this Realm have continued in force and so many Parliaments since the first Reformation have left unquestioned 49. Your Letter now draws towards an end in which you professe some seeming gladnesse that I whom you call the Primipilus amongst the defenders of the late turgid and persecuting sort of Prelacy I like your words so well that I must needs bring them to a repetition do so freely disclaim the Grotian Religion which you say you never charged me with and thereupon conceive some confident hopes that the rest of the Prelatical Clergie will disown it also How far the most of the Prelatical Clergie shall think fit to disown the Grotian Religion as you have described it in your book I am not able to determine Aetatem habent they are all old enough to answer for themselves if you put them to it But if you have no better hopes of their disowning then you have assurances from me of my disclaiming that Religion you may cry out O spe◠inanes frustra cogitationes meae without help or remedy For tell me I beseech you where is it that I have so freely disclaimed the Grotian Religion as you say I have Not in my letter I am sure there is no such matter All that I say in that is no more then this that I could have wished you had spared my name in that Preface of yours unlesse you could have proved me to have been one of that Religion as I think you cannot Which notwithstanding I may be one of that Religion and yet may warrantably think that you cannot prove it you being so great a stranger to my private discourses and finding nothing to that purpose in publick writings But whether I positively am or really am not of the Grotian Religion that is to say of that Religion of Hugh Grotius of which M. Baxter hath given us a description by his opinions I am not bound to tell you now finding my self unwilling by such an unnecessary declaration to engage my self with fresh disputes with any one of either party who finds himself unsatisfied with it may involve me in But so farr I assure you I am of the Religion of Hugh Grotius that I wish as heartily as he did that the breaches in the walls of Jerusalem were well closed up that the Puritans submitting to the Church of England and the Church of England being reconciled with the Church of Rome we might unite and center in those sacred truths those undeniable principles and established Doctrines which have been universally received in the Church of Christ and in which all parties doe agree and then I little doubt but that the Lutheran Churches in Germany Denmark Sweden and Norway and the Calvinian party in their several Countries would not unwillingly take the benefit of a publick peace leaving all doubtful disputations to be managed in the publick Schools not prest with so much heat and with so little edification to the weak in faith in the common pulpits This I am certain is no more then what is taught us in the prayer for the good estate of Christs Church militant here upon the earth In which we do beseech the Divine Majesty to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth unity and concord and to grant that all they which do confesse his holy name may agree in the truth of his holy word and live in unity and godly love which godly and most Christian prayer I do most heartily recommend to your consideration and not unto your consideration only but your practice also as I do you and all that do delight in the spirit of unity to his heavenly blessings who is the Author of Peace and the Lover of Concord And this I do with that affection which becometh Your very humble Servant and Christian Brother in Jesus Christ to be commanded Peter Heylyn Lacies Court in Abingdon Decemb. 10. 1658. 50. When I had finished this Answer and found it to amount to a greater bulk then was first desired I was in some conflict with my self by what means it might so come to M. Baxter that it might also be communicated to such others as had took notice of the injury done me and might expect to have some notice also of the right I had done my self I had some reason to believe that M. Baxter had imparted the Contents of his Letter to some or other of his friends before it was dispatcht to me to the end that they might see and know and relate to others of that party to what a sad reckoning he had called me And how unable I must prove to render an account of those several charges which he had justly laid upon me And I had reason to suspect that when he had perused my answer and seen how little he had gotten by the Provocation it might be secretly kept by him or perhaps committed to the fire for the greater security that on the one side he might be held to be invincible by those who look upon him as the Atlas which supports the cause and on the other side I might be condemned for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by my silence had declared my self guilty of a self conviction There was somewhat also to be done in reference to the conformable clergy and the Prelatical Divines as also to the turgid and persecuting sort of Prelates who otherwise could not but admire that I who had been so active in vindicating the fame and reputation of other men should be so lame and negligent in preserving my own And other way I could find none to satisfie all parties and right my self then to publish these passages betwixt M. Baxter and my self and so to publish them that coming from the presse as M. Baxters first provocation had done before it might be universally dispersed over most parts of the Land If any shall conceive my Answer to be too long he shall conceive no otherwise of it then I do my self But I was willing to take some pains with him to satisfie him word by word and line by line where I found any thing considerable in it self or capable of receiving satisfaction from me And to say truth I have been the more punctual and exact in all particulars that M. Baxter having sufficient measure pressed down if not running over also might rest himself contented with that satisfaction and supercede all further troubles to himself or me And being he hath pleased to conclude his Letter with a complemental desire of pardon for the displeasing plainnesse of it I shall also conclude this discourse between us with an assurance to him of my kind acceptance of that Letter there being nothing which can be more agreeable to me then an honest plainnesse And as for pardon there needs none where there is no injury complained of as by me there is not And therefore I shall shut up all in these words of S. Jerome to S. Augustine on the like entercourse between them viz. Non
puts it not into our Creed as this is in theirs But first I hope you do not think that whatsoever is agreed in a General Councel is presently put into our Creed or becomes an Article of the Faith there being some things determined in the first General Councel held by the Apostles in Jerusalem which being long disused are not now binding at all and such as are now binding not being observed because they were decreed in that Councel but as they have their foundation in the Moral Law Secondly if you think the doctrine of Deposing Kings is put into the Papists Creed you must tell me in what Creed it is in none of their old Creeds I am sure of that nor in the new Creed made by Pope Pius the fourth nor in the Roman Catechism published by the authority of the Councel of Trent nor in any other Authentick Record or publick Monument of that Church for if this doctrine had been made a part of their Creed as well before as since the Laterane Councel so many learned men in the Church of Rome as Brian Marsepius Butavinus and divers others had not writ against it nor had so many secular Priests living or abiding here in England so freely written in behalf of the Oath of Allegiance in which this doctrine is disclaimed had it been entertained in that Church as a part of their Creed And on the other side why may we not conceive that this doctrine of Deposing Kings is made an Article of the Creed by the Sect of Calvin considering first how generally it is defended how frequently practised and endeavoured by them as before was said considering secondly that though many National and Provincial Synods have been held by them in their several and respective Churches yet did they never in any one of them disclaim this doctrine or seek to free their Churches from the scandal of it All which clearly shews that they did very well approve the doctrine together with all the consequents thereof in the way of practice And then quid interest utrum velim fieri an gaudeam factum as the Orator hath it what will the difference be I pray you between advising before hand such ungodly practises and approving of them on the post-fact as they seem to do For were it otherwise amongst them they never had a better oportunity to have cleared themselves from being enemies to Monarchical Government from justifying such seditious writings from having a hand in any of those commotions which had before disturbed the peace of Christendome then in the Synod of Dort Anno 1618. where the Commissioners or Delegates of all the Calvinian Churches both in the higher and the lower Germany those of Geneva and the Switzers being added to them were convened together Their doing nothing in it then declares sufficiently how well they liked the doctrine and allowed the practice 42. Having thus justified M. Burton in his first assertion you next proceed unto the maintenance of his second which is that the Papists Faith is Faction and how prove you that Marry thus You say if it be an article of the Popish Faith that none are Members of Christ and his Church but the subjects of the Pope then the Popish Faith is Faction But the Antecedent is true being defined by the Pope Leo the 10. in a General Councel This is the Argument by which you hope to justifie M. Burtons second proposition though afterwards you would be thought to be no approver of his wayes But let me tell you M. Baxter your Hypothetical Syllogism is as faulty and halts as much on both legs as your Categorical For taking it for granted that such an article of the Faith was made by Pope Leo the 10. in a General Councel yet can you not with any reason or justice either upbraid the whole Faith of the Papists with being a Faction because of the obliquity and partiality of one article of it Nor 2ly can the Papist Faith be termed Faction supposing that any such article had been made in that Councel for it would follow thereupon that if a Canon had been made in the Convocation of the Bishops and Clergie which make the representative body of the Church of England that whosoever should oppose the Rites and Ceremonies by Law established should not be capable either of the Sacraments or Sacramentals that Canon might be called Faction whereas the Faction lies not in the Canon but in them that do oppose the Ceremonies Or if any act or statute should be made in a free and lawful Parliament that every one who shall not pay the Subsidies and Taxes imposed on them by the same should be put out of the protection of the Laws of the Land that Statute could not be or be called Faction because the Faction lies not in the Act or Statute but in them who do refuse the payment My reason is because the main body of a Church or State or any of the Products or results thereof cannot in any propriety of speech be held for Faction whether considered in themselves or in relation to some few who dislike the same and violently pursue their dislikes thereof For Faction to speak properly is the withdrawing of a smaller or greater number from the main body either of a Church or State governing themselves by their own Councels and openly opposing the established Government as here in England they who communicate not with the Church in favour of the Pope of Rome are commonly called the Popish Faction as they are called the Puritan Faction who conform not to the Rites and Ceremonies by Law established But on the other side the whole body of the Church is by no means to be called a Faction in reference to either of the opposite parties And then again you should have told us whether you take the word Faith in your proposition for a justifying historical temporary Faith or a Faith of Miracles whither you take it for the Habit or Act of Faith by which they believe or for the Object of Faith or that is to say the thing believed If you can take the word Faith in none of these senses as I think you cannot it must be taken in a more general comprehension for the true knowledge and worship of God and then it signifies the same with the word Religion the Christian Faith and the Christian Religion denoting but one and the same thing under divers names so that upon the whole matter you are but where you were before the Papists Religion being no more properly to be called faction in this Proposition then it was Rebellion in the former Had you formed your Proposition thus viz. If it be an Article of the Papists faith that none are members of Christ and his Church but the Subjects of the Pope then the Papists faith or rather that one Article of the Papists faith tends to the making of a faction you had come neerer to the truth but standing in the same tearms in
exemplifying in my many reprâ—acâ—es against extemporary Prayer the holy improvement of the Lords day c. but where I beseech you in what Book or Books of mine may a man meet with any of those many reproaches against extemporary Prayer May you not be again mistaken and find upon a further search that those many reproaches against extemporary Prayer are to be found in D. â—olkinton or in some body else The most that I have said agâ—inst extemporary Prayer occurreth in a brief discours touching the form of Prayer appointed to be used before the Sermon Sect. 22. in which you read That whereas the Church prescribes a set form of Prayer in her publique Liturgie from which it is not lawful for any of her Ministers to vary or recede she did it principally to avoid all unadvised effusions of gross and undigested Prayers as little capable of piety as they are uterly void of order and this she did upon the reason given in the Melevitan Council viz. least else through ignorance or want of care any thing should be uttered contrary to the rules of faith Ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium siâ— compositum as the Canon hath it And again page 348. We plainly see by the effects what the effect of theirs would tend to What is the issue of the liberty most men have taken to themselves too many of that sort who most stand upon it useing such passages in their Prayers before their Sermons that even their Prayers in the Psalmist's language are turned into sin Thus find we in the General Preface That the inconveniencies which the liberty hath brought upon us in these latter days are so apparent that it is very hard to say whether the liberty of Prophesying or the licentiousness in Praying what and how we list hath more conduced to these distractions which are now amongst us and if there were no such effect too visible of this licentiousness which I desire the present state to take notice of the scandal which is thereby given unto our Religion in speaking so irreverently with such vain repetitions and tautologies to almighty God as in extemporary and unpremeditated Prayers is too frequently done seem a sufficient consideration to bring us back again to that ancient form which the wisedom of the Church prescribed to prevent that mischief And finally that men never did so litterally offer unto God the Calves of their lips as they have done of late since the extemporary way of praying hath been taken up â—nd if it were prohibited by the Law of Moses to offer any thing unto God in the way of the legal Sacrifices which was maimed sported or imperfect how can it rationally be conceived that God should be delighted with those Oblations or spiritual Sacrifices which have nothing almost in them but maims spots and blemishes These are my words I must confess but that they are reproaches I must needs deny But first I do not speak these words of all extemporary Prayers in general or more particularly of those which gifted men may make in their private devotions but of those unpremeditated undigested Prayers which men ungifted and unlearned men have poured out too frequently in the Church of God And secondly if they be reproaches they are such reproaches and such only as when a man is said to have been slandered with a matter of truth and for the proof hereof besides the authority of the Council of Melevis before remembred I maâ— bring that our incomparable Hooker in the fifth Book of his Eccles Politie Num 25. Who though he actually saw but few did foresee many of â—hoâ—e inconveniencies which the humor of extemporary Prayer at last would bring into the publique worship of Almighty God for there he tells us of the grievous and scandalous inconveniences whereunto they make themselves daily subject who by their irksome deformities whereby through endless and sensless effusions of undigested Prayers they oftentimes disgrace in most unsufferable manner the worthiest part of Christian duty towards God when being subject herein to no certain order pray both what they list and how they list But behold a greater then Hooker is here even His most Excellent and most Incomparable Majesty the late King CHARLS who telleth us in his large declaration against the Scots That for want of a set form of Prayer they did sometimes pray so ignorantly that it was a shame to all Religion to hear the Majesty of God so barbarously spoken unto and sometimes so seditiously that their very Prayers were either plain libels against Authority or manifest lies stuffed with all the false reports in the Kingdom And what effects he found of them among the English appears by his Proclamation against the Directory bearing date Novemb. 30. Anno 1644. where we are told That by abolishing the Book of Common-Prayer there would be a means to open the way and give the liberty to all ignorant factious or evil men to broach their own fancies and conceits be they never so wicked and erroneous and to mislead people into sin and rebellion and to utter those things even in that which they make for their Prayers in their Congregations as in Gods presence which no conscientious man can assent to say Amen to And hereunto I shall add no more but this viz. that the passages produced before out of two of my Books and countenanced both by sad experience and such great Authorities must needs be either true or false if true they can be no reproaches if false why do you not rather study to confute them then reprove me for them 17. The next charge which you lay upon me and thereby render me obnoxious to a new reproof relates to my reproaches against the holy improvements of the Lords day c. How far your c. will extend is hard to say and therefore had you done more wisely had you left it out especially consider how many doubtful descants and ridiculous glosses were made upon a former c. and happily left standing in one of the Canons Anno 1640. for either I am guilty of more reproaches against piety and the power of godlines or I am not guilty if guilty why do you not let me know both their number and nature that I may either plead my innocence or confess my crime If not why do you thus insinuate by this c that you suppress some other charges which you have against me But letting that pass cum ceteris â—rroribus Where I beseech you can you point me to any reproaches of that day or of the holy improvements of it Much I confess is to be found in some of my Books against the superstitious and more then judaical observation of it which cannot come within the compass of being a reproach unto it Might not the Scribes and Pharisees Si licet exemplis in parvo grandibus uti in the Poets words have charged our Saviour with the
you have attributed to them as far as the effects can shew the heart to others I have before took some pains to let you see how easily men may be mistaken when they behold a man through the spectacles of partiality and defection or take the visible appearances for invisible graces the fraudulent art fiâ—â—s and deceits of men for the coelestial gifts of God And as for that which you have inferred hereupon viz. that if he love them he will scarcely take my dealing well You should first prove the Premises before you venter upon such a strange conclusion and not condemn a Christian brother upon Ifs and Ands. 32. In the next place you please to tell me that you are not an approver of the violence of any of them and that you do not justifie M. Burtons way and that you are not of the mind of the party that I most oppose in all their Discipline as a Book now in the Press will give the world an account In the two first parts of which Character which you have given us of your self as I have great reason to commend your moderation and hope that you will make it good in your future actions so I can say little to the last not having heard any thing before of the Book you speak of nor knowing by what name to call for it when it comes abroad But whereas you tell us in the next that you are sure the Church must have unity and charity in the ancient simplicity of Doctrine Worship and Government or not at all I take you at your word hold there and we shall soon agree together Vnity and charity in the ancient simplicity of Doctrine Worship and Government no man likes better then my self bring but the same affections with you and the wide breach which is between us in some of the causes which we mannage on either side will be suddenly closed but then you must be sure to stand to the word ancient also and not to keep your self to simplicity only if unity and charity will content you in the ancient Doctrine in the simplicity thereof without subsequent mixtures of the Church I know no doctrine in the Church more pure and ancient then that which is publickly held forth by the Church of England in the book of Articles the Homilies and the Chatechism authorized by Law under the head or rubrick of Confirmation Of which I safely may affirm as S. Augustine doth in his Tract or Book Ad Marcellinum if my memory fail not his qui contradicit â—ut à Christi fide alienus est aut est haereticus that is to say he must be either an Infidei or an Heretick who assenteth not to them If unity and charity in the simplicity of Worship be the thing you aim at you must not give every man the liberty of worshiping in what form he pleaseth which destroys all unity nor cursing many times in stead of praying which destroyes all charity the ancient and most simple way of Worship in the Church of God was by regular forms prescribed for the publick use of Gods people in their Congregations and not by unpremeditated indigested prayers which every man makes unto himself as his fancy shall lead him which I hope I have sufficiently proved in my Tract of Liturgies And if Set Forms of Worship are to be retained as I think they be you will not easily meet with any which hath more in it of the ancient simplicity of the Primitive times then that by which we did officiate for the space of fourscore years and more in the Church of England And finally if the ancient simplicity in Government be the point you drive at what Government can you find more pure and ancient then that of Bishops of which I shall only present you with that Character of it which I find in that Petition of the County of Rutland where it is said to be That Government which the Apostles left the Church in that the three ages of Martyrs were governed by that the thirteen ages since have alwayes gloried in by their succession of Bishops from the Apostles proving themselves members of the Catholick and Apostolick Church that our Laws have established so many Kings and Parliaments have protected into which we were baptized as certainly Apostolical as the observation of the Lords day as the distinction of Books Apocryphal from Canonical as that such Books were written by such Evangelists and Apostles as the consecration of the Eucharist by Presbyters c. An ample commendation of Episcopal Government but such as exceedeth not the bounds of truth or modesty Stand to these grounds for keeping unity and charity in the ancient simplicity of Doctrine Worship and Government in the Church of God and you shall see how cheerfully the Regal and Prelatical party whom you most oppose wil join hands with you and embrace you with most dear affections 33. But you begin to shrink already and tell me that if I will have men live in peace as brethren our Union must be Law or Ceremonies or indifferent Forms This is a pretty speculation I must needs confesse but such as would not passe for practicable in any well-governed Common-wealth unless it be in the Old Vtopia or the New Atlantis or the last discovered Oceana For how can men possibly live in peace as brethren where there is no Law to limit their desires or direct their actions Take away Law and every man will be a Law unto himself and do whatsoever seemeth best in his own eyes without control then Lust will be a law for one Felony will be a law for another Perjury shall be held no crime nor shall any Treason or Rebellion receive their punishments for where there is no law there is no transgression and where there is no transgression there can be no punishment punishments being only due for the breach of Laws Thus is it also in the service and worship of Almighty God which by the hedge of Ceremonies is preserved from lying open to all prophaneness and by Set Forms be they as indifferent as they will is kept from breaking out into open confusion God as S. Paul hath told us is the God of Order not of Confusion in the Churches If therefore we desire to avoid confusion let us keep some order and if we would keep order we must have some forms it being impossible that men should live in peace as brethren in the house of God where we find not both David hath told us in the Psalms that Jerusalem is like a City which is at unity in it self and in Jerusalem there were not only solemn Sacrifices set Forms of blessing and some significant Ceremonies prescribed by God but Musical Instruments and Singers and linnen vestures for those Singers and certain hymns and several times and places for them ordained by David Had every Ward in that City and every Street in that Ward and every Family in that Street and perhaps every
who had taken up the information or vulgar Hear-sâ—y without inquiring into the falsity or malice of the first Report if Mr. Hickman would have had the patience to have stayd so long 4. But long I had not lain in this quiet slumber when I was rouzed by your Letter of March 8. informing me of a second Edition of that Book in which I did not bear a part in the Prologue only as in that before nor was made one of the Actors only in the body Tragi-Comedy but that the matter of the whole Epilogue was of my mistakings All which I could have slept out also if the same Letter had not directed me to page 23 24. where I should find a passage to this effect viz. That Dr. Holland had turned Dr. Laud the most Renowned Arch-Bishop of Canterbury out of the Schools with disgrace for but endeavouring to maintain that Bishops differed in order not only in Degree from inferiour Presbyters A son of Craesus which was dumb from his very birth could find a tongue when he perceived his Father in danger of death whom no extremity of his own might possibly have forced on so great a Miracle And therefore I conceive that it will not be looked upon in me as a matter of Prodigie that the Dishonour done to so great a Prelate who in his time was one of the Fathers of this Church and the chief amongst them should put me to a Resolution of breaking those bonds of silence which had before restrain'd me from advocating in my own behalfe I was not willing howsoever to engage my self too rashly with an unknown Adversary without endeavouring further to inform my self in his Grounds or Reasons In which respect I thought it most agreeable to the ingenuity which I had shown to Mr. Baxter on the like occasions to let him see how sensible I was of the injury done unto my self and the indignity offered to the fame of so great a Person before I would endeavour the righting of my self or the vindicating of his honour in a publique way To which end I addrest unto him these ensuing Lines Dr Heylyn's first Letter to Mr. Hickman SIR 5. YOur Book of the Justification of the Fatherâ— c. was not long since put into my hands w th a direction to a passage in the Preface of it It was not long before I consulted the place in which I found mention that a Book of mine had received the desert of its bitterness in being burnt by the hand of the publique Hangman It seems you were so zealous in laying a Reproach upon me that you cared not whether it were true or false It was thought a sufficient warrant to you that you were informed so without any further enquiring after it Which pains if you would please to take you might have learned that though such a thing was much endeavoured yet it was not effected i. e. that it went no further then noise and fame which served to some instead of all other proofs I was advertised yesterday by several Letters that the Book is come to a second Edition in which you have not only made bold with me which I can easily contemn but have laid a fouler Reproach on the Late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in being disgracefully turn'd out of the Schools by Dr. Holland But Sir however you may please to deal with such a poor fellow as I am you ought to have carried a greater Reverence towards a Prelate of such eminent Parts and Place whose Memory is more precious amongst all that love the Church of England then to suffer it to be so defamed and by such a person You pretend Information for the ground of your other errour but for this I believe you would be troubled to produce your Authors And if there be no more truth in the other parts of your Book in which you deliver points of Doctrine then you have shown in these two passages in which you relate to matters of fact you had need pray to meet with none but ignorant Readers such as are fit to be abus'd and not with any knowing and intelligent man Excuse me if my love to truth and my tenderness to a name which I so much honour have extorted from me these few lines which are most heartily recommended to your consideration as you are to the grace and blessings of Almighty God by Your very affectionate friend and Christian Brother Peter Heylyn Abingdon March 19. 1658. 6. By this time I had got the Book which I caused to be read over to me till I came to page 38. where I found my self as much concerned as before in the Preface and the integrity of Dr. Burlow once Dean of Chester and afterwards successively Bishop of Rochester and Lincoln to be more decryed then Dr. Laud the late Arch-Bishops was dishonoured in the former passage This put me to a present stand and I resolved to go no further till I had certified the Author of my second Grievance which I did accordingly I had waited somewhat more then a week since I had writ my other Letter without receiving any answer The shooting of a second Arrow after the first might possibly procure a return to both and so it proved in the event But take my second Letter first and then we may expect his answer unto both together Now the second Letter was as followeth Dr. Heylyn's second Letter to Mr. Hickman SIR 7. SInce the writing of my former Letter the last Edition of your Book hath been brought unto me In which I find p. 23. that you ground your self upon the Testimony of some who are still alive for Laud's being disgracefully turned out of the Dinity Schools by Dr. Holland I find also p. 38. that Dr. Burlow did upon his death-bed with grief complain of the wrong he had done to Dr. Reynolds and those who joyned with him in mis-reporting some of their Answers and certain passages therein contained And of the truth of this you say that you are able to give a satisfactory account to any person of ingenuity who shall desire it Sir I am not ashamed of having so much of a Suffenus as to entitle my self to some ingenuity and therefore think it not amiss to claim your promise and to desire a more satisfactory account in that particular then your bare affirmation This with your nomination of the parties who are still alive and able to testifie to the truth of the other I desire you would please to let me have with the first conveniency If no speedy opportunity doth present it self you may send to me by the Preacher who comes hither on Sunday I expected that my former Letter would have been gratified with an answer but if you send me none to this I shaâ—l think you cannot And so commending you and your Studies so far forth as they shall co-operate to the peace of the Church to God's heavenly Blessing I subscribe my self Your very affectionate Friend to serve you Peter
more desirous of a private and retired life then of such an agreeable conversation But the window of my shop being almost shut almost all my Wares plundered with the loss of my Library it is high time for me to give over this trade leaving to nimbler Pens the managing of these Political Discourses wherewith mine hath been already dulled P. H. Lacies Court in Abingdon December 24. 1658. AN APPENDIX To the former Papers in Answer to some passages in M. FULLERS late Appeal for INJURED INNOCENT 1. IT is observed of Cicero that renowned Orator that having spent the greatest part of his life in the service of the Commonwealth and in defence of many of the principal Citizens whose cause he pleaded when they stood in need of so great an Eloquence there was none found to advocate in his behalf when his occasions most required it Cum ejus salutem nemo defendisset qui per tot annos publicam civitatis privatam Civium defenderat as Paterculus hath it An infelicity which I have some reason to expect though I do not fear it when after so many services to the Church in Generall and appearing in defence of so many particular persons of most note and eminence I shall be loaded with reproach by some and contempt by others Two adversaries I have lately drawn upon me for my love to truth my zeal unto the Church and the injured Clergy By one of which notwithstanding my Respectful usage of him I have been handled in so rude and scurrilous a manner as renders him uncapable of any honest correction there being no Pen foul enough to encounter with him which would not be made fouler by engaging in so foul a subject From the other though more exasperated I have received a well studied Answer composed with ingenuity and judgment not standing wilfully in an Error of which he finds himself convinced though traversing many points in debate between us which with more honour to the truth might have been declined And in the end thereof I find a Letter directed or superscribed unto me tending especially to the begetting of such a friendly correspondence betwixt us as may conduce to the establishment of a following Peace Which Letter I shall first lay down and after some considerations had and made on the book it self I shall return as fair an Answer Now the words of the Letter are as followeth To my Loving Friend Dr. Peter Heylyn 2. I Hope Sir that we are not mutually unfriended by this difference which hath hapned betwixt us And now as Duellers when they are both out of breath may stand still and Parley before they have a second Pass let us in cold blood exchange a word and mean time let us depose at least suspend our Animosities Death hath crept into both our Clay-Cottages through the Windows your Eys being Bad mine not Good God mend them both and sanctifie unto us those monitors of mortality and however it fareth with our corporall Sight send our Souls that Collyrium and Heavenly Eye-salve mentioned in the Scripture But indeed Sir I conceive our Time Paines and Parts may be better expended to Gods Glory and the Churches Good then in these needless Contentions Why should Peter fall out with Thomas both being Disciples to the same Lord and Master I assure you Sir what ever you conceive to the contrary I am cordial to the Cause of the English Church and my Hoary Hairs will go down to the Grave in sorrow for her sufferings You well remember the Passage in Homer how wise Nestor bemoaned the unhappy difference betwixt Agamemnon and Achilles O Gods how great the grief of Greece the while And Pryams self and Sons do sweetly smile Yea all the Trojan Party swell with laughter That Greeks with Greeks fall out and fight to slaughter Let me therefore tender you an expedient intendency to our mutual agreement You know full well Sir how in Heraldry two Lioncels Rampant endorsed are said to be the Embleme of two valiant men keeping appointment and meeting in the Field but either forbidden to fight by their Prince whereupon Back to Back neither Conquerors nor Conquered they depart the Field several wayes their stout stomacks not suffering them both to go the same way least it be accounted an injury one to precede the other In like manner I know you disdain to allow me your Equal in this Controversie betwixt us and I will not allow you my Superiour To prevent further trouble let it be a drawn Battel and let both of us abound in our own sence severally perswaded in the truth of what we have written Thus parting and going out back to back here to cut off all contest about Precedency I hope we shall meet in Heaven Face to Face hereafter In order whereunto God willing I will give you a meeting when and where you shall be pleased to appoint that we who have Tilted Pens may shake hands together S. Paul writing to Philemon concerning Onesisimus saith For perhaps he therefore departed for a season that thou mightest receive him for ever To avoid exceptions you shall be the Good Philemon I the Fugitive Onesimus Who knoweth but that God in his providence permitted yea ordered this difference to happen betwixt us not onely to occasion a Reconciliation but to consolidate a mutual friendship betwixt us during our lives and that the survivor in Gods pleasure onely to appoint may make favourable and Respectful mention of him who goeth first to his Grave The desire of him who Remains SIR A Lover of your Parts and an Honourer of your Person Tho. Fuller 3. This Letter I must needs confess to be very civil and the addâ—ess agreeable enough to my disposition so that I am obliged both in point of manners and good nature to return such an answer to it as may sufficiently declare that my contentions rather aim at Truth then Victory or Victory no further then it triumpheth in the vindication of an injured truth But first I am to enter into consideration of some particulars relating to the late Appeal my Adversary my self and finally to some few differences which remain between us 4. And first concerning The Appeal for by that name he calls his Answer to my Animadversions I cannot make a fitter Resemblance of it then to a well digested Answer to a Chancery Bill which for the most part endeth with these formal words viz. Absque hoc that any matter or thing material or effectual for him the defendant to make Answer unto in this his Answer is not sufficiently Answered confessed or avoided traversed or denyed to the best of his knowledge Many particular Errors which were charged upon him he hath ingeniously confessed and promised to correct them in the next Edition so that I must needs think that I have not bestowed my labour in vain in case it produce no further good effect upon him as I hope it will some he endeavoureth to avoid and seeks
there must be some guilt some doubt at least that all is not well as it should have been The Animadvertor was not of such eager spirit as to let fly at every one which came in his way and possibly might never have heard of this Church History living far of and no such trading in the Books of the time if the frequent clamours of the wrongs done to the Church and Clergy had not come to his ears before the Book it selfe had been brought to his hands And when it was brought into my hands it found me so far unresolved to do any thing in it that nothing but invincible importunity could have drawn me to the undertaking The Appealant therefore may be sure that I never sent him any such message as that if I had not been visited with blâ—ndness I would have been upon his bones before that time of which whosoever did it from him he knew as little of my corporal blindness which I thank God is not yet fallen on me as he did of my secret intentions as to that particular so far as I was from sending anysuchmessage to him that I resolved not to be known for the Author of those Animadversions whensoever they should come abroad and to disguise my self the better related in the Margin to a passage in my own Cosmogrophy fol. 19 which now the Appealant chargeth on me as a solecism in point of Heraldy in laying mettal upon mettal p. 2. fol. 12. 18. My Authors first fears being fallen upon him he finds himself brought under a new debate whether he should return an Answer to the Animadversions or sit down in silence The cause being pleaded on both sides he resolves at last to return a plain full and speedy Answer fol. 3. Full enough I confess of needless questïons and disputes which rather showed a Resolution not to bear the Quarrel then an ability to maintain it I remember I have somewhere read of a famous Wrastler who being many times overthrown who did suddenly start up and by an Eloquent Oration perswaded the people that he rather fell by the slip of his own foot then by the strength of his Adversary Such a wrastler I have met with in the present Appealant who imputes all his faults to slips slips of the Pen slips Pretal as he words it and slips of memory To which three heads the Greatest Errors and mistakes which occurs in the faltiest and falsest writing may notunfitly be reduced so much the fuller in regard he hath incorporated the greatest part of the Animadversions into the body of his Book which if abstracted from the rest of the Authors one would make the Greater Book of the Law upon a just a perfect Calculation of the line and folio's by one part in five Fuller then otherwise it needed or could have been by making use of such of the additionall Notes intended more for supplement and illustration then the disparagement of the Author or disgrace of the work But my Adversary thinks his work so perfect as to stand no more in need of Illustration then it doth of Correction supplements supposing some defects as Corrections presuppose some Errors Onely I hope the Animadversions will be well paid for before all is done the Authors being so well paid for the first Original as is said before and the Appealant better paid by the Book-sellers and his many Patrons to whom they are presented like the prayers of some old Mendicants at the doors of their good Masters and Dames for the transcript of them 19. But whether it be full or not I am sure it is more full then speedy For though the Appealant would be thought to be furnished with the Pen of a ready Writer yet had he time and leisure more then enough for a greater Work considering what helps he had to set it forward and therefore I may say in the words of Sampson that if he had not ploughed with my heifer he must have askt more time though otherwise he had time enough to have read my Riddle If Mason one of the Correctors to some Presses in London had not falsely and unworthily communicated the sheets to him as they came from the Press we might have heard of this Appeal about Michaelmas next in case it had not cooled in the heats of Summer and been retarded by the leisure of a long vacation But making use of this Advantage and having all such other helps as the Libraries and shops in London the use of his own hands and eyes the contribution of his friends and an excellent memory to boot could supply him with it could not come abroad against Easter term without the Midwifery of three Presses to assist at the Labour The making of a full and speedy Answer for it must be both could not else have agreed with that want of leisure his many various imployments and coming twice a Lords day to the Pulpit which without oftentation he pretends to in that very Chapter But some like Aesops fellow servants whom he tells me of presumes so much upon themselves as to promise that they can do all things and that whatever thing they do shall be full and speedy though there be little speed and less fulness in them 20. So much being said of the Appealant in reference to his engaging and dispatch let us behold him next in his qualifications One of the fellow servants of the Animadvertor a fellow sufferer with him in the cause of the King and one of the same party in the Church All this I am very glad to hear of and am sorry I did not hear it sooner especially if there be any truth as I hope there is in the insinuation My fellow servant if he were it must not be in the capacity of a Chaplain in Ordinary for I never saw his name in the list of the forty eight accompanied with his fixt times of Attendants as the others were but supernumerary and at large of whom there is no notice taken in the Court though they may make som noise in the Country And a sufferer he could not be because he willingly relinquisheth both his cure and prebend which he advanceth by the name of none of the worse Benefices and one of the best Prebends in England not holding both or either of them till they were forcibly taken from him as well as from the rest of his brethren fol. 2. no suffering where no injury or wrong is offered and there can be no injury done in disposing that which he so willingly abandoned as he saith himself for volenti non fit injuria as the saying is never applyed more aptly then on such emergencies And if he were of the same Party in the Church as he saith he was he would have show'd some greater zeal in maintenance of the intress and concerments of it some greater measure of compassion towards those poore men who being spoiled of their Goods and Livings by the infelicity of the times must afterwards be
zeal and ignorance A writing is subscribed on the 10th of May by Finch Lord Keeper Manchester Lord Privy Seal Littleton Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Banks Atturney General Witsield and Heath his Majesties Serjeants at the Law in which it was declared expresly that the Convocation being called by the Kings writ ought to continue till it was dissolved by the Kings Writ notwithstanding the dissolution of the Parliament But what makes this unto the purpose Our Author a more learned Lawyer then all these together hath resolved the contrary and throw it out as round as a boul that after the dissolution of the Parliament the Clarks of Diocesses and Cathedrals desisted from being publick persons and lost the notion of Representatives and thereby returned to their private condition The Animadvertor instanced in a convocation held in the time of Queen Eliz. An. 1585. which gave the Queen a Benevolence of two shillings in the pound to be raised on the Estates of all the Clergy by the meer censures of the Church without act of peachment Against which not able to object as to the truth and realty of it in matter of Fâ—ct he seems to make it questionable whecher it would hold good or not in point of Law if any turbulent Clergy-man had proved Recusant in payment and having slighted by the name of a blâ—ck â—wan a single instance of an unparliamented inpowred Convocation he imputes the whole success of that â—ash adventure rather unto the popularity of so Peerless a Princess the necessity of her occasions and the tranquillity of the times then to any efficacy or validity in the act it self And to what purpose all this pains but to expose the poor Clergy of the Convocation An. â—640 to the juster censure for following this unquestioned precedent in granting a more liberal benevolence to a gracious soveraign by no other authority then their own 34. If the â—ppealant still remain unsatisfied in this part of the Churches power I shall take a little more pâ—ins to instruct him in it though possibly I may tell him nothing which he knows not already being as learned in the Canons as in the common Law In which capacity I am sure he cannot chuse but know how ordinary a thing it was with Bishops to suspend their Clergy not onely ab officio but a Beneficio and not so onely but to sentence them if they saw just cause for it to a deprivation Which argues them to have a power over the property of the Clergy in their several Diocesses and such a power as had no ground to stand on but the authority of the Canons which conferred it on them And if our Author should object as perhaps he may that though the Canons in some cases do subject the Clergy not only to suspentions but deprivations of their cures and Benefices â—in which their property is concerned yet that it is not so in the case of the Laity whose Estates are not to be bound by so weak a thred I must then lead him to the Canons of 1603 for his satisfaction In which we find six Canons in a row one after another for providing the Book of Common Prayer the Book of Homilies the Bible of the largest Edition a Font for Baptism a fair Communion Table with a Carpet of Silk or other decent stuff to be laid upon it a Pulpit for Preaching of Gods Word a Chest to receive the alms for the Poor and finally for repairing of the Churches or Chappels whensoever they shall fall into any decay all these provisions and reparations to be made at the charges of the several and respective Parishes according to such rates as are indifferently assest upon them by the Church wardens Sides men and such other Parishioners as commonly convened together in the case which rates if any did refuse to make payment of they were compellable thereunto on a presentment made to the Ordinary by the said Church-wardens and other sworn Officers of the several and respective Parishes And yet those Canons never were confirmed by Act of Parliament as none of the like nature had been formerly in Queen Eliz time though of a continual and uncontroled practise upon all occasions The late Lord Primate in * a Letter more lately published by D. Barnard assures the honourable person unto whom he writ it that the making of any Articles or Canons at all to have ever been confirmed in that Kingdom by Act of Parliament is one of Dr. Heylyns Fancies And now it must be another of the Doctors Fancies to say that never any Articles or Canons had ever been confirmed by Act of Paliament in England though possible they may relate unto the binding of the subject in point of Poperty 35. But our Author hath a help at Maw and making use of his five fingers hath thrust a word into the proposition in debate between us which is not to be sound in the first drawing up of the issue The Question at the first was no more then this whether such Canons as were made by the Clergy in their Convocations and authorized by the King under the broad Seal of England could any further bind the subject then as they were confirmed by Act of Parliament And Secondly Whether such Canons could so bind either at such times as the Clergy acted their own Authority or after their admission to King Hen. the 8. in such things as concerned Temporals or temporal matters otherwise then as they were confirmed by national Customes that is to say as afterwards he expounds himselfe until they were consirmed by Act of Parliament Which points being so clearly stated by the Animadvertor in behalf of the Church that no honest evasion could be found to avoid his Argument the Appealant with his five fingers layes down life at the stake and then cryes out that the Animadvertor arrogates more power unto the Church then is due unto it either by the laws of God or man maintaining but he knows not where that Church men may go beyond Ecclesiastical Censures even to the limbs and lives of such as are Recusants to their Constitutions p. 2. so 53. And having taken up the scent he hunts it over all his Book with great noise and violence assuring us that such Canons were constantly checkt and controlled by the Laws of the Land in which the temporal Estate life and limbs of persons were concerned p. 2. fol. 27. As also that the King and Parliament though they directed not the proceedings of Ecclesiastical Courts in cases of Heresie which is more then his History would allow of yet did they order the power of Bishops over declared Hereticks without the direction of the Statute not to proceed to limb and life p. 2. fol. 45. And finally reduceth the whole Question to these two Propositions viz. 1. The proceedings of the Canon Law in what touched temporals of life limb and estate was alwayes limited with the secular Laws and national Customes of England And
2ly That the King by consent of Parliament directed the proceedings of Ecclesiastical Courts against declared Hereticks so that they could not punish them in life or limb but as directed by the statute p. 2. fol. 69. In confutation of which Proposition the Animadvertor is cunningly tempted to write two or three sheets upon assurance that it will be richly worth the Writers and the Readers pains and the hope of having an answer to it from no worse a hand then that of the Appealant himselfe This I shall be ready to do whensoever he shall show me in what place of my Animadversions or any other Book of mine whatsoever I have maintained that the Church hath power of making Canons which may extend either unto the life or limb of the English subject Certain I am that no such thing ever past my hand or câ—me into my head sleeping or waking sick or sound and therefore this must be a device of his to render me as distastful to all sorts of people as he hath made himselfe to all the true Sonnes of the Chruch of England whether they be High-Royalists or covetous Conformists as our Authoâ— words it 36. He puts it to the Readers Judgement whether any man alive can from these words viz. The right lay not in this Henry but in Mortimer Earl of March in for an insinuation that Kings may legally be deposed And I confefs as readily as any other man whatsoever that no such insinuation can be gathered from those words of his as they are laid down in the Appeal But then the Appealant should have took his rise a little higher where it is said as positively and plainly as words can speak it that granting Kiâ—g Richard either deservedly deposed or naturally dead without issue the Right to the Crown lay noâ— in this Henry but in Edmond Mortimer Ea of March c. for which consult Ch. Hist lib. 4 fo 153. And therefore let the Reader judge whether without more Perspicacity in the Organ or perspicuity in the Object any man may not easily perceive such an Insinuation in the words foregoing that Kings deservedly or legally may be deposed All further medling in which point as I then declined so I have greater Reason to decline it now And on that reason I shall spare to press him whether another of his Inferences Apothegmes and Maxims of State in reference to the person of King Hen. 6. and the calamiâ—ous death of that religious but unfortunate Prince which I find him willing to shift off with this one evasion which the change of times hath made more passable then before that the less we touch on this harsh string the better the Musick p. 2. fol. 53. 37. These points relating to the King and the Church being thus passed over the residue of the things or matters material and effectual to be Answered and by him denyed are neither very many nor of any great consequence though truth be as much violated in a matter of the smallest moment as in that of the greatest That which comes first and I must fetch a great leap to it a great part of the intervening Animadversions being either out off with aâ— c. or otherwise avoyded without making any answer to them at all as farre as to the middle part of Queen Eliz. Raign where I found our Author advocating in behalf of Peoples sidings as they were used in those times and show the dangerous consequents and effects thereof not onely in the apprehension of King James but of Queen Eliz. All which the Appealant shifts aside and thinks to satisfie all expectations in changing onely one of his expressions which made those peoplefidings to be grounded on the words of S Paul And therefore if you read in the next Edition that those people sidings were but pretended to be grounded on the words of St. Paul we muâ—â— then think the Arch-bishop Gryndal did well in pleading for them to the Queen that the Queen did ill in causing them to be suppressed and that King James was more miserably our in dreaming of so many dangers in that Apostolical Institution which our Father entitles plainly by the name of Gods and the Ghurches Cause as were not to be found in it at any rate In the Historians relating the story of Martin Mar-Prelate and the great injury done to the Bishops by those scandalous Libels an occasion is taken by the Animadvertor to put him in remembrance of a rule of his to this effect That the fault is not in the Authour if he truly cite what is false on the credit of another Which rule so dangerous in it self and so destructive to the truth so advantatageous to the slandering of the godliest men and mis-reporting the Occurrents of all times and ages is very justly faulted by the Animadvertor and thereupon he thus proceeds in his Animadversions That 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 and he that knowing a thing to be false sets it down for true not only gives the lye 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 malitious wickedness All which the Appealant passeth over without taking the least notice of it and to say truth he had good reason so to do knowing that dangerous rule to be so recessary for his justification and indempnity upon every turn And thereupon fixing himself upon this Rule That the Wâ—iter is faultless who truly cites what is false on the credit of another he thinks he hath sufficiently confuted the Animadvertor by telling him that if this Rule should not be true he must needs have a â—ard task of it in making good all things in his own Geography on his own knowledge who therein hath traded on trust as much as another I must have been a greater Travellor then either the Greek Vlisses or the English Mandivile all Purchas his Pilgrims many of our late Jesuits and Tom Corriot too into the bargain if it had been otherwise if in describing the whole world with all the Kingdoms Provinces Seas and Iles thereof I had not relyed more on the credit of others then any knowledge of my own if the Appealant could have charged me with citing any thing for truth which I know to be false and justified my so doing upon the credit of any Author whom I know to be mistaken in his information he had said somewhat to the purpose And when he can say that I desire no favour either from him or any other whatsoever In the mean time if any Gentleman Merchant or other Travellor
whensoever any equal judicious Auditor shall trouble himself in casting up the Reckonings which are between us And in this hope I shall apply my self to Answer Mr. Fullers Letter whom I thus salute To my Loving Friend Mr. THOMAS FULLER SIR AT the End of your Appeal which came not to my hand till Friday the sixt of this moneth I find a very civil Letter directed to me in which you propose a breathing time after some wearinesse in the encounters which have past between us and the suspending of such Animosities as we may be supposed to harbour against one another But for my part as I have had no such long breathing time since those Papers which relate to you first past my hands as might make me the more ready for this second onset so you may take as long or little time as you please to consider of it before you return to the encounter Animosities I have none against you and therefore none to be suspended in this Inter-Parleance My affections being fair to your person though not to the cause for which you seem most to have appeared in the whole course of your History And if you had appeared so onely to my apprehension I had been the more inexcusable both to God and Man and the more accomptable to you for conceiving otherwise of you then you had deserved But I am confident there are very few true Sonnes of the Church of England who could make any other judgement of you out of your History then was made by me and therefore you must thank your selfe if any greater noise hath been made about it then you could willingly have heard You know what Caesars Resolution was about his wife for having her as free from the suspition as the crime of Incontinency and therefore if your Conscience do acquit you from the crim it self in Acting any thing against the Interest of the Church your Mother you had done very well and wisely had you kept your selfe free from the suspition also of such disaffections You tell me that you are cordiall to the Cause of the English Church and that your hoary hairs will go down into the Grave in sorrow for her sufferings But then as Samuel said to Saul What meaneth this bleating of the sheepe â—in my Ears and the lowing of Oxen which I heare What mean those dangerous Positions and those many inconvenient expressions that I may give them no worse name which occur so frequently in your Book and which no man who is cordial to the Cause of the English Church can either read with patience or pass over with pardon If you would be believed in this you must not speak the same Language in your second Edition as you have done in the first or leave so much in it of the former Leven as may soure the whole lumpe of your performance Nor would I have you think it to be any dishonour to cast aside those soure Grapes whensoever they shall come to a second gathering at which so many of the teeth of your Mothers Children have been set on edge there being no greater Victory to be gained in the World then what a Man gets upon himself You have said as much as could be in your own defence and therefore may come off with satisfaction to your self and others In altering all or any of those passages which have given occasion of offence to the most of your brethren And you may take this occasion for it not as necessitated thereunto by the force of Argument but as Sylla resigned his Dictator-ship rather out of his good affections to the peace and happiness of the Common-wealth then compelled by Arms. You are pleased to take notice of some Parts that God hath given us thinking we might have used them better then in these Pen Combates and that the differences betwixt us will occasion such Rejoycings in the common Enemy as was amongst the Trojans on the fallings out of Agamemnon and Achilles But I hope you doe not think in earnest that either of us are so considerable in the sight of our Enemies as those Great Commanders were in theirs or that any great matter of Rejoycings can be given them by our weak contentions In which what satisfaction you are able to give your selfe for spending so much of your Parts Pains and Time in the drawing up of your Appeal is known onely to God and your own Conscience But for my part I am not conscious to my selfe of any mispendings in that kind in reference to the writing of my Animâ—dversions in which as I had no other end then the vindicating the truth the Church and the injured Clergy so I can confidently say that I have writtten nothing in the whole course of that Book to the best of my knowledge which was not able to abide the touchstone of truth whensoever it was brought unto it The smallest truth is worth the seeking and many truths are worth the finding No loss of time or mis-imployment of our parts or pains to be complained of in that pursuit And therefore I shall say in the Words of Judicious Doctor Hackwell That such is the admirable Beauty and Soveraignty of truth in it self and such infinite content doth it yeild the soul being found and embraced that had I proposed no other end to my self in this present Treatise then the discovery and unfolding thereof I should hold it alone a very ample recompense and sufficient reward of my labour Fracta vel leviter imminuta Auctoritate veritatis omnia dubia remanebant as S. Augustine hath it You tell me also that as you know I will not allow you to be my equal so you will not acknowledg me to be your superiour whereby you tacitly conclude your self for the better man as much above me in the fortune and success of the present Duel as Cesar was above Pompey in the War between them In which though I may suffer you to enjoy the jollity of your own opinion yet it is more then probable that such as have observed the conduct of the action on either side may think otherwise of it Which being referred to the finall sentence of those only who are made Judges of the field I shall not be unwilling to shut up the Quarrel upon such conditions as are propounded in your Letter one only of my own being added to them I conceive that having offered these short notes to the publick view I might do it without any disadvantage of reputation By some passages in your Book and Letter I find that you take notice of a remediless infirmity and decay of sight which is fallen upon me rendring me almost wholly unfit for further engagements of this nature and I finde also on the other side that you have many advantages above me both in friends and Books of both which by the plundering of my Library and the nature of a Country life I am almost totally unfurnished Which though it may give you many