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

To the next section contained in the. 198. 199. 200. 201. pages.

LEast M. Doctor (as hys common fashyon is when the corruption of anye thyng is spoken agaynst) say that we condemne buryall / I would haue hym vnderstand / that we hold that the body must be honestly and comely buried / and that it is mete / that for that cause some reasonable numbre of those whych be the frends and neyghbors about / should accompany the corps to the place of bu∣ryall. We hold it also lawfull to lament the dead / and if the dignity of the persone so require / we thynke it not vnlawfull to vse some way about y^e buriall / wherby that may appeare / but yet so / that there be a measure kepte bothe in the weepyng and in the charges / consydering that whereas immoderate eyther weepyng or pompe was neuer / no not in the tyme of the lawe allowed / nowe in the time of the gospell / all that is not lawfull / whych was permitted in the time of the law. For vnto the people of God vnder the law / weeping was by so much more permitted vnto them / then vnto vs / by howe muche they had not so cleare a reuelation and plaine syght of the resurrection as we haue / whych was y^• cause also why it was lawfull for them to vse more cost in the embaulmyng of the dead / therby to nou∣ryshe and to helpe their hope touchyng the resurrection / wherof we haue a grea∣ter pledge by the resurrection of our sauyor Christ / then they had. Nowe for the thyngs whych the admonition findeth fault wyth / and thereof bryngeth reason / M. Doctor of hys bare credite wythout any reason or scrypture / or any thyng els / commendeth them vnto vs / & sayeth they be good. And thys you shall marke to be M. doctors symple shyft throughoute hys booke / that when he hath no co∣loure of scripture / nor of reason / no name nor title of doctor / thē to make vp some thyng / he varyeth hys affirmation by all the figures he can / as in saying simplye that it is so / and then in askyng whether it be not so / and after in askyng whether there is any other man will thynke that it is not so / as if the woulde make vs be∣leeue / that he setteth vs dyuers kindes of meates / because he bryngeth the same in dyuers dyshes. For besydes these reasons / he hathe no reason / eyther to proue that it is meete to haue prescript forme of seruice for the dead / or that the minister should be drawne to thys charge. Surely if the order be so good and conuenient / it hath met w^t a very barren patron / whych can say nothing for it. And although there be enough sayd by the admonition / yet because thys bold and hardy speache is enough to lead the simpler away / & to make them thinke that M. doctor hathe a good cause / therfore I wil also say somthyng of these rites of buryal.

And first of all / as thys almost is a generall fault in them all / y^t they main∣tayne in the mindes of the ignorant the opinion of praying for the dead: so is thys also a nother general fault / y^t these ceremonyes are taken vp w^tout any example / either of the churches vnder the law / or of the purest churches vnder the gospel / that is / of the churches in the apostles times. For when the scripture descrybeth the ceremonies or rites of buryall amongste the people of God so dilygently / that it maketh mention of the smallest thyngs / there is no doubte but the holy Ghoste doth therby shew vs a paterne / wherevnto we should also frame oure buryalles. And therfore for so much as neyther the church vnder the law nor vnder the gos∣pell / when it was in the greatest puritye / dyd euer vse any prescript forme of ser∣uice

in the buryall of theyr dead / it coulde not be but daungerous / to take vp any such custome / & in the tyme of the lawe it was not only not vsed / but vtterly for∣bidden. For when the law did forbyd that the priest should not be at the buryall / * 1.1 which ought to say or conceiue the prayers there / it is cleare y^• the Iewes might not haue any such prescript form. And yet they had most nede of it / for the causes of obscure knowledge / & weaker fayth before alledged. Againe / by thys meanes a newe charge is layd vpon the minister / and a taking hym away from his necessa∣ry dueties of feeding and gouerning the flocke / whych being so great as a mar∣uellous diligence will scarcely ouercome / oughte not to be made greater by thys / being a thyng so vnnecessary. The Admonition dothe not say that the Prayers whych are sayd / are for the dead / but that they maintaine an opinion of prayer for the deade in the heartes of the simple / and that they declare manifestly enoughe / when they say that it may be partly gathered. &c.

For the mournyng apparell / the admonition sayeth not simply it is euill be∣cause it is done of custome / but proueth that it is hypocritical oftētimes / for that it proceedeth not from any sadnes of minde / whych it dothe pretende / but worne only of custome / there being vnder a mourning gowne of tentimes a mery heart. And considering that where there is sorow in deede for the dead / there it is very hard for a man to kepe a measure that he do not lament too much: We ought not to vse those meanes whereby we myght be further prouoked to sorow / and so go a great way beyonde the measure / whych the apostle apoynteth in mournyng / no * 1.2 more then it was well done of the Iewes in the gospell to prouoke weping & so∣rowe for their deade by some dolfull noise or sounde of instrument / or then it was lawfull for Mary Lazarus sister to goe to her brothers graue / thereby to set the * 1.3 print of her sorow deper in her minde. Seing therefore if there be no sorowe / it is hypocritical to pretend it / and if there be / it is very dangerous to prouoke it / or to cary the notes of remēbrance of it / it appeareth that this vse of mourning apparel were much better layed away then kept. And here M. doctor threps a litle kind∣nes of the authors of the admonition / & sayth that they know it is very ancient / whom before he denyeth to haue any knowledge of antiquity. In dede it is very ancient / but M. doctor is afraid to shew the ancienty of it / for Cyp. and Aug. in∣ueigh * 1.4 vehemently agaynst it / condemnyng it as vnlawfull and vndecent.

Nowe touching the funerall sermons M. doctor taketh on / & tryumpheth maruellously / as though he had already gotten the victorye: but he that girdeth hys harnes / should not boast as he that putteth it of. There is more matter then peraduenture M. doctor is aware of / & that whych is set downe / he answeareth not: as that it norysheth an opinion that the dead are the better for it / whych doth appeare in y^e there are none more desirous of funerall sermons / then the papists / whych although they can not abide the doctrine whych is preached / yet they wil haue suche sermons / and those whych will very seldome / or not at all / be at other sermons / will not commonly misse one of these. Furthermore / for so much as the minyster is driuen oftentimes by this meanes to preach vpon a sodaine / the word of God therby is negligently handled / especially of those whose gyftes are not so great / as that they can prouide in so small time / and by thys neglygent handlyng of the word of God / it is brought into contempt.

Moreouer / consydering that these funerall sermons are at the request of rych men / and those whych are in authoritye / and are very seldome at the buryall of the pore / there is brought into the church (contrary to the word of God) an ac∣ceptation of persons / which ought not to be. For although the minister may giue to one more honor then to an other / accordyng as the callyng or degree requireth / yet in hys mynistery / & that whych pertaineth vnto hys office / he ought to shew hymselfe indifferent / and therfore preach as wel at the death of the pore / as of the rych: and because he can not well do both / it is most conuenient to leaue both. If

so be that M. doctor wyl say / that it is good that notable and famous men shuld haue their commendation / to the ende that bothe the goodnes of God towardes them / myght be the better knowne / and others the soner drawne to followe theyr example: I graunt it is so / and the scrypture dothe bothe approue it / and sheweth what meane is best to doe that by. For so we read that Ieremy the prophet com∣mended that godly and zealous prince Iosias / in wryting verses of hys deathe. * 1.5 He could haue as easely preached / but thys he thought the best way. So did also Dauid wryte verses at the death of Saul / and Ionathan and Abner / in whych * 1.6 he commendeth their gyfts and graces whych the Lord had bestowed vpon thē. There were in deede of ancient time funerall orations / as appeareth in Gregory Nazianzen / but they sauoured of the manner of Athens / where he was brought vp: where also thys custome of funerall orations was vsed / as may be seene in the second boke of Thucydydes story by an oration of Pericles. And althoughe thys custome was not in Nazianzeus time / so corrupt as afterwardes: yet the departing from the examples of the purer churches / gaue occasion of further cor∣ruption whych ensued. And to say the truth / it was better vsed amongst the A∣thenians / then amongst the christians. For there it was merely ciuill / and the o∣ration at the death of some notable personage / made / not by a minister / but by an Orator appoynted therfore: whych I thinke may well be done. And if M. doc∣tor will say / that there myght be sermones / although they be not mentioned ney∣ther in the old testament nor in the new: I haue answered before / that seeing the holy ghost doth describe so dilygently the least circumstances of burial / he would not haue omitted that / being the greatest. And let it be obserued / that thys deuise of mannes braine bryngeth forth the same frute that other do / y^e is / dryueth quite away a necessary duety of the minister / whych is / to comfort wyth the worde of God / the parties whych be greued at the death of their frends / that consideryng the sore is perticular / he apply vnto it a perticular plaister whych is very seldome or neuer done / and yet a necessary duety / as of a good christian / so especially of the minister / whych can best do it / and to whome it most appertaineth. And whereas M. doctor asketh / when there is a better time to speake of death and of mortality then at buryall / surely if it had ben so fit / the Prophets and apostles would neuer haue lost that oportunity / or let pas that occasion of aduancing and making effec∣tuall their preaching. What if it be answered / that for as muche as oure lyfe is a continuall meditation of death / it is not salfe to vse thys custome / for that it tyeth our cogitation to so short a tyme as the tyme of buryall is / which ought to be ex∣tended to the whole course of our lyfe. But I answere / that it may be well done wythout any such funerall sermons when the minister taketh occasion of y^e death of any whych is lately departed / to speake of the vanity of y^e life of man. Whether M. doctor lyketh the reformation or no / so it is in the church where M. Caluin was pastor / & hath ben for these many yeres. And although the Englishe church in Geneua had that in the boke of common prayer / yet (as I haue heard of those whych were there present) it was not so vsed. And if it had bene / yet therby it is not proued that M. Caluin allowed of it. For wyth thyngs wherin ther was no great and manifest disorder / M. Caluin dyd beare that whych he lyked not of. And there being no papists in all the city / and al being wel instructed / there was no such danger in a funerall sermon there / as is here amongst vs / where there is many papists / and mo ignorant. I will say nothyng of the great abuse of those / whych hauing otherwyse to lyue on of the church / take nobles for euery such ser∣mon / and sometime a mourning gowne / whych causeth the papistes to open their mouthes wide / and to say / that the marchandise of sermons is much dearer then of the masse: for that they might haue for a grote or six pence / and the sermon they cannot haue vnder a roūder sum. That must be remembred whych I had almost forgotten / howe vntruely and slaunderously M. doctor sayth / that the authors of

the admonition do compare y^e sermon wyth a trentall or a masse. For whē I say in stead of the masse we haue the holy Communion / doe I compare / or lyken the communion to the masse? and yet this is M. doctors charitable collection / which gathereth thyngs whych no man letteth fall. Touching the place of buryall / I haue spoken before. And although it be not to be mislyked / that there should be a cōmon place to bury in / yet the places whych M. doctor poynteth vs vnto / proue the cleane contrary. For by the story of Abrahams place of buryall / it appeareth that the manner was that euery one was buryed in hys owne seuerall groūd / as may appeare also by that that the euangelist sayth / that there was a field bought * 1.7 to bury the strangers in / whych had no place of their owne / whych was also vsed sometimes in the churches vnder the gospell / as appeareth by the story of Theo∣doret / whych I haue before recited / & in the later end of a funeral oratien / which Gregory Nazianzene made of the death of hys brother Cesarius. And so by this reason M. doctor wold haue euery one buryed in hys owne possession.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Leu. 21. 1. 11.
• * 1.2

  1. Thes. 4. 13. Math. 9. 23.
• * 1.3

  Iohn. 11. 31.
• * 1.4

  Cypr. 4. serm. de mortalitate. Aug. lib. 2. de consolar. mor∣tuorum.
• * 1.5

  2. Chro. 35. 25
• * 1.6

  2. Sa. 1. 17. &c. 2. Sa. 3. 33. &c
• * 1.7

  Math. 27. 7.