Years the contrary Report whereunto was the chief Cause wherefore you deferred the sending of those Books by the former Messenger And so nothing doubting but you will yield at last to my earnest Request I bid you heartily farewel resting ever Your assured loving Friend and Brother James Usher Scripsi raptim Dominici Adventûs Anno Domini 1617. LETTER XXXI A Letter from Sir Henry Bourgchier to Dr. James Usher afterwards Arch-Bishop of Armagh at Dublin Worthy Sir HAD the Opportunity of convenient Messengers concurr'd with my Desires my Letters should have come faster to your Hands than they have done and what hath been wanting of that Respect which absent Friends yield one another I do assure you hath been supplied by an affectionate Desire in me to enjoy your Company together with the Remembrance of those many happy Hours which I have spent with you I had once hop'd to have seen you this Winter but my necessary Occasions in England with the Difficulties of a Winter Journey are like to detain me here until the Spring where if my Service may be useful or advantageous to you it shall be as absolutely at your Command as any Friend of yours that lives I doubt not but you have heard much of the troublesome Estate of the Low-Country Churches by their Diversity of Opinions and what Tumults had like to have ensued or rather are like to ensue for the Tempest is not yet over-blown and had not the opposite Faction to the Arminian by them termed vulgarly Gomarians shewed a great deal of Temperance and Patience much Effusion of Christian Blood had followed I suppose you have seen Sir Dud. Carlton's Speech in the last General Assembly at the Hague which is answered by H. Grotius in Print He is a Professor in Leyden very inward with Mouns Barneveldt and by name I think well known to you And 14 of the 18 Cities which send their Deputies to the General Assembly have publickly protested against any National or Provincial Synods which shall be called About a Fortnight since the Heads and others of the University of Cambridge were summon'd to appear before his Majesty at New-market where at their coming they were required to deliver their Opinions concerning Mouns Barneveldt's Confession lately sent over to the King to which as I am informed many of them did subscribe and principally Dr. Richardson the Kings Professor for which he either hath already or is in some Danger of losing his Place I know not whether you have seen the Book called Analecta Sacra published the last Mart if you can discover the Author I pray you let me know him I have written to a Friend of mine at Paris to enquire at the Printers where the Book was printed of the Author With much difficulty I obtained one of them which you should have received had I not been constrained to bestow it otherwise Here in England there is little written or published in any kind of Learning In every Parish-Church there are now Sums of Money collected for Chelsey Colledge but I see no Addition to the Work Our kind Friend Mr. Briggs hath lately published a Supplement to the most excellent Tables of Logarithms which I presume he hath sent you Suarez's Book against the King is now grown common by the late German Impression which if you please you may have The Popish Writers having sharpned their Weapons being now to strike with sharp Invectives our Arch-Bishop of Spalato after their wonted manners and now openly charge him with Apostacy and revolt from their Religion He hath not obtained any Ecclesiastical Promotion nor for ought I hear desireth any but rather to end his Days in a retired and solitary Exile Since the return of Digby into Spain there is little known of the Progress of our Affairs there neither of Sir Walter Raleigh since the Return of Captain Bayly from him if I may give his unworthy running away so honest a name Sir both I and my Messenger stand upon Thorns as they say being both presently to begin our Journeys he for Ireland I for the West of England where I mean to spend this Festival time which I hope shall excuse my Rudeness in Writing both for Matter and Manner When I come to a place of more leisure you shall hear from me In the mean time let me live in your good Opinion as one who truly loves you and will ever declare himself Your truly affectionate and faithful Friend Henry Bourgchier London the 6th of December 1617. LETTER XXXII A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Dr. James Usher afterward Arch-Bishop of Armagh Eximio Sacr. Theologiae Professori amico suo singulari Domino Jacobo Usserio S. RAMUS iste tuus noster qui brevi ut opinor ad nos in Angliam reversurus est absque grati animi mei significatione aliqua pro singulari tuâ erga me clementiâ benignitate non est dimittendus Gratulor verò tibi charissime frater felicitatem tuam qui in regione minùs culta variis motibus perturbatâ natus educatus nobis hic in florentissimo Regno totique orbi Christiano facem Divinae intelligentiae in rebus maximè necessariis praebuisti ac etiamnum porrò uti speramus expectamus praebiturus es Intelligo doctissimas tuas lucubrationes tanquam stellas totidem lucidissimas Macte Virtute istâ tuâ Christo optimo Maximo duce in omnibus Nos hic Semipagani qui ad stivam religati sumus Rusticos in Christianae fidei fundamentalibus in timore Domini instruimus Plerique hic ferè omnes Papismum detestantur Sit nomen Domini benedictum Contra Papatum quotidie concionamur Neminem habemus repugnantem omnes consentientes Caeterum valde multi sunt qui odio Papismi plusquam Vatiniano ut ita dicam flagrant ut solenniorem Dei cultum nullo modo ferre possint Hinc omne genus nequitiae caput sustollere taxim occoepit Multi qui contra Papisticam superstitionem invehuntur contra rapinam sacrilegium luxuriam ebrietatem gulam arrogantiam superbiam avaritiam usuram id genus enormia ne protestantur quidem Sed quorsum haec Manum de Tabula Verbum sapienti sat est satque habet favitorum semper qui rectè agit Quid nos in votis habemus postmodum accipies Interea verò in Jesu Christo Domino ac sospitatore nostro benè vale Fraterculus tibi multis nominibus devinctissimus Guilielmus Eyres Colcestriae 21. die Aprilis 1618. LETTER XXXIII A Letter from Dr. James Usher afterward Arch-Bishop of Armagh to Mr. William Camden My dear and worthy Friend I Have been earnestly intreated by Dr. Rives to send this inclosed Letter unto you He hath had his Education in New-Colledge in the University of Oxford where he took his Degree of Doctor in the Civil Law He is now one of the Masters of the Chancery with us and Judge of the Faculties and Prerogative Court Two things he told me he was
Church may still either by preaching or writing maintain any point of Doctrine contained in those Articles without being either Heterodox or Irregular It was likewise reported and has been since written by some with the like truth that the Lord Primate should have some dispute with Dr. Bramhall then Bishop of London-Derry concerning these Articles Whereas the contest between the Lord Primate and that Bishop was not about the Articles but the Book of Canons which were then to be established for the Church of Ireland and which the Bishop of Derry would have to be passed in the very same form and words with those in England which the Lord Primate with divers other of the Bishops opposed as somewhat prejudicial to the Liberties of the Church of Ireland and they so far prevailed herein that it was at last concluded That the Church of Ireland should not be tyed to that Book but that such Canons should be selected out of the same and such others added thereunto as the present Convocation should judge fit for the Government of that Church which was accordingly performed as any man may see that will take the pains to compare the two Books of the English and Irish Canons together And what the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's judgment was on this affair you may see in a Letter of his to the Lord Primate published in this Collection About the end of this year the Lord Primate published his Anno 1639 long expected work entitled Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates In which also is inserted a History of Pelagius and his Heresie which Work I suppose my Lord kept so long unpublished because he still found fresh matter to add to it as you may see by the many Additions and Emendations at the latter end of it and as it was long in coming out so it did fully answer expectation when it came abroad into the World being the most exact account that ever yet was given of the British Church beginning with the earliest notices we can find in Ancient Authors of any credit concerning the first planting of Christianity in these Islands within twenty years after our Saviour's Crucifixion and bringing it down with the Succession of Bishops as far as they could be retreived not only in our Britain but in Ireland also as far as towards the end of the VII Century collected out of the best Authors either Printed or Manuscript and is so great a Treasure of this kind of Learning that all that have writ since with any success on this subject must own themselves beholding to him for his elaborate Collections The Lord Primate having now sate Arch-Bishop sixteen years Anno 1640 with great satisfaction and benefit to the Church about the beginning of this year came into England with his Wife and Family intending to stay here a year or two about his private Affairs and then to return again But it pleased God to disappoint him in those resolutions for he never saw his native Country again not long after his coming to London when he had kissed his Majesty's hand and been received by him with his wonted favour he went to Oxford as well to be absent from those heats and differences which then happened in that short Parliament as also with greater freedom to pursue his Studies in the Libraries there where he was accommodated with Lodgings in Christ-Church by Dr. Morice Canon of that House and Hebrew Professor and whilst he was there he conversed with the most Learned Persons in that famous University who used him with all due respect whilst he continued with them so after he had resided there some time he returned again to London where after the sitting of that long and unhappy Parliament he made it his business as well by preaching as writing to exhort them to Loyalty and Obedience to their Prince endeavouring to the utmost of his power to heal up those breaches and reconcile those differences that were ready to break out both in Church and State though it did not meet with that success he always desired This year there was published at Oxford among divers other Treatises of Bishop Andrews Mr. Hooker and other Learned men Anno 1641 concerning Church Government the Lord Primate's Original of Bishops and Metropolitans wherein he proves from Scripture as also the most Ancient Writings and Monuments of the Church that they owe their original to no less Authority than that of the Apostles and that they are the Stars in the right hand of Christ Apoc. 2. So that there was never any Christian Church founded in the Primitive Times without Bishops which discourse was not then nor I suppose ever will be answered by those of a contrary judgment That unhappy dispute between his Majesty and the two Houses concerning his passing the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Attainder now arising and he much perplexed and divided between the clamour of a discontented People and an unsatisfied Conscience thought fit to advise with some of his Bishops what they thought he ought to do in point of Conscience as he had before consulted his Judges in matter of Law among which his Majesty thought fit to make choice of the Lord Primate for one though without his seeking or knowledge but since some men either out of spleen or because they would not retract what they had once written from vulgar report have thought fit to publish as if the Lord Primate should advise the King to sign the Bill for the said Earl's Attainder it will not be amiss to give you here that relation which Dr. Bernard had under his own hand and has printed in the Funeral Sermon by him published which is as followeth That Sunday morning wherein the King consulted with the four Bishops of London Durham Lincoln and Carlisle the Arch-Bishop of Armagh was not present being then preaching as he then accustomed every Sunday to do in the Church of Covent-Garden where a Message coming unto him from his Majesty he descended from the Pulpit and told him that brought it he was then as he saw imployed about God's business which as soon as he had done he would attend upon the King to understand his pleasure But the King spending the whole Afternoon in the serious debate of the Lord Strafford's Case with the Lords of his Council and the Judges of the Land he could not before Evening be admitted to his Majesty's presence There the Question was again agitated Whether the King in justice might pass the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford for that he might shew mercy to him was no question at all no man doubting but that the King without any Scruple of Conscience might have granted him a Pardon if other reasons of State in which the Bishops were made neither Judges nor Advisers did not hinder him The whole result therefore of the determination of the Bishops was to this effect That therein the matter of Fact and matter of Law were to be distinguished That of the
of the Psalms and the second of Esdras I have also a small Tract of Ephraems in the Syriack I have used the best means I could to procure the New Testament in the Abyssins Language and Character but to this day have not been able Fourteen days past I sent again to Jerusalem to try if it or any other of the Books your Lordship would have in the Samaritan Tongue may be had For obtaining whereof I have made use of the favour of a Gentleman of Veniee that is Consul for that Nation in this Place who I presume will endeavour to satisfy my great desire in this Particular and if he fail me I have no farther hopes of prevailing I am sorry that I can do no better service in a business that may be so beneficial as your Grace hath intimated to the Church of God and so acceptable to your self Such Papers as I have or can procure shall God willing with a Note of their Cost and Charges be sent by our Ships aforesaid News this place affords not worth your knowledg By our last Letters from Constantinople they write of great preparation for the Wars and that they will this Spring go against the Rebel Abbassa that holds the City of Assaraune In their last Years Siege of that place they lost many Men and much Honour The Common Adversary the Persian in the mean while hath time to provide himself to welcome the Turks when they shall think good to visit him They write also from Constantinople that a Greek Patriarch or Bishop that spent three Years in England was resolved to print being furnished out of Christondom with all things necessary having leave of the Caymo-cham some of the Greek Fathers whose Writings it should seem the Papists have abused Which when the Jesuits that live in Constantinople understood they went to the Bashaw and told him That the Greek under pretence of Printing would coin and stamp false Mony Whereupon without examination of the Business order was given to apprehend and instantly to hang the old Man his House and Goods to be seised upon for the King's use The latter was effected but God so provided that the Man was at that instant of time in our Ambassador's House where the Officers came to take him and execute that tyrannical Sentence But the Ambassador examining the Business undertook his Protection and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Person yea so far prâ—seâ—uted the Business against the Jesâ—its that they were cast into Prison their House Library and all their Goods taken for the King's use and liberty given to the old Greek to go on with his intended Work And for the Jesuits the best they could expect was to be banished Constantinople and never to come into any part of the Grand Signior's Dominions But I fear their Mony will produce too good an issue of so foul a Business Their Malice is inveterate God deliver all good Men out of their Power Thus I humbly take leave and ever rest Your Grace's in all Duty to be commanded Thomas Davis Aleppo the 14th of March 1627. Of the Turks Account the 18th day of the 7th Month called Raged and the 1037 Year of Mahomet LETTER CXXI A Letter from the Right Reverend Dr. John Hanmer Bishop of St. Asaph to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh May it please your Grace I Have received the Chronicle of Ireland penn'd by my Uncle and perfected by Mr. Molineux together with the History of Ireland compiled by Edmund Campian I have cursorily ran them both over and do find some defects in both not only in Orthography by reason of the unskilfulness of the Transcriber but also in the Sense by reason of dissonancy in the coherence and the very Context it self But as it is I do purpose God willing to send it this week to London unto some Friends of mine to give the Printers there a view of the Volume as also to deal with them touching the Profit that may be raised to the advancement of the Widow my Aunt I will not fail to prefix in the Epigraphe and Title to Mr. Campian's History that direction which your Lordship very kindly affordeth in your loving Letter And I am sensible enough that Campian's Name honoured with your Grace's Publication to the Work will be a Countenance unto it and much further the sale And for Mr. Daniel Molineux not only my self but the whole Realm of Ireland together with this of great Britain shall owe a large beholdenness unto him If it please God that the Work take success for the Press I will take care that his Name for his care and pains-taking therein shall live and have a being in the memory of Posterity so long as the Books shall live When the Copies shall be returned from London and the Printer agreed withal I and my Friends here will review them again and again and to our Capacities make them fit for the Press for I find by perusing that such a Work must be framed by such Men as be skilful both in the Irish and Welsh Tongues and reasonably versed in their Stories Between this and Michaelmass I hope to bring all Passages to perfection and agreement with the Printer and then I will not fail to certify your Grace of the Proceedings Till when and ever I commit you and yours to the Grace of the Almighty Resting Your Lordships most assured loving Brother and Servant in Christ Jesus Joh. Asaph Peâ—re Paâ—t May 28. 1627. LETTER CXXII A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to Mr. John Selden Worthy Sir YOur Letter of the 9th of September came not unto my hands before the 13th of November And to give you full satisfaction in that which you desired out of my Samaritan Text I caused the whole fifth Chapter of Genesis to be taken out of it as you see and so much of the 11th as concerneth the Chronology you have to deal with The Letters in the second and third Leaf are more perfectly expressed than those in the first and therefore you were best take them for the Pattern of those which you intend to follow in your Print there being but 22 of them in number without any difference of Initials and Finals and without any distinction of Points and Accents Matrices may be easily cast for them all without any great Charge which if you can perswade your Printer to undertake I will freely communicate to him the Collection of all the Differences betwixt the Text of the Jews and the Samaritans throughout the whole Pentateuch a Work which would very greedily be sought for by the Learned Abroad howsoever such things are not much regarded by ours at Home The Original it self after the Collation is perfected I have dedicated to the Library of our Noble Friend Sir Robert Cotton In the Samaritan Chronology published by Scaliger Lib. 7. de Emend temp pag. 618. there are reckoned 130 Years from Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his Death
England and elsewhere Containing likewise divers choice matters relating to the great Controversies of those times concerning the keeping of Easter as also divers things relating to the Ecclesiastical Discipline and Jurisdiction of the Church of that Kingdom very worthy the taking notice of And I suppose about this time if not before he contracted a more intimate acquaintance with the Reverend Dr. Laud Lord Bishop of London who had for some time managed the most considerable Affairs both in Church and State And I find by divers of his Letters to the Lord Primate as well whilst he was Bishop of London as after he was advanced to the See of Canterbury that there was scarce any thing of moment concluded on or any considerable Preferment bestowed by his Majesty in the Church of Ireland without his advice and approbation which you may see by some Letters in this ensuing Collection which we have selected from divers others of lesser moment as fittest for publick view but the L. Primate always made use of his interest with the said Arch-Bishop and other great men at Court not for his own private advantage but for the common good of the Church by opposing and hindering divers Grants and Patents to some great men and Courtiers who had under-hand obtained the same and particularly he caused a Patent made to a Person of Quality of the Scotch Nation in Ireland of several Tythes to be called in and vacuated his Majesty being deceived in his Grant who would not have done any thing prejudicial to the Church had he been rightly informed of the nature of the thing and the Lord Primate was so much concerned for a competent maintenance for the Clergy in that Kingdom that he had some years before this obtained a Grant of a Patent from his Majesty to be passed in his own name though for the use of the Church of such impropriations belonging to the Crown as were then Leased out as soon as they should fall which though it did not succeed being too much neglected by those who were concerned more immediately yet it sufficiently shews my Lord's pious intentions in this matter About this time there was a Letter sent over from his late Anno 1634 Majesty to the Lord Viscount Wentworth then Lord Deputy and the Council of Ireland for determining the precedency of the Arch-Bishop of Armagh and Arch-Bishop of Dublin in respect of their Sees the latter making some pretence unto it therefore in regard of a Parliament intended by his Majesty shortly to meet it was thought fit for order's sake that controversie should be decided before their meeting In order to which he was commanded by the Lord Deputy to reduce into writing what he knew upon that subject But he not desiring to engage in so invidious an argument and which so nearly concerned himself and which he did not desire to have stirred did what he could to decline it but being still further urged and commanded to do it he did at last though unwillingly write a short and learned discourse full of excellent remarks wherein he proved the Antiquity and Primacy of his See to have preceded that of Dublin divers Ages which discourse being sent over into England the precedency was determined by his Majesty on his side as afterwards by another Letter from his Majesty and Council here he had also without his seeking the precedency given him of the Lord Chancellor which he being above such trifles were not at all able to elate him At the opening of the following Parliament he preached before the Lord Deputy Lords and Commons at St. Patrick's Dublin his Text was Genes 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet till Shiloh come and to him shall the gathering of the People be And in the Convocation which was now Assembled the Lord Primate at the instrance of the Lord Deputy and Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury thought fit to propose That to express the agreement of the Church of Ireland with that of England both in Doctrine and Discipline the Thirty Nine Articles should be received by the Church of Ireland which Proposal was thereupon consented to by both Houses of Convocation and the said Articles were declared to be the Confession of Faith of the Church of Ireland but without abrogating or excluding the former Articles made 1615 either by that Convocation or Parliament as two several Writers of those times viz. a Church and Civil Historian have without ground reported them to be And though the latter was at last brought to confess his Error of their being Repealed by Autority of Parliament yet he still insisted That the reception of the Articles of the Church of England though it be not an express yet is a tacite annulling of the former instancing in the Old Covenant which St. Paul proves to be abrogated by the giving of a New which were a good Argument if the Articles of the Church of England were as inconsistent with those of Ireland as those two Covenants are with each other but if they differ no more than the Nicene does from the Apostles Creed which though it contains more yet does not Annul the former then without doubt the receiving of the Articles of the Church of England was no abrogation of those of Ireland But since it is not my design to write Controversies I shall not enter farther into this Argument but shall leave the Reader to consider whether the instances brought by the Historian to prove the Articles of these two Churches to be inconsistent are convincing or not and shall say no more on this ungrateful subject but that it is highly improbable that the Lord Primate should be so outwitted by the Lord Deputy or his Chaplains as the Historian makes him to have been in this affair but that he very well understood the Articles of both Churches and did then know that they were so far from being inconsistent or contradictory to each other that he thought the Irish Articles did only contain the Doctrine of the Church of England more fully or else he would never have been so easily perswaded to an Act which would amount to a Repeal of those Articles which as hath been already said he himself made and drew up And for a farther proof that this was the sense not only of himself but of most of the rest of the Bishops at that time they always at all Ordinations took the subscription of the Party Ordained to both Articles the Articles of England not being received instead but with those of Ireland as Dr. Bernard hath informed us which course was continued by the Lord Primate and most part of the Bishops till the confusion of that Church by the Irish Rebellion And if at this day the subscription to the Thirty Nine Articles be now only required of the Clergy of that Kingdom I suppose it is purely out of prudential considerations that any divine or other person of that
matter of Fact he himself might make a judgment having been present at all proceedings against the said Earl where if upon the hearing of the Allegations on either side he did not conceive him guilty of the Crimes wherewith he was charged he could not in justice condemn him But for the matter in Law what was Treason and what was not he was to rest in the opinion of the Judges whose Office it was to declare the Law and who were Sworn therein to carry themselves indifferently betwixt Him and his Subjects Which gave his Majesty occasion to complain of the dealing of the Judges with him not long before That having earnestly pressed them to declare in particular what point of the Lord of Strafford's Charge they judged to be Treasonable forasmuch as upon the hearing of the proofs produced he might in his Conscience perhaps find him guiltless of that Fact he could not by any means draw them to nominate any in particular but that upon the whole matter Treason might justly be charged upon him And in this second meeting it was observed That the Bishop of London spake nothing at all but the Bishop of Lincoln not only spake but put a Writing also into the King's hand wherein what was contained the rest of his Brethren knew not From all which we may observe my Lord Primate's modesty who would not set down his own particular judgment in this matter but only that it agreed with that of his Brethren but also his charity and fidelity who would not though to acquit himself betray his trust and accuse the only person of that company who was supposed to have moved the King to the doing of it Nor is the reason those men have supposed why my Lord Primate should perswade the King to do this less false and improbable viz. Revenge because the Earl of Strafford whilst Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had outwitted him and made him the Instrument before he was aware of abrogating the Articles of Ireland above mentioned the falseness of which Calumny may sufficiently appear from what hath been already said upon this subject for the Lord Primate did willingly and upon due consideration without any surprise propose the Admission of those Articles of the Church of England nor was he ever convinced neither did my Lord Strafford ever insist upon it that the admission of these Articles was an abrogation of the former and if the Lord Primate had any private grudge against the Earl upon this Score he carried it very slyly insomuch that the Earl himself nor any of his friends were ever sensible of it for whilst the Earl continued in Ireland there was never any dispute or unkindness between them but they parted good friends as will appear by some Letters which you will find in this Collection The Earl writ to him after this business and not long before his going for England full of kindness and respect So likewise after the Earl's Commitment to the Black-Rod as also when he was a Prisoner in the Tower the Lord Primate frequently visited him and the Earl was pleased to consult with him in divers matters relating to his defence at his Tryal And certainly had the Earl believed that the Lord Primate bore any malice towards him much more had advised the King to put him to death which could not have been well concealed from him though we may suppose the Earl had so much Christian charity as to forgive so great an injury yet it is not very likely that he should exercise such a piece of mortification as to chuse him whom he believed to be the promoter of his death to prepare him for it and to be the man to whom he addressed his Speech upon the Scaffold and whose assistance he desired in that his last extremity But I shall speak no farther of this matter till I can in order of time tell you what the Lord Primate himself said unto me concerning it when he lay as he thought on his Death-bed and not likely to live an hour and also what his Majesty declared when he heard the report of his death Not many Months after the Execution of this great and unfortunate Earl there came over the unhappy news of the breaking out of the horrid Irish Rebellion in which as his Majesty's with the English and Protestant interest in that Kingdom received an unexpressible blow so likewise the Lord Primate bore too great a share in that common affliction for in a very few days the Rebels had plundered his Houses in the Countrey seized on his Rents quite ruined or destroyed his Tenements killed or drove away his numerous Flocks and Herds of Cattle to a very great value and in a world had not left him any thing in that Kingdom which escaped their fury but his Library and some Furniture in his House in Droghedah which were secured by the strength of that place notwithstanding a long and dangerous Siege by those Rebels which Library was some years after conveyed over to Chester and from thence to London This must needs reduce him to a very low condition happening not long after Michaelmas when he expected a return of his Rents so that he was forced for his present supply to sell or pawn all the Plate and Jewels he had this though a very great Tryal yet made not any change in his Natural Temper and Heavenly Disposition still submitting to God's Providence with Christian Patience and Magnanimity having long before learned to use the things of this World as if he used them not and in whatsoever condition he was therewith to be content Yet these afflictions were sufficient to move compassion even in the breasts of Foreigners for some Months after his losses the City and University of Leyden offered to chuse him their Honorarie Professor with a more ample stipend than had been formerly annexed to that place And Dr. Bernard in the above cited Sermon likewise tells us that Cardinal Richlieu did about the same time make him an Invitation to come into France with a promise of a very noble Pension and freedom of his Religion there and that this is not unlikely though I never heard my Lord Primate speak of it may be proved from the great honour that Cardinal had for him which he expressed by a Letter full of kindness and respect accompanied with a Gold Medal of considerable value having his own Effigies stamped upon it which is still preserved these were sent him upon his publishing his Work De Primordiis Ecclesiarum Britannicarum which Present was also returned by the Lord Primate by a Letter of thanks with a handsome present of Irish Grey-hounds and other rarities which that Countrey afforded But it pleased his late Majesty to provide for him much better in England by conferring on him the Bishoprick of Carlisle lately void by the death of Dr. Potter to be held in Commendam this though very much abated by the Scotch and English Armies Quartering upon it as also by
Learning for the first I shall say in general That he always adhered to and maintained the fundamental Catholick Truths observing that Golden Rule concerning Traditions Quod ubique quod ab omnibus quod semper Creditum est c. and never approved of any Religion under what pretence soever obtruded or introduced contrary to the Scriptures and Primitive Truths received and professed in the Church of Christ in all Ages and upon this account could never comply with nor approve of the new Doctrines and Worship obtruded and practised in the Church of Rome as now it is but always protested against their Innovations and humane Inventions as doth most evidently appear in his Writings bearing Testimony against their Corruptions False and Erroneous principles And as for the great Scholars and Leading Men of the Romish Church the Lord Primate usually said That it is no Marvel if they had a veil cast over their Eyes as St. Paul said of the Jews in the reading of the Scriptures for besides the several judgments of God upon them that have blinded their own Eyes their Minds are so prepossessed and Corrupted with false Principles Prejudices and Worldly interest that it is no wonder if they cannot perceive the most manifest and plainest Truths But as this good Mans judgment was sound and not byassed by prejudice or passion or worldly interest so did he heartily approve of the Religion professed and established in the Church of England as most Congruous to the Holy Scriptures and Primitive Christianity and in which if a Man keep the Faith and Lives according to its precepts persevering he need not doubt of his Salvation And in this Faith and Communion of the Church of England he lived Holily and died happily And this Holy Primate being fully perswaded in his own Mind laboured instantly to reduce Popish Recusants and Sectaries from their Errors and vain Conceits to inform them aright and to perswade them for their Souls good to comply with and embrace the Religion and Communion of the Church of England and this he aimed to bring about by his Writing Preaching and Conference upon all occasions and was successful in that enterprise But now for his Opinion in some nice points of Religion that do not touch the foundation of Faith he would not be rigorously Dogmatical in his own Opinions as to impose on others Learned and Pious Men of a different Apprehension in the more obscure points with whom nevertheless thô not altogether of his judgment he had a friendly Conversation and mutual Affection and Respect seeing they agreed in the points necessary Would to God That the Learned and Pious Men in these Days were of the like temper It will be needless here to mention any more particulars of his judgment in several points seeing there are so many instances of this kind in the Collection to which I refer the Reader Yet before I leave this matter I think fit to mind you of some Treatises published by Doctor Bernard after the Primates Death Intituled The judgment of the late Lord Primate on several Subjects 1. Of Spiritual Babylon on Rev. 18. 4. 2. Of Laying on of Hands Heb. 6. 2. and the ancient form of Words in Ordination 3. Of a set form of Prayer in the Church Each being the judgment of the late Bishop of Armagh which being not set down in my Lord Primates own Words nor written by him in the Method and Order they are there put into cannot be reckoned being much enlarged by the Dr. as himself confesseth therefore cannot so well vouch them as if I had been certain that all he writes were purely the Lord Primate 's since the Papers out of which the Doctor says he Collected them were never restored to my Custody thô borrowed under that Trust that they should be so and therefore I desire that those into whose hands those Manuscripts are now fallen since the Drs. decease would restore them either to my self or the Lord Primates Relations And tho perhaps some of those Letters published by Dr. Bernard might have been as well omitted or at least some private reflections of them left out concerning a Person easily provoked to bitterness and ill words being provoked by the publishing those Letters writ an invective Book on purpose to answer to what was contained therein and not contented with this has likewise bestowed great part of that Book to tax my Lord Primates Opinions and Actions as differing from the Church of England only to lessen the Esteem and Veneration which he deservedly had with all those who loved the King and Church of England as also to maintain those old Stories broached before concerning the repeal of the Irish Articles and the Death of the Earl of Strafford to which last particulars I need say no more than what I have already spoken in the Lord Primate's Vindication and as to the former relating to my Lord's Opinions and Actions a near Relation of the Lord Primate's has I hope vindicated him sufficiently in an Appendix at the end of this Account so that I shall concern my self no farther therewith I have now no more to do than to give you a short account of his Opinions in some of the most difficult parts of Learning with some Observations which either my self or others that convers'd with him can remember we have received from him by way of discourse though not the Twentieth part of what might have been retrieved in this kind had this task been undertaken many years agone whilst these things were fresh in our memories and whilst many more of his learned friends were alive who must needs have received divers learned remarks from his excellent conversation As for the Lord Primate's Opinions in Critical Learning it is very well known as well by his Discourse as Writings that he still defended the certainty and purity of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament before the Translation of the Septuagint since he doubted whether this we have were the true Translation of the LXX or not as you may see in his Epistle to Valesius and his Answer thereunto which controversie as it is a subject above my capacity to give a Judgment on having exercised as it still does both the Wits and Pens of the greatest Scholars in this present Age So I heartily wish That it may never tend to the disadvantage not only of our own but indeed of the whole Christian Religion with Prophane and Sceptical men for whilst one Party decry the Hebrew Text as obscure and corrupted by the Jews and the other side shew the failings and mistakes of the Greek Translation sufficient to prove that it was not performed by men Divinely Inspired it gives the Weak and more Prophane sort of Readers occasion to doubt of the Divine Authority of these Sacred Records though notwithstanding all the differences that have hitherto been shown between the Hebrew Original and Greek Translation do not God be thanked prove of greater moment than
Primis Haereticis Haeresibus Judaeorum Annotationes Rabbinicae ex Scriptis Rabbinorum eorum Scarae Scripturae Interpretum Imperatorum Christianorum à Constantino magno usque ad Justinianum Constitutiones Epistolae collectae recensitae Veterum Anglo-Saxorum Monumenta Anglo-Saxonicarum Epistolarum Sylloge ex variis Manuscriptis Epistolae Alcuini variae ad diversos Missae ineditae in Bibliothecâ Cottonianâ Manuscriptis collectae recensitae Epistolae venerabilis Archiepiscop Lanfranci ad diversos Missae ex antiquissimo exemplari Bibliothecae Cottonianae collectae recensitae Collectiones Genealogicae Historicae Mathematicae Astrologicae Chronologicae Theologicae variae de quibus passim judicium fertur Memorandum THat out of the forementioned Manuscripts the Incomparable Sir Math. Hale late Lord Chief Justice having borrowed them extracted those four Volumes which he calls Chronological Remembrances extracted out of thë Notes of Bishop Usher mentioned in the Catalogue of his Manuscripts which he Left to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn Besides those Manuscripts above cited the Primate Usher had Written his Polemical Lectures in the University of Dublin while professor there touching the Points in Controversie between the Protestants and Pontificians 3 Volumes 4 to Lost His Lectures pro formâ when he commenced Dr. of Divinity touching the 70 Weeks Dan. 9. 24. and de Mille Annis mentioned Apocal. 20. 4. Lost His Treatise of the Hermage and Corban Lands in England and Ireland yet to be seen in Bibliothecâ Lambethianâ His Collections and Observations touching the Advancement and Restauration of our Northern Antiquities in the Gothick Anglo-Saxonick and the like obscure Languages and also concerning the Doxology found in the very Ancient Gospels in Gothick His Numerous Epistles Latin and English touching matters of Learning and Religion many of them now Printed in Collection with others An APPENDIX to the Life of the Lord Primate USHER containing a vindication of his Opinions and Actions in reference to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England and his Conformity thereunto from the Aspersions of Peter Heylin D. D. in his Pamphlet called Respondet Petrus FInding that Dr. Heylin hath taken the pains to write this Book on purpose to callumniate and asperse the Lord Primates Memory and arraign his Opinions and Actions as not conformable to the Doctrines of the Church of England I cannot well omit to consider what that Author hath there laid to his charge how justly I shall leave to the impartial Reader to judg for I hope I shall make it appear that what the Lord Primate hath either publish'd or written in private Letters on those Subjects was on very good grounds and such as may very well be defended as agreeable to the Sence and Doctrine of our Church contained in the 39 Articles Or if after all I can say the Reader shall happen to think otherwise I desire him not to censure too hardly but to pass it by since such difference if any be was not in the fundamental Doctrines of our Religion but only some Points of lesser moment or in which the Church it self has not tied men either to this or that sence and that the Lord Primate held these Opinions not out of contradiction or singularity but only because he thought them more agreeable to Scripture and Reason tho in most of them I doubt not but to shew that the Doctor has stretched the Lord Primate's words farther than ever his own sence and meaning was But to come to the Points in which the Doctor hath made bold to question his Judgment the first is his Opinion of the Divine Morality of the Sabbath or Seventh days rest asserted by him in two several Letters published tho perhaps not so prudently with those private reflections by Dr. Bernard in which Controversy whether the Authorities made use of by the Lord Primate out of the Fathers and other Writers do not make out the Assertion by him laid down or whether the Doctor has fairly and ingenuously answered those Quotations he cites in those Letters I shall not here take upon me to examine but shall observe thus much That as it is a Doctrine held by some of the Fathers as also maintained by divers learned Divines and Bishops of our Church and therefore could not be so Puritanical as the Doctor would have it especially since the Lord Primate thought that he had the Church of England on his side as she hath declared her sence of this matter in the first part of the Homily of the time and place of Prayer viz. God hath given express charge to all Men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they shall cease from all weekly and work-day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six days and rested the seventh and blessed and consecrated it to quietness and rest from labour even so God's obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily business and also give themselves wholly to the heavenly exercise of God's true Religion and Service Which passage being expresly in the point of my Lord Primat's side the Sabbath day mentioned in the fourth Commandment being there called our Sunday and the same reason laid down for its observation viz. because God had rested on the seventh day c. The Doctor has no way to oppose this so express Authority but to make if possible this Homily to contradict it self and therefore he produces another passage just preceding in this Homily as making for his Opinion which that you may judge whether it does so or no I shall put down the passage as he himself hath cited it with his Conclusions from it and shall then further examine whether it makes so much of his side as he would have it viz. As concerning the time in which God hath appointed his People to assemble together solemnly it doth appear by the fourth Commandment c. And albeit this Commandment of God doth not bind Christian People so strictly to observe and keep the utter Ceremonies of the Sabbath day as it was given unto the Jews as touching the forbearing of work and labour and as touching the precise keeping of the seventh day after the manner of the Jews for we keep now the first day which is our Sunday and make that our Sabbath that is our day of rest in honour of our Saviour Christ who upon that day rose from death conquering the same most triumphantly yet notwithstanding whatsoever is found in the Commandment appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needful for the setting forth of God's Glory ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian People So that it being thus resolved that there is no more of the fourth Commandment to be retained by good Christian People than what is found appertaining to the Law of Nature and that the Law of Nature doth not tie us to one day in seven
in very deed by God's faithful People By which it seems it is agreed on both sides that is to say the Church of England and the Church of Rome that there is a true and real Presence of Christ in the holy Eucharist the disagreement being only in the modus Praesentiae But on the contrary the Ld Primat in his Answer to the Jesuit's Challenge hath written one whole Chapter against the real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament In which tho he would seem to aim at the Church of Rome tho by that Church not only the real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament but the corporal eating of his Body is maintained and taught yet doth he strike obliquely and on the by on the Church of England All that he doth allow concerning the real Presence is no more than this viz. That in the receiving of the blessed Sacrament we are to distinguish between the outward and the inward action of the Communicant In the outward with our bodily mouth we receive really the visible Elements of Bread and Wine in the inward we do by Faith really receive the Body and Blood of our Lord that is to say we are truly and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified to the spiritual strengthning of our inward man Which is no more than any Calvinist will stick to say But now after all these hard words the Doctor has here bestowed upon my Lord Primat part of which I omit I think I can without much difficulty make it appear that all this grievous Accusation of the Doctor 's is nothing but a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strife about words and that the Lord Primat held and believed this Doctrine in the same sence with the Church of England 1. Then the 29th Article of our Church disavows all Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord. The second asserts that the Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner and that the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith And now I will leave it to the unprejudiced Reader to judge whether the Lord Primat's way of explaining this Sacrament according to the passage before cited by the Doctor does differ in sence from these Articles however it may somewhat in words as coming nearer the Articles in Ireland which the Bishop when he writ this Book had alone subscribed to and was bound to maintain for I think no true Son of the Church of England will deny that in this Sacrament they still really receive the visible Elements of Bread and Wine 2. That in the inward and spiritual action we really receive the Body and Blood of our Lord as the Lord Primat has before laid down But perhaps it will be said That the Lord Primat goes further in this Article than the Church of England does and takes upon him to explain in what sence we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord and that otherwise than the Church of England does he explaining it thus that is to say We are truly and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified to the spiritual strengthning of our inward man whereas the Church of England declares that the Body of Christ is eaten only after a heavenly and spiritual manner yet still maintains the Body of Christ to be eaten whereas the Lord Primat only says that we are truly and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified but does not say as the Article of our Church does that we are therein partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ. But I desire the Objector to consider whether the Explanation of our Church does not amount to the same thing in effect that saying that the Body of Christ is eaten in the Supper after a heavenly and spiritual manner and the Lord Primat that we are truly and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified viz. after a spiritual and not a carnal manner But perhaps the Doctor 's Friends may still object that the Lord Primat does not express this Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Sacrament as Bp. Bilson and Bp. Morton assert the former saying that Christ's Flesh and Blood are truly present and truly received by the Faithful in the Sacrament and the latter expresly owning a real Presence therein And Bp. Andrews in his Apology to Cardinal Bellarmine thus declares himself viz. Praesentiam credimus non minus quam vos veram de modo praesentiae nil timerè definimus Which the Doctor renders thus We acknowledg saith he a presence as true and real as you do but we determine nothing rashly of the manner of it And the Church Catechism above cited as also the Latin Catechism of Mr. Noel confess the Body and Blood of our Lord are truly and indeed or as the Latin Translation renders it verè realiter taken and received in the Lord's Supper Which the Lord Primat does not affirm I know not what such Men would have The Lord Primat asserts that we do by Faith really receive the Body and Blood of Christ and that in the same sence with Mr. Noel's Catechism and the Article of the Church viz. that Christ's Body is received after a spiritual and heavenly manner Which was added to exclude any real presence as taken in a carnal or bodily sence So that our Church does in this Article explain the manner of the Presence notwithstanding what Bp. Andrews says to the contrary Nor know I what they can here further mean by a real Presence unless a carnal one which indeed the Church of England at the first Reformation thought to be all one with the real as appears by these words in the first Articles of Religion agreed on in the Convocation 1552 Anno 5. Edw. 6. It becometh not any of the Faithful to believe or profess that there is a Real or Corporal Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the holy Eucharist And that our Church did likewise at the first passing the 39 Articles in Convocation Anno 1562 likewise disallow any Real Presence taken in a carnal sence Christ's Body being always in Heaven at the right hand of God and therefore cannot be in more places than one appears by the original of those Articles to be seen in the Library of Corpus Christi Colledg in Cambridg where tho this passage against a Real or Corporal Presence which they then thought to be all one are dash'd over with red Ink yet so as it is still legible therefore it may not be amiss to give you Dr. Burnet's Reasons in his 2d part of the History of the Reformation p. 406 for the doing of it The secret of it was this The Queen and her Council studied to unite all into the Communion of the Church and it was alledged that such an express Definition against a Real Presence might drive from the Church many who were still of
that passage be left out of the present Article according as it passed in the Convocation of the Year 1562 yet cannot it be used as an Argument to prove that the Church hath altered her Judgment in that Point as some Men would have it that passage being left out for these Reasons following For first that passage was conceived to make the Article too inclinable to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome which makes the chief end of Christ's descent into Hell to be the fetching thence the Souls of the Fathers who died before and under the Law And secondly because it was conceived by some Learned Men that the Text was capable of some other construction than to be used for an Argument of this Descent The Judgment of the Church continues still the same as before it was and is as plain and positive for a Local Descent as ever she had not else left this Article in the same place in which she found it or given it the same distinct Title as before it had viz. De Descensu Christi ad Inferos in the Latin Copies of King Edward the 6th that is to say Of the going down of Christ into Hell as in the English Copies of Queen Elizabeth's Reign Nor indeed was there any reason why this Article should have any distinct place or title at all unless the maintenance of a Local Descent were intended by it For having spoken in the former Article of Christ's Suffering Crucifying Death and Burial it had been a very great Impertinency not to call it worse to make a distinct Article of his descending into Hell if to descend into Hell did signifie the same with this being buried as some Men then fancied or that there were not in it some further meaning which might deserve a place distinct from his Death and Burial The Article speaking thus viz. as Christ died for us and was buried so is it to be believed that he went down into Hell is either to be understood of a Local Descent or else we are tied to believe nothing by it but what was explicitly or implicitly comprehended in the former Article And lastly That Mr. Alex. Noel before mentioned who being Prolocutor of the Convocation in the Year 1562 when this Article was disputed approved and ratified cannot in reason be supposed to be ignorant of the true sence and meaning of this Church in that particular And he in his Catechism above mentioned declares that Christ descended in his Body into the bowels of the Earth and in his Soul separated from that Body he descended also into Hell by means whereof the power and efficacy of his Death was not made known only to the Dead but the Devils themselves insomuch that both the Souls of the Unbelievers did sensibly perceive that Condemnation which was most justly due to them for their Incredulity and Satan himself the Prince of Devils did as plainly see that his tyranny and all the Powers of Darkness were opprest ruined and destroyed But on the contrary the L. Primat allows not any such Local Descent as is maintained by the Church and defended by the most learned Members of it who have left us any thing in writing about this Article And yet he neither followeth the Opinion of Calvin himself nor of the generality of those of the Calvinian Party who herein differ from their Master but goes a new way of a later discovery in which although he had few Leaders he hath found many Followers By Christ's descending into Hell he would have nothing else to be understood but his continuing in the state of separation between the Body and the Soul his remaining under the power of Death during the time he lay buried in the Grave which is no more in effect tho it differ somewhat in the terms than to say that he died and was buried and rose not till the third day as the Creed instructs us In vindication of the Lord Primat's Judgment in the sence of this Article I shall lay down some previous Considerations to excuse him if perhaps he differed from the sence of the Church of England in this Article if it should appear that it ought to be understood in a strict and literal sence For first you must understand that this Article of Christ's Descent into Hell is not inserted amongst the Articles of the Church of Ireland which were the Confession of Faith of that Church when the Lord Primat writ this Answer to the Jesuit the Articles of the Church of England amongst which this of Christ's Descent into Hell is one not being received by the Church of Ireland till the Year 1634 ten years after the publishing of this Book so that he could not be accused for differing from those Articles which he was not then obliged to receive or subscribe to 2dly Had this Article been then inserted and expressed in the very same words as it is in those of the Church of England could he be accused of being Heterodox for not understanding it as the Doctor does of a Local Descent of Christ's Soul into Hell or the places of Torment since the Church of England is so modest as only to assert that it is to be believed that he went down into Hell without specifying in what sence she understand it For as the Lord Primat very learnedly proves in this Treatise the word Hell in old Saxon signifies no more than hidden or covered so that in the original propriety of the word our Hell doth exactly answer the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place which is unseen or removed from the sight of man So that the word Hell signifies the same with Hades in the Greek and Inferi in the Latin Concerning which St. Augustin gives us this Note The name of Hell in Latin Inferi is variously put in Scriptures and in many meanings according as the sence of the things which are intreated of do require And Mr. Casaubon who understood the property of Greek and Latin words as well as any this other They who think that Hades is properly the seat of the Damned be no less deceived than they who when they reade Inferos in Latin Writers do interpret it of the same place Whereupon the Lord Primat proceeds to shew That by Hell in divers places of Scripture is not to be understood the place of the Wicked or Damned but of the Dead in general as in Psal. 89. 48. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of Hell And Esa. 38. 18 19. Hell cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The Living the Living he shall praise thee as I do this day Where the opposition betwixt Hell and the state of Life in this World is to be observed Therefore since the word Hell does not necessarily imply a place of Torment either in Scriptures or
Arbitrary Innovations not within the compass of the Rule and Order of the Book of Common-prayer and that he did not take upon him to introduce any Rite or Ceremony upon his own Opinion of Decency till the Church had judged it so p. 147. What the Lord Primat's behaviour was in England in relation to some of these Ceremonies of lesser moment either to the peace or well-being of the Church the Lord Primat needs no Apology he having reason enough for what he did if he conformed himself no further than the Doctor would have him But to give one Instance for all of the Doctor 's want of Charity towards the Lord Primat Dr. Bernard having asserted his Conformity to the Discipline Liturgy and Articles of the Church of England and that many of those who were called Puritans received such satisfaction from him as to concur with him in the above-said particulars The Doctor immediatly makes this Remark For this says he might very well be done and yet the Men remain as unconformable to the Rules of the Church their Kneeling at the Communion only excepted as they were before Now what other Rules of the Church the Doctor means I know not since I always thought that whoever had brought over a Lay-Nonconformist to conform to the Service and Orders of the Church had done a very good work and I know not when that is done what is required more to make him a true Son of the Church of England But I shall say no more on this ungrateful Subject since I doubt not but the Lord Primat's great Esteem and Reputation is too deep rooted in the hearts of all Good Men to be at all lessened by the Doctor 's hard Reflections tho I thought I could do no less than vindicate the Memory of so pious a Prelate since many ordinary Readers who were not acquainted with this good Bishop or his Writings may think Dr. H. had cause thus to find fault with him So avoiding all invidious Reflections upon the Reverend Doctor long since deceased I shall now conclude heartily wishing that whatever he hath written or published had never done any more prejudice to that Church which he undertook to serve than any of those Writings or Opinions of the Lord Primat's which he so much finds fault with FINIS A COLLECTION Of Three Hundred LETTERS Written between the Most Reverend Father in GOD JAMES USHER Late Lord Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH and most of the Eminentest Persons for PIETY and LEARNING in his Time both in ENGLAND and beyond the SEAS Collected and Published From Original Copies under their own Hands by RICHARD PARR D. D. his Lordships Chaplain at the Time of his Death with whom the Care of all his Papers were intrusted by his Lordship LONDON Printed for NATHANAEL RANEW at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVI THE CONTENTS LETTER I. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Richard Stanihurst at the English Colledge in Lovain Page 1. II. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. William Eyres 2 III. A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Mr. James Usher 3 IV. A Letter from Mr. Henry Briggs to Mr. James Usher 11 V. A Letter from Mr. Thomas Lydiat to Mr. James Usher 13 VI. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 14 VII A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 15 VIII A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Dr. Challoner 16 IX A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr. James Usher 17 X. A Letter from Mr. James Usher to Mr. Samuel Ward 18 XI A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr James Usher 22 XII A Letter from Mr. Alexander Cook to Mr. James Usher 32 XIII A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr. James Usher 33 XIV A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Mr. James Usher 34 XV. A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Mr. James Usher 34 XVI A Letter from Mr. Henry Briggs to Mr. James Usher 35 XVII A Letter from the Most Reverend Tobias Matthews Arch-Bishop of York to Mr. James Usher 36 XVIII A Letter from Mr. Thomas Gataker to Mr. James Usher 37 XIX A Letter from Mr. Robert Usher to Dr. James Usher 38 XX. A Letter from Mr. Thomas Lydiat to Dr. James Usher 39 XXI A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 43 XXII A Letter from Dr. James Usher concerning the Death and Satisfaction of Christ. 46 XXIII An Answer to some Objections against the said Letter by Dr. James Usher 49 XXIV A Letter from Sr. Henry Bourgchier to Dr. James Usher 53 XXV A Letter from Mr. William Crashaw to Dr. James Usher 55 XXVI A Letter from Mr. Thomas Gataker to Dr. James Usher 56 XXVII A Letter from Mr. Thomas Lydiat to Dr. James Usher 57 XXVIII A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Dr. James Usher 59 XXIX A Letter from Mr. James Warren to Dr. James Usher 60 XXX A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 60 XXXI A Letter from Sr. Henry Bourgchier to Dr. James Usher 61 XXXII A Letter from Mr. William Eyres to Dr. James Usher 62 XXXIII A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. William Camden 63 XXXIV A Letter from Mr. William Camden to Dr. James Usher 65 XXXV A Letter from Mr. Thomas Warren to Dr. James Usher 66 XXXVI A Letter from the Right Reverend Thomas Morton Bishop of Chester to Dr. James Usher 67 XXXVII A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Dr. James Usher 67 XXXVIII A Letter from Dr. James Usher to Mr. Thomas Lydiat 68 XXXIX A Letter from Dr. James Usher 71 XL. A Letter from Mr. Edward Browncker to Dr. James Usher 72 XLI A Letter from Dr. James Usher Bishop Elect of Meath to the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh 73 XLII A Letter from the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 75 XLIII A Letter from Mr. Thomas Gataker to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 76 XLIV A Letter from Sir William Boswell to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 77 XLV A Letter from Sir Henry Spelman to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 78 XLVI A Letter from Mr. John Selden to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 78 XLVII A Letter from Sir Robert Cotton to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 79 XLVIII A Letter from Sir Henry Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 80 XLIX A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Mr. John Selden 81 L. A Letter from Dr. Samuel Ward to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 81 LI. A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Oliver Lord Grandison 83 LII A Letter from the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath 84 LIII A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Dr. Samuel Ward 85
due time the Clouds and Mists of errors being dispersed and vanished it will shine forth as bright as the clear Sun at Noontyde As touching the Books you wrote for I told this Messenger that I meant to send them and therefore I appointed him to call for them together with my Letter this Day But since I have altered my purpose not envying you the sight of them but expecting your coming into England ere long as of custom once within three or four years at which time I shall be glad to shew you them and to confer them together with your Ptolemy's Canons In the mean time if you have any more urgent occasion of desiring to be resolved of any thing in them do but acquaint me with your purpose what you would prove out of them and I will truly give my best diligence to â—â—â— what may be found in them for the same and so save you that Labour on seeking which I suppose you may better bestow otherwise and so I trust I shall deserve better of you than if I sent you the Books Thus desiring your daily Prayers as you have mine for Gods blessing to bend our Studies to the best ends and make them most profitable to the setting forth of his glory and the good of his Church and of our Countries I take leave of you for this time resting Yours to be commanded in all Christian duties Thomas Lydyan 〈◊〉 July 8 1617. LETTER XXVIII Mr. William Eyres Letter to Dr. James Usher afterward Arch-Bishop of Armagh Eximio Doctori Domino Jacobo Usserio Guilielmus Eyre S. P. D. Praestantissime Domine FAteor me tibi plus debere quà m verbis exprimere possim etiamsi centiès ad te quotannis literas darem idque non solùm propter privatae benevolentiae erga me tuae fructus uberrimos sed etiam ob magnitudinem tuorum erga nos omnes qui Theologiae studiosi sumus meritorum Macte virtute tua faxitque Christus Opt. Max. cujus sub vexillo militamus ut Scripta tua polemica cedant in nominis sui gloriam Antichristi interitum quo de in Sibyllinus memini me legisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod de scriptis doctissimorum Virorum quidam interpretantur Nos hic plerique omnes ut opinor preces fundimus dum vos sive gubernatores sive nautae vel clavum tenetis vel per foros cursitatis c. navali praelio dimicatis preces lachrymae arma nunquam magis necessaria fuerunt quà m in hac in exulceratissima tempestate omnium pessimâ morum corruptelâ Serenissimus Rex noster Jacobus jam denuò collegium illud Chelseiense prope Londinum Theologorum Gratia qui controversiis dent operam adornare locupletare coepit Matthaeus Sutlivius ea in re nullum lapidem immotum relinquit Quid fiet nescio Res agitur per Regias literas ad Episcopos apud Clerum eorum operâ apud subditos ditiores ut opus tandem perficiatur Forsan majora adhuc à vobis in Dubliniensi Collegio quà m ab illis Chelseiensibus expectare possumus quamdiù vivit acviget amicus ille meus de quo Draxus quidam nostras in libello nuper edito lumen illud Irlandiae in Academia Dubliniensi Professor regius Theologus tam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut sive scripta sive disputationem requiras idoneus est qui cum tota Papistarum natione concertet Sed quid ego haec autem ne quicquam ingrata revolvo Me quod atinet ita nuper praesertim per integrum annum novissime elapsum eo plus secularibus negotiis quotidianis contra genium voluntatem meam concionibus ad populum nimis ut videtur frequentibus quasi demersus fuerim ut nihil in Hebraicis quaestionibus me posse videar atque in quibusdam absque te quem pure indigitare possim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita haeret aqua ut ulterius progredi non liceat fas sit igitur mihi Oraculum tuum consulere limatissimum judicium tuum expiscari Nolo tamen in hoc tempore diutiùs te interpellare Gratulor tibi ex animo purpuram tuam costam illam quam tibi Deus restituit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cura Valetudinem Gratia Jesu Christi sit cum omnibus vobis Amen G. Eyres Colcestriae 170 die Augusti 1617. LETTER XXIX A Letter from Mr. Edward Warren to Dr. James Usher afterwards Arch-Bishop of Armagh at St. Patricks Reverend Sir THat the Beast which was and is not and yet is should be Romanus Pontifex I like your Conjecture very well and the Ground seems to me firm and such as I may tread safely on And that which you quote out of Dionys. Halicarnas touching his Immunity brought me to consider better of his Office and Authority set down by Livy lib. 1. Caetera quoque omnia publica privataque sacra pontificis scitis subjecit Numa ut esset quò consultum Plebs veniret ne quid divini juris negligendo patrios ritus peregrinósque asciscendo turbaretur Which in my conceit is some Resemblance of that Head-ship which the latter Pontifex now challengeth to himself In the other Part I take all to be clear save only that I stick somewhat at the Accommodation of those Words pag. 10. That when he cometh he shall continue but a short Space I heartily thank you that for my satisfaction you have taken so much Pains Your poor Friend Edward Warren Kilkenny Novemb. 4. 1617. The God of Peace be with you Usserii notae Of Pontifex Maximus see Plutarch in Vitâ Numae Ciceronem in orat pro domo apud Pont. et de aruspic Resp. Val. Max. lib. 1. cap. 1. Georg. Fabrice observat lect Virgil. Aenead 6. Insolentia superbia eorum abiit in Proverbium Horat. Od. 2. 14. Mero Tinget pavimentum superbo Pontificum potiore Coenis Vid. loc ubi Interpres not at proelautas coenas Proverbio Pontificales appellari solitas Exemplum hujus Coenae vide in Macrobio lib. 2. Saturnal cap. 9. LETTER XXX A Letter from Dr. James Usher afterwards Arch-Bishop of Armagh to Mr. Thomas Lydyat Rector of Askerton in Oxford-shire Salutem in Christo. AS I was now going out of the House I met with Robert Allen who told me he was to go presently for England and required my Letters unto you I have nothing that upon this sudden I can well write of but the renewing of my former Request for those two Books which I wrote for in my two former Letters And therefore according to the Form which our Canonists use in their Court Proceedings Peto primò secundò tertio instantèr instantiùs instantissimè That you will let me have the use of your Geminus and Albategnius which shall God willing be returned unto you as safely and as speedily as you shall desire which I hope you will the rather condescend unto because I have no purpose to see England these many
your learned Treatise De Christianarum Ecclesiarum Successione But such hath been your happy industry therein that I have little hope to add any thing and less to observe any mistaking Thus with my salutations to your good self and my respectful love remembred to Sir Arthur Savage I rest Your true and devoted Friend William Camden Chesilhurst July 10. 1618. LETTER XXXV A Letter from Mr. Thomas Warren to Dr. James Usher after Arch-Bishop of Armagh Sir I Have read carefully what Arminius hath written De justitia efficacia providentiae Dei in malo Yet in that I read him for especially he leaves me as doubtful as he found me For where he saith Quum soepenumero futurum sit ut creatura non omnino in malo obdurata actum quia peccato junctus sit patrare nolit nisi argumentis quibusdam occasionibus quae velut incitamenta sint ad illum patrandum objectis istius quoque objectionis administratio penes Dei providentiam est qui irritamenta ista objicit In these words if I mistake him not he will have it That God casts Stumbling-blocks in the way of them that of themselves would have gone upright of purpose to provoke them to do evil which taken together with his foreknowledge of the event in my apprehension seems very harsh and flat contrary to the Scripture Jam. 1. 13. Indeed if God foreseeing both what arguments and occasions inciting unto sin would by ordinary course of Nature or free-will come in the way of him that for the present meant no such evil and likewise that unless his Providence hindered he would be thereby overcome I say if God foreseeing all this should with-hold his preventing interposition it were no more than bare permission the justice whereof cannot be called in question And if this seem too little it might haply be farther granted istius objectionis administrationem penes Dei providentiam esse to use his own words though I cannot think what bounds are thereunto due but that he should irritamenta ista objicere cum creatura actum peccato junctum ex se patrare nolit It seems to me very hard to grant and he as hardly to maintain the justice of it pag. 102. 114. But of the extent and justice of his Administration in this point I would your leisure served to send me your opinion you shall both pleasure me and do God service in it So commending you to his Protection and Grace I rest and shall be Ever at Your Service Edward Warren Kilkenny Sept. 1. 1610. I have sent you Arminius by this Bearer James Congame LETTER XXXVI A Letter from the Right Reverend Thomas Morton Bishop of Chester to Dr. James Usher late Arch-Bishop of Armagh Salutem in Christo Jesu Sir I Do heartily thank you for your double pains in writing which is your kindness beyond any single desert of my part and I must twice thank you for the young Batchelor who hath approved himself since his coming hither to be indeed very commendable Your manifold Imployments specified in your Letters will not suffer me to be too large in these of mine lest I might morari tua tempora Truly I cannot but admire your exceeding pains and bless God for his Graces in you The Synod in the low Countries is held at Dort the most of their Suffragators are already Assembled the manner of their proceedings is methodically ordered the Remonstrants excepting some few do exempt themselves I think to hold universal grace quoad revelationem negativè as importing that no Soul can be said particularly to be excluded may sufficiently qualifie the violence of oppositions I shall long to see you with me that I may enjoy the comfort of your presence I pray you if it be possible satisfie my desire In the interim and always I pray our Lord Jesus to preserve us to the glory of his Saving Grace and rest Your loving Friend Tho. Cestrensis Chester Decemb. 15. 1618. LETTER XXXVII A Letter from Mr. Samuel Ward to Dr. James Usher at Dublin Good Mr. Dr. Usher MY kindest salutations premised These are to signifie unto you That I received at Dort the Letter you sent me though a long time after the date As touching the Additions and Corrections which J. Scaliger left with Gomarus I understand by him that they shall shortly be published He hath delivered them to a Printer at Leyden who is to print them The Additions are many as he telleth me almost as many as are already set forth Chamierus was not at the Synod and I cannot learn whether any such ancient Writings of the Albigenses were left with him As for that which you desired to be transcribed out of Paulus Alexandrinus concerning the method of the Alexandrian Year I being at Leyden after the Synod was desirous to have spoken with Meursius but enquiring for him of Mr. Joannes Latius one of our Synod he told me he would go to Meursius and transcribe it and send it me into England for he thought it not seasonable to go to him that day being the day of Bernevelt's Execution whose Sons Meursius had been Tutor unto When I receive the Transcript from Latius I will send it you It may be you will be desirous to know the remarkable passages of the Synod which will be shortly published both the Acts and the Canons concluded upon touching the five Articles We had somewhat to do when we came to frame Canons with the Provincials and some of the Exteri touching some points especially touching the second Article Some of us were held by some half Remonstrants for extending the Oblation made to the Father to all and for holding sundry effects thereof offered seriò and some really communicated to the reprobate I had somewhat to do with a principal man touching this point somewhat passed in writing between us privately We were careful that nothing should be defined which might gainsay the Confession of the Church of England which was effected for that they were desirous to have all things in the Canons defined unanimi consensu We foreign Divines after the Subscription of the Canons and a general approbation of the Belgick Confession and Catechism which is the Palatine's as containing no Dogmata repugnant to the Word of God and a Decree against Vorstius's Doctrine chiefly that in his Book De Deo were dismissed In our approbation of the Belgick Confession our consent was only asked for Doctrinals not for matters touching Discipline We had a solemn parting in the Synod and all was concluded with a solemn Feast This was upon Thursday April 29. The Saturday we went to the Hague to take our leaves of the States General where we resolved while our Ship was made ready to see Leyden Amsterdam and Harlem which we did the week following Upon the Monday we purposing to go for Leyden early in the morning were informed that Bernevelt was to lose his head that morning which was executed Upon the tenth
to God and Honour to our King Thus fearing that I have troubled your Lordship with a slender Discourse humbly take my leave beseeching the Lord of Lords to multiply his Graces upon you recommending you with all yours to God's Grace and Mercy rest Your Lordship 's in all Duty to command Thomas Davies Aleppo 29th September 1624. LETTER LXXII A Letter from Sir H. Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Lord Bishop of Meath My very good Lord I Received your Lordship's Letter for which I return many thanks My Journy into Ireland is of such necessity that I cannot defer it long though I have many motives besides those mentioned by your Lordship to urge my stay As for the Books which you mention I find Jordanus in vitas Fratrum in the Catalogue of the Publick Library at Oxford Mr. Selden told me he never heard of the Author if any Library about London have it or that other Work of his I will endeavour to discover them As for the new Edition of Sealiger de Emendat Temporum as many as I speak withal are of opinion that it is so far from coming out that it is not yet come in to the Press Here are already come two Dry-fats of Mart Books and they expect but one more you may perceive by the Catalogue what they are Here will be very shortly some good Libraries to be had as Dr. Dee's which hath been long litigious and by that means unsold One Oliver a Physician of St. Edmundsbury of whose writing I have seen some Mathematical Tracts printed and Dr. Crakanthorp are lately dead If there be any extraordinary Books which your Lordship affects if you will be pleased to send a note of them they shall be bought Such News as we have you receive so frequently as coming from me they would be stale which you know destroys their very Essence We have had Bonfires Ringing Shouting and also Ballads and base Epithalamiums for the conclusion of the French Marriage and yet I am but modicae fidei Our Country-man Florence Mr. Carthye was committed to the Tower some five days since And thus remembring my best Affection to your Lordship and Mrs. Usher I will remain Your Lordship 's very affectionate Friend and Servant Henry Bourgchier London in haste Novemb. 24. 1624. LETTER LXXIII A Letter from Dr. Ward to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath at Much-Haddam in Essex My very good Lord IT was my purpose to have come to visit your Lordship at Haddam to morrow but the truth is upon Thusday last before I came out of Cambridg I was made acquainted with a business which will occasion my return to Cambridg to morrow I notwithstanding brought with me the Manuscripts of Bedes Ecclesiastical Story which I have of Sir R. Cotton's and have sent it unto you by this Bearer Walter Mark I will expect the Book from you when you have done with it for that I would keep it till Sir Robert restore a Book of mine which he had of Mr. Patrick Young I had purposed to have borrowed also out of our University Library Simeon Dunelmensis but I find that I am deceived in that I thought it had been his History or Chronicle but it is only the History of the Church of Durham and of the Endowments of that Church and not his History of England And thus sorry that my occasions will not suffer me to see your Lordship this time and with my kind Salutations to Sir Gerard Harvy and his Lady with Thanks for my kind Entertainment when I was there I commend you to the gracious Protection of the highest Majesty Your Lordship 's in all observance Samuel Ward Much-Mondon Jan. 2. 1624. LETTER LXXIV A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath to Dr. Samuel Ward Good Mr. Doctor I Received by W. Marks your Ancient Bede which I suppose did sometime belong to the Church of Durham As soon as I have compared it with the printed Book I will not fail God willing to send it you safe back again As for Simeon Dunelmensis his History of the Church of Durham which is in the publick Library of your University I would intreat you to borrow it for me however it hath not proved to be the Chronicle which I at first desired for I have a great mind to see and transcribe all that hath been written by Simeon and Turgotus Dunelmensis Turgotus I hear is with Mr. Tho. Allen of Oxford and if my memory do not much deceive me at my being in England the last time before this you told me that you had begun to transcribe the Annals of Simeon Dunelmensis which continue the History of Bede I pray you if you know where those Annals may be had do your best to help me unto them I could wish that Mr. Lisle would take some pains in translating the Saxon Annals into our English Tongue for I do not know how he can more profitably imploy that Skill which God hath given to him in that Language If I had any opportunity to speak with him my self I would direct him to five or six Annals of this kind three of which belonging to Sir Rober Cotton I have in my hands at this present our of which there might be one perfect Annal made up in the English Tongue which might unfold unto us the full State of the Saxon Times But how that Gentleman's Mind stands affected that way I know not the feeling of his Mind therein I leave to you And so commending all your good Endeavours to the Blessing of our good God I rest Your most assured Friend Ja. Mid. Much-Haddam Jan. 4. 1624. LETTER LXXV A Letter from Sir H. Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath My very good Lord I Received your Lordship's Letter which was must wellcome to me and much more the News of your Recovery which was deliver'd to me by Mr. Burnet and by me to some others of your Friends who were no less glad than my self I am afraid that you converse too much with your Books I need not tell you the danger of a Relapse This News which I sent your Lordship deserved not Thanks because vulgar and trivial that of the Death of Erpenius is but too true and is much lamented by learned Men in all places for the cause by your Lordship truly expressed he died of the Plague Mr. Briggs was gone from London some three days before the Receipt of your Lordship's Letter But I will write to him that which I should have delivered by word of Mouth if he had tarried here In the collating of Books your Lordship hath made a good choice that being a fit study in time of Sickness as not so much imploying the Mind as other Studies As for Bede I doubt the Collation of him will be scarce worth your labour For as far as I went they seemed rather to be variantes lectiones than material Differences a very few excepted To make use
so many oppose so falsly and so impudently I have written to his Grace by his Chaplains for helps necessary for the forwarding so great a Work as the Visibility and perpetual Succession of the Church There shall come nothing forth till I have viewed by my self or others under a publick Notaries hands all the Testimonies that do result out of the Manuscripts and printed Books of Papists But what can I poor weak Man do unless my Lord of Canterbury command Help and command Books and all things necessary to so great and requisite a Work which being well done will-serve to close up the Mouths of our deceived Papists This Question if I conceive aright is set afoot politickly by our Adversaries the Papists by especial Advice from Rome for it is plausible amongst the People and vulgar sort and impossible to be answered by every one but be it as it may I have willingly offered to answer one Smith a Lincolnshire-Man who insults upon us in the close of his Book in these words And if now they endeavour to answer them his Reasons it will yet more appear that they can no way answer them and that this kind of dealing with Protestants in matters of Fact out of their own Confessions is the fittest to stop all Mouths Upon occasion of these words I will make bold to write somewhat concerning this matter both to divert our Papists to other matters of Fact wherein they have hitherto declined the Question about the Controversie of their Bibles I mean of Sixtus and Clemens impossible to be answered I have heard their best Reasons about the number of the bastard Treatises which as false Writers have put them into Possession of their false Religion which amount unto five hundred reckoning none but such as are both condemned by some and urged by others as learned Papists touching the corrupting of all Authors and Records in all Ages both in their several Indices Expurgatorii and without especially of their Decretals and Gratian wherein the Soul and Life of Popery consists For the Decretals I have lighted upon a Manuscript that I trust to a clear eye will make the matter indubious and by the sight of this Manuscript which contains them not at large there are such Absurdities contain'd in them as I shame either in modesty as of Mice Turds in the Eucharist or in Grammar Epscopi si in fide erraverit are to be quitted but for all other matters whatsoever they are portandi a good Resolution set down in a good Phrase For the Canon Law I mean Gratian I have compared it from top to tae not without special Contentment to all Lovers of the Truth For by the Edition of the Canon Law so carefully set out by Greg. 13. Faber and Contius and I know not who must be imployed to that great business more care had of the printing of that than of the Bible it must be testified that the Edition doth agree exactly with the Roman Copy or else it of no worth they had the use of many Vatican Copies Now either this is untrue or their Copies are of no Credit For none of our Copies of as great Antiquity as theirs either have Constantine's Donation or the proof of it out of Gelasius Dist. If Gesta SS Martyrum S. Sylvestri this is proving of a thing that is ignotum by ignolius for both are wanting in all our Copies that are of as great Antiquity as theirs as long since Antoninus and other good Lawyers have observed Generally in the Edition of the Canon Law they have deceived us thus 1. Those which are Palea noted by them are indeed Palea that is Chaff in our old Copies But besides 2. There are a number of good Consequences that are Paleae which they have passed over in silence whereof our Manuscripts give good witness There are also a third sort which they have made Paleae to discredit them which are no Paleae as in the 8th Distinction touching Obedience to Princes Commandments for Religion this is in all our Manuscripts but censured and sentenced by them Lord What a world of Corruptions is contained in that Volume I mean not only of Gratians that is bad enough but of their Additions to and Perversions of Gratian's I mean to spend this next week wholly upon this Argument of Popish Fraâ—ds and to send up my abortive Labours to be submitted to your Lordship's grave Judgment I deal in matters of Fact and have little help God knoweth I will empty my self to your Lordship For Marianus Scotus God knows if I had compared it one of the first Books and both that and Matthew of Paris yea and Bedes History must be compared or vain will be our Labour in writing of the Visibility of the Church when we shall rely upon such sandy Proofs It is too true that Possevin observeth that there are whole Pages thrust into Marianus's Works he saith by Hereticks he lieth like a Varlet the cui bono will shew us that The Manuscript in our publick Library I have compared the Capita throughout doth hugely differ from the Printed and so doth another Copy of alike Goodness and Antiquity in C. C. C. To compare him exactly is to write him out anew Hoc opus hic labor est I doubt your Lordship's Leisure will not serve after this Fortnight mine shall and it will need the help both of Dr. Banbridge and Mr. Briggs To have the Copy out of the Library it is impossible for if the King should write for it it is Perjury for any Man to propose a Dispensation for the lending it forth but the Copy at C. C. C. upon a sufficient caution for the redelivery shall and may be sent up to your Lordship and I suppose Mr. Patrick Young hath one or two Copies in the Princes Library at St. James's Not only the Rabbins but the Thalmud in six Volumes at Rome hath felt the smart of the Popish Indices would God we were but half as diligent to restore as they abolish and put out the Truth I have restored 300 Citations and rescued them from Corruption in thirty quire of Paper Mr. Briggs will satisfie you in this Point and sundry other Projects of mine if they miscarry not for want of maintenance it would deserve a Prince's Purse If I was in Germany the Estates would defray all Charges cannot our Estates supply what is wanting If every Church-man that hath an 100 l. per Annum and upward will lay down but a Shilling for every hundred towards these publick Works I will undertake the reprinting of the Fathers and setting forth of five or six Volumes of Orthodox Writers comparing of Books printed with printed or written collating of Popish Translations in Greek and generally whosoever shall concern Books or the Purity of them I will take upon me to be a Magister S. Palatii in England if I shall be thereunto lawfully required I thank your Lordship for my poor Kinsman whom I leave to express
service to your Grace I rest Your Grace's in all duty W. Kilmore Kilmore Decemb. 28. 1629. LETTER CL. A Letter from L. Robinson to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My honourable and most dear Lord MY poor Prayers to God shall never be wanting for the continuance and increase of your Lordship's Health and all true Happiness nor my serviceable and thankful Affections for all your noble Favours done to me and mine I forbear to treat with my Lord of Kilmore altogether about any of those things which are divulged under his hand being perswaded his Desires were only to do good and assured himself sees his expectation fail in them partly by the Apology he made for himself amongst his Ministers gathered together in the Church of Kilmore at the inhibiting of Mr. Cook where he shewed much grief that there were divers scandalous Reports rais'd of him As that he was a Papist an Arminian an Equivocator Politician and traveller into Italy that he bow'd his Knee at the Name of Jesus pull'd down the late Bishop's Seat because it was too near the Altar preached in his Surplice c. There generally he affirmed his education in Christian Religion and his love to the Truth shewing the Reasons of his Travels and the Use of the Ceremonies not to hinder any Man's liberty of Conscience nor urge Conscience but as he had voluntarily practis'd them in England for the good of some others so here Some things he denied and others he shew'd Reasons for so that he gave us all good satisfaction and we hope we shall have much comfort in him Yet 't is true he sent a strange Absolution to an Irish Recusant in a Letter using many good Instructions for the Man was sick in this form If you be content to receive Christ and believe in him by the Authority which is given to me I absolve you from all your Sins you have confessed to Almighty God and are truly contrite for in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen Thus craving pardon for being troublesome to your Grace I take leave and will ever rejoice to remain Your Lordship 's poor Servant to be commanded Lau. Robinson Farnh Jan. 18. 1629. LETTER CLI A Letter from Sir Henry Bourgchier to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Most Reverend in Christ and my very good Lord I Did very lately presume to present my Service to your Grace by my Servant whom I sent into Ireland whose return from thence I expect very shortly and by him to hear at least of your Grace's Health and welfare than which no news can be more welcome to me Your Friends here as many as I know are all well Sir Rob. Cotton is not altogether free of his Trouble but he and his Friends hope he shall shortly Mr. Selden is also a Prisoner in the King's-Bench but goes abroad when he pleaseth so that his Friends enjoy him often I hope we shall have his Titles of Honour very shortly At Paris there is ready to come forth the King of Spain's Bible that was It will be now in ten Volumes whereas the other was but in eight and much fairer than the other as they say that have seen it which I think can hardly be Here is little News at this present The French Army is gone into Italy commanded by the Cardinal Richleau The Imperialists are so terrified with their coming that they have raised the Siege of Mantua and drawn themselves into the Dutchy of Milan for the defence thereof There is a Treaty of Peace there and in the Low-Countries of a Truce between the King of Spain and the States and the Spanish Ambassador is here about the same Business and ours in Spain And these several Treaties depend so one upon another that it is thought it will either prove a general Peace or a general War I wrote to your Grace in my former Letter of Mr. Vossius being here in England Within these two days I heard from him by Mr. Junius his Brother-in-law who went over with him He liked his entertainment so well in England that he hath now a good mind to settle himself here Concerning our own poor Country I can say nothing only that the Business of Philim Mac Teagh is in question which I mention the rather because your Grace had your part in it as a Commissioner The King hath sat two days already with the Lords and heard it with great patience and attention My Lord of Falkland as I hear hath ended his part which was to answer the Certificate and Report of the Commissioners in Ireland as far as it touched himself Sir Henry Beatinges part is next when those have done the other side shall have liberty to reply I cannot hear any speech of a new Deputy I believe the Government will continue as it is and the rather because it is a saving way which these Times do easily hearken unto I have sent your Grace here inclosed something that hath been lately done concerning the Church of England I doubt not but your Grace hath received it from other hands but I thought good to adventure it howsoever I intend with God's Assistance to be in Ireland about the midst of March at the farthest If your Grace desire any thing from hence I shall willingly conveigh it to you and if they be Books I can do it conveniently because I carry many of my own I will desire your Grace to esteem me in the number of those who most reverence and honour you and will ever approve himself Your Grace's most affectionate Friend and humble Servant Henry Bourgchier London Jan. 21. 1629. LETTER CLII. A Letter from the Right Reverend William Bedell Bishop of Kilmore to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Most Reverend Father my honourable good Lord THE report of your Grace's indisposition how sorrowful it was to me the Lord knows albeit the same was somewhat mitigated by other News of your better Estate In that fluctuation of my mind perhaps like that of your Health the saying of the Apostle served me for an Anchor That none of us liveth to himself neither doth any die to himself For whether we live we live to the Lord or whether we die we die to the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's Thereupon from the bottom of my heart commending your Estate and that of his Church here which how much it needs you he knows best to our common Master though I had written large Letters to you which have lien by me sundry Weeks fearing in your sickness to be troublesom I thought not to send them but to attend some other opportunity after your perfect recovery to send or perhaps bring them When I understood by Mr. Dean of his Journey or at least sending an express Messenger to you with other Letters putting me also in mind that perhaps it would not be unwelcome to you to hear from me though you