The True History of Councils, Part 3 · Chapter 12 – Chapter 13
CHAP. XII. Of his Accuſation that I do all in ſpite and malice againſt Biſhops, and as uſing ill language of them.
§ 1. ANſw. 1. Spite and Malice are heart ſins: If the ſame effect may come from other Cauſes, how know you that theſe are the Cauſe?
Anſ. 2. Is it from Spight and Malice that Proteſtants commonly deſcribe the vices of the Popes, ſuch as Greg. 7. Sergius, Alexandr. 3. Boniface 8. Joh. 12. and 13. & 22, & 23. & Eugen. 4. &c. And alſo that they ſo hardly ſpeak of the Jeſuites, Yea and Papiſts commonly? Sure it may come from ſome other cauſe.
Anſ. 3. Is it from Spight and Malice that you recite the tumults of the German Anabaptiſts, the faults of thoſe at Munſter, the Errours of David George, the many Enthuſiaſtick Sects deſcribed by Beckman Exercit. (of whom many as Thaulerus, Kempis, Behmen had much very commendable; and Grotius praiſed Job. Ar…dt.) Is it from Malice that the Familiſts, Seekers, Quakers, Anabaptiſts, &c. are uſually by your party deſcribed by their faults, without any mention of their goodneſs?
Anſ. 4. Is it from Spight and Malice that your Party have written what they have done of the great faultineſs of the Nonconformiſts, both former and latter; and that Calviniſts are ſo odiouſly repreſented, that the Reformation by them is deſcribed by Heylin and others as Rebellious? That ſuch books are written as Heylins Aerius Redivivus, H. Fowlis, the Evangel. Armatum, The Eccleſ. Polit. the Friendly Debate, the Counterminer, the Vindica…. of Dr. Stillingfleet, the pretended ſecond part, (which is a continued Calumny againſt my ſelf, ſo full of particular falſhoods as are not to be without a tedious Volume anſwered: And a multitude ſuch written to render the Nonconformiſts odious and unſufferable. If all theſe be not written in Malice, how know you that mine were?
Anſ. 5. And whereas ſome pretending moderation accuſe me of too bad provoking language, 1. Is there any Compariſon between the language of any of theſe books, or yours and Dr. Sherlock's and mine? Read but Learned Godly moderate Biſhop Downam his Defence of his Viſit. ſermon, his frequent charges [of ſhameleſs, impudent Lying, and much more] againſt a Nonconformiſt that gave him no ſuch language. Read but the ordinary Writings of ſuch as Biſhop Bancroft, Dr. Sutcliff, and moſt others againſt the Old Nonconformiſts; and of the Lutherans againſt the Calviniſts, even men that I am perſuaded meant honeſtly, but by Faction were exaſperated, as Hunnius, Brentius, Morlinus, M…rbackius, Snepfius, Wigandus, Heſhuſius, Andreas, Se…necerus, Heerbrand, Calovi…s, and many ſuch. Read but our Grammarians, ſuch as you may find in the many Volumes of the Collections of Janus Gruter…s, even thoſe of Cramer, and Phil. Paraeus, and others againſt himſelf; where Fools, Knaves, Lyars, Sots, and worſe, make up much of the ſtyle.
Read but our Old Grammarian Reformers againſt the Popiſh Prieſts, and Schoolmen, I mean Eraſmus, Hutten, Faber, and the reſt, what Scorns their Writings do abound with.
I will not refer you to the Queen of Navarr…, and Stephanus his World of Wonders, againſt the Prieſts, leſt you think I approve of the exceſs.
Yea read but the Writings of our famous Learned Criticks, Jul. and Joſeph Scaliger, Heinſius, Salmaſius, &c. from whom the railing Jeſuite Labbe took advantage to ſay, Tom. 1. p. 820. [Riv…o prae…v…at Joſephus Scaliger, homo utique modeſtiſſimus, qui Editores S. Irae…ae… vocat, clamoſos, maledicentiſſimos. C…rcop…s, Tartareos, Pyriphleget…o…tas, vir…lentiae & probrorum co…c…n…tores, & editionem colonienſem, cloacam Sycophantiarum, l…in…m conv…ti…m, & ſta…l…m inſcitiae.] Through God's great mercy, while Malignity is the Complexion of the Serpent's Seed, and Lying is their Breath, and Murder is their Work, the names of all theſe ſins are odious in the world, and guilt is impatient, and cannot endure its own name.
Should I but mention the Language of Papiſts, how they repreſent the holieſt Proteſtants as Lyars, Deceivers, Devils, intollerable, whom it is as lawful to kill as Dogs, Foxes or Toads, it would concern none but thoſe of you that uſe to ſay, I had rather be a Papiſt than a Puritane, or Presbyterian; o… thoſe that renounce Communion with us, and own it with the Church of Rome; who are, alas, too many. Such Language as …a… 's, Vol. 1 p. 819. is of the ſweeter ſort, viz. Quiſquis es ſ…lutis t… amans, Omnes illic… Calviniſtas, Lutheranos, Socinianos Anabaptiſtas, ſimileſque generis humani peſtes, Cacodamon…m inſtar execrabere. This is but what we daily hear: But while we hear it in a Language ſo very like from the Papiſts, and the Pulpits and Preſs, and Roger Le Strange is become the Church's Advocate and Mouth, it will harden them that did ill joyn together Popery and Prelacy in their rejections.
Honeſt Thuanus is amiable and honourable for Speaking well of all that deſerved it, without partiality: But Gerb. Voſſius is put to defend his Father-in-law Junius againſt his unjuſt cenſure. Indeed Junius was a man of Eminent peaceableneſs and moderation, (I would Arminius and he had been the utmoſt proſecutors of that Controverſie, notwithſtanding Dr. Twiſſes undervaluing his skill in School Divinity) And few men were more unlike Thuanus his ill Character than Junius: But Dr Manton hath told me that he hath been fully informed that it was not Junius that Thuanus meant but another that dyed that year (which Junius did not) and that by ſome ill chance a wrong name was put in Contrary to Thuanus intent.
§ 2. Dr. Burnet is a man whom I much value and honour, and pleadeth much for peace and moderation, and therefore much the more amiable to me: I thank him for his reproof of me to my face; but becauſe he goeth on to vend it as juſt behind my back, where I cannot anſwer him, I muſt do it here. He ſaith that [I began and that with unchriſtian, provoking language againſt the Conformiſts in my firſt Plea for peace, which cauſed all the ſucceeding heats.]
Anſ. 1. I have to him and oft in print appealed to humanity and common ſence whether one that was ſeventeen years ſilent, & communicated in the Pariſh Churches, and under ſcorns, and ejection, impriſonment & mulcts did peaceably continue Communion with them without reply or ſelf defence, and never wrote againſt them, till they had long called out to him to give them an account of the reaſons of his Nonconformity, and then durſt not provoke them by a diſpute, but barely named the matters which we judge unlawful, profeſſing not to be the Accuſer of Conformiſts, but only to anſwer the Call of Parliament-men, Biſhops, and others that urged us, and threatned us if we would not tell them what we ſtuck at; and made this the Juſtification of their proſecution of many hundred men: I ſay, whether ſuch a man had a Call to ſpeak? When the King Licenſed us, I had before briefly defended our Preaching as Licenſed: But being thus ſummoned by our Proſecutors and Superiours, I told them what we judged unlawful; and was this a beginning of the Flame? Was Seventeen years Poverty, Prohibition and Proſecution, and all this Importunity, no provocation or call to ſpeak? Did this begin? If he were in the Houſe of Correction, and were beaten but Seventeen years, or Seven years, to confeſs the Cauſe for which he ſuffered, and at laſt con…eſſed it, and one ſhould ſay, This was the beginning of the ſtrife, Would he take this for a good Hiſtorian? And if he had written Hiſtory, would this report advance the credit of it?
§ 3. But the ſecond thing accuſed, is the unchriſtian Language of that Book. Anſw. Doth a general Accuſation ſignifie more ill of the accuſer, or of the accuſed, if it be not proved by particular Inſtances? I urged him to name the unchriſtian words, and I remember but two Inſtances he gave me.
The firſt is, that I uſe the word [untruths] againſt my Accuſers. And 1. I think the Reader will very rarely find that word in that Book. 2. Is this ſo harſh as the common charge of Lying, uſed even by the moſt Learned ſober Conformiſts? 3. I thought it had been a modeſt word: What ſhall a man ſay when ſuch Volumes of Slander are publiſhed againſt him and others, as tends to preach all their Neighbours into hatred and perſecution of them? Alas! Doth it increaſe our crime to ſay, It is untrue? How ſhall we then anſwer for our ſelves at any Bar? Is it tollerable voluminouſly to tell the World down-right falſhoods of us? and is it railing for us to ſay, [They are untrue?] What's this but like him that run a man thorow in wrath with his Sword, and indicted him for crying, oh? This is the Church Juſtice even of our moderate Hiſtorians.
§ 4. But he ſaith, I ſhould not call it [a falſhood, or untruth] but a miſtake. Anſw. This is a ſharper word; for it ſignifieth the fault of the miſtaker uſually; whereas by ſpeaking de objecto, that it is falſe, I leave it to others how far the reporter is to be blamed. But ſure moſt Logical Diſputations are Railings, if the words [ …alſum] and [fallacia] be ſuch.
§ 5. About a month or ſix weeks ago the Obſervator, the Churches Advocate publiſhed, That [a Captain of Horſe of the King's, had the fortune to be diſmounted, wounded and ſtript, and a Chaplain (naming me before) cut from about his neck a Medal, which the King had given him, and the Souldiers ſpared in the heat of blood] I ſent him word how falſe this was: I never ſaw the man in my life that I know of; much leſs ever medled with him: But was in a Houſe where a Souldier brought a ſmall ſilver-guilt Medal, about the bigneſs of a big Shilling, and ſaid, he took it from about the neck of one Captain Jennings, whoſe Life he ſpared: He offered it to ſale, and no one offering him more, I gave him eighteen pence for it in 1643. as I remember: And about 1648. hearing where Captain Jennings was, ſuppoſing it might be of great uſe to him, I ſent it him as a gift by one Mr. Sommerfield.] And this ſlander is all the thanks I had. The Church-Advocate wrote me back, that he had it formally atteſted. I craved as a favour of him to tell me if Captain Jennings be living, how I might write to him. He anſwers me, that one was out of the way that he muſt firſt ſpeak with, and I ſhould ſhortly hear from him. The next I heard was as a ſecond part of Dr. Stillingfleet, the foreſaid Book full of cruel falſhood, taken from my having been for the Parliament, and from many diſtorted words of mine: Now when this Book renders me worſe than a Jew, or Heathen, and unfit to live, ſome I fear will tell abroad that I am a Traitor, for ſaying, that [It is ſlanderous or untrue.]
§ 6. His ſecond Inſtance was theſe words of mine [Pardon me for ſaying, I think that Mr. Tombs hath ſaid more like truth for Anabaptiſtry, the late Hungarian for Polygamy, many for Drunkenneſs, Stealing, and Lying, in caſes of Neceſſity, than ever I yet read for the Lawfulneſs of all that I have here deſcribed.]
Anſw. 1. Is there any Railing or unchriſtian Language in theſe words? which be they?
Anſw. 2. Do I here ſpeak of any but my ſelf and the Nonconformiſts? Do I not proteſt againſt accuſing others, and only ſay, what it would be to me, ſhould I conform? And muſt I not, when importuned by Biſhops, Prieſts and Rulers, ſay what I fear, le…t others ſhould think it intimateth their guiltineſs? Can I help that?
Anſw. 3. Did that man ever underſtandingly conſider the matter, who can doubt of the truth of what I ſay?
I. On the one ſide how heinous and many the ſins that we fear are, if we ſhould conform, I muſt not again name, for that's it that provoketh.
11. Now as to the Compariſon;
1. I'le appeal to Learned Biſhop Barlow whether Mr. Tombs hath not made the Caſe of Anabaptiſtry more difficult? Let them that deny it confute him better than I have done.
2. And why doth none anſwer the Hungarians book for Polygamy if it be eaſier done than the task in queſtion. I have known the man that maintained, that if a King had a barren wife, and his Kingdom like to be undone by a deſtructive ſucceſſor, he might as lawfully take another wife, as Adams Children might marry inceſtuouſly. And indeed the many unreproved inſtances of Polygamy in Abraham, Jacob, Moſes, David, Solomon, &c. will allow men more pretence for it, than ever I ſaw brought for all (I ſay, but For all) that I have named in that book.
3. And many Phyſicians have ſaid ſo much (though amiſs) for the lawfulneſs of a Drunken Cup inſtead of a Vomit & a Cordial in ſome diſeaſes, as have made it a harder caſe than ours ſeems to me: And I ſay not what it ſeems to others.
4. And de neceſſario concubitu legantur quae a medicis dicuntur de furore ut erino.
5. And for ſtealing nothing but preſent food to ſave life, he that Conſiders what God allowed a man to take that went through an Orchard, Vineyard or Corn-field, and what the Law of nature is, and whether the Kings Army on whoſe ſtrength the Safety of King & Kingdom depends, may not violently take food without the owners conſent rather than periſh, will find it harder to juſtifie the denying Chriſtendom and Communion to godly Perſons that ſcruple our ſort of God Fathers, Croſſing and Kneeling, &c. than to confute the aforeſaid ſtealing, or that which is meerly to ſave life.
6. And as for Lying in caſes of neceſſity, No leſs men of their own party than Grotius de Jure Belli and Biſhop Jer. Taylor in Duct. Dubit. have written for it. And though I be againſt it, and many Conformiſts for it, yet I will not deny but if the Life of the King might be ſaved among Enemies by a Lie; or the Life of a Patient by his Phyſicians deceiving him by a Lie, much more may be pretended for it, than for all the heinous ſin which I fear.
§ 7. And if theſe words be uncharitable Railing, what means have we leſt to give them that demand it, the Reaſons of our Nonconformity?
What if we had gone further, and taken it for a crying Church Crime, and called all the Clergy to Repentance? If that which we judge ſinful be not ſo, let them confute us: If it be ſo, and as great as we fear, is it not our duty to bewail it, and mourn for it? Ezek. 9. 4. Zeph. 3. 17, &c. And is not mincing and extenuating great ſin, an implicit hardening men againſt Repentance? Should one Preach againſt Adultery, Fornication, Perjury, Murder, as about a doubtful Controverſie, or a ſmall thing, and ſay but [Good men are on both ſides; I dare not ſay it is a ſin, though I dare not do it my ſelf: Or if it be one, it is but ſuch as good men are ordinarily guilty of: We muſt not judge one another.] What were this but (worſe than Eli to his Sons) to cheriſh Sin, and Preach Impenitence, and ſerve Satan againſt the Evangelical Preaching of Repentance?
§ 8. For my Judgment, I profeſs it to be the duty of me, and all men, to uſe no Language of Good mens faults, no, though they turn Perſecutors upon ſome particular Errour, but what is conſiſtent with true Love to the men, and to cover their faults that are private, and meerly perſonal, as far as lawfully we may; but not to make light of publick, aggravated Crimes, ſuch as thoſe of Hophni and Phinehas; nor to ſhew indifferency towards Buyers and Sellers in the Temple; nor to ſtrengthen the Sin which threatneth a Land. If I thought that hundreds or thouſands of Christ's faithful Miniſters in any Country were unjuſtly hunted and forbidden to Preach the Goſpel to a People that truly need it, and this to the unavoidable dividing of the People, and the plain making way for a Forreign Juriſdiction, I ſhould take my ſelf as a guilty hinderer of Repentance, and Enemy to the Publick Safety, if I ſhould ſay only [This is a doubtful Controverſie between Good, Wiſe, and Learned men.]
Labbe ends his To. 1. as juſtifying his bittereſt Reproaches, with the Authority of Chriſt, Peter, Paul, John, Jude, Ignatius. And if he had only given great and publick ſins, the true names neceſſary to mens knowledge of them, for Repentance or Preſervation, thoſe Texts, and many more would have juſtified him.
CHAP. XIII. Of his Suppoſition that I ſpeak againſt all Biſhops Councils.
§ 1. THis is not ſo. 1. I write oft for the great uſefulneſs of Councils. 2. I juſtly praiſe no ſmall number of them, eſpecially before the great Riſing of the Biſhops, for the firſt 300 or 400 years: He once acknowledgeth it of the African Councils: And he might have ſeen the like of many Spaniſh, and ſome French and Germane Councils: The Engliſh I little medled with. 3. The Firſt General Council at Nice I juſtly honour; yea and the Three following, and many more than three, for the ſoundneſs of their Faith, and as having many very laudable perſons in them; though I ſhew the ill effects of their contention and ambition.
I have heard ſome Conformiſts confeſs the great Learning and piety of the Weſtminiſter Synod in 1642. and of the Synod of Dort, where we had Delegates: and yet ſharplier ſpeak againſt the Acts of both by far, than I have done by any ſuch pious Perſons. Even they that have honoured Biſhop Carlton, Biſhop Hall, Biſhop Davenant, Dr. Ward, &c. that were there, have yet bitterly reproached the Decrees which they ſubſcribed. And how many as well as Dr Heylin have written and ſpoken ill of A. Biſhop Uſher, of A. Biſhop Abbot, A. Biſhop Grindai, A. Biſhop Parker (yea of A. Biſhop Whitguif… for the Lambeth-Articles which I juſtifie not) who yet have a great honour both for Biſhops and their Councils.
§ 2. But I confeſs I am much of Nazianzen's mind, and I think I am no more againſt them in the general than he was. And I am againſt our ſubjection to the Juriſdiction of Forreign Councils, and the uſe that the Pope and ambitious Clergy have made of them, to become Maſters of Princes and of the world: I am not for Ebbo's French Council which depoſed Ludov. Pius, nor for making them either the Popes Army, or the Army of Patriacks againſt each other or of ſuch Princes as Conſtantius, Valens, Theodoſius junior, Anaſtaſius Philippicus, Juſtinian, Irene, &c. to fulfill their own miſtaken wills, how honeſt ſoever the men might be. Much leſs am I for ſuch work as the Council at Later an ſub Innoc. 3 made, no nor that at Florence.
§ 3 And I take it for an Act of great Prudence in this my accuſer, while he is vindicating Biſhops Councils, to go no further than the four firſt General, when it is many hundred that I have mentioned. And is it not really an intimated accuſation of them to vindicate ſo few of above 400. And thoſe ſuch as for their faith we all own.
And yet a man would think by the ſtrein of his ſtyle and language that it were at leaſt the greater part of Conncils that he were pleading for. I ſay ſtill as Biſhop Bilſon and other Proteſtants: Well ordered ſound Councils we owe great reſpect and honour to, for Counſel; ſtrength and Concord, but ſubjection and Obedience, ſaith he, We owe Them none, (ſave as we are bid, be all ſubject one to another, and ſerve one another in Love.)
§ 4. And now I leave any impartial man to judge what anſwer ſuch a book deſerved, which goeth upon all theſe forementioned untrue ſuppoſitions.