A Reply to an Answer Made by Doctor Whitgift, Reply · Part 49 – Part 50
A ſhort Replie vntounto M. Doctors briefe anſwere / whych he maketh to certaine godly Admonitions and Exhortations / whych he calleth pamphletes.
VVHere the ſayeth the authors of the admonition are not punyſhed / or theyr boke miſliked / for that it telleth of the faults in the church / or of ye ſynnes of men / but for yt it maintaineth falſe doctrine / and for that they preferred a libell: For the doctrine / it appeareth by that whych is ſayd / what it is. And if he wold define what a libell were / it were eaſy to anſwere vntounto the other poynt. If he meane becauſe it was preferred wythout any name vntounto it / howe will he anſwer vntounto the example of the wryter of the Epiſtle vntounto the Hebrues / which was a ſinguler inſtrument / and did not ſubſcribe hys Epiſtle / wherein notwithſtanding / he ſharply rebuketh diuers faultes amongſt them. And yet the wryter to the Hebrues / was not the miniſter of Sathan. And if he call it a libel / becauſe it vſeth ſome ſharper ſpeaches / ſurely all men ſee that hys boke deſerueth then to be called a Satyre / hauing for tarte wordes / bitter / and for one / twentie. But in what reſpecte ſo euer he call it a libell / he accuſeth not ſo much the authors of the admonition for preferring of it / as diuers of the honourable houſe of Parliament / whych dyd alowe it. Where as maiſter Doctor compareth vsus wyth the Phariſeis / and ſayeth we doe all to be ſeene of men / and that we hold downe our heades in the ſtreates / and ſtraine at a gnatte / ſwalowing downe a Camell / becauſe they are in all mennes knowledge / I will leaue it to them to iudge of the truthe of thoſe thyngs. Where he ſayeth we ſeldome / or neuer laughe / it is not therefore that we thincke that it is not lawfull to laughe / but that the conſiderations of the calamities of other churches / and of the ruines of oures / wyth the heauy iudgements of the Lord whych hang ouer vsus / ought to turne oure laughing into weeping / beſides that a man may laugh / although he ſhew not his tethe. And ſo Ierome in effecte / anſweareth in an epiſtle whych he wrote / where vponupon occaſion that certaine vſed the ſame accuſation / that M. doctor doeth / he ſayeth / becauſe we do not laugh wyth open mouth / therfore we are counted ſad.
And where he ſayeth / we ſeparate oure ſelues from all congregations / and are enemies to Prince / and that we wold ſeeme to be holyer then other / theſe and ſuch lyke ſlaunders are anſweared before. And if there be any that refuſe to ſalute godly preachers / or ſpitte in any mannes face / or wiſhe the plague of God to lyght vponupon them / or ſay that they be damned / we defende not / nor allowe of anye ſuche behauyor. And it is vnreaſonable / that the fault of one / ſhould be imputed to ſo many / and to thoſe whych do as much miſlyke of it / as M. doctor hymſelfe. And what needed. M. Doctor to byd the authors of theſe exhortations to holde their handes? where doe they in a word / offer to ſtrike? belike hys tonge is hys owne / and therfore he ſpeaketh whatſoeuer he lyſteth.
After M. Doctor confuteth hys owne ſhadowe. For the exhortation doth not require that the name of a brother ſhuld deliuer the authors of the admonition from puniſhment if they deſerued it / but deſireth that it myghte worke ſome moderation of the rigoure of it / and compaſſion to miniſter to their neceſſities in priſon. He ſayeth that the authors of the Admonition / take not them for theyr brethren / yes verely / although vnbrotherly handled / & for fathers to / and ſo both louelove them / and reuerence them / vntil (whych we hope wil not be) they ſhall manifeſtly for the vpholding of their owne kingdome and profite / refuſe to hauehave Chriſte raigne ouer vsus / in whome thys fatherhoods and brotherhoode doth conſiſte.
I knowe not whether they hauehave bene conferred wyth or no / but I thynke the firſt reaſon whych they had to perſwade them / was / that they ſhoulde goe to Newgate / whych is that / which the Exhortation complaineth of after / that they are firſt puniſhed / before they be taught. And in thys behalfe M. doctor hath no cauſe to complaine as he doth. For if he liſt / he may learn or euer he go to priſon. And as for the truth of the cauſe / and wreſting and mangling of the ſcriptures / in moſt places where they are ſayd to mangle and wreſt / and how he hath anſwered the requeſt of the exhortation / whych is: to confute the admonition by the ſcriptures / & how truely / aptly / & learnedly M. doctor hath behaued himſelf / in citing of the olde Councels / & Fathers: I leaue it to be eſtemed / partly / of that which I hauehave ſayd / and partly / by the deeper conſideration of thoſe / which becauſe they can better iudge / may ſee further into M. Doctors faultes / and rapſodies then I can. Although the truth is / that I hauehave / becauſe I woulde not make a long booke / by heaping of one reprehenſion vponupon an other / contented my ſelfe rather to trip / as it were / and to paſſe ouer with a light foote / the Heades / and Summes of things / then to number the faultes which are almoſt / as many as there are ſentences in thys booke / more I am ſure then there are pages.
ACcording to my promiſe made in my boke / I hauehave here ſet down the iudgement of the later wryters / concerning theſe matters in controuerſy betwene vsus. Wherein becauſe I louelove not to tranſlate out of other mens workes / whereby I might make myne to grow: I hauehave kept thys moderation / that I neither ſette down all the wryters / nor all their places / that I could / nor yet of eueryevery ſinguler matter: but the chefeſt wryters / and other of the cheefeſt poyntes / or elſe of thoſe / wherein they are alleadged agaynſt vsus by M. Doctor / and one only place of eche (as farre as I could iudge and chooſe out) moſt direct to that wherefore I hauehave alleaged it. For otherwyſe if I would hauehave ſpoken of all the poyntes / and of the iudgement of all the wryters / and gathered all the places that I could / they woulde hauehave bene ſufficient matter of an other booke as bigge / or rather bigger then thys. I muſt alſo admoniſh the Reader / that I hauehave for borne in certeine of theſe Titles / to ſet downe the iudgements of M. Beza / M. Bullinger and M. Gualter: becauſe they are comprehended in the Confeſſyon of the Churches. And thus / partly vponupon thoſe ſentences which I hauehave alleaged in thys booke / and partely vponupon theſe Teſtimonies heere ſet downe: I leaue to the conſyderation of all men / how truely / and iuſtly it is ſayde / that the learned wryters of theſe tymes (one or two onelyonly excepted) are agaynſt vsus.