Chapter XVI: Part 16

But whatsoever be the truth of the disputed question, the reader may peradventure think I have not used the Bishop with that respect I ought, or without disadvantage of my cause I might have done; for which I am to make a short apology. A little before the last parliament of the late king, when every man spake freely against the then present government, I thought it worth my study to consider the grounds and consequences of such behaviour, and whether it were conformable or contrary to reason and to the Word of God. And after some time I did put in order and publish my thoughts thereof, first in Latin, and then again the same in English; where I endeavoured to prove both by reason and Scripture, that they who have once submitted themselves to any sovereign governor, either by express acknowledgment of his power, or by receiving protection from his laws, are obliged to be true and faithful to him, and to acknowledge no other supreme power but him in any matter or question whatsoever, either civil or ecclesiastical. In which books of mine, I pursued my subject without taking notice of any particular man that held any opinion contrary to that which I then wrote; only in general I maintained that the office of the clergy, in respect of the supreme civil power, was not magisterial, but ministerial; and that their teaching of the people was founded upon no other authority than that of the civil sovereign; and all this without any word tending to the disgrace either of episcopacy or of presbytery. Nevertheless I find since, that divers of them, whereof the Bishop of Derry is one, have taken offence especially at two things; one, that I make the supremacy in matters of religion to reside in the civil sovereign; the other, that being no clergyman, I deliver doctrines, and ground them upon words of the Scripture, which doctrines they, being by profession divines, have never taught. And in this their displeasure, divers of them in their books and sermons, without answering any of my arguments, have not only exclaimed against my doctrine, but reviled me, and endeavoured to make me hateful for those things, for which (if they knew their own and the public good) they ought to have given me thanks. There is also one of them, that taking offence at me for blaming in part the discipline instituted heretofore, and regulated by the authority of the Pope, in the universities, not only ranks me amongst those men that would have the revenue of the universities diminished, and says plainly I have no religion, but also thinks me so simple and ignorant of the world as to believe that our universities maintain Popery. And this is the author of the book called _Vindiciæ Academiarum_. If either of the universities had thought itself injured, I believe it could have authorised or appointed some member of theirs, whereof there be many abler men than he, to have made their vindication. But this Vindex, (as little dogs to please their masters use to bark, in token of their sedulity, indifferently at strangers, till they be rated off), unprovoked by me hath fallen upon me without bidding. I have been publicly injured by many of whom I took no notice, supposing that that humour would spend itself; but seeing it last, and grow higher in this writing I now answer, I thought it necessary at last to make of some of them, and first of this Bishop, an example.

END OF VOL. V.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcriber’s Note

There were two kinds of sidenote in this volumn. At the top of each page, the section number, along with either “Animadversions upon the Bishop’s reply” or “The Bishop’s Reply”, is repeated. The former have been removed as they are redundant with the section title. The “Bishop’s Reply” notes are positioned before each paragraph beginning “J. D” to mark where the “Bishop’s” voice resumes.

The sidenote on p. 81 mistakenly referred to “Animadversions...” rather than the expected “The Bishop’s reply.”

Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.

5.11 to do what he will,[”] Added.

10.13 O Israel, thy de[s]truction Restored.

25.8 So God bless us.[”] Added.

33.8 of the second causes.[”] Added.

38.17 [t]hat one may take away an ell Restored.

62.25 between [l/d]uade distinctions cloven feet. Restored
(probable).

85.26 [“/‘]that wise men may do Replaced.

85.27 actions,[”/’] Replaced.

85.33 [“/‘]that fools, children, Replaced.

85.34 and elect,[”/’] Replaced.

126.34 but his own justice better[.] Restored.

137.3 would have him to will.[’] Added.

142.1 [“]Wherefore T. H. is mightily mistaken Added.

145.1 Another is Genesis xix. 22[)]: Removed.

151.14 that all consult[a]tions are vain. Restored.

155.33 for the public good[,/.] Replaced.

185.7 when it is necess[s]ary Removed.

229.23 _Quid hoc?_[”] Added.

310.17 choose a good one.[”] Added.

316.30 and so the[ the] action be become Removed.

324.11 and if he[ ]means so Inserted.

336.5 [“]But because his eyesight was weak Added.

405.28 was I to grow old!’[”] Added.

425.6 forbear to act[”/’]; Replaced.

434.15 not too much possessed with prejudice.[”] Added.

437.24 such poor things as eyes, ears, brains[’] Added.

439.33 the religion of every Ch[r]istian country Inserted.

447.30 per[s]used T. H.’s answers Removed.

454.9 whereof the[ the Bishop of Derry is one Removed.