Bounty designâ—d and Mr. p. 60. l. 3. r. Geneva p 92. â— 12. for Iury r. â—â—uire p. 100. l. 16. r. Reader p. 118. l. ult r. Rallery p. 119. l. 12. r. some few others p. 1â— l. 16. r. Bodmin p. â—37 l. 16. r. ejecting p. 169 r. Warrant p. 220. l. 1. for in r. upon p. â—49 l. 12. for that r. may pass p 262. 1. 5. dâ—le and r. God Almighties wise p. â—63 l 9. r. man for men p 268. l 11. for acutum r. oculatum p. â—â—9 l. 23. â—or lips r. lusts p. 287. l. 13. for partialis r. Paritatis Some Books Printed for or Sold by Charles Harper at the Flower-de-lâ—ce over against St. Dunstan's Church THe Historical and Miscellaneous Tracts of the Reverend and Learned Peter Heylyn D. D. Now collected into one Volume 1. Ecâ—lesia Vindicata or the Church of England justified 2. The History of the Sabbath in two parts 3. Historia Quinquarticularis 4. The Stumbling-Block of Disobedience and Rebellion 5. A Treatise De Iure Paritatis Episcoporum with an exact Table to thâ— whole All the Statutes at large to the Year 1681. By Keeble with an exact Table to the whole being the last Impression The Lord Cokes Eleven Reports in English with a Table Printed 1680. The Lord Cokes Institutes the three last Parts Printed 1680. The Lord Hobart's Reports with Additions in English Printed 1678. There is now in the Press Bishop Vsher's Power of the Prince and Obedience of the Subject with Bishop Sanderson's Preface to it and will be Published speedily Printed for Charles Harper THE LIFE OF Dr. Peter Heylyn IF any Augury or Conjecture could be made of the Course and Fortune of Mens Lives by the Calculation of their Nativity the Birth of Dr. Peter Heylyn according to the Rules of our Astrologers presaged firm Constitution of Body and prosperous Success in the Civil Affairs of Humane Life For it was Novemb. 29. 1599. at Burford in the County of Oxon between Eight and Nine in the Morning At which time the Sun was in the Horoscope of his Nativity and the Houses very well disposed But our Almanack Prognostications about Weather c. shew what inconsiderable Influence the Stars have upon the inanimate-part of the Creation much less upon free and discerning Agents especially upon men Wise and Learned For Wisdom has an Empire over Stars and Constellations according to that Adagy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this Reverend Man was in this particular fortunate that he â—ad the honor to carry the mark of the Cross which was imprinted on him at the Font through the most considerable part of his Pilgrimage having frequent opportunities in Suffering for a Righteous Cause to manifest his Passive as well as his Active Courage as will sufficiently appear in the subsequent Circumstances and Account of his Life He was the second Son of Henry Heylyn Gentleman descended from the Antient Family of the Heylyns of Pentre-Heylyn in Montgomery-shire then part of Powes-land from the Princes whereof they were derived and unto whom they were Hereditary Cup-Bearers For so the word Heylyn doth signifie in the Welsh or British Language After which Office they were in great Authority with the Princes of North-Wales as plainly appears from Llewellyn the last Prince of that Country who made choice of Grono-Ap-Heylyn to Treat with the Commissioners of Edward the First King of England for the Concluding of a full and final Peace between them And Pentre-Heylyn continued the Seat of this Antient Family till about the Year 1637. at which time Rowland Heylyn Alderman and Sheriff of London and Cousin-German to our Doctors Father dying without Issue-Male the Seat was transferred to another Family into which some of the Heiresses were Married But the Doctor design'd to repurchase it and had infallibly effected it had not Death prevented the Execution of his Purpose His Mother was Elizabeth Clampard Daughter of Francis Clampard of Wrotham in Kent Gentleman and of Mary Dodge his Wife Descended in a direct Line from that Peter Dodge of Stopworth in Cheshire unto whom King Edward the First gave the Seigneury or Lordship of Padenhugh in the Barony of Coldingham in the Realm of Scotland as well for the especial Services done by him in the Sieges of Barwick and Dunbar as his Valour shew'd in divers Battels Encontre son grand Enemy Rebelle le Baillol Roy d' Escoce Vassal d'Angleterre as the words are in the Original Charter of Arms given to the said Peter Dodge by Guyen King of Arms at the said Kings Command dated April 8. in the 34th year of King Edward the First Neither is this unworthy of observation that one of the Descendents from the said Peter Dodge was Uncle to Doctor Heylyn's Mother and gave the Mannor of Lechlade in Glocestershire worth 1400 l. per ann to Robert Bathurst Esq Uncle to our Reverend Doctor and Grand-Father to that honest and modest Gentleman Sir Edward Bathurst Baronet now living In the sixth year of his Age he was committed to the Tuition of Master North School-Master of Burford under whose Instructions he so well profited that in a short time he was able to make true Latine and his Improvements were so very considerable that in a little space after he was advanc'd a Form higher than his Fellows with which he kept pace and arrived to the ability of making Verses to which excellency together with History his Genius did so naturally incline him that at the Age of ten years he framed a Story in Verse and Prose upon a ludicrous Subject of which he himself was Spectator And he Composed it in imitation of the History of the Destruction of Troy and some other Books of Chivalry upon which he was then very studious and intent The Story was exceedingly prized by his School-Fellows and afterward by one Master Hinton Fellow of Merton-College unto whom it was communicated by his Father And I presume to specifie it as an Argument of the prodigious pregnancy of those Endowments which God had bestowed upon him For he may truly be accounted one of the Praecoces Fructus the forward Fruits of his time that was soon ripe and contrary to the Proverb of a lasting duration It may be truly affirmed of him as once of Lipsius Ingenium babuit docile omnium capax Memoria non sine praeceptorum miraculo etiam in puero quae senectute non defecit But his proficiency in Letters was very much retarded by a Distemper that seized on his Head the Cure of which was not effected under the space of two years and therefore occasion'd great loss of time as well as infinite pain and torture of Body to one so young and tender For by reason of the unskilfulness of Country Empericks who first undertook him the Flesh in the fore-part of his Head rotted to the Skull where never any Hair came afterward And the Distemper again returning upon him as the Flesh grew up he was in the
his Age by which means he obtained a Dispensation notwithstanding any Local Statutes to the contrary that he should not be compelled to enter into Holy Orders till he was Twenty four years of Age according to the time appointed both in the Canons of the Church and the Statutes of the Realm And such were his fears to enter upon the Study as well as undertake the profession of Divinity that it was not without great Reluctance and Difficulty on his own part as well as many weighty Arguments and Persuasions of a very Learned and Reverend person Mr. Buckner that he applied himself unto Theology Thus Moses pleaded his Inability and notwithstanding the express command of the Almighty refused to be sent upon the Divine Embassie persevering in his unseasonable modesty till God threatned him with his Anger as he had before encouraged him with his promises But as the difficulties in Divinity made Mr. Heylyn for some time to desist so the sweetness and amabilities of that Study allured him to undertake the Profession And therefore he received the Orders of Deacon and Priest but at distant times in St. Aldates Church in Oxon from the Right Reverend Bishop Howson And when he was Ordained Priest he Preach'd the Ordination Sermon upon those words of our Blessed Saviour to St. Peter Luke 22. 32. And when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren What course and method he observed in his Theological Studies he tells of with his own Pen When I began my Studies in Divinity I thought no course so proper and expedient for me as the way commended by King Iames which was that young Students in Divinity should be excited to study such Books as were most agreeable in Doctrine and Discipline to the Church of England and to bestow their time in the Fathers and Councils Schoolmen Histories and Controversies and not to insist too long upon Compendiums and Abbreviators making them the grounds of their Study and opened at the charges of Bishop Montague though not then a Bishop For though I had a good respect to the memory of Luther and the name of Calvin as those whose Writings had awakened all these parts of Europe out of the ignorance and superstition in which they suffered yet I always took them to be men men as obnoxious unto Error as subject to humane Frailty and as indulgent too unto their own Opinions as any others whatsoever The little knowledge I had gained in the course of Stories had pre-acquainted me with the Fiery Spirit of the one and the Busie Humor of the other thought thereupon unfit by Arch-Bishop Cranmer and others the chief Agents in the Reformation of this Church to be employed as Instruments in that weighty Business Nor was I ignorant how much they differed fsom us in their Doctrinals and Forms of Government And I was apt enough to think that they were no fit Guides to direct my Judgment in order to the Discipline and Doctrine of the Church of England to the establishing whereof they were held unuseful and who both by their Practices and Positions had declared themselves Friends to neither The Geography was in less than three years Re-printed and in this second Edition Enlarged and again Presented by him to the Prince of Wales and by him received with most affectionate Commendations of the Author But it met with a far different entertainment from K. Iames. For the Book being put into the hands of that learned Monarch by Dr. Young Dean of Winton who thereby designed nothing else but the highest kindness to Mr. Heylyn the King at first expressed the great Value he had for the Author but unfortunately falling on a passage wherein Mr. Heylyn gave Precedency to the French King and called France the more Famous Kingdom King Iames became very much offended and ordered the Lord Keeper that the Book should be call'd in The good Dean gave notice to Mr. Heylyn of his Majesties Displeasure advising him to repair to Court and to make use of the Princes Patronage as the best lenitive to prevent the rankling of this wound lest it festered and became incurable But he rather chose to abide at Oxon acquainting the Lord Danvers with the business and requesting his Advice and Intercession and sending afterward an Apology and Explanation of his meaning to Doctor Young the substance of which was That some crimes are of a nature so unjustifiable that they are improved by an Apology yet considering the purpose he had in those places which gave offence to his Sacred Majesty he was unwilling that his Innocence should be condemn'd for want of an Advocate The burthen under which he suffered was rather a mistake than a crime and that mistake not his own but the Printers For if in the first line of page 441. was be read instead of is the sense runs as he design'd it And this appears from the words immediately following for by them may be gathered the sense of this corrected reading When Edward the Third quartered the Arms of France and England he gave Precedency to the French first because France was the greater and more famous Kingdom Secondly That the French c. These Reasons are to be referr'd to the time of that King by whom those Arms were first quartered with the Arms of England and who desired by this honor done unto their Arms to gain upon the good opinion of that Nation for the Crown and Love whereof he was a Suitor For at this time besides that it may seem ridiculous to use a Verb of the present Tense in a matter done so long ago that Reason is not of the least force or consequence the French having so long since forgot the Rights of England and our late Princes claiming nothing but the Title only The place and passage so corrected I hope says Mr. Heylyn I may without detraction from the Glory of this Nation affirm That France was at this time the more famous Kingdom Our English Swords for more than half the time since the Norman Conquest had been turned against our own Bosoms and the Wars we then made except some fortunate Excursions of King Edward the First in France and King Richard in the Holy Land in my conceit were fuller of Pity than of Honor. For what was our Kingdom under the Reign of Edward the Second Henry the Third Iohn Stephen and Rufus but a publick Theatre on which the Tragedies of Blood and civil Dissentions had been continually acted On the other side the French had exercised their Arms with Credit and Renown both in Syria Palestine and Egypt and had much added to the Glory of their Name and Nation by Conquering the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and driving the English themselves out of all France Guyen only excepted If we look higher we shall find France to be the first Seat of the Western Empire and the Forces of it to be known and felt by the Saracens in Spain the Saxons in Germany and the Lombards
first the Clergy in all other Christian Kingdoms of these North-West Parts make the Third Estate that is to say in the German Empire as appears by Thuanus the Historian lib. 2. In France as is affirmed by Paulus Aemilius lib. 9. In Spain as testifieth Bodinus de Republ lib. 3. For which also consult the general History of Spain as in point of practice lib. 9 10 11 14. In Hungary as witnesseth Bonfinius Decl. 2. lib. 1. In Poland as is verified by Thuanus also l. 56. In Denmark as Pontanus tells us in Historia rerum Danicarum l. 7. The Swedes observing anciently the same Form and Order of Government as was used by the Danes The like we find in Cambden for the Realm of Scotland in which anciently the Lords Spiritual viz. Bishops Abbots and Priors made the Third Estate And certainly it was very strange if the Bishops and other Prelates in the Realm of England being a great and powerful Body should move in a lower Sphere in England than they do elsewhere But 2dly Not to stand only upon probable inferences we find first in History touching the Reign and Acts of Henry V. That when his Funerals were ended the Three Estates of the Realm of England did assemble together and declared his Son King Henry VI. being an Infant of eight Months old to be their Sovereign Lord as his Heir and Successor And if the Lords Spiritual did not then make the Third Estate I would fain know who did Secondly The Petition tendred to Richard Duke of Glocester to accept the Crown occurring in the Parliament Rolls runs in the name of the Three Estates of the Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons thereof Thirdly In the said Parliament of the said Rich. Crowned King it is said expresly That at the request and by the consent of the Three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same it be Pronounced Decreed and Declared That our Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very and undoubted King of this Realm of England c. Fourthly It is acknowledged in the Statute of 1. Eliz. c. 3. where the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament Assembled being said expresly and in terminis to represent the Three Estates of this Realm of England did recognize the Queens Majesty to be their true lawful and undoubted Sovereign Liege Lady and Queen Add unto these the Testimony of Sir Edward Cooke tho a private person who in his Book of the Iurisdiction of Courts published by Order of the Long Parliament c. 1. doth expresly say That the Parliament consists of the Head and the Body that the Head is the King that the Body is the Three Estates viz. the Lords Spiritual Temporal and the Commons In which words we have not only the Opinion and Testimony of that learned Lawyer but the Authority of the Long Parliament also tho against it self I hope the perusal of these things will be no less acceptable to the sober Reader than the transcribing of them has been unto my self which I have done to the end as well of informing my Country-men about the Rights of the Crown and Privileges of the Church and Clergy as to shew that Dr. Heylyn had a zeal according unto knowledg and was not less zealous for knowledge-sake And the Doctor having thus stood up in the defence of Monarchy and Hierarchy both in their prosperous and adverse condition when the black Cloud was dispelled and a fair Sun-shine began to dawn upon these harrassed and oppressed Islands by the Return of his Sacred Majesty this excellent man having in his mind Tullies Resolution Defendi Rempub. Adolescens non deseram Senex thought it unbecoming him to desert the Church in any of its pressing needs and therefore when the door of Hope began to open he busied his active and searching mind in finding out several expedients for the restoring and securing of its Power and Privileges in future Ages against the attempts of Factious and Sacrilegious men And the first thing that he engaged in was to draw up several Papers and tender them to those Persons in Authrority who in the days of Anarchy and Oppression had given the most signal Testimonies of their Affection to the Church In which Papers he first shewed what Alterations Explanations c. were made in the Publick Liturgy in the Reigns of King Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth and King Iames that so those who were intrusted with so sacred a Depositum might be the better enabled to proceed in the Alteration and enlargement of it as they afterward did and as it now stands by Law Established in this Church Secondly Whereas in the first year of King Edward VI. it was enacted that all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. should make their Processes Writings and Instruments in the Kings name and not under their own Names which Act was afterward extended unto Ordinations as appears by the Form of a Testimonial extant in Sanders's Seditious Book De Schismate Anglicano and whereas the Act was repealed in the last year of Queen Mary and did stand so repealed all the Reign of Queen Elizabeth but was by the activity of some and the incogitancy of others revived again in the first year of King Iames but lay dorment all the Reign of that Prince and during the first ten years of King Charles I. after which it was endeavoured to be set on foot by some disturbers of the Publick Peace upon which the King having it under the hand of his Judges that the proceedings of the Arch-Bishops Bishops c. were not contrary to the Laws of the Land inserted their Judgment about it in a Proclamation for indemnifying the Bishops and the satisfying of his loving Subjects in that Point therefore Dr. Heylyn considering that what the Judges did was extrajudicial and that the Kings Proclamation expired at his Death solicited the concerns of the Church in this Affair viz. that the Act so pasâ—ed as before is said in the first of King Iames might be repealed that so the Bishops might proceed as formerly in the exercise of their Jurisdiction without fear or danger Thirdly Whereas in the 16. year of Charles I. there passed an Act that no Arch-Bishop Bishop c. should minister any Corporal Oath unto any Church-Warden Sideman or any other person whatsoever with many other things whereby the whole Episcopal Jurisdiction was subverted except Canonical Obedience only and all proceedings in Courts Ecclesiastical in Causes Matrimonial Testamentory c. were weakened and all Episcopal Visitations were made void as to the ordinary Punishments of Heresie Schism Non-conformity Incest Adultery and other Crimes of Ecclesiastical Cognizance therefore Dr. Heylyn stated the Case and in a Petition drawn up by him prayed that for the restoring of the Episcopal Jurisdiction the Clauses of that Act
make disquieting impressions on them And there is no better way for us to prevent that dishonour than by looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith and by taking those who have spoken in his Name for an example of suffering Affliction and of Patience Iam. 5. 10. But although Dr. Heylyn spoke in Name of the Lord yet few will be prevailed with to take him for a pattern in suffering persecution who believe those black Characters that have been of late given him by some of the Writers of this preâ—ent Age. And amongst the rest 't is matter of just wonder that Mr. Baxter who writes so frequently of Death and Iudgment and the account that must be given of all the hard speeches that are either spoke or writ against his Fellow-Christians should not be desirous to leave the troublesome stage of this world in a peaceable and calm temper and let those sleep quietly in their Graves whom he wish'd he had let alone when alive and unto whose learned labors he has not vouchsafed to return one word of Answer for above these two and twenty years And yet so it is that in his Preface to the Abridgment of Church-History he represents Dr. Heylyn to be a man of a malicious and bloody strain and one who spake of blood with pleasure thirsting after more c. I shall say little of that Book of Mr. Baxters understanding that it is taken into consideration by another hand But this I will not be afraid to affirm that if an impartial Pagan were to pass his judgment upon Christianity from those matters of Fact that are recorded in the Abridgment he would look upon it with a more uncharitable eye than Mr. Baxter does upon Dr. Heylyn and conclude it the most horrid Imposture in the world For what kind of Religion and Church was that which had little or nothing but Covetousness Ambition Oppression Simony Anarchy Tyranny Cruelty c. prevailing in it for so many centuries of years and no persons or conventions of men that had Wisdom and Power all that while to manage its affairs and concerns and to put it into any Apostolical or tolerable Order till an Army-Black-Coat who first almost dreined his Veins of their Blood against his Prince and then courted and caress'd a Tyrant and Vsurper and since that time has been employing his Spleen against the Church I say till such an one arose in the world and in affront to all the laws of Modesty and good Manners first prescribed a Platform of Civil Polity or Holy-Commonwealth to the State and then Rules of Government or Polity to the Church which should bind all Christians and be a Standard to all Superiors Let but any one seriously peruse the Abridgment and then judg whether Herod endeavoured with more malice to suppress the Genealogies of the Jewish Nation and especially those of the Royal Family that he himself might reign with more security than Mr. Baxter has done in throwing dirt upon Antiquity whereas a Divine of all men in the World ought to be very tender how he exposed the Nakedness of the Ancient Fathers lest he thereby exposed Christianity it self to scorn and contempt And we do not live in such an Age of piety and modesty but that some men would be very glad from the Abridgment if they had patience to read it to fix the like Infamy upon the Christian Faith as Cham did when he proclaimed the Nakedness of his Aged Father For my own part I never had the Honâ—ur either to know Dr. Heylyn or to be known by him But those who were his Familiars represent him to be one of a tender compassionate Spirit and that few men put a more candid construction upon Persons and Actions than he did 'T is true he writ of a bloody Sect but with a purpose to prevent the shedding of more Blood He vindicated the Monarchy and Hierarchy from the Calumnies of that Faction that was and is the implacable and sworn enemy of both And for this the Ashes of his Grave must be disturbed by one who as Tullie speaks does not consider but cast Lots in writing Books and whose voluminous Treatises are no more to be compared with the Learned Writers of this Church than the stuff of Kiderminster is to be valued at the same rate with the best Arras Dr. Heylyn was no more a Man of Blood than St. Paul was a Mover of Sedition And if he had 't is to be hoped he might have been as well Canonized for fighting for his Prince as some others are celebrated for Saints in the Everlasting Rest who died in the very Act of Rebellion against him But 't is no new thing for those who cut a purse to cry stop the Thief Mr. Baxter may be pleased to call to mind what was done to one Major Jenning the last War in that Fight that was between Lynsel and Longford in the County of Salop where the Kings Party having unfortunately the worst of the day the poor Major was stript almost naked and left for dead in the Field But Mr. Baxter and one Lieutenant Hurdman taking their walk among the wounded and dead Bodies perceived some Life left in the Major and Hurdman run him through the Body in cold blood Mr. Baxter all the while looking on and taking off with his own hand the Kings Picture from about his Neck telling him as he was swimming in his gore That he was a Popish Rogue and that was his Crucifix Which Picture was kept by Mr. Baxter for many years till it was got from him but not without much difficulty by one Mr. Summerfield who then lived with Sir Thomas Rouse and generously restored it to the poor man now alive at Wick near Parshore in Worcestershire although at the Fight supposed to be dead being after the wounds given him dragg'd up and down the Field by the merciless Soldiers Mr. Baxter approving of the Inhumanity by feeding his eyes with so bloody and barbarous a spectacle I Thomas Iennings subscribe to the truth of this Narrative above mentioned and have hereunto put my Hand and Seal this second day of March 1681 2. Tho. Iennings Signed and Sealed March 2. 1681 2. in the Presence of John Clarke Minister of Wick Thomas Darke And now let it be left to the Readers Iudgment who is of a more malicious and bloody strain Dr. Heylyn or Mr. Baxter Whatever ill opinion the Doctor gained in the World was for the service which he did for his King his Country and the Church And it need not be told who says Nemo pluris â—estimat virtutem quâ—m qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientiam perderetâ— i. e. He puts the best value upon virtue who to preserve the Integrity and Peace of his Conscience sacrifices the endearments of his Reputation ERRATA in the Preface PAge 3. line penult dele the P. 7. l. anâ—ep for tender r. tenderness In the Life Page 41. l. 23. r.
in Italy at which time the Valour of the English was imprisoned in the same Seas with their Island And therefore France was at that time when first the Arms were quartered the more famous Kingdom 'T is true indeed since the time of those victorious Princes those Duo Fulmina Belli Edward the Third and the Black Prince his Son the Arms of England have been exercised in most parts of Europe Nor am I ignorant how high we stand above France and all other Nations in the true fame of our Atchievements France it self divers times over-run and once Conquered the House of Burgundy upheld from Ruine the Hollanders Supported Spain Awed and the Ocean Commanded are sufficient testimonies that in pursuit of Fame and Honor we had no Equals That I was always of this opinion my Book speaks for me and indeed so unworthy a person needs no better an Advocate in which I have been no where wanting to commit to memory the honorable performances of my Countrey The great Annalist Baronius pretending only a true and sincere History of the Church yet tells the Pope in his Epistle Dedicatory that he principally did intend that work pro Sacrarum Traditionum Antiquitate Authoritate Romanae Ecclesiae The like may I say of my self though not with like imputation of Imposture I promised a Description of all the World and have according to the measure of my poor Abilities fully performed it yet have I apprehended withal every modest occasion of enobling and extolling the Soâ—â—ers and Kings of England Besides that I do not now speak of England as it now stands augmented with by the happy Addition of Scotland I had had it from an Author whom in poverty of reading I conceived above all exception viz. Cambden Clarencieux that general and accomplish'd Scholar in the fifth part of his Remains had so informed me If there be error in it 't is not mine but my Authors The Precedency which he there speaks of is in General Councils And I do heartily wish it would please the Lord to give such a sudden Blessing to his Church that I might live to see Mr. Cambden Confuted by so good an Argument as the sitting of a General Council Thus Mr. Heylyn was the interpreter of his own words and by these demonstrations of his integrity King Iames's indignation was appeased and his own fears were ended Only he took care to have these offensive words blotted out of his Book as the Dean of Winton advised him In the year 1625. he took a Journey with Mr. Levet of Lincolns-Inn into France where he visited more Cities and made more Observations in the space of five weeks for he staid there no longer than many others have done in so many years The particulars of this Journey he put in Writing and some years after gratified his Countrey with the Publication of it together with some other very excellent Remarks made by him when he attended upon the Earl of Danby to the Isles of Guernsey and Iersey Anno Dom. 1628. Had King Iames lived to have perused that Book Mr. Heylyn had needed no other Advocate to have restored him to his Princely Favour and Protection For never was the Vanity and Levity of the Monsieurs and the Deformity and Sluttishness of their Madames more ingeniously exposed both in Prose and Verse than in the Account that he gives of his Voyage into France On April 18. 1627. he opposed in the Divinity-School and the 24th day following he answered pro Forma upon these two Questions viz. An. Ecclesia unquam fuerit invisibilis An Ecclesia possit errare Both which he determined in the Negative And in stating of the first he fell upon a different way from that of Doctor Prideaux in his Lecture de Visibilitate Ecclesiae and other Tractates of and about that time in which the visibility of the Protestant Church and consequently of the Renowned Church of England was no otherwise proved than by looking for it into the scattered Conventicles of the Berengarians in Italy the Waldenses in France the Wickliffs in England and the Hussites in Bohemia which manner of proceeding not being liked by Mr. Heylyn because it utterly discontinued that Succession in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy which the Church of England claims from the Apostles he rather chose to look for a continual Visible Church in Asia Aethiopia Greece Italy yea and Rome it self as also in all the Western Provinces then subject to the power of the Popes thereof And for the proof whereof he shewed 1. That the Church of England received no Succession of Doctrine or Government from any of the scattered Conventicles before remembred 2. That the Wickliffes together with the rest before remembred held many Heterodoxies in Religion as different from the Establish'd Doctrine of the Church of England as any point that was maintained at that time in the Church of Rome And 3. That the Learned Writers of that Church and Bellarmin himself among them have stood up as cordially and stoutly in maintenance of some Fundamental points of the Christian Faith against Socinians Anabaptists and Anti-Trinitarians and other Hereticks of these Ages as any of the Divines and other Learned men of the Protestant Churches which point Mr. Heylyn closed with these words viz. Vtinam quod ipse de Calvino sic semper errasset nobilissimus Cardinalis And this so much displeased the Doctor of the Chair that so soon as our young Divine had ended his Determination he fell most heavily upon him calling him by the most odious names of Papicola Bellarminianus Pontificius c. bitterly complaining to the younger part of his Audients unto whom he made the greatest part of his Addresses of the unprofitable pains he had took amongst them if Bellarmin whom he had laboured to decry for so many years should now be honored with the Title of Nobilissimus The like he did within a few days after Tantaene animis coelestibus irae when the Respondent became prior Oppenent loading him with so many Reproaches that he was branded for a Papist before he understood what Popery was And because this Report should not prepossess the minds of some great Persons the Disputant went to London and after the Lord Chamberlain had ordered him to Preach before the Kings Houshold Arch-Bishop Laud then Bishop of Bath and Wells took notice of the passages that had happened at Oxford But Mr. Heylyn told him the story at large and for a farther testimony of his Judgment and Innocency gave him a Copy of his Supposition which when it was perused the Disputant waited on him and his Lordship made him to sit down by him and after enquiry made into the course of his Studies told him That his Supposition was strongly grounded and not to be over thrown in a fair way of Scholastick Arguing That he would not have him be discouraged by noise and clamour That he himself had in his younger days maintained the same Positions in
that nothing was urged by the Counil to aggravate his Faults but what was contained in the Collections made by Mr. Heylyn For a reward of these and other Services his Majesty bestowed on him the Parsonage of Houghton in the Bishoprick of Durham now let for above 470 l. per ann and made void by the preferment of Dr. Lendsel to the See of Peterborough and ordered Mr. Secretary Windebank to take care for the Broad Seal but within a few hours after intimated his Royal Pleasure to him by the Bishop of London that it should be exchanged for some other Living nearer hand and more for the convenience of his Chaplain his Majesty conceiving that he might have frequent occasion to make use of his service and therefore was unwilling that he should have any Preferment that was so far distant from his Court. Upon this Dr. Heylyn entred into a Treaty with Dr. Marshal for the Parsonage of Alreford in Hampshire where the first thing he did after Instistution and Induction was to order the daily Reading of Morning-Prayer being a populous Market-Town which gave very great content unto the people And being Ordinary of the place he removed the Communion-Table to the East end of the Chancel the decency of which act he not only justified by Reason convincing the people how much it had been profaned by sitting on it Scribling and casting Hats on it in Sermon time and at other times passing the Parish Accounts and disputing businesses of like nature and which was worst of all by Dogs pissing against it and sometimes snatching away the Bread that was provided for the use of the Blessed Sacrament but by the place and posture which the Communion-Table and Altars had been situated in former times And in a short time after this act of his was justified and confirmed by what his Majesty determined in the case of St. Gregories Church near St. Pauls London But before these things happened he took his Degree of Batchelor in Divinity viz. In Iuly 1630. his Latine Sermon was upon those words Mat. 4. 19. Faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum Upon the Sunday followiâ—g being the time of the Act â—e Preached in the Afternoon on Matth. 13. 25. In which Sermon he discovered the great Mystery of Iniquity that lay under the specious pretext of Feoffees for buying in of Impropriations And he was the first person that ever gave notice of the danger of it to the undeceiving of the people What he said concerning it made a loud clamour throughout the whole Nation and was one of the first things that exposed him to the implacable hatred and malice of a restless Faction At first he looked upon the project with as great reverence and affection as any that were deceived and abused by it and could not but congratulate the felicity of those times in giving birth to a design of such signal merit But when he look'd more narrowly into the mannagement and conduct of it he apprehended it to be as indeed it was the most pernicious imposture that ever since the Reformation was imposed upon the people and the most dangerous device to subvert the Church and undermine Episcopal Power and Jurisdiction And having satisfied himself in the danger of it he conceived it his bounden duty to give notice of it to other men that being once discovered and set out in its proper Colours it might be taken into deeper consideration than had been to that time observed if it The Sermon was Preach'd Iuly 11. and the passage in it which concern'd the Feoffees was in these words Planting of Pensionary-Lecturers in so many places where it needs not and upon days of common labour will at last bring forth those fruits that will appear to be a Tare indeed though now no Wheat be accounted fairer For what is that which is most aimed at in it but to cry down the standing Clergy of this Kingdom to undermine the Publick Liturgy by Law Established to foment Factions in the State Schisms in the Church and to have ready Sticklers in every place for the Advancement of some dangerous and deep Design And now we are fallen upon this point we will proceed a little farther in the proposal of some things to be considered The Corporation of Feoffees for buying of Impropriations to the Church doth it not seem in the appearance to be an excellent piece of Wheat a noble and gracious part of Piety Is not this Templum Domini Templum Domini But blessed God! that men should thus draw near to Thee with their mouths and be so far from Thee in their hearts For what are those entrusted in the managing of this great Business Are they not most of them the most active and best affected men in the whole cause and Magna partium momenta chief Patrons of this growing Faction And what are those that they prefer Are they not most of them such men as are and must be serviceable unto their dangerous Innovations And will they not in time have more Prefâ—rments to bestow than all the Bishops of the Kingdom And so by consequence a greater number of Dependents to promote their Interest yet all this while we sleep and slumber and fold our hands in sloth and see perhaps but dare not note it High time it is assuredly you should be awaked and rouze up your selves upon the apprehension of so near a danger The noise and calumnies that were raised and fixed upon Mr. Heylyn after this Sermon incited him to make a more narrow search into the matter and to multiply as well as strengthen his former Arguments which he delivered to his endeared Friend Mr. Noye who undertook the suppression of the Feoffees in the Kings name and they were accordingly suppressed in a judicial way of proceeding in the Exchequer-Chamber Feb. 13. 1633. In which year Mr. Heylyn commenc'd his Degree of Doctor in Divinity an honor not usually in those days conferr'd upon men of such green years but he verfied those excellent words of the Son of Syrach That honorable Age is not that which stands in length of time nor that which is measured by number of years but Wisdom is the gray hair unto men and an unspotted life is old age He entertained some hopes that those prejudices and heats which for some years past he had feâ—t at Oxon had been cooled and allayed and that the remembrance of them was quite buried by Dr. Prideaux having so long a tract of time as from 1627. to 1633. to forget them In his first Disputation he had insisted on the Churches Visibility and now he resolved to assert and establish its Authority and to that purpose made choice to answer upon these three Questions for his Degree of Doctor An Ecclesia habeat Authoritatem In determinandis Fidei Controversiis Interpretandi Scripturas Decernendi Ritus Ceremonias All which he held in the Affirmative according to the plain and positive Doctrine of the Church of England
King by whose Special Command he undertook it in a less space of time than four months and had a second Edition within three months after and notwithstanding the polemical Debates upon that Argument there was never any one yet that had the courage to return an Answer to that History And whoever peruses it with serious and unprejudiced thoughts will find that its Author principally designed to withdraw his Country-men from a Iudaical Observation of the Lords day i. e. from Dedicaâ—ing the whole of that time to the services and offices of Religion and refusing to engage in any business which our own or our Neighbors Conveniences or Necessities might exact from us And when all that our voluminous Writers have said upon this Argument is summ'd up together there are none of them but will subscribe to the truth of these two Propositions 1. That worldly cares and bodily Recreations tend very much to discompose and rarifie menâ— spirits and to fill them full of froth and worldliness of gaiety and wantonness so that they cannot fix their thoughts upon Christian Duties with any serious or continued Attention 2. That 't is impossible for the minds of the generality of Christians who are not used to Contemplation to be for a whole Lords day or the greatest part of it intent upon Religious Exercises And besides if all Refreshments and Recreations were absolutely unlawful upon that day poor Servants and the laborious part of mankind would be highly prejudiced for whose benefit the Sabbath was first instituted and appointed No sooner had the Doctor perfected this History but the Dean of Peterborough engages him to answer the Bishop of Lincloln's Letter to the Vicar of Grantham He received it upon Good-Friday and by Thursday night following discovered the Sophistry Mistakes and Falshoods of it and yet did not for all that intermit any of the publick Religious Exercises of the holy Feast of Easter It was approved by the King by him given to the Bishop of London to be Licensed and Published under the Title of A Coal from the Altar In less time then aâ— twelve-month the Bishop of Lincoln writ an Answer to it entituled The Holy Table Name and Thing but pretended it was writ long before by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Cole a Divine in the days of Queen Mary Our Reverend Doctor received a Massage from his Majesty to return a Reply to it and not in the least to spare the Author April 1. 1637. And he obeyed the Royal Command in the space of seven weeks presenting it ready Printed to the King the 20th of May following and called it Antidotum Lincolniense And although the Bishops Book was from the dissatisfaction of the times the subject-matter of the Book it self and the Religious esteem of the Author who was held in high Veneration looked upon to be unanswerable and sold for no less than 4 s. yet upon the coming out of the answer it was brought to less than one But before this he answered Burtons Seditious Sermon being thereunto also appointed by the King which Book although he dispatch'd in a fortnight yet it was not published till Iune 26. 1637. being kept in readiness till the Execution of the Star-Chamber Sentence upon the Triumviri that so people might be satisfied as well in the greatness of the Crimes as the necessity and justice of the punishment inflicted upon those Offenders In Iuly 1637. the Bishop of Lincoln was Censured in the Star-Chamber for tampering with Witnesses in the Kings Cause being suspended à Beneficio Officio and sent to the Tower where he continued three years and did not in all that space of time hear either Sermon or Publick Prayers Not long after this Dr. Heylyn was chosen Treasurer for the Church of Westminster and continued in that Office all the while of the Bishops Imprisonment and Suspension And he made use of the power with which that place invested him to the best advantage of that Foundation For first he reguâ—ated the Disorders of the Iury by exacting the Sconces or Perdition-money and dividing it amongst those that were most diligent and devout Then he proceeded to repair the Timber-work of the great West Isle which was ready to fall down caused the new Arch over the Preaching-place to be new Valuted and the Roof thereof to be raised to the same heighth with the rest of the Church the Charge whereof amounted to 434 l. 18 s. 10 d. and lastly made the South-side of the lower West-Isle to be new Timbred Boarded and Leaded being fallen into great decay Thrice he assisted in the Election at Westminster-School and every time had an opportunity of bringing in a Scholar into that Royal Foundation for two of which he was never spoke unto and for his kindness unto all three he never had the value of one pint of Wine nor any thing of less moment Whilst he continued Treasurer the Parsonage of Islip became vacant by the Death of Dr. King unto which he was presented by the Chapter But he deferr'd receiving Institution by reason of its great distance from Alresford being advised to exchange it for some other that was more near and convenient After many offers he at last exchanged with Mr. Atkinson of St. Iohns College in Oxon for South-Warnborough which was eight miles distant from his other Living and the perpetual Patronage of which Archbishop Laud had bestowed upon that fore-mentioned Society But that Gentleman enjoyed Islip but a few weeks and those of his College conceiving themselves prejudiced by the change our Doctor was so generous as to obtain for one of the Fellows a second Presentation to Islip for which he never received so much as the least civil Acknowledgment But he had other things to afflict his spirit at that time his whole Family being visited with a contagious Fever and no person in it except one Servant but were all sick at one and the same time The Doctor did as narrowly escape death as St. Paul and his Companions did Shipwrack when they went to Rome The Fever had so seized upon his spirits that after the abatement of its Paroxisms he had many dull and sleepless nights and returning upon him with greater violence a twelve-month after he was reduced to so extreme a weakness that all his Friends together with himself supposed him fallen into a deep Consumption And yet even at this time his mind was not idle or unactive For now it was that he first meditated of a project of Writing a History of the Church of England since the Reformation And no sooner had he recovered some measure and degrees of strength but he prepared materials for it and upon his return to London obtained the freedom of Sir Robert Cotton's Library and by the recommendation of Archbishop Laud had liberty granted him to carry home some of the Books leaving 200 l. apiece as a pawn behind him About this time it was that the Commotions began to be hot
Sermon had as kindly an effect upon the Committee as his Visit had upon the Bishop For he found those fierce Gentlemen after the perusal of his Notes much more favourable and respective than before They demanded a Copy of the Charge which he drew up against Mr. Pryn which being delivered Mr. Pryn accused him of Libelling and Preaching against him for proof of which he produced in Court some of the Doctor 's Books urging many passages out of them but all concluded nothing That which was at last most insisted on was a Sermon Preach'd some years before Mr. Pryn's Censure in the Star-Chamber before his Majesty but the sense of his past dangers before the Committee was in some measure recompenc'd by this days mirth and jollity For Mr. Pryn resolving effectually to damnifie the Doctor produced a company of Butchers to bring in Evidence against him about a Sermon formerly Preach'd by him And after the Testimony of these great Criticks had been mannag'd to the best advantage of Raillery and Mirth the Criminal was favourably dismissed and never more called before them 'T is true many attempts were made to create him new Disturbances some being employed to make a severe inquisition into his Life and Manners which they found too spotless for their spleen and malice Others engaged his Neighbours at Alresford to draw up Articles against him which was accordingly done by two of them and few others of the most inconsiderable Inhabitants who were prevailed on to make their Marks for Write they could not by telling them it was a business in which the Town were very much concerned But when the Articles were produced before the Committee they appeared so foolish and frivolous as not to be deemed worthy of consideration and upon that were returned to be amended upon a Melius Inquirendum and this being done in a more correct and enlarg'd Edition they were again return'd to the Committee and a set day was appointed for a Hearing And that being come the Complaint was put off sine die and a Copy of the Articles delivered to the person accused together with those newly put in against him by Mr. Pryn collected out of his Printed Books But the poor Doctor being quite tir'd with Business and Attendance obtained leave of the Chair-man to retire into the Country who freely promised to send a private Messenger to him if there were any occasion for his return Upon which he removed his Study to Alresford setting his House for no more than 3 l. a year with a purpose never more to come back to Westminster whilst those two incomparable Friends remained in it viz. the House of Commons and Bishop of Lincoln At his coming to Alresford the people were amazed to see him having been persuaded that they should never more fix eye on him unless they took a journey to a Goal or a Gallows About this time it was that Doctor Hacwel taking advantage of the innumerable troubles and enemies of this learned man publish'd a book against him concerning the Sacrifice of the Eucharist It was not without some difficulty that he obtained one of them to be sent to him in the Country where he wrote a speedy Answer to it But Dr. Hackwel's Friends thought fit to call in the Book so soon as it first came into light and then our Doctor was easily persuaded to suppress his Answer diverting his Studies to more pleasing and no less necessary subjects viz. The History of Episcopacy and the History of Liturgies The first was Printed presently after it was written and Presented to the King by Mr. Secretary Nicholas and Published under the name of Theophilus Churchman but the other although sent to London and received by the Bookseller was not Printed till some years after For now there was more employment found out for the Sword than the Pen the noise of Bellona and Mars silencing the Laws of God and Men and Christians conceiving it their duty rathâ—r to spill the Blood of their Country-men for Religion than to part with one drop out of their own veins and to plunder the Goods of their Neighbours than to endure the spoiling of their own Sir Will. Waller sent eighty of his Soldiers to be quartered at the Doctors house with full Commission to strip him naked of all he had But his fair and affable carriage towards them did so mollifie the Austerity of their natures that they quite dismissed all thoughts of violence and revenge So were Esau's bloody resolutions quite converted into kindness and respect by the humble deportment as well as noble presents that were made to him by his Brother Iacob But notwithstanding the Diversion of this storm the Reverend man was early the next morning brought before Sir William by his Provost-Marshal by whom he was told that he had received Commands from the Parliament to seize upon him and send him Prisoner unto Portsmouth The Doctor had the like privilege with St. Paul being permitted to plead for himself and by his powerful reasoning did so far prevail upon the General as to be dismissed back to his house in safety But prudently fore-seeing that this would only be a Reprieve till a further mischief within a few days he left Hampshire and went to Oxon where he no sooner arrived but he received his Majesties Commands by the Clerk of his Closet to address himself to Mr. Secretary Nicholas from whom he was to take directions for some special and important Service which was at last signified to Dr. Heylyn under the Kings own hand viz. to write the Weekly Occurrences which befel his Majesties Government and Armies in the unnatural War that was raised against him The Reverend Man was hugely unwilling to undertake the employment conceiving it not only somewhat disagreeable to the Dignity and Profession that he had in the Church and directly thwarting his former Studies and Contemplations but that by a faithful discharge of his Duty in that Service he should expose both his Family and himself to the implacable malice of those persons whose very mercies were Cruelty and Blood But no Arguments or Intercessions could prevail to have him excused from that Employment at least for some time till he had made it facile by his own diligence and example Neither were dangers or difficulties of any moment with him when the Service of his Prince and Master required his Labours and Assistance Discere à peritis sequi optimos nihil appetere ob jactationem nihil ob formidinem recusare simulque anxius intentus agere is a Character as truly applicable to Dr. Heylyn as to the brave Roman of whom it was first written For he desired no employment out of vain-glory and refused none out of fear but equally was careful and intent in whatever he undertook and at that time too when he was denied the poor Deanery of Chichester for which his Majesty was earnestly importuned in his behalf by Mr. Secretary Nicholas The Weekly Occurrences that were
wrote by him he called by the name of Mercurius Anglicus which name continued as long as the Cause did for which it was written And besides these weekly Tasks being influenced by the same Royal Commands he writ divers other Treatises before he could obtain his Quietus est from that ungrateful Employment viz. 1. A Relation of the Lord Hopton ' s Victory at Bodwin 2. A View of the Proceedings in the West for Pacification 3. A Letter to a Gentleman in Leicestershire about the Treaty 4. A Relation of the Queens Return from Holland and the seizing of Newark 5. A Relation of the Proceedings of Sir John Gell. 6. The Black Cross shewing that the Londoners were the cause of the present Rebellion with some others that were never Printed These zealous services produced the very same effect that he foresaw when he first undertook them For in the space of six months he was voted a Delinquent in the House of Commons this being given for a reason viz. that he resided and lived at Oxon. Upon which an Order was sent to the Committee at Portsmouth to Sequester his whole Estate and seize upon all his Goods And Reading being taken by the Earl of Essex a free and easie passage was opened for the Execution of those unrighteous Decrees For in a short space after his Corn Cattle and Money were taken by one Captain Watts and all his Books carried to Portsmouth Colonel Norton's hand being set to the Warrant of his Sequestration he twice Petition'd to have some Reparation out of his Estate but was denied the first time and put off in a more Courtly manner the last Before he left Alresford he took care to hide some of his choicest and most costly Goods designing the first opportunity to have them conveyed to Oxon. But either by ill luck or the treachery and baseness of some of his Neighbours the Cart with all the Goods were taken by part of Nortons Horse and carried to Portsmouth himself also violently pursued and by Divine Providence delivered from the snare of those Fowlers who thirsted after his Blood and lay in wait for his Life The Cart with all contained in it was carried to Southampton and delivered unto Norton Saintship then being the ground of Propriety as it afterward was of Sovereignty A loss great in it self but much more so to a poor Divine and chiefly to be ascribed to a Colonel in the King's Army who denied to send a Convoy of Horse for the guarding of his Goods although the Marquess of Newcastle gave Order for it And these Oppressions which he suffered from his Enemies were increased by as unjust proceedings of those who ought to have been his Friends For part of the Royal Army defaced his Parsonage-House at Alresford making it unhabitable and taking up all the Tithes for which he never had the least satisfaction unless it was the Manumission of himself from the troublesome Employment under Mr. Secretary Nicholas and at his going off at the request of that worthy Gentleman he writ a little Book called The Rebels Catechism Being thus dismissed from business so disagreeable to his Genius he found leisure to employ his Contemplative thoughts about subjects more weighty and serious And having obeyed the Commands of his Superiors he endeavoured to satisfie the doubts of his Friends and particularly of one whose thoughts were confusedly perplexed about our Reformation And to do this he drew up a Discourse in answer to that common but groundless Calumny of the Papists who brand the Religion of our Church with the nick-name of that which is Parliamentary But our Reverend Doctor Demonstrates in that Book how little or indeed nothing the Parliament acted in the Reformation For some years indeed that are past there have been Parliaments that have had a Committee for Religion which is to have an Apostolical care of all the Churches And our Reverend Doctor observes that this custom was first introduced into the House of Commons when the Divinity-School in Oxon was made the Seat of their Debates For the Speaker being placed in or near the Chair in which the Kings Professor of Divinity did usually read his publick Lectures and moderate in all publick Disputations they were put into a conceit that the determining in all Points and Controversies in Divinity did belong to them As Vibius Rufus having married Tullies Widow and bought Caesar's Chair conceived that he was then in a way to gain the Eloquence of the one and the Power of the other For after this we find no Parliament without a Committee for Religion and no Committee for Religion but what did â—hâ—nk it self sufficiently instructed to mannage the greatest Controversies in Divinity which were brought before them And with what success to the Religion here by Law Established we have seen too clearly Tractent fabrilia fabri Let things of a spiritual nature in the name of God be debated and determined by Spiritual persons Doctrinal matters are proper for the cognizance of a Convocation not of a Committee which does often consist of wise men but the common Title given to some of them does at least prove that those wise men are not always either the best Christians or greatest Clerks Neither were these things the only Subjects of the vast mind and contemplative â— thoughts of this great man For toward the latter end of this year being 1644. he Presented to his Majesty a Paper containing the Heads of a Discourse writ by him called The Stumbling-block of Disobedience removed in answer to and examination of the two last Sections in Mr. Calvins Institutions against Sovereign Monarchy The Lord Hatton the Bishop of Sarum Sir Orlando Bridgman and Dr. Steward perused the whole Treatise and the King approving of the Contents commanded the Lord Digby further to consider the Book in whose hands it did for a long time rest neither was it made publick till about ten years after the War was ended In the beginning of the year 1645. he left Oxon and went into Hampshire settling himself and Family at Winchester Alresford with all the rest of his Preferments being taken from him and having nothing to subsist upon besides his own Temporal Estate And yet even now the exuberancy of an honest zeal that I may use his own words though upon another occasion carried him rather to the maintenance of his Brethrens and the Churches Cause than to the preservation of his own peace and particular contentments And therefore considering unto what a deplorable condition the poor Loyal Clergy were reduced how they were hungry and thirsty and their souls ready to faint in them as also how the Parliament were about to establish those Presbyterian Ministers for term of life in those Livings out of which himself and many others were ejected he drew up some Considerations and presented them to some Members of the House of Commons to see whether he could move them to any Christian Charity and Compassion And they
and Unity of his Church against the Errors Schisms and Persecutions of its Enemies whether Papists Socinians or Disciplinarians His Book upon the Creed is a mixture of all these excellent Ingredients insomuch that whoever would be acquainted with the Sence of the Greek and Latine Fathers upon the Twelve Articles of our Faith as also with Positive Polemical and Philological Theology he will not find either his labour lost or his time mispended if he peruse what our learned Doctor has writ upon that Subject But neither Learning or Innocency are a sufficient safe-guard against the assaults of mischievous and malicious men many of whom combined together to render Dr. Heylyn as infamous in his Name as they had before made him improsperous in his Estate And to that purpose they used their utmost endeavours to have one of his Books burned called Respondet Petrus by an Order from Olivers Council-Table For Dr. N. Bernard Preacher of Grays-Inn putting out a Book entituled The Iudgment of the Lord Primate of Ireland c. our Reverend Doctor being therein accused for violating his Subscription and running cross to the publick Doctrine of the Church or England as also being taxed with Sophistry Shamelesness and some other things which he could not well endure either from the Dead or the Living he returned an Answer to it against which Articles were presently formed and presented to the then Council-Table and the common Rumor went that the Book was publickly burnt A fame as the Doctor says that had little truth in it though more colour for it than many other charges which had been laid upon him He was in London when he received the first notice of it and though he was persuaded by his friends to neglect the matter as that which would redound to his honour and knew very well what Sentence had been passed by Tacitus upon the Order of Senate or Roman Consul for burning the Books of Cremutius Cordus the Historian Neque aliud externi Reges aut qui eâdem saevitiâ usi sunt nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere i. e. they gained nothing but ignominy to themselves and glory to all those whose Books they burnt yet our Doctor was rather in that particular of Sir Iohn Falstaff's mind not liking such grinning honour and therefore rather chose to prevent the Obloquy than boast in it To which purpose he applied himself to the Lord Mayor of London and a great Man in the Council of State and receiving from them a true information of what had passed he left his Solicitude being quite freed from all fear and danger About this time it was that the King Church and Church-men were arraigned and traduced by many voluminous Writers of the Age and the Doctor being solicited to answer them by Letters Messages and several personal Addresses by men of all Orders and Dignities in the Church and of all Degrees in the Universities was at last overcome by their Importunities the irresistible Intreaties of so many Friends having something in them of Commands And the first Author whose Mistakes Falsities and Defects he examined was Mr. Thomas Fuller the Church-Historian who intermingling his History with some dangerous Positions which if reduced into practice would overthrow the Power of the Church and lay a probable Foundation for Disturbances in the Civil-State the Doctor made some Animadversions on him by way of Antidote that so if possible he might be read without danger Another was Mr. Sanderson's long History of the Life and Reign of King Charles I. whose errors being of that nature as might mis-guide the Reader in the way of Knowledg and Discourse our Doctor rectified him with some Advertisements that so he might be read with the greater profit It would swell these Papers into too great a bulk if I should give a particular account of the Contests that this Reverend man had with Mr. Harington Mr. Hickman and Mr. Baxter the last of which was so very bold as to disgorge himself upon the whole Clergy of England in his Grotian Religion which caused in our Doctor as he tells his Brethren the old Regular Clergy So great an horror and amazement that he could not tell whether or no he could give any credit to his Senses the words sounding loud in his ears and not sinking at first into his heart Neither Did Mr. Baxter arraign the whole Clergy in general but more particularly directed his Spleen against Dr. Heylyn whose name he wish'd afterwards he had spared But it was whilst he was living he has made more bold with him since he was dead and that for no other reason that I can learn but for exposing the Follies Falshoods and uncharitableness of a daring and rash Writer who never returned one word of Answer besides Railing and Reproaches unto what our Doctor Published against him And having made mention of these Authors against whom our excellent Doctor appeared in the Lists it may not perhaps be deemed unacceptable to those Readers who are either unable to buy or unwilling to read the Books written against them to transcribe some particular passages which may be a farther testification of the zeal of this great Scholar for the King and Church And the first relating to the King shall be about the Coronation it being a piece of new State-Doctrine that the Coronation of the King should depend upon the consent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament For in the Form and Manner of the Coronation of King Edward VI. described in the Catalogue of Honour set forth by Thomas Mills of Canterbury Anno Dom. 1610 we find it thus The King being carried by certain Noble Courtiers in another Chair unto the four sides of the Stage was by the Archbishop of Canterbury declared to the people standing round about both by Gods and mans Laws to be the Right and Lawful King of England France and Ireland and proclaimed that day to be Crowned Consecrated and Anointed unto whom he demanded Whether they would Obey and Serve or not By whom it was again with a loud cry answered God save the King and ever live his Majesty The same we have in substance both in fewer words in the Coronation of King Iames where it is said The King was shewed to the people and that they were required to make acknowledgment of their Allegiance to his Majesty by the Archbishop which they did with Acclamations But assuredly says Dr. Heylyn the difference is exceeding vast between Obeying and Consenting between the peoples acknowledging their Allegiance and promising to Obey and Serve their Lawful Sovereign and giving their Consent to his Coronation as if it could not be performed without it This makes the King to be either made or unmade by his people according to the Maxim of Buchanan Populo jus est imperium cui velit deferat than which passage there is nothing in all his Books more pestilent or seditious Neither is another Position any less
derogatory to Regal Power viz. That Parliaments are to be Assistant to the King in the exercise of his Regal Government Unto which our excellent Doctor says That Parliaments or Common-Councils consisting of the Prelates Peers and other great men of the Realm were frequently held in the time of the Saxon Kings and that the Commons were first called to those great Assemblies at the Coronation of K. Henry I. to the end that his Succession to the Crown being approved by the Nobility and People he might have the better colour to exclude his Brother And as the Parliament was not instituted by King Henry III. so was it not instituted by him to become an Assistant to him in the Government unless it were from some of the Declarations of the Commons in the Long Parliament in which it is frequently affirmed That the Fundamental Government of this Realm is by King Lords and Commons which if so then what became of the government of this Kingdom under Henry III. when he had no such Assistants joyned with him Or what became of the Foundation in the Intervals of following Parliaments when there was neither Lords nor Commons on which the Government could be laid And therefore it must be apparently necessary either that the Parliaments were not instituted by King Henry III. to be his Assistants in the Government or else that for the greatest space of time since Henry III. the Kingdom hath been under no Government at all for want of such Assistants And I would fain learn who should be Judg touching the Fitness or Vnfitness of such Laws and Liberties by which the People and Nobility are to be gratified by their Kings For if the Kings themselves must judg it it is not likely that they will part with any of their just Prerogatives which might make them less obeyed at home or less feared abroad but where invincible necessity or violent importunity might force them to it And then the Laws and Liberties which were so extorted were either violated or annulled whensoever the Granter was in power to weaken or make void the Grant for Malus diuturnitatis Custos est metus But if the People must be Judges of such Laws and Liberties as were fittest for them there would be no end of their Demands unreasonable in their own nature and in number infinite For when they meet with a King of the Giving hand they will press him so to give from one point to another till he give away Royalty it self and if they be not satisfied in all their Askings they will be pleased with none of his former Grants But that which pared the Prerogative to the quick was that the Reformation of Religion was the Province of the People or that they might do their Duty in the business when the King omitted his concerning which our excellent Doctor delivers his judgment in these clear and convincing words Exam. Hist. 135. That Idolatry is to be destroyed by all them that have power to do it is easily granted But then it must be understood of lawful Power and not permitted to the liberty of unlawful violence Id possumus quod jure possumus was the Rule of old and it hath held good in all attempts for Reformation in the elder times For when the Fabrick of the Iewish Church was out of order and the whole Worship of the Lord either defiled with Superstitions or intermingled with Idolatries as it was too often did not Gods Servants tarry and wait for leisure till those who were Supreme both in Place and Power were by him prompted and inflamed to a Reformation How many years had that whole People made an Idol of the Brazen-Serpent and burnt Incense to it before it was defaced by Hezekiah How many more might it have stood longer undefac'd untouch'd by any of the common People had not the King given order to demolish it How many years had the seduced Israelites adored before the Altar at Bethel before it was hewn down and cut in pieces by the good Iosiah And yet it cannot be denied but that it was much in the power of the Iews to destroy that Idol and of the honest and Religious Israelites to break down that Altar as it either was or could be in the power of our English Zealots to beat down Superstitious Pictures and Images had they been so minded Solomon in the Book of Canticles compares the Church to an Army Acies castrorum ordinata as the Vulgar hath it An Army terrible with Banners as we read it A powerful Body without doubt able which way soever it moves to wast and destroy the Country to burn and sack the Villages through which it passes And questionless many of the Soldiers knowing their own Power would be apt to do it if not restrained by the Authority of their Commanders and the Laws of War Ita se ducum Authoritas sic gor disciplinae habet as we find in Tacitus And if those be not kept as they ought to be Confusi equites peditesque in exitium ruunt the whole runs to a swift destruction Thus it is also in the Church with the Camp of God If there be no subordination in it if every one might do what he list himself and make such uses of that power and opportunity as he thinks are put into his hands what a confusion would insue how speedy a calamity must needs fall upon it Courage and zeal do never shew more zealously in inferiour powers than when they are subordinate unto good Directions from the right hand i. e. from the Supreme Magistrate not from the interests and passions of their Fellow-Subjects It is the Princes Office to Command and theirs to execute with which wise Caution the Emperor Otho once represt the too great forwardness of his Soldiers when he found them apt enough to make use of that power in a matter not commanded by him Vobis arma animus mihi Concilium virtutis vestrae Regimen relinquite as his words are He understood their Duty and his own Authority allows them to have power and will but regulates and restrains them both unto his own Command So that whether we behold the Church in its own condition proceeding by the starrant and examples of Holy Scripture or in resemblance to an Army as compared by Solomon there will be nothing left to the power of the people either in way of Reformamation or Execution till they be vested and entrusted with some lawful Power derived from him whom God hath placed in Authority over them And therefore though Idolatry be to be destroyed and to be destroyed by all which have Power to do it yet must all those be furnish'd with a lawful Power or otherwise stand guilty of as high a Crime as that which they so zealously endeavour to condemn in others And if it be urged That the Sovereign forgetting his Duty the Subjects should remember theirs 't is a lesson which was never taught in the
practicable in any well-governed Commonwealth unless it be in the old Vtopia the new Atlantis or the last discovered Oceana For how can men possibly live in peace as Brethren where there is no Law to limit their desires or direct their actions Take away Law and every man will be a Law unto himself and do whatsoever seems best in his own eyes without controul then Lust will be a Law for one Fellony for another Perjury shall be held no Crime nor shall any Treason or Rebellion receive their punishments for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression and where there is no Transgression there can be no punishment punishments being only due for the breach of Laws Thus is it also in the Worship of God which by the Hedg of Ceremonies is preserved from lying open to all prophaneness and by Set-Forms be they as indifferent as they will is kept from breaking out into open confusion St. Paul tells us that God is the God of Order not of Confusion in the Churches If therefore we desire to avoid Confusion let us keep some Order and if we would keep Order we must have some Forms it being impossible that men should live in peace as Brethren in the house of God where we do not find both David has told us in the Psalms that Ierusalem is like a City which is at Vnity with it self And in Ierusalem there were not only solemn Sacrifices Set-Forms of Blessing and some significant Ceremonies prescribed by God but Musical Instruments and Singers and Linnen Vestures for those Singers and certain Hymns and several Times and Places for them ordained by David Had every Ward in that City and every Street in that Ward and every Family in that Street and perhaps every Person in that Family used his own way in Worshiping the Lord his God Ierusalem could not long have kept the name of a City much less the honor of being that City which was at Vnity in it self When therefore the Apostle gives us this good counsel that we endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace he seems to intimate that there can be no Vnity where there is no Peace and that Peace cannot be preserved without some Bond. If you destroy all Ceremonies and subvert all Forms you must break the Bond and if the Bond be broken you must break the Peace and if you break the Peace what becomes of the Vnity So that it is but the dream of a dry Summer as the saying is to think that without Law or Forms or Ceremonies men may live peaceably together as becomes Brethren though they profess one Faith acknowledg one Lord receive one Baptism and be Sons of one Father which is in Heaven Having thus surveyed some particulars pertaining to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church proeced we next to take a short view of some things delivered by this right learned man concerning the Convocation which in ancient times was part of the Parliament there being a Clause in every Letter of Summons by which the Bishops were required to attend in Parliament that they should warn the Clergy of their respective Dioceses some in their Persons and others by their Procurators to attend there also But this has beâ—n so long unpractis'â— that we find no foot-steps of it since the Parliaments in the time of King Richard the Second It is true indeed that in the 8th year of Henry VI. there passed a Statute by which it was enacted That all the Clergy which should be called thenceforth to the Convocation by the Kings Writ together with their Servants and Families should for ever after fully use and enjoy such liberty and immunity in coming tarrying and returning as the Great men and Commonalty of the Realm of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament have used or ought to have or enjoy Which though it makes the Convocation equal to the Parliament as to the freedom of their Persons yet cannot it from hence be reckoned or reputed for a part thereof And as it is now no part of the Parliament so neither has it any necessary dependence upon that Honourable Council and Assembly either in the Calling or Dissolving of it or in the Confirmation or Authorizing of the Acts thereof but only in the King himself and not upon the Kings sitting in the Court of Parliament but in his Palace or Court-Royal where ever it be And this appears both by the Statute made in the 26th of Henry VIII and the constant practice ever since Indeed since the 25th year of Henry VIII no Convocation is to assemble but as it is Convocated and Convened by the Kings Writ for in the Year 1532. the Clergy made their Acknowledgment and Submission in their Convocation to that mighty and great Monarch which Submission passed into a Statute the very next year following But this does not hinder but that their Acts and Constitutions ratified by Royal Assent are of force to bind the Subject to submit and conform to them For before the Statute of Proemunire and the Act for Submission Convocations made Canons that were binding altho none other than Synodical Authority did confirm the same And certainly they must have the same power when the Kings Authority signified in his Royal Assent is added to them They also gave away the money of the Clergy by whom they were chosen even as the Commons in Parliament gave the money of the Cities Towns and Countries for which they served For in chusing the Clerks for Convocation there is an Instrument drawn up and sealed by the Clergy in which they bind themselves to the Arch-Deacons of their several Dioceses upon the pain of forfeiting all their Lands and Goods Se ratum gratum acceptum habere quicquid Dicti Procuratores sui dixerint fecerint vel constituerint i. e. to allow stand and perform whatsoever their said Clerks shall say do or condescend unto on their behalf Nor is this a speculative Authority only and not reducible unto practice but precedented in Queen Elizabeths time For in the year 1585. the Convocation having given one Subsidy confirmed by Parliament and finding that they had not done sufficiently for the Queens occasions did after add a Benevolence or Aid of two shillings in the pound to be levied upon all the Clergy and to be levied by such Synodical Acts and Constitutions as they digested for that purpose without having any recourse to the Parliament for it But against these things it was objected in the Long Parliament of King Charles I That the Clergy had no power to make Canons without common consent in Parliament because in the Saxon times Laws and Constitutions Ecclesiastical had the Confirmation of Peers and sometimes of the people unto which great Councils our Parliaments do succeed Which argumeut says our Reverend Doctor if it be of force to prove that the Clergy can make no Canons without consent of
and the penalties thereunto annexed might be wholly abrogated and annulled But the most remarkable Effort of his zeal for the Church after the Kings Restauration was the Application made by him to the great Minister of State in those days that there might be a Convocation called with the Parliament What good effects were produced by his endeavours in that particular let the Reader judg when he has perused the following Letter with which the Reverend Doctor saluted that powerful Statesman Right Honorable and my very good Lord I Cannot tell how welcome or unwelcome this Address may prove in regard of the greatness of the Cause and the low condition of the Party who negotiates in it But I am apt enough to persuade my self that the honest zeal which moves me to it not only will excuse but endear the boldness There is my Lord a general Speech but a more general Fear withal amongst some of the Clergy that there will be no Convocation called with the following Parliament which if it should be so resolved on cannot but raise sad thoughts in the hearts of those who wish the peace and happiness of our English Sion But being the Bishops are excluded from their Votes in Parliament there is no other way to keep up their Honor and Esteem in the eyes of the people but the retaining of their places in the Convocation Nor have the lower Clergy any other means to shew their duty to the King and keep that little freedom which is left unto them then by assembling in such Meetings where they may exercise the Power of a Convocation in granting Subsidies to his Majesty tho in nothing else And should that Power be taken from them according to the constant but unprecedented practice of the late Long Parliament and that they must be taxed and rated with the rest of the Subjects without their liking and consent I cannot see what will become of the first Article of Magna Charta so solemnly so frequently confirmed in Parliament or what can possibly be left unto them of either of the Rights or Liberties belonging to an English Subject I know 't is conceived by some that the distrust which his Majesty hath in some of the Clergy and the Diffidence which the Clergy have of one another is looked on as the principal cause of the Innovation For I must needs behold it as an Innovation that any Parliament should be called without a meeting of the Clergy at the same time with it The first year of King Edward VI. Qu. Mary and Qu. Elizabeth were times of greater diffidence and distraction than this present Conjuncture And yet no Parliament was called in the beginning of their several Reigns without the company and attendance of the Convocation tho the intendments of the State aimed then at greater alterations in the face of the Church than are now pretended or desired And to say the truth there was no â—anger to be feared from a Convocation tho the times were ticklish and unsettled and the Clergy was divided into Sides and Factions as the case then stood and so stands with us at this present time For since the Clergy in their Coâ—vocations are in no Authothority to propound treat or conclude any thing more than the passing of a Bill of Subsides for his Majesties use until they are impowred by the Kings Commission the King may tie them up for what time he pleases and give them nothing but the opportunity of entertaining one another with the news of the day But if it be objected that the Commission now on foot for altering and explaining certain passages in the Publick Liturgy that either pass instead of a Convocation or else is thought to be neither competable nor consistent with it I hope far better in the one and must profess that I can see no reason in the other For first I hope that the selecting of some few Bishops and other learned men of the lower Clergy to debate on certain Points contained in the Common-Prayer-Book is not intended for a Representation of the Church of England which is a Body more diffused and cannot legally stand bound by their Acts and Counsets And if this Conference be for no other purpose but only to prepare matter for a Convocation as some say it is not why may not such a Conference and Convocation be held both at once For neither the selecting of some learned men out of both the Orders for the composing and reviewing of the two Liturgies digested in the Reign of King Edward VI. proved any hindrance in the calling of those Convocations which were held both in the second and third and in the fifth and sixth of the said Kings Reign Nor was it found that the holding of a Convocation together with the first Parliament under Queen Elizabeth proved any hindrance to that Conference or Disputation which was designed between the Bishops and some learned men of the opposite parties All which considered I do most humbly beg your Lordship to put his Majesty in mind of sending out his Maâ—dates to the two Archâ— Bishops for summoning a Convocation according to the usual Form in their several Provinces that this poor Church may be held with some degree of Veneration both at home and abroad And in the next place I do no less humbly beseech your Lordship to excuse this freedom which nothing but my zeal for Gods glory and my affection to this Church could have forced from me I know how ill this present office does become me and how much fitter it had been for such as shine in a more eminent Sphere in the holy Hiâ—rarchy to have tendered these Particulars to consideration Which since they either have not done or that no visible effect hath appeared thereof I could not chuse but cast my poor Mite into the Treasury which if it may conduce to the Churches good I shall have my wish and howsoever shall be satisfied in point of Conscience that I have not failed of doing my duty to this Church according to the light of my understanding and then what happens unto me shall not be material And thus again most humbly craving pardon for this presumption I kiss your Lordships hands and subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant to be commanded Peter Heylyn Having thus surveyed the most important Occurrences of Dr. Heylyn's Life I doubt not but every judicious and impartial Reader will be convinced at once of his vast Abilities and Acquirements in the large Circle of Learning and Sciences of his immovable Integrity in the Protestant Religion and of his indefatigable Industry and Service to the just Interests both of the Crown and Mitre For tho I will not say as St. Paul does of his Son Timothy that there was no man like-minded yet no one had more hearty and unbiassed affections no man did more naturally care for this Church and Kingdom than Dr. Heylyn and at that time too when he expected nothing for his
passenger is said to have poured into his wounds both Oil and Wine i. e. Oil to cherish and refresh it and Wine to cleanse it Oleum quo foveatur vinum quo mordeatur He had not been a skilfuâ— Chirurgeon if he had done otherwise And the Doctor being to contend with so many and malicious Adversaries had been a very unwary writer had he made no distinction but accosted them all after one and the same manner The grand Exemplar of Sweetness Candor and Ingenuity used the severest invectives against the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees Certainly one Plaister is not medicinal to all kind of sores some of which may be cured with Balm when others more corrupt aud putrified do require a Lancing And thus did this Reverend man deal with the enemies of the King and Church insomuch that he received thanks from the Ministers of Surrey and Bucks in the name of themselves and that party for his fair and respectful language to them both in his Preface to his History of the Sabbath and conclusion of the same To conclude unless good words may receive pollution by confuting bad principles and describing bad things nothing of any rude or uncharitable language can be found in any of the Writings of Dr. Heylyn But as all men have not abilities to write Books so neither to pass sentence on them when written And yet whatever hard censures the Doctors Books have met with in the world I am persuaded his most inveterate enemies who will have but so much patience as to peruse impartially this Account given of his Life will believe that one who had acted written and suffered so much in the defence of the King and Church might have met with some Rewards or Respects in some measure suitable to his merits But God Almighty and wise Providence had otherwise ordered the Event of things purposing no doubt that this excellent person who had for the greatest part of his pilgrimage encountred with the spite and threatnings oppositions and persecutions of those who had subverted Monarchy in the State and Order and Decency in the Church should notwithstanding the Kings Restauration have administred to him another Trial of his passive Fortitude and that was to wrestle with the neglects and ingratitude of his Friends Indeed some Right Reverend Fathers in the Church amongst whom Bishop Cousins ought not to be passed over in silence protested not their wonder only but their grief that so great a Friend and Sufferer for the Royal Family and Church should like the wounded men in the Gospel be passed by both by Priest and Levite and have no recompence for his past Services besides the pleasure of reflecting on them But the States-men of those days rank'd the Doctor with the Milites emeriti the old Cavaliers of whose Principles there could be no fear and of whose Services there could be no more need But notwithstanding all the frowns of Fortune yet he could say his Nunc Dimittis with more sensible joy and chearfulness than he was able to do for many of the precedent years having the satisfaction to live I cannot say to see till the King was restored to his Throne and the Church to its Immunities and Rights Yea let them take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his own House The Doctor had nothing given him but what neither Law nor Justice could detain from him and that was the former Preferments that he had in the Church from the profits and possession of which he had been kept above seventeen years And with those he contentedly acquiesced and not unlike some of the old famous Romans after they had done all the Services they could for their Country returned home to their poor Wives and little Farms yoking again their Oxen for the Plough when they had fettered their enemies in Chains Above all this excellent Scholar enjoyed the inward peace and tranquillity of his own mind in that he fought a good fight kept the Faith finished his course discharged his Duty and Trust and had been counted worthy to suffer the loss of all things except his Conscience for the best of Princes and the most righteous of Causes in the world And I pray God grant that an old observation which I have somewhere met withal may not be verified either as to the concerns of Dr. Heylyn or any of the old Royallists viz. It is an ill sign of prosperity to any Kingdom where such as deserve well find no other recompence than the peace of their own Consciences But alas all these unkindnesses and neglects were trivial to the irreparable loss of his eye-sight of which he found a sensible and gradual decay for many years and therefore was the better enabled to endure it But about the year 1654. tenebrescunt videntes per foramina those that looked out of the windows were darkened and he was constrained to make use of other mens eyes but not in the sense as great persons do to guide him in the Motions of his Body tho not in the Contemplations of his Mind Like good old Iacob his eyes were dim and he could not see but there was this difference between them that the Patriarchs eyes were grown dim by reason of Age but Dr. Heylyns were darken'd with Study and Industry As the whole frame of his Body was uniform comely and upright his Stature of a middle size and proportion so his Eye naturally was strong sparkling and vivacious and as likely to continue useful and serviceable to its Owner as any mans whatsoever But by constant and indefatigable Study which for many years he took in the night being hurried up and down with a successive crowd of Business in the day either the Crystalline humor was dried up or the optick Nerves became perforated and obstructed by which means the Visive Spirits were stop'd and an imperfect kind of Cataract was fixed in his eyes which neither by inward Medicines nor outward Remedies could ever be brought to that maturity and consistence as to be fit for cutting Detestabilis est caecitas si nâ—mo oculos perdiderit nisi cui eruendi snnt No punishment would be more dreadful than blindness if none lost their eyes but those that had them pulled out by tortures and burning basons But this Sors Letho dirior omni this heavy affliction was by God laid upon Dr. Heylyn to exercise his Faith to quicken Devotion to try his Patience and to prepare him for his merciful Rewards Animo multis modis variisque delectari licet etiamsi non adhibeatur Aspectus Loquor autem de docto homine erudito cui vivere est cogitare Sapientis autem cogitatio non fermè ad investigandum adhibet oculos advocatos etenim si nox non adimit vitam beatam cur dies nocti similis adimat A man may recreate himself various ways altho his sight fail if he be knowing and learned For a wise man will entertain himself