A Discourse Apologetical, Postscript – Errata
POSTSCRIPT.
WHile this Diſcourſ was at the Preſs, and almoſt wholie wrought of, I had notice given me that a Book of one of Lilies Complices was freſh from the Preſs come abroad, wherein ſomewhat was concerning me, and my dealing with Lilie. Deſirous I was hereupon to ſee what it might be, and having got a ſight thereof, I perceived by the Title, that it contained a ſhort Syſtem of Aſtrologie, with a pretended examination of a Book of one Mr. Brain, written (it ſeems) againſt Judiciarie Aſtrologie, The Autor whereof is, I ſuppoſe, able to defend his own work. But to it I found prefixed an Epiſtle Dedicatorie thus ſuperſcribed:
To the Reverend Father in Presbyterie, Mr. Thomas Gataker B. D. Jo. Gadburie dedicates theſe his Virgin labors. In this Epiſtle he profeſſes to dedicate his Book to me for my better Information in the principles of their Art and Profeſſion, referring me withal, if this give not ſatisfaction, to Mr. Lilies Introduction, from whom in vain ſtill I reqire a proof of thoſe principles. And in it ſeems all to anie purpoſe contained, that concerns me, being all, under two heds couched, to this effect:
1 That in my clumſie Annotation, and buzardlie Vindication, (ſo he is pleaſed to array them) I have much ſcurrilbus language, and horrid imprecations, againſt men whom I know not, as Wizards, Witches, dealers with the Devil, Hel-hounds, Sycophants, and a thouſand more non-Goſpel phraſes; Concerning which I ſhall refer the Reader to what I have written in thoſe two pieces, not doubting but that upon the reading thereof, and this my laſt together with them, he will eaſilie be induced to let Lilie and Gadburie, what ever he be, to ſtrive together for the Whetſtone. For the particulars here recited. Tru it is, I term Lilie, Angel, and Behmen, Wizards, that is, I call a Spade a Spade; their Writings, by which they are too well known, ſhewing them to be ſuch, and from one of Lilies Advocates, who pronounces thoſe of his Profeſſion, that give out their Dictates, not as meer conjectures, but as matters of certainty, as Lilie doth his, to be no other then Magitians, that is in plain Engliſh, He-witches; I conclude Lilie, if his Advocat ſpeak tru, to be ſuch; of Lilies traducing Calvin, I ſay, that the ſnarlings of ſuch Hel-hounds (and what other…ar they, whoſe toungs are ſet on fire from hell? Jam. 3. 6. for the Toung and the Pen are herein the ſame; as Tertullian de Idolol. ſhews from that, Luke 1. 63. He wrote, ſaying) can no more impair the ſplendent luſtre of Calvins repute, then the yalping of maungie Whelps, or mungrel Curs, can the light of the Moon; for his dealing with the Devil, to let paſs what himſelf profeſſes of Angels, with whom he hath dealing, and from whom he receivs Informations, which unleſs he fain onelie to gain credit to his practiſe, whether they be good, or bad ones, all that are not ſtark blind may ſoon diſcern; for that and his ſycophancie, what I ſay, and how juſtlie, his own Works that I deal with will ſufficientlie diſcover and ſhew him to be, what Paul ſaith of Elymas, Act. 13. 10. and Chriſt of the Jews, Joh 8. 44. But for theſe things, I ſhall refer the Reader to my former Vindication, and to this latter Diſcourſ together with that, and in this more particularlie to Page 61.
2 The main matter, that this man thought to ſtrike home with, is this, He gives me notice (he ſaith) of aſhrewd ſlip in my Vindication; and what is that? In page 57. I ſay, that I made my abode in the houſe of a vertuous Gentlewoman, when I was young, whoſe Husband did, as I pretend, invite me thither to teach him Hebre…. And 'tis tru, I ſay, that I abode ſometime in houſe with a religious Gentlewoman; and ſo I did, with one, a verie plain, ſober, grave, modeſt Matron, a diſcreet Mother, diligent Nurſ, and pious bringer up of manie children, as vertuous, religious, conſcientious, humblie minded and demeaned a Gentlewoman, as I have ever in all my life been acqainted with. And it is likewiſe tru, that upon reqeſt made by the Gentleman her Husband to a grave Miniſter his neer neighbor riding over unto Cambridge, to make enqirie there for one, that might further him in his Hebrew, and inſtruct his familie in the Principles of Religion, I was by ſome of his acquaintance in St. Johns, where I yet then abode, at his motion, recommended to the Gentleman, and entertained by him thereupon to that purpoſe. And I ſhall the rather here digreſs a little, to relate both mine own employment in that familie, and the conſtant uſage of that worthie Chriſtian Gentlewoman, in regard of that vile calumnie, wherewith this wretched wretch (for ſuch he herein manifeſtlie diſcovers himſelf to be) endevors, upon not ſo much as anie probable, or colourable ground, here to aſpers us. At my firſt acceſs to the familie, and entertainment there, beſide my confereuces with the Gentleman at ſuch times as he reqired; I uſed to pray morning and evening with the familie, and in the morning to read withall ſome portion of Scripture; and after ſome time, at the Gentlewomans motion, to ſpend ſo much time as could well be ſpared in explication of the Text, where anie difficultie occurred, raiſing of ſome few inſtructions, and making brief application thereof. In this manner within the ſhort time of mine abode there, not much above a twelvmonth, I went over all the Epiſtles of the Apoſtles, the Propheſies of Eſay, and a good part of the Book of Job, which practiſe ſo continned, both verie much improved mine own skill in the Tex… of Scripture, which I uſuallie read out of the Originals, and gave much contentment (beſide the benefit accrewing to the reſt of the Familie) to the Gentleman and Gentlewoman; to him, by giving him occaſion after the Exerciſe over, to enqire of words and forms in the Originals, which he had uſuallie at thoſe times before him; to her, whoſe conſtant w…nt was for ſome time in the day, to retire her ſelf, and with her eldeſt daughter a young Gentlewoman, of a pious diſpoſition, qick apprehenſion, and exceeding good memorie, to recollect, and ruminate between them on thoſe things which had made up that morning their ſpiritual breakfaſt. And this courſ ſhe obſerved aſſiduouſlie, till laid up ſuddenlie by ſickneſs, and ſhortlie after tranſlated to the place of her eternal reſt and bliſs. And ſo much concerning that pious ſoul, that precious Saint, whoſe principal joy and delight was in Gods word. That of Jerome, whether to L…t … or Furia, or ſome other, now I remember not, A… Scripturas, & carnis vitia non amabis, was verified abundantlie in her. Her excellencies conſiſted not in anie outſide of bodilie feature (that might well be ſaid of her in that regard, that Seneca ſometime of a Philoſopher of his acquaintance being a man of a weriſh bodie, Anima illius malè habitat, that her pretious ſoul had but a ſorrie houſe to ſpeak of to inhabit) nor yet in external ſemblances, and affected flouriſhes (far was ſhe from anie hypocritical oſtentation) but in a gracious inſide of ſound and ſincere pietie, the power whereof appeared in an eaven tenor of ſtrict, diſcreet, and circumſpect walking, with all meekneſs and mildneſs of ſpirit: In ſo much that even the Devil himſelf would never in all likelihood have had the face to raiſe ſuch a foul ſurmiſe of her among thoſe that knew her, as this impudent imp of his hath aſſayed here to faſten upon her, not having in likelihood had anie the leaſt notice of her, being dead, it may be, long before he was in being.
Yea but, ſaith this fellow, You that pretend to have been invited thither, to teach the Gentlem…n Hebrew, do yet in page 33. profeſs to have little skil therein your ſelf.
Tru, in regard of manie other, or of anie conſummate and exqiſite skill therein, I willinglie confeſs it. Upon occaſion of Lilies telling me that I ſhould ere long have an expoſition of the Text in Jer. 10. 2. of one far ſurmounting me in the knowledge of the Oriental toungs; my words are theſe; Much skill in the Oriental toungs I never did, nor do profeſs; a little ſmattering onelie in the Hebrew of the Bible I do acknowledge; neither needs there anie great depth of skill in theſe Oriental languages for the expounding of that Text. And what I then had, was ſufficient to afford the Gentleman ſuch help and furtherance in that kind as himſelf reqired; a proof whereof he was pleaſed to take, by reqeſting me to read in Engliſh out of the Hebrew a Chapter of his own aſſignment, while he had his ey on Junius his Latin Verſion; which I then did, and was able not long after my departure thence to my place in Sidney Colledge then conſummated, to ſalute him with an Hebrew Epiſtle, therein inciting him by divers Arguments to proceed in that ſtudie. Not doth it argu, that my skill in that language is now leſs then it was, becauſe I now thus ſpeak. It is an undoubted truth, in Divinitie, in Philoſophie, in a… Arts and Sciences, that the greater progreſs a man makes in the knowledge of anie of them, the more he comes to diſcover his own ignorance in them, and how far he comes ſhort of perfection therein. Hence that of the Apoſtle, 1 Co…. 8. 3. He that thinks he knows ought (to wit, exactlie) knows nothing yet, as he ought to know. And this minds me of a notable miſtake among manie other, of a man otherwiſe of no ſmal lerning, who, whereas Plutarch Mr. J. W.in that his excellent Treatiſe concerning the marks and ſigns of Proficiencie, relateth a merie ſpeech of one Menedemus, who ſaid of thoſe that repaired to that renowned School or Univerſitie of Athens, that they were at firſt foreign wiſe men, great wiſards, then foreign Philoſophers, lovers of wiſdom, deſirous to lern it, after that foreign Rhetoricians, ſuch as could talk of, and laſtly, foreign meer Idiots, ſtark fools, or ignorant ones at leaſt; that which he underſtood to be ſpoken, as if the Autors meaning were that, after their arrivival there, they were wont, as we uſe to ſay of a Cows tail, to grow downward, waxing daily worſ, and further from wiſdome the longer they ſtaid there; whereas his meaning was, that at firſt having gotten a little ſmatch of that Schoollerning, they vainlie deemed themſelvs men of exqiſite skill, but as they attained by degrees to a tru underſtanding of things; and of themſelvs, ſo they came further to diſcover withal their own wants and weakneſſes, until at length with Agur, therein trulie wiſe, to acknowledge, that they were but as bruit beaſts, and had not ſuch wiſdome as a man ought to have, Prov. 30. 2. But what of all this? Suppoſe I had then but little skill in that language, or that little that I profeſſed to have, had been leſs then it was; what would this Sycophant (let me be blamed, yea condemned as guiltie of that crime my ſelf for ſo ſtyling him, if his practiſe here do not cleerlie and loudlie proclaim it) what I ſay, would this Sycophant hence collect? will you hear hell it ſelf belching out ſuch ſtuff, as cannot exhale from anie other ſink or ſewer? Were I, ſaith he, your Antagoniſt, I ſhould make this conſtruction, viz. ſeeing the contradiction in your words. In his own brains rather; for in my words there is none. But what is the conſtruction? a devilliſh one indeed; that your reſidence there, was not ſo much for the Gentlemans inſtruction, as for the vertuous Ladies, and your own ſatisfaction; for ſure I am, the unhallowed Prieſts are no more priviledged from the ſin of lecherie, then the righteous Judah. See Gen. 38. And that his Reader might not conceiv that this had dropt from his Pen in …ome ſudden heat of paſſion, or in ſome merrie jeſting fit, but that he is in ſober ſadneſs, and ſerious in the buſineſs, and might imagine therefore that ſomewhat in my Book had faln from me, that might afford good ground for ſome ſuch ſuſpicion at leaſt, he ſub-joyns, In …neſt, what ever you had put in the room, you had better have kept this out.
Concerning which, tho it be not much to the purpoſe, to intimate, that neither was the Gentlewoman ever a Ladie (for it was manie yeers after her deceſs ere her Husband were Knighted; whereby it appears that he ſpeaks thus of one whom he knew not) nor my ſelf, either ever an unhallowed Prieſt, as he ſpeaks, or then a conſecrated Presbyter, one (I mean) ſolemnlie ſet apart to that …acred function, when I came to that familie (howſoever it be tru, that I had the Order of a Presbyter on my part unſought for, without ſuit or fee everie way freelie conferred upon me, ere I left it) yet, that I may render to others an account of mine entrance into the Miniſterie, as I have here before done of mine entrance into the places of my Miniſterial employment, I ſhall take the boldneſs to detain my Reader a while with no long relation thereof, and then return to my Task again.
The Right Reverend Dr. Stern, one neer of kin to this Gentlewoman, daughter to Mr. Stern a Gentleman of Melburn in Cambridgeſhire, was at that time Suffragane of Colcheſter, and Paſtor of a Parochial Congregation at Witteham in Eſſex, neer unto which place, at Brakſteed, Mr. William Aylof, the Gentleman with whom I then abode, ſonne to the Judge that had been of that name, had one ſeat, as another called Britains not far from Romford. At this latter he was reſiding when I came at firſt to him; and there the Suffragane found me, when I had been ſome good ſpace of time with them; for travelling up to London about the beginning of October to the Convocation then there held, he ſtruck in by the way in civilitie to viſit his kindred there, and coming in unexpected at that juncture of time, wherein the whole familie, ſave the Gentleman himſelf, who was gone earlie abroad, was met together for our dailie morning employment, he would by no means ſuffer it to be forborn for his preſence, but underſtanding from the Gentlewoman what I was, upon what account with them, and what my wonted courſ therein, he laid a kind of kind conſtraint upon me to perform all in that manner then, as at other times I did; the Chapter which that day I read and opened, was (I well remember it) Epheſ. 1. After which office finiſhed, and prayer conceived, he had ſome ſpeech with me, and upon demand thereof being informed that I was not yet in the Miniſterie, but intended it hereafter, when God ſhould pleaſe to fit me for it, and afford a call to it, the rather becauſe to be ere long Fellow of a Colledge, wherein after ſome yeers continuance it would be reqired of me; he both encouraged me to undertake it, and of his own accord offred to ordain me, willing me for that end to repair to him at his return back to his charge at Witteham, which would be toward the Feaſt of Chriſts Nativitie, about which time alſo the Gentleman, Mr. Aylof, was to remov, and ſo did, with his familie from Britains to Brak ſteed. Howbeit, conſidering the weightineſs of the buſineſs, I held back for ſome ſpace of time, and hung in ſuſpence, until by advice of ſome frends at Cambridge, whom having ſome relation to me, and intereſt in me, I had by letters conſulted, I was earneſtlie preſſed upon ſome conſiderations not needful to be here related, in no wiſe to let ſlip the preſent opportunitie offring it ſelf to me for ſuch an entrance, as by him I then might have; whereupon being by them alſo ſo both encouraged and encited, when the Suffragan about a month after his return viſited the familie again then reſiding at Brakſteed neer to him, was pleaſed to renew his former motion and offer, demanding why I had not ſince his coming down before that reſorted unto him, and appointed me to be with him on the Feaſt day of Purification then at hand, I accepted of that favor ſo kindlie and freelie then offred, and afterward afforded. and repairing unto him on the day deſigned, was by Impoſition of Hands of the Suffragan, and another Miniſter then aſſiſtant unto him in the work of his Miniſterial employments, therein joyning with him, there and then ordained Presbyter.
But this relation for the reaſon above ſpecified being onelyonly taken in by the way, to return to this Gadburie, and his dealing here both with the Gentlewoman now out of his reach, and my ſelf, may he not deſervedlie be branded with the name and note of a moſt ſhameleſs Sycopha…, that of no other words then are here expreſſed, would make ſuch an inconſeqent and reaſonleſs conſtruction, and from no other matter then is here exhibited, raiſe ſo vile and abominable, but wholie groundleſs; a charge? yea may it not juſtlie be deemed, that the Devil, whom herein he doth ſervice to, and hath conſeqentlie dealing with, ſtood at his elbow and ſuggeſted ſuch helliſh ſtuff to him; or, that he dipt his pen in the Devils Ink-pot, when he thus wrote? unleſs it be doubted, as well it may be, whether the Devil himſelf, with all his helliſh wit, would ever have offred to pick anie ſuch matter out of thoſe words of mine; whereout to forge ſo groſs and groundleſs a ſlander. But herein withall, as well this Gadburie, as Lili…, both birds of a feather doth evidentlie ſhew unto what an height his ſpight and ranco… is boiled up againſt the Miniſterie, when he covertlie ſtyles Chriſts Miniſters unhallowed Prieſts, & would have them deemed no other then a crew of lecherons creatures. Which terms and phraſes diſcovering in him an Heart unhallowed and ful fraught with the gall of bitterneſs, and ſurcharged with a ſuperfluitie of prophaneſs and ungodlineſs (for out of the waſt of the heart, as well the Pen writes, as the toung ſpeaks) no leſs, if not much more then did that pecuniarie motion made to Simon Peter the Apoſtle by Simon the Samaritan Sorcerer, as our Engliſh renders it, or as the Greek hath it, Magician; unto which Tribe and fraternitie one of Lilies grand Patrons, as himſelf relates him, and as is elſwhere ſhewn, doth by neceſſarie conſeqence from Oſiander pronounce him to belong; I ſhall take my leav of them both, reſolving here as concerning them to lay down my Pen, and not to waſt pretious time, or ſoil and foil paper hereafter any further in dealing with their filth; and referring them onelie to that advice, which that bleſſed Apoſtle gave to that wretched and curſed Caytiff, Act. 8. 22. and wiſhing them to to take it neerer to heart, and make better uſe of it, then it is commonlie deemed that he did. However, it is yet ſome comfort unto me, that neither that former Helhound, whom I juſtlie ſo termed for his malicious bayting of and barking at that bleſſed man of God Calvin, and other of Chriſts faithful ſervants, could meet with ought in the whole courſ of my life to charge me with, but what hath been evidentlie evinced to be notoriouſlie untru; nor this other, as juſtlie deſerving the like note and name, as manifeſtlie diſcovering himſelf to be ſuch, as well by his palpable calumnie, of an utterlie unknown, and nothing leſs deſerving partie, as alſo by his malignant diſpoſition and affection to Gods Miniſterie, can eſpie, and find no nothing throughout my whole Vindication, whereat to ſnarl, or whereon to faſten his Cerberian …ang, ſave a pretended contradiction of his own coining there, where no ſhew or ſhadow at all of contradiction appeers. For as concernig his Qerie propounded to me Page 23. whether I can denie, but that in theſe late Inteſtine Wars that hath fallen out that his frend Lilie foretold of the ruinating of the moſt ſtatelie building of this Kingdome; nor is it exactlie tru; nor what this man ſpeaks of manie great Houſes ruinated, anie more then what anie ordinarie perſon might eaſilie foreſee in the hot purſuit of anie Civil war was likelie to enſue; nor is it anie other then to demand whether his fellow-figure-caſter, among a multitude of lies, figments and fancies, hath not lighted on ſomewhat that fell out as he fancied. Whereof ſee my Vindication pag. 76-80.
Some few Eſcapes of moment may thus be amended.
Pag. 7. lin. 34. qàm qae p 8 …. 3. foreign p. 9. l. 8. as evil, p. 11. l. 22. or …ow, p. 25. l. 22. and caried, p. 34. l. 9. a viſit. p. 41. l. 4. Rand. l. 20. what one l. 22. foreign p. 66. at l. 14. marg. p. 379. at l. 28. Chap. 79. p. 3. 4. p 90. a… l. 1. put in the margin, As in his Pre…ace to Anabapt. Wa…ht; I am a tru Proteſtant in …ue own ſenſe.
FINIS.
End of the text · Thomas Gataker, A Discourse Apologetical (1654)