good conscience, hath occasioned these 'plowers' to plow thus upon my back, and to make long furrows.a

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I sent a copy of the Letters, Answers, Confutations, and Replications, on both sides, betwixt Mr. Bernhere and me in Barbary, unto some of my neighbours the parishioners, concerning the controversies then very rife, and now raked up again; healing, and flaming out. I have not learned to abuse any man's person, or his gifts, be they ever so mean: but I rather say, this man, now deceased, was a mirror of that sort of Ministers; who, for his knowledge and faith in Christ; for his painful study and exercise in the Scriptures; knowledge in physic; was to be commended, embraced, reverenced. A man which carried himself with that moderation and meekness of spirit in the handling of these controversies, both privately and publicly, as I wish, unfeignedly, that the measure of that grace were bestowed upon some of the peevish spirits, when God hath given them repentance... For I do hear that there be some increase of Brownists now, in and about London; who are obstinate in their ignorance, affirming that our Church is a 'hold of devils, and a cage of unclean birds'; whose eyes, I beseech God to open, that they may come home again with the prodigal' child..."

The treatise, as it is called, is made up of three Letters, placed in the inverse order of their dates; but they are reversed here. The first is headed" April, 1599. In the Play of Sainct. Cruss [Santa Cruz]."-" Master Bernhere, Since I last wrote you an answer to the reproachful Letter wherein you published me to be used, in Barbary, as a Spy and an Informer,' I have received three Letters from you, and a Book pretending to answer that short discourse which I sent you at your request: how it is performed, let the indifferent judge... If my knowledge were comparable to yours, as, the Lord knoweth, it is inferior to many thousands of my brethren; yet you should consider that I have a great charge of small children to sustain by mine hand-labour, having no other help at all left; from which, methinks, you should not thus withdraw me.

"In the last Letter, you are offended that I should write I. W. what I conceive of your book; but I must crave your patience to write, both to you and others, what I conceive, in these causes! Yon are likewise offended that I should write to him, that you are so far from confessing your oversight, imagining me to be a Spy and an Informer,' that you persuade me, if I be not, to become one!..

"You are likewise offended that I should write to Richard Ratcliffe, sometime my servant, how you and Master Johnson conceive of me. But you have no reason so to be; for, being, by Mr. Johnson, falsely slandered, which by three Letters,—which here I have, by God's providence,―may appear; and by you strongly suspected, both in that

a Psal. cxxix. 3.

b The "Letters" alone appear: what, we ask, is become of the rest? See a short account of him in Brook's Lives, vol. iii. p. 513.

d Probably a corruption of plaga, a coast or haven.

e What Puritan, or what Brownist, who should come under the terrific import belonging to these mysterious initials, but would deprecate the result of any secret communication being made to him by a deserter or betrayer of a cause, the supporters of which were under the interdict of so vengeful a ruler as John Whitgift, the renowned Archbishop of Canterbury?

matter and others; as by your Letters appeareth likewise; and, seeing the affections of old friends are drawn from me, I have no man fitter to acquaint with my grief, that would minister any comfort to my afflicted soul, than he whom I brought up in mine house of a lad: who must needs know my carriage better in seven years' service, than either Mr. Johnson or you; and, I doubt not, will speak according to his knowledge in defence of my credit, against whomsoever...

"You are also not pleased, that I say you oppose your judgment and some others, by you mistaken, against the Primitive Church, and those that have, and those that had succeeded them until this age... I wrote I.W., and do, indeed, still affirm, That if your Book do defend a truth, our Book of Martyrs is worse than an old wife's fable...' But men read the Book of Martyrs as a book of credit, next to the Book of God; at least, I mean, that part which concerneth the state of the poor churches for three hundred years after Christ: in which time the Pope of Rome had no more authority than other popes' had; for the name was then common to all bishops, saith Mr. Fox...a

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"But you take occasion to affirm that Disciplineb to be God's perpetual ordinance, because her Majesty and the Bishops, as you said,— as though they were her partners!-do suffer it in London: but you had forgotten that Muly Hamet suffers you to profess the Gospel in Morocco, and the Mass is likewise suffered there; and yet the king neither approves the one nor the other. And if her Majesty should, upon occasion, as sometime she hath done, suffer the Mass to be used by Strangers, in England, it were a saucy part for any private Subject, as I take it, to withstand her, or charge her to approve of it therein... "Your slender account of the learned Fathers of the Primitive Church, makes me wonder, seeing all the godly in the world have them in high reverence, save men of your humour. Indeed, when I read that part of your Letter, it put me in mind of a friend of your conceit, namely Master Jacob, who hath,-to use your own terms, patched together a certain pamphlet against that learned father Bishop Bilson, his Sermons Of Christ's Sufferings;' where, the Bishop bringing the testimonies of all the Fathers for fifteen hundred years, he [Jacob] very presumptuously opposeth his own judgment against them all in that matter, as you do in this, and reject them in this malapert manner. 'If,' saith he, you see the Fathers variable, or against us, think it not strange; for you must not take them as judges of the Scriptures' sense.' Conceit is much belike, to judge of the Scriptures' sense is proper to him and his friend!.. Be conformable to the Primitive Church, and then doubtless you cannot err in matters of Faith:' and thus much, good Master Philpot writes in behalf of that Church and those learned Fathers which now are so slightly set by. If you shall think of this holy martyr's judgment as Master Jacob doth of all the Fathers,' I shall think of you as I do of him; namely, that you are not guided by that holy and humble spirit which the Primitive Church and godly Master Philpots were guided by... Your friend. P.F.”

■ “Last ed, p. 8."

b"The French and Dutch."

This subject has been handled, since Fairlambe's time, in a masterly manner by Daille in his work on the Right Use of the Fathers.

"I might also," he says, "note here, touching ourselves, that otherwise, as our estate is, we could hear no matters of controversy between the Brethren but on the Lord's day; and, that we have done amiss in that very practice—which is still, by some, so much approved-when we heard matters on the Week day, as we have been wont: at which time, there was seldom half the Church together. For, by the reason aforesaid, there may be a further proceeding beyond it; when the whole church is met together, as on the Lord's day. But who can show such an Ordinance of God, That the Church should meet together on the Lord's day, to hear the Brethren's controversies that they have one with another? Find we such a course of dealing and proceeding under Israel on the Sabbath day? . . And, did not the Elders of old sit in the gates, and afterward [under the Romans] in the synagogues, on the week days, to hear their Brethren's controversies?"

Coming, at length, to distinguish between "a public judgment and a private," Johnson writes, "The public judgment cometh out from the Lord, or from his Ministers; . . and when there is such a ministerial judgment, we must alway remember, that the sovereign authority thereof resteth in God and his Word. . . The private judgment is to every particular person, touching their discerning, assenting, or dissenting, to or from the things spoken and done, according as every one is persuaded. And if this their judgment agree with the public, it is already signified by the officers; and so is one and the same with the public. If some disagree, it is the dissent of such particular persons' judgment from the public-of what sex or condition soever they be that so are diversely-minded, and is to be regarded as there shall be cause; for which, see the Scriptures before alleged, and 1 Cor. x. 15, and xi. 13, and xiv. 37, 38, with ii. 15, Rom. xiv. 5.”

Objections pressing themselves upon his mind, Johnson proceeds to say, under another section, " Here also it would be known,' How a Church, consisting of two or three Brethren,' as we understood it, 'could observe that rule: for, when one of them hath dealt with another in the first place, and taken the third for a witness, in the second place, where, then, is the Church; and, who are they to whom the offender is to be brought, in the third place; according to that Scripture? Nay, when they are very many, being all yet private people; which of them have authority over the whole, and over the particular persons among them? Or, if they be all Women; have they the like power among themselves also? Or, have private persons more authority in the public censures, than particular Churches have, one toward another ? Either, may particular Churches excommunicate one another; or, but mutually exhort, admonish, and-after all means used separate one from another, if at any time there be just and needful occasion so to do?' If here it be asked, How then they may keep themselves from being leavened and corrupted by the other? It may be answered, That this may be done by Separation from such, though that Excommunication of them be not used: for thus, Separation from such implieth the power we have over ourselves; whereas excommunication implieth power and authority over others!.. But these things, and any other the like, concerning People without Offi

and, against Preaching at Paul's Cross; and, his Answer to Master Cartwright's Letter to Master Robert Harrison, his [Browne's] consort. His Answer, in writing to Stephen Bredwell, his first Book against Brownists-for his second, about Communicating, was never answered. And Browne's book Of the Gathering and joining together of certain persons in Norfolk. Master Harrison's book on the Hundred and Twenty-second Psalm. Master Barrowe, his Discovery of the False Church. Their Refutation of Master Giffard, as they call it. Their Description of the Visible Church; written by Masters Barrowe, Johnson, Penry, and others; and since Confuted by Dr. Alison. Their books against Read Prayers; and their Nine Reasons against the Church of England: with other things, in writing, to that effect. And the Articles of their New Faith; printed, 1596.

"Books in Defence of the Church of England's Government by Bishops; fully confuting all the former, by authority of Scripture and practice of all the Ancient Churches of God.-The Confutation of the two Admonitions to the Parliament; by that Reverend Father, Dr. Whitgift, then [since] Archbishop of Canterbury. Five Books of that Reverend man, Master Hooker, who is at rest with God; called the Ecclesiastical Polity. The Answer to the Abstract. The Answer to the Petition made to Her Highness, by Dr. Sutcliffe; and his book called The False Semblance of Counterfeit Discipline detected. The Perpetual Government of Christ's Church; written by that most famous learned Father Dr. Bilson, Bishop of Winchester. And, The Conspiracy for Reformation; Scotizing, and English Scotizing for Discipline; and, The Survey of the Holy Discipline: all which three were written, as I hear, by Master Dr. Bancroft, now Lord Bishop of London. The Remonstrance. Master Rogers, his Sermon on the Twelfth to the Romans; against Master Chadderton's upon the same Dr. Saravia upon the Degrees of the Ministers of the Word. Our Book of Martyrs; the first volume whereof I read four times over in one winter, distinctly; and have collected the names of more than a hundred archbishops and bishops out of it, which all suffered martyrdom within three hundred years after Christ, beside many others which were priests and deacons: see how that will agree with that equality in the Ministry which some have taught! And Eusebius, his Ecclesiastical History;.. Socrates, his;.. and out of them doth Master Fox take all, or the most part, of his proofs for the estate of the Primitive Church. Evagrius, his five books... And all this while, not any Christian Church in the world but it had a Bishop to govern both the people and the priests; as Master Calvin saith; or else these ancient works are lies and fables; and so is Master Fox, his book, which is grounded upon them: which thing, whosoever should affirm, would scarcely deserve the name of a Christian.b

text.

"And albeit in reading all those things, together with the Scriptures,

a He died in Nov. 1600; so that Fairlambe, or his editor, must have made certain additions to the original manuscripts of these Letters.

b Neither Fox nor his authorities would be impeached for those points, by the Roman Catholics, against whom Fox's labours were directed; whereas Protestant Dissenters are at issue with them.

"Reasons taken out of God's Word and the best human Testimonies: Proving a necessity of Reforming our Churches in England. Framed and applied to Four Assertions wherein the aforesaid purpose is con

character, and is otherwise deserving of notice, we could not pass it over. "A Defence of A Treatise touching the Sufferings and Victory of Christ in the Work of our Redemption.' [1598.] Wherein is confirmed, 1. That Christ suffered for us, not only Bodily Grief, but also, in his Soul, an impression of the proper Wrath of God, which may be called, The pains of Hell. 2. That after his death on the Cross, he went not down into Hell. For Answer to the late writings of Mr. Bilson, L. Bishop of Winchester, which he intituleth The effect of certain Sermons, &c.': wherein he striveth mightily against the doctrine aforesaid. By Henry Jacob, Minister of the Word of God. 1600.." 4to. pp. 211. Jacob complains with much feeling, in the Dedication, of the Bishop's "unseemly" abusive treatment towards him; he so strongly traduceth and accuseth me in his book as is almost incredible." He says, in the Preface, "It hath pleased Mr. Bilson, the now Lord Bishop of Winchester, to begin among us a new matter of Faith, never heard of before in England but only in the days of popery, touching the all-sufficiency of the mere Bodily Sufferings of Christ; and to maintain another, which was near worn out, of His going down into Hell in Soul. In both which, because my conscience assured me that he was much mistaken, and laboured hard that others should mistake also, I thought it not besides my duty, the Lord offering me opportunity, to maintain the truth, and that in all plainness and evidence of the Scripture, as God enabled me... Wonderful his Answer is, and altogether extraordinary, considering that such incomparable bitterness, disdain, scoffing, reproach, and furious rage, doth so abundantly come from him therein against my poor self, being yet by the mercy of God a true Christian; a minister of the Gospel; and one, I praise the Lord, which ever have been careful to be free from the scandals of the world... Verily this I have learned by his writing, better than ever I conceived before, namely, what great odds he maketh and desireth to be made between himself a Lord Bishop, and another, being but a Preacher of God's most holy Word." Alluding, p. 33, to those who with Bilson, delight to vaunt of the Fathers," Jacob remarks, that such as urge them cannot but be absurd and strange teachers, who, having in our time, "so many helps and means to discern where the Fathers mistook, which they utterly wanted, and we abound withal, yet do so little profit by them, that even great 'Doctors' as they desire to be thought, see not so much in the truth of the Gospel as many younger men now perceive; and in the Fathers they make themselves so cunning, that commonly their sound doctrine they little regard, their faults only they admire." See back, p. 162. Jacob resumed this subject in 1604, in "A Survey of Christ's Sufferings for Man's Redemption: and of His descent to Hades, or Hell, for our deliverance."

Jacob is the person meant in the Preface to the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, before "The Answer" of the Vice Chancellor, &c. to the millenary" Petition," 1603, (See back, p. 118.) where the Oxford divines speak of "H. I. a man that was of ordinary parts, and of as ordinary place, when he lived among us," and in continuation they say, he "is now, it seems, become principal agent, and special procurator of the public cause among the factious. He, much mistaking in his strong conceit, that to insinuate with a man of wisdom, would be sufficient to fetch him over to that side,-writes unto one of eminent sort among us, after this fashion: . . 'It is not intended that your Names shall be rashly showed, to any man's prejudice, but be reserved to a fit opportunity; if we shall perceive that they all together being brought forth will further our designs and suit. Of the good success whereof, we conceive good hope, thanks be to God... Wood-street, in London, the 30th of June, 1603. Yours to his power H. I-Postscript. I could wish you to confer with, D. A. about this matter.'" See this alluded to again, in Oliver Ormerod's “Picture of a Puritan, &c." 1605. 4to. where he asks, P. (7,)" Was not the 'voice' of Jacob's own; and the hands, the "hands of Esau?"