A reply to an answer made of M. Doctor Whitgifte Against the admonition to…A replye to an ansvvere made of M. Doctor VVhitgifte Against the admonition to…

for if it be true (which he sayeth) that reading is preaching / then that is likewise true / that all those which read preach / and so a child of 4. or 5. years old / is able to preach / because he is able to read. And least he should seem to be thus evil advised without some reason / in the. 159. page he asketh whether (if a man write his sermon / & after read it in the book) that reading be preaching. Here is hard shift. What if I granted that it is preaching / yet I deny that therefore he that readeth an other mans sermon preacheth: and further I say / that if there be any such / as being able to preach for his knowledge / yet for fault either of utterance or memory can not do it but by reading / that which he hath written: it is not convenient / that he should be a minister in the church. For S. Paul doth not require only that the bishop or minister ¹should be learned in the mysteries of the gospel / & such a one as is able to set down in writing in his study the sense of the scripture / but one which is apt and fit to teach. And the Prophet Malachi showeth / that he must have the ²law not in his papers / but in his lips / noting thereby / that it is necessary to have the gift of utterance / and Isaiah the Prophet saying that God had given ³him the tongue of the learned / doth thereby declare / that it is not sufficient that he be well instructed in the mystery of salvation / but that he have also the gift of utterance. Afterward M. Doctor asketh whether S. Paul did not preach to the Romans when he wrote unto them. No forsooth his writing to the Romans was no more preaching / then S. Pauls hand or his pen / which were his instruments to write with / were his tongue / or his lights / or any other parts / which were his instruments to speak with. And S. Paul him self ⟨p. 161⟩⁴writing to the Romans / putteth a difference between his writing & his preaching / when although he wrote unto them / yet he excuseth him self that he could not come to preach unto them / saying that he was ready as much as lay in him to preach unto them. But sayeth he / was not the reading of Deuteronomy preaching? No more then the reading of Exodus. Here be good proofs. It is generally denied / that reading is preaching / and Master Doctor without any proof / taketh it for granted / that the reading of Deuteronomy is preaching.