the Holy Eucharist in two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject with a large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument by W. Wake Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead By W. Wake M. A. An Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4to An Abridgment of the Prerogatives of St. Ann Mother of the Mother of God with the Approbations of the Doctors of Paris thence done into English with a PREFACE concerning the Original of the Story The Primitive Fathers no Papists in Answer to the Vindication of the Nubes Testium to which is added a Discourse concerning Invocation of Saints in Answer to the Challenge of F. Sabran the Jesuit wherein is shewn That Invocation of Saints was so far from being the Practice that it was expresly against the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers 4to An Answer to a Discourse concerning the Coelibacy of the Clergy lately Printed at Oxford 4to The Virgin Mary Misrepresented by the Roman Church in the Traditions of that Church concerning her Life and Glory and in the Devotions paid to her as the Mother of God. Both shewed out of the Offices of that Church the Lessons on her Festivals and from their allowed Authors Dr. Tenison's Sermon of Discretion in giving Alms. 12mo A Discourse concerning the Merit of Good Works The Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome demonstrated in some Observations upon the Life of Ignatius Loyola Founder of the Order of Jesus A Vindication of the Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4to The Texts which the Papists cite out of the Bible for Proof of the Points of their Religion Examined and shew'd to be alledged without Ground In twenty five distinct Discourses viz. Popery not founded in Scripture The Introduction Texts concerning the Obscurity of Holy Scriptures Of the Insufficiency of Scripture and Necessity of Tradition Of the Supremacy of St. Peter and the Pope over the whole Church In two Parts Of Infallibility Of the Worship of Angels and Saints departed In two parts Of the Worship of Images and Reliques Of the Seven Sacraments and the Efficacy of them In two Parts Of the Sacrifice of the Mass In two Parts Of Transubstantiation Of Auricular Confession Of Satisfactions In two Parts Of Purgatory In two Parts Of Prayer in an unknown Tongue In two Parts Of Coelibacy of Priests and Vows of Continence In two Parts Of the Visibility of the Church Of Merit of Good Works Two Tables to the whole will shortly be published A Brief Declaration of the Lords Supper Written by Dr. Nocholas Ridley Bishop of London during his Imprisonment with some other Determinations and Disputations concerning the same Argument by the same Author To which is annexed an Extract of several Passages to the same purpose out of a Book Intituled Diallaction written by Dr. Iohn Poynet Bishop of Winchester in the Reigns of Ed. 6. and Q. Mary 4to An Historical Discourse concerning the Necessity of the Minister's Intention in Administring the Sacraments A Discourse concerning Penance shewing how the Doctrine of it in the Church of Rome makes void true Repentance A Continuation of the state of the Controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome Being a full account of the Books that have been of late written on both sides By William Wake M. A. 4to A Discourse of the Pope's Supremacy Part I. in answer to a Treatise intituled St. Peter's Supremacy faithfully discuss'd according to the Holy Scripture and Greek and Latine Fathers and to a Sermon of St. Peter preached before the Queen Dowager on St. Peter and St Paul's day by Tho. Godden D. D. IVLIAN the Apostate Being a short account of his Life the Sense of the Primitive Christians about his Succession and their Behaviour towards him Together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism By Sam. Iohnson Iulian's Arts to undermine and extirpate Christianity Together with Answers to Constantius the Apostate and Iovian by Sam. Iohnson The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuites Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Judges with other Observations thereupon By William Cawley Esq fol. Books Written by Dr. Gilbert Burnet His History of the Reformation of the Church of England in II. Vol. fol. Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England 40. History of the Rights of Princes in disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church Lands 120. Life of William Bedell Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland together with the Letters betwixt Him and Wadsworth about Religion A Collection of Seventeen Tracts and Sermons written betwixt the years 1678. and 1685. to which is added Two Tracts by another Hand Viz. The History of the Powder Treason and an Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuites dying Speeches who were Executed for the Popish Plot 1679. Lately Published Reflexions on the Relation of the English Reformation put out by Ob. Walker at Oxon. Animadversions on the Reflexions upon Dr. Burnet's Travels 120. Reflexions on a Paper intitled his Majesties Reasons for withdrawing himself from Rochester Enquiry into the present State of Affairs and in particular whether we owe Allegiance to the King in these Circumstances And whether we are bound to Treat with Him and call Him back or no His Sermon before the Prince of Orange 23d Decem. 1688. His Thanksgiving Sermon before the Commons for the Deliverance of the Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power by the Prince of Orange's Means A LETTER to Mr. THEVENOT Containing a CENSURE of Mr. Le Grand's HISTORY of King Henry the Eighth's Divorce To which is added a CENSURE of Mr. de Meaux's HISTORY of the Variations of the Protestant Churches Together with some further Reflections on Mr. Le Grand A Collection of Eighteen Papers relating to the Affairs of Church and State during the Reign of King Iames the Second Seventeen whereof written in Holland and first Printed singly there now published here by the Author to distinguish them from those falsly attributed to his Name Dr. Iohn Lightfoot's Works in II. Vol. fol. together with his Life An Explication of the Catechism of the Church of England viz. The Creed Lords Prayer Ten Commandments and the Sacraments in 4. Volumes Folio By Gabr. Towerson D. D. Disquisitiones Criticae de variis per diversa Loca Tempora Bibliorum editionibus 4o Dr William Cave's Lives of the Ancient Fathers in the IV. first Centuries in II. Vol. Primitive Christianity or the Religion of the Ancient Christians in the first Ages of the Gospel A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church by Bishops Metropolitans and Patriarchs Dr. William Burton's several Discourses of Purity Charity Repentance and other Practical Subjects in 2 Vol. Oct. Reflexions upon the Books of the Holy Scripture to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion in Two Parts Oct. By. Mr. Alix Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria à Christo nato usque ad Saeculum XIV Facili Methodo digesta Qua de Vita illorum ac Rebus gestis de Secta Dogmatibus Elogio Stylo de Scriptis genuinis dubiis suppositiis ineditis deperditis Fragmentis deque variis Operum Editionibus perspicue agitur Accedunt Scriptores Gentiles Christianae Religionis Oppugnatores 〈◊〉 Saculi Breviarium Inseruntur suis locis Veterum aliquot Opuscula Fragmenta tum Graeca tum Latina hactenus inedita Praemissa denique Prologomena quibus plurima ad Antiquitatis Ecclesiasticae studium spectantia 〈◊〉 Opus Indicibus necessariis instructum Autore GVILIELMO CAVE SS Theol Profes Caâ—â—ico Windesoriensi Accedit ab Alia Manu Appendix ab 〈◊〉 Saculo XIV ad Annum usque MDXVII Fol. 1689.
of Councils Provincial and General of many Popes of all the chief Fathers both Greek and Latine particularly of the four great Fathers of the Latine Church whereas on the other side there was not one Father nor Doctor alledged And tho' Mr. le Grand pretends only that the Canons of some Provincial Councils against Incontinence and some passages out of Tertullian S. Basil and S. Ierome upon Virginity and against second Marriages were alledged Here I am sure the Reader will censure him for the want of somewhat that is more important to an Honest Man than great Capacity For the Canons of those Councils and Passages of those Fathers speak expresly of the degrees of Marriage forbid in the Book of Leviticus And tho' he names only three Popes whose Letters were cited to the same purpose he passes over the chief of them with Relation to England Gregory the Great in whose time the Saxons were Converted to the Christian Faith who gave an express Instruction to Austin the Monk to annul all Marriages with a Brother's Wife And this being a Rule setled in England when the Christian Religion was received in it it was consider'd as one of the chief supports of the King's Cause and therefore if Mr. le Grand had desired to have the Reputation of a sincere Writer he ought not to have passed it over nor ought he to have passed over all that was said against the Pope's Dispensing even with the Laws of the Church and much less with the Laws of God Nor that other Branch of the King's Plea that the Church of England according to the Council of Nice ought to judge this Matter and that it did not belong to the Pope If Mr. le Grand is a true Son of the Gallican Church he cannot disown those Principles and at least if he would be esteemed a sincere Historian he ought not to have passed them in silence But if he was defective in his account of the King's Plea he adds as much of his own to the Queens For he has pickt up a great many instances in History that were never mentioned in the Books to of that time and yet they all amount to no more but shew that these Rules of the degrees of Marriage were not at all times observed with the same exactness But the Church is Govern'd by Rules and not by Examples And all that he saies of the Law in Deuteronomy appointing the Brother to Marry his Sister-in-Law when his Brother dyed without Children had been ever looked on in the Christian Church as an exception from the general Law that belonged only to the Iewish Nation with relation to their Succession which being taken away under the Christian Religion the Laws in Leviticus which have been ever considered in the Church as Moral Laws must now take place Universally In short if any man will be at the pains to compare the Books that were Written upon this matter and the Accounts that are given of them by Mr. le Grand and by my self he will soon see which of us have Writ with the greatest sincerity and I will not envy Mr. le Grand's Opinion of his own Capacity so long as an unbiassed sincerity is acknowledged to belong to me 4. p. 222. Mr. le Grand tells us that the Parliament abolished the Oath which the Bishops were bound to sware to the Pope at their Consecration and drew a new one which they should make to the King. Here he gives me just Reason to say severer things than he may be willing to hear for in the Parliament the two Oaths that the Bishops swore both to the Pope and to the King were Read and it appearing that they contradicted one another they being both of the nature of an Oath of Homage which can only be made to one Superiour all that the Parliament did was to Repeal the Oath to the Pope and to let the other to the King remain in its full force I have given an undeniable Instance that the Oath to the King was in all former times made by the Bishops in a Record which I put at the head of my Collection of Instruments and which Mr. le Grand may have seen for tho' these Instruments have not yet appeared in the French Translation yet Mr. Bulteau has my Work in English where all these Records are In that Cardinal Adrian not only renounces all Clauses in his Bull that were contrary to the King's Prerogative or to the Laws of England but swears fidelity to the King in the same terms in which our Kings have continued ever since to have Homage Sworn to them by their Bishops And the Oath to the Pope as it was a Novelty not known before the twelfth Century so it contains in it so many wide and indefinite Clauses that it seems very hard to reconcile the taking of it either with the Doctrines of the Gallican Churches or with that Subjection which all Bishops owe their Lawful Prince since it is plain that is an Oath of Homage to the Pope 5. Mr. le Grand sets himself with no small force p. 244. to 257. tho' not with equal success to give Cranmer the worst Character that he could make for him He accuses me for endeavouring to make him pass for a Gentleman but tho' I knew he was one yet I said not a word of it for I thought that was too inconsiderable a thing to have a place among the Honours that belong to the Memory of that Great Man. He cannot believe that he was in Germany when by Warham's Death he was named to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury And thinks that he could not have stayed seven weeks there after he had the News of his intended Promotion since he was present at the King's Marriage with A. Bolen Nor can he allow my saying that the thing was slowly set forward since there passed but three Months between September and Ianuary in which he was preconised at Rome Nor can he believe the Provincial Synod of Canterbury judged the matter of the King's Marriage Here are Errours enough for Mr. Varillas himself In Cranmer's Printed Tryal he appeals to his Judges who were all Witnesses of that Matter that he had unwillingly accepted of that See and that he had delayed his return out of Germany after he had the News of the King's Intentions for seven Weeks and this was passed over by the Bishops that judged him without any answer which was a plain acknowledgment of the Truth of it 2. There were twelve Weeks between Warham's Death that fell out the 23 of August and the King's Marriage on the 14th of November So allowing two weeks for the Currier to go to him ther is room enough for his seven weeks delay But our Author to turn five Months into three shuts out both September and Ianuary out of the account tho' both ought to be included And the Sentence of Divorce bears expresly that both the Provincial Synods of England had judged
the 16th of April in which he gives an account of the Bishop of Paris's passing thro' that Town who told him how precipitated the Sentence was that the Pope was indeed for a delay and if that had been granted only for six days the King would have submitted but the Imperialists would hear of none tho' when the Courier came a day after they were sorry for the hast they had made By all these Indications it appeared plainly that the Court of Rome was governed in this matter only by Political Motives and Maxims and therefore according to the Maxims of the Gallican Church set forth lately with so much Zeal by Mr. Talon in a matter of much less moment the King of England had no Reason to have any great Regard to the Judgments or Thunders of that Court. But as I hold my self infinitely obliged to Mr. le Grand for the Present he made me of so valuable a Book which affords me so many Confirmations of the most important parts of my History so I am extream sorry that he has been so far wanting to himself as to suppress them and that he has put me on so uneasie a thing as to make use of a Present that he made me so much to his disadvantage But in this case I must say magis amica veritas And tho' he thinks me to be extreamly jealous of the Honour of my Writings p. 2. yet if the Concerns of Religion did not enter in this case I could more easily abandon my own But I will not pursue this Censure further at present nor am I yet sure whether I will write more upon this Subject or not for till I see his other three parts and till I know what effects this has I can form no Resolution as to that matter In the mean while I beg your Pardon both for giving you so great a trouble and for addressing it to you in so Publick a manner For since I Censure a Book already Printed I thought it was necessary to do it in this manner I am Sir with all possible Respect At the Hague the 10th of May 1688. Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant G. BURNET A CENSURE OF Mr. DE MEAUX's HISTORY OF THE Variations of the Protestant Churches Together with some further Reflections on Mr. Le Grand SIR YOU ask my Opinion of Mr. de Meaux's long expected Work And I will give it freely It seems he intends to let the World see that he can set forth the Reformation with as much Sincerity as he had formerly shewed in setting forth his own Doctrine and that he can shew as much Art in making the one appear Black as he had done to make the other appear Fair. Some of my Countrymen have of late exposed him in so severe a manner that his Credit in England was so much sunk before this new attempt that he has made upon it that there was no need of this Work to destroy it quite The truth is great Respect is due to his Age and Character But if he will lay himself too open and take so much pains to make himself be known he will compass it at last A Man of his Wit and Softness of Expression should have held himself to general Speculations in which a lively Fancy and a good Stile might have helped him out even when Truth failed him But of all the Men I know he should have avoided the most to meddle with Matters of Fact. For the gentlest Censure that can be past on his Performances that way is that some others furnish him with Extracts which he manages to the best advantage but without examining them Yet when Mr. Larogue had shewed him or at least had shewed it to all the World if he would not see it that there was not one single Passage of all those which he had with so much Pomp produced for justifying the taking away the Chalice that was either sincerely or pertinently made use of by him and it seems Mr. de Meaux himself was convinced of it since I have not heard that he has yet said one word to justify himself He should not have ventured again tho' he has returned with a particular degree of assurance to say in this Work that in the Primitive Church Men received the Sacrament either in the one or the other Species He may now perhaps say that he never Read Larague's Book with the same Truth that he writ to England that he had never seen F. Crasset's The Truth is Reason is a tame thing which bends easily to a Man of Wit and Fancy But Facts are sullen things they are what they are Wit has no place there but Boldness and Confidence can supply all defects Yet since Mr. de Meaux found that his under-work-men had dealt so ill with him he should have been more cautious in trusting them for the future And since even his most solemn Protestations have been laid open to the English Nation as having more of an Air of assurance than of a scrupulous Regard to Truth in them he ought to have taken a little more care of himself and of his Friends in England who have ill Success enough already in what they themselves have writ and in some small aid which he has sent them and therefore it is too cruel in him to give new occasions to those who will be sure to make the best of all that is given them for shewing the weakness of a Cause which how prosperous soever it may be in the hands of Dragoons yet has never had worse success than of late in England The Calumnies of Cochlee Florimond de Raimond and other Writers of the last Age were already revived and put in more Modern French by Maimbourg and Varillas who have not failed to tell the Tale over again in the best Language and with the best Grace they could so that it was a little below Mr. de Meaux's Greatness to come after them in a design which has succeeded so ill with them It is true he has much more Wit and gives a better Air to the Malice that he bears the Reformed Churches who have done nothing to provoke him if it was not that they chuse rather to take that to be Doctrine of his Church which they found both in the Decrees of their Councils the Publick Offices and the Chief Writers of Controversy that have explained those Matters ever since the Dispute was first set on foot than the new Tour that he has thought fit to give it In short he is in ill Humour because his Exposition was not successful enough to save his Church the Infamy of the Dragoons Hinc illae lachrimae and therefore he has now gathered together all that the Writers of the last Age had set forth and added to that all the Extracts that his tools could furnish him with that so he might Triumph over us with as much Scorn as Malice He mixes all along with it the Flowers of a melting and
declaiming Eloquence but tho' these figures pronounced with a soft Voice and in a languishing Air may have perhaps wrought on some who slave come to him with a Design to be deluded by him yet when they are on Paper they are but bleak and feeble strains And the affectation that appears in them is too gross to pass even on Men that are already Partial in his Favours Indeed they ought rather to Biass a Man the other way He has called it the History of our Variations but the truer Title had been the History of the Progress of the Reformation If all that he has said were true it will amount to no more than this which we grant without his being at so much pains to prove it which is that neither were our Reformers Inspired nor our Sinods Infallible But after all it gives no small Provocation to Humane Nature to see a Man that is of a Church whose History is one continued Thread of Variations and that in so many Essential points from what it self was in the Primitive time keep such a stir with a few inconsiderable Changes that have been made among the Reformed If all was not at first discovered the Changes that the Reformers made was a Progress and not a Variation but after that their Confessions were once formed we all know that they have stuck to them perhaps with too much stiffness so that it were a much easier thing to shew that they ought to have varied than to prove that they have done it In short we are but Men and ought not to be ashamed to own that we grow in Knowledge and that we no sooner discover Errours than we forsake them Here is then a great Book writ to as little purpose as can be since it concludes only that we are neither Inspired nor Infallible to which we never pretended If a Man of Mr. de Meaux's Wit would at his rate of Writing pretend to give the History of the first Variations of the Christians and would begin with the Sect of the Iudaisers and after that tell us of all the Schisms at Corinth of the Scandals of their Lives and the enormous disorders in their Worship some Feasting in their Churches till they were Drunk before they went to the Sacrament others that had even the extraordinary gift of Tongues affecting to gratifie their Vanity by shewing it in their Publick Assemblies while false Apostles studied to supplant the Respect that was due to the true Apostles and some false Teachers denied the Resurrection If one will go thro' the Epistles writ to the other Churches and bring together all the disorders that he finds among them if to these he will join the Epistles in the second and third Chapter of the Revelation and from these pretend to give us the Character of the Christians of the first Age and if from that he should go to bring into the Picture all the Abominations of the Gnosticks all the Follies of the Valentinians and all the Extravagancies of the other Heresies If I say a Heathen that had as much Wit and as much spite as Mr. de Meaux has shewed in this Work would undertake this he might write Historical Essaies that would be as little to the Honour of the Christian Religion as Mr. de Meaux's Work is to the Honour of the Reformation And if a Man will examine either S. Athanase's Life Cyril of Alexandria's Liberius's Osius's or Damasus with as much diligence as Mr. de Meaux had shewed in bringing together all the weaknesses of Cranmer whether real or pretended and would carry down such a Critique on all the other Saints the Kalender would be cleared of a great many Rubricks Gregory the Great 's Infamous Courting both of Phocas and Brunichild would likewise degrade him from Saintship and if one will examine the pretended Saint Clovis by such strict Rules not only his Saintship but even his Christianity would be doubted And we should conclude that S. Remy had rather brought a Reproach than an Honour on our Christian Religion by Baptizing him If one will summ up all the Blemishes even of David's Life and pretend to give his Character by laying these together instead of concluding him a man according to God's own Heart one should rather conclude him to be one of those whom God abhors In short there are few men so bad but one may find enough of good in them that if that alone were laid together they might pass for not only good Men but even for extraordinary Men If we had only preserved the beginnings of what Suetonius writes of Tiberius Caligula and Nero those Monsters would have passed for Patterns On the other hand there are few Men so good but that if all the Weaknesses of their Life were set out in Bas-Reliefs as Mr. de Meaux has dealt with Cranmer without making the due mixture of Light and Shaddow of the Good as well as the Bad they would make a very ill appearance And it is certain that a Man of Wit can make either Panegyrick or Satyr where he will and even keep himself within the bounds of Truth as to the main stroaks of his History So after all that Mr. de Meaux has said of Cranmer I do not doubt but if a Man even biassed with the ill Characters that he has given of him will be at the pains to read over my History he will return to high thoughts of him in spite of all those malignant Colours in which he has set him out The Ages in which Men have lived do very much extenuate some things as well as other times aggravate the same faults Men of Modest Tempers have often an oppression on their Spirits which looks like fear And some Men have an ascendant over other people that those who are strong against all other Considerations yet cannot resist them And this was the case of Cranmer towards Henry the Eighth who as he was always soft and gentle so his Modesty carrying on it the weight of great obligations made that he was not at all times so firm as was necessary against so imperious a King And indeed one of the Clergy of France reproaches Cranmer for this with a very ill Grace in an Age in which if we may believe the Answerer to Mr. Talon they have shewed not only a compliance with Lewis le Grand but have vied one with another in their Admirations and Panegyricks notwithstanding so many and high Invasions of the Rights of the Church in the most Sacred things and of the great steps made towards a breach with that which they call the Holy See. The prejudices of Education hang long about men and the notion of adhering to the Unity till one can make a general Reform is plausible and the complying with the Rites of a Religion that was antiquated by the Death of Christ in which the Apostles themselves went so far seemed to warrant or at least to excuse a Man especially when the degrees of his
invisible Assembly of the Elect was the Church Any Man that has been at the pains to Read all that he has writ on these Heads from end to end and that has not only pickt up here and there some quotations that are drawn out of him must needs find so much confusion in him that they will easily pardon others if any such disorder appears in the Writings of the Reformers And for the Notion of the Presence in the Sacrament there has appeared of late such a History of the Disorders of the Schoolmen before they came to settle on the Notion of Transubstantiation and even in the explanation of that after the fourth Council of the Lateran that it will give no great Reputation to any Man that will take advantage from the Variations that may have been among us when it appears that there have been Changes of another Nature among them Mr. de Meaux is so pleased with this Prospect of the Variations among us that he will even make the suppressing of a more copious condemnation of the Corporal Presence that had been made in King Edward's time but was left out in Queen Elizabeth's to pass likewise for one The Matter of Fact was this in King Edward's time both Transubstantiation and the Corporal Presence were expresly rejected in our Articles and it was declared that Christ was present only in a Spiritual Manner and that he was received by Faith alone when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown it was thought enough to reject both Transubstantiation and the Adoration of the Sacrament it was also declared that the Wicked did not receive Christ's Body or Blood in the Sacrament That he was present only after a Heavenly and Spiritual manner and that the Means by which he was Received was Faith only the rejecting the Corporal Presence with the Reasons upon which it was rejected was left out The Church did not at all change its Doctrine but it being fit to put nothing in the Articles of the Church but what is necessary it had been an unseasonable rigour to put in them a long explanation of a Negative Article The positive Articles can only be necessary and tho' some Negative Articles ought to be kept in Confessions if the Errour rejected by them is very dangerous yet no Man can say that all Negatives ought at all times to be proposed So that this is a matter of Discretion and Prudence and therefore the Adoration of the Sacrament being according to us Idolatry and Transubstantiation leading Naturally to that these were still Condemned that so the Purity of the Worship might be secured but this being done if our Church had carried the matter further and had imposed on every one the more particular and disputable Opinions concerning the Presence she had approached too near to the Rigour of that Church from which she had separated her self And therefore she shewed that Regard both to Lutherans and others who might have peculiar Notions of a Corporal Presence as not to put such a Definition in the body of her Articles as might drive them out of her Society And if she went too far in King Edward's Time we are so far from being ashamed of the Moderation that she shewed in Queen Elizabeth's Time that we rather Glory in it We are neither affraid nor ashamed to follow Saint Paul who Circumcised Timothy that by such a compliance he might gain the Iews and that went to Purifie himself in the Temple in which there was always a Sacrifice of one sort or another which he did long after the Vertue and the Obligation of those Rites was extinguished and if he went so far in positive Compliances the Silence of our Church in a Negative Article when done upon the considerations of Charity and Prudence is rather an Honour than a Reproach to it Indeed it is no wonder to see those of a Church that has thundred with her Anathema's upon the smallest Matters and has followed these with all the Cruelties that either the Rage of Dragoons or the Fury of Inquisitors could invent it is no wonder I say to see them censure us for our Gentleness since by this it appears that ours is the true Mother that cannot see her Children cut to pieces But here I stop I will not go further upon a Subject that is like to be handled by so able a Pen that I am only sorry that such a man should imploy so much time upon so Barren a Subject since it it must be confessed that this Age has scarce produced a Book that has been writ with so much pains but to so little purpose and with so little sincerity Yet since one has resolved to undertake it who I know will manage it with much force as well as with great Truth that so his Book may be in all Respects the reverse of that which he answers I will not anticipate further upon him But will now add only a little in Vindication of the short Account which I gave of the Troubles of France on design to justify the Assistance which Queen Elizabeth gave to the Protestants there upon which Mr. de Meaux thinks that he has great advantages He Reproaches me for my Ignorance of the Affairs of France which he shews first in my calling the Union of the Cardinal of Lorrain and the King of Navarre the Triumvirat but this could have only made a Duumvirate yet I named the Constable whom he has thought fit to pass over and I said not one word of a Triumvirat but only mentioned the Union of these three with Queen Catherine It is true the Translator has thought fit to add beyond what I had said par une espece de Triumvirat which shews that as I am not at all concerned in this matter so even my Translator himself had a mind to distinguish this from the famous Triumvirat He also charges me for having accused the Duke of Guise as having designed the Business of Vassy but in my English there is not a word of any premeditated Design and I am only accountable for the English nor is this plain in the Translation tho' there is more in it than in the Original Executer leur dessein does not import that the Business of Vassy was premeditated but only that the Design being laid the occasion offered at Vassy was laid hold on It is true I do not know how I came to say that the King of Navarre was declared Regent I had reason to say that the Regency fell to him by Law and that appeared as Mr. de Thou observes in the Famous Decision in the Case of Philip le Valois I had also Reason to say that the Power of the Regent was limited and so I only erred in setting the word Regent for Governour or Lieutenant of the Kingdom I am not ashamed to own mistakes when I am convinced that I have made them But it will soon appear whether he or I have committed more Errours in Treating of the Affairs of
his own Country For in this I will frankly acknowledge my Errour without pretending to excuse my self from the term in which Mr. de Thou had expressed the King of Navar 's Imployment praeses regni now this seemed to answer to the English term of Protector of the Kingdom in whom the true Regency lies tho' there is another Imployment among us in the Minority of our Kings of him who is the Governour of his Person which is independent on the other And has been oft in another hand upon which a Famous Dispute arose between the two Brothers in Edward the 6th's Minority Yet I confess frankly that this is only an excuse and not a justification But whereas Mr. de Meaux reproaches me for citing the Opinions of the Lawyers of France against the Regency of a Woman and charging it as an impudence in pretending that the Kings of France were not Majors till they were twenty two Years of Age against an express Ordinance of Charles the Fifth 1474. which has ever been held for a Law thro' the whole Kingdom without contradiction as he assures us In this he shews how little he has examined the Matters of that time and how carelesly he has Read Mr. de Thou It would indeed appear that he has only turned to that place which opens the Business of Ambaise for he cites Mr. de Thou's Words relating to the Opinions that were given by the Lawyers of France and Germany and the Resolutions of the Protestant Divines which is in his twenty fourth Book But if he had Read his twenty third Book in which the Administration of Affairs under Francis the Second is set forth he had found all that which I cited concerning the Opinions of the Lawyers of France For he gives us a large Abstract of a Book that was writ in the end of October 1559 against the share that Women and Strangers had in the Government proving also that the Kings of France were not of Age till they were 25 years Old and that tho' Charles the Fifth had made a Constitution for his Son 's being Major at fourteen and had also by his Will named Lewis of Bourbon to be his Regent in our English Sense the Government of the Kingdom being left to the Duke of Anjou yet no Regard was had to this for the young King was put into the hands of the Duke of Anjou and the very name of the Regency was taken from the Duke of Bourbon and the King was not declared to be Major till he was twenty two years of Age And the Historians of that time do expresly say that the States declared him Major at that Age because of the Gracefulness of his Person and the Love that was generally born him The Reader may if he pleases Read the rest of the Extract that Mr. de Thou gives both of that Book and of Mr. du Tillet's Answer and of the Reply made to du Tillet and it is plain that Mr. du Thou favours the side of the first Book and Censures Mr. du Tillet as much as became so Impartial an Historian to do And in Conclusion he saies that upon the occasion of the Disputes that followed in Charles the Ninth's Minority the Chancellour Hospital took care to have the Decree inserted among the Royal Edicts And thus it appears that Charles the Fifth's Edict was of no Authority according to the Constitutions of France as long as their Antient Laws were in force But it may now pass for a Law in a Nation where tel est nostre plaisir is the measure of the Government And by this it may be judged whether Mr. de Meaux or I have read Mr. de Thou or reported this matter according to the Laws of France more exactly But Mr. de Thou is too Impartial a Writer for a man of Mr. de Meaux's Temper and indeed the French Nation has gone in so entirely into all the Notions of Slavery in this Age that they seem not only to have forgot their Antient Liberties but even to be uneasy when any others put them in mind of them I will now put an end to all that I was to say at present with Relation to Mr. de Meaux But since he has thought fit to insinuate what performances were expected from Mr. le Grand I will add somewhat relating to him tho' I cannot yet give him such a Copious Answer as I find is expected from me Both my Books and Papers are in England so I cannot do what I intend till I am furnished with some helps that I hope to receive e're long yet to let Mr. le Grand see that I have not forgotten him I will give you here some Essaies of his Sincerity He has Published a Volume of Letters and other Pieces which he gives as the proofs of his Work tho' not above a third part of them belongs to the Subject in hand In short he got many Letters in his hand writ from England which he resolved to Print that so he might raise both the Bulk and the Price of his Book A big Book makes an Impression and People think when they see much Bulk that there is much said And yet even of these Letters some were Published by me and others were Printed before And the greater part has no Relation neither to the Affairs of the Divorce nor any other of the Affairs of England but contain only Advices concerning the Affairs of Europe and the Commerce between the two Crowns in their common Concerns He has also given for the most part only the Letters that were writ to the Great Master without giving us those that were writ to the King or the Secretary of State in which we might hope to find the Copious Accounts of the State of Affairs whereas the Letters writ to other Ministers contain only private Advices that are offered to them but whether Mr. le Grand ever saw these to the King or not I do not know tho' it is probable that those who preserved the one would likewise have taken care of the other He has not given us the Series of the Letters that were writ from Marseilles during the Interview which he ought not to have suppressed if they fell under his Eye But besides all the Defects and the Excesses of that Volume Mr. le Grand is liable to a severer Censure for the Abstracts that he pretends to give from them I shall name but three In the first of all that he has put in his Volume of Proofs one should have expected some exactness for many are apt to read the first that will not give themselves the trouble to go further And therefore he ought to have taken a little more care of this than he has done and not have given such an unfaithful Extract of it I pass over that which he saies of Pace's having neither regard to the Vulgar Latine Hist. de Diâ— p. 46. nor to the Seventy but only to the Hebrew There being nothing
Printed in England cannot be this which is mentioned by the President since it is entirely for the King. But Mr. le Grand has now furnished us with a proof that an Act was passed in the Sorbonne Now is it Credible that if an Act which had passed with so much opposition was falsely Printed in England that either the whole Body of the Sorbonne or at-least that Beda and those who opposed it would not quickly have discovered the Imposture So that Mr. le Grand without thinking on it has given us a proof of the Authenticalness of the Decision that was Printed in the name of the Sorbonne I will enlarge no further in Reflecting on the rest of the proofs that he has given us only a digression that he has made upon one of them to tell us of the Dignity of the Family of Verjus p. 5â—â— and that F. Verjus was of it looked so affected that I could not forbear enquiring a little after it And I will give this account that I have of it Mr. le Grand has let some Jesuits of the Court of England know what great Services he could do them in destroying the Credit of my History but in order to that he hoped they would make his Fortune at the same time So a powerful recommendation was obtained which is lodged in F. Verjus's hands Secretary to F. de la Chaise to be made use of as occasion offers it self And therefore he bestowed this Complement on that Jesuite to quicken him in order to his Advancement I have been also informed that this is the Reason that made his Book stick so long in the Press that so he might manage the Matter to the best Advantage It is also said that all the foul Language that he bestows on me comes from the same Consideration and was put in to make the Work so much the more acceptable to those that are to recommend him I confess I wondred at first to see a Man use me so ill with whom I had lived Civilly and to whom I had given no cause of offence But since I am told that he was hired to it tho' I cannot highly esteem him for that yet I will do all that I can for him which is heartily to forgive him And perhaps the Reproaches that he must suffer by the discoveries that I am forced to make of his Mistakes may contribute to heighten his Pretensions and to supply the want of Merit In his Defence of Sanders he charges me for not consining my self to the first Edition and for fastning my Censures on what was added in the subsequent Editions But it is not yet known whether the following Editions were not fuller Copies of Sanders's own Composing in which he added much to the first Fable that he writ or if they were added by others afterwards And there is reason to believe that the first Impression was from an Imperfect Copy and that soon after a more compleat one appeared and all the Editions of that Book since that time as well as the Translations of it and in particular the late one by Maucroix which gave the first occasion to my Writing having been made according to that second Edition I had Reason to follow it But after all I marked in general a great difference that was between the first and the succeeding Editions It is true I did not think it necessary upon every passage to mark in which of them that was to be found I had indeed prepared a Sanders for another Impression in which I intended to have marked in a different Character the variations in the several Editions of that Book but our Booksellers had no mind to meddle with a Book which they told me I had rendred unsaleable by this the half of the Defences which Mr. le Grand makes for Sanderus because the Articles to which I excepted are not in the first Edition are blown up since I was obliged to destroy the Credit of the Book that had been for almost an Age received for Sanders's But after Mr. le Grand had entertained his Reader with an Account of Sanders Def. de Sand. p 9. and 20. Art. 62. Ref. de Bur. p. 18. he accuses me for a passage that I had cited out of an Answer that was made to Sanders which he tells me he did not find in it and this he thought so important that he comes over it again and again and requires me almost in the form of a Challenge to make it good The matter is this I had said that Bonner had spoke so vigorously to the Pope at Marseilles that the Pope thought either to burn him or to cast him into a Cauldron of Boiling Lead For which I had cited a Book in which Mr. le Grand saies he does not find it It is true there were two Books writ against Sanders both Printed in the same Year and in the same form by Day 1573. And both commonly bound together the one is the Book which I cited and the other is Antisanderus Now it seems I mixed my Extracts out of both these together so that indeed the words are not in the Book which I Cited but they are in the other p. 195. Bonnerus tam audacter asseruit nullum esse ' Pontifici jus in Ecclesias Anglicanas ut de eo vel igne cremando vel in plumbum liquefactum mittendo deliberaretur Def. de Sand. p. 51 Mr. le Grand probably knew this for he cites Antisanderus as if he had Read it A little after this Mr. le Grand studies to let his Reader see how ill he understands Latine for he pretends that Bacon gives the same Account of P. Arthur's Age with Sanders and sets down both their words the former saies erat annorum circiter quindecem now circiter is either on this side or beyond fifteen so this is true tho' he was some Months past it but Sanders's words are decimum quintum aetatis annum vix dum attingens which necessarily import that he was not yet fifteen This is indeed of no great consequence only it shews Mr. le Grand's good Sense in bringing Proofs for what he saies But the next I shall mention Def. de Sand. Art. 37. Ref. de Bur. Art. 18. which he likewise Repeats twice as he does most things in which he thinks he has an advantage against me is another Proof of his Candor I had said P. Iulius the Second had such a Hatred to France that he was thereby the more easily induced to grant the Bull for King Henry's Marriage by which a League against France might be made the stronger and upon this he insults upon the Poor Mr. Burnet that he Poor Man had heard that Pope Iulius was a great Enemy to France and thereupon he fancies he was so from the beginning whereas he assures him that the Cardinal of Rouen helped him to the Pontificate and that so at first he was in the Interests of France But Mr.
Burnet Poor Man as he is takes this from Raynaldus who saies expresly and which is more Ad An. 1503. Num. 11. 22. cites Authors to prove it that the Cardinal of Rouen himself had aspired but that Iulius was preferred to him and the same Author saies that he granted the Bull for the King of England's Marriage which was proposed to him as a mean for bearing down the French and for strengthning the Party against them ad deprimendos Gallos confirmandasque adversus eos vires communes Upon the occasion of the Bull I had said that Isabel of Castile is called Elizabetha in it I neither said more nor less upon this nor made I any reasoning upon it and my Design in it was occasioned by a Discourse that I had once had with some who pretended that these were different names Hist. de Div. p. 125. Def. de Sand. Art. 35. Rej. de Bur. Art. 11. and yet in three or four places Mr. le Grand according to his usual Sincerity and with his cold Railery of calling me an able Man for it has said that I have made that an Argument to prove that the Bull was a Forgery Mr. le Grand Reproaches me for saying that the Count of Tholouse was the first that felt the effects of the fourth Council of the Lateran and shews me that he was Censured and Deposed before that Council But this shews how unfit he is to Write upon Critical Matters Ad. Conâ— Lat. 4. p. 233. what I said is justified by Cossart's Annotations who says expresly that till then the Dominions of the Count of Tholouse were only sequestred but that a Decree was made in that Synod translating a great part of them to the Count of Monfort for ever and for this he not only Cites Petrus Vallisarnensis but sends his Reader to Dachery's Spicilegium for the Decree it self It is true the Count of Tholouse was Depos'd before that time but by the Feudal Law upon his Deposition either his Heresy was to be accounted only a Personal Crime and then the Fee was to go to the next Heir or if it was to be made equal to a Crime of Treason then the Fee was to return to the Superiour Lord and so in this Case it was to have fallen to the Crown of France but it was the fourth Council of the Lateran that first gave the Pope the Power of transferring the Dominions of Hereticks to others whereas before that he could only Depose them It is also plain that Mr. le Grand treats this whole Matter very mildly and not with that Detestation that some Writers of that Church affect when we reproach them with the Deposing Power After all if I have many reasons to complain of Mr. le Grand I confess there is one for which I am much beholden to him and that is the pains that he is at to prove the constant Tradition in Catholick States to proceed Capitally against Hereticks This Book was writ by him chiefly for the English Nation and if this one thing does not hinder it it will probably be put in English But as we are beholden to those who set on the Persecution of France and must acknowledge that we owe our Preservation in a great measure to it since the Allarm which that gave this whole Nation was a stronger Argument than any that we could have invented for shewing them their danger for sensible and barbarous things affect all the World But now the Men of the Mission think fit to disclaim the Persecution of France and throw it on the King's Bigotry yet taking still great pains to clear Father de la Chaise of it as if he had alwaies opposed it so that we are forced to justify Lewis le Grand in that matter and to shew that he has acted in all things Conform to the Doctrine and Spirit of his Church This our Missionaries deny and endeavour to persuade us that Liberty of Conscience is the Principle and Doctrine of their Church And that therefore we need not apprehend any mischief from them that they not only abhor all Capital Proceedings but even the Fining of Men or the excluding them from Imployments on the Account of Religion that they cannot forgive those lesser Severities practised by Men of the Church of England and that all Men of all Perswasions may expect to live easy and happy under them But Mr. le Grand has spoiled all this and thus they see what it is to imploy Men in their Cause that are not yet Initiated into the Mysteries of the Society tho' a little common Prudence had preserved Mr. le Grand from committing such an Errour But 't is not just to expect from Men that which they have not I will not carry this Censure further at present for I have not near me the Books and other Documents that are necessary for a fuller Answer And those in England to whom I sent for the Resolution of some things have so much work given them at present by those whose Favour Mr. le Grand is Courting that it is not to be wondred at if they have not leisure to send me the Materials which I wanted They are in a Storm which all the World knows tho' they are not yet reduc'd to that which the Reverend Father Petre has threatned them with in that Modest and Savoury Expression of his That the Church of England shall be made to eat its own Dung. This is indeed a true Essay of the Charity of the Order and it is that which we have Reason to expect from it But I will now put an end to this long Letter I am Sir At the Hague the 10th of September 1688. Your most Humble Servant G. BURNET POSTSCRIPT I Have seen Mr. le Grand's Annotations upon my Letter to Mr. Thevenot I perceive clearly by it that this hot Summer and his extraordinary Application have so dryed his Brain and given him such an over flowing of the Gall that all the answer I can bestow on him is to wish his Friends to look to him and keep him from running about the Streets for he is in a fair way to that They will do well to Bleed him over and over again to give him some inward Refrigeratives and now and then a few Grains of Laudanum and to take a special care of him at New and Full Moons Pen Ink and Paper must be kept from him as poyson for these things set his Head so a going that his Fits redouble upon him at every time that he gets them in his hands But above all things care must be taken not to name me nor the Bibliotheque Universels to him for that will certainly bring on him a most violent Paroxisme and he being Young and so mightily in love with himself good Air and good Keeping may at last bring him out of this Raving Distemper So to be sure I will have no more to do with a Man that writes like a Lunatick