THe Text at the first reading may seem strange for a visitation Sermon; yet let no man prejudge it, and I doubt not, but in the opening, handling, and pro­secuting of it, to make it good, to sute well with the present State of the Church, with this convention and occasion.

In the former Chapter S. Paul instructed the Phi­lippians touching Circumcision, Justification, and Sanctification.

In this he concludeth his Epistle with certaine ex­hortations to them, and salutations of them: The first part is Pareneticall, and exhortatory; and his ex­hortations are some generall, and some particular.

In the first verse his exhortation was generall to the whole Church of Philippi, to stand fast in the faith; and [...], therefore to doe it, because of those of the Concision, those evill workers that were a­mongst them, as in the former Chapter.

In the second, his exhortation is particular, to two godly women, Evodias and Syntyche, the fema [...] fa­ctious zelots zelots of the said Church; that they bee [...]ne minde in the Lord. And S. Paul, as the Visitor of the said Church, (for on him lay the care of all the Chur­ches) in the words of my Text, continueth his exhor­tation to the Minister there, (for it lyeth much in us [Page 2] Ministers, by our good or bad example, to hinder, or further the Churches peace) whom he calleth [...], his yoke-fellow, to assist him, and to put to his help­ing hand, to set those two women at rights, to com­pose their differences, & to stitch up those rents and breaches, which by their faction and dis-unanimity were occasioned in the Church of Philippi: [...]. And I intreate thee also my true yoke fellow, help those women which laboured with me in the Gospell.

Before I come to the parts; first let mee shew you the meaning and explication, who this [...] was, for there needs no explicatiō of anything else in the text.

There is a great stir about it with Expositors; first 1. Faber. Stapulensis. Zuinglius. Erasmus. Cardinall Cajetane. some would have here meant S. Pauls wife, and reade it in the feminine, Germanae conjux. Others, and the most reade it in the masculine, as Theodoret, Haymo, Cornelius à Lapide, Oecumenius, Lyranus, and Carthusia­nus: And most of the Greek, and Latine Fathers; yea Calvin and Beza so expound it.

2 Admit it was a man, not S. Pauls wife: here is a further question among Expositors, who it was. Va­tablus, and Velasques the Jesuite on the Text assents with him, that Epaphroditus is here meant (whom S. Paul called [...] commilitonē) who was with Paul at Rome, and caried these his letters thence to the Philippians. But most are of a contrary minde: and I shall determine this with Chrysostome, Parum interest siv [...] [...]c, sive illud sit: It matters not much who it was; but according to the unanimous consent of the most and best Expositors, it is certaine it was not S. Pauls wife, nor yet Epaphroditus, but some other godly Mi­nister, then in the Church of Philippi, [...], Socius [Page 3] ejusdem operis, as Estius notes on the Text, whose hel­ping hand S. Paul here intreats for the dissolving that female faction in the Church of Philippi, And I in­treate thee also, &c. So you have the Explication: We now come to the parts: the words you see are an Exhortation, wherein be pleased to observe 3. Ge­nerall parts:

• 1. The Matter of it.
• 2. The Motives to it.
• 3. The manner of S. Pauls proceeding.

The Matter of it; Help those women, wherein ob­serve 1. Gen. 2. particulars.

1. The persons for whom S. Paul craves helpe, described

• 1. From their sexe, women.
• 2. By name, Evodias and Syntyche, [...], those women.

2. Is the work wherein, that is unanimity, Helpe those women [...] To be of one minde in the Lord.

The Motives to it,

• 1. In respect of the women.
  2. Gen.
• 2. In regard of his function.
• 3. For the credit of the Gospel.

For they have laboured with me in the Gospell.

The manner of S. Pauls proceeding in setling peace 3. Gen. in the Church of Philippi: It was in the spirit of meek­nesse, by intreating on every hand.

• 1. Those factious female zelots; I pray Evodias, and I beseech Syntyche, ver. 2.
• 2. The minister of that Church, his yoke-fellow, [...] And I intreate thee also my true yoke-fellow, &c.

So you have the generals and their severals; and [Page 4] by the assistance of the Almighty, and your patience, I shall speake something of every one, and briefly of them all.

Of the first generall, the matter of his exhortati­on, 1. Gen. Matter. Help those women. And there of the 1. particu­lar: described from their sexe, women, by name Evo­dias and Syntyche. [...] Those women.

In that S. Paul names no man in this breach and fa­ction, Note. but two women, I note the propension and pro­clivity of that sexe to take up errors; that women are more easily seduced than men, and have their judge­ments first, and soonest poysoned. In Acts 16. 13. it seemes, the first that embraced religion in Philippi were women; for there it is said that Paul preached unto the women that resorted thither. And here it appears, that women were the first that made a side, led a faction, that were seduced in the said Church. The truth of this appeared in Paradise, in our great grand-mother Eve: Adam was first formed, but A­dam was not first deceived: the woman was first in the transgression, not the man. Viro mulier, non mu­lieri 1 Tim. 2. 14 vir autor erroris. The arch-seducer the devill, first set upon Eve the woman, and seduced her, then she the man. And S. Paul speaks of hypocrites which 2 Tim. 3. creep into houses, and leade silly women captive. E­ver learning, (like many of our female zelots) conti­nually hearing all the Sermons they could come at; yet for all that he said, that they never came to the knowledge of the truth; they acquired a jangling knowledge, holding of opposition, a knowledge false­ly so called. So the seditious Iews in the Acts of A­postles Act. 13. 50. stirred up devout, and honourable women, and [Page 5] the chiefe men of the City, and raised up persecuti­on against Paul, and Barnabas, Women first. So those of the concision, those evill workers in the Church of Philippi, mis-guided and seduced those good women in my Text. And there are a generation of such evil workers every where in our Church of England (e­vill workers I call them in the point of discipline and conformity) otherwise perhaps blamelesse in their lives, and painful in their Ministery: Amongst whom many are clamorous, schismaticall Scripturients; most of them sermonizing tre [...]cher Paraphrasts; such as degorge discipline at full tables, [...] full of tongue, and excellent to talke, yet un­able to speak much to the purpose, who make a noise in vulgar auditories, like sounding brasse or tinkling Cymbals, Vere scioli inter mulierculas, as S. Ierome writ of Domnio, womens preachers, and jolly fellowes a­mongst silly women, and in great esteeme and admi­ration with them: who though they have scarce a fag end of a gift, yet will boldly be perking up into the pulpit, and can make a shift three or foure times a weeke to throw over such stuffe, as workmen that well may be ashamed; carying a bold face instead of savoury provision, & think it sufficient that the peo­ple heare thunder, heare them loud & earnest, though they see no rain. These have learnt this method from the devill, to leade silly women captive: they have their mulieres Calvinianus (as Maldonat the Jesuit cal­led the French women at the siege of Sancereo) their she disciples, & female proselytes in every place, and as S. Ierome writ of Nicolaus Antiochenus, that he had his feminine troopes. They lay the foundation of [Page 6] their credits in the mindes of silly women, insinuate themselves into the favour & affections of their wo­men, Plautus Asin. and so get them Patronos satis dicaculos, such pa­trons as will prattle enough in their cause, and justifi­cation: Who (as S. Ierome writ against Ruffinus) doe Procacitatē disertitudinē & maledicere superioribus bonae cōscientiae signū arbitrari: that is, out of their credulous simplicity, doe verily beleeve such their procacity, & satyricall liberty in speaking evill, nay in downright railing against those of authority, to proceed from zeale, and a good conscience. And in their private conferences with and Catechizations of them, do ob­trude upon their women as Gospell, their own fana­ticall asseverations, [...] and the Basil. ep. 6. novell imaginations of their owne brains, and tooth and naile speaking, & preaching against the govern­ment and discipline of our Church, against the order of Bishops, against our Church-liturgy; yea, & Letany too, against the use of the Surplesse, the ring at mari­age, the crosse at Baptism, kneeling at the Communi­on, bowing at the name of Jesus, as popish and Anti­christian. And silly women being thus seduced, seduce their husbands, as Eve did Adam: Hinc fundi nostra ca­lamitas, dangerous champions in a schisme; and there be no such ensnaring attractives to errors & factions, as women are. As they are weak, so are they wilful, weak in capacity and judgement, lesse strength to re­sist, lesse judgement to discern errors from truth, not so able as men to reach the depths and mysteries of knowledge: as they are first in faction, so the last out: as out of their credulous simplicity they are first, and easily seduced; so out of their peevish obstinacy they [Page 7] are last, & with more difficulty reclaimed; and I dare say, a man may sooner convert five men from the er­rors of their wayes, than one woman. But I will rake no longer on this sore ( Cynthius aurem vellit & admo­nuit) Virg. only I could wish, that the Evodiaes & Syntyches of our Church, our female zelots would not so busily intermeddle with Church-matters (which are too high strains for them to reach) not listen to every de­ceiver, not hearken to every spirit; but to try the spi­rits whether they be of God or man: So I have done with the first, the female factious zelots, the distur­bers of the Churches peace at Philippi: [...] Those women.

2 I come to the second, the work wherein S. Paul cra­veth the Ministers helpe, that is unanimity, (a blessed work to settle peace in the Church) Help those women, [...] To be of one minde in the Lord. [...]. Chrys. hom. 1. in 1. ad Cor.

Vnanimity is a work worthy of all our best helps.

• 1. In respect of the essentiality, and absolute ne­cessity to the [...] the bene esse, the wel being of the Church.
• 2. In regard of the dangerous consequents that follow upon the want, and defect of it.

1 Vnanimity is the life and soul of the Church; Eccle­sia nomen est consensus & concordiae: A Church is a name, not of division, but of unity and concord. And Erasm. pa­raph in Act. 1. Ibi non est Ecclesia, ubi non est unanimitas, saith Erasmus: without it no Church; Da unum, & populus est; tolle u­num, & turba est. The Church may fitly be compared Plin. lib. 2. Nat. hist. to that Lapis Tyrrhenus of which Pliny writes: Lapis Tyrrhenus grandis innatat, comminutus mergitur; that stone Tyrrhenus, while it is whole and entire, it swims [Page 8] aloft; but if it be broken into pieces, every piece and parcell sinks to the bottome: so the Church by una­nimity flotes, and swims aloft, and is supported, and kept above water; but if it crumble into sects and fa­ctions, it is neere to destruction. In Gen. 15. 10. Abra­ham Before the Tem­ple was built. by the appointment of the Lord, having taken a heifer, a ram, and a goat, and a turtle dove, and a pige­on; it is said of him, that he divided the beasts in the midst, but the birds he divided not. Quare hoc fratres? Aug 54. Serm. de Temp. (S. Aug. puts the question, and resolves it) Divisit A­braham tria animalia, aves non divisit, quia in ecclesia ca­tholica carnales dividuntur, spirituales non. dividuntur. Teaching us, as that father doth moralize it, that they are beasts, not Christians that are divided one against the other, that are not of one minde in the Lord.

In 1 King. 6. wee reade, that at the building of the 2. At the building of the Temple. Temple all the stones were smoothed, hewen, and fit­ted, and then brought into the Temple, and laid; and there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any toole of iron heard there; to teach us, that in Gods house, there should be neither schisme nor rent.

Again, when the glorious Temple was built at Je­rusalem, 3. After it was built God would have but one Altar there: To shew, Quod unum, eundem (que) cultum inter omnes esse vel­let; 1 that all that sacrificed there, should have one and the same worship, bee of one and the same minde. 2 But one Altar, Vt vinculum esset sacrae unitatis; that it might be unto the rude people a bond of sacred unity: 3 But one Altar, typifying one religion, one heart, one judgement, and one minde of all true Christians. 4. Vnder the Gos­pell.

And under the Gospell, those primitive and first Christians that ever were, those 3000. soules conver­ted [Page 9] by Peters Sermon: It is said of them, that they Act. 2. 46. Act. 4. 32. were all of one heart, and of one soule, and that they all continued daily in the Temple with one accord; when they prayed, they prayed all together; when they heard, they heard altogether; when they brake bread, they did it altogether, unanimously, uniform­ly: Tria millia domum unam, mensam unam, animam u­nam Chrys. 30. Hom. on Mat. 16. habuerunt.

And that multiplication of unities, one body, one 5. Eph. 4. 3, 6. spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptisme, one God and Father of us all, declare that we should be all of one minde in the Lord, all keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace, all stand fast in Phil. 1. 27, 28. one spirit, with one minde, striving together for the faith of the Gospell. If this will not doe it, in the 2. The dange­rous conse­quents upon the defect of it. next place, look with the other eye upon the dange­rous consequents that follow upon the want, and de­fect of it; & by that time I dare say, you will all assent with me, that it is a work worthy of all our best helps.

1. As Unanimity is the life and soul of the Church, 1. Jam. 3. 16. [...]. Chrys. in Ephes. hom. 11. so schisme and faction is a dangerous malady in the same; for where strife is, there is confusion, and every evill work. Which made S. Chrysostome Hom. 11 on the Ephes. so earnestly protest against it, [...], &c. I say and protest, that to make schisme in the Church, is no lesse evill, than to fall into heresie. Indeed it is the next way to it; schisme is a green heresie, and heresie is a grown schisme. And non semper servatur unitas in credendo, ubi non est unitas in colendo: there will not alwayes bee unity of doctrine in that Church, where there is not uniformity of discipline.

2 Disunanimity, disuniformity, is a breaking not on­ly [Page 10] of the Kings, but of Gods, and the Churches peace; It causeth distraction, hinders devotion, chills the spi­rits of men, deads, and indisposeth them unto religi­on, and clouds the understanding in the disquisition of the truth; whereby our assemblies in Gods house become gregations, not congregations: The con is gone, disgregations rather, and Turba gravis paci, pla­cidaeque inimica quieti.

3 Schisme is the Churches rupture, solutio continui, a discontinuation of parts, a disjoynting, a dislocation, and dissociation of the members of the body of the Church. It is a routing of our ranks, puts us out of temper, order, out of joynt, and makes us fall a pieces one from another. S. Paul implyed as much, when he 1 Cor. 1. 10 saw such siding amongst them in the Church of Co­rinth; some to hold of Paul, some of Cephas, some of Apollos, some of Christ, that they were out of joynt, when he exhorted them, [...], that they Beza annot. in loc. be set againe: for, [...] signifieth properly to set a bone that is out of joynt. For as joynts are in the na­turall Greg. mor. l. 19 cap. 14. body, so is unity in the Church; Sancta Ecclesia sic consistit in unitate fidelium, sicut corpus nostrum u [...] tum est compage membrorum. Take away joynts in the body, and the body will be dismembred; take away u­nity in the latter, and the Church will be distracted, and there will follow rents, schismes, disorders and fractions.

For instance and example: 1. What a stir made Co­rah, 1. Israel. Num. 16. 3. Dathan, & Abiram in the congregation of Israel?

What contentions were there in the Church of 2. Church of Co­rinth. Corinth, and how did they one swel against the other? some would pray and prophesie bare-headed, others [Page 11] with their head covered; and when they came unto the Lords supper, one was hungry, and another was drunken; in as much as S. Paul wrote his first Epistle to dissolve those factions, and represse those dissenti­ons that were amongst them.

In the Church of Philippi, what broiles, and fracti­ons 3. Church of Philip­pi. were there by reason of the variance, & strife, and dissention (and that not O economicall about meum and tuum, but Ecclesiasticall, and in matters of religion) of Evodias & Syntyche, the female zelots in my Text (o­therwise godly and religious) that by their over-cre­dulity were mis-led, mis-guided, & seduced by those of the Concision; those evill workers, as S. Paul cals thē.

So in our Church of England, (to come home to our 4. Church of Eng­land. selves) what lamentable fractions, and miserable di­stractions are now amongst us? what scandalous and irreligious libels? what indiscreet, and satyricall pam­phlets have been lately dispersed against the Gover­nours and government of our Church? what heart­burning betwixt Minister and Minister, betwixt Mi­nister and people, and how do you one swell against another? For Sions sake I cannot hold my peace, and with Moses, Liberabo animam meam: You must pardon me if I be down right, and speak home in the Chur­ches cause. And here I cannot but lament, & deplore the want & defect of the practise of this ancient, and heavenly duty of unanimity amongst us, in the words of S Bernard: Vbi, ubi nunc illud unanimit at is exercitiū? How disunanimous, disuniform, disorderly are yee in the house, at the service of God? what rude contenti­ons, and uncivill contestations are in your Churches? how unservice-like is your service there? how homely [Page 12] are ye in speech and gesture with God, in, and at the participation of Gods ordinances, as if Arrian like ye were haile fellow, and familiar with him? how stout are your hearts, & how stiffe are your knees, that will not bow at the name of Jesus, no more than the seats you sit on, or the pillars of the Church? how is the authority of the Church out-faced? how are the Ca­nons and Constitutions of the same neglected, & vi­lified by every ignorant illiterate Artizan, Mecha­nick, high-shooes; by every self-willed, peevish Evo­dias and Syntyche, Quasi lege putant se teneri nulla. Yea, & by too too many ministers too, ( O tell it not in Gath) they who should bee ringleaders in obedience, and conformity, yet ( proh dolor) become factionum & dis­cordiarū duces, as it was said of the Syndichs of Geneva. It is lamentable to consider, that abundance of know­ledge should produce such ill effects; as rebellion, dis­unanimity, disuniformity: that every woman will be a Bernice, & dare to interpret Scripture, which is not of private interpretation; that every Evodias and Syntyche will busily intermeddle with the Rites and government of the Church, and teach the Magistrate to rule, and the Minister to preach; that Sic dicit hom [...], so saith such a Reverend minister, should sway and preponderate, and prevaile more with them than Sic jubet Ecclesia; that suffer the opinions of private men & ministers to over ballance with them the publique and deliberate determinations, Canons and constitu­tions of such a nationall Church. It being thus my brethren, as thus it is, I appeal to you all whether this (viz Vniformity) be not a worke worthy of all your help; to compose the differences, and to stitch up [Page 13] those rents and breaches, which faction, disunani­mity, disuniformity hath occasioned at this present in our Church of England. So much of the first gene­rall, the Matter of his exhortation, Help those women, and of the persons for whom he craveth help, [...] Those women. 2. Of the worke wherein, unanimity.

I now come to the motives to it, which S. Paul here 2. Gen. Motives to it. used to the Minister of the Church of Philippi, to ex­cite and stir him up to help forward so good a worke as the Churches peace, (& the same I shall use to you my brethren in the ministery) as it followeth in the Text: For they have laboured with me in the Gospell.

Non parvi pendendae, saith Anselme: Evodias and Syn­tyche, 1. Inregard of those women. the women in the Text, were not to be slighted or neglected; they were godly and religious, and by their over-credulity, mis-led, mis-guided, seduced by those of the Concision, those evill workers that were amongst them, even to the hazarding of their preci­ous fouls: and the Lord, as he hath committed to our trust the dispensation of his Gospell, so the care and charge of their souls: and herein you shall shew your selves skilfull artists in saving of soules, by helping your women out of their errors, as S. Iames expresly: Brethren, if any of you doe erre from the truth, and one con­vert James 5. 19, 20. him; let him know, that he which converts a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soule from death.

For your functions sake: As if Paul had said, those 2. Inrespect of his function. women have laboured with mee in the Gospell, doe thou take some paines and labour with them. As it is a notable wyle, & stratageme of the devill, when he cannot hinder the truth amongst us, to disturb our peace; So it is none of the least parts of our Ministra­tion [Page 14] in the Gospell, to settle and establish it: We are praecones pacis, and it is not enough that we be Pacati, peace keepers, (which I feare all of us are not) kee­pers of the Churches peace, by our conformable obe­dience; but we must be Pacifici too, peace-makers: not actively, but factively too; we must convert men and women from their errours, compose their diffe­rences, rectifie their judgements, & set them at rights, help our women out, not further into errours.

For the Gospels sake, They have laboured with me in 3. For the credit of the Gos­pell. the Gospell, Athletice decertaverunt, as Cornelius à Lapide on the Text, they have stood stoutly for the defence of the Gospel; O help them for the credit of the Gos­pell, It is a great blow to religion, to see Gods dear children together by the eares, at strife and variance in matters of religion; to see our Mother the Church like Rebecca, grieved and pained, and troubled in her wombe, with the strivings, oppositions, and reluctan­cies of two children of contrary dispositions, as the Conformitan and Inconformitan: God and his Gospel are wounded through the sides of such factious and schismaticall gospellers, they make the word of God to be evill spoken of, and bring a scandall upon the glorious Gospel, which we and they preach and pro­fesse. Hanc ob rem deridiculi facti sumus Iudaeis, & gen­tibus; dum Ecclesia in mille partes scinditur: For this cause are we become a laughing stock to Jewes and Gentiles, even by reason of our many fractions and divisions. As the division of tongues hindered the building up of Babel; so division of hearts, disunion of mindes, and disuniformity of posture and gesture, the building up of our Jerusalem, the building up of [Page 15] one another in an holy faith. I beseech you then my brethren, suffer a word of exhortation, and be intrea­ted for the peace of the Churches sake, for your peo­ples soules sake, for your own functions sake, for the glorious Gospels sake, to put to your helping hands to set forward the Churches peace: So while there is peace within our walls, God will send plenteousnesse within our palaces; and God, even our God will give Ps. 122. 7. us his blessing. So much of the 2. Generall: The mo­tives to it.

I now come to the 3. Generall: The manner of 3. Gen. S. Pauls proceeding, in setling peace in the Church of Philippi; not commanding (though over them in the Lord) but intreating.

• 1. Those factious female zelots; I pray Evodias, and I beseech Syntyche.
• 2. The Minister of the said Church: [...] And I intreate thee also my true yoke-fellow.

Good natures (such as are in them that are truly re­ligious) 1. Monendo potius quā minando. Tert. are sooner woone by lenity, than serenity, Citius leni spiritu, quam dura manu, by gentle obsecra­tions, then terrible comminations; many will leade, that will not drive, may be perswaded, that will not be compelled; when fulsome potions, and bitter pils are sweetned with sugar they will the sooner be swal­lowed, and the better digested. The Apostles where they come once with a rod, they come ten times with the spirit of meeknesse, with I pray, I beseech.

This was S. Pauls course with all the Churches, 1 Cor. 1. 10. 1 Cor. 1. 10. I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, & that there be no divisions amongst you, but that ye be perfectly [Page 16] joyned together in the same minde, and in the same judge­men. In his Epistle to Philemon, ver. 8, 9. Though I Philemon 8, 9. might be much bold in Christ to command thee that which is convenient, yet for loves sake I rather beseech thee. So Zanch. in loc. here in the Church of Philippi; non imperat, hee doth not command, nec carcerem minatur, neither doth he frighten, and threaten them with imprisonment, sed rogat, as Zanchy notes on the Text. I pray Evodias, & I beseech Syntyche.

In the old Law, the high Priests and the rest, which were appointed in some cases to be Judges of the peo­ple, were sprinkled not with oile alone, or blood a­lone, but blood and oyle mingled together; to teach, Neque habere sine misericordia justitiam, neque sine justi­tia misericordiam: So S. Paul, Shall I come unto you with 1 Cor. 4. 21. a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meeknesse. S. Ambrose Amb. lib. 7. in Luc. in his 7. lib. in Luc. tells us: Paulus virgam mi [...]atur, sed in spiritu mansuetudinis visitat delinquentes; Paul shew­eth and threatneth the rod, but yet he visiteth delin­quents and offenders in the spirit of meeknesse.

This, even this is the manner of our Churches pro­ceeding: the discipline of the Church is advisedly, and deliberately exercised; not rashly precipitated, and therefore much too blame are many clamorous Inconformitans, that cry out of persecution, persecu­tion in every place. As S. Ambrose advised in the Amb. ep. 44. like case in his time, is now performed in our Chur: Si quis suspectae sit infirmitatis, indulge aliquantulum, if ministers or people bee not only suspected, but con­vinced of inconformity; the Church beares and for­beares with a great deale of patience. There wants no fatherly admonitions, no gentle perswasions, no [Page 17] beseechings, intreatings, or obsecrations.

We may truly say of the Governours of our Chur: Amb. de ob­itu Theod. as S. Ambrose spake of that good Emperour Theodosi­us, Cum haberet supra omnes potestatem, quasi parens ex­postulare malebat, quam quasi judex punire; vincere vole­bat, non plectere: When he hath command over all, he had rather expostulate as a Father, than punish as a Judge, he desires to win by lenity (if it may bee) not to force by extremity: Diu tractatur putrida pars, si sa­nari potest medicamentis: si non potest, à medico bono ab­scinditur: Sic Episcopi boni affectus est, ut optet sanare in­firmos, serpentia auferre ulcera, adurere aliqua, non ab­scindere, postremo, quod sanari non potest, cum dolore ab­scindere. The putrified part is a long time gently han­dled, that it may be healed; if it cannot, or will not, it is cut off by the good Physitian. So this, you see and know is the manner of proceeding of the Governors of our Church, with our peevish, factious, schismaticall Non-conformists: Optant sanare infirmos, they de­sire to heale the sick, endeavour by all faire meanes to take away errors, schismes, those spreading ulcers out of the Church; to seare some by suspension, in terro­rem, & exemplum, not to cut them off. Postremo, quod sanari non potest, what through peevish obstinacy, and contumacious pertinacy cannot, or will not be hea­led or reclaimed, to cast out of the Church (and that deservedly) by Excommunication, or to cut off by degradation, and deprivation: Durities vincenda [...]est, non suadenda: Contumacy is to be roughly handled, and Melius est ut pereat unus, quam unitas; yet, cum do­lore Ber. 102. ep. abscindunt: the Church correcting her obstinate rebellious children, as tender-hearted mothers doe [Page 18] their stubborne babes, with teares in their eyes, and with griefe and sorow of heart: So you have S. Pauls manner of proceeding with those female factious ze­lots, I pray, I beseech.

One word of S. Pauls like proceeding with the Minister of that Church (whom he calls [...], his yoke-fellow) in so needfull a work, and I have done; & that is by intreating too: [...]. And I in­treat thee also my true yoke▪ fellow.

And this is all that I have further to say; with S. Paul, to pray, beseech, and intreate every one of you in your severall rankes and stations, even from the high­est to the lowest, to put to your helping hands (as the times require) to set forward so good a worke as the Churches peace.

1 And first I intreate your helps, you that are Sides­men, & Church-wardens, remember your oaths, and know, that to take an oath is more than to kisse a booke: and see to it, that ye duly, and faithfully (ac­cording to the tenour of your oaths) present mini­sters and people that are wilfull disturbers and brea­kers of the Churches peace, that conforme not to the laudable ceremonies of our Church. Especially those runners after the persons of men, that run disorderly Running frō their owne parish and minister, a great abuse in our Chur: from their owne minister (to his no little disanima­tion) unto other parishes, to heare some Allobrogicall disciplinarian▪ or some Genevian Passavant [...]an. This same gadding and madding after the persons of men, is a maine hinderance to the Churches peace, and the ground and cause of so much schisme, faction, and se­dition in the Church of England.

Next, I intreate your helpe, [...] my true [Page 19] yoke-fellows, my reverend brethren in the Ministery; remember we are [...], like oxen, we should all look one way, and draw orderly in the same yoke. If wee then draw one way, you another; if wee be for con­formity, you against it, we are not [...], the Lords work will not on, we shall draw all asunder.

And here I cannot be silent in the Churches cause, I must crave leave without offence, to reprove two sorts of ministers in our Church; who since they will not be intreated, deserve to be reproved.

• 1. Such as are not [...], yoke-fellows.
• 2. Such as are not [...], true yoke-fellows.

The first sort set back to back, and draw contrary to us.

The second sort draw very slowly, and need the goade, admonition at least, and that from the mouth 1. V [...]teres Scripturas scrutans invenire non pos­sum s [...]idi▪ se Ecclesiā & de do▪ mo Dei, pop [...]los seduxisse, prae [...]er [...]l­los, qui sa­cerdotes à Deo positi fuerant, & Prophetae. Hieron. Ephes. 4. 13. Acts 20. 30. Aug. 2. li. de [...]pt. cont. Donat. of authority, to quicken and enliven them to it.

For the first, there are ( proh dolor) too too many pull-backs in the Church of England, that helps the clean contrary way; that were appointed for the safe guarding of the Church, & yet prove the smiters and wounders of her▪ that have taken sacred orders, and were purposely ordained in the Church, for the brin­ging of men into the unity of faith, and of the know­ledge of the sonne of God: yet out of a spirit of con­tradiction, and singularity, many doe arise that speak perverse things, to draw away disciples after them; that hinder, not help forward the Churches peace; why is it thus my brethren? let me expostulate you our mothers cause in the words of S. Augustine, Vos engo, quare sacrilega a separatione pacis vinculum dirupistis: Is it because our ceremonies are not commanded in [Page 20] the word of God? Tell me, where are they forbid­den? And S. Augustine in one of his Epistles may sa­tisfie Ep. 86. ad [...]asul. you in that; In quibus nihil certi slatuit Scriptura, mos populi Dei, & ins [...]tuta m [...]j [...]rum pr [...] lege ten [...]da sunt, where the word of God determines no certainty, as in Rites and ceremonies, there the custome of the Church, and the constitutions of her governours, are to be taken for a law. And M ^r. Calvin saith, things Calvin. lib. 4. Instit. indifferent are in [...]clesiae libertate posita, referred to the Churches discretion. If not this, is it rather, because our▪ ceremonies to you seem unlawfull, and inconve­nient; and you, and godly people are troubled at th [...]? you suppose it, and to you they seem so: well, will Malūt per­versis voei­bus veritat [...] reluctati, quam con­fessis erro­ribus pa [...]i restitui. Aug. 3. li. de [...]apt. cont. D [...]t. 1. you therefore for seeming suppositious inconveni­ences, stubbornly draw contrary to your yoke-fel­lowes, that you will rather lose your living, liberty, countrey, than your opinion? I am sure Calvin ne­ver taught you that doctrine, neither

• 1. In the point of wilfulnesse.
• 2. Nor in the case of seeming inconveniences.

Not in the point of wilfulnesse: For when the con­sistorian discipline did lie▪ a bleeding, ready to expire, and the whole matter betwixt Calvin, and the Syn­dichs of Geneva was referred to the foure Helvetian Cities, to the Magistrates, and ministers thereof: Cal­vin secretly and speedily sent letters by Budaeus to Bullinger and the rest, wherein amongst other things he thus wrote; N [...]c mor [...]sitate nos [...]r [...] fiet, [...]t loco potius cedamus, quam sententia: that is, neither are wee so wilfull, and stifned in our opinions, that wee will ra­ther lose our place, than our opinion. I could wish that all of our Church were of his minde in this.

Nor in the case of seeming inconveniences; For 2. Bezain vit. Calv. instance, the wafer Cake of Geneva, the communion­bread seemed inconvenient to Calvin himselfe, and godly people were grieved at it, and was more scan­dalously abused in Popery, than any thing that our Church enjoynes, yea than the Crosse it selfe: Yet mark, Calvin advised his friends not to make any tu­mult for a thing indifferent, esteeming the wafer Cake to be a thing indifferent. And in his 370. Epi­stle, answering to certaine questions of discipline, professed that he misliked the frowardnesse of those men, which for such light scruples depart from the publique consent. And my brethren, were I either a­ble, or worthy to advise, I should give you the same counsell that Augustine gave to Casulanus: When there are divers Rites used in the same Church; (though the Chu: enjoynes one & the same) namely, when we bow at the name of Iesus, and you will not; we stand up at Gloria Patri, you sit, and so of the rest; when there is our yea, your nay; what is in this case to bee done, whom should we follow? His advice is, Aug. 84. ep. ad Casul. Episcop [...] tuo in hac re noli resistere, sed quod ipse facit, si­ne ullo scrupulo, aut disceptatione sect are: that is, to fol­low them and their directions to whom the govern­ment of the Church is committed; and not the ex­ample, direction, fancy of every private minister.

There is another sort too, not true yoke▪ fellowes in the point of confirmity, and, I beleeve, even here amongst us some of that condition, that draw slowly, Movere vide [...], at non promovere: that are conformable in judgement, and somewhat in practise; yet are easie and remisse in the Churches cause, which preferre [Page 22] the favour and good opinion of their Evodiaes and Syntyches, of their female zelots, their good dames be­fore the Churches peace: Ahabs friendship, that is, the favour of some great man in your parish, or coun­trey: or Esaus portion, that is, your good meales, and free entertainment; or I wot not what else you are loth to be without, that which followes after, that is thrust into your hand, or sent home after you: the charity of your good dames, makes many of you (for such base and sinister ends) to betray God in his ser­vice, and to lay the reines on your peoples necks, to doe what they list, and like lawlesse libertines to serve God after their owne fashion.

I beseech you (for the close of all) [...], my true yoke-fellowes, take to heart the lamentable fracti­ons, and miserable distractions of our mother the Church: And suffer a word of exhortation: be in­treated by the wombe that bare you, & the paps that gave you suck, to put to your helping hand to set for­ward so good a work, as unanimity, uniformity, the Churches peace; and that,

• 1. Praecepto.
• 2. Exemplo.
• 3. Prece.

1 Helpe it forward first Praecepto, by your publique Ministery; preach stoutly, and stand stifly for it; O, not against it; helpe those women in your severall charges, in matters of ceremonies (as Calvin did in­struct the weak in Geneva, that were troubled at the wafer Cake) possesse them with the power and au­thority of the Church, with the nature and indiffe­rency of a ceremony, rectifie their judgements, com­pose [Page 23] their differences, and stitch up those rents, and breaches that are amongst them, and perswade them to obey them that have the rule over them, and to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake.

2 Exemplo, help it forward by your owne examples: There is a great force in examples; Walk, saith S. Paul as you have us for an example: Many times, when reason will not perswade, example will; this is a rea­dy way to it, this would doe it, if you would be per­swaded to it: In the 9. Iudges 48, 49. When the peo­ple saw Abimelech cut downe boughs of trees, all the people by his example did the like. Be you my bre­thren exemplary to your people, in your severall charges, in all religious comportments, reverend pro­strations, genu-flexions, incurvations in the service of God, and then this work will forward apace.

Pr [...]ce, help it forward by your prayers too; Adjuva 3. Psal. 122. 6. illas, tam orationibus, quam exhortationibus, saith A [...] ­selme: O pray for the peace of Ierusalem, they shall prosper that love thee; let us beg of God to put to his helping hand in so needfull a work. Help Lord, else vaine is the help of man. O thou God of peace, give us all peace through Christ our Lord: Thou Lord that makest all to be of one minde in one place, grant us all to be alike-minded one towards another in Christ Jesus: Thou that art a God of unity, give unto us the Deus uni­tas, unita­tis omnis effectrix. Dionys. A­reopagito. spirit of unity, that we may keep the unity of the spi­rit through the bond of peace. And we beseech thee to grant that all we, which professe thy holy name, may agree in the truth of thy holy word, and live in unity and godly love; that with one heart, minde, [Page 24] mouth, manner, unanimously, uniformly, wee may serve and praise thee in this Church militant, that hereafter we may be made members of that, which is Triumphant; whither he bring us, that hath so dearely bought us, Jesus Christ the righteous: To whom with the Father, and Holy Spirit, be ascribed, as most due is, from the grounds of all our hearts, all honour, and glory, praise, power, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for evermore.