A30189:428
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English…An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English…
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessity of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. John Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulness of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessitie of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. Iohn Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulnesse of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.
London: printed by R.B., 1642
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
You pretend that you have taken your principles, out of ⟨p. 136⟩the Nonconformists, ever the chiefest of them, which for learning, 1zeal, judgement, holiness of life, &c. have ever held that cause. But some things brought in their names, is neither the opinion of all, nor of the most, nor of the best learned, nor of many, but either the private opinion of some one, or the conceit of such indeed, as were separated from the communion of the Church of England, and not from the abuses only which were in the Church.
You pretend that you have taken your principles, out of ⟨p. 136⟩the Nonconformists, ever the chiefest of them, which for learning, 1zeale, judgement, holinesse of life, &c. have ever held that cause. But some things brought in their names, is neither the opinion of all, nor of the most, nor of the best learned, nor of many, but either the private opinion of some one, or the conceit of such indeed, as were separated from the communion of the Church of England, and not from the abuses only which were in the Church.
- 1CAN Nieces. of separ. To the Read.CAN Neces. of separ. To the Read.
You cite Master Penry saying, 1It is most certain, Satan rules in the consciences of men, not only by false doctrine, but also by his false power and ordinances; his kingdom of darkness not only consisteth in the lies, false doctrine and worship, which he hath coined, but also in the false and Antichristian ordinances, which he hath invented for the ruling of his idolatrous den. And therefore the children and Saints of God, ought to avoid both the one and the other. But whatsoever his meaning be, in that or other passages cited, Master Penry was not a Nonconformist but a Separatist, by your own confession, and therefore his sayings are not to be received for the Nonconformists principles.