likewise see by what he writes in the same Chap. in these words viz. Not that I am against the managing of this Presidency and Authority in one man by the joynt Counsel and Consent of many Presbyters I have offered to restore that as a fit means to avoid those Errors Corruptions and Partialities which are incident to any one man And so likewise in the Chapter about the Reformation of the Times he has this passage I was willing to grant or restore to Presbytery what with reason or discretion it can pretend to in a Conjuncture with Episcopacy but for that wholly to invade the Power and by the Sword to Arrogate and quite Abrogate the Authority of that Ancient Order I think neither just as to Episcopacy nor safe for Presbytery nor yet any way convenient for this Church or State And that the most Pious and Learned Dr. Hammond was about the same time of the Lord Primate's judgment in this matter may appear by this passage in the Preface to his Treatise of the Power of the Keys That a moderate Episcopacy with a standing assistant Presbytery as it will certainly satisfie the desires of those whose pretentions are regular and moderate craving nothing more and in some things less than the Laws of the Land so that it will appear to be that which all parties can best Tolerate and which next himself both Presbyterian Independant and Erastian will make no question to choose and prefer before any of the other Pretenders And though it may be true that divers of the more sober of the Presbyterian party have seemed to have approved of these terms of Reconciliation yet it has been only since the ill success their Discipline hath met with both in England and Scotland that has made them more moderate in their demands for it is very well known that when these Terms were first proposed the Ring-leaders of the Party utterly cryed them down as a great Enemy to Presbytery Since this Expedient would have yet left Episcopacy in a better condition than it is at this day in any of the Lutheran Churches but they were not then for Divisum Imperium would have all or nothing and they had their desires So that it is no wonder if the Lord Primate in this endeavour of Reconciliation met with the common fate of Arbitrators to please neither party But thô the Church is now restored beyond our expectation as well as merits to all its just Rights and Priviledges without the least diminution Yet certainly no good Subject or Son of the Church either of the Clergy or Laity at that time when this Expedient was proposed but would have been very well contented to have yielded farther than this to have preserved his late Majesty's life and to have prevented those Schisms and Confusions which for so many years harrassed these poor Nations But if our King and Church are both now restored it is what then no man could fore-see it is the Lord 's doing and is marvellous in our Eyes but I have dwelt so long upon this subject that I forgot to relate a passage though not of so great moment as the Affair we last mentioned yet as it happened in order of time before it so was it too considerable to be passed over viz. the Sermon which the Lord Primate now preached before the King at Newport in the Isle of Wight presently after his coming thither on the 19th of Novemb. being his Majesty's Birth-day which because it then was the occasion of a great deal of discourse I shall give you the heads of it being there present at that Sermon which afterward was published though very imperfectly by some that took Notes the Text was Gen. 49. 3. Ruben thou art my first-born my Might and the beginning of my Strength the excellency of Dignity and the excellency of Power These remarkable passages he had in this Sermon among others in Explication viz. The Regal power which comes by Descent is described by a double Excellency The Excellency of Dignity and the Excellency of Power By Dignity we understand all outward Glory by Power all Dominion And these are the two branches of Majesty The Greeks express it in the abstract And so in respect of Dignity The Supreme Magistrate is called Glory and in respect of Sovereignty he is called Lord Both these are joyned in the Epistle of Jude ver 8. There are a wicked sort there described that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities and make no Conscience to Blaspheme the Footsteps of the Lord 's Anointed And what is their Censure ver 13. To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever We used to say That those that have God's Tokens upon them are past hopes of life here you may plainly see God's Tokens upon these men they are reserved to everlasting Damnation After he had shewen in many instances of the outward Splendor and Pomp which peculiarly belong to Majesty and are lawful and requisite to maintain the Dignity of a Prince c. then he proceeded to shew the Eminency of Power belonging thereunto For a King to have great State and to have no Power he were then but a poor weak King There is a subordination of Power in all Governments which because it cannot go in Infinitum it must needs rest some where and that is in the King Let every Soul be subject to the higher power whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God And the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 13. To the King as Supreme If any Professors of Religion do Rebel against the King this is a scandal to Religion and 't is the fault of the Professors and not of the Profession for the Church of England doth teach the contrary But when men shall not only practise but teach Rebellion this amounts to a very high Crime indeed The King as St. Peter saith hath the Excellency of Power as sent by God But what need I say any more we all swear that the King is the Only Supreme Governor in his Dominions A man would think that that word Only might be spared since nothing can be above a Supreme but it is put there by way of Eminency I read in Josephus That Herod having offended Cleopatra she besought Antony to call him to account for it But Antony refused so to do for then said he He will be no King And after he had enlarged somewhat on these points he added this In the word of a King there is power saith the Preacher It was wont to be so and by the word of God it ought to be so I might enlarge upon this but some Ears will not endure sound Doctrine The King you see must be acknowledged to be Supreme and no Superior to the King on Earth far be it from me to flatter any man I thank God I fear no flesh but do deliver the Truth This day is the Birth-day of our Sovereign Lord. Birth-days of Kings have been usually Celebrated
that perswasion and therefore it was thought to be enough to condemn Transubstantiation and to say that Christ was present after a spiritual manner and received by Faith And to say more as it was judged superfluous so it might occasion division Upon this these words were by common consent left out and in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them This shews that the Doctrine of the Church then subscribed by the whole Convocation was at that time contrary to the belief of a Real and Corporal Presence in the Sacrament only it was not thought necessary or expedient to publish it Tho from this silence which flowed not from their Opinion but the Wisdom of that Time in leaving a liberty for different Speculations as to the manner of the Presence Some have since inferred that the chief Pastors of this Church did then disapprove of the Definition made in King Edward 's time and that they were for a Real Presence And that our Protestant Bishops that were martyr'd in Queen Mary's days were against this expression of a Real Presence of Christ as a Natural Body appears by those Questions which they disputed on solemnly at Oxford before their Martyrdom The first Question Whether the Natural Body of Christ was Really in the Sacrament The second Whether no other substance did remain but the Body and Blood of Christ Both which they held in the Negative So that since this expression of a Real Presence of Christ's Body was not maintained by our first Protestant Reformers nor used by the Church of England in her Articles I do not see of what use it can be now tho perhaps only meant in a spiritual sence by most that make use of it For the real presence of a Body and yet unbodily I suppose those that speak thus understand as little as I do unless that some Men love to come as near the Papists as may be in their expressions tho without any hopes now of ever making them approach the nearer to us and in the mean time giving matter of offence and scandal to divers ignorant and weak Christians of our own Religion The fifth Point that the Doctor taxes the Lord Primat with as held by him contrary to the Church of England is That she teaches that the Priest hath power to forgive Sins as may be easily proved by three several Arguments not very easie to be answered The first is from those solemn words used in the Ordination of the Priest or Presbyter that is to say Receive the Holy Ghost Whose Sins ye forgive they are forgiven and whose Sins ye retain they are retained Which were a gross prophanation of the words of our Lord and Saviour and a meer mockery of the Priest if no such power were given unto him as is there affirmed The second Argument is taken from one of the Exhortations before the Communion where we find the people are exhorted by the Priest that if they cannot quiet their Consciences they should come unto him or some other discreet Minister of God's Word and open their grief that they may receive such ghostly advice and comfort as their Consciences may be relieved and that by the Ministry of God's Word they may receive Comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of their Consciences and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness The third and most material Proof is the Form prescribed for the Visitation of the Sick In which it is required that after the sick Person hath made a Confession of his Faith and professed himself to be in Charity with all Men he shall then make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter And then it follows that after such Confession the Minister shall absolve him in this manner viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to absolve all Sinners that truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thine Offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen Of the first of these three places deduced all of them from the best Monuments and Records of the Church of England the Lord Primat takes notice in his Answer to the Jesuit's Challenge p. 109. where he treateth purposely of the Priests power to forgive Sins but gives us such a Gloss upon it as utterly subverts as well the Doctrine of this Church in that particular as her purpose in it And of the second he takes notice p. 81. where he speaks purposely of Confession but gives us such a Gloss upon that also as he did upon the other But of the third which is more positive and material than the other two he is not pleased to take any notice at all as if no such Doctrine were either taught by the Church of England or no such Power had been ever exercised by the Ministers of it For in the canvassing of this Point he declares sometimes that the Priest doth forgive Sins only declarative by the way of declaration only when on the consideration of the true Faith and sincere Repentance of the Party penitent he doth declare unto him in the Name of God that his Sins are pardoned and sometimes that the Priest forgives Sins only optativè by the way of Prayers and Intercession when on the like consideration he makes his prayers unto God that the Sins of the Penitent may be pardoned Neither of which comes up unto the Doctrine of the Church of England which holdeth that the Priest forgiveth Sins authoritativè by virtue of a Power committed to him by our Lord and Saviour That the Supream power of forgiving Sins is in God alone against whose Divine Majesty all Sins of what sort soever may be truly said to be committed was never question'd by any who pretended to the Christian Faith The Power which is given to the Priest is but a delegated power such as is exercised by Judges under Soveraign Princes where they are not tied unto the Verdict of Twelve Men as with us in England who by the Power committed to them in their several Circuits and Divisions do actually absolve the party which is brought before them if on good proof they find him innocent of the Crimes he stands accused for and so discharge him of his Irons And such a power as this I say is both given to and exercised by the Priest or Presbyters in the Church of England For if they did forgive Sins only declarativè that form of Absolution which follows the general Confession in the beginning of the Common-prayer-Book would have been sufficient where the Absolution is put in the third person Or if he did forgive Sins only optativè in the way of prayers and intercession there could not be a better way of Absolution than that which is prescribed to be used by the Priest or Bishop after the general Confession made by such as
draw them up which Articles being signed by Arch-Bishop Jones then Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Speaker of the House of the Bishops in Convocation as also by the Prolocutor of the House of the Clergy in their names And signed by the then Lord Deputy Chichester by order from King James in his name As I shall not take upon me to defend these Articles in all points therein laid down or that they were better than those of the Church of England So on the other side I cannot be of the opinion of that Author who would needs have the passing of these Articles to be An absolute Plot of the Sabbatarians and Calvinians in England to make themselves so strong a Party in Ireland as to obtain what they pleased in this Convocation unless he will suppose that the Bishops and Clergy of that Church could be so inveagled by I know not what Inchantments as to pass those things for Articles of their Belief which they had never so much as studied nor understood the true meaning of And that the then Lord Deputy and King James were likewise drawn in to be of the Plot to Sign and Confirm those Articles which they knew to be Heterodox to the Doctrine and Articles of the Church of England Anno 1619 But though Dr. Usher was thus remarkable for Piety and Learning yet he could not escape the common Fate of extraordinary men viz. Envy and Detraction for there were some in Ireland though of no great repute for Learning or Worth who would needs have him to be a Puritan as then they called those whom they looked upon as disaffected to the discipline of the Church as by Law establisht And to lay a block in the way of his future Preferment they had got some to traduce him as such to the King who had no great kindness for those men as he had little reason But the Dr. hearing of it and having occasion about this time to come for England as he always had done once in three or four years The Lord Deputy and Council were so sensible of this scandal that for his Vindication they writ by him this Recommendatory Letter to His Majesties Privy-Council here May it please Your Lordships THe extraordinary merit of this Bearer Mr. Doctor Usher prevaileth with us to offer him that favour which we deny to many that move us to be recommended to Your Lordships and we do it the rather because we are desirous to set him right in His Majesties Opinion who it seemeth hath been informed that he is somewhat Transported with Singularities and unaptness to be Conformable to the Rules and Orders of the Church We are so far from suspecting him in that kind that we may boldly recommend him to Your Lordships as a man Orthodox and worthy to govern in the Church when occasion shall be presented And His Majesty may be pleased to advance him he being one that hath preached before the State here for eighteen years And has been His Majesties Professor of Divinity in the University thirteen years And a man who has given himself over to his Profession An excellent and painful Preacher a modest man abounding in goodness and his Life and Doctrine so agreeable as those who agree not with him are yet constrained to love and admire him And for such an one we beseech Your Lordships to understand him And accordingly to speak to His Majesty And thus with the remembrance of our humble Duties we take leave Your Lordships most humbly at Command Ad. Loftus Canc. Henry Docwra William Methwold John King Dud. Norton Oliver St. John William Tuameusis Fra. Anngiers From Dublin the last of Sept. 1619. But that you may see this odious nick-name was put upon many Pious and Orthodox Divines that did not deserve it it will not be amiss to give you this following Letter to Dr. Usher then in England from a worthy Divine then in Ireland Reverend Sir I Hope you are not ignorant of the hurt that is come to the Church by this name Puritan and how his Majesties good intent and meaning therein is much abused and wronged and especially in this poor Country where the Pope and Popery is so much affected I being lately in the Country had conference with a worthy painful Preacher who hath been an instrument of drawing many of the meer Irish there from the blindness of Popery to imbrace the Gospel with much comfort to themselves and heart-breaking to the Priests who perceiving they cannot now prevail with their jugling Tricks have forged a new device They have now stirred up some crafty Papists who very boldly rail both at Ministers and People saying They seek to sow this damnable Heresie of Puritanism among them which word though not understood but only known to be most odious to his Majesty makes many afraid of joyning themselves to the Gospel though in conference their Consciences are convicted herein So to prevent a greater mischief that may follow it were good to Petition his Majesty to define a Puritan whereby the mouths of those scoffing Enemies would be stopt And if his Majesty be not at leisure that he would appoint some good men to do it for him for the effecting thereof you know better than I can direct and therefore I commit you and your Affairs to the blessing of the Almighty praying for your good success there and safe return hither resting Your assured Friend to his power Emanuel Downing Dublin 24th Oct. 1620. But to return whence we have digressed this Character of the Lord Deputy together with King James's own conversation with and tryal of Dr. Usher whom he sent for on purpose to that end did so fully satisfie the King that after he had discoursed with him in divers points both of Learning and Religion he who was well able to judge of both was so extreamly well satisfied with him that he said he perceived That the knave Puritan was a bad but the knave's Puritan an honest man And of which latter sort he accounted Dr. Usher to be since the King had so good an opinion of him that of his own accord he now Nominated him to the Bishoprick of Meath in Ireland being then void Anno 1620 with this expression That Dr. Usher was a Bishop of his own making and so his Conge d' Eslire being sent over he was elected by the Dean and Chapter there And that you may perceive how much the report of his advancement rejoyced all sorts of men this following Letter from the then Lord Deputy of Ireland may testifie To Dr. James Usher Bishop Elect of Meath My Lord I Thank God for your Preferment to the Bishoprick of Meath His Majesty therein hath done a gracious favour to his poor Church here There is none here but are exceeding glad that you are called thereunto even some Papists themselves have largely testified their gladness of it Your Grant is and other necessary things shall be Sealed this Day or to Morrow I pray
have shewed themselves more forward than wise in preaching publickly against this kind of Toleration I hope the great charge laid upon them by your selves in the Parliament wherein that Statute was inacted will plead their excuse For there the Lords Temporal and all the Commons do in God's name earnestly require and charge all Arch-Bishops and Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour themselves to the utmost of their knowledge that the due and true execution of this Statute may be had throughout their Diocesses and charged as they will answer it before God for such Evils and Plagues as Almighty God might justly punish his People for neglecting these good and wholesome Laws So that if in this case they had holden their Tongues they might have been censured little better than Atheists and made themselves accessary to the drawing down of God's heavy vengeance upon the People But if for these and such like Causes the former project will not be admitted we must not therefore think our selves discharged from taking farther care to provide for our safeties Other consultations must be had and other courses thought upon which need not be liable to the like exceptions Where the burden is born in common and the aid required to be given to the Prince by his Subjects that are of different judgments in Religion it stands not with the ground of common reason that such a Condition should be annexed unto the Gift as must of necessity deter the one Party from giving at all upon such terms as are repugnant to their Consciences As therefore on the one side if we desire that the Recusants should joyn with us in granting a common aid we should not put in the Condition of executing the Statute which we are sure they would not yield unto so on the other side if they will have us to joyn with them in the like Contribution they should not require the Condition of suspending the Statute to be added which we in Conscience cannot yield unto The way will be then freely to grant unto his Majesty what we give without all manner of Condition that may seem unequal unto any side and to refer unto his own Sacred Breast how far he will be pleased to extend or abridge his favours of whose Lenity in forbearing the executing of the Statute our Recusants have found such experience that they cannot expect a greater liberty by giving any thing that is demanded than now already they do freely enjoy As for the fear that this voluntary Contribution may in time be made a matter of necessity and imposed as a perpetual charge upon Posterity it may easily be holpen with such a clause as we find added in the Grant of an aid made by the Pope's Council Anno 11 Hen. 3. out of the Ecclesiastical profits of this Land Quod non debet trahi in consuetudinem of which kinds of Grants many other Examples of later memory might be produced And as for the proportion of the Sum which you thought to be so great in the former Proposition it is my Lord's desire that you should signifie unto him what you think you are well able to bear and what your selves will be content voluntarily to proffer To alledge as you have done that you are not able to bear so great a charge as was demanded may stand with some reason but to plead an unability to give any thing at all is neither agreeable to Reason or Duty You say you are ready to serve the King as your Ancestors did heretofore with your Bodies and Lives as if the supply of the King's wants with monies were a thing unknown to our Fore-fathers But if you will search the Pipe-Rolls you shall find the names of those who contributed to King Henry the Third for a matter that did less concern the Subjects of this Kingdom than the help that is now demanded namely for the marrying of his Sister to the Emperour In the Records of the same King kept in England we find his Letters Patents directed hither into Ireland for levying of Money to help to pay his Debts unto Lewis the Son of the King of France In the Rolls of Gascony we find the like Letter directed by King Edward the Second unto the Gentlemen and Merchants of Ireland of whose names there is a List there set down to give him aid in his Expedition into Aquitaine and for defence of his Land which is now the thing in question We find an Ordinance likewise made in the time of Edward the Third for the personal Taxing of them that lived in England and hold Lands and Tenements in Ireland Nay in this case you must give me leave as a Divine to tell you plainly that to supply the King means for the necessary defence of your Country is not a thing left to your own discretion either to do or not to do but a matter of Duty which in Conscience you stand bound to perform The Apostle Rom. 13. having affirmed That we must be subject to the higher powers not only for wrath but for Conscience sake adds this as a reason to confirm it For for this cause you pay tribute also as if the denying such payment could not stand with a conscionable subjection thereupon he infers this conclusion Render therefore to all their due Tribute to whom Tribute Custom to whom Custom is due agreeable to that known Lesson which he had learned of our Saviour Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's where you may observe as to with-hold from God the things which are God's man is said to be a robber of God whereof he himself thus complaineth in the case of substracting of Tythes and Oblations So to deny a supply to Caesar of such means as are necessary for the support of his Kingdom can be accounted no less than a robbing of him of that which is his due which I wish you seriously to ponder and to think better of yielding something to this present necessity that we may not return from you an undutiful answer which may be justly displeasing to his Majesty This Speech though it had not its desired effect yet may sufficiently declare the Lord Primate's abilities in matters of Government when ever he would give his mind to them and how well he understood the present state of that Kingdom And it had been well for Ireland if his advice had been then hearken'd to since those standing Forces then moved for being to have been all Protestants would in all probability have prevented that Rebellion that some years after broke out in that Kingdom but a Copy of this Speech being desired by the Lord Deputy was transmitted to his Majesty who very well approved of it as much conducing to his Service and the publick safety It cannot now be expected in times so peaceable and quiet as these seem'd to be and in which my Lord Primate proceeded in one constant course with little
Learning for the first I shall say in general That he always adhered to and maintained the fundamental Catholick Truths observing that Golden Rule concerning Traditions Quod ubique quod ab omnibus quod semper Creditum est c. and never approved of any Religion under what pretence soever obtruded or introduced contrary to the Scriptures and Primitive Truths received and professed in the Church of Christ in all Ages and upon this account could never comply with nor approve of the new Doctrines and Worship obtruded and practised in the Church of Rome as now it is but always protested against their Innovations and humane Inventions as doth most evidently appear in his Writings bearing Testimony against their Corruptions False and Erroneous principles And as for the great Scholars and Leading Men of the Romish Church the Lord Primate usually said That it is no Marvel if they had a veil cast over their Eyes as St. Paul said of the Jews in the reading of the Scriptures for besides the several judgments of God upon them that have blinded their own Eyes their Minds are so prepossessed and Corrupted with false Principles Prejudices and Worldly interest that it is no wonder if they cannot perceive the most manifest and plainest Truths But as this good Mans judgment was sound and not byassed by prejudice or passion or worldly interest so did he heartily approve of the Religion professed and established in the Church of England as most Congruous to the Holy Scriptures and Primitive Christianity and in which if a Man keep the Faith and Lives according to its precepts persevering he need not doubt of his Salvation And in this Faith and Communion of the Church of England he lived Holily and died happily And this Holy Primate being fully perswaded in his own Mind laboured instantly to reduce Popish Recusants and Sectaries from their Errors and vain Conceits to inform them aright and to perswade them for their Souls good to comply with and embrace the Religion and Communion of the Church of England and this he aimed to bring about by his Writing Preaching and Conference upon all occasions and was successful in that enterprise But now for his Opinion in some nice points of Religion that do not touch the foundation of Faith he would not be rigorously Dogmatical in his own Opinions as to impose on others Learned and Pious Men of a different Apprehension in the more obscure points with whom nevertheless thô not altogether of his judgment he had a friendly Conversation and mutual Affection and Respect seeing they agreed in the points necessary Would to God That the Learned and Pious Men in these Days were of the like temper It will be needless here to mention any more particulars of his judgment in several points seeing there are so many instances of this kind in the Collection to which I refer the Reader Yet before I leave this matter I think fit to mind you of some Treatises published by Doctor Bernard after the Primates Death Intituled The judgment of the late Lord Primate on several Subjects 1. Of Spiritual Babylon on Rev. 18. 4. 2. Of Laying on of Hands Heb. 6. 2. and the ancient form of Words in Ordination 3. Of a set form of Prayer in the Church Each being the judgment of the late Bishop of Armagh which being not set down in my Lord Primates own Words nor written by him in the Method and Order they are there put into cannot be reckoned being much enlarged by the Dr. as himself confesseth therefore cannot so well vouch them as if I had been certain that all he writes were purely the Lord Primate 's since the Papers out of which the Doctor says he Collected them were never restored to my Custody thô borrowed under that Trust that they should be so and therefore I desire that those into whose hands those Manuscripts are now fallen since the Drs. decease would restore them either to my self or the Lord Primates Relations And tho perhaps some of those Letters published by Dr. Bernard might have been as well omitted or at least some private reflections of them left out concerning a Person easily provoked to bitterness and ill words being provoked by the publishing those Letters writ an invective Book on purpose to answer to what was contained therein and not contented with this has likewise bestowed great part of that Book to tax my Lord Primates Opinions and Actions as differing from the Church of England only to lessen the Esteem and Veneration which he deservedly had with all those who loved the King and Church of England as also to maintain those old Stories broached before concerning the repeal of the Irish Articles and the Death of the Earl of Strafford to which last particulars I need say no more than what I have already spoken in the Lord Primate's Vindication and as to the former relating to my Lord's Opinions and Actions a near Relation of the Lord Primate's has I hope vindicated him sufficiently in an Appendix at the end of this Account so that I shall concern my self no farther therewith I have now no more to do than to give you a short account of his Opinions in some of the most difficult parts of Learning with some Observations which either my self or others that convers'd with him can remember we have received from him by way of discourse though not the Twentieth part of what might have been retrieved in this kind had this task been undertaken many years agone whilst these things were fresh in our memories and whilst many more of his learned friends were alive who must needs have received divers learned remarks from his excellent conversation As for the Lord Primate's Opinions in Critical Learning it is very well known as well by his Discourse as Writings that he still defended the certainty and purity of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament before the Translation of the Septuagint since he doubted whether this we have were the true Translation of the LXX or not as you may see in his Epistle to Valesius and his Answer thereunto which controversie as it is a subject above my capacity to give a Judgment on having exercised as it still does both the Wits and Pens of the greatest Scholars in this present Age So I heartily wish That it may never tend to the disadvantage not only of our own but indeed of the whole Christian Religion with Prophane and Sceptical men for whilst one Party decry the Hebrew Text as obscure and corrupted by the Jews and the other side shew the failings and mistakes of the Greek Translation sufficient to prove that it was not performed by men Divinely Inspired it gives the Weak and more Prophane sort of Readers occasion to doubt of the Divine Authority of these Sacred Records though notwithstanding all the differences that have hitherto been shown between the Hebrew Original and Greek Translation do not God be thanked prove of greater moment than
there be any other places or other Mansions by which the Soul that believeth in God passing and coming unto that River which maketh glad the City of God may receive within it the lot of the Inheritance promised unto the Fathers For touching the determinate state of the faithful Souls departed this life the ancient Doctors as we have shewed were not so throughly resolved The Lord Primat having thus shewn in what sence many of the ancient Fathers did understand this word Hades which we translate Hell proceeds to shew that divers of them expound Christ's Descent into Hell or Hades according to the common Law of Nature which extends it self indifferently unto all that die For as Christ's Soul was in all points made like unto ours Sin only excepted while it was joined with his Body here in the Land of the Living so when he had humbled himself unto the Death it became him in all things to be made like unto his Brethren even in the state of dissolution And so indeed the Soul of Jesus had experience of both for it was in the place of human Souls and being out of the Flesh did live and subsist It was a reasonable Soul therefore and of the same substance with the flesh of Men proceeding from Mary Saith Eustathius the Patriarch of Antioch in his Exposition of that Text of the Psalm Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place of humane Souls which in the Hebrew is the world of Spirits and by the disposing of Christ's Soul there after the manner of other Souls concludes it to be of the same nature with other Mens Souls So St. Hilary in his Exposition of the 138th Psalm This is the Law of humane Necessity saith he that the Bodies being buried the Souls should go to Hell Which descent the Lord did not refuse for the accomplishment of a true man And a little after he repeats it that desupernis ad inferos mortis lege descendit He descended from the supernal to the infernal parts by the Law of Death And upon Psal. 53. more fully To fulfil the Nature of Man he subjected himself to Death that is to a departure as it were of the Soul and Body and pierced into the infernal seats which was a thing that seemed to be due unto Man I shall not trouble you with more Quotations of this kind out of several of the ancient Greek and Latin Fathers which he makes use of in this Treatise most of them agreeing in this That Christ died and was buried and that his Soul went to that place or receptacle where the Souls of good Men do remain after Death which whether it is no more in effect but differing in terms than to say he died and was buried and rose not till the third day which the Doctor makes to be the absurdity of this Opinion I leave to the Judgment of the impartial Reader as I likewise do whether the Lord Primat deserves so severe a Censure after his shewing so great Learning as he has done concerning the various Interpretations of this word Hades or Hell both out of sacred and prophane Writers that it only serves to amaze the Ignorant and confound the Learned Or that he meant nothing less in all these Collections than to assert the Doctrine of the Church of England in this particular Or whether Christ's Local Descent into Hell can be found in the Book of Articles which he had subscribed to or in the Book of Common-Prayer which he was bound to conform to And if it be not so expressed in any of these I leave it to you to judge how far Dr. H. is to be believed in his Accusation against the Lord Primat in other matters But I doubt I have dwelt too long upon this less important Article which it seems was not thought so fundamental a one but as the Lord Primat very well observes Ruffinus in his Exposition of the Creed takes notice that in the Creed or Symbol of the Church of Rome there is not added He descended into Hell and presently adds yet the force or meaning of the word seems to be the same in that he is said to have been buried So that it seems old Ruffinus is one of those who is guilty of this Impertinency as the Doctor calls it of making Christ's descent into Hell to signifie the same with his lying in the Grave or being buried tho the same Author takes notice that the Church of Aquileia had this Article inserted in her Creed but the Church of Rome had not which sure with Men of the Doctor 's way should be a Rule to other Churches And further Card. Bellarmin noteth as the Lord Primat confesses that St. Augustin in his Book De Fide Symbolo and in his four Books de Symbolo ad Catechumenos maketh no mention of this Article when he doth expound the whole Creed five several times Which is very strange if the Creed received by the African Church had this Article in it Ruffinus further takes notice that it is not found in the Symbol of the Churches of the East by which he means the Nicene and Constantinopolitan Creeds the latter of which is nothing else but an Explanation or more ample Enlargement of Creed Apostolical Tho this indeed be not at this day read in the Greek or other Eastern Churches or so much as known or received in that of the Copties and Abyssines But the Doctor having shown his Malice against the Lord Primat's Memory and Opinions in those Points which I hope I have sufficiently answered cannot give off so but in the next Section accuses him for inserting the nine Articles of Lambeth into those of the Church of Ireland being inconsistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England But before I answer this Accusation I shall first premise that as I do not defend or approve that Bishops or others tho never so learned Divines should take upon them to make new Articles or define and determine doubtful Questions and Controversies in Religion without being authorized by the King and Convocation so to do Yet thus much I may charitably say of those good Bishops and other Divines of the Church of England who framed and agreed upon these Articles that what they did in this matter was sincerely and as they then believed according to the Doctrine of the Church of England as either expresly contained in or else to be drawn by consequence from that Article of the Church concerning Predestination And certainly this makes stronger against the Doctor for if with him the Judgment of Bp. Bilson Bp. Andrews and Mr. Noel in their Writings be a sufficient Authority to declare the sence of the Church of England in those Questions of Christ's true and real Presence in the Sacrament and his Local Descent into Hell why should not the Judgment and Determination of the two Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York with divers other Bishops and
this time a kind of a general combination to be made for the disgrace and keeping down of our Ministers What that particular is which your Grace doth mention in the beginning of your Letter I do not yet understand John Forth having not as yet sent any Letter unto me But whatsoever it is I will not fail God willing to be present at the Assizes in Trim and both in that particular and in all other things wherein your Grace shall be pleased to employ me to follow your directions as one who desireth always to be accounted Your Graces ready to do you all service Ja. Midensis Pinglass August 6. 1623. LETTER LX. A Letter from the Most Reverend the Arch-Bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath Salutem in Christo. UPon Sunday last as I was going to Bed a Pacquet was brought unto me from my Lord Deputy with the Advertisements of all that passed at White-Hall the 20th of July But by good hap I received advice from my Lord Grandison five days before of the King 's noble profession in a Speech used to his Judges That as he had so he would still maintain the Religion Established in the Church of England and would never give way to the contrary Only he wished the Judges to proceed in the execution of Laws with temperance and fitting moderation Seeing it hath pleased God whose Councils may be secret but not unjust to exercise us with this mixture let us remember how dangerous it is to provoke Princes with too much animosity and what hazard Chrysostom brought to Religion that way The Gospel is not supported with wilfulness but by patience and obedience And if your Lordship light upon petulant and seditious Libels too frequent now-a-days as report goeth I beseech you to repress them and advise our Brethren to the like care So I commend you to God resting Your Lordships very loving Brother Armagh August 12. 1623. LETTER LXI A Letter from Dr. Ryves to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath Right Reverend and my very good Lord I Have now too long time forborn to write unto your Lordship the cause whereof hath been for that we have here lived in suspense our selves of what would ensue of our Noble Prince his Journey into Spain neither durst I write you any thing for certain because I was ever in fear of a contrary report before my Letter could come unto you and as for Uncertainties they were not worth the writing But now at the last thanks be to our good God we have our Prince again he came to London on Monday Morning last being the 6th of this present at Eight of the Clock in the Morning it was my hap to be at Lambeth at that time with my Lord of Canterbury and whilst I was there the Prince came to Lambeth Stairs where his Grace received him and kissed his Hand and from thence in his Graces Barge went to York-House where he brake his Fast and presently went away to Royston where the King then was and is News of his lodging that Night at Guilford came to his Grace of Canterbury that Morning at Three of the Clock and presently all London rang with Bells and flamed with Bonfires and resounded all over with such Shouts as is not well possible to express The day without bidding was kept festival by every Man whereof because I took such pleasure in seeing it I conceive your Lordship will also take some pleasure in hearing the Relation As for the Match Rumor in ambiguo est pars invenit utraque causas some say it will be a Match others that it will not and each part thinks he hath reason for what he says but nothing is yet known that may be reported for a certainty As for my self hanging otherwise in equal Ballance between the two Opinions your divining Spirit is always obversant before mine eyes and sways me to believe as I hope that it will please God to dispose of our Prince's Affections for the greater benefit of his Church and our State It hath happly ere this came to your Lordship's Ears that I was not long since commanded to attend my Lord Chichester into Germany after a while that Negotiation was hung up upon the Nail in expectance of the Princes return and now we look to hear of a new Summons but nothing is done as yet therein And even so my good Lord humbly desiring your good Prayers to God for me in all my honest Endeavours I take leave and rest Your Lordship 's in all Service to be commanded F. Ryves From my House near the Doctors-Commons this 8th of October 1623. POSTSCRIPT MY good Lord no Man doubts but that the Prince went a good Protestant out of England but it 's as certain thanks be given to God for it that he is returned out of Spain tenfold more confirm'd in ours more obdurate against their Religion than ever he was before So is the Duke of Buckingham in so much that upon his Letters to his Dutchess out of Spain she went also publickly to her Parish-Church at St. Martins the Sunday before Michaelmas-day and on Michaelmas-day it self and so continueth Moreover what is befallen to the Prince himself and to the Duke the same is befallen to all the rest of his Company they all return more resolv'd Protestants than ever being thorowly perswaded ex evidentia facti that Popery is Idolatry if ever any were F. R. LETTER LXII A Letter from Sir H. Bourgchier to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath Salutem à D. N. Iesu Christo. Most Reverend in Christ I Hope you will impute my long silence to your long expected and much wished repair hither which you seemed in your last kind Letter to intend before this time I trust that your Stay proceeds not from want of Health but some other occasion which I shall most gladly understand We are here full of business but all in Treaty and so little concluded that I know not what to deliver for Truth to my Friends Here hath been a great Conventicle of Embassadors which is now dissolved Dieguo de Mendoza who accompanied the Prince is gone yesterday Dieguo de Meshia who came from Bruxells with a fair train of Nobles Gentlemen and Military Men goes away on Tuesday next Our late prodigious Events as that of the fall of the House in Black-friers being related in three several Pamphelts the late dangerous Fire in London with some others of that kind cannot now be new to your Lordship The latest which I must send you is very sad and dolorous being of the death of our late worthy Friend Mr. Camden whose Funeral we solemnized at Westminster on Wednesday last in the Afternoon with all due Solemnity At which was present a great Assembly of all Conditions and Degrees the Sermon was preached by Dr. Sutton who made a true grave and modest Commemoration of his Life As he was not factious in Religion so neither was
did not send it which by the next Ship if your Lordship please God willing I will send you But I pray understand that by the Syriack Tongue they mean here the Caldean And every Man tells me it is all one the Syrians and Caldeans being one and the same People but questionless the same Language Therefore if your Lordship mean and desire to have the Old Testament in Caldean I beseech you to write me by the first over Land that I may provide it by the next Ship Also I beseech you to take knowledge that I dare not promise you to send it according to the Hebrew for neither my self nor any other Man here can determine it only I must be forc'd to take his word that sells it me who is a Minister of the Sect of the Marranites and by birth a Caldean but no Scholar neither is there any to be found in these parts but if your Lordship will have me send it at adventures though it cost dear as it will cost 10 l. I will do my best endeavour to send it by the first Conveyance but shall do nothing herein until such time I have further order from your Lordship to effect business of this nature in these parts requires time Travel being very tedious in these Countries I have inquired of divers both Christians and Jews of the overflowing of Jordan but can learn no certainty Some say it never rises but after great Rain but I met with a learned Jew at least so reputed who told me that Jordan begins to flow the 13th of July and continues flowing 29 days and is some 18 or 20 days increasing but I dare not believe him his Relation not agreeing with the Text for Harvest is near ended with them by that time and unless you will understand by Harvest the time of gathering Grapes it cannot agree I have also sent to Damascus concerning this and trust ere long to satisfy your Lordship in this Particular and in the Calendar of the Samaritans A French Frier who lived at Jerusalem told me that it never overflowed except occasiond by Rain whereupon I shewed him the words in Joshua 3. 15. that Jordan overfloweth his Banks at the time of Harvest which words are written with a Parenthesis and therefore said he are no part of the Text which I know is his ignorance I could have shewed him the thing plainly proved by that which he holds Canonical Scripture Ecclus. 24. 26. If I have done your Lordship any Service herein I shall greatly rejoyce and shall ever be ready and willing to do the best Service I can to further the Manifestation of God's Truth yea I should think my self happy that I were able to bring a little Goats Hair or a few Badgers Skins to the building of God's Tabernacle I acknowledg your Lordship's Favour towards me who have not neither could deserve at your hands the least Kindness conceivable yet the Graciousness of your sweet Disposition emboldens me to entreat the continuance of the same and also the benefit of your faithful Prayers so shall I pass the better amongst these Infidel Enemies to God and his Christ. And so I pray God to encrease and multiply his Favours and Graces both upon your Soul and Body making you happy in what ever you possess here and hereafter to grant you Glory with Christ into whose hands I recommend your Lordship and humbly take leave ever resting Your Lordship 's in all bounden duty to command Thomas Davies Aleppo Aug. 29. 1624. LETTER LXX A Letter from Mr. Thomas Pickering to the R. R. James Usher Bishop of Meath at Wicken-Hall Right Reverend and my very good Lord I Was not unmindful according to my Promise to send to Dr. Crakenthorp for Polybius and Diodorus Siculus immediatly after I was with your Lordship But he attending the Visitations at Colchester and Maldon came not home till yesterday At which time sending my Man for the Books the Doctor returned Answer That your Lordship shall command any Books he hath whensoever you please That he had not Diodorus Siculus but he sent me Polybius and Marianus Scotus which he says Dr. Barkham told him you desired to borrow These two Books your Lordship shall now receive and if it fall out that you be already provided of Marianus Scotus then it may please you to let that come back again because the Doctor tells me that after a while he shall have occasion to see some things for his use in Sigebert and other Writers which are bound in this Volume with Marianus but by all means he desires your turn should be served however I shall be most ready to afford your Lordship any Service that lieth in my power during your aboad in these parts holding my self in common with the Church of God much bound to you for your great and weighty Labours both formerly and presently undertaken in the Cause of our Religion The God of all Wisdom direct your Meditations and Studies and grant you Health and all Conveniences for the Accomplishment of your intended Task And so with remembrance of Dr. Crakenthorp's and my own Love and Service I humbly take leave and shall ever rest Your Lordship 's in my best Devotions and Services to be commanded Tho. Pickering Finchingfield Sept. 9. 1624. LETTER LXXI A Letter from Mr. Thomas Davies in Aleppo to the Right Reverend James Usher Lord Bishop of Meath Right Reverend Sir MY bounden Duty remembred c. News here is not any worthy your knowledg the great Rebel Abassa still troubles the State and hinders the going forward of the Army against the Persian Some few days time News came that the Vizier had given Battel to the Rebel and that the Rebel had cut off 12000 Janisaries yet they report the Vizier to have the best of the day which most Men judg to be but report certainly it is that Abassa will give them great trouble pretending only Revenge upon the Janisaries for the Blood of his Master Sultan Osman The greatest Villanies that ever were practised or intended never wanted their Pretences Yet it is thought by many that this Man hath done nothing without leave from the Port otherways it is strange they had not cut him off long since for what can be his Forces against the Grand Signior's Powers The Janisaries refuse to go to War before the Rebel be cut off or Peace made with him whereby you may observe what Power the King hath over his Souldiers the truth is they command and rule all oppressing and eating up the Poor When I consider the Estate of the Christians in these Parts yea the Mahumetans themselves that are not Souldiers then must I say happy yea thrice happy are the Subjects of the King of England who live in peace and enjoy the Fruits of their own Labours and yet have another and a greater Blessing the free passage of the Gospel I pray God we may see and be thankful for so great Favours expressing it by Obedience
Books and his Matrices of the Oriental Tongue are already sold. I am glad your Lordship hath got the old Manuscript of the Syriack Translation of the Pentateuch and for your hopes of the rest You say you have received the parcels of the New Testament in that Language which hitherto we have wanted But it seemeth those Parcels are writttn out of some Copies But I doubt whether anciently they were in the old Manuscript I am much afraid the Jesuits have laid hold of Elmenhorst's Copy As for the places of Chrysostom I will at my better leisure by God's Grace examine it Mr. Boyse hath written out the Fragment of P. Alexandrinus but intreateth me to let him have the Book till the next week for he would gladly peruse the Notes of Casaubon upon Nicander And God-willing the next week I will send it to Mr. Francis Burnett I am right sorry to see matters of that importance carried ex consilio perpaucorum I had a Letter from my Lord of Sarum by which I understand as much There was the last week a Cod-fish brought from Colchester to our Market to be sold in the cutting up which there was found in the Maw of the Fish a thing which was hard which proved to be a Book of a large 16 o which had been bound in Parchment the Leaves were glewed together with a Gelly And being taken out did smell much at the first but after washing of it Mr. Mead did look into it It was printed and he found a Table of the Contents The Book was intituled A preparation to the Cross it may be a special admonition to us at Cambridg Mr. Mead upon Saturday read to me the Heads of the Chapters which I very well liked of Now it is found to have been made by Rich. Tracy of whom Bale maketh mention Cent. 9. p. 719. He is said to flourish then 1550. But I think the Book was made in King Henry the Eighth's Time when the six Articles were a-foot The Book will be printed here shortly I know not how long your Lordship will stay in England I wish you might stay longer We are to come to present our new Chancellor with his Patent upon the 13th of July all our Heads will be there I would be glad to meet your Lordship then And thus wishing your Lordship all good success in your Affairs a fortunate Journey and speedy Passage when you go with our best Devotions my Wife and I wish you and yours all health and happiness commending you to the safest protection of the highest Majesty Your Lorships in all observance Samuel Ward Sidn Coll. June 27. 1626. LETTER CI. A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh To Dr. Samuel Ward SIR I Received your Letter wherein you signify unto me the News of the Book taken in the Fishes Belly and another Letter from Mr. Mead touching the same Argument The Accident is not lightly to be passed over which I fear me bringeth with it too true a Prophesy of the State to come And to you of Cambridg as you write it may well be a special Admonition which should not be neglected It behoveth you who are Heads of Colledges and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stick close to one another and quite obliterating all secret Distasts or privy Discontentments which possibly may fall betwixt your selves with joint consent to promote the Cause of God Mr. Provost I doubt not will with great alacrity in hoc incumbere So with the remembrance of my Affections to all my Friends there I commit you to the protection and direction of our Good God In whom I rest Your own most assured Ja. Armachanus Lond. June 30. 1626. LETTER CII A Letter from Mr. Ralph Skinner to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Right Reverend in God and cordially Religious YOUR Lordship knows right-well that trivial Adage That there is no fishing to the Sea nor Mines of Silver and Gold like to the Indies Yet no Fisher when he fished did ever draw up all Fish in his Net and no Mud Gravel or Stones nor no Pioneer did ever dig up all pure Trench or without some Oar intermixed therewith The same befalls me in the Works of Maymon the Ocean of all Jewish Learning the Quarries of Silver and Gold whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fame surpasseth the Indies for his Wine is mixed now and then with Water and his Silver with some dross All is not Fish that comes to the Net nor all is not Gold that glisters What must I do then Shall I reject Maymon full of good Mammon for some few Errors Or shall I not rather separate the Errors from Maymon and present you with his golden Mammon for so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. He that winneth Souls is wise the true Fisher of Men the wise Catcher of Souls my Lord and Master hath taught me to do imitating the Fishers whose custom is to gather the good into Vessels and to cast away the bad and putrid and to play the skilful Goldsmith in the purging the Tradition from the Precept as he hath taught me Mat. 15. 5. discerning inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mandatum which was this honour thy Father and thy Mother and inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traditionem which was this When any one saith to his Father or his Mother Korbon est quo jurari debebas à me That the Reader then may make a profitable use of Maymon he must observe his Errors and his good Things His Errors be these Six I. That the Stars and Celestial Spheres have Life and Knowledg This Error is gross it needs no confutation II. That God did never repent him of a good Thing or retreat his words but only once viz. When he destroyed the Just with the Unjust in the destruction of the first Temple He forgot himself of that he said in the first Chapter viz. That no Accidents are incident unto God that he cannot change that he is not as Man that lies or the Son of Man to repent but one that keepeth his fidelity for ever III. That all Moses Law is perpetual He understood not that the Ceremonies was buried in Christ's Grave Dan. 9. That the Substance come the Shadow must vanish IV. That Man hath free-will to do Good or Evil. But we know that the preparations of Man's Heart are of God that we are not able as of our selves to think a good thought and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from him If the preparation then to a good Thought if the good Thought it self if the willing and doing of good be of God wherein have we Free-will V. That the Promises of God mentioned in the Prophets are for things Temporal to be fulfilled in this Life in the Days of the Messiah But we know that the Son of God is already come and hath given us an understanding that we might
he understood by me how much you esteemed and loved him he desired me to return his humble Thanks with desire that you would imploy his Service in whatsoever he is able to perform His Majesty has conserr'd on him the Prebend in Canterbury which lately was Dr. Chapman's He is now settling himself in it he saith he hath received a late Advertisement of the Death of Bertius who over-lived his own Credit and Reputation Mr. Selden's Titles of Honour hath long slept under the Press by reason of his long close Imprisonment but now he tells me it shall go forward and he thinks within two Months it will come abroad The War in Italy is like to proceed the French King raiseth a great Army for that Expedition Here was a report that the States had taken Gulick but it holds not for a certain Truth One thing I must not over-pass and that a strange and monstrous Accident lately happened here in England One Dorington a younger Son of Sir William Dorington of Hamp-shire and Grand-Child to that Dorington who brake his Neck from St. Sepulchres Steeple in London being reprehended for some disorderly Courses by his Mother drew his Sword and ran her twice through and afterwards she being dead gave her many Wounds and had slain his Sister at the same time had he not been prevented I presume your Grace hath heard of the Death of Dr. Tho. James his Nephew Mr. Rich. James is fallen into some Trouble by reason of his Familiarity and Inwardness with Sir Robert Cotton I suppose you have the last Catalogue of Francfort which hath nothing of note But I fear I have been over troublesome to your Grace's more serious and weighty Imployments wherefore with the remembrance of my Love and Service I will ever remain Your Grace's most affectionate Friend and humble Servant Henry Bourgchier London December the 4th 1629. LETTER CXLVIII A Letter from the Right Reverend William Laud Bishop of London to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My very good Lord I Have received two or three Letters from you since I writ you any Answer I hope your Grace is not of opinion that it is either idlenesi or neglect which have made me silent for the plain truth is I fell into a fierce burning Fever August the 14th which held me above three Weeks It was so fierce that my Physicians as well as my Friends gave me for dead and it is a piece of a Miracle that I live I have not yet recovered my wonted Strength and God knows when I shall yet since I was able to go to the Court tho not to wait there I have done as much business as I could and I think as your Grace hath desired of me for the Church of Ireland as your Lordship will see by this brief Account following And first my Lord I have obtain'd of his Majesty the new incorporating of the Dean and Chapter of Derry and I think the Dean is returned At the same time the King was pleased to give order for confirming the Election of Dr. Usher to be Governour of the Colledg in Dublin Thirdly upon the refusal of my Lord of Clougher his Majesty gave in the time of my Sickness the Arch-bishoprick of Cassills to the Bishop of Killally and the Bishoprick of Killally to the Dean of Rapho And whereas your Grace in the close of one of your Letters did acquaint me that there was a fear lest some cunning would be used to beg or buy some Patronages out of the King's Hands I moved his Majesty about that likewise and he made me a gracious promise that he would part with none of them And now my Lord I give your Lordship thanks for the Catalogue of the Bishopricks of Ireland which I heartily desire your Grace to perfect as occasion may be offered you And for the last business as I remember concerning the Table of Tything in Ulster I have carefully look'd it over but by reason I have no experience of those parts I cannot judg clearly of the Business but I am taking the best care I can about it and when I have done I will do my best with his Majesty for Confirmation and leave Mr. Hyegate to report the Particulars to your Grace I have observed that Kilphanora is no fertile Ground it is let lie so long Fallow Hereupon I have adventured to move his Majesty that some one or two good Benefices lying not too far off or any other Church-Preferment without Cure so it be not a Deanery may be not for this time only but for ever annex'd to that Bishoprick The care of managing that Business he refers to your Grace and such good Counsel in the Law as you shall call to your assistance And I pray your Grace think of it seriously and speedily and though I doubt you will find nothing actually void to annex unto it yet if that Act be but once past the hope of that which is annex'd will make some worthy Man venture upon that Pastoral Charge and so soon as you are resolv'd what to do I pray send me word that so I may acquaint his Majesty with it and get pow'r for you to do the Work These are all the Particulars that for the present I can recall out of your Letters sent unto me in the time of my Sickness So with my hearty Prayers for your Health and Happiness and that you may never be parch'd in such a Fire as I have been I leave you to the Grace of God and rest Your Grace's loving poor Friend and Brother Guil. London London-house Decemb. 7. 1629. LETTER CXLIX A Letter from the Right Reverend William Bedell Bishop of Kilmore to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Right Reverend Father my Honourable good Lord I Have received your Grace's Letters concerning Mr. Cook I do acknowledg all that which your Grace writes to be true concerning his sufficiency and experience to the execution of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither did I forber to do him right in giving him that Testimony when before the Chapter I did declare and shew the nullity of his Parent I have heard of my Lord of Meathe's attempt and I do believe that if this Patent had due Form I could not overthrow it how unequal soever it be But falling in the essential parts besides sundry other defects I do not think any reasonable Creature can adjudg it to be good I shall more at large certify your Grace of the whole Matter and the reasons of my Counsel herein I shall desire herein to be tried by your Grace's own Judgment and not by your Chancellor's or as I think in such a case I ought to be by the Synod of the Province I have resolved to see the end of this matter and do desire your Grace's savour herein no farther than the equity of the Cause and the Good as far as I can judg of the Church in a high degree do require So with my humble
I meant I do it very willingly for I never meant him nor any Man else but thought it concerned your Grace to know what I credibly heard to be spoken concerning your Court Neither as God knows did I ever think it was fit to take away the Jurisdiction from Chancellors and put it into the Bishops Hands alone or so much as in a Dream condemn those that think they have reason to do otherwise nor tax your Grace's Visitation nor imagine you would account that to pertain to your Reproof and take it as a Wrong from me which out of my Duty to God and you I thought was not to be concealed from you I beseech you pardon me this one Error Si unquam posthac For that Knave whom as your Grace writes they say I did absolve I took him for one of my Flock or rather Christ's for whom he shed his Blood And I would have absolved Julian the Apostata under the same form Some other Passages there be in your Grace's Letters which I But I will lay mine Hand upon mine Mouth And craving the blessing of your Prayers ever remain Your Grace's poor Brother and humble Servant Will. Kilmore and Ardaghen Kilmore March 29. 1630. LETTER CLVI A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to the Lords Justices My most Honoured Lords I Received a Letter from your Lordships without any Date wherein I am required to declare what Motives I can alleadg for the stopping of Sir John Bathe's Patent Whereunto I answer That I cannot nor need not produce any other reason than that which I have done and for the maintenance of the sufficiency whereof I will adventure all I am worth namely that for the Particular now in question Sir John Bathe's Letter hath been gotten from his Majesty by meer surreption and therefore no Patent ought to be passed thereupon For although I easily grant that my Lord Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer might certify unto his Majesty that there was no other thing left to be passed here but Impropriations though Sir John Bathe I think hath found already somewhat else to be passed in his Book and may do more if he will not be so hasty but take time to enquire Yet how doth it appear that either of these two noble Gentlemen did as much as know that his Majesty had taken a former Order for the settlement of these things upon the Church To which Resolution had they been privy I do so presume of their Nobleness and care of the Publick Good that the remittal of a Matter of two thousand pounds would not induce them to divert his Majesty from making good that precious Donation which by the Example of his Father of never-dying memory he had solemnly devoted to God and his Church such an eximious Act of Piety as is not to be countervalued with two or twenty thousand pounds of any earthly Treasure But whatsoever they knew or knew not of his Majesty's own pious Resolution and constant Purpose never to revoke that which he hath once given unto God I rest so confident as I dare pawn my Life upon it that when he did sign those Letters of Sir John Bathe's he had not the least intimation given unto him that this did any way cross that former Gift which he made unto the Church upon so great and mature deliberation as being grounded upon the Advice first of the Commissioners sent into Ireland then of the Lords of the Council upon their report in England thirdly of King James that ever blessed Father of the Church and lastly of the Commissioners for Irish Affairs unto whom for the last debating and conclusion of this business I was by his now Majesty referr'd my self at my being in England I know Sir John and his Counsel do take notice of all those Reasons that may seem to make any way for themselves But your Lordships may do well to consider that such Letters as these have come before now wherein Rectories have been expresly named and those general Non obstantes also put which are usual in this kind and yet notwithstanding all this his Majesty intimateth unto you in his last Letters that he will take a time to examine those Proceedings and punish those that then had so little regard to the particular and direct expression of his Royal Pleasure for the disposing of the Impropriations to the general benefit of the Church Which whether it carrieth not with it a powerful Non obstante to that surreptious Grant now in question I hold it more safe for your Lordships to take Advice among your selves than from any other bodies Counsel who think it their Duty to speak any thing for their Clients Fee As for the want of Attestation wherewith the credit of the Copy of a Letter transmitted unto you is laboured to be impaired If the Testimony of my Lord of London who procured it and the Bishop Elect of Kilfennora who is the bringer of it and of a Dean and an Arch-Deacon now in Ireland who themselves saw it will not suffice it will not be many days in all likelihood before the Original it self shall be presented to your Lordships In the mean time I desire and more than desire if I may presume to go so far that your Lordships will stay your hands from passing Sir John Bathe's Patent until my Lord of London himself shall signifie his Majesties further Pleasure unto you in this Particular And it my Zeal hath carried me any way further than Duty would require I beseech your Lordships to consider that I deal in a Cause that highly concerneth the good of the Church unto which I profess I owe my whole self and therefore craving Pardon for this my Boldness I humbly take leave and rest still to continue Your Lordships in all dutiful Observance J. A. Droghedah April the 3d 1630. Instructions given to Mr. Dean Lesly April 5. 1630. for the stopping of Sir John Bathe's Patent 1. YOU are to inform your self whether Sir John Bathe's Patent be already sealed and if it be whether it were done before Saturday which was the day wherein I received and answered the Lords Justices Letters touching this business and at which time they signified the Patent was as yet unpast and use all speedy means that the Patent may not be delivered into Sir John Bathes hands before you be heard to speak what you can against it and if that also be done I authorize you to signifie unto the Lords Justices that I must and will complain against them to his Sacred Majesty 2. You are to go unto Sir James Ware the younger from me and enquire of him whether he gave any Certificate unto my Lord Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the King had not of Temporal Lands the annual Rent of 300 l. to grant in reversion but that of necessity must be supplied with the Grant of the reversion of Tithes impropriate And withal learn
confessed before Baptism I forbear to say any thing of that Regula Fidei in Irenaeus and the like in Tertullian for substance the same and containing expresly those Points which make up the close in the Nicene Creed and which Vossius supposeth to have been added by the Constantinopolitan Fathers What varieties are for matter of expression in the Citations observed out of Ruffin c. I think does not conclude without hard measure against the Antiquity of some publick form Wherein if it were not written we may suppose it capable of more we may be content to bear with some in words so long as they bear up to the same sense considering that the Quotations of those most ancient Writers out of Scripture it self are made with so much liberty and yet no Man doubts but they had a much more certain Rule to go by I am again overtaken by the Time and with the desire of your Lordship's Prayers and the continuance of your Love and Encouragement take leave and rest Your Lordship 's in all Duty Gerard Langbaine Queens Coll. May 11. 1647. LETTER CCXVII A Letter from to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My Lord UNderstanding that Dr. Price is going for London I could not omit to recommend him to your Grace if you should meet with any means to encourage his Studies that I can scarce expect or at least to keep him from those Precipices which the straitness of his Fortune and manifold occasions of Discontents may drive him unto I know that it is needless for me to write thus much knowing your good Inclinations to him if things were as in Times past when there were Means and Opportunities to help one another But when I think of the loss of Hugh Cressey and some others whose melancholy Thoughts have blinded their Judgments and disposed them to be easily wrought upon by the other Party to the dishonour of our sometimes most glorious Church when I see how they brag of these Conquests methinks we should leave nothing unattempted that may by any possibility prevent Mens stumblings at those Rocks of Offence which these sad Times cast them upon I find here our Lawyers differ much from the Ecclesiasticks about the Councels of Constance and Basil These go far higher for the Popes Authority than those will give way to The King of France hath as much Authority in Church-Businesses as the King of England claims so far as I can perceive Among the Doctors of the faculty of Divinity of Paris whereof the Sorbon is but a little part here be divers that are not for the Infallibility of the Church but such a certainty of an inferior degree as yet for the Authority of the Church and her Pastors we are all bound to submit unto a Point I think very well gained and of good consequence David Blundell's last Book about Episcopacy is much cried up by those of the Reformed Religion who are generally very sharp against our English Hierarchy upon the Credit of Mr. Pryn and Bastwick's Papers and such like Testimonies I hope your Grace will vindicate your Order in general and in particular the Credit of Ignatius his Epistles against his Exceptions as I hear young Vossius in part hath done but I have not yet seen the Book That which is my great Comfort my young Master is his Fathers Son and peremptorily constant to the Principles wherein he was bred which makes me hope that our Posterity may yet see the Sun shine again I humbly beg your Prayers for My Lord your Grace's most humble Servant T. Rouen May 18 1647. LETTER CCXVIII A Letter from the Right Reverend Joseph Hall Bp of Norwich to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh GRatulor vero ex animo te Antistitum decus Sancto Ignatio tuo Gratulor tibi imò universo orbi Christiano Ignatium meritissimò tuum sed quidem tuo benificio nostrum Gratiorem profecto operam navare Dei Ecclesiae nullus unquam potuisset quam tantum tam antiquum sanctumque Apostolicae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patronum ac tam egregium primaevae pietatis exemplar ab injuria temporis vindicando Inciderat nempe bonus iste viator Hierosolymitanus in Latrones quosdam Hierochuntinos qui illum non spoliârant modò sed misere etiam penèque ad mortem vulnerârant praeterierant saucium ac fere moribundum nescio quot Parkeri Coci Salmasii aliique nuperae sectae coryphaei vestra vero molliora uti sunt viscera tam durâ hominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorte miserecorditer commota sunt vestra unius pietatis optimi instar Samaritae vinum oleumque infudit tam patentibus vulneribus abstersit saniem foedèque hiulca plagarum ora manu tenerâ fasciavit ferèque exanimem vestro typorum jumento imposuit ac communi denique Ecclesiae hospitio non sine maximis impensis commendavit Profecto hoc uno nomine assurgent Amplitudini tuae boni quotquot sunt omnes manusque tam salutares piis labiis exosculabuntur Intelligent jam novitiae paritatis assertores quid illud sit quod tanto molimine usque machinantur sentientque quam probe illis cum sanctissimo Martyre ac celeberrimo Apostolorum Discipulo conveniat Illud vero inter doctissimas Annotationes vestras saliente corde oculo legisse me fateor quo egregium illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salmasianum de tempore suppositicii Ignatii leni illa quidem sed castigatrice manu corripueris Fieri ne potuit ut tantus author in re tanti momenti Chronologicâ tam foede laberetur aut num forte hoc pacto quandoquidem haec causae disciplinariae Arx merito habeatur Dominis suis palpum obtrudere maluit Quicquid sit bis Martyrium passus Ignatius noster tuâ demum operâ Praesul honoratissime reviviscit causamque iniquissime jam abdicatae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ecclesiae totius foro tam cate agit ut non pudere non possit hesternae Disciplinae astipulatores tam malè-suscepti litis injustae patrocinii Quod si nullum aliud foret nostrae sententiae propugnaculum nobis quidem abundè sufficeret habuisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrae veritatis patronos te Ignatium Vale Primatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiae laboranti precibus operis quod facis subvenire perge fave Cultori tuo ac maloru tuorum Socio praeconi meritorum Jos. Norvicensi E Tuguriolo nostro Highamensi Maii 25 o 1647. LETTER CCXIX. A Letter from Mr. Patrick Young to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Right Reverend and my very good Lord HItherto being disappointed by the Carrier who brought my Trunck hither so late I have been hindred to satisfie your Lordship touching the Passage Psal. 142. 9. which I find in my Roman Edition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any variety in the Margin and consequently so in the ancient Manuscript Copy I long to see your
a few days Monsieur Justel having understood of me that you have some of Ephrems Works in Syriack hath given me the inclosed Note praying you to let him know which of them they be you have He is going to reprint his Codex Canonum with many other Collections of the same nature several whereof were never printed before Thus humbly kissing your Grace's hands I rest Your most humble and most affectionate Servant Arnold Boate. Paris 15 25 Aprilis 1648. D. S. Ephraem Syro Ex Hebed Iesu Sobensi Episcopo de Catalogo Syrorum Scriptorum EPhraem magnus qui Syrorum Propheta cognominatus est commentaria confecit in Libros Geneseos Exodi Sacerdotum item in librum Josue Filii Nun Judicum Samuelis Regum Davidis Isaiae ac duodecim Prophetarum minorum Ieremiae Ezechielis atque beati Danielis Extant praeterea ejusdem opera de Ecclesiae fide nec non Sermones Carmina Elegia Hymni ac totum defunctorum officium theses de literis Alphabeti Disputationes contra Judaeos Manichaeum Bardesanem Marcionem Philetum Hypetum Demumque dissolutio impietatis Juliani LETTER CCXXXV A Letter from Dr. Langbaine to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My Lord I Have lately read Mr. Cressy the late Dean of Laghlin his Exomologesis who in his 27th Chapter pag. 178. informs That in his hearing one of the most learned Protestant Prelats in the King of England 's Dominions quoting your Grace in the Margent professed That whereas he had had of many Years before a design to publish the New Testament in Greek with various Sections and Annotations and for that purpose had used great diligence and spent much Mony to furnish himself with Manuscripts and Memoires c. I humbly desire to be informed from your Lordship how much of Truth there is in that Report and whether you collated the Manuscripts in our Publick Library I have in some part made enquiries upon some suspected or doubtful places and it was in my thoughts to have gone through the whole which if by your Lordship's pains or means it hath been done already I should be loth actum agere Together with the Greek I would have compared that venerable Latin Manuscript of the four Gospels in the Bodlean which is writ in fair large Letters partly Saxon in a continued order without distinction of words which seems to promise some considerable variety for I find in Matth. 20. after the words Sicut filius hominis non venit ministrari sed ministrate dare animam suam redemptionem pro multis these added I know not whether according to any other Greek or Latin Copy Vos autem quaetitis de modico crescere de minimo minui I would likewise willingly know whether your Lordship be not of opinion as I profess I am that the additional Passage which Robert Stephens says he found in two of the most ancient Manuscripts and Beza in one of those which he used concerning the Man whom our Saviour is said to have seen working upon the Sabbath c. Luke 6. have not been infarsed dolo malo Whether by the Marcionites as Grotius or some others and in general what we may think of those many various Lections of which we know the Books of the New Testament afford more store than most other Writings I do not expect your Lordship should undergo so much trouble as to give me any account in writing but I have taken this occasion to mention so much of my own desires hoping when I shall wait upon your Lordship in Person to receive that satisfaction in these as I have done in others of this kind For whose Health and Happiness I shall according to my bounden Duty ever pray and humbly beg the like from your Lordship in behalf of Your Grace's most humble Servant to be commanded Gerard Langbaine Queens Coll. Apr. 24. 1648. LETTER CCXXXVI A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to D. Alexander More Admodum Reverendo in Christo fratri D. Alexandro Moro Genevensis Ecclesiae Pastori dignissimo REctè omninò judicâsti Vir Eximie à doctissimo simul prudentissimo Exoniensi Episcopo primum scriptae fuerint istae literae quibus deinde multum rogatus nomen quoque meum non illibentèr apposui Etsi enim per leges regni nostri matrimonium ità illegitimè initum consummatum quicquid de eo apud vos demum statueretur rescindi non potuisse minimè ignorarem Exempli tamen interfuturum existimabam ut ab Ecclesiâ Republicâ vestra severioris disciplinae observantissimâ legi Dei tam adversum crimen non planè dimitteretur impunitum Quod quidem tam candidè à Reverendo caetu vestro fulsse acceptum magnoperè sum gavisus Summum illum amorem literis etiám contestantibus quem inter eos esse decebat qui sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque earundem pretiosissimarum promissionum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neque in nullâ felicitatis meae parte ponendum duco quòd hac occasione ad amicitiam tuam mihi factus sit aditus cui aliquantum firmandae Ignatiana à me edita hoc tempore misissem nisi libri moles obstitisset ne tamen prorsus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad te accederem leviculam hanc de Symbolis Diatribam literis hisce comitem visum fuit adjungere Quam tu ex mittentis affectu aestimabis qui est ex animo Frater tui amantissimus in Christi Ministerio conservus devinctissimus Ja. Usserius Armachanus Scripsi raptim Londini xvi Kalend. Julii Anno M. DG XLVIII LETTER CCXXXVII A Letter from to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Vir Illustrissime ac Reverendissime NON indignaberis quod hac Epistola tuas interrumpam curas quibus immortalitatem emis Me ad scribendum inducit summa tua humanitas quae inter caeteras tuas virtutes egregias dotes familiam ducit Tanto enim favore non dedignatus es me dum degerem in Angliâ isto bonarum artium emporio celebetrimo ingeniorum felicissima altrice complecti ut in aeternum non desint hujus rei monumenta me non solum in tui consortium colloquium quo nihil gratius benigne admisisti sed etiam de variis rebus movisti sermones mea studia comprobasti quod nimium est consiliis reipsa meos conatus promovere Hac fretus fiduciâ non erubesco tuum de itinere meo Constantinopolitano exposcere consilium quod mihi instar oraculi erit norma mearum rerum gerendarum Non me latet quantâ peritiâ rerum Orientalium cognitione librorum MSS. praesertim Graecorum quorum praecipuos summa cura inquirendos nominasti mihique sponte obtulisti eorundem catalogum fretus melius tum publicae tum privatae utilitati visâ occasione prospiciam fateor ingenue me nullum alium ob finem iter suscipere quam ob bonum Reip.
an Opportunity It plainly appears that in the Year 1646 by order from Rome above 100 of the Romish Clergy were sent into England consisting of English Scotch and Irish who had been educated in France Italy Germany and Spain part of these within the several Schools there appointed for their Instructions In each of these Romish Nurseries these Scholars were taught several handicraft Trades and Callings as their ingenuities were most bending besides their Orders or Functions of that Church They have many yet at Paris a fitting up to be sent over who twice in the week oppose one the other one pretending Presbytery the other Independency some Anabaptism and other contrary Tenents dangerous and prejudicial to the Church of England and to all the Reformed Churches here abroad But they are wisely preparing to prevent these Designs which I heartily wish were considered in England among the Wise there When the Romish Orders do thus argue Pro and Con there is appointed one of the Learned of those Convents to take Notes and to judg And as he finds their fancies whether for Presbytery Independency Anabaptism Atheism or for any new Tenents so accordingly they be to act and to exercise their Wits Upon their Permission when they be sent abroad they enter their Names in the Convent Registry also their Licences If a Franciscan if a Dominican or Jesuit or any other Order having several Names there entered in their Licence in case of a discovery in one place then to fly to another and there to change their Names or Habit. For an assurance of their constancy to their several Orders they are to give monthly Intelligence to their Fraternities of all Affairs where-ever they be dispers'd so that the English abroad know News better than ye at home When they return into England they are taught their Lesson to say if any enquire from whence they come that they were poor Christians formerly that fled beyond-Sea for their Religion-sake and are now returned with glad News to enjoy their Liberty of Conscience The 100 Men that went over 1646 were most of them Soldiers in the Parliament's Army and were daily to correspond with those Romanists in our late King's Army that were lately at Oxford and pretended to fight for his sacred Majesty For at that time there were some Roman-Catholicks who did not know the Design a contriving against our Church and State of England But the Year following 1647 many of those Romish Orders who came over the Year before were in consultation together knowing each other And those of the King's Party asking some why they took with the Parliament's side and asking others whether they were bewitched to turn Puritans not knowing the Design But at last secret Bulls and Licences being produced by those of the Parliament's side it was declared between them there was no better Design to confound the Church of England than by pretending Liberty of Conscience It was argued then that England would be a second Holland a Common-Wealth and if so what would become of the King It was answered Would to God it were come to that point It was again reply'd your selves have preached so much against Rome and his Holiness that Rome and her Romanists will be little the better for that Change But it was answered You shall have Mass sufficient for 100000 in a short space and the Governors never the wiser Then some of the mercifullest of the Romanists said This cannot be done unless the King die upon which Argument the Romish Orders thus licensed and in the Parliament Army wrote unto their several Convents but especially to the Sorbonists whether it may be scrupled to make away our late Godly King and his Majesty his Son our King and Master who blessed be God hath escaped their Romish Snares laid for him It was returned from the Sorbonists That it was lawful for Roman Catholicks to work Changes in Governments for the Mother-Churches Advancement and chiefly in an Heretical Kingdom and so lawfully make away the King Thus much to my knowledg have I seen and heard since my leaving your Lordship which I thought very requisite to inform your Grace for my self would hardly have credited these things had not mine Eyes seen sure Evidence of the same Let these things sleep within your gracious Lordship's Brest and not awake but upon sure grounds for this Age can trust no Man there being so great Fallacy amongst Men. So the Lord preserve your Lordship in Health for the Nations Good and the Benefit of your Friends which shall be the Prayers of Your humble Servant J. Derensis July 20. 1654. LETTER CCXCIV. Viro Clarissimo Doctissimo Jacobo Usserio Armachano Henricus Valesius S. IN aere Tuo me esse semper existimavi Vir clarissime ex quo Annales Veteris Testam abs te editos ad me misisti Qui liber si mihi corà m traditus fuisset ab eo cui id Officium mandaveras jamdudùm Tibi gratias egissem per literas Sed quoniam eum Virum postea convenire non potui Officium quod tamdiu à me dilatum est nunc tandem oblatâ scribendi opportunitate Tibi persolvo Ac primùm ago gratias quantas possum maximas ob illud literarium munus quo me honorandum esse censuisti Sunt quidem omnes libri tui eruditissimi accuratissimi sed hic prae caeteris abundè testatur quantus sis in omni genere doctrinae Atque ut ejus lectione multùm me profecisse ingenue fateor ita etiam ex secundâ parte ejusdem operis quam à te editam esse nuper accepi spero non mediocrem fructum me esse coepturum Alterum deinde beneficium abs te peto quod pro Tuâ singulari humanitate praestiturum te esse non diffido Eusebii historiam Ecclesiasticam Libros de Vita Imperatoris Constantini cum novâ interpretatione mea Annotationibus propediem Typographis commissurus sum Ad hanc novam editionem trium duntaxat Scriptorum codicum auxilio sum usus Nam Itali quorum subsidium postulaveram nihil mihi praeter verba inania contulerunt Cum igitur ex notis Tuis in Polycarpi martyrium compererim esse apud vos Savilianum exemplar quod quidem optimum esse conjicio abs te etiam atque etiam peto ut de eo exemplari certiorem me facias primùm sitnè in membranis deindè an quatuor libri de vita Constantini in eo legantur integri Postremo utrum varias lectiones ex eo codice per te nancisci possim saltem librorum devita Constantini Hi enim inquinatissimi ad nos pervenerunt multis in locis mutili Multùm Tibi debebit Eusebius noster si id mihi praestare volueris nec Italicorum codicum auxilium posthac magnoperè desiderabo si Anglicani hujus praesidium nactus fuero Equidem nolim te Vir Clarissime laborem conferendi codicis sustinere Absit à me ut te tantum Virum
Pains for a Cause or two so followed will free thee from Suits a great part of thy Life after 8. Be sure to keep some Gentleman thy Friend but trouble him not with every trifling Complaint often present him with many yet small Gifts And if thou have cause to bestow any great Gratuity let it be such as may be daily in his sight otherwise in this ambitious Age thou shalt remain like a Hop without a Pole live in obscurity and be made a Footstool for every insulting Companion to spur at 9. Towards thy Superiors be humbly generous with thy Equals familiar yet respective towards thy Inferiors shew much humility and some familiarity as to bow thy Body stretch forth thy Hand and to uncover thy Head with such be popular Complements the first prepares the way to Advancement the second makes thee known for a Man as well bred the third gains a Man good report which once being gotten is easily kept for high Humilitudes take such deep root in the minds of the Multitude who are more easily won by unprofitable Courtesies than curious Benefits that I advise thee not to affect nor neglect Popularities Trust not any Man with thy Estate for it is a meer folly for a Man to enthral himself to his Friends as though if occasion be offered he should not dare become his Enemy 10. Be not scurrilous in thy Conversation nor Stoical in thy Jests the one will make thee unwelcome to all Companies the other will breed Quarrels and get thee hatred of thy best Friends for Jests when they savour too much of Truth leave bitterness in the minds of those that are touched Although I have pointed at all these inclusive yet I think it fit and necessary to leave it thee as a special Caution because I have seen many so prone to quip and gird that they will rather lose their Friend than their Scoff then they will travel to be delivered of it as a Woman with Child these nimble Apprehensions are but the Froth of Wit Your loving Father Henry Sydney LETTER XVII A Letter from Sir William Boswell to the most Reverend William Laud late Arch-bishop of Canterbury remaining with Sir Robert Cotton 's choice Papers Most Reverend AS I am here employ'd by our Soveraign Lord the King your Grace can testify that I have left no Stone unturn'd for his Majesty's Advancement neither can I omit whenever I meet with Treacheries or Conspiracies against the Church and State of England the sending your Grace an Accompt in General I fear Matters will not answer your expectations if your Grace do but seriously weigh them with deliberation For be you assur'd the Romish Clergy have gull'd the misled Party of our English Nation and that under a Puritanical Dress for which the several Fraternities of that Church have lately received Indulgences from the See of Rome and Council of Cardinals for to educate several of the young Fry of the Church of Rome who be Natives of his Majesty's Realms and Dominions and instruct them in all manner of Principles and Tenents contrary to the Episcopacy of the Church of England There be in the Town of Hague to my certain Knowledg two dangerous Impostors of whom I have given notice to the Prince of Orange who have large Indulgences granted them and known to be of the Church of Rome altho they seem Puritans and do converse with several of our English Factors The one James Murray a Scotchman and the other John Napper a Yorkshire Blade The main drift of these Intentions is to pull down the English Episcopacy as being the chief Support of the Imperial Crown of our Nation For which purpose above sixty Romish Clergy-men are gone within these two Years out of the Monasteries of the French King's Dominions to preach up the Scotch Covenant and Mr. Knox his Descriptions and Rules within that Kirk and to spread the same about the Northern Coasts of England Let therefore his Majesty have an inkling of these Crotchets that he might be persuaded whenever Matters of the Church come before you to refer them to your Grace and the Episcopal Party of the Realm For there be great Preparations making ready against the Liturgy and Ceremonies of the Church of England And all evil Contrivances here and in France and in other Protestant Holdings to make your Grace and the Episcopacy odious to all Reformed Protestants abroad It has wrought so much on divers of the Forreign Ministers of the Protestants that they esteem our Clergy little better than Papists The main things that they hit in our teeth are our Bishops to be called Lords The Service of the Church The Cross in Baptism Confirmation Bowing at the Name of Jesus The Communion Tables placed Altar-ways Our manner of Consecrations And several other Matters which be of late buzz'd into the Heads of the Forreign Clergy to make your Grievances the less regarded in case of a Change which is aimed at if not speedily prevented Your Grace's Letter is carefully delivered by my Gentleman 's own hands unto the Prince Thus craving your Graces hearty Prayers for my Undertakings abroad as also for my safe arrival that I may have the freedom to kiss your Grace's hands and to tell you more at large of these things I rest Your Grace's most humble Servant W. B. Hague June 12. 1640. FINIS ERRATA IN the Preface Line 35 after the word be add thought In the Life Page 1. l. 10. after since read been P. 1. l. 16. for Mastres r. Masters P. 25. l. 23. f. two r. ten P. 36. l. 5. f. Erigene r. Erigena l. 6. et per tot P. 47. l. 19. f. Tenements r. Tenants P. 93. l. penult dele most In the Appendix Page 7. l. 22. after the word his read Lat. Determinations Quaest. xlii p. 187 191. P. 9. l. antepenult f. would r. would not P. 10. l. 10. after sence add alone l. 18. over against these words Sermon upon John add in the Margin vid. Collection of Sermons printed at the end of the last Edition of the Lord Primates Body of Divinity p. 83. P. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈…〉 P. 29. l. 35. f. to r. do The Author since he wrote this has thought fit to add the Passages following toward the illustration of the Life Page 5. l. 1. after the word Doctrine add Nay it is evident that our Church maintains the contrary Doctrine that the Fourth Commandment as to the substance of it is moral and binds Christians to observe it as well since Christ as it did the Jews before For in our Liturgy which is confirmed by Supream Authority Sacred and Civil by Convocation and Parliament in the Communion-Offices after the repeating of the Fourth Commandment concerning the Observation of the Sabbath it follows Lord have Mercy upon us and incline our Hearts to KEEP THIS LAW Whence it is evident that in the Judgment of our Church not only the Jews but we Christians are under the