Counterpoison Considerations, Title page – Index
COVNTERPOYSON CONSIDERATIONS touching the poynts in difference between the godly ministers and people of the Church of England, and the seduced brethen of the Separation.
ARGVMENTS That the best assemblies of the present Church of England, are true visible Churches.
That the Preachers in the best assemblies of Engl. are true ministers of Christ.
Mr BERNARDS book intituled The SEPARATISTS SCHISME
Mr CRASHAWES Questions propounded in his Sermon preached at the Crosse.
Examined and Answered by HENRY AINSWORTH
Lord God the strength of my saluation; couer thou my head, in the Day of battel, Psal. 140.7.
RIGHT RIGHT
Printed in the yeare 1642.
A fore-speech to the Christian reader.
THE truth and church of God, by multitude of enemies, hath euer been d…sgraced and troden down in the world that many which hauehave seemed to louelove and seek after it, hauehave stumbled at the reproch & oppotision of the same. Yet the godly wise hauehave vnderstood & discerned things that differ. It is a great help vntounto the weak and simple, when the deceits and snares wherewith the adversarie seeketh to destroy the sowl, are o…enly discouered, by the light of Gods word and for this cause hauehave I endeauoured according to the measure of knowledge and grace giuen vntounto me, to make answer vntounto such reasons cauils and calumniations, as are giuen out against that part of the truth, which this church witnesseth vntounto the world, touching our separation from the Church of Engl. the Considerations & Arguments first answered, were written by Mr Spr a Minister of Glocestershire; & in them (as I suppose) the summ and weight of that which may be sayd for that church, is comprised. Mr Bernards booke hath rather shew then weight of reason, as the iudicious reader may perceiue; and seemeth to be penned by him, rather for disgrace of others then defence of themselues. But no better fruit can be exspected from such as rebel against the light which themselues once seemed to regard. Mr Crashawes questions are rather to stumble at, then to direct the ignorant as hauing neyther weight of argument against vsus nor for themselues. Yet as by al these meanes the truth is oppugned, so by all contrary good meanes it should be defended; that wisdome may be iustified of all her children, and others left without excuse. How weak and insufficient the aduersaries reasons are in partiular, the answers vntounto them more par…icularly will shew. Here I will briefly obserue, some generall things whereby falshood endeavoureth to vphold it selfe; and how it may by the prudente be discried. Vntruth hat… sought to preuayl.
1. By perse…uting such as hauehave spoken against, or forsaken her iniquitie. iniquitie. This the blood of Gods martyrs shed in all ages proclaimeth vntounto all men. And thus hauehave the chief Pastors of the Church of England dealt with Christs lambs, in these our dayes. For hauing gotten into their hands the sword of the Magistrate, they there with hauehave smitten such as with the word, (the sword of the spirit) they could not conuince. In which they fulfill the measure of their Fathers; for so hauehave the Papall Prelates vsed to feed their flocks
2. By blaspheming and preaching against the faith & witnesses therof. For they that hold forth the truth are exposed to the reproch & venim of the tongue, and many vniust calumniations come forth against their persons, especially the principall of them, whom evill minded men doe most maligne. Also the cause it selfe is often wronged, whiles the truth thereof, and reasons that vphold it, are sv…pressed; arguments feighned and confuted which wer neuer made, or otherwise made then the aduersaries pretend; and sometimes such articles and errors imputed, as from which it is altogether free. How others heretofore hauehave caried themselues this way, all records shew: how men at this day hauehave dealt with vsus and the truth which we imbrace; many pulpits in Engl. can witnesse. besides priuate calumnies innumerable, and some publicke pamphletes. The stinch of their reprochfull mouthes, hath caused many to distast the sweet sauour of the Gospell, and caused also for a while a dislike in sundry of vsus, till God in mercy visited and saued vsus from the deceitfull tongue.
3. Yet is not this yenough, but men seek to bear down the truth by writing against and to the defamation of the same, with all exquisite cunning and frawd to disgrace it, and by plausible reasons to perswade vntounto error. If any would see this, let the generall arguments vsed at this day against vsus, consonant and agreable to the reasons of Papists & other ancient adversaries of the Gospel, be obserued.
1. The Papists hauehave continually exclaimed against them for leauing their mother the ch: of Rome that bare them; crying out the Church the Church, the Catholike church; and saying that aKellisons Suruey. 2. book 1. chapt·Luther and all the pack of their first fathers, were children of their mother the Catholike Church and are gone out from them. And when the Protestants obiected her sinns, for which they left her, it was pleaded againe, bMr Giffords dialogue bteweē a pap. & a pro…, f, 19. b,will ye forsake your mother because shee wanteth perfect bewty, or because there is some deformity in her &c? Moreouer they would allege (to proue them schismatiks) how in that ch: cCalui… opusc. Response. ad ve…s. quend Mediator.th…y had been regenerated and made h…r citezens and members by baptisme. &c that from her they had their first faith and knowledge, yea euen dK…llisons Sur. 1 book 2. chap.the Bible it selfe, which treasure their church euer had the custody of; and many such like.
These are the mayn reasons obiected to vsus at this day, they tel vsus the Church of England is the eSee after in this treatise. pag. 49mother of the faithfull, that the ministery thereof fpag. 13.hath begotten vsus, if euer we were truely begotten in the spirit; asking us apag. 135.where els we were regenerate, …f not in the womb of that their church &c. And if we tell them of their transgressions, for which we forsake them, they answer, bMr Crashawes ser. pag. 27.though there were in our church these wounds you speake of, yet doe they not come neare the hart, they be not deadly, they may blemish the bewty but endanger not the life of our church. &c. cibid. p. 28therefor… your separation from vsus, is scismaticall and vniust. and many such like pleas they pretend.
2, For the ch…rch of Rome, it hath by her Mediators been alleged, that dCaluin. Respons. ad versiple.in her is reteyned the p…ofession of Christ authorety of scriptures and Apostolike doctrine, as touching all the chief or capitall articles of religion; and that the church is to be esteemed by the foundation thereof which is Chrst, on which foundation though they that came after, builded wood and hay and stubble instead of siluer and gold and precious stones; yet hauehave they not by and by departed from the foundation &c. Now who knoweth not, that this is the bulwarke of the church of Eng. now, against all batteries, and one of the chiefest rea…ons whereby they reteyn many simple and wel affected people among them? and that may be also seen in this book following pag. 43.105 119. & 123. and in many other of their writings.
3. Vniuersall consent agreement and applause of Churches in al nations, of Synodes and Councels, of Fathers and learned men hauehave been the continuall boast of Papists in all their books against the Protestants: now they in En…l to beare out their estate, vrge agayn and agayn the like against vsus; that when Gods word will not vphold them, yet mans word at least may honour them before the people. See after in this treatise. pag 9. & 22. & 44, & 5. & 89, 91.92.128.
4. Whereas the truth hath brought for her defense the evident scriptures. eGregory Martin Campion· Kellisō. &cpapists hauehave been wont to carp at the allegations and interpretations of them, and chalenge their aduersaries for corrupting them; the formall protestants in Engl. hauehave done the like fD. Whi…g defen. of ans to admon: in the gen. tab: S.against the Reformists, and they now use the like colour against vsus; but how truely. let the particulars shew after in this book, pag. 90.91.97.
5. To reuile and calumniate such as forsooke them hath been the cō mon practise of Papists, calling them heretiks, schismatikes, Lutherens, Calumists &c. and matching them with wicked heretiks heretofore, & now liuing: The same way doe our aduersaries now walke in proclayming vsus to be Schismatiks, Seduced, Brownists, Donatists &c. and to make vsus the more odious vntounto the people, they enroll vsus sometime with the most vile blasphemers that they can mention. For he was esteemed a gMr Ios. Nicholsforward …reacher am…ng them, who to grace his own cause by disgracing the truth, would needs hplea of the innocēt pag, 33.34.ioyn vsus with the blasphemer Hacket, (sometimes a brother of the reformists, and hot mainteyner of their cause,) & to make his malice the more remarkable, he puts in the margine of his book, The brownest and Hacket of an euill spirit; and that which he writeth besides, is so fraudulently set down, that the simple reader who know…th not our cause, may thinke that this Hacket was one of vsus. This abuse we su…fer, because (forsooth) we were thought to hinder their coū terfeyt reformation, which Hacket would hauehave set vp by force for which they beare their reproch at his hands that wrote English Scottizing for discipline; but this man most iniuriously would turn it vponupon vsus.
These and the like arguments doe euill men continually vse against the truth which presseth them; and which they seek to suppresse, but all in uayne: for it will preuayl, mangre their opposition; and that which they thinke to hinder the Gospell b…, God will turne to the furtherance of the same, and confusion of his aduersaries.
Against these and all other like colours wherewith false churches a… adorned, two meanes hauehave been vsed for to discouer the falshood; th… one manifesting the fact or estate of a person or people; the other▪ the lawfulnesse of the same. The commandement of God is a lantern; and the law a light to declare what is good or euill: and evidences there are of eueryevery publick estate and action. For in al ages God hath moued some to obserue and speake against the abuses reigning; and some hauehave recorded things for their glory, which turne vntounto their shame. …y this mean… the skirts of the whore of Rome hauehave been discouered, whiles some that loued, and othersome that loathed her, hauehave painted out her filthinesse: which being compared with the chastitie of Christs spowse set forth in holy writ, hath caused righteous men, (as was aEzek. 23.45.foretold to iudge her children after the manner of harlots and of murtherers; and the very hornes of that beast, to hate the bRev, 17, 16.whore and burne her with fire. And we at this day that witnesse the truth against the remainders of that whores cup, are driuen to breake silence & to plead for Christ in publik, because the aduersaries so importune vsus, by continuall preaching and writing against vsus, and seeking to bear out all with the cloke …f the gospel, and to hide the iniquities vnderunder a vaile of professing truthes fundamentall, they will hardly be a known of the manifold euils and grosse corruptions, that preuayl in their assemblies. Therefore also are we forced to produce their own writers for to witnes with vsus; who both heretofore and to this day, complayn of the sinns that reign among them And worthy it is to be obserued how the ministers of England are come to contradict and depart from their own grounds, for to mainteyn their corrupt estate. For now they See after in this book p 122. anno 1562vtterly deney the visible church to be a company of faithfull people that truely worship Christ and readily obey him; co… tra…y both to all the scriptures and to their own Articles d of religio…. A…d Mr Bernarde in the name of all the diuines in their church, yea (if we …ay bele…ue him) of all the reformed Churches in Christendome, eIn the 123 pag of his book.telleth vsus with a marginall note also to hauehave it wel obserued, that the true word of God preached. and true sacraments of Christ administred, are infallible toke…s of a true church. I say not (saith he) the word truely preach…d, nor the sacr… m…nts rightly administred: but thus; the true word preached, the true sacr… m…n… administred. Now lay these things together and see what a holy communion they will make the church of God to be: namely, if not a ro…t of miscreants, yet at least a mesceline multitude of beleeuers and infidel…, holy and profane. Among whome it the true word be preached, though neuer so curruptly falsly peruersly, by any Popeling, Baalist. or Balaamite; if the true sacraments be administred, though neuer so superstitiausly profanely and disorderly, to the open wicked &c. yet there must needs be a true church. Such heauenly doctrine, or rather such hellish error is now taught by the transformed ministers, for to make mē keep communion with Belial.
Against these and other like impostures, hauehave I endeauoured to bring out the truth, (though naked and destitute of all wordly ornaments,; and by it to manifest the present aberations of my country from the primitiue faith of Christ; I hauehave also produced their own testimonies aagainst them, that the Saincts on eart may say, aDeut, 3….31,their rock is not as our Rock, euen our enemies being iudges. And if they will yet resist, the world may see, they are condemned by themselues, But my harts desire and prayer for my brethren is, that they may be saued; turning from darknes to light, and from the power of Satan vntounto God that they may receiue forgiuenes of sinns, and inheretance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ.
H…n…y Ainsworth,
A Direction to some principall things conteyned in this book.
Administration of the Ministers of Engl, scanned; with the effects pag, 14. &c. 58. &c. 60. &c. 62. &c. 109. &c. 110. &c.
Antichrists kingdome not ouerthrowne by the ministers of Engl. pag. 61. &c.
Begetting of faith, how it is pag. 5, 6: It is no essentiall note of a true church, p, 6. It should be before the planting of a church p. 40, 41 146.
Building of the church, and how it is performed in England p. 33 34: &c
Christ, not the head, Mediator, Prophet, Priest, or King, of the church of England p, 74. &c. not the spowse of the same, pag, 42. &c
Compulsion to the faith and church, vsed in Engl. but vnwarrantable. pag 120.78.131. &c.. p 133,
Constitution of a church. pag, 98.99.
K. Edwards reformation of religion, and how it was accepted. pag. 120.133
Foundation Christ; and Fundamentall truth. pretended and discused, pag 34.123, &c. 126.117. &c
Gifts, proue not a true ministery. pag, 13: &c.
Matter of the church of Engl. pag, 106.
Ministery of the church of Engl. pag, 108 &c.
A Papist argument against the church of Engl. pag. 111.
Pattern of planting a church. pag. 44.
Popular ▪ gouernment, obie…ted and answered. pag. 101, &c.
Popes authors of many ordinances now in Engl pag. 137, &c.
Positions concerneng a true church. pag. 65 &c.
Profession in Engl. contrary to their estate and pra…tise. pag, 124, &c
Reformation by the Kings of Iudah. p. 134. &c
Reformed churches, alleged for approbation of the church of Engl. and answered, pag. 9, 10.22 &c. 48, 51, …2, &c. 128, 129.
Repentance not truely preached or practised in the church of Engl. pag. 45. &c. 56. &c.
Separation proued necessary: p, 5, 22, granted by our aduersaries, pag. 1:
Synns suffred, how they defile the church. pag. 101. &c.
Spirits of the Prophets subiect to the Prophets scanned pag. 28.29.
Testimonies of the ministers of Engl. against the estate of that church, concerning
The people pag. 2.107.108.59, 60, 62.122.125, 126.127.
The ministery and ministers pag. 3.11.112.81, 114.119, 136, 142, 143.
The worship, pag, 3,
The church gouernours. pag, 4,
Worship of God in the church of England, polluted pleaded for & against, pag. 137. &c,