Learning for the first I shall say in general That he always adhered to and maintained the fundamental Catholick Truths observing that Golden Rule concerning Traditions Quod ubique quod ab omnibus quod semper Creditum est c. and never approved of any Religion under what pretence soever obtruded or introduced contrary to the Scriptures and Primitive Truths received and professed in the Church of Christ in all Ages and upon this account could never comply with nor approve of the new Doctrines and Worship obtruded and practised in the Church of Rome as now it is but always protested against their Innovations and humane Inventions as doth most evidently appear in his Writings bearing Testimony against their Corruptions False and Erroneous principles And as for the great Scholars and Leading Men of the Romish Church the Lord Primate usually said That it is no Marvel if they had a veil cast over their Eyes as St. Paul said of the Jews in the reading of the Scriptures for besides the several judgments of God upon them that have blinded their own Eyes their Minds are so prepossessed and Corrupted with false Principles Prejudices and Worldly interest that it is no wonder if they cannot perceive the most manifest and plainest Truths But as this good Mans judgment was sound and not byassed by prejudice or passion or worldly interest so did he heartily approve of the Religion professed and established in the Church of England as most Congruous to the Holy Scriptures and Primitive Christianity and in which if a Man keep the Faith and Lives according to its precepts persevering he need not doubt of his Salvation And in this Faith and Communion of the Church of England he lived Holily and died happily And this Holy Primate being fully perswaded in his own Mind laboured instantly to reduce Popish Recusants and Sectaries from their Errors and vain Conceits to inform them aright and to perswade them for their Souls good to comply with and embrace the Religion and Communion of the Church of England and this he aimed to bring about by his Writing Preaching and Conference upon all occasions and was successful in that enterprise But now for his Opinion in some nice points of Religion that do not touch the foundation of Faith he would not be rigorously Dogmatical in his own Opinions as to impose on others Learned and Pious Men of a different Apprehension in the more obscure points with whom nevertheless thô not altogether of his judgment he had a friendly Conversation and mutual Affection and Respect seeing they agreed in the points necessary Would to God That the Learned and Pious Men in these Days were of the like temper It will be needless here to mention any more particulars of his judgment in several points seeing there are so many instances of this kind in the Collection to which I refer the Reader Yet before I leave this matter I think fit to mind you of some Treatises published by Doctor Bernard after the Primates Death Intituled The judgment of the late Lord Primate on several Subjects 1. Of Spiritual Babylon on Rev. 18. 4. 2. Of Laying on of Hands Heb. 6. 2. and the ancient form of Words in Ordination 3. Of a set form of Prayer in the Church Each being the judgment of the late Bishop of Armagh which being not set down in my Lord Primates own Words nor written by him in the Method and Order they are there put into cannot be reckoned being much enlarged by the Dr. as himself confesseth therefore cannot so well vouch them as if I had been certain that all he writes were purely the Lord Primate 's since the Papers out of which the Doctor says he Collected them were never restored to my Custody thô borrowed under that Trust that they should be so and therefore I desire that those into whose hands those Manuscripts are now fallen since the Drs. decease would restore them either to my self or the Lord Primates Relations And tho perhaps some of those Letters published by Dr. Bernard might have been as well omitted or at least some private reflections of them left out concerning a Person easily provoked to bitterness and ill words being provoked by the publishing those Letters writ an invective Book on purpose to answer to what was contained therein and not contented with this has likewise bestowed great part of that Book to tax my Lord Primates Opinions and Actions as differing from the Church of England only to lessen the Esteem and Veneration which he deservedly had with all those who loved the King and Church of England as also to maintain those old Stories broached before concerning the repeal of the Irish Articles and the Death of the Earl of Strafford to which last particulars I need say no more than what I have already spoken in the Lord Primate's Vindication and as to the former relating to my Lord's Opinions and Actions a near Relation of the Lord Primate's has I hope vindicated him sufficiently in an Appendix at the end of this Account so that I shall concern my self no farther therewith I have now no more to do than to give you a short account of his Opinions in some of the most difficult parts of Learning with some Observations which either my self or others that convers'd with him can remember we have received from him by way of discourse though not the Twentieth part of what might have been retrieved in this kind had this task been undertaken many years agone whilst these things were fresh in our memories and whilst many more of his learned friends were alive who must needs have received divers learned remarks from his excellent conversation As for the Lord Primate's Opinions in Critical Learning it is very well known as well by his Discourse as Writings that he still defended the certainty and purity of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament before the Translation of the Septuagint since he doubted whether this we have were the true Translation of the LXX or not as you may see in his Epistle to Valesius and his Answer thereunto which controversie as it is a subject above my capacity to give a Judgment on having exercised as it still does both the Wits and Pens of the greatest Scholars in this present Age So I heartily wish That it may never tend to the disadvantage not only of our own but indeed of the whole Christian Religion with Prophane and Sceptical men for whilst one Party decry the Hebrew Text as obscure and corrupted by the Jews and the other side shew the failings and mistakes of the Greek Translation sufficient to prove that it was not performed by men Divinely Inspired it gives the Weak and more Prophane sort of Readers occasion to doubt of the Divine Authority of these Sacred Records though notwithstanding all the differences that have hitherto been shown between the Hebrew Original and Greek Translation do not God be thanked prove of greater moment than
Tongues and did render much of the Old Testament from the Original Hebrew into English before King James's Translation was made which I have seen and is now in Manuscript with his Nephew Sir Theophilus Jones Knight one of his Majesties Privy-Council in Ireland He also Translated out of Latin into English that Book written by his Brother James Usher De Ecclesiarum Christianarum successione statu which Translation is yet only in Manuscript And of this Ambrose being a very young man the Learned Mr. William Eyre in a Letter to Dr. James Usher writes thus Interea vero agnosco me valde obaeratum esse tibi doctissimo juveni fratri tuo Ambrosio qui peritissima manu sua quaedam in meum usum ex Alcorano Arabice excripsit which knowledge in the Arabick Tongue in those days was very rare especially in that Country But our James Usher as God had furnisht him with excellent endowments of Nature a treatable Disposition a strong Memory and a ready Invention so by God's blessing on his improvement of them by his Learning and Industry he arrived to that admirable perfection that gave him a reputation superiour to all that he could derive from his Family and rendred his name famous beyond the narrow bounds of his own Country even throughout the Christian World wherever true Piety and useful Learning were had in any esteem and veneration After he had learnt to read from his Aunts he entered on the Bible that Book of Books as he ever called it in which he made a happy beginning and a more happy progress like Timothy of whom it is recorded That from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make a man wise to Salvation According to which excellent Rule he always governed his life and conversation He began early to have a deep sense of Religion and to consider the great concernment of his Soul how he might serve God aright Remembring his Creator in the days of his Youth even but in the tenth year of his Age When he became fit for a Grammar-School it happened that two eminent Persons of the Scottish Nation though their business and quality were then unknown came to Dublin being sent over thither by King James then King of Scotland to keep a correspondence with the English Protestant Nobility and Gentry about Dublin in order to secure his interest in that Kingdom when Queen Elizabeth should happen to die these for a colour undertook the imployment of School-Masters to instruct and discipline Youth in Learning and good Education for the want of such was very great there at that time The one was James Fullerton afterward Knighted and of the Bed-chamber to King James the other was James Hamilton afterward also Knighted and created by the King Viscount Clandebois To their Instruction and Tuition was our James Usher committed by his Parents with whom he made so great a proficiency in a short time that he became the best Scholar of the School for Latin Poetry and Rhetorick all this being within the space of five years He would usually say when he recounted the Providences of God towards him That he took this for one remarkable instance of it That he had the opportunity and advantage of his Education from those men who came thither by Chance and yet proved so happily useful to himself and others He told me That in this first Scene of his life he was extreamly addicted to Poetry and was much delighted with it but afterward growing to more maturity and consideration he shook it off as not suitable to the great end of his more resolved serious and profitable Studies and then set himself industriously to pursue Learning of a higher Nature Yet he always loved a good Poem that was well and chastly writ And lighting once upon a passage in Tully viz. Nescire quid antea quam natus sis acciderit id est semper esse Puerum and also reading Sleidan's History of the four Empires he presently resolved on the study and search of Antiquity and all sorts of Learning and how he might contribute to the advancement thereof this was a brave and a manly attempt for a Lad but of 12 or 13 years of age yet as he attempted so he conquered all the difficulties which he met with in the search after and bringing to light those many things which ignorance had corrupted and time well-nigh buried in oblivion especially in a Country where there was then so great a scarcity of good Books and learned Men. I mention these things so much above his years for a remembrance of God's special Providence over this Person in endowing him with such admirable gifts of Nature to dispose him so vigorously to Learning and to fit and qualifie him for such highly serviceable Undertakings so that he seem'd designed by God by his Doctrine and Example to teach men how to live and by his deep Learning and strong Reason to confute the clamorous Cavils of the greatest adversaries of our Religion year 1593 In the year 1593 was Trinity Colledge in Dublin finished and James Usher then in the thirteenth year of his age adjudged by his School-Masters sufficiently qualified for an admittance into that University and so was entered accordingly Dr. Loftus sometime Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge afterwards Arch-Bishop of Dublin being the first Provost of that College and Mr. Hamilton one of this our Usher's School-Masters and Senior Fellow was Tutor to this early ripe Youth whose name as the first Scholar there stands to this day in the first line of the Roll not without a future presage that he might prove an honour and ornament to that Colledge and Nation as he afterwards did And being thus fixed he sets himself in good earnest to the study of the Languages and Liberal Arts not neglecting Ecclesiastical History and Antiquity in all which he improved to admiration for between fifteen and sixteen years of age he had made such a proficiency in Chronology that he had drawn up in Latin an exact Chronicle of the Bible as far as the book of Kings not much differing from the method of his late Annals excepting the enlargements in some more accurate Observations and Synchronisms of Heathen Stories Sometime after this before he was Batchelor of Arts he had read Stapleton's Fortress of the Faith and finding his confidence in asserting Antiquity for the Tenents of Popery and taxing of our Church with Novelty in what it dissented from theirs he was in a great dispute with himself where the truth lay not then knowing but that those quotations he made use of might be true but this he took for an undeniable truth That the ancientest must needs be the right as the nearer the Fountain the purer the Streams and that Errours sprang up as the Ages succeeded according to that known Speech of Tertullian Verum quodcunque primum adulterum quodcunque posterius He suspected that Stapleton might misquote the Fathers or
Church may still either by preaching or writing maintain any point of Doctrine contained in those Articles without being either Heterodox or Irregular It was likewise reported and has been since written by some with the like truth that the Lord Primate should have some dispute with Dr. Bramhall then Bishop of London-Derry concerning these Articles Whereas the contest between the Lord Primate and that Bishop was not about the Articles but the Book of Canons which were then to be established for the Church of Ireland and which the Bishop of Derry would have to be passed in the very same form and words with those in England which the Lord Primate with divers other of the Bishops opposed as somewhat prejudicial to the Liberties of the Church of Ireland and they so far prevailed herein that it was at last concluded That the Church of Ireland should not be tyed to that Book but that such Canons should be selected out of the same and such others added thereunto as the present Convocation should judge fit for the Government of that Church which was accordingly performed as any man may see that will take the pains to compare the two Books of the English and Irish Canons together And what the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's judgment was on this affair you may see in a Letter of his to the Lord Primate published in this Collection About the end of this year the Lord Primate published his Anno 1639 long expected work entitled Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates In which also is inserted a History of Pelagius and his Heresie which Work I suppose my Lord kept so long unpublished because he still found fresh matter to add to it as you may see by the many Additions and Emendations at the latter end of it and as it was long in coming out so it did fully answer expectation when it came abroad into the World being the most exact account that ever yet was given of the British Church beginning with the earliest notices we can find in Ancient Authors of any credit concerning the first planting of Christianity in these Islands within twenty years after our Saviour's Crucifixion and bringing it down with the Succession of Bishops as far as they could be retreived not only in our Britain but in Ireland also as far as towards the end of the VII Century collected out of the best Authors either Printed or Manuscript and is so great a Treasure of this kind of Learning that all that have writ since with any success on this subject must own themselves beholding to him for his elaborate Collections The Lord Primate having now sate Arch-Bishop sixteen years Anno 1640 with great satisfaction and benefit to the Church about the beginning of this year came into England with his Wife and Family intending to stay here a year or two about his private Affairs and then to return again But it pleased God to disappoint him in those resolutions for he never saw his native Country again not long after his coming to London when he had kissed his Majesty's hand and been received by him with his wonted favour he went to Oxford as well to be absent from those heats and differences which then happened in that short Parliament as also with greater freedom to pursue his Studies in the Libraries there where he was accommodated with Lodgings in Christ-Church by Dr. Morice Canon of that House and Hebrew Professor and whilst he was there he conversed with the most Learned Persons in that famous University who used him with all due respect whilst he continued with them so after he had resided there some time he returned again to London where after the sitting of that long and unhappy Parliament he made it his business as well by preaching as writing to exhort them to Loyalty and Obedience to their Prince endeavouring to the utmost of his power to heal up those breaches and reconcile those differences that were ready to break out both in Church and State though it did not meet with that success he always desired This year there was published at Oxford among divers other Treatises of Bishop Andrews Mr. Hooker and other Learned men Anno 1641 concerning Church Government the Lord Primate's Original of Bishops and Metropolitans wherein he proves from Scripture as also the most Ancient Writings and Monuments of the Church that they owe their original to no less Authority than that of the Apostles and that they are the Stars in the right hand of Christ Apoc. 2. So that there was never any Christian Church founded in the Primitive Times without Bishops which discourse was not then nor I suppose ever will be answered by those of a contrary judgment That unhappy dispute between his Majesty and the two Houses concerning his passing the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Attainder now arising and he much perplexed and divided between the clamour of a discontented People and an unsatisfied Conscience thought fit to advise with some of his Bishops what they thought he ought to do in point of Conscience as he had before consulted his Judges in matter of Law among which his Majesty thought fit to make choice of the Lord Primate for one though without his seeking or knowledge but since some men either out of spleen or because they would not retract what they had once written from vulgar report have thought fit to publish as if the Lord Primate should advise the King to sign the Bill for the said Earl's Attainder it will not be amiss to give you here that relation which Dr. Bernard had under his own hand and has printed in the Funeral Sermon by him published which is as followeth That Sunday morning wherein the King consulted with the four Bishops of London Durham Lincoln and Carlisle the Arch-Bishop of Armagh was not present being then preaching as he then accustomed every Sunday to do in the Church of Covent-Garden where a Message coming unto him from his Majesty he descended from the Pulpit and told him that brought it he was then as he saw imployed about God's business which as soon as he had done he would attend upon the King to understand his pleasure But the King spending the whole Afternoon in the serious debate of the Lord Strafford's Case with the Lords of his Council and the Judges of the Land he could not before Evening be admitted to his Majesty's presence There the Question was again agitated Whether the King in justice might pass the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford for that he might shew mercy to him was no question at all no man doubting but that the King without any Scruple of Conscience might have granted him a Pardon if other reasons of State in which the Bishops were made neither Judges nor Advisers did not hinder him The whole result therefore of the determination of the Bishops was to this effect That therein the matter of Fact and matter of Law were to be distinguished That of the
and his Epistle to Lud. Capellus concerning the various readings of the Hebrew Text speak him a great Critick in the Greek and Hebrew Tongues and his Annals of the Old and New Testament do shew how great a Master he was in all the Ancient Authors both Sacred and Prophane besides several other smaller Treatises as well in Latin as English viz. Of the Macedonian Year the Geographical Description of the lesser Asia c. each of which shew his great skill either in Astronomy ancient Geography or the Civil Laws of the Roman Empire besides divers other smaller Works of his too many to be here particularly inserted and therefore I shall refer the Reader to the Catalogue added at the end of this Account Yet must I not omit particularly to take notice of two excellent Posthumous Treatises of his which have not been yet mentioned as being published since his death the first is that of the Power of the Prince and Obedience of the Subject which was written by the King's Command during the late Wars but forborn then to be published because the corruption of those Times still growing worse and worse would not bear this sound Doctrine nor did he think it proper to do it in the short time of that Usurper lest he or others might have interpreted it to his advantage but not long after his late Majesty's happy Restauration it was Published and Dedicated to him by the Lord Primate's Grandson James Tyrrel with an excellent Preface written by that learned and good Bishop Sanderson in which he has given as true a Character of the Author as of the work it self in which he says with a great deal of truth That there is nothing which can be brought either from the Holy Scriptures Fathers Philosophers common Reason and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm to prove it altogether unlawful for Subjects to take up Arms against their Sovereign Prince but is there made use of with the greatest advantage The other Treatise is written in Latin entitled Chronologia Sacra which the Lord Primate never lived to finish but was as much of it as could be found though somewhat imperfectly published by the Learned and Reverend Dr. Barlow now Lord Bishop of Lincoln The occasion and design of this Treatise was to prove the Foundations of the accounts of time in his Annals and that his Chronological Calculations made use of in that work agreed with the accounts laid down in the Scriptures and Prophane Authors which could not be done in the Annals themselves without interrupting the Series of the Work In this he hath solved several difficulties relating to the History and Chronology of the Bible he began with the Creation though the first Chapter is lost being not to be found among his Papers yet in the next he gives an exact account of the differences between the Jewish Samaritan and Greek Calculations from the Creation to the Birth of Abraham which he carried on as far as the time of the Judges but was then interrupted by death Yet he had before happily perfected the account of the Reigns and Synchronisms of the Kings of Judah and Israel from Saul to the Babylonish Captivity which being more perfect than the other part was thought fit by the Printer or Publisher to be set before it though it be indeed contrary to the order of time It was great pity that my Lord did not live to finish this work which would have been of excellent use for the clearing of many difficulties and reconciling the differences between the Sacred and Prophane Chronology and History I may here likewise take notice of those many Volumes of his Collections and several of them all of his own hand on particular subjects both Theological Philological and Historical most of them extracted out of several Manuscripts in the Libraries of the Universities Cathedrals and private mens Studies there being scarce a choice Book or Manuscript in any of them but was known to him nor was he conversant in the Libraries of our own Nation alone but also knew most of the choice pieces in the Vatican Escurial and Imperial Library at Vienna as likewise in that of the King of France of Thuanus at Paris and Erpenius in Holland as still appears by the Catalogues he had procured of them divers of which I have now in my Custody and out of which Libraries he at his great cost procured divers Copies for his own use which made the most considerable Ornament of his Study But to return to his own Collections above mentioned which were the Store-Houses and Repositories from whence he furnished himself with materials for the writing of so many learned Treatises and out of which might be gathered matter towards the performing much more in the same kind though divers Volumes of them were borrowed by Dr. Bernard and never restored by him as I have already said Yet those that remain are thought very considerable by the several Learned men who have perused them and in particular the late judicious Lord Chief Justice Hale having borrowed several of them did out of them Transcribe those four Volumes which he bequeaths in his Will to the Library at Lincolns-Inn among divers other Manuscripts of his by the name of His Extracts out of the Lord Primate's Collections And for the satisfaction of the Reader I shall give you the Heads and Subjects of some of the most considerable of them at the end of this account So that the Lord Primate was like the wise Housholder in the Gospel who brought out of his Treasure things New and Old And a Learned man of this Nation compared the Arch-Bishop of Armagh not only to a careful Surveyor who collects all sorts of materials for his building before he begins his work but also to a skilful Architect who knew Artificially how to frame and put together the materials before Collected till they became one strong entire and uniform Structure Nor does any thing more express the great strength of the Lord Primate's memory than those Collections which though promiscuously gathered by way of Adversaria according as those Subjects offered themselves yet could he as readily call to mind and find out any particular in them which he had occasion to make use of as if they had been digested in the more exact method of a Common-place-Book So that he certainly deserved a much higher Character than that Dr. Heylin Sarcastically puts upon him Of a walking Concordance and living Library as if he had been only an Index for such wise men as himself to make use of but greater Scholars than he had far higher and more Reverend thoughts of him there being scarce a Learned Writer of this present Age who does not mention his great Piety Learning and Judgment with honour and veneration I had once collected a great many Elogies of this kind from the Writings of divers considerable Authors but since I find that done already by others and that it would swell this work
that passage be left out of the present Article according as it passed in the Convocation of the Year 1562 yet cannot it be used as an Argument to prove that the Church hath altered her Judgment in that Point as some Men would have it that passage being left out for these Reasons following For first that passage was conceived to make the Article too inclinable to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome which makes the chief end of Christ's descent into Hell to be the fetching thence the Souls of the Fathers who died before and under the Law And secondly because it was conceived by some Learned Men that the Text was capable of some other construction than to be used for an Argument of this Descent The Judgment of the Church continues still the same as before it was and is as plain and positive for a Local Descent as ever she had not else left this Article in the same place in which she found it or given it the same distinct Title as before it had viz. De Descensu Christi ad Inferos in the Latin Copies of King Edward the 6th that is to say Of the going down of Christ into Hell as in the English Copies of Queen Elizabeth's Reign Nor indeed was there any reason why this Article should have any distinct place or title at all unless the maintenance of a Local Descent were intended by it For having spoken in the former Article of Christ's Suffering Crucifying Death and Burial it had been a very great Impertinency not to call it worse to make a distinct Article of his descending into Hell if to descend into Hell did signifie the same with this being buried as some Men then fancied or that there were not in it some further meaning which might deserve a place distinct from his Death and Burial The Article speaking thus viz. as Christ died for us and was buried so is it to be believed that he went down into Hell is either to be understood of a Local Descent or else we are tied to believe nothing by it but what was explicitly or implicitly comprehended in the former Article And lastly That Mr. Alex. Noel before mentioned who being Prolocutor of the Convocation in the Year 1562 when this Article was disputed approved and ratified cannot in reason be supposed to be ignorant of the true sence and meaning of this Church in that particular And he in his Catechism above mentioned declares that Christ descended in his Body into the bowels of the Earth and in his Soul separated from that Body he descended also into Hell by means whereof the power and efficacy of his Death was not made known only to the Dead but the Devils themselves insomuch that both the Souls of the Unbelievers did sensibly perceive that Condemnation which was most justly due to them for their Incredulity and Satan himself the Prince of Devils did as plainly see that his tyranny and all the Powers of Darkness were opprest ruined and destroyed But on the contrary the L. Primat allows not any such Local Descent as is maintained by the Church and defended by the most learned Members of it who have left us any thing in writing about this Article And yet he neither followeth the Opinion of Calvin himself nor of the generality of those of the Calvinian Party who herein differ from their Master but goes a new way of a later discovery in which although he had few Leaders he hath found many Followers By Christ's descending into Hell he would have nothing else to be understood but his continuing in the state of separation between the Body and the Soul his remaining under the power of Death during the time he lay buried in the Grave which is no more in effect tho it differ somewhat in the terms than to say that he died and was buried and rose not till the third day as the Creed instructs us In vindication of the Lord Primat's Judgment in the sence of this Article I shall lay down some previous Considerations to excuse him if perhaps he differed from the sence of the Church of England in this Article if it should appear that it ought to be understood in a strict and literal sence For first you must understand that this Article of Christ's Descent into Hell is not inserted amongst the Articles of the Church of Ireland which were the Confession of Faith of that Church when the Lord Primat writ this Answer to the Jesuit the Articles of the Church of England amongst which this of Christ's Descent into Hell is one not being received by the Church of Ireland till the Year 1634 ten years after the publishing of this Book so that he could not be accused for differing from those Articles which he was not then obliged to receive or subscribe to 2dly Had this Article been then inserted and expressed in the very same words as it is in those of the Church of England could he be accused of being Heterodox for not understanding it as the Doctor does of a Local Descent of Christ's Soul into Hell or the places of Torment since the Church of England is so modest as only to assert that it is to be believed that he went down into Hell without specifying in what sence she understand it For as the Lord Primat very learnedly proves in this Treatise the word Hell in old Saxon signifies no more than hidden or covered so that in the original propriety of the word our Hell doth exactly answer the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place which is unseen or removed from the sight of man So that the word Hell signifies the same with Hades in the Greek and Inferi in the Latin Concerning which St. Augustin gives us this Note The name of Hell in Latin Inferi is variously put in Scriptures and in many meanings according as the sence of the things which are intreated of do require And Mr. Casaubon who understood the property of Greek and Latin words as well as any this other They who think that Hades is properly the seat of the Damned be no less deceived than they who when they reade Inferos in Latin Writers do interpret it of the same place Whereupon the Lord Primat proceeds to shew That by Hell in divers places of Scripture is not to be understood the place of the Wicked or Damned but of the Dead in general as in Psal. 89. 48. What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of Hell And Esa. 38. 18 19. Hell cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The Living the Living he shall praise thee as I do this day Where the opposition betwixt Hell and the state of Life in this World is to be observed Therefore since the word Hell does not necessarily imply a place of Torment either in Scriptures or
Consecration I must now humbly intreat your Grace to send me the Names and Values of all the Bishopricks and Deaneries in Ireland And what Bishopricks are joyned to others that I may be the better able to serve that Church being as yet one of the Committee And I pray excuse my not writing to Mr. Bedle for in truth I have not leisure So I leave you to the Grace of God and rest Your Grace's very loving Brother Guil. London June 16 1629. LETTER CXLIII A Letter from the Right Reverend W. Laud Bishop of London to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh at Armagh My very good Lord THE two Fellows of the Colledg of Dublin which are attendant here about the freedom of their Election were commanded by his Majesty to send to the Colledg there and to know whom they would pitch upon for their Governour And his Majesty was content upon the Reasons given by me and the Petition of the Fellows to leave them to freedom so they did chuse such a Man as would be serviceable to the Church and Him Upon this after some time they delivered to the King that they would choose or had chosen Dr. Usher a Man of your Grace's Name and Kindred His Majesty thereupon referred them to the Secretary the Lord Vicount Dorchester and my self to inform our selves of his Worth and Fitness My Lord proposed that they should think of another Man that was known unto us that we might the better deliver our Judgments to the King I was very sensible of your Lordship's Name in him and remembred what you had written to me in a former Letter concerning him and thereupon prevailed with his Majesty that I might write these Letters to you which are to let your Grace understand that his Majesty puts so great Confidence in your Integrity and readiness to do him Service that he hath referred this business to the Uprightness of your Judgment and will exercise his Power accordingly For thus he hath commanded me to write That your Grace should presently upon receipt of these Letters write back to me what your Knowledg and Judgment is of the worth and fitness of Dr. Usher for this place setting all Kindred and Affection aside And upon that Certificate of yours the King will leave them to all freedom of their choice or confirm it if it be made So wishing your Lordship all Health and Happiness I leave you to the Grace of God and shall ever rest Your Grace's very loving Friend and Brother Guil. London London House June 25. 1629. LETTER CXLIV A Letter from Dr. Bainbridg to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My very good Lord THis Bearer's unexpected departure hath prevented my desire to discharge some part of those many Obligations wherein I am bound unto your Grace but assuring my self that your Grace will a little longer suspend your Censure I am bold to mediate for another Whereas our Turky Merchants trading at Aleppo being now destitute of a Minister have referr'd the choice of one unto your self may it please you to understand that there is one Mr. Johnson a Fellow of Magdalen-Colledg who hath spent some Years in the Oriental Languages and being desirous to improve his Knowledg therein is content to adventure himself in the voyage he would take the pains to preach once a week but not oftner being desirous to spend the rest of his time in perfecting his Languages and making such other Observations as may tend to the advancement of Learning If your Grace upon these terms please to recommend him to the Merchants I dare engage my Credit for his civil and sober Behaviour and his best Endeavours to do your Grace all respective Service I do not commend an indigent Fellow enforced to run a desperate hazard of his Fortunes but a learned Gentleman of fair hopes and presently well furnished with all things needful to a Scholar I suppose that Fetherstone did send you a Catalogue of Barroccins his Greek Manuscripts they be now Prisoners in our publick Library by the gift of one Chancellor and with them some few more given by Sir Tho. Rae amongst which there is as I take it a fair Copy in Arabick of the Apostles Canons If there be any thing in these Manuscripts which may give you content I shall with my hearty Prayers for your good Health endeavour to approve my self Your Graces most affectionate Servant John Bainbridge Oxon July 20 1629. LETTER CXLV A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend W. Laud Bishop of London My very good Lord YOur Letters of the 25th of June I received the 8th day of August wherein I found contained a large Testimony as well of your special care of the welfare of our poor Colledg as of your tender respect unto my Name and Credit for which I must acknowledg my self to stand ever bound to perform all faithful Service unto your Lordship I have hereupon written unto the Fellows of the House that in making their Election they should follow their Consciences according to their Oaths without any by-respects whatsoever Dr. Usher is indeed my Cousin german but withal the Son of that Father at whose instance charge and travel the Charter of the Foundation of the Colledg was first obtained from Queen Elizabeth which peradventure may make him somewhat the more to be respected by that Society To his Learning Honesty and Conformity unto the Discipline of our Church no Man I suppose will take exception And of his Ability in Government he hath given some proof already while he was Vice-Provost in that House where his care in preventing the renewing of the Leases at that time was such that thereby we have been now enabled so to order the matter that within these six Years the Colledg-Rents shall be advanced well-nigh to the double value of that they have been Whereunto I will add thus much more that I know he sincerely intendeth the good of his Country meaneth to go on where Dr. Bedell hath left and in his proceedings will order himself wholly according as your Lordship shall be pleased to direct him Which if it may prove an inducement to move his Majesty to confirm his Election I shall hold my self strongly engaged thereby to have a special eye to the Government of that Colledg seeing the miscarriage of any thing therein cannot but in some sort reflect upon my self who would rather lose my Life than not answer the Trust reposed in me by my Soveraign In obedience unto whose sacred Directions and discharge of the Care committed unto me by his Letters of the 7th of November last the Copy whereof I send herewith I humbly make bold to represent this also unto your Lordship's Consideration whether if the Lord Bishop of Glogher shall be removed unto the Arch-bishoprick of Cashell the Dean of Raphoe may not be thought upon to succeed him in Glogher as being a very well deserying Man and one toward
characterum mutationem longe antea factam somniet Morinus Cloaca quo magis agitatur eo Mephitin exhalat magis Morinus Samaritanis antiquis Samaritanior etiam evasit Illi enim teste Eulogio Jesum filium Nave Prophetam praedictum Mosi similem futurum profitebantur Librum ejus pro Canonico certò habuere qui hanc illi gloriam tribuebant At hunc librum nobis eripuit cùm aliis prophetiis Dositheus Morini antecessor Det nobis Morinus charactere Samaritano scriptos Prophetarum libros aut fateatur se plures scripturae sacrae codices quam dederit abstulisse Sed nec ferendum est hominem Christianum Samaritanos Dei hostes Judaeis Dei populo in libris sacris tuendis anteferre Praecipuè cum constet Prophetas fuisse post commentitiam characterum mutationem in populo Judaico in Samaritano nullos Cur non ergo Samaritana Biblia nobis reliquere Prophetae Cur de tanta mutatione silent Cur apud Haereticos sepulta Biblia in lucem Spiritu Divino eos illustrante non producunt Ut taceam Morini in Sacris Literis tractandis magistralitatem qui eodem jure in his quo Sorbona in aliis censurâ afficiendis utitur Hoc placet illud displicet quandoque Samaritanus codex quandoque Latinus Graecus semper nunquam illi Hebraicus approbatur Si prout meritus est verbis asperioribus nonnunquam castigetur Morinus nemo nobis vitio vertat neque enim cum Haeretico aliquo res est qui articulum fidei unum aut alterum negat aut textum peculiarem aliter quà m veritas posuit interpretatur sed cum eo qui fontes sacros in universum abripit pro Deo Israelis falsi Messiae adulteria nobis obtrudit Nec ignorantiam nobis objiciat quis quòd Jesuitam eum appellemus Indignaretur sat scio Morinus si Congregationis Oratoriae Iesu Christi Presbyterum titulo isto non dignaremur Liber certè totus Jesuiticum spiritum frontem perfrictam Societati illi familiarem nimis prodit Si quid sit quod ulteriorem disquisitionem requirat totum illud si respondere Morino visum fuerit in replicatione fusiùs tractabitur Prelo aliàs impraesentiarum vacante oblata vulgandi opportunitas festinationem operis urgebat Haec interim habui quae tibi dummodo id placeat quod pro singulari tua tum pietate tum candore nullus ambigo in perpetuum erga Dominationem tuam studii observantiae meae monumentum dedicarem Deus verbi sui majestatem contra omnes impiorum latratus potenter ipse tueatur per totum orbem indiès ampliùs diffundat Te verò Hibernae gentis ornamentum in Christianae Religionis emolumentum diutissimè in terris florentem conservare tandemque sero tamen in gloriam sempiternam recipere dignetur Claphamae Calend. April 1635. Reverendissimae Dominationi tuae addictissimus Franciscus Tailerus LETTER CLXXXIV A Letter from the most Reverend William Laud Arch-bishop of Canterbury to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Salutem in Christo. My very good Lord I Thank you heartily for your Letters and am as heartily glad that your Parliament and Convocation are so happily ended especially for the Church and that both for the particular of your letting Leases which is for Maintenance and for the quiet and well-ordering and ending of your Book of Canons I hope now the Church of Ireland will begin to flourish again and that both with inward Sufficiency and outward Means to support it And for your Canons to speak Truth and with wonted liberty and freedom though I cannot but think the English Canons entire especially with some few amendments would have done betterly yet since you and that Church have thought otherwise I do very easily submit to it and you shall have my Prayers that God would bless it As for the Particular about Subscription I think you have couched that well since as it seems there was some necessity to carry that Article closely And God forbid you should upon any occasion have rouled back upon your former Controversy about the Articles For if you should have risen from this Convocation in heat God knows when or how that Church would have cooled again had the cause of Difference been never so slight By which means the Romanist which is too strong a Party already would both have strengthned and made a scorn of you And therefore ye are much bound to God that in this nice and picked Age you have ended all things canonically and yet in peace And I hope you will be all careful to continue and maintain that which God hath thus mercifully bestowed upon you Your Grace's very loving Friend and Brother W. Cant. Lambeth May 10. 1635. LETTER CLXXXV A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to Dr. Ward Good Doctor I Have been almost tired with continual attendance on out long continued Parliament and Convocation which being done they would needs impose upon me also the moderating of the Divinity Act and the creating of the Doctors at our last Commencement I am now at last retired from Dublin to my old Place where I begin at length Redire in gratiam cum veteribus Amicis I send you herewith Harrys his Book against the Friars and our New Canons The Articles of Religion agreed upon in our former Synod Anno 1615 we let stand as they did before But for the manifesting of our Agreement with the Church of England we have received and approved your Articles also concluded in the Year 1562 as you may see in the first of our Canons But while we strive here to maintain the Purity of our ancient Truth how cometh it to pass that you in Cambridg do cast such stumbling-blocks in our way by publishing unto the World such rotten Stuff as Shelford hath vented in his five Discourses wherein he hath so carried himself ut Famosi Perni amanuensem possis agnoscere The Jesuits of England sent over the Book hither to confirm our Papists in their obstinacy and to assure them that we are now coming home unto them as fast as we can I pray God this Sin be not deeply laid to their charge who give an occasion to our blind thus to stumble I thank you most heartily for communicating my Lord of Salisbury's Lectures unto me they are excellent learnedly foundly and perspicuously performed and I hope will do much good here for the establishing of our young Divines in the present Truth Will you not make us as much beholden unto you for your own Lectures upon the other Questions You may not think that the same accurateness is expected in the Writings which you privately communicate unto your Friends as in that which you are to commit unto the Press after you have added supremam manum thereunto Neither were it amiss that you should make a Collection of all your Determinations as you see the Bishop of Salisbury hath done and cause your Lectures of the Eucharist to
The publication of the Martyrdoms of Ignatius and Polycarpus sure cannot be unseasonable we are born to those times quibus sirmare animum expedit constantibus exemplis For my self I cannot tell what account to make of my present Employment I have many Irons in the Fire but of no great consequence I do not know how soon I shall be called to give up and am therefore putting my House in order digesting the confused Notes and Papers left me by several Predecessors both in the University and Colledg which I purpose to leave in a better method than I found them At Mr. Patr. Young's request I have undertaken the Collation of Constantines Geoponicks with two MSS. in our publick Library upon which I am forced to bestow some vacâ—nt hours In our Colledg I am ex officio to moderate Divinity-Disputations once a week My honoured Friend Dr. Duck has given me occasion to make some enquiry after the Law And the opportunity of an ingenious young Man come lately from Paris who has put up a private course of Anatomy has prevailed with me to engage my self for his Auditor and Spectator upon three days a week four hours each time But this I do ut explorator non ut transfuga For tho I am not sollicitous to engage my self in that great and weighty Calling of the Ministery after this new way yet I would be loth to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to Divinity Tho I am very insufficient to make a Master-buider yet I could help to bring in Materials from that publick store in our Library to which I could willingly consecrate the remainder of my days and count it no loss to be deprived of all other Accommodations so I might be permitted to enjoy the liberty of my Conscience and Study in that place But if there be such a price set upon the latter as I cannot reach without pawning the former I am resolved the Lord's Will be done I shall in all conditions be most desirous of the continuance of your Grace's Affection and at this time more especially of your Prayers for him who is Your Lordship's most engaged Servant Ger. Langbaine Queens Coll. Feb. 9. 1646 7. LETTER CCXIII. Viro Reverendissimo Honoratissimo Jacobo Usserio Patrono meo summo Venerande Christianus Ravius S. P. D. NON possum omittere Patrone Pater Domine quin subinde ad Te scribam ut solâ meâ voluntate animoque interim gratitudinem meritorum ergà me ingentium tuorum ostendam quando reapse nihil dum possum Rogo saltem hoc ut cùm nuper intellexerim Rev. Dominum Rutilium habuisse Commissum à Tuâ Honoratissimâ Reverendissimaque Dign ut aliquos pro te libros inquireret procuraret meâ potiùs eâ te operâ uti velis tanquam clientis tui obsequentissimi Iste enim meus amicus eam fortè nequeat praestare operam ita laboriosam quam tali in re requiri scio Jam fere annus est elapsus elabeturque ad Calendas Majas à quibus Lectiones meas Amstelodamenses tractavi absolvique interim praeter Grammaticam Mehlfureri Ebraicam A. Buxtorfii Chaldeam Joelem prophetam itemque tria priora Capita Danielis privatisque Collegiis binis de septimanâ publicis lectionibus diebus Martis Veneris hora tertiâ pomeridianâ frequentiori certè auditorio quà m Leidae L'Empereurius Franekerae Coccejus Groningae Altingius Altingii Theologi Germani Filius Cl. Pasor qui olim Arabica Oxoniae docuit publicè jam ab aliquot benè multis annis quibus Groningae Professor vivit nihil omnino praestat in Orientalibus eorum amorem penitus rejecit P. L' Empereurius est Professor Theologiae isque locus vacat si Cl. Buxtorfium Basileâ nancisci potuissent vocatum magno gaudio suscepissent cum desistat locum illum pariter supplere perget L' Empereurius Ego Amstelodamensem Conditionem multo praeferam Leidensi proximo Maio res experientur an Magistratus noster Amplissimus Orientalium Professionem constituerere Ordinariam possit velitque Hoc interim fatentur Curatores ipsi rem ultrà suam omnium spem felicius procedere Aliquot MSS. misi Tigurum à quo loco omnium Tigurinarum Ecclesiarum Antistitis Professoris literas T. D. Committo ut videas me non Amstel 8 Aprilis 1647. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LETTER CCXIV. A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to Dr. Langbaine Salutem in Christo Jesu YEsterday I received your Letter sent by Mr. Patrick Young and thank you very much for your readiness in contributing your pains to the furtherance of my little Treatise de Fidei Symbolis which is now in the Press I hold therein against Vossius and the vulgar Opinion that the Nicene Creed in our Common-Prayer Book is indeed the Nicene and not the Constantinopolitan I mean the Nicene as it is recited by Epiphanius in his Anchoratus p. 518. Edit Graec. Basiliens a Book written seven Years before the Council of Constantinople was held and yet therein both the Article of the Holy Ghost and the others following are recited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which have been hitherto thought to have been added to the Symbol first by that Council If the Synodicon which you think to have been written Anno Christi 583 have any thing touching the distinction of Nicene and Constantinopolitan Creed I would willingly understand and with what number your Synodicon is noted in the former disposition of the Baroccian Library according to which my Catalogue is framed In the first Tome of the Graeco-Latin Edition of Gregory Nazianzen about the 728 Page there is a kind of Symbol the first part whereof I find at the end of the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon in Crabbes Edition intituled Fides Romanorum that is as I conceive it Constantinopolitanorum It is to be found also if I remember aright among the Manuscript Tractates of Nazianzen translated by Ruffinus in Magdalen Colledg Library in the first Edition of S. Ambrose his Works and in Georgius Wicelius his Euchologium By comparing of all which together if I might get a right Copy thereof it would do me some pleasure It is also by some attributed to Athanasius and happily may be that Symbol of his differing from ours which Cazanorius or Czecanorius in his Epistle to Calvin saith to be so common in the Moscovitical and Russian Churches of whose Ecclesiastical Offices you have in the publick Library some Copies by which we might understand the truth hereof I will trouble you no further at this time but rest Your most assured loving Friend Ja. Armachanus London April 22. 1647. I send you back with much thanks your Catalogue of the Arch-bishops of Constantinople In Epistolis Photii Epistola prima MS. quae ad Michaelem Bulgariae Regem est cujus partem aliquiam interprete Turriano Latine dedit Hen. Canisius Antiquarum lectionum Tom. 5. pag. 183. post septem Synodos plus
Innovation touching that weighty Subject and what distance of time you find upon your most exact enquiries à primo anno Cyri ad tempus Nativitatis Christi quantum ex illo tempore sibi vindicet duratio monarchiae Persicae I humbly thank your Grace for the offer of Mr. Eyre his Notes on the Psalms but if he be so wholly of Capellus his Mind in the Controversy I have with him as his Epistles to Capellus do seem to speak him I would not at all be beholden to him for any of his Labours If it be known to your Grace whether Dean Bernard be alive yet and where he is and how he doth you will oblige me greatly to impart the same unto me Thus with my humblest and most affectionate Respects to your Grace I rest Your Grace's most obedient Servant A. Boate. Paris Sept. 6. 1651. LETTER CCLXV. A Letter from the Right Reverend Henry King Bishop of Chichester to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Most Reverend Father THough of late I wanted direction to find your Grace's Aboad not being at Rigate this last Summer my devotion of Service which needs no guide but your own transcendent Worth most habitually falls towards you wheresoever you are As a testimony of this Service I did in August last present by one who undertook the delivery at Harrow-Hill a small Book and least that should fail my Brother sent another by your Chaplain which may render your Grace some account of my Exercise Employment in this retirement The truth is one Sunday at Church hearing a Psalm sung whose wretched expression quite marred the Pen-man's Matter my Devotion I did at my return that Evening try whether from the Version of our Bible I could not easily and with plainness suiting the lowest Understandings deliver it from that garb which indeed made it ridiculous From one to another I passed on until the whole Book was ran through Which done I could not resist the advice importunity of better Judgments than mine own to put it to the Press I was I confess discouraged knowing that Mr. George Sandys and lately one of our praetended Reformers had failed in Two different Extreams The First too elegant for the vulgar use changing both the Meter and Tunes wherewith they had been long acquainted The Other as flat and poor as lamely worded and unhandsomly rhimed as the Old which with much confidence he undertook to amend My Lord I now come forth an Adventurer in a Middle-way whose aim was without affectation of Words to leave them not disfigured in the Sense That this was needful your Grace well knowes but whether my self fit for the attempt my modesty suspects Thus whilst your Grace and other Champions of the Church the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel engage against the Publick Adversaries of Truth I come behind with the Carriages and humbly in the Temples Porch fit the Songs of Sion to celebrate the Triumph of your Pens Though it be too sad a Truth Cythara nostra conversa in luctum yet some of these Psalms may serve as Threnes and Dirges to lament the Present Miseries whose Change as I find not much Reason to hope so I have more Religion than to despair That God may long preserve your Grace amongst us to see a revolution of better Times or if not so to comfort by your Presence many who languish under These is the daily and most earnest prayer of My Lord Your Grace's most faithfully devoted Servant Hen. Chichester Langley-place near Colbrook Oct. 30. 1651. LETTER CCLXVI. Admodum Reverendo longè Clarissimo Viro D. Jacobo Usserio Armachano in Hibernia Archiepiscopo Londinum Vir admodum Reverende Clarissime IMportunus fortè si non etiam inverecundus parumque pudens ac modestus videbor tibi Responsi ad literas meas paulo frequentiores efflagitator Sed dabis spero veniam huic meae sive sollicitudini sive si sic eam vocare libet importunitati quae non aliunde est quà m ab honesto communicandi per literas cum Dignitate tua Clarissima de argumento quodam literario quod semper inter bonos licuit dequo tu sententiam ferre potes simul pro tua singulari doctrina eximia eruditione accuratissimam pro tua pietate Christiana charitate aequissimam Visum est Bootio Viro olim quantum per ejus ad me literas videbatur mihi aequissimo sed mox averso sine ulla justa causa in me animo pro suo genio ingenio me immerentem Criticam meam innoxiam stylo invadere atroci cruento quasi sacra omnia ego irem funditus perditum idque dicatâ Dignitati tuae publicâ Epistolâ Coegit me hac sua importunitate inhumanitate par pari referre calamum in eum hortantibus Amicis aculeatum stringere ad mei tum defensionem tum veritatis quam in hoc argumente à me stare arbitror propugnationem cujus rei aequum existimavi te sacere judicem atque Arbitrum dicatâ pariter tibi Epistolâ Apologeticâ Eam ante menses octo curavi per Amicos ad te mitti bisque ab eo tempore ad Reverentiam tuam dignissimam ea de re scripsi atque ad meas hasce literas Responsum à Dignitate tua adhuc expecto necdum habeo incertus an fato easu aliquo literae meae perierint nec sint tibi redditae aut tuae ad me in via pariter interciderint an verò certum decretum tibi sit omnino nihil respondere quod postremum vix mihi possum persuadere de tanta tua erga omnes humanitate animi verè Christiani generositate Itaque datâ oblatâ mihi per Virum istum Juvenem Doctissimum qui ad vos commigrat percommoda opportunitate volui iterum experiri quid tandem mihi vel sperandum expectandum vel etiam desperandum deinceps sit de Dignitatis tuae erga me vel favore benevolentia vel rigore severitate Age ergo Vir longè Clarissime Noli quaeso silentio tuo animum diutius tenere suspensum sed quid de me Critica mea sentias candidus imperti vel si illa displicet ede quicquid rescripseris gratum erit sed gratius multò si te non longè à sententia mea abire videro Interim velim te de me sentire omnia aequa justa utpote qui Dignitati tuae omnia à Deo O. M. ex animo precor fausta felicia Dignitati tuae Clarissimae in omnibus obsequentissimus Lud. Capellus Dabam Salmurii ipsis Nonis Novembribus 1651. LETTER CCLXVII A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to the Learned Ludovicus Capellus Eruditissimo Viro. D. Ludovico Capello Jacobus Usserius Armachanus S. Vir Clarissime CUMtuam detextus Hebraici Veteris Testamenti variantibus Lectionibus ad me datam Epistolam cum alterâ D. Bootii
this good Bishop took delight to advise others in the exercise of this great Duty so likewise he said none of his Labours adminstred greater comfort to him in his Old Age than that he had ever since he vvas called to the Ministry vvhich vvas very early endeavoured to discharge that great Trust committed unto him of preaching the Gospel vvhich he accounted so much his duty that he made this the Motto of his Episcopal Seal Vae mihi si non Evangelizavero I mention not this as if he thought all those of his ovvn Order vvere obliged to preach constantly themselves since he was sensible that God hath not bestowed the same Talents on all men alike but as St. Paul says Gave some Apostles and some Pastors and Teachers though on some he hath bestowed all these gifts as on this great Prelate yet it is not often And besides God's Providence so ordained that as he had qualified him in an extraordinary manner for the preaching of the Gospel so likewise towards his latter end he should be reduced to that condition as in great part to live by it And here I cannot omit that amongst many of those Advices which he gave to those who came to him for Spiritual Counsel one was concerning Afflictions as a necessary mark of being a Child of God which some might have gathered out of certain unwary passages in Books and which he himself had met with in his Youth and which wrought upon him so much that he earnestly prayed God to deal with him that way and he had his request And he told me that from that time he was not without various Afflictions through the whole course of his life and therefore he advised that no Christian should tempt God to shew such a Sign for a mark of his paternal love but to wait and be prepared for them and patient under them and to consider the intention of them so as to be the better for them when they are inflicted And by no means to judge of a man's Spiritual State either by or without Afflictions for they are fallible Evidences in Spiritual matters but that we should look after a real sincere Conversion and internal Holiness which indeed is the only true Character and Evidence of a state of Salvation I have already given you some account of his carriage whilst he exercised his Sacred Function in his own Country to which I shall only add That as his Discipline was not too severe so was it not remiss being chiefly exercised upon such as were remarkably Vicious and Scandalous in their Lives and Conversations whether of the Clergy or Laity for as he loved and esteemed the sober diligent and pious Clergy-men and could not endure they should be wronged or contemned so as for those who were Vicious Idle and cared not for their Flocks he would call them the worst of men being a scandal to the Church and a blemish to their profession and therefore he was always very careful what persons he Ordained to this high Calling observing St. Paul's injunction to Timothy Lay hands suddenly on no man And I never heard he Ordained more than one person who was not sufficiently qualified in respect of Learning and this was in so extraordinary a case that I think it will not be amiss to give you a short account of it there was a certain English Mechanick living in the Lord Primate's Diocess who constantly frequented the publick Service of the Church and attained to a competent knowledge in the Scriptures and gave himself to read what Books of Practical Divinity he could get and was reputed among his Neighbours and Protestants thereabouts a very honest and Pious Man this Person applyed himself to the Lord Primate and told him That he had an earnest desire to be admitted to the Ministry but the Bishop refused him advising him to go home and follow his Calling and pray to God to remove this Temptation yet after some time he returns again renewing his request Saying He could not be at rest in his Mind but that his desires toward that Calling encreased more and more whereupon the Lord Primate discoursed him and found upon Examination that he gave a very good account of his Faith and knowledge in all the main points of Religion Then the Bishop questioned him farther if he could speak Irish for if not his Preaching would be of little use in a Country where the greatest part of the People were Irish that understood no English The Man replyed that indeed he could not speak Irish but if his Lordship thought fit he would endeavour to learn it which he bid him do and as soon as he had attained the Language to come again which he did about a Twelvemonth after telling my Lord that he could now express himself tolerably well in Irish and therefore desired Ordination whereupon the Lord Primate finding upon Examination that he spake Truth Ordained him accordingly being satisfied that such an ordinary Man was able to do more good than if he had Latin without any Irish at all nor was the Bishop deceived in his expectation for this Man as soon as he had a Cure imployed his Talent diligently and faithfully and proved very successful in Converting many of the Irish Papists to our Church and continued labouring in that Work until the Rebellion and Massacre wherein he hardly escaped with Life And as this good Bishop did still protect and encourage those of his own Coat so did he likewise all poor Men whom he found oppressed or wronged by those above them And for an instance of this I will give you part of a Letter which he Writ to a Person of Quality in Ireland in behalf of a poor Man which was his Tenant whom he found much wronged and oppressed by him viz. I Am much ashamed to receive such Petitions against you Have you never read that the unrighteous and he that doth wrong shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Think there is a God who heareth the Cry of the Poor and may bring a rot upon your Flocks and Curse every thing you put your hand to And if you think not of him because you see him not although he sees you through and through yet believe your own Eyes and consider that he hath appointed his Deputies upon Earth the higher Powers which will not suffer the Poor to be oppressed by you or those that are greater than you for shame therefore give content to this Petitioner that you hear not of this in a place where your Face must blush and your Ears tingle at the hearing of it J. A. Now having given as brief a Character as I could of this excellent Prelate not only as a private Man but also a Minister and Bishop of Gods Church and as a most Loyal Subject to his Lawful Sovereign Prince expressed upon all occasions I should proceed in the last place to give some account of his Judgment and Opinions in points of Religion and