6. This is to my understanding the meaning of the Controversie concerning the number and authority of these Canons , which were to be accounted Apocryphal , and which not , and so likewise which Genuine , and which not , and to this Controversie it is , that my insinuation and my words refer , and the second Canon being one of those former 50 , which though they have been counted Apocryphal in one sense , were yet Genuine in another , i. e. none of the later addition of 35. which are called by learned men novitii and adulterate , I thought I had reason ( and cannot but still think it ) to say that that second Canon was semper inter genuinos habitus , alwayes accounted genuine , i. e. received and acknowledged among the Canons of the Antient Church by those who controverted , and rejected the other 35.

7. Thus much may perhaps suffice to remove the two mistakes , which by some indications I conceive to have produced this Animadversion : For 1. when in the words immediately precedent , he saith , they are disavowed and disclaimed by the most learned Papists as Apocryphal , this I suppose must be his meaning , either that by that Synod at Rome under Pope Gelasius , they were defined to be Apocryphal ( and then as there is truth in that , so I may be permitted to have told him what I conceive meant by Apocryphal in that place those that were not yet received into their Codex ) or else that the rest besides the first 50 are disclaimed by the most learned Papists , so I learn from my Lord Primate , that they are by Humbert in his Answer to Nicetas , Sancti Patres Canones Apostolorum numeraverunt inter Apocrypha , exceptis capitulis quinquaginta , quae decreverunt regulis Orthodoxiae adjungenda . The Holy Fathers have numbred the Canons of the Apostles among Apocryphal writings , except onely fifty Canons , which they have decreed to be annext to the rules of the true doctrine , i. e. to the Book of Canons received by them : ( Where again , by the way , the notion of Apocryphal is evident , as opposed to those which are received into the Codex , Regulis Orthodoxiae adjungenda ) And so by Bellarmine , whom he names in the front of those most learned Papists , and of him saith expresly and truly , that he approves onely of 50 Canons of 85 ( de script . Eccles. in Cl●m . ) And then again , I have now minded him of that which was before evident , that the second Canon , which was cited by me , was one of those fifty , and so not disproved by that learned Papist . As for the other two , Baronius , and Binius , whom he names to the same purpose as those who have disavowed and disclaimed them as Apocryphael , I shall not accuse his confidence , but must think he was in some haste , that he could doe so , Baronius being by him acknowledged to adde 30 more , and Binius to have made a little inlargement of Canons , which sure doth not intimate that they disavowed , or disclaimed the fifty .

8. So when he saith of them , that they are faintly defended by any of the Papists , I shall desire to know ( among many others , Bovius , Lamb. Gruterus , Stapleton Haleander , &c. ) what he thinks of Turrian , whether he were a Papist or no , and whether he were a faint defender of them , nay whether Monsieur Daillé take no notice of his zeal for them ? If he doe not , I shall very much wonder at it : If he doe , I shall have the more reason for my question , how he that sends me to be taught by M. Daillé , had not learned so much from him , that there was some Papist , by whom they were not faintly defended ? So again when he saith that they have been throughly disproved and decryed by all Protestant writers that have had any occasion to deal with them , I might certainly mind him of more Protestants than one that have been far from decrying them . I shall not mention , as I might , the severall Bishops of our Church , since the Reformation , and our Divines in their writings , that make their Appeals to them frequently , and with as pompous forms of citations , as I have done [ semper inter genuinos habito ] I shall not adde the learned Hugo Grotius , because I know not whether any , or all of these may not be deemed by him to be no Protestants . Onely what doth he think of Frigevillaeus Gautius ? He certainly An. 1593. in his second part of his Palma Christiana ( dedicated to Queen Elizabeth ) c. 1. & 2. was far from disavowing , and decrying those Canons : How little short he came of Turrian himself , I shall not now tell him , lest he be disavowed as no Protestant , for so doing , but leave him at his leisure to inquire , whether one such example might not have taken off from the generalitie of the affirmation [ decryed by all Protestants ] or indeed whether D. Blondel's vouching them in the manner which I shall by and by set down , might not have had some force in it , if he had taken notice of such things . But all this by the way , as an Essa● , that some other men , as well as H. H. may be confident in asserting .

9. Secondly , When immediately after his Animadversion on my words , he mentions his Exceptions to the Books of Apostolical Constitutions and Canons taken out of Daillé , and the learned Vsher , 't is apparent that these all belong to the Books under Clement's name , called the Apostles Constitutions : But then it must be remembred , that that Book of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Constitutions is another thing , clearly distinct from the Book called the Apostles Canons , and there is but one way imaginable to involve the later under the censure that belongs justly to the former , and it is this , That in some Copies the Constitutions and Canons are put together into one Volume ( and that 〈◊〉 * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( i. e. in the volume of Clements Constitutions ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Numb 112. Photius his time ) and that in the end of the Canons , there is a solemn confirmation of the Constitutions . But then it must be remembred again , that these are later Copies , which so confound them , and I take not them to be genuine , and that Canon is the eightie fifth of that Book , and so no part of the first fiftie , which I suppose to be the onely genuine Canons , and consequently that none of the ridiculous things in the Constitutions is imputable to that former Collection , but indeed , on the contrary , that one expression in that eightie fifth Canon , which prescribes the keeping them * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . close , because of some mysterious passages in them , is justly thought by learned men to betray them both ( the later 35 Canons , and the Constitutions so magnified by them ) to be of a much later Edition , than that which they pretend to .

10. And thus I hope I have vindicated my self , and given the grounds of my Assertion , And for the confidence , I did not , I confess , expect to be charged with any immoderate degree of it from any , nor doe I yet discern how those few words in the Parenthesis ( semper inter genuinos habito ) could be deem'd so criminously guilty of it , or that hee that undertook to be my Monitor , having in so short a time proved so much more guilty of it , should in any reason think himself the most competent for that office .

11. To help him to any appearance of reason , and so to qualifie him thus to charge me , some want of observation of vulgar stile must be necessary , either in not adverting what is ordinarily meant by their title of Apostolick Canons , or some other the like . That he takes the meaning of that title to be their pretension to be written by the Apostles , or by Clement at their appointment , I conclude from the words with which he begins that Paragraph [ The first writings , that are imposed on us after the Canonical Scriptures , are the eight Books of Clement , commonly called the Apostles Constitutions , being pretended to be written by him at their appointment , with the Canons ascribed to the same persons ] and if according to this his notion , he conceive me by the word genuine to affirm that they are rightly so ascribed , he is mistaken .

12. That those Canons , whether to the number of 85. or but of 50 were written by the Apostles , I never meant , but neither is that the meaning of those that cite them , and call them as I have done , by the vulgar name of Apostolick Canons : If there be any doubt of this , I shall prove it by competent testimonies , whether among Papists or Protestants . Of the former , in stead of many , I instance only in that account , which Gabriel Albispine in his Observations rendreth of it , * Lib. 1. that some of these Canons ( the fifty he means ) being made by the Successors of the Apostles ( the Bishops of the Antient Church ) who were called ( saith Tertullian de Praseript . ) Apostolici viri , Apostolical men , Apostolicorum primum Canones , dein nonnullorum Latinorum ignorantia , aliquo● literarum detractione , Apostolorum dicti sunt , They were first call●d the Canons of the Apostolicks , after by the ignorance of some Latine Writers , and by the taking away of a few Letters , they were called the Canons of the Apostles .

13. Among Protestants I might instance in the Archbishop of Armagh , here cited under the name of the Learned Vsher , who by stiling the fifty , Veteres Canones Ecclesiasticos ●b antiquitatem Apostolicos doctos , the old Ecclesiastical Canons for their Antiquity stiled Apostolical , and distinguishing them from the thirty five nova Capitula & novitii Canones , new Chapters , and novice Canons , clearly justifies all that I have said : But I have no reason to goe any farther than Dr. Blondel himself , with whom I had then to doe , and I am sure 't is ordinary with him to cite these Canons under the title of Apostolick , and so to yeeld them their authority ( yet I suppose is not thought by his Colleague Mr. Daillé to have made the Apostles themselves the Authors of them ) you may see it twice together in two lines , Apol. pro sent . Hieron . pag. 96. Anno Dom. 363. Laodicano Canone 56. secundum Apostolicum 38. cautum fuit , Care was taken by the Council of Laodicaea , Can. 56. according to the 38th Apostolical Canon , calling it first an Apostolick Canon , and then affirming it the rule by which the Laodicaean Canon was made , and so clearly giving it a greater Antiquity than that Council : And immediately again , Apostolico 33d ( longè antequam Ancyrae conveniret Synodus ) in the 33d Apostolick Canon , long before the Synod met at Ancyra , which we know was in the year 314 and what was acknowledged to be long before that , must be of a pretty antiquity , although it were not written by the Apostles .

14. 'T is true indeed some have thought fit to use greater exactness of speech , as the Council of Paris , Anno 580. calling them * * Gregor Tur●ner● H●st . ●ra● lib. 5. 〈◊〉 . 18. Canones quasi Apostolicos , the Canons as it were Apostolick ; and Dionysius Exiguus , and Isidorus Mercator , Canones qui dicuntur Apostolicorum , the Canons said to be the Apostles . And Hincmarus Rhemensis saith , they were A primis temporibus traditione viritim Apostolicorum virorum , mentibus commendati ; From the first times by tradition of Apostliocal persons commended to the minds of men , from man to man , and a devotis quibusque collecti , collected by all devout men . See Concil. Gallic . l. 2. p. 473 , 474. And as for those which pretend the whole 85. as well as the Constitutions to have been peun'd by Clemens , there is little doubt but they did , by so doing indeavour to impose false ware upon the Church , but still this praejudgeth not my affirmation of the former fiftie , that they were alwayes accounted genuine . Not meaning thereby that they were written by the Apostles , or at their appoint-ment by Clemens ( I say not a word , that so much as insinuates either of those to be my sense , and I can justly affirm it was not ) but genuine , i. e. truly , and without contradiction ( as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are taken for Synonyma's in this matter ) what they were by the Church generally taken to be , i. e. Canons of antient Bishops ( before the times of the General Councils ) of Apostolical persons , success●rs of the Apostles , in Churches , where they praesided , called Apostolical Churches .

15. I adde no more of a matter so clear , yet before I proceed , I shall desire the Author of this Animadversion , to consider how unjustly his Censure hath fallen ( in the page immediately praecedent ) on the Writings of the first times , immediately after the Apostles fell asleep . His words are these , I must be forced to preface the nomination of them ( the first Writers ) with some considerations : The first is that known passage of Hegesippus in Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Setting out the corruption of the Church as to Doctrine , immediately after the Apostles fell asleep , whereof whosoever will impartially , and with disengaged judgements search into the writings that of those dayes doe remain , will perhaps finde more cause than is commonly imagined with him to complain .

16. Here is a ●ad jealousie raised against all Antiquity , even of the purest times next the Apostles , and indefinitely without any limitation , on the writings of those dayes that remain , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. all that are extant , in one common masse , and yt ( besides that one saying of Hegesippus ) no one word added to found it on ( but onely dubious , suspicious expressions [ will perhaps find more cause than is commonly imagined ] to warn all how they give any trust to the purest Antiquitie . Whereas all that Hegesippus there saith , is onely this ( which they that pay most reverence to Antiquity , take as much notice of as he could wish ) viz. that the poyson of the Heretical , or Apostatical , or Atheistical Gnosticks , in express words , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sect of the Gnosticks , falsly so called ( the same that had been mentioned by St. Paul to Timothy ) and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Atheistical seducers did openly set up against the truth of Christ , as soon as ever the Apostles were dead . Which being by Hegesippa● terminated in the known despisers and persecuters of the true Church and Orthodox professors , the grievous Wolves that worried the flock , and those constantly resisted , and combated with , preacht against , and written against by the Fathers and antient Writers , and never observed by any man to have gain●d on them , or infused any the least degree ●f their poyson into them , or their Writings , which are come to us ( which to undertake to make good against any opposer is no high pitch of confidence , again to be censured in me ) It is a sad condition that the just and the unjust , the false Teachers and the Orthodox Professors should fall under the same envy , be involved under the same black censure , those that watched over the flock as Shepheards , and oft laid down their lives for the Sheep , be again defamed and martyred by us their unkind posterity , under pretence , forsooth , that they were in the Conspiracie of the Wolves also . I leave this to his , and the Readers consideration , and so proceed to the next charge .