Truth Maintained, Commentary · Part 4
SERMON Paragraffe 12.
A thorow Reformation we and all good men deſire with as ſtrong affections, though perhaps not with ſo loud a noyſe as any whatſoever.
EXAMINER.
If your thorow Reformation in this page be compared with your fourteen, fifteen, ſixteen, ſeventeen pages, where you have bound it up with ſo many D Reſtrictions, the fallacy will ſoon appeare. You would ſmoothly tax ſome Brethren for clamour E and noyſe in their deſires after Reformation. Indeed if you could perſwade the Prophets of God into ſilence, or ſlight endeavours, halfe your Deſigne were finiſhed; but they have a Fire which flames into ſtronger expreſsions: If the zeale of the Prophets and F Martyrs had given no further teſtimony to the truth, then their own Boſomes, we had not had at this day ſuch a cloud of witneſſes; you know theſe loud importunities awaken and haſten men unto that holy G Buſineſſe you would ſo faine retard. If you think it your vertue that you can be ſilent in the midſt of our importunities and loud cryes after Reformation, I am ſure 'tis your policy too, for ſhould you make too great a noyſe after it, you might be heard H to Oxford, and perhaps you are loath to ſpeake out till you ſee further.
TREATIS.
D. Fourteen, fifteen, ſixteen, ſeventeen pages, where you have bound it up with ſo many Restrictions.) Indeed I bound Reformation with Reſtrictions, but ſuch as are Girdles to ſtrengthen it, not fetters to burthen it, and thereupon no fallacy, but plaine dealing will appeare. And if thoſe pages you inſtance in be guilty of any ſuch fault, no doubt when your examination doth come to them, you will preſſe it home, and I ſhall be ready to make my beſt defence.
E. You would ſmoothly tax ſome Brethren for clamour.) If any be faulty herein they deſerve not onelyonly to be ſmoothly taxed. but ſharply reproved. For clamour (as the Engliſh Pro. 9. 13. A fooliſh woman is clamorous. Ephe. 4. 31. wrath and anger, and clamour.word is taken in Scripture) ſounds in a bad ſenſe, as arguing an ill tempered Spirit with a mixture of pride and impatience. And as Reformation ought to be proſecuted and ſought after with holy and zealous importunity (farre from all Lethargicall dulneſſe and carnall ſtupidity) ſo it muſt be done with a quiet and compoſed ſoule, a grace commended 1 Theſ. 4. 11. Study to be quiet.by the Apoſtle. Now grant none to be guilty, yet ſeeing all are ſubject (eſpecially in tumultuous times) to clamour and paſſionate extravagancies, my gentle Advertiſement by the bye could not be amiſſe.
F If the zeale of the Prophets and Martyrs had given.) I thanke you Sir for mentioning the Martyrs; They were the Champions of paſſive obedience, and the lively Patternes of that holy Temper I now deſcribed; Men of a meeke and quiet diſpoſition, not clamorous, though ſince their death, the noyſe and fame of their patience hath ſounded aloud thorow the whole world to all Poſterity. And I pray God in continuance of time the very Doctrine of Martyrdome be not Martyred.
G That holy Buſineſſe you would ſo faino retard.) I appeale from your hard Cenſure to the Searcher of hearts, who one day will acquit my innocence and puniſh your uncharitableneſſe, except it be firſt pardoned upon your repentance.
H For ſhould you make ſo great a noyſe, you might be heard to Oxford.) I care not how farre I be heard, nor which way, to Oxford and beyond it, to Geneva, or to Rome it ſelfe: Truth is Calculated for all meridians. But ſpeake nor ſlightingly of Oxford, it is ill wounding of a Court, and a Camp, and an Univerſity, and all in one word.
I And perhaps you are loath to speak out till you ſee farther.) I ſee too farre already; namely, that ruine and deſolation is likely to follow, except Moderation be uſed on both ſides: If you meane, till I ſee further into His Majeſties pleaſure of Reforming, what ſhall be found amiſſe, his unfained deſire thereof doth already plainly appeare? But if you meane till I ſee farther into his ſucceſſe, know Sir, my Religion obſerves not the tides of His Majeſties Fortune, to ebbe and flow therewith. Where Conſcience is the Fountaine, the ſtream keeps the ſame height.