156 THE LIFE OF 



CHAP. &quot; stand agaynst her ? Thou shalt not take with thee any 

 &quot;great power ^ (saith he to Gedeon,) lest you think to 

 &quot; overcome your enemies by your own strength and prow- 

 &quot; ess, and not by my wurking and might. It is easy for 

 &quot; him to save by few as by many, by weak as by strong, 

 &quot; by a woman as by a man. Yea, his most wonderful 

 &quot; works are always wrought in our most weakness, as infi- 

 &quot; nite examples and testimonies do she we. 



&quot; Yet mean I not to barre policie, when without breach 

 &quot; of Gods ordinance it may have place. For policie is 

 &quot; Gods gifte, either geven man immediately of God, or 

 &quot; gotten by study, experience, and practise, or wonne by 

 &quot; quickness of witt. But when God chuseth himself by 

 &quot; sending to us a King, whose succession is ruled by in- 

 &quot; heritance and lyneal descent; no heires male; it is a 

 &quot; plain argument, that for some secret purpose he mindeth 

 &quot; the female should reigne and govern,&quot; &c. 



After this he proceeds to a closer combat, and undertakes 

 to overthrow all Knox^s arguments ; entering upon this 

 part with these words: &quot; But lest this author should 

 &quot; thinke that I make to long a floryshe before I come to 

 - hanclstrokes with him, as an evil-fenced man, that can 

 &quot; make a better bragge of his cunning, then, when need is, 

 &quot; use it, I mind before I say any more of this matter, to 

 &quot; buckle with him in his arguments, and to try what blowes 

 &quot; he gyveth. Wherein if I follow not the order that he 

 &quot; kepith leafe by leafe, and reason by reason, (which I 

 &quot; avoide, because he followeth no method,) yet I trust so 

 &quot; to hyt the pithe of it, that all such as be indifferent shall 

 &quot; think him fully answered ; and he himself, with the boult- 

 &quot; ing out of the truth, not offendid. For I have that opin- 

 &quot; ion of the man s honesty and godlines, that he will not 

 &quot; disdayne to hear better reasons, nor be lothe to be taught 

 u in any thing he misseth : knowing that no mans judg- 

 &quot; ment is so sound, no mans wytte so ripe, no mans learn- 

 &quot; ing so perfight, but he may sometyme misse the quissyon, 

 &quot; and fall into errour.&quot; The arguments, (which he acknow- 



