Mr. Blackall's REASONS For not Replying TO A BOOK Lately Published ENTITULED AMYNTOR In a LETTER to a Friend The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1699. Sir BY your so much urging me to think of Writing somewhat by way of Answer to Amyntor it seems to me that you have not yet read the Book but only dipt here and there in it and because you saw my Name frequently mentioned think there must needs be something in the Book that bears hard upon me and which I am concerned in Honor to make some Reply to I desire you therefore first to read over the Book very carefully if you have not yet done it and after that to consider those Reasons which I shall now give you why I have no thoughts at present of Writing any Answer to it and then I make no doubt but you will be of my Mind viz. That it is altogether needless for me to give either my self or the World any more trouble about this Matter In Amyntor there is first a general Apology for Writing Lives whether of good or bad Men. But in this part of the Book from p. 1. to 11. you will see plainly I am not concerned The next part of it from p. 11. to 81. was indeed occasioned by a Passage in my Sermon before the House of Commons and therefore you with others may think perhaps it lies on me to reply to it But when you have read it over I believe you will be of another Mind because you will easily perceive that the Author and I are at last well enough agreed in that Point wherein we seemed most to differ The Matter of Fact is this He had said in the Life of Milton that many Supposititious Pieces under the Name of Christ and his Apostles and other great Persons had been Published and Approved by some I suppose he means not by all in the Primitive Times And to this Observation because by my little Reading I knew there was much of Truth in it I made no Exception But he had said moreover that he doubted the Spuriousness of several more such Books was yet undiscovered thro' the Remoteness of those Times c. And this Passage I found fault with as what proceeding from the Mouth of a Person in high Esteem as I had heard with some Men for his great Parts and Learning might give occasion to them and to others not so well read in Antiquity as they took him to be to think that some of those Books which are received by the whole Christian Church as Parts of Canonical Scripture are of very uncertain Authority because as I then said I knew of no other Pieces under the Name of Christ and his Apostles the Spuriousness whereof had not been discovered and I charged him with Infidelity if indeed he did doubt of the Authority of these Books and with Immodesty for so openly Affronting the holy Religion Professed and Established among us by declaring this his Doubt in Print But he sayes now that I was mistaken in my Censure because the Books which he meant viz. In this last Passage which I excepted against as well as in the former or else all that he Writes from p. 18. to p. 43. is nothing to me nor to the Purpose are either some Books the Spuriousness of most of which has been discovered many hundred Years ago and which are few of them now extant a large Catalogue whereof he has given us from p. 20. to p. 42 and it seems it was only my foolish Mistake to think that the word yet when he sayes the Spuriousness of these Books is yet undiscovered did refer to this present Year whenas indeed it was meant by him to refer to some time many Years since past and gone or else he meant the Books ascribed to certain Apostolick Men particularly the Epistle of Barnahas the Pastor of Hermas the Epistle of Polycarpus to the Philippians the first Epistle of Clemens Romanus to the Corinthians and the seven Epistles of Iginatus And I can't imagine now what you would have me reply to this for whether he did mean these and only these Books in that Passage which I excepted against none can certainly tell but himself if therefore he sayes he did mean only these and not the Books of the New Testament how can I contradict him All that I could say to this if I had a mind to reply to this part of his Book would be only to give the World the Reason that made me think he meant not these only but likewise some of the Books of the New Testament which was this that he having spoken before of Supposititious Pieces under the Name of Christ and his Apostles as well as of other great Persons it was very reasonable to think that when immediately after in the same Period he speaks of several more such Books the Spuriousness of which is not yet discovered he had meant several some at least of all the sorts before mentioned that is some under the Name of Christ and some under the Name of his Apostles as well as some under the Name of other great Persons For how should I know what he meant by such Books but by looking back and seeing what Books he had spoken of before And finding that he had there spoken not only of Books under the Name of other great Persons but likewise under the Name of Christ and his Apostles what could I understand by such Books but some Books under the Name of Christ and his Apostles as well as some under the Name of other great Persons And if he did not mean so or would not have been thought to have meant so he ought I think to have distinguish'd and have made that Passage which I excepted against an intire Sentence by its self and have said plainly that tho' he thought some Books Spurious which some others believed to be Genuine they were only some pieces that had been sacribed to the other great Men but not any of those that were received as Pieces of Christ or his Apostles and if he had Written his Mind thus clearly I should no more have excepted against this Passage than I did against the former But he says If I had been disposed to deal ingenuously with him I might have seen without the help of the Fathers which he supposes I know nothing of that he did not mean the Books of the New Testament when he mentioned Supposititious Pieces under the Name of Christ since there is none Ascribed to him in the whole Bible nor do we read there that he ever wrote any thing except once with his Finger on the Ground when he acquitted the Woman taken in Adultery But I wonder this should be urged by a Man that has so very lately written the Life of John Milton for by the same Argument I might prove that Paradice lost and other late Pieces Ascribed by this Author as well as
Hand as told him by the Royal Brothers supposing the Memorandum to be my Lords Hand-writing and that it contains a true Relation of what was told him by them and all that any other Persons though there be Five Hundred of them do or shall testifie as by Hear-say from the Royal Brothers is from Dr. Gauden still it plainly appearing by the whole Story and particularly by Mr. North's Papers that both King Charles the Second and his Brother did believe or were thought to believe the Book to be their Fathers till Dr. Gauden in order to get a good Bishoprick for his good Services told them otherwise Dr. Gauden's Testimony being therefore the single Evidence on that side I leave it to you to consider whether his manifest Interest in affirming this and his Zeal in pursuing his Interest by this Report of his being so very evident they do not render his single Testimony liable to great Suspicion And I leave it to all the World to consider of what weight or Validity any Man's Testimony can be especially when he testifies for his own Advantage in case the Matter of his Testimony be such that it can't be credited without allowing that he the Witness himself has formerly been guilty of a most notorious Forgery and consequently that he is not a credible Witness In the Conclusion of Amyntor the Author takes Occasion from the Offence my Sermon has given him to represent the great inconveniencies that have happened by the Observation of the 30th of January and by the Sermons that have been preached upon that Day and you may expect perhaps that I should say something to this but I don't think it either needful or convenient because I judge this to be a Matter more proper to be debated in Parliament then by private Persons But there is one thing noted in this Conclusion which perhaps you may think lies upon me more then any one else to defend viz. That speaking of K. CHARLES I. in my Sermon I should say the best of Kings and the best of Men which Expression he saies several were angry at especially because I did not except the present King and he might have added that 't was a greater Fault in me than it would been in another because I Write my self Chaplain to His Majesty But the Author I think does not say he himself was offended at this Expression and I suppose those several if indeed there were any that upon this Account only were angry at it were only such as not only have not been conversant in ancient Authors but are not yet so far read even in their Testament as to the beginning of St. Luke's Gospel where v. 3. he stiles Theophilus most excellent by which I suppose few even of these beginners to read do think that St. Luke meant to make a Comparison between him and other excellent Persons and much less to prefer Theophilus before all other Men the Holy Apostles of our Lord not excepted And therefore this being so manifestly an invidious Cavil I think needs no Answer especially when in the Sermon it self tho' I commended K. Charles I. for his Virtues I did allow that he had Faults But the Faults that were then and have since been charged upon him being only such as he might be and I believe was led into by Misinformation and a mistake of the extent of his Power and Prerogative I said they were only such as were consistent with Integrity of Mind and such Faults as these I think can hardly be called Vices and Immoralities And Now Sir I hope you are satisfied that I have no Reason more than any other Man to engage my self in a further Controversie with J. T. the Author of Milton's Life for as to the Reflections which he has in several places of Amyntor almost in every Page made upon me particularly as to the meanness of my Parts and my great want of Learning I value them not let the World believe of me as it pleases Or if I was minded to make any Answer to these parts of his Book it should be only this That my Natural Parts are such as God was pleased to give me to which I can no more add than to my Stature however such as they are I am contented with them and thankful for them And that my Learning is as much as by moderate Study with such Parts I have been able to attain And to this perhaps I should subjoyn a Prayer in which I make no doubt J. T. would think himself included as well as he is thought by some to be in the Prayer for Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks viz. That they who have better Parts and more Learning may use and improve them to the Glory of him that gave them and do more good in the World than I am able to do These Reasons for my not Writing an Answer to Amyntor if they satisfie you you may please to communicate as you have Opportunity to any other of my Friends whom you shall find to have the same Expectation from me that you had by doing which you will oblige Sir April 21 1699. Your most Affectionate Friend and Humble Servant Ossp Blackall BOOKS Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in St. Paul's Church-yard A Sermon Preached before the Honourable House of Commons at St. Margaret's Westminster Jan. 30th 1698-99 by Ofspring Blackall Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Great Men's Advantages and Obligations to Religion Represented in a Sermon Preached before the King in the Chappel in St. James's July 17 1698. A Sermon Preached at the Assizes held for the County of Surry at Kingston upon Thames March 30 1699. These two by Henry Hesketh Rector of Charlwood and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty A false Faith not Justified by Care for the Poor prov'd in a Sermon Preach'd at St. Paul's Church August 28 1698. Mysteries in Religion Vindicated or the Filiation Deity and Satisfaction of our Saviour asserted against Socinians and others with Occasional Reflections on several late Pamphlets These two by Luke Milbourn a Presbiter of the Church of England A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor the Aldermen and Governours of the several Hospitals of the City of London at St. Bridget's Church on Wednesday in Easter Week 1698 being one of the Anniversary Spittle Sermons by Thomas Lynford D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty A Sermon Preached at the Anniversary Meeting of the Gentlemen Educated at St. Paul's School Jan. 25 1698-99 Published at the Request of the Stewards by John Pulleyn A. M. and Prebendary of St. Paul's An Answer to an Heretical Book called The Naked Gospel which was condemned and ordered to be publickly burnt by the Convocation of the University of Oxford Aug. 19 1690 with some Reflections on Dr. Bury's New Edition of that Book to which is added a short History of Socinianism by W. Nichols D. D. Reflections upon the Theory of the Earth occasioned by a Late Examination of it in a Letter to a Friend in Quarto Of Trust in God or a Discourse concerning the Duty of casting our care upon God in all our Difficulties together with an Exhortation to Patient Suffering for Righteousness in a Sermon on St. Pet. 3. 14 15. By Nathan Spinckes M. A. a Presbyter of the Church of England P. 42. * P. 43. P. 57.
others to John Milton are none of his because 't is certain they were not written by him for how could he Write when he was blind And if to this he should answer as I suppose he would that they may however truly and properly enough be said to be Pieces of Milton because they were Dictated although not Written by himself I see no Reason why our Saviours Sermon on the Mount and his several other Sermons and Discourses which were utter'd and spoken by himself tho' Recorded by the Evangelists may not be Ascribed to him and be said in this Author's Phrase to be Pieces under the Name of Christ So that if this be the only Reason I had to think that when he mentioned Pieces under the Name of Christ and his Apostles and other great Men he did not mean the Books of the New Testament I think that since there are no Pieces now extant that can in any sense be called Pieces under the Name of Christ and his Apostles the Spuriousness whereof hath not been discovered except only those which make up the New Testament I had much better Reason to believe that he did mean these or some of these And in this Opinion I was the more confirmed because I never either before the 30th of January or since have met with so much as one single Person that did not understand that Passage in his Book in the same Sense that I did Whether therefore I did mistake and misrepresent his Meaning is a Question that none but he himself who best knew his own Meaning can decide but whether I mistook it if indeed I did mistake it without sufficient Ground from his own Expression is another Question which I could very willingly leave to be decided by any indifferent Persons nay if I were to chuse the Judges and could be well assured that they would speak their Minds freely they should be those very Men that are his great Admirers who I am perswaded would all with one Voice say that they understood him as I did and that they look upon that Exposition which he has now given of that Passage as little better than a Retractation of that bold Position which they thought he had before advanced and for the sake of which and of other such like impious Insinuations in that and other Books said to be Written by the same Author I fear it is that they do chiefly admire him But whether I did misunderstand him or no and whether I had good reason to understand him as I did or not are private Questions which only he and I are concerned in and I think it foolish to trouble the rest of the World about them It is sufficient that now at last we are agreed in the main Question which is of more general Concern for unless I misunderstand him now as much as he says I did before he now agrees with me that the Books of the New Testament are Genuine which was all I ever meant to contend for He therefore having declared that in the first Member of that Passage in Milton ' s Life by the Spurious Books published in the Primitive Times under the Name of Christ and his Apostles and other great Men he meant some of the Books mentioned in his Catalogue p. 20. c. in which Point I did never disagree with him and that in the second member of that Passage with which only it was that I found fault by the several more such Books he meant the supposed Writings of certain Apostolical Men as they call them Barnabas Hermas c. About which the Learned World has been much divided and probably will be until greater Reason shall appear either wholly to reject them as altogether Spurious or wholly to receive them as in all parts Genuine than has yet been produced either on the one side or the other And he having moreover expresly granted that even those seven Pieces as he calls them viz. The Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of James the second of Peter the second and third of John Jude and the Revelation which were doubted by some of the Ancients are not without convincing Reasons received by the Moderns I have now no further Quarrel with him upon the account of this Passage we are thus far fully agreed may he always continue in the good Mind he seems now to be in Only if I might be heard by him as a Friend I would advise him in the next Edition of Milton's Life either so to alter the Expression of that Passage which I excepted against that his meaning may not be so liable to be misunderstood or else to add this Explanation which he now makes of it in the Margin And now this great Difference being thus amicably composed I don't see what Reason I more than any one else have to maintain a Dispute with him upon any other Account For whereas I charged him with Confidence for asserting King Charles the First 's Book call'd Icon Basilike to be spurious without either producing any new Evidence for the Proof of his Assertion or offering one word in Answer to those just and rational Exceptions that had been made before to those only Testimonies which he insists upon to prove it a Forgery or making any Exceptions to those later Evidences that have been produced to prove it Authentick The matter of Fact he does not deny and whether the Charge was justly grounded on the Matter of Fact the World will judge In this last Book indeed he says he will make amends for all former Omissions and I suppose thinks has done it but whether he has or not I shall likewise leave the World to judge because I do not think it proper for me to take this Controversie out of another Man's Hands who is better prepared and better able to manage it than my self Only because perhaps that worthy Person said by him and others to be Mr. Wagstaff may not think a formal Reply needful to that little that very little indeed that is said in Amyntor more than had been said before to prove the Book Supposititious I will just hint this one thing to you and upon Perusal of all that has been said on both sides I believe you will find it true viz. that Dr. Gauden himself is the only Evidence that has yet appeared and he not in Person but by his Friends though in this I think no Friends to his Reputation or Memory to prove himself the Author of that Book For all that Dr. Walker says is from Dr. Gauden except only that he saw the Book under Dr. Gauden's Hand-writing which might be and yet Dr. Gauden the Transcriber only not the Author according to what is said in Mr. Le Pla's Letter And all that Mrs. Gauden says whether in the Fragments before published or in the larger Narrative printed in Amyntor is as from her Husband that is from Dr. Gauden still Nay and even all that my Lord Anglesie testifies under his