A replye to an ansvvere made of M. Doctor VVhitgifte Against the admonition to the Parliament. By T.C.

An answere to that which is called a briefe examination of the rea∣sons 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 haue sayd no more / nor vsed vehementer speache then thys / that they are most vn∣tollerably abused / and vnlearnedly applyed. And then where is charitie / which * 1.1 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 haue bene spared / but there are a great number / which (M. Doctor) tosseth & throw∣eth 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 mar∣gent might appeare to the reader more absurde / M. Doctor hath besides the ad∣uantage which he taketh of the faultes of the Printer / vsed two vnlawfull prac∣tisies 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 igno∣rance 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 imper∣fections so high / and set them as it were vpon 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 vnto / 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 y^e Confutation / being straightway after / & in sondry other places repea¦ted 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 y^e supper of the Lord clothed / or naked. Thys sauoureth strongly of the secte of y^e Adamites.

S. Paul whych commendeth the preseruation of godlynes and peace / vnto * 1.2 the cyuill magistrate / doth also commende vnto hym the prouyding / that honesty be kept / and M. Doctor maketh it an indifferent thing / to come eyther naked / or clothed vnto 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 vpon the stage without a sloppe / how much more filthy is it / for a Christian / to come naked vnto the Lordes table? and the contrary thereof / is necessarily col∣lected of the scripture / notwithstanding that M. Doctor sayeth otherwise. They which haue heard M. Doctor read in the scholes can tell / that he being there a∣mongst learned men / neuer vsed to reduce the contrary argumentes of the aduer∣saryes / to the places of the fallacions / and yet that was the fittest place for hym to haue shewed hys knowledge in / because there they should haue bene best vnder∣stode: now that he professeth hym selfe to be a doctor of the people / which because they haue not learned these things / can not vnderstande them / he dasheth out his Logicke. What may be probably gathered hereof / I leaue to euery mans consi∣deration: thys is certen / that circumstances of place and persons / which he so of∣ten 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 cal∣led / maketh no mention of these / and if these were fallacions / and were such as he imagineth them / they should be referred vnto the former place / ab eo quod est se∣cundum 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 refer∣red vnto that place / and whether they be or no / and also how corruptly / and other∣wise 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 rea∣der beleeue / that those which thinke not as he doth in these matters / are not on∣ly 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 haue 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 whoso∣euer 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 / be∣cause 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 haue 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 euery thing which is verified of the Subiect, may be likewise verefied of that which is annexed vnto it. The further confutation of which arguments I refer vnto their places.

There be diuers other which he hath / which are so farre from iust conclusi∣ons / as they haue 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 con∣cludeth 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 vnto an other. There must be degrees / therfore there must be one arch¦byshop ouer a prouince.

And in the. 73. there was one ouer euery congregation / therefore there was one ouer all the ministers in the prouince. These / and a number like vnto these / M. Doctor hath scattered throughout his boke / which as Nero sayd of his ma∣ster Senecas works / cleaue together like sand / & thus let it be sene / whose argu∣ments are most iustly concluded / those of y^e admonition / or these of M. Doctors.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Pro. 10. 12.
• * 1.2

  1. Tim. 2. 2.