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A43531 Examen historicum, or, A discovery and examination of the mistakes, falsities and defects in some modern histories occasioned by the partiality and inadvertencies of their severall authours / by Peter Heylin ... Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662. 1659 (1659) Wing H1706; ESTC R4195 346,443 588

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74. But leaving him to stand or fall to his own Master I would fain know what text of Scripture ancient Writer or approved Councel can be brought to justifie Bounds Doctrines which he affirms for ancient truths and consonant to holy Scripture But more particularly where he can shew me any ground for the third Position viz. That there is as great reason why we Christians should take our selves as straightly bound to rest upon the Lords day as the Jewes were upon their Sabbath it being one of the moral Commandements whereof all are of equall authority This if it be a truth is no ancient truth and whensoever it be received and allowed for truth will in conclusion lay as heavy and insupportable Burthens upon the consciences of Gods people as ever were imposed upon the Jewes by the Scribes and Pharisees And secondly I would fain know the meaning of the following words in which it is said that others conceived them grounded on a wrong bottom but because they tended to the manifest advance of Religion it was pity to oppose them I would fain know I say considering that the foundation of the Christian faith is laid on the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles Christ himself being the chief corner stone how any thing which is not built upon this foundation but grounded on a wrong bottom as this seemed to be could tend to the manifest advance of the true Religion That it tended to the manifest advance of some Religion I shall easily grant and if our Author mean no otherwise we shall soon agree But sure I am no part of the true Religion was ever grounded upon ●alshood and therefore is 〈◊〉 Doctrine were grounded on so ill ● bottom a● they say it was it might ●on●●● to the advancement of a Faction and mens private 〈◊〉 but to the true Religion it was likely to contribute nothing but disgrace and scandal L●stly I am to minde our Author that he makes Mr. Greenhams Treatise of the Sabbath to be published in pursuance of Bounds opinions which could not be till in or after the year 1595. Whereas he had laid him in his grave above two years before telling us that he died of the Plugue in London Anno 1592. fol. 219. By which it seems that Greenham either writ this Treatise after his decease o● else our Author hath done ill in giving the f●●st honour of these new Doctrins unto Dr. Bound In the next place we shall see our Author engage himself in defence of the Calvi●an Doctrins about Predest●ation Grace c. of which he telleth us that Fol. 229. Having much troubled both the Schools and Pu●pit Archbishop Whitgift out of his Christian care to propogate the truth and suppress the opposite errors 〈◊〉 used a solemn meeting of many grave and learned 〈◊〉 at Lanib●th The occasion this The controvers●● about Predestination Grace c. had been long 〈◊〉 in the Schools between the Dominicant on the one side and the Francis●ans on the other 〈◊〉 the Dominicans grounding their opinion on the Authority of St. Augustin Prosper and some others of the following 〈◊〉 the Franciscans on the general current of the 〈◊〉 Fathers who lived ante mot● certamina Pelagiana before the rising of the Pelagian Here●ies 〈◊〉 disputes being after taken up in the 〈◊〉 Churches 〈◊〉 moderate Lutherans as they 〈◊〉 them followed the Doctrine of Melanch●hon conformable to the 〈…〉 those particulars The others whom they 〈…〉 or rigid Lutherans of whom 〈◊〉 Illyricus was the chief go in the same way with the Dominicans The authority of which last opinion after it had been entertained and publishe in the works of Calvin for his sake found admi●●ance in the Schools and Pulpits of most of the Reformed Churches And having got footing here in England by the preaching of such Divines as had fled to Geneva in Queen Maries time it was defended in the Schools of Cambridge without opposition till Peter Bar● a French man came and setled there Who being the Lady Margarets P●ofessor in that University and liking better of the Melanchthonian way then that of Calvin defended it openly in the Schools many of parts and q●ality being gained unto his opinion Which gave so much displeasure to Dr. Whitaker Dr. Tyndall Mr. Perkins and some other leading men of the contrary judgement that they thought best to use the Argument ab Authoritat● to convince their Adversaries and complained thereof to the Archbishop and in the end prevailed with him to call that meeting at Lambeth which our Author speaks of in which some Articles commonly called the Nine Articles of Lambeth were agreed upon and sent down to Cambridge in favour of Dr. Whitaker and his Associates But our Author not content to relate the story of the Quarrel must take upon him also to be a judge in the Controversie He had before commended the Dominicans for their Orthodoxie in these points of Doctrine as they were then in agitation betwixt them and the Iesuits He now proceeds to do the like between the two parties men of great piety and learning appearing in it on both sides disputing the same points in the Church of England honouring the opinion of Dr. Whitaker and his Associates with the name of the truth and branding the other with the Title of the opposite error And yet not thinking that he had declared himself sufficiently in the favour of the Calvinian party he telleth us not long after of these Lambeth Articles fol. 232. that though they wanted the Authority of Provincial Acts yet will they readily be received of all Orthodox Christians for as far as their own purity bears conformity to Gods word Which last words though somewhat perplextly laid down must either intimate their conformity to the word of God or else signifie nothing But whatsoever opinion our Author hath of these Nine Articles certain it is that Queen Elizabeth was much displeased at the making of them and commanded them to be supprest which was done accordingly and with such diligence withall that for long time a Copy of them was not to be met with in that University Nor was King Iames better pleased with them then Queen Elizabeth was Insomuch that when Dr. Renalds mov'd in the Conference of Hampton-Court that the Nine Articles of Lambeth might be superadded to the 39. Articles of the Church of England King Iames upon an information of the true sta●e of the businesse did absolutely refuse to give way to it But of this more at large elsewhere I only add a Memorand●m of our Authors mistake in making Dr. Richard Bancroft Bishop of London to be one of the Bishops which were present at the meeting at Lambeth whereas indeed 〈◊〉 was Richard Fletcher Bishop elect of London and by that name entituled in such Authors as relate this story Dr. Bancroft not being made Bishop of London or of any place else till the year 1597. which was two years after this Assembly Alike mistake relating to this business
seasonably here if I had not somewhat to alledge for my justification But when the Reasons which induced me to the first Adventure mentioned in the Introduction following be seriously considered as they ought to be I hope I shall be capable of excuse at the least if not of pardon And for my venturing on the other I shall say nothing more at the present but that as well my love to Truth as to doe right unto the Authour whom I would willingly look on as a man well principled and of no ill affections to Church or State hath invited me to it Truth is the Mistresse which I serve and I presume that none will be offended with me because I tell them of their Errours in a modest way and beare witnesse for them to that Truth of which they doe professe themselves such especiall Lovers In that great Disputation between the Esquires of the body of King Darius whether the King Wine Women or the Truth were of greatest power the whole Assembly cryed out in behalf of Truth Magna est Veritas praevalet that is to say Great is Truth and mighty above all things So that in standing for the Truth without consideration unto the recompence of reward I hope though I mee● some Adversaries I shall finde more Friends If not for I am at a reasonable passe for that it shall be no small comfort to me that the weak Candle of my Studies hath given light to oth●rs whereby they may discern some Historicall Tru●hs even in the darkest Mists of Errour which either partiality or incogitancy hath cast before the eyes of unwary Readers Which said I shall now adde no more but that having two P●tients under cure of different tempers it is not to be thought that I should administer unto both the same kinde of Physick an ordinary purge being sufficient for the one whereas the foule body of the other doth require a Fluxing as some wounds may be healed with Balm when others more corrupt and putrified doe exact a Lancing But so it happeneth many times that some men are more impatient of the Cure then sensible of their Diseases and that in stead of giving thanks to the Physician for the great pains he took about them they pay him with nothing but displeasures Which being the worst that can befall me I am armed against it If by the haz●rd of my peace I shall procure this benefit to the present and succeeding times that men may prove more carefull of what they write and not obt●ude upon the Reader either through ignorance inadvertency or somewhat worse such and so many Falsities Mistakes and Errours as have been lately put upon him in some Modern Histories it is that I aimed at and having gained that Point I have gained my purpose Non partis studiis agimur sed sumpsimus Arma Consiliis inimica tuis ignavia fallax Peter Heyliu Examen Historicum OR A DISCOVERY AND EXAMINATION OF THE Mistakes Falsities and Defects In some Modern HISTORY Part. I. CONTAINING Necessary ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE Church-History of Britain AND The History of Cambridge Publisht by Thomas Fuller For vindication of the Truth the Church and the injured Clergy 2 Corinth 13. 8. Non possumus aliquid adversus veritatem sed pro veritate Minut. Foel in Octavio Et Veritas quidem obvia est sed requirentibus A Necessary Introduction To the Following ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE CHURCH-HISTORY OF BRITAIN Touching the Title of the Book and the Preface to it 1. INtending some short Animadversions on the Church H●story of Britain for Vindication of the Truth the Church and the injured Clergy I have thought good to prepare the way unto them by a plain but necessary Introduction touching the Quality and Nature of the Book which I have in hand Concerning which the Reader is to understand that in the Year 1642. M. Fuller publisht his Book called The Holy State in the Preface whereof he lets us know that he should count it freedom to serve two Apprentiships God spinning out the thick thread of his life so long in writing the Ecclesiasticall History from Christs time to our daies And so much time it seems he had spent upon it except some starts for recreation in the Holy Land before he had finisht and expos'd it to the publike view the Book not coming out until the Year 1655. whether agreeable to his promise and such a tedious expectation we are now to see For first The Reader might expect by the former passage that he designed the Generall History of the Church from the first preaching of Christ and the calling of the twelve Apostles to the times we live in whereas he hath restrained himself to the Church of Britain which he conceives to be so far from being founded in the time of Christ that he is loth to give it the Antiquity of being the work of any of the Apostles of any of the Seventy Disciples or finally of any Apostolicall Spirit of those eldest times And secondly Though he entitle it by the name of the Church-History of Britain yet he pursues not his Designe agreeable to that Title neither there being little said of the affairs of the Church of Scotland which certainly makes up a considerable part of the Isle of Britain and lesse if any thing at all of the Church of Ireland which anciently past in the account of a British Island Nor is it thirdly a Church-History rightly and properly so called but an aggregation of such and so many Heterogeneous bodies that Ecclesiasticall affairs make the least part of it Abstracted from the dresse and trimming and all those outward imbelishments which appear upon it it hath a very fit resemblance to that Lady of pleasure of which Martial tels us Pars minima est ipsa puella sui that the woman was the least part of her self The name of a Church-Rhapsody had been fitter for it though to say truth had it been answerable thereunto in point of learning it might have past by the old Title of Fullers Miscellanies For such and so many are the impertinencies as to matters of Historicall nature more as to matters of the Church that without them this great Volume had been brought to a narrower compasse if it had taken up any room at all So that we may affirm of the present History as one did of the Writings of Chrisippus an old Philosopher viz. Si quis tollat Chrysippi Libris quae aliena sunt facil● illi vacua relinquerentur Pergamena that is to say that if they were well purged of all such passages as were not pertinent to the businesse which he had in hand there would be nothing left in them to fill up his Parchments 2. The first of this kinde which I am to note is a meer extrinsecall and outside unto those impertinences which are coucht within consisting of Title-Pages Dedicatory Epistles and severall intermediate Inscriptions unto every Section A new way never travelled before by
Puritanical Zeal should be lost to posterity These things I might have noted in their proper places but that they were reseru'd for this as a taste to the rest 12. Et jam finis erat and here I thought I should have ended this Anatomy of our Authors Book but that there is another passage in the Preface thereof which requires a little further consideration For in that Preface he informs us by the way of caution That the three first Books were for the main written in the Reign of the late King as appeareth by the Passages then proper for the Government The other nine Books were made since Monarchy was turned into a State By which it seems that our Author never meant to frame his History by the line of truth but to attemper it to the palat of the present Government whatsoever it then was or should prove to be which I am sure agrees not with the Laws of History And though I can most easily grant that the fourth Book and the rest that follow were written after the great alteration and change of State in making a new Commonwealth out of the ruines of an ancient Monarchy yet I concur not with our Author in the time of the former For it appears by some passages that the three first Books either were not all written in the time of the King or else he must give himself some disloyal hopes that the King should never be restored to his place and Powe● by which he might be called to a reckoning for them For in the second Book he reckons the Cross in Baptism for a Popish Trinket by which it appears not I am sure to have been written in the time of the Kingly Government that being no expression sutable unto such a time Secondly speaking of the precedency which was sixt in Canterbury by removing the Archiepiscopal See from London thither he telleth us that the 〈◊〉 is not mu●h which See went first when living seeing our Age ●ath laid them ●oth alike level in in their Graves But certainly the Government was not chang'd into a State or Commonwealth till the death of the King and till the death of the King neither of those Episcopal Sees nor any of the rest were laid so level in their Graves but that they were in hope of a Resurrection the King declaring himself very constantly in the Treaty at the Isle of Wight as well against the abolishing of the Episcopal Government as the alienation of their Lands Thirdly In the latter end of the same Book he makes a great dispute against the high and sacred priviledge of the Kings of England in curing the disease commonly called the Kings Evil whether to be imputed to Magick or Imagina●●●n or indeed a Miracle next brings us in an old Wives Tale about Queen Elizabeth as if she had disclaimed that power which she daily exercised and finally manageth a Quarrel against the form of Prayer used at the curing of that Evil which he arraigns for Superstition and impertinencies no inferior Crimes Are all these Passages proper to that Government also Finally in the third Book he derogates from the power of the Church in making Canons giving the binding and concluding Power in matters which concern the Civil Rights of the Subjects not to the King but to the Lay-people of the Land assem●●●d in Parliament which game he after followeth in the ●ighth and last And though it might be safe enough for him in the eighth last to derogate in this maner from the Kings supremacy in Ecclesiastical affairs yet certainly it was neither safe for him so to do nor proper for him so to write in the time of the Kingl● Gov●rnment unless he had some such wretched hopes as before we sp●ke of 〈◊〉 I must need say that on the reading of these Passages an● the rest that follow I found my self possest with much indignation and long expected when some Champion would appear in the lists against this Goliah who so reproachfully had defiled the whole Armies of Israel And I must needs confess withal that I did never enter more unwillingly upon any undertaking then I did on this But being ●ollicited thereunto by Letters Messages and several personal Addresses by men of all Orders and Dignities in the Church and of all Degrees in the Universities I was at last overcome by that importunity which I found would not be resisted I know that as the times now stand I am to expect nothing for my Pains and Travel but the displeasure of some and the censure of others But coming to the work with a single heart abstracted from all self-ends and private Interesses I shall satisfie my self with having done this poor service to the Church my once Blessed Mother for whose sake onely I have put my self upon this Adventure The party whom I am to deal with is so much a stranger to me that he is neither beneficio nec injurià notus and therefore no particular respects have mov'd me to the making of these Animadversions which I have writ without relation to his person for vindication of the truth the Church and the injured Clergy as before is said So that I may affirm with an honest Conscience Non lecta est operi sed data causa meo That this implo●ment was not chosen by me but impos'd upon me the unresistable intreaties of so many friends having something in them of Commands But howsoever Iacta est alea as Caesar once said when he passed over the Rubicon I must now take my fortune whatsoever it proves so God speed me well Errata on the Animadversions PAge 10. line 17. for Melkinus r. Telkinus p. 20. l. 21. for Queen of r. Queen of England p. 27. l. 6. for Woode● poir r. Woodensdike s p. 42. l. 1. for inconsiderateness r. the inconsiderateness of children p. 121. l. 28. for ter r. better p. 145. l. 2. for statuendo r. statuendi p. 154. l. 22. Horcontnar r. cantuur p. 154. l. 17. for Dr. Hammond r. D. Boke p. 160. l. 1. for his r. this p. 163. l. 28. for Jesuites r. Franciscans p. 189. l. ult for contemn r. confession p. 221. in the Marg. for wether r. with other p. 228. l. 2. for Den r. Dean p. 239. l. 29. for Commons r. Canon p. 271. l. ult for culis r. occulis ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Church History OF BRITAIN LIB I. Of the Conversion of the Britans to the Faith of Christ. IN order to the first Conve●sion o● 〈◊〉 B●itish Nations our Author takes beginning at the sad condition they were in be●ore the Chris●ian Faith was preached unto them ● And in a sad condition they were indeed● as being in the estate of Gentilism and consequently without the true knowledge of the God that made them but yet not in a worse condition then the other Gentiles w●● were not only darkned in their understandings b●●●o deprav'd also in their Affections as to work all ma●n●er of uncleanness even
with greediness Not ●o 〈◊〉 in their Conversation as the Asiati●ks no●●o 〈◊〉 as the Greeks nor branded wi●h th●se fi●thy and ●●natural lusts which St. Paul chargeth on the R●mans ●nd were in ordinary practice with most Eastern Na●●●ns And t●●●gh they were Idolaters yea and foul Id●lat●rs as our A●tho● hath it yet neither were their ●o●s of so br●tish and impu●e a nature as the Priapus Cl●cina and Ster●utia amongst the Romans or as the●● Venus 〈…〉 common Harlots all of whi●h ●nd such like other Gods the old Fathers tell us th●t they were not N●mina colendorum sed cri●ira c●lentium No● were they so immodest and ●bscene in their 〈◊〉 and Ce●emonies as were the Gre●ks and Romans in the sacrifices of their Cybele or Bere●ynthia whom they call the Mother of the Gods de●c●ibed by Arnobius Lactan●●●● and others of the ancient W●iters in ●u●h lively colours as no chast eye can look upon them without detestation A●d for the number of their Gods they fell extremely sho●t of that in●●●ite m●ltitude which St. Augustine findes amongst the Romans our Author naming only th●ee which he cals Gods Paramount that is to say Bel●nus Andat●● and Diana though wh●the● this last we●e a British Deity may be more then questioned When the●efo●e Gil●as tels us of the ancients Britans that in the numbe● of their Gods they had almost exceeded ●●●gypt P●rtenta paene numero Aegyptiaca vin●entia in that a●thors language he must be unde●stood with re●erence to the times in which he lived when all the Roman Rabble had been thrust upon them and not as speaking of the times of their first conve●s●on But whether they were more o● 〈◊〉 our Author is resolv'd on Diana for one whose Temple was built in or neer the place where St. Pauls now stands as our learned Antiquaries do acknowledge Fo● 1. Which saith he rendreth their conceit not altogether un●ikely who will have London so called from Llan-Dian which signifieth in British the Temple of Diana A conceit whosesoever it was not altogether so likely neither as our Author makes it For though the Britans being well stor'd with woods and Venison possibly might have a hunting Goddess amongst the rest yet certainly she was not call'd by the name of Diana till the Roman Conquest and Plantations before which time this City had the name of London or Londinum as we read in Tacitus The name and sacrifices of Diana were not originally British but of Roman race as the great Temple in or near the place where St. Pauls now stands was of their foundation The Britans worshipping Apollo by the name of Belinus as both Camden and our Author say they did must be suppos'd to have another name for Diana also and were more likely to have call'd her by the name of Artemis her old Grecian name or by some other of as neer a remembrance to it as Belinus was to that of Bel in the Eastern Countries Assuredly if that great City had received this name from Dianas Temple the Welch being so tenacious of their ancient language would have had some remembrance of it who to this day call it Lundayn and not Llan-dian according to the new conceit which our Author speaks of But of this enough Now to facilitate this great work of their conversion Camden and Godwin two great Antiquaries have alledg'd one reason which is not allowed of by our Author and our Author hath alledged another reason which none can allow of but himself The reason alledged by the two great Antiquaries is that the Druides did 〈…〉 the Britans in the knowledge of one only God which questionless was a great step towards their Conversion Druides unum esse Deum semper inculcarunt saith our Authors margin But this he reckoneth a 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 charitably wisheth thereupon viz. Power whom generally they entituled by the name of Iupiter yet they did well enough agree in giving him the Supreme power over all the World Et qui Iovem Principem volunt falluntur in nomine sed de una potestate consentiunt as my Author hath it Nor did tho●e old Philosopho●s ke●p the great Truth ●nto themselves like a Candle in a dark Lanthorn or hid under a Bushell but plac'd it like a great light on the top of a Mountain th●t all the people might disce●n it who the●eupon li●ting their hands unto the Heavens did frequently make their addresses but to one God only saying in common speech unto one another that God was great and God was true and if God permit Of which my Author the same Ch●istian Advocat seems to make a question Vulgi iste naturalis s●rmo est an Christiani confitentis cratio That is to say whether those expressions ●avoured not rather of the Christian then the vulg●r Heath●n And he●e●pon I may con●lude in the behalf of the Druides o●●ather of those lea●ned Pens who affirm it of them that being Philosophers in study a●d Divines by O●●ice and very eminent in their times i● both capacities they might as well instruct the Peop●e in the knowledge of one only God as any other of the Heathen Sage●● either Gre●ks or Romans The reason alle●dged by these great Antiquaries being thus made good we next p●oceed to the Examination of that which is p●oduced by our Author who telleth us that Fol. 3. It facilitated the entrance of the Gospel ●ither that lately the Roman c●nquest had in part civilized th● 〈◊〉 of this Island by trans●orting C●l●ni●s and erecting of 〈◊〉 there Then which the●e co●ld not any thing be 〈◊〉 more diffe●ent from the 〈…〉 the time of that con●ersion which we 〈…〉 as all 〈…〉 amongst th●m our Author himself have a●●●rmed f●om 〈◊〉 who liv'd in the fourth Century of the Chri●●ian Church t●mpore 〈◊〉 Tiberii Caesaris toward the latter end of ●●e Reign of Tiberius Caesar that is to say about 〈◊〉 seven years after 〈…〉 at what time 〈◊〉 Romans had neither erected any one City nor 〈◊〉 any one Colony in the South paris of the Island ●or though Iulius Caesar in purs●ance of his Gallick 〈◊〉 had attempted this Island crossed the Th●mes and pierced as far as ●erulamium in the Countrey of the Cattieuchlani now Hartfordshire yet either finding h●w d●fficult a work it was like to prove or having b●siness of more moment he gave over the enterprize 〈…〉 with the honor of the first discovery 〈…〉 quam tradidisse as we read in Taci●●● 〈…〉 after this in order to the conquest 〈…〉 till the time of Claudius Augustus would by no means be pe●waded to the undertaking and much le●s ●iberius in whose last years the Gospel w●s first preach● in Britain as before wa● said Consilium id Div●s Au●●● 〈◊〉 Tibe●ius praecipue And though 〈…〉 was once re●olv'd on the expedition yet being never constant to his reso●●tions he soon gave it 〈◊〉 ●●ving the honor of this conquest to his Uncle 〈◊〉 who next succeeded in the Empire and being invited into
Britain by a discontented Party amongst the Natives reduc'd some part thereof into the form 〈◊〉 a Roman Province Of this see Tacitus at large in the life of Agricola By which it will appear most cl●●ly that there was neither City of the Roman e●ec●ion nor Colony of their Plantation till the time of Claudius and con●equently no such facilitating of the wo●● by either of those means which our Author dreams 〈◊〉 B●● from the time proceed we to the Authors of this first Conversion of which thus our Author Ibid. Pa●●on● the 〈◊〉 mainly stickl●th for the Apostle Peter to have first preached the Gospel here And our Author doth as mainly stickle against it The reason which induced Parsons so to stickle in it was as our Author thinks and telleth us Fol. 4. To infer an obligation of this Island to the See of Rome and to exempt this Island from that Obligation our Author hath endevoured to disprove the Tradition Whereas indeed St. Peters preaching in this Island if he were the first that Preacht he●e in the time of Tiberius must be before his Preaching in the City of Rome to which he came not till the Reign of the Emp●ror Claudius And thereupon it followeth by the Iesuites Logick that the Britans by sparing their Apostle to p●each at R●me did lay an obligation upon that City but receiv'd none f●om it or granting that St. Peter had first preacht at Rome yet would this draw upon us no such engagement to the Pope and the Church of Rome as our A●tho● fears and other German Nations by Boni●ace Willibald 〈◊〉 Willibrod and Swibert English Saxons all might 〈◊〉 did draw the like dependence of those Ch●rches ●pon this of England So that this fear being ove● blown we will consider somewhat further of St. Peters f●●st Preaching in this Island not as de●ive●'d by Tradition from the Church of Rome which is suspected to h●ve pleaded their own Interess in it but as affi●med po●itively by the Greek Menologies and in the wo●ks o● Simeon Metaphrastes and app●oved Greek Author Of the Menologies though vouched by Camden to this purpo●e our Author takes no notice at all b●t lets the weight of his di●pleasure fall on Metaphrastes of whom he telleth us that Ibid. Metaphrastes is an Author of no credit● as B●ronius himsel● doth confess B●t fi●st Ba●onius 〈◊〉 makes no such confession that which o●r Autho● tells us from him being only this In aliis multis 〈◊〉 ab ipso positis errare eum certum est that is to say that h● hath e●r'd in many things by him delivered 〈◊〉 if to erre in many things delivered in so great a 〈◊〉 as that of Simeon Metaphrastes may forthwith be conceiv'd sufficient to make an Author of no c●e●i● God bless not only our Histo●ians but Baronius himself from being held Authors of no credit in both whom there are many errors not possible to be reconc●led to the truth of story But secondly as Baronius did not so he could not say that Metaphrastes was an A●thor of no credit the man being not only pious b●t learned al●o for the times in which he liv'd honored as a Saint in the Gre●k Menologies on the 27. of November and grac'd with a Funeral Oration by Michael Psellus a renowned Scholar highly extoll'd by Balsamon for his pains and industry in this present work and no less magnified by the Fathers in the Councel of Florence Anno 1436. All which had never set such an estimate upon him in their seve●al times had he been an A●thor of no credit as 〈◊〉 Author makes him I had now ended with St. P●ter but that I finde him appear in a Vision to King E●ward the Confesso● and telling him that he had preach'd the Gospel in Britain occasioning thereby the fo●ndation of the Abby of St. Peter in Westminst●r to which our Author makes this Answer Ibid. To this vision pretended of Peter we oppose the certain words of St. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 4. Neither give heed to tables What pity is it that this Apparition was no● m●de and the same tale told over again to Thomas Fuller of Hammersmith that so it might have found some credit with our Author though with no body else For of this Thomas Fuller our Author telleth us and telleth it in confirmation of some miracles done by King Henry the sixth after his decease that being a very honest man he had hapned into the company of some who had stolen some Cattle for which he was condemned and executed and being on the top of the Ladder K. Harry the sixth appear'd unto him and so ordered the matter that he was not strangled with the rope but preserved alive and finally that in gratitude for so great a benefit he repaired to that Kings Tombe in Chertsey Abby and there presented his humble thanks unto him for that great deliverance There being as good Authors for that Apparition of St. Peter as for this of St. Henry Vel neutrum ●●ammis ure vel ure duos Either let both be burnt for false or believed for truths Lesse opposition meets the preaching of St. Ioseph of Arimathea though it meeteth some For notwiths●anding that this Tradition be as generall as universally received as almost any other in the Christian Church yet our Author being resolved to let fly at all declares it for a piece of Novel superstition disguis'd with pretended Antiquity Better provided as it seems to dispute this point then the Ambassadors of Castile● when they contended for precedency with those of England in the Councel of Basil who had not any thing to object against this Tradition of Iosephs preaching to the Britans although the English had p●ovoked them by confuting their absurd pretences for St. Iames his preaching to the Spaniards For first our Author does object in the way of scorn that Fol. 6. The relation is as ill acco●tred with tackling as their ship in which it is affi●med that St. Philip St. Ioseph and the rest were put witho●t either Sails or Oa●es with a purpose to drown them No such strange piece of Errantry if we mark it well as to re●der the whole truth suspected For first we finde it in the Monuments of the elder times that Acrisius King of Argos exposed his daughter Danae with her young Son Perseus in such a vessell as this was and as ill provided of all necessaries to the open Seas who notwithstanding by the divine Providence were safely wafted to those parts of Italy which we now call Puglia And secondly for the middle times we have th● like story in an Author above all exception even our Author himself who telleth us Lib. 6. Fol. 265. of our present History that King Athelstane put his Brother Edwine into a little wherry or Cock-boat without any tackling or furniture thereunto to the end that if the poor P●ince perished his wickedness might be imputed to the waves Our Author objecteth in the next place that Ib. No
trouble at all that is to say That The Scripture quoted in that Letter is out of St. Hieroms Translation which came more then a hundred years after Unless it can be prov'd with all as I think it cannot the Hierom followed not in those texts those old Translations which were before receiv'd and used in the Western Churches Less am I mov'd with that which follows viz. That this letter not appearing till a thousand years after the death of Pope Eleutherius might probably creep out of some Monk● Cell some four hundred years since Which allegation being admitted the Monks Cell excepted it makes no more to the discredit of the letter which we have before us then to the undervaluing of those excellent Monuments of Piety and Learning which have been recovered of late times from the dust and moths of ancient Libraries Such Treasure like money long lockt up is never thought less profitable when it comes abroad And from what place soever it first came abroad I am confident it came not out of any Monks Cell that generation being then wholly at the Popes devotion by consequence not likely to divulge an Evidence so m●nifestly tending to the overthrow of his pretensions The Popes about four hundred years since were mounted to the height of that power and Tyranny which they claimed as Vicars unto Christ. To which the●e could not any thing be more plainly contrary then that passage in the Popes letter where he tells the King That he was Gods Vicar in his own Kingdom vos estis Vicarius De● in Regno vestro as the Latine hath it Too g●eat a secret to proceed from the Cell of a Monk who would have rather forg'd ten Decretals to ●pho●d the P●pis● 〈◊〉 over Soverain Princes then published one only whether true or false to subvert the same Nor doth this Letter only give the King an empty Title but such a Title as imports the exercise of the chief Ecclesiastical Power within his Dominions For thus it followeth in the same The people and the folk of the Realm of Britain be yours whom if they be divided ye ought togather in conc●rd and peace to call them to the faith and law of Christ to cherish and maintain them to rule and govern them so as you may reign everlastingly with him whose Vicar you are So far the very words of the letter as our Author rendereth them which savour far more of the honest simplicity of the Primitive Popes then the impostures and suppos●titious issues of the ●atter times Our Author tells us fol. 9. that he had ventured on this story with much aversness and we dare believe him He had not else laboured to discredit it in so many particulars and wilfully that I say no worse suppressed the best part of the Evidence in the words of Beda who being no friend unto the Britans hath notwithstanding done them right in this great business And from him take the story in these following words Anno ab i●carnati●ne Domini 156 c. In the 156. year after Christs Nativity Marcus Antonius Verus together with Aurelius Commodus his Brother did in the fourteenth place from Augustus Caesar undertake the gove●nment of the Empire In whose times when as Eleutherius a godly man was Bishop of the Church of Rome Lucius King of the Britans sent unto him Obsecrans ut per ejus mandatum Christianus essiceretur intreating by his means to be made a Christian whose vertrious desire he ein was granted and the faith of Christ being thus received by the Britans was by them kept inviolate and undefiled until the time of Dioc●tian This is the substance of the story as by him delivered true in the main though possibly there may be some mistake in his Chronology as in a matter not so canvassed as it hath been lately Now to proceed unto our Author he tells us fol. 10. out of Ieffery of Monmouth That at this time there were in England twenty eight Cities each of them having a Flamen or Pagan Priest and three of them namely London York and Caer-Lion in Wales had Archflamens to which the rest were subjected and Lucius placed Bishops in the room of the Flamens and Archbishops Metropolitans in the places of Archflamens concluding in the way of scorn that his Flamines and Archflamines seem to be Flams and Archflams even notorious falshoods And it is well they do but seem so it being possibly enough that they may seem Falshoods to our Author even notorious Falshoods though they seem true enough to others even apparent truths And first though Ieffery of Monmouth seem to deserve no credit in this particular where he speaks against our Authors sense yet in another place where he comes up to his desires he is otherwise thought of and therefore made the Foreman of the grand Inquest against Augustino the Monk whom he enditeth for the murther of the Monks of Bancor And certainly if Ieffery may be believ'd when he speaks in passion when his Welch bloud was up as our Author words it as one that was concerned in the cause of his Countreymen he may more easily be believ'd in a cause of so remote Antiquity where neither love nor hatred or any other prevalent affection had any power or reason to divert him from the way of truth And secondly though Ieffery of Monmouth be a Writer of no great credit with me when he stands single by himself yet when I finde him seconded and confirmed by others I shall not brand a truth by the name of falshood because he reports it Now that in Britain at that time there were no fewer then eight and twenty Cities is affirmed by Beda Henry of Huntington not only agrees with him in the number but gives us also the names of them though where to finde many of them it is hard to say That in each of these Cities was some Temple dedicated to the Pagan Gods that those Temples afterwards were imploy'd to the use of Christians and the Revenues of them assign'd over to the maintenance of the Bishops and other Ministers of the Gospel hath the concurr●nt testimony of approved Authors that is to say Ma●thew of Westminster out of Gildas Anno 187. Rodolph de Diceto cited by the learned Prima● of Armach in his Book De Primordiis Eccles. Brit. cap. 4. Gervaso of Tilbury ibid. cap. 6. And for the Flamines and Archflamines they stand not only on the credit of Ieffery of Monmouth but of all our own Writers who speak of the foundation of the antient Bishopricks even to Polydor Virgil. Nor want there many forain Writers who affirm the same bginning with Martinus Polonus who being esteemed no friend to the Popedom because of the Story of Pope Ione which occurs in his Writings may the rather be believ'd in the story of Lucius And he agrees with Ieffery of Monmouth in all parts of the story as to the Flamines and Archflamines as do also many other
forth c. The offenders to suffer such pain of death and forfeiture as in case of Felony A Statute made of purpose to restrain the insolencies of the Puri●●n Faction and by which many of them were adjudged to death in the times ensuing some as the Authors and others as the publishers of seditious Pamphlers But being made with limitation to the life of the Queen it expired with her And had it been reviv'd as it never was by either of the two last Kings might possibly have prevented those dreadful mischiefs which their posterity is involved in Fol. 157. Sure I am it is most usual in the Court of Marches Arches rather whereof I have the best experience This is according to the old saying to correct Magnificat Assuredly Archbishop Whitgift knew better whan he was to write then to need any such critical emendations And therefore our Author might have kept his Arches for some publick Triumph after his conquest of the Covetous Conformists and High Royalists which before we had It was the Court of the Marches which the Bishop speaks of and of which he had so good experience he being made Vice-Precedent of the Court of the Marches by Sir Henry Sidney immediately on his first coming to the See of Worcester as Sir George Paul telleth us in his life Fol. 163. By the changing of Edmond into John Contnar it plainly appears that as all these letters were written this year so they were indited after the sixth of July and probably about December when Bishop Grindal deceased ● I grant it for a truth that Grindal died on the sixth of Iuly and I know it also for a truth that Whitgift was translated to the See of Canterbury on the 23. of September then next following But yet it follows not thereupon that all the Letters here spoken of being 12 in number which are here exemplified were writ in the compass of one year and much less in so narrow a time as about December Nay the contrary hereunto appears by the Lett●●s themselves For in one of them written to the Lord Treasurer fol. 160. I finde this passage viz. Your Lordship objecteth tha● it is said I took this c●urse for the better maintenance of my Book My Enemies say so indeed but I trust my friends have a better opinion of me what should I look after any Confirmation of my Book after twelve years or what should I get thereby more then already Now the Book mentioned by the Bishop was that entituled The Defence of the Answer to the Admonition against the Reply of T. C. printed at London An. 1574. To which the 12 years being added which we finde mentioned in this Letter it must needs be that this Letter to the Lord Treasurer was written in the year 1586. and consequently not all written in the year 1583. as our Author makes them The like might be collected also from some circumstances in the other Letters but that I have more necessary business to imploy my time on Fol. 171. The severe inforcing of Subscription hereunto what great disturbance it occasioned in the Church shall hereafter by Gods assistance be made to appear leaving others to judge whether the offence was given or taken thereby Our Author tells us fol. 143. that in the business of Church government he would lie at a close guard and offer as little play as might be on either side But for all that he cannot but declare himself for the stronger party He had not else left it as a matter doubtful whether the disturbances which insued on the Archbishops inforcing of Subscription and the scandal which did thence arise were to be imputed to the Imposer who had Authority on his side as himself confesseth or the refusers carried on by self ends and untractable obstinacy As for the Articles to which subscriptions were required they were these that follow viz. 1. That the Queen only had Supreme Authority over all persons bo●n within her Dominion 2. That the Book of Common-Prayer and Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth nothing contrary to the Word of God 3. That the Articles of Religion agreed on in the year 1562. and publisht by the Queens Authority were consonant to the word of God All which being so expresly built on the Lawes of the Realm must needs lay the scandal at their doores who refused subscription and not at his who did require it But love will creep they say where it cannot go And do our Author what he can he must discover his affection to the cause●pon ●pon all occasions No where more m●nifestly then where he telleth us Fol. 187. That since the High-Commission and this Oath it is that ex Officio which he meaneth were taken away by the ●●ct of Parliament it is to be hoped that if such swearing were s● great a grievance nihil analogum nothing like unto it which may amount to as much shall hereafter be substituted in the room thereof What could be said more plain to testi●ie his disaffections one way and his ze●l another The High-Commission and the Oath rep●o●ched as Grievances because the greatest curbs of the Puritan party and the strongest Bulwarks of the Church a congratulation ●o the times for abolishing both though as yet I ●●nde no Act of Parliament against the Oath except it be by consequence and illation only and finally a hope exprest that the Church never shall revert to her fo●mer power in substituting any like thing in the place thereof by which the good people of the Land may be stopt in their way to the fifth Monarchy so much fought after And yet this does not speak so plain as the following passage viz. Fol. 193. Wits will be working and such as have a Satyrical vein cannot better vent it then in lashing of sin This spoken in defence of those scurrilous Libels which Iob Throgmorton Penry Fenner and the rest of the Puritan Rabble published in Print against the Bishops Anno 1588. thereby to render them ridiculous both abroad and at home The Q●een being 〈◊〉 exclaimed against and her Honorable Councell scandalously censured for opposing the Gospel they fall more foully on the Bishops crying them down as Antichristian Petty-popes Bishops of the Devil cogging and cozening knaves dumb dogs enemies of God c. For which cause much applauded by the Papists beyond Sea to whom nothing was more acceptable then to see the English Hierarchy reproach● and vilified and frequently ●●red by them as unquestioned evidences For if our Authors rule be good fol. 193. That the fault is not in the writer if he truly cite what is false on the credit of another they had no reason to examine punctually the truth of that which tended so apparently to the great advantage of their cause and party But this Rule whether true or false cannot be used to justifie our Author in many passages though truly cited considering that he cannot chuse but know them to be false in themselves
own Thirdly though it be true enough that some Persons of Honour had been denied such higher Titles as they had desired fol. 163. Yet was it not the denying of such Titles unto Men of Honour which wrote these terrible effects but the denying of an Honorary Title to a Man of no Honour If Colonel Alexander Lesley an obscure fellow but made rich by the spoils and plunder of Germany had been made a Baron when he first desired it the rest of the Male-contents in Scotland might have had an heart though they had no head But the King not willing to dishonor so high a Title by conferring it on so low a person denyed the favour which put the man into such a heat that presently he joyned himself to the faction there drove on the Plot and finally undertook the command o● their Armie● Rewa●ded fo● which notable service with the Title of Earl of Levin by the King him●el● he could not so digest the injury of the first refusal but that he afterwards headed their Rebellions upon all occasions Fol. 163. Generally they excused the King in their writings as innocent therein but charged Archbishop La●d as the principal and Dr. Cousins for the instrumental compiler thereof This is no more then we had reason to expect f●om a former passage lib. 4. fol. 193. where our Author telleth us that the Scottish Bishops withdrew themselves from their obedience to the See of York in the time when George Nevil was Archbishop And then he adds Hence forwards no Archbishop of York medled more with Church matters in Scotland and happy had it been if no Archbishop of Canterbury had since interessed himself therein His stomach is so full of choler against this poo● Prelate that he must needs bring up some of it above an hundred years before he was born Hence is it that he rakes together all reports which make against him and sets them down in rank and file in the course of this History If Archbishop Abbot be suspended from his Jurisdiction the blame thereof was laid on Archbishop Laud as if not content to succeed he endeavoured to su●plant him fol. 128. The King sets out a Declaration about lawful sports the reviving and enlarging of which must be put upon his accompt also some strong p●e●●mptions being urged for the proof thereof fol. 147. The 〈◊〉 of the Church to her antient Rules and publick Doctrines must be nothing else but the enjoyning of his own private practices and opinions upon other men fol. 127. And if a Liturgy be compos'd for the use of Church of Scotland who but he must be charged to be the Compiler of it But what proofs have we for all this Only the 〈◊〉 or his Enemies or our Authors own 〈…〉 or some common fame And if it once be 〈…〉 shall pass for truth and as a truth 〈…〉 Authors History though the greatest falsehood Tam facilis in mendaciis fides ut quicquid famae liceat fingere illi esset libenter audire in my Authors language But for the last he brings some p●oof he would have us think so at the least that is to say the words of one Bayly a Scot whom it concern'd to make him as odious as he could the better to comply with a Pamphlet called The Intentions of the Army in which it was declared that the Scots entred England with a purpose to remove the Archbishop from the King and execute their vengeance on him What hand Dr. Cousins had in assisting of the work I am not able to say But sure I am that there was nothing done in it by the Bishops of England but with the counsel and co-operation of their Brethren in the Church of Scotland viz. the Archbishop of St. Andrews the Archbishop of Glasco the Bishop of Murray Ross Brechin and Dunblane as appears by the Book entituled Hidden Works of Darkness c. fol. 150 153 154 c. And this our Author must needs know but that he hath a minde to quarrel the Archbishop upon every turn as appears plainly 1. By his Narrative of the Design in King Iames his time from the first undertaking of it by the Archbishop of St. Andrews and the Bishop of Galloway then being whose Book corrected by that King with some additions expunctions and accommodations was sent back to Scotland 2. By that unsatisfiedness which he seems to have when the project was resum'd by King Charles whether the Book by him sent into Scotland were the same which had passed the hands of King Iames or not which he expresseth in these words viz. In the Reign of King Charles the project was resumed but whether the same Book or no God knoweth fol. 160. If so if God only knoweth whether it were the same or no how dares he tell us that it was not and if it was the same as it may be for ought he knoweth with what conscience can he charge the making of it upon Bishop Laud. Besides as afterwards he telleth us fol. 163. the Church of Scotland claimed not only to be Independent and free as any Church in Christendom a Sister not a Daughter of England And consequently the Prelates of that Church had more reason to decline the receiving of a Liturgy impos'd on them or commended to them by the Primate of England for fear of acknowledging any subordination to him then to receive the same Liturgy here by Law establisht which they might very safely borrow from their Sister Church without any such danger But howsoever it was the blame must fall on him who did least deserve it Fol. 167. Thus none seeing now foul weather in Scotland could expect it fair Sun-shine in England In this I am as little of our Authors opinion as in most things else The Sun in England might have shined with a brighter beam if the clouds which had been gathered together and threatned such foul weather in Scotland had been disperst and scattered by the Thunder of our English Ordinance The opportunity was well given and well taken also had it not been unhappily lost in the prosecution The Scots were then weak unprovided of all necessaries not above three thousand compleat Arms to be found amongst them The English on the other side making a formidable appearance gallantly Horst complea●ly arm'd and intermingled with the choicest of the Nobility and Gentry in all the Nation And had the Scots been once broken and their Countrey wasted which had been the easiest thing in the world for the English Army they had been utterly disabled from creating trouble to their King disturbances in their own Ch●rch and destruction to England So true is that of the wise Histo●ian Conatus subditor●m irritos imperia ●●●per promovere the Insurrections of the people when they are supprest do always make the King stronger and the Subjects weaker Fol. 167. The Sermon ended We chose Dr. Stewart Den of Chichester Prolocutor and the next day of sitting We met at Westminster in the
be true or false I am not able to s●y but being generally believ'd I have set it down also B●t my other story is more serious intended for the satisfaction of our Author and the Reader both It was in Nobember Anno 1639. that I receiv'd a message from the Lord Archbishop to attend him the next day at two of the clock in the afternoon The Key being tu●n'd which opened the way into his Study I found him sitting in a chair holding a paper in both hands and his eyes so fixt upon that paper that he observ'd me not at my coming in Finding him in that posture I thought it fit and manners to retire again But the noise I made by my retreat bringing him back unto himself he recall'd me again and told me after some short pawse that he well remembred that he had sent for me but could not tell for his life what it was about After which he was pleas'd to say no● without tears standing in his eyes that he had then newly receiv'd a letter acquainting him with a Revolt of a Person of some Quality in North-Wales to the Church of Rome that he knew that the increase of Popery by such frequent Revol●s would be imputed unto him and his Brethren the Bishops who were all le●st guilty of the same that for his part he had done his utmost so far forth as it might consist with the Rules of Prudence and the P●eservation of the Church to suppress that party and to bring the chief sticklers in it to condign punishment to the truth whereof lifting up his wet eyes to Heaven he took God to witness conjuring me as I would answer it to God at the day of Judgement that if ever I came to any of those places which he and his Brethren by reason of their great age were not like to hold long I would imploy all such abilities as God had given me in suppressing that party who by their open unde●takings and secret practices were like to be the ruin● of this flourishing Church After some words of mine upon that occasion I found some argument to divert him from those sad remembrances and having brought him to some reasonable composedness I took leave for the present and some two or three dayes after waiting on him again he then told me the reason of his sending for me the time before And this I deliver for a truth on the faith of a Christian which I hope will over-ballance any Evidence which hath been brought to prove such Popish inclinations as he stands generally charg'd with in our Authors History Fol. 217. However most apparent it is by many passages in his life that he endeavoured to take up many controversies betwixt us and the Church of Rome And this indeed is Novum Crimen that is to say a crime of a new stamp never coyn'd before I thought that when our Saviour said Beati Pacifici it had been sufficient war●ant unto any man to endevour Peace to build up the breache● in the Church and to make Ierusalem like a City which is at Vnity in it self especially where it may be done not only salva charitare without breach of charity but salvâ fide too without wrong to the faith The greatest part of the Controversies betwixt us and the Church of Rome not being in the Fundamentals o● in any Essential Points in the Christian Religion I cannot otherwise look upon it but as a most Christian pious work to endeavour an atonement in the S●perstructures But hereof our Author seems to doubt first whether 〈◊〉 endeavours to agree and compose the differences be law●ul or not and secondly whether they be possible As for the lawfulness thereof I could never see any reason produc'd against it nor so much as any question made of it till I found it here against the possibility thereof it hath been objected that such and so great is the pride of the Church of Rome that they will condescend to nothing And therefore if any such composition or agreement be made it must not be by their meeting us but our going to them But as our Author sayes that many of the Archbishops equals adjudg'd that design of his to be impossible so I may say without making any such odious Comparisons that many of our Authors betters have thought otherwise of it It was the petulancy of the Puritans on the one side and the pragmaticalness of the Iesuits on the other side which made the breach wider then it was at the first and had those hot spirits on both sides been charm'd a while moderate men might possibly have agreed on such equal terms as would have said a sure Foundation for the Peace of Christendom Now that all those in the Church of Rome are not so stiffly wedded to their own opinions as our Author makes them appears first by the testimony of the Archbishop of Spalato declaring in the High Commission a little before his going hence that he acknowledged the Articles of this Church to be true or profitable at the least and none of them Heretical It appears secondly by a Tractate of Franciscus de Sancta Clara as he calls himself in which he putteth such a gloss upon the nine and thirty Articles of the Church of England as rendreth them not inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Church of Rome And if without prejudice to the truth the Controversies might have been compos'd it is most probable that other Protestant Churches would have sued by their Agents to be included in the Peace if not the Church of England had lost nothing by it as being hated by the Calvinists and not lov'd by the Lutherans But our Author will not here desist so soon hath he forgotten his own rule made in the case of Mr. Love and therefore mustereth up his faults viz. 1. Passion though an human frailty 2. His severity to his predecessor easing him before his time and against his will of his Iurisdiction 3. His over-medling in State-matters 4. His imposing of the Scottish Liturgy Of all which we have spoke so much upon other occasions that is to say num 246. 251. 289. 259. and therefore do not count it necessary to adde any thing here And so I leave him to his rest in the Bosom of Abraham in the land of th● Living From the Archbishop of Canterbury I should proceed to Dr. Williams Archbishop of York but that I must first remove a Block which lies in my way Our Author having told us of the making and printing the Directory is not content to let us see the cold entertainment which it found when it came abroad but let● us see it in such terms as we did not look for Fol. 222. Such saith he was call it constancy or obstinacy love or doating of the generality of the Nation on the Common Prayer that the Parliament found it fit yea necessary to back their former Ordinance with a second Assuredly the generality of the people of
But I must needs say that I am not satisfied in the arguments which are brought to prove it Wilson in his unworthy History of the Reign of King Iames make● him to be Eunuchus ab utero an Eunuch from his Mothers womb The Author of the Pamphlet called the Observator observed conceives that Wilson went too far in this expression and rather thinks that he contracted some impotency by falling on a stake when he was a Boy fol. 10. Our Author here seems to incline unto this last assuring us from such who knew the Privacies and casualti●s of his infancy that this Archbishop was but one degree remov'd from a Misogynist though to palliate his infirmity to n●ble Females he was most compleat in his Courtly Addresses But first the falsity and frivolousness of these De●ences leave the poor man under a worse suspicion then they ●oun● him in His manly countenance together with his masculine voyce shewed plainly that he was no Eunuch and the agreeableness of his conversation with the female Sex did as plainly shew that he was no Misogynist or woman-hater And secondly admitting these surmises to be true and real they rather serve to evidence his impotency then to prove his chastity it being no chastity in that man to abstain from women who either by casualty or by nature is disabled from such copulations The vertue of chastity consisteth rather in the integrity of the soul then the muti●ation of the body and therefore more to be ascrib'd to those pious men Qui salvis ●o●lis foemi●am vident in Tertullians language then to the old Philosopher who put out his eyes to avoid temptations of that nature So that if this be all which they have to say for the Bishops chastity these Advocates had shewed more wisdom in saying nothing then speaking so little to the purpose Ibid. Envy it self cannot deny but that whither soever he went he might be traced by the foot-steps of his benefaction Amongst which benefactions it was none of the least that in both the Universities he had so many Pensioners more as it was commonly given out then all the Noble-men and Bishops in the Land together some of which receiv'd twenty Nobles some ten pounds and other twenty Marks per annum And yet it may be said without envy that none of all these Pensions came out of his own purse but were laid as Rent-charges upon such Benefices as were in his disposing either as Lord Keeper or Bishop of Lincoln and assign'd over to such Scholars in each University as applyed themselves to him And because I would not be thought to say this without Book I have both seen and had in my keeping till of late if I have it not still an Acquittance made unto a Minister in discharge of the payment of a Pension of twenty Nobles per annum to one who was then a Student in Christ-Church The names of the parties I forbear he that receiv'd it and he for whom it was receiv'd and perhaps he that paid it too being still alive And possible enough it is that this Pensioning of so many Scholars had not been past over in silence by our Author if he had not known the whole truth as well as the truth Ibid. Much he expended on the Repair of Westminster Abbey-Church c The Library at Westminster was the effect of his bounty This though it be true in part yet we cannot say of it that it is either the whole truth or nothing but the truth For the plain truth is that neither the charge of repairing that Church nor ●urnishing that Library came out of his own private Coffers but the Churches rents For at such time as he was made Lord Keeper of the great Seal he caused it to be signified unto the Prebendaries of that Church how inconvenient it would be both to him and them to keep up the Commons of the Colledge and gaind so farre upon them that they pass'd over to him all the rents of that Church upon condition that he should pay the annual pensions of the Prebendaries School-masters Quire-men and inferiour Officers and maintain the Commons of the Scholars The rest amounting to a great yearly value was left wholly to him upon his honourable word and promise to expend the same for the good and honour of that Church The surplusage of which expenses receiv'd by him for four years and upwards amounted unto more than had been laid out by him on the Church and Library as was offered to be proved before the Lords Commissioners at the visitation Anno. 1635. And as for the Library at St. Iohns it might possibly cost him more wit than money many books being dayly sent in to him upon the intimation of his purpose of founding the two Libraries by such as had either suits in Court or business in Chancery or any ways depended on him or expected any favours from him either as Bishop of Lincoln or Dean of Westminster Fol. 228. He hated Popery with a perfect hatred But Wi●son in his History of great Britain sings another song whether in tune or out of tune they can best tell who liv'd most neere those times and had opportunities to observe him There is a mu●tering of some strange offer which he made to K. Iames at such time as the Prince was in Spain and the Court seemed in common apprehension to warp towards Popery which declared no such ●erfect hatred as our Author speaks of unto that Religion Nor was he coy of telling such whom he admitted unto privacies with him that in the time of his greatness at Court he was accounted for the Head of the Catholick Party not sparing to declare what free and frequent accesses he gave the principal Sticklers in that cause both Priests and Iesuits and the special services which he did them And it must be somewhat more than strange if all this be true that he should hate Popery with a perfect ●atred yet not more strange then that he should so stickle in the preferment of Dr. Theodore Price to the Arch-Bishoprick of Armagh in Ireland who died a profest Catholick reconciled to the Church of Rome as our Authour hath it fol. 226. But if there be no more truth in the Bishop of Lincolns hating Popery then in Dr. Prices dying a profess●d Papist there is no credit to be given at all to that part of the Character Dr. Price though once a great Favourite of this Bishop and by him continued Sub-Dean of Westminster many years together was at the last suppos'd to be better affected to Bishop Laud than to Bishop Williams Bishop Laud having lately appeared a Suitor for him for the Bishoprick of St. Asoph And therefore that two Birds might be kild with the same bolt no sooner was Dr. Price deceased but the Bishop of Lincoln being then at Westminster cals the Prebend● together tels them that he had been with Mr. Sub-Deane before his death that he left him in very doubtful
alwaies done where ever I am and therein I pray God still to bless us and preserve us all And now out of all this which I have faithfully related I trust that those who intend their ANIMADVERSIONS upon his History will have enough to say and insert in their own Stile for the vindication of SIR Your Affectionate most humble SERVANT J. C. You know Monsieur Dallê to be one of the greatest account and the best Deserts amongst the reformed Church-men in France It will not be amiss to let you know upon thi● occ●sion what he wrote to a Schollar a Friend of his and an University-man in Cambridge for these were the words in his Letter Tuus Cosins imò noster intercedit enim nobis cum illo suavis amicitia atque familiaritas mihi admodùm probatur Bestiae sunt quidem fanatici qui eum de Papismo suspectum habent à quo vix reperias qui sit magis alienus c. Thus having laid before the Reader both the Bill and Answer I leave him to make Judgment of it by the Rule● of Equity remembring him of that old Saying Videlicet Qui statuit aliquid parte in audita altera Equum licet statuerit haud Equus fuit FINIS Examen Historicum OR A DISCOVERY AND EXAMINATION OF THE Mistakes Falsities and Defects In some Modern HISTORIES Part. II. Containing some Advertisements on these following HISTORIES Viz. 1. The compleat History of Mary Queen of Scots and her Son and Successor King James the sixth 2. The History of the Reign and death of King James of Great Britain France and Ireland the first 3. The compleat History of the Life and Reign of King Charls from his Cradle to his Grave Terent. in Andr. Act. 1. Obsequium amico● veritas caium pari● LONDON Printed for Henry Seal and R. Royston and are to be sold over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street and at the Angel in 〈…〉 The PRE●ACE to the follovving ADVERTISEMENTS THe former Animadversions being brought to an end I am in the next place to encounter with an easier Adversary In whom though I finde wor● enough as ●o matter of Historical Falshoods ●et ● finde no malicious and dangerous untruths destructive to the Church of England or to the ●ame and ●o nor of the Prelates or the re●ular Cler●● 〈◊〉 have therefore given the Tul● o● Advertisements to the second part of this E●●men that ●eing as a gentler so a ●itter term 〈…〉 which is not onely to correct such 〈…〉 ●inde differing from the ●ruth but 〈…〉 the defects of our Author in 〈…〉 which I conceive his care or 〈◊〉 might have led him to Betwixt us both I ●ope the R●ader will be 〈◊〉 in the tru●●●nduct of A●●●urs as th●y come b●●ore ●im And if the Author of the three Histories which I have in hand bring no less ingenuity and candor with him to the perusal of these Papers then I did to the writing of them there will be no need of any such s●urrilous unhandsom expressions as his Post-haste Reply c. is most guilty of but whether he do or not is to me indifferent being prepared before I undertook the business ●o endure chearfully all such Censures as my desires to vindicate the injured Truth and truly to inform the Iudgement of the equal Reader should expose me to And herewith I shall put an end to my correcting of the Errors in other mens Writings though I confess I might finde work enough in that kinde if I were so minded most of our late Scripturients affecting rather to be doing then to be punctual and exact in what they doe as if they were of the same mind with the Ape●Carrier in the History of Don-Quixot who eared not if his Comedi●s had as many Errors in them as there are motes in the Sun so he might stuff his Purse with Crowns and get money by t●em The small remainder of my li●e will be better spent in looking back upon those Errors which the infirmities of nature and other humane frailties have made me subject to that so I may redeem the time because my former days were evil I shall hereafter be onely on the defensive side and study my own preservation if I shall causelesly be assaulted without provoking any by a fresh encounter and doing no otherwise I hope I shall be held excusable both by God and man Viribus utendum est quas fecimus was Caesars resolution when oppressed by an unjust Faction and may without offence be mine when I shall be necessitated thereunto by an unjust Adversary With the like hope I also entertain my self in reference to some freedom which I have made use of in laying down the conduct of such ●ffairs as may concern posterity to be truly informed in For though I neither hope nor wish to live under such a Government ubi ●entire quae velis quae sentias loqui liceat in which it may be lawful for any man to be of what Opinion he will and as freel● to publis● his Opinions yet on the other ●ide I hope ●t may be lawful for me in 〈◊〉 to memory the actions of the present or preceding times to make use of such a modest freedom as without partiality and respect of persons may represent the true condition of affairs in their proper colours For I conceive it no less necessary in a just Historian not to suppose that which he knoweth to be true ne quid veri non audeat as the old Rule was then it is for him to deliver any thing which he knows to be false or in the truth whereof he is not very well informed The present times had reaped no benefit by the Histories of the Ages past if the Miscarriages of great Persons and the errors by them committed in the managery and transaction of publick business had not been represented in them which having said I shall no longer detain the Reader from reaping that commodity which these Advertisements may afford him his satisfaction being the cause and his content the recompence of these undertakings ADVERTISEMENTS ON 1. The compleat History of MARY Queen of Scots and of her Son and Successor King James the sixth AND 2. The History of the Reign and Death of King James of Great Britain France and Ireland the first Enniusap T●ll de Offic Homo qui ●rranti comiter monstrat viam Quasi lumen de lumine suo acc●ndat facit ADVERTISMENTS On the Compleat HISTORY OF Mary Queen of Scotland AND King Iames the sixth IN the Preface to the following History we are told that on the composing of the French quarrels by King H●n●y the eighth there followed the surrendry of Tourney and Overtures of a match between the Dolphin and Henries Sister To Rectifie which errour we are to know that betwixt ●he taking and surrendry of Tourney there were two ac●ords made with the French The first between King Henry●nd ●nd Lewis the twelfth in which it was conditioned amongst
in an Oister-shell or to be sowed like a piece of the richest purple cloth purpureus late qui splendeat in the Poets expression to such a sorry Web of home-spun Yet these defects might the more easily have been pardoned if he had either been more careful in the choice of his matter or diligent in searching for the truth of those things which he hath delivered But on the contrary his matter is many times taken up without care or Judgement wit●out consideration of the fitness or unfitness of it as if an History which is to be the Store-house of time were to be stowed with things unnecessary unprofitable and of no use at all And yet his failings in the truth of that which he delivers to us are more to be condemned be●au●e more dangerous in themselves and of worse consequence in respect of the Reader then his neglect in the choice of his matter For he that comes unto the reading of an History comes with a co●●idence that he shall finde nothing b●● the truth though possibly the A●d it might have been presumed the rather because 〈◊〉 was r●solve●d before ●and ●o to provoke the 〈◊〉 or his Alter 〈◊〉 ●e he who he will as might 〈◊〉 him that his Errors were not like to be con●●a●d from the eyes of other if such a provoca●ion should be ●●●banded to his 〈…〉 But however he goes o● and lays down many things for truth which either have been proved to be false by the o●s●rvator or are contradicted by himself or easily disce●nable for Errors by a vulgar Reader not studied 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 Chronic●e or the weekly M●r●uries And this he does with so great confidence not giving th● least acknowledgement of any Er●a●a eit●er ●rom the Press or from the Pen that if the wilful 〈…〉 an Error may ●reat● an Heresie our Author may deserve to be enro●●● for the first Heretick in point of History And why ●●t Heresies ●n History as well as Heresies in Law with which last crime Iohn 〈◊〉 stands accused in Print by Mr. Justice German for saying that the Jurors were Judges in point of Law and not onely ●n a matter of fact Errare p●ss●m Here● icus ess● 〈◊〉 was esteemed a piou● resolu●ion in a Case of Div●nity and may be held for a good rule in any matter of History Philosophy Law or Physick or any other Art or Faculty of what ●ort soev●r But to reduce these several items to a 〈…〉 as in the History it self considering the length I 〈◊〉 not say the tediousness of it there is much which deserves to be laid up in the Registers of succee●ing Ages so there are many Errors ●it to be 〈…〉 and many unnecessary passages which might very judiciously have been spared suffered to pass by without remembrance His Hist. in this respect may be compared to the French Army at the battle of Agincourt of which it was merrily said by old Captain Gam who took a view of it from an Hill That there were men enough in it to be killed enough to be taken and kept alive and enough to be permitted to run away or to the draw-net in the Gospel which gathered of every kinde of Fishes out of which the good ones being culled and preserved in Vessels the rest were onely good enough to be cast aside I cannot but acknowledge that he hath done more right to the King and the Church of England then could be expected in these times V●inam sic semper err asset as the learned Cardinal said of Calvin in the point of the Trinity And had he took but any ordinary care in performing those things whereof he had been before advertised or diligence in avoiding those Errors which he so often falls into it might have deserved the name of a Compleat History by which he hath been pleased to call it But coming to us as it is it is no other then a Forest of Oaks or a Quary of Marble out of which materials may be hewen for a perfect Fabrick a Moles indigesta like the ancient Chaos which being without Form it self afforded Matter to the making of the most excellent Creatures Or if he will it is an History of Ore which being purged of the Dross and refined in the Language may pass for currant amongst the best pieces of this kinde Which said in reference to the Author and the present History I must say somewhat of my self and my ingaging in the survey and correction of it Concerning which the Reader may be pleased to know that about Midsummer last Mr. Sanderson found me out at my lodging in London where after some ordinary Civilities passed between us he told me that he had undertaken the History of King Charls and that he was required by the Lord Primate of Ireland to do him some right in the business of the Earl of Strafford which he resolved so to do and with such respect unto my person that I should finde no just cause to be offended at his writing I answered that I was resolved to have nothing to do in the Quarrels of the Observator and therefore he might use his pleasure I had a purpose thereupon of perusing the History and taking notice of such Errors and Mistakes if any such were as possibly I might chance to meet with and having so done to send them to him with my Conceptions and Corrections in a private way that he might do himself the right of rectifying them in a short Review and joyning that Review to as many of the Books as remained unsold And this he might have done with great advantage to the Reader and without disparagement to himself two as great Clerks as any of the age they lived in having done the like viz. St. Austin in his Retra●lations and Bellarmin in his Book of Recognitions But when I came to that part of it which concerned the Lord Primate and the Earl of Strafford I saw my self so coursly handled and so despightfully reproached that I found good cause to change my purpose not to take such care to save his credit who had so little care of his own and less of mine Seipsum deserentem omnia deserunt is an old Observation but as true as ancient He gives me rost-mea● and besprinkles me with a little Court Holy-water in the end of his Preface but beat me with the spit and basles me all over with gall and vineger in that part of the History which made me change my first purpose and intentions towards him And yet I cannot chuse but say I was never at a greater conflict within my self in any matter of this kinde then in the publishing or not publishing of these following papers I had before justified my self against his Calumnies and charges in an Appendix to my answer to the part of Dr. 〈◊〉 Book entituled The ●udgment of the late Primate c. in which I found my self concerned which was intended to come out in Print before Easter last And thereupon I
King as our Authour words is it gave the King occasion to consider of the generall tendency of the Puritan doctrine in this point unto downright Iud●●sme and thereupon to quicken the reviving of his Fathers Declaration about Lawfull sports in which the signification of his pleasure beareth date the 18. of October in the 9. year of his Reign Anno 1633. A remedy which had been prescribed unseasonably to prevent and perhaps too late to cure the disease if Bradburns Book had been publisht six years before as our Authour makes 〈◊〉 Our Authour secondly relating this very businesse of Bradburnes Book or rather of Barbarous Books as he cals them there fol. 196. must either be confest to speak Vngrammatically or else the coming out of these Barbarous Books must be one chief motive for setting out that Declaration by King Iames Anno. 1618. Thirdly This Bradbu●u was not made a Convert by the High Commission Cou●t b●t by a private conference with some Learned Divines to which he had submitted himself and which by Gods blessing so far prevailed with him that he became a Converts and freely conformed himself to the Orthodoxall Doctrine of the Church of England both concerning the Sabbath day and likewise concerning the Lords day So Bishop White relates the Story in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Book to the A●ch-Bishop of Canterbury Anno 1635. Fourthly Whereas our Authour tels us fol. 175. That the Declaration was not 〈◊〉 on the Ministers to publish more proper for a Lay-Officer or a Constable I must needs grant that the publishing of this Declaration was not prest on the Minister by any expresse command of the King But then I would fain know withall how the Bishops could take Order that publication thereof be made in all the Parish Churches of their severall Diocesses according to his 〈◊〉 will and pleasure but by the mouth of the Ministers The Constable and other Lay-Officers whom our Authour thinks more proper for that Employment were not under the Bishop● command as to that particular and therefore as he ●ad n● Authority so he had no reason to require any such duty from them And as for the Church-Wardens which are more liable to the power and command of the O●dinary it happeneth many times especially in Countrey-Villages that they cannot reade and the●efore no such publication of the Kings pleasure to be laid on them The Ministers who had take● an Oath o● Canonicall O●edience to their severall and respective Bishops must consequently b● the fittest men for that Employment implicitly intended though not explicitly named in the Declaration As many mistakes there are concerning the decay and repair of S. Pauls Church in London For first the high Spire was not burnt down by accident of Lightning in the time of Queen Eliz●beth as our Authour tels us fol. 176. That vulgar Errour hath been confuted long agoe and no such thing as the burning of Pauls Steeple by Lightning hath for these twenty years and more occurred in the Chronologies of our common Almanacks that dreadfull accident not happening by the hand of H●aven but by the negligence of a Plumber who leaving his pan of Coals there when he went to Dinner was the sole occasion of that mischief Secondly The Commission for the Repair of this Church issued in the time of King Charles came not out in the year 1632. where our Authour placeth it but had past the Seal and was published in Print the year before Anno 1631. Thirdly The Reparation of the Church began not at the West end as our Authour tels us fol. 177. the Quire or Eastern part of the Church being fully finisht before the Western part or the main body of the Chu●ch had been undertaken Fourthly The little Church called S. Gregories was not willingly taken down to the ground the Parishioners opposing it very strongly and declaring as much unwillingnesse as they could or durst in that particular and fiftly the Lord Mayor for the time then being was not named Sir Robert 〈◊〉 as our Authour makes it but Sir Robert Ducy advanc'd by ●is ●ajesty to the d●gree of a Baronet as by the Commission doth appear so many mistakes in so few lin●● are not easily met with in any Author but our present Hist●●rian But we proceed Fol. 179. ●he Turk● h●ve Auxili●ry friend●hip of the 〈◊〉 Tartar Chrim from whose Ancestors Tamberlain proceeded ● A Proposition strangely mixt of truth and falshood it being most true that the Turks have Auxiliary Forces from the Tartar Chrim and no less false that Tamberlain d●●cended from him All who have written of that great Prince make him the son of Og or Zain-Cham the Cham of Zagathey a Province some thousands of miles distant from the dwellings of the Tartar-Chrim which Og or Z●in-Ch●m was the Grand-childe of another Z●in-Cham the third great Cham of the Tartars and he the Grand-childe of Cingis the first great Cham who laid the foundation of that mighty and for a time most terrible Empire Whereas the Chrim-Tartar or the Tartar-Chrim as our Auth●r calls him derives 〈◊〉 from Lochtan-Cham descended from one Bathu or Roydo a great Commander of the Tartars who during the Reign of Hoccata the second great Cham subdued these Countries But this mistake I shall more easily pardon in our Author then another of like nature touching Vladislaus King of Poland of whom he tells us that being the f●urth of that name he succeeded his Brother Sigismund in that Kingdom Vladislaus the f●●rth saith he was after the death of his Brother Sigismund by the consent of the States preferred to the ●hro●e fol. 182. In which few words there are two things to be corrected For first Vl●disl●us who succeeded Sig●smund was not his Brother but his Son And secondly he succeeded not by the name of Vladislaus the fourth but of Vlad●sl●us the seven●h Adde herein his making of Smolensko a Town of P●land ib●d which most of our Geograp●ers have placed in R●ssia A Town wh●ch sometime by the chance of War or otherwise h●th been in possession of the Pole though properly belonging to the great Duke of Muscovy which can no more entitle it to the name of a Polish Town then Calice may be now said to be an English Colony because once a Colony of the English Nor does our Author spe●k more properly I will not say more understandingly of the Affairs of Ireland then of those of Poland For first He tells us fol. 185. That the Conquest of it was never perfected till its subjection to King Charls whereas there was no other subjection tendred by that People to King Charls then by those of his other two Kingdoms of England and Scotland Secondly Forgetting what he had said before he tells us fol. 186. That Mount●oy made an end of that War in the Reign of King James and yet he says not true in that neither ●or the War was ended by Mountjoy at the Battle of Kingsale by which that great Rebel the Earl
besides such as they had lost in the course of the War Fol. 828. Nor would they budg● from the North parts though they are called Southwards for the Kingdoms security and service But just before we found the Scots at the Siege of Hereford a City beyond the Severn on the borders of Wales and here we finde th●m so fast r●ve●ed in the Northern ●ounties that they would not budge a foot Southwards for the Kingdoms safety Reconcile these differences he that can for my part I dare not undertake it The like irreconcileablenesse I finde within few lines after in which he tel●eth us that being entreated to march to the Siege of N●wark they sta●ed not long there but marched in a pet Northwa●ds to Newcastle where they stuck till they got the King into their clutches sold him and so went home again But first If the Scots marched towards Newark whether upon entreaty or not is not much materiall they must needs budge Southward the whole County of York and part of Nottinghamshire lying between Newark and the Scots Quarters Secondly The Scots did not go from Newark in such a pet as to leave the Siege for aftewards we finde fol. 892. that L●sly only went away in a p●t but left his Army there to attend the continuance of the Siege till the Town was taken Secondly he did not force the Town by firing one of the ●●ates but had it surrendred to him by Composition the Capitulations being made on the Sunday night and his Sould●er entring into it on the Munday morning Thirdly the Souldiers of the Garrison were not forced by him into the Castle who had time enough all that night to retire into it or otherwise to leave the Town as all the Horse and many of the Foot had leave to do And fourthly there was no such difficulty in the businesse a● to bring God upon the Stage in the taking either of the Town or Castle which the Governour Sir William Ogle wa● resolved beforehand not to hold out long He had bragg'd 〈◊〉 times that he had so stored that Castle with Victuals Arme● and Ammunition that he durst bid defiance for six 〈◊〉 to all the Armies in England But when the news ●am● o● the taking of 〈◊〉 and Bridgewa●er he changed his 〈◊〉 af●rming frequently that it could be no dishonour to affirmed expresly being desired to shew the truth in this particular that there were about 80. Women in it at that time when the House was stormed So that our Authour in this point was extremely out as much as the difference can amount to between a Company of 80. and one single person The words to be explained are these viz. a Godly Divine Protestant for protection mixt with some Popish Priests Profession Which words have neither sense nor Grammar as they be before us and therefore must be taught to speak English before the ordinary Reader can understand them And if the words were put into proper and Grammaticall English we must reade them thus viz. A Godly Protestant Divine mixt for protection with some Priests of the Popish profession Which being the Grammar of the words will give a Logical dispute about the party to whom the Character is given I think our Authour would not have it understood of D. Griffiths Daughter who though a very vertuous and godly Gentlewoman cannot be called a Godly Protestant Divine in the common notion of the phrase and yet the current of the words does import no lesse For it is said that there was but one woman amongst so many men D Griffiths Daughter a Godly Protestant Divine c. Nor can it properly be understood of D. Griffith though a Godly Protestant Divine the following words depending on those before D. Griffiths Daughter and not relating literally and grammatically to the Doctor himself Had the tenour of the words run thus The Daughter of D. Griffith a Godly Protestant Divine the adjunct of a Go●ly Protestant Divine must have related to the Father but as they he before us it relates to the daughter With what propriety of speech or sense let the Reader judge and make himself as mery at it as he pleaseth Fol. 836. For Digby was sometimes Secretary of State And so he was at this time also when he was discomfited at Sherburn in Yorkshire when he lost that Cabinet and those Letters which our Authour speaks of He had been made principall Secretary of Estate in the place of the Lord Falkland about the beginning of October Anno 1643. And continued in that office till his Majesties death though by reason of the Kings restraint and his own enforced absence he was not able to act any thing in it as neither could M. Secretary Nicholas who notwithstanding neither lost the Office nor name of Secretary I trow Sir Francis Walsingham or Sir Robert Cec●l were not the lesse Secretaries of Estare to Queen Elizabeth because she employed them sometimes in forreign Embassies nor was Digby sometimes only but at that time Secretary of E●tate when he took upon him the Command of a Body of Horse in his Masters Service Fol. 871. And the West being cleared Fairfax returns back again to the Siege of Bristol The west so far from being clear'd that except Bridgewater in Somersetshire and Sherburn Castle in Dorsetshire little or nothing was done in order to it The Counties of Devon and Cornwall still remained untoucht in which the Prince had not only a considerable Army under brave Commanders but many strong Towns and Garisons well stored with Souldiers so as at this siege of Bristol it was conceived that two great Errors were committed the first by Fairfax in sitting down before a Town in which were so many able men well armed and commanded by the General of his Majesties Forces and leaving an Army at his back which might have charged him in the Rear while those within sallied out upon him and assailed him in the very front The second Errour was in Rupe●t in that being Generall of the Kings Forces he shut himself up within a Town when it had been more proper for him to have been abroad gathering together the Kings old Souldiers and raising new from severall places by which he might have put himself into a Condition to raise the Siege But Fairfax knew well what he did making no doubt to have the Town delivered to him before the Prince could be inform'd of the danger in which it was For the delivery of which City so strongly fortified so well mann'd so furnisht with all sorts of necessary provisions Prince Rupert incurr'd the suspicion of Disloyalty both with the King and all his party He had before sent certain Letters to the King in which he pressed him somewhat beyond good manners to come to a speedy conclusion with his Parliament without relating either to point of honour or conscience with which the King seemed more displeased as appeareth by his answer to him fol. 841. then was agreeable unto his
And he that knowing a thing to be false sets it down for true not only gives the lie to his own conscience but occasions others also to believe a falshood And from this charge I cannot see how he can be acquitted in making the Bishops to be guilty of those filthy sins for which they were to be so lashed by Satyrical wits or imputing those base Libels unto wanton wits which could proceed from no other fountain then malicious wickedness But I ●m we●ry and ashamed of taking in so impure a kennel and for that cause also shall willingly passe over his apology for Hacket that blasphemous wretch and most execrable miscreant justly condemned and executed for a double Treason against the King of Kings in Heaven and the Queen on earth Of whom he would not have us think fol. 204. that he and his two Companions his two Prophets for so they called themselves were worse by nature then all others of the English Nation the natural corruption in the hearts of others being not lesse headstrong but more bridled And finally that if Gods restraining grace be taken from us we shall all run unto the same excesse of Riot Which Plea if it be good for Hacket will hold good for Iudas and pity it is that some of our fine wits did never study an apology for him From Hack●● he goes on to Travers a man of an unquiet spirit but not half so mischievous of whom he saith Fol. 214. At Antwerp he was ordained Minister by the Presbyt●ry there and not long after that he was put in Orders by the Presbytery of a forain Nation Here have we Ordination and putting into Orders ascribed to the Pre●bytery of A●t●●erp a Mongrel company consisting of two blew Aprous to each Cruel night-cap and that too in such positive terms and without any the least qualification that no Presbyterian in the pack could have spoke more plainly The man hath hitherto stood distracted betwixt shame and love love to the cause and shame to be discovered for a party in it drawing several wayes Pudor est qui suade●● illinc Hinc dissuadet Amor in the Poets language And in this fit he thought it good to withdraw himself or stand by a● a silent Spectator that his betters might have room to come forth and speak in the present controversie of Church Government fol. 143. But here love carries it away and he declares himself roundly for the Presbyterians by giving them the power of Ordination and consequently of Ecclesiastical censure in their several Consistories Had he used the words of the Certificate which he grounds upon and told us that Travers was admitted by that Presbytery to the Ministery of the holy word in sacr● verbi Dei Ministerio institutus a● their words there are he had done the part of an Historian They may make Ministers how and of whom they list and put that Heavenly treasure into what vessels they please Scripturarum ars est quam omnes passim sibi vindicant as St. Ierom complained in his time Let every Tradesman be a Preacher and step from the shop-board to the Pulpit if they think well of it This may be called a making of Ministers in such a sense as Phoebe is said to be a Minister of the Church of Cenchrea to minister to the necessities of their Congregations But to ascribe unto them a power of Ordination or of giving Orders which they assume not to themselves savours too strong of the party and contradicts the general Rules of the ancient Fathers At this time I content my self with that saying of Ierom because esteemed no friend to Bishops viz. Quid facit Episcopus excepta Ordinatione quod Presbyter non faciat and for the rest refer the Reader to the learned Treatise of Dr. Hammond Entituled Observations upon the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons at Westminster for the Ordination of Ministers pro tempore Printed at Oxford 1644. Only I shall make bold to quit my Author with a merry tale though but one for an hundred and t is a tale of an old jolly popish Priest who having no entertainment for a friend who came to him on a Fasting day but a piece of Pork and making conscience of observing the appointed Fast dipt it into a tub of water saying down Porke up Pike Satisfied with which device as being accustomed to transubstantiate he well might be he caused it to be put into the p●t and made ready for dinner But as the Pork for all this suddain piece of wit was no other then Pork so these good fellowes of the Presbytery by laying hands upon one another act as little as he the parties so impos'd upon impos'd upon indeed in the proper notion are but as they were Lay-brethren of the better stamp Ministers if you will but not Priests nor Deacons nor any wayes Canonically enabled for divine performances But fearing to be chidden for his levity I knock off again following my Author as he leads me who being over shooes will be over boots also He is so lost to the High Royalist and covetous Conformist that he cannot be in a worse case with them then he is already And therefore having declared himself for a Presbyterian in point of Government he will go thorough with his work shewing himself a profest Calvinist in point of Doctrine and a strict Sabba●arian too in that single point though therein differing as the rest of that party do from their Master Calvin First for the Sabbath for the better day the better deed having repeared the chief heads of Dr. Bounds book published Anno 1595. in which the Sabbatarian Doctrines were first set on soot he addes that learned men were much divided in their judgements about the same Fol. 228. Some saith he embraced them as ancient truths consonant to Scripture long disused and neglected now seasonably revived for the encrease of piety Amongst which some he that shall take our Author for one will not be m●ch mistaken either in the man or in the matter For that he doth approve Bounds Doctrines in this particular appears First By a passage fol. 165. where he con●nts with him in reckoning the casual falling of the Scaffolds at Paris-Garden on the Lords-day Anno 1583. for a divine judgement upon those who perished by it as they were beholding that rude pastime Secondly By his censure of the proceedings of Archbishop Whitgift against these Doctrines of whom he telleth us fol 229. That his known opposition to the p●●ceedings of the Brethren rendred his actions more odious as if out of envy he had caused such a pearl to be concealed Thirdly by making these Sabbath Doctrines to be the Diamond in the Ring of those Catechisms and Controversies which afterwards were set out by the stricter Divines And Fourthly by the sadnesse which he findes in recounting the grief and distraction occasioned in many honest mens hearts by the several publishings of the Declaration about lawful sports lib. ●o fol.