a little strange at this time in which the Thunders of the Vatican are so little regarded at Versailles And when an Appeal from a Pope to a General Council is after so long an intermission again made use of in so critical a time It might have been expected that this Matter should have been handled with a little more decency at least unless this is one of the Artifices of a sort of Men whom Mr. Talon has mentioned more freely than I will do who perhaps intend to blast what Lewis the Great is doing by representing Henry the 8th in ill Colours But perhaps our Author is not a Man of so much Intriegue as to have such remote Speculations and this being his first Essay it is possible he thought that less application was necessary since he reckoned that he had to do with a Man of so small a Capacity as mine is I will at present only single out six of the Errours that he has committed which are a very small proportion as to their number since you will find a much longer List if I enter upon a more Crititical Enquiry into this History but as these are all of great consequence so I have limited my self to this number that I may not inlarge at present beyond those narrow bounds to which I restrain my self in a Paper of this Nature 1. He questions much the Contents of the Decretal Bull Pag. 89. 10 92. that Cardinal Campegio brought over and thinks that since it was only shewn to the King and Cardinal Wolsey no body can affirm what it was and if it was a Bull that determined the whole Matter he does not see how there could be any more occasion for the Legats and he fancies that upon a Bull the King would have proceeded to a second Marriage without giving himself any further trouble as Lewis the 12th had done If Mr. le Grand had given himself the trouble to have Read the Decretal Bull which I have Published Collect. 2. lib. Num. 10. he would have seen that all this Discourse was to no purpose The Bull was drawn in England and sent to Rome and tho' some few Clauses were altered yet by all the Letters that passed between Rome and England it appears that it was upon the Matter the same Bull that was sent over by Campegio Now the Bull declared indeed the justice of the King's Pretensions and empowered the Cardinal Legates to examine the Truth of these Pretensions and upon the Proofs of that it Authorized them to Judge the Cause so that tho' the Pope did by this Decretal give a definitive Sentence in case the Pretensions were found to be true yet here was still matter left for the Legates to proceed upon To wit whether the King had himself desired the Marriage whether there was any danger of War at that time between England and Spain whether the Dispensation was not annulled by the Protestation the King had made when he came of age against the Marriage and whether those Princes or any of them upon whose account the Dispensation was granted dyed before the Marriage took effect And till all these things were found true the Bull dissolving the Marriage that was granted upon that supposition could have no effect So that all his Reasoning upon this matter is in the Air. P. 85. But since I have named Cardinal Campegio I acknowledge that Mr. le Grand seems to be in the right as to his Son whom I had called a Bastard but he proves him Legitimate from Sigonius's Life of Campegio which I confess I never saw and Sigonius is so good an Author that I acquiesce in his Authority But Mr. le Grand ought to have taken notice that I cite an Author for what I say of that Bastard Pelerin Iuglese which was a Discourse writ by Sir William Thomas a Clerk of the Council at that time and it seems he took Cardinal Campegio's Son for his Bastard So if Mr. le Grand had pleased to have looked to the English Edition he might have rectified this Errour with less acrimony of Stile since it is no forgery of mine and indeed this is the only omission that seems to be well grounded of all those for which he accuses me 2. Mr. le Grand makes much ado to shake the credit of the Decision made by the Sorbon P. 179. to 184. in Favours of King Henry tho' after all the Printing the Decision it self the next year and its passing for genuine no Man having in that Age pretended that it was a Forgery is so concluding a Proof for it that no Insinuation to the contrary can be received Neither Cardinal Pool who was at Paris when it past nor any other Writer of the Roman Communion accused the King of an Imposture in this Matter And as the Bishop of Tarbe's continuing to advance the King's Interests in the Court of Rome when he was promoted to be a Cardinal and his not disowning the share that King Henry laid on him in publick before the Legates of his Scruples concerning his Marriage is an evident confirmation of it notwithstanding all our Author's suggestions to the contrary So the Sorbonnes never disavowing this matter p. 135. is an evident proof that the Judgment was truely given by them and all the presumptions that our Author offers to the contrary amount to no more but that great opposition was made and that Beda behaved himself very factiously in it It is also to be considered that as the whole Gallican Church was highly dissatisfied with Francis the 1st for his having destroyed their Liberties by the Concordat so the University of Paris was too much concerned in that matter which stuck still deep with them not to be full of Malecontents and perhaps this might have contributed to make the opposition the greater since the King supported King Henry's Concerns with much Zeal yet after all our Author owns that in the Scrutiny there were fifty three for the Divorce and only forty two against it and five were for the referring it to the Pope so here was enough for justifying the Judgment as it is Printed which bears only that the greater number gave it for the Divorce and against the lawfulness of the Marriage And this justifies likewise those words of the first President 's Letter that it would rather prejudice than advance the King's Affair since the whole Bodies in other Universities had judged for the King whereas it was carried only by a plurality of Voices in the Sorbonne 3. Mr. le Grand pretends to give an Abstract of the Reasons that were brought against the Marriage of King Henry Page 189. to p. 2â—â— and yet he does not mention that which was the strength of the Cause which was that according to the main hinge upon which all the Decisions in the Roman Church turn Scripture expounded by Tradition is that by which all Controversies ought to be decided So here they brought a Series
the King's Matter but after all our Author cannot enough aggravate Crammer's taking the Oath of Obedience to the Pope at his Consecration with the Protestation that limited it with several restrictions Which he also reports upon the credit of some spiteful Authors quite contrary to what appears upon Record For he made the Protestation to be twice Read at the Altar when he was Consecrated So it is plain he had no mind to equivocate for he owned publickly all that he did And Protestations renouncing all Clauses that were in Bulls contrary to the King's Prerogative having been ordinarily made by Bishops it seems the Canonists who were accustomed to double dealing prevailed so far on Cranmer as to make him take the method of Swearing the Oath and then limiting it by a Protestation made at the same time In which it is plain that if he committed an Errour it was rather a mistake in his Judgment than a want of Sincerity 6. Mr. le Grand saies that the King pardoned More and Fisher the business of the Maid of Kent p. 280. to 282. and tho' he owns that More calls her in a Letter the silly Nun yet he takes no notice of that long Letter of Mores which I published among the Instruments of my second Volume in which he treats that matter as one of the horridest Impostures that ever was and for which Fisher tho' our Author denies it was Condemn'd for concealing Treason To this he adds that the Chancellor having asked Fisher and More what they thought of the Acts of the last Parliament they answered nothing but said that being cut off from all Civil Society they thought of nothing but our Saviour's Passion and this cost them their life This is such a corrupting of History that I forbear to give it its true name And indeed a prevarication in this matter is the less excusable because our Author might have found advantage enough by representing the matter truly as I had done from the Records They were Condemn'd first in a Premunire that imports loss of Estate and perpetual Imprisonment for refusing to swear the Oath for the Succession by the King's Marriage Enacted by Parliament And after that they were prosecuted for having spoken against the King's Supremacy and there is one Incident in More 's Process which perhaps would be thought enough at present for Condemning a Man as Guilty of High Treason for he said that as the Parliament could make a King so it could likewise Depose him But I limited my self to six Heads and I will not go beyond them The abundance of Matter that is before me makes it uneasie for me to pass over many important things which our Author has left out of his History tho' they are in that Collection of Letters published by Camusat and which I never saw till he himself not only shewed it me but did me the Honour to present it to me He does not tell us that the Pope promised to Cardinal de Tournon Melanges Hist. 1532. folio 8. M. that he would do all that was in his Power for the King of England and that the thing should be done tho' he must take such a Method in the point of Form as not to seem too partial to him And that the Cardinal thought he was sure of the Pope in that Matter The same Cardinal writes the 17 of Aug. 1533. that tho' the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction forced the Pope to what he had done fol. 9. N. yet if the King of England would save his Honour he would with all his Heart do what he desired and did not doubt but he should propose Expedients for this at the Interview that was to be at Marseilles fol. 19. O. By another Letter it appears that Francis the First owned to the English Ambassadours that the Pope had said to himself that he knew the King's Cause was just and he only stood upon a Procuration For the King being cited to appear at Rome in Person or by Proxy the King would take no notice of this fol. 177. and so Karne was sent over Excusator to excuse the King's Appearance But it appears by that Collection that he was sent over in the Name of the Nation and not in the King's Name So the King 's refusing to appear being thought a great Contempt the Pope promised to grant the Divorce if the King would so far acknowledge his Authority as to appear at Rome by a Proxy upon his Summons And in this Francis the First thought the King was in the right and he approved of his Marriage so far that he ordered his Ambassadour to Christen the Child in his Name fol. 140. P Q R. fol. 174 175 176 177. if it proved a Son. The French Ambassadour at Rome did also in many Letters to the Court of France write that the Pope would do all that was desired for the King of England and much more if he durst but he was so hard pressed by the Imperialists that against God and Reason and even against the Opinion of many of the Imperialists themselves he was forced to do whatsoever the Cardinal Dosme asked of him And that they wanted much the Cardinal Grandmont who was Bishop of Tarbes for no man durst speak Truth to the Pope It is true the Ambassadour who was then the Bishop of Auxerre says that he expected no good of the Pope and that all was but dissimulation Yet to shew that crafty Ambassadours change their Stile so that it is hard to know how much one ought to trust to their Letters the same day in which he had writ the former Letter to the Legate that was in France he wrote another to the Great Master in which he tells him that the Pope had said that the King of England 's Matter had been now four years in his hands and was not yet touched by him and that if he could do as he would it should be as they all would And he writes that he spoke this in such a manner to him that he believes he said what he thought fol. 177. S. These Letters bear all Date the 7th of February 1532. But the 13th of Iuly thereafter he writes that the Pope said to him that he resolved to put off the Business to a good time and he saw clearly what he meant by a good time and adds that if the thing had been then judged the Old and Learned Cardinals would have been for the King of England but the Imperialists were so much the stronger Party that it would have been carried clear against them And tho' Mr. le Grand speaks doubtfully of that Critical Matter that a Currier came from England within a day or two after the Sentence was given and passes over the haste in which it was given as a thing of which he knew nothing yet in that Collection there is a Letter writ from Lyons by Pompone Trivulce fol. 177. T. Cardinal Trivulce's Brother Dated
Dr. Burnet AGAINST Mr. Thevenot and Mr. Le Grand 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 Both Written By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for Iohn Starkey and Richard Chiswell MDCLXXXIX A LETTER TO Mr. THEVENOT Containing a Censure of Mr. Le Grand's History of K. Henry the Eighth's Divorce SIR INstead of offering you all those expressions of Respect which on many accounts are so justly due to you I shall satisfy my self at present with this one which is That I consider you as a Person of so much Probity and Sincerity that notwithstanding all the difference of Perswasion that is between you and me yet I can make an Appeal to you and refer my self to your Decision in the Contests that are like to be between Mr. le Grand and me in a Subject that has a great Relation to Matters of Religion Matters of Opinion and the Inferences and Speculations that arise out of Matters of Fact appear indeed differently to Men according to their various apprehensions of things While Matters of Fact have but one face and appear the same to all who desire to find out Truth And therefore since our Dispute is like to run wholly on Matters of Fact I know I run no hazard when I apply my self to you as an Arbiter While I was last at Paris I was so happy as to have the Honour of waiting sometimes on you and saw how just a Title you had to the Esteem and Admiration which is so universally paid you I had in my own particular all possible Reason to acknowledge the high Civilities that you put on me and among others the trouble that you put your self to in bringing Mr. le Grand and me to a Conference before your self and Mr. Auzout I confess I apprehended that I had a man to deal with from whom nothing was to be expected but fair dealing A Man that lived in the House of one that was no less Eminent for his Sublime Vertue than for those high Employments thro' which he has gone one that was much with that Learned and Worthy Gentleman Mr. Bulteau and that saw often the Famous Mr. Baluze whose Sincerity is equal to his Learning which is one of the greatest things of the Age and that valued himself on Mr. Thevenot's Friendship seemed to be such an Antagonist as one would have wisht for I will not put you on so uneasy a thing as the remembring the poor and inconsiderable things that were proposed in your hearing of which you were both so weary and for which you owned your selves so much ashamed not only to me when Mr. le Grand was gone but to a great many others You seemed fully fatisfied that all he proposed deserved not to be mentioned and that such as it was it was fully answer'd by me Mr. Auzout indeed desired me not to boast much of what had past with which it was very easy for me to comply for to tell you freely I did not find that my Antagonist was such a Person that a Victory over him afforded matter for a Triumph and in the account that I found it convenient to give of a part of our Conversation in my Remarks on Mr. Varillas I managed Mr. le Grand with all the Respect that he could have expected from me but if hereafter I touch him a little more sensibly he has none to blame for it but himself I can very easily bear all his Reflections on me p. 30. for my Ignorance and want of Capacity and in particular for my Ignorance of the History and Laws of England p. 2 and 3. This comes soon after a very high and undeserved Commendation that he had given of me and it seems he himself thought I did not deserve it since he changed his Stile so soon It is too common Artifice to pass upon me to give a Man a good Title to reproach another by introducing those Injuries with high Commendations But I must be contented with my small measure of Knowledge and the low degree of Capacity that belongs to me and I have the more Reason to bear with my own defects at present since I have to do with one of so moderate a Talent as Mr. le Grand shews himself to be I wish only that those who desire to be rightly informed of the famous Transaction now in Dispute will be at the pains to read Sander's History and mine and next to examine Mr. le Grand's History and then I am confident that they will conclude that there must be some Errour in the Printing of the Title Page in which there is mention made of a Defence of Sander's and a Refutation of my History for the bulk of his work does so agree with mine except in some places where he uses an Art for which I do not envy him that I am tempted to think that in Writing it he intended to make good his offer made in your hearing that he would furnish me with a vast number of Papers for the Confirmation of my Work. I have yet only seen his first part so I cannot imagine how he can justify Sanders having given him quite up in the whole thread of his History The whole Story of Anne Bullen and all the Branches of it are abandoned which yet was the chief thing aimed at by Sanders as being a nullity in Q. Elizabeth's Title and by consequence an encouragement to Rebellion The Decretal Bull is confessed the Behaviour of Sir Thomas More is not insisted on by our Author In short if one will examine about eighty Errours for which I have charged Sander's History in my Appendix he will find above seventy of my contradictions of Sanders confirmed by Mr. le Grand which will be easily made appear if this Work of his is judged of that importance as to deserve a more particular censure I say nothing of his manner of Writing for that will offer it self to every Reader who must needs find in him more of the Stile of one that pleads a Cause than of one that undertakes to relate Matters An earnestness in proving and an injuriousness of Stile are indecencies that are scarce to be forgiven to one that pretends to be an Historian And there is somewhat that is Sacred even in the Ashes of Crowned Heads that claims a Modesty of Stile So that even when they are censured softer words than Lies and Impostures ought to be sought for And the chief point in this whole Matter being whether the King's Cause ought not to have been judged rather in England and by his own Clergy than at Rome The supporting the Pope's pretensions in opposition to this as it agrees very ill with the Principles of the Gallican Church so it seems
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
in the Letter to that purpose for he only corrects the Notion of some who from the Title of the Book of Deuteronomy inferred that this according to the composition of the Greek word signifying a second Law and that therefore the Laws of Leviticus were abrogated by those in Deuteronomy and let the Reader judge if this is a disparaging either of the Vulgar or the Seventy But he commits a fault of another Nature when to represent the Corruptions of the Divines of England at that time he saies that Wakfield soûhaîtoit que Sa Majesté luy écrivit Elle-méme ce qu'Elle vouloit qu'il fit s'il devoit defendre le pour ou le contre qu'alors selon les Ordres qu'il receveroit il donneroit des éclaircissemens ou pour ou contre qui passeroient la capacité de tous les Anglois desired that the King himself would write to him what it was that he would have him do and if he would have him write for him or against him and that according to the Orders that he should receive from him he would give him such Informations either for or against him as should exceed the Capacity of all the English. Now because this seems so extravagant a Proposition I will set down the words of the Latine Letter with their Translation in English And then I will leave it to every Reader to think what Judgment he ought to form of Mr. le Grand upon it D. R. Wacfeldus nunc me rogavit ut sibi significarem a placeret tibi veritatem hac in re intelligere i. utrum staret a te a contra te ei ita respondi te nihil velle quod esset alienum a Nobile Principe singularibus virtutibus praedito Illumque Maj. tuae rem gratissimam facturum si laboraret ut puram veritatem tibi declarat Tum ille nescio quo ductus timore negavit se hoc posse facere nisi Maj. tua id sibi injungeret mandaret Et si mandares se producturum in medium tam contra te quam pro te illa quae nemo alius in hac tuo Regno producere posset The English of this is D. R. Wakfield desired me earnestly to let him understand whether your Majesty desired to know the Truth in this Matter that is to say whether the Truth was for You or against You To whom I answered thus that you desired nothing that was unbecoming a Great and an Eminently Vertuous Prince And that he would do a most acceptable thing to your Majesty if he would declare to you the Verity But he upon what fearfulness I know not said that he could not do that unless Your Majesty would Command him to do it And that if you did lay your Commands on him he would lay before you both what made for and against you beyond what any Man in the Nation could do Now whether Mr. le Grand's Errors here flow from a want of Sincerity or from his Ignorance of Latine I do do not know But certainly never was a Letter worse handled than he has done this since the Matters contained in it are highly both to the King's Honor and to Wakfield's which yet he has turned so maliciously Mr. le Grand has thrown out upon me all the Reproaches with which a Clounish Temper and a Mean Education could furnish him not forgetting the common Figure of a brazen forehead But I do not envy him those Beauties of Stile only if I were to make use of a Figure for him I must seek it from other Bodies that are more impenetrable than Brass for it will grow red before a fire but I do not know whether such a Discovery as this will set him a Blushing or not His second Letter is produced to prove in contradiction to me that Cardinal Wolsey desired that the Pope would make him his Vicar General during his Imprisonment and that this was long before the time that I make him pretend to it Hist. de Di◠p. 60. and this he thought so important that he comes over it twice This is no great matter if it was true and would only prove that he had found out some Papers which I never saw But it is somewhat extraordinary to see him produce a Letter for proving this that does not so much as contain one word relating to it The Letter which is the second among his Proofs is indeed an address made to the Pope by five Cardinals desiring him to give them a Power to supply his absence by a Commission from him suamque absentiam demandata Authoritatis presentia supplere But there is not so much as an Insinuation of recommending Cardinal Wolsey to it nor is there any mention made of a Vicar General much less of all that long Extract that Mr. le Grand gives of it But by these Indications I suppose you will conclude how little regard there is to be had to his Extracts even when he makes them with the greatest Confidence But the third Instance is yet both more notorious and more important It relates to the Decision made by the Sorbonne Indeed the Abstract that Mr. le Grand gives of that whole Matter in his History differs so much from the account given in the Letters which he brings to prove it that he must have a strange Opinion of his Readers understanding and think that it is of a piece with his own Sincerity if he expects that much credit will be hereafter given to any of his Extracts For the account which he gives of President Lizet's Letter is somewhat extraordinary even for Mr. le Grand By the Letter it appears Preuves p. 480. that he sent the Act to the King and after he had mentioned that he adds this with Relation to the management of the Business he prays the Great Master that as to the Account which the Bishop of Bayonne had drawn up of that matter they would suspend their judgment for the Reasons mentioned in his Letters to the King till the King had heard from him how the matter was managed and then perhaps it would appear that the Information would rather be a prejudice than an advantage to the King of England It is plain that these last words belong not at all to the Act it self but to the conduct of the matter Hist. de Di◠p 18 and the Caballing that had been about it But Mr. le Grand will apply these words to the Act it self in his History in these words yet he the President took out the Act and sent it to the King without communicating it to Messieurs de Bellay and advertised his Majesty that this would hurt the King of England much more than it would serve him By this sincerity the Reader may judge of the rest when he makes the President 's Reflections on the Conduct of the Matter fall upon the Act it self And would make that an Evidence to prove that the Act which was
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
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.