<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2009-06-03</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B090517.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A77754">
<STC T="W">b5345</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">45504372</BIBNO>
<VID>171672</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 25 -->
<HEAD>To Doctor Tillot&s;on.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>NOthing in this World is, or ought to be &s;o dear to any Man, as his Reputation; and con&s;equently the Defence of it is the greate&s;t Obligation that one Man can lay on another: There are al&s;o &s;ome Circum&s;tances, that render this Obligation yet more Accepta|ble and Valuable; as when 'tis Confer'd Generou&s;ly, without any Self-Intere&s;t, or the lea&s;t De&s;ire or Invitation from the Per&s;on &s;o Defended. All this happens to be my Ca&s;e at this time; and therefore I hope you will not be &s;urpriz'd to find I am not the mo&s;t Ungrateful, and In&s;en&s;ible Man living; which certainly I &s;hould be, if I did not acknowledge all your Indu&s;trious Concern for me, about the Bu&s;ine&s;s of the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Commi&s;&s;ion, which now makes &s;o much Noi&s;e in the World. You have, as I am told, &s;o Cordially pleaded my Cau&s;e, that 'tis almo&s;t become your own; and therefore, as unwilling as I am to &s;peak of my &s;elf, e&s;pecially in a Bu&s;i|ne&s;s which I cannot wholly Excu&s;e; yet I think my &s;elf now a little Obliged to &s;hew my Part in this matter; though Im|prudent enough, yet is not altogether Unworthy of &s;o Ju&s;t, and &s;o Con&s;iderable an Advocate.</P>
<P>The le&s;s a Man &s;ays of him&s;elf, the better; and 'tis &s;o well known already, why I was kept out of all the Secret Coun|cils, that I need not ju&s;tifie my &s;elf, or trouble you as to tho&s;e Matters; only I Appeal to the Unque&s;tionable Te&s;ti|mony of the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Amba&s;&s;ador, if I did not zealou&s;ly and con&s;tantly take all Occa&s;ions to oppo&s;e the <HI>French</HI> Intere&s;t; becau&s;e I knew it directly Oppo&s;ite both to the King and King|dom's Good, which are indeed things In&s;eperable, and ought to be &s;o accounted, as a Fundamental Maxim in all Councils of Princes.</P>
<P><PB N="2" REF="2" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 26 -->
This, I hope, will prepare the way a little for what I have to &s;ay concerning my being one of the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Commi&s;&s;ioners; of which Error I am now as &s;en&s;ible, as I was at fir&s;t ignorant, being &s;o unhappily conver&s;ant in the mid&s;t of a perpetual Court-flattery, as never to have heard the lea&s;t word of any Illegality in that Commi&s;&s;ion, before I was unfortunately engaged in it.</P>
<P>For, th&ocirc; my Lord of <HI>Canterbury</HI> had very prudently Re|fus'd to be of it, yet it was talked at Court, it proceeded only from his Unwillingne&s;s to act at that time, and not from any Illegality he &s;u&s;pected in the Commi&s;&s;ion; having Excu|&s;ed him&s;elf from it the mo&s;t re&s;pectful way, be the Infirmi|ties he lay under. Being thus ignorant of the Laws, and in &s;uch a Station at Court, I need not de&s;ire a Man of your Judgment and Candor, to con&s;ider the hardne&s;s of my Ca&s;e, when I was commanded to &s;erve in a Commi&s;&s;ion with a Lord Chancellor, a Lord Chief Ju&s;tice, and two Bi&s;hops, who had all of them already acted &s;ome time there, without &s;hew|ing the lea&s;t Diffidence of their Power, or any He&s;itation in the Execution of it. And perhaps a Man of more Di&s;creti|on than I can pretend to, might have been ea&s;ily per&s;waded to act in &s;uch a Conjunction, and to think he might do it &s;afely, both in Law and Con&s;cience. But I need not &s;ay much to &s;hew my de&s;ire to have avoided, if po&s;&s;ible, a trou|ble&s;ome Employment, that had not the lea&s;t temptation of Honour or Profit to Recommend it; and which therefore I continued in upon no account in the World, but to Serve both King and Clergy with the little Ability I had, in mode|rating tho&s;e Councils, which I thought might grow higher, if I left my Place to be fill'd by any of tho&s;e who waited for it greedily, in order to their ill De&s;igns.</P>
<P>And I may expect the more Credit in this, when 'tis con|&s;ider'd that the Two Important Affairs which pa&s;&s;ed in that Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Court, being the Bi&s;hop of <HI>London</HI>'s Su&s;pen&s;ion, and the Incapacitating the Members of <HI>Magdalen</HI> Colledge; the fir&s;t was done &s;ome Months before I was a Commi&s;&s;ioner, and I oppo&s;ed the la&s;t, both in Voting and Speaking, and with all the Intere&s;t I was able to make u&s;e of, which indeed was but little after that Oppo&s;ition; in which being Out-voted,
<PB N="3" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 27 -->
I &s;eldome Came, and never Acted in that Court after, except to Re&s;tore the Bi&s;hop of <HI>London,</HI> th&ocirc; &s;ent for continually, by rea&s;on of my Lodging &s;o near it.</P>
<P>And &s;ince I have been forced to mention my Good-will at lea&s;t, if not my Service, to &s;uch Learned Men of the Cler|gy who I thought de&s;erv'd it, it may be allow'd me to give this one In&s;tance more of it; that alth&ocirc; in Preferring Men to all other Places of the Hou&s;hold, I ever us'd to ask Per|mi&s;&s;ion fir&s;t, and accordingly was often Refus'd, for the &s;ake of <HI>Roman Catholics</HI> and others, who were Recommended by Per&s;ons more in Favour than my &s;elf; yet I was &s;o careful of keeping that Con&s;iderable part of the Family unmix'd with Mean or Unworthy Chaplains, whom others I fear'd wou'd have impos'd on His Maje&s;ty, that I con&s;tantly fill'd up tho&s;e Vacancies without giving him the lea&s;t Notice or Trouble about it, and Supply'd them with the able&s;t approv'd Divines, I could po&s;&s;ibly find, mo&s;t commonly Recommended to me by the Bi&s;hops who were not of the Court: Which I conceiv'd the mo&s;t proper cour&s;e, in a Matter concerning Clergymen, with a King of a different Per&s;wa&s;ion from theirs, and intend|ed for his real Service, believing it had been better for Him, as well as the Kingdom, if the Greater Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Dignities had been di&s;pos'd of by others with as much Caution.</P>
<P>And thus, <HI>Sir,</HI> I have endeavour'd to confirm you in your Favourable Opinion of me, which mu&s;t be acknowledg'd by every-body an Approbation of &s;uch weight, that as I hope it may be an Example of Authority to many, &s;o 'tis &s;ufficient of it&s;elf to Ballance the Cen&s;oriou&s;ne&s;s of others. I am,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your Obliged Humble Servant,<HI>MULGRAVE.</HI></SIGNED>
<DATELINE>White-Hall, <DATE>Mar. 27. 1689.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
