Theses, Title page – Preface
THESIS MARTINIANAE: That is, CERTAINE DEMONSTRATIVE Concluſions, ſette downe and collected (as it ſhould ſeeme) by that famous and renowmed Clarke, the reuerend Martin Marprelate the great: ſeruing as a manifeſt and ſufficient confutation of al that euer the Colledge of Catercaps with their whole band of Clergie-prieſts, hauehave, or can bring for the defence of their ambitious and Antichriſtian Prelacie.
PVBLISHED AND SET FOORTH as an after-birth of the noble Gentleman himſelfe, by a prety ſtripling of his, MARTIN IVNIOR, and dedicated by him to his good neame and nuncka, Maiſter Iohn Kankerbury: Hovv the yong man came by them, the Reader shall vnderſtande ſufficiently in the Epilogue, In the meane time, vvhoſoeuer can bring mee acquainted vvith my father, Ile bee bounde hee shall not looſe his labour.
Printed by the aſsignes of Martin Iunior, without any priuiledge of the Catercaps.
Martin Iunior ſonne vntounto the renowmed and worthy Martin Marprelate the Great, to the Reader.
THou ſhalt receiue (good Reader) before I ſet downe vntounto thee anie thing of mine owne, certeyne of thoſe thinges of my fathers dooings which I found among his vnperfect papers: I hauehave not changed any thing in them, detracted any thing from them, nor added vntounto them aught of mine owne, but as I found them, ſo I hauehave deliuered them vntounto thee. Mine owne meaning thou ſhalt vnderſtand at the latter ende in my Epilogue, to my nunckle Canturburie. This ſmall thing that followeth before his Theſes, is alſo his owne. I hauehave ſet downe the ſpeach as I founde it, though vnperfect. One thing I am ſory for, that the ſpeach pretendeth the old man to be ſomething diſcouraged in his courſes.
THESES MARTINIANAE.
I See my doings and my courſe miſliked of many both the good and the bad, though alſo I hauehave fauourers of both ſortes. The Biſhops, and their traine, though they ſtumble at the cauſe, yet eſpecially, miſlike my maner of writing. Thoſe whom fooliſhly men call Puritanes, like of the matter I hauehave handled, but the forme they cannot brooke. So that herein I hauehave them both for mine aduerſaries. But nowe what if I ſhould take the courſe … in certeine Theſes or concluſions, without inueighing againſt either perſon or cauſe? might I not then hope my doings woulde be altogether approoued of the one, and not ſo greatly ſcorned at by the other? Surely, otherwiſe they ſhould doe me great iniurie, and ſhewe, that they are thoſe who delight neither in heate nor colde, and ſo make me as weary in ſeeking howe to fitte them as the Biſhops are in labouring how to find me. The Biſhops I feare are paſt my cure, and it may be I was vnwiſe, in taking that charge vponupon me: if that which I hauehave already done can do them any good, or any wiſe further the cauſe which I louelove, I ſhall be glad, if not, what hope is there of amending them this way? The beſt is I know how to mend my ſelfe. For good leaue hauehave I to giuegive ouer my deſparate cure, and with this my farewell vntounto them, I wiſh them a better Surgeon. Yet ere I leaue them, I do heere offer vntounto the view of the world, ſome part of their monſtrous corruptions; in defence whereof, for their liues dare not they in any learned meeting or aſſembly diſpute with with me, or attempt to ouerthrowe mine aſſertions by modeſt writings handled any thing ſcholerlike, that is, by good and ſounde ſyllogiſmes, which hauehave both their Maior and Minor, confirmed by the worde. I woulde once ſee them enter into either of theſe courſes, for as yet they hauehave beene farre from both. Fire, and fagot, bands, and blowes, railing, and reuiling, are, and hauehave bene hitherto their common weapons, as for ſlandering & lying, it is the greateſt piece of their holy profeſſion. And theſe with their bare aſſertiōs, & their wretched cleuing to popiſh abſurdities, are in a maner the onelyonly proofes and tried maximes they offer vntounto the Church in this age. And ſo if a man woulde be confuted, I muſt needes ſay, my Lord of Wincheſter hath long agoe ſufficiently and dexterely performed it. I am not of opinion, (ſaith he) that, vna ſemper debet eſſe oeconomia Eccleſiae, That the gouernement of the Church ſhoulde alwayes, and in all places, bee one and the ſame, eſpecially by a company of Elders. Lo ſir, what ſay you to this? here is inough, I trowe, for any mans ſatisfaction, that biſhop Couper is not of opinion. Yea but our Sauior Chriſt his Apoſtles & holy Martirs are of opinion, that the gouernment of the church ſhould alwayes, and in all places, be one, eſpecially by a company of Elders. As for my Lord of Wincheſters opinion, wee hauehave little or nothing to doe with that: nor no great matter which ſide it leane to, whether with or againſt the trueth. For if his biſhopricke and vnruly iuriſdiction were no more noyſome and hurtfull to the Church of God, then his learning and opinion is hurtfull to the cauſe of Diſcipline, he might ſitte long enough vndiſtempered in his chaire for vsus: the good olde manne might cough his fill, and be quiet, hauing his faithfullpromiſe and booke-oth (as we hauehave alſo Iohn a Bridges and Bancrofts) that by arguments hee will neuer hurt vsus. For they muſt thinke, that it is not ſuch drie blowes as this, I am not of opinion, &c. that will ſatisfie the learned, and anſweare the demonſtrations that are brought on the contrarie ſide. If then they hauehave indeede any purpoſe at all, to quiet the contentions of our Church, let them bring vntounto vsus, not theſe bables of their owne, VVe are not of opinion, &c. but ſome ſound warrant from the word, that Chriſt and his Apoſtles vvere not of opinion with vsus in the pointes wherein wee truelie charge them to hauehave erred, otherwiſe their 812. their 1401.