THE Unchanged, Constant and Single-hearted PEACE-MAKER drawn forth into the World. OR, A VINDICATION OF Mr. JOHN DURY from the aspersions cast upon him in a nameless Pamphlet called, The time-serving Proteus and Ambidexter Divine, uncased to the world. wherein The two Letters written seventeen years ago the one to Joseph Hall, then Bishop of Exeter, the other to William Land, then Arch-bishop of Canterbury, are cleared from the most false and injurious Interpretations put upon them. Qui respicit ad pauca facile pronuntiat. Entered according to the late Act concerning Printing. LONDON, Printed by J. Clowes, for Richard Wodenothe at the star under St. Peters Church in cornhill, 1650. TO THE READER. Christian( that is unprejudiced, discerning and ingenuous) READER. I Am called upon, as you will see by the following Letter, to testify my knowledge concerning a most dear and precious friend, which in Conscience, I think myself every way bound to do, seeing I have been acquainted with him these 23. years, and with all his public Proceedings so intimately, that to be a Co-agent with him therein according to my ability, was one of my principal studies. Therefore I do solemnly profess, that I was thorougly instructed, of all passages and material circumstances thereof, as one that made it his work to search thereinto; for whilst he was abroad, then I at home made myself a Solicitor of the design, and could have laid down my life in it, for the good of the Protestant Cause and Churches. Upon this ground of my knowledge, it is but my duty to attest thus publicly, that all the matters of fact, related by Mr. Dury's own Letter, concerning his dealing with the Bishops, and the considerations thereof, are certain and undoubted truths, heretofore fully confided unto me. Nor can I bear witness to the matters of fact only, but I have had knowledge of the Counsels, not only which Mr. Dury from time to time did agitate to carry on his work, which he did impart unto me, as to his Co-Agent, but of others who are name here, and of many more who are not name, but were men of note and eminency for Godliness and Parts, of whom some are yet alive, who all did approve highly of Mr. Dury's carriage; wherein such ingenuity, moderation and Prudency did appear, that the like was not almost to be found in any. I do remember a discourse which that blessed Saint Dr. Sibs once had with me concerning Mr. Dury, whilst he was trading with the Bishops for the Protestant Cause. He told me, that my friend had lately been with him, and that he had inquired of him, how he could possibly with a good and quiet Conscience, apply himself to some of them with so much patience as he did? But said that good man, when Mr. Dury had told me his circumspections of Matters, and the Rules by which he did govern his councils to the end of edification with all men, of what Principles soever, I was so ravished, and am still so much affencted, that I must charge you, to prevail with him so far, as to set down in writing and leave us those Maxims of council, and Rules of Proceedings which are proper to Christianity and mutual good, whereby he doth order his applications with so much spiritual advantage; For he was pleased to observe truly, that the greater part even of the honest World, was so far out of the way of prudent and condescending behaviours, that they were perpetually in lamentable extremes and distempers. And if the foresaid Doctor had cause to make those wishes then, how much more now may all Professors of Christianity and Rationallity, desire the same things? If the Author( who ever he be of the Pamphlet wherewith he seeks professedly to defame Mr. Duraeus, as if he were a time-server, that is, a vile man, voided of all truth, sincerity and constancy in his ways) had had any spark of that excellent spirit and ingenuity, as was before mentioned, he would first have inquired into the matter before he would have judged; which if he had done, I am very sure he could not have wanted satisfaction, and then he would have been brought to consider the difference of Times, and what a change all things have been under since the year 1634. the Circumstances of Mr. Duraeus employment at that time from what it is now, and that he came hither as a mere stranger then, and consequently was bound to make use of those whom he found in place, as then they stood in their public Relations. And as these things might perhaps have let him see more of the truth, in Mr. Duraeus way and comportment, then he could imagine: So he might have been brought also, to reflect upon the breaking forth of light daily more and more, whereby not only the Mysteries of all manner of iniquity are discovered now, which formerly could not be suspected of those men, whom he had to deal with: but also the knowledge of more perfection is advanced towards us now; So that heretofore matters of duty could not be discerned by such Principles, as now they may be; whence must be inferred, that we shall be under a most gross and irrational mistake, if we will measure the actions of men done by the light which then was, according to the Rules which now are known and observable. But the Pamphlets greatest fault next to the ill-will, uncharitableness and false accusations against his innocent neighbour, is, the multiplying of scandals in public, and becoming the instrument of Satan, both to hinder others to receive readily and without prejudice, the things which hereafter may be offered unto them from Mr. Duraeus in his negotiation; and to hinder also Mr. Dury in the perfecting of those things, which tend to the rectifying of mens Principles, and the ordering of their ways to more edification; which is the fruit of all our discoveries in any kind whatsoever, and no less I know Mr. Dury's whole aim and ambition to promote; and therefore am sorry that any thing should come in to divert him from it, or to indispose the spirits of indifferent men, to receive that which God in due time may tender to them by his hand. This is clearly the old, wicked, Champions subtlety to for-stall mens thoughts with prejudices, and to make use of this Weapon of calumnious Engagements, against the most profitable Servants of God, in all Ages; But God is able to turn all to the best, and I hope this will be a motive to induce my friend with more speed to publish his whole Negotiation; and let this and future Generations see all the passages, and circumstances of his peaceable and considerate proceedings, together with the Rules of his walking, and the Example of his Practise thereof amongst all Parties. Thus beseeching God to show us the way of Peace and mutual Edification I rest in him. Thy faithful Friend and Servant, SAMUEL HARTLIB. From my House at Charing-Cross, the 31. of May 1650. A LETTER WRITTEN BY Mr. JOHN DURY, TO SAMUEL HARTLIB, Esquire. Loving and faithful Friend, THere is no man in this Nation, to whom all my ways and counsels have been so fully known as to yourself ever since the year 1627. therefore I can appeal to none so confidently as to yourself, to bear witness of the truth of my intentions; of the grounds of my resolutions, and of the circumstances of my proceedings,( for all material things have from time to time been laid open to you,) nor is there any of whose constant intregrity, and unbyased affections to Truth and righteousness, the Godly men of all sides, as well Episcopal as Presbyterians, and Independents, have indifferently greater assurance then of your own: for it hath been your constant work( as well as mine) to serve them all alike, freely in things of the best nature without partiality, that we might provoke them all so far as they were capable, to love and to do good works towards each other, and towards the Protestant cause, & foreign Churches; I shall therefore entreat you, as in the presence of God, to declare the consonancy of my former and present ways towards them all, in the things which I have prosecuted, and still do seek to advance; that the maliciousness of a lying Calumny, wherewith an unconscionable slanderer doth endeavour to asperse me, may be disproved; and that the minds of upright men may be cleared from the injurious impressions, which he labours to give unto them, against the innocency and orderlines of my walking in the Gospel. A day or two ago, a Pamphlet came to my hand, wherein the nameless, yet not unknown Author, according to his known and constant vain of bitterness of spirit, doth intend to represent me unto the world, as a time-serving Proteus and Ambidexter Divine: by the publication of two letters of mine, which he found amongst the Papers of the late Bishop of Canterbury, and which he construes just as the devil did Jobs walking before God; and with the same spirit and intention before the World. Now it is a very comfortable thing which Christ hath told us, Mat. 10. v. 22. till 27. that although his Disciples shall be hated of all men for his names sake, and be reproached as he was, to be a Devil and a deceiver, yet that they have no cause to fear, because there is nothing hide which shall not be revealed. The assurance then which we have of Gods omnisciency, of his providence, and of his power, that he can and will make the naked truth of all things manifest to men and Angels, is an unspeakable refreshment to a believing soul, when it is persecuted with the slanders of a lying tongue. For if that which is discovered be found to be a fault, it will be our happiness that it is reproved and brought to light, Prov. 28.13. that being acknowledged, and forsaken, we may find mercy; for he that covereth his sin shall not prosper: And thus the wickedness of the worst of men, is sometime the healthfullest physic that can be applied to the best of men; but if that which is laid open as a reproach is no fault, but a work of righteousness done for and in the name of Christ; then happy are ye( saith the Apostle) for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: 1 Pet. 4.14. on their part he is evil spoken of; but on your part, he is glorified. Now whether that which I did then( supposing nothing to be falsified in these letters) was a fault in me yea or no? or how far it was a fault? I shall offer it to be judged by the consideration of matters, as they then were constituted in this Nation, as they stood with the nature of my employment amongst the Churches; and as they appeared to my understanding obligatory, according to the Rules by which I did order my conversation in the profession of Christianity; and if in any of these things, any godly man discerning a fault, either in the matter or manner of proceeding, will favour me so much as to lay it before me; I shall be beholden to him, and bless God for his kindness. With this design give me leave to represent unto you, that which I know you know, and will attest to be a truth: which is, that having been at Elbing in Prussia, by the importunity of their love engaged to serve them, in the quality of a lecturer without obligation to a Pastoral Charge over them: they did unwillingly dismiss me; but I thought myself bound in Conscience for the prosecuting of a more universal work, which was to solicit the councils of peace amongst Protestants, to quit them, and cast myself upon providence, in following that design: thereupon I came hither into England, in the year, 1630. when the King of Sweden went into Germany; and I made it my work here to confer with the most godly and learned Divines of this Nation, to gain their assistance towards the work of Protestant union and peace, till the year 1631. in August; for then, I went from hence into Germany, after that the marquis of Hamilton was gone to assist the King of Sweden in the Protestant cause; I stayed in Germany in the midst of some difficulties and dangers; and in the low-Countries, negotiating with all sides, and all sorts of Protestant Professors, far and near( as from time to time you had information) till the year 1633. in November, at which time I arrived here to give an account of my negotiation, and to deliver the Letters which I had from the foreign Churches to the Clergy of this Nation, whose assistance they did implore both spiritual and bodily, towards the furtherance of the Protestant Cause, and a healing of their ecclesiastical breaches. The Letters were inscribed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Abbot, and to the Divines of England, to seek for his Patronage and their help towards the work; but when I arrived into these parts, I found that Abbot was dead, and that Laud was in his room; my address therefore was unto him in the name of the Churches, to gain him and the King to condescend to their desires; and at the same time I made my application to the chief godly Divines of this Nation also, without the advice of some of which I did nothing of moment; and they were so far from dissuading me to pursue my scope with the Arch-Bishop, that both they & their chief Patrons and Councellors, amongst whom were Sir Nathaniel Rich, Mr. Pym, and my Lord brooks,( although they expected little good from the Arch-Bishop, yet they) did encourage me in my application towards him, for the Churches sake to try the utmost. You may remember, I have told you that I had been for the space of five or six years before I went into Germany under a scruple of conscience concerning the lawfulness of my calling to the ministry, and the nature of a pastoral charge, which made me the more willing to cast myself abroad, and to take any other service in hand relating to the Church, though never so painful, rather then to be engaged with a doubtful Conscience into a particular Ministerial function any where; but in the years 1631. 32. and 33. having seen the Churches abroad, and conferred with divers eminent men in several places, about the nature of that Function, as well as about other matters: I got with a more full insight into the constitution of the Churches, and into the duties of holy communion amongst Professors, more quietness of spirit, and inward resolution under a Pastoral Relation, in case of a lawful outward call thereunto, then for a great while before I had enjoyed. When with a spirit thus qualified from what it was formerly, I did return into England, as a Messenger from foreign Churches, it fell out that Sir Thomas row, who was most zealous to have the work advanced; and in order thereunto, to see me some way or other provided for, that without wonted difficulties, I might go about it, moved the King and Arch-Bishop, that I might be sent abroad with some instructions towards the Churches, in answer to their desires; which pressing as he did all things of this nature freely, hearty, and earnestly, made the Arch-Bishop( who as in the end appeared, never was hearty, neither to me, nor to the work,) set himself to sift me, that he might shift himself of me, for he looked upon me,( as being a stranger to him) with a suspicious eye: when therefore I begun to perceive this, I resolved with all circumspection to prevent offensiveness, and with ingenuity of truth to behave myself so far, as with a good Conscience I could, in such a way, that he should find no just cause of exception, either against me, or of scruple at the work in my hand; least by any want of duty, and of a lawful condescension in me, the miscarriage of the hopes of so good a work might lie at my door; and I am now confident, that God did then fit me so to deal with him; to the end, that I should leave him in his own Conscience, without excuse for his doing of nothing towards the work. For although I had been in many straits, as to the outward man, whiles I was abroad; yet as to the inward man God had enlarged my spirit, and taught me that I was bound to become all things to all men for their edification; that I might gain all to the main duties of Christianity. And by this Principle I have walked ever since that time heretofore, and do still walk to this day. When therefore he with a design to sift me( as afterward appeared) pretended to Sir Tho: row, that except I were reckoned to be one of the Clergy of the Church of England; I was not fit to be sent abroad and entrusted with any instructions from them towards other Protestants,( whereupon he inquired of Sir Thomas, whether he was sure that I would accept of any relation to the Church of England, in case I were called to it; intimating that he was in doubt of it, and that it ought to be cleared, before he could intend that which was desired.) Thereupon Sir Thomas moved the question to me thus, what if you( said he) were called to a place in England, would you accept of it yea or no? To this I answered, that time was, when I could not have accepted of any place; but that I was now satisfied in some scruples which heretofore had perplexed me; and that God had taught me to discern between the outward and the inward call to the ministry, and to understand the different relation which is to be had unto both in our carriage; and to know the Law of liberty, observable in the outward if the inward call were clear, and the spiritual work uprightly minded therein. As for the Church of England, that I did look upon it as a Church of Christ; true in respect of the Doctrine professed therein; and eminent for all spiritual gifts bestowed upon it: that I judged of the Government thereof by Bishops, with indifferency, viz. That I took them as men commissioned by the King, to be his delegates for the visible state of the Congregations, because the King was under God( as all Magistrates are obliged) bound to see in all his Dominions the public worship of God, and outward profession of Religion, maintained in an orderly way, to do which, he had power to make substitutes to be Over-seers: wherefore I looked upon them, as his eyes, to look out after the observance of outward orders: and consequently in the sphere of that employment lawful, and by him and under him from God. As concerning the Ceremonies, if they were not pressed above their nature, and made superstitiously, as men are inclined to do, the principal work of their worship, and so become destructive to the spiritual truth thereof; I thought that they ought not to be made a matter of strife, but might harmlessly be used, or also inoffensively not used according to circumstances, because circumstantials are by the Apostle left free to every Church, as they should find it most expedient for their own edification to order them; provided always, that nothing were therein settled contrary to the word of God, or uncharitably, and for some human design, imposed upon the consciences of well-meaning men. This Declaration of my sense of these matters, gave Sir Thomas Row full satisfaction of the soundness of my purpose, to be peaceable and conformable, although he could perceive, that I was no zealot either for the Government or the Ceremonies. Now, as his Question discovered unto me the design of a call, intended by the Arch-Bishop toward me( whom yet I could not suspect to mean otherwise then well) so it put me upon a serious and unpartial perusal of the Canons of the Church that then were; to see what was orderly and legally, as to outward concernments to be observed therein: and by some conferences with some godly friends, who had subscribed the Canons; I laboured to understand the nature of the Subscription, to be made thereunto: I fell also upon a disquirie within myself, what the legal way of entering upon the call should be in this place, lest happily I might again stumble at the same ston, in after times at home, as I had done in former times abroad. In this disquiry I found, that by the Law none was to be admitted to a curates or Ministers place, except he received imposition of hands by some of the deputed Overseers of this Church; This I understood to be the door to an Office, and the ground of a right title to a place, in respect of the outward profession of co-membership, with the rest of the ministry of this Church. Not as if the intrinsical right to be a Gospel-Minister, that is one who may serve Christ in dispensing his ordinances, could not be had without this Ceremony from these men, or that this Ceremony by such men, did add any thing ex opere operato, as Papists imagine, to the gifts of him that is called( for now I was taught to distinguish the inward & universal, from the outward & particular call) but that for orders sake in particular places, an outward right should be conferred, by those that were deputed to see men regularly installed into charges, and to see all places provided for in a legal way. Upon this account, I thought Ordination to be very expedient, if not necessary for me in reference to this place & call: not only to prevent all future scruples,( a burnt child dreads the fire) but to have an undoubted right to be counted a true member of the society of Ministers in this Nation. This matter I acquainted Dr. Sibs withal, who did not disagree from my opinion therein: and these were my notions concerning those things in reference to a call, if any should be offered unto me, to make me a member of this ministry: but what use Sir Tho. Row did make of that which I had declared unto him, concerning my sense of the Church of England as it then stood, I know not distinctly, for he told me not his particular way of negotiating with the Arch-bishop; but it appeared, in the issue not long after, that he made some use thereof: because I was referred to the Arch-Bishops Chaplain Mr. Bray, to confer with him in these matters, and by him to make my addresses, to solicit my work towards the Arch-Bishop with him; amongst other discourses, I had occasion to speak of the nature of Ordination, and of a call to aplace, and what was a right to it in Law; and of the Popish opinion of an indelible Character of Priesthood, by Ordination, which I utterly rejected. But after a while, a presentation was offered unto me by the Arch-Bishop to a place in Devonshire; and so I was put upon the full trial, whether I would accept of a place in England yea or no. Whereupon I made none other exception but this; that if it should not take me off, from the public service of the Churches in the Protestant Cause, I would accept of it; but if it should be any stop to my prosecution of that design, I would by no means entertain it; and this I declared to Sir Tho. Row, and to the Arch-Bishop, and that this is a truth, behold before God I lie not.) To this it was answered, that the meaning was not to take me off, but rather to enable me by this presentation to the foreign employment and that being one of this Church, I might have a dispensation( the place being provided by my care) to be absent whilst the employment lasted. Hereupon I received the presentation, not without the encouragement of godly friends to do it; and so I went to Exeter. Now providence had so ordered it before-hand, that in the year 1626. I had acquainted Dr. Hall, then Bishop of Exeter, with my scruple of Conscience about Ordination, and the doubts which I had of the lawfulness of it, as to me from the Church wherein I had gotten it; whereunto he had endeavoured then to give me satisfaction. When therefore I came to him, he entertained me with a great deal of affection, and we conferred at large, about the nature of my employment towards the Churches, about my former scruple of the nature of Ordination to the ministry, and about my present sense, of a right to be admitted legally as a member of the Clergy of England. Concerning the nature of Ordination to the ministry, by which a man was set a part, and obliged to dedicate himself to the service of Christ in his Ordinances, we did agree, for ought I can remember, in all things that were material: and concerning the legal admission of a man, to be a member of this Clergy, he said, that although the Canon of the Church did exclude all, who were not ordained by Bishops from that right; yet that they had a reverend esteem of the ministry of the Reformed Churches abroad, and did press nothing upon them against their will, in case any of them were called hither; but accounted them as Brethren: yet that if I for my better satisfaction, and to prevent future inconveniences, desired the legal way of admission, that he could not refuse it unto me. Thereupon I told him, that it was my desire, and that I would express it in writing to him, together with the grounds which moved me to desire it, lest in after times, the fact might be otherwise understood then I meant it, and misreported to my prejudice or his, as if I had some carnal end in the business; and that I might be able to give a clear account of the grounds of my proceeding therein, in case of a mistake. T is was the true inducement that moved me, to make it my desire to him in writing: whereunto he accordingly did condescend; and with the imposition of hands of several other Presbyters together with himself, publicly in the Cathedral of Exeter, I was admitted a Minister of this Church on February 24. 1634. Being thus admitted, I was to go to the place whereunto the Arch-Bishop had presented me, that I might be inducted; but it was found, that the former incumbent was still alive, and having heard of one coming to take his place over his head, was in a great perplexity, but I had no mind to prejudice him; for I had not sought that, or any other preferment for any worldly end, but was sent thither by him that pretended to have power, to provide for that place. This is the true process of that business, which being thus transacted, I went from Exeter the 27. of February, and came the 28. to Dorchester; where I acquainted Mr. White with what was past, and solicited him, to contribute his assistance towards the Counsels of Peace, and the Body of Practical Divinity: in my way from thence towards London, I stayed a day with the Bishop of Salisbury, and set him upon some further task in the work. Being then arrived at London the 5. of March, I afterward( as I had opportunity) imparted to the Arch-Bishop the Copy of the letter, by which I had desired a legal admission from the Bishop of Exeter, to the place whereunto he had presented me; for I had understood, that he had been informed of my Scruples concerning my former Ordination: lest therefore he should foment thoughts of me wrongfully, to the prejudice of my work,( for then I saw, that he had sought advantages against me) I thought it expedient to acquaint him myself, with the truth of my proceedings in a respective style, as the fashion was; Nor am I at all troubled, that this is now made known; for I see no cause to be ashamed of any thing which I then did: because I had a good conscience according to my light, in all that I then did prosecute, considering the circumstances of matters which I have related: yet I will not say, that either my Notions were the only true ones of the things heretofore mentioned, or that my way of proceeding in my addresses to him, were faultless in every thing, and might not have been otherwise ordered; These things I dare not say, because I am not to be mine own judge, to justify myself, although my conscience doth not condemn me of any sinister aim; but if any will show me, wherein the error, or iniquity of my way, was a deviation from a Rule at that time, in matter of duty towards God and men observable; I shall thank him for it. But the railing accusations and misconstructions of my words & actions, by such a Pamphleter as this, I value not. because they touch me not at all. I am only sorry for his sake, that he hath made himself guilty of so much malice against me, who never had a thought to wrong him: that he doth set himself so wickedly to possess others, who know me not, with uncharitable thoughts of me, by false informations against me: that through hatred to his present superiors, because I have persuaded others, to their duty towards them; he hath taken up a virulency of malice against me: that his passion against them and me, hath so far blinded him, against all ingenuity and Christianity, that he can make no faire construction of any thing that comes before him from us; but is the Devils Instrument to pervert it to the worst end that can be taken up; and that by all this way of dealing, in other things of this nature, he becomes a main incentive of turbulent thoughts in mens imaginations, of confusion in their actions, of injuriousness in their speeches, and of division in their spirits, to keep our breaches open, and our wounds ever bleeding: would to God he might be made to see how far this is opposite to the true and fundamental Rule, not onely of Christianity but of civility and rationality, Rom. 12.18. If it be possible, and as much as in you lieth, have peace with all men. And that he doth what in him doth lye to aggravate the guilt of this Nation, of this City and of his own person, by making himself a Ring-leader of railers, and of such as carry tales to shed blood. Truly I am hearty grieved for all this, not onely on his behalf, Ezech 31.9. but for the Gospels sake, and for the calamities which men of such distempers bring upon this Nation; but as to myself I can rejoice, that God doth give me occasion, and hath drawn me forth by vindicating myself, to let all men who shall red this, see the constant tenor of orderliness, when I have endeavoured to walk first and last by a known rule, to be without offence towards every one; for my Conscience doth bear me record, as in the presence of God, that my study hath been to walk without any private or partial designs, sincerely by the grace which I have received; framing my whole course by one and the same main Rule of Gospel-principles towards all, which is to walk in love and holiness for universal serviceableness in that which is good, holding forth the word of life as the ground of this walking, by the particular directions which the Scriptures testify to be the will of God. Therefore( let me say it without boasting) I shall take this book of mine adversary with Job upon my shoulder, Job. 31.36. and bind it as a Crown unto me; to show thereby the enemies of my ways in the midst of all these changes; for although I pretend to no perfection, but know where my show doth pinch me in my goings, yet I can lift up my face against these reproaches, with a full manifestation of truth, and answer distinctly to all the matters of the virulent Title-Page, and false Marginal-Notes, and conclusions contained of this Pamphlet. For to the Title-Page I shall say this. 1. It is false that I ever renounced my Ordination received from a foreign Church; but having lost( for reasons needless to be particularized) the comfort and the assurance of the lawfulness of it, from the year 1625. till about the middle of 1632. I abstained onely from all relation to a pastoral charge, though not from all Ministerial employments; and the taking of Ordination here, was onely in order to be admitted as a Member of the Clergy of this Nation. 2. It is also most false, that I professed myself the Prelates, and late Arch-Bishops most devoted Servant in all obedience, in that sense wherein the Pamphleter doth suggest it; for I never served them for any end of mine own, or of theirs; but I offered myself onely in reference to the common cause of Protestants to be their Servant; that the late King might be brought to own those Churches. 3. It is most false, that I have been metamorphosed from a prelatical to a Presbyterian, and from that to an Independent Professor. I have ever endeavoured and professed myself to be extra partes; and accordingly have maintained the practise of Rules and Principles which I made useful alike towards all, to serve all in the best things according to emergencies. The paths of peace and of truth, of righteousness and of holiness in the spirit of unpartial love, are so far from the heart of this Pamphleter, that the practise and fruit thereof, appears to him, no better then gull and wormwood: I know I have frailties and sinful infirmities as other men have; but in this matter of wavering from Rules: I may say it without vanity, that if I could be heard in the matter of regulating thoughts and actions towards their proper ends; I am confident to approve myself to the Conscience of every man who is capable of reason, and I assert it as an undoubted truth, that nothing hath been so constantly my study, as to seek a Rule for every thing; and nothing more in my practise, then to be constant to the Rules which I have found; and that the greatest difficulty which I have met withall, hath been ordinarily to bring men from particular designs and interests to mend universal Rules; for which cause it is no wonder to me, that a man of this pamphleteers temper should construe my actions as his own are, done for none other end any by none other rule; but to serve one, and oppose another party, without respect to righteousness. To his Marginal-Notes and clausulary inferences, upon the letters which I shall take as they lye marked in their order; I shall answer briefly thus. To ( a) you suppose I have a present living, but I have none; and though besides other offers I might have had a place of 300 l. a year in Hampshire, yet I refused it; that I might serve the public more freely, being free from a particular employment. As for the places to which I have been called since I came hither; I have had the admission and induction of the lawful Authority thereunto, to whom the care of such matters, instead of the Bishops, who are removed, is committed by the Parliament. For my Rule is, that the Authority which I find in place over me, is in lawful things to be obeied: I stand not in opposition to, nor do I rail at the superior Powers which are over me; as this Pamphleter hath always done, to those whom he did not fancy. ( b) The calumny that Arch-Bishops preferment did make me an Episcopal proselyte, and marred my Presbyterianship is so grossly false, that having been heretofore accused of the same crime by him that wrote the Canterburians self-conviction in Anno 1640. he was so ashamed of it afterward, that in the second Edition of that book, he publicly doth retract that accusation, and absolves me from it. As for the love of preferment, or of money and honour for which preferments are sought, I shall declare the truth how far I have made them my end, since I came to the ministry: my first employment where I was at as much ease and competency, as a single man of my quality could desire, I did quit for Conscience sake because I was not satisfied in the nature of the employment, and of my call unto it, and cast myself upon God without any visible ground of subsistence: my second employment was at Elbing, where I wanted nothing that could be desired as you well know, neither love nor respect nor subsistence; and yet to prosecute a public good work, I did freely quit it, to cast myself in a painful work upon all manner of uncertainties, Anno 1635. being come the second time from Germany, with a public decree of the Protestant confederate states, for the prosecution of the work of peace, whereby I was enabled to solicit the concurrence of other Protestants towards the furtherance of it in their name: then the King was pleased to confer a Living upon me in Lincoln-shire, by which means the Arch-Bishop thought to have taken me off from the work;( for then it was manifest, that he was averse from it, but durst not appear an open enemy to it.) I was so far in love with that preferment, that except the King would give me leave to go beyond Seas again, when I should think it expedient I would not accept of it; but having gotten that grant, and a licence to be absent for that service, which the Protestant Churches and States had engaged me into: I accepted of the place, and having provided for the cure thereof, I went again in July to the Low-Countries, to negotiate there with the Churches that which I saw no hope to effect amongst ourselves, then having stayed abroad in the Low-Countries, in Sweden, in Denmark, in Germany, till the beginning of this Parl. I returned to solicit the business with more hope then ever before; but the intricacie of public Affairs here giving me small hopes of any sudden help, I was willing, upon a call from the King to be with his Daughter the Princes of Orange as her Chaplain, to go beyond Seas again. This preferment was as honourable and as plentiful as any could be bestowed upon a man of my coat in those parts; and if I had sought my ease and pleasure, I might have stayed in it till this day; but to follow the dictates of a good Conscience, in reference to this public cause, which the Parl. hath agitated. I did quit that employment freely against the will of the Prince of Orange; and did accept a place of less splendour at Rotterdam, amongst the Company of Marchants: where yet I had a livelihood very competent and well settled; and had as much love and respect as I could desire: nevertheless, upon a Summons from the Parl. to come to be one of the Assembly of Divines, I did quit that place also out of love to this public service; and without any assurance or thought of preferment here, other then providence should afford, I choose an uncertainty for a certainty, and came hither when the Parliaments affairs were at their lowest ebb, which was about the time of Naisby battle. Since my coming hither I was appointed to be one of the Ministers at Winchester, by an Order of the Committee for Plundered Ministers; and when I was called to be with the Kings Children, I did quit that place, and since have no settlement; but have resolved to stand free from private Engagements, that I may set myself apart to public designs of Peace, to publish the councils, and solicit the means thereof; and hereunto, because the Parl. did call me from the competency which I had beyond Seas, and have put me by the competency which I had whiles I was with the Kings Children, they have thought it equitable to vote me a subsistence equivalent thereunto, out of an impropriat Rectory, whereof as yet I have not received a penny; and although a part of my wives Estate, better worth then 400 l. a year, hath maintained a garrison for the Parl. never having been in the Rebels hands, nor we ever since the Irish Rebellion broken forth, having enjoyed one penny of the Rents thereof, but all hath been taken for public uses; yet we have not been impatient as some who suffer less are; but expect in due time redress, although in the mean time we are in as low a condition as those that have nothing, but a little credit to live upon borrowing. This hath been the way of my preferment from the beginning; thus I have aspired unto greatness, and thus at present I subsist, and as for the manner of coming to these preferments, I shall add this, as in the presence of God, that I never knew of them till they were offered without any suit of mine by me unto others, that when I have been called to them; I never entered into any capitulation for maintenance with any that gave me the call; but left that free to them to do as they thought good, and that I never intended to keep two employments at once in this Nation, or more livings then one; but always quitted that which I had when I was called to another, such a kind of Episcopal Proselyte have I been through love of preferment, which you know as well as myself. ( c) I confess I did voluntarily sue to the Bishop; not for a new Ordination to the spiritual part of the Ministerial work; for I clearly declare, that I never had quitted my relation to that, although I had been staggered at the employment which I was first put upon; but for an orderly admission to be one of the Clergy of this Nation in reference to a particular Office amongst them, which never took me off from any true Presbyterian Principle or affection due to that way. ( d) It is false that I held my Ordination to be lawful but that of Bishops, if you speak of Ordination as to the ministry itself; but if you speak as to a place in this Church, as then it stood; I say that no ordination was legal and regular to a place of public charge here at that time but by them, as I conceived. ( e) How tender my Conscience hath been God knows, and how far it hath been swayed to comply with times and preferments, such as are conscionable may judge by the truth which I have declared. ( f) My former Ordination by Presbyters did make me a Minister, and I never denied my relation to the work, though for a while I was scrupled at it; but the Ordination of foreign Presbyters could give me no right, contrary to the Canons of this Church, to a public Office in this Nation and Church. ( g) Bishops Ordination was then the legal door by which all men were to enter into the public administration of Offices; & I judged none lawfully called thereunto, but such as were admitted into the sheep-fold that way. ( h) Because you have not been without blame, therefore God reckons with you: wo be to them by whom scandals come. ( i) God appoints all orderly proceedings to be observed in his Church; for he is not a God of dis-order, but of peace: therefore he hath appointed every Church to order within itself its own outward affairs; and in this respect then, the Ordination by Bishops, to an outward place in this Church, was the onely Ordinance of God observable as I understood it, and therefore would not forego it. ( k) It is no crime to promise an orderly walking amongst men in all things not contrary to the word of God, as in my Letter I do; but this Pamphleter thinks it a crime to be ruled by any thing but his own will. But I have not so learned Christ, Rom. 15.2.3. who pleased not himself, but others for their edification. ( l) How far Ordination by Bishops, and in what sense it was in this Nation most agreeable to Gods Commandments, hath been already declared, as I understood their standing in it. ( m) I did not think that the Ordination which I had to a particular place beyond Seas, by men who were under another kind of Church-Government, could sufficiently authorize me to administer a public charge in this place, and under this Government, where the Law of the Land had provided another way of authorizing men to their places. ( n) Ministers of particular Congregations, which were termed Priests,( that is Presbyters) in those dayes; I thought, were different, in the degree of their outward administration and inspection, from those that were appointed under the King, to be overseers of a whole Diocese in this Nation, and if this is not so, I would gladly see it disproved. ( o) I was not troubled, because I was ordained by Presbyters, to the ministry; for I conceived that no Ordination could be to the ministry as a spiritual Office but by Presbyters; but my trouble rose from some undue proceedings and restraints laid upon me in the work whereunto they ordained me, which made me scruple at the whole business in respect of myself and employment, rather then in respect of their Authority. ( p) The present public Engagement is a civill concernment, and doth lay no restraint upon any man, but doth call all men to a necessary duty, as I understand it. ( q) That no revenues overpoised ever my Conscience to any Ecclesiastical charge, I have a great witness to clear me at the great day: and this Pamphleter, who takes upon him to judge of the secrets of other men before the time, will do well to look to his own account against that great day. ( r) It is false that I held a Pastoral cure among Presbyters to be disagreeing with the word of God; both among Presbyters and Bishops Pastoral cures are lawful; but I thought that to which I was particularly ordained at that time unlawful, and now I have no cure at all. ( s) It is not the call, either from a Bishop or Presbyter, that I took to be the ground of assurance of a blessing; but my doing what I did in Faith, as agreeable to the will of God, yet the call must not be wanting that things may be done in Faith. ( t) The subordination of Ministers I understood, onely with reference to the outward over-sight and right which the King could give to places of a larger or narrower extent, and not with reference to any spiritual Authority in the Gospel-work, as it doth relate to the inward man. ( u) The Civilities which then were used towards men in places, which the King gave with the distinction of Titles, I conceived might be used without flattery and in course, not to seem willing to give any offence; but if a fault was therein, I shall not much stand to justify it, I am sure I had no sinister and in pleasing them; but I was bound not to displease them in things of an indifferent nature, which I judged customary Titles to be. 1. My second Ordination was not in my sense a Re-ordination to the ministry, but a special orderly designation to a place amongst Ministers by a lawful call. 2. No man can give an offence by doing a duty, if any thing which I have declared be undutiful, I shall be ready to make amends for it; but if this practise be offensive, this Pamphleter is the cause of the offence; for till he made it public through mere malice, it was unknown, except therefore he repent of this scandal which he hath given, wo be unto him. 3. My desire was truly to be able to gain so much favour with the Arch-Bishop, as to engage him to patronise the Protestant cause, and satisfy the desires of the Churches, in this respect as a Servant of the Churches, and in those things which I did solicit to be commanded in by him, I did freely profess myself desirous to live and behave myself so as I should become a devoted and obedient Servant to a just and righteous Patron of a blessed work: and this I was willing to testify to all the World, if he would have minded the cause of God and of his Churches; for this I thought I would be bound to do, and therefore thought it no flattery to profess it unto him, he understood my meaning well enough, how far and wherein I called him my Patron, and would be devoted to his obedience, and desired to live to testify it to all the World, and because he accepted not of the condition upon which I thus did offer myself unto him, I was not engaged to make my word good unto him; he evacuated the obligation of the sense, and made the words to prove onely a bare compliment, To the close of all I shall thus reply, That by the serious consideration of what I have related to show my sense in these letters; and by the reply to the Marginal Notes made thereupon, with falsehood and malice by him, it may appear what the exact Character of my inward and outward complexion is, which I desire not to seem to boast of; but I must say that I hope not to be ashamed of it, when we shall appear before the great tribunal; and whether my accuser will there be able to make good his charges against me. I shall give him advice to bethink himself seriously, and instead of James 6.8. which he bids me and his Reader look upon, I shall offer to him the Character which the Prophet Isaiah giveth of the wicked man. Isaiah 57.20.21. The wicked are like the troubled Sea, when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked. The other places of Scripture which he alleges, are holy rules, and great truths; and would to God he as well as others, would lay them to heart as they ought to do. If you can bear witness to the matters of fact here related, I shall refer the Justification of my councils and intentions in them, to the searcher of hearts, and to the ingenuity of unpartial Christians: and perhaps I shall take a more distinct way to deal regularly with my accuser, to let himself see his fault, that according to the will of Christ I may gain him to his Duty, or else discover him to be incorrigible in his way, that it may not be so much a saying of mine; but his own doing and behaviour which shall acquit him of guilt in this business or condemn him for it. The Lord teach us the way of all truth and peace, and make us find the rest and joy of his salvation therein, in whom I remain Your affectionate and faithful Servant in Christ, JOHN DURY. May 30. 1650. FINIS.