The second reply of Thomas CartwrightThe second replie of Thomas Cartwright

but that those public offenders ought to be excommunicated / if they rest not in the churches Judgement / and consequently first complained of to the church (Which are two off the Ecclesiastical censures / mentioned in that place off S. Matthew) he doth more ⟨p. CCXLVIII⟩then once or twice affirm. Now leaving the D. in his treachery let us return. if all were true you allege here (as they are very untrue) yet they help not. For you vvill not deny / but drunkards / whoremongers / papists / &c. ought ether to be driven to repentance / or out off the church: which whether soever come to pass / taketh away the inconvenience you allege / against the election off the church. So that onles you mean to nourish them in the church / as bandogs to keep out this election: this bar against it / is easily removed.

but that those publike offenders ought to be excommunicated / if they reste not in the churches Iudgement / and consequently first complainned of to the churche (Which are two off the Ecclesiasticall censures / mentioned in that place off S. Mathew) he dothe more ⟨p. CCXLVIII⟩then once or twise affirme. Now leuing the D. in his threchery let vs returne. if al were trwe yow alledge here (as they are very vntrwe) yet they helpe not. For yow vvill not denie / but dronkardes / vvhoremongers / papistes / &c. owghte ether to be driuen to repentance / or owte off the churche: which whether soeuer come to passe / taketh awaie the inconuenience yow alledge / againste the election off the church. So that onles yow meane to nourishe them in the churche / as bandogges to kepe owte this election: this barre againste it / is easely remoued.

It is appointed unto the magistrate by the word off God / that he should not only provide that his subjects live peaceably / one with another: but also and that especially / to see that they ¹having the true knowledge of God / may serve him as he hath prescribed. This way off gathering them to the next parishes / seemed unto me fittest to be used in that case: if you can show better / mine shall give place. Only therefore I made mention of it / to show that the impossibility which you so often caste in the teeth of the reformation / can have no place: if they continue uncorrigible / I have before showed that it is the commandment of God unto the magistrate / to use cutting / and burning / and nether to suffer God to be dishonoured in them / nor the rest off his subjects infected. If they can be discerned for dogs or swine, which are not only filthy (in which regard I called drunkards / &c. Swine) but also tread the word under their feet: then I grant / he which hath that judgement off them assured by the testimony of the spirit of God / ought not to teach them. But this cometh out of time. For I made no mention off dogs / and the name off swine I gave not to the papists / but to filthy livers: and it overturneth your purpose: for if they may not hear the word / much less can they be off the church. The preventing off an objection / is no digression: whether it be frivolous, the judgement shall be with the reader.