A Reply to an Answer Made by Doctor Whitgift, To the reader 2
The author to the reader.
I Am humbly to craue at thy hand (gentill reader) that thou wouldeſt vouchſafe dyligently and carefully to compare M. Doctors anſwer / and my reply / both that thou mayſt the better vnderſtand the truth of the cauſe / and that the vntempered ſpeches (of hym eſpecially that whyppeth other ſo ſharply for them) which I hauehave in a maner altogether paſſed by / and hys loſe concluſions / which I hauehave (to auoyde tedyouſnes) not ſo fully purſued may the better appeare. Which thing as I craue to be done through the whole booke / ſo chefely / I deſire it may be done in the beginning / where the reader ſhall not be able ſo well to vnderſtand what is ſayde of me / vnleſſe he hauehave M. D. booke before hym. The cauſe of which diuerſitie / roſe of that / that I firſt purpoſed to ſet downe his anſwer before my reply / as he dyd the admonition before hys anſwer. But afterward conſidering that (hys booke being already in the handes of men) it would be double charges to bye it agayne: and eſpecially weighing with my ſelfe / that through the ſlownes of the prynt / for want of helpe / the reply by that meanes ſhould come forth later / then was conuenient (for although he myght commodyouſly bryng in the admonition / being ſhort / yet the ſame coulde not be done in his booke / ſwellyng in that ſort which it doth.) I ſay / theſe thinges conſydered / I changed my mynde / and hauehave therfore ſet downe the cauſes / which moued me ſo to doe / becauſe I know / that thoſe (if any be) which hauehave determyned to contynue theyr foreiudged opynions agaynſt the cauſe / whatſoeuer be alledged / wyll hereupon take occaſion to ſurmyſe / that I hauehave left out hys anſwere / to the end / that it myght the leſſe appeare / wherein I hauehave paſſed ouer any weyght of hys reaſons: where as / had it not bene for theſe cauſes which I hauehave before aledged / my earneſt deſire was / to hauehave ſet hys anſwere before my reply: whereof I call the Lord to wytneſſe / whom I know to be a ſharpe iudge agaynſt thoſe / which ſhall abuſe hys holy name to any vntruth.