Two letters of the Reverend and Learned William Chillingworth, M.A., of the University of Oxford

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TWO LETTERS OF

REVEREND
CHILLINGWORTH

T w d

LETTERS

Of the Reverend and Learned

William Cbilhngwortb, M. A;

Of the Univerfity of OXFORD.

Never before Printed.

LONDON:

Printed in the Year 1719.

Price Six-Pence,

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TWO

J,,,./ L/ JL _!_ a__j Xv

Of the Reverend and Learned

William Chillwgworth, M. A.

Of the Univerfity of OXFORD.

LETTER I.

To the Right Worfhifful, and my much honoured
Friend, Br, S H E L D O N, « Durham-Houfc,
give thefe.

Good Dr. SHELDON,

Do here fend you News, as unto my beft Friend,
of a great and happy Victory, which at length
with extream Difficulty I have fcarcely obtained
over the only Enemy that can hurt me, that is,
my Self. Sir, fo it is, that though I am in debt
to your felf and others of my Friends above
Twenty Pounds more than I know how to pay :
though I am in want of many Conveniences ;
though in great danger of falling into a chronical Infirmity of my
Body ; though in another thing, which you per hap. guefs at
what it is, but I will not tell you, which would make me more

joyful

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joyful of Preferment than all ehefe (if I could come honeftly to
it;) though Money comes to me from my Father's Purfe like
Blood from his Veins, or from: his Heart ; though I am very
ienfible that T have been too long already an unprofitable Burden
to my Lord, and muft not ftill. continue fo ; though my refilling
Preferment, may perhaps (which Fear, I allure yen, does much
affiifl: me) be injurious to my Friends and intimate Acquaintance,
and prejudicial to Them in the way of Theirs ; though Conference
of my own good Intentions and Delires, fuggefts unto me many
flattering Hopes of great Pofllbilities of doing GOD and his Church
wood Service, if I had that Preferment which I may fairly hope
for : Though I may juftly fear, "that by refyfing thofe Preferments
which I fought for, I fhall gain the Reputation of Weaknefs and
Levity, and incur Their Difpleafure, whofe good Opinion of me, next
to GOD's Favour, and my own good Opinion of my felf, I do
efteem and defire above all Things ; Though all thefe and many
other terribihs vifu forma have reprefented themfelves to my Ima-
gination in the molt hideous Manner that may be ; yet I am at
length firmly and unmoveably refolved, if I can have no Preferment
without Subfcrikhn, that I neither can, nor will have any. For
this Refolution I have but one Reafon againft a thoufand Tempta-
tions to the contrary, but it is 'iv /Ay*, againfb which . if all the
little Reafons in the World were put in the Ballance, they would
be lighter than Vanity. In brief, This it is : As long as I keep
that modeft and humble AfTurance of GOD's Love and Favour
which I now enjoy, and wherein I hope I Hiall be daily more and
mere confirmed ; fo long, in defpite of all the World, I may and
fhall and will be Happy. But if I once lofe this ; though all the
World fhould conlpire to make me Happy, I fhall and muft be ex-
tremely Miferable. Now this ineftimable Jewel, if I Sub/bribe
(without fuch a Declaration as makes the Stibfiription no Subfcrip-
tion ) I fhall wittingly and willingly and deliberately throw away.
For though I am very well perfwaded of you and my other Friends,
who do fo with a full Perfwafion that you may do it lawfully ;
yet the Cafe ftands fo with me, and I can fee no Remedy but
for ever it will do fo, that if I Subfcribe, I Subfcribe my own Dam-
nation. For though I do verily believe the Church of England a.
true Member of the Church, that fhe wants nothing neceffary to
Salvation, and holds nothing repugnant to it j and had thought
that to think fo, had fufficiently qualified me for a Subfcription ;
Yet now I plainly fee, if 1 will not juggle with my Confcience, and
play with GOD Almighty, I muft forbear. For, to fay nothing
of other Things, which I have fo well confider'd as not to be in State
to fign them, and yet not fo well as to declare my felf againft them ;

two

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two Points there are, w herein I am fully refolved, and therefore
care not who knows my Mint!. One is ; that to fay the Twyth Com.
mamhnent is a Law of G O D appertaining to CJmftidnSy is fa!fe
and unlawful. The other ; that the Damning Sentences in St. &4tha*
r.afius\ Creed (as we are made to Subfcribe it) arc moft faffe, and
atfo in a high degree Prefumptuous and Schifmatical. And therefore
I can neither Subfcribe tliat thefe Things are agreeable to the Word
of GOD, feeing I believe they are certainly repugnant to it ; Nor
that the whole Common-Prayer is Lawful to be ufed, feeing I bo-
lieve thefe Parts of it certainly Unlawful ; Nor promife that I my
felf will ufe it, feeing I never intend either to read thefe Things
which I new have excepted againft, or to fay Amen to them. I (hall
not need to intreat you, not to be offended with me for this my
moft honed: and (as I verily believe) moll wife Refolution .- Hoping
rather, you will do your Endeavour, that I may neither be Honeft
at fo dear a Rate as the lofs of Preferment, nor buy Preferment at fo
much dearer a Rate, the lofs of Honefty. I think my felf Happy
that it pleafed God, when I was refolved to venture upon a Sub-
fcription without full AlTurance of the Lawfulnefs of it, to caft. ia
my Way two unexpe&ed Impediments to divert me from accom-
plifhing my Refolution. For I profefs unto you, fince I entertained
it, 1 have never enjoyed Quiet Day nor Night, till now that I have
rid my felf of it again ; and I plainly perceive, that if I had fwal-
lowed this Pill, howfoever guilded over with GloiTes and Referva-
tions, and wrapt up in Conferves of good Intentions and Purpofes
yet it would never have agreed nor ftay'd with me, but I would
have caft it up again, and with it whatfoever Preferment I fhould
have gain'd with it as the Wages of Unrighteoufnefs : Which would
have been a great Injury to you and to my Lord-Keeper : Whereas
now, res eft Integra ■■, and he will not lofe the Gift of any Prefer-
ment by beftowing it on me, nor have any Engagement to Mr. An-
drews for me. But howfoever this would have fucceeded in Cafe I
had Then fubferibed, I thank GOD I am now fo refolved, that I
will never do That while I am Living and in Health, which I would
not do if I were Dying ; and This I am fure I would not do. I would
never do any thing for Preferment, which I would not do hut for
Preferment : And This, I am fure, I fhould not do. I will never fo
undervalue the Happinefs which GOD's Love brings to me with
it, as to put it to the Ieaft Adventure in the World, for the gaining
of any Worldly Happinefs. I remember very well, Qu&rite frimum
regtium Dei, iff catera omnia adjicientur tibi. And therefore when-
soever I make fuch a prepofterous Choice, I will give you leave
to think I am out of my Wits, or do not believe in GOD, or at
leaft am fo unreafonable as to do a Thing in hope I fhall be forry

B for

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for it afterwards, and wifh it undone. It cannot be avoided, but
my Lord of Canterbury mull: come co know this my Refolution ;
and, I think, the fooner the better. Let me entreat you to ac-
quaint him with it, (if you think it expedient,) and let me hear
from you as foon as poffibly you can. But when you write, I pray
remember, that my fore-going Preferment (being in this State where-
in I am) is Grief enough to me ; and do not you add to it, by
being angry with me for doing That which I muft do or be refe-
rable. I am

Tour mofi loving

from Tew, September
the i\ft) 1635.

and true Servant \

William Chillingworth.

LET-

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L E TTE

D^r HAKRK,

S] Am very forry it was my ill Fortune not to fee
thee the Day that I went out of Oxford : Other-
wife I fhould have thank'd thee very heartily
for the Favour thou didft the Night before, efpe-
cially for Mr. Coveutryeh Company and Difcourfe,
whofe excellent Wit I do very much admire, and,
^ had I fo much Intereft in. him as you have, I
fliQuld defire him often (though I hope I need not)
to remember what our Saviour fays, — To whom much is give;/, of them
much Jhall he required, Mr. Taylor did much confirm my Opinion
of his Sufficience :, But let me tell you in your Ear, — Methinks he
wants much of the Ethical Part of a Difcourfe, and flights too much
many times the Arguments of thofe he difcourfes with : But this
is a Fault he would quickly leave, if he had a Friend that would
difcreetly tell him of it. If you or Mr. Coventry would tell him,
that you heard one who knows him, magnifie him exceedingly for
other Things, but cenfure him for this ; you might do him a very
Friendly Office : And my writing to you thus much, gives you Ground
enough to fay fo truly : But you muft not give the leaft Sufpicion
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 Bufinefs you imparted to me.

I was

(S)

I was mifraken in my directing you to Eufebius for the Matter you
vvott of. You Hi ill find it in a Witnefs much farther from Excep-
tion herein, than Eufebius ; Even Athanafius himfelf, the greateft Ad-
verfary of that Do&rine ; and Hilary who was his Second. See the
firfl, in Ef. de Synodh Arim. %S> Seleuc. p. 917. D. Tom. \. Edit. Pari/.
\6 2 7. See the Second ; De Synodis. FoL'97. In the Fir ft you fhall
find, that the Eighty Fathers which condemn'd Samrfatenus, af-
firra'd exprefsly, That the Son is not of the fame EfTence of the
Father : Which is to contradict formally the Council of Nice, which
decreed the Son Co-eflential to the Father. In the Second you fhall
find thefe Words to the fame Purpofe, — ■ Otlogiuta Epi/copi olim ref.
puarunt to Homoufion. See alfo if you pleafe, Jujlin. coat. Trypb.
p. 283, 356, 357. Tertull. againft Praxeas, 0 9. Novatian de Trin. in
fine, who is joyn'd with Tertullian. Athanaf. tp. de Fide Dion. Alex,
T. 1. p. 551. BaJiJ. T. 2. p. 802, 803. eait. Parif. 1618. See St.
Hierom. Apol. 2. cont. Ruffinum, T. 2. p. 329. Par. 1579. See Peta-
vius upon Epiph. his Panar. Ad Har. 69. qux eft Arij. p. 285. and con-
fider how well he clears Luciau the Martyr from Arianifm, — and wnat
he there confelles of all the Ancient Fathers. If you could under-
ftand French, I would refer to Tenon, p. 633. of his Reply to King
James. Where you fhould find thefe Words. If a Man fhould
demand of an Arian, if he would fubmit to the Judgment of
the Church of the Ages precedent to that of Conftantine and
Martian, he would make no Difficulty of it, but would prefs
himfelf that the Controverfie might be decided by that little which
remains to us of the Authors of that Time. For an Arian would
find in Irenaus, Tertullian, and others, which remain of thofe

Ages, That the Son is the Inftrument of the Father: That

the Father commanded the Son in the Works of Creation ; That

the Father and the Son are Aliud £i? aliud : Which Things

he that fhould now hold, now when the Language of the Church is
more examin'd, would be efteemed a very Arian. If you read T>el-
larmine touching this Matter, you fhould find that he is troubled ex-
ceedingly to find any tolerable GlofTes for the Speeches of the Fathers
before the Council of Nice which are againft him : And yet he con-
ceals the flrongeft of them : And to counterpoife them, cites Au-
thors that have indeed ancient Names, but fuch whom he himfelf has
ftigmatized for fpurious or doubtful in his Book de Script. Ecclef. Were
I at Leifure, and had a little longer Time, I could refer you to fome
that acknowledge Origeth Judgment to be alfo againft them in this
Matter. And Fijhar in his Anfwer to Dr. White's Nine Queftions,
has a Place almoft parallel to that above-cited out of Perron. In a
Word, whofoever fhall freely and impartially confider of this Tiling,

and

(9)

and how on the other fide the Ancient Father's Weapons againft the
Asians, are in a manner only Places of Scripture, (and thofc now for
the moil part difcarded as impertinent and unconcluding,) and how
in the Argument drawn from the Authority of the Ancient Fathers,
they are almoft always Defendants, and fcarce ever Opponents:, he
Jhall not chufe but confefs, or at leaft be very inclinable to believe,
that the Do&rine of Atius is either a Truth, or at leaft no damnable
Herefy. But the Carrier ftays for my Letter, and I have now no
more Time than to add that I am

Thy njtrj trm

Ste Facundus Hermiancnfir,

i*-'°-<-5- *nd loving Fritnd.

William Chillingworth.

Remember always the Words of our Saviour : If you -will do the
Will of my father t jou Jhall know of the Dotlrine whether it be of
Goa\

If you can," fend me Mr. D/gg/c's Speech.

I prithee go to Dr. Littleton^ and defire him to fend me all that
he has of Vorftius. For in the Epiftles of his, which I borrowed of
him, he refers me to fome other Books of his, which I.fhall have
efpecial Occafion to ufe : Efpecially his Book againft Piftorius the
Jefuit.

the Date it
wanting.

F I N I S.

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