A Reply to an Answer Made by Doctor Whitgift, Reply · Part 1
¶ An anſweare to the whole Epiſtle to the Church.
WHat cauſes eyther pulled you forward / or thruſt you backward / to wryte / or not to wryte / and how in thys diſpute / wyth your ſelfe / in the end you were reſolued to write in thys ſort / I leaue it vntounto the iudgement of the Lord / who only knoweth the ſecretes of the heart / and will in his good time vnſeale them. But if there be any place of coniecture / the hatred of contention / whych you ſet downe / as the firſt and principall cauſe / that beat you backe from wryting / might well hauehave ben put / as the laſt and leaſt / or rather none at all. For if peace had bene ſo precious vntounto you (as you pretend) you woulde not hauehave brought ſo many hard wordes / bitter reproches / enemylike ſpeaches (as it were ſtickes and coales) to double / and treble / the heat of contention. If the ſharpnes of the Admonition miſliked you / and you thinke they outreached in ſome vehemency of words / how could you more effectually hauehave cōfuted that / then to hauehave in a quiet and milde ſpirite ſet them in the way / which (in your opinion) had left it? now in words condenming it / and approuing it in your dedes / I wil not ſay / that you do not ſo much miſlike thys ſharpness / as you are ſory / that you are preuented / and are not the firſt in it: But this I may well ſay vntounto you / whych he ſayd: Quid verba audiam, cum facta videam? what ſhould I heare words / when I ſee the dedes? In the fourth reaſon / wherby you were diſcouraged to wryte / if by backbiters / and vnlearned tongs / viperous kinde of men / not able to iudge of controuerſies / caryed away wyth affections / and blinde zeale into diuers ſiniſter iudgements / and erronious opinions / you meane all thoſe / that thinke not as you do in theſe matters: I anſwere for my ſelfe / and for as many as I know of them / that they are they / which firſt deſire (ſo it be truely) to heare / and ſpeak… all good of you. But if that be not / through your perſeuerance / in the maintenaunce of the corruptions of this church (which you ſhould helpe to purge) then the ſame are they / that deſire / that both the euill which you hauehave done / and that which you hauehave yet in your hart to doe / may be knowen / to the leſſe diſcredite of the truth and ſinceritie / which you / with ſuch might and mayne doe ſtriue agaynſt. Touching our vnlearned tongues / we had rather a great deale / they were vnlearned / then they ſhould be as theirs / * which hauehave taught their tunges Iere. 9. 5.to ſpeake falſly. And how vnlearned ſo euer you would make the world beleue / that we / and our tunges be / I hope (through the goodneſſe of God / ) they ſhall be learned enough / to defend the truthe / agaynſt all the learning that you ſhall be able to aſſault it with. If thoſe be the * generation of Chriſt / which you call Iſ. 53. 8.viperous kynde of men: know you that you hauehave not opened your mouth againſt earth / but you hauehave ſet it agaynſt heauen / & for all indifferent iudgement / it will eaſely perceiue / that you are as far from the ſpirite of * Iohn Baptiſt / as you Mat. 3. 7.are nere to hys maner of ſpeche. Which you vſe / whether it be affection / or blind zeale / that we follow / and are driuen by / it will then appeare / when the reaſons of both ſides / being layde out / ſhall be wayed indifferently. Whereas you ſay / that your duetie towards God / and the Queene her maieſty / moued you to take thys laboure in hande / it will fall out / vppon the diſcourſe / that / as you hauehave not ſerued the Lord God in thys enterpriſe and worke of youres / ſo hauehave you done nothing leſſe / then any godly duetie / which you owe vntounto her Maieſtie: ſo / that the beſt that can be thought of you herein / is / that wherein an euill matter / you coulde yelde no duetie / yet now you hauehave done that / which you thought a duetie / which iudgeinent / we will ſo long keepe of you / vntill you ſhall by oppugning of a knowen truth / declare the contrary / which we hope will not be. What truth it is / that we impugne / and you defend / let it in the name of God appeare / by our ſeuerall proufes and anſweares of both ſides. And / as for the ſlaunderous ſurmiſes / whereby in your third and laſt conſideration / you ſet the Papiſtes of the one ſide of vsus / and the Anabaptiſtes of the other / and vsus in the middeſt / reaching out our handes (as it were) to them both: firſt it ought not to be ſtrange vntounto vsus miſerable ſinners / ſeeing that the Lord hym ſelfe / without all ſinne / was placed in the middeſt of two greuous malefactors / as though he had bene worſe / then they both. Then for anſwere of thoſe ſlaunderous ſpeaches / I will referre the Reader to thoſe places / where theſe generall charges / are geuen out / in more particular manner.