Yet as soon as some Materials which I expect shortly from England are brought me I will answer every thing that he has said that looks like Sense And will not do as not a few of that Nation have done of late who write on without ever justifying themselves or confessing the Errours into which they have fallen for I will justifie my self to a tittle or acknowledge my Mistakes as soon as I find that I have made any FINIS Books Printed for Richard Chiswell SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Times folio B. Wilkin's Real Character or an Essay about a Philosophical Language folio Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning folio Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity folio Rushworth's Historical Collections in 3. vol. folio Bishop Sanderson's Sermons with his Life folio Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World with his Life folio Bishop Nicholson on the Church Catechi in 4to Bibliotheca Norfolciana sive Catalogus Libr. Manuscript impress in omni Arte Lingua quoâ— Hen. Dâ—â— Norfolcia Regiae Societati Londinensi pro scientia naturali promovenda donavit 4to The Spaniards Conspiracy against the State of Venice 4to Dr. Salmon upon the London Dispensatory 4to A Discourse of the Nature Ends and difference of the two Covenants 1672. by William Allen. 8vo Certain genuine Remains of the Lord Bacon in Arguments Civil Moral Natural c. with a large account of all his Works by Dr. Thâ— Tennison 8vo Dr. Puller's Discourse of the Moderation of the Church of England 8vo Dr. Henry Bagshaw's Discourses on select Texes 8vo Mr. Seller's Remarks relating to the State of the Church in the three first Centuries The Country-mans Physician for the use of such as live far from Cities or Market Towns. Markam's Perfect Horseman in fifty years practice 8vo Dr. Sherlock's Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies 8vo Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation 8vo Sir Rob. 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Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest way to Heaven 4to Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed That the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an Account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom A Second Letter from the Author of the Discourse concerning Extreme Vnction to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its false Reasonings and Quotations There are added by way of Preface two further Answers the first to the Defender of the Speculum the second to the half-Sheet against the Six Conferences An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CODNOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church By William Wake M. A. 4to A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator By William Wake M. A. 4to A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART in which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in point of Image-Worship more particularly considered By W. Wake M. A. 4to The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome by the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 4to Mr. Pulton considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a just Answer to what he hath hitherto published in his True Account his True and Full Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he calls Dr. T 's Rule of Faith. By Th. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Fucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the Belief of Transubstantiation being a sufficient Confutation of Consensus Veterum Nubes Testium and other late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the contrary 4to The Lay Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately Printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England With a Vindication of the said Answer In two Parts An Answer to a late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4to A Discourse of
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
all we live under a Legal Government by which even our Kings are bound so that any Order that comes from them whether in Matters Temporal or Spiritual that is not founded on Law or that is contrary to it is null of it self The King's Supremacy among us amounts to no more than that the Execution of the laws that relate to Religion and to the Persons of Church men belongs to our Kings And all the difference between the French Constitution and ours as to this is that whereas the French King Acts Arbitrarily in those Matters ours are limited by Law. So that if a Clergy-man is legally proved to be guilty of a Crime our King indeed orders the Law to pass upon him in his Courts of Justice But the King can shut up no Clergy-men in Prisons or detain them there during Pleasure We do not know what those Letters of the Cachet are nor the Exiles or Imprisonments which go according to the Pleasure of a King and the Directions of a Father Confessor We retain the Freedome of the Elections of our Bishops there being only a Temporal punishment laid on us by Law if we do not follow the King's Recommendation And except in Matters of Marriages an Appeal from the Spiritual Court is scarce ever heard of in England And even when an Appeal is brought it is to be Judged by Delegates that are named by the King's Authority a considerable number of whom are always Bishops Nor have our Parliaments or our Princes medled any other way in Matters of Religion but that they have given the Civil Sanction to the Propositions made by the Church and this is that which all Christian Princes do in all places so that after all the Clamour that is made on our being Subjected to the Civil Power it is certain that the Gallican Church is much more Subject to it than we are And yet these Men who have abandoned all the Immunities of the Church Reproach us with Thomas Becket tho' there is not one of them that dares make any one of those steps which procured to him his Saintship These Men do also swear the Oath that is in the Pontifical to the Pope of which Mr. Claud put Mr. de Meaux in mind long ago but he is Wiser than to take any notice of a thing which he knows he cannot answer for I would gladly see how they observe any one of all the Articles that are in that Oath Mr. de Meaux is offended at Cranmer for the Protestation that he made explaining to what degree he thought himself bound to observe it and yet tho' he and his Brethren swore it it does not appear that it makes any great impression on their Consciences They are resolved to have no regard to it only they cannot endure Cranmer's Honesty for protesting to that purpose But if they fail in this part of their Oath they have been most exactly true to another Branch of it which obliges them to Persecute Hereticks to the utmost of their Power Thus it appears how just it was for Mr. de Meaux to apprehend that we should Recriminate And that in all points the Recrimination falls much heavier on their Church than the Charge it self can fall on ours He takes notice of an Objection that he finds I made upon the Subject of those prejudices which is that if we enter on a Personal Dispute concerning the Reformers the worst things that even their Enemies can lay to their charge come far short of those Enormous Crimes of which even their own Historians confess their Popes to have been Guilty and that some times in a Series of many Ages together in which not so much as one good Pope Interveened so uninterrupted was that Succession Now Popes being according to the general Doctrine of that Church the Infallible Oracles of Truth and the Universal Bishops and according to all the rest of their Communion they being the Heads of the Church Christ's Vicars and the Centers of Unity they are much more concerned in all that relates personally to their Popes than we are in the Lives of our Reformers All that Mr. de Meaux says to this is that the Reformers are the Authors of our Sect and that therefore we are more immediately concerned in them But it seems Mr. de Meaux understands the Principles of the Reformation very ill We own no Sect but that of which Jesus Christ is the Author And we have no other Interest in the Reformers but that they were Instruments by whose Means the World was awakened to Read the Scriptures and to examine Matters of Religion And that they discovered many things of which the World was formerly ignorant and in which the Clergy studied still to keep them in a blind Subjection to them and since they found too much advantage in those Corruptions to be willing to part with them the Reformers went on in their Discoveries and at length by the Blessing of God and the Labours of the Reformers as well as by the Persecution of their Enemies this Work had so great a Progress that it will still be reckoned one of the wonders of Providence But after all the Reformers were only the Instruments of opening this Light but not at all the Authors of our Sect so that we are no other way concerned in them but that we gratefully acknowledge their Labours and honour their Memory And what Mistakes Weaknesses or Passions soever may have mixed with their Conduct this proves nothing but that they were Men and were Subject both to Sin and to Errour Mr. de Meaux is also at a great deal of pains to shew how unsteady the Protestants have been in setling some Notions in particular the manner of Christ's Presence in the Sacrament and the true Notion of a Church on which he enlarges himself very copiously But is it possible that he is so ignorant either of Antiquity or of the Age of the School-Men as not to know how long they were before they setled on almost all the Notions of Divinity F. Petaw can inform him how dark the Fathers of the first three Centuries were even in their Idea's of the Trinity and it were easie to shew that even after the Definition of the Council of Nice it was long before they setled on the same Notion of the Unity of the Divine Essence with that which has been received now for many Ages in the Church It were easy to shew how even the so much cited and admired Saint Austin differed from himself in his Disputes with the Manicheans the Donatists and the Pelagians and that one sees in his works very different Notions not only of the Freedom of the Will but even of the Nature of the Church When he writ against the Donatists who had contrary to all Reason broke the Peace of the Church he raised the Unity of the Church and the submission to the visible Authority that was in it very high But when he writ against the Pelagians the
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
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