A Reply to the Catholic Gentlemans Answer, Introduction
A REPLY TO THE CATHOLICK GENTLEMANS ANSWER TO The moſt materiall parts of the Booke of SCHISME. Whereto is annexed, An Account of H. T. his Appendix to his Manual of Controverſies, concerning the Abbot of Bangors Anſwer to Auguſtine. By H. HAMMOND, D. D.
LONDON, Printed by J. G. for R. ROYSTON, at the Angel in Ivie-lane. 1654.
A REPLY TO The Catholick Gentlemans Anſwer to the Book of SCHISME.
The Introduction.
Nū. 1 THe Letter from the Catholick Gentleman, which undertakes to have anſwered the moſt materiall parts of the Book of Schiſme, is ſaid to expect ſome account from me. And I ſhall give it, if not quite, with the ſame brevity, yet directly in the ſame method which he hath choſen, attending him, as he ſhall pleaſe to lead, not by reſuming the whole matter againe, but by reflecting on thoſe few paſſages, which he hath thought good to take notice of, and freeing them from all though the lighteſt exceptions, which he hath made to them.
Num. 2 Upon this account, I ſhall ſay very little to his Prooem in theſe words,
SIR,
You have been pleaſed to ſend me Doctor Hammonds Booke of Schiſme, or a Defence of the Church of England, againſt the exceptions of the Romaniſts, as alſo your Letters, wherein you lay commands on me to read it, and thereupon to give you my opinion: truly Sir, both the one and the other could never have come to me in better ſeaſon, for having heard from ſome of my friends in England a good while ſince, of another Book, written by Doctor Ferne to the ſame purpoſe, as alſo one lately come out, of the Biſhop of Derries, and of this which you have ſent me, I was wondring what thoſe, who call themſelves of the Church of England, could ſay to defend themſelves from Schiſme; but now through your favour of letting me ſee this of Doctor Hammonds, I am freed from my bondage, and ſatisfied, in ſuppoſition, that the moſt can adde little to what hath been upon that ſubject of Schiſme ſaid by him, whom you ſtile Wiſe and Learned, and well may he be ſo; but here he hath failed, as all men muſt that take in hand to defend a bad cauſe, which I thinke to make appeare to you, or any indifferent judge, and which I will doe rather upon ſome obſervations of ſeverall paſſages in his book, than conſideration of the whole, which I will leave for ſome other, who hath more leiſure. In the meane time I muſt ſay with the Poet, ſpeaking of ſome Lawyers in his time,
Fur es, ait Pedio, Pedius quid? Crimina raris
Librat in Antithetis:
The Roman Catholick ſayes to Doctor Hammond, You are an Heretick, you are a Schiſmatick, and Doctor Hammond replies good Engliſh, ſome Criticiſmes, much Greek, with many citations out of antiquity, indifferent to both parts of the queſtion.
Num. 3 I ſhall not here need ſolemnly to aveit the good words beſtowed on me, becauſe 1. if they had been meant in earneſt, they have yet no influence on the matter in hand; As unlearned a Man, as I, and as learned as he, which is by ſome characters thought to be the Author of this Anſwer, may agree in this common fate, that as one is not able to defend a bad cauſe, ſo the other hath not in any eminent manner betrayed a good: 2. becauſe 'tis evident, that it was deſigne, and artifice to beſtow the good words on me, that ſo he might get himſelfe the eaſier taske: And therefore the onelyonly thing that is here neceſſary for me to tell the Reader, by way of Prooeme, is, that ſince the publiſhing this tract of Schiſme, that moſt excellent diſcourſe on the ſame ſubject, written by the Biſhop of Derry hath truly made that former care of mine very unneceſſary, and ſo ſhould in all reaſon have been undertaken and anſwered by this Catholick Gentleman, if he had really deſigned to ſatisfie conſcience in this queſtion. And ſhould it be believed by him; what here he ſaith in the Title page, that he hath anſwered the moſt materiall parts of Doctor Hammonds Book of Schiſme, yet I can aſſure him he is ſo much miſtaken in his ſuppoſall, that there can little be added by any to what hath been ſaid by him, that he is in all juſtice to undeceive the Reader, and make him amends by giving him not a ſlight, but punctuall anſwer to every part of that Biſhops Booke, before he thinke he may ſafely charge the Church of England with Schiſme, as ſtill he adventures to doe.
Num. 4 Having ſaid this, I ſhall make no kinde of Reply, to the reſt of his Prooeme, but proceed immediately to his firſt and onelyonly exception, wherein the firſt Chapter is concerned.