The Judgment of the Extent of Christs Death, Letter 3
A Vindication of the Primate, from a late change of opinion. A second Letter, of the said Doctor Bernard to Mr. Barlee, in Answer to a part of a Postscript at the conclusion of a book of Mr. Pierces, viz. a Correct Copy of some Notes of Gods decrees, &c. Wherein the former erroneus report raised upon the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh, especially concerning Universal Grace, or Redemption, being more largely affirmed, is here more fully cleared and vindicated.
SIR.
I Have lately received from you another book of Master Pierces, which I saw not before, viz. A Correct Copy of Gods decrees, &c. In the Postscript of which I find a larger confirmation of what had been affirmed by him, in relation to the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland: which, at your desire, I cannot refuse to return you my sense of also.
The Authour is a Stranger to me, but appears to be a man of very excellent parts and abilities, and I am sorry he hath been moved to employ them in this particular, in a continued confident declaring the change of opinion in so Learned and pious a Prelate (as himselfe worthily styles him,) to whom for ought I know he was a stranger, and adding, That what he hath before affirmed to be upon a just ground and mature deliberation, and yet I find no other foundation upon which this is built, than the report of others. The frequent experimental failing of which, when it comes to the proof, hath wrought it out of reputation, with prudent men, to depend upon.
That which I find in the conclusion of his Postscript, I must begin with, wherein he doth determine, viz. That whosoever shall appear to hold the Negative, That my Lord Primate of Armagh did not declare his rejection of these opinions, which I resist, and which himselfe formerly embraced, will wrong the memory of the Bishop. As I do not (according to his caveat) take upon me to prove a Negative, so I do not understand the ground of this definitive Sentence, upon whomsoever shall adhere to it. I am sure his meaning is not, because he doth resist them; and lesse shew is there, because the Primate had formerly embraced them; for a changeablenesse in Doctrine carries in it self a shew of dishonour, that with him there should be yea and nay: surely there must be somewhat of grosse corruption, or dangerous consequence formerly taught and professed by this good Primate, that should incurre this censure; And it is too early a conclusive, while they are yet in Dispute between you, and the matter not heard on the Primates side; Which I expected not from a person so ingenuous, as I read Master Pierce to be. And howsoever the whole implies that the Primate had wronged himselfe, if not his hearers and readers, in preaching and writing of untruths so long; but much more if he had died without retracting them; and that the injury done to him, is already decreed to lye upon that person that shall affirm otherwise of him in either: yet this must not deterre or discourage me in this service of his vindication, leaving it to the judgemnent of others, Which may be thought lesse injurious, The averring his constancy, or inconstancy in matters of such weight and moment. I shall be contented he do enjoy his opinion, if he will not censure me for not forsaking my own, viz. That I think I should wrong him and my selfe, at least do neither right, if I should silently let this belief of him passe without putting it to a stand, by producing those probabilities which have prevailed with me to the contrary.
That which Mr. Pierce professeth, viz. That he published it to the Immortall honour of that great Prelate, doth not well suit with the expressions in the next breath, calling it an error which had possest him, and intimating it to be a retraction of his aberrations, or a penitency of his sins, which he having no sense of, or not expressing it till then, he must have contracted a great guilt all his life, both in preaching and writing to the subversion, possibly, of many. This if he had found himself guilty of, a verball retraction would not have sufficed, but he should have given satisfaction also by his pen: His judgement having been by that transmitted beyond the Seas, which one Sermon in a Church in London, or opening his mind to a few in private, could not have expiated: neither would so good a man as he, have rested in it, but with S. Augustine humbly have revoked his error in that way also; but I believe none of those pretended witnesses of his change will say that he gave them that promise or that they did so much as request it of him, though they had time enough to have wrote unto him, if omitted in the conference. And certainly Mr. Pierce, (to use his own expression) had in singlenesse of affection done him more right and honour, if he had left him wholly to his works; which do sufficiently testifie of him, rather than thus to bring him upon the Stage after his death, and give sentence on him onelyonly upon hear-say: There being no necessity in this dispute to have so much as named him. Neither can I think those, any Cordial friends of the Bishops (as he stiles them) who have been the occasion of putting him upon it. And I do remember that the last time he was in London, he did expresse a suspition of some that came to visit him, that they would by wresting his words, make some such use of them, as now appears: who proposed discourses of the like subjects to him, and whereupon he did confirm at full that which had been his judgement of them formerly.
For that of Mr Pierces offer of proof by some learned and grave Divines, who had conference with the Bishop, and will (as he saith) be glad to attest the same under their hands: As I know not what cause there should be of gladnesse, or forwardnesse in this Testimony; So when they shall meet with contrary attestations by the like of their own profession, it makes me sad, to foresee what a fire this may possibly kindle among us, (to the rejoycing of those of the Church of Rome) which I have no mind to burn my fingers in, onelyonly I stick firmly to my perswasion in my former Letter confirmed there by several probable Testimonies, that there was no such change as is pretended in him near his death. And if this of Mr. Piercies affirmation should prove to be the raising of a false report, (which he ingenuously confesseth to be so great an evill, and doth so hate and condemne, whether through ignorance, or credulity:) this must be of the first magnitude, when it hath for its object so eminent and pious a person, whose praise being through the Churches, and in special, for those his labours tending to those Subjects, the whole Reformed Church are concerned in it.
I find him still puuctually observing his former expression, viz. rejecting all the Doctrines of Geneva, in which besides the latitude, there is this ambiguity, whether it be meant according to Calvin, or Beza; for both were of Geneva; between whom in some of these points there was the like difference as between Mr. Perkins and Bishop Abbot, with us, viz. In the Supralapsarian opinion, which *Rom. 9. 21s Annotat. &c.Beza was for, but Calvin held it otherwise, as hath been shewed in the former Letter. It had been better to have instanced the particulars of those Doctrines, than thus by clouding them in the Generals to put us upon conjectures, which they should bee.
The onelyonly point which he names here, is, That the Primate embraced the Doctrine of Universal Redemption, and saith, in that he doth as good as say all. He doth not assert it from his own knowledge, but saith he hath it from many most unquestionable persons which had it poured into their eares, by the Primates own mouth. If it were in a Sermon of his at a Church in London, the last he preached in that City, and many moneths before his death; (which I am enformed by others is the sense of it) I was present at it, and with me there was no new thing observed to have been uttered by him, differing from what his judgement was many yeares agone, since I had the happinesse to be known unto him. It may be some of these persons produced for witnesses being strangers to him and taking him to be of the other extremity might apprehend it as a retractation, If they heard him affirming, That by the death of Christ all men receive this benefit that they are salvabiles or put into a capacity of sulvation; That terms of peace are procured for all mankinde, That all mens sins are become pardonable, mercy attainable, (in which state those of the Angelical nature which fell, are not.) That there is some distinction to be made between his satisfaction (rightly understood) and his intercession, according to that of our Saviour, I pray for these, I pray not for the world, &c. It is possible, for ought I know, some such expressions might be his then. But that by this Universal Redemption should be understood such an Universal grace, that the same measure of it, without any distinction, should equally, and alike, be conferred and aplied to Judas, which was to Peter; and that the onelyonly difference, was, The free-will of Peter in accepting, without any further cause of thanks to God for his grace in inclining him accordingly, &c. This I suppose will not be attested to have been professed by him, either in this, or any other Sermon, or private conference with him. And in this present enlargement, I would not be understood to interpose my selfe in the controversie; or to affixe thus much upon Mr. Piercies judgement, but only to averre, That the Primate at his last in this particular differed not from what he had declared formerly, which the former tractate, I suppose, will confirm, now published, but not resolved on, when this was first written.
That which he saith, is the summe of what he had said, viz. That the reverend Primate did conform his judgement to all the fathers of the Church for the first four Centuries after Christ, This he might averre without any relation to these points in controversie, it being the term, or thereabouts, which he accepts of in his answer to the Jesuit Malones Challenge in the justfying, or condemning those twelve points of controversie, between us and the Church of Rome, of which one concerning Free will is of this fraternity. What the Primates judgement was of that, is sufficiently declared there, and he continued in the same without any change the last time I saw him, by the discourse I had then with him of it: and S. Augustine (unlesse we be over-strict) may be admitted within that compasse, being accounted by the Primate, at the time when he was consecrated a Bishop, to be but in Anno 410. and Prosper reckons his death, in 433. being then of age, 76. Before whose time these points were never discussed by the Fathers at large singly, nor determined by them joyntly in any Council; which Pelagius gave the first occasion of: and 'tis known that the Doctrine of St. Augustine against him is inclined unto, and defended by the Primate in his works.
And, to say no more, the Articles of Religion, Agreed upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops, and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, in the Convocation holden at Dublin, Anno 1615. which fully determine and declare all those points accordingly; he had then the honour to be appointed by the Synode as a principal person to draw them up; Now the last time I saw him (which was after that pretended Testimony of the witnesses of his change, either in publick or private) he did fully confirm and commend them to me to be heeded and observed by me as the summary of his judgement in those and other subjects, of which I have said somewhat more, elsewheree.
That of Mr. Piercies drawing in more to bear him company, viz. King James, B. Andrews, Melancthon, in their changes also for the better, as he is pleased to derermine; doth not concern me to take notice of: onelyonly if he have found it as their last Will and Testament in their works, he shall but Charitably erre (to use his own words) if he should be mistaken; but no such matter appears here, as to the Primate.
In a word, I cannot but professe my respect to Mr. Pierce, both for his own worth, as the great esteem which in this Postsript (more then in his former book) he hath expressed of this Eminent Primate, and can easily believe he would account it a reputation to his opinion, that his might patronize it, by the great esteem had of him in all parts of the reformed Church, both for his learning and piety; and I have so much Charity as to believe that this error is more to be imputed to his informers than himself, and if I were known to him I would advise him not to insist any farther in it, it being by these several circumstances so improbable; but, according to his own ingenuous offer, to make an ample satisfaction, and what he hath so highly extolled in the Primate to have been his glory and honour in preferring truth before error, in that his supposed imaginary retractation, I may without offence return the application to himselfe; which, with all prudent men, will be much more, his own commendation, and though, according to his profession, he be innocent, as to any voluntary injury; thinking he did God and him good service: yet it being a wrong in it selfe, will deserve some Apology.
And, indeed, it wil be hard for any prudent impartial man to believe, That what the Primate upon mature deliberation and long study for so many yeares had professed in the Pulpit, and at the Presse, he should be so soon shaken in minde, as, without any convincing force of argument from any other, that is known, at once renounce all he had formerly said, and draw a cross line over all he had wrote; and that in a Sermon, not made of purpose for that end, (which had been very requisite, and which must have been of too narrow a limit in relation to so many Subjects here intimated) but onelyonly as on the bye; I say, when his workes wherein hee is clearly seen and largely declared, with a cloud of ear-witnesses for many yeares, both in publick and private, confirming his constancie in them, through the diverse changes of the times to his last, shall be produced and laid in one ballance; And a few witnesses of some few passages at one Sermon, who in a croud might be mistaken, and the apter to be so, by the interest of their own opinion; put into the other; will not all unbyassed persons cast the Errata into the latter? I shall conclude with a course complement to your selfe; That I have not thus appeared for your sake, to whom I am a stranger, nor out of any opposition to Mr. Pierce, who appeares to me to be a person of value: but onelyonly out of my duty and high account, I must ever have of the memory of that judicious, holy, and eminent Primate: and so commit you to Gods protection and direction, and rest,
Your assured Friend N. BERNARD. Grayes-Inne, June 10. 1657.