Concerning the English Liturgy, Discourse · Section 1
SECT. I.
Three Reaſons referring chiefly to the Doctor, why his Engliſh Letter was not preſently anſwered: His miſtake about the word Seraphicall, the ſenſe, riſe, and uſe of it.
TO this Letter I made the leſs haſt to return an Anſwer for three reaſons.Sect. 1.
1. Becauſe the Doctor profeſſed an unwillingneſs to hold an entercourſe with me by Letter while he remained in this County.
2. Becauſe a good part of it was a kinde of retractation of what he had ſaid, and for that (within a while after) I expected to ſpeak with him again, to know where his minde would ſettle, for (comparing his precedent ſpeeches and writings together) he ſeemed to me to fluctuate very much, not only in his paſſion, but in his opinion.
3. Becauſe (notwithſtanding his negative reſolution forementioned) (about fourteen daies after remaining yet where he was before) he ſent me a Latine letter, to which I made anſwer in the ſame language, and in that I brought as much of the Engliſh Letter, (having tranſlated the matter of it into Latine) as I took to deſerve either Cenſure or Anſwer.
I had not then a thought of publiſhing any thing of either, yet ſince now I finde cauſe to do ſo, I conceive it alſo convenient, to make ſome Animadverſions upon the moſt materiall parts of his Engliſh Letter, in Engliſh (as I have done to his Latine Letter in Latine) which I ſhall now apply to the Doctor in the ſecond perſon, as directly written to him as my firſt Letter was, in theſe words, Sir, you have oft in my hearing expreſt your ſelf a S…raphicall zealot for the Service-book: D. H.To which you Anſwer. That the title of Seraphicall belongs to thoſe new Bonaventures, who took upon them to caſtigate all other Churches, as he doth the Greek (in lib. 1. diſt. 11.)
By that you ſay Sir, Animadv. 1.you ſeem not to underſtand, or not duly to conſider the ſenſe and uſe of the word Seraphicall, which ariſeth from an aSaraph incendit, accendit, ſuccendit, uſſit, aduſsit, combuſsit, cremavit igne. Schindl. Pentaglot. Col. 1948.Hebrew Root, ſignifying an height of heat, even to burning: It was given per Antonomaſiam to bThe life of the Seraphicall Father St Francis, Vol. 2. Part. 2. Of the lives of the Saints written by Alphonſ. villeg. p. 169, 171, 178, 186, 187.St Francis of Aſſiſum (the Founder of the Minorite Friars.) There was another cVol. 1. Of the Lives, &c. gathered out of P. Ribadineirae & Alphonſ. Villeg. Part. 2. p. 361.St Francis of Paula, (who had not the honour of that Angelicall appellation) and he of Aſſiſum was called Seraphicall, for the zeal and fervency of his ſpirit and actings: as dƲbi ſup. ad lit. b. p. 178.when he renounced all his right of inheritance, ſtript himſelf of all his cloathes, unto his ſhirt, and gave them to his father, ſaying, Ʋntill this time I have called thee father, but from hence forth I will acknowledge no other father, but our Father in heaven:eIbid. p. 186, 187. And when in zeal he went to preach in France, Spain, Egypt, and Syria, among the Infidels, that he might obtain the Crown of Martyrdom: And he was ſo called for the Seraphicall viſion they write he had, of the likeneſs of the fIbid. p. 190.ſix winged Seraphim burning with fire, and caſting beams glittering exceedingly, which deſcended with great ſwiftneſs, and drew near to the place where he was, and between the ſaid wings appeared the figure of a man crucified, whereupon he ſtraitwaies, (as the Friars tell the tale) fell into an Extaſie, as uſually he accuſtomed in the meditation of the paſſion of Chriſt, to which he was devoted more then can be expreſſed:gIbid. And at this time (Ovid like) they fain a metamorphoſis, telling of a transformation of him into the ſimilitude of Chriſt, the figure of his bleſſed wounds remaining imprinted in his fleſh: Of him the Friars Minorites were called Seraphicall Brethren, or Friars of the Seraphicall Order. Thence is it that hEraſm. Colloq. a p. 702. ad p. 729. edit. meae.Eraſmus puts the title of Exequiae Seraphi…ae, upon one of his Dialogues, wherein he diſcovers the pretended zeal and reall hypocriſie of the Franciſcan Friars.