a dissimulation / and onely Paule wythstoode them . In which case the scripture saythe / you haue one father / one master / and heare him / and examine all things / and holde that whych is good / and trye the spirites whether they be of God / or no / and Mat. 23. 8. 9. Mat. 17. 1. Th. 52 1. Ih. 4. 1 Galat. 1. againe sayeth the apostle : Though we or an angell from heauen preache any other gospell vnto you then that whych we haue preached vnto you let hym be accursed . Except I say it be in suche a case / they must stande to the determinations as afore . And otherwyse then thus / let no one minister vse / or chalenge any authoritie out of hys owne charge . And there let hym / or them ( if they be two pastoures or moe in one charge ) not only alone meddle wyth the charge of preachyng / and other suche partes of the pastor / but also let hym or them in that consistorie / and in all other conferences and councels ▪ let the ministers go before / as I might say / and guide the other of the assistantes and elders / in the gouernment / as it is in the councell at Ierusalem . But before I speake Act. 15. 12 more of the gouernement / let vs a little consider of thys order of the election of the ministers / and these exercises and conferences for the continuaunce of sounde religion / and of the equalitie of ministers / whether the bishops course be better / or thys be the best . First / this is well warranted A comparison betweene the former description of the ministerie / and the bishops order . by the scriptures / and theirs is not . Theirs hath already bene the cause of many mischeefes / and thys the cause of muche good in the primitiue churche / and is so still where it is practised in the reformed churches beyond the seas . This alloweth only painful and true preachers / theirs ignorant Asses / loytering and idell bellyed Epicures / or prophane and heathenishe Oratoures / that thincke all the grace of preaching lyeth in affected eloquence / in fonde fables to make their Prophane preachers . hearers laughe / or in ostentation of learning of their Latine / their Greke / their Hebrue tongue / and of their great reading of antiquities : when God knoweth / moste of them haue little further matter then is in the infinite volumes of common Common places and A pothegmes . places / and Apothegmes / culled to their hands . But if they carye away the praise of the people for their learning / thoughe the people haue learned little or nothing at their handes ( for they can not learne muche / where little is spoken to purpose ) or for some mery tales they haue tolde / or Merye ●ales . such like pageants to please itching eares wythall / suche a fellowe muste haue the benefices / the prebendes / the Archdeaconries / and suche lyke loyterers preferments / especially if he can make lowe curtesie to my Lordes / and know his manners to euery degree of them / or can creepe into some noble mannes fauoure to beare the name of hys chapleine / this is he that shall beare the preferments awaye from all other / and to flaunte it out in hys long large gowne / and hys tippet / and Flaunting preachers . hys little fine square cappe / with hys Tawnie coates after hym / fisking ouer the citie to shewe him selfe / none can haue that he may haue / except some certaine fatte fellowes / with long bagges Long bags at their girdels / and some in their sleeues / or with a dyshe of M. Latuners apples . Corruption / too muche corruption in these matters . Thys order auoydeth intrusion into any benefices / but to be chosen by the consent of that parishe where they shall be minysters / and there to tary . Theirs / so the patrone present / and the bishoppe institute / thrusteth vppon parishes suche / as what so euer they are / they cannot be refused / and may resigne or otherwyse departe as they liste . Theirs appoynteth not onely moe hoy ministers / & dumbe dogges not able to barke / then they wot where to bestowe / but also many rouing preachers / to preache in whose cure they list / out of all order . Thys / appoynteth euery pastor to hys charge / and by a very good order / none to meddle out of hys owne charge . By thys / all wythout exception / are drawne & driuen to exercise them selues among them selues / for the encrease of knowledge / and for the confirmation of them in the vndoubted truth . Theirs appoynteth at their lordshippes pleasure / and their Archdeacons / their men eyther to say a parte of one of the Epystles wythout booke / or to turne it out of Latine into Englyshe / or to wryte their fantasyes of some Theme geuen them / wherein there is muche good stuffe if it were well knowne / or to learne M. Nowels Catechisme by roate / rather then by reason / or if they haue some exercises of prophesying any where / it is so rawe / and wythoute order / except perhaps an order not to speake against any of their proceedings / that as good neuer a whit / as neuer the better . Thys sheweth a ready and a right way / to resolue all doubts and questions in religion / and to pacifie all controuersies of the churches / to passe from one or few to moe / & from moe / to moe godly and learned / to be decided by them / according to the truthe and worde of God. Theirs raiseth many douts and questions in religion / breedeth many troubles and contentions / and wyl haue nothyng examined that they doe / but many must ab●e for the pleasure of some one of them / and all must abide the determination of one / suche Lordshyp they claime ouer the faithe of their christian brethren . ●r. 1. 24. The Apostle renouncing it / and acknowledging hymselfe to be a helper . If they say Lordshyppe of bishops is agreeable to the word of God / who may say agaynst them / wythout much trouble ? yea / dare say against them ? yea / what preuayleth it to say against them / if they hold together ? to whom it is to swete to say say agaynst it / or if my Lords grace / Metropolitane of al England holde / & sticke fast in the matter ? for so it goeth / many must to one / & so from one to one / til it come to the Pope of Lambeth / as it was wont in the Po●ishe church / cleane contrary to the course of the scriptures / for there is no more ones / but only one one / to whome all the churche must obey / and from him / the whole church hath authoritie ouer the membres of the same / for so goeth the scriptures / you haue but one maister / all you are ● . 23. 8 ● . 17. 5 18. 17 ●e him / ●ell the ●h . brethren / heare him / and tell the church / thys is the scripture . Now / except they will followe the Popes rule / and bryng the vniuersal churche to be but a particulare place / and a particulare man in that place / as Rome is the place / and the pope is the man / or as Caunterbury or Lambeth might be the place / and my Lorde hys grace the man / the scriptures and their doings will not agree . And hys Lordship shall be a Pope / and his confederates the Popes vnderlings / excepte they leaue their Lordlynesse / and submit them selues to the church of God / to be ordered by the same / according to the woorde . And take them for better / who shall / they are none other / but a remnaunt of Antichristes broode / and God amende them / and forgeue them / for else they bid battell to Christ and his church / and it must bid the defiance to them / all they yeelde . And I protest before the eternall God I take them so / and thereafter wil I vse my self in my vocation / and many moe to no doubt which be careful of God his glory / and the churches libertie / wyll vse themselues agaynst them / as the professed ennemies of the churche of Christ / if they proceede in thys course / and thus persecute as they doe . What talke they of their being beyond the seas in Quene Maries dayes because of the persecution / when they in Queene Elizabethes dayes / are come home to rayse a persecution . They bost they followe Persec● raised . the steps of good maister Ridley the martir : let them followe hym in the good / and not in the badde . What man / Martyr or other / is to be followed in all things ? why follow they not M. Hooper as well as him / who is a martir also ? or Rogers / or Bradforde / who are martirs also ? They say all those good men in Quene Marres The m●tyrs in Mary o● dayes / they sufred ? dayes died for the booke of common prayer / but they slaunder them / for they toke not so slender a quarel / they dyed for god his boke / and for a true faith grounded vpon the same . Diuers of those martires / would not in those dayes of king Edwarde / abide all the orders in that booke / but if they had had such a time beyonde the seas in the reformed churches / to haue profited and encreased in knowledge of a right reformation as these men had / it is not to be doubted / but that they would haue done better then he promised / that had rather all England were on a fishpoole / then he would be brought to matters f●r lesse / then now of hys owne accorde he wilfully thrusteth hym selfe vpon . Why we they not followe the examples which they sawe beyonde the seas ? In which of the reformed churches saw they a Lord bishop allowed ? or the Canon lawe to direct church orders ? or will they translate the boke of common prayer into Latine / and their pontilicall / and vse the Latine of the popishe portuise / manual / and Turning y●●oke o● cō●ion prayer ● the pon●ficall / unto ●ortuis la●iue / to try y●●●dgemē●s ●f that refor●ed chur●hes con●rmng thē●equired . pontifical in those matters wherin they haue folowed those bokes / and but translated them out of Latin / and will they require & abide the iudgements of the reformed churches concerning the matters ? If they be not singulare / if they meane plainely / lette them doe thus . If it will abyde the triall / then let them vse it still . They shal not be disgraced / but we for disquieting of them . They haue f●cendes that will saye for them / they are a learned company and ne●oe not the helpe of any other churches . Then let them offer to defende their course by learning . Let them neuer goe ouer sea for the matter ( and yet surely I woulde some toke that translation in hande / & toke some paynes in the matter / to procure the iudgements of those reformed churches ) but lette them offer free conference heere at home . Nay / let them take our offer for conference ( by wryting to auoyde muche brabble if they will ) and shew themselues ready to the state / wythoute cunning practise to stoppe it by their freendes / and let vs ioyne in it freely / and then we will thincke better of them / and yeelde oure selues to haue beene deceiued in them / if they deale plainly . O Lord that we wer deceiued ●n them . That they were not wickedly bent / to maintaine that which they are entred into / to the great disquieting of thys Churche of Christe in Englande / vntill the Maister come / ( which they thinke will deferre hys commyng ) and disquiet them / whome he fynedeth like lordly Epicures / eating & drynking wyth the worldly drunkardes / and beatyng their fellow seruaunts . They that are poore men / already beggered by them / and which haue many wayes b●ne molested and imprysoned / some in the Marshalsey / some in the white Lion / some in the Catchouse There is no persecu●tion nowe ● they say / ● reporte m● to these examples . at Westmi●ster / others in the counter / or in the Clynke / or in the Ficete / or in Bridewell / or in Newgate / they whych haue these many wayes and times bene hampered & ill handled by them / they stil offer themselues to al their exercinities / and therefore put for the their treatises / because they passe not howe deare they bought it / so they myght redeme our state out of this defor●ed reformation / to a ryght platforme drawne oute of the scriptures . They say / such are men pleasers . Surely / if they sough●e aduauntage that way / it were best for them to please my Lords . They say they are desirous to be sayd to be in pryson / & Vaine an● wicked o●iections . that they profite by it / they would not then kepe themselues out of the way / nor when they are in / be suche suters to come toor●he / nor abide to be stifeled and choked with the stench of the prison / but that is an old shift and cunning of he aduersary to say so . No , no / God hys cause is the mater . You pretend a reformation / and followe not the worde of God / nor will be led by that . The summe of all therfore is thys / that eyther you of the Parliament muste ●ake order to haue all reformed according to the worde of God / whereof already you haue heard a parte / and sh●ll heare breefely the rest by God his grace / or else they to bryng your reformation to the trial of the word of God / and to ouerthrowe by the same all that we say / and al that the other of the ●●st reformed churches doe vse . Well they may conferre and yeelde / for neuer shall they ouerthrow the truthe which we vtter / and which the reformed churches doe practise / nor shall they be able to maintaine their owne doings / but by crueltie / & wl , at successe that hath euer had / iudge by the scriptures and by the papistes experience . For this order of chusing of ministers for their conferences and equalitie therefore / you shall proue none to be so good as thys / which I haue mentioned / nor disproue / but that thys oughte to be in a reformed churche . Shall I examine their other orders ? that were infinite / but yet for the booke of common prayer / which of all other muste not be touched / Booke of common prayer . because they haue gotten the state so to beare it out / Euen for the very states sake / for the princes sake / for the churches sake / and for conscience sake / he hath but a badde conscience that in thys time will holde hys peace / and not speake it for feare of trouble / knowing that there are suche intollerable abuses in it / as it is plaine there are . First I say / that if it were praying / & that there were neuer an ill woorde / nor sentence in all the prayers yet to appoynt it to be vsed / or so to vse it as Papistes did their mattens and euensong / In intollerable abuse of prayer . for a set seruice to God / though the woordes be good / the vse is naught . The wordes of the fyrst chapter after S. Iohn / be good / but to be putte in a tablet of golde / for a soueraigne thyng to be worne / that vse is superstitious and naughte / and so is the vse of thys seruice / for the order must be kept / and that being done / they haue serued God. And if they alledge that that vse was not meant / and that it is an abuse . I say and can proue it / that if it be an abuse / it is so setled it wil not be refor●ed / till there be a reformation of praier . Agayne / wherelearned they to multiplye vp many prayers of one effect / so many times Glorye be to the Father / so manye times the Lorde be wyth you / so many times let vs pray . Whence Gloria patri . Dominus vobiscum . Oremus . Kyriele●son . Many pater nosters . learned they all those needelesse repetitions ? is it not the popishe Gloria patri ? their Dominus vobiscum ? their Oremus ? Lorde haue mercye vpon vs / Christe haue mercy vpon vs / is it not kyrie eleeson / Christe eleeson ? their many Pater nosters / why vse they them ? But as though they were at their beades . The words be good / so were they when they were in Latine / but the vse is naught / forbidden by oure sauioure : you when you pray vse not vaine repetitions as the Mat. 6. 7. heathen doe / saythe he . And then the Collect for the day to be vsed at ende of mat●ens / what shall I call it ? and afore the epistle and gospel as they call it . The boke is suche a peece of worke as it Reading prayers no praying . In praying many guises taken vp ● vsed rather of custome / then of reason & knowledge or conscience . is straunge we will vse it / besydes I cannot accompt it praying as they vse it commonly / but only reading or saying of prayers / euen as a childe that learneth to reade / if hys lesson be a prayer / he readeth a prayer / he dothe not pray / euen so is it commonly a saying / and reading prayers and not praying / the childe putteth of hys cap as wel as the minister . For thoughe they haue manye guises / nowe to knele / and nowe to stande / these b● of course / and not of any pricke of conscience / ●● pureing of the heart most commonly . One he kneeleth on hys knees / and thys way he loketh / and that way he loketh / another he kneeleth him selfe a sleepe / another kneeleth wyth suche deuotion that he is so farre in talk / that he forgetteth to arise till hys knee ake / or hys talke endeth / or seruice is done . And why is all thys ? but that there is no suche praying as should touche the hearte . And therfore another hath so little feeling of the common prayer / that he bryngeth a booke of hys owne / and though he sitte when they sitte / stand when they stande / kneele when they kneele / he may pause sometime also / but mos●e of all he in●endetly hys owne booke / is thys praying ? God graunt vs to feele oure lackes better then thys / and to take a better order then thys for prayer / it is & will be all naught else . Againe / the Psalmes be all red in forme o● prayer / they be not all prayers / the people seldome marke them / and sometime when they marke them / they thinke some of them straunge geare / and all for that they are Reading ●t psalmes . bu● only red / and scarse red oftentimes . It is a very simple shift that you vse to shift it wyth an Homilie / to expounde darke places of scripture / for they be darkly expounded that be expounded / and many places more darke then you rehearse ●ny whiche are not once touched . Simple and homely geare in diuers homelies there is . There is none other helpe I came tell you / but playne pre●ching whych is God hys plaine order .