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.

About this Item

Title
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.
Author
Whitgift, John, 1530?-1604.
Publication
Printed at London :: By Henry Binneman, for Humfrey Toye,
Anno. 1574.
Rights/Permissions

To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.

Subject terms
Cartwright, Thomas, 1535-1603. -- Replye to an answere made of M. Doctor Whitgifte -- Controversial literature -- Early works to 1800.
Church of England -- Apologetic works -- Early works to 1800.
Episcopacy -- Early works to 1800.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A15130.0001.001
Cite this Item
"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." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A15130.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 8, 2024.

Pages

The. 1. Diuision.

Admonition.

And to these three ioyntly, that is, the Ministers, Seniors, and Deacons, is the whole regi∣ment of the Churche to be committed.

Ansvvere to the Admonition. Pag. 126. Sect. vlt.

This is only by you set downe without proofe, therefore I will heare your reasons before I make you answere. In the meane time I praye you what authoritie in these matters do you giue to the ci∣uill* 1.1 magistrate, me thinke I heare you whisper that the Prince hath no authoritie in ecclesiasticall matters: I knowe it is a receiued opi∣nion among some of you, and therein you shake handes also with the Papistes and Anabaptistes.

T. C. Pag. 153. Lin. vlt. &c.

Unto all the rest vntill the ende of the firste parte of the Admonition. I haue answered already, yet there is a poynte or two whiche I must touche, whereof the first is in the. 126. pag. where hee would beare men in hande that the authours of the Admonition & some other of their mynde, would shut out the ciuill magistrate and the prince from all authoritie in Ecclesiasticall matters. Whiche surmise although I see it is not so much, bicause either he knoweth or suspecteth any such thing, as bicause he meaneth hereby to laye a bayte to entrappe withal, thinking that where (a) 1.2 he maketh no conscience to giue he careth not what authoritie to princes, wee will be loth to giue more than the worde of God will permit, wherby he hopeth to drawe vs into displeasure with the prince: yet for bicause he shall vnderstande, we nourishe no opinons secretly, which we are ashamed to declare o∣penly, & for that we doubt not of the equitie of the prince in this part, which knoweth that although her authoritie be the greatest in the earth, yet it is not infinite, but is lymited by the worde of God, & of whome we are persuaded, that as her maiestie knoweth, so she will not vnwillingly heare ye truth in this behalfe, these things I say being considered, I answere in the name of the authors of the Ad∣monition and those some other which you speake of, that the prince and ciuill magistrate (b) 1.3 hath to see, that the lawes of God touching his worship, and touching all matters and orders of the church be executed and duly obserued, and to see that euery ecclesiasticall persone do that office whervnto he is appointed, & to punish those which faile in their office accordingly. (c) 1.4 As for ye making of ye orders and ceremonies of the churche, they do (where there is a constituted and ordered churche) perteyne vnto the ministers of ye church, and to the ecclesiasticall gouernours, & that as they medle not with ye making of ciuill lawes, & lawes for the common wealth: so the ciuill magistrate hath not to ordeyne ceremonies perteining to the church: But if those to whome that doth apperteyne make any orders not meete, the magistrate may and ought to hynder them, & driue them to better, for so much as the ciuil magistrate hath this charge to see that nothing be done against ye glorie of God in his dominiō.

Io. Whitgifte.

The wordes of the Admonition pag. 126. be these: and fo these three ioyntly, that is, the* 1.5 Ministers, Seniors, and Deacons, is the whole regimēt of the churche to be committed. Wher∣fore they spoyle the ciuill magistrate of all gouernment in Ecclesiasticall matters: for if the whole gouernmēt of the church is to be cōmitted to Ministers, Seniors, & Deacons, what authoritie remaineth to the ciuil magistrate in the gouernment of it? Agreable to this disobedient spirite & erroneous & Papisticall doctrine, is that in the second Admonitiō Fol. 8. &. 9. where the authors of that booke take from the ciuill magistrate all supremacie in

Page 695

Ecclesiasticall matters, and by euident circumstances, call his authoritie vsed in those things vsurped. pag. 57. they saye, only meere ciuill lawes are to be made. And here in this place T. C. in expresse wordes taketh from the ciuill magistrate, all authoritie of makyng and appoin∣ting* 1.6 orders and ceremonies of the church, and giueth the same onely to ministers and eccle〈1 line〉〈1 line〉asticall gouerne〈1 line〉〈1 line〉rs, he maketh it the princes dutie to see those 〈1 line〉〈1 line〉awes executed which these eccle〈1 line〉〈1 line〉asti∣call gouernours shall appoynte and prescribe: and in his Preface he saith that eiuill persones may not handle ecclesiastical matters and Pag. 35. &. 145. ye the ciuil magistrate may not be the head of the church in that common wealth whereof he is the head. Where by (as I suppose he mea∣neth* 1.7 supreame gouernour) and that the churche may bee established without him. Pag. 54. hee denieth that the magistrate ought to prescribe what kynde of apparell ministers should 〈◊〉〈◊〉. In diuers places, he maketh such a distinction betwixt the church of Christ, & a Chri∣stian cōmon wealth yt hath a Christiā magistrate, as he would do betwixt the church & a Heathenishe common wealth, yt hath a persecuting and an vnbeleuing magistrate, and separateth the common wealth of Englande, as farre from the churche of Eng∣lande as he can do the common wealthe of Turcia, from the churche of Christ in Turcia: all this I haue noted to this ende, that the good subiect and those that be carefull for the preseruation of the state of this Realme, and the lawefull authoritie of hir Maiestie, may the better consider and beware of this doctrine, the whiche vnlesse I proue to be the selfe same with the Papistes in substance, let me susteine that punishement that is due vnto them whome I burden & charge with forgetfulnes of dutie in this poynt.

Saunders in that trayterous booke of his, wryteth thus. That hath deceiued many,* 1.8 bicause they see kings to be Christians, and to rule ouer Christians, for they knowe not, or at the least they will not knowe, what difference there is, whether thou rule ouer a Christian in that he is a Christian, or in that he is a man. For a king ruleth ouer Christian men, but not* 1.9 bicause they bee Christians, but bicause they bee men: and bicause byshoppss be men, in that respect he ruleth also ouer them. &c. And. T. C. in his Reply. pag. 35. writeth on this* 1.10 manner, saying: That the godlye Magistrate is the head of the common wealth, but not of the churche, meaning that particular churche conteyned in the common wealth whereof he is gouernour: and in the same page he saith: that the Christian Magistrate is but on∣ly a member of that particular churche. And pag 145. he sayeth, That the Prynce may well bee* 1.11 Monarche immediatly betwene God and the common wealth, and not betwene God & the church, in that common wealth or any singular member in the church, and in this place he would haue the ciuill Magistrate no more to intermedle with making Ecclesiasticall lawes and orders, than the ecclesiasticall minister should deale with ciuill: diuers such nippes and pinches he hath at the ciuill Magistrate: speaking no other wyse of hym than of a Turke or a Iewe, and gi∣uing him no more authoritie in the church of Christe and ouer Christians, than if hee were the great Turke, or wicked Nero. But I answere them bothe with the wordes of M. Musculus in his common places Titu. de Magistratu. Let Ethnickes and infidels whiche liue not in the vnitie of truthe, but in the confusion of errour, haue their diuers lawes* 1.12 and magistrates, some prophane and some holy, whose whole life is prophane, whose religion is but ecclesiasticall superstition and in the temple only. Christian people are altogether he∣ly, and dedicated to the name of Christe, not in temples only and ecclesiasticall rites, but in their whole life, in euery place at al times, in all things, in al deedes and studies, that accor∣ding to the admonitiō of the Apostle. 1. Cor. 10. whether he eate or drinke, or whatsoeuer he doth all may be done to the glory of God, and Col. 3. whatsoeuer he doth in woorde or in deede, hee doe it in the name of the Lorde. &c. VVherefore that distinction of Eccle∣siasticall & prophane lawes, hath no place in it, bicause there is nothing in it that is prophane, seeing it is a people holy to the Lorde God: and the Magistrate is holy and not prophane, his authoritie is holy, his lawes are holy, his sword is holy, a reuenger of the wicked and vn∣godly, whereby he serueth the Lorde being the chiefe lawmaker, and iudge: our members are the members of Christ, and our bodies are the bodies of the holy ghost: we are willed to glorifie God not in our spirit onely, but in our bodie also 1. Cor. 6. Therefore this be sarre* 1.13 from the church of Christ, that it should be partly holy, and partly prophane, holy before, and prophane behinde, lyke vnto an Idoll which sheweth beautifull before, and behinde is full of filth, and Spyders webbes.

Againe the Papistes giue to the Christian Magistrate in ecclesiasticall matters,

Page 696

Potestatem facti and not iuris, that is, to sée those lawes executed and put in practise, that the Pope and his Clergie shall make, and to bée as it were their executioner, but not to make any lawes or orders in Ecclesiastical matters: for so writeth Saunders in his book before named Fol. 64. Although I doe not denye but that the knowledge of a* 1.14 facte that belongeth to the ecclesiasticall lawe, may be committed to kings and Magistrates, and before the ecclesiastical cause be determined, the king may vse his authoritie to this end, that there may be some quiet place prepared, where the bishops shall cōsulte, and that the bi∣shops be called to the same place at a certein day, and that in the meane time while the mat∣ter is in determining, cōmon peace may be preserued euen among the priests them selues: to conclude, after the cause be determined and iudged by the priests, the king may punishe him with the sworde (which he carieth not in vaine) or by some other corporall punishmēt which shal refuse to obey the sentence of the priests. Therfore we do not deny but that kings haue something to do, both before, and at, and after the iudgements of the bishops: but in the of∣fice of iudging, they haue no more to do, than other priuate persons, for they may well giue councell, and declare what they thinke, but they may not determine or define what Gods lawes or the ecclesiastical lawe doth require. And doth not T. C. in this place affirme the* 1.15 same? onely herein he séemeth something to differ, yt if the ecclesiastical gouernours shall make any orders vnmeete, the magistrate may driue them to better. But what if they saye they be méete, & will stand to it, as you do now in this fonde platforme? will they not crye out vpon the magistrate, & saye that he is a persecutour, a mainteiner of an vn∣lawfull authoritie, & of that which is against the glorie of God, if he withstande thē? as the authours of the seconde Admonition do in playne termes, saying, For though the or∣ders be, and ought to be drawen out of the booke of God, yet it is her Maiestie that by her princely* 1.16 authoritie should see euery of these thyngs put in practise, and punyshe those that neglect them, ma∣king lawes therefore: for the churche may keepe those orders, but neuer in peace, except the comfor∣table and blessed assistance of the states and gouernours imcke in to see them in their countreis and vsed, for otherwyse the church maye and must keepe Gods orders, but alwaies in troubles and per∣secution which is like to light vpon vs, except a reformation of religion, or a direct prouiso for vs bee made, for surely only this is God his order, and ought to be vsed in his churche, so that in conscience we are forced to speake for it and to vse it, and in conscience and in reuerence of God we are forced to speake as we do of that reformation, which we nowe vse, not so much for ought else, as to set out the deformities thereof, that we might thinke vpon the amending of them.

M. Musculus in the booke and title before recited, setteth out this Popish opiniō tou∣ching* 1.17 the authoritie of ye ciuill Magistrate in ecclesiasticall matters briefly, but plain∣ly, in these wordes. Those whome they call Ecclesiasticall persones, and we call them Pa∣pistes, will not commit to the magistrate any further authoritie in religion, than to be the keeper and reuenger of it, and of their Ecclesiasticall lawes, that the ecclesiasticall pollicie maye remayne immouable, wherefore they deny him to haue authoritie in that he is a ma∣gistrate to make or to publyshe any Ecclesiasticall lawes, bicause suche things perteine to those that do represent the churche, whose decrees and constitutions must bee mainteyned and defended by the authoritie of the magistrate.

This I thought good to nete before I come to answering of his argumentes, that al men may vnderstand that I no otherwise charged them in this point, than they haue well deserued, neither haue I as yet detected all that they peruersly thinke, of the au∣thoritie of the ciuill magistrate: one thing I praye you marke, that here is one note* 1.18 practised that I haue ascribed to the Anabaptistes, in my (*) 1.19 Answere to the Admoni∣tion, for there I shewe that the Anabaptistes accuse the true ministers of the Gospell, for attributing (as they saye) to much to the ciuill magistrate: The same doth T. C. charge me with in this place. But I will nowe come to his argumentes.

Notes

Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.