A suruay of the pretended holy discipline. Contayning the beginninges, successe, parts, proceedings, authority, and doctrine of it: with some of the manifold, and materiall repugnances, varieties and vncertaineties, in that behalfe

CHAP. I. Howe vnder pretence of the Prophetes loue to Syon: some men would gladly set vp their owne fancies. (Book 1)

THe holy Prophet Esay,* 1.1 foreseeing the miserable captiuitie, which the Iews (for their transgressions) were to su∣staine vnder the kinges of Babell: did thinke it necessary, to prepare their heartes to patience, by assuring them, that the Lord (in his due time) would worke their ioyfull and happy deliuerance. To the which purpose (amongst many other most notable perswasions, & prophecies) he vseth these wordes: for Syons sake I will not hold my peace, and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest, vntill the righteousnes therof breake forth as the light, and saluation therof as a burning lampe:* 1.2 that is, donec erigam piorum animos spe futu∣rae salutis, &c: vntill I may confirme the minds of the godly (saith Caluin) with the hope of their restitution againe: so as they may vnderstand, and be fully perswaded, that God will be the deliuerer of his Church.

The false Prophet H.N. the moste illuminated father of the family of loue, counterfaiting the imitation of the Pro∣phet of God in this place: doth take vppon him to tell the world, of a farre greater captiuitie, not of 70. yeares, but of more then a thousand and fiue hundred yeares: that is, euer since the Apostles times. Wherein (saith he) darkenes of er∣ror

hath ouershadowed the earth:* 1.3 lumen vitae incognitum fa∣ctum est, the light of life hath been made vnknowen: and the trueth hath been hid, as vnder the maske of Popery, vntill this day of loue. He turneth the whole doctrine of our saluation, into a vaine mysterie, & an allegoricall conceit of his own: leauing the Church no mediator at all, besides himselfe. He hath framed a platforme, or new kingdome and gospell of his owne inuention: bearing this title, Euangelium regni dei: the gospell of the kingdome of God.* 1.4 Into this kingdome, as Vicegerentes he hath brought: for our ministers, his seni∣ores sanctae intelligentiae, Elders of the holy vnderstanding: pa∣tres familiae Christi, fathers of the family of Christ, and for our Archbishops and Bishops, his Primates, or principall Elders, his seniores parentes, Elder fathers, and I know not how many illuminated and deified gouernours. And perseuering in these and in many other such like very grosse & fond ima∣ginations: he lewdly presumeth, to apply the said place of the Prophet, to himselfe, and his owne conceites, for the better animating of his followers to sticke fast vnto him: saying:* 1.5 O Syon, tua causa non silebo, &c: O Syon for thy sake, I will not hold my peace, and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest: vn∣till the righteousnes thereof breake forth as the light, & saluation thereof as a burning lampe: that is in effect: vntill the holy go∣uernment of the family of loue, bee established vppon the earth.

T.C. a man I confesse, not to be sorted with H.N. (were it not vpon this occasion) wil needs take vpō him likewise, the person of the Prophet: and to aduertise vs of a wonder∣full seruitude, that hath continued in the Church of God, (in effect, with H.N.) from the apostles times also, & which yet remaineth (as he saith) in the church of England. From the which seruitude, he reckoneth, that it shall neuer be de∣liuered,

vntill it submit it selfe, to be newly reformed again, by the aduise of his deepe vnderstanding (assisted with those that diligently wait vpon his illuminated deuises) af∣ter the maner of Geneua. To winne himselfe therefore the better credite, for bringing this to passe: hee laieth about him, and would haue al things turned topsie turuie (as they say) euen the vpside downe. Our ministery, their callings, our seruice, our sacraments, and all we haue, is out of ioint: Councels, fathers, histories, they are but dishcloutes with him: he shaketh them off, as it were with a shrugge: they are indeed (as after it shal appeare) no body in his handes: but he flingeth them here and there at his pleasure.

He in like sorte with the assistance of his partakers, hath framed after the fashion of Geneua, a platforme and newe kingdome, or rather an infinite number of litle petite king∣domes: but yet euery one of them of an absolute power: aswell ouer Lordes, Earles, Dukes, Princes, Kinges and Kingdomes, as ouer the meanest whosoeuer vnder them. This kingdome he would impose vpon this land. Wherein for our Archbishops, Bishops, ministers, &c: hee placeth his graund Elders, (whome he tearmeth pastors): his se∣cond sort of Elders, (whome he tearmeth Doctors): his third sorte of Elders, (whome he tearmeth Gouernors) ioy∣ning vnto them Deacons, to carry their purses, and widdows to wash their feete, where neede shall require. And with this deuise, he is so possessed, that hee thinketh all them be∣witched, and aduersaries to the trueth, that do impugne it. He supposeth the present estate of the Church of England, (wanting that Allobrogicall deuise, though reformed as it is,) to be as yet, vnder the yoake of a wicked and vnlawfull gouernment, as it were, vnder that Iewish captiuitie of the Church, vnder the Babilonians: And therefore the better

to incourage such factious persons, as do gape for a change, out of Gods blessing into the warme sunne: hee taketh vp∣on him to be their Prophet, and (as it were another Esay) sayth: For Syons sake I will not hold my peace, and for Hierusa∣lems sake I will not rest, vntill the righteousnesse thereof breake forth as the light, and saluation thereof as a burning lampe: that is in effect: vntill the said glorious kingdome of this Gene∣uian Eldership, be enthronized in this land, and do carrie the scepter ouer euery parish in England.

There is also another sorte of Schismatickes amongest vs:* 1.6 who although they condemne T.C. for a false Pro∣phet, and all his platforme, as a meere forgerie: yet doe they ioyne with him in slaundering, not onely of our church, most hainously: but furthermore also, of all the rest of the Churches in Christendome: as hauing conspired together euer since the Apostles times, to shut Christ out of his owne kingdome, and to runne headlong into a vo∣luntary bondage of greater blindnesse, then was euer in E∣gipt. In respect of the which our miserable estate (forsooth) in England: grounding themselues vpon Cartwrightes pro∣positions, (as they professe): vz: that seeing our Church: our gouernement: our ministerie: our seruice: our Sa∣cramentes, are thus and thus, as he writeth of them: there∣fore they will not pray with vs: they will not communicate with vs: they will not submit themselues to our Church, or to the gouernment of it: they will not baptise their chil∣dren with vs: they will haue nothing to doe with vs: but in effect, as though we were prophane persons, Ethnickes, or publicanes, do abandon our societies.

And these men come in, with another, a far more royall kingdome then Cartwrig hts. But it consisteth partly of his sayde officers, and partly of some other of their owne:

that is, of all the people: whome they greatly magnifie, not seeing their owne confusion. Which forme, or de∣uise, they haue in suche admiration, for their conceaued purity of it: as that all the parishes in England (they say) must be first disparished, and all the people of the land first sanctified, and made a chosen people vnto the Lord, be∣fore the same may be planted amongst vs. And therefore one of them, (whether Barrow, Greenwood, Harrison, Glouer, or which of their schollers, I doe not nowe remember) but one of them I am assured; doth so greatly dislike the thraldome (in his conceit) of the Church of England, at this day: and so thirsteth to drinke the waters, which they haue drawn out of their own cisternes: that as, rauished in spirit, and for the comfort of his companions, he protesteth that for Syons sake, hee will not hold his peace, nor for Ierusalems sake, take any rest, vntill the righteousnesse therof, breake forth as the light, and saluatiō therof as a burning lampe: that is (in effect): vntill all the parishes in England bee purified after their fashion; & then an Eldership, (abridged by a popular authoritie) bee placed in them.

But of all the cryers, that I haue read of: hee shall weare the garland for crying,* 1.7 that presumed of late to printe a petition, directed to her Maiestie: but published and spread abroad amongst her subiectes, for what other pur∣pose I know not, then to withdrawe them from their due∣tiful allegiaunce, & liking of her gouernment: when there∣by they should be informed, sufficiently (as he deemed) of such notorious abuses, as he falsly pretendeth: and that not∣withstanding, her highnesse being acquainted with them, yet she cared not for the reformation of them. They say the man hath beene of a crased iudgement: and I easiely belieue it: partly for that he hath so giddily and so vntrue∣ly

sought to disgrace, asmuch as in him lieth, the present gouernement of the Church: and partly in respect of his desperate boldnesse, that after so many rebukes, giuen to such franticke fellowes in the like cases: he durst presume againe, to offer to the worlde, such a fardell of malitious collections, and vntruthes; and yet thinke them fitte mat∣ters to be dedicated to her Maiestie. But the thinge that most astonisheth me, is this: in that he saith thus; I do not now write eyther to pull downe Bishoprickes, or erect presbyteries. With whome the truth is, I will not determine. For I knowe not &c. And yet he taketh the said sentence out of Esay (some∣what turkised) for his poesie aswell as the rest. And to the condemnation of the present gouernment, and iustificatiō of the disturbers of it (if he vnderstand himselfe) he plain∣ly professeth: that although he knoweth not which part hath the truth: yet for Syons sake he will not cease, nor for Ieru∣salems sake hold his tounge: till he hath aduanced his owne conceite, and depraued that which hee knoweth not, as∣much as possibly he is able.

And thus you see, what loue on all sides is pretended to Syon: and how the prophets wordes are wrested, by euery one of them, to serue their owne turnes. But they who haue iudgement, will not be much moued with such pre∣tences. It hath beene an ancient practise of the aduersaries of the Church of God, then especially to be complotting of some mischiefe,* 1.8 both against Syon and Ierusalem: when in outward shew, they haue pretended most of all, to bee desirous to repayre them, and to seeke their glory. There are some men spoken of in the scriptures,* 1.9 who vaunt: that because their tongues are their owne, they will speake what they list. To whom also these men that professe, they will not holde their peace, may be more fitly compared,

then with the holy prophet Esay. Or I doubt it, that if a man shoulde iudge of many of them by the course which they haue taken: or if they of themselues would resorte indeede to their owne coulours: they might soone ap∣peare to be so far from bearing any true affection to Syon, as that we should rather finde them in the tentes of the E∣domites,* 1.10 cryinge in their heartes against the good estate of the Church of Christ, now in England: as the Edomites did in the day of Ierusalem: Downe with it, downe with it, euen to the ground. But because T.C. and his followers (for with the rest I will not further meddle) haue such a con∣ceite: as that the light and saluation of Ierusalem, cannot well breake foorth, vntill his pretended Eldership may bee generally admitted of in England: I will leaue their harts to God, and deliuer vnto you historically, how this plat∣forme was deuised, and grew to bee so much in request: which will be the contentes of the two next chapters fol∣lowing.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Esay. 62▪ 1.
• * 1.2

  Caluin vpon Esay.
• * 1.3

  Euang Regni
• * 1.4

  H.N. 1 Exhor¦tation, pag. 33 & 43.
• * 1.5

  Euang Regni.
• * 1.6

  The Barro∣••••ists.
• * 1.7

  Petition di∣rected to her Maiestie.
• * 1.8

  Esra. 4.
• * 1.9

  Psal. 12.
• * 1.10

  Psal. 138.