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A64857
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The life of the learned and reverend Dr. Peter Heylyn chaplain to Charles I, and Charles II, monarchs of Great Britain / written by George Vernon.
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Vernon, George, 1637-1720.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing V248; ESTC R24653
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102,135
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320
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King by whose Special Command he undertook it in a less space of time than four months and had a second Edition within three months after and notwithstanding the polemical Debates upon that Argument there was never any one yet that had the courage to return an Answer to that History And whoever peruses it with serious and unprejudiced thoughts will find that its Author principally designed to withdraw his Country-men from a Iudaical Observation of the Lords day i. e. from Dedicaâ—ing the whole of that time to the services and offices of Religion and refusing to engage in any business which our own or our Neighbors Conveniences or Necessities might exact from us And when all that our voluminous Writers have said upon this Argument is summ'd up together there are none of them but will subscribe to the truth of these two Propositions 1. That worldly cares and bodily Recreations tend very much to discompose and rarifie menâ— spirits and to fill them full of froth and worldliness of gaiety and wantonness so that they cannot fix their thoughts upon Christian Duties with any serious or continued Attention 2. That 't is impossible for the minds of the generality of Christians who are not used to Contemplation to be for a whole Lords day or the greatest part of it intent upon Religious Exercises And besides if all Refreshments and Recreations were absolutely unlawful upon that day poor Servants and the laborious part of mankind would be highly prejudiced for whose benefit the Sabbath was first instituted and appointed No sooner had the Doctor perfected this History but the Dean of Peterborough engages him to answer the Bishop of Lincloln's Letter to the Vicar of Grantham He received it upon Good-Friday and by Thursday night following discovered the Sophistry Mistakes and Falshoods of it and yet did not for all that intermit any of the publick Religious Exercises of the holy Feast of Easter It was approved by the King by him given to the Bishop of London to be Licensed and Published under the Title of A Coal from the Altar In less time then aâ— twelve-month the Bishop of Lincoln writ an Answer to it entituled The Holy Table Name and Thing but pretended it was writ long before by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Cole a Divine in the days of Queen Mary Our Reverend Doctor received a Massage from his Majesty to return a Reply to it and not in the least to spare the Author April 1. 1637. And he obeyed the Royal Command in the space of seven weeks presenting it ready Printed to the King the 20th of May following and called it Antidotum Lincolniense And although the Bishops Book was from the dissatisfaction of the times the subject-matter of the Book it self and the Religious esteem of the Author who was held in high Veneration looked upon to be unanswerable and sold for no less than 4 s. yet upon the coming out of the answer it was brought to less than one But before this he answered Burtons Seditious Sermon being thereunto also appointed by the King which Book although he dispatch'd in a fortnight yet it was not published till Iune 26. 1637. being kept in readiness till the Execution of the Star-Chamber Sentence upon the Triumviri that so people might be satisfied as well in the greatness of the Crimes as the necessity and justice of the punishment inflicted upon those Offenders In Iuly 1637. the Bishop of Lincoln was Censured in the Star-Chamber for tampering with Witnesses in the Kings Cause being suspended à Beneficio Officio and sent to the Tower where he continued three years and did not in all that space of time hear either Sermon or Publick Prayers Not long after this Dr. Heylyn was chosen Treasurer for the Church of Westminster and continued in that Office all the while of the Bishops Imprisonment and Suspension And he made use of the power with which that place invested him to the best advantage of that Foundation For first he reguâ—ated the Disorders of the Iury by exacting the Sconces or Perdition-money and dividing it amongst those that were most diligent and devout Then he proceeded to repair the Timber-work of the great West Isle which was ready to fall down caused the new Arch over the Preaching-place to be new Valuted and the Roof thereof to be raised to the same heighth with the rest of the Church the Charge whereof amounted to 434 l. 18 s. 10 d. and lastly made the South-side of the lower West-Isle to be new Timbred Boarded and Leaded being fallen into great decay Thrice he assisted in the Election at Westminster-School and every time had an opportunity of bringing in a Scholar into that Royal Foundation for two of which he was never spoke unto and for his kindness unto all three he never had the value of one pint of Wine nor any thing of less moment Whilst he continued Treasurer the Parsonage of Islip became vacant by the Death of Dr. King unto which he was presented by the Chapter But he deferr'd receiving Institution by reason of its great distance from Alresford being advised to exchange it for some other that was more near and convenient After many offers he at last exchanged with Mr. Atkinson of St. Iohns College in Oxon for South-Warnborough which was eight miles distant from his other Living and the perpetual Patronage of which Archbishop Laud had bestowed upon that fore-mentioned Society But that Gentleman enjoyed Islip but a few weeks and those of his College conceiving themselves prejudiced by the change our Doctor was so generous as to obtain for one of the Fellows a second Presentation to Islip for which he never received so much as the least civil Acknowledgment But he had other things to afflict his spirit at that time his whole Family being visited with a contagious Fever and no person in it except one Servant but were all sick at one and the same time The Doctor did as narrowly escape death as St. Paul and his Companions did Shipwrack when they went to Rome The Fever had so seized upon his spirits that after the abatement of its Paroxisms he had many dull and sleepless nights and returning upon him with greater violence a twelve-month after he was reduced to so extreme a weakness that all his Friends together with himself supposed him fallen into a deep Consumption And yet even at this time his mind was not idle or unactive For now it was that he first meditated of a project of Writing a History of the Church of England since the Reformation And no sooner had he recovered some measure and degrees of strength but he prepared materials for it and upon his return to London obtained the freedom of Sir Robert Cotton's Library and by the recommendation of Archbishop Laud had liberty granted him to carry home some of the Books leaving 200 l. apiece as a pawn behind him About this time it was that the Commotions began to be hot
and the penalties thereunto annexed might be wholly abrogated and annulled But the most remarkable Effort of his zeal for the Church after the Kings Restauration was the Application made by him to the great Minister of State in those days that there might be a Convocation called with the Parliament What good effects were produced by his endeavours in that particular let the Reader judg when he has perused the following Letter with which the Reverend Doctor saluted that powerful Statesman Right Honorable and my very good Lord I Cannot tell how welcome or unwelcome this Address may prove in regard of the greatness of the Cause and the low condition of the Party who negotiates in it But I am apt enough to persuade my self that the honest zeal which moves me to it not only will excuse but endear the boldness There is my Lord a general Speech but a more general Fear withal amongst some of the Clergy that there will be no Convocation called with the following Parliament which if it should be so resolved on cannot but raise sad thoughts in the hearts of those who wish the peace and happiness of our English Sion But being the Bishops are excluded from their Votes in Parliament there is no other way to keep up their Honor and Esteem in the eyes of the people but the retaining of their places in the Convocation Nor have the lower Clergy any other means to shew their duty to the King and keep that little freedom which is left unto them then by assembling in such Meetings where they may exercise the Power of a Convocation in granting Subsidies to his Majesty tho in nothing else And should that Power be taken from them according to the constant but unprecedented practice of the late Long Parliament and that they must be taxed and rated with the rest of the Subjects without their liking and consent I cannot see what will become of the first Article of Magna Charta so solemnly so frequently confirmed in Parliament or what can possibly be left unto them of either of the Rights or Liberties belonging to an English Subject I know 't is conceived by some that the distrust which his Majesty hath in some of the Clergy and the Diffidence which the Clergy have of one another is looked on as the principal cause of the Innovation For I must needs behold it as an Innovation that any Parliament should be called without a meeting of the Clergy at the same time with it The first year of King Edward VI. Qu. Mary and Qu. Elizabeth were times of greater diffidence and distraction than this present Conjuncture And yet no Parliament was called in the beginning of their several Reigns without the company and attendance of the Convocation tho the intendments of the State aimed then at greater alterations in the face of the Church than are now pretended or desired And to say the truth there was no â—anger to be feared from a Convocation tho the times were ticklish and unsettled and the Clergy was divided into Sides and Factions as the case then stood and so stands with us at this present time For since the Clergy in their Coâ—vocations are in no Authothority to propound treat or conclude any thing more than the passing of a Bill of Subsides for his Majesties use until they are impowred by the Kings Commission the King may tie them up for what time he pleases and give them nothing but the opportunity of entertaining one another with the news of the day But if it be objected that the Commission now on foot for altering and explaining certain passages in the Publick Liturgy that either pass instead of a Convocation or else is thought to be neither competable nor consistent with it I hope far better in the one and must profess that I can see no reason in the other For first I hope that the selecting of some few Bishops and other learned men of the lower Clergy to debate on certain Points contained in the Common-Prayer-Book is not intended for a Representation of the Church of England which is a Body more diffused and cannot legally stand bound by their Acts and Counsets And if this Conference be for no other purpose but only to prepare matter for a Convocation as some say it is not why may not such a Conference and Convocation be held both at once For neither the selecting of some learned men out of both the Orders for the composing and reviewing of the two Liturgies digested in the Reign of King Edward VI. proved any hindrance in the calling of those Convocations which were held both in the second and third and in the fifth and sixth of the said Kings Reign Nor was it found that the holding of a Convocation together with the first Parliament under Queen Elizabeth proved any hindrance to that Conference or Disputation which was designed between the Bishops and some learned men of the opposite parties All which considered I do most humbly beg your Lordship to put his Majesty in mind of sending out his Maâ—dates to the two Archâ— Bishops for summoning a Convocation according to the usual Form in their several Provinces that this poor Church may be held with some degree of Veneration both at home and abroad And in the next place I do no less humbly beseech your Lordship to excuse this freedom which nothing but my zeal for Gods glory and my affection to this Church could have forced from me I know how ill this present office does become me and how much fitter it had been for such as shine in a more eminent Sphere in the holy Hiâ—rarchy to have tendered these Particulars to consideration Which since they either have not done or that no visible effect hath appeared thereof I could not chuse but cast my poor Mite into the Treasury which if it may conduce to the Churches good I shall have my wish and howsoever shall be satisfied in point of Conscience that I have not failed of doing my duty to this Church according to the light of my understanding and then what happens unto me shall not be material And thus again most humbly craving pardon for this presumption I kiss your Lordships hands and subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant to be commanded Peter Heylyn Having thus surveyed the most important Occurrences of Dr. Heylyn's Life I doubt not but every judicious and impartial Reader will be convinced at once of his vast Abilities and Acquirements in the large Circle of Learning and Sciences of his immovable Integrity in the Protestant Religion and of his indefatigable Industry and Service to the just Interests both of the Crown and Mitre For tho I will not say as St. Paul does of his Son Timothy that there was no man like-minded yet no one had more hearty and unbiassed affections no man did more naturally care for this Church and Kingdom than Dr. Heylyn and at that time too when he expected nothing for his