Inquiry and Answer of Thomas Whites Discovery of Brownism, Part 1
AN INQVIRIE AND ANSVVER Of Thomas VVhite his Discovery of Brownisme, or (as he calleth it also) his declaration of some of the errors and abhominations daily practised & encreased among the English company of the separation remayning for the present at Amsterdam in Holland.
TO any that are exercised in the word of God, or know the nature and power of sinne in themselues, or the doctrine & pledges of remissiō of sinnes by Ch…ist in his Church, or the power & vse of excōmunication for impenitent sinners, or the Churches duty vponupon their repentance to receive them againe, etc. To any such (I say) it cannot seem strange, that in true Churches and Christians, sinnes & enormities, sundry and great, should fall out & be found. The condition of the Church of the Iewes before Christ, of the Primitive Churches after Christ, yea of the whole Church and people of God from the beginning of the world to this day, shew it plainly and certainly so to hauehave ben.
Which work of God so disposing, and case of his Churches and the members therof so being, howsoever many hauehave stumbled thereat & abused it to their own destruction & deceiving of others, yet thus would God preach vntounto the world and have his own people learne and lay to hart other & better things thereby. As namely, how sinfull & miserable we are in our selves; how subtilly and continually Sathan seeketh to devoure vsus; how fast we had need alway to hold faith in Christ, and to fight the good fight thereof against all enemies of our salvation and obedience; how needfull it is to live in the Church of Christ vnderunder his conduct and governmēt; how carefull we had need be to make an end of our owne salvation with feare & trembling; also how exceeding great the mercy of God is vntounto vsus in Christ his Sōne, by whom not only when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by his death, but being also reconciled are saved by his life; and finally how infinite his power & wisedome is both in preserving his elect to salvation through the middest of so great corruption, and in bringing the wayes of the wicked vponupon their own heads to their iust destruction: and all to the praise & glory of his Name.
These and the like good vses may & should we make of the foresaid condition of the Church here on earth. Neyther did we ever think or professe otherwise of our selves, but that we are sinfull & prone to evill in our selues aswell as others, obteyning salvation onelyonly by Iesus Christ. Yet may not our or any weaknes of man praejudice the truth of God. So that admitting it were with vsus as this Adversarie Thomas White hath written against vsus, yet ought none therefore to be turned away from the truth professed by vsus, but to make other vse thereof, for their own good, as we our selues also ought. But now if the things he obiecteth, be many of them notorious lyes, divers of them purposely perverted, few of them truely related, and all of them (as all may see) maliciously abused against vsus: how iustly shall that returne vponupon his own head, which he would in …his manner bring vponupon vsus? according as it is said, He that diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that roleth a stone, it shall return vponupon him. His mischief shall returne vponupon his owne head, and his iniury shall descend vponupon his owne pate. Prov. 26.27. Psal. 7.15.16.
TO come to the Libell it self: he beginneth it with blasphemy, in the very title thereof, calling it A discovery of Brownisme. What our cause and testimony is, we hauehave long since published in the Confession of our faith: which this man knoweth well, & hath (a)Wh. Discovery. pag. 5·in his book alledged the 17. Article thereof. If then he take our cause (for which we are reviled vnderunder the name of Brownists) to be errour, why did he not confute it? If it be the truth, why doth he thus blaspheme it? But so to be reproached, hath ben *Act. 24.5. & 28.22.the case of the Apostles and Christians of old. And at this day are the Protestants thus dealt with by the Papists, who blaspheme the truth vnderunder the name of Zuinglianisme, Lutheranisme, Calvinisme, &c. And well it fitteth the Priests of England, that as they partake with the Papists in so many other things, they should also follow their steps in blaspheming the truth and witnesses thereof.
That which he annexeth, calling his book also A declaration of some of the erros and abhominations among vsus, as it enlargeth the title of his Book, so it increaseth the wicke…nes of his sinne. For may not the Reader hereby gather, that he would perswade, eyther that we hold and hauehave many other errours & abhominations besides them that here he imputeth vntounto vsus, or that all our cause and testimony is nothing els but error and abhomination? As also when he saith, the errors and abhominations be dayly practised & encreased: And that not onelyonly in some particular persons, but even among the company of the separation, (and as he speaketh in his Preface) in that congregation wherein he would give his instance of prophanenes and hypocrisie. This congregation he nameth to be the English company of the separation remayning for the present at Amsterdam. Where the Reader is to know, that we who by some are termed Brownists (of a mans name who heretofore witnessed this cause) are by others called the company of the separatiō, because we do separate frō the Prelacy, Pri…sthood, worship & Confusion of the Church of England as being Antichristian, & do also practise the ordinance of Christ which he hath given for the government ministery worship and order of his Church.
THis for the Title. Like therevnto is his Treatise also. Where for his generall accusations of debate, malice, adulteryes, cousonages, and other enormities, &c. this may serue in generall to be answered: 1. If he meane of some particular persons among vsus, falling into such sinnes, it hath ben and is the case of all the Churches of Christ vponupon earth, as may be seen in those of Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, &c. And what need or vse els should there be of the rules & power given by Christ to his Church for casting out obstinate sinners,Mat. 18.15 17.18.22. Luke 17.4. 1 Cor. 5.1.4.5.11.12.13. and receiving the rep…ntant in againe? But if he meane of the body of the Church, as if we approved or reteyned such being cōvinced & vnrepentant, himself knoweth it is a malicious sclander, and his own objections (afterward in his book) of sundry persons whom for their sinnes and obstinacy therein we have cast out from among vsus, may shew it also to others so to be. We are carefull (he hath seen it himself) that such be not reteyned or allowed among vsus. And we find that even our carefulnes herein is abused against vsus: because when any of vsus are knowen to hauehave fallen into sinne and are dealt with according as the case requireth, whether they repent & so remayne in the Church, or whether they persist in their evill and so are cut of, it is still objected against vsus, and we are published to abound with such sinnes & en…rmities. Thus might the best Churches that ever w…re in the world be traduced: as hereafter there is further occasion to shew in some particulars.
2. For our selues (as I said before) we confesse, and professe it also, that we are subiect to sinne and infirmity, as other men: looking for salvation, not by our own righteousnes which is of the Law, but onelyonly by the righteousnes which is of God, through the faith of Christ. Yet, notwithstanding all the sinnes and vnworthynes of vsus, let this still be held firme (at least till vve be soundly confuted) that our cause is the truth of the Gospell of Christ, witnessed against the errors of the defection of Antichrist.
3. The accusations made against vsus, are to be considered with their proofs: which will afterward come to be seen. In the meane time, let it be observed, whether if some would set themselues to collect particular instāces of debate, malice, adulteries, cousonages, & such other like enormities, daily cōmitted by many in the Church wherevnto this man is now revolted, though they wrote no vntrueths (as he doth many) but noted onelyonly the truth of things as they are indeed, neyther took the space of thirteen or fourteen yeares (as he hath done) but of any one yeare among them, how might they fill, I will not say a few sheeds of paper, but even many volumes of books therewith?
And if T. White were asked according to his own words here, whether he had not himself partaken with their abominatiōs & vnfruitfull works of darknes: and whether he would give warning to others of their leaders evill dealing, whereby their people are devoured: would he not think you verify his own other sayings here, shewing himself to be far from repentance, seeking to cover, hide, cloake, reproach and revile, vsing falsehood, shiftings, contrarieties, etc. All which are knowen to be so true and comon both in himself and the Church whereto he is returned as I need not write thereof at all: their estate & dealing proclayme it to all that h…ue eares to heare and hearts to regard it.
Our banishment & poverty (whereof he speaketh) encreaseth his & their sinne against vsus yet much the more. For are not they the persons that bring these afflictions vponupon vsus? and is it not onelyonly because we witnesse the truth of our Lord Iesus Christ, against the falsehood of Antichrist yet remayning among them, in the ministery worship order & government of their Church? But let them know that he which judgeth iustly the sonnes of men,Esa. 16.4. Psal. 103.6 will remember his banished, and execute justice and judgment to all that are oppressed. For the poore shall not alway be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted perish for ever. And in the meane tyme,Psal. 9.18. even in the middest of all our afflictions, are we comforted in the Lord, for whose sake we endure them: & great benefit do we further reap by them, not only for our own good many other wayes, but in this in particular, that these our troubles are a speciall meanes to keep discover and remove from among vsus a number of hypocrites, such as this T. White, who (if it were not for our poverty and banishment) would flock faster vntounto vsus and lurk longer among vsus, vnderunder a painted colour of holynes, making show as if they would depart from iniquity & call vponupon the Name of the Lord (and who more then they?) when in deed their harts be fraight full of the leaven of hypocrisy contention maliciousnes and all maner of iniquity: which in such case and estate of things doth oftentimes both sooner and more appeare, then otherwise it may be ever would.
The calumniation of condemning all other Churches and men, we hauehave often answered and cleared heretofore, & this also knowen to himself. Yet thus he writeth, that in this as in the rest of his dealing all might see, how it is himself that runneth into fearfull extremities, and reproacheth with a virul…nt and venemous tounge. For our selves, besides our reverend estimation of other Churches and good perswasion of other men, so often published to the world, we hauehave also shewed it in our walking towards them, and namely in our dealing with the Dutch …nd French Churches of this citie as with true Churches. Which had we not so esteemed of them, we neither could nor would so hauehave done and dealt with them, as we hauehave.
THe letter he speaketh of, I hauehave still with me. His falsehood and other bad dealing therein, I will here omit, save onelyonly about the doctrines by him layd vponupon vsus.
1. The first is that we held it lawfull for a man to live with her that is not his wife, rather then to reveale himself. This he saith: but how doth he proue it so to be held by vsus? If malice had not possessed him, this error had never ben imputed to vsus eyther as held by the Church or partaken in by the Elders. Sometimes in deed we hauehave had speach among vsus of the vnlawfulnes (as we were perswaded) for man and wife to live together after adultery cōmitted; & about the band of wedlock being broken thereby; & whether that in the case of adultery vnknowen to others, the offenders were to reveale themselves, or not. About which latter points when we shewed our judgment & reasons, this Tho. White (who then was present) did much vrge, that a man who knew such a crime by himself must reveale it, or els live in sinne, & with one that was not his lawfull wife. Wherevpon some of vsus reasoned with him about it, holding that a man should not so reveale himself. The end was, that we differed in judgem…nt about these things, & having had speach of them but by occasion, so rested for the present. Will he now therefore make collections and frame positions of his owne or others spe…ch…s, and say (as in his letter) that they are false doctrines that ly vponupon the Church, or (as here in his Libell) that they are blasphemous doctrines of the Church? What good dealing this is, let the Reader judge. And concerning the question aforesaid, whereas some of vsus were thus minded about it, that a man having cōmitted adultery (which is vnknowē to others) is not bound by the word of God to reveale himself, but vnfeynedly to repent thereof: and that in such case he may notwithstanding lawfully continue with his wife: Although I be not here in particular to handle this point: yet I will now propound these few things to be considered about it. As namely, what Scriptures teach a man so to accuse …imself; whether it be not vnnaturall for a man so to do; whether in Israell the womā spoken of Numb. 5.12.13. were bound to reveale her adultery (being vnknowen) vntill or vnlesse her husband were moved with the spirit of ielousy, as the Law there is given? And, whe…her …w …en should of themselves reveale such their case to the Magistrates, who hauehave power to put them to death for it? By what Law of God they are bound therevnto? And whether els they cannot hauehave true rpentance but deny the prophecy of Christ & erre fundamentally, as here he would perswade?
2. The second is, That there are qualities in God not essentiall, & that love in God is not of his being, but that the self same love that is in God, that is also in vsus. Himself knoweth and hath bene here convinced of the notable falsehood hereof, yet shameth not thus to publish it against vsus. And that now the Reader may know how the matter arose, I will briefly shew it. We hauehave in our Church*Besides the Ministery of the vvord.the vse of the exercise of Prophecy spoken of in 1 Cor. 14. chap. Rom. 12.6. 1 Thes. 5.20. In which, some of the brethren such as for gifts are best able (though not in office of Ministery) deliver from some portion of Scripture, doctrine, exhortation, comfort; sometimes two at a tyme, sometymes mo: Then also if there be occasion, vponupon the Scripture treated of, are questions propounded and answers made accordingly: And the whole action moderated by some of the officers and Overseers of the Church. In this exercise, the first Epistle of Iohn being treated of, vponupon these words, He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is love: the poynt aforesaid was by way of qu…stiō spoken of. And about it there was reasoning by two or three of the brethren & this White himself, with obiections and answers diversly. Wherevpon this Doeg, by some of those br…threns reasoning & the *Since altered, as himself knoweth.opinion of one of them about this matter, took the occasion thus to reproach vsus: which first he did more privately, and now hath done it publikely to the world. Wherein his evill dealing is the more notorious, because himself being then present, knoweth how both at the same tymebAnd this also with consent of the Church then signified.the moderation thereof by one of the Elders was according to t…e truth, disproving the error aforsaid which he would impute vntounto vsus; and afterward (he carying himself verie yll about it & other things) that the matter was againe heard & examined in the publick congregation, where to his face he was convinced to be a false accuser therein. Besides he knoweth the Confession of our faith long since published, which alone doth so fully cleare vsus in it, as very shame of men, if no feare of God, might hauehave restrayned his lying lippes, and kept him from blaspheming vsus with so black a mouth.
3. A third thing there was, …nd that obiected by him publickly in the Church, and noted also in his letter, as a false doctrine lying vponupon the Church: Namely, that vvhen a matter is in the third place to be brought to the Church by the rule of Christ, Mat. 18.15.16.17. our order being that the …lders first have knowledg thereof given them by the parties themselues, then that the case being such as is to come to the Church, it be publickly propounded and handled by them, as in respect of their office apperteyneth vntounto them, being the governors and overseers of the Church: This he blamed then as an error & false doctrine, contrary to Christs rule, Mat. 18. But here now he concealeth it. And good cause why. For when he was called vpō for his proof hereof in the publick Congregatiō where he had made the accusation: he was glad to answer, that he vvas not provided: And this also after a weeks respite to consider of it. Wherevpon he was rebuked as hasty to accuse and slow to prove, whereas wisedome would hauehave taught him, first to hauehave bene provided of proof before he had set himself to accuse as he did. But if now he think it to be no error in vsus, and therefore speakes not of it, he might even by this hauehave learned to set a watch before his mouth, at least not to hauehave barked rgainst vsus in so vile a maner as he hath done. Or if he still think that we erre therein, contrary to Christs rule, Mat. 18. (as he obiected heretofore) why hath he not here noted it downe with the other aforesaid? Is it because that ordinance of Christ overthroweth the Prelacy and government of the Church of England (whither he is now revolted) it being such as they neyther do neyther can in their constitution obserue that rule at all? But how then can he approue them for a true Church in such estate, and how will he answer the reason alledged by vsus against thē cAnsvv. to Mr A. H. pag. 62.heretofore in this respect? which is this,
Every true visible Church of Christ hath Christs power spoken of Mat. 18▪ 17.18. to cast out …unate sinners from among them:
But the Ecclesiasticall assemblyes of England hauehave not the power of Christ there spoken of, to cast out obstinate sinners from among them:
Therefore the Ecclesiasticall assemblies of England cannot (in their constitution) be accounted true visible Churches of Christ.
And hitherto of his false & blasph…mous doctrines objected against vsus in his letter. Which in his Libell he saith I promised to ansvver & performed it not. Yet in the letter it self he writeth that *To I.L. in his ovvn hearing.I said, I had spoken vntounto him both privately & publickly, & now would not further hauehave to do vvith him. And concerning his letter, my answer was to this effect (as I remember) sent him by I.L. one of his own company, besides my speach vntounto himself: That the contents of his letter vvere partly private, partly publick: that for the private, I required proof; and for the publick, I vvould not deale privaely. Wishing also the said I.L. to deale with him for some reports (ascribed to him in the letter) concerning me which he denyed, and to end it between themselves who were of one company together: And as I should heare thereof, so I should consider what to do for the rest. This let him aske of I.L. his own companion: and let himself now look vntounto it who it is that falsifyeth.
For not ansvvering his letter by vvriting, I had good reason: as may appeare by that which before is alledged. And Wisdome teacheth, there be persons who are not to be answered according to their foolishnes, and times also when to speak and when to be silent: Pro. 26.4. Eccles. 3.7. vvith 2 King. 18.36. The dumbe Ministers spoken of dAnsvv. to Mr H. Ia. p. 17 4.in the place here cited by him, he hath now consorted himself withall, being returned to his old vomit, and become as dumbe as any of them for defending the truth against the aduersaries thereof: yet opening his mouth above all his fellowes in blaspheming the truth and witnesses of it. Wherein the case of the worst dumbe dog in England is ten thousand fold better then his: And happy it had ben for him, if his toung had cleaved to the roof of his mouth, and his hand never vsed pen, more then theirs: whereas now his sin is vnspeakably greater & his estate infinitely more miserable. But leaving him to the iudgmēt of God, I will proceed to the other particulars of his book: desiring the Reader, for all his pretence of due proof of his charges, to remember that saying of Salomon, He that is first in his ovvn cause is iust: then cometh his neighbour, and maketh inquir… of him. Prov. 18.17.