taketh away life nor fire that consumeth the body which I moue vnto but it is the sworde of correction and discipline which may by sundrie other meanes be drawne out than by shedding of bloud That sword of discipline I call for still and say wyth Zuinglius If it be permitted that euery In his Epistle before his booke called Ecclesiastes man may freely defend his errors and spread abrode in the Church false doctrine there wil be more contentions sectes and discorde among Christian Churches than euer there was among Infidels And again If euery man may without controlment preach among the people his own priuate phansie and opinion contrary to the determination and authority of the Church it will shortly come to passe that we shall haue more errors than Christians If I haue accused any man vniustly there is a lawe whervnto I am subiecte but your words are not of that weight neither your defense suche that therefore they please or satisfie wise men bicause you speake them If they can say no more for them selues than you haue sayd for thē then they must remayne still in the same suspicion If there be any iust cause why ye shoulde haue the good abearing agaynst any man if you will come foorthe and orderly require it I am sure you may haue it But oh the mildnesse the patience and the quietnesse of this spirite of yours To the godly Readers grace and peace from God c. TWo treatises ye haue heere ensuing beloued in Christ which ye muste reade without a 1. Thes. 5. 21 Iam. 1. 19. 20 Iam. ▪ 2. 1. parcialitie or blinde affection For otherwyse you shall neither see their meaning nor refrayne your selues from rashly condemning of them without iust cause For certayne men there are of great countenance whiche will not lightly like of them bicause they principally concerne their persons and vniust dealings ▪ whose credite is great and whose friends are many we meane the lordely Lords Archbishops Bishops Suffraganes Deanes Doctors Archdeacons Chauncellours and the rest of that proude generation whose kingdome muste downe holde they neuer so harde b cause their tyrannous Lordship can not stande b Math. 15. 23 Luc. 16. 15. with Christes kingdome And it is the speciall mischiefe of our Englishe Churche and the chiefe cause of backwardnesse and of all breache dissention For they whose authoritie is c Mat 20. 25. 26. Mat. 23. 8. 9 10. Mar. 10. 42. 43. Luc. 22. 15. c. forbidden by Christ wil haue their stroke without their felow seruants yea though vngratiously cruelly and Popelike they take vppon them to d Mat. 24 48 49. beate them and that for their own childish Articles beeing for the most part against the manyfest truthe of God First by experience their rigour hathe too playnely appeared euer since their wicked raigne and specially for the space of these fiue or sixe yeres last past togither Of the enormities whiche with suche rigour they maynteine these treatises do in parte make mention iustly crauing redrèsse thereof But the matters do require a larger discourse Onely the authors of these thoughte it their partes to admonishe you at this time of those inconueniences whiche men seeme not to thinke vpon and whiche without reformation can not but increase further dissention the one parte beeing proude pontificall and tyrannous and the worde of God for the other parte expresse and manifest as if it pleased the state to examine the matters it woulde be euident And woulde to God that free conference in these matters might be had For howsoeuer learned and many they seeme to be they should may in this realme find inowe to match them and shame them too if they holde on as they haue begonne And out of this realme they haue all the best reformed Churches throughout Christendome agaynst them But in a fewe wordes to say what we meane Either muste we haue a right e Math. 9. 37. 38. Ephe. 4. 11. 12. ministerie of God and a right f Mat. 18. 15. 16. 17. gouernment of his Churche according to the Scriptures set vp both which we lacke or else there can be no right religion nor yet for contempt thereof can g Pro. 29. 18. Amos. 8. 11. 12. c. Ma. 21. 23. c. 1. Cor. 11. 30 Gods plagues be from vs any while differred And therefore though they linke in togither and sclaunderously charge poore men whome they haue made poore with grieuous faults calling them Puritans worse than the Donatists exasperating setting on such as be inauthoritie agaynst them hauing hitherto miserably handled thē with r uilings ▪ depriuations imprisonments banishments suche like extremities yet is these poore mens cause neuer the h Mat. 10. 16. 26. worse nor these chalengers the better nor God his i Esai 59. 1. hand the further of to linke in with his agaynst them nor you christian brethren must neuer the rather without examination k Exo. 23. 1. 2. Mat. 7. 1. 2. Iam 4. 11. 12 condemne them But thankfully take this taste whiche God by these treatises offereth you and weigh them by the worde of God and do your endeu ur euery man in his l 1. Cor. 5. 20 1. Cor. 7. 27 calling to promote his cause And let vs all with more m Psal. 50. 15. Mat. 7. 7. 1. Tim. 2. 1. 2 earnest prayer than we are wont earnestly commende it to God hys blessing and namely that it will please him by his spirite to lighten the heart of our most gracious Soueraigne and the rest in authoritie to the benefite of his small flocke and the ouerthrowe of their proude enimies that godlinesse may by them proceede in peace and God his glory through Iesus Christ be throughly aduaunced Whiche we call God to witnesse is our onely labour and suite And so presently we leaue you hartily beseeching God to graunt it Amen ¶ An answere to the Preface of the Admonition THese two treatises contayned in this Admonition as they be voyde of sound learning so are they full of blinde affection and stuffed with vncharitable and vnchristian Arrogancie and vnchristian speches of the Libellers termes and phrases Wherfore it is to be feared that they proceede not of loue but of hatred not of zeale but of malice not of humilitie but of arrogancie not of minds desirous to reforme but of stomackes seeking to deforme and confounde that which is in due forme and order by lawfull authoritie established For what charitable zealous and humble spirite would so spitefully and slaunderously speake of their brethren whose doctrine is pure whose zeale is feruent whose suffering for the Gospell hath beene in time of triall comparable with any mans that nowe liueth who haue also paynefully taught the worde of God in this Realme and do at this day and by whose ministerie the Gospell hathe taken roote and is come to that encrease that nowe God be thanked appeareth Surely
not haue vsed if you could haue founde any better Chap. 3. the. 8. Diuision T. C. Page 76. Sect. 2. Seeing therefore (a) A weake con clusion of false principles the Bishop which Cyprian speaketh of is nothing else but suche as we call pastor or as the common name with vs is parson and his Churche whereof he is a Bishop is neyther dioces nor prouince ▪ but a congregation whiche meete togither in one place and to be taught of one man what should M. Doctor meane to put on this great name of Archbishop vpon so small a Bishopricke as it were Saules great harnesse vpon Dauid his little body or as if a man shoulde set a wyde huge porche before a little house Io. Whitgifte Where the premisses be nought howe shoulde the conclusion be good I would to God your argument were in his right forme that we mighte sée vpon what substantiall postes your conclusion dothe stande But let the Reader consider your grounds which I haue opened before I might heere tell you agayne that Cyprian in playne and manifest words Lib. 4. Epist. 1. dothe make a Bishop superior in degrée to him that you call pastor his words I haue repeated before I might also put you in minde of Cyprians iurisdiction ouer the churches of Carthage Numidia and Mauritanie according to his owne testimonie lib. 4. Epi. 8. in which respecte Illyricus dothe call him Metropolitane Likewise I might tell you that the most writers of that age as Tertullian de Coro militis de Fuga in pers Origen hom 2. in Numer 11. in Hierem. doe make thrée degrées of Ministers Deacons Priests Bishops To be short I could bid you looke Eusebius lib. 6. cap. 1. and you should sinde that Demetrius who liued Anno. 191. was Bishop Paroeciarū Alexandriae Aegypti of the parishes of Alexandria and Egypt and referre you to many suche examples vsed before which vtterly ouerthrowe this conclusion and euen hisse it out of the doores Chap. 3. the. 9 Diuision T. C. Pag. 76. Sect. 3. And least that M. Doctor shoulde saye that notwithstanding the Bishops had but seuerall churches yet one of them might haue eyther a title more excellent than the rest or authoritie and gouernmēt ouer the rest that shal likewise be considered out of Cyprian And first for the title and honor of archebishop it appeareth howe Cyprian helde that as a proude name for he obiecteth to Florentius as a presumptuous thing for that in beleeuing certayne euill reportes of him and misiudging 4. p. 9 of him he did appoynt himselfe Bishop of a Bishop and iudge ouer him whiche was for the time appoynted of God to be iudge Io. Whitgifte Pupianus to whome Cyprian wrote that Epistle had greatly misused Cyprian in beléeuing certayne false rumors reports of him vpon the same giuing sentence against him for this cause Cyprian reproueth Pupianus saying Quis autem nostrum Iongè est ab bumilitate vt úmne ego qui quotidie fratribus seruio venientes ad ecclesiam singulos benignè cū voto gaudio suscipio an tu qui te Episcopū Episcopi iudicē iudicis ad tēpus à Deo dati constituis c. VVhether of vs is further from humilitie I which serue my brethren dayly receyue euery one that cōmeth vnto the Church gētly with desire ioy or thou which makest thy selfe the Bishop of the Bishop and the iudge of the iudge giuen of God for the time It appeareth rather in these words that Florentius is reproued for taking vpon him to iudge Cyprian to whō he ought obedience so that this place doth not deregate any thing frō any lawful authoritie that one Bishop hath ouer another but it condemneth the rash presumptuous iudgement of those that will take vpon them rashly to giue sentēce of their superiours betters as Pupianus did For in that he findeth fault with him for making himselfe as it were Bishop of the Bishop and iudge of the iudge he playnly declareth that he himself was both Bshop and iudge of Pupianus neyther dothe he obiect this to Pupianus as a proude name but as a proude deede Chap. 3. the. 10. Diuision T. C. Pag 76. Sect. 4. And heerein also I may vse the same reasons which the godly writers of our time vse agaynst the Pope to proue that he had no superioritie in those dayes ouer other Bishops for that the other Bishops called him brother and he them called him fellow Bishop he them For so doth Cyprian call the Bishops of that prouince in hys Epistle his fellow Bishops and in diuers places his brethren And in the sentence which he spake in the Councel of Carthage he sayth none of vs doth take him selfe to be Bishop of Bishops Io. Whitgifte Euery Bishop was chiefe in his owne Prouince and not subiect to any The Bishop of Rome had no iurisdictiō ouer the Bishop of Carthage but they were of equall power and authoritie as others were also of the like seates In that Cyprian called the Bishops of his prouince fellowe Bishops and brethren he declared that the functiō and ministerie was all one he like wise vttered his humble minde spirite But this proueth not that he had no superioritie ouer them S. Peter in his first Epist. chap. 5. 1. Pet. cap. 5. calleth himselfe fellowe minister with those whom he then exhorted which were all pastors and such as were ministers of the worde and yet you acknowledge an Apostle to be the highest in the Church aboue al the other degrées mentioned ad Ephe. 4. Cyprians words in the Councell of Carthage I haue spoken of in another place he meaneth the title of vniuersall Bishop and suche as séeke tyrannically vnlawfully to rule and especially suche as will of necessitie binde all other men to their opinions in all thinges for his words be Tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigat None of vs enforceth his fellowes by tyrannicall feare to the necessitie of obeying Chap. 3. the. 11. Diuision T. C. Page 77. Sect. 1. Nowe that there was no authoritie of one Bishop ouer an other and that there was none such as when controuersies rose tooke vpon him the compounding of them or any one to whom it apperteyned to see the vnitie of the Church kept and to see that all other Bishops and the Cleargy dyd their duetie as M. Doctor beareth vs in hande it may clearely be seene in dyuers places of Cyprian and first of all in that sentence which he spake in the Councel of Carthage where he proceedeth further after this sorte that none of them dyd by any tyrannicall feare binde his fellowes in office or any fellowe Bishops to any necessitie of obedience seeing that euery Bishop hath for his free libertie and power his owne iudgement and discretion as one which can not be iudged of an other as he also him selfe can not iudge an other but sayth
it excuse it from being a libell being not orderly in Parliament propounded but disorderedly I might say seditiously spread abroade in corners to the defamation of thys whole state and Church of England not to any reformation But to satisfye your desire that would so gladly know what a libell is I will tell A libell what it is you in few words An infamous libell is that that is written in verse or in prose to y t infamy slander of any man to y ◠which the author dare not set his name This is an infamous libel it most aptly agréeth to y ◠booke called an Admonition to y e Parliamēt So that by this definition your obiectiō also of y e booke of y e Apocalips of the epistle to the Hebrues is soone answered for al those bookes are not libells which are published without the authours name but those whiche are published to the infamy or slander of others to the which the authors dare not set their names An ansvvere to certaine Pamphlets The third commeth of the same spirit that the secōd doth that is The libellers fitly compared to the Pharisies of the spirit of arrogancie and malice for it compareth godly wise zelous learned bishops to idolatrous Priestes to Pharisies but indeede the conditions qualities of the Phariseis do most aptly agree with y e authors of these Libels their adherēts for the Pharisies did al that they did to be seene of men sought the commēdation Description of a Pharisie of the common people as appeareth Math. 6. 23. so do they The Pharisies when they fasted disfigured their faces these walking in the streates hang downe their heads looke austerely and in company sigh muche and seldome or neuer laugh the Pharisies strayned out a gnat and swallowed downe a camell And these men think it an heynous offence to weare a cap or a surplisse but in slaundering and backbyting their brethren in rayling on them by libels in contemning of superiors and discrediting such as be in authoritie to be short in disquieting the Churche and state they haue no conscience The Phariseis separated themselues from the common sort of men as more holy and contemned the poore Publicanes as sinners And therefore some learned interpreters thinke that they be called Pharisaei quasi segregati quòd vitae sanctimonia à vulgi moribus vita separati essent non aliter Fost rus in dictionar hebraico atque monachi quos Chartusianos vocant They be called Phariseis as separated and deuided from the commō sort in holynes of life much like vnto the Monkes which be called Carthusians And Iosephus saith that they were called Phariseis bycause they seemed to be more holy than other and more Lib. 1 cap. 2. de bello iudaico Lib. antiquit Tom. 2. lib. 18. cap. 2. Tom. 2. lib. 17. cap. 3. cunningly to expound the law Also he saythe thys to be one propertie of theirs that whatsoeuer their owne reason perswadeth them Id sequuntur pertinaciter that they stubbornly follow Agayne he sayth that they be astutum hominum genus arrogans interdum Regibus quoque infestum c. A subtile kynde of men arrogant and sometimes enimies to kings and rulers These men separate themselues also from the congregation and will communicate with vs neither in prayers hearing the word nor sacraments they contemne and despise all those that be not of their sect as polluted and not worthy to be saluted or kept company with and therefore some of them meeting their old acquaintance being godly preachers haue not only refused to salute them but spit in their faces wishing the plague of God to light vpon them and saying that they were damned and that God had taken his spirit from them and all this bycause they did weare a cappe wherefore when they talke of Phariseis they plucke themselues by the noses But Lord what a straunge time is this when such as they be dare thus boldly publish libells against their superiours for mainteining and executing good and godly lawes The conclusion of this preface is a stoute presumptuous and malapert threatning in my opinion not to be suffered But howsoeuer your pen and tongue walketh yet I pray you holde your handes or else c. T. C. Pag. 177. Sect. 1. 2. Whereas M. Doctor compareth vs with the Phariseys and saythe we do all to be seene of men and that we hold downe our heads in the streates and straine at a gn t swallowing downe a Camell bycause they are in all mens knowledge I will leaue it to them to iudge of the truthe of those things Where he saith we seldome or neuer laugh it is not therefore that we thinke that it is not lawfull to laugh but that the considerations of the calamities of other churches and of the ruines of ours with the heauie iudgements of the Lord which hang ouer vs ought to turne our laughing into weeping besides that a man may laugh although he shew not his teeth And so Ierome Ierome ad Marcell ▪ in effect answereth in an epistle which he wrote where vpon occasion that certaine vsed the same accusation that M. Doctor doth he saith bycause we do not laugh with open mouth therefore we are counted sadde And where he saith we separate our selues from all congregations and are ennimies to prince and that we would seeme to be holyer thā other these and such like slaunders are answered before And if there be any that refuse to salute godly preachers or spit in any mans face or wish the plague of God to light vpon them or say that they be damned we defend not nor allow of any such behauioure And it is vnreasonable that the fault of one should be imputed to so many and to those which do as much mislike of it as M. Doctor himselfe And what needed M. Doctor to bid the authors of these exhortations to hold their hands where do they in a worde offer to strike Belike hys tongue is his owne and therefore he speaketh whatsoeuer he listeth Io. Whitgifte I shewe how much more aptely the qualities and conditions of the Phariseys agrée to you and to your sect than they can doe to suche as the authors of those pamplets call phariseys I know you can both laugh iest and give when you are among your selues and so coulde the Phariseys doo but I speake of youre behauior in open places and before suche as do not so well know you It is vnlyke that you mourne for the ruines or calamities of any Churches séeing that you séeke with might and mayne the confusion of this by stirring vp schismes and contentions in it That which I speake of separating your selues from the congregation c. is well knowne to be true in a number of you and the contemptuous behauiour of some of you pretending moste zeale towardes some of vs argueth what spirite you are of and what your