A Reply to an Answer Made by Doctor Whitgift, Reply · Part 2
An anſwere to that which is called a briefe examination of the reaſons vſed in the Admonition to the Parliament.
IF the ſcriptures had bene applyed to the mayntenaunce of the abhomination of the maſſe / and ſome other of the groſſeſt of antichriſtianitie / you could hauehave ſayd no more / nor vſed vehementer ſpeache then thys / that they are moſt vntollerably abuſed / and vnlearnedly applyed. And then where is charitie / which Pro. 10. 12.couereth the multitude of faultes / eſpecially in brethren / when you do not only not couer them / but alſo take away their garmentes / whereby they are couered. I will not deny / but that there be ſome few places quoted / whych might hauehave bene ſpared / but there are a great number / which (M. Doctor) toſſeth & throweth away ſo lightly / which he ſhall perceiue to ſit nearer him / then he is / or at the leaſt ſometh to be aware of. And to bring to paſſe that y• quotations in the margent might appeare to the reader more abſurde / M. Doctor hath beſides the aduantage which he taketh of the faultes of the Printer / vſed two vnlawfull practiſies eſpecially. Wherof the one is / that where as the admonition doth quote the ſcripture / not only to proue the matters which it handleth / but ſometimes alſo to note the place from whence the phraſe of ſpeache is taken. M. Doctor doth go about to make hys reader beleue / that thoſe places which be alledged for profe of the phraſe / are quoted for proofe of the matter. The other practiſe is / that where the Admonition (for the ſhortnes whych it promiſeth / and was neceſſary in that caſe) could not apply the places / M. Doctor preſuming too muche of the ignorance of hys reader / thought he might make him beleue / that any thing elſe was meant by thoſe places / then that which they meant in deede / and for which they were alledged. And where you ſay the quotations are only to delude ſuch. &c. I ſee you holde it no fault in your ſelfe / which you condemne ſo preciſely in others / that is / to iudge before the time / to ſit in the cōſcience / to affirme definitely of their thoughts / contrary to their owne proteſtation. But ſeeing you lift vp our imperfections ſo high / and ſet them as it were vponupon a ſtage for all men to be loked of / to the diſcredite of the truth which we do mayntayne: You ſhall not thinke muche / if your pouertie be poynted vntounto / in thoſe things wherin you would cary ſo great countenaunce of ſtore. For the argumentes them ſelues / they ſhall be ſeene what they be in their places / ſo ſhall alſo that be anſwered / which M. Doctor bringeth heere for ye Confutation / being ſtraightway after / & in ſondry other places repeated in thys booke. I will touche that which is not repeated / & that is / that M. Doctor maketh it an indifferent thing / for men / & women to receyue ye ſupper of the Lord clothed / or naked. Thys ſauoureth ſtrongly of the ſecte of ye Adamites.
S. Paul whych commendeth the preſeruation of godlynes and peace / vntounto 1. Tim. 2. 2.the cyuill magiſtrate / doth alſo commende vntounto hym the prouyding / that honeſty be kept / and M. Doctor maketh it an indifferent thing / to come eyther naked / or clothed vntounto the Lordes table: verely there is ſmall honeſty in thys. And if the heathē which knew not god / did accoūt it a filthy thing for a ſtage player to come vponupon the ſtage without a ſloppe / how much more filthy is it / for a Chriſtian / to come naked vntounto the Lordes table? and the contrary thereof / is neceſſarily collected of the ſcripture / notwithſtanding that M. Doctor ſayeth otherwiſe. They which hauehave heard M. Doctor read in the ſcholes can tell / that he being there amongſt learned men / neuer vſed to reduce the contrary argumentes of the aduerſaryes / to the places of the fallacions / and yet that was the fitteſt place for hym to hauehave ſhewed hys knowledge in / becauſe there they ſhould hauehave bene beſt vnderſtode: now that he profeſſeth hym ſelfe to be a doctor of the people / which becauſe they hauehave not learned theſe things / can not vnderſtande them / he daſheth out his Logicke. What may be probably gathered hereof / I leaue to eueryevery mans conſideration: thys is certen / that circumſtances of place and perſons / which he ſo often vrgeth / are not well obſerued of him / when Logike ſpeaketh in the church / and is mute in the ſchooles: when things are handled more learnedly amongſt the people / and more popularly amongſt the learned. It is truely ſayde / cakon eſti to calon, en ti me kairoutiche. A good thing is euill / when it cometh out of ſeaſon. But to obſerue what Arte heere is ſhewed / I would gladly know what place of the fall actions / eyther an argument ab authoritate negatiue is / or of negatiues by compariſon. Ariſtotle ſetting forth places / whereunto all fallacions may be called / maketh no mention of theſe / and if theſe were fallacions / and were ſuch as he imagineth them / they ſhould be referred vntounto the former place / ab eo quod eſt ſecundum quid, ad id quod est ſimpliciter, for theſe reaſons / the ſcripture hath it not / therefore it ought not to be / or the miniſter was knowen by doctryne / therefore by doctryne only / and not by apparell: If I ſay they be fallacions / they be referred vntounto that place / and whether they be or no / and alſo how corruptly / and otherwiſe then is meant they be gathered / it ſhall afterward appeare. In the meane ſeaſon in a ſmall matter / heere is a great fault / not only to inuent new places / but of one place to make three / and may as well make a thouſande.
And to the ende the pithe and waight of M. Doctors argumentes may be the better ſeene / I will lykewiſe geue the reader a ſay of them / noting the places of the fallacions / whereunto they be referred. Which I do agaynſt my will / and compelled / for that maiſter Doctor to diſcredite the truthe / would make hys reader beleeue / that thoſe which thinke not as he doth in theſe matters / are not only vnlearned / but contenurers of all good learning. In deede there is no greate learning in theſe final things / & they are of that ſort / which although it be a great ſhame not to know / yet it is no great commendation to hauehave knowledge of them.
In the 40. page he reaſoneth thus. The miniſters muſt learne / therfore they muſt learne Catechiſmes: which is a fallaction of the conſequent. For although he that muſt learne a Cathechiſme / muſt learne: yet it followeth not / that whoſoeuer muſt learne / muſt by and by learne a Cathechiſme.
In the. 55. page he reaſoneth / that for ſo much as the cyuill magiſtrate may appoynt ſome kinde of apparell / therfore he may appoynt any / and ſo the popiſhe apparell. Which is / ab eo quod eſt ſecundum quid, ad id quod eſt ſimpliciter: of which ſort he hath dyuers others. As women may baptiſe / and preache / becauſe ſuch a one / and ſuch a one dyd. And the miniſters execute cyuill gouernment / becauſe Elias / and Samuell did.
In the. 69. page he ſayth. Cyprian (ſpeaking of the office of an archbyſhop) which is a manifeſt petition of the principle. For it being that which ſhould hauehave bene proued / M. Doctor taketh it for graunted. And in diuers places ſpeaking of the archbyſhop / he goeth about to deceiue his reader with the fallation of the aequiuocation, or diuers ſignificatiō of the word. For whatſoeuer he findeth ſayd of archbyſhop & byſhop in times paſt / he bringeth to eſtabliſhe our archbyſhops and biſhops: when notwithſtāding thoſe in times paſt / were much different from oures / and are not of that kynde / as ſhall appeare afterwarde.
In the. 239. page he reaſoneth / that for ſo muche as thoſe which weare the apparell / do edifie / therefore they edify by reaſon of the apparell / which is to make that the cauſe / which is not / but only commeth wyth the cauſe.
In the. 240. page he reaſoneth thus / that the ſurplice. &c. be notes / and notes of good miniſters / therefore they be good notes of miniſters / which is a fallacion of compoſitiō / when a man thinketh that whatſoeuer is ſayd of a thing by it ſelfe / may be ſayd of it when it is ioyned with an other.
In the. 149. page he reaſoneth thus / thoſe which authoriſed the booke of Common prayer / were ſtudious of peace / & building the churche / therefore thoſe which finde fault with it / are pullers downe of the church / and diſturbers of the peace / which is a fallacion of the Accident, when a man thinketh that eueryevery thing which is verified of the Subiect, may be likewiſe verefied of that which is annexed vntounto it. The further confutation of which arguments I refer vntounto their places.
There be diuers other which he hath / which are ſo farre from iuſt concluſions / as they hauehave not ſo muche as any colour of likelyhode of argument / which I can not tell where to lodge / vnles I put them in the common Inne / which is that / which is called the ignorance of the Elench. as in the. 69. page / when he concludeth thus / that Cyprian ſpeaketh not of the biſhop of Rome / ergo he ſpeaketh of an archbyſhop.
And in the. 71. page. There muſt be ſuperioures / ergo, one miniſter muſt be ſuperiour vntounto an other. There muſt be degrees / therfore there muſt be one archbyſhop ouer a prouince.
And in the. 73. there was one ouer eueryevery congregation / therefore there was one ouer all the miniſters in the prouince. Theſe / and a number like vntounto theſe / M. Doctor hath ſcattered throughout his boke / which as Nero ſayd of his maſter Senecas works / cleaue together like ſand / & thus let it be ſene / whoſe arguments are moſt iuſtly concluded / thoſe of ye admonition / or theſe of M. Doctors.