and impartially looks down into Himself will rather desire to Triumph over his own than over other Mens Frailties But I could not but take notice of these Omissions in Mr. Dodwels Reply which render it so extreamly defective and insufficient I do not intend to weary you with a Confutation of what he has been pleased to say in that Treatise Wrangling you know is infinite and you cannot but be sufficiently acquainted with the Learned Mr. D's particular way of Thinking and Reasoning 'T is the unhappiness of some Mens Notions that they are founded wholly on Guesses and Conjectures They resemble a Pyramid inverted When first you look upon them they appear perhaps pretty great but the more you look down towards the Foundation the less and less they appear till at last they end in a Point which is next to Nothing and is Something only in the Fancy I shall only take notice that whereas the Dr. had urged that to avoid so great an Evil as that of a Persecution it is reasonable to submit to the present Possessor in Answer to this Mr. D. denies a Persecution to be an Evil. If it be not why then do they complain But a little after Nature returns and there he is pleased to contradict himself That our late Common Body says he is now divided that his late Brethren upon Principles of Conscience are now persecuted if he could not otherwise believe he would feel if he had the compassion of a living Member if he had the Zeal of the Apostle when he used that passionate Expression Who is offended and I burn not If he had any sense of the afflictions of Joseph In a word since I have perus'd his Answer I must needs say I have been more satisfied even than I was before of the reasonableness of submitting in all such Cases of necessity And it must be confess'd that the great insufficiency of the Answer of so learned a Man adds much to the Credit of The Case of Sees Vacant So it happend as I was writing those words there was sent me Mr. Dodwell's Book just now Reprinted with this Title A Defence of the Vindication of the Depriv'd Bishops which is word for word the same with that which I have hitherto spoken of I am glad Sir to find my wishes so soon and so happily answered You will now be satisfied for I have sent it here together with these Papers that what I have said of it is true You your self will see what little reason the Dr had if he were not of a Spirit far above such an Action to endeavour to have it suppress'd And here for some time we will leave Mr D. and return to the Remarker He tells ye that as for the Learned Dr. Hody ' s share in this Controversie it is certain he has said nothing in his long Book which the most impartial and judicious of his own side can judge to be capable in any tolerable measure either to satisfie the doubtful or convince those that are of the contrary opinion Who those most impartial and judicious Gentlemen of the Dr's own side may be the Remarker best knows These are Words of Course and they signifie only thus much That he has nothing to say How well the Case of Sees Vacant has been receiv'd by the most impartial judicious and the greatest Men of his side his Adversaries know but too well for their own ease and satisfaction I shall here for the great honour of The Case of Sees Vacant and the Author of it produce you the Words of one of the most raging and envious of his Adversaries the Author of a Pamphlet Entitled Considerations upon the Second Canon Instead of lessening the Reputation of the Treatise and its Author he has even against his will added much to their Credit I had here concluded says he but as I was penning these few Considerations News was brought me that after so long consulting and caballing Stillingfleet-Hody was come abroad laying about him like Goliah knocking down no less than 6 or 7 at once and making bolder Challenges than ever did that mighty Philistine After a great deal of foaming Rudeness with which he gives vent to his Gall and Envy such as the Dr is used to meet with from his Mild and Well-bred Adversaries and which always falls back upon themselves having laid down the Dr's Proposition and Opinion he adds Now this tho' in other Words is the main Principle which the Author of The Unreasonableness of the new Separation founds his Discourse upon by which any Man may guess at the Genius that runs through the whole Book Again I should wrong these few Considerations if I should further wander after a Treatise in the contriving of which more Persons have been concern'd than Mr. Hody ' s Name hath Letters c. What can be said more for the Dr's Honour and Reputation than that his Adversaries cannot believe but that his Book was compos'd by a long consulting and cabassing of the greatest Men of his side and chiefly by one who is by all acknowledg'd to have no Superior Stillingfleet-Hody I do not at all wonder if the Dr has some inward Exultations upon so vast a commendation of his Book Had the Title of Stillingfleet-M been bestowed upon Me by my Adversaries on the account of any Book which I had written I should have had I believe within me a certain Satisfaction which without a supernatural Assistance would have mounted very near to something of a Fault I am apt to believe the Dr will as long as he lives esteem this Nick-Name as one of the most honourable Titles that ever can be given him next to that of a Christian. I am sure I should were I in his Case The Remarker goes on concerning the second part of the Dr's Treatise What shall we say to the Matters of Fact those severe Things as my Lord of Sarum is pleas'd to call them that do not admit of Sophistry What shall we admire most The Doctors great Skill and Reading in Ecclesiastical History or his wonderful Iudgment in producing so many Examples some from the most degenerate times of Christianity to prove only this That in all Ages since the Empire became Christian and the Profession of our Holy Religion was not only safe but honourable there have been found some Men who possibly to get or keep Preferment have been guilty of unwarrantable Compliances Can those many and Illustrious Examples which the Dr. has produced in his History be look'd upon by any Man of Sense and Probity to be nothing but the Examples of some Men who to get or keep Preferment have been guilty of unwarrantable Compliances The Examples which the Dr. produces are not of some Men but of Churches general Councils and the whole Catholick Church not of one Age only but of several Ages in several Cases and in extraordinary provoking Circumstances Not of Men that to get or keep their Preferments would be guilty of unwarrantable
Church that Bishops may be depriv'd by the Lay-power for Political Crimes or not we are not obliged to know 'T is enough for us that we know that this at least was the Doctrine of the Church and we know it from it's constant and uniform Practice throughout all Ages That when once they are depriv'd tho' never so unjustly and we cannot avoid it it is lawful for peace-sake to own the Possessor Dr Hody may publish if he please his Vindication of the Authority of the Civil Power for the sake and satisfaction of those who concur'd in the Deprivation of the Bishops But we of the lower Form who were not at all concern'd in the matter we want no such Treatise to justifie our Practice Our Practice is sufficiently justified by what he has already written I will read it if it comes out as a matter of Speculation If it can have any influence on my Practice it will be only to vindicate those by whom the Bishops were depriv'd against the Ragingness of such as discharge their Choler in so liberal a manner against them which always turns back on themselves I ought not here to omit that that Book which I mentioned above called Historical Collections c. was design'd as a part of an Answer to The Case of Sees Vacant It s business is to shew that the Catholicks of the fourth Age who refused to Communicate with Felix Bishop of Rome who was put into the place of Liberius and with Gregory and George of Alexandria who were substituted in the place of St. Athanasius and with Meletius of Antioch who succeeded Eustathius did not refuse to acknowledge them on the account of Heresie but because their Predecessors had been Unjustly and Vncanonically thrust out And how is this prov'd Why they tell us that the Catholicks of that Age did not look upon the Eusebians as Hereticks but continued to Communicate with them till after the Deprivation of St Athanasius c. and therefore when after that they refused to Communicate with them it must be upon the account of the Uncanonical Deprivations and Successions I shall not wander after the foul-mouth'd and raving Collector in his long wild Maze of Impertinencies but shall give a full Answer to the whole in half as many Words as he has trifled away Pages The Eusebians of that Age who are commonly called Semi-arians were by some of the Orthodox accounted more tollerable by others downright Arians and Hereticks though they sometimes pretended to imbrace the Nicene Faith Sometimes the same Catholicks entertained a favourable Opinion of them at other times according as their Heresie shewed it self more visibly in their Practice they declined their Communion This was generally the case after the Persecution and Expulsion of St Athanasius 1. Athanasius himself calls the Eusebians his Persecutors every where Arians and Hereticks So does the Synodical Epistle of the Bishops of Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis and that of the Council of Sardica not to mention the Writers of the following Ages The Collector was aware that the Eusebians have every where the Title of Arians and therefore he tells you that the Arianism of the Eusebians was generally interpreted to amount to no more than their receiving a false succession of Bishops On this the main hinge of his whole Book turns The Margent will shew him to have been extreamly careless in his Reading and that they were therefore call'd Arians because they were believed to have embraced the Heresie and Opinions of Arius Athanasius in one place has these words The Eusebians seeing their Heresie going down wrote to Rome and to the Emperors Constantine and Constans against Athanasius but the Legates which were sent by Athanasius confuted their Lies and they were rejected with shame by the Emperours Thus he makes them to be Hereticks even before he was deposed 2. Gregory who was put into his place when he was first expell'd is well known to have been a notorious Heretick So he himself witnesses of him as does also St. Hilary The Council of Sardica declares him no Bishop and forbids the Catholicks to give him that Title and to have any manner of Communication with him and that partly for his other enormous Crimes but principally because he and his Party promoted the Arian Heresie against the right Faith And this is the Reason they give for their restoring Athanasius and the rest that were ejected by the Eusebians Athanasius observes that that Council were so far from calling him a Bishop that they did not think he was worthy the name of a Christian. 3. George of Laodicea who was constituted his Successor upon his second Expulsion had been formerly degraded from his Orders as an Arian by Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and had afterwards been deposed from his Bishoprick of Laodicea and again dâ—graded by the Sardican Council as an Arian for dividing the Father from the Son in the Holy Trinity and adulterating the Word of Truth and is every where branded as an Arch-Heretick Lucifer Calaritanus tells us that the Catholicks were so cruelly persecuted by the Emperor Constantius for what reason was it because they refused to own a Bishop who was put into the place of another Uncanonically depriv'd No 't was because they would not comply with George's Blasphemy And P. Iulius tells us concerning the former Persecution that it was brought upon the Orthodox for no other reason but because they would not Communicate with Gregory and his ARIANS Ruffinus tells us that the Reason why the Catholicks chose rather to suffer banishment than to subscribe to Athanasius's Deprivation was because they believed that through him the Catholick Faith was struck at 4. That Meletius of Antioch and P. Felix of Rome who were put into the places of Eustathius and Liberius were by some accounted Hereticks Dr Hody has already shewn And this was the Reason why they were by some rejected The Collector spends two or three pages to prove against the Dr that Liberius being depriv'd did not give up his Right and submit to Felix as Bishop of Rome Where for God's sake does the Doctor say he did On the contrary this makes directly for the Doctor 's Cause that though there was no Cession yet they that knew Felix to be Orthodox very freely recognized him But why was Liberius himself after he had subscribed to Athanasius's Condemnation looked upon by the Catholicks with so ill an eye Was it not for this because he had complied with a wrong Succession So the Collector says But 't is full as false as any thing is true The subscribing to Athanesius's Condemnation was look'd upon by many to be a Revolting to the Arian Heresie and besides it is certain that the Arians themselves boasted that Liberius had subscribed to their Doctrine So Sâ—zoâ—en expresly tells us And St. Ierom himself affirms that he actually did so And this
Iudges leave it in a very low and forlorn condition 'T is you see on Dr. Hody that this Charge chiefly falls and this is that which determin'd me to trouble you with these Reflections I shall give you Sir a full account of this matter as I have had it from several who are intimately acquainted with the Dr. and to whom he has frequently related it with the most serious and solemn Protestations In their Conversation in the University when Mr. D. excus'd his not Answering the Case of Sees Vacant upon pretence that it was difficult to print the Dr. told him that if he would take care to leave out all manner of Reflections which might offend the Government he himself would assist him to the utmost of his power in the publishing of it This he still protests he would readily have done And he thought at that time that it lay in his power to obtain a Connivance for it Two years and half after The Case of Sees vacant was published there came out a Pamphlet Entitl'd Discourses upon Dr. Burnet and Dr. Tillotson in which Dr. Hody is earnestly desired to reserve his Vindication of the Authority of the Civil Power in depriving a Bishop no longer that the most Learned and Pious Vindicator of the depriv'd Bishops who had long expected it might return an Answer both to that and the Case of Sees Vacant 'T was a great surprize to the Dr. to find after so long a time such a Reason as that given for Mr. Dodwel's not Answering his Book remembring very well that in all the Conversation which he had formerly had with him he never pretended that Reason but the difficulty of Printing and having often told him that he did not design to publish his Second Book till he saw some Answer to the First This was the occasion of his writing that unhandsome Letter to Mr. D. which the Collector speaks of the design of which he wholly mistakes He blam'd Mr. D. for pretending such a Reason and that he might not pretend to it any longer he gave him a fresh Assurance that till he had seen some Answer to his First Book he was resolved not to publish his Second About half a Year after this upon the Discovery of the intended Assassination and Invasion there being a search made for Conspirators and Declarations and the like the Sheets of Mr. Dodwel's Book fell accidentally into the Messengers hands So far were the Governours either of the Church or State from ordering them to be seized or the Dr. from contriving or desiring it that neither one nor the other knew any thing at all of their being in the Press Tho' Mr. D. has been pleas'd to report that it was by the Dr's means and procurement that his Book was seized Three days after the seizure of it the Dr. receiv'd a Letter from an unknown Person and without a Name concerning it and this was the first notice he had that there was any such in the World He was desired in the Letter to make use of his Interest to have the Sheets restored and immediately he applied himself to such in whose power he thought it might be to obtain a Retrieve for them But the Answer was That it could not be done because the Book was written against an Act of Parliament And to restore it when once seiz'd would be in effect to License it After he had procured a Copy and had perus'd it tho' he met with certain Strictures that discovered some Rancour of Spirit and prov'd the Writer to be a little too much under the power of Gall and Spite yet they made no Impression and a second time he signified his desire to have the Sheets remitted But the Reason being such his desire could not be granted Which he took all occasions to let the Party know by acquainting many with it This Sir is a true and full account of the matter And by this time you are able to judge which of the two has acted generously and Fairly Dr. Hody in endeavouring to Retrieve his Adversaries Book or Mr. Dodwel in wrongfully accusing him I cannot but here tell you that I have had my self a sight of this Book of Mr. Dodwels And upon the perusal of it I assure you I think it very much for that worthy Gentlemans Reputation that his Book was so seiz'd and not permitted to come abroad You fancy now that there was something very considerable in it had you seen it you would have been convinced that the Learned Mr. D. is in this Dispute very far from being a formidable Adversary and far from giving a just Answer to the Dr's Treatise I hope they will be pleas'd to Reprint it if they cannot at last Retrieve it I am sure this is what the Dr. himself heartily wishes 'T is the Learned Mr. D. that of all the Men of this Age has lain under the Misfortune of writing a whole Book and mistaking the Question As it plainly appears he did when he wrote his Vindication against the Barocian M.S. Though in his suppressed Treatise he a little mends the Mutter yet even in that too he frequently falls back into the very same Error How unhappy he is in his Reasoning is more than enough evident from that strange and surprizing lustance which the Dr. takes notice of in pag. 14. of The Case of Sees Vacant He pretends to justifie the present separation from our being Hereticks and yet makes us Hereticks for this very Reason because they separate from us A more Illogical and Unweighed thing never dropt from the Pen of any Learned Writer You do not at all doubt but that in his suppressed Treatise he offers at some Excuse or at least confesses his Frailty No No such matter He takes no notice of it but wisely passes that by as he does other things of the same kind You do not at all doubt but that he has endeavoured to defend himself in those several Points of History for which the Dr. has impleaded him as if he had thought fit but to step a fost or two out of his way he might have shewn him to be guilty of a great many Errors more No such thing as that neither I assure you All these he passes by as indefensible without taking the least notice of them All this I could have forgiven him had I found in his Book any Answer to that which makes up the main part of the Dr's Treatise The History of the Churches behaviour in such a Case as ours is No this too he perfectly gives up and does not so much as pretend to answer it Instead of all this he is wholly taken up in disputing against a part of the Doctors first Chapter and in laying down certain Conjectures videtur upon videtur as you know his Way is concerning Solomon and Abiathâ—r which signifie nothing I would not be thought from what I have said to Insult and Triumph over that worthy Persons Failings and Infirmities He that wisely
Compliances but of Men who in other Cases most stoutly oppos'd their Emperors and were ready to sacrifice all they had in the World to the honour of Religion No it is for Mr. Dodwel and the Men of the Remarkers Party to produce only some few Men What sort of Men they know some Men who through Crossness and ill Humour do not care tho' they rend the Church and disturb'd the Peace of it 'T will be worth our while to look a little on those Examples which the Dr. has produced and see who these some Men were who to get or keep their Preferments were guilty of such ill Compliances Lest you should not have the Drâ— Book by you I shall take so much pains as to draw out these ill Men before you The sight I dare say tho' it makes our Adversaries so apt to fall into Fits will in you raise the highest Respect and Veneration He begins with Abiathar the first High-Priest that appears to have been depos'd by the Lay-power and observes that after he was depriv'd by King Solomon Zadok who was put into his place was received as the true High-Priest by the Jewish Nation and his Services accepted of God Mr. Dodwel's Evasion that Abiathar was not the Supream High-Priest but Zadock is sufficiently confuted by the Scripture it self which tells us that Abiathar being depriv'd Zadock was Anointed in his stead Not to mention other things He has shewn that in after Ages when the High-priests were commonly depos'd by the bare Authority of the Secular Power their Successors were readily acknowledged as true High-Priests and that too tho' in other Cases the Jews were at the same time most zealous Defenders of their Laws He has shewn that our Saviour himself and his Apostles acknowledg'd and communicated with those who succeeded such as were depos'd by the Secular Governours as true High-priests This our Saviour would never have done if he had design'd that his Followers in after Ages should not do the same in Relation to their Bishops Had he shewn but only thus much he had sufficiently vindicated the present Practice of our Church But his History does not end here He has also shewn that the same was the Practice of the Church of Christ in all Ages whensoever a Bishop that was put into the place of another depos'd by the Civil Power was known to be Orthodox and otherwise unexceptionable He has shewn that P. Felix II. the first Orthodox Bishop that succeeded another depriv'd by the Secular Power was receiv'd and own'd by all the whole Church who accounted him Orthodox and is honoured to this day as a Saint tho' Liberius his Predecessor was not only depriv'd by the Secular Power but by a Heretick and for defending the Orthodox Faith He observes that when Lucius was made Bishop of Alexandria in the room of Peter whom the Heretical Emperor Valens had depriv'd the Reason why he was rejected by the Orthodox Party was only because he was an Arian not because he succeeded another whom the Emperor had violently depos'd The People having been nourished says Theodoret with the Doctrine of Athanasius when they saw that quite contrary Food was offered them kept off from the Churches He observes that Peter the rejected Bishop in the Epistle which he wrote to the Church-Catholick concerning his Deprivation tho' he endeavours with a great deal of Rhetorick to set forth the Crimes of his Successor and to excite in all the Church an Abhorrence of his Actions yet he raises no Objection against him on this account because he was made Bishop in his place whom the Emperor had violently depos'd Those Instances are of the 4th Age. He has shewn in the 5th that S. Briccius Bishop of Tours being violently depos'd and driven away by his People tho' he did not give up his Right but endeavoured to be restored yet Iustinian and Armentius who were successively put into his Place were own'd by the Church as true Bishops of that See and there was not any disturbance in the Church on his account That Gregory the Historian who himself was Archbishop of that See and afterwards a Saint acknowledges them as true Bishops and ranks them in the List of the Bishops his Predecessors That St. Briccius himself though he look'd upon himself to be still the Rightful Bishop yet he own'd them to be true Bishops and he gives Armentius the Title of his Brother the Bishop of Tours He observes that when Theodosius had got himself to be ordained Patriarch of Ierusalem by Violence and Murder in the room of Iuâ—enalis who had never been at all depriv'd the only Objection that the Great and Orthodox Abbot St. Euthimius when urged to Communicate with him was That he had been guilty of many Murders and was also a Heretick His Answer was no more than this God forbid that I should approve of his Murders and evil Opinions He observes withal that those Bishops that had been ordain'd by the Usurper Theodosius were never theless acknowledged by the Church as true Bishops and if their Predecessors were not still living were contained in their Sees He observes that Timotheus Aelurus being constituted Patriarch of Alexandria in the room of Salofaciolus whom Basiliscus the Heretick and withal a Vsurper had depos'd was rejected by P. Simplicius and Acacius Patriarch of C P. for this only Reason because he was a Heretick and Parricide When Simplicius had heard that Acacius had forbid Timotheus to enter into any of his Churches in the City of C P. he sent him his Thanks in these Words without taking any Notice of Salofaciolus's Unjust and Uncanonical Deprivation Thy constancy says he is praise worthy both in the sight of God and in ours in that thou wouldst not suffer that condemned Person to enter into any of the Churches of C P. not only because he was a Heretick but only because he was a Parricide He has shewn that Iohannes Talaias the Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria being depos'd by the bare Authority of the Emperor Zeno tho' after he was depos'd he still laid claim to his Right yet Mongus who was put in his place was own'd as a true Bishop of that See by as many as accounted him no Heretick particularly by Acacius that great and brave Patriarch of C P. and his Successor Fravitas as also by Martyrius Patriarch of Ierusalem with all the Eastern Bishops in general That the Bishops of Dardania and Calendion Patriarch of Antioch in their Allegations against him take no notice of his being put into the place of one so Depriv'd but only that he was a Heretick That Euphemius Patriarch of C P. and the Orthodox Party of Aegypt Communicated with him till they discovered him to be Heretical then broke off from his Communion That Simplicius himself Pope of Rome having received a Letter from the Emperor Zeno touching his design to depose Talaias was well enough satisfied and nothing displeased him till he found that one whom he
placed the last of all and after Gregory who stands in his proper place because he was a Patriarch only de jure and not in Possession And here I shall transcribe those words which Dr. Hody observes of the Learned Annotator on P. Gregory's Epistles Non satis hoc advertere videntur qui ad summos juris apices de re qualibet decernentes Schismatibus contentionibus viam parant zelo PRAECIPITI NEC SATIS CAUTO The Doctor 's History adds that when St. Martin Bishop of Rome was violently Depos'd by the Emp. Constance because of his adherence to the Orthodox Faith his Successor Eugenius was receiv'd by all as a true Pope And tho' he was put into the place of one so Depos'd and who never had given up his Right yet he 's honour'd by the Church as a Saint A Saint is Depos'd and a Saint accepts of his place And so far was that holy Man St. Martin from thinking it unlawful for his Clergy and People to submit to another Bishop that when he heard that there was another constituted in his Room he offer'd up to God his prayers both for Him and his People that their hearts might be established in the Orthodox Faith To these he adds many more Examples of the following Ages to shew that this was universally the Practice of the Catholick Church He shews how great and how worthy a Person the Patriarch Photius was who accepted of Ignatius's See whom the Emp. Michael had unjustly Depos'd And observes that the Metropolitans of the Province of CP tho' they own'd that Ignatius was unjustly depriv'd and had still a great honour for him and desired he might be restor'd yet because the Emperor would not suffer it to be done they peaceably yielded to Necessity and submitted to the present Possessor Such as these are those Sacred Instances with which Dr Hody has oblig'd us He has also shewn us that the same was the practice of the Antient Church whensoever any Bishop was unjustly Depriv'd by an Uncanonical or Heretical Synod if their Sentence was enforced by an uncontroulable Authority of the Secular Power By this time you see what those some Men are who to get or keep their Preferments were guilty of such Compliances Let us hear now what is said by a very great Prelate of our Church concerning this History of the Drs and the Instances he has given Dr Hody says he has fully ended the Argument that he had begun from the Practice of the Church and that in so convincing a Manner that matter of Fact seem'd not capable of a clearer proof But the not answering his Book is now excus'd upon this pretence Because he had promised another Treatise Of the Power of the Magistrate in such Cases which he has not thought necessary to enter upon till he sees what is said to his Book in which he has â—ully concluded the Argument upon which the Dispute fiâ—st began And the not publishing this is made an excuse for their not answering the other We know the true Reason why it is not answered is because it cannot be answered Mâ—n may wrangle on eternally in Points of Speculation but Matters of Fact are severe things and do not admit of all that Sophistry ' In another place says the same great Man We challenge them to shew us where ever a Schism was formed upon the Lay-Deprivation of a Bishop even when the grounds that it proceeded on were visibly unjust if the Faith of the Church was not pretended to be concerned in the Matter The Intruders into the High-Priesthood under the Iewish Dispensation and the many Instances in Church-History that Dr. Hody has cleared beyond a possibility of denying the Matter of Fact are so express and full on our side that their avoiding to answer them is plainly a giving up the Cause Their leaving the general Argument from the constant and uninterrupted Practice of the Church and betaking themselves to the Methods of Slander and Defamation is such an evident indication of a bad Cause and of a worse Management that it is not possible but that the generality of indifferent Men will soon discern how weak their Reasons and how strong their Passions are They have in all their other Writings built too much on the Authority and Practice of the Church to be able with any shame to reject this Argument and to say that they ought to be govern'd by Rules and not by Examples We must here take our leave of the Remarker and return again to the Learned Mr. Dodwel It is certain that these Words of the Bishop of Sarum and the challenge he gives them to Answer Dr. Hody's Book was that which awakened him and put him upon publishing those Papers which were casually seized and are now Reprinted It was necessary they saw that something should be published that at least might be called an Answer and they knew that that Name alone would do at least some good since the greatest part of Men look no deeper than the Title The challenge is to Answer the History and yet not a word in Mr. Dodwel's Answer concerning those Instances of the Practice of the Church which the Dr. principally insists on As I have already said he does not so much as pretend to Answer it And what is this avoiding to Answer it after such a challenge from so great a Man but more plainly a giving up the Cause Mr. Dodwel's Talent is History And if a Man of his Learning and Diligence is forced to give up the Cause as it plainly appears that he is we know not from whom to expect it As St. Austin says of St. Ierome Quod Hieronymus nescivit nullus mortalium unquam scivit so say I of the worthy Mr. Dodwel What he cannot do in a matter of History and after so long a time it is now somewhat more than five Years since The Case of Sees Vacant was published the rest of the Party tho' they are some of them Men of great Abilities and Learning will not think it a disparagement to themselves if we conclude it cannot be done I cannot but take notice that He is so far from undertaking to Answer the Dr's History that he presumes to tell the World that the Dr himself does not look upon those Instances which he has produced to be of any considerable Authority that the Dr. himself does not value ' em What The Dr himself not value the Instances which he has produced This must needs have been great News to him Lest you should suspect I might possibly mistake Mr. Dodwel's meaning I shall give you here his own words The Dr. says he professes beforehand his own unwillingness to be concluded by such Instances as himself has produced tho' they should appear to be against him Why so if there had been any reason that he should have been concluded by them Why so if he did not thereby own that the Reasons given by the Vindicator against the Argumentativeness