but these are so small faults in comparison of what follows they are not worth taking notice of let them have their pardon of course I shall wink at such for the future that I may not seem to trifle but keep to what is material insist on things and not on words But I proceed in my reply Who they be I cannot imagine the greatness of whose industry cannot be imagined to perswade the World 't is a forgery But e'ne let them shift for themselves But if they have half so much to say for themselves as the Essex Dr. hath produced in the first Section to prove that Dr. Gauden wrote it I see not but they may stand tryal with a better opposer tho' 't is hard to meet with a bolder accuser whose Affirmations are so strong and whose Confirmations are so weak for my assisting it with a false story is soon said but not so soon proved you now have the story of my own telling convince me of falshood if you can do your best or your worst provided you write in sincerity producing nothing but what you have as good means to be assured of as I produce for what I know and as good Reasons for your belief as I produce for mine For Huffing and Hectoring will weigh little with wise Men and good Nature and good Manners may be overcome with too much ill usage to cause you to be answered as you would not if you accuse as you should not But why did you not tell the story before you refute it that it might be known whether it were truly that Essex Doctors story which you rashly call false or a dream of your own Imagination You now have the story of his own telling and you may try your skill at refuting it when you please and if you perform that undertaking no better than you do the promise of setting the whole matter in its true and proper light I have not so much cause to fear your Confutation as you have to fear the wo denounced against those who put darkness for light and light for darkness Dr. Hollingsworths P-sc Ans I could never obtain leave of my self to believe that any man could write at that Divine rate but he that felt the miseries that suggest such thoughts and heavenly Meditations The various conditions of men good men wonderfully help them in their retirements and solitudes to Divine intercourses and aspirations and He that could counterfeit such things and make such appeals to God without being in such conditions as these appeals suppose Must be rather next to an Atheist than a good Christian and if the Essex Dr. had any value for the memory of his deceased Friend he would certainly have forborn telling it in all places with a more than usual confidence as he hath done and that for this one Reason The Essex's Drs. Reply All this Harangue is but a piece of borrow'd ware with which Sir Will. Dugdale furnisht him in a short Sentence in these words The unlikelyhood that any such expressions could flow from an Heart not oppressed and grieved with such a weight of sorrow as his was Of which the Dr. hath made none of the best Paraphrase to enlarge his Paper But let us try the force of it I could never obtain leave of my self to believe c. as above In good time Sir must then all the World be tied to believe no more than Dr. H. will give their Majestys Chaplain at Algate leave to believe be the evidence of matter of fact never so clear I pray Sir who made your Courtesie or Contumacy to give your self leave to believe or not believe the standard of all other Mens Perswasion or not being perswaded I have heard much wiser men than I pretend to be affirm that believing or not believing depends not upon our own choice but upon the clearness or cogency of the motives of credibility or the weakness and insufficiency of them but let that pass for my business is not speculatively to dispute but to prove a matter of fact and vindicate my self from the imputation of telling a false Story yet because this Argument hath been often used I will consider it a little farther to manifest how weak and unconcluding it is 'T is no new nor strange thing for one man to personate another and to write and speak as is suitable to and usual for men in such circumstances and frequently when their fancies are warmed the Copy out-does the Original and he seems never to have read a Romance the Poets Scenical or others or the Greek and Roman Histories who cannot give Instances of all the Passions raised and expressions suitable put into the mouth of them for whose use they were designed and uttered with a warmer Pathos than they would have been by the persons themselves personated by them But the proof of this is above all exception in Books of devotion and which comes nearer our case in which we find the greatest variety of Prosopopoeias in Meditations Soliloquies Prayers Ejaculations Praises Aspirations and other Addresses to God composed by the Authors of them who cannot be supposed to be in all the conditions themselves but to fit them for those who may be in a condition in which it will be proper for them to use them And the reason is obvious and easily accounted for For tho' I deny not that our affections are kindled by our present circumstances and surprizing mercies or calamities are Springs of such joy or sorrow as sharpen and set an Edge upon our Expressions and instill an Air an Energy and suitable Eloquence into them which the same person could not reach at another time yet t is also true that they being sudden and unstudied a kind of Raptures without deliberation and less Artificial have a visible inequality in their Contexture and rise or fall according to the differing pressures or inlargements under which men are St. Bernard's Rara hora Brevis mora looks this way And an observation I have heard seems not despicable viz. that he who prays always alike may be supposed to pray rather by Art than by his Heart the Habits of Art being much more steddy and permanent than the temper and disposition of mens Hearts which are very mutable and different according to the circumstances from which they rise But when a man designs to personate another he puts himself in such an ones place and writes and speaks what he esteems most fit and suitable to a person in such a condition and adapts his words and expressions with second and third thoughts takes a great deal of pains uses a studious industry to fit every thought to such a condition every affection to such a thought and every expression to be a lively Icon of such a passion or affection so that whatever you will give your self leave to believe it seems not a whit strange to other men it should be so as you cannot believe nor in the least dissonant to right reason
Hertford from Dr. Gauden as I gave account Sect. 1. Reas 3. on purpose to be corrected allow'd or laid aside as his Majesty should think good See the Section referr'd to And if the King himself had been the Author Why was not the Book in his own Hand-writing as well as the Correction and Alterations or why any Corrections of a fair Copy if he had finished the Original himself before 't was copied Or why if he sent it to be printed did he not send the corrected Copy rather than an imperfect one which needed his Correction and Alteration These Considerations confirm me beyond the least Hesitancy this was the Copy the Marquess of Hertford brought his Majesty at the time of the Treaty in the Isle of Wight But the Violence towards him hastned so fast he could not transmit it back and Dr. Gauden and Bp. Duppa thought it better to print it as it was than to defer it till it would be too late to do him the Service they designed by it 3. Objection the Third The making Bp. Gauden the Author of this Book is another Disadvantage to the Credit of the Memorandum for the Stile the Air and Thought of Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ is as different from the Management of Bp. Gauden's Writings as 't is possible to imagine but out of respect to the Bishop's Memory I forbear to insist upon the Comparison Answ This Objection from the Stile is a very thin and feeble one as I could easily make appear if I would enter upon the Theme of critical Judging of the Authors of Books by the Stile in which they are written and to name no more I might fetch Assistance from Elias Du Pin a Sorbon Doctor in his excellent new Bibliothec of Ecclesiastical Writers by many Volumes of which he hath obliged the Learned Part of the World and raised their Expectation and Desire of the rest But I will avoid such an unnecessary Digression it being sufficient to blunt the edg of this Objection to suggest these two Considerations First It ought to be considered whether the Writings compar'd are of the same kind for a Man may differ more from himself when his Writings are of different kinds than two Strangers differ in their Stile whose Design and End of Writing is the same As the Sermons or Disputings of different Men may be more like one another if you compare Sermon with Sermon and Disputation with Disputation than the Stile of the same Man is like it self if you compare different kinds of his Writings as Sermons with Disputations or either of these with an Oration fitted for a Learned Assembly And 't is an Observation very common that the Ancient Fathers greatly differ in their Stile and Air and Notions in their popular Harangues and Exhortations their Polemick Tracts and their Books of Devotion So that whatever Dr. Gauden's way of management were in his other Writings the difference of the Subject between them and this Book gives a fair account of the different Stile Air and Thought admitting it were as great as the Objection would suppose it Secondly If the Stile and Air of Mens Writings be various when the kinds of their writings are different though they write without Disguise and only change their Stile to accommodate it to the Subject or Kind of Writing in which they are engaged How much more reasonable is it to allow it must be so when they on purpose do induere Personam personate another Man and endeavour to the utmost to appear like him for whom they write and whose Name and Circumstances they tacitly assume What wonder that Idem non est Idem the same Man appears not like himself when he feigns himself to be another as Bp. Gauden did and wrote this Book as in his Majesty's Name though to be used allowed or altered as the King should please I have heard it hath been the custom of former Reigns for the Lord Chancellor some Privy Councellor or a Juncto of the Council to pen or draw up Speeches to be spoken by the King in Parliament or on some other Solemn Occasion or in Declarations Now any Man of Sense will readily grant that they who pen such Speeches keep not to their own Stile or Air or Thought which they use when they speak in their own Name or Person but do the best they can to adapt them to the Royal Person for whose use and service they are prepared and thus it most evidently was in this present Case He proceeds in this Objection 'T is likely therefore that King Charles the Second and the then Duke might tell the late Earl of Anglesey which his Lordship might possibly forget that the Manuscript was not King Charles the First his Hand but a Transcript of Dr. Gauden's writing which as it agrees with matter of Fact it gives a fair account of the Alterations in the Copy which the Memorandum grants were made by the King Answ This is soon said but very ill contrived for 't is not only highly improbable but meerly suppositio impossibilis If the King had writ it why not correct his own Copy But how should Dr. Gauden receive it from the King He was utterly unknown to him lived at a great distance from him in the Parliament's Quarters was under preudice with the Royal Party I am sorry this Gentleman writes for once so like him who feigned the Story of the King 's sending it to Mr. Simmonds and he sending for his Neighbour Gauden and lending it him and all this dispatch'd in a trice when Mr. Simmonds had been so many Years driven for his Loyalty from his Neighbourhood But the fair and faithful Account and which indeed agrees with matter of Fact is this was the Copy the Marquess of Hertford carried to the King when he went to the Treaty at the Isle of Wight from Dr. Gauden and was humbly submitted to his Majesty's Wisdom to be altered corrected approved or disallowed and disposed of as he should please and accordingly the King corrected it to fit it more to his own Sense Having finished his Objections against the Memorandum this Gentleman proceeds thus to his Second Strength 2. Supposing this Memorandum had all the pretended Advantages I shall now produce such Proof against it which the Circumstances of the Evidence considered must be allowed to over-ballance his Lordship's Attestation 1. We have the Letters Patents of King Charles the Second Dated Nov. 29 1660. in which R. Royston of London Bookseller has that sole Priviledg given him of Printing all the Works of King Charles the First among which Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ is mentioned with a particular Character of Commendation 2. The same Priviledg for Re-printing the Works of King Charles the First is granted to the above-mentioned R. Royston by his present Majesty King James the Second as appears by his Majesty's Letters Dated February 22 1685 6 which Grant refers expresly to the First Edition published by R. Royston in the Year 1662 and in which his Majesty
A True ACCOUNT OF THE Author of a Book entituled Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ OR The Pourtraiture of His Sacred Majesty in His Solitudes and Sufferings Proved to be written by Dr. Gauden Late Bishop of Worcester WITH An Answer to all Objections made by Dr. Hollingsworth and others Published for Publick Satisfaction by Anthony Walker D.D. Late Rector of Fyfield in Essex With an Attestation under the hand of the Late Earl of Anglesey to the same purpose Veritas est Filia Temporis Magna est praevalebit Some Men have turned aside to vain Janglings understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. A Modest and Faithful Account OF Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ The Introduction IF Dr. H. had been pleased to consult me by Word or Letter before he had so falsly accused me of telling a false Story which if I may not say might have been expected in Justice or at least in common Civility yet I will say he had not only been kinder to me in saving me this unexpected and unwelcom labour but juster to himself in not answering a matter before he heard it and by preventing the appearance of making more haste than good speed by a teeming impatience to be delivered of a false Conception And tho' by his Reproachful Charge he hath given me sufficient provocation and by his hasty writing without due information no less advantage to reply in such a style as he hath chosen to begin in yet in this Vindication to which he hath constrained me by unavoidable necessity unless he expects that as a Felo de se I should by silence give consent to his unjust Calumnies I shall keep that modest temper which becomes one who designs no Personal Quarrel nor writes for Victory but Truth the search and discovery of which needs no Tricks no little Arts or big Words but is best attained by sedate proceeding and plain and open dealing And to evidence my Resolution to keep strictly to this Method I shall subjoyn these particulars by way of Introduction First That I will not meddle with any thing but what concerns my own just Vindication my inclination not allowing me to do more for I should greatly rejoyce to find the Title of the Doctors Book made good as near as is possible worthy of that Excellent King of happy memory whose Honour I believe is better secured by the Reputation of his acknowledged Wisdom Celebrated Virtues Exemplary Patience and Christian Magnanimity in his Sufferings than by such Defenders and either needs none or deserves one more considerate and better inform'd who might avoid such mistakes as I meet with in that part of the Postscript wherein I am attacqued for one remarkable flaw mars the beauty of a whole Piece and palpable Errours cause all the Truths with which they are mixt to be doubted of and call'd in question and Defences so managed overthrow their own design and end and usually do more harm than good Secondly I solemnly appeal to the Searcher of Hearts Avenger of Falshood and Revealer of Secrets that I will write nothing of the Truth of which I am not throughly persuaded and that by as full Evidence as I judge such a matter of fact needs and at such a distance of time is capable of Thirdly I will with undisguised openness produce the means by which I know what I profess the knowledge of and the Reasons upon which I believe what I profess the belief of and the probable Arguments upon which my Opinion is grounded as to those particulars concerning which I pretend no more than thinking them to be as I declare them And having with Honesty and Candour laid down such means of my knowledge such Reasons of my belief such probable Arguments for what I think I shall willingly submit them to the Judgment of every indifferent Reader And if they be not cogent and convincing to bring him to be of my mind let him retain his former Sentiments but withal I beg his leave that without his censure or displeasure I may retain mine till Means of Knowledge Reasons of Belief Arguments for thinking otherwise be produced which in an even ballance may out-weigh mine And when I meet with such I promise to yield without contumacy or exacting Miracles for my conviction for tho' I cannot allow every random Story and ill grounded Conjectures for good Evidence nor dare follow an Ignis fatuus or esteem a Will-in-the-Wisp to be a safe Guide yet will I not rebel against the Light when as clear as the Sun at noon day to which tho' Dr. H. hath been pleased to compare his Arguments I doubt not when I come to examine them to make it appear it had been an extravagant Hyperbole to have likened them to the faintest Moon-shine SECT I. THE Question in debate being concerning the Author of that famous Book intituled Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ or the Pourtraiture of His Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings whether it were written by that Royal Martyr or some other hand And an Opinion being raised that Dr. Gauden wrote it which spread and prevailed much upon a Memorandum of the E. of Anglesey's coming to light which his Lordship had writ in a blank Leaf before the said Book and by reason of the Relation I am known to have had to him I having been often asked what I knew or thought of that Report having declared the substance of what I am now forced to publish more fully And this being the supposed Crime for which Dr. H. hath handled me so roughly as to accuse me to have assisted an Objection against the King's being the Composer of it to the utmost of my power with a false Story In order to wipe off so rash not to say so rude an Accusation I shall with all possible clearness proceed by these five Steps First I will declare what I know of this Book and by what means and what I believe of it and for what Reasons Secondly I will produce such probable Arguments as confirm my self and may satisfie others that I am not mistaken nor deceived nor would deceive others Thirdly I will distinctly consider and fully answer all that Dr. H. hath produced to the contrary Fourthly I will endeavour to give satisfactory Answers to the Objections I meet with from an abler Pen. Lastly I will declare why I have acknowledged such my knowledge and belief when requested and set down my Reasons for so doing 1. Negative 2. Positive And by these Steps I hope I shall free my Reputation from that odious Reproach of being guilty of assisting an Objection by a false Story at least I shall free my self from confirming by my silence what I judge to be an Errour SECT II. I Know and believe the Book whose Author is enquired after was written by Dr. Gauden except two Chapters writ by Bishop Duppa so far as the subjoyned means may
And I am perswaded it was this which put him upon the designing and finishing of this Book Secondly The second probable Argument may be drawn from the 14th Chapter which is upon the Covenant And I beg pardon for relating this matter more minutely than may seem necessary that it may appear how and by whom I was furnished with it to render it more cogent After the Book was published being in Discourse with my worthy Tutor Dr. J. Barwick who died Dean of St. Pauls I being privy to the Truth of this affair out of curiosity ask'd him what He thought of this Book He so well knowing my Education and Principles wondered to hear me ask such a Question I beg'd his Pardon and told him the thing being doubtfully spoken of I made bold with him to ask his Judgment Well then said He I will prove it to you And thus attempted it it was writ by himself or by some other man but it could be writ by no other therefore by himself I desired him to prove his second Proposition which He did thus If by another it must be an enemy or a Friend but neither Enemy nor Friend could do it therefore it must be himself I once more desired him to prove his second Proposition which he attempted thus not by an Enemy for no Enemy of the King would represent him so much to his Advantage not by a Friend for no Friend of the Kings would write as He doth of the Covenant Now how easily could I have reply'd tho' at present I acquiesced that Dr. Gauden though now a most hearty Friend to the King had himself taken the Covenant which we may rationally conclude had induced him to write more favourably of it than any of the Kings Party or Friends or the King himself would ever have done 3. Third probable Argument may be drawn from Chap. 16. and 24. which as I shew'd before Res 2 d. Dr. Gauden told me were written by Bishop Duppa for the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer and denying His Majesty the Attendance of His Chaplains were Subjects which Dr. Gauden was less concerned to think on for 't is well known He had forborn the use of the Common-Prayer tho' 't was continued longer in his Church than in any thereabouts and had never been the Kings Chaplain but Bishop Duppa having been the Princes Tutor a long time Chaplain and a Bishop was as mindful of these particulars and as much concern'd to be so and with as great reason as any man living could be and therefore first desired Dr. Gauden to write on these Subjects but after recall'd that Motion and undertook to do it himself which he also performed as I shew'd before and his free declaring that he had neither thought of these Subjects nor wrote of them which it was so unlikely he should renders it very probable he spake Truth in declaring that he wrote the rest 4. I meet with expressions in the Devotional part very frequently us'd by Dr. Gauden in his Prayers for he used conceived Prayer both in his Family and in Publick which I never heard from any other Man and 't is very easie to observe that most Men even in ordinary Conversation and more especially in their Prayers tho' they vary in their method have peculiar Phrases and Modes of expressing themselves and where we find such occur 't is a probable evidence they proceed from him to whom they were peculiar 5. I am as sure as I can be of any thing that Dr. Gauden made the Extract out of this Book call'd I think Apophthegmata Coroliniana I am sorry I have not one by me to give a fuller account of it But the thing is most notorious that there was such a Book came out in a very short time after Printed by Mr. Dugard Now why should Dr. Gauden concern himself so much more than any other of the Kings Friends and dispatch it with such expedition had he had no more concern in it than other men and had not been inabled to finish it so speedily and could with such readiness take it in pieces and digest it into wise and weighty Sentences who had put it together and whose thoughts had dwelt so long and much upon it I cannot forbear to judge that to those who will consider it impartially it carries the fairest and highest probability to confirm what is before declared the reasonable belief of his being the Composer of it how much more when all the five are joyn'd together SECT III. Containing a full Answer to what Dr. Hollingsworth hath written in his P. sc concerning this Book ALthough the modest and faithful account I have given in the former Sections of what I know and believe of this Book and the Means of such my Knowledge and Reasons of such my Belief contains a sufficient Answer to whatever I meet with in this P script and might supersede my farther Labour yet that the Reverend Dr. may not think himself neglected or the Reader who it may be will not take the Pains to compare them may have no cause to suspect I wave a distinct reply because I find the task too difficult and lastly because this P sc gave the sole occasion and whole Provocation to my writing upon this Subject I will now distinctly consider every particular of the P sc which concerns this matter and either by referring to what is said before to prevent writing the same thing over and over or by subjoyning a farther clear Answer reply to the whole for the necessary vindication of the Truth and my injur'd self And that what the Dr. writes may have its full Strength and He have no pretence to complain any thing is omitted I will transcribe Verbatim all his Words and subjoin full Answers adapted to every Paragraph in that part of his P script which relates to the Question in debate The first Passage begins thus Pag. 37. Line 13. The last Objection against Him is his Divine and Holy Book It is not to be imagined with what Industry they have within this last Year endeavoured to perswade the World it was a Forgery and not of his compiling And there is a certain Essex Doctor of Divinity who hath assisted this Objection to the utmost of his Power with a false story which I will presently refute and set the whole in a true and proper Light The Essex Doctors Reply to the Algate Doctor who begins thus The last Objection against him c. He could scarce have exprest himself more improperly if he had studied to do it We may guess at his meaning by what follows but who ever made this Divine and Holy Book an Objection against him but rather accounted it his great honour and from a Man who writes for Crowned Heads to read more accuracy and caution might be expected and this stumble at the threeshold is no auspicious or lucky Omen but rather an earnest and tast of what we are to look for in the Sequel
and experience of which Instances might be given without number I beg pardon for this Digression into which the Dr. led me by an ill-grounded speculation which makes little to his purpose and I think hath done him little service yea will rather cause considerate Readers to suspect his want of better Arguments else he would not have had recourse to such thin and Airy Speculations which prove nothing but the weakness of their Judgments who put any stress upon them and would by them impose upon other men Yea give me liberty to add if the Drs. Argument hath any weight it seems to be in the wrong Scale and makes that end of the Ballance to preponderate which he endeavours to make appear the lightest for the evenness of the thought and expression the equality of the style and affection and the same Thread running quite through from first to last rather argues it an Artificial Composure of one who had vacancy for sedate and deliberate thinking than of him for whose Icon and Pourtraiture it was designed who was encompassed with so distracting an hurry of miseries as must often change the temper of his mind But to compensate for the weakness of the former part of this Paragraph it hath a sting in its Tail concluding that if Dr. Gauden wrote it he is next to an Atheist and that for that Reason the Essex Dr. if he had any value for his memory would have forborn telling it in all places with more than usual confidence as he hath done that is lest he represent him as an Atheist Essex Drs. Reply to which I say in general My Story represents him not so like an Atheist as your rashness represents you like a false Accuser of both him and me and for this Reason if Dr. H. had any kindness to the Reputation of his friend their Majesties Algate Chaplain he would have considered better before he had publisht with somewhat more than confidence such groundless Accusations and such crude and ill contriv'd Stories and more particularly why Dr. Gauden more an Atheist for preparing these discourses for the King to be own'd or laid aside as to His Majesties wisdom should seem good See Reason 3. Sect. I. than those who prepare Forms of Devotion for others to use or let alone as they see occasion And tho' my Story as I tell it vindicates him from that Imputation and I am not bound to answer for what you forge to be my Story being but your own dream Quod male dum recitas desinit esse meum I farther say that according to the old Axiom Amicus Plató Amicus Aristoteles sed magis Amica Veritas Tho' Dr. Gauden were a friend and Bishop Duppa a friend yet Truth is more a friend and I should count him no honest Casuist who would advise me to tell a Lye to save my friends Credit as your words imply you would have directed me had I consulted you in the case Alg. Drs. P. sc The Story in short that he the E. Dr. tells is this That Dr. Gauden then of Bockin in Essex made this Book and sent him then his Curate to the Press with it which command he obeyed and accordingly did so carry it in order to its Printing Essex Drs. Reply Good Sir use fairer play and be not so confident who accuse that for excess of confidence in me which hath not the tenth degree of yours and do not forge and mangle a Story and then pin it upon me My Story is honestly and sincerely told in the first Section and thither I refer your self and the Reader for the truth and a fuller Answer to this lame Account without staying upon some palpable mistakes because but circumstantial Alg. Drs. P. sc Now the truth of the Story is this There was one Mr. Simmonds a learned and pious Minister who lived near Dr. Gauden in Essex and who out of a true affection to His Majesties Person and Cause writ a learned Defence of the King with which the King was so pleas'd that he presently resolved that this Person should have the perusal and correction of his Book and accordingly sends it by a trusty Messenger Essex Drs. Reply There is scarce a line which is not liable to just exceptions but small faults must be past over in one who writes so heedlesly or we should never have done But there is one so notorious he must be blind who doth not see it what then was he that made it viz. that Dr. Hollingsworth and their Majesties Chaplain at Algate do flatly contradict each other Here he saith the King sent it by a trusty Messenger to Mr. Simmonds but pag. 39. l. 19. that he desired Bishop Juxton to get some trusty friend to look it over and put it into exact order Non bene conveniunt one of the two should have had a better memory or conferr'd Notes before they had publisht things so inconsistent such palpable difference of Witnesses is a shrewd prejudice against their Testimony Algate Dr's P. sc The Book when looked over by him did so affect him and no wonder that he could not forbear sending for his Neighbour Gauden In order to make him happy with himself in the sight and reading of such an inesteemable Jewel Dr. Gauden would not be denied the kindness of taking the Book home with him for a few days which upon importunity Mr Simmonds knowing the Dr. at that time a well-wisher to the King granted Dr Gauden presently falls to transcribing of it and in some days with great labour and application finishes it and so returns the Original to Mr. Simmonds again within a while the great storm coming upon the King which at last God knows wholly overset him Dr. Gauden out of a true affection to his Master the King hoping thereby to do him service sends this Copy by the hands of this Dr. to the Press And so far and no farther was he concern'd in it Essex Dr's Reply Sir what with your usual confidence you introduce with The truth of the Story is thus is all meer Story but not one word of truth nor hath it the least blush or appearance of Possibility or so much as Probability as I hope to convince your self First Not probable any Man who knows any thing of the measures of Decency and the circumstances of the Persons of whom he writes as he should be supposed to do who presumes to Dedicate his writings to so wise a King and Queen would have contriv'd his story and told his tale more handsomely and would rather have said that the Parson of Rayne who was a very private man had waited upon Dr. Gauden who liv'd at the rate of a Thousand a year and made the greatest figure of any Clergy Man in Essex or perhaps in England at that time than boldly and bluntly to send for him what ever the occasion might be but let that pass a slip in good manners is a small fault compared to the impossibility of his stories
being true for tho' Mr. Simmonds was once Minister of Rayne and Dr. Gauden Dean of Bockin which are neighboring Towns yet I question whether the Men were ever neighbours And that Mr. Simmonds was not gone from Raine Before Dr. Gauden came to Bockin But I need not urge that for what I aver and am as sure of as I can be of any matter of fact which is most notorious proves the impossibility I charge the Drs. story with home and beyond contradiction for before this Book was thought of or many of the subjects had hapned of which it treats Mr. Simmonds was sequestred for his Loyalty fled into the Kings Quarters and on Mr. Attkins a plundered Minister as they then call'd them who was fled into the Parliaments Quarters was placed in his sequestred living of Rayne I came to Dr. Gaudens August 1644. and I never knew Mr. Simmonds all the while I liv'd there tho' I knew him well when the book was printing as I may touch in place convenient and relate the occasion of our intercourse Somewhat runs in my mind of his being with my Lord Capel who was his Patron and had given him the Parsonage of Rayne who commanded about that time for the King in Shropshire but what need I multiply words about what I am not certain of when I am as certain as I can be of any thing he was far from being Dr. Gaudens Neighbour or any possibility of sending for him how trimly soever and with a good grace the Story is told not much to the credit of the teller of it or the confirmation of the thing he tells it for it so exposes it self it needs no farther confutation and I will be so kind as to slip an advantage of loading it with heavier aggravations tho' so much provoke't If any thing seem to deserve a farther answer I must request the Reader to call to mind or read over again my first Section where there is enough to satisfie him for I never pretended to carry the whole to the Press but as is there honestly declared a part of it I proceed to the 2d Paragraph p. the 38. Algate Drs. P. sc And whereas 't is said That Dr. Gauden told K. Charles II. he made the Book the truth of the Story is this that he putting in for the Bishoprick of Worcester and meeting with some opposition from Bishop Sheldon the King askt him what pretences he had to so great a favour he answered that he put out his Fathers Book which answer tho' true in some sense yet being ambiguously spoken as it got him the Bishoprick so it also gave rise to the late Earl of Anglesey's Memorandum which hath made so great noise in the World Essex Drs. Reply Good Sir if a man should be so bold as to ask a few Questions would you answer them as roundly as you would chouse the World with this Dream 1. I pray Sir did you hear all this 2. Have you any man of truth or modesty to produce as a Voucher 3. In sober sadness do you in cool blood believe it your self 4. Or to speak home will you confirm it by your solemn Oath as the Essex Dr. is ready to do the Story with which he will confront it ' The truth of the Story is this so you say but pace vestrâ by your good leave I cannot obtain leave of my self to believe one sentence in all your ten lines and for a better reason than you give for your incredulity where you use that phrase and my reason how silly and weak soever it may seem in plain English is because there is not one wise or true word in all this most falsly call'd Truth of the Story And I even wonder that Providence should furnish me with so exact a knowledge of this affair which I thought of little use before till it inabled me to confute this shameless fiction and I will for once be as confident as you and say the truth of the Story is this as I had it from Bishop Gaudens own mouth immediately upon his nomination to be translated from Exeter to Worcester But before I relate his words to me on that occasion let me make some few remarks upon some particulars 1. Whereas 't is said Dr. Gauden told K. Ch. II. c. whoever said so said what was not so He never told him See Sect. 1. Reason 4. 'T is strange he should himself tell the King and yet not know the King knew it but by inference because the D. of Y. did 2. He putting in for the Bishoprick of Worcester let that uncouth phrase pass But he did not put in for Worcester but rather was put off with that instead of Winchester pardon the expression what follows will justifie it at least excuse it 3 The King askt him c. still worse and worse the King askt him no such question nor was there the least shadow of occasion why he should and the Bishop never answered as is said he did for no Question needed no Answer 4. Ambiguously spoken not spoken at all therefore not spoken ambiguously remember the Logick Rule Ab est primi adjecti ad est secundi valet negatio As for Instance if a man be not their Majesties Chaplain he is not their Chaplain at Algate unless it be helpt out with speaking ambiguously 5. Helpt him to that Bishoprick sc Worcester instead of Winchester He was right enough served for speaking so ambiguously if he had so spoken 6. Gave rise to the late E. of Angleseys Memorandum In good earnest Sir were you awake when you dream'd all this Was the King Ch. the II. who was known to be a man of extraordinary sagacity and quickness in discerning mens temper and words so easily imposed upon and cheated by a fallacy to believe what it was his Interest more than any mans not to believe but upon most cogent evidence and convincing reasons and to tell it so freely and with assurance to the E. of Anglesey as his Memorandum declares with all due circumstances so that his Memorandum may sleep in a whole skin for all these dreams but of that more in due place hereafter Having past these short remarks upon the particular passages I shall now confront his truth of the Story with this Story of Truth in the Bishop's own words Only give me leave before I relate his words to say that besides the friendly freedom which he always used to me in kind communicating his concerns to me I can guess but at two reasons why he should tell me so fully and punctually what I shall presently relate Either 1. It was to prevent my being surprized at his missing Winchester which some who were most intimate with him knew he had the promise and upon that the expectation of Or 2. Providence stoopt so low to furnish me with a clear Reply to such a sensless feigned dream as I am confuting by it Now follow Bishop Gaudens words to me on this
could commend to him as a trusty person to look it over and to put it into an exact Method the Bishop pitcht upon Sir John's Father whom he had been acquainted with for many years who undertaking the Task was assisted by this his Son who declares he sate up with his Father some nights to assist him in methodizing those Papers all writ with the King 's own hand Thanks be to God Sir John is yet alive and is ready to give the same Account to any man that asks him Essex Drs. Reply Jam ventum est ad Triarios Sir John Brattle is a person whose name I do not remember I have heard before and therefore make no Judgment prejudicial or of disadvantage to the Character here given of him But as the Algate Dr. tells the Story I doubt it may prove as meer a Story as the rest But before I come to my particular Remarks upon it I confess 't is not unpleasant to observe that when the Dr's hand was in at Coyning Stories which I have proved to be of both so base Metal and false an Impress he should have recourse to the Royal Mint to borrow a more Authentick Stamp for what else can an Office there add to a Testimony in a matter of fact But with all due respect to Sir J. Br. I would ask the Dr. a few Questions 1. May it not be possible without any diminution of Sir John's veracity that in more than forty Years there may be some mistake of other Papers for these or some other lapse of Memory about a matter in which he was concerned but once or twice and that but transiently and on the by or was Sir John who must be then a young man and 't is likely but in a private capacity so well acquainted with the Kings hand which 't is probable he had seldom or never seen I believe few private Country Youths or young Gentlemen are so very well us'd to their Soveraigns hand-writing as to make a Critical Judgment of it and to be able with assurance to distinguish it from the writing of all other men 2. I would gladly know when and where the King desired this of Bishop Juxton for I refer my self to those who lived in those times observed the passages of them whether they ever so much as heard that the King and Bishop Juxton saw each other after his Majesty was driven from Westminster by the Tumults till he was violently brought to St. James's Jan 19. 48 to be tried and barbarously murdered The King indeed then obtain'd leave for the good man to come to him and assist him in extremis for neither his Age nor Character permitting him to be serviceable to him in following him in the Wars He liv'd Private and Retir'd and I never heard he saw him till upon the sad occasion forenamed and that was after the Book was Printed Thirdly Supposing but by no means granting that the King had desired Bishop Juxton as is said to desire a trusty Friend to do it why another rather than the Bishop himself Had the King any Friend more trusty than Bishop Juxton or was He too good or above doing such service for his Master who had not a Servant who honoured and lov'd him more or was He too busie to attend it when he was wholly out of all imployment and injoy'd the most undisturbed privacy and quiet of any man that had serv'd the King in any eminent degree Or was Bishop Juxton less fit and able than a private man when the Book consists of Policy and Piety and who a fitter Judge of what concern'd the first than one who had so long been Privy Councellor and Lord High Treasurer of England And for the second he was one on whom the King rely'd as much or more than on any Man for the conduct of his Conscience as appear'd by his singling him out to be with him in his Preparations for Death and upon the infamous Scaffold of his Martyrdom and who was so able a Divine that tho' his Publick Imployments hindred him from Preaching often yet when He did perform'd it so well I remember I heard a Bishop who was able to judge say He thought him one of the most excellent Preachers He ever heard and gave Instance in a Sermon He heard him preach at Court of Repentance And why must Bishop Juxton desire another man to do that work for which had there been any such work to be done He himself was the fittest man alive for Fidelity for Ability for Inclination to his Masters Service and for vacancy and leisure 4. Lastly I pray which of these stories in your P sc would you have us believe Your first of sending it to Mr. Simmonds by a trusty Messenger or your last of the Kings own delivering it to his trusty Servant Bishop Juxton They cannot both be true if that not this if this not that they are so contrary we must suppose the Algate Dr. the Relater of the One and their Majesties Algate Chaplain the Relater of the other I confess the doubt is too hard for me to solve I must e'ne leave it to be agreed betwixt themselves I might add I have heard near half a dozen stories about this Book all as inconsistent with one another as these two Yet all told with equal assurance a sufficient prejudice against them all with all unprejudiced Persons Algate Dr. P sc And whosoever after this will suspect this Book is certainly a man of that temper who will keep up his prejudices against this great man in spight of all evidences tho' as clear as the Sun at Noon and for my own part I must tell him that I think it not worth the while to attempt his farther satisfaction because nullum remedium Deus posuit contumaciae God Almighty hath not provided a remedy for resolved stubbornness in the ordinary course of dealing with men and if nothing but miracles will convince them I have no Commission to pretend to them Essex Drs. Reply Sir tho' I will not vapour and huff my Reader with comparing what I have truely sincerely and as in the sight of God written concerning my Knowledge and Belief about this Book fairly declaring the means of my Knowledge and the Reasons of my Belief to the Sun at Noon as you think good to compare your waking Dreams and random guesses which deserve not to be likened to the light of the Moon a day before or after its change yet I abhor keeping up prejudices against that great and excellent Prince and have only given the account in the first and second Sections and reply'd to your slanders and reproaches which extorted from me this unwelcome labour to clear my Reputation you having according to your Talent as Mephibosheth complain'd of Ziba slandered me to the whole Nation and to my Lord the King by presuming to dedicate such stuff to their sacred Majesties And if you persist to slander ne videaris errasse I leave
declares that all the Works of his Royal Father were collected and published which former Impression as I have already observ'd makes particular mention of Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ Now I leave it to any unprejudiced Person to judg whether it is in the least probable that either of their Majesties should tell the late Earl of Anglesey that this excellent Book was written by Dr. Gauden since they both have owned it to be their Royal Father 's in so publick a manner So that to use the Expression of the Advertisement If the Declaration of two Kings made with all the Circumstances of Advantage may be believed before a blind Manuscript written by a doubtful Hand and grounded upon a private Relation then we have sufficient Evidence to satisfy the World how much this Adviser has endeavoured to impose upon it Answ As to the Letters Patent to print this Book amongst the Works of King Charles the First on which depends the whole strength of the Argument I confess 't is a nice and tender Point which good Manners rather than want of good Reasons restrain me from fuller answering I think it may suffice to say with Modesty and Caution Kings use not so critically to inspect all the minute Particulars of their General Royal Grants but sign them as drawn up for the best Advantage of the Grantee and an Under-Secretary or Clerk who drew the Patents put in what Mr. Royston reckoned up and desired and never boggled at inserting Εἰκὼν Βασιλικὴ among King Charles's Work because it was so reputed by most and few knew the Mystery and they who did did all they then could to hide and conceal it And suppose either of the Kings had examined every particular it was at utmost but conniving at a vulgar Errour which it was not their interest too nicely to discover And indeed the Argument is so palpably weak that I am perswaded this Writer being a Person of so good Sense puts no Stress upon it but added it for Number rather than Weight being rather too hot than too heavy to be dealt with and for want of better which 't is exceeding hard to find to prove what is not true brings in such an Argument as in the Schools we call captious or Argumentum odiosum which Respondents use allowably to reject not answer because 't is designed not for real Proof but to involve the Answerer in some Odium and Danger and dismiss it unreply'd to not because they cannot but because they dare not answer it or with Beneseance shew its Weakness And yet to approach one Step closer what understanding Man believes all the other particular Pieces which make up the whole Volume of the Works of K. Charles I to be originally penn'd by himself but knows many of them were prepared by his Secretaries and Council and then perused and approved by him and so became his by adding the Royal Stamp of his Approbation and Owning of them And the same was designed in this Book as hath been shewed before I shall conclude this Discourse of the Letters Patent to Mr. Royston to Print the King's Works and inferring this to be undoubtedly so because named amongst them with a parallel Case of a supposed License to print the Works of as great a King Admit Mr. Royston had obtain'd a Patent to have the sole Printing the Works of King David and to make all sure that no Man might in the least invade his Priviledg had got it explicitely inserted into his Patent all the Works of King David that is to say the whole Book of Psalms containing in number one hundred and fifty which is no hard Supposition would it have followed hence that he who granted this Patent had publish'd to all the World that he knew and believ'd that David was the real Pen-man of them all tho some of the were certainly written some Ages after David's Death after the return of the Babylonish Captivity and some by Heman Asaph c. I grant his Patent might secure his Right to print all the 150 but 't would be an invalid Argument to prove that David wrote all It needs no Application Having thus far vindicated the Truth of the Earl of Anglesey's Memorandum and consequently the Honour of his Lordship's Memory from the Charge of Forgery cast upon it by shewing good reason why I cannot allow the pretended Proof against it to over-ballance his Lordship's Attestation which how sufficiently I have performed I freely leave to the Judgment of all impartial Readers I shall now subjoin the Remark I promis'd to set down when I had answered the Objections against the Memorandum And it is to shew by comparing two signal Providences about this Book how it seems to be the Will of God for what special Ends is best known to his holy and unsearchable Wisdom at some of which I may give my humble Guesses in due place both to have this Book published and owned as the Composure of King Charles the First for some time and then to have the full Truth in due time come to that light in which the starting those fresh Contests about it is like to set it The First which I call a signal Providence towards its being publish'd is the preventing its being seized upon and stopt in the Press when the Proof-Sheets if not also so much of the Copy as those Sheets contained were actually in the Hands and Possession of and carried away by as great an Enemy of the King's as any Man living was as Mr. Simmonds described him to me I beg pardon for the length of the Story which I shall relate from Mr. Simmonds because I think it worth the knowing and also because 't is an Evidence I write not in this Affair by Hearsay and Conjecture as most do but as of what I was privy to and had an hand in all along from first to last Upon Monday January the 8 th or 15 th for I have written Memorials by me which assure me it could not be so early as the 1 st nor so late as the 22 d Mr. Simmonds came to my Chamber at Warwick-House where I then was Chaplain and as a Man affrighted abruptly spake to me We are undone or in great danger to be so if you do not help us which I hope you may being in this Family And when I ask'd him what the matter was he having a little recovered himself told me the following Story and when he had done we consulted what remedy was to be used His Story was as followeth I was said he a while since at a Gentleman's House a Friend of mine in Hertfordshire whilst I was there there came a Troop of Horse of Col. Rich's Regiment to quarter there-abouts and the Lieutenant whose Name is Arwaker quartered in my Friend's House He and I had many fierce Disputes about the Cause betwixt the King and Parliament and the Army's usage of his Majesty By which he was so provok'd that at last he told me he would not
be more expedient to please them than God and in cool Blood to consider what I have honestly and sincerely written If it convince not if it satisfy them not let them retain their former Sentiments 't is at this distance of time being more than 43 Years of no great Consequence whether it were so or so I am sure not of any equal concern to any Body to know it as it is to me when put upon it to discover it for it would involve me in some Guilt to refuse it in such Circumstances which I cannot see the danger of to other Men wholly Strangers to the Affair how different soever their Opinions be if they do not maliciously slander them who cannot be of their Minds till they be convinced by stronger Arguments than those upon which my Perswasion is grounded which I concisely will here re-capitulate tho I entreat the Reader to review the two First Sections 1. When Dr. Gauden shew'd me the Heads of the designed Chapters and those he had written I ask'd him how he satisfied himself so to impose upon the World His answer was Look upon the Title 't is the Portracture and none draws his own Picture 2. When we returned from Bp. Duppa's he told me the Bishop had propounded two Subjects more to be written on but desired him to finish what remained and he would prepare two Chapters on those Subjects 3. He told me he sent a Copy to the King in the Isle of Wight by the Marquess of Hertford and humbly desired to know his Majesty's Pleasure concerning it 4. He told me the Duke of York knew he wrote it and own'd it to him to be a seasonable and good Service 5. His Wife some others and my self believed it as firmly as we could do any Matter of Fact and there is no shadow of Appearance why he should put so gross a Cheat upon us all for 't was before 't was finish'd and a good while before 't was printed we so believed and therefore he had not the Temptation to steal the Applause it met with when made publick 6. He delivered to me with his own Hand what was last sent up which I carried with me to London Decemb. 23 1648. These are the Reasons why I believe as I do the Affirmative part of the Question that Dr. Gauden was the Author and as I believe I have also spoken And if any Man can produce stronger Reasons for the Negative Part I do not say only I will but that I must believe that contrary Part. For no Man who considers can believe as he lists but the weightiest Arguments will ruin the Scale And if any will be so charitable as to reclaim me from an Errour he supposes I am in I even beseech him to write nothing for the Truth of which he does not make the like appeals to God which I have done for if he attempt it by Raillery or Railing by feeble Conjectures or Stories inconsistent with themselves or contradicting one another he may with more Discretion spare his Pains for as no wise Man will be influenced further by such Tools than to pity them who use them or make themselves merry so I confess I am so tired with examining such Ware and so cloy'd with such Quelk-chose I shall have no Stomach to such Fare or think my self concerned to take notice of it ADVERTISEMENT THE Reverend Author Dr. Anthony Walker coming to London to publish this Treatise it pleased God before it was finished at the Press to take him to himself but for the satisfaction of any that are doubtful herein there are several credible Persons that can testify the Truth hereof and the Manuscript Copy under the Doctor 's own Hand will evidence the same FINIS BOOKS lately Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard PRactical Preparation for Death the Interest and Wisdom of Christians The Folly and Misery of those that are negligent therein The great Benefits of a Life spent in a daily Preparation for our latter End With Motives and Directions for the Performance thereof Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals The Glory and Happiness of the Saints in Heaven or a Discourse concerning the Blessed State of the Righteous With Motives and Encouragements unto all Christians to secure to themselves an Interest therein Discourses or Sermons on several Scriptures In Octavo An Exposition on the Ten Commandments with other Sermons In Quarto A Practical Exposition on the Lord's Prayer with other Sermons In Quarto The Vanity of the World with other Sermons In Octavo All Four written by Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London Derry The Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland convened at Edinburgh October 16 1690. Extracted from the Records of the Assembly by the Clerk thereof and published by their Order The Danger of delaying Repentance A Sermon preached to the University at St. Mary's Church in Oxford By Arthur Bury Rector of Exeter Colledge in Oxon. Quarto