Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A53218
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Reflections to a late book, entituled, The genuine remains of Dr. Tho. Barlow late Bishop of Lincoln. Falsly pretended to be published from His Lordship's original papers. With a catalogue of Socinian writers.
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Offley, William, 1659 or 60-1724.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing O159B; ESTC R26451
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13,451
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30
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REFLECTIONS To a Late BOOK Entituled The GENVINE REMAINS OF Dr. Tho. Barlow Late BISHOP of LINCOLN Falsly pretended to be Published from His LORDSHIP'S Original Papers With a CATALOGUE of SOCINIAN WRITERS Haec volebum nescius ne esses Preface to the Remains LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIV Imprimatur Guil. Lancaster R. P. D. Hen. Episco Lond. à Sacris Domest July 25. 1694. TO THE REVEREND DOCTOR FVLLER CHANCELLOR OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH in LINCOLN SIR AS I shall constantly endeavour to approve my self sensible of my late Lord Bishop of Lincoln's great Favours in general so in particular I think my self happy in your Friendship which I have not a little Experienced ever since my first admission into the Church of Lincoln by vertue of his Lord Bishop's Patronage When I was with you at Lincoln in May last you were pleased to enquire about the late Bishop of Lincoln's Original MSS which were entrusted with my Brother Chaplain and my self and to express your Concern very much that such poor Scraps of Learning should be Printed under the Authority of so great a Name as Doctor Barlow's was and that the Genuine Remains which were Extant did not only injure the Memory of him that was a Learned Father of our Church but occasion'd some Persons to censure and condemn those whom he had left his Legatees for his Papers I did then assure you that we that had the Bishop's MSS had taken all imaginable Care of them having never parted with any of them nor gave consent that any part or parcel of them should be Printed and that what had happen'd was altogether without our knowledge And thus much I gave you for truth under my own Hand in a Paper which I left with you the Substance of which I read to the Reverend Doctor Gardiner our present Sub-Dean who was equally concern'd with your self that any thing should pass abroad under our late Bishop's Name and Character which might in the least prejudice the Church and his Memory I then satisfied you both that one Sir P. P. and the late Vicar of Bugden were the confederate Pedlars that have endeavour'd to impose upon the World so much varnish'd Ware for the sake of Twenty Guineas gave for the Copy as his Wife inform'd a Reverend Friend of mine Soon after I left Lincoln I met with the late Minister of Bugden who confess'd he did communicate the Directions to a young Divine which ushers in the rest of the Remains to Sir P. P. which MSS I told him was not compleated for being admitted sometime to a freedom of Discourse with his Lordship upon my mentioning once the Printing of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was pleas'd to say That he fear'd his Directions were imperfect for having written them at several times they requir'd a careful Review and more Time than he had then to spare for such a purpose but said he hop'd to be more at leisure to consult hereafter what was proper to be done My Lord in a few Months after died without perusing his own Original MSS. or Correcting of any Copy that had been taken after it And many of those Copies which were wrote from the Original were imperfect my Lord commanding oftentimes that only some part of his Directions should be copied out which said he may be sufficient for some who are very curious in Books or perhaps not able to buy many At my return hither I delay'd no time to acquaint Mr. Brougham with the ill Consequences which I apprehended might ensue upon our suffering so much Injustice to be done to our late Lord's Memory without any Advertisement or Notice taken of it by us who were jointly concern'd in our own Vindication as well as our Lord 's I desir'd him since he had all the Bishop's MSS. in his custody at Queens College Oxon. to consult them that were useful for our present purpose in exposing the Defects of the Genuine Remains he readily answer'd my Request and return'd me the following Letter which I send you and being confident you will be pleas'd with the design of doing Justice to the Memory of a Learned Prelate which has suffer'd in the Publication of little things whilst the more weighty Effects of his indefatigable Pains and Study have according to his own Inclinations and Will been kept from being made Publick I am Sir Your most Obliged Servant William Offley Middleton-Stony Jun. 23. 94. REFLECTIONS On a Late BOOK c. SIR YOU may remember that discoursing with you frequently about some Pieces that have appear'd under the late Learned and Pious Bishop of Lincoln's Name particularly that of the Genuine Remains I always express't my Sense about them to this effect That though there was foul play practised in the publishing of them and such as deserved to be taken notice of yet that those concern'd therein had laid their design of getting a penny so open and their poor Arts of raising the price and bulk of a Book so obvious and undisguised that they were visible to every Eye without being pointed to and so needed not be more effectually exposed than they had done it themselves And for the clearing us whom the Bishop was pleased to appoint Legatees for all his own Original Manuscripts I thought it sufficient for us openly to disavow as for my part I did upon all occasions our being either consenting or so much as privy to the Printing any of them which if we had been minded to do it had been easy to have made choice of such as were infinitely more worthy of the Bishop's Character And to remove all Suspicion at the greater distance I fail'd not to acquaint others as opportunity served that the Bishop at the disposal of his MSS. shew'd no inclination to have any of them publish'd after his Decease for that the freedom being taken to ask his Lordship whether he would have any of them Printed his Answer was as near as I could recollect that he did not desire that any should Now though this did not amount to an absolute Prohibition yet I told them we took it to be a Signification of the Bishop's Mind and accordingly thought our Selves bound religiously to observe it notwithstanding the expectations and importunities of others or the Advantage we might otherwise propose to our selves And thus being in no wise conscious to our selves of sending any thing abroad under the Bishop's Name I hope it may seem the more excusable that we have been the less concern'd to publish our Innocence The only thing then that could be expected from us was thas something should be offer'd in Vindication of the Bishop's Memory to which upon several accounts we owe a great Esteem and Veneration and which indeed would be extremely injured if the World should believe what is suggested in the Pompous Title that Those were THE Genuine Products of the Learned Prelate's long Study and Labour But the truth is I could never
perswade my self that any that were acquainted with his Lordship's great Abilities as few were ignorant of them could ever entertain so injurious a thought of him It was very well known that as He had made a noble Collection of Books so he put them to better use than any thing that 's Printed since his Death doth shew and has taken the most effectual way to make them serviceable hereafter by bequeathing them to Bodley's and Queens College Libraries in Oxford and thereby accomplishing his own often repeated promises and the hopes that others had conceiv'd thereupon And these Considerations you know Sir wrought so far with me that I thought it unnecessary any thing should be offer'd in print either for the Vindication of our Patron or the Satisfaction of others And herein you seem'd heretofore to concur with me Nevertheless since as well upon the said accounts as to justify our selves from some groundless surmises you judge it needful something should be said I am ready to communicate a few things that occur'd to me in the perusal of the Remains for to take notice of every thing that would bear a Reflection would be an endless labour and shall leave it to your Discretion to make what use of them you think fit It was not to be expected but that one specious Pretence or other would be made use of to palliate the matter and the rather because the most unbecoming Actions like the homeliest Faces require the most Art to set them off And therefore to make Bookseller and Buyer the better to swallow the Pill nothing less is pretended than the gratifyng the Learned World and erecting a lasting Monument of Praise to the Bishop's Memory by the Publication of this Book As to the latter part of the Plea it must be owned that the Pious Architect's Zeal for the Bishop's Honour has transported him so far that rather than want Materials for a Monument he has piled together such despicable ones as if compar'd with others the Bishop has left behind Him would make Him lamented as buried in Ruins How far he design'd to oblige the World by this Collection of Relicks is only discernible to the Searcher of Hearts but how far he has compass'd that Design others may judge And I can't forbear on this Occasion reflecting on the subtile Trade which the Romish Fryars drive in vending the Relicks of their Saints which there are shrew'd Temptations to believe is not so much for the benefit of the People as themselves But that which seems a Jest upon the Reader 's Understanding is that the Editor would make him believe he is tender of (a) p. 567. swelling the Volume to too great a bulk when 't is visible he has scraped together both Old and New Good and Bad Genuine and Adulterate the one to be a Vehicle to the other and both together to screw Mr. Dunton up to a Pitch If the World be so Superstitious as to be fond of Relicks does he think Men will renounce their Senses too and in spight of them believe that he is in good earnest careful not to be too bulky when to advance the number of Sheets he has added several of his own and patch'd up a third part of the rest of the Book out of old Pieces witness the Preface to the Gun-powder Treason the Tract against Baxter and the two Metaphysical Exercitations when he has glean'd up a parcel of private Letters and Correspondencies and much other crude and indigested Matter which we may reasonably presume the Bishop would never have desired should have seen any other light after his death but that of the Flames In the Directions to a Young Divine there are abundance of things marshall'd under that Head which the Bishop never intended for that purpose Amongst others there 's a Syllabus of Socinian Questions foisted in concerning which 't would perhaps puzzle the Editor to give a satisfactory Answer to any of these Four Questions Why it was Printed at all Why at such an unseasonable time Why under a false and improper Head And why so lame and imperfect Why Printed at all Was it that the Editor would have the Bishop thought an Abettor of Socinianism from which he stood at as great a Distance as one part of a Contradiction from the other as every one knows that was not a meer Stranger both to his Writings and Conversation Or was it for the general Information of Mankind in a part of knowledge they might with more safety be ignorant of The Socinians are look'd upon by some as great Masters of reasoning and perhaps they bid as fair for it as the weakness of the Cause they maintain will admit of So that what M. Cato observ'd of Caesar seems in some wise applicable to Socinus Vnum ex Omnibus ad Evertendam Rempublicam Christianam Sobrium accessisse And his Opinions being so dangerous to the Foundation of Christianity it is somewhat unaccountable what necessity there was to be directed to Chapter Page and Section where to find them asserted to all the advantage they are capable of Especially if we consider that Men are naturally too inquisitive after forbidden Knowledge The Experiment cost our first Parents very dear and their Posterity have ever had such a fatal Curiosity to pry into the Errors of former Ages as never needs to be set on edge Whatsoever therefore the Bishop might Communicate to a particular Friend and one that was more than ordinarily curious in the Study of Theological Matters as the Prefacer has it yet he could never intend that Syllabus of Questions in the dress it appears in for common and Publick Use Much less would he ever have consented to the dispersing of it at such a time as this when the Pestilent Heresies of Socinus are more industriously propagated in the Nation than ever But there is yet more Injustice done the Bishop by Printing it under an improper Head 'T is certain he never made That any part of his Instructions to a young Divine either in that Copy the Editor met with or any other For the Learned Prelate could not be ignorant how dangerous it might prove to a Novice in Divinity to direct him to a number of Socinian Writers without Signifying withal where to find their Errors confuted This had been to prescribe Poison without it's Antidote to pervert and lead astray his young Student rather than instruct him in the right Search of Truth and so to influence his more injudicious years with the leaven of Heresie as it might cost him some time and pains to wear off the Impression But lastly if printed it must be and at an unseasonable time too and moreover under an improper Head why was it after all sent abroad so lame and imperfect I mean without those references to Orthodox Authors who have designedly and successfully writ against the Socinians and which are found in the Bishop's Original Papers I am not willing indeed to believe that the Collector