Justification of the Fathers and Schoolmen, Title page – Dedication
Πάτρο-σχολαστικο-δικαίωσις, OR, A JUSTIFICATION OF THE FATHERS and SCHOOLMEN: Shewing, That they are not Self-condemned for denying the Poſitivity of Sin.
Being an Anſwer to ſo much of Mr. THO. PIERCE's Book, called foreignΑυτοκατάκρισις, as doth relate to the foreſaid Opinion.
By HEN: HICKMAN, Fellow of Magdalene Colledge, Oxon.
Nonnulli citius volunt exagitare quod non intelligunt, quam quaerere ut intelligant: & non fiunt humiles inquiſitores, ſed ſuperbi calumniatores.
Aug. de Tem Serm, …2.
Solent veritatis hoſtes ſuis jactantiis etiam de nihilo theatrum quaerere.
Calv in Mar 9.14.
Inclamant Puritanos, Puritanos, ſed per Puritanorum latera Orthodoxam vulnerant veritatem.
D Holland referente M. Bolton.
OXFORD, Printed by A. Lichfield, for Joh. Adams, and Edw. Forreſt. 1659.
To the reverend and learned the weekely Lecturers at Brackly.
Fathers and Brethren.
YOu will a little wonder to ſee mee in print, more wonder to ſee mee medling with a ſubject ſomewhat remote from practice, moſt of all wonder to find mee engaging with an adverſary, who drinketh up ſcorning like Water, and knows not how to mention the worthiest man alive, if of a differing judgment, without contempt. Nor would you ceaſe wondring, if I ſhould tell you, that the mere importunity of friends (which is now made the common vouchee for publications) did put me upon this undertaking, nay, though Solomon hath told us that a good name is better than a pretious ointment; yet if Mr. P. had contented himſelf to give mee alone ill names, you would never think it any part of my duty, to ſcribble ſo many ſheets in my own vindication: but when as I have found a wanton wit doing by all the honeſt Presbyterians and Puritanes as did the heathen perſecutors by the primitive Christians, putting them into beaſts skins, abuſing them with all the odious epithets and aſperſions he could ſcrape together, the one half whereof if they ſhould deſerve, they were not worthy to live, and when as I have heard that ſome are too apt to believe thoſe things real which are the mere chimaera's of his brain, you will not count it an idle expence of time, if I beſtow ſome paines (and very little will ſerve) to ſhew the World that he who is ſo fierce in charging others with blaſphemy, doth maintain an opinion on which neceſſarily and unavoideably follows the worſt of blaſphemies Gods being the Author of ſin, and that the privativeneſſe of morall evill is not a monſter hatched under the wings of a few diſciplinarian zealots; not a perfect phantaſie, a mere Scholaſticall notion as Dr. Hammond is pleaſed to call it, fundam. Pag 178. But the undoubted opinion of the Fathers and of moderne Divines as well Lutheran as Calviniſtical, yea and that in the way which ſome angry Divines now with extream bitterneſſe call Calviniſme the ancient Epiſcopall Divines worſhipped the God of their Fathers. Two Artifices I have obſerved ſome violent Spirits of late to make much uſe of, in order to the drawing away of perſons from the opinions in which they have been educated. 1. to perſwade them that the opinions they have embraced are but the crude indigeſted notions of ſome Presbyterians, ſo Dr. Jer. Taylor in the book which ſhould have been called Pelagius, or Socinus Iuſtificatus, would bear us in hand that he quarrelleth onelyonly with the Presbyterian notion of Original ſin; and yet to that tract the Stationer hath unluckily joyned another, in which he labours to give as good an account, and make as fair an Apology for his tenet as he can, to an Eminent Prelate of our own Nation, who can as little digest that Chapter in the unum neceſſarium, as the moſt rigidly Scotized Presbyterian. And I hope none of our old Proteſtants will be caught with ſuch chaffe. A 2. Stratagem is this, after they have fathered the aſſertions against which they declaime, upon Mr. Calvin, and his followers, then to Burthen them with ſuch horrible conſequences, as cannot by any true rules of reaſon be deduced from them, as if they were contrary to the Holineſſe, Mercy, Juſtice of God, as if they introduced fatall neceſſity, and opened a gap to all manner of Licentiouſneſſe, as in the first deſign they do unwittingly befriend the Presbyterians, by giving the people occaſion to think that they onelyonly are the men, who will contend for the faith once delivered to the ſaints; ſo in the latter they do (whether wittingly, or unwittingly they beſt know) befriend the Synagogue of Rome; for as B. Carleton, ſaith well: Pag. 62. What greater pleaſure can a man procure to the Enemies of the truth, than to ſpeak evill and odiouſly of thoſe men whoſe ſervice God hath uſed, and made them excellent inſtruments to make the truth known unto us? Some take it for a ſign of ſuch as are looking towards Popery, when they offer ſuch a ſervice to the Papiſts, as to ſpeak evill of them who have been the greateſt Enemies to Popery, the greateſt propagators of the truth. I have took occaſion to as far as my Antagoniſt offered it to make bare both theſe two fallacies, and to that end have ſcarſe made uſe of any teſtimony, but ſuch as he dare not call Presbyterian. If at any time I ſeeme to depart from that meekneſſe of Spirit, which is required in a Miniſter, I ſhall deſire it may be conſidered not onelyonly what is fit for mee to ſpeak, but what is meet for him to hear. If I were to mention their fact, who took the reliques of Peter Martyr's wifes carkaſe out of the grave, and after buried them in a dunghill, would you not allow mee to call it, unchriſtian, and inhumane? And ſhall I be permitted to put no vineger in my Pen, when I am to write of one, who hath taken the far greater part of our Proteſtant writers out of thoſe beds of honour, in which the Church hath laid them, and made their graves amongſt blaſhpemers are the keeneſt words to keen for a reformed Bolſec? an Engliſh Feuardentius? And hath not Mr. P. ſhewed himſelf ſuch? Come out of your duſt yee ancient records, and ſhew us if you can, ſince Mr. Mountagues Appeale, any peece written by a Proteſtant Divine, ſo full of bitter girds, and ſcurrilous gibes, againſt the great inſtruments of our Reformation, as the late foreign and foreign are: But I know how hard it is for one who hath been ſo courſely and undecently dealt with as I have been, not to exceed bounds; if you find me ſo to have done, be not ſo cruelly mercifull as not to call me to repentance. And for your ſelves, Let your moderation be known to all men, the Lord is at hand. The reproaches where with you are reproached, are no other than ſuch as the old Puritanes (of whom the world was not worthy) were exerciſed with. Let me alſo mind you of the grave, and ſeaſonable counſell, which Galba gave to Piſo. Nero a peſſimo quoque deſiderabitur, mihi & tibi providendum eſt, ne etiam à bonis deſideretur: The Epiſcopal governement, as it was exerciſed in your County, will be deſired by the bad, let not the good wiſh it reſtored alſo, for any Church Governement is better than no Church Government, a promiſcuous admiſſion to the Sacrament is more deſireable than a totall diſuſe of that moſt bleſſed ordinance. If you will but put in practice the rules you pitched upon when you were firſt about to enter into an aſſociation with your Brethren, you ſhall as little need to fear the ſpleen of him who calleth your ordinations Prankes, as the clamour of thoſe who call your Churches Antichriſtian: That the word of the Lord may run and be glorified among you: That God would open unto you a door of utterance, to ſpeak the Myſtery of Chriſt, for which you endure contradiction of ſinners, and that when your work is done in this life you may enter into your Maſters glory is the prayers of
The unworthieſt of your fellow labourers H. Hickman. Magd. Colledg. Nov. 22th. 1658.