OF CHURCH CONTROVERSIES. 43 



tian should seem, by the assertion of the equal divi 

 nity of our Saviour Christ, to approach unto the 

 acknowledgement of more gods than one. The 

 detestation of the heresy of Arius produced that of 

 Sabellius; who, holding for execrable the dissimili 

 tude which Arius pretended in the Trinity, fled so 

 far from him, as he fell upon that other extremity, 

 to deny the distinction of persons ; and to say, they 

 were but only names of several offices and dispensa 

 tions. Yea. most of the heresies and schisms of the 

 Church have sprung up of this root; while men have 

 made it as it were their scale, by which to measure 

 the bounds of the most perfect religion ; taking it 

 by the farthest distance from the error last con 

 demned. These be &quot; posthumi haeresium filii ;&quot; 

 heresies that arise out of the ashes of other heresies 

 that are extinct and amortised. 



This manner of apprehension doth in some degree 

 possess many in our times. They think it the true 

 touchstone to try what is good and evil, by measuring 

 what is more or less opposite to the institutions of 

 the church of Rome, be it ceremony, be it policy, or 

 government ; yea, be it other institutions of greater 

 weight, that is ever most perfect which is removed 

 most degrees from that Church ; and that is ever 

 polluted and blemished, which participateth in any 

 appearance with it. This is a subtile and dangerous 

 conceit for men to entertain ; apt to delude them 

 selves, more apt to delude the people, and most apt 

 of all to calumniate their adversaries. This surely, 

 but that a notorious condemnation of that position 



