Arbitrary Innovations not within the compass of the Rule and Order of the Book of common-Common-prayer and that he did not take upon him to introduce any Rite or Ceremony upon his own Opinion of Decency till the Church had judged it so p. 147. What the Lord Primat's behaviour was in England in relation to some of these Ceremonies of lesser moment either to the peace or well-being of the Church the Lord Primat needs no Apology he having reason enough for what he did if he conformed himself no further than the Doctor would have him But to give one Instance for all of the Doctor 's want of Charity towards the Lord Primat Dr. Bernard having asserted his Conformity to the Discipline Liturgy and Articles of the Church of England and that many of those who were called Puritans received such satisfaction from him as to concur with him in the above-said particulars The Doctor immediatly makes this Remark For this says he might very well be done and yet the Men remain as unconformable to the Rules of the Church their Kneeling at the Communion only excepted as they were before Now what other Rules of the Church the Doctor means I know not since I always thought that whoever had brought over a Lay-Nonconformist to conform to the Service and Orders of the Church had done a very good work and I know not when that is done what is required more to make him a true Son of the Church of England But I shall say no more on this ungrateful Subject since I doubt not but the Lord Primat's great Esteem and Reputation is too deep rooted in the hearts of all Good Men to be at all lessened by the Doctor 's hard Reflections tho I thought I could do no less than vindicate the Memory of so pious a Prelate since many ordinary Readers who were not acquainted with this good Bishop or his Writings may think Dr. H. had cause thus to find fault with him So avoiding all invidious Reflections upon the Reverend Doctor long since deceased I shall now conclude heartily wishing that whatever he hath written or published had never done any more prejudice to that Church which he undertook to serve than any of those Writings or Opinions of the Lord Primat's which he so much finds fault with FINIS A COLLECTION Of Three Hundred LETTERS Written between the Most Reverend Father in GOD JAMES USHER Late Lord Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH and most of the Eminentest Persons for PIETY and LEARNING in his Time both in ENGLAND and beyond the SEAS Collected and Published From Original Copies under their own Hands by RICHARD PARR D. D. his Lordships Chaplain at the Time of his Death with whom the Care of all his Papers were intrusted by his Lordship LONDON Printed for NATHANAEL RANEW at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVI THE CONTENTS LETTER I. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Richard Stanihurst at the English Colledge in Lovain Page 1. II. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. William Eyres 2 III. A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Mr. James Usher 3 IV. A Letter from Mr. Henry Briggs to Mr. James Usher 11 V. A Letter from Mr. Thomas Lydiat to Mr. James Usher 13 VI. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 14 VII A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 15 VIII A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Dr. Challoner 16 IX A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr. James Usher 17 X. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Samuel Ward 18 XI A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr James Usher 22 XII A Letter from Mr. Alexander Cook to Mr. James Usher 32 XIII A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr. James Usher 33 XIV A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr. James Usher 34 XV. A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Mr. James Usher 34 XVI A Letter from Mr. Henry Briggs to Mr. James Usher 35 XVII A Letter from the Most Reverend Tobias Matthews Arch-Bishop of York to Mr. James Usher 36 XVIII A Letter from Mr. Thomas Gataker to Mr. James Usher 37 XIX A Letter from Mr. Robert Usher to Dr. James Usher 38 XX. A Letter from Mr. Thomas Lydiat to Dr. James Usher 39 XXI A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 43 XXII A Letter from Dr. James Usher concerning the Death and Satisfaction of Christ. 46 XXIII An Answer to some Objections against the said Letter by Dr. James Usher 49 XXIV A Letter from Sr. Henry Bourgchier to Dr. James Usher 53 XXV A Letter from Mr. William Crashaw to Dr. James Usher 55 XXVI A Letter from Mr. Thomas Gataker to Dr. James Usher 56 XXVII A Letter from Mr. Thomas Lydiat to Dr. James Usher 57 XXVIII A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Dr. James Usher 59 XXIX A Letter from Mr. James Warren to Dr. James Usher 60 XXX A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 60 XXXI A Letter from Sr. Henry Bourgchier to Dr. James Usher 61 XXXII A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Dr. James Usher 62 XXXIII A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. William Camden 63 XXXIV A Letter from Mr. William Camden to Dr. James Usher 65 XXXV A Letter from Mr. Thomas Warren to Dr. James Usher 66 XXXVI A Letter from the Right Reverend Thomas Morton Bishop of Chester to Dr. James Usher 67 XXXVII A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Dr. James Usher 67 XXXVIII A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 68 XXXIX A Letter from Dr. James Usher 71 XL. A Letter from Mr. Edward Browncker to Dr. James Usher 72 XLI A Letter from Dr. James Usher Bishop Elect of Meath to the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh 73 XLII A Letter from the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 75 XLIII A Letter from Mr. Thomas Gataker to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 76 XLIV A Letter from Sir William Boswell to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 77 XLV A Letter from Sir Henry Spelman to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 78 XLVI A Letter from Mr. John Selden to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 78 XLVII A Letter from Sir Robert Cotton to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 79 XLVIII A Letter from Sir Henry Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 80 XLIX A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Mr. John Selden 81 L. A Letter from Dr. Samuel Ward to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 81 LI. A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Oliver Lord Grandison 83 LII A Letter from the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 84 LIII A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Dr. Samuel Ward 85
the present than to keep the Courts my self and set some good Order in them And to this purpose I have been at Cavan Granard and Longford c. and do intend to go to the rest leaving with some of the Ministry there a few Rules touching those things that are to be redressed that if my Health do not permit me to be always present they may know how to proceed in mine absence I find it to be true that Tully faith Justitia mirifica quaedam res multitudini videtur and certainly to our proper Work a great advantage it is to obtain a good opinion of those we are to deal with But besides this there fall out occasions to speak of God and his Presence of the Religion of a Witness the Danger of an Oath the Purity of Marriage the preciousness of a good Name repairing of Churches and the like Penance it self may enjoined and Penitents reconciled with some profit to others besides themselves Wherefore albeit Mr. Cook were the justest Chancellor in this Kingdom I would think it fit for me as things now stand to sit in these Courts and sith I cannot be heard in the Pulpits to preach as I may in them albeit Innocency and Justice is also a real kind of preaching I have shewed your Grace my Intentions in this Matter Now should I require your direction in many things if I were present with you But for the present it may please you to understand that at Granard one Mr. Neugent a Nephew as I take it to my Lord of Westmeath delivered his Letter to Mr. Astre which he delivered me in open Court requiring that his Tenants might not be troubled for Christnings Marriages or Funerals so they pay the Minister his due This referred to a Letter of my Lord Chancellor's to the like purpose which yet was not delivered till the Court was risen I answered generally that none of my Lord's Tenants or others should be wronged The like Motion was made at Longford by two or three of the Farralls and one Mr. Faganah in Rosse to whom I gave the like answer and added that I would be strict in requiring them to bring their Children to be baptized and Marriages to be solemnized likewise with us sith they acknowleg these to be lawful and true so as it was but wilfulness if any forbear Here I desire your Grace to direct me for to give way that they should not be so much as called in question seems to further the Schism they labour to make To lay any pecuniary Mulct upon them as the value of a License for Marriage 3 or 4 s. for a Christening I know not by what Law it can be done To excommunicate them for not appearing or obeying they being already none of our Body and a multitude it is to no profit nay rather makes the Exacerbation worse Many things more I have to confer with your Grace about which I hope to do corà m as about the reedifying of Churches or employing the Mass-houses which now the State enquires of about Books Testaments and the common-Common-Prayer Book which being to be reprinted would perhaps be in some things bettered But specially about Men to use them and means to maintain them now that our English have engrossed their Livings About the printing the Psalter which I have caused to be diligently surveyed by Mr. James Nangle who adviseth not to meddle with the Verse but set forth only the Prose which he hath begun to write out fair to the Press Mr. Mortugh King I have not heard of a long time I hope he goeth on in the Historical Books of the Old Testament Mr. Crian was with me about a Fortnight after I came to Kilmore since I heard not of him Of all these things if by the will of God I may make a journey over to you we shall speak at fall As I was closing up these this Morning there is a Complaint brought me from Ardagh that where in a Cause Matrimonial in the Court at Longford a Woman had proceeded thus far as after Contestation the Husband was enjoined to appear the next Court to receive a Libel One Shane age in Ingerney the Popish Vicar-General of Ardagh had excommunicated her and she was by one Hubart in Cutril a Popish Priest upon Sunday lass put out of the Church and denounced excommunicate Herein whether it were more sit to proceed against the Vicar and Priest by virtue of the last Letters from the Council or complain to them I shall attend your Grace's advices And now for very shame ceasing to be troublesome I do recommend your Grace to the protection of our merciful Father and rest Your Graces in all Duty Will. Kilmore and Ardaghen Kilmore Feb. 15. 1629. LETTER CLIII A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend William Bedell Bishop of Kilmore Salutem in Christo Jesu I Thank your Lordship for the great pains you have taken in writing so large a Letter unto me and especially for putting me in mind of that comfortable place of the Apostle which you mention in the beginning thereof But as for the matter of Merriment as you call it contained in your inclosed Recusation I confess my Ignorance to have been such that I understood not where the Jest lay Yet when I shewed it to those that had better skill in the Law than my self I saw that they did heartily laugh at it whose Reasons I had no list to examine but referred the scanning thereof to the Judex ad quem to whom the cognisance of this Matter now properly belongeth Most of the Slanders wherewith you were so much troubled I never heard of till you now mentioned them your self only the course which you took with the Papists was generally cried out against neither do I remember in all my life that any thing was done here by any of ours at which the Professors of the Gospel did take more offence or by which the Adversaries were more confirmed in their Superstitions and Idolatry Whereas I could wish that you had advised with your Brethren before you would adventure to pull down that which they have been so long a building so I may boldly aver that they have abused grosly both of us who reported unto you that I should give out that I found my self deceived in you What you did I know was done out of a good intention but I was assured that your Project would be so quickly refuted with the present Success and Egent that there would be no need that your Friends should advise you to desist from building such Castles in the Air. Of Mr. Whiskins Mr. Creighton and Mr. Bexter's preaching I heard not a word till now Would God that all the Lord's People might prophesy and there might be thousands of his faithful Servants that might go beyond me in doing our Master's Work the Spirit that it in me I trust shall never last after such enuy For your judging of Mr.
JACOBUS USSERIUS ARCHIEPISCOPUS ARMACHANUS TOTIUS HIBERNIAE PRIMAS London Printed for Nath Ranew and Ionat Robinson at the Kings Armes in S. Pauls church yard 1676 THE LIFE Of the Most Reverend Father in GOD JAMES USHER Late Lord Arch-Bishop OF ARMAGH Primate and Metropolitan of all IRELAND With a Collection of Three Hundred LETTERS between the said Lord Primate and most of the Eminentest Persons for Piety and Learning in his time both in England and beyond the Seas Collected and published from Original Copies under their own hands by RICHARD PARR D. D. his Lordships Chaplain at the time of his Death with whom the care of all his Papers were intrusted by his Lordship LONDON Printed for NATHANAEL RANEW at the Kings-Arms in St. Pauls Church-Yard MDCL XXXVI THE PREFACE WHEN the Son of Syrach undertook to recount the Famous Men of Old and record their Worth and Renown he says of them That they were Men of Knowledge Wise and Eloquent in their Instructions that of these there are who have left behind them a Name beloved of God and good Men whose Memorials are Blessed honoured in their Generation being the Glory of their times whose Righteousness shall not be forgotten and although their Bodies be buried yet their Names shall live for Ever And as in the former so likewise in these latter Days there have been many Men of excellent Endowments for Wisdom and Learning for Piety and all other eminent Vertues whose Memorials are with us in Church and State Among these of the first Rank this admirable Primate James Usher whose Life we are about to relate ought to be reckoned whether we consider him as he was indeed a profound Scholar exactly skilled in all sorts of Learning Divine and Humane or as a Person of unfeigned Piety and exemplary Vertue and Conversation or as a Subject of steady and unmoveable Loyalty to his Sovereign Prince or as a Clergy Man in all his Capacity from a Presbyter to a Bishop and Primate So that I think of him it may be as truly said as of St. Augustine with a kind of Admiration O Virum ad totius Ecclesiae publicam utilitatem natum factum datúmque divinitùs This Character his Writings have justly purchased him among the best and most Learned whether of these or other Nations whose Encomiums of him are too many and large for this Place let me therefore include all in that of a memorable Bishop of our Church who upon the Receipt of the Primates Book de Primordiis thus writes of him I may truly say that the Church hereafter will owe as much Reverence to his Memory as we of this present Age ought to pay to his Person And therefore when we have before us a subject of so Eminent Dignity we shall no need Apology for reviving the Memory of this incomparable Prelate and collecting such materials from his Life his Papers and the Informations of Wise and Knowing Men as may render him as well useful to future Ages in his Example as a Person truly Illustrious in himself 1. But perhaps it may be a needless attempt to write again the Life and Actions of this incomparable Primate seeing it hath been performed already by several Persons 2. And likewise it may be demanded how it comes to my share and what were the enducements to undertake this Province 1. To the first I say that though Dr. Bernard in the Sermon be Preached at the Funerals of the Lord Primate hath said many worthy things of him truly which we have reason to believe having the joynt Testimonies from Persons of Worth and unquestionable Credit who had been acquainted with this great and good Man for many years both in England and Ireland and must go along with the Dr. a good way in reciting many material passages contained in the said Sermon yet I take leave to say that he hath omitted very many remarkable things which perhaps either slipt his Memory or came not at all under his observation or because that those then in Power would not indure that any thing should be said of the Primate which might reflect upon that Usurpation Therefore we thought it needful to make up those defects by adding such Remarks as are wanting in that Description and likewise to rectifie the mistakes of those Writers of the Lord Primates Life who Writing after Dr. Bernard's Copy are deficient also in their Accounts and lyable to Question in some instances 2. If it be demanded how it comes to my share to revive the Memory of this great Man and to undertake the Task To this I say that I waited and heartily wished to see if any Person better Qualified than my self being sensible of my own weakness would engage himself in this Affair to whom I would most readily have Communicated those Materials and Observations which I had gathered together and lay by me for a long time but at length perceiving it not likely to be undertaken I was perswaded by those who have a prevailing Power with me to take upon me this Task and to acquaint the World with my own Observations touching this most Reverend Primate Usher whom I had the Advantage of any Man now living to know for I had the Blessing of an intimate Acquaintance with his Person and Affairs by my Attendance on him during the last thirteen years of his Life So that I may be thought capable to give a considerable Account not only of the Lord Primates particular Disposition and heavenly Conversation but likewise of those Passages and Performances of which I was an Eye Witness and may confidently relate upon mine own Knowledge This is the thing I undertake to perform especially in that part of the History of his Life and Actions from the year 1642 to the time of his Death 1655. But not withstanding my long experience of this excellent Person and what I had collected from several passages in Letters and by conference with those who made Observations yet I had not the confidence to attempt this work by my own strength or skill without Counsel and Help therefore when I had drawn together the Memorials I consulted with Persons of better understandign than my self with request to correct and amend what was misplaced or not well expressed and to remind me of any remarkable passage that had escaped my Memory And the assistance I had in this kind was administred by that Learned and Judicious Gentleman James Tyrrell Esq Grandson to the Lord Primate one as deeply concerned for the honour of his Grandfather as can be he became helpful to me in hinting many passages touching his Grandfather which he tho then young had himself observed and had heard from Persons of great Worth and Credit and of the Primates familiar Acquaintance We also owe unto him the account given of the Lord Primates Printed Works both of the time and occasion of Writing them and subject matter treated on as the Reader will perceive in the following History
Church may still either by preaching or writing maintain any point of Doctrine contained in those Articles without being either Heterodox or Irregular It was likewise reported and has been since written by some with the like truth that the Lord Primate should have some dispute with Dr. Bramhall then Bishop of London-Derry concerning these Articles Whereas the contest between the Lord Primate and that Bishop was not about the Articles but the Book of Canons which were then to be established for the Church of Ireland and which the Bishop of Derry would have to be passed in the very same form and words with those in England which the Lord Primate with divers other of the Bishops opposed as somewhat prejudicial to the Liberties of the Church of Ireland and they so far prevailed herein that it was at last concluded That the Church of Ireland should not be tyed to that Book but that such Canons should be selected out of the same and such others added thereunto as the present Convocation should judge fit for the Government of that Church which was accordingly performed as any man may see that will take the pains to compare the two Books of the English and Irish Canons together And what the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's judgment was on this affair you may see in a Letter of his to the Lord Primate published in this Collection About the end of this year the Lord Primate published his Anno 1639 long expected work entitled Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates In which also is inserted a History of Pelagius and his Heresie which Work I suppose my Lord kept so long unpublished because he still found fresh matter to add to it as you may see by the many Additions and Emendations at the latter end of it and as it was long in coming out so it did fully answer expectation when it came abroad into the World being the most exact account that ever yet was given of the British Church beginning with the earliest notices we can find in Ancient Authors of any credit concerning the first planting of Christianity in these Islands within twenty years after our Saviour's Crucifixion and bringing it down with the Succession of Bishops as far as they could be retreived not only in our Britain but in Ireland also as far as towards the end of the VII Century collected out of the best Authors either Printed or Manuscript and is so great a Treasure of this kind of Learning that all that have writ since with any success on this subject must own themselves beholding to him for his elaborate Collections The Lord Primate having now sate Arch-Bishop sixteen years Anno 1640 with great satisfaction and benefit to the Church about the beginning of this year came into England with his Wife and Family intending to stay here a year or two about his private Affairs and then to return again But it pleased God to disappoint him in those resolutions for he never saw his native Country again not long after his coming to London when he had kissed his Majesty's hand and been received by him with his wonted favour he went to Oxford as well to be absent from those heats and differences which then happened in that short Parliament as also with greater freedom to pursue his Studies in the Libraries there where he was accommodated with Lodgings in Christ-Church by Dr. Morice Canon of that House and Hebrew Professor and whilst he was there he conversed with the most Learned Persons in that famous University who used him with all due respect whilst he continued with them so after he had resided there some time he returned again to London where after the sitting of that long and unhappy Parliament he made it his business as well by preaching as writing to exhort them to Loyalty and Obedience to their Prince endeavouring to the utmost of his power to heal up those breaches and reconcile those differences that were ready to break out both in Church and State though it did not meet with that success he always desired This year there was published at Oxford among divers other Treatises of Bishop Andrews Mr. Hooker and other Learned men Anno 1641 concerning Church Government the Lord Primate's Original of Bishops and Metropolitans wherein he proves from Scripture as also the most Ancient Writings and Monuments of the Church that they owe their original to no less Authority than that of the Apostles and that they are the Stars in the right hand of Christ Apoc. 2. So that there was never any Christian Church founded in the Primitive Times without Bishops which discourse was not then nor I suppose ever will be answered by those of a contrary judgment That unhappy dispute between his Majesty and the two Houses concerning his passing the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Attainder now arising and he much perplexed and divided between the clamour of a discontented People and an unsatisfied Conscience thought fit to advise with some of his Bishops what they thought he ought to do in point of Conscience as he had before consulted his Judges in matter of Law among which his Majesty thought fit to make choice of the Lord Primate for one though without his seeking or knowledge but since some men either out of spleen or because they would not retract what they had once written from vulgar report have thought fit to publish as if the Lord Primate should advise the King to sign the Bill for the said Earl's Attainder it will not be amiss to give you here that relation which Dr. Bernard had under his own hand and has printed in the Funeral Sermon by him published which is as followeth That Sunday morning wherein the King consulted with the four Bishops of London Durham Lincoln and Carlisle the Arch-Bishop of Armagh was not present being then preaching as he then accustomed every Sunday to do in the Church of Covent-Garden where a Message coming unto him from his Majesty he descended from the Pulpit and told him that brought it he was then as he saw imployed about God's business which as soon as he had done he would attend upon the King to understand his pleasure But the King spending the whole Afternoon in the serious debate of the Lord Strafford's Case with the Lords of his Council and the Judges of the Land he could not before Evening be admitted to his Majesty's presence There the Question was again agitated Whether the King in justice might pass the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford for that he might shew mercy to him was no question at all no man doubting but that the King without any Scruple of Conscience might have granted him a Pardon if other reasons of State in which the Bishops were made neither Judges nor Advisers did not hinder him The whole result therefore of the determination of the Bishops was to this effect That therein the matter of Fact and matter of Law were to be distinguished That of the
though upon a sad occasion of his Majesty's excellent conversation in the same House who received him with his wonted kindness and favour Whilst he was here the Lord Primate preached before him in the Castle and when his Majesty went away and that the Lord Primate had taken his leave of him I heard him declare that nothing came nearer to his heart than the imminent danger of the King and Church with the effusion of so much Christian Blood His Majesty's necessities now not permitting him to leave many men in Garrisons he was now forced to unfurnish this as well as others of its Souldiers and Ammunition so that Sir Timothy Tyrrel was forced to quit that Government by reason of which the Arch-Bishop being forced to remove was in a great strait whether to go the ways from thence to Oxford being all cut off by the Enemy so that he had some thoughts being near the Sea of going over into France or Holland to both which places he had been formerly invited as hath been already mentioned But whilst he was in this perplexity the Lady Dowager Stradling sent him a kind invitation to come to her Castle of St. Donates as soon as he pleased which he accepted as a great favour But by that time he was ready to go with his Daughter the Lady Tyrrel the Country thereabouts was up in Arms in a tumultuous manner to the number of Ten Thousand as was supposed who chose themselves Officers to form them into a Body pretending for the King but yet would not be governed by English Commanders or suffer any English Garrisons in the Country this gave the Lord Primate a fresh disturbance the Welch-men lying upon the ways between that place and St. Donates but there were some at that time in Caerdiffe who would needs undertake to convey the Lord Primate and his company through by ways so that they might avoid this tumultuous Rabble which though it might be well advised by the then Governor of Caerdiffe and was faithfully enough executed by them that undertook it yet happened very ill for my Lord and those that were with him for going by some private ways near the Mountains they fell into a stragling Party that were scouting thereabouts who soon led them to their main Body where it was Crime enough that they were English so that they immediately fell to plundering and breaking open my Lord Brimate's Chests of Books and other things which he then had with him ransacking all his Manuscripts and Papers many of them of his own hand writing which were quickly dispersed among a thousand hands and not content with this they pulled the Lord Primate and his Daughter and other Ladies from their Horses all which the Lord Primate bore with his wonted patience and a seeming unconcernedness But now some of their Officers coming in who were of the Gentry of the Country seemed very much ashamed of this barbarous treatment and by force or fair means caused their Horses and other things which were taken from them to be restored but as for the Books and Papers they were got into too many hands to be then retrieved nor were these Gentlemen satisfied with this but some of them very civilly conducted him through the rest of this tumultuous Rabble to Sir John Aubery's House not far off where he was civilly received and lodged that Night When he came thither and had retired himself I must confess that I never saw him so much troubled in my life and those that were with him before my self said That he seemed not more sensibly concerned for all his losses in Ireland than for this saying to his Daughter and those that endeavoured to comfort him I know that it is God's hand and I must endeavour to bear it patiently though I have too much humane frailty not to be extremely concerned for I am touched in a very tender place and He has thought â—it to take from me at once all that I have been gathering together above these twenty years and which I intended to publish for the advancement of Learning and the good of the Church The next day divers of the neighbouring Gentry and Clergy came to Visit him and to Condole this irreparable loss promising to do their utmost endeavours that what Books or Papers were not burnt or torn should be restored and so very civilly waited on him to St. Donates And to let you see that these Gentlemen and Ministers did not only promise but were also able to perform it they so used their power with the people that publishing in the Churches all over those parts That all that had any such Books or Papers should bring them to their Ministers or Landlords which they accordingly did so that in the space of two or three Months there were brought in to him by parcels all his Books and Papers so fully that being put altogether we found not many wanting those most remarkable that I or others can call to mind were two Manuscripts concerning the VValdenses which he much valued and which he had obtained toward the continuing of his Ecclesiarum Christianarum Successione As also another Manuscript Catalogue of the Persian Kings communicated by Elikmannus and one Volume of Manuscripts Variae Lectiones of the New Testament And of Printed Books only Tully's Works and some others of less concernment Whilst the Lord Primate was at St. Donates till he could get his own Books and Papers again he spent his time chiefly in looking over the Books and Manuscripts in the Library in that Castle and which had been collected by Sir Edward Stradling a great Antiquary and friend of Mr. Cambden's and out of some of these Manuscripts the L. Primate made many choice Collections of the British or Welch Antiquity which I have now in my Custody Within a little more than a Month after my Lord Primate's coming hither he was taken with a sharp and dangerous illness which began at first with the Strangury and suppression of Urine with extremity of torture which at last caused a violent bleeding at the Nose for near forty hours together without any considerable intermission no means applied could stop it so that the Physicians and all about him dispaired of his life till at last when we apprehended he was expiring it stanched of it self for he lay a good while in a trance but God had some farther work for him to perform and was pleased by degrees to restore him to his former health and strength but it is worth the remembering that whilst he was in the midst of his pain as also his bleeding he was still patient praising God and resigning up himself to his Will and giving all those about him or that came to visit him excellent Heavenly advice to a Holy Life and due preparation for death e're its Agonies seized them saying It is a dangerous thing to leave all undone till our last sickness I fear a Death-bed Repentance will avail us little if we have lived
this good Bishop took delight to advise others in the exercise of this great Duty so likewise he said none of his Labours adminstred greater comfort to him in his Old Age than that he had ever since he vvas called to the Ministry vvhich vvas very early endeavoured to discharge that great Trust committed unto him of preaching the Gospel vvhich he accounted so much his duty that he made this the Motto of his Episcopal Seal Vae mihi si non Evangelizavero I mention not this as if he thought all those of his ovvn Order vvere obliged to preach constantly themselves since he was sensible that God hath not bestowed the same Talents on all men alike but as St. Paul says Gave some Apostles and some Pastors and Teachers though on some he hath bestowed all these gifts as on this great Prelate yet it is not often And besides God's Providence so ordained that as he had qualified him in an extraordinary manner for the preaching of the Gospel so likewise towards his latter end he should be reduced to that condition as in great part to live by it And here I cannot omit that amongst many of those Advices which he gave to those who came to him for Spiritual Counsel one was concerning Afflictions as a necessary mark of being a Child of God which some might have gathered out of certain unwary passages in Books and which he himself had met with in his Youth and which wrought upon him so much that he earnestly prayed God to deal with him that way and he had his request And he told me that from that time he was not without various Afflictions through the whole course of his life and therefore he advised that no Christian should tempt God to shew such a Sign for a mark of his paternal love but to wait and be prepared for them and patient under them and to consider the intention of them so as to be the better for them when they are inflicted And by no means to judge of a man's Spiritual State either by or without Afflictions for they are fallible Evidences in Spiritual matters but that we should look after a real sincere Conversion and internal Holiness which indeed is the only true Character and Evidence of a state of Salvation I have already given you some account of his carriage whilst he exercised his Sacred Function in his own Country to which I shall only add That as his Discipline was not too severe so was it not remiss being chiefly exercised upon such as were remarkably Vicious and Scandalous in their Lives and Conversations whether of the Clergy or Laity for as he loved and esteemed the sober diligent and pious Clergy-men and could not endure they should be wronged or contemned so as for those who were Vicious Idle and cared not for their Flocks he would call them the worst of men being a scandal to the Church and a blemish to their profession and therefore he was always very careful what persons he Ordained to this high Calling observing St. Paul's injunction to Timothy Lay hands suddenly on no man And I never heard he Ordained more than one person who was not sufficiently qualified in respect of Learning and this was in so extraordinary a case that I think it will not be amiss to give you a short account of it there was a certain English Mechanick living in the Lord Primate's Diocess who constantly frequented the publick Service of the Church and attained to a competent knowledge in the Scriptures and gave himself to read what Books of Practical Divinity he could get and was reputed among his Neighbours and Protestants thereabouts a very honest and Pious Man this Person applyed himself to the Lord Primate and told him That he had an earnest desire to be admitted to the Ministry but the Bishop refused him advising him to go home and follow his Calling and pray to God to remove this Temptation yet after some time he returns again renewing his request Saying He could not be at rest in his Mind but that his desires toward that Calling encreased more and more whereupon the Lord Primate discoursed him and found upon Examination that he gave a very good account of his Faith and knowledge in all the main points of Religion Then the Bishop questioned him farther if he could speak Irish for if not his Preaching would be of little use in a Country where the greatest part of the People were Irish that understood no English The Man replyed that indeed he could not speak Irish but if his Lordship thought fit he would endeavour to learn it which he bid him do and as soon as he had attained the Language to come again which he did about a Twelvemonth after telling my Lord that he could now express himself tolerably well in Irish and therefore desired Ordination whereupon the Lord Primate finding upon Examination that he spake Truth Ordained him accordingly being satisfied that such an ordinary Man was able to do more good than if he had Latin without any Irish at all nor was the Bishop deceived in his expectation for this Man as soon as he had a Cure imployed his Talent diligently and faithfully and proved very successful in Converting many of the Irish Papists to our Church and continued labouring in that Work until the Rebellion and Massacre wherein he hardly escaped with Life And as this good Bishop did still protect and encourage those of his own Coat so did he likewise all poor Men whom he found oppressed or wronged by those above them And for an instance of this I will give you part of a Letter which he Writ to a Person of Quality in Ireland in behalf of a poor Man which was his Tenant whom he found much wronged and oppressed by him viz. I Am much ashamed to receive such Petitions against you Have you never read that the unrighteous and he that doth wrong shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Think there is a God who heareth the Cry of the Poor and may bring a rot upon your Flocks and Curse every thing you put your hand to And if you think not of him because you see him not although he sees you through and through yet believe your own Eyes and consider that he hath appointed his Deputies upon Earth the higher Powers which will not suffer the Poor to be oppressed by you or those that are greater than you for shame therefore give content to this Petitioner that you hear not of this in a place where your Face must blush and your Ears tingle at the hearing of it J. A. Now having given as brief a Character as I could of this excellent Prelate not only as a private Man but also a Minister and Bishop of Gods Church and as a most Loyal Subject to his Lawful Sovereign Prince expressed upon all occasions I should proceed in the last place to give some account of his Judgment and Opinions in points of Religion and
Primis Haereticis Haeresibus Judaeorum Annotationes Rabbinicae ex Scriptis Rabbinorum eorum Scarae Scripturae Interpretum Imperatorum Christianorum à Constantino magno usque ad Justinianum Constitutiones Epistolae collectae recensitae Veterum Anglo-Saxorum Monumenta Anglo-Saxonicarum Epistolarum Sylloge ex variis Manuscriptis Epistolae Alcuini variae ad diversos Missae ineditae in Bibliothecâ Cottonianâ Manuscriptis collectae recensitae Epistolae venerabilis Archiepiscop Lanfranci ad diversos Missae ex antiquissimo exemplari Bibliothecae Cottonianae collectae recensitae Collectiones Genealogicae Historicae Mathematicae Astrologicae Chronologicae Theologicae variae de quibus passim judicium fertur Memorandum THat out of the forementioned Manuscripts the Incomparable Sir Math. Hale late Lord Chief Justice having borrowed them extracted those four Volumes which he calls Chronological Remembrances extracted out of thë Notes of Bishop Usher mentioned in the Catalogue of his Manuscripts which he Left to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn Besides those Manuscripts above cited the Primate Usher had Written his Polemical Lectures in the University of Dublin while professor there touching the Points in Controversie between the Protestants and Pontificians 3 Volumes 4 to Lost His Lectures pro formâ when he commenced Dr. of Divinity touching the 70 Weeks Dan. 9. 24. and de Mille Annis mentioned Apocal. 20. 4. Lost His Treatise of the Hermage and Corban Lands in England and Ireland yet to be seen in Bibliothecâ Lambethianâ His Collections and Observations touching the Advancement and Restauration of our Northern Antiquities in the Gothick Anglo-Saxonick and the like obscure Languages and also concerning the Doxology found in the very Ancient Gospels in Gothick His Numerous Epistles Latin and English touching matters of Learning and Religion many of them now Printed in Collection with others An APPENDIX to the Life of the Lord Primate USHER containing a vindication of his Opinions and Actions in reference to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England and his Conformity thereunto from the Aspersions of Peter Heylin D. D. in his Pamphlet called Respondet Petrus FInding that Dr. Heylin hath taken the pains to write this Book on purpose to callumniate and asperse the Lord Primates Memory and arraign his Opinions and Actions as not conformable to the Doctrines of the Church of England I cannot well omit to consider what that Author hath there laid to his charge how justly I shall leave to the impartial Reader to judg for I hope I shall make it appear that what the Lord Primate hath either publish'd or written in private Letters on those Subjects was on very good grounds and such as may very well be defended as agreeable to the Sence and Doctrine of our Church contained in the 39 Articles Or if after all I can say the Reader shall happen to think otherwise I desire him not to censure too hardly but to pass it by since such difference if any be was not in the fundamental Doctrines of our Religion but only some Points of lesser moment or in which the Church it self has not tied men either to this or that sence and that the Lord Primate held these Opinions not out of contradiction or singularity but only because he thought them more agreeable to Scripture and Reason tho in most of them I doubt not but to shew that the Doctor has stretched the Lord Primate's words farther than ever his own sence and meaning was But to come to the Points in which the Doctor hath made bold to question his Judgment the first is his Opinion of the Divine Morality of the Sabbath or Seventh days rest asserted by him in two several Letters published tho perhaps not so prudently with those private reflections by Dr. Bernard in which Controversy whether the Authorities made use of by the Lord Primate out of the Fathers and other Writers do not make out the Assertion by him laid down or whether the Doctor has fairly and ingenuously answered those Quotations he cites in those Letters I shall not here take upon me to examine but shall observe thus much That as it is a Doctrine held by some of the Fathers as also maintained by divers learned Divines and Bishops of our Church and therefore could not be so Puritanical as the Doctor would have it especially since the Lord Primate thought that he had the Church of England on his side as she hath declared her sence of this matter in the first part of the Homily of the time and place of Prayer viz. God hath given express charge to all Men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they shall cease from all weekly and work-day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six days and rested the seventh and blessed and consecrated it to quietness and rest from labour even so God's obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily business and also give themselves wholly to the heavenly exercise of God's true Religion and Service Which passage being expresly in the point of my Lord Primat's side the Sabbath day mentioned in the fourth Commandment being there called our Sunday and the same reason laid down for its observation viz. because God had rested on the seventh day c. The Doctor has no way to oppose this so express Authority but to make if possible this Homily to contradict it self and therefore he produces another passage just preceding in this Homily as making for his Opinion which that you may judge whether it does so or no I shall put down the passage as he himself hath cited it with his Conclusions from it and shall then further examine whether it makes so much of his side as he would have it viz. As concerning the time in which God hath appointed his People to assemble together solemnly it doth appear by the fourth Commandment c. And albeit this Commandment of God doth not bind Christian People so strictly to observe and keep the utter Ceremonies of the Sabbath day as it was given unto the Jews as touching the forbearing of work and labour and as touching the precise keeping of the seventh day after the manner of the Jews for we keep now the first day which is our Sunday and make that our Sabbath that is our day of rest in honour of our Saviour Christ who upon that day rose from death conquering the same most triumphantly yet notwithstanding whatsoever is found in the Commandment appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needful for the setting forth of God's Glory ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian People So that it being thus resolved that there is no more of the fourth Commandment to be retained by good Christian People than what is found appertaining to the Law of Nature and that the Law of Nature doth not tie us to one day in seven
stood in the Church of England at the time of the making this Homily and therefore he has put down the Proem of an Act of Parliament of the fifth and sixth years of Edward the 6th concerning Holy-days by which he would have the Lord's day to stand on no other ground but the Authority of the Church not as enjoyned by Christ or ordained by any of his Apostles Which Statute whosoever shall be pleased to peruse may easily see that this Proem he mentions relates only to Holy days and not to Sundays as you may observe from this passage viz. which holy Works as they may be called God's Service so the times especially appointed for the same are called Holy-days not for the matter or nature either of the time or day c. which title of Holy-days was never applied to Sundays either in a vulgar or legal acceptation And tho the Doctor fancied this Act was in force at the time when this Homily was made and therefore must by no means contradict so sacred an Authority as that of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled in Parliament because this Act tho repealed by Queen Mary he would have to be revived again the first year of Queen Elizabeth and so to stand in force at the time of making this Homily whereas whoever consults our Statute-Book will find that this Statute of King Edward the 6th was not revived nor in force till the first of King James when the Repeal of this Statute was again repealed tho certainly the reviving of that or any other Statute does not make their Proems which are often very carelesly drawn to be in every clause either good Law or Gospel But tho the Doctor in other things abhors the Temporal Powers having any thing to do in matters of Religion yet if it make for his Opinion then the Authority of a Parliament shall be as good as that of a Convocation But I have dwelt too long upon this Head which I could not well contract if I spoke any thing at all to justifie the Lord Primat's Judgment in this so material a Doctrine The next Point that the Doctor lays to the Lord Primat's charge as not according to the Church of England is a passage in a Letter to Dr. Bernard and by him published in the Book intituled The Judgment of the late Primat of Ireland c. viz. That he ever declared his Opinion to be that Episcopus Presbyter gradu tantum differunt non ordine and consequently that in places where Bishops cannot be had the Ordination by Presbyters standeth valid And however saith he I must needs think that the Churches in France who living under a Popish Power and cannot do what they would are more excusable in that defect than those of the Low-Countries that live under a Free-State yet for the testifying my communion with these Churches which I do love and honour as true members of the Church Universal I do profess that with like affection I should receive the blessed Sacrament at the hands of the Dutch Ministers if I were in Holland as I should do at the hands of the French Ministers if I were at Charenton Which Opinion as I cannot deny to have been my Lord Primat's since I find the same written almost verbatim with his own hand dated Nov. 26. 1655 in a private Note-Book not many months before his death with the addition of this clause at the beginning viz. Yet on the other side holding as I do That a Bishop hath Superiority in degree above Presbyters you may easily judg that the Ordination made by such Presbyters as have severed themselves from their Bishops cannot possibly by me be excused from being schismatical And concluding with another clause viz. for the agreement or disagreement in radical and fundamental Doctrines not the consonancy or dissonancy in the particular points of Ecclesiastical Government is with me and I hope with every man that mindeth Peace the rule of adhering to or receding from the Communion of any Church And that the Lord Primate was always of this Opinion I find by another Note of his own hand written in another Book many years before this in these words viz. The intrinsecal power of Ordaining proceedeth not from Jurisdiction but only from Order But a Presbyter hath the same Order in specie with a Bishop Ergo A Presbyter hath equally an intrinsecal power to give Orders and is equal to him in the power of Order the Bishop having no higher degree in respect of intension or extention of the character of Order tho he hath an higher degree i. e. a more eminent place in respect of Authority and Jurisdiction in Spiritual Regiment Again The Papists teach that the confirmation of the Baptized is proper to a Bishop as proceeding from the Episcopal Character as well as Ordination and yet in some cases may be communicated to a Presbyter and much more therefore in regard of the over-ruling Commands of invincible necessity although the right of Baptising was given by Christ's own Commission to the Apostles and their Successors and yet in case of Necessity allowed to Lay-men even so Ordination might be devolved to Presbyters in case of Necessity These passages perhaps may seem to some Men inconsistent with what the Lord Primate hath written in some of his printed Treatises and particularly that of the Original of Episcopacy wherein he proves from Rev. 2. 1. that the Stars there described in our blessed Saviour's right hand to be the Angels of the seven Churches 2. That these Angels were the several Bishops of those Churches and not the whole Colledg of Presbyters as Mr. Brightman would have it 3. Nor has he proved Archbishops less ancient each of these seven Churches being at that time a Metropolis which had several Bishops under it and 4 that these Bishops and Archbishops were ordained by the Apostles as constant permanent Officers in the Church and so in some sort Jure Divino that is in St. Hierom's sence were ordained by the Apostles for the better conferring of Orders and for preventing of Schisms which would otherwise arise among Presbyters if they had been all left equal and independent to each other And that this may very well consist with their being in some cases of Necessity not absolutely necessary in some Churches is proved by the Learned Mr. Mason in his defence of the Ordination of Ministers beyond the Seas where there are no Bishops in which he proves at large against the Papists that make this Objection from their own Schoolmen and Canonists and that tho a Bishop receives a Sacred Office Eminency in Degree and a larger Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction than a Presbyter yet that all these do not confer an absolute distinct Order and yet that Bishops are still Jure Divino that is by the Ordinance of God since they were ordained by the Apostles and whereunto they were directed by God's Holy Spirit and in that sence are the Ordinance of
that perswasion and therefore it was thought to be enough to condemn Transubstantiation and to say that Christ was present after a spiritual manner and received by Faith And to say more as it was judged superfluous so it might occasion division Upon this these words were by common consent left out and in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them This shews that the Doctrine of the Church then subscribed by the whole Convocation was at that time contrary to the belief of a Real and Corporal Presence in the Sacrament only it was not thought necessary or expedient to publish it Tho from this silence which flowed not from their Opinion but the Wisdom of that Time in leaving a liberty for different Speculations as to the manner of the Presence Some have since inferred that the chief Pastors of this Church did then disapprove of the Definition made in King Edward 's time and that they were for a Real Presence And that our Protestant Bishops that were martyr'd in Queen Mary's days were against this expression of a Real Presence of Christ as a Natural Body appears by those Questions which they disputed on solemnly at Oxford before their Martyrdom The first Question Whether the Natural Body of Christ was Really in the Sacrament The second Whether no other substance did remain but the Body and Blood of Christ Both which they held in the Negative So that since this expression of a Real Presence of Christ's Body was not maintained by our first Protestant Reformers nor used by the Church of England in her Articles I do not see of what use it can be now tho perhaps only meant in a spiritual sence by most that make use of it For the real presence of a Body and yet unbodily I suppose those that speak thus understand as little as I do unless that some Men love to come as near the Papists as may be in their expressions tho without any hopes now of ever making them approach the nearer to us and in the mean time giving matter of offence and scandal to divers ignorant and weak Christians of our own Religion The fifth Point that the Doctor taxes the Lord Primat with as held by him contrary to the Church of England is That she teaches that the Priest hath power to forgive Sins as may be easily proved by three several Arguments not very easie to be answered The first is from those solemn words used in the Ordination of the Priest or Presbyter that is to say Receive the Holy Ghost Whose Sins ye forgive they are forgiven and whose Sins ye retain they are retained Which were a gross prophanation of the words of our Lord and Saviour and a meer mockery of the Priest if no such power were given unto him as is there affirmed The second Argument is taken from one of the Exhortations before the Communion where we find the people are exhorted by the Priest that if they cannot quiet their Consciences they should come unto him or some other discreet Minister of God's Word and open their grief that they may receive such ghostly advice and comfort as their Consciences may be relieved and that by the Ministry of God's Word they may receive Comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of their Consciences and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness The third and most material Proof is the Form prescribed for the Visitation of the Sick In which it is required that after the sick Person hath made a Confession of his Faith and professed himself to be in Charity with all Men he shall then make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter And then it follows that after such Confession the Minister shall absolve him in this manner viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to absolve all Sinners that truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thine Offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen Of the first of these three places deduced all of them from the best Monuments and Records of the Church of England the Lord Primat takes notice in his Answer to the Jesuit's Challenge p. 109. where he treateth purposely of the Priests power to forgive Sins but gives us such a Gloss upon it as utterly subverts as well the Doctrine of this Church in that particular as her purpose in it And of the second he takes notice p. 81. where he speaks purposely of Confession but gives us such a Gloss upon that also as he did upon the other But of the third which is more positive and material than the other two he is not pleased to take any notice at all as if no such Doctrine were either taught by the Church of England or no such Power had been ever exercised by the Ministers of it For in the canvassing of this Point he declares sometimes that the Priest doth forgive Sins only declarative by the way of declaration only when on the consideration of the true Faith and sincere Repentance of the Party penitent he doth declare unto him in the Name of God that his Sins are pardoned and sometimes that the Priest forgives Sins only optativè by the way of Prayers and Intercession when on the like consideration he makes his prayers unto God that the Sins of the Penitent may be pardoned Neither of which comes up unto the Doctrine of the Church of England which holdeth that the Priest forgiveth Sins authoritativè by virtue of a Power committed to him by our Lord and Saviour That the Supream power of forgiving Sins is in God alone against whose Divine Majesty all Sins of what sort soever may be truly said to be committed was never question'd by any who pretended to the Christian Faith The Power which is given to the Priest is but a delegated power such as is exercised by Judges under Soveraign Princes where they are not tied unto the Verdict of Twelve Men as with us in England who by the Power committed to them in their several Circuits and Divisions do actually absolve the party which is brought before them if on good proof they find him innocent of the Crimes he stands accused for and so discharge him of his Irons And such a power as this I say is both given to and exercised by the Priest or Presbyters in the Church of England For if they did forgive Sins only declarativè that form of Absolution which follows the general Confession in the beginning of the common-prayer-Common-prayer-Book would have been sufficient where the Absolution is put in the third person Or if he did forgive Sins only optativè in the way of prayers and intercession there could not be a better way of Absolution than that which is prescribed to be used by the Priest or Bishop after the general Confession made by such as
of the Papists when he urges these words I absolve thee from all thy Sins as an Argument of the Priests power to forgive Sins authoritative and as if this Form had something more in it or could work further towards the remission of the Sins of the Penitent than any of the rest I shall leave it to the Reader Whereas whosoever will consider the Office of the Priest will find that it is not like that of a Judg or a Vice-Roy as the Doctor would have it under a Soveraign Prince who has power not only to declare the person absolved from his Crimes but also may reprieve or pardon him when guilty or condemn him tho innocent neither of which perhaps the Prince himself by whose Commission he acts would do whereas the Priest whatever power he has delegated from God vvhich I do not deny yet it is still only declarative and conditional according to the sincerity of the Repentance in the person absolved For as his Absolution signifies nothing if the Repentance of the Penitent or dying person be not real and sincere so neither can he hinder God from pardoning him if it be so indeed tho he should be so wicked or uncharitable as to deny him the benefit of this Absolution if he desire it so that the Office of the Priest in this matter rather resembleth that of an Herald who has a Commission from his Prince to proclaim and declare Pardon to a company of Rebels who have already submitted themselves and promised Obedience to their Prince which Pardon as it signifies nothing if they still continue in their Rebellion so tho the Herald alone has the power of declaring this Pardon yet it is only in the Name and by the Authority of his Prince who had passed this Pardon in his own Breast before ever the Herald published it to the Offenders so that it is in this sence only that the Priest can say thus By his Authority viz. of our Lord Jesus Christ committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins since he does this not as Christ's Vicar or Judg under him but as his Herald or Ambassador or as St. Paul words it In the Person of Christ forgives our Offences Yet still conditionally that we are really penitent and consequently is not effective but only declarative of that Forgiveness I shall now in the last place shew you that the Church of England understands it in no other sence but this alone and that if it did it would make it all one with that of the Papists First That the Form of Absolution which follows the general Confession is only declarative the Doctor himself grants so likewise that before the Communion is only optative in the way of prayer and intercession and consequently no other than declarative or conditional and therefore that the Absolution to particular Penitents both in order to receive the Communion as also in the Visitation of the Sick are no other likewise than declarative appears from the great tenderness of the Church of England in this matter not enjoining but only advising the Penitent in either case to make any special Confession of his Sins to the Priest in which case alone this Absolution is supposed to be necessary unless he cannot quiet his Conscience without it or if he feel his Conscience troubled vvith any weighty matter after which Confession the Priest shall absolve him But our Church does not declare that either the Penitent is obliged to make any such special Confession to the Priest either before the Sacrament or at the point of Death or that any person cannot obtain remission of their Sins without Absolution as the Church of Rome asserts so that it seems our Church's Absolution in all these cases is no other than declarative and for the quieting of the Conscience of the Penitent if he find himself so troubled in mind that he thinks he cannot obtain pardon from God without it Tho the Priest as the Herald above-mentioned whose Office it is to proclaim the King's Pardon still absolves authoriative and could not do it unless he were authorized by Jesus Christ for that purpose And if the Doctor or any other will maintain any higher Absolution than this it must be that of the Church of Rome where a small Attrition or sorrow for Sin by virtue of the Keys that is the Absolution of the Priest is made Contrition and the Penitent is immediately absolved from all his Sins tho perhaps he commit the same again as soon as ever he has done the penance enjoyned And that the pious and judicious Mr. Hooker who certainly understood the Doctrine of the Church of England as well as Dr. H. agrees fully with the Lord Primat in this matter appears from his sixth Book of Ecclesiastical Policy where after his declaring with the Lord Primat that for any thing he could ever observe those Formalities the Church of Rome do so much esteem of were not of such estimation nor thought to be of absolute necessity with the ancient Fathers and that the Form with them was with Invocation or praying for the Penitent that God would be reconciled unto him for which he produces St. Ambrose St. Hierom and Leo c. p. 96. he thus declares his Judgment viz. As for the Ministerial Sentence of privat Absolution it can be no more than a declaration what God hath done it hath but the force of the Prophet Nathan's Absolution God hath taken away thy Sins than which construction especially of words judicial there is nothing more vulgar For example the Publicans are said in the Gospel to have justified God the Jews in Malachy to have blessed the proud man which sin and prosper not that the one did make God righteous or the other the wicked happy but to bless to justifie and to absolve are as commonly used for words of Judgment or Declaration as of true and real efficacy yea even by the Opinion of the Master of the Sentences c. Priests are authorized to loose and bind that is to say declare who are bound and who are loosed The last Point in which the Doctor taxes the Lord Primat as differing from the Church of England is in the Article of Christ's descent into Hell The Church of England says he maintains a Local Descent that is to say That the Soul of Christ at such time as his Body lay in the Grave did locally descend into the nethermost parts in which the Devil and his Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the great and terrible Day This is proved at large by Bishop Bilson in his learned and laborious Work entitled The Survey of Christ's Sufferings And that this was the meaning of the first Reformers when this Article amongst others was first agreed upon in the first Convocation of the Year 1552 appears by that passage of St. Peter which is cited by them touching Christ's preaching to the Spirits which were in prison And tho
that passage be left out of the present Article according as it passed in the Convocation of the Year 1562 yet cannot it be used as an Argument to prove that the Church hath altered her Judgment in that Point as some Men would have it that passage being left out for these Reasons following For first that passage was conceived to make the Article too inclinable to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome which makes the chief end of Christ's descent into Hell to be the fetching thence the Souls of the Fathers who died before and under the Law And secondly because it was conceived by some Learned Men that the Text was capable of some other construction than to be used for an Argument of this Descent The Judgment of the Church continues still the same as before it was and is as plain and positive for a Local Descent as ever she had not else left this Article in the same place in which she found it or given it the same distinct Title as before it had viz. De Descensu Christi ad Inferos in the Latin Copies of King Edward the 6th that is to say Of the going down of Christ into Hell as in the English Copies of Queen Elizabeth's Reign Nor indeed was there any reason why this Article should have any distinct place or title at all unless the maintenance of a Local Descent were intended by it For having spoken in the former Article of Christ's Suffering Crucifying Death and Burial it had been a very great Impertinency not to call it worse to make a distinct Article of his descending into Hell if to descend into Hell did signifie the same with this being buried as some Men then fancied or that there were not in it some further meaning which might deserve a place distinct from his Death and Burial The Article speaking thus viz. as Christ died for us and was buried so is it to be believed that he went down into Hell is either to be understood of a Local Descent or else we are tied to believe nothing by it but what was explicitly or implicitly comprehended in the former Article And lastly That Mr. Alex. Noel before mentioned who being Prolocutor of the Convocation in the Year 1562 when this Article was disputed approved and ratified cannot in reason be supposed to be ignorant of the true sence and meaning of this Church in that particular And he in his Catechism above mentioned declares that Christ descended in his Body into the bowels of the Earth and in his Soul separated from that Body he descended also into Hell by means whereof the power and efficacy of his Death was not made known only to the Dead but the Devils themselves insomuch that both the Souls of the Unbelievers did sensibly perceive that Condemnation which was most justly due to them for their Incredulity and Satan himself the Prince of Devils did as plainly see that his tyranny and all the Powers of Darkness were opprest ruined and destroyed But on the contrary the L. Primat allows not any such Local Descent as is maintained by the Church and defended by the most learned Members of it who have left us any thing in writing about this Article And yet he neither followeth the Opinion of Calvin himself nor of the generality of those of the Calvinian Party who herein differ from their Master but goes a new way of a later discovery in which although he had few Leaders he hath found many Followers By Christ's descending into Hell he would have nothing else to be understood but his continuing in the state of separation between the Body and the Soul his remaining under the power of Death during the time he lay buried in the Grave which is no more in effect tho it differ somewhat in the terms than to say that he died and was buried and rose not till the third day as the Creed instructs us In vindication of the Lord Primat's Judgment in the sence of this Article I shall lay down some previous Considerations to excuse him if perhaps he differed from the sence of the Church of England in this Article if it should appear that it ought to be understood in a strict and literal sence For first you must understand that this Article of Christ's Descent into Hell is not inserted amongst the Articles of the Church of Ireland which were the Confession of Faith of that Church when the Lord Primat writ this Answer to the Jesuit the Articles of the Church of England amongst which this of Christ's Descent into Hell is one not being received by the Church of Ireland till the Year 1634 ten years after the publishing of this Book so that he could not be accused for differing from those Articles which he was not then obliged to receive or subscribe to 2dly Had this Article been then inserted and expressed in the very same words as it is in those of the Church of England could he be accused of being Heterodox for not understanding it as the Doctor does of a Local Descent of Christ's Soul into Hell or the places of Torment since the Church of England is so modest as only to assert that it is to be believed that he went down into Hell without specifying in what sence she understand it For as the Lord Primat very learnedly proves in this Treatise the word Hell in old Saxon signifies no more than hidden or covered so that in the original propriety of the word our Hell doth exactly answer the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place which is unseen or removed from the sight of man So that the word Hell signifies the same with Hades in the Greek and Inferi in the Latin Concerning which St. Augustin gives us this Note The name of Hell in Latin Inferi is variously put in Scriptures and in many meanings according as the sence of the things which are intreated of do require And Mr. Casaubon who understood the property of Greek and Latin words as well as any this other They who think that Hades is properly the seat of the Damned be no less deceived than they who when they reade Inferos in Latin Writers do interpret it of the same place Whereupon the Lord Primat proceeds to shew That by Hell in divers places of Scripture is not to be understood the place of the Wicked or Damned but of the Dead in general as in Psal. 89. 48. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of Hell And Esa. 38. 18 19. Hell cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The Living the Living he shall praise thee as I do this day Where the opposition betwixt Hell and the state of Life in this World is to be observed Therefore since the word Hell does not necessarily imply a place of Torment either in Scriptures or
there be any other places or other Mansions by which the Soul that believeth in God passing and coming unto that River which maketh glad the City of God may receive within it the lot of the Inheritance promised unto the Fathers For touching the determinate state of the faithful Souls departed this life the ancient Doctors as we have shewed were not so throughly resolved The Lord Primat having thus shewn in what sence many of the ancient Fathers did understand this word Hades which we translate Hell proceeds to shew that divers of them expound Christ's Descent into Hell or Hades according to the common Law of Nature which extends it self indifferently unto all that die For as Christ's Soul was in all points made like unto ours Sin only excepted while it was joined with his Body here in the Land of the Living so when he had humbled himself unto the Death it became him in all things to be made like unto his Brethren even in the state of dissolution And so indeed the Soul of Jesus had experience of both for it was in the place of human Souls and being out of the Flesh did live and subsist It was a reasonable Soul therefore and of the same substance with the flesh of Men proceeding from Mary Saith Eustathius the Patriarch of Antioch in his Exposition of that Text of the Psalm Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place of humane Souls which in the Hebrew is the world of Spirits and by the disposing of Christ's Soul there after the manner of other Souls concludes it to be of the same nature with other Mens Souls So St. Hilary in his Exposition of the 138th Psalm This is the Law of humane Necessity saith he that the Bodies being buried the Souls should go to Hell Which descent the Lord did not refuse for the accomplishment of a true man And a little after he repeats it that desupernis ad inferos mortis lege descendit He descended from the supernal to the infernal parts by the Law of Death And upon Psal. 53. more fully To fulfil the Nature of Man he subjected himself to Death that is to a departure as it were of the Soul and Body and pierced into the infernal seats which was a thing that seemed to be due unto Man I shall not trouble you with more Quotations of this kind out of several of the ancient Greek and Latin Fathers which he makes use of in this Treatise most of them agreeing in this That Christ died and was buried and that his Soul went to that place or receptacle where the Souls of good Men do remain after Death which whether it is no more in effect but differing in terms than to say he died and was buried and rose not till the third day which the Doctor makes to be the absurdity of this Opinion I leave to the Judgment of the impartial Reader as I likewise do whether the Lord Primat deserves so severe a Censure after his shewing so great Learning as he has done concerning the various Interpretations of this word Hades or Hell both out of sacred and prophane Writers that it only serves to amaze the Ignorant and confound the Learned Or that he meant nothing less in all these Collections than to assert the Doctrine of the Church of England in this particular Or whether Christ's Local Descent into Hell can be found in the Book of Articles which he had subscribed to or in the Book of Common-Prayer which he was bound to conform to And if it be not so expressed in any of these I leave it to you to judge how far Dr. H. is to be believed in his Accusation against the Lord Primat in other matters But I doubt I have dwelt too long upon this less important Article which it seems was not thought so fundamental a one but as the Lord Primat very well observes Ruffinus in his Exposition of the Creed takes notice that in the Creed or Symbol of the Church of Rome there is not added He descended into Hell and presently adds yet the force or meaning of the word seems to be the same in that he is said to have been buried So that it seems old Ruffinus is one of those who is guilty of this Impertinency as the Doctor calls it of making Christ's descent into Hell to signifie the same with his lying in the Grave or being buried tho the same Author takes notice that the Church of Aquileia had this Article inserted in her Creed but the Church of Rome had not which sure with Men of the Doctor 's way should be a Rule to other Churches And further Card. Bellarmin noteth as the Lord Primat confesses that St. Augustin in his Book De Fide Symbolo and in his four Books de Symbolo ad Catechumenos maketh no mention of this Article when he doth expound the whole Creed five several times Which is very strange if the Creed received by the African Church had this Article in it Ruffinus further takes notice that it is not found in the Symbol of the Churches of the East by which he means the Nicene and Constantinopolitan Creeds the latter of which is nothing else but an Explanation or more ample Enlargement of Creed Apostolical Tho this indeed be not at this day read in the Greek or other Eastern Churches or so much as known or received in that of the Copties and Abyssines But the Doctor having shown his Malice against the Lord Primat's Memory and Opinions in those Points which I hope I have sufficiently answered cannot give off so but in the next Section accuses him for inserting the nine Articles of Lambeth into those of the Church of Ireland being inconsistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England But before I answer this Accusation I shall first premise that as I do not defend or approve that Bishops or others tho never so learned Divines should take upon them to make new Articles or define and determine doubtful Questions and Controversies in Religion without being authorized by the King and Convocation so to do Yet thus much I may charitably say of those good Bishops and other Divines of the Church of England who framed and agreed upon these Articles that what they did in this matter was sincerely and as they then believed according to the Doctrine of the Church of England as either expresly contained in or else to be drawn by consequence from that Article of the Church concerning Predestination And certainly this makes stronger against the Doctor for if with him the Judgment of Bp. Bilson Bp. Andrews and Mr. Noel in their Writings be a sufficient Authority to declare the sence of the Church of England in those Questions of Christ's true and real Presence in the Sacrament and his Local Descent into Hell why should not the Judgment and Determination of the two Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York with divers other Bishops and
Years the contrary Report whereunto was the chief Cause wherefore you deferred the sending of those Books by the former Messenger And so nothing doubting but you will yield at last to my earnest Request I bid you heartily farewel resting ever Your assured loving Friend and Brother James Usher Scripsi raptim Dominici Adventûs Anno Domini 1617. LETTER XXXI A Letter from Sir Henry Bourgchier to Dr. James Usher afterwards Arch-Bishop of Armagh at Dublin Worthy Sir HAD the Opportunity of convenient Messengers concurr'd with my Desires my Letters should have come faster to your Hands than they have done and what hath been wanting of that Respect which absent Friends yield one another I do assure you hath been supplied by an affectionate Desire in me to enjoy your Company together with the Remembrance of those many happy Hours which I have spent with you I had once hop'd to have seen you this Winter but my necessary Occasions in England with the Difficulties of a Winter Journey are like to detain me here until the Spring where if my Service may be useful or advantageous to you it shall be as absolutely at your Command as any Friend of yours that lives I doubt not but you have heard much of the troublesome Estate of the Low-Country Churches by their Diversity of Opinions and what Tumults had like to have ensued or rather are like to ensue for the Tempest is not yet over-blown and had not the opposite Faction to the Arminian by them termed vulgarly Gomarians shewed a great deal of Temperance and Patience much Effusion of Christian Blood had followed I suppose you have seen Sir Dud. Carlton's Speech in the last General Assembly at the Hague which is answered by H. Grotius in Print He is a Professor in Leyden very inward with Mouns Barneveldt and by name I think well known to you And 14 of the 18 Cities which send their Deputies to the General Assembly have publickly protested against any National or Provincial Synods which shall be called About a Fortnight since the Heads and others of the University of Cambridge were summon'd to appear before his Majesty at New-market where at their coming they were required to deliver their Opinions concerning Mouns Barneveldt's Confession lately sent over to the King to which as I am informed many of them did subscribe and principally Dr. Richardson the Kings Professor for which he either hath already or is in some Danger of losing his Place I know not whether you have seen the Book called Analecta Sacra published the last Mart if you can discover the Author I pray you let me know him I have written to a Friend of mine at Paris to enquire at the Printers where the Book was printed of the Author With much difficulty I obtained one of them which you should have received had I not been constrained to bestow it otherwise Here in England there is little written or published in any kind of Learning In every parish-Parish-Church there are now Sums of Money collected for Chelsey Colledge but I see no Addition to the Work Our kind Friend Mr. Briggs hath lately published a Supplement to the most excellent Tables of Logarithms which I presume he hath sent you Suarez's Book against the King is now grown common by the late German Impression which if you please you may have The Popish Writers having sharpned their Weapons being now to strike with sharp Invectives our Arch-Bishop of Spalato after their wonted manners and now openly charge him with Apostacy and revolt from their Religion He hath not obtained any Ecclesiastical Promotion nor for ought I hear desireth any but rather to end his Days in a retired and solitary Exile Since the return of Digby into Spain there is little known of the Progress of our Affairs there neither of Sir Walter Raleigh since the Return of Captain Bayly from him if I may give his unworthy running away so honest a name Sir both I and my Messenger stand upon Thorns as they say being both presently to begin our Journeys he for Ireland I for the West of England where I mean to spend this Festival time which I hope shall excuse my Rudeness in Writing both for Matter and Manner When I come to a place of more leisure you shall hear from me In the mean time let me live in your good Opinion as one who truly loves you and will ever declare himself Your truly affectionate and faithful Friend Henry Bourgchier London the 6th of December 1617. LETTER XXXII A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Dr. James Usher afterward Arch-Bishop of Armagh Eximio Sacr. Theologiae Professori amico suo singulari Domino Jacobo Usserio S. RAMUS iste tuus noster qui brevi ut opinor ad nos in Angliam reversurus est absque grati animi mei significatione aliqua pro singulari tuâ erga me clementiâ benignitate non est dimittendus Gratulor verò tibi charissime frater felicitatem tuam qui in regione minùs culta variis motibus perturbatâ natus educatus nobis hic in florentissimo Regno totique orbi Christiano facem Divinae intelligentiae in rebus maximè necessariis praebuisti ac etiamnum porrò uti speramus expectamus praebiturus es Intelligo doctissimas tuas lucubrationes tanquam stellas totidem lucidissimas Macte Virtute istâ tuâ Christo optimo Maximo duce in omnibus Nos hic Semipagani qui ad stivam religati sumus Rusticos in Christianae fidei fundamentalibus in timore Domini instruimus Plerique hic ferè omnes Papismum detestantur Sit nomen Domini benedictum Contra Papatum quotidie concionamur Neminem habemus repugnantem omnes consentientes Caeterum valde multi sunt qui odio Papismi plusquam Vatiniano ut ita dicam flagrant ut solenniorem Dei cultum nullo modo ferre possint Hinc omne genus nequitiae caput sustollere taxim occoepit Multi qui contra Papisticam superstitionem invehuntur contra rapinam sacrilegium luxuriam ebrietatem gulam arrogantiam superbiam avaritiam usuram id genus enormia ne protestantur quidem Sed quorsum haec Manum de Tabula Verbum sapienti sat est satque habet favitorum semper qui rectè agit Quid nos in votis habemus postmodum accipies Interea verò in Jesu Christo Domino ac sospitatore nostro benè vale Fraterculus tibi multis nominibus devinctissimus Guilielmus Eyres Colcestriae 21. die Aprilis 1618. LETTER XXXIII A Letter from Dr. James Usher afterward Arch-Bishop of Armagh to Mr. William Camden My dear and worthy Friend I Have been earnestly intreated by Dr. Rives to send this inclosed Letter unto you He hath had his Education in New-Colledge in the University of Oxford where he took his Degree of Doctor in the Civil Law He is now one of the Masters of the Chancery with us and Judge of the Faculties and Prerogative Court Two things he told me he was
Judgment of the Church of Christ from the beginning of the Gospel unto this day and that of old they were condemned for heretical in the Nazarites But finding that for the present he was not to be wrought upon by any reasoning and that long a dies was the only means to cure him of this Sickness I remembred what course I had heretofore held with another in this Country who was so far ingaged in this Opinion of the calling of the Jews tho not of the revoking of Judaism that he was strongly perswaded he himself should be the Man that should effect this great Work and to this purpose wrote an Hebrew Epistle which I have still in my hands directed to the dispersed Jews To reason the matter with him I found it bootless I advised him therefore that until the Jews did gather themselves together and make choice of him for their Captain he should labour to benefit his Country-men at home with that Skill he had attained unto in the Hebrew Tongue I wished him therefore to give us an exact Translation of the Old Testament out of the Hebrew Verity which he accordingly undertook and performed The Translation I have still by me but before he had finished that Task his Conceit of the calling of the Jews and his Captainship over them vanished clean away and was never heard of after In like manner I dealt with Mr. Whitehall that forasmuch as he himself acknowledged that the Mosaical Rites were not to be practised unto the general calling of the Jews he might do well I said to let that matter rest till then and in the mean time keep his Opinion to himself and not bring needless Trouble upon himself and others by divulging it out of season And whereas he had intended to write an historical Discourse of the retaining of Judaism under Christianity I counselled him rather to spend his pains in setting down the History of Purgatory or Invocation of Saints or some of the other Points in controversy betwixt the Church of Rome and Us. So far I prevailed with him herein that he intreated me to become a Suitor unto your Lordship in his behalf that the loss of his Living and those other Troubles which he hath already sustained might be accepted for a sufficient Punishment of his former Offence and that he might have the Favour to be restored only unto his Fellowship in Oxford where he would bind himself to forbare intermedling any way with his former Opinions either in publick or in private and spend his time in any other Employment that should be imposed upon him How far it will be fitting to give way unto this motion I wholly leave unto your own grave Consideration Thus much only I have presumed to propound unto your Lordship in discharge of my Promise made unto Mr. Whitehall with whom I could have no long Communication by reason I way presently to begin my Journey for the visitation of the Diocess of Meath Until my return from thence I have stayed the printing of the rest of mine Answer unto the Jesuits Challenge the former part whereof I humbly make bold to present unto your Lordship's view as unto whom above all others I most desire my simple Labours in this kind may be approved And so craving pardon for my boldness in troubling you thus far I rest Your Lordship's in all Christian Duty ready to be commanded Ja. Midensis Dublin Sept. 28. 1621. LETTER LXVIII A Letter from Dr. Thomas James to the Right Reverend James Usher Lord Bishop of Meath MY Duty remembred unto your Lordship I am much beholden to your Lordship for your last Book which I received before the Act by my good Friend Mr. Calendrine I have punctually perused it and do render unto your Lordship both common and private thanks for the same and expect your Lordship 's of the Britains ancient Religion wherein as I see no difficulty so I would be glad to assist with my Pains if any thing were worthy yet of my Cousin Mr. Rich. Jame's who remembreth himself most dutifully to your Lordship I send a Taste or Essay of what may be done by him I will say no more of him or it but this That I know no Man living more fit to be imployed by your Lordship in this kind than himself his Pains incredible and his Zeal as great and his Judgment in Manuscripts such as I doubt not but your Lordship may use to the great benefit of the Church and ease of your Lordship may there be but some course taken that he may have victum vestitum independant from any one This if he may have from your Lordship or by your Lordships means I know his Deserts and Willingness to deserve well of the Church For my own Business I know not what to say whether to go onward or to stay Guil. de s. Amore is transcribed and wants but the three Books from your Lordship whereof Mr. Calendrine hath given me good hopes Wickleph de Veritate is the better part done I have hitherto laid out the Money but my Purse will hold out no longer to defray the Charges If it would be so that I may receive the Money to recompence their pains I would not doubt before the next Session but to have most of Wickleph's Works transcribed but I fail in the burden and refer all to God's Providence and your Lordship's Direction being not idle in these Businesses And so in haste with my own and my Cousin's Duty to you I end and rest Your Lordship 's in all Duty Tho. James Oxon the 27 July 1624. LETTER LXIX A Letter from Thomas Davies to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath Right Reverend MAY it please your Lordship to take notice that your Letter of the 24th of January in London came to my hands the 14th of July unto which I have given due perusal and perceiving your Lordship's pleasure thereby omitted no opportunity neither any time but the very day that I received it began to lay out for those Books you writ for The five Books of Moses in the Samaritan Character I have found by a meer accident with the rest of the Old Testament joyned with them but the mischief is there wants two or three leaves of the beginning of Genesis and as many in the Psalms which notwithstanding I purpose to send by this Ship lest I meet not with another yet I have sent to Damascus and if not there to be had to Mount Gerazim so that in time I hope to procure another which shall contain the five Books of Moses perfectly I sent a Messenger on purpose to Mount Libanus and Tripoly for the Old Testament in the Syriack Tongue but he returned without it and brought word that there I might have one after two months but could not have it time enough to send by this Ship The reason why they sent it not was that they wanted Parchment to copy one of the Books and so not being perfect
to God and Honour to our King Thus fearing that I have troubled your Lordship with a slender Discourse humbly take my leave beseeching the Lord of Lords to multiply his Graces upon you recommending you with all yours to God's Grace and Mercy rest Your Lordship 's in all Duty to command Thomas Davies Aleppo 29th September 1624. LETTER LXXII A Letter from Sir H. Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Lord Bishop of Meath My very good Lord I Received your Lordship's Letter for which I return many thanks My Journy into Ireland is of such necessity that I cannot defer it long though I have many motives besides those mentioned by your Lordship to urge my stay As for the Books which you mention I find Jordanus in vitas Fratrum in the Catalogue of the Publick Library at Oxford Mr. Selden told me he never heard of the Author if any Library about London have it or that other Work of his I will endeavour to discover them As for the new Edition of Sealiger de Emendat Temporum as many as I speak withal are of opinion that it is so far from coming out that it is not yet come in to the Press Here are already come two Dry-fats of Mart Books and they expect but one more you may perceive by the Catalogue what they are Here will be very shortly some good Libraries to be had as Dr. Dee's which hath been long litigious and by that means unsold One Oliver a Physician of St. Edmundsbury of whose writing I have seen some Mathematical Tracts printed and Dr. Crakanthorp are lately dead If there be any extraordinary Books which your Lordship affects if you will be pleased to send a note of them they shall be bought Such News as we have you receive so frequently as coming from me they would be stale which you know destroys their very Essence We have had Bonfires Ringing Shouting and also Ballads and base Epithalamiums for the conclusion of the French Marriage and yet I am but modicae fidei Our Country-man Florence Mr. Carthye was committed to the Tower some five days since And thus remembring my best Affection to your Lordship and Mrs. Usher I will remain Your Lordship 's very affectionate Friend and Servant Henry Bourgchier London in haste Novemb. 24. 1624. LETTER LXXIII A Letter from Dr. Ward to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath at Much-Haddam in Essex My very good Lord IT was my purpose to have come to visit your Lordship at Haddam to morrow but the truth is upon Thusday last before I came out of Cambridg I was made acquainted with a business which will occasion my return to Cambridg to morrow I notwithstanding brought with me the Manuscripts of Bedes Ecclesiastical Story which I have of Sir R. Cotton's and have sent it unto you by this Bearer Walter Mark I will expect the Book from you when you have done with it for that I would keep it till Sir Robert restore a Book of mine which he had of Mr. Patrick Young I had purposed to have borrowed also out of our University Library Simeon Dunelmensis but I find that I am deceived in that I thought it had been his History or Chronicle but it is only the History of the Church of Durham and of the Endowments of that Church and not his History of England And thus sorry that my occasions will not suffer me to see your Lordship this time and with my kind Salutations to Sir Gerard Harvy and his Lady with Thanks for my kind Entertainment when I was there I commend you to the gracious Protection of the highest Majesty Your Lordship 's in all observance Samuel Ward Much-Mondon Jan. 2. 1624. LETTER LXXIV A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Dr. Samuel Ward Good Mr. Doctor I Received by W. Marks your Ancient Bede which I suppose did sometime belong to the Church of Durham As soon as I have compared it with the printed Book I will not fail God willing to send it you safe back again As for Simeon Dunelmensis his History of the Church of Durham which is in the publick Library of your University I would intreat you to borrow it for me however it hath not proved to be the Chronicle which I at first desired for I have a great mind to see and transcribe all that hath been written by Simeon and Turgotus Dunelmensis Turgotus I hear is with Mr. Tho. Allen of Oxford and if my memory do not much deceive me at my being in England the last time before this you told me that you had begun to transcribe the Annals of Simeon Dunelmensis which continue the History of Bede I pray you if you know where those Annals may be had do your best to help me unto them I could wish that Mr. Lisle would take some pains in translating the Saxon Annals into our English Tongue for I do not know how he can more profitably imploy that Skill which God hath given to him in that Language If I had any opportunity to speak with him my self I would direct him to five or six Annals of this kind three of which belonging to Sir Rober Cotton I have in my hands at this present our of which there might be one perfect Annal made up in the English Tongue which might unfold unto us the full State of the Saxon Times But how that Gentleman's Mind stands affected that way I know not the feeling of his Mind therein I leave to you And so commending all your good Endeavours to the Blessing of our good God I rest Your most assured Friend Ja. Mid. Much-Haddam Jan. 4. 1624. LETTER LXXV A Letter from Sir H. Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath My very good Lord I Received your Lordship's Letter which was must wellcome to me and much more the News of your Recovery which was deliver'd to me by Mr. Burnet and by me to some others of your Friends who were no less glad than my self I am afraid that you converse too much with your Books I need not tell you the danger of a Relapse This News which I sent your Lordship deserved not Thanks because vulgar and trivial that of the Death of Erpenius is but too true and is much lamented by learned Men in all places for the cause by your Lordship truly expressed he died of the Plague Mr. Briggs was gone from London some three days before the Receipt of your Lordship's Letter But I will write to him that which I should have delivered by word of Mouth if he had tarried here In the collating of Books your Lordship hath made a good choice that being a fit study in time of Sickness as not so much imploying the Mind as other Studies As for Bede I doubt the Collation of him will be scarce worth your labour For as far as I went they seemed rather to be variantes lectiones than material Differences a very few excepted To make use
so many oppose so falsly and so impudently I have written to his Grace by his Chaplains for helps necessary for the forwarding so great a Work as the Visibility and perpetual Succession of the Church There shall come nothing forth till I have viewed by my self or others under a publick Notaries hands all the Testimonies that do result out of the Manuscripts and printed Books of Papists But what can I poor weak Man do unless my Lord of Canterbury command Help and command Books and all things necessary to so great and requisite a Work which being well done will-serve to close up the Mouths of our deceived Papists This Question if I conceive aright is set afoot politickly by our Adversaries the Papists by especial Advice from Rome for it is plausible amongst the People and vulgar sort and impossible to be answered by every one but be it as it may I have willingly offered to answer one Smith a Lincolnshire-Man who insults upon us in the close of his Book in these words And if now they endeavour to answer them his Reasons it will yet more appear that they can no way answer them and that this kind of dealing with Protestants in matters of Fact out of their own Confessions is the fittest to stop all Mouths Upon occasion of these words I will make bold to write somewhat concerning this matter both to divert our Papists to other matters of Fact wherein they have hitherto declined the Question about the Controversie of their Bibles I mean of Sixtus and Clemens impossible to be answered I have heard their best Reasons about the number of the bastard Treatises which as false Writers have put them into Possession of their false Religion which amount unto five hundred reckoning none but such as are both condemned by some and urged by others as learned Papists touching the corrupting of all Authors and Records in all Ages both in their several Indices Expurgatorii and without especially of their Decretals and Gratian wherein the Soul and Life of Popery consists For the Decretals I have lighted upon a Manuscript that I trust to a clear eye will make the matter indubious and by the sight of this Manuscript which contains them not at large there are such Absurdities contain'd in them as I shame either in modesty as of Mice Turds in the Eucharist or in Grammar Epscopi si in fide erraverit are to be quitted but for all other matters whatsoever they are portandi a good Resolution set down in a good Phrase For the Canon Law I mean Gratian I have compared it from top to tae not without special Contentment to all Lovers of the Truth For by the Edition of the Canon Law so carefully set out by Greg. 13. Faber and Contius and I know not who must be imployed to that great business more care had of the printing of that than of the Bible it must be testified that the Edition doth agree exactly with the Roman Copy or else it of no worth they had the use of many Vatican Copies Now either this is untrue or their Copies are of no Credit For none of our Copies of as great Antiquity as theirs either have Constantine's Donation or the proof of it out of Gelasius Dist. If Gesta SS Martyrum S. Sylvestri this is proving of a thing that is ignotum by ignolius for both are wanting in all our Copies that are of as great Antiquity as theirs as long since Antoninus and other good Lawyers have observed Generally in the Edition of the Canon Law they have deceived us thus 1. Those which are Palea noted by them are indeed Palea that is Chaff in our old Copies But besides 2. There are a number of good Consequences that are Paleae which they have passed over in silence whereof our Manuscripts give good witness There are also a third sort which they have made Paleae to discredit them which are no Paleae as in the 8th Distinction touching Obedience to Princes Commandments for Religion this is in all our Manuscripts but censured and sentenced by them Lord What a world of Corruptions is contained in that Volume I mean not only of Gratians that is bad enough but of their Additions to and Perversions of Gratian's I mean to spend this next week wholly upon this Argument of Popish Fraâ—ds and to send up my abortive Labours to be submitted to your Lordship's grave Judgment I deal in matters of Fact and have little help God knoweth I will empty my self to your Lordship For Marianus Scotus God knows if I had compared it one of the first Books and both that and Matthew of Paris yea and Bedes History must be compared or vain will be our Labour in writing of the Visibility of the Church when we shall rely upon such sandy Proofs It is too true that Possevin observeth that there are whole Pages thrust into Marianus's Works he saith by Hereticks he lieth like a Varlet the cui bono will shew us that The Manuscript in our publick Library I have compared the Capita throughout doth hugely differ from the Printed and so doth another Copy of alike Goodness and Antiquity in C. C. C. To compare him exactly is to write him out anew Hoc opus hic labor est I doubt your Lordship's Leisure will not serve after this Fortnight mine shall and it will need the help both of Dr. Banbridge and Mr. Briggs To have the Copy out of the Library it is impossible for if the King should write for it it is Perjury for any Man to propose a Dispensation for the lending it forth but the Copy at C. C. C. upon a sufficient caution for the redelivery shall and may be sent up to your Lordship and I suppose Mr. Patrick Young hath one or two Copies in the Princes Library at St. James's Not only the Rabbins but the Thalmud in six Volumes at Rome hath felt the smart of the Popish Indices would God we were but half as diligent to restore as they abolish and put out the Truth I have restored 300 Citations and rescued them from Corruption in thirty quire of Paper Mr. Briggs will satisfie you in this Point and sundry other Projects of mine if they miscarry not for want of maintenance it would deserve a Prince's Purse If I was in Germany the Estates would defray all Charges cannot our Estates supply what is wanting If every Church-man that hath an 100 l. per Annum and upward will lay down but a Shilling for every hundred towards these publick Works I will undertake the reprinting of the Fathers and setting forth of five or six Volumes of Orthodox Writers comparing of Books printed with printed or written collating of Popish Translations in Greek and generally whosoever shall concern Books or the Purity of them I will take upon me to be a Magister S. Palatii in England if I shall be thereunto lawfully required I thank your Lordship for my poor Kinsman whom I leave to express
his own Wants and Desires himself I have trespassed too much on your Lordship whom God long preserve Your Lordship 's in all Duty Tho. James Oxon Feb. 15th 1624. LETTER LXXVIII A Letter from Dr. Ward to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath at Much-Haddam in Essex Right Reverend I Received your Lordship's Letter which I should have answered ere now But the truth is I had a purpose to have seen your Lordship at my return from London at the end of the Term but I was hindred in that intention And since my return home I heard your Lordship was fallen into a burning Fever whereupon I purposed to have made a Journey to visit your Lordship and to that purpose went to Mr. Crane to have his Company But being born in hand by one of Jesus Colledg that he should shortly hear from Haddam how your Lordship did the Party went out of Town and so I heard nothing till Mr. Crane came home I did hear at London of the decease of the late Primate of Armagh and of your Lordship's Designment by his Majesty to succeed in that place which I pray God may turn to his Glory the Good of the Nation and your own Comfort and Contentment I have borrowed of Mr. Vice-Chancellor the Book wherein is the History of the Church of Lindifern after of Durham it is in four Books the Book is none of those which Bale mentioneth I borrowed it of him for two Months It is one of them which Matthew Parker gave to the University-Library I spake with Mr. Lisle as touching the setting of some of the Saxon Chronicles He saith he hath seen some but few of them have any thing which are not in other Chronicles now extant If you have any which you think were worth his pains I would incite him thereunto I suppose your Lordship hath seen the Process against the Corps Picture and Books of the Arch-bishop of Spalato Unwise Man that could not easily have presaged these things By halting between two he hath much obscured his worth with all Parties I have perused some of Dr. Crakenthorp's Book which is well done I purpose to see your Lordship at Easter if God will and you continue with Sir Gerard Harvy This Messenger bringeth the Book and things from Mr. Crane with two Letters from him Thus with my Prayers to God for the Recovery of your Health and to bless you in all your Affairs with my best Wishes I commend your Lordship to the gracious Protection of the highest Majesty Your Lordship 's in all Practice Samuel Ward Cambridg this 21st of March 1624. LETTER LXXIX A Letter from Sir H. Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh at Much-Haddam Salutem in Christo. Most Reverend in Christ IN discharge of my Promise and that great Obligation of Thankfulness due from me I thought good to present these Lines to your Lordship Your Friends here were glad to conceive so good hope of your perfect Recovery which I doubt not will be daily greater I have herewithal sent your Lordship Eusebius's Chronicle and Asserins de vita Alfredi from Mr. Patrick Young together with the remembrance of his Love and Service It was neither his fault nor mine that you had them not sooner He desires that your Lordship will be pleased to return the Transcript of Epistles which you borrowed of me if you have not present occasion to use them for among them are some Epistles of Grossetede which my Lord Keeper desires to have having contracted with the Printer for the Impression of his Works with which he goes in hand presently as I told your Lordship Sir Rob. Cotton hath not yet gotten Malmesbury de Antiquit. Glaston but expects it daily I have been with my Lord of Winehester and presented your Lordship's Love and best Respects to him I also told him of your Samaritan Pentateuch of which he was very glad and desires to see it with your Lordship's best Convenience He keeps his Chamber for a Cold being otherwise very well Since my being with your Lordship I understand that Mr. Mountagues Appeal to Caesar for so he stiles it is in the Press I am promised Sirmundus upon Sidonius Apollinaris and Anastasius Bibliothecarius History which are not common the former with Savarons Notes I have but Mr. Selden will furnish your Lordship in the mean time with both Vettius Valens in Greek is Mr. Selden's now but was sometimes Dr. Dees But the rest of his Books will be had very shortly as many as are worth the having and so much de re literaria Now your Lordship will expect something of the publick Occurrents of the World which may be to you some Recreation The Siege of Breda holds still the Prince of Orange will be in the Field by the 20th of April Stylo novo with 50000 Foot 9000 Horse and 150 pieces of Ordnance and as they say is resolved to fight rather then Breda shall be lost Here is now great talk of the French Match and of the Duke 's present Journey thither but I confess I believe little For I hear others speak of the Popes Nephew Cardinal Barberino coming with great Pomp into France and as some say rather to hinder thâ—n further the Match Here is great preparation for a Fleet to go to Sea They speak of a Press of 10000 Land Souldier and 7000 Mariners to furnish that Fleet and that it shall be victual'd for eight Months Here is News come out of Spain of a great loss lately sustained by the Spaniards in the South Sea and that by the Holland Fleet that went for Lima. And thus wishing your Lordship perfect Health and as much Happiness as to my self I will ever remaim Your Lordship 's very affectionate Friend and humble Servant Henry Bourgchier London March 23d 1624. LETTER LXXX A Letter from the Bishop of Kilmore to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop Elect of Armagh Most Reverend and my honourable good Lord I Do congratulate with unspeakable Joy and Comfort your Preferment and that both out of the true and unfeigned Love I have ever born you for many years continued as also out of an assured and most firm Perswasion that God hath ordained you a special Instrument for the good of the Irish Church the growth whereof notwithstanding all his Majesty's Endowments and Directions receives every day more Impediments and Oppositions than ever And that not only in Ulster but begins to spread it self into other places so that the Inheritance of the Church is made Arbitrary at the Council-Table Impropriators in all places may hold all ancient Customs only they upon whom the Cure of Souls is laid are debarr'd St. Patrick's Ridges which you know belonged to the Fabrick of that Church are taken away Within the Diocess of Ardagh the whole Clergy being all poor Vicars and Curats by a Declaration of one of the Judges this last Circuit by what direction I know not without speedy remedy will be brought to much
this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel This phrase is frequent with Maymon in his Tract of Repentance cap. 8. sect 7. where he saith that the World passeth away only the Kingdom must first be restored unto Israel 10. 1 Cor. 7. 31. For the Fashion of this World passeth away So 1 John 2. 17. The World passeth away So Maymon in his Tract of Repent cap. 9. sect 2. saith That this World after his fashion passeth away And there he makes as it were a threefold World 1. This present World 2. The day of the Messiah And 3. the World to come or Everlasting Life And he explaineth himself That by this present World he means the Kingdoms and Monarchies which do captivate and afflict Israel the last of which being taken away then shall begin the World of the Messias he means as Rabby Abraham Tzebang a Spanish Jew hath expounded in his bundle of Myrth on the first of Gen. that after 5600 Years of the World expired and before the end of the 6000 Year in which they say the World shall end In this interim I say of 400 Years in which time we now live shall be the fall of Rome which they call Edom typically and that then Redemption shall come in to Israel And this is Maymon's meaning here when he saith That the first wise Men have said that between this World of the Monarchies viz. and the days or times of the Messiah there is not any space or let but only this that God causes first the Kingdoms to pass away that is the last of these Monarchies that afflicts Israel must pass away which is the Idolatry of Rome that hinders the Jews from believing in Christ. 11. 2 Cor. 11. 31. The God which is blessed for ever So Rom. 1. 25. The Creator blessed for ever So Rom. 9. 5. God over all blessed for ever This Epistle which St. Paul useth so frequently in his Epistles is infinitely used of Maymon and all the Rabbins and therefore is become one of their Rabbinical Abbreviatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God holy and blessed for ever 12. 2 Cor. 1. 3. Blessed be God the Father of Mercies So Maymon ends his Book of Knowledg Blessed be the God of Mercy it were more significantly translated the God of Commiserations as Drusius hath well observed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Father of Mercies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Father of Commiserations answerable to Maymon's Syriac word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose fatherly Bowels yearn with a natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Pity and Compassion towards his 13. Rev. 1. 20. 2. 1 8 12. He whom St. John calls so often in the Revelations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Angel of the Church is called by Maymon in his first Chap. of the Fundamentals of Moses's Law Sect. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messenger Legate Legate Apostle Minister of the Church or Congregation There he saith that God appeared in Mount Sinai when he gave the Law like to the Angel or Minister of the Church or Congregation wrapped in Garments 14. Luke 3. Christ saith twice It is written and once It is said And so St. Paul often useth this Phrase The Scripture saith but they seldom or never tell you in what Book it is written or said or in what Chapter or in what Verse The same Phrase is as frequent with Maymon he saith It is said It is written or The Scripture saith whensoever he bringeth any place of Scripture for to prove his Assertion Now the reason why he never cites the Section Chapter or Book is for that the Jews have always been so ready and pregnant in the Scriptures as that they need not cite the Book Chapter or Verse For this their expertness in the Scriptures they were called Sopherim Seribes or Numberers of the Law They have told us that there be 54 Parashioths or Sections in Moses's Law of which they do here joyn together the two shortest and so in every year they read over Moses's Law ending on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles every Sabbath-day reading in the Synagogue a whole Section They set down the number of the Verses of every Book as namely Genesis hath in it 1534 Verses The midst of the Book is at these words And by thy Sword thou shalt live The Sections thereof be 12. The Sydrim or lesser Sections be 43. The number of the Letters of Genesis be 4395. And Hakmi tells us on the first of Genesis how many Alphabets there be in the Law viz. 1800. And so I could run through all the other Books But I must not be tedious Now methinks I hear some ignorant Scholar object such an one as Jude speaks of who condemns and speaks ill of those things which he knows not and corrupts those things he also knows To what end and purpose serves this great and needless labour of the Rabbies in numbring up of the Books Verses Sections Words and Letters I answer They serve us for exceeding great use especially in these our days in which God did foresee Popelings would go about to prove that the Scriptures were corrupted and that then we must of necessity have another Judg viz. the Pope If I should grant this Argument made by the Pope's Champion Pistorius That the Scriptures were corrupted and that therefore we must have another Judge Yet doth it not follow that the Pope must be he but contrary-wise that of all other the Pope must be excluded from being Judg for that he is a Party But we constantly deny the Corruption of the Scriptures which they affirm and endeavour to prove by the 848 variae Lectiones and by the Keries and the Cethists And we answer that variety of reading argues not any Corruption but Ingenuity and plentiful Fruit of the Spirit of God done only in obscure places for Illumination for we can prove out of the Nazarites and Sopherisms every word and letter to have been through God's singular Providence numbred up and so kept by them thereby from Corruption Upon which Point Pistorius the Pope's Champion durst not dispute with a Learned Man of our Land For howsoever the Jews were male Legis observatores yet were they boni servatores custodes true keepers of the Oracles of God committed unto them And how did they keep them but by numbring up every Word Letter and Verse that so it being left unto Posterity on Record we might prove the Purity of the Scriptures by their Nazaretical Books against the foisting Papists who do nothing but foist in and corrupt all things not only the Greek Fathers but even the Targums and Comments of the Rabbins in all those places and expressions that make against Rome in Buxtorffs Bible lately set forth As for Example Esay 34. 9. And her i. e. Edom's Rivers shall be turned into Pitch Jonathan the Chaldee Paraphrast that wrote long before Christ comments thus And the Rivers of Rome shall be turned into
can Mr. Walker hath not Gersham nor any Comment on Daniel but the same that I have only he lent me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so I have read over the whole Tractate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but there is not any word touching the duration of the Babylonian Kingdom or any other Kingdom It only handleth on what days the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be read and their Rites and Ceremonies I confess I read only the Text of Megillah I read not Rambanus nor Bartinorah's Comment for that would require many days and I found no one word in the Text tending any thing at all towards any such Matter and therefore my Lord I would be glad to know what Author referred you to that Tractate of Megillah or whether your Grace hath mistaken the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I humbly thank your Grace for your Lordship's last kindness unto me when I was at Much-Haddam for defraying my Charges at mine Inn. And now my Lord vetus conferendo beneficium invitas novum It hath pleased my Lord Carew who lieth at Nonesuch some mile and an half from Sutton before whose Honour I have often preached to be pleased to write his Letter to the Right Honourable my Lord Keeper Sir Thomas Coventry that he would be pleased at his Request to bestow a Benefice on me when any shall fall in his Gift And he was pleased moreover to send the Letter by Sir Thomas Stafford to my Lord Keeper to sollicit the Matter also by word of mouth And so I was there at Hampton-Court and presented my self to my Lord Keeper who gave me his hand and promised that within three months or sooner he assured himself he should provide for me And now my Lord my request is that your Grace would be pleased to write your Letter also unto my Lord Keeper in my behalf to this effect having relation to my Lord Carew's Precedent That whereas your Lordship is informed that my Lord Carew hath sollicited my Lord Keeper to bestow a Benefice on one Ralph Skynner Minister and Preacher of the Word at Sutton under Mr. Glover a Man of honest Life and Conversation and conformable to the Orders of our Church and so forth as it shall please your Lordship to write of me that you would be pleased to second my Lord Carew's Request effectually for that I am but mediocris fortunae Vir and have not means and maintenance to buy me Books and other Necessaries This your Grace's Letter in my behalf to my Lord Keeper if your Lordship would be pleased to send it before Christide inclosed in a Letter to Mr. Burnet's and to give me leave to seal it after I have read it it 's likely my Lord Keeper would remember me the sooner I have given my Lord Carew satisfaction in many Questions at sundry times of conference and especially in these three 1. That the Pope and Conclave be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. That the Points and Vowels were given by God from Sinai and not the invention of the Masorits 3. That the Hebrew Tongue is the most ancient Tongue and that Moses wrote in it and not in the Caldee and Egyptian and all this proved expresly out of the Text of the Scripture For which my Lord hath given me a greater commendation in the ancient Tongues to my Lord Keeper than I either have deserved or can answer unto And thus with my humble Service to your Grace I end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Per Metathesin RADULPH SKYNNER London Decemb. 8. 1625. LETTER CVII A Letter from Mr. James White to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Illustrissime Reverendissime Antistes QUòd venerandae Antiquitatis Monumenta quae meae curae non ita pridem conferenda credidit Dominatio vestra tardiùs multò quà m vellem ad umbilicum perduxerim est quod sperem apud tantum Candorem veniae locum me inventurum Quòd autem eo auspicio dicam an infortunio transacta sint ut neutiquam industriae meae specimen exhibendi nedum judicio vestro sublimi satisfaciendi copia fiat quicquid veniae audacia arrogaverit nullam fidenter sperari posse exploratum habeo Siquidem quod minimè dissimulandum existimavi vel ipsae liturae quibus inter scribendum imprudens indulsi incuriae me vel invitum coarguunt Quin inter sacras illas paginas conferendas semel atque iterum in ea loca incidi unde me facilè expedire non potui Intelligat obsecro Dominatio vestra Psalmos 117 147. Quo utroque in loco idem scrupulus eadem occurrit difficultas Utrobique enim Psalmi duo fronte satis distincti materiâ varii titulis etiam à se invicem diversi Identitatem numericam si ipsum Catalogum spectemus mirum in modum prae se ferunt Porrò naevo haud minore laborant Psalmi 145 146. ad quos liber ille typis excusus quem praeire voluisse expectavi claudus adeò inventus est ut id spatii meâ solius conjecturâ in versibus à nnotandis emetiri coactus fuerim Has istiusmodi densiores ingenii mei nebulas vestro benignè affulgente candore opportunè dispersum iri nullus dubito Colophonem imposuimus quatuor S. S. Evangeliis ante-Pentecosten coronidem pariter Actis Apostolorum si Deus dederit breve addituri Interim quà m sim obstrictus Dominationi vestrae quòd me indignum ullis negotiis hisce sacris dignatus fueris Praesul amplissime preces meae testatum faciant Deo Opt. Max. apud quem ardentissimis uti par est votis contendo ut Reverentiam vestram Ecclesiae suae columen diutissimè conservet Reverendissimae vestrae Dominationis Observantissimus Jacobus White Cantabrigiae ex Col. Sid. Nonas Junii 1626. LETTER CVIII A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Most Reverend and my very good Lord I Received your Lordship's I understood by others this Commencement of your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Sermon before his Majesty as touching the repressing of the Arminian Faction God's Blessing be upon you for this good Service to opportunely performed I pray God his Majesty may have a true apprehension of the ensuing Danger I was told by some that notwithstanding the Proclamation Mr. Mountague was to set out a Book but I cannot say it for certain Mr. Whalley spoke to me above a month ago to write to your Lordship to leave Mr. Lively his Chronology with him and me and we would take care for the publishing thereof If your Lordship have not sent it away we desire it may be sent hither I had quite forgot in my last Letters to mention it I did your Lordship's Message to Mr. Chancy I have sent your Lordship the Book which Mr. Boys had as also his Transcript which he doth expect hereafter again Those Commencement-Affairs here so distracted me that I cannot recollect my self to bethink of some things which I would
Brevis Disquisitio which I suppose your Lordship hath seen It containeth in it sundry both Socinian and Pelagian Points as also that the Body which shall be raised in the Resurrection is not idem numero also Souls do not live till the Resurrection besides sundry other Points It is printed Eleutheropoli it is said it cometh out of Eaton-Colledg and that Alesius should be the Author who was at Dort with us I am sorry such a Book should come thence In my last Letters from my Lord of Kilmore he was inquisitive of the Ancient Codes of Canons as being desirous to inquire into the ancient Discipline of the Church Your Lordship could direct him for Books If he would undertake it he would do it to some purpose And there are not many Books necessary to know the substance of it as Codex Canonum Universalis Ecclesiae Codex Aphricanus with Zonarus and Balsamon upon them and the Trullan Canons and Codex Romanus reprinted which obtained in the Western Church At better leisure I will write to him more at large In the mean time I told him your Lordship could show them all the fore-named Thus in some haste I beseech God to bless you and your Parliament in all their weighty Affairs and so intreat your Prayers for us And so with my Salutations to you my much honoured Lord I commend you to the gracious protection of the highest Majesty resting Your Lordship 's in all affectionate observance Samuel Ward Cambridg July 7. 1634. LETTER CLXXXII A Letter from Constantinus L'Empereur ab Oppych to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh D. I. V. S. P. Praesul Venerande TU denuò eum qui humanitatem tuam ipsa fretus literis fagitare non erubescit quas fideliter datas sperare non desino donec secus intelligam Postremis meis scripta quaedam à me publici juris facta transmisi ubi inter caetera quae de septuaginta septimanis Prophetae Danielis mea sit sententia vel conjectura plenè exposui quemadmodum in transmissis ad Danielem notis videre licet Memini etiam quum de Gregorio Syro cujus sunt istae Syriacae notae manuscriptae in V. N. T. quum inquam de ipso agerem me in hac fuisse sententia eum usum fuisse Syra Versione è 70 concinnata quod in Isaia eam alicubi cum Ebraeo quam cum Graeco contextu magis convenire deprehendissem Verum postea in isto scriptore amplius evolvendo sententiam mutavi Commentatur enim ad versionem ex Ebraeo confectam licet non usquequaque cum eo concordantem sed aliquando ad Graecos interpretes deflectentem Ipse tamen initio commentariorum in Genesin ubi se usum illa versione profitetur cum originali Textum quem tamen non intellexit exactissimè facere arbitratur Caeterum reverendissime Domine est apud nos vir nobilis doctissimus qui omnium reformatarum Ecclesiarum confessiones editurus aliquoties me sollicitavit ne dignitatem tuam percunctari gravarer num extet propria Hybernicarum Ecclesiarum confessio Existimat vir doctus pius non exiguam se reportaturum gratiam si consensu communissimo orthodoxiam confirmatum iret Denique hic unà mitto Clavem Talmudicam nuper à me editam quorsum cui bono docebit dissertatio ad lectorem Hoc levidense munusculum aequi bonique facias quaeso utpote ab eo profectum qui tua merita deosculans animum gratum si posset aliquo signo ostendere anniteretur Vale Antistes venerande Deum veneror ut tuos conatus labores prosperet Dignitatis tuae cultor humillimus Constantinus L'Empereur ab Oppych Dabam Lugd. Bat. 21 Dec. an partae salutis 1634. LETTER CLXXXIII A Letter from Mr. Francis Taylor to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Domino Jacobo Providentia Divina Armachano apud Hibernos Archiepiscopo totius Hiberniae Primati Metropolitano longè dignissimo DOminationi tuae Reverendissime in Christo Pater in veteribus ab ipsis cunabulis exercitatissimae Bibliorum Hebraicorum adversus Morini Samaritanismum defensionem hanc pro mea parte inscribere visum est Cui enim potiùs quam tibi Episcopo Catholico Orthodoxo Morini Pseudocatholici qui nos oves Christi è pascuis virentibus arcere conatus est technas retectas dedicarem Gratulor sane ex animo gratulor Hiberniae tuae cui tantum Praesulem tam insigniter eruditum piumque Deus Rex concessere gratulationis testimonium solenne inscriptionem hanc extare volui Peculiarem insuper Dominationi vestrae gratiam debet hoc opus cujus sumptibus cura exemplar Samaritanum nobis in Anglia primo communicatum suit in Bibliotheca Cottoniana in doctorum seculis etiam futuris commodum reconditum Ex illo enim codice habuimus discrepantes Samaritani textus ab Hebraica veritate lectiones quarum quanta fuerit utilitas ac propemodum necessitas ad rabiem Morini plene retundendam non opus est hic dicere siquidem suis id locis manifesto apparebit Ad Cardinalem Gallum aspirat Morinus cur non ego ad Archiepiscopum Hibernum Dedicationem hanc praeterea à me flagitat foelix ille calamus tuus quo Pontificiae superstitionis fibras faeliciore quà m multi alii successu in utroque idiomate dissecuisti Quoties Polemica tua vere aurea revolvo nescio quo modo in ima cordis penetralia ingens autoris admiratio ingens erga autorem affectus nunquam nisi me moriente moriturus irrepit Urgent praeterea sacrae manus illae mihi sacrum munus adeunti inter alias impositae Cogit denique quae mihi tecum intercessit si de tanto viro tali verbo tam pusillo uti licuerit per multos annos continuata necessitudo De operis necessitate non opus est longa praefatione Biblia Hebraica recepit Synagoga Judaica oraculorum divinorum custos Rom. 3. 2. Ad nos eadem ista transmisit Patres ad unum omnes pro authenticis habuere in linguas alias transtulere translationem discrepantiam ex his correxere In Ecclesia Romana viri doctissimi plurimi sacram eorum autoritatem scriptis suis communivere Ecclesiae Orientales omnes approbavere Protestantes pleno ore pro fonte sacro illa venerantur Morinus Samaritanorum aduocatus interim in hoc Judaeis quos oppugnat tamen similis nec Deo placet hominibus omnibus contrarius est 1 Thess. 2. 15. Cum inprimis observatum esset dogmatibus Pontificiis parum propitios esse codices Hebraeos reperti sunt qui corruptos esse clamarent rivulos iis anteferrent Sed fontem novum qui aperiret ante Morinum inventus est nemo Gratuletur patrono suo Ecclesia Pontificia Nos interim libros sacros antiquos colimus quibus usus est Christus ipse Apostoli cum tamen
characterum mutationem longe antea factam somniet Morinus Cloaca quo magis agitatur eo Mephitin exhalat magis Morinus Samaritanis antiquis Samaritanior etiam evasit Illi enim teste Eulogio Jesum filium Nave Prophetam praedictum Mosi similem futurum profitebantur Librum ejus pro Canonico certò habuere qui hanc illi gloriam tribuebant At hunc librum nobis eripuit cùm aliis prophetiis Dositheus Morini antecessor Det nobis Morinus charactere Samaritano scriptos Prophetarum libros aut fateatur se plures scripturae sacrae codices quam dederit abstulisse Sed nec ferendum est hominem Christianum Samaritanos Dei hostes Judaeis Dei populo in libris sacris tuendis anteferre Praecipuè cum constet Prophetas fuisse post commentitiam characterum mutationem in populo Judaico in Samaritano nullos Cur non ergo Samaritana Biblia nobis reliquere Prophetae Cur de tanta mutatione silent Cur apud Haereticos sepulta Biblia in lucem Spiritu Divino eos illustrante non producunt Ut taceam Morini in Sacris Literis tractandis magistralitatem qui eodem jure in his quo Sorbona in aliis censurâ afficiendis utitur Hoc placet illud displicet quandoque Samaritanus codex quandoque Latinus Graecus semper nunquam illi Hebraicus approbatur Si prout meritus est verbis asperioribus nonnunquam castigetur Morinus nemo nobis vitio vertat neque enim cum Haeretico aliquo res est qui articulum fidei unum aut alterum negat aut textum peculiarem aliter quà m veritas posuit interpretatur sed cum eo qui fontes sacros in universum abripit pro Deo Israelis falsi Messiae adulteria nobis obtrudit Nec ignorantiam nobis objiciat quis quòd Jesuitam eum appellemus Indignaretur sat scio Morinus si Congregationis Oratoriae Iesu Christi Presbyterum titulo isto non dignaremur Liber certè totus Jesuiticum spiritum frontem perfrictam Societati illi familiarem nimis prodit Si quid sit quod ulteriorem disquisitionem requirat totum illud si respondere Morino visum fuerit in replicatione fusiùs tractabitur Prelo aliàs impraesentiarum vacante oblata vulgandi opportunitas festinationem operis urgebat Haec interim habui quae tibi dummodo id placeat quod pro singulari tua tum pietate tum candore nullus ambigo in perpetuum erga Dominationem tuam studii observantiae meae monumentum dedicarem Deus verbi sui majestatem contra omnes impiorum latratus potenter ipse tueatur per totum orbem indiès ampliùs diffundat Te verò Hibernae gentis ornamentum in Christianae Religionis emolumentum diutissimè in terris florentem conservare tandemque sero tamen in gloriam sempiternam recipere dignetur Claphamae Calend. April 1635. Reverendissimae Dominationi tuae addictissimus Franciscus Tailerus LETTER CLXXXIV A Letter from the most Reverend William Laud Arch-bishop of Canterbury to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Salutem in Christo. My very good Lord I Thank you heartily for your Letters and am as heartily glad that your Parliament and Convocation are so happily ended especially for the Church and that both for the particular of your letting Leases which is for Maintenance and for the quiet and well-ordering and ending of your Book of Canons I hope now the Church of Ireland will begin to flourish again and that both with inward Sufficiency and outward Means to support it And for your Canons to speak Truth and with wonted liberty and freedom though I cannot but think the English Canons entire especially with some few amendments would have done betterly yet since you and that Church have thought otherwise I do very easily submit to it and you shall have my Prayers that God would bless it As for the Particular about Subscription I think you have couched that well since as it seems there was some necessity to carry that Article closely And God forbid you should upon any occasion have rouled back upon your former Controversy about the Articles For if you should have risen from this Convocation in heat God knows when or how that Church would have cooled again had the cause of Difference been never so slight By which means the Romanist which is too strong a Party already would both have strengthned and made a scorn of you And therefore ye are much bound to God that in this nice and picked Age you have ended all things canonically and yet in peace And I hope you will be all careful to continue and maintain that which God hath thus mercifully bestowed upon you Your Grace's very loving Friend and Brother W. Cant. Lambeth May 10. 1635. LETTER CLXXXV A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to Dr. Ward Good Doctor I Have been almost tired with continual attendance on out long continued Parliament and Convocation which being done they would needs impose upon me also the moderating of the Divinity Act and the creating of the Doctors at our last Commencement I am now at last retired from Dublin to my old Place where I begin at length Redire in gratiam cum veteribus Amicis I send you herewith Harrys his Book against the Friars and our New Canons The Articles of Religion agreed upon in our former Synod Anno 1615 we let stand as they did before But for the manifesting of our Agreement with the Church of England we have received and approved your Articles also concluded in the Year 1562 as you may see in the first of our Canons But while we strive here to maintain the Purity of our ancient Truth how cometh it to pass that you in Cambridg do cast such stumbling-blocks in our way by publishing unto the World such rotten Stuff as Shelford hath vented in his five Discourses wherein he hath so carried himself ut Famosi Perni amanuensem possis agnoscere The Jesuits of England sent over the Book hither to confirm our Papists in their obstinacy and to assure them that we are now coming home unto them as fast as we can I pray God this Sin be not deeply laid to their charge who give an occasion to our blind thus to stumble I thank you most heartily for communicating my Lord of Salisbury's Lectures unto me they are excellent learnedly foundly and perspicuously performed and I hope will do much good here for the establishing of our young Divines in the present Truth Will you not make us as much beholden unto you for your own Lectures upon the other Questions You may not think that the same accurateness is expected in the Writings which you privately communicate unto your Friends as in that which you are to commit unto the Press after you have added supremam manum thereunto Neither were it amiss that you should make a Collection of all your Determinations as you see the Bishop of Salisbury hath done and cause your Lectures of the Eucharist to
satis laudatas subjungit Symbolum fidei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ut in versione Turriani nisi quod recte conjectavit Canisius quod Spiritum Sanctumrà patre procedere dicit Nulla uti Turrianus adjecerat filii mentone factà Inde Narrationem de septem Synodis instituit quam Turrianus misit Sed latine dedit Binius Concil Tom. 3. p. 400. Demum monita plura politica subjicit Quae in latinis Turriani enim comparent Vid. Cod. African ad finem Crabbe F. 155 308. LETTER CCXV A Letter from Dr. Langbaine to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My Lord I Received yours of the 22d upon the 25th of April and have bestowed the most part of the last Week in the search of those Particulars there mention'd I am sorry the Event has not answered my Desires and Endeavours I do not doubt but your Lordship will make good that Assertion of the Nicene Creed though I profess I yet look upon it with some prejudice as being prepossessed with an anticipated Notion to the contrary Something in these Papers which I have collected in haste do in the general look that way upon perusal if it be not too much trouble to your Lordship and the time not overpast already your Lordship will make the Consequence In that Synodicon of Basilius Jalimbanensis I met with nothing directly to the purpose only in the beginning of the Book this enclosed of Germanus de sex Synodis What he says of the two first as only to the purpose I have transcribed In each of them is mention of a Symbol but not of the difference I have in the same Argument sent to and confronted two pieces of Photius the one out of his Epistles the other I met with in a Copy of his Nomocanon with Balsamon's Scholia much larger than the printed I have looked upon that in Gregory Nazianzen and compared it with that in Crab which he calls Fides Romanorum and do readily subscribe that by Romanorum must be meant the Eastern Church but then he that made that Title must be supposed to have writ since the division of the Empire In Magd. Coll. Library I spent two days in search after Nazianzen's Translation by Ruffin but in vain I do not find they have any such Book What seem'd next like it was some pieces of Basil of Ruffin's Translation at the end whereof there is indeed a part of his Exposition on the Creed While I was there tumbling amongst their Books I light upon an old English Comment upon the Psalms the Hymns of the Church and Athanasius's Creed which I presently conjectured though there be no Name to it to be Wickliffs and comparing the beginning with Bale found that I had not erred in the Conjecture and therefore writ this piece out in which he calls the Nicene Creed the Creed of the Church I remember two Years ago when I had an opportunity to read some Saxon Books that had formerly as I suppose belonged to the Church of Worcester I met twice with the Nicene Creed in Saxon but I do not remember any difference from that we use I have sought in the ancientest Editions of Ambrose but return with a non est inventus Wicelius we have not and for the Russian Offices if I can find any thing you shall have it by the next I presume you have already a Copy of that old Latin Creed at the end of the ancient Copy of the Acts given by my Lord of Canterbury and therefore I forbore to send it Gulasius in the Acts of the Nicene Council brings in the Philosopher disputing against the Holy Ghost as well as against the Son and that may be as far as the authority of the Author will bear somewhat to the purpose I received my Copy of the Arch-bishops of Constantinople and do return unto your Grace with thanks that Oration of Himerius which I had from your Lordship The Papers which I send are somewhat confused and some not right writ I fear some my Boy has left in the Publick Library and the Carrier will be gone before the Library be open I have in the Margent thus * marked what I conceive your Grace may possibly make use of I am very much straitned in time and therefore desire your Lordship's favour for thus scribling I am Your Lordship 's to command Gerard Langbaine Q. C. Oxon. May 4. 1647. LETTER CCXVI A Letter from Dr. Langbaine to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My Lord SInce my last this day seven-night I have enquired and I do here send you what I met with concerning the use of the Nicene Creed among the Russians which I conceive full to your purpose I perceive my haste made me then omit at sealing that Oration of Himerius which I now return with thanks to your Lordship and perhaps by mistake I might send some other Papers no way pertinent I have thought sometimes and have not yet found any sufficient reason to remove me from that Opinion That notwithstanding what Vossius hath said the Church was never without some Form of Confession which they required before they admitted any to Baptism I know not otherwise how to expound that of Heb. 6. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For though Vossius affirm no more to have been required but barely In nomina Patris Filii Spiritus sancti yet methinks that of Repentance from dead Works of the Resurrection of the Dead and everlasting Judgment are made parts of those Fundamental Doctrines and Faith in God seems to comprehend the rest To this purpose I conceive Justin Martyr Apolog. 2. pag. 93. speaks for the Requisites to Baptism in the Practice of the Church in his Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then follows the mention of the Three Persons of the Trinity not simply but with equipollent Attributes to those in the Creed of the Father as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which what is it else but what we read both in Cyrill of Jerusalem and Epiphanius and the latter part of the Nicene Creed In like manner Clemens Alex. Paedagog lib. 1. cap. 6. p. 92 93 94. gives this Attribute to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and speaking then of Baptism under the various names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quotes Joh. 5. for everlasting Life mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Resurrection of the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he produceth again a Testimony out of John 3. That every one that believes hath Life everlasting and I will raise him up again at the last Day Where considering the proper importance of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Matter there treated of Baptism and the Points there spoken of Resurrection Life Eternal I suppose it may not absurdly be collected that he implies these Doctrines were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
confessed before Baptism I forbear to say any thing of that Regula Fidei in Irenaeus and the like in Tertullian for substance the same and containing expresly those Points which make up the close in the Nicene Creed and which Vossius supposeth to have been added by the Constantinopolitan Fathers What varieties are for matter of expression in the Citations observed out of Ruffin c. I think does not conclude without hard measure against the Antiquity of some publick form Wherein if it were not written we may suppose it capable of more we may be content to bear with some in words so long as they bear up to the same sense considering that the Quotations of those most ancient Writers out of Scripture it self are made with so much liberty and yet no Man doubts but they had a much more certain Rule to go by I am again overtaken by the Time and with the desire of your Lordship's Prayers and the continuance of your Love and Encouragement take leave and rest Your Lordship 's in all Duty Gerard Langbaine Queens Coll. May 11. 1647. LETTER CCXVII A Letter from to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My Lord UNderstanding that Dr. Price is going for London I could not omit to recommend him to your Grace if you should meet with any means to encourage his Studies that I can scarce expect or at least to keep him from those Precipices which the straitness of his Fortune and manifold occasions of Discontents may drive him unto I know that it is needless for me to write thus much knowing your good Inclinations to him if things were as in Times past when there were Means and Opportunities to help one another But when I think of the loss of Hugh Cressey and some others whose melancholy Thoughts have blinded their Judgments and disposed them to be easily wrought upon by the other Party to the dishonour of our sometimes most glorious Church when I see how they brag of these Conquests methinks we should leave nothing unattempted that may by any possibility prevent Mens stumblings at those Rocks of Offence which these sad Times cast them upon I find here our Lawyers differ much from the Ecclesiasticks about the Councels of Constance and Basil These go far higher for the Popes Authority than those will give way to The King of France hath as much Authority in Church-Businesses as the King of England claims so far as I can perceive Among the Doctors of the faculty of Divinity of Paris whereof the Sorbon is but a little part here be divers that are not for the Infallibility of the Church but such a certainty of an inferior degree as yet for the Authority of the Church and her Pastors we are all bound to submit unto a Point I think very well gained and of good consequence David Blundell's last Book about Episcopacy is much cried up by those of the Reformed Religion who are generally very sharp against our English Hierarchy upon the Credit of Mr. Pryn and Bastwick's Papers and such like Testimonies I hope your Grace will vindicate your Order in general and in particular the Credit of Ignatius his Epistles against his Exceptions as I hear young Vossius in part hath done but I have not yet seen the Book That which is my great Comfort my young Master is his Fathers Son and peremptorily constant to the Principles wherein he was bred which makes me hope that our Posterity may yet see the Sun shine again I humbly beg your Prayers for My Lord your Grace's most humble Servant T. Rouen May 18 1647. LETTER CCXVIII A Letter from the Right Reverend Joseph Hall Bp of Norwich to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh GRatulor vero ex animo te Antistitum decus Sancto Ignatio tuo Gratulor tibi imò universo orbi Christiano Ignatium meritissimò tuum sed quidem tuo benificio nostrum Gratiorem profecto operam navare Dei Ecclesiae nullus unquam potuisset quam tantum tam antiquum sanctumque Apostolicae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patronum ac tam egregium primaevae pietatis exemplar ab injuria temporis vindicando Inciderat nempe bonus iste viator Hierosolymitanus in Latrones quosdam Hierochuntinos qui illum non spoliârant modò sed misere etiam penèque ad mortem vulnerârant praeterierant saucium ac fere moribundum nescio quot Parkeri Coci Salmasii aliique nuperae sectae coryphaei vestra vero molliora uti sunt viscera tam durâ hominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorte miserecorditer commota sunt vestra unius pietatis optimi instar Samaritae vinum oleumque infudit tam patentibus vulneribus abstersit saniem foedèque hiulca plagarum ora manu tenerâ fasciavit ferèque exanimem vestro typorum jumento imposuit ac communi denique Ecclesiae hospitio non sine maximis impensis commendavit Profecto hoc uno nomine assurgent Amplitudini tuae boni quotquot sunt omnes manusque tam salutares piis labiis exosculabuntur Intelligent jam novitiae paritatis assertores quid illud sit quod tanto molimine usque machinantur sentientque quam probe illis cum sanctissimo Martyre ac celeberrimo Apostolorum Discipulo conveniat Illud vero inter doctissimas Annotationes vestras saliente corde oculo legisse me fateor quo egregium illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salmasianum de tempore suppositicii Ignatii leni illa quidem sed castigatrice manu corripueris Fieri ne potuit ut tantus author in re tanti momenti Chronologicâ tam foede laberetur aut num forte hoc pacto quandoquidem haec causae disciplinariae Arx merito habeatur Dominis suis palpum obtrudere maluit Quicquid sit bis Martyrium passus Ignatius noster tuâ demum operâ Praesul honoratissime reviviscit causamque iniquissime jam abdicatae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ecclesiae totius foro tam cate agit ut non pudere non possit hesternae Disciplinae astipulatores tam malè-suscepti litis injustae patrocinii Quod si nullum aliud foret nostrae sententiae propugnaculum nobis quidem abundè sufficeret habuisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrae veritatis patronos te Ignatium Vale Primatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiae laboranti precibus operis quod facis subvenire perge fave Cultori tuo ac maloru tuorum Socio praeconi meritorum Jos. Norvicensi E Tuguriolo nostro Highamensi Maii 25 o 1647. LETTER CCXIX. A Letter from Mr. Patrick Young to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Right Reverend and my very good Lord HItherto being disappointed by the Carrier who brought my Trunck hither so late I have been hindred to satisfie your Lordship touching the Passage Psal. 142. 9. which I find in my Roman Edition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any variety in the Margin and consequently so in the ancient Manuscript Copy I long to see your
as were many more of his Parts and Merits Your Grace was pleased to ask him what I was doing My Lord I cannot spend my time better than after the Holy Scriptures in gathering your Lordship's Observations upon many obscure Texts of the Bible but by my constant attending on my Lectures I am prevented of doing what I otherwise might Sir Henry Spelman's Saxon Lecture honoured by your Lordship's first motion to the Heads of Houses and have I not cause to admire God's Providence as my Lord of Exeter told me that the Work should be countenanced by so transcendent Patronage hath made me your Grace's Scholar as in truth the Ecclesiae ipsae Britannicae Universae at this time are But my Lord pardon my boldness and give me leave to chalenge the Stile if not of Scholar or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since I never counted my self worthy to wait on your Person yet a true admirer of all your Lordship's most rich Treasures now in your most learned Writings bequeathed to the Church but my Saxon Imploiment will bind me much to be acquainted with your Primordia Eccles. Britannicarum tho your Grace will pity my Condition as being not able to compass the use of those rare Manuscripts cited in that most rich Magazine yet I am glad that we have many excellent and rare Antiquities there at large cited to us I presumed two Years since to send Mr. Hartlib a Specimen of my Intentions and beginnings of a Confutation of the Alcoran It was according to my poor skill a discovery of Mahomet's and his Chaplains devilish Policy to raze out of the Faith of the Eastern People the memory of the Three Persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by substituing in the stead thereof three words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so in the same manner as by fair and goodly Language he blotted out of the Christian Church the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so doth he the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gloria Patri by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glory be to God the Lord of the World c. for this intent to square out a Platform of Faith easy for all the World to believe that so he and his succeeding Chalifs may gain such a false believing and seduced World to the infernal See of Meccha and that was his meaning in binding all to pray towards Meccha Had I Skill and Means and Encouragement from your Grace I would endeavour to make some progress in the same Work not but that I know many in this Kingdom far more able than my self but that I fear none of them will attempt it but rather smile at the Design The Language of the Alchoran to write in that stile may be attained the matter of Confutation may be easy to any that will attend to the wicked Plots of Apostates then and ever practised in the World But Mr. Hartlib returned my Papers and told me they were not or else my Intention was not approved I purposedly was desirous to be ignorant who should give this severe Censure lest they should think I should grieve thereat Mr. Hartlib I thank him did me the pleasure as to conceal it from me I could scarce keep my self from some such Imployment about the Alchoran but these Times call us now to other Thoughts The fear of losing the Univers as well as Regnum Sacerdotium doth not a little amaze us When a Messenger comes hither from your Grace I shall be glad to be informed by him wherein I may best in this Lambeth Library be serviceable and express my bounden Duty to your Lordship The Lord still add to the number of your Days to the comfort of the afflicted Britain Churches which next to God cast their Eyes upon you in these sad Extremities which they have already suffered Your Grace's most humble Servant Abraham Wheelocke We expect every day the setting up of the Lambeth Books in the Schools where your Grace above 30 Years since heard Mr. Andrew Downs read the Greek Lecture as yet they remain in Fat 's or great Chests and cannot be of any use LETTER CCXLIX A Letter from the Learned Isaacus Gruterus to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Viro Maximo Jacobo Usserio Archiepiscopo Armachano Hiberniae Primati S. P. D. Isaacus Gruterus NON passus sum me abripi affectu virtutes tuas si non aestimare saltem venerari nescio cum mihi nuper apud te calamum feci pararium Neque ex alto nunc causas arcesso quae necdum consumptae fiduciam sustinent fore ut secundae allocutioni sua venia sit interiorem tantae Eruditionis in perspectâ multis humanitate cultum meditanti Eorum quae tunc scripsi alia tempus mutavit intermedium alia integram officii gratiam habent si vel partem desiderii nostri expletam imputare liceat tuae benevolentiae Savilii enim filiam Sidleijo cuidam olim nuptam obiisse narravit mihi Nobiliss. Boswellus vir non aliis magis virtutibus quas plures benignior indulsit natura quam literarum patrocinio illustris Quid vero Savilianae industriae ineditum servent alicubi scrinia chartacea non alîunde quam ex te melius constare mihi posse videtur cum doceant scripta tua propriori vos familiaritate coaluisse Illud ergo repetere ausus sum hoc Epistolae compendio explicatum forte olim uberius ut in concilianda istius rei notitia gratificari velis homini extero in magna felicitatis parte habituro per istud obsequium posse tibi commendare quamcunque affectus sui operam testem positi non apud ingratum beneficii Vale. Isaacus Gruterus Hagae-Comitis 26. Febr. iv Calendas Martii CICICCL LETTER CCL A Letter from P. Scavenius to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Vir Illustrissime Reverendissime NIhil gratius mihi accidere potuit quà m tuas literas iisque inclusa mandata accipere Totus fui in ea exequendo ut tuae petitioni meo voto rectè satissecisse viderer sed nescio quo fato res hic aguntur ut semper objiciantur tantae remorae praetextus quibus suas res ornare allaborant quibus alienae parum curae sunt qui potius nomine quam reipsa aliis inservire cupiunt divites ut aiunt promissis tardi vel seri in fide datâ servandâ Clariss Dominus Holsteinius infinitis destrictus negotiis nam Censor est librorum qui hic typis mandantur merito fugit hunc laborem quippe immensum quem requirit vel descriptio vel collatio hujus MS. cum excusis codicibus Codex enim est antiquissimus hinc inde mutilus ut interdum Oedippo opus sit sensum indagare Promisit tamen se missurum parvulas aliquot varias lectiones quas successive sparsim in unum vel alterum Prophetam notavit excusavit se non posse ipsum Codicem mittere eumque periculis
learned Divines after a serious debate and mature deliberation as well declare what was the Doctrine of the Church of England in those Questions of Predestination Justifying Faith Saving Grace and Perseverance But it seems with the Doctor no Bishops Opinions shall be Orthodox if they agree not with his own But to come to the Charge it self The main Reason why the Doctor will needs have the Lord Primat to be the cause of the inserting these Articles of Lambeth into those of Ireland agreed on in Convocation 1615 is because the Lord Primat being then no Bishop but only Professor of Divinity in the University there and a Member of Convocation was ordered by the Convocation to draw up those Articles and put them into Latin as if Dr. Usher could have then such a great influence upon it as to be able to govern the Church at his pleasure or that the Scribe of any Synod or Council should make it pass what Acts or Articles he pleases or that one private Divine should be able to manage the whole Church of Ireland as the Doctor would needs have him do in this Affair Whereas the Doctor having been an ancient Member of Convocation could not but know that all Articles after they are debated are proposed by way of Question by the President and Prolocutor of either House and are afterwards ordered to be drawn into form and put in Latin by some Persons whom they appoint for that purpose and tho perhaps they might not be themselves in all points of the same Opinion with those Articles they are so ordered to draw up and that Dr. Usher did not hold all those Articles of Ireland in the same sence as they are there laid down appears from what the Doctor himself tells us in this Pamphlet for p. 116 he saith That it was his viz. the Lord Primat's doing that a different explication of the Article of Christ's descent into Hell from that allowed of by this Church and almost all the other Heterodoxies of the Sect of Calvin were inserted and incorporated into the Articles of Ireland And p. 129 he finds fault with the 30th Article of that Church because it is said of Christ that for our sakes he endured most grievous Torments immediatly in his Soul and most painful Sufferings in his Body The enduring of which grievous Torments in his Soul as Calvin not without some touch of Blasphemy did first devise so did he lay it down for the true sence and meaning of the Article of Christ's descending into Hell In which expression as the Articles of Ireland have taken up the words of Calvin so it may be rationally conceived that they take them with the same meaning and construction also But the Doctor owns that this was not the Lord Primat's sence of this Article for p. 113 aforegoing he says thus Yet he viz. the Lord Primat neither follows the Opinion of Calvin himself nor of the generality of those of the Calvinian Party who herein differ from their Master but goes a new way of a later discovery in which altho he had few Leaders he hath found many Followers But as I shall not take upon me to enter into a dispute with the Doctor or his Followers in defence of these Irish Articles and to prove they are not contradictory to those of England it not being my business yet I cannot forbear to observe that it is highly improbable that all the Bishops and Clergy of Ireland should incorporate the nine Articles of Lambeth containing all the Calvinian Rigours as the Doctor calls them in the points of Predestination Grace Free-will c. if they had thought they were inconsistent with those of the Church of England and had not been satisfied that it was the Doctrine then held and maintained in those Points by the major part of the Bishops and Clergy of our Church as also believed by the King himself who confirmed them and certainly would never else have sent one Bishop and three of the most Learned Divines within his Dominions to the Synod of Dort to maintain against the Remonstrants or Arminians the very same Opinions contained in these Irish Articles But if all those must be counted by the Doctor for Rigorous Calvinists that maintain these Articles and consequently Heterodox to the Church of England I desire to know how he can excuse the major part of our Bishops in Queen Elizabeth and King James's Reign and a considerable part of them during the Reigns of the two last Kings of blessed Memory some of whom are still living from this Heterodoxy And if all Men must be guilty of Calvinism who hold these Opinions concerning Predestination Grace and Free-will then the most part of the Lutherans who differ very little from Calvin in these points must be Calvinists too Nor are these Points held only by Protestants but many also of the Church of Rome hold the same as witness the Jansenists and also the Order of the Dominicans who come very near to Calvin in the Doctrines of Predestination c. and are as much opposed by the Jesuits as the Arminians are by the Anti-remonstrants in Holland But perhaps the Doctor may make St. Augustin a Calvinist too since he is much of the same Opinion with the Lord Primat in most of these Points against the Pelagians Having now I hope vindicated the Lord Primat from these unjust Accusations of his differing from the Church of England in matters of Doctrine I now come to answer his Aspersions upon the Lord Primat in lesser matters and that you may see how unjustly he seeks out a Quarrel against him he makes it a crime in him because those who were aspersed with the names of Puritans made their Addresses to him by Letters or Visits and because he was carress'd and feasted by them where-ever he came as the Doctor will have it as if the Lord Primat had no other Perfections but his asserting those Calvinian Tenents Then he goes on to tax the Lord Primat with Inconformity to the Rules and Orders of the Church of England in several particulars but with how great want of Charity and with how many malicious Inferences and Reflections without any just grounds I leave to the impartial Reader who will give himself the trouble to peruse that Pamphlet many of those passages being cull'd here and there out of Dr. Bernard's Treatise entitled The late Lord Primat's Judgment c. without ever considering what went before or what followed after and without taking notice that several things enjoined in the Canons of the Church of England had no force or obligation in that of Ireland where those Canons were not yet subscribed to or received and consequently such Ceremonies as were by them enjoined being in themselves indifferent as the Church declares it had been singularity in him to have observed them there and much worse to have imposed them upon others for it is truly said of him by Dr. Bernard That he did not affect some