An Account of Cawdrys Triplex Diatribe, Title page – To the reader
AN ACCOUNT OF Mr. CAWDRY'S Triplex Diatribe Concerning Superſtition, Wil-worſhip, AND Chriſtmaſs Feſtivall.
By H. Hammond D. D.
LONDON, Printed by J. Fleſher, for Richard Royſton at the Angel in Ivy-lane, and for Richard Davis Bookſeller in Oxford. 1655.
A Preface to the READER.
1. THat Mr. Cawdrey hath taken great pains to ſhew me the infirme parts of three little Tracts of Superſtition, Will-worſhip and Feſtivals, I am now obliged to take notice, and to deſign the vacancy of a few days to clear thoſe brief diſcourſes from all the miſpriſions and exceptions, to which ſome contrary hypotheſes of his (how true ſhall in due place be examined) more then the want of evidence in the Tracts themſelves may have rendred them liable.
2. What on the two former heads I wrote many years ſince, I confeſſe, I expected not to ſee arraigned at this time, being deſigned as part of an foreign or foreign, which might help to repaire the breach, at leaſt mollifie the Paroxyſme, by removing two of the five ſpecious charges, under which the blameleſs ceremonies, and cuſtomary practices, and obſervances of the Church of England were by diſſenters oppugned and rendred odious. And what was then ſaid, as I could not diſcern wherein it came ſhort of Evidence of conviction (if I had, I ſhould certainly either have cleared or ſuppreſt them) ſo it was never my fortune in nine years ſpace to hear from any, that it lay under an ill character, but on the contrary, that it had in ſome meaſure performed what it undertook, freed our Church from thoſe two accuſations, and demonſtrated them, as applied to us, to be perfect calumnies. And I have but one Petition to the Read… at his entrance on theſe debates, that he will calmly review thoſe two Treatiſes, with three more deſigned to the ſame end, and upon his ſtricteſt ſurvey advertiſe me, wherein I have failed in my undertaking.
3. But it is come to paſſe, what Arrian long ſince taught me to expect, that as when general diſcourſes come to be applied to particular caſes, foreign, then Arr. Epict. l. 1. c. 22.the contention begins, ſo when the grounds, more univerſally laid for the juſtifying our Church, were in a tract concerning Feſtivals, and eſpecially the day of the Nativity of Chriſt, brought home to the clearing that celebration from either of thoſe two (as from all other) charges, then Mr. Cawdry's hypotheſes, in which, I ſuppoſe, his way of managing his opinion of the morality of the Sabbath had engaged him, found themſelves to be concerned, then the commemoration of the birth of Chriſt, though but by one anniverſary (being not eaſily reconcileable with the grounds which he had laid for the Chriſtians one weekly Sabbath in the 4th Commandment of the Decalogue) was ſolemnly to be indicted and, as in a Chancerie bill, all imaginable evill to be affixed on it, and the cuſtomary riot of feſtivities being not ſufficient to render it odious, the more formidable charges of Will-worſhip and Superſtition muſt be revived, and by the neceſſity of this conſequence, to ſalve his foreign and foreign, all that I had ſaid on either of thoſe two ſubjects, though never ſo clear, muſt now be called to a ſevere examen, and ſo ſtore of new tasks provided for me.
4. And me thinks tis poſſible that old * Elias Lev. Thiſh. p. 49.Nahum's word may not here be unreaſonable foreign even this alſo for good, To which purpoſe I am willing to remember what Alexander Aphrodiſaeus told the Emperors Severus and Antoninus, in his Preface to the Tract of Fatalitie and Free will, that whoſoever would point him out any doubt or difficulty, that remained in that matter, after the reading of his treatiſe, he would account it a great favour and honour to him, rendring this reaſon for it, becauſe it was not eaſy foreign in one Tract, to do two things exactly, both dilucidely to expound the matters of which he principally wrote, and all thoſe other things alſo, which were uſefull to the explicating thereof.
5. And the ſame I deſire may introduce my addreſs to this Diatribiſt, and the tasks by him ſet before me, The ſubjects which he hath choſen to conſider with me being ſuch, as well deſerve ſome care from each of us, that we neither deceive others, nor our ſelves in them, I mean, perfectly practical, concerning a peculiar Chriſtian duty incumbent on us, in that of Feſtivals, and again a more univerſal duty, that of obedience to our immediate Superiors, and to the univerſal Church of Chriſt, from which we muſt not depart or be affrighted, upon pretenſe of Superſtition &c. and yet ought warily to ſecure our obedience from that and the like guilts, when there is any real danger of them. And beſide theſe, there is ſomewhat of a more ſublime conſideration (on occaſion of that of Will-worſhip) the freewill offerings which will very well become a Chriſtian to bring to Chriſt, rewardable in a high degree, though they are not under any expreſs precept, ſuch are all the higheſt charities, and devotions, and moſt heroical Chriſtian practiſes, which ſhall all not onelyonly be degraded but defamed, if every thing be concluded to be criminous, which is not neceſſary, if all uncommanded practiſe be unlawfull.
6. Now this Diatribiſt having undertaken to examine what I then wrote, and done it with ſo little partiality to me, that I have no reaſon to ſuſpect he hath left any minute difficulty unmentioned, I ſhall hope that the deſcending to a particular ſurvey of all his objections will probably prevent any future miſtake in theſe matters, and upon this ſcore, as St Auguſtine thought it neceſſary for thoſe heathens which deiſied all their benefactors, to build one altar and pay ſome homage to their enemies, becauſe they deſerved to be numbred among their benefactors, ſo have I not grudged the tribute of my pains, at leaſt that of a ready, though laborious obedience to this call of the Diatribiſt, but apprehended this opportunity of removing all doubts, which can recur and require ſolution; entertaining my ſelf with ſome ſlender hope that the Reader may reap ſome ſmall benefit thereby in order to chriſtian practice; the one thing which I deſire to propoſe, as the end of all my meditations, and never to be drawn by the importunity of thoſe which differ from me in opinion, into any contention or ingagement, which hath not this aime viſible before it, the ſeaſonable checking and reformation of ſome vices, (ſuch ſure are thoſe which here I deſire to prevent and remove) or the confirmation and increaſe of virtue, to the glory of God, and the multiplying of fruit to our account.
7. That this hath been the onelyonly aime of all hitherto publiſht by me, even of thoſe diſcourſes which are moſt polemical, I am ſo fully ſatisfied in my ſelf, that I doubt not to approve it to any, that can make queſtion of it, where difference of opinion doth not either by cloſe conſequence, or more immediately, lead into vitious practice, I ſhall never willingly contend with any man, or make reply to the contentious: But in Doctrines which have immediate influence upon practice, tis obligation of charity to indevour the diſabuſing of all, and not to permit or ſuffer any ſuch fruitfull, and noxious error upon my neighbour.
8. Under which head becauſe I cannot but place the rejecting of Children from Baptiſme, and find ſome objections, offered by Mr. Tombes, to what I have written on that ſubject, I have therefore drawn a ſhort defence of that Apoſtolical practice, and vindicated my former diſcourſe from his anſwers, and exceptions, which being offered to the Reader, as ſoon as the Printer will permit, I ſhall not doubt of his leave to ſhut up the Palaeſtra at this time, having ſufficiently cloyed him with theſe Spectacles.
9. And it is my wiſh for him that he may continue to have the eaſe (at leaſt) of a Spectator, that it may be his lot, though for ſome moneths it hath not been mine, foreign, to live peaceably and quietly with all men, a felicity of which we are all to be ambitious, foreign, and a grace that we are all, not in prayer onelyonly, 1 Theſſ 4. 11.but by real indevours to contend for, and to hold it faſt, untill it be violently wreſted from us.
10. As it is, I have with patience fortified my ſelf for the preſent undertaking, and to make it alſo as ſupportable as may be to others, abſtained from tranſcribing the entire ſeverall Sections of his Diatribae, and onelyonly repeated as much as exacts anſwer from me, not omitting (as far as my wit would ſerve me) any the leaſt particular, which can be thought to have energy againſt any of thoſe things, that are aſſerted by me in thoſe Tracts, ſave only when the ſame things once anſwered have again, whether in words or ſenſe, been repeated by him.