A letter occasioned by the second letter to Dr. Burnet, written to a friend Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. 1685 Approx. 20 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A30373 Wing B5819 ESTC R7791 11635286 ocm 11635286 47949 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A30373) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 47949) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 484:34) A letter occasioned by the second letter to Dr. Burnet, written to a friend Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. 8 p. ; 20 cm. Printed for Richard Baldwyn, [London : 1685] Caption title. Signed: G. Burnett, dated Jan. 24. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Lowth, Simon, 1630?-1720. -- Of the subject of church-power. Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. -- History of the reformation of the Church of England. 2003-10 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-01 Angela Lea Sampled and proofread 2004-01 Angela Lea Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER Occasioned by the second LETTER to Dr. BURNET , Written to a Friend . SIR , I Saw another nameless Paper directed to me two days ago ; and indeed it was so dull , and so little to the purpose , that I laid it aside as unworthy of an Answer : But you have perswaded me once more to put Pen to Paper , tho not to satisfy such a Trifler , who would pretend to Wit , if he knew how to lay his Claim to it ; but it is so course , and his good Nature and Candor are so conspicuous , that I did not wonder to hear a witty Gentleman say , That I had certainly hired one to write it ; but I scarce know where I could have found out such another . I do not trouble my self to ask after his Name ; for till he gives himself one , I must let all lie where I laid it before , since his Protestations , without a Name set to them , are things of as little weight as he that makes them , and must go for nothing , as certainly he that writ them , is one of the next things to nothing . But since I understand , that some who have read the Papers that have passed in this mater , desire to see the whole thing fairly stated , which , in such Points of Fact , is of more force than all other Discourses can possibly be ; I will set it in a clear light , and then it will appear what a sort of Men I have to do with , who will so obstinately keep up a Noise where there is no Cause or Colour given for it . The state of the whole thing is this : In King Henry the eighth's time , the method that was taken ▪ while the Points of Religion were under Consideration , was this : A Matter was put into Queries , and these were given out to some Bishops , and other Divines , who by a set day were required to bring in their Answers to those Queries under their hands ; and then these being examined and compared , they went on to determine it . So when the Sacraments came to be enquired into , there were seventeen Queries drawn up , and given out to a ● number of Bishops and Doctors , the last of these happens to be concerning Extreme Union . Some of these relate to Church-Power ; as , Whether the Apostles lacking a higher Power , as in not having a Christian King among them , made Bishops by that necessity , or by Auhority given by God ? ; Whether Bishops or Priests were first ? Whether a Bishop hath Authority by the Scripture to make a Priest , or no ? And whether any other , but only a Bishop may make a Priest ? Whether in the New Testament be required any Consecration of a Bishop and Priest , or only appointing to the Office be sufficient ? And whether , if it fortuned , that a Christian Prince , having none but temporal learned Men with him , conquered Infidels , if it was forbid by the Law of God , that he and they should preach and teach the Word of God there , or no ? And also make and constitute Priests , or no ? The like Question is put in Case that all the Bishops and Priests of a Kingdom were dead ; Whether the King of that Region should make Bishops and Priests to supply the same , or no ? To these Queries Cranmer gave Answers , that shew he then thought That Bishops and Priests derived their Authority from the King , as much as Officers of State , Mayors and Sheriffs do ; That Ordination was only a decent Form of Admission ; that Princes might dispense with it , and that no Grace was given in it , any more than in the committing Civil Offices ; and that what the Apostles did , was only by reason of the extraordinary Measure of the Spirit of God , that was in them ; to which the People that had then no Christian Prince to govern them , did freely submit , considering the Apostles not as Men that had any Empire or Dominion over them , but as good Counsellors . So he thought Bishops and Priests were at first the same thing , and one Office ; and that Princes as well as Bishops , might make Priests ; and that Consecration was not necessary by Scripture to make one a Bishop , or a Priest , but that Election , or Appointing thereto was sufficient : And that in Cases of Necessity , Christian Princes might make Bishops and Priests . The Archbishop of York differed from Cranmer , and argued these Points copiously , considering the Nature of those Papers , and proved , That the Apostles had Power from Christ to ordain Bishops and Priests ; and that no other Authority was required for doing that , but that which they derived from God ; and that a Bishop is the Overseer of the Priests , who are the Shepherds of particular Flocks ; which distinction he said was derived from the Apostles and the primitive Church ; and asserted , That none but Bishops or Priests could make a Priest : And by a great many Arguments both from the Old and New Testament , he prove that Consecration was necessary , and that Appointment without it was neither convenient nor sufficient ; and that tho in cases of necessity any Christian , tho a Lay-man , might preach and baptize , yet he could not make a Priest ; for no Authority that comes from the Holy Ghost can be used by any Man , unless he has a Commission for it grounded in Scripture ; Tradition , or ancient Use ; and that this Authority was only committed by Scripture to the Apostles , and was from them derived to their Successors ; All the other Bishops and Divines , except the Bishop of St. Davids , whose Paper is lost , agreed with the Archbishop of York in most of his Opinions ; only some of the Divines , Leighton in particular , thought , that a Christian Prince's Consent ought to have been asked by the Apostles , if there had been any at that time , before they had gone , to make Bishops and Priests . In the Point of Bishops and Priests being the same thing , or a distinct Office at first , Leighton it seems , was doubtful , for he says nothing to it . Robertson thinks , that a Priest may consecrate a Bishop , if a Bishop cannot be found . The Bishop of St. Davids , Thirleby the elect Bishop of Westminster , Cox and Redmoyn thought that Bishops and Priests were all one in the beginning ; and both Bonner , Bishop of London , and Edgeworth agreed with Robertson in this , That a Priest might consecrate a Bishop , if a Bishop could not be found . As to the necessity of Consecration , Robertson yields it , but thinks the Office so given can never be used without the Consent or Permission of the Magistrate ; which Limitation is not added by Leighton . In Cases of Necessity both Leighton and Robertson , as well as many others , think the Prince may make Bishops and Priests . After they had all given their Answer to the seventeen Queries , every Man , except the Bishop of Rochester , signed his Paper ; and Cranmer not only set his Hand to his own Paper with that modest Qualification , That he did not temerariously define , but referred the Judgment of it wholly to his Majesty ; But set his Name likewise to Leighton's Paper , which has given the Rise to all this Noise ; and set it also to Robertson's , which the late Scribblers have not thought fit to observe , tho they could not but see it ; for it is in the same Page with the other . Upon this , some have hastily inserred , that because Cranmer's Name is at Leightoun's Paper , therefore he retracted his own Paper , and subscribed to his Opinions . I have by other clear and unexceptionable Evidences proved , That Cranmer , did indeed change his Opinion in those tender Points : but as if there were a Spirit of Contradiction in some People , they will not accept of this , but will lay hold of this slight Colour of his signing Leighton's Paper , on which I laid no weight ; and therefore tho I printed the Papers to a Tittle as I found them in the Manuscript , yet I took no notice of this in my History : so howsoever I might be accused for passing it over in my Discourse concerning it , there was no reason to accuse me for Unfaithfulness in my Collections : but that Part of my Book galls some People , as giving a Credit to the whole History , and therefore they must accuse my Fidelity in that , upon which the Credit of the Book is founded , otherwise there were no considerable Service done ; And it would give a specious Colour beyond-Sea to disparage that Work , to say , that Divines of ( or rather in ) the Church of England , have detected my Unfaithfulness in publishing the Records , for that strikes at all ; So a Man that was resolved to have a Coach and six Horses at any Rate , at last found out a Journey-man to do this Piece of Work for him ; and he has , very probably , entred it into the particular of his Merits . Cranmer's subscribing these Papers , cannot be understood to be his assentting to all the Opinions contained in them , for they differ in several particulars from one another ; and he could not subscribe Contradictions : And tho he had assented to their Opinions , it does not clear him of that for which the Presbyterians , or the Erastians may vouch him , for in the main Point that relates to Presbytery , concerning Bishops and Priests being at first the same Office , which Cranmer had asserted , Leightoun saies nothing to it ( See Collect. p. 225. ) so Cranmer retracts nothing upon this Head ; and Robertson thinks , that where a Bishop cannot be had , a Priest may consecrate a Bishop , which is also a main Point : He likewise thinks , that a Church-man ought not to use or exercise his Function , without the Consent or Permission of the Magistrate , which is all that most Erastians plead for : so if this Subscription is a good Argument , Cranmer is theirs still ; and both Robertson and Leightoun think , that in Cases of Necessity Princes may make both Bishops and Priests , and I know few Erastians that plead for more . Thus it is plain , that suppose it were granted that Cranmer had by signing these Papers subscribed to the Opinions contained in them , he may still be cited both by Presbyterians and Erastians , so that is it were not for the other Evidences that I gave of his changing his Mind , which no person had ever observed before me , he might still be cited by them , notwithstanding these Subscriptions . All that I can make of the Subseriptions is , that he might according to a Rule that some Ministers of State have observ'd , set his Hand to those Papers , as a mark that they might not be altered : and as to Leightoun's Paper , there may be this particular reason for it , that Leightoun not being in the Commission , of which I take notice in my History , p. 289. Cranmer , who it seems ordered him to write Answers to those Queries , might have set his hand to his Paper , as a warrant to him for having writ them , I confess these are but conjectures ; but to guess somewhat probably , is all that can be done at this distance . I have now opened this matter so particularly , that I hope I have satisfied the desires of those who complained that the thing was left too much in the dark . As for the method in which I published them , I could make a short defence for it , since it is well known that a very eminent Person took the direction of that whole Work into his particular care ; but since I am not so near him as to obtain his leave for naming him , and that I will not do it without his leave , I shall tell the reasons that were suggested , for following the method in which I have published them ; The method in which they lie in the Manuscript is this , first the Queries are set down , then every Man's Paper comes , first Arch-Bishop Cranmer's , then the Arch-Bishop of York's , and so forward according to the order in which they are under every Query : All these Papers are Sign'd at the end of them , except the Bishop of Rochester's , but there is but one Signing for all , and there are no special Subscriptions to any particular Articles ( as some have fancied , ) so that the Subscription to the last Article belongs to the whole Paper , and to every Article in it : After these come two Papers , the one in Latine and the other in English , in which the agreement or disagreement of them all is marked ; Cranmer's only excepted ; so that it seems these were for his private use : Now , since every Paper relates to the Queries without repeating them , the Queries must either have been repeated to every Paper , or the Reader must have been always turning Leaves to find them out ; and if any Man had the curiosity to examine their agreement or disagreement , he could find it out much readier in the way in which they are put than if I had followed the method in which they lie in the Manuscript ; and these Papers in which they are already compared , come in more naturally at the end of every Query ; and can be more easily examined when one has under his eye at one view all their Opinion , than if they had come in at the end of all after all the Papers had been set down ; so that this Method very well becomes the exactness and the true Judgment of him that advised it . On the Margents every Man's Name is set over against every Article of his Paper ; so that if one will read a whole Paper in an entire Thread as it lies in the Original , he has an easy work , and is only to seek Canterbury , York , or any other , all through the 17 Queries , and he finds it without any confusion or difficulty . And now , what is to be said to all this ? Is there any thing here left out , or mangled , or disguised , or any thing else done sufficiant to justify a small part of the Clamour that is raised ? The reflections made in this last Letter on the Dean of St. Pauls , are too visible to be carried off with the good words that introduce them ; if he had writ his Book after my History , it might have been pretended that I had misled him , though these Gentlemen's Friends know to their Cost that he is not apt to mistake in his Quotations ; but he who writ his Book almost Twenty years before mine , and had the Manuscript so long in his hands , saw it as it is ; and therefore all that is said from this against the Method that I took in publishing these Papers , is meer fooling : But the truth is , the Dean saw well enough , that there was nothing in all this matter that deserved to be taken notice of . His Arguments , such as they be , is a Civility that he had no reason to expect from any on this side the Water . A Man may differ from him both in Opinion and Argument ; and yet none but he that can Drawcansir like , kill both Friend and Foe , and arraign a whole Nation , would treat a Man of his worth in so rude a manner : but as the Devil is known by his Cloven-Foot , so the attacking such Men is a little too early and too bare-fac'd . If I was guilty of a mistake in my last Letter , I will acknowledg it as soon as the Author of this gives himself a Name ; and if ever he on whom I laid it , finds but half the reason to lay any Paper to my charge , that I have here , I will allow him all the liberty he shall be pleased to take : but I will say nothing upon an Anonymous Paper . I confess I acquit him freely of any accession to this ; for I believe , though he would set about it , he could not bring his stile so low , nor write so ill . I do not trouble my self to find out the Author . Dull and pert are such common Characters , that without a more particular mark I cannot trace him . I confess a sit of kindness he falls into upon my naming the Blessed Martyr , leads me a little nearer , for I remember I saw a Dedication to the second Peer of England , that began MY DEAR LORD ; upon which one askt if the Author was Married to him : but if he will be as good as his Word , and pay me the Ten Thousand Thanks in full tale for every time that he finds the Blessed Martyr in my Writings , he will be very hoarse long before he gets through them . As for his bringing himself off from that crude , not to call it profane reflection on a whole Kingdom , 't is ill nature in me to take notice of it , since I hear all cry shame on him for it ; for his contracting what he laid indefinitely on a whole Kingdom , to a few persons , is a Figure well becoming his Wit and Candor . His ranking me with a Man whose Face I do not so much as know , is another of his Flowers ; he may perhaps hear more of him than I can tell him , from one that Lodged so long at Nat. Thompson's , if he happened to be in his House when he Printed the Appeal from the City to the Country , in which I have been told Ferguson had a hand . As for the Zeal that all this sort of Men pretend for the Crown , the Book that is the foundation of this Stir , is a good Indication of it , which without any straining , falls so evidently within a Praemunire , as I hear an Honourable Person has observed , that the Writer owes his not being questioned for it to His Mejesties Clemency , and to the neglect that both he and his Book are under . There is another Sect beside Presbytery , that has first degraded Kings wholly from their Ecclesiastical Supremacy , and after that point was gained , made them reign at the Mercy of the Church , and at the Pope's Courtesy : It were too bold to attempt both at once , and it is ingeniously enough done , to seem to yield up the one wholly , till the other is gain'd . But in all this matter their Honest Mr. Lowth is quite forsaken , since his false charging me for leaving out that passage of Leighton's is not so much as pretended to be justified : it seems this Writer is very scant of Epithets , or thinks there are few that can fit Mr. Lowth , that he has no other for him in both his Letters but Honest , so that one would think it is a part of his Christned Name . Epithetes are chosen with relation to the matter in hand : Now , though he may be a very honest Man in all other things for ought I know , yet I am sure he was neither Wise nor Honest in this particular ; but seems his Friends that set him on , think they are bound in honour fetch him off . I confess this Trifler is modester than he was , for whereas he , Sir Hubras like , valued himself , that the King of Israel was not to go out 〈◊〉 against a Flea ; this Writer more humbly compares his Letter to 〈◊〉 Flea in my Ear : but how Fleas are so much in their favour , I 〈◊〉 not know ; the last was a truer Figure for an Animal of a higher form had suffer'd by the comparison : But , with my Readers Pardon I will venture to take it a little lower , and assure him it is as 〈◊〉 as if it had been shut up in a Microscope a Week . I do not blame him 〈◊〉 rising a little higher in another Figure taken from the Marble ; it 〈◊〉 his top-flight , and it were pity to see a whole Sheet without 〈◊〉 touch that can be calumniated with Wit. So far have I complied with your desires , in contradiction to my own Inclination : I am 〈◊〉 this matter is at an end , so let the whole Pack bark as long as 〈◊〉 will , I will not write one word more on this subject . I am with 〈◊〉 possible respect and duty , Jan. 24. Sir , Your most humble Servant G. Burnett . LONDON , Printed for Richard Baldwyn , at the Old-Baily Corner . 1685.