A LETTER TO Dr. BURNET, Occasioned by his late LETTER to Mr. LOWTH.  
SIR,  
WHen I red your Letter to Mr. Lowth, which you lately sent abroad to find him out( as you are pleased to express yourself, as if Mr. Lowth were some Out-law d, or silenced, or( at least) very Obscure Person) I could not but conclude either that Mr. Lowth was a most weak man for charging you with Fraudulent Dealing without turning to your Book, or that Dr. Burnet was a most confident man for denying matter of Fact in a Point that was so easy to be examined; especially since you are so positive in justifying your Self, and so severe in dealing with Him, as if he were one of the most Unjust, and Ignorant, and Contemptible men of all the Clergy. Upon this I resolved to use mine Own eyes, because you say the Truth on your side is so obvious and clear; partly that I might find out Mr. Lowth's mistake( if there was one) and partly that I might vindicate the Credit of your Book, which( you say) would be shaken, if he had accused you justly: for to be free with you, some people believe it to be the only good thing you ever wrote, that could recommend you to the kind opinion of Honest Men, that know the difference between English and Scotch.  
I perceive the thing in controversy between Mr. Lowth and yourself lieth thus. First, Mr. Lowth tells us from Dr. Durel, that Arch-Bishop Cranmer changed his former opinion about Church-Power, subscribing to the Opinion of Dr. Leyghton; and that when Dr. Durel perused Dr. Stillingfleet's Manuscript, he saw Th. Cantuariensis set with the Arch-Bishops own hand below Dr. Leyghton's name, to show his Approbation of Leyghton's judgement, and his own love of Truth: and that this was upon the Article of Church-Power( for that's the bottom of the present controversy.) Secondly, Mr. Lowth tells you upon his own observation, that you, Dr. Burnet, have dealt unfaithfully in Transcribing that part of the Manuscript, in not giving any account to the World of the Arch Bishops subscription to Dr. Leyghton in that Point, but omitting it wholly, and even in the Second Edition of your Book, which you say is Corrected too. This is Mr. Lowth's story, and indeed if he be in the right, your dealing with the House of Commons, and with the Lords too, and with the whole world is very Disingenuous and Foul. On the other hand now, First, you Dr. Burnet, do grant in your History( lib. 3. pag. 289. as your Adversary doth rightly object) that in cranmers Paper some Singular Opinions of his about the nature of Ecclesiastical Offices are found; but as they are delivered by him with all possible Modesty, so they were not established as the doctrine of the Church, but laid aside as particular conceits of his own, and it seems that afterwards he changed his Opinion. Secondly, you confess in your Letter, that Dr. Durel, the Dean of Windsor may be Believed( pag. 5.) so that upon the whole you own what Mr. Lowth saith as to that part of the Story, that Cranmer did really subscribe to Leighton upon the Point of Church-Power, and that this Subscription is in the Manuscript which Dr. Durel and yourself both saw. Now the question between Mr. Lowth and you is, about your Faithfulness or Unfaithfulness in the Transcribing. Mr. Lowth saith, you have not noted Cranmer's Subscription in that Point; you say that you have, and that in your Book( pag. 243. Vol. 1. Coll. Rec.) where Dr. Leyghton's Subscription is set down, there is set by it T. Cantuarien, Now if Mr. Lowth be in the wrong, he is guilty of extreme carelessness indeed: but if you be in the wrong, you are guilty, Sir, of a double falsehood, of one in your History, of another in your Letter.  
Now, Sir,( as you say) I would willingly believe the best of every man( and even of you Dr. Burnet) but since you have charged Mr. Lowth so severely for Uncharitableness and Injustice, and for slandering you falsely, I must crave leave to tell you( for it is a hard thing, and needs a Preface to soften it) that you, yourself, Dr. Burnet, are the False man, and the Slanderer( for all your Confidence) that have brought shane upon your self, if you have not forgotten to blushy, since( as some Folk says) you hardened your Conscience in the case of my Lord Lauderdale, and your Forehead at the Rolls. Be not angry, Sir, but turn to your own Book. Turn to page. 227. where the Question of Church-Power is, where Leyghton's Opinion is, and where cranmers Subscription ought to be, and you cannot find any Notice of that Subscription there( tho it be there in the Manuscript, saith Dr. Durel, whom you say we may Believe.) Turn on further to page. 230. where another question upon the same subject is, and where Leighton's Opinion is again, and where cranmers Subscription ought to be too( if we believe Dr. Durel, as you grant we may) and neither there is any the least notice taken of any such Subscription.  
Indeed such a Subscription is noted by you page. 243.( the place you refer us to in your Letter) there is T. Cantuarien. over against the name of Edward Leighton; but that( good Doctor) is upon another Article, upon the Point of Extreme Unction, and upon that Point only, not upon the Point of Church-Power( the Point in controversy between Mr. Lowth and you.) And what is that Subscription to the purpose? He speaks of one thing, you of another that belongs not to the Question. He accuseth you for False dealing in the case of Church-Power; you would come off by showing your just dealing in the case of Unction. This is a Trick, an Evasion, and instead of being a Defence, is an argument of Guilt, a confession of a crime which none but Dr. Burnet could have been guilty of. Mr. Lowth chargeth you upon one Point( that of Church-Power, I tell ye) and he chargeth you roundly, justly, clearly, like an Honest man, like an English-man, like a true-hearted Clergy-man; you answer him Impertinently upon a Point that neither of you is concerned about. You conceal cranmers Subscription, where you should have mentioned it( saith Mr. Lowth:) You tell him you have mention d it: but 'tis in another case that signifies nothing. What shall we call this? Fraud? Falseness? Equivocation? Shifting? Impudence? and an Abuse upon Lowth and Cranmer too? I call it neither; but some in England call it a Burnetisme, meaning a complication of all this. Who but Dr. Burnet would tell Mr. Lowth now, that he hath taken his Collection verbatim from the Original, when there is not a word of the Arch-Bishops Subscription in the Transcript, where it is in the Manuscript? Who but Dr. Burnet would have the Confidence to accuse Mr. Lowth of Uncharitableness in the manner, and of Injustice as to the matter of his charge? Who but Dr. Burnet would presume to take occasion hence to upbraid Mr. Lowth for the roughness of his style( which proceeds most from the fault of his Printer, and for want of good Correction, the Honest man himself being at a great distance from London?) Really Doctor, I am concerned for your Reputation, tho I hope it will not prejudice the credit of your History. If it shakes that, I think both Houses of the next Parliament will be concerned to take you to task for it, and for Imposing thus upon all Englishmen, as if you took us all for Children and Fools, easy to be cheated. If it should hinder the sale of your Book, the Price of it will fall, and the Injury is to Us that bought it before, when the rate was high. But if it should turn to your injury, or the Booksellers, you know Chancery gives not Equity for an Unsaleable Book; and of all men living I know none that has less reason to expect Relief, than yourself, especially since the Master of the Rolls is dead. I only advice you to own your fault fairly and ingenuously, or else to take some other course to clear yourself, lest the world say, that you have played the Knave in your Book, and the Fool in your Defence. And so farewell, till you pester the Press again.  
Yours, &c.  
I crave your pardon that I sand you this by the Penny-Post; your old Friends, Ferguson, Bethel, Billing, and I know not how many more that were wont to meet you at Starkey's by Temple-Bar, are now out of the way, and I know none other of your Intimates to sand you a Letter by.   
FINIS.  

LONDON: Printed for Randal tailor near Stationers-Hall, 1685.