pressors, from a regard to the united causes of protestantism and liberty. In the following reign their credit rose; and while this encouraged the wise and moderate men among them to plead with prudence and with justice their right to be delivered from several real grievances, it elated the violent (and violent men there are in all parties, even in the cause of moderation) to a high degree. This rendered them formidable to all those who were jealous of [zealous for] the power, privileges, and authority of the established church; and archbishop Wake was probably of this number. He had protested against the shackles that were imposed upon them when they lay under the frowns of government; but apprehending, perhaps, that the removal of these shackles in the day of prosperity would render their motions toward power too rapid, he opposed the abrogation of the very acts which he had before endeavoured to stifle in their birth. In this, however, it must be acknowledged, that the spirit of party mingled too much of its influence with the dictates of prudence; and that prudence, thus accompanied, was not very consistent with Dr. Wake's known principles of equity and moderation. As I was at a loss how to account for this part of the archbishop's conduct, I addressed myself to a learned and worthy clergyman of the church of England, who gave me the following answer: "Archbishop Wake's objection to the repeal of the schism-act was founded on this consideration only, that such a repeal was needless, as no use had been made, or was likely to be made, of that act. It is also highly probable, that he would have consented without hesitation to rescind it, had nothing farther been endeavoured at the same time. But, considering what sort of spirit was then shown by the dissenters and others, it ought not to be a matter of great wonder, if he was afraid that, from the repeal of the other act (viz. that against occasional conformity), considerable damage might follow to the church over which he presided; and even, supposing his fears to be excessive, or quite groundless, yet certainly they were pardonable in a man who had never done, or designed to do, any thing disagreeable to the dissenters in any other affair, and who, in this, had the concurrence of some of the greatest and wisest of the English lords, and of the earl of Ilay, among the Scotch, though a professed Presbyterian." However some may judge of this particular incident, I think it will appear, from the whole tenor of archbishop Wake's correspondence and transactions with Christian churches of different denominations, that he was a man of a pacific, gentle, and benevolent spirit, and an enemy to the feuds, animosities, and party prejudices, which divide the professors of one holy religion, and by which Christianity is exposed to the assaults of its virulent enemies, and wounded in the house of its pretended friends. To this deserved eulogy we may add what a learned and worthy divine1 has said of this eminent prelate, considered as a controversial writer, even "that his accurate and superior 'Dr. William Richardson, master of Emanuel College in Cambridge, and canon of Lincoln. See his noble edition, and his very elegant and judicious continuation of bishop Godwin's Commentarius de Præsulibus Angliæ, published in 1743, at Cambridge. His words (p. 167) are: "Nemo uspiam ecclesiæ Romanæ vel Anglicana statum penitius cognitum et exploratum habuit; et proinde in disputandi arenam prodiit tum ad oppugnandum tum ad propugnandum instructissimus." knowledge of the nature of the Romish hierarchy, and of the constitution of the church of England, furnished him with victorious arms, both for the subversion of error and the defence of truth." AUTHENTIC COPIES OF THE ORIGINAL LETTERS, FROM WHICH THE PRECEDING ACCOUNT IS DRAWN. No. I. A LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP WAKE TO MR. BEAUVOIR. Lambeth, Nov. 28, S. V., 1717. I AM indebted to you for several kind letters, and some small tracts, which I have had the favour to receive from you. The last, which contains an account of the new edition that is going on of Chrysostome, I received yesterday. It will, no doubt, be a very valuable edition; but as they propose to go on with it, I shall hardly live to see it finished. They do not tell us, to whom here we may go for subscriptions; and it is too much trouble to make returns to Paris. They should, for their own advantage, say where subscriptions will be taken in London, and where one may call for the several volumes as they come out, and pay for the next that are going on. Among the account of books you were pleased to send me, there is one with a very promising title, Thesaurus Anecdotorum, 5 volumes. I wish I could know what the chief of those anecdotes are; it may be a book very well worth having. I admire they do not disperse some sheets of such works. What they can add to make Moreri's Dictionary so very voluminous, I cannot imagine. I bought it in two exorbitant volumes, and thought it big enough so. While I am writing this, company is come in, so that I am forced to break off; and I can only assure you, that, upon all occasions, you shall find me very sincerely, Reverend Sir, Your faithful friend, W. CANT. N.B. This is the earliest letter in the whole collection; and, by the beginning of it, seems to be the first which the archbishop wrote to Mr. Beauvoir. No. II. A LETTER FROM MR. BEAUVOIR TO ARCHBISHOP WAKE. MY LORD, Paris, Dec. 11, 1717, O. S. I HAD the honour of your grace's letter of the 28th ultimo but Sunday last, and therefore could not answer it sooner. A person is to be appointed to receive subscriptions for the new edition of St. Chrysostome, and deliver the copies. Enclosed is an account of the Thesaurus Anecdotorum. Dr. DuPin, with whom I dined last Monday, and with the syndic of the Sorbonne, and two other doctors, tells me, that what swells Moreri's Dictionary are several additions, and particularly the families of Great Britain. He hath the chief hand in this new edition. They talked as if the whole kingdom was to appeal to the future general council, &c. They wished for an union with the church of England, as the most effectual means to unite all the western churches. Dr. Du-Pin desired me to give his duty to your grace, upon my telling him that I would send you an arrêt of the parliament of Paris relating to him, and a small tract of his. I have transmitted them to Mr. Prevereau, at Mr. Secretary Addison's office. No. III. A LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP WAKE TO MR. BEAUVOIR. Aug. 30, 1718. I TOLD you, in one of my last letters, how little I expected from the present pretences of an union with us. Since I received the papers you sent me, I am more convinced that I was not mistaken. My task is pretty hard, and I scarce know how to manage myself in this matter. To go any farther than I have done in it, even as a divine only of the church of England, may meet with censure; and, as archbishop of Canterbury, I cannot treat with these gentlemen. I do not think my character at all inferior to that of an archbishop of Paris; on the contrary, without lessening the authority and dignity of the church of England, I must say it is in some respects superior. If the cardinal were in earnest for such an union, it would not be below him to treat with me himself about it. I should then have a sufficient ground to consult with my brethren, and to ask his majesty's leave to correspond with him concerning it. But to go on any farther with these gentlemen, will only expose me to the censure of doing what, in my station, ought not to be done without the king's knowledge; and it would be very odd for me to have an authoritative permission to treat with those who have no manner of authority to treat with me. However, I shall venture at some answer or other to both their letters and papers; and so have done with this affair. I cannot tell well what to say to Dr. Du-Pin. If he thinks we are to take their direction what to retain, and what to give up, he is utterly mistaken. I am a friend to peace, but more to truth. And they may depend upon it, I shall always account our church to stand upon an equal foot with theirs; and that we are no more to receive laws from them, than we desire to impose any upon them. In short, the church of England is free, is orthodox: she has a plenary authority within herself, and has no need to recur to any other church to direct her what to retain or what to do. Nor will we, otherwise than in a brotherly way, and in a full equality of right and power, ever consent to have any treaty with that of France. And, therefore, if they mean to deal with us, they must lay down this for the foundation, that we are to deal with one another upon equal terms. If, consistently with our own establishment, we can agree upon a closer union with one another, well; if not, we are as much, and upon as good grounds, a free independent church as they are. And for myself, as archbishop of Canterbury, I have more power, larger privileges, and a greater authority than any of their archbishops; from which by the grace of God, I will not depart -no, not for the sake of an union with them. : You see, sir, what my sense of this matter is; and may perhaps think that I have a little altered my mind since this affair was first set on foot. As to my desire of peace and union with all other Christian churches, I am still the same but with the doctor's Commonitorium, I shall never comply. The matter must be put into another method; and, whatever they think, they must alter some of their doctrines, and practices too, or an union with them can never be effected. Of this, as soon as I have a little more leisure, I shall write my mind as inoffensively as I can to them, but yet freely too. If any thing is to come of this matter, it will be the shortest method I can take of accomplishing it, to put them in the right way. If nothing (as I believe nothing will be done in it), it is good to leave them under a plain knowledge of what we think of ourselves and our church, and to let them see that we neither need nor seek the union proposed, but for their sake as well as our own; or rather neither for theirs nor ours; but in order to the promotion of a catholic communion (as far as is possible) among all the true churches of Christ. I have now plainly opened my mind to you; you will communicate no more of it than is fitting to the two doctors, but keep it as a testimony to my sincerity in this affair: and that I have no design but what is consistent with the honour and freedom of our English church, and with the security of that true and sound doctrine which is taught in it, and from which no consideration shall ever make me depart. I am, Reverend Sir, Your affectionate friend and brother, No. IV. W. CANT. FROM ARCHBISHOP WAKE TO MR. BEAUVOIR. Oct. 8, 1718. WHATEVER be the consequence of our corresponding with the Sorbonne doctors about matters of religion, the present situation of our affairs plainly seems to make it necessary for us so to do. Under this apprehension, I have written, though with great difficulty, two letters to your two doctors, which I have sent to the secretary's office, to go with the next pacquet to my lord Stair. I beg you to inquire after them; they made up together a pretty thick pacquet, directed to you. In that to Dr. Du-Pin, I have, in answer to two of his MSS., described the method of making bishops in our church. I believe he will be equally both pleased and surprised with it. I wish you could show him the form of consecration, as it stands in the end of your large Common Prayer-books. The rest of my letters, both to him and Dr. Piers, is a venture which I know not how they will take, to convince them of the neces sity of embracing the present opportunity of breaking off from the pope, and going one step farther than they have yet done in their opinion of his authority, so as to leave him only a primacy of place and honour; and that merely by ecclesiastical authority, as he was once bishop of the imperial city. I hope they both show you my letters: they are at this time very long, and upon a nice point. I shall be very glad if you can any way learn how they take the freedom I have used, and what they really think of it. I cannot so much trust to their answers, in which they have more room to conceal their thoughts, and seldom want to overwhelm me with more compliments than I desire, or am well able to bear. Pray do all you can to search out their real sense of, and motions at the receipt of, these two letters; I shall thereby be able the better to judge how far I may venture hereafter to offer any thing to them upon the other points in difference between us; though, after all, I still think, if ever a reformation be made, it is the state that must govern the church in it. But this between ourselves. No. V. A LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP WAKE TO DR. DU-PIN, DATED Spectatissimo Viro, eruditorum suæ gentis, si non et sui sæculi, principi; Dno L. Ell. Du-Pin, Doctori Parisiensi. Gal. prov. Div. Cant. Archs. in omnibus evopoveîr kal einpátteiv. Dru est, amplissime Domine, ex quo debitor tibi factus sum ob plures tractatus MSS. quos tuo beneficio a dilecto mihi in Christo D. Beauvoir accepi. Perlegi diligenter omnes, nec sine fructu; plurima quippe ab iis, cognitu dignissima, vel primum didici, vel clarius intellexi; beatamque his difficillimis temporibus censeo ecclesiam Gallicanam, quæ talem sibi in promptu habeat doctorem, in dubiis consiliarium, in juribus suis tuendis advocatum; qui et possit et audeat, non modo contra suos vel erroneos vel perfidos symmystas dignitatem ejus tueri, sed et ipsi summo pontifici (ut olim B. Apostolus Paulus Petro) in faciem resistere, quia reprehensibilis est. Atque utinam hæc quæ jam Romæ aguntur, tandem aliquando omnibus vobis animum darent ad jura vestra penitus asserenda! Ut deinceps non ex pragmaticis (ut olim) sanctionibus, non (ut hoc fere tempore) ex concordatis, non ex præjudicatis hominum opinionibus, res vestras agatis: sed ea authoritate |