Qfotttell lniuBt0ttg Sihratg 3tl}ata, ^tta Unrk LIBRARY OF LEWIS BINGLEY WYNNE A.B..A.M.. COLUMBIAN COLLEGE, '71 .'73 WASHINGTON. D. C, THE GIFT OF MRS. MARY A. WYNNE AND JOHN H. WYNNE CORNELL '98 1922 Cornell University Library BX5199.C53 D46 1863 Life of Wflliam Chillingworth : author o olin 3 1924 029 449 554 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029449554 THE LIFE WILLIAM CHILLINGWOETH, AUTHOR OF **THE KELIGION OF PROTESTANTS, " &C. BY P. DES MAIZEAUX. EDITED, WITH NOTES AND TRANSLATIONS, BV THB LATE JAMES NICHOLS, EDtTOR OF " fuller's CHURCH HISTQSV," &C. ^ LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG. 18^3.' TO THE EIGHT HONOUEABLE PETEE LOED KING, BAEON OF OCKHAM, LOED HIGH CHANCELLOE OP GEEAT BEITAIN. My Lokd, It is my good fortune in this address to your Lordship, that I am under no necessity of making the excuses and apologies usual on such occasions. The esteem which men have for the writings of an author naturally inspires them with a desire of being informed of what relates to his person ; I therefore presumed that this performance, such as it is, would not be unacceptable to your Lordship, since it concerns that eminent assertor of the Protestant cause, Mr, ChilUngworth, You will find here, my Lord, besides the history of his life, a true representation of his sentiments ; his sincere, Tjnbiassedlove^oftruth, and the anxious, indefatigable inquiries he made after it; his changes of religion, or rather, his constancy in following that way to heaven which for the present seemed to him the most probable ; his charitable, friendly attempts to reclaim such as he thought were in a wrong way ; and his generous and truly Christian resolution not to comply with anything which he judged erroneous or unlawful, but stead- fastly to profess and maintain what he esteemed to be just and true, even at the expense of what was dearest to him in this world : you will see, at the same time, the odious imputations cast upon him, not only by those " without," who hate A 3 IV DEDICATION. the light, lest it should reprove them, or make them manifest ; but also by some among us, who, being too fond of their own notions, could not come up to that degree of freedom, impartiality, and moderation which was so remarkable in him. These noble dispositions of mind will, 1 conceive, make him more particularly amiable to your Lordship, who have so just an idea of the purity of the Christian religion, and of the sense of primitive antiquity ; who are so distinguished for your candour and moderation, so conspicuous for your uprightness, justice, and equity, that your advancement to the high station you are now in was no less agreeable to the unanimous wishes and desires of the nation, than to his Majesty's tender concern for the welfare of his people. I have the honour to be, with profound respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most humble and most obedient servant, P. Des Maizeaux. THE PKEFACE. Some time ago I published the life of the ever- memorable Mr. Hales, as a specimen of an His- jborical and Critical English Dictionary, in which an account will be given of such persons as have made themselves famous by their writings or other actions in Great Britain and Ireland. But as a work of that nature requires an uncommon labour and diligence, and consequently a considerable time, I have been desired by some persons, who have a particular esteem for Mr. Chillingworth, to select, out of my materials, what concerned that excellent man, and to print it by itself. This hath given me the liberty of enlarging that article beyond the bounds required in a Dictionary. For in such a work there ought to be a suitable pro- portion in the several articles, with reference to the whole, which must be brought within as narrow a compass as possible. As to the method I have followed, it is the same with that of Mr. Bayle in his Historical and Critical Dictionary. This piece consists of two parts : the first is the Text, which includes the most material circumstances of the subject, and might, in some measure, be read without inter- ruption : the second is the Remarks, which con- tain several additions, illustrations, and proofs relating to what is said in the text. The marks in the text direct the reader to the remarks VI THE PREFACE. underneath ; after the reading of which he is to return to the text, and resume it where he left off. By that means he will have a clearer and fuller notion of the whole, than if he should read either the text or the remarks separately. I must here acknowledge the favour of those gentlemen who have been pleased to communi- cate to me some letters of Mr. Chillingworth, which were never before printed. They lead us into a particular knowledge of his sentiments, and therefore cannot but be very acceptable to the reader. This being a critical as well as an historical account, I found myself obliged to act the part both of a critic and of an historian. But, the criticisms relating only to matter of fact, or the vindication of Mr. Chillingworth, I hope those eminent persons, whose mistakes I have taken the liberty to observe, wiU not be offended with my freedom, since no man is exempt from error, and the assertions of great men are apt to be taken upon trust, and received as authorities. London, July IS^A, 1735. CONTENTS Page. I. Chillmgwortli's Birth, Education, and Conversion to Popery 1 II. Chillingworth is reclaimed from Popish Apostasy hy Arch- bishop Laud. Some Misrepresentations of the Romanists corrected 9 III. His pai-amount Love of Truth the real Cause of his Change in Religion 18 IV. His Candour, Moderation, and Charity. His Corre- spondence with Mr. Lewgar 31 V. The Occasion of his Answer to Knott. His Opinion con- cerning Arianism 44 VI. Brief History of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. What is meant by Subscription to them ... 76 VII. Grounds of ChiUingworth's Scruples about Subscription... 91 VIII. Knott's Attempt to anticipate ChiUingworth's Answer, and to defame his Character. ChiUingworth's noble Conduct under his base and false Imputations. Description and Defence of Daille's" Right Use of the Fathers" 118 IX. ChiUingworth's Answer to Knott is revised by Drs. Prideaux, Baylie, and FeU, at the Request of Archbishop Land. While at Press, the Sheets are surreptitiously obtained by Knott. ChiUingworth's Reasons for not replying to the second Part of Knott's Book. The Arch- bishop's Approvalof those Reasons. Chillingworth dedicates his Book to King Charles I. Extracts from it and from the Preface 148 X. ChiUingworth's Ideas concerning Subscription to the Thirty - nine Articles. His Ten Motives for becoming a Papist and his Answers to each of them 165 XI. ChiUingworth's Mode of defending Dr. Potter. His Reasons for not publishing an Answer to the second Part of Knott's Book 183 XII. The Principles, Style, and Mode of arguing adopted by ChiUingworth in his "Religion of Protestants," &c Copious Extracts from that Work , 196 Vm CONTENTS. Page. XIII. The flattering Reception of Chillingwortli's'Work. Answers of the Romanists : Knott's (Wilson's) " Christianity maintained : " Floyd's " Church Conquerant over Human Wit," and "Total Sum:" and Lacy's "Judgment of an University-Man:" with Quotations from each of them... 221 XIV. Account of Knott's "Infidelity Unmasked," with numerous Extracts , 250 XV. ChiUingworth's Suhscriptiou to the Thirty-nine Articles. He is promoted to the Chancellorship of Sarum, and deputed by the Chapter, as their Proctor, to the Convoca- tion on Church Affairs. Disturbed State of the Bangdom. Cheynell's Accusation against ChiUingworth and other eminent Persons. The Siege of Gloucester, in which CMlb'ugworth applies his classical and mathematical Knowledge to the Construction of Military Engines. He preaches before the King at Oxford. Account of that Sermon, and of other eight subsequently published. „ 265 XVI. The Scotch join the English Republicans"; and justify the Act of bearing Arms against their Sovereign by various Pamphlets, to which ChiUingworth writes Replies. The Justification of his Conduct. List of his unpublished Works. Publication of his "Apostolical Institution of Episcopacy." Correction of Dr. Walker's Mistake con- cerning another Person of the Name of ChiUingworth, a Member of the House of Commons 295 XVII. Continuance of the CivU War. ChiUingworth taken Prisoner in Arundel-Castle ; and, in consequence of severe lUness, removed to Chichester. Extracts from CheyueU's Pamphlet, " Chillingworthi Novissima," containing some Account of ChiUingworth's Sickness, and of CheyneU's Intercourse with him 310 XVIII. CheyneU's farther Account of his Behaviour toward ChiUingworth, whose Sickness proves to be mortal 325 XIX. The Death of ChiUingworth. His last WiU and Testament. The extravagant and uncharitable Conduct of CheyneU at ChiUingworth's Funeral. His Speech on that Occasion. Locke's Opinion of CheyneU's Pamphlet. The Imputation of Socinianism against eminent Men a common Practice among Fanatics 839 THE LIFE MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 1. chillingworth's birth, education, and conversion to popery. William Chillingworth, a divine of the church of England, celebrated for the exceUeney of his parts, for his moderation, and masterly way of defending the cause of the protestants against the papists, was " son of William Chillingworth, citizen (afterwards mayor) of Oxford, was bom in St. Martin's parish there, in a httle house on the north side of the conduit at Quartervpis, in Octo- ber, 1603 ; and on the last of that month received baptism there." * William Laud, afterwards arch- bishop of Canterbury, and then Fellow of St. John's College, and Master of Arts,t was his godfather. J "After he had been educated in grammar- learning under Edward Sylvester, a noted Latioist and Grecian, (who taught privately in AU-saints' parish,) or in the Free-school joining to Magdalen * Anthony a Wood, Athmce Oxonknses, change might produce ; their former friends will not scruple to magnify into crimes of great turpitude those very actions which would have excited no unkind animadversion whatever, had but the parties in question remained members of their community, and on account of which they wonld not have been the less esteemed or keloved," — Edit. MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 29 a man ought to be not only a protestant in England; and a papist at Rome, but a Mahometan in Turkey, and a pagan in Japan. Now, what comfort can a man have, who acts as the most irrational creature ; and must be constant, in the religious way of the country wherein he hajppened to be bom, or where he chances to live, whether it be pagan or Mahometan, as weU as Christian ? If it be said, that he is obliged to examine the authority proposed, and be satis- fied with its grounds and lawfulness, before he submits to it ; then he must be his own guide in that examination, and led by his reason and by the greatest probability ; and, consequently, he must abandon Mr. Knott's, or the popish, principle, and act according to the principle of Mr. Chil- lingworth, and of all the protestants. • I shall hardly find a more proper opportunity than this to take notice of a horrid calumny put upon Mr. ChiUing- worth by Dr. Wood, in one of his controversial letters to Mr. Bulstrode. " Can there be any things more notoriously false," says he, " than the words of Chillingworth, cited by you? — 'I see plainly, and with my own eyes, councils against councils,' (if he means general councils, it is false,) ' a consent of fathers of one age, against a consent of fathers of another age ; the church of one age, against the church of another age.' If I could find what he said here to be true, I would soon discard all revealed religion, and would turn deist ; for I do not see any argument that can be more for a deist's purpose than this ; and, if the truth were known, he was one in masquerade ; for a confirmation of which I can give you a very good testimony, that, at the bottom, he was such, notwithstanding his book which he writ against us : Chillingworth, having an intimate friend- ship with the gentleman-of-the-horse to the grandfather, as i think, of the present lord Mountague of Coudrey, was asked by this gentleman, (who hearing all the world extolling Chillingworth for his great learning, and parti- cularly in controversy,) as a true and sincere friend, to tell 30 THE LIFE OF him his ofiinion, freely and candidly, which was the trae religion ; to which he answered in short, that he [the inquirer] should keep to the religion in which he was, (which was the Roman catholic,) for if there were any religion, that it was the right ; and that if there were none, that the worst that could happen to him was but so much pains lost. I do not say that these are the words of his letter, but I remember that they were much to this pur- pose. Now, it is plain by this letter, (which I do not doubt but that you will say it is feigned,) that this great chaanpion of your religion was but a sceptic in religion at the best, and what most of your greatest men are ; for if they can believe that so many learned and holy men have been deceived for so many ages in matters of this conse- quence, have they not reason to doubt, that these latter ages have been deceived so too ; and so, consequently, there mu^t be very little or no security of the certainty of the Christian faith?"* Dr. Wood, we see, represents here Mr. ChiUingworth as a deist in masquerade, and one who was " but a sceptic in religion at the best ; " and endeavours to prove that impu- tation by a letter written by Mr. ChiUingworth, when a professed protestaart, to a Roman catholic gentleman of his aequaiatanoe, wherein he tells him " that he should keep to the religion in which he was ; for if there were any reli- gion, that it was the right," &c. But is it probable that Mr. ChiUingworth, had he been of that opinion, would have trusted it to writing? And is it possible tliat the Roman catholics, who never spared Mr. ChiUingworth's reputation, should have such a letter so long in their hands, and not have made it sooner a matter of reproach to him ? So tha/fc, tUl the original of that letter be produced, we • " LetteiB between Dr. Wood, a Roman Catholic, the Pretender's Phyeician, and Whitelook Biilstrode, Esq., a Member of the Church of England," &o., pp. 136, et My. That Letter ig dated June Uth, 1710. MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWOETH. 31 have, I think, sufficient grounds to look upon Dr. Wood's assertion as a shameless calumny. IV. HIS CANDOUR; MODERATION, AND CHARITY. HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. LEWGAR. Mr. Chillingworth was no less conspicuous for his candour, moderation, charity, and good nature, than for his love of truth j an instance of which he gave in the case of Mr. Lewgar, a great zealot for the church of Eome. (vii.) * There had always been an intimate friendship between him and Mr. Chillingworth; but as soon as he heard that Mr. ChiUingworth was retm-ned to the church of England, he sent him a very angry and abusive letter ; to which Mr. ChiUing- worth returned an answer ftdl of love and charity. " Though I am resolved," says he, " not to be much afflicted for the loss of that which [it] is not in my power to keep, yet I cannot deny but the loss of a friend goes very near unto my heart; and by this name of a friend I did presume, till of late, that I might have called you, because, though per- haps for want of power and opportunity, I have done you no good office, yet I have been always willing and ready to do you the best service I could; and therefore I cannot but admire at that aflfected strangeness which, in your last letter to me, you seem to take upon you, renouncing, in a manner, all relation to me, and tacitly excommu- * See Remark vii. at the end of this section, p. 38. 32 THE LIFE OF nicating me from all interest in you. The super-^ scription of your letter is, ' To Mr. William Chil- lingworth/ and your subscription, ' John Lewgar,* as if you either disdained or made a conscience of styling me your friend, or yourself mine. If this proceed from passion and weakness, I pray mend it j if from reason, I pray show it. If you think me one of those to whom St. John forbids you to say, ' God save you,' then you are to think and prove me .one of those deceivers which deny Christ Jesus to be come ' ia the flesh.' If you think me an heretic, and therefore to be avoided, you must prove me, a.iiTO}ia.ra.KptTov, ' condemned by my own judgment] ' which I know I cannot, and therefore I think you cannot. K you say, I do not ' hear the church,' and therefore am to be esteemed an heathen or pubhcan, you are to prove, that by ' the church,' there, is meant the church of Rome ; and yet, when you have done so, I hope Christians are not forbidden to show humanity and civihty even to pagans. For God's sake, Mr. Lewgar, free yourself from this blind zeal, at least for a little space, and consider with reason and modera- tion what strange crime you can charge me with, that shoidd deserve this strange usage, especially from you. Is it a crime to endeavour with all my understanding to find your rehgicm true, and to make myself a behever of it, and not be able to do so ? Is it a crime to employ all my reason upon the justification of the infaUibihty of the Roman chui'ch, and to find it impossible to be justified ? I win call God to witness, who knows my heart better than you, that I have evened the scale of my judgment as much as possibly I could, and MR. WILLIAM CHILLINSWORTH. ,83 have not willingly allowed any one grain of worldly motives on either side j but have weighed the rea- sons for your rehgion and against [it] with such indifference, as if there were nothing in the world but God and myself; and is it my fault, that that scale goes down which hath the most weight in it ? that that building falls which has a false founda- tion? Have you such power over your under- standing, that you can beheve what you please, though you see no reason ? or that you can sus- pend your behef when you do see reason ? If you have, I pray, for our old friendship's sake, teach me that trick ; but, until I have learned it, I pray blame me not for going the ordinary wayj I mean, for believing or not beheving, as I see rea- son. If you can convince me of wilful opposition against the known truth, of neghgence in seeking it, of unwillingness to find it, of preferring temporal respects before it, or of any other fault which [it] is in my power to amend, that is indeed a fault if I amend it not, be as angry with me as you please. But, to impute to me involuntary errors, or that I do not see that which I would see, but cannot ; or that I will not profess that which I do not beheve; certainly this is far more unreasonable error than any which you can justly charge me with ; for, let me teU you, the imputing Socinianism to me, whosoever was the author of it, was a wicked and groundless slander. "Perhaps you wiU. say, — ^for this is the usual song on that side,^that pride is a voluntary fault ; and with this I am justly chargeable, for forsaking that guide which God has appointed me to follow. But what, if I forsook it because I thought I had c 5 34 THE LIFE OF reason to fear it was one of tliose blind guides •which whosoever blindly follows is threatened, by our Saviour, that both he and his guide shall fall into the ditch ; then I hope you will grant it was not pride, but conscience, that moved me to do so ; for as it is wise humility to obey those whom God hath set over me, so it is sinful credulity to follow 6Very man or every church that without warrant will take upon them to guide me. Show xae, then, some good and evident title which the church of Eome hath to this office ; produce but one reason for it, which, upon trial, wiU not finally be resolved, and vanish into uncertainties ; and if I yield not imto it, say, if you please, I am as proud as Lucifer." * Mr. Chillingworth says afterwards, that it seems to him very " strange, and not far from a prodigy, that this doctrine of the Roman church's being the guide of faith, or having the privilege of infal- libility, if it be true doctrine, should not be known to the evangehsts, to the apostles, and to the pri- mitive church," as he shows it was not ; and con- clndes thus : " All these things," says he, " and many more, are very strange to me, if the infalli- bility of the Roman church be indeed, and were ■always by Christians acknowledged, the foundation of our faith ; and therefore, I beseech you, pardon me, if I choose to build mine upon one that is much firmer and safer, and lies open to none of these objections, which is scripture and universal tradition; and, if one that is of this faith may * " A Letter to Mr. Lewgar," at the end of Mr. Chil- linoworth's "Religion of Protestants," &c. London, 1687. 4to. MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 35 have leave to do so, I will subscribe, with hand and heart, " Your very loving and true friend," &c. This letter, for the excellency of it, hath been often printed, (viii.) Mr. Lewgar could not help being touched with a letter which showed so much love, sincerity, and moderation. He desired to see his old friend again; and Mr. CMUingworth had a discourse with him about reUgion before Mr. Skinner and Dr. Sheldon.* There passed afterwards several papers between them, concerning the pretended infaUibility and cathoUcity of the church of Rome ; and we have a paper of Mr. Chillingworth,t which seems to contain the abstract or summaiy of their dispute. The question in debate was, " Whether the chm'ch of B.ome be the catholic chui-ch, and all out of her communion ai'C heretics or schismat- ics ? " Mr. Lewgar held the affirmative, and Mr. Chillingworth the negative. The arguments on both sides are set down, with the answers and replies to them. This method hath the advantage of bringing a controversy within a narrow com- pass, and of showing at one view the weight of the arguments, the closeness of the answers, and the justness of the conclusions; and thereby it was the most suited to Mr. Chillingwoi'th's clear, impartial, and strDng way of arguing. We have, in the same maimer, the substance of * See the " Conference betwixt Mr. Chilluigworth and Mr. Lewgar," in the " Additional Discourses of Mr. Chil- lingworth, never before printed." London, 1687. 4to, p. 1, &c. t Ibid. 36 THE LIFE or a dispute he had with Mr. Daniel,* wherein he disproves the infaUibility of the church of Romey by an argument taken fi-om the contradictions which are contained in the doctrine of transnb- stantiation.f He had another with a gentleman he does not name, in which he confutes the same infallibility, by proving that either the present church of Rome errs, in offering tapers and in- cense to the Virgin Mary, or that the ancient church of Rome did err, in condemning as here- tics the CoUyridians, for offering a cake to hra*. J Besides the pieces already mentioned, ]\Ir. Chil- hngworth wrote one to demonstrate that the doc- trine of infaUibihty, the main poiot of the Romish votaries, is neither evident of itself, nor grounded upon certain and infallible reasons, nor warranted by any passage of the scripture. § And, in two other papers, he shows that the church of Rome hath formerly erred, first, by the admitting of infants to the eucharist, and holding, that without it they could not be saved ; || and, secondly, by teaching the doctrines of the millenaries ; namely, that before the world's end Christ should reign upon earth for a thousand years, and that the saints should live und^ him in aU hohness and happiness : If both which doctrines are condemned as false and heretical by the present church of Rome. He writ also a short letter, in answer to some objections put to him by one of his friends, * Mr. Wood, uM supra, vol. ii. c. 114, observes, that John Floyd, a Jesuit, went by the name of Daniel, or Dan. a Jesu. See Remark xxxvi. + " Additional Discourses," &c., ttbi supra, p. 91. + /bid., p. 41. § Page 26. || Page 68. IT Page 8o! MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 37 wherein he shows that neither the fathers nor the councils are infallible witnesses of tradition, and that the infallibility of the church of Rome must first of all be proved from the scripture. He con- cludes with these words : " Remember, that if we have any infallible way, we have no use (at least no necessity) of an infajhble guide ; for if we may be saved by following the scripture as near as we can, (though we err,) it is as good as any inter- preter to keep imity in charity, (which is only needftd,) though not in opinion ; and this cannot be ridiculouSj because they say, if any man misin- terpret the Council of Trent, it shall not damn him; and why, without any more ado, may not the same be said of scripture ? " * I must not forget his answer to some passages in the dialogues pubhshed under the name of Mr. Rushworth. The occasion was this : The lord Digby desired Mr. Chillingworth to meet Mr. White, the true author of these dialogues, at the lodgings of sir Kenelm Digby, a late convert to the church of Rome. The lord Digby was there himself. Their conference turned upon tradition ; and as Mr. White had treated the same matter in his dialogues, which were not yet pubhshed, Mr. Chillingworth, probably at the request of the lord Digby, selected out of them some passages relating to that subject, and confuted them.f See the Remarks, (ix.) The foregoing pieces were pubhshed in the year 1687, under the title of " Additional Discourses of Mr. Chillingworth, never before printed." J There * Ibid., p. 90. t Page 103. $ See Eemark XXXIV. 38 THE LIFE OF are some other writings of his against the chiirch of Borne, which have not, as yet, been made pub- lic; namely, 1. "An Answer to five Questions," proposed to him by Mr. Peake, " about the Nature of Faith, and the Eesolution and Consequences of the Faith of Protestants." 2. "A Discourse of the Nature of Faith." 3. " Of the Absurdity of departing from the Church of England for Want of Succession of visible Professors in all Ages." 4. "A brief Answer to several Texts of Scripture alleged to prove the Church to be one, visible, universal, perpetual, and infallible." * * See Remark xxv. REMARKS. vn.— PAGE 31. Mr. Lewgar, a great zealot for the chwch of Rome — Mr. Wood tells us, that, about the year 1632, Mr, Lew- gar was beneficed in Essex, but afterwards left his benefice and religion, and turned Roman catholic ; being induced to it by the force of Mr. ChUlingworth's arguments.t " After William ChiUingworth," says he, " returned from beyond the seas, he had several conferences with Mm about matters of religion ; wherein ChDlingworth showing him- self a person of great dexterity, Lewgar was at length, merely by the force of his arguments, induced to believe that the Roman church was a true church, and that tlie protestants were all in the wrong ; as he used often to tell his friends, and withal to add, that ' ChiUingworth was of no meek and winning spirit, but high and conceited ; and t Athmas Oxon., vol. ii. c. 241, 242. MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 39 SO, conseC[Tiently, unfit for a religion that required Immility and obedience,' &c." * If Mr. Chillingworth, before he was a settled protestant, did " by the force of his arguments " induce Mr. Lewgar to turn papist, it seems very strange that Mr, Lewgar should say nothing about it in his angry letter to him ; for, had he taken notice of it, no doubt but Mr. Chillingworth would have said something to him upon that head. But no such thing appears in his answer.t The truth is, Mr. Wood knew nothing of Mr. ChiUingworth's letter to Mr. Lewgar, nor of the papers that passed between them, though they were printed a long time before his Athmce Oxomenses came out.J As to what he adds, that Mr. Lew- gar used often to tell his friends, that Mr. Chillingworth was "high and conceited," &c., such representation is indeed agreeable to the notion which Mr. ChUlingworth gives of Mr. Lewgar, in the answer to his letter; but which of them best deserved the character of "high and conceited," Mr. Chillingworth or Mr. Lewgar, let that very answer of Mr. Chillingworth determine. However, it is true, that Mr. Chillingworth was " unfit for a religion that required humility and obedience," in Mr. Lewgar's sense ; that is, for a religion that required an implicit Mth, or a blind submission to her new doctrines and unwarrantable practices. vm.— PAGE 3S. That letter, for the wieellenetf of it, hath heen often printed — It was first printed in the year 1662, with this title : " Mr. ChiUingworth's Letter touching Infalli- bility." § In the last page is the imprimatwr of M. Franck, chaplain to Dr. Sheldon, then bishop of London, dated the Sthof August, 1662.11 * Ibid. t See the text, pp. 31— 34. t See Remark xxxiv. § London, printed by D. Maxwell, for Timothy Gaithwait, in 4to, pp. xii. II Sextilis 5, 1662. 40 THE LIFE OF It was afterwards inserted in the fifth edition of Miv Chillingworth's " Religion of the Protestants," &c., in the year 1684, under this title : " Reasons against Popery ; in a Letter from Mr. William ChiUingworth to his Friend, Mr. Lewgar, persuading him to return to his Mother, the Church of England, from the corrupt Church of Rome." * It was printed again at the end of the contracted edition of Mr. Chillingworth's " Religion of Protestants," &c., in 1687, with this title : t " Out of Mr. Chillingworth's Manu- script. A Letter to Mr. Lewgar, concerning the Church of Rome's being the Guide of Faith and Judge of Contro-' yersies." J . But, notwithstanding all these several impressions, Mr. Grascome, having met with an imperfect copy of it, inserted it as a piece of Mr. Chillingworth never before published, in the preface of his book, entitled, " Gertamen EeUgwsum ; or, a Dispute, managed by Writing, between a Papist and a Protestant With a large Letter of Mr. Chilling- worth, never before printed, showing his Reasons why he deserted the Church of Rome." § Mr. Grascome gives the following account of it in his preface : — " It would be a matter of no difficulty," says he, " to show, in many other instances, upon what weak and sandy foundations these men Qthe papists] build their daring con- fidence ; and I had some thoughts of pursuing it ; but, whilst I was thinking that might be too tedious for a pre- face, it came into my mind, that I had a small tiling by me relating to this subject, which might be more gratefully accepted and eagerly desired, than any thing that can come from the living. It is well known, that Mr. Chillingworth, by the indefatigable labours of the Romanists, was for • See Remark xxxiv. f Hid. J This letter to Mr. Lewgar has been lately reprinted at tlie end of the contracted edition of Chillingwortli's " Religion of Protestants," in 12mo, 1841. Simpkin and Maraliall. — Edit. 5 Printed at Oxford in 1704, in 8vo. MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWOKTH. 41 some time brought over to their church ; but, by the pains and care of our most reverend and learned archbishop Laud, of blessed memory, was brought back again to the church of England, wherein he lived and died, and his sincerity therein both his life and learned labours sufficiently testify ; yet they were very unwilling to lose so great a prize, and for some time after solicited him to return, till a letter from him put them out of all hopes. This letter the judicious and learned knight, sir Thomas Fanshaw, who hath been a curious collector and preserver of things uncommon or excellent in their kind, was pleased to communicate to me ; and because I am not without hope, that those reasons which prevailed with so learned a man as Mr. Chilling - worth to abandon the church of Rome, may have some good influence on others, to deter them from going over to it, I will here give a ti-ue copy of his letter." The famous Dr. Hickes, though a man who had a great knowledge of books, thought this piece had been first published by Mr. Grascome ; and he reprinted it in 1705, in the appendix to a book entitled, " Several Letters which passed between Pr. George Hickes, and a popish Priest, upon occasion of a young Gentlewoman's departing from the Church of Eng- land to that of Rome." He prefixed this title to it : " Mr. Chillingworth's Letter of the Infallibility of the Church of Rome, or of that Doctrine which teaches the Roman Church to be the Guide of Faith. Taken from the printed Copy in the Preface to a Book entitled, ' Certmnen Religio- sum ; or, a Dispute between a Papist and a Protestant,' &c. Oxford. Printed 1704.' " And, in the preface to that vol- ume, speaking of the appendix, he says : " The second paper is a letter of Mr. Cliillingworth, about the infallibi- lity of the church of Rome. I have published it again from a late printed copy, because I think it worthy to be read of all men, especially by protestants, who, when they happen to be assaulted publicly or privately by popish priests, may make this use of it, to defy them to answer this letter, and in the mean time to forbear." 43 THE LIFE OF IX.— PAGE 37. See the Remarks — The reader may perhaps he glad to know what grounds I have for some things affirmed in the foregoing paragraph, 1. I said, that Mr. White was the true author of the dialogues printed under the name of Mr. Rushworth. These dialogues were first published at Paris in the year 1640, in 12mo, with this title : " The Dialogues of William Richworth ; or, the Judgment of common Sense in the Choice of Religion." That edition contains three dialogues ; and, in a. short preface, it is said that Rich worth, their author, died in the year 1637. They were reprinted in 1654, at London, (though the title hath Paris,) in 12mo., with the name of Rushworth, instead of Richworth ; and these words are added in the title : " Last Edition, cor- rected and enlarged hy Thomas White, Gent." In the advice to the reader, Mr. White still attributes those dia- logues to Mr. Rushworth ; and observes, that, in this edi- tion, "besides a very considerable polishment of the whole," it hath " the addition of a preface and a fourth dialogue." The same year, 1664, Mr. White put out " An Apology for Rushworth's Dialogues : wherein the Exceptions of the Lords Falkland and Digby are answered," &c. ; * and, in the advertisement, he desires the reader to take notice, that this Apology "particularly relates to the last edition of Rushworth's Dialogues in 1664, as which alone," says he, "has felt throughout this author's last hand ; " which plainly shows that William Rushworth and Thomas White are one and the same person. And, indeed, who- ever compares the edition of 1640 with that of 1664, will find such alterations as it is hardly possible Mr. White would have made in the work of another author, but had a right to make in his own. Dr. Tillotson says, that he * A small 8vo, supposed to be printed at Paris. MK. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 43 " hath reason to helieve that Mr. "White was the author of those dialogues which pass under Rushworth's name." * 2. As to the conference Mr. Chillingworth had with Mr. White, at the request of the lord Dighy, I wUl cite that lord's own words, in one of his letters to sir Kenelm Dighy : " Now, for proof of the ground itself," says he, " that all doctrines of faith whatsoever admitted in the present church, were so taught by Christ to the church which he planted himself, you allege this argument : ' The reason why the present church helieveth any proposition to he of faith, is, because the immediate preceding church of the age before delivered it unto her for such ; and so you may drive it on,' say you, ' from age to age, imtil you come to the apos- tles and Christ : ' an easy progress ; and which, if you remember, Mr. White much insisted upon at the time when Mr. ChiUingworth did me the favour to give biin a meeting for conference at your lodging." t 3. Now, that Mr. Chillingworth had a manuscript copy of these dialogues, when he answered some passages in them, I infer from this, — ^that all those passages, except the first, are wanting in the several impressions of the dia- logues ; and it is probable that they were struck out of the manuscript by Mr. White, after he had seen Mr. Chilling- worth's answer. However, the editor of that paper of Mr. Chillingworth hath entitled it, " An Answer to some Pas- sages in Rushworth's Dialogues, beginning at the third Dialogue, (section xii., page 181. Ed. Paris, 1654,) about Traditions ; " J taking for granted that aU those passages are to be found in the third dialogue : which he might be led into, by finding the first passage to be as cited ; and concluding, without looking farther, that the rest did follow. • " The Rule of Faith," Etc., p. 139 of the second edition, 1676. t " Letteirs between the Lord George Digby, and Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight, concerning Religion." London, 1651, pp. 84, 85. That Letter is dated, « Sherbom, March 30th, 1639." t See Remark xxxiv. 44 THE LIFE OV V. THE OCCASION OF HIS ANSWER TO KNOTT. HIS OPINION CONCERNING ARIANISM. But, in tlie yeax 1635, he was engaged in a work that gave him a far greater opportunity to confate the principles of the church of Rome, and to vindicate the protestant reUgion. The Jesuit I have already mentioned, who went by the name of Edward Knott, (x.)* had put out, in 1630,. a little book, in 8vo., called, "Charity mistaken, with the Want whereof Cathohcs are unjustly charged, for affirming, as they do with grief, that Protestancy unrepented destroys salvation." That book was answered by Dr. Potter, Provost of Queen's CoEege, ia Oxford ; and his answer came out in 1633, with this title: "Want of Charity justly charged on all such Romanists as dare, without truth or modesty, affi[nn, that Protestancy destroyeth Salvation ; in Answer to a late Popish Pamphlet, intituled, 'Charity mistaken,' &c."t The Jesuit rephed, in 1634, under this title : " Mercy and Truth : or. Charity maintained by Cathohcs. By way of Reply, upon an Answer lately framed by Dr. Potter, to a Treatise which had formerly proved, that Chaiity was mistaken by Protestants ; with the Want whereof Catholics ai'e unjustly charged, for affirming, that Protest- ancy unrepented destroys Salvation : divided into two Parts." Mr. ChOlingworth undertook to answer that reply ; which gave him frequent occa- * See Remark x. at the end of this section. + See the article Potter (Christopher), MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 45 sions to resort to Ms most ingenious and learned friend the lord Falkland, at Great Tew, his lord- ship's seat in Oxfordshire, who could not only assist him with his curious hbraiy, but help him by his conversation, (xi.) About that time Mr. ChiUingworth wrote a letter to one of his friends, who, it seems, had desired to know what judgment might be made of Arianisnx from the sense of antiquity. I shall give it hei'e, such as I transcribed it fi'om Mr. Chillingworth's original, which was communicated to me in April, 1719. And, for the farther satis- faction of the reader, I will set down at large, in the Remarks, some of the passages dted or referred to by Mr. ChiUingworth, which I happened to light upon. "Deak Harry,* " I AM very soitv it was my ill fortune not to see thee the day that I went out of Oxford ; other- wise I should have thanked thee very heartily for the fiivonr thou didst the night before, especially for Mr. Coventry's company and discourse, whose excellent wit I do very much admire ; and had I so much interest in him as vou have, I should desire him often (though I hope I need not) to remember what our Saviour says, ' To whom much is given, of them much shall be required.' " Mr. Taylor did much confii-m my opinion of his suffidence; but let me teU you iu your eai", methinks he wants much of the ethical part of a discourser, and sUghts too much many times the * The letter is without date ; and, the cover being lost, it doth not appear to whom it was written. 46 THE LIFE OF arguments of those lie discoiirses with ; but this is a fault he would quickly leave, if he had a friend that would discreetly teU him of it. If you or Mr. Coventry would teU him, that you heard one that knows him magnify him exceedingly for other things, but censure him for this, you might do him a very friendly office ; and my writing to you thus much gives you ground enough to say so truly ; but you must not give the least suspicion that I am the man, and therefore not do it yet a good while. "When Dr. Sheldon comes to Oxford, I will be there again, and then will be very ready to do any service in the business yon imparted to me. " I was mistaken in my directing yon to Euse- bius for the matter you wot of. You shall find it in a witness much farther from exception herein than Eusebiusj even Athanasius himself, the greatest adversary of that doctrine; and Hilary, who was his second. See the first, in JEp. de Synodis Arim. et Seleuc, page 917. D. Tom. i. Edit. Paris. 1627. See the second, De Synodis, fol. 97. In the fitst, you shall find that the eighty fathers which condemned Samosatenus affirmed expressly, that 'the Son is not of the same essence of the Father;' which is to contra- dict ^formally the Council of Nice, which decreed 'the Son co-essential to the Father.' In the second, you shall find these words to the same purpose : Octoginta episcopi olim respuerunt to homousion. (xii.) See also, if you please, Justin. eont. Tryph., pp. 283, 356, 357. Tertull. against Praxeaa, c. 9. Novatian. de Trin. in fine, MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 47 wlio is joined with. TertuUian. Athanas. Ep. de Fide Dion. Alex., torn. i. page 551. Basil, torn, ii. pp. 802, 803. Edit. Paris. 1618. See St. HiEROMj Apol. 2. cont. Ruffirmm, torn. ii. page 329. Paris. 1579. See Petavius upon Epiph. Panarion, ad Hter. 69. qucs est Arii, page 285 ; and consider how well lie clears Lncian the martyr fiwm Arianism, and what he there confesses of aU the andent fathers.* * Petau's observations on the apparently artless yet tin- gaarded language employed by some of the fathers of the church who flourished before the council of Nice, resemble those of cardinal Perron, and those of Fisher given in Remark xiv. They occur in his " Animadversions on the 69th Heresy, being that of the Arians." His words are these : — " For the Arians boasted, that they were the disciples of Lucian the martyr. Alexander bishop of Alexandria, in a letter to Alexander bishop of Constantinople, censures Lucian the martyr as though he had embraced the dogma of Paulus Samosatenus ; and asserts, that on this account he was afterwards rejected fiom communion with the church, by three successive bishops of Antioch. The Arians strove most strenuously to secure the martyr for their patron, as having been one who held the same opi- nions with themselves. They even carried their zeal so far as to exhibit before the synod of Antioch a formulary of belief, which they published as his composition. But, in the notes to his Ma/rtyrology, (January 7th,) and in his Annals of the Chv/rch, under the years 311 and 318, Baro- nius clears Lucian from this Arian calumny ; and shows, that, in his earnest attempt to confute the heresy of the SabeUians, Lucian had, through his great impetuosity, proceeded a little too far towards the opposite error ; and, in order to establish a distinction between the Persons in the Trinity, he liad used some expressions, which the Arians (who had their origin some time after his decease) interpreted according to their wishes, and appropriated to their own purposes. For, prior to the rise and growth of 48 THE LIFE OF "If you could understand French, I would refer to Perron, page 633, of his reply to king James ; where you should find these words : ' If a those particular heresies of which each of them successively appeared as the determined adversary, and while the catho- lic verity which was opposed to each of those errors had not then been sufficiently developed and investigated, cer- tain expressions were discovered in various parts of their writings which did not perfectly agree with the rule of orthodox faith. " Not to digress, however, from this mystery and ques- tion of the Trinity : We have already observed, that Justin TMartyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, utters nearly the same language as that of the Arians concerning the Son of God. For, in the 119th page of the Paris edition of that work, he represents the Word of God and the Son, even before he took on himself the form of hiunan nature, as being inferior to God the Father. He asserts that it was Christ who appeared to the patriarchs ; and, having in a few succeeding passages marshalled the instances of such appearances, he draws from them this conclusion: ' From these examples it is evident, that the Son receives his appointment (iffo) under Jehovah the I'ather, and acts in subservience to his will and pleasure.' Afterwards, as often as we read in scripture, The Lord ascended up from Abraham; or. The Lord spake unto Moses; or. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower ; or. The Lord shut him in the arJc; and other passages similar in their import ; he denies that any one of them ought to be applied to God the Father, who can neither be removed from the place in which He sits enthroned, nor has, on any occasion what' ever, spoken to others ; but he affirms, that ' they apper- tain solely to the Son. For, if the Jews were utterly unable to bear the splendour of His Son, whom He had sent, how was it possible for them to sustain the sight of the glory and majesty of the Father himself? Wherefore, neither Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, nor any other mortal man, hath seen God the Father, who is the Lord of all things that exist : but they have seen Him, who, through the Divine WiU, is both God, and his Son, and his Angel, because he is obedient to his pleasure.' MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWOKTH. 49 man should demand of an Arian^ if lie would sub- mit to the judgment of the church of the ages precedent to that of Constantine and Martian^ he " These assertions of Justin Martyr have been imitated by Tertullian, in the 27th chapter of his second book against Marcion. It is amazing, that the Arians, who, in their insane eagerness, were above all things desirous of corroborating their mad dogmas by the testimony of the early fathers, have omitted all reference to Justin Martyr. But, as I have previously observed, we ought not only to free him from all blame, but also Lucian the martyr, and others, who, previously to the agitation and deliberate dis- cussion of the doctrine of the Trinity, seem to have given utterance to a few sentiments in reference to it which were not the most suitable or appropriate. St. Basil makes an observation somewhat resembling this, concerning Diony- sius of Alexandria, in his 41st epistle, as well as in other In Dr. Waterland's edition of Cave's "Literary His- tory," A.D. 1740, the following elucidatory remarks on Lucian the martyr occur, among many others : — " Baro- nius tries hard to purge Lucian from the crime of the foul Samosatenian heresy ; but, in his attempts, he relies on no testimonies of the ancient fathers as his foundation. We readily grant, that Lucian at length emerged from his schism, l^having collected a separate congregation during his long exclusion from the church at Antioch,] which also the aforesaid bishop Alexander seems to intimate. But whether he ever entirely laid aside or retracted his errors, is not very evident. Yet, for the sake of this mar- tyr, who was of noble extraction, I cannot refrain from adducing on this occasion the declaration of Suidas con- cerning him : ' The purity of the divine doctrines was pre- served by him, beyond all the eminent men of that age, with consummate beauty and the utmost solicitude; and his sentiments on divine things vyill be clearly perceived by every one who peruses the truly excellent epistles which he has written.' In the year 311, the emperor Maximinus, who had recently renewed the persecution against the Christians, was residing in Nicomedia ; and Lucian was conducted as a culprit into the presence of the 50 THE LIFE OF would make no difficulty of it, but would press himself that the controversy might be decided by that Httle which remains to u^ of the authors of emperor, before whom he delivered an apologetical oration in defence and explanation of his faith, and was immedi- ately committed to prison. A circumstance which Phi- lostorgus has related concerning him is deserving of special record : After he was confined in the dungeon, where he could have neither church nor altar ; and when, in conse- c[uence of his manacles and his wounds, he was unable to move his lacerated body from the comer where he lay ; turning himself on his back, he celebrated on his own breast (as the only altar) the solemn sacrifice of the eucha- rist ; of which he not only partook himself, but also dis- tributed the sacred elements to other Christians, who sur- rounded him on every side as a holy choir. In the same year he was beheaded in Nicomedia ; and his body, it would seem, was ignominiously throvni into the sea. But a dolphin afterwards brought it to land, near the northern shore of the Sea of Marmora, where it obtained the rites of sepulture. As an honourable memorial to Lucian, the empress Helena, mother of Constantino the Great, founded on that spot a city, to which she gave the name of Helenopolis." Concerning Dionysius of Alexandria, whom Petau has specified at the close of the extract, it is observed in Dr. Waterland's edition of Cave : — " Dionysius contended nobly against SabeUius the heretic, who had his origin iu Ptolemais, one of the cities in the Egyptian Pentapolis, and who in his inventive dreaming had imagined, that there is in the Holy Trinity but one hypostasis or sub- stance, one person distinguished by three names. In the extreme fervour of disputation, however, Dionysius was borne too far onward, and scarcely avoided the rock of the opposite error, by teaching that in the Sacred Trinity we find not only a distinction of persons, but also a difference of essence, and an inequality of power and glory. For this he is to be excused, because his judgment was then beclouded through his excessive antipathy to heretics, and because in all his other writings his opinions are sound and orthodox. Nay, when he was personally admonished of MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH. 51 ttat time. For an Arian would find in Irenaeus, TertuUian, and others which remain of those ages, that the Son is the instrument of the Father ; that his error by the sjmod of Rome, he published an apology for himself, addressed to his namesake, the bishop of Rome ; in which he still sharply inveighed against the heresy of Sabellius, but was careful in giving to his former incau- tious expressions a suitable explanation and an orthodox meaning. Afterwards, when he had held a disputation with the Egyptian Chihasts, he confuted and extinguished their schism and error, and that of Nepos their founder.* • " Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, (probably of one of the cities in the Aisinoitic praefecture,) Sonrished about a.d. 244. It was his Irish, that those promises which are made to holy men in the sacred scriptmres should be understood in a Jewish sense. In accordance with this principle he taught, that, immediately after the general resurrection, the saints will be indulged with a residence on earth for a thousand years, every moment of which will be replete with cor- poral delights. He derived his arguments for this opinion principally from the Apocalypse. As the orthodox contended, that the predic- tions in the Revelation were to be interpreted in a spiritual and alle- gorical sense, Nepos composed a, book on this subject, to which he gave the title of 'KMyxov 'PiXKiryopuiTiav, A Conjtitation of Alle- garizers, and which obtained such favour among the Egyptians as induced them to form a schism, when whole churches departed at once from the right faith. Moreover, his followers, pouring con- tempt on the Gospels ajid on the writings of the apostles, extolled to the skies the doctrine delivered in the book of Nepos, as being * a certain great and hidden mystery ! ' Wherefore, Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote a work on the Promises, in two volmnes, in which he refuted the book of Nepos, then recently deceased ; and, having convened a synod, consisting of Arsinoitio presbyters, he entered into a, discussion with his followers, and brought them back to a right understanding and soundness of faith. Nepos had previously com- posed many psalms and hymns for the use of the church, which Dionysius himself has highly praised, as being very excellent,^ and breathing a spirit of piety. But these productions of our Nepos seem long ago to have been lost." I thought a tTEinslation of Cave's accotmt of this early Millenarian might produce a good effect on the minds of some modems, who seem as wise in their ovm conceits, as was bishop Nepos. D 2 52 THE LIFE OF the Father commanded the Son in the works of creation; that the Father and the Son are aliud et aliud (xiii.) : which things he that should At length, in the year 265, having been summoned to the synod of Antioch, that he might enter the lists with Paulus Samosatenus, he deferred the journey on account of his advanced age and bodily infirmities. But though, in the letters which he addressed to the synod, he conveyed his sentiments, yet he disdained to accost Samosatenus even with the common salutation." I have been somewhat diffuse in my quotations from the chief author to whom Chillingworth here refers, because all the fathers enumerated in this note flourished nearly a century before the council of Nice, and are, in consequence, justly reckoned among the highest uninspired authorities of the Christian church in its infant purity. Chilling- worth's young and ardent mind had been directed, by his new friends the papists, to the study of the early ecclesias- tical writers, in preference to that of the holy scriptures ; though the latter are the divine sources from which the fathers themselves derived all that constitutes their pecu- liar excellence. With the Romish hierarchy this is a common practice ; and it has usually proved to be a suc- cessful expedient in their system of proselyting bevsrilder- ment. Numbers of young theologues, considerable for their genius, of respectable attainments, but immature in judgment, have been led astray, and enticed into the popish labyrinth, through the indefinable fascinations of hoary antiquity. Feeling themselves in a state of fancifiil security within the mazy enclosure, they give ample in- dulgence to their inventive faculty, and imagine them- selves the undoubted possessors of immense tlieological trea- sures, which are only to be found in thesauro patrum sancto- rum; and, in consequence of their forsaking Him who is " the Fountain of living waters," are often captivated with the weakest and least tenable of the opinions which they (^xtract out of those holy men's discursive lucubrations. But the effect of this process on Chillingworth was very different from that which had been anticipated. Instead of acting as a man of less intellectual vigour and sterling MR. WILLIAM CHILLINGWOKTH. 53 HOW hold, now when the language of the church is more examined, would be esteemed a very Arian/ sincerity would have done in such circumstances, by enter- taining himself with the variable "glare of false science," " Which leads to bewilder, and dazzles to blind," which abounds in all uninspired writings, and which will be seen to form no slight defect in the theological character of several of the Christian fathers ; he endeavoured to derive from their pious and learned productions such sub- stantial and satisfying verities as might completely solve his mental scruples, and extricate liim from aU perplexing reasonings. He soon discovered, that the perusal of the purest and best of those famous treatises neither assisted to confirm him in the peculiar articles of his novel creed, nor qualified him to confute some of the worst heresies which had subsequently disturbed the tranquillity of the church, and had retarded the prosperity and extension of true reli- gion. Like one who had not entirely lost the power of exercising common sense, he retraced his steps, and once more had recourse to tlie sacred scriptures, as the only safe guides, under the .agency of the Holy Spirit, for imparting certainty to credence, and for establishing the wavering soul in that salutary " doctrine which is according to god- liness." Such a weU-disciplined and skilful captain in the hosts of our Israel was therefore perfectly justified, when, in his successfiil contests with " the man of sin," he em- ployed that " sword of the Spirit " which Jesus wielded with such potency when " he was led up into the wilder- ness to be tempted of the devil : It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but h/ every word that proceedeth