Answer to Cressys Epistle, Imprimatur – Dedication 2
Imprimatur, Guliel. Wigan R mo in Christo Patri ac Dno, Dno Humphredo, Episc. Lond. à sac. dom.
Nov 14. 1674.
AN ANSWER TO Mr. CRESSY'S Epistle Apologetical TO A Person of Honour Touching his VINDICATION OF Dr. Stillingfleet. By Edw. Stillingfleet D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Hen. Mortlock at the Phoenix in S. Paul's Church-yard, and the White Hart in Westminster Hall. 1675.
TO THE SUPERIOURS OF THE BENEDICTINS IN ENGLAND.
Gentlemen,
I Find it disputed among your Casuists, whether a Book written by a Member of Your Order, doth belong to the Author or to the Society; the Arguments I confess are very weighty on both sides; For in behalf of the Society it is pleaded with great reason, that by the Rules of your Order, no particular Member is to have property in any thing; and in behalf of the Author, that a Book being the proper issue of his own Brain, cannot belong to any one else: Caramuel, Caramuel. Commentar. in Regul. S. Bened. n. 831.finding the difficulties so great, undertakes to resolve the Case by a very subtle distinction of the Paper and Ink of which the Book is composed, and the Conceptions of the mind contained therein; the former he gives to the Society, and the latter to the Author, which he proves ver… substantially; for, saith he, the conceptions of the Book being the outward images of what was only in the mind of the Author can belong to no other than to him that formed them; but against this ariseth a shrewd objection, that by this means every man hath right to the Picture that is made of him, and the Painter only to the Canvas and Colours. To which he answers very gravely, that the Picture is not properly th… immediate representation of the Person, but of that Idea of him which was in the fancy of the Painter. But upon this another Controversie arises (as we find every day that one doth beget another) whether that propriety which the Author hath in the Conceptions of his Book, can be disposed of by way of Legacy, or no; and all the resolution I can meet with is, that it is probable he may; but on the other side, the Superiours of the Order may make use of the contrary probability, and challenge the Book for their own.
It is very well known to You, that Mr. Cressy was lately a Member of Your Order, who was the Author of the Book, to which this following Answer is made; What Right You have challenged in it I know not, but I think it not likely he should dispose of it to any but to Your selves; since he saith, his first writing against me was by his Superiours command, and in this Book he declares, that what he writes was not his own opinion alone; and therefore it is probable you may have … right to the conceptions, … as to the Paper and In… …
Since his death (which I knew not of till I had undertaken this Service and Duty in behalf of a Person of Honour to whose Kindness I am so extreamly obliged) I know not to whom so properly to address my self, as to You, who were his Superiours; especially since there are so many things in it wherein the Honour of Your Order is concerned; to which I assure you I bear no malice, no more than I do to Your Persons, or to Mr. Cressy's memory. If I am guilty of mistakes, I beseech you to correct them with the same civility that I writ them. I have of late been somewhat used to writing, but I am yet to learn the Art and terms of Railing, and I hope I shall not find that any such Legacies are bequeath'd to you by any of your Order. I am
Gentlemen, Your humble Servant, Edw. Stillingfleet. London, Nov. 14. 1674.
THE CONTENTS.
CHAP. I.
OF Mr. Cressy's Apologie for the sharpness of his Style. pag. 1.
CHAP. II.
Of the Charge of Fanaticism and Mystical Divinity. p. 19.
CHAP. III
Of the Monastick Orders, in the Roman Church, and particularly of the Benedictin. 136.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Conversion of England, and the difference between the Brittish and Saxon Christians. p. 257.
CHAP. V.
Of the Poenal Laws against Papists. p. 327.
To my LD. C.
My Lord,
SInce Your Lordships going from London, Mr. Cressy's Epistle Apologetical to a Person of Honour touching his Vindication of Dr. Stillingfleet came to my hands; and bears date, from his Cell, March 21. A. D. 1674. being the Anniversary day of S. Benedict. And he is not only thus punctual in the date of his Epistle, but he begins it with a very particular account, in what manner the Person of Honour's Book was sent to him; viz. by the Letter-Post, but partly to abate charges and likewise to disguise the shape of a Book, it was folded up in loose sheets with all the Margins close pared to the very quick. After I had observed so much niceness in these, not very material circumstances, I could hardly expect that the least line of the Book should escape without numbering the words, syllables, and letters in it, and giving every one a distinct and punctual confutation. But I soon found several considerable parts gently passed over, and indeed by the very bulk of his Book, I presently perceived, that he was more curious to give the World an account, how the other came to him, than careful to answer it. For if he had treated every thing that was of like moment with equal exactness, it might very well have passed for the Second Tome of his Ecclesiastical History. And in truth, the matter of some part of it, is not much unlike, for he tells so long a story in the middle of it of the Kindness of some and the unkindness of others in England to him, and of the Books he had written, that it looked very like a Legend of himself; only I do not find any Miracles he had done in any of them.
Before he comes to his Apologie for himself, he takes great care to make me understand the mighty obligation laid upon me, by that Person of Honour, who was pleased with so much Kindness to undertake my Vindication from the impetuous assaults of an enraged Adversary. Which I was so justly sensible of before, that Mr. Cressy might have spared his pains; for surely it was no small Favour to be delivered from the paws of so fierce a Creature, as he appeared to be in his former Book; but to have it done in so obliging a manner, by a Person of so great Honour and Abilities, was as much beyond my presumption to hope for, as it is now above my Power to requite. I with I were a Person of that Credit and Interest to be able to express my Gratitude in that very way Mr. Cressy directs me to; for of all things I desire to avoid the odious character and brand of Ingratitude. But since I make so small a Figure in publick affairs, the utmost I can do, is to save that Honourable Person the farther trouble of making Animadversions on this Epistle Apologetical. Which is written with that shew of humility and respect, that those who look only on the appearance, would imagine him strangely come off from the rage and fury he was in, when he writ his former Book; but if we observe more carefully his sly reflections and crafty insinuations, we shall find that he hath only learnt to dissemble his passion, and to do the same mischief with a fawning Countenance.
The first part of his Epistle is wholly spent in Vindication of himself as to the sharpness of Style and bitter Invectives he had used against me, which I shall briefly consider before I come to the more material parts of his Book.