The defense of the aunsvvere to the Admonition against the replie of T.C. By Iohn VVhitgift Doctor of Diuinitie. In the beginning are added these. 4. tables. 1 Of dangerous doctrines in the replie. 2 Of falsifications and vntruthes. 3 Of matters handled at large. 4 A table generall.

Chap. 1. the. 3. Diuision.

T. C. Pag. 120. Lin. 5.

I wyll vse an example in one, and that the chiefe of holydayes, and most generally, & of longest tyme obserued in the Churche, which is the feaste of Easter, whiche was kept of some more dayes, of some fewer. Howe many thousandes are there, I wyll not saye of the ignoraunt Papistes, but of those also which professe the Gospell, which when they haue celebrated those dayes with diligent heede taken vnto theyr lyfe, and with some earnest deuotion in praying and hearing the worde of God, do not by and by thynke that they haue well celebrated the feaste of Easter, and yet haue they thus notably deceyued them selues. For Saint Paule teacheth the celebratyng of the feaste of the* 1.1 Christians Easter, is not as the Iewes Easter was, for certayne dayes, but sheweth that wee must keepe this feaste all the dayes of our lyfe, in the vnleauened bread of sinceritie and of truthe, by which we see that the obseruing of the feaste of Easter for certayne dayes in the yeare, doth pul out of our myndes or euer wee bee aware, the doctrine of the Gospell, and causeth vs to reste in that neare consyderation of our duties for the space of a fewe dayes, whiche shoulde bee extended to all our lyfe.

Io. Whitgifte.

What? do you condemne the feast of Easter also? would you haue it abrogated* 1.2 bicause it hath bene abused? do you not knowe that the Apostles them selues obser∣ued it, and the Churche euer sithence their tyme? reade Eusebius lib. 5. cap. 23. and you shall finde it to be a tradition of the Apostles: per vse the. 24. and 25. chapter of the same* 1.3 booke, & you shall vnderstand by the testimony of Polycrates, & all the other byshops in Asia, that Philip the Apostle, Iohn the Euangelist, Polycarpus his scholler, & other by∣shops likewyse of greatest antiquitie, kept solēly the feast of Easter. But why should I labour to proue that, that all histories, all aunciēt fathers, al late wryters, al learned men confesse? and especially séeing that S. Augustine ad Ianu. 119. sayeth that the ob∣seruation

of Easter hath the authoritie from the scriptures, and séeing also that the same feaste with others is allowed by the confession of the Churches in Heluetia? The wordes of which confession be these. Moreouer if Churches, as they may by Christian li∣bertie* 1.4 kepe religiouslye the remembraunce of Christe his birth, circumcision, passion, re∣surrection, ascention into heauen, and sending his holy ghoste vnto his disciples, wee well allowe it. Therefore I cannot but marueyle, that you so boldely without grounde, for abuse sake, condemne euen the feaste vsed and allowed by the Apostles, and conti∣nued in the Churche without contradiction, of any one worthy of credite, to this daye. Surely you may as well reason that the scriptures are not to be read, because that he∣retikes haue so greatly abused them.

Th place of S. Paule. 1. Cor. 5. is nothing to your purpose, for though he borrows a Metaphor of the Iewes passeouer, to moue the Corinthiās to purenesse and integri∣tie of lyfe, yet doth he not abrogate the feaste of Easter: if he had ment any such thing (as he did not) yet must it haue bene vnderstanded of the Iewes passeouer, not of celebration of the memorie of Christes resurrection, whiche we commonlye call Easter. Dothe hée that sayeth the whole lyfe of a Christian man ought to bee a per∣petuall faste, denye that there maye bée anye daye or tyme appoynted to faste in? A Christian man muste euer serue God and worshyppe hym, shall there not there∣fore be certayne dayes appoynted for the same? This is a verye symple argument. Saint Paule wylleth vs to purge out the olde leuen, that we maye be a newe lumpe. &c. also to kepe the feaste not with olde leuen, neither with the leuen of malitiousnesse. &c. therefore we maye not celebrate the feaste of Easter, once in the yeare. I denye this argument.

The obseruing of Easter, doth rather put vs in mynde of the doctrine of the Gospell, and drawe vs to a more nere consyderation of the benefites that wée haue receyued by the death, passion and resurrection of Christe, and I suppose that there are fewe godlye disposed Christians, that doe not thynke it moste conuenient and profitable, that such feastes especiallye shoulde bée in the Churche reteyned, ney∣ther is euerye contentious persons imagination and surmyse what maye happen, to bée so greatlye regarded, that it shoulde bée sufficient to condemne anye thyng, that maye haue a profitable vse in the Churche, by whome so euer it is inuented, much lesse if it hath bene vsed of the Apostles them selues, and euer sythence theyr tyme continued in the Churche, as I haue shewed this feaste to haue bene. Th〈1 line〉〈1 line〉 weakenesse of man is greate, therefore as hée is continuallye to be taught that hée shoulde at all tymes remember his dutie, so is it verye necessarye to haue certayne feastes wherein by the readyng and hearyng of the Scriptures, men maye be parti∣cularlye styrred to the remembraunce and depe consyderation of the principall partes of our Religion, and the good and godlye examples of the Sainctes of God in doing their dutie therein.

Notes

• * 1.1

  1. Cor. 5.
• * 1.2

  The apostles obserued Ea∣ster.
• * 1.3

  Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 23. 24. 29.
• * 1.4

  Confess. Helue.