to celebrate their Praises to Posterity and by this means stir'd up Emulation in others to follow so noble Precedents before them For which Cause St. Jerome writ his Catalogus illustrium Virorum before whom also Eusebius with others in short recorded to future Ages the holy Lives of those Primitive Fathers who were signally active or passive for the Christian Faith Suum cuique decus posteritas rependit saith the Historian Posterity doth render to every man the Commendation he deserves Therefore for the Reverend Doctor 's Sake and in due veneration of his Name which I doubt not is honoured by all true Sons of the Church of England both for his learned Writings and constant Sufferings in defence of her Doctrine and Discipline established by Law Here is faithfully presented to them a true and complete Narrative of his Life to answer the common Expectations of men in this Case who would read his Person together with the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of Providence that befel him as well as his Books that were long before published to the World To give satisfaction in the former here is nothing inserted but the Relations of Truth which hath been often heard from his own Mouth spoken to his dearest Friends or written by his Pen in some loose fragments of Paper that were found left in his Study after his Death upon which as on a sure Foundation the whole Series and Structure of the following Discourse is laid together but would have been more happily done if he had left larger Memoirs for it Nothing was more usual in ancient times than for good men saith Tacitus to describe their own Lives Suam ipsi vitam narrare fiduciam potius morum quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt upon a confidence of their right behaviour rather than to be supposed any arrogancy or presumption in them First of all I shall begin with his Birth In that Country above all other enobled with the famous seat of the Muses to which he was a constant Votary By Cambden Oxford is called the Sun Eye and Soul of Great Brittain by Matthew Paris the second School of the Church by the Reverend Doctor co-eval to Paris if not before it the glory of this Island and of the Western parts Yet it cannot be denyed as high praises have been attributed by Learned Men to the most famous University of Cambridge that I dare make no comparisions betwixt those two Sisters of Minerva for the Love I owe to either of them who were both my dear Nurses However the University of Oxon was long since honoured with the Title of Generale Studium in nobilissimis quatuor Europae Academiis and this glorious Title conferred upon none else in former times but the Universities of Paris in France Bononia in Italy and Salamanca in Spain Near which Oxon or noble Athens he was born at Burford an ancient Market Town of good Note in the County of Oxford upon the 29th day of November Anno Dom. 1600. In the same year with the celebrated Historian Jacob. August Thuanus on both whom the Stars poured out the like benign influences But the former viz. Peter Heylyn had not only the faculty of an Historian but the gift of a general Scholar in other Learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as will appear to any one that reads his laborious Writings He was second Son of Henry Heylyn Gentleman descended from the ancient Family of the Heylyns of Peutre-Heylyn in Montgomeryshire then part of Powis-Land from the Princes whereof they were derived and unto whom they were Hereditary Cup-bearers for so the word Heylyn doth signifie in the Welch or Brittish Language an honourable Office in most Nations which we find in Divine as well as Prophane History whereby Nehemiah became so great a Favorite with Artaxerxes that he obtained a Grant for the rebuilding of the holy City Magni honoris erat Pincernae munus apud persas saith Alex. ab Alex. If Camden Clarencieux be of good Authority as with most he is unquestionable the Doctor deriveth his Pedigree from Grono-ap Heylyn who descended from Brockwel Skythrac one of the Princes of Powis-Land in whose Family was ever observed that one of them had a Gag-tooth and the same was a notable omen of good Fortune which Mark of the Tooth is still continued in the Doctors Family These and such like signatures of more wonderful form are indeed very rare yet not without Example So Seleucus and his Children after him were born with the Figure of an Anchor upon their Thigh as an infallible mark of their true geniture saith Justin Origenis hujus argumentum etiam posteris mansit si quidem filij nepotesque ejus anchoram in femore veluti notam generis naturalem habuere The aforesaid Grono-ap Heylyn from whom the Doctor is one of the Descendents was a man of so great Authority with the Princes of North-Wales that Llewelleu the last Prince of the Country made choice of him before any other to treat with the Commissioners of Edward the First King of England for the concluding of a final Peace between them which was accordingly done but afterwards Llewellen by the perswasion of David his Brother raised an Army against the King that were quickly routed himself slain in Battel and in him ended the Line of the Princes of North-Wales who had before withstood many puissant Monarchs whose attempts they always srustrated by retiring into the heart of their Country and as the Doctor saith leaving nothing for their Enemies to encounter with but Woods and Mountains after they had reigned Princes of North-Wales for the space of four hundred and five years A goodly time that scarcely the greatest Monarchies in the World have withstood their fatal period and dissolution as Chronologers usually observe Anni quingenti sunt fatalis Periodus Regnorum rerum publicarum saith Alsted But this little Monarchy of Wales may be compared to a Finger or Toe `or the least joynt indiscernable in the vast Body of the four great Empires and yet withal shows the mutability of them and all worldly Powers That Time will triumph in the Ruin of the strongest States and Kingdoms as is most excellently represented to us by Nebuchadnezzar's Image of Gold Silver Iron and Brass that mouldred away though durable Mettal because it stood upon feet of Clay So unstable are all mortal things And of no longer duration are the most high and mighty Powers under Heaven than the Brittish Monarchy which caused the Historian to complain that the more he meditated with himself of things done both in old and latter times tanto magis ludibria rerum mortalium cunctis in negotijs obversantur So much the more saith he the uncertainties and mock Vanities of Fortune in all worldly Affairs came to his remembrance Notwithstanding those great alterations in Wales no longer a Kingdom of it self but annexed to the Crown of England the Family of
with the Name of its Author Therefore I must crave leave of the Reader 's Patience to shew how I come concern'd and have been uncivilly dealt with by George Vernon as he writes himself Rector of Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire a Man utterly unknown to me before this affair Nec beneâ—…icio nec injuria mihi notus About four years agoe hearing that Mr Hen. Heylyn my Brother in law did intend to print his Fathers life before some miscellaneous pieces of his Writings I made a tender of my service to that work for which I could propose no other advantage to my self than my labour for my pains and only to testifie my real reverence and hearty affection to his Father and mine whom I ever honoured for his learning and good life And because I thought such a duty might be more reasonably expected from me his Son-in-Law than any other who was a stranger to him especially when he was pleased to put several papers into my hands to transcribe and had often discoursed various passages of his Life to me which I know none in the world can give an account of but my self Yet since his Sons fancy led him to make choice of another before me I was satisfied and did patiently expect the coming forth of the work not only Term after Term but year after year a very considerable time for so small a Tract But at last instead of the Life came a Letter to me from a Book-Seller in London viz. Mr. Chr. Wilkinson at the sign of the black Boy in Fleetstreet to desire my assistance for the thing as he writ was at a stand The printing of which Mr. Harper his Friend would not have undertaken had not Mr. Heylin assured him that I was engaged in it because it must needs be as he said lame and imperfect if it was done without my knowledge who was â—…quainted with all the transactions of the Doctors Life But to those Letters I returned several flat denyals thinking it below me to medle in that which another had before undertaken much less to be his journey man to patch up what I should have made new Besides I had no confidence in the Man so bold and forward in the work because he was a mere stranger to my Father Heylyn as he now publickly confesses and I beleive never saw the Doctors face in his Life Yet still I was importun'd and his writings were sent down to me withal to let me know the Writer was willing I should make what alterations in them and additions to them I pleased for which I have Mr. Wilkinsons letter by me in his verbis a person so honest as will not deny his own words Reverend Sir I Received your Letter and am again troublesome to you Mr. Harper assures me that he thought you had been first concern'd in writing your Fathers Life by Mr. Heylyn's recommendation But afterwards he found that one Mr. Vernon of Gloucester has collected the papers which compose the Life whom Mr. Heylyn desired to perfect the said Vernon has desired Mr. Harper to communicate the papers to whom he pleases and cross out or add what is thought convenient to which purpose he designes to send the said Life down to you and do with it as you think good and if you think â—…itting put your own Name to it for Mr Vernon will not have his name made use of I thought good to acquaint you hereof and desire you will be pleased to give me a line or too Sir I am Your obliged and humble Servant Christopher Wilkinson London February 18. 1680 At the receipt of this Letter I was unwillingly perswaded by some Friends to send to Lincoln for the Gentlemans Manuscript which had laid at the Carriers house above three weeks And when it came into my hands I found it indeed according to the Booksellers description in another Letter lame and imperfect And I must say ill begun and worse carried on and abruptly concluded Nay some things false and scandalous tending to the disreputation and not the honour of my Father Besides half the Life for want of other matter when those few old Notes failed him which Mr. Heylin had lent him was stuffed out with a long story of Westminster and a farrago of needless transcription out of Dr. Heylins Books for no other purpose then to prove the Doctor was no Papist Quorsum haec perditio For did ever any lay this to his charge but the Puritan Sectaries who were his profest Enemies I will call Doctor Burnet his very good Friend who I am sure will stand his second in this challenge for he saith I doubt not but he was a sincere Protestant But this only was his mishap first to write the History of Reformaaion and his second hath so far outgone him that ever since the poor Doctor has suffered in his Reputation and the Church of England nick-named with Popery which odious name first took its epoch and God be thanked is of no elder date from the beginning of the late History of Reformation and the thankful Parliament to the Historian Since then our Religion and Hierarchy has been hunch'd at by every Clown and Fanatick Others more unnaturally like Nero to Agrippina have searched into the secret Entrals of their Mother ript up her Bowels to see if they could find a Pope in her Belly Therefore the good old Doctor lyes no more under the malicious slander and suspicion of Popery than our dear Mother the Church of England for her excellent Wisdom in keeping up a medium beâ—…wixt the two extreams of Popery and Fanaticism Bâ—…t to return to my Gentleman again out of respect to my Brother because he was his Acquaintance I dealt most ingenuously with the Life made several Additions to it corrected many mistakes abated only the Harangue of Transcriptions and such passages as I thought were disgraceful reflections on my Reverend Father I put it into a method which was before very confused Cui lecta potenter â—…rit res Neo facundia deseret hunc nec lucidus ordo as the Poet said I also disposed both his and my own Discourses into distinct Paragraphs that the one might be known from the other And finally I writ this civil Letter of Thanks to him which I sent up to the Book-seller and ordered to be printed before the Life and it is as followeth Sir THough I have not the good Fortune to be aequainted with you nor in all probability eveâ—… shall at so far a distance as we live asuâ—… yet I cannot but express a most hearty thanks for your reverence and high esteem of Dr. Heylyn and for the pains you have bestowed about his Life In the carrying on of which notwithstanding I have taken the greater Task upon my self and should have undertook it wholly if I had been first engaged in it because I am related to the Family and know more material circumstances for this purpose than any man now living
way the other bends to Sedition Blood-shed and Confusion if it be left to the Multitude Which caused the good Father to complain of the Donatists Basilicas invasistis multi ex numero vestro per loca plurima cruentas operati sunt caedes And what outragious acts were done by the Donatists against Churches Altars consecrated Vessels and necessary utensils for the Sacrament Haec omnia furor vester aut rasit aut fregit aut removit saith Oplatus All these things your fury hath raz'd down or defaced or taken them away And hath not this been the practice of some Reformers God be thanked not in the Church of England and let other Churches of the reformed Religion look to themselves I am sure it is a detestible Principle which the Primitive Christians from their hearts did abhor that if the Magistrate will not reform the Church and State then the people must Their Piety and Patience is most exemplary to us that we should rather suffer for true Religion than make resistance or Reformation by rebellion It was a seditious saying of Donatus Quid est Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperor to do with the Church But be he either Heathen or Christian and if Christian either Orthodox or Heterodox in the Faith the good Catholicks did not then seek to establish their Religion vi armis much less without his Authority or at least connivance of their Emperors publickly exercise their Religion Secondly that which so imbitters Mr. Baxter against Dr. Heylyn is saith he That Heylyn would make men believe that it was Presbyteriaas in England that began the late Strife and War And who believes otherwise but they who have a bloody mind to War again Have we not seen it with our Eyes and others who were unborn then have heard with their Ears the same by many Witnesses and Writers besides Dr Heylyn What must men deny their senses It is not in the power of the Doctor nor any other to possess people with a belief and perswasion of things whether they will or no but as they appear evident to sense reason or understanding they give credit to them accordingly Mr. Baxter imitates the Papists He thinks of the War as they do of the Gun-powder Plot that it is so long ago it must be either forgotten or cannot be proved He and those of his Tribe would be blowing their Trumpets again for a second War and cry out to your Tents O Israel but God in his mercy I hope will preserve the Land that is grown more wise by sad experience of the late troubles than to be twice deceived The pretence of Reformation and Reformers whose Credit Mr. Baxter would still hold up he cannot endure they should be touched was the Pulchra Laverna of Rebelion both in England and Scotland Who were the first Reformers but the Presbyterians Who was it An Episcopal man or a Presbyterian that said Strike the Basilick vein for nothing else will cure the plurisy of our State and after followed the fatal stroke given upon the Lords anointed to the terror and consternation of the whole Kingdom but much more to the shame and confusion of it And how many years after was this Nation ridden with the Reformers That it might have been called instead of France Regnum Asinorum for the unmerciful loads of Oppression it groaned under till at last wearied and tired out with them it kickt off her Riders and I am confident will never take to them again For what were the fruits of the godly Reformation Sacriledge and a continued Rebellion Church and Crown Robberies the King deprived of all his Right and Revenues and the Church of her ancient Demeans and Dignities from both which as no good consequence any one might conceive did follow a horrible Anarchy and confusion not only Dr. Heylyn but the World it self is judge of these things whether the Presbyterians were not the Principal and I may say the only causes of the late Wars and those evils attending them I think the Doctor set the Sadle upon the right Horse But I am sure Mr. Baxter doth not when he puts Lads and Dr. Heylyn together who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and very irreverently conjoyned together yet perhaps those Boys think themselves as good Men as Mr. Baxter and possibly to have as much Learning however more discretion in them than appears in him who shamefully complains of his feebleness to his Wife For modesty sake I dare not set down the words written at the end of his Letter to her which he hath printed in his Narrative of her Life But who are these Lads that knew not the War and yet will be talking of it I very well apprehend his meaning and confess I was then but a Youth but now am old and gray-headed that what I have written I hope to make good and fear not to meet Mr. Baxter upon a fair Challenge any where in the half-way except between Lynsel and Longford In the mean while he who Styles himself so proudly in the Title page of his Church History Richard Baxter a Hater of false Histories Let him not falsisie Dr. Heylyn nor others who approve themselves truer Historians than himself whom I now attach for falshood in saying this scandalous story of the Doctor That he himself had laid much of the War on the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and on the Parliaments complaints of Popery Arminianism and arbitrary illegalities In his Hist. of Presb. pag. 465. pag. 470. In all which pages ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidem there is not a word or syllable can be found of these things nor to such purpose that I wonder he hath the face to charge Dr. Heylyn with them when he pro fesseth himself to be a Hater of false Histories no sooner the word is out of his mouth but within a page or two he makes this abominable falsity I do suspect him now more than ever about Major Iennings business and conclude him to be guilty Could any one rationally think that the Doctor who in all his Time and Books appeared a most zealous Champion for the Bishops and in that cause I may say was Dr. Irrefr agabilis would lay to their charge much or little that they were procatarcical causes of the War especially when he vindicates them in all his Writings from this malicious aspersion which the Puritan Faction would have thrown upon them He was not a man of contradictions like Richard Baxter in most of his Writings for which every Lad is apt to lug his Beard as the Poet said of the Stoick vellent tibi barbam lascivi pueri No no he had a wiser Head-piece and better Memory than any Baxter That he never exposed himself to shame or censure for any contradiction that could be fouud in all his Writings Qualis ab inâ—…epto processerit sibi constet Instead of Mr Baxters Allegation the Doctor tells us in the same page 464
precedency to the French First because France was the great and more famous Kingdom 2. That the French c. These reasons are to be referred to the time of that King by whom the Arms were first quartered with the Arms of England and who desired by honour done unto their Arms to gain upon the good Opinion of that Nation for the Crown and Love thereof he was then a Sutor For at this time besides it may seem incongruous to use a Verb of the Present-Tense in a matter done so long agoe that reason is not of the least force or consequence the French King having so long since forgot the Rights of England and our late Princes claiming nothing but the Title only The Place and Passage so corrected I hope I may without detraction from the Glory of this Nation affirm That France was at that time the more famous Kingdom our English Swords for more than half the time since the Norman Conquest had been turned against our own Bosomes and the Wars we then made except some fortunate Excursions of King Edward the First in France and King Richard in the Holy Land in my Opinion were fuller of Piety than of Honour For what was our Kingdom under the Reigns of Edward the Second Henry the Third John Stephen and Rufus but a publick Theater on which the Tragedies of Blood and civil Dissentions had been continually acted On the other side the French had exercised their Arms with Credit and Renown both in Syria Palestine and Egypt and had much added to the Glory of their Name and Nation by conquering the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicilia and driving the English themselves out of France Guyen only excepted If we look higher we shall find France to be the first Seat of the Western Empire and the forces of it to be known and felt by the Saracens in Spain the Saxons in Germany and the Lombards in Italy At which time the Valour of the English was imprisoned in the same Seas with their Island And therefore France was at that time when first the Arms were quartered the more famous Kingdom 'T is true indeed that since the time of those victorious Princes those duo fulmina belli Edward the Third and the Black Prince his Son the Arms of England have been exercised in most parts of Europe Nor am I ignorant how high we stand above France and all other Nations in true fame of our Atcheivements France it self diverse times over run and once conquered The House of Bâ—…rgundie upheld from Ruin The Hollanders supported Spain awed The Ocean commanded are sufficient Testimonies that in pursuit of Fame and Honour we had no Equals That I always was of this opinion my Book speaks for me and indeed so unworthy a Person needs no better Advocate in which I have been no where wanting to commit to Memory the honourable performances of my Country The great Annalist Baronius pretending only a true and sincere History of the Church yet tells the Pope in his Epistle Dedicatory that he principally did intend that Work Pro Sacrarum Traditionum Antiquitate Authoritate Romanae Ecclesiae The like may I say of my self though not with like imputation of imposture I promised a Description of all the World and have according to the measure of my poor Ability fully performed it yet have I apprehended withal every modest occasion of enobling and extolling the Souldiers and Kings of England Concerning the other place at which his most sacred Majesty is offended viz. The precedency of France before England besides that I do not speak of England as it now stands augmented by the happy Addition of Scotland I had it from an Author whom in my poverty of reading I conceived above all Exception Cambdeâ—… Clarenceux that general and accomplish'd Scholar in the fifth page of his Remains had so informed me If there be Error in it 't is not mine but my Authors The Precedency which he there speaks of is in general Councils And I do heartily wish it would please the Lord to give such a sudden blessing to his Church that I might live to see Mr. Cambden confuted by so good an Argument as the sitting of a general Council Thus Mr. Heylyn apologized for himself in his Letter written to the Dean of Winton who shewed the whole Apology to the King with which his Majesty was fully satisfied as to the sincere intention and innocent meaning of Author yet to avoid all further scruples and misconstructions that might arise hereafter Mr. Heylyn by the advise of his good Friend the wise and most worthy Dean took order that whole Clause which gave so much offence should be left out of all his Books It a plerique ingenio sumus omnes nostri nosmet paenitet as once the Comedian said Having undergone such troubles about France he was resolved upon a further Adventure to take a Voyage thither with his faithful Friend Mr. Leuet of Lincolns Inn who afterward poor Gentleman through misfortune of the Times lived and dyed Prisoner in the Fleet. They both set out An. Dom. 1625. and after their safe arrival in France took a singular interview of the chief Cities and most eminent Places in the Realm of which Mr. Heylyn gives a more accurate account and description though his stay was not there above five Weeks than Lassel the Priest doth of his five years Voyage into Italy And now Mr. Heylyn was sufficiently convinced with his own Eyes which was the more famous Kingdom that after his return home he composed a History of his Travels into France and being put into the Hands of several Friends was at first printed by a false Copy full of gross Errors and insufferable mistakes that he caused his own true Copy to be printed one of the most delightful Histories of that nature that hath been ever heretofore published wherein is set out to the Life the Monsieurs and the Madams the Nobility and the Pezantry the Court and Country their ridiculous Customs fantastical Gate Apparel and Fashions foolish common Talk so given to levity that without singing and dancing they cannot walk the open Streets in the Church serious and superstitious the better sort horridly Atheistical Besides all he hath written in that ingenious Book I think he hath in short most excellently deciphered them in his Cosmography where he maketh a second review of their pretty Qualities and Conditions as thus if the Reader has a mind to read them They are very quick witted of a sudden and nimble apprehension but withal rash and hair-brain'd precipitate in all their actions as well military as civil falling on like a clap of Thunder and presently going off in Smoke full of Law-suits and Contentions that their Lawyers never want work so litigious that there are more Law-suits tryed among them in seven years than have been in England from the Conquest Their Women witty but Apish sluttish wanton and incontinent generally at the first fight as