AN APPENDIX TO THE PREMISSES.
SHewing the Dean of Sarum's Inno∣cence (if not his Merit) in his Ser∣vices for the King, by the Lords Commissioners special Order; and in his Obedience to their Lordships ex∣press Command; and also in his per∣fect Ignorance of Mr. Yeats his Address to the said great Lords with his Four Heads of Infor∣mation, until the Lord Bishop and the Chapter of Sarum gave the Dean his First knowledge and notice of it. So that the Controversie, ensuing it, might possibly have been Raised by the said Bishop and his Adherents, Before it was so much as possible to have been Raised by the Dean, with∣out his knowing any thing of it, till so informed. But seeing All men are subject to be Mistaken and Page 87 Abused by men of Malice; it is the honour and the duty of All the Dean of Sarum's Friends (in the number of whom I profess my self) to con∣vert, or to shame those Fanatical Enemies to the Government, who do pretend to suspect him, though indeed they do not, and cannot suspect him in Reality, of having dealt underhand in the Design of Mr. Yeats, or of having acted otherwise towards any the least Occasion of any Controver∣sie or Difference with any Creature Antecedently to the Command of the Lords Commissioners, the Evidence of the contrary is so manifold and convincing. But yet they hitherto Resolve to pretend suspition, (when they have None) where∣by to justify, or excuse, their Diabolical Defama∣tion of an innocent Man. (If yet it is a Defa∣mation or a Crime, to prompt a Pious and Learn∣ed Person to serve his Sovereign as he is able.) The Real cause of their Malignity, being too Criminal to be owned; to wit, the Dean of Sarum's Loyalty, and Love of Truth, and Compliance with the Com∣mands of the most Noble Lords Commissioners, who are impowered by the King to command us All. This alone is the True Ground of some mens Pretending to a Suspicion, whereby to re∣venge themselves on the said Dean, for having dared to be Dutiful to his Superiours. These Ar∣tificers and e Inventors of Evil Things having not at all either the Grace, or even Humanity to consider, that They Themselves must have obeyed, (as ill-affected as they are to Any Commissioned by the King,) had they been so commanded, as the Dean of Sarum was. But I will no longer de∣tain the Reader (in this Preface to an Appen∣dix) Page 88 from Mr. Yeat's his own Letters, sent to several Persons of Honour, and to some others of lesser Quality, strongly asserting unto Him∣self the whole Design of the Four Heads, which he addressed to the Lords Commissioners; and confuting those Malignants, who out of Envy to his Performance, would have him taken (to his Disparagement) for Another man's Tool. No∣thing is added to the said Letters, besides a few Deductions Thence, and some Reflections thereupon.
An APPENDIX to the Three fore∣going Chapters.
§. 1. MR. Yeats was so unwilling, that either the Dean of Sarum, or any other of that Church, should have any share with him in the Honour or in the Blame of his Project of the Four Articles, that he writ an honest Letter to a Person of Quality in the Countrey, (as before to some at Court, and to the Lord Bishop him∣self) who permitted the Dean's Son to transcribe as much of it, as he thought would conduce to his Father's Service and Satisfaction: And 'tis as follow's.
[I am heartily sorry that any should be so Atheisti∣cal, as still to suspect the Dean's privity to my design, after so much evidence and conviction to the contrary; and therefore to shame them, I am ready to undergo whatever Test shall be put upon me, to declare that the Dean was neither directly nor indirectly, nec per se, nec per alium, acquainted with my design, but every way as ignorant thereof, as the Child unborn; and much less abetting me therein, than the Bishop himself from whom I had indeed two Inducements, but Page 89 from the Dean none, nay less than none; this being the only way I had to incur the Dean's Displeasure, but withal to procure a Favour from the Bishop, or at least from the King himself. The only offence that I Can charge my self herein to be guilty of, and for which I do, and must ever beg the Pardon of Mr. Dean, is not only that I drew up those Articles with∣out his Privity, or Assistance, but also without his knowledge or consent, referr'd my self for Proof of them to Books and Papers in his Hands. Truth is, the knowledge I had of the chief things suggested by me to the Lords Commissioners, was principally from a Sheet of Reasons whereof Copies had been dis∣persed into several mens hands, as well of both Houses of Parliament, as private Persons, One of which Copies I have here with me, penned by the Dean about Six Years since, which Sheet was Entitled,—Certain Memoirs of things pleadable a∣gainst a Bill then prepared for the taking away of all Peculiar Jurisdictions, &c. wherein among others, I found this very observable Passage.
The Dean and f Canons of Sarum had their abode before the Conquest in Old Castle called Caesar's Burg, and corruptly Sarisberg, by the Brittains, Sorbiodunum. It was at the first the King's Free Chappel, as Windsor is at this day, wherein the Dean (under the King) had more than Episcopal Jurisdiction. Vide Vetus Registr. Miscell. & Registr. Dom. Richardi Episc. Sarum.
['Twas from this, and certain other Passages there following, (seconded by what I heard from some Page 90 g Persons better known, as I thought, in the Affairs and Records of that Church, than I can be supposed to be,) that I thought I had reason enough humbly to tender those Four things to be inquired into by their Lordships. But for the Reverend Dean of Sarum, he had no manner of knowledge of my De∣sign, or of my Two Inducements •o it, nor of the Pe∣tition of the Mayor and Magistrates of Marlborough, nor of those Noble Persons who did promote it; and therefore as I have highly though undesignedly diso∣bliged him, by acting as I did, without his Privity, and (as I found since) against his Will; so I have, and do, and ever will beg his Pardon; which whether I ever obtain, or not, I will be ever his Vindicator in the bottom of my Heart, from his having had the least share, or so much as knowledge of my Rashness and Precipitancy.
§. II. Thus far Mr. Yeats word for word; and as truly as ever any man spake: He offered also to confirm it in open Court upon Oath, which makes me say, that those men are unworthy, and must not expect to be believed upon their Oaths, much less upon their Words, who will not be∣lieve the Dean of Sarum, and Mr. Cornelius Yeats of Marlborough either upon their Words, or upon their Oaths. Mr. Yeats his Character is no where fitter to be seen, than in the famous Petition of the Mayor and Magistrates of Marlborough to the King, Presented by the hands of the Lord Bruce in his behalf, whose great Parts and greater Piety are celebrated by Them, (both to the King, and the Lords Commissioners,) who have the best ex∣perience and knowledge of him. And not yet to Page 91 mention those Horrid and Scandalous Reports, which Mr. Yeats his bitter Enemies have labour∣ed under, and still do labour.
There are not any either of his, or of the Dean of Sarum's Enemies, who can prove so convin∣cingly that they had not any hand in, or Assent to, or Connivance at, or Knowledge of the most execrable Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, (until they had it by report,) as the said Dean hath proved, and can prove, that he had no hand in, or Assent to, or Connivance at, or Knowledge of, Mr. Yeats his Project of the Four Articles, until he was informed of it by the Lord Bishop of Sa∣rum, and by the Chapter of the same, in a Letter from Mr. Frome. For Sir Edm. Godfrey being dead, can attest nothing on their behalf; and they have nothing but their own Oaths whereby to clear their own Innocence, to which they have forfeited all Belief with considering men. But Mr. Yeats is still living to clear the Dean of Sarum upon his Oath, the which he offered in open Court, and will be ever ready to take, and who will ever find Belief from All who are ac∣quainted with his unblameable Conversation, which will every where have credit, where his Enemies have None. Nor hath he, or the Dean of Sarum any Enemies they know of, who are not Enemies at the same time, both to God, and the King, and the Church of England. 'Tis the Nature of Christian Charity, not to suspect others hastily, of any ill thing which it abhors; whilst they who are wont to do Injuries, suspect others of the like. Nothing hitherto can be said to clear the Regular and Episcopal Clergy from a suspition of being Papists, or Popishly affected, with the whole Dissenting and Schis∣matical Page 92 Party; and they who suspected, or rather pretended to suspect the Dean of Sarum of a Plot to deprive the Bishop of a Right to give Prebends, even immediately after the Bishop had promised a Prebend to the Dean's Son, (of his own accord, and undesired, which added most of all to the Obligation,) are like those most Malitious, and Unexcusable Fanaticks, who pretended to suspect the King himself, not only of contriving the Fire of London, but also of being in the plot a∣gainst his own Life and Kingdom. See the ex∣cellent Address to all the Freeholders and Freemen of England; part. 1. pag. 45, and 50. and part. 2. pag. 2, 3, 5, 6.
§. 3. But now suppose the Dean of Sarum had not only permitted, but perswaded Mr. Yeats and the Magistrates of Marlborough, to apply them∣selves unto the King for a Prebend of Sarum, and to plead, that the Supremacy of Right to give Prebends is in the King, from whose Original Right, the Bishops Right to give them is but derivative, (and therefore only a good and un∣doubted Right, because derived from the Crown,) he had not abjured the doing of it, but rather had owned it with Ambition. The only Reason why he denies it, is because it is a Lye; and be∣cause he is a lover of Truth and Justice; and be∣cause he will not willingly fully the Merit of his Obedience to the very express Commands of the Lords Commissioners; who finding him averse from his being a Voluntier, were therefore pleas∣ed to press him for his Majesties Service, where∣in he had not been else employed.
Page 93§. 4. In compliance with the said Order and peremptory Command of the Lords Commissio∣ners, (to which no Churchman could refuse to pay Obedience,) the Dean of Sarum drew up a Narrative of Matters of Fact▪ which he had found in Old Registers; wherein he took occasion to censure Mr. Yeats, §. 9. and to assert the Lord Bishop of Sarum's Right to dispose of Dignities, Sub-Dignities and Prebends at large, §. 10. as well as the Right of the Dean singly, together with the Rights of Dean and Chapter in conjunction. And all upon the same principle or ground, on which he humbly did conceive the several Rights were all held: He did conceive, that all Rights are either Subordinate or Supream: He thought it dangerous to assert the Subjects Rights to be Supream, and therefore called them Subordinate: And lastly, He thought their Rights the Firmer, for being derived from, and depending on, and standing upon so sure a Bottom as the Supream. He shew'd what our Monarchs had done de facto in and over the Church of Sarum, which was not to reveal a Secret; for some of the Alienations of several Prebends, and one Archdeaconry, from that Church, are publickly written in Let∣ters of Gold on the several Stalls, and exposed to the Reading of all Mankind. But whether such Alienations were, or could be de Iure, the said Dean left humbly to the Consideration of his Superiors.
What more or less could have been said to that purpose, by any of the Chapter, or by them All, or by my Lord Bishop himself, if either of them had been so commanded to speak his Knowledge, or his Sense, as the Dean of Sarum was, they Page 94 themselves can best tell; but the Dean of Sarum is yet to learn.
§. 5. One thing is fit to be considered by those Pretenders to a suspicion of Persons more credi∣ble than themselves; which suspicion 'tis thought they have not, and cannot have in good earnest, against the Evidence and Conviction they have several times met with; if at least they have Faith and Charity, and do really believe there is a God, and a Devil, and Heaven and Hell. Sup∣pose that two of their Number shall be pretended to be suspected of two grand Crimes, the one of Simony, and the other of Incest; and that the Whispers of those Suspicions shall be disseminated and spread into publick Fame. Will not those Persons be glad to be allowed to prove the Nega∣tive upon their Oaths? Will they not take it ex∣treamly ill, to get no more by their Vindication, than to have the Fame of Perjury, superadded to the suspicions both of Simony, and Incest? Will they not expostulate, si accusasse suffecerit, Quis erit Innocuus? Will they not probably break out into the Learned Diatribist's Exclamation, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉! They can∣not hope to be believed upon their own single Oaths, who dare pretend not to believe honester Men upon their double ones. Besides that Simony and Incest will be accounted more scandalous, even by the Whigs in these worst of Times, than to be zealous for the King's Rights, or to obey the Lords Commissioners. And therefore, if the In∣venters of silly Jealousies and Lyes, shall at any time chance to suffer the heinous things which they have done, they will learn for the future to deal with their Neighbours and their Friends, as Page 95 they would that their Enemies should deal with Them.
Part of Mr. Cornelius Yeats his LETTER to a Person of Great Honour, an Eminent Officer at Court, and afterwards to another of lesser Quality; giving an Account of his Un∣dertaking, after the Petition of the Mayor and Magistrates of Marlborough to the KING in his behalf.
BEsides my appearing for the King's Prerogative and Right, which was a principal Motive to this so strange Attempt of mine, I had likewise two other Inducements, which I hope may in some measure take off the blame, and very tolerably account for a Proce∣dure of this Nature.
The One, that the Bishop of Sarum some years since voluntarily promised, and that with repea∣ted Asseverations, (I do not say the next Prebend, but) whatever lay in his Power to do for me; though being since that time, again and again Requested by me, and by many Others, (not considerable Persons) on my behalf, at what time there were vacant Prebends many in one Year, yet he never did any thing towards the Augmentation of my Poor Maintenance: so that indeed I was weary of depending any longer upon Com∣plements.
Next, I did but follow (as I was led,) the Bishops own Example; for having observed, that his Lord∣ship applyed himself to the King for a Royal Mandate, whereby to over Rule the Dean and Chapter of Sarum to Praeelect his Nephew Mr. Seth Ward into the next Place of Residence which should be void, (the only Good Thing which is in the Gift of the Dean and Chapter, when the King does not oppose his Original Right to Page 96 their Derivative,) I thought I might with greater Reason apply my self (in such a way as I did, viz. by asserting the Kings Original Right,) to obtain from His Majesty a Prebend at large of a lesser Value (not the only Good Thing in the Bishops Gift, by a De∣rivative Right, whereof the Original is in the King,) because that Nephew had been before provided for by two Uncle-Bishops, with as much as would have ser∣ved five or six Worthy men, and did not want an Augmentation; as I evidently did; nor was his Task so great, as mine is very well known to have always been; nor did his Uncle want Things in his particular Disposal, as most of my Patrons did, and do; nor had the Bishop more Right Derivative to bestow a Prebend at large, than the Dean and Chapter to be∣stow the Places of Residence: and his Lordships apply∣ing himself to the King for such a Canonry was (accor∣ing to the Rules of all the Logick that I ever have been acquainted with) a Confession of his Iudgment, that All Promotions in the Cathedral Church of Sarum are in the King by an Original Right, though by a Derivative in the Bishop partly, and partly in the Dean and Chapter; and truly Sir, I had a fairer Opini∣on of his Lordship than to think he would blame that in me, which he approved of in himself: Nor did I imagine, but that a Poor Vicar might beg what he wanted of his King, as well as a Great and Rich Bishop, who wanted nothing.
Sir, I have here freely and fully discovered the very sense and thoughts of my Heart to you, and do humbly hope, that I may from You at least obtain a merciful and candid Opinion of my Proceedings. But I am afraid I have wearied you with the unusual length of this Letter; I am sure I have wearied my self in writing it, having already preached twice this day, and being also to prepare another Sermon at a Funeral Page 97 to Morrow Night, which may serve to excuse what slips may have here fallen from my Pen. I hope I shall al∣ways deport my self, as become him who is
Your most, &c.
Part of Mr. Yeats his Letter of Dec. 14. 1682. to the Lord Bishop of Sarum, in Vindication of the Dean.
My Lord,
NO Person can be more highly displeased with me, than I am with my self, for having (under the impatience of some disappointments) attempted a thing so far above my reach in that Paper delivered to the Lords Commissioners; especially since I find, that here∣by I have not only provoked your Lordship, but also my Worthy Patron the Dean of Sarum, (once my Friend, but now I fear made my Enemy,) as being hereby wrongfully drawn under the most unjust Suspicion of his having been privy to my Design: when as the Truth is, (which merely to do him right I think my self bound to declare, and if your Lordship require, I will affirm it upon Oath,) He had no hand in, or knowledge of, those Informations, nor (as I verily do believe) of any my proceedings thereabout, till my Letter to him at Canterbury in Nov. last, which he answered with sharp Reproofs, and a Declara∣tion of his Absolute Refusal to assist me in any thing, or to deliver what he might know of that matter: so that I was forced (seeing my self Sum∣moned into your Lordships Consistory) to use my ut∣most endeavours with all my Friends, to procure a peremptory Command to him from the Lords Commissioners, which I hear is now sent; but with what effect I do not as yet understand; only that it Page 98 hath brought him to White-Hall. Besides, my Lord, the thing speaks it self. Articles so unskilfully penned, and with so many disadvantages to the Cause undertaken, can never be supposed to have been drawn up by his Advice, or so much as Conni∣vance, or Permission, &c.
This is all of that Letter wherein the Dean is concerned.
