L-r- 
 
 ^G5*<3^ 
 
/W*,     £  '7'crv—t^ 
 
scs  ^il**- 
 
SELECT  MEMOIRS 
 
 OF  THE 
 
 LIVES,   LABOURS,   AND  SUFFERINGS, 
 
 OF 
 THOSE   PIOUS   AND  LEARNED 
 
 ENGLISH  AND  SCOTTISH  DIVINES, 
 
 WHO    GREATLY    DISTINGUISHED    THEMSELVES 
 
 IX  PROMOTING  THE 
 
 REFORMATION    FROM    POPERY; 
 
 IX   TRANSLATING 
 
 AND 
 
 IN   PROMULGATING   ITS   SALUTARY  .DOCTRINES   BY   THEIR 
 
 NUMEROUS   EVANGELICAL   WRITINGS; 
 
 AND 
 WHO  ULTIMATELY  CROWNED  THE  VENERABLE  EDIFICE 
 
 WITH  THE  CELEBRATED 
 
 WESTMINSTER 
 
 CONFESSION  OF  FAITH, 
 
 fyc.  $>c.  fa. 
 
 BY  THOMAS  SMITH. 
 
 They  had  trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and  im- 
 prisonments. They  wandered  in  deserts  and  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves 
 of  the  earth,  being  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented;  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
 worthy. — St.  Paul. 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 
 PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  D.  MACKENZIE. 
 
 1827. 
 
 [Entered  in  Stationers'  Hall.] 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 When  we  take  a  retrospective  view  of  the  Church  prior  to 
 the  Reformation,  and  contemplate  the  inhuman  cruelties  exer- 
 cised on  the  few  faithful  and  conscientious  christians  who  had 
 the  fortitude  to  oppose  the  errors,  and  reject  the  idolatrous 
 worship,  of  Rome,  and  would  not  bend  their  consciences  to  the 
 yoke  of  a  luxurious  and  domineering  priesthood,  whose  God 
 was  mammon,  and  whose  religion  was  legalized  robbery. 
 When  we  consider  the  perpetual  dangers  to  which  they  were  ex- 
 posed, the  cruel  mockings,  scourgings,  tortures,  and  deaths  to 
 which  their  faithfulness  frequently  subjected  them;  and  then 
 compare  their  deplorable  condition  with  the  manifold  blessings 
 and  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  present  generation,  we  have  every 
 reason  to  exclaim,  with  the  Psalmist,  "  truly  the  lines  have  fal- 
 len to  us  in  pleasant  places,  and  we  have  a  goodly  heritage." 
 We  are  left  to  the  free  and  deliberate  exercise  of  our  own  judg- 
 ment, in  worshipping  God  according  to  the  convictions  of  our 
 own  mind,  nothing  to  disturb  or  alarm  us.  No  bishops'  court, 
 no  star-chamber,  to  inveigle  and  entrap  us  by  their  inquisitorial 
 examinations,  nor  racks,  and  other  instruments  of  torture,  to 
 enforce  us  to  give  evidence  against  ourselves. 
 
 But  when  we  thus  laudably  exult  in  the  possession  of  so  many 
 important  blessings,  the  question  will  naturally  occur  to  our 
 minds,  How  have  the  times  been  so  wonderfully  altered,  and 
 the  sentiments  of  our  rulers  so  happily  changed,  since  the  days 
 of  our  fathers  ?  The  answer  is  easy.  The  manly  fortitude  of 
 our  progenitors  rendered  it  indispensable,  and  their  mild  and 
 rational  sentiments,  imbibed  from  the  holy  scriptures,  made  it 
 desirable.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  and,  in  place  of  resisting  the 
 tyrannical  injunctions  of  these  lordly  ecclesiastics,  had  our  fa- 
 thers of  the  Reformation  meanly  submitted  to  their  debasing 
 
IV  PREFACE. 
 
 mandates,  where  had  been  our  religious  liberty,  and  where  had 
 been  our  natural  rights  as  men  and  citizens  ?  The  struggle  in- 
 deed was  long  and  arduous,  but  the  triumph  has  been  glorious, 
 highly  honourable  to  our  fathers,  and  importantly  beneficial  to 
 us  their  children,  to  whom  they  have  bequeathed  the  precious 
 deposit,  that  wc  might  transmit  the  same  untarnished,  and  un- 
 impaired, to  posterity,  that  generations  to  come  might  know  the 
 mighty  works  of  God,  even  in  the  days  of  old. 
 
 It  is  a  lamentable  consideration,  however,  that  the  practice  of 
 the  present  generation  by  no  means  accords  with  their  inesti- 
 mable privileges.  Every  species  of  vice  and  immorality  great- 
 ly abounds,  while  irreligion  and  infidelity  threatens  to  blot  out 
 every  serious  impression,  and  laugh  down  every  religious  senti- 
 ment. To  be  serious,  in  our  time,  is  to  be  unpolite,  and  ten- 
 derness of  conscience  is  accounted  weakness  and  hypocritical 
 scrupulosity.  Profane  wits  level  their  shafts  of  ridicule  against 
 every  thing  sacred  and  serious,  and  bards  and  novelists  conspire 
 in  forwarding  the  general  defection.  They  know  the  taste  of 
 the  times,  and  accordingly  manufacture  their  impious  pleasan- 
 tries, so  as  to  gratify  the  humour  of  their  customers,  and  pro- 
 mote the  sale  of  their  stock  in  trade;  nor  could  the  labours  and 
 sufferings,  the  exemplary  lives,  and  triumphant  deaths,  of  a 
 number  of  our  eminent  Reformers,  nor  even  the  graves  lhat 
 enclose  their  bones,  secure  them  from  unmerited  malevo- 
 lence. 
 
 These  excellent  men  had  devoted  their  labours  and  their  lives 
 to  the  service  of  God  and  their  country,  at  a  time  when 
 she  was  sunk  beneath  a  weight  of  moral  and  political  degrada- 
 tion, and  bewildered  in  a  maze  of  debasing  superstition,  that 
 seemed  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  her  emancipation;  yet,  by 
 their  patient  sufferings,  and  invincible  fortitude,  they  became 
 instrumental  in  restoring  their  afflicted  countrymen  to  happi- 
 ness, light,  and  liberty;  and  this  ungrateful  generation,  who  en- 
 joy the  fruits  of  their  triumphant  labours,  can  listen  to,  and 
 laugh  at,  the  silly  pasquinades  of  these  money-catching  children 
 of  levity  and  burlesque,  who  sacrilegiously  disturb  the  ashes, 
 and  insult  the  memory,  of  the  best  benefactors  of  their  country. 
 
 The  present  generation  must  soon  sleep  with  their  fathers, 
 and  leave  their  children  to  fill  their  respective  places  in  society, 
 when  the  care  of  religion  and  morality  will  naturally  devolve 
 on  them;  but,  in  order  that  they  may  be  qualified  to.  acquit 
 themselves  with  zeal  and  propriety  for  its  interest  and  prospe- 
 rity, it  will  be  necessary  that  they  become  acquainted  with  its 
 principles,  and  be  influenced  by  its  spirit  and  captivating  excel- 
 lency. And  what  can  be  better  calculated  for  producing  these 
 desirable  effects,  than  an  impartial  review  of  the  lives  and  ho- 
 
PREFACE.  V 
 
 nourable  achievements,  not  of  mighty  conquerors,  who  have 
 marched  to  the  objects  of  their  ambition  through  scenes  of  blood, 
 but  of  humble  christians,  who,  like  their  meek  and  lowly  Mas- 
 ter, for  the  infinite  importance  of  the  object  contended  for,  en- 
 dured the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  with  clean  hands  and 
 pure  hearts,  washed  in  the  blood  of  the  great  atoning  sacrifice, 
 found  an  abundant  entrance  administered  into  the  blessed  so- 
 ciety of  just  men  made  perfect. 
 
 It  will  readily  be  granted,  that  they  were  not  all  of  precisely 
 the  same  opinion  in  regard  to  some  of  the  less  important  con- 
 cerns of  Christianity.  In  this  imperfect  state  of  existence,  it 
 has  not  been,  nor  can  it  ever  be  expected,  that  any  large  body 
 of  men  will  hold  the  self-same  opinions;  but  the  Reformers,  on 
 all  essential  points,  seem  to  have  been  harmoniously  agreed. 
 Salvation  through  grace,  and  good  works  as  the  evidence  of 
 that  grace;  this  was  the  centre  around  which  they  rallied,  and 
 the  magnet  that  attracted  their  correspondence;  it  was  this 
 that  animated  their  exertions,  and  elevated  their  hopes. 
 With  regard  to  church-government,  however,  there  existed 
 amongst  them  various  shades  of  opinion;  and  respecting  the 
 doctrines  of  religious  liberty,  the  sentiments  of  not  a  few  were 
 rather  confused  and  indistinct;  but  the  majority  seems  to  have 
 admitted  that,  in  as  much  as  every  individual  must  account  for 
 himself  at  the  final  reckoning,  so  he  has  the  undoubted  right  also 
 to  judge,  think,  and  determine  for  himself,  in  this  his  probation- 
 ary state.  On  this  subject  judge  Blackstone  has  judiciously 
 remarked,  "  that  our  ancestors  were  much  mistaken,  when  they 
 considered  the  mere  difference  of  religious  opinions  a  proper 
 object  of  coercion  and  punishment,  and  that  persecution  for 
 opinions,  however  ridiculous  and  absurd  these  opinions  might 
 be,  is  at  variance  with  every  maxim  of  sound  policy  and  civil 
 liberty,  and  unjustifiable  on  every  principle  of  moral  rectitude 
 and  true  religion." 
 
 For  although  the  hypocritical  policy  of  churchmen  may,  by 
 working  on  the  fears  and  credulity  of  the  ignorant,  reduce  them 
 to  the  most  abject  slavery  and  unqualified  obedience,  still  the 
 throne  of  oppression  and  superstition  stands  on  very  precarious 
 ground,  and  can  only  be  defended  by  perpetuating  that  igno- 
 rance and  credulity  by  which  it  had  been  first  erected;  the  jea- 
 lous possessor  is  therefore  under  the  necessity,  of  closing  up 
 every  chink  in  the  edifice  through  which  a  ray  of  light  can  pe- 
 netrate. Hence  the  illiberal  maxims  of  the  Romish  church, 
 That  ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion :  That  the  holy  scrip- 
 tures cannot  with  safety  be  committed  to  the  inspection  and  in- 
 vestigation of  the  people,  least,  by  wresting  them  from  their 
 true  meaning  and  import,  they  bring  upon  themselves  damna- 
 
VI  l'KKlACL. 
 
 t ion :  That  the  priesthood  are  the  only  true  and  legitimate  ex- 
 pounders of  the  oracles  of  (iod:  That  an  implicit  faith  in  the 
 doctrines  of  the  church,  with  a  filial  and  reverential  obedience  to 
 her  motherly  admonitions  and  discipline — constitutes  a  genuine 
 member  of  the  catholic  body,  and  secures  his  everlasting  salva- 
 tion. And  notwithstanding  that  men,  from  the  corruption  of 
 nature,  and  the  power  of  temptation,  are  apt  to  be  drawn  aside 
 from  their  duty,  and  into  the  commission  of  sin,  there  is  hope 
 in  brad  for  even  this.  God,  in  compassion  to  the  frailty  of  our 
 nature,  has  qualified  and  commissioned  the  pope,  his  only  visi- 
 ble vicegerent  on  earth,  and  his  holy  agents  the  priests,  to  par- 
 don and  absolve  all  manner  of  sin,  iniquity,  and  transgression, 
 and  that  on  very  moderate  and  reasonable  terms.  That  the 
 saints  in  heaven,  being  arranged  in  various  degrees  and  classifi- 
 cations, those  catholics  aspiring  to  the  highest  order,  may  se- 
 cure their  places,  while  here  on  earth,  by  services  done  for  the 
 honour  and  security  of  the  church  militant,  or  donations  bestow- 
 ed towards  augmenting-  her  treasures,  which  services  will  be 
 amply  rewarded  by  the  distinguished  rank  they  shall  hold,  and 
 the  superlative  felicity  they  shall  enjoy,  in  the  church  trium- 
 phant. 
 
 Were  it  not  that  these  facts  have  been  attested  by  a  cloud  of 
 learned  and  respectful  authors,  the  protestants  of  the  present 
 age  could  scarcely  believe,  that  men  of  common  sense,  much  less 
 men  of  learning,  would  have  debased  themselves  by  teaching,  or 
 that  the  most  ignorant  rational  being  could  believe,  such  impudent 
 and  audacious  absurdities.  That  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
 wen  brutishly  ignorant,  and  childishly  credulous,  we  are  assur- 
 ed by  the  same  authority.  Numbers,  however,  even  in  the  dark- 
 est ages  of  popery,  governed  their  lives  by  very  different  maxims, 
 and  privately  instructed  and  comforted  one  another  with  better- 
 founded  expectations;  but  such  was  the  intolerance  of  the  times, 
 that  their  testimony  for  the  truth  was  chiefly  confined  to  confi- 
 dential whispers;  so  that  the  church  had  a  long,  dark,  and  dis- 
 mal night,  before  'he  most  courageous  of  her  children  had  the 
 hardihood,  in  the  face  of  such  a  cruel  and  relentless  power,  to 
 put  the  trumpet  to  their  month,  and  proclaim  a  warfare,  in  which, 
 lie  that  draws  the  sword  must  throw  away  the  scabbard  !  The 
 honour  of  this  hazardous  enterprise  was  reserved  for  Wickliife, 
 Tindal,  Huss,  .leroine  of  Prague,  Luther,  Calvin,  Knox,  and 
 their  numerous  coadjutors;  but  the  unspeakable  advantages  fell 
 to  the  share  of  theirs  and  succeeding  generations. 
 
 Thus  has  the  prey  been  taken  from  the  mighty,  thus  the  cap- 
 tives, bound  in  chains  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  have  been 
 delivered,  and  the  blessed  bible,  which,  in  the  ages  of  popish 
 darkness,  could  only  be  I  or  perused  *1  the  peril  of 
 
PREFACE.  Vll 
 
 life,  has  in  our  time  found  its  way  into  the  most  barbarous 
 countries,  and  almost  into  all  languages;  while  a  high  way  has 
 been  opened  for  the  march  of  intellect,  and  the  exercise  of  rea- 
 son. The  happy  consequences  of  the  labours  and  sufferings  of 
 our  revered  worthies,  to  whom  the  world  are  in  deep  arrears  of 
 gratitude,  and  whose  names  will  be  held  in  honourable  regard 
 to  all  posterity. 
 
 In  this  Work,  the  reader  will  see  that  the  temple  of  truth  has 
 been  adorned  by  the  holy  lives,  and  cemented  by  the  blood,  of 
 a  multitude  of  patriots  and  martyrs,  of  whom  the  world  was 
 unworthy.  There  he  will  see  the  brightest  patterns  of  unwav- 
 ering stedfastness,  active  zeal,  faith,  patience,  and  christian  be- 
 nevolence; the  fortitude  displayed,  the  sufferings  endured,  and 
 the  blessings  acquired;  and  learn,  from  their  enormous  price,  to 
 appreciate  their  real  value  and  importance. 
 
 Not  writing  to  please  any  particular  party,  or  vindicate  any 
 particular  set  of  opinions,  the  Author  has  studied  the  strictest 
 impartiality.  He  has  not  covered  the*  imperfection  of  those 
 men  whose  lives  he  has  introduced,  nor  withheld  the  accusa- 
 tions of  their  enemies,  but  stated,  without  reserve,  both  their 
 faults  and  excellencies.  He  has  not  spared  bigotry  or  persecu- 
 tion with  whomsoever  found,  nor  lauded  the  sufferers  with  un- 
 deserved praise.  His  design  being  to  give  a  clear  and  candid 
 statement  of  facts,  he  has  spared  no  pains  in  collecting  and  ex- 
 amining the  necessary  materials;  from  which,  he  flatters  him- 
 self, he  has  selected  whatever  is  most  curious,  useful,  or  inter- 
 esting. 
 
 The  Work  commences  with  the  lives  of  those  renowned 
 English  Worthies,  who  introduced  and  effected  the  glorious 
 Reformation  from  popery,  and  concludes  with  those,  who,  un- 
 satisfied with  the  splendid  ceremonial  and  Romish  peculiarities 
 of  the  church  of  England,  could  not  conscientiously  conform  to 
 her  superstitious  ritual,  and  were  therefore  denominated  Non- 
 conformists or  Puritans.  The  Reformation  of  the  church  of 
 Christ  was  the  sole  object  of  both,  their  opinions  were  the  same, 
 and  it  will  be  difficult  to  determine  who  suffered  most,  or  act- 
 ed the  better  part.  The  same  reasons  that  induced  the  former 
 to  labour  for  the  Reformation  from  popery,  induced  the  latter 
 to  exert  themselves  for  the  Reformation  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
 land. Their  labours,  their  influence,  and  their  zeal,  were  de- 
 voted to  this  desirable  work,  and  notwithstanding  that  they  en- 
 deavoured, by  the  most  peaceable  means,  to  purge  the  church, 
 of  which  they  were  members,  from  all  its  antichristian  impuri- 
 ties, they  were  branded  with  the  name  of  puritans,  and  many 
 of  them,  for  their  non-conformity,  suffered  suspension,  impri- 
 sonment, and  persecution  even  unto  death. 
 
V1I1  PREFACE. 
 
 The  Work  will  therefore  furnish  the  reader  with  a  circum- 
 stantial account  of  the  arduous  conflict  for  religious  liberty, 
 from  the  days  of  John  Wickliffe.  Here  he  will  find  some 
 of  the  merciless  proceedings  of  the  court  of  High  Commission 
 and  the  Star-Cliambcr,  two  terrible  engines  of  cruelty  and 
 injustice,  whose  unparalleled  oppressions,  and  unprecedented 
 barbarities,  in  place  of  reconciling  men  to  the  unity  of  the  esta- 
 blished religion,  drove  them  farther  and  farther  off,  confirmed 
 them  in  their  non-conformity,  alienated  their  minds  from  the 
 prclatical  priesthood,  and  greatly  increased  their  own  number 
 and  reputation. 
 
 In  a  Work  of  this  nature,  it  appeared  necessary  to  give  the 
 reader  some  account  of  the  errors,  encroachments,  and  corrup- 
 tions of  the  Romish  church,  that  led  to  the  long  and  arduous 
 struggle  before  us.  This  he  will  find  in  the  Historical  Sketch 
 of  the  Christian  Church,  with  which  the  Memoirs  are  intro- 
 duced. 
 
HISTORICAL  SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH. 
 
 SECT.  I. 
 
 From  the  Ascension  of  Christ,  to  the  establishment  of  Uniformity  by 
 the  Emperor  Theodosius. 
 
 The  Redeemer  of  mankind,  in  commissioning  bis  disci- 
 ples to  proclaim  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  forewarned  them 
 of  the  difficulties  they  had  to  encounter,  and  the  dangers  to 
 which  a  faithful  discharge  of  their  dutv  would  unavoidably  ex- 
 pose  them.  He  tells  them,  that  they  would  be  dragged  before 
 kings  and  councils,  insulted,  imprisoned,  persecuted,  and  hated 
 of  all  men  for  his  name-sake.  But  in  asmuch  as  the  servant 
 is  not  greater  than  his  Lord,  nor  the  disciple  than  his  Mas- 
 ter, they  had  no  reason  to  expect  a  milder  treatment  than  he 
 had  received  before  them;  at  the  same  time  comforting  them 
 with  the  cheering  consideration,  that  he  had  overcome  the 
 world,  and  that  the  doctrines  they  were  about  to  proclaim 
 would  triumph  over  the  united  power,  influence,  and  malignity 
 of  all  opposers;  and,  like  the  piece  of  leaven,  hid  in  three  mea- 
 sures of  meal,  would  gradually  ferment,  and  finally  leaven  and 
 tranquillize  the  whole  lump.  How  truly  the  event  has  corre- 
 sponded with  even  the  letter  of  these  predictions,  the  Acts  of 
 the  Apostles,  and  the  ulterior  history  of  the  church,  sufficiently 
 demonstrate. 
 
 After  his  ascension,  the  apostles,  agreeable  to  his  instruc- 
 tions, remained  at  Jerusalem,  waiting  the  promise  of  the  Com- 
 forter, to  guide  them  into  all  truth,  and  qualify  them  for  the  la- 
 bours to  which  they  were  severally  appointed.  Nor  does  it  ap- 
 pear that  they  entered  on  their  public  ministry  till  pentico>t, 
 when  thev  were  endued  with  power  from  on  high,  bv  which 
 
 1  B 
 
X  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 they  were  enabled  to  work  miracles,  and  speak  in  all  the  lan- 
 g ua^es  of  the  surrounding  nations.     Thus  qualified,  they  so- 
 lemnly set  about  the  important  work,  and  publicly  preached 
 Jesus,  and  the  resurrection,  to  immense  multitudes,  both  Jews 
 and   Gentiles,    three   thousand   of  whom  were  converted   by 
 means  of  Peter's  sermon,  to  which  immense  multitudes  were 
 almost  instantaneously  added.     The  astonished  inhabitants  of 
 Jerusalem  began  to  attend  their  sermons,  concerning  which  the 
 public  opinion  was  greatly  divided,  some  believing,  and  others 
 blaspheming.     In  the  meantime,  the  sanhedrim  became  alarm- 
 ed, the  church  was  considered  in  danger,  and  all  heads  set  to 
 work,  in  contriving  the  means  of  extinguishing  this  new-light 
 that  threatened  to  expose  their  avarice  and  hypocrisy.     Here, 
 like  most  of  the  sapient  politicians  of  after  times,  their  delibera- 
 tions terminated  in  the  foolish  and  inefficient  remedy  generally 
 resorted  to  on  such  occasions;  namely,  to  eradicate  the  opinions 
 of  mankind  by  physical  coercion.     A  furious  persecution  was 
 therefore  set  on  foot;  the  apostles  were  dragged  before  the  rulers 
 of  the  people.    Stephen  was  stoned  to  death,  and  Saul  was  coratr 
 missioned  to  hunt  down  whoever  contravened  the  orders  of  the 
 sanhedrim,  by  adhering  to  these  outcast  and  excommunicated 
 contemners  of  the  pharisaical  institutions.     Hence  the  chuueh 
 was  dispersed,  and  carried  their  doctrines  into  every  place,  whe* 
 thcr  the  safety  of  their  lives  had  induced  them  to  retire.     The 
 church  of  Antioch  was  erected  by  these  means,  and  every  cor- 
 ner of  the  land  of  promise  favoured  with  the   word   of  life. 
 Saul  the  persecutor,  arrested  in  his  mad  career  of  intolerance, 
 became  at  once  the  fearless  advocate  of  a  religion  he  had  in 
 vain  endeavoured  to  suppress;  and  after  the  most  ardent,  but 
 unsuccessful,  endeavours  to  convince  his  countrymen  that  the 
 Messiah  was  indeed  come,  and  that  it  was  in  vain  for  them  to 
 look  for  another,  he  left  them  with  the  galling  remark,  that 
 seeing  they  judged  themselves  unworthy  of  eternal  life,  he  had 
 determined  to  direct  his  labours  to  a  more  hopeful  harvest. 
 "  Lo  !  we  turn,"  says  he,   "  to  the  Gentiles,  and  they  will  re- 
 ceive us."     Here  his  labours  were  incessant,  and  his  success 
 without  parallel.     Church  after  church  was  erected,  and  the 
 kingdoms  of  this  world  were  beginning  to  become  the  king* 
 doms  of  our  Lord  and  his  Christ. 
 
 Thus,  during  the  ministrations  of  the  apostles,  the  church 
 shone  forth  like  the  morning  sun.  A  blaze  of  gospel  light  pene- 
 trated the  dark  recesses  of  pagan  superstition,  discovered  her 
 secret  abominations,  and  the  utter  worth'essness  of  her  splendid 
 ceremonial;  desolated  her  temples,  and  struck  her  oracles  for 
 ever  dumb.  In  vain  did  priests  and  rulers  interpose  their  au- 
 thority, and  exercise  their  craft,  in  proping  up  the  tottering  edi- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XI 
 
 fice.  The  simplicity  and  benevolence  manifested  in  the  doc- 
 trines of  the  apostles,  compared  with  the  impurities  and  unna- 
 tural absurdities  of  the  pagan  worship,  produced  a  most  asto- 
 nishing change  in  the  sentiments  of  men,  withdrew  their  vene- 
 ration from  the  idolatrous  superstitions  of  their  fathers,  and 
 led  them,  as  willing  captives,  to  swell  the  triumphs  of  the  cross. 
 But  clouds  soon  obscured  the  horizon  of  the  church,  and  tem- 
 pests ruffled  the  pleasing  serenity  of  her  rising  day. 
 
 Thirty-one  years  had  only  elapsed  from  the  ascension  of 
 Christ,  when  the  emperor  Nero,  that  he  might  gratify  his  ca- 
 price or  curiosity  with  the  destructive  conflagration  of  his  capi- 
 tal, set  fire  to  the  city  of  Rome,  and  in  order  to  exculpate  him- 
 self, meanly  charged  the  christians  with  the  guilt  of  this  infer- 
 nal transaction.  Tacitus,  the  Roman  historian,  speaking  of  this 
 unparalleled  piece  of  human  depravity,  says,  "  That  in  order  to 
 divert  suspicion  from  himself,  he  substituted  fictitious  crimi- 
 nals, and,  with  this  view,  he  inflicted  the  most  exquisite  tor- 
 tures on  those  men  vulgarly  called  christians.  They  derived 
 their  name  and  origin  from  Christ,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Tibe- 
 rius, had  suffered  death  by  the  sentence  of  the  procurator  Pon- 
 tius Pilate.  For  a  while  this  dire  superstition  was  checked, 
 bu4:  it  again  burst  forth,  and  not  only  spread  over  Judea,  the 
 first  seat  of  this  mischievous  sect,  but  was  even  introduced  into 
 Rome,  the  common  asylum,  which  receives  and  protects  what- 
 ever is  impure  and  atrocious.  The  confession  of  those  who 
 were  seized,  discovered  a  great  multitude  of  their  accomplices, 
 and  they  were  all  convicted,  not  so  much  for  the  crime  of  set- 
 ting fire  to  the  city,  as  for  their  enmity  to  the  human  kind. 
 They  died  in  torments,  and  these  were  imbittered  by  insult 
 and  derision.  Some  were  nailed  on  crosses,  others  sewed  up 
 in  skins  of  wild  beasts,  and  exposed  to  the  fury  of  dogs;  others 
 again  smeared  over  with  combustible  materials,  were  used  as 
 torches  to  illuminate  the  nightly  scene  of  their  sufferings.  The 
 gardens  of  Nero  were  destined  for  this  tragical  spectacle,  which 
 was  accompanied  by  a  horse  race,  and  honoured  with  the  pre- 
 sence of  the  emperor,  who  mingled  with  the  populace  in  the 
 dress  of  a  charioteer,  driving  his  chariot  in  person.  But  the 
 populace  commiserated  the  victims,  from  the  opinion  that  they 
 were  sacrificed,  not  to  the  rigour  of  justice,  but  to  the  cruelty 
 of  the  jealous  tyrant." 
 
 Notwithstanding  of  this,  and  numerous  other  oppressive  mea- 
 sures adopted  against  the  christians,  both  by  Jews  and  Romans, 
 the  doctrines  of  salvation  spread  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning, 
 and  in  a  very  short  time  not  only  pervaded  the  vast  extent  of 
 the  empire,  but  darted  their  exhilirating  beams  into  regions  fai 
 beyond  the  pale  of  the   Roman  jurisdiction.     The  instrum< 
 
XU  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 employed,  in  this  great  work,  were  chiefly  ignorant  and  illiter- 
 ate men,  little  acquainted  with  the  world,  less  still  with  the 
 fashions  of  the  great,  and  totally  untuttered  in  the  arts  of  dis- 
 simulation and  flattery;  yet,  bold  in  their  Master's  cause,  they 
 pointed  the  frowning  artillery  of  heaven  against  the  reigning 
 vices  of  the  age,  and  all  unrighteousness  of  life.  They  had, 
 therefore,  to  contend  with  the  most  determined  opposition. 
 The  alarmed  priesthood,  supported  by  the  power  of  tho  state,  per- 
 secuted them  even  unto  death.  The  schools  of  philosophy  held 
 them  up  to  ridicule,  while  the  rich  despised  them  for  their  po- 
 verty and  humble  appearance;  and,  reckoning  according  to  the 
 course  of  this  world,  they  were  assuredly  the  most  unlikely  men 
 on  earth,  either  to  command  attention,  or  procure  converts  to 
 their  opinions.  Their  success  must  therefore  have  been  effect- 
 ed by  the  mighty  power  of  God,  and  the  irresistible  evidence 
 attending  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
 
 The  form  in  which  the  church  appeared,  in  the  primitive  age, 
 and  under  the  immediate  inspection  of  the  apostles,  seems  to 
 merit  a  little  consideration  in  this  place,  modern  professors 
 being  so  generally  divided  in  sentiment,  with  regard  to  govern- 
 ment and  discipline.  A  concise  view  of  these  things  may  also 
 serve  as  a  standard  of  comparison,  whereby  the  defections  and 
 prelatical  encroachments  of  after  times  may  be  measured,  and 
 more  distinctly  estimated. 
 
 1.  It  appears  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  as  well  as  from 
 various  circumstances  attending  particular  churches  and  teach- 
 ers, that  the  churches,  in  the  primitive  ages,  were  composed  of 
 small  societies;  that  a  room,  or  apartment,  no  way  conspicuous, 
 was  generally  the  place  where  they  assembled  for  religious  ex- 
 ercises. Hence  we  read  of  their  teaching  and  preaching  in 
 every  house,  and  of  their  breaking  of  bread  from  house  to  house, 
 Acts  ii.  46.  v.  24.  This  seems  to  describe  the  nature  of  the 
 churches  at  Jerusalem,  where  the  immense  number  of  converts 
 could  not  be  contained  in  any  one  house,  nor  permitted  by  the 
 exasperated  priesthood,  had  it  been  practicable.  The  Gentile 
 churches  were  under  the  same,  if  not  a  greater,  necessity  of 
 confining  themselves  to  sequestrate  houses  and  small  societies. 
 
 2.  As  soon  as  one  of  these  little  churches  was  formed,  a  man 
 of  gravity,  and  becoming  age,  being  the  father  of  a  family,  will- 
 ing to  devote  himself  to  their  service,  and  possessing  the  requi- 
 site qualifications,  was  selected  from  their  own  body,  and  the 
 ceremonies  of  inauguration  were  merely  prayer,  and  the  laying 
 on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery,  consisting  of  an  apostle,  or, 
 in  his  ahsence,  one  of  the  travelling  evangelists,  together  with 
 the  presbyters. 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  Xlll 
 
 3.  Every  church  possessed  the  power  of  electing  their  own 
 pastors,  and  of  admitting,  censuring,  or  expelling  their  mem- 
 bers, 1  Cor.  v.  12. 
 
 4.  None  had  yet  claimed  a  monopoly  of  power  or  privilege, 
 or  suspected  that  the  church,  in  the  next  town  or  village,  was  not 
 equally  independent  with  their  own.  We  are  quite  mistaken,  if 
 we  consider  the  apostolic  churches  similar  to  those  of  our  time. 
 It  is  evident  that  the  bishops  or  presbyters  of  the  churches  of 
 Philippi  and  Galatia  were  numerous,  and  must  therefore  have 
 superintended  but  small  congregations;  considering  that  the 
 christians,  in  these  regions,  could  as  yet  only  constitute  a 
 small  proportion  of  the  population.  Besides,  Philippi  itself 
 was  not  the  metropolis  of  even  a  small  province.  Their  bishops 
 must  therefore  have  been  confined  to  a  very  limited  sphere  of 
 operations:  nor  could  it  be  otherwise,  if  they  attended  to  the 
 duties  of  their  respective  offices,  in  examining  the  catechumen, 
 presiding  at  the  love-feasts,  and  making  themselves  personally 
 acquainted  with  every  individual  of  their  flocks. 
 
 We  will  be  equally  mistaken,  if  we  conceive  that  the  bish- 
 ops or  presbyters  of  those  primitive  times  consisted  of  gentle- 
 men trained  up  for  the  church.  Their  teachers  were  from 
 amongst  themselves,  and  though  a  liberal  education  was  a  desir- 
 able qualification,  it  was  not  considered  essentially  necessary. 
 
 5.  Accusations  against  offending  presbyters  were  submitted 
 to  the  consideration  of  some  one  of  the  itinerant  evangelists, 
 who,  along  with  the  congregation,  regulated  all  matters  of 
 church  order,  and  corrected  abuses. 
 
 6.  The  itinerant  evangelists  had  no  settled  or  particular 
 charge,  but  preached  from  place  to  place,  and  were  under  the 
 inspection  of  one  or  other  of  the  apostles.  They  seem  to  have 
 been  supported  by  the  church;  yet  sometimes  by  the  labour  of 
 their  own  hands. 
 
 7.  That  every  member  of  the  church  had  the  privilege  to 
 preach  or  exhort  his  brethren,  providing  he  was  qualified  for 
 the  undertaking,  spoke  a  known  language,  and  sought  the  edifi- 
 cation of  the  church. 
 
 8.  The  stationary  presbyters,  or  bishops,  during  the  lives  of 
 the  apostles,  were  under  the  superintendance  of  these  evange- 
 lists, and  their  saleries  consisted  in  the  honours  of  office.  But 
 early  in  the  second  century,  when  these  great  men  had  finished 
 their  course,  we  find  that  one  amongst  the  ministers,  in  every 
 place,  received  the  name  of  bishop;  and  the  presbyters,  belong- 
 ing to  the  same  church,  acted  with  him  as  one  body. 
 
 9.  All  ecclesiastical  office-bearers,  from  the  beginning  of 
 the  church  to  the  end  of  the  third  century,  were  elected  by  the 
 people. 
 
XIV  HISTORICAL   SKETCH  OF 
 
 10.  The  deacons  were  instituted  to  take  care  of  the  poor, 
 and  manage  the  secular  concerns  of  the  church. 
 
 And,  lastly,  Every  member  of  the  primitive  church  seem 
 to  have  made  it  their  constant  practice,  to  lay  aside,  weekly,  a 
 portion  of  his  income,  or  earnings,  according  to  his  ability,  and 
 the  necessities  of  the  poor  and  persecuted,  or  the  exigencies  of 
 the  church. 
 
 The  persecutions  mentioned  in  scripture  were  principally 
 from  the  Jews.  Their  rulers,  who  had  crucified  the  Lord  of 
 glory,  were  equally  enraged  at  the  preaching  of  his  apostles; 
 and  though  under  the  yoke  of  the  Romans,  whenever  the  con- 
 currence of  the  governor  was  necessary,  they  had,  for  the  most 
 part,  influence  sufficient  to  engage  him  to  execute  their  cruel 
 decisions.  Thus  Pilate,  contrary  to  his  own  convictions  of  the 
 innocence  of  our  Lord,  was  prevailed  upon  to  sentence  him  to 
 death,  and  order  a  band  of  Roman  soldiers  to  enforce  the  exe- 
 cution of  his  unmanly  decree;  and  Felix,  some  time  after, 
 though  fully  satisfied  that  their  charge  against  Paul  was  ground- 
 less, yet,  to  please  their  angry  rulers,  left  him  in  prison  and  in 
 chains.  The  priesthood,  exasperated  at  the  defection  of  their 
 votaries,  and  the  loss  of  their  popularity  and  character  for  holi- 
 ness, were  ready,  on  all  occasions,  to  wreak  their  vengeance  on 
 the  disciples  of  our  Lord,  whose  increasing  numbers  threatened 
 to  lay  their  temple  desolate;  and  whose  purity  of  life  eclipsed 
 all  their  hypocritical  pretensions  to  holiness. 
 
 Accordingly,  we  see  that  the  first  attempt  to  preach,  at  Jeru- 
 salem, the  resurrection  and  ascension  of  Christ  crucified,  was 
 visited  with  scourging  and  insult,  with  bonds  and  imprison- 
 ment. The  spoiling  of  their  goods  gratified  the  avarice  of 
 their  persecutors;  but  nothing  less  than  their  blood  could  atone 
 for  their  audacity,  in  telling  them  disagreeable  and  severe  truths. 
 Hence  the  zealous  sermon  of  Stephen  exposed  him  to  a  cruel 
 ami  instantaneous  death;  he  stands  at  the  head  of  the  long  roll- 
 of  christian  martyrs.  James  followed  him  soon  after,  and  Pe- 
 ter only  escaped  from  their  resentment  by  means  of  a  miracle. 
 Other  cities,  besides  Jerusalem,  were,  in  all  probability,  sub- 
 jected to  similar  persecutions;  as  is  evident  from  the  commis- 
 sion with  which  Saul  was  invested,  when  arrested  on  his  way 
 to  Damascus. 
 
 Prior  to  the  promulgation  of  Christianity,  the  Roman  govern- 
 ment had  seldom  been  engaged  in  persecution  merely  for  re 
 ligious  opinions.  ( )n  this  occasion,  however,  they  neither  with- 
 held their  own  hands  from  violence,  nor  seriously  discounte- 
 nanced the  tumult!  and  oppressions  which  Jewish  zealots,  in- 
 terested pagans,  and  an  unruly  mob,  goaded  on  by  the  jealou- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XV 
 
 sies  of  the  priesthood,  were  continually  exercising  against  the 
 unoffending  disciples  of  Jesus.  From  their  recorded  sufferings 
 in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  we  may  conclude  what  was 
 the  case  in  other  places,  where  similar  circumstances  would 
 naturally  rouse  the  same  spirit  of  enmity,  and  its  bitter  con- 
 sequences, oppression  and  persecution  against  all  who  had 
 the  courage  and  integrity  to  denounce  idolatry  or  hypocrisy,  in 
 either  Jews  or  Gentiles;  and  where  weakness  and  non-resist- 
 ance was  opposed  to  the  most  inveterate  enmity,  armed  with 
 power  equal  to  their  malice,  it  is  impossible  but  the  consequen- 
 ces must  have  been  more  generally  destructive,  and  the  mar- 
 tyrs abundantly  more  numerous,  than  any  record  has  pre- 
 served. 
 
 The  second  century  of  the  christian  era  commenced  in  per- 
 secution and  an  increasing  heresy;  yet,  notwithstanding  of  both, 
 the  church  was  marching  from  triumph  to  triumph;  the  divine 
 power  manifested  in  the  preaching  of  the  word;  the  simple 
 manners  and  holy  lives  of  its  professors;  the  zeal  of  its  evan- 
 gelists, and  the  blood  of  its  martyrs,  struck  the  world  with  as- 
 tonishment, arrested  their  serious  attention,  and  was  highly  in- 
 strumental in  converting  multitudes  to  the  faith  of  Christ. 
 Cities  were  first  evangelized,  villages  followed  in  rapid  succes- 
 sion, and  the  light  of  heaven  darted  its  enlivening  beams  into 
 farm  houses,  cottages,  and  even  the  meanest  abodes  of  wretch- 
 edness and  slavery. 
 
 But  the  apostles,  and  their  travelling  evangelists,  having  now 
 rested  from  their  labours,  and  the  church  increasing  in  every 
 place,  the  desire  of  being  accommodated  with  stationary  pre- 
 sidents, seems  to  have  introduced  the  first  alteration  in  the  sys- 
 tem of  church  regulations,  and  the  several  churches  appear  to 
 have  elected  one,  respectively,  from  amongst  their  own  ministers, 
 to  fill  the  situation  of  president,  formerly  occupied  by  the  evan- 
 gelists; and,  from  this  time  forward,  these  same  presidents  are 
 exclusively  denominated  bishops.  Every  church,  however, 
 continued  to  exercise  discipline  over  its  own  members,  in  which 
 every  individual  had  his  voice.  Their  pastors  were  held  in 
 high  estimation;  but  nothing  like  clerical  dominion  had  yet 
 found  a  place  in  their  churches.  But  now  again  the  gather- 
 ing clouds  of  persecution  loured  in  the  horizon  of  the  church; 
 the  respite,  occasioned  by  the  short  reign  of  Nerva,  had  passed 
 away,  the  toleration  with  which  he  had  indulged  his  subjects 
 ceased  on  the  accession  of  Trajan,  whose  hatred  and  enmity 
 against  Christianity,  notwithstanding  of  his  reputed  humanity, 
 and  other  good  qualities,  was  constant  and  unconquerable.  His 
 own  letter,  and  that  of  his  proconsul,  will  substantiate  what  is 
 
XVI  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 here  stated,  and,  moreover,  afford  one  of  the  most  authentic  do- 
 cuments, that  has  reached  modern  times,  regarding  the  great 
 increase  of  the  church,  and  the  determined  perseverance  of  its 
 faithful  adherents,  their  holy  lives  and  unoffending  manners, 
 and  the  fearfully  suffering  state  of  the  church,  at  this  period. 
 
 Trajan,  who  possessed  all  the  prejudices  against  Christianity, 
 which  the  misrepresentations  of  its  enemies,  the  contempt  of 
 philosophers,  the  craft  of  priests,  and  the  general  odium  of  all 
 pagan  idolaters,  must  have  contributed  to  propagate  and  con- 
 firm, appointed  his  favourite  Pliny  proconsul  in  Bythinia, 
 to  check  the  progress  of  these  rapidly  advancing  opinions. 
 Pliny,  who  had  never  before  been  concerned  in  such  investiga- 
 tions, found  it  necessary  to  apply  for  some  explication  of  his 
 orders;  and  his  own  letter  to  the  emperor  will  best  describe 
 the  state  of  the  church  under  this  humane  ruler. 
 
 A.  D.  107. — C.  Pliny  to  the  Emperor  Trajan,  wishes  health. 
 Sire, 
 
 "  It  is  usual  with  me  to  consult  you  in  every  matter  wherein 
 I  am  in  doubt,  and  to  submit  to  your  determination;  for  who, 
 better  than  yourself,  can  direct  me  when  I  hesitate,  or  instruct 
 me  where  uninformed.  Till  now,  I  never  had  occasion  to  be 
 present  at  any  criminal  process  against  the  christians;  I  am  ig- 
 norant, therefore,  to  what  extent  it  is  usual  to  inflict  punish- 
 ment, or  urge  prosecution.  I  have  much  hesitated,  also,  whe- 
 ther there  should  not  be  some  distinction  made  between  the 
 young  and  old;  and  in  the  application  of  the  torture,  whether 
 there  should  not  be  a  difference  between  the  robust  and  the  de- 
 licate, whether  pardon  should  not  be  offered  to  penitence,  or 
 whether  an  openly  professing  christian  shall  be  allowed  to  re- 
 tract, in  order  to  escape  punishment.  Whether  the  profession 
 itself  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  crime,  however  innocent,  in  other 
 respects,  the  professor  may  be,  or  whether. the  crimes,  attached 
 to  the  name,  must  be  proved  before  they  suffer. 
 
 "  In  the  interval,  my  method  with  the  christians,  who  have 
 been  impeached  as  such,  has  been  this:  I  interrogated  them, 
 Are  you  christians  ?  If  they  avowed  it,  I  asked  the  same  ques- 
 tion a  second  and  third  time,  threatening  them  with  the  pu- 
 nishment decreed  by  the  law.  If  they  still  persisted,  I  ordered 
 them  to  be  executed  on  the  spot;  for  whatever  their  profession 
 of  religion  might  be,  I  had  not  the  least  doubt  that  their  per- 
 verseness  and  inflexible  obstinacy  certainly  ought  to  be  pu- 
 nished. 
 
 "There  were  others  infected  with  this  madness,  who,  T)cing 
 Roman  citizens,  I  adjudged  to  be  transported  to  Rome  for  your 
 immediate  cognizance. 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XV11 
 
 "  In  the  discussion  of  this  matter,  accusations  multiplying,  a 
 diversity  of  cases  occurred.  A  schedule  of  names  was  sent  me, 
 by  an  unknown  accuser;  but  when  I  cited  the  persons,  many 
 denied  the  fact  that  they  were,  or  ever  had  been,  christians; 
 and  repeating  after  me  the  usual  formula,  addressed  the  gods, 
 and  offered  supplications,  with  wine  and  frank-incense,  to  your 
 image,  which,  with  the  statues  of  other  deities,  I  had  ordered 
 to  be  produced,  adding  their  maledictions  of  Christ;  to  which 
 no  real  christian,  I  am  assured,  by  any  torments,  could  be  com- 
 pelled.    These,  therefore,  I  thought  proper  to  discharge. 
 
 "  Others,  named  by  an  informer,  at  first  acknowledged  them- 
 selves christians,  and  then  denied  it,  pretending,  that  though 
 they  had  been  such,  they  had  renounced  the  profession,  some  for 
 three  years,  others  for  a  longer  time,  and  a  few  for  more  than 
 twenty.  All  these  adored  your  image,  and  the  statues  of  the 
 gods,  and  at  the  same  time  called  Christ  an  accursed  object. 
 
 "  From  their  affirmations,  I  learned  that  the  sum  of  their  of- 
 fence, call  it  fault  or  error,  was,  that  on  a  day  fixed,  they  used 
 to  assemble  before  sunrise,  and  sing  together,  in  alternate  re- 
 sponses, hymns  to  Christ  as  a  deity,  binding  themselves,  by  the 
 solemn  engagement  of  an  oath,  not  to  commit  any  manner  of 
 wickedness;  to  be  guilty  neither  of  theft,  nor  robbery,  nor  adul- 
 try;  never  to  break  a  promise,  nor  keep  back  a  deposit  when 
 called  for.  This  service  being  concluded,  it  was  their  custom 
 to  separate,  and  meet  together  again  for  a  repast,  promiscuous 
 indeed,  and  without  any  distinction  of  rank  or  sexes,  but  per- 
 fectly harmless ;  and  even  from  this  they  had  desisted,  since  the 
 publication  of  my  edict,  forbidding,  by  your  orders,  all  clubs 
 and  associations. 
 
 "  For  farther  information,  I  thought  it  necessary,  in  order  to 
 come  at  the  truth,  to  put  two  damsels,  who  were  called  deacon- 
 esses, to  the  torture;  but  I  could  extort  nothing  from  them, 
 but  the  acknowledgment  of  a  superstition,  depraved  as  immo- 
 derate; and  therefore,  desisting  from  farther  investigation,  I 
 hasted  to  consult  you;  for  indeed  the  matter  appeared  to  me 
 deserving  of  the  most  attentive  consideration,  especially  in  the 
 view  of  the  immense  numbers  of  those  who  are  involved  in  this 
 dangerous  predicament;  for  informations  are  already  brought 
 against  multitudes  of  all  ages,  of  all  orders,  and  of  both  sexes; 
 and  more  will  be  impeached,  for  the  contagion  of  this  supersti- 
 tion has  not  only  widely  spread  over  the  cities  and  villages,  but 
 reached  even  the  farm  houses.  I  am  of  opinion,  however,  that 
 it  may  yet  be  stopped  and  corrected;  for  it  is  evident,  that  the 
 temples,  which  I  found  nearly  deserted,  begin  to  be  frequented; 
 and  the  sacred  solemnities,  that  for  a  long  while  had  been  sus- 
 pended, are  come  again  into  practice,  so  that  now  there  is  a 
 
 1  c 
 
X VI 1 1  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 brisk  sale  pf  victims  for  sacrifices,  where  before  there  could 
 scarcely  be  found  a  purchaser.  From  whence  I  cannot  but  con- 
 clude, that  the  bulk  of  the  people  may  be  reclaimed,  if  impu- 
 nity be  allowed  to  repentance." 
 
 As  Trajan's  answer  to  the  above  is  calculated  to  throw  addi- 
 tional liglit  on  this  important  subject,  and  enable  us,  from  both, 
 to  take  a  very  full  and  distinct  view  of  the  state  of  the  church 
 at  that  period,  1  have  therefore  subjoined  it. 
 
 Trajan  to  Pliny. 
 My  Dear  Pliny, 
 
 "  You  have  certainly  followed  the  right  track  in  the  discus- 
 ion  of  the  causes  relative  to  the  impeachment  of  the  christians. 
 No  certain  rule  can  be  laid  down  invariably  to  be  adhered  to 
 in  all  cases.  They  arc  not  to  be  hunted  up  by  informers,  but 
 if  impeached  and  convicted,  let  them  be  executed;  only  with  this 
 restriction,  that  if  any  person  deny  that  he  is  a  christian,  and 
 demonstrate  it  by  offering  supplications  to  our  gods,  however 
 suspicious  his  conduct  may  have  been  before,  his  penitence 
 shall  secure  his  pardon.  But  unless  every  information  has  the 
 accuser's  name  annexed,  whatever  be  the  crime  charged,  it  is  not 
 to  be  regarded,  as  it  would  be  a  precedent  of  the  worst  sort, 
 and  totally  contrary  to  the  maxims  of  my  government." 
 
 From  these  letters  we  may  gather,  that  the  profession  of 
 Christianity,  under  the  Roman  government  at  this  time,  was 
 death  by  the  laws  of  the  empire.  "  I  threatened  them,"  says  Pli- 
 ny, "  with  the  punishment  decreed  by  the  law;  and  if  they  still 
 persisted,  I  ordered  them  to  be  executed  on  the  spot."  That 
 their  own  acknowledgment,  or  the  evidence  of  the  fact,  or  even 
 their  refusal  to  worship  the  pagan  deities,  or  curse  the  Re- 
 deemer of  mankind;  or  either  of  these,  were  deemed  sufficient  to 
 procure  their  immediate  execution.  That  their  piety,  purity, 
 and  peaceful  demeanour;  their  happy  fellowship  one  with  ano- 
 ther, and  their  innocent  and  exemplary  lives,  has  the  unequi- 
 vocal attestation  of  a  host  of  apostates,  from  whom  a  very  dif- 
 ferent account  was  expected.  That  their  numbers  must  have 
 been  great,  the  cities,  villages,  and  even  the  farm  houses,  were 
 almost  filled  with  them;  while  the  pagan  temples  were  literally 
 deserted,  their  solemnities  for  a  long  time  unattended,  and  the 
 trade  in  victims  almost  annihilated. 
 
 The  martyrdom  of  Ignatius,  bishop  of  Antioch,  happened 
 about  this  time.  When  Trajpn  visited  that  city,  in  his  ex- 
 pedition against  the  Parthians,  in  107,  the  persecution  against 
 the  christians,  as  appears  from  the  aforesaid  letters,  raged  Avith 
 unabated  fury.  Ignatius,  who  had  hitherto  been  spared,  some 
 say  protected,  presented  himself  to  the  emperor,  as  a  victim  to 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XIX 
 
 sooth  bis  severity  against  the  christians  of  that  department. 
 He  was  accordingly  carried  to  Rome,  and  destroyed  by  wild 
 beasts,  in  the  theatre  of  that  luxurious  metropolis  of  the  world. 
 He  has  been  blamed  by  some,  for  rushing,  uncalled  for,  on  mar- 
 tyrdom; his  character,  however,  appears  excellent,  and  his  end 
 was  glorious.  His  writings  seem  to  evince  the  dawnings  of 
 prelatical  supremacy;  though  his  doctrine  was  evangelical,  and 
 the  church,  it  appears,  had  hitherto  suffered  but  little  from 
 heresy. 
 
 The  christians  having  renounced  the  motley  rabble  of  pagan 
 divinities,  were  therefore  branded  with  the  name  of  atheists. 
 Their  nightly  meetings  were  construed  in  the  worst  possible 
 light;  there  they  were  supposed  to  perform  the  most  horrid  mys- 
 teries, and,  under  the  cover  of  darkness,  to  commit  the  grossest 
 impurities.  They  were  considered  the  enemies  of  the  human  kind, 
 monsters,  who,  puffed  up  with  the  superiority  of  their  own  super- 
 stitions, consigned  to  eternal  torments  all  who  did  not  embrace 
 their  faith;  that  they  were  unfit  for  the  society  of  men,  morose  and 
 gloomy,  shunning  every  amusement  of  the  age,  public  or  private, 
 and  relinquishing  all  the  pleasures  of  life.  Moreover,  they  were 
 considered  as  enemies  to  the  government,  from  their  repug- 
 nance to  the  army,  where  the  military  oath  subjected  them  to 
 the  idolatrous  adoration  of  the  emperor.  From  these  ground- 
 less apprehensions,  they  were  persecuted  to  the  death,  while 
 Jews,  and  every  other  sectary,  were  indulged  with  toleration. 
 The  edicts  of  Trajan  against  the  christians  were  not  repealed; 
 and  though  it  be  probable,  that  in  many  places  money  might 
 purchase  a  precarious  respite,  or  humanity  restrain  the  rigid 
 execution  of  these  decrees;  yet,  if  we  consider  the  extent  of 
 empire,  the  immense  number  of  christians  scattered  over  the 
 different  departments,  and,  withal,  the  abhorrent  character 
 the  pagan  priesthood  had  propagated,  and  their  ignorant  vota- 
 ries believed,  concerning  them — the  martyrdoms,  under  the 
 twenty  years  of  Trajan's  reign,  must  have  been  great,  and,  cal- 
 culating after  the  manner  of  this  world,  the  prospect  of  the 
 church  was  peculiarly  forbidding.  But  yet  a  little  while,  and 
 her  proud  and  relentless  enemies  shall  melt  away,  and  the  Ro- 
 man empire  itself  bend  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 
 The  edicts  of  Trajan,  and  of  some  preceding  emperors,  con- 
 tinued in  full  force  against  the  christians  even  under  Adrian ; 
 nor  is  it  probable  that  the  enmity  of  their  persecutors  had  much 
 abated.  The  apologies  for  the  christians,  addressed  to  this  em- 
 peror by  Quadratus  and  Aristides,  exhibit  the  deplorable  state 
 of  suffering  and  uncertainty  under  which  they  groaned  at  this 
 period;  and  it  is  probable,  that  a  candid  representation  of 
 their  unparalleled  misery,  by  Seranius  Geranius,   proconsul  in, 
 
XX  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  Otf 
 
 Asia,  induced  him  first  to  turn  his  attention  to  this  subject. 
 Hence  the  rescript  of  Adrian,  to  his  next  proconsul  Minucius 
 Fundanus,  states,  that  idle  clamours  must  not  be  heard  against 
 the  christians;  but  if  any  thing  contrary  to  the  laws  be  proven 
 against  them,  they  must  take  their  course. 
 
 The  Jews  were  the  first  persecutors  of  the  infant  church. 
 They  had  always  hated  the  christians,  and  their  malevolence 
 never  slumbered  so  long  as  they  possessed  even  the  shadow  of 
 power;  but  the  fearful  vengeance  executed  on  Jerusalem  and 
 the  Jewish  nation,  afforded  a  breathing  time  to  the  church. 
 Incurably  prejudiced  with  the  notion,  that  Messiah  should  ap- 
 pear amongst  them  in  the  character  of  a  temporal  prince,  and 
 rescue  them  from  the  power  of  the  Romans,  they  foolishly  ral- 
 lied round  the  standard  of  Barchochcbas,  to  contend  with  the 
 gigantic  power  of  Rome  for  the  empire  of  Palestine.  The 
 christians  refusing  to  join  the  banner  of  this  pretended  messiah, 
 suffered,  during  the  rebellion,  the  most  cruel  indignities,  and 
 were  massacred  without  mercy,  till  the  destruction  and  disper- 
 sion of  these  rebels  restored  them  once  more  to  a  precarious  re- 
 pose; while  an  utter  seclusion  from  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  their 
 solemnities,  terminated  the  Jewish  polity  for  ever. 
 
 Whatever  change,  if  any,  in  favour  of  the  christians,  the  re- 
 script of  Adrian  produced,  the  manly  appeal  and  apology  of  Jus- 
 tin Martyr,  to  the  emperor  Antoninus  Pius,  refuting  the  disgust- 
 ing charges  brought  against  the  christians,  and  vindicating  their 
 exemplary  lives  and  peaceable  demeanour,  seems  to  establish 
 an  opinion,  that  the  fury  of  the  persecutors  had  again  been  let 
 loose  against  them — Anno  133. 
 
 Some  of  the  Asiatic  cities,  about  this  time,  suffering  under 
 the  visitation  of  heaven,  the  pagan  priests  persuaded  the  de- 
 luded people,  that  their  afflictions  were  occasioned  by  the  wrath 
 of  the  gods,  for  suffering  the  christian  atheists  to  live  amongst 
 them.  They  were,  of  course,  most  cruelly  sacrificed,  to  ap- 
 pease the  anger  of  their  offended  deities,  till  the  circumstances 
 of  the  case,  having  been  represented  to  the  emperor,  he  issued  a 
 decree,  that  speaks  highly  in  the  christians  favour,  forbidding 
 them  to  be  in  any  way  molested  for  exercising  their  religion, 
 but  that,  like  other  subjects,  they  should  be  amenable  to  the 
 laws  for  crimes  against  the  state. 
 
 His  successor,  the  highly  celebrated  Marcus  Aurelius, 
 whose  wisdom  and  virtue  has  been  eulogized  in  all  ages, 
 in  the  pride  of  his  philosophic  attainments,  with  the  feelings 
 of  1  savage,  let  loose  his  blood-thirsty  assassins  to  massacre 
 and  destroy  his  unoffending  christian  subjects,  who  became  the 
 victims  of  popular  fury.  It  was  in  vain  that  Justin  Martyr, 
 Athenagoras,  Tatian,  and  Melito,  apologised  and  remonstrated 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXI 
 
 with  this  sapient  ruler,  who,  with  the  credulity  of  a  child,  lis- 
 tened to  the  malevolent  invectives  of  his  pagan  priests  and  in- 
 fidel sophists,  lending  a  deaf  ear  to  the  groans  of  a  butchered 
 population.  Amongst  the  immense  numbers,  who  perished  un- 
 der this  bloody  reign,  were  Polycarp,  Justin  Martyr,  and  seve- 
 ral other  conspicuous  characters. 
 
 Commodus  appears  to  be  in  every  respect  the  reverse 
 of  Aurelius,  an  epicure,  and  abandoned  to  every  species  of 
 vice;  but  Marcia,  his  favourite  concubine,  and  possessed  of 
 great  influence,  either  from  pity  for  the  sufferings,  or  respect 
 for  the  opinions,  of  the  christians,  exerted  it  in  their  behalf; 
 which  afforded  them  a  considerable  relaxation  from  the  severi- 
 ties of  the  former  reign. 
 
 During  the  short  reigns  of  Pertinax  and  Julian,  the  demon  of 
 persecution  slumbered;  and,  notwithstanding  that  Severus,  who 
 succeeded  to  the  empire,  had  passed  a  decree,  prohibiting  all  his 
 subjects  from  renouncing  the  pagan  religion  for  that  of  either 
 the  Jewish  or  christian,  it  was  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign  before 
 the  fire  of  his  lingering  vengeance  burst  into  a  flame.  Whatever 
 might  have  induced  him  to  forsake  his  former  system  of  mode- 
 ration, it  is  certain  that  the  consequences  were  terrible  to  the 
 christians  in  general,  and  particularly  to  the  African  churches, 
 where  great  multitudes,  both  men  and  women,  were  dragged 
 from  their  friends  and  peaceable  habitations,  to  be  immured  in 
 dungeons,  tortured,  and  put  to  death.  The  cities  of  Alexandria, 
 Scillita,  and  Carthage,  received  a  heavy  proportion  of  this 
 sweeping  destruction.  The  famous  Origen,  though  only  a  youth, 
 narrowly  escaped.  His  father  suffered  death ;  and  the  much-la- 
 mented Perpetua  and  Felicitas  augmented  the  roll  of  martyrs. 
 Perpetua  had  a  child  at  the  breast,  and  Felicitas  was  but  newly 
 delivered,  when  these  beautiful  and  delicate  females,  mothers 
 of  infant  children,  who  had  already  suffered  much  in  prison, 
 were  dragged  from  their  dungeons,  and,  in  presence  of  an  insult- 
 ing mob,  exposed  to  the  fury  of  a  wild  cow,  by  whom  their  bodies 
 were  mangled  and  gored  in  a  manner  not  to  be  described,  and 
 afterwards,  with  some  remaining  symptoms  of  life,  removed  to 
 a  conspicuous  place,  where  the  infernal  tragedy  was  consummat- 
 ed, by  hacking  them  to  pieces  with  the  sword. 
 
 Lyons  was  about  the  same  time  deluged  with  the  blood  of 
 the  saints;  and  here  Irenseus  is  said  to  have  received  his  crown 
 of  martyrdom.  Numbers,  at  this  period,  are  charged  with 
 having  purchased  the  connivance  of  the  government,  and  saved 
 their  lives  with  the  loss  of  their  property;  while  others  appear- 
 ed emulous  of  the  honours  of  martyrdom,  by  rushing  on  dan- 
 gers which  they  might  have  innocently  avoided.  The  death  of 
 Sevens  at  last  paved  the  way  for  Caracalla,  one  of  the  most 
 
XX11  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 infamous  characters,  whose  atrocious  vices  have  seldom  been 
 exceeded,  but  whose  early  attachment  to  a  christian  nurse  had 
 so  prejudiced  him  in  their  favour,  that  during  his  whole  reign 
 the  church  enjoyed  a  full  and  unmolested  toleration.  Even 
 the  brutish  Hcliogabalus  could  find  no  leisure,  from  the  indul- 
 gence of  his  favourite  vices,  to  concern  himself  about  their  affairs; 
 so  that  the  toleration  was  not  interrupted  during  his  reign.  That 
 of  Alexander  Sever  us  was  equally  favourable  to  the  church.  In- 
 fluenced by  his  mother  Julia,  who,  it  seems,  had  been  friendly 
 to  the  christians,  he  so  far  discountenanced  their  enemies,  as  to 
 account  the  Saviour  worthy  of  a  statue  amongst  the  demi-gods 
 and  heroes.  Still,  however,  the  penal  laws  against  them  remain- 
 ed unrepealed,  and  capricious  or  malignant  magistrates  had  it 
 in  their  power,  at  all  times,  even  during  the  most  peaceable 
 reigns,  to  molest  them  with  impunity. 
 
 Maximin,  who  murdered  Severus,  fearing  the  resentment  of 
 the  christians,  whom  he  had  so  constantly  befriended,  directed 
 his  fury  against  their  bishops  and  presbyters,  in  a  cruel  and  vin- 
 dictive decree,  which  obliquely  involved  many  private  individu- 
 als; but  his  death  delivered  the  world  from  his  political  tyranny, 
 and  the  christians  from  his  persecuting  rage.  The  short  reigns 
 of  Pupienus  and  Balbinus,  succeeded  by  Gordian  and  Philip, 
 the  last  of  whom  was  accounted  half  a  christian,  procured  a  re- 
 spite for  the  persecuted  church,  which  continued  till  the  acces- 
 sion of  Decias,  about  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  the 
 sword  of  persecution  was  again  drawn,  and  legions  of  hungry 
 assassins  enrolled  for  the  execution  of  this  infernal  service. 
 The  reign  of  this  man-tyger  was  short,  but  from  whatever  cause 
 his  inveterate  malice  proceeded,  the  church  had  never  before 
 experienced  any  thing  equally  severe.  His  orders,  to  all  his 
 praetors  and  magistrates,  went  to  the  extirpation  of  the  chris- 
 tian name.  The  edict  was  enforced  with  diabolical  rigour,  and 
 though  multitudes  braved  his  power  and  malignity,  yet  great 
 numbers  weakly  shrunk  from  their  stedfastness,  and  introduced 
 much  contention  and  clamour  relative  to  their  re-admission  into 
 the  church,  which  many  of  them  earnestly  requested.  Gallus 
 and  \  olu./ianiis  trode  in  the  path  of  their  bloody  predecessor, 
 though  not  with  all  the  rancour  and  inveteracy  that  he  had 
 manifested.  The  commencement  Gf  Valerian's  reign  wore  a 
 more  pleasing  aspect.  1  le  extinguished  the  flames  that  had  burnt 
 with  so  much  violence  in  the  former  reigns,  and  had  excited 
 considerable  expectation  among  the  sntfering  christians,  till,  in- 
 fluenced by  a  pagan  bigot)  Macrianus,  his  principal  minister  of 
 state,  when  fresh  edicts  were  emitted  against  the  assemblies  of 
 the  saints,  and  their  principal  men  driven  into  exile,  and  great 
 numbers  put  to  death  with  the  most  lingering  and   unrelenting 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XX1U 
 
 cruelty.  But  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  his  son 
 Gallienus,  and  his  successor  Claudius,  less  malicious,  or  more 
 engaged  in  business,  suffered  the  church  to  enjoy  a  short  repose; 
 and  the  meditated  destruction  of  the  christian  name  was  happi- 
 ly prevented  by  the  death  of  Aurelian,  who  had  already  com- 
 menced persecutor.  Tacitus,  his  successor,  soon  made  way  for 
 Probus.  Carus  and  his  sons  followed  him;  and  Dioclesian,  for 
 the  first  eighteen  years  of  his  reign,  permitted  the  tranquillity, 
 which  for  forty  years  had,  with  few  interruptions,  been  enjoyed 
 by  the  church. 
 
 But  this  uncommonly  long  period  of  tranquillity,  though  it 
 had  greatly  extended  the  boundaries  of  the  church,  and  the  pro- 
 fession of  Christianity,  it  had  also  introduced  an  itching  after 
 power  and  pre-eminence  amongst  the  bishops.  The  simplicity  of 
 the  gospel  was  gradually  giving  way  to  pomp  and  splendour, 
 and  the  introduction  of  the  Platonic  philosophy?  and  its  adul- 
 terating mixture  with  the  pure  maxims  of  Christianity,  produc- 
 ed heresies  of  the  most  fatal  description,  which,  of  course, 
 called  up  clamour  and  endless  contentions;  and  councils,  nu- 
 merous indeed,  but  inefficient  for  their  condemnation,  though 
 highly  favourable  to  the  clerical  pretensions  for  power.  Yet, 
 amidst  all  these  deplorable  symptoms  of  defection,  the  struggle 
 betwixt  Christianity  and  paganism  had  never  been  more  deter- 
 mined, nor  the  martyrs  more  numerous,  than  towards  the  mid- 
 dle of  this  the  third  century.  Terrified  at  the  inroads  made  on 
 their  establishment,  the  pagan  priests  moved  heaven  and  earth 
 to  arrest  the  swelling  current  of  defection,  and  recover  their 
 apostatized  votaries.  The  various  sects  of  philosophy,  though 
 despising  the  theology  of  their  country,  on  this  pressing  occa- 
 sion united  their  efforts  with  the  priests,  and  exhausted  their 
 stock  of  argument  and  ridicule  against  the  disciples  of  the  de- 
 spised and  crucified  Redeemer.  The  inveterate  Jews,  at  the 
 same  time,  lost  no  opportunity  of  venting  their  malice;  while 
 the  praetors  and  magistrates  enforced  the  edicts  of  the  cruel 
 emperors,  many  of  them  with  evident  marks  of  personal  and 
 vindictive  animosity. 
 
 The  fourth  century  was  introduced  with  the  serenity  of  a 
 summer  morning,  and  Dioclesian's  moderation  promised  the 
 continuance  of  a  peaceful  day;  for  it  was  not  till  the  nineteenth 
 year  of  this  emperor  that  the  rage  of  persecution  broke  out  in 
 all  its  terror  and  malignity.  Dioclesian,  though  professing  pa- 
 ganism, had  for  a  long  time  been  indifferent  to  all  religions;  but 
 Galerius,  his  elected  successor,  who  had  imbibed  the  most  in- 
 veterate aversion,  and  implacable  hatred,  against  the  christian 
 faith  and  its  professors,  breathed  nothing  but  fire  and  slaugh- 
 
XXIV  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 tar.  He  used  all  his  influence  with  the  aged  emperor,  to  extir- 
 pate the  christians,  to  blot  out  their  very  remembrance,  and  re- 
 vive the  faded  glory  of  the  pagan  idolatry.  Dioclesian,  it  is 
 said,  reluctantly  assented  to  these  diabolical  measures.  In 
 planning  the  execution  of  these  bloody  transactions,  the  great 
 chnroh  of  Nicomedia  was  destined  for  a  prelude  to  the  sweep- 
 ing desolations  that  Galerius  had  contemplated. 
 
 The  first  edict  enjoined  the  suppression  of  christian  worship, 
 and  the  seizure  and  consignment  to  the  flames  of  all  their  sa- 
 cred books.  Many  eluded  the  edict  by  concealing  the  sacred 
 treasure;  some  delivered  them  up,  and  were  therefore  branded 
 with  the  name  of  traitors.  The  church  of  Nicomedia  was  level- 
 ed with  the  ground,  and  other  sacred  edifices  having  shared 
 the  same  fate,  a  second  edict  was  issued,  declaring  all  christi- 
 ans ineligible  to  preferment,  honours,  or  emoluments,  either 
 in  the  state  or  the  army.  But  these  measures,  not  sufficiently 
 gratifying  the  sanguinary  spirit  of  Galerius,  he  caused  the  pa- 
 lace of  Dioclesian  to  be  set  on  fire,  and  charged  the  christians 
 with  being  the  perpetrators,  with  the  design  to  destroy  both  the 
 emperor  and  his  adopted  successor  at  the  same  time.  The  cre- 
 dulous Dioclesian  believed  all  this,  and  in  his  wrath  made  the 
 streets  of  Nicomedia  to  flow  with  christian  blood,  and  even 
 compelled  his  own  wife  and  daughter,  who  were  suspected  to 
 be  favourable  to  the  christians,  to  clear  themselves,  by  sacrific- 
 ing to  the  pagan  gods.  The  eunuchs  of  the  court,  and  officers 
 of  the  army,  were  amongst  the  first  victims.  The  bishops  and 
 principal  presbyters  were  dragged  to  prison,  and  urged,  by  the 
 most  excruciating  tortures,  to  sacrifice;  presuming  that  their 
 example  would  effectually  influence  their  flocks.  Some  pur- 
 chased their  lives  with  their  apostacy,  while  many  endured  all 
 the  severity  of  torture,  and  bravely  confronted  the  terrors  of 
 death,  rather  than  deny  their  Lord  and  Master;  besides  vast 
 numbers  who  were  buried  alive  in  the  mines,  to  expire  in  the 
 damp  of  these  dungeons,  pressed  down  with  bondage,  poverty, 
 and  toil. 
 
 But  the  unbending  spirit  of  the  confessors  and  martyrs  con- 
 founded their  enemies,  and  greatly  disappointed  the  exasperat- 
 ed ( Valerius;  which  brought  forth  another  edict,  commanding  the 
 magistrates  to  use  every  mean,  either  by  cunning  or  cruelty,  to 
 make  the  christians  apostatise;  or,  in  case  of  non-compliance, 
 to  destroy,  without  distinction  of  age,  sex,  or  situation,  all  who 
 sliould  withstand  his  sanguinary  decree.  In  consequence  of 
 which,  the  magistrates  vied  with  one  another  who  should  best 
 execute  the  imperial  mandate.  Humanity  shudders  at  the 
 dreadful  detail,  and  turns  away,  afflicted  and  in  tears,  from  the 
 agonizing  groans  of  the  tortured,  and  the  convulsions  of  expir- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXV 
 
 ing  imioeence.  Promiscuous  slaughter  now  dyed  the  fields, 
 the  city  was  given  up  to  fire  and  sword,  and  no  alternative  left, 
 but  either  to  sacrifice  or  suffer.  During  this  dreadful  persecu- 
 tion, which  lasted  ten  years,  houses,  filled  with  christians,  were 
 set  on  fire,  and  whole  droves,  tied  together  with  cords,  were 
 thrown  into  the  sea.  It  is  related,  that  in  the  province  of 
 Egypt  alone,  144,000  christians  expired  under  the  hands  of  their 
 persecutors,  and  that  700,000  died  by  the  hunger  and  fatigue 
 attending  their  banishment,  or  in  the  public  works,  to  which, 
 after  being  mangled  and  wounded,  vast  numbers  were  doomed 
 to  perish  under  the  weight  of  unsupportable  toil.  Thus,  through 
 the  eastern,  and  part  of  the  western  empire,  the  name  of  Christ 
 was  to  be  for  ever  hurled  into  oblivion. 
 
 An.  305. — Galerius,  whose  ambition  was  equal  to  his  cruelty, 
 having  now  completed  his  arrangements  for  seizing  the  empire, 
 compelled  Dioclesian  and  Maxemian  to  resign  their  dignity;  and 
 waited  with  anxiety  for  the  death  of  Chlorus,  then  in  Britain, 
 from  whose  bad  state  of  health  he  expected  soon  to  become 
 master  of  both  empires. 
 
 Constantius  Chlorus,  conscious  of  his  approaching  dissolution, 
 solicited  Galerius  to  send  him  his  son  Constantine,  who  had 
 been  retained  as  an  hostage  at  court.  The  request  was  rejected, 
 but  Constantine,  aware  of  his  perilous  situation,  had  the  ad- 
 dress to  make  his  escape:  and,  to  prevent  his  being  overtaken,  is 
 said  to  have  killed  all  the  post  horses  on  his  line  of  retreat. 
 His  arrival  at  York  was  scarcely  announced,  when  his  father 
 breathed  his  la6t,  and  the  army,  without  waiting  to  consult 
 Galerius,  immediately  proclaimed  him  emperor  of  the  west  in 
 place  of  his  father.  Galerius,  indignant  at  an  event  so  unpro- 
 pitious,  and,  withal,  so  unexpected,  suppressed  for  a  time  the 
 vengeance  he  meditated,  and,  though  with  reluctance,  con- 
 firmed the  purple  to  Constantine,  from  whom  he  expected,  in  a 
 short  time,  to  take  it  by  force.  In  the  mean  time,  Galerius  and 
 Maxentius,  who  succeeded  Maxemian  in  Italy,  weakened  their 
 power  by  a  quarrel;  of  which  Constantine  taking  advantage, 
 attacked  Maxentius,  defeated  him,  and  seized  the  imperial 
 capital;  and  Galerius,  soon  after,  perished  by  a  disease,  tor- 
 menting as  the  pangs  he  had  inflicted  on  his  innocent  subjects. 
 
 Constantine,  who,  with  his  father,  had  always  favoured  the 
 christians,  now  appeared  their  avowed  protector,  and  the  world 
 at  last  saw  the  strong  arm  of  cruelty  broken,  and  the  banners 
 of  the  cross  erected  in  peace.  Maximin,  the  successor  of  Ga- 
 lerius, soon  fell  by  the  sword  of  his  colleague  Lucinius,  who 
 shortly  after  resigned  the  purple  to  Constantine;  and  thus  he 
 became  the  undisturbed  possessor  of  the  whole  Roman  empire, 
 east  and  west. 
 
 1  n 
 
XXVI  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 Jesus  Christ,  that  he  might  impress  the  minds  of  his  disci- 
 ]>lcs  with  the  utter  insignificance  of  splendid  temples  and  gau- 
 dy decorations  in  the  worship  of  God,  tells  them,  that  as  God 
 is  a  spirit,  he  must  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  That 
 the  time  was  approaching,  when  men,  without  regarding  either 
 Jerusalem,  Samaria,  or  any  other  particular  place  or  temple, 
 would  every  where  worship  the  Father.  Accordingly,  we  find 
 that  the  Apostles  erected  the  New  Testament  church  on  this 
 pattern  of  unshowing  simplicity,  and  that,  during  the  first,  and 
 great  part  of  the  second  century,  christian  worship  was  per- 
 formed, in  almost  all  places,  according  to  the  apostolic  rule. 
 No  consecrated  churches  or  clerical  costume.  No  liturgy,  in- 
 terlarded with  useless  ceremonies;  nor  images,  or  other  splen- 
 did decorations,  disfigured  their  places  of  worship,  or  affronted 
 the  virgin  modesty  of  truth;  but  common  men,  in  common 
 attire,  prayed  without  a  prompt  book,  and  instructed  their  bre- 
 thren without  using  the  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom.  Men 
 of  science  and  philosophical  research  had  hitherto  kept  aloof 
 from  these  children  of  simplicity;  astonished  at  their  folly,  in 
 exposing  themselves  to  all  the  perils  of  persecution,  for  the  sake 
 of  a  religion,  in  which  they  beheld  no  beauty  or  comeliness  why 
 it  should  be  desired. 
 
 But  matters  unfortunately  took  a  very  different  direction. 
 Some  individuals,  versed  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  philosophic 
 schools,  having  found  their  way  into  the  ministry  of  the  church, 
 and  affecting  to  be  wise  above  what  is  written,  began  to  intro- 
 duce the  reveries  of  Plato,  and  others  of  the  pagan  philosophers. 
 These  men,  in  attempting  to  reconcile,  mix,  and  amalgamate 
 their  metaphysical  subtleties  with  the  simple  truths  taught  by 
 Christ  and  his  apostles,  wrought  up  these  heterogeneous  materi- 
 als into  a  system  of  the  most  extravagant  and  ridiculous  de- 
 scription. From  this  unhallowed  mixture  proceeded  almost  all 
 the  heresies,  superstitions,  tyrannical  encroachments,  and  con- 
 sequent wranglings,  that  for  ages  debased  the  church,  and 
 brutalized  the  christian  world. 
 
 The  noble,  the  wise,  or  the  wealthy,  have  never  been  nume- 
 rous in  the  ranks  of  Christianity.  While  the  church  remained 
 in  the  furnace  of  affliction  and  persecution,  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
 pected they  should;  but  now,  that  the  most  plausible  tenets  of 
 the  pagan  mythology  had  been  christianized,  and  disseminated 
 by  such  popular  preachers  as  Justin,  Origen,  Tertullian,  and 
 Pantamus;  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  their  disputations  and 
 numerous  writings  should  draw  numbers  aside  from  the  simpli- 
 city of  the  gospel.  Their  learned  definitions,  of  invisible  and 
 undefinable  objects,  betrayed  their  own  ignorance,  and,  at  the 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXvii 
 
 same  time,  opened  a  wide  door  for  wrangling  and  contention, 
 concerning  the  nature  of  God,  the  mode  of  his  subsistence,  the 
 person  of  Christ,  the  soul  of  man,  and  his  future  state  of  exist- 
 ence; which,  in  the  end,  brought  forth  Arianism,  with  all  its 
 various  degrees  and  modifications. 
 
 This  mongrel  system  of  Christianity  was  still  pregnant  with 
 other  evils.  Affecting  to  be  more  spiritual  than  other  christians, 
 and  farther  removed  from  all  the  gross  enjoyments  of  sense,  by 
 absorption  in  God,  the  supreme  good,  these  visionaries  pre- 
 sumptuously held  forth,  that  man,  by  the  mere  dint  of  his  intel- 
 lectual powers,  can  raise  the  soul  to  immaculate  purity  and  perfec- 
 tion, even  in  this  life.  That  the  means,  for  effecting  this  desir- 
 able end,  are  contemplation,  mortifications  of  the  body,  celeba- 
 cy,  and  retirement  from  the  world  and  its  temptations.  From 
 these  visionary  doctrines  sprang  up,  in  the  church,  a  luxuriant 
 crop  of  mystics  and  monks,  hermits  and  recluses,  who,  in  after 
 ages,  like  a  cloud  of  locusts,  overspread  the  christian  world; 
 which  they  shamefully  abused  by  their  hypocrisy,  lust,  and 
 indolence. 
 
 At  the  same  time  that  errors  were  thu6  threatening  the 
 church,  a  strong  propensity  for  power  and  pre-eminency  mani- 
 fested itself  amongst  her  leading  bishops  and  presbyters.  The 
 increasing  numbers  of  her  converts  rendered  it  necessary,  that 
 household  churches  should  give  place  to  houses  of  larger  dimen- 
 sion, and  more  convenient  accommodation.  Towns  and  villa- 
 ges, contiguous  to  one  another,  became  necessarily  connected,  and 
 the  primitive  equality  of  the  bishops  gave  place  to  a  permanent 
 president  for  these  united  churches.  An  individual  pastor  was  no 
 longer  adequate  to  the  service  of  the  church;  this  circumstance 
 rendered  assistants  indispensable ;  accordingly,  deacons,  origi- 
 nally devoted  to  the  concerns  of  the  poor,  and  other  secularities 
 of  the  church,  were  now  employed  in  some  inferior  parts  of  the 
 ministerial  service. 
 
 Churches,  thus  associated,  began  to  settle  important  matters 
 of  common  concern,  by  assemblies,  consisting  of  delegated 
 members  from  the  several  churches;  the  bishop  always  being 
 one.  These  delegate  meetings,  in  process  of  time,  assumed  the 
 power  and  authority  of  the  churches  they  represented.  Still 
 the  church  was  extending  her  wings,  and  bishops  were  become 
 numerous,  and  naturally  enough  uniting  in  one  great  federal  re- 
 public, of  which  they  had  already  monopolized  the  directing 
 power,  the  people  gradually  sunk  to  insignificance,  and  lost 
 their  voice  and  influence  in  the  management  of  the  church. 
 Provincial  assemblies  of  bishops  became  necessary,  and  likewise 
 required  a  president;  for  which  they  modestly  appointed  one, 
 with  the  title  of  archbishop:  while  capital  towns,  or  very  ex- 
 
XXVtll  HISTORICAL   SKETCH  OF 
 
 tensive  sees,  wore  gratified,  under  these  new  arrangements,  with 
 tli"  venerable  name  of  a  patriarchal  superintendant.  At  last, 
 when  the  elmreli  became  incorporated  with  the  state,  these  as- 
 piring gentlemen,  tickled  with  the  pageantry  of  imperial  power, 
 could  not  be  satisfied  without  a  supreme,  visible,  and  universal 
 Head;  though  much  intrigue  and  manoeuvering  was  found  ne- 
 cessary before  this  crowning  object  of  their  ambition  was  ef- 
 fected. 
 
 During  the  third  century,  the  course  of  defection  advanced 
 apace.  Marriage  was  still  permitted,  and  generally  used  by  the 
 bishops;  but  celebacy  was  daily  acquiring  additional  reputation; 
 while  monkery  peopled  the  desarts,  and  superstition  kept  pace 
 with  these  unnatural  fancies.  The  sacraments  were  now  ge- 
 nerally supposed  to  be  necessarily  accompanied  with  divine 
 grace,  and  their  administration  essentially  necessary  to  the  sal- 
 vation even  of  infants. 
 
 Before  admission  to  baptism,  an  exorcist  must  now  be  em- 
 ployed, to  unhouse  and  expel  the  prince  of  darkness  from  the 
 candidate.  He  makes  his  appearance,  and,  with  the  most  dread- 
 ful threatenings,  commands  the  malignant  spirit  to  depart; 
 and  the  remission  of  his  sins  was  believed  to  be  the  certain  and 
 immediate  consequence  of  his  baptism,  if  rightly  administered 
 by  the  bishop  or  his  deputy.  The  annual  period  for  baptism 
 was  from  easter  to  the  fortieth  day  following,  when  a  solemn 
 procession,  of  all  those  who  had  been  exorcised  and  baptized,  ar- 
 rayed in  white  garments,  with  crowns,  denoting  their  triumph 
 over  the  devil,  closed  this  august  ceremonial. 
 
 The  platonic  doctrine  of  demons,  generally  taught  and  believ- 
 ed at  this  period,  had  brought  forward  all  the  absurdities  of 
 spells,  exorcisms,  and  bodily  macerations;  which  last  was  be- 
 lieved to  be  of  never-failing  efficacy  in  repelling  the  fiery  darts 
 of  the  devil,  who  was  understood  to  be  much  less  mischievous 
 to  the  hungry,  lank,  and  meagre,  than  to  belly-crammed  epicu- 
 reans, who  placed  supreme  happiness  in  the  gratification  of  the 
 senses.  Prayers,  in  imitation  of  the  Jews,  were  now  made  thrice 
 a-day;  and  in  their  fasts,  which  had  acquired  singular  estima- 
 tion, their  habit  was  to  kneel,  or  prostrate  themselves  on  the 
 ground,  during  prayer;  on  which  occasions  forms  were  now 
 pretty  generally  used.  In  holy  days,  however,  they  were  ac- 
 customed to  stand  up;  but  no  generally  established  ritual,  as 
 yet,  prevented  any  man  from  expressing  the  sensations  of  his 
 heart  in  extempore  effusions.  And  notwithstanding  of  many  of- 
 fences, and  unpromising  symptoms,  the  church  was  rising  to 
 universal  empire.  With  all  the  errors  she  had  embraced,  ami  all 
 tlic  defections  attending  her  progress,  the  system,  both  in  prin- 
 ciple and  practice,  was  so  obviously  superior  to  paganism,  that 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXIX 
 
 the  lolly  and  falsehood  of  the  established  idolatry  wa>  easily  de- 
 monstrated, and  contempt  began  to  be  poured  on  the  motley 
 rabble  of  pagan  divinities,  the  former  objects  of  popular  de- 
 votion. 
 
 But  Christianity,  thus  presenting  herself  in  the  garb  of  Pla- 
 tonism,  lost  some  of  its  most  forbidding  features,  at  least  in  the 
 eves  of  the  rationalists,  by  which  they  were  induced  more  easily 
 to  abandon  gods  that  they  never  had  believed  in,  and  a  religion 
 that  neither  interest  or  inclination  prompted  them  to  support. 
 In  this  way,  multitudes  of  the  wiser  pagans  became  nominal 
 professors  of  Christianity.  In  vain  had  the  most  celebrated  de- 
 fenders of  the  pagan  idolatry  united  their  efforts  in  her  favour, 
 and  whetted  their  weapons  of  argument  or  irony  in  her  defence. 
 The  more  they  wrote,  the  christian  apologists  triumphed  the 
 more;  and  numbers  of  the  superior  classes  joined  the  church, 
 now  that  her  days  of  mourning  were  apparently  over,  and  the 
 honours  and  offices  of  the  state  no  longer  denied  to  her  mem- 
 bers. The  churches,  no  longer  able  to  contain  the  vast  crowds 
 that  now  professed  the  faith  of  Christ,  were  everywhere  en- 
 larged, while  the  pagan  altars  were  abandoned  to  their  priests, 
 who,  with  watchful  anxiety,  waited,  in  trembling  suspense,  to 
 weep  over  her  irretrievable  overthrow.  This  must  have  been 
 a  period  of  unspeakable  joy  to  all  the  sincere  worshippers  of 
 God  the  Saviour,  who,  according  to  his  promise,  had  made 
 them  more  than  conquerors:  and,  by  means  the  most  apparent- 
 ly inefficient,  had  delivered  them  from  the  power  and  inveterate 
 malice  of  their  adversaries,  that  they  might  serve  him  without 
 fear. 
 
 In  tracing  the  church  of  Christ  through  ten  destructive  per- 
 secutions, we  have  seen  her  numbers  increasing  in  proportion 
 to  the  severities  exercised,  and  the  indignities  heaped  upon  her 
 long-suffering,  passive,  and  unoffending  members.  We  have 
 seen  the  pagan  superstition  melted  down  by  the  influence  of 
 her  doctrines,  and  the  most  extensive  and  powerful  empire  the 
 world  had  ever  beheld,  revolutionized  by  her  numerical  impor- 
 tance, and  reformed  by  her  captivating  manners.  It  is  painful, 
 therefore,  to  contemplate  the  growing  heresies,  and  unmanly  su- 
 perstitions, introduced  with  the  obvious  design  of  promoting 
 corruption,  and  covering  the  encroachments  of  power,  and  the 
 scramble  for  supremacy,  amongst  her  hypocritical  and  ambitious 
 ecclesiastics.  Many  woes  are  already  past,  but  a  host,  more 
 inimical  to  the  peace  of  society,  and  infinitely  more  disgraceful 
 to  the  christian  character,  ase  yet  in  reserve  for  the  trial  of  her 
 faith  and  patience. 
 
 The  circumstances  under  which  Constantine  mounted  the 
 imperial  throne,  required  all  his  art  and  ingenuity  to  strengthen 
 
XXX  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 his  own  party,  and  weaken  that  of  his  enemy.  His  friendship, 
 therefore,  to  the  long  persecuted,  but  numerous  and  still  in- 
 creasing members  of  the  christian  church,  leaving  religion  en- 
 tirely out  of  the  question,  was  merely  a  stroke  of  sagacious  poli- 
 cy. He  knew  from  what  small  beginnings  they  had  increased,  in 
 the  face  of  every  discouraging  circumstance,  to  a  multitude,  so 
 highly  respectable,  both  for  numerical  strength  and  determined 
 principle  and  resolution,  that  if  he  neglected  to  avail  himself  of 
 the  aid  such  a  formidable  body  was  calculated  to  afford  him  in 
 the  important  struggle  wherein  he  was  engaged,  his  antagonist 
 would,  in  all  probability,  disappoint  him  of  the  opportunity. 
 Considered  in  this  point  of  view,  the  emperor  was  as  much  in- 
 debted to  the  christians  for  their  support,  as  they  to  him  for 
 his  protection. 
 
 That  he  was  a  sincere  convert  to  their  opinions,  we  have  but 
 doubtful  evidence.  He  does  not  indeed  evince  all  that  incura- 
 ble bigotry  and  intolerance  that  stained,  with  innocent  blood, 
 the  tyrannical  reigns  of  a  number  of  his  persecuting  predeces- 
 sors. He  tolerated  the  christian  worship,  and,  for  some  time 
 at  least,  he  also  tolerated  that  of  the  pagans  and  the  Jews.  His 
 triumph  over  Maxentius  was  principally  effected  by  the  efforts 
 of  the  christians,  and  his  gratitude  has  been  manifested  in  the 
 churches  he  built  for  their  accommodation,  and  the  honours  he 
 heaped  on  their  bishops;  but  to  all  this,  he  was  bound  by  every 
 principle  either  of  honour  or  interest. 
 
 His  last  antagonist,  Lucinius,  enraged  at  the  loss  of  such  an 
 overwhelming  body,  and  especially  to  find  them  thrown  be- 
 tween him  and  the  grand  object  of  his  ambition,  persecuted 
 and  destroyed  them  wherever  his  power  was  predominant;  and 
 his  late  attachment  to  the  pagans,  whose  priests  he  courted  with 
 liberal  promises,  and  more  substantial  favours,  only  shows  the 
 regret  he  felt  for  not  having  anticipated  the  wiser  policy  of  his 
 rival. 
 
 The  death  of  Lucinius  having  left  him  no  competitor  for  the 
 imperial  crown,  Constantine  shut  up  the  pagan  temples,  or  con^ 
 verted  them  to  places  of  christian  worship.  He  prohibited  the 
 pagan  sacrifices,  and  throughout  his  whole  dominions,  establish- 
 ed the  christian  religion;  yet  candour,  and  even  charity,  must 
 pause  before  they  pronounce  him  either  a  true  christian  or  a 
 good  man.  He  reached  the  summit  of  his  ambition  through 
 scenes  of  carnage;  and,  in  order  to  clear  the  way  more  effectu- 
 ally, and  secure  to  himself  the  darling  acquisition,  he  murdered 
 his  nearest  relations;  and  his  old  age,  though  possessed  of  all 
 the  advantages  arising  from  long  experience,  was  more  tyranni- 
 cally cruel  and  oppressive  than  any  part  of  his  former  reign. 
 In  short,  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life  leaves  posterity  in  doubt, 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXXI 
 
 whether  the  part  acted  by  him,  and  his  son  Constantius,  did  not 
 more  mischievously  injure  the  cause  of  true  and  genuine  Chris- 
 tianity, than  all  the  rage  of  the  ten  preceding  persecutions. 
 
 About  the  year  320,  the  bitter  fruits  of  the  Platonic  doc- 
 trines began  to  make  their  appearance  in  the  church.  Arius, 
 a  presbyter  of  Alexandria,  and  a  disciple  of  Origen's,  a  man 
 of  science,  of  grave  deportment,  an  acute  reasoner,  and  withal 
 of  irreproachable  morals,  having  held  forth  in  his  sermons  and 
 writings,  that  Christ  was  not  from  eternity,  that  he  had  no  ex- 
 istence till  the  period  when  he  was  begotten;  that,  consequently, 
 he  had  a  beginning,  and  was  inferior  to  the  Father. 
 
 The  novelty  of  these  sentiments  attracted  the  particular  no- 
 tice of  the  Alexandrian  school,  whose  learned  definitions  and 
 distinctions,  in  discussing  these  intricate  questions,  had  the 
 effect  of  spreading  the  Arian  heresy  through  every  corner  of 
 the  empire,  and  producing  such  a  spirit  of  contention  and  bit- 
 ter animosity  between  the  abetters  of  these  new  doctrines  and 
 the  orthodox  christians,  as  involved  the  church  in  a  most  cruel 
 and  disgraceful  persecution,  which,  with  a  few  casual  intermis- 
 sions, lasted  for  ages.  Arius  was  cited  before  the  council  of 
 Alexandria,  and  excommunicated  for  his  heretical  tenets;  and 
 afterwards,  in  325,  at  a  council  held  at  Nicomedia,  where  the 
 great  Constantine  presided  in  person,  he  was  again  condemned, 
 and  the  Nicene  creed  adopted  and  confirmed,  with  a  decree  of 
 banishment  for  all  who  would  not  conform  to  its  doctrines,  and 
 afix  their  names  to  its  contents.  Arius  was  deposed,  and  all  his 
 friends  and  adherents,  to  save  their  bishoprics,  subscribed  the 
 articles,  with  only  the  exception  of  two  individuals. 
 
 After  the  death  of  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine,  his 
 sister  Constantia  having  great  influence  over  him,  and  being 
 warmly  attached  to  the  Arian  party,  had  his  condemnation  re- 
 versed; and  although  the  Nicene  creed  remained  unrepealed, 
 Athanasius  and  the  trinitarians  found  the  court  party,  with  the 
 emperor  at  their  back,  sufficiently  powerful  to  turn  the  current 
 of  persecution  against  their  party.  They  refused,  however,  to  re- 
 ceive into  their  communion  those  followers  of  Arius,  notwith- 
 standing that  they  had  subscribed  the  Nicene  creed,  seeing  they 
 utterly  rejected  the  Nicene  doctrine  of  the  trinity.  The  deter- 
 mined opposition  maintained  by  Athanasius,  at  the  head  of 
 the  trinitarians,  drew  upon  him  and  his  party  the  wrath  of  the 
 emperor  and  his  Arian  court,  who  employed  all  their  influence, 
 and  practised  the  meanest  frauds  and  impositions,  if,  by  any 
 means,  they  might  ruin  the  reputation,  and,  by  calumny,  silence 
 the  arguments,  of  a  man,  whose  doctrines  they  found  resting  on 
 a  foundation,  against  which  their  united  malice  and  ingenuity 
 had  been  directed  in  vain,     Tnev  could  turn  him  out  of  his 
 
XXX11  HISTORICAL  SKETCH   ( 
 
 sec;  to  drive  liim  out  of  liis  faith  and  firmness,  surpassed  their 
 power;  still  he  returned  to  the  charge  with  renovated  vigour 
 and  unshaken  confidence.  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Nicomedia,  a 
 man  who  is  said  to  have  stuck  at  no  fraud,  and  was  ashamed 
 of  no  villany,  having  possession  of  the  ear  of  the  emperor,  had 
 succeeded  in  procuring  the  banishment  of  this  inflexible  pillar 
 of  the  orthodox  church,  fie  was  accordingly  sent  an  exile  into 
 Germany,  and  Arius  returned  in  triumph  to  Alexandria,  where 
 his  activity  soon  embroiled  the  Egyptian*  in  the  most  furious 
 contentions.  The  fear  of  more  mischievous  consequences,  how- 
 ever, induced  the  emperor  to  summon  him  to  court.  Having 
 reached  the  metropolis,  Arius  continued  to  manifest  the  same 
 spirit;  and  similar  disorders,  to  those  he  had  introduced  into 
 Egypt,  were  the  immediate  consequence;  but,  in  the  middle  of 
 all  this  enthusiastic  and  turbulent  activity,  he  was  called  to  his 
 account,  and  left  his  tenets,  and  zeal  in  defending  them,  an  un- 
 happy legacy,  not  only  to  his  friends  and  abetters,  now  bask- 
 ing in  the  beams  of  imperial  favour,  but  also  to  the  church  in 
 general. 
 
 No  heresy  had,  at  any  time,  proved  so  fatal  to  the  true  reli- 
 gion; none  had  taken  such  an  extensive  range,  or  struck  its 
 baneful  roots  so  deep  in  the  soil  of  the  christian  church.  From 
 this  noxious  root  has  sprung  up  almost  all  the  theological  errors 
 that  have  marred  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  religion  in  every 
 age,  and  its  poisoning  influence  has  been  felt  in  every  depart- 
 ment of  the  christian  world. 
 
 The  church,  at  this  period  of  her  history,  was  apparently  ex- 
 alted to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  prosperity.     Invested  with  \ 
 authority,  her  clergy,  arranged  in  their  various  degrees  of  supe- 
 riority, held  synods  and  counsels  with  almost  sovereign  power. 
 Their  churches  vied  in  magnificence  with  the  imperial  palace; 
 their  robes,  and  the  pomp  of  their  service,  with  mitres,  tiaras, 
 tapers,  crosiers,  and  gaudy  processions,  utterly  eclipsed  the  splen- 
 dour of  the  pagan  worship;  but  all  was  deception,  a  painted  sepul- 
 chre, outwardly  fair,  but  internally  overcharged  with  the  rotten- 
 ness and  putridity  of  dead  men's  bones.   Pride,  luxury,  and  lasci- 
 viousness,  covetousness,  and  contention,  preyed  on  her  vitals; 
 while  every  species  of  wickedness  and  immorality  deluged  her  ex- 
 tensive boundaries.    The  people  had  gradually  sunk  into  insigni- 
 ficance, and  nearly  to  annihilation;   their  voice  was  no  longer 
 heard,  nor  their  consent  considered  necessary.     Even  the  pres- 
 byters bowed  to  this  episcopal  sovereignty,  and  quietlyacquie 
 in  the  imperial   appointments.      The  prelatical   ptvrninv.'i,: 
 imitation  of  the  stale,   was  now  divided  into  great    prcfecn 
 of   which     Rome,     Alexandria.     Antioeh.    and    Constantinople, 
 claimed  superiority;  vvhil  lending  series,  from  pi 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXX111 
 
 to  metropolitans,  archbishops,  bishops,  etc.  was  established,  some 
 with  greater,  and  others  with  less  extensive  jurisdiction.  Thus, 
 every  one  was  seen  grasping  at  all  he  could  catch  as  an  individual, 
 and  all  uniting  together  in  support  of  the  most  despotic  pretensions 
 of  episcopal  authority,  over  a  church,  whose  emoluments  they  had 
 the  shameless  effrontery  to  claim  as  their  divine  and  unalienable 
 right. 
 
 The  theoretical  opinions  of  Plato,  in  addition  to  the  numerous 
 evils  they  had  already  produced  in  the  church,  brought  forward, 
 about  this  time,  the  first  idea  of  a  purificatory  process,  through 
 which  departed  spirits  were  to  pass  in  their  progress  towards  per- 
 fection. The  martyrs  had  also  risen  to  astonishing  veneration.  Their 
 tombs  and  relics  were  supposed  to  possess  such  singular  sanctity, 
 as  to  afford  protection  from  the  power  and  malignity  of  evil  sprits.  A 
 desire  to  render  Christianity  more  palatable,  to  the  adoption  of  pa- 
 gan ceremonies,  by  placing  saints  and  martyrs  in  the  room  of  their 
 exploded  deities ;  and  the  Gentile  converts  were  now  indulged 
 in  all  the  sports,  amusements,  and  bacchanalian  revels,  with 
 which  the  pagan  festivals  had  formerly  been  attended  ;  as  may  be 
 seen  in  the  decrees  of  Thaumaturgus. 
 
 The  visitation  of  the  tombs  led  to  distant  pilgrimages,  where  fa- 
 mous men  liad  lived  and  expired,  especially  to  the  Holy  Land,  as 
 it  was  now  denominated,  where  Christ  and  his  Apostles  had  so- 
 journed. The  distance  and  difficulties  attending  these  holy  pere- 
 grinations enhanced  the  merit  of  the  undertaking-,  and  rendered 
 these  kind  visitations  wonderfully  fashionable.  The  very  dust  of 
 the  tombs  was  esteemed  a  precious  acquisition  ;  while  a  tooth  or  a 
 bone  was  accounted  an  invaluable  treasure,  with  these,  and  similar 
 fooleries,  did  this  organised  junto  of  pious  jugglers,  amuse,  deceive, 
 and  enslave  the  christian  world;  supreceding,  at  the  same  time,  every 
 thing  like  evangelical  or  vital  religion.  Prodigies,  miracles,  visions 
 and  conflicts  with  the  devil,  were  pretended  with  a  design  to  multiply 
 the  objects  of  devotion,  to  increase  the  veneration  of  the  people 
 for  the  office,  and  replenish  the  pockets  of  the  clergy.  Such  was  the 
 real  and  apparent  state  of  the  great  body  of  the  christian  Church, 
 towards  the  end  of  the  fostering  reign  of  the  first  christian  emperor 
 Constantine  the  Great. 
 
 On  the  death  of  Constantine,  the  empire  was  divided  amongst  his 
 three  sons.  Constantine  the  second  had  for  his  share,  Britain,  Gaul 
 and  Spain  ;  Constans  had  Illyricum,  Africa,  and  Italy ;  while  Con- 
 stantius  possessed  the  East  with  Constantinople, the  new  metropolis 
 which  had  been  erected  by  his  father.  Constantine  soon  fell  by  the 
 sword  of  his  brother  Constans,  in  a  qaurrel  of  ambition,  who  seized 
 on  his  dominions ;  but  soon  after  fell  by  the  hand  of  Magnentius, 
 who  aspired  to  empire,  and  contended  with  the  remaining  brother 
 for  universal  dominion  ;  but  failing  in  his  purpose,  destroyed  himself 
 
 2  e 
 
XXXIV  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 in  a  fit  of  rage  and  despair,  leaving  Constantius  in   full  and  undis- 
 turbed possession  of  his  father's  dominions. 
 
 Constantius  seems  to  have  embraced  the  religion  of  his  father,  and 
 like  him,  yielded  to  the  influence  of  the  two  Arian  Eusebiuses,  and 
 his  sister  Constantia.  The  imperial  court  was,  of  course,  the  abet- 
 tors and  supporting  pillars  of  the  Arian  heresy,  which  naturally  be- 
 came the  fashionable  religion.  The  party,  thus  uppermost,  availing 
 themselves  of  their  situation,  urged  the  perverted  emperor  to  acts  of 
 violence  against  the  patrons  of  the  Nicene  creed,  who  resolutely  re- 
 jected all  communion  with  Arius  or  his  espousers.  Synods  and 
 councils  were  now  multiplied  for  settling  the  disorders  of  the  church; 
 which  had  already  assumed  a  dangerous  aspect.  The,  Arians,  with 
 the  support  afforded  them  by  the  emperor,  were  usually  victorious  in 
 these  partial  assemblies. 
 
 The  old  and  orthodox  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  having  recom- 
 mended a  successor,  who  was  afterwards  chosen  by  the  people  and 
 presbyters  to  fill  that  see  ;  but  being  inimical  to  the  Arian  and 
 court  religion,  he  was  deposed  by  the  orders  of  Constantius,  who 
 placed  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  in  his  stead,  and  arrogated  to  himself 
 the  sole  power  of  appointing  all  the  superior  officers  in  the  church. 
 
 Such  tyrannical  proceedings  could  not  fail  to  exite  the  most  vio- 
 lent sensations  in  the  christian  world  ;  and  the  zeal  of  the  trinitarians 
 in  defence  of  their  opinions  and  their  natural  rights,  to  give  them 
 publicity,  induced  them  to  make  a  resolute  stand  against  the  en- 
 croachments of  their  opponents,  perhaps,  too,  with  a  violence  ill-be- 
 coming the  cause  they  had  determined  to  defend  ;  though  to  do  both 
 parties  justice,  the  Arian  mode  of  warfare  seems  still  more  repre- 
 hensible. Accordingly,  an  hundred  bishops,  with  the  famous  and  in- 
 flexible Athanasius  at  their  head,  protested  against  the  unwarranta- 
 ble deposition  of  Paul,  and  the  disgraceful  election  of  Eusebius.  But 
 all  that  the  party  gained  by  this  bold  manoeuvre  was  the  wrath  of 
 the  enraged  emperor,  the  calling  together  another  synod,  and  the  de- 
 position of  their  revered  champion.  To  effect  this,  the  influence  of 
 Athanasius  in  Alexandria  and  Egypt  being  so  powerful  and  exten- 
 sive, an  armed  force  became  indispensable,  but  after  a  violent  struggle, 
 and  many  acts  of  cruelty,  Athanasius,  alarmed  for  his  safety,  retired 
 to  Rome,  as  yet  the  uncorrupted  seat  of  orthodoxy.  Under  the  pro- 
 tection of  Constans,  emperor  of  the  west,  for  Magnentius  had  not 
 yet  overturned  his  throne,  being  a  professed  adherer  to  the  Nicene 
 Creed,  Athanasius  rested  sometime  in  exile ;  and,  before  a  council 
 held  at  Rome,  vindicated  his  conduct  against  the  malevolent  charges 
 brought  against  him  by  his  Arian  antagonists. 
 
 Finding  that  matters  were  proceeding  from  evil  to  worse,  the  two 
 emperors  agreed  to  hold  a  general  council  at  Sardica;  in  which  dis- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  XXXV 
 
 cord  prevailing,  the  parties  separated  with  additional  and  irreconcil- 
 able animosity.  The  eastern  church  was  generally  affected  with 
 Arianisra,  and  both  parties  were  nearly  equal  adepts  in  framing  their 
 anathemas  ;  but  the  affectionate  regard  the  Egyptians  had  for  their 
 exiled  patriarch,  compelled  the  emperor  to  invite  his  return  to  the 
 functions  of  his  see,  now  vacant  by  the  death  of  Gregory.  He  re- 
 turned, and  on  his  way  was  met  by  Constantius,  and  graciously  re- 
 ceived. His  entrance  into  Alexandria  was  a  day  of  triumph  and 
 exultation  to  the  Trinitarians  ;  and  numbers  manifested  the  arden- 
 cy of  their  feelings,  on  the  occasion,  by  devoting  themselves  to  a 
 monastic  life  ;  an  evil  now  making  rapid  advances,  and  countenan- 
 ced by  many,  who  never  anticipated  the  mischief  it  was  calculated 
 to  produce. 
 
 In  consequence  of  the  death  of  Magnentius,  and  the  failure  of 
 his  ambitious  enterprise,  the  power  of  Constantius  became  univer- 
 sal ;  and  his  Arian  advisers,  galled  at  the  unremitting  assiduity 
 of  the  aged  patriarch,  renewed  their  efforts  to  silence  or  destroy 
 him.  For  this  purpose,  they  had  influence  enough  with  the  em- 
 peror to  obtain  another  council,  which  was  held  at  Milan  ;  where, 
 although  the  menaces  of  power,  and  the  clamours  of  the  Arian 
 bishops,  could  not  procure  the  revocation  of  the  Nicene,  and  the 
 subscription  of  the  Arian  creed,  they  succeeded  in  condemning 
 Athanasius :  and  his  sentence  was  subscribed  by  the  council  with 
 but  few  dissenting  voices. 
 
 .  The  emperor,  enraged  to  find  that  any  of  his  subjects  possessed 
 the  confidence  to  gainsay  his  imperial  pleasure,  wreaked  his  ven- 
 geance on  these  stedfast  friends  of  the  persecuted  patriarch.  They 
 were  banished  from  thd'ir  country,  and  some  of  them  put  to  the  tor- 
 ture. Athanasius  himself,  though  firmly  supported  by  his  brethren 
 of  Alexandria,  was  under  the  necessity  of  making  his  retreat:  he 
 was  seized  in  the  church  during  the  celebration  of  divine  service, 
 and  with  difficulty  conveyed  to  a  place  of  safety  by  the  zeal  of  his 
 clergy. 
 
 The  Arians  now  triumphant,  held  council  after  council  at  Rimini 
 and  Ravena,  to  confirm  the  fashionable  and  courtly  religion,  and 
 the  docility  with  which  the  bishops  almost  universally  subscribed 
 the  Arian  creed,  shows  us  to  what  a  pitch  of  wordly-mindedness 
 and  hypocrisy  the  prelatical  corps  of  that  period  had  arrived.  The 
 monks  of  the  desart  concealed  the  Alexandrian  defender  of  the  tri- 
 une faith,  who  did  not  slumber  in  his  secret  retreat,  but  continued 
 to  labour  in  defence«of  the  doctrine  he  had  taught,  and,  in  the  face 
 of  every  danger  had  hitherto  maintained,  against  an  overwhelming 
 opposition.  These  defences  he  found  means  to  issue  from  his  des- 
 art solitude,  galling  to  his  adversaries,  but  well  calculated  for  con- 
 firming the  faith,  and  strengthening  the  hopes,  of  his  dejc  cted,  des- 
 
XXXVI  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 piscd,  and  persecuted  adherents  In  one  of  them  he  thus  expresses 
 himself,  "  The  Father  cannot  be  the  Son,  nor  the  Son  the  Father. 
 The  Holy  Ghost  is  never  called  by  the  name  of  the  Son,  but  the 
 Spirit^  of  the  Father  and  the  Son^  The  holy  trinity  is  but  one 
 divine  nature,  and  one  God,  with  which  nothing  created  can  be 
 joined.  This  is  sufficient  for  the  faith  ;  human  knowledge  goes  no 
 farther:  the  cherubims  veil  the  rest  with  their  wings." 
 
 Amid  these  scenes  of  clamour  and  contention,  the  emperor  closed 
 a  life  of  tyranny  and  unceasing  anxiety,  after  having  been  baptized 
 by  the  bishop  of  Antioch,  the  supporting  pillar  of  the  Arian  heresy, 
 in  the  full  confidence,  it  is  probable,  that  the  water  in  baptism  would 
 wash  off  every  impurity  from  his  soul. 
 
 Julian,  his  successor,  had,  owing  to  his  youth,  escaped  the  mas- 
 sacre of  his  family,  who  were  butchered,  by  order  of  Constantius, 
 on  his  accession  to  the  throne.  He  had  been  privately  educated 
 amongst  the  clergy,  and  became  a  reader  in  the  church.  He  was 
 the  only  surviving  branch  of  the  family  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
 and  appointed  by  Constantius  to  the  command  of  the  army  in  Gaul, 
 where  he  was  engaged  in  a  dangerous,  but  successful,  warfare  a- 
 gainst  the  Germans1.  After  obtaining  a  decisive  victory,  his  army, 
 in  opposition  to  his  earnest  and  repeated  remonstrances,  in  a  fit  of 
 triumphant  acclamation,  hailed  him  with  the  title  of  emperor. 
 
 On  learning  what  had  taken  place,  Constantius,  burning  with 
 rage  and  resentment,  marched,  at  the  head  of  an  array,  to  punish 
 this  daring  presumption ;  but  falling  sick  at  Celicia,  he  expired, 
 leaving  the  empire  to  the  quiet  possession  of  his  hated  rival. 
 
 Julian  has  been  branded  by  historians  with  the  name  of  apos- 
 tate, which  he  scarcely  deserved.  He  beheld  the  hands  of  his 
 christian  cousin  dyed  with  the  blood  of  his  nearest  relations.  He 
 saw  that  the  religion  of  the  court  consisted  merely  in  the  ambitious 
 intrigues  of  sycophant  bishops ;  and  having  little  opportunity  to 
 observe  the  genuine  practice  of  Christianity  among  the  conscien- 
 tious and  sincere,  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  that  his  mind  revolt- 
 ed from  a  system  with  which  he  was  so  little  acquainted,  and  from 
 which  he  had  received  such  unsufferable  injuries.  He  was,  more- 
 over tired  and  disgusted  with  the  endless  quarrels  and  contentions 
 about  abstruse  questions  and  opinions,  which  the  opposing  parties 
 had  seldom  suffered  to  sleep  under  the  former  reign  ;  and  if  no 
 christian,  he  seems,  at  least,  to  have  been  an  honest  man.  He  sup- 
 ported no  party  at  the  expense  of  another,  but  left  his  subjects  the 
 freedom  he  allowed  himself,  namely  to  enjoy  their  own  opinions. 
 We  must  admire  his  candour  and  liberality  of  sentiment,  however, 
 much  we  may  lament  his  misfortunes,  in  being  surrounded  by  in- 
 erested  flatterers,  and  weakly  listening  to  their  selfish  admonitions. 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH,  XXXVli 
 
 His  death,  however,  soon  put  a  period  to  all  his  purposes,  whether 
 favourable  or  unfriendly  to  the  christian  religion.  He  fell  in  the 
 prime  of  life,  after  the  short  reign  of  twenty  months,  in  an  expedi- 
 tion against  the  Persian  monarch,  by  the  lance  of  a  common  sol- 
 dier ;  and  considering  the  shortness  of  his  reign,  and  the  unshack- 
 led toleration  he  maintained,  the  christians  could  suffer  but  little 
 under  his  mild  administration.  They  have  abused  him,  however, 
 with  unmerited  reproach,  while  infidels  continue  to  laud  him  with 
 undeserved  praise. 
 
 Jovian,  though  blamed  for  his  political  measures,  seems  to  have 
 been  endued  with  true  wisdom  and  piety,  while  countenancing  the 
 christian  faith,  which  he  cordially  embraced.  He  prohibited  all  vio- 
 lence against  those  of  a  different  opinion,  whether  christians  or  pa- 
 gans. Under  his  liberal  administration,  Athanasius,  leaving  his 
 concealment,  returned  to  his  church,  and  enjoyed  a  short  interval  of 
 repose. 
 
 4Valentinian  and  Valens,  though  brothers,  pursued  different  lines 
 of  direction.  Valentinian,  like  his  predecessor,  protected  the  ortho- 
 dox ;  while  Valens,  a  determined  Arian,  renewed  the  persecution  a- 
 gainst  the  abettors  of  the  Nicene  creed ;  and  having  expelled  their 
 bishops,  filled  their  places  with  those  of  his  own  faith.  Athanasius, 
 the  prime  object  of  Arian  malignity,  was  doomed  to  suffer  another 
 and  last  exile  under  this  reign ;  yet  in  spite  of  all  the  intrigues  of 
 his  enemies,  he  was  recalled  to  his  see,  and  there  permitted  to  die  in 
 peace.  That  he  had  his  faults,  candour  must  acknowledge ;  but 
 the  inveterate  persecutions  he  suffered,  and  the  unmanly  attempts 
 made  to  ruin  his  reputation,  were  provocations  against  which  his  pa- 
 tience was  not  always  proof ;  and  though  the  peculiar  circumstan- 
 ces, in  which  he  was  placed,  will  not  excuse  his  improprieties,  they 
 have  considerably  blunted  the  edge  of  severe  reprehension.  Valens 
 perished  in  battle.  His  successors,  Gratian  and  Honorius,  agreed 
 to  suppress  paganism  and  erect  the  banner  of  the  cross ;  but  none 
 used  methods  so  strong  and  severe  as  Theodosius,  surnamed  the 
 Great. 
 
 Theodosius,  taking  a  fallacious  view  of  his  prerogative,  and  a 
 very  erroneous  estimate  of  his  official  power,  planned  an  enterprise, 
 to  which  both  were  unequal.  The  frequent  disorders,  arising  from 
 the  contentions  of  religious  parties,  had  probably  led  him  to  the 
 chimerical  notion  of  a  wrangling  empire,  changed  to  an  unconquer- 
 able fraternity,  all  moved  by  one  spirit,  possessing  only  one  opinion, 
 one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  one  imperial  head ;  whose  wisdom,  he 
 imagined,  was  equal  to  his  power,  and  whose  opinions  were  conse- 
 quently the  only  proper  standard  to  which  those  of  his  subjects 
 ought  to  be  conformed ;  perhaps  dreaming,  that  such  an  organiza- 
 tion  couid   not  fail  in  raising  him  to  the  summit  of  human  glory, 
 
XXXV111  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 while  it  restored  the  christian  world  to  a  paradise  of  happiness  am1 
 tranquillity.  However  this  might  have  been,  Theodosius,  whose 
 temper  was  violent,  and  whose  government  was  tyrannical  and  over- 
 bearing, proceeded  to  the  hopeless  task  of  concentring  and  assimi- 
 lating all  the  religious  opinions  of  the  empire  with  that  of  their  im- 
 perial lord  and  master.  The  pagans  were  prohibited,  on  pain  o. 
 death,  from  sacrificing,  or  in  any  way  to  take  part  in,  or  attend  an)- 
 of  their  pagan  ceremonies  ;  and  fully  determined  on  establishing  ar 
 uniformity  of  religion  throughout  the  empire,  the  severest  pain: 
 and  penalties  were  enacted  against  all  those  who  refused  to  conform 
 to  his  orthodox  establishment. 
 
 Libanfus,  the  friend  of  Julian,  still  attached  to  the  old  idolatry 
 presumed,  in  this    eventful  crisis,  to  address  this  christian  empero 
 and  teach  him  an  important  lesson  from  his  own  creed,   "  That  re 
 ligion  ought  to  be  implanted  in  men's  minds  by  reason,  not  by  force ; 
 but  the  emperor  was  too  wise  to  be  taught. 
 
 SECTION  II. 
 
 From  the  end  of  the  fourth,  to  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  Century. 
 
 The  establishment  of  Christianity,  under  Theodosius,  and  the 
 uniformity  of  faith  enforced  by  his  imperial  decree,  had  raised  the 
 catholic  church  to  superlative  eminence ;  but  all  was  external 
 show.  Her  revenues  were  immense,  and  her  power  and  influence 
 almost  incredible ;  but  corruption  had  already  wormed  itself  into 
 all  her  institutions.  She  had  extended  her  borders,  and  vanquished 
 her  enemies ;  but  the  simplicity  and  purity  ef  her  doctrines  and  in- 
 stitutions were  sadly  adulterated,  and  the  power  of  godliness  lament- 
 ably decayed.  Ambition,  pride,  and  luxury,  the  never-failing  con- 
 sequences of  wealth  and  power,  with  all  their  concomitant  evils, 
 found  a  ready  reception  in  her  corrupted  bosom.  Heresies,  schisms., 
 and  unchristian  contentions,  marked  her  defection  in  legible  char- 
 acters;  while  an  universal  scramble  for  power  and  pre-eminence 
 afforded  a  disgusting  sample  of  prelatical  selfishness  and  hypo- 
 crisy. 
 
 The  Roman  empire,  now  divided  between  Arcadius  and  Ho- 
 norius,  was  ready  to  fall  in  pieces  by  its  own  weight ;  and  nothing 
 presented  itself  to  the  contemplative  mind  but  a  barbarous  ignorance 
 and  ecclesiastical  usurpation.  A  splendid  hierarchy,  with  a  showy 
 profession,    smothered    beneath    the   fooleries,   frauds,   and    puerile 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  XXXIX 
 
 rites  of  a  most  ridiculous  and  unmanly  superstition.  The  Goths,  a 
 swarm  of  northern  barbarians,  commenced  their  ravages  on  the 
 western  empire,  nor  discontinued  their  incursions  till  its  final  over- 
 throw. The  Theodosian  decree  of  uniformity  had  forced  vast  num- 
 bers of  the  Arians,  under  the  former  reign,  to  take  shelter  amongst 
 this  barbarous  people,  many  of  whom  had  been  converted  to  Chris- 
 tianity by  their  assiduity  and  zeal.  The  Arians,  when  formerly  in 
 power,  had  acted  towards  the  trinitarians  with  the  most  implacable 
 spirit  of  persecution  and  intolerance ;  but  the  triumph  of  the  ortho- 
 dox, and  the  decree  of  uniformity  in  their  favour,  afforded  them  a 
 plausible  opportunity  for  retaliation.  Thus  the  persecuted  became 
 the  persecutors,  and  repaid  their  antagonists  with  a  liberality  of 
 vengeance,  altogether  incompatable  with  the  doctrines  by  which 
 they  professed  to  regulate  their  conduct.  The  Arians,  under  such 
 circumstances  and  feelings,  it  may  be  supposed,  did  not  neglect  to 
 impress  the  minds  of  their  Gothic  converts  with  the  sufferings  that 
 had  reduced  them  to  wandering  exiles,  or  to  invoke  their  vengeance 
 on  their  enemies  of  the  orthodox  church.  Accordingly,  we  find 
 that  the  first  inQursions  of  these  savages  were  directed  against 
 the  adherents  of  the  Roman  faith  with  the  most  destructive  precision, 
 and  attended  with  incredible  ruin  and  desolation  wherever  they  di- 
 rected their  march. 
 
 In  Africa,  they  burnt,  plundered,  and  destroyed  the  country, 
 massacring  its  inhabitants  with  unsparing  vengeance.  The  bishops, 
 who  held  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  were  tortured,  banished,  or 
 murdered,  and  their  churches  levelled  with  the  ground.  The  Per- 
 sian monarchs  also  exercised  such  severities,  as  threatened  to  ex- 
 tinguish the  christian  name  ;  and  even  in  those  countries,  where 
 the  Roman  authority  still  subsisted,  the  mutual  animosities  of  the 
 orthodox  and  heretical  parties  rivaled,  and  in  many  instances  even 
 out-did,  the  cruelties  of  their  Gothic  invaders ;  while  the  orthodox 
 prelates,  to  whom  the  opulent  bishoprics,  such  as  Rome,  Constan- 
 tinople, Alexandria,  &c,  became  bones  of  bitter  contention,  muster- 
 ing their  respective  friends  and  dependants,  disputed  their  claims 
 with  mutual  anthemas,  tyger-like  ferocity,  and  torrents  of  human 
 blood. 
 
 The  pagan  idolatry  had,  by  this  time^  been  nearly  destroyed  in 
 the  western  empire ;  and  in  the  east,  the  younger  Theodosius  had 
 wholly  converted  the  pagan  temples  to  the  purposes  of  Christianity, 
 and  purged  his  army  and  magistracy  from  almost  every  remnant 
 of  polytheism.  This  division  of  the  empire  had  escaped  the  incur- 
 sions of  the  Huns,  who  cruelly  invaded  and  plundered  Thrace 
 and  the  places  adjacent,  while  the  Vandals  desolated  Africa,  and 
 the  Goths  over-ran  Spain  and  Gaul;  and  after  the  sackage  of 
 Rome  returned  to  the  charge  with  additional  strength  and  resolu. 
 tion ;   and  Italy,  with  its  proud  capital,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Odoa- 
 
Xl  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 cer.  But  scarcely  had  he  begun  to  breathe  under  a  settled  gov- 
 ernment, when  fresh  hordes  of  Ostragoths ;  under  the  direction 
 of  Theodoric,  invaded  his  territories,  defeated  his  armies,  and  laid 
 hold  on  his  ill  defended  throne. 
 
 During  these  calamities,  the  afflictions  of  the  church  must  have  been 
 incessant  and  severe  :  and  though  her  conquering  invaders  assumed 
 the  profession  of  Christianity,  and  whole  nations  and  armies,  following 
 the  example  of  their  leaders,  were  baptized,  and  in  this  way  ini- 
 tiated into  the  christian  church !  they  had  merely  changed  one 
 superstition  for  another,  and  were,  therefore,  almost  as  much  pagans 
 as  before. 
 
 The  Britons,  who  in  consequence  of  the  departure  of  the  Ro- 
 man 1-ogions,  had  been  invaded  and  much  harassed  by  the  incursions 
 of  their  Scottish  neighbours,  solicited  the  aid  of  the  Saxons ; 
 who,  after  having  succeeded  in  driving  out  the  Scots,  seized  on  the 
 kingdom  they  were  hired  to  defend,  and  cruelly  ravished  the 
 country,  destroyed  its  inhabitants,  pulled  down  their  churches,  and 
 drave  the  feeble  remains  of  the  christian  population  to  the  moun- 
 tains of  wales, 
 
 In  the  furnace  of  affliction  men  are  expected  to  be  purified,  but 
 here,  notwithstanding  that  desolation  was  spreading  on  every  side, 
 the  church  grew  more  and  more  corrupted,  both  in  doctrine  and 
 practice.  The  imperial  establishment  of  uniformity  was  far  from 
 procuring  the  peace  of  the  church,  and,  if  we  may  judge  of  the 
 past  by  present  experience,  equally  ill  qualified  for  promoting  her 
 spiritual  prosperity.  The  church,  indeed,  had  greatly  extended 
 her  wings ;  her  temples  glittered  with  gold  and  precious  stones, 
 and  her  priests  with  gorgeous  robes :  but  the  divine  inhabitant 
 was  fled,  Christ  the,  .legitimate  King  and  Head  of  his  church, 
 had  been  dethroned,  and  his  crown  set  on  the  capricious  head  of 
 the  Roman  emperor,  who  formed  and  fashioned  her  according 
 to  his  imperial  good  pleasure.  He  had,  therefore,  long  continued 
 to  install  or  depose  his  bishops  as  seemed  good  in  his  own  eyes, 
 nor  had  his  power  hitherto  met  with  any  considerable  resist- 
 ance. The  people,  long  since  sunk  in  ignorance  and  slavery,  had 
 lost  the  knowledge  of  their  own  privileges ;  while  their  prelati- 
 cal  superintendents,  exercising  an  ever  watchful  jealousy  over  one 
 another,  were  too  much  employed  in  their  individual  ambitious  in- 
 trigues to  pay  much  regard  to  the  moral  and  religious  instruction  of 
 their  flocks. 
 
 • 
 
 The  rising  magnificence  of  Constantinople  created  no  small  jeal- 
 ousy in  the  mind  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  who  contended  with  the 
 Constantinopolitan  bishop  for  the  right  of  spiritual  supremacy. 
 Tho  east  chiefly  acknowledged  the  one,  and  the  west  the  other ; 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  xli 
 
 while  both,  availing  themselves  of  every  opportunity  of  extending  their 
 jurisdiction,  even  at  the  other's  expence  dealt,  out  their  fulminations 
 against  one  another  with  a  profligate  prodigality. 
 
 The  bishop  of  Rome,  with  a  policy  becoming  the  occasion,  an- 
 nounced himself  as  the  protector  of  all  oppressed  clergymen.  This 
 drew  to  his  court  an  incredible  number  of  appellants  ;  and,  by  a  reg- 
 ulated system  of  craft  and  encroachment,  enabled  him  to  rise  in  the 
 scale  of  eminence.  So  besotted  were  the  people  now  become,  that 
 the  vices  of  the  clergy  did  not  lessen  the  reverence  paid  them  by 
 that  superstitious  generation.  This  false  piety,  and  blind  veneration 
 of  ignorant  devotees,  made  the  function  of  a  clergyman  a  very 
 agreeable  thing,  and  introduced  into  the  order  a  horde  of  idle  and 
 vicious  men ;  among  whom  saints  sprung  up  like  mushrooms,  and 
 were  looked  up  to  by  the  ignorant  as  men  highly  favoured  of  heav- 
 en. The  monks,  meantime,  like  locusts,  began  to  cover  the  earth, 
 and  rallying  under  various  leaders,  formed  a  veteran  corps  for  sup- 
 porting the  dignity  of  the  mother  church,  and  watching  the  vacan- 
 cies of  the  opulent  bishopricks.  Convents,  too,  were  multiplied 
 throughout  the  christian  world  in  this  eventful  age ;  and  such  were 
 the  notions  of  the  people,  that  the  founders  of  these  receptacles  of 
 indolence  and  every  vice,  were  considered  the  most  meritorious 
 individuals. 
 
 As  superstition  advanced,  departed  spirits  rose  in  veneration. 
 Their  images  began  to  be  held  sacred  ;  the  presence  of  the  saint  was 
 supposed  to  exist  in  the  image,  and  astonishing  miracles  were 
 not  wanting  to  attest  its  deification;  while  relics  became  sov- 
 ereign remedies  for  all  diseases,  either  of  the  body  or  the  mind. 
 They  were  believed  to  possess  the  power  of  driving  away  de- 
 vils, and  removing  every  evil  to  which  mortality  is  incident. 
 The  bishop  of  Rome  was  the  first  who  patronized  this  lucrative 
 trade,  and,  with  his  own  hands,  dispensing  these  astonishing 
 favours  to  his  ignorant  votaries.  The  clergy  had  long  endeavoured 
 to  raise  their  importance,  and  make  themselves  necessary  to  the 
 people,  and  had  so  far  succeeded,  that  they  were  now  considered 
 as  the  only  persons  capable  of  approaching  the  Deity,  and  obtain- 
 ing for  them  the  favours  they  wanted.  The  pomp  of  worship, 
 garments,  altars,  and  utensils,  awed  the  vulgar  to  reverence ;  while 
 a  round  of  bawling  services,  night  and  day,  kept  up  the  ostenta- 
 tatious  appearance  of  fervent  devotion.  And  the  Nestorian  con- 
 troversy at  last  introduced  Mary,  with  her  Son,  to  the  first  and  most 
 conspicuous  place  in  the  orthodox  church.  The  public  penance  was 
 now  cunningly  dispensed  with,  to  make  room  for  auricular  confes- 
 sion and  private  absolution ;  a  mode  at  once  more  convenient  for 
 the  culprit,  and  much  more  agreeable,  as  it  gave  additional  import- 
 ance to  the  ghostly  fathers. 
 
 We  are   now  stepping  from  the   glimmerings   of  twilight  to  the 
 2  f 
 
Xlll  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 the  darkness  of  a  night,  where  scarcely  a  star  looks  through  the 
 dismal  gloom  to  guide  the  groping  pilgrim  on  his  dubious  way. 
 The  Goths  and  Vandals  were  triumphant.  Anastasius  and  Justin 
 exerted  themselves  to  arrest  the  progress  of  these  powerful  invad- 
 ers, but  to  no  purpose ;  their  efforts  rather  increased  the  public 
 calamity.  A  momentary  triumph  was  obtained  by  Belisarius  in 
 Africa,  and  Narses  in  Italy;  but  this  was  succeeded  by  fresh 
 swarms  of  Lombards,  who  established  their  empire  over  the  degen- 
 erate Romans,  and  ruled  them  with  a  rod  of  iron.  In  the  mean- 
 time, astonishing  conversions  of  whole  nations,  Germans,  Gauls, 
 Britons,  &c,  increased  the  fame  of  the  monkish  apostles,  who  were 
 now  busied  in  baptizing  their  converts  by  thousands. 
 
 Wherever  these  monkish  itinerants  had  the  fortune  to  gain  a 
 queen  for  a  convert,  with  a  king  complacent  enough  to  acquiesce  in  the 
 superior  wisdom  of  his  christian  consort,  a  nation  was  born  at  once ; 
 who,  notwithstanding  of  their  new  name,  retained  their  former  igno- 
 rance, and  had  only  changed  their  superstition.  To  stimulate 
 these  hasty  conversions,  Gregory  the  Great  had  granted  them  the 
 indulgence  of  all  the  sports  and  pastimes  attached  to  their  pagan 
 festivities,  only  that  the  virgin  and  her  Son,  with  the  Apostles 
 and  other  saints,  were  to  be  worshipped  instead  of  Thor  and 
 Friga.  About  this  period,  miracles,  became  so  numerous,  that  they 
 nearly  ceased  to  be  miraculous. 
 
 By  the  beginning  of  this,  the  seventh  century,  the  barbarian 
 conquerors  had  generally  submitted  to  the  religion  of  the  vanquish- 
 ed. The  Lombards  and  Burgundians  embraced  the  orthodox  faith  ; 
 and  the  Anglo  Saxon  kings  of  the  heptarchy  in  England,  had  en- 
 tered the  pale  of  the  church,  several  of  them  by  the  instigation  of 
 their  fair  consorts  and  could  easily  command  their  ignorant  sub- 
 jects to  embrace  the  opinions  of  their  masters.  The  Jews  in  Spain, 
 and  the  Gauls,  as  they  had  been  driven  into  the  church,  so  they 
 were  retained  by  the  discipline  of  the  sword ;  while  Heraclius, 
 throughout  his  empire  in  the  east,  dragged  his  reluctant  subjects  to 
 the  fonts,  and  generously  baptized  them  in  multitudes.  Yet,  after 
 all,  these  wholesale  conversions  scarcely  amounted  to  a  tithe  of  the 
 numbers  cut  off  by  the  sword  of  persecution,  or  the  destructive  in- 
 roads of  the  barbarians. 
 
 The  Nestorian  Christians  ashamed  of  this  imperial  process,  went 
 to  work  in  a  more  pleasing  and  apostolic  manner.  Their  mission- 
 ary efforts  were  directed  to  India,  China,  and  the  numberless  tribes  of 
 northern  barbarians,  even  into  Scythia  and  Siberia.  All  outward 
 persecution  against  the  church  as  a  body  had  now  subsided,  with  the 
 exception  of,  now  and  then,  a  scene  of  transitory  oppression  from  the 
 Persians,  and  some  malicious  attacks  from  the  Jews  in  Syria  and 
 Palestine ;  so  that  the  christian  world  slumbered  in  the  arms  of  ease, 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  xliil 
 
 ignorance  and  indifference,  while  a  stupid  system  of  pompous, 
 mechanical,  and  unceasing  devotion,  threatened  to  lull  her  asleep, 
 unconscious  of  the  scourge  that  was  preparing  to  chastise  her  mani- 
 fold and  grievous  baclfcslidings. 
 
 In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the  famous  Mahomet  first  made 
 his  public  appearance.  A  man  of  admirable  invention,  and  ready 
 elocution,  possessing  at  once  a  fearless  intrepidity  and  inflexible  per- 
 severance, with  a  noble  and  commanding  exterior.  He  had  been 
 engaged  in  a  course  of  mercantile  transactions  in  Arabia,  where,  by 
 travelling,  he  became  acquainted  with  that  country,  and  the  manners 
 of  its  inhabitants.  The  Christianity  professed  in  these  regions,  as 
 elsewhere,  had  been  wofully  adultered  and  jumbled  together  with 
 pagan  and  monkish  superstition,  insomuch,  that  he  considered  the 
 erection  of  a  new  religion,  amongst  a  people  so  debased  with  ignor- 
 ance, to  be  a  matter  of  obvious  practicability. 
 
 Accordingly,  adopting  the  leading  doctrine  of  the  Jewish  and 
 Christian  religion,  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  and  exploding  every 
 species  of  idolatry  and  polytheism,  while  manifesting  the  highest 
 reverence  for  the  one  Jehovah,  he  pretended  a  divine  commission  for 
 correcting  the  errors  and  abuses  of  Jews  and  christians,  and  for  re- 
 storing the  primitive  and  patriarchal  religion  of  Abraham.  To 
 render  his  religious  system  more  palatable,  he  admitted  polygamy, 
 and  promised  his  votaries  a  paradise  of  carnal  enjoyments,  that  he 
 might  thereby  seduce  the  voluptuous :  while  the  sword  of  vengeance 
 was  unsheathed  to  compel  the  refractory. 
 
 The  gross  ignorance  universally  prevalent,  the  corruption  of 
 manners,  the  quarrels  and  irreconcilable  enmity  amongst  the  chris- 
 tians of  that  period,  rendered  them  an  easy  acquisition  to  a  religion, 
 wherein  Moses  and  Christ  held  a  distinguished  place  amongst  the 
 prophets  ;  and  sensuality  was  indulged  with  its  most  alluring  grati- 
 fications, while  the  strong  arm  of  vengeance  left  no  alternative  but 
 conversion,  death,  or  slavery.  How  much  the  christians  must  have 
 suffered  under  the  bloody  progress  of  this  new  religion  it  is  painful 
 to  contemplate. 
 
 In  this  century,  the  long  and  ardent  struggle  for  clerical  supre- 
 macy, between  Rome  and  Constantinople,  came  to  a  final  rupture. 
 Many  attempts  to  close  up  the  wounds  had  all  proved  abortive  :  the 
 one  church,  too  proud  to  receive  an  equal,  the  other,  to  suffer  a  su- 
 perior. Rome  exercised  all  her  craft  and  ingenuity  to  raise  herself 
 to  supreme  authority  over  all  the  churches ;  but  her  attempts  this 
 way  met  with  a  spirited  opposition  from  many  kings  and  bishops 
 in  the  western  empire  ;  while  the  east,  with  few  exceptions,  remained 
 obedient  to  Constantinople.     The  ancient  Britons  and   Scotch  had 
 
Xliv  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 often  disputed  the  mandates  of  the  Roman  Bishops ;  and  the  churches 
 of  Spain  and  Gaul  rejected  whatever  they  considered  an  infringe- 
 ment of  their  privileges  ;  and  even  in  Italy,  the  bishop  of  Ravena, 
 and  others  refused  all  unqualified  submission,  In  order  therefore  to 
 strengthen  the  authority  of  Rome,  her  politic  pontiffs  contrived  to 
 attach  the  monks  to  her  obedience,  by  encouraging  them  to  quarrel 
 with  the  bishops  under  whose  superintendence  they  had  formerly 
 been  placed,  and  transfer  their  obedience  to  Rome.  A  mighty  host  was 
 thus  rallying  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  pope,  who  to  secure 
 their  allegiance,  afforded  them  very  singular  indulgences.  Thus, 
 wealth  accumulating  with  a  gradual  acquisition  of  strength,  a  power 
 sprung  up  in  the  west,  which,  in  subsequent  ages,  hurled  its  thun- 
 ders at  the  most  powerful  monarchs,  and  brought  them  trembling  to 
 the  footstool  of  the  haughty  possessor  of  the  triple  crown.  The 
 Scriptures  notwithstanding  all  these  lamentable  circumstances  were 
 still  in  the  hands  of  the  people  who  read  them  without  restraint. 
 Neither,  as  yet,  according  to  Ildephonsus,  had  the  absurd  doctrine 
 of  transubstantiation  been  invented,  though  the  celebration  of  the 
 Lord's  supper  had  been  loaded  with  endless  ceremonies,  attended  with 
 all  the  useless  pomp  of  pageantry  and  dress. 
 
 The  Saracens  continued  to  extend  their  conquests,  and  spread  their  re- 
 ligion through  Asia  and  Africa ;  while  the  distracted  state  of  the  eastern 
 empire  paralyzed  her  strength,  and  precluded  the  possibility  of  any 
 thing  like  a  vigorous  defence.  At  Constantinople  all  was  confusion 
 and  alarm ;  one  emperor  after  another  had  been  hurled  from  his 
 throne,  and  the  contending  parties  were  wasting  their  strength  on  one 
 another,  in  a  cruel  and  vindictive  domestic  warefare,  notwithstanding 
 that  the  Saracens  were  approaching  their  very  walls,  ready  to  sieze 
 on  the  jarring,  effeminate,  and  already  desolated  empire.  In  the 
 west  the  prospect  was  equally  appalling.  An  army  of  Saracens 
 having  passed  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  rushed  into  Spain  with  the 
 impetuosity  of  a  mountain  torrent,  and  bearing  down  every  opposi- 
 tion extended  their  conquests  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone,  and  car- 
 ried their  ravaging  excursions  into  Corsica,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and 
 along  the  Italian  shores.  The  Grecian  emperors  were  unable  to 
 make  head  against  this  formidable  irruption,  and  Europe  was  ready 
 to  bend  to  the  Mahometan  yoke,  when  the  Gauls  under  the  famous 
 Martel,  mayor  of  the  palace  to  Childeric,  interposed  for  the  safety 
 of  the  continent,  defeated  the  invaders,  and,  for  a  time,  arrested  their 
 destructive  career. 
 
 The  internal  state  of  the  Roman  empire,  at  this  period  of  her 
 history,  was  truly  humiliating  ;  driven  from  her  possessions  by  the 
 Saracens,  and' now  also  attacked  by  the  Turks,  who  spread  disoja- 
 tion  wherever  they  directed  their  way ;  while  the  nobility  and 
 clergy,  in  place  of  rousing  the  spirit  of  the  people  to  defend  their 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH,  xlv 
 
 country,  by  their  authority  and  example,  we  find  them  so  seriously 
 engaged  in  securing  their  private  interests,  and  promoting  their 
 schemes  of  ambition,  that  every  spark  of  patriotism  and  piety  seems 
 to  have  deserted  the  devoted  empire.  Enervated  by  luxury,  the 
 Roman  intrepidity  was  now  no  more  ;  while  an  ignorant,  luxurious, 
 and  aspiring  priesthood,  sunk  in  sensuality,  and  contaminated  with 
 the  most  scandalous  vices,  cared  only  for  their  lucrative  situations. 
 They  had  contrived  to  draw,  from  the  ignorant  population,  an  am- 
 ple share  of  reverence  and  unmerited  esteem,  which  served  to  hide 
 their  enormities  from  the  public  eye,  while  a  brotherly  feeling, 
 amongst  themselves,  secured  their  impunity,  and  covered  their  dis- 
 grace. 
 
 The  transcendent  merit  of  liberal  donations  to  the  church, 
 had  always  been  a  theme  on  which  the  clergy  dwelt  with  peculiar 
 complacency ;  but  now,  more  than  ever,  had  this  lucrative  doctrine 
 became  the  subject  of  monkish  declamation,  and  procured  for  the 
 holy  coffers  immense  sums  from  every  quarter  of  the  christian 
 world.  So  brutishly  ignorant  and  superstitious  were  men  now 
 become,  that  no  man,  living  or  dying,  in  health  or  sickness,  con- 
 sidered his  soul  in  safety,  unless  he  had  interested  the  Virgin,  or 
 some  favourite  saint,  in  his  behalf.  Kings,  warriors,  and  even  men 
 of  wealth,  being,  perhaps,  with  propriety,  considered  the  greatest  sin- 
 ners, so  they  had  it  in  their  power,  at  all  times,  to  redeem  their 
 sinful  souls,  at  an  easy  rate,  by  dividing,  with  mother-church,  the 
 plunder  they  had  iniquitously  acquired  in  prosecuting  their  schemes 
 of  ambitious  aggrandizement.  "  Redeem  your  souls,  from  the 
 punishment  due  to  your  sins,  while  you  have  the  means  in  your 
 power,"  says  St.  Eloi,  the  highly  revered  bishop  of  Noyon,  in  one 
 of  his  homilies.  "  He  is  the  good  christian."  continues  the  same 
 writer,  "  who  comes  often  to  church,  and  brings  his  oblation  to 
 be  presented  on  God's  altar.  Who  presumes  not  to  taste  the  fruits 
 he  has  gathered,  till  he  has  first  made  his  offering  of  them  to  God  ; 
 who,  on  the  return  of  the  sacred  solemnities,  for  many  days  pre- 
 ceding, observes  a  sacred  continence,  even  from  his  own  wife,  that 
 he  may  approach  God's  altar  with  a  safe  conscience ;  and  who  can 
 repeat,  by  memory,  the  creed  and  the  Lord's  prayer.'*  Again, 
 "  Offer  your  tithes  and  oblations  to  the  churches ;  light  up  candles 
 in  the  consecrated  places,  according  to  your  abilities  ;  come  fre- 
 quently to  the  church,  and,  with  all  humility  pray  to  the  saints  for 
 their  patronage  and  protection  ;  which  things,  if  you  do,  when,  at 
 the  last  day,  you  stand  at  the  tremendous  bar  of  the  eternal  Judge, 
 you  may  say  confidently  to  him, — "  Da  Domini,  quia  dedi," — Give, 
 Lord,  because  I  have  given." 
 
 Accordingly,   under  the  blind  impression  of  these,  and  similar 
 absurdities,  emperors,  kings,  and  nobles,  were  now  in  the  habit  of 
 
Xlvi  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 giving  to  the  church,  not  merely  money  and  vestments,  but  also 
 estates,  dignities,  and  tenures ;  whereby  many  bishops  became 
 dukes,  counts,  and  marquisses.  Of  these  gratuities,  however,  the 
 Roman  pontiff  received  the  most  liberal  proportion ;  and  being 
 considered  the  prime  object  of  veneration,  the  oracle  in  all  difficul- 
 ties, and  pacificator  in  all  cases  of  contention,  it  is  inconceivable  the 
 revenues  he  must  have  derived  from  his  then  unbroken  and  universal 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 In  the  midst  of  all  this  profusion  and  profligacy,  science  was 
 suffered  to  expire,  and  knowledge,  profane  as  well  as  scriptural, 
 ceased  to  be  cultivated.  In  the  church,  the  most  wretched  homilies, 
 interlarded  with  fables,  and  the  spiritual  adventures  of  saints  and 
 holy  martyrs,  were  substituted  in  the  room  of  gospel  preaching, 
 committed  to  memory,  and  delivered  by  rote  ;  for  the  priests  of  this 
 age,  for  the  most  part,  could  neither  read  nor  write.  Britain  and 
 Ireland,  however,  had  yet  afforded  an  asylum  for  the  fragments  of 
 literature  that  had  escaped  the  general  wreck. 
 
 In  the  beginning  of  this,  the  eighth  century,  the  supreme  go- 
 vernment of  the  church  still  remained  with  the  Grecian  emperors, 
 without  whose  approbation,  though  a  pontiff  might  be  elected,  it 
 was  not  considered  valid.     The  Koman  pontiff  had  resorted  to  every 
 stratagem  and  intrigue  that  appeared  conducive  to  the  success  of  his 
 darling  design,  of  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  universal  church, 
 and  giving  laws  to  his  hated  rival,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople. 
 The  contests  and  bickerings  occasioned  by  the  jealousy  and  ambi- 
 tion of  these  two  leading  ecclesiastics,  received  about  this  time  an 
 uncommon  degree  of  exasperation.     The  Latin  churches  were  be- 
 come wonderfully  fond  of  the  images  and  pictures  of  Christ,  his 
 mother,  and  a  number  of  other  favourite  saints.     These  represen- 
 tations had  at  first  been  introduced  as  ornaments  to  the  churches, 
 or  simple  memorials  of  favourite  objects,  without  any  idea  of  their 
 being  entitled  to  religious  veneration  ;  but  the  progress  of  supersti- 
 tion had  made  the  important  discovery,  that  there  was  connected, 
 with  these  holy  representations,  a  sort  of  inhabitation,  or  presence 
 of  the  object  so  represented.     The   Greek  church  had  not,  as  yet, 
 made  that  very  important  discovery;  and  a  very  warm  contest  took 
 place,  in  which  both  parties  defended  their  positions  with  uncom- 
 mon intrepidity.     During  this  animated  display  of  christian   zeal, 
 the  emperor  Bardanes  consulted  with  John,  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
 stantinople, on  this  knotty  point,  and  with  his  approbation,  dispatch- 
 ed his  orders  to  Rome  for  removing  and  excluding  all  images  and 
 pictures  from  the  churches ;  but  the  angry  pontiff,  so  far  from  ac- 
 quiescing or  complying  with  the  imperial  requisition,  ordered  other 
 paintings  to  be  set  up  in  the  church  of  St  Peter ;  and   calling  a 
 council,  condemned  the  emperor  and  all  his  abettors.     But  the  revo- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  xlvii 
 
 lution   that   happened  soon  after  this    having   removed  Bardanes 
 from  the  throne,  for  sometime  suspended  the  quarrel. 
 
 But  Leo,  called  the  Isaurian,  revived  the  dispute,  and,  that  he 
 might  silence  the  sarcastic  reproaches  of  the  Jews  and  Mahometans, 
 who  detest,  and  have  excluded  from  their  worship  every  species  of 
 imagery,  determined  to  remove  this  stumbling-block.  An  edict  was 
 accordingly  issued,  to  remove  from  all  the  churches  every  image  and 
 picture  of  whatever  description.  The  fire  of  contention,  thus  kin- 
 dled, and  fanned  by  the  breath  of  the  priesthood,  immediately  burned 
 into  an  inextinguishable  conflagration,  The  priests  and  monks  saw 
 their  craft  in  danger,  and  that  their  profits  must  be  curtailed,  and 
 the  profusion  of  their  tables  diminished,  should  this  lucrative  trade 
 become  contraband.  To  prevent  this  terrible  misfortune/  they  ha- 
 rangued their  ignorant  and  supertitious  votaries  into  rebellion,  pro- 
 claimed the  emperor  an  apostate,  and  released  his  subjects  from  all 
 duty  and  allegiance  to  such  an  enemy  of  God  and  his  saints. 
 
 A  civil  war  was  now  raging  in  some  of  the  Islands,  and  in  part 
 of  Asia ;  and  the  Roman  and  Italian  provinces,  instigated  by  the 
 enraged  pontiff,  rebelled  and  murdered  or  banished  the  emperor's 
 officers.  Leo,  enraged  at  their  audacity,  hastened  to  revenge  the 
 insult ;  but  was  foiled  and  obliged  to  retire  with  disgrace  ;  and,  in 
 his  fury,  commanded  all  the  images  to  be  collected  from  the  churches 
 of  Constantinople,  and  committed  to  the  flames,  denouncing  the 
 severest  punishment  on  all  who  should  be  found  practising  this  idol- 
 atrous worship.  Thus,  the  war  was  declared  and  prosecuted  with 
 arms,  both  spiritual  and  temporal  to  the  great  destruction  of  the 
 empire,  and  the  unspeakable  joy  of  the  Saracens,  less  hated  by  the 
 bishops  of  Home  than  their,  image-hunting  emperor. 
 
 The  son  of  Leo  Copronymous  succeeding  his  father,  used  the 
 most  strenuous  efforts  to  suppress  this  hateful  worship  ;  and  having 
 subdued  the  rebellious  pontiff  and  his  fanatic  monks  and  clergy,  he 
 summoned  a  general  council  at  Constantinople,  in  which  images, 
 and  the  worship  of  images,  were  most  solemnly  condemned  ;  but  the 
 decrees  were  only  submitted  to,  so  far  as  the  imperial  sword  had  power 
 to  enforce  them.  At  Rome  they  were  despised  ;  nor  were  the  pun- 
 ishments inflicted  on  the  monkish  preachers  of  sedition  sufficient  to 
 extinguish  the  flame  of  this  enthusiastic  revolt.  His  son  enforced, 
 by  the  severest  punishments,  the  decrees  of  his  predecessor:  and  to 
 avenge  himself  on  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  confiscated  all  that  church's 
 possessions  in  Sicily  and  Calabria,  which  together  with  Illyricum, 
 he  withdrew  from  the  jurisdiction  of  Rome  to  that  of  Constantinople. 
 This  circumstance  rendered  the  enmity  irreconcilable,  and  paved  the 
 way  to  the  final  separation  of  these  churches,  while  it  provoked  the 
 Roman  pontiff  to  look  out  another  master  ;  which,  however,  he  had 
 predetermined  to  make,  not  only  his  subject,  but  his  slave. 
 
Xlviii  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 When  the  object  of  all  these  ruinous  transactions  had  grown 
 stale,  and  almost  fallen  asleep  in  the  east,  a  revolution,  of  the  most 
 horrid  description,  afforded  a  complete  triumph  to  the  Roman 
 pontiff. 
 
 The  empress  Irene,  that  she  might  hold  the  reins  of  government 
 during  the  minority  of  her  son,  found  means  to  administer  a  cup  of 
 poison  to  her  husband.  Adrian,  the  then  pontiff,  seized  the  aus- 
 picious moment  to  league  himself  with  this  female  monster,  and,  by 
 a  second  Nicene  council,  abrogated  the  former  decrees,  and  estab- 
 lished the  worship  of  images,  with  anathemas  on  all  who  insisted  on 
 the  worship  of  God  alone.  St.  Gregory  had  forbidden  the  worship 
 of  images  in  any  manner  whatsoever.  Charlemagne  and  his  bishops 
 held  a  middle  path  in  this  controversy,  supposing  that  images  might 
 be  allowed  in  the  churches,  but  not  the  worship.  Adrian  the  pon- 
 tiff, disapproving  their  decision,  drew  up  a  refutation.  In  opposition 
 however,  both  to  his  defence,  and  the  decisions  of  his  Nicene  coun- 
 cil, this  worship  was  condemned,  in  a  new  synod,  held  at  Frankfort, 
 consisting  of  three  hundred  bishops,  convoked  by  the  emperor. 
 Hitherto,  therefore,  the  church  of  Rome  had  neither  established  her 
 infallibility  nor  her  supremacy. 
 
 A  second  controversy,  concerning  the  procession  of  the  Holy 
 Ghost,  rose  to  an  amazing  height,  and,  together  with  the  former  on 
 images,  tended  greatly  to  complete  the  separation  of  these  discord- 
 ant churches.  During  this  controversial  period,  vital  religion  sunk 
 into  obscurity ;  while  her  purity  was  lost  in  childish  rites  and  cere- 
 monial pomposity.  No  preaching  remained  but  stupid  homilies. 
 No  public  worship,  but  an  empty  form.  The  Lord's  supper  was  be- 
 come a  piece  of  pageantry;  and  private  masses,  by  a  solitary  priest, 
 for  the  souls  of  the  dead,  added  another  lucrative  source  of  sacerdo- 
 tal pillage,  and  a  heavy  burden  on  their  deluded  relatives.  The 
 mode  of  worship  in  the  churches  of  Rome,  was  with  a  few  excep- 
 tions, adopted  by  Charlemagne  for  the  churches  of  the  west;  which 
 added  another  link  to  the  chain  that  was  destined  to  bind  them  to 
 the  foot  of  the  papal  throne. 
 
 In  tracing  the  history  of  a  christian  church  destitute  of  Christianity, 
 we  are  still  descending  into  regions  of  darkness  and  chaos,  where  a  re- 
 maining ray  of  primitive  piety  or  simplicity,  to  enliven  the  scene  of  ac- 
 cumulating darkness  and  deformity,  can  scarcely  be  seen.  The  east 
 submitting  to  the  caliphs,  Africa  subdued,  their  conquests  extended  to 
 India,  and  throughout  the  Persian  empire.  Sicily,  added  to  Spain, 
 already  in  their  possession,  Sardinia,  Crete,  and  the  islands,  aug- 
 menting the  roll  of  their  conquests ;  Calabria  overrun,  and  Italy 
 ready  to  bend  to  the  Mahometan  yoke  ;  while  a  fresh  swarm  of  pir- 
 atical plunderers  from  the  north,  Danes  or  Normands,  infested  the 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  xlix 
 
 the  coasts  of  Germany,  Britain,  Gaul  and  Spain,  marking  their  bloody 
 route  with  devastation,  plunder,  and  captivity.  When  repelled  in 
 one  place,  they  landed  on  another  ;  erecting  principalities  wherever, 
 the  country  invited,  and  the  feebleness  of  the  inhabitants  permitted 
 them  to  remain.  These  ignorant  mauraders,  not  content  with  plun- 
 dering the  feeble  inhabitants,  destroyed  the  remaining  fragments  of 
 knowledge  that  had  survived  the  ravages  of  former  barbarians,  and 
 escaped  the  observation  of  ages  of  ignorance ;  but  especially  haras- 
 sing the  christian  establishments,  these  being  found  most  productive 
 in  objects  of  desirable  plunder.  Thus  inflicting  the  dreadful  woe 
 pronounced  against  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  ami  the  sea. 
 
 Of  this  once  mighty  empire,  now  incestuously  united  in  church 
 and  state,  it  may  truly  be  said,  the  head  was  sick,  the  heart  faint, 
 and  the  whole  unhallowed  carcase  covered  with  wounds,  bruises,  and 
 putrifying  sores.  The  people,  brutishly  ignorant,  were  lamentably 
 immoral ;  the  lower  orders  of  the  priesthood,  still  more  wicked  and 
 profligate  than  their  pupils ;  but  the  heads  of  the  church  at  Rome 
 were,  of  all,  the  most  transcendently  vicious.  Pursuing,  with  inflex- 
 ible perseverance,  the  grand  object  of  universal  jurisdiction,  hesita* 
 ted  at  the  commission  of  no  crime,  calculated  to  promote  or  secure 
 the  darling  object  of  their  ambition.  During  the  reign  of  Charle- 
 magne, and  some  of  his  successors,  who  held  the  reigns  of  govern- 
 ment with  a  vigorous  hand,  they  could  only  make  encroachments  on 
 the  feeble  ;  but,  in  proportion  as  the  successors  of  Charlemagne  de- 
 clined in  power  and  authority,  the  popes  rose  in  their  claims  and 
 pretensions ;  or  when  civil  wars  broke  out  amongst  the  competitors 
 for  the  imperial  crown,  warily  seized  the  moment  of  opportunity 
 for  acquiring  additional  privileges,  by  throwing  their  weight  and 
 powerful  influence  into  one  of  the  scales,  till  by  pursuing  this  mode 
 of  policy,  they  assumed  the  right,  and  really  possessed  the  power  of 
 bestowing  or  rather  making  merchandise  of  the  imperial  crown, 
 which  was  frequently  purchased  by  the  richest  gifts  and  the  most 
 abject  concessions.  The  princes,  thus  raised  by  papal  influence, 
 were  bound  to  support  and  establish  the  pontiff's  dominion  and  au- 
 thority. And  thus  embodied,  they  now  claimed  universal  power  in 
 all  things  relative  to  religion,  and  denied,  even  to  councils  of  the 
 church,  the  power  of  determining,  either  of  doctrine  or  discipline, 
 without  their  consent  and  approbation.  The  whole  body  of  prelacy 
 was  thus  completely  subjected  to  the  pope,  the  successor  of  Peter  the 
 representative  of  Christ,  and  the  only  visible  head  of  his  church 
 upon  earth. 
 
 In  this  way,  emperors,  kings,  prelates,  and  people,  were  ultimately 
 subjected  to  pontifical  sovereignty,  so  that  the  Roman  pontiff  may 
 be  said  to  have  now  held  the  reigns   of  govenment,  both  spiritual 
 
 2  G 
 
1  HISTORICAL  SKKTCH  OF 
 
 and  temporal,  oyer  an  ignorant  degraded  and  fearingly  submissive 
 world.  But  nothing  contributed  so  much  to  the  success  of  the  pa- 
 pal ambition,  as  the  legions  of  monks  so  universally  dispersed  a- 
 mongst  the  nations,  who  in  their  interested  zeal  for  their  very  lib- 
 eral and  indulgent,  master,  the  pope,  taught  the  ignorant  people, 
 that  to  escape  the  tremendous  vengeance  due  to  their  iniquities,  their 
 implicit  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  and  the  intercession  of 
 its  supreme  lord  and  law-giver,  the  Roman  pontiff,  was  altogether 
 indispensable. 
 
 The  danger  was  imminent ;  and  what  will  a  man  not  give  for  his 
 own  soul  ?  or  who  would  contend  with  a  power,  qualified  by  a  single 
 breath,  to  sentence  them  to  ten  thousand  years'  weltering  in  the 
 flames  of  purgatory,  or  to  consign  them  to  the  hopeless  state  of  end- 
 less retribution  !  This  monkish  fraternity  had  become  so  reputed' 
 ly  holy,  that  even  kings  and  princes  abandoned  their  thrones  re- 
 nounced the  world,  and  retired  from  its  temptations,  to  these  soul 
 purifying  solitudes.  So  effectually  had  men  given  up  their  reason, 
 and  the  use  of  their  senses,  that  numbers  who  had  not  the  heart  to 
 renounce  their  dignities  when  living  clothed  themselves  in  monkish 
 habiliments  when  dying,  in  the  hope  of  becoming,  at  least,  partial 
 partakers  of  their  terrestrial  merits  and  heavenly  beatifications ; 
 and  what  is  still  more  unaccountable,  the  profligacy  of  these  licen- 
 tious vermin  seems  not  to  have  diminished  the  general  veneration 
 for  their  order. 
 
 Knowledge  was  now  at  the  lowest  ebb,  nor  could  the  best  endeav- 
 ours of  Charlemagne  and  his  son  to  improve  mankind,  by  promoting 
 literature,  produce  any  significant  alteration  for  the  better;  ignor- 
 ance still  retained  her  throne  of  darkness.  Such  was  the  melancholy 
 condition  of  the  church  and  the  world  towards  the  end  of  the  ninth 
 century.  The  tenth  added  still  to  the  accumulating  heaps  of  rubbish. 
 Prelates  at  last  circumscribed  in  their  authority  by  the  all-grasping 
 pontiffs,  endeavoured  to  right  themselves,  by  claiming  civil  as  well 
 as  ecclesiastical  authority,  in  the  cities  where  they  dwelt,  and  the 
 diocesses  over  which  they  presided  ;  in  many  of  which  kings  and 
 emperors  connived  at  their  encroachments  ;  some  from  the  reverence 
 attached  to  their  character  ;  others  perhaps,  from  an  opinion,  that 
 temporary  prelates  were  less  dangerous  magistrates  than  an  heredi- 
 tary nobility.  A  perusal,  however,  of  St.  Dunstan's  conflicts  with 
 the  devil,  or  Simeon  the  patriarch's  lives  of  the  saints,  will  exhibit 
 a  tolerable  specimen,  both  of  the  taste  of  the  times,  and  the  debased 
 state  of  literature,  either  christian  or  scientific. 
 
 Immense  as  were  the  revenues  of  the  church  at  this  period,  thede- 
 niand  still  out-did  the  returns.      But  now  a  most   productive  mine  of 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  li 
 
 wealth  was  discovered,  which  had  for  ages  been  concealed  in  the 
 Revelations  of  St.  John  the  divine,  who  according  to  their  selfish 
 interpretation,  had  foretold,  that  the  general  judgment  would  take 
 place  at  the  end  of  the  first  thousand  years.  The  clergy,  improv- 
 ing this  period  of  terror  and  excitement  to  their  own  advantage, 
 multitudes,  to  secure  some  merit  against  that  decisive  crisis,  be- 
 queathed all  their  wealth  to  the  church  and  her  holy  ministers,  con- 
 sidering that  the  end  of  all  things  were  at  hand.  This  delusion  was 
 so  universal,  that  every  where  multitudes  consigned  their  person i 
 and  property  to  the  ministers  and  Monasteries  of  the  church  ;  and 
 others,  forsaking  all,  marched  off  to  Palestine,  where  they  expected 
 Christ  would  descend  and  give  them  a  favourable  reception,  as  the 
 reward  of  their  laborious  pilgrimage. 
 
 But  now  the  service  of  the  virgin  was  coming  into  special  re- 
 pute in  the  church.  It  was  supposed  that  she  possessed  by  far 
 the  greatest  influence  in  heaven.  Accordingly,  to  celebrate  mas- 
 ses to  her  honour,  and  multiply  devotions  in  her  name,  became  a 
 favourite  service ;  and  a  rosary  and  crown  were  invented,  con- 
 sisting of  noisy  repetitions  of  certain  prayers;  the  first  containing  a 
 round  of  fifteen  repetitions  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  one  hundred 
 and  fifty  ave-marias ;  the  last,  of  seven  repetitions  of  the  Lord's 
 prayer,  and  seven  times  ten  salutations  to  the  blessed,  and  in  their 
 mistaken  views,  adorable  virgin. 
 
 As  a  strong  and  retentive  memory  became  extremely  necessary  in 
 the  performance  of  these  multitudinous  devotions,  and  this  not  being 
 the  privilege  of  every  devotee,  a  number  of  beads,  strung  on  catgut, 
 exhibiting  a  large  necklace,  was  ingeniously  provided  for  this  la- 
 borious task,  which,  by  dropping  a  bead  at  every  prayer  and  saluta- 
 tion, at  once  determined  the  right,  both  to  the  deity  and  devotee. 
 That  men  could  invent  such  fooleries,  is  wonderful ;  that  the  first 
 oflacial  character  in  the  church  should  sanction  their  efficacy,  is  ut- 
 terly astonishing. 
 
 In  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  triumphs  of  the 
 Mahometan  conquerors,  in  the  west,  threatened  to  overwhelm  the 
 European  continent;  and,  that  notwithstanding  that  an  apparent  zeal 
 had  been  manifested  for  delivering  the  christians  from  the  Ottoman 
 yoke ;  the  fever  subsided,  and  the  republic  of  Pisa  alone  armed  in 
 the  cause.  But  now  the  Roman  pontiffs,  taking  up  the  sinking  in- 
 terest of  Christianity  in  the  east ;  Gregory  the  seventh  sounded  the 
 alarm  of  war  through  the  nations  of  Europe ;  but  quarrels  at  home 
 suspended  the  preparation,  till  Peter  the  Hermit  roused  the  slumbering 
 enthusiasm  of  the  christian  princes  and  prelates  by  his  fanatical  de- 
 
Hi  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 clamations,  and  became  the  tool  of  Urban   the  second   in   executing 
 the  favourite  plan  of  the  papal  see. 
 
 Having  visited  the  desolated  plains  of  Palestine  and  seen  the 
 proud  crescent  waving  on  the  mosques,  once  consecrated  churches  of 
 Christ,  Peter  had  returned  with  a  soul  burning  with  indignation  at 
 the  sufferings  of  the  saints,  and  the  indignities  done  to  the  cross  ; 
 and,  painting  the  scenes  he  had  witnessed  with  the  most  impassioned 
 eloquence,  he  succeeded  in  kindling  a  flame,  that  burst  out  like  a 
 volcano.  At  first  he  solicited  the  aid  and  countenance  of  the  pa- 
 triarch of  Constantinople,  and  Urban,  the  Roman  pontiff,  but  with- 
 out success.  The  latter,  whoever,  so  soon  as  he  beheld  the  universal 
 efficacy  of  the  hermit's  oratory,  and  a  letter,  sent  him  from  heaven, 
 enclosing  a  commission  to  summon  the  nations  to  battle,  piously  o- 
 bedient  to  the  divine  mandate,  he  called  a  council  at  Placentia,  who 
 receiving  the  proposal  rather  coolly,  he  commanded  a  second  grand 
 assembly  to  meet  at  Clermont  the  following  year;  where  the  Franks 
 fond  of  chivalry,  and  overflowing  with  zeal  for  holy  church,  met  the 
 most  sanguine  wishes  of  their  spiritual  father,  listened  to  his  pathe- 
 tic discourses  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  war  and  religion,  and,  by 
 millions,  inlisted  under  the  sacred  banner  of  the  cross. 
 
 Without  attempting  to  detail  the  madness,  the  miseries,  or  the 
 conquests,  attending  this  crusading  enterprise,  suffice  it  to  say,  that 
 after  various  ineffectual  attempts,  and  the  destruction  of  one  army 
 after  another,  chiefly  occasioned  by  the  fatigues  of  the  march,  the 
 change  of  climate,  and  their  own  excesses,  an  expedition,  under  the 
 famous  Godfrey,  so  far  succeeded  in  the  object  of  their  enterprise, 
 that  they  founded  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  though  at  an  expense 
 of  blood  and  treasure  sufficient  to  people  a  much  larger  dominion, 
 and  purchase  a  far  more  valuable  principality. 
 
 But  the  honour  of  Christ,  restored  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Sara- 
 cens from  the  land  of  his  nativity,  and  the  cleansing  the  holy  sepul- 
 chre from  their  profanations,  rendered"  the  conquest  trans«en- 
 dehtly  meritorious,  at  least  in  the  opinion  of  the  conquerors ; 
 superadded  to  which  the  immense  quantity  of  holy  relics  found 
 in  Palestine,  or  purchased  and  carried  back  to  Europe  in  holy 
 triumph,  afforded  the  possessors  if  not  profit,  at  least  a  very  con- 
 siderable stock  of  importance.  But  the  profligacy  of  manners  a- 
 mongst  the  crusaders,  the  rapes,  murders,  plunder,  and  desolation 
 that  marked  their  track  were  but  miserable  specimens  of  their  pious 
 purposes. 
 
 The  claims  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  were  now  become  boundless. 
 They  asserted  their   right  to  confer   all  ecclesiastical  honours  and 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH,  liii 
 
 emoluments  ;  they  also  assumed  the  power  and  privilege  to  dispose 
 of  kingdoms  at  their  pleasure,  of  granting  titles  to  Monarch.-:,  and 
 absolving  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and  by  their  bulls  to  this 
 effect,  emperors  and  kings  were  frequently  subjected  to  the  most 
 mortifying  submissions. 
 
 Hitherto  the  papal  encroachments  had  been  gradual  and  chiefly 
 effected  by  policy  ;  but  now,  that  the  junto  had  been  tamely  allowed 
 to  take  possession  of  all  power,  they  were  become  less  cautious  and 
 careful  in  covering  their  designs.  Enthroned  in  majesty,  far  above 
 all  earthly  principalities  and  powers,  sitting  in  the  temple  of  God, 
 and  shewing  himself  as  God,  the  pope  disdainfully  looked  down  from 
 the  summit  of  his  proud  elevation,  regarding  the  people,  who  had 
 been  thus  brutalized,  degraded,  and  enslaved,  as  utterly  incapable, 
 from  their  ignorance,  to  detect  his  frauds,  or,  from  their  superstitious 
 imbecility,  to  retaliate  on  their  plunderers  and  oppressors.  How 
 much  they  had  deceived  themselves,  in  this  particular  we  shall  short- 
 ly see. 
 
 During  the  darkest  period  of  the  church,  though  all  was  silent, 
 all  was  not  secure  with  the  Roman  see.  Prior  to  the  beginning  of 
 this  century,  murmurs  began  to  be  whispered  about,  in  friendly  con- 
 fidence amongst  the  people,  which  gradually  increased,  till  the  ter- 
 rors arising  from  the  Mahometan  conquests,  were  much  less  alarm- 
 ing to  the  pope  and  his  cardinals,  than  the  mustering  legions  of  his 
 apostatizing  slaves. 
 
 Accordingly,  the  pontifical  policy,  under  these  circumstances,  was 
 almost  exclusively  directed  against  this  accumulating  host  of  rebels. 
 It  would  be  endless  to  ^detail  the  sufferings/  sustained,  and  the  ty- 
 ranny exercised,  at  this  time,  or  to  name  the  numerous  objects  of 
 persecution  ;  the  heaviest  weight  of  which  fell  on  the  south  of  France, 
 where,  under  the  general  denomination  of  Albigenses  and  Walden- 
 ses,  were  comprehended  all  who  resisted  the  absurd  claims  of  the  Ro- 
 man see,  and  refused  to  comply  with  the  imperious  dictates  of  its  infalli- 
 ble pontiffs,  or  who  wished  and  waited  for  a  reformation  of  the  church, 
 both  in  her  visible  head  and  members,  The  Waldenses  had  distri- 
 buted themselves  into  small  societies  :  and,  when  persecuted  in  one 
 city,  numbers  of  them  quietly  removed  to  another,  where  their  com- 
 plaints were  listened  to  by  vast  numbers,  now  become  sick  of  the  in- 
 tolerable yoke  of  superstition,  and  the  hypocritical  exercise  of  cler- 
 ical power. 
 
 The  pontiff  alarmed  at  the  boldness  of  these  reformers,  and  their 
 increasing  numbers,  had  an  inquisition  established  at  Toulouse,  who 
 
liv  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 laboured,  with  the  most  pious  and  indefatigable  perseverance,  to  ex- 
 tirpate these  heretical  rebels  to  the  holy  see;  and  for  this  purpose, 
 had  recourse  to  the  most  inhuman  and  unheard  of  cruelties ;  yet,  af- 
 ter thousands  upon  thousands  had  been  wantonly  sacrificed,  to  appease 
 the  wrath,  and  remove  the  guilty  terrors  of  the  alarmed  father  of  the 
 faithful,  and  every  principle  of  hellish  malignity  exhausted  for  their 
 destruction,  it  was  found,  that  prisons,  to  contain  their  numbers, 
 could  not  be  had ;  and  though  suppressed  in  one  place,  they  almost 
 instantaneously  burst  out  in  another. 
 
 The  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  doctrines  they  taught,  the  spotless 
 innocence  that  adorned  their  lives  and  actions,  the  noble  contempt  of 
 riches  and  aggrandizement  manifested  in  the  whole  of  their  con- 
 duct, appeared  so  engaging  to  all  who  possessed  a  sense  of  real 
 godliness,  that  their  numbers  increased  daily.  They  accordingly 
 formed  societies,  first  in  France,  and  afterwards  in  Lombardy; 
 from  whence  they  propagated  their  doctrines  throughout  the  Eu- 
 ropean continent,  and  Islands  adjacent,  with  incredible  rapidity,  and 
 with  such  unqualified  perseverance,  and  fearless  resolution,  that 
 neither  fire  nor  sword,  nor  the  most  merciless  inventions  of  their 
 persecuting  enemies,  could  damp  their  zeal  or  utterly  ruin  their 
 cause. 
 
 The  Roman  pontiffs  began  to  discover,  that  though  the  terrors  of 
 their  thunders  had  partly  silenced  the  clamours  of  the  people,  it  had 
 not  convinced  them  ;  yet,  in  place  of  setting  about  a  reformation  of 
 the  clergy,  and  a  redress  of  grievances,  they  went  to  work,  particu- 
 larly Boniface  the  VIII.  more  like  a  madman  than  a  sound  politi- 
 cian, pushing  forward  all  the  provoking  claims  of  his  predecessors 
 with  an  astonishing  pertinacity.  His  legates,  in  every  country,  im- 
 itated their  infallible  lord  and  master,  in  multiplying  the  number, 
 and  magnifying  the  severity  of  their  sufferings. 
 
 The  clergy,  avaricious  beyond  belief,  insufferably  proud  and  li- 
 centious :  every  tongue  confessed  their  flagitious  conduct ;  but  armed 
 with  all  the  terrors  of  a  world  to  come,  holding  in  one  hand  the  keys 
 of  paradise,  in  the  other,  that  of  the  bottomless  pit,  which  they  could 
 shut,  and  none  could  open,  and  open,  when  none  could  shut,  they 
 despised  the  slaves  who  crouched  to  them  for  absolution ;  and,  in  the 
 confidence  of  their  power,  glutted  their  vengeance  with  impunity, 
 and  continued  to  plunder  without  remorse. 
 
 To  check  the  rising  spirit  of  rebellion  and  nip  heresy  in  its  ten- 
 der bud,  courts  of  inquisition  were  everywhere  erected,  and  the  secu- 
 lar power  called  in  to  destroy  without  mercy.     A  new  monkish 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  lv 
 
 army,  of  all  colours  was  now  levied,  to  counteract  everj  attempt  at 
 ecclesiastical  reformation  ;  all  which  contributed  to  lengthen  out  this 
 odious  reign  of  duplicity  and  plunder. 
 
 The  former  monks,  whatever  might  be  their  number  or  zeal,  had 
 long  wallowed  in  wealth  and  profligacy,  and  were  too  well  known  fur 
 their  immoralities,  to  counteract  the  operations  of  the  reformers. 
 But  this  new  order,  sworn  to  perpetual  poverty,  begging  from  door 
 to  door,  barefooted,  and  coarsely  clad,  with  a  rope  for  a  girdle,  and 
 habituating  themselves  to  a  sedate  and  sanctimonious  deportment, 
 astonished  the  world  with  their  self-abasing  mortifications.  This 
 begging  corps  increasing  in  number,  like  vermin  on  the  banks  of 
 the  Nile,  were  necessarily  divided  into  four  great  bodies,  Domincians, 
 Franciscans,  Carmelites,  and  hermits  of  St.  Augustine. 
 
 It  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  influence  these  beggars  acquired 
 over  all  ranks  of  the  community.  Entrusted  by  the  pope  with  the 
 management  of  absolution  and  indulgences,  they  became  almost  ex- 
 clusively the  spiritual  guides  and  keepers  of  the  conscience:  engross- 
 ing, by  degrees,  all  power  and  all  employment,  so  that,  had  they  a- 
 greed  amongst  themselves,  they  offered  fair  to  perpetuate  the  slav- 
 ery of  the  world.  To  extirpate  heresy  was  the  object  of  their  crea- 
 tion, and  they  found  abundance  of  employment ;  for  heresy  was  now 
 changed  from  points  of  fundamental  belief,  to  opinions  at  variance 
 with  the  claims,  or  opposed  to  the  powers  of  prerogatives,  of  the 
 holy  see. 
 
 This  black  and  blood  thirsty  band  of  pious  assassins  was  princi- 
 pally entrusted  with  the  inquisitorial  department ;  and,  for  the  be- 
 nefit of  men's  souls,  consigned  their  mortal  members  to  the  flames, 
 that  were  every  where  kindled  against  such  as  opposed  the  current 
 order  of  the  day. 
 
 The  pope  now,  by  his  own  authority,  claimed  the  sole  right  to 
 establish  articles  of  faith ;  and  in  the  fourth  lateran  council,  had 
 the  audacious  impudence  to  publish  his  decrees,  which  the  assembled 
 bishops  were  commanded  to  hear  and  obey ;  and,  for  the  first  time, 
 the  term  transuestantiatiox  was  established  by  his  authority, 
 and  auricular  confession  universally  imposed  on  the  church ; 
 two  mighty  engines,  in  the  hands  of  such  proficients,  in  the  lucra- 
 tive science  of  deception. 
 
 The  absurd  notion,  of  propitiating  the  Deity,  by  self-inflicted 
 punishments,  introduced  the  flagellante6,  who  filled  the  air 
 with  their  piercing  shrieks,  while  they  lacerated  their  bodies  in 
 honour  of  God  and  his  saints  ;  yet  such   was  the  blind  veneration 
 
lvi  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 .acquired  by  these  unnatural  inflictions,  that  they  became  fashionable, 
 and  occasioned  such  crowds  and  tumults,  as  compelled  the  popes  and 
 emperors  to  check  the  progress  of  this  sanguinary  exercise. 
 
 The  papal  authority  had  now  reached  its  meridian  splendour,  and 
 unqualified  submission  became  a  matter  of  course.  Every  order  of 
 ecclesiastics  were  drilled  down  to  passive  obedience ;  even  monarchs 
 held  their  crowns  on  a  very  precarious  tenure,  while  the  pope  not 
 only  claimed,  but  really  possessed,  the  power  of  transferring  them  at 
 pleasure.  His  anathemas  at  once  determined  the  fate  of  the  un- 
 happy culprit,  both  in  this  and  the  world  to  come  ;  and  thus  the 
 most  stubborn  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  stern  mandates  of  persever- 
 ing ambition. 
 
 About  this  time  the  scenic  representations,  called  mysteries,  were 
 first  introduced ;  and  these  sacred  puppet  shows  served  to  render 
 religion  utterly  ridiculous.  The  persons  of  the  drama  were  some- 
 times real,  sometimes  allegorical ;  the  Almighty,  the  devil,  Jesus 
 Christ,  heresy,  the  blessed  virgin,  and  a  motley  variety  of  other  re- 
 spectable characters,  both  from  heaven  and  hell,  with  not  a  few  that 
 could  neither  be  found  in  the  one  or  the  other. 
 
 Another  lucrative  invention  of  Boniface  VIII,  closed  the  century, 
 namely,  the  celebration  of  the  jubilee  year,  from  which  a  rich  har- 
 vest was  expected,  by  the  pilgrims,  who,  every  centenary  year, 
 would  visit  the  church  of  St  Peter,  and  its  holy  relics.  To  draw  the 
 superstitious  world  to  this  seat  of  holiness,  proclamation  was  made, 
 that  the  full  remission  of  sins,  and  a  profusion  of  indulgences,  should 
 be  the  reward  of  all  who  effected  this  pious  pilgrimage. 
 
 To  obtain  such  inestimable  blessings,  to  behold  the  glory,  and  re- 
 ceive the  benediction  of  the  infallible  vicegerent  of  God,  were  objects 
 too  important  to  be  treated  with  neglect ;  and  the  hopes  of  the 
 pious  pontiff  were  more  than  realized ;  so  that  the  successors  of  Bon- 
 iface made  a  virtue  of  holding  the  jubilee  once  every  fiftieth  year, 
 in  imitation  of  the  Jews.  Men  gather  wisdom  by  degrees  ;  and  it 
 was  afterwards  held  every  twenty-fifth  year  ;  and  this  third  inven- 
 tion rested  on  very  plausible  ground,  by  giving  every  good  christian 
 an  opportunity  to  witness  the  splendour,  and  receive  the  transcen- 
 dent blessings,  so  liberally  distributed  on  these  sacred  occasions. 
 
 The  fourteenth  century  found  the  Roman  pontiff  still  zealous  for 
 measuring  lances  with  the  Saracens,  beneath  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  ; 
 but  the  courage  and  zeal  of  his  vassals  were  wonderfully  cooled.  Ex- 
 perience had  taught  them  the  dilliculty  of  the  enterprise,  as  well  as 
 the  selfish  views  of  its  instigators. 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lvii 
 
 The  kings  of  France  and  England  were  cajoled,  threatened,  and 
 earnestly  entreated  to  commiserate  the  sufferings  of  the  Pales- 
 tine christians,  to  feel  for  the  honour,  and  merit  the  plenitude 
 of  the  church's  indulgences;  but  all  to  no  purpose,  they  still  found 
 plausible  excuses,  and  kept  their  thrones.  Succeeding  popes 
 offered  part  of  the  church's  treasures  to  forward  this  holy  work; 
 and  opening  the  store-house  of  church  indulgences,  disposed  of 
 a  part  of  this  inexhaustible  stock  on  the  most  liberal  terms; 
 but  the  enterprise  failed.  Another  attempt  was  made  by  Cle- 
 ment V.  encouraged  by  similar  means;  and  an  army,  under  Guy 
 the  Dauphin,  proceeded  on  their  route;  but  unable  to  procure 
 provisions,  or  subsist  without  them,  they  returned  with  swords 
 unsheathed,  and  their  indulgences  in  their  pockets.  John,  king 
 of  France,  however,  by  the  instigations  of  Urban  V.  prepared 
 for  the  important  enterprise;  but  his  death  disconcerted  the 
 whole  scheme,  and  terminated  the  most  foolish,  ruinous,  and 
 impractical  struggle  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  the  world. 
 
 The  church  of  Rome,  now  at  the  summit  of  power,  her  arro- 
 gance was  equal  to  her  authority.  All  who  read  the  bible,  and 
 evinced  a  relish  for  the  simplicity  of  truth,  were  noted  as  here- 
 tics, and  delivered  to  their  inquisitorial  tormenters.  The  kings 
 of  the  earth  seemed  to  have  given  their  power  to  the  beast;  and 
 her  ecclesiastical  minions,  to  the  meanest  of  the  sacerdotal  tribe, 
 fought  manfully  under  her  banners.  The  inquisitors  watched, 
 with  the  eyes  of  Argus,  to  keep  down  every  spirit  that  breathed 
 reform,  or  supposed  the  church  could  possibly  need  it,  either  in 
 her  head  or  members;  yet,  under  all  this  appearance  of  perma- 
 nent dominion,  secret  causes  were  at  work  in  sapping  the 
 foundation  of  her  unsufterable  tyranny. 
 
 Two  popes,  and  sometimes  three,  at  once  claiming  infallibi- 
 lity, tended  greatly  to  relax  the  bond  of  spiritual  obedience; 
 for,  with  all  the  ignorance  of  the  times,  men  had  not  wholly 
 lost  their  senses,  but  naturally  considered,  that  the  threatened 
 damnation,  for  disobedience  to  three  different  pretenders,  evi- 
 dently demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  all  being  right.  The 
 determined  and  successful  opposition  which  Philip,  king  of 
 France,  maintained  against  the  arrogant  claims  of  Boniface, 
 who,  in  one  of  his  bulls,  solemnly  promulgated,  "  That  all 
 power,  spiritual  and  temporal,  was  vested  in  the  Roman  see 
 by  Jesus  Christ;  and  that  every  human  being,  who  dared  to 
 disbelieve  this  fact,  was,  by  that  act  of  unbelief,  constituted  an 
 heretic,  and  damned  to  all  eternity."  Philip  treated  the  bull 
 with  sovereign  contempt,  and,  in  his  turn,  charged  his  insolent 
 holiness  witli  both  heresy  and  simony,  demanding  an  oecumeni- 
 cal council  to  judge  and  depose  him.  The  furious  Boniface  in- 
 stantly launched  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  at  the  head  of  this 
 
 3  ii 
 
Wiii  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 sturdy  antagonist;  but  Philip,  supported  by  bis  states,  sent  No- 
 garet,  with  orders  to  seize  the  refractory  pontiff,  and  bring bim 
 bound  to  Lyons.  Accordingly,  he  was  surprised  at  Anagni,  treat- 
 ed with  every  indignity,  and  so  wounded  in  the  head,  tint  though 
 carried  off  by  the  people,  he  died  of  his  wounds,  or  the  fever 
 occasional  by  his  rage.  His  successor  recalled  the  excommu- 
 nication; but  it  was  a  dangerous  example,  to  show  that  the 
 popes  might  be  resisted  with  impunity.  These  circumstances, 
 together  with  the  disputes  among  the  Franciscans  about  tlu 
 rides  of  their  order,  in  which  the  power  of  the  popes  had,  dur- 
 ing this  century,  been  frequently  exerted  in  vain,  greatly  en- 
 couraged a  spirit  of  resistance  to  their  authority. 
 
 Ambition,  like  fire,  reluctantly  descends,  and  papacy,  in  spite 
 of  the  intestine  divisions,  distractions,  and  partial  oppositions 
 made  to  the  papal  authority,  still  maintained  its  proud  claims 
 of  dominion  over  all  persons,  civil  or  ecclesiastical-  assuming 
 all  power  in  heaven,  earth,  and  hell.  Her  claims  to  civil  power 
 was  disputed  by  the  princes,  who  asserted  their  independence, 
 and  were  supported  by  all  who  found  fault  with  the  Roman  ty- 
 ranny. Her  bulwarks,  however,  were  still  strong,  and  her  de- 
 fenders numerous,  interested,  active,  and  zealous.  The  Canon- 
 ists, who  lived  by  the  spiritual  courts,  were  her  learned  advo- 
 cates; the  monks  and  clergy,  in  general,  her  dependent,  hum- 
 ble, and  obsequious  satellites;  the  inquisitors,  her  bloody  execu- 
 tioners; whilst  the  reverence  acquired  by  ages  of  imposture, 
 and  still  supported  by  the  consideration,  that  they  were  reve- 
 rencing Christ  himself,  who  paid  their  devoirs  to  his  vicar,  shed 
 a  glory  round  the  seat  of  the  beast  that  was  difficult  to  destroy; 
 yet,  notwithstanding  of  the  vast  numbers  that  were  now  com- 
 ing forward,  as  opposcrs  of  the  present  order  of  things,  the  most 
 zealous  of  her  abettors  contributed  the  most  liberally  to  her 
 downfal,  by  their  voluptuous  and  licentious  lives,  their  ava- 
 rice, and  oppressive  immoralities. 
 
 The  mendicant  orders,  which  the  policy  of  former  pontiffs 
 had  established,  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  and  promoting 
 ecclesiastical  authority,  by  their  pretended  piety  and  poverty, 
 now  that  the  lives  of  the  clergy  had  become  so  utterly  disgusting, 
 that  their  ze;tl  and  exertions  had  become  inefficient,  even  the\ 
 WWe  BraCD  belied,  if  the  monkish  cowl  did  not  cover  the  most 
 scandalous  immoralities.  These  orders  having  insinuated  them- 
 Mhl  I  into  the  courts  and  favour  of  princes,  obtained  a  prepon- 
 derating influence  over  the  affairs  of  mankind,  both  civil  and 
 religious.  Widely  dispersed,  and  so  firmly  united  in  the  de- 
 fence of  their  privilege*)  the  popes  themselves  were  constrained 
 to  respect  tin  ars  of  their  own  creation,    who  constituted 
 
 the  very  soul  of  the  hierarchy,  the  i  ud  the  se< 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lix 
 
 springs  of  the  movements  of  both,  suggesting  and  directing 
 every  great  and  important  concern,  both  in  the  religious  and 
 political  world.  Exkibiting,  in  their  manner  and  general 
 appearance,  more  striking  marks  of  gravity  and  holiness  than 
 were  observable  in  other  monastics,  the  enthusiastic  attaeh- 
 meut  to  these  sanctimonious  beggars  went  so  far,  that  the  peo- 
 ple were  unwilling  to  receive  the  sacraments  from  other  liands, 
 but  crowded  their  churches  while  living,  and  were  anxious  to 
 be  interred  in  the  rags  of  that  holy  order  when  dead. 
 
 But  their  popularity  and  pontifical  protection,  their  monopoly 
 of  the  power,  employment,  and  emolument  of  the  prelates  and 
 secular  clergy,  procured  them  the  envy  and  hatred  of  these  dis- 
 appointed parties;  who,  jealous  of  their  overwhelming  influence, 
 began  to  dispute,  not  only  their  rights,  but  the  authority  on 
 which  they  were  founded.  The  universities  of  Oxford  and  Pa- 
 ris resisted  their  claims,  and  numbers  set  themselves  to  write 
 against  their  abuses.  John  de  Polliac,  in  France;  Richard, 
 archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  others,  attacked  them,  but  in  vain: 
 the  monks  triumphed  at  the  court  of  Rome  over  all  their  ad- 
 versaries. 
 
 The  famous  Wickliff  particularly  distinguished  himself  in 
 this  controversy,  and  vigorously  supported  the  archbishop  in 
 his  opposition  to  the  encroachments  of  these  insolent  beggars 
 on  the  privileges  of  the  Oxford  university:  nor  did  the  popes, 
 or  'the  Roman  see  itself,  escape  the  pointed  animadversions  of 
 tliis  intelligent  and  energetic  Englishman;  for  which  he  was  de- 
 prived of  his  wardenship,  and  a  monk  put  in  his  place.  In- 
 censed at  this  oppression,  and  zealous  for  the  Jionour  of  his  uni- 
 versity, Wickliif  treated  the  monkish  order  with  equal  severi- 
 ty and  contempt,  exhorted  all  men  to  read  the  scriptures,  and 
 judge  for  themselves,  resolving  to  afford  them  that  opportunity, 
 by  translating  them  into  their  native  tongue.  He  nar- 
 rowly escaped  martyrdom;  but  his  writings  were  condemn- 
 ed as  heretical,  and  publicly  burnt.  His  followers  were  less 
 fortunate  than  their  leader,  many  of  whom,  under  the  denomi- 
 nation of  Wickliffites  and  Lollards,  were  universally  sought 
 out,  and  hunted  down,  by  the  bishops  and  their  eagle-eyed  in- 
 quisitors, and  subjected  to  the  unrelenting  vengeance  of  their 
 courts  ecclesiastic,  who  were  already  engaged  in  the  extirpation 
 of  the  Waldenses,  Cathari,  Apostolics,  and  others;  to  whom  the 
 only  alternative  remaining,  was  either  to  abjure  or  perish. 
 Confuted  by  the  keen  disputations  of  Dun  Scotus,  on  the  one 
 hand,  and,  on  the  other,  attacked  by  the  more  energetic  argu- 
 ments of  racks  and  gibbets,  fire  and  chains. 
 
 Amid  all  this  havoc,  contention,  and  turmoil,  pope  Innocent  V. 
 adfed  to  the  number  of  holidays,  already  by  far  too  numerous, 
 
lx  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 the  festival  of  the  lance,  of  the  nails,  and  of  the  crown  of 
 thorns,  with  all  their  appropriate  ceremonies;  to  which,  on  pur- 
 pose to  gratify  the  Franciscans,  he  added  the  festival  of  the 
 five  wounds,  which  had  been  so  miraculously  impressed  on  the 
 body  of  St.  Francis;  while  pope  John  XXII.  enjoined  a  saluta- 
 tion to  Mary,  to  be  added  to  the  daily  prayers  of  every  good 
 christian.  Nothing  was  now  too  gross,  too  whimsical,  or  ab- 
 surd, for  the  folly,  ignorance,  or  superstition  of  the  age;  but 
 streaks  of  light  were  beginning  to  glimmer  athwart  this  fearful 
 condensity  of  circumvolving  darkness. 
 
 SECT.  III. 
 
 From  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  Century  till  the  death  of  Edtvard  VI. 
 
 Wasted  with  incessant  war,  and  harassed  by  their  conquer- 
 ors, the  christians  in  Asia  were  compelled  to  bend  to  the  Ma- 
 hometan yoke,  and  many  of  them  to  adopt  their  religion;  while 
 the  eastern  empire,  reduced  to  little  more  than  the  city  of  Con- 
 stantinople, invoked  the  aid  of  the  western  world  in  vain.  The 
 pope,  more  intent  on  reducing  them  to  spiritual  subjection,  than 
 enabling  them  to  defend  their  liberties,  deceived  them  with 
 promises,  which  he  was  either  unwilling  or  unable  to  perform. 
 In  the  meantime,  the  decisive  hour  arrived,  and  Constantinople 
 fell;  the  report  of  which  struck  the  western  world  with  terror 
 and  amazement;  yet,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  neither  the  dan- 
 gers to  which  the  western  empire  was  exposed,  nor  the  terri- 
 ble consequences  of  eastern  imbecility,  could  rouse  the  spirit 
 of  the  christian  princes,  or  engage  them  in  any  bond  of  mutual 
 defence. 
 
 The  triumph  of  the  cross  over  the  crescent  in  Spain  added 
 little  to  the  christian  church;  the  Mahometans,  adhering  to  the 
 religion  of  the  prophet  with  unconquerable  tenacity,  rejected 
 the  faith  of  the  cross;  which  produced  their  final  expulsion  from 
 the  country  by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo;  a  measure  equally 
 unchristian,  as  it  was  savage  and  impolitic.  The  Jews  also  re- 
 sisted, and  suffered  the  most  appalling  cruelties.  The  discovery 
 of  a  new  world,  about  this  period,  opened  a  wide  door  for  the 
 propagation  of  the  gospel,  had  the  missionaries  been  as  judicious 
 as  the  mariners  had  been  adventurous;  but  humanity  revolts 
 from  the  narrative  of  Spanish  cruelty,  and  Portuguese  eon- 
 quests,  in  the  southern  regions  of  that  unfortunate  continent. 
 To  compel  men,  by  the  most  exquisite  tortures,  to  discover  their 
 wealth  to  the  plunderer,  and,  at  the  same  time,  force  their  sub- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxi 
 
 mission  to  baptism  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls,  manifests 
 an  atrocity  of  character  that  merits  eternal  reprobation. 
 
 Under  this  reign  of  superstition,  virtue  retired  before  the 
 overwhelming  power  of  audacious  and  triumphant  vice.     Nou- 
 rished by  indulgences,  and  protected  by  kindred  consciousness 
 of  criminality,  every  crime  was  now  considered  venal,  heresy 
 alone  excepted.    This  was  the  great,  the  unpardonable,  the  mor- 
 tal sin,  and  of  very  extensive  import,  embracing  all  those  unfor- 
 tunate christians  that  expressed  a  doubt  regarding  the  dogmas, 
 or  resisted  the  dictates  of  the  Roman  see;  such  characters  were 
 ferreted  out  by  the  inquisitors,  and  destroyed  by  fire  and  sword. 
 Such  was  the  pontifical  jealousy,  that  whosoever  touched,  or 
 expressed  a  desire  to  touch,  the  grossest  ecclesiastical  abuse, 
 was  touching  the  apple  of  the  church's  eye.     Yet  some  daring 
 spirits  would  not  keep  silence,  but  denounced  the  Roman  har- 
 lot as  a  traitor  to  Christ,  and  a  murderer  of  his  unoffending 
 friends  and  followers,  whose  villanies  outdid  that  of  the  accur- 
 sed sinners  of  Sodom,  and  whose  punishment  was  equally  cer- 
 tain, and  would  be  proportionably  more  terrible  and  exemplary. 
 In  the  mean  time,  two  popes  had  been  elected,  and  their  mutu- 
 al animosity  and  anathemas  threatened  to  drive  every  thing 
 into  confusion.     The  election  of  a  third,  with  a  view  to  heal 
 the  breach,  served  only  to  place  an  additional  gladiator  on  the 
 theatre;  each  of  whom,  maintaining  his  exclusive  and  legiti- 
 mate sovereignty,  and  condemning  his  antagonist  to  the  flames 
 of  hell  for  ever  and  ever.     The  scandal  occasioned  by  these  lu- 
 dicrous transactions,  together  with  the  cry  of  reform,  resound- 
 ing from  so  many  quarters  of  the  church,  induced  the  emperor, 
 the  kings  of  France  and  England,  and  other  princes,  to  attempt 
 a  reform  of  abuses,  which  had  become  altogether  intolerable; 
 and  nothing  appearing  so  effectual  for  this  purpose  as  a  general 
 council,  it  was  accordingly  summoned,    at  the  instigation   of 
 Sigismund,  by  the  last  chosen  pope,  John  XXIII.  who  opened 
 the  assembly  at  Constance,  in  presence  of  the  emperor  and  an 
 immense  number  of  bishops,  princes,    and  ambassadors  from 
 all  the  christian  states  in  the  western  empire. 
 
 Amongst  the  first  acts  of  this  assembly,  the  pope  was  decreed 
 subject  to  a  general  council,  and  John  XXIII.  was  deposed  for 
 his  crimes.  To  prevent  his  deposition,  Gregory  XII.  tendered 
 his  resignation;  and  Benedict  XIII.  refusing  to  submit  to  the 
 award  of  the  council,  was  cast  down  from  the  summit  of  his 
 ambition,  and  degraded.  Martin  V.  was  chosen  in  their  place. 
 The  vanquished  pontiffs  struggled  some  time,  but  finding  their 
 efforts  unavailing,  they  reluctantly  retired  from  the  contest. 
 But  this  primary  object  secured,  the  council  found  that  the 
 more  difficult  task,  the  reformation  of  abuses,  still  remained. 
 
Jxii  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 The  members  of  the  council,  with  this  po]>e  at  their  head,  could 
 not  endure  the  idea  of  suppressing  their  claims,  and,  of  conse- 
 quence, abridging  their  wealth  and  power,  besides  subjecting 
 their  crimes  to  the  scrutiny  and  cognizance  of  the  civil  magis- 
 trate. The  crafty  pontiff,  therefore,  contrived  to  elude  every 
 attempt  at  reformation,  by  pointing  out  the  insurmountable 
 difficulties  that  stood  in  the  way.  Where  shall  this  flattering 
 delusion,  this  all-curing  expedient,  begin  ?  Where  shall  it  stop 
 short?  What  are  the  faults  to  be  corrected?  And,  when  all 
 tli is  has  been  effected,  how  is  it  possible  to  prevent  the  heretics 
 from  triumphing  over  such  acknowledgment  of  criminality  and 
 abuse?  And,  above  all,  what  arc  we  to  expect  as  the  unavoid- 
 able result  of  all  this  childish  imbecility,  but  a  relaxation  of 
 the  bonds  of  unity  and  submission  amongst  the  people,  and  the 
 ultimate  ruin  of  the  catholic  church.  These,  and  similar  con- 
 siderations, induced  the  pope  to  dissolve  this  assembly,  after 
 sitting  three  years  and  an  half  without  doing  any  thing  of  im- 
 portance, deferring  the  necessary  work  of  reformation  till  ano- 
 ther council  should  be  called  for  that  salutary  purpose. 
 
 In  the  mean  time,  they  took  care  not  to  part  without  evi- 
 dencing, that,  together  with  their  power,  they  retained  also  the 
 inclination  still  to  proceed  in  the  paths  of  cruelty  and  tyrannical 
 oppression;  and  whatever  other  differences  might  have  taken 
 place  in  the  council,  in  this  they  were  cordially  agreed,  that 
 whoever  had  the  fortitude  to  reproach  the  clergy  for  their  licen- 
 tious and  immoral  practices,  or  upbraid  them  with  their  igno- 
 rance, avarice,  and  vices,  should  feel  the  weight  of  the  inquisi- 
 torial arm. 
 
 John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  men  of  the  most  unblem- 
 ished characters,  eminent  for  their  piety,  talents,  and  learning, 
 and  highly  distinguished  members  in  the  university  of  that 
 city,  by  the  boldness  of  their  remonstrances,  and  the  keenness 
 of  their  reprehensions,  had  rendered  themselves  obnoxious  to 
 the  clerical  body.  Huss  had  especially  irritated  the  Roman 
 sec,  by  his  efforts  to  withdraw  the  university  of  Prague  from 
 the  jurisdiction  of  Gregory  XII. ;  he  had  likewise  offended  the 
 Germans,  by  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  Bohemians;  besides 
 the  strong  measures  he  had  taken  in  supporting  the  Realists, 
 lo  whose  party  he  belonged,  against  their  opposers,  the  Nomi- 
 nalists. These  co-operating  causes  had  raised  such  a  flame,  as 
 rendered  it  dangerous  for  Huss  and  Jerome,  wiio  had  been 
 summoned  before  the  council,  to  venture  themselves  amongst 
 the  raging  host  of  their  enemies,  till  fortified  against  danger  by 
 the  most  solemn  safe-conduct  from  the  emperor.  Hut  the  cler- 
 gy by  their  intrigues,  and  the  bribes  distributed  amongst  the 
 members  of  the  council  and  the  courti  i^mund,  so  ma- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxiii 
 
 naged  matters,  that  these  revered  individuals  were  accused,  im- 
 prisoned, and,  after  forty  days  disputation,  condemned  to  the 
 flames,  in  defiance  of  the  most  sacred  engagements.  Huss  was 
 the  first  victim.  On  this  shameful  occasion,  the  clergy  had  a 
 fair  opportunity  for  exercising  their  implacable  resentment; 
 possessing  also  the  will  and  inclination,  they  were  determined 
 not  to  let  it  slip  through  their  hands.  Accordingly,  these  up- 
 right, but  zealous  defenders  of  the  cause  of  truth  and  common 
 right,  were  charged  with  numberless  heresies.  The  real  cause 
 of  their  sufferings,  however,  was  the  freedom  of  their  remarks 
 on  the  arrogance  and  avarice,  the  superstition  and  tyranny,  of 
 their  persecutors,  and  the  alarming  effects  produced  by  their 
 preaching,  in  alienating  the  minds  of  the  people  from  the 
 church  of  Rome,  and  circulating  the  condemned  works  of  the 
 English  reformer  Wickliff,  endangering  thereby  the  very  foun- 
 dation of  the  Roman  catholic  faith  and  dominion. 
 
 The  noble  martyrs  braved  all  their  insults  and  their  most 
 exquisite  tortures,  since  nothing  short  of  flames  could  expiate 
 their  pretended  crimes.  Huss  observed,  "  that  they  were  burn- 
 ing a  goose  (for  so  the  name  signifies  in  German),  but  that 
 God  would  raise  out  of  his  ashes  a  swan,  whose  song  would 
 terrify  these  blood-thirsty  vultures.  Jerome  was  at  first  stag- 
 gered, and  induced  to  make  some  concessions;  but  recovering 
 his  fortitude,  he  appeared  before  his  persecutors,  as  Poggius, 
 the  pope's  secretary,  who  was  present  at  the  trial,  relates,  »vith 
 the  face  of  an  angel,  and  a  wisdom,  and  boldness  of  eloquence, 
 altogether  irresistible.  But  his  condemnation  was  predetermin- 
 ed; therefore  the  goodness  of  his  cause,  and  the  talents  he  ex- 
 hibited in  its  defence,  but  hastened  his  execution. 
 
 Huss  was  burned  July  15th,  1415;  and  Jerome  May  30th, 
 1416.  They  were  disciples  of  the  English  reformer  Wickliff, 
 espoused  his  sentiments,  and  circulated  his  works.  This  coun- 
 cil would  have  joyfully  treated  him  with  the  same  severity;  but 
 he  was  gone  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  had 
 only  left  his  bones  to  glut  their  impotent  vengeance.  These, 
 therefore,  the  council  ordered  to  be  dug  up  and  burnt,  and  the 
 ashes  thrown  into  the  Avon.  The  administration  of  the  sa- 
 crament to  the  laity,  without  the  cap>  was  one  of  the  decrees 
 of  this  reforming  council. 
 
 The  pope  wished  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  councils; 
 but  the  clamours  for  the  promised  reformation,  and  the  flame 
 occasioned  by  the  execution  of  Huss  and  Jerome,  compelled  the 
 reluctant  pontiff  to  summon  a  new  council  at  Pavia,  from 
 whence  it  was  afterward  removed  to  Basle  in  Switzerland;  but 
 Eugenius,  the  successor  of  Martin,  alarmed  at  their  bold  pro- 
 ceedings, exhausted  his  stock  of  artifice  to  have  it  suspended. 
 
lxiv  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 The  council  proceeded,  however,  with  unwavering  stedfastness, 
 to  abolish  some  of  the  papal  impositions;  which  exasperating 
 the  holy  primate  beyond  all  endurance,  introduced  such  a 
 quarrel,  that  the  pope  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  coun- 
 cil. On  his  part,  he  solemnly  dissolved  the  assembly,  and  an- 
 nounced a  new  council  to  meet  at  Ferara.  Ecclesiastical  thun- 
 ders now  again  roared  through  the  churches;  the  council  depos- 
 ed the  pope,  and  the  pope  anathematized  the  council.  Another 
 pope  was  therefore  chosen,  and  a  fresh  schism  divided  the  Ro- 
 man church.  Borgia,  the  last  who  filled  the  papal  chair  in  this 
 century,  was  such  a  monster  of  cruelty  and  impiety,  that  he 
 stuck  at  nothing  calculated  to  enrich  his  bastard  family;  and  if 
 the  church,  under  former  pontiffs,  had  been  corrupted,  under  his 
 administration  she  became  corruption  personified.  The  monk- 
 ish orders  were  become  an  unsufferable  nuisance,  a  mass  of  cor- 
 ruption, idleness,  and  profligacy.  The  persecution  against  he- 
 resy, raged  beyond  all  bounds,  and  the  murder  of  heretics  was 
 considered  the  most  meritorious  services,  both  in  the  sight  of 
 God  and  his  immaculate  vicegerent.  New  orders  of  men  were 
 still  arising  to  fight  the  battles  of  superstition;  but  heretics  also 
 multiplied,  in  spite  of  all  the  sufferings  to  which  they  were  dai- 
 ly exposed,  and  the  squadrons  inlisted  to  hold  them  down,  by 
 argument,  both  physical  and  moral.  In  proportion  as  the 
 voice  of  reform  became  louder,  the  inquisitors  became  more  and 
 more  cruel  and  allert;  and  their  bloody  orgies,  now  universally 
 practised,  added  a  deeper  gloom  to  the  horror  of  the  dismal 
 scene. 
 
 The  Bohemians  were  not  disposed  to  look  over  the  murder  of 
 their  apostolic  chieftains,  but  resolved  to  have  teachers,  imitat- 
 ing the  virtues  of  their  butchered  Huss  and  Jerome,  and  to  en- 
 joy the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  supper  according  to  its  primi- 
 tive institution.  Many  of  them,  therefore,  retiring  to  a  moun- 
 tain they  called  Tabor,  in  spite  of  popes  and  councils  worship- 
 ped God  according  to  the  apostolic  injunctions.  A  bloody  war 
 was  raised  against  them,  and  after  dreadful  carnage  on  both 
 sides,  they  still  maintained  their  ground,  at  times  retaliat- 
 ing the  cruelties  they  had  so  often  received  from  the  hands  of 
 t  heir  enemies.  Unfortunately  they  divided  amongst  themselves, 
 under  the  denominations  of  Calcxtines  and  Taborites,  which  di- 
 minished their  means  of  defence;  and  to  confirm  their  separa- 
 tion, the  holy  see  made  some  accommodating  proposals  to 
 the  latter:  which  was  partly  accepted,  but  never  cordially 
 acted  upon.  The  Taborites  were  afterwards  known  by  the 
 name;  of  Bohemian  brethren;  they  were  numbered  amongst 
 the  Begharda,  ami  joined  with  Luther  and  his  associates 
 at    the    reformation.      The    Moravian   brethren   are  most    pro- 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  1XV 
 
 bably  a  branch  from  this  stock.  Still  the  people,  in  general, 
 were  so  absorpt  in  ignorance  and  superstition,  that  they 
 readily  received  the  despotic  mandates  of  their  ghostly  fathers 
 with  great  reverence,  listened,  and  gave  implicit  belief,  to  all 
 the  lying  miracles  which  the  priesthood  pretended  to  perform ; 
 while  any  attempt  to  open  their  eyes,  and  bring  before  them 
 the  naked  and  unvarnished  villanies  practised  against  them, 
 was,  of  all  dangerous  undertakings,  the  most  peculiarly  ruin- 
 ous. 
 
 The  government  of  the  church  was  now  generally  admitted 
 to  exist  under  one  visible  head;  and  to  support  and  perpetuate 
 this  absurd  supposition,  the  pontiffs  endeavoured,  by  all  means, 
 to  inculcate  the  maxim,  "  That  all  lawful  power  on  earth  was 
 derived  from  Christ,  and  that  through  his  vicegerent  the  pope." 
 But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  temporal  princes  greatly  demurred  at 
 this,  while  the  prelatical  orders  were  much  disposed  to  exalt  the 
 power  and  authority  of  a  general  council  above  that  of  the 
 pontiff.  This  became  an  important  struggle;  for,  although  the 
 clerical  orders  were  at  great  pains  to  enslaAe  the  people,  they 
 would  have  willingly  retained  the  power  in  their  own  hands. 
 This  knotty  concern  has  never  yet  been  adjusted  in  the  Roman 
 Catholic  creed;  but  whoever  dared  so  much  as  to  insinuate, 
 that  the  church  could  exist  without  a  visible  head,  was  taking 
 the  shortest  road  to  martyrdom ;  as  such  revolters,  from  the  Ro- 
 man jurisdiction,  were  sure  to  be  attacked  by  the  sophistry  of 
 the  schools,  and  pressed  down  by  the  zeal  of  the  mendicants 
 and  the  clergy,  supported,  as  they  were,  by  the  secular  power 
 of  the  princes,  and  the  ensnaring  malignity  of  the  inquisi- 
 tion. After  all,  their  numbers  were  not  diminished;  in  place 
 of  which,  they  continued  to  multiply,  and  circulate  their  tenets 
 through  every  part  of  the  christian  world.  What  especially 
 contributed  to  this,  was  the  obstinate  determination  of  the  ec- 
 clesiastics in  power  to  maintain  their  claims;  in  proportion  to 
 the  absurdity  and  tyrannical  nature  of  which,  was  their  tenacity 
 in  defending  them.  Even  where  abuses  existed,  so  flagrant  and 
 so  gross,  that  they  bade  defiance  to  every  reasonable  mode  of 
 vindication,  they  were  still  maintained  with  the  most  audacious 
 hardihood,  lest,  forsooth,  the  heretics  should  find  an  occasion  of 
 triumph;  and  thus  the  over  weaning  attachment  of  the  priest- 
 hood, to  the  power  and  emoluments  by  which  they  had  plun- 
 dered the  people,  and  wallowed  so  long  in  affluent  profligacy, 
 drove  matters  to  desperation,  and  necessarily  brought  forward 
 the  mighty  revolt  they  had  so  ardently  laboured  to  prevent. 
 
 The  church,  sinking  beneath  the  weight  of  rites  and  ceremo- 
 nies, had  need  to  be  relieved  from  the  unsupportable  load;  yet, 
 in  place  of  attempting  any  such  reformation,  every  pope  racked 
 
 3  i 
 
lxviii  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 pry  into  the  mystery  of  iniquity  established  by  law,  and  recog- 
 nised by  custom;  a  feeble  band,  of  pious  and  patriotic  indivi- 
 duals, scattered  amongst  the  nations,  yet  united  in  the  cause  of 
 religion  and  common  right,  every  where  hunted  down  by  their 
 adversaries,  and  only  preserved  by  a  gracious  providence.  The 
 fire,  however,  that  had  been  so  long  smothered  and  kept  down, 
 was  now  ready  to  burst  into  a  flame,  destined  to  consume  the 
 wood,  hay,  and  stubble  of  overwhelming  superstition. 
 
 After  toiling  through  the  windings  of  superstition,  and  the 
 dismal  regions  of  papal  darkness,  how  cheering  are  the  rising 
 beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  Borgia,  Julius,  and  Leo, 
 were  successively  enthroned  in  pontifical  majesty,  and,  tramp- 
 ling on  the  prostrate  world,  defied  the  power,  and  despising  the 
 impotence  of  their  enemies,  gloried  in  the  stability  of  an  em- 
 pire, confirmed  by  ages  of  ignorance,  and  supported  by  legions 
 of  monks,  clergy,  and  inquisitors,  whose  cunning  and  cruelties 
 overawed  the  consciences  or  the  feelings  of  mankind.  Not  that 
 the  world  was  wholly  insensible  of  their  chains;  numerous  writ- 
 ers had  attacked  the  notorious  abuses  of  the  church,  many  prin- 
 ces had  complained  of  the  encroachments  of  pontifical  ambition, 
 not  a  nation  but  had  uttered  its  groans  under  the  papal  exac- 
 tions; all,  all  was  in  vain;  unmoved,  in  omnipotent  tranquillity, 
 the  pontiffs,  from  their  lofty  throne,  looked  down,  with  superci- 
 lious disdain,  on  the  supplicating  herd,  treated  their  complaints 
 and  petitions  with  inattention  and  scorn.  Armed  with  power 
 to  punish  the  refractory,  having  favours  and  preferments  to  win 
 the  mercenary,  and  silence  the  troublesome  with  the  admitted 
 character  of  being  the  vicar  of  Christ,  the  holy  father  seemed 
 to  sit  secure  in  the  exercise  of  his  boundless  authority,  consci- 
 ous, that  whatever  redress  was  requested,  must  come  as  a  fa- 
 vour, and  only  through  his  own  hands.  Maximilian  the  em- 
 peror, and  Lewis  of  France,  attempting  to  form  a  general  coun- 
 cil at  Pisa,  only  discovered  the  weakness  of  opposition,  and  the 
 power  against  which  they  contended.  The  pope  insultingly 
 annulled  their  decrees,  and  dissolved  their  assembly,  treating 
 their  power  with  equal  arrogance  and  contempt.  Leo  the  X. 
 a  scholar,  and  a  man  of  pleasure,  the  successor  of  Julius,  and 
 who  presided  at  the  lateran  council,  took  care,  not  only  to  pre- 
 vent all  reform  of  the  acknowledged  abuses,  but  prevailed  on 
 Francis  the  first  to  sacrifice  the  liberties  of  the  Gallician  church, 
 by  substituting  a  new  arrangement,  called  the  concordate,  in 
 place  of  the  pragmatic  sanction;  a  transaction  abhorred  alike  by 
 the  French  people  and  their  priests.  The  prodigality  and  lux- 
 urious magnificence  of  Leo,  began,  however,  to  drain  the  holy 
 coffers,  insomuch,  that  some  expedient,  for  supporting  his  unpa- 
 ralleled extravagance,  behoved  to  be  provided ;  and  the  success, 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxix 
 
 formerly  attending  the  sale  of  indulgences,  induced  his  holiness 
 to  recur  to  that  often  tried,  and  ever  productive  mine  of  wealth, 
 which,  while  it  afforded  an  opportunity  for  his  holiness  to  ma- 
 nifest his  paternal  regard  to  his  dear  children,  at  the  same  time 
 rilled  his  pontifical  exchequer,  with  what,  of  all  things,  Leo 
 wanted  the  most — money  I !  The  profligate  examples  of  such  a 
 long  succession  of  pontiffs  could  not  fail  to  demoralize  the 
 clergy,  particularly  as  their  vices  were  winked  at  by  their  supe- 
 riors, in  the  hopes  of  a  reciprocity  of  similar  kind  offices.  Leo 
 himself  is  said  to  have  been  an  infidel,  and  his  sacerdotal  troops 
 were  not  likely  to  follow  a  more  heavenly  example  than  that  of 
 their  master.  The  churches  and  monasteries  overflowed  with 
 wealth,  affording  them  the  means  of  every  sensual  gratification ; 
 and  both  their  friends  and  enemies  agree,  that  these  precious 
 privileges  were  neither  overlooked  nor  neglected.  The  better 
 informed  of  the  people  could  not  help  smiling  alike  at  the 
 adroitness  of  their  hypocritical  management,  and  the  credulous 
 stupidity  that  permitted  them. 
 
 The  immensity  of  the  mendicant  tribes  at  last  became  a 
 burden,  that  the  church  and  the  world  could  with  difficulty  sup- 
 port; the  arts  and  devices  practised,  to  procure  veneration  for 
 their  several  orders,  and  enable  them  to  fleece  the  people  more 
 effectually,  brought  into  operation  the  grossest  frauds  and  the 
 most  scandalous  deceptions.  Sometimes  they  were  detected,  but 
 much  more  frequently  the  juggle  succeeded,  and  the  ignorant 
 multitude  cried  out,  with  one  enraptured  exclamation,  a  miracle  I 
 a  miracle ! 
 
 The  ministry  of  the  unadulterated  word  and  worship  of  God 
 was  no  longer  to  be  found.  Any  thing  approaching  to  a  simi- 
 larity of  such  evangelical  exercises,  would  have  been  branded 
 with  the  name,  and  perhaps  visited  with  the  punishment,  awarded 
 against  heresy.  Every  pulpit  was  occupied  with  panegyrics  on 
 the  saints,  the  transcendent  glory  and  power  of  the  virgin,  and 
 the  efficacy  of  relics;  while  the  virtues  of  those  of  the  neigh- 
 bouring churches  or  convents,  were  sure  to  be  set  forth  with 
 all  the  puffing  flourishes  of  the  modern  quack.  The  thunder- 
 bolts of  vengeance,  forged  at  the  purgatorial  furnace,  were  oc- 
 casionally brought  forward  to  open  the  sale  of  their  indulgen- 
 ces; the  excellency,  the  safety,  and  indispensable  necessity  of 
 which,  were  displayed  to  the  gaping,  and  almost  breathless,  au- 
 dience, in  strains  of  piteous  and  plaintive  eloquence.  The 
 wretched  people,  thus  bound  in  fetters  of  ignorance  and  super- 
 stition, suffered  themselves  to  be  priest-ridden  with  the  most  ex- 
 emplary patience;  while  their  leaders  amused  them  with  the 
 rareshow  of  the  mass,  gaudy  processions,  and  unintelligible  mys- 
 teries, till,  like  swindlers  and  sharpers,  they  succeeded  in  picking 
 
1XX  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 their  pockets;  and  the  church  reaped  a  harvest,  rich  in  propor- 
 tion to  the  ignorance  and  consequent  immorality  of  the  times. 
 
 As  the  deepest  darkness  of  the  night  precedes  the  dawn  of 
 the  day,  so  the  most  distressing  period  of  the  church  was  the 
 immediate  precursor  of  her  triumphant  deliverance.  Although 
 the  terrors  of  the  inquisition,  and  the  slavish  submission  of  the 
 princes  of  Christendom,  seemed  immoveable  pillars  of  the  Ro- 
 man see,  the  utter  rottenness  of  the  foundation  required  only  a 
 breath  of  public  opinion  to  shake  the  mighty  fabric  to  pieces. 
 The  silent  dispensations  of  divine  providence  had  also  been  pre- 
 paring for  the  event,  however  impossible  it  might  seem.  TLe 
 diffusion  of  knowledge,  through  the  recently  acquired  art  of 
 printing,  tended  likewise  greatly  to  remove  the  veil  spread 
 over  the  christian  church.  The  scriptures  became  less  and  less 
 inaccessible,  and  many  now  dared  to  read  and  judge  for  them- 
 selves. The  kings  of  the  earth,  without  intending  to  separate 
 from  the  communion  of  the  Roman  church,  secretly  rejoiced  to 
 hear  of  the  schemes  of  reform  everywhere  spoken  of,  as  they 
 seemed  well  calculated  to  rescue  their  delegated  sceptres  from 
 the  all-grasping  fangs  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  their  over- 
 bearing legates,  who,  for  ages,  had  left  them  only  a  species  of 
 mock-royalty,  a  mere  shadow  of  sovereign  power.  With  this 
 view,  they  were  in  no  haste  to  suppress  the  activity  of  these  re- 
 forming preachers,  whom  they  supposed  themselves  able  at  any 
 time  to  regulate  and  control;  while  the  pride  and  security  of 
 the  Roman  see,  despising  the  meanness  of  its  opposers,  and  the 
 weakness  of  their  resources,  neglected  to  extinguish  the  spark 
 of  reformation,  till  it  blazed  forth  an  unextinguishable  confla- 
 gration. 
 
 Such  was  the  general  state  of  Christendom,  when  the  increa- 
 sing wants,  and  plundering  rapacity  of  the  profligate  pontiff,  set 
 him  on  replenishing  his  exhausted  exchequer.  In  order  to  pro- 
 secute his  pious  purposes  with  success,  orders  were  issued  to 
 the  legates,  wherever  situated,  to  find  out  the  best  qualified  in- 
 struments to  preach  and  dispense  the  rich  indulgences  which 
 Leo  X.  in  his  paternal  love,  and  great  munificence,  was  dispos- 
 ed to  grant  to  all  christian  people  who  had  ready  money  to 
 purchase  them,  for  sins  of  every  species  and  dimension, 
 past)  present,  and  to  come.  To  the  labours  of  this  extensive 
 field,  all  the  mendicant  monks  were  invited;  and  the  Domini- 
 cans engaged  in  the  service  with  peculiar  zeal  and  activity. 
 The  legates,  with  a  view  to  the  success  of  the  undertaking,  se- 
 lected men  of  popular    talents,    unblushing  effrontery,    of  tried 
 
 devotion  to  the  Roman  see,  and  every  way  qualified  to  impose 
 
 on    the    vulgar    credulity.        In    his    search    after   tools  of  this 
 singular  description,   the  archbishop  of  Mentz  fell  in  with  the 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  \xxi 
 
 famous  monk  John  Tetzel,  whose  craft  was  equalled  by  nothing 
 but  his  impudence  and  hypocrisy.  He  undertook  the  task 
 with  alacrity,  and  performed  it  with  astonishing  success,  by  ex- 
 alting the  value  of  the  commodities  he  was  dispensing,  with  an 
 extravagance  of  exaggeration,  which  nothing  but  the  most  bru- 
 tal ignorance,  and  unequalled  credulity,  could  attempt  to  swal- 
 low down.  He  blazoned  the  virtues  of  the  saints  as  transcend- 
 ently  glorious,  and  their  influence  and  efficiency  as  all-power- 
 ful. He  proclaimed,  to  the  greatest  sinners  out  of  hell,  the  im- 
 mense stores  of  merit,  now  opening  in  the  churches'  repository; 
 the  keys  of  which,  together  with  its  blessed  and  all-saving  con- 
 tents, had  been  exclusively  committed  to  his  dispensing  care  and 
 management.  He,  John  Tetzel,  could  exceed  all  their  wants, 
 supply  all  their  deficiencies,  and  cancel  all  their  crimes.  Such, 
 indeed,  was  his  power,  that  he  could  save  from  damnation  even 
 the  ravisher  of  the  blessed  virgin  herself;  assuring  his  auditory, 
 at  the  same  time,  that  he  had  saved  from  perdition,  and  rescu- 
 ed from  purgatory,  by  his  indulgences,  a  much  greater  number 
 of  souls  than  ever  St  Peter,  the  great  predecessor  of  the  pope, 
 had  converted  by  all  the  sermons  he  had  ever  delivered.  The 
 listening  crowd  heard,  with  astonishment  and  catholic  confidence, 
 the  powerful  and  efficacious  nature  of  these  holy  wares,  and 
 hurried  up  their  money  to  the  stage  where  they  purchased  these 
 precious  packets,  that  were  to  silence  for  ever  the  bawlings  of 
 an  angry  conscience,  preclude  the  necessity  of  penance  or  pur- 
 gatory, and  save  them  from  all  the  horrors  of  hell. 
 
 In  the  meantime,  a  monk,  of  no  extraordinary  consideration, 
 belonging  to  the  order  of  Augustine,  who,  for  his  learning  and 
 talents,  had  been  raised  to  the  divinity  chair  in  the  academy  of 
 Wittemberg,  having  heard  the  ridiculous  and  hyperbolical  bom- 
 bast of  this  pontifical  auctioneer,  resolved  to  check  the  audaci- 
 ous mountebank,  and  not  permit  him  tamely  to  propagate  his 
 blasphemies  without  rebuke.  Accordingly,  he  challenged  him, 
 ou  ninety-five  propositions,  to  defend  himself  and  his  employers. 
 The  challenger  was  Martin  Luther,  the  great  German  Reform- 
 er, of  whom  so  much  has  been  spoken,  both  by  his  friends  and 
 his  enemies. 
 
 Thus  the  gauntlet  was  thrown  down,  and  a  warfare  begun, 
 that  has  been  carried  on,  with  more  or  less  violence  and  animo- 
 sity, down  to  the  present  day,  and,  from  the  nature  of  the 
 quarrel,  must  necessarily  continue  till  one  or  other  of  the  par- 
 ties be  driven  from  the  field.  Who  shall  obtain  the  triumph, 
 the  increasing  knowledge  of  the  age,  the  cry  of  liberty,  and  the 
 nearly  annihilated  power  of  the  Roman  see,  leaves  no  longer 
 doubtful.  Never  was  there  a  man  better  qualified  for  contend- 
 ing with  the  see  of  Rome  than  this  fearless  and  indefatigable 
 
lxxii  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 German.  His  faculties  were  powerful,  and  his  memory  aston- 
 ishing. His  mind  was  stored  with  the  riches  of  ancient  erudi- 
 tion, and,  what  was  of  still  greater  importance,  he  was  singular- 
 ly conversant  with  the  scriptures,  and  well  acquainted  with  the 
 best  writings  of  the  fathers.  He  was  an  excellent  disputant; 
 his  voice  was  powerful,  and  the  thunders  of  his  cmpassioned 
 eloquence  darted  the  lightnings  of  his  argument  to  the  hearts 
 of  his  confounded  antagonists.  Fearless,  he  defied  all  danger, 
 while  his  unrclinquishing  perseverance  triumphed  over  every 
 difficulty.  The  imperious  pontiff,  secure  in  his  fancied  omni- 
 potence, despised,  for  a  while,  the  solitary  exertions  of  this 
 hitherto  undistinguished  individual;  nor  did  Luther  himself 
 either  know  his  own  strength  at  this  time,  or  intend  to  pusli 
 the  quarrel  to  the  extent  it  was  afterwards  carried :  But  when 
 God  will  work,  who  shall  dispute  his  will,  or  arrest  the  progress 
 of  his  operations  ? 
 
 The  age  of  violent  and  angry  disputation  had  now  commenc- 
 ed, and  the  partisans  were  actively  engaged  in  furbishing  then- 
 ar ms.  The  propositions  maintained  by  Luther,  had  not  only 
 irritated  the  mendicant  Tetzel,  but  enraged  the  whole  order  of 
 Dominicans,  and  all  the  zealots  of  the  Roman  church,  a  host 
 of  whom  rushed  into  the  battle,  to  bear  down  the  despised  monk 
 with  their  numbers,  their  eloquence,  and  their  importance. 
 But  Luther,  whose  soul  was  composed  of  very  unyielding  ma- 
 terials, hurled  back  their  thunders,  rebutted  their  best  arguments, 
 and  treated  their  persons  and  professions  with  sovereign  con- 
 tempt. And  the  pope,  good  easy  man,  was  only  roused  from 
 his  inactivity  by  a  dispatch  from  the  emperor,  stating  that  Ger- 
 many was  already  in  a  flame.  Luther  was  now  commanded  to 
 appear  before  his  holiness,  and  answer  to  the  many  and  griev- 
 ous charges  laid  against  him.  Aware  of  the  danger  of  such  an 
 appearance,  especially  in  such  a  place,  by  the  influence  of  the 
 Elector  of  Saxony,  he  had  the  matter  referred  by  the  pope  to 
 the  consideration  of  Cajetan,  his  legate,  who  insolently  com- 
 manded him  to  submit  with  humility  to  the  penance  to  be 
 awarded  by  the  Roman  see.  Luther  was  not  to  be  so  easily 
 humbled  as  this  angry  legate  seemed  to  suppose;  but  consider- 
 ing that  argument  was  unavailing,  and  to  remain  was  danger- 
 ous, he  silently  retired,  having  first  lodged  his  appeal  with  Leo, 
 u  lien  he  should  be  made  better  acquainted  with  the  merits  of 
 the  controversy. 
 
 The  pontiff,  now  awakening  from  his  dreams  of  security, 
 issued  a  decree,  commanding  universal  submission  to  the  Ro- 
 man church,  and  universal  confidence  in  her  power  to  save  all 
 her  subjects  from  punishment,  cither  in  this  or  the  world  to 
 come.     And  after  a  number  of  unavailing  attempts  to  reclaim 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxxiii 
 
 this  apostatizing  child  of  the  church,  a  bull  of  excommunication 
 against  his  person  was  fulminated,  with  a  sentence  of  condem- 
 nation, consigning  his  writings  to  the  flames,  but  allowing  him 
 sixty  days  to  weigh  the  consequences,  and  recant.  Indignant 
 at  the  sentence,  and  having  already  made  up  his  mind  on  the 
 subject  of  controversy,  Luther  came  to  the  resolution  of  part- 
 ing for  ever  with  the  Roman  church;  and,  that  he  might  do  so 
 with  dignity  and  exemplary  confidence,  he  called  together  a 
 vast  concourse  of  people,  consisting  of  all  ranks,  in  whose  pre- 
 sence the  pope's  bull  was  brought  forth,  and,  with  great  solem- 
 nity, burnt  by  the  hands  of  the  hangman.  The  boldness  of 
 this  measure  astonished  the  christian  world,  while  it  confound- 
 ed the  pride,  and,  beyond  all  bounds,  exasperated  the  spirit  of 
 the  yet  unhumbled  pontiff.  Accordingly,  the  sixty  days  having 
 expired,  a  second  bull  sealed  the  final  damnation  of  this  per- 
 verse heretic,  and  met  the  fate  of  its  predecessor. 
 
 Amid  the  pressure  of  his  numerous  avocations,  and  the  ma- 
 lignity of  a  world  in  arms  against  him  and  the  doctrines  he 
 was  circulating  and  defending,  it  was  no  small  comfort  for  Lu- 
 ther to  know,  that  many  excellent  men,  even  in  the  first  ranks 
 of  literature,  were  anxious  for,  and  ready  to  co-operate  with 
 him,  in  obtaining  a  reformation  from  the  disgusting  absurdities 
 of  the  church.  Nor  was  it  less  pleasing  to  perceive,  that  the 
 princes  of  the  empire,  papists  as  they  were,  secretly  rejoiced  at 
 the  prospect  of  curtailing  the  pontifical  authority;  while  the 
 Elector  of  Saxony,  who  had  embraced  the  doctrines  taught  by 
 Luther,  powerfully  contributed  to  their  protection. 
 
 The  emperor  Charles,  hard  pressed  by  the  pope  to  seize  and 
 execute  this  incorrigible  heretic,  and  unwilling  to  disoblige  his 
 friend  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  persuaded  the  pope  to  let  Luther 
 be  judged  by  a  German  tribunal,  composed  of  the  princes,  secu- 
 lar and  ecclesiastic,  to  be  held  at  Worms.  Fenced  with  a  safe- 
 conduct,  thither  the  culprit  repaired,  and,  before  that  august 
 assembly,  boldly  appeared  in  person,  rejoicing  at  the  public 
 opportunity  afforded  him  for  pleading  the  cause  of  God  and  his 
 country.  His  friends  were  afraid  his  natural  impetuosity  might 
 drive  him  beyond  the  line  of  prudence,  yet  he  charmed  them,  as 
 much  as  he  confounded  his  adversaries,  by  the  firmness  and 
 temperance  of  his  defence,  as  well  as  by  the  eloquence  and  force 
 of  his  arguments.  The  emperor,  who  was  interested  in  pleas- 
 ing the  pontiff,  endeavoured,  by  every  soothing  consideration, 
 to  reconcile  Luther  to  the  holy  see;  but  finding  him  inflexible, 
 he  threatened  him  with  all  the  vengeance  of  Rome  and  the  em- 
 pire. To  which  Luther  coolly  replied,  "  that  so  soon  as  his  doc- 
 trines were  proved  erroneous,  or  his  conduct  criminal  against 
 Christ  and  his  church,  he  should  testifv  the  deepest  humilia- 
 
 3  k 
 
Ixxh  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 tioo;  but  till  then,  no  man  had  a  right  to  censure  or  condemu 
 him."  The  emperor,  too  honourable  to  violate  his  safe-conduct, 
 permitted  him  to  depart,  though  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
 diet  had  condemned  him  to  the  punishment  awarded  to  all  ob- 
 stinate heretics;  subjecting  to  the  same  severity  all  who  should 
 entertain,  support,  or  conceal  him;  adding,  by  a  solemn  deci- 
 sion, that  the  pope  7oas  the  sole  judge  of  religious  controversies 
 in  the  christian  world.  A  tenet  so  expressly  in  the  teeth  of  the 
 Germanic  liberties  and  the  councils  of  the  church,  that  num- 
 bers, otherwise  little  concerned  about  the  fate  of  such  an  in- 
 considerable individual,  were  shocked  with  its  absurdity.  In 
 the  mean  time,  Frederick  the  Elector,  afraid  that  Luther  might 
 fall  into  the  hands  of  men  who  thirsted  after  his  blood,  con- 
 trived to  seize  him  on  his  way  back,  and,  by  men  in  masks, 
 who  were  in  the  secret,  had  him  carried  to  the  castle  of  Wit- 
 temberg,  where  he  remained  ten  months,  hid  from  all  pursuit 
 and  discovery.  In  this  retirement  he  translated  the  New  Tes- 
 tament, and  carried  on  an  active  correspondence  with  his  re- 
 forming friends,  establishing  their  faith,  and  animating  their 
 hopes. 
 
 Luther's  translation  of  the  bible  was  now  circulating  through 
 Germany  with  incredible  rapidity,  and  producing  powerful  ef- 
 fects on  the  minds  of  the  people.  The  Saxons,  and  many  of 
 their  neighbours,  had  taken  the  liberty  of  re  forming  themselves. 
 The  mass  was  abolished;  the  convents  were  evacuated,  and 
 celebacy  generally  abandoned  by  the  clergy.  Amongst  an 
 army  of  authors,  now  pouring  their  shafts  of  argument  and  in- 
 vective against  this  presumptuous  reformer,  Henry  VIII.  of 
 England  graciously  condescended  to  take  his  place,  and,  in  the 
 overflowings  of  his  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Rome,  undertook  to 
 write  a  refutation  of  Luther's  Babylonish  Captivity,  with  a  de- 
 fence of  the  Romish  church  and  the  catholic  faith.  This  royal 
 volume  procured  for  Henry  the  perfumed  rose  of  papal  bene- 
 diction, besides,  what  he  gloried  in  the  most,  the  mighty  title, 
 Defender  of  the  Faith,  still  retained  by  the  kings  of  England. 
 It  met,  however,  with  a  different  reception  from  Luther,  who, 
 looking  down  with  contempt  on  the  puny  labours  of  this  monar- 
 chial  champion,  treated  both  the  work  and  its  author  with  an 
 asperity  which  numbers  condemned,  but  which  Luther  vindi- 
 cated, by  stating,  that  even  a  king,  in  controversy,  must  stand 
 or  fall  with  the  merit  or  demerit  of  his  work. 
 
 Sensible  of  the  incurable  obstinacy  of  Rome,  John,  the  suc- 
 cessor of  Frederick  the  Elector,  took  a  very  decided  part  in  the 
 controversy,  and,  by  his  own  authority,  undertook  the  regula- 
 tion of  all  ecclesiastic  concerns  within  the  bounds  of  his  own 
 jurisdiction.     Luther  and  Melanchthon  were  the  authors  of  a 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxXV 
 
 church  directory  for  Saxony  and  its  dependencies;  and  the 
 churches  were  forthwith  furnished  with  faithful  pastors,  as  far 
 as  these  could  be  procured.  Many  of  the  princes  of  the  empire, 
 and  the  free  cities,  followed  the  example  of  the  Elector;  and 
 thus  a  complete  Lutheran  establishment  was  erected  through  a 
 considerable  portion  of  the  empire,  and  the  yoke  of  Rome 
 broken  from  off  the  galled  necks  of  the  people. 
 
 The  temporal,  as  well  as  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  pope 
 and  the  emperor,  roused  their  activity  in  arresting  the  progress 
 of  these  organized  and  otherwise  formidable  malcontents. 
 The  Lutherans,  who  had  penetrated  the  designs  of  their  adver- 
 saries, resolved  on  a  plan  of  union,  in  case  the  matter  should 
 call  for  an  armed  defence;  and  the  emperor,  finding  them  de- 
 §  termined  to  risk  an  appeal  to  arms,  prudently  acquiesced  in 
 holding  a  diet  at  Spire,  where  it  was  agreed,  that  every  prince 
 should  regulate  the  concerns  of  the  church  throughout  his  do- 
 minions, according  as  he  thought  fit,  till  such  time  as  a  coun- 
 cil of  the  church  could  be  held  to  decide  this  very  important 
 controversy.  The  pope  proposed  Trent  for  the  meeting  of  the 
 council.  The  protestant  princes  objected  to  the  place,  and  also 
 to  the  nomination  of  the  members  by  the  pope;  but  the  empe- 
 ror and  catholic  princes  assenting,  the  letters  of  convocation 
 were  issued;  and  the  protestant  princes  refusing  to  attend, 
 Charles,  supposing  himself  sufficiently  powerful,  determined  to 
 compel  them,  and  botli  sides  prepared  for  battle.  Amid  the 
 din  of  these  preparations,  Luther  took  farewell  of  this  scene  of 
 inveterate  animosity,  deploring  the  miseries  he  sadly  feared, 
 and  exhorting  to  prayer,  patience,  and  mutual  forbearance,  as 
 the  fittest  weapons  of  spiritual  warfare. 
 
 The  council  of  Trent  met.  The  protestants  disclaimed  their 
 authority.  The  emperor  prepared  to  enforce  their  decrees  by 
 arms.  The  Saxon  Elector  and  the  prince  of  Hesse  boldly  pre- 
 vented him,  and,  by  penetrating  into  Bavaria,  were  ready  to 
 force  his  camp  at  Ingolstadt,  when,  by  an  ambitious  stratagem, 
 Maurice,  nephew  to  the  Elector,  fell  suddenly  on  Saxony,  and 
 forced  his  uncle  to  leave  Bavaria  to  defend  his  own  dominions. 
 The  cause  of  reformation,  to  all  human  appearance,  was  now 
 lost.  The  protestant  leaders  were  obliged  to  consent  to  what- 
 ever might  be  the  decision  of  the  council  of  Trent;  but  the 
 plague  breaking  out  at  that  place,  the  members  of  the  council 
 dispersed;  nor  could  the  emperor,  by  all  his  influence,  persuade 
 the  pope  to  call  them  back  to  their  duty?  so  terrified  was  his 
 holiness  lest  they  should  establish  their  claims  of  superiority. 
 Charles,  however,  was  determined  to  mortify  the  pope,  by  show- 
 ing him  that  he  could  settle  the  business  without  him.  He 
 therefore  ordered  a  formula  to  be  drawn  up,  that  he  imagined 
 
JXXVI  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 might  please  all  parties,  in  which  were  a  few  concessions  to  the 
 protestants;  such  as  restoring  the  cup  and  the  marriage  of  the 
 clergy.  This  done,  he  called  the  diet,  and,  without  discussion, 
 or  taking  the  voice  of  a  majority,  he  despotically  ordered  the 
 same  to  be  the  rule  till  a  general  council  should  otherwise 
 direct.     The  formulary,  however,  pleased  none  of  the  parties. 
 
 In  the  mean  time,  the  politic  Maurice  saw  through  the  de- 
 sign of  the  emperor,  to  erect  his  power  on  the  humiliation  of 
 the  princes';  he  was  also  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  redeem  his 
 lost  credit  with  the  protestant  princes,  amongst  whom  he  still 
 professed  to  number  himself.  Being  also  provoked  at  the  em- 
 peror for  detaining  in  captivity  his  father-in-law,  the  prince  of 
 Hesse,  he  watched  for  an  opportunity,  and  finding  that  Julius, 
 the  new  pontiff,  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  re-assemble  the 
 council  at  Trent,  and  that  the  emperor  was  preparing  to  com- 
 pel the  reformers  to  accede  implicitly  to  whatever  decrees  they 
 might  resolve,  Maurice  dared  to  qualify  his  consent  with  condi- 
 tions; which  the  archbishop  of  Mentz  considered  so  derogatory 
 to  the  papal  authority,  that  he  refused  to  enter  them  on  the 
 register  of  the  diet. 
 
 In  the  mean  time,  the  protestants  set  about  preparing  for 
 the  worst;  and  Maurice,  who  had  hitherto  amused  the  emperor 
 by  his  apparent  submission,  prepared  for  efficaciously  resisting 
 and  deranging  his  schemes  of  ambition.  Accordingly,  the  em- 
 peror, in  the  midst  of  his  imaginary  triumph,  was  surprised  at 
 Inspruck  with  the  sudden  approach  of  a  mighty  army  under 
 Maurice,  who  had  leagued  with  himself  many  princes,  together 
 with  the  king  of  France,  and  rushed  upon  the  unsuspecting 
 and  unprepared  emperor;  who,  to  save  his  army  and  himself 
 from  captivity,  was  glad  to  obtain  his  safety  by  the  pacification 
 of  Passau,  which  contained  a  solemn  grant  of  perfect  liberty  to  the 
 princes  and  the  protestant  cause.  The  interim  was  revoked, 
 and  all  edicts  against  the  Lutherans  annulled;  the  prisoners  set 
 at  liberty,  and  a  certain  number  of  protestants  admitted  into 
 the  council  chamber  of  Spire,  that  impartial  justice  might 
 be  administered  to  both  parties.  And  to  confirm  all  these  con- 
 cessions, a  diet  was  to  be  held  at  Augsburg;  which  accordingly 
 met,  and,  after  long  deliberations,  the  conditions  were  sanc- 
 tioned, and  received  the  name  of  the  Religious  Peace.  The 
 states  and  free  cities  were  to  be  for  ever  unmolested  in  the  ex- 
 ercise of  whatever  form  of  religion  they  chose  to  establish;  all 
 persecutions  and  animosities  were  to  cease,  and  the  disturbers 
 of  this  harmony  to  be  severely  punished. 
 
 Henry  VIII.  applied  to  Rome  for  a  divorce  from  his  queen 
 Catherine,  that  he  might  make  room  for  Ann  Boleyn.  The 
 duplicity  of  the  pope,  and  the  procrastinating  manoeuvres  of  his 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxxvii 
 
 legate  Campeggio,  offended  him  to  that  degree,  that  he  threw 
 off  the  Roman  yoke,  and  renounced  for  ever  the  papal  jurisdic- 
 tion. But  the  hopes  with  which  this  pleasing  circumstance 
 had  inspired  the  reformers,  were  sadly  disappointed,  for,  not- 
 withstanding that  Henry  declared  his  kingdom  free  from  the 
 pontifical  supremacy,  he  had  not  renounced  the  doctrines  of 
 the  popish  church,  which  were  too  congenial  with  his  tyranni- 
 cal disposition  to  forego;  he  had  merely  rohbed  the  pope,  that 
 he  might  exercise  his  power,  possess  his  infallibility,  and  rule 
 his  people  with  a  rod  of  iron,  more  intolerably  tyrannical  than 
 Rome  herself.  Proud  and  overbearing  in  his  disposition,  the 
 least  deviation  from  the  rules  he  had  prescribed,  particularly 
 regarding  his  right  to  regulate  the  concerns  of  the  church  of 
 England,  was  sure  to  subject  the  unfortunate  malcontents  to  the 
 flames  of  Smithfield,  whatever  might  be  their  creed,  popish, 
 protestant,  or  presbyterian.  Under  such  a  capricious  monarch, 
 no  man's  life  was  in  safety;  even  Cranmer,  who  especially  pos- 
 sessed the  favour  of  this  tyrant,  held  his  life,  on  some  occasions, 
 by  a  very  precarious  tenure.  But  the  death  of  the  unfeeling  des- 
 pot introduced  a  more  propitious  order  of  things.  Edward  VI. 
 succeeded  his  father  when  very  young,  and,  under  the  faithful 
 tuition  of  Cranmer,  soon  became  acquainted  with  the  doctrines 
 of  the  reformation,  which  he  cordially  embraced  and  defended; 
 and,  with  the  advice  of  his  judicious  tutor,  had  the  churches 
 forthwith  filled  with  faithful  pastors,  wherever  these  could  be 
 procured.  Thus  the  unhallowed  mixtures  of  the  former  reign 
 gave  way  to  a  more  liberal  and  evangelical  system;  and  Eng- 
 land enjoyed,  under  his  mild  administration,  a  short  period  of 
 happiness  and  repose;  during  which,  the  cause  of  truth  was  so 
 firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  that  all  the  fires  kindled 
 at  Smithfield,  Oxford,  and  elsewhere,  were  unable  to  eradicate 
 or  destroy. 
 
 The  reformation,  thus  happily  established  in  England,  it 
 was  impossible  that  Scotland  could  long  remain  an  idle  spec- 
 tator of  the  many  important  changes  with  which  she  was  sur- 
 rounded. Numbers  of  Scotsmen  had  returned  from  foreign 
 countries,  where  the  reformation  was  considerably  advanced, 
 and  had  brought  along  with  them  the  books  and  tenets  of  the 
 reformers;  which,  spreading  by  degrees  amongst  the  people, 
 prepared  their  minds  for  embracing  the  first  opportunity  to 
 break  asunder  the  cords  that  bound  the  nation  to  the  papal  ju- 
 risdiction, and  the  people  to  the  rapacity  of  a  luxurious  and  ir- 
 rational priesthood. 
 
 But  although  the  tenets  of  the  reforming  churches  abroad 
 were  especially  serviceable  in  animating  the  Scottish  population, 
 at  this  eventful  crisis,  we  are  not  to  imagine  that  the  light  of 
 
lxxviii  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 truth  had  been  totally  extinguished  in  that  part  of  the  island. 
 On  the  contrary,  it  seems  pretty  clear,  from  a  number  of  cir- 
 cumstances mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  country  and  the 
 church,  that  the  Culdees,  who  flourished  at  an  early  period,  had 
 not  been  wholly  extirpated,  even  down  to  the  thirteenth  cen- 
 tury, when  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  which  they  maintained, 
 was  farther  corroborated,  strengthened,  and  extended,  by  similar 
 opinions  held  forth  by  the  Waldenses,  at  that  period  spreading 
 through  the  nations  of  Europe  with  uncommon  rapidity;  and 
 that,  shortly  after  this,  the  same  witnessing  remnant  were  far- 
 ther reinforced  by  the  numerous  adherents  of  WicklifF,  the  il- 
 lustrious English  reformer.  But  nothing  had  hitherto  given 
 such  a  mortal  blow  to  the  idolatrous  worship  of  Rome  as  the 
 martyrdom  of  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague ;  which,  in  place  of 
 stopping  the  progress  of  the  reformation,  had  the  effect  of  arrest- 
 ing and  rivetting  the  attention  of  the  serious,  in  every  country, 
 to  the  cruelty,  injustice,  and  hypocrisy  exercised  by  the  papal 
 authorities  over  a  debased  and  prostrated  world;  and  all  this 
 with  the  obvious  design  of  perpetuating  a  system  of  ignorance, 
 superstition,  and  slavery,  by  which  they  might  plunder  the 
 christian  world  with  impunity,  and  support  the  insatiable  crav- 
 ings of  a  priesthood,  whose  lives  were  become  a  scandal,  not 
 only  to  religion,  but  also  to  every  thing  like  decency,  truth,  or 
 common  honesty.  Such  sentiments  began  to  be  pretty  gene- 
 rally expressed,  and  the  veneration  for  the  priesthood  was  los- 
 ing ground  in  almost  every  quarter  of  the  church.  It  was 
 particularly  so  in  Scotland.  But  although  several  of  her  kings 
 had  manfully,  and  on  some  occasions  successfully,  resisted  the 
 encroachments  of  the  Roman  authority,  none  of  them,  as  yet, 
 had  attempted  to  break  the  disgraceful  chain.  The  priesthood, 
 therefore,  though  sunk  in  public  estimation,  still  retained  their 
 power,  which  they  began  to  exercise  with  a  rigour  of  severity, 
 that  alarmed  the  people  to  that  degree,  that  a  leader,  adequate 
 to  the  importance  of  the  enterprise,  was  only  wanted  to  rally 
 the  best  portion  of  the  community  under  the  banner  of  the  re- 
 formation. In  this  state  of  anxiety  and  suspence,  the  fearless 
 and  intrepid  John  Knox  arose;  and  having,  by  the  power  of  his 
 eloquence,  united  the  friends  of  reform  into  one  great  body,  bore 
 down  every  opposition  that  stood  in  his  way,  overturned  the 
 whole  popish  hierarchy,  and  ultimately  established  a  presbyte- 
 rian  form  of  government  in  its  place. 
 
 The  Belgic  Provinces  being  nearer  the  scene  of  action, 
 early  received  the  light  of  the  reformation;  and  no  country  suf- 
 fered more  for  their  adherence  to  its  principles.  Philip  of 
 Spain,  their  bigotted  master,  had  resolved  to  extirpate  indiscri- 
 minately all  who  refused  to  subject  themselves  to  Rome.     His 
 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  lxxix 
 
 merciless  general,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  and  the  accursed  inquisi- 
 tion which  he  had  set  up  in  the  provinces,  poured  out  their 
 blood  like  water.  The  intolerable  cruelties  exercised  against 
 this  harmless  people,  produced  a  revolt  that  divided  the  pro- 
 vinces, one  part  of  whom  put  their  enemies  to  defiance,  main- 
 tained their  liberties,  and  triumphantly  erected  a  republic,  under 
 the  famous  William  of  Orange. 
 
 Spain  had  also  received  some  cheering  rays  of  the  reforma- 
 tion. The  learned  doctors  brought  by  the  emperor  to  combat 
 Luther,  caught  the  heretical  contagion  from  his  lips;  and  re- 
 turning to  their  country,  like  Paul,  began  to  preach  the  faith  they 
 had  been  deputed  to  destroy.  But  there  the  bigotry  of  the 
 Spanish  monarchs,  and  the  superstition  of  the  priests,  set  all 
 their  machinery  a  working  to  extinguish  the  spark  that  threat- 
 ened a  general  conflagration;  and,  after  torrents  of  blood  had 
 been  shed,  and  innumerable  martyrdoms  effected,  the  light  of 
 truth  was  utterly  extinguished,  by  the  instrumentality  of  racks, 
 gibbets,  and  other  engines  of  human  destruction;  and  that  re- 
 gion, including  Portugal,  has  ever  since  been,  more  than  any 
 other  christian  country,  left  to  grope  their  way  through  dark- 
 ness and  the  shadow  of  death. 
 
 Italy  shared  nearly  the  same  fate;  and  though  Naples  reject- 
 ed the  inquisition,  the  persecution  of  the  reformers  was  equally 
 cruel  and  inveterate.  Ochino  and  Peter  Martyr  exerted  them- 
 selves with  singular  zeal,  not  altogether  without  success;  but 
 were  unable  to  effect  any  general  change.  At  last,  compelled  to 
 fly  for  their  lives,  they  took  refuge  in  foreign  lands,  and  water- 
 ed the  garden  of  strangers  with  that  celestial  dew,  which  their 
 deluded  countrymen  forbade  them  to  drop  on  their  own.  Thus, 
 through  all  the  regions  that  remained  under  the  pontifical  au- 
 thority, superstition,  craft,  and  cruelty,  were  put  into  requisi- 
 tion; and  all  the  terrors  of  purgatory,  heaven,  and  hell,  con- 
 jured up  to  terrify  men  into  the  obedience  of  the  holy  mother 
 church,  insomuch,  that  from  the  summit  of  the  Alps,  to  the  ex- 
 tremity of  Calabria,  the  protestant  name  was  obliterated. 
 
 Thus  the  mighty  rent  in  the  christian  church  left  the  con- 
 tending parties  nearly  balanced.  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden, 
 Brandenburg,  Prussia,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Holland, 
 all  protestant  governments.  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  the  Belgic 
 provinces  under  Spain,  all  popish  governments.  Germany, 
 with  its  vast  dependencies,  divided,  and  nearly  poised  every 
 state,  having  part  of  each;  in  some  tolerated,  in  others  persecut- 
 ed. Switzerland  also  divided  the  preponderance  on  the  side  of 
 the  protestants.  And  France,  more  than  once  on  the  equili- 
 brium, and  ready  to  change  its  dominant  religion,  had  at  last 
 returned  to  the  house  of  bondage,  but  with  millions  of  its  in- 
 habitants firm  in  the  protestant  faith. 
 
1XXX  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
 
 In  numbers  the  catholics  were  still  triumphant;  while  the  pro- 
 testants,  by  separating  into  two  great  bodies,  with  other  subdi- 
 visions, rather  diminished  their  power  and  influence.  Luther 
 and  Melanchthon  at  the  head  of  the  one  party,  with  the  Augs- 
 burg confession,  and  CEcolampadius  and  Calvin  at  the  head  of 
 the  other.  These  also  were  pretty  nearly  balanced.  Luther- 
 anism  generally  prevailed  in  the  north.  Denmark,  Sweden, 
 Norway,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  German  empire,  held  by 
 the  Augsburg  confession;  whilst  the  British  islands,  Holland, 
 Switzerland,  Geneva,  and  France,  adopted  the  confession  of 
 faith,  since  denominated  the  reformed  or  calvinistic. 
 
 In  tracing  the  outlines  of  the  church's  history,  we  have  tra- 
 velled through  scenes  of  sorrow  the  most  agonizing,  as  well  as 
 of  joy  and  exultation :  We  have  seen  the  regions  of  darkness  il- 
 luminated with  the  light  of  life  and  immortality;  the  habita- 
 tions of  cruelty  transformed  to  dwellings  of  righteousness,  peace, 
 and  joy;  the  church  extending  her  empire  on  the  right  hand 
 and  on  the  left ;  the  college  of  fishermen  triumphing  over  the 
 schools  of  philosophy ;  the  weak  things  of  the  world  confound- 
 ing the  mighty ;  pagan  idolatry  annihilated,  and  the  cross  of 
 Christ  triumphant.  We  have  likewise  beheld  a  little  cloud 
 overspread  the  heavens  and  obscure  the  sun,  so  that  men  walk- 
 ed in  darkness  at  noon-day :  We  have  seen  cruelty  personified, 
 a  mongral  power  enthroned  in  terrible  majesty,  and  surround- 
 ed with  the  various  engines  of  human  destruction,  racks,  gib- 
 bets, faggots,  and  chains,  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints, 
 and  desolating  the  world  with  a  sceptre  of  iron.  But  we  have 
 also  seen,  that  the  day-star,  breaking  through  the  dismal  gloom, 
 discovered  the  hideous  monster,  and  pointed  him  out  as  a  pro- 
 per mark  for  the  arrows  of  the  mighty,  who  sorely  shot  at  him, 
 and  covered  him  with  incurable  wounds. 
 
 We  now  proceed  with  the  lives  of  our  most  distinguished 
 reformers. 
 
SELECT    MEMOIRS. 
 
 JOHN  WICKLIFF, 
 
 The  first  English  Reformer. 
 
 John  Wickliff,  or  De  Wickiiffe,  was  born  in  the  year 
 1324,  at  a  village  of  the  same  name,  situated  near  Rich- 
 mond in  Yorkshire,  but  now  extinct.  He  was  early  sent 
 to  Oxford,  and  at  first  admitted  commoner  of  Queen's  Col- 
 lege, and  afterwards  at  Merton,  where  he  became  fellow. 
 Merton  college,  at  this  time,  was  the  best  seminary  in  the 
 university  for  great  and  learned  men;  and  the  following  emi- 
 nent individuals  were  his  contemporaries  at  this  celebrated 
 seat  of  learning:  Walter  Burley,  called  the  plain  doctor; 
 William  Occam,  called  the  singular  doctor;  Thomas  Brad- 
 wardine,  the  profound  doctor;  Simon  Mepham,  and  Simon 
 Islip;  which  last  three  succeeded  one  another  as  archbishops  of 
 Canterbury;  William  Rede,  an  excellent  Mathematician,  and 
 Geoffrey  Chaucer,  the  father  of  English  poetry.  Wickliff  was 
 afterwards  called  Dr.  Evangelicus,  or  the  Gospel  Doctor, 
 from  his  close  application  to  the  study  of  the  holy  scriptures,  in 
 which  he  took  great  delight.  He  was  soon  distinguished  among 
 bis  illustrious  contemporaries  for  the  vivacity  of  his  genius, 
 the  elegance  of  his  wit,  and  the  strength  of  his  reasoning.  He 
 was  celebrated  as  a  philosopher  and  a  divine  to  that  degree,  that 
 men  of  mediocrity  considered  him  something  more  than  human. 
 He  had  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  civil  and  canon 
 law,  the  study  of  which,  at  that  period,  had  been  much  neglect- 
 ed, as  well  as  the  municipal  laws  of  his  own  country,  in  which 
 he  was  an  able  proficient.  He  not  only  studied  and  commented 
 on  the  script ures,  but  also  translated  them  into  his  own  lan- 
 3  i. 
 
82  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 guage,  and  wrote  homilies  on  several  passages,  and  was  well  ac- 
 quainted with  the  writings  of  St.  Austin,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Ambrose, 
 and  St.  Gregory,  the  four  fathers  of  the  Latin  church.  He  was 
 thirty-six  years  of  age,  however,  before  he  had  an  opportunity 
 of  exerting  his  excellent  talents,  or  attracting  the  public  ob- 
 servation. 
 
 The  mendicant  friars  established  at  Oxford  in  1230,  had 
 been  extremely  troublesome  to  the  university,  and  occasioned 
 considerable  inquietude,  both  to  the  chancellor  and  scholars,  by 
 encroaching  on  their  privileges,  and  setting  up  an  exempt  juris- 
 diction. These  preaching  friars  laid  hold  on  every  opportunity 
 to  entice  the  students  from  the  colleges,  and  into  their  convents, 
 which  greatly  deterred  the  people  from  sending  their  children 
 to  the  university.  To  remove  this  evil,  an  act  of  parliament, 
 passed  in  1366,  prohibiting  them  from  receiving  any  scholar 
 under  the  age  of  eighteen;  and  empowering  the  king  to  adjust 
 all  controversies  between  them  and  the  university.  Still  the 
 friars,  audaciously  disregarding  the  determination  of  parliament, 
 persevered  in  their  offensive  courses.  Wickliff  distinguished 
 himself,  on  this  occasion,  by  the  boldness  and  zeal  with  which 
 he  attacked  their  errors  and  usurpations;  while  they  endeavour- 
 ed to  defend  their  mendicant  profession  by  asserting,  that  the 
 poverty  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  made  them  possess  all  things 
 in  common,  and  beg  for  a  livelihood.  This  mendicant  trade  was 
 first  opposed  by  Richard  Kilmyngton,  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  then 
 by  the  archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  afterwards  by  Wickliff, 
 Thorsby,  Bolton,  Hereford,  Bryts,  and  Norris,  who  openly  op- 
 posed the  system  at  Oxford,  and  made  the  friars  ashamed  of 
 their  ignorance  and  audacity.  Wickliff  wrote  with  an  ease  and 
 elegance  unknown  in  that  age,  especially  in  the  English  lan- 
 guage, of  which  he  is  not  improperly  considered  amongst  the 
 first  improvers.  The  following  specimen  will  shew  what  im- 
 provements have  taken  place,  particularly  in  the  orthography, 
 since  his  day :  In  one  of  his  tracts,  where  he  exposes  the  friars 
 for  seducing  the  students  of  the  university  into  their  convents, 
 he  goes  on  to  9ay,  that  "  Freres  drawen  children  fro  Christ's 
 religion  into  their  private  order,  by  hypocrisie,  lesings,  and 
 steling;  for  they,,  tellcn  that  their  order  is  more  holy  than  any 
 other,  that  they  shullen  have  higher  degree  in  the  bliss  of  hea- 
 ven than  other  men  that  been  not  therein,  and  seyn  that  men 
 of  their  order  shullen  never  come  to  hell,  but  shullen  dome 
 other  men  with  Christ  at  domes-day."  He  wrote  and  pub- 
 lished several  tracts  against  sturdy  beggars  and  idle  beggary. 
 In  one  of  which  he  observes,  that  "There  were  abundance  of 
 poor  people  in  the  world  prior  to  the  existence  of  the  mendicant 
 orders;  that  their  numbers  had  increased,  and  were  still   in- 
 
JOHN  WICKLIFF.  83 
 
 creasing,  while  these  indolent  and  impudent  beggars,  roaming 
 from  house  to  house,  took  advantage  of  the  piety  and  simplicity 
 of  the  people,  and  were  snatching  the  morsel  of  charity  from 
 the  famishing  mouths  of  the  aged  and  the  infirm.  That  their 
 vows  of  poverty  amounted  to  a  declaration,  on  their  part,  that 
 they  were  determined  to  lead  a  life  of  indolence  and  idleness; 
 and  that  whoever  might  be  hungry,  they  should  be  fed  at  the 
 ^xpence  of  the  community,  and  riot  on  the  earnings  of  indus- 
 trious poverty ," 
 
 He  disputed  with  a  friar,  on  the  subject  of  idle  beggary,  be- 
 fore the  duke  of  Gloucester,  to  whom  he  sent  an  account  of 
 both  their  arguments,  addressing  his  grace  in  these  words,  "  To 
 you,  lord,  who  herde  the  disputasion,  be  geve  the  fyle  to  rubbe 
 away  the  rust  in  either  partye."     By  these  controversies,  Wick- 
 liff acquired  such  a  reputation  in  the  university,  that,  in  1361, 
 he  was  advanced  to  master  of  Baliol  college;  and  four  years 
 after,  made  warden  of  Canterbury-hall,  founded  by  Simon  de 
 Islip,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  1361.     The  letters  of  insti- 
 tution,   by   which  the  archbishop   appointed   Wickliff  to  this 
 wardenship,  are  dated    the  fourteenth  of  December  1365,  in 
 which  he  is  mentioned  as  "  a  person  in  whose  fidelity,  circum- 
 spection, and  industry,  his  grace  very  much  confided,  and  one 
 on  whom  he  had  fixed  his  eyes  for  that  place,  on  account  of  the 
 honesty  of  his  life,  his  laudable  conversation,  and  knowledge  of 
 letters."     Wickliff  performed  the  duties  of  his  office  to  the  satis- 
 faction,   and  with  the   approbation  of  all  concerned,    till  the 
 death  of  the  archbishop  in  April  1366,  when  the  archiepiscopal 
 dignity  was  conferred  on  Simon  Langham,  bishop  of  Ely,  who 
 had  been  a  monk,  and  was  much  inclined  to  favour  the  religious 
 against  the  seculars.     The  monks  of  Canterbury,  calculating 
 on  the  frater  feelings  of  the  archbishop,  applied  to  Langham  to 
 eject  Wickliff  from  his  wardenship,  and  the  other  seculars  from 
 their  fellowships,  alleging  that,  according  to  the  original  insti- 
 tution, the  warden  ought  to  be  a  monk,  nominated  by  the  prior 
 and  chapter  of  Canterbury,  and  appointed  by  the  archbishop, 
 but  that  Wickliff  had  obtained  it  by  craft. 
 
 Accordingly,  Wickliff  and  three  other  seculars  were  ejected, 
 and  a  mandate  issued,  requiring  their  obedience  to  Woodhall  as 
 their  warden.  This  they  refused,  as  being  contrary  to  the  oath 
 they  had  taken  to  the  founder;  and  Langham  sequestrated  the 
 revenue,  and  carried  off  the  books  and  other  things  which  the 
 founder,  by  his  will,  had  left  to  the  hall. 
 
 Wickliff  and  his  suffering  companions  appealed  to  the  pope; 
 the  archbishop  replied;  and  the  pope  commissioned  cardinal 
 Andruynus  to  examine  and  determine  the  matter.  In  1370, 
 Ihe  cardinal  ordained,  by  a  definitive  sentence,  which  was  con- 
 
84-  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 firmed  by  the  pope,  That  none  but  the  monks  of  Christ  church, 
 Canterbury,  ought  to  remain  in  the  college  called  Canterbury- 
 hall;  that  the  seculars  should  be  all  expelled;  that  Woodhall, 
 and  the  other  monks  who  were  deprived,  should  be  restored; 
 and  that  perpetual  silence  should  be  imposed  on  Wickliff  and 
 his  associates.  Against  such  a  powerful  combination,  Wickliff 
 and  three  poor  clerks  formed  but  a  feeble  opposition;  the  de- 
 cree, pursuant  to  the  papal  bull,  was  rigorously  executed,  and 
 the  munificent  intentions  of  the  founder  frustrated  by  these 
 arbitrary  proceedings. 
 
 While  this  dispute  was  carrying  on,  king  Edward  had  a  no- 
 tice from  pope  Urban,  that  he  intended  to  summon  him  before 
 his  court  at  Avignon,  to  answer  for  his  default  of  not  perform- 
 ing the  homage  that  king  John  had  acknowledged  to  the  Ro- 
 man see,  and  for  refusing  to  pay  the  tribute  of  700  marks  year- 
 ly, granted  by  that  prince  to  the  pope.     This  subject  was  dis- 
 cussed in  parliament,  where  it  was  determined  to  oppose  the 
 arbitrary  claim  with  all  the  energy  of  the  country.     Here  the 
 pope  prudently  stopped  short;  nor  has  his  successors,  ever  since, 
 attempted  to  revive  the  odious  claim.     A  monk,  however,  more 
 daring  than  his  brethren,  ventured  to  defend  the  justice  and 
 propriety  of  the  pontifical  demand;  to  which  defence  Wickliff 
 replied,  and  proved  that  the  resignation  of  the  crown,  and  the 
 tribute  promised  by  John,  could  neither  prejudice  the  nation, 
 or  obligate  the  present  king,  inasmuch  as  the  transaction  was 
 done  without  the  consent  of  parliament.     This  especially  pro- 
 cured for  Wickliff  the  bitter  resentment  of  the  pope,  but  intro- 
 duced him  to  the  knowledge  of  the  court,  and  particularly  to 
 the  duke  of  Lancaster,  who  took  him  under  his  patronage.     At 
 this  time  Wickliff  styled  himself  peculiar  us  regis  clericus,  or  the 
 king's  own  chaplain;  but,  in  order  to  avoid  the  personal  injury 
 intended  him  by  his  adversaries,  he  professed  himself  an  obe- 
 dient son  of  the  Roman  church.     The  reputation  he  had  ac- 
 quired received  no  injury  from  his  expulsion  from  Canterbury- 
 hall;   the  obvious  partiality  of  the  transaction  rather  pointed 
 him  out  as  a  meritorious,  but  much-injured  individual;   and 
 Wickliff  was  soon  after  presented,  by  favour  of  the  duke  of 
 Lancaster,  to  the  living  of  Lutterworth,  in  the  diocese  of  Lin- 
 coln; where  he  published,  in  his  writings  and  sermons,  certain 
 opinions,   which,  because  they  were  at  variance  with  the  doc- 
 trines of  the  day,  were  considered  as  novel  or  heretical. 
 
 Wickliff  not  having  explicitly  declared  his  sentiments  till 
 after  losing  his  wardcuship,  his  enemies  have  taken  occasion  to 
 accuse  him  of  acting  from  a  spirit  of  revenge  from  the  injuries 
 he  had  received.  "  I  shall  not,"  says  Rapin,  "undertake  to 
 clear  him  of  this  charge,  God  alone  sees  into  the  hearts  of  mew  $ 
 
JOHN  WICKL1FF.  85 
 
 it  is  rashness,  therefore,  either  to  accuse  or  excuse  them,  with 
 regard  to  the  motives  of  their  actions.     I  shall  only  take  notice, 
 that  his  bitterest  enemies  have  never  taxed  him  with  any  im- 
 moralities.    He  was  turned  out  of  his  wardenship  by  the  court 
 of  Rome;  and  a  man  must  be  of  a  very  disinterested  way  of 
 thinking,    who   would   not   resent   such   notorious   partiality. 
 Moreover,  the  spirit  of  the  times  was  no  small  inducement  to 
 the  measures  he  pursued."    "  I  must,  however,"  says  Mr.  Guth- 
 rie, "  do  Wickliflf  the  justice,  which  has  not  been  done  him  be- 
 fore, of  observing,  that  he  seems  to  have  maintained  his  reform- 
 ing opinions  even  before  he  was  turned  out  of  his  rectorship." 
 This  is  the  more  to  his  honour,  that  it  comes  from  an  author 
 unfriendly  to  his  memory.     The  same  opinion  is  further  con- 
 firmed by  the  ingenious  Mr  Gilpin;  and  WicklifFs  tract,  en- 
 titled, The  Last  Age  of  the  Church,  published  fourteen  years 
 before  his  expulsion,  leaves  the  matter  no  longer  doubtful.     In 
 1372  he  took  his  degree  as  doctor  of  divinity,  and  read  lectures 
 in  it  with  very  great  applause.     So  much  was  his  authority  re- 
 garded, and  his  opinion  respected  in  the  schools,  that  he  was 
 considered  as  an  oracle.     In  these  lectures  he  boldly  exposed 
 the  fooleries  and  superstitions  of  the  friars;  he  charged  them 
 with   holding   fifty   heresies;    he   exhibited   their  corruptions, 
 tore  off  the  veil  of  pretended  piety  that  covered  their  immoral 
 and  licentious  lives,  and  lashed  their  beggary  with  unsparing 
 severity.     The  pope  still  continued  to  dispose  of  the  dignities 
 and  ecclesiastical  benefices  of  the  English  church  as  he  thought 
 fit,  a  large  proportion  of  which  were  bestowed  on  Frenchmen, 
 Italians,    and  other  aliens,  who  had  their   revenues    remitted 
 abroad,  to  the  great  loss  of  the  nation.     The  parliament  com- 
 plained to  the  king,  who  ordered  an  exact  survey  of  all  the  ec- 
 clesiastical dignities  and  benefices,  throughout  his  dominions, 
 that  were  in  the  hands  of  aliens.     The  enormous  amount  aston- 
 ished the  king,  who  appointed  seven  ambassadors  to  treat  with 
 the   pope  on  this  delicate  subject,  and  Dr.  Wickliff  was  the 
 second  person  mentioned  2a  the  order.     The  commission  was 
 met  at  Burges  by  the  pope's  nuncio,  two  bishops  and  a  provost, 
 who,  after  consulting  two  years,  agreed  that  the  pope  should 
 forego  the  reservations  of  benefices.     But  all  treaties  with  that 
 corrupt  court  were  useless.     The  very  next  year  the  parliament 
 had  to  complain  that  the  treaty  had  been  infracted;  and  a  long 
 bill  was  brought  in  against  the  Roman  usurpations,  which  were 
 considered  the  cause  of  all  the  plagues,  injuries,  famine,  and 
 poverty,  under  which  the  nation  groaned.     The  tax  paid  to  the 
 pope  was  calculated  to  amount  to  five  times  the  sum  paid  in 
 taxes  to  the  king;  and  it  was  roundly  asserted,  that  when  God 
 gave  his  sheep  to  the  pope,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  being  pas- 
 tured, not  to  be  fleeced,  and  far  less  to  be  flead. 
 
86  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 The  doctor  was,  by  this  time,  better  acquainted  with  the  pride, 
 avarice,  ambition,  and  tyranny  of  the  pope,  whom  he  designa- 
 ted the  proud  priest  of  Rome,  Antichrist,  the  most  accursed  of 
 clippers  and  purse-kcrvers.  Nor  did  he  spare  the  corruption 
 that  prevailed  among  the  prelates  and  inferior  clergy,  asserting 
 that  the  abomination  of  desolation  originated  in  the  pride,  pro- 
 fusion, and  profligacy  of  a  perverse  clergy.  Of  prelates,  he 
 says,  "  O  Lord,  what  token  of  mekeness  and  forsaking  of 
 worldly  riches  is  this,  a  prelate,  as  an  abbot  or  priour,  that  is 
 dead  to  the  world,  and  pride  and  vanity  thereof,  to  ride  with 
 fourscore  horse,  with  harness  of  silver  and  gold,  and  to  spend, 
 with  earls  and  barons,  and  their  poor  tenants,  both  thousand 
 marcs  and  pounds,  to  meyntene  a  false  plea  of  the  world,  and 
 forbare  men  of  their  rights."  But  Wickliff  sufficiently  experi- 
 enced the  persecuting  animosity  of  those  men  he  thus  attempted 
 to  reform. 
 
 The  monks  complained  to  the  pope  that  Wickliff  had  opposed 
 his  claim  to  the  homage  and  tribute  due  from  the  English  na- 
 tion, and  supported  the  royal  supremacy;  and,  moreover, 
 charged  him  with  nineteen  articles  of  heresy,  which  they  had 
 carefully  extracted  from  his  public  lectures  and  sermons;  all 
 which  were  forwarded  to  his  holiness.  As  these  charges  are 
 inserted  in  the  Introductory  Sketch,  we  shall  only  notice  their 
 general  import  in  this  place,  namely,  That  the  true  church  is 
 one,  and  composed  of  the  predestinated  to  eternal  life;  that  re- 
 probates, though  they  be  in,  are  not  of  this  true  church;  that 
 the  eucharist,  after  consecration,  is  not  the  real  body  of  Christ, 
 but  a  sign  or  symbol  thereof;  that  the  church  of  Rome  is  no 
 more  the  head  of  this  true  church,  than  any  other  church  is  her 
 head;  that  Peter  had  no  more  authority  given  him  than  any 
 other  of  the  apostles;  that  the  pope  had  no  more  power  than 
 another  priest  in  exercising  the  keys;  that  the  gospel  was  suffi- 
 cient to  direct  a  christian  in  the  conduct  of  life;  that  neither 
 popes  or  prelates  had  any  right  to  imprison  or  punish  men  for 
 their  opinions,  but  that  every  man  had  a  right  to  think  for 
 himself. 
 
 This  was  laying  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree.  It  went  to 
 exempt  the  members  of  the  church  from  corporeal  punishment 
 under  ecclesiastic  laws,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  remove  the 
 exemption  (if  clergymen,  and  the  goods  of  the  church,  from  the 
 power  of  the  civil  magistrate.  Such  are  the  heresies  with 
 which  this  famous  reformer  was  charged;  and,  if  we  consider 
 for  a  moment  the  circumstances  under  which  this  noble  stand 
 for  the  rights  of  men,  and  the  purity  of  faith  and  manners,  was 
 made,  we  shall  find  more  cause  of  astonishment  at  what  was 
 attempted,  than  surprise  that  his  reprehensions  were  not  further 
 extended. 
 
JOHN  WICKLIFF.  87 
 
 Wickliff  had  now  opened  the  eyes  of  the  people,  who  began 
 to  think  the  moment  they  could  see;  to  which  the  example  of 
 the  duke  of  Lancaster  and  lord  Henry  Percy,  earl  marshal, 
 added  considerable  excitement,  by  taking  him,  and  the  cause 
 he  defended,  under  their  particular  protection  and  patronage. 
 All  this  alarmed  the  court  of  Rome,  and  Gregory  XI.  issued  a 
 number  of  bulls  against  this  gigantic  heretic,  all  dated  the 
 twentv-secondof  May  1377.  One  was  addressed  to  the  archbishop 
 of  Canterbury  and  the  bishop  of  London,  a  second  to  the  king, 
 and  a  third  to  the  university  of  Oxford.  In  the  first  bull, 
 addressed  to  the  prelates,  the  pope  tells  them,  that  he  was 
 informed  Wickliff  had  rashly  proceeded  to  that  detestable  degree 
 of  madness,  as  not  to  be  afraid  to  assert,  and  publicly  preach, 
 such  propositions  as  were  erroneous  and  false,  contrary  to  the 
 faith,  and  threatening  to  subvert  and  weaken  the  estate  of  the 
 whole  church;  he  therefore  required  them  to  apprehend  and 
 imprison  him,  by  his  authority,  to  take  his  confession  concerning 
 his  propositions  and  conclusions,  and  transmit  the  same  to  Rome, 
 also  whatever  he  should  say  or  write  by  way  of  introduction 
 or  proof.  Of  the  king,  he  requested  his  patronage  and  assistance 
 to  the  bishops  in  the  prosecution.  But  the  king  died  before 
 his  bull  reached  England,  and  the  university  treated  their's  with 
 contempt,  and  protected  Wickliff:  who  was  also  powerfully 
 protected  by  the  duke  of  Lancaster  and  lord  Percy.  These 
 noblemen  avowed  their  determination  not  to  suffer  him  to  be 
 imprisoned;  neither  as  yet  was  there  any  act  of  parliament 
 empowering  the  bishops  to  imprison  heretics  without  the  royal 
 assent.  But  the  delegated  prelates  issued  their  mandate  to  the 
 chancellor  of  the  university  of  Oxford,  commanding  him  to 
 cite  Wickliff  to  appear  before  them,  in  the  church  of  St.  Paul, 
 London,  in  thirty  days. 
 
 In  the  mean  time,  the  first  parliament  of  Richard  II.  met  at 
 Westminster,  where  the  important  question,  Whether  it  was 
 lawful  to  retain  the  tribute,  and  refuse  the  homage,  claimed  by 
 the  pope  from  the  king  and  the  English  nation,  was,  after  much 
 discussion,  submitted  to  the  decision  of  Dr.  Wickliff;  who 
 declared  the  retention  wise  and  warrantable. 
 
 The  day  appointed  for  Wickliff 's  examination  arrived,  when 
 he  appeared  at  St.  Paul's,  attended  by  the  duke  of  Lancaster 
 and  lord  Percy.  His  learning,  talents,  and  integrity,  had  procur- 
 ed him  the  friendship  and  good  opinion  of  these  illustrious  no- 
 blemen, who  assured  him  he  had  nothing  to  fear  in  appearing 
 before  the  bishops,  who  were  mere  children,  and  ignorants,  com- 
 pared with  himself;  that  he  might  therefore  make  his  defence 
 with  the  utmost  confidence.  An  immense  concourse  of  people 
 blocked  up  the  passage,  so  that  there  was  cfreat  difficulty  in  en- 
 
88  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 tering  the  church.  The  manner  of  their  entrance,  with  a  train 
 of  attendants,  was  highly  offensive  to  the  hishop  of  London,  to 
 whom  it  appeared  more  like  a  triumph  than  a  trial.  The  court 
 was  held  in  the  chapel,  where  a  number  of  prelates  and  a  few 
 noblemen  attended.  WicklifF,  according  to  custom,  stood  up 
 to  hear  what  was  charged  against  him.  The  lord  marshal  would 
 have  him  seated;  the  bishop  of  London  opposed  the  proposition. 
 The  duke  of  Lancaster,  in  a  warm  reply,  threatened  to  humble 
 the  pride  of  all  the  prelates  in  England ;  the  bishop,  making  an 
 animated  and  rather  sarcastic  reply,  the  duke  threatened  to 
 drag  him  out  of  the  church  by  the  hair  of  his  head,  and  in  an  in- 
 stant all  was  uproar  and  confusion.  The  Londoners  would  re- 
 venge the  insult  offered  to  their  bishop;  the  noblemen  treated 
 the  citizens  with  disdain,  and  carried  off  their  protogee  in  tri- 
 umph. 
 
 The  duke  of  Lancaster  was  made  president  of  the  council, 
 and  the  bishops,  enraged  at  the  treatment  they  had  received,  as 
 well  as  to  please  the  pontiff,  would  have  gladly  exercised  the 
 utmost  severities  against  this  audacious  heretic;  but  they  were 
 cautious  in  drawing  down  the  resentment  of  his  powerful  pro- 
 tectors. He  was  summoned,  however,  a  second  time  before 
 them  at  Lambeth,  where  he  appeared,  and  had  a  very  different 
 reception  from  the  good  citizens  of  London,  who  now  rushed 
 into  the  chapel  to  encourage  the  Doctor,  and  intimidate  his  ad- 
 versaries. Wickliff  seemed  willing  to  give  the  prelates  some  sort 
 of  satisfaction,  and  presented  a  paper,  wherein  he  explained  the 
 several  conclusions  with  which  he  was  charged.  It  is  more 
 than  probable,  that  an  explication  so  general  would  not  have 
 satisfied  the  delegates,  if  the  king's  mother  had  not  sent  Sir 
 Lewis  Clifford  to  forbid  their  proceeding  to  any  definitive  sen- 
 tence against  him.  On  receiving  this  message,  the  delegates 
 were  utterly  confounded;  and,  as  their  own  historian  relates,  the 
 asperity  of  "  their  speech  became  as  smooth  as  oil,"  though  burn- 
 ing with  rage  at  this  fatal  and  unexpected  rebuff.  All  thoughts 
 of  censure  or  punishment  were  therefore  immediately  relinquish- 
 ed, silence  enjoined,  and  the  heretic  dismissed.  To  the  silence 
 imposed  on  Wickliff  he  paid  no  regard,  but  more  avowedly  than 
 ever  maintained  his  opinions,  going  about  barefooted,  it  is  said, 
 in  a  long  freeze  gown,  preaching  every  where  to  the  people, 
 and  without  the  least  reserve,  in  his  own  parish.  All  this  assi- 
 duity and  public  exertion  but  ill  agrees  with  the  equivocating 
 evasions  with  which  he  is  said  to  have  explained  his  opinions 
 before  these  bishops.  But  timidity  was,  of  all  others,  the  least 
 observable  ingredient  in  the  temperament  of  this  great  man; 
 nor  can  there  be  any  thing  more  improbable  than  the  disguise 
 he  has  been  charged  with  in  explaining  his  sentiments.     A 
 
JOHX  W1CKLIFF.  89 
 
 modern  writer,  however,  takes  upon  himself  to  say,  that  Wick- 
 liff  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  slender  resolution,  and  that 
 his  explanations  are  awkward  apologies.  Before  venturing  this 
 bold  and  groundless  assertion,  this  writer  might,  at  least  for  his 
 own  credit,  have  considered,  that  the  slender  resolution  and 
 awkward  apologies  he  charges  on  Wickliff,  are  merely  what  we 
 have  received  from  Walsingham,  whom  he  has  elsewhere  charg- 
 ed with  disingenuous  partiality. 
 
 The  duke  of  Lancaster  flattered  himself  with  the  hopes  of 
 becoming  sole  regent  during  the  minority  of  his  nephew;  but 
 the  parliament  joined  some  bishops  and  noblemen  with  him  in 
 the  regency,  which  considerably  damped  the  rising  spirits  of 
 the  followers  of  Wickliff,  who  were,  by  this  time,  1377,  become 
 so  astonishingly  numerous,  that,  it  is  said,  two  men  could  not 
 be  found  together  but  one  was  a  Wickliffite.  But  the  death  of 
 Gregory  XL  March  1378,  was  highly  favourable  to  Wickliff, 
 as  it  put  an  end  to  the  commission  and  power  of  the  delegated 
 bishops ;  and  the  double  election  to  the  pontificate,  that  happen- 
 ed at  this  time,  afforded  a  breathing  space  to  his  persecuted  fol- 
 lowers, as  Urban  VI.  was  not  acknowledged  in  England  till 
 the  end  of  the  following  year.  In  the  interim,  he  wrote  a  tract, 
 entitled,  the  Schism  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs;  and  shortly  after 
 published  his  book  on  the  Truth  of  the  Scriptures,  in  which  he 
 contended,  contrary  to  the  faith  of  the  church,  for  the  necessity 
 of  having  them  translated  into  the  English  language;  asserting 
 that  the  law  of  Christ  was  a  sufficient  rule  to  his  church;  that 
 the  will  of  God  was  delivered  to  man  in  two  testaments;  and 
 that  all  disputations,  not  originating  from  thence,  must  be  ac- 
 counted profane. 
 
 The  fatigue  of  attending  the  delegates  threw  Wickliff  into  a 
 dangerous  fit  of  illness  on  his  return  to  Oxford.  On  this  oc- 
 casion he  was  waited  on  by  a  very  extraordinary  deputation. 
 The  begging  friars,  whom  he  had  heretofore  treated  with  so 
 much  severity,  sent  four  of  their  order,  accompanied  by  four  of 
 the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Oxford,  to  attend  him;  who  hav- 
 ing gained  admission  to  his  bed-chamber,  acquainted  him,  that 
 on  learning  he  lay  at  the  point  of  death,  they  had  been  sent,  in 
 name  of  their  order,  to  put  him  in  mind  of  the  manifold  inju- 
 ries he  had  done  them,  and  hoped,  that  now,  for  the  sake  of  his 
 own  soul,  he  would  render  them  that  justice  that  yet  remained 
 in  his  power,  by  retracting,  in  presence  of  these  respectable 
 persons,  the  many  false  and  malicious  slanders,  and  injurious 
 misrepresentations,  he  had  published  of  their  lives  and  opinions. 
 Wickliff,  surprised  at  the  solemnity  of  this  strange  deputation, 
 raised  himself  on  his  pillow,  and,  with  a  stern  countenance, 
 thundered  in  their  ears,   "  I  shall  not  die,  but  live  to  declare 
 
 I  M 
 
90  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 the  evil  deeds  of  the  friars."  Struck  with  the  unexpected  force 
 o£  his  expression,  and  the  terror  of  his  looks,  the  deputation  re- 
 tired in  precipitant  confusion. 
 
 In  1380,  while  the  parliament  was  engaged  in  framing  a  sta- 
 tute, for  rendering  all  foreign  ecclesiastics  ineligible  to  hold  any 
 benefices  in  England,  and  for  expelling  from  the  kingdom  all 
 foreign  monks,  Wickliff  was  ardently  employed,  both  by  his 
 lectures  and  his  writings,  in  exposing  the  Roman  court,  and 
 detecting  the  vices  of  the  clergy,  whether  religious  or  secular. 
 Wield  iff  considered  it  as  one  of  the  leading  errors  of  popery, 
 that  the  bible  was  locked  up  from  the  people;  and  having  re- 
 solved to  remove  that  grievous  inconveniency,  by  a  transla- 
 tion, was  encouraged  in  the  undertaking  with  the  best  wishes 
 of  all  sober  people.  It,  however,  raised  the  clamours  of  an  en- 
 raged priesthood ;  and  Knighton,  a  canon  of  Leicester,  has  left 
 us  a  specimen  of  the  language  of  his  brethren  on  this  important 
 subject.  "  Christ,"  says  he,  "  entrusted  his  gospel  to  the  clergy 
 and  doctors  of  the  church,  to  minister  it  to  the  laity  and  weaker 
 sort,  according  to  their  exigencies  and  several  occasions.  But 
 this  Mr  John  Wickliff,  by  translating  it,  has  made  it  vulgar, 
 and  laid  it  more  open  to  the  laity,  and  even  women  who  can 
 read,  than  it  used  to  be  to  the  most  learned  of  the  clergy  and 
 those  of  the  best  understanding;  and  thus  the  gospel  jewel,  the 
 evangelical  pearl,  is  thrown  about,  and  trode  under  the  foot  of 
 swine."  Wickliff  and  his  assistants  were  at  much  pains  in 
 making  their  translation.  Having  carefully  corrected  the  Latin 
 text,  collected  the  glosses,  and  consulted  the  ancient  fathers, 
 they  proceeded  with  the  translation,  not  literally,  but  so  as  to 
 express  the  meaning  and  import  of  the  text,  according  to  the 
 Hebrew,  as  well  as  the  Latin  bibles.  In  this  laborious  under- 
 taking, they  found  the  commentators,  and  particularly  the  an- 
 notations of  Lyra,  of  especial  service;  they  distinguished  the 
 books  having  the  authority  of  holy  writ  from  such  as  were 
 apocryphal,  and  asserted  the  justness  of  their  translation. 
 
 The  zeal  of  the  clergy  to  suppress  Wickliff's  bible,  only 
 tended,  as  is  commonly  the  case,  to  promote  the  circulation. 
 The  reformers,  who  possessed  the  ability,  purchased  whole  copies; 
 the  poorer  sort  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  tran- 
 scrips  of  particular  gospels  or  epistles,  as  their  inclinations  di- 
 rected, and  their  means  enabled  them.  Hence  it  became  a 
 practice  among  the  prelates,  when  the  reformers  became  numer- 
 ous, and  t lie  fires  of  persecution  were  kindled,  to  fasten  these 
 scraps  of  the  scriptures  about  the  necks  of  the  condemned  he- 
 retics, and  to  commit  them,  with  their  possessor,  to  the  flames. 
 
 Wickliff  still  proceeded  in  detecting  the  errors,  and  lashing 
 the  abuses  of  (lie  clergy,  and  set  himself  to  oppose,  both  with 
 
JOHN  WICKLIFF.  91 
 
 the  arms  of  reason  and  ridicule,  that  doctrine  of  absurdity 
 called  trans ubstantiation.  Prior  to  the  ninth  century  there 
 had  been  a  vast  number  of  foolish  ceremonies  attached  to  the 
 sacrament  of  the  supper,  and,  with  a  view  to  impress  the  minds 
 of  the  communicants,  much  nonsense  had  been  expressed  about 
 the  eucharist;  but  none  had  seriously  taken  up  the  subject  of 
 transformation  till  about  820,  when  Radbertus  asserted,  and  in 
 a  copious  work  defended  the  proposition,  that  the  bread  and 
 wine  in  the  sacrament  are,  after  consecration,  no  longer  bread 
 and  wine,  but  really  and  substantially  the  body  and  blood  of 
 Christ;  a  doctrine  at  variance  with  the  canons  of  the  church 
 for  nearly  a  thousand  years  after  the  death  of  Christ,  and  par- 
 ticularly the  church  of  England,  as  appears  by  the  Saxon 
 homilies.  This  Wickliff  attacked,  in  his  divinity  lectures,  in 
 1381,  and  maintained  the  true  and  ancient  notion  of  the  Lord's 
 supper.  On  this  point  he  published  sixteen  conclusions,  the 
 first  of  which  is,  that  the  consecrated  host,  seen  on  the  altar, 
 is  not  Christ,  or  any  part  of  him,  but  an  effectual  sign  of  him. 
 He  offered  to  engage,  in  a  public  disputation,  with  any  man  on 
 the  truth  of  these  conclusions;  but  was  prohibited  by  the  reli- 
 gious, who  were  doctors  of  divinity,  and  Wickliff  published  bis 
 opinions  to  the  world;  but  soon  found  he  had  touched  the  most 
 tender  part,  by  attempting  to  eradicate  a  notion,  that,  above  all 
 others,  exalted  the  mystical  and  hierarchical  powers  and  import- 
 ance of  the  clergy.  Accordingly,  William  de  Barton,  chan- 
 cellor of  the  university,  and  eleven  doctors,  eight  of  whom  were 
 of  the  religious,  condemned  his  conclusions  as  erroneous  asser- 
 tions. Wickliff  told  the  chancellor,  that  neither  him  nor  his 
 assistants  were  able  to  confute  his  opinions,  and  appealed  from 
 their  sentence  of  condemnation  to  the  king. 
 
 William  Courtney,  archbishop  of  London,  and  a  devoted 
 tool  of  his  patron  the  pope,  had,  by  this  time,  succeeded  Sud- 
 bury in  the  see  of  Canterbury;  he  had  formerly  opposed  Wick- 
 liff with  uncommon  zeal  and  animosity,  an  d  now  proceeded  against 
 him  and  his  adherents  with  renovated  asperity.  But  so  soon 
 as  the  parliament  met  in  1382,  Wickliff  presented  his  appeal  to 
 the  king  and  both  houses. 
 
 This  appeal  is  represented,  by  Walsingham,  as  a  crafty  at- 
 tempt to  draw  the  nobility  into  erroneous  opinions;  who  fur- 
 ther asserts,  that  the  appeal  was  disapproved  by  the  duke  of 
 Lancaster,  by  whom  Wickliff  was  ordered  to  withdraw  it. 
 Others  as  confidently  assert,  that  the  duke  advised  him  against 
 appealing  to  the  king  at  all,  but  submit  to  the  judgment  of 
 his  ordinary.  On  which  ground  the  monks  take  the  liberty 
 to  assert,  that  he  retracted  his  errors  at  Oxford,  in  presence  of 
 the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  six  bishops,  and  many  doctors, 
 
92  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 surrounded  with  a  great  concourse  of  the  people.  It  has  never 
 been  denied,  that,  on  such  an  occasion  and  place,  Wickliff  pub- 
 licly read  a  Latin  confession ;  but  this  paper,  so  far  from  being 
 a  retraction  of  his  principles  and  opinions,  was  a  defence,  so 
 far  as  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was  concerned;  for  it 
 declares  his  determination  to  defend  it  with  his  blood,  and  bold- 
 ly censures  the  contrary  heresy,  and  explains  at  large  in  what 
 sense  he  understands  the  body  of  Christ  to  be  in  the  eucharist: 
 "  This  venerable  sacrament,"  says  he,  "  is  naturally  bread  and 
 wine;  but  is,  sacramentally,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ." 
 
 Archbishop  Courtney,  still  continuing  his  persecuting  rage 
 against  Wickliff,  appointed  a  court  of  select  bishops,  doctors, 
 and  bachelors,  who  met  in  the  monastery  of  the  preaching  friars, 
 London.  This  court  declared  fourteen  conclusions,  of  Wickliff 
 and  others,  erroneous  and  heretical.  Wickliff  was  accordingly 
 summoned  to  attend,  but  prevented  by  his  friends,  who  had 
 been  apprised  of  a  plot  laid  to  seize  him  on  his  way  thither. 
 His  cause,  nevertheless,  was  taken  up  and  defended  by  the 
 chancellor  of  Oxford  and  two  proctors,  as  also  by  the  greater 
 part  of  the  senate,  who,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  court,  to 
 which  was  affixed  the  university  seal,  gave  him  an  unqualified 
 recommendation  for  learning,  piety,  and  orthodox  faith.  Dr. 
 Nicholas  Hereford,  Dr.  Philip  Rapyndon,  and  John  Ashton, 
 M.  A.  appeared,  and  at  this  court,  as  well  as  at  the  convoca- 
 tion, defended  his  doctrines. 
 
 The  bigotted  Courtney,  in  the  rage  of  his  disappointment, 
 exerted  all  his  authority  in  the  church,  and  exercised  all  his  in- 
 genuity, interest,  and  influence,  at  court  and  in  the  state,  to 
 punish  the  Wickliffites,  and  suppress  their  opinions.  But 
 Wickliff  rose  in  reputation  in  proportion  to  the  persecuting 
 severity  of  this  dignified  ecclesiastic;  and  his  doctrines,  taking 
 hold  of  the  affections  of  the  people,  were  circulated  with  aston- 
 ishing rapidity  through  most  part  of  the  European  continent; 
 but  Wickliff,  amidst  the  blaze  of  his  fame,  and  in  the  zenith  of 
 his  usefulness,  was  forced  to  quit  his  professorship,  and  retire 
 to  his  living  at  Lutterworth;  where  he  continued  to  vindicate 
 the  doctrines  he  had  taught,  and  encourage  the  converts  he  had 
 made. 
 
 In  1382,  soon  after  his  leaving  Oxford,  he  was  struck  with 
 the  palsy;  and,  about  the  same  time,  summoned  to  appear  at 
 Rome,  to  answer,  before  the  holy  father,  for  his  many  and  great 
 offences;  but  excused  himself,  in  a  letter  to  the  pope,  wherein 
 he  tells  him,  that  "  he  had  learned  of  Christ  to  obey  God  rather 
 than  man."  His  enemies  were  now  sensible,  that  his  disorder 
 would  soon  put  a  period  to  his  opposition,  and  therefore  suffer- 
 ed him  to  pass  the  short  remains  of  a  life,  already  exhausted 
 
JOHN  WICKLIFF.  93 
 
 with  labour  and  unceasing  persecution,  without  further  molesta- 
 tion. On  Innocent's  day  1384,  he  had  another  and  more  vio- 
 lent attack  of  the  same  disorder,  when  officiating  in  his  own 
 church,  where  he  fell  down,  and  never  again  recovered  his 
 speech,  but  soon  after  terminated  a  life  of  laborious  activity 
 and  triumphant  opposition,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age. 
 
 Such  was  the  life  of  John  Wickliff,  than  whom  the  christian 
 world,  since  the  age  of  the  apostles,  has  not  produced  a  greater 
 man.  His  enemies,  however,  and  that  of  the  cause  he  defend- 
 ed, have  some  of  them  vainly  endeavoured  to  depreciate  his 
 talents,  and  even  to  question  the  strength  of  his  resolution;  but 
 the  dangers  he  encountered,  and  the  victories  he  achieved,  under 
 circumstances  so  peculiarly  unpropitious,  while  they  mark  the 
 character  of  his  traducers  with  malice,  envy,  and  unmanly  par- 
 tiality, will  serve  to  secure  his  glory,  and  transmit  his  untar- 
 nished renown.  For  mankind,  with  all  their  defects,  are  not 
 so  blind,  but  they  can  perceive  that  the  man  who,  single-handed, 
 dares  to  attack  at  once  the  prejudices,  the  interests,  and  the 
 united  power  of  a  world,  cannot  be  a  coward;  and  most  assured- 
 ly, that  he  who  triumphs  over  such  a  powerful  combination, 
 convinces  or  confounds  the  learned,  opens  the  eyes  of  blinded 
 ignorance,  and,  through  an  inextricable  maze  of  error,  traces 
 out  the  plain  path  of  religious  purity  and  moral  propriety,  it 
 were  madness  to  call  him  a  fool :  All  this  did  Wickliff,  whose 
 amazing  penetration,  and  rational  manner  of  thinking,  and  faci- 
 lity in  shaking  off  the  prejudices  of  education,  drew  forth  the 
 admiration  of  his  contemporaries,  and  will  secure  him  the  vene- 
 ration of  posterity,  by  whom  he  will  be  considered  as  one  of 
 those  prodigies  which  providence,  on  some  rare  occasions,  raises, 
 inspires,  and  abundantly  qualifies  for  conducting  his  most  diffi- 
 cult and  astonishing  operations. 
 
 Wickliff  had  studied  theology  with  great  care  and  remarka- 
 ble success.  He  was  endowed  witli  an  uncommon  gravity,  and 
 the  purity  of  his  manners  corresponded  with  his  character  as  a 
 teacher  of  religion  and  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  anxiety 
 to  restore  the  primitive  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  church,  in 
 that  ignorant  and  degenerate  age,  was  such,  that  he  laboured 
 in  season  and  out  of  season,  if,  by  any  means,  he  might  draw 
 the  public  attention  and  consideration  to  a  subject  so  much  ne- 
 glected, and  so  shamefully  perverted  by  the  Romish  church ; 
 and  we  have  reason  to  believe,  that  his  success  far  exceeded  his 
 warmest  anticipations.  He  was  allowed,  even  by  his  enemies, 
 to  be  a  man  of  excellent  practice,  uncommon  learning,  and 
 gigantic  abilities.  His  works,  that  are  yet  extant,  discover  a 
 soundness  of  judgment,  and  reasoning  powers  of  the  first  order: 
 they  breathe  a  spirit  of  genuine  piety,  and  manifest  a  modesty 
 
94  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 altogether  uncommon  in  that  age  of  trifling  puerility.  Every 
 thing  he  says  is  judicious,  important,  and  correct. 
 
 Next  to  his  reading  the  scriptures,  Bradwardine's  writings 
 first  opened  WicklifTa  eyes  to  the  genuine  doctrine  of  justifica- 
 tion by  grace;  in  these  he  discovered  the  amazing  difference  be- 
 tween salvation  by  the  grace  and  unmerited  favour  of  God,  and 
 that  held  out  by  merit-mongers,  penances,  purgatory,  and  pil- 
 grimages. 
 
 Wickliff  was  an  avowed  necessitarian;  and  in  vindicating  his 
 opinion  on  this  singularly  delicate  and  long  contested  point, 
 had  averred,  that  without  admitting  his  argument,  all  prophecy 
 must  be  considered  as  mere  conjecture,  inasmuch  as  God's  fore- 
 knowledge of  any  event  is  paramount  to  his  having  decreed 
 and  determined  the  bringing  of  it  to  pass;  and,  on  the  supposi- 
 tion that  it  was  unforeknown,  how  was  it  possible  to  foretel  its 
 future  existence  ?  This  argument  so  puzzled  an  archbishop  of 
 Armagh,  that  he  laboured  two  years  to  reconcile  the  prophecies 
 of  Christ  to  the  doctrine  of  free-will;  but,  with  all  his  skill  and 
 labour,  the  task  turned  out  more  than  a  match  for  this  learned 
 and  dignified  Roman  prelate. 
 
 Regarding  the  doctrine  of  gratuitous  pardon,  Wickliff  says, 
 "  The  merit  of  Christ  alone  is  sufficient  to  redeem  every  man 
 from  hell;  and  that,  without  the  aid  of  any  other  concurring 
 cause  whatever,  all  those  who  are  justified  by  his  righteousness, 
 shall  be  saved  by  his  atonement."  Save  us,  Lord,  for  nought, 
 says  Wickliff,  that  is,  without  any  merit  of  ours,  but  for  the  me- 
 rits of  the  great  atoning  sacrifice. 
 
 As  Dr.  Wickliff  was  diligent  in  preaching  and  reading  his 
 divinity  lectures,  so  he  wrote  a  great  many  tracts,  of  which 
 bishop  Bale  has  given  a  particular  account.  They  amount  to 
 two  hundred  and  fifty-five,  of  which  thirty-two  are  preserved  in 
 Trinity  college,  a  great  many  in  Cambridge,  five  in  Trinity 
 college,  Dublin,  four  in  the  Bodleian  library,  two  in  the  Cotton 
 library,  and  three  in  the  king's  library;  most  of  them  are  theo- 
 logical, but  some  philosophical.  Forty-eight  are  written  in 
 English,  and  the  rest  in  Latin.  A  fair  copy  of  his  translation 
 of  the  bible  is  in  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  and  two  copies  more 
 in  the  University  library;  besides  these,  there  is  also  a  volume 
 of  English  tracts,  said  to  be  written  by  Wickliff,  some  of  which 
 are  yet  extant.  I  lis  works,  especially  his  translation  of  the 
 bible,  were  wrote  in  the  most  expressive  language  of  the  age, 
 though  extremely  uncouth  to  a  modern  ear,  of  which  we  have 
 formerly  given  a  specimen.  His  opinions  were  greatly  mis- 
 represented by  his  adversaries;  but  he  was  protected  by  many 
 powerful  friends,  and  his  doctrine  embraced  by  the  greatest 
 part  of  the  kingdom.     Edward  III.,  the  princess  Dowager  of 
 
JOHN  WICKLIFF.  95 
 
 Wale-,  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  the  queen  of  Richard  II.,  the 
 earl  marshal,  Geoffrey  Chaucer,  and  lord  Cobliam,  were  his 
 patrons  and  friends.  Under  such  powerful  and  exemplary 
 patrons,  his  adherents  were  daily  increased.  Many  eminent 
 divines,  noblemen,  and  other  persons  of  distinction,  attaching 
 themselves  to  the  new  religion,  were  followed  by  vast  num- 
 bers of  the  people;  and  though  violently  opposed  by  the  dig- 
 nified clergy,  who,  during  the  reigns  of  Richard  the  II., 
 Henry  the  IV.,  and  Henry  V.,  stirred  up  bloody  persecu- 
 tions against  the  Wickliffites,  their  numbers  were  multiplied 
 like  suckers  from  the  roots  of  trees  in  a  forest.  Soon  after 
 this,  the  seculars  and  ecclesiastics  combined  their  power  and 
 influence  to  suppress  and  extirpate  this  rising  heresy,  which 
 threatened  to  overturn  the  Romish  hierarchy;  and  archbishop 
 Arundel,  twelve  years  after  Wickliff  had  slept  with  his 
 fathers,  condemned,  in  convocation,  eighteen  of  his  conclu- 
 sions. Acts  of  parliament  were  likewise  obtained  against  his 
 followers,  and  numbers  of  them  burnt  for  their  heresies.  His 
 books  were  prohibited  in  the  universities;  and  in  1416,  arch- 
 bishop Chichely  erected  a  species  of  inquisition,  in  every 
 parish,  to  discover,  and  drag  before  their  tribunals,  all  who  ad- 
 hered to,  or  appeared  to  favour  these  obnoxious  tenets.  By 
 these  cruel  and  unchristian  means,  that  zealous  advocate  for  the 
 reformation  of  the  church,  John  Lord  Cobham,  was  burnt  for 
 heresy.  He  was  the  first  nobleman  in  England  whose  blood 
 was  shed  for  religion  in  this  contending  period.  Mr  Fox,  in 
 his  acts  and  monuments,  affirms,  that  Gower  and  Chaucer,  two 
 poets,  famous  at  that  time,  were  followers  of  Wickliff,  and  that 
 they  ingeniously  covered  their  opinions  by  a  parabolic  mode 
 of  writing,  which  they,  who  were  favoured  with  the  key,  could 
 fully  comprehend;  and  that  in  this  way  many  were  converted  to 
 Wickliff's  opinions.  Chaucer  died  in  1400,  and  Gower  soon 
 after. 
 
 The  doctrines  taught  by  Wickliff  unhinged  the  infallibility 
 of  the  pope;  and  the  council  of  Constance,  on  the  5th  of  May 
 1415,  condemned  forty-five  articles  which  he  had  taught  and 
 maintained;  but  finding  the  archheretic  had  retired  beyond  the 
 reach  of  their  battering  artillery,  they  wisely  contented  them- 
 selves with  insulting  his  mouldering  remains.  Accordingly, 
 this  venerable  assembly  of  holy  men,  in  sober  gravity,  and  aw- 
 ful solemnity,  decreed,  that  the  bones  of  this  fallen  adversary 
 should  be  disinterred,  and  cast  on  the  dunghill.  This  part  of 
 the  sentence,  however,  was  not  put  in  execution  till  thirteen 
 years  after;  when,  in  1428,  the  bishop  of  Lincoln  had  a  per- 
 emptory order  from  the  pope  to  have  it  put  in  immediate  exe- 
 cution.    The  remains  of  this  excellent  man  were  therefore  dug 
 
90  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 out  of  the  grave,  where  they  reposed  for  four-and-forty  years  un- 
 molested, publicly  burnt,  and  the  ashes  thrown  into  an  adjoin- 
 ing brook. 
 
 Such  was  the  resentment  of  the  holy  see,  and  such  the  poor 
 satisfaction  obtained  by  the  pope,  and  his  obsequious  council  of 
 Constance,  from  him  who  has  been  justly  denominated  the  first 
 English  reformer.  The  Wickliffites  were  grievously  oppressed, 
 but  could  not  be  extinguished;  persecution  only  served  to  esta- 
 blish those  doctrines,  which,  about  an  hundred  years  after  this, 
 became  general  in  England,  when  the  nation  embraced  the 
 faith  which  this  morning-star  of  the  reformation  had  so  early 
 restored,  not  only  to  his  own,  but  we  may  say,  without  hesita- 
 tion, to  all  the  nations  of  Christendom.  His  works  were  cir- 
 culated by  lord  Cobham  through  great  part  of  the  continent. 
 The  servants  and  attendants  of  queen  Ann,  the  wife  of  Richard 
 II.  on  returning  to  Bohemia,  carried  along  with  them  several 
 of  Wickliff's  writings,  which  were  the  means  of  promoting  the 
 reformation  in  that  part  of  the  continent.  Numbers  were  also 
 brought  into  Germany  by  Peter  Payne,  an  Englishman,  and  a 
 disciple  of  Wickliff's.  They  were  so  numerous  in  Bohemia, 
 that  two  hundred  volumes,  finely  written,  and  elegantly  cover- 
 ed, were  burnt  by  archbishop  Sbinko.  A  young  Bohemian 
 nobleman,  who  had  been  prosecuting  his  studies  at  Oxford, 
 likewise  took  home  several  of  Wickliff's  books;  and  being 
 well  acquainted  with  John  Huss,  favoured  him  with  a  per- 
 usal; which  was  the  means  of  converting  this  excellent  man, 
 and  the  greater  part  of  the  university  of  Prague,  to  the  faith  of 
 the  reformation;  which  Huss,  ever  after,  publicly  taught  and 
 circulated  with  almost  enthusiastic  assiduity;  vindicating  the 
 same  in  the  face  of  the  council  who  condemned  his  body  to  the 
 flames.  He  considered  Wickliff  an  angel  sent  from  heaven  to 
 enlighten  mankind;  and  amid  the  fire  that  consumed  him,  ex- 
 ulted in  the  prospect  of  associating  with  him  in  the  enjoyment 
 of  celestial  happiness. 
 
 In  concluding  this  memoir,  we  cannot  help  expressing  our 
 regret,  that  nothing  has  been  done  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
 this  great  man,  to  whom  his  country  is  evidently  more  indebted, 
 both  for  her  civil  and  religious  privileges,  than  to  any  one  of  her 
 most  distinguished  warriors.  Let  us  hope,  however,  that  the 
 monument  lately  erected  to  the  memory  of  John  Knox,  the 
 celebrated  Scottish  reformer,  may  stimulate  his  countrymen  to 
 some  similar  expression  of  public  regard. 
 
 The  works  of  Wickliff  are  amazingly  numerous,  but,  with 
 the  exception  of  his  translation  of  the  bible,  they  are  generally 
 small,  and  most  of  them  might,  with  propriety,  be  called  tracts; 
 but  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  the  exigencies  of  the 
 people,  pointed  out  the  propriety  of  this  mode  of  circulation. 
 
JOHN  W1CKLIFF.  97 
 
 And  as  some  readers  may  be  curious  to  know  what  subjects  he 
 chose,  a  list  of  those  more  remarkable  has  been  selected  from 
 the  various  collections,  and  are  as  follows : 
 
 Trialagorum,  lib.  4. — De  Religione  Perfectorum. — De  Eccle- 
 sia  et  Membris. — De  Diabolo  et  Membris. — De  Christo  et  An- 
 tichristo. — De  Antichristo  et  Membris. — Sermones  in  Epistolas. 
 — De  Veritate  Scripturae. — De  Statu  Innocentise. — De  Stipen- 
 diis  Ministrorum. — De  Episcoporum  Erroribus. — De  Curato- 
 rum  Erroribus. — De  Perfectione  Evangel ica. — De  Officio  Pas- 
 torali. — De  Simonia  Sacerdotum. — Super  Paenitentiis    Injun- 
 gendis. — De    Seductione    Simplicium. — Daemon um    Astus    in 
 Subvertenda  Religione. — De   Pontine uni   Romanorum   Schis- 
 mate. — De    Ultima    aetate    Ecclesiae. — Of    Temptation. — The 
 Chartre   of  Hevene.— Of   Ghostly   Battel.— Of   Ghostly  and 
 Fleshly  Love. — The  Confession  of  St.  Brandoun. — Active  Life, 
 and  Contemplative. — Virtuous  Patience. — Of  Pride. — Obser- 
 vations Piae  in  Christi  Praecepta. — De  Impedimentis  Orationis. 
 — De  Cardinalibus  Virtutibus. — De  Actibus  Animae. — Exposi- 
 tio  Orationis  Dominicae. — De  7  Sacrainentis. — De  Natura  Fidei. 
 — De  Diversis  Gradibus  Charitatis. — De  Defectione  a  Christo. 
 — De  Veritate  et  Mendacio. — De  Sacerdotio  Levitico. — De  Sa- 
 cerdotio  Chi'isti. — De  Dotatione  Caesarea. — De  Versutiis  Pseu- 
 docleri. — De  Immortalitate  Animae. — De  Paupertate  Christi. — 
 De  Physica  Naturali. — De  Essentia  Accidentium. — De  Necessi- 
 tate Inturorum. — De  Temporis  Quidditate. — De  Temporis  Am- 
 pliatione. — De  Operibus  Corporalibus. — De  Operibus  Spiritu- 
 alibus. — De  Fide  et  Perfidia. — De  Sermone  Domini  in  Mon- 
 tem. — Abstractiones  Logicales. — A  Short  Rule  of  Life. — The 
 Great  Sentence  of  the  Curse  Expounded. — Of  Good  Priests. — 
 De  Contrarietate  Duorum  Dominorum. — Wickliff's  Wicket. — 
 De  Ministrorum  Conjugio. — De  Religiosis  Privatis. — Conciones 
 de  Morte. — De  Vita  Sacerdotum. — De  Ablatis  Restituendis. — 
 De  Arte  Sophistica. — De  Fonte  Errorum. — De  Incarnatione 
 Verbi. — Super  Impositis  Articulis. — De  Humanitate  Christi. — 
 Contra  Concilium  Terrae-motus. — De  Solutione  Satanae. — De 
 Spiritu  Quolibet. — De  Christianorum  Baptismo. — De  Clavium 
 Potestate. — De  Blasphemia. — De  Paupertate  Christi. — De  Ra- 
 ritate  et  Densitate. — De  Materia  et  Forma. — De  Anima. — Octo 
 Beatitudines. — De  Trinitate. — Commentarii   in  Psalterium. — 
 De  Abominatione  Desolationis. — De  Civili  Dominio. — De  Ec- 
 clesiae  Dominio. — De  Divino  Dominio. — De  Origine  Sectarum. 
 — De  Perfidia  Sectarum. — Speculum  de  Antichristo. — De  Vir- 
 tute  Orandi. — De  Remissione  Fraterna. — De  Censuris  Ecclesiae. 
 - — De  Charitate  Fraterna. — De  Purgatorio  Piorum. — De  Pha- 
 risaeo  et  Publicano. — And  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 
 the  English  language. 
 
 1-  N 
 
9^  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 JOHN  FRITH. 
 
 The  first  in  England  that  professedly  wrote  against  the 
 corporeal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  was  John  Frith, 
 an  excellent  scholar,  and  an  eminent  divine,  born  at  Seven- 
 oaks,  in  Kent.  He  was  educated  at  king's  college,  Cambridge, 
 where  he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts;  but  afterwards 
 went  to  Oxford^  where  the  brilliancy  and  the  solidity  of  his  ta- 
 lents soon  procured  him  the  office  of  a  junior  canon,  in  Car- 
 dinal Wolsey's  new  college,  now  called  Christ-church.  Some 
 time  prior  to  1525  he  became  acquainted  with  the  famous 
 William  Tyndale,  who,  conversing  with  him  on  the  abuses  of 
 religion,  was  made  the  happy  instrument  of  convincing  him  of 
 the  fallacious  ground  on  which  men  rested  their  hopes  of  salva- 
 tion, who  trusted  either  to  their  own  righteousness  or  that  of 
 the  saints.  That  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  his  all-perfect  right- 
 eousness alone,  could  justify  the  sinner,  and  secure  him  from  the 
 wrath  denounced  against  every  violation  of  God's  holy  and  per- 
 fect law;  that  works  of  supererogation  only  existed  in  the  blind- 
 ed imaginations  of  ignorant  and  deluded  men;  that  penances, 
 pilgrimages,  and  popish  absolutions,  had  no  efficacy  in  remov- 
 ing the  guilt,  or  cleansing  the  conscience  of  sinners,  whatever 
 they  might  have  in  enabling  a  crafty  priesthood  to  pick  their 
 pockets.  Frith,  pondering  these  things  in  his  mind,  the  more 
 he  considered,  the  more  he  was  convinced,  and  soon  after  pub- 
 licly professed  the  reformation  principles;  for  which  he  was 
 seized,  examined  by  the  commissary  of  the  university,  and, 
 along  with  some  of  his  associates,  imprisoned  within  the  limits 
 of  his  own  college,  where  some  of  them  died  in  consequence  of 
 the  maltreatment  they  had  received. 
 
 In  1528,  being  released  from  his  imprisonment,  he  travelled 
 through  various  places  on  the  continent,  where,  by  visiting  the 
 reformed  churches,  and  conversing  with  their  leading  ministers, 
 he  returned  to  England  greatly  confirmed  in  the  faith;  but  no 
 sooner  had  he  reached  Reading,  in  Berkshire,  than  he  was  ta- 
 ken up  for  a  vagabond,  and  set  in  the  stocks;  where,  after 
 sitting  a  long  time,  and  almost  perishing  with  hunger,  he  re- 
 quested some  of  the  spectators  to  call  the  schoolmaster  of  the 
 town,  who,  at  that  time,  was  Leonard  Cox,  a  very  learned  man. 
 Cox  having  discovered  the  eminent  talents  of  the  sufferer,  by 
 conversing  with  him  on  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  pro- 
 cured his  release,  and  supplied  him  with  victuals  and  money. 
 After  this  lie  went  to  London,  where,  notwithstanding  that  he 
 frequently  changed  his  apparel  and  the  place  of  his  residence, 
 he  could  not  long  evade  the  inquisitive  eyes  of  the  lord  chancel- 
 
JOHN  FRITH.  99 
 
 lor,  Sir  Thomas  More*  who  had  spies  at  every  port  of  the  king- 
 dom, and  even  along  the  roads,  and  a  great  reward  promised  to 
 whoever  would  give  information  against  this  excellent  man. 
 
 It  is  not  improbable  that  Sir  Thomas  More  had  some  feelings 
 of  personal  animosity  against  Frith,  from  a  book  he  had  writ- 
 ten. The  matter  stands  thus.  A  book,  entitled,  the  Supplica- 
 tion of  the  Beggars,  published  by  a  Mr  Fish,  of  Gfay's  inn, 
 inveighing  against  the  imposing  arts  of  the  mendicants,  and 
 taxing  the  Roman  pontiff  with  extortion,  cruelty,  and  decep- 
 tion, as  he  granted  his  indulgences  and  absolutions  from  pur- 
 gatory to  none  but  such  as  could  pay  for  them.  This  book 
 was  received  with  great  attention  by  the  public,  and  even  by 
 Henry  VIII.  himself,  as  it  favoured  him  greatly  in  his  then 
 quarrel  with  the  pope. 
 
 Sir  Thomas  answered  this  publication  by  another,  entitled,  the 
 Supplication  of  the  Souls  in  Purgatory,  wherein  he  strongly 
 exhibits  their  supposed  misery,  and  the  relief  afforded  them  by 
 the  masses  that  were  said  in  their  behalf:  and,  in  the  name  of 
 these  wretched  beings,  implored  their  friends  to  step  forward 
 and  support  the  religious  orders,  at  a  time  when  they  were  sur- 
 rounded and  attacked  on  every  side  by  their  inveterate  enemies. 
 Sir  Thomas  exerted  all  his  wit  and  eloquence  in  the  composi- 
 tion of  this  publications  but  whether  it  arose  from  the  badness 
 of  the  cause,  or  the  increasing  information  of  the  people,  it  met 
 with  no  encouragement. 
 
 Frith,  however,  undertook  to  return  an  answer,  which  he 
 performed  with  all  necessary  gravity,  showing  that  the  doc- 
 trine of  purgatory  had  not  the  least  foundation  in  scripture: 
 that  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  merits  of  Christ  and  his  con- 
 sequent pardon  of  si.n;  and  that  it  stood  diametrically  opposed 
 to  the  whole  plan  of  his  salvation  by  grace.  That  the  fire  spo- 
 ken of  by  the  apostle,  as  that  winch  would  devour  the  wood, 
 hay,  and  stubble,  could  only  be  understood  as  the  fire  of  perse- 
 cution, that  puts  to  the  severest  trial  both  the  faith  and  forti- 
 tude of  the  saints.  He  strenuously  urged,  and  from  the  history 
 of  the  primitive  church  produced  abundant  evidence,  that  such 
 a  doctrine  was  then  wholly  unknown,  and  that,  as  it  could  not 
 be  found  in  scripture,  so  neither  did  it  exist  in  the  writings  of 
 Ambrose,  Jerome,  or  Augustine;  insisting  that  it  was  intro- 
 duced into  the  church  by  the  monks,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
 deluding  the  world,  and  enhancing  the  value  and  importance  of 
 their  craft.  This  spirited  attack  on  the  strong  holds  of  the  ec- 
 clesiastic empire,  enraged  the  clergy  almost  to  madness;  and 
 finding  they  could  not  withstand  the  arguments  of  Mr  Frith, 
 they  determined  to  silence  him  by  the  more  energetic  syllogisms 
 of  fire  and  faggot. 
 
100  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Some  short  time  after  this,  Mr  Frith  had  a  conversation  with 
 a  familiar  friend  of  his  regarding  the  doctrines  of  transubstan- 
 tiation,  when  he  was  requested  to  commit  the  substance  of  the 
 arguments  lie  had  used  to  writing,  and  favour  him  with  a  copy 
 for  the  help  of  his  memory.  Frith  was  rather  backward  to  this, 
 knowing  the  dangers  to  which  he  was  exposed;  but  yielding  tov 
 the  importunity  of  his  friend,  he  wrote  down  the  following 
 arguments. 
 
 1.  That  the  natural  body  of  Christ,  sin  only  excepted,  pos- 
 sessed similar  properties  with  the  bodies  of  other  men,  and 
 could  not  therefore  occupy  two  or  more  places  at  one  and  the 
 same  time;  and  that  consequently  the  ubiquity  of  Christ's  na- 
 tural body  was  an  incredible  absurdity. — 2.  That  the  words  of 
 Christ,  as  they  occur  in  Matt.  xxvi.  26,  27,  28,  were  by  no 
 means  intended  to  be  literally  understood;  but  that  their  sense 
 and  meaning  are  to  be  taken  from  the  analogy  of  the  scripture. 
 — 3,  and  lastly,  That  this  holy  ordinance  of  the  supper  ought 
 to  be  administered  and  received  according  to  the  true  and  pro- 
 per institution  of  Christ,  notwithstanding  that  the  present 
 mode  of  administration,  in  the  Romish  church,  is  in  every  re- 
 spect different  therefrom. 
 
 At  this  time,  one  William  Holt,  a  taylor,  who  professed  him- 
 self a  warm  friend  to  the  cause  of  reformation,  by  his  hy- 
 pocrisy, found  an  opportunity  to  betray  its  friends  and  adher- 
 ents. This  man  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  see  Mr  Frith's 
 arguments;  which  he  no  sooner  received,  than  he  hurried  away 
 to  Sir  Thomas  More,  to  whom  he  presented  the  heretical  billet 
 with  no  small  share  of  consequential  importance.  Sir  Thomas 
 lost  no  time  in  apprehending  the  unsuspecting  Frith,  and  lodg- 
 ing him  in  the  tower,  where  he  had  several  conferences  with 
 the  chancellor  and  others.  At  length  he  was  taken  to  Lambeth 
 before  the  archbishop,  afterwards  to  Croydon  before  the  bishop 
 of  Winchester,  and  at  last,  on  the  20th  of  June  1533,  examined 
 before  an  assembly  of  bishops,  sitting  in  St.  Paul's  cathedral, 
 who,  after  interrogating  him  respecting  the  sacrament  and  pur- 
 gatory, urged  him  to  recant.  Frith  confuted  all  their  argu- 
 ments; and  in  place  of  recanting,  subscribed  his  declaration  in 
 the  following  manner : — I  Frith,  thus  do  think,  a»nd  as  I  think 
 and  believe,  so  have  I  said,  written,  taught,  and  published  to 
 the  world. 
 
 From  the  tenor  of  Mr  Frith's  open  defence  and  unequivocat- 
 ing  assertions,  both  in  his  writings  and  before  the  assembly,  he 
 was  deemed  incorrigible,  and  condemned  to  be  burnt.  Accord- 
 ingly, he  was  carried  to  Smithfield  along  with  a  young  man 
 named  Andrew  Hewet,  on  the  4th  July  1553.  When  Mr  Frith 
 was  tied  to  the  stake,  he  evinced   amazing  courage,  resigna- 
 
JOHN  FRITH.  101 
 
 tion,  and  self-possession.  He  embraced  the  burning  faggots 
 that  were  flaming  around  him,  as  an  evidence  of  the  cheerful- 
 ness with  which  he  could  suffer  for  the  cause  of  Christ  and  his 
 ever-blessed  gospel.  One  Dr.  Cook,  a  priest,  standing  by,  in 
 an  audible  voice  admonished  the  weeping  spectators  not  to  pray 
 for  the  sufferers  more  than  they  were  dogs  !  Frith  smiled  at 
 his  impotent  malice,  and  prayed  the  Lord  to  forgive  him.  The 
 wind  carried  the  flames  in  the  direction  of  Hewet,  his  fellow- 
 martyr,  by  which  Frith  had  a  lingering  and  exceedingly  pain- 
 ful death;  but  his  mind  was  so  fixed,  and  his  patience  so  in- 
 vincible, that  he  seemed  less  careful  for  his  own,  than  for  the 
 sufferings  of  his  faithful  companion.  At  last,  committing  him- 
 self into  the  hands  of  his  Father  and  Redeemer,  he  expired  in 
 the  prime  of  his  life. 
 
 When  Mr  Frith,  as  we  have  seen,  was  to  be  examined  at 
 Croydon,  two  of  the  archbishop's  servants  were  sent  to  fetch 
 him.  Frith's  pious  and  edifying  conversation,  and  amiable  de- 
 portment by  the  way,  made  such  a  favourable  impression  on 
 the  minds  of  these  men,  that  they  contrived  between  themselves 
 how  they  might  let  him  escape;  and  having  completed  their  ar- 
 rangements, one  of  them  thus  addressed  him.  "  Mr  Frith,  I 
 am  extremely  sorry  for  having  undertaken  this  journey.  I  am 
 ordered  to  bring  you  to  Croydon;  and  knowing  the  rage  of 
 your  enemies,  I  consider  myself  as  bringing  you  like  a  lamb  to 
 the  slaughter.  This  consideration  overwhelms  me  with  sor- 
 row, insomuch,  that  I  disregard  any  hazard  I  may  run,  so  as  I 
 may  but  deliver  you  out  of  the  lion's  mouth."  To  this  friendly 
 proposal  Mr  Frith  replied,  with  a  smile,  Do  ye  think  I  am  afraid 
 to  deliver  my  sentiments  before  the  bishops  of  England,  and 
 these  manifestly  founded  on  the  unerring  veracity  of  divine  re- 
 velation ?  It  seems  strange  to  me,  said  the  other,  that  you  was 
 so  willing  to  quit  the  kingdom  before  your  apprehension;  and 
 that  now  you  are  even  unwilling  to  save  yourself  from  almost 
 certain  destruction.  The  matter,  said  Mr  Frith,  stands  thus. 
 While  I  was  yet  at  liberty,  I  cherished  it,  and  to  the  utmost  of 
 my  power,  endeavoured  to  preserve  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  church 
 of  Christ:  but  now,  by  the  providence  of  God,  having  been  deli- 
 vered into  the  hands  of  the  bishops,  I  consider  myself  particu- 
 larly called  upon  as  an  evidence  for  Christ  and  the  truths  of  his 
 religion,  as  well  as  bound  by  the  ties  of  gratitude  and  love  to 
 my  adorable  Redeemer,  publicly  to  acknowledge  his  supreme 
 government  in  the  church,  and  contend  for  the  purity  of  that 
 faith  which  in  old  times  he  committed  to  the  care  and  guardi- 
 anship of  the  saints.  If  therefore  I  should  now  start  aside,  and 
 run  away,  I  should  run  away  from  my  God  and  the  testimony 
 of  his  word,  deny  the  Lord  that  bought  me,  and  grieve  the 
 
102  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 hearts  of  his  faithful  servants.  I  beseech  you,  therefore,  bring 
 me  to  the  place  appointed,  otherwise  I  must  needs  travel  thither 
 by  myself.  In  tlic  present  instance,  Mr  Frith  is  perhaps  more 
 to  be  admired  than  justified.  The  saints  are  nowhere  com- 
 manded to  give  themselves  up  to  their  persecutors,  but  to  avoid 
 them  wherever  this  can  be  done  with  a  safe  conscience.  The 
 primitive  christians,  it  is  true,  many  of  them  rather  courted 
 than  avoided  the  martyr's  crown;  but  what  makes  it  more  re- 
 markable in  Mr  Frith,  he  was  of  an  eminently  meek  and  quiet 
 disposition,  by  no  means  of  that  lion-hearted  temperament  that 
 distinguished  Luther,  Knox,  and  several  others  of  the  re- 
 formers. 
 
 Frith's  greatest  adversaries  were  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester; 
 Sir  Thomas  More,  and  his  son-in-law,  Rastal.  These  he  had 
 refuted  in  his  writings;  and  the  vigour  with  which  this  was 
 effected,  most  probably  subjected  him  to  their  animosity  and 
 unmanly  resentment.  He  was  a  polished  scholar,  6ays  bishop 
 Bale,  as  well  as  a  master  of  the  learned  languages;  and  these, 
 and  all  his  other  qualifications,  were  cheerfully  devoted  to  the 
 service  of  God  and  his  generation.  His  works  are — 1.  Trea- 
 tise of  Purgatory — 2.  Antithesis  between  Christ  and  the  Pope 
 — 3.  Letter  to  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ's  gospel,  written 
 in  the  tower  1532 — 4.  Mirror,  or  Glass  to  know  thyself,  writ- 
 ten in  the  tower  1532 — 5.  Mirror,  or  Looking-glass,  wherein 
 you  may  behold  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism — 6.  Articles  for 
 which  he  died,  written  in  Newgate,  21st  June  1533 — 7.  Answer 
 to  Sir  Thomas  More's  Dialogues  concerning  Heresies — 8. 
 Answer  to  John  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  &c. — All  these 
 treatises  were  printed  at  London,  in  folio,  1573. 
 
 WILLLIAM  TYNDALE. 
 
 William  Tyndale,  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  was 
 born  on  the  border  of  Wales,  some  short  time  prior  to  1500. 
 He  was  of  Magdalane-hall,  in  Oxford,  where  he  distinguished 
 himself,  not  merely  by  his  literary  acquisitions,  but  also  and 
 especially  by  his  zealous  attachment  to  the  doctrines  of  the  re- 
 formation, which  were  now  spreading  through  many  places  in 
 England.  Here  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  scrip- 
 tures with  uncommon  assiduity,  not  as  a  mere  scholar,  but  as 
 a  sinner  deeply  interested  in  the  truths  they  unfold;  and, 
 anxious  to  communicate  to  others  the  blessings  he  had  received, 
 lie  took  much  pains  to  instruct  a  number  of  his  fellow-students 
 in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  by  his  private  lectures. 
 
WILLIAM  TYNDALE.  103 
 
 Having  taken  his  degrees,  he  removed  to  Cambridge,  and 
 from  thence,  after  a  short  stay,  went  to  live  with  Mr  Welch,  a 
 gentleman  of  Gloucestershire,  in  the  capacity  of  a  tutor  to  his 
 children.  While  in  this  situation,  he  had  several  occasional 
 disputes  with  abbots  and  doctors  who  visited  the  family,  some- 
 times about  learned  men,  at  other  times  concerning  the  scrip- 
 tures. Mr  and  Mrs  Welch,  after  returning  from  a  visit  one 
 evening,  where  seveial  of  those  dignitaries  had  been  descanting 
 largely  on  some  topics  of  divinity,  they  attacked  Mr  Tyndale 
 with  the  whole  force  of  the  arguments  they  had  heard  from  the 
 ecclesiastics ;  all  which  he  overturned  by  ready  and  pertinent 
 quotations  from  scripture.  Upon  which  Mrs  Welch,  who  was  a 
 very  sensible  woman,  broke  out  in  a  rapturous  exclamation, 
 
 What !  says  she,  there  was  Dr. ,  who  can  afford  to  spend 
 
 an  hundred  pounds;  Dr. ,  who  can  spend  two  hundred; 
 
 and  Dr. ,  who  can  as  easily  spend  three;  and  is  it  rea- 
 sonable, think  ye,  that  your  single  assertion  should  supercede 
 the  united  opinions  of  three  such  respectable  and  dignified  cler- 
 gymen. Mr  Tyndale  made  no  reply,  and  in  future  was  more 
 reserve  on  these  topics. 
 
 At  this  time  he  was  translating  a  book  of  Erasmus,  entitled 
 Enchiridion  militis  Christiane,  which,  when  finished,  he  pre- 
 sented to  Mr  and  Mrs  Welch;  who,  after  perusing  it,  seemed 
 so  far  convinced  in  the  truth  of  Tyndale's  arguments,  that  the 
 visits  of  the  ecclesiastics  were  coolly  received,  and  soon  after 
 discontinued.  This  anecdote,  though  it  may  appear  too  trivial 
 for  a  work  of  this  nature,  will  be  excused  for  the  important  con- 
 sequences it  produced.  The  neighbouring  clergy  to  a  man  were 
 incensed  against  Mr  Tyndale,  on  account  of  his  arguments,  and 
 had  him  accused  of  many  heresies  to  the  bishop's  chancellor, 
 before  whom  he  was  cited  to  appear;  but  nothing  having  been 
 proved  against  him,  after  railing  at  him  for  some  time,  and 
 abusing  him,  he  was  dismissed. 
 
 On  his  way  home  he  called  on  an  old  friend  of  his,  who  had 
 at  one  time  been  a  bishop's  chancellor,  to  him  he  opened  his 
 mind  with  regard  to  the  rising  opinions,  and  consulted  him  on 
 many  passages  of  scripture.  Before  they  parted,  the  doctor 
 said,  are  you  not  aware  that  the  pope  is  the  very  antichrist 
 spoken  of  in  scripture?  Be  careful,  however,  of  what  you  say, 
 for  if  it  be  known  that  this  is  your  opinion,  it  will  cost  you  your 
 life.  I  have  been  an  officer  of  his,  added  he,  but  have  given  it 
 up,  and  I  renounce  him  and  all  his  works. 
 
 Some  time  after,  having  fallen  in  company  with  a  certain 
 divine,  remarkable  for  his  learning  and  the  acutencss  of  his 
 disputations,  a  controversy  ensued,  and  having  driven  the  dor- 
 tor  to  his  dernier  rcsorte,  he  blasphemously  cried  out.   Wo  had 
 
104  MEMOIR  01 
 
 better  want  the  laws  of  God  than  those  of  the  pope.  Tyndale, 
 fired  with  zeal  and  indignation  at  the  unclerical  expression,  re- 
 plied, I  defy  the  pope  and  all  his  laws;  and  if  it  please  God  to 
 spare  me  a  iew  years,  I  will  eanse  a  plough-boy  to  know  more 
 of  the  scriptures  than  the  pope  himself  and  the  greater  part  of 
 his  agents.  All  these  circumstances  roused  the  resentment  of 
 the  priesthood  against  Tyndale  to  that  degree,  that  he  was  forced 
 to  leave  his  native  land,  and  seek  that  security  among  strangers 
 which  was  denied  him  in  his  own  country. 
 
 In  the  mean  time,  recollecting  the  praise  that  Erasmus  had 
 bestowed  on  the  learning  of  Tonstal,  bishop  of  London,  and 
 hoping  he  might  be  willing  to  afford  him  protection,  he  applied 
 to  this  celebrated  literarian ;  but  this  not  being  the  path  which 
 providence  had  marked  out  for  Tyndale,  the  bishop  excused 
 himself,  that  his  house  was  full,  that  he  had  already  more  than 
 he  could  accommodate;  advising  him  to  look  out  in  the  city, 
 where  he  could  scarcely  fail  in  procuring  employment. 
 
 Mr  Tyndale  remained  in  London  for  almost  another  year; 
 but  anxious  to  translate  the  New  Testament  into  English,  as, 
 in  his  opinion,  and  that  of  his  dear  friend  John  Frith,  the  most 
 effectual  method  of  removing  the  darkness  and  ignorance  of  the 
 people;  but  judging  it  could  not  be  safely  effected  in  England, 
 by  the  kind  assistance  of  Mr  Henry  Monmouth  and  others,  he 
 retired  to  Germany,  where  he  laboured  on  the  work,  and  finish- 
 ed it  in  1527.  With  respect  to  the  translation,  he  says,  in  a 
 letter  to  John  Frith,  "  I  call  God  to  witness,  against  that  day 
 when  we  must  all  appear  before  our  Lord  Jesus,  to  give  an  ac- 
 count of  our  various  transactions,  that  I  have  not  altered  a  sin- 
 gle syllable  of  God's  word;  nor  would  I  now,  though  all  that 
 this  world  contains  of  pleasure,  honour,  or  wealth,  were  held 
 out  as  my  reward."  This  was  the  first  translation  of  the  New 
 Testament  into  modern  English,  the  language,  by  this  time,  be- 
 ing much  improved.  He  then  began  with  the  Old  Testament, 
 and  translated  the  five  books*  of  Moses,  prefixing  excellent  dis- 
 courses to  each  book,  as  he  had  done  to  those  of  the  New  Testa- 
 ment. Cranmer's  bible,  or,  as  it  was  called,  the  great  bible,  was 
 Tyndale's  merely  revised  and  corrected,  omitting  the  introduc- 
 tory discourses  and  tables,  and  adding  marginal  references  and 
 a  summary  of  contents. 
 
 On  his  first  leaving  England  he  went  to  Saxony,  where  he 
 had  much  conversation  with  Luther,  and  other  learned  Ger- 
 mans; afterwards,  returning  to  the  Netherlands,  he  fixed  his 
 residence  at  Antwerp,  at  that  period  a  very  populous  and  flour- 
 ishing city. 
 
 Having  finished  his  translation  of  the  books  of  Moses,  he  set 
 .-ail  for  Hamburgh,  with  the  intention  of  putting  them  to  the 
 
WILLIAM  TYNDALE.  105 
 
 press;  but  being  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  Holland,  all  his  books 
 and  manuscripts  were  lost.     He  took  his  passage,  however,  in 
 another  vessel  for  Hamburgh,  where  he  met  with  Mr  Coverdale, 
 who  assisted  him  in  again  translating  the  five  books  of  Moses. 
 This  was  in  the  year  1529.    His  translation  having  gone  through 
 the  press,  he  sent  part  of  the  impression  to  England,  where  his 
 translation  of  the  New  Testament  had  made  a  considerable 
 noise,  as  well  as  it  had  done  in  Germany.     The  priests  every- 
 where cried  it  down,  and  charged  it  with  a  thousand  heresies; 
 boldly  asserting,  that  the  translating  of  the  bible  into  English 
 was  a  foolish  attempt,  and  one  that  could  never  be  realized;  and 
 if  it  could,  it  was  both  unlawful  and  inexpedient  to  put  a  trans- 
 lation of  the  scriptures  into  the  hands  of  the  laity.     Nor  did 
 they  rest,  till,  by  their  importunity,  they  had  procured  a  pro- 
 clamation, prohibiting  the  people  from  purchasing  or  perusing 
 any  English  translation  of  the  scriptures.     This  proclamation 
 was  issued  in  1527,  in  which,  as  well  as  by  the  public  prohibi- 
 tion of  the  bishops,  a  number  of  other  treatises,  which  had  been 
 written  by  Luther  and  other  reformers,  were  also  prohibited 
 and  condemned.     But  all  this  noise  and  stir  amongst  the  clergy 
 only  served  to  call  up  additional  purchasers  for  the  work.     In 
 this  state  of  danger  to  the  Roman  church,  and  anxiety  amongst 
 her  zealous  partizans,  when  every  head  was  at  work  to  contrive 
 some  expedient  to  arrest  the  progress  of  reformation,  the  bishop 
 of  London  hit  on  an  artifice,  which  he  flattered  himself  would 
 effectually  answer  the  purpose,  by  stopping  the  circulation  of 
 Tyndale's  English  New  Testaments;  a  scheme  which,    in  his 
 judgment,  would   be   not   only  more   effectual,   but   likewise 
 attended  with  less  noise,  as  well  as  by  a  considerable  saving  of 
 expence,  this  was,  to  buy  up  the  whole  impression  at  once. 
 With  this  view,  and  full  of  these  hopes,  his  lordship  employed 
 a  Mr  Packington,  then  residing  at  Antwerp,  in  this  delicate 
 business;  assuring  him,  at  the  same  time,  that  whatever  might 
 be  the  cost,  he  would  have  them  all  burned  at  Paul's  cross. 
 In  consequence  of  this  engagement,  Packington,  who  was  a  se- 
 cret friend  to  the  reformation,  entered  into  an  engagement  with 
 Tyndale,  by  which  the  bishop  had  the  books,  and  Packington 
 abundant  praise  for  his  dexterity;   but  Tyndale  had  all    the 
 money.     This  enabled  our  reformer  to  publish  at  once  a  more 
 correct  and  much  larger  edition,  so  that,  as  Mr  Fox  expresses 
 it,  "  They  came  over  to  England  thick  and  three-fold."     This 
 disappointment  filled  his  lordship  with  equal  rage  and  astonish- 
 ment, nor  could  he  comprehend  by  what  means  his  policy  had 
 been  over-reached,  till  some  time  after,  that  one  Constat) tine,  who 
 had  been  apprehended  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  divulged  the  laugh- 
 able secret.  The  bishop  at  last  perceiving,  that  Tyndale  was  a  man 
 4  o 
 
106  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  very  superior  abilities,  and  capable  of  seriously  injuring  their 
 craft  by  his  publications,  resolved,  as  they  could  neither  draw 
 him  into  their  party,  nor  otherwise  sUence  him,  to  have  him  put 
 out  of  the  way.  To  effect  this  cruel  purpose,  one  Philips  was 
 despatched  to  Antwerp,  where,  having  hypocritically  insinuated 
 himself  into  his  company  and  confidence,  under  the  pretext  of 
 friendship,  delivered  him  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 
 
 The  simple  and  unsuspecting  Tyndale  was  accordingly  carried 
 a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Tilford,  about  eighteen  miles  from 
 Antwerp;  where,  notwithstanding  that  the  English  merchants 
 did  every  thing  in  their  power  to  procure  his  enlargement,  and 
 that  letters  from  lord  Cromwell  and  others  from  England  urged 
 the  same  request,  the  activity  and  dexterity  with  which  Philips 
 executed  his  sanguinary  commission,  brought  him  before  a 
 tribunal,  where  he  received  the  sentence  of  death. 
 
 Pursuant  to  the  sentence  of  the  court,  Tyndale  was  brought 
 to  the  stake,  and  while  they  were  binding  him,  he  cried  out, 
 with  an  audible  and  fervent  voice,  "  Lord,  open  the  king  of 
 England's  eyes."  He  was  first  strangled  by  the  hangman,  and 
 afterwards  burned  near  Tilford  castle,  in  the  year  1536.  And 
 thus  the  man,  whom  Fox  has,  with  the  utmost  propriety,  styled 
 the  Apostle  of  England,  rested  from  his  labours,  having  fought 
 a  good  fight;  and  by  finishing  his  course  in  a  faithful  adherence 
 to  the  truth,  left  the  powers  of  this  world,  particularly  tyranni- 
 cal oppressors  and  persecutors,  an  additional  demonstration, 
 that  the  mind  of  man  is  not  subject. to  their  capricious  or  sel- 
 fish control,  but  scorning  the  narrow  limits  of  their  diminutive 
 jurisdiction,  can  break  through  their  barriers,  and,  only  subject 
 to  the  laws  of  reason  and  conviction,  triumphantly  rebel. 
 
 Mr  Tyndale  was  a  man  of  seraphic  piety,  indefatigable  study, 
 and  extraordinary  learning.  So  careless  was  he  about  the 
 wealth  of  this  world,  that  he  declared,  before  he  went  to  Ger- 
 many, that  he  would  cheerfully  consent  to  live,  in  any  county 
 of  England,  on  an  allowance  of  ten  pounds  a-year,  and  oblige 
 himself  to  take  no  more,  if  he  might  only  have  authority  to  in- 
 struct children,  and  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ.  His  eminent 
 talents  and  extensive  knowledge,  united  with  a  fervent  zeal 
 and  a  confirmed  stedfastness  of  faith,  richly  qualified  him  for 
 the  labours  of  a  reformer.  During  the  time  of  his  imprison- 
 ment, which  lasted  eighteen  months,  such  was  the  blessing  of 
 God  on  his  faithful  preaching,  that  he  was  the  means  of  con- 
 verting his  goaler  and  his  daughter,  besides  several  others  of 
 his  household.  Even  the  procurer  general,  or  emperor's  attor- 
 ney, publicly  said  concerning  him,  that  he  was  homo  doclus, 
 plus,  et  bonus,  a  learned,  pious,  and  good  man.  Bishop  Bale 
 says,  that  "  for  knowledge,  purity  of  doctrine,  and  holiness  of 
 
WILLIAM  TYNDALE.  107 
 
 life,  Tyndale  ought  to  be  esteemed  the  next  English  reformer 
 to  Wickliff.  His  picture  is  said  to  represent  him  with  a  bible 
 in  his  hand,  and  this  distich ; 
 
 Hac  ut  luce  tuas  disj)erga7n,  Roma,  tenebras, 
 Sponte  extorris  ero,  tjionte  sacrijicium. 
 
 Rendered  thus : 
 
 That  light  o'er  all  thy  darkness,  Rome, 
 
 With  triumph  might  arise; 
 An  exile  freely  I  become, 
 
 Freely  a  sacrifice. 
 
 His  works,  beside  the  translation  of  the  scriptures,  were  all 
 published  in  one  general  volume,  and  are  as  follows : 
 
 1.  A  Christian's  Obedience — 2.  The  Unrighteous  Mammon 
 — 3.  The  Practice  of  the  Papists — 4.  Commentaries  on  the 
 Seventh  Chapter  of  St.  Matthew — 5.  A  Discourse  of  the  Last 
 Will  and  Testament  of  Tracii — 6.  An  Answer  to  Sir  Thomas 
 More's  Dialogues — 7.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  against 
 More — 8.  Of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar — 9.  Of  the  Sacra- 
 mental Signs — 10.  A  Footpath  leading  to  the  Scriptures — 11. 
 Three  letters  to  John  Frith. 
 
 The  remains  of  such  men,  when  these  are  few,  are  on  that 
 account  the  more  desirable,  we  shall  therefore  insert  said  letters, 
 as  they  have  been  preserved  by  Mr  Fox,  whose  works  are  too 
 voluminous  to  be  in  the  possession,  or  even  within  the  purchase, 
 of  many  serious  people. 
 
 LETTER  I. 
 u  The  grace  and  peace  of  God  our  Father,  and  of  Jesus 
 Christ  our  Lord,  be  with  you,  Amen.  Dearly  beloved  brother 
 John,  I  have  heard  say?  how  the  hypocrites,  now  that  they 
 have  overcome  that  great  business  which  letted  them,  or  at  the 
 least  way  have  brought  it  to  a  stay?  return  to  their  old  nature 
 again.  The  will  of  God  be  fulfilled,  and  that  which  he  hath 
 ordained  to  be  ere  the  world  was  made,  that  come,  and  his  glory 
 reign  over  all. 
 
 "  Dearly  beloved,  however  the  matter  be,  commit  yourself 
 wholly  and  only  unto  your  most  loving  Father,  and  most  kind 
 Lord;  fear  not  men  that  threat,  nor  trust  men  that  speak  fair: 
 But  trust  him  that  is  true  of  promise,  and  able  to  make  his 
 word  good.  Your  cause  is  Christ's  gospel,  a  light  that  must  be 
 fed  with  the  blood  of  faith.  The  lamp  must  be  dressed  and 
 snuffed  daily,  and  that  oil  poured  in  every  evening  and  morn- 
 ing, that  the  light  go  not  out.  Though  we  be  sinners,  yet  is 
 the  cause  right.  If  when  we  be  buffeted  for  well-doing,  we 
 suffer  patiently  and  endure,  that  is  acceptable  with  God.  For 
 to  that  end  we  are  called.  For  Christ  also  suffered  for  us,  leav- 
 ing us  an  example  that  we  should  follow  his  steps,  who  did  no 
 
108  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 sin.  Hereby  have  we  perceived  love,  that  he  laid  down  his  life 
 for  us;  therefore  we  ought  also  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
 brethren.  "  Rejoice  and  be  glad,  for  great  is  your  reward  in 
 heaven.  For  we  suffer  with  him,  that  we  may  also  be  glorified 
 with  him.  Who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be 
 fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body,  according  to  the  working 
 whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself. 
 
 "  Dearly  beloved,  be  of  good  courage,  and  comfort  your  soul 
 with  the  hope  of  this  high  reward,  and  bear  the  image  of  Christ 
 in  your  mortal  body,  that  it  may  at  his  coming  be  made  like  to 
 his  immortal  body;  and  follow  the  example  of  all  your  other 
 dear  brethren,  which  chose  to  suffer  in  hope  of  a  better  resur- 
 rection.  Keep  your  conscience  pure  and  undefiled,  and  say 
 against  that  nothing.  Stick  at  necessary  things,  and  remember 
 the  blasphemies  of  the  enemies  of  Christ,  saying,  they  find  none 
 but  who  will  abjure  rather  than  suffer  the  extremity.  More- 
 over, the  death  of  them  that  come  again  after  they  have  once 
 denied,  though  it  be  accepted  with  God,  and  all  that  believe, 
 yet  it  is  not  glorious :  For  the  hypocrites  say,  he  must  needs 
 die,  denying  helpeth  not.  But  might  it  have  holpen,  they 
 would  have  denied  five  hundred  times;  but  seeing  it  would  not 
 help  them,  therefore  of  pure  pride  and  meer  malice  together, 
 they  spake  with  their  mouths  what  their  conscience  knoweth 
 false.  If  you  give  yourself,  cast  yourself,  yield  yourself,  com- 
 mit yourself  wholly  and  only  to  your  loving  Father,  then  shall 
 his  power  be  in  you  and  make  you  strong,  and  that  so  strong, 
 that  you  shall  feel  no  pain,  which  should  be  to  another  present 
 death :  And  his  Spirit  shall  speak  in  you,  and  teach  you  what 
 to  answer,  according  to  his  promise :  He  shall  set  out  his  truth 
 by  you  wonderfully,  and  work  for  you  above  all  that  your  heart 
 can  imagine;  yea,  and  you  are  not  yet  dead,  though  the  hypocrites 
 all,  with  all  that  they  can  make,  have  sworn  your  death.  Una 
 salus  victis  nullam  sperare  salutem ;  To  look  for  no  man's  help, 
 bringeth  the  help  of  God  to  them  that  seem  to  be  overcome  in 
 the  eyes  of  the  hypocrites :  Yea,  it  shall  make  God  to  carry 
 you  thorow  thick  and  thin  for  his  truth's  sake,  in  spite  of  all 
 the  enemies  of  his  truth.  There  falleth  not  a  hair  till  his  hour 
 be  come;  and  when  his  hour  is  come,  necessity  carrieth  us  hence, 
 though  we  be  not  willing.  But  if  we  be  willing,  then  have  we 
 a  reward  and  thank. 
 
 11  Fear  not  the  threatening,  therefore,  neither  be  overcome  of 
 sweet  words;  with  Which  twain  the  hypocrites  shall  assail  you. 
 Neither  let  the  persuasions  of  worldly  wisdom  bear  rule  in  your 
 heart,  no,  though  they  be  your  friends  that  counsel  you.  Let 
 Bilney  be  a  warning  to  you,  let  not  their  vizor  beguile  your 
 eyes.     Let  not  your  body  faint.     He  that  endureth  to  the  end 
 
WILLIAM  TYNDALE.  109 
 
 shall  be  saved.  If  the  pain  be  above  your  strength,  remember, 
 4  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  I  will  give  it  you.' 
 And  pray  to  your  Father  in  that  name,  and  he  shall  cease  your 
 pain,  or  shorten  it.  The  Lord  of  peace,  of  hope,  and  of  faith, 
 be  with  you,  Amen. 
 
 "  William  Tyndale." 
 LETTER  II. 
 "  Two  have  suffered  in  Antwerp,  in  die  sanctoe  crusts,  un- 
 to the  great  glory  of  the  gospel;  four  at  Rysels,  in  Flanders; 
 and  at  Luke  hath  there  one  at  least  suffered,  and  all  the  same 
 day.  At  Roan,  in  France,  they  persecute.  And  at  Paris  are 
 five  doctors  taken  for  the  gospel.  See,  you  are  not  alone;  be 
 cheerful,  and  remember  that  among  the  hard-hearted  in  Eng- 
 land, there  is  a  number  reserved  by  grace :  For  whose  sakes, 
 if  need  be,  you  must  be  ready  to  suffer.  Sir,  if  you  may  write, 
 how  short  soever  it  be,  forget  it  not,  that  we  may  know  how  it 
 goeth  with  you,  for  our  heart's  ease.  The  Lord  be  yet  again 
 with  you,  with  all  his  plenteousness,  and  fill  you  that  you  flow 
 over,  Amen. 
 
 "  If  when  you  have  read  this,  you  can  send  it  to  Adrian; 
 do,  I  pray  you,  that  he  may  know  how  that  our  heart  is  with 
 you. 
 
 "  George  Joy,  at  Candlemas,  being  at  Barrow,  printed  two 
 leaves  of  Genesis  in  a  great  form,  and  sent  one  copy  to  the 
 king,  and  another  to  the  new  queen,  with  a  letter  to  N.  to  deli- 
 ver them;  and  to  purchase  license,  that  he  might  so  go  through 
 all  the  bible.  Out  of  this  is  sprung  the  noise  of  the  new  bible; 
 and  out  of  that  is  the  great  seeking  for  English  books  at  all 
 printers  and  book-binders  in  Antwerp,  and  for  an  English  priest 
 that  should  print. 
 
 "  This  chanced  the  ninth  day  of  May. 
 
 "  Sir,  your  wife  is  well  content  with  the  will  of  God,  and 
 would  not,  for  her  sake,  have  the  glory  of  God  hindered. 
 
 "  William  Tyndale." 
 LETTER  III. 
 "  The  grace  of  our  Saviour  Jesus,  his  patience,  meek- 
 ness,   humbleness,    circumspection,    and  wisdom,  be 
 with  your  heart,  Amen. 
 "  Dearly  beloved  brother,  mine  heart's  desire  in  our  Sa- 
 viour Jesus  is,  that  you  arm  yourself  with   patience,  and  be 
 cool,  sober,  wise,  and  circumspect,  and  that  you  keep  you  a  low 
 by  the  ground,  avoiding  high  questions,  that  pass  the  common 
 capacity.     But  expound  the  law  truly,   and  open  the  veil  of 
 Moses  to  condemn  all  flesh,  and  prove  all  men  sinners,  and  all 
 deeds  under  the  law,  before  mercy  have  taken  away  the  con- 
 demnation thereof,  to  be  sin  and  damnable;  and  then,  as  a  faith- 
 
110  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ful  minister,  set  abroach  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  let 
 the  wounded  consciences  drink  of  the  water  of  Him,  and  then 
 shall  your  preaching  be  with  power,  and  not  as  the  doctrine  of 
 the  hypocrites;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  shall  work  with  you,  and 
 all  consciences  shall  bear  record  unto  you,  and  feel  that  it  is  so. 
 And  all  doctrine  that  casteth  a  mist  on  those  two,  to  shadow 
 and  hide  them,  I  mean  the  law  of  God  and  mercy  of  Christ, 
 that  resist  you  with  all  your  power.  Sacraments  without  sig- 
 nification refuse.  If  they  put  significations  to  them,  receive 
 them,  if  you  see  it  may  help,  though  it  be  not  necessary. 
 
 "  Of  the  presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the  sacrament,  meddle 
 as  little  as  you  can,  that  there  appear  no  division  among  us. 
 Barnes  will  be  hot  against  you.  The  Saxons  be  sore  on  the  af- 
 firmative; whether  constant  or  obstinate,  I  remit  it  to  God. 
 Philip  Melanchthon  is  said  to  be  with  the  French  king.  There 
 be  in  Antwerp  that  say,  they  saw  him  come  into  Paris  with  an 
 hundred  and  fifty  horses,  and  that  they  spake  with  him.  If  the 
 Frenchmen  receive  the  word  of  God,  he  will  plant  the  affirma- 
 tive in  them.  George  Joy  would  have  put  forth  a  treatise  of 
 that  matter,  but  I  have  stopt  him  as  yet :  What  he  will  do,  if 
 he  get  money,  I  wot  not.  I  believe  he  would  make  many  rea- 
 sons little  serving  to  that  purpose :  My  mind  is,  that  nothing 
 be  put  forth  till  we  hear  how  you  shall  have  sped.  I  would 
 have  the  right  use  preached,  and  the  presence  to  be  an  indiffer- 
 ent thing,  till  the  matter  might  be  reasoned  in  peace  at  leisure 
 of  both  parties.  If  you  be  required,  shew  the  phrases  of  the 
 scripture,  and  let  them  talk  what  they  will.  For  as  to  believe 
 that  God  is  everywhere,  hurteth  no  man  that  worshippeth  him 
 nowhere  but  within  the  heart,  in  spirit  and  verity :  Even  so 
 to  believe,  that  the  body  of  Christ  is  everywhere  (though  it 
 cannot  be  proved)  hurteth  no  man,  that  worshippeth  him  no- 
 where save  in  the  faith  of  his  gospel.  You  perceive  my  mind : 
 Howbeit,  if  God  shew  you  otherwise,  it  is  free  for  you  to  do  as 
 he  moveth  you. 
 
 "  I  guessed  long  ago,  that  God  would  send  a  dazing  into  the 
 head  of  the  spiritualty,  to  catch  themselves  in  their  own  6ub- 
 tilty,  and  trust  it  is  come  to  pass.  And  now  me  thinketh  I 
 smell  a  counsel  to  be  taken,  little  for  their  profits  in  time  to 
 come.  But  you  must  understand,  that  it  is  not  of  a  pure  heart 
 and  for  love  of  the  truth,  but  to  avenge  themselves,  and  to  eat 
 the  whore's  flesh,  and  to  suck  the  marrow  of  her  bones. 
 AVlierefore  cleave  fast  to  the  rock  of  the  help  of  God,  and  com- 
 mit the  end  of  all  things  unto  him :  And  if  God  shall  call  you, 
 that  you  may  then  use  the  wisdom  of  the  worldly,  as  far  as 
 you  perceive  the  glory  of  God  may  come  thereof,  refuse  it  not; 
 and  ever  among  thrust  in,  that  the  scripture  may  be  in  the 
 
WILLIAM  TYNDALE.  Ill 
 
 mother-tongue,  and  learning  set  up  in  the  universities.  But  if 
 ought  be  required  contrary  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  his  Christ, 
 then  stand  fast,  and  commit  yourself  to  God,  and  be  not  over- 
 come of  men's  persuasions;  which  haply  shall  say,  We  see  no 
 other  way  to  bring  in  the  truth. 
 
 "  Brother,  beloved  in  my  heart,  there  liveth  not  in  whom  I 
 have  so  good  hope  and  trust,  and  in  whom  my  heart  rejoiced), 
 and  my  soul  comforteth  herself,  as  in  you;  not  the  thousand 
 part  so  much  for  your  learning,  and  what  other  gifts  else  you 
 have,  as  because  you  will  creep  alow  by  the  ground,  and  walk 
 in  those  things  that  the  conscience  may  feel,  and  not  in  the  ima- 
 ginations of  the  brain  :  In  fear,  and  not  in  boldness :  In  open 
 necessary  things,  and  not  to  pronounce  or  define  of  hid  secrets, 
 or  things  that  neither  help  nor  hinder,  whether  it  be  so  or  no; 
 in  unity,  and  not  in  seditious  opinions :  Insomuch  that  if  you 
 be  sure  you  know,  yet  in  things  that  may  abide  leisure  you  will 
 defer,  or  say  (till  other  agree  with  you)  Methinks  the  text  re- 
 quired) the  sense  or  understanding.  Yea,  and  if  you  be  sure 
 that  your  part  be  good,  and  another  hold  the  contrary,  yet  if  it 
 be  a  thing  that  maketh  no  matter,  you  will  laugh  and  let  it  pass, 
 and  refer  the  thing  to  other  men,  and  stick  you  stiffly  and  stub- 
 bornly in  earnest  and  necessary  things.  And  I  trust  you  be 
 persuaded  even  so  of  me :  For  I  call  God  to  record  against  the 
 day  we  shall  appear  before  our  Lord  Jesus,  to  give  a  reckoning 
 of  our  doings,  that  I  never  altered  one  syllable  of  God's  word 
 against  my  conscience,  nor  would  this  day,  if  all  that  is  in  the 
 earth,  whether  it  be  pleasure,  honour,  or  riches,  might  be  given 
 me.  Moreover,  I  take  God  to  record  to  my  conscience,  that  I 
 desire  of  God  to  myself  in  this  world,  no  more  than  that  with- 
 out which  I  cannot  keep  his  laws. 
 
 "  Finally,  if  there  were  in  me  any  gift  that  could  help  at 
 hand,  and  aid  you  if  need  required,  I  promise  you  I  would  not 
 be  far  off,  and  commit  the  end  to  God.  My  soul  is  not  faint, 
 though  my  body  be  weary.  But  God  hath  made  me  evil 
 favoured  in  this  world,  and  without  grace  in  the  sight  of  men, 
 speechless  and  rude,  dull  and  slow  witted;  your  part  shall  be 
 to  supply  what  lacketh  in  me :  Remembering,  that  as  lowliness 
 of  heart  shall  make  you  high  with  God,  even  so  meekness  of 
 words  shall  make  you  sink  into  the  hearts  of  men.  Nature 
 giveth  age  authority;  but  meekness  is  the  glory  of  youth,  and 
 giveth  them  honour.  Abundance  of  love  maketh  me  exceed  in 
 babbling. 
 
 "  Sir,  as  concerning  purgatory,  and  many  other  things,  if  you 
 be  demanded,  you  may  6ay,  if  you  err,  the  spiritualty  hath  so 
 led  you,  and  that  they  have  taught  you  to  believe  as  you  do. 
 For  they  preached  you  all  such  things  out  of  God's  word,  and 
 
112  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 alledged  a  thousand  texts,  by  reason  of  which  texts  you  believed 
 as  they  taught  you,  but  now  you  find  them  lyers,  and  that  the 
 texts  mean  no  such  things,  and  therefore  you  can  believe  them 
 no  longer,  but  are  as  you  were  before  they  taught  you,  and  be* 
 lievc  no  such  thing:  Howbeit  you  are  ready  to  believe,  if  they 
 have  any  other  way  to  prove  it;  for  without  proof  you  cannot 
 believe  them,  when  you  have  found  them  with  so  many  lyes, 
 &c.  If  you  perceive  wherein  we  may  help,  either  in  being  still 
 or  doing  somewhat,  let  us  have  word,  and  I  will  do  mine  utter- 
 most. 
 
 "  My  lord  of  London  hath  a  servant  called  John  Tisen,  with 
 a  red  beard,  and  a  black-reddish  head,  and  was  once  my  scholar; 
 he  was  seen  in  Antwerp,  but  came  not  among  the  Englishmen: 
 Whether  he  is  gone  ambassador  secret,  I  wot  not. 
 
 6<  The  mighty  God  of  Jacob  be  with  you,  to  supplant  his  ene- 
 mies, and  give  you  the  favour  of  Joseph,  and  the  wisdom  and 
 the  spirit  of  Stephen  be  with  your  heart,  and  with  your  mouth, 
 and  teach  your  lips  what  they  shall  say,  and  how  to  answer  to 
 all  things.  He  is  our  God,  if  we  despair  in  ourselves,  and  trust 
 in  him :    And  his  is  the  glory.     Amen. 
 
 "January,  1533.  William  Tyndale." 
 
 JOHN  LAMBERT. 
 
 The  real  name  of  this  very  remarkable  contender  for  the 
 truth  of  the  gospel  was  Nicholson;  but  the  dangers  to  which 
 his  religious  opinions  subjected  him,  during  the  latter  part  of 
 his  life,  induced  him  to  assume  the  surname  of  Lambert.  It 
 does  not  appear  when  he  was  born,  though  his  having  suffered 
 in  1538,  makes  it  probable  that  it  might  be  about  the  end  of 
 the  fifteenth,  or  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Neither 
 has  the  place  of  his  birth  been  precisely  ascertained,  only  he  is 
 said  to  have  been  born  in  some  part  of  the  county  of  Norfolk. 
 He  received  his  academical  education  at  the  university  of  Cam- 
 bridge, where  lie  acquired  the  learned  languages;  and,  by  the 
 instrumentality  of  the  pious  Bilney,  was  also  converted  to  the 
 knowledge  of  Christ  and  his  gospel. 
 
 Lambert,  who  began  to  be  distinguished  for  his  learning  and 
 piety,  was  soon  obliged  to  save  himself,  from  the  outrageous 
 fury  of  Henry  VIII.,  by  retiring  to  the  continent.  Accord- 
 ingly, he  went  over  to  Antwerp,  where  Tyndale  and  Frith,  who 
 seem  to  have  been  his  confidential  friends,  had  also  taken  re- 
 fuge from  the  violence  of  the  persecution.  There  he  officiated 
 as  preacher  and  ehaplain  to  the  English  factory  in  that  city, 
 
JOHN  LAMBERT.  1  IS 
 
 for  nearly  two  years.  But  the  tenor  of  his  discourses,  though 
 admired  by  the  reformers,  proved  gall  and  wormwood  to  the 
 zealots  of  the  Roman  church;  and  one  Barlow,  in  the  fervour  of 
 his  zeal  for  Rome,  lodged  an  accusation  against  him  with  the 
 lord  chancellor  of  England,  Sir  Thomas  More;  and  poor  Lam- 
 bert was  carried  a  prisoner  to  London,  and  handed  over  to  his 
 persecutors  in  1532,  as  an  innocent  lamb  to  the  callous  and  cold- 
 blooded butcher.  His  first  examination  was  taken  at  Lambeth, 
 by  Warham,  then  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  afterwards  at 
 the  bishop's  house  at  Oxford,  before  a  multitude  of  his  adver- 
 saries. He  was  interrogated  on  forty-five  articles;  to  all  of 
 which  he  replied,  at  great  length,  in  an  animated,  powerful, 
 and  very  learned  address,  highly  honourable  both  to  himself 
 and  the  noble  cause  he  so  triumphantly  defended.  It  is  even 
 doubtful,  whether  a  more  solid  and  comprehensive  apology  for 
 the  principles  of  the  reformation  can  any  where  be  found;  its 
 great  length  exceeds  the  limits  of  our  plan,  otherwise  we  should 
 have  willingly  inserted  it.  The  curious  reader  will  find  it  at 
 large  in  Fox's  Monuments  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  We 
 shall  nevertheless  give  a  short  extract  at  the  end  of  his  life  as  a 
 specimen. 
 
 Lambert  continued  in  custody  till  the  next  year,  1533,  in 
 which  the  archbishop  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Cranmer: 
 which  circumstance,  together  with  the  marriage  of  Anne  Bo- 
 leyn,  seem  to  have  been  the  immediate  cause  of  Lambert's  re- 
 lease; which  he  had  no  sooner  obtained,  than  he  repaired  to 
 London,  where  he  became  a  teacher  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
 languages.  The  aspect  of  the  times  induced  him  to  follow  this 
 secular  employment,  in  preference  to  the  priesthood;  and  hav- 
 ing resolved  to  marry,  and  settle  in  London,  he  had  proposed 
 to  take  up  the  freedom  of  the  city  in  the  grocer's  company. 
 But  God,  who  over-rules  all  the  purposes  of  men  according  to 
 his  own  good  pleasure,  called  this  eminent  individual  to  act  on 
 a  more  honourable  and  exalted  theatre.  Some  time  in  1538, 
 Lambert  having  been  present  at  a  sermon,  preached  by  Dr. 
 Taylor,  who,  at  that  period,  was  considered  rather  friendly,  as 
 otherwise,  to  the  reformation  principles.  Lambert,  not  alto- 
 gether satisfied  with  what  he  had  heard,  desired  a  friendly  con- 
 ference with  the  doctor;  in  the  course  of  which,  he  proposed 
 several  theological  points,  on  which  he  wished  the  doctor's  opi- 
 nion, and  particularly  that  relating  to  the  corporeal  presence 
 of  Christ  in  the  sacrament.  Taylor,  pressed  perhaps  too  close, 
 excused  himself  for  the  present,  on  account  of  other  business; 
 but  suggested,  that  it  might  better  answer  the  purpose  for  Lam- 
 bert to  write  his  opinion  on  these  matters,  which  they  would 
 afterwards  talk  over  at  their  leisure. 
 
 5  p 
 
114  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Lambert  accordingly  proposed  ten  arguments  in  writing,  for 
 supporting  his  opinion  against  transubstantiation;  most  of  which 
 are  lost.  The  first,  however,  is  founded  on  these  words  of  our 
 Saviour,  This  cup  is  the  New  Testament.  Now,  says  Lambert, 
 if  these  words  neither  change  the  cup  nor  the  wine  it  contains 
 substantially  into  the  New  Testament,  which  nobody  asserts, 
 or  ever  has  asserted;  then,  by  a  parity  of  reasoning,  the  words, 
 This  is  my  body,  spoken  of  the  bread  in  the  same  passage  of 
 scripture,  do  not  change  it  into  the  real  body  of  Christ.  His 
 other  nine  arguments  are  said  to  be  equally  acute,  and  the 
 whole  supported  with  abundance  of  scripture  evidence,  and  quo- 
 tations from  the  primitive  fathers.  Taylor  was  seriously  in- 
 clined to  satisfy  Lambert;  but  finding  himself  unable  to  with- 
 stand the  force  of  his  reasoning,  applied,  among  others,  to  Dr, 
 Barnes,  a  good  man,  but,  like  many  good  men  at  the  dawning 
 of  the  reformation,  in  a  state  of  hesitating  dubiety  with  regard 
 to  the  sacrament  of  the  supper.  Under  these  circumstances, 
 Barnes  advised  Dr.  Taylor  to  lay  the  matter  before  Cranmer, 
 the  archbishop,  who,  at  this  time,  was  still  an  advocate  for 
 transubstantiation.  Thus  Lambert  was  under  the  necessity  of 
 defending  his  propositions  before  a  court  of  bishops,  with  Cran- 
 mer at  their  head,  by  which  means  his  sentiments  were  pub- 
 lished to  the  whole  city,  the  court,  and  the  country. 
 
 Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  ever  ambitious  of  royal  fa- 
 vour, thought  this  opportunity,  for  insinuating  himself  into  the 
 good  graces  of  the  king,  was  not  to  be  neglected,  and  accord- 
 ingly suggested  to  his  majesty  the  propriety  of  seizing  the  pro- 
 pitious moment  for  silencing  the  clamours  of  his  subjects,  and 
 satisfying  his  friends,  that  though  he  had  renounced  the  Roman 
 authority,  he  had  not  thereby  abandoned  the  catholic  faith,  and 
 that  by  punishing,  with  salutary  severity,  all  who  dared  to  set 
 forth  doctrines  opposed  to  the  faith  of  the  church.  Moreover, 
 that  Lambert,  an  obstinate  and  contumacious  heretic,  who  held 
 the  most  heretical  and  blasphemous  tenets,  and  supported  them 
 with  audacious  pertinacity,  had  thereby  subjected  himself  to 
 the  heaviest  censures  of  the  canon  law,  and  would  prove,  by  his 
 death,  a  wholesome  example  to  the  nation  at  large. 
 
 Henry  caught  the  bait,  and  forthwith  issued  a  general  ordi- 
 nance, commanding  the  immediate  appearance  of  all  the  nobi- 
 lity and  bishops  of  England,  to  assist  him  against  increasing 
 heresies  and  heretics,  as  he  purposed  personally  to  sit  in  judg- 
 ment on  these  important  and  national  concerns. 
 
 Such  was  the  apparent  solemnity  and  splendid  apparatus  of 
 this  extraordinary  trial,  that  crowds  of  spectators  arrived  from 
 every  quarter.  The  king,  attended  by  a  strong  guard,  made 
 his  appearance,  and  seated  himself  on  a  throne  prepared  for  the 
 
JOHN  LAMBERT.  115 
 
 occasion.  He  was  arrayed  in  white  garments,  emblematical  of 
 innocence  and  impartial  justice.  On  his  right  hand  sat  the 
 bishops,  and  behind  him  the  judges  and  crown  lawyers,  all 
 clothed  in  purple;  while,  on  his  left,  the  peers  of  the  realm,  and 
 other  officers  of  the  crown,  were  arranged  according  to  their 
 precedency.  The  scene  was  awful  and  imposing,  while  the 
 severe  looks,  the  reckless  language,  and  despotic  manner  of  the 
 royal  judge,  was  more  than  sufficient  to  sink  the  courage,  and 
 destroy  the  self-possession  of  any  man,  whose  confidence  was 
 not  founded  on  the  promise  of  an  infinitely  more  powerful 
 Judge. 
 
 It  were  too  tedious  to  enter  on  the  cruel,  despotic,  and  shame- 
 fully partial  proceedings  of  this  memorable  day.  The  imperious 
 frowns,  and  bullying  threats  of  the  judge;  and  the  mild,  but 
 firm  and  self-possessing  deportment  of  Lambert,  has  scarcely  a 
 parallel,  even  in  the  records  of  catholic  cruelty.  Lambert  de-» 
 fended  himself  with  the  firmness  of  a  man,  the  learning  and 
 acuteness  of  a  consummate  scholar,  and,  at  the  same  time,  with 
 all  that  gravity,  meekness,  and  modesty,  expected  in  the  de- 
 meanour of  a  christian ;  but  truth  was  of  no  avail,  the  propriety 
 of  his  conduct,  the  force  of  his  reasoning,  and  the  captivating 
 power  of  his  eloquence,  went  all  for  nothing.  His  case  was 
 predetermined,  the  tyrant  had  resolved  to  destroy  him.  The 
 king  commanded  Cromwell  to  read  the  cruel  sentence  of  con- 
 demnation and  death.  It  was  Lambert's  peculiar  case,  not 
 only  to  become  a  martyr  for  the  truth,  but  also  to  suffer  by 
 men  who  soon  after  vindicated  the  same  cause,  and  suffered 
 death  for  the  self-same  opinions.  Having  received  his  sentence, 
 he  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  Cromwell's  house,  where,  it 
 is  said,  Cromwell  asked  his  forgiveness  for  what  he  was  com- 
 pelled to  do  against  him.  On  the  day  of  his  death  he  break- 
 fasted among  Cromwell's  gentlemen  with  cheerfulness;  and  on 
 his  departure  to  the  stake,  saluted  them  with  much  ease  and 
 respect,  and  was  thus  led  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter. 
 
 No  man  ever  suffered  more  diabolical  cruelty  at  the  stake 
 than  this  evangelical  martyr,  he  was  rather  roasted  than  burnt 
 to  death ;  if  the  fire  became  stronger,  or  if  the  flame  reached 
 higher  than  they  chose,  it  was  removed  or  damped.  When  his 
 legs  were  burnt  off,  and  his  thighs  were  reduced  to  mere  6tumps 
 in  the  fire,  they  pitched  his  broiling  body  on  pikes,  and  lacer- 
 ated his  flesh  with  their  halberts.  But  God  was  with  him  in 
 the  midst  of  the  flame,  and  supported  his  spirit  under  the 
 anguish  of  expiring  nature.  Almost  exhausted,  he  lifted  up 
 his  hands,  such  as  the  fire  had  left  him,  and  with  his  last 
 breath,  cried  out  to  the  people,  None  but  Christ  !  None  but 
 Christ  !     These  memorable  words,  spoken  at  such  a  time,  and 
 
116  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  LAMBERT. 
 
 under  such  peculiar  circumstances,  were  calculated  to  make  a 
 deeper  and  more  lasting  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  spec- 
 tators, than  could  have  been  effected  by  a  volume  written  on 
 the  subject.  At  last  his  remains  were  beat  down  into  the 
 flames,  while  his  triumphant  soul  "  mocked  their  short  arm,  and, 
 quick  as  thought,  escaped  where  tyrants  vex  not,  and  the  weary 
 rest." 
 
 During  his  confinement,  he  wrote  a  long  treatise  to  the  king, 
 in  which  he  apologised  for  his  faith  and  doctrine;  part  of  which 
 has  been  preserved  in  Fox's  Monuments,  to  which  we  refer 
 the  reader.  We  shall  now,  according  to  promise,  extract  a  few 
 words  from  his  first  examination,  in  order  to  give  the  reader 
 some  idea  of  the  evangelical  principles  of  this  distinguished 
 soldier  of  Jesus  Christ. 
 
 On  his  first  examination  before  archbishop  Warham,  he  was 
 asked,  "  Dost  thou  believe,  that  whatsoever  is  done  of  man, 
 whether  it  be  good  or  ill,  cometh  of  necessity."  Lambert 
 could  easily  perceive  that  the  question  was  a  trap  laid  for  his 
 life,  and  answered  it  with  equal  prudence  and  faithfulness. 
 "  Unto  the  first  part  of  your  riddle,  I  neither  can,  nor  will  give 
 any  definitive  answer.  Concerning  the  second  part,  whether 
 man  hath  free-will  or  no  to  deserve  joy  or  pain :  As  for  our 
 deserving  joy,  in  particular,  I  think  it  very  little  or  none,  even 
 when  we  do  the  very  commandments  of  God.  When  you  have 
 done  all  that  is  commanded  you,  saith  our  Saviour,  say  ye  be 
 unprofitable  servants.  When  we  have  done  his  bidding,  we 
 ought  not  so  to  magnify  neither  ourselves  or  our  free-will,  but 
 laud  him  with  a  meek  heart  through  whose  benefit  we  have 
 done  (if  at  any  time  we  do  it)  his  liking  and  pleasure.  Hence 
 Justin  prayeth,  Domine,  da  quod  jubes,  et  jube  quod,  viz.  Lord, 
 give  what  thou  commandest,  and  require  what  thou  wilt. 
 Concerning  free-will,  I  mean  altogether  as  St.  Austin,  That  of 
 ourselves  we  have  no  liberty  or  ability  to  do  the  will  of  God, 
 but  are  shut  up  and  sold  under  sin;  as  both  Isaiah  and  Paul 
 bear  witness.  But  by  the  grace  of  God  we  are  rid  and  set  at 
 liberty,  according  to  the  portion  that  every  man,  that  is,  every 
 regenerate  man,  hath  received,  some  more,  some  less."  He 
 was  farther  questioned,  whether  faith  alone,  without  good 
 works,  may  suffice  to  the  salvation  and  justification  of  a  man 
 who  has  fallen  into  sin  after  baptism.  The  martyr  answered 
 in  the  words  of  Austin,  Opera  bona  nonfaciunt  justum  sedjus- 
 tificatus  facit  bona  opera,  The  performance  of  good  works  does 
 not  justify  a  man,  but  the  man  that  is  justified  performs  good 
 works. 
 
117 
 
 JOHN  ROGERS, 
 
 Hie  Proto-martyr  under  Queen  Mary. 
 
 This  intrepid  warrior,  under  the  Captain  of  our  salvation, 
 was  the  first,  in  the  persecuting  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  who  led 
 the  way,  by  the  cross,  to  the  martyr's  crown  of  glory.  He 
 had  his  education  at  Cambridge,  where  he  soon  acquired  an 
 eminent  proficency  in  learning.  He  was  chosen  by  a  company 
 of  English  merchants,  at  Antwerp,  for  their  chaplain,,  to  whom 
 he  preached  for  many  years  in  that  populous  and  flourishing 
 city;  and  having  become  acquainted  with  William  Tyndale 
 and  Miles  Coverdale,  who  had  there  taken  shelter  from  the 
 persecution  in  the  boisterous  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  was,  by 
 their  means,  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
 Jesus.  Here  he  joined  hands  with  these  eminent  individuals,  in 
 forwarding  the  translation  of  the  holy  scriptures,  and  was  there- 
 by so  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  gross  absurdity  of  the  doc- 
 trines of  the  Roman  church,  that  he  renounced  them  for  ever. 
 At  Antwerp  he  married,  and  removed  to  Wittemberg,  still  in- 
 creasing in  knowledge,  and  became  such  a  proficient  in  the 
 Dutch  language,  that  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  a  congregation  in 
 that  place;  the  duties  of  which  office  he  faithfully  discharged  for 
 some  years,  when  he  was  called  home  by  bishop  Ridley,  in  the 
 reign  of  Edward  VI.  He  was  appointed  prebendary  and  divi- 
 nity lecturer  of  St.  Paul's,  where  he  continued  to  labour  in  his 
 Master's  vineyard  till  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary.  But  hav- 
 ing preached  a  sermon  in  the  beginning  of  that  persecuting 
 reign,  at  Paul's  cross,  wherein  he  exhorted  his  audience  to  an 
 inflexible  adherence  to  the  doctrines  they  had  been  taught,  and 
 to  beware  of  the  idolatry,  superstition,  and  pestilent  doctrines  of 
 the  church  of  Rome.  It  was  impossible,  that  zeal  so  fervent, 
 and  at  the  same  time  so  publicly  manifested,  could  be  either 
 concealed  or  suffered  to  pass  unopposed.  Accordingly,  he  was 
 called  before  the  privy  council,  where  he  confirmed  his  answers 
 by  the  scriptures,  and  defended  his  cause  with  so  much  good 
 sense  and  propriety,  that  for  the  present  he  was  dismissed. 
 After  the  queen's  proclamation  against  preaching  was  pro- 
 mulgated, he  was  again  called  before  the  popish  bishops,  who 
 thirsted  for  his  blood,  and  ordered  to  remain  a  prisoner  in  his 
 own  house,  where  he  continued  under  this  sort  of  imprisonment 
 for  six  months.  From  this  confinement  he  might  have  easily 
 escaped,  and  to  this  he  had  many  inducements,  having  a  wife 
 and  ten  children,  and  many  friends  in  Germany,  with  certain 
 preferment  awaiting  him  in  that  country;  but  being  called 
 upon  to  appear  for  the  cause  of  his  heavenly  Master,  he  would 
 
118  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 not  depart,  though  remaining  at  the  hazard  of  his  life.  *  From 
 his  own  house  he  was  removed  to  Newgate,  where  lie  was  clos- 
 ed up  witli  thieves,  robbers,  and  murderers.  At  length,  on  the 
 twenty-second,  and  several  succeeding  days  of  January  1555, 
 he  was  examined  before  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  and 
 others,  where,  after  many  things,  the  bishop  asked  him,  "  What 
 sayest  thou  ?  make  us  a  direct  answer,  whether  thou  wilt  be  one 
 of  this  catholic  church  or  not,  with  us,  in  the  state  in  which  we 
 arc  now  ?"  To  this  Mr  Rogers  replied,  "  My  lord,  I  cannot 
 believe  that  ye  yourselves  do  think  in  your  hearts,  that  the  pope 
 is  the  supreme  head  in  the  forgiving  of  sin,  &c.  as  you  have  now 
 said,  seeing  you,  and  all  the  bishops  of  the  realm,  have  now,  for 
 twenty  years  long,  preached,  and  some  of  you  also  written  to 
 the  contrary,  and  the  parliament  hath,  so  long  ago,  condescend- 
 ed unto  it."  Here  Mr  Rogers  was  interrupted;  he  was  treading 
 on  the  corns  of  the  clergy,  opening  up  their  sores,  and  exposing 
 that  vile  hypocrisy,  and  shameless  villany,  that  interest,  honour, 
 and  royal  favour,  had  induced  the  bishops  of  England  to  exer- 
 cise against  their  stedfast  brethren,  for  avowing  and  defending 
 the  doctrines  which  they  had  for  so  many  years  preached,  and 
 at  last  so  meanly  abandoned.  But  he  was  not  permitted  to 
 make  any  farther  defence,  either  for  himself  or  the  doctrines 
 he  held  forth.  Again,  on  the  ninth  of  the  same  month,  he  was 
 called  before  the  bishops,  where  he  was  condemned  for  an  he- 
 retic, and  his  sentence  pronounced  by  Gardiner,  in  the  follow- 
 ing words: 
 
 "  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We,  Stephen,  by  the  permis- 
 sion of  God,  bishop  of  Winchester,  &c.  &c.  do  find,  that  thou 
 hast  taught,  holden,  and  affirmed,  and  obstinately  defended  di- 
 verse errors,  heresies,  and  damnable  opinions,  contrary  to  the 
 doctrine  and  determination  of  the  holy  church;  as  namely  these, 
 '  That  the  catholic  church  of  Rome  is  the  church  of  antichrist; 
 item,  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  there  is  not  sub- 
 stantially, nor  really,  the  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ.' 
 We  do  therefore  judge  thee,  and  condemn  thee,  John  Rogers, 
 otherwise  called  Matthews,  thy  demerits  and  faults  being  ag- 
 gravated, through  thy  damnable  obstinacy,  as  guilty  of  most 
 detestable  heresies,  and  as  an  obstinate  impenitent  sinner,  re- 
 fusing to  return  to  the  lap  and  unity  of  the  holy  mother  church; 
 and  that  thou  hast  been,  and  art,  by  law,  excommunicate,  and 
 do  pronounce  and  declare  thee  an  excommunicate  person.  Also, 
 we  pronounce  and  declare,  being  an  heretic,  to  be  cast  out  from 
 the  church,  and  left  unto  the  judgment  of  the  secular  power, 
 by  this  our  sentence  definitive,  which  we  here  lay  upon,  and 
 against  thee,  with  sorrow  of  heart." 
 
 On  hearing  this  sentence,  Mr  Rogers  attempted  to  speak, 
 
JOHN  ROGERS.  119 
 
 but  was  not  permitted.  He  requested  that  his  wife,  a  poor 
 stranger,  might  be  permitted  to  see  him  before  his  death.  This 
 also  was  denied  him,  and  she  was  peremptorily  prohibited. 
 When  returned  to  prison,  he  wrote  the  questions  put  by  the 
 bishops,  on  this  and  the  preceding  days,  with  his  answers,  so  far 
 as  he  had  been  permitted  to  speak,  and  what  he  intended  to 
 have  answered,  if  suffered  to  proceed.  From  the  great  length 
 of  this  article,  we  can  only  admit  a  short  specimen,  referring 
 the  curious  reader  to  Mr  Fox's  Martyrology,  where  it  is  given 
 at  large. 
 
 "  The  bishops,"  says  he,  "  cry  out,  lo,  these  men  will  still  be 
 a  John  the  Baptist,  an  apostle,  a  prophet,  &c.  I  answer,  we 
 make  not  ourselves  like  unto  them  in  the  gifts  and  power  of 
 God,  bestowed  upon  them  to  the  working  of  miracles;  but  that 
 we  arc  like  them  in  believing  the  same  doctrine,  and  in  suffer- 
 ing persecution  and  shame  for  the  same.  We  preach  their  very 
 doctrine,  and  none  other :  This  we  are  able  to  prove  from  their 
 writings,  which  I  have  proferred  to  do  again  and  again  by  writ- 
 ing. And,  for  this  cause,  we  suffer  the  like  reproach,  shame, 
 and  rebuke  of  the  world;  suffering  the  same  persecution,  to  the 
 loss  of  our  goods,  and  even  of  our  lives;  and  to  the  forsaking 
 (as  our  master  Christ  commandeth)  father,  mother,  sister, 
 brethren,  wives,  children,  &c.  being  assured  of  a  joyful  resur- 
 rection, and  to  be  crowned  in  glory  with  them,  according  to 
 the  infallible  promises  made  unto  us  in  Christ,  our  only  and  all- 
 sufficient  Mediator,  Reconciler,  Priest,  and  Sacrifice :  Who, 
 for  us,  as  well  as  them,  hath  pleased  the  Father,  quieted  and 
 pacified  his  wrath  against  our  sins;  and,  by  imputation,  hath 
 made  us  without  spot  or  wrinkle  in  his  sight;  although  we,  of 
 and  in  ourselves,  are  polluted  with  many  filthy  sins,  which,  if 
 the  measureless  unspeakable  mercy  and  love  of  God  in  Christ 
 did  not  put  away,  by  not  imputing  them  to  us,  would  have 
 brought  us  to  everlasting  damnation,  and  death  perpetual.  In 
 this,  and  in  no  other  sense,  do  we  affirm  ourselves  to  be  like 
 Christ  our  head,  his  apostles,  prophets,  martyrs,  and  saints. 
 And  so  far  ought  all  Christians  to  be  like  them,  according  to 
 the  measure  of  faith,  and  the  diversity  of  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
 that  God  hath  given  unto  them. 
 
 "  But  let  us  now  consider,  that  if  it  be  God's  good-will  and 
 pleasure  to  give  the  members  of  his  beloved  church  into  the 
 hands  of  their  enemies,  it  is  to  chasten,  try,  and  prove  them,  to 
 bring  them  to  an  unfeigned  acknowledgment  of  their  natural 
 perverseness  and  disobedience  towards  God  and  his  command- 
 ments, as  touching  their  love  of  God,  their  brethren  and  neigh- 
 bours; and  to  shew  them  their  natural  inclination  and  readiness 
 to  seek  their  own  ease  and  pleasure,  and  to  desire  that  good 
 
120  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 from  the  creature  which  God  lias  forbid,  as  only  to  be  found 
 in  himself.  And  in  order,  that  having  fallen  into  gross  out- 
 ward sins,  like  David,  Peter,  and  others,  they  may  be  brought 
 to  a  true  and  earnest  repentance,  and  to  sigh  and  cry  for  the 
 forgiveness  of  the  same,  and  for  the  aid  of  the  Spirit,  daily  to 
 mortify  and  subdue  all  evil  desires  and  affections  in  future. 
 And  many  other  wise  and  gracious  purposes  of  the  Lord  con- 
 cerning his  people  are  answered  by  their  being  often  put  into 
 the  furnace  of  affliction.  But  let  us  also  consider  what  he 
 doth  with  those  enemies  into  whose  hands  he  giveth  his  tender 
 darlings  to  be  chastened  and  tried.  In  truth,  he  does  but  chas- 
 ten and  cross  them  for  a  little  while,  according  to  his  fatherly 
 love  and  good  pleasure,  as  all  fathers  do  their  children  (Heb. 
 xii.  and  Prov.  iii.);  but  he  utterly  destroyeth,  yea,  and  everlast- 
 ingly damneth,  their  impenitent  enemies. 
 
 "  Let  Herod  tell  me  what  he  got  by  killing  James,  and  by 
 persecuting  Peter,  and  Christ's  tender  darlings  and  beloved 
 spouse,  his  church  ?  Verily  God  thought  him  not  worthy  to 
 have  death  ministered  by  men  or  angels,  or  any  other  creature, 
 than  those  small,  filthy  vermin,  lice  and  worms,  which  were  or- 
 dained to  destroy  his  beastly  tyrannous  body.  Pharaoh  and 
 Nebuchadnezzar,  with  all  their  pride  and  might,  must  at  length 
 let  God's  favourite  people  go  freely  out  of  their  land,  from  their 
 bands  and  cruelty :  For  when  they  could  obtain  nothing  but 
 counterfeit  mercies,  like  those  of  our  day  *,  namely,  extreme 
 cruelties  and  death,  then  did  God  arise,  as  one  awoke  out  of 
 sleep,  and  destroyed  those  enemies  of  his  flock  with  a  mighty 
 hand,  and  stretched-out  arm.  When  Pharaoh  grievously  op- 
 pressed the  poor  Israelites  with  intolerable  labours  and  heavy 
 burdens,  his  courtiers  noised  abroad  his  tender  mercies  towards 
 them,  in  suffering  them  to  live  in  the  land,  and  in  setting  them 
 to  work,  that  they  might  get  their  livings;  for,  if  he  should 
 thrust  them  out  of  his  land,  they  must  be  no  better  than  vaga- 
 bonds and  runagates.  Have  we  not  the  like  examples  now-a- 
 days  ?  O  that  I  had  now  time  to  write  certain  things  pertain- 
 ing to  the  bishop  of  Winchester's  mercy  !  I  have  not  time  to 
 speak  how  merciful  he  hath  been  to  me  and  to  my  good  brethren, 
 and  to  the  duke  of  Suffolk's  most  innocent  daughter,  and  her 
 innocent  husband :  O  that  I  had  time  to  paint  it  in  its  proper 
 colours  !  but  there  are  many  that  can  do  it  better  than  I,  who 
 shall  live  when  I  am  dead.  Pharaoh  had  his  plagues;  and  his 
 once  most  flourishing  land  utterly  destroyed,  on  account  of  hy- 
 pocrisy and  counterfeit  mercy,  which  was  no  otker  than  cruelty 
 and   abominable    tyranny.       And    think   ye,    that    the    bloody 
 
 vllmlinu  to  tin'  hypocritical  protrusion--  of  sorrow  they  were  in  the  habit  of  ex- 
 pressing for  the  victims  of  their  inveterate  malice. 
 
JOHN  ROGERS.  121 
 
 butcherly  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  his  bloody  brethren,  shall 
 escape  ?  Or  that  England,  for  their  offences,  and  especially  for 
 the  maintenance  of  their  idolatry,  and  wilful  following  of 
 them  in  it,  shall  not  abide  as  great  brunts?  Yes,  undoubt- 
 edly. 
 
 "  If  God  look  not  mercifully  upon  England,  the  seeds  of  ut- 
 ter destruction  are  already  sown  in  it  by  these  hypocritical  ty- 
 rants and  antichristian  prelates,  papists,  and  double  traitors  to 
 their  country :  And  yet  they  speak  of  mercy,  of  blessing,  of 
 the  catholic  church,  of  unity,  of  power,  and  of  strengthening 
 the  realm  !  This  double  dissimulation  will  appear  in  the  day  of 
 the  Lord's  visitation,  when  those  crown-shorn  captains,  who 
 have  shewn  no  mercy  to  the  poor  godly  sufferers  of  this  realm, 
 shall  have  judgment  without  mercy." 
 
 On  Monday  morning,  the  4th  of  February,  Mr  Rogers  was 
 awakened  from  a  sound  sleep  by  the  keeper's  wife,  who  warned 
 him  to  make  haste  in  preparing  himself  for  his  latter  end.  If 
 it  be  so,  said  he,  I  need  not  tie  my  points.  He  was  then  taken 
 before  bishop  Bonner,  who  degraded  him.  Here  he  requested 
 the  bishop  that  his  wife  might  be  allowed  to  speak  with  him  be- 
 fore he  suffered.  This  small  favour  being  also  denied  him,  he 
 added,  you  thus  evidence  the  extent  of  your  charity  !  The  hour 
 arrived,  Rogers  was  brought  out  of  Newgate,  and  delivered  up 
 to  the  sheriffs  of  London.  One  of  them  said,  Mr  Rogers,  Will 
 you  revoke  your  abominable  doctrine,  and  your  evil  opinion  of 
 the  sacrament  of  the  altar  ?  What  I  have  preached,  said  Mr 
 Rogers,  I  am  ready  to  seal  with  my  blood.  Then  thou  art  an 
 heretic,  said  the  sheriff.  That  will  be  known,  said  Rogers,  at 
 the  last  judgment.  Well,  said  the  sheriff,  I  will  not  pray  for 
 thee.  But  I  will  pray  for  thee,  said  Mr  Rogers;  and  so  pro- 
 ceeded towards  Smithfield,  reciting  the  51st  Psalm;  while  the 
 people,  rejoicing  at  his  stedfastness,  gave  thanks  to  God  for  the 
 fortitude  with  which  he  inspired  him.  His  wife,  with  ten  chil- 
 dren by  her  side,  and  one  at  her  breast,  met  him  by  the  way, 
 being  the  only  opportunity  left  of  ever  seeing  one  another  in 
 this  life;  and  though  it  is  difficult  even  to  imagine  any  thing 
 more  tender  and  affecting  than  this  parting  scene,  this  last  adieu 
 to  a  beloved  wife,  and  so  numerous  an  offspring,  all  in  tears; 
 he  stood  the  shock  with  the  feelings  of  a  father  and  husband, 
 but  with  the  unshaken  confidence  of  a  christian  hero.  When 
 he  came  to  the  stake,  having  been  indulged  to  speak  only  a  few 
 words,  he  very  briefly  admonished  the  people  to  hold  fast  the 
 doctrines  he  had  taught  them,  and  for  which  he  was  now  about 
 to  deliver  up  his  body  to  the  flames,  as  an  evidence  of  his  belief 
 of  their  truth  and  infinite  importance.  He  was  again  offered  a 
 pardon  on  condition  of  recanting.     This  he  again  rejected  with 
 
 5  Q 
 
122  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  ROGERS. 
 
 christian  magnanimity,  and  suffered  with  the  most  astonishing 
 patience,  washing  his  hands,  as  it  were,  in  the  flames,  and 
 ejaculating  with  his  last  breath,  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
 spirit. 
 
 During  the  eighteen  months  that  Mr  Rogers  was  held  pris- 
 oner, ho  was  always  cheerful,  but  intent  on  pushing  forward 
 every  thing  he  undertook.  He  wrote  much,  especially  his  ex- 
 aminations; which  were  wonderfully  preserved,  in  spite  of  all 
 the  watchful  care  of  his  enemies  to  prevent  any  of  his  papers 
 from  finding  the  way  from  his  cell.  This  is  supposed  to  be  one 
 reason  for  prohibiting  his  wife  or  his  friends  from  visiting  him 
 in  prison.  Moreover,  they  searched  his  room  frequently;  and 
 so  soon  as  he  left  it  for  Smithfield,  it  was  again  subjected  to  a 
 thorough  investigation;  but  nothing  found.  They  therefore 
 readily  permitted  his  wife  and  son  Daniel  to  enter  the  apart- 
 ment on  their  return  from  Smithfield,  who  looked  into  every 
 corner;  but  found  nothing,  and  were  coming  away,  when  Da- 
 niel observed  something  in  a  dark  neuk,  under  a  pair  of  stairs, 
 that  attracted  his  attention ;  and  on  exploring  it,  found  his  ex- 
 aminations and  his  other  writings,  to  which  the  reader  has  been 
 referred. 
 
 Mr  Rogers  was  a  man  of  singular  charity  to  the  poor  «nd 
 needy.  He  agreed  with  Mr  Hooper,  and  others  in  prison,  to 
 confine  themselves  to  one  meal  a-day,  that  the  rest  might  be 
 given  to  the  prisoners  on  the  debtor's  side,  who  were  literally 
 starving;  but  the  cruel  keeper,  it  was  afterwards  discovered, 
 withheld  it  from  them.  It  was  supposed  that  Hooper  and 
 Rogers  would  be  burned  together;  and  with  this  opinion,  Rog- 
 ers, the  Sunday  before  he  suffered,  drank  to  Hooper,  whose 
 room  was  just  below,  and  desired  the  keeper  to  tell  him,  "  there 
 never  was  a  little  fellow  would  better  stick  to  a  man  than  he 
 would  to  Mr  Hooper." 
 
 Thus  died,  triumphant  in  the  faith  of  the  blessed  gospel,  John 
 Rogers,  the  first  martyr  who  suffered  under  the  tyrannical,  but 
 short  reign  of  the  bigoted  Queen  Mary;  and  by  his  death  de- 
 monstrated the  reality  of  the  ancient  observation,  that  the  blood 
 of  the  saints  is  the  seed  of  the  church;  for  instead  of  being  in- 
 timidated by  the  severity  of  his  sufferings,  multitudes  were  en- 
 couraged by  his  magnanimous  example;  and  many,  who  had  no 
 religion,  were  led  to  inquire  into  the  cause  for  which  pious, 
 learned,  and  benevolent  men,  were  so  contented  to  lay  down 
 their  lives:  and  thus  changed  from  atheists  or  catholics,  by  the 
 grace  of  God,  to  the  profession  of  that  gospel,  which,  as  it  dis- 
 covered the  f'allacity  of  the  Romish  superstition,  so  it  drew  down 
 the  most  inveterate  and  merciless  resentment  of  her  voluptuous 
 ecclesiastics. 
 
123 
 
 LAURENCE  SAUNDERS. 
 
 This  distinguished  individual  was  descended  from  an  opu- 
 lent family.  He  was  educated  at  Eaton,  and  from  thence 
 chosen  to  king's  college  in  Cambridge,  where  he  prosecuted 
 his  studies  for  three  years  with  the  greatest  assiduity  and  suc- 
 cess. But  his  mother,  anxious  to  improve  his  already  affluent 
 fortune,  had  him  engaged  as  an  apprentice  to  a  capital  mer- 
 chant in  London.  His  master,  who  was  a  sensible  and  serious 
 man,  soon  perceived  that  Saunders  had  no  relish  for  mercantile 
 transactions,  but  that  the  bias  of  his  inclination  leaned  to  the 
 schools;  and  presuming,  from  his  apparent  piety,  and  the  moral 
 propriety  of  his  life,  that  God  had  more  important  work  in  re- 
 serve for  him,  freely  gave  him  up  Ins  indenture.  Upon  this 
 agreeable  change  in  the  manner  of  his  life,  Saunders  returned 
 to  Cambridge,  and  proceeded  with  his  studies.  He  was  a  man 
 exercised  with  sore  temptations  and  inward  conflicts;  but  gra- 
 ciously supported  by  the  grace  of  God  under  these  heavy  afflic- 
 tions ;  which  qualified  him,  by  experience,  how  to  minister  com- 
 fort to  others  under  similar  cases  of  mental  distress.  He  re- 
 mained at  Cambridge,  after  he  had  taken  his  degree  of  Master 
 of  Arts,  for  some  considerable  time;  and  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
 VI.  entered  into  holy  orders.  He  was  first  appointed  lecturer 
 of  Fathringhay,  and  married  about  the  same  period.  He  was 
 afterward  made  reader  in  the  cathedral  of  Litchfield,  where  his 
 labours  were  blessed  of  God  to  the  conversion  of  many  to  the 
 christian  life  and  manners;  while  his  exemplary  conversation, 
 and  active  exertions  in  his  Master's  vineyard,  gained  him  a 
 good  report  even  from  his  adversaries.  After  this  he  was  re- 
 moved to  Churchlangton  in  Leicestershire;  and,  lastly,  to  All- 
 hallows  in  Bread  Street,  London.  He  intended  to  resign  his 
 office  in  Churchlangton;  but  INIary  coming  to  the  throne,  he 
 was  aware  that  his  room  would  be  filled  up  with  a  papist;  to 
 prevent  which  he  continued  to  retain  his  office.  In  his  way 
 thither  from  London,  he  preached  at  Northampton,  where  he 
 boldly  testified  against  the  errors  of  the  popish  religion,  which 
 he  could  easily  perceive  were  about  to  be  restored  to  the 
 church ;  warning  his  audience  of  the  visitation  of  God  that 
 England  was  threatened  with,  for  her  lukewarm  indifference  in 
 the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  privileges  of  his  glorious  gospel, 
 so  plentifully  administered  amongst  them.  Foreseeing  the  evils 
 that  were  approaching,  he  applied  himself,  with  more  than  or- 
 dinary diligence,  in  confirming  his  people  in  the  truth,  and  to 
 arm  them  against  the  delusions  of  the  Roman  idolatry.  But 
 the  queen's  proclamation,  prohibiting  all  such  preaching,  had 
 
124<  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 been  emitted  some  time  before  this;  he  was  accordingly  oppos- 
 ed, and  finally  restrained  by  open  violence.  His  friends,  per- 
 ceiving the  danger  to  which  his  faithfulness  had  subjected  him, 
 seriously  advised  him  to  leave  the  kingdom;  but  to  this  he 
 would  by  00  means  consent,  but  straightway  set  out  for  Lon- 
 don to  visit  his  flock  in  Bread  Street.  In  his  way  to  the  me- 
 tropolis, he  was  overtaken  by  the  queen's  counsellor,  Mordaunt, 
 who  asked  if  it  was  him  that  preached  in  Bread  Street  at  such 
 a  time  ?  And  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  was  asked,  Will 
 you  there  preach  so  again  ?  Yes,  said  Saunders,  to-morrow  you 
 may  hear  me  there,  where  I  mean  to  confirm  all  that  I  then  ad- 
 vanced. I  would  advise  you,  said  Mordaunt,  to  forbear.  If 
 you  forbid  me  by  lawful  authority,  said  Saunders,  then  I  must 
 forbear.  Nay,  said  the  other,  I  shall  not  forbid  thee;  so  they 
 parted.  The  next  day,  being  Sunday,  he  expounded  the  xith 
 chapter  of  the  second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians;  designing,  in 
 the  afternoon,  to  give  his  people  another  exhortation;  but  when 
 he  came  to  church,  he  was  seized  by  the  bishop  of  London's 
 officer,  and  carried  before  him,  Mordaunt,  and  some  of  the 
 bishop's  chaplains. 
 
 Bonner  charged  him  with  the  unpardonable  crime  of  heresy; 
 and  to  put  a  better  face  on  this  unpopular  cause,  added  to  he- 
 resy the  weighty  crimes  of  sedition  and  treason;  at  the  same 
 time  demanding  his  opinion,  in  writing,  on  the  doctrine  of 
 transubstantiation;  with  which  he  was  forced  to  comply.  You 
 seek  my  life,  and  you  shall  have  it,  said  Saunders;  and  I  pray 
 God  you  may  be  so  baptized  in  my  blood,  that  you  may  for  ever 
 after  loathe  such  cruel  proceedings,  and  become  a  better  man. 
 Bonner  sent  him  to  bishop  Gardiner,  where  he  was  kept  stand- 
 ing at  the  door  of  the  room,  for  the  space  of  four  hours,  uncov- 
 ered. At  length  the  bishop,  returning  from  court,  ordered  him 
 into  a  proper  place  for  examination,  where  he  proceeded  in  the 
 following  manner : 
 
 How  dare  you  to  preach  notwithstanding  of  the  queen's  pro- 
 clamation to  the  contrary?  Mr  Saunders  replied,  because  I 
 am  commanded  by  God;  yea,  woe  unto  me  if  I  preach  not  the 
 gospel,  and  obey  the  commandments  of  God  in  preference 
 to  those  of  men.  A  goodly  conscience,  to  be  sure,  said  the 
 bishop.  Is  it  not,  Saunders,  to  make  our  queen  a  bastard  or 
 mis-begotten  ?  I  deny  the  charge.  It  is  not  I  who  go  about  to 
 make  the  queen  base  or  mis-begotten;  but  let  them  look  after 
 the  matter,  who,  to  their  shame  and  disgrace,  have  published 
 the  same  to  the  world.  This  was  a  sore  thrust  at  the  bishop, 
 who  had  prefaced  the  hook  of  True  Obedience,  in  which  Mary 
 was  openly  declared  to  he  a  hastanl.  We  only  preach,  said 
 Saunders,   the  word  of  God,   which,   though  now  prohibited  to 
 
LAURENCE  SAUNDERS.  125 
 
 do,  I  trust  that  our  blood  shall  hereafter  preach  an  abundantly 
 more  convincing  and  efficacious  sermon.  On  which  the  bishop 
 cried  out,  take  away  the  frantic  fool  to  prison.  I  thank  my 
 God,  said  Saunders,  who  has  at  last  given  me  a  place  of  rest 
 and  quietness,  where  I  may  pray  for  the  conversion  of  your 
 lordship. 
 
 Mr  Saunders  was  accordingly  sent  to  prison,  where  he  wrote 
 a  letter  to  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  in  answer  to  several  par- 
 ticulars with  which  he  had  charged  him.  The  following  is  all 
 that  has  been  preserved  of  said  letter. 
 
 "  Respecting  the  cause  of  my  imprisonment,  I  am  not  aware 
 of  having  violated  any  law  or  proclamation.  In  my  doctrine  I 
 have  not,  inasmuch  as  by  the  proclamation  we  were  permitted 
 to  preach  according  to  our  consciences,  and  officiate  in  such 
 services  as  were  then  established.  My  doctrine  was  according 
 to  my  conscience,  and  the  services  were  such  as  werexthen  used 
 in  the  church.  Nor  could  my  expounding  the  scriptures,  in  my 
 own  church  at  Bread  Street,  impartially  considered,  amount  to 
 the  least  breach;  but,  at  all  events,  not  to  a  wilful  breach  of 
 said  proclamation,  seeing  I  caused  no  bells  to  be  rung,  occupi- 
 ed no  place  in  the  pulpit  after  the  order  of  the  regular  service. 
 But  granting  that  the  proclamation  had  been  violated  to  the 
 full  amount  of  the  charge  made  against  me,  the  long  imprison- 
 ment I  have  suffered  is  surely  more  than  adequate  to  the  of- 
 fence. Touching  the  heresies  with  which  I  am  charged,  I 
 answer,  with  Paul,  this  I  confess,  that  after  the  way  which  you 
 call  heresy,  so  worship  I  the  God  of  my  fathers;  and  herein  I 
 endeavour  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of  offence,  both  towards 
 God  and  man.  Yes,  my  lord,  I  have  a  conscience,  and  that 
 conscience  is  not  satisfied  with  illusive  fantasies,  or  my  faith 
 founded  on  the  ordinances  of  men,  but  on  the  verity  of  the  writ- 
 ten word  of  God,  who  cannot  lie,  and  the  testimony  of  his 
 church  built  on  the  same  foundation. 
 
 "  The  sheep  of  Christ's  pasture  can  readily  distinguish  the 
 voice  of  their  shepherd  from  that  of  wolves,  hirelings,  and  stran- 
 gers; and  knowing  their  Shepherd  by  his  voice,  him  only  will 
 they  follow,  and  that  wherever  he  chooses  to  lead  them.  The 
 wolf  may  appear  in  masquerade,  he  may  dress  himself  in  sheep's 
 clothing;  but  his  very  voice  betrays  him  to  be  a  wolf  in  spite 
 of  all  his  hypocrisy.  That  the  Romish  religion  is  ravenous  and 
 wolfish,  appears  from  a  number  of  considerations;  but  especially 
 from  their  idolatrous  worshipping  of  beings  that  be  no  gods, 
 their  tyrannical  assumptions  over  the  rights  of  conscience,  and 
 their  masses  for  the  souls  of  the  quick  and  the  dead,  whereby 
 they  crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and,  in  place  of  honouring* 
 put  him  to  an   open  shame.     Having   therefore   weighed  the 
 
126  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Romish  religion  in  the  balance  of  God's  verity,  and  found  it 
 wanting  in  its  most  essential  points,  and  in  others  superfluous, 
 the  foundation  false,  and  the  superstructure  vain;  I  inhere  to 
 that  church,  the  foundation  stone  of  which  is  Christ,  whose 
 only  head,  lord,  and  lawgiver  is  Christ,  who  feeds  his  flock  like 
 a  shepherd,  and,  as  Captain  of  their  salvation,  protects  them  from 
 the  secret  frauds  and  open  violence  of  all  their  enemies.  And 
 having  thus  cast  in  my  lot  amongst  the  humble  followers  of  the 
 Lamb,  and  joined  the  standard  of  my  adorable  Lord,  I  may  not, 
 and,  by  the  help  of  his  grace,  /  will  not  relinquish  my  place,  nor 
 betray  my  Commander,  be  the  cost  and  consequences  what  they 
 may." 
 
 Mrs  Saunders  could  not  be  admitted  to  see  her  husband 
 while  in  prison.  The  goaler,  however,  on  one  occasion  carried 
 her  child  into  his  father.  Some  who  were  standing  by,  admir- 
 ing the  child,  Mr  Saunders  said,  he  had  rather  have  such  a  boy 
 than  be  master  of  two  thousand  pounds.  They  urge  me  to  re- 
 cant, said  he;  and  by  so  doing  I  must  bastardise  my  son,  make 
 my  wife  a  whore,  and  myself  a  whoremonger  !  What  man,  that 
 fears  God,  would  not  rather  suffer  death?  If  there  were  no 
 more  cogent  reasons  for  a  man  of  my  estate  losing  his  life,  yet 
 who  would  not  give  it  to  avouch  the  legitimacy  of  this  child, 
 and  the  honour  of  holy  matrimony  ?  After  having  remained  in 
 prison  fifteen  months,  Mr  Saunders  was  brought  before  the 
 queen's  council,  and  examined  by  bishop  Gardiner,  Bonner, 
 and  others,  in  the  following  manner : 
 
 Gardiner.  It  is  well  known,  that  the  abominable  heresies, 
 and  false  doctrines  you  have  disseminated,  was  the  only  cause 
 of  your  imprisonment,  and  it  is  now  thought  expedient  that 
 mercy  be  extended  to  such  as  seek  mercy;  wherefore,  if  you 
 will  now  conform  to  the  established  rule,  mercy  is  at  hand.  We 
 must  acknowledge  wc  have  all  of  us  fallen;  but  now  we  are 
 risen  again,  and  received  into  the  holy  catholic  church.  You 
 must  therefore  rise  with  us,  and  come  home  from  your  unhappy 
 wanderings.     Give  us  your  answer  explicitly  ? 
 
 Saunders.  My  lord,  if  it  please  your  honour,  give  me  leave 
 to  speak  with  deliberation. 
 
 Gard.  Leave  off  your  painting  and  rhetorical  flourishes;  you 
 are  all  of  you  smit  with  the  humour  of  pleasing  yourselves  with 
 lofty  words  and  high  sounding  epithets.     Answer  yea  or  nay. 
 
 Saund.  My  lord,  the  present  is  no  time  for  me  to  paint  and 
 polish  my  discourse,  nor  have  I  any  cause  to  be  proud.  My 
 learning,  I  confess,  is  but  small,  and  my  wealth  is  reduced  to 
 nothing;  nevertheless,  it  behoves  me  to  answer  your  queries 
 with  caution,  exposed,  as  I  am,  to  the  danger  of  either  losing 
 my  life,  or  sacrificing  the  peace  and  purity  of  my  conscience; 
 
LAURENCE  SAUNDERS.  127 
 
 and,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  in  love  with  both  life  and  liberty, 
 if  these  can  be  obtained  without  violating  my  conscience. 
 
 Gard.  Conscience !  you  have  no  conscience  but  pride  and 
 arrogancy.  Your  schism  from  the  church  is  merely  the  effect 
 of  your  ambition,  for  being  distinguished  by  a  hypocritical 
 singularity. 
 
 Saund.  God  knows  the  consciences  of  all  men,  and  in  place 
 of  being  a  separatist  to  gratify  my  ambition,  I  deny  the  charge 
 of  at  all  separating  from  the  church.  I  hold  the  same  princi- 
 ples, preach  the  same  doctrines,  and  govern  my  life  by  the  same 
 maxims,  acknowledged  in  the  church  of  England.  When  I 
 was  fourteen  years  of  age,  I  was  taught  that  the  pope  of 
 Rome  was  an  usurper,  and  the  Roman  church  a  mass  of  cor- 
 ruption and  errors;  which  doctrines  I  have  even  received  from 
 your  hands  now  present,  as  a  matter  agreed  upon  by  the 
 church,  and  confirmed  by  public  authority. 
 
 Gard.  Yea,  marry.  But  pray,  have  you  also  received  your 
 heretical  sentiments,  concerning  the  blessed  sacrament  of  the 
 altar,  from  consent  and  authority  of  the  church  and  the  state  ? 
 
 Saund.  My  lord,  it  is  assuredly  less  offensive  to  cut  off  an 
 hand,  arm,  or  joint  of  a  man,  than  to  cut  off  his  head,  seeing 
 he  may  live  without  one  of  these;  but  what  man  can  live  with- 
 out his  head  ?  But  you  formerly  agreed,  all  of  you,  to  cut  off 
 the  head  of  the  Roman  church,  and  now  again  you  are  for  re- 
 storing it. 
 
 Bishop  of  London.  My  lord,  I  have  his  own  hand- writing 
 against  the  blessed  sacrament.    What  say  you  to  that  Saunders  ? 
 
 Saund.  What  I  have  written,  I  have  written,  and  further 
 I  will  not  accuse  myself.  You  cannot  charge  me  with  the 
 breach  of  any  of  your  laws  since  they  were  in  force. 
 
 Gard.     Well,  you  are  obstinate,  and  refuse  liberty. 
 
 Saund.  I  may  not  purchase  liberty  at  such  a  price.  But  I 
 beseech  your  honour  to  obtain  such  a  pardon  for  us  from  the 
 queen,  as  will  enable  us  to  live  without  having  our  conscien- 
 ces clogged,  and  we  will  live  as  most  obedient  subjects.  If 
 this  cannot  be  granted,  I  must  say  for  myself,  that  by  God's 
 grace  I  will  abide  the  extremity  of  your  resentment,  rather 
 than  act  against  the  light  of  my  conscience. 
 
 Gard.  Ah,  sirrah  !  you  will  live  as  you  list.  The  Douatists 
 affected  a  singularity  of  life;  but  indeed  they  were  not  fit  to 
 live  upon  the  earth,  neither  are  you,  and  that  you  shall  know 
 within  these  seven  days.     Away  with  him  ! 
 
 Saund.  Welcome  the  will  of  God,  be  it  life  or  death.  I 
 can  tell  you,  with  confidence,  that  I  have  learned  to  die.  I 
 would  nevertheless  exhort  you  to  beware  of  shedding  innocent 
 blood.  Truly  it  will  cry  aloud  to  heaven  for  vengeance  against 
 you. 
 
128  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Mr  Saunders  was  now  removed  to  another  apartment,  to 
 wait  till  some  others  were  examined.  Here  finding  a  great 
 number  of  people,  he  upbraided  them  with  their  defection  from 
 the  cause  of  Christ,  and  earnestly  entreated  them  to  return  to 
 the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their  souls;  and  in  defiance  of  anti- 
 christ, sin,  death,  and  the  devil,  to  confess  him  before  a  per- 
 verse generation,  and  so  live  in  the  love,  fear,  and  favour  of 
 God,  and  at  peace  with  their  own  consciences.  He  was  taken 
 to  the  prison  in  Bread  Street,  out  of  which  he  preached  to  his 
 parishioners,  as  he  had  formerly  done  out  of  his  pulpit. 
 
 On  the  4th  of  February  the  bishop  of  London  went  to  his 
 prison  and  degraded  him.  On  being  stript  of  his  clerical  ha- 
 biliments, he  said,  I  thank  God  I  am  none  of  your  church. 
 Next  morning  the  sheriff  of  London  delivered  him  up  to  a  party 
 of  the  queen's  guard,  who  had  been  appointed  to  conduct  him 
 to  Coventry,  where  he  was  ordered  to  be  burned.  The  first 
 night  they  halted  at  St.  Albans,  where  they  were  met  by  Mr 
 Grimoald,  a  man  of  greater  learning  than  fortitude  or  stedfast- 
 ness;  to  whom,  after  reproving  his  unfaithfulness  in  the  cause 
 of  Christ,  he  said,  Will  you  pledge  me  out  of  this  cup  which  I 
 am  about  to  drink?  Grimoald,  shrugging  up  his  shoulders,  re- 
 plied, Out  of  that  cup  in  your  hand  I  will  pledge  you  with  all 
 my  heart;  but  out  of  that  other  which  you  mean,  I  will  not 
 promise  you.  Well,  said  Saunders,  my  dear  Lord  and  Redeemer 
 drank  for  me  an  exceedingly  more  bitter  cup,  And  shall  I 
 not  pledge  my  gracious  Saviour  ?  Yes,  I  hope  I  shall.  At  Cov- 
 entry he  was  lodged  among  the  common  prisoners,  where  he 
 spent  the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  prayer,  and  in  instruct- 
 ing or  exhorting  those  about  him.  Here  he  said  to  a  friend,  I 
 am  the  most  unfit  person  that  ever  was  called  to  perform  the 
 duties  of  this  exalted  office;  but  I  trust  my  dear  Father  and 
 tender-hearted  Redeemer,  who  knows  my  weakness,  will  vouch- 
 safe to  afford  me  all  necessary  strength  and  resolution. 
 
 The  next  day,  being  the  8th  of  February  1555,  he  was  led 
 to  the  place  of  execution,  which  was  without  the  city.  On  his 
 way,  and  within  sight  of  the  dreadful  apparatus,  the  officer 
 (commanding  told  him,  that  notwithstanding  the  errors  he  had 
 disseminated,  and  all  he  had  done  to  disturb  the  realm,  and 
 mar  the  queen's  government,  he  had  a  pardon  for  him  in  his 
 pocket,  which,  upon  his  recantation,  would  be  granted  him 
 with  much  pleasure.  To  this  Saunders  replied,  it  is  not  I,  nor 
 my  fellow-labourers  in  the  work  of  the  gospel,  but  yourself,  and 
 Such  as  you  are,  that  disturb  the  realm,  ami  mar  the  queen's 
 government.  I  hold  do  heresies,  but  preach  the  ever-blessed 
 gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  that  I  hold,  it  is  that  I  believe,  it 
 is  that  1  have  taught,  and  that,  be  assured,  I  will  never  renounce. 
 
LAURENCE  SAUNDERS.  129 
 
 Away  with  him,  was  the  only  reply;  and  Mr  Saunders  pro- 
 ceeded with  much  apparent  comfort  and  resolution.  On  reach- 
 ing the  fatal  place,  he  kneeled  down  and  prayed;  after  which, 
 taking  the  stake  to  which  he  was  to  be  chained  in  his  arms, 
 he  kissed  it,  saying,  Welcome  the  cross  of  Christ,  Welcome  ye 
 faggots  and  ye  flames  destined  to  consume  my  mortal  body;  but 
 which,  in  place  of  hurting,  shall  only  serve  to  raise  this  immor- 
 tal spirit  to  the  mansions  of  glory  and  life  everlasting.  He  was 
 fastened  to  the  stake,  and  the  fire  kindled;  but  the  wood  was 
 green,  which  cruelly  prolonged  his  torments,  but  at  the  same 
 time  verified  the  promise  of  God,  that  his  grace  shall  be  suffi- 
 cient for  his  people,  and  his  strength  made  perfect  in  their 
 weakness.  And  this  holy  man,  after  enduring  these  lingering 
 torments  with  more  than  human  fortitude  and  resignation, 
 sweetly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 
 
 In  the  beginning  of  Mary's  reign,  Mr  Saunders  and  Dr. 
 Pendleton  meeting  one  day,  the  conversation  turned  on  the 
 aspect  of  the  times,  and  the  great  probability  of  a  cruel  perse- 
 cution. Saunders  seemed  timid  and  fearful  that  he  might  not 
 have  fortitude  to  stand  the  severe  trial  to  which  their  faithful- 
 ness were  likely  to  be  exposed.  What,  man  !  said  Pendleton, 
 I  have  much  more  reason  to  be  afraid  than  you,  I  have  a  large 
 fat  body,  yet  will  I  see  the  last  drop  of  this  grease  of  mine 
 melted  away,  and  the  last  particle  of  this  my  flesh  consumed 
 to  ashes,  before  I  forsake  Jesus  Christ  and  his  truth,  which  I 
 have  professed  and  preached.  It  was  not  long,  however,  till 
 both  were  put  to  the  trial,  when  the  fearful  and  doubting 
 Saunders,  by  the  grace  of  God,  sealed  his  testimony  with  his 
 blood;  while  the  self-sufficient  Pendleton  fell  away  and  turned 
 papist.  So  true  it  is,  that  the  most  confident  in  themselves  are 
 generally  the  first  to  shrink  from  a  suffering  lot,  and  make  ship- 
 wreck of  their  faith  and  profession. 
 
 The  letters  written  by  this  faithful  martyr  are  numerous. 
 The  following  extract  will  serve  to  show  the  temper  and  mind 
 of  this  resolute  contender  for  the  faith  of  the  saints. 
 
 Extract  from  one  of  Mr  Saunders"  Letters. 
 
 "  My  dear  wife,  and  ye  the  rest  of  my  friends,  rejoice  with 
 me,  I  say  rejoice,  and  be  exceeding  thankful  for  this  my  pre- 
 sent promotion;  that  I,  a  most  unworthy  creature,  should 
 have  been  honoured  to  bear  witness  for  the  truths  of  my  God, 
 not  only  with  these  slow  and  uncircumcised  lips,  in  proclaim- 
 ing his  message  of  mercy  to  perishing  men,  but  also  and  espe- 
 cially that  I  have  been  accounted  worthy  to  seal  his  testimony 
 with  my  blood,  to  the  honour  of  my  Redeemer,  and  the  con- 
 firmation of  his  true  church.  I  am  a  prisoner,  but  enjoy  the 
 5  k 
 
180  MEMOIR   OF 
 
 liberty  of  tho  sons  of  God.  I  am  alone,  but  Christ  is  my  com- 
 panion in  tribulation,  my  friend  that  sticketh  elosser  than  a 
 brother;  his  presence  fills  my  cup  of  consolation,  that  it  runs 
 over,  insomuch,  that  I  testify  unto  you,  that  my  present  com- 
 forts, and  glorious  anticipations,  have  driven  from  my  mind  and 
 imagination  all  the  terrors  of  death  and  the  grave.  Were 
 Christ  to  hide  his  countenance  from  me,  alas  !  J  know  what 
 would  be  my  poor  condition;  but  should  he  thus,  to  try  me, 
 hide  himself,  I  am  assured  he  will  not  be  long,  or  far  away. 
 Though  he  stand  behind  the  wall,  as  Solomon  says  in  his  mysti- 
 cal song,  yet  will  he  peep  in  by  the  hole  in  the  door  to  see  how  I 
 do.  Like  Joseph,  though  he  should  speak  roughly  to  his  brethren, 
 and  handle  them  hardly;  yea,  should  he  even  threaten  his  best 
 beloved  brother  Benjamin  with  grievous  bondage,  yet  can  he 
 not  contain  himself  from  weeping  with  us,  and  upon  us;  from 
 falling  on  our  necks,  and  sweetly  kissing  us.  Such,  such  a 
 brother  is  Christ;  wherefore  come  unto  him,  as  Jacob  did  with 
 his  family;  for  Christ  has  so  ordered  matters,  that  Pharaoh, 
 the  blaspheming  infidel,  shall  afford  chariots  to  transport  us  to 
 his  heavenly  kingdom.  Witness  how  our  very  persecutors  help 
 us  to  a  premature  felicity,  by  the  blood-thirsty  despatch  they 
 make  in  executing  their  inveterate  malice. 
 
 "  Be  not  afraid  of  the  dangers  that  crowd  the  path  of  holi- 
 ness. Fear  God,  tremble  at  the  thought  of  everlasting  burn- 
 ings. Fear  sin,  the  sting  of  death,  terrible  to  all  who  are  unac- 
 quainted with  Christ,  the  destroyer  of  death,  and  him  that  has 
 the  power  of  it.  And,  oh,  my  dear  wife  and  friends,  we,  we 
 whom  God  hath  delivered  from  the  power  and  prison  of  dark- 
 ness, and  translated  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son,  poor, 
 despised,  insulted,  and  persecuted  as  we  are,  even  we  have  a 
 glorious  triumph  yet  in  reserve,  when  the  God  of  peace  shall 
 bruise  satan,  sin,  death,  hell,  and  damnation,  under  our  feet, 
 when  we  shall  join  with  all  those  whom  he  has  ransomed  from 
 the  power  of  the  grave,  and  redeemed  from  death,  in  the  tri- 
 umphant exclamation  of  the  apostle,  *  Death,  where  is  thy  sting? 
 Hell,  where  is  thy  victory?' 
 
 "  Wherefore,  be  merry,  my  dear  wife,  be  merry,  and  all  my 
 dear  fellow-heirs  of  the  everlasting  kingdom.  Remember  the 
 Lord  always;  rejoice  in  hope,  be  patient  in  tribulation,  continue 
 in  prayer,  and  pray  for  us  now  appointed  to  the  slaughter,  that 
 we  may  be,  unto  our  heavenly  Father,  an  acceptable  sacrifice. 
 I  can  hardly  find  opportunity  to  write  you;  wherefore,  let  these 
 few  words  be  witness  of  my  commendations  to  you,  and  all 
 them  that  love  us  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  partieularly  my 
 poor  Mock.  Be  not  careful,  good  wife,  but  east  all  your  cares 
 on  God,  and  commend  me  to  him  in  your  prayers:  and  in  the 
 
LAURENCE  SAUNDERS.  lol 
 
 lively  hope  of  being  joined  with  you  in  joy  everlasting.  Fare- 
 well, dear  wile;  farewell,  friends,  dearly  beloved  in  Christ. 
 This  hope  is  shut  up  in  my  bosom.  Amen,  amen,  amen. 
 Pray,  pray." 
 
 JOHN    HOOPER, 
 
 Bishop  of  Gloucester, 
 
 This  very  learned  divine  was  born  in  Somersetshire, 
 1495.  He  was  sent  to  Merton  college,  Cambridge,  in  151 1, 
 about  eighteen  years  of  age,  where  he  received  his  academical 
 education  under  the  tuition  of  his  uncle  John  Hooper.  He 
 was  admitted  Bachelor  of  Arts,  which  was  the  highest  degree 
 he  took  at  this  university.  What  became  of  him  from  this 
 time,  for  several  years  after,  is  uncertain.  Some  say  he  became 
 a  Cistercian  monk,  and  continued  so  for  some  few  years;  but 
 tired  of  a  monastic  life,  he  returned  to  Oxford,  where  he  was 
 converted  by  the  writings  of  the  German  reformers,  and  be- 
 came a  zealous  protestant. 
 
 In  1539,  when  the  statute  of  the  six  articles  was  put  in  exe- 
 cution, he  left  Oxford,  and  became  chaplain  and  steward  to  Sir 
 Thomas  Arundale,  a  gentleman  of  Devonshire,  and  a  Roman 
 catholic,  who  discovering  that  his  chaplain  was  a  reformer, 
 declined  being  his  protector;  which  obliged  him  to  fly  to  France. 
 Here  he  continued  among  the  Hugonots,  till  his  dislike  of  some 
 of  their  proceedings  induced  him  to  return  to  his  own  country; 
 where  he  was  known,  and  soon  found  it  impossible  to  remain 
 in  safety.  Accordingly  he  assumed  the  dress  and  character  of 
 a  sailor,  hired  a  boat,  passed  into  Ireland,  from  thence  into 
 Holland,  and  onward  to  Switzerland.  Bullenger  had,  by  this 
 time,  succeeded  Zuinglius  in  the  chair.  He  too  had  been  forc- 
 ed into  exile  for  the  same  cause,  and  therefore  gave  a  very  friendly 
 reception  to  this  persecuted  stranger,  who  was  famed  for  hi- 
 great  proficiency  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages.  During 
 his  residence  at  Zurich,  Hooper,  by  the  advice  of  his  friend 
 Bullenger,  married  a  Burgundian  lady.  But  the  accession  of 
 Edward  VI.  to  the  throne,  and  the  happy  consequences  of  that 
 event,  removing  his  apprehensions  of  danger,  he  once  more  set 
 his  face  towards  England;  where  he  arrived  in  safety,  and  set- 
 tled in  the  metropolis.  Here  he  preached  to  the  people  on  va- 
 rious points  contended  for  by  the  reformers,  particularly  on  the 
 impropriety  of  pluralities  in  the  church.  He  possessed  a  singu- 
 lar sweetness  of  temper,  and  was  highly  respected  by  the  re- 
 formers, particularly  such  as  inclined  to  the  presbyterian  form 
 
132  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  government  in  the  church.  Hooper's  residence  among 
 foreigners,  where  the  presbyterian  form  of  government  was  ge- 
 nerally admitted,  had  given  his  mind  a  strong  bias  to  that  mode 
 of  discipline.  He  made  the  avoiding  of  all  manner  of  supersti- 
 tion a  matter  of  conscience,  but  was  blamed  for  running  into 
 the  opposite  extreme,  by  opposing  usages,  which  he  himself  ac- 
 knowledged to  be  matter  of  indifference  in  themselves,  and  only 
 became  important  in  consequence  of  the  injunctions  of  superi- 
 ors. He  was  perfectly  agreed  with  Cranmer  and  Ridley  in 
 the  main  points  of  the  reformation,  and  equally  zealous  for  its 
 promotion;  but  having  gone  beyond  their  more  limited  views, 
 they  seem  to  have  been  doubtful  of  his  principles.  Hooper, 
 however,  was  a  worthy  and  conscientious  man,  had  an  un- 
 blemished reputation,  but  singularly  averse  to  every  thing  that 
 had  the  appearance  of  useless  pageantry  and  parade.  He  was 
 a  person  of  noble  parts,  singularly  versed  in  the  learned  lan- 
 guages, a  good  philosopher,  but  a  far  greater  theologist;  consi- 
 dered, however,  by  his  adversaries,  too  rigid  a  disciplinarian. 
 He  was  now  appointed  chaplain  to  the  duke  of  Somerset,  and 
 most  probably  treated  with  more  severity  on  that  account,  after 
 his  patron  came  to  lose  the  protectorship.  In  1549  he  accused 
 bishop  Bonner,  who  was  deprived  of  his  bishoprick.  This  ren- 
 dered him  obnoxious  to  the  government  of  Queen  Mary. 
 
 After  Hooper  had  practised  himself  some  time  in  his  popular 
 mode  of  preaching,  he  was  called  to  preach  before  the  king, 
 who,  in  1550,  made  him  bishop  of  Gloucester;  and  about  two 
 years  thereafter  gave  him  the  bishoprick  of  Worcester,  to  keep 
 along  with  the  former  in  commendam.  The  earl  of  Warwick 
 recommended  him  to  this  preferment,  as  a  man  possessed  of  all 
 the  qualifications  required  by  Paul  in  a  good  bishop. 
 
 It  was  customary,  at  this  time,  for  the  bishops  of  England  to 
 wear  the  same,  or  similar  garments,  to  those  worn  by  the  Rom- 
 ish clergy : — a  chymere,  and  under  it  a  white  rochet,  then  a 
 mathematical  cap  with  four  angles,  representing  the  world 
 divided  into  four  equal  parts.  These  sacerdotal  vestments 
 Hooper  considered  as  worse  than  useless,  having  been  chiefly 
 invented  for  the  celebration  of  the  mass,  and  used  in  that  idola- 
 trous service,  he  refused  to  wear  them.  Cranmer  defended  the 
 vestments,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  indifferent  tilings  in 
 themselves,  and  having  been  long  used  in  the  church,  and  ad- 
 mitted by  the  church  of  England,  it  became  necessary  that 
 Hooper  should  conform  to  the  law.  Hooper  absolutely  refused 
 a  rochet;  and  Cranmer  would  not  consecrate  him  without  one. 
 But  the  earl  of  Warwick,  whose  influence  at  court  was,  at  that 
 time,  very  powerful,  wrote  to  the  archbishop,  requesting  him 
 not  to  insist  on  these  ceremonies  with  Hooper,  nor  charge  him 
 
JOHN  HOOPER.  133 
 
 with  an  oath  burdensome  to  his  conscience.  Some  have  con- 
 ceived this  to  be  the  oath  of  supremacy;  others,  with  greater 
 probability,  think  it  refers  to  the  oath  of  canonical  obedience  to 
 the  archbishop,  which  naturally,  at  least  in  the  present  case, 
 regarded  the  ceremonies  in  question.  Warwick  likewise  pre- 
 vailed on  the  king  to  write  Cranmer  on  the  same  subject;  which 
 he  did  to  the  following  effect :  That  he,  the  king,  had  chosen 
 Hooper  to  the  bishoprick  of  Gloucester,  in  consideration  of 
 his  great  learning,  deep  judgment,  and  long  study,  both  in  the 
 scriptures  and  other  profound  sciences,  which,  together  with 
 his  ready  utterance,  great  discretion  and  honest  life,  peculiarly 
 fitted  him  for  such  a  vocation.  Understanding  also  that  cer- 
 tain ceremonies,  used  in  the  consecration  to  the  office  of  bishop, 
 are  offensive  to  his  conscience,  and  that  you  hesitate  to  let  them 
 pass  on  the  present  occasion,  lest  you  should  fall  in  premunere 
 of  law;  we  have  thought  good,  therefore,  to  dispense  and  dis- 
 charge you  from  all  dangers,  pains,  and  forfeitures,  for  so  omit- 
 ting any  of  said  ceremonies.  This  letter  was  dated  Augt.  1550, 
 and  signed  by  the  duke  of  Somerset  and  five  other  lords  of 
 council.  But  Cranmer  insisted  that  Hooper  should  conform; 
 and,  in  the  meantime,  debarred  him  from  preaching,  while  the 
 council  confined  him  to  his  own  house.  After  many  arguments 
 had  been  used  on  both  sides,  Hooper  published  a  confession  of 
 his  faith,  wherein  he  complained  of  the  privy  council;  upon 
 which  he  was  committed  to  the  custody  of  the  archbishop,  who 
 endeavoured  in  vain  to  wean  him  from  his  singularities.  After 
 this,  he  was,  by  an  order  of  the  council,  lodged  in  the  Fleet 
 prison,  where  he  remained  till  some  time  the  following  year. 
 At  last  Hooper  was  deserted  by  his  protector,  the  earl  of  War- 
 wick, and  brought  before  the  council  to  explain  himself  on  the 
 difficulties  he  had  started.  Here  he  strongly  objected  to  the 
 oath  to  which  his  conformity  would  subject  him,  inasmuch  as 
 every  oath  ought  to  be  sworn  in  the  name  of  God,  and  of  him 
 alone;  whereas  that  by  which  he  was  to  be  consecrated,  was  to 
 be  done  in  the  name  of  God,  the  saints,  and  holy  gospels.  The 
 king  allowed  that  Hooper  was  in  the  right,  and  struck  out  the 
 obnoxious  words  with  his  own  hand,  with  a  declaration,  that 
 an  oath  ought  to  be  taken  in  the  name  of  no  creature  whatsom- 
 ever.  The  matter  of  the  vestments  was  then  compromised; 
 Hooper  was  to  wear  them  at  his  consecration,  when  he  preach- 
 ed before  the  king,  in  his  own  cathedral,  and  on  all  public  occa- 
 sions; other  ceremonies  were  dispensed  with.  On  these  terms  he 
 was  consecrated  in  the  usual  form,  but  lost  much  of  his  popularity 
 by  his  acquiescence.  This  squabble  introduced  a  controversy 
 into  the  church  of  England,  which,  in  place  of  subsiding,  lias 
 increased  with  its  years,  and  driven  a  large  proportion  of  the 
 people  away  from  the  dominant  religion. 
 
134  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Thus  Hooper  was  at  last  consecrated  bishop  of  Gloucester; 
 from  which  time  forward  he  neglected  the  use  of  no  means, 
 within  his  read),  to  train  up  his  flock  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
 in  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  of  his  grace.  To  the  poor  he  was 
 a  powerful  protector,  and  an  hospitable  benefactor.  He  preach- 
 ed the  word  of  truth  in  season  and  out  of  season;  was  indefati- 
 gable in  rebuking,  comforting,  and  instructing  the  people,  and 
 regarded  with  universal  love  and  esteem. 
 
 In  J  553  the  good  king  Edward  died,  and  the  protestant  re- 
 ligion in  England  was  totally  subverted.  Hooper  was  one  of 
 the  first  sent  for  by  Queen  Mary  to  answer  for  his  conduct  in 
 accusing  her  favourite  bishop  Bonner.  In  this  precarious  state 
 of  things,  Hooper  was  advised  to  make  his  escape,  but  having 
 determined  to  meet  the  storm,  he  replied,  that  once  before  he 
 had  taken  to  his  heels,  but  that  now  he  had  resolved  to  remain, 
 and  live  or  die  with  his  sheep.  Accordingly  he  was  brought 
 to  London  by  a  pursuivant,  and  had  a  very  unchristian  recep- 
 tion from  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  who  committed  him  to 
 prison  in  the  Fleet.  Here  he  remained  several  months,  during 
 which  he  was  several  times  examined  and  admonished  to  re- 
 cant, but  held  fast  to  the  profession  of  his  faith  without  waver- 
 ing. Cranmer,  Ridley,  Latimer,  and  Ferrar,  were  imprisoned 
 about  the  same  time;  while  the  archbishop  of  York,  and  the 
 bishops  of  Bristol,  Chester,  and  St.  Davids,  were  deprived  of 
 their  benefices  for  being  married.  The  sees  of  Lincoln,  Here- 
 ford, and  Gloucester,  were  declared  vacant,  because  these 
 bishops,  according  to  the  new  doctrine,  had  misbehaved. 
 
 And  now  the  queen's  new  council  began  to  proceed  with 
 vigour  to  put  down  what  they  called  heresy,  and  to  punish,  ac- 
 cording to  the  usage  of  the  Roman  church,  all  obstinate  here- 
 tics; when  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer,  were  despatched 
 to  the  convocation  at  Oxford,  on  the  pretence  of  disputing  with 
 some  of  their  members;  where  they  all  suffered  martyrdom. 
 
 The  council  having  carried  their  purpose,  on  this  occasion, 
 so  much  to  their  own  satisfaction,  several  bishops,  and  other 
 eminent  clergymen  confined  in  Newgate,  the  Fleet,  and  the 
 King's  Bench  prison,  were  intended  for  the  victims  of  a  similar 
 stratagem  to  be  played  off  at  Cambridge;  but  the  prisoners 
 emitted  a  declaration,  signed  by  Hooper,  Ferrar,  Coverdale 
 bishop  of  Exeter,  and  seven  divines,  stating  that  they  would 
 not  dispute  unless  by  writing,  excepting  before  the  queen  and 
 her  council,  or  one  of  the  houses  of  parliament.  To  this  declar- 
 ation they  added  a  summary  of  their  belief,  fdr  which,  they 
 farther  declared,  that  they  were  ready  to  offer  their  lives  to  the 
 halter  or  the  flames,  as  it  might  please  God  to  appoint.  This 
 bold  measure  put  an  end  to  all  future  conferences  in  religion; 
 
JOHN  HOOPER.  135 
 
 their  enemies,  however,  found  other  more  efficacious  means  to 
 silence  them. 
 
 It  were  endless,  as  well  as  unpleasant,  to  enumerate  the  hard- 
 ships, deprivations,  expulsions,  examinations,  and  imprisonments 
 to  which  the  protestants,  clergy  and  laity,  women  and  men,  were 
 now  subjected.  The  parliament  supported  the  government, 
 which  drove  on  with  more  fury  than  good  policy  or  discretion; 
 and  nothing  was  now  to  be  heard  but  oratorial  rant  and  florid 
 declamations  in  favour  of  good  old  holy  mother  church,  nothing 
 to  be  seen  on  the  streets  but  popish  pageants,  and  pillories  oc- 
 cupied by  protestants.  But  all  these  pompous  exhibitions  could 
 not  amuse,  nor  could  their  severities  terrify  or  damp  the  spirit 
 of  the  people. 
 
 Gardiner  cheerfully  undertook  the  execution  of  the  laws 
 against  heretics;  but  the  council,  finding  that  the  people  were 
 neither  to  be  terrified  nor  cajoled  out  of  their  religion,  deter- 
 mined to  sacrifice  the  most  popular  of  their  preachers,  as  the 
 first  examples  of  what  others  had  to  expect,  who  held  out 
 against  the  Roman  faith;  and  that  Hooper,  the  most  obnoxious 
 to  government,  and  perhaps  also  the  most  popular,  should  be 
 made  the  leading  sacrifice. 
 
 He  was  called  before  the  council,  in  consequence  of  this  ar- 
 rangement, on  the  21st  January  1555,  where  he  was  offered  a 
 pardon,  not  as  bishop  of  Gloucester,  but  as  John  Hooper,  clerk, 
 providing  he  would  acknowledge  his  heresies,  recant  and  return 
 to  the  bosom  of  the  apostolic  church.  Hooper,  on  refusing  to 
 comply  with  the  terms  proposed,  was  charged  with  three  articles 
 of  heresy,  relating  to  marriage  and  divorce,  and  particularly 
 with  denying  the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament  of 
 the  altar.  He  owned  the  charges  brought  against  him,  but  of- 
 fered to  defend  himself  against  all  or  any  that  would  maintain 
 the  contrary  doctrine.  He  behaved,  on  this  occasion,  with  the 
 greatest  propriety  towards  the  bishops;  who  nevertheless  treated 
 him  with  unmannerly  scurrility,  and  remanded  him  to  prison. 
 
 As  none  had  been  more  active  or  successful  than  Hooper  in 
 promoting  the  cause  of  reformation,  he  had  thereby  incurred 
 the  personal  hatred  of  the  popish  and  blood-thirsty  bishops  of 
 London  and  Winchester;  but  he  braved  their  malice,  and  in  the 
 face  of  every  danger  openly  avowed  his  sentiments,  and  con- 
 ducted himself  with  all  the  constancy  of  a  primitive  martyr. 
 He  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  several  of  the  protestants 
 abroad,  particularly  with  Bullenger,  to  whom  he  sent  his  wife 
 Anne  and  her  children.  Bullenger  wrote  him  a  long  letter 
 from  Zurich,  dated  October  10th,  1554,  wherein  he  requests 
 Hooper  to  commend  him  to  the  most  reverend  fathers  and  con- 
 fessors of  Christ,   Cranmer,    Ridley,  and  Latimer,   exhorting 
 
136  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 them  all  to  be  strong  in  the  Lord,  to  fight  a  good  fight,  and  be 
 faithful  to  the  end,  inasmuch  as  they  had  Christ  for  their  cap- 
 tain, and  all  the  prophets,  apostles,  and  martyrs,  for  their  fel- 
 low-soldiers. On  the  22d  of  January  he  was  again  brought 
 before  the  commissioners,  where  he  was  required  to  acknow- 
 ledge the  pope  as  head  of  the  church.  This  he  refused  to  do,  see- 
 ing the  pope  taught  a  doctrine  in  every  respect  contrary  to,  and 
 subversive  of,  that  taught  by  Christ,  who  was  the  only  founda- 
 tion, corner,  and  cope  stone  of  God's  building  of  mercy,  the 
 true  church  of  Christ,  who  heareth  the  voice  of  her  own  hus- 
 band, and  his  only,  but  listeneth  not  to  the  voice  of  strangers. 
 He  was  ordered  back  to  the  Fleet,  and  brought  before  them 
 again  on  the  28th,  together  with  Mr  John  Rogers,  vicar  of  St. 
 Sepulchre's,  and  reader  of  St.  Paul's.  They  were  both  examin- 
 ed, and  ordered  to  be  brought  back  next  morning,  in  hopes  that 
 the  awful  sentence,  with  which  they  were  threatened,  might  in- 
 duce them  to  relent;  but  they  had  not  so  learned  Christ.  On 
 their  way  to  the  Compter,  whither  they  were  conducted  by  the 
 sheriff  of  London,  Hooper  said  to  Rogers,  Come,  brother  Rogers, 
 must  we  two  lead  the  way  in  this  affair,  and  be  the  first  to  fry 
 these  faggots  ?  Yes,  sir,  said  Rogers,  I  think  we  must,  and  by 
 God's  grace  we  will.  Fear  not,  said  Hooper,  but  God  will 
 give  grace  sufficient  for  the  occasion. 
 
 Next  morning  they  were  brought  before  the  commissioners, 
 who  sat  in  judgment  in  St.  Mary  Overy's  church,  where 
 Hooper,  who  would  by  no  means  yield  to  their  proposal  of 
 pardon,  was  condemned  to  be  degraded,  and  sent  to  the  Clink, 
 a  prison  near  to  Gardiner's  house;  from  whence  he  was,  that 
 same  night,  removed  to  Newgate,  where  he  was  kept  close  pris- 
 oner for  six  days. 
 
 As  he  was  guarded  along  the  streets,  the  people  prayed  for 
 him,  and  dared  to  express  their  approbation  of  his  integrity  at 
 the  risk  of  their  own  safety,  in  the  face  of  his  enemies  and  per- 
 secutors. During  the  few  days  that  Hooper  remained  in  New- 
 gate, Bonner  and  his  chaplains  paid  him  several  visits,  using  all 
 means  to  recover  him  to  the  faith  of  their  own  church.  They 
 offered  him  wealth  and  preferment;  which  he  rejected  with  scorn; 
 and  finding  him  inflexible,  they  meanly  endeavoured  to  ruin 
 his  reputation  amongst  the  reformers,  by  spreading  a  report 
 that  he  had  given  in  his  recantation.  This  at  last  reaching  his 
 ears,  the  good  man  was  exceedingly  grieved,  and  on  the  2d  of 
 February,  wrote  a  letter,  assuring  the  world  that  the  report  was 
 utterly  groundless,  that  the  more  he  had  been  persecuted,  the 
 more  he  was  confirmed  in  the  protestant  faith;  and  that  having 
 heretofore  taught  the  truths  of  God,  and  defended  them  both 
 by  his  tongue  and"  pen,  so,  in  a  short  time,  he  would,  by  the 
 grace  of  his  Saviour,  seal  them  with  his  blood. 
 
JOHN  HOOPER.  137 
 
 Bonner  came  to  Newgate  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  de- 
 gradation on  Hooper,  who  was  designated  a  presbyter,  as  it 
 seems  the  appellation  of  bishop  was  considered,  by  these  bloody 
 monsters,  an  epithet  too  honourable  for  one  who  despised 
 the  holy  vicar  of  Christ.  Here  Bonner,  by  his  definitive 
 sentence,  pronounced  him  an  open,  obstinate,  and  incorri- 
 gible heretic,  and  as  such  to  be  degraded  from  his  order,  and 
 for  these  his  demerits  delivered  over  to  the  secular  power. 
 Rogers  was  degraded  at  the  same  time;  and,  as  we  have 
 already  seen,  died  a  martyr  at  Smithfield;  but  the  sapient  bishop 
 of  Winchester  was  determined,  since  he  had  failed  in  his  en- 
 deavours to  convert  Hooper  to  his  own  religion,  he  should  at 
 least  terrify  the  hearers  of  his  doctrine  by  the  severity  of  his 
 torments;  with  this  view  he  was  appointed  to  be  burnt  in 
 his  own  diocese.  But  the  bishop  was  miserably  disappointed, 
 for  the  composure,  fortitude,  and  dignified  serenity  with  which 
 he  suffered,  served  to  confirm  the  faith  of  the  spectators,  and 
 convince  them,  that  the  cause  for  which  such  a  learned  and 
 wise  man  could  so  cheerfully  relinquish  the  honours  and  afflu- 
 ence of  the  world,  and  thus  submit  to  a  death  of  all  others  the 
 most  inconceivably  tormenting,  must  be  good. 
 
 In  the  order  for  his  removal  and  execution  at  Gloucester, 
 the  sheriff  is  directed  to  call  in  people  of  respectability  to  assist 
 at  the  execution;  farther  adding,  that  as  the  prisoner  was  a 
 vain-glorious  person,  as  all  heretics  are,  that  he  should  not  be 
 permitted  to  speak  at  large,  neither  on  the  road  nor  at  the  place 
 of  execution.  He  was  highly  pleased  that  his  deatli  had  been 
 appointed  to  take  place  at  Gloucester,  that  those  who  heard  his 
 doctrines  while  living,  might  witness  his  sealing  their  veracity 
 with  his  blood,  not  doubting  but  the  Lord  would  enable  him  to 
 finish  his  service  like  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ. 
 
 On  the  oth  of  February,  in  the  morning,  while  it  was  ye1 
 dark,  he  was  brought  to  Fleet  Street,  where  a  body  of  the 
 queen's  guard  received  and  escorted  him  to  Gloucester.  There 
 he  found  all  the  citizens  assembled  to  see  him,  who  express- 
 ed their  sorrow  for  his  situation  in  tears  of  bitter  lamentation. 
 Next  morning  some  of  his  friends  were  permitted  to  see  him, 
 amongst  whom  was  Sir  Anthony  Kingston,  who  found  the 
 good  bishop  at  his  prayers,  and  burst  into  tears,  while  he  thus 
 addressed  him.  I  understand  you  are  brought  here  to  die;  but, 
 alas  !  sir,  consider  that  life  is  sweet,  and  death  bitter;  and  see- 
 ing life  can  be  obtained,  accept  of  it  for  the  present,  hereafter  it 
 may  do  much  good.  I  am  indeed  come  here  to  suffer  death, 
 said  Hooper,  because  I  will  not  gainsay  the  truths  I  have  for- 
 merly taught  in  this  diocese  and  elsewhere.  I  do  not  so  much 
 regard  this  death,   nor  so  highly  esteem   this  life,   but    that    I 
 
 5  s 
 
138  MEMOIR  Of 
 
 have  finally  resolved,  through  the  strength  of  God's  holy  Spirit- 
 to  pass  through  the  torments  of  the  fire  prepared  for  me,  rather 
 than  deny  the  truths  of  his  word.  The  same  night  he  was  com- 
 mitted to  the  sheriffs  of  Gloucester,  who,  together  with  the  mayor 
 and  aldermen,  attended  him  with  great  respect.  He  thanked 
 them  for  their  civility,  and  requested  the  sheriff  that  there  might 
 be  a  quick  fire,  that  the  business  might  be  short.  I  am  not 
 come  here,  said  he,  like  one  constrained  to  die;  it  is  well  known 
 I  had  the  offer,  not  only  of  life,  but  also  wealth  and  preferment; 
 but  I  am  come  willingly  to  offer  and  give  my  life  for  the  truth, 
 rather  than  consent  to  the  wicked  and  papistical  religion  of  the 
 bishop  of  Rome,  received,  set  forth,  and  supported  by  the  ma- 
 gistrates of  England  to  the  dishonour  and  high  displeasure  of 
 God;  and  I  trust  to-morrow  I  shall  die  a  faithful  servant  of 
 Christ,  and  a  loyal  subject  to  the  queen.  He  was  not  carried  to 
 the  common  jail,  but  lodged  in  the  house  of  Mr  Robert  Ingram, 
 where  he  spent  the  night  in  devotion.  About  eight  next  morn- 
 ing, the  commissioners  appointed  to  superintend  the  execution 
 came  to  the  house,  and  at  nine  the  bishop  was  brought  down 
 from  his  chamber  by  the  sheriffs,  who  led  him  betwixt  them  to 
 the  stake.  It  was  market-day,  and  about  seven  thousand 
 people  assembled;  which  observing,  alas !  said  he,  Why  are  all 
 these  people  here?  Perhaps  they  expect  to  hear  something  of 
 what  they  have  heard  from  me  in  time  past;  but,  alas  !  my 
 mouth  is  now  closed  for  ever,  I  am  prohibited  from  uttering  a 
 word  that  can  be  of  any  service.  But  they  know  the  cause  for 
 which  I  suffer.  While  I  was  their  pastor,  I  preached  and 
 taught  them  the  true  and  sincere  doctrines  of  the  word  of  God: 
 and  because  I  will  not  now  declare  the  same  to  be  heresy  and  a 
 lie  has  this  death  been  prepared  for  me.  He  was  dressed  in  a 
 gown  of  his  landlord's,  with  a  hat  on  his  head,  and  a  staff  in 
 his  hand;  as  the  sciatica,  which  he  had  contracted  in  prison, 
 made  him  halt.  He  looked  very  pleasantly  on  such  persons  as 
 he  knew;  but  the  multitude  mourned  for  him  all  the  way. 
 When  he  came  to  the  stake,  which  was  opposite  the  college  of 
 Priests  where  he  used  to  preach,  he  beheld  the  dreadful  pre- 
 parations with  the  utmost  composure.  When  the  iron  work 
 was  brought,  he  desired  them  to  take  it  away,  saying,  I  doubt 
 not  that  God  will  give  me  strength  to  abide  the  extremity  of 
 the  fire  without  binding.  The  place  was  surrounded  with  spec- 
 tators, and  the  priests  of  the  college  were  in  the  chamber  over  the 
 college  gate.  Thus  denied  the  liberty  of  addressing  the  people, 
 the  bishop  kneeled  down  to  prayer,  and  beckoned  to  Mr  Bridges, 
 whom  he  knew,  to  hear  it;  which  he  did  with  great  attention, 
 and  afterwards  reported,  that  it  was  made  on  the  whole  creed, 
 wherein  he  continued  about  half-an-hour,  and  declared  his  faith 
 
JOHN  HOOPER.  139 
 
 in  the  form  of  a  prayer;  in  the  middle  of  which  a  box  was  laid 
 before  him  on  a  stool,  containing  his  pardon  from  the  queen  if 
 he  would  recant.  So  soon  as  the  bishop  understood  what  lay 
 before  him,  he  cried  out,  If  ye  love  my  soul,  away  with  it, 
 away  with  it !  He  was  then  permitted  to  proceed  in  prayer, 
 which  he  concluded  with  these  words,  "  Lord,  I  am  hell,  but 
 thou  art  heaven.  Thou  art  a  gracious  and  merciful  Redeemer, 
 have  mercy  therefore  upon  me  a  most  miserable  and  wretched 
 offender,  according  to  thy  great  mercy  and  inestimable  good- 
 ness. Thou  art  ascended  into  heaven,  receive  me  to  be  a  par- 
 taker of  thy  joys,  where  thou  sittest  in  equal  glory  with  thy 
 Father.  Thou  knowest  for  what  I  am  come  hither  to  suffer, 
 and  that  the  wicked  persecute  thy  poor  servant,  not  for  my  sins 
 and  transgressions  against  thee,  but  because  I  will  not  allow 
 their  wicked  doings  to  the  contaminating  of  thy  blood,  and  the 
 denial  of  the  knowledge  of  thy  truth,  in  which  it  pleased  thee, 
 by  thy  holy  Spirit,  to  instruct  me.  Being  thereunto  called, 
 with  all  the  diligence  so  poor  a  creature  could,  thou  knowest  1 
 have  set  forth  thy  glory.  Thou  seest,  O  my  God,  what  terri- 
 ble torments  are  prepared  for  thy  poor  creature,  even  such,  O 
 Lord,  as  none  can  patiently  endure  without  thy  strength;  but 
 what  is  impossible  with  man,  is  possible  with  thee.  Strengthen 
 me  therefore  in  thy  goodness,  that  I  break  not  the  rules  of  pa- 
 tience, or  assuage  the  terror  of  pain,  as  shall  seem  fittest  for 
 thy  glory." 
 
 Having  concluded  his  prayer,  the  bishop  prepared  himself 
 for  the  fire,  by  undressing  to  the  shirt,  which  lie  trussed  be- 
 tween his  legs.  A  flood  of  tears  gushed  from  the  eyes  of 
 the  sorrowing  multitude  when  they  beheld  him  fastening 
 to  the  stake.  He  pointed  out  the  place  where  he  wished  the 
 executioner  to  fire  the  faggots,  which  were  soon  kindled,  but 
 burnt  badly;  and  the  wind  blowing  away  the  flame,  prevent- 
 ed it  from  x'ising  so  as  to  suffocate  or  destroy  his  vitals;  and 
 notwithstanding  that  additional  faggots  were  brought,  still  the 
 wind  carried  aside  the  flame,  which  occasioned  him  a  lingering 
 and  most  excruciating  death.  He  lived  in  the  fire  for  almost 
 three  quarters  of  an  hour;  antl,  according  to  Mr  Fox,  without 
 moving  forward,  backward,  or  to  any  side,  till  his  under  parts 
 were  consumed,  and  his  bowels  falling  out;  and  even  after  one 
 of  his  hands  had  dropped  off,  he  continued  to  beat  his  breast 
 with  the  other;  nor  ceased  to  pray  and  exhort  the  people,  till  his 
 tongue,  swoln  with  the  violence  of  his  agony,  became  incapable  of 
 utterance.  During  this  terrible  trial  of  faith  and  patience,  he 
 frequently  cried  out,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy 
 on  me;  and  the  last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter  were,  Lord 
 Jesus  receive  my  spirit. 
 
140  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Thus  perished,  in  the  flames  of  a  relentless  popish  persecution, 
 John  Hooper,  the  pious  and  learned  bishop  of  Gloucester,  on 
 the  9th  of  February  1555,  and  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age. 
 An  active  promoter  of  the  reformation,  a  good-natured  man, 
 and  an  exemplary  christian,  who  in  his  life  exposed  the  cor- 
 ruptions of  the  Romish  church,  and  by  his  triumphant  death 
 discovered  the  weakness  of  her  arm,  and  the  impotence  of  her 
 sanguinary  malice. 
 
 The  following  sentiments  are  part  of  a  letter  written  by 
 Hooper  while  in  prison. 
 
 "  Imprisonment  is  painful,  but  liberty,  on  ill  conditions,  is 
 worse.  The  prison  stinks,  yet  not  so  much  as  the  sweet  houses 
 where  the  fear  of  God  is  wanting.  I  must  be  alone  and  soli- 
 tary; it  is  better  so  to  be,  and  have  God  with  me,  than  to  be  in 
 bad  company.  The  loss  of  goods  is  great,  but  the  loss  of  grace 
 and  the  favour  of  God  is  greater.  I  cannot  tell  how  to  answer 
 before  great  men,  and  learned  men;  yet  is  it  better  to  do  that, 
 than  to  stand  naked  before  God's  tribunal.  I  shall  die  by  the 
 hands  of  cruel  men;  but  he  is  blessed  who  loseth  his  life,  and 
 findeth  life  eternal.  There  is  neither  felicity  nor  adversity  in 
 the  world  that  is  great,  if  it  be  weighed  with  the  joys  and  pains 
 of  the  world  to  come." 
 
 He  wrote  twenty-four  books  'and  treatises  while  in  prison, 
 also,  on  the  Sacrament,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Com- 
 mandments. The  rest  of  his  works  are  chiefly  the  following: 
 An  Answer  to  Gardiner's  Book,  entitled,  A  Detection  of  the 
 Devil's  Sophistry. — A  Declaration  of  Christ  and  his  Offices. — 
 Lesson  of  the  Incarnation  of  Christ. — Sermons  on  Jonas. — A 
 Godly  Confession  and  Protestation  of  the  Christian  Faith. — 
 Homily,  to  be  read  in  the  time  of  the  pestilence.  All  these  were 
 wrote  from  1549  to  1553;  and  he  afterwards  wrote  Epistola  ad 
 Episcopas,  and  an  Exhortation  to  Patience,  sent  to  his  wife. — 
 Sentences,  wrote  in  prison. — Comfortable  Expositions  of  the 
 xxiii.  lxii.  and  lxxiii.  Psalms. — Annotations  on  the  xiiith  chapter 
 of  the  Romans. — Twelve  Lectures  on  the  Creed. — Declaration 
 of  the  Ten  Holy  Commandments  of  Almighty  God. — He  also 
 translated  Tertullian's  Second  Book  to  his  Wife,  concerning 
 the  choice  of  a  husband. 
 
 ROWLAND  TAYLOR,  D.  D. 
 
 Hadley,  in  Suffolk,  was  one  of  the  first  towns  in  England 
 that  received  the  doctrines  of  the  reformation.  Mr  Thomas 
 Bilney,  who  suffered  in   the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,    had    for 
 
ROWLAND  TAYLOR.  141 
 
 some  time  been  engaged  in  preaching  the  gospel  in  this  town 
 and  neighbourhood,  where,  by  the  blessing  of  God  on  his  inde- 
 fatigable labours,  the  truths  of  Christ  took  such  hold  of  the 
 consciences  of  men,  that  an  astonishing  alteration  was  soon  ef- 
 fected throughout  that  parish,  both  with  regard  to  faith  and 
 manners.  The  people  became  exceedingly  well  acquainted  with 
 the  scriptures,  women  and  men,  and  had  their  children  and  ser- 
 vants brought  up  with  such  care,  and  so  diligently  instructed 
 in  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  that  in  a  short  time  the  whole  town 
 seemed  rather  an  university  of  learned  men,  than  a  town  of  in- 
 dustrious mechanics. 
 
 Rowland  Taylor,  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  a  doctor 
 both  in* civil  and  canon  law,  was  rector  of  this  parish.  He  is 
 said  to  have  possessed  the  piety  of  Calvin,  with  the  intrepidity 
 of  Luther,  and  all  that  was  orthodox  in  both  these  great  men. 
 The  doctor  was  no  sooner  presented  to  the  benefice  of  Hadlcy, 
 than  he  repaired  to  his  post,  and  resided  amongst  his  parishion- 
 ers, notwithstanding  that  he  had  the  happiness  of  living  with 
 archbishop  Cranmer  at  Lambeth.  In  the  exercise  of  his  office 
 as  a  pastor,  he  not  only  laboured  abundantly  in  the  preaching 
 of  the  word,  but  as  becomes  a  shepherd  of  the  flock  of  Christ, 
 he  was  such  an  example  to  all,  in  word  and  conversation,  in 
 spirit,  faith,  and  purity,  that  in  a  short  time  the  people  resorted 
 to  him  in  their  difficulties,  as  children  do  to  their  father.  To 
 the  poor  who  were  blind,  lame,  sick,  or  aged  and  infirm,  he 
 acted  the  part  of  a  tender  father,  a  careful  patron,  and  a  dili- 
 gent provider.  The  rich  he  stirred  up  to  make  a  general  pro- 
 vision for  them,  to  which  he  made  liberal  contributions.  He 
 was  naturally  of  a  modest  and  unassuming  disposition,  but  bold 
 in  reproving  sin,  without  respecting  the  person  of  even  the 
 greatest  and  most  powerful,  In  this  way  the  doctor  continued 
 to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  conduct  his  flock 
 through  the  thorny  thickets  of  this  evil  world,  all  the  days  of 
 good  king  Edward.  But  Queen  Mary  having  mounted  the 
 throne,  and  restored  the  catholic  religion,  one  Foster  and  John 
 Clark,  of  Hadley,  had  concerted  between  them  a  plan  which 
 they  conceived  would  ingratiate  them  with  the  men  in  power. 
 This  was  to  erect  an  altar  in  Dr.  Taylor's  church,  for  the  pur- 
 pose of  publicly  celebrating  mass.  With  this  view,  they  en- 
 gaged John  Averth,  minister  of  Aldam,  a  dissembling  papist,  to 
 bring  the  popish  implements  and  garments,  and  a  band  of  arm- 
 ed papists,  as  a  protecting  guard  while  he  officiated  as  priest. 
 They  proceeded  to  Hadley  church  in  a  body  and  rang  the  bell; 
 which  Dr.  Taylor  hearing  while  sitting  in  his  study,  thought 
 it  some  parish  business  that  required  his  attendance,  and  accord- 
 ingly went  to  church,  where,  to  his  utter  astonishment,  he  saw 
 
142  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Averth  dressed  off  with  all  his  popish  habiliments,  and  a  broad 
 newly  shaven  crown,  ready  to  commence  his  idolatrous  sacrifice; 
 whom  the  doctor  thus  addressed :  "  Thou  devil,  who  made  thee 
 so  bold  to  enter  into  this  church  to  profane  and  defile  it  with 
 this  abominable  idolatry  ?  I  command  thee,  thou  popish  wolf, 
 in  the  name  of  God,  to  avoid  hence,  and  not  presume  thus  to 
 poison  Christ's  flock."  To  which  Foster  replied,  "  Thou  trai- 
 tor, what  doest  thou  here  to  let  and  disturb  the  queen's  pro- 
 ceedings?" After  some  farther  altercation,  the  doctor  was 
 thrust  out  of  the  church,  and  a  letter  addressed  to  the  chancel- 
 lor, lodging  in  his  court  many  false  and  grievous  charges  against 
 this  good  man. 
 
 The  chancellor  had  no  sooner  read  these  charges,  than  he  sent 
 letters  missive  to  Dr.  Taylor,  commanding  his  appearance  be- 
 fore him  against  a  certain  day,  to  answer,  on  his  allegiance,  to 
 the  complaints  laid  against  him.  On  learning  the  critical  situ- 
 ation of  the  doctor,  his  friends  entreated  him  to  fly  for  his  life, 
 as  they  had  no  reason  to  hope  either  for  justice  or  mercy.  To 
 such  friendly  entreaties  he  replied,  I  know  my  cause  to  be  so 
 good,  and  the  truth  so  strong  on  my  behalf,  that  I  shall,  by  the 
 help  of  God,  appear  before  them,  and  to  their  face  resist  their 
 false  doings;  for  I  believe  I  shall  never  again  have  an  opportu- 
 nity of  rendering  God  and  his  church  so  essential  service,  nor 
 so  glorious  a  call,  to  witness  for  the  truth  of  the  gospel;  there- 
 fore pray  for  me,  and  I  trust  that  God  will  so  strengthen  me 
 by  his  Spirit,  that  mine  enemies  shall  be  ashamed  of  their  evil 
 proceedings.  And  when  they  farther  urged  him,  that  christians 
 were  admonished  by  Christ,  when  persecuted  in  one  city,  to 
 flee  to  another;  and  that,  by  preserving  his  life,  he  might  re- 
 serve his  usefulness  for  better  times;  he  replied,  I  am  old,  and 
 have  already  lived  too  long  to  see  the  abominations  that  have 
 come  upon  us,  the  perjury,  hypocrisy,  and  cruelty  that  over- 
 spreads the  land  of  my  nativity.  You  may  act  according  to 
 your  consciences;  for  my  own  part,  I  am  resolved  not  to 
 fly,  God  shall  hereafter  raise  up  teachers  who  shall  instruct  the 
 people  with  more  diligence  and  greater  success  than  I  have 
 done;  for  God  will  not  forsake  his  church,  though  for  the  pre- 
 sent he  try  and  correct  her,  and  not  without  cause. 
 
 Accordingly  Dr.  Taylor  set  out  for  London,  attended  by 
 John  Hull  his  servant,  who,  by  the  way,  laboured  to  persuade 
 his  master  to  save  himself  from  the  impending  storm,  at  the 
 same  time  proffering  him  his  service,  though  it  was  at  the  haz- 
 ard of  his  life.  Oh,  John,  said  the  good  old  man,  shall  I  give 
 way  to  thy  counsel,  and  leave  my  flock  in  this  danger.  Re- 
 member the  good  Shepherd,  Christ,  not  only  fed  his  flock,  but 
 laid  down   his  life   for  hi*  sheep.     Him  I  must,  and  by  the 
 
ROWLAND  TAYLOR.  14S 
 
 Strength  of  his  grace,  will  follow;  therefore,  John,  pray  forme; 
 and  if  at  any  time  thou  seest  me  weak,  comfort  me;  but  discou- 
 rage me  not  in  this  my  godly  enterprise. 
 
 The  doctor,  on  his  arrival  at  London,  waited  on  the  chancel- 
 lor, who,  in  his  brutal  manner,  saluted  him  with  knave,  trai- 
 tor, heretic,  and  abundance  more  of  similar  epithets.  The  doctor 
 listened  with  patience  till  he  had  drained  his  resources  of  abuse, 
 and  then  replied,  Please  your  lordship,  I  am  neither  a  traitor 
 nor  heretic,  but  a  true  subject,  and  faithful  christian  man;  and 
 I  am  come,  according  to  your  orders,  to  learn  what  is  your 
 lordship's  pleasure.  Art  thou  come,  thou  villain  ?  How  darest 
 thou  look  me  in  the  face  for  shame,  after  what  thou  hast  done  ? 
 Knowest  thou  not  who  I  am  ?  Yes,  said  the  doctor,  I  know 
 you  well,  you  are  Stephen  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  and 
 lord  chancellor,  and  but  a  man  for  all.  If  you  expect  that  I 
 should  be  afraid  of  your  lordly  looks,  why  is  it  that  you  are  not 
 afraid  of  God,  so  infinitely  superior  to  your  lordship.  How 
 dare  you  look  in  the  face  of  any  christian  for  very  shame,  hav- 
 ing denied  Christ  your  Saviour,  and  his  word,  and  violated 
 your  own  hand  writing  and  oath,  taken  first  to  Henry  VIII., 
 and  afterward  to  Edward  his  son  ?  With  what  countenance 
 will  you  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  him  whom  thou  hast  be- 
 trayed, when  he  comes  to  judge  the  world,  and  do  justice  to  his 
 injured  servants?  Tush  !  Tush!  cried  the  bishop,  that  was  a 
 Herod's  oath,  unlawful,  and  therefore  deserving  to  be  broken. 
 I  have  done  well  in  breaking  it;  and  I  thank  God  I  am  come 
 home  to  our  mother,  the  catholic  church  of  Rome,  and  would 
 that  thou  shouldst  do  so  likewise.  But,  said  the  doctor,  Christ 
 will  assuredly  require  it  at  your  hands,  as  a  lawful  oath  made  to 
 our  liege  lord  the  king,  from  which  the  pope,  nor  any  power 
 on  earth,  cannot  absolve  you.  I  see,  said  the  bishop,  thou  art 
 an  arrogant  knave,  and  a  very  fool:  besides,  thou  art  a  married 
 man,  and  hast,  moreover,  resisted  the  queen's  orders,  in  not  suf- 
 fering the  minister  of  Aldam  to  say  mass  in  Hadley.  It  is 
 true,  my  lord,  I  am  a  married  man,  and  have  nine  children,  all 
 born  in  lawful  matrimony,  for  which  I  am  thankful  to  God, 
 that  has  ordained  wedlock,  that  every  man  may  have  his  own 
 wife,  and  not  live  in  whoredom  and  adultery.  As  respecting 
 the  resisting  of  the  queen's  proceedings,  know,  my  lord,  that  I 
 am  the  minister  of  Hadley;  and  it  is  out  of  all  right  or  con- 
 science or  law  that  any  man  should  come  into  my  charge  with- 
 out my  knowledge  or  consent,  and  presume  to  infect  my  flock 
 with  the  venom  of  this  idolatrous  mass.  The  bishop  grew 
 angry,  and  said,  Thou  art  a  blasphemous  heretic  indeed,  that 
 blasphemes  the  blessed  sacrament  (putting  off  his  cap),  and 
 speakest  against  the  holy  mass,   which   is  made  a  sacrifice  for 
 
144  memoir  or 
 
 the  living  and  the  dead.  Nay,  said  the  doctor,  I  reverence  the 
 blessed  sacrament,  as  a  christian  ought  to  reverence  it,  yet  boldly 
 assert,  that  Christ  ordained  the  holy  communion  as  a  memorial 
 of  his  death  and  passion,  which,  when  we  keep  according  to  his 
 institution,  we  by  faith  are  made  partakers  of  his  body  and  blood, 
 giving  thanks  for  our  redemption.  That  sacrifice  which  Christ 
 offered  up  once  for  all,  was  of  itself  so  full  and  perfect,  that  it 
 was  sufficient  for  all  that  believe  on  his  name;  and  therefore  no 
 priest  can  offer  him  again,  nor  is  there  room  left  for  any  more 
 propitiatory  sacrifices,  only  a  thankful  remembrance  of  him 
 whose  blood  was  shed  for  our  salvation.  True,  said  the  bishop, 
 it  is  called  a  thanksgiving;  but  it  is  also  a  sacrifice  propitiatory 
 for  the  quick  and  dead,  and  that  you  shall  confess  ere  you  and 
 I  have  done;  and  calling  to  his  men,  said,  have  this  fellow 
 hence,  and  carry  him  to  the  king's  bench,  and  charge  the  keeper 
 to  have  him  close  confined. 
 
 Thus  sent  to  prison,  the  doctor  was  held  in  custody  almost 
 two  years,  during  which  he  was  frequently  examined  respect- 
 ing his  faith,  and  as  often  witnessed  a  good  confession  before 
 his  adversaries.  On  the  last  day  of  January  Dr.  Taylor  was 
 examined,  for  the  last  time,  before  the  bishops  of  London,  Win- 
 chester, Norwich,  Salisbury,  and  Durham,  who  charged  him 
 with  heresy  and  schism,  requiring,  at  the  same  time,  a  deter- 
 minate answer,  whether  he  would  submit  himself  to  the  Ro- 
 man bishop,  and  recant  his  errors,  otherwise  they  would  pro- 
 ceed against  him  by  their  laws,  made  since  his  imprisonment. 
 The  doctor  told  them,  with  a  great  deal  of  modest  and  becom- 
 ing fortitude,  that  he  would  not  depart  from  the  truths  he  had 
 preached  in  the  days  of  king  Edward,  nor  submit  himself  to  the 
 Roman  antichrist;  but  thanked  God,  who  had  counted  him  wor- 
 thy to  suffer  for  his  truth  and  name's  sake.  When  the  bishops 
 found  him  so  bold,  stedfast,  and  inflexible,  they  pronounced  the 
 sentence  of  death  upon  him.  To  which  he  only  replied,  My  lord, 
 I  doubt  not  but  God  will  require  my  blood  at  your  hands,  and 
 that  the  proudest  of  you  all  shall  yet  repent  your  falling  off  from 
 Christ  to  antichrist,  the  tyranny  you  now  exercise  against  the 
 harmless  flock  of  Christ,  and  the  blood  you  have  so  wantonly 
 shed  throughout  the  land.  He  was  remanded  to  prison,  and 
 the  keeper  ordered  to  confine  him  closser  than  ever.  On  his 
 way  back,  the  people  crowded  to  see  him;  to  whom  he  said,  I 
 thank  God,  good  people,  I  am  come  away  from  them  uudciilcd, 
 and  by  the  help  of  my  God  shall  seal  the  truth  of  his  word  and 
 gracious  gospel  with  my  blood. 
 
 About  a  week  alter  the  condemnation  of  Dr.  Taylor,  bishop 
 Bonner  came  to  the  prison  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  degra- 
 dation, when  the  doctor  refused  to  put  on  the  popish  vestments. 
 
ROWLAND  TAYLOR.  145 
 
 but  had  them  put  on  him  by  force;  which  done,  putting  his 
 hands  on  his  sides,  lie  strutted  up  and  down  the  room,  saying, 
 How  say  you,  my  lord,  am  not  I  a  goodly  fool  ?  How  say  you, 
 my  masters,  were  I  now  in  Cheapsidc,  should  not  I  have  boys 
 in  abundance  to  laugh  at  these  apish  toys  and  childish  trumpery  ? 
 On  which  the  bishop  began  to  scrape  his  fingers  and  thumbs, 
 and  the  crown  of  his  head,  and  cursed  him  again  and  again. 
 You  may  curse  me,  said  the  doctor,  but  what  avails  it  when 
 God  will  bless  me.  I  have  the  witness  of  my  conscience  that 
 you  have  done  me  wrong  and  violence;  nevertheless,  I  pray 
 God  your  sins  may  be  forgiven  you.  But  from  the  tyranny  of 
 the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  his  cruel  coadjutors,  good  God  deli- 
 ver us. 
 
 After  his  degradation  lie  was  sent  to  the  king's  bench,  where 
 he  soon  experienced  the  difference  between  the  treatment  of 
 the  keepers  in  the  bishop's  prison  and  those  of  the  king.  The 
 former,  like  their  merciless  masters,  were  wicked  and  cruel; 
 but  the  latter  exercised  towards  their  prisoners  all  the  civility 
 and  humane  kindness  in  their  power;  and  here  the  doctor, 
 through  the  courtesy  of  his  new  keeper,  was  indulged  with  a 
 visit  of  his  wife,  his  son  Thomas,  and  his  servant  John  Hull,  to 
 sup  with  him  the  evening  before  he  suffered.  Before  supper 
 he  prayed  with  them;  and  when  supper  was  over,  walking  up 
 and  down  the  room,  he  gave  thanks  to  God  for  his  goodness 
 and  his  effectual  calling,  that  he  had  afforded  him  strength  to 
 abide  by  his  holy  word.  Then  turning  to  his  son,  he  thus  ad- 
 dressed the  young  man :  My  dear  son,  almighty  God  bless  thee, 
 and  give  thee  his  holy  Spirit,  to  make  thee  a  true  servant  of 
 Christ,  to  teach  thee  his  word,  and  to  thy  life's  end  constantly 
 to  stand  by  his  truth;  and,  my  dear  son,  see  that  thou  fear  the 
 Lord  always.  Flee  from  all  sin  and  wicked  living;  be  virtuous, 
 serve  God  with  daily  prayer,  and  apply  thyself  to  learning;  and  by 
 all  means'  prove  obedient  to  thy  mother,  love  her  and  serve  her; 
 be  ruled  by  her  now  in  thy  youth,  and  in  all  things  follow  her 
 good  counsel.  Beware  of  the  lewd  company  of  young  men  who 
 fear  not  God,  but  follow  their  lusts  and  vain  desires.  Flee  from 
 whoredom,  and  hate  all  filthy  living,  remembering  that  I,  thy 
 father,  die  in  defence  of  holy  marriage:  Another  day,  when  God 
 shall  bless  thee,  love  and  cherish  the  poor  people;  and  to  be 
 rich  in  alms  account  thy  greatest  riches;  and  when  thy  mother 
 has  waxed  old,  forsake  her  not,  but  provide  for  her  to  thy 
 power,  and  see  that  she  lack  nothing;  for  so  will  God  bless  thee, 
 and  prosper  the  work  of  thy  hands;  which  I  pray  God  to 
 grant  thee.  Then  turning  to  his  wife,  he  said,  My  dear  wife, 
 I  have  been  a  faithful  yoke-fellow  to  you,  and  you  have  been 
 the  same  to  me;  and  the  time  is  now  come  when  I  shall  be 
 
 6  i 
 
146  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 taken  away  from  you.  Continue  stedfast,  I  beseech  you,  in  the 
 faith  of  the  gospel,  and  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God.  Keep 
 yourself  undefilcd  with  popish  idolatry  and  superstition;  and 
 doubt  not  but  God  will  be  a  merciful  father  to  you,  and  to  my 
 poor  children,  whom  I  pray  you  to  bring  up  in  his  fear,  and  in 
 learning,  to  the  utmost  of  your  power;  and  O  keep  them  from 
 this  Romish  idolatry. 
 
 Having  ended  his  last  and  parting  advice  with  the  utmost 
 tenderness  and  affection,  they  prayed  together,  and  wept  over 
 each  other  in  the  most  affecting  manner.  He  gave  his  wife  the 
 prayer-book  he  had  with  him  in  prison;  and  to  his  son  a  book 
 of  remarkable  sayings  of  the  primitive  martyrs,  written  in 
 Latin,  in  the  end  of  which  he  had  written  his  last  will  and  tes- 
 tament :  so  they  took  their  leave  of  him,  under  feelings  which 
 the  reader  may  imagine,  but  which  cannot  be  described. 
 
 Next  morning,  at  two  o'clock,  the  sheriff  and  his  officers  ar- 
 rived, and  led  the  doctor  to  the  sign  of  the  wool-pack  without 
 Aldgate.  His  wife  suspecting  they  would  take  him  away  while 
 dark,  watched  all  night  in  the  neighbourhood,  along  with  her 
 daughter  Mary,  and  a  young  maiden  called  Elizabeth,  thirteen 
 years  of  age,  who  had  been  brought  up  with  them  from  a  child. 
 And  when  the  sheriff,  with  his  prisoner,  came  opposite  where 
 they  were  waiting,  Elizabeth  cried,  O  my  dear  father  !  my  dear 
 father !  Mrs  Taylor  also  called  her  husbano^by  name,  for  it 
 was  very  dark,  being  in  the  month  of  Februrfry.  Dear  wife, 
 said  the  doctor,  I  am  here,  and  so  stood  still.  The  sheriff's 
 men  were  for  pushing  him  forward ;  but  the  sheriff  said,  no, 
 stop  a  little,  and  let  him  speak  with  his  wife.  He  then  took 
 his  little  daughter  Mary  in  his  arms,  and  kneeled  down,  with 
 his  wife  and  Elizabeth,  and  prayed.  The  scene  here  was  so 
 moving,  that  the  sheriff  and  some  of  his  officers  melted  into 
 tears.  When  they  rose  up  from  prayer,  the  doctor  kissed  his 
 wife,  shook  hands  with  her,  and  said,  farewell,  dear  wife,  be  of 
 good  comfort,  for  I  enjoy  a  quiet  and  approving  conscience,  and 
 God  will  raise  up  a  father  for  my  poor  children.  He  took  his 
 little  daughter  again  in  his  arms,  kissed  her,  and  said,  God 
 almighty  bless  thee,  and  make  thee  his  faithful  servant.  He 
 kissed  Elizabeth,  and  said,  God  bless  thee;  and  I  pray  all  of  you 
 to  stand  strong  and  immoveable  in  the  causa  of  Christ  and  his 
 blessed  word,  and  keep  clear  of  the  idolatry  of  Rome.  God  be 
 with  thee,  dear  husband,  said  Mrs  Taylor,  I  shall,  with  his 
 Lelp^  meet  thee  at  Hadley.  But  having  followed  them  to 
 the  inn,  and  being  observed  by  the  sheriff,  he  ordered  her  to 
 be  confined  till  he  returned  from  the  execution,  so  that  she  be- 
 held her  loving  husband  no  more. 
 
 The  doctor  was  put  into  a  chamber,  with  a  guard  of  four 
 
ROWLAND  TAYLOR.  147 
 
 men,  where  he  gave  himself  wholly  to  prayer  till  eleven  o'clock, 
 when  he  was  put  on  horseback,  and  led  forth;  where  his  ser- 
 vant, with  his  son  Thomas,  was  waiting.  When  the  doctor 
 saw  them,  he  called  for  his  son,  and  setting  the  child  before  him 
 on  his  horse,  he  took  off  his  hat,  and  said  to  the  numerous 
 spectators,  Good  people,  this  is  my  son,  begotten  of  my  body 
 in  lawful  marriage;  and  this  is  one  of  the  charges  for  which  I 
 am  about  to  give  myself  to  the  flames;  but  God  be  thanked  for 
 the  blessing  of  lawful  matrimony.  And  lifting  his  eyes  to  hea- 
 ven, he  prayed  for  his  son,  and  blessed  him,  and  returned  him 
 to  his  servant,  whom  he  shook  by  the  hand,  saying,  farewell, 
 John  Hull,  the  faithfullest  servant  ever  man  had. 
 
 They  halted  at  Burntwood,  where  they  had  a  close  hood  pre- 
 pared for  him,  with  openings  for  his  eyes,  and  one  for  breath- 
 ing. This  was  done  to  many  of  the  martyrs,  because  it  was 
 understood  that  the  cheerfulness  and  serenity  of  their  counte- 
 nances tended  to  confirm  the  protestants  in  the  faith  of  the  word 
 of  God,  and  in  their  abhorrence  of  popish  cruelty;  but  notwith- 
 standing their  severity,  the  doctor  was  exceedingly  cheerful  on 
 the  way.  He  exhorted  the  sheriff  and  his  men  to  repent  and 
 leave  off  their  evil  courses,  in  such  an  earnest  and  pathetic 
 manner,  that  they  frequently  wept.  In  the  evening  they  were 
 met  by  the  sheriff  of  Suffolk  at  Camelsford,  where  they  all  sup- 
 ped together.  After  supper,  the  sheriff  of  Essex,  supposing  it 
 might  yet  be  possible  to  persuade  the  doctor  to  save  himself 
 from  the  cruel  death  that  awaited  him,  expressed,  in  very  hand- 
 some terms,  how  sorry  he  and  all  the  company  present  were  for 
 his  situation;  and  urged  him,  by  every  possible  consideration, 
 yet  to  consider  the  ruin  he  was  bringing  on  himself  and  family, 
 and  the  loss  the  country  would  suffer  in  the  event  of  his  death, 
 assuring  him,  that  his  advice  was  given  with  an  honest  heart, 
 and  with  the  most  benevolent  intentions;  and  so,  said  the 
 sheriff,  good  doctor,  I  drink  to  you;  and  so  we  will  all  of  us 
 drink  to  you,  said  the  company.  When  it  came  to  the  doctor's 
 turn,  he  took  the  cup,  and  after  a  short  pause,  said,  Mr  Sheriff, 
 and  my  masters  all,  I  heartily  thank  you  for  your  good- will. 
 I  have  hearkened  to  your  words,  and  marked  well  your  coun- 
 sels; and,  to  be  plain  with  you,  I  perceive  that  I  have  been  de- 
 ceived myself,  and  that  vast  numbers  at  Hadley  will  also  be  de- 
 ceived. God's  blessing  on  your  heart,  said  the  sheriff,  these  are 
 comfortable  words;  but  pray  explain  yourself.  You  see,  said 
 the  doctor,  that  I  am  a  man  of  a  large  carcase,  which  I  hoped 
 would  have  been  buried  in  Hadley  church-yard,  in  which  there 
 are  a  vast  number  of  worms,  which  should  have  had  jolly  feed- 
 ing on  this  carrion;  but  now  I  and  they  shall  both  be  disap- 
 pointed, for  this  carcase  shall  be  burnt  to  ashes.     The  fortitude 
 
148  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 manifested  in  this  explicit  declaration,  filled  the  company  with 
 sorrow  and  astonishment. 
 
 The  sheriff  of  Suffolk  waited  two  days  at  Lanham,  where  he 
 was  joined  by  the  magistrates  and  principal  gentlemen  of  the 
 county,  who  laboured  to  bring  over  the  doctor  to  the  Romish 
 religion.'  They  promised  him  great  promotion,  even  a  bishop- 
 rick;  but  having  counted  the  cost  of  a  faithful  testimony  for 
 Christ,  all  their  entreaties  were  vain.  When  within  two  miles 
 of  Hadley,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  walk  the  rest  of  the  way, 
 and  was  permitted  to  dismount :  On  which  he  leaped  as  it  were 
 for  joy;  which  the  sheriff  observing,  said,  well,  Mr  Doctor,  how 
 do  you  do  now?  Never  better,  said  he,  God  be  praised,  lam 
 almost  at  homo,  and  have  only  another  stile  or  two  to  pass, 
 when  I  shall  arrive  at  my  Father's  house.  Being  told  he 
 should  pass  through  Hadley,  he  thanked  God  that  once  more 
 before  his  death  he  should  see  his  flock,  whom  he  heartily  loved, 
 and  had  truly  taught,  and  prayed  the  Lord  to  keep  them  stedfast 
 to  his  truth. 
 
 The  streets  of  Hadley  were  lined  with  men  and  women,  both 
 of  town  and  country,  who  expressed  their  feelings  in  bitter 
 lamentations  and  prayers,  that  God  would  strengthen  him,  and 
 comfort  his  soul  in  the  trying  hour;  to  whom  he  frequently 
 said,  as  he  passed  along,  I  have  preached  God's  word  and  verity 
 amongst  you,  and  I  am  now  come  to  testify,  before  the  world, 
 that  I  believe  and  adhere  to  the  same,  by  suffering  my  body  to 
 be  burnt  to  ashes  in  your  presence. 
 
 When  he  was  come  to  Aldam  common,  the  place  of  his  exe- 
 cution, he  tore  off  the  hood  that  covered  his  face;  when  it  ap- 
 peared, that  the  malicious  Bonner,  when  degrading  him,  had 
 endeavoured  to  disfigure  him,  by  cutting  off  parts  of  his  fine 
 hair,  and  by  tying  other  parts  of  it  into  knots.  He  then  attempt- 
 ed to  speak  to  the  people,  but  no  sooner  had  he  opened  his  lips, 
 than  some  one  or  other  thrust  his  tip-staff  into  his  mouth.  He 
 asked  leave  of  the  sheriff;  but  was  denied,  and  put  in  mind  that 
 he  had  made  a  promise  of  silence.  It  has  been  said  that  he  was 
 threatened  with  having  his  tongue  cut  out  if  he  would  not  pro- 
 mise to  keep  silence.  He  then  put  off  his  clothes  to  his  shirt, 
 and  giving  them  away,  cried,  with  a  loud  voice,  Good  peo- 
 ple, I  have  taught  you  nothing  but  God's  holy  word,  and  those 
 lessons  which  I  have  gathered  out  of  God's  blessed  book,  the 
 holy  bible:  Upon  which  Holmes,  one  of  the  guard,  who  had  be- 
 haved cruelly  to  the  Doctor  all  the  way  down,  struck  him  on 
 the  head  with  a  bludgeon,  saying,  Is  this  thy  promise  of  silence, 
 thou  heretic. 
 
 On  finding  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  speak,  the  doc- 
 tor kneeled  down  and  prayed;  after  which  lie  went  to  the  stako 
 
ROWLAND  TAYLOR.  149 
 
 and  kissed  it.  He  was  placed  in  a  pitch-barrel,  with  his  back 
 upright  against  the  stake,  where,  with  his  hands  clasped  to- 
 gether, and  his  eyes  lifted  up  to  heaven,  he  continued  praying. 
 One  of  the  men  employed  in  making  the  fire  threw  a  faggot  at 
 him,  which  wounded  his  head  till  the  blood  ran  down  his  face, 
 and  besmeared  his  long  and  venerable  beard.  Friend,  said  the 
 doctor,  I  have  harm  enough  beside,  what  occasion  was  there 
 for  this  !  Another  hearing  him  say  the  psalm  miserere  in  Eng- 
 lish, said,  Knave,  speak  Latin,  or  I  will  make  thee.  The  fire 
 being  kindled,  he  continued  in  the  same  position,  without  mov- 
 ing at  all,  praying  and  ejaculating,  Merciful  Father  of  heaven, 
 for  Jesus  my  Saviour's  sake,  receive  my  soul.  At  last  one  with 
 a  halbert  beat  out  his  brains,  and  his  body  fell  into  the  fire. 
 Thus  died,  for  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  rights  of  conscience, 
 Rowland  Taylor,  an  eminent  preacher  of  righteousness,  who 
 cheerfully  rejected  proffered  wealth,  power  and  preferment, 
 from  the  usurpers  of  his  Master's  prerogatives,  choosing  ra- 
 ther to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  enjoy  the 
 pleasures  of  sin;  accounting  the  reproach  of  Christ,  and  his  per- 
 secuted prophets,  apostles,  and  martyrs,  infinitely  greater  riches 
 than  the  pretended  vicar  of  Christ  ever  had  to  bestow. 
 
 The  last  Will  and  Testament  of  Dr.  Rowland  Taylor,  Parson  ofHadley. 
 
 "  I  say  to  my  wife  and  children,  the  Lord  hath  given  you 
 unto  me,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  us  away  from  one  another; 
 blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.  I  believe  them  blessed  who 
 die  in  the  Lord.  God  careth  for  sparrows  and  for  the  very 
 hair  of  our  heads.  I  have  ever  found  him  more  faithful  and 
 favourable  than  any  father  or  husband.  Trust  in  him,  believe  in 
 him,  love,  honour,  and  obey  him,  pray  to  him;  for  he  hath  promised 
 to  help  in  every  time  of  need.  I  go,  but  do  not  consider  me 
 dead,  for  I  shall  never  die.  I  only  go  before  you.  I  go  to  the 
 rest  of  my  children,  Susan,  George,  Helen,  Robert,  and  Zach- 
 ary,  and  you  shall,  all  of  you,  in  God's  good  time,  follow  after, 
 where  we  shall  meet  again  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
 glory.  I  have  bequeathed  you  to  him  whose  goodness  is  infi- 
 nite, and  whose  power  is  equal  to  his  goodness.     Fear  not. 
 
 "  I  say  to  my  friends  in  Hadley,  and  all  others  who  have 
 heard  me  preach,  that  I  leave  this  world  with  a  quiet  con- 
 science with  regard  to  the  doctrines  I  have  taught  them;  for  I 
 have  taught  them  these  lessons  that  I  gathered  from  the  un- 
 erring word  of  God;  and  therefore,  if  an  angel  from  heaven 
 should  preach  any  other  doctrine  unto  you,  God's  great  curse 
 fall  on  that  preacher.  Beware,  for  God's  sake,  that  ye  deny 
 not  the  Saviour,  nor  decline  from  the  truth  of  his  gospel.  For 
 God's  sake  beware  of  popery,  for  though  it  has  the  appearance 
 
150  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  unity,  yet  this  same  unity  is  vanity  and  antichristianity,  dia- 
 metrically opposed  to  the  faith  and  verity  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
 "  The  Lord  grant  all  men  his  good  and  holy  Spirit  to  increase 
 their  wisdom,  to  show  them  £he  vanities  of  time,  and  give  them 
 a  relish  for  virtue,  holiness,  and  the  enjoyment  of  God  and  the 
 heavenly  company,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  only  Mediator, 
 Advocate,  righteousness,  life,  salification,  and  hope.  Amen, 
 amen." 
 
 JOHN  BRADFORD. 
 
 Divine  grace,  though  it  does  not  absolutely  change  the 
 natural  temper  of  men,  most  assuredly  moderates,  corrects,  and 
 keeps  the  unruly  passions  from  prevailing  in  the  lives  of  the 
 saints.  Some  men  are  naturally  bold,  fearless  and  firm;  others 
 timid,  and  possessing  a  softness  of  temperament,  better  calculated 
 to  conciliate  friends,  and  convince  them,  by  their  unassuming 
 and  mild  arguments,  and  for  building  up  professors  in  the  faith, 
 than  to  war  against  the  powers  of  darkness,  or  attack  the  strong- 
 holds of  error  and  corruption. 
 
 Of  this  last  character  was  John  Bradford,  the  subject  of  the 
 present  memoir,  who,  from  the  kindness  and  benevolence  of  his 
 heart,  and  the  purity  of  his  life,  obtained  the  epithet  of  the  holy 
 John  Bradford.  His  worst  enemies  could  lay  nothing  to  his 
 charge,  except  his  protestant  opinions  and  pious  manner  of  life. 
 They  were  so  sadly  nonplussed  for  excuses  in  putting  this  harm- 
 less and  universally  beloved  individual  to  death,  that,  like 
 the  Jews,  they  could  only  say,  We  have  a  law,  and  by  our  law 
 he  ought  to  die. 
 
 He  was  born  at  Manchester  in  Lancashire.  His  parents 
 brought  him  up  in  learning  from  his  childhood;  and  when  he 
 had  acquired  the  know!  jdge  of  the  Latin  tongue,  being  an  ex- 
 pert penman,  steady  and  industrious  in  his  habits,  he  was  en- 
 gaged with  Sir  John  Harrington,  treasurer  to  the  king's  camps 
 and  buildings,  as  clerk.  Sir  John  had  such  early  proofs  of  his 
 talents  and  integrity,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  as  induced  him 
 to  entrust  Mr  Bradford  with  the  management  of  his  most  im- 
 portant affairs:  and  found  them  better  transacted  than  he  could 
 have  done  thorn  himself.  Here  Mr  Bradford  continued  for  se- 
 veral years,  and  was  in  a  promising  way  for  making  his  for- 
 tune: But  God  touched  his  heart,  and  turned  his  attention  from 
 the  hustling  scenes  of  the  present  lite,  to  tlie  contemplation  of 
 the  world  to  come.  Mo  sooner  had  Mr  Bradford  tasted  that  the 
 Lord   was   gracious,    than   he   resolved   to  publish  the  gospel  of 
 
JOHN  BRADFORD.  151 
 
 salvation  to  perishing  sinners.  Accordingly,  having  settled 
 with  his  employer,  he  abandoned  his  worldly  pursuits,  and  pro- 
 ceeded to  the  university  of  Cambridge,  to  meditate  on  the  word 
 of  God,  and  prosecute  his  studies  in  divinity. 
 
 Here  his  progress  in  learning,  and  pious  demeanour,  was  so 
 satisfactory,  that  the  university  thought  proper  to  confer  on  him 
 the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  less  than  a  year.  Immediately 
 after  this,  the  master  and  fellows  of  Pembroke-hall  chose  him 
 to  a  fellowship  in  their  college;  and  that  great  man,  Martin 
 Bucer,  had  such  a  favourable  opinion  of  his  talents  and  sincerity, 
 that  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  him  to  preach ;  but  Mr  Brad- 
 ford declined  it,  supposing  himself  still  deficient  in  the  learning 
 necessary  for  an  undertaking  so  responsible.  What !  said  Bucer, 
 if  you  cannot  feed  them  with  the  finest  of  the  wheat,  yet  give  the 
 starving  people  such  as  you  have,  were  it  barley  bread.  While 
 Mr  Bradford  was  thus  persuaded  to  enter  into  the  ministry,  Dr. 
 Ridley,  bishop  of  London,  made  him  a  prebend  of  St.  Paul's; 
 where  he  continued  preaching  the  word,  sharply  reproving  sin- 
 ners, and  in  defending  the  truth  against  the  errors  and  heresies 
 of  the  time.  And  even  after  Queen  Mary  was  seated  on  the 
 throne,  he  continued  to  preach  to  the  people,  as  he  had  hereto- 
 fore done,  till  those  in  power  unjustly  persecuted  him,  and  sent 
 him  prisoner  to  the  tower. 
 
 On  Sunday,  the  13th  of  August,  in  the  first  year  of  Queen 
 Mary's  reign,  Dr.  Bourne,  then  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  made 
 a  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross,  wherein  he  railed  against  King  Ed- 
 ward, then  dead,  and  so  coarsely  handled  the  reformation  and 
 the  reformers,  that  the  patience  of  the  common  people  gave 
 way  to  rage  and  resentment,  and  a  very  great  uproar  was  rais- 
 ed among  the  congregation  then  present,  insomuch  that  the  lord 
 mayor  and  all  his  officers  could  not  silence  it.  Such  was  the 
 tumult,  that  one  of  the  people  threw  a  dagger  at  the  preacher's 
 head,  which  narrowly  missed  him;  and  we  are  told  the  people 
 would  have  torn  him  to  pieces  had  not  Mr  Bradford  harangued 
 them  so  tong  on  the  propriety  of  peaceJand  good  order,  that  at 
 last  they  became  quiet,  and  went  away  peaceably;  yet,  notwith- 
 standing that  the  mob  was  greatly  dispersed,  Mr  Bourne  would 
 not  remove  for  fear  of  his  life,  till  Mr  Bradford  and  Mr  Rog- 
 ers conducted  him  to  the  grammar  school,  which  was  hard  by, 
 at  the  peril  of  their  lives;  and  as  a  reward  for  their  disinterested 
 kindness,  both  these  generous  individuals  were  brought  to  the 
 stake.  About  three  days  after  this,  Mr  Bradford  was  sent  to 
 the  tower  of  London,  where  the  queen  at  that  time  resided, 
 and  ordered  to  appear  before  the  council.  He  was  charged 
 with  sedition  at  the  uproar  which  he  had  been  the  means  of 
 pacifying,  and  of  saving  the  life  of  bishop  Bourne.     He  was  re-t 
 
152  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 moved  from  the  tower,  aud  tossed  about  'from  one  prison  to 
 another  for  almost  two  years.  After  his  condemnation,  he  was 
 taken  from  the  king's  bench  Southwark  to  the  compter  in 
 London.  During  his  confinement  in  each  of  these  places,  he 
 preached  twice  a  day,  unless  prevented  by  sickness,  where  he 
 frequently  celebrated  the  Lord's  supper,'  and  the  keepers  were 
 so  kind  as  permit  many  people  to  come  to  the  sermons  and  the 
 sacrament,  so  that  his  chamber  was  generally  filled,  on  these 
 occasions,  with  serious  christians.  His  credit  with  the  keeper 
 was  such,  that  lie  was  permitted  to  go  abroad  any  evening,  on 
 his  bare  promise  to  return  by  such  an  hour;  which  he  at  no 
 time  overstepped,  though  no  guard  attended  him. 
 
 He  was  so  well  respected  Tjy  all  good  men,  that  many  who 
 knew  him  only  by  report,  greatly  lamented  his  death;  even  the 
 papists,  many  of  them  were  sorry  that  he  was  not  spared.  In 
 my  conscience,  said  bishop  Ridley,  on  a  former  occasion,  I  con- 
 sider Mr  Bradford  more  worthy  to  be  a  bishop  than  many  of 
 us  bishops  are  to  be  parish  priests.  About  twelve  o'clock  at 
 night,  when  it  was  thought  nobody  would  be  on  the  streets,  he 
 was  removed  to  Newgate;  but  contrary  to  their  expectation, 
 the  streets  were  crowded  with  people,  who  waited  to  see  him 
 pass  and  take  farewell;  which  they  did  with  prayers  and  many 
 tears,  and  he  took  his  leave  of  them  in  the  same  affectionate 
 manner,  exhorting  them  to  be  strong  in  the  Lord,  and  praying 
 that  he  would  bless  them,  and  keep  them  stedfast  in  the  truth. 
 A  report  had  gone  abroad  that  he  was  to  be  burned  at  Smith- 
 field  at  four  in  the  morning,  at  which  time  the  place  was 
 crowded;  but  Mr  Bradford  was  not  brought  forward  till  nine. 
 Passing  through  Newgate,  he  spied  an  old  friend,  to  whom  he 
 called,  and  gave  him  his  velvet  cap  and  handkerchief,  &c.  A 
 little  after,  his  brother-in-law  came  up  and  shook  him  by  the 
 hand;  for  which  Woodrooffe  the  sheriff  struck  him  on  the 
 head,  till  the  blood  flew  all  about;  and  as  they  could  not  change 
 many  words,  Mr  Bradford  desired  to  be  remembered  to  his 
 mother  and  friends,  and  advised  him  forthwith  to  go  to  a  sur- 
 geon, lie  was  escorted  by  a  strong  guard  of  armed  men;  and 
 when  he  arrived  at  the  place  where  he  was  to  suffer,  he  fell  on 
 his  face  and  prayed;  after  which,  he  took  one  of  the  faggots  and 
 kissed  it,  also  the  stake;  and  having  put  off  his  clothes,  he  stood 
 u j)  by  the  stake,  and  lifting  his  eyes  and  hands  toward  heaven, 
 said,  O  England  !  England!  repent  of  thy  sins — Repent!  re- 
 pent !  beware  of  antichrists — take  heed  they  do  not  deceive 
 thee.  Then  turning  round  to  John  Leaf,  a  young  man  of 
 twenty  yean  of  age,  who  suffered  with  him,  he  said,  Brother, 
 he  of  good  comfort,  for  to-night  we  sup  witli  Christ,  where  all 
 our  pains  will  terminate  in    pleasure   ineffable,   our  warfare  in 
 
JOHN  BRADFORD.  158 
 
 songs  of  joy,  triumphant  exultation,  and  never-ending  tran- 
 quillity. Having  kissed  the  reeds,  he  exclaimed,  "  Strait  is  the 
 gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way  that  leads  to  life  eternal."  After 
 this  he  was  made  fast  to  the  stake  and  burnt,  on  the  1st  of 
 July  1555,  and  in  the  prime  of  his  life. 
 
 We  shall  now  give  some  short  account  of  his  examination 
 before  the  queen's  council.  On  January  22d  .1555,  he  was 
 brought  before  Stephen  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  and 
 the  other  commissioners  appointed  by  the  queen.  Wlien  he 
 came  into  the  presence  of  the  council,  Gardiner  told  him,  he  had 
 been  a  long  time  prisoner  for  his  sedition  at  Paul's  cross,  also 
 for  his  false  preaching  and  arrogance,  in  presuming  to  preach 
 without  authority.  But  the  time  of  mercy  is  now  come,  and  if 
 you  will  accept  of  it  on  the  queen's  terms,  you  will  find,  as  we 
 have  found,  I  warrant  you. 
 
 Bradford.  My  lord,  and  lords  all,  I  have  indeed  been  long 
 imprisoned,  and  with  humility  and  reverence  be  it  spoken,  un- 
 justly, inasmuch  as  I  did  nothing  seditiously,  falsely,  or  arro- 
 gantly, either  in  word  or  deed,  preaching  or  otherwise;  but 
 rather,  as  an  obedient  subject  ought  to  do,  endeavoured,  by  de- 
 claring the  will  of  God,  to  restore  peace  and  godly  quietness  to 
 an  enraged  multitude,  wherein,  by  the  help  of  God,  I  was  made 
 instrumental  in  saving  the  life  of  Dr.  Bourne,  now  bishop  of 
 Bath,  and  that  at  the  peril  of  my  life;  as  the  bishop,  were  he 
 present,  could  sufficiently  attest. 
 
 At  these  words  the  infamous  Gardiner  gave  him  the  lie. 
 The  fact,  said  he,  was  seditious,  as  my  lord  of  London  can  tes- 
 tify. You  say  true,  said  Bonner,  I  saw  him  with  nwne  own 
 eyes,  when  he  impudently  took  upon  himself  to  rule  and  lead 
 the  people,  thereby  declaring  that  he  was  the  author  of  the 
 sedition. 
 
 Brad.  My  lords,  notwithstanding  of  both  my  lord  bishop's 
 seeing  and  saying,  I  have  told  you  nothing  but  that  which  almighty 
 God,  before  whom  we  must  all  of  us  one  day  appear,  will  re- 
 veal in  presence  of  all  the  children  of  men;  in  the  meantime, 
 seeing  I  cannot  be  believed,  I  must,  nay,  I  am  ready  to  suffer 
 whatever  God  shall  permit  you  to  decree  concerning  me. 
 
 Gardiner.  I  know  thou  hast  a  glorious  tongue,  and  tells  thy 
 story  well;  but  all  are  lies. 
 
 Brad.  My  lord,  What  I  said  before  I  say  again.  When  we 
 appear,  as  appear  we  must,  all  of  us,  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
 great  God,  truth  will  then,  as  it  is  now,  be  truth,  notwithstand- 
 ing of  all  you  may  say  against  it.  I  took  nothing  upon  myself, 
 what  I  did  was  at  the  earnest  request  of  Dr.  Bourne,  which,  as 
 I  said  before,  he  can,  and  I  doubt  not  will,  do  me  the  justice 
 to  attest. 
 
 6  u 
 
154  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Gard.  Well,  to  drop  this  matter,  what  sayest  thou?  Wilt 
 thou  return  and  do  as  we  have  done,  and  receive  tlte  queen's 
 mercy  and  pardon  ? 
 
 Brad.  My  lord,  I  thank  my  God,  that  my  conscience  does 
 not  accuse  me  of  having  said  or  done  any  thing  that  entitles  me 
 to  punishment :  I  shall  be  glad,  however,  of  the  queen's  favour 
 on  terms  that  correspond  with  my  duty  to  him  whose  favour  is 
 life,  bat  whose  displeasure  is  worse  than  any  death  that  mor- 
 tals can  inflict. 
 
 Gard.  Well,  if  thou  make  this  babbling,  rolling  thy  elo- 
 quent tongue,  and  yet  being  altogether  ignorant,  and  so  vain- 
 glorious, that  thou  wilt  not  receive  the  mercy  now  proffered 
 thee,  know,  for  truth,  that  the  queen  is  minded  to  make  a 
 purgation  of  all  such  as  thou  art. 
 
 Brad.  The  mercy  of  God  I  humbly  request  and  desire,  and 
 would  also  be  very  thankful  to  the  queen,  for  being  permitted  to 
 live  as  an  honest  subject  with  a  conscience  unclogged;  but 
 otherwise  I  know  into  whose  hand  I  have  committed  my  life, 
 and  that  without  his  permission  none  can  take  it  away;  his 
 good  pleasure  therefore  be  done.  Life,  with  Lis  displeasure,  is 
 worse  than  death ;  and  his  favour  alone  is  that  which  enhances 
 the  value  and  felicity  of  life. 
 
 Durham.  Why,  tell  me  what  sayest  thou  about  the  present 
 ministration  of  the  communion. 
 
 Brad.  My  lords,  before  I  can  answer  your  question,  I  must 
 first  have  an  answer  to  another  which  I  am  obliged  to  make. 
 I  have  been  six  times  sworn  not  to  submit  to  any  authority  or 
 jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  Rome  within  this  realm  of  England; 
 now  therefore,  I  beseech  your  lordships  to  tell  me,  whether  you 
 ask  this  question  by  his  authority?  for  if  so,  I  dare  not  return 
 an  answer  under  such  authority,  unless  I  would  be  foresworn; 
 which  God  forbid. 
 
 Gard.  Tush  !  Herod's  oaths,  a  man  should  make  no  con- 
 science of  them. 
 
 Brad.  These  were  no  unlawful  oaths,  but  plain-dealing  oaths, 
 corresponding  with  the  word  of  God,  as  you  yourself  have  well 
 affirmed  in  your  book  Vera  Obedientia.  * 
 
 Secretary  Bourne.  Yea,  it  has  been  reported,  that  he  has 
 done  more  mischief  by  his  letters  and  counsel  to  those  who  came 
 to  him  on  the  score  of  religion,  than  ever  be  had  done  while 
 abroad  preaching.  In  his  letters  he  curseth  all  those  who  think 
 otherwise  than  he  preaches,  and  exhorts  them  to  abide  in  the 
 
 •  This  book  of  Gardiner's  was  written  Against  the  pope's  supremacy,  and  fur- 
 nished with  a  recommendatory  preface  by  Bonner,  during  the  quarrel  between 
 Henry  VIII.  and  the  Roman  pontiff;  both  these  ambitious  ecclesiastics  perceiving 
 that  the  moment  was  propitious  for  procuring  royal  favour  and  consequent  pre- 
 ferment. 
 
JOHN  BRADFORD.  155 
 
 doctrines  he  and  others  of  the  same  opinions  has  taught  them. 
 What  say  you,  sir,  have  you  not  thus  seditiously  written  and 
 taught  the  people  ? 
 
 Brad.  I  have  not  written  nor  taught  any  thing  seditiously, 
 nor,  thank  God,  have  I  admitted  any  seditious  thought,  nor,  I 
 hope,  ever  will. 
 
 Secretary  Bourne.     Yea,  but  thou  hast  written  letters. 
 
 Gard.  Why  speakest  thou  not  ?  Hast  thou  not  written  as 
 he  saith  ? 
 
 Brad.     What  I  have  written  I  haye  written. 
 
 Southwell.  Lord  God,  what  an  arrogant  and  stubborn  boy 
 is  this,  that  so  stoutly  and  dallyingly  behaveth  himself  before 
 the  queen's  council. 
 
 Brad.  My  lords  and  masters :  The  Lord  God,  who  is,  and 
 shall  be  the  judge  of  us  all,  knoweth  that  I  desire  to  behave 
 myself,  both  before  you  and  towards  you,  with  all  due  reverence; 
 if  you  are  disposed  to  take  it  otherwise,  I  have  no  other  means 
 of  convincing  you.  In  the  meantime,  however,  I  shall  suffer 
 with  patience  all  your  hard  sayings,  and  I  hope  also  whatever 
 you  may  be  permitted  to  appoint  concerning  me. 
 
 Gard.  We  shall  never  have  done  with  thee  I  perceive  now. 
 Be  short,  be  short,  wilt  thou  accept  of  mercy  ?  Say  now  wilt 
 thou  ? 
 
 Brad.  I  pray  God  extend  me  his  mercy;  and  if  therewith 
 you  also  extend  yours,  I  will  by  no  means  refuse  it,  otherwise 
 I  crave  none. 
 
 Here  a  great  noise  arose,  some  said  one  thing,  and  some 
 another;  while  others  accused  him  of  arrogance  in  refusing  the 
 queen's  mercy,  which  her  majesty,  in  her  great  clemency,  had 
 held  out  to  his  very  hand  and  acceptance. 
 
 Brad.  If  I  may  live  as  a  quiet  subject,  with  a  conscience 
 unclogged,  I  shall  heartily  thank  you  for  your  moderation;  and 
 should  I  afterwards  violate  the  laws,  I  must  stand  by  their 
 award.  In  the  meantime,  I  only  require  the  rights  of  a  sub- 
 ject till  convicted  of  transgression.  If  I  cannot  obtain  this, 
 which  hitherto  I  have  not,  then  God's  good  pleasure  be  done. 
 
 Gard.  (to  the  under  marshall) — Ye  shall  take  this  man  and 
 keep  him  close,  without  conference  with  any  but  by  your  know- 
 ledge, and  suffer  him  not  to  write  letters.  And  so  they  de- 
 parted, Bradford  looking  as  cheerful  as  any  man  could.  He 
 was  again  examined  on  the  9th  of  January;  he  was  also  exam- 
 ined by  two  Spanish  friars,  and  by  Dr.  Weston  dean  of  West- 
 minster; but  he  still  held  fast  the  profession  of  his  faith  without 
 wavering;  and,  confident  in  the  power  and  goodness  of  him  in 
 whom  he  believed,  though  naturally  rather  of  a  timid,  modest, 
 and  retiring  temperament,  he  acted  on  this  occasion  the  part 
 
166  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  a  christian  hero,  and,  as  wc  have  6een,  triumphed  over  the 
 power  and  malignity  of  all  his  antichristian  adversaries. 
 
 Mr  Fox  informs  us,  that  he  wrote,  particularly  while  in  pri- 
 son, a  number  of  treatises,  of  which  the  following  have  been 
 published  :  Two  Sermons,  the  first  on  Repentance,  the  second 
 on  the  Lord's  Supper — 2.  An  answer  to  two  Letters  upon  the 
 Lawfulness  of  attending  Mass — 3.  The  Danger  of  attending 
 Mass — 4.  His  Examination  before  the  Officers — 5.  Godly  Me- 
 ditations, made  in  prison,  called  his  Short  Prayers — 6.  Truth's 
 Complaints — 7.  A  Translation  of  Melanchthon  on  Prayer — 8. 
 A  Dialogue  on  Predestination  and  Free-will. 
 
 Bradford's  letters  are  numerous,  and  highly  spiritual,  well 
 calculated  to  establish  the  people  of  God  under  the  severity 
 of  their  persecution.  They  are  so  truly  excellent,  that  not- 
 withstanding the  rude  style  of  these  times,  they  are  still  read 
 with  edification  and  delight;  even  many  of  the  papists  were 
 captivated  with  them.  We  shall  here  insert  one  as  a  speci- 
 men of  his  manner. 
 
 To  my  Dear  Fathers,  Dr.  Cranmer,  Dr.  Ridley,  and  Dr.  Latimer. 
 
 <{  Jesus  Emanuel  !  My  dear  fathers  in  the  Lord,  I  be- 
 seech our  sweet  Father,  through  Christ,  to  make  per- 
 fect the  good  he  hath  begun  in  us  all.  Amen. 
 '*  I  had  thought  that  all  of  your  staves  had  stood  next  to  the 
 door,  but  find  I  was  mistaken.  Our  dear  brother  Rogers  has 
 broken  the  ice  valiantly,  as  this  day,  I  think,  or  to-morrow  at  the 
 farthest,  hearty  Hooper,  sincere  Saunders,  and  trusty  Taylor, 
 end  their  course,  and  likewise  receive  their  crown.  The  next 
 am  I,  who  am  hourly  looking  for  the  porter  to  open  the  gates, 
 that  I  may  follow  them  into  the  desired  rest.  God  forgive  my 
 ingratitude  for  this  exceeding  great  mercy,  that  amongst  so 
 many  thousands  it  hath  pleased  him  to  choose  me  for  one  in 
 whom  he  will  suffer.  For  although  it  be  most  true  that  I  suf- 
 fer justly;  for  I  have  been  a  great  hypocrite,  and  a  grievous 
 sinner;  the  Lord  pardon  me;  yea,  he  has  done  it,  he  has  in- 
 deed done  it  already;  yet  what  evil  has  Christ  done,  Christ, 
 whom  the  prelates  persecute;  and  his  verity,  which  they  hate  in 
 me,  have  done  no  evil,  and  cannot  therefore  be  deserving  of 
 death  ?  Therefore  ought  I  most  heartily  to  rejoice  in  the  honour 
 he  has  conferred  on  me,  and  the  tender  kindness  lie  has  thus 
 vouchsafed  towards  me,  in  calling  me  to  bear  testimony  to  his 
 truth  against  the  enemies  of  his  grace  and  glorious  gospel;  to 
 his  glory,  to  my  everlasting  consolation,  to  the  edification  of  his 
 church,  and  to  the  overthrow  of  antichrist,  and  the  destruction 
 of  his  kingdom  of  darkness.  Oh  !  what  am  I,  Lord,  that  thou 
 shouldst  thus  magnify  so  vile  a  man,  so  unworthy  a  wretch  as 
 
JOHN  BRADFORD.  157 
 
 I  have  always  been.  Is  this  thy  wont,  to  send,  as  thou  didst  for 
 Elias,  a  fiery  chariot,  to  fetch  home  to  his  Father's  house  such 
 a  prodigal  as  I  have  been.  Oh  !  dear  fathers,  be  thankful  for 
 me;  and  for  your  own  parts  make  ready,  for  we  are  only  your 
 gentlemen  ushers.  '  The  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come,  pre- 
 pare for  the  wedding.'  I  am  about  to  leave  my  flesh  in  a  world 
 where  I  received  it;  but  I  go  to  a  better  world,  and  shall  be 
 conveyed  thither  as  Ignatius  was  at  Rome.  God  grant  it  may 
 make  my  persecutors  better  men.     Amen. 
 
 "  I  write,  and  send  this  my  farewell  to  you,  trusting  shortly 
 to  see  you,  where,  having  finished  our  warfare,  we  shall  associ- 
 ate with  all  those  who  have  faithfully  followed  the  banner  of 
 the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  made  perfect  through  suffering, 
 and  never  again  be  called  to  the  field.  In  the  meantime  I  will 
 not  cease  to  commend  you,  as  I  have  done,  to  our  Father  in 
 heaven;  and  that  you  do  so  for  me,  I  most  sincerely  beseech 
 every  one  of  you.  You  know  that  now  I  have  most  need  of 
 your  prayers;  but  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  us  to  be 
 burdened  above  what  we  are  able  to  bear;  he  never  did  it  here- 
 tofore, nor  now,  and  I  am  assured  he  never  will.  Amen.  He 
 is  on  my  right  hand,  therefore  shall  I  not  be  moved,  wherefore 
 my  heart  shall  rejoice.  Out  of  prison  in  haste,  looking  for  the 
 tormenter,  February  8th,  1555. 
 
 HUGH    LATIMER, 
 
 Bishop  of  Worcester. 
 
 Of  this  plain,  but  pious  divine,  it  may  be  said  he  was  one 
 of  the  most  zealous  and  useful  reformers  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
 land. His  father,  an  honest  farmer  at  Thurcaston,  near  mount 
 Sorrel  in  Leicestershire,  though  he  possessed  no  land  of  his  own, 
 lived  in  good  repute.  His  farm  was  stocked  with  an  hundred 
 sheep  and  thirty  cows.  He  employed  six  men,  and  furnished 
 the  king,  on  necessary  occasions,  with  a  man  and  horse  armed 
 for  the  field.  He  had  six  daughters,  each  of  whom  had  five 
 pounds  of  marriage  portion;  and  the  subject  of  the  present  me- 
 moir, his  only  son,  who  was  born  in  the  farm-house  about  the 
 year  1470,  the  11th  year  of  Edward  IV.  He  was  early  put  to 
 school  at  Thurcaston,  and  afterward  sent  to  Leicester;  and 
 being  a  very  promising  scholar,  his  father  determined  to  bring 
 him  up  for  the  church.  With  this  view,  so  soon  as  the  young 
 man  was  qualified,  he  was  sent  to  Cambridge  in  1481,  where, 
 at  the  usual  time,  he  took  his  degrees  in  arts;  and  entering  into 
 priests  orders,  became  a  warm  defender  of  the  religion  of  Rome 
 
158  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 against  the  reformed  opinions,  which  at  this  time  were  becom- 
 ing popular  in  England.  He  held  the  teachers  of  the  new  doc- 
 trines in  abhorrence,  and  heard  them  with  indignation.  In  pub- 
 lic and  in  private  lie  cried  them  down;  and  so  hateful  were 
 the  principles  they  taught,  that  he  declared  it  as  his  opi- 
 nion, that  the  last  times  were  come,  that  the  day  of  judgment 
 and  the  end  of  the  world  were  certainly  at  hand.  "  Impiety," 
 says  he,  " gains  ground  apace;  and  to  what  lengths  may  not 
 men  be  expected  to  run,  when  they  begin  to  question  even  the 
 infallibility  of  the  pope  !"  When  the  good  Mr  Stafford,  divi- 
 nity lecturer  in  Cambridge,  read  lectures  in  the  schools,  Lati- 
 mer was  sure  k>  be  there,  driving  forth  the  scholars. 
 
 When  he  commenced  bachelor  of  divinity,  which  was  in  1515, 
 in  his  45th  year,  he  took  occasion  to  give  an  open  testimony  of 
 his  dislike  to  the  reformation,  in  an  oration,  which  he  delivered 
 against  Philip  Melanchthon,  whom  he  treated  with  unmerci- 
 ful severity  for  his  impious  innovations  in  religion.  His  zeal 
 was  so  much  taken  notice  of  in  the  university,  that  he  was,  the 
 year  after,  elected  cross-bearer  in  all  public  processions;  an 
 employment  which  he  accepted  with  reverence,  and  discharged 
 with  becoming  solemnity  for  seven  years. 
 
 Among  those  who  favoured  the  reformation  about  this  time, 
 the  most  conspicuous  was  Mr  Thomas  Bilney,  who  afterwards 
 suffered  at  Smithfield.  It  was  Latimer's  happiness  to  be  par- 
 ticularly acquainted  with  this  good  man,  who  had  conceived  a 
 very  favourable  opinion  of  Latimer.  He  had  known  his  life 
 in  the  university  to  be  strictly  moral  and  devout,  and  ascribed 
 his  failings  to  the  genius  of  his  religion;  and  notwithstanding 
 the  ardour  and  tenacity  with  which  he  held  and  defended  the 
 dogmas  of  the  Roman  church,  he  could  perceive  in  him  a  can- 
 dour of  temper  prejudiced  by  no  sinister  views,  and  an  inte- 
 grity, which  gave  hopes  that  he  could  not  fail  becoming  a  re- 
 former. Induced  by  these  favourable  appearances,  Mr  Bilney 
 took  all  proper  occasions  to  introduce  many  things  about  cor- 
 ruption in  general,  dropping  some  occasional  hints  respecting 
 the  corruptions  of  the  Romish  church.  Having  in  so  far  pre- 
 pared the  way,  he  ventured  at  last  to  request  Mr  Latimer  for 
 once  to  divest  his  mind  of  all  prejudice  with  respect  to  the  doc- 
 trines held  by  either  party,  and  place  both  sides  of  the  question 
 in  full  view  before  him.  In  what  manner  these  hints  were  re- 
 ceived, we  have  no  certain  account,  only  we  find,  that  his  friend's 
 labours  were  blessed  to  the  conversion  from  popery  of  one  of 
 its  most  zealous  members.  This  was  in  1523,  when  Latimer  was 
 in  his  fifty-third  year.  Latimer  no  sooner  ceased  to  be  a  zeal- 
 ous advocate  for  the  Roman  church,  than  he  proceeded  on  his 
 reforming   career  with  equal,  if  not  with  renovated  assiduity. 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  159 
 
 Iii  a  short  time  lie  made  many  converts,  both  in  town  and 
 country,  and  not  a  few  in  the  university.  He  preached  in  pub- 
 lic, exhorted  in  private,  and  everywhere  pressed  the  necessity 
 of  true  faith  and  holiness  of  life,  in  opposition  to  the  splendour 
 of  those  outward  and  mechanical  services,  which  had  been  long 
 considered  the  very  soul  and  essence  of  religion.  Cambridge, 
 like  the  rest  of  the  kingdom,  was  at  this  time  entirely  popish. 
 Latimer's  behaviour  was  much  taken  notice  of,  and  he  soon 
 came  to  learn  that  he  had  made  himself  peculiarly  obnoxious 
 by  the  method,  he  had  pursued.  The  iirst  serious  opposition  he 
 met  with  from  the  popish  party,  was  occasioned  by  a  course  of 
 sermons  he  preached  before  the  university  during  the  christmas 
 holidays,  in  which  he  spoke  his  sentiments  upon  many  opinions 
 and  usages  maintained  and  practised  in  the  Romish  church;  and 
 strongly  contended,  that  the  locking  up  of  the  scriptures  from 
 the  people  was  a  flagrant  abuse  of  christian  power  and  autho- 
 rity, tending  to  perpetuate  ignorance,  and  its  natural  consequen- 
 ces, vice  and  all  sorts  of  immorality.  Few  of  the  tenets  of  Rome 
 were  at  this  time  questioned  in  England,  unless  they  tended  to 
 relax  the  manners  of  the  people.  Trans ubstantiation,  and  other 
 points  more  speculative,  still  maintained  their  ground.  Mr 
 Latimer  therefore  dwelt  especially  upon  such  tenets  as  tended 
 to  the  dissolution  of  manners.  He  pointed  out  to  the  people 
 what  true  religion  was,  and  wherein  it  consisted :  That  it  was 
 seated  in  the  heart,  and  always  discovered  itself  by  a  life  of 
 holiness  and  sound  morality :  That  it  was  the  strait  gate,  and 
 the  narrow  way  to  life  everlasting,  a  precious  peril  of  such  in- 
 estimable value,  that,  compared  with  it,  external  appointments 
 were  of  no  value  whatever.  But  so  great  was  the  outcry 
 against  these  discourses,  that  the  cardinal  erected  a  court,  con- 
 sisting of  bishops,  divines,  and  canonists,  to  put  the  laws  in  exe- 
 cution against  heretics.  Tunstal  was  president  of  this  court, 
 and  Bilney,  Latimer,  and  two  or  three  more  were  called  before 
 him.  Bilney  was  considered  the  archheretic,  of  course  the 
 rigour  of  the  court  was  principally  levelled  against  him  :  They 
 succeeded,  however,  in  persuading  him  to  recant ;  accordingly 
 he  carried  the  faggot,  a  token  of  recantation  and  penance,  and 
 was  dismissed.  As  for  Latimer  and  the  rest,  they  had  easier 
 terms.  Tunstal  omitted  no  opportunity  of  shewing  mercy,  and 
 was  dexterous  at  finding  them ;  and  the  heretics  returned  to  Cam- 
 bridge, and  were  received  by  their  friends  with  open  arms. 
 Amid  this  mutual  gratulation,  Bilney  alone  was  unhappy;  he 
 shunned  the  sight  of  bis  acquaintances,  and  received  their  con- 
 gratulations with  confusion  and  blushes.  Struck  with  remorse 
 for  what  he  had  done,  he  became  melancholy;  and  after  leading 
 a  life  for  two  years  in  all  the  austerity  of  a  hermit,  he  resolved 
 
160  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 to  take  the  field  once  more,  and  acknowledge  the  truth  even 
 unto  death.  Bilney's  sufferings,  instead  of  shocking  and  dis- 
 couraging the  reformers  at  Cambridge,  inspired  the  leaders  with 
 renovated  vigour.  Latimer  now  began  to  exert  himself  more 
 than  he  had  yet  done;  and  succeeded  to  that  credit  and  reputa- 
 tion which  Bilney  had  long  supported.  He  constantly  preached 
 in  Dr.  Barnes's  church,  and  assisted  him  in  his  pastoral  duties. 
 Among  other  instances  of  his  resolution  and  warm  zeal,  he  gave 
 one,  which,  considering  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  was 
 truly  remarkable.  He  had  the  courage  to  address  his  majesty, 
 Henry  VIII.,  against  his  proclamation  just  published,  prohibiting 
 the  use  of  the  bible  in  the  mother-tongue,  together  with  other 
 religious  books.  He  had  preached  before  his  majesty  two  or 
 three  times  at  Windsor,  and  had  been  taken  notice  of  in  a  more 
 affable  manner  than  that  monarch  was  generally  accustomed  to 
 do  towards  his  subjects;  but  whatever  hopes  his  sovereign's  fa- 
 vour had  inspired  him  with,  he  chose  to  put  all  to  hazard  when 
 it  came  in  competition  with  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty. 
 He  was  generally  considered  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the 
 reformers,  and  thought  it  therefore  became  him  to  be  one  of  the 
 most  forward  in  opposing  popery.  His  letter  bespeaks  an  ho- 
 nest and  sincere  heart;  it  was  intended  thereby  to  apprize  the 
 king  of  the  danger  of  listening  to  all  the  intriguing  insinuations 
 of  the  bishops,  and  particularly  their  intentions  in  the  procla- 
 mation in  question,  and  concluded  in  these  terms :  "Accept, 
 gracious  sovereign,  without  displeasure,  what  I  have  written. 
 I  thought  it  my  duty  to  mention  these  things  to  your  majesty. 
 No  personal  quarrel,  as  God  shall  judge  me,  have  I  with  any 
 man;  I  wanted  merely  to  induce  your  majesty  to  consider  well 
 what  kind  of  persons  you  have  about  you,  and  the  ends  for 
 which  they  give  counsel.  Indeed,  great  prince,  many  of  them, 
 or  they  are  much  slandered,  have  very  private  ends  in  view. 
 God  grant  your  majesty  may  see  through  the  evil  designs  of 
 wicked  men,  and  be  in  all  things  equal  to  the  high  office  with 
 which  you  are  invested  :  Wherefore,  gracious  king,  remember 
 yourself,  have  pity  upon  your  own  soul,  and  consider  that  the 
 day  is  at  hand  when  you  must  render  an  account  of  your 
 office,  and  the  blood  which  has  been  shed  by  your  sword.  On 
 which  important  day,  that  your  grace  may  stand  stedfast  and  una- 
 shamed, clear  and  ready  in  your  reckoning,  having  your  pardon 
 scaled  with  the  blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  which  alone  can 
 avail  you  on  that  decisive  occasion,  is  my  daily  prayers  to  him 
 who  suffered  death  for  our  transgressions.  May  the  Spirit  of 
 God  preserve  you." 
 
 The  influence  of  the  popish  party  was  so  powerful  at  this 
 time,   that  Latimer's  letter  produced  little  or  no  effect:  never- 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  161 
 
 theless  the  king  received  it,  not  only  with  temper,  but  also  with 
 uncommon  condescension,  and  graciously  thanked  him  for  his 
 well-intended  advice.  The  king  loved  sincerity,  and  Latimer's 
 plain  and  simple  manner  had  formerly  made  a  favourable  im- 
 pression upon  him,  which  this  letter  contributed  not  a  little  to 
 strengthen  and  improve;  while  his  active  and  successful  endea- 
 vours, in  establishing  the  king's  supremacy  in  1535,  had  rivetted 
 him  in  the  royal  favour.  Dr.  Butts,  the  king's  physician,  hav- 
 ing been  sent  to  Cambridge  on  that  business,  as  well  as  on  the 
 affair  of  the  divorce,  began  to  court  the  protestant  party,  from 
 whom  the  king  expected  the  greatest  and  most  stedfast  support; 
 and  Mr  Latimer  was  one  of  the  first  to  whom  he  addressed 
 himself,  as  a  person  most  likely  to  afford  him  essential  service 
 in  that  delicate  affair.  He  begged  him  to  collect  the  opinion  of 
 his  friends,  and  use  his  utmost  endeavours  to  bring  over  the 
 most  eminent  of  those  on  the  opposite  side.  Being  a  warm 
 friend  to  the  cause  in  which  he  had  embarked,  Latimer  under- 
 took the  business  with  his  usual  zeal,  and  managed  matters  so 
 much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  doctor,  that  when  that  gentle- 
 man returned  to  court,  he  took  Mr  Latimer  along  with  him, 
 with  the  intention  no  doubt  of  procuring  him  a  proper  consider- 
 ation. 
 
 About  this  time  lord  Cromwell  was  rising  into  power,  and 
 being  himself  a  friend  to  the  reformation,  encouraged  such 
 churchmen  as  were  most  inclined  tliat  way,  and  accordingly 
 became  the  friend  and  patron  of  Mr  Latimer,  and  very  soon  pro- 
 cured for  him  the  benefice  of  Westkingston  in  Wiltshire.  Thi- 
 ther Latimer  resolved  to  repair,  and  watch  over  the  welfare  of 
 his  flock.  Surprised  at  this  resolution,  his  friend  Dr.  Butts  did 
 what  he  could  to  dissuade  him  from  residing  constantly  amongst 
 his  people.  "You  are  deserting,"  said  the  doctor,  "the  fairest 
 opportunity  of  making  your  fortune.  The  prime  minister  only 
 intends  this  as  an  earnest  of  his  future  favours,  and  will  cer- 
 tainly in  time  do  much  greater  things  for  you;  but  you  must 
 know,  that  it  is  the  manner  of  courts  to  consider  them  provided 
 for  who  seem  satisfied  with  what  they  have  got;  and,  trust  me,  an 
 absent  claimant  stands  but  a  poor  chance  with  a  present  rival." 
 This  the  old  courtier  advised;  but  these  considerations  had  no 
 weight  with  Latimer,  who  was  heartily  tired  of  the  court, 
 where  he  saw  so  much  irreligion  and  debauchery,  without  be- 
 ing able  to  oppose  them,  having  neither  authority,  nor,  as  he 
 thought,  talents  to  reclaim  the  great. 
 
 The  principal  design  of  Cromwell  and  Dr.  Butts  in  procur- 
 ing Latimer  this  provision,  was  to  encourage  him  in  assisting 
 them  to  render  the  king's  supremacy  acceptable  to  the  people; 
 for  Mr  Latimer  was  accounted  the  most  diligent  and  popular 
 
 6  x 
 
162  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 preacher  in  the  kingdom.  They  were  anxious  therefore  to  per- 
 suade him  to  exercise  his  talents  in  and  about  the  metropolis; 
 but  Latimer  had  a  very  different  view  of  the  matter;  his  prin- 
 cipal anxiety  was  to  reclaim  wandering  sinners  to  Christ's  fold; 
 and,  next  to  that  consideration,  he  longed  to  retire  from  the 
 bustle  of  a  court,  where,  with  the  greatest  concern,  he  daily  be- 
 held every  vice  triumphant,  and  malice,  envy,  detraction,  and 
 vanity,  sweeping  every  thing  before  them. 
 
 Having  thus  resolved,  Mr  Latimer  bade  adieu  to  the  splen- 
 dour of  the  palace  and  the  vanity  of  the  court,  and  entered  im- 
 mediately on  the  duties  of  his  parish;  and  wherever  he  observ- 
 ed the  pastoral  duties  neglected,  thither  he  extended  his  labours 
 on  all  sides,  having  for  that  particular  purpose  procured  a  ge- 
 neral licence  from  the  university  of  Cambridge.  Mr  Latimer's 
 mode  of  preaching  being  extremely  popular,  he  was  gladly  re- 
 ceived wherever  he  went.  At  Bristol,  where  he  preached  often, 
 he  was  countenanced  and  much  encouraged  by  the  magistrates. 
 But  his  reputation  was  too  high  for  the  popish  party  long  to 
 endure;  and  their  malice  was  soon  manifested.  The  mayor  of 
 Bristol  had  appointed  him  to  preach  in  that  city  on  easterday : 
 Public  intimation  had  been  given,  and  the  people  were  highly 
 pleased,  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  an  order  was  emitted,  prohibit- 
 ing any  one  to  preach  there  without  the  bishop's  licence.  The 
 clergy  of  the  town  waited  upon  Latimer,  informed  him  of  the 
 bishop's  order,  and  expressed  their  sorrow  at  being  thereby  pre- 
 vented from  hearing  an  excellent  discourse.  Mr  Latimer  re- 
 ceived their  compliments  with  a  smile,  having  been  apprized  of 
 the  whole  affair;  and  knowing  that  the  reverend  gentlemen,  who 
 thus  pretended  to  lament  the  effects  of  the  bishop's  order,  were 
 the  self-same  individuals  who  had  called  it  forth,  by  letters  ad- 
 dressed to  him  for  that  precise  purpose. 
 
 The  opposition  manifested  against  this  singular  man,  and  the 
 truths  he  so  boldly  asserted,  increased  with  his  growing  repu- 
 tation. The  pulpits  began  to  circulate  their  malevolent  invec- 
 tives against  him,  and  such  liberties  were  taken  with  his  cha- 
 racter, that  he  considered  it  necessary  to  vindicate  himself  from 
 the  injurious  reflections  with  which  his  enemies  had  conspired 
 to  blast  his  honest  fame.  Accordingly,  his  calumniators  were 
 called  before  the  mayor  of  Bristol,  where  his  accusers  were  put 
 to  the  proof;  but  could  produce  nothing  but  some  loose  and  in- 
 credible hearsay  information.  His  enemies,  however,  were  too 
 inveterate  to  be  thus  silenced.  They  consisted  chiefly  of  the 
 country  clergymen,  headed  by  some  divines  of  more  eminence, 
 who,  after  long  and  mature  deliberation,  drew  up  various  arti- 
 cles of  accusation  against  him,  extracted  principally  from  his 
 sermons;  in  which  he  was  charged  with  speaking  lightly  of  the 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  l6S 
 
 worship  of  saints,  with  asserting  that  there  was  no  material  fire 
 in  hell,  and  that  he  would  rather  be  in  purgatory  than  in  Lol- 
 lard's tower.     These  charges  being  laid  before  the  bishop  of 
 London,  Mr  Latimer  was  charged  to  appear  before  him,  where, 
 having  appealed  to  his  own  ordinary,  the  bishop  of  London  and 
 some  others  were  commissioned  to  examine  him.     His  friends, 
 aware  of  the  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed,  advised  and  ear- 
 nestly pressed  him  to  save  himself  by  retiring  from  the  king- 
 dom.    But  determined  to  face  his  adversaries,  he  took  leave  of 
 his  friends,  and  set  out  for  London  in  the  depth  of  winter,  un- 
 der a  severe  fit  of  the  stone,  and  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his 
 age.     But  the  thought  of  leaving  his  parish  exposed  to  the  po- 
 pish clergy  hang  heavy  on  his  mind.     On  his  arrival  at  Lon- 
 don, a  court  of  bishops  and  canonists  were  ready  to  receive  him. 
 Mr  Latimer  had  reason  to  believe,  from  the  accusations  that 
 had  formerly  been  charged  upon  him,  that  his  sermons  would 
 constitute  the  principal  ground  of  their  investigation.     He  was 
 therefore  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  a  paper  put  into  his 
 hands,  declaring  his  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  masses  for  the  souls 
 in  purgatory;  of  prayers  to  dead  saints;  of  pilgrimages  to  their 
 sepulchres  and  relics :    In  the  power  of  the  pope  to  forgive  sins; 
 in  the  doctrine  of  merit;  the  seven  sacraments;  and  the  worship 
 of  images.     This  paper  Latimer  refused  to  subscribe;  and  the 
 archbishop,  with  a  frown  on  his  countenance,  begged  he  would 
 consider  what  he  did.     "  We  have  no  intention,"  Mr  Latimer, 
 "  continued  he,  to  be  hard  upon  you;  wTe  dismiss  you  for  the 
 present;  take  a  copy  of  the  articles,  examine  them  carefully; 
 and  God  grant,  at  our  next  meeting,  we  may  find  each  other  in 
 better  temper."     At  the  next,  and  several  subsequent  meetings, 
 the  same  farce  was  acted  afresh.     He  continued  inflexible,  and 
 they  to  distress  him.     Thrice  a-week  he  was  regularly  called 
 before  them,  with  the  design  of  either  ensnaring  him  by  cap- 
 tious questions,  or  teazing  him  into  compliance.     Tired  out  at 
 last  with  such  vexatious  usage,  instead  of  answering  their  next 
 summons,  he  sent  a  letter  to  the  archbishop,  in  which,  with 
 great  freedom,  he  informs  him,  that  their  former  treatment  had 
 fretted  him  into  such  disorder,  that  he  was  unfit  to  attend 
 them.     That,  in  the  meantime,  he  took  the  liberty  of  expostulat- 
 ing with  his  grace  for  so  long  detaining  him  from  discharging 
 the  duties  of  his  office :    That  to  him  it  appeared  the  most  un- 
 accountable and  preposterous  thing  in  the  world,  that  they,  who 
 never  preached  themselves,  should  prevent  others,  especially  now 
 that  some  abuses  in  religion  were  supposed  to  exist,  whereas 
 preaching  was  the  best,  and  perhaps  the  only  practical  method 
 for  discountenancing  them  :    That,  with  regard  to  their  exami- 
 nation, he  was  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  they  were  aiming  at ; 
 
164  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 they  pretended  one  thing  at  the  beginning,  and  another  in  the 
 progress :  That  if  his  sermons  were  offensive,  which,  however, 
 he  believed  were  neither  contrary  to  truth  or  to  any  canon  of 
 the  church,  lie  was  ready  to  answer  whatever  might  be  con- 
 sidered exceptionable  :  That  he  wished  they  would  pay  a  little 
 more  respect  to  the  judgment  of  the  people;  and  particularly, 
 that  they  would  make  some  reasonable  distinction  between  the 
 ordinances  of  God  and  those  of  man  :  That  he  was  desirous  all 
 pastors  might  be  obliged  to  do  their  duty;  but,  at  any  rate,  that 
 those  who  vrere  willing  to  do  theirs,  should  be  rather  encourag- 
 ed than  unnecessarily  prevented :  That  respecting  the  articles 
 proposed,  he  begged  to  be  excused  from  subscribing  them.  He 
 was  determined,  during  life,  he  should  at  no  time,  and  under 
 no  circumstances,  become  an  abetter  of  superstition :  That  he 
 hoped  the  archbishop  would  excuse  the  freedom  with  which  he 
 had  written.  He  knew  his  duty  to  superiors;  and  in  practice 
 should  not  be  wanting;  but,  in  the  present  case,  he  was  satisfied 
 he  lay  under  a  much  more  important  obligation. 
 
 The  bishops,  nevertheless,  continued  their  persecutions,  till 
 Latimer  was  relieved  from  their  oppression  by  a  very  unex- 
 pected hand.  Informed,  probably  by  lord  Cromwell,  of  Lati- 
 mer's ill  usage,  the  king  interposed,  and  rescued  him  from  the 
 hands  of  his  enemies.  Latimer  was  the  very  figure  of  simpli- 
 city, and  exhibiting  such  a  reverend  and  apostolic  appearance 
 at  court,  attracted  the  particular  notice  of  Anne  Boleyn,  the 
 favourite  wife  of  Henry,  and  a  warm  friend  to  the  reformed 
 religion.  This  amiable  but  unfortunate  queen  mentioned  him 
 to  her  reforming  friends,  as,  in  her  opinion,  equally,  if  not  bet- 
 ter qualified  for  forwarding  the  reformation  than  any  she  had 
 seen.  Lord  Cromwell  raised  him  still  higher  in  her  estimation; 
 and  both  joined  in  recommending  him  to  the  king  for  a  bishop- 
 rick,  who,  perhaps  recollecting  the  sincerity  and  simplicity  of 
 his  admonitory  letter,  and  former  services  done  him,  wanted  lit- 
 tle solicitation.  The  see  of  Worchester  was  accordingly  offered 
 him;  and  Latimer,  as  he  had  been  at  no  pains  to  procure  this 
 promotion,  considered  it  the  work  of  providence,  and  accepted 
 the  same.  Indeed,  considering  the  rough  path  he  had  already 
 trode  in  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duty,  and  observing  the 
 hazardous  prospect  before  him  in  his  old  station,  he  found  it 
 necessary,  both  for  his  own  safety,  and  the  good  of  the  church, 
 to  avail  himself  of  this  proffered  acquisition  of  refuge  and  of 
 power. 
 
 In  discharging  the  duties  of  his  new  office,  all  the  historians 
 of  these  times  inform  us,  that  Latimer  was  remarkably  zealous. 
 That  in  overlooking  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  he  was  active, 
 warm,  and  determined;  and  that,  in  presiding  in  his  ecclesias- 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  16,5 
 
 tical  courts,  he  evinced  the  same  spirit.  In  ordaining,  he  was 
 wary;  in  preaching,  indefatigable;  in  reproving  or  exhorting, 
 severe  and  persuasive.  Thus  far  he  could  act  with  authority; 
 but,  with  regard  to  the  popish  ceremonies,  in  times  so  unsettled 
 and  dangerous,  he  neither  durst  lay  them  wholly  aside,  nor  was 
 he  willing  to  retain  them.  In  this  critical  dilemma,  his  address 
 was  admirable.  He  inquired  into  their  origin,  and  when  he 
 found  any  of  them,  as  several  had  been  introduced  with  a  good 
 meaning  and  intent,  he  was  careful  to  inculcate  their  original, 
 though  a  corruption,  in  place  of  a  still  more  corrupt  practice. 
 Thus,  for  example,  he  would  put  the  people  in  mind,  that  holy 
 bread  and  holy  water,  which  had  been  for  ages  considered  as 
 possessing  a  sort  of  magical  influence,  were  nothing  but  simple 
 bread  and  water.  The  one  to  put  us  in  remembrance  of  the 
 death  of  Christ,  and  that  the  other  was  merely  a  simple  repre- 
 sentation of  the  washing  away  our  sins.  Thus,  by  reducing 
 popery  to  its  first  principles,  he  did  what  he  could  to  improve 
 a  bad  stoek,  by  lopping  off  some  of  its  hurtful  excrescences. 
 
 While  thus  exerting  himself  to  reform  his  diocese,  he  was 
 summoned  to  parliament  and  convocation  in  1536.  This  ses- 
 sion was  considered  by  the  protestant  party  as  a  crisis.  At  the 
 head  of  the  reformers  stood  lord  Cromwell,  whose  favour  with 
 the  king  was  now  at  its  meridian;  next  to  him,  in  power  and 
 influence,  was  Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury;  and  next  to 
 these,  in  consideration,  stood  our  bishop  of  Worcester,  to  whom 
 were  added,  on  the  side  of  reform,  the  bishops  of  Ely,  Roches- 
 ter, Hereford,  Salisbury,  and  St.  David's.  The  popish  party- 
 were  headed  by  Lee,  archbishop  of  York;  Gardiner,  Stokesly. 
 and  Tunstal,  bishops  of  Winchester,  London,  and  Durham. 
 
 The  convocation  was  opened,  on  the  9th  of  June,  by  an  ora- 
 tion spoken  by  Latimer,  whose  eloquence  was  at  this  time  fam- 
 ed throughout  the  kingdom.  Many  warm  debates  took  place 
 in  this  assembly;  the  result  of  which  was,  that  four  sacraments 
 out  of  the  seven  were  concluded  to  be  insignificant.  Latimer 
 had  no  talents  for  state  affairs;  and  he  was  satisfied  he  had 
 none;  he  therefore  returned  to  his  charge  at  Worcester,  highly 
 pleased  with  the  prospect  of  the  times  relative  to  the  refor- 
 mation. 
 
 Perhaps  no  man  ever  made  so  little  use  of  a  good  judgment 
 as  Henry  Till.  His  reign  consisted  in  one  unceasing  rotation 
 of  violent  passions,  which  rendered  him  such  a  mere  machine 
 in  the  hands  of  his  ministers,  that  whoever  amongst  them  could 
 most  artfully  address  the  passion  of  the  day,  was  certain  to  carry 
 his  point.  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  had  just  returned 
 from  Germany,  where  he  had  successfully  negotiated  some 
 orders  that  the  king  had  greatly  at  heart.     That  subtle  minister. 
 
166  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 in  1539,  when  tbe  parliament  was  called  to  confirm  the  seizure 
 of  the  monasteries,  prevailed  on  his  majesty  to  do  something 
 towards  the  restoration  of  the  popish  religion.  In  consequence 
 of  this,  Latimer  was  summoned  to  parliament,  and  accused, 
 before  the  king,  of  preaching  a  seditious  sermon.  This  sermon 
 had  been  preached  before  the  king;  and,  to  speak  truth,  Lati- 
 mer had  lashed  the  vices  of  the  court  with  conscientious  and 
 fearless  severity.  The  king  had  called  together  several  bishops 
 to  consult  them  oil  some  points  of  religion;  and  having  all  given 
 their  opinions,  and  about  to  break  up.  one  of  them,  thought  to 
 have  been  Gardiner,  kneeled  down  before  the  king,  and  accus- 
 ed Latimer.  The  king,  with  a  stern  countenance,  called  him 
 to  vindicate  himself;  when  Latimer,  so  far  from  denying,  or  even 
 palliating  what  he  had  advanced,  boldly  j  ustified  himself;  and,turn- 
 ing  to  the  king,  with  all  that  noble  confidence  that  a  good  cause 
 inspires,  said,  "  I  never  considered  myself  worthy,  nor  did  I 
 ever  request  the  honour  of  preaching  before  your  grace;  but 
 being  called  to  the  performance  of  that  duty,  I  endeavoured  to 
 perform  it.  If,  however,  my  manner  or  matter  be  in  any  way 
 displeasing,  I  cheerfully  give  place  to  my  betters;  for  I  grant 
 there  are  many  more  worthy  of  that  honour  than  I;  and  if  it 
 be  your  grace's  pleasure  to  appoint  them  for  preachers,  I  shall 
 be  content  to  bear  their  books  after  them.  But  if  your  grace 
 allow  me  for  a  preacher,  I  beseech  you  give  me  leave  to  dis- 
 charge my  conscience,  and  accommodate  my  doctrine  to  my 
 audience :  I  had  been  a  very  dolt  indeed  to  have  preached  at 
 the  borders  of  your  realm  as  I  have  done  before  your  grace." 
 The  greatness  of  the  answer  baffled  the  malice  of  his  accuser; 
 the  severity  of  the  king's  countenance  was  relaxed  into  a  gra- 
 cious smile,  and  the  bishop  was  dismissed  with  that  obliging 
 freedom,  which  was  only  the  privilege  of  those  he  esteemed. 
 
 Latimer  was  a  true  bishop,  for  he  not  only  laboured  for  the 
 salvation  of  his  flock,  watching  over  their  faith  and  morals,  but 
 also  over  their  temporal  welfare  and  happiness;  particularly  he 
 watched  over  the  rights  of  the  poor,  that  they  might  not  be 
 wronged  by  their  rich  and  overbearing  neighbours.  An  in- 
 stance of  this  generous  guardianship  of  the  poor  we  have  from 
 Mr  Fox,  who  says :  It  seems  there  lived  a  certain  gentleman 
 in  that  part  of  Warwickshire  that  is  included  in  the  diocese  of 
 Worchester,  who  had  considerably  wronged  a  poor  neighbour, 
 notwithstanding  that  he  had  kept  within  the  letter  of  the  law. 
 This  gentleman  had  a  large  estate  in  the  county.  His  brother 
 was  also  in  the  commission  of  the  peace;  and  they  two  together 
 had  long  overawed  the  country  for  many  miles  round.  The 
 poor  man,  quite  at  a  loss  what  to  do,  applied  to  his  own  dio- 
 cesan.    Latimer  heard  his  story,  pitied  his  case,  and  promised 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  167 
 
 to  endeavour  to  see  him  redressed.  Accordingly  he  wrote  a 
 long  letter  to  the  parties,  wherein  he  reproved  them  sharply  for 
 the  injury  they  had  done,  requiring  them  to  do  the  poor  man 
 justice,  and  that  speedily.  They  replied  to  the  bishop,  and 
 vindicated  their  procedure  as  legal  and  right,  and  declared 
 themselves  ready  to  stand  by  what  they  had  done.  That  with 
 regard  to  the  complainer,  the  law  was  open;  and  as  for  his 
 lordship,  they  could  not  but  think  he  had  interfered  very  im- 
 pertinently in  a  matter  in  which  he  had  not  the  least  concern. 
 Latimer,  finding  they  were  determined  to  substitute  might  in 
 the  place  of  right,  wrote  them  again,  stating,  in  few  words, 
 that  if  they  did  not  forthwith  do  justice  to  the  injured  man,  he 
 himself  would  lay  the  whole  affair  before  the  king.  This 
 brought  them  to  reason,  and  the  affair  was  settled  to  the  satis- 
 faction of  the  complainer. 
 
 So  soon  as  parliament  had  passed  the  famous  act  of  the  six 
 articles,  to  which  Latimer  could  not  give  his  vote;  and  con- 
 ceiving it  wrong  to  hold  an  office  in  a  church  where  such  terms 
 of  communion  were  required,  he  resigned  his  bishoprick,  and 
 retired  into  the  country.  Here  he  remained  during  the  heat  of 
 the  persecution  that  followed  upon  this  act,  and  thought  of 
 nothing,  for  the  remainder  of  his  days,  but  a  sequestrate  life; 
 but  an  unhappy  accident  carried  him  again  into  the  tempestu- 
 ous ocean.  He  had  received  a  bruise,  by  the  falling  of  a  tree, 
 that  seemed  so  dangerous,  that  he  was  obliged  to  look  out  for 
 better  assistance  than  the  surgeons  of  that  place  in  the  country 
 could  afford.  With  this  view  he  repaired  to  London,  where 
 he  had  the  sorrow  to  see  the  fall  of  his  generous  patron,  the 
 lord  Cromwell;  nor  was  it  long  before  he  learned  the  extent  of 
 the  loss  he  had  thereby  sustained  :  For  Gardiner's  emissaries 
 soon  discovered  his  retreat;  and  something  that  somebody  had 
 somewhere  heard  him  say  against  the  six  articles  being  alleged 
 against  him,  he  was  committed  to  the  tower.  Here,  without 
 any  judicial  examination,  he  suffered  imprisonment  during  the 
 six  last  years  of  Henry's  reign. 
 
 He  was  confined  along  with  the  bishop  of  Chichester,  but 
 not  so  strictly  that  his  friends  might  not  see  and  converse  with 
 him;  for  neither  Henry  nor  Gardiner  had  any  design  on  his 
 life.  But  the  king  had  already  received  all  the  advantages  of 
 his  faithful  services  that  he  expected;  and  a  different  adviser 
 had  put  him  on  a  train  of  operations,  in  forwarding  which,  he 
 was  sensible  Latimer  would  not  assist  him.  He  was  therefore 
 no  longer  necessary  to  his  happiness,  and  ungratefully  forgot- 
 ten. But  Latimer  is  not  the  only  instance  of  this  prince's  royal 
 ingratitude  to  those  who  had  afforded  him  the  most  essential 
 services;  witness  the  capitation  of  Sir  Thomas  More;  his  cruel 
 
168  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 usage  of  Wolsey;  and  his  barbarous,  illegal,  and  unjust  severity 
 exercised  against  lord  Cromwell. 
 
 Considering  the  capricious  disposition  of  Henry,  Latimer 
 suffered,  upon  the  whole,  a  mild  sort  of  imprisonment;  and,  on 
 the  accession  of  Edward  VI.,  all  who  were  prisoners  for  the 
 same  cause  were  set  at  liberty.  Latimer's  old  friends  being 
 now  in  power,  he  was  received  by  them  with  every  mark  of  af- 
 fectionate regard;  and  had  it  in  his  power  to  dispossess  his  suc- 
 cessor from  his  diocese;  but  he  had  very  different  sentiments, 
 and  neither  would  apply  himself,  nor  suffer  his  friends  to  apply 
 for  his  restoration.  This,  however,  was  soon  after  done  by  the 
 parliament;  but  Latimer  pled  his  great  age  as  a  reason  why  he 
 should  be  suffered  to  end  his  days  in  private. 
 
 Having  thus  rid  himself  of  all  importunities  on  this  head,  he 
 accepted  an  invitation  from  Cranmer,  and  took  up  his  residence 
 at  Lambeth,  where  he  was  chiefly  employed  in  hearing  the  com- 
 plaints, and  redressing  the  wrongs  of  poor  people;  and  his  cha- 
 racter, for  this  kind  of  service,  was  so  generally  known,  that 
 he  had  as  crowded  a  levee  as  any  minister  of  state. 
 
 Latimer's  sermons,  some  of  which  are  still  extant,  are  indeed 
 far  from  correct  or  regular  pieces  of  composition ;  yet  his  sim- 
 plicity and  familiarity,  his  humour  and  jibing  drollery,  were 
 well  adapted  to  the  taste  of  these  times.  His  oratory,  accord- 
 ing to  the  mode  of  eloquence  then  in  vogue,  was  exceedingly  popu- 
 lar. His  action,  and  manner  of  preaching,  were  likewise  both 
 agreeable  and  very  affecting.  His  abilities,  as  an  orator,  how- 
 ever, constituted  only  the  inferior  part  of  his  character  as  a 
 preacher.  His  commanding  manner,  his  noble  zeal  for  the 
 truth,  and  the  pressing  sincerity  with  which  he  urged  it  home 
 to  the  consciences  of  his  auditory,  rendered  his  discourses  more 
 exceedingly  interesting. 
 
 Latimer  has  been  slandered  by  the  opposite  party  for  vindi- 
 cating, in  a  sermon  preached  before  the  king,  the  justice  of  the 
 sentence  and  execution  of  the  lord  high  admiral.  The  charges  are, 
 that  he  publicly  defended  his  death;  that  he  aspersed  his  cha- 
 racter; and  did  so  that  he  might  pay  a  servile  compliment  to 
 the  protector.  The  first  part  of  the  charge  was  true,  he  did 
 defend  his  death;  but  the  admiral's  character  was  so  very  bad, 
 that  there  was  no  room  left  for  aspersion.  His  treasonable 
 practices  were  notorious;  and  though  he  was  proceeded  against 
 by  a  bill  in  parliament,  according  to  the  custom  of  those  times, 
 which  may  be  now  accounted  inequitable,  still  he  had  forfeited 
 his  life,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  according  to  the  laws  of  his 
 country.  His  death,  nevertheless,  occasioned  much  clamour; 
 which  was  chiefly  raised  and  encouraged  by  the  lords  of  the 
 opposition,  to  cast  a  popular  odium  on  the  protector,  for  whom 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  169 
 
 Latimer  had  a  high  respect,  and  was  mortified  to  see  an  invi- 
 dious opposition  thwarting  the  schemes  of  such  a  public  spirited 
 individual.  On  purpose  therefore  to  lessen  or  remove  this  un- 
 merited reproach,  he  exhibited  the  admiral's  character  in  its 
 true  light,  from  circumstances  with  which' the  public  were  un- 
 acquainted. 
 
 On  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Somerset,  and  the  consequent 
 revolution  that  took  place  at  court,  Latimer  retired  to  the 
 country,  and,  authorized  by  the  king's  general  licence,  he 
 preached  wherever  he  thought  his  labours  were  most  necessary; 
 and  continued  to  prosecute  the  same  apostolic  manner  of  itine- 
 rant preaching  during  the  remainder  of  Edward's  reign,  and 
 also  for  some  short  time  after  Mary  had  mounted  the  throne. 
 But  no  sooner  had  Mary's  ministers  secured  their  places,  and 
 completed  their  political  arrangements,  than  the  introduction 
 of  popery  was  finally  resolved  on,  and  the  preliminary  steps  to- 
 ward  effecting  their  purpose  were,  First,  The  prohibition  of  all 
 preaching  through  the  kingdom.  Secondly,  The  licensing 
 of  those  clergymen  only  who  were  known  to  lean  towards  the 
 church  of  Rome.  Accordingly,  an  inquisitorial  search  was 
 made  for  the  more  forward  and  popular  preachers  amongst  the 
 protestants,  and  many  of  them  were  committed  to  prison. 
 Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  was  made  prime  minister;  and 
 having  prescribed  Mr  Latimer  from  the  first,  sent  a  messenger 
 to  cite  him  before  the  council.  Latimer,  who  had  previous  no- 
 tice of  his  design,  made  no  use  of  the  friendly  information.  The 
 messenger,  on  his  arrival,  finding  him  equipped  for  his  journey, 
 expressed  his  surprise;  but  Latimer  told  him  he  would  attend 
 him  with  as  little  trepidation  as  ever  he  had  mounted  the  pul- 
 pit, and  answer  for  his  faith  with  as  much  pleasure,  not  doubt- 
 ing but  God,  who  had  enabled  him  to  stand  before  two  princes, 
 would  also  enable  him  to  stand  before  a  third,  either  to  her  un- 
 speakable joy  or  everlasting  anguish.  The  messenger  informed 
 him  that  he  had  no  orders  to  seize  his  person,  and  putting  a 
 letter  into  his  hand,  departed.  Hence  some  have  imagined, 
 not  without  considerable  probability,  that  the  real  design  of  this 
 citation  was  to  drive  him  out  of  the  kingdom,  and  in  this  way 
 get  rid  of  a  dangerous  antagonist,  who,  by  his  unshaken  firm- 
 ness, might  out-brave  their  power  and  cruelty,  and  thereby 
 confirm  the  faithful  in  their  protestant  opinions.  However  this 
 may  bo,  Latimer  found,  on  opening  the  letter,  that  it  contained 
 a  summons  from  the  council;  and  resolving  to  obey,  he  set  out 
 immediately.  Passing  through  Smithfield,  where  the  heretics 
 were  usually  burnt,  he  said,  pleasantly,  Smithfield  has  long 
 groaned  for  my  old  carcase.  Next  morning  he  waited  on  the 
 council,  who,   after  loading  him  with  many  bitter  reproaches, 
 
 7  Y 
 
MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  otherwise  evil  entreating  him,  sent  him  to  the  tower.  Here 
 Latimer  had  a  larger  field  wherein  to  exercise  his  patience  and 
 resignation  than  any  heretofore;  and  few  men  seemed  to  pos- 
 sess a  larger  allowance  of  these  distinguishing  virtues.  The 
 uncommon  cheerfulness  of  his  disposition  never  forsook  him 
 even  in  the  most  trying  occasions;  one  instance  of  which  is  still 
 on  record.  A  servant  leaving  his  apartment  in  the  tower, 
 Latimer  called  him  back,  and  requested  that  he  would  tell  his 
 master,  that  unless  he  took  better  care  of  him,  he  would  most 
 assuredly  escape  him.  On  hearing  which,  the  lieutenant,  with 
 a  countenance  rather  discomposed,  came  to  Latimer,  requesting 
 an  explanation.  I  suppose,  sir,  replied  Mr  Latimer,  you  expect 
 I  shall  be  burnt;  but  I  can  assure  you,  that  unless  you  allow 
 me  a  little  fire  in  this  severe  frost,  I  shall  starve  to  death  with 
 cold. 
 
 Cranmer  and  Ridley  were  also  prisoners  in  the  same  cause 
 with  Latimer;  and  when  the  council  came  to  the  ensnaring  re- 
 solution of  appointing  a  public  disputation  between  the  most 
 eminent  of  the  popish  and  protestant  divines,  these  three  were 
 appointed  to  manage  the  dispute  on  the  part  of  the  protestants. 
 Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1554,  they  were  removed  from 
 the  tower,  where  they  had  been  imprisoned  during  the  winter, 
 forwarded  to  Oxford,  and  there  put  under  close  confinement  in 
 the  common  prison,  where  they  had  a  fair  specimen  of  the  im- 
 partiality with  which  the  public  disputation  was  likely  to  be 
 conducted,  in  their  being  denied  even  the  use  of  paper,  pen, 
 and  ink,  books,  and  whatever  else  might  aid  their  preparation 
 for  the  important  controversy,  in  which  they  were  obliged  to 
 act  so  conspicuous  a  part.  Under  these  distressing  circumstan- 
 ces, while  sitting  in  their  prison-house,  and  ruminating  on  the 
 mock  solemnity  of  the  preparations  then  making  for  their  trial, 
 of  which  it  is  probable  they  were  newly  informed,  a  conversa- 
 tion took  place  between  Ridley  and  his  suffering  associate.  The 
 time,  said  Ridley,  is  now  come  when  we  must  either  sin  or  suf- 
 fer, deny  the  truths  we  believe,  and  have  so  long  and  so  warmly 
 recommended  to  the  faith  of  others,  or  give  our  bodies  to  the 
 flames  in  defence  of  our  faith  and  hope.  You  are  an  old  sol- 
 dier of  Christ's,  Mr  Latimer,  and  have  frequently  withstood 
 the  fear  of  death,  whereas  I  am  raw  in  the  service,  and  desti- 
 tute of  experience.  With  this  introduction,  he  proceeded  to  re- 
 quest Mr  Latimer  to  hear  him  propose  such  arguments,  as,  in 
 his  opinion,  his  adversaries  were  most  likely  to  urge  against 
 him,  and  that  he  would  assist  him  in  furnishing  himself  with 
 appropriate  answers. 
 
 To  this  Mr  Latimer,  with  his  usual  good  humour,  replied  : 
 That  he  fancied  the  good  bishop  was  treating  him  as  he  re- 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  171 
 
 membered  Mr  Bilney  was  wont  to  do,  who,  when  he  wanted 
 to  teach  him,  always  did  so  under  the  colour  of  being  taught 
 himself;  but,  in  the  present  case,  said  he,  I  am  determined  to 
 give  them  very  little  trouble.  I  shall  just  offer  them  a  plain 
 account  of  my  faith,  and  shall  say  very  little  more  on  the  sub- 
 ject, well  kuowing  it  would  answer  no  good  purpose.  They 
 talk  of  a  free  disputation,  which  they  have  already  belied  by 
 the  treatment  we  have  received  at  their  hands;  they  also  talk 
 about  an  impartial  decision  regarding  the  merit  of  the  argu- 
 ments brought  forward;  but,  be  assured,  my  lord,  their  most 
 energetic  argument  will  be  that  used  by  their  fathers,  when 
 driven  from  every  equitable  position  :  We  have  a  law,  and  by 
 our  law  you  ought  to  die.  As  for  myself,  had  I  the  wisdom  of 
 Solomon,  and  all  the  learning  of  St.  Paul,  I  should  consider 
 them  ill  applied  in  making  an  elaborate  defence;  yet  our  case 
 is  neither  singular  nor  desperate  :  No,  my  lord,  it  admits  of  this 
 peculiar  consolation,  that  our  enemies  can  do  no  more  than  God 
 permits;  and  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  them  to  load  us 
 with  sufferings  above  what  we  are  able  to  bear.  Bring  them 
 to  a  point,  and  there  hold  them  fast,  let  them  say  or  do  what 
 they  please;  many  words  will  be  of  no  avail.  It  is  requisite, 
 nevertheless,  that  you  give  them  some  reasonable  account  of 
 your  faith,  if  they  will  quietly  hear  you.  For  other  things,  in 
 a  wicked  judgment-hall,  a  man  may  keep  silence,  after  the  ex- 
 ample of  Christ  himself.  But,  above  all  things,  guard  your- 
 self against  the  fear  of  death;  this  is  the  great  argument  you 
 must  prepare  yourself  to  oppose.  Poor  Shaxton  !  we  have  rea- 
 son to  fear  this  argument  had  the  greatest  weight  in  his  recan- 
 tation. The  fear  of  death  makes  men  slaves.  He  who  has 
 conquered  this  fear,  can  triumph  over  the  malice  of  earth  and 
 hell.  Let  us  be  stedfast  and  immoveable,  in  the  full  confidence 
 that  nothing  can  add  to  our  honour  and  felicity,  if  we,  like  the 
 Philippians,  not  only  believe  in  Christ,  but  dare  to  suffer  for 
 his  sake. 
 
 Corresponding  with  these  sentiments,  Latimer  conducted 
 himself  through  the  whole  of  this  dispute,  wherein  much  arti- 
 fice was  used  to  draw  him  into  a  formal  mode  of  reasoning, 
 without  effect.  He  answered  their  questions,  however,  as  far 
 as  civility  required;  and,  in  these  answers,  managed  his  argu- 
 ment much  better  than  either  Ridley  or  Cranmer,  who,  when 
 they  were  pressed  with  passages  from  the  fathers  in  support  of 
 transubstantiation,  in  place  of  rejecting  their  insufficient  autho- 
 rity, weakly  defended  a  good  cause  by  scholastic  distinctions 
 and  evasions.  Whereas,  when  the  same  proofs  were  crowded 
 upon  Latimer,  he  boldly  rejected  their  authority,  for  the  obvi- 
 ous reason,  that,  like  other  men,  the  fathers  were  liable  to  err; 
 
172  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 tliat  ho  never  depended  upon  them,  unless  when  they  depended 
 upon  scripture.  Then,  said  his  antagonist,  you  are  not  of  St. 
 Austin  or  Chrysostom's  faith.  I  have  told  you  already,  said 
 Latimer,  I  am  not,  unless  they  bring  scripture  for  what  they 
 say.  Mr  Addison  admires  his  behaviour  on  this  occasion. 
 "  This  remarkable  old  man  (says  he),  conscious  that  age  had  im- 
 paired his  abilities,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  recol- 
 lect the  reasons  that  had  directed  him  in  the  choice  of  his  reli- 
 gion, left  his  companions,  who  were  in  the  full  possession  of  their 
 learning  and  faculties,  to  baffle  and  confound  their  antagonists 
 by  the  force  of  reason.  As  for  himself,  he  did  little  more  than 
 repeat  to  his  adversaries  the  articles  in  which  he  firmly  believed, 
 and  in  the  profession  of  which  he  had  determined  to  die." 
 
 The  dispute  being  ended,  sentence  was  passed  upon  him  in 
 the  beginning  of  October;  and  upon  the  sixteenth  of  the  same 
 month,  he  and  Ridley  were  burnt  on  a  spot  of  ground  on  the 
 north  side  of  Baliol  college.  When  they  came  to  the  stake, 
 Latimer  lifted  up  his  eyes,  with  a  meek  and  serene  counten- 
 ance, saying,  Fidelis  est  Deus,  God  is  faithful.  When  they 
 were  brought  to  the  fire,  after  a  most  abusive  sermon,  an  officer 
 informed  them  that  they  might  now  prepare  themselves  for  the 
 stake.  Mr  Latimer  having  thrown  off  his  prison  attire,  appear- 
 ed in  a  shrowd  prepared  for  the  purpose.  Some  gunpowder 
 had  been  attached  to  their  bodies  to  hasten  their  death;  and 
 Latimer,  after  recommending  his  soul  to  God,  turning  to  the 
 bishop  of  London,  his  companion  in  tribulation,  he  said,  brother, 
 be  of  good  comfort,  to-day  we  light  such  a  torch  in  England  as 
 I  trust  shall  never  be  extinguished.  When  the  fire  was  kindled, 
 he  cried,  O  Father  of  heaven  receive  my  soul;  and  seeming  to 
 embrace  the  flame,  he  stroked  his  face  with  his  hands,  after 
 having,  as  it  were,  bathed  them  for  a  short  space  in  the  fire, 
 when  the  powder  exploded,  and  he  expired. 
 
 Such  was  the  death  of  Hugh  Latimer,  bishop  of  Worcester, 
 one  of  the  leaders  of  that  noble  army  of  martyrs  who  introduc- 
 ed the  reformation  into  England. 
 
 Cheerfulness  and  fortitude  were  so  happily  blended  in  his 
 constitution,  his  principles  were  so  just,  and  his  resolutions  so 
 determined,  that  neither  prosperity  nor  adversity  had  the  power 
 to  disturb  the  serenity  of  his  soul.  No  trials  could  unman  him, 
 neither  could  the  splendour  of  the  world  allure  him.  Amid 
 the  most  alarming  circumstances  of  life  he  stood  firm  and  col- 
 lected, at  no  time  destitute  of  resources,  but  could,  on  every 
 emergency,  retire  within  himself,  and  there  luxuriate  on  those 
 consolations  that  spring  from  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  and  the 
 well-grounded  hope  of  eternal  glory.  Conversant  in  courts, 
 and  intimate  with  princes,  he  still  preserved  his  original  plain* 
 
HUGH  LATIMER.  173 
 
 ness  and  moderation.  Of  his  indefatigable  labours,  and  the 
 conscientious  manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
 pastoral  office,  we  have  many  examples.  No  man  could  per- 
 suade more  forcibly,  or  exert,  on  proper  occasions,  a  more  com- 
 manding severity.  The  wicked  he  rebuked  without  respect  of 
 persons;  and,  with  the  dignity  that  became  his  high  office, 
 overawed  them  more  than  did  the  terrors  of  the  penal  law. 
 
 He  was  not  considered  a  man  of  extensive  learning,  having 
 only  cultivated  useful  knowledge,  which,  he  thought,  lay  in  a 
 narrow  circle;  neither  could  he  ever  be  persuaded  to  take  any 
 part  in  secular  affairs,  under  an  apprehension  that  a  clergyman 
 ought  to  employ  himself  entirely  in  matters  connected  with  his 
 profession.  Thus  he  lived  rather  a  good,  than  what  the  world 
 calls  a  great  man.  He  had  never  cultivated  those  talents  which 
 give  superiority  in  transacting  business:  but  for  honest  sincerity 
 and  true  simplicity  of  manners,  for  apostolic  zeal  in  the  cause 
 of  religion,  and  for  every  virtue  that  ought  to  adorn  the  life  of 
 a  christian,  he  was  eminent  and  exemplary,  beyond  most  men 
 of  his  own  or  any  other  time  or  place;  and  of  him  it  may,  with 
 much  propriety,  be  said,  that  with  the  testimony  of  a  good  con- 
 science, in  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity,  not  with  fleshly  wis- 
 dom, but  by  the  grace  of  God,  had  he  his  conversation  in  the 
 world. 
 
 NICHOLAS  RIDLEY, 
 
 Bishop  of  London, 
 
 Of  all  our  English  martyrs,  bishop  Ridley  has  been 
 esteemed  by  far  the  most  learned.  He  was  born  at  Willymond- 
 swyke  in  Northumberland,  of  an  ancient  and  very  worthy 
 family.  He  took  his  grammatical  education  at  Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne,  from  which,  about  the  year  1518,  he  was  removed  to 
 Pembroke-hall  in  Cambridge,  at  the  expence  of  his  uncle  Dr. 
 Robert  Ridley.  Here  he  soon  acquired  a  great  proficiency  in 
 the  Latin  and  Greek  tongues,  and  the  other  learning  of  that 
 period.  His  reputation  for  learning  procured  him  the  friend- 
 ship and  esteem  of  both  universities;  and  in  the  beginning  of 
 1524,  the  masters  and  fellows  of  university  college  in  Oxford 
 invited  him  to  accept  of  an  exhibition,  founded  by  Walter 
 Skyrley,  bishop  of  Durham;  which  he  declined.  The  next 
 year  he  took  his  degrees  of  master,  and  was  appointed  by  the 
 college  as  their  general  agent. 
 
 His  uncle,  observing  the  rapid  progress  he  was  making,   was 
 now  willing  to  afford  him  the  advantage  of  travel,  and  the  im- 
 
174  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 provement  of  foreign  universities;  and  his  studies  being  now 
 directed  to  divinity,  he  sent  him  for  some  time  among  the  doc- 
 tors of  the  Sarbonne  at  Paris,  which  was  then  the  most  cele- 
 brated university  in  Europe.  After  this  he  also  remained  a 
 short  time  among  the  professors  of  Lovain.  Having  remained 
 abroad  during  the  years  1527,  1528,  1529,  he  returned  to  Cam- 
 bridge, where  he  pursued  his  theological  studies,  and  applied 
 himself  to  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  as  his  surest  guide. 
 There  is  a  walk  in  the  orchard  at  Pembroke-hall  which  lias 
 still  the  name  of  Ridley's  walk.  Here  he  learned  to  repeat, 
 without  book,  almost  all  the  epistles  in  Greek.  His  behaviour 
 was  truly  obliging  and  pious,  without  hypocrisy  or  monk- 
 ish austerity;  he  would  sometimes  shoot  with  the  bow,  play  at 
 tennis,  and  mix  familiarly  in  the  harmless  amusements  of  the 
 place.  He  was  senior  proctor  of  the  university  when  the  im- 
 portant question  of  the  pope's  supremacy  came  before  them,  to 
 be  examined  upon  the  authority  of  scripture;  and  their  resolu- 
 tion— That  the  bishop  of  Rome  had  no  more  authority  or 
 jurisdiction  derived  from  God,  in  this  kingdom  of  England, 
 than  any  other  foreign  bishop — was  signed,  in  name  of  the  uni- 
 versity, by  Simon  Heynes,  vice-chancellor;  Nicholas  Ridley, 
 Richard  Wilks,  proctors.  He  lost  his  uncle  in  1536;  but  the 
 education  he  had  received,  and  the  proficiency  he  had  acquired, 
 recommended  him  to  another  and  greater  patron,  Cranmer, 
 archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  appointed  him  his  domestic 
 chaplain,  and  collated  him  to  the  vicarage  of  Heme  in  east 
 Kent.  Here  he  gave  his  testimony  from  the  pulpit  against  the 
 act  of  the  six  articles,  and  instructed  his  charge  in  the  pure 
 doctrines  of  the  gospel,  so  far  as  he  yet  understood  them. 
 Transubstantiation  was,  however,  still  an  article  of  his  belief. 
 During  his  retirement  at  this  place,  he  read  a  little  treatise, 
 written  seven  hundred  years  before,  by  Bertram,  a  monk  of 
 Cerbey.  The  perusal  of  this  treatise  first  opened  Ridley's  eyes, 
 and  determined  him  to  search  the  scriptures,  and  examine  the 
 doctrine  of  the  primitive  fathers  respecting  this  article.  The  re- 
 sult of  his  researches  he  communicated  to  Cranmer,  and  botli 
 were  convinced  that  the  doctrine  was  novel  and  heretical. 
 
 After  remaining  two  years  at  Heme,  he  was  chosen  master 
 of  Pembroke-hall,  and  appointed  chaplain  to  the  king.  And 
 the  cathedral  church  of  Canterbury  being  made  collegiate,  he 
 obtained  the  fifth  prcbendal  stall.  The  courage  and  zeal  he 
 manifested  in  promoting  the  reformation  was  such;  that  he  was 
 considered,  next  to  Cranmer,  its  greatest  supporter  amongst  the 
 clergy.  In  the  succeeding  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  when  a  royal 
 visitation  was  resolved  on  throughout  the  kingdom,  he  attended 
 the  visitors  of  the  northern  circuit,  as  their  preacher,  to  instruct 
 
NICHOLAS  RIDLEY.  175 
 
 that  part  of  the  kingdom  in  the  doctrines  of  the  reformation. 
 "  His  character,  at  this  time  (says  Dr.  Ridley,  his  biographer), 
 was  that  of  a  celebrated  disputant,  a  favourite  preacher,  undoubt- 
 ingin  the  article  of  transubstantiation ;  a  zealous  scripturalist,  and 
 particularly  well  acquainted  with  the  fathers.  He  was  made 
 chaplain  to  Edward  VI.,  and  consecrated  bishop  of  Rochester 
 during  the  year  1547.  He  was  translated  to  London  on  the 
 deprivation  of  Bonner  in  1550,  and  expired  in  the  flames  at 
 Oxford  in  1555." 
 
 The  church  of  Rome  had  taught  the  people  to  believe,  that 
 the  mere  action  of  receiving  the  sacrament  was  of  itself  suffi- 
 cient for  the  justification  of  the  receiver,  unless  he  himself  pre- 
 vented it;  and  this  seems  to  have  occasioned  the  homilies  rela- 
 tive to  the  ground  of  justification  before  God.  Concerning  the 
 real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  public  disputations 
 were  held,  in  both  universities,  between  the  reformers  and  the 
 papists;  and  Ridley,  with  some  other  delegates,  were  sent  to 
 Cambridge,  where  a  disputation  was  held  for  three  successive 
 days.  The  propositions  to  be  established  by  the  protestants, 
 and  opposed  by  their  antagonists,  were :  That  transubstantiation 
 cannot  be  found  in  the  plain  and  manifest  words  of  scripture  : 
 That  neither  can  it  be  collected  therefrom  by  rational  inference 
 and  deduction;  and  that,  as  the  scriptures  are  silent  on  this 
 point,  so  neither  is  it  confirmed  by  the  consent  of  the  primitive 
 fathers;  and  that  therefore  there  is  no  other  sacrifice  and  obla- 
 tion in  the  Lord's  supper,  than  a  remembrance  of  Christ's 
 death  and  thanksgiving.  The  debate  was  summed  up  with 
 much  candour  and  learning  by  bishop  Ridley;  but  decidedly 
 against  the  corporeal  presence.  Ridley  is  allowed  to  have  been 
 master  of  that  subject  more  than  any  man  of  the  age;  for  hav- 
 ing studied  Bertram's  book  of  the  ninth  century,  as  formerly 
 noticed,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  :  That  transubstantiation 
 was  not  an  original  doctrine  of  the  church,  but  had  been  intro- 
 duced with  other  errors  in  the  latter  ages.  This  discovery  he 
 communicated  to  his  friend  Cranmer,  and  both  set  themselves 
 to  examine  the  matter  with  more  than  common  care.  In  order 
 to  this,  they  made  large  collections  from  the  ancient  fathers, 
 to  prove  the  novelty  as  well  as  the  absurdity  of  the  opinion. 
 They  discovered,  that  all  the  lofty  and  swelling  expressions  to 
 be  found  in  Chrysostom,  and  other  ancient  writers  on  this  sub- 
 ject, were  merely  strains  and  figures  of  eloquence  to  raise  the 
 devotion  of  the  people,  though  following  ages  had  built  their 
 opinion  on  these  expressions,  and  the  more  readily  believed 
 them,  as  they  appeared  above  all  belief.  But  this  opinion  of 
 the  real  presence  having  been  so  generally  received  in  England 
 for  three  hundred  years,  these  eminent  reformers  went  to  work 
 
1?6  MEMOIR  OF* 
 
 with  great  caution,  and  by  gradually  proceeding  in  their  public 
 discussions,  afforded  time  for  the  people  to  consider  the  subject 
 more  leisurely,  and  of  course  more  effectually. 
 
 Ridley,  with  the  archbishop,  the  bishops  of  Ely,  Worcester, 
 Westminster,  Chichester,  and  Lincoln;  Sir  William  Petrie,  Sir 
 Thomas  Smith,  Dr.  Cox,  Dr.  May,  and  others,  were  put  into 
 commission  to  search  after  all  anabaptists,  heretics,  and  con- 
 temners of  the  common  prayer.     This  measure  was  adopted  in 
 consequence  of  information,  that,  together  with  the  many  pro- 
 testant  strangers  that  were  come  into  England  from  Germany, 
 several  anabaptists  had  arrived,  who  were  disseminating  their 
 errors,  and  making  proselytes.     These  men,  as  bishop  Burnet 
 informs  us,  building  upon  the  principle  held  forth  by  Luther, 
 that  scripture  is  the  only  rule  of  faith,  rejected  all  deductions 
 therefrom,    however   obvious   and   unavoidable    the   inference 
 might  be;  and  the  baptism  of  infants  not  being  mentioned  in 
 scripture,  they  therefore  rejected.    The  anabaptists  were  not  all 
 of  the  same  opinion,  but  differed  both  in  doctrine  and  practice; 
 some    were   moderate,    others   extravagant   and    fierce.      The 
 opinions  of  the  latter  may  be  partly  gathered  from  some  trades- 
 men in   London,   who  abjured  before  the  commission;   such 
 as,  That  a  regenerate  man  could  not  sin ;  for  if  the  outward  man 
 commit  sin,  the  inward  man  sinneth  not :    That  there  was  no 
 trinity  of  persons  in  the  godhead:    That  Christ   was   only  a 
 prophet,  and  not  God :    That  all  we  had  from  Christ  was  his 
 wise  teaching  and  holy  example;  and  that  the  baptism  of  infants 
 Avas  of  no  utility,  as  it  was  performed  before  the  subject  thereof 
 could  possibly  believe  in  the  doctrines  of  the  religion  into  which 
 he  was  thereby  intended  to  be  initiated.     Among  the  people 
 who  held  these,  and  similar  tenets,  was  Joan  Bocher,  commonly 
 called  Joan  of  Kent.     This  woman  appeared  before  the  com- 
 mission, and  behaved  with  unparalleled  obstinacy,  vindicating 
 her  opinion  with  a  mixture  of  ill-nature  and  contempt,  treating 
 all  the  means  used  to  reclaim  her  with  scorn.     She  was  accord- 
 ingly pronounced  an  heretic,  and  delivered  over  to  the  secular 
 arm.     Ridley  was  still  at  Rochester;  for  the  archbishop,  John 
 Smith,  William  Cook  dean  of  the  arches,  Hugh  Latimer,  and 
 Richard  Lyel,  were  only  named  in  the  sentence.     The  king 
 could  scarcely  be  prevailed  upon  to  sign  the  warrant  for  her 
 burning;  but  Cranmer,  among  many  tilings,  represented  that  it 
 would  bespeak  a  strange  indifference  toward  religion,  to  over- 
 look the  honour  of  God,  by  neglecting  to  put  the  laws  in  exe- 
 cution,  framed  for  that  particular  purpose;  while  those  laws 
 that  related  to  the  honour  of  the  king  were  executed  with  so 
 much    zeal   and    severity.      However,    the  archbishop  was  not 
 so   intent    on   her   punishment,   as   he   had  been  for  passing  the 
 
NICHOLAS  RIDLEY.  177 
 
 sentence.  He  and  Ridley  laboured  a  whole  year  to  persuade 
 her  of  her  errors,  but  to  no  purpose;  at  last  she  was  burnt  in 
 May  1550.  A  similar  sentence  was  executed  against  George 
 Van  Parre,  a  Dutchman,  for  denying  the  divinity  of  our  Savi- 
 our. It  is  mentioned  here  for  the  sake  of  connection,  though 
 it  did  not  happen  till  April  1551,  on  the  6th  of  which  month, 
 Ridley,  being  one  of  the  commissioners,  signed  his  sentence  of 
 excommunication.  Mild  and  gentle  as  he  certainly  was  to 
 every  modest  inquirer,  however  much  in  error,  he  would  not 
 relax  or  break  through  the  existing  laws  to  indulge  an  obstinate 
 blasphemer. 
 
 The  protestants  were  charged  by  the  papists  with  a  disregard 
 to  all  religioD,  and  that  they  could  endure  heresies,  in  every 
 sectary,  with  the  greatest  indifference;  while  the  most  canoni- 
 cal truths  held  forth  by  the  Romish  church  they  treated  with 
 derision  and  ridicule.     During  the  preceding  winter,  it  was  in 
 agitation  to  unite  the  reformers,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  into 
 one  great  body.     Bullenger  and  Calvin,  with  others,  in  a  letter 
 to  king  Edward,  proposed  making  him  their  defender,  tender- 
 ing, at  the  same  time,  their  services  and  assistance  in  all  cases 
 of  danger.     The  Roman  fathers,  on  learning  what  was  going 
 forward,  became  alarmed,  and  sent  two  emissaries  from  Am- 
 sterdam into  England,  with  orders  to  pass  themselves  for  ana- 
 baptists, and  inculcate  the  belief  of  a  fifth  monarchy.     A  letter, 
 dated  1549,  was  also  despatched  by  the  same  fathers,   from 
 Delf  in  Holland,  to  two  English  bishops;  Gardiner  of  Win- 
 chester was  one  of  them,  and  probably  Bonner  might  be  the 
 other.    In  this  letter  they  apprize  the  bishops  of  the  approach  of 
 these  incendiaries,  and  request  them  to  countenance  and  protect 
 them  in  case  they  should  meet  with  any  opposition;  adding, 
 that  it  was  left  for  them,  and  some  others,  known  to  be  well-af- 
 fected to  the  mother-church,    to   assist  in  the  present  crisis. 
 This  letter  was  found,  by  Sir  H.  Sidney,  in  queen  Elizabeth's 
 closet,  among  some  letters  of  queen  Mary's;  and  the  knowledge, 
 or  even  the  suspicion  of  these  intrigues,  might  perhaps  occa- 
 sion the  severity  thus  exercised  against  these  anabaptists.     It 
 was  owing,  however,  as  much  to  the  ignorance  as  to  the  vice 
 of  the  age,  that  the  reformers,  who  had  suffered  so  much  from 
 the  persecuting  spirit  of  Rome,  had  retained,  along  with  much 
 of  her  superstition,  part  also  of  her  persecuting  policy;  opposed, 
 as  it  evidently  was,  not  only  to  the  mild  economy  of  grace,  but 
 also  to  the  justice  necessary  for  promoting  the  peace  and  hap- 
 piness of  society. 
 
 Some  time  during  the  summer  Ridley  was  called  to  preside 
 at  a  disputation,  appointed  to  be  publicly  held  at  Cambridge, 
 relative  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper.     Two  positions 
 
178  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 were  agreed  upon  as  the  subjects  of  disputation:  1st,  That 
 transubstantiation  cannot  be  proved  by  the  plain  and  manifest 
 words  of  scripture,  nor  fairly  deduced  therefrom,  nor  yet  by 
 the  consent  of  the  ancient  fathers  for  the  last  thousand  years. 
 2d,  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  supper  there  is  none  other 
 oblation  or  sacrifice  than  one  only  remembrance  of  Christ's 
 death,  and  of  thanksgiving. 
 
 The  first  disputation  took  place  on  Thursday  the  21st  of 
 June — Dr.  Madew  of  Clare-hall,  respondent,  maintaining  the 
 above  positions :  Dr.  Glyn,  Messrs  Langdale,  Sedgwick,  and 
 Young,  opponents.  The  second  disputation  was  held  on  Mon- 
 day the  24th — Dr.  Glyn,  respondent,  maintaining  the  contrary 
 positions  :  Messrs  Perne,  Grindal,  Gest,  and  Pilkington,  oppo- 
 nents. The  third  was  on  Thursday  the  27th — Mr  Perne, 
 respondent,  maintaining  the  positions :  Messrs  Parker,  Pollard, 
 Vavasor,  and  Young,  opponents.  Between  the  disputations  at 
 Oxford  and  those  at  Cambridge  there  was  one  difference  ob- 
 served: Peter  Martyr  admitted  a  change  in  the  elements;  and 
 Langdale,  one  of  the  opponents,  asked  wherein  this  change  was 
 effected,  supposing  it  to  be  admitted.  Whether  was  it  wrought 
 in  the  substances  or  in  the  accidents,  or  in  both,  or  in  neither  ? 
 Ridley  interposed,  by  saying,  There  is  no  change  either  of  the 
 substances  or  of  the  accidents,  notwithstanding  that  the  sancti- 
 fying and  setting  apart  of  the  bread  and  wine  adds  t©  the  ori- 
 ginal accidents  others  which  they  did  not  formerly  possess. 
 
 After  the  disputation  was  closed,  the  bishop  determined 
 against  transubstantiation  on  these  five  principal  grounds: 
 1st,  The  authority,  majesty,  and  verity  of  holy  scripture :  "I 
 will  not  henceforth  drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine."  St.  Paul  and 
 St.  Luke  calls  it  bread  after  consecration.  They  speak  of 
 breaking,  which  corresponds  with  bread,  but  literally  cannot 
 with  the  body  of  Christ.  It  was  to  be  done  in  remembrance  of 
 him.  "  This  is  the  bread  that  came  down  from  heaven;"  but  the 
 body  of  Christ  came  not  from  heaven.  "It  is  the  spirit  that 
 quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing."  2d,  The  most  certain 
 testimony  of  the  ancient  catholic  fathers,  of  whom  he  produced 
 Dionysius,  Ignatius,  Irenseus,  Tertullian,  Chrysostom,  Cyprian, 
 Theodoret,  Gelasius,  Austin,  Cyril,  Isychius,  and  Bertram, 
 who  call  it  bread  after  consecration,  sacramental  bread,  a  figure 
 of  the  body  of  Christ;  and  expressly  declare,  that  it  still  con- 
 tinues to  be  bread,  and  that  both  elements  continue  to  be  as 
 much  as  ever  very  bread  and  wine.  3d,  The  nature  of  the 
 sacrament,  in  which  the  symbols  represent  the  like  spiritual  ef- 
 fects; which,  in  the  sacrament  of  the  supper,  are  unity,  nutri- 
 tion, and  conversion  :  The  unity  of  the  grains  make  one  bread, 
 as  the  unity  of  the  members  make  the  one  mystical  body  of 
 
NICHOLAS  RIDLEY.  179 
 
 Christ.  The  substance  of  these  grains  nourish  our  bodies,  and 
 with  great  propriety  represent  the  nourishment  of  our  souls. 
 Those  therefore  that  take  away  the  similitude  between  the 
 bread  and  the  body  of  Christ,  destroy  the  very  nature  of  a  sa- 
 crament, as  there  can  remain  nothing  to  represent  our  being 
 turned  into  Christ's  mystical  body,  if  the  bread  be  not  convert- 
 ed into  the  substance  of  our  bodies.  4th,  That  transubstantia- 
 tion  destroys  one  of  the  natures  of  Christ,  because  they  who 
 hold  to  the  corporeal  presence  in  the  sacrament,  destroy  the  re- 
 ality of  his  human  nature.  Eutychas  allowed  the  divine  nature, 
 but  denied  the  human  nature  of  Christ;  and  they  who  defend 
 the  ubiquity  of  Christ's  human  nature,  ascribe  to  it  the  attri- 
 butes that  alone  belong  to  the  divine.  The  fifth  ground  is, 
 That  Christ  is  ascended  into  heaven;  and  although,  by  his  essen- 
 tial deity  and  invisible  grace,  he  is  with  his  people  always,  and 
 his  church,  to  the  end  of  the  world;  yet,  with  respect  to  his 
 manhood,  he  says,  You  shall  not  have  me  always  with  you. 
 
 Against  the  oblation  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  he  produced 
 from  scripture  an  overwhelming  mass  of  evidence,  together 
 with  that  of  a  number  of  the  fathers  of  the  catholic  church,  all 
 which,  said  he,  are  sufficient  at  this  time  for  a  scholastic  deter- 
 mination of  these  matters. 
 
 Ridley  assisted  Cranmer  in  the  first  edition  of  the  common 
 prayer.  He  was  ranked  with  Cranmer,  Hooper,  Ferrar,  and 
 others,  denominated  the  zealous  protestants,  in  opposition  to 
 Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  Tunstal,  who  were  called  zealous  pa- 
 pists. Ridley  had  his  injunctions  for  the  visitation  of  his  diocese 
 printed,  which  show  the  progress  then  made  in  the  reformation 
 in  England.  They  enjoin,  that  none  should  be  admitted  to  the 
 communion  but  such  as  were  ready  to  confess  the  articles  of 
 the  creed  at  the  request  of  the  curate :  That  the  homilies  should 
 be  read  orderly,  without  omitting  any  part  of  them  :  That  the 
 common  prayer  should  be  read  in  every  church  on  Wednesday's 
 and  Friday's :  That  none  should  maintain  purgatory,  invocation 
 of  saints,  the  six  articles,  bead  rolls,  pilgrimages,  relics,  rubrics, 
 primers,  the  justification  of  man  by  his  own  works,  holy 
 bread,  psalms,  ashes,  candles,  creeping  to  the  cross,  hallowing 
 of  fire  or  altars,  or  such  like  abuses. 
 
 The  king  was  under  a  visible  decay,  and  Ridley  preached 
 before  him  toward  the  end  of  his  sickness;  and  having  in  one  of 
 his  sermons  enlarged  on  the  duty  of  charity,  and  its  happy  con- 
 sequences, the  king  was  so  moved  with  what  he  had  heard,  that 
 after  sermon  he  sent  for  the  bishop,  and  desiring  him  to  sit 
 down  and  be  covered.  His  majesty  ran  over  the  heads  of  the 
 discourse,  and  said,  his  lordship  must  give  him  some  directions 
 how  to  acquit  himself  of  his  duty.     The  bishop,  astonished  a* 
 
180  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 so  much  tender  sensibility  in  so  young  a  prince,  burst  into 
 tears;  but  requested  time  to  consider  the  channel  in  which  the 
 royal  charity  could  be  most  advantageously  directed,  and  that 
 he  might  be  permitted  to  consult  with  the  lord  mayor  and 
 aldermen  on  that  subject.  His  majesty  accordingly  wrote  them 
 by  the  bishop,  who  returned  with  a  scheme  of  three  foundations : 
 One  for  the  sick  and  wounded;  another  for  those  that  were  un- 
 willingly idle,  or  who  were  mad;  and  a  third  for  orphans.  His 
 majesty  therefore  endowed  St.  Bartholomew's  hospital  for  the  first, 
 bridewell  for  the  second,  and  Greyfriar's  church  for  the  third. 
 
 King  Edward  died  in  1553,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sister 
 Mary,  whose  reign  was  one  continued  course  of  tyranny,  bigo- 
 try, and  persecution,  by  which  the  land  was  polluted  with 
 blood.  She  was  a  rigid  papist,  and  caused  lady  Jean  Gray, 
 who  openly  professed  the  protestant  religion,  to  be  beheaded, 
 though  only  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  one  of  the  most 
 accomplished  ladies  in  her  time,  notwithstanding  that  Edward 
 had  bequeathed  her  the  crown  by  his  last  will. 
 
 The  duke  of  Northumberland  and  his  son,  the  duke  of  Nor- 
 folk and  his  brother,  were  also  beheaded  for  attempting  to  put 
 this  excellent  lady  on  the  throne.  The  infamous  Gardiner, 
 and  the  execrable  Bonner,  she  released  from  prison,  and  ap- 
 pointed them  to  pull  down  the  reformation,  which  her  brother 
 had  brought  to  a  considerable  state  of  improvement.  She  in- 
 troduced the  mass,  persecuted  the  protestants  to  the  death,  and 
 re-established  the  idolatrous  worship  of  Rome,  contrary  to  the 
 will  or  inclination  of  three-fourths  of  the  population  of  England. 
 Gardiner  was  the  despicable  tool  in  the  hand  of  this  ignorant, 
 superstitious,  and  peevish  lady,  to  extirpate  from  the  land  the 
 religion  which  she  called  heresy;  and  his  orders  to  purge  the 
 church  of  married  clergymen  were  so  pressing,  and  their  execu- 
 tion so  prompt,  that  of  sixteen  thousand  inferior  clergymen, 
 twelve  thousand  were  expelled  their  livings  for  the  crime  of 
 legitimate  marriage. 
 
 In  order  to  force  the  protestants  within  the  pale  of  the  Ro- 
 man church,  Gardiner  thought  it  best  to  begin  with  the  most 
 popular  bishops  and  divines,  judging,  by  his  own  shifting  prin- 
 ciples, that  they  would  become  an  easy  conquest,  and  that  their 
 example  would  influence  the  people;  but  he  was  much  mistaken 
 in  his  calculation,  for  bishops  Latimer,  Hooper,  Ridley,  and 
 Ferrar,  who  were  imprisoned,  tried,  and  condemned,  yet  offered 
 mercy,  and  even  preferment  in  the  church,  providing  they 
 would  recant  and  join  the  Romanists,  boldly  held  the  confession 
 of  their  faith  without  wavering,  and  ultimately  sealed  their  faith 
 and  obedience  to  the  laws  of  Christ  with  their  blood;  which 
 brought  the  Romish  bishops  to  shame  and  popular  disgrace. 
 
NICHOLAS  RIDLEY.  181 
 
 The  convocation  was  adjourned  and  removed  to  Oxford, 
 where  a  public  disputation  was  appointed  between  the  popish 
 and  protestant  adherents,  to  be  held  before  the  whole  univer- 
 sity. To  give  a  colour  of  justice  to  this  conference,  archbishop 
 Cranmer,  bishops  Ridley  and  Latimer,  were  sent  from  the 
 tower  to  the  prison  of  Oxford  to  support  the  doctrines  of  the 
 reformation,  where  they  were  ill-accommodated,  denied  the  use 
 of  their  books  and  papers,  or  the  conversation  of  one  another, 
 and  their  mutual  assistance  in  managing  the  controversy,  as  it 
 was  so  arranged  that  each  had  his  separate  day.  To  each  of 
 these  three  prelates,  a  committee  from  the  convocation  and  the 
 university  were  opposed,  against  whom  they  had  to  defend  their 
 opinions  single-handed.  This  disputation,  says  Fuller,  was  in- 
 tended for  a  prologue  to  the  tragical  death  of  these  distinguish- 
 ed individuals,  as  it  were  to  dry  their  bodies  for  the  fire,  that 
 the  flames  might  be  the  brighter. 
 
 Mary's  government  and  clergy  have  been  charged  with  the 
 most  infernal  cruelty,  injustice,  and  public  malversation.  The 
 queen  was  married  to  Philip  of  Spain;  and  imagining  herself 
 pregnant,  declared  she  could  not  possibly  be  delivered  till  all 
 the  heretics,  with  which  the  goals  in  and  about  London  were 
 filled,  should  be  delivered  to  the  flames.  While  thus  the  coun- 
 cil and  clergy  of  England  were  become  the  willing  executioners 
 of  the  vengeance  meditated  by  this  infernal  fury,  the  nation 
 seemed  in  one  general  blaze  of  persecution.  Commissions  for 
 the  mock  trial  of  Ridley,  Latimer,  and  Cranmer,  were  directed 
 to  three  bishops  and  several  others;  but  the  imprisoned  prelates, 
 at  their  different  appearances,  refused  to  acknowledge  the  papal 
 authority.  Cranmer  was  brought  forward  the  first;  the  next 
 was  Ridley,  who  began  with  a  solemn  declaration,  that  although 
 his  present  opinions  were  different  from  what  they  had  once 
 been,  yet  he  had  not  changed  them  from  any  worldly  considera- 
 tion, but  purely  from  the  conviction  of  his  mind,  that  he  had 
 discovered  the  truth;  and  seeing  he  was  now  called  upon  to 
 maintain  the  cause  of  God,  and  the  verity  of  his  word,  he  pro- 
 tested that  he  should  be  permitted  to  add  to,  or  alter,  any  argu- 
 ment as  he  should  find  it  necessary;  and  hoped,  as  he  had  to 
 contend  against  a  whole  committee,  that  he  would  not  be  in- 
 terrupted or  assailed  by  more  than  one  at  a  time.  All  this  was 
 promised,  but  not  complied  with;  for  he  was  not  only  assailed 
 by  the  whole  committee,  one  after  another,  but  sometimes  by 
 four  or  five  of  them  at  once.  Still  he  maintained  his  ground, 
 till  his  adversaries,  having  shot  off  their  last  arrows,  the  prolo- 
 cutor put  an  end  to  the  dispute,  by  saying,  You  see  the  obstinate, 
 vain-glorious,  crafty,  and  inconstant  mind  of  this  man;  but  you 
 also  see  the  force  of  truth  cannot  be  shaken,  therefore  cry  on' 
 with  me,  Truth  has  the  victorv ! 
 
182  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 The  three  bishops  were  adjudged  to  be  obstinate  heretics, 
 and  declared  no  longer  members  of  the  church;  to  which  they 
 all  objected.  Ridley  told  the  commissioners,  that  though  he 
 was  not  of  then-  company,  yet  he  doubted  not  but  his  name  was 
 written  in  a  better  place,  whether  their  sentence  would  afford 
 him  a  more  early  admission  than  the  course  of  nature  seemed 
 to  indicate.  The  prisoners  were  conducted  to  their  separate 
 prisons,  where  Ridley  wrote  a  letter  to  the  prolocutor,  com- 
 plaining of  the  noisy  and  irregular  manner  in  which  the  dispute 
 was  carried  on,  whereby  he  was  prevented  from  making  a  full 
 defence,  or  of  urging  his  arguments  at  length,  being  overpower- 
 ed with  clamour,  and  the  cowardly  abuse  of  four  or  five  oppo- 
 nents at  a  time.  He  desired,  however,  to  have  a  copy  of  what 
 the  notaries  had  set  down;  but  the  request  was  not  granted. 
 
 Ridley  and  Latimer  refused  to  recant,  or  to  renounce  their 
 reason  on  the  unintelligible  jargon  of  a  popish  eucharist,  the 
 common  watchword  in  those  days  for  murder;  so  they  were 
 delivered  over  to  the  secular  arm.  The  bishops  of  Gloucester, 
 Lincoln,  and  Bristol,  were  sent  to  Oxford  to  proceed  against 
 them.  When  their  commission  was  read,  and  it  appeared  that 
 they  were  to  proceed  in  the  name  of  the  pope,  Ridley  put  on 
 his  cap,  and  refused  to  pay  any  reverence  to  those  who  acted 
 under  that  authority;  Latimer  also  protested  against  the  papal 
 authority;  and  being  both  accused  of  the  opinions  they  main- 
 tained in  the  public  schools  a  year  and  a  half  before,  they  were 
 allowed  till  next  morning  to  consider  whether  they  would  re- 
 tract. Next  morning  both  adhered  to  the  answers  they  had 
 already  made,  and  accordingly  were  pronounced  obstinate  here- 
 tics, degraded  from  their  orders,  and  consigned  over  to  the  secu- 
 lar power  to  be  punished. 
 
 Every  possible  method  was  tried  upon  Ridley  to  persuade 
 him  to  receive  the  queen's  mercy;  which  he  rejected,  and  a  war- 
 rant was  sent  down  for  the  execution  of  him  and  Latimer. 
 Accordingly,  on  the  16th  of  October  1555,  they  suffered  in  the 
 ditch  opposite  to  Baliol  college.  When  they  came  up  to  the 
 stake,  they  embraced  one  another  very  affectionately;  and  Rid- 
 ley, with  an  air  of  peculiar  satisfaction,  said  to  Latimer,  cheer 
 up  your  heart  brother,  God  will  either  assuage  the  fury  of  the 
 flames,  or  afford  strength  to  endure  it.  He  then  returned  to 
 the  stake,  and  falling  on  his  knees,  kissed  it,  and  prayed  fer- 
 vently for  a  short  space;  after  which,  preparing  to  speak  to  the 
 multitude,  some  persons  ran  up  to  him  and  stopped  his  mouth. 
 After  being  stript,  he  stood  on  a  stone  by  the  stake,  and  offered 
 uj>  the  following  prayer:  "O  heavenly  Father,  I  give  thee 
 hearty  thanks  that  thou  hast  called  me  to  confess  the  truths  of 
 lliy  holy  word,  and  maintain  the  doctrines  of  grace  and  salva- 
 
NICHOLAS  RIDLEY.  183 
 
 tion  even  unto  death.  I  beseech  thee,  Lord  God,  to  have 
 mercy  on  this  realm  of  England,  and  deliver  it  from  all  its  ene- 
 mies." A  Mr  Smith  had  delivered  a  long  and  very  abusive 
 sermon,  to  which  they  were  not  permitted  to  make  any  answer, 
 unless  they  would  recant.  Ridley  replied  to  this  proposal, 
 that  he  never  would  deny  his  Lord,  nor  the  truths  of  which  he 
 was  fully  persuaded:  so  let  the  will  of  Gad  be  done.  He  said 
 he  had  received  fines,  when  bishop  of  London,  for  leases  which 
 were  now  voided,  and  requested  that  the  queen  might  give 
 orders,  either  that  the  leases  might  be  made  good,  or  the  fines 
 restored  to  the  tenants  out  of  the  effects  he  had  left  behind  him, 
 which  were  more  than  sufficient  for  that  purpose.  After  this 
 they  were  ordered  to  fit  themselves  for  the  stake.  As  the  smith 
 was  knocking  in  the  staple  that  held  the  chain,  he  said,  knock 
 it  hard,  goodman,  for  the  flesh  will  have  its  course.  Some 
 gunpowder  was  hanged  to  their  bodies  to  hasten  their  death, 
 and  the  fire  put  to  the.  wood.  The  powder  took  fire  with  the  first 
 flame,  which  put  Latimer  instantly  out  of  pain;  but  there  was 
 so  much  wood  thrown  where  Ridley  was,  that  the  flame  could 
 not  break  through,  so  that  his  legs  were  almost  consumed  be- 
 fore it  was  observed,  when  a  passage  for  the  flame  was  opened, 
 which  soon  put  an  end  to  his  life,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of 
 his  age. 
 
 The  station  which  both  these  martyrs  had  held  in  the  church, 
 their  exemplary  lives,  their  benevolent  disposition,  their  age, 
 and  the  patience,  meekness,  and  fortitude  of  their  behaviour  in 
 passing  through  this  fiery  ordeal,  raised  the  commiseration  of 
 the  spectators,  and  sent  them  home  in  silent  indignation  at  the 
 actors  and  abettors  of  such  inhuman  cruelty.  Ridley's  fine 
 parts  and  acquirements  in  all  the  branches  of  literature,  neces- 
 sary for  a  divine,  gave  him  the  first  rank  in  the  clerical  profes- 
 sion; and  the  purity  of  his  life  corresponded  with  his  knowledge. 
 He  was  of  an  easy  and  obliging  temper;  and  though  he  had 
 spirit  to  support  his  character,  and  do  himself  justice  with  the 
 great  and  powerful,  he  was  always  ready  to  forgive  injuries  or 
 offences.  His  zeal  for  religion  was  never  manifested  by  pro- 
 moting severities  against  those  who  held  opinions  different  from 
 his  own,  but  in  diligently  explaining  the  matters  that  appeared 
 to  be  misunderstood,  and  shewing  their  foundation  in  scripture 
 and  antiquity.  The  grace  of  his  Master  was  not  only  shewn  in 
 the  candour  and  charity  of  his  sentiments,  but  also  in  kind  and 
 beneficent  offices  to  those  who  differed  from  him  in  their  opi- 
 nions. He  was  a  benefactor  to  the  poor  and  the  oppressed;  he 
 maintained  Heath,  the  deprived  bishop  of  Worchester,  for  a 
 year  and  a  half,  in  the  same  splendour  as  though  Fulham-house 
 had  been  his  own;  and  Bonner's  mother,  who  merited  nothing 
 
184  >IOIR  OF 
 
 on  her  own  account,  dined  always  at  his  table  so  long  as  her 
 son  was  held  prisoner  in  the  tower.  The  reformation  was 
 greatly  promoted  by  his  learning,  zeal,  and  active  exertions 
 while  he  lived,  and  perhaps  more  so  by  his  death  in  its  defence. 
 In  England,  as  everywhere  else,  the  ancient  observation  has 
 been  verified,  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
 church.  And  the  magnanimity  evinced  by  these  good  men, 
 during  this  period  of  persecuting  barbarity,  led  to  consequences 
 the  very  reverse  of  those  anticipated  by  their  adversaries.  The 
 cruelties  exercised  towards  these  innocent  and  unresisting  vic- 
 tims, set  all  the  powers  of  commiserating  sensibility  in  motion, 
 which,  like  a  stream  of  electricity,  rushed  from  bosom  to  bosom. 
 The  terrors  of  power  were  lost  in  the  triumph  of  the  martyrs, 
 and  every  attempt  to  put  the  sufferers  to  shame  recoiled  on  their 
 disappointed  persecutors.  So  much  was  this  the  case,  that  Gardi- 
 ner, the  insolent  and  brow-beating  bishop  of  Winchester,  began 
 to  take  shame  to  himself  for  wallowing  in  blood  to  so  little  pur- 
 pose; and  that  he  might  screen  himself  from  the  general  execra- 
 tion, left  that  staunch  blood-hound  Bonner,  bishop  of  London, 
 to  play  off  the  most  abhorrent  parts  of  this  infernal  tragedy. 
 But  even  Bonner  himself  turned  cool ;  and  that  he  might  not 
 bear  alone  the  infamy  poured  upon  him,  not  only  from  every 
 corner  of  England,  but  from  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  he 
 brought  Philip  and  Mary  on  the  theatre,  that  as  they  were  the 
 original  instigators,  so  they  might  come  in  for  their  share  of 
 merited  renown ;  and  in  all  probability  the  early  death  of  Mary 
 saved  her  from  the  mortification  of  becoming  a  queen  without 
 subjects,  as  she  exhibited  no  symptoms  whatever  of  returning 
 moderation. 
 
 We  shall  conclude  the  life  of  this  eminent  divine,  and  inflex- 
 ible martyr,  with  a  quotation  from  Dr.  Ridley,  his  friend  and 
 learned  biographer.  "  Bishop  Ridley  (says  he)  was  gentle  to 
 tender  consciences;  but  wherever  he  found  that  the  will  was  in 
 fault  from  vanity,  malice,  or  obstinacy?  he  set  himself  with  great 
 stedfastness  to  reduce  them  to  reasonable  obedience.  With  re- 
 spect to  himself,  he  was  a  man  of  humility,  much  given  to 
 prayer  and  contemplation.  Ever  careful  of  the  best  interests  of 
 his  family,  he  was  assiduous  in  their  instruction;  he  provided 
 every  one  of  them  who  could  read  with  a  New  Testament,  and 
 even  hired  them  to  learn  select  passages  by  heart.  So  soon  as 
 he  arose  and  had  dressed  himself,  he  retired  for  about  half-an- 
 hour  to  his  private  devotion;  after  which,  unless  interrupted  by 
 other  business,  he  continued  at  his  studies  till  ten,  when  he 
 came  to  family  worship,  and  there  read  a  lecture,  beginning 
 with  the  Acts  of  t lie  Apostles,  and  so  went  regularly  through 
 Paul's  epistles.      In  person,  he  was  small  of  stature,  but  great 
 
NICHOLAS  RIDLEY.  185 
 
 in  learning,  and  profoundly  read  in  divinity.  Among  several 
 things  that  he  wrote  were  these :  A  Treatise  concerning  Ima- 
 ges not  to  be  set  up  nor  worshipped  in  churches. — A  brief  de- 
 claration of  the  Lord's  Supper. — A  Treatise  of  the  blessed  Sa- 
 crament.— A  piteous  Lamentation  over  the  miserable  state  of 
 the  Church  of  England  on  the  introduction  of  Popery. — A 
 Comparison  between  the  comfortable  Doctrines  of  the  Gospel 
 and  the  Traditions  of  the  Popish  Religion. — He  had  a  hand  in 
 compiling  the  Common  Prayer-book,  as  also  in  several  disputa- 
 tions and  conferences  about  matters  of  religion. 
 
 THOMAS  CRAXMER,  D.  D. 
 
 Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
 
 The   celebrated   subject  of  this  memoir  was   the  son  of 
 Thomas  Cranmer,  Esq.  whose  family  came  into  England  with 
 William  the  conqueror.    He  was  born  at  Arselacton  in  Notting- 
 hamshire, on  the  2d  June  1489;  was  rather  unfortunate  in  his 
 schoolmaster  and  primary  education;  and  his  father  dying  while 
 he  was  very  young,  his  mother,  when  he  had  arrived  at  the  age 
 of  fourteen,  had  him  placed  at  Cambridge,  where  he  spent  his 
 time,  for  eight  years,  to  very  little  purpose,  entangled  amongst 
 the  dark  riddles  of  Dun  Scotus,  and  other  celebrated  question- 
 ests.     He  then  commenced  the  reading  of  Faber,  Erasmus,  and 
 other  good  Latin  authors,  for  four  or  five  years,  till,  urged  by  the 
 controversies  of  the  times,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
 the  scriptures  for  three  years  together.     Having  thus  acquired 
 a  considerable  acquaintance  with  the  holy  scriptures,  he  turned 
 his  attention  to  general  reading,  which  embraced  good  writers, 
 both  ancient  and  modern.     He  was  but  a  slow  reader,  but  care- 
 ful to  mark  whatever  he  read,  seldom  perusing  a  book  without 
 the  pen  in  his  hand.     He  married  before  lie  had  taken  orders, 
 by  which  means  he  lost  his  fellowship  in  Jesus'  college;  but  his 
 wife  dying  in  child-bed  about  a  year  thereafter,  such  was  the 
 favourable  opinion  entertained  by  his  fellow-collegians  for  his 
 talents  and  deportment,  that  they  unanimously  re-admitted  him 
 to  his  fellowship.     On  this  occasion  his  gratitude  was  such,  that 
 he  rejected  a  fellowship  in  cardinal  Wolsey's  new  college,  not- 
 withstanding that  the  salary  was  much  more  considerable,  and 
 the  path  to  preferment  more  open  through  the  influence  of  the 
 cardinal,  choosing  rather  to  remain  with  his  old  associates,  who 
 had  given  him  so  singular  a  mark  of  their  friendship  and  affec- 
 tion.     In  1523  he  commenced  doctor  of  divinity.     Being    in 
 his   thirty-fourth    vear,    and    in    GTeat   esteem   for   theological 
 7  2  a 
 
181)  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 learning,  he  was  chosen  divinity  lecturer  in  bis  own  college, 
 and  appointed  by  the  university  for  one  of  the  examiners  of 
 such  as  took  their  degrees  in  divinity.  These  candidates  he 
 examined  principally  from  the  scriptures;  and  finding  many  of 
 them  grossly  ignorant  of  divine  revelation,  he  rejected  them,  as 
 unqualified  to  teach  others  what  themselves  did  not  understand, 
 advising  them  to  a  close  and  careful  study  of  the  sacred  oracles 
 before  they  applied  for  their  degrees,  that  they  might  not  dis- 
 grace the  profession  of  divinity,  by  their  ignorance  of  that  book 
 wherein  the  knowledge  of  God  and  the  ground  of  true  theology 
 were  alone  to  be  found.  Some  hated  him  for  his  strictness  on 
 this  point,  considering  it  as  a  novel  invention,  while  the  more 
 ingenious  afterwards  thanked  him,  in  a  public  manner,  for  hav- 
 ing been  the  means  of  giving  them  the  true  method  of  improve- 
 ment in  the  knowledge  of  religion. 
 
 During  his  residence  at  Cambridge,  the  question  of  the  king's 
 divorce  Avas  agitated  in  the  schools;  but  the  plague  breaking 
 out  in  the  university,  Cranmer  retired  to  Waltham  Abbey, 
 where  accidently  meeting  with  Gardiner  and  Fox,  the  one  the 
 king's  secretary,  and  the  other  his  almoner,  Cranmer  strongly 
 recommended  the  method  that  had  been  suggested  by  Wolsey, 
 namely,  to  refer  the  question  of  divorce  to  the  decision  of  our 
 own  and  foreign  universities,  which  he  considered  the  shortest 
 and  safest  method,  and  that  which  would  afford  the  best-grounded 
 satisfaction  to  the  conscience  of  the  king.  On  hearing  Cran- 
 mer's  remarks  on  this  subject,  the  king  said  that  Cranmer  had 
 got  the  sow  by  the  right  ear,  and  immediately  sent  for  him  to 
 court,  where  observing  his  gravity,  modesty,  and  learning,  he 
 resolved  to  cherish  and  promote  him.  Accordingly  the  king 
 made  him  his  chaplain,  gave  him  a  good  benefice,  and  had  him 
 nominated  for  archdeacon  of  Taunton.  By  his  majesty's  orders 
 he  drew  up  a  paper,  wherein  his  own  judgment  on  this  delicate 
 point  was  stated  at  large,  with  the  reasons  on  which  it  was 
 founded;  which  opinion  he  defended  in  the  public  school  at 
 Cambridge  by  such  solid  arguments,  that  many  of  the  opposite 
 party  came  over  to  his  opinion,  particularly  he  converted  five 
 of  six  doctors  who  had  previously  given  in  a  contrary  opinion 
 to  the  king. 
 
 In  the  year  1530,  Cranmer  was  sent  to  Paris  to  dispute  on 
 this  subject,  also  to  Rome  and  other  foreign  parts.  At  Rome 
 he  gave  in  his  book,  containing  his  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the 
 case,  to  the  pope,  and  offered  to  defend  the  same  in  a  public 
 disputation;  but  after  several  appointments  for  that  purpose, 
 none  appeared  publicly  to  oppose  him,  while,  in  private,  he 
 forced  them  to  confess  that  the  marriage  was  evidently  contrary 
 to  the  law  of  God.     To  get  clear  of  his  arguments  with  a  good 
 
THOMAS  CUANMER.  187 
 
 grace,  the  pope  constituted  him  penitentiary  general  of  England, 
 and  so  dismissed  him.  In  Germany  his  reasoning  was  admit- 
 ted as  conclusive  by  many  learned  men,  who,  before  they  heard 
 Cranmer,  were  of  a  different  opinion,  particularly  he  so  effec- 
 tually convinced  the  famous  Osiander,  that  he  declared  the 
 king's  marriage  unlawful  in  his  treatise  of  incestuous  marriage, 
 and  drew  up  a  form,  which  was  sent  over  to  England,  setting 
 forth  the  manner  in  which  the  king's  process  ought  to  be 
 managed.  Before  he  left  Germany,  Cranmer  was  married  to 
 Osiander's  niece,  whom,  when  he  returned,  he  left  with  her 
 friends  till  1534-,  when  he  sent  for  her  privately. 
 
 In  August  1532  archbishop  Warham  departed  this  life;  and 
 the  king  conceiving  Dr.  Cranmer  to  be  the  most  proper  person 
 to  succeed  him  in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  wrote  to  hasten  him 
 home,  without  mentioning  the  cause.  But  Cranmer,  guessing 
 at  his  intention,  and  desirous  to  decline  the  station,  moved 
 slowly,  in  hopes  the  place  might  be  filled  before  his  arrival. 
 To  decline  preferment  was  a  crime  with  which  the  clergy  of 
 that  age  were  so  seldom  chargeable,  that  his  majesty  considered 
 Cranmer  a  man  of  very  different  principles  from  the  generality 
 of  his  order.  This  tended  to  raise  his  merit  still  higher  in  his 
 opinion;  and  finding  at  last  that  the  king  would  not  admit  of 
 the  excuses  his  modesty  induced  him  to  make,  he  found 
 himself  under  a  kind  of  necessity  to  undertake  the  weighty 
 charge. 
 
 Few  men  could  be  less  acceptable  at  Rome  than  Cranmer; 
 yet  the  pope,  unwilling  to  come  to  a  rupture  with  Henry,  sent 
 no  less  than  eleven  bulls  to  complete  the  character  of  his 
 favourite  archbishop.  The  first,  which  was  addressed  to  the 
 king,  promotes  him  to  the  see  of  Canterbury  on  the  king's  no- 
 mination; by  the  second,  addressed  to  himself,  notice  is  given  of 
 his  promotion;  the  third  absolves  him  from  all  censures;  the 
 fourth  was  sent  to  the  suffragans;  the  fifth  to  the  dean  and 
 chapter;  the  sixth  to  the  clergy  of  Canterbury;  the  seventh  to 
 all  the  laity;  the  eighth  to  all  who  held  lands  of  the  see,  requir- 
 ing them  to  acknowledge  him  as  archbishop;  by  the  ninth,  his 
 consecration  is  ordered  by  taking  the  oath  in  the  pontifical;  by 
 the  tenth,  the  pall  was  sent  him;  and  by  the  eleventh,  the  arch- 
 bishop of  York,  and  bishop  of  London,  were  ordered  to  put  it 
 on.  These  bulls  Cranmer  received,  according  to  custom,  but 
 immediately  surrendered  them  to  the  king,  because  he  would 
 not  acknowledge  the  pope's  power  to  confer  ecclesiastical  dig- 
 nities in  England,  which  he  considered  the  sole  right  of  the 
 king.  He  was  consecrated  March  30th,  1533;  and  seeing  there 
 were  some  things  in  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  pope  which  were 
 seemingly  inconsistent  with  his  allegiance  to  the  king,  he  made 
 
188  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 a  public  protestation,  that  he  took  the  oath  in  no  other  sense 
 than  that  in  which  it  was  reconcileable  to  the  laws  of  God,  the 
 just  prerogative  of  the  king,  and  the  statutes  of  this  kingdom. 
 The  same  protestation  was  made  before  he  took  another  oath 
 to  the  pope  at  his  receiving  the  pall;  and  the  protonotary  was 
 ordered  to  make  a  public  instrument  of  both,  and  have  it  signed 
 by  the  persons  there  present. 
 
 The  first  service  Cranmer  did  for  the  king,  was  the  pronounc- 
 ing of  his  sentence  of  divorce  from  Queen  Catherine,  on  the 
 23d  May.  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  the  bishops  of 
 London,  Bath,  and  Lincoln,  being  joined  with  him  in  the  com- 
 mission for  that  purpose.  The  queen,  neither  appearing  in  per- 
 son or  by  proxy?  after  three  citations,  was  declared  contumax. 
 The  depositions  relative  to  the  consummation  of  the  marriage 
 with  prince  Arthur,  together  with  the  conclusions  of  the  pro- 
 vinces of  York  and  Canterbury,  and  the  opinions  of  the  most 
 noted  canonists  and  divines  in  favour  of  the  divorce,  were  then 
 read;  and  the  archbishop,  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
 rest  of  the  commissioners,  pronounced  the  marriage  between 
 the  king  and  queen  Catherine  null,  and  of  no  force  from  the 
 beginning,  and  declared  them  separated  and  divorced  from  each 
 other,  and  at  liberty  to  engage  with  whom  they  pleased.  On 
 the  28th  of  May  he  held  another  court  at  Lambeth,  in  which  he 
 confirmed  the  king's  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn. 
 
 Alarmed  at  these  proceedings,  the  pope,  by  a  public  instru- 
 ment, declared  the  divorce  null  and  void,  and  threatened  Cran- 
 mer with  excommunication,  unless  he  would  revoke  all  that  he 
 had  done  therein;  upon  which  the  archbishop  appealed  from  the 
 pope  to  the  first  general  council  lawfully  called;  and  sending 
 the  appeal  to  Bonner,  under  his  seal,  desired  him  arid  Gardiner 
 to  acquaint  the  pope  with  it  in  any  way  they  considered  the  most 
 expedient. 
 
 On  the  7th  September  the  new  queen  was  delivered  of  a 
 daughter,  who  was  baptized  on  the  Wednesday  following,  and 
 named  Elizabeth,  for  whom  the  archbishop  had  the  honour  to 
 stand  god-father. 
 
 When  the  supremacy  came  under  debate,  the  archbishop 
 answered  all  the  arguments,  urged  in  defence  of  the  papal  autho- 
 rity, with  such  force  and  perspicuity,  and  rebutted  the  claims  of 
 Rome  so  satisfactorily  from  the  word  of  God,  and  the  universal 
 consent  of  the  primitive  church,  that  the  Roman  jurisdiction 
 was  abolished  by  full  consent  of  parliament  and  convocation. 
 The  king,  whose  supremacy  was  now  almost  as  generally  ad- 
 mitted in  England  as  the  pope's  had  formerly  been,  began  to 
 look  on  the  monasteries  with  a  jealous  eye.  These  establish- 
 ments he  considered,  by  their  privileges  of  exemption,  were  na- 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  189 
 
 turally  engaged  to  the  see  of  Rome,  and  would  serve  the  pope 
 as  a  body  of  reserve,  to  support  his  claim  in  all  future  quarrels 
 on  the  right  of  supremacy.  This  was,  no  doubt,  a  reason  for 
 their  dissolution  consistent  with  the  soundest  policy,  though  it 
 is  doubtful  whether  it  was  not  strengthened  by  other  motives 
 not  altogether  so  patriotic  :  Be  that  as  it  may,  Cranmer  was  con- 
 sulted on  the  occasion,  and  approved  of  the  resolution;  but  pro- 
 posed that  part  of  the  revenues  of  the  monasteries  should  be  ap- 
 plied to  augment  the  number  of  bishopricks,  that  the  bishops 
 might  have  it  more  in  their  power  to  perform  their  several  du- 
 ties, according  to  the  word  of  God  and  the  primitive  practice. 
 He  hoped  also,  that  from  these  ruins  schools  might  be  erected 
 in  every  diocese,  under  the  inspection  of  the  bishops,  for  the  use 
 and  advantage  of  the  whole  diocese.  But  these  noble  sugges- 
 tions were  all  defeated  by  the  unchristian  avarice  and  hypocri- 
 tical management  of  some  courtiers,  who,  neither  fearing  God, 
 nor  regarding  the  good  of  the  community,  sacrilegiously  raised 
 their  own  fortunes  from  the  spoils  of  the  church. 
 
 When  queen  Anne  Boleyn  was  sent  to  the  tower,  in  conse- 
 quence of  a  fit  of  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  king,  Cranmer, 
 who  was  greatly  concerned  for  her  misfortune,  did  every  thing 
 in  his  power  to  assist  her  in  her  great  distress.  He  wrote  a 
 consolatory  letter  to  Henry,  in  which,  after  recommending  an 
 equality  of  temper,  he  puts  him  in  mind  of  the  many  and  great 
 obligations  he  lay  under  to  the  queen,  and  endeavoured  to  re- 
 store him  to  good  humour  and  feelings  of  compassion ;  but  nei- 
 ther this,  nor  a  letter  written  by  the  queen  herself  in  the  most 
 moving  terms,  made  the  least  impression  on  his  relentless  heart. 
 Her  ruin  was  predetermined;  and  after  Cranmer  had  declared 
 her  marriage  with  the  king  null  and  void,  in  consequence  of  her 
 confession,  that  a  pre-engage  in  en  t  existed  between  her  and  the 
 earl  of  Northumberland,  she  was  tried  in  the  tower,  and  exe- 
 cuted on  the  19th  of  May  1536. 
 
 In  1537,  Cranmer,  with  the  joint  authority  of  the  other 
 bishops,  set  forth  the  famous  book,  called  The  Erudition  of  a 
 Christian  Man.  It  was  drawn  up  for  a  direction  to  the  bishops 
 and  clergy,  and  formed  an  important  step  towards  the  after  re- 
 formation. There  the  universal  power  and  pastorship  of  the 
 bishop  of  Rome  is  declared  to  have  no  foundation  whatever  in 
 the  word  of  God.  The  church  of  England  is  declared  to  be  as 
 truly  apostolic  and  catholic  as  that  of  Rome  or  any  other  church; 
 and  all  churches  are  therein  declared  to  be  equal  in  dignity, 
 power  and  privilege,  all  built  on  the  same  foundation,  govern- 
 ed, guided,  and  conducted  by  the  same  spirit,  and  equally  en- 
 titled to  the  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality.  The  superstitious 
 notions  of  the  people  respecting  the  ceremonies  of  the  church 
 
190  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 arc  censured;  the  invocation  of  saints  is  restrained,  and  the  re- 
 mission of  sins,  grace  and  future  happiness,  are  announced  to 
 be  beyond  their  power  to  procure,  and  must  therefore  be  applied 
 for  to  God  only.  Justification  is  there  set  forth  to  be  by  the  merit 
 of  Christ  only;  and  the  pope's  pardon,  and  masses  for  the  dead, 
 are  declared  of  no  use  in  relieving  souls  from  purgatory,  con- 
 cerning which  we  have  no  certainty  from  revelation.  This  was 
 doing  much  toward  a  more  perfect  reformation,  whenever  pro- 
 vidence should  afford  an  opportunity. 
 
 Cranmer  had  long  meditated  a  new  translation  of  the  scrip- 
 tures; he  had  often  solicited  his  majesty  on  this  subject,  and 
 at  last  obtained  a  grant  to  have  them  translated  and  printed. 
 And  so  soon  as  the  copies  came  to  the  archbishop's  hand,  he 
 sent  one  to  the  lord  Cromwell,  desiring  him  to  intercede  with 
 his  majesty,  that  his  subjects  might  have  the  privilege  of  using 
 the  scriptures  without  constraint;  which  Cromwell  did,  and  the 
 king  readily  acquiesced.  Accordingly,  injunctions  were  forth- 
 with published,  requiring  that  an  English  bible  of  the  largest 
 size  should  be  procured  for  the  use  of  every  parish  church,  at 
 the  expense  of  the  minister  and  church-wardens,  and  prohibiting 
 all  discouragement  of  the  people  in  the  reading  of  these  scrip- 
 tures, or  of  hearing  them  read.  The  book  was  received  with 
 universal  joy.  Those  who  possessed  the  means,  purchased 
 copies;  the  poor  attended  in  crowds  to  hear  it  read,  and  many 
 aged  persons  learned  to  read,  that  they  might  be  enabled  to  per- 
 use it  themselves. 
 
 In  1539,  Cranmer,  and  the  other  bishops  who  favoured  the 
 reformation,  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  the  king,  because 
 they  could  not  be  persuaded  to  give  their  consent,  in  parliament, 
 that  the  revenues  of  all  the  monasteries  should  be  bestowed  on 
 the  king.  They  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  consent,  that  all 
 the  lands,  which  his  predecessors  had  bestowed  on  these  foun- 
 dations, should  return  to  the  crown,  but  the  residue  they  insist- 
 ed should  be  applied  to  the  erection  of  hospitals,  schools,  and 
 other  charitable  foundations.  Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester, 
 and  the  rest  of  the  popish  faction,  availed  themselves  of  this 
 promising  opportunity  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the  king's 
 favour,  by  their  hypocritical  flattery,  and  to  incense  him  against 
 the  opposing  party;  and  their  conduct,  on  this  occasion,  has 
 been  considered,  by  many,  as  the  cause  of  introducing  the  six 
 bloody  articles,  whereby  it  was  death  to  speak  against  transub- 
 stantiation,  or  defend  the  communion  in  both  kinds,  the  mar- 
 riage of  the  clergy,  private  masses,  or  auricular  confession. 
 The  archbishop  argued  boldly  in  the  house  for  three  days  to- 
 gether, and  that  so  strenuously,  that  though  the  king  was  ob- 
 stinate in  passing  the  bill,  yet  he  desired  a  copy  of  his  reasons 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  191 
 
 against  it,  and  showed  no  resentment  to  his  opposition.  The 
 king  endeavoured  to  persuade  him,  since  he  could  not  consent 
 to  the  terms  of  the  act,  that  it  would  be  better  to  withdraw  from 
 the  house;  but  after  decently  excusing  himself,  he  told  his  ma- 
 jesty, that  he  considered  himself  obliged,  for  the  exonorating  of 
 his  own  conscience,  to  remain  and  show  his  dissent.  When 
 the  bill  passed,  he  entered  his  solemn  protest  against  it,  and 
 soon  after  sent  his  wife  privately  off  to  her  friends  in  Germany. 
 The  king,  who  loved  him  for  his  probity  and  courage,  sent  the 
 dukes  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  together  with  the  lord  Cromwell, 
 to  acquaint  him  with  the  esteem  he  had  for  him,  notwithstand- 
 ing his  opposition  to  the  act  in  question. 
 
 In  1540  the  king  issued  a  commission  to  the  archbishop,  and 
 a  select  number  of  bishops,  to  explain  some  of  the  principal 
 doctrines  of  religion.  The  bishops  drew  up  a  set  of  articles  fa- 
 vourable to  the  old  popish  superstitions,  and  meeting  at  Lam- 
 beth, vehemently  urged  the  archbishop  to  publish  them,  it  be- 
 ing the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  king;  but  neither  by  fear  or 
 flattery  could  he  be  induced  to  give  his  consent,  notwithstand- 
 ing that  his  friend,  the  lord  Cromwell,  was  in  the  tower,  and 
 his  own  favour  with  the  king  supposed  to  be  daily  on  the  de- 
 cline; but  went  in  person  and  expostulated  with  his  majesty, 
 insomuch  that  he  joined  with  Cranmer  against  the  other  bishops, 
 and  the  book  of  articles  was  drawn  up  and  passed  according  to 
 his  own  mind. 
 
 In  this  year  a  large  folio  copy  of  the  English  bible  was  pub- 
 lished, with  an  excellent  preface,  written  by  the  archbishop, 
 and  every  parish  commanded  to  provide  one  by  the  ensuing  all- 
 hallow-tide,  under  the  penalty  of  forty  shillings  a  month  till 
 they  had  so  provided.  The  people  were  charged  not  to  dispute 
 about  it,  nor  disturb  divine  service  by  reading  during  the  mass, 
 but  to  read  it  with  reverence  and  humility  for  their  instruction. 
 Six  of  these  great  bibles  were  set  up  in  different  places  in  St. 
 Paul's;  but  Bonner,  ever  inimical  to  the  instruction  of  the 
 people,  posted  up  an  hypocritical  admonition  beside  them,  that 
 none  should  read  them  with  vain-glory  or  corrupt  affections, 
 or  draw  multitudes  about  them  when  they  read :  But  such  was 
 the  public  anxiety,  that  crowds  gathered  about  those  who  read; 
 and  such  as  had  strong  voices  used  to  read  them  aloud,  in  suc- 
 cession, from  morning  till  night.  Parents  now  began  to  send 
 their  children  to  school;  the  people  began  to  open  their  eyes  and 
 perceive  the  absurdity  of  the  Romish  doctrines  and  supersti- 
 tions, which  they  could  nowhere  find  in  the  bible.  Bonner 
 finding  that  the  people  were  likely  soon  to  become  wiser  than 
 their  teachers,  and  tliat  if  some  measures  were  not  adopted  to 
 prevent    the  circulation  of  these  heretical  notions,  the  church 
 
19^  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 would  be  in  imminent  danger.  So  deeply  was  he  impressed 
 with  this  idea,  that  he  posted  a  fresh  advertisement,  threaten- 
 ing to  remove  the  bibles  if  the  people  continued  to  make 
 so  scandalous  an  use  of  this  privilege;  and  owing  to  the 
 grievous  complaints  that  he  and  his  coadjutors  made  on  this 
 head,  the  use  of  the  scriptures  was  much  restrained. 
 
 After  the  fall  of  Cromwell,  Cranmer  could  easily  perceive 
 how  the  malignant  spirit  of  his  adversaries  watched  for  an  op- 
 portunity to  work  his  ruin,  and  therefore  prudently  retired, 
 with  a  design  of  living  with  all  the  privacy  that  the  duties  of 
 his  station  would  permit.     But  Gardiner,  his  implacable  ene- 
 my, having  procured  Sir  John  Gostwick  to  accuse  him  in  par- 
 liament, as  one  who  encouraged  novel  opinions,  and  whose  fa- 
 mily was  a  nursery  of  heresy  and  sedition ;  in  consequence  of 
 which  accusation,  several  lords  of  the  privy  council  moved  to 
 commit  him  to  the  tower  till  the  matter  should  be  examined. 
 The  king,  perceiving  that  there  was  more  malice  than  truth  in 
 the  charge  laid  against  the  archbishop,  under  the  pretence  of 
 diverting  himself  on  the  water  one  evening,  ordered  his  barge 
 to  be  rowed  to  Lambeth  side;  and  Cranmer,  being  informed  of 
 the  royal  approach,  went  out  to  pay  his  respects,  and  invite  the 
 king  to  his  palace.     The  king  called  him  into  the  barge,  and 
 ordered  him  to  sit  beside  him,  where  his  majesty  apprised  him 
 of  his  danger  from  the  malevolence  and  craft  of  his  enemies; 
 but  assuring  him  of  the  confidence  he  had  in  his  talents  and 
 integrity,  he  dismissed  him  with  an  approving  smile.     In  the 
 meantime,    his   adversaries   pressed  the   king  to  send  him  to 
 prison,    and  oblige  him  to   answer   to  the   charge  of  heresy. 
 To  their  solicitations  the  king  at  last  gave  way,  with  the  inten- 
 tion, however,  of  learning  who  were  chiefly  concerned  in  this 
 conspiracy,  and  to  what  lengths  they  intended  to  push  their  ani- 
 mosity against  him.     Having  so  far  succeeded  in  his  design,  he 
 sent  a  gentleman  of  his  bed-chamber,    at  midnight,   to  fetch 
 Cranmer  to  the  palace,  where  he  informed  him  how  he  had 
 been  importuned,  and  that  he  had  so  far  complied.     The  arch- 
 bishop expressed  his  willingness  to  have  the  matter  sifted  to  the 
 bottom,  as  he  was  conscious  of  nothing  that  he  had  done  con- 
 trary to  the  laws;  but  the  king  convinced  him  that  he  was 
 wrong,  and  that  against  a  conspiracy  so  powerful,   innocence 
 would  be  an  unavailing  ground  of  defence;  but  suggested  a  plan 
 of  more  hopeful  dependence.     To-morrow,  said  the  king,  you 
 will  be  sent  for  to  the  privy  council,  and  ordered  to  prison;  upon 
 this  you  must  request,  that  seeing  you  have  the  honour  to  be 
 one  of  the  board,  you  may  be  admitted  into  the  council,  and 
 the  informers  against  you  brought  face  to  face;  and  if  then  you 
 cannot  clear  yourself  of  the  charges  brought  against  you,  you 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  193 
 
 are  willing  to  go  to  prison.  If  this  reasonable  request  be 
 deuied  you,  appeal  to  me,  and  give  them  this  sign  that  you 
 have  my  authority  for  so  doing.  Here  the  king  took  a  ring  of 
 great  value  from  his  finger,  and  giving  it  to  the  archbishop,  dis- 
 missed him. 
 
 Next  morning  the  archbishop  was  summoned  to  the  council, 
 and  when  he  arrived,  was  refused  admittance  into  the  council- 
 chamber.  Dr.  Butts,  one  of  the  king's  physicians,  having 
 heard  how  he  had  been  treated,  came  to  countenance  him,  and 
 found  him  in  the  lobby  amongst  the  footmen.  The  doctor  soon 
 acquainted  the  king  how  hardly  Cranmer  had  been  used;  and 
 his  majesty,  incensed  that  the  primate  of  all  England  should  be 
 so  unhandsomely  treated,  sent  an  order  to  admit  him;  which 
 was  no  sooner  done,  than  he  was  saluted  with  the  weighty 
 charge  of  having  infected  the  whole  nation  with  heresy,  and 
 accordingly  commanded  to  the  tower  till  the  charge  was 
 thoroughly  investigated.  Cranmer  requested  them  to  produce 
 their  informers,  and  allow  him  to  defend  himself:  but  finding 
 that  to  these  terms  they  would  on  no  account  submit,  he  ap- 
 pealed to  the  king,  and  produced  tl*e  ring;  which  put  a  stop  to 
 their  unreasonable  proceedings.  When  they  came  before  the  king, 
 after  reprimanding  them,  with  cutting  severity,  he  expatiated 
 on  the  fidelity  and  integrity  of  Cranmer,  and  dwelt  on  the  ma- 
 ny obligations  he  lay  under  to  him  for  his  faithful  and  upright 
 services,  and  charged  them,  if  they  had  any  affection  for  him- 
 self, to  express  it  by  their  love  and  kindness  to  his  particular 
 friend  the  archbishop.  Cranmer,  having  thus  escaped  the 
 snares  laid  for  his  life,  never  showed  the  least  resentment  to 
 his  enemies,  and  henceforward  had  such  a  share  of  the  royal 
 favour,  that  none  of  them  would  hazard  a  second  attempt 
 against  him  during  the  life  of  Henry.  Cranmer  has  been 
 blamed  by  many  for  his  lenity  towards  the  restless  abettors  of 
 the  Romish  superstition,  whereby  it  was  thought  the  faction 
 were  encouraged  to  engage  in  fresh  attempts  against  him. 
 
 But  now  the  archbishop,  finding  the  juncture  somewhat  more 
 auspicious,  began  to  reason  down  the  cruelty  and  the  absurdity 
 of  the  act  of  the  six  articles  in  the  parliament-house,  pressing  for 
 at  least  a,  mitigation  of  its  severity;  by  which  he  made  such  an 
 impression  on  the  king  and  the  temporal  lords,  that  they  agreed 
 to  an  amendment,  by  which  the  act  was  considerably  moderated. 
 
 Soon  after  this,  the  king,  preparing  for  an  expedition  against 
 France,  ordered  a  litany  to  be  said  for  a  blessing  on  his  arms; 
 the  archbishop  prevailed  upon  him  to  have  it  said  in  English, 
 seeing  the  service  performed  in  an  unknown  tongue  made  the 
 people  careless  about  attending  the  church.  This,  with  the 
 prohibition  of  some  superstitious  customs,   touching  vigils  and 
 
 7  2  b 
 
l\)l  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 the  worship  of  the  cross,  was  nil  that  the  reformation  had  gain- 
 ed during  the  reign  of  Henry,  the  intended  reformation  of 
 the  canon  law  having  been  suppressed  by  the  craft  of  bishop 
 Gardiner,  under  the  pretence  of  important  reasons  of  state;  be- 
 sides, the  king,  towards  the  latter  end  of  his  reign,  had  taken  a 
 strong  predilection  for  the  Roman  superstition,  and  used  to 
 frown  to  silence  all  who  proposed  measures  in  any  way  point- 
 ing towards  a  reformation. 
 
 On  the  28th  January  1546,  Henry  VIII.  departed  this  life, 
 and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Edward,  who  was  god-son  to 
 Cranmer,  and  had  been  educated  by  men  favourable  to  the  re- 
 formation. Cranmer  was  one  of  those  whom  the  late  king  had 
 nominated  for  his  executors,  and  who  were  to  manage  the  go- 
 vernment till  Edward  should  arrive  at  eighteen  years  of  age. 
 The  late  king,  whose  manifold  vices  and  irregularities  was 
 charged  to  the  protestants  by  the  popish  party,  died  in  the  Ro- 
 man faith;  and,  in  his  will,  had  left  six  hundred  pounds  per 
 annum  to  defray  the  expense  of  masses  for  his  soul,  with  pro- 
 vision for  four  solemn  obits  every  year;  but  Cranmer  had  in- 
 fluence enough  to  lay  the  olrder  aside,  notwithstanding  his  so- 
 lemn charge  for  its  execution. 
 
 On  the  20th  cf  February  the  coronation  of  king  Edward  was 
 solemnized  at  Westminster  Abbey.  The  ceremony  was  per- 
 formed by  Cranmer.  who  addressed  the  young  king  in  an  ex- 
 cellent speech;  in  which,  after  censuring,  with  singular  severity, 
 the  papal  encroachments  on  the  power  and  prerogatives  of  prin- 
 ces, with  a  declaration,  that  the  solemn  ceremonies  of  a  corona- 
 tion add  nothing  to  the  authority  of  a  prince,  whose  power  is 
 derived  immediately  from  God.  he  went  on  to  instruct  the 
 king  of  his  duty,  and  exhorted  him  to  follow  the  example  of 
 good  Josiah,  by  regulating  the  worship  of  God,  suppressing 
 idolatry,  executing  justice,  repressing  violence,  rewarding  vir- 
 tue, relieving  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  and  punishing  the  vio- 
 lators of  the  laws.  The  whole  of  this  speech,  which  is  too  long 
 for  insertion,  had  such  influence, on  the  young  monarch,  that 
 he  resolved  on  a  royal  visitation,  for  the  purpose  of  reforming 
 religion,  and  rectifying  the  disorders  of  the  church.  The  visi- 
 tors were  divided  into  six  circuits,  and  every  division  had  a 
 preacher,  whose  business  it  was  to  preach  down  superstition, 
 and  predispose  the  people  for  receiving  the  meditated  altera- 
 tions. To  make  the  impressions  of  their  doctrine  more  lasting, 
 and  the  doctrines  themselves  more  uniform,  the  archbishop  was 
 anxious  to  have  some  homilies  composed,  that  might,  in  a  plain 
 perspicuous  manner,  instruct  the  people  in  the  grounds  of  true 
 religion,  and  at  the  same  time  correct  the  errors  and  supersti- 
 tions that  so  universally  abounded.    On  this  point  he  consulted 
 
TH O M  A  S  CRAKMEJL.  1 9J) 
 
 the  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  requested  his  countenance  an d 
 assistance:  but  the  bishop  had  very  different  ends  in  view,  and 
 in  place  of  assisting  Cranmer,  wrote  to  the  protector  to  crudi 
 the  reformation  in  its  infancy.  Cranmer,  perceiving  that  Gar- 
 diner was  obstinate  and  untractable,  proceeded  in  his  design 
 without  his  concurrence,  and  published  the  first  book  of  Homi- 
 lies, principally  composed  by  himself,  and  soon  after  had  a  trans- 
 lation of  Erasmus'  Paraphrase  on  the  New  Testameut  placed  in 
 every  church,  for  the  instruction  of  the  people. 
 
 On  the  5th  of  Nov.  1547,  a  convocation  was  held  at  St.  Paul's, 
 which  the  archbishop  opened  with  a  speech,  wherein  he  put  the 
 clergy  in  mind  of  the  necessity  and  importance  of  studying  the 
 scriptures,  and  conducting  themselves  by  that  unerring  rule,  in 
 throwing  off  the  corruptions  and  encroachments  of  the  Roman 
 church.  But  the  terror  of  the  act  of  the  six  articles,  which 
 still  remained  in  force,  alarmed  the  majority;  which  Cran- 
 mer reporting  to  the  council,  prevailed  with  them  to  have  it 
 repealed.  In  this  convocation  the  communion  was  ordered  to 
 be  administered  in  both  kinds  to  the  people,  aud  the  lawfulness 
 of  the  marriage  of  clergymen  affirmed  by  a  great  majority. 
 
 In  the  latter  end  of  January  Cranmer  wrote  to  Bonner, 
 charging  him  to  forbid,  throughout  his  diocese,  the  ridiculous 
 processions,  which,  in  the  days  of  popery,  were  usually  kept  on 
 candlesmas-day,  ash- Wednesday,  and  on  palm-sunday,  and  to 
 forward  the  notice  of  said  prohibition  to  the  neighbouring 
 bishops,  that  these  foolish  processions  might  be  everywhere 
 abandoned.  During  this  year  the  archbishop's  catechism  was 
 published,  entitled,  A  short  instruction  in  Christian  Religion, 
 for  the  singular  profit  of  children  and  young  people;  and  also  a 
 Latin  treatise  of  his  on  Unwritten  Verities.  From  the  cate- 
 chism, it  is  plain  he  had  now  recovered  himself  from  the  extra- 
 vagant notions  which  he  formerly  indulged  for  the  regal  supre- 
 macy; for  there  he  asserts  the  divine  commission  of  bishops  and 
 priests,  enlarges  on  the  efficacy  of  their  spiritual  censures,  and 
 longs  for  the  restoration  of  the  primitive  penitentiary  dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 In  1550,  Cranmer  published  his  Defence  of  the  true  and 
 Catholic  Doctrine  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
 our  Saviour  Christ.  He  had,  by  the  aid  and  advice  of  bishop 
 Ridley,  overcome  the  strong  prejudices  he  so  long  laboured  un- 
 der in  favour  of  transubstantiation;  and  in  this  treatise  refuted 
 the  absurdity  of  the  notion,  both  by  reason,  scripture,  and  com- 
 mon sense.  The  popish  party  were  much  alarmed  at  the  pub- 
 lication of  this  treatise,  and  soon  after  produced  two  answers, 
 the  one  by  Dr.  Smith,  and  the  other  by  bishop  Gardiner :  The 
 archbishop  triumphantly  defended  his   book  against  both  bm 
 
1<H.  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 antagonists  in  the  opinion  of  all  impartial  readers.  It  was 
 afterwards  translated  into  Latin  by  Sir  John  Cheke,  and  highly 
 esteemed  by  many  learned  foreigners,  for  the  great  knowledge 
 therein  exhibited,  both  of  scripture  and  ecclesiastical  antiquity. 
 
 Another  important  step,  in  the  progress  of  the  reformation, 
 was  the  publishing  of  the  forty-two  articles  of  religion,  which, 
 with  the  assistance  of  bishop  Ridley,  Cranmor  drew  up,  with  a 
 \hi\v  to  preserve  and  maintain  the  unity  and  purity  of  the 
 church.  These  articles  were  revised  by  several  other  bishops 
 and  learned  divines,  and  after  their  corrections,  enlarged  and 
 farther  improved  by  Cranmer,  and  agreed  to  in  convocation 
 L552,  and  published  both  in  Latin  and  English  1553. 
 
 Some  time  in  the  late  reign,  Cranmer  had  formed  the  design 
 of  reviewing  and  purging  the  old  canon  law  from  its  popish  cor- 
 ruptions, and  had  made  some  progress  in  the  work;  but  the  king 
 was  prevailed  upon  to  discountenance  the  whole  design  by  the 
 artifice  of  Gardiner,  and  others  of  the  old  school.  In  this  reign, 
 however,  he  resumed  his  design,  and  procured  a  commission 
 from  the  king,  for  himself  and  other  learned  divines  and  lawyers, 
 diligently  to  examine  the  old  church  laws,  and  to  compile  such 
 a  code  as  they  considered  most  useful  and  expedient  for 
 the  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  most  conducive  to  good  order  and 
 discipline.  The  archbishop  pressed  forward  this  subject  with 
 vigour  and  alacrity;  and,  with  the  aid  of  his  brother  commis- 
 sioners, had  a  fair  copy  ready  for  presenting  to  the  king,  when 
 the  death  of  this  beloved  monarch  blasted  this  great  undertak- 
 ing, and  prevented  its  confirmation.  The  book,  however,  was 
 afterwards  published,  in  1571,  by  archbishop  Parker,  under  the 
 title  Reformatio  Legum  Ecclesiasticarum. 
 
 Edward  was  now  far  gone  in  a  consumption,  not  without  sus- 
 picion of  having  been  so  reduced  by  the  operation  of  slow 
 poison;  and  finding  himself  approaching  his  end,  he  began  to 
 consider  the  propriety  of  settling  the  succession.  He  had  been 
 persuaded,  by  the  artifice  of  the  duke  of  Northumberland,  to 
 exclude  both  his  sisters,  and  bequeath  the  crown  to  lady  Jane 
 Gray,  who  was  married  to  the  duke's  son.  Northumberland, 
 knowing  the  strong  attachment  of  Edward  to  the  principles  of 
 the  reformation,  dwelt  on  the  imminent  danger  to  which  the 
 protestant  cause  would  be  exposed  under  the  government  of  the 
 princess  Mary,  and  that  there  remained  no  alternative  but  a 
 protestant  succession,  or  a  restoration  of  popery,  with  all  its  ac- 
 cumulating evils;  but  it  appeared  afterwards  that  the  duke  was 
 a  rank  papist  even  at  the  time  he  thus  misled  the  unsuspicious 
 monarch.  It  was  in  vain  that  Cranmer  opposed  this  change  of 
 the  succession  by  every  argument.  The  duke  had  deceived  the 
 king;  he  and  his  agents  kept  up  the  deception,  and  the  will 
 
THOMAS  CRA.NMER.  197 
 
 being  made,  it  was  subscribed  by  the  council  and  the  judges; 
 and  Cranmer,  at  last  giving  up  his  own  opinion  to  that  of  the 
 heads  of  the  law,  reluctantly  subscribed  the  instrument. 
 
 On  the  6th  July  1553,  Edward  the  VI.  departed  this  life;  and 
 the  archbishop  having  subscribed  the  king's  will  relative  to  the 
 succession,  considered  himself,  in  conscience,  bound  to  support 
 the  lady  Jane;  but  her  short-lived  power  was  soon  over,  the 
 people  deserted  her  claim,  and  that  of  the  princess  Mary  was 
 universally  acknowledged.     Soon  after  her  succession,  a  report 
 went  abroad  that  Cranmer,  on  purpose  to  ingratiate  himself 
 with  the  new  queen,  had  offered  to  restore  the  Latin  service, 
 and  that,  as  a  proof  of  his  sincerity,  he  had  already  said  mass 
 in  his  cathedral  church  of  Canterbury.    To  clear  himself  of  this 
 scandalous  aspersion,   the  archbishop  published   a   notice,   in 
 which  he  declares  the  whole  to  be  a  false  and  malicious  impu- 
 tation, and  offers  to  defend  the  liturgy  of  the  church  of  England 
 against  all  or  any  who  chose  to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  po- 
 pish hierarchy,  in  a  public  disputation.    This  challenge  fell  into 
 the  hands  of  his  enemies,  who  sent  a  copy  of  the  same  to  the 
 queen's  commissioner,  and  Cranmer  was  immediately  sent  for, 
 and  examined  concerning  it.     Cranmer  acknowledged  it  to  be 
 his,  but  complained  that  it  had  stolen  abroad  without  his  know- 
 ledge in  a  very  imperfect  condition :    That  his  intention  was  to 
 have  it  reviewed  and  corrected,  and  after  having  affixed  his 
 seal,  to  have  it  posted  on  all  the  church  doors  of  London,  par- 
 ticularly St.  Paul's.     This  bold  and  extraordinary  answer  so 
 enraged  his  enemies,  that  in  a  few  days  he  was  committed  to 
 the  tower,  there  to  remain  till  the  queen's  pleasure  was  known 
 concerning  him.     Some  of  his  friends,  who  foresaw  the  peril  to 
 which  he  should  be  exposed,  advised  him  to  consult  his  safety 
 by  retiring  to  the  continent;  but,  considering  the  dishonour  it 
 would  reflect  on  the  cause  he  had  espoused,  and  so  strenuously 
 defended,  should  he  desert  his  post  at  a  crisis  so  replete  with 
 danger,  he  chose  rather  to  hazard  his  life  than  give  such  obvi- 
 ous cause  of  scandal  and  offence. 
 
 The  parliaments  of  those  days  were  composed  of  men  of  easy 
 principles,  who  could  yield  to  any  thing  that  seemed  agreeable 
 to  the  royal  will;  accordingly  Cranmer  was  attainted,  about  the 
 middle  of  November,  and  adjudged  guilty  of  high  ti'eason,  and 
 his  see  declared  vacant.  Cranmer  wrote  a  very  submissive 
 letter  to  the  queen,  humbly  acknowledging  his  fault  in  signing 
 the  king's  will,  acquainting  her  majesty,  at  the  same  time,  how 
 strenuously  he  had  laboured  to  prevent  it;  and  that  he  had  only 
 yielded  in  consequence  of  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  lawyers, 
 which  he  conceived  were  better  judges  of  the  constitution  than 
 himself.     The  queen  had  already  pardoned  many  who  had  been 
 
198  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 much  more  deeply  engaged  in  lady  Jane's  usurpation,  so  that 
 Cranmer  could  not,  with  any  appearance  of  justice,  be  denied;  of 
 course  the  treason  was  forgiven  him;  but,  to  gratify  the  malice 
 of  Gardiner,  and  the  queen's  implacable  resentment  for  her 
 mother's  divorce,  orders  were  issued  to  proceed  against  him  on 
 the  score  of  heresy. 
 
 The  tower,  at  this  time,  was  so  crowded  with  prisoners,  that 
 Bradford,  Latimer,  Ridley,  and  Cranmer,  were  all  confined  in 
 the  same  apartment,  for  which  they  thankfully  acknowledged 
 the  goodness  of  God,  in  thus  affording  them  an  opportunity  of 
 conversing  together,  reading  and  comparing  the  scriptures,  con- 
 firming themselves  in  the  truth,  and  in  mutually  exhorting  one 
 another  to  stedfastness  in  professing,  and  patience  in  suffering, 
 for  the  same.  In  April  1554,  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer, 
 were  removed  from  the  tower  to  Oxford,  to  dispute  with  some 
 select  persons  of  both  universities.  At  his  first  appearance  in 
 the  public  schools,  Cranmer  had  three  articles  offered  him  to 
 subscribe,  in  which  the  corporeal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sa- 
 crament was  asserted,  and  the  mass  declared  to  be  a  propitiatory- 
 sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead.  These  tenets  he  rejected 
 as  utterly  false,  and  promised  to  give  them  his  answer  in  writ- 
 ing; accordingly  he  drew  it  up,  and  when  he  was  brought  again 
 to  the  disputation,  he  delivered  the  writing  to  the  prolocutor, 
 Dr.  Weston.  The  disputation  commenced  at  eight  in  the  morn- 
 ing, and  continued  till  two  in  the  afternoon,  during  which  time 
 the  archbishop  maintained  his  cause,  with  great  learning  and 
 fortitude,  against  a  multitude  of  insolent  and  clamorous  anta- 
 gonists. Three  days  after  this  he  was  again  brought  forth  to 
 oppose  Dr.  Harpsfield,  who  was  to  respond  for  his  degree  in 
 divinity.  Here  Cranmer  so  clearly  demonstrated  the  gross  ab- 
 surdities, and  inextricable  difficulties  attending  the  doctrine  of 
 transubstantiation,  that  Weston  himself,  though  a  remarkable 
 bigot,  could  not  help  dismissing  him  with  commendations. 
 
 On  the  20th  April  Cranmer  was  brought  before  the  queen's 
 commissioners,  and  refusing  to  subscribe,  was  pronounced  an 
 heretic,  and  had  the  sentence  of  condemnation  read  out  against 
 him.  Cranmer  told  them  that  their  sentence  was  unjust,  and 
 from  their  partial  decision  he  appealed  to  the  judgment  of  the 
 only  wise  God,  by  whom,  he  trusted,  he  would  be  received  into 
 his  heavenly  kingdom  and  glory.  After  this  his  servants  were 
 dismissed,  and  himself  put  under  close  confinement.  In  the 
 latter  end  of  this  year  a  popish  convocation  did  him  the  honour 
 to  cause  his  book  on  the  sacrament  to  be  burnt,  in  company 
 with  the  English  bible  and  the  book  of  common  prayer.  In 
 the  meantime,  Cranmer  passed  liis  solitary  hours  in  vindicating 
 his  book  on  the  sacrament  from  the  objections  of  bishop  Gar- 
 diner. 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  199 
 
 In  1555  a  new  commission  from  Rome  arrived  at  Oxford  to 
 try  the  archbishop  for  heresy,  the  former  sentence  being  void 
 in  law,  inasmuch  as  the  pope's  authority  had  not  then  been  re- 
 established in  England.  On  the  12th  September  they  met  at 
 St.  Mary's  church;  and  being  seated  at  the  high  altar,  com- 
 manded the  archbishop  to  be  brought  before  them.  Cranmer 
 paid  all  due  respect  to  the  queen's  commissioners,  as  they  re- 
 presented the  supreme  authority  of  the  nation,  but  absolutely 
 refused  to  pay  any  regard  to  the  pope's  legate,  lest  he  should 
 appear  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  pope.  Brooks,  in 
 a  long  oration,  exhorted  him  to  consider  from  whence  he  had 
 fallen,  and  return  to  his  holy  mother,  the  catholic  church,  and 
 by  his  example  of  repentance,  reclaim  those  his  past  errors 
 had  misled. 
 
 Dr.  Martin  opened  the  trial  in  a  short  speech,  in  which  he 
 stated  the  charges  laid  against  him,  namely,  perjury  in  respect 
 to  his  oath  to  the  pope,  incontinence  in  regard  to  his  marriage, 
 and  heresy  on  account  of  the  exertions  he  had  made  in  promot- 
 ing the  reformation.  The  archbishop  defended  himself  against 
 these  charges,  by  proving  that  the  pope's  jurisdiction  in  Eng- 
 land was  an  usurpation,  contrary  to  the  natural  allegiance  of 
 the  subject,  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  country,  and  the  ori- 
 ginal constitution  of  the  christian  church;  and,  in  the  conclu- 
 sion of  his  defence,  he  boldly  charged  Brooks  with  perjury,  in 
 sitting  there  by  the  pope's  authority,  which  he  had  sworn  to 
 renounce.  Brooks  endeavoured  to  retort  the  charge  on  the 
 archbishop,  by  stating  that  he  had  seduced  him  to  take  the 
 oath  in  question.  This,  however,  Cranmer  told  him  was  noto- 
 riously false,  as  the  pope's  supremacy  had  been  renounced  by 
 archbishop  Warham,  his  predecessor,  who  sent  the  question  to 
 the  universities  for  their  opinion;  which  opinion  was,  that  the 
 supremacy  was  vested  by  God  in  the  king  and  not  in  the  pope : 
 That  this  document  had  the  university  seal  affixed  to  it;  and 
 that  Brooks  himself  had  subscribed  the  same,  and  therefore 
 wronged  him  by  asserting  that  he  had  in  any  way  seduced  him. 
 This  repulse  had  the  effect  of  covering  Brooks  with  shame  and 
 confusion,  insomuch,  that  having  no  better  answer  at  hand,  he 
 cried  out,  ci  We  came  here  to  examine  you,  and  now  you  begin 
 to  examine  us.'1  In  the  meantime,  that  Brooks  might  have 
 leisure  to  recover  himself,  Dr.  Story  began  to  rail  at  the  arch- 
 bishop, in  a  very  indecent  manner,  for  rejecting  the  authority 
 of  his  judge,  and  moved  Brooks  to  demand  a  direct  answer  to 
 the  crimes  of  which  he  had  been  accused;  with  certification, 
 that  if  he  still  continued  to  deny  the  authority  of  the  pope,  and 
 decline  answering  to  the  charges  brought  against  him,  they 
 would,  without  a  moment's  farther  delay,   proceed  to  sentence 
 
200  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 him.  And  after  a  short  conversation  between  Dr.  Martin  and 
 the  archbishop,  relative  to  the  supremacy  and  the  cucharist,  his 
 answer  was  peremptorily  demanded.  Cranmer  replied  to  each 
 charge  distinctly,  in  answers  so  copious,  so  clear,  and  confound- 
 ing to  his  adversaries,  that  Brooks  was  under  the  necessity  of 
 making  another  harangue,  to  remove,  if  possible,  the  impression 
 his  defence  had  made  on  the  minds  of  the  people.  This  oration 
 of  Brooks  was  utterly  unbecoming  the  gravity  of  a  bishop.  It 
 consisted  in  scurrility  and  unchristian  railings,  together  with 
 shameful  and  sophistical  misapplications  both  of  the  scriptures 
 and  the  writings  of  the  fathers.  Brooks  having  done  his  best 
 to  turn  the  minds  of  the  spectators  against  the  archbishop,  he 
 was  then  cited  to  appear  at  Rome,  to  answer  before  the  pontiff, 
 within  fourscore  days.  Cranmer  said  he  should  be  very  will- 
 ing to  go  to  Rome  and  vindicate  the  reformation,  even  before 
 the  pope,  providing  the  queen  would  suffer  him  to  travel 
 so  far. 
 
 When  Dr.  Martin  asked  him  who  was  head  of  the  church  of 
 England,  Cranmer  replied,  "  Christ,  who  is  the  head  of  the 
 whole  body  of  the  catholic  church,  is  also  the  head  of  the 
 church  of  England,  which  constitutes  one  of  the  members  of 
 that  universal  body."  Martin  again  demanded,  "  Whether  he 
 had  not  declared  king  Henry  head  of  the  church  ?"  "  Yes 
 (said  Cranmer),  head  of  all  the  people  of  England,  as  well 
 ecclesiastical  as  temporal."  "  What !  (says  Martin),  and  not 
 the  head  of  the  church  ?"  "No  (replied  the  archbishop),  for 
 Christ  alone  is  head  of  his  church,  and  of  her  faith  and 
 religion." 
 
 In  February  1556  Bonner  and  Thirlby  were  appointed  to 
 degrade  the  archbishop ;  and  having  arrived  at  Oxford  for  that 
 purpose,  he  was  brought  before  them;  and  after  having  read 
 their  commission  from  the  pope,  Bonner  insulted  him  in  a  bit- 
 ter, malevolent,  and  most  unchristian  like  oration,  for  which  he 
 was  often  rebuked  by  bishop  Thirlby,  who  had  been  Cranmer's 
 particular  friend,  and  could  not  avoid  shedding  many  tears  on 
 the  occasion.  In  the  commission  from  the  pope,  it  was  declar- 
 ed that  Cranmer's  cause  had  got  an  impartial  hearing  at  Rome  : 
 That  the  evidence  on  both  sides  had  been  candidly  examined, 
 and  that  Cranmer's  advocate  was  allowed  to  make  the  best  de- 
 fence for  him  that  he  could.  On  the  reading  of  this  part  of  the 
 paper,  Cranmer  could  not  forbear  crying  out,  "  Good  God, 
 what  a  tissue  of  lies :  That  I,  who  have  been  confined  in  close 
 prison,  and  not  permitted  to  bring  forward  any  evidence,  or  al- 
 lowed counsel  to  defend  my  innocence  here  at  home,  could  pro- 
 cure witnesses,  and  appoint  my  counsel  at  Rome  !  This  lying 
 process  is  so  ignorantly  and  insultingly  wicked,  that  God  will, 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  201 
 
 no  doubt,  punish  such  audacity  even  in  this  life."  When  Bon- 
 ner had  finished  his  invective,  they  proceeded  to  degrade  him  ; 
 and  to  make  him  appear  the  more  ridiculous,  the  episcopal  habit 
 tuey  then  put  upon  him  was  made  up  of  sackcloth  and  party- 
 coloured  rags.  The  archbishop  drew  from  his  sleeve  a  written 
 appeal,  which  he  delivered  to  the  bishops,  telling  them,  at  the 
 same  time,  that  he  was  not  sorry,  and  thought  it  no  disgrace  to 
 be  thrust  out  of  their  church,  even  with  all  their  superstitious 
 pageantry :  that  the  pope  had  no  authority  over  him,  and  that 
 he  appealed  to  the  next  general  council.  Having  thus  degrad- 
 ed him,  they  dressed  him  in  a  thread-bare  beadle's  gown,  and 
 put  a  townsman's  cap  on  his  head,  and  so  consigned  him  over 
 to  the  civil  magistrate. 
 
 While  Cranmer  continued  in  prison,  no  expedient  was  left 
 untried  that  seemed  calculated  for  winning  him  over  to  the 
 Romish  religion.  Many  of  the  most  eminent  divines  in  the 
 university  resorted  to  the  prison  daily,  if  by  any  means  they 
 might  restore  him  to  the  mother-church  :  The  more  conspicuous 
 he  had  been  as  a  leader  in  the  reformation,  the  more  exceed- 
 ingly anxious  were  they  to  bring  him  off:  or  failing,  to  ruin  his 
 reputation  for  ever  with  his  friends  and  adherents :  But  their 
 best  endeavours  were  in  vain,  he  was  not  to  be  shaken  by  all 
 the  terrors  they  could  conjure  up,  even  the  inhuman  cruelty 
 exercised  towards  his  dear  and  affectionate  associates,  Ridley 
 and  Latimer,  only  seemed  to  strengthen  his  resolution  of  resist- 
 ance even  unto  blood. 
 
 But  the  papists,  finding  the  more  they  evil  entreated  him,  the 
 bolder  and  more  inflexible  he  became;  this  suggested  the  pro- 
 priety of  attempting  his  fidelity  by  flattery,  and  a  hypocritical 
 profession  of  friendship.  Accordingly,  they  removed  him  from 
 prison  to  the  lodgings  of  the  dean  of  Christ  church,  where  they 
 treated  him  with  the  greatest  civility  and  respect;  made  him 
 large  promises  of  the  queen's  particular  favour;  that  he  would 
 be  restored  to  his  former  dignity,  with  an  accumulation  of 
 honours  and  preferment  if  he  would  only  recant.  And  here  we 
 have  an  astonishing  demonstration,  both  of  the  inflexible  firm- 
 ness and  imbecility  of  the  human  character;  we  have  here  also 
 an  evidence,  that  insult,  and  every  species  of  unnecessary  se- 
 verity, tends  to  fortify  the  human  mind  in  its  resolution  of  re- 
 sistance. We  have  no  reason  to  believe,  that  had  Cranmer 
 been  subjected  to  continued  insult,  scurrility,  and  abuse,  similar 
 to  that  with  which  Bonner  and  Brooks  had  formerly  abused  him, 
 he  would  ever  have  made  such  a  dishonourable  sacrifice  and 
 shipwreck  of  his  profession.  But  a  soft  answer  breaketh  the 
 bone;  men  are  sometimes  easily  led,  whom  no  man,  or  body  <>i 
 men,  could  drive.     But  to  do  the  archbishop  justice,   be  ffM 
 
 8  2  c 
 
202  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 most  ingeniously  led  into  this  grand  error;  which  the  progress 
 of  the  plot,  laid  for  his  disgrace,  will  sufficiently  manifest.  The 
 copy  of  his  recantation  ran  thus :  ft  Forasmuch  as  the  king's 
 and  queen's  majesties,  by  consent  of  their  parliament,  have  re- 
 ceived the  pope's  authority  in  this  realm,  I  am  content  to  sub- 
 mit myself  to  their  laws  herein,  and  to  take  the  pope  for  the 
 chief  head  of  this  church  of  England,  so  far  as  God's  laws,  and 
 the  laws  and  customs  of  this  realm,  will  permit. 
 
 Thomas  Cranmer." 
 In  this  paper,  which  was  presented  to  Cranmer  for  his  sub- 
 scription, his  enemies  had  left  a  door  of  escape  for  the  con- 
 science of  the  archbishop,  whom  they  seemed  to  leave  at  liberty 
 to  examine  the  pope's  authority  by  the  laws  of  God,  and  also 
 by  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  realm,  and  acquiesce  or  reject 
 according  as  he  found  the  pope's  authority  corresponding,  or 
 otherwise,  with  these  rules;  and  there  is  a  strong  probability, 
 that  Cranmer  believed  that  this  was  all  that  was  required  of 
 him;  but  his  hypocritical  flatterers  only  wanted  to  break 
 in  upon  his  fidelity,  and  conquer  his  opposition  by  degrees. 
 The  queen  and  her  council  were  not  satisfied,  it  was  not  suffi- 
 ciently explicit,  and  another  paper,  in  fewer  words,  but  more  com- 
 prehensive, was  sent  down ;  which  was  again  considered  ambigu- 
 ous; and  a  third  succeeded  the  second,  and  so  on  to  the  sixth, 
 which  was  drawn  up  in  terms  so  strong  and  comprehensive, 
 that  nothing  remained  to  be  added.  In  this  sixth  recantation, 
 the  worshipping  of  angels,  saints,  relics,  pilgrimages,  purgatory, 
 and,  in  short,  all  the  errors  and  absurdities  of  the  Romish  reli- 
 gion, are  acknowledged.  This  paper  Cranmer  subscribed  on  the 
 18th  of  March,  under  the  apprehension,  that  he  should  not  only 
 save  his  life,  but  also  reap  the  benefit  of  the  many  liberal  pro- 
 mises which  these  deceivers  had  given  him,  quite  uncon- 
 scious that  the  writ  was  already  signed  that  doomed  him  to  the 
 stake  in  three  days  thereafter,  namely,  the  twenty-first  of  the 
 same  month,  and  that  Dr.  Cole  was  sent  to  Oxford  to  prepare  a 
 sermon  for  the  occasion.  The  day  before  his  execution,  Cole 
 visited  him  in  prison,  whither,  when  they  had  obtained  their 
 purpose,  they  had  again  removed  lijm,  and  asked  him  if  he  still 
 stood  firm  in  the  faith  he  had  subscribed;  to  which  he  returned 
 a  satisfactory  answer.  The  next  morning  Cole  visited  him 
 again,  exhorted  him  to  constancy,  and  gave  him  money  to  dis- 
 tribute amongst  the  poor  as  he  saw  occasion.  Soon  after  he 
 was  brought  to  St.  Mary's  church,  and  placed  on  a  low  scaffold 
 opposite  to  the  pulpit,  and  Dr.  Cole  began  his  sermon.  Here 
 the  doctor  laboured  to  find  reasons  to  justify  the  execution  of 
 Cranmer,  notwithstanding  that  he  had  recanted  under  a  pro- 
 mise of  forgiveness.     In  the  close  of  his  discourse,  Cole  ad- 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  203 
 
 dressed  himself  particularly  to  the  archbishop,  exhorting  him  to 
 bear  up,  with  courage,  against  the  terrors  of  death ;  and  having 
 the  example  of  the  thief  on  the  cross  before  him,  not  to  despair, 
 since,  like  him,  though  late,  he  was  now  restored  to  the  bosom 
 of  the  catholic  church,  and  to  the  profession  of  the  true  apos- 
 tolic faith.  Cranmer,  who  had  the  first  notice  of  his  intended 
 execution  from  Cole's  sermon,  was  horror-struck  at  the  thought 
 of  the  mean  duplicity,  and  unparalleled  cruelty  of  his  ene- 
 mies. Transactions,  in  every  respect  so  base,  unworthy,  and  dis- 
 graceful, that  devils  themselves  would  be  ashamed  to  acknow- 
 ledge. The  agony,  the  bitter  anguish  and  perplexity  of  his  soul, 
 were  past  description.  During  the  sermon  he  wept  incessantly, 
 sometimes  lifting  his  eyes  towards  heaven,  sometimes  casting 
 them  down  to  the  ground  in  the  most  pitiable  dejection.  When 
 it  was  ended,  he  was  called  upon  to  make  a  confession  of  his 
 faith,  and  give  the  world  the  satisfaction  of  his  dying  a  good 
 catholic.  Accordingly,  he  kneeled  down,  and  prayed  to  the  fol- 
 lowing effect :  "  O  Father  of  heaven;  O  Son  of  God,  Redeemer 
 of  the  world ;  O  Holy  Spirit  proceeding  from  both,  have  mercy  on 
 me,  a  most  wretched  and  miserable  sinner.  I,  who  have  inex- 
 pressibly offended  both  against  heaven  and  earth,  whither  shall 
 I  go,  or  where  shall  I  fly  for  help.  To  heaven  I  am  ashamed 
 to  lift  up  mine  eyes;  and  on  earth  I  find  no  refuge — What  then 
 shall  I  do  ?  Must  I  therefore  despair  ?  God  forbid.  O  thou 
 good  and  merciful  God,  who  rejects  none  who  fly  to  thee  for 
 succour,  to  thee  I  fly,  to  thee  I  resign  myself,  in  thee  I  confide. 
 O  Lord  my  God,  my  sins  are  many  and  great;  yet,  according 
 to  the  abundance  of  thy  goodness,  have  mercy  on  me.  O  God 
 the  Son,  thou  wast  not  made  man  for  few  or  small  offences 
 only,  neither,  O  God  the  Father,  didst  thou  give  thy  Son  for 
 our  smaller  transgressions,  but  also  for  the  greatest  sins  of  the 
 whole  world,  so  that  the  sinner  return  unto  thee  with  a  peni- 
 tent heart,  as  I  do  in  this  hour  of  extremity.  Therefore,  O 
 Lord,  take  pity  upon  me,  for  though  my  sins  are  great,  yet  thy 
 mercy  is  still  greater.  I  crave  nothing,  O  Lord,  for  my  own 
 merits,  but  for  thy  great  name's  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  thy 
 dear  Son,  in  whose  words  I  conclude.     Our  Father,  &c. 
 
 Prayer  being  ended,  he  rose  from  his  knees,  and  made  a  con- 
 fession of  his  faith,  beginning  with  the  creed,  and  concluding, 
 he  said,  "  I  also  believe  every  word  and  sentence  taught  by  our 
 Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  his  apostles  and  prophets,  both  in  the  Old 
 and  New  Testament.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  duty  I  owe  to 
 my  sovereign,  and  the  laws  of  my  country;  which  duty  I  sin- 
 cerely recommend  to  all  present;  but  I  am  also  aware,  that  this 
 duty  extends  no  farther  than  to  submit  to  their  commands,  and 
 suffer,    with    unresisting   patience,    whatever   hardships   thcv 
 
201  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 choose  to  impose  upon  me,  while  a  higher  authority  commands, 
 and  a  superior  duty  obliges  me  to  speak  truth  on  all  occasions, 
 and  not  basely  relinquish  the  holy  doctrines  which  the  Almighty 
 has  revealed  to  mankind,  to  direct  their  way  through  the  maze 
 of  this  life,  and  animate  their  hopes  of  a  future  and  more  glori- 
 ous existence.  And  now,  continued  the  archbishop,  I  come  to 
 the  most  important  concern  of  my  whole  life,  and  that  which 
 troubles  my  conscience  inexpressibly  more  than  any  thing  I 
 have  ever  said  or  done;  that  is,  the  insincere  declaration  of 
 faith  to  which  I  had  the  weakness  to  consent,  and  which  the 
 fear  of  death  alone  extorted  from  me;  which  declarations,  I  take 
 this  opportunity,  with  the  most  unequivocal  sincerity,  in  pre- 
 sence of  this  assembly,  publicly  to  renounce,  as  articles  signed 
 by  my  hand  contrary  to  the  conviction  and  fixed  belief  of  my 
 heart,  and  written  under  the  terrors  of  death,  in  the  hopes  of 
 saving  my  life;  which  miscarriage  of  mine  I  most  sincerely  re- 
 pent; and  reckoning  that  the  terrors  of  death,  and  all  the  ex- 
 cruciating tortures  of  the  fire,  are  nothing  compared  with  the 
 conscious  feelings  of  my  ingratitude  and  baze  infidelity  towards 
 my  God  and  Saviour,  that  now  rankle  in  this  disconsolate  and 
 agonized  bosom,  I  am  ready  to  seal  with  my  blood,  these 
 doctrines,  which  I  firmly  believe,  were  communicated  from  hea- 
 ven; and  this  unworthy  right  hand,  that  has  betrayed  my  heart, 
 may  I  come  to  the  fire,  shall  first  suffer  the  forfeit  of  its  offence." 
 Having  thus  surprised  the  audience,  who  had  no  suspicion  of  a 
 contrary  declaration,  he  was  admonished  not  to  dissemble. 
 "  Ah  !  (said  he),  from  a  child  I  have  hated  falsehood,  and  been 
 a  lover  of  simplicity;  nor,  till  beset  with  the  terrors  of  death, 
 and  seduced  by  the  promises  of  hypocritical  men,  who  conspir- 
 ed against  my  honour  and  my  life,  have  I  ever  dissembled." 
 Thus  disappointed,  the  popish  crowd  were  enraged  to  mad- 
 ness, and  Cranmer  was  torn  from  the  stage,  and,  with  marks 
 of  enthusiastic  fury,  hurried  to  the  place  of  his  execution 
 over  against  Baliol  college.  Here  he  put  off  his  clothes  in 
 haste;  and  standing  in  his  shirt,  without  shoes,  was  chained  to 
 the  stake,  amid  the  insnlts  of  his  enemies.  But  summoning  up 
 all  the  powers  of  his  mind,  he  endured  the  scorn,  as  well  as  the 
 torture  of  his  punishment,  with  matchless  fortitude.  He 
 stretched  out  his  hand  into  the  flame,  without  betraying, 
 either  by  his  countenance  or  motions,  the  least  appearance  of 
 weakness,  or  even  of  feeling,  and  held  it  in  the  flames  till  it 
 was  entirely  consumed.  His  thoughts  seemed  wholly  occupied 
 on  his  former  fault;  he  called  aloud  several  times,  this  hand  has 
 offended;  and  satisfied  at  last  with  the  atonement  it  had  made, 
 his  countenance  became  serene,  insomuch,  that  when  the  fire 
 attacked  his  body,  he  seemed  quite  insensible  of  his  outward 
 
THOMAS  CRANMER.  205 
 
 sufferings;  whilst  the  energies  of  his  soul,  eomprest  together 
 within  itself,  seemed  to  repel  the  fury  of  the  flames. 
 
 Thus  perished,  at  Oxford,  by  means  of  a  most  artful  and 
 hypocritical  deception,  a  flagrant  and  Jesuitical  breach  of  pro- 
 mise, and  the  rage  of  disappointed  bigotry  and  blinded  zeal,  to 
 the  everlasting  disgrace  both  of  the  doctrines  and  dignitaries  of 
 the  Romish  church,  Thomas  Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Can- 
 terbury, in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age;  and  though  by 
 no  means  exempted  from  the  faults  and  frailties  incident  to 
 our  nature,  yet  was  he  a  very  remarkable  and  highly-deserving 
 man.  His  inquiries  after  truth  were  made  with  singular  can- 
 dour, while  the  changes  he  contemplated  were  conducted  with 
 caution,  and  prosecuted  with  unrelinquishing  perseverance.  He 
 considered  the  Romish  church  a  very  corrupt  and  superstitious 
 community,  from  the  tyranny,  the  errors,  and  abominable  su- 
 perstitions of  which,  it  was  the  duty  of  every  christian  to  with- 
 draw, and  to  do  this,  whatever  might  be  the  consequence.  But 
 conceiving  that  conviction  was  an  indispensable  pre-requisite  to 
 conversion,  he  chose  to  convince  the  people  by  arguments  drawn 
 from  scripture,  reason,  and  even  from  common  sense,  rather 
 than  force  them,  by  the  severity  of  sanguinary  laws,  to  adopt  a 
 religion  they  did  not  understand,  and  in  this  way  to  open 
 the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the  truths  of  primitive  Christianity, 
 and  lead  them,  as  willing  converts,  to  the  faith  of  the  reform- 
 ation. 
 
 With  this  view,  Cranmer  laboured  himself,  and  encouraged 
 others  to  write,  preach,  and  hold  public  disputations  on  the 
 controverted  points  of  faith,  that  he  might  establish  the  truth 
 in  the  understanding  and  affections  of  the  people;  and,  consid- 
 ering the  powerful  opposition  that  withstood  his  best  endeavours, 
 his  success  was  certainly  great.  Even  under  the  boisterous 
 reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  though  always  retarded,  and  often  arrest- 
 ed in  his  reforming  career,  he  never  relinquished  his  purpose  in 
 despair,  but  continued  to  do  whatever  still  remained  in  his 
 power,  patiently  waiting  for  more  propitious  opportunities;  as 
 we  have  seen  in  the  affair  of  the  act  of  the  six  articles,  which, 
 for  three  successive  days,  he  strenuously  opposed  in  parliament, 
 and  failing,  lodged  his  solemn  protest  against  it;  and  on  the  first 
 opportunity,  finding  it  impossible  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  that 
 tyrannical  enactment,  he  seriously  set  about  mitigating  its  seve- 
 rity, which  he  happily  effected.  The  whole  tenor  of  his  con- 
 duct, from  his  first  embracing  the  reforming  doctrines,  gives 
 evidence  of  his  hearty  zeal  in  that  cause,  which  renders  his  me- 
 lancholy misgivings  the  more  surprising.  Owing  to  the  irre- 
 sistible force  of  prejudice,  and  carried  away  with  the  current  of 
 public  opinion,  which  few  men,. even  of  the  greatest  character 
 
206  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 have  ever  been  able  wholly  to  forego,  Craiimer  16  also  chargeable 
 with  consenting  to  some  acts  of  blood,  even  under  the  mild 
 reign  of  Edward  the  VI.;  and  by  his  counsel  constraining  that 
 young  prince  to  a  very  reluctant  acquiescence.  This  was 
 equally  lamentable  and  surprising,  as  his  whole  conduct  points 
 him  out  as  a  person  naturally  mild  and  humane,  and  by  no 
 means  cruel  and  vindictive.  The  goodness  of  his  nature,  and 
 the  generosity  of  his  sentiments,  appear  conspicuous  in  his  en- 
 deavours to  save  the  life  of  Sir  Thomas  More  and  bishop  Fisher, 
 who,  whatever  might  be  their  other  virtues,  were  implacable 
 enemies,  and  cruel  persecutors  of  the  protestants,  of  whom  he 
 was  considered  the  principal  leader.  He  also  protested  in  par- 
 liament against  the  attainting  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  his  most 
 inveterate  enemy. 
 
 Upon  the  whole,  he  was  a  man  of  distinguished  learning  and 
 capacity;  his  life  was  adorned  with  candour  and  sincerity,  be- 
 nevolence, and  all  those  virtues  that  serve  to  make  a  man  ami- 
 able and  useful  in  society.  His  moral  qualities  procured  him 
 universal  respect;  and  his  inflexible  fortitude,  manifested  at  the 
 stake,  has  so  wiped  off  his  reproach,  that  after  every  deduction 
 that  reason  and  justice  requires,  he  will  be  acknowledged  as 
 one  of  the  most  illustrious  characters  in  the  ecclesiastical  his- 
 tory of  England. 
 
 Of  Cranmer's  printed  works  we  consider  it  unnecessary  to 
 give  a  formal  list.  His  mind  is  essentially  interwoven  with  the 
 articles,  homilies,  liturgy,  and  general  spirit  of  the  church  of 
 England,  which  furnish  him  with  an  eulogy,  to  which  no  addi- 
 tion is  requisite.  We  shall  shortly  mention  such  of  his  works 
 as  still  remain  in  manuscript. — 1st,  Two  large  volumes  collected 
 from  the  scriptures,  the  primitive  fathers,  the  later  doctors  and 
 schoolmen,  the  first  containing  545,  and  the  second  559  pages; 
 they  refer  principally  to  the  controversies  with  Rome,  viz. 
 The  seven  sacraments,  invocation  of  saints,  images,  relics,  of 
 true  religion  and  superstition,  the  mass,  prayer,  the  Virgin 
 Mary,  &c;  these  are  in  the  King's  library. — 2d,  The  lord  Bur- 
 leigh had  six  or  seven  volumes  more. — 3d,  Dr.  Burnet  mentions 
 two  other  volumes  which  he  had  seen,  supposed  now  to  be  lost. 
 And,  4th2  several  letters  in  the  Cotton  library. 
 
 ROBERT    FERRAR, 
 Bisliop  of  St.  David's. 
 
 Amongst  the  illustrious  champions  for  the  reformation, 
 we  cannot  avoid  giving  some  account  of  this  venerable  prelate, 
 
ROBERT  FERRAR.  207 
 
 notwithstanding  that  history  affords  little  more  concerning  him 
 than  the  circumstances  that  occasioned  or  immediately  preced- 
 ed and  attended  his  martyrdom. 
 
 Mr  Ferrar  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  became  a  canon  re- 
 gular of  St.  Mary's  in  that  university?  where  lie  also  proceeded 
 to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity.  It  appears  that  the  duke 
 of  Somerset,  lord  protector  of  England,  during  the  minority  of 
 Edward  the  VI.,  and  a  warm  friend  to  the  reformation,  was 
 Mr  Ferrar's  patron,  who,  judging  him  a  proper  instrument  for 
 promoting  that  important  work,  procured  for  him  the  vacant 
 bishoprick  of  St.  David's  in  Wales,  to  which  he  was  consecrat- 
 ed on  the  9th  of  September  1547.  In  performing  the  duties  of 
 this  new  office,  bishop  Ferrar's  zeal,  for  the  cause  of  reformation, 
 soon  procured  him  a  host  of  enemies  amongst  the  papists  and 
 their  credulous  adherents.  At  the  fall  of  the  protector,  his 
 patron,  whose  death  was  effected  soon  after  this  by  the  intrigues 
 of  his  enemies,  these  malicious  people  became  extremely  trou- 
 blesome to  this  excellent  man,  and  through  the  agency  and  vil- 
 lanous  artifice  of  two  ungrateful  officers  of  his  own  see,  procur- 
 ed an  attachment  against  him,  by  which,  some  short  time  be- 
 fore the  king's  death,  he  was  committed  to  prison,  under  a  debt 
 pretended  to  be  due  from  his  bishoprick  to  the  crown.  Nor 
 can  it  be  supposed  that  such  an  active  promoter  of  the  reforma- 
 tion, as  bishop  Ferrar,  was  at  all  likely  to  obtain  his  liberty 
 during  the  following  reign  of  bigotry  and  Romish  superstition. 
 Instead  of  a  praemunere,  with  which  those,  who  wished  him 
 turned  out  of  his  bishoprick,  had  formerly  charged  him,  he  was 
 now  attacked  on  the  score  of  heresy  by  others,  in  whose  eyes  no- 
 thing less  than  his  blood  could  atone  for  his  protestant  opinions. 
 Accordingly,  on  the  4th  of  February  1555,  he  was  brought,  in 
 company  with  bishop  Hooper,  Messrs  Rogers,  Bradford,  Saunders, 
 and  others,  before  that  persecuting  bully  of  the  Roman  church, 
 Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  who,  according  to  his  usual 
 practice  on  similar  occasions,  treated  both  him  and  his  associ- 
 ates with  the  greatest  asperity  and  vulgar  abuse,  and  particu- 
 larly threatened  to  make  a  short  work  of  it  with  Mr  Ferrar,  in 
 which,  for  once,  he  was  as  good  as  his  word,  so  that  the  harm- 
 less bishop  was  hurried  away  to  his  death,  without  even  the 
 formalities  of  law  or  justice. 
 
 Judging  by  the  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  at  present  enjoyed 
 by  all  ranks  of  the  people,  it  may  seem  astonishing  that  men 
 were  suffered  to  be  condemned  with  so  little  ceremony,  and  re- 
 gard even  to  the  forms  of  justice,  as  we  find  they  were,  parti- 
 cularly under  the  short  and  bloody  reign  of  queen  Mary.  But 
 ecclesiastical  tyranny  now  restored,  the  church  was  so  earnestly 
 engaged  in  extinguishing  the  latent  sparks  of  religious  liberiv. 
 
208  MEMOIR  OF  ROBERT  FERRAR. 
 
 that  bigotry  swallowed  up  every  other  consideration.  But  the 
 abuse  of  power,  on  this  occasion,  led,  as  it  always  must,  to  the 
 examination  of  the  foundation  on  which  it  rested:  for  men 
 never  suffer  extremities  without  setting  their  ingenuity  to  work, 
 if  by  any  means  they  may  discover  some  mode  of  relief.  Hence 
 this  merciless  persecution  tended  more  to  the  destruction  of 
 popery,  in  the  kingdom  of  England,  than  the  most  unqualified 
 toleration  could  have  effected :  for  wherever  force  is  admitted 
 as  a  necessary  argument  in  defending  any  set  of  opinions,  the 
 most  ignorant  are  at  no  loss  to  determine  who  have  the  truth 
 on  their  side  of  the  controversy. 
 
 With  regard,  however,  to  bishop  Ferrar,  the  queen's  council, 
 that  they  might  trample  down  every  thing  like  justice,  order, 
 or  common  decency,  sent  him  away  to  his  own  diocese  in  order 
 to  be  condemned,  not  by  a  court  of  ecclesiastics  commissioned 
 for  that  particular  purpose,  where,  as  Solomon  says,  in  the  mul- 
 titude of  counsellors  there  is  safety,  but  by  an  individual,  and 
 that  highly-honoured  personage,  Morgan,  the  identical  successor 
 of  the  maltreated  bishop  of  St.  David's.  Deeply  interested  in  the 
 disgraceful  transaction  he  had  undertaken  to  accomplish,  and,  in 
 all  probability,  happy  to  embrace  such  a  rare  opportunity  of 
 putting  his  rival  out  of  the  way;  in  order  also  to  find 
 something  like  a  plausible  pretence  for  such  an  unheard-of 
 atrocity,  he  examined  Ferrar  on  a  few  articles;  which  the 
 bishop  not  being  disposed  to  answer  to  his  satisfaction,  this 
 new  bishop  of  St.  David's,  this  solitary  judge  of  orthodox  and 
 heretical  sentiments,  denounced  the  opinions  of  his  fallen  pre- 
 decessor as  damnable  heresies;  and  having  degraded  him  from 
 his  ecclesiastical  functions,  delivered  him  over  to  the  secular 
 powers,  the  knuckling  tools  of  prelatic  malice,  persecution, 
 and  murder.  The  secular  power,  nothing  deficient  in  loyalty 
 to  the  queen,  or  servility  to  the  clergy,  soon  brought  this  in- 
 nocent victim  forth  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  had  him 
 burnt  on  the  south  side  of  the  market-cross  of  Carmarthen, 
 on  Saturday,  the  13th  of  March  1555.  Of  this  faithful  martyr 
 Mr  Fox  says,  that  he  stood  the  fire  so  patiently,  that  he  never 
 moved,  but  in  the  same  posture  as  he  stood,  holding  up  his 
 flaming  stumps,  so  he  continued  to  stand,  till  one  Richard 
 Gravell,  with  a  staff,  dashed  him  upon  the  head,  and  so  struck 
 him  down  into  the  fire. 
 
209 
 
 SHORT  INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO 
 
 THE  LIVES  OF  THE  PURITANS. 
 
 The  English  nation,  under  Henry  VIII.,  having  renounced 
 the  jurisdiction  of  Rome :  The  loss  of  such  an  important  de- 
 partment of  his  spiritual  kingdom  exasperated  the  Roman  pon- 
 tiff almost  to  madness;  but  finding  his  power  and  influence  un- 
 equal to  the  task  of  recovering  his  supremacy,  he  carefully 
 watched  every  movement  of  the  English  government,  in  hopes 
 that  more  auspicious  circumstances  might  enable  him  to  reclaim 
 his  scattered  flock,  and  once  more  gather  them  together  under 
 the  maternal  wings  of  the  Romish  church.  During  the  life  of 
 Henry  he  was  not  altogether  without  hope;  but  the  piety  and 
 protestant  principles  of  Edward  his  successor,  together  with 
 the  rapid  progress  of  the  reformation,  almost  drove  him  to  de- 
 spair. The  short  reign  of  this  amiable  prince,  however,  opened 
 the  way  for  his  sister  Mary  to  the  throne,  a  bigoted  papist,  na- 
 turally peevish,  and  so  much  soured  to  resentment  for  the  in- 
 justice done  to  her  mother  and  herself  by  the  reformers,  that 
 the  pope  found  her  a  tool,  in  every  respect  fitting  for  the  work 
 he  intended  to  put  into  her  hands.  The  circumstances  were 
 promising,  the  moment  was  precious,  and  the  holy  father  was 
 determined  not  to  let  it  slip.  Accordingly,  his  paternal  admoni- 
 tions, together  with  those  of  her  ghostly  directors,  were  so  con- 
 genial to  the  narrow  and  intolerant  soul  of  Mary,  that  they 
 were,  on  all  occasions,  implicitly  and  cordially  embraced,  and 
 executed  with  such  a  rigour  of  vengeance,  that  every  considera- 
 tion of  sound  policy  and  humane  feeling  were  swallowed  up  in 
 the  raging  propensity  to  extirpate  heresy  from  her  dominions, 
 and  restore  the  glory  of  holy  mother-church.  Hence,  in  the 
 short  space  of  three  years,  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  in- 
 dividuals were  brought  to  the  stake,  and  consumed  in  the 
 flames,  independent  of  vast  numbers  who  suffered  by  cruel  im- 
 prisonments, and  a  variety  of  tortures,  or  were  ruined  by  fines, 
 or  the  confiscation  of  their  property.  Of  those  who  perished  in 
 the  fire,  there  were  five  bishops,  twenty-one  clergymen,  eight 
 gentlemen,  eighty-four  tradesmen,  one  hundred  husbandmen, 
 servants,  and  labourers,  fifty-five  women,  and  four  children. 
 8  2d 
 
210  SHORT  INTUODUCTION  TO 
 
 Aware  of  the  impossibility  of  burning,  or  otherwise  destroying 
 all  the  reformers,  they  endeavoured  to  flatter  and  cajole  them 
 into  their  measures;  and  those  who  continued  refractory  were 
 hurried  to  prison,  where  a  string  of  articles  were  offered  them 
 to  subscribe,  and  whoever  had  the  hardihood  to  reject  the 
 queen's  mercy,  thus  brought  to  their  very  hand,  were  denounc- 
 ed as  obstinate  heretics,  and  sent  to  the  flames.  This  merciless 
 mode  of  procedure,  they  presumed,  would  soon  silence  all  op- 
 position: hut  they  were  too  sanguine  in  their  expectations,  for 
 notwithstanding  of  all  the  victims,  thus  cruelly  sacrificed,  the 
 heretics  were  rapidly  increasing  in  number,  resolution,  and  im- 
 placable animosity  against  the  perpetrators  of  these  disgusting 
 atrocities,  which  were  already  become  odious  to  the  whole  na- 
 tion; as  appeared  in  the  opposition  of  the  new  parliament. 
 
 During  this  period  of  intolerant  and  persecuting  severity, 
 those  protestant  clergymen,  who  escaped  the  fangs  of  this  royal 
 tigress  and  her  blood-hounds,  were  dispersed,  and  fled  for  safety 
 to  the  protestant  countries  on  the  continent,  where  they  were 
 received,  particularly  at  Geneva,  with  the  most  fraternal  hospi- 
 tality. On  the  death  of  Mary,  her  sister  Elizabeth  was  placed 
 upon  the  throne,  and  the  persecuted  exiles  returned  with  joy- 
 ful hearts  to  their  native  country,  and  were  restored  to  their 
 flocks,  and  the  exercise  of  their  ministry  in  the  churches  from 
 which  they  had  been  expelled:  But  most  of  them,  during  their 
 absence,  had  become  strongly  attached  to  the  simple  ceremonial 
 of  Geneva,  and  other  reformed  churches  on  the  continent;  and 
 finding  so  much  of  the  Romish  superstition  still  retained  in  the 
 liturgy  of  the  church  of  England,  had  their  doubts  how  far  it 
 was  lawful  for  them  to  conform;  anxious,  at  the  .same  time,  to 
 purge  the  ritual  of  the  church  of  England  down  to  something 
 like  the  simplicity  of  the  foreign  churches.  Here,  however,  they 
 were  opposed  by  the  whole  body  of  the  dignified  clergy,  many  of 
 whom  had  been  papists,  and  conformed  to  save  their  livings, 
 and,  in  hopes  of  another  change,  were  desirous  to  keep  as  near 
 as  possible  to  the  establishment  they  had  left.  But,  above 
 all,  the  imperious  queen,  who,  together  with  her  crown,  in- 
 herited also,  from  her  father,  a  superabundant  portion  of  his 
 tyrannical  spirit,  held  to  the  very  letter  of  her  supremacy  with 
 unreasonable  tenacity,  prohibiting  all  innovations.  Though 
 her  interest  and  inclination  seemed  to  concur  with  her  educa- 
 tion in  making  her  a  determined  protestant,  yet  she  evinced  a 
 feminine  fondness  for  the  external  pomp  and  gaudy  splendour 
 of  worship,  and  inclined  rather  to  extend  than  diminish  the 
 established  ceremonial;  nor  were  the  rigid  manners  of  these  pious 
 exiles  at  all  congenial  to  her  spirit,  which  greatly  betrayed  the 
 hypocrisy  of  her  outward  profession  of  the  protestant  religion. 
 
THE  LIVES  OF  THE  PURITANS.  211 
 
 Her  imperious  temper,  her  vanity  and  duplicity,  her  profane 
 swearing,  and  a  multitude  of  other  acts,  utterly  inconsistent 
 with  the  purity  and  gentleness  of  the  religion  of  the  Son  of 
 God,  might  perhaps  be  consistent  with  the  character  of  a  female 
 despot,  but  altogether  incompatible  with  that  of  a  good  christian. 
 These  excellent  men  were  anxious  to  restore  the  church  of  Eng- 
 land, as  near  as  possible,  to  the  primitive  and  apostolic  simpli- 
 city, and  were  joined  by  numbers  of  others,  holding  similar 
 opinions;  but  they  were  accounted,  by  their  adversaries,  as  too 
 rigidly  righteous,  and,  in  consequence  of  their  non-conformity, 
 their  becoming  gravity,  and  christian-like  conversation,  they 
 were  stigmatized  with  the  name  of  puritans ;  an  appellation  by 
 which  men  of  similar  principles  continue  still  to  be  distinguish- 
 ed  in  the  church  of  England. 
 
 But  in  place  of  conceding  any  thing  to  the  wishes  and  con- 
 scientious scruples  of  the  puritans,  the  queen  published  the  act 
 of  uniformity,  and  enforced  its  intolerant  enactments  with  all 
 the  rigour  of  her  sovereign  power.  The  puritans,  exasperated 
 by  a  treatment  they  so  little  expected,  and  conscious  that,  after 
 their  long  and  arduous  sufferings,  they  so  little  deserved,  could 
 no  longer  abstain  from  bitter  invectives  against  their  oppressors. 
 The  puritans  were  charged  with  obstinacy  and  unnecessary 
 scrupulosity;  while  they,  on  the  other  hand,  charged  their  op- 
 ponents with  insolence  and  intolerance.  The  peace-makers, 
 on  both  sides,  could  not  be  heard  amid  the  heated  passions  and 
 noisy  clamours  of  the  contending  parties,  neither  of  whom  were 
 disposed  to  yield  or  compromise  the  points  in  dispute,  so  that 
 the  breach  widened  apace.  With  regard  to  the  doctrines  main- 
 tained in  the  church,  both  parties  were  cordially  agreed,  and 
 equally  tenacious;  and  if  any  difference,  perhaps  the  puritans 
 were  more  so  than  even  their  adversaries;  and  though  some  of 
 them  were  for  a  thorough  reformation  of  the  church  from  every 
 remnant  of  the  Roman  superstition,  yet  the  more  moderate  of 
 the  party,  which  perhaps  constituted  the  majority,  would  have 
 thankfully  received  a  few  concessions  to  remove  the  most  ob- 
 noxious grounds  of  their  objections  to  the  established  forms;  of 
 which,  the  article  of  vestments,  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism, 
 the  ring  in  marriage,  kneeling  when  receiving  the  sacrament, 
 and  some  similar  rites,  formed  the  most  conspicuous  part.  But 
 the  refusal  to  grant  a  liberal  toleration,  with  a  determination, 
 at  the  same  time,  to  silence  the  murmurs  of  the  people  by  the 
 strong  arm  of  power,  in  place  of  answering  the  purposes  in- 
 tended, only  served  to  render  them  more  inimical  to  the  govern- 
 ment, and  more  united  amongst  themselves. 
 
 The  dignified  clergy,  who  were  the  principal  abettors  of  these 
 coercive  measures  under  queen  Elizabeth,  seem  to  have  been 
 
°Zl0Z  SHORT  INTRODUCTION,  &C. 
 
 little  acquainted  with  the  human  character,  and  to  have  made 
 still  less  use  of  the  experience  of  former  ages,  when  they  adopt- 
 ed a  plan  of  policy,  which  had  always  proved  abortive  in  the 
 hands  of  their  persecuting  predecessors,  and  which,  so  long  as 
 the  mental  and  corporeal  conformation  of  mankind  remains  un- 
 changed, must  be  equally  unsuccessful  in  the  hands  of  their 
 successors.     These  intolerant  ecclesiastics  must  have  known, 
 that  the  cruelties  and  insatiable  encroachments  of  the  Roman 
 pontiffs  had  lately  lost  them  the  supremacy  of  nearly  one  half 
 of  the  European  population;  and  that  the  recent  persecution 
 under  queen  Mary,  had  so  disgusted  the  good  people  of  Eng- 
 land at  the  very  name  of  popery,  that  his  holiness  had  been 
 thereby  bereaved  of  the  consolation,  even  of  hope,  that  he  should 
 ever  regain  his  pretended  supremacy  in  that  kingdom.    The  in- 
 flexible fortitude  of  the  martyrs,  who  embraced  the  flame's  at 
 Smithfield,  Oxford,  and  elsewhere,  might  also  have  taught  them, 
 that  unless  they  could  convince  men,  they  would  not  believe 
 them;  that  unless  they  do  them  justice,  they  will  neither  love 
 nor  honour  them;  and  that,  without  their  own  good  pleasure,  no 
 power  on  earth  can  make  them  obey.     But  an  overweaning 
 conceit  of  their  own  wisdom  and  superior  policy,  together  with 
 the  bewitching  anticipations  of  power,  honour,  and  emolument, 
 urged  them  to  acts  of  oppression  and  uncharitable  severity,  and 
 introduced  into  the  church  animosity  and  disorder,  of  which  the 
 following  generations  experienced  the  terrible   consequences; 
 while  each  predominating  party,  in  their  turn,  abused  the  power 
 they  had  acquired;  and,  instead  of  a  liberal  toleration,  smote, 
 with  the  sword  of  the  civil  magistrate,  all  who  refused  to  con- 
 form to  their  exclusive  establishments. 
 
 Having  already  introduced  the  lives  of  a  number  of  the  most 
 conspicuous  martyrs,  who  suffered  under  the  bloody  reign  of 
 queen  Mary,  we  now  proceed  with  the  lives  of  the  most  dis- 
 tinguished of  the  persecuted  puritans. 
 
 MILES  COVERDALE,  D.  D. 
 
 This  highly  distinguished  puritan  divine  was  born  in 
 Yorkshire,  1486,  and  had  his  education  at  the  university  of 
 Cambridge,  where  he  became  an  augustine  monk.  At  Tubin- 
 gen in  Germany,  he  took  his  doctor's  degree,  and  was  incorpo- 
 rated in  the  same  at  Cambridge.  He  renounced  his  popish 
 principles  at  an  early  period  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and 
 became  an  avowed  and  zealous  reformer.  He  was  one  of  the 
 first  who  publicly  preached  the  gospel  in  its  purity?  after  the 
 
MEMOIR  OF  MILES  COYERDAEE.  '213 
 
 king  had  renounced  the  authority  of  Rome,  and  entirely  devot- 
 ed himself  to  the  promotion  of  the  protestant  cause.  In  152S 
 he  preached  at  Brunsted  in  Essex,  and  publicly  declared  against 
 the  mass,  the  worship  of  images,  and  auricular  confession,  de- 
 claring that  contrition  for  sin,  between  God  and  a  man's  own 
 conscience,  rendered  confession  to  a  priest  altogether  useless. 
 His  labours,  in  this  place,  were  blessed  with  much  success:  and 
 amongst  many  whose  hearts  were  touched  with  the  doctrines  he 
 taught,  he  was  honoured  with  being  instrumental  in  turning 
 one  Thomas  Toplady  from  the  errors  of  popery,  who  afterwards 
 sealed  the  truth  with  his  blood.  Coverdale,  soon  after  this, 
 finding  himself  in  danger  of  the  fire,  fled  beyond  seas,  and  lived 
 for  some  time  in  Holland,  where  he  chiefly  applied  himself  to 
 the  translation  of  the  scriptures.  In  the  year  1529,  Mr  William 
 Tyndale  having  finished  his  translation  of  the  pentateuch,  in- 
 tended to  put  it  to  the  press  at  Hamburgh,  but  was  wrecked  on 
 bis  passage,  where  he  lost  all  his  papers  and  money,  and  had 
 therefore  to  begin  the  work  afresh;  but  found,  at  Hamburgh, 
 his  friend  Coverdale,  who  waited  for  his  arrival,  and  assisted 
 him  in  writing  a  new  translation.  Tyndale  and  Coverdale 
 finished  and  published  a  translation  of  the  whole  bible  in  1535, 
 the  first  ever  printed  in  the  English  language. 
 
 This  first  publication  of  the  bible  roused  the  indignation  of 
 the  prelates,  who  complained  to  the  king;  and  his  majesty,  in 
 compliance  with  their  suggestions,  ordered  the  copies  to  be  called 
 in,  and  promised  them  a  new  translation;  and  when  the  trans- 
 lation, in  1537,  called  Coverdale's,  came  forth,  the  bishops  com- 
 plained to  Henry  that  it  contained  a  great  many  faults.  His 
 majesty  asked  whether  it  contained  any  heresies:  they  replied 
 that  they  found  none.  Then,  in  the  name  of  God,  said  the 
 king,  let  it  go  forth  amongst  the  people. 
 
 Conscious  of  the  mischief  that  Coverdale  had  already  done  to 
 the  cause  of  Rome,  and  from  his  great  activity  and  industry  was 
 still  capable  of  effecting,  he  was  most  severely  persecuted  by 
 the  prelates,  who  hunted  him  from  place  to  place,  so  that  he 
 was  forced,  for  many  years,  to  remain  an  exile  from  his  native, 
 land;  nor  could  the  Netherlands  afford  him  complete  securitv 
 froin  their  implacable  resentment.  To  escape  their  powerful 
 influence,  he  retired  to  Germany,  where,  upon  his  first  settle- 
 ment, he  was  obliged  to  teach  children  for  a  subsistence.  After 
 he  had  acquired  the  Dutch  language,  the  prince  Elector  Pa- 
 latine conferred  upon  him  the  benefice  of  Burghsaber;  and 
 his  faithful  ministry,  and  exemplary  conversation,  were  made  a 
 blessing  to  the  people.  During  his  residence  in  this  place,  be 
 was  subsisted  partly  by  his  benefice,  and  partly  by  lord  Crom- 
 well, his  kind  and  liberal  patron  and  benefactor. 
 
214  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Upon  the  accession  of  Edward  VI.,  the  prison  doors  were 
 thrown  open  to  the  reformers;  and  those  who  had  been  driven 
 into  exile  returned  home;  amongst  the  last  of  whom  was  Dr. 
 Coverdale.  Some  short  time  after  his  return,  he  became  chap- 
 lain to  lord  Russell,  in  his  expedition  to  suppress  an  insurrec- 
 tion in  Devonshire;  and  the  lamentable  state  of  the  diocese  of 
 Exeter,  owing  to  the  late  insurrection,  and  the  prevalence  of 
 popery,  required  some  wise,  courageous,  and  excellent  preacher 
 to  restore  order  and  tranquillity,  and  Coverdale  was  considered 
 a  proper  person  to  fill  that  distracted  see.  Cranmer,  who  was 
 intimately  acquainted  with  him,  had  the  highest  opinion  of  his 
 talents  and  integrity,  and  was  always  ready  to  do  him  acts  of 
 kindness;  and,  on  this  occasion,  performed  the  ceremony  of  his 
 consecration  at  Lambeth,  he  having  received  the  king's  letter 
 patent  for  that  purpose.  Though  Coverdale  had  submitted, 
 under  the  late  reign,  to  wear  the  habits,  he  had  now,  with 
 many  other  celebrated  divines,  laid  them  aside. 
 
 Xhis  excellent  divine,  while  bishop  of  Exeter,  conducted  him- 
 self with  all  that  gravity  and  primitive  simplicity  which  became 
 his  high  office.  He  was  a  constant  preacher,  given  to  hospitality, 
 sober,  and  temperate,  hating  covetousness,  and  every  species  of 
 vice.  His  house  was  a  little  church,  wherein  were  exercised  all 
 virtue  and  godliness.  He  was  not,  however,  without  his  ene- 
 mies, who  endeavoured  to  have  him  disgraced,  sometimes  by 
 backbiting,  and  sometimes  by  false  accusation;  at  last  they  en- 
 deavoured to  poison  him;  but,  by  the  watchful  providence  of 
 God,  the  snare  was  broken,  and  he  escaped.  Coverdale  had 
 been  only  between  two  and  three  years  in  his  episcopal  office, 
 when  the  death  of  king  Edward  made  room  for  his  sister,  prin- 
 cess Mary,  which  soon  changed  the  whole  face  of  religion;  and 
 vast  numbers  of  the  most  worthy  preachers  in  the  kingdom 
 were  silenced,  and  this  good  bishop,  with  many  others,  cast 
 into  prison  *. 
 
 During  the  confinement  of  Coverdale,  and  the  other  protes- 
 tant  bishops  and  clergymen,  they  drew  up  and  subscribed  a 
 short  confession  of  their  faith;  a  copy  of  which  has  been  pre- 
 served, but  too  long  for  inserting  in  this  work.  The  malice  of 
 the  papists  had  marked  out  Coverdale  for  the  flames;  but  he 
 was  delivered  from  their  rage  by  a  wonderful  interposition  of 
 divine  providence.  During  his  imprisonment,  the  king  of 
 Denmark,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted  when  in  Ger- 
 many, acted  the  part  of  a  faithful  friend  in  this  interesting 
 crisis  of  his  fate;  and  after  several  pressing  solicitations  to  the 
 
 *  The  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  Cranmer  and  Holgate,  with  the 
 bi>>lt(>i^  Ridley,  1'oinet,  Scory,  Coverdale,  Taylor,  Hervey,  Bird,  liush,  Hooper, 
 I'errar,  and  Barlow,  with  twelve  thousand  clergymen,  were  all  silenced  at  this  time, 
 and  many  of  them  committed  to  prison. — Jhirnct's  History  of the  Reformation. 
 
MILES  COVERDALE.  215 
 
 queen,  bis  release  was  granted  as  a  very  particular  favour.  He 
 was,  accordingly,  permitted  to  go  again  into  exile.  He  retired 
 first  to  his  friend,  the  king  of  Denmark,  then  to  Westphalia, 
 and  afterwards  to  his  worthy  patron,  the  elector  of  the  Rhine, 
 who  received  him  with  hearty  hospitality,  and  restored  him  to 
 his  former  benefice  of  Burghsaber,  where  he  exercised  the  pas- 
 toral office  with  laborious  zeal,  and  watchful  attention  to  his 
 flock,  all  the  remaining  days  of  queen  Mary. 
 
 Coverdale,  Goodman,  Gilby,  Wlrittingham,  Samson,  Cole, 
 Knox,  Badleigh,  and  Pullam,  all  celebrated  puritans,  during 
 their  exile  at  this  time,  made  a  new  translation  of  the  bible, 
 which  went  under  the  appellation  of  the  Geneva  bible.  They 
 first  published  the  New  Testament  in  15j7,  the  first  that  had 
 ever  been  published  with  numerical  verses;  and  the  whole  bible, 
 with  marginal  notes,  was  printed  in  1560,  and  dedicated  to 
 queen  Elizabeth.  The  translators  aver  that  they  were  employ- 
 ed in  the  work,  with  fear  and  trembling,  night  and  day,  and 
 call  God  to  witness,  that  in  every  point  and  word  they  have 
 faithfully  rendered  the  text  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge  :  But 
 the  marginal  notes  having  given  some  offence,  the  work  was 
 not  permitted  to  be  printed  in  England  during  the  life  of  arch- 
 bishop Parker.  It  was  afterwards  printed  in  1576,  and  went 
 through  twenty  or  thirty  editions  in  a  short  time.  It  was  long 
 after  printed  under  the  name  of  the  reformer's  bible. 
 
 With  a  view  to  the  total  suppression  of  the  reformation, 
 queen  Mary,  amid  the  rage  of  her  persecution,  and  to  cover  the 
 frauds,  superstitions,  and  impositions  of  the  popish  religion, 
 which  shrunk  from  the  light  and  truth  of  the  scriptures,  the 
 English  bible  was  burnt  by  public  authority,  and  a  royal  pro- 
 clamation issued,  prohibiting  the  people  to  read  the  books  of 
 the  reformers;  and  amongst  the  various  works  enumerated  in 
 this  proclamation,  were  those  of  Luther,  Calvin,  Latimer, 
 Hooper,  Cranmer,  and  Coverdale. 
 
 Soon  after  the  accession  of  queen  Elizabeth,  Coverdale  re- 
 turned to  his  native  country.  His  bishoprick  was  reserved  for 
 him,  and  he  repeatedly  urged  to  accept  of  it;  but,  owing  to  the 
 popish  habits,  and  other  ceremonies  retained  in  the  church,  he 
 modestly  refused,  and  was,  on  account  of  his  scrupulosity,  for 
 some  time  neglected,  till  bishop  Grindal  suggested  the  impro- 
 priety of  leaving  bishop  Coverdale  in  poverty  and  destitution 
 in  his  old  age,  and  gave  him  the  benefice  of  St.  Magnus  at 
 Bridgefoot.  But  Coverdale,  old,  long  persecuted,  and  conse- 
 quently poor,  was  unable  to  pay  the  first-fruits,  amounting  to 
 more  than  sixty  pounds,  petitioned  secretary  Cecil  to  excuse  him, 
 adding,  "  If  poor  old  Miles  can  thus  be  provided  for,  he  will 
 think  it  enough,  and  as  good  as  a  feast."     The  request  was 
 
216  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 granted,  and  Coverdalc  continued  in  the  undisturbed  exercise 
 of  his  ministry  something  more  than  two  years;  but  not  com- 
 ing up  to  the  standard  of  conformity,  he  was  driven  from  his 
 charge,  and  obliged  to  relinquish  his  benefice.  Laden  with  age 
 and  infirmities  as  he  was,  he  did  not,  with  his  benefice,  relin- 
 quish his  beloved  work,  but  still  continued  preaching,  without 
 the  habits,  when  and  wherever  he  could  find  an  opportunity, 
 and  great  multitudes  attended  his  sermons.  The  people  used 
 to  send  to  his  house  on  a  Saturday  to  learn  where  he  was  to 
 preach  on  the  Sabbath  following,  and  were  sure  to  follow  him 
 whatever  might  be  the  distance.  This,  however,  was  too  much 
 to  be  overlooked  by  the  ruling  ecclesiastics.  This  good  old  ve- 
 teran in  the  cause  oi"  Christ,  was  at  last  obliged  to  tell  his 
 friends  that  he  durst  no  longer  inform  them  where  or  when  he 
 should  preach,  lest  he  should  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  be  of 
 any  farther  usefulness  in  the  church  of  Christ.  He  continued, 
 however,  to  preach  wherever  he  could  find  an  opportunity,  till 
 his  great  age,  and  the  infirmities  incident  to  that  state,  rendered 
 him  utterly  unfit  for  the  task,  and  soon  after  departed  this 
 theatre  of  sin,  sorrow,  and  suffering;  and  having  fought  a  good 
 fight  in  defence  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  he 
 finished  his  course  in  a  most  comfortable  and  happy  death, 
 January  20th,  1568,  aged  eighty-one  years. 
 
 He  was  a  man  of  the  most  exemplary  life  and  conversation, 
 pious  towards  God,  and  benevolent  towards  men,  even  his  op- 
 pressors and  persecutors.  A  student  of  indefatigable  industry;  a 
 scholar  who  had  a  place  in  the  first  rank  of  literature;  a  preacher 
 equal  to,  if  not  exceeding,  any  of  his  time;  a  modest,  peaceable, 
 and  forbearing  non-conformist,  and  much  admired  and  followed 
 by  the  puritans.  But  queen  Elizabeth's  cruel  act  of  uniformity 
 brought  his  grey  hairs,  with  sorrow,  to  the  grave.  His  funeral 
 procession  was  attended  with  immense  crowds  of  the  people; 
 and  his  mortal  remains  were  honourably  interred  in  the  chan- 
 cel of  Bartholomew's  church,  behind  the  exchange,  London, 
 where  a  monumental  inscription  was  afterwards  erected  to  his 
 memory. 
 
 His  works  are,  1st,  The  Christian  Rule. — 2d,  The  Christian 
 State  of  Matrimony. — 3d,  A  Christian  Exhortation  to  Common 
 or  Profane  Swearers. — 4th,  The  Manner  of  Saving  Grace  ac- 
 cording to  the  Scriptures. — 5th,  The  Old  Faith,  or  an  evident 
 proof  from  Scripture,  that  the  right,  true,  old,  and  undoubted 
 faith  of  Christians,  has  been  a  persecuted  and  suffering  faith 
 ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  world. — 6th,  A  Faithful  and 
 True  Prognostication  for  the  year  1 1 19,  and  for  ever  after  to 
 the  end  of  the  world,  gathered  from  the  prophecies  and  scrip- 
 1nres  of  God,  and  his  operations  in  governing  the  world,  very 
 
DAVID   WHITEHEAD.  %Y) 
 
 comfortable  to  all  christian  hearts. — 7th,  A  Spiritual  Almanack, 
 wherein  every  christian  man  and  woman  may  see  what  they 
 ought  daily  to  do,  and  leave  undone. — 8th,  A  Confutation  of 
 John  Slandish. — 9th,  A  Discourse  on  the  Holy  Sacraments. — 
 10th,  A  Concordance  to  the  New  Testament. —  11th,  A  Chris- 
 tian Catechism. — 12th,  Translations  from  Bullenger,  Luther, 
 and  others. — The  version  of  the  psalms,  in  the  book  of  Common 
 Prayer,  is  taken  from  Coverdale's  bible. 
 
 DAVID  WHITEHEAD,  B.  D. 
 
 Tins  very  learned  divine  was  greatly  celebrated  for  piety 
 and  moderation;  he  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  afterwards 
 became  chaplain  to  queen  Anne  Boleyn.  Archbishop  Cranmer 
 says  concerning  him,  that  he  was  endowed  with  great  know- 
 ledge, special  honesty,  fervent  zeal,  and  political  wisdom;  in 
 consideration  whereof  he  recommended  him  as  the  fittest  per- 
 son for  the  office  of  archbishop  of  Armagh.  This  nomination, 
 however,  did  not  succeed.  In  the  beginning  of  the  bloody  per- 
 secution of  queen  Mary,  Whitehead  fled  from  the  storm  which 
 began  to  rage  around  him;  and  retiring  to  Frankfort,  became 
 pastor  to  the  English  congregation,  where  he  was  had  in  high 
 estimation  by  his  expatriated  companions.  Here  he  answered 
 the  objections  of  Mr  Home  relative  to  church  discipline,  and 
 gave  evidence  of  singular  prudence  and  moderation  in  his  en- 
 deavours to  compose  the  difference  amongst  his  brethren. 
 
 When  Elizabeth  mounted  the  throne,  Mr  Wliitehead  came 
 home.  The  same  year,  he  was  appointed,  along  with  doctors 
 Parker,  Bell,  May,  Cox,  Grindal,  Pilkington,  and  Sir  Thomas 
 Smith,  to  review  king  Edward's  liturgy.  In  1559  he  was  ap- 
 pointed one  of  the  public  disputants  against  the  popish  bishops, 
 with  Dr.  Story,  bishop  of  Chichester,  Dr.  Cox,  Mr  Grindal, 
 Mr  Home,  Mr  Sandys,  Mr  Gest,  Mr  Aylmer,  and  Mr  Jewel, 
 most  or  all  of  whom  afterwards  became  bishops.  On  this  oc- 
 casion Mr  Whitehead  had  a  fine  opportunity  of  displaying  his 
 theological  talents,  and  he  discovered  such  a  depth  of  erudition, 
 and  so  much  moderation,  that  the  queen  offered  him  the  arch- 
 bishoprick  of  Canterbury.  The  mastership  of  the  Savoy  he  might 
 have  had,  at  the  same  time,  without  any  subscription;  but  he 
 declined  both,  excusing  himself  to  the  queen,  by  telling  her, 
 that  he  could  live  plentifully  by  preaehing  the  gospel  without 
 any  preferment  whatever.  Thus,  while  many  were  scrambling 
 for  ecclesiastical  dignities,  Whitehead  was  well  content  with 
 deserving  them.     Accordingly,   he  went  up  and  down  like 
 
 8  2  e 
 
218  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 i 
 
 apostle,  preaching  the  gospel  where  lie  considered  it  was  most 
 wanted,  and  spent  his  life  in  celebacy;  which  gained  him  much 
 favour  with  the  queen,  who  was  ever  averse  to  the  marriage  of 
 clergymen.  Mr  Whitehead  waiting  one  day  on  the  queen, 
 her  majesty  said  to  him,  "  I  like  thee  the  better,  Whitehead,  be- 
 cause thou  livest  unmarried."  "  In  troth,  madam  (he  replied), 
 I  like  thee  the  worse  for  the  same  cause." 
 
 In  1504  Mr  Whitehead  suffered  the  fate  of  other  puritan 
 divines,  in  being  cited  before  the  ecclesiastic  commissioners, 
 and  suffered  deprivation  for  his  non-conformity;  but  how  long 
 does  not  appear:  for  though  he  was  much  esteemed  by  the 
 queen,  he  was  no  favourite  of  the  ruling  ecclesiastics,  being 
 inimical  to  their  mode  of  government.  During  the  time  of  his 
 deprivation  it  is  thought  he  had  joined  himself  to  those  other 
 non-conforming  divines,  who  presented  a  paper  to  archbishop 
 Parker,  containing  their  reasons  for  rejecting  the  church  ap- 
 parel. He  died  in  1571,  and  left  behind  him  the  reputation  of 
 being  a  man  of  excellent  learning,  a  deep  divine,  and  a  rare  ex- 
 ample of  moderation  and  self-denial.  It  has  been  observed  of 
 Coverdale,  Turner,  and  Whitehead,  that  from  their  mouths 
 and  pens  most  of  Elizabeth's  divines  had  first  received  the 
 light  of  the  gospel. 
 
 RICHARD  TRAVENER. 
 
 This  highly  distinguished  individual  was  born  at  Brisley 
 in  Norfolk,  1505,  and  educated  first  at  Bennet  college,  Cam- 
 bridge, and  afterwards  in  the  university  of  Oxford.  Here  the 
 famous  cardinal  Wolsey  having  founded  a  new  college,  he  fur- 
 nished it  with  the  best  scholars  in  the  country;  among  whom 
 were  Mr  Travener,  Tyndale,  Frith,  and  Goodman,  with  many 
 others  of  similar  sentiments.  They  were  men  of  excellent 
 learning,  gravity,  and  profound  judgment;  and  Travener  was, 
 besides,  renowned  for  his  knowledge  in  the  science  of  music. 
 These  men,  frequently  conversing  together  about  the  state  of 
 the  church,  with  occasional  remarks  on  her  abounding  super- 
 stitions and  deplorable  corruptions,  were  accused  to  the  car- 
 dinal, and  shut  up  in  a  deep  cell  under  the  college,  where  salt 
 fish  were  wont  to  be  deposited,  and  where  the  filthiness  and  in- 
 fection of  the  place  cost  several  of  them  their  lives.  Mr  Tra- 
 veller, however,  escaped  the  fatal  distemper;  and  though  he  was 
 accused  of  having  hid  Mr  Clark's  books  under  the  boards  of  his 
 school,  the  cardinal  released  him  in  consideration  of  his  musi- 
 cal genius.     He  was  an  excellent  Greek  scholar,  and  much 
 
RICHARD  TRAVENER.  219 
 
 admired  for  his  knowledge  both  in  philosophy  and  divinity. 
 About  this  time,  he  either  removed  or  was  expelled  from  the 
 university,  and  became  a  student  at  the  inns  of  court;  and  when 
 reading  any  thing  in  the  law,  he  always  made  his  quotations  in 
 Greek. 
 
 In  1534  he  was  taken  under  the  patronage  of  Cromwell, 
 principal  secretary  to  Henry  VIII.,  by  whose  recommendation 
 he  was  made  one  of  the  clerks  to  the  signet;  which  place  he 
 held  till  the  accession  of  Mary,  having  been  held  in  much 
 esteem  by  Henry,  Edward,  Somerset  the  protector,  and  his 
 patron  the  lord  Cromwell.  In  1539  he  published  a  correction 
 of  the  translation  of  the  bible,  after  the  best  examples,  which 
 was  dedicated  to  the  king,  printed  in  folio,  and  allowed  to  be 
 read  in  the  churches;  but  after  the  fall  of  Cromwell,  in  1540, 
 the  printers  of  the  English  bible  were  committed  to  prison,  and 
 punished  at  the  instigation  of  the  bishops;  and  Travener,  as  a 
 reward  for  his  labours,  was  sent  to  the  tower.  Here,  however, 
 he  continued  but  a  short  time;  for  having  satisfactorily  ac- 
 quitted himself  before  his  judges,  he  was  released,  and  restored 
 to  his  place,  and  continued  in  the  favour  of  the  king  to  the  end 
 of  his  life.  About  this  time  he  was  a  member  of  parliament, 
 and  much  esteemed  by  all  men  of  piety  and  worth.  In  1545 
 king  Henry  made  a  speech  in  parliament,  wherein  he  exhorted 
 the  members  to  charity,  unity,  and  concord,  and  Travener  em- 
 braced the  occasion  to  publish  a  translation  of  Erasmus',  in- 
 titled,  An  Introduction  to  Christian  Concord  and  Unity  in 
 matters  of  religion.  In  1552  Mr  Travener  obtained  a  special 
 or  general  licence,  subscribed  by  king  Edward,  to  preach  in  any 
 part  of  Ids  dominions,  notwithstanding  that  he  had  never  been 
 ordained;  and,  availing  himself  of  this  particular  privilege,  he 
 preached  from  place  to  place  throughout  the  kingdom,  some- 
 times before  the  king,  and  at  other  public  places,  wearing  a 
 velvet  bonnet,  a  damask  gown,  and  a  chain  of  gold  about  his 
 neck.  When  queen  Mary  came  to  the  throne,  Travener  retired 
 to  his  country  house,  called  Norbiton-hall  in  Surry,  where  he 
 remained  till  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  to  whom  he  presented 
 a  congratulatory  epistle  in  Latin;  for  which  she  exceedingly  re- 
 spected him,  placed  great  confidence  in  his  fidelity,  and  put  him 
 into  the  commission  of  the  peace  for  the  county  of  Oxford, 
 where  importaut  concerns  were  entrusted  to  his  management, 
 till  1549,  when  he  was  made  sheriff  of  the  county.  His  eleva- 
 tion, and  the  authority  with  which  he  was  now  invested,  did 
 not  induce  him  to  relinquish  his  ministerial  labours  whenever 
 he  found  an  opportunity.  Even  while  high  sheriff  of  Oxford 
 county,  he  appeared  in  the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary's  church,  with 
 his  gold  chain  about  his  neck,  and  the  sword  by  his  side,  and 
 
220  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 preached  to  the  scholars.  On  this  occasion  he  introduced  his 
 sermon  in  terms,  which;  however  popular  at  that  period,  sa- 
 vours too  much  of  rant  for  modern  ears.  "  Having  arrived  (says 
 Travener),  at  the  mount  of  Saint  Mary's,  in  the  stony  stage 
 where  I  now  stand,  I  have  brought  you  some  fine  biscuits  baked 
 in  the  oven  of  charity,  and  carefully  conserved  for  the  chickens 
 of  the  church,  the  sparrows  of  the  spirit,  and  the  sweet  swal- 
 lows of  salvation."  A  similar  mode  of  preaching  seems  to  have 
 been  fashionable  in  that  age.  This  celebrated  reformer,  and 
 zealous  puritan,  died  at  his  manor-house,  at  Wood-eaton,  in 
 Oxfordshire,  July  1 1th,  1575,  aged  seventy  years.  I  lis  remains 
 were  interred,  with  great  funeral  solemnity,  in  the  chancel  of 
 the  church  at  that  place.  He  left  several  works  behind  him, 
 particularly  the  Psalms  of  David,  reduced  to  a  form  of  prayers 
 and  meditations,  with  certain  other  godly  orisons,  &c.  &c. 
 
 WILLIAM  WHITTINGHAM. 
 
 This  resolute  non-conformist  was  born  in  Chester,  1524, 
 and  had  his  education  in  Brazen-nose  college,  Oxford.  In  1545 
 he  became  fellow  of  All-souls;  and  afterwards,  being  considered 
 one  of  the  best  scholars  in  the  university,  he  was  translated  to 
 Christ-church,  then  founded  by  Henry  VIII.  In  1550  he  went 
 on  his  travels,  and  made  the  tour  of  Germany,  France,  and 
 Italy,  returning  to  England  about  the  close  of  Edward's  reign; 
 but  being  soon  after  forced,  by  the  bloody  persecution  of  the 
 following  reign,  to  flee  for  his  life,  he  retired  to  Frankfort,  and 
 settled  among  the  English  exiles  in  that  place.  He  was  the  first 
 who  took  charge  of  the  English  congregation;  but  afterward 
 resigned  it  to  Mr  John  Knox.  Whittingham  and  his  associates 
 having  comfortably  settled  their  church  at  Frankfort,  invited 
 their  brother  exiles,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  other  places,  to 
 join  them,  and  share  their  comforts;  but  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Cox 
 and  his  friends  utterly  marred  their  harmony,  and  introduced 
 such  discord,  wrangling,  and  bitter  contention,  that  many  <i' 
 them  were  obliged,  soon  after,  to  look  out  a  more  eligible  asy- 
 lum. Cox  and  his  party  were  strenuous  adherents  to  the 
 English  establishment  under  Edward  VI.;  and,  on  their  arrival 
 at  Frankfort)  began  to  break  through  the  simple  order  that  had 
 been  so  harmoniously  agreed  upon  by  the  English  congregation. 
 Some  of  this  imperious  party  having,  without  the  consent  or 
 knowledge  of  the  congregation,  taken  possession  of  the  pulpit, 
 read  the  English  litany,  and  Cox  and  the  rest  of  his  friends 
 answered  aloud,   by  which   the  original  determination   of   the 
 
WILLIAM  WH1TTINGHAM.  221 
 
 congregation  was  broken  through.  Mr  Whittingham,  under 
 these  circumstances,  publicly  expressed  his  opinion,  that  Dr. 
 Cox  and  his  friends,  having  usurped  a  power  incompatible  with 
 the  rules  originally  laid  down  for  the  governing  of  the  congre- 
 gation, he  held  it  lawful  for  himself,  and  all  who  adhered  to  the 
 original  constitution  of  the  congregation,  to  withdraw,  and  join 
 some  other  church  more  congenial  to  their  views.  But  Cox 
 was  anxious  to  prevent  them,  declaring  that  they  ought  not  to 
 be  allowed.  Whittingham  considered  it  both  cruel  and  tyran- 
 nical to  force  men,  against  their  consciences,  to  acquiesce  with 
 all  their  disorderly  proceedings,  and  challenged  the  whole  party 
 to  dispute  the  matter  before  the  magistrates;  and  when  this 
 could  not  be  obtained,  as  a  last  effort  towards  a  reconciliation, 
 he  proposed  to  refer  the  whole  concern  to  four  arbitrators,  two 
 on  each  side,  to  determine  with  whom  the  fault  lay,  that  they 
 might  vindicate  themselves  from  the  charge  of  schism:  but  this 
 offer  was  also  rejected,  and  Whittingham  removed  to  Geneva, 
 where  he  was  invited  to  become  pastor  to  the  English  church 
 in  that  place.  After  some  hesitation,  by  the  persuasion  of  John 
 Calvin  he  accepted  the  offer,  and  was  ordained  by  the  laying 
 on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery.  During  his  abode  at  Gene- 
 va, he  was  employed,  together  with  several  other  learned  di- 
 vines, in  translating  the  bible,  which  was  afterward  called  the 
 Geneva  translation;  a  particular  account  of  which  is  given  in 
 another  place.  On  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  Whittingham 
 returned  to  England,  and  was  appointed  to  accompany  the  earl 
 of  Bedford  on  his  diplomatic  mission  to  the  French  court.  After 
 his  return,  he  accompanied  the  earl  of  Warwick  while  charged 
 with  the  defence  of  Newhaven.  There  he  was,  for  some  time,  a 
 preacher;  and  though  attentive  to  his  ministerial  function,  he  dis- 
 suaded his  hearers  from  conforming  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Eng- 
 lish church.  Warwick  had  such  a  respect  for  him,  both  as  a  man 
 and  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  that  he  persuaded  the  queen  to 
 prefer  him  to  the  deanery  of  Durham. 
 
 As  a  preacher  he  was  highly  popular,  and  preached  before 
 the  queen  in  September  1563.  During  this  year  the  dignita- 
 ries of  the  church  began  to  urge  a  conformity  to  the  clerical 
 habits  with  more  intolerant  vigour  than  they  had  yet  done;  on 
 which  occasion  Mr  Whittingham  wrote  a  most  pressing  letter 
 to  the  earl  of  Leicester,  entreating  him  to  use  his  best  endea- 
 vours to  prevent  such  an  unnecessary  and  grievous  calamity. 
 In  this  letter  he  expresses  himself  with  considerable  freedom. 
 "  I  understand  (says  he),  it  is  at  last  resolved  upon  that  we  shall 
 be  compelled,  contrary  to  our  consciences,  either  to  wear  the 
 popish  apparel,  or  be  deprived  of  our  ministry  and  our  livii 
 and  considering  the  importance  of  the  charge  which  aliuJ: 
 
222  M  KM  01 11  OF 
 
 God  has  given  us,  with  respect  to  the  faithful  dispensation  of 
 his  sacred  ordinances,  and  the  strict  account  of  our  steward- 
 ship which  we  must  one  day  render  to  him,  I  cannot,  for  a 
 moment,  doubt  which  alternative  to  choose.  He  that  would 
 prove  these  fragments  of  popery  to  be  matters  of  mere  indiffer- 
 ence, and  consequently  such  as  may  be  imposed  upon  the  church 
 by  the  ipse  dixit  of  the  supreme  magistrate,  ought  first  to  prove 
 that  such  things  tend  to  the  glory  of  God,  that  they  are  agree- 
 able to  his  word  of  truth,  that  they  promote  the  edification  of 
 his  church,  and  that  they  correspond  with  that  liberty  of  con- 
 science wherewith  Christ  hath  made  his  people  free.  For  if  the 
 wearing  of  these  remnants  of  antichrist  be  calculated  to  produce 
 the  very  opposite  effects,  then,  in  place  of  being  matters  of  indif- 
 ference, they  become  objects  of  awful  importance,  and  fraught 
 with  the  most  alarming  consequences  to  the  church.  For  how 
 can  the  glory  of  God,  the  edification  of  the  church,  or  christian 
 liberty,  be  promoted  by  the  use  of  those  garments  that  the  ene- 
 mies of  Christ  have  invented  to  ornament  a  system  of  idolatry, 
 which  God  has  everywhere  denounced  in  his  unerring  revela- 
 tion ?  What  agreement  can  exist  between  the  superstitious  in- 
 ventions of  men,  and  the  pure  word  of  the  holy  Lord  God  ? 
 What  edification  can  proceed  from  a  system,  by  which  the  spirit 
 of  God  is  grieved,  the  children  of  God  discouraged  and  dis- 
 countenanced, papists  confirmed  in  their  absurdities,  and  the 
 flood  gates  of  every  Romish  abomination  thrown  open,  once 
 more,  to  deluge  the  country  with  ignorance,  immorality,  and 
 bondage,  which  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were,  or  ever  will 
 be,  able  to  bear  ? 
 
 "  Your  lordship  will  easily  perceive,  that  to  use  the  ornaments 
 and  manners  of  the  wicked,  is  to  approve  their  doctrines,  and 
 patronize  their  impiety.  The  ancient  fathers,  with  one  consent, 
 acknowledge,  that  all  agreement  with  idolatry,  in  place  of  be- 
 ing indifferent,  is  absolutely  and  exceedingly  pernicious.  We 
 are  told,  however,  that  the  use  of  the  garments  is  not  intended 
 to  countenance  popery,  but  for  good  policy;  but  who  can  ima- 
 gine that  policy  good  which  decks  the  spouse  of  Christ  in  the 
 meritricious  robes  of  the  Babylonish  strumpet.  God  would  not 
 permit  his  people  of  old  to  retain  any  part  of  the  manners  of 
 the  idolatrous  nations  for  the  sake  of  policy,  but  commanded 
 that  all  the  appurtinances  of  idolatry  and  superstition  should  be 
 destroyed.  Likewise  our  Saviour,  in  the  time  of  the  gospel, 
 was  so  far  from  thinking  it  good  policy,  either  to  wear  the 
 pharisaical  robes  himself,  or  recommend  them  to  his  disciples, 
 that  he  condemned  them  as  hypocritically  superstitious.  We 
 find  that  Jeroboam  maintained  his  idolatrous  calves  at  Dan  and 
 Bethel  under  the  pretence  of  policy;  and  the  true  worshippers 
 
WILLIAM  WHITTINGHAM.  223 
 
 of  God,  at  this  day,  have  much  cause  of  fear  and  trembling, 
 when  they  see  these  relics  of  antichrist  set  forth  under  the  self- 
 same pretence.  For  if  policy  be  once  admitted  as  a  clock  to 
 screen  these  limbs  of  antichrist,  why  may  not  policy  also  serve 
 to  cover  the  enormous  bulk  of  that  mass  of  abominable  corrup- 
 tion? and  then  farewell  the  simplicity  of  truth,  farewell  its  pu- 
 rity, power,  and  spirituality.  And  what  remains  to  be  substi- 
 tuted in  their  room  ?  Assuredly  nothing  but  crowns  and  crosiers, 
 oil  and  cream,  images  and  candles,  palms  and  beads,  with  an 
 endless  catalogue  of  such  trumpery  as  decorates  the  harlot  drunk 
 with  the  blood  of  the  saints  ! 
 
 "  Your  lordship  will  perceive  how  deplorable  our  case  must  be, 
 and  how  unequally  we  have  been  dealt  with,  if  such  severities 
 be  exercised  against  us,  while  so  many  papists  enjoy  their  liber- 
 ty and  livings,  who  have  neither  sworn  obedience  to  the  queen's 
 majesty,  nor  discharged  their  duty  to  their  miserable  flocks. 
 These  men  triumph  over  us,  and  laugh  to  see  us  so  unworthily 
 treated;  nay,  they  even  boast,  that  the  portion  of  popery  still 
 retained  in  the  church,  is  an  earnest  that  the  full  harvest  shall 
 be  forth-coming  in  due  time.  My  noble  lord,  pity  the  oppress- 
 ed, the  persecuted,  and  disconsolate  church  of  Christ;  hear  the 
 groanings  of  the  children  of  God,  thirsting  for  the  water,  and 
 starving  for  want  of  the  bread  of  life. 
 
 "  I  need  not  appeal  to  the  word  of  God,  or  the  history  of  the 
 primitive  church,  your  lordship  can  judge  between  us  and  our 
 enemies;  and  if  we  only  seek  the  glory  of  God,  the  edification 
 of  his  people,  and  that  liberty  which  appertains  to  us  both  as 
 peaceable  and  loyal  subjects  to  her  majesty,  and  worshippers  of 
 the  only  true  God,  pity  our  case,  I  beseech  you,  and  use  your 
 utmost  endeavours  to  secure  to  us  so  reasonable  a  request." 
 
 What  effect  this  generous  letter  produced,  we  have  no  means 
 of  ascertaining.  Mr  Whittingham  was  well  known  at  court 
 for  a  man  of  excellent  character  and  admirable  abilities,  and 
 secretary  Cecil  being  made  lord  treasurer,  he  was  nominated  for 
 the  secretary's  place,  and  might  have  obtained  it  if  he  had  made 
 interest  with  his  noble  friend  the  earl  of  Leicester;  but  having 
 no  anxiety  for  court  preferment,  he  put  himself  to  no  trouble 
 about  the  matter.  It  is  said  that  Whittingham  withstood  the 
 order  of  conformity  for  some  time,  but  afterwards  subscribed; 
 but  so  long  as  Grindal  lived,  who,  towards  the  close  of  his  life, 
 connived  at  the  puritans,  Whittingham  and  his  brethren,  in  the 
 province  of  York,  were  not  much  molested  on  the  score  of  non- 
 conformity. But  Dr.  Sandys  was  no  sooner  made  archbishop 
 than  he  was  brought  into  troubles,  from  which  the  stroke  of 
 death  alone  could  deliver  him.  In  1577  the  new  archbishop 
 resolved  to  visit  the  whole  of  his  province,   and  began  with 
 
224  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Durham,  where  Whittingham  had  obtained  a  distinguished  re- 
 putation.     He   had   been   ordained  at  Geneva  according  to  the 
 rules  and  ceremonies  of  that  church.     The  charges  brought 
 against  him  contained  thirty-five   articles;    but  the  principal 
 charge  was  his  not  being  ordained  in  conformity  to  the  English 
 service-book.     Whittingham  refused  to  answer  to  the  charge, 
 and  stood  by  the  rites  of  the  church  of  Durham,  denying  his 
 authority  to  visit  that  church;  upon  which  he  was  excommuni- 
 cated.    Whittingham  appealed  to  the  queen,   who  appointed  a 
 commission  to  investigate  the  matter,  hear  and  determine  the 
 validity  of  his  ordination,  and  inquire  into  the  other  misde- 
 meanours.    Henry,  earl  of  Huntington,  lord  president  of  the 
 north,  and  Dr.  Hutton,  dean  of  York,  were  appointed  for  this 
 service.     The  earl  was  friendly  to  the  puritans,  and  Dr.  Hut- 
 ton  was  somewhat  allied  to  the  principles  of  Whittingham,  and 
 boldly  declared  that  he  was  ordained  in  a  better  manner  than 
 even  the  archbishop  himself;  so  the  matter  rested  as  it  was  be- 
 fore.    The  archbishop,  enraged  to  be  thus  defeated,  obtained 
 another  commission,  directed  to  himself,  the  bishop  of  Durham, 
 the  lord  president,   the  chancellor  of  the   diocese,   and  some 
 others  on  whom  he  could  rely,  to  visit  the  church  of  Durham, 
 and  the  design  was  to  deprive  him,  as  a  mere  layman,  in  con- 
 sequence of  his  foreign  ordination  :  But  Whittingham  produced, 
 before  the  commission,  a  certificate,  under  the  hands  of  eight 
 persons,  setting  forth  the  manner  of  his  ordination,  in  these 
 words :  "  It  pleased  God,  by  the  sufferages  of  the  whole  congre- 
 gation at  Geneva,  orderly  to  choose  Mr  W.  Whittingham  unto 
 the  office  of  preaching  the  word  of  God,  and  ministering  the 
 sacraments;  and  he  was  admitted  minister,  and  so  published 
 with  such  other  ceremonies  as  arc  there  used  and  accustomed." 
 It  was  then  objected,  that  the  certificate  made  no  mention  of 
 bishops  or  superintendents,  nor  of  any  external  solemnities,  nor 
 even  of  the  imposition  of  hands.     But  Whittingham  offered  to 
 prove  his  vocation  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  all  other  ministers 
 at  Geneva;   and  the  president  said,    I  cannot,   in  conscience, 
 agree  to  deprive  him  for  that  cause  alone,  which,  added  he, 
 would  be  ill  taken  by  all  the  godly  and  learned,  both  abroad  and 
 at  home,  that  we  suffer  popish  massing  priests  in  our  ministry, 
 while  we  disallow  of  ministers  ordained  in  a  reformed  church. 
 The  commission  was  therefore  adjourned,  and  never  again  re- 
 newed. 
 
 The  archbishop's  procedure  was  obviously  invidious,  and 
 sunk  his  reputation  both  in  town  and  country:  and  the  Oxford 
 historian  says,  that  Whittingham  did  essential  service  to  his 
 country,  not  only  in  opposing  the  popish  rebels  in  the  north, 
 but  also  in  repelling  the  archbishop  of  York  from  visiting  the 
 
WILLIAM  WHITTINGHAM.  225 
 
 church  of  Durham;  yet  he  denominates  him  a  luke-warm  con- 
 formist, an  enemy  to  the  habits  and  ceremonies  of  his  own 
 church,  while  an  active  promoter  of  the  Geneva  doctrine  and 
 discipline,  and  brings  many  serious  charges  against  him  for 
 works  of  impiety.  Some  of  which  are  the  following :  1st,  That 
 he  •  caused  several  stone  coffins,  belonging  to  the  priors,  and 
 laid  aside  in  the  cathedral  of  Durham,  to  be  taken  up  and  used  for 
 troughs  for  horses  and  swine,  and  applied  their  covers  to  the 
 paving  of  his  own  floors.  2d,  That  he  defaced  all  the  brazen 
 pictures  and  imagery  work,  and  used  the  stones  in  building  a 
 washing-house  for  himself.  3d,  That  he  took  away  the  two 
 holy  water  stones,  of  fine  marble,  very  artificially  engraven, 
 with  hollow  bosses,  curiously  wrought,  and  employed  them  in 
 steeping  beef  and  salt  fish.  4th,-  That  he  caused  the  image  of 
 St.  Cutlibert,  and  other  ancient  monuments,  to  be  defaced. 
 The  truth  is,  Mr  Whittingham  could  never  endure  any  thing 
 belonging  to  a  monastic  life.  How  far  this  weighty  charge  is 
 correct  we  know  not;  and  supposing  it  literally  true,  how  far  he 
 was  censurable  for  these  enormous  impieties  the  reader  will  de- 
 termine for  himself.  His  enemies  have  endeavoured  to  reproach 
 his  memory.  With  this  obvious  intent  Dr.  Boncraft  says,  that 
 Whittingham,  and  the  rest  of  his  Geneva  accomplices,  urged 
 all  states  to  take  up  arms  and  reform  themselves,  rather  than 
 suffer  such  idolatry  and  superstition.  He  has,  nevertheless, 
 obtained,  from  all  impartial  men,  the  noble  character  of  a  truly 
 pious  man,  opposed  to  all  superstition,  an  excellent  preacher, 
 and  an  ornament  to  religion  and  learning.  He  died  while  the 
 validity  of  his  Geneva  ordination  was  still  depending  before  the 
 queen's  commission,  June  10th,  1579,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of 
 his  age. 
 
 Mr  Whittingham  wrote  prefaces  to  several  learned  works, 
 as  Godman's  book  on  the  Obedience  due  to  the  civil  Magis- 
 trate, &c.  He  also  published  several  translations,  and  turned 
 part  of  the  Psalms  of  David  into  metre,  which  are  still  used 
 in  the  church  of  England.  His  part  of  the  work  is  marked 
 W.  W.  amongst  which  we  find  psalm  119,  as  may  be  seen 
 in  the  Common  Prayer  Book.  Thomas  Sternhold,  John  Hop- 
 kins, and  Thomas  ISorton,  were  engaged  in  the  rest  of  this 
 service. 
 
 BERNARD  GILPIN,  B.  D. 
 
 This  extraordinary  individual  was  born  of  an  ancient  and 
 honourable  familv  at  Kentmire  in  Westmoreland,  hi  the  year 
 9  2  f 
 
226  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 15 IT,  and  educated  in  queen's  college,  Oxford.  Here  he  studied 
 with  persevering  ardodr;  and  the  proficiency  lie  acquired  cor- 
 responded with  his  great  exertions.  Having  set  his  heart  on 
 the  study  of  divinity,  he  made  the  scriptures  his  principal  rule 
 and  director;  and  that  he  might  the  better  acquaint  himself 
 with  their  sacred  import,  he  was  anxious  to  improve  himself  in 
 the  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages.  His  in- 
 dustry soon  procured  him  the  character  of  a  young  man  of  ex- 
 cellent parts  and  considerable  learning;  while  the  mildness  of 
 his  disposition,  and  the  elegance  of  his  manners,  procured  him 
 the  love  and  esteem  of  all  his  acquaintances  and  associates. 
 He  took  his  degrees  in  arts  at  the  usual  time,  and  was  elected 
 fellow  of  the  college.  His  reputation  was  even  such,  that  he 
 was  selected  by  cardinal  Wolsey  to  supply  his  new  founded  col- 
 lege. Gilpin,  brought  up  in  the  popish  religion,  still  continued 
 an  adherent  to  that  superstition,  in  defence  of  which  he  held  a 
 disputation  with  John  Hooper,  afterwards  bishop  of  Worcester. 
 But  after  the  accession  of  king  Edward,  Peter  Martyr  having 
 been  sent  to  Oxford,  delivered  public  lectures  on  divinity  in  a 
 strain  to  which  that  university  had  been  little  accustomed.  He 
 attacked  the  Romish  superstition  with  such  energy,  that  the 
 popish  party  became  alarmed,  and  consequently  united  in  the 
 defence  of  their  tottering  edifice.  The  celebrity  of  Mr  Gilpin's 
 character  m  the  university,  induced  the  popish  party  to  solicit, 
 with  the  most  pressing  anxiety,  his  assistance  in  defending 
 the  church  from  the  audacious  attempts  of  her  reforming  an- 
 tagoia^sts;  but  found  his  zeal  in  this  particular  less  fervent  than 
 their  own.  He  had  never  been  a  bigotted  papist,  nor  had  he 
 ever  an  opportunity  of  informing  himself  thoroughly  concern- 
 ing the  doctrines  of  the  reformers;  only,  in  his  dispute  with 
 Hooper,  he  had  discovered  that  many  of  the  tenets,  held  by  the 
 Romish  church,  were  not  so  well  supported  by  scripture  as  he 
 had  imagined.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  hung  in  a  sort 
 of  doubtful  suspense,  and  considered  himself  but  ill-qualified  to 
 defend  either  side  in  a  public  disputation.  His  inclination  was 
 rather  to  stand  by,  as  an  unprejudiced,  but  attentive  observer, 
 ready  to  embrace  the  truth  wherever  it  made  its  appearance. 
 To  the  pressing  importunities  of  his  friends,  however,  at  last 
 he  gave  way,  and  on  the  following  day  made  his  public  appear- 
 ance against  Peter  Martyr. 
 
 Thus  drawn  into  the  controversy,  rather  against  his  inclina- 
 tion, Mr  Gilpin  was  resolved  to  bring  his  old  opinions  to  the 
 test,  and  see  how  far  they  could  be  supported  by  the  sacred 
 oracles,  that  lie  might  learn  whether  they  were  grounded  on  truth, 
 or  that  he  had  hitherto  been  involved  in  error.  For  this  pur- 
 pose, he  had  resolved  to  forego  all  shifting  and  cavilling,  and  fol- 
 
BERNARD  GILPIN.  227 
 
 low  the  truth,  from  which  he  was  determined  no  consideration 
 on  earth  should  make  him  swerve.  The  disputation  haying 
 commenced,  he  soon  found  that  the  arguments  of  his  adversary, 
 enforced  by  the  sacred  authority  of  scripture,  were  too  strong 
 for  him;  nor  could  he  help  acknowledging  that  they  were  of  a 
 very  different  nature  and  complexion  from  the  fine  spun  argu- 
 ments, and  forced  interpretations,  in  which  he  had  hitherto  ac- 
 quiesced. The  disputation  of  consequence  was  soon  over;  Mr 
 Gilpin  had  too  much  honesty  to  defend  suspected  opinions,  and 
 publicly  acknowledged  that  he  could  not  maintain  what  he  had 
 undertaken  to  defend,  and  that  he  would  enter  no  more  into 
 disputation  till  he  had  gained  a  full  information  of  the  merits 
 of  the  controversy;  which  it  was  his  greatest  anxiety  to  obtain. 
 
 His  mind,  thus  shaken  by  the  arguments  of  his  antagonist, 
 his  first  step  was  to  commit  their  substance  to  paper, 
 and  examine  the  points  in  dispute,  particularly  those  on 
 which  he  had  been  the  hardest  pressed.  At  the  same  time,  he 
 began,  and  proceeded,  with  singular  assiduity,  in  examining  the 
 scriptures  and  the  writings  of  the  fathers  wherever  they  bore  on 
 these  controverted  opinions.  The  consequence  was,  a  thorough 
 conviction,  that  many  grievous  abuses,  and  scandalous  corrup- 
 tions, existed  in  the  Roman  church,  which  it  was  desirable  to 
 have  reformed. 
 
 Mr  Gilpin  was  urged,  by  his  friends,  to  leave  the  university,* 
 but  he  had  too  just  an  opinion  of  the  ministerial  work  to  rush 
 into  it  without  proper  qualifications.  He  considered  more 
 learning  than  he  had  then  attained  indispensably  necessary, 
 particularly  in  an  age  of  controversy;  and  that  protestanism 
 could  not  suffer  more  from  its  open  enemies,  than  it  was  sure 
 to  do  from  the  rawness  and  inexperience  of  its  teachers. 
 These  considerations  detained  him  at  Oxford  till  the  thirty- 
 fifth  year  of  his  age,  when  he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of 
 Norton,  in  the  diocese  of  Durham,  1552;  but,  in  the  meantime, 
 he  was  appointed  to  preach  before  king  Edward  at  Greenwich. 
 Mr  Gilpin  had  resolved  to  improve  so  fair  an  opportunity  of 
 publicly  reproving  the  avarice  and  scandalous  corruptions  of  the 
 times,  and  had  accordingly  arranged  his  discourse  for  that  pur- 
 pose. He  introduced  his  sermon  with  a  sharp  attack  on  the 
 clergy.  "  He  was  sorry  (he  said)  to  observe  amongst  them 
 such  shameful  negligence,  and  manifest  indifference,  in  dis- 
 charging the  duties  of  their  office — Duties  of  the  first  import- 
 ance to  the  people,  whether  they  were  considered  as  individu- 
 als, or  as  branches  of  the  community:  whether  these  duties  re- 
 garded their  soul  or  their  bodies,  their  happiness  here  or  hereafter: 
 Duties,  the  conscientious  discharge  of  which  would  one  day  be 
 rewarded  with  the  approving  smile,  and  the  honourable  declare 
 
228  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 tion  of,  *  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servants,  from  him  in 
 whose  favour  is  life :'  Duties,  moreover,  the  neglect  of  which 
 must  unavoidably  subject  unfaithful  delinquents  to  the  most 
 awful  responsibility.  Their  bustling  anxiety,  care  and  ambi- 
 tion, is  to  get  possession  of  as  many  livings  as  can  be  obtained, 
 and  at  the  same  time  to  perform  none,  or  almost  none,  of  the 
 duties  required.  One-half  of  them  are  pluralists  and  non-resi- 
 dents; in  either  case,  how  is  it  possible  that  these  most  import- 
 ant, these  most  responsible  duties  can  be  performed;  and  what 
 a  lamentable  consideration  must  it  be,  to  see  the  inhabitants  of 
 whole  districts  thus  perishing  for  lack  of  knowledge,  while  their 
 instructors  are  far  off,  or  lolling  in  indolence  and  luxurious 
 ease  ?  Should  not  the  shepherd  feed  the  flock  ?  But  what,  if 
 possible,  is  still  more  insufferably  disgusting,  is  to  see  these 
 same  pluralists,  these  pleasure-hunting  non-residents,  defend- 
 ing their  criminality,  by  quoting  the  laws  of  men  in  direct  op- 
 position to  the  laws  of  God :  For  if  any  such  laws  exist,  they 
 must  be  remnants  of  popery,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  repealed, 
 that  these  negligent  and  woolfish  shepherds  may  no  longer  have 
 it  in  their  power  to  plead  so  miserable  and  unworthy  excuses; 
 for  so  long  as  men's  consciences  will  permit  them  to  hold  as 
 many  livings  as  they  can  possibly  attain,  and  perform  none  of 
 the  duties  thence  arising,  it  is  vain  to  look  for  the  peaceable 
 fruits  of  righteousness  amongst  their  wandering  and  neglected 
 flocks." 
 
 From  the  clergy  he  turned  to  the  court,  and  observing  that 
 the  king  was  not  present,  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  intro- 
 ducing that  part  of  his  sermon,  by  expressing  his  sorrow,  that 
 those,  who,  for  example's  sake,  ought  to  have  been  present,  had 
 absented  themselves.  "  Business  (he  said)  might  perhaps  be  pled 
 as  an  excuse,  though,  for  his  own  part,  he  could  not  conceive 
 how  the  service  of  God  could  hinder  any  part  of  the  ordinary 
 business  of  life;  and  if  his  voice  could  reach  their  ears,  he  should 
 willingly  make  them  hear,  even  in  their  chambers;  but  that 
 being  impossible,  he  was  determined  they  should  hear  him  by 
 proxy;  and  having  no  doubt  but  what  he  said  would  be  told 
 them,  he  would  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  their  seats." 
 "  Great  prince  (said  he),  you  are  appointed  by  God  to  rule 
 and  govern  this  land,  permit  me  then  to  call  upon  you  in  behalf 
 of  your  injured  and  much-neglected  people :  You  have  it  in 
 your  power  to  redress  their  grievances,  and  these  are  many. 
 All  dispensations  for  pluralitcs  and  non-residence  ought  to  be 
 withdrawn,  and  every  pastor  permitted  to  hold  one  benefice,  and 
 oik;  only;  and,  as  far  as  possible,  every  clergyman  ought  to  be 
 obliged  to  do  his  duty,  or  give  place  to  others  who  will  do  so 
 with  conscientious  alacrity.     A  glance  of  your  grace's  eye  over 
 
BERNARD  GILPIN.  22(J 
 
 the  realm  would  be  of  more  service  than  a  thousand  of  these 
 hike- warm  and  idle  preachers  that  disgrace  the  pastoral  roll  of  the 
 country,  and  must  continue  that  disgrace  so  long  as  the  nobility 
 and  patrons  of  the  church  are  permitted  to  make  merchandise 
 of  the  gospel,  by  disposing  of  their  livings,  without  regard  to 
 character  or  qualification,  providing  they  can  obtain  the  highest 
 remunerating  terms.  These  evils  ought  to  be  removed;  and 
 were  your  grace  to  send  out  surveyors  to  see  the  shameful  man- 
 ner in  which  benefices  are  bestowed,  their  report  could  not  fail 
 to  convince  you  of  the  necessity  of  correcting  them  without 
 loss  of  time.  And  I  must  tell  your  grace,  that  all  these  evils 
 will  be  laid  to  your  charge,  unless  you  exert  the  authority  with 
 which  you  are  invested,  to  remove  or  amend  them.  For  my 
 part,  I  have  resolved  to  do  ray  duty,  in  apprising  your  grace  of 
 the  corruptions  and  abuses  that  everywhere  prevail  in  the 
 church;  and  I  pray  God  to  direct  your  heart  to  regulate  and 
 amend  them." 
 
 In  addressing  the  nobility  and  magistrates,  he  told  them : 
 "That  having  received  all  their  powers,  their  honours,  and  autho- 
 rity from  God,  he  expected  they  would  exercise  them  for  the 
 purposes  for  which  they  had  been  bestowed :  That  they  would 
 demean  themselves  as  patrons  of  virtue  and  discouragers  of  vice, 
 a  terror  to  evil-doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well :  That 
 from  the  ambitious  strivings  for  these  carnal  things,  which  he  had 
 observed  at  court,  he  was  afraid  that  they  were  not  considered 
 in  their  true  light :  That  the  most  careless  observer  might  per- 
 ceive, that  a  spirit  of  avarice,  as  well  as  of  ambition,  had  crept 
 in  amongst  them  :  That  the  country  cried  out  against  their  extor- 
 tions:— And  that,  when  the  poor  came  to  London  to  seek  for  jus- 
 tice and  redress,  the  great  men  would  not  see  them  till  their 
 servants  had  first  been  bribed  for  that  purpose.  Oh  !  said  he, 
 with  what  cheerful  hearts,  with  what  tranquil  consciences,  might 
 noblemen  retire  to  rest  after  a  day  spent  in  listening  to  the  com- 
 plaints, and  redressing  the  wrongs  of  the  poor;  while  their  ne- 
 gligence, in  performing  this  honourable  part  of  their  duty,  obliges 
 injured  poverty  to  search  after  justice  amongst  the  lawyers,  who 
 quickly  devour  every  thing  they  have.  Then  let  me  call 
 upon  you,  who  are  magistrates,  and  put  you  in  remembrance  of 
 a  truth  that  merits  your  serious  consideration,  namely,  that  if 
 you  have  a  legitimate  claim  upon  the  people  for  obedience,  they 
 are  equally  entitled  to  your  care  and  protection.  The  obliga- 
 tion is  reciprocal;  and  though  it  be  true  that  they  cannot  so 
 easily  enforce  their  claim,  yet,  know  ye,  that  if  you  deny  them 
 that  protection,  God  will  assuredly  espouse  their  cause  against 
 you.  And  now,  if  it  be  inquired  from  what  fountain  springs 
 up  all  these  bitter  waters,  what  baneful  root  shoots  forth  all 
 
230  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 these  poisonous  branches,  I  answer,  avarice.  It  is  this  that 
 makes  the  unworthy  nobleman  the  tyrannical  magistrate,  the 
 time-serving  pastor,  and  the  all-devouring  lawyer." 
 
 Having  thus  freely  addressed  his  audience,  he  concluded 
 his  discourse,  by  exhorting  all  to  consider  these  things;  and  that 
 those  who  found  themselves  culpable,  would  seriously  set  about 
 amending  their  lives.  In  this  way  Mr  Gilpin  commenced  his 
 ministeri.il  labours.  He  considered  himself,  in  some  degree, 
 chargeable  with  those  vices,  which,  knowing  their  existence, 
 he  failed  to  rebuke.  His  plain-dealing,  on  this  occasion,  there- 
 fore tended  rather  to  recommend  him  to  the  notice  of  men  of 
 rank;  and  Sir  William  Cecil  presented  him  with  a  general 
 licence  for  preaching.  Soon  after  this  he  took  up  his  residence 
 amongst  his  parishioners,  and,  with  becoming  seriousness,  com- 
 menced the  duties  of  the  pastoral  office;  and  though  he  availed 
 himself  of  his  licence  to  preach  occasionally  in  different  parts  of 
 ihe  country,  he  still  considered  that  his  own  parish  required  the 
 principal  part  of  his  labours.  Though  fully  resolved  against 
 popery,  as  yet  he  had  not  discovered  the  doctrines  of  the  refor- 
 mation in  their  clearest  light;  and  not  being  thoroughly  settled 
 in  some  of  his  religious  opinions,  he  became  diffident  and  un- 
 easy in  his  mind.  He  thought  he  had  engaged  in  the  ministry 
 before  he  was  sufficiently  qualified;  and  having,  for  a  long  time, 
 been  anxious  to  travel,  that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  of 
 conversing  with  learned  men;  and  being  advised  by  bishop 
 Tonstal,  his  kinsman,  to  spend  a  year  or  two  in  Germany, 
 France,  or  Holland,  he  resigned  his  living,  and  set  out  for  Lon- 
 don to  receive  his  last  advice  from  the  bishop,  and  so  embarked 
 for  the  continent.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Holland,  he  travelled  to 
 Mechlin  to  see  his  brother  George,  who  was  prosecuting  his 
 studies  in  that  place.  Afterwards  he  went  to  Louvain,  from 
 which  he  made  frequent  excursions  to  Antwerp,  Brussels, 
 Ghent,  and  other  places,  where  he  usually  spent  a  few  weeks 
 with  persons  of  reputation,  both  papists  and  protestants.  Bat 
 Louvain,  being  accounted  the  best  place  for  the  study  of  divinity, 
 was  his  principal  residence.  Here  some  of  the  most  celebrated 
 divines,  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  resided,  and  the  most  im- 
 portant points  in  divinity  were  frequently  discussed  with  great 
 freedom. 
 
 Mr  Gilpin's  first  business  was  to  get  himself  introduced  to 
 men  eminent  for  learning,  to  whom  his  pleasing  address,  and 
 literary  attainments,  were  no  mean  recommendation.  He  at- 
 tended all  public  readings  and  disputations,  committed  every 
 thing  material  to  writing,  re-examined  all  his  opinions,  propos- 
 ed his  doubts  privately  to  his  friends,  and  in  every  respect  made 
 a  proper  use  of  his  time;  by  which  means  he  soon  attained  a 
 
BERNARD  GILPIN.  231 
 
 more  correct  view  of  the  protestant  faith,  saw  things  in  a 
 stronger  light,  and  felt  great  satisfaction  in  his  mind  from  the 
 change  he  had  made.  After  having  spent  three  years  on  the 
 continent,  Mr  Gilpin  was  fully  satisfied  with  regard  to  his  for- 
 mer scruples,  and  firmly  convinced  of  the  propriety,  as  well  as 
 the  necessity,  of  the  reformation.  Accordingly,  in  1556,  he  re- 
 turned to  England,  notwithstanding  that  the  persecution  was 
 still  raging  with  unabating  severity.  Bishop  Tonstal  received 
 his  kinsman  with  great  kindness,  and  soon  after  his  arrival 
 presented  him  with  the  archdeaconry  of  Durham,  to  which  the 
 rectory  of  Easington  was  annexed.  Mr  Gilpin  immediately 
 repaired  to  his  charge,  and  preached  against  the  vices,  the  er- 
 rors, and  corruptions  of  the  times,  with  uncommon  boldness 
 and  conscientious  severity,  and  by  virtue  of  his  office  of  arch- 
 deacon, laboured  incessantly  to  reform  the  manners  of  the  cler- 
 gy. But  the  freedom  of  his  reproof,  and  the  sharpness  of  his 
 reprehensions,  provoked  the  malice,  and  roused  the  indignation 
 of  many  of  his  clerical  delinquents,  who  exerted  all  their  influ- 
 ence and  ingenuity  to  remove  so  troublesome  an  observer. 
 With  this  view  they  found  means  to  circulate  their  calumnies 
 among  the  people,  till  it  became  a  popular  clamour,  that  he 
 was  an  enemy  to  the  church,  a  scandal izer  of  the  clergy,  a 
 preacher  of  damnable  heresies,  and  that  if  he  was  suffered  to 
 proceed  in  his  mad  career,  religion  would  be  totally  unhinged 
 by  such  doctrines  as  he  was  daily  propagating.  To  realize  their 
 hopes  of  having  him  removed,  a  charge  of  heresy,  consisting  of 
 thirteen  articles,  was  drawn  up,  upon  which  he  was  accused  in 
 form  before  the  bishop  of  Durham:  but  the  bishop  found  means 
 to  protect  his  nephew  from  their  malignity  without  endangering 
 himsel-f.  However,  the  malice  of  his  enemies  could  not  rest  so 
 long  as  he  continued  to  expose  their  negligence  and  unbecom- 
 ing deportment;  and  Gilpin,  to  be  freed  from  their  malevolence, 
 resigned  both  his  places. 
 
 Soon  after  this  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Houghton 
 le  Spring.  The  living  was  valuable,  but  the  duty  was  labori- 
 ous. The  parish  contained  fourteen  villages,  and  the  people 
 had  long  been  so  destitute  both  of  instruction  and  becoming  ex- 
 ample, that  ignorance  and  superstition  had  nearlv  expelled 
 every  trace  of  genuine  Christianity,  and  offered  fair  also  to  ex- 
 tirpate reason  and  common  sense.  Nor  could  it  be  otherwise 
 expected  /roni  the  treatment  they  had  received.  Whether  it 
 was  the  effects  of  negligence  or  design  it  is  difficult  to  ascer- 
 tain; but  certain  it  is,  that  the  change  of  religion,  which  took 
 place  on  the  accession  of  king  Edward,  was  not  known  in  that 
 parish  or  country-side  at  the  death  of  that  prince.  Mr  Gilpin 
 was  grieved  to  see  ignorance  and  vice  so  lamentably  prevalent, 
 
232  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 but  did  not  despair.  He  encouraged  himself  in  the  power  and 
 promise  of  God,  and  set  about  the  strict  performance  of  his  du- 
 ty. The  people  soon  perceived  that  they  had  got  a  teacher  very 
 different  from  those  they  had  formerly  been  accustomed  to  at- 
 tend, and  they  crowded  around  him,  and  listened  to  his  dis- 
 courses witli  patience. 
 
 Knowing  the  temper  of  the  clergy,  he  was  now  more  cautious 
 than  heretofore  lest  lie  should  give  them  offence;  more  cautious 
 indeed  than  he  afterwards  approved  of,  for  he  often  taxed  his 
 behaviour,  at  this  time,  with  weakness  and  cowardice.  But  his 
 caution  was  of  little  or  no  avail,  for  his  enemies  accused  him  a 
 second  time  before  the  bishop,  who  again  found  means  to  pro- 
 tect him  from  their  malice.  From  this  time,  however,  his 
 uncle's  favour  towards  him  began  visibly  to  decline;  and  the 
 better  to  evince  his  dislike  of  heresy,  and  the  conduct  of  his 
 nephew,  he  struck  him  out  of  his  will,  though  he  had  made  him 
 his  executor.  The  loss  gave  Mr  Gilpin  very  little  uneasiness; 
 he  was  sorry  that  the  bishop  should  have  been  offended  at  what 
 he  considered  the  discharging  of  an  imperious  duty,  and  would 
 have  given  up  almost  any  thing  to  satisfy  him  but  a  good  con- 
 science, which  he  considered  the  best  friend,  and  the  most 
 agreeable  companion,  and  he  had  determined  never  to  part  with 
 it  to  please  any  man,  or  body  of  men. 
 
 In  the  meantime,  his  enemies  were  so  enraged  at  their  second 
 failure,  that  they  caused  thirty-two  articles  to  be  exhibited 
 against  him  before  Bonner.  At  last  they  had  got  the  right  sow 
 by  the  ear.  Bonner,  who  was  formed  by  nature  for  an  inquisi- 
 tor, extolled  their  laudable  concern  for  religion,  and  promised 
 them  that  he  would  have  the  heretic  at  the  stake  in  a  fortnight. 
 Mr  Gilpin,  who  was  well  aware  of  the  bishop's  summary  mode 
 of  despatch,  received  this  information  with  great  composure, 
 and  prepared  himself  for  the  worst.  Laying  his  hand  on  the 
 shoulder  of  a  friend,  he  said,  "  They  have  prevailed  against  me 
 at  last.  They  have  accused  me  to  the  bishop  of  London,  from 
 whom  there  is  no  escaping.  God  forgive  their  malice,  and 
 grant  me  strength  to  undergo  the  trial."  Then  calling  his  ser- 
 vant, he  ordered  a  long  garment  to  be  provided,  in  which  he 
 might  make  a  decent  appearance  at  the  stake,  and  that  it  might 
 be  done  immediately,  as  he  knew  not  how  soon  he  might  have 
 occasion  for  using  it.  Mr  Gilpin  had  scarcely  completed  his 
 arrangements  when  he  was  apprehended,  and  set  off  for  London 
 without  the  smallest  hope  of  being  again  relieved  from  the 
 malice  of  his  enemies.  In  the  course  of  his  journey  he  had  one 
 of  his  legs  broken,  which  unavoidably  retarded  his  march. 
 His  conductors  look  occasion,  from  this  misfortune,  to  retort 
 upon  him  an  expression  which   he  had  frequently  made  use  of, 
 
BERNARD  GILPIN.  Q 33 
 
 namely,  "  That  nothing  happens  to  men  but  what  is  intended 
 for  their  good."  And  being  asked,  Whether  he  believed  his 
 broken  leg  was  intended  for  his  advantage  ?  He  readily  replied, 
 that  he  had  no  reason  to  doubt  it.  Nor  were  his  hopes  disap- 
 pointed, for  before  he  was  able  to  travel,  queen  Mary  had  finished 
 her  course  of  blood,  and  Mr  Gilpin  thus  again  escaped  the 
 snares  of  his  enemies,  and  returned  to  Houghtou,  through  crowds 
 of  the  people,  expressing  the  joy  of  their  hearts,  and  their  gra- 
 titude to  heaven  for  this  singular  interposition  of  divine  provi- 
 dence. His  uncle,  the  bishop  of  Durham,  died  the  following 
 year;  but  the  earl  of  Bedford  recommended  him  to  queen  Eliz- 
 abeth, who  offered  him  the  bishoprick  of  Carlisle;  and  the 
 bishop  of  Worcester,  his  relation,  urged  him  to  accept  of  it; 
 but  no  arguments  could  induce  him  to  act  contrary  to  his  con- 
 science. Dr.  Heylin  insinuates,  that  Gilpin's  scruples,  on  this 
 point,  would  have  evanished,  might  he  have  had  the  old  tem- 
 poralities undiminished;  but  here  the  doctor  is  egregiously  mis- 
 taken, for  the  bishoprick  was  offered  him  with  the  old  tempor- 
 alities undiminished.  His  principal  reason  for  rejecting  the 
 proffered  preferment,  was  his  objections  to  some  points  of  con- 
 formity. Bishop  Pilkington,  who  succeeded  his  uncle  in  the 
 see  of  Durham,  connived  at  his  non-conformity,  and  excused 
 him  from  subscribing  to  the  use  of  the  habits,  but  could  only 
 screen  him  for  a  time;  for  during  the  controversy  concerning 
 the  habits  about  1566,  he  was  deprived  for  his  non-conformity, 
 though  it  is  probable  he  was  not  long  under  ecclesiastical  cen- 
 sure, seeing,  the  following  year,  he  was  again  nominated  to  the 
 bishoprick  of  Carlisle,  and  offered  also  the  provostship  of 
 queen's  college,  Oxford;  both  of  which  he  modestly  declined. 
 His  heart  was  so  set  on  the  instruction  of  the  people,  that  he 
 had  no  relish  for  ecclesiastical  preferment. 
 
 Mr  Gilpin  continued  for  many  years  at  Houghton,  and  dis- 
 charged the  duties  of  his  office  without  being  further  molested. 
 When  he  first  undertook  the  care  of  souls,  he  settled  it  as  a 
 maxim,  in  his  own  mind,  to  watch  over  their  morals,  to  attend 
 particularly  to  their  instruction,  and  do  all  the  good  in  his 
 power.  His  future  endeavours  were  therefore  wholly  directed 
 to  these  important  objects;  and  the  better  to  effect  his  purpose, 
 he  endeavoured,  in  the  first  place,  to  gain  the  affections  of  the 
 people,  and  to  obtain  this  without  making  any  servile  compli- 
 ances. His  means,  as  well  as  the  end  in  view,  were  laudable. 
 His  behaviour  was  frank  without  levity.  He  was  courteous 
 and  obliging  without  meanness,  and  insinuated  himself  into 
 their  good  graces,  not  by  flattering  them  in  their  vices,  but 
 by  convincing  them  that  he  really  and  sincerely  laboured  for 
 their  happiness  both  here  and  hereafter.     He  was  not  satisfied 
 
 9  2  g 
 
231<  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 with  the  instruction  he  gave  them  in  public,  but  taught  them 
 from  house  to  house,  and  encouraged  his  people  to  come  to  him 
 with  their  doubts  and  difficulties.     In  this  way  he  admonished 
 the  vicious,   and  encouraged   the   well-disposed;   and,    by  the 
 blessing  of  God  on  his  faithful  labours,  an  important  change 
 for  the  better  was  soon  apparent  throughout  the  parish.     But 
 it  grieved  his  righteous  soul  to  see  the  surrounding  parishes  so 
 shamefully  neglected  by  their  spiritual  instructors,  and  in  con- 
 sequence so  deeply  sunk  in  ignorance,  superstition,  and  immor- 
 ality, that  true  religion,  and  a  godly  conversation,  were  almost 
 unknown  among  them.     Such  indeed  was  their  deplorable  con- 
 dition, that  bishop  Grindal  found  it  necessary,  in  1570,  to  pub- 
 lish an  injunction,  wherein,  among  other  things,  he  commands, 
 "  That  no  pedler  shall  be  admitted  to  sell  his  wares  in  the  porch 
 of  the  church  during  divine  service :    That  the  parish  clerks 
 shall  be  able  to  read :    That  no  lords  of  misrule,  or  summer 
 lords  and  ladies,  or  any  disguised  persons,  morice  dancers,  or 
 others,  shall  come  irreverently  into  the  church,  or  play  any  un- 
 seemly parts,  with  scoffs,  jests,  wanton  gestures,  or  ribald  talk? 
 in    the    time   of   divine   service."      The   bishop's   prohibition 
 amounts  to  a  positive  proof  that  these  disgraceful  scenes  were 
 common  at  that  period  in  the  see  of  Durham;  and  Mr  Gilpin, 
 that  he  might  as  far  as  in  his  power  correct  these  abuses,   tra- 
 velled regularly  every  year  through  the  most  neglected  parishes 
 of  Northumberland,   Cumberland,   Westmoreland,  and  York- 
 shire :     And  that  his  own  people  might  not   suffer  from  his 
 absence,  he  was  at  the  expence  of  keeping  an  assistant.     There 
 is  a  tract  of  country  on  the  borders  of  Northumberland,  called 
 Readsdale  and  Tynedale,   inhabited  by  a  banditti  who  lived 
 chiefly  by  plunder.     In  this  wretched  place,  where  men  were 
 afraid  to  travel,   Mr  Gilpin  spent  some  part  of  his  time  every 
 year.     He  had  fixed  places  and  appointments  for  preaching:,  to 
 which  he  punctually  attended.     Where  there  was  a  church  he 
 made  use  of  it,  where  none,  he  preached  in  barns,   or  other 
 large  buildings,  or  in  the  open  fields,  and  never  failed  of  a  large 
 congregation. 
 
 Having  at  one  time  made  the  requisite  preparations  for  an 
 excursion  into  these  deplorable  places,  he  received  a  message 
 from  Dr.  Barns,  bishop  of  Durham,  appointing  him  to  preach 
 a  visitation  sermon  on  the  following  Sabbath.  He  acquainted 
 the  bishop  with  his  engagements,  and  bqgged  his  lordship  to 
 excuse  him  for  that  time;  and  receiving  no  answer,  concluded 
 that  hifl  excuse  had  been  admitted,  and  so  proceeded  on  his 
 journey;  but  was  not  a  little  astonished,  on  his  return,  to  find 
 himself  suspended.  Some  short  time  after  this  he  received  an 
 order  to  meet  the  bishop  and  a  great  number  of  his  clergy; 
 
BERNARD  GILPIN.  235 
 
 which  he  did,  and  was  immediately  ordered  to  preach.  Mr 
 Gilpin  excused  himself,  by  pleading  his  suspension,  and  that  he 
 was  wholly  unprepared;  but  no  excuse  could  be  admitted,  the 
 suspension  was  removed,  and  accordingly  Mr  Gilpin,  unpre- 
 pared as  he  was,  had  to  mount  the  pulpit,  where  he  preached 
 upon  the  important  charge,  and  awful  responsibility  of  a  christ- 
 ian bishop.  In  his  sermon,  after  censuring,  with  unsparing  se- 
 verity, the  corruption  and  vices  of  the  clergy,  he  boldly  ad- 
 dressed the  bishop  in  these  words  :  "  Let  not  your  lordship  ex- 
 cuse yourself,  by  saying  that  these  crimes  have  been  committed 
 by  others  without  your  knowledge;  for  be  assured,  my  lord, 
 that  whatever  is  done,  either  by  yourself  in  person,  or  by  others 
 in  consequence  of  your  connivance,  is  wholly  your  own  :  In  pre- 
 sence, therefore,  of  God,  angels,  and  men,  I  pronounce  you  the 
 author  of  all  these  evils;  and  in  that  great  day  of  general  ac- 
 count, I  shall  be  a  witness  against  you,  that  all  these  things 
 have  come  to  your  knowledge  by  my  means;  yea,  and  all  these 
 men  who  have  heard  me,  will  also  witness  against  you." 
 
 Mr  Gilpin's  friends  were  much  alarmed  for  his  safety :  From 
 the  great  freedom  he  had  used,  they  imagined  that  the  bishop 
 had  now  got  that  advantage  against  him  which  his  enemies  had 
 so  long  wished  to  obtain;  and  when  they  expostulated  with  him, 
 he  only  said,  "The  Lord  God  ruleth  over  all;  and  if  my  dis- 
 course answer  the  purpose  intended,  I  am  not  very  careful 
 what  be  the  consequences  with  regard  to  myself."  Mr  Gilpin 
 called  on  the  bishop  to  pay  his  compliments,  who,  after  some 
 conversation,  told  Mr  Gilpin,  that  he  had  determined  to  wait 
 on  him  to  his  house;  which  he  accordingly  did.  As  soon 
 as  he  had  conducted  him  into  the  parlour,  the  bishop  turned 
 round,  and  taking  him  by  the  hand,  said,  41  Father  Gilpin, 
 I  acknowledge  you  are  fitter  to  be  bishop  of  Durham,  than 
 I  am  to  be  the  parson  of  your  parish.  I  ask  forgiveness  for 
 past  injuries.  Father,  forgive  me.  I  know  you  have  enemies: 
 but  so  long  as  I  am  bishop  of  Durham,  be  assured  none  of  them 
 shall  give  you  any  farther  trouble." 
 
 Mr  Gilpin's  benevolence  and  hospitality  were  admirable, 
 strangers  and  travellers  found  a  cheerful  reception  at  his  house, 
 all  that  came  were  made  welcome;  even  when  from  home,  the 
 poor  were  fed,  and  strangers  entertained  as  usual.  Twenty- 
 four  of  the  poorest  of  his  parishioners  were  Ins  constant  pen- 
 sioners. Four  times  in  the  year  a  dinner  was  provided  for  the 
 poor  in  general,  when  they  received  a  certain  quantity  of  corn, 
 and  a  small  sum  of  money;  and  lest  the  modesty  of  suffering 
 individuals  might  prevent  their  relief,  he  was  at  great  pains  to 
 search  them  out;  but  the  money  best  laid  out,  in  his  opinion, 
 was  that  which  encouraged  industry.      If  a  poor  man  had  lost  a 
 
$36  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 beast,  lie  would  send  him  another;  or  when,  at  any  time,  the 
 farmer  had  a  bad  crop,  he  would  remit  a  portion  of  his  tythes. 
 Thus,  as  far  as  possible,  he  took  the  burden  of  the  parish  upon 
 himself;  nor  were  his  generosity  and  beneficence  confined  to  the 
 bounds  of  his  own  parish,  through  the  distant  places  where  he 
 preached,  and  even  on  the  road,  he  still  exercised  his  usual  lib- 
 erality. 
 
 Towards  the  close  of  life,  Mr  Gilpin  went  through  his  labo- 
 rious exercises  with  great  difficulty.  By  many  years  arduous 
 labour  and  fatigue,  his  constitution  was  worn  down,  and  his 
 health  considerably  impaired.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  he  says, 
 "  To  sustain  all  these  travels  and  troubles  I  have  a  very  weak 
 body,  subject  to  many  diseases,  by  the  motions  of  which  I  am 
 daily  warned  of  my  approaching  dissolution.  My  greatest  grief 
 is,  that  my  memory  is  almost  gone;  my  sight,  and  also  my  hear- 
 ing, fast  failing  me,  with  other  ailments  more  than  I  can  well 
 express."  While  thus  struggling  with  old  age,  and  a  shattered 
 constitution,  an  ox  ran  him  down,  with  such  violence,  on  the 
 street,  that  though  he  survived  the  shock,  he  continued  lame  to 
 the  end  of  his  life. 
 
 During  his  last  illness  he  signified  his  apprehensions  to  his 
 friends,  and  spoke  of  death  with  happy  composure  of  spirit. 
 Some  few  days  before  his  departure,  he  requested  that  his 
 friends,  his  acquaintances  and  dependents,  might  be  called  into 
 his  chamber,  where  he  delivered,  to  each  of  them,  the  pathetic 
 admonitions  of  a  dying  christian;  and  soon  after  finished  a  life 
 of  unremitting  labour  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  holiness,  un- 
 der the  consoling  prospect  of  that  eternal  life,  which  God,  who 
 cannot  lie,  promised.  His  death  took  place  the  4th  of  March 
 1583,  and  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 
 
 Such  was  the  happy  termination  of  the  life  and  unremitting 
 exertions  of  Mr  Bernard  Gilpin,  whose  learning,  piety,  charity, 
 and  conscientious  labours,  have  seldom  been  equalled  in  modern 
 times.  He  was  possessed  of  a  ready  comprehension,  a  power- 
 ful memory,  and  a  profound  judgment.  He  was  greatly  su- 
 perior in  the  knowledge  of  languages,  history  and  theology; 
 and  so  intent  on  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant,  that  he  was 
 usually  called  the  apostle  of  the  north ;  and  his  beneficence  was 
 so  universal,  that  they  styled  him  the  father  of  the  poor.  He 
 was  a  decided  puritan  and  non-conformist  in  principle;  but 
 hesitated  concerning  the  duty  of  separating  from  the  church. 
 Full  of  faith  and  good  works,  he  was  accounted  a  saint  even  by 
 his  enemies,  and  died  lamented  as  he  lived  revered. 
 
 By  his  last  will  and  testament  he  left  one-half  of  his  property 
 to  the  poor  of  Houghton,  and  the  rest  to  a  number  of  poor 
 scholars  at  the  university.      From   his  childhood   Mr  Gilpin 
 
JOHN  COPING.  23J 
 
 was  inclined  to  thoughtfulness,  as  will  appear  by  the  following 
 anecdote.  "  A  begging  friar,  coming  on  a  Saturday  evening 
 to  his  father's  house,  was  received  with  great  hospitality;  but 
 making  too  free  with  what  was  set  before  him,  got  disgustingly 
 intoxicated.  Next  morning,  however,  he  ordered  the  bell  to  be 
 rung  for  public  worship,  and  from  the  pulpit  attacked  the  vices 
 of  the  age  with  unmerciful  severity,  particularly  the  disgraceful 
 sin  of  drunkenness.  Young  Gilpin,  then  a  child  on  his  mother's 
 lap,  for  some  time  seemed  earnestly  attending  to  the  friar's  dis- 
 course, and  at  length  cried  out,  with  indignation,  "  Mamma, 
 do  you  hear  that  fellow  how  he  speaks  against  drinking,  and 
 was  drunk  Jiimself  last  night !" 
 
 The  disinterested  pains  he  took  among  the  barbarous  people 
 in  the  north,  excited  in  their  bosoms  the  warmest  emotions  of 
 gratitude  and  esteem.  Being  once  on  his  journey  to  Reads- 
 dale  and  Tynedale,  he  had  his  horses  stolen  through  the  care- 
 lessness of  his  servant.  The  news  were  quickly  spread  through 
 the  country,  and  every  one  expressed  the  highest  indignation 
 at  the  base  transaction.  In  the  meantime,  the  thief  was  rejoic- 
 ing over  his  prize;  but  finding,  by  the  general  report,  it  was 
 father  Gilpin's  horses  he  had  stole,  he  became  exceedingly  ter- 
 rified, believing  the  devil  should  carry  him  off  bodily  for  steal- 
 ing the  property  of  such  an  excellent  man;  and  under  this  fear- 
 ful panic,  came  trembling  back  and  restored  the  horses.  Stran- 
 gers and  travellers  were  so  kindly  entertained,  and  even  their 
 beasts  were  so  well  taken  care  of  at  Mr  Gilpin's  house,  that  it 
 was  humorously  said,  "  If  a  horse  was  let  loose  in  any  part  of 
 the  country,  he  would  soon  find  his  way  to  the  rectory  of 
 Houghton." 
 
 JOHN  COPING. 
 
 This  maltreated  individual  was  minister  near  Bury,  St. 
 Edmund's;  a  zealous  puritan  of  the  Brownist  persuasion,  and 
 an  almost  unparalleled  sufferer  for  non-conformity.  In  1576 
 he  was  brought  into  trouble  by  the  bishop  of  Norwich's  com- 
 missary, and  committed  to  prison  at  Bury,  where  he  was  charg- 
 ed with  maintaining  the  following  opinions :  "  That  unpreaching 
 ministers  were  dumb  dogs:  That  whoever  kept  saints'  days 
 were  idolaters :  That  the  queen,  having  sworn  to  keep  God's 
 law,  and  set  forth  his  glory  as  appointed  in  the  scriptures,  but 
 did  not,  is  perjured :  That  for  six  months  he  had  refused  to  have 
 his  own  child  baptized,  because  he  had  determined  that  none 
 should  baptize  it  who  did  not  preach ;  and  that  he  would  not 
 
238  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 admit  a  god-father  or  god-mother  on  the  occasion."  Mr  Coping 
 having,  for  these  offences,  remained  in  prison  two  years,  and 
 still  refusing  to  conform,  was  brought  before  justice  Andrews, 
 December  1578,  when  the  above  false  and  malicious  opinions, 
 as  they  were  pleased  to  call  them,  were  proved  against  him. 
 Mr  Coping,  continuing  stedfast  to  his  principles,  and  resolved 
 not  to  sacrifice  a  good  conscience  on  the  altar  of  conformity, 
 was  remanded  to  prison;  where  he  remained  almost  five  years 
 more.  Mr  Elias  Thacker,  another  minister  of  the  same  de- 
 nomination, was  his  fellow-prisoner.  After  these  two  men  had 
 suffered  this  lingering  and  painful  confinement,  they  were  in- 
 dicted, tried,  and  condemned,  for  circulating  certain  books, 
 said  to  be  seditiously  written,  by  Thomas  Brown,  against  the 
 book  of  common  prayer.  Brown's  book,  for  the  circulating  of 
 which  these  men  were  condemned,  was  charged  with  sedition, 
 inasmuch  as  it  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  queen  in 
 civil  matters  only,  not  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  thereby  sub- 
 verting the  constitution  of  the  established  church.  The  judges 
 laid  hold  on  this  construction,  on  purpose  to  aggravate  their  of- 
 fence to  the  queen,  whom  they  knew  to  be  extremely  jealous  of 
 her  supremacy,  as  the  sentence  passed  upon  them  was  founded 
 upon  the  23d  Eliz.  against  seditious  libels,  and  for  refusing  the 
 oath  of  supremacy.  Having  received  the  sentence  of  death, 
 they  were  both  hanged  at  B«ury,  in  the  month  of  June  1583. 
 Such  was  the  resentment,  and  even  the  madness  of  their  per- 
 secutors, that  they  collected  together  all  that  could  be  found  of 
 Brown's  books,  prior  to  their  execution,  and  burnt  them  before 
 their  eyes.  Under  all  these  unavailing  barbarities,  the  two 
 champions  of  independence  continued  immoveable,  and  died 
 sound  in  the  faith,  and  with  the  reputation  of  holy  and  un- 
 blemished lives.  It  may  be  considered  unfair  to  measure  the 
 transactions  of  those  days  of  ignorance  by  the  standard  of  pre- 
 sent faith  or  feelings  but  to  hang  men  for  circulating  books, 
 while  the  writer  himself  was  pardoned  and  set  at  liberty, 
 appears  more  like  implacable  revenge  than  even  the  severity  of 
 justice. 
 
 JOHN  FIELD,  A.  M. 
 
 This  highly  distinguished  divine  was  minister  of  Alder- 
 mary  church,  in  the  city.  The  puritans,  whose  application  to 
 the  bishops,  and  also  to  the  queen,  for  a  farther  reformation 
 had  failed,  finding  all  their  individual  and  united  endeavours 
 unavailing,   came  to  the  resolution  of  applying  to  parliament. 
 
JOHN  FIELD.  239 
 
 With  this  view,  they  made  all  the  interest  in  their  power 
 amongst  the  members,  and  compiled  a  treatise,  wherein  their 
 numerous  grievances  were  exhibited  in  one  view.  This  was 
 drawn  up  by  Mr  Field  and  Mr  Wilcocks,  revised  by  a  number  of 
 their  brethren,  and  entitled,  An  Admonition  to  Parliament;  to 
 which  were  added,  Beza's  letter  to  the  earl  of  Leicester,  and 
 Gualter's  to  bishop  Parkhurst.  The  work  contains  the  model 
 of  a  christian  church,  pointing  out  the  manner  of  electing  mi- 
 nisters, their  various  duties,  and  their  equality  of  power, 
 and  then  proceeds  to  expose  the  corruptions  of  the  hierarchy, 
 and  the  tyrannical  proceedings  of  the  bishops,  concluding  with 
 an  humble  petition  to  both  houses,  that  discipline,  better  ac- 
 cording with  the  word  of  God,  and  other  reformed  churches, 
 may  be  established  by  law.  They  proved,  by  incontrovertible 
 evidence,  the  tyrannical  government  of  the  church,  and  the 
 persecution  by  which  it  was  upheld;  but  the  doubt  is,  whether 
 they  would  not  have  fallen  into  the  same  error  had  they  suc- 
 ceeded in  their  application  to  parliament,  and,  like  the  then  rul- 
 ing ecclesiastics,  also  required  an  act  of  uniformity,  which  would 
 have  probably  shifted  this  dangerous  power  into  other  hands,  but 
 could  be  of  no  other  advantage,  unless  we  suppose  that  the  new 
 actors  would  have  exercised  their  authority  with  more  modera- 
 tion. The  truth  is,  toleration  of  opinion  was  by  no  means  gener- 
 ally understood  at  this  time.  This  fatal  error,  which  had  for 
 so  many  ages  made  havock  of  the  church,  was  introduced  by  the 
 clergy  when  wearied  with  the  simplicity  of  the  apostolic  mode 
 of  governing  by  persuasion  and  rational  conviction.  They  then 
 began  to  imitate  the  Jewish  system  of  priests,  altars,  sacrifices, 
 and  sacerdotal  habiliments,  with  other  imitations  of  that  despotic 
 economy,  which  the  doctrines  of  Christ  declared  null  and  void, 
 and  his  death  rendered  for  ever  unnecessary. 
 
 Mr  Field  and  Mr  Wilcocks  presented  the  admonition  to  parlia- 
 ment themselves,  for  which  they  were  committed  to  Newgate; 
 and  the  book  being  already  printed,  went  abroad,  and  passed 
 through  four  editions  in  about  two  years,  notwithstanding  that 
 the  bishops  used  their  best  endeavours  to  suppress  it.  The  two 
 prisoners  were  sentenced  to  one  full  year's  imprisonment;  which 
 they  accordingly  suffered;  but  could  not,  even  at  that  period, 
 obtain  their  liberty.  They  petitioned  the  lords  of  the  council, 
 also  the  earl  of  Leicester,  to  endeavour  to  move  the  queen  to 
 order  their  liberation;  but  it  does  not  appear  whether  they  suc- 
 ceeded in  these  applications. 
 
 During  their  imprisonment,  Dr.  Whitegift  published  his 
 answer  to  the  admonition,  in  which  he  charges  them  with  be- 
 ing disturbers  of  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the  church,  with 
 being  enemies  to  the  state,  and  holding,  publishing,  and  abetting 
 
240  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 many  dangerous  heresies.  To  these  charges  they  wrote  an  ani- 
 mated reply,  annexing  a  very  judicious  and  comprehensive 
 statement  of  their  religious  opinions. 
 
 All  their  attempts  to  promote  a  farther  reformation  in  the 
 church  of  England  having  thus  proved  impracticable,  the  lead- 
 ing puritans  agreed  to  attempt  it  in  a  more  private  way.  With 
 this  view,  they  erected  a  presbytery  at  Wandsworth  in  Surrey; 
 which  being  seated  on  the  bank  of  the  Thames,  was  convenient 
 for  the  London  brethren.  This  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in 
 1572.  It  is  not  precisely  ascertained  at  what  time  these  per- 
 secuted individuals  were  liberated  from  prison,  only  that  Mr 
 Field,  we  find,  was  minister  of  Aldermary  church  in  1574;  but 
 his  hardships  were  not  yet  over;  for  teaching  children  in  gen- 
 tlemen's houses,  contrary  to  the  orders  of  the  bishops,  both  he 
 and  Mr  Wilcocks  were  banished  to  the  most  barbarous  places  of 
 Staffordshire,  Shropshire,  and  Lancashire,  or  other  places 
 where  his  lordship  observed  they  might  be  useful  in  reclaiming 
 the  people  from  the  ignorance  and  errors  of  Rome.  The  next 
 account  we  meet  with  of  this  excellent  divine  is,  that  he  was 
 engaged  with  several  other  learned  divines  in  a  disputation 
 with  certain  papists  in  the  tower,  in  which  he  is  said  to  have 
 taken  an  active  part,  and  to  have  collected  and  published  an 
 account  of  the  same,  after  having  been  examined  and  approved 
 by  the  persons  concerned.  In  1584  he  was  again  suspended  by 
 the  bishop  of  London,  for  admitting  an  assembly  of  divines  at 
 his  house,  among  whom  several  were  from  Scotland.  These 
 divines  being  disaffected  to  the  hierarchy,  the  assembly  was 
 considered  an  unlawful  conventicle.  Mr  Field  was  therefore 
 suspended  for  entertaining  them,  and  the  rest  deprived  for  re- 
 fusing to  subscribe.  Whether  he  was  ever  restored  to  the  ex- 
 ercise of  his  ministry  is  uncertain.  He  died  in  February  1587, 
 and  his  remains  were  interred  in  Cripplegate  church,  London. 
 Some  short  time  before  his  death,  Mr  Field  united  with  his 
 brethren  in  subscribing  the  Book  of  Discipline. 
 
 JOHN  FOX,  A.  M. 
 
 This  celebrated  author,  better  known  by  the  title  of  Mar- 
 tyrologist,  was  born  at  Boston  in  Lincolnshire,  in  1517.  Ow- 
 ing to  the  early  death  of  his  father,  and  the  second  marriage  of 
 his  mother,  he  was  put  under  the  guardian  care  of  his  father- 
 in-law.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  sent  to  Brazen-nose  col- 
 lege, Oxford,  and  afterwards  became  fellow  of  Magdalene  college 
 in  the  same  university.      In  his  youth  he  discovered  a  taste  for 
 
JOHN  FOX.  241 
 
 poetry,  and  composed  several  Latin  comedies  upon  subjects 
 selected  from  the  scriptures.  For  some  time  after  he  went  to 
 college,  Mr  Fox  was  strongly  attached  to  the  Romish  religion. 
 His  life  was  also  strictly  moral,  he  therefore  rejected  the  doc- 
 trine of  justification  through  the  merits  of  Christ,  considering 
 that  his  own  merit,  alms-deeds,  penances,  and  compliance  with 
 the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  would  afford  him  sufficient  se- 
 curity and  protection.  Afterwards,  however,  he  came  to  be 
 convinced  of  the  false  foundation  on  which  he  had  erected  his 
 visionary  fabric  of  defence,  and  lied  for  refuge  to  the  blood  of 
 sprinkling.  His  indefatigable  researches  into  the  history  of  the 
 church,  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  and  especially  the  holy 
 scriptures,  thoroughly  convinced  him  of  the  immense  difference 
 that  existed  between  the  doctrines  and  practice  of  the  Roman 
 church  and  those  of  the  primitive  christians. 
 
 Anxious  to  become  a  competent  judge  of  the  controversy, 
 which  was  now  become  general  between  the  papists  and  pro- 
 testants,  he  studied  incessantly.  Living  in  a  very  solitary  man- 
 ner, and  forsaking,  in  a  great  measure,  the  company  of  his  old 
 popish  friends  and  acquaintances,  he  soon  became  suspected  of 
 entertaining  the  reforming  principles,  and  of  being  infected 
 with  heresy :  But  having  found  the  truth,  he  became  bold  in 
 its  defence,  and  determined  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things  that 
 came  in  competition  with  his  public  profession  thereof.  This 
 was  no  sooner  known,  than  he  was  publicly  accused,  and  ex- 
 pelled the  college  for  heresy.  His  enemies  indeed  thought  they 
 had  dealt  very  favourably  in  suffering  him  to  escape  with  his 
 life.  This  took  place  in  1545,  upon  which  he  was  deserted  by 
 liis  friends  and  relatives,  who,  as  he  had  been  convicted  of  he- 
 resy, thought  it  unsafe,  and  for  that  reason  were  unwilling  to 
 countenance  or  protect  him.  In  the  meantime,  his  father-in- 
 law  basely  took  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  to  withhold  his 
 estate  which  had  been  left  him  by  his  father.  In  this  hour  of 
 extremity,  while  forsaken  by  his  friends,  and  oppressed  by  his 
 enemies,  God  had  compassion  on  him,  and  raised  him  an  unex- 
 pected friend  and  protector,  in  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  of  Warwick- 
 shire, who  took  him  into  his  house,  and  made  him  tutor  to  his 
 children,  where  he  found  a  comfortable  asylum  from  the  rage 
 of  his  enemies.  While  in  this  situation  he  married,  but  still 
 continued  in  Sir  Thomas'  family  till  his  pupils  were  grown 
 up,  when  he  was  again  reduced  to  great  straits,  and  glad  to  so- 
 licit entertainment  at  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  which, 
 with  considerable  difficulty,  he  sometimes  obtained;  and  some- 
 times also  he  lived  at  his  wife's  father's  in  Coventry,  till  a  little 
 before  the  death  of  king  Henry,  that  he  removed  to  the  metro- 
 polis.    After  his  arrival  in  London,  he  had  no  emplovmein 
 
 !>  2  ii 
 
242  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 a  considerable  time,  and  was  again  reduced  to  absolute  penury 
 and  destitution.  In  this  deplorable  condition,  as  he  was  sitting 
 one  day  in  St.  Paul's,  pale,  meagre,  and  dejected  from  want  and 
 starvation,  with  a  countenance  ghastly  as  that  of  a  dying  man,  a 
 person,  whom  he  had  no  recollection  of  having  ever  seen  be- 
 fore, came  and  sat  down  beside  him,  and  accosting  him  with 
 great  familiarity,  put  a  sum  of  money  into  his  hand,  saying, 
 "  Be  of  good  cheer  Mr  Fox,  and  use  all  means  to  preserve  your 
 life;  for,  be  assured,  that  in  a  few  days  God  will  give  you  a 
 better  prospect,  and  provide  you  with  less  precarious  means  of 
 subsistence."  Though  Mr  Fox  could  never  learn  to  whom  he 
 was  indebted  for  that  providential  relief,  in  less  than  three  days 
 he  was  taken  into  the  family  of  the  duchess  of  Richmond,  and 
 appointed  tutor  to  the  earl  of  Surrey's  children,  whose  education 
 had  been  committed  to  her  care.  In  this  honourable  family 
 Mr  Fox  continued  during  the  remaining  part  of  the  reign  of 
 Henry  VIII.,  the  whole  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  and  part  of  that 
 of  queen  Mary.  Bishop  Gardiner,  in  whose  diocese  he  enjoyed 
 this  comfortable  retreat,  would  have  willingly  brought  him  to 
 the  stake,  had  not  the  powerful  protection  of  the  duke  of  Nor- 
 folk, who  had  been  his  pupil,  saved  him.  It  was  with  deep 
 regret  that  Gardiner  beheld  the  heir  of  one  of  the  first  families 
 of  England  trained  up  in  the  protestant  faith  under  his  influ- 
 ence. This  proud  and  persecuting  prelate  formed  several  de- 
 signs, and  used  various  stratagems  to  effect  the  ruin  of  this 
 harmless  individual,  till  at  last  he  had  to  fly  for  his  life,  and 
 take  shelter  in  a  foreign  land. 
 
 The  duke,  who  revered  him  as  a  father,  protected  him  so 
 long  as  he  was  able,  and  took  care,  when  he  removed,  to  pro- 
 vide him  with  every  thing  necessary  for  his  comfort  on  the 
 voyage.  He  set  sail  from  Ipswich,  in  company  with  his  wife 
 and  some  other  persons  engaged  in  the  same  cause.  The  ves- 
 sel had  scarcely  got  out  to  sea  when  they  were  overtaken  by  a 
 tremendous  storm,  which  obliged  them  to  return  to  the  port, 
 where  they  landed  next  day.  But  Mr  Fox  had  just  got  ashore 
 when  he  was  apprised  that  the  bishop's  warrant  for  his  appre- 
 hension had  been  emitted,  and  thai  the  strictest  search  had  been 
 made  for  him  during  his  absence  at  sea.  Upon  this  intelligence, 
 he  prevailed  on  the  captain  to  put  again  to  sea:  which  he  did 
 immediately,  though  the  storm  had  not  subsided,  and  they  arriv- 
 ed in  safety  at  Newport;  in  Flanders,  in  two  days.  Thus  had 
 Mr  Fox  twice  narrowly  escaped  the  flames. 
 
 From  Newport  he  travelled  lo  Antwerp,  then  to  Frankfort, 
 where  he  got  involved  in  the  contentions  excited  amongst  the 
 brethren  by  the  officious  interference  of  Dr.  Cox  and  his  party, 
 which  obliged  the  first  settlers  to  remove  to  Basil  in  Switzer- 
 
JOHN  FOX.  243 
 
 land,  whither  Mr  Fox  accompanied  them.  Basil,  at  this  time, 
 was  accounted  one  of  the  first  places  in  Europe  for  printing; 
 here  a  number  of  the  English  refugees  found  employment 
 in  revising  and  correcting  the  press.  Mr  Fox  supported 
 his  family  in  this  way;  and  here  he  laid  the  plan  of  his  Acts 
 and  Monuments  of  the  Martyrs,  and  had  proceeded  some  length 
 with  the  work,  but  reserved  the  greater  part  of  it  till  he  returned 
 to  his  native  country,  where  he  could  obtain  the  testimony  of 
 a  greater  number  of  witnesses  who  had  seen  the  transactions 
 they  attested.  It  appears,  from  the  author's  own  notes,  that  he 
 was  eleven  years  in  compiling  this  great  work,  notwithstanding 
 that  he  was  favoured  with  the  assistance  of  several  distinguish- 
 ed characters;  among  whom  were  Mr  John  Aylmer,  bishop  of 
 London,  Edmond  Grindal,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canter- 
 bury, and  Thomas  Norton,  a  highly  celebrated  lawyer,  who 
 married  archbishop  Cranmer's  only  daughter.  From  this  last- 
 mentioned  individual  our  author  received  the  greatest  assistance. 
 Grindal  likewise  furnished  him  with  a  great  many  documents, 
 which,  when  digested  and  arranged,  he  found  of  important  ser- 
 vice. For  this  purpose,  during  Grindal's  exile,  he  had  estab- 
 lished a  correspondence  in  England,  by  which  means  statements 
 of  most  of  the  sufferings  of  the  martyrs  came  through  his  hands ; 
 but  so  intent  was  he  on  obtaining  satisfactory  evidence  for 
 every  thing  introduced  into  this  work,  that  he  persuaded  Mr 
 Fox  not  to  publish  it  till  some  opportunity  could  be  embraced 
 for  comparing  and  correcting  the  documents  sent  over  on  the 
 ground  where  the  transactions  took  place.  It  was  also  by 
 Grindal's  advice  that  Mr  Fox  at  first  published  the  Acts  of 
 several  of  the  Martyrs  separately,  particularly  of  such  as  had 
 been  supported  witli  satisfactory  evidence.  Mr  Fox  had  re- 
 solved to  publish  the  whole  work  in  Latin ;  but  by  the  advice  of 
 Grindal,  he  published  it  both  in  Latin  and  English,  with  the 
 design  of  rendering  it  more  generally  serviceable  to  the  public. 
 It  was  first  published  in  London,  in  one  thick  folio  volume, 
 with  the  following  title,  "  Acts  and  Monuments  of  these  latter 
 perilous  days,  touching  matters  of  the  Churche;  wherein  are 
 comprehended  and  described  the  great  persecutions  and  hor- 
 rible troubles  that  have  been  wrought  and  practised  by  the 
 Romish  prelates,  speciallye  in  this  realme  of  England  and 
 Scotland,  from  the  yeare  of  our  Lorde  a  thousand  unto  the  time 
 now  present,"  &c.  The  ninth  edition  of  this  work  was  publish- 
 ed in  London,  1632,  in  three  volumes  folio,  with  copper  cuts, 
 the  former  editions  having  had  only  wooden  ones. 
 
 Several  writers  have  laboured  to  depreciate  the  memory  of 
 Mr  Fox,  by  insinuating  that  his  martyrology  contains  many 
 misrepresentations  and  falsehoods.     Dr.  Collier,  ever  watchful 
 
244  memoir  or 
 
 for  an  opportunity  to  vilify  his  performance,  and  lessen  his  re- 
 putation, charges  him  with  ill-nature  and  disingenuousness,  and 
 that  a  vein  of  coarse  satire  and  indelicate  phraseology  runs 
 through  the  whole  work :  That  he  ought  to  be  read  with  great 
 caution;  moreover,  that  his  zeal  was  bitter,  and  that  his  passion 
 and  disaffection  pushed  him  on  to  profanity. 
 
 That  Mr  Fox  evinces,  in  some  parts  of  his  book,  a  temper 
 kindled  into  indignation,  will  not  be  denied;  but  then  it  ought 
 to  be  recollected,  that  the  scenes,  of  merciless  cruelty  and  un- 
 speakable torment,  he  has  described,  were  many  of  them  recent 
 transactions,  several  of  which,  in  all  likelihood,  passed  under 
 his  own  eye,  and  must  therefore  have  left  impressions  on  his 
 mind  which  could  never  be  obliterated;  besides,  though  he 
 escaped  the  flames  of  Smithfield  almost  by  a  miracle,  he  had  to 
 drink  a  pretty  large  proportion  of  the  bitter  cup  allotted  to  the 
 faithful  of  that  period — all  which  circumstances  taken  into  the  ac- 
 count, the  wonder  is  not,  that  he  sometimes  gave  vent  to  his  in- 
 dignation at  such  diabolical  procedure,  but  that  he  conducted 
 himself,  while  describing  these  fiend-like  transactions,  with  so 
 much  moderation  as  he  has  done.  Mr  Fox,  like  every  other 
 writer  of  memoirs,  was  subjected  to  the  inconveniency  of  select- 
 ing his  information  from  so  many  sources,  that  it  was  impossible 
 for  him  to  publish  a  volume  of  such  dimensions  with  certainty 
 that  no  error  had  crept  into  his  narrative.  He  corrected,  how- 
 ever, all  the  mistakes  that  came  to  his  knowledge  in  his  next 
 edition.  What  more  could  be  reasonably  expected?  Tyrants 
 and  persecutors,  in  all  ages,  have  endeavoured  to  cover  their 
 atrocities  with  some  plausible  pretence.  It  is  little  wonder  then 
 that  they  should  charge  Fox  with  disingenuity,  who  had  torn 
 off  their  veil  of  hypocrisy,  and  exhibited  them  to  the  world  in 
 all  their  naked  and  hideous  deformity. 
 
 On  this  herculean  performance  Mr  Strype  passes  an  honour- 
 able encomium.  "  Mr  Fox  (says  he)  has  done  essential  service 
 to  the  protestant  cause,  by  shewing,  from  ancient  records,  books, 
 registers,  and  choice  manuscripts,  the  continual  encroachments 
 of  the  popes  and  their  coadjutors,  and  the  spirited  resistance 
 maintained  by  learned  and  good  men  in  every  age  and  country, 
 particularly  under  king  Henry  and  queen  Mary  in  England. 
 He  hath  preserved  the  memoirs  of  those  holy  men  and  women, 
 those  bishops  and  divines,  together  with  their  histories,  acts,  suffer- 
 ings, and  deaths,  cheerfully  submitted  to  for  the  sake  of  Christ 
 and  his  gospel,  and  for  refusing  to  comply  with  the  popish  doc- 
 trines and  superstition.  The  world  is  infinitely  indebted  to  Mr 
 Fox,  continues  he,  for  his  painful  and  patient  researches  into 
 the  records,  archieves,  and  repositories  of  original  acts  and  let- 
 ters of  state,   and   other  highly-important  manuscripts,   from 
 
JOHN  FOX.  245 
 
 which  he  has  communicated  abundance  of  extracts  in  these 
 volumes;  and  as  his  labours  were  incessant,  so  his  transcrip- 
 tions are  eminently  correct." 
 
 No  book  ever  inflicted  a  wound  so  deep  and  incurable  on  the 
 Romish  system  of  superstition  and  bloody  persecution;  on  which 
 account,  his  talents,  zeal,  and  labours,  drew  down  upon  himself 
 the  malice  and  unqualified  malediction  of  all  his  catholic  foes. 
 His  name  was  inserted  in  a  bead  roll,  or  list  of  prescription,  in- 
 tended for  a  first  sacrifice  when  the  contemplated  scheme  of 
 overrunning  England  should  be  accomplished.  Mr  Fox's  his- 
 tory of  the  martyrs  was  placed  in  the  common  halls  of  arch- 
 bishops, bishops,  deans,  archdeacons,  and  heads  of  colleges,  and 
 in  all  churches  and  chapels  throughout  the  kingdom,  by  order 
 of  queen  Elizabeth. 
 
 On  learning  that  Elizabeth  had  mounted  the  throne  of  Eng- 
 land, Mr  Fox  returned  from  his  exile,  and  was  received  with 
 great  cordiality,  and  kindly  entertained  by  his  pupil  the  duke 
 of  Norfolk,  who  maintained  him  at  his  residence,  and  settled  a 
 pension  upon  him  by  his  last  will.  In  1572,  when  this  unhap- 
 py nobleman  was  beheaded  on  Towerhill  for  his  treasonable 
 connections  with  the  queen  of  Scots,  he  was  attended  by  Mr 
 Fox,  and  Dr.  Newell  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  in  his  last  moments  on 
 the  scaffold.  After  returning  from  the  continent,  Mr  Fox  was 
 three  vears  without  preferment  of  any  kind  whatever,  as  appears 
 from  his  letter  to  Dr.  Humphrey,  his  friend  and  acquaintance; 
 where  he  says,  "  I  still  wear  the  same  clothes,  and  remain  in 
 the  sordid  condition  that  England  received  me  when  I  came 
 from  Germany;  nor  have  I  changed  my  degree  and  order, 
 which  is  that  of  the  mendicants  or  friar  preachers,  if  you 
 please."  Thus,  with  good-natured  pleasantry,  did  he  reproach 
 the  neglect  and  ingratitude  of  the  times.  He  continued,  how- 
 ever, till  the  year  1563  without  the  least  preferment,  when  se- 
 cretary Cecil  procured  for  him  a  prebend  in  the  church  of  Sal- 
 isbury; this,  which  with  some  difficulty  he  retained  till  his 
 death,  was  all  the  preferment  ever  he  obtained.  He  lived, 
 however,  many  years  after  this  in  great  esteem  and  favour  with 
 persons  of  high  rank  and  reputation.  Bishops  Grindal,  Park- 
 hurst,  Pilkiugton,  and  Aylmer,  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  Sir 
 Francis  Drake,  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  were  his  steady  and 
 powerful  friends;  and  by  their  influence  would  have  raised 
 him  to  the  highest  preferment;  but  as  he  could  not  subscribe, 
 and  disapproved  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  he  expressed 
 his  gratitude  for  their  kind  intentions,  but  begged  to  be  ex- 
 cused. 
 
 In  the  year  1561,  archbishop  Parker  attempted  to  force  the 
 clergy  to  conform  to  the  ritual  of  the  established  church:  and 
 
246  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 trusting  that  the  capital  would  influence  the  country,  began 
 with  the  London  ministers :  Judging  also  that  Mr  Fox's  conduct 
 would,  in  all  probability,  be  followed  in  the  city,  he  was  first 
 called,  and  examined  on  the  following  question :  "  Will  you 
 promise  conformity  to  the  apparel,  by  law  established,  and  tes- 
 tify your  acquiescence  by  subscribing  with  your  hand  ?"  Here 
 Mr  Fox  drew  from  his  pocket  his  Greek  New  Testament,  say- 
 ing, "  To  this  I  will  subscribe  !" 
 
 When  the  commissioners  urged  him  to  subscribe  the  canon, 
 he  refused,  saying,  "  I  have  nothing  in  the  church  but  a  pre- 
 bend in  Salisbury,  and  much  good  may  it  do  you  if  you  take  it 
 from  me."  Whoever  refused  thus  to  conform  were  immediately 
 suspended,  and,  at  the  termination  of  three  months,  deprived  of 
 their  livings.  His  ecclesiastic  judges,  however,  were  ashamed 
 to  deprive  so  celebrated  an  individual  to  whom  so  little  had  been 
 given. 
 
 The  queen  having,  at  one  time,  been  graciously  pleased  to 
 grant  indulgence  to  several  non-conforming  divines,  Fox  pre- 
 sented her  majesty  with  a  panegyric  written  in  Latin;  but 
 in  the  year  1515,  he  had  occasion  to  address  her  on  a  very  dif- 
 ferent subject.  In  the  course  of  this  year  the  spirit  of  persecu- 
 tion was  wrought  up  to  the  most  extravagant  pitch  against  the 
 anabaptists  in  London,  ten  of  whom  were  condemned  for  the 
 opinions  they  held;  of  which  number  eight  were  ordered  into 
 banishment,  and  the  remaining  two  to  be  burnt.  On  this  oc- 
 casion Mr  Fox  wrote  an  excellent  letter  of  admonition  to  the 
 queen,  in  which  he  deprecates  rekindling  the  fires  of  Smith- 
 field,  from  the  consideration,  that  men,  who  err  from  ignorance, 
 which  all  must  do  who  adhere  to  their  errors  in  defiance  of 
 death,  are  more  the  objects  of  pity  than  punishment,  more  en- 
 titled to  instruction  than  persecution,  unless  we  are  determined 
 to  destroy  the  soul  as  well  as  the  body.  I  do  not  write  this, 
 says  he,  with  any  design  of  favouring  or  patronizing  error,  but 
 to  save  the  lives  of  erring  men,  I  myself  being  one,  and  to  leave 
 them  an  opportunity  of  re-considering  their  belief,  of  being  better 
 informed,  and  of  retracting  their  erroneous  opinions.  His  laud- 
 able endeavours,  however,  to  soften  the  rigour  of  her  severity 
 against  these  otherwise  unoffending  individuals,  were  all  to  no 
 purpose;  the  queen  remained  inflexible,  and  though  she  always 
 ciilled  him  father  Fox,  on  this  occasion  she  gave  him  a  flat  de- 
 nial, unless  they  would  submit  to  her  despotic  authority;  which 
 they  would  not,  and  were  accordingly  both  burnt  at  Smithfield, 
 July  22d,  1575,  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  of  the  reign,  the 
 character,  and  kingdom,  of  this  cruel  and  imperious  woman. 
 
 Mr  Fox  was  a  laborious  student,  a  most  learned,  pious,  and 
 judicious  divine,  strongly  opposed  to  every  act  of  severity  in 
 
JOHN  FOX.  247 
 
 matters  of  religion ;  but  being  a  noted  and  determined  non-con- 
 formist, his  merits  were  overlooked  and  shamefully  neglected. 
 Preferment,  however,  he  had  determined  not  to  accept  on  the 
 terms  it  was  then  bestowed;  he  was  content  with  his  prebend 
 at  Salisbury;  while  the  richest  mitre  in  England,  according  to 
 Fuller,  would  have  counted  itself  preferred  by  being  placed  on 
 his  head.  His  enemies  were  many;  yet  several  of  them  have 
 had  the  honesty  to  acknowledge  his  powerful  talents,  his  pious 
 life,  and  manifold  virtues.  Even  Wood  denominates  him  a  sa- 
 gacious searcher  into  antiquity,  incomparably  charitable,  and  of 
 an  exemplary  life  and  conversation;  but  a  severe  Calvinist,  and 
 a  bitter  enemy  to  popery. 
 
 This  celebrated  author,  and  indefatigable  preacher,  having 
 spent  a  long  and  laborious  life  in  promoting  and  in  suffering 
 for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  best  interests  of  men,  resigned 
 his  soul  to  God  who  gave  it,  in  April  18th,  1587,  and  in  the 
 seventieth  year  of  his  age.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the 
 chancel  of  St.  Giles's  church,  Cripplegate,  London,  where, 
 against  the  south  wall,  a  monumental  inscription  was  erected  to 
 his  memory  by  his  son. 
 
 JOHN  ELLISTON. 
 
 This  pious,  diligent,  and  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel  of 
 Jesus  Christ,  had  a  benefice  at  Preston  in  Northamptonshire, 
 where  he  laboured  to  reform  his  parishioners  with  the  greatest 
 assiduity,  both  by  preaching  and  catechising;  but  endured  much 
 trouble  and  persecution  on  account  of  his  non-conformity  to  the 
 ceremonies  of  the  church.  His  enemies  were  men  strongly  at- 
 tached to  popery,  who,  hating  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  as 
 taught  by  Mr  Elliston,  complained  to  the  chancellor  of  Peters- 
 borough  that  he  did  not  wear  the  surplice,  read  the  litany,  nor 
 use  the  cross  in  baptism.  For  these  weighty  reasons  he  was 
 indicted  to  stand  trial  at  the  assizes;  where  his  case  being  heard 
 before  the  judge,  he  was  dismissed.  But  having  left  an  account 
 of  the  troubles  in  which  he  was  involved,  we  shall  suffer  Mr 
 Elliston  to  speak  for  himself. 
 
 "  Having  been  pastor  at  Preston  (says  he)  only  about  ten 
 weeks,  and  anxious  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  scriptural  doc- 
 trines of  religion  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  some  of  my  parish- 
 ioners, much  attached  to  the  Romish  ceremonies,  complained  to 
 Dr.  Ellis,  the  chancellor,  that  I  did  not  wear  the  surplice,  read 
 the  litany,  or  use  the  cross  in  baptism;  on  which  I  was  cited 
 before  the  judge  at  the  assize,  but  acquitted  and  dismissed. 
 After  this  they  exhibited  a  charge  against  me  to  Dr.  Scamhlcr. 
 
24S  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 bishop  of  Peterborough,  consisting  of  sixteen  articles.  On  my 
 appearance  before  his  lordship,  February  10th,  1584,  he  asked 
 me  whether  I  would  subscribe;  and  on  refusing,  treated  me 
 with  much  abusive  language. 
 
 "  The  first  article  charged  against  me  was,  that  I  did  not 
 wear  the  surplice.  I  said  I  did  not  refuse  it.  The  second,  That 
 I  did  not  use  the  cross  in  baptism:  and  being  asked  why  I  did 
 not,  I  answered,  because  it  was  nowhere  required  in  the  word 
 of  God,  the  unerring  rule  by  which  the  conduct  of  all  christian 
 minsters,  as  well  as  others,  ought  to  be  regulated.  Neither, 
 said  the  bishop,  is  it  required  what  kind  of  boots  you  shall 
 wear.  To  which  I  replied,  the  form  or  fashion  of  my  boots  can 
 give  no  offence,  there  being  no  law,  human  or  divine,  for  regu- 
 lating that  article  of  dress;  but  christian  baptism  is  distinctly 
 held  forth  by  the  author  of  our  religion,  without  any  such  cere- 
 mony as  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  to  that  original  institution 
 we  do  well  to  take  heed,  lest  we  draw  down  upon  ourselves  the 
 plagues  threatened  against  all  such  as  add  to  the  already  per- 
 fect words  of  that  inspired  book.  Here  again  the  bishop  scoffed 
 and  abused  me.  In  the  next  place,  he  asked  why  I  catechised 
 the  aged  as  well  as  the  young.  To  which  I  replied,  that  hav- 
 ing the  charge  of  all,  I  considered  it  my  duty  to  instruct  all; 
 and  that  catechising  was  one  method,  and  a  very  profitable  one, 
 for  conveying  instruction  to  persons  of  any  age.  Old  people, 
 he  said,  should  not  be  catechised,  they  did  not  stand  in  need  of 
 it.  I  begged  he  would  encourage  and  promote,  rather  than 
 hinder  good  tilings.  But,  said  he,  you  omit  the  litany  on  Sab- 
 bath days.  I  preach,  said  I,  on  Sabbath.  But,  said  he,  preach 
 or  not  on  Sabbath,  the  litany  must  be  read.  But  why  do  you 
 keep  persons  back  from  the  communion  ?  Because,  I  replied, 
 they  will  net  submit  to  be  examined.  You  must  admit  them, 
 said  the  bishop,  if  they  can  say  the  Lord's  prayer  and  the  ten 
 commandments.  After  many  other  charges,  which  I  answered 
 as  occasion  served,  I  was  suspended,  and  informed,  that  unless 
 I  would  subscribe,  I  should  not  remain  in  his  diocese.  To  this 
 I  only  replied,  that  the  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  he  hath  no 
 doubt  a  place  for  me  to  live  in;  so  I  departed. 
 
 "  On  March  6th,  he  cited  me  again,  along  with  several 
 other  ministers,  requiring  us  to  subscribe;  and  on  May  30th,  I 
 was  called  a  third  time;  but  not  having  had  timeous  warning, 
 he  had  deprived  me  before  I  could  make  my  appearance.  I 
 therefore  protested  against  his  unjust  sentence,  and  appealed, 
 telling  him  that  he  had  not  dealt  uprightly  in  my  case,  not- 
 withstanding that  I  had  endeavoured,  with  all  quietness,  to 
 discharge  the  duties  of  my  station  with  honest  propriety,  while 
 he   treated   others,   if  they   would   onlv   subscribe,    with  great 
 
JOHN  ELLISTOX.  2±Q 
 
 kindness  and  civility,  though  destitute  both  of  learning  and  in- 
 tegrity. If,  however,  you  go  about  thus  to  discredit  the  con- 
 scientious part  of  your  clergy,  be  assured  you  will  thereby  dis- 
 credit yourself.  After  this,  though  Peterborough  was  thirty- 
 six  miles  from  the  place  where  I  lived,  I  had  seven  journies 
 thither  in  little  more  than  one  year.  In  April  I  went  to  London 
 for  an  inhibition;  and  after  my  return  had  to  make  another 
 journey  to  Peterborough  to  have  it  served  on  the  bishop.  In 
 the  meantime,  archbishop  "VThitegift,  on  purpose  to  prevent  me 
 from  prosecuting  my  appeal,  had  me  cited  before  him  on  ascen- 
 sion day.  When  I  appeared  before  his  grace,  two  articles  were 
 charged  against  me — 1st,  That  at  morning  prayer,  on  whitsun- 
 day,  I  did  not  read  two  psalms  and  two  chapters,  and  then 
 preach;  and,  2d,  That  preaching  from  the  second  psalm,  and 
 railing  against  my  enemies,  I  aifirmed  that  they  would  all  be 
 damned  who  troubled  me.  On  hearing  my  answers  to  these 
 charges,  I  was  dismissed;  but  the  fees  of  the  pursuivants,  and 
 other  expences  connected  with  all  these  travels,  &c,  were  very- 
 considerable.  After  this,  I  was  called  several  times  up  to  Lon- 
 don, sometimes  before  Whitegift,  and  sometimes  also  before  the 
 bishop  of  London.  These,  my  troubles,  says  Mr  Elliston, 
 pressed  me  down  for  almost  three  years,  during  which  period  I 
 was  obliged  to  travel  ten  times  to  London,  seven  times  to 
 Peterborough,  many  times  to  Leicester  and  Northampton,  and 
 once  to  Cambridge."  The  unavoidable  expence  attending  so 
 many  journies,  together  with  a  long  deprivation  of  his  office, 
 brought  this  peaceable  and  moderate  puritan  to  the  verge  of  po- 
 verty. The  charges  against  him  were  so  trifling,  that  they  were 
 ashamed  to  commit  him  to  prison;  but  determined  on  his  ruin, 
 endeavoured  to  compass  it  by  wantonly  subjecting  him  to  these 
 troublesome  and  expensive  travel*.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
 classes  at  Devontry,  and  frequently  attended  the  associations  of 
 the  puritans.     It  is  thought  he  died  in  1617. 
 
 LAURENCE  HUMPHREY,  D.  D. 
 
 This  celebrated  puritan  was  born  in  Buckinghamshire,  at 
 Newport-Pagnel,  about  the  year  1527.  He  had  his  education 
 at  first  in  the  university  of  Cambridge,  afterwards  in  Magda- 
 len college,  Oxford,  where  he  became  perpetual  fellow  in  1  j52. 
 Having  studied  theology  with  uncommon  industry,  he  entered 
 into  holy  orders,  and  remained  at  Oxford  till  some  time  after 
 the  commencement  of  queen  Mary's  persecution,  when  he  was 
 permitted,  by  the  heads  of  the  university,  to  travel  into  foreign 
 parts  for  the  space  of  one  year,  on  condition  that  he  should 
 9  2 1 
 
2.50  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 avoid  every  place  suspected  of  heresy,  and  the  company  and 
 correspondence  of  all  who  were,  or  had  been,  authors  and  abet- 
 tors of  heretical  opinions. 
 
 Having  thus  obtained  liberty  to  leave  the  country,  lie  repair- 
 ed to  Zurich,  where  he  joined  tbe  English  refugees ;  and  failing 
 to  return  at  the  end  of  the  year,  lost  his  fellowship.  During 
 his  exile  at  Zurich,  we  find  his  name  subscribed  to  a  letter 
 from  the  English  protestants  in  that  place,  addressed  to  their 
 brethren  at  Frankfort,  dated  October  23d,  1554.  After  the 
 death  of  queen  Mary,  Humphrey,  having  corresponded  with  the 
 learned  divines  of  Geneva,  returned  so  much  the  Calvinist, 
 both  in  doctrine  and  discipline,  that  the  best  character  that  the 
 conformists  could  give  him,  but  to  which  truth  obliged  them, 
 was,  that  he  was  a  moderate  and  conscientious  non-conformist, 
 much  commended  for  the  purity  of  his  life*  and  conversation, 
 and  admired  for  his  wit  and  learning.  On  his  return  he  was 
 restored  to  his  fellowship,  and  nominated  by  her  majesty  for 
 queen's  professor  of  divinity  in  the  Oxford  university,  having 
 been  considered  the  fittest  person  then  in  the  kingdom  for  dis- 
 charging the  duties  of  that  important  office.  Soon  after  this 
 he  took  his  degrees  in  divinity,  and  was  elected  president  of 
 Magdalen  college,  against  a  powerful  opposition  from  the  po- 
 pish party.  In  this  situation,  many  persons,  afterward  famed 
 for  their  literary  acquirements,  were  brought  forward  under  his 
 care,  of  whom  the  famous  Sir  Thomas  Bodley  was  one. 
 
 In  the  following  account  of  this  celebrated  divine,  we  shall 
 have  occasion  frequently  to  mention  his  intimate  friend,  the  wor- 
 thy Dr.  Thomas  Samson,  who,  like  himself,  was  highly  regard- 
 ed at  Oxford,  for  his  piety,  learning,  and  zeal  in  promoting 
 the  true  religion.  Their  endearing  qualifications  and  exertions 
 were  nevertheless  insufficient  to  secure  them  against  the  rigour 
 of  the  high  commission  for  rejecting  the  popish  garments.  Ac- 
 cordingly, Humphrey  and  Samson,  with  four  other  divines, 
 were  cited  before  archbishop  Parker  and  his  colleagues,  at  Lam- 
 beth, on  the  3d  of  March  1564.  On  their  appearance,  the 
 archbishop,  on  purpose  to  convince  them  of  the  propriety  of 
 conforming,  urged  upon  them  the  opinions  of  Peter  Martyr  and 
 Martin  Bucer;  but  still  their  judgments  remained  unconvinced. 
 They  requested  to  be  permitted  to  return  to  their  duty;  but  this 
 the  archbishop,  who  had  determined  to  bring  them  before  the 
 council,  promptly  refused.  After  waiting  his  pleasure  for  some 
 time  at  London,  they  prepared  a  petition,  drawn  up  in  an  ele- 
 gant but  submissive  style,  which  they  presented  to  the  arch- 
 bishop, the  bishops  of  London,  Winchester,  Ely,  and  Lincoln, 
 with  other  commissioners. 
 
 In  this  supplication  they  expressed  their  sorrow  that  any  dis- 
 
LAURENCE  HUMPHREY.  251 
 
 sention  should  exist  between  them  on  so  small  a  matter  as  linen 
 and  woollen,  as  they  styled  the  cap  and  surplice.  They  expressed 
 their  satisfaction,  however,  that  under  the  Captain  of  salvation, 
 they  all  professed  the  same  gospel,  and  held  by  the  same  faith ; 
 though  in  the  matter  of  habits  each  followed  the  dictates  of  their 
 own  minds,  where  there  was  often  room  for  liberty,  but  always 
 for  charity.  They  urged  the  authority  of  Augustine,  Socrates, 
 and  Theodoret,  to  show  that  the  great  diversity  of  rites  and  ob- 
 servances that  existed  in  their  times,  did  not  mar  the  unity  and 
 concord  of  the  church;  and  farther  urged  their  claim  to  tolera- 
 tion, from  the  consideration,  that  their  consciences  were  ten- 
 der, and  ought  not  to  be  grieved  with  unnecessary  forms : 
 That  they  themselves  were  very  far  from  being  either  turbulent 
 or  obstinate :  That  they  neither  studied  novelty,  refused  to  be 
 convinced,  or  attempted  to  disturb  the  peace  or  unity  of  the 
 church :  That  things  in  themselves  quite  indifferent  might  not 
 always  appear  to  be  so  even  to  good  and  peaceable  christians; 
 and  that  the  law,  for  restoring  the  ceremonies  of  the  Romish 
 church,  was  at  least  connected  with,  and  assimilated  to,  those 
 laws  under  which  our  forefathers  groaned  for  deliverance.  See- 
 ing, however,  you  have  taken  a  different  view  of  these  laws  and 
 ceremonies,  we  do  not  condemn  you :  Charity  pleads,  and  we 
 have  ground  to  expect  you  will  listen  to  the  moderation  of  her 
 amiable  arguments,  in  not  condemning  us  for  exereising  the 
 same  rights  of  conscience  as  we  cheerfully  allow  to  you,  to 
 others,  and  to  all.  They  therefore  beseech  their  lordships,  if 
 there  be  any  fellowship  in.  Christ,  that  they  would  follow  the 
 directions  given  by  divine  inspiration  concerning  such  things 
 as  are  of  themselves  matters  of  indifference,  in  permitting  every 
 one  to  be  ;jfully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  They  wrote  also 
 to  the  earl  of  Leicester;  but  their  arguments  and  condescension 
 were  of  no  avail;  they  were  still  obliged  to  continue  their  at- 
 tendance. The  commissioners  were  divided  in  their  opinions, 
 some  were  for  enforcing  the  law  of  conformity,  others  were  for 
 conniving  at  their  non-conformity.  The  archbishop,  however, 
 who  was  otherwise  minded,  on  the  29th  of  April  peremptorily 
 declared,  in  open  court,  that  they  should  either  conform  to  wear 
 the  square  cap  in  their  long  gowns,  to  wear  the  surplice  with 
 non-regent's  hoods  in  the  choirs,  according  to  ancient  custom; 
 and  that  they  must  communicate  kneeling,  and  use  wafer  or 
 unleavened  bread — otherwise  there  was  no  alternative  left  but  to 
 give  up  their  preferment.  To  this  they  replied,  that  their  con- 
 sciences would  not  suffer  them  to  conform  on  these  intolerant 
 terms,  whatever  might  be  the  consequence.  For  these  reasons 
 they  were  still  continued  in  their  confinement;  but  the  brunt  of 
 the  battle  fell  on  Dr.  Samson. 
 
252  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 During  this  year,  they  were  several  times  examined  before 
 the  archbishop  respecting  the  wearing  of  the  Romish  habits; 
 when,  among  many  other  reasons,  they  urged  the  words  of  St. 
 Paul,  That  as  meat  offered  to  idols  ought  not  to  be  eaten,  so  gar- 
 ments consecrated  to  idolatry  ought  not  to  be  worn  :  That  things 
 indifferent  in  themselves  ought  not  to  be  matters  of  necessity,  for 
 this  were  to  change  the  very  nature  of  such  things,  and  deprive 
 us  of  our  liberty  of  choosing  or  refusing :  For,  added  they,  if 
 we  are  bound  to  wear  the  popish  habits  whenever  commanded, 
 we  may  soon  be  forced  to  have  our  crowns  shorn,  and  to  use 
 oil,  spittle,  salt,  cream,  with  all  the  other  papistical  additions  to 
 the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
 
 Humphrey  and  Samson  having  freely  and  fully  given  their 
 opinions,  with  their  declaration  to  abide  by  the  same  at  all  haz- 
 ards, a  pacific  proposition  was  drawn  up;  to  which,  after  due 
 consideration,  they  both  subscribed,  with  this  reserve,  that  all 
 things  that  are  lawful  are  not  always  either  edifying  or  expe- 
 dient.    Upon  which  it  appears  they  were  both  released. 
 
 About  this  time  Humphrey  wrote  a  letter  to  the  queen,  in 
 wbich  he  addressed  her  majesty  as  follows : 
 
 *  Several  of  the  most  renowned  of  the  kings  of  Judah,  in 
 their  zeal  for  the  house  of  God,  destroyed  the  groves,  and 
 threw  down  the  altars  erected  to  idolatry.  They  defaced  and 
 removed  the  images,  and  annihilated  even  the  smallest  relics 
 of  idolatry.  Nor  can  the  form  and  pattern  of  our  reformation 
 be  perfect  so  long  as  we  retain  so  many  of  the  foolish  and  su- 
 perstitious memorials  of  the  enemies  of  the  truth.  Your  ma- 
 jesty knows,  that  with  regard  to  things  in  themselves  indiffer- 
 ent, it  is  the  right  and  privilege  of  every  man  to  hold  his  own 
 opinion,  and  that  the  conscience  ought  in  no  case  to  be  violat- 
 ed. This  truth  will,  I  doubt  not,  be  attested  by  the  internal 
 feelings  of  every  man.  Seeing,  therefore,  that  the  liberty  we 
 request  is  reasonable,  honest,  and  necessary,  while  the  observ- 
 ances commanded  are  doubtful,  and  of  no  utility,  Why  should 
 we,  who  are  your  loyal  and  loving  subjects,  besides  being  the 
 ministers  of  God's  word,  stand  as  exceptions  in  the  exercise  of 
 your  kindness  and  clemency,  O  queen,  usually  open  to  all  ? 
 Though  you  do  not  give  place  to  your  subjects,  still  you  may 
 exercise  your  clemency  in  sparing  the  distressed :  Though  you 
 will  not  annul  a  public  decree,  still  you  may  mitigate  its  se- 
 verity. If  you  cannot  abolish  a  law,  you  may  grant  a  tole- 
 ration. 
 
 11  The  acquisition  of  power,  O  queen,  either  in  church  or  state, 
 forms  no  part  of  our  request;  but  we  are  very  desirous  that  Rea- 
 son, the  Queen  of  queens,  should  bear  rule,  and  that  the  hum- 
 ble request  of  the  ministers  of  Christ  may  obtain  what  common 
 
LAURENCE  HUMPHREY.  %58 
 
 justice  claims  in  their  behalf  as  men  and  subjects,  and  religion 
 demands  for  them  as  christians  and  christian  ministers.  Where- 
 fore, most  noble  prince,  I  humbly  entreat  your  majesty  seriously 
 and  attentively  to  consider  the  majesty  of  the  glorious  gospel, 
 the  equity  and  propriety  of  the  reformation,  in  which,  as  a  na- 
 tion, we  are  earnestly  engaged;  the  greatness  of  the  work, 
 and  the  small  number  of  the  workmen;  the  lightness  of  the 
 fault,  and  the  disproportioned  weight  of  the  punishment;  the 
 tears  of  the  good,  the  triumphs  of  the  wicked,  and  the  many 
 mischiefs  incident  to  the  times." 
 
 In  consequence  of  this,  and  similar  endeavours  on  the  part  of 
 Mr  Humphrey,  he  obtained  a  connivance  or  partial  toleration, 
 and  the  bishop  of  Winchester  presented  him  with  a  small  living 
 in  the  diocese  of  Salisbury;  but  bishop  Jewel,  his  professed 
 friend,  and  intimate  acquaintance,  refused  to  admit  him,  and 
 protested  that  he  never  would  till  he  gave  satisfactory  assurance 
 of  his  conforming;  nor  does  it  appear  that  he  ever  was  ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 When  the  advertisements  for  enforcing  a  more  strict  uni- 
 formity were  published,  Dr.  Humphrey  wrote  to  secretary  Ce- 
 cil, requesting  him  to  use  his  best  endeavours  with  the  queen  to 
 prevent  the  execution  of  that  intolerant  order.  In  this  letter, 
 dated  April  23d,  1556,  he  says,  "I  am  sorry  that  the  old  sore 
 has  broken  out  afresh,  and  that  to  the  ruin  of  many,  and  the 
 sorrow  and  astonishment  of  all.  The  book  of  advertisements 
 contains  many  things,  which,  on  many  accounts,  are  disap- 
 proved by  multitudes  of  wise  and  good  men:  and  the  vehemence 
 with  which  it  has  been  enforced  has  agitated  the  whole  king- 
 dom, and  spoiled  every  thing.  The  grief  and  vexation  occa- 
 sioned by  these  cruel  measures  are  greater  than  you  could  well 
 imagine;  and  truly  it  is  a  matter  of  serious  import,  and  deep 
 lamentation,  that  the  most  active  and  able  ministers  of  the  word 
 are  silenced  from  preaching,  while  the  cries  of  numbers  of  the 
 people  awaken  the  pity  of  God  and  man.  I  humbly  request 
 you  to  endeavour  to  move  the  queen  to  put  a  stop  to  these  ad- 
 vertisements, that  the  book  may  be  permitted  to  sleep  in  silence. 
 The  people,  at  tins  time,  have  need  of  unity  and  concord;  but 
 these  advertisements  have  created  more  variety  and  discord 
 than  ever. — To  your  wisdom  and  goodness  I  refer  all." 
 
 About  the  same  time  he  expostulated  with  the  bishops  on 
 their  unwarrantable,  corrupt,  and  unchristian  procedure.  In  this 
 letter  he  tells  them,  "  The  gospel  requires  that  Christ  be  pub- 
 licly preached,  and  the  faith  of  Christ  openly  professed  before 
 men;  but  in  place  of  encouraging  the  true  servants  of  Christ  in 
 prosecuting  their  arduous  employment,  every  discouragement  is 
 thrown  in  their  way.     The  man  possessing  the  necessary  quali- 
 
254  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 fications  for  instructing  the  people,  without  his  cap,  is  silenced; 
 while  the  man,  destitute  both  of  character  and  qualifications, 
 with  his  cap  and  surplice,  is  exalted;  so  that  the  preacher  is 
 punished  for  his  labour,  and  the  unpreaching  prelate  rewarded 
 for  his  idleness.  Is  not  this  like  the  Pharisees  preferring  mint 
 and  anise  to  judgment  and  mercy;  the  traditions  of  men  to  the 
 commandments  of  God  ?  Charity,  my  lords,  would  have  first 
 taught  us,  equity  would  have  spared  us,  brotherly-kindness 
 would  have  warned  us,  and  pity  would  have  pardoned  us,  if  we 
 had  been  found  transgressors.  God  is  my  witness,  I  think  ho- 
 nourably of  your  lordships;  I  esteem  you  as  brethren,  and  re- 
 verence you  as  lords  of  the  congregation.  How  is  it  then  that 
 you  have  no  good  opinion  of  us?  Why  do  you  trust  known 
 adversaries,  and  distrust  your  very  brethren  ?  We  confess  one 
 faith,  preach  one  doctrine,  and  acknowledge  one  ruler  on  earth; 
 in  all  these  things  we  are  cordially  agreed — and  must  we  be 
 thus  maltreated  for  the  want  of  a  cap  and  surplice?  Shall 
 brethren  persecute  brethren  for  a  forked  cap,  contrived  by  some 
 idle  monk  for  a  badge  of  singularity  ?  Shall  we  never  cease  to 
 fight  about  the  pope's  coat,  notwithstanding  that  his  head  and 
 shoulders,  nay,  his  whole  body,  is  banished  from  the  land? 
 God  has  commanded  us  to  exercise  our  talents;  and  must  we 
 be  rendered  idle  and  useless  in  his  church,  because  we  do  not 
 choose  to  disgrace  the  gravity  of  our  office  with  the  motley  gar- 
 ments of  a  stage  fool  ?  My  lords,  before  this  take  place,  you 
 would  do  well  to  consider  the  cause  of  the  church,  the  triumphs 
 of  antichrist,  the  laughter  of  satan,  and  the  sufferings  of  your 
 fellow-men  and  fellow-christians." 
 
 During  the  same  year,  queen  Elizabeth  made  a  pompous 
 visit  to  the  university  of  Oxford;  on  which  occasion  Dr.  Hum- 
 phrey distinguished  himself  in  a  public  disputation  before  her 
 majesty,  whom  the  university  entertained  with  an  academical 
 exercise  of  a  different  description  every  day,  in  which  the  ablest 
 men  of  the  age  exerted  all  their  powers  to  merit  the  applause  of 
 an  audience  so  dignified  and  illustrious.  At  the  conclusion, 
 the  queen  made  a  speech  in  praise  of  the  learned  disputants. 
 
 Dr.  Humphrey  was  favoured  at  last  with  a  toleration,  which 
 lasted  about  ten  years,  when  he  consented  to  wear  the  habits, 
 and  was  made  dean  of  Gloucester,  1576;  and  in  1580  removed 
 to  the  deanery  of  Winchester;  which  he  held  till  his  death. 
 The  carl  of  Leicester,  in  his  letter  to  the  university  of  Cam- 
 bridge, makes  very  honourable  mention  of  him,  and  warmly  re- 
 commends  him  to  the  office  of  vice-chancellor  of  that  university, 
 m  "every  way  B  right  worthy  man."  lie  was,  lor  many  years, 
 president  of  Magdalen  college,  Oxford:  public  professor  of  di- 
 vinity  in   that    university,    and    several    times    vice-chaneellor. 
 
LAURENCE  HUMPHREY.  255 
 
 In  speaking  of  this  distinguished  literarian,  the  Oxford  histo- 
 rian says,  "  That  lie  was  the  standard-bearer  in  the  cause  of  non- 
 conformity; that  he  stocked  his  college  with  non-conformists, 
 insomuch,  that  for  many  years  after  his  death  they  could  not 
 be  rooted  out;  and  that  he  scattered  the  seeds  of  Calvinism  so 
 thick  in  the  divinity  schools,  and  expressed  such  abhorrence  of 
 the  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  the  Romish  church,  as  if  the 
 one  had  been  the  oracles  of  God,  and  the  other  a  loathsome 
 sink  of  corruption  and  abomination."     This  writer  had,  never- 
 theless, the  candour  to  acknowledge,  that  Humphrey  was  a 
 great  and  general  scholar,  an  able  linguist,  and  a  profound  di- 
 vine, who,  for  elegance  of  style,  clearness  of  arrangement,  and 
 strength  of  argument,  was  superior  to  most  of  his  theological 
 contemporaries.     Archbishop  Matthews  says  concerning  him, 
 "  That  Dr.  Humphrey  had  read  a  greater  number  of  the  works  of 
 the  fathers  than  Champion  the  Jesuit  had  ever  seen;  that  he 
 had  devoured  more  than  he  had  ever  tasted,  and  taught  more 
 than  he  had  ever  read."     Fuller  gives  him  the  character  of  a 
 moderate  and  conscientious  non-conformist;  and  Granger  says, 
 he  was  one  of  the  greatest  divines,  and  general  scholars,  of  his 
 age.     He  had  the  very  singular  honour  of  living  to  see  many  of 
 his  pupils  become  bishops;  while  he  himself,  exceedingly  their 
 superior  in  every  respect,  was  denied  any  considerable  prefer- 
 ment, on  account  of  his  puritanical  principles.     Having  served 
 his  generation  by  a  life  of  hard  study  and  useful  labour  in  his 
 Master's  vineyard,  he  died  in  February  1589,  in  the  sixty-third 
 year  of  his  age,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  the  inner 
 chapel  belonging  to  Magdalen  college,  where  a  monumental  in- 
 scription was  erected  to  his  memory. 
 
 WILLIAM  FULKE,  D.  D. 
 
 This  puritan  divine,  much  celebrated  for  his  piety  and 
 learning,  was  bom  in  London,  and  had  his  education  in  St. 
 John's  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  was  chosen  fellow  in  1564. 
 He  was  a  high-spirited  youth,  of  excellent  parts;  and  when 
 but  a  boy  at  school,  he  had  a  literary  contest  with  Edmund 
 Champion;  and  having  lost  the  silver  pen  which  was  promised 
 as  the  victor's  reward,  he  could  not  suffer  the  idea  of  yielding 
 to  his  antagonist;  and  the  mortification  he  felt  on  this  luckless 
 occasion  was  almost  inconceivable.  Before  he  became  fellow 
 of  his  college,  he  spent  six  years  at  Clifford's  inn  in  studying 
 the  law;  but  returning  to  the  university,  and  not  relishing*  the 
 dry  study  of  the  law,  he  directed  his  attention  to  the  study  of 
 other  sciences  more  congenial  to  his  inclination;  for  which  his 
 
256  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 father  was  so  exceedingly  offended,  that  though  possessed  of 
 great  property,  lie  would  no  longer  support  so  rebellious  a  son. 
 Young  Fulke,  who  was  by  this  time  an  excellent  scholar,  and 
 of  an  enterprising  genius,  would  not  suffer  his  mind  to  sink  in 
 despondency,  but  resolved  to  persevere  in  his  literary  pursuits, 
 and  make  his  way  in  the  world  as  well  as  he  could. 
 
 By  his  uncommon  genius,  and  intense  application  to  the 
 study  of  the  mathematics,  the  languages,  and  divinity,  he  soon 
 became  a  most  distinguished  proficient  in  each  of  these  high  de- 
 partments, and  espoused  the  principles  of  the  puritans  at  a  very 
 early  period.  In  1565  he  preached  openly  and  boldly  against 
 the  popish  ceremonies  which  had  been  incorporated  with  the 
 church  establishment.  This  roused  the  indignation  of  the  rul- 
 ing ecclesiastics,  and  Mr  Fulke  was  forthwith  cited  before  the 
 chancellor  of  the  university,  where  he  appears  to  have  been  ex- 
 pelled from  the  college  for  his  puritan  principles.  But  Mr 
 Fulke  immediately  took  lodgings  in  town,  and  supported  him- 
 self without  the  least  difficulty,  by  delivering  public  lectures. 
 Having,  so  early  as  1569,  obtained  a  most  distinguished  repu- 
 tation, he  was  on  the  point  of  being  elected  master  of  St.  John's 
 college;  when  the  jealous  archbishop  Parker,  who  thought  it 
 best  to  crush  puritanism  in  the  bud,  interposed  his  authority, 
 and  prevented  the  election.  On  this  occasion  the  earl  of  Lei- 
 cester, a  constant  friend  to  the  non-conformists,  received  him 
 into  his  family,  and  made  him  his  domestic  chaplain.  During 
 the  same  year  he  was  also  charged  with  being  concerned  in 
 certain  illegal  marriages;  but  upon  examination  by  the  bishop 
 of  Ely,  he  was  honourably  acquitted,  the  charge  having  been 
 proved  a  mere  calumny;  on  which  he  presently  recovered  his 
 reputation.  While  under  this  charge,  he  voluntarily  resigned 
 his  fellowship;  but  so  soon  as  his  innocence  was  re-established, 
 he  was  re-elected  by  the  college. 
 
 In  1571  the  earl  of  Essex  presented  Dr.  Fulke  to  the  rectory 
 of  Warley  in  Essex,  and  shortly  after  to  that  of  Kcdington  in 
 Suffolk.  About  this  time  he  took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Cam- 
 bridge, and  was  incorporated  in  the  same  at  Oxford.  The 
 year  following  lie  attended  the  earl  of  Lincoln,  then  lord  high 
 admiral,  as  ambassador  to  the  French  court.  On  his  return  he 
 was  chosen  master  of  Pembroke-hall,  and  professor  of  divinity 
 in  the  university  of  Cambridge. 
 
 Dr.  Fulke  was  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr  Thomas  Cart- 
 wright,  knew  his  abilities,  and  therefore  joined  with  other 
 learned  divines  in  entreating  him  to  answer  the  Rhcmish  Testa- 
 ment; but  finding  that  archbishop  Whitegift  had  charged  him 
 not  to  proceed,  he  undertook  to  answer  it  himself.  His  work 
 was  entitled,  A  Confutation  of  the  Rhemish  Testament,  1589, 
 
WILLIAM  FULKE.  257 
 
 in  which  he  gave  notice,  that  the  reader  might  some  time  be 
 favoured  with  a  more  complete  answer  from  Mr  Cartwright. 
 What  occasioned  the  publication  of  the  Rhemish  Testament 
 was  this:  The  English  papists,  in  the  seminary  at  Rheims, 
 perceiving  that  the  English  translation  of  the  scriptures  by  the 
 protestants,  then  in  general  circulation,  threatened  to  shake 
 the  faith  of  their  laity  with  regard  to  many  points  of  doctrine 
 and  discipline  taught  and  exercised  in  the  Roman  church,  re- 
 solved, as  Fuller  expresses  it,  to  fit  them  with  a  pair  of  false 
 spectacles.  Accordingly  they  prepared  and  published  their  trans- 
 lation in  opposition  to  the  protestant  versions.  This  Fulke  un- 
 dertook to  refute,  and  very  successfully  accomplished  his  purpose. 
 Of  this  admirable  performance,  which  the  celebrated  Mr  Hervey 
 calls  a  valuable  piece  of  ancient  controversy  and  criticism, 
 full  of  sound  divinity,  weighty  arguments,  and  important  ob- 
 servations :  He  says,  "  Would  the  young  student  wish  to 
 discover  the  very  sinews  of  popery,  and  give  an  effectual  blow 
 to  that  complication  of  errors,  I  scarcely  know  a  treatise  better 
 calculated  for  that  purpose." 
 
 In  1582  Dr.  Fulke,  and  several  other  divines,  were  engaged 
 in  a  public  disputation  with  some1  papists  in  the  tower,  and 
 here  he  had  to  contend  with  his  old  school-fellow,  with  whom 
 he  had  formerly  contended  for  the  silver  pen.  He  was  author 
 of  a  work,  entitled,  "  A  short  and  plain  declaration  of  the  wishes 
 of  all  those  faithful  ministers  who  seek  a  reformation  of  the 
 discipline  of  the  church  of  England,  which  may  serve  for  their 
 apology  against  the  false  accusations  and  slanders  of  their  ene- 
 mies." Wood  gives  him  the  character  of  a  good  philosopher, 
 and  a  pious  and  solid  divine.  Granger  informs  us,  that  he  ob- 
 tained great  celebrity  by  his  writings  against  cardinal  Allen, 
 and  Hiskins,  Sanders,  and  Rastel,  pillars  of  the  popish  super- 
 stition, 1559.  "Dr.  Fulke  (says  he)  was,  for  many  years,  a 
 rigid  puritan;  but  getting  the  better  of  his  principles,  he  made 
 a  near  approach  to  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  established 
 church."  But  the  approximation  he  made  to  the  discipline  of  the 
 established  church,  if  indeed  he  made  any,  will  be  best  traced 
 from  the  works  he  has  published,  wherein  he  was  ever  in  the 
 habit  of  delivering  his  sentiments  openly,  and  without  reserve. 
 Let  the  doctor  therefore  speak  for  himself. 
 
 "  For  order  (says  he)  and  seemly  government,  there  was  one 
 principal,  to  whom,  from  long  custom  in  the  church,  the  name  of 
 bishop  was  applied;  yet,  in  the  scriptures,  a  bishop  and  an  elder 
 are  of  one  order  and  one  authority;  and  in  every  church  and 
 congregation,  says  he,  there  should  be  an  eldership,  which 
 ought  to  have  the  hearing,  the  examination,  and  the  determin- 
 ation of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  discipline  and  government 
 
 10  2  k 
 
258  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  that  congregation."  Respecting  the  sign  of  the  cross,  he  says, 
 "  Many  speak  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  but  they  speak  contrary 
 to  tho  book  of  God,  and  for  that  reason  their  arguments  and 
 sentiments  are,  and  ought  to  be,  rejected;  for  the  cross  is  not 
 like  the  king's  stamp,  Christ  appointed  no  such  mark  or  seal  to 
 distinguisli  his  servants."  From  these  sentiments,  and  indeed 
 from  the  tenor  of  his  whole  works,  Mr  Fulke  was  evidently  a 
 puritan  in  his  views  of  the  discipline  and  rites  of  the  established 
 church. 
 
 Having  spent  a  life  of  much  labour  and  usefulness  in  the 
 service  of  God  and  his  generation,  this  celebrated  preacher  of 
 righteousness  rested  from  his  labours  in  the  month  of  August 
 1589,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  the  chancel  of  the  church 
 of  Kedington,  where  a  monumental  inscription  was  afterwards 
 erected  to  his  memory. 
 
 EDWARD  SNAPE. 
 
 This  determined  non-conformist  most  probably  had  his" 
 education  at  Cambridge;  afterwards  he  was  minister  at  St. 
 Peter's,  Northampton,  a  laborious  preacher,  and  a  powerful  ad- 
 vocate for  a  farther  reformation  of  the  established  church.  He 
 did  not  consider  himself  as  possessing  all  the  authority  of  a  mi- 
 nister of  the  gospel,  till  he  had  the  call  of  the  people  over  whom 
 he  was  to  preside;  and  his  parishioners,  learning  this,  imme- 
 diately set  about  electing  him  for  their  minister. 
 
 In  1575  Mr  Snape  and  Mr  Cartwright  were  invited  to  the 
 islands  of  Jersey  and  Guernsey,  to  assist  the  ministers  of  those 
 places  to  frame  a  code  of  regulations  for  the  order  and  govern- 
 ment of  their  churches.  They  were  both  distinguished  for 
 learning  and  talents,  and  laboured,  with  unwearied  persever- 
 ance, to  reduce  the  discipline  of  the  church  to  the  New  Testa- 
 ment standard.  After  having  effected  a  harmonious  settlement 
 of  those  churches,  Mr  Snape  returned  to  England,  and  preach- 
 ed the  gospel,  for  some  time,  in  the  diocese  of  Exeter,  where 
 Mr  Eusebius  Paget,  and  Mr  John  Holmes,  were  labouring  to 
 promote  the  true  religion,  and  by  their  faithful  and  frequent 
 sermons,  and  other  ministerial  services,  were  become  a  great 
 blessing  to  the  place.  Mr  Snape,  soon  after,  returned  to  his 
 parishioners  at  Northampton,  where,  it  is  probable,  lie  continu- 
 ed for  a  number  of  years.  In  1586  he  united  with  the  puritan 
 brethren  in  subscribing  the  Book  of  Discipline;  and,  in  1590, 
 being  a  zealous  and  active  member  of  the  puritan  associations 
 held  in  Northamptonshire,  Warwickshire,  and  other  counties, 
 he  was  convened  before  t4ie  court  of  high  commission.     Here 
 
EDWARD  SNAPE.  25Q 
 
 he  was  charged  with  having  in  his  possession  a  certain  book, 
 entitled,  A  defence  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Discipline :  That  he 
 refused  to  baptize  a  child  unless  it  was  called  by  some  scripture 
 name :  That,  in  the  public  service  of  the  church,  he  did  not 
 read  the  confession,  absolutions,  psalms,  lessons,  and  litany, 
 with  some  other  portions  of  the  common  prayer  book  :  That  he 
 had  renounced  his  calling  to  the  ministry  by  episcopal  ordina- 
 tion, and  urged  others  to  do  the  same. 
 
 For  these,  and  similar  crimes,  Mr  Snape,  and  many  of  his 
 brethren,  were  cited  before  the  high  commission  at  Lambeth, 
 and  required  to  take  the  oath  ex  officio.  This  they  perempto- 
 rily refused,  unless  they  were  permitted  to  see  and  consider  the 
 questions  to  be  answered.  Mr  Snape's  letters  having  been  in- 
 tercepted, they  were  produced  as  evidence  against  him.  He, 
 nevertheless,  refused  to  answer,  considering  it  contrary  to  rea- 
 son and  common  justice,  the  laws  both  of  God  and  man,  to 
 force  any  individual  to  become  their  own  accuser;  he  was  there- 
 fore instantly  sent  to  prison.  Whether  he  persevered  in  refus- 
 ing the  oath  is  not  so  certain,  only  that  he  answered  a  number  of 
 the  questions  put  to  him;  this,  however,  he  might  have  done 
 without  taking  the  oath.  "  With  respect  to  my  calling  to  the 
 ministry  (says  he),  I  affirm  that  I  had  it  of  the  church  of  God,  in 
 being  approved  by  the  godly  and  learned  divines  in  the  neigh- 
 bo  urhood,  and  chosen  by  the  people  of  my  charge.  As  for  the  book 
 of  common  prayer,  I  will  use  it  only  in  as  far  as  it  is  corrobo- 
 rated by  the  word  of  God;  and  if  it  can  be  proven  to  me,  by 
 sound  argument  from  the  book  of  God,  that  no  part  thereof 
 ought  to  be  introduced  into  the  service  of  ihe  church,  I  will 
 cease  to  use  it  at  all.  As  for  the  calling  of  elders  to  take  part 
 in  the  discipline  of  the  church,  I  promise  to  use  all  lawful  means 
 to  effect  so  desirable  a  purpose.  Respecting  obedience  to  the 
 bishops,  I  will  not  yield  myself  subject  to  any  ecclesiastic  juris- 
 diction claimed  by  them.  To  whatever  civil  power  they  may 
 possess,  I  promise,  however,  my  cordial  and  ready  obedience : 
 But  to  surcease  or  surrender  my  ministry,  I  will  not,  though 
 inhibited  by  the  bishop,*  providing  the  major  part  of  the  com- 
 municants of  my  congregation  shall  require  the  continuance 
 thereof,  and  will  also  bind  themselves  to  afford  me  a  competent 
 support;  with  this,  and  the  approbation  of  the  godly  neighbour- 
 ing ministers,  come  bonds  or  liberty,  I  will  not  surcease.  In 
 one  word,  whatever  I  use  in  my  ministry,  which  shall  be  proved 
 unlawful  by  the  word  of  God,  and  whatever  I  use  not,  and 
 ought  to  use,  so  proved  by  the  scriptures  of  truth,  I  will,  with 
 God's  help,  renounce  the  former,  and  exercise  the  latter."  He 
 also  acknowledged,  that  he  moved  the  mayor  of  Northampton  to 
 join  with  other  towns  in  petitioning  the  queen  to  grant  them  a 
 
260  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 more  pure  and  equal  ecclesiastical  discipline :  That  he  joined 
 with  the  association  at  Warwick  when  they  declared  against 
 private  baptism,  reading  apocryphal  books  and  homilies  in  the 
 church,  communicating  with  unlawful  ministers,  the  govern- 
 ment of  bishops  and  archbishops,  and  for  the  erection  of  a  more 
 primitive  mode  of  discipline.  He  was,  moreover,  charged  with 
 using  the  following  expressions :  "  I  pray  God  to  strengthen 
 our  faith,  and  arm  us  with  patience;  and  then  let  the  devil  and 
 his  deputies,  the  bishops,  do  what  they  can.  In  the  meantime, 
 let  us  take  our  pennyworths  of  them,  and  not  die  in  their 
 debt." 
 
 At  one  of  Mr  Snape's  examinations,  the  following  interroga- 
 tion was  put :  "  Have  you,  at  any  time,  said  and  signified  this, 
 What  would  you  think,  should  we  devise  a  method  to  throw  off 
 the  whole  yoke  and  government  of  the  bishops,  and  erect  a  sys- 
 tem of  church  government  that  they  shall  never  be  able  to  over- 
 turn, and  all  in  one  day,  but  peradventure  not  for  a  year  to 
 come  ?" 
 
 After  having  suffered  eleven  months  close  imprisonment,  Mr 
 Snape  joined,  with  many  others  under  similar  oppression,  in 
 supplicating  the  lord  treasurer  to  be  admitted  to  bail.  On  this 
 occasion  Whitegift  sent  them  a  form  of  submission,  which  they 
 unanimously  rejected;  but  when  he  was  liberated  we  are  not 
 able  to  ascertain.  While  Mr  Snape  was  in  prison,  and  his 
 means  wholly  exhausted  by  his  long  confinement,  his  keeper, 
 finding  he  had  nothing  farther  to  expect  from  his  impoverished 
 prisoner,  used  him  very  unkindly.  The  good  man,  one  day 
 his  chamber  window  being  open,  was  much,  though  agreeably 
 surprised,  when  he  arose  from  his  devotion,  to  find  on  the 
 floor  a  purse  full  of  gold,  which  had  been  thrown  into  his 
 chamber.  This  very  extraordinary,  and  altogether  unexpected 
 supply,  not  only  answered  all  his  present  necessities,  but  also 
 procured  for  him  a  very  different  mode  of  treatment  from  his 
 unfeeling  and  avaricious  gaoler. 
 
 RICHARD  GREENHAM,  A.  M. 
 
 This  faithful  steward  of  the  bread  of  life  was  born  about 
 the  year  1531,  and  educated  at  Pembroke-hall,  Cambridge, 
 where  he  took  his  degrees  in  arts,  and  became  fellow.  On 
 leaving  the  university,  he  became  pastor  of  the  congregation  at 
 Drayton,  near  Cambridge,  where,  for  many  years,  he  laboured, 
 with  unremitting  ardour,  for  the  instruction  and  salvation  of 
 perishing  sinners.  He  was  so  diligent  a  student,  that,  winter 
 or  summer,  his  custom  was  to  rise  by  four  o'clock.     He  always 
 
RICHARD  GREENHAM.  26 1 
 
 preached  twice  on  Sabbath,  and  catechised  the  young  people  of 
 his  parish;  and  usually  preached  four  times  during  the  week, 
 and  catechised  once.  For  the  convenience  of  his  people,  these 
 week-day  services  were  performed  early  in  the  morning.  He 
 was  more  concerned  to  be  serviceable  to  his  flock  than  to  ob- 
 tain any  worldly  consideration  whatever.  His  liberality  to  the 
 poor  was  frequently  exercised  beyond  the  proportion  of  his 
 means,  so  that  his  family  were  sometimes  reduced  to  great 
 want. 
 
 Mr  Greenham  was  celebrated  for  promoting  peace  amongst 
 his  people,  and  laboured  for  the  peace  of  the  church.  He  was 
 a  most  conscientious  non-conformist,  choosing,  on  all  occasions, 
 rather  to  suffer  than  sacrifice  the  peace  of  his  own  conscience; 
 and  though  ever  cautious  in  speaking  of  the  church,  lest  he 
 should  give  offence,  he  was  suspended  from  his  ministry,  because 
 he  would  not  subscribe  the  prayer  book,  and  wear  the  habits  of 
 idolatry.  He  considered  all  ceremonies,  introduced  into  the 
 church  without  the  warrant  of  scripture,  of  mischievous  con- 
 sequence, ever  productive  of  superstition,  and  therefore  by  all 
 means  to  be  avoided :  And  to  subscribe  to  any  thing  but  the 
 scripture,  or  what  is  obviously  drawn  from  that  sacred  volume, 
 he  had  determined,  at  all  hazards,  to  resist. 
 
 Being  called  before  the  bishop  of  Ely  on  a  complaint  of  non- 
 conformity, he  discovered  his  prudence,  peaceable  disposition, 
 and  great  good  sense.  His  lordship,  observing  that  there  exist- 
 ed in  the  church  a  great  and  deplorable  schism,  asked  Mr 
 Greenham  where  the  blame  rested,  Whether  with  the  conform- 
 ists or  the  non-conformists?  To  which  he  readily  replied,  it 
 might  with  either  or  neither;  for,  said  he,  if  both  parties  loved 
 each  other  as  in  duty  bound,  and  did  reciprocal  acts  of  kindness 
 to  one  another  as  religion  enjoins,  the  blame  would  rest  on 
 neither  side;  but  whichsoever  deviates  from  this  sacred  rule, 
 are  assuredly  the  blame-worthy  party.  The  bishop  is  said  to 
 have  been  so  well  pleased  with  this  answer,  that  he  dismissed 
 him  in  peace.  Mr  Greenham  subscribed  the  book  of  discipline 
 along  with  his  reforming  brethren. 
 
 Having  laboured  in  the  ministry  at  Drayton  about  twenty- 
 one  years,  he  removed  to  London,  and  became  minister  at 
 Christ-church,  where  he  finished  his  labours  in  about  two  years 
 thereafter,  and  died  a  most  comfortable  death  in  1591,  aged 
 sixty  years.  Fuller  says  concerning  him,  That  he  was  an 
 avowed  enemy  to  all  non-residents,  and  wondered  how  such 
 men  could  find  any  enjoyment  of  their  wealth,  on  every  article 
 of  which  they  may  see  written,  in  legible  characters,  this  is  the 
 price  of  blood ! 
 
 According  to  the  same  author,  his  life  and  conversation  was 
 
262  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 more  than  ordinarily  correct.  He  was  a  strict  observer  of  the 
 Lord's  day,  and  wrote  a  treatise  on  the  Sabba>h,  than  which  no 
 book  had  ever  made  a  deeper  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 
 people,  or  so  greatly  promoted  the  observance  of  that  sacred 
 day  throughout  the  kingdom.  Mr  Strype  denominates  him  a 
 pious  minister  of  Christ,  but  strongly  opposed  to  the  rites  and 
 ceremonies  of  the  church  established  by  law.  His  works,  in- 
 cluding sermons,  treatises,  and  a  commentary  on  Psalm  cxix, 
 were  published  at  different  times,  but  collected  and  re-published, 
 in  one  volume  folio,  in  the  year  1601.  Bishop  Wilkins  speaks 
 of  his  works  with  high  commendation;  he  classes  his  sermons 
 with  the  first  of  his  time,  and  considers  his  commentary  an  ad- 
 mirable performance  for  the  age  in  which  it  was  written,  both 
 for  style  and  method,  and,  like  all  his  other  works,  full  of 
 spiritual  instruction. 
 
 GILES  WIGGINTON. 
 
 This  distinguished  sufferer  in  the  cause  of  a  pure  reforma- 
 tion from  the  dregs  of  popish  superstition,  was  born  at  Oundle 
 in  Northamptonshire,  educated  in  Trinity  college,  Cambridge, 
 and,  in  1566,  made  second  scholar  in  the  college.  He  was 
 afterward  chosen  fellow  of  the  house,  though  much  against  the 
 inclination  of  Dr.  Whitegift,  who  opposed  his  election  with  all 
 his  power  and  influence.  He  took  his  degree  of  arts  in  1571, 
 having  gained  the  reputation  of  a  proficient  in  the  knowledge  of 
 divinity,  Greek,  and  Hebrew. 
 
 Some  few  years  after  this,  having  completed  his  studies  at 
 the  university,  he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of  Sedburgh, 
 in  the  north-riding  of  Yorkshire;  but  being  a  zealous  puritan, 
 his  sufferings  in  the  common  cause  were  shamefully  severe. 
 In  the  year  1581,  archbishop  Sandys  wrote  to  the  bishop  of 
 Chester,  in  whose  diocese  Mr  Wigginton  officiated,  and  thus 
 animadverted  on  his  character  and  conduct.  "  Your  lordship 
 (says  he)  ought  to  administer  a  little  necessary  admonition  and 
 instruction  to  Mr  Wigginton,  a  young  man  very  far  out  of 
 frame,  who,  in  my  opinion,  will  not  accept  of  you  as  his  ordin- 
 ary or  bishop;  nor  would  I,  in  your  place,  accept  of  him  as  a 
 preacher  in  my  diocese.  He  labours,  it  is  true,  labours  hard, 
 not  however  to  build  up,  but  to  pull  down,  and,  by  every 
 method  he  can  devise,  to  overturn  and  destroy  the  state  eccle- 
 siastic." 
 
 Being  afterwards  in  London,  he  was  appointed,  in  1584,  to 
 preach  before  the  judges  in  St.  Dunstan's  church;  when  White- 
 gift,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  being  apprised  of  his  appoint- 
 
GILES  WIGGINTON.  263 
 
 ttsnly  sent  a  pursuivant  to  his  lodgings  in  the  dead  of  night, 
 who,  finding  Wigginton  in  bed,  forbade  him  to  preach  accord- 
 ing to  his  appointment,  and  demanded  his  bond  for  appearing 
 next  day  at  Lambeth;  all  which  was  done  without  any  written 
 warrant.  Upon  his  appearance  at  Lambeth,  he  refused  the  oath 
 ex  officio,  by  which  he  was  to  answer  whatever  questions  they 
 chose  to  propose,  lest  they  should  tend  to  criminate  either  himself 
 or  others.  This  oath  he  positively  refused;  and  the  archbishop, 
 as  usual  on  such  occasions,  reviled  him  with  epithets  altogether 
 unbecoming  the  pretended  gravity  of  a  bishop;  and  having  dis- 
 gorged his  fulsome  abuse,  committed  him  to  the  Gatehouse 
 prison,  where  he  remained  about  nine  weeks.  At  the  termination 
 of  which  period,  this  merciful  prelate  gave  him  a  specimen  of 
 his  canonical  admonition,  in  charging  him  not  to  preach  in  his 
 province  without  farther  licence. 
 
 In  1585,  one  Middleton,  suspected  to  be  in  principle  a  papist, 
 and  otherwise  a  man  of  very  exceptionable  character,  informed 
 against  him;  on  which  Whitegift  gave  orders  to  the  archbishop 
 of  York  to  proceed  against  Mr  Wigginton  to  the  extent  of  the 
 canon  law.  Accordingly  he  was  cited  before  Ch  adder  ton, 
 bishop  of  Chester,  where  twelve  charges  were  exhibited  against 
 him.  The  result  of  this  summary  process  was,  that  Wigginton 
 was  deprived  of  his  ministry,  and  one  Colecloth,  a  minister  of 
 immoral  character,  put  in  his  place.  By  the  influence  and  fa- 
 vour of  several  high  characters,  he  was,  nevertheless,  after 
 some  time  restored. 
 
 In  1586,  being  in  London,  he  was  again  apprehended  by 
 Whitegift's  pursuivants,  and  carried  before  his  grace  at  Lam- 
 beth; when  refusing,  as  formerly,  to  accuse  himself,  he  was 
 committed  to  the  \Vlrite-lion  prison,  where  he  was  treated  with 
 unfeeling  barbarity.  There,  by  the  positive  orders  of  the  arch- 
 bishop, he  was  so  loaded  with  irons,  confined  in  a  close  prison, 
 destitute  of  air,  exercise,  and  necessary  food,  that  in  about  five 
 weeks,  he  says  himself,  he  was  almost  dead.  In  this  deplorable 
 case  Wigginton  wrote  to  certain  men  of  quality,  imploring  their 
 interest  and  influence  to  obtain  his  deliverance.  In  this  letter, 
 dated  White-lion,  June  1st,  1586,  he  thus  expresses  himself: 
 "  My  desire  is,  that  you  make  my  deplorable  situation  known 
 to  her  majesty's  honourable  privy  council,  or  to  her  majesty 
 herself,  that  the  cause  of  my  imprisonment  may  be  investigated, 
 and  myself  rescued  from  the  hands  of  my  persecutors.  Con- 
 scious of  my  innocence,  I  crave  no  mercy,  I  demand  justice. 
 My  old  adversary,  the  archbishop,  treats  me  more  like  a  Turk 
 or  a  dog,  than  a  man  or  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ. " 
 
 In  the  meantime,  his  life  being  considered  in  imminent  dan- 
 ger, he  was  sent  to  another  prison  in  London,  and  some  time 
 
264-  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 after  brought  again  to  Lambeth,  where  still  refusing  to 
 answer,  he  was  abused  by  Whitegift,  suspended  from  preach- 
 ing in  his  province,  and  sent  to  the  archbishop  of  York  for 
 his  final  deprivation.  Owing  to  the  extremity  of  his  sickness, 
 he  was  obliged  to  remain  some  time  in  London;  and  when 
 the  physicians  considered  him  in  a  hopeless  state,  he  was  again 
 commanded  to  appear  before  Whitegift  at  Lambeth;  but  this 
 being  impossible,  the  sentence  of  deprivation,  and  also  of  de- 
 gradation, were  passed  upon  him  in  his  absence.  After  his 
 health  had  been  somewhat  restored,  Mr  Wigginton  returned  to 
 Sedburgh,  where  he  offered  himself  to  preach  in  the  church, 
 but  was  refused  the  pulpit;  he  therefore  preached  wherever 
 lie  could  find  an  opportunity,  attended  always  with  a  very 
 large  assembly.  Conceiving  himself  to  be  the  pastor  set  over  them 
 by  the  Lord,  he  still  administered  the  sacraments  to  the  peo- 
 ple; which,  when  Whitegift  came  to  understand,  he  instigated 
 Sandys  to  send  forth  an  attachment  against  him,  addressed  to 
 all  justices,  mayors,  sheriffs,  bailiffs,  constables,  and  all  others, 
 her  majesty's  officers  within  the  province  of  York,  or  any  of 
 them,  to  apprehend  him,  and  commit  him  to  the  castle  of  Lan- 
 caster, in  the  province  of  York.  Accordingly,  Mr  Wigginton 
 was  arrested  at  Boroughbridge  some  short  time  after,  and  car- 
 ried to  the  castle  of  Lancaster,  fifty  miles  distant,  in  the  middle 
 of  a  cold  and  severe  winter,  where  he  was  shut  up  in  close 
 prison  amongst  felons  and  condemned  criminals,  and  used  with 
 more  severity  than  either  them  or  the  recusant  papists.  From 
 this  prison  he  sent  an  account  of  his  case  and  situation  to  Sir 
 Walter  Mildmay,  his  patron,  who  was  at  this  time  one  of  the 
 privy  council,  soliciting  liis  interference  in  his  behalf. 
 
 We  are  not  able  to  ascertain  what  effect  was  produced  by  this 
 application,  or  how  long  Wigginton  was  prisoner  at  this  time,  only 
 that,  in  about  two  years  after,  that  is,  in  December  1588,  being 
 in  London,  the  archbishop's  pursuivant  apprehended  him  at  his 
 lodgings  while  in  bed,  and  carried  him  again  to  Lambeth,  on 
 suspicion  of  being  one  of  the  authors  of  a  publication,  entitled, 
 Martin  Mar-prelate.  He  was  brought  before  the  archbishop, 
 the  bishop  of  Winchester,  Drs.  Aubery,  Cosin,  Goodman,  and 
 other  members  of  the  court  of  high  commission,  where  he  was 
 examined  on  the  following  points: 
 
 Archbishop.  There  is  book,  a  vile,  seditious,  and  intolerable 
 book,  called  Martin  Mar-prelate,  and  you  are  suspected  to  be 
 one  of  its  authors;  you  must  therefore  swear  what  you  know 
 concerning  it. 
 
 Wigginton.  You  do  well,  my  lord,  to  let  me  know  what  I 
 Lave  to  swear  to;  but  let  me  also  know  who  are  my  accusers, 
 for  I  have  no  mind  to  accuse  myself. 
 
GILES  WIGGINTON.  265 
 
 Arch.  We  will  take  your  answers  without  your  oath.  What 
 say  you  to  the  following  articles  ?  Have  you  any  of  these  books, 
 or  have  you  at  any  time  read  them,  or  heard  any  part  of 
 them  read? 
 
 Wig.  I  will  not  answer  to  accuse  myself;  you  know  my 
 mind  on  this  point  already;  but  let  my  accusers  stand  forward 
 and  proceed  against  me  according  to  justice  and  the  laws  of 
 the  land. 
 
 Arch.  Have  you  had  any  of  them,  and  how  many  ?  How 
 came  you  by  them  ?  What  did  you  with  them  ?  In  whose 
 hands  are  they,  and  by  whose  means  did  you  obtain  them  ? 
 
 Wig.  I  would  sooner  accuse  myself  than  others;  but  I  will 
 accuse  neither.  Prove  your  allegations  by  proper  witnesses, 
 and  proceed  against  me  by  the  laws  of  God  and  the  realm. 
 
 Arch.  Have  you  bought,  sold,  given,  dispersed,  handled,  or 
 any  way  dealt  in  them;  and  in  what  manner  have  you  done  so  ? 
 
 Wig.  I  account  it  as  unnatural  for  me  to  accuse  myself,  as 
 to  thrust  a  knife  into  my  flesh.  The  matter,  I  understand,  is 
 attended  with  danger;  I  shall  therefore  forbear,  and  accuse 
 neither  myself  nor  any  other  person.  In  the  mouth  of  two  or 
 three  witnesses  let  every  word  be  established.  The  heathen 
 judge  said,  I  will  hear  thee  when  thine  accusers  are  come;  and 
 shall  a  christian  judge,  and  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  righte- 
 ousness and  peace,  command  me  to  accuse  myself?  Relinquish, 
 for  shame  !  such  tyrannical  usurpation  of  power  over  thy  fellow- 
 servants. 
 
 Arch.  Whom  do  you  believe,  think,  suspect,  or  conjecture, 
 to  be  the  author,  writer,  or  printer  of  it,  or  any  part  of  it;  or 
 did  you  make  any  oath  or  vow,  or  promise  to  conceal  the 
 same? 
 
 Wig.  Whatever  I  believe,  think,  suspect,  or  conjecture,  or 
 have  sworn,  vowed,  or  promised,  I  am  not  bound  to  make 
 known.  I  answer,  therefore,  as  before,  I  would  rather  accuse 
 myself  than  my  neighbour. 
 
 Arch.  There  are  many  lies  in  Martin. 
 
 Wig.  It  becomes  you,  then,  to  refute  them  if  you  can. 
 
 The  examination  is  too  long,  and  little  interesting ;  the  above 
 will  suffice  for  a  specimen  of  this  inquisitorial  court. 
 
 Having  finished  their  examination,  and  finding  Mr  Wiggin- 
 ton  inflexible,  he  was  removed  till  they  should  consult  what 
 was  to  be  done;  after  which  he  was  again  brought  before  them, 
 when  Whitegif't  thus  addressed  him :  "  Forasmuch  as  you  have 
 refused  to  swear  and  answer  as  required,  and  in  so  doing  have 
 confessed  yourself  guilty,  according  to  law,  of  the  charges  laid 
 against  you.  And  as  you  have,  at  sundry  times,  and  in  diverse 
 manners,   evidenced  the  contempt   you  bear  to  our  ecclesiastic 
 
 in     ,  2l 
 
ff66  IKMOIR  Q 
 
 atithoiiLy,  and  to  \km  ouf  high  commission,  with  which  the 
 queen  has  entrusted  am!  empowered  us  to  act  for  her  behoof, 
 which  authority  you  shall  obey  before  you  and  1  have  done: 
 Your  former  enlargement  shall  be  withdrawn.  You  shall  also 
 be  kept  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Gatehouse,  till  such  time  as  you 
 feel  yourself  disposed  to  yield  to  our  authority;  and  so  soon  as 
 you  find  yourself  thus  inclined,  you  may  send  us  word,  hi 
 the  meantime.  go  your  way.  Away  with  him,  pursuivant!'5 
 He  was  accordingly  carried  to  the  Gatehouse  prison,  where, 
 notwithstanding  that  much  interest  was  made  for  his  release,  it 
 was  all  to  no  purpose.  Mr  Wigginton  was  an  able  minister, 
 and  a  very  learned  and  pious  divine.  At  what  time  he  procur- 
 ed his  liberty  is  uncertain.     He  was  alive  in  the  year  1591. 
 
 HUMPHREY  FENN. 
 
 This  reverend  and  learned  divine  was  minister  at  Nor- 
 thampton for  several  years,  and  more  than  forty  a  faithful  la- 
 bourer in   the  church  at  Coventry,  yet  met  he  with  many  and 
 severe  oppressions  for  his  non-conformity.    While  at  Northamp- 
 ton, he  was  apprehended  and  committed  to  close  confinement, 
 and  that  for  a  long  period;  during  which  the  inhabitants  of 
 that  town  presented  a  humble  petition  for  restoring  him  to  his 
 liberty  and  the  exercise  of  his  office.     It  is  not  evident  what 
 was  the  result  of  this  application  in  his  behalf;  but  it  is  most 
 probable  he  never  returned  to  Northampton.    Having  at  length 
 procured  his  liberty,  it  would  appear  that  he  commenced  his 
 ministerial    labours   at   Coventry.      The    oppressed    puritans, 
 anxious  to  be  relieved  from  the  galling  fetters  with  which  they 
 had  long  been  bound,  Mr  Fenn  was  unanimously  chosen,  by  the 
 puritan  ministers  in  London,  to  accompnny  the  earl  of  Leices- 
 ter, in  laying  a  statement  of  their  sufferings  and  their  requests 
 before  those  in  public  authority;  but  with  what  success  this  was 
 attended  we  arc  unable  to  give  any  account.     Mr  Fenn,  how- 
 ever, consented,  saying,  "That  he  was  ever  ready  to  run  when 
 the  church  commanded  him."     This  conscientious  puritan  ac- 
 counted it  highly  improper  to  receive  the  sacrament  from  the 
 hands  of  a  dumb,  that  is,  an  ur.preaching  clergyman,  or  to  at- 
 tend  the  service  of  the  church   where   there   was   no  sermon 
 used. 
 
 Upon    the    persecutions    that    followed    the    publication    of 
 
 WhitegifVs  three  articles,  he  was  cited  to  appear  at  Lambeth 
 
 fore  the  archbishop,  when  he  was  urged,  by  many  arguments, 
 
 10  subscribe;  all  which  he  answered,  giving  cogent  reasons  for 
 
 his  refusal :    But  his  reasons  not  sat;  be  coramissic 
 
HUMPHKEY  FENN.  #67 
 
 he  remained  a  long  time  in  prison,  during  which  period  his 
 flock  was  totally  neglected.  But  it  appears  from  his  own  let- 
 ter to  the  archbishop,  that  the  earl  of"  Leicester  had  spoken  in 
 Lis  behalf,  so  that  he  was  at  length  restored  to  his  ministry  at 
 Coventry,  where,  though  he  might  probably  enjoy  peace  for  a 
 season,  his  persecutors  were  not  yet  done  with  him.  In  the 
 year  1591,  an  information  was  exhibited  against  him,  and 
 many  of  his  brethren,  for  being  concerned  in  the  puritan  clas- 
 ses, attending  their  associations,  and  subscribing  their  book  of 
 discipline.  Accordingly,  they  were  all  apprehended  and  com- 
 mitted to  prison.  These  conscientious  sufferers,  during  their 
 confinement,  presented  a  long  letter  to  the  queen,  dated  April 
 1592,  wherein,  at  great  length,  they  refuted  the  calumuies 
 brought  against  them  by  ignorant  or  evil-designing  men,  and 
 vindicated  the  propriety  of  their  conduct  under  the  circum- 
 stances with  which  they  were  environed.  But  how  long  after 
 this  time  they  remained  in  prison  is  uncertain.  On  Mr  Fenn's 
 release,  it  appears  he  returned  to  Coventry,  where  he  remained 
 the  rest  of  his  days,  and  died  in  a  firm  attachment  to  those 
 principles  for  which  he  so  severely  suffered,  and  which  he  so 
 heroicly  defended.  Mr  Clark  says  concerning  him,  that  he  was 
 famous  for  his  ministry,  and  also  for  his  non-conformity,  in  the 
 city  of  Coventry;  and  that,  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  he 
 so  fully  and  openly  protested  against  the  hierarchy  and  cere- 
 monies of  the  national  church,  that  when  his  will  came  to  be 
 proved,  the  prelates,  or  those  of  their  party,  would  not  suffer  it 
 to  have  a  place  amongst  the  records  of  the  court. 
 
 JOHN  MORE. 
 
 This  learned  and  zealous  servant  of  Christ  was  fellow  of 
 Christ-college,  Cambridge,  where  it  is  most  likely  he  received 
 his  education.  After  leaving  the  university?  he  became  a  most 
 useful,  indefatigable,  and  popular  preacher  at  St.  Andrew's 
 church,  in  the  city  of  Norwich,  and  had  an  ample  share  of  the 
 prelatical  persecution  of  that  period.  He  refused  to  wear  the 
 surplice,  particularly  because  it  was  grievously  offensive  to  great 
 numbers,  both  of  pious  ministers  and  people,  in  and  around 
 the  city  of  Norwich.  When  convened  before  the  bishop  of  Che 
 diocese  to  answer  for  his  non-conformity,  the  bishop  told  him, 
 that  it  was  much  better  to  offend  a  few  private  persons,  than  to 
 offend  God,  and  disobey  his  prince.  His  lordship,  however, 
 was  loath  to  exercise  any  severities  against  him.  "  I  am  nol 
 aware  (says  he)  that  he  has  at  any  time  spoken  against  her  ma 
 jcsty'K  book  of  injunctions;  nor  do  I  find  him,  in  noy  resj 
 
268  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 stubborn,  and  he  is  most  assuredly  a  godly  and  learned  man,  and 
 has  done  much  good  in  this  city.  The  public  contest  he  main- 
 tained against  the  famous  Dr.  Pern  of  Cambridge,  shows  how 
 zealous  he  was  in  promoting  and  defending  the  purity  and  evan- 
 gelical simplicity  of  the  gospel  of  Christ;  and  it  was  a  heavy 
 affliction  to  all  godly  and  serious  people,  to  see  a  divine,  pos- 
 sessed of  such  excellent  ministerial  qualifications,  interrupted  in 
 the  exercise  of  his  ministry. 
 
 But  the  prelates  imposed  their  ceremonies  upon  the  clergy 
 with  so  much  rigour,  that  Mr  More,  and  his  brethren  in  and 
 about  Norwich,  foreseeing  that  the  storm  was  fast  gathering 
 around  them,  endeavoured  to  ward  it  off,  by  presenting  a  hum- 
 ble petition  to  the  lords  of  the  council.  This  declaration  and 
 supplication  was  dated  25th  September  1576.  It  states,  in  sub- 
 stance, that  they  were  ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives  and  their 
 property  in  the  service  of  their  prince;  yet  they  durst  not  yield 
 to  her  majesty's  intended  conformity.  And  having  enlarged  on 
 the  manifold  evils  attending  such  rigorous  and  tyrannical  im- 
 positions, and  the  alarming  consequences  that  were  likely  to  en- 
 sue, they  conclude  by  stating,  that  there  are  already  nineteen 
 or  twenty  exercises  of  preaching  and  catechising  put  down  by 
 silencing  the  ministers  of  this  city,  Norwich.  We  therefore 
 humbly  crave  your  assistance,  both  with  our  prince  and  the 
 bishops;  and  may  the  Lord  God  direct  your  honours  in  this  af- 
 fair, and  in  all  your  other  concerns,  that  they  may  tend  to  the 
 good  of  his  church,  and  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  native 
 land. 
 
 John  More, 
 Richard  Crick, 
 Thomas  Roberts, 
 
 George  Leeds, 
 Richard  Dowe, 
 William  Hart." 
 
 Concerning  the  life,  labours,  and  character  of  Mr  More, 
 Granger  states,  that  he  was  about  twenty  years  minister  of  St. 
 Andrew's  in  Norwich,  where  he  was  highly  esteemed  for  the 
 universality  of  his  knowledge  in  the  sciences,  his  uncommon 
 proficiency  in  the  learned  languages,  and,  above  all,  for  his  ex- 
 tensive learning  and  indefatigable  labours  as  a  minister  of  the 
 gospel.  He  constantly  preached  thrice  every  Lord's  day,  and 
 was  much  admired  for  his  talent  in  that  department  of  his  min- 
 isterial labours.  He  refused  several  considerable  preferments, 
 where  the  duty  was  much  less  laborious  than  that  of  his  cure  at 
 Norwich,  merely  because  he  conceived  that  his  labours  would 
 be  more  serviceable  in  that  city.  The  same  author,  in  describ- 
 ing the  different  modes  of  dress  in  that  period,  says,  that  Mr 
 More,  one  of  the  worthiest  clergymen  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
 wore  the  longest  and  the  largest  beard  of  any  Englishman  in 
 his  time,  and  gave  the  best  reason  that  ever  was  given  for  so 
 
JOHN  MORE.  269 
 
 doing,  namely,  that  it  might  be  an  inducement  so  to  conduct 
 himself,  that  no  act  of  his  life  might  seem  unworthy  of  the 
 gravity  of  his  appearance.  Dr.  Ames  says  concerning  him, 
 that  he  was  a  most  heavenly  man,  the  light  and  glory  of  the 
 church.  And  Fuller  includes  him  in  the  number  of  the  learn- 
 ed writers  of  Christ-college,  Cambridge;  and  that  he  made  an 
 excellent  map  of  Palestine.     He  died  in  the  year  1592. 
 
 THOMAS  SAMSON,  D.  D. 
 
 This  singularly  honest  and  inflexible  non-  con  forming 
 divine  was  born  about  1517,  and  educated  at  the  university  of 
 Oxford ;  after  which  he  studied  at  the  Temple,  became  a  zeal- 
 ous reformer,  a  celebrated  preacher,  and  instrumental  in  con- 
 verting John  Bradford,  the  famous  martyr,  to  the  protestant 
 faith.  He  was  ordained  by  archbishop  Cranmer  and  bishop 
 Ridley,  and  highly  esteemed  by  these  two  reverend  prelates, 
 who,  at  his  earnest  request,  dispensed  with  the  habits  on  that 
 occasion.  In  1551  he  became  rector  of  All-hallows,  Bread 
 Street,  London;  and  during  the  following  year  was  preferred 
 to  the  deanery  of  Winchester,  where  he  continued  till  the  death 
 of  king  Edward,  highly  esteemed  as  a  preacher.  After  the  ac- 
 cession of  queen  Mary  he  concealed  himself  for  some  time; 
 and,  together  with  Richard  Chambers,  another  zealous  protes- 
 tant, collected  money  in  London  for  the  support  and  encourage- 
 ment of  some  poor  protestant  scholars  in  the  two  universities. 
 But  this  was  no  sooner  known  to  the  prelates,  than  they  were 
 both  obliggd  to  flee  for  their  lives.  On  the  16th  August  1554, 
 Bradford,  Bacon,  and  Veron,  were  committed  to  the  tower,  and 
 Samson,  it  was  intended,  should  accompany  them,  but  evaded 
 their  search.  Having  thus  narrowly  escaped  from  the  malice 
 of  his  enemies,  Samson  fled  to  Strasburg,  where  he  was  much 
 esteemed  by  the  learned  Tremelius.  He  was  intimately  ac- 
 quainted with  most  of  the  learned  English  exiles;  and  during 
 his  residence  on  the  continent,  he  assisted  in  writing  and  pub- 
 lishing the  Geneva  translation  of  the  bible.  When  Elizabeth 
 mounted  the  throne,  Samson  returned  to  England,  and  soon 
 after  was  offered  the  bishoprick  of  Norwich;  which  he  refused 
 to  accept,  because  he  was  altogether  dissatisfied  with  the  epis- 
 copal office,  the  popish  habits,  and  their  idolatrous  ceremonies. 
 During  the  three  first  years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  he  deliv- 
 ered the  rehearsal  sermons  at  Paul's  cross,  and  is  said  to  have 
 been  appointed  to  this  service  on  account  of  his  fine  elocution, 
 and  other  rhetorical  qualifications.  He  also  accompanied  the 
 queen,  as  her  preacher,  in  her  royal  visitation  to  the  north. 
 
^70  MEMOlli  OS 
 
 In  15(>0  lie  became  dean  of  Christ-church,  Oxford.  To  pro- 
 cure his  settlement  in  this  public  situation,  the  members  of  the 
 house  wrote  to  lord  Dudley,  urging  him  to  prevail  upon  the 
 queen  to  nominate  Samson.  In  this  letter,  which  was  subscrib- 
 ed by  twenty- two  persons,  distinguished  for  their  learning,  it  is 
 stated,  that  after  well  considering  all  the  learned  men  in  the 
 kingdom,  they  found  none  worthy  to  be  compared  with  Dr. 
 Samson,  for  singular  learning  and  great  piety,  having  also  the 
 praise  of  all  men :  That  it  was  indeed  a  matter  of  doubt  whe- 
 ther there  was  a  better  man,  a  greater  linguist,  a  more  com- 
 plete scholar,  or  a  deeper  divine.  Afterwards  Dr.  Samson, 
 Dr.  Laurence  Humphrey,  and  Mr  Kingsmill,  all  staunch  puri- 
 tans, were  the  only  protestant  preachers  in  the  university  of 
 Oxford.  Dr.  Samson  sat  in  the  convocation  of  1562,  and  sub- 
 scribed the  thirty-nine  articles  of  the  English  church.  About 
 this  time  a  paper  of  requests  was  presented  to  the  commons, 
 chiefly  relating  to  matters  of  church  government,  in  respect 
 of  which,  the  requesters  desired  exemption  in  a  number  of  im- 
 portant particulars.  Samson's  name  is  amongst  the  subscrip- 
 tions of  this  paper;  but  after  much  discussion,  it  was  rejected 
 by  the  house. 
 
 Soon  after  this,  Samson's  objections  to  the  habits  and  cere- 
 monies became  known  at  court,  and  secretary  Cecil  urged  him 
 to  conform,  and  not  give  offence  by  his  disobedience,  adding, 
 that  obedience  was  more  acceptable  than  sacrifice.  To  this 
 Samson  replied,  in  a  letter,  to  the  following  import : 
 
 "  That  the  law  of  God  commanded  all  idols  to  be  destroyed, 
 with  all  the  ceremonies  and  appurtinances  pertaining  to  idolatry. 
 And  we  find  that  the  godly  and  reforming  kings  of  Judah  de- 
 stroyed their  altars,  brake  down  their  groves,  and  annihilated 
 the  most  apparently  insignificant  relics,  as  well  as  the  idols 
 themselves:  That  Christ,  in  forming  the  New  Testament 
 church,  did  not  use  the  pharisaical  ceremonies,  or  recommend 
 them  to  his  disciples,  but  reproved  them,  and  warned  his  dis- 
 ciples to  avoid  them :  Therefore  all  ceremonies  devised  and  prac- 
 tised by  idolatrous  papists  ought  to  be  rejected,  prohibited,  de- 
 stroyed. And  when  men  in  authority  command  otherwise,  he, 
 who  by  following  the  direction  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  word, 
 notwithstanding  that  he  is  accounted  disobedient  by  men,  really 
 and  only  yields  that  obedience,  which,  in  the  sight  of  God,  is  bet- 
 ter and  more  acceptable  than  the  most  costly  sacrifice." 
 
 That  these  were  only  a  part  of  the  reasons  he  had  for  acting 
 as  lie  did:  And  seeing  he  put  no  restraint  on  others  to  violate 
 their  consciences,  but  left  them  to  the  Lord,  who  alone  is  com- 
 petent to  decide  on  the  opinions  of  his  creatures;  so  his  desire 
 was  to  be  left  to  the  same  unfettered  exercise  of  his  judgment. 
 
THOMAS  SAMSON.  271 
 
 Iu  1564,  Dr.  Samson,  and  his  friend  Dr.  Humphrey,  were 
 cited  before  the  high  commission  court  at  Lambeth,  where  he 
 suffered  deprivation,  and  was  removed  from  the  university. 
 Some  of  the  learned  lawyers  were,  however,  of  opinion,  that 
 bis  deprivation  was  illegal,  and  that  the  commissioners  were  in- 
 volved in  a  premunire.  Besides  being  deprived  of  his  bene- 
 fice, he  was  also  subjected  to  long  and  rigorous  imprisonment. 
 In  the  year  1573  he  was  struck  on  the  one  side  by  the  dead 
 palsy;  and  having,  for  some  short  time  prior  to  this,  en- 
 joyed the  lecture  at  Whittington  college,  London,  for  which 
 he  received  ten  pounds  a  year,  he  resigned  it  into  the  hands 
 of  his  patrons.  It  was  in  the  gift  of  the  company  of  cloth- 
 workers,  to  whom  lie  recommended  Edward  Deering,  whom 
 they  chose  for  his  successor.  But  Mr  Deering  being  also 
 silenced  for  his  non-conformity,  Parker  utterly  refused  his 
 allowance.  Deering  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  exemplary 
 piety,  and  an  excellent  preacher;  and  the  benefice  being  so 
 small,  it  shows  the  spirit  of  severity  that  actuated  this  dignified 
 prelate. 
 
 In  the  month  of  March  this  year,  Dr.  Samson  sent  a  letter 
 to  the  lord  treasurer,  Burleigh,  signifying  that  God  had  been 
 pleased  to  deprive  him  of  the  use  of  half  his  limbs,  though  not 
 of  his  understanding,  which  he  considered  as  the  herbinger  of 
 death;  but  before  his  heavenly  Father  called  him  home,  he  was 
 constrained,  he  said,  once  more  to  trouble  his  lordship,  and  to 
 solicit  him  to  use  his  best  endeavours  to  promote  the  necessary 
 reformation  of  the  church.  "  My  lord  (says  he),  it  is  not 
 enough  that  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  are  preached  in  the 
 church  of  England,  while  the  government  of  the  church,  as  set 
 forth  in  that  same  gospel,  is  altogether  wanting.  The  doctrine 
 nnd  the  government,  as  appointed  by  Christ,  are  both  good, 
 both  necessarily  connected  together,  and  no  consideration  of 
 human  policy  can  ever  justify  their  separation.  What  an  un- 
 seemly thing,  what  a  horrid  deformity,  is  it,  to  see  a  church, 
 professing  the  gospel,  and  preaching  the  doctrines  of  Christ, 
 yet  ruled  and  governed  by  canons,  customs,  ceremonies,  and 
 superstitions,  traditions,  and  legendary  tales,  invented  by  anti- 
 christ, the  adversary  and  public  opposer  of  Christ  and  his  bless- 
 ed evangel.  On  this  subject  Martin  Bucer  wrote  a  book  to 
 king  Edward,  entitled,  De  Regno  Cliristi.  There  you  will  see 
 what  is  wanting  in  the  church  of  England  to  constitute  her  a 
 corresponding  department  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Mv 
 lord,  I  beseech  you  to  read  this  faithful  and  brief  epitome  of 
 said  book  which  I  have  sent  you:  and  I  beseech  you  to  lay  it  to 
 heart,  it  is  the  cause  of  Christ  and  his  cfeurcfe,  and  of  the  first 
 "ortance  to  the  Bonis  of  sinful  men.      Alt  '  m 
 
272  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 utmost  endeavours,  that  as  Christ  teacheth  us  in  the  church  of 
 England,  lie  may  also  rule  and  govern  us  by  the  mild  and  mer- 
 ciful laws  of  his  kingdom.  Help,  my  lord,  in  this  good  and 
 gracious  work  of  your  God.  In  so  doing  you  will  serve  him 
 who  is  King  of  kings,  who  will  not  fail  to  make  a  public  ac- 
 knowledgment of  your  labour  of  love,  when  kings,  lords,  and 
 beggars,  shall  stand  before  him  undistinguished  but  by  their 
 virtues."  To  this  advice  the  treasurer  replied,  that  he  much 
 approved  of  what  had  been  recommended,  but  found  it  impos- 
 sible to  realize  his  pious  desires.  But  Dr.  Samson,  in  return,  put 
 him  in  mind  how  much  good  he  had  done  at  the  commencement 
 of  the  reformation,  and  that  his  power  was  much  enlarged  since 
 that  period,  and  that  the  present  state  of  the  church  was  as 
 needful  as  ever  of  his  friendly  exertions  in  her  behalf. 
 
 In  the  following  year  he  wrote  to  Grindal,  his  old  acquaint- 
 ance, and  fellow-exile  in  the  land  of  strangers,  but  now  the 
 dignified  archbishop  of  York.  Several  letters  passed  between 
 them  about  this  time.  Dr.  Samson  reminds  the  bishop  of  his 
 former  low  condition,  and  cautions  him  against  being  lifted  up 
 with  his  present  elevated  situation  and  title.  Grindal,  who  was 
 a  very  different  character  from  many  of  the  dignified  clergy  of 
 that  period,  in  respect  of  his  candour  and  moderation,  told  him, 
 in  reply,  "That  he  put  no  value  on  his  title  of  lord;  that  his 
 chief  care  was  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office  with  faithful- 
 ness till  his  Lord  should  come."  Samson,  in  reply  to  this, 
 says,  "  If  you  are  not  lordly,  nor  value  your  lordly  title,  as  you 
 tell  me,  and  I  trust  in  truth  and  sincerity,  shall  I  call  you  a 
 phoenix  ?  If  you,  whom  worldly  policy  alone  could  induce  to 
 become  a  lord,  nevertheless  continue  a  loving  brother,  and  hum- 
 ble minister  and  servant  of  Christ  and  his  little  and  despised 
 flock,  I  must  say,  that  the  special  grace  of  God  lias  most  hap- 
 pily preserved  you  from  the  snares  and  temptations  of  this  un- 
 happy period,  when  most  men  mind  their  own  interest,  honour, 
 and  authority?  and  few  the  things  that  are  of  Jesus  Christ. 
 And  yet,  methinks,  your  state,  your  port,  your  train  of  waiting- 
 men  in  the  streets,  your  gentleman-usher  walking  bareheaded 
 before  you,  your  numerous  band  of  idle  domestics,  with  all  the 
 other  glittering  appendages  of  your  large  establishment,  have  a 
 very  lordly-looking  appearance.  Perhaps  the  same  policy 
 which  made  you  a  lord,  charges  you  also  with  all  this  lordly 
 state;  but  doth  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  has  commanded,  that  he 
 who  aspires  to  power  in  his  church  shall  be  servant  of  all, 
 lias  he  charged  you  witli  all  this  unprofitable  magnificence  ? 
 I  true  not.  But  even,  independent  of  all  this,  such  a  number 
 of  idle-serving  men  are  not  only  unprofitable,  they  are  also 
 utterly  unsuitable  to  the  state  and  sphere  of  operations  in  which 
 
THOMAS  SAMSON.  273 
 
 the  servant  of  Christ  ought  to  move  and  to  labour;  and  most 
 assuredly  such  idlers  should  not  be  supported  by  the  patri- 
 mony of  the  church,  which  has  been  devoted  to  the  more  im- 
 portant purposes  of  hiring  labourers  to  toil  in  the  Lord's  vine- 
 yard, and  to  relieve  the  necessities  of  the  poor  of  his  people. 
 This,  my  lord,  is  one  of  the  great  evils  that  popery  has  left  be- 
 hind her  in  our  church  of  England."  Grindal,  in  his  letter, 
 had  expressed  his  pity  for  the  doctor's  poverty  and  lameness. 
 In  answer  to  which  lie  says,  M  I  have  no  recollection  of  having 
 ever  complained  either  of  the  one  or  the  other :  If  I  did  of  the 
 first,  I  was  to  blame;  for  in  that  case  I  must  have  complained 
 before  I  suffered  want.  And  as  for  my  lameness,  I  am  so  far 
 from  complaining,  that  I  thank  God  for  it.  He  might  have 
 smitten  me  so  as  to  destroy  me;  but  in  his  merciful  kindness 
 he  has  spared  me,  and  as  a  loving  Father  dealt  very  tenderly 
 with  me;  for  which,  with  a  grateful  heart,  I  praise  his  blessed 
 name.  If  he  has  any  farther  service  for  me  in  his  church  he 
 will  heal  me;  and  if  otherwise,  may  he  give  me  grace  to  say 
 with  Eli,  6  It  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  good.' 
 Though  I  am  in  bonds,  these  bonds  have  been  put  upon  me  by 
 the  tender  hand  of  a  Father;  and  were  it  put  to  my  choice,  I 
 would  carry  them  cheerfully  to  my  grave,  rather  than  exchange 
 them  for  a  lordly  bishoprick." 
 
 Soon  after  receiving  the  paralytic  shock  that  occasioned  his 
 lameness,  Dr.  Samson  was  presented  to  the  mastership  of  the 
 hospital  at  Leicester,  whither  he  retired,  and  spent  the  rest  of 
 his  days.  Here  he  was  of  signal  service  to  the  foundation,  in 
 retrieving  its  immunities  and  endowments;  an  honourable  ac- 
 count of  which  is  given  at  length  in  Strype's  Annals.  He  was 
 intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  leading  puritans,  with  most 
 of  whom  he  kept  up  a  correspondence.  In  1584  he  was  con- 
 cerned in  presenting  a  supplication  to  the  queen,  the  council, 
 and  the  parliament,  for  a  farther  reformation  of  the  church. 
 This  supplication  enumerates  many  grievances  still  retained, 
 and,  for  many  cogent  reasons  therein  specified,  humbly  solicits 
 a  peaceful  and  speedy  redress.  To  this  supplication  Dr.  Sam- 
 son prefixed  an  address,  in  which,  among  other  complaints,  he 
 says,  "  We  have  not  vigilant,  able,  and  faithful  pastors  resident 
 amongst  us,  to  teach  us  the  word  of  God,  by  preaching  and 
 catechising.  We  have  some  kind  of  pastors,  it  is  true,  but 
 many  of  them  do  not  reside  on  their  benefices;  some  of  them 
 licenced  to  two,  and  others  to  three,  benefices.  Were  our 
 bishops  inclined  to  remedy  this  great  evil,  we  should  have  the 
 less  reason  to  complain;  but  in  place  of  this,  they  appoint  men 
 to  watch  over  their  flocks,  who  can  only  read  to  us  from  a 
 printed  book  the  lessons  appointed  for  them  to  read:  and  some 
 
 10  2  M 
 
274  AIEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  them  perform  this  service  so  wretchedly,  that  they  can 
 scarcely  be  understood.  Pastors  are  commanded  to  feed  the 
 flock  of  God  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made  them  over- 
 seers; and  surely  it  must  be  a  preposterous,  as  well  as  a  pre- 
 sumptuous tiling,  thus  to  ordain  men  for  pastors  who  arc  des- 
 titute of  every  pre-requisite  qualification.  The  pastors  who 
 have  the  sanction  of  Jesus  Christ,  are  such  as  can  feed  his  peo- 
 ple with  knowledge  and  understanding;  such  only  did  he  send 
 forth,  and  such  alone  did  his  apostles  recognize — men  apt  to 
 teach,  and  qualified  rightly  to  divide  and  distribute  the  word  of 
 truth,  that  by  sound  doctrine  they  might  convince  the  gainsay- 
 ers.  We  might,  says  he,  further  urge  this  our  complaint,  front 
 the  consideration,  that  the  faithful  and  well  qualified  teachers 
 amongst  us,  scarce  as  they  are,  meet  with  the  most  unaccount- 
 able discouragement.  Numbers  of  them  have  been  already  dis- 
 placed and  silenced,  not  [because  they  do  not  teach  us  plainly 
 and  faithfully,  but  because  they  cannot  conscientiously  conform 
 to  the  unprofitable  ceremonies  which  men  have  devised,  for 
 purposes  very  different  from  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant,, 
 and  such  as  are  gone  out  of  the  way. 
 
 "  We  therefore  most  humbly  beseech  your  highness  and  your 
 konours,  to  consider  that  this  hard  usage  of  our  pastors  brings 
 us  into  great  distress.  Consider  that  we  stand  in  much  need 
 of  men  who  are  both  able  and  willing  to  instruct  us  in  the 
 paths  of  religion  and  godliness;  but  we  have  no  need  whatever 
 of  these  idle  ceremonies,  which  tend  nothing  towards  our  edifi- 
 cation. By  silencing  our  pastors  who  would  feed  us  with  the 
 knowledge  of  God's  word,  and  substituting  in  their  place  igno- 
 rant readers,  furnished  with  unprofitable  ceremonies,  what  is  it, 
 but  to  withdraw  from  our  lips  that  bread  of  life  which  God  has 
 prepared  for  the  nourishment  of  our  souls,  and  to  set  before  us- 
 empty  husks  that  swine  would  starve  on  ?  We  are  thoroughly 
 convinced,  however,  that  when  the  bishops  thus  deprive  and 
 silence  our  preaching  pastors,  so  that  they  dare  not  teach  us  the 
 will  of  our  God,  they  undertake  to  do  that  for  which  they  will 
 one  day  be  called  to  account." 
 
 Dr.  Samson  was  a  man  highly  celebrated  for  learning,  piety,, 
 and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  a  farther  reformation.  None  reproved 
 the  intolerance  of  the  prelatical  party  with  more  freedom,  of 
 defended  the  opinions  of  the  puritans  with  more  inflexible  con- 
 stancy and  perseverance;  hence  his  talents,  and  his  unyielding 
 integrity,  gained  him  the  esteem  of  the  seriously  religious  in 
 every  quarter  of  the  kingdom.  Upon  his  retiring  to  Leicester, 
 he  employed  the  remainder  of  his  (lavs  in  managing  the  con- 
 cerns of  Jus  hospital,  and  in  his  favourite  exercise  of  preaching; 
 and  having  spent  a  life  of  much  useful  labour  and  unmerited 
 
THOMAS  SAMSON.  WJS 
 
 affliction,  he  died,  in  great  tranquillity  and  comfort,  a  steady 
 non-conformist,  on  the  9th  April  1589,  aged  seventy-two  years, 
 and  was  interred  in  the  chapel  belonging  to  his  hospital,  where 
 a  monumental  inscription  was  erected  to  his  memory  by  his 
 sons  John  and  Nathaniel. 
 
 His  works  are,  A  Letter  to  the  Professors  of  Christ's  Gospel. 
 — A  Warning  to  take  heed  of  Fowler's  Psalter. — Brief  Collec- 
 tion of  the  Ceremonies  of  the  Church. — Prayers  and  Medita- 
 tions gathered  from  the  Epistles. — He  also  collected  and  pub^ 
 iisbed  several  sermons,  written  by  his  old  friend  Mr  John 
 Bradford. 
 
 JOHN  UDAL. 
 
 This  celebrated  scholar,  and  maltreated  victim  of  prelatic 
 intolerance,  was  educated  at  Cambridge.  He  was  a  preacher 
 for  about  seven  years  at  Kingston-upon-Thames.  But  some  of 
 his  hearers,  taking  offence  at  his  faithful  warnings  and  admoni- 
 tions, complained  to  the  men  in  power;  on  which  he  was  silenc- 
 ed by  the  official  Dr.  Hone,  and  committed  to  prison;  but  by 
 the  voluntary  interference  of  the  countess  of  Warwick,  Sir 
 Drue  Drury,  and  others,  in  his  favour,  he  was  restored  to  his 
 ministry.  This,  however,  was  only  the  beginning  of  his  sor- 
 rows. In  the  year  1588  he  was  again  suspended,  and  deprived 
 of  his  living;  when  the  inhabitants  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
 prevailed  upon  the  earl  of  Huntingdon,  lord  president  of  the 
 north,  to  send  him  to  preach  the  gospel  amongst  them.  Ac- 
 cordingly, being  driven  from  his  flock  at  Kingston,  Mr  Udal 
 removed  to  Newcastle,  where  his  ministerial  labours  were  of 
 -essential  service  to  the  people  of  that  district.  He  had  not  re- 
 mained in  Newcastle  more  than  one  year,  during  which  time  the 
 plague  raged  with  uncommon  violence,  and  had  swept  off  two 
 thousand  of  the  inhabitants,  when,  by  an  order  from  the  privy 
 council,  he  was  commanded  to  make  his  appearance  at  London. 
 Thither  therefore  he  immediately  repaired,  and,  on  the  13th  of 
 January  1589,  made  his  appearance  at  lord  Cobham's  house. 
 The  commissioners  present  were,  lords  Buckhurst,  chief  justice 
 Anderson  and  Cobham,  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  Dr.  Aubery, 
 Dr.  Lewin,  Mr  Fortesque,  and  Egerton  the  solicitor. — The  lord 
 chief  justice  commenced  his  examination  as  follows: 
 
 Anderson.   How  long  have  you  been  at  Newcastle? 
 
 Udal.  About  a  year,  please  your  lordship. 
 
 A.  Why  went  you  from  Kingston  on  Thames  ? 
 
 U.  Because  I  was  silenced  in  that  place,  and  called  to  New- 
 castle. 
 
c276  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 A.   What  calling  had  you  thither  ? 
 
 U.  The  people  requested  my  lord  of  Huntingdon  to  send 
 me,  who  accordingly  did. 
 
 A,  Had  you  the  allowance  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  ? 
 
 U.  There  was  none  at  the  time. 
 
 A.  You  arc  called  here  on  suspicion  of  being  the  author  of 
 certain  books. 
 
 U.  If  it  be  for  any  of  Martin's  books,  I  have  already  an- 
 swered, and  I  am  ready  to  answer  again. 
 
 A,  Where  did  you  answer,  and  in  what  manner? 
 
 U.  At  Lambeth,  I  cleared  myself  of  being  the  author,  or  of 
 knowing  who  he  is. 
 
 A,  Well,  but  you  must  answer  to  other  books. 
 
 U.  I  hope  your  lordship  will  not  urge  me  to  answer  to  any 
 other  book  or  article,  seeing  I  have  been  cited  expressly  for  the 
 purpose  of  answering  to  Martin. 
 
 A,  You  must  answer  to  others;  what  say  you  of  A  Demonstra- 
 tion and  A  Dialogue,  did  you  not  make  them  ? 
 
 U.  I  cannot  answer. 
 
 A.  Why  would  you  clear  yourself  of  Martin,  and  not  of 
 those,  unless  you  are  guilty  ? 
 
 U.  Because  I  have  reason  to  answer  in  the  one  case,  but 
 not  in  the  other. 
 
 A.  Let  us  hear  your  reason,  I  cannot  conceive  of  it,  seeing 
 they  both  concern  the  same  thing. 
 
 U.  The  reason,  my  lord,  is  this :  Though  the  matter  pro- 
 posed in  both  are  the  same,  I  would  not  be  understood  to  han- 
 dle it  in  the  manner  of  the  former.  I  like  the  manner  and 
 management  of  the  latter  much  better,  so  that  I  care  not  though 
 it  should  be  fathered  upon  me. 
 
 A,  What  say  you?  did  you  make  these  books?  or  do  you 
 know  who  did? 
 
 U,  I  cannot  answer  to  that  question,  my  lord. 
 
 A.  You  might  as  well  have  told  me  you  are  the  author. 
 
 U.  That,  my  lord,  does  not  necessarily  follow. 
 
 A,  Will  you  not  take  the  oath  now,  as  well  as  you  did  for- 
 merly. 
 
 U.  I  was  called  to  answer  formerly  upon  my  oath,  which  I 
 did  accordingly,  and  in  these  answers  apprized  my  judges  of 
 certain  things  concerning  myself,  which  they  could  never  have 
 known  otherwise;  but  when  my  friends  laboured  to  have  me  re- 
 stored, the  archbishop  told  them  that  he  had  matter  against  me, 
 by  my  own  confession,  sufficient  to  prevent  my  restoration : 
 Upon  which  I  covenanted  with  mine  own  heart  never  again  to 
 afford  them  such  an  opportunity. 
 
 A.  Then  you  must  go  to  prison. 
 
JOHN  UDAL.  277 
 
 U.  I  had  rather  go  to  prison,  with  a  good  conscience,  than 
 walk  at  liberty  with  an  ill  one. 
 
 So  Mr  Udal  was  carried  to  the  Gatehouse  prison  by  a  mes- 
 senger, who  delivered  him  to  the  keeper,  with  a  warrant  to  be 
 kept  close  prisoner,  without  the  use  of  pen,  ink,  or  paper,  or 
 any  person  allowed  to  speak  with  him.     There  he  remained 
 half-a-year,  during  which  his  wife  was  not  permitted  to  speak 
 with  him,  unless  in  the  presence  of  the  keeper.     She  had  ap- 
 plied to  the  commissioners,  and  also  to  the  council,  for  more 
 liberty;  but  without  effect.     Udal's  chamber  associates,  during 
 this  time,  were  seminary  priests,  traitors,  and  professed  papists. 
 At  the  end  of  six  months  he  was  removed  to  the  White-lion  in 
 Southwark,  and  on  the  24th  of  July  carried  to  the  assizes  at 
 Croydon,  with  fetters  on  his  legs,  and  indicted  upon  the  statute 
 23d.  Eliz.  chap.  3d,  before  baron  Clarke  and  sergeant  Pucker- 
 ing, for  writing  a  wicked,  scandalous,  and  seditious  libel,  en- 
 titled, "  A  Demonstration  of  the  truth  of  that  Discipline  which 
 Christ  hath  prescribed  in  his  word  for  the  government  of  his 
 church  in  all  places,  and  at  all  times,  till  the  end  of  the  world." 
 The  book  was  dedicated  to  the  archbishops,  bishops,  &c.     In 
 the  dedication  are  these  words,  on  which  the  charge  against 
 him  was  principally  founded,  viz.     "  Who  can,  without  blush- 
 ing, deny  you  (the  bishops)  to  be  the  cause  of  all  ungodliness, 
 seeing  your  government  permits  man  to  be  any  thing  but  a 
 sound  christian.     For  under  your  jurisdiction,  it  is  safer,  by 
 far,  to  be  a  papist,  an  anabaptist,  any  thing  indeed,  however 
 wicked,   rather  than  that  which  every  man  ought  to  be.     I 
 could  live  in  England  for  twenty  years,  in  any  of  these  hateful 
 characters,  nay,  even  in  the  bishops'  houses,  and,  in  all  proba- 
 bility, meet  with  little  or  no  molestation.     So  true  is  the  charge 
 made  against  you,  in  a  Dialogue  newly  come  forth,  and  since 
 burned  by  your  authority,  that  you  care  for  nothing  but  the 
 maintenance  of  your  dignities,  be  it  to  the  damnation  of  your 
 own  souls,  and  those  of  millions  beside."     In  the  indictment  it 
 is  said,  "  That  he,  not  having  the  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes, 
 but  being  instigated  by  the  devil,  did  maliciously  publish  a 
 scandalous  and  infamous  libel  against  the  queen's  majesty,  her 
 crown  and  dignity." 
 
 Being  brought  to  the  bar,  and  his  indictment  read,  Mr  Udal 
 humbly  requested  their  lordships  to  be  heard  by  council;  but 
 this  was  denied  by  his  lordship,  saying,  you  cannot  have  it. 
 Answer  to  your  indictment.  He  then  pled  not  guilty,  and  put 
 himself  on  the  trial  of  his  country. 
 
 The  points  in  the  indictment  were  three.  1st,  That  Udal 
 was  author  of  the  book.  2d,  That  he  wrote  it  with  a  malicious 
 intent;  and,  3d,  That  the  charges  in  the  indictment  were  feloin 
 by  the  23d.  of  Eliz.  chap.  2d. 
 
278  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 In  proving  the  first  point,  namely,  that  Mr  Udal  was  the 
 author  of  the  book,  the  judges  did  not  stand  upon  the  legal 
 formality  of  bringing  the  witnesses  face  to  face  with  the  accus- 
 ed; their  examinations,  or  something  said  to  be  their  examina- 
 tions, however,  were  produced,  to  which  the  register  swore. 
 Stephen  Chatfield's  articles  were  first  read:  They  stated, 
 that  he  had  seen  certain  papers  in  Mr  Udal's  study,  and  on 
 asking  to  whom  they  belonged,  Udal  said,  to  a  friend :  That  he, 
 Chatfield,  had  advised  him  to  put  them  out  of  the  way,  as  he 
 feared  they  concerned  the  state.  Moreover,  that  Mr  Udal  told 
 him,  at  another  time,  that  should  the  bishops  silence  him,  he 
 would  give  them  a  blow,  such  as  they  had  never  got  before. 
 Chatfield  was  then  called  to  attest  these  facts;  but  he  did  not 
 appear.  Mr  Udal,  said  the  judge,  you  are  very  happy  at  this. 
 I  heartily  wish  he  were  here,  said  the  prisoner,  for  as  I  am  as- 
 sured he  can  say  nothing  to  prove  this  point,  so  I  can  prove 
 that  he  is  heartily  sorry  that  he  made  any  complaint  against  me, 
 confessing  that  he  did  it  in  a  fit  of  anger,  and  that  by  sugges- 
 tions of  some,  whom  he  has  since  found  to  be  bad  men.  Mr 
 Udal  proceeding  to  vindicate  himself,  by  stating  that  the  book 
 came  out  before  he  had  this  conversation  with  Chatfield;  -but 
 the  judge  interrupted  him,  saying,  the  case  is  sufficiently  clear 
 already. 
 
 The  examination  of  Nicholas  Tomkins  was  next  produced. 
 This  Tomkins  was  now  beyond  seas,  but  the  paper  stated,  that 
 Mr  Udal  told  him  that  he  was  the  author.  But  Tomkins  him- 
 self afterwards  said,  that  he  would  not,  for  a  thousand  worlds, 
 affirm  any  thing  more,  than  that  Mr  Udal  said,  in  his  hearing, 
 that  he  could,  without  hesitation,  set  his  name  to  the  book,  pro- 
 vided he  had  impartial  judges.  When  Mr  Udal  wanted  to 
 bring  forward  his  witnesses  to  prove  this,  and  other  facts,  the 
 judge  interfered,  saying,  the  witnesses  were  against  the  queen's 
 majesty,  and  therefore  could  not  be  heard. 
 
 The  confession  of  Henry  Sharp  was  next  read,  who,  upon 
 his  oath  before  the  lord  chamberland,  had  declared,  that  he 
 heard  Mr  Pertry  say,  that  Mr  Udal  was  author  of  the  Demon- 
 stration. 
 
 This  was  all  the  evidence  of  the  fact  upon  which  he  was 
 convicted.  Not  a  single  witness  was  produced  in  court,  so  that 
 the  poor  man  had  no  opportunity  to  cross-examine  them,  and 
 refute  their  evidence.  And  not  being  proven,  the  whole  was  a 
 solemn  mockery.  They  might  have  condemned  him  as  well 
 without  as  with  a  trial  so  obviously  partial,  and,  beyond  all  ci- 
 vilized and  judicial  procedure,  unjust.  Fuller  allows  that  the 
 proof  was  by  no  means  competent,  lor  i(  was  generally  believ- 
 ed that  he  was  not  the  writer  of  the  book,   though  probably  o( 
 
JOHN  UDAL.  279 
 
 the  preface;  but  even  this  was  not  proved.  The  statute  was 
 evidently  strained  beyond  its  original  import,  and  that  witli  the 
 design  to  reach  his  life.  At  the  bar  Mr  Udal  demeaned  him- 
 self with  great  modesty  and  discretion;  and  having  rebutted  the 
 charges  brought  against  him  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  intelli- 
 gent and  impartial  auditor,  he  submitted,  with  christian  resig- 
 nation, to  a  sentence  he  was  not  permitted  to  ward  off.  The  times 
 were  peculiarly  bad,  and  the  court  of  high  commission  was  se- 
 vere to  a  proverb;  but  Mr  Udal's  case,  for  flagrant  injustice, 
 and  undisguised  villany,  will  scarcely  find  a  parallel  in  the 
 annals  of  the  inquisition.  The  pannel  was  not  allowed  excul- 
 patory evidence,  the  jury  were  not  permitted  to  judge  of  the  in- 
 tention which  alone  constitutes  the  crime;  and  his  refusing  to 
 swear  that  he  was  not  the  author  of  the  book,  was  charged 
 against  him  as  a  sufficient  proof  that  he  really  was. 
 
 Mr  Udal  was  convicted  in  the  summer  of  1590,  but  did  not 
 receive  sentence  till  the  ensuing  spring.  Iu  the  meantime,  a 
 pardon  was  held  out,  on  condition  that  he  would  subscribe  a 
 most  degrading  acknowledgment  and  recantation.  But  no 
 sophistry  could  decoy,  nor  threatening  could  terrify  him  into 
 such  a  base  submission.  He  told  them,  that  no  consideration 
 on  earth  could  induce  him  to  subscribe  to  that  as  a  truth,  which 
 he  knew  to  be  false;  he  therefore  resolved  to  make  the  last  sa- 
 crifice, rather  than  be  guilty  of  such  hypocritical  prevarication. 
 
 The  day  before  he  was  to  receive  sentence,  he  offered  a  sub- 
 mission, drawn  up  by  himself,  to  the  following  import :  "  That 
 with  regard  to  the  book,  which  a  jury  of  twelve  men  had  found 
 him  to  be  the  author,  though  he  could  not  disavow  the  cause 
 maintained,  nor  the  substance  of  the  doctrines  debated  therein, 
 which  he  considered  holy,  and,  as  far  as  he  could  judge  con- 
 cerning them,  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God;  yet  he  acknow- 
 ledged that  in  some  parts  of  it  the  manner  of  writing  might  justly 
 offend  her  majesty :  And  as  the  verdict  of  the  jury  imputed  all  its 
 faults  to  him,  and  had  laid  all  the  severity  of  the  punishment 
 upon  him,  his  humble  suit  to  her  majesty  was,  that  her  mercy 
 and  pardon  might  remove  the  guilt  and  offence  which  the  law  had 
 thus  cast  upon  him,  and  that,  in  her  great  clemency,  she  would 
 be  graciously  pleased  to  restore  him  to  the  comforts  of  life  and 
 liberty;  and,  on  his  part,  he  would  promise  and  engage,  in  all 
 humble  submission  to  God  and  her  majesty,  to  conduct  him- 
 self, during  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  in  such  a  dutiful  and 
 obedient  manner  as  became  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  her 
 majesty's  faithful  subject."  Prior  to  this,  he  had  solicited  his 
 judges  to  recommend  him  to  the  queen's  mercy,  and  had  also 
 supplicated  several  others;  but  all  to  no  purpose,  nothing  would 
 satisfy  the  court  but  his  recantation;  which  being  directly  op- 
 posed to  the  conviction  of  his  own  mind,  he  utterly  rejected. 
 
280  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 At  the  close  of  the  spring  assizes,  Mr  Udal  being  called  to 
 the  bar,  along  with  other  felons,  and  asked  what  he  had  to  say, 
 why  judgment  should  not  be  pronounced  against  him,  accord- 
 ing to  the  verdict  of  a  jury  of  his  peers.  He  delivered  a  paper 
 to  the  court,  stating  the  grounds  on  which  he  objected  to  the 
 verdict  given  against  him.  The  substance  of  which  are  as 
 follows : 
 
 "1st,  Because  the  jury,  whose  duty  it  was  to  judge  both  of 
 the  action  and  intention  of  the  law  as  well  as  of  the  fact,  not 
 only  whether  I  was  the  author  of  the  book  with  which  I  am 
 charged,  but  also  whether  the  sentiments  therein  held  forth 
 were  written  with  a  malicious  intent;  or  whether,  on  an  impar- 
 tial construction  of  the  statute,  they  amounted  to  felony  as  charg- 
 ed in  the  indictment.  But  the  jury,  notwithstanding  the  oath 
 they  had  taken  to  perform  this  obvious  part  of  their  office,  un- 
 der the  most  awful  responsibility,  were  nevertheless  freed,  by 
 the  express  authority  of  your  lordships,  from  performing  its 
 most  essential  parts.  They  were  not  permitted  to  consider 
 whether  the  book  was  written  with  a  malicious  intention  against 
 her  majesty,  or  her  majesty's  government,  which  alone  could 
 constitute  the  crime  of  felony  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  and  accord- 
 ing to  the  intent  of  the  statute  on  which  the  charges  were 
 founded.  But  the  jury  were  not  only  freed  from  the  discharge 
 of  these  important  inquires,  they  were  also  tampered  with,  and 
 wrought  upon  by  promises,  that,  though  under  existing  circum- 
 stances it  was  expedient  to  proceed  the  length  of  conviction, 
 no  farther  danger  was  to  be  apprehended  to  the  prisoner,  but 
 that  it  would  tend  ultimately  to  his  advantage.  By  these 
 promises  the  jurors  were  not  left  to  the  free  exercise  of  their 
 own  judgments,  but  artfully  led  to  a  verdict  they  would  other- 
 wise have  opposed;  as  appears  from  the  shame  and  sorrow  some 
 of  them  have  manifested  ever  since. 
 
 "  2d,  Because  in  that  paragraph  of  the  book  on  which  the 
 charge  against  me  is  founded,  there  is  no  mention  made,  either 
 of  the  queen  or  her  crown  and  dignity;  neither  indeed  is  there 
 a  single  sentence  concerning  her  majesty,  in  the  whole  book,  but 
 what  breathes  a  spirit  of  loyalty,  candour,  and  affection.  So 
 that  if  any  just  cause  of  complaint  any  where  exist  against  the 
 book  in  question,  it  must  remain  with  the  bishops,  who  alone 
 have  been  characterized  therein.  But  notwithstanding  of  all 
 this,  the  jury  have  found  a  verdict  against  me,  for  writing  a 
 scandalous  and  infamous  libel  against  her  majesty,  and  of  doing 
 this  witli  a  malicious  intent;  whereas  the  paragraph  founded 
 upon,  and  even  the  whole  contents  of  the  book  itself,  ascribes 
 blame  to  none  but  the  bishops.  The  indictment,  therefore,  and 
 the    paragraph   on   which   it  is   founded,   are  so  diametrically 
 
JOHN  UDAL.  281 
 
 opposed  the  one  to  the  other,  that  the  most  Jesuitical  ingenuity 
 shall  never  be  able  to  reconcile  them. 
 
 "  It  is  true,  I  have  been  told,  that  whoever  traduces  the  cha- 
 racter of  a  bishop,  traduces  that  of  the  queen,  by  whose  autho- 
 rity the  bishop  acts,  inasmuch  as  bishops  are  members  of  her 
 body  politic.  But  had  the  assertors  of  such  ridiculous  absurdi- 
 ties consulted  their  own  credit  for  modesty  and  propriety  of 
 sentiment,  they  would  have  first  considered,  whether  parish  con- 
 stables, as  well  as  bishops,  do  not  act  by  the  queen's  authority; 
 and  whether  they,  as  well  as  the  bishops,  are  not  for  the  same 
 reason  members  of  the  same  political  body;  and  even  whether 
 every  member  of  the  great  English  community  be  not  also  mem- 
 bers of  this  political  body.  If  therefore  this  be  the  case,  and 
 who  will  have  the  confidence  to  negative  the  assertion;  then, 
 consider  for  a  moment,  how  tyrannical  and  unjust  it  would  ap- 
 pear to  every  sound  understanding,  to  condemn,  to  an  igno- 
 minious death,  one  of  her  majesty's  loyal  subjects,  for  no  greater 
 crime  than  that  of  lashing  the  negligence  or  the  tyrannical  exer- 
 cise of  power  in  a  parish  constable,  under  the  creeping  subterfuge, 
 that  the  satirist  did  all  this  against  her  majesty,  whom  he  re- 
 veres. The  servant  is  not  greater  than  his  master;  but  it  would 
 appear,  that  some  of  the  bishops  of  England  are  anxious  to  be 
 considered  at  least  equal  to  their  mistress;  and  I  have  no  doubt, 
 but  the  simple  dictates  of  common  justice  will  dispose  thou- 
 sands of  her  majesty's  subjects  to  think  with  me,  that  some  of 
 these  aspiring  churchmen  might  be  indicted  for  treason  against 
 the  queen,  with  much  more  propriety  than  I  have  been  for  fe- 
 lony, on  account  of  their  audacity  in  thus  claiming  an  equality 
 with  their  sovereign.  I  beseech  your  lordships,  therefore,  to 
 reconsider  the  circumstances  under  which  the  verdict  against 
 me  has  been  found;  deign  to  recollect,  that  there  is  no  legal, 
 nor  indeed  any  other  species  of  evidence,  that  I  am  even  the 
 author  of  the  book :  That  the  intention  has  not  yet  been  ex- 
 amined: That  the  paragraph  libelled  has  no  respect  to  the 
 queen;  and,  of  course,  that  the  indictment  is  not  relevant  to  in- 
 fer the  pains  awarded  by  the  statute. 
 
 "But  even  supposing  that  my  case  had  been  legitimately 
 embraced  by  the  statute,  still  the  felony,  which  alone  consists 
 in  the  malicious  intention,  cannot  possibly  be  made  out  against 
 me,  inasmuch  as  that  prominent  point  of  the  indictment  has  not 
 been  considered  at  all  by  the  jury.  Hitherto  juries  have  been 
 in  the  habit  of  founding  their  verdicts  on  the  evidence  given. 
 My  jury,  however,  has  reached  their  destination  by  a  much 
 shorter  process.  Evidence  they  had  none,  they  have  therefore 
 left  us  in  the  dark  as  to  the  means  used  in  discovering  my  cri- 
 minality; whether  this  was  effected  by  the  principle  of  instinct, 
 
 U  2n 
 
282  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 or  whether,  like  fox-hounds,  they  can  detect  felony  by  the 
 smell,  they  have  neglected  to  inform  us.  Alas !  my  lords, 
 this  mode  of  conviction,  if  ever  it  be  suffered  to  become  a  pre- 
 cedent, will  be  found  fraught  with  the  most  alarming  conse- 
 quences to  the  country.  It  is  calculated  to  transform  one  of 
 our  greatest  blessings,  the  trial  by  jury,  to  a  most  powerful  en- 
 gine of  sweeping  destruction.  To  cool  the  affections  of  men, 
 not  merely  towards  the  laws  themselves,  but  also  towards  the 
 legislature,  and  all  the  subordinate  branches  of  the  government. 
 To  break  the  bands  of  unity,  and  tear  asunder  every  cord  of 
 affection  by  which  society  are  knit  together.  For  all  confi- 
 dence must  needs  be  shaken,  wherever  men  observe  their  friends 
 and  neighbours  thus  pursued  to  the  death  by  a  perverted  law, 
 and  an  influenced  judgment-seat. 
 
 "  With  regard  to  myself,  I  have  been  indicted,  before  this 
 high  tribunal,  on  suspicion  of  writing  a  scandalous  and  infamous 
 libel  against  my  sovereign,  and  that  I  have  done  this  with  a 
 malicious  intent  against  her  majesty.  In  respect  of  which,  I  ap- 
 peal first  to  God,  and  then  to  all  men  who  have  known  my 
 course  of  life  from  my  youth  till  the  present  time;  nay,  more, 
 I  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  your  lordships,  whether  you  have 
 found  me  guilty  of  any  act  that  savours  of  the  least  malice 
 against  her  majesty. 
 
 "  But,  my  lords,  by  the  laws  of  God,  and  I  trust  also  by  the 
 laws  of  England,  the  witnesses  ought  to  have  been  produced,  in 
 open  court,  before  me.  This,  however,  you  are  well  aware, 
 was  not  the  case.  Nothing,  I  say,  nothing  was  brought  for- 
 ward to  prove  my  criminality,  but  some  papers  said  to  be  re- 
 ports of  depositions  of  individuals,  who  seemed  ashamed  to  make 
 their  appearance,  or  substantiate  these  their  supposed  declara- 
 tions. This  species  of  evidence  the  law  will  not  admit,  not  even 
 in  determining  the  title  to  a  rood  of  ground;  how  much  more 
 inadmissible  must  it  appear  in  a  case  of  life  or  death  ?  Sup- 
 posing your  lordships  shut  up  to  the  hard  necessity  of  losing 
 either  your  lands  or  your  lives,  the  choice  you  would  make, 
 under  this  painful  alternative,  would  soon  discover  which  was 
 the  most  valuable  in  your  estimation.  Wherefore,  then,  was 
 this  common  privilege,  guaranteed  to  every  Englishman  by  our 
 great  national  charter,  denied  to  me?  Why  were  not  my  ac- 
 cuser8  produced,  to  give  evidence  in  my  presence,  that  I  might 
 enjoy  the  privilege  of  cross-examining  them,  and  thereby  have 
 an  opportunity  of  refuting  what  appeared  incorrect  in  their  tes- 
 timony? The  law  requires  all  this,  and  candour  would  admit 
 the  same,  even  were  there  no  law.  But  in  place  of  measuring 
 my  supposed  guilt  by  the  golden  motewand  of  justice,  the 
 crooked  rule  of  expediency  has  been  substituted  in  its  room,  so 
 
JOHN  UDAL.  288 
 
 that  not  only  justice,  but  even  the  legitimate  forms  of  justice, 
 have  been  cruelly  denied  me,  and  I  am  about  to  receive  the 
 sentence  of  death  upon  the  mere  reports  of  evidence,  which  the 
 principal  witness  against  me  declares  he  would  not  swear  to  for 
 the  value  of  a  thousand  worlds.  All  this  I  offered  to  prove  by 
 a  number  of  sufficient  witnesses;  but  was  prevented,  upon  the 
 unwarrantable  plea,  that  being  against  the  crown,  they  could  not 
 be  heard. 
 
 "  Thus,  my  lords,  my  exculpatory  evidence  has  been  rejected 
 without  legal  cause;  neither  have  I  been  confronted  by  my  ac- 
 cusers as  the  law  directs.  My  jury  were  not  permitted  to 
 weigh  the  import  of  the  expressions  charged  against  me;  and 
 notwithstanding  of  all  the  latitude  taken  in  repelling  my  ob- 
 jections, you  have  found  nothing  against  me.  Your  evidence, 
 illegal  and  loose  as  it  was,  has  utterly  failed  in  bringing 
 any  one  charge  in  the  indictment  home  to  me.  You  have  not 
 even  proved  me  to  be  either  the  author  or  publisher  of  the  book 
 in  question.  But,  my  lords,  supposing  I  was  the  author  of  the 
 book,  and  that  you  had  succeeded  in  proving  me  to  be  so,  to 
 what  would  it  amount,  not  surely  to  felony;  for,  let  it  be  remem- 
 bered, that  in  substance  it  contains  nothing  but  what  is  taught 
 and  believed  in  the  best  reformed  churches  of  Europe.  If 
 therefore  you  condemn  me  as  its  author  for  felony,  you  at 
 the  same  time  condemn  those  nations,  and  all  those  churches 
 that  hold  the  same  opinions. 
 
 "  With  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  the  book  is  written, 
 men  will  differ  in  their  opinions.  Even  of  those  who  receive  the 
 doctrine  therein  contended  for,  as  agreeable  to  the  word  of 
 God,  and  the  example  of  the  primitive  churches,  some  may 
 hesitate  at  the  asperity  of  the  language  used  in  some  parts  of 
 the  work,  and  perhaps  form  the  opinion,  that  an  admonition,  a 
 small  fine,  or  a  short  imprisonment,  becomes  necessary,  as  a 
 salutary  example  to  deter  others  from  overstepping  the  line  of 
 moderation  in  their  controversial  animadversions.  But  death, 
 and  death  for  an  error  so  trivial !  as  you  value  your  reputation 
 amongst  men;  as  you  dread  the  cutting  accusations  of  a  revolt- 
 ing conscience;  as  you  estimate  the  happiness  of  heaven,  and  the 
 glory  yet  to  be  revealed — pause,  I  beseech  you,  reconsider  the 
 circumstances  of  the  case,  recollect  the  deficiency  of  evidence, 
 count  the  cost,  and  calculate  the  consequences,  before  you  pro- 
 nounce a  sentence  so  utterly  disproportioned  to  the  supposed 
 offence — a  sentence,  which  every  good  man  must  reprobate, 
 and  which  villains  themselves  will  never  have  the  confidence  to 
 defend.  After  all,  if  nothing  less  than  my  blood,  or  what  is 
 still  more  precious,  my  integrity,  will  satiate  the  resentment  of 
 mine  enemies,  God's  will  be  done :    But  know  ye,  that  I  am 
 
284  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 not  destitute  of  oilier  resources.  I  know  that  my  Redeemer 
 livetb,  and  that  he  shall  one  day  judge  the  world  in  righteous- 
 ness. To  him,  therefore,  I  appeal  from  your  iniquitous  deci- 
 sion; and  confident  in  his  wisdom,  power,  and  impartial  jus- 
 tice, my  flesh  also  shall  rest  in  hope.  Behold !  I  am  in  your 
 hands  to  do  with  me  according  to  your  own  good  pleasure;  but 
 know  this,  that  if  you  put  me  to  death,  you  shall  bring  inno- 
 cent blood  upon  your  own  heads,  and  upon  the  land.  As  the 
 blood  of  Abel,  so,  be  assured,  the  blood  of  Udal,  will  cry  to 
 God  from  the  ground,  and  the  righteous  Judge  of  the  world 
 will  require  it  at  the  hands  of  all  who  shall  be  found  guilty." 
 
 Nothing,  however,  that  he  could  say  proved  available.  His 
 reasons  were  rejected,  and  his  judges  remained  inflexible,  un- 
 less he  would  subscribe  to  his  recantation;  which  his  conscience 
 could  not  permit.  The  sentence  of  death  therefore  was  passed 
 upon  him,  February  20th,  and  his  execution  was  openly  award- 
 ed. When  he  received  the  cruel  .and  unjust  sentence,  he  was 
 not  in  the  least  agitated,  but  said,  with  peculiar  gravity  and 
 seriousness,  God's  will  be  done.  His  execution  was  put  off, 
 however,  by  private  orders  from  the  court.  In  the  meantime, 
 the  dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  Dr.  Andrews  were  sent  to  persuade 
 him  to  sign  his  recantation;  which  he  peremptorily  refused. 
 
 From  the  belief  that  the  queen  had  got  an  erroneous  account 
 of  his  character  and  opinions,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  persuaded 
 him  to  write  a  short  account  of  his  faith;  which  he  did,  and 
 sent  it  to  her  majesty  by  the  hand  of  Sir  Walter.  King 
 James  *  of  Scotland  also  wrote  to  the  queen  in  UdaPs  behalf, 
 earnestly  requesting  that  her  majesty  would  forgive  Mr  Udal 
 for  his  sake,  promising  to  do  as  much  for  her  in  any  matter  she 
 might  recommend  to  his  consideration*  The  Turkey  merchants, 
 about  the  same  time,  promised,  providing  he  might  be  restored 
 to  his  liberty,  to  send  him  to  some  of  their  factories  abroad,  to 
 which  he  had  consented,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  the  treasurer, 
 apprising  him  of  these  circumstances,  and  praying  him  to  be  a 
 means  of  restoring  him  to  liberty.  On  which  the  archbishop,  it 
 is  said,  yielded  to  his  request.  The  keeper  had  promised  to  fur- 
 ther the  business,  and  Udal  had  reason  to  hope,  as  the  earl  of 
 Essex  had  a  draught  of  his  pardon  ready  prepared;  but  the 
 queen,  for  what  reason  we  are  not  able  to  account,  never  signed 
 it.  The  Turkey  fleet  sailed,  and  poor  Udal,  tossed  between 
 hope  and  despair,  died  a  few  months  alter,  quite  broken-heart- 
 ed, in  the  Marshal-sea,  about  the  close  of  1592. — Fuller  charac- 
 terises him  a  learned  man,  blameless  in  life,  powerful  in  prayer, 
 
 *    On   the  accession  of  King  James  to  the  crown,  it  is  said,  that  on  his  arrival 
 in  England,  amongst  the  fust  persons  lie  inquired  after  was  Mr  Udal;  am!  being 
 informed  of  bis  death,   "Then,   upon  my  soul  (said  tin-  king),   *re  have  lost  the 
 li.il. ii  m  Europe." 
 
JOHN   UDAL.  285 
 
 and  a  diligent,  as  well  as  an  edifying  preacher.  His  remains 
 were  honourably  interred  in  the  church-yard  of  St.  George, 
 Southwark.  His  funeral  was  attended  by  most  of  the  London 
 ministers,  who  had,  many  of  them,  been  his  visitors  while  m 
 prison,  and  were  now  willing  to  drop  a  tear  over  the  mortal 
 remains  of  a  man,  whose  faith  and  patience  were  put  to  the  se- 
 verest trial,  and  who  died  for  the  testimony  of  a  good  con- 
 science; and  an  evidence,  that  tyrants  and  oppressors  can  only 
 control  the  body,  but  cannot  triumph  over  a  steady,  well  re- 
 gulated, and  determined  mind. 
 
 His  works  were,  The  Key  of  the  Holy  Tongue — A  short 
 Dictionary — Praxis  on  certain  Psalms — A  Commentary  on  the 
 Lamentations  of  Jeremiah — The  state  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
 land laid  open,  &c. 
 
 JOHN  GREENWOOD. 
 
 This  most  distinguished  puritan,  and  inflexible  non-con- 
 formist, was  for  some  time  chaplain  to  lord  Rich;  but  after- 
 wards renouncing  his  episcopal  orders,  he  became  a  rigid 
 Brownist:  and  those  of  that  persuasion  becoming  pretty  numer- 
 ous in  and  about  London,  formed  themselves  into  a  church; 
 and  Mr  Francis  Johnson  was  elected,  by  the  suffrages  of  the 
 congregation,  as  their  pastor,  and  Mr  Greenwood  for  their  doc- 
 tor or  teacher.  This  took  place,  it  would  appear,  about  1592. 
 On  Mr  Greenwood's  embracing  the  sentiments  of  this  de- 
 nomination, he  became  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr  Henry 
 Barrow,  a  lawyer,  and  warmly  attached  to  the  same  opinions. 
 Their  actings  and  sufferings  were  so  closely  connected,  and 
 often  intermixed  with  one  another,  that  it  will  be  difficult  to 
 narrate  them  separately.  Having  been,  for  some  time,  fellow- 
 prisoners  for  the  same  cause,  they  were  brought  before  the 
 court  of  high  commission  in  November  1586,  and  charged  with 
 holding  and  propagating  schismatical  and  seditious  opinions. 
 The  leading  articles  of  which  were :  That  the  church  of  Eng- 
 land is  no  true  church :  That  its  worship  is  idolatry :  That 
 she  admits  unsanctified  and  profane  persons  to  her  communion  : 
 That  her  ministers  have  no  lawful  calling  to  the  ministry : 
 That  her  government  is  unscriptural,  ungodly,  and  tyrannical : 
 That  the  people  of  every  parish  ought  to  choose  their  respective 
 pastors  themselves :  That  every  elder,  though  neither  doctor 
 nor  pastor,  is  a  bishop :  That  printed  or  written  creeds  or 
 catechisms  are  idle,  useless,  and  unnecessary;  and  that  to  use 
 »et  forms  of  prayer  is  a  species  of  blasphemy.  Such  were  the 
 charges  brought  forward  against  these  men  by  their  enemies 
 
286  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  persecutors.  We  have  good  reason,  therefore,  to  believe 
 that  they  are  the  worst  things  with  which  they  were  able  to 
 charge  them;  and  the  reader  will  judge  for  himself  how  far 
 they  correspond  witli  the  generally  received  opinions  of  religious 
 liberty  in  the  nineteenth  century.  When  Mr  Greenwood  and 
 Mr  Barrow  appeared  before  the  commission,  they  were  closely 
 examined.  Mr  Greenwood  had  been  prisoner  before  Barrow; 
 but  how  long  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  In  1592,  however, 
 they  had  been  at  least  four  or  five  years  close  prisoners,  and 
 treated,  during  the  whole  of  that  wearisome  period,  with  un- 
 christian severity.  They  underwent  a  close  and  insulting  ex- 
 amination before  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  bishops  of 
 London  and  Winchester,  the  two  lord  chief  justices,  the  lord 
 chief  baron,  the  master  of  the  rolls,  and  others,  in  which  the 
 court  exhausted  their  ingenuity  in  attempting  to  lead  them  into 
 an  acknowledgment  of  the  crimes  they  had  laid  to  their  charge; 
 but  there  is  too  much  quibbling  to  make  their  tedious  examina- 
 tions in  the  least  interesting.  Mr  Greenwood  was  remanded 
 to  prison,  where  he  remained  a  long  time  in  close  confinement; 
 and,  as  it  would  appear  from  a  paper,  entitled,  "  The  names  of 
 sundry  faithful  christians  imprisoned  by  the  archbishop  of 
 Canterbury  and  the  bishop  of  London,"  he  had  many  compa- 
 nions in  his  tribulation.  In  this  paper  it  is  stated,  that  Mr 
 Greenwood  and  Barrow  had  been  confined  thirty  weeks  in  the 
 Clink,  for  reading  a  portion  of  scripture,  in  a  friend's  house,  on 
 the  Lord's  day;  but  were  removed  to  the  Fleet  by  an  habeas 
 corpus,  where  they  lay  on  an  execution  of  two  hundred  and 
 sixty  pounds  each :  That  Henry  Thomson  and  George  Collier 
 were  committed  to  the  Clink  for  hearing  Mr  Greenwood  read 
 the  said  portion  of  scripture,  and  had  remained  nineteen  months 
 without  being  called  to  answer.  Jerome  Studley,  for  refusing 
 to  answer  interrogatories,  was  sent  to  the  same  place,  where  he 
 remained  fifteen  months.  Christopher  Roper  was  committed 
 close  prisoner  by  the  bishop  of  London.  Edward  Boys  was 
 nineteen  months  in  bridewell,  and  afterwards  removed  to  the 
 Clink.  John  Chamber  was  committed  to  the  same  prison  for 
 hearing  Mr  Greenwood  read  as  above,  where  he  died.  George 
 Bright,  for  commending  a  faithful  christian  for  his  integrity  in 
 holding  out  when  under  persecution,  was  confined  in  Newgate, 
 where  he  also  died.  Maynard,  Roe,  and  Barrow,  three  aged 
 widows,  were  thrown  into  Newgate  by  the  bishop  of  London, 
 for  hearing  Mr  Greenwood  read  the  above  portion  of  scripture, 
 where  two  of  them  died  by  the  infection  of  the  prison.  Quin- 
 tin  Smyth  was  sent  to  Newgate,  confined  in  a  dungeon,  loaded 
 with  irons,  and  had  his  bible  taken  from  him;  and  John  Purdye 
 was  sent  to  bridewell,  and  confined  in  a  place  called  Little  Eascy 
 
JOHN  GREENWOOD.  287 
 
 where  he  was  beat  with  bludgeons  because  he  would  not  attend 
 the  parish  church.  These  are  merely  a  specimen  of  vast  num- 
 bers, who,  about  this  time,  were  treated  with  similar  severity 
 for  their  non-conformity. 
 
 While  these  cruel  measures  were  exercising  against  the 
 Brownists,  who,  by  this  time,  partly  occupied  all  the  jails  in 
 London,  the  high  commission  appointed  forty-three  conforming 
 clergymen  to  confer  with  the  same  number  of  these  imprisoned 
 puritans,  to  whom  they  delivered  a  brief  of  the  positions  witli 
 which  they  were  charged.  These  were  twelve  in  number;  and 
 in  the  shape  they  were  charged  against  them,  full  of  heretical 
 and  blasphemous  sentiments,  but  containing  little  more  than 
 misrepresentations.  The  Brownists  replied  in  a  publication, 
 entitled,  "A  brief  answer  to  certain  slanderous  and  ungodly 
 calumniations,  spread  abroad  by  the  bishops  and  their  adher- 
 ents, against  divers  faithful  and  true  christians,  1590."  In 
 this  piece  they  denied  the  charges  thus  maliciously  brought 
 against  them,  and  openly  declared  their  opinions  on  the  various 
 points  specified  in  these  positions,  and  endeavoured  to  set  the 
 public  opinion  right  with  regard  both  to  their  faith  and  prac- 
 tice. Mr  Greenwood  and  Barrow  were  supposed  to  have  been 
 the  authors  of  this  reply?  in  which  they  had  treated  the  bishops 
 and  the  church,  by  law  established,  with  considerable  freedom. 
 
 Mr  Greenwood  and  Mr  Barrow  united  with  about  sixty 
 other  prisoners,  in  the  different  jails  of  the  metropolis,  in  stat- 
 ing their  grievances  to  the  lord  treasurer.  In  their  petition, 
 they  earnestly  entreated  his  lordship  either  to  grant  them  an 
 early  trial,  or,  in  the  meantime,  to  favour  them  with  the  privi- 
 lege of  some  christian  conference,  or  that  they  might  be  admit- 
 ted to  bail  according  to  law:  or  that  he  would,  by  some  means, 
 bring  their  cause  before  the  rest  of  her  majesty's  most  honour- 
 able privy  council :  ';  For  (say  they)  her  majesty  has  not,  in 
 the  wide  extent  of  her  empire,  more  dutiful  and  loving  subjects, 
 who  have,  to  the  number  of  threescore  and  upwards,  been  im- 
 prisoned contrary  to  all  law,  reason,  and  equity :  Separated 
 from  our  lawful  callings,  our  trades,  wives,  children,  and 
 families,  and  shut  up  in  close  and  nauseous  prisons,  where 
 every  comfort  is  denied  us;  while  poverty  and  famine  prey 
 upon  our  constitutions,  so  that  many  have  already  fallen  vic- 
 tims to  the  severity  thus  exercised  against  us;  and  all  this  bv 
 the  sole  authority  of  the  bishops,  who  deprive  us  of  all  legal 
 audience  and  protection.  We  are  not  only  oppressed,  but  ca- 
 lumniated and  traduced  in  our  characters,  and  charged  with 
 opinions  we  never  held,  and  actions  which  our  souls  abhor:  but. 
 above  all,  we  are  debarred  from  spiritual  edification  and  com- 
 fort, by  doctrine,    prayer,    or   mutual   conference."     This   ap- 
 
288  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 plication,  like  most  others,  proved  of  little  avail.  During  their 
 long  imprisonment,  various  pamphlets  were  published,  whereby 
 their  characters  were  vilely  aspersed,  and  their  tenets  most  ma- 
 liciously misrepresented  to  the  world;  nor  were  they  themselves 
 inactive.  They  also  set  forth  several  publications  in  defence  of- 
 their  characters  and  the  doctrines  they  had  espoused.  Green- 
 wood and  Barrow  were  considered  as  the  authors  of  these  pub- 
 lications; and  having  expressed  themselves  with  considerable 
 freedom,  with  respect  both  to  the  office  and  conduct  of  the  dig- 
 nitaries of  the  church,  and  even  of  the  church  itself  as  by  law 
 established,  they  thereby  drew  down  upon  themselves  the 
 powerful  resentment  of  the  bishops.  Accordingly,  on  the  21st 
 March  1592,  they,  together  with  Daniel  Studley,  Robert 
 Bowie,  Mr  Saxto  Bellot,  were  indicted  at  the  Old  Bailey, 
 upon  the  statute  23d.  Eliz.,  for  writing  sundry  seditious  books 
 and  pamphlets,  tending  to  the  slander  of  the  queen  and  govern- 
 ment; whereas,  in  met,  they  had  published  nothing  but  what 
 was  levelled  at  the  bishops  and  the  church.  On  their  trial 
 they  evinced  a  heroic  courage  and  undaunted  self-possession, 
 exhibiting  no  token  of  wavering  timidity,  making  no  applica- 
 tion for  mercy,  but  a  bold  and  freeman-like  demand  for  justice, 
 in  all  its  instituted  forms.  They  protested,  that  they  never 
 wrote,  or  had  the  least  intention  to  write,  against  her  majesty, 
 but  merely  against  the  bishops  and  the  church;  all  which  was 
 sufficiently  obvious.  The  jury,  however,  possessed  too  large  a 
 portion  of  the  spirit  of  their  judges  to  let  them  slip,  and  accord- 
 ingly brought  them  all  in  guilty.  Bellot,  with  tears,  requested 
 a  conference,  and  confessed  his  sorrow  for  what  he  had  done. 
 Studley  and  Bowie  stood  firm,  declared  their  unshaken  loyalty 
 to  the  queen,  and  manfully  refused  to  accept  of  mercy  at  the 
 expence  of  their  sincerity;  but  being  only  considered  as  acces- 
 saries, they  were  reprieved,  and  sent  back  to  prison.  About 
 four  years  after  this  Studley  was  banished;  and  in  a  short  time 
 after  Bellot  and  Bowie  died  in  Newgate;  but  Greenwood  and 
 Barrow  were,  in  the  meantime,  reserved  for  public  examples, 
 and  had  the  sentence  of  death  passed  upon  them,  March  23d. 
 
 After  receiving  the  awful  sentence,  several  divines  were  ap- 
 pointed to  converse  with  the  prisoners,  and,  if  possible,  bring 
 them  to  a  recantation;  but  all  their  endeavours  were  vain,  they 
 remained  inflexible.  They  had  counted  the  cost  before  they 
 embarked  in  the  hazardous  work  of  reformation,  and  made 
 choice  of  what  they  conceived  the  least  dangerous  alternative. 
 Accordingly,  on  the  last  day  of  March,  they  were  taken  to  Ty- 
 burn in  a  cart,  where  they  were  placed  under  the  gallows,  and 
 for  some  time  exposed  to  the  multitude,  in  the  hopes  that  the 
 terrors  of  death  would  frighten  them  to  a  recantation;  but  the 
 
JOHN  GREENWOOD.  28$ 
 
 sight  of  the  dreadful  apparatus  made  no  impression  on  their 
 resolution.  They  were  therefore  carried  back  to  Newgate, 
 where  they  remained  till  the  6th  of  April,  when  they  were  car- 
 ried a  second  time  to  Tyburn,  and  executed  pursuant  to  their 
 sentence.  At  the  place  of  execution  they  gave  undoubted  evi- 
 dence of  the  sincerity  of  their  faith,  of  their  unfeigned  piety, 
 and  true  loyalty;  which  being  represented  to  the  queen,  she 
 seemed  sorry  that  she  had  signed  the  warrant  for  their  execu- 
 tion. Dr.  Rainolds,  who  had  attended  them  in  their  last  mo- 
 ments, signified  to  her  majesty,  that  it  was  his  opinion  the  age 
 had  not  produced  two  individuals  better  qualified  for  furthering 
 the  work  of  the  gospel  than  these  two  men.  We  learn,  more- 
 over, from  the  famous  Hugh  Broughton,  that  though  they  were 
 condemned  on  the  pretence  of  being  disturbers  of  the  state,  that 
 this  would  have  been  forgiven  them  if  they  would  have  con- 
 descended to  attend  the  parish  church ;  which  shows  that  they 
 became  martyrs  for  their  non-conformity. 
 
 The  archbishop,  in  order  to  throw  the  odium  of  his  intoler- 
 ance on  the  civil  magistrate,  contrived  to  have  them  tried  for 
 writing  against  the  queen,  notwithstanding  that  all  the  books 
 charged  against  them  were  written  against  the  church,  the  offi- 
 cers of  the  church,  their  tyrannical  government,  and  popish  ce- 
 remonies; with  which  hypocritical  disingenuousness  Mr  Barrow 
 charges  him  most  explicitly.  Having  suffered  confinement,  in 
 close  prison,  for  several  years,  exposed  to  the  severities  of  cold, 
 nakedness,  and  famine,  he  presented  a  supplication  to  the 
 queen,  earnestly  requesting  to  be  delivered  from  their  present 
 miseries,  though  it  were  even  by  death.  This  paper,  however, 
 the  archbishop  intercepted;  and  fearing  that  the  queen  might 
 become  acquainted  with  their  real  situation,  and  the  cause 
 thereof,  he  meanly  prevented  it  from  reaching  her  majesty. 
 "  The  archbishop  (says  Mr  Barrow),  having  filled  the  various 
 prisons  in  London  with  such  men  as  could  not  conscientiously 
 conform  to  the  established  religion,  covered  his  cruelty  and  ty- 
 rannical conduct  towards  them,  by  charging  their  non-con- 
 formity, not  against  the  church,  but  against  the  queen  and  her 
 government.  He  has  destined  brother  Greenwood  and  myself  to 
 death,  and  others  to  a  miserable  imprisonment;  their  helpless 
 wives  and  children  to  be  cast  out  of  the  city,  and  their  property 
 confiscated.  Is  not  this,  says  he,  a  right  christian  bishop  !  Are 
 these  the  virtues  of  him  who  takes  upon  himself  the  care  and 
 the  government  of  the  churches,  thus  to  devour  God's  poor 
 sheep,  to  tear  off  their  flesh,  to  break  their  bones,  and  chop 
 them  to  pieces  as  flesh  for  the  caldron  ?  Will  he  thus  instruct 
 and  convince  gainsayers  ?  or  does  he  consult  either  his  own 
 credit,  the  credit  of  the  church,  or  the  honour  of  his  prince,  by 
 
 11  2o 
 
290  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 such  tyrannical  havock  ?  For  our  parts,  we  are  always  ready, 
 through  the  grace  of  God,  to  be  offered  up  upon  the  testimony 
 of  the  faith  that  we  have  made,  and  our  lives  are  not  dear  unto 
 us,  so  that  we  may  finish  our  testimony  with  joy." 
 
 Little  as  religious  freedom  was  understood  at  the  period  in 
 question,  these  long  imprisonments,  with  all  their  concomitant 
 severities,  together  with  the  condemnation  and  cruel  execution 
 of  Mr  Barrow  and  Mr  Greenwood,  were  such  acts  of  cruelty 
 and  flagrant  injustice,  as  will  perpetuate  the  disgrace  of  the 
 church,  and  for  ever  tarnish  the  glory  of  Elizabeth's  otherwise 
 illustrious  reign.     The  queen  has  been  charged  with  listening 
 too  implicitly  to  the  suggestions  of  her  clergy,  who  unfeelingly 
 represented  the  puritans  as  men  of  seditious  principles,  and  re- 
 bels against  their  sovereign,  who  by  their  disobedience  shook 
 the  foundation  of  her  government  and  throne.     But  this  is  not 
 the  first  time,  nor  the  only  kingdom  in  which  disobedience  to 
 the  ruling  ecclesiastics  has  been  charged  as  rebellion  against  the 
 prince;  nor  would  it  be  an  easy  matter  to  clear  the  clergy  from 
 leading  the  way  in  these  unmanly  misrepresentations. 
 
 Mr  Greenwood  published,  1st,  A  brief  Refutation  of  Mr 
 George  Gifford — 2d,  An  Answer  to  Mr  George  Gifford's  De- 
 fence of  Read  Prayers  and  Devised  Liturgies. 
 
 JOHN  PENRY,  A.  M. 
 
 This  inflexible  puritan  was  born  in  Brecknockshire,  Wales, 
 in  1559,  and  educated  first  at  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  at 
 Oxford,  where  he  took  his  degree  of  master  of  arts,  1586.     He 
 was  about  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  came  first  to  Cam- 
 bridge; and  Wales,  the  place  of  his  nativity,  being  at  that  period 
 wholly  overspread  with  popish  darkness,  Penry  was,  of  course,  a 
 papist;  but  soon  after  having  embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  pro- 
 testant  church,  and  taken  his  degrees,  he  became  a  much  esteem- 
 ed preacher  in  both  universities,  where  he  was  accounted  a  toler- 
 able scholar,  an  edifying  preacher,  and  a  good  man.     All  this 
 could  scarcely  be  expected  from  so  bitter  a  conformist  as  Wood; 
 who  farther  informs  us,  that  Penry,  being  full  of  Welsh  blood, 
 and  possessing  a  hot  head,  and  a  restless  disposition,  changed 
 his  course,  and  became  a  notorious  anabaptist,  in  some  measure 
 a  Brownist,  and  an  inveterate  enemy  to  the  English  church. 
 That  Mr  Penry  was  a  determined  enemy  to  the  hierarchal 
 government  of  the  church  of  England,  and  particularly  to  the 
 persecuting  severity  exercised  by  the   prelatical  junto  in  his 
 time,  need  create  no  surprise,  he  being  a  most  zealous  promoter 
 of  a  thorough  reformation. 
 
JOHN  PENRY.  291 
 
 On  leaving  the  university,  Mr  Penry  settled  for  some  time 
 at  Northampton,  where,  it  is  thought,  he  was  employed  in  the 
 ministry.  His  sufferings,  of  which  he  had  a  double  portion, 
 commenced  about  1587,  when  he  was  cited  before  archbishop 
 Whitegift,  bishop  Cooper,  and  others  of  the  court  of  high  com- 
 mission. Here  he  was  charged  with  having  published  a  book, 
 in  which  he  had  asserted,  "  That  mere  readers,  that  is,  such  as 
 could  not  or  would  not  preach,  were  no  ministers :  That  the 
 reading  of  homilies,  or  any  other  books,  was  not  preaching  the 
 word  of  God;  and  therefore  the  ordinary  means  of  salvation  was 
 thereby  neglected  and  wholly  wanting. 
 
 During  his  examination,  the  bishop  of  London  asking  him, 
 What  objection  he  had  to  non-residents  ?  He  said,  non-resident 
 clergymen  do  what  they  can  to  deprive  the  people  of  the  ordi- 
 nary means  of  salvation,  which  is  the  preaching  of  the  word. 
 
 Bishop.  Is  preaching  the  only  means  of  salvation  ? 
 
 Penry.  It  is  the  only  ordinary  means;  for  how  shall  they  be- 
 lieve unless  they  hear,  and  how  can  they  hear  without  a 
 preacher.  It  pleased  God,  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching,  to 
 save  them  that  believe,  Penry  having  reasoned  this  point  at 
 some  length,  the  bishop  of  Winchester  rose  and  said,  "  I  assure 
 you,  my  lords,  it  is  an  execrable  heresy."  An  heresy !  said 
 Penry,  I  thank  God  that  I  ever  have  known  that  heresy.  It  is 
 such  a  heresy,  my  lord,  that  I  have  determined  to  die  in  pos- 
 session of  it. 
 
 Bish.  I  tell  thee  it  is  an  heresy,  and  that  thou  shalt  recant  it 
 as  such. 
 
 Pen.  No,  by  the  grace  of  God,  never,  so  long  as  I  live. 
 
 Here  the  archbishop  supported  his  brother  of  Winchester,  by 
 asserting  that  Penry's  opinion  was  an  execrable  heresy.  But, 
 says  be,  such  heathenish  untruths  are  more  to  be  pitied  than 
 answered.  So  Mr  Penry  was  committed  to  prison,  and  after  a 
 month's  confinement,  liberated  without  further  proceeding.  But 
 presently  after  the  bishops  sent  their  pursuivants  with  warrants 
 to  apprehend  and  commit  him  to  prison.  Walton,  one  of  the 
 pursuivants,  went  to  Northampton,  and  entering  Penry's  house, 
 ransacked  his  study,  and  brought  away  what  papers  he  pleased; 
 but  Mr  Penry  was  not  to  be  found. 
 
 Upon  the  publication  of  Martin  Mar-prelate,  and  other  sati- 
 rical pamphlets,  a  special  warrant  was  issued  from  the  council, 
 signed  by  several  hands,  Whitegift's  being  one,  to  seize  and  ap- 
 prehend him  as  an  enemy  to  the  state,  and  that  all  the  queen's 
 good  and  loyal  subjects  should  take  him  so  to  be.  In  the  mean- 
 time Penry  had  gone  into  Scotland,  not  merely  on  the  score  of 
 safety,  but  as  a  student  of  divinity,  where  he  remained  till 
 loi)3.     During  his  residence  in  Scotland,  he  made  many  obsor- 
 
292  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 rations  on  the  state  of  religion  for  his  own  prirate  use,  and  had 
 drawn  up  the  heads  of  an  address  to  the  queen,  on  purpose  that 
 he  might  apprize  her  majesty  of  the  real  state  of  religion  in  the 
 kingdom;  how  much  she  was  deceived  by  the  misrepresenta- 
 tions of  her  dignified  clergy,  and  of  the  many  and  gross  abuses 
 that  existed  in  the  church ;  also  to  intercede  with  her  majesty  for 
 permission  to  preach  the  gospel  in  his  native  country  of  Wales, 
 where,  at  that  period,  it  was  extremely  necessary.  This  skele- 
 ton of  his  petition  and  address  he  had  resolved  to  extend,  and 
 deliver,  with  his  own  hand,  when  he  should  find  a  proper  op- 
 portunity. With  this  paper,  and  his  other  observations,  Mr 
 Penry  returned  from  Scotland;  but  had  scarcely  arrived  in 
 London,  till  he  was  seized  in  Stepney  parish  by  information 
 from  the  vicar.  This  happened  in  the  month  of  May,  and  poor 
 Penry  was  arraigned,  condemned,  and  executed  in  the  course 
 of  the  same  month. 
 
 The  charges  brought  against  him  were  extracted  from  his 
 private  papers.  He  was  indicted  on  the  statute  23d.  of  Eliz. 
 chap.  2d.,  for  seditious  words  and  rumours  uttered  against  the 
 queen's  most  excellent  majesty,  to  the  stirring  up  of  rebellion 
 amongst  her  subjects.  He  was  convicted  of  felony  on  the  21st 
 of  May,  in  the  king's  bench,  before  justice  Popham.  During 
 his  short  confinement,  he  was  examined  before  the  worshipful 
 Mr  Fanshaw  and  justice  Young. 
 
 Fanshaw.  It  seems  strange,  Mr  Penry,  that  you  hold  opi- 
 nions that  none  of  the  learned  men  of  this  age,  nor  any  of  the 
 martyrs  of  former  ages,  ever  maintained.  Can  you  shew  any 
 writer,  ancient  or  modern,  of  your  judgment? 
 
 Penry.  Whatever  I  hold  I  will  be  bound  to  prove  from  the 
 scriptures,  and  shew  that  the  same  opinions  have  also  been 
 maintained  by  our  holy  martyrs,  Wickliff,  Brute,  Purvy, 
 White,  Tyndale,  Lambert,  Barnes,  Latimer,  and  others. 
 
 Fan.  Do  the  martyrs  then  teach  you  that  there  is  no  church 
 of  Christ  in  England  ? 
 
 Pen.  If  by  a  church  you  mean  that  public  profession  of  reli- 
 gion, in  which  salvation,  by  the  death  and  righteousness  of 
 Christ,  is  taught  and  believed,  I  do  by  no  means  deny  the  ex- 
 istence of  a  church  in  England. 
 
 Fan.  What  is  it  then  that  you  dislike  in  our  church,  and 
 why  will  you  not  partake  with  us  of  these  truths  and  these 
 sacraments  ? 
 
 Pen.  I  dislike,  1st,  your  false  ecclesiastic  officers.  2d,  The 
 calling  of  these  officers.  3d,  A  great  part  of  the  works  in  which 
 these  false  and  improperly  elected  officers  are  engaged.  4th, 
 Their  maintenance  or  livings — All  of  which  I  will  be  bound  to 
 prove  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  and  derived  not  from  Jesus 
 
JOHN  PENRY.  293 
 
 Christ,  the  king  and  only  head  of  his  own  church,   but  from 
 antichrist,  his  most  evident  and  audacious  enemy. 
 
 Fan.  What  officers  do  you  mean  ? 
 
 Pen.  Archbishops,  lord  bishops,  archdeacons,  commissaries, 
 chancellors,  deans,  canons,  prebendaries,  priests,  &c,  all  of 
 whom  are  the  invention  of  the  Romish  church,  and  correspond 
 with  no  other  body,  civil  or  ecclesiastic.  The  church  of  Christ 
 is  complete  in  all  her  offices  without  them.  The  state  has  no 
 occasion  for  them.  Pagan  idolatry,  with  all  its  absurdities, 
 never  had  them.  The  kingdom  of  antichrist,  and  it  alone, 
 cannot  be  entire  without  them. 
 
 Fan.  Would  you  then  have  no  other  offices  in  the  church, 
 now  that  she  is  at  peace,  than  those  considered  necessary  in 
 times  of  persecution  and  distress? 
 
 Pen.  No,  surely;  for  if  the  order  left  by  Moses  was  not  to  be 
 altered  but  by  the  special  command  of  God;  then  may  neither 
 man  or  angel,  unless  by  the  same  authority,  add  or  abstract 
 from  that  holy  form  that  the  Son  of  God  has  appointed  for  his 
 own  house. 
 
 Fan.  What  office  had  you  in  your  church,  that  meets  in 
 woods,  and  I  know  not  where  ? 
 
 Pen.  I  have  no  office  in  that  poor  congregation ;  and  with  re- 
 spect to  our  meeting  in  woods  and  secret  places,  we  have  the 
 honourable  example  of  good  men  in  all  ages,  when,  like  us, 
 prohibited  to  meet  in  public  by  intolerant  persecutors.  Yet  we 
 are  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  but  ready  to  profess 
 the  same  before  men  and  angels.  Let  not  therefore  our  neces- 
 sity be  charged  against  us  as  a  crime,  especially  as  you  your- 
 selves are  the  sole  cause. 
 
 Fan.  You  labour  to  draw  her  majesty's  subjects  from  their 
 allegiance,  and  from  the  church  of  England,  to  hear  you,  and 
 such  as  you,  teaching  in  woods. 
 
 Pen.  Nay,  I  persuade  all  men  to  obey  their  prince  and  her 
 laws;  only  I  endeavour  to  persuade  all  the  world  from  yielding 
 obedience  to  antichrist,  and  to  submit  to  the  simple  laws  and 
 easy  yoke  of  our  Redeemer;  all  which  I  know  to  be  agreeable 
 to  the  laws  of  the  queen. 
 
 It  was  at  first  intended  to  indict  Mr  Penry  on  the  books 
 published  in  his  name;  but  by  the  advice  of  counsel,  he  drew 
 up  a  paper,  which  induced  his  adversaries  to  alter  their  inten- 
 tion. This  paper,  dated  May  10th,  1593,  is  entitled,  "  Mr 
 Penry's  declaration  that  he  is  not  in  danger  from  the  law  by 
 the  books  published  in  his  name."  In  this  declaration,  he  ob- 
 serves, that  the  statute  was  never  intended  to  include  those  who 
 wrote  merely  against  the  ecclesiastic  establishment:  because,  in 
 ihat  case,   it   must  have  condemned  manv  of  the  most  learned 
 
294<  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 protectants,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  but  only  such  persons  a3 
 by  their  writings  defame  her  majesty's  royal  person,  against 
 whom  he  had  never  written,  nor  determined  to  write :  Nor  had 
 he,  at  any  time,  been  at  a  meeting  or  conventicle  where  any, 
 under  or  above  the  number  of  twelve  persons,  were  assembled; 
 but  that,  nevertheless,  had  he  been  guilty  of  all  these,  he  ought 
 to  have  been  accused  within  one  month  of  the  crime,  upon  the 
 oath  of  two  witnesses,  and  to  have  been  indicted  within  the 
 space  of  one  year,  otherwise  the  statute  itself  clears  him  in  ex- 
 press terms. 
 
 The  court,  apprehending  that  this  declaration  of  Penry's 
 might  occasion  an  argument  in  law,  set  aside  his  printed  books, 
 and  had  him  indicted  on  the  contents  of  his  manuscript  petition 
 and  observations  before  mentioned.  This  was  still  more  unjust 
 and  unprecedented,  as  he  expresses  himself  to  the  lord  treasurer 
 Burleigh,  to  whom  he  sent  his  protestation  immediately  after 
 his  condemnation.  "  It  is  most  lamentable  (says  he),  and  with- 
 out a  parallel,  that  the  private  observations  of  a  student,  and 
 these  made  while  in  a  foreign  land,  and  especially  considering 
 that  they  were  most  secret  and  altogether  imperfect,  should 
 occasion  his  life  to  terminate  in  violence  and  blood.  I  have, 
 nevertheless,  this  consolation,  that  though  my  consciousness  of 
 innocence  stands  me  in  no  stead  before  my  earthly  tribunal,  I 
 know  that  I  shall  have  an  honourable  acquittal  before  the  tri- 
 bunal of  the  great  King  and  merciful  Father,  who  tenderly  guards 
 and  supplies  the  desolate  widow  and  the  fatherless,  and  will  be 
 the  father  and  protector  of  my  poor  widow  and  friendless  orphans. 
 And  being  likely  to  trouble  your  lordship  with  no  more  letters, 
 I  acknowledge,  with  hearty  gratitude,  your  lordship's  favours 
 towards  me,  in  receiving  the  writings  which  I  have  presumed 
 to  send  you  from  time  to  time.  And  in  this,  most  probably  my 
 last,  I  protest  before  God,  that  so  far  as  I  know,  I  have  written 
 you  nothing  but  the  truth.  And  now  that  my  private  scrawls, 
 and  unfinished  observations,  are  brought  against  me  to  the 
 spilling  of  my  blood,  I  humbly  crave  that  the  whole  of  these  my 
 private  papers  may  be  made  public,  that  the  world  may  see  that 
 they  contain  nothing  but  what  is  honourable  both  for  myself 
 and  my  sovereign.  For  though  I  be  condemned  as  a  felon  or 
 traitor,  I  thank  God,  that  neither  man  nor  devil  shall  ever  be 
 able  to  convict  me  of  either. 
 
 t:  I  never  set  myself  up  as  a  public  rebuker,  much  less  for  a 
 reformer  of  states  and  kingdoms;  but  all  the  Avorld  must  bear 
 with  me,  if,  in  the  discharge  of  my  conscience,  I  prefer  my  testi- 
 mony to  the  truths  of  Jesus  Christ,  before  the  favour  of  any 
 creature  in  earth  or  in  heaven.  The  prosperity  of  my  country, 
 and  the  honour  of  my  prince,  were  always  dear  to  me,  as  he 
 
JOHN  PENRY.  295 
 
 knows  by  whom  kings  reign,  and  kingdoms  arc  preserved;  nor 
 have  I  taken  part  in  this  cause  out  of  contention,  vain  glory,  or 
 with  the  design  to  draw  disciples  after  me,  Lord,  thou  art  wit- 
 ness. Whatever  I  may  have  written  contrary  to  the  word  of 
 God,  I  have  warned  the  world  to  avoid.  My  confession  of 
 faith,  and  allegiance  to  God  and  the  queen,  written  since  my 
 imprisonment,  I  take,  as  I  shall  answer  before  Jesus  Christ, 
 and  the  elect  angels,  to  contain  nothing  but  God's  eternal  truth; 
 and  therefore  if  my  blood  were  an  ocean,  and  each  drop  a  life 
 to  me,  I  would  freely  give  it  all  in  defence  thereof;  yet  if  any 
 error  can  be  shewn,  that  error  I  will  not  defend. 
 
 "  Great  things  in  this  life  I  have  never  sought;  sufficiency  I 
 have  had  with  great  trouble;  but  with  my  lot  in  life  I  have  been 
 most  content,  yea,  even  with  my  untimely  and  unmerited  death, 
 I  am,  and  shall  be,  contented;  and  I  pray  God  that  it  may  not 
 be  laid  to  the  charge  of  any  person  in  the  land.  From  my 
 heart  I  forgive  all  those  who  seek  after  my  life,  as  I  hope  to  be 
 forgiven  at  the  bar  of  the  impartial  and  universal  Judge.  See- 
 ing, however,  we  cannot  agree  in  sentiment  in  this  life,  may 
 we  meet  together  in  heaven,  where  the  jarring  animosities  of 
 this  transitory  state  of  erring  probation  shall  give  way  to  the 
 unspeakable  consolations  of  love,  peace,  purity,  and  everlasting 
 concord.  And  if  my  death  can  procure  any  quietness  in  the 
 church  of  God  and  my  country,  I  am  glad  of  having  a  life  to 
 bestow  in  this  service.  To  what  better  purpose  could  it  be  ap- 
 plied were  it  preserved.  Thus  have  I  lived  towards  my  God 
 and  my  prince;  and  thus,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  mean  to  die. 
 Many  such  subjects  may  her  majesty  have  the  pleasure  to  reign 
 over;  but  may  none  of  them  meet  with  my  reward.  My  last 
 and  earnest  request  is,  that  the  queen  may  be  made  acquainted 
 with  these  things  before  my  death,  or  at  least  after  my  depart- 
 ure." Having  given  a  particular  account  of  his  religious  opi- 
 nions, Mr  Penry  adds,  "  Death,  thanks  be  to  God,  I  fear  not. 
 I  know  that  the  sting  of  death  is  taken  away,  and  that  the  dead 
 are  truly  blessed  who  die  in  the  Lord;  but  imprisonments,  ar- 
 raignments, and  death,  are  pitiful  arguments  for  convincing  the 
 consciences  of  men." 
 
 Mr  Penry  was  not  brought  to  execution  immediately,  as  was 
 generally  expected,  but  at  a  time  when  it  was  least  of  all  looked 
 for.  He  was  taken  while  at  dinner,  and  privately  conveyed  to 
 the  place  of  execution,  and  there  hastily  bereaved  of  his  life, 
 without  being  permitted  to  make  a  declaration  either  of  his 
 faith  towards  God,  or  his  allegiance  to  the  queen,  though  he 
 earnestly  requested  that  permission. 
 
 Mr  Penry  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  extensive  learning, 
 eminent  talents,  and  incorruptible  integrity;  but  these  excellent 
 
29f)  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 qualifications,  in  place  of  being  available  in  soothing  the  pre- 
 latical  resentment,  rather  served  as  an  inducement  to  remove  a 
 light,  that  served  to  discover  the  false  foundation  on  which  the 
 whole  fabric  of  ecclesiastic  tyranny  had  been  erected;  and  in 
 spite  of  all  the  noise  they  had  raised  about  his  sedition  and  re- 
 bellion against  her  majesty,  the  body  of  the  people  were  satisfi- 
 ed, that  his  plain  dealing  with  the  bishops  and  the  church  con- 
 stituted the  real  crime  for  which  he  had  to  lay  down  his  life. 
 
 Mr  Penry  was  the  author  of  several  learned  works;  but  it 
 never  could  be  proved  that  he  had  any  hand  in  the  writings, 
 entitled,  "  Martin  Mar-prelate,"  though  most  of  the  high 
 churchmen  have  ascribed  them  to  him  and  some  others.  It  is 
 well  known,  however,  that  the  real  authors  were  never  discov- 
 ered. The  following  has  been  considered  as  a  correct  list  of 
 his  works. 
 
 1st,  The  equity  and  propriety  of  an  humble  supplication,  to 
 be  exhibited  unto  her  most  gracious  majesty,  and  the  high  court 
 of  parliament,  in  behalf  of  the  country  of  Wales,  that  some  or- 
 der may  be  taken  for  preaching  the  gospel  amongst  the  inhabi- 
 tants of  that  part  of  the  kingdom,  1587. — 2d,  A  view  of  some 
 of  the  wants  and  disorders  in  the  service  of  God  within  her 
 majesty's  country  of  Wales. — 3d,  A  Defence  of  what  has  been 
 written  on  the  Questions  of  an  Ignorant  Ministry,  and  holding 
 communion  with  such. — 4th,  Exhortation  to  the  Governors 
 and  People  of  her  majesty's  country  of  Wales. — 5th,  A  Dia- 
 logue, wherein  is  plainly  laid  open  the  tyrannical  dealings  of 
 the  lord  bishops  against  God's  children,  1589. — 6th,  Treatise, 
 wherein  is  manfully  proved,  that  reformation,  and  its  true 
 friends,  are  unjustly  charged  with  enmity  to  her  majesty  and 
 the  state,  1590. — 7th,  The  state  of  the  Church  of  England. — 
 8th,  Petition  of  Peace.— 9th,  His  Apology.— 10th,  Of  Public 
 Ministry. — 11th,  History  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  ap- 
 plied to  the  prelatic  ministry  and  church  assemblies  of  Eng- 
 land. 
 
 FRANCIS  JOHNSON. 
 
 This  highly  distinguished  puritan  divine  was  fellow  of 
 Christ-college,  Cambridge,  a  very  popular  preacher  in  the  uni- 
 versity, and  afterwards  a  leading  character  amongst  the  Brown- 
 ists  in  London.  In  a  sermon  preached  in  St.  Mary's  church, 
 Cambridge,  1588,  Mr  Johnson  was  charged  with  uttering  cer- 
 tain erroneous  and  dangers  doctrines;  for  which  he  was  cited 
 before  the  vice-chancellor  Dr.  Nevil,  and  the  heads  of  the  col- 
 lege, who  committed  him  to  prison.     The  various  proceedings 
 
FRANCIS  JOHNSON.  297 
 
 of  these  ecclesiastical  rulers,  respecting  his  case,  engaged  the 
 attention  of  the  university  for  more  than  twelve  months;  some 
 warmly  approving,  and  others  as  severely  censuring  the  rigor- 
 ous measures  adopted  on  this  occasion.  His  text  was  1  Peter 
 i.  4.  "  The  elders  who  are  amongst  you  I  exhort,  who  am  also 
 an  elder."  The  erroneous  and  dangerous  positions  charged 
 against  Mr  Johnson  are  said  to  have  been  collected  from  his 
 sermon,  and  are,  1st,  That  the  church  of  God  ought  to  be  go- 
 verned by  elders.  2d,  That  a  particular  form  of  church  govern- 
 ment is  marked  out  in  the  word  of  God.  3d,  That  no  other 
 form  ought  to  be  used  in  the  church.  4th,  That  we  have  not 
 that  form.  5th,  That  the  want  thereof  is  one  cause  of  the  pre- 
 sent ignorance,  idolatry,  and  disobedience.  6th,  That  ministers 
 ought  to  live  upon  their  own  cures.  7th,  That  there  ought  to 
 be  an  equality  amongst  ministers,  which  the  papists  do  not 
 relish.  8th,  That  we  have  an  Amaziah  amongst  us,  who  for- 
 biddeth  Amos  to  preach  at  Bethel.  9th,  That  they  do  not  ex- 
 hort to  feed  the  flock,  but  hinder  those  who  would. 
 
 Mr  Johnson  was  commanded  to  answer  to  these  charges,  and 
 declare,  upon  oath,  what  he  had  delivered  in  his  sermon;  which 
 he  absolutely  refused,  on  the  ground,  that  he  would,  in  so  do- 
 ing, be  accessary  to  his  own  condemnation.  He  underwent 
 several  strict  examinations,  and  was  committed  to  prison;  where 
 he  remained  a  long  time,  and  at  last  laid  the  case  before  lord 
 Burleigh,  chancellor  of  the  university.  In  the  meantime, 
 though  he  would  not  answer  on  oath,  he  delivered  his  answers 
 in  writing;  which  gave  no  satisfaction  to  the  rulers;  but  after 
 rigid  examination,  and  long  imprisonment,  he  was  enjoined, 
 October  19th,  1589,  to  make  a  most  ridiculous  recantation  from 
 the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary's  church.  And  because  he  performed  it 
 in  mincing  terms,  something  short  of  the  prescribed  form,  on 
 the  30th  October,  of  the  same  year,  he  was  expelled  from  the 
 university;  but  not  having  removed  from  the  place,  he  was 
 again,  on  the  18th  December,  cruelly  cast  into  prison.  By  the 
 recommendation  of  the  chancellor  he  made  an  appeal  to  the  uni- 
 versity against  these  illegal  and  cruel  proceedings,  stating  the 
 evil  treatment  he  had  received  in  a  letter  to  his  lordship; 
 wherein  he  says,  "  I,  a  poor  prisoner,  overthrown  by  the  power 
 of  mine  adversaries  in  a  just  cause,  being  fully  assured  that 
 here  I  can  find  no  justice,  inasmuch  as  the  proctor  has  already 
 been  checked  for  doing  his  duty  with  regard  to  my  appeal,  do 
 earnestly,  in  God's  behalf,  and  for  the  sake  of  righteous  deal- 
 ing, beseech  your  lordship  to  take  my  cause  into  your  hearing, 
 and  rescue  me  from  this  grievous  imprisonment,  which  unde- 
 servedly, the  Lord  of  heaven  knows,  I  sustain."  Two  supplica- 
 tions to  the  chancellor,  in  Johnson's  behalf,  and  signed  by  sixty- 
 
 11  2p 
 
298  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 eight  scholars,  all  fellows  of  the  university,  were,  about  this 
 time,  also  addressed  to  the  lord  chancellor.  We  have  reason, 
 however,  to  believe  that  all  these  applications  were  unavailing; 
 nor  can  we  discover  how  long  Mr  Johnson  remained  a  prisoner. 
 The  merciless  and  unpolitic  persecution  of  the  puritans,  in  place 
 of  restoring  or  maintaining  uniformity,  operated  in  a  directly 
 opposite  manner  from  what  was  intended,  and  confidently  ex- 
 pected, by  these  cruel  and  domineering  prelates.  A  large  pro- 
 portion of  the  clergy  could  not,  in  conscience,  acquiesce  in  the 
 measure  going  forward,  and  much  less  could  they  approve  of 
 a  church  thus  fighting  against  her  enemies  with  such  carnal 
 weapons.  About  this  period,  therefore,  very  many  pious  and 
 able  pastors  were  shut  up  to  the  necessity  of  finally  separating 
 from  the  prelatical  establishment;  amongst  whom  was  Mr  John- 
 son, who  espoused  the  opinions  of  the  Brownists,  better  known, 
 at  present,  by  the  title  of  English  Independents,  and  joined  him- 
 self to  their  congregation,  which  assembled  privately  in  or  about 
 London.  About  the  year  1592,  this  congregation  becoming 
 rather  numerous,  formed  themselves  into  a  church,  and  Mr 
 Johnson  was  elected  their  pastor  by  the  suffrages  of  the 
 brotherhood;  Mr  John  Greenwood,  doctor  or  teacher;  Messrs 
 Bowman  and  Lee,  deacons;  and  Messrs  Studley  and  Kinaston, 
 elders.  The  whole  of  this  service  was  performed  in  one  day, 
 in  Nicholas  Lane,  at  the  house  of  Mr  Fox;  and  at  the  same  time 
 seven  persons  were  baptized  without  god-fathers  or  god-mothers, 
 Mr  Johnson  only  sprinkling  their  faces  with  water,  and  pro- 
 nouncing the  words,  "I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
 &c."  The  Lord's  supper  was  likewise  administered  without  the 
 established  ceremonies.  At  the  close  they  sung  an  hymn,  and 
 made  a  collection  for  the  poor;  and  from  this  time  forward  it 
 was  agreed,  that  every  new  member,  on  his  entering,  should 
 promise  to  walk  with  them  so  long  as  they  walked  in  the  way 
 of  the  Lord,  in  as  far  as  might  be  warranted  by  the  word  of 
 God. 
 
 This  congregation,  that  they  might  escape  the  bishop's  offi- 
 cers, were  obliged  to  meet  in  various  places,  often  during  the 
 night;  but  were  discovered  on  a  Lord's  clay,  in  the  same  house, 
 at  Islington,  where  the  protestant  congregation  were  used  to 
 meet  in  the  days  of  queen  Mary.  About  sixty-six  persons  were 
 taken  into  custody,  and  sent  two  and  two  to  the  different  pri- 
 sons about  London,  though  it  does  not  appear  whether  Mr 
 Johnson  was  taken  at  this  time;  but  during  the  present  year, 
 he  was  committed,  along  with  Mr  Greenwood,  to  the  Compter, 
 and  next  day  committed  to  close  prison  by  Whitcgift  and  other 
 commissioners.  After  fourteen  months  close  confinement,  he 
 was  brought  to  trial.  The  charge  against  him  was  merely  his 
 having  written  against  the  established  church,  and  the  oppres- 
 
FRANCIS  JOHNSOX.  299 
 
 sion  of  the  prelates;  and  notwithstanding  that  he  had  been  pri- 
 soner prior  to  the  enactment  of  the  statute  he  was  charged  with 
 violating,  he  was  found  guilty,  and  condemned  to  perpetual 
 banishment  from  his  country. 
 
 Mr  Barrow,  Greenwood,  Penry,  and  some  others,  having 
 lately  suffered  death  for  tenaciously  adhering  to  the  same  prin- 
 ciples, the  dignitaries,  convinced  they  coukl  neither  reduce  their 
 number,  nor  even  arrest  the  progress  of  puritanism  by  their 
 sanguinary  measures,  without  incurring  the  execration  of  all 
 moderate  and  reasonable  men,  came  to  the  resolution  of  banish- 
 ing the  most  tenacious  of  the  puritans,  especially  the  Brownists, 
 in  such  numbers  as  to  clean  the  jails,  and  rid  the  country  of  a 
 sect  that  had  become  a  grievous  eye-sore  to  the  spiritual 
 rulers. 
 
 Mr  Johnson  being  thus  condemned  to  perpetual  banishment, 
 retired,  with  many  of  his  friends,  to  Amsterdam,  where  they 
 formed  a  church  after  the  model  of  the  Brownists,  having  the 
 learned  Mr  Henry  Ainsworth  for  doctor  or  teacher.  The 
 grand  principle  on  which  this  church  was  founded  may  be  ex- 
 pressed in  Mr  Johnson's  own  words.  "  The  church  of  Christ 
 (says  he)  ought  not  to  be  governed  by  popish  canons,  courts, 
 classes,  customs,  or  by  any  other  human  inventions,  but  by  the 
 laws  and  rules  which  Christ  has  appointed  in  his  testament. 
 Every  particular  church,  with  its  pastors,  stands  immediately 
 under  Christ,  the  Archpastor,  without  any  other  ecclesiastical 
 power  intervening,  whether  it  be  of  prelates,  or  synods,  or  any 
 other  invention  of  man." 
 
 Mr  Johnson  and  Mr  Ainsworth,  many  years  after  their  re- 
 moving to  Holland,  differed  concerning  the  discipline  of  the 
 church.  Johnson  placed  the  government  in  the  eldership 
 alone;  while  Mr  Ainsworth  placed  it  in  the  whole  church,  of 
 which  the  elders  are  only  a  part.  The  consequence  was,  that 
 Mr  Johnson  and  his  party  withdrew  when  they  could  no  longer 
 live  together.  Ainsworth,  and  those  who  adhered  to  his  opi- 
 nions, held  a  separate  assembly  at  Amsterdam,  and  Mr  John- 
 son at  last  removed  with  his  friends  to  Embden,  where  he  after- 
 wards died,  and  his  congregation  was  dissolved. 
 
 The  principal  objections  of  the  Brownists  to  the  church  of 
 England  were  :  Her  promiscuous  communion,  whereby  profane 
 persons  were  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the  church.  Her 
 antichristian  office-bearers,  primates,  metropolitans,  lord  bishops, 
 &c.  Her  book  of  consecration  of  bishops,  taken  from  the  pope's 
 pontifical.  Her  confounding  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  offices 
 in  the  same  person.  Her  retaining  and  using  apocryphal  books. 
 Her  stinted  and  formal  prayers  and  liturgy,  taken  out  of  the 
 pope's  mass-book,   with  the  same  order  of  psalms,  lessons,  col- 
 
300  MEMOIR  OF  FRANCIS  JOHNSON. 
 
 lects,  paternosters,  epistles,  gospels,  vcrsicles,  responds,  &c.  &c. 
 The  cross  in  baptism,  the  hallowed  font,  and  questions  to  the 
 infant  in  baptism.  God-fathers,  god-mothers,  women  baptizing 
 of  children,  which  tends  to  perpetuate  the  absurd  doctrine,  that 
 children  dying  unbaptizcd  are  damned.  Dispensing  the  sacra- 
 ment, not  according  to  the  institution  of  Christ,  but  in  words 
 borrowed  from  the  pope's  portuis.  Receiving  it  kneeling;  the 
 ring  in  marriage;  praying  over  the  dead;  churching  or  purify- 
 ing of  women.  Their  holidays,  their  fasts,  or  abstaining  from 
 flesh  on  their  eves,  Fridays,  Saturdays,  ember-days,  and  all  the 
 days  of  lent.  Their  dispensations  to  eat  flesh  on  such  forbidden 
 times.  Dispensations  for  non-residents.  For  holding  two, 
 tbree,  four,  or  more  benefices.  Their  suspensions,  absolutions, 
 deprivations,  and  degradations.  Their  penance  in  a  white 
 sheet;  their  commutation  of  penance,  and  absolving  one  person 
 for  another.  The  prelates  confirmation,  or  bishoping  of  chil- 
 dren, to  assure  them  of  God's  favour,  by  a  sign  of  man's  devis- 
 ing. Bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus.  Absolving  the  dead  who 
 die  under  excommunication,  before  they  are  admitted  to  chris- 
 tian burial.  The  popish  vestments.  The  prelates  lordly  do- 
 minion ;  their  revenues  and  retinues.  The  priests'  maintenance 
 by  tythes,  christmas  offerings,  &c.  The  prelates  ruling  the 
 church  by  the  pope's  cursed  canon  law.  And,  finally,  their  op- 
 pressing, imprisoning,  banishing,  and  putting  to  death  such  as 
 renounce  their  absurdities,  and  refuse  to  witness  and  defile 
 themselves  with  these  and  their  other  abominations. 
 
 The  boasted  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth,  with  all  its  popularity, 
 was,  nevertheless,  a  period  of  cruel  persecution  to  all  who  could 
 not  conform  to  her  established  mode  of  worship;  but  of  all  the 
 denominations  of  puritans,  the  Brownists  or  Independents  suffer- 
 ed the  greatest  severities;  not  because  of  their  non-conformity 
 to  the  vestments  and  ceremonies,  for,  in  this  respect,  they  did 
 nothing  more  than  other  puritans,  but,  as  it  would  seem,  because 
 this  reforming  party,  who  were  not  satisfied  with  loping  off  the 
 antichristian  branches,  had  begun  to  lay  the  ax  to  the  root  of 
 the  tree,  by  declaring  that  the  church  of  England  was  no  church 
 of  Christ :  That  her  lordly  prelates,  and  all  her  subaltern  offi- 
 cers, were  none  of  them  ministers  of  the  New  Testament,  but 
 intruders,  who,  by  climbing  over  the  wall,  had  taken  violent 
 possession  of  God's  heritage,  where,  in  place  of  feeding  and 
 protecting  the  sheep  of  his  pasture,  like  hungry  wolves,  were 
 ready  to  devour  them.  This  plain  dealing,  on  the  part  of  the 
 Independents,  roused  the  indignation  of  the  bishops,  who  mis- 
 represented them  to  her  majesty,  as  enemies  to  her  person  and 
 government,  that  they  might  crush  thein  under  the  weight  of 
 civil  power. 
 
301 
 
 CHRISTOPHER  GOODMAN,  B.  D. 
 
 Mr  Goodman  was  born  in  the  city  of  Chester  about  1519, 
 and  had  his  education  at  Brazen-nose  college,  Oxford.     After 
 taking  his  degrees  in  arts,  he  was  constituted  one  of  the  senior 
 students  of  Christ-church,  then  newly  founded  by  Henry  VIII. 
 Towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  king  Edward,  he  was  admitted 
 to  the  reading  of  sentences,  and  chosen  divinity  lecturer  in  the 
 university.     Upon  the  re-establishment  of  popery  under  queen 
 Mary,  owing  to  the  bloody  persecution  that  ensued,  Goodman 
 retired  from  the  storm,  and  took  refuge  at  Frankfort,  where  he 
 was  soon  involved  in  the  troubles  which  the  officious  interfer- 
 ence of  Dr.  Cox  and  his  party  occasioned  amongst  the  English 
 refugees  in  that  place.     Here,  when  it  was  proposed  to  make 
 choice  of  office-bearers  for  the  church,  Mr  Goodman  moved, 
 that  they  should  first  condescend  upon  some  specific  order  of 
 church  regulations,  and  submit  the  same  to  the  judgment  of  the 
 congregation,  whereby  it  might  appear  that  they  respected  the 
 opinions  of  their  brethren,  and  then  proceed  to  the  election, 
 which,  he  conceived,  ought  to  be  determined  by  a  majority  of 
 the  whole  church;  but  Goodman's  motions  were  all  over-ruled 
 by  Cox  and  his  party,  who  declared  that  there  should  be  no 
 other  regulations  than  the  book  of  common  prayer.     In  the 
 meantime,  Cox  had  the  miuisters  assembled  at  his  lodgings,  to 
 choose  a  bishop  and  other  officers  agreeable  to  the  English  es- 
 tablishment under  Edward.     The  consequence  of  these  jarring 
 opinions  was  the  breaking  up  of  the  congregation.     According- 
 ly, Goodman  set  out  for  Geneva,  accompanied  by  a  number  of 
 his  associates.     Here  Mr  Goodman  and  Mr  John  Knox,  the 
 famous  Scotch  reformer,  were  chosen  pastors  of  the  English 
 congregation,  and  so  continued  till  the  death  of  queen  Mary. 
 While  at  Geneva,  Goodman  assisted  John  Knox  in  composing 
 the  Book  of  Common  Order,  which  was  to  be  used  as  a  direc- 
 tory of  worship  in  the  protestant  congregations. 
 
 On  receiving  the  news  of  the  queen's  death,  Goodman  wrote 
 a  most  affectionate  and  healing  letter  to  their  fellow-exiles  at 
 Frankfort,  which,  together  witli  the  aifswer,  is  still  preserved. 
 During  his  exile,  and  a  short  time  before  the  death  of  the  queen, 
 a  report  had  reached  Geneva  that  she  was  dead;  upon  which 
 Mr  Goodman  wrote  to  Mr  Bartlet  Green,  a  lawyer,  a  pious 
 professor,  and  his  old  acquaintance  at  Oxford,  inquiring 
 whether  the  report  was  true.  His  friend,  in  reply,  said,  "  The 
 queen  is  not  yet  dead."  This  letter  was  intercepted,  and  the 
 writer  apprehended,  committed  to  the  tower,  and  after  a  lon^ 
 imprisonment,  tried,  condemned,  and  committed  to  the  flames 
 by  the  blood-thirsty  Bonner. 
 
302  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 During  his  residence  in  Geneva,  Mr  Goodman  took  an  active 
 part  in  the  translation  and  publication  of  the  Geneva  bible. 
 Having  finished  the  translation  some  short  time  after  the  acces- 
 sion of  Elizabeth,  Goodman  returned  from  exile,  but  not  to 
 England  in  the  first  instance.  He  went  into  Scotland  to  his 
 friend  Mr  Knox,  and  was  for  several  years  actively  employed 
 in  preaching,  and  otherwise  promoting  the  reformation  in  that 
 country.  In  1560,  having  preached  for  some  time  at  Ayr,  the 
 committee  of  parliament,  who  nominated  the  ministers  for  the 
 principal  towns  in  Scotland,  appointed  him  for  St.  Andrew's, 
 where  it  was  considered  necessary  that  the  officiating  minister 
 should  be  a  man  of  established  reputation.  About  this  time  a 
 public  disputation  was  held  at  Edinburgh  between  the  protes- 
 tants  and  papists,  when  Dr.  Anderson,  Dr.  Leslie,  Mr  Mirton, 
 and  Mr  Strachan,  supported  the  doctrines  of  the  popish  church 
 against  Mr  Knox,  Mr  Wilwick,  and  Mr  Goodman.  The  points 
 in  dispute  were,  the  holy  eucharist  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  altar. 
 The  papists  gave  out  that  they  had  so  completely  foiled  their 
 antagonists,  that  they  would  never  again  encounter  them.  The 
 nobility,  however,  who  attended  the  dispute,  were  of  a  different 
 opinion.  In  1560,  Mr  Goodman  attended  the  general  assembly 
 as  minister  of  St.  Andrew's,  together  with  David  Spence  and 
 Robert  Kynpont,  his  assistant  elders.  In  1562  he  was  appoint- 
 ed, together  with  Mr  John  Row,  minister  of  Perth,  as  assistants 
 to  John  Erskine  of  Dun,  in  the  visitation  of  Aberdeen  and 
 Banffshire.  And  in  1563  he  argued,  in  opposition  to  Mr  Se- 
 cretary Lethington,  that  the  tythes  ought  to  be  appropriated  to 
 the  clergy.  Lethington  being  hard  pressed  by  the  arguments 
 of  his  antagonist,  dropt  some  ungenerous  hints,  that  strangers 
 took  too  much  upon  themselves  who  intermeddled  with  the 
 affairs  of  a  foreign  commonwealth.  To  which  Mr  Greenwood 
 modestly,  but  firmly  replied,  "  My  lord  secretary,  though  I  am 
 a  stranger  to  your  state  policy,  and  conduct  myself  as  such,  yet 
 in  the  kirk  of  God,  the  concerns  of  which  are  now  under  our 
 serious  consideration,  I  am  no  stranger  here  more  than  if  I  were 
 in  the  metropolis  of  England." 
 
 In  1564  he  was  appointed  to  preach  at  Edinburgh,  during  the 
 absence  of  Mr  John  Craig,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  city,  who 
 had  been  appointed  to  visit  some  of  the  southern  departments 
 of  the  kingdom.  The  assembly  that  met,  June  25th,  1565, 
 marked  him  out  for  numerous  appointments,  some  of  which  he 
 had  no  opportunity  of  fulfilling,  inasmuch  as  he  had  returned 
 to  England  before  the  meeting  of  the  assembly,  on  the  25th  of 
 December,  the  same  year;  which  is  noticed  in  the  church  regis- 
 ter, that  M  Commissioners  from  St.  Andrew's  appeared,  request- 
 ing that  Mr  John  Knox  might  he  transplanted  to  St.  Andrews, 
 
CHRISTOPHER  GOODMAN. 
 
 303 
 
 The  assembly  refused  their  request,  and  desired  them  to  choose 
 a  minister,  in  place  of  Mr  Christopher  Goodman  lately  depart- 
 ed to  England,  out  of  their  own  university." 
 
 In  1568  Mr  Goodman  became  chaplain  to  Sir  Henry  Sidney, 
 in  his  expedition  to  Ireland  against  the  rebels,  where  he  evinced 
 the  greatest  diligence  and  integrity  in  that  service.  In  1571  he 
 was  cited  before  archbishop  Parker,  and  others  of  the  high 
 commission,  at  Lambeth.  Mr  Goodman,  while  in  exile,  had 
 written  a  book  with  the  following  title :  "  How  superior  powers 
 ought  to  be  obeyed  by  their  subjects,  and  wherein,  according  to 
 God's  word,  they  may  be  lawfully  disobeyed  and  resisted; 
 wherein  also  is  declared  the  cause  of  all  the  present  misery  in 
 England,  and  by  what  means  the  same  may  be  remedied."  In 
 this  work  Mr  Goodman  spoke  with  considerable  freedom  against 
 the  government  of  women,  but  especially  against  the  bloody 
 proceedings  of  queen  Mary.  From  this  book,  however,  after 
 the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  the  archbishop  selected  certain  pas- 
 sages, which  he  charged  against  him  as  dangerous  and  seditious, 
 and  which  he  required  Mr  Goodman  to  revoke.  This,  for  some 
 time,  he  refused;  but  before  he  could  procure  his  liberty,  he 
 was  obliged  to  subscribe  the  following  recantation : 
 
 "  Forasmuch  as  the  extremity  of  the  times,  in  which  I  wrote 
 my  book,  overturned  the  true  worship  of  God,  by  setting  up 
 idolatry,  banishing  good  men,  murdering  the  saints,  and  violating 
 all  promises  made  to  the  professors  of  the  true  religion.  Mov- 
 ed by  grief  and  indignation  at  such  cruelty  and  tyrannical  ex- 
 ertions of  power,  I  did  write  many  things,  which  may  be,  and 
 are  offensively  taken;  which,  under  less  galling  circumstances,"'! 
 would  not,  and  now  wish  I  had  not,  written.  But  notwith- 
 standing of  these  offensive  sentiments  contained  in  the  book 
 aforesaid,  I  hereby  confess  and  protest,  that  good  and  godly 
 women  may  lawfully  govern  whole  realms  and  nations;  and 
 with  my  whole  heart  allow,  that  the  government  of  her  majesty, 
 queen  Elizabeth,  is  most  lawful,  and  pray  for  the  long  continu- 
 ance of  the  same.  Neither  did  I  ever  mean  to  affirm  that  any 
 person,  or  persons,  by  their  own  authority,  ought,  or  might 
 have  lawfully  punished  even  the  cruel  queen  Mary  with  death. 
 Nor  yet  that  the  people,  by  their  own  authority,  may  lawfully 
 punish  their  magistrates  for  transgressing  against  the  precepts 
 of  God.  Nor  that  God  ordinarily  puts  the  sword  of  justice  into 
 the  hands  of  the  people,  even  though  they  seek  after  the  right 
 execution  of  the  laws.  Wherefore,  as  many  of  these  assertions 
 as  may  be  fairly  collected  from  my  said  book,  them  I  do  utterly 
 renounce,  and  revoke,  as  none  of  mine;  promising  never  to  write, 
 teach,  or  preach,  any  such  offensive  doctrine;  but  shall,  by 
 God's  grace,  endeavour  to  promote  the  true  service  of  God, 
 and  obedience  to  her  majesty. — Christopher  Goodman." 
 
304<  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Mr  Goodman's  recantation  is  conceived  with  considerable 
 art;  the  tenor  of  which  is,  That  the  eligibility  of  female  govern- 
 ment consists  in  their  goodness  and  holiness :  That  the  power 
 of  punishing  criminal  magistrates,  if  it  does  not  rest  with  indi- 
 viduals, exists  at  least  in  parliaments  or  councils;  and  that,  as 
 a  last,  though  no  ordinary  alternative,  the  people  themselves 
 possess  this  power.  In  the  year  1584  Mr  Goodman  was  living 
 in  or  near  the  city  of  Chester,  where  he  seems  to  have  been 
 silenced;  and  archbishop  Whitegift  having,  about  this  time, 
 pressed  the  subscription  of  his  three  articles  on  the  godly  min- 
 isters in  those  parts,  Mr  Goodman  informed  the  earl  of  Leices- 
 ter, how  the  papists  in  Cheshire,  and  other  places,  were  exulting 
 at  the  severities  and  cruel  proceedings  of  the  archbishop. 
 Whitegift,  however,  denied  the  fact,  and  charged  Goodman  with 
 perverseness  in  refusing  conformity  to  the  established  order. 
 
 We  have  not  been  able  to  procure  any  farther  account 
 of  this  godly  man  till  he  was  on  his  death-bed.  At  this  time 
 Mr  James  Usher,  afterward  the  celebrated  bishop  of  Armagh, 
 came  over  to  England  to  purchase  books  for  the  college  library 
 at  Dublin,  and  paid  him  a  visit;  when  Usher  was  so  deeply  im- 
 pressed with  the  holy  conversation  of  this  venerable  man,  that 
 when  he  himself  became  old,  he  often  repeated  the  wise  and 
 grave  speeches  of  his  long-departed  friend.  Mr  Goodman  died 
 in  1602,  aged  eighty- three  years,  and  his  remains  were  interred 
 in  St.  Werburg's  church,  in  the  city  of  Chester. 
 
 Fuller  designates  him  a  leader  of  the  fierce  non-conformists* 
 Wood  says  he  was  a  most  violent  non-conformist,  more  rigid 
 ir.  his  opinions  than  even  his  friend  Calvin.  Mr  Leigh  calls 
 him  a  learned,  good,  and  holy  divine. 
 
 Mr  Goodman  published  the  two  following  articles :  1st,  How 
 superior  powers  ought  to  be  obeyed  by  their  subjects,  and 
 wherein  they  may  be  lawfully  disobeyed  and  resisted,  1548. — 
 2d,  A  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Amos.  "  Wood  ascribes 
 the  first  blast  of  the  trumpet,  against  the  monstrous  regiment 
 of  women,  to  Mr  Goodman;"  but  this  is  wrong,  he  only  wrote 
 the  preface  to  that  work.  It  is  well  known  that  the  book  itself 
 was  written  by  John  Knox. 
 
 JOHN  RAINOLDS,  D.  D. 
 
 This  very  learned  divine  was  born  at  Penha?,  near  Exeter, 
 in  1549,  and  educated  in  Corpus  Christi-college,  Oxford.  At 
 first  he  was  a  zealous  papist,  and  his  brother  William  a  pro- 
 fessed protestant;  but  disputing  with  one  another  the  merits  of 
 their  respective  creeds,  each,  it  is  said,  convinced  his  antagonist; 
 
JOHN  RAINOLDS.  305 
 
 so  that  William  became  a  zealous  papist,  and  John  a  protestant; 
 which  he  had  no  sooner  done,  than  he  applied  himself  to  the 
 study  of  the  scriptures,  and  soon  became  a  celebrated  preacher. 
 In  1578  he  was  chosen  to  perform  the  two  acts  of  the  universi- 
 ty, which  gained  him  great  celebrity;  and  during  the  following 
 year  he  was  appointed  to  the  reading  of  the  sentences.  By 
 these  exercises  he  was  soon  drawn  into  the  popish  controversy, 
 where  the  papists  were  anxious  to  eclipse  his  reputation;  but 
 this  only  stirred  him  up  to  prepare  himself  for  the  combat.  In 
 order  to  this,  he  read  and  studied,  with  unparalleled  rapidity, 
 the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers,  and  perused  all  the  ancient  eccle- 
 siastical records  he  could  find.  By  these  laborious  means  he 
 soon  became  a  complete  master  of  the  controversy,  and  tho- 
 roughly acquainted  with  the  errors  and  superstitions  of  the  Ro- 
 man church. 
 
 About  this  time  John  Hart,  a  zealous  papist,  and  celebrated 
 for  his  controversial  talents,  had  the  confidence  to  challenge  all 
 the  learned  men  in  the  country  to  try  the  doctrine  of  the 
 church.  No  one  was  accounted  a  better  match  for  this  insult- 
 ing champion  of  Rome  than  John  Rainolds,  who  was  therefore 
 solicited  by  one  of  her  majesty's  privy  council ;  but  after  several 
 severe  conflicts,  Hart  was  obliged  to  retire,  and  leave  the  field 
 in  the  possession  of  his  triumphant  antagonist.  This  conference 
 was  subscribed  by  the  parties,  and  afterwards  published;  which 
 gave  full  satisfaction  to  all  unprejudiced  readers,  and  so  greatly 
 raised  the  fame  of  Rainolds,  that  he  was  immediately  taken 
 notice  of  at  court.  After  taking  his  degrees  in  divinity,  the 
 queen  appointed  him  divinity  lecturer  at  Oxford.  In  these 
 lectures  he  encountered  Ballarmine,  the  redoubted  champion  of 
 the  Romish  church.  Ballarmine  was  public  reader  in  the  Eng- 
 lish seminary  at  Rome,  and  his  sentiments  in  defence  of  mother- 
 church  were  taken  down  as  they  were  delivered,  and  transmitted 
 to  Rainolds  by  a  correspondent,  from  time  to  time,  which  he 
 commented  upon  at  Oxford;  and  thus  Ballarmine's  books  of  con- 
 troversy were  refuted  before  they  were  published  to  the  world. 
 The  queen  being  informed  of  Rainolds'  fame  and  success  against 
 the  champions  of  Rome,  preferred  him  to  a  deanery  in  Lincoln, 
 and  even  offered  him  a  bishoprick;  which  last  he  modestly  re- 
 fused. 
 
 On  the  12th  January  1588,  Dr.  Boncraft,  chaplain  to  arch- 
 bishop Whitegift,  maintained,  in  a  sermon,  preached  at  Paul's 
 cross,  that  bishops  were  of  a  different  order  from  priests,  and 
 had  a  superiority  over  them  by  divine  right,  and  that  directly 
 from  God.  In  these  times  this  doctrine  was  novel  and  strange 
 even  to  the  bishops  themselves.  Prior  to  this,  it  was  under- 
 stood, that  all  the  superiority  of  the  bishop  over  the  priest  or 
 
 11  2y 
 
306  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 presbyter  was  by  human  appointment,  and  devised  in  the  third 
 or  fourth  century;  but  Boncraft  gratified  the  pride  and  ambi- 
 tion of  the  prelates  by  this  new  gloss,  and  though  it  gave  great 
 offence  to  most  of  the  clergy,  and  especially  to  the  puritan  di- 
 vines, still  it  furnished  the  prelates  with  an  additional  argument 
 against  their  controversial  antagonists.  Sir  Francis  Knolls  told 
 the  archbishop,  that  Boncraft's  opinion  was  contrary  to  the  com- 
 mand of  Christ,  who  prohibited  all  superiority  amongst  his  apos- 
 tles; but  doubting  his  own  judgment,  Sir  Francis  requested  Dr. 
 Rainolds  to  give  his  opinion  of  this  new  doctrine;  which  he  did  in 
 a  letter  at  considerable  length.  Wherein  he  observes,  that  all 
 who  have  laboured  to  reform  the  church  for  the  last  five  hundred 
 years,  have  uniformly  taught,  that  all  pastors,  whether  called 
 bishops,  priests,  or  presbyters,  have  an  equal  authority  in  the 
 church.  The  Waldenses,  for  example;  and  after  them,  Marsi- 
 lius  Patavinus;  then  Wickliff  and  his  scholars;  afterwards  Huss 
 and  his  followers,  Luther,  Calvin,  Brentius,  Bullenger,  and 
 Muscalus.  Amongst  ourselves,  we  have  bishops,  the  queen's 
 professors  of  divinity,  and  other  learned  men,  Bradford,  Lam- 
 bert, Jewel,  Pilkington,  Humphrey,  Fulke,  &c.  But  why  do 
 I  mention  individuals  ?  It  is  the  opinion  of  all  the  reformed 
 churches,  Helvetia,  Savoy,  Scotland,  France,  Germany,  Hol- 
 land, Hungary,  Poland,  and  also  our  own.  I  hope  Dr.  Bon- 
 craft will  acknowledge  that  he  was  overseen  when  he  avouched 
 that  bishops  have  a  superiority  in  the  church  of  Christ  by  divine 
 authority. 
 
 About  1599  Dr.  Rainolds  resigned  his  deanery  of  Lincoln, 
 and  the  mastership  of  Queen's  college,  on  his  election  to  the 
 precedency  of  Corpus  Christi-college.  In  which  situation, 
 though  he  did  not  continue  more  than  eight  years,  his  labours 
 were  rendered  singularly  useful.  In  1600,  he  was  nominated 
 one  of  the  divines  to  attend  the  conference  at  Hampton-court 
 on  the  part  of  the  puritans.  On  the  episcopalian  side  were, 
 archbishop  Whitegift,  eight  bishops  and  eight  deans,  with  the 
 king  at  their  head.  On  the  puritan  side,  Dr.  Rainolds,  Dr. 
 Thomas  Spark,  Mr  Laurence  Chaddcrton,  and  Mr  John  Knew- 
 stubs,  all  nominated  by  his  majesty.  Dr.  Rainolds,  in  the 
 name  of  his  brethren,  humbly  presented  the  following  requests  : 
 1st,  That  the  doctrine  of  the  church  should  be  preserved  pure, 
 according  to  the  word  of  God.  2d,  That  good  pastors  should 
 be  planted  in  all  churches  to  preach  the  same.  3d,  That  church 
 government  should  be  sincerely  administered,  according  to  the 
 rule  laid  down  in  the  New  Testameut;  and  4th,  That  the  book 
 of  common  prayer  should  be  revised  and  improved  to  more  in- 
 crease of  piety.  These  propositions  comprehended  almost  all 
 that  the  principal  puritans  desired;  but  howeter  moderate  they 
 
JOHN  RAINOLDS.  307 
 
 may  appear,  not  one  of  them  was  granted.  When  the  puritan 
 ministers  wished  to  commence  the  discussion  of  the  business 
 on  which  they  were  avowedly  called  together,  the  king  would 
 not  permit  them  to  proceed;  but  rising  from  Ins  chair,  he  said, 
 u  If  this  be  all  your  party  have  to  say,  I  will  make  them  con- 
 form, or  I  shall  hurry  them  out  of  the  country,  or  do  worse  !" 
 Dr.  Rainolds  and  his  colleagues,  finding  they  had  no  liberty  of 
 speech,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  a  reply,  remained  in 
 silence;  while  their  antagonists,  in  the  transports  of  victory,  in- 
 sulted and  laughed  them  to  scorn.  This  meeting  was  therefore 
 justly  called  the  mock  conference  of  Hampton-court;  and,  ac- 
 cording to  some,  was  intended  as  a  blind  to  facilitate  the  intro- 
 duction of  prelacy  into  Scotland.  In  1604,  the  king  appointed 
 Dr.  Rainolds  one  of  the  translators  of  the  present  authorised 
 version  of  the  bible,  on  account  of  his  great  skill  in  the  Hebrew 
 and  Greek  languages;  but  he  did  not  live  to  see  the  work  com- 
 pleted. He  fell  into  a  consumption  in  the  midst  of  this  labori- 
 ous undertaking;  yet  he  continued  to  lend  his  assistance  till  al- 
 most the  last  day  of  his  life.  During  his  sickness,  his  learned 
 brethren  in  Oxford  met  at  his  lodging  regularly  once  a  week,  to 
 compare  and  correct  their  notes,  till  the  last  week  of  his  life. 
 
 During  his  last  sickness,  his  time  was  employed  in  prayer, 
 in  hearing  persons  read,  and  in  conferring  with  the  translators. 
 During  his  life,  Dr.  Rainolds  had  been  a  strenuous  opposer  of 
 the  errors  of  popery;  and  now,  on  his  death-bed,  the  papists  pro- 
 pagated scandalous  reports  concerning  the  nature  of  his  disease, 
 and  began  to  insinuate  that  he  had  recanted.  To  counteract 
 this  malicious  slander,  his  friends  were  anxious  to  have  some 
 testimony  of  his  faith  previous  to  his  departure.  This  being 
 signified,  he  shook  his  head,  but  could  not  speak.  His  friends 
 proposed  to  draw  up  a  few  lines  in  writing,  which  he  might  en- 
 deavour to  subscribe;  to  this  he  gave  signs  of  full  approbation. 
 Accordingly,  the  following  paper  was  drawn  up,  viz.  "  These 
 are  to  certify  to  all  the  world,  that  I  die  in  the  profession  of 
 that  faith  which  I  have  all  my  life  taught,  both  in  my  preach- 
 ing and  in  my  writings,  and  endeavoured  to  recommend  by  a 
 corresponding  deportment,  with  an  assured  hope  of  salvation, 
 only  by  the  merit  of  my  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Which  paper 
 being  twice  distinctly  read  to  him,  after  seriously  pondering  the 
 contents,  he  put  on  his  spectacles,  and  subscribed  his  name  in 
 very  fair  characters.  Next  day,  with  his  eyes  lifted  up  to  hea- 
 ven, he  breathed  his  soul  into  the  arms  of  his  only  hope  and 
 Redeemer,  being  the  21st  May  1607,  and  sixty-eighth  year  of 
 his  age.  Mis  remains  were  interred  in  the  college  chapel,  with 
 great  funeral  pomp,  being  attended  by  the  vice-chancellor,  the 
 •leads  of  the  colleges,  and  the  mavor  and  aldermen  of  the  city. 
 
308  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Dr.  Henry  Airoy,  vice-chancellor,  preached  his  funeral  sermon; 
 and  Mr  Isaac  Wake,  the  university  orator,  delivered  a  funeral 
 oration,  in  which  he  gave  him  the  following  character : 
 
 "  However  others  may  have  admired  his  knowledge,  his  hu- 
 mility, and  incredible  self-denial,  in  all  which  he  was  passing 
 wonderful,  yet  I  do,  and  ever  must,  admire,  above  all,  his  indif- 
 ference as  to  preferment,  which  so  many  consider  the  only  point 
 to   which   they  ought  to  direct  their  most  ardent  exertions. 
 Neither  Luther,  nor  Calvin,  nor  Beza,  nor  Whitaker,  can  chal- 
 lenge any  honour  that  Rainolds  has  not  merited.     I  cannot 
 therefore  help  congratulating  our  country  where  he  was  born; 
 our  mother,  the  university,  where  he  was  educated;  and  that 
 house,  ever  pregnant  with  excellent  wits,  where  he  first  learned 
 the  rudiments  of  his  exquisite  literature."     Dr.  Crackenthrop, 
 his  intimate  acquaintance,  says  concerning  him,  "  That  he  turn- 
 ed over  all  writers,  profane,  ecclesiastic,  and  divine,  and  all 
 the  councils,  fathers,  and  histories  of  the  church :    That  he  was 
 most  excellent  in  all  tongues,  either  useful  or  ornamental  to  a 
 divine :    That  he  had  a  sharp  and  ready  wit,  a  grave  and  mature 
 judgment,  with  a  habit  of  unparalleled  industry :    That  he  was 
 so  well  skilled  in  all  arts  and  sciences,  that  it  seemed  as  if  he 
 had  spent  his  whole  life  in  the  study  of  each;  and  what  is  su- 
 perior to  all,  the  virtue,  integrity,  piety,  and  holiness  of  his  life, 
 were  so  eminent  and  conspicuous,  that  to  name  Rainolds,  is  to 
 commend  virtue  itself."     Bishop  Hall  used  to  say,  "  That  Dr. 
 Rainolds  alone  was  a  well  furnished  library,  full  of  all  faculties, 
 all  studies,  and  all  manner  of  learning;  and  that  his  memory 
 and  reading  were  both  so  extensive,  that  ordinary  men  consid- 
 ered him  a  literary  prodigy.     He  was  wonderful  in  reading, 
 famous  in  doctrine,  and  the  very  store-house  of  erudition.     In 
 a  word,  nothing  can  be,  nothing  has  been,  spoken  against  him, 
 only  that  he  was  the  pillar  of  puritanism,  and  the  undeviating 
 opposer  of  all  superstition  and  human  inventions  in  the  church 
 of  Christ." — Like  the  cities  of  Greece,  which  contended  for  the 
 honour  of  being  the  place  of  Homer's  nativity,  Fuller  insinu- 
 ates, and  Crackenthrop  attempts  to  prove,  that  Rainolds  was  no 
 puritan,  but  a  true  conformist,  and,  of  course,  one  of  their  own 
 party.     In  this  attempt,  however,  they  have  proved  altogether 
 unsuccessful;  for  besides  subscribing  the  book  of  discipline,  he 
 utterly  disapproved  of  the  ceremonies;  and  though,  as  a  colle- 
 gian, he  wore  the  round  cap,  he  refused  to  wear  the  clerical  ha- 
 bits.    Granger  says,  that  Dr.  Rainolds  was  generally  reputed 
 to  be  the  greatest  scholar  of  his  age;  and  that  his  memory  was 
 so  retentive,  that  he  scarcely  knew  what  it  was  to  forget.    That 
 he  was  considered  a  match  for  Ballarmine,  the  goliah  of  the 
 Roman  church;  and  that  he  was  called  a  living  library,  and 
 sometimes  a  third  university. 
 
JOHN  RAINOLDS.  309 
 
 His  works  consisted  of,  1st,  Two  Orations. — 2d,  Six  Thesis. 
 — 3d,  A  Sermon  on  the  Destruction  of  the  Idumeans. — 4th,  The 
 sum  of  a  Conference  between  John  Rainolds  and  John  Hart. — 
 5th,  The  overthrow  of  Stage  Plays. — 6th,  An  Epistle  to  Thomas 
 Pye. — 7th,  A  Defence  of  the  Judgment  of  the  Reformed 
 Churches. — 8th,  The  Prophecy  of  Obediah  opened  and  applied. 
 — 9th,  A  Letter  to  his  friend  concerning  the  Study  of  Divinity. 
 —10th,  The  Discovery  of  the  Man  of  Sin.— 1  lth,  The  Origin 
 of  Bishops  and  Metropolitans  briefly  laid  open. — 12th,  Judg- 
 ment concerniDg  Episcopacy. — 13th,  The  Prophecy  of  Haggai 
 interpreted  and  applied. — 14th,  Answer  to  Nicholas  Saunders, 
 his  Book  De  Schismate  Anglicano,  in  defence  of  our  Reforma- 
 tion.— 15th,  A  Treatise  of  the  beginning  and  progress  of  the 
 Popish  Errors. — He  also  published  several  translations  of  the 
 works  of  other  learned  men. 
 
 THOMAS  HOLLAND,  D.  D. 
 
 This  celebrated  literarian  was  born  at  Ludlaw,  in  Shrop- 
 shire, in  1593,  and  educated  in  Exeter  college,  Oxford,  where 
 he  took  his  degrees  with  great  applause.  In  1589  he  succeed- 
 ed Mr  Laurence  Humphrey  as  king's  professor  of  divinity;  and 
 being  accounted  a  prodigy  in  almost  all  parts  of  literature,  he 
 was  elected  master  of  Exeter  college,  1592.  Dr.  Holland's 
 distinguished  reputation  was  not  confined  to  his  own  country; 
 he  was  also  admired  in  the  foreign  universities;  and  many  per- 
 sons, eminent  for  learning  and  piety,  afterwards  became  con- 
 spicuous ornaments,  both  in  the  church  and  state,  who  had  been 
 his  scholars. 
 
 Iu  his  views  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  the  doctor  was  a 
 thorough  Calvinist;  and  with  respect  to  the  rites  and  ceremo- 
 nies of  the  church  of  England,  a  determined  non-conformist. 
 In  a  public  sermon  at  the  university,  he  boldly  maintained, 
 that  bishops  were  no  distinct  order  from  presbyters,  and  that, 
 by  the  word  of  God,  their  power  and  authority  in  the  church 
 were  by  no  means  superior.  He  opposed,  with  laudable  zeal, 
 the  doctrines,  worship,  and  ceremonies,  that  Boncraft,  Neile, 
 and  Laud,  intended  to  introduce  into  the  university  of  Oxford. 
 And  while  William  Laud,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
 was  performing  his  exercise  for  bachelor  of  divinity,  having 
 maintained  that  there  could  be  no  true  church  without  diocesan 
 episcopacy,  Dr.  Holland  sharply  rebuked,  and  publicly  disgrac- 
 ed him  for  thus  endeavouring  to  sow  discord  amongst  brethren, 
 and  between  the  church  of  England  and  the  reformed  churches 
 on  the  continent.     In  the  course  of  the  same  year  Dr.  Holland 
 
310  MEMOIR  OF  THOMAS  HOLLAND. 
 
 was  one  of  the  Oxford  divines  appointed  by  king  James  to  draw 
 up  a  new  translation  of  the  bible,  and  had  a  eonsiderable  share 
 in  that  learned  and  laborious  work. 
 
 Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  this  much  esteemed,  and  highly 
 renowned  servant  of  Christ,  spent  much  of  his  time  in  prayer 
 and  meditation.  Sickness,  age,  and  its  attendant  infirmities, 
 only  served  to  increase  his  ardour  for  heaven,  he  longed  to  be 
 dissolved,  and  to  be  with  Christ.  This  world,  with  all  its  va- 
 nities, had  no  charms  to  attract  his  attention.  Heaven  was  the 
 mark  to  which  his  faith,  love,  and  all  the  desires  of  his  soul  were 
 now  directed;  and  finding  that  the  hour  of  his  departure  was  at 
 hand,  he  exclaimed,  "  Come,  thou  bright  morning  star,  come, 
 O  come,  Lord  Jesus,  the  desire  of  my  soul  is  to  be  with  thee." 
 He  died,  March  17th,  1612,  aged  seventy- three  years,  and  his 
 remains  were  interred  in  the  chancel  of  St.  Mary's  church,  Ox- 
 ford, with  great  funeral  solemnity,  and  universal  lamentation. 
 
 Mr  Kilby,  who  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  says  concerning 
 him,  "  That  ho  had  a  wonderful  knowledge  of  all  the  learned 
 languages,  and  of  all  arts  and  sciences,  both  human  and  divine  : 
 That  he  was  mighty  in  the  scriptures,  and  as  familiarly  ac- 
 quainted with  the  fathers  as  if  himself  had  been  one  of  them; 
 and  so  thoroughly  versed  in  the  schoolmen,  that  he  was  most 
 worthily  accomplished  for  filling  the  divinity  chair,  which  he 
 held  for  about  twenty  years  with  distinguished  approbation  and 
 applause.  He  was  so  celebrated  for  his  preaching,  reading, 
 disputing,  moderating,  and  other  excellent  qualifications,  tfiat 
 all  who  knew  him  commended,  and  those  who  heard  of  him, 
 admired  him.  His  life  and  conversation  corresponding  with  his 
 other  good  qualities,  it  was  difficult  to  determine  which  was 
 most  to  be  admired.  Some  great  scholars,  in  proportion  as 
 they  become  famous,  decline  in  well-doing;  others  spread  out 
 the  wings  of  their  ambition,  and  soar  away  in  quest  of  riches, 
 honour,  and  preferment;  but  his  learning  was  so  sanctified  and 
 qualified  by  the  grace  of  God,  that  love,  joy,  peace,  gentleness, 
 meekness,  and  brotherly-kindness,  shone  most  conspicuous  in 
 his  conversation  amongst  men;  while  heaven,  the  port  to  which 
 he  directed  his  course,  and  spread  all  his  sails,  was  the  prime 
 object  of  his  ambition."  The  Oxford  historian  denominates  Dr. 
 Holland  a  solid  preacher,  a  most  noted  disputant,  and  learned 
 divine. 
 
 He  published  several  learned  Orations,   and  a  Sermon  on 
 Matt.  xii.  42.  and  left  a  number  of  Manuscripts  ready  for  the 
 press,   which,   by  falling  into  the  hands  of  men  inimical  to 
 puritanical  sentiments,  were  never  printed. 
 
811 
 
 HUGH  BROUGHTON. 
 
 This  laborious  literarian,  and  celebrated  writer,  was  born: 
 at  Oldbury  in  Shropshire,  bordering  on  Wales,  in  1.349,  and 
 descended  of  an  ancient  family.  He  was  educated  in  grammar 
 learning  under  the  famous  Bernard  Gilpin,  at  Houghton  in 
 the  Spring,  near  Durham,  who  sent  him  to  Christ-college,  Cam- 
 bridge, where  he  was  afterwards  chosen  fellow.  He  was  also 
 elected  one  of  the  taxers  of  the  university,  preferred  to  a  pre- 
 bend in  the  church  of  Durham,  and  chosen  reader  of  divinity 
 in  the  same  place.  In  1579,  after  having  enjoyed  his  fellow- 
 ship several  years,  he  was  deprived  of  it  by  the  vice-chancellor 
 and  others,  not  for  want  of  learning,  or  any  blemish  in  his 
 character,  but  for  some  trivial  irregularity  in  his  admission,  or 
 in  the  execution  of  his  office.  He  was  a  man  of  celebrity,  and 
 had  many  friends,  who,  at  this  juncture,  pled  his  cause,  and 
 gave  high  commendations  of  his  character.  The  bishop  of 
 Durham  became  his  zealous  advocate,  and  wrote  a  letter,  dated 
 December  14th,  1579,  to  lord  Burleigh,  chancellor  of  the  uni- 
 versity, warmly  soliciting  that  Mr  Broughton  might  still  con- 
 tinue to  hold  his  fellowship,  notwithstanding  his  preferment  at 
 Durham.  In  consequence  of  this,  and  a  letter  jointly  addressed 
 to  the  chancellor,  by  the  earls  of  Huntingdon  and  Essex,  in 
 which  they  speak  in  high  commendation  of  his  learning,  obedi- 
 ence, and  circumspection.  The  chancellor  wrote  to  the  vice- 
 chancellor  and  the  master  of  the  college,  in  which  he  warmly 
 expresses  his  disapprobation  of  their  conduct,  and  that  of  the 
 fellows,  on  their  unjust  treatment  of  Mr  Broughton.  Accord- 
 ingly, after  much  opposition,  he  was  again  admitted  to  his  fel- 
 lowship by  an  order  of  the  chancellor.  In  the  meantime,  he 
 generously  resigned  the  office  of  taxer  for  the  universitv.  It 
 does  not  appear,  however,  that  he  returned  any  more  to  the 
 college. 
 
 Some  time  after  this  he  removed  to  London,  where  he  had 
 many  worthy  friends,  amongst  whom  were  the  earls  alreadv 
 mentioned,  with  Sir  Walter  Mildmay  and  others.  About  the 
 same  time  he  entered  on  the  ministerial  function,  but  still  pur- 
 sued his  studies  with  inflexible  perseverance,  usually  spending 
 fourteen  or  sixteen  hours  a-day  in  the  most  intense  application. 
 In  his  sermons  he  commonly  chose  a  text  from  the  old,  and 
 another  from  the  New  Testament;  and  after  discoursing  pretty 
 largely  upon  them,  in  their  connection,  he  concluded  with  a 
 short,  but  close  application  of  the  doctrine.  Thus,  in  a  short 
 time,  his  preaching  became  extremely  popular,  particularly 
 amongst  the  more  learned;  but  that  which,  more  than  any  thing 
 else,  rendered  him  known  to  the  world,  was  the  publication  of 
 
512  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 his  book,  entitled,  "  A  Consent  of  Scriptures."  This  was  a 
 kind  of  scripture  chronology  and  geneology,  designed  to  show 
 the  chronological  order  of  events  from  Adam  to  Christ,  and 
 harmonize  the  apparently  jarring  passages.  It  was  the  fruit  of 
 immense  labour  and  study,  and  was  published  in  1588.  The 
 famous  John  Speed  superintended  the  press.  It  was  dedicated 
 to  queen  Elizabeth,  and  presented  to  her  majesty,  by  his  own 
 hand,  in  1589.  In  his  dedication,  he  says,  "  The  whole  book 
 of  God,  most  gracious  sovereign,  is  so  harmonious  in  itself,  that 
 every  part  thereof  may  be  seen  to  breathe  the  same  spirit.  The 
 prophecies  briefly  told,  the  events  fully  recorded,  the  temple,  the 
 altar,  the  sacrifices,  all  pointing  to  one  centre,  shows,  that  by 
 Christ,  the  great  propitiatory,  the  Son  eternal,  we  are  made 
 heirs  of  the  heavenly  inheritance.  To  these  truths  all  other, 
 Hebrews  and  profane  Greeks,  bear  ample  testimony,  even  against 
 themselves.  These  helps  are  stars  in  the  story;  and  all  this 
 frame-work,  coupling  of  joints,  and  proportion  of  body,  will 
 allure  to  study,  when  it  is  seen,  that  this  one  work,  religion,  and 
 God's  way  of  salvation,  has  occupied  all  families,  countries,  and 
 ages,  in  building  or  pulling  down." 
 
 The  learned  author  has  taken  great  pains  in  showing,  that  the 
 heathen  chronology  is  full  of  contradictions  and  inconsistencies; 
 while  the  sacred  records  are  clear  of  these  imperfections.  The 
 book,  however,  was  no  sooner  published  than  it  was  opposed. 
 The  archbishop  at  first  disliked  the  performance  to  that  degree, 
 that  he  would  have  called  the  author  to  account  for  some  senti- 
 ments therein  expressed;  and  Mr  Broughton,  apprized  of  White- 
 gift's  intention,  fled  into  Germany,  which  greatly  increased  the 
 clamour  against  the  book;  but  bishop  Aylmer,  in  commending 
 the  work,  declared,  that  one  good  scholar  would  prove  all  its 
 enemies  to  be  foolish  and  ignorant  declaimers.  Nevertheless, 
 Dr.  Rainolds  of  Oxford,  and  Mr  Lively  of  Cambridge,  both 
 learned  professors  of  these  universities,  read  publicly  against  it. 
 Mr  Broughton  used  to  call  this  work  his  little  book  of  £reat 
 pains,  for  it  cost  him  many  years  study;  and  when  completed 
 and  published,  it  cost  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in  defending 
 it.  By  permission  of  the  queen  and  council,  he  entered  on  its 
 defence  in  public  lectures  in  St.  Paul's  church,  where  the  lord 
 mayor,  some  of  the  most  learned  of  the  bishops,  and  other  peo- 
 ple of  distinction,  were  of  his  audience.  Others  of  the  bishops, 
 however,  could  not  endure  these  lectures,  calling  them  conven- 
 ticles dangerous  to  the  estate  of  the  church;  and  entering  com- 
 plaints on  this  ground,  had  his  lectures  put  down.  He  and  his 
 friends,  after  this,  convened  at  various  places  in  the  city  as  op- 
 portunity offered.  He  mostly  resided  at  the  house  of  Mr  Wil- 
 liam Cotton,  whose  son,  afterward  Sir  Rowland,  he  instructed 
 
HUGH  BROUGHTON.  313 
 
 in  the  Hebrew  language.  His  young  pupil  obtained  such  a 
 proficiency  in  the  language,  that  at  the  age  of  seven  or  eight 
 years  he  could  translate  almost  any  chapter  of  the  bible  into 
 English,  and  converse  in  Hebrew  with  the  greatest  ease.  Mr 
 William  Cooper,  afterwards  bishop  of  Gallway,  was  another  of 
 his  pupils.  Mr  Brough ton's  method  of  instruction  was  singu- 
 lar; he  had  his  young  pupil  constantly  with  him,  and  invariably 
 required  him  to  speak,  both  to  himself  and  others  acquainted 
 with  the  Hebrew,  in  that  language.  He  also  drew  up  a  voca- 
 bulary, in  which  he  fixed  upon  some  place  or  thing,  then  named 
 all  the  particulars  belonging  to  it;  such  as  heaven,  angels,  sun, 
 moon,  stars,  clouds,  &c.  or  a  house,  doors,  windows,  parlours, 
 &c.  a  field,  grass,  flowers,  trees,  &c.  Mr  Broughton,  before 
 setting  out  for  Germany,  wrote  a  letter  to  his  friend  lord  Bur- 
 leigh, dated  March  27th,  1590,  desiring  permission  to  travel, 
 particularly  with  a  view  to  make  use  of  king  Casimer's  library; 
 and  he  no  doubt  obtained  the  favour.  He  was  always  firm, 
 and  a  determined  defender  of  what  he  considered  to  be  the 
 truth;  on  which  account*  he  sometimes  brought  himself  into 
 awkward  situations,  by  openly  exposing  the  errors  of  popery. 
 He  had  a  public  disputation  with  Rabi  Elias,  a  learned  Jew,  in 
 the  synagogue  at  Frankfort.  They  disputed  under  an  oath  or 
 imprecation,  that  God  might  immediately  strike  him  dead,  who, 
 on  that  occasion,  should  speak  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  his  con- 
 science. In  the  conclusion,  the  Jew  departed,  desiring  to  be 
 farther  instructed  by  his  writings.  An  account  of  this  dispu- 
 tation reached  Constantinople,  where  it  excited  a  very  consi- 
 derable sensation  amongst  the  Jews  in  that  city.  Two  Italian 
 Jews,  who  had  seen  Mr  Broughton's  works,  particularly  what 
 he  had  written  on  Daniel,  believed,  and  were  baptized  at  Zu- 
 rich. "  Another  (says  he)  is  now  in  England,  as  I  understand, 
 who,  by  my  means,  embraced  the  gospel."  In  1591  Mr 
 Broughton  returned  from  the  continent,  for  the  purpose  of  set- 
 tling the  controversy  between  himself  and  Dr.  Rainolds.  He 
 had  an  anxious,  but  absurd,  desire  to  have  it  adjusted  by  public 
 authority.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  the  queen,  he  says,  speaking 
 of  himself  and  his  antagonist,  "  His  fame  for  learning,  and  my 
 more  confident  resistance,  may  induce  many  to  think  that  the 
 scriptures  are  difficult  to  be  understood,  when  two  men  labour 
 so  long  without  deciding,  in  one  way  or  other,  the  point  in  dis- 
 pute. The  fault  is  intolerable  either  in  him  or  me,  and  the 
 faulty  should  be  forced  to  yield,  that  none  may  think  amiss  of 
 the  word  of  God."  He  earnestly  solicited  the  queen  to  com- 
 mand the  archbishops  and  both  universities  to  determine  the 
 points  in  contest  between  him  and  his  learned  antagonist.  The 
 controversy,  however,  was  at  last  decided  by  the  arbitration  of 
 12  2  r 
 
314*  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Whitegift  and  bishop  Aylmer;  and  though  a  reconciliation  could 
 not  be  fully  effected,  the  result  was  greatly  in  favour  of  Brough- 
 ton.  The  following  year  he  again  set  out  for  Germany.  The 
 archbishop  was  his  powerful  adversary  at  court,  and  hindered 
 the  queen  from  preferring  him,  as,  it  is  said,  she  intended.  It 
 has  even  been  positively  asserted,  that  he  laid  wait  for  him,  and 
 offered  a  sum  of  money  for  his  apprehension.  During  his  abode 
 in  Germany,  lie  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  learned 
 Scaliger,  Rephelengius,  Junius,  Beza,  and  other  celebrated 
 scholars.  He  was  particularly  favoured  by  the  archbishop  of 
 Mentz,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  translation  of  the  prophets 
 into  Greek.  He  was  highly  esteemed  by  many  of  the  learned 
 Jesuits;  and  though  a  bold  and  inflexible  enemy  to  popery,  he 
 was  offered  a  cardinal's  cap. 
 
 The  article  of  our  Saviour's  descent  into  hell  began  about  this 
 time  to  be  called  in  question.  It  had  hitherto  been  the  received 
 doctrine  of  the  church  of  England,  that  the  soul  of  Christ,  be- 
 ing separated  from  his  body,  descended  into  hell;  that  as  he 
 had  already  conquered  death  and  sin,  he  might  triumph  over 
 satan.  However,  Broughton,  the  very  Rabi  of  the  age,  suc- 
 ceeded in  convincing  the  world,  that  the  word  hades,  as  used  by 
 the  fathers  for  the  place  where  Christ  went  after  his  crucifix- 
 ion, did  not  mean  hell,  or  the  place  of  the  damned,  but  the  state 
 of  the  dead,  or  the  invisible  world.  He  was  the  first  of  our 
 countrymen  who  gave  this  explication;  but  his  opinion,  now 
 generally  and  justly  received,  met  with  great  opposition  at  the 
 time.  Mr  Broughton  was  so  celebrated  for  his  knowledge  in 
 all  kinds  of  Hebrew  learning,  that  he  was  invited  to  Constan- 
 tinople to  instruct  the  Jews  in  the  christian  religion.  And 
 king  James  of  Scotland  invited  him  to  become  a  Hebrew  pro- 
 fessor in  one  of  the  Scotch  universities. 
 
 Mr  Broughton  directed  his  elaborate  studies  chiefly  to  a  mi- 
 nute examination  of  the  scriptures  in  their  original  languages. 
 He  found  the  authorized  version  of  the  bible  very  defective,  and 
 used  his  utmost  endeavours  to  obtain  a  new  translation. 
 Anxious  to  accomplish  this  desirable  object,  he  addressed  a 
 letter  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  lord  high  treasurer,  wherein  he 
 says,  "  That  sundry  lords,  some  bishops,  besides  doctors,  and 
 other  inferiors  of  all  sorts,  have  requested  me  to  bestow  my 
 long  studies,  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  writings,  in  clearing  up  the 
 translation  of  the  bible.  They  judged  rightly  that  it  stands  in 
 want  of  amendment;  but  in  what  points  I  judge  it  improper  to 
 tell  till  the  thing  be  accomplished,  lest  it  should  throw  the  pre- 
 sent translation  into  disgrace.  That  it  is  susceptible  of  much 
 improvement,  every  person  of  understanding  and  conscience 
 must  allow;  besides,  it  is  long  since  this  motion  was  made  to 
 
HUGH  BROUGHTON.  315 
 
 the  queen,  who  sent  a  message  to  Sir  Francis  Walsingham  to 
 take  the  matter  into  consideration;  but  other  weighty  affairs 
 have  hitherto  prevented.  In  the  meantime,  I  have  been  at 
 much  trouble  and  expence  in  preparing  for  that  business,  and 
 have  likewise  solicited  some  who  appeared  fittest  and  worthiest 
 to  be  contributors  to  the  expence;  and  your  lordship  I  consider 
 one  of  the  worthiest  to  be  a  contributor,  for  the  maintenance  of 
 some  six  of  us,  who  have  been  the  longest  students  of  the  lan- 
 guages in  question,  to  join  together  in  the  work.  Not  to  alter 
 any  thing  where  amendment  is  unnecessary,  nor  to  pass  any 
 thing  where  it  is;  by  which  means  Job  and  the  prophets  may 
 be  brought  to  speak  far  better  than  they  do  at  present.  Where 
 all  may  have  short  notes,  with  geographical  maps,  and  chrono- 
 logical tables,  to  which,  if  it  please  your  lordship  to  be  a  ready 
 helper,  your  example  will  stir  up  others  to  lend  their  hand  to  a 
 more  needful  concern  than  the  repairing  of  the  temple  in  the 
 days  of  king  Josiah."  This  generous  proposal  was,  neverthe- 
 less, attended  with  unsurmountable  difficulties;  and  however 
 willingly  the  treasurer  would  have  patronized  the  laudable  de- 
 sign, it  could  not  be  undertaken  at  the  time.  Mr  Broughton's 
 second  return  from  the  continent  was  when  the  plague  was 
 raging  in  London ;  and  his  friends  were  not  a  little  surprised  to 
 see  him  returned  during  so  great  a  national  calamity.  He 
 was,  however,  cheerful,  and  quite  unalarmed  with  respect  to 
 the  distemper.  His  conversation  savoured  much  of  heaven, 
 and  he  spoke  greatly  to  the  comfort  and  edification  of  his  friends. 
 In  1603  he  preached  before  prince  Henry  of  Oatlands.  He  did 
 not  continue  long,  however,  in  his  native  country,  but  went  a 
 third  time  to  the  continent,  and  was  chosen  preacher  to  the 
 English  congregation  at  Middleburg.  During  his  abode  in  this 
 place,  he  sent  the  following  petition  to  king  James,  now  of 
 England. 
 
 "  Most  Gracious  Sovereign, 
 
 "Your  majesty's  most  humble  subject,  Hugh  Broughton, 
 having  suffered  many  years  persecution,  for  publishing  your 
 right,  and  God's  truth,  by  your  unlearned  bishops,  who  spent 
 two  impressions  of  libels  to  disgrace  their  Scottish  mist;  which 
 libels  their  stationers  declare  they  never  sold.  He  requesteth 
 your  majesty's  favour  for  a  pension  fit  for  his  age,  studies,  and 
 past  travel,  bearing  always  a  most  dutiful  heart  to  your  ma- 
 jesty. 
 
 "  Your  most  humble  Servant, 
 
 "  Hugh  Broughton. 
 "From  Middleburg,  August,  1604." 
 
 While  residing  at  Middleburg,  besides  the  care  of  his  congre- 
 gation, he  published  his  smart  discourse  against  Archibald  Bon- 
 
316  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 craft,  and  sent  the  whole  impression  to  Mr  William  Cotton, 
 younger  brother  to  Sir  Rowland,  then  residing  in  London,  re- 
 questing him,  if  he  durst  venture,  to  deliver  a  copy  into  the 
 hands  of  the  archbishop.  Mr  Cotton  was  not  without  his  ap- 
 prehensions; but  could  not  think  of  refusing  to  answer  the  re- 
 quest of  his  friend.  Accordingly,  he  waited  on  the  archbishop; 
 and  having  made  the  requisite  apology,  he  delivered  a  copy  of 
 the  book  into  his  hand,  very  politely  asking  his  grace's  pardon 
 for  the  boldness  he  had  taken.  Boncraft  treated  him  with  all 
 the  civility  that  could  have  been  desired.  He  was  no  sooner 
 dismissed,  however,  than  the  archbishop's  officers  came  to  his 
 lodgings;  and  seizing  all  the  copies  of  the  book  they  could  pos- 
 sibly find,  carried  them  away.  This  the  archbishop  found  to  be 
 the  easier,  and  by  far  the  shortest  way,  to  answer  the  charges 
 and  arguments  of  his  learned  antagonist. 
 
 Mr  Broughton  having  a  dangerous  complaint  settled  on  his 
 lungs,  and  desirous  to  breathe  his  last  in  his  native  country,  he 
 returned  the  third  and  last  time  to  England,  where  he  landed 
 in  November  1611.  He  told  his  friends  that  he  was  come  to 
 leave  his  bones  in  his  native  country,  and  that,  if  it  was  the 
 will  of  God,  he  wished  to  die  in  Shropshire,  the  place  of  his 
 birth.  Sir  Rowland  Cotton,  his  former  pupil,  was  anxious  to 
 gratify  his  old  master  in  all  his  desires,  and  supply  his  wants, 
 and  for  this  purpose  had  suitable  accommodations  prepared  for 
 him  at  his  own  house  in  Shropshire.  He  continued  in  London, 
 however,  during  the  winter;  and  in  the  spring  following,  re- 
 moved to  an  agreeable  situation  in  the  vicinity.  During  his 
 confinement  under  his  present  affliction,  he  gave  his  friends 
 many  pious  and  profitable  exhortations.  He  often  urged  them 
 to  the  exercise  of  practical  religion,  saying,  "  Study  your  bibles, 
 labour  for  the  edification  of  one  another;  be  peaceable,  mind 
 your  own  affairs.  Some  judgment  will  assuredly  come  upon 
 this  kingdom;  but  popery  you  have  no  reason  to  fear,  it  will 
 never  again  overspread  the  land;  but  the  course  the  bishops  are 
 taking  will  unavoidably  fill  the  country  with  atheism;  but  keep 
 your  hands  clean,  and  keep  clear  of  the  quarrel."  As  he  drew 
 towards  his  latter  end,  he  said,  "  Satan  has  been  assaulting  me; 
 but  the  Son  of  God  hath  rebuked  him,  and  spoken  comfortable 
 tilings  to  my  soul."  A  little  before  his  death  he  became  speech- 
 less; and  some  of  his  friends  asking,  Whether  they  should  pray 
 with  him  ?  He  signified  his  warmest  approbation,  by  holding  up 
 both  hands;  and  soon  after  the  prayer  was  ended,  he  breathed 
 his  last,  on  the  4th  of  August  1612,  and  in  the  sixty-third  year 
 of  his  age.  His  remains  were  interred  in  St.  Autholin's  church, 
 London,  with  great  funeral  solemnity.  His  funeral  sermon 
 was  preached  by  Mr  Speght,  from  John  xi.  8.;  but  the  bishops 
 would  not  suffer  it  to  be  printed. 
 
HUGH  BROUGHTON.  317 
 
 Mr  Broughton  was  a  student  of  indefatigable  application, 
 and  a  most  celebrated  scholar  and  linguist.  His  temper  was, 
 however,  remarkably  tinged  with  austerity.  Amongst  friends, 
 however,  he  was  aifable  and  affectionate.  In  opposing  error 
 and  impiety  he  was  bold  and  severe,  and  would  not  fail  to  re— 
 prove  sharply  whatever  it  might  cost  him.  He  was  free,  easy, 
 and  communicative  to  such  as  wished  to  learn;  but  apt  to  lose 
 his  temper  when  his  scholars  could  not  comprehend  the  direc- 
 tions he  was  giving  them.  As  a  writer,  his  style  is  rough  and 
 obscure;  and  in  our  times,  he  would  be  considered  too  vain, 
 and  much  too  severe  to  his  literary  opponents. 
 
 The  greatest,  the  most  worthy,  and  even  the  most  popular 
 of  men  have  had  their  enemies;  nor  has  Mr  Broughton  been 
 singular  in  this  respect.  He  has  been  charged  by  Mr  William 
 Gilpin  with  ingratitude,  and  that  he  endeavoured  to  supplant 
 the  very  man  who  supported  him  both  at  school  and  the  col- 
 lege, even  the  patron  who  raised  him  up.  Of  this,  however, 
 Mr  Gilpin  has  neglected  to  bring  forward  any  evidence;  which, 
 in  a  matter  of  this  importance,  he  certainly  ought  to  have  done, 
 especially  after  Mr  Broughton  was  gone,  and  could  no  longer 
 defend  himself.  Gilpin,  moreover,  charges  him  with  paying  a 
 servile  court  to  the  vulgar,  in  the  capacity  of  a  popular  preacher. 
 It  would,  however,  appear  from  the  tenor  of  his  life  and  man- 
 ners, that  servility  was  no  part  of  hi6  character. 
 
 Mr  Gilpin  has  likewise  said  concerning  him,  that  he  outlived 
 his  credit,  and  became  the  jest  of  the  stage;  but  Gilpin  might 
 have  said  the  same,  with  equal  propriety,  of  the  famous  Socrates, 
 who  was  represented  on  the  Athenian  theatre  as  the  man  in 
 the  clouds;  besides,  the  numerous  authentic  testimonies  of  his 
 character,  given  in  the  foregoing  narrative,  sufficiently  repels 
 the  ungenerous  assertion.  The  learned  Dr.  Lightfoot,  who 
 wrote  his  life,  declares  himself,  compared  to  this  great  master 
 of  Hebrew  and  Rabinical  learning,  but  a  child.  Mr  Strype 
 also  asserts,  that  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  and  all  tal- 
 mudical  literature,  Mr  Broughton  was  certainly  the  greatest 
 scholar  in  Europe. 
 
 Most  of  his  works  were  collected  in  1662,  and  printed  in 
 London,  in  one  large  folio,  divided  into  four  tomes,  with  his 
 life  prefixed  by  Dr.  Lightfoot,  and  his  funeral  sermon,  preached 
 by  Mr  Speght,  inserted  towards  the  end  of  the  work,  with  the 
 following  title  :  "  The  works  of  the  great  Albionian  divine,  re- 
 nowned, in  many  nations,  for  his  rare  skill  in  the  languages  of 
 Salem  and  Athens,  and  for  his  familiar  acquaintance  with  all 
 Rabinical  learning,  Hugh  Broughton."  There  are  many  manu- 
 scripts of  his  own  hand  writing  still  preserved  in  the  British 
 museum;  some  of  them  arc  on  literary  subjects,  others  on  con- 
 
318  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 troversy,  and  a  number  miscellaneous;  these  are  thirty -five  in 
 all,  and  bound  in  one  volume  quarto;  besides  which,  there  is 
 also  the  Manuscript  of  his  Harmony  of  the  Bible. 
 
 ROBERT  PARKER. 
 
 This  persecuted  puritan  became  rector  of  North-Benflete 
 in  Essex,  1571;  which,  the  following  year,  he  resigned  for  that 
 of  West-Hcnningfield,  in  the  same  county,  where  he  remained 
 for  several  years;  after  which  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  the 
 church  of  Dedham,  also  in  Essex.  He  was  suspended  by  bishop 
 Aylmer  for  refusing  to  subscribe  to  WhitegifVs  three  articles. 
 Being  restored  to  his  ministry  some  time  after,  but  with  pro- 
 viso, that  after  a  certain  day,  which  was  stated,  if  he  did  not 
 fully  conform  to  the  articles,  he  should  be  deprived;  which 
 there  is  reason  to  believe  he  was.  Having  endured  these  trou- 
 bles, he  left  the  county  of  Essex,  and  was,  some  time  after, 
 beneficed  at  Wilton  in  Wiltshire,  where  he  continued  many 
 years. 
 
 In  1598,  bishop  Bilson  having  published  a  work,  in  which  he 
 avers,  that  Jesus  Christ,  after  his  death  upon  the  cross,  actu- 
 ally descended  into  the  regions  of  the  damned.  Many  learn- 
 ed divines  undertook  to  refute  this,  and  establish  the  op- 
 posite opinion.  Mr  Parker,  amongst  the  rest,  published  a 
 learned  piece,  entitled,  "De  Descensu  Christi  ad  Infernos;" 
 for  which  he  was  ridiculed  by  the  opposite  party.  The  cele- 
 brated Dr.  Ames,  however,  says  concerning  the  work,  "  That 
 it  is  a  performance  of  such  beauty  and  energy,  that  it  dazzles 
 the  eyes  even  of  envy  itself."  These  right  reverend  and  jeer- 
 ing ecclesiastics  had  done  themselves  more  honour,  had  they 
 discovered  an  ability  to  answer  it;  but  they  took  a  much  more 
 prudent,  and  a  less  laborious,  method  of  managing  this  trouble- 
 some concern.  They  persuaded  the  king  to  issue  his  royal 
 proclamation,  with  a  tempting  reward  offered  for  apprehending 
 the  author;  which  obliged  Mr  Parker  to  conceal  himself,  till  an 
 opportunity  arrived  for  retiring  to  a  foreign  country.  While 
 thus  lurking  amongst  his  friends,  the  argus-eyed  archbishop 
 Boncraft  had  information  that  he  was  concealed  in  a  citizen's 
 house  in  London,  and  immediately  set  a  watch,  while  others 
 were  ready  prepared  with  a  warrant  to  apprehend  him.  Bon- 
 craft's  spy  having  fixed  himself  at  the  door,  had  knowledge  of 
 his  being  in  the  house,  and  considered  himself  sure  of  his  prize; 
 but  Parker,  dressing  himself  in  the  habit  of  a  citizen,  ventured 
 forth,  though  with  small  hopes  of  getting  clear  off.  The  watch- 
 man at  the  door,  however,  at  this  critical  moment,  observing 
 
ROBERT  PARKER.  319 
 
 his  intended  bride  pass  on  the  other  side  of  the  street,  stept  over 
 to  speak  with  her;  and  Mr  Parker,  in  the  interim,  passed  un- 
 observed; and  the  officers,  with  their  warrant,  were  subjected 
 to  suffer  the  mortification  of  a  mysterious  disappointment. 
 
 After  this  signal  interposition  of  providence,  lie  retired  to  the 
 house  of  a  friend  in  the  vicinity  of  London,  where  a  servant  in 
 the  family  again  furnished  the  archbishop  with  information  of 
 his  place  of  retreat;  and  Boncraft's  officers  actually  searched 
 the  house  where  he  was.  The  only  apartment  which  they  ne- 
 glected to  search  was  that  wherein  he  was  concealed;  from 
 which  he  heard  them  cursing  and  quarrelling.  Some  said  the 
 room  had  not  been  examined,  others  that  it  had,  and  would  not 
 suffer  it  to  be  searched  again;  by  which  oversight  Mr  Parker 
 was  preserved  from  an  apprehension,  which,  from  the  humour 
 of  the  king,  and  the  malicious  spirit  of  the  bishops,  would,  in 
 all  likelihood,  have  cost  him  his  life.  After  these  remarkable 
 deliverances,  Mr  Parker  fled  from  the  storm  that  was  gathering 
 around  him,  by  embarking  for  Holland;  and  would  have  been 
 chosen  pastor  to  the  English  church  at  Amsterdam,  had  not  the 
 apprehension  of  offending  the  king  of  England  prevented.  Th  us 
 disappointed  at  Amsterdam,  he  went  to  Doesburg,  and  became 
 preacher  to  the  garrison,  where,  about  .eight  months  after  his 
 departure  from  England,  he  died. 
 
 During  his  short  abode  at  Doesburg,  he  wrote  several  very 
 affectionate  letters  to  Mr  Paget,  minister  at  Amsterdam,  where- 
 in he  discovers  a  becoming  spirit  of  resignation  to  the  will  of 
 God.  He  thanks  him  for  the  pains  he  had  taken  in  his  behalf, 
 though  without  success.  "  At  which  (says  he)  I  am  not  in  the 
 least  moved,  knowing  that  it  is  the  will  of  God,  and  that  he 
 will  be  my  God  wherever  he  has  appointed  me  to  go." 
 
 Mr  Parker  has  the  undisputed  character  of  an  able  writer,  a 
 man  of  great  learning  and  piety,  a  studious  scholar,  and  labori- 
 ous preacher.  Besides  the  work  above  mentioned,  Mr  Parker 
 was  author  of  De  Politia  Ecclesiastica;  in  which  he  maintains, 
 that  whatever  relates  to  the  church  must  be  deduced  from 
 scripture.  "  We  deny  no  authority  (says  he)  to  the  king  in 
 matters  ecclesiastical,  only  what  Jesus  Christ,  the  alone  head  of 
 his  church,  has  appropriated  to  himself,  and  denied  to  commu- 
 nicate to  any  of  the  children  of  men,  whatever  be  their  wisdom, 
 power,  or  place  in  human  society.  We  hold,  that  Christ  alone 
 is  the  doctor  or  teacher  of  his  own  church,  and  that  the  word 
 of  Christ,  which  he  has  given  to  his  church,  is  of  itself  complete 
 and  perfect :  That  it  contains  all  parts  of  true  religion,  both  for 
 substance  and  ceremony;  a  perfect  direction  in  all  ecclesiastic 
 matters,  to  which  it  is  unlawful  for  men  or  angels  to  add,  and 
 from  which  nothing  is  to  be  abstracted." 
 
320  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 WILLIAM  BRADSHAW,  A.  M. 
 
 This  bold  defender  of  the  puritan  doctrines  was  born  at 
 Market-Bosworth  in  Leicestershire,  in  1571,  a  descendant  of 
 the  Bradshaws  of  Lancashire,  and  had  his  education  in  Ema- 
 nuel college,  Cambridge.  Having  taken  his  degrees,  he  was  re- 
 commended by  Dr.  Chaddcrton,  and  became  tutor  to  the  chil- 
 dren of  Sir  Thomas  Lighton,  governor  of  Jersey.  While  in 
 this  situation,  he  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  Mr 
 Thomas  Cartwright,  which  nothing  but  death  could  dissolve. 
 On  his  return  to  Cambridge  he  was  chosen  fellow  of  Sidney 
 college,  then  newly  erected,  where  he  discovered  great  pru- 
 dence and  piety,  and  became  highly  respected.  His  disposition 
 was  sweet,  and  his  conduct,  in  every  respect,  so  agreeable,  that 
 even  his  enemies  were  constrained  to  speak  well  of  him.  Upon 
 his  settlement  at  Cambridge,  he  entered  into  the  ministerial 
 office,  and  was  not  particularly  urged  to  strict  conformity.  He 
 preached  at  Abington,  Bassingborn,  and  Steeple-Morton,  near 
 Cambridge;  but  did  not  settle  at  either  of  these  places. 
 
 Having  received  a  pressing  invitation  from  tjie  people  of 
 Chatham  in  Kent,  he  became  their  pastor  in  1601.  Here  he 
 had  the  consolation  to  see,  that  his  labours  were  attended  with 
 the  blessing  of  God,  and  the  conversion  and  edification  of  mul- 
 titudes of  the  people,  both  men  and  women;  so  that  his  fame 
 was  spread  abroad,  and  vast  numbers  flocked  to  his  ministry. 
 His  great  popularity,  however,  soon  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  en- 
 vy, which  hitherto  had  lurked  in  the  breasts  of  other  ministers 
 in  the  neighbourhood.  It  being  considered  necessary  to  have 
 this  settlement  confirmed  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Sir 
 Francis  Hastings  wrote  a  pious  and  very  modest  letter  for  that 
 purpose;  when,  at  this  critical  juncture,  his  enemies,  and  what 
 good  man  ever  wanted  such,  accused  him  to  the  archbishop  as 
 a  preacher  of  erroneous  doctrine.  This,  in  place  of  a  confirm- 
 ation, procured  for  him  a  citation  to  appear  by  nine  o'clock  next 
 morning  before  his  grace  of  Canterbury,  and  the  bishop  of  Lon- 
 don at  Shorn e,  a  short  way  from  Chatham.  Mr  Bradshaw  ap- 
 pearing at  the  time  and  place  appointed ;  the  bishop  of  London, 
 after  asking  certain  questions,  charged  him  with  having  taught, 
 that  no  man  is  bound  to  love  God,  unless  he  be  sure  that  God 
 loves  him.  Mr  Bradshaw  positively  denied  the  charge,  and 
 offered  to  produce  a  whole  cloud  of  respectable  witnesses  to  dis- 
 prove these  false  and  malicious  allegations,  and  to  prove  what 
 he  had  really  taught  the  people.  But  this  reasonable  privilege 
 was  denied  him;  and  to  cut  the  work  short,  and  secure  their 
 victim,  to  silence  his  arguments,  and  get  rid  of  one  who  ecclips- 
 ed  their  fame,  and  whose  labours  upbraided  their  indolence,  he 
 
WILLIAM  BRADSHAW.  321 
 
 was  required  to  subscribe  to  the  common  prayer.  This  he  could 
 not,  with  a  good  conscience,  and  therefore  would  not  subscribe. 
 On  his  refusal  he  was  suspended,  bound  over  to  appear  again 
 when  called  for,  and  very  humanely  dismissed.  This  unexpected 
 and  melancholy  occurrence  occasioned  much  grief  and  lamenta- 
 tion amongst  Mr  Bradshaw's  congregation  at  Chatham ;  while  his 
 exulting  enemies  could  not  restrain  their  malicious  joy.  His  nu- 
 merous flock,  who  had  attended  his  ministry  with  peculiar  satis- 
 faction, were  extremely  anxious  to  have  him  restored,  and  there- 
 fore drew  up  a  supplication,  in  name  of  the  parishioners  of  Cha- 
 tham, which  they  presented  to  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  earnestly 
 desiring  the  restoration  of  their  beloved  pastor.  In  this  supplica- 
 tion, after  exposing  the  lying  charges  brought  against  him  by 
 his  adversaries,  they  declare,  "  That  Mr  Bradshaw's  doctrine 
 was  always  sound,  holy,  learned,  and  utterly  destitute  of  fac- 
 tion and  all  manner  of  contention  :  That  his  life  was  ornament- 
 ed with  such  unblemished  virtue,  that  malice  itself  could  not 
 condemn  him;  and  that  his  whole  energies  had  been  exerted  in 
 bearing  down  wickedness,  in  comforting  the  faithful,  and  in- 
 structing the  ignorant,  without  at  all  meddling  with  the  con- 
 troversies of  the  day."  But  all  was  to  no  purpose;  the  de- 
 cree had  gone  forth,  and  the  pious  Bradshaw  was  obliged  to 
 take  farewell  of  his  beloved  people.  During  these  adverse-look- 
 ing dispensations,  Providence  provided  him  with  an  asylum  in 
 his  forlorn  situation,  a  comfortable  retreat  under  the  roof  of  Mr 
 Alexander  Redicli  of  New-hall,  near  Burton-upon-Trent.  This 
 worthy  gentleman  not  only  sheltered  him  in  his  house,  but  also 
 provided  him  with  a  license,  from  the  bishop  of  Coventry,  to 
 preach  wherever  he  pleased  within  his  diocese;  which  favour 
 was  continued  till  the  death  of  the  bishop.  In  this  retired  situ- 
 ation Bradshaw  preached  for  some  time  in  the  chapel ;  but  his 
 audience  increasing  daily,  it  was  soon  found  too  small  for  con- 
 taining  them;  after  which  he  occupied  the  parish  church  of 
 Stapenhill.  This  he  continued  for  about  twelve  years  without 
 receiving  any  thing  from  the  parish.  He  was,  nevertheless, 
 well  supported  by  his  generous  patron,  in  whose  family  he  liv- 
 ed, and  had  the  kindest  treatment.  He  was,  after  this,  chosen 
 lecturer  of  Christ-church,  London;  but  the  bishop  refused  him 
 his  allowance. 
 
 Conformity  to  the  established  church  was  now  enforced  with 
 more  than  ordinary  rigour,  which  induced  several  worthy  di- 
 vines to  state  their  grievances,  their  exceptions,  and  the  grounds 
 and  reasons  of  their  dissent,  and  also  to  repel  the  arguments  of 
 their  persecutors.  In  this  necessary  but  dangerous  enterprise, 
 Mr  Bradshaw  was  the  most  conspicuous.  He  replied  to  Dr. 
 Bilson's  celebrated  work,  said  to  bo  the  be^t  book  that  had  ever 
 
 12  o  s 
 
322  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 been  written  in  defence  of  prelacy.     He  likewise  answered  Di\ 
 Downliam  on  the  same  subject.     These  two  notable  champions 
 for  episcopalian  ceremonies,  bad  treated  the  puritans  with  un- 
 common severity,  stigmatized  them  with  the  odious  appellations 
 of  fanatics,  schismatics,  and  enemies  both  to  God  and  the  king. 
 In  order  to  remove  these  slanders,  and  give  the  world  a  correct 
 statement    of  their   principles,    Mr   Bradshaw    published   his 
 "  English  Puritanism,  containing  the  opinions  of  the  most  rigid 
 of  those  called  puritans  in  the  realm  of  England."     In  this  ad- 
 mired work,  Mr  Bradshaw  states,  that  the  puritans  maintain 
 the  scriptures  to  be  absolutely  perfect,  and  consequently  the 
 only  ground  of  all  religious  opinion,  both  concerning  faith  and 
 manners,  and  the  only  legitimate  rule  and  directory  for  govern- 
 ing the  church  of  Christ :    That  whatever  has  been,  or  may  be, 
 introduced  into  the  church  as  parts  of  divine  worship,  not  war- 
 ranted by  the  scripture,  is  unlawful,  and  altogether  inconsistent 
 with  the  character  of  the  New  Testament  church.    "  This  (says 
 he)  is  the  ground  on  which  the  puritans  found  their  opinions 
 and  practice;  and,  corresponding  with  this  sentiment,  they  fur- 
 ther maintain,  that  the  pastors  of  particular  congregations  are 
 the  highest  spiritual  officers  in  the  church  of  Christ,  over  whom 
 Christ  himself  is  the  only  superior :    That  a  pastor  of  pastors  is 
 an  idea  nowhere  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament;  and  that 
 such  as  arrogate  to  themselves  this  lordly  superiority,  are  led 
 by  the  spirit  of  antichrist :    That  every  particular  church  has 
 power  to  elect  its  own  officers,  and  censure  its  own  members; 
 and  that  to  force  a  congregation  to  support  a  person,  either  un- 
 able or  unwilling  to  instruct,  them,  is  alike  oppressive  and 
 unjust.', 
 
 At  this  period,  all  books,  published  in  defence  of  the  puritans, 
 were  considered  dangerous  both  to  church  and  state,  and  were 
 therefore  no  sooner  put  into  circulation,  than  the  bishop's  offi- 
 cers were  on  the  allert  to  seize  them,  or  their  authors,  wherever 
 they  could  be  found.  Accordingly,  Mr  Bradshaw  being  in 
 London,  two  pursuivants  were  sent  to  his  lodgings  to  apprehend 
 him,  and  search  for  his  books;  but  Mr  Bradshaw  was  not  at 
 home;  and  though  they  broke  open  chests,  trunks,  boxes,  and 
 critically  examined  every  apartment,  no  books  could  be  found; 
 Mrs  Bradshaw  having  taken  the  precaution,  not  more  than 
 half-an-hour  before  their  arrival,  to  throw  all  the  offensive 
 books  into  a  dark  hole,  between  two  chimnies.  Angry  with 
 their  disappointment,  in  neither  finding  books  nor  author,  they 
 meanly  carried  Mrs  Brads]] aw  before  the  high  commission, 
 where  she  underwent  a  severe  examination,  witli  the  evident 
 intention  to  make  her  betray  her  husband;  but  finding  their  de- 
 sign completely  frustrated,  after  binding  her  to  appear  when 
 
WILLIAM  BRADSHAW.  323 
 
 called,  she  was  dismissed.  In  16 IT,  on  returning  from  a  jour- 
 ney, Mr  Bradshaw  was  saluted  by  the  bishop's  chancellor,  with 
 a  suspension  from  all  preaching  without  his  further  permission. 
 By  the  intercession  of  a  worthy  friend,  however,  he  withdrew 
 his  suspension,  and  Bradshaw  proceeded  peaceably  in  the  course 
 of  his  miuistry. 
 
 Besides  his  stated  labours  as  a  preacher  at  Stapenhill.  Mr 
 Bradshaw  united  with  his  brethren  in  their  associations  at  Ash- 
 by-de-la-Zouch,  Repton,  and  Burton- upon-Trent.  On  these 
 occasions,  besides  their  public  preachings  for  the  benefit  of  the 
 congregations,  the  ministers  had  private  religious  conference 
 amongst  themselves,  when  they  proposed  subjects  of  discussion 
 for  their  mutual  edification  and  advantage;  on  which  occasions 
 Mr  Bradshaw  is  said  to  have  discovered  a  depth  of  judgment, 
 and  a  power  of  balancing  points  of  controversy,  far  superior  to 
 his  brethren.  He  was  well-grounded  in  the  fundamental  doc- 
 trines of  the  gospel,  and  understood  the  controversy  betwixt  the 
 prelates  and  puritans  as  well  as  any  man  in  England;  but  he 
 was  averse  to  a  separation. 
 
 Under  his  last  sickness,  Mr  Bradshaw  had  very  humiliating 
 views  of  himself,  and  exalted  views  of  God,  and  the  power  of 
 his  grace.  He  exhorted  all  about  him  to  learn  the  art  of  dying, 
 ere  death  made  his  approach,  and  to  lay  a  foundation  in  the 
 time  of  life  and  health,  that  might  stand  them  instead  in  a  time 
 of  sickness  and  death.  He  was  seized  by  a  malignant  fever  at 
 Chelsea,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  which  baffled  the 
 power  of  medicine,  and  carried  him  off  in  1618,  aged  forty- 
 seven  years.  His  remains  were  interred  at  Chelsea,  and  most 
 of  the  ministers  of  London  attended  his  funeral  solemnity. 
 The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  his  affectionate  friend, 
 Mr  Thomas  Gataker;  who  said  concerning  him,  "That  he  was 
 studious,  humble,  and  affectionate,  liberal,  upright,  and  pos- 
 sessed of  all  the  delicate  feelings  of  pity  and  commiseration : 
 That  he  was  endowed  with  a  sharp  wit  and  a  clear  judgment, 
 a  quick  apprehension,  a  powerful  delivery,  with  a  singular  dex- 
 terity in  discovering  the  turning  points  of  a  controversy."  The 
 celebrated  bishop  Hall  says,  "  He  had  a  masculine  judgment, 
 and  a  spirit  above  taking  offence  at  trifles,  or  alienating  him- 
 self from  his  friends  on  account  of  small  matters  of  difference 
 in  opinion;  and  that,  notwithstanding  his  seeming  austerity,  he 
 was  pleasant  in  conversation,  and  full  of  witty  urbanity.  In 
 argument,  he  was  ardent,  cordial  in  his  friendships,  regardless 
 of  the  world,  a  despiser  of  compliment  and  cringing  servility, 
 full  of  digested  learning  and  rare  notions,  and.  withal,  a  painful 
 arid  patient  labourer  in  the  work  of  God." 
 
 His  works  arc,  1st,  A  Treatise  of  Divine  Worship.   tendinL- 
 
3f4  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 to  prove,  that  the  Ceremonies  now  imposed  on  the  Ministers  of 
 the  Gospel  in  England  are  in  their  use  unlawful. — 2d,  A 
 Treatise  of  the  nature  and  use  of  things  indifferent,  tending  to 
 prove,  that  the  Ceremonies,  included  in  the  present  Controver- 
 sy, are  neither,  in  nature  or  use,  indifferent. — 3d,  Twelve 
 Arguments,  proving  that  the  Ceremonies  imposed  upon  the 
 Ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  England,  by  our  Prelates,  are  un- 
 lawful, and  therefore  the  Ministers  who  refuse  them  are  very 
 unjustly  branded  with  disloyalty  to  the  King  on  that  account. — 
 4th,  A  Protestation  of  the  King's  Supremacy,  made  in  the 
 name  of  the  afflicted  Ministers,  in  opposition  to  the  shameful 
 Calumniations  of  the  Prelates. — 5th,  A  Proposition  concerning 
 kneeling  in  the  very  act  of  receiving. — 6th,  A  short  Treatise  of 
 the  Cross  in  Baptism. — 7th,  A  consideration  of  certain  Arch- 
 iepiscopal  Positions. — 8th,  A  Preparation  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 
 —9th,  A  Marriage  Feast.— 10th,  A  Meditation  on  Man's  Mor- 
 tality.— 11th,  Sermons  on  the  2d  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians. 
 — 12th,  A  Treatise  of  Christian  Reproof. — 13th,  Of  the  Sin 
 against  the  Holy  Ghost. — 14th,  A  twofold  Catechism. — 15th, 
 An  Answer  to  Mr  James  Powel. — 16th,  A  Defence  of  the 
 Baptism  of  Infants. — 17th,  The  unreasonableness  of  Separation 
 i'rom  the  Church, 
 
 THOMAS  WILSON. 
 
 This  faithful  servant  of  Christ  was  many  years  minister 
 of  St.  George's  church,  Canterbury,  chaplain  to  lord  Wotton, 
 and  a  man  of  high  reputation.  He  was  a  hard  student,  pos- 
 sessed of  a  strong  constitution,  and  deservedly  famous  for  his 
 assiduity  and  regularity  in  performing  the  different  duties  of  his 
 office.  He  preached  always  thrice,  and  frequently  seven  times 
 in  the  course  of  the  week.  As  his  gifts  were  great,  so  also 
 were  the  trials  he  had  to  undergo.  He  had  to  contend  with 
 enemies,  both  open  and  secret,  false  teachers,  and  false  brethren, 
 who  endeavoured  to  compass  his  ruin;  but  from  them  all  the 
 Lord  vouchsafed  to  deliver  him.  He  was  once  complained  of 
 to  the  archbishop  Abbot  for  non-conformity;  but  through  the 
 kind  interference  of  lord  Wotton,  he  escaped  the  snare.  He 
 manifested  a  great  concern  for  his  flock  during  his  life,  by  his 
 laborious  preaching,  expounding,  and  catechising ;  and,  at  his 
 death,  with  his  dying  breath,  he  charged  Dr.  Jackson,  his  chief 
 patron,  as  he  would  answer  to  the  great  Shepherd,  that  he 
 would  provide  them  with  an  able  and  a  sufficient  pastor.  The 
 doctor  promised  to  attend  to  his  request;  but,  said  he,  it  will  be 
 a  difficult  matter  to  find  another  qualified  to  fill  your  place  with 
 so  much  success  and  approbation. 
 
THOMAS  WILSON.  Sc25 
 
 His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Mr  Swift,  who  gives 
 the  following  account  of  this  faithful  servant  of  Christ :  "  That 
 he  was  a  man  called  to  work  in  his  Master's  vineyard,  and  well 
 qualified  for  the  business  committed  to  his  care.  A  judicious 
 divine,  sound  in  the  faith,  an  excellent  interpreter  of  scripture, 
 and  an  enemy  to  all  superstition  and  idolatry;  for  which  he  in- 
 curred the  displeasure  of  those  who  were  otherwise  disposed. 
 That  he  was  richly  furnished  with  excellent  gifts,  which  he 
 wholly  employed  in  the  service  of  the  bountiful  giver :  That  he 
 had  received  ten  talents,  which  were  wholly  laid  out  in  his  Mas- 
 ter's service.  He  preached  at  Canterbury  thirty-six  years,  dur- 
 ing which  long  period  he  was  always  abounding  in  his  Master's 
 work,  and  had  the  happiness  to  know  that  he  had  not  laboured 
 in  vain."     He  died  January  1621. 
 
 His  works  are,  1st,  A  Commentary  on  Romans. — 2d,  Christ's 
 Farewell  to  Jerusalem. — 3d,  Theological  Rules. — 4th,  Holy 
 Riddles. — 5th,  A  complete  Christian  Dictionary. — 6th,  A  Dia- 
 logue about  Justification.— 7tb,  A  Receipt  against  Heresy. 
 
 WALTER  TRAVERS,  B.  D. 
 
 This  celebrated  divine  was  educated  at  Trinity  college, 
 Cambridge.  He  afterwards  travelled  to  Geneva,  where  he 
 formed  an  intimate  and  a  lasting  friendship  with  Beza,  and 
 other  learned  men.  On  his  return  to  Cambridge,  where  he  re- 
 mained some  time,  he  took  his  degree  in  divinity.  In  1572  he 
 was  member  of  the  first  presbyterian  church  in  England,  erect- 
 ed at  Wondsworth  in  Surrey.  While  the  prelates  were  impos- 
 ing subscription  to  the  liturgy  on  ministers  with  relentless  se- 
 verity, and  demanding  an  exact  conformity  to  all  their  ceremo- 
 nies, a  great  many  learned  men,  who  held  conscientious  scruples 
 against  the  English  form  of  ordination,  went  over  to  the  con- 
 tinent, to  Middleburg,  Antwerp,  and  other  places,  and  there 
 received  ordination  according  to  the  manner  of  the  foreign  re- 
 formed churches,  wrhich,  in  their  opinion,  was  much  more 
 agreeable  to  the  word  of  God.  Amongst  those  who  adopted 
 this  course  was  Mr  Travers,  who  travelled  to  Antwerp,  and 
 was  there  ordained  by  the  presbytery,  as  appears  by  his  honour- 
 able testimonial  to  that  effect,  dated  May  14th,  1578.  Soon 
 after  his  ordination  he  became  assistant  to  Mr  Cartwright,  then 
 preacher  to  the  English  company  at  that  place.  He  was  a  man 
 highly  distinguished  for  prudence,  piety,  and  learning;  and  on 
 his  return  to  England,  the  lord  treasurer  Burleigh  made  choice 
 of  him  for  his  domestic  chaplain,  and  tutor  to  his  son  Robert, 
 afterwards  earl  of  Salisbury.     The  treasurer  was  a  constant 
 
326  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 friend  and  patron  to  the  non-conformists,  and  evidenced  his  af- 
 fectionate regard  for  them  during  his  whole  life.  On  the 
 present  occasion,  in  the  face  of  the  whole  kingdom,  he  counten- 
 anced this  excellent  man,  and  received  him  into  his  family,  not- 
 withstanding of  his  non-conformity.  Mr  Travers  could  not 
 subscribe,  and,  of  course,  was  incapable  of  any  considerable 
 preferment  in  the  church:  which  otherwise  his  noble  patron 
 was  ready  to  bestow  upon  him.  The  lecturer's  place  at  the 
 temple  becoming  vacant,  the  learned  gentlemen  of  that  society 
 invited  him  to  take  it;  and  forasmuch  as  no  subscription  was 
 required,  he  accepted  the  invitation.  In  1583,  a  short  time  be- 
 fore Dr.  Alvey  departed  this  life,  the  doctor,  with  the  learned 
 gentlemen  of  that  society,  recommended  Mr  Travers  for  his 
 successor.  The  doctor  and  Travers  had  lived  together  in  great 
 concord  and  brotherly  affection.  They  united  in  mutually  for- 
 warding the  work  of  reformation  in  the  place,  and  with  much 
 zeal,  prudence,  and  resolution,  joined  in  promoting  genuine 
 piety  amongst  the  learned  benchers,  by  whom  they  were  both 
 highly  esteemed  for  their  work's  sake.  The  above  recommend- 
 ation and  request  were  presented  to  the  treasurer,  who  commu- 
 nicated the  same  to  the  queen,  signifying  to  her  majesty  his  ap- 
 probation of  their  choice.  But  by  the  strenuous  endeavours, 
 and  superior  influence  of  Whitegift,  who  most  vigorously  op- 
 posed his  admission,  by  signifying  to  the  queen,  that  he  was  one 
 of  the  principal  authors  of  dissention  in  the  church;  that  he 
 despised  the  book  of  common  prayer;  and,  moreover,  that  he  was 
 ordained  abroad,  and  not  according  to  the  form  of  the  church  of 
 England — Mr  Travers  was  therefore  rejected.  He  justified  him- 
 self, however,  against  all  these  false  charges,  and  proved  the  vali- 
 dity of  his  ordination.  During  the  above  year,  Mr  Travers  was 
 engaged  in  a  public  conference  at  Lambeth.  Archbishop  White- 
 gift  and  the  bishop  of  Winchester  on  the  one  side;  and  Mr 
 Travers  and  Dr.  Thomas  Sparke  on  the  other.  The  first  day's 
 conference  was  held  on  the  10th  December,  in  presence  of  the 
 earl  of  Leicester,  lord  Gray,  and  Sir  Francis  Walsingham. 
 The  subjects  of  discussion  were  confined  to  such  things  in  the 
 book  of  common  prayer  as  were  complained  of  by  the  puritans. 
 The  conference  was  opened  by  the  archbishop  with  the  follow- 
 ing declaration  :  "  My  lord  of  Leicester  having  requested,  for 
 his  own  satisfaction,  to  hear  what  the  ministers  could  reprove, 
 and  how  their  objections  might  be  answered,  I  have  granted  his 
 request.  Let  us  then  hear  what  things  in  the  book  of  common 
 prayer  you  think  ought  to  be  reformed,  altered,  or  amended. 
 You  now  appear  before  me,  not  in  a  judicial  capacity,  or  called 
 in  question  by  authority,  but  merely  to  discuss  the  propriety  of 
 reviewing  the  book  of  common  prayer,  for  I  lie  purpose  of  learn- 
 
WALTER  TRAVERS.  32? 
 
 ing  what  alterations  or  amendments,  if  any,  are  necessary. 
 You  shall  therefore  be  free  to  charge  the  said  book  with  what- 
 ever faults  it  may  contain." 
 
 The  conference  was  long;  however,  that  we  may  gratify  the 
 inquisitive  reader,  we  give  a  specimen  thereof  as  follows :  The 
 archbishop  having  ended,  Dr.  Sparke  replied,  <;  We  thank  God, 
 and  your  lordship,  that  after  so  many  years,  wherein  our  cause 
 could  never  be  allowed  an  impartial  hearing,  it  hath  pleased 
 God,  in  his  goodness,  so  to  order  matters,  that  we  are  now  fa- 
 voured with  this  desirable  privilege,  and  that  before  such  ho- 
 nourable and  learned  judges,  which,  we  fondly  hope,  may  be  a 
 mean,  in  the  hand  of  God,  to  induce  her  excellent  majesty  to 
 promote  a  further  reformation  in  such  things  as  are  needful; 
 and  we  embrace,  with  heartfelt  gratitude,  the  opportunity  thus 
 given  us,  freely  to  declare,  for  the  satisfaction  of  those  in  autho- 
 rity, what  things  we  humbly  conceive  ought  to  be  reviewed 
 and  reformed  in  the  public  service  of  God;  and  seeing  the  fa- 
 vourable issue  must  depend  upon  his  blessing,  I  desire,  before 
 we  proceed  farther,  that  we  may  implore  his  merciful  and  gra- 
 cious direction."  Dr.  Sparke  accordingly  was  about  to  pray, 
 when  he  was  interrupted  by  the  archbishop,  who  said,  "  You 
 shall  make  no  prayers  here.  You  shall  not  turn  this  place  into 
 a  conventicle !  !" 
 
 The  two  chief  points  urged  against  the  common  prayer  book 
 by  these  divines,  were  the  appointment  of  certain  apocryphal 
 writings  in  the  public  worship  of  God,  in  which  were  several 
 errors  and  false  doctrines,  while  many  parts  of  the  canonical 
 writings,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  were  omitted, 
 which,  they  maintained,  made  the  apocrypha  equal,  if  not  su- 
 perior, to  the  scriptures. 
 
 Archb'islwp.  The  books  called  apocrypha  are  indeed  parts  of 
 the  scriptures;  they  have  been  read  in  the  church  in  ancient 
 times,  and  ought  to  be  still  read  amongst  us. 
 
 Travers.  The  title  holy  scripture  is  that  by  which  the  Holy 
 Ghost  distinguisheth  the  canonical  writings  from  the  apocry- 
 pha, and  all  other  uncanonical  books. 
 
 A.  The  apocrypha  was  given  by  the  inspiration  of  God,  as 
 were  also  all  whatsoever  the  heathen  have  written  well. 
 
 T.  In  the  general  sense  of  the  word  inspiration,  what  your 
 grace  has  said  of  the  apocrypha  is  true;  for  no  man  can  say  that 
 Jesus  is  Lord,  but  by  the  spirit.  The  present  question,  how- 
 ever, relates  to  such  an  inspiration  as  that  which  moved  and 
 governed  the  holy  men  of  God  in  reporting  and  setting  down 
 those  things,  so  that  they  could  not  possibly  err.  In  this  sense 
 the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  they  only, 
 are  holy,  and  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  herein  they  dif- 
 fer exceedingly  from  the  apocrypha,  and  all  other  writings. 
 
328  MEMOIXl  OF 
 
 Sparke.  Private  baptism  appears,  in  several  respects,  at  vari- 
 ance with  the  word  of  God;  1st,  being  done  in  private;  2d,  by 
 laymen;  3d,  by  women;  and  4th,  inasmuch  as  the  doctrine  im- 
 plied in  all  this  unnecessary  despatch  is,  that  the  child  dying 
 unbaptized  is  in  danger  of  damnation ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
 that  outward  baptism  secures  its  salvation;  either  of  which  are 
 erroneous. 
 
 A.  The  place  is  not  of  the  substance  of  the  ordinance,  it  has 
 been  administered  privately  in  times  of  persecution,  and  may 
 be  again. 
 
 T.  That  is  no  part  of  the  present  question,  we  are  now 
 speaking  of  baptism  in  time  of  peace. 
 
 A.  The  persons,  no  more  than  the  place,  are  parts  of  the  ordi- 
 nance of  baptism;  and  as  in  times  of  persecution,  as  well  as  in 
 some  other  cases,  private  men  have  baptized,  it  may  be  done  so 
 again.  As  for  the  baptism  by  women,  though  I  would  not 
 allow  them  to  baptize,  neither  doth  the  book  appoint  them  to 
 do  so,  yet  will  I  not  deny  their  baptism  to  be  lawful.  I 
 would  rather  have  a  child  so  baptized,  than  die  without  bap- 
 tism. Though  I  do  not  affirm  that  the  child  dying  without 
 it  is  lost;  yet  because  I  should  fear  and  doubt  the  safety  of  their 
 state,  I  would  have  them  baptized  by  a  woman,  rather  than  not 
 at  all. — This  closed  the  first  day's  conference. 
 
 On  the  12th  December  they  met  again,  when  the  archbishop 
 of  York  and  the  lord  treasurer  were  added  to  their  number. 
 The  archbishop  introduced  the  business  of  the  day,  by  recapi- 
 tulating what  had  been  done  on  the  former  occasion,  and  order- 
 ed Dr.  Sparke  and  Mr  Travers  further  to  enumerate  their  ob- 
 jections to  the  book  of  common  prayer.  But  his  grace's  re- 
 capitulation having  been  somewhat  imperfect,  Dr.  Sparke  took 
 the  liberty  to  subjoin  what  he  had  omitted;  after  which  they 
 proceeded  as  follows : 
 
 A.  Cyprian,  and  others  of  the  ancient  fathers,  avouch  the 
 apocrypha  as  part  of  the  scriptures. 
 
 T.  Some  of  the  fathers  having  alleged  that  it  is  part  of  the 
 scriptures,  is  not  so  strong  an  evidence  that  it  is  so,  as  the  total 
 silence  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles,  is  that  it  is  not. 
 
 Lord  Treasurer,  That  is  no  good  argument.  You  can  never 
 form  a  syllogism  of  it. 
 
 T.  Whatever  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles  alleged  not,  can 
 be  no  part  of  the  prophetical  writings,  if  they  alleged  all  the 
 prophets.  But  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles  alleged  all  the 
 prophets,  without  alleging  any  part  of  the  apocrypha;  therefore 
 the  apocrypha  can  be  no  part  of  the  prophetical  writings.  All 
 the  prophets  from  Samuel,  and  those  that  follow  after,  as  many 
 as  have  spoken,  having  foretold  the  days  of  Christ. 
 
WALTER  TRAVERS.  329 
 
 S.  Some  passages  of  scripture,  introduced  into  the  common 
 prayer,  are  made  to  speak  the  very  reverse  of  the  original. 
 Romans,  chap.  iv.  is  entirely  perverted.  For  whereas  the 
 apostle  saith,  "  Cometh  this  biessedness  upon  the  circumcision 
 only,  or  upon  the  uncircumcision  also  ?"  The  hook,  by  law 
 appointed  to  be  used  in  the  service  of  God,  reads  quite  the 
 contrary..  Likewise  the  cv.  Psalm,  where,  in  the  original, 
 and  in  all  good  translations,  the  expression  is,  "  They  were  not 
 disobedient  to  his  word;"  but  in  the  church's  prayer-book  it 
 reads,  "  They  were  not  obedient;"  which  means  the  very  opposite. 
 
 A.  There  may  be  some  ambiguity  in  the  Hebrew  word. 
 Having  no  knowledge  of  the  language,  I  cannot  tell;  but  you 
 can. 
 
 T.  and  S.  There  is  not  the  least  ambiguity  in  the  word. 
 
 A.  In  baptism  there  is  nothing  belonging  to  the  essence  of 
 that  sacrament,  but  merely  the  element  and  the  word;  and  with 
 regard  to  the  place,  you  will  allow,  that  in  times  of  persecution 
 it  is  not  unlawful  to  baptize  in  private  places. 
 
 T.  The  question  is  applicable  to  a  peaceable  state  of  the 
 church,  such  as  the  church  of  England  presently  enjoys. 
 
 A.  As  the  place  is  no  part  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  so 
 neither  is  the  person;  but  at  some  times,  and  in  different  cases, 
 laymen,  nay,  women,  may  baptize.  May  not  a  christian  bap- 
 tize when  living  in  a  state  of  persecution,  or  supposing  he  lived 
 in  the  West  Indies? 
 
 T.  Your  grace's  remarks  are  not  pertinent.  We  are  not  now 
 discussing  extraordinary  cases,  but  how  baptism  ought  to  be  ad- 
 ministered in  the  church  of  Christ  under  ordinary  circumstan- 
 ces. But  even  in  the  cases  you  have  supposed,  it  is  not  lawful 
 for  any  one  to  administer  the  sacraments  without  some  extraor- 
 dinary call  from  God,  or  some  ordinary  call  from  the  church; 
 for  no  man  taketh  this  honour  to  himself,  but  he  that  is  called 
 of  God. 
 
 Archbishop  of  York.  I  disallow  of  private  baptism  altogether, 
 and  have  forbidden  it  to  be  used  in  any  part  of  my  diocese.  I 
 have  spoken  to  the  queen  about  it,  and  I  will  not  suffer  it. 
 
 A.  Calvin  held  that  baptism  was  necessary,  and  reproved  the 
 anabaptists  for  deferring  it  too  long. 
 
 T.  Calvin  did  not  consider  baptism  necessary,  on  any  other 
 account,  than  that  it  might  not  be  omitted  by  negligence  and 
 contempt,  no  more  than  did  the  reformed  churches  on  the  con- 
 tinent. 
 
 *S'.  Circumcision  was  the  same  to  the  Jews  that  baptism  is  to 
 us  christians;  and  if  it  had  been  so  essentially  necessary  for  the 
 salvation  of  the  children  of  the  Jews,  no  doubt  God  would  have 
 commanded  it  to  be  performed  at  the  birth,  and  that  by  laymen, 
 
 12  2t 
 
330  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 or  even  by  women ;  which  not  having  been  done,  seems  to  de- 
 stroy the  necessity  so  strenuously  contended  for. 
 
 A.  The  necessity  of  private  baptism  is  so  guarded  in  the  ar- 
 ticles, as  to  clear  the  church  of  England  of  these  errors. 
 
 T.  The  doctrine  of  the  articles  is  good  and  holy;  but  the  ne- 
 cessity of  baptism,  as  laid  down  in  the  prayer  book,  is  so  great, 
 and  so  pressing,  that  it  must  not  be  put  off  till  an  ordinary  op- 
 portunity occur,  but  must  be  done  instantly,  if  laymen,  or  even 
 women,  should  administer  it  in  whatever  place  this  necessity 
 occurs,  often  where  there  is  not  even  time  to  perform  the  cere- 
 mony, and  pronounce  the  words,  least  the  child  be  dead  amongst 
 their  hands.  To  reconcile  this  hurried  administration  of  a  so- 
 lemn and  divine  ordinance  with  the  word  of  God,  I,  for  one, 
 consider  altogether  impossible. 
 
 S.  To  question  the  child  if  it  believes,  and  be  answered  by 
 another  person  that  it  does,  must,  in  spite  of  every  apology  that 
 can  be  made  in  its  defence,  be  a  flagrant  untruth,  at  variance 
 even  with  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  and  utterly  at  vari- 
 ance with  the  scriptures. 
 
 A.  Augustine  says,  the  child  may  be  said  to  believe,  because 
 it  receives  the  sacrament  of  faith. 
 
 S.  The  question  in  baptism  is  put  before  the  sacrament  is  re- 
 ceived; but  supposing  it  were  not,  the  sponsor  may  say  the 
 child  believes;  but  what  mau,  in  his  senses,  will  believe  this 
 same  sponsor  ?  How  is  it  possible  that  any  man  can  credit  an 
 assertion  labouring  under  both  a  moral  and  physical  impossi- 
 bility ?  And  with  regard  to  the  cross  in  baptism,  and  other 
 ceremonies  therewith  connected,  were  they  ever  so  ancient,  or 
 ever  so  good  in  their  original  institution,  being  unnecessary  in 
 themselves,  and  now  abused  to  idolatry,  they  ought  to  be  aban- 
 doned. Like  the  brazen  serpent,  originally  appointed  by  God, 
 and  afterwards  kept  as  a  monument  of  his  special  favour,  till 
 abused  to  idolatry,  when  it  was  utterly  destroyed,  and  all  this 
 by  the  will  of  God;  even  so  the  cross  in  baptism,  never  having 
 been  of  any  use  in  the  church,  but,  on  the  contrary,  abused  to 
 idolatry  as  much  as  ever  the  brazen  serpent  had  been,  ought  to 
 be  abandoned.  To  impose  the  use  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  as 
 necessary  to  that  ordinance,  is  not  only  unsupported  by  scrip- 
 ture, and  altogether  built  on  the  basis  of  superstition,  but  a 
 dangerous  appendage  added  to  the  all -wise  and  gracious  ap- 
 pointment of  God.  Neither  is  this  my  individual  opinion,  but 
 that  also  of  all  the  foreign  reformed  churches;  as  you  may  per- 
 ceive by  perusing  the  harmony  of  confessions.  As  to  Beza,  he 
 had  too  much  liberality  to  condemn  any  church  for  using  the 
 cross,  seeing  ho  respected  the  liberty  of  sentiment  due  to  all 
 men.     Nevertheless,  his  opinion  is,  that  the  using  of  the  cross 
 
WALTER  TRAVERS.  331 
 
 ought  to  be  abolished;  nay,  more,  the  same  Beza  recommends  it 
 to  ministers  rather  to  forego  their  ministry,  than,  in  opposi- 
 tion to  their  conviction,  subscribe  to  that  unscriptural,  and  alto- 
 gether unnecessary  ceremony. 
 
 Leicester.  What  a  pity  that  so  many  of  our  best  ministers, 
 and  most  assiduous  preachers,  have  suffered  themselves  to  be 
 deprived  for  these  unimportant  things. 
 
 T.  My  lord,  we  freely  acknowledge  that  the  peace  of  the 
 church  of  Christ  is  a  matter  of  singular  importance;  never- 
 theless, peace  without,  or  contrary  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel, 
 must  necessarily  become  a  sacrifice  whenever  it  comes  in 
 competition  with  the  commandments  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  is 
 the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament,  and  on  this  ground  I  rest 
 the  positive  assertion,  that  such  ministers  as  have  withstood 
 these  idle  ceremonies,  have  done  well  in  rejecting  the  counsel 
 of  men,  which  their  consciences  informed  them  was  opposed  to 
 the  will  and  unerring  commandments  of  infinite  wisdom,  even 
 at  the  expence  of  their  ministry.  What,  in  comparison  to 
 this,  are  all  the  commandments  and  traditions  of  men  ?  What, 
 in  matters  of  such  unspeakable  importance,  were  the  authority 
 of  angels  ?  If  you  love  me,  says  Christ,  keep  my  command- 
 ments. These  are  simple.  His  yoke  is  easy,  his  burden  is  light; 
 the  whole  system  of  his  religion  unadulterated,  is  pure,  and 
 easily  comprehended;  but  the  ceremonies  that  foolish  men  have 
 foolishly  introduced,  are  void  of  meaning,  destitute  of  import- 
 ance, without  use,  and  without  edification. 
 
 A.  From  the  letter  of  Dr.  Ridley,  now  read,  you  see  that  he 
 approved  of  the  habits. 
 
 S.  Mr  Fox,  in  his  book  of  martyrs,  reports,  that  Ridley,  at 
 his  degradation,  scorned  the  habits,  saying,  they  were  foolish 
 and  abominable,  too  fond  for  a  vice  in  a  play. 
 
 A.  You  will  call  in  question  also  the  authority  and  jurisdic- 
 tion of  the  bishops. 
 
 T.  We  object  to  the  prayer-book,  because  it  sets  up  a  ministry 
 directly  opposite  to  the  authority  of  scripture,  as  appears  from 
 1  Tim.  iii.  and  Titus  i. 
 
 Treasurer.  What  scripture  can  you  produce  to  prove  that  he 
 who  administers  the  sacraments  should  also  preach  ? 
 
 T.  Go  ye  therefore  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them, 
 &c:  which  things  being  thus  joined  together  by  the  command 
 of  Christ  himself,  none  but  Christ  has  authority  to  part  them 
 asunder;  nor  is  that  merely  our  opinion,  the  reformed  churches 
 on  the  continent  hold  it  both  in  faith  and  practice. 
 
 A.  The  apostolic  rule,  which  you  have  alleged,  is  only  an 
 idea  of  a  minister. 
 
 T.  To  make  it  merely  an  idea  would  overturn  the  whole 
 
33^  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 system  of  revealed  religion;  because  if  this  commandment  of 
 Christ  was  merely  an  idea,  all  the  duties  commanded  by  him 
 would  fall  equally  under  the  appellation  of  ideas;  hence  his 
 command,  to  believe  in  his  mission,  to  love  one  another,  to  do 
 to  others  as  we  would  be  done  to;  in  short,  all  the  law  of 
 Moses,  and  all  the  requisite  duties  of  society,  might,  on  the  very 
 same  ground,  and  with  equal  propriety,  be  denominated  ideal. 
 Treasurer.  It  is  impossible. 
 
 T.  If  the  churches,  in  times  of  bloody  persecution,  have  in- 
 variably observed  this  order,  it  can  surely  be  no  very  difficult 
 matter  for  us  in  a  state  of  peace. — Here  the  conference  closed, 
 and  the  company  separated. 
 
 Mr  Strype  has  published  to  the  world,  that  the  ministers 
 were  convinced  on  this  occasion,  and  that  they  conformed;  but 
 it  is  obvious  he  had  not  known  the  men;  besides,  he  acknow- 
 ledges that  he  had  never  seen  the  debate.  Travers  continued 
 a  non-conformist  till  the  day  of  his  death;  and  Dr.  Sparke  ap- 
 peared at  the  head  of  the  puritans,  before  the  king  at  Hampton- 
 court  conference,  twenty  years  after  this  period. 
 
 Mr  Travers  continued  lecturer  with  Mr  Hooker,  the  new 
 master  of  the  Temple,  for  about  the  space  of  two  years,  but  with 
 little  peace.     Travers  being  a  strict  Calvinist,  and  the  other 
 less  restricted  in  his  opinions,    which  occasioned  him   consi- 
 derable uneasiness,  and  finally  lost  him  the  situation.     Many 
 of  their  sermons  being  on  points  of  controversy,  respecting  the 
 doctrine,  discipline,  and  ceremonies  of  the  church;  and  each 
 maintaining  his  favourite  opinions,  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
 to  hear  the  morning  sermon  controverted  in  the  afternoon,  and 
 vindicated  next  Lord's  day.     Hooker  at  last  complained;  and 
 Whitegift,  apparently  well  pleased  at  the  opportunity,  without 
 the  least  warning,  silenced  Mr  Travers  from  preaching  either  at 
 the  Temple  or  any  where  else  in  the  realm  of  England.     The 
 reasons  given  for  this  unmerciful  severity  of  the  archbishop  are, 
 that  Travers  was  not  ordained  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
 church  of  England :    That  he  had  preached  without  a  license  : 
 That  he  had  broken  through  her  majesty's  orders;  and  that 
 controversies  ought  not  to  be  carried  on  from  the  pulpit.     Mr 
 Travers  presented  a  supplication  to  the  council  in  vindication 
 of  himself.     In  this  paper  he  complains,  that  he  was  condemn- 
 ed without  being  heard,  and  that  contrary  to  every  thing  like 
 honesty  and  fair  dealing;  he  was  silenced  before  he  was  exa- 
 mined.   He  then  proceeds  to  answer  the  allegations  against  him. 
 1st,  It  is  said  I  am  not  lawfully  called  nor  qualified  to  be  a  mini- 
 ster in  England,  not  being  ordained  according  to  the  laws  of  this 
 country.     I  beseech  your  lordships  to  consider,  that  such  is  the 
 communion  of  saints,  that  every  solemn  act  done  in  one  true 
 
WALTER  TllAVERS.  333 
 
 church,  corresponding  with  the  word  of  Christ,  is  recognized 
 by  all  other  true  churches.  The  making  or  ordaining  of  a  mi- 
 nister being  once  lawfully  done,  ought  not  to  be  repeated;  be- 
 cause to  repeat  our  ordination,  would  be  to  annul  and  make 
 void  our  former  ordination;  and,  of  consequence,  marriages, 
 baptisms,  and  all  such  other  acts  as  had  been  done  in  virtue 
 thereof,  would  also  naturally  become  void;  and  by  acting  on  the 
 same  principle,  people  removing  from  one  kingdom  to  settle  in 
 another,  ought  to  be  rebaptized  and  married  again.  But  why 
 should  I  urge  the  inconvenience  attending  such  a  mode  of  pro- 
 cedure, while  the  plain  letter  of  the  law  speaks  directly  to  the 
 point  in  question.  By  the  statute  13th  Eliz.  those  ministers 
 who  have  been  ordained  in  foreign  protestant  churches,  on  sub- 
 scribing the  articles  therein  specified,  are  held  fully  qualified  to 
 enjoy  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  that  can  be  claimed  by 
 those  ordained  according  to  our  own  laws  and  regulations;  in 
 consequence  of  which  law,  many  Scotch  divines  are  now  enjoy- 
 ing benefices  in  the  church  of  England. 
 
 The  lords  of  the  council,  to  whom  Travers  had  presented  his 
 supplication,  did  not  choose  to  interfere,  and  so  he  was  left  to 
 the  mercy  of  the  archbishop,  who  could  never  be  prevailed  upon 
 to  remove  his  suspension,  or  even  license  him  to  preach  in  any 
 part  of  the  kingdom.  Mr  Travers  had  many  powerful  friends, 
 even  the  lords  of  council  themselves  were  much  divided  on  this 
 case;  and  all  who  opposed  Whitegift's  intolerant  measures  were 
 his  friends;  but  the  archbishop's  power  and  influence  with  the 
 queen  were  beyond  control. 
 
 About  this  time  Travers  was  invited  to  become  professor  of 
 divinity  in  the  university  of  St.  Andrews;  which  he  refused, 
 with  thankful  acknowledgments  for  the  honour  intended  him. 
 His  celebrity  being  universally  known,  Dr.  Loftus,  archbishop 
 of  Dublin,  and  chancellor  of  Ireland,  who  had  been  his  col- 
 league at  Cambridge,  and  knew  his  abilities,  invited  him  to  take 
 the  provostship  of  Trinity  college,  Dublin;  which,  having  no 
 prospect  of  a  restoration  to  his  beloved  ministry,  he  accepted. 
 In  this  new  situation  he  was  much  admired,  and  had,  for  one  of 
 his  pupils,  Mr  James  Usher,  afterward  the  famous  archbishop 
 of  Armagh,  by  whom  he  was  held  in  such  high  estimation  and 
 regard,  that  neither  time,  nor  the  change  of  circumstances, 
 could  ever  alter  or  impair;  for  when  Usher  was  preferred 
 to  a  bishoprick,  and  Travers  grown  old,  and  reduced  to  poverty 
 and  obscurity,  the  pious  prelate  used  frequently  to  visit  him, 
 and  would  have  most  cheerfully  supplied  him  with  money; 
 for  which  the  good  old  man  was  grateful,  but  never  Avould  con- 
 descend to  accept.  He  continued  provost  of  the  above  college 
 several  years;  but  on  the  commencement  of  the  wars  in  Ireland, 
 
334*  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 he  was  obliged  to  quit  his  station;  at  which  period  he  returned 
 to  England,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  silent  ob- 
 scurity. He  was  living  in  March  1624;  but  it  does  not  appear 
 how  long  he  survived  this  period.  He  was  eminent  for  learn- 
 ing, a  polished  preacher,  an  orator  of  the  first  class,  and  one  of 
 the  most  celebrated  divines  of  the  age;  but  what  availed  all 
 these  excellencies,  when  weighed  in  the  prelatical  balance 
 against  the  unpardonable  and  preponderating  sin  of  non-con- 
 formity. His  name  stands  enrolled  amongst  the  eminent  men 
 of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge. 
 
 His  works  are,  A  Justification  of  the  Religion  now  professed 
 in  England. — An  Answer  to  the  Epistle  of  G.  T.  for  the  pre- 
 tended Catholics. — De  Disciplina  Ecclesiastica  ex  Dei  verbo 
 Descripta,  commonly  called  the  Book  of  Discipline  #. 
 
 JOHN  ROBINSON. 
 
 This  celebrated  puritan  was  born  in  the  year  1575,  edu- 
 cated at  Cambridge,  and  beneficed  near  Yarmouth.  In  1602, 
 the  intolerance  of  the  prelates,  in  urging  the  ministers  to  sub- 
 scribe to  popish  ceremonies,  which  had  been  retained  in  the 
 established  religion,  and  their  severity  in  silencing  such  as  had 
 the  integrity  to  reject  these  antichristian  relics,  together  with 
 the  grievous  oppressions  exercised  by  their  ecclesiastical  courts, 
 induced  a  number  of  the  people,  in  those  parts,  to  make  a  total 
 separation  from  the  ecclesiastic  establishment,  and  to  organize 
 themselves  under  a  system  of  church  government,  consonant  to 
 their  own  views  of  the  New  Testament  rule,  whatever  might  be 
 the  consequences.  With  this  view,  they  covenanted  with  one 
 another  to  walk  with  God,  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  ordinances, 
 according  to  the  primitive  and  apostolic  pattern.  Amongst  the 
 ministers  who  joined  this  association  Mr  Robinson  was  one,  and 
 at  this  time  also  became  pastor  to  one  of  their  churches. 
 
 Having  thus  renounced  the  yoke  of  antichrist,  and  resolved 
 to  worship  God,  without  submitting  to  the  traditions  of  men, 
 the  spirit  of  intolerance  was  awakened  against  them  with  re- 
 novated severity.  Besides  the  trial  of  cruel  mockings,  spies 
 were  set  over  them,  they  were  hunted  out  by  officers,  and  often 
 
 *  This  Book  of  Discipline  was  designed  as  a  form  of  church  government,  and  sub- 
 scribed by  Mr  Travers,  and  a  great  part  of  the  non-conformists.  It  was  wrote  in 
 Latin,  but  translated  into  English,  and  printed  at  Cambridge;  but  the  principal  part 
 of  the  impression  was  seized  by  the  vice-chancellor.  In  the  year  1(>44,  when  the 
 book  of  common  prayer  was  abolished  by  order  of  the  parliament,  this  Book  of  Dis- 
 cipline was  republished,  and  appointed  to  be  observed  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters, 
 with  the  new  title,  A  Directory  of  Government,  anciently  contended  for,  and  as  far 
 as  the  times  would  admit,  practised  by  the  first  non-conformists  in  the  days  of  queen 
 Elizabeth,  found  in  the  study  of  that  most  accomplished  divine,  Thomas  Cartwright, 
 after  his  decease,  and  reserved  for  publieation  at  such  a  time  a*  this. 
 
JOHN  ROBINSON.  336 
 
 imprisoned,  or  forced  to  flee  from  their  homes,  and  their  means 
 of  subsistence.  Under  these  cruel  oppressions  they  groaned 
 for  seven  sorrowful  years,  assembling  together,  as  by  stealth,  in 
 private  houses,  or  wherever  they  could  find  an  eligible  situa- 
 tion. Thus  harassed,  and  almost  ruined  in  the  ecclesiastic 
 courts,  they  at  last  resolved  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Holland, 
 where  they  understood  they  might  enjoy  religious  freedom. 
 They  had  raised  no  disturbance  in  the  state,  but  acted  the  part 
 of  industrious  subjects,  and  peaceable  members  of  the  commu- 
 nity; yet  because  they  would  not  bow  to  the  authority  of  men's 
 inventions,  in  matters  that  concerned  their  duty  to  God  only, 
 they  were  loaded  with  heavy  fines  and  forfeitures,  and  hunted 
 like  partridges  on  the  mountains. 
 
 Though  Mr  Robinson  and  his  flock  had  resolved  to  sail  for 
 Holland,  their  enemies,  being  apprized  of  their  design,  watched 
 them  so  close,  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  elude  their  vigi- 
 lance. Their  case  was  every  way  deplorable,  at  home  they 
 were  not  permitted  to  live  in  peace,  nor  suffered  to  depart 
 where  they  could  find  a  quiet  retreat.  The  following  facts,  ex- 
 tracted from  the  original  record  belonging  to  the  church  of  Ply- 
 mouth, New  England,  will  show  the  incredible  sufferings  to 
 which  they  were  subjected  at  this  time. 
 
 "  A  large  company,  intending  to  embark  at  Boston  for  Hol- 
 land, hired  a  ship,  and  agreed  with  the  master  to  take  them  on 
 board  on  a  certain  day,  and  at  an  appointed  place.  They  were 
 punctual  to  the  engagement;  but  the  ship  did  not  arrive  at  the 
 time;  but  at  last  came  and  took  them  on  board  during  the  night. 
 But  having  previously  agreed  with  the  searchers,  the  captain 
 basely  betrayed  them,  by  delivering  them  and  their  effects  into 
 the  hands  of  their  persecutors,  who  instantly  put  them  into 
 boats,  rifled  and  searched  them  even  to  their  shirts,  treating 
 the  females  with  rudeness  and  indelicacy.  They  were  carried 
 back  to  the  town,  where  they  were  made  spectacles  of  public 
 scorn  to  the  multitudes,  who  flocked  from  every  quarter  to  see 
 them.  They  were  then  carried  before  the  magistrates,  and 
 thrown  into  prison,  where  they  remained  for  a  month,  and 
 some  of  them  much  longer;  while  some  were  bound  over  to  the 
 next  assizes." 
 
 In  the  following  spring,  however,  Mr  Robinson  and  his 
 friends  made  a  second  attempt.  They  made  their  situation 
 known  to  a  Dutch  captain,  and  agreed  with  him  to  carry  them 
 to  Holland.  He  was  to  take  them  off  from  a  large  common  be- 
 tween  Grunsby  and  Hull,  a  place  remote  from  any  town.  The 
 women,  children,  and  goods,  were  sent  to  the  place  in  a  small 
 bark,  while  the  men  travelled  by  land;  but  the  bark  arriving  a 
 day  before  the  ship,  the  sea  being  rough,  and  the  women  and 
 
830  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 children  very  sick,  the  seamen  put  into  a  small  creek.  The 
 next  morning  the  ship  arrived;  but  the  bark  was  a-ground, 
 owing  to  the  ebbing  tide.  That  no  time  might  be  lost,  the 
 captain  sent  his  boat,  in  whicli  the  greater  part  of  the  men 
 embarked;  but  returning  for  the  women  and  children,  he 
 spied  a  great  company  of  horse  and  foot  coming  from  the  coun- 
 try in  arms,  on  which  lie  weighed  anchor  with  all  haste,  hoist- 
 ed sail,  and  having  the  Avind  off  shore,  was  soon  out  of  sight. 
 The  men  were  thus  separated  from  their  wives  and  children, 
 without  a  change  of  garments,  and  generally  without  their  mo- 
 ney, their  goods  being  all  left  with  the  women.  The  con- 
 sideration of  the  merciless  treatment  awaiting  their  helpless  fa- 
 milies, from  the  hands  of  their  persecutors,  absorbed  every 
 feeling  for  their  own  situation;  tears  flowed  in  abundance,  but 
 tears  were  all  in  vain.  They  were  soon  after  overtaken  with  a 
 terrible  storm,  and  driven  on  the  coast  of  Norway.  For  seven 
 days  they  saw  neither  sun,  moon,  nor  stars.  The  mariners 
 themselves  were  at  their  wits  end;  and  at  one  time  they  ima- 
 gined the  ship  was  going  down,  when,  with  death-boding 
 shrieks,  they  cried  out,  we  sink !  we  sink !  The  puritan  passen- 
 gers, amid  this  dreadful  scene  of  hopeless  horror,  with  much 
 less  distraction  than  might  have  been  expected,  were  crying,  Yet, 
 Lord,  thou  canst  save;  thou  art  a  present  help  in  time  of  trou- 
 ble; and  other  similar  expressions.  The  ship  at  last  recovered 
 herself;  and  the  storm  abating,  they  reached  their  destination 
 in  safety. 
 
 Mr  Robinson,  and  some  others,  having  prudently  remained 
 to  see  the  women  and  children  all  safe  on  board,  were  left  on 
 shore;  and  owing  to  the  unforeseen  turn  of  affairs,  had  now  a 
 delicate  and  very  difficult  task  put  into  their  hands.  Here  was 
 a  scene  of  distress  which  neither  tongue  nor  pen  can  adequately 
 describe  :  A  multitude  of  helpless  women,  bereft  of  their  pro- 
 tectors and  comforters :  Children,  territied  at  the  rude  voice  of 
 the  unpitying  persecutors,  crying  with  fright,  and  shivering 
 with  cold :  No  home  to  shelter  them,  no  father  to  cheer  them, 
 and  nothing  left  to  sustain  the  mother's  breaking  heart.  Cha- 
 rity would  have  relieved,  humanity  would  have  comforted  the 
 mourning  mothers  and  their  tender  offspring;  but,  alas  !  chari- 
 ty, humanity,  and  every  feeling  of  sensibility,  were  lost  in  the 
 bigotry  of  superstition.  The  tools  of  prclatical  oppression,  to 
 gratify  the  humour  of  their  employers,  hurried  these  harmless 
 people  from  one  place  to  another,  and  from  one  officer  to  ano- 
 ther, till  their  triumph  grew  stale,  and  their  severity  disgusting, 
 even  to  themselves.  To  have  imprisoned  so  many  innocent 
 women  and  children,  would  have  for  ever  blasted  their  fame 
 for  gallantry,  branded  them  with  the  meanest  cowardice,  and 
 
JOHN  ROBINSON.  337 
 
 'excited  the  public  execration  against  them.  Homes  they  had 
 none,  their  unpitying  oppressors  were  therefore  glad  to  get  rid 
 of  them;  so  that,  by  courage  and  perseverance,  they  wrought 
 their  way  through  every  other  difficulty,  and  at  last  arrived  at 
 Amsterdam,  where  they  joined  their  friends,  with  hearts  full  of 
 joy  and  gratitude  to  God.  Upon  their  arrival  in  Amsterdam, 
 which  was  in  1608,  Mr  Robinson's  first  concern  was  to  arrange 
 their  church  affairs.  But  Mr  Smyth  and  his  church  having  ar- 
 rived some  time  before  them,  were  now  in  a  state  of  wrangling 
 and  contention,  which  they  maintained  with  such  warmth,  that 
 the  gentle  spirit  of  Mr  Robinson  induced  him  to  withdraw 
 from  a  scene  of  such  animosity.  Accordingly,  having  continu- 
 ed at  Amsterdam  about  one  year,  he  removed,  with  his  friends, 
 to  Leyden,  where  he  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  religious  liberty, 
 and,  with  the  permission  of  the  magistracy,  hired  a  meeting- 
 house, where  they  worshipped  God  according  to  their  own  con- 
 victions, none  making  them  afraid.  In  this  removal  they  act- 
 ed on  the  most  disinterested  principles;  for  though  they  were 
 certain  that  Leyden  would  afford  them  less  employment  and 
 less  profit,  they  preferred  peace  and  christian  liberty  to  every 
 worldly  consideration  whatever.  Here  they  engaged  in  such 
 trades  and  employments  as  they  could  severally  execute,  and  in 
 a  short  time  procured  for  themselves  a  comfortable  subsistence; 
 and  having  great  comfort  in  the  society  of  one  another,  and 
 singular  satisfaction  in  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  under  the 
 painful  ministry  of  Mr  Robinson,  they  lived  happily  together, 
 in  peace,  love,  and  holiness  of  life. 
 
 Mr  Robinson  set  out  on  the  most  rigid  principles  of  Brown- 
 ism;  but  having  seen  more  of  the  world,  and  conversed  with 
 learned  men,  particularly  with  Dr.  Ames,  he  became  less  rigid 
 in  his  principles;  and  having  struck  out  a  middle  path  between 
 the  Brownists  and  presbyterians,  he  even  admitted  to  occasional 
 communion  the  members  of  the  Dutch  churches,  and  allowed 
 his  own  people  to  join  them  in  prayer,  and  the  hearing  of  the 
 word,  though  not  in  communion.  He  objected  to  the  imposi- 
 tion of  the  liturgy,  the  government  by  bishops,  and  the  mixed 
 communion  of  the  church  of  England,  and  maintained,  that 
 every  particular  church,  or  society  of  christians,  had  complete 
 power  within  itself,  to  choose  its  own  officers,  to  administer  all 
 God's  ordinances,  to  exercise  all  nacessary  discipline  and  autho- 
 rity over  its  own  members,  and  consequently  that  it  is  to  all  in- 
 tents and  purposes  independent  of  all  classes,  synods,  convo- 
 cations, and  councils,  or  other  ecclesiastical  authority,  by  what- 
 ever other  name  it  may  be  distinguished.  "  This  we  hold  and 
 affirm  (says  Mr  Robinson),  that  two  or  three  gathered  together 
 by  a  covenant,  to  walk  in  all  the  ways  of  God,  constitute  a 
 
 13  2  u 
 
338  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 church,  and  as  such  possess  all  the  power  of  a  church  :  That  nei-v 
 ther  the  smallness  of  their  numbers,  nor  the  meanness  of  their 
 persons,  can  prejudice  their  rights;  so  that  two  or  three,  thus 
 united  together,  have  the  self-same  powers  and  privileges  as  two 
 or  three  thousand."  Mr  Robinson,  nevertheless,  admits,  that 
 these  grave  assemblies  are  expedient,  and  often  serviceable  in 
 reconciling  differences  amongst  churches,  by  giving  them 
 friendly  advice;  but  denies  them  the  power  of  exercising  any 
 act  of  authority  whatever,  unless  by  the  consent  of  the  churches 
 whom  the  matters  concern.  These  are  some  of  the  principles 
 by  which  the  independents  of  the  present  day  are  also  distin- 
 guished. 
 
 After  settling  at  Leyden,  Mr  Robinson's  church  greatly  in- 
 creased in  number.  Many  families,  from  various  parts  of  Eng- 
 land, joined  him;  so  that  his  congregation  amounted  to  three 
 hundred  communicants;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  doubt  with  many, 
 whether  any  church,  since  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  has 
 made  a  nearer  approach  to  the  apostolic  pattern.  The  candour, 
 simplicity,  and  integrity  of  its  members,  inspired  their  neighbours 
 with  confidence;  and  though  many  of  them  were  poor,  they 
 could  occasionally  borrow  from  the  Dutch,  who  readily  took 
 their  word.  They  saw  them  industrious,  and  preferred  them 
 for  customers;  they  found  them  honest,  and  chose  them  as 
 workmen;  and  their  general  good  character  is  honourably  at- 
 tested by  the  magistrates  of  Leyden,  who,  from  the  seat  of  jus- 
 tice, on  the  eve  of  their  departure  from  that  city,  say,  "  These 
 English  have  lived  amongst  us  now  these  ten  years,  during 
 which  we  never  had  any  suit  against  them,  nor  any  of  them." 
 
 After  having  sojourned  in  a  land  of  strangers  for  more  than 
 nine  years,  Mr  Robinson  and  his  people  began  to  turn  their  at- 
 tention to  America,  now  that  Providence  seemed  to  have  pro- 
 vided an  asylum  for  his  persecuted  people  in  that  distant  region. 
 To  this  they  were  moved  by  various  considerations.  At  Ley- 
 den, though  treated  by  the  inhabitants  with  the  greatest  civility, 
 and  notwithstanding  that  they  enjoyed  religious  instruction 
 and  fellowship,  without  the  least  annoyance,  still  these  precious 
 advantages  depended  entirely  on  the  courtesy  of  strangers, 
 they  were  unwilling  therefore  to  hold  them  on  so  precarious  a 
 tenure.  They  were  animated,  moreover,  with  the  cheering  con- 
 sideration, that  they  might  become  instrumental  in  carrying  the 
 joyful  sound  of  gospel  grace  into  the  regions  of  pagan  darkness, 
 and  be  the  means  of  salvation  to  many  precious  souls,  ready  to 
 perish.  Their  removal  was  not  therefore  the  effect  of  a  fickle 
 and  unsteady  disposition,  but  the  result  of  cool  deliberation  : 
 It  was  a  fearless  perseverance  towards  the  attainment  of  these 
 important  purposes  that  swallowed  up  every  minor  considera- 
 
JOHN  ROBINSON.  339 
 
 tion.  In  their  own  country  they  could  easily  perceive,  that  re- 
 formation, or  even  a  toleration  for  dissenters  from  the  national 
 church,  was  not  to  be  expected;  so,  after  much  deliberate  con- 
 sultation, and  solemn  prayer  to  God  for  direction,  it  was  at  last 
 resolved,  that  part  of  the  congregation,  best  qualified  for  the 
 enterprise,  should  first  transport  themselves  to  America,  where 
 they  might  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience,  and  where,  after  all  their 
 sufferings,  sorrow,  and  wanderings,  they  might  rest  in  tran- 
 quillity under  their  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  and  be  the  means  of 
 encouraging  their  suffering  friends  and  countrymen  to  follow 
 their  example. 
 
 In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  agents  were  despatched  to 
 England,  where,  having  obtained  a  patent  from  the  crown, 
 they  agreed  with  several  respectable  merchants,  and  other 
 friends,  to  take  part  in  the  enterprise.  Several  of  Mr  Robin- 
 son's congregation  sold  their  estates,  and  made  a  common  bank, 
 with  which  they  purchased  a  small  vessel  of  sixty  tons  burden, 
 and  hired  another  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  tons.  The  agents 
 sailed  for  Holland,  with  their  own  vessel,  to  take  on  board  as 
 many  as  were  willing  to  embark;  while  the  other  was  taking  in 
 the  necessary  stores  for  the  plantation.  All  things  at  last  be- 
 ing in  readiness  for  their  departure,  Mr  Robinson,  with  his 
 congregation,  held  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer;  on  which  occa- 
 sion he  preached  an  excellent  sermon  from  Ezra  viii.  21.  "I 
 proclaimed  a  fast  there  at  the  river  Ahava,  that  we  might  afflict 
 ourselves  before  our  God,  to  seek  of  him  a  right  way  for  us, 
 and  for  our  little  ones,  and  for  all  our  substance;"  which  he 
 concluded  with  the  following  appropriate  christian  exhortation  : 
 "Brethren, 
 
 "  We  are  now  about  to  be  separated  from  one  another,  and 
 whether  I  shall  ever  again  see  your  faces  on  earth,  the  God  of 
 heaven  only  knows.  But  whatever  way  the  Lord  has  appoint- 
 ed in  this,  I  charge  you,  before  God  and  his  blessed  angels, 
 that  you  follow  me  no  farther  than  you  have  seen  me  follow 
 the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  If  God,  by  any  other  instrument  of  his, 
 reveal  any  thing  to  you  that  you  have  not  yet  received,  be  as 
 ready  to  receive  it  from  others  as  ever  you  have  been  to  receive 
 any  truth  by  my  ministry :  For  I  am  verily  persuaded,  nay,  I 
 am  confident,  that  the  Lord:  will  yet  farther  unlock  the  blessed 
 treasures  of  his  holy  word,  and  exhibit  more  of  his  truth  than 
 the  christian  world  have  yet  discovered.  For  my  part,  I  can- 
 not sufficiently  lament  the  state  of  the  reformed  churches,  who 
 are  come  to  a  point  in  religion,  and  seemingly  determined  to 
 stand  still  where  the  instruments  of  the  reformation  left  them. 
 The  Lutherans  are  not  to  be  moved  a  step  farther  than  Luther 
 himself  had  taught  them;  and  whatever  part  of  his  will  our 
 
340  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 good  God  had  farther  made  known  to  Calvin,  they  will  rather 
 die  than  embrace  it.  The  Calvinists,  you  see,  stick  fast  at  the 
 very  point  where  they  were  left  by  that  great  man  of  God,  to 
 whom,  however,  the  Lord  had  not  discovered  all  things.  This 
 is  an  evil  truly  lamentable;  for  though  they  were  burning  and 
 shining  lights  in  their  day,  they  had  not  penetrated  into  the 
 whole  counsel  of  God;  but  would,  were  they  now  alive,  as  will- 
 ingly embrace  further  light  as  they  did  that  which  they  have 
 declared  to  the  world.  I  beseech  you  therefore  to  remember, 
 that  it  is  an  article  of  your  church  covenant,  that  you  receive 
 whatever  truth  may  be  made  known  to  you  from  the  written 
 word  of  God;  remember  this,  and  every  other  article  of  your 
 sacred  covenant.  But  I  must  herewith  also  exhort  you,  to  take 
 heed  what  you  receive  as  truth,  examine  it,  consider  it  impar- 
 tially, and  compare  it  with  other  parts  of  divine  truth  before 
 you  receive  it;  for  it  is  impossible  that  the  christian  world,  so 
 lately  emerging  from  the  midnight  gloom  of  antichristian  dark- 
 ness, can  so  soon  lay  claim  to  the  knowledge  of  the  whole 
 truth. 
 
 "  I  must  also  advise  you,  to  abandon,  avoid,  and,  by  all 
 means,  shake  off  the  name  of  Brownists.  It  is  a  mere  nicname, 
 a  brand  for  making  religion,  and  the  professors  thereof,  odious 
 to  the  christian  world." 
 
 On  the  1st  of  July  1620,  this  small  band  of  christian  adven- 
 turers, in  all  one  hundred  and  one,  removed  from  Leyden  to 
 Delft  harbour,  whither  they  were  accompanied  by  Mr  Robin- 
 son and  the  elders  of  the  church.  They  continued  together  all 
 night;  and  next  morning,  after  mutual  embraces,  Mr  Robinson, 
 kneeling  down  on  the  sandy  beach,  with  fervent  prayer,  com- 
 mitted them  to  the  blessing  and  protection  of  heaven.  Mr 
 William  Brewster,  a  man  singularly  well  qualified  for  the  un- 
 dertaking, was  chosen  the  leader  of  this  new  colony.  After 
 this  painful  separation,  Mr  Robinson  wrote  a  paternal,  a  most 
 faithful  and  affectionate  letter  to  the  adventurers,  which  they 
 received  at  Southampton,  where  it  was  read  to  the  whole  com- 
 pany, much  to  their  comfort  and  encouragement.  In  address- 
 ing them,  he  says,  "  I  am  present  with  you  in  my  best  affection, 
 and  earnest  longings  after  you.  God  knows  how  willingly, 
 and  how  much  rather  than  remain  behind,  I  would  have  borne 
 my  share  in  this  first  brunt,  were  I  not  detained  by  necessity. 
 Account  me,  therefore,  in  the  meantime,  as  a  man  painfully  di- 
 vided in  himself,  having  my  better  half  along  with  you.  Though 
 I  doubt  not  your  godly  wisdom,  I  think  it  my  duty  to  add  a 
 few  words  of  advice,  if  not  because  you  need  it,  yet  because  I 
 owe  it  in  love  and  duty."  He  then  proceeds  to  give  them  the 
 most  affectionate  and  salutary  instruction.     He  urges  them  to 
 
JOHN  ROBINSON.  341 
 
 repentance  for  all  their  known  sins;  and  exhorts  them  to  exer- 
 cise a  holy  jealousy  over  themselves,  to  watch  over  their  own 
 hearts,  to  bear  with  one  another  in  love,  to  avoid  giving  offen- 
 ces, to  manage  all  their  aifairs  with  discretion,  and,  by  mutual 
 agreement,  to  have  a  special  regard  to  the  public  good,  and 
 avoid,  as  they  would  a  destructive  pestilence,  all  private  re- 
 spect for  themselves  as  individuals;  and  to  learn,  that  to  secure 
 the  public  prosperity,  is  the  only  sure  method  to  promote  ^he 
 interest  of  the  individuals  that  constitute  that  public.  He  fore- 
 warns them  of  the  danger  attending  a  disrespectful  carriage  to- 
 wards the  magistrates  they  may  choose  to  rule  and  watch  over 
 them  and  their  best  interests,  but  to  pay  them  a  cheerful  and 
 ready  obedience.  "  I  would  not  (says  he)  so  far  wrong  your 
 godly  minds,  as  to  think  you  heedless  of  other  things  which  I 
 could  mention;"  and  concludes,  by  expressing  his  earnest  de- 
 sire for  their  happiness,  invoking  the  Giver  of  all  good  things  in 
 their  behalf. 
 
 Mr  Robinson  intended  following  them  with  the  remaining 
 part  of  his  congregation ;  but  before  he  could  accomplish  his  de- 
 sign, it  pleased  God  to  remove  him  to  another  and  a  better 
 world.  He  died  March  the  1st,  1625,  and  fiftieth  year  of  his 
 age.  The  life  of  this  amiable  individual,  whether  considered  in 
 his  public  or  private  capacity,  exhibits  a  beautiful  transcript  of 
 the  numerous  virtues  that  elevate  and  adorn  the  human  charac- 
 ter. He  possessed  a  vigorous  mind,  cultivated  by  an  excellent 
 education.  In  his  younger  days  he  was  noted  for  his  good 
 sense  and  solid  learning;  and  as  his  mind  expanded  under  the 
 influence  of  divine  grace,  he  procured  that  moderate  and  peace- 
 ful temper,  for  which  he  was  esteemed  by  christians  of  every 
 persuasion.  His  rigid  probity,  and  diffusive  benevolence, 
 powerfully  recommended  him  to  the  Dutch  people,  both  mini- 
 sters and  professors,  with  whom  he  lived  in  the  greatest  har- 
 mony. They  lamented  him  as  a  public  loss;  and  in  testimony 
 of  their  esteem  and  regard,  their  magistrates,  ministers,  pro- 
 fessors, and  many  of  the  citizens,  honoured  his  funeral  proces- 
 sion with  their  presence. 
 
 Mr  Robinson  was  an  excellent  disputant,  as  appears  from  his 
 public  disputation  in  the  university  at  Leyden.  At  the  time 
 when  the  Arminian  controversy  distracted  the  churches  in  Hol- 
 land, the  famous  Episcopius  having  given  a  public  challenge, 
 that  he  would  defend  his  Arminian  tenets  against  all  opposers, 
 the  learned  Polydore,  and  the  chief  ministers  of  the  city,  urged 
 Mr  Robinson  to  take  a  part  in  the  dispute;  but  being  a  stran- 
 ger, and  naturally  of  a  mild  and  quiet  disposition,  he  refused. 
 By  their  pressing  solicitations,  however,  he  was  at  last  con- 
 strained to  engage  in  the  discussion ;  in  which  he  overwhelmed 
 
34<2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 his  antagonist,  and  nonplused  him  in  three  successive  disputa- 
 tions; by  which  he  procured  himself  much  honour  and  respect 
 amongst  men  of  piety  and  learning. 
 
 Such  was  the  reciprocal  love  and  respect  between  Mr  Robin- 
 son and  the  members  of  his  congregation,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
 judge  whether  he  or  they  were  most  delighted  with  one  another. 
 His  deatli  was  therefore  a  serious  loss  to  the  remaining  branch 
 of  his  church  at  Leyden.  The  most  of  them,  however,  in  the 
 course  of  a  few  years,  joined  their  brethren  in  America,  amongst 
 whom  were  his  widow  and  her  children.  His  son  Isaac  lived 
 to  the  great  age  of  ninety  years,  and  left  a  posterity  in  the 
 county  of  Barnstaple.  Mr  Robinson's  church  at  Leyden  is  said 
 to  have  been  the  first  independent  church  after  the  reform- 
 ation. 
 
 His  works  are,  1st,  A  Justification  of  separation  from  the 
 Church  of  England  against  Bernard. — 2d,  Remarks  on  Mr 
 Smyth's  Confession  of  Faith. — 3d,  A  Treatise  on  Communion. 
 — 4th,  The  People's  Plea  for  the  Exercise  of  Prophecy. — 5th, 
 Apologia  Justa  et  Necessaria  Christianorum  oxjue  Contumeli- 
 ose  ac  Community  Dictorum  Brownistarum  ac  Barrowistarum. 
 This  was  translated  in  1644. — 6th,  An  Appendix  to  Mr  Per- 
 kins' Six  Principles  of  the  Christian  Religion. — It  is  supposed 
 by  some  that  he  wrote  books  beside  these. 
 
 JOHN  PRESTON,  D.  D. 
 
 This  famous  divine,  a  descendant  of  the  Prestons  of  Pres- 
 ton, in  Lancashire,  was  born  at  Heyford,  in  Northamptonshire, 
 in  1587.  He  was  educated  first  at  king's,  and  after  at  queen's 
 college,  Cambridge.  In  this  last  situation  he  was  a  pupil  of 
 the  pious  and  learned  Mr  Oliver  Bowels,  with  whom  he  acquir- 
 ed an  astonishing  proficiency  in  almost  every  branch  of  polite 
 literature,  especially  in  philosophy.  But  being  naturally  am- 
 bitious, and  indulging  extravagant  expectations  of  court  prefer- 
 ment, he  accounted  the  study  of  divinity  beneath  the  attention 
 of  a  great  mind.  In  1609  he  was  chosen  fellow  of  his  college; 
 and  the  Lord,  who  designed  him  to  fill  an  important  place  in 
 his  church,  was  pleased  to  cool  the  fever  of  his  raging  ambition, 
 by  means  of  a  sermon  preached  at  St.  Mary's  church  by  Mr 
 John  Cotton.  From  this  time  forward  he  became  remarkable 
 for  serious  christian  piety;  and  though  he  had  heretofore  de- 
 spised the  work  of  the  ministry,  he  now  directed  all  his  studies 
 towards  that  sacred  office. 
 
 When  king  James  visited  the  university  of  Cambridge,  Pres- 
 ton,  from  his  extraordinary  learning  and  talents,  was  chosen 
 
JOHN  PRESTON.  343 
 
 for  one  to  dispute  before  his  majesty.  The  subject  of  dispute 
 was,  Whether  brutes  had  reason,  and  to  that  degree  that  they 
 could  make  syllogisms?  Preston  maintained  the  affirmative, 
 and  illustrated  his  argument  by  the  case  of  a  hound,  who, 
 when  he  comes  to  a  place  where  three  ways  meet,  first  tries 
 one,  then  another,  and  finding  no  scent,  runs  down  the  third 
 with  full  cry;  having  drawn  the  inference,  that  as  the  hare  had 
 not  gone  in  either  the  first  or  second  way,  she  must  necessarily 
 have  gone  in  the  third.  This  argument  is  said  to  have  had 
 such  a  wonderful  effect  on  the  audience,  particularly  on  the 
 king,  that  it  would  have  opened  a  door  to  his  preferment,  had 
 not  his  puritanical  opinions  stood  in  the  way.  Sir  Fluke  Gra- 
 ville,  afterwards  lord  Brook,  was  so  enamoured  with  his  wit 
 and  other  talents,  that,  in  addition  to  other  demonstrations  of 
 his  esteem,  he  settled  fifty  pounds  per  annum  upon  him,  and 
 continued  his  friend  for  ever  after.  Having  found  the  treasure 
 hid  in  the  gospel  field,  Preston  wisely  sacrificed  all  his  tower- 
 ing hopes,  that  he  might  make  the  invaluable  purchase,  even 
 the  present  promising  opportunity  of  obtaining  the  royal  favour, 
 he  considered  unworthy  of  his  attention,  tramelled,  as  it  must 
 have  been,  with  submissions  incompatible  with  his  allegiance  to 
 the  King  of  kings.  Courtiers,  and  such  men  as  aspired  to 
 places  of  honour  and  emolument,  were  astonished  to  see  a  young 
 man  of  such  brilliant  talents  neglect  to  improve  such  a  golden 
 opportunity  of  rising  in  the  world;  while  good  men  admired 
 him  for  the  same  act  of  indifference,  mortification,  and  self-de- 
 nial; and  their  good  opinion  received  additional  strength  from 
 the  following  circumstance : 
 
 The  king,  visiting  the  university  a  second  time,  Preston  was 
 requested  that  one  of  his  pupils  might  support  a  female  charac- 
 ter in  a  comedy,  for  the  entertainment  of  his  majesty;  but  he 
 politely  refused,  saying,  "I  do  not  like  the  motion;  nor  can  I 
 believe  his  friends  intended  him  for  a  player.  I  beg  therefore 
 to  be  excused."  This  instance  of  his  peculiar  care  for  his  pu- 
 pils exceedingly  raised  his  reputation  as  a  prudent  and  conscien- 
 tious teacher,  so  that  he  soon  procured  the  fame  of  being  the 
 best  tutor  in  the  university;  which  induced  many  persons  of 
 distinguished  eminence  to  commit  their  sons  to  his  tuition,  to 
 whom  he  was  particularly  careful  to  communicate  the  know- 
 ledge of  sound  religion,  as  well  as  good  literature.  Fuller  calls 
 him  the  greatest  pupil-monger  ever  known  in  England,  having 
 had  sixteen  fellow-commoners  admitted  in  queen's  college  in 
 one  year.  He  was,  at  the  same  time,  so  exceedingly  intent  on 
 his  studies,  that  he  deprived  himself  of  neeessary  rest  and  sleep. 
 He  used  to  lay  his  bed-clothes  over  him  in  such  a  manner,  that 
 they  might  drop  off  at  an  early  hour,  on  purpose  that  the  cold 
 
344  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 might  awaken  him;  which  practice  had  nearly  ruined  his  con- 
 stitution, though,  hy  the  use  of  suitable  means,  his  health  was 
 in  a  great  measure  restored.     It  is  natural  to  expect  that  so 
 great  a  man  could  not  fail  to  be  greatly  popular.    When  he  de- 
 livered his  catechetical  lectures  in  the  college  chapel,  the  house 
 was  usually  crowded  with  strangers  before  the  fellows  came; 
 which  awakened  the  malice  of  such  as  envied  his  popularity, 
 who  complained  to  the  vice-chancellor,  that  it  was  not  safe  for 
 the  church  that  Preston  should  be  thus  adored,  unless  they  in- 
 tended to  erect  puritanism  on  its  ruins.     An  order  was  there- 
 fore forthwith  issued  from  the  consistory,  that  the  scholars  and 
 townsmen  should  henceforth  confine  themselves  to  their  own 
 preachers,  as  they  would  not,  in  future,  be  allowed,  on  any  pre- 
 tence whatever,  to  attend  on  these  lectures.    At  this  time  there 
 was  very  little  preaching  throughout  the  university,  the  two 
 lectures  of  Trinity  church  and  St.  Andrew's  having  been  put 
 down,  and  the  lecturers  silenced;  which  shows  the  impropriety 
 and  malice,  but  by  no  means  the  necessity,  of  this  tyrannical 
 measure.      He  was  at  length  allowed   the   use   of  Botolph's 
 church,  belonging  to  queen's  college;  but  here,  as  formerly,  his 
 uncommon  popularity  exposed  him  to  the  bitter  resentment  of 
 his  envious  adversaries.     Dr.  Newcomb,    commissary  to  the 
 bishop  of  Ely,   was  exceedingly  offended,   on  coming  to  the 
 church,  at  the  mighty  crowd  of  people  there  assembled;  on 
 which  occasion  he  forbade  him  to  preach,  commanding  that 
 evening  prayers  only  should  be  read.    The  earl  of  Lincoln,  and 
 a  number  of  other  influencial  men,  nnd  even  the  minister  of  the 
 place,  entreated  the  commissary,  that  he  might  be  allowed,  at 
 least  on  the  present  occasion,  to  preach  his  sermon;  but  New- 
 comb  was  inflexible,  and  went  home  in  a  rage,  leaving  them  to 
 have  a  sermon  at  their  peril:  so  Mr  Preston  was  advised  to  run 
 the  hazard,  and  deliver  his  sermon.     Next  morning  Newcomb 
 set  off  for  Newmarket,  where  the  court  was  then  held,  and 
 lodged  his  complaint  with  bishop  Andrews  and  others,  asserting 
 that  Preston  was  a  non-conformist  at  heart,  and  that  if  some 
 severe  measures  were  not  adopted,  he  would  soon  also  be  one 
 in  practice.     From  his  great  popularity,  he  assured  the  bishop, 
 that  all  order  and  conformity  in  the  district  would  be  destroyed, 
 and  prelatical  authority  trodden  under  foot;  adding,  that  Preston 
 was  possessed  of  such  cunning,  that  he  must  be  roughly  hand- 
 led, otherwise  all  endeavours  would  prove  ineffectual. 
 
 At  this  time  the  king  being  in  Newmarket,  the  whole  affair 
 was  laid  before  him,  who  instantly  gave  orders  for  his  prosecu- 
 tion. Preston  was  therefore  immediately  cited  before  them, 
 where  he  defended  himself  with  great  modesty  and  firmness. 
 Bishop  Andrews  told  him,  that  the  king  had  been  apprised,  that 
 
JOHN  PRESTON.  345 
 
 he  held  all  forms  of  prayer  unlawful;  and  that,  owing  to  his 
 wonderful  popularity,  such  opinions  were  likely  to  prove  pub- 
 licly mischievous  to  the  peace  of  the  church.  Preston  repelled 
 the  charge  as  a  malicious  slander,  seeing  he  neither  considered 
 forms  unlawful,  nor  had  he,  at  any  time,  refused  to  use  them. 
 Upon  which  the  bishop  promised  to  be  his  friend,  and  have  him 
 released  from  the  present  prosecution.  Many  of  the  courtiers 
 were  well  affected  to  Preston,  but  afraid  to  undertake  his  cause. 
 Dr  Young,  dean  of  Winchester,  had  the  boldness  and  hones- 
 ty, however,  to  inform  him,  that  bishop  Andrews,  under  the 
 mask  of  friendship,  was  hypocritically  endeavouring  to  have 
 him  expelled  from  the  university.  All  which  appeared  from  his 
 future  behaviour;  for  Preston,  after  waiting  on  the  bishop  till 
 almost  ashamed,  was  ordered,  on  a  certain  Lord's  day,  to  de- 
 clare his  sentiments  on  forms  of  prayer  before  the  congregation, 
 in  St.  Botolph's  church,  or  undergo  a  farther  prosecution. 
 This  circumstance  being  noised  abroad,  it  was  reported  that  he 
 must  preach  a  recantation  sermon ;  which  exceedingly  gratified 
 the  malice  of  those  who  were  hurt  at  his  great  reputation.  To 
 witness  his  anticipated  disgrace,  they  crowded  to  church  to  hear 
 him  perform  this  humiliating  service.  But  Preston  preached, 
 from  the  same  text  he  had  last  used,  a  very  close  and  searching 
 sermon;  and,  in  the  conclusion,  delivered  his  opinion  on  the  set 
 forms;  so  that  all  who  went  to  laugh  met  with  a  mortifying 
 disappointment. 
 
 Preston  having  acquitted  himself  with  honour,  his  friends 
 rejoiced  that  he  had  been  liberated,  and  permitted  to  preach. 
 Soon  after  this  he  was  appointed  to  preach  before  the  king; 
 which  service  he  performed  to  the  admiration  of  his  august  au- 
 ditory. He  was  endowed  with  an  uncommon  fluency  of  speech, 
 a  commanding  elocution,  and  a  most  tenacious  memory,  which 
 enabled  him  to  preach  without  notes.  At  the  conclusion,  bis 
 majesty  expressed  great  satisfaction  with  the  sermon,  particu- 
 larly with  an  observation  respecting  the  Arminians;  namely, 
 that  they  put  God  into  the  same  extremity  in  which  Darius 
 found  himself  involved,  when  he  wished  to  save  Daniel  from  the 
 lions,  and  could  not.  The  marquis  of  Hamilton  earnestly  re- 
 commended to  the  king  to  appoint  Preston  to  be  one  of  his 
 chaplains,  saying,  «  This  man  is  none  of  your  pen  and  ink-horn 
 preachers,  but  a  man  that  is  fully  master  of  his  subject,  from 
 whom  something  substantial  may  be  expected."  The  king  ac- 
 knowledged all  this;  but  said,  it  was  too  early.  The  real  cause, 
 however,  was,  that  the  king  had  not  as  yet  forgotten  the  New- 
 market affair. 
 
 About  this  time  Preston  set  out  for  the  continent,  where  he 
 visited  several  of  the  foreign  universities,  and  acquired  much 
 
 13  2  x 
 
84()  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 literary   improvement,   by  conversing    with    the   most  learned 
 men  in  those  parts  where  lie  had  travelled.     On  his  return,  his 
 popularity  at  court,  as  well  as  throughout  the  kingdom,  became 
 nearly  universal;  so  that  he  was  told  he  might  be  chaplain  to 
 almost  whom  he  pleased.     The  duke  of  Buckingham,  in  the 
 meantime,  not  knowing  what  friends  he  might  stand  in  need  of, 
 persuaded  the  king  to  appoint  him  chaplain,  in  ordinary,  to  the 
 prince  of  Wales.     In  the  year  1622  he  was  chosen  preacher  at 
 Lincoln's  inn,  London;  and  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Chadder- 
 ton,  made  master  of  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge;  when  he  took 
 his  doctor's  degree.    The  duke  of  Buckingham  highly  esteemed 
 him;  and  being  anxious  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  puritans, 
 who  were  becoming  formidable  in  parliament,  had  hoped  that 
 by  his  means  he  might  effect  his  purpose.     Good  men  now  be- 
 gan to  hope  for  more  auspicious  times,  and  were  rejoiced  to  see 
 that  honest  men  were  not  all  of  them  despised  and  rejected. 
 The  earl  of  Pembroke,  and  the  countess  of  Bedford,  taking  much 
 interest  in  his  welfare,  he  was  considered  by  all  as  a  rising 
 man,  and  respected  as  such.     In  1624  he  was  invited  to  take 
 the  lecture  at  Trinity  church,  Cambridge;  for  which  there  was 
 a  strong  contest  between  him  and  Mr  Micklethwait,  fellow  of 
 Sidney  college,  and  likewise  an  excellent  preacher.     The  con- 
 test, in  voting,   was  so  strongly  supported  on  both  sides,  that 
 the  ulterior  decision  was  referred  to  the  king,  who  was  strongly 
 opposed  to  the  doctor's  preaching  at  Cambridge,  and  had  a  se- 
 cret wish  to  separate  him  from  his  puritan  friends,  and  secure 
 him  to  the  church.     Accordingly,  he  was  informed,   that  by 
 giving  up  the  lecture,  he  might  have  the  bishoprick  of  Gloucester; 
 which  he  refused.     The  duke,  who  was  resolved  not  to  lose  him, 
 took  care  that  nothing  should  be  done  against  his. inclination; 
 so  when  he  could  not  be  moved  by  any  consideration  of  emolu- 
 ment, power,  or  pre-eminence,  the  lecture  was  confirmed  to  him. 
 This  was  his  last  preferment,  and  here  he  continued  till  the  day 
 of  his  death.    Thus  preferring  a  situation  of  eighty  pounds  a  year, 
 collected  by  six-penny  subscriptions,  with  the  prospect  of  being 
 useful  to  the  souls  of  perishing  sinners,  to  the  bishoprick  of 
 Gloucester,  or  any  other  preferment  in  the  kingdom. 
 
 About  this  time  he  was  deeply  engaged  in  controversy  with 
 some  learned  Arminians.  He  was  called  to  take  a  leading  part 
 in  two  public  disputations  procured  by  the  earl  of  Warwick,  and 
 held  at  York-house,  in  the  presence  of  the  duke  of  Bucking- 
 ham, and  a  number  of  the  nobility.  The  first  of  these  contests 
 was  by  bishop  Buckridge  and  the  dean  of  Carlisle  on  the 
 part  of  the  Arminians;  and  bishop  Morton  and  Dr.  Preston  on 
 the  part  of  the  Calvinists.  In  the  conclusion,  the  earl  of  Pem- 
 broke observed,  that  no  person  returned  from  this  learned  dis- 
 
JOHN  PRESTON.  347 
 
 pute  with  Arminian  sentiments,  who  had  not  brought  them  along 
 with  them.  The  second  conflict  was  between  Dr.  White  and 
 Mr  Montague  on  the  one  side;  and  bishop  Morton  and  Dr. 
 Preston  on  the  other.  On  this  occasion,  the  doctor  is  said  to 
 have  displayed  his  powers  of  disputation,  and  matchless  erudi- 
 tion, to  the  astonishment  of  the  auditory,  as  well  as  to  the  ho- 
 nour and  signal  advantage  of  the  cause  he  engaged  to  defend. 
 
 By  the  great  interest  the  doctor  had  with  the  duke  of  Buck- 
 ingham and  the  prince  of  Wales,  he  was  of  essential  service  to 
 many  of  the  silenced  ministers.  He  was  in  waiting  when  king 
 James  died,  and  came  up  with  king  Charles  and  the  duke  in  a 
 close  coach.  The  duke  offered  Dr.  Preston  the  broad  seal;  but 
 he  was  too  wise  to  accept  of  it.  Finding,  however,  that  he 
 could  neither  obtain  the  confidence  of  the  puritans,  nor  detach 
 the  doctor  from  their  cause,  the  duke  changed  his  measures, 
 and  bade  adieu  to  his  chaplain.  The  doctor,  who  saw  the 
 storm  beginning  to  gather,  quietly  retired  to  his  college, 
 where  it  was  feared  he  would  feel  the  effects  of  the  duke's 
 future  displeasure.  But  he  had  other  work  on  hand,  which 
 engaged  all  his  attention  till  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was  assas- 
 sinated by  Felton,  August  23d,  1628. 
 
 Dr.  Preston  was  originally  of  a  strong  constitution,  which  he 
 had  worn  down  by  hard  study  and  constant  preaching.  The 
 question  with  him  was  not,  How  long  have  I  lived,  but  what 
 have  I  done  ?  Apprehending  his  sickness  was  unto  death,  he 
 was  desirous  of  breathing  his  last  in  his  native  country,  and 
 amongst  his  old  friends.  Accordingly,  he  removed  to  Preston, 
 near  Heyford;  and  after  revising  his  will,  and  settling  his 
 worldly  concerns,  he  committed  himself  to  the  gracious  disposal 
 of  his  heavenly  Father.  Observing  the  symptoms  of  death  ap- 
 proaching, he  said,  "The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand;  but 
 I  shall  not  change  my  company,  for  I  shall  still  converse  with 
 God  and  saints."  A  few  hours  before  his  death,  he  said,  "  I 
 feel  death  approaching  my  heart,  let  me  go  to  my  Father's 
 house,  and  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  bought  me  with  his  blood.  I 
 have  accompanied  saints  on  earth,  and  shortly  I  shall  be  associ- 
 ated with  saints  and  angels  in  heaven,  where  my  pains  shall  be 
 changed  to  pleasure,  and  all  my  sorrowings  into  joy  unspeak- 
 able and  full  of  glory."  He  died  in  the  month  of  July  1628, 
 being  only  forty-one  years  of  age.  His  remains  were  interred 
 in  Fausley  church,  and  Dr.  Dodd  preached  his  funeral  sermon 
 to  an  immense  crowd  of  people.  Fuller,  who  has  classed  him 
 with  the  learned  writers  of  queen's  college,  Cambridge,  says, 
 44  He  was  all  judgment  and  gravity,  and  a  complete  master  of 
 his  passions,  an  excellent  preacher,  a  celebrated  disputant,  and 
 a  perfect  politician."     Echard  styles  him  the  most  celebrated  ti 
 
348  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 the  puritans,  an  exquisite  preacher,  a  subtile  disputant,  and  a 
 deep  politician. 
 
 His  works  are,  1st,  The  Saint's  Portion. — 2d,  The  Breast- 
 plate of  Faith  and  Love. — 3d,  Sermons  before  the  King. — 4th, 
 Eternal  Life. — 5th,  The  Lifeless  Life. — 6th,  Mortification  and 
 Humiliation. — 7th,  Spiritual  Life  and  Death. — 8th,  Judas'  Re- 
 pentance.— 9th,  The  Saints'  Spiritual  Strength. — 10th,  The 
 Saints'  Qualifications  and  Remains. — 11th,  Sermons. — 12th, 
 The  Golden  Sceptre,  with  the  Church's  Marriage,  and  the 
 Church's  Carriage. — 13th,  The  Love  of  Christ. 
 
 FRANCIS  HIGGINSON,  A.  M. 
 
 This  famous  preacher  was  born  in  1587,  educated  in 
 Emanuel  college,  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  pastor  of  one  of 
 the  churches  of  Leicester.  His  sermons  were  truly  evangeli- 
 cal; and  the  numbers  that  flocked  from  all  quarters  to  hear  him 
 were  astonishing.  The  great  object  of  his  ministry  was  to  pro- 
 duce a  change  of  heart,  and  a  correspondent  rectitude  of  life 
 and  manners;  and,  by  the  blessing  of  God  on  his  faithful 
 labours,  a  remarkable  revival  of  religion  was  the  desirable  ef- 
 fect. But  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness  he  was  silenced,  and 
 deprived  for  his  non-conformity.  He  had  been  for  some  years, 
 after  his  settlement  at  Leicester,  a  strict  conformist,  till  becom- 
 ing acquainted  with  Messrs  Hildersham  and  Hooker,  he  was 
 induced  to  consider  the  controversy  about  ceremonies.  He 
 searched  the  scriptures,  and  consulted  the  history  of  the  early 
 ages  of  the  church ;  and  the  more  his  inquiries  were  extended, 
 the  more  he  was  satisfied  that  the  inventions  of  men  had  been 
 most  shamefully  introduced  into  the  service  of  God.  After 
 an  impartial  investigation  of  these  things,  he  became  a  decided 
 and  conscientious  non-conformist,  and  his  influence  burst 
 forth  so  powerfully,  that  neither  ecclesiastical  opposition  or  in- 
 sinuation could  obscure  the  lustre  of  his  talents,  or  diminish  his 
 unbounded  popularity.  The  pathos,  and  enchanting  eloquence 
 of  his  discourses,  were  such,  that  the  people  would  not  be  de- 
 nied the  pleasure  and  edification  of  his  labours.  He  was  to 
 them  as  a  lovely  song  of  one  who  hath  a  pleasant  voice.  They 
 exerted  therefore  all  their  influence  and  ingenuity  for  his  re- 
 storation, and  were,  by  some  means  or  other,  so  far  successful, 
 that  they  obtained  permission  for  him  to  preach  a  lecture  on 
 one  part  of  the  Sabbath,  and  on  the  other  to  assist  an  aged  mi- 
 nister who  stood  in  need  of  a  helper.  In  this  situation  he  was 
 supported  by  their  own  voluntary  subscriptions;  and  such  was 
 the  general  respect  for  Mr  Higginson,  that,  so  long  as  it  could 
 
FRANCIS  H1GGINS0N.  349 
 
 be  safely  done,  all  the  conformist  ministers  of  Leicester  invited 
 him  to  their  pulpits.  He  likewise  preached  to  another  congre- 
 gation in  the  church  at  Belgrave,  a  village  in  the  vicinity.  The 
 indulgence  thus  extended  to  Mr  Higginson  was  chiefly  owing  to 
 the  christian  forbearance  of  the  good  bishop  Williams  of  Lin- 
 coln, who  continued  to  connive  at  his  non-conformity  till  Laud 
 became  bishop  of  London,  and  set  out  with  a  determination  to 
 extirpate  non-conformity. 
 
 But  here,  as  elsewhere,  while  one  part  of  the  community  re- 
 joiced under  his  godly  ministry,  another  part,  finding  their 
 walk  and  deportment  condemned  by  his  preaching,  became  vio- 
 lent opposers,  and  cruel  persecutors.  Mr  Higginson  avowed 
 his  opinion,  that  scandalous  and  profane  persons  ought  not  to 
 be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table;  and  having  preached  a  sermon 
 from  the  text,  "  Give  not  that  which  is  holy  to  dogs;"  and  be- 
 ing about  to  administer  the  sacrament,  he  observed  a  man  be- 
 fore him  notorious  for  the  sins  of  drunkenness  and  profane 
 swearing,  whom  he  publicly  addressed,  telling  him,  that  he  could 
 not  admit  him  to  that  holy  ordinance  till  he  professed  his  repent- 
 ance to  the  satisfaction  of  the  brethren;  and,  in-  the  meantime, 
 desired  him  to  withdraw.  The  man  went  out  in  such  a  fit  of 
 rage  and  horror,  that  he  immediately  took  sick,  and  soon  after 
 expired,  crying  out,  /  am  undone  I 
 
 During  Mr  Higginson's  residence  at  Leicester,  a  clergyman 
 lived  in  the  town,  who  was  a  doctor  of  divinity,  a  prebendary 
 in  a  cathedral,  and  chaplain  to  his  majesty;  but  seldom  preach- 
 ed, and  when  he  did,  was  but  thinly  attended,  owing  to  his 
 poverty  of  sentiment  and  ostentatious  affectation;  while  Mr 
 Higginson's  place  of  worship  was  continually  crowded.  This 
 mightily  displeased  the  doctor,  who  embraced  every  opportunity 
 of  expressing  his  resentment,  and  declared,  that  he  certainly 
 would  drive  him  out  of  the  town.  This  same  doctor  was  ap- 
 pointed by  the  sheriff  to  preach  the  assize  sermon,  and  had  three 
 months  notice  to  prepare  himself.  Through  the  whole  of  this 
 time  he  never  could  make  a  sermon  to  please  himself.  About 
 a  fortnight  before  the  time  was  expired,  his  friends  pushed  him 
 on  to  another  attempt,  signifying,  at  the  same  time,  that  failing, 
 he  might  still  have  recourse  to  Mr  Higginson,  who  was  always 
 ready.  To  this  last  alternative  the  doctor  was  loath  to  submit, 
 and  studied  night  and  day,  but  could  not  produce  a  scholar- 
 like production;  so  that,  on  the  very  night  before  the  assize,  he 
 got  a  friend  to  prevail  on  Mr  Higginson  to  take  his  place; 
 which  he  did,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  heard  him.  But  the 
 matter  getting  air,  soon  became  a  general  topic  of  conversation; 
 and  the  doctor,  ashamed  of  himself,  left  the  town,  in  place  of 
 driving  out  his  assistant.    Mr  Higginson  was  afterwards  chosen 
 
350  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 by  the  magistrates  to  be  the  town  preacher.  He  thanked  them 
 for  the  kind  offer;  but  seeing  he  could  not  conform,  he  declined 
 the  honour;  but  recommended  Mr  John  Angel,  then  a  conform- 
 ist, but  a  good  man ;  whom  they  accepted.  Several  rich  livings 
 were  offered  him;  which,  for  the  same  reason,  he  modestly  re- 
 fused. Mr  Higginson  was  very  useful  in  the  education  of 
 young  men,  among  whom  were  Dr.  Seaman,  Dr.  Brian,  and 
 the  famous  Mr  John  How,  all  noted  for  learning,  moderation, 
 and  non-conformity.  But  Laud  was  translated  to  London, 
 and  the  whole  face  of  ecclesiastic  affairs  was  instantly  changed. 
 The  non-conformists  were  no  longer  winked  at,  and  Higginson 
 was  reported  to  the  court  of  high  commission  as  an  incurable 
 non-conformist,  and  in  continual  expectation  of  being  dragged 
 by  pursuivants  before  that  tyrannical  bar,  where  perpetual  im- 
 prisonment was  the  least  he  could  expect.  A  number  of  weal- 
 thy men,  merchants  and  others,  about  this  time,  obtained  a 
 charter  from  Charles  I.  and  were  incorporated  under  the  title 
 of  "  The  Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts'  Bay  in  New 
 England."  This  company  had  come  to  the  resolution  of  send- 
 ing out  some  ships  with  settlers  and  stores  to  begin  the  planta- 
 tion; and  learning  the  dangerous  situation  in  which  Mr  Hig- 
 ginson's  conscientious  non-conformity  had  placed  him,  they 
 sent  two  messengers  to  invite  him  to  join  their  company,  pro- 
 mising to  support  him  on  the  passage.  The  messengers,  aware 
 that  the  family  were  hourly  expecting  pursuivants  from  Lon- 
 don to  carry  him  before  the  court  of  high  commission,  resolved 
 to  have  a  little  amusement;  in  order  to  which,  they  assumed 
 the  rough  deportment  of  the  pursuivants,  approached  boldly, 
 and  knocking  loud,  demanded  a  word  with  Mr  Higginson. 
 We  must  speak  with  Mr  Higginson,  said  they.  Mrs  Higgin- 
 son was  much  alarmed,  and  advised  her  husband  to  conceal 
 himself.  "  No  (says  he),  I  shall  go  down  and  speak  with  them, 
 and  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done."  As  they  entered  the  hall, 
 with  an  affected  roughness  of  address,  they  presented  him  with 
 some  papers,  saying,  "  We  are  come  from  London,  Sir,  and  our 
 business  is  to  bring  you  up  with  us,  as  you  will  see  by  the  con- 
 tents of  these  papers."  I  thought  so,  said  Mrs  Higginson,  and 
 began  to  weep.  On  opening  the  papers,  Mi*  Higginson  was 
 agreeably  disappointed  on  finding  himself  invited  to  Massachu- 
 setts by  the  governor  and  company  of  that  intended  colony; 
 and  Mrs  Higginson's  joy  was  inexpressible.  He  welcomed  his 
 guests;  they  were  seated,  and  had  a  free  conversation  with  him 
 about  the  nature  of  the  concern;  and  after  taking  proper  time 
 to  ascertain  the  path  of  duty,  he  resolved  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 
 His  farewell  sermon  was  preached  from  Luke  xxi.  20,  21. 
 fl  When  you  see  Jerusalem  encompassed  with  armies,  &c.  flee 
 
FRANCIS  HIGGINSON.  351 
 
 to  the  mountains."  In  the  course  of  which,  he  declared,  be- 
 fore a  vast  assembly,  that  he  was  persuaded  England  would  be 
 chastised  with  war,  of  which  Leicester  should  have  more  than 
 a  proportionate  share  *.  He  expressed  his  thankful  acknow- 
 ledgments to  the  magistrates,  and  others,  for  the  favourable  en- 
 couragement they  had  afforded  him.  He  told  them  that  lie 
 was  going  to  New  England,  which,  he  believed,  God  intended 
 for  an  asylum  to  persecuted  non-conformists.  This  happened 
 in  the  year  1629.  Mr  Higginson,  on  taking  his  journey,  with 
 his  family,  for  London,  in  order  to  embark,  found,  as  he  passed 
 along,  that  the  streets  of  Leicester  were  crowded  with  the  peo- 
 ple, who  took  their  last  farewell  with  prayers  and  tears. 
 
 They  sailed  from  the  Isle  of  Wight  in  the  beginning  of  May 
 1629,  and  landed  at  Salem  the  24th  June  following.  The  ships 
 were  filled  with  religious  passengers,  amongst  whom  were  Mr 
 Samuel  Skelton  and  Mr  Ralph  Smyth,  both  non-conformist 
 ministers.  Mr  Higginson  kept  a  journal  of  the  voyage;  a  copy 
 of  which  is  still  preserved. 
 
 They  were  no  sooner  arrived  at  the  "colony,  than  they  set 
 about  the  important  business  for  which  they  had  braved  the 
 dangers  of  the  ocean,  and  commenced  their  new  settlement  by 
 calling  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.  After  consulting  the 
 brethren  at  Plymouth,  who  sent  some  of  their  people  to  aid  and 
 instruct  them  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  country,  &c, 
 they  fixed  on  the  6th  of  August  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer, 
 and  for  settling  the  order  of  their  intended  church.  On  this 
 highly  interesting  occasion,  Mr  Higginson  drew  up  a  confession 
 of  faith,  and  a  covenant;  a  copy  of  which  was  given  to  each 
 person  becoming  a  member;  the  number  of  whom,  at  first,  were 
 only  thirty,  to  which  confession  and  covenant  each  of  these  did 
 solemnly  and  severally  declare  their  consent.  Mr  Higginson 
 was  chosen  teacher,  Mr  Skelton  pastor  of  the  church,  and  Mr 
 Houghton  ruling-elder.  After  this,  many  others  joined  the 
 church;  but  none  were  admitted  without  giving  some  satisfac- 
 tory evidence  of  their  conversion  to  God.  Thus  was  the  first 
 christian  church  formed  in  the  Massachusetts'  colony. 
 
 Some  of  the  passengers,  who  went  out  with  these  settlers, 
 were  much  chagrined  on  observing  that  the  book  of  common 
 prayer  was  laid  aside;  that  the  sacraments  were  administered 
 without  the  ceremonies,  and  that  scandalous  and  profane  mem- 
 bers were  to  be  rejected,  and  discipline  exercised  against  them. 
 On  this  account  they  began  to  raise  disturbance,  and  set  up  a 
 
 *  A  few  years  after  this,  the  civil  war,  between  the  king  and  parliament,  raged 
 with  uncommon  violence;  and  Leicester  being  strongly  fortified,  the  wealth  of  the 
 country  adjacent  was  deposited  in  the  fortress  as  a  place  of  security ;  but  the  town 
 was  besieged,  taken  by  storm,  given  up  to  plunder,  and  more  than"  one  thousand  of 
 its  inhabitants  killed  on  the  streets. 
 
352  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 separate  assembly  according  to  the  English  church.  The  prin- 
 cipal promoters  of  this  breacli  were  Mr  Samuel  Brown  and  his 
 brother,  the  one  a  lawyer,  and  the  other  a  merchant.  The 
 governor,  observing  this  disturbance,  sent  for  these  two  men, 
 who  accused  the  ministers  for  breaking  through  the  orders  of 
 the  church  of  England ;  adding,  that  they  were  schismatics,  and 
 ere  long  would  turn  out  anabaptists;  but  with  regard  to  them- 
 selves, they  were  determined  to  adhere  to  the  church  of  Eng- 
 land. To  these  accusations  the  ministers  replied,  "  That  they 
 were  no  schismatics,  neither  were  they  anabaptists :  That  they 
 had  not  separated  from  the  church  of  England,  but  from  the 
 corruptions  of  that  church,  amongst  which  they  considered  the 
 common  prayer  and  the  ceremonies,  to  which  therefore  they 
 could  not  conform  with  a  good  conscience;  but  had  suffered  in- 
 credible hardships,  and  unmerited  persecution.  But  now,  that 
 by  the  good  providence  of  God  they  had  found  a  place  of  re- 
 fuge, where  they  might  act  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
 own  consciences,  they  neither  could,  nor  would  they  defile 
 themselves  with  these  relics  of  antichristian  superstition."  The 
 governor,  the  council,  and  people  in  general,  approved  this  an- 
 swer. The  two  brothers,  however,  were  far  from  being  satisfi- 
 ed; and  attempting  to  raise  a  mutiny  in  the  colony,  they  were 
 sent  home  in  the  same  vessel  that  had  brought  them  out. 
 
 But  the  faith  and  patience  of  these  religious  adventurers 
 were  soon  exercised  with  other  trials  besides  these.  Their  first 
 winter  proved  very  calamitous.  The  mortality  amongst  them 
 was  such,  that  it  carried  off  almost  one  hundred  of  their  com- 
 pany, among  whom  was  Mr  Houghton,  the  elder  of  the  church; 
 and  Mr  Higginson  not  being  able  to  undergo  the  fatigues  of  a 
 new  settlement,  was  seized  with  a  hectic  fever,  under  which  lie 
 languished  till  August  following.  The  last  sermon- he  preached 
 was  to  several  hundreds  of  people  just  landed  from  England, 
 from  Matt.  xi.  7.  "  What  went  you  out  to  the  wilderness  to 
 see;"  whom  he  reminded,  that  their  design  in  transporting  them- 
 selves was  to  promote  true  religion,  undefiled  with  the  super- 
 stitions of  Rome,  to  spread  the  same  amongst  their  pagan 
 neighbours,  and  transmit  it  to  their  posterity,  and  thus  lend 
 their  feeble  efforts  to  perpetuate  the  kingdom  and  glory  of  the 
 Redeemer.  He  pressed  upon  them  the  duty  of  christian  for- 
 bearance, and  cautioned  them  against  all  manner  of  intolerance 
 and  persecution,  from  the  recollection  of  their  own  former  suf- 
 ferings. "You  exult  (said  he),  and  justly,  in  having  got  be- 
 yond the  prelatical  jurisdiction,  and  seeing  other  christians  may 
 hind  amongst  you,  who  hold,  on  some  points,  opinions  different 
 from  yours,  do  to  them  as  you  were  desirous  the  bishops  of 
 England  should  have  done  to  you.     Let  them  alone,  to  their  own 
 
FRANCIS  HIGGINSOX.  353 
 
 Master  they  are  only  accountable.  This  is  the  path  of  peace; 
 you  will  also  find  it  the  path  of  prosperity.  Soon  after  this  he 
 was  confined  to  his  bed,  and  frequently  visited,  till  his  dying 
 day,  by  the  principal  men  of  the  colony.  He  was  deeply  hum- 
 bled under  a  sense  of  his  own  un worthiness,  and  when  his  friends 
 endeavoured  to  comfort  him,  by  reminding  him  of  his  useful- 
 ness and  fidelity  in  the  cause  of  Christ — "  Alas  !  (he  replied)  I 
 have  been  an  unprofitable  servant ;  all  my  doings  I  count  but 
 loss  and  dung,  my  great  desire  is  to  win  Christ,  and  be  found 
 in  him,  not  having  my  own  righteousness."  He  died  in  the 
 month  of  August  1630,  aged  forty-three  years.  His  funeral 
 was  attended  with  all  the  solemnity  the  colony  could  possibly 
 display. 
 
 He  was  a  man  richly  furnished  with  all  Christian  graces ;  a 
 celebrated  linguist,  and  one  of  the  first  preachers  of  his  time. 
 His  delivery  was  so  charming,  that  he  captivated  the  hearts  of 
 the  people ;  and  his  memory  was  dear  even  to  posterity.  He 
 had  two  sons,  Francis  and  John,  who  afterwards  became  minis- 
 ters :  Francis  at  Kirkby  Stephen  in  Westmoreland,  England ; 
 John  was  chosen  pastor  to  his  father's  church  in  1659,  and  was 
 still  labouring  there  in  1696,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age, 
 and  sixtieth  of  his  ministry  ;  and  Mr  Higginson's  posterity  still 
 remain  in  New  England,  and  are  amongst  the  most  respectable 
 citizens  of  the  Union. 
 
 ROBERT  BOLTON,  D.  D. 
 
 This  pious  and  diligent  labourer  in  his  Master's  vineyard 
 was  born  at  Blackburn,  in  Lancashire,  in  1572,  and  educa- 
 ted at  Brazen-nose  college,  Oxford,  where  he  was  chosen  fel- 
 low. He  made  an  uncommonly  rapid  progress  in  philosophy,  lo- 
 gic, and  the  learned  languages.  His  means  of  support  being 
 extremely  limited,  he  borrowed  books  of  his  tutor  and  others, 
 and  besides  reading  them  with  peculiar  attention,  he  transcrib- 
 ed the  substance  of  them  into  his  common-place-book.  With 
 the  view  of  acquiring  a  more  distinct  knowledge  of  the  Greek 
 language,  he  transcribed  the  whole  of  Homer  with  great  care, 
 and  in  a  very  fair  character.  He  was  famed  for  his  lectures  on 
 natural  and  moral  philosophy.  He  was  likewise  deeply  learned 
 in  metaphysics,  mathematics,  and  school  divinity ;  and  having 
 most  brilliantly  displayed  his  learning  and  talents  in  the  public 
 disputations  in  the  schools,  he  was  chosen  by  the  vice-chancel- 
 lor to  be  one  of  the  disputants  before  king  James,  when  he  first 
 visited  the  university.  But  notwithstanding  all  these  useful 
 and  ornamental  accomplishments,  he  was  still  destitute  of  the 
 13  2  y 
 
351  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 one  tiling  needful ;  lie  had  as  yet  no  serious  concern  for  his 
 soul,  lie  was  even  destitute,  in  a  great  measure,  of  moral  pro- 
 priety; he  greatly  delighted  in  plays  and  cards;  he  was,  more- 
 over, a  horrible  swearer  and  Sabbath  breaker,  who  despised  the 
 counsel  and  company  of  the  wise  and  serious,  and  associated  with 
 the  wicked  and  profane;  particularly  he  could  not  endure  those 
 men  stigmatized  with  the  appellation  of  puritans.  His  views, 
 however,  were  afterwards  quite  changed.  During  his  residence 
 at  Oxford  he  fell  in  with  one  Anderton,  formerly  his  school-fel- 
 low, but  now  a  learned  popish  priest,  who,  taking  advantage  of 
 his  mean  circumstances,  persuaded  him  into  a  reconciliation 
 with  the  Romish  church,  and  to  accompany  him  to  one  of  the 
 seminaries  in  Flanders,  where,  he  told  him,  he  should  have  gold 
 in  abundance.  The  time  and  place  of  embarkation  were  ac- 
 cordingly appointed ;  but  Anderton  failing  in  his  promise,  Bolton 
 renounced  the  object  in  view,  and  returned  to  his  college. 
 Here,  by  the  pious  instructions  of  Mr  Thomas  Peacock,  he  was 
 brought  to  a  deep  sense  of  his  sin,  which,  for  many  months,  de- 
 prived him  of  all  peace  of  mind;  his  appetite  failed  him,  and 
 sleep,  in  a  great  measure,  had  departed  from  his  eyes;  but  the 
 grace  of  God  at  last  restored  him  to  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
 Ghost.  This  memorable  change  took  place  in  the  thirty-fifth 
 year  of  his  age;  upon  which  he  resolved  to  enter  on  the  work  of 
 the  ministry.  Having,  for  the  space  of  about  two  years,  preach- 
 ed at  various  places,  Sir  Augustine  Nicols,  a  justice  of  the  com- 
 mon pleas,  a  learned  man,  an  impartial  judge,  and  a  sincere 
 christian,  presented  him  to  the  rectory  of  Broughton  in  North- 
 amptonshire, at  which  place  he  continued  till  his  death.  Upon 
 his  presentation  to  Broughton,  which  took  place  in  1609,  bi- 
 shop King  thanked  the  worthy  judge;  but  observed,  that  he  had 
 deprived  the  university  of  Oxford  of  one  of  its  brightest  orna- 
 ments. 
 
 Mr  Bolton  being  endowed  with  a  commanding  and  energetic 
 eloquence,  he  was  a  most  awakening  preacher.  He  delivered 
 two  sermons  every  Lord's  day,  and  catechised  the  youth  of  his 
 congregation.  On  every  holiday,  and  every  Friday  before  the 
 sacrament,  he  expounded  a  portion  of  scripture;  and  in  his  do- 
 mestic and  secret  devotions,  he  invariably  prayed  six  times 
 every  day;  twice  with  his  family,  twice  with  his  wife,  and  twice 
 in  secret.  He  was  of  a  comely  person,  with  a  grave  and  com- 
 manding exterior,  ever  zealous  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  yet  pru- 
 dent to  avoid  being  called  in  question  concerning  those  things 
 in  which  he  could  not  conform  to  the  national  requisitions  in 
 religious  matters.  In  his  last  sickness,  which  was  a  quartan 
 ague,  observing  that  his  complaint  was  daily  gaining  ground, 
 Mr  Bolton  revised  his  will,  and  retired  from  the  bustling  de- 
 
ROBERT  BOLTON.  355 
 
 part  men  ts  of  life,  and  employed  the  residue  of  his  days  in  meditat- 
 ing on  the  joys  of  heaven.  His  sickness  was  tedious  and  pain- 
 ful; yet  he  bore  up  under  his  sufferings  with  admirable  patience, 
 often  exclaiming,  during  the  intervals  of  his  fits,  "  Oh  !  when 
 shall  the  happy  hour  arrive  when  I  shall  be  dissolved?  When 
 shall  I  be  with  Christ,  and  see  him  as  he  is  ?"  Some  of  his 
 friends  observing,  that  though  better  for  himself,  his  dissolu- 
 tion would  be  a  heavy  loss  to  the  church,  in  depriving  them  of 
 the  benefit  of  his  ministry;  to  which  he  replied,  "  If  my  Lord 
 and  Redeemer  has  further  work  for  me  in  his  church  on  earth, 
 he  will  restore  me  again,  and  show  me  his  holy  habitation;  if 
 otherwise,  lo !  here  am  I,  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  good." 
 Being  asked  by  one,  Whether  he  should  not  be  content  to  live 
 if  it  were  the  will  of  God  ?  He  readily  replied,  "  I  grant  that 
 life  is  the  great  blessing  of  God,  neither  will  I  neglect  any 
 means  to  preserve  it;  but  though  I  heartily  desire  to  be  submis- 
 sive to  the  will  of  God,  of  the  two  alternatives,  I  infinitely  pre- 
 fer being  absent  from  the  body,  that  I  may  be  present  with  the 
 Lord."  During  the  progress  of  his  complaint,  though  his  body 
 was  wasted,  his  mind  was  lively  and  vigorous  as  ever.  The 
 ministers  who  visited  him  he  exhorted  and  encouraged  to  be 
 strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  confidence  of  his  power  and 
 goodness,  not  to  let  their  spirits  sink  under  the  apprehensions 
 of  any  danger  or  difficulty  that  might  stand  in  the  way,  but  to 
 be  diligent  and  faithful  in  the  work  whereunto  they  had  been 
 called,  and  leave  the  result  to  him  who  does  all  things  well. 
 All  his  visitors  he  warmly  exhorted  to  improve  the  acceptable 
 time  and  day  of  salvation,  and  not  put  off  the  most  important 
 business  of  their  lives  till  the  days  of  sickness  and  of  death 
 should  come  upon  them,  expressing,  in  the  language  of  joy  and 
 praise,  his  gratitude  to  God,  who  had  plucked  him  as  a  brand  » 
 from  the  fire,  and  had,  in  his  wonderful  mercy  and  condescen- 
 sion, blessed  his  ministry  to  the  conversion  of  many  souls  to 
 himself.  About  a  week  before  his  departure,  he  admonished 
 his  wife  not  to  be  troubled  at  his  dissolution,  but  to  bear  it  with 
 christian  fortitude,  assuring  her  they  should  meet  again  in  hea- 
 ven. Then  turning  towards  his  weeping  children,  he  said, 
 "  My  dear  children,  you  must  not  now  expect  me  to  say  any 
 thing  more  to  you,  seeing  my  strength  is  quite  gone.  I  have 
 told  you  enough  in  time  past,  which,  I  trust,  you  will  remem- 
 ber, and  reduce  to  practice  when  I  am  gone."  In  the  course 
 of  his  ministry  he  had  dwelt  on  the  consolations  of  the  gospel; 
 and  his  people,  in  their  turn,  were  anxious  to  know  how  he  felt 
 them  in  his  own  soul.  "  Alas  !  (said  Mr  Bolton)  do  they  ex- 
 pect that  of  me  now,  when  I  have  neither  breath  nor  strength  to 
 speak.     I  have  said  a  great  deal  on  that  subject  in  my  ministry. 
 
356  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 but,  for  their  satisfaction,  tell  them,  that  I  am,  by  the  wonder- 
 ful mercy  of  God,  as  full  of  comfort  as  my  soul  can  contain, 
 and  feel  nothing  within  me  but  Christ,  with  whom  I  earnestly 
 desire  to  be."  And  looking  on  those  who  were  weeping  near 
 him,  he  said,  "  Oh  !  how  much  ado  there  is  before  one  can 
 die." 
 
 A  little  before  his  departure,  being  told  that  some  of  his  best 
 friends  were  about  to  take  their  last  farewell,  he  caused  himself 
 to  be  raised  up  on  the  bed;  and  after  struggling  for  breath,  he 
 said,  "  I  am  now  drawing  on  apace  to  my  dissolution,  hold  out 
 faith  and  patience,  your  work  is  nearly  over."  Then,  shaking 
 them  all  by  the  hand,  he  said,  "  Make  sure  of  heaven;  keep  in 
 mind  what  I  have  formerly  delivered  to  you.  The  doctrines  I 
 have  preached  amongst  you  these  twenty  years  is  the  truth  of 
 God,  as  I  shall  answer  at  the  tribunal  of  Christ,  before  whom 
 I  am  on  the  point  of  appearing."  This  he  spoke  while  the  very 
 pangs  of  death  were  upon  him.  A  dear  friend,  taking  him  by 
 the  hand,  asked  if  he  felt  much  pain.  "  Truly  no  (said  he),  not 
 so  much  as  I  feel  from  the  coldness  of  your  hand;"  and  instant- 
 ly expired,  December  16th,  1631,  aged  fifty-nine  years. 
 
 Mr  Nicholas  Estwick,  who  preached  his  funeral  sermon, 
 says,  "  That  the  Lord  had  enriched  him  with  a  great  measure 
 of  grace,  and  that  his  life  was  a  copy  of  the  doctrines  he  taught : 
 That  he  was  sober,  righteous,  and  godly,  and,  in  every  respect, 
 irrcproveable  in  all  the  various  relations,  of  a  minister,  a  father, 
 a  husband,  a  brother,  or  as  a  member  of  the  community :  That 
 he  was  a  hard  student  and  faithful  labourer  in  the  work  of  the 
 gospel.  A  great  man,  says  he,  has  fallen  in  our  Israel,  whose 
 loss  will  be  severely  felt,  and  long  lamented.  His  wife  has  lost 
 a  gracious  husband;  his  children,  a  loving  father  and  gracious 
 guardian;  ministers,  a  grave  and  learned  brother;  the  poor,  a 
 liberal  benefactor,  a  wise  instructor,  and  a  gracious  friend;  and 
 the  whole  land  will  feel  the  loss  of  a  zealous  wrestler  with  God 
 for  the  continuation  and  promotion  of  their  happiness." 
 
 The  Oxford  historian  styles  him  a  most  religious  and  learned 
 puritan,  a  painful  preacher,  and  full  of  good  works.  He  was 
 so  expert  in  the  Greek  language,  that  he  could  dispute  or  write 
 in  it  with  the  same  ease  as  in  Latin  or  English.  Fuller  says,  he 
 was  one  of  a  thousand  for  piety,  wisdom,  and  stedfastness; 
 while  Echard  denominates  him  a  great  and  shining  light  of  the 
 puritan  party,  justly  celebrated  for  his  singular  learning  and 
 piety.  His  eloquent  and  invaluable  writings  will  be  read  with 
 pleasure  and  advantage,  and  perpetuate  his  memory  so  long  as 
 the  English  language  is  understood.  His  style  is  lofty,  in  some 
 instances  rather  approaching  the  bombast;  but,  generally  speak- 
 ing, his  expressions  are  magnificent,  and  often  sublime.     The 
 
ROBERT  BOLTON.  3.57 
 
 beauties  of  imagination  are,  however,  most  apparent  in  his  Four 
 Last  Things.  There  never  had  been  a  minister  in  the  county  of 
 Northampton  who  either  lived  more  beloved,  or  died  more  la- 
 mented than  Mr  Bolton.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the 
 chancel  of  Broughton  church,  and  a  flood  of  tears  shed  over  his 
 grave,  where  his  half  length  figure  is  erected,  with  his  hands 
 raised  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  and  underneath  a  monumental 
 inscription  upon  black  marble. 
 
 NATHANIEL  BERNARD,  A.  M. 
 
 This  courageous  and  much  persecuted  puritan  divine  was 
 educated  at  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge;  after  which  he  was 
 lecturer  at  St.  Sepulchre's,  London,  where  he  was  subjected  to 
 peculiar  sufferings  under  the  prelatical  tyranny  of  bishop  Laud. 
 In  preaching  at  St.  Atholin's  church,  May  3d,  1629,  having 
 used  the  following  expression  in  his  prayer  before  sermon : 
 "  Oh  !  open  the  eyes  of  the  queen's  majesty,  that  she  may  see 
 Jesus  Christ  whom  she  hath  pierced  with  her  infidelity,  super- 
 stition, and  idolatry;"  for  which  expression  he  was  summoned 
 by  Laud  to  appear  before  the  high  commission  at  Lambeth, 
 where,  after  long  attendance,  and  having  made  his  humble  sub- 
 mission, he  was  dismissed;  which,  however,  was  considered  an 
 act  of  great  mercy  and  moderation  in  that  imperious  court. 
 Again,  in  the  month  of  May  1632,  in  a  sermon,  preached  at  St. 
 Mary's  church,  Cambridge,  he  spoke  in  favour  of  maintaining 
 purity  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  deprecated  the  introduction 
 of  Arminianism  and  popish  superstitions  into  the  church  of 
 Christ.  Here  again  the  active  Laud  had  him  cited  before  the 
 commission.  On  Mr  Bernard's  appearance,  he  was  constrain- 
 ed to  produce,  before  the  court,  a  copy  of  his  sermon,  who  ob- 
 jected to  the  following  passages :  "  God's  ordinances,  for  his 
 public  worship,  are  the  glory  of  any  nation.  By  God's  ordi- 
 nances here,  said  Mr  Bernard,  I  understand  chiefly  the  word, 
 sacraments,  and  prayer,  which,  when  blended  with  any  adulter- 
 ous innovations,  cease  to  be  the  ordinances  of  Christ,  or  recog- 
 nized by  him.  It  is  not  the  nominal  possession  of  the  ordinan- 
 ces of  Christ,  but  their  possession  in  purity  and  reality,  that 
 constitutes  the  glory  of  a  nation.  The  possession  of  the  ordi- 
 nances of  God,  in  their  purity,  are  a  shield  and  buckler,  and  a 
 rock  of  defence  against  public  ruin  and  desolation.  For  the 
 proof  of  this,  I  challenge  all  records,  ancient  or  modern,  human 
 or  divine,  to  produce  one  instance  wherein  God  has  punished, 
 any  part  of  his  church  with  national  ruin  till  they  had  first  de- 
 parted from,  or  corrupted  his   ordinances.     And  if  so,   how 
 
358  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 foolish  must  it  be  for  some  men  to  think  so  meanly  of  the  ordi- 
 nances of  their  omnipotent  Lord  and  lawgiver,  who  has  an- 
 nounced himself  also  as  the  universal  judge.  Such  men  turn 
 their  own,  and  the  glory  of  their  nation  and  church  into  infamy 
 and  disgrace;  and  yet  there  is  amongst  us  a  generation  of  pro- 
 fane men,  who  seem  to  despise  these  holy  ordinances.  Men 
 who  arc  afraid  or  ashamed  to  preach  twice  on  a  Lord's  day; 
 ashamed  to  preach  plainly,  powerfully,  or  spiritually,  lest,  for- 
 sooth, they  should  be  branded  with  the  name  of  puritans." 
 But  Laud's  principal  objection  was  to  the  following  conclusion 
 of  Mr  Bernard's  sermon  :  "  It  is  impossible,  I  say  impossible, 
 for  any,  who  live  in  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  popish  church, 
 and  die  without  repentance,  to  be  saved,  as  the  late  Tridentine 
 Council  have  decreed.  My  reason  is,  that  whoever  imagines  he 
 may  enter  heaven  by  any  other  gate  than  by  faith  in  the  merit 
 of  Christ  only,  must,  and  will  assuredly  be  disappointed;  and 
 that  the  popish  devotee,  who  rests  his  salvation  on  the  merit  of 
 alms,  pilgrimages,  and  penances,  will  find  he  has  trusted  to  a 
 broken  reed.  Furthermore,  if  God's  ordinances  of  public  worship, 
 in  their  divine  purity,  be  the  glory  of  a  nation ;  then  it  follows,  as  a 
 necessary  consequence,  that  whoever  goes  about  either  to  rob  a  na- 
 tion of  these  ordinances,  or  defile  them  by  mixtures  of  human 
 invention,  do  what  they  can  to  render  the  nation  base  and  inglori- 
 ous, and,  by  so  doing,  to  expose  it  to  the  displeasure  of  God, 
 and  consequently  either  to  his  Fatherly  chastisement,  or  to  that 
 sweeping  destruction,  ruin,  and  desolation,  which  he  has  threat- 
 ened, and  which  he  has  invariably  executed  upon  these  nations 
 who  despise,  reject,  or  corrupt  his  divine  institutions.  In 
 what  light  then  are  we  to  consider  these  corrupters  ?  As  pa- 
 triots or  friends  to  their  native  country  ?  No,  surely,  but  as 
 enemies  of  God,  and  traitors  to  the  community  in  which  they 
 live.  Hereby  we  may  learn  how  to  account  of  those  amongst 
 ourselves  (if  any  such  there  be),  who  endeavour  to  quench  the 
 light,  and  diminish  the  glory  of  our  Israel,  by  intermingling 
 their  pelagian  errors  with  the  doctrines  of  our  church  esta- 
 blished by  law,  and  their  antichristian  superstitions  with  our 
 christian  worship.  Such  as  high  altars,  crucifixes,  bowing 
 down  to  them  and  worshipping  them,  whereby  they  shamefully 
 symbolize  with  the  church  of  Rome,  to  the  irrepairable  ship- 
 wreck of  many  precious  souls.  How  can  we  think  such  men 
 are  not  the  enemies  of  this  church  and  nation  ?  I  say,  enemies 
 they  are,  and  as  such  let  us  take  up  arms  against  them.  But 
 what  arms  ?  The  prayers  of  the  church  are  the  arms  of  the 
 church;  let  us  therefore  pray  these  men  cither  to  conversion,  if 
 it  be  the  will  of  God,  or  to  destruction;  and  let  us  use  that 
 prayer  against  them  that  David  used  against  Ahitophcl,  with 
 
NATHANIEL  BERNARD.  359 
 
 r 
 
 which  I  shall  conclude.  O  Lord,  turn  the  counsel  of  all  these 
 Ahitophels  into  folly,  who  labour  to  lay  the  honour  and  glory 
 of  this  church  and  nation  in  the  dust,  by  depriving  us  of  the 
 purity  of  thine  ordinances  of  public  worship,  which  are  the  bul- 
 warks of  our  security,  and  the  glory  of  our  national  strength." 
 For  these  expressions  in  his  sermon,  Mr  Bernard  was  sen- 
 tenced, by  the  high  commission,  to  be  suspended,  excommuni- 
 cated, fined  one  thousand  pounds,  condemned  in  costs  of  suit, 
 and  committed  to  new  prison;  where,  for  six  months,  he  was 
 most  barbarously  used,  and  nearly  starved.  It  was  in  vain 
 that  he  remonstrated  with  the  bishop  in  several  letters.  This 
 honest,  but  injured  individual,  could  obtain  no  redress  unless  he 
 would  defile  his  conscience  with  a  public  and  most  debasing  re- 
 cantation, which  he  was  commanded  to  make  before  the  same 
 congregation  to  whom  he  delivered  the  objectionable  sermon. 
 This  he  absolutely  refused.  He  would  not  sacrifice  the  testi- 
 mony of  a  good  conscience,  deny  the  most  glaring  matters  of 
 fact,  and  reject  the  counsel  of  God  against  himself,  whatever 
 might  be  the  consequences.  In  his  letters  to  Laud,  though  he 
 expressed  his  sorrow  for  any  unbecoming  expressions  in  his 
 sermon,  he  was  told  he  had  no  favour  to  expect,  nothing  would 
 appease  the  wrath  of  the  angry  prelate  but  a  recantation  agree- 
 able to  the  contemptible  form  prescribed;  which  must  for  ever 
 have  degraded  the  man  beneath  the  basest  of  the  brute  creation. 
 He  was  therefore  detained  in  prison,  where,  after  languishing 
 a  long  time,  he  died,  and,  by  his  death,  has  consigned  the  me- 
 mory of  this  prelatical  monster  to  an  immortality  of  exe- 
 cration. 
 
 LAURENCE  CHADDERTON,  D.  D. 
 
 Mr  Chadderton  was  born  in  Lancashire,  1537,  a  de- 
 scendant of  a  very  wealthy  family.  He  was  brought  up  in  the 
 popish  religion;  and  his  father,  intending  him  for  the  law,  sent 
 him  to  the  inns  of  court;  but  he  soon  renounced  the  religion  of 
 bis  father,  became  a  protestant,  forsook  the  study  of  the  law, 
 and  entered  at  Christ-college,  Cambridge,  1564.  Having  thus 
 changed  his  religion,  and  fixed  himself  in  the  university,  he  ac- 
 quainted his  father  with  these  circumstances,  and  requested  some 
 pecuniary  support.  But  his  father,  indignant  at  his  religious 
 choice,  not  only  refused  him  any  support,  but  also  disinherited 
 him  of  considerable  estates;  and,  as  a  farther  demonstration 
 of  the  strength  of  his  resentment,  sent  him  a  pock,  with  a  groat 
 in  it,  that  he  might  go  a-begging.  Though  thus  unfeelingly 
 abandoned  by  his  parents,  he  was  much  comforted  by  these  words 
 
360  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  the  Psalmist,  "  When  my  father  and  mother  forsake  me,  then 
 will  the  Lord  take  me  up."  Young  Chadderton,  though  cast 
 off  by  his  unnatural  parents,  still  continued  at  the  university, 
 with  the  most  inflexible  adherence  to  his  studies,  and  became 
 so  eminent  a  scholar,  that,  in  three  years,  he  was  chosen  fellow 
 of  his  college.  In  1576  he  had  a  public  dispute  with  Dr.  Baro, 
 the  Margaret  professor,  upon  his  Arminian  tenets;  on  which  oc- 
 casion he  displayed  great  learning,  piety,  and  moderation.  He 
 afterwards  took  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  university 
 against  Baro  and  Baret,  and  united  with  others  in  addressing 
 certain  letters  to  the  chancellor  of  the  university.  For  the 
 space  of  sixteen  years  he  continued  lecturer  to  one  of  the 
 churches  in  Cambridge,  in  which  his  holy,  learned,  and  judici- 
 ous sermons  became  a  blessing  to  the  place.  October  26th, 
 1578,  he  preached  the  sermon  at  Paul's  cross;  which,  it  appears, 
 was  the  only  article  he  ever  published.  About  this  time  he  was 
 appointed,  by  parliament,  to  be  preacher  at  the  middle  Temple, 
 and  have  a  salary  of  twenty  pounds  a  year,  to  be  raised  by  the 
 contributions  of  the  house.  In  1584,  when  Sir  Walter  Mild- 
 may  founded  Emanuel  college,  he  made  choice  of  Mr  Chadder- 
 ton to  be  the  first  master.  But  his  modesty  made  him  reluc- 
 tant in  undertaking  the  charge.  Sir  Walter,  however,  told 
 him,  that  unless  he  would  acquiesce  with  his  wishes,  he  would 
 not  proceed.  If  you  will  not  condescend  to  be  master,  said  he, 
 I  will  not  be  the  founder;  on  which  he  complied,  and  continued 
 in  the  office  thirty-eight  years.  Amongst  many  distinguished 
 characters,  who  had  been  Chadderton's  pupils,  William  Bedell, 
 afterwards  bishop  of  Kilmore  in  Ireland,  was  one.  This  learn- 
 ed prelate  always  paid  the  highest  respect  for  his  venerable  tu- 
 tor. After  Bedell  was  made  provost  of  Dublin  college,  and  in- 
 troduced to  a  friendly  correspondence  with  the  celebrated 
 Usher,  he  could  not  make  mention  of  his  name  without  sensa- 
 tions of  pleasure  and  esteem.  "  The  arts  of  dutiful  obedience, 
 and  also  of  just  ruling,  in  part  (says  he),  I  did,  for  seventeen 
 years,  endeavour  to  learn  under  the  good  father  Chadderton,  in 
 a  well  tempered  society.  Of  the  cunning  tricks  of  packing,  sid- 
 ing, bandying,  and  skirmishing  with  and  between  great  men,  I 
 confess  myself  ignorant,  and  now  I  am  too  old  to  be  taught." 
 
 In  1622  the  doctor  resigned  his  mastership  to  the  famous 
 Dr.  Preston,  lest  his  successor  should  be  a  man  of  Arminian 
 principles.  He  lived,  however,  to  see  Dr.  Sancroft,  and  after 
 him  Dr.  Howldsworth,  in  the  same  office.  Dr.  Chadderton 
 was  a  decided  puritan,  though  a  man  of  great  moderation.  He 
 joined  the  classical  associations,  and  subscribed  the  book  of  dis- 
 cipline. In  1603  he  was  nominated  by  king  James  to  attend 
 the  conference  at  Hampton  court :  and,  on  account  of  his  great 
 
LAURENCE  CHADDERTON.  S6l 
 
 learning,  he  was  also  nominated  by  his  majesty  for  one  of  the 
 translators  of  the  present  version  of  the  Bible.  He  died  Nov. 
 13th,  1640,  in  the  hundred  and  third  year  of  his  age.  His  re- 
 mains were  interred  in  St.  Andrew's  church,  Cambridge,  when 
 Dr.  Howldsworth  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  in  which  he 
 gives  him  a  very  large  and  deserved  commendation. 
 
 HENRY  BURTON,  D.  B. 
 
 This  very  extraordinary  sufferer,  in  the  cause  of  non-con- 
 formity, was  born  at  Birdsall  in  Yorkshire,  L579,  and  educated 
 at  Cambridge.  His  first  employment,  after  leaving  the  univer- 
 sity, was  that  of  tutor  to  the  sons  of  lord  Carey,  at  Leppington. 
 He  was  afterwards  clerk  of  the  closet  to  prince  Henry;  and 
 after  his  death,  to  prince  Charles,  whom  he  was  appointed  to 
 accompany  in  his  visit  to  the  court  of  Spain;  but,,  for  reasons 
 unknown,  he  was  set  aside,  even  after  some  of  his  travelling 
 equipage  had  been  put  on  board  for  the  voyage.  On  the  acces- 
 sion of  Charles  to  the  throne,  Burton  expected  to  have  been 
 continued  in  his  office.  Here,  however,  he  was  disappointed, 
 and  his  place  bestowed  on  Neile,  bishop  of  Durham.  Burton 
 was  highly  offended  at  being  thus  supplanted;  and,  in  April 
 1623,  presented  a  letter  to  king  Charles,  remonstrating  against 
 Neile  and  Laud,  his  majesty's  constant  attendants,  as  being 
 strongly  inclined  to  popery;  which  was  certainly  lamentably 
 true.  Nevertheless,  Burton's  remonstrance  was  considered  as 
 the  malevolent  effects  of  disappointed  hopes  by  his  enemies;  while 
 he,  on  the  other  hand,  charges  the  bishop  with  supplanting  him 
 by  hypocrisy  and  envy.  "  But  (says  he)  it  was  thus  happily  or- 
 dered by  the  good  providence  of  God,  who  would  not  suffer  me 
 to  rise  at  court,  lest  I  should  have  been  corrupted  by  its  prefer- 
 ments." Mr  Burton,  being  a  man  who  feared  no  antagonist, 
 when  cited  before  Laud,  treated  him  more  like  a  school-boy 
 than  a  learned  bishop.  He  was  convened  before  the  high  com- 
 mission for  his  book,  entitled,  Babel  no  Bethel.  Harsnet, 
 archbishop  of  York,  railed  himself  out  of  breath  against  it  and 
 its  author.  But  Burton  confounded  him  with  the  sharpness  of 
 his  reply.  Becoming  more  and  more  disgusted  with  the  in- 
 creasing usurpations,  and  tyrannical  government  of  the  prelates, 
 and  their  attempts  to  restore  the  antichristian  superstitions  of 
 Rome,  he  purposely  preached,  from  the  second  chapter  of  the 
 Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  and  fearlessly  attacked  the  ceremonies 
 of  the  church,  denouncing  all  will-worship,  and  every  species  of 
 human  invention  in  the  service  of  God.  "  I  began  (says  he)  to 
 fall  off  from  the  ceremonies  by  degrees,  watching  for  an  oppor- 
 13  2  z 
 
36l2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 fcunity  to  try  it  out,  either  by  dint  of  argument,  or  by  law;  and, 
 in  case  of  failing  in  these,  I  had  resolved  to  appeal  to  the  king- 
 and  his  council,  determined  either  to  foil  my  adversaries,  though 
 I  had  but  small  hopes  of  this,  or  at  least  to  discover  the  mys- 
 tery of  iniquity  and  hypocrisy,  which,  like  a  veil  of  piety,  they 
 had  hung  over  their  tyrannical  proceedings.  I  saw,  with  sor- 
 row, how  they  were  daily  gaining  ground  on  the  hearts  of  the 
 credulous  and  simple,  by  their  subtile  pretensions  that  all  their 
 measures  were  for  the  protection  of  the  protestant  religion^ 
 while  they  were  labouring  to  undermine  and  overturn  it,  and 
 while  the  withered  whore  of  Babylon,  who  at  first  made  her 
 appearance  in  a  protestant  garb,  began  to  show  her  painted  face 
 in  all  the  superstitious  services  of  the  altar.  Not  satisfied 
 with  the  mere  introduction  of  popery,  their  endeavours  were 
 also  directed  to  the  overthrow  of  the  good  laws  and  liberties  of 
 the  nation,  and  the  introduction  of  arbitrary  and  despotic  govern- 
 ment." How  truly  Mr  Burton  has  characterised  the  leading 
 ecclesiastics  of  that  period,  the  History  of  England  will  suffi- 
 ciently attest. 
 
 But  Mr  Burton,  in  proportion  to  the  boldness  and  truth  of 
 his  strictures  on  the  measures  adopted  by  the  prelates,  felt  the 
 weight  of  their  implacable  resentment,  but  especially  that  of 
 bishop  Laud.  In  1626  he  was  convened  before  the  high  com- 
 mission; but,  on  this  occasion,  the  judges  interposed,  and  grant- 
 ed a  prohibition;  in  consequence  of  which,  he,  for  this  time, 
 escaped  from  the  fangs  of  these  devouring  beasts  of  prey. 
 Having  published  a  book,  entitled,  The  Baiting  of  the  Pope's 
 Bull,  or  the  Unmasking  of  the  Mystery  of  Iniquity,  folded  up 
 in  a  most  pernicious  Bull,  lately  arrived  from  Rome,  with  the 
 design  of  causing  a  rent  in  England,  by  which  his  holiness 
 might  re-enter.  Notwithstanding  that  this  book  was  wholly 
 directed  against  the  pope,  and  licensed  by  Dr.  Goad,  Mr  Bur- 
 ton, the  author,  was  cited  before  the  council,  by  the  instigation 
 of  Laud,  who  spoke  with  vehemence  against  it,  and  denounced 
 it  a  libel.  After  this  Burton  published  another  book,  entitled, 
 The  Pouring  out  of  the  Seven  Vials;  for  which  this  bloody  pre- 
 late had  him  prosecuted  in  the  high  commission,  and  had  the 
 book  suppressed;  and  when  he  published  his  book,  entitled,  Ba- 
 bel no  Bethel,  which  was  also  wholly  directed  against  the 
 church  of  Rome,  bishop  Laud  ordered  his  pursuivant  to  appre- 
 hend and  commit  him  to  the  Fleet;  where,  contrary  to  the  peti- 
 tion of  rights,  he  refused  bail  when  offered,  suspended  him  from 
 his  benefice,  and  suppressed  the  publication;  notwithstanding 
 that  one  Chowney,  who  had  published  a  defence  of  popery, 
 and,  in  place  of  being  punished,  was  not  even  questioned  re- 
 specting the  publication;  which,  instead  of  being  suppressed,  he 
 
HENRY  BURTON. 
 
 363 
 
 was  permitted  to  dedicate  to  Laud,  who  favoured  it  with  his 
 prelatical  patronage.  Such  was  the  conduct  of  this  protestant 
 bishop,  who  pretended  be  a  pillar  of  the  reformation  from  po- 
 pery !  The  puritans,  however,  were  not  ignorant  of  his  devices. 
 Mr  Burton,  about  the  same  time,  also  published  his  Trial  of 
 Private  Devotions,  and  his  Refutation  of  divers  Arminian  and 
 Popish  Errors,  which  had  been  broached  by  Montague,  in  his 
 Appello  Ccesarem ;  which  were  both  called  in,  and  suppressed  by 
 the  severity  of  this  papistical  intolerant. 
 
 How  long  Mr  Burton  remained  in  the  Fleet,  under  the 
 bishop's  suspension,  we  are  unable  to  state.  He  was  after- 
 wards set  at  liberty;  but  this  was  only  the  commencement  of 
 his  sufferings,  a  small  earnest  of  what  was  yet  in  reserve  for  the 
 trial  of  his  patience  and  fortitude.  For  having  preached  two 
 sermons  at  his  own  church,  in  Friday  Street,  on  the  5th  No- 
 vember 1636,  from  Prov.  xxiv.  21,  22.  "My  son,  fear  thou 
 the  Lord  and  the  king,  and  meddle  not  with  them  that  are 
 given  to  change,"  &c;  in  which  discourses  he  exhibited,  in 
 their  natural  colours,  the  late  innovations  in  doctrine,  worship, 
 and  ceremonies,  and  warned  his  people  against  being  tainted 
 with  their  antichristian  leaven.  Dr.  Laud,  now  the  archbishop 
 4>f  Canterbury,  being  apprised  of  the  nature  of  these  sermons, 
 caused  articles  to  be  exhibited  against  Mr  Burton  in  the  high 
 commission  court,  and  summoned  him  to  answer  them,  before 
 Dr.  Duck,  without  waiting  till  term  time.  On  his  appearance, 
 he  was  charged  with  having  spoken  against  turning  communion 
 tables  into  altars,  against  bowing  to  the  altar,  against  setting  up 
 crucifixes,  against  saying  the  second  service  at  the  altar,  and 
 against  prohibiting  the  afternoon  sermon  on  the  Lord's  day.  In 
 addition  to  these  dreadful  enormities,  he  was  also  charged  with 
 having  said,  that  ministers  could  not  preach  the  doctrines  of  free 
 grace  but  at  the  risk  of  the  severest  censures;  and  that  the  mini- 
 sters in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  were  suspended  for  their  non-con- 
 formity to  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  which  had  been  imposed 
 upon  them  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  land.  These  charges  hav- 
 ing been  declared  sedition  by  the  court,  Mr  Burton  was  required 
 to  answer,  upon  his  oath,  and  so  become  his  own  accuser;  which 
 he  positively  refused,  and  appealed  to  the  king.  His  appeal, 
 however,  availed  him  nothing.  In  fifteen  days  after,  he  was 
 summoned,  by  Laud's  authority,  to  appear  before  a  special 
 court  of  commission,  where,  in  his  absence,  he  was  suspended 
 from  his  office  and  benefice,  and  a  warrant  issued  out  for  his 
 apprehension.  Thus  oppressed  on  every  side,  Mr  Burton  form- 
 ed the  bold  resolution  of  shutting  himself  up  in  his  house;  and, 
 in  the  meantime,  that  the  impartial  world  might  have  an  oppor- 
 tunity of  deciding  on  the  merits  of  the  whole  case,  he  published 
 
364  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 his  two  objected  sermons,   under  the  title,   "  For  God  and  the 
 King,  the  sum  of  two  sermons,  preached  on  the  5th  of  Novem- 
 ber last,  in  St.   Matthew's,  Friday  Street,   London,  with  an 
 apology  for  an  appeal  addressed  to  the  king,  the  lords  of  coun- 
 cil, and  the  learned  Judges."     But  the  pursuivants  of  the  com- 
 mission, not  daring  to  break  open  Mr  Burton's  doors,  the  arch- 
 bishop, with  the  bishop  of  London,  and  several  others,  drew  up 
 a  warrant,  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  one  Dandy,  a  serjeant 
 at  arms,  who,  accompanied  by  the  sheriff  of  London,  and  a 
 number  of  other  armed  officers,   went  the  same   evening  to 
 Burton's  house,  in  Friday  Street,  and,  between  the  hours  of 
 ten  and  eleven  at  night,  forcibly  broke  open  his  doors,  and, 
 taking  him  into  custody,  seized  on  whatever  books  or  papers 
 they  pleased.     In  place,  however,  of  being  taken  before  the 
 lords,  as  the  warrant  expressed,  he  was  next  day  committed 
 close  prisoner  in  the  Fleet,  by  virtue  of  a  different  warrant, 
 without  assigning  any  cause  for  such  illegal  procedure. 
 
 During  the  time  of  Burton's  confinement  in  the  Fleet,  two 
 anonymous  publications  were  put  into  circulation;  one  of  them, 
 entitled,  A  Divine  Tragedy,  exhibiting  a  catalogue  of  God's 
 judgments  upon  Sabbath  breakers;  the  otber,  News  from  Ips- 
 wich; in  which  the  innovations  and  merciless  severity  of  the 
 prelates  were  held  up  to  public  indignation,  particularly  the  in- 
 tolerant measures  of  bishop  Wren  of  Norwich.     These  were 
 supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Mr  William  Prynne,  the 
 lawyer.     Dr.  John  Bastwick  having  also  published  a  book,  en- 
 titled, Apologeticus  ad  Praesules  Anglicanos,  and  a  pamphlet, 
 called,    The    New    Litany.      These    three    prisoners,    Burton, 
 Prynne,  and  Bastwick,  were  prosecuted  in  the  star-chamber 
 for  writing  and  publishing  seditious,  schismatical,  and  libellous 
 books  against  the  hierarchy,  and  to  the  scandal  of  the  govern- 
 ment.    This  is  the  substance  of  their  indictment.     These  writ- 
 ers had  taxed  the  bishops  with  a  perpetual  itching  after  the 
 gaudy  ceremonies,  and  an  incurable  inclination  to  return  to  the 
 exploded  absurdities  of  the  Roman  church,  with  bitter  excla- 
 mations against  the  severity,  partiality,  and  injustice  of  the  high 
 commission   court.     And   the  impatience   and   resentment   of 
 these    dignitaries  would  not  suffer  such  invectives  to   go  for 
 nothing. 
 
 When  these  three  defendants  had  prepared  their  several 
 answers  to  their  indictments,  no  counsel  could  be  obtained  to 
 sign  them,  for  fear  of  the  wrath  of  these  domineering  prelates. 
 This  being  the  case,  they  presented  a  petition  to  the  court, 
 praying  to  receive  them  with  their  own  signatures;  which  was 
 most  inhumanely  refused  them.  Mr  Prynne  and  Dr.  Bastwick 
 having  no  other  alternative,   left  their  answers  at  the  office, 
 
HENRY  BURTON.  365 
 
 sigued  by  their  own  bauds;  which  availed  them  nothing,  they 
 being  proceeded  against  pro  confessio.  Mr  Burton  prevailed 
 upon  Mr  Holt,  a  learned  and  aged  bencher  of  Gray's  inn,  to 
 sign  his  answer;  but  the  court  ordered  every  thing  deemed  un- 
 fit to  be  brought  into  court  to  be  expunged;  accordingly,  they 
 struck  out  the  whole  answer,  consisting  of  forty  sheets  of  paper, 
 with  the  exception  of  a  iew  lines  at  the  beginning,  and  a  few 
 more  at  the  end;  and  because  Mr  Burton  would  not  acknow- 
 ledge it  in  this  mutilated  form,  they  proceeded  against  him  also 
 pro  confessio. 
 
 These  three  prisoners  being  brought  to  the  bar,  June  14tb, 
 1637,  they  offered  to  defend  their  answers  at  the  peril  of  their 
 lives;  but  the  court,  finding  they  were  not  filed  on  the  record, 
 refused  to  admit  them.  They  cried  aloud  for  justice,  and  de- 
 manded, as  free-born  Englishmen,  that  their  answers  should  be 
 read.  This  was  peremptorily  refused.  After  Prynne  and 
 Blast  wick  had  been  examined,  the  judges  proceeded  next  to  the 
 case  of  Mr  Burton,  as  follows : 
 
 Lord  Keeper.  Mr  Burton,  What  say  you  ? 
 
 Mr  Burton.  My  good  lords,  notwithstanding  that  we  have 
 laboured  to  give  your  honours  all  possible  satisfaction,  it  appears 
 you  are  determined  to  censure  us,  and  to  take  our  cause  pro 
 confesslo.  What,  my  lords,  have  you  to  say  against  my  book  ? 
 I  frankly  acknowledge  it  is  mine;  I  wrote  it,  but  by  no  means 
 with  the  intention  of  raising  a  commotion,  or  stirring  up  sedi- 
 tion in  the  country,  as  charged  against  me.  I  have  delivered 
 nothing  in  these  sermons  but  what  arose  from  my  text,  which 
 was  chosen  to  suit  the  day  on  which  it  was  delivered,  being  the 
 5th  of  November;  and  I  stand  here  ready  to  vindicate  every 
 sentence  delivered  on  that  occasion. 
 
 L.  K.  Mr  Burton,  I  pray  you  do  not  stand  upon  naming 
 texts  of  scripture  at  present;  we  did  not  send  for  you  to  preach, 
 but  to  answer  to  those  things  that  are  objected  against  you. 
 
 B.  I  have  drawn  up  my  answer  with  much  pains  and  con- 
 siderable expence;  which  answer  was  signed  by  my  counsel's 
 hand,  and  received  into  this  court  agreeable  to  the  rule  and  or- 
 der thereof;  so  that  I  had  no  reason  to  expect  that  I  should  be 
 thus  called  to  a  censure,  but  to  a  legal  proceeding  by  bill  and 
 answer. 
 
 L.  K.  Your  answer  was  impertinent. 
 
 B.  The  matter  is  truly  astonishing,  my  lord.  My  answer 
 was  legally  entered  in  the  court,  and  I  should  like  to  know  on 
 what  ground  it  was  thrown  out,  and  by  what  authority  my  de- 
 fence against  groundless  charges,  maliciously  brought  Against 
 me,  was  thus  unjustly  set  aside.  It  was  first  approved,  Why 
 was  it  afterwards  pronounced  impertinent  ?     And,    being  ap- 
 
366  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 proved  of,  it  was  received  into  the  court — Why  was  it  after- 
 wards rejected?  Justice  requires  that  I  should  be  apprised  of 
 the  cause  of  such  preposterous  procedure. 
 
 Lord  Finch.  The  judges  did  you  a  good  turn  to  make  it  im- 
 pertinent, for  your  answer  was  as  libellous  as  your  book. 
 
 L.  K.  What  say  you,  Mr  Burton  ?     Are  you  guilty  or  not  ? 
 
 B.  My  lord,  I  desire  you  to  peruse  the  whole  of  my  book, 
 not  a  passage  here  and  there,  but  throughout. 
 
 L.  K.  Time  is  short,  Mr  Burton.  Are  you  guilty,  or  not 
 guilty  ?  What  say  you  to  that  which  has  been  read  ?  Does  it 
 become  a  minister  to  deliver  himself  in  such  a  railing  and  scan- 
 dalous manner? 
 
 B.  It  is  highly  becoming  a  minister  of  Christ  to  deliver  the 
 truths  of  his  holy  word.  It  is  highly  becoming  a  watchman  to 
 blow  the  trumpet  of  alarm  when  he  sees  the  enemy  approach- 
 ing; and  it  well  becomes  the  physician  to  prescribe  bitter  potions 
 to  his  patient  when  mild  ones  are  found  utterly  inefficient. 
 Spiritually  considered,  a  minister  is  the  instructor,  the  watch- 
 man, and  physician  of  his  flock,  and  responsible  for  the  faithful 
 discharge  of  his  duty  in  these  various  capacities.  If,  there- 
 fore, my  sermons  correspond  with  the  word  of  God,  and  the 
 ministerial  duties  therein  prescribed,  as  I  humbly  presume,  and 
 I  am  ready  to  prove  they  do — Then  what  censure  becomes  ne- 
 cessary ?  Surely  none.  In  these  days  of  reviving  superstition 
 and  increasing  heresy,  it  were  more  becoming  the  dignitaries 
 of  the  church  to  encourage  the  preachers  of  the  gospel,  than 
 thus  to  harass  and  discourage  them  in  the  discharge  of  these 
 important  duties.  With  respect  to  my  answer  to  your  allega- 
 tions, you  have  very  unjustly  blotted  out  every  sentence  that 
 you  considered  available  to  my  exculpation,  and  retained  mere- 
 ly what  you  found  less  opposed  to  your  tyrannical  proceedings; 
 and  now  you  require  me  to  relinquish  all  that  bears  against 
 your  intolerance,  and  recognise  that  alone  which  answers  your 
 own  ends  and  purposes;  but,  be  assured,  my  lord,  before  I  will 
 thus  meanly  desert  either  my  cause  or  my  conscience,  I  will 
 sooner  desert  this  mortal  body  of  mine,  and  consign  it  to  the 
 arbitrary  disposal  of  your  lordships. 
 
 L.  K.  This  is  a  place  where  you  ought  to  crave  mercy  and 
 favour,  Mr  Burton,  and  not  stand  on  such  bold  terms. 
 
 B.  Wherein  I  have  offended,  in  human  frailty,  I  crave  par- 
 don, both  of  God  and  man ;  and  I  pray  God,  that  in  deciding  on 
 this  case,  you  may  so  conduct  yourselves  as  not  to  sin  against 
 your  own  souls. — Mr  Burton  was  proceeding  farther  to  defend 
 himself,  when  he  was  interrupted,  and  commanded  to  be  silent; 
 while  the  following  horrible  sentence  was  pronounced  against 
 him  and  his  injured  associates : 
 
HENRY  BURTON.  -  36? 
 
 "  That  Burton  shall  be  deprived  of  his  ecclesiastical  benefice, 
 degraded  from  his  ministerial  functions  and  degrees  in  the  uni- 
 versity, as  Prynne  and  Bastwick  have  been  from  their  degrees 
 of  law  and  physic.  They  shall  be  fined  each  Jive  thousand 
 pounds.  They  shall  stand  in  the  pillory  at  Westminster,  and 
 have  their  ears  cut  off;  and  because  Prynne  has  already  lost  his 
 ears,  by  sentence  of  the  court  in  1633,  the  remainder  of  the 
 stumps  shall  be  cut  off,  and  he  shall  be  stigmatized  on  both  his 
 cheeks  with  the  letters  S.  L.  for  a  Seditious  Libeller;  and  they 
 shall  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment  in  three  of  the  remotest  pri- 
 sons of  the  kingdom,  namely,  in  Carnarvon,  Cornwall,  and 
 Lancaster  castles." 
 
 Prior  to  the  execution  of  this  barbarous  sentence,  Burton's 
 parishioners  presented  a  petition  to  the  king,  subscribed  by  a 
 great  number  of  respectable  individuals,  earnestly  entreating 
 his  majesty  to  pardon  and  liberate  their  beloved  minister.  It 
 was  presented  by  two  of  their  number,  who  were  instantly  im- 
 prisoned for  their  officiousness.  The  sentence  of  court  was  ex- 
 ecuted on  these  three  men  on  the  30th  June,  with  evident  marks 
 of  unfeeling  brutality.  The  hangman,  sawing  off  the  remainder 
 of  Prynne's  ears,  rather  than  cutting  them.  The  sufferers  be- 
 longed to  the  three  most  reputable  professions;  and  their  cha- 
 racters, in  their  several  faculties,  were  none  of  the  meanest;  yet 
 have  they  been  traduced,  and  meanly  insulted  by  some  bigoted 
 historians,  with  the  unworthy  epithets  of  fellows,  pillory-men, 
 stigmatized  scoundrels,  §c.  These  victims  of  prelatical  ven- 
 geance had,  nevertheless,  the  pleasure  of  living  to  see,  that  the 
 cruel  inflictions  of  their  enemies  procured  them  more  honour 
 than  falls  to  the  share  of  the  boasted  ensignia  of  the  star  and 
 garter.  These  honourable  scars,  obtained  in  defending  the  no- 
 ble cause  of  religious  liberty,  pointed  them  out  to  the  admira- 
 tion of  mankind,  as  heroes  of  the  most  inflexible  integrity  and 
 imperishable  renown;  while  their  enemies,  and  merciless  perse- 
 cutors, have  exposed  themselves  to  the  unqualified  reprobation 
 of  every  person  of  ordinary  sensibility. 
 
 On  passing  this  unchristian  sentence,  archbishop  Laud  made  a 
 long  and  laboured  speech,  with  the  design  of  vindicating  him- 
 self from  the  charge  of  innovation,  with  which  he  was  univer- 
 sally branded  by  the  puritans.  In  this  speech,  which  was  ad- 
 dressed to  the  lords  constituting  the  court,  he  says,  "  I  can 
 clearly  and  truly  aver,  as  in  the  presence  of  God,  that  I  have 
 done  nothing  as  a  prelate,  but  with  a  single  heart,  and  with  a 
 sincere  intention  for  the  good  government  and  honour  of  the 
 church,  and  also  for  the  maintenance  of  the  orthodox  truth  and 
 religion  of  Christ,  professed,  established,  and  maintained  in  this 
 church  of  England."     Here  the  reader  will  judge  for  himself 
 
36S  WfeMOIR  OF 
 
 how  far  the  declaration  and  the  practice  of  this  unmerciful  and 
 domineering  churchman  are  consistent  with  one  another,  and 
 whether  the  archbishop  has  not  added  to  his  relentless  cruelty 
 the  most  shameful  hypocrisy.  "  I  heartily  thank  you  all  (con- 
 tinues he)  for  your  just  and  honourable  censure  upon  these 
 men,  and  your  unanimous  dislike  to  them."  These  suffering 
 individuals  were  charged  with  writing  seditious  libels,  although 
 their  writings  are  wholly  directed  against  popery,  and  the  pre- 
 latical  leaders,  who  were  aiming  at  its  restoration ;  which  ren- 
 ders themselves  the  only  seditious  persons  concerned  in  the  af- 
 fair; and  therefore  to  pronounce  a  sentence  so  disproportioned 
 to  the  supposed  offence  against  others,  while  they  alone  were 
 the  transgressors,  stands  a  lasting  disgrace  on  their  characters, 
 as  ministers  of  Christ,  and  even  as  men. 
 
 On  the  morning  appointed  for  executing  this  terrible  sen- 
 tence, Mr  Burton,  being  brought  to  Westminster,  and  behold- 
 ing the  pillory  erected  in  palace  yard,  he  said,  "  My  wedding 
 day  was  not  half  so  welcome  to  me  as  this.  What  makes  it 
 more  peculiarly  joyful,  is  the  cheering  thought  that  the  Cap- 
 tain of  my  salvation  has  led  the  way.  He  gave  his  back  to 
 the  smiters,  and  his  cheeks  to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair; 
 nor  hid  himself  from  shame  and  spitting.  The  Lord  God 
 will  help  me,  therefore  shall  I  not  be  confounded.  If  Christ 
 was  not  ashamed  of  a  cross  for  me,  shall  I  be  ashamed  of  a  pil- 
 lory for  him — Never  !"  Being  fastened  in  the  pillory,  he  ad- 
 dressed the  immense  crowd  of  spectators  to  the  following  im- 
 port: "Men  of  England,  I  am  brought  here  for  a  spectacle  to 
 men  and  angels,  and  notwithstanding  that  I  am  doomed  thus  to 
 suffer  the  punishment  of  a  rogue,  yet,  unless  it  be  a  faithful 
 service  to  Christ,  and  a  loyal  subjection  to  the  king,  that  con- 
 stitutes a  rogue,  I  am  clear  from  the  malevolent  charge.  If, 
 however,  to  be  Christ's  faithful  servant,  and  the  king's  loyal 
 subject,  deserve  such  punishment  as  this,  I  glory  in  it,  and  bless 
 God  that  I  have  a  clear  and  approving  conscience.  I  rejoice 
 that  he  hath  accounted  me  worthy  of  these  sufferings;  and  in 
 his  loving-kindness,  and  tender  mercy,  has  filled  my  soul  with 
 comfort  and  great  consolation."  With  a  grave  and  cheerful 
 countenance  he  added,  "  I  have  never  been  in  such  a  pulpit  be- 
 fore; but  who  knows  what  fruit  God  is  able  to  produce  from 
 this  dry  tree.  Through  these  holes  (meaning  the  pillory)  God 
 can  give  light  to  his  church.  The  conscientious  discharge  of 
 my  ministerial  duty,  in  admonishing  my  people  against  the 
 creeping  in  of  popery,  and  in  exhorting  them  to  a  dutiful  obe- 
 dience to  God  and  the  king,  constitutes  the  crime  for  which  I 
 now  suffer.  The  truths  which  I  have  preached,  however,  I  am 
 ready  to  seal  with  my  blood;  and  this  is  my  crown  of  rejoicing 
 
HENRY  BURTON.  369 
 
 here,  and  shall  be  hereafter."  When  taken  from  the  pillory, 
 he  was  again  brought  on  the  scaffold,  where  the  executioner  cut 
 off  his  ears  in  a  very  coarse  and  barbarous  manner.  They 
 were  paired  so  close,  that,  the  temporal  artery  being  cut,  the 
 blood  gushed  in  torrents  from  the  wounds;  the  sight  of  which 
 awakened  the  sensibility,  as  well  as  the  indignation  and  the 
 cries  of  an  immense  crowd  of  spectators.  While  his  blood  was 
 thus  streaming  in  every  direction,  Mr  Burton  manifested  the 
 greatest  coolness  and  composure,  saying,  "  Blessed  be  God,  it 
 is  well;  be  content,  my  soul,  and  suffer  all  with  patience.  Pain 
 is  the  harbinger  of  pleasure;  and  sorrow,  like  the  night,  pre- 
 cedes the  joys  of  morning;  all  shall  yet  be  well."  Mr  Prynne 
 and  Dr.  Bastwick  had  this  bloody  part  of  their  sentences  exe- 
 cuted at  the  same  time  and  place.  The  day  preceding  this  exe- 
 cution, it  was  decreed,  in  the  star-chamber,  that  Henry  Bur- 
 ton shall  be  carried  to  Lancaster  castle,  William  Prynne  to 
 Carnarvon  castle,  and  John  Bastwick  to  Launceston  castle, 
 and  there  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment,  without  being  allowed 
 any  use  of  pen,  ink,  or  paper,  or  any  other  book  but  the  bible, 
 the  book  of  common  prayer,  and  certain  other  books  of  devo- 
 tion agreeable  to  the  form  of  the  church  of  England;  and  that 
 no  person  have  access  to  them.  In  consequence  of  this  order, 
 Dr.  Bastwick  was  taken  from  the  Gatehouse  on  the  26th  July; 
 the  day  following  Mr  Prynne  was  taken  from  the  Tower; 
 and,  on  the  next  day,  Mr  Burton  from  the  Fleet — and, 
 with  their  sores  not  yet  cured,  conveyed  to  their  several  places 
 of  confinement.  As  they  passed  out  of  the  city,  vast  multitudes 
 of  people  came  forth  to  witness  their  departure,  and  take  their 
 last  and  sorrowful  farewell.  As  Mr  Burton  passed  from  Smith- 
 field  to  Brown's  hill,  a  little  beyond  Highgate,  it  was  calculated 
 that  not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  persons  were  collected 
 to  witness  his  departure.  His  wife,  attending  him  in  a  car- 
 riage, had  great  sums  of  money  thrown  to  her  as  she  passed 
 along.  But  the  liberty  given  to  Burton  and  his  fellow-suffer- 
 ers to  speak  in  the  pillory,  and  the  affection  and  compassion 
 manifested  by  the  populace,  were  extremely  mortifying  to  the 
 revengeful  spirit  of  the  malicious  Laud;  as  appears  from  his  let- 
 ter to  Wentworth,  dated  August  28th,  1637.  "What  say  you 
 to  it  (says  the  angry  prelate),  that  Prynne  and  his  fellows 
 should  be  suffered  to  talk  whatever  they  pleased  while  standing 
 in  the  pillory,  and  win  acclamations  from  the  people,  and  have 
 notes  taken  of  their  speeches,  and  these  notes  circulated  in  writ- 
 ten copies  about  the  city;  besides,  when  departing  to  their  several 
 imprisonments,  that  thousands  were  suffered  to  be  upon  the 
 way  to  take  their  leave,  and  God  knows  what  else.  And  I 
 hear  that  Prynne  was  very  much  welcomed,  both  at  Coventry 
 H  3  a 
 
87/0  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  \Yv  A  Chester,  as  lie  passed  to  Carnarvon."     The  tyrannical 
 archbishop,   not   satisfied   with   the  severities  already  inflicted 
 and  decreed  to  these  unhappy  sufferers,  while  they  were  yet  on 
 the  way  to  their  prisons,  procured  a  fresh  order,  which  he  sent 
 after  them,  containing  a  more  rigorous  imprisonment  than  the 
 former;    with  a  clause,   however,    in  favour  of  the  prisoners, 
 namely,   that  his  majesty  will  give  allowance  for  their  diet; 
 which  clause  was  over-ruled  by  the  influence  of  these  pious 
 prelates,  so  that  none  of  the  prisoners  ever  received  a  penny  of 
 the  royal  allowance;  and  had  not  their  friends,  and  even  their 
 keepers,   been  more   humane    than   their  lordships,    they  had 
 starved  in  their  cells.     But  numbers  of  generous  and  sympa- 
 thising individuals  having  resorted  to  the  places  of  their  con- 
 finement, the  relentless  archbishop,  that  he  might  add  affliction 
 to  their  bonds,  and  preclude  all  possibility  of  their  receiving 
 comfort  or  relief  from  their  wives  or  other  relatives,  procured 
 yet  another  order;  by  virtue  of  which  they  were  banished  to 
 the  islands  of  Guernsey,  Jersey,  and  Scilly,  there  to  be  kept  in 
 close  and  perpetual  imprisonment.    Burton  was  accordingly  re- 
 moved from  Lancaster  castle  to  castle  Cornet,  in  the  island  of 
 Guernsey,  where  he  arrived  on  the  15th  December  1637.     He 
 was  shut  up  in  a  low  narrow  dark  room,  and  almost  suffocated 
 for  want  of  air,  and  no  person  permitted  to  see  or  speak  with 
 him.     Dr.  Bastvvick  was  likewise  removed  to  the  castle  in  the 
 island  of  Scilly,  and  Prynne  to  the  castle  of  Montorguill,  in  the 
 island  of  Jersey,  and  made  close  prisoners.     Independent  of  all 
 the  numerous  acts  of  tyranny,  and  unrelenting  cruelty,  exer- 
 cised  by  this  prelate,   his  cool,   deliberate,   persevering,    and 
 implacable  vengeance,  and  the  ingenuity  by  which  it  was  exer- 
 cised against  these  three  respectable  gentlemen,  seems  to  de- 
 monstrate that  he  possessed  the  malignity  of  a  devil,  but  want- 
 ed the  feelings  of  a  man.     He  not  only  rejoiced  over  his  vic- 
 tims, but  grudged  them  even  the  pity  and  sympathising  com- 
 miseration of  their  friends  and  neighbours.     To  find  a  more 
 hateful  character,  all  things  considered,  would  be  a  task  of  un- 
 common  difficulty.      The  annals  of   the    Spanish   Inquisition 
 cannot  produce  his  superior,  nor  those  of  the  veriest  barbarians 
 his  equal;  so  that  his  memory  must,  of  necessity,  be  associated 
 with  perpetual  execration. 
 
 These  three  prisoners  remained  in  the  foresaid  remote  islands 
 till  the  year  1640.  During  this  period  Mrs  Bastwick  and  Mrs 
 Burton  had  often  petitioned  his  majesty  and  the  lords  of  coun- 
 cil for  liberty  to  visit  them,  or  to  live  on  the  islands,  or  even 
 to  be  close  confined  along  with  them;  but  by  the  influence  of 
 Laud,  their  petitions  were  always  rejected.  Though  Laud 
 could  never  be  prevailed  upon  to  forgive  these  men,  the  holy 
 
HENRY  BURT  OX.  3J 1 
 
 tyrant  said,  "  He  humbly  besought  God  to  forgive  them !" 
 Mr  Prynne,  however,  obtained  some  small  mitigation  of  his 
 afflictions,  in  consequence  of  a  petition  presented  to  the  king  by 
 Sir  Thomas  Jermin,  the  governor  of  Jersey.  He  was  therefore 
 allowed  to  attend  divine  service,  and  walk  in  the  garden  along 
 with  his  keeper;  but  the  implacable  Laud,  on  hearing  of  this 
 royal  indulgence,  was  enraged  even  to  madness;  and  sending 
 for  Hungerford,  who  had  been  the  means  of  procuring  it,  had 
 him  convened  before  the  council. 
 
 This  same  year,  1640,  in  consequence  of  a  petition  from  Mrs 
 Burton  and  Mrs  Bastwick,  the  prisoners  were  called  home  by 
 an  order  of  parliament,  that  the  complaints  of  the  petitioners 
 might  be  investigated.  Agreeable  to  the  order  of  the  house 
 they  returned.  Burton  and  Prynne  arrived  at  Dartmouth  in 
 the  same  vessel,  on  the  22d  November,  where  they  were  re- 
 ceived and  entertained  with  every  demonstration  of  enthusias- 
 tic regard.  On  their  journey  they  were  attended  with  a  prodi- 
 gious concourse  of  people,  and  not  only  treated  with  great  mag- 
 nificence, but  had  liberal  presents  bestowed  on  them.  The  in- 
 habitants of  every  town,  through  which  they  passed,  came  out 
 in  multitudes  to  meet  them,  and  rent  the  air  with  acclamations 
 of  joy,  attending  them  till  met  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  next 
 town.  As  they  approached  the  metropolis,  the  inhabitants 
 came  forth  to  meet  them,  and  congratulate  them  on  their  safe 
 return,  in  astonishing  multitudes.  The  road  betwixt  Brentford 
 and  London  was  so  choked  up  with  coaches,  horses,  and  pe- 
 destrians, that  they  could,  with  great  difficulty,  advance  one 
 mile  in  the  hour.  On  entering  London,  the  streets  were  wedged 
 up  with  such  an  amazing  conflux  of  the  people,  that  they  were 
 almost  three  hours  in  passing  from  Charing-cross  to  their  lodg- 
 ings within  Temple-bar.  The  populace  carried  lighted  torches 
 before  them,  strewed  the  way  with  flowers,  put  rosemary  and  bays 
 in  their  hats,  and,  as  they  went  along,  with  joyful  acclamations, 
 shouted,  Welcome  home !  Welcome  home ! !  On  the  30th  Nov. 
 being  two  days  after  their  arrival  in  London,  Burton  appeared 
 before  the  house  of  commons,  and,  on  the  fifth  of  the  same 
 month,  presented  his  petition,  entitled,  "  The  Humble  Petition 
 of  Henry  Burton,  late  exile,  and  close  prisoner  in  Castle  Cor- 
 net, in  the  island  of  Jersey."  In  this  petition  he  enumerates 
 the  merciless  sufferings  to  which  he  was  subjected,  and  con- 
 cludes by  recommending  his  case  to  the  impartial  consideration 
 of  the  house.  On  the  presentation  of  this  petition,  together 
 with  numbers  of  similar  import,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
 investigate  and  decide  upon  their  authenticity,  and  to  report. 
 Accordingly,  on  the  12th  March  following,  Mr  Rigby  delivered 
 the  report  of  the  committee;  upon  which  the  house  passed  the 
 
372  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 following  resolutions:    "That  the  four  commissioners,  Dick, 
 Worrel,    Sams,    and  Wood,   proceeded   unjustly  and    illegally 
 when  they  suspended  Mr  Burton  from  his  office  and  benefice 
 for  not  appearing  on  the  summons  of  the  first  process :    That 
 the  breaking  up  of  Mr  Burton's  house,  and  arresting  his  person 
 without  any  cause  shewed,  and  before  any  suit  depended  in  the 
 star-chamber  against  him,  and  his  close  imprisonment  there- 
 upon, are  against  the  law  and  the  liberty  of  the  subject :    That 
 John  Wragg  hath  offended,  in  searching  the  books  and  papers 
 of  Mr  Burton,  under  colour  of  a  general  warrant  dormant  from 
 the  high  commissioners;  and  that  the  warrant  is  against  the 
 law  and  the  liberty  of  the  subject :    That  serjeant  Dandy  and 
 Alderman  Abel  have  offended  in  breaking  up  the  house  of  Mr 
 Burton,  and  ought  to  make  reparation  respectively  for  the  same : 
 That  Mr  Burton  ought  to  have  reparation  and  recompense  for 
 the  damages  sustained  for  the  foresaid  proceedings  of  Mr  Dick 
 and  others,  who  suspended  him  from  his  office  and  benefice : 
 That  the  warrant  from  the  council-board,   dated   Whitehall, 
 February  2d,  1637,  for  committing  Mr  Burton  close  prisoner, 
 and  the  commitment  thereupon,  is  illegal  and  contrary  to  the 
 liberty  of  the  subject :    That  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the 
 bishop  of  London,  the  earl  of  Arundel  and  Surrey,  the  earl  of 
 Pembroke  and  Montgomery,   Sir  H.  Vane,   Sir  J.  Coke,  Sir 
 Francis  Windebank,  do  make  reparations  to  Mr  Burton  for  the 
 damages  sustained  by  this  imprisonment."     On  the  24th  of  the 
 same  month,  Mr  Burton's  case  was  again  brought  before  the 
 house,  when  it  was  farther  resolved,  "  That  the  sentence  in  the 
 star-chamber  is  illegal,  and  without  any  just  ground,  and  ought 
 to  be  reversed;  and  that  he  ought  to  be  freed  from  the  fine  of 
 five  thousand  pounds,  and  the  imprisonment  imposed  upon  him 
 by  said  sentence,  and  he  restored  to  his  degrees  in  the  univer- 
 sity, orders  in  the  ministry,  and  to  his  ecclesiastical  benefice  in 
 Friday  Street,  London :    That  the  order  of  the  council-board, 
 for  transferring  Mr  Burton  from  Lancaster  to  the  island  of 
 Guernsey,  and  his  imprisonment  there,  are  against  the  law  and 
 the  liberty  of  the  subject;  and  therefore  that  the  said  Mr  Bur- 
 ton ought  to  have  reparation  and  recompense  for  the  damages 
 thereby  sustained,  the  loss  of  his  ears,  and  his  other  sufferings." 
 On  the  20th  April,  the  house  of  commons  voted,  that  Mr  Bur- 
 ton should  receive  six  thousand  pounds  for  the  damages  he  had 
 sustained;  but  the  confusion  of  the  times  prevented  him  from 
 receiving  the  money.     On  the  8th  of  June  following,  by  an  or- 
 der of  the   house,  "he  was  restored  to  his  former  ministry  and 
 benefice  in  Friday  Street.    Bastwick  and  Mr  Prynne  had  simi- 
 lar resolutions  passed  in  their  favour. 
 
 On  Mr  Burton's  restoration,  he  formed  a  church  after  the 
 
HENRY  BURTON.  373 
 
 model  of  the  Independents;  and  it  appears  he  had  greatly  pros- 
 pered in  his  ministry.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  severe  disci- 
 plinarian, who  prohibited  all  immoral  characters  from  communi- 
 cating; but  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  he  became  more  mode- 
 rate.    He  died  in  January  1647,  aged  sixty-eight  years. 
 
 Most  of  our  historians,  of  high  church  principles,  have  not 
 ceased  to  calumniate  the  labours,  and  deride  the  sufferings,1  of 
 this  zealous  and  determined  puritan  divine.     Some  of  them 
 have  not  been  ashamed  to  assert,  that  the  merciless  and  inhu- 
 man inflictions,  and  cruel  imprisonments,  that  he  and  his  fel- 
 low-sufferers received,  were  both  just  and  necessary;  but  the 
 general  feelings  of  sorrow  and  regret  at  their  departure  from 
 London,  and  the  triumphant  rejoicings  of  the  people  on  their 
 return  from  exile,  as  narrated  above,  snow  that  their  sufferings 
 were  considered  both  unjust  and  unnecessary  by  the  great  body 
 of  the  people  :    That  the  indignity  and  severity  of  their  sentence 
 gave  general  offence,  insomuch  that  they  were  no  longer  re- 
 garded as  criminals,  but  as  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  truth  and 
 the  liberty  of  conscience;  while  the  sufferings  of  these,  and  an 
 incredible  number  of  other  good  and  loyal  subjects,  all  for  their 
 non-conformity  to  the  useless  and  idolatrous  ceremonies,  pressed 
 upon  the  consciences  of  men  by  the  despotic  power  and  bigotry 
 of  the  prelatical  dignitaries,  stands  an  imperishable  monument 
 of  disgrace  to  the  rulers  of  that  period,  both  in  church  and 
 state.     Mr  Hume  has  laboured  to  whitewash  the  character  of 
 Charles  I.     He  extols  him  for  sincerity,  humanity,  and  almost 
 every  species  of  princely  virtue;  but  his  great  talents  have  been 
 thrown  away  on  a  subject  where  irreversible  facts  negative  his 
 assertions,  and  demonstrate,  that  the  subject  of  his  panegyric 
 was  neither  a  man  of  prudence  nor  a  man  of  feeling.     With 
 regard  to  Laud  *,  his  character  is  any  thing  but  what  we  are 
 taught  to  expect  from  a  minister  of  the  Prince  of  Peace — proud 
 and  overbearing,  cruel  and  vindictive.     After  influencing  the 
 court  to  pass  a  cruel  and  unmerited  sentence  on  one  of  the  mi- 
 nisters who  had  fearlessly  and  successfully  opposed  him  in  his 
 career  of  cruelty,    he  took  off  his  hat,    and,    in  open    court, 
 thanked  almighty  God,  who  had  given  him  satisfaction  on  his 
 enemy.     In  forwarding  the  arbitrary  measures  of  his  Master, 
 he  trampled  down  every  law,  both  human  and  divine;  and  his 
 name  will  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the  annals  of  cruelty, 
 hypocrisy,  and  lordly  oppression,  to  the  end  of  time. 
 
 Mr  Burton's  works,  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned, 
 are,  1.  Censure  of  Simony — 2.  Israel's  Fast — 3.  Truth's  Triumph 
 
 *  Whole  length  portraits  of  archbishop  Laud  and  Mr  Burton  were  published  in 
 one  print;  in  which  the  prelate  is  represented  as  vomiting  up  his  own  works,  while 
 Burton  is  holding  his  head.  The  print  is  extremely  scarce  and  curious.  —  Granger' i 
 JRiog.  Hist. 
 
374  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 over  Trent — 1.  The  Law  and  the  Gospel  Reconciled — 5.  The 
 Christian's  Bulwark — 6*  Exceptions  against  Dr.  Jackson's  Trea- 
 tise of  the  Divine  Essence  and  Attributes — 7.  Jesu  Worship,  or 
 the  bowing  to  the  name  of  Jesus  confuted — 8.  The  Sounding 
 of  the  Last  Trumpets — 9.  The  Protestation  Protested — 10.  Eng- 
 land's Bondage,  and  her  hopes  of  deliverance,  a  Sermon,  preach- 
 ed before  the  Parliament — 11.  Narration  of  his  own  Life — 12. 
 A  Vindication  of  Independent  Churches — 13.  Parliament's 
 Power  for  making  Laws  in  Religion — 14.  Truth  shut  out  of 
 doors — 15.  Truth  still  Truth,  although  shut  out  of  doors — 16. 
 Conformity  Deformity — 17.  Relation  of  Mr  Chilingworth. 
 
 THOMAS  HOOKER. 
 
 This  devout  puritan  divine  was  born  at  Marfield,  Leices- 
 tershire, in  1586,  and  received  academical  education  in  Ema- 
 nuel college,  Cambridge,  of  which  he  soon  became  a  fellow,  and 
 acquitted  himself,  in  discharging  the  duties  of  this  office,  with 
 so  much  ability  and  faithfulness,  that  his  services  were  crown- 
 ed with  universal  admiration  and  applause.  During  his  abode 
 at  Cambridge,  he  was  brought  under  such  serious  reflections  on 
 his  sinful  and  miserable  estate,  and  to  such  a  deep  sense  of  his 
 unworthiness,  that  he  was  forced  frequently  to  exclaim  with  the 
 Psalmist,  "  While  I  suffer  thy  terrors,  O  Lord,  I  am  distract- 
 ed." Having  laboured  under  the  spirit  of  bondage  for  a  con- 
 siderable time,  the  light  and  consolations  of  the  gospel  shone 
 into  his  troubled  soul,  and  he  became  powerfully  disposed  to 
 heavenly  meditations.  In  consequence  of  this  happy  change, 
 he  addicted  himself  to  select  some  particular  promise  of  scripture 
 on  which  to  meditate  when  he  retired  to  rest;  and  found  so 
 much  spiritual  improvement  and  satisfaction  thereby,  that  he 
 strongly  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  similar  practice. 
 
 Mr  Hooker  having  experienced,  that  the  path  of  wisdom  is 
 also  the  path  of  pleasure  and  peace,  resolved  to  devote  his  time 
 and  talents  to  the  work  of  the  gospel,  and  forthwith  commenc- 
 ed preaching  in  London  and  its  vicinity.  He  soon  became  ad- 
 mired for  his  ministerial  endowments,  particularly  in  comfort- 
 ing the  disconsolate  who  laboured  under  mental  discourage- 
 ment. In  1626,  having  been  disappointed  of  a  settlement  much 
 to  his  wishes  at  Colchester,  he  was  chosen  lecturer  at  Chelms- 
 ford, one  Mr  Mitchell  being  the  incumbent.  His  lectures  were 
 very  numerously  attended;  and  the  blessing  of  God  accompany- 
 ing his  preaching,  a  remarkable  reformation  was  soon  apparent 
 both  in  town  and  country.  By  the  many  public  houses  in  the 
 town,  and  the  abominable  custom  of  keeping  the  shops  open  on 
 
THOMAS  HOOKER.  375 
 
 the  Lord's  day,  the  inhabitants  of  Chelmsford  were  become  no- 
 torious for  dissipation  and  Sabbath-breaking;  but  Mr  Hooker 
 attacked  these  vices  with  so  much  pious  and  solemn  severity, 
 that  in  a  short  time  Sabbath  profanation,  and  habits  of  intem- 
 perance, gradually  disappeared,  and  order  and  sobriety  became 
 so  general,   that  it  was  accounted  a  disgrace  to  be  seen  either 
 intoxicated  on  the  streets,  or  yet  to  open  their  shops  on  the  day 
 appointed  for  religious  services.     His  useful  labours,  however, 
 were  not  long  continued.     About  four  years  after  commencing 
 his  lecture  in  this  place,  he  found  it  impossible,   without  con- 
 forming to  the  national  church,   to  continue  his  labours;  he 
 therefore  gave  up  his  pulpit  and  kept  a  school.     But  although 
 the  best  and  most  delightful  employment  of  this  eminent  ser- 
 vant of  Christ  was  now  gone,  his  influence  was  still  employed 
 in  promoting  the  cause  of  his  divine  Master.     He  engaged  the 
 various  ministers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Chelmsford  to  esta- 
 blish a  monthly  meeting,   for    fasting,   prayer,    and    religious 
 conference.     By  his  influence  several  pious   young  ministers 
 were  also  settled  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  many  others  be- 
 came more  established  in  the  doctrines  of  justification  by  faith 
 in  Christ  Jesus.     So  very  great  was  his  popularity,  that  no  less 
 than  forty-seven,   even  of  the  conforming  ministers  of  his  ac- 
 quaintance, presented  a  petition  to  the  bishop  of  London,  testi- 
 fying that  Mr  Hooker  was  a  man  whom  they  highly  esteemed 
 for  his  usefulness,  his  orthodox  doctrine,  and^  his  blameless  con- 
 versation; that  he  was  of  a  quiet  and  peaceable   disposition, 
 and  in  noways  factious  or  turbulent — But  all  to  no  purpose,  Mr 
 Hooker  being  a  conscientious  puritan,  the  prelates  could  not  be 
 satisfied  till  his  lamp  was  extinguished,  and  his  voice  condemn- 
 ed to  silence.     In  the  year  1630,  he  was  bound,  in  a  bond  of 
 fifty  pounds,  to  appear  before  the  high  commission ;  which  bond 
 he  forfeited  rather   than   fall  into  the  hands  of  the  prelates, 
 whose  tender  mercies  were  known  to  be  cruelty. 
 
 To  avoid  the  storm  of  persecution,  then  raging  in  the  king- 
 dom, Mr  Hooker  fled  to  Holland.  He  had  scarcely  got  aboard 
 the  vessel,  and  under  sail,  when  the  enraged  pursuivants  arriv- 
 ed on  the  shore;  but  providentially  too  late  to  apprehend  him. 
 After  arriving  in  Holland,  he  preached  about  two  years  at 
 Delft,  as  assistant  to  Mr  Forbes,  an  aged  Scotch  minister  of 
 great  reputation.  He  was  next  called  to  Amsterdam,  where  he 
 was  employed  for  some  time  as  colleague  to  the  celebrated  Dr. 
 Ames.  The  greatest  friendship  subsisted  between  these  learn- 
 ed divines.  The  doctor  declared,  that  notwithstanding  his  ac- 
 quaintance witli  many  learned  men  of  different  nations,  lie  had 
 never  found  one  like  Mr  Hooker,  either  as  a  preacher  or  a 
 learned  disputaut.       He  assisted  Dr.   Ames  in   composing   his 
 
376  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 celebrated  work,  entitled,  A  Fresh  Suit  against  Human  Cere- 
 monies in  the  Worship  of  God.  About  this  period  a  number 
 of  Hooker's  friends  in  England  warmly  invited  him  to  accom- 
 pany them  to  America;  and  not  finding  Holland  altogether  to 
 his  wishes,  he  returned  to  his  native  country  to  prepare  himself 
 for  the  voyage.  He  was  no  sooner  come  to  England,  than  the 
 bishop's  pursuivants  were  sent  in  search  of  him.  At  one  time 
 they  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  very  chamber  in  which  he  and 
 Mr  Samuel  Stone  were  sitting  in  friendly  conversation.  Mr 
 Stone  came  to  the  door,  and  the  officers  demanding,  Whether 
 Mr  Hooker  was  not  there  ?  What  Hooker  ?  said  Stone — Do 
 you  mean  Hooker  that  was  once  at  Chelmsford  ?  Yes,  replied 
 the  officers,  that  is  the  man.  "If  it  be  him  you  want  (said 
 Stone),  I  saw  him  about  an  hour  ago  at  such  a  house  in  town." 
 The  officers  went  off  in  all  haste,  and  Hooker  concealed  himself 
 more  cautiously,  till  he  found  an  opportunity  of  getting  on 
 board  in  the  Downs.  He  sailed  for  New  England  in  1633,  and 
 Mr  Stone  and  Mr  Cotton,  both  celebrated  puritans,  accompani- 
 ed him  in  the  same  ship.  Mr  Hooker,  on  his  arrival  at  New- 
 ton, afterwards  called  Cambridge,  being  most  affectionately  re- 
 ceived by  his  old  friends,  who  went  over  the  preceding  year, 
 said,  "  Now  I  live,  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  faith  of  Christ." 
 
 Great  numbers  from  England  soon  followed  after  these  ad- 
 venturers, so  that  Newton  became  too  narrow  for  them;  on 
 which  account  Mr  Hooker,  in  1636,  with  many  of  his  friends, 
 removed  to  a  delectable  spot  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut 
 river,  which  they  called  Hartford,  where  he  lived  the  remainder 
 of  his  days,  and  was  respected  as  the  father,  the  pillar,  and  the 
 oracle  of  the  new  settlement.  He  was  an  animated  and  im- 
 pressive preacher,  not  only  his  voice,  but  every  feature  spoke 
 the  ardour  of  his  soul.  In  his  descriptions,  every  thing  was 
 life  and  reality.  His  pulpit  oratory  was  not  that  theatrical  af- 
 fectation which  some  men  exhibit,  who  labour  to  catch  the  ad- 
 miration of  their  audience.  His  empassioned  addresses  flowed 
 from  a  heart  captivated  by  the  excellency  of  divine  things,  and 
 an  earnest  desire  to  fix  their  importance  on  the  hearts  of  others, 
 and  his  faithful  services  were  pre-eminently  successful. 
 
 Some  time  after  his  settlement  at  Hartford,  having  to  preach 
 amongst  his  old  friends  at  Newton,  on  a  Lord's  day,  in  the 
 afternoon,  his  great  celebrity  had  drawn  together  a  vast  con- 
 course of  people.  When  he  began  to  preach,  he  found  himself 
 entirely  at  a  loss  what  to  say.  He  made  several  attempts  to 
 proceed,  but  found  it  impossible.  He  was  therefore  obliged  to 
 stop,  and  tell  the  congregation,  that  what  he  had  prepared  was 
 taken  from  him;  and  requesting  the  audience  to  sing  a  psalm, 
 he  retired.     On  his  return,  he  prcache<J  an  admirable  sermon, 
 
THOMAS  HOOKER.  377 
 
 and,  with  the  mo^t  animating  address,  charmed  his  attentive 
 audience  for  more  than  two  hours.  After  sermon,  some  of  his 
 friends  took  notice  of  the  circumstance,  saying,  "  The  Lord  had 
 withheld  his  assistance."  To  which  Mr  Hooker  meekly  replied, 
 "  We  daily  confess  that  we  are  nothing,  and  can  do  nothing  with- 
 out Christ;  and  if  it  please  him  sometimes  to  make  this  manifest 
 before  our  congregations,  must  not  we  be  humbly  contented." 
 
 Mr  Hooker  considered  outward  ease  and  prosperity  as  the 
 likeliest  thing  on  earth  for  bringing  the  people  of  God  into 
 spiritual  adversity.  When  at  the  Land's  End,  about  to  take  a 
 final  leave  of  his  native  country,  he  said,  "  Farewell  England, 
 I  no  more  expect  to  hear  of  that  religious  zeal  and  power  of 
 godliness  which  I  have  witnessed  in  thee  heretofore.  Adversity 
 -lays  its  thousands,  but  prosperity  its  ten  thousands.  I  am 
 much  afraid,  that  those  who  have  been  zealous  christians  in  the 
 fire  of  persecution,  will  become  luke-warm  and  cold  in  the  lap 
 of  peace."  He  was  a  man  of  prayer,  which  he  considered  the 
 principal  work  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  His  public  prayers 
 were  short,  but  fervent,  and  singularly  adapted  to  the  occasion. 
 As  he  proceeded,  his  ardour  usually  increased,  and  closed  in  a 
 rapture  of  devotion.  Though  Mr  Hooker's  natural  temper  was 
 irascible,  he  acquired  an  astonishing  command  of  his  passions. 
 The  meanest  of  his  brethren,  even  children,  he  treated  with 
 endearing  kindness  and  condescension.  A  neighbour  of  his  one 
 time  had  sustained  some  damage,  and  Mr  Hooker,  meeting 
 with  a  boy  who  was  known  to  be  mischievous,  accused  him, 
 and  warmly  censured  him  for  the  transaction.  The  boy  denied 
 the  charge;  but  still  Mr  Hooker  continued  his  angry  lecture. 
 "  Sir  (said  the  boy),  I  see  you  are  in  a  passion;  I  shall  say  no 
 more  till  you  have  more  patience  to  hear  me;"  and  so  ran  off. 
 But  finding  that  the  boy  was  not  the  aggressor,  Mr  Hooker 
 sent  for  him,  and  acknowledged  his  fault.  But  notwithstand- 
 ing of  his  condescension,  he  did  not  in  the  least  degrade  his 
 ministerial  function.  When  he  entered  the  pulpit,  he  appeared 
 with  so  much  majesty  and  independence,  that  it  was  humour- 
 ously said,  he  could  put  a  king  in  his  pocket.  Judges,  princes, 
 or  peasants,  equally  shared  his  pointed  reproofs  and  solemn  ad- 
 monitions. 
 
 This  heavenly-minded  divine  desired  not  to  outlive  his  use- 
 fulness; and  this  desire  was  granted  him.  His  last  sickness 
 was  short;  during  which,  when  his  opinion  concerning  certain 
 points  was  asked,  he  replied,  "  I  have  not  that  work  now  to 
 perform,  I  have  declared  the  counsel  of  God."  One  of  his 
 brethren  observing,  that  he  was  going  to  receive  his  reward; 
 "Brother  (said  he),  I  am  going  to  receive  mercy;''''  afterwards 
 lio  closed  his  eves  with  his  own  hands,  and,  with  a  smile  on  his 
 
 II  3  b 
 
S7&  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 couutenance,  expired,  July.  7  th,  1647,  aged  sixty-one  years. 
 He  was,  with  much  propriety?  styled  the  grave,  the  godly, 
 faithful,  judicious,  and  laborious  Hooker.  That  peace  of  mind, 
 which  arose  out  of  his  faith  in  Christ,  encouraged  and  support- 
 ed him,  for  thirty  years,  in  the  ardent  and  indefatigable  exer- 
 cise of  his  ministerial  duties,  nor  forsook  him  in  the  last  mor- 
 tal conflict. 
 
 Mr  Henry  Whitefield  says  concerning  him,  "  I  did  not  think 
 there  had  been  on  earth  a  man  in  whom  there  shone  forth  so  many 
 incomparable  excellencies,  and  in  whom  learning  and  genuine 
 wisdom  were  so  beautifully  tempered,  with  purity,  watchful- 
 ness, and  zeal,  according  to  knowledge."  "  For  his  pre-emi- 
 nent abilities,  and  the  glorious  services  he  performed  in  bothEng- 
 lands  (says  Mr  Ashe),  he  merits  a  place  in  the  first  rank  of  those 
 worthies,  Memoirs  of  whose  lives  and  labours  have  perpetuated 
 their  memory."  Fuller  has  honoured  him  with  a  place  amongst 
 the  learned  writers  and  fellows  of  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Soul's  Implantation  into  Christ — 2. 
 The  Unbeliever's  Preparing  for  Christ — 3.  The  Soul's  Effec- 
 tual Calling  to  Christ — 4.  The  Soul's  Humiliation — 5.  A  Sur- 
 vey of  the  Sum  of  Christian  Discipline — 6.  The  Doubting 
 Christian  drawn  to  Christ — 7.  The  Application  of  Redemption 
 by  the  Word— 8.  The  Spiritual  Rule  of  Christ's  Kingdom— 
 9.  Farewell  Sermon,  from  Jer.  xiv.  9.  published  in  Mr  Fen- 
 ner's  works;  and  perhaps*  some  others. 
 
 ROBERT  BALSOM. 
 
 This  pious  and  very  courageous  puritan  divine  was  born 
 at  Shipton  Montague  in  Somersetshire,  and  educated  at  New 
 Inn  Hall,  Oxford.  Having  finished  his  studies  at  the  univer- 
 sity, he  was  appointed  assistant  to  Mr  Richard  Bernard  of  Bat- 
 combe,  in  his  native  county;  and  upon  the  death  of  this  vener- 
 able divine,  removed  to  Stoke,  a  village  in  the  same  neighbour- 
 hood; where,  having  laboured  about  two  years,  with  much  ap- 
 parent advantage  to  the  morality  and  religious  feelings  of  the 
 inhabitants,  the  confusion  occasioned  by  the  civil  war  obliged 
 him  to  flee  for  safety,  and  take  shelter  in  Warder  castle,  which, 
 some  short  time  after  this,  was  besieged  by  the  king's  troops. 
 At  the  solicitation  of  Colonel  Ludlow  he  remained  during  the 
 siege.  Upon  the  capitulation  of  the  place,  Balsom,  walking  on 
 the  roof  of  the  castle,  overheard  three  soldiers  say,  "  We  have 
 sworn  on  the  bible  to  take  the  life  of  one  in  the  castle."  He 
 asked  them  who  they  meant,  if  it  was  the  minister  ?  "  Yes 
 (said  they),  for  he  is  a  wizard,  who,  by  his  hellish  art,  has  pro- 
 
HOBERT  BALSOM.  379 
 
 tracted  the  siege,  by  frequently  supplying  the  castle  with  pro- 
 vision." This  they  told  him,  not  knowing  him  to  be  the  man. 
 The  treaty  concluded,  and  the  enemy  having  entered,  Mr 
 Balsom  was  shut  up  in  close  prison,  along  with  a  soldier  who 
 was  hanged  the  next  morning.  At  midnight  the  key  of  the 
 prison  was  put  into  the  hands  of  these  intended  assassins,  who 
 entered  the  room,  and  (taking  off  their  hats)  stood  at  some  dis- 
 tance, seemingly  doubtful  and  undetermined;  but  said  nothing. 
 Mr  Balsom,  strongly  suspecting  their  design,  thus  addressed 
 them :  "  Friends,  What  is  your  business  at  this  unseasonable 
 hour  ?  Are  not  you  the  men  who  have  sworn  to  assassinate 
 me  ?"  With  great  agitation,  one  of  them  replied,  "  W"e  have 
 taken  a  wicked  oath,  God  forgive  us;  but  be  not  alarm- 
 ed, for  we  will  do  you  no  harm."  When  Mr  Balsom  desired 
 them  to  come  forward,  they  urged  him  to  make  his  escape, 
 kindly  offering  him  all  the  assistance  in  their  power.  But  sus- 
 pecting they  might  have  some  other  evil  design,  he  refused ;  and 
 even  after  they  had  convinced  him  of  their  integrity,  he  still 
 refused,  saying,  "  I  will  rather  endure  all  that  God  will  permit 
 them  to  inflict,  than  hazard  your  lives,  who  have  thus  be- 
 friended me."  And  so,  to  testify  their  esteem  and  their  inte- 
 grity, they  conducted  him  into  the  fresh  air;  and  having  cleaned 
 his  room,  departed. 
 
 Next  morning  a  council  was  called  to  consider  how  they 
 should  dispose  of  their  prisoner;  and  while  they  were  debating 
 about  the  propriety  of  putting  him  to  death,  one  of  the  council 
 stood  up,  and  after  pointing  out  the  impolicy,  and  the  gross  in- 
 justice of  the  measure  proposed,  declared,  that  whatever  might 
 be  the  result  of  their  deliberations,  he,  for  one,  was  determined 
 to  keep  his  hands  clean,  and  his  conscience  clear,  of  such  wicked 
 policy  and  unnecessary  severity,  and  so  left  the  room;  so  that 
 the  council  came  to  no  decisive  result.  Balsom  was  then  re- 
 moved to  Salisbury,  where,  the  same  night,  another  council, 
 picked  for  the  occasion,  were  summoned;  by  whose  sentence  he 
 was  condemned  to  be  hanged.  Having  thus  received  sentence 
 of  death,  the  sheriff  of  the  county  waited  on  him  in  prison,  and, 
 after  a  great  deal  of  abusive  language,  told  him  to  prepare  for 
 his  execution  at  six  o'clock  next  morning;  assuring  him.  how- 
 ever, that  provided  he  would  ask  pardon  of  the  king,  and  at- 
 tach himself  to  his  service,  he  would  not  only  be  relieved  from 
 the  sentence  that  hung  over  him,  but  that  he  might  also  have 
 almost  any  preferment  he  had  a  mind  to  request.  Mr  Balsom, 
 being  a  man  of  inflexible  fortitude,  replied,  "  To  ask  pardon, 
 without  being  conscious  of  any  offence,  were  to  act  the  part  of 
 a  fool;  and  to  violate  my  conscience,  were  to  make  myself  a 
 knave;  and  if  I  had  neither  the  hope  of  heaven,  nor  the  fear  o( 
 
380  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 hell,  I  would  sooner  die  an  honest  man,  than  live  either  the  one 
 or  the  other."  In  the  full  expectation  of  execution,  he  rose  next 
 morning  to  prepare  himself  for  his  solemn  exit.  At  six  o'clock 
 the  officers  arrived  at  the  prison  to  bring  him  to  the  fatal  gibbet; 
 when  suddenly  the  post  arrived,  just  as  he  was  preparing  to 
 come  forth,  with  a  reprieve  from  Sir  Ralph  Hopton;  when,  in- 
 stead of  death,  he  was  forthwith  carried  to  Winchester,  where 
 Sir  Ralph  resided.  On  entering  the  city,  Sir  William  Ogle, 
 the  governor,  said  to  Balsom,  "  I  shall  feed  you  with  bread  and 
 water  for  two  or  three  days,  and  then  have  you  hanged;"  but 
 he  fell  into  better  hands.  Being  brought  before  Sir  Ralph, 
 after  some  familiar  conversation  relative  to  his  espousing  the 
 cause  of  the  parliament,  and  the  principles  on  which  he  had 
 acted,  he  was  committed  to  prison,  with  this  charge,  "  Keep 
 this  man  safe;  but  use  him  well." 
 
 Mr  Balsom,  after  having  for  some  time  remained  in  a  state 
 of  confinement,  was,  by  an  express  order,  removed  to  Oxford, 
 and  committed  prisoner  to  the  castle,  where  he  set  up  a  lecture, 
 preached  twice  every  day,  and  was  numerously  attended,  not 
 only  by  the  prisoners  and  soldiers,  but  by  courtiers  and  towns- 
 men. After  having  been  once  or  twice  prohibited,  he  told 
 them,  that  if  they  were  weary  of  him,  and  did  not  wish  to  be 
 longer  troubled  with  him,  they  might  turn  him  out  of  doors 
 whenever  they  had  a  mind;  "  for  (said  he),  so  long  as  I  have  a 
 tongue  to  speak,  and  people  to  hear,  I  will  not  hold  my  peace." 
 At  length,  by  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  he  recovered  his  liber- 
 ty; and  being  sent  for  by  the  earl  of  Essex,  he  became  chaplain 
 in  his  army,  and  continued  so  during  his  command. 
 
 Mr  Balsom  was,  after  this,  settled  at  Berwick,  where  he  was 
 regularly  employed  in  his  favourite  work  of  preaching.  In  this 
 situation  he  had  the  cordial  affection  of  his  people;  and,  by  the 
 blessing  of  heaven  on  his  ministry,  he  had  also  the  satisfaction 
 of  observing,  that  an  important  reformation  in  the  manners  and 
 habits  of  the  people  had  been  effected  by  means  of  his  labours 
 amongst  them.  But  having  occasion  to  visit  his  own  county, 
 where  he  was  seized  with  sickness,  and  died,  in  1647,  to  the  in- 
 expressible grief  of  his  beloved  and  loving  flock  at  Berwick. 
 Some  short  time  before  his  death,  he  wrote  from  Berwick  to 
 a  friend  in  London,  giving  him  some  account  of  the  affairs  in 
 the  north ;  which  it  may  not  be  improper  to  insert. 
 "  My  Dear  Friend, 
 
 "  Yours  was  not  a  little  welcome  to  me,  nor  am  I  backward 
 to  requite  the  favour.  The  news  here  are  so  good,  that  I  can 
 hardly  hold  my  pen  for  joy.  The  king's  coming  to  the  Scotch 
 army,  will,  in  all  probability,  prove  one  of  the  greatest  mercies 
 conferred  upon  us  since  the  commencement  of  the  war.     Never 
 
ROBERT  BALSOM.  381 
 
 did  I  hear  of  any  christians  carrying  themselves  so  boldly,  and 
 so  faithfully  in  reproving  their  prince,  so  humbly  before  their 
 God,  so  innocently  towards  their  brethren,  and  so  seriously  de- 
 sirous of  a  settled  and  well-grounded  peace,  as  the  Scotch  at 
 this  time  do.  They  labour  with  much  earnestness  for  the  king's 
 conversion.  They  tell  him  plainly  of  the  blood  which  he  has 
 unjustly  shed  in  the  course  of  his  government;  and,  by  procla- 
 mation, have  banished  all  malignants  six  miles  from  his  person. 
 They  have  told  him,  that  for  his  transgressions  against  God 
 and  his  people,  he  must  give  satisfaction  to  both  kingdoms;  and, 
 moreover,  they  have  sent  to  Scotland  for  some  of  their  ablest 
 divines  to  converse  with  him.  The  malignants,  who  were  ga- 
 thering around  him  from  both  kingdoms,  in  consequence  of  these 
 measures,  droop;  and  the  French  agent,  whose  activity  has  been 
 displayed  in  attempting  to  make  a  breach,  is  greatly  discounte- 
 nanced. The  nobles  and  ministers  of  the  church  profess  an 
 earnest  longing  for  a  happy  union,  and  the  settled  government 
 of  Christ  in  his  church;  which  being  once  done,  they  will  im- 
 mediately return  to  the  paths  of  peace.  The  Independents 
 themselves  stand  amazed  at  the  wisdom,  resolution,  and  fideli- 
 ty, the  humility  and  zeal  that  accompany  their  resolutions. 
 The  malignant  party,  which  was  much  feared,  are  borne  down. 
 The  mouths  which  were  so  wide,  both  of  independents  and  ma- 
 lignants, are  closed  up,  that  they  have  not  a  word  to  say?  ob- 
 serving how  the  Lord  hath  blessed  them;  so  that  all  their  ene- 
 mies in  Scotland  are  routed  and  brought  to  nothing.  The 
 king  still  refuses  to  proclaim  Montrose  and  his  adherents  rebels; 
 but  the  King  of  kings  has  taken  the  work  into  his  own  hands, 
 and  utterly  dispersed  them.  I  have  not  time  to  write  the  par- 
 ticulars; but  only  to  let  you  know,  that  I  am, 
 
 "  Your  assured  friend, 
 
 "R.  Balsom." 
 
 PETER  SMART,  A.  M. 
 
 This  great  sufferer  in  the  cause  of  non-conformity  was 
 born  in  Warwickshire,  1569,  and  educated  first  at  Westminster 
 school,  and  afterwards  at  Broadgate's  Hall,  Oxford;  after  which 
 he  was  elected  student  of  Christ-church,  in  the  same  universi- 
 ty. Having  taken  his  degrees,  he  entered  into  the  ministry, 
 and  Dr.  William  James  Dean,  of  Durham,  presented  him  first 
 to  the  grammar  school  at  Durham,  then  made  him  one  of  his 
 chaplains,  and,  in  1609,  presented  him  to  the  sixth  prebend  of 
 the  same  cathedral,  and  the  rectory  of  Boldovers.  In  1614  he 
 was  removed  from  the  sixth  to  the  fourth  prebend;  but   bis 
 
382  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 patron,  the  bishop,  dying  about  three  years  after,  he  received 
 no  farther  preferment. 
 
 The  first  public  business  that  Mr  Smart  seems  to  have  been 
 engaged  in,  was  his  appointment  to  the  high  commission  for  the 
 province  of  York;  and  though,  at  their  second  assembly,  he 
 qualified  himself  according  to  law,  he  seldom  honoured  the 
 court  with  his  presence,  and  never  subscribed  more  than  one 
 sentence  of  that  court.  Upon  renewal  of  the  commission,  in 
 1627,  he  again  qualified,  but  rarely  attended;  this  was  about 
 ten  months  prior  to  the  commencement  of  his  troubles,  occa- 
 sioned by  a  sermon  which  he  delivered  in  the  cathedral  at  Dur- 
 ham. In  this  sermon,  preached  on  the  27th  July  1628,  he 
 spoke  against  the  superstitions  and  popish  innovations,  which 
 Dr.  Cosins  *  and  others  had  introduced  into  that  church,  with 
 little  caution  or  reserve.  His  text  was,  "  I  hate  all  those  that 
 love  superstitious  vanities;  but  thy  law  do  I  love."  For  the 
 satisfaction  of  the  reader,  we  have  extracted  some  of  the  most 
 objectionable  parts  of  that  sermon.  He  said,  "  That  the  whore 
 of  Babylon's  bastardly  brood,  doating  on  their  mother's  beauty, 
 that  painted  harlot  (the  church  of  Rome)  had  laboured  to  restore 
 all  her  robes  and  jewels,  especially  her  looking-glass  (the  mass), 
 in  which  she  may  behold  all  her  bravery.  Despising  the  plain 
 simplicity  of  that  modest  matron  (the  spouse  of  Christ),  they  have 
 turned  out  of  doors  all  her  offices,  with  all  her  household  stuff, 
 her  tables,  her  books,  her  cups,  her  communions,  even  the  very 
 names  of  her  office-bearers  they  have  discarded.  In  the  room 
 and  place  of  these  they  have  substituted  the  word  priest  and 
 altar;  because,  without  a  priest,  there  can  be  no  sacrifice;  with- 
 out a  priest  and  a  sacrifice,  there  can  be  no  use  for  an  altar;  and 
 without  both  these,  there  can  be  no  mass.  But  the  priest,  the 
 sacrifice,  and  the  altar,  introduces  an  inundation  of  other  cere- 
 monies— crosses,  crucifixes,  chalices,  images,  copes,  candle- 
 sticks, tapers,  basons,  and  a  thousand  such  trinkets  which  accom- 
 pany the  mass. 
 
 "  Formerly  we  had  ministers,  we  had  communion  tables,  we 
 had  sacraments;  but  now  we  have  priests,  sacrifices,  and  altars, 
 with  immense  altar  furniture,  and  every  species  of  massing 
 implements;  nay,  What  want  we  more?     For  if  religion  con- 
 
 *  Dr.  Cosins  removed  the  communion  table  in  the  church  of  Durham,  and  erected 
 it  altar- ways.  In  ornamenting  it,  he  expended  two  hundred  pounds;  at  which  he 
 used  to  officiate  with  his  back  to  the  people,  bowing  to  it  in  an  extraordinary  man- 
 ner, and  compelling  the  people  also  to  do  the  same.  He  abolished  the  singing  of 
 psalms;  and,  on  candlemas-day,  in  the  evening,  caused  three  hundred  wax  candles 
 to  be  lighted  up  in  the  church  for  the  honour  of  the  Virgin.  He  caused  divers  ima- 
 ges, most  richly  painted,  to  be  set  up  in  the  church ;  for  which,  and  other  super- 
 stitious innovations,  two  thousand  pounds  were  expended.  He  even  caused  the  holy 
 knife,  for  cutting  the  sacramental  bread,  to  be  consecrated;  and  to  crown  the  whole 
 of  his  absurdities,  he  set  up  a  splendid  picture  of  our  Saviour,  with  a  golden  beard, 
 and  a  blue  cap  on  hi»  head. — Sec  Jiushivorth's  Collcc.  vol.  v.  page  208 — 210. 
 
PETER  SMART.  383 
 
 sists  in  altar-decking  and  copes  wearing,  organ  playing,  piping 
 and  singing,  crossing  of  cushions  and  kissing  of  clouts,  oft  start- 
 ing up,  then  squatting  down,  nodding  of  heads,  and  whirling 
 about  till  our  noses  point  to  the  rising  sun;  in  candlesticks, 
 crucifixes,  burning  of  candles,  and,  what  is  worst  of  all,  gilding 
 of  angels,  garnishing  of  images,  and  setting  them  up.  If  reli- 
 gion consists  in  these,  and  such  like  superstitious  vanities,  cere- 
 monial fooleries,  apish  toys,  and  popish  trinkets — then  it 
 must  be  allowed,  we  never  had  more  religion  than  we  have  at 
 this  present  time.  But  they  are  whoremongers,  guilty  of  spi- 
 ritual fornication,  who  thus  bow  down  to  these  idols."  These 
 were  the  most  exceptionable  passages  in  Mr  Smart's  sermon; 
 and  on  the  self-same  day  on  which  it  was  delivered,  a  letter 
 missive  was  issued  for  apprehending  him,  and  for  bringing  him 
 before  the  dean  and  the  high  commission.  Upon  his  appearing 
 before  them,  he  gave  up  his  sermon  to  be  copied,  declaring  he 
 would  vindicate  every  sentence  it  contained.  On  giving  a 
 bond,  however,  of  one  hundred  pounds  for  his  after  appearance, 
 lie  was  dismissed. 
 
 From   July  28th  till  January  29th,    Mr  Smart  was  eight 
 times  before  his  spiritual  judges.     In  the  meantime,   articles 
 were  exhibited  against  him,  to  which  he  gave  written  answers; 
 and  at  length  he  was  delivered  over  to  the  high  commission  at 
 Lambeth,  after  having  been  confined  by  the  commission  at  York 
 at  least  four  months  before  any  articles  were  exhibited  against 
 him,  and  five  months  before  any  proctor  was  allowed  him.    After 
 suffering  great  trouble  from  the  high  commission  at  Lambeth,  he 
 was  remanded  to  York,  fined  in  five  hundred  pounds,  and  ordered 
 to  recant.    Which  refusing  to  do,  he  was  fined  a  second  time,  ex- 
 communicated, degraded,  deprived,  and  committed  to  prison, 
 having  sustained  the  damage  of  many  thousand  pounds,  and  all 
 this  without  the  sanction  of  any  law,  but  in  the  face  of  the  very 
 letter  of  the  law,  and  the  plain  words  of  the  book  of  common 
 prayer,  and  the  homily  against  idolatry,  sanctioned  by  act  of 
 parliament.     He,  nevertheless,  remained  in  prison  for  eleven  or 
 twelve  years,   till  released  by  the  long  parliament.     The  puri- 
 tans had  so  much  esteem  and  compassion  for  this  maltreated  in- 
 dividual, that  they  raised  him,  during  his  imprisonment,  the 
 sum  of  four  hundred  pounds  yearly.     It  ought  to  be  observed, 
 that  bishop  Laud  was  the  leader  in  all  this  matchless  cruelty. 
 On  the  12th  November  1640,   Smart  petitioned  the  House  of 
 Commons  to  take  his  numerous  complaints  into  their  serious 
 consideration.     It  was  referred  to  a  committee  which  had  been 
 appointed  to  examine  into  the  case  of  Dr.  Leighton  and  other 
 injured  individuals.    The  House  ordered,  that  Mr  Smart  should 
 have  gratis  copies  of  the  records  in  the  king's  bench  and  the 
 
384  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 court  of  high  commission,  and,  in  every  respect,  have  the  pri- 
 vileges formerly  granted  to  Dr.  Leighton.  On  January  12th 
 following,  an  order  passed  the  House,  that  Dr.  Easdale,  Roger 
 Blanchard,  and  Phineas  Hodson,  D.  D.  shall  shew  cause  to  this 
 House  why  they  do  not  pay  the  monies  adjudged  to  be  paid  to 
 Peter  Smart,  upon  a  judgment  in  the  king's  bench  against 
 Easdale,  Blanchard,  and  Hodson,  at  the  suit  of  the  said  Peter 
 Smart,  about  ten  years  ago.  On  January  22d,  Mr  Rouse  pre- 
 sented the  report  of  the  committee  on  Mr  Smart's  case;  when 
 the  House  came  to  the  following  resolutions :  "  1st,  That  the 
 several  proceedings  of  the  high  commission  courts  of  York  and 
 Canterbury  against  Mr  Smart,  and  the  several  fines  by  them 
 imposed  upon  him,  are  illegal,  and  ought  not  to  bind.  2d,  That 
 the  degradation  of  Mr  Smart,  and  his  deprivation  from  his  pre- 
 bend and  other  ecclesiastical  livings,  are  unjust  and  illegal,  and 
 that  he  ought  to  be  restored  to  all  of  them,  together  with  the 
 mean  profits.  3d,  That  Dr.  Cosins  and  others,  the  prosecutors 
 of  Mr  Smart,  ought  to  make  him  satisfaction  for  his  damages 
 sustained.  4th,  That  Dr.  Cosins,  a  principal  actor  in  Smart's 
 prosecution,  is  guilty  of  bringing  superstitious  innovations  into 
 the  church,  tending  to  idolatry,  and  of  speaking  scandalous  and 
 malicious  words  against  his  majesty's  supremacy  and  the  reli- 
 gion established.  5th,  That  Dr.  Cosins  is,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
 House,  unfit  and  unworthy  to  be  a  governor  in  either  of  the 
 universities,  or  to  continue  any  longer  head  or  governor  of  any 
 college,  or  to  hold  or  enjoy  any  ecclesiastical  promotion." 
 
 The  House  then  referred  to  the  committee  to  prepare  a  state- 
 ment fit  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Lords  concerning  Dr.  Cosins, 
 and  what  they  consider  the  most  eligible  method  of  making  re- 
 paration to  Mr  Smart  for  the  damages  he  had  sustained.  On 
 delivering  the  charge  against  Dr.  Cosins  at  the  bar  of  the  House 
 of  Lords,  Mr  Rouse  said,  amongst  other  things,  "  That  by  an 
 usurped  authority,  which  trampled  down  the  salutary  laws  of 
 the  kingdom,  and  had  grievously  oppressed  his  majesty's  peace- 
 able subjects,  Mr  Smart  had  been  oppressed  and  ruined.  He 
 had  courageously  attacked  their  vile  superstitions  and  innova- 
 tions; and  they,  in  their  turn,  had,  by  the  arms  of  malice,  re- 
 sentment, and  the  criminal  exercise  of  illegal  power,  beat  him 
 down  to  the  earth;  yea,  they  had  pulled  him  up  by  the  roots. 
 They  had  taken  away  his  means  of  life  and  comfort;  yet,  by 
 a  refinement  in  the  art  of  cruelty,  they  had  left  him  living, 
 that  he  might  feel  the  dreadful  anguish  they  had  so  cruelly 
 prepared  for  him.  The  cruelties  exercised  by  the  veriest  sava- 
 ges, says  he,  arc  tender  mercies  when  compared  with  the  cold- 
 blooded, lingering,  and  lasting  torments  deliberately  contrived, 
 and  unfeelingly  exercised  by  the  priesthood:  and  these  priestly- 
 
PETER  SMART.  385 
 
 proficients,  in  this  appalling  art,  were  not  satisfied  with  annihi- 
 lating his  substance,  and  degrading  his  character,  but  proceed- 
 ed the  length  of  consigning  the  person  of  a  free  and  loyal  sub- 
 ject to  a  dungeon,  whence  he  could  obtain  no  release.  And 
 now  it  is  prayed,  that  these  delinquents,  who  have  so  unmerci- 
 fully oppressed  Mr  Smart,  with  the  design  of  promoting  the 
 cause  of  popery  in  this  kingdom,  may  be  punished  according  to 
 the  demerit  of  their  offences,  that  in  their  persons  the  very 
 cause  of  popery  may  appear  to  be  punished  and  suppressed;  and 
 that  Mr  Smart,  who  has  so  severely  and  so  nobly  suffered  for 
 his  zeal  in  the  protestant  cause,  may  at  least  receive  such  re- 
 muneration as  justice  renders  indispensable." 
 
 In  consequence  of  these  decisions,  Mr  Smart  received  some 
 reparations  in  name  of  damages;  but  whether  adequate  to  his 
 losses  is  extremely  doubtful.  By  an  order  of  the  Lords,  passed 
 in  1642,  he  was  restored  to  his  prebend  in  Durham,  and  pre- 
 sented to  the  vicarage  of  Acliff  in  that  county.  In  1644  he 
 was  a  witness  against  archbishop  Laud  at  his  trial,  and  was  still 
 living  October  31st,  1648,  being  then  seventy-nine  years  of 
 age. 
 
 Mr  Smart  was  a  tolerable  poet,  a  pious  and  judicious  mini- 
 ster, a  grave  divine,  and  a  zealous  enemy  to  all  superstition. 
 His  enemies,  however,  have  charged  him  with  being  a  man  of 
 a  forward,  fierce,  and  ungovernable  spirit,  and  that  he  was 
 justly  imprisoned,  and  duly  rewarded  for  his  excessive  obsti- 
 nacy.    It  has,  moreover,  been  said,  that  Mr  Smart,  though  a 
 prebendary  in  the  church  of  Durham,  had  not  preached  in  that 
 cathedral  for  seven  years  together,  till  he  preached  that  sediti- 
 ous   sermon   for   which  he  was  called  to  account;    and  that, 
 although  he  held  this  preferment  and  also  his  health,  he  seldom 
 preached  more  than  once  or  twice  in  the  year.     This  account 
 of  Mr  Smart  comes  from  one  of  his  prosecutors,  being  also  his 
 inveterate  enemy;  and,  though  it  had  not,  must  appear  extreme- 
 ly incredible.      1st,  Because  the  puritans  universally  held  up 
 to  execration  all  unpreaching  ministers,  whom  they  denominat- 
 ed dumb  dogs,  idle  shepherds,  with  other  dishonourable  appel- 
 lations; which  we  have  never  heard  of  them  applying  to  Mr 
 Smart :    And  2d,   Because,  during  the  period  of  his  long  and 
 merciless  confinement,  these  same  puritans,  from  the  affection 
 they  bore  him,  and  the  sympathy  they  had  in  his  sufferings, 
 were  induced  to  take  part  of  his  burden  on  their  own  shoulders, 
 by  the  liberal  manner  in  which  they  taxed  themselves  for  his 
 comfort  and  sustenance  while  suffering  for  the  cause  in  which 
 ♦hey  were  engaged;  which,  had  he  been  but  half  so  indolent  and 
 inattentive  to  the  duties  of  his  ecclesiastical  offices  as  his  ene- 
 mies have  represented  him,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  they 
 I*  3  c 
 
 \ 
 
386  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 would  have  done.     The  scandalous  charge  is  therefore  utterly 
 incredible. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Vanity  and  Downfall  of  Superstition 
 and  Popish  Ceremonies,  in  two  Sermons,  preached  in  the  ca- 
 thedral church  of  Durham,  July  1628. — 2.  A  brief  but  true 
 Historical  Narrative  of  some  Notorious  Acts  and  Speeches  of 
 Mr  John  Cosins,  and  some  others  of  his  companions,  contract- 
 ed into  articles. — 3.  Various  Poems  in  Latin  and  English. — 4. 
 Various  Letters. 
 
 PATRICK  YOUNG,  A.  M. 
 
 This  distinguished  scholar  was  born  at  Seaton  in  Scotland, 
 and  educated  at  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  where  he  took 
 his  degrees  in  arts,  and  was  afterwards  incorporated  at  Oxford. 
 He  was  son  to  Sir  Peter  Young,  joint  tutor  with  George 
 Buchanan  to  James  I.,  and  afterwards  employed  by  his  majesty 
 in  negociating  various  important  concerns;  for  which  essential 
 services  he  was  rewarded  with  a  pension.  Upon  the  accession 
 of  James  to  the  English  crown,  his  father  accompanied  his  ma- 
 jesty to  England,  and  placed  Patrick  in  the  family  of  the  bishop 
 of  Chester,  who  greatly  contributed  to  his  literary  proficiency. 
 In  1605  he  went  to  Oxford,  entered  into  deacon's  orders,  and 
 was  elected  chaplain  of  new  college.  In  this  seat  of  the  muses, 
 he  prosecuted,  with  singular  assiduity,  the  study  of  the  Greek 
 language,  ecclesiastical  history,  and  antiquities;  in  all  of  which 
 he  acquired  an  extraordinary  knowledge.  On  leaving  Oxford, 
 he  went  to  the  metropolis,  with  the  view  of  promotion  at  court, 
 to  which,  by  means  of  his  father's  influence,  he  had  easy  access. 
 One  of  his  principal  patrons  was  Dr.  Montague,  bishop  of  Bath 
 and  Wells,  through  whose  interest  he  obtained  his  pension 
 from  the  king,  amounting  to  fifty  pounds  a-year;  and  being 
 master  of  an  elegant  Latin  style,  his  pen  was  occasionally  em- 
 ployed by  the  king,  and  some  other  persons  of  power,  in  writ- 
 ing foreign  letters.  He  was  likewise  employed  in  examining 
 the  archieves  of  the  kingdom.  One  of  the  first  objects  of 
 Young's  ambition,  was  to  obtain  the  place  of  keeper  of  prince 
 Henry's  library,  in  the  palace  of  St.  James,  where  the  prince 
 resided.  In  this,  however,  he  failed;  but  by  the  influence  of 
 bishop  Montague,  he  was,  after  some  time,  elected  librarian  to 
 the  king,  a  situation  than  which  nothing  could  be  more  conge- 
 nial to  his  disposition.  To  the  royal  library,  therefore,  Mr 
 Young  was  a  constant  visitor,  and  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
 time  in  exploring  its  contents,  and  classing  them  into  catalogues. 
 He  had  frequent  literary  conversations  with  the  king,  wh*7  con- 
 
PATRICK  YOUNG.  387 
 
 firmed  him  in  this  situation;  for  which  he  was  pre-eminently 
 qualified. 
 
 On  the  death  of  the  very  learned  Isaac  Casauhon,  Mr  Young 
 advised  his  majesty  to  purchase  the  most  of  his  books  and  ma- 
 nuscripts for  augmenting  his  library;  which  was  done  according- 
 ly. With  a  view  of  still  farther  augmenting  the  stores  com- 
 mitted to  his  care,  Mr  Young  was  anxious  to  visit  the  continent; 
 but  was  prevented  till  1617  from  putting  his  favourite  design 
 in  execution.  Having  furnished  himself  with  letters  of  recom- 
 mendation from  the  learned  Camden,  to  his  literary  corres- 
 pondents in  Paris,  he  set  out  for  that  metropolis;  where  the 
 sweetness  of  his  disposition,  his  modesty  and  urbanity  of  man- 
 ners, rendered  him  peculiarly  acceptable,  not  only  to  the  lite- 
 rati, but  also  to  all  those  with  whom  he  had  occasion  to  associ- 
 ate. After  his  return,  he  assisted  Mr  Thomas  Rhead  in  mak- 
 ing a  Latin  version  of  the  works  of  king  Janies;  a  work,  no 
 doubt,  considered  by  the  royal  author  as  one  of  the  first  import- 
 ance. This  translation,  which,  Dr.  Smith  asserts,  will  extend 
 to  all  eternity  *  the  fame  of  this  most  learned  king,  made  its 
 appearance  in  1619,  and  Mr  Young  was  honoured  to  present 
 the  copy  bestowed  upon  the  learned  university  of  Cambridge; 
 which  was  received  in  solemn  convocation,  with  all  due  respect. 
 In  1620  Mr  Young  entered  into  the  matrimonial  state;  and 
 though  only  in  deacon's  orders,  was,  about  the  same  time,  pre- 
 sented to  the  rectory  of  Hays  in  Middlesex,  and  the  rectory  of 
 Llanindimel  in  Denbighshire,  and  was  soon  collated  to  a  pre- 
 bend at  St.  Paul's,  London,  and  chosen  to  the  office  of  treasurer 
 of  that  church.  In  1624,  upon  the  death  of  Mr  Rhead,  he  was 
 appointed  Latin  secretary  to  the  king,  and  esteemed  the  fittest 
 person  in  the  kingdom  to  fill  that  office. 
 
 Hitherto,  though  he  had  published  nothing  in  his  own  name, 
 yet  he  had  acquired  considerable  celebrity  amongst  the  learned 
 both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  kept  up  an  extensive  correspon- 
 dence with  his  friends  on  the  continent.  When  the  celebrated 
 John  Selden  undertook  to  examine  the  Arundelian  marbles,  he 
 chose  Mr  Young  for  one  of  his  companions;  and  so  grateful 
 was  he  for  his  valuable  services,  in  drawing  up  an  account  of 
 these  remains,  that,  passing  by  all  his  patrons  of  higher  rank, 
 he  inscribed  his  Marmora  Arundeliana  to  Mr  Young,  in  an  af- 
 fectionate and  grateful  dedication. 
 
 The  famous  Alexandrian  manuscript  of  the  Old  and  New 
 Testament  having  been  added  to  the  contents  of  the  royal  libra- 
 ry, Mr  Young  employed  himself,  with  great  assiduity,  in  collat- 
 ing it  with  other  manuscripts  and  printed  books,  and  commu- 
 
 •  It  has  been  said,  that  this  monarch  was  so  fond  of  praise,  that  be  could  swallow' 
 down  flattery  in  lour  pound  pieces ;  and  that  the  bishops  took  care  never  to  serve  it 
 out  to  him  in  smaller  slices. 
 
388  MEMOIR  OF  PATRICK  YOUNG. 
 
 nicated  many  various  readings  to  Grotius,  Usher,  and  other 
 learned  men.  He  had  intended  to  print  the  whole  on  types  si- 
 milar to  the  letters  of  the  original.  He  even  published  a  speci- 
 men of  his  design;  but  some  circumstances  intervening,  pre- 
 vented the  execution.  Bishop  Hennet  charges  the  failure  of 
 this  design  to  the  puritans,  by  whom,  he  says,  "  Religion  and 
 learning  were  so  much  neglected,  that  neither  the  parliament 
 nor  the  assembly  called  for  the  work;  on  which  account  it  was 
 left  unfinished."  The  degree  of  credit  due  to  this  assertion, 
 every  reader,  at  all  conversant  with  the  history  of  this  period, 
 will  easily  judge.  Wood  tells  us,  that  the  arduous  task  was  un- 
 dertaken at  the  request  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  and  that, 
 towards  the  close  of  1645,  an  ordinance  was  read  for  printing 
 and  publishing  it.  Mr  Young  had  for  his  assistants  the  learned 
 Seldcn  and  Whitlocke.  Another  writer  affirms,  that  the  pre- 
 mature death  of  Mr  Young  prevented  the  completion  of  the  de- 
 sign; after  which  it  was  taken  up  by  Dr.  Grabe. 
 
 In  1633,  however,  Mr  Young  edited,  from  the  same  manu- 
 script, the  epistles  of  Clemens  Romanus,  and  afterwards  several 
 other  learned  works.  He  continued  in  the  office  of  librarian 
 till  the  death  of  the  king,  and  had  made  preparations  for  edit- 
 ing various  other  manuscripts  from  the  royal  library;  but  the 
 confusion  of  the  times  prevented  their  publication.  After  his 
 death,  most  of  his  Greek  and  Latin  manuscripts,  collected  and 
 written  with  his  own  hand,  came  into  the  possession  of  the  fa- 
 mous Dr.  John  Owen. 
 
 From  the  concurrent  testimony  of  Anthony  Wood  and  Dr. 
 Walker,  it  is  evident  that  Mr  Young  espoused  the  cause  and 
 sentiments  of  the  presbyterians;  nor  is  there  any  evidence  that 
 he  ever  afterwards  altered  his  opinion.  He  has  therefore  been 
 justly  classed  amongst  the  puritan  worthies.  On  his  removal 
 from  the  office  of  librarian,  he  retired  to  the  house  of  his  son- 
 in-law,  at  Bromfield  in  Essex,  where  he  was  carried  off  by  an 
 acute  disease,  on  the  7th  September  1652,  aged  sixty-eight 
 years.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the  chancel  of  Bromfield 
 church,  and  a  flag  of  black  marble,  with  an  appropriate  inscrip- 
 tion, laid  over  his  grave. 
 
 Mr  Young  was  much  esteemed  for  his  piety,  and  highly  ce- 
 lebrated for  his  extraordinary  erudition.  He  was  undoubtedly 
 the  best  Grecian  scholar  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Bishop 
 Montague  used  to  call  him  the  patriarch  of  the  Greeks.  On  his 
 character,  both  as  a  man  and  a  scholar,  a  profusion  of  eulogies 
 are  annexed  to  Dr.  Smith's  Memoir  of  his  life,  from  the  first 
 literary  characters.  He  was  consulted  by  most  of  the  great 
 scholars  in  Europe,  by  Fronto-Ducaeus,  Sirmondus,  Petavius, 
 Grotius,  Valesius,  Salmasius,  Vossius,  Casaubon,  Usher,  Sel^ 
 den,  and  many  others. 
 
389 
 
 JOHN  COTTON,  B.  D. 
 
 This  renowned  minister  of  the  New  Testament  was  born 
 at  Derby,  December  4th,  1585,  and  educated  first  at  Trinity, 
 then  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge,  in  the  last  of  which  he  was 
 chosen  fellow.  Under  the  awakening  sermons,  preached  by  the 
 famous  Mr  Perkins,  he  had  received  some  convictions  of  sin; 
 but  still  his  prejudice  and  enmity  against  true  holiness,  and 
 particularly  against  this  holy  man's  preaching,  were  so  inveter- 
 ate, that  when  he  heard  the  bell  toll  for  Mr  Perkin's  funeral, 
 he  greatly  rejoiced  that  now  he  was  delivered  from  his  heart- 
 searching  ministry.  The  recollection  of  this  depravity  of  soul, 
 when  he  afterwards  became  acquainted  with  the  gospel,  had  al- 
 most broke  his  heart.  The  ministrations  of  Dr.  Sibbs  was  the 
 means  of  awakening  and  leading  him  to  the  knowledge  of 
 Christ  and  the  love  of  the  truth:  yet  for  three  years  he  was  held 
 under  the  most  painful  apprehensions,  before  he  experienced  that 
 placid  serenity  of  soul  that  springs  from  the  faith  of  the  gospel. 
 After  this  important  change,  Mr  Cotton  had  to  preach  at  St. 
 Mary's  church,  where  the  wits  of  the  various  colleges  attended, 
 in  hopes  of  a  flowery  sermon,  garnished  with  all  the  literary 
 embellishments  and  learning  of  the  university.  But,  to  their 
 great  astonishment  and  mortification,  he  gave  them  a  very  ju- 
 dicious and  impressive  discourse  on  repentance,  pointing  the 
 arrows  of  conviction  against  the  strong  holds  of  conscious  guilt 
 and  corruption.  Most  of  the  students  were  chagrined  and  dis- 
 appointed; nor  could  they  avoid  manifesting  their  disapprobation 
 of  the  sermon.  It  was,  nevertheless,  the  means  of  converting 
 the  celebrated  Dr.  Preston,  then  fellow  of  Queen's  college;  and 
 from  this  time  forward  the  greatest  friendship,  intimacy,  and 
 affection,  subsisted  between  these  distinguished  individuals. 
 
 On  leaving  the  university,  Mr  Cotton  was  chosen  minister  of 
 Boston  in  Lincolnshire;  but  bishop  Barlow,  suspecting  him  to 
 be  infected  with  puritanism,  endeavoured  to  prevent  his  settle- 
 ment. This  learned  prelate  could  make  no  open  charge  against 
 him,  only  that  he  was  young,  and  on  that  account  wanting  in 
 the  gravity,  experience,  aud  authority  necessary  amongst  so  nu- 
 merous and  factious  a  people.  Indeed  Mr  Cotton  had  such  a 
 mean  opinion  of  himself,  that  he  went  into  the  bishop's  senti- 
 ments, and  intended  to  return  to  the  college.  His  numerous 
 friends,  however,  anxious  to  have  him  settled  amongst  them, 
 plied  the  bishop,  and  having  persuaded  him  of  his  great  learn- 
 ing and  ministerial  talents,  he  at  last  granted  their  request. 
 
 Mr  Cotton  met  with  a  more  favourable  reception  than  could 
 have  been  expected,  and  for  a  considerable  time  things  went  on 
 
390  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 very  agreeably;  but  the  troubles  occasioned  by  the  Arminian 
 controversy  became  so  great  in  the  town,  that  he  was  obliged 
 to  exert  all  his  abilities,  authority,  and  influence,  to  allay  them. 
 On  this  occasion,  it  is  said,  that  Mr  Cotton  so  triumphantly 
 established  the  scripture  doctrines  of  election,  particularly  re- 
 demption, effectual  calling,  and  the  final  perseverance  of  the 
 saints,  that  the  foundations  of  Arminianism  were  destroyed; 
 and  the  disputes  ceasing,  it  was  never  more  heard  of. 
 
 Mr  Cotton  now  entered  into  the  matrimonial  state;  and  it  is 
 remarkable,  that  on  the  day  of  his  marriage,  he,  for  the  first 
 time,  obtained  that  assurance  of  his  interest  in  the  Redeemer, 
 which  he  never  lost  till  the  day  of  his  death.  This  worthy  ser- 
 vant of  Christ,  having  been  about  three  years  at  Boston,  began 
 to  examine  into  the  corruptions  of  the  church,  and  to  scruple 
 conformity  to  its  ceremonies  and  superstitions;  nor  did  he  keep 
 his  sentiments  to  himself.  Whatever  he  discovered  to  be  truth, 
 he  boldly  declared;  and  such  was  the  influence  of  his  opinions, 
 and  so  obvious  were  the  avowed  grounds  on  which  he  held  them, 
 that  almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  Boston  and  neighbourhood  be- 
 came non-conformists.  But  complaints  were  soon  lodged 
 against  him  with  the  bishop,  and  he  was  suspended  from  his 
 ministry.  During  his  suspension,  he  was  promised  consider- 
 able preferment  if  he  would  conform  to  the  ceremonies,  though 
 but  in  one  act;  but  he  refused  to  pollute  his  conscience  for  any 
 such  worldly  considerations.  He  did  not  continue  long  under 
 suspension;  but  was  soon  after  restored  to  his  beloved  work  of 
 preaching.  This  storm  having  blown  over,  he  had  rest  for  ma- 
 ny years,  and,  during  the  calm,  was  always  abounding  in  his 
 spiritual  labours;  and  there  was  so  pleasing  a  reformation 
 among  the  people  of  Boston,  that  superstition  and  profanity 
 gave  way  to  practical  religion  and  godliness,  which  soon  abound- 
 ed in  every  corner  of  the  town.  The  mayor  and  most  of  the 
 magistrates  became  puritans,  and  the  ungodly  party  sunk  into 
 insignificance. 
 
 Mr  Cotton,  after  having  examined  the  controversy  with  con- 
 scientious impartiality,  was  decidedly  of  the  opinion,  that  it  was 
 unlawful  for  any  church  to  enjoin  rites  and  ceremonies,  for 
 which  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  had  left  either  precept  or 
 example :  That  a  bishop,  according  to  the  New  Testament,  was 
 appointed  to  no  larger  a  diocese  than  one  congregation;  and  that 
 the  keys  of  government  and  discipline  were  put  into  the  hands 
 of  every  congregational  church.  The  public  worship  of  God  at 
 Boston  was  therefore  conducted  without  the  fetters  or  formali- 
 ty of  a  liturgy,  or  the  use  of  any  of  those  vestments  and  cere- 
 monies which  had  been  invented  by  the  folly,  and  were  now 
 imposed  by  the  commandments,  of  men.     Many  of  his  people 
 
JOHN   COTTON.  391 
 
 united  together  as  a  christian  church,  and  enjoyed  the  means 
 of  grace,  and  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel,  upon  congregational 
 principles,  by  entering  into  covenant  with  God  and  one  another, 
 to  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  in  all  the  purity  of  gospel  worship. 
 
 Mr  Cotton  was  celebrated  for  his  ministerial  talents,  and  had 
 acquired  a  very  distinguished  reputation.  He  was  loved  and 
 highly  respected  by  the  best  men,  and  hated  and  feared  by  the 
 worst.  He  was  much  esteemed  by  bishop  Williams,  who,  when 
 keeper  of  the  great  seal,  recommended  him  to  the  king  as  a  man 
 of  singular  abilities,  great  learning,  piety,  and  usefulness;  on 
 which  his  majesty,  notwithstanding  his  non-conformity,  allow- 
 ed him  to  continue  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry.  The  cele- 
 brated archbishop  Usher  had  the  highest  opinion  of  him  as  a 
 minister,  a  man,  and  a  scholar,  and  kept  up  a  friendly  corres- 
 pondence with  him.  He  was  likewise  held  in  great  estimation 
 by  the  earl  of  Dorset,  who  kindly  promised  him,  that  if  at  any 
 time  he  stood  in  need  of  a  friend  at  court,  he  would  use  all  his 
 interest  and  influence  in  his  behalf;  yet,  in  the  midst  of  so  much 
 honour  and  applause,  his  unassuming  modesty  and  humility  re- 
 mained unimpaired. 
 
 Having  preached  at  Boston  almost  twenty  years,  Mr  Cotton 
 found,  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him,  without  conforming, 
 to  continue  his  ministrations.  The  storm  of  persecution,  he 
 saw,  was  gathering  in  the  horizon  of  the  church,  and  wisely 
 withdrew  from  its  fury.  A  son  of  belial,  a  debauched  fellow, 
 of  depraved  principles  and  wicked  practices,  to  be  revenged  on 
 the  magistrates  of  Boston,  for  sentencing  him  to  condign  pun- 
 ishment for  his  crimes,  brought  forward  complaints  against 
 them  and  Mr  Cotton  in  the  high  court  of  commission,  and 
 swore  that  neither  the  minister  nor  the  magistrates  of  the  town 
 kneeled  when  receiving  the  sacrament,  nor  observed  the  eccle- 
 siastical ceremonies.  Letters  missive  were  immediately  sent 
 down,  by  the  influence  and  authority  of  bishop  Laud,  to  appre- 
 hend and  bring  Mr  Cotton  before  the  commission;  but  he  con- 
 cealed himself.  Great  intercessions  were  made  for  him  by  the 
 earl  of  Dorset  and  others;  but  finding  all  to  no  purpose,  the 
 earl  sent  him  word,  that  providing  his  crimes  had  been  those  of 
 drunkenness,  adultery,  blasphemy,  or  any  such  trifling  *  faults, 
 he  could  have  easily  procured  his  pardon;  but  seeing  he  was 
 guilty  of  non-conformity  and  puritanism,  crimes  so  enormous 
 that  they  could  never  be  forgiven,  flee,  says  he,  for  your  safety. 
 
 It  must  therefore  have  been  from  painful  experience  that  Mr 
 Cotton  afterwards  complained,  that  the  ecclesiastical  courts  are 
 
 *  In  1634  the  mayor  of  Arundel  imprisoned  a  clergyman  for  his  notorious  drunk- 
 enness, aud  other  misbehaviour;  and  though  confined  but  one  night,  the  mayor,  for 
 this  act  of  justice,  was  both  fined  and  censured  by  the  high  commission  at  Lambeth. 
 — Huntley's  rrclalcs,  page  164. 
 
SQ2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 dens  of  lions;  that  all  who  have  had  to  do  with  them  have  found 
 them  markets  for  the  6ins  of  the  people,  cages  of  uncleanness, 
 and  roosting  places  of  birds  of  prey,  the  tabernacles  of  bribery, 
 forges  of  extortion,  and  fetters  of  slavery,  a  terror  to  all  good 
 men,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  evil  ! 
 
 Mr  Cotton,  perceiving  that  there  were  now  no  hopes  that  he 
 should  ever  enjoy  his  liberty  in  his  own  country,  resolved  to 
 transport  himself  to  New  England.  Upon  his  departure  from 
 Boston,  he  wrote  a  very  pious  and  modest  letter  to  the  bishop 
 of  Lincoln,  signifying  his  resignation  of  the  living.  His  reso- 
 lution to  expatriate  himself  was  the  result  of  mature  and  deli- 
 berate consideration,  and  founded  on  substantial  grounds.  He 
 observed  that  the  door  of  public  usefulness  was  apparently  for 
 ever  shut  against  him  in  his  native  land :  That  when  persecut- 
 ed in  one  city  or  country,  our  Lord  commands  his  servants  to 
 flee  to  another;  and  wishing  to  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  gos- 
 pel in  their  scriptu/al  purity,  he  considered  the  resolution  he 
 had  taken  to  be  tb/f  path  of  present  duty.  Accordingly,  taking 
 farewell  of  his  numerous  friends  at  Boston,  he  travelled  in  dis- 
 guise to  London,  where,  on  his  arrival,  several  eminent  mini- 
 sters of  his  acquaintance  proposed  a  conference,  with  a  view  to 
 persuade  him  to  conform  and  remain  at  home.  To  this  he  free- 
 ly consented;  and  after  all  their  arguments  in  favour  of  con- 
 formity had  been  delivered,  he  answered  the  whole  to  their  full 
 satisfaction ;  then  delivering  his  arguments  for  non-conformity, 
 and  his  reasons  for  removing  to  a  foreign  land  rather  than  con- 
 form  to  the  prelatical  impositions,  they  were  so  well  satisfied, 
 that  in  place  of  bringing  Mr  Cotton  to  their  views,  they  all  of 
 them  espoused  his  opinions,  and  from  that  day  forward,  Mr 
 (afterwards  Dr.)  Thomas  Goodman,  Mr  Philip  Ney,  Mr  John 
 Davenport,  Mr  Henry  Whitefield,  and  some  others,  became 
 avowed  non-conformists;  for  which  they  were  all  afterwards 
 driven  into  a  foreign  land.  Speaking  of  this  conference,  Mr 
 Davenport,  one  of  Mr  Cotton's  antagonists,  tells  us,  "That 
 their  reasons  for  wishing  to  confer  with  him,  rather  than  any 
 other,  on  these  weighty  points,  were  their  knowledge  of  his  ap- 
 proved godliness,  his  great  learning,  candour,  and  mild  disposi- 
 tion, whereby  he  could  bear,  with  equanimity  of  temper,  the  ar- 
 guments of  others  who  might  differ  from  him  in  their  opinions. 
 Nor  were  we  in  the  least  disappointed,  says  he,  in  our  expecta- 
 tions; he  answered  all  our  arguments  with  the  most  conclusive 
 evidence  from  scripture,  composure  of  mind,  and  mildness  of 
 spirit,  constantly  adhering  to  his  own  principles,  and,  with  the 
 greatest  clearness  of  judgment  and  expression,  removing  every 
 objection  that  had  been  started  against  them." 
 
 Mr  Cotton  having  fully  resolved  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  John 
 
JOHN  COTTON.  393 
 
 Winthrop,  Esq.  governor  of  the  new  plantation,  procured  him 
 letters  of  recommendation  from  the  church  at  Boston  to  their 
 brethren  in  New  England;  and  having  finished  his  arrange- 
 ments, he  took  shipping  the  beginning  of  June  1633,  and  land- 
 ed in  New  England  in  the  beginning  of  September  following. 
 Mr  Hooker  and  Mr  Stone,  both  driven  out  for  their  non-con- 
 formity, were  his  companions  on  the  voyage.  Mrs  Cotton  was 
 delivered  of  a  son  about  a  month  after  their  embarkation,  who, 
 from  the  place  of  his  birth,  was  named  Seaborn.  On  their  ar- 
 rival, the  town,  which,  on  account  of  its  three  hills,  had  hither- 
 to been  called  Trimountain,  was  changed  to  Boston,  out  of  re- 
 spect to  Mr  Cotton,  who  came  from  Boston  in  Old  England. 
 Immediately  after  their  arrival  at  Boston,  this  famous  puritan 
 divine  was  chosen  colleague  to  Mr  John  Wilson,  minister  of 
 that  place;  and  his  labours,  both  as  a  preacher  and  politician, 
 were  of  unspeakable  advantage  to  the  town.  It  was  greatly 
 owing  to  his  wisdom  and  influence  that  in  a  few  years  Boston 
 became  the  capital  of  the  whole  province.  The  civil  and  eccle- 
 siastical constitutions,  prior  to  his  arrival,  were  both  lamentably 
 out  of  order,  ill-digested,  and  indistinct;  but  by  his  vigorous  and 
 judicious  efforts,  order  and  arrangement  were  soon  introduced 
 into  every  department,  and  harmony  and  prosperity  were  the 
 happy  consequence  of  his  labours.  About  1 642,  when  the  epis- 
 copal power  in  England  began  to  decline,  several  of  the  leading 
 members  of  both  houses  of  parliament  earnestly  pressed  him  to 
 return  to  his  native  country;  but  considering  the  peace,  liberty, 
 and  safety  he  enjoyed  in  his  retreat,  as  well  as  the  field  of  ac- 
 tion and  usefulness  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  was  unwilling 
 again  to  venture  his  shattered  bark  on  the  tempestuous  ocean, 
 and  so  remained  at  Boston  till  his  death. 
 
 About  this  time  numerous  Antinomian  tenets  began  to  be 
 propagated  in  New  England,  especially  at  Boston,  which  raised 
 a  dreadful  confusion  amongst  the  people.  Mrs  Hutchinson,  and 
 Mr  Wheelwright  her  brother,  were  at  the  head  of  this  party; 
 and  some  of  our  historians  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm,  that  Mr 
 Cotton  himself  had  drunk  in  some  of  their  wild  fancies;  others 
 deny  the  charge,  and  endeavour  to  prove  the  whole  a  ma- 
 licious slander  to  blacken  his  reputation.  It  is  agreed  by  all 
 of  them,  however,  that,  in  1646,  at  the  synod  of  Cambridge,  he 
 openly  declared  against  all  these  opinions,  as  being  some  of 
 them  blasphemous,  some  heretical,  some  erroneous,  and  all  of 
 them  incongruous.  At  this  synod,  Mr  Cotton,  Mr  Richard 
 Mather,  and  Mr  Ralph  Partridge,  were  each  of  them  appointed 
 to  draw  up  a  form  of  church  government,  with  the  view  of 
 drawing  up  one  from  the  whole  at  the  next  meeting  of  synod; 
 which  was  done  accordingly. 
 
 15  3  J) 
 
99$  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 This  learned  divine,  though  removed  to  New  England,  still 
 maintained  a  correspondence  with  many  persons  of  distinction 
 in  his  native  country,  and  amongst  the  rest  with  Cromwell,  the 
 protector;  one  of  whose  letters,  written  with  his  own  hand, 
 dated  October  2d,  1652,  is  here  inserted  verbatim,  for  the  sa- 
 tisfaction of  the  inquisitive  reader.  Addressed  thus:  To  my 
 esteemed  friend  Mr  Cotton,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Boston  in 
 New  England. 
 
 "  Worthy  sir,  and  my  christian  friend, 
 
 "  I  received  yours  a  few  days  since.  It  was  welcome  to 
 me,  because  signed  by  you,  whomc  I  love  and  honour  in  the 
 Lord  :  but  more  to  see  some  of  the  same  grounds  of  our  actinges 
 stirringc  in  you,  that  have  in  us  to  quiet  us  to  our  worke,  and 
 support  us  therein,  which  hath  had  greatest  difficulty^  in  our 
 engagement  in  Scotland,  by  reason  wee  have  had  to  do  with 
 some  whoc  were  (I  verily  thinkc)  godly;  but,  through  weak- 
 nesse  and  the  subtiltye  of  satan,  involved  in  interests  against 
 the  Lord  and  his  people.  With  what  tendernessc  wee  have  pro- 
 ceeded with  such,  and  that  in  synceritye,  our  papers  (which  I 
 suppose  you  have  seen)  will  in  part  manifest,  and  I  give  you? 
 some  comfortable  assurance  off.  The  Lord  hath  marvellously 
 appeared  even  against  them;  and  now  againe,  when  all  the 
 power  was  devolved  into  the  Scottish  kinge  and  malignant  par- 
 tye,  they  invadinge  England,  the  Lord  rayned  upon  them  such 
 snares,  as  the  inclosed  will  shew,  only  the  narrative  is  short  in 
 this,  that  of  their  whole  armie,  when  the  narrative  was  framed, 
 not  five  of  their  whole  armie  returned.  Surely,  sir,  the  Lord 
 is  greatly  to  be  feared  as  to  be  praised.  Wee  need  your  prayers 
 in  this  as  much  as  ever;  how  shall  we  behave  ourselves  after 
 such  mercyes  ?  What  is  the  Lord  a  doeinge  ?  What  prophe- 
 sies are  now  fulfiliinge?  Who  is  a  God  like  ours?  To  know 
 bis  will,  to  doc  his  will,  are  both  of  him. 
 
 "  I  tooke  this  libertye  from  businesse  to  salute  thus  in  a 
 word  :  truly  I  am  ready  to  serve  you,  and  the  rest  of  our  breth- 
 ren, and  the  churches  with  you.  I  am  a  poor  weake  creature, 
 and  not  worthye  of  the  name  of  a  worme;  yett  accepted  to  serve 
 the  Lord  and  his  people.  Indeed,  my  dear  friend,  between  you 
 and  me,  you  knowe  not  me;  my  weaknesses,  my  inordinate 
 passions,  my  unskillfullnesse,  and  every  way  unfitnesse  to  my 
 worke;  yett  the  Lord,  who  will  have  mercye  on  whomc  he  will, 
 docs  as  you  sec.  Pray  for  me.  Salute  all  christian  friendes, 
 though  unknown. 
 
 "  I  rest  your  affectionate  friend  to  serve  you, 
 
 "  O.  Cromwell." 
 
 Mr  Cotton  was  a  laborious  student,  twelve  hours  he  consi- 
 dered to  he  a  scholar's  day.      He  lived  under  a  conviction,   that 
 
JOHN   COTTON.  SCJ5 
 
 the  servant  of  Christ  ought  not  to  be  slothful,   but  fervent  in 
 spirit,  and  diligent  in  serving  the  Lord;  and  his  resolution  was 
 rather  to  wear  out  than  rust  out.     His  literary  talents  were 
 great.     He  could  converse  with  ease  and  fluency  in  the  Hebrew 
 language.      His  pulpit  oratory  was   delivered   with    so  much 
 judgment  and  gravity,   that  it  struck  his  hearers  with  admira- 
 tion; and,  at  the  same  time,  so  plain,  that  the  weakest  capacity 
 might  easily  comprehend  him.     He  was  remarkable  for  practi- 
 cal religion  and  christian  benevolence,  and  his  whole  life  was 
 one  continued  course  of  piety  and  charity.     He  was  blest  with 
 an  uncommon  share  of  humility,  modesty,  and  good  nature; 
 and  though  often  insulted  by  angry  men,  showed  no  resent- 
 ment.    A  conceited  ignorant  man  one  time  followed  him  home 
 from  church,  and  told  him,  that  his  preaching  was  become  dark 
 and  flat.    To  whom  he  replied,  "  Both,  brother;  but  let  me  have 
 the  help  of  your  prayers  that  they  may  be  otherwise."     At 
 another  time  he  was  insulted  on  the  street  by  an  impudent  fel- 
 low, who  called  him  an  old  fool.     "  You  are  right  (he  replied), 
 I  confess  I  am  so.    May  the  Lord  make  thee  and  me  both  wiser 
 than  we  are,  even  wise  unto  salvation."     At  the  request  of  a 
 friend,  Mr  Cotton  wrote  his  thoughts  on  the  doctrine  of  re- 
 probation, against  the  objections  of  the  Arminians.     The  ma- 
 nuscript fell  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Twisse,  who  published  a  re- 
 futation of  it.     Mr  Cotton,  not  a  little  surprised  at  his  being 
 taken  so  short,  thus  expressed  himself,   "  I  hope  God  will  give 
 me  an  opportunity  to  consider  the  doctor's  labour  of  love.    I  bless 
 God,  who  has  made  me  willing  to  be  taught  by  a  much  meaner 
 disciple  than  Dr.  Twisse,  whose  scholastic  acutcness,  solidity  of 
 judgment,  and  dexterity  of  argument,  all  orthodox  divines  so 
 highly  honour,  and  before  whom  Arminians  and  Jesuits  fall 
 down  in  silence.     God  forbid  that  I  should  shut  mine  eyes 
 against  any  light  derived  from  such  a  man,  only  I  desire  not  to 
 be  condemned  as  a  pelagian  or  an  Arminian  before  I  be  heard." 
 Mr  Cotton's  last  illness  was  short.     Having  taken  leave  of 
 his  beloved  study,  he  said  to  Mrs  Cotton,   "  I  shall  enter  that 
 room  no  more."     He  was  desirous  to   depart   from  a  world 
 where  all  was  fluctuating  and  uncertain,  that  he  might  enjoy 
 the  company  of  Christ,  and  his  glorified  saints,  particularly  his 
 old  friends,  Preston,  Ames,  Hildersham,  Dod,  and  others,  who 
 had  been  peculiarly  dear  to  him  while  living.     Having  set  his 
 house  in  order,  and  taken  a  solemn  leave  of  the  magistrates  and 
 ministers  of  the  colony,   who  visited  him  in  his  sickness,  he 
 died,  December  23d,   1652,  aged  sixty-seven  years.     His  re- 
 mains were  interred  with  much  funeral  solemnity,  and  great 
 lamentation.     He  has  been  denominated  an  universal  scholar, 
 and  a  living  system  of  the  liberal  arts.     He  was  a  consummate 
 
3(j6  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 linguist,  and  a  profound  theologian.  Fuller  has  honoured  him 
 with  a  place  among  the  learned  writers  and  fellows  of  Emanuel 
 college,  Cambridge.  Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  the  pious  historian, 
 was  his  grand-son. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Way  of  Life. — 2.  Doubts  of  Predes- 
 tination.— 3.  Exposition  of  Ecclesiastes  and  Canticles. — 4..  The 
 Way  of  the  Congregational  Churches  Cleared. — 5.  Commentary 
 on  the  first  Epistle  of  John.— 6.  Milk  for  Babes.— 7.  A  Trea- 
 tise on  the  New  Covenant. — 8.  Various  Sermons. — 9.  Answer 
 to  Mr  Ball  about  Forms  of  Prayer. — 10.  The  Grounds  and 
 Ends  of  Infant  Baptism. — 11.  A  Discourse  upon  Singing 
 Psalms. — 12.  An  Abstract  of  the  Laws  in  Christ's  Kingdom 
 for  Civil  Government. — 13.  On  the  Holiness  of  Church  Mem- 
 bers.— 14.  Discourse  on  Things  Indifferent. — 15.  The  Keys  of 
 the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. — 16.  Answer  to  Mr  Cawdry. — 17. 
 The  Bloody  Tenet  Washed  and  made  White  in  the  Blood  of 
 the  Lamb. — 18.  Copy  of  a  Letter  of  Mr  Cotton's,  of  Boston  in 
 New  England,  sent  in  answer  to  certain  objections  made  against 
 their  discipline  and  order  there,  directed  to  a  friend  in  Old 
 England. 
 
 JOHN  LATHROP. 
 
 This  excellent  man  was  minister  of  Egerton  in  Kent;  but 
 dissatisfied  with  his  episcopal  ordination,  he  renounced  it,  and 
 was  chosen  pastor  to  the  Independent  congregation  under  the 
 care  of  Mr  Henry  Jacob  in  London.  On  the  departure  of  Mr 
 Jacob  for  America,  this  little  society,  which  had  hitherto  as- 
 sembled in  private,  moving  about  from  place  to  place  to  escape 
 the  observation  of  the  bishop's  spies,  began  to  take  courage,  and 
 meet  more  openly.  In  a  short  time,  however,  Tomlinson,  the 
 bishop's  pursuivant,  discovered  them  met  in  the  house  of  Mr 
 Humphrey  Barnet,  a  brewer's  clerk  in  Blackfriars,  where 
 forty-two  of  them  were  apprehended,  and  eighteen  only  made 
 their  escape.  This  took  place  on  the  29th  April  1632.  Of 
 those  who  were  thus  apprehended,  some  were  confined  in  the 
 Fleet,  others  in  the  new  prison,  and  the  remainder  in  the  Gate- 
 house, where  they  were  held  in  durance  about  two  years,  when, 
 with  the  exception  of  Mr  Lathrop,  they  were  all  admitted  to 
 bail.  During  the  time  that  Mr  Lathrop  continued  prisoner,  his 
 wife  fell  sick  and  died;  and  Laud,  contrary  to  his  usual  method 
 with  the  puritans,  particularly  with  the  Independents,  permitted 
 him  to  visit  her,  and  pray  with  her,  before  she  breathed  her 
 last;  which  having  done,  he  immediately  returned  to  prison. 
 At  length  he  petitioned  the  king,  and,  at  the  same  time,  his 
 
JOHN  LATHROP.  397 
 
 numerous  family  of  children  laid  their  deplorable  case,  in  a 
 humble  petition,  at  the  feet  of  archbishop  Laud,  who,  under- 
 standing, it  is  thought,  that  the  king  was  inclined  to  favour  the 
 father,  condescended  to  grant  their  request.  Accordingly  Mr 
 Lathrop  was  released,  and  set  off  for  New  England  with  his  fa- 
 mily, and  about  thirty  of  his  congregation. 
 
 During  the  time  of  Mr  Lathrop's  imprisonment,  he  met  with* 
 some  trouble  from  his  congregation.  Some  persons,  entertain- 
 ing doubts  concerning  the  validity  of  baptism  as  administered 
 by  their  own  pastor,  one  of  them  carried  his  child  to  the  parish 
 church  and  had  it  rebaptized.  This  gave  such  offence  to  some 
 of  the  congregation,  that  the  matter  was  discussed  at  a  general 
 meeting  of  the  society,  and  negatived  by  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
 bers; but  that  no  declaration  should  be  made  at  the  present 
 time,  whether  or  not  the  parish  churches  were  true  churches. 
 This  decision,  however,  was  displeasing  to  a  number  of  the 
 most  rigid  amongst  them,  who  demanded  their  dismission;  and 
 uniting  with  others  who  were  dissatisfied  about  the  lawfulness 
 of  infant  baptism,  formed  themselves  into  a  new  society;  which 
 appears  to  have  been  the  first  baptist  congregation  in  England. 
 This  separation  took  place  in  1633,  and  the  new  society  made 
 choice  of  Mr  Spilsbury  for  their  pastor.  The  remainder  of  Mr 
 Lathrop's  congregation  renewed  their  covenant  on  this  occasion, 
 "  To  walk  together  in  the  ways  of  God,  and  forsake  all  false 
 ways,  so  far  as  he  had  already  made,  or  should  afterward 
 make  his  will  known  to  them;"  and  so  faithful  were  they  to 
 their  vows,  that  scarcely  an  instance  occurred  of  any  individual 
 departing  from  the  church,  even  under  the  severest  persecu- 
 tions. 
 
 After  landing  in  New  England,  Mr  Lathrop  was  chosen  first 
 pastor  of  the  church  at  Scituate,  where  he  remained  for  some 
 time,  distributing  amongst  them  the  bread  of  life.  But  a  part 
 of  his  flock  removing  to  Barnstaple,  he  removed  with  them, 
 where  he  continued  their  pastor  till  the  day  of  his  death;  which 
 took  place  November  8th,  1653. 
 
 He  was  a  man  of  a  pious  and  happy  spirit,  ever  studious  of 
 peace;  for  which  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  almost  any  thing  but 
 the  truth.  He  was  a  lively  preacher,  willing  to  spend  and  be 
 spent  for  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer,  and  the  salvation  of  sin- 
 ful men.  Mr  Prince,  in  compiling  his  chronological  history  of 
 New  England,  made  use  of  a  manuscript  register,  written  by 
 Mr  Lathrop,  and  containing  an  account  of  Scituate  and 
 Barnstaple,  in  both  of  which  places  he  had  been  the  first 
 minister. 
 
398  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 SAMUEL  CROOK,  13.  D 
 
 This  pious  and  learned  divine  was  born  at  Great  Walding- 
 ficld  in  Essex,  January  17th,  1574.  He  was  educated  in  Pem- 
 broke-hall, Cambridge,  and  afterwards  chosen  fellow  of  Ema- 
 nuel college.  His  father  was  the  learned  and  laborious  Dr. 
 Crook,  preacher  to  the  honourable  society  of  Gray's  inn,  and 
 descended  from  an  ancient  family.  Mr  Crook  was  held  in  great 
 estimation  in  the  university  on  account  of  his  brilliant  talents, 
 and  the  uncommon  progress  he  made  in  all  the  branches  of  use- 
 ful and  polite  learning.  He  was  chosen  reader  of  rhetoric  and 
 philosophy  in  the  public  schools,  and  filled  these  offices  with 
 honour  and  applause.  While  at  Cambridge,  he  was  a  hearer  of 
 Mr  Perkins,  and  a  great  admirer  of  that  excellent  divine.  Mr 
 Crook  preached  first  for  some  short  time  at  Caxton,  near  Cam- 
 bridge; and,  in  1692,  was  invited  to  Wrington  in  Somerset- 
 shire, as  pastor  of  that  church;  which  he  accepted. 
 
 Upon  his  settlement  at  Wrington,  Mr  Crook  was  indefatig- 
 able in  his  ministerial  labours,  and  succeeded  much  beyond  his 
 expectations.  He  preached  regularly  three  times  every  week, 
 or  oftcner,  as  occasion  required,  and  that  during  his  whole  life, 
 with  a  conversation  corresponding  with  his  labours  and  the  doc- 
 trines he  inculcated;  so  that  the  affections  of  his  people  increas- 
 ed towards  him  to  the  end  of  his  days.  In  his  preparations  for 
 the  ministry,  Mr  Crook  had  laid  in  a  large  stock  of  useful 
 knowledge,  and  now  he  began  to  lay  it  out  in  the  service  of 
 Christ  and  his  church  with  an  unsparing  hand.  Determined 
 not  to  serve  the  Lord  with  that  which  cost  him  nothing,  his 
 pulpit  preparations  were  always  made  with  the  most  critical 
 attention.  His  sermons  were  grave,  judicious,  and  appropriate, 
 and  his  applications  were  carried  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers 
 by  a  powerful  and  pleasing  eloquence.  His  motto  was,  "  I  am 
 willing  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  the  service  of  the  gospel." 
 During  a  time  of  sickness,  the  physician  told  him,  he  might  live 
 longer  if  he  would  preach  less.  "  Alas  !  (said  he)  if  I  may  not 
 preach,  I  cannot  live.  What  good  would  my  life  do  me  if  hin- 
 dered from  prosecuting  the  very  end  for  which  I  desire  to  live  ?" 
 When  labouring  under  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  he  often 
 preached  when  he  could  scarcely  walk  to  the  house  of  God,  and 
 even  then  his  sermons  were  delivered  with  his  usual  vivacity. 
 He  did  not  amuse  his  people  with  airy  speculations,  but  fed 
 them  with  the  substantial  provision  laid  up  for  the  church  in 
 the  sacred  repository  of  the  divine  word;  from  which,  as  a  wise 
 steward,  he  drew  forth  milk  for  babes,  and  strong  meat  for  grown 
 men.     He  is  said  to  have  been  the  first,  in  that  part  of  tho 
 
SAMUEL  CROOK.  399 
 
 country,   who  brought  extempore  prayer  into  use,  an  exercise 
 in  which  he  greatly  excelled. 
 
 He  laboured  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  with  little  interruption, 
 something  better  than  forty-seven  years,  during  which  period 
 he  was  instrumental  in  bringing  many  wandering  sinners  to 
 Christ's  sheep-fold.  It  is  true,  the  bishop,  on  one  occasion,  put 
 down  his  lecture;  but  it  was  so  ordered  by  God,  that  the  bishop 
 was  cast  out  of  his  office,  and  the  lecture  revived.  During  a 
 life  of  nearly  seventy-five  years,  he  had  witnessed  many 
 changes  in  the  church:  nor  was  he  without  a  share  of  the  suf- 
 ferings allotted  to  the  serious  worshippers  of  God  in  these  trou- 
 blesome times.  During  the  parliamentary  war,  the  rude  sol- 
 diers tyrannized  over  him,  even  in  his  own  house.  They  fol- 
 lowed him  into  his  study  with  drawn  swords,  swearing  they 
 would  put  him  to  instant  death  for  not  joining  them  in  their 
 bloody  cause.  The  Lord,  however,  delivered  him  from  all  these 
 enemies. 
 
 During  his  last  sickness,  Mr  Crook  solemnly  protested,  that 
 the  doctrines  he  had  taught  were  the  truths  of  God;  and  that  in 
 these  doctrines  consisted  all  his  salvation  and  all  his  desire. 
 He  received  the  notice  of  his  approaching  death  not  only  with 
 composure,  but  with  cheerfulness;  and  having  no  prospect  of 
 labouring  any  more  in  the  church  of  Christ,  he  requested  his 
 friends  not  to  pray  for  the  continuance  of  his  life,  but  for  the 
 spirit  of  faith,  patience,  and  repentance,  and  for  that  joy  and 
 peace  in  believing  which  the  Holy  Spirit  vouchsafes  to  the 
 heirs  of  the  heavenly  inheritance.  £;  Lord  (said  he),  cast  me 
 down  as  low  as  hell  in  repentance  and  humiliation;  but  O  raise 
 me  to  heaven  in  faith,  love,  and  joy  in  thy  salvation."  The 
 Tuesday  before  he  died,  he  said,  "  This  day  week  is  the  day  on 
 which  we  used  to  remember  the  nativity  of  Christ,  and  on  this 
 day  I  have  preached  Christ  crucified.  I  shall  hardly  live  to  see 
 it  again;  but  my  consolation  is,  that  for  me,  even  for  me,  was 
 this  child  born,  and  to  me  was  this  Son  given."  He  died,  De- 
 cember 25th,  1 649,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Mr 
 Clark  says,  "  He  was  a  person  of  quick  apprehension,  a  lively 
 imagination,  a  profound  judgment,  an  excellent  memory,  and 
 possessed  of  great  learning  and  piety.  He  was  grave  without 
 being  austere,  courteous  and  pleasant,  without  cither  levity  or 
 hypocrisy,  and  charitable  almost  to  a  fault."  Fuller  has  placed 
 him  on  the  list  of  the  learned  writers  of  Emanuel  college,  Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Three  Sermons. — 2.  Death  Subdued. — 3. 
 The  Guide  to  True  Blessedness. — 4.  Divine  Character-. 
 
400  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 PETER  SAXTON,  A.  M. 
 
 This  venerable  divine  was  born  at  Bramley,  in  tbe  parish 
 of  Leeds,  in  Yorkshire,  and  had  his  education  at  Cambridge, 
 where  he  took  his  degrees  in  arts.     He  was  presented,  both  by 
 the  king  and  Sir  Edward  Stanhope,  to  the  rectory  of  Edling- 
 ton  in  his  native  county.     He  was  at  first  a  conformist,  but 
 afterwards  found  reasons  for  altering  his  opinion  with  respect 
 to  the  forms  of  the  established  church;  from  which  he  became 
 so  much  alienated,  that  he  called  the  surplice  the  whore's  smock. 
 But  having  espoused  the  sentiments  of  the  puritans,  and  not 
 being  ashamed  publicly  to  avow  them,  he  could  find  no  rest  in 
 his  native  country.     A  cruel  persecution  having  overspread  the 
 land,  Mr  Saxton  retired  from  the  storm,  and  sought  a  place  of 
 liberty  and  security  in  New  England,  where  he  arrived  in  the 
 year  1640.     There  we  find  his  name,  as  minister  of  Scituate, 
 classed  amongst  the  first  of  those  persecuted  puritans,  who,  by 
 their  godly  ministry,  illuminated  the  dark  regions  of  North 
 America.     In   this  situation   Mr  Saxton   continued  for  some 
 time;  but  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  colony,  together  with 
 some  unpleasant  contentions  in  the  plantation  where  he  lived, 
 were  the  causes  of  his  removal,  first  to  Boston,  and  afterwards, 
 when  advanced  in  years,  to  England.     On  his  return  from  Bos- 
 ton,  the  ship  was  overtaken  with  a  storm,   so  dreadful,  that 
 even  the  mariners  gave  all  over  for  lost;  and  those  whom  nothing 
 could  induce  to  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  before,  came 
 trembling  to  Mr  Saxton,  in  all  the  agony  of  despair,  whom 
 they  found  with  his   arms  stretched  out    to   heaven,    calling 
 out,  "  Who  are  now  ready  to  start  for  heaven  ?    Who  are  bound 
 for  the  haven  of  eternal  rest?"     But  when  at  their  wits  end, 
 the  storm  was  changed  into  a  calm,  and  they  arrived  safely  at 
 the  desired  port.     On  his  arrival  in  England,  he  had  the  offer 
 of  a  considerable  living  in  Kent;  which   he  rejected,  choosing 
 rather  to  accept  the  vicarage  of  Leeds   in  his  own    county; 
 where   he    was    inducted    in    1646,    and    held    till   his    death, 
 in   April    1651.      He   was   a    venerable,    pious,    and   learned 
 divine;  but  was  in  the  habit  of  using  many  homely  expres- 
 sions,   which   often   created   a   smile,    and,    on  one   occasion, 
 a    downright   burst    of  laughter   in    a   country   church.     His 
 text  was,  Job   11,   12.   "For  vain  man  would  be  wise,  though 
 born   like   a   wild   ass'   colt."     Observing   the  irreverence    of 
 the  people,  he  told  them  he  would  make  them  cry  before  he 
 had  done;  and  was  as  good  as  his  word;  for  when  he  came  to 
 the  application  of  his  sermon,  the  aged  minister,  for  whom  he 
 was  preaching,  speaking  of  this  circumstance,  says,   "That  he 
 
PETER  SAXTOX.  401 
 
 had  never  seen  the  like  before  in  that  church,  for  the  greater 
 part  of  the  congregation  were  bathed  in  tears."  He  also  gives 
 Mr  Saxton  the  character  of  a  very  studious  and  learned  man, 
 and  a  great  Hebrician,  who  constantly  carried  his  Hebrew  bible 
 into  the  pulpit  with  him.  There  is  a  book  under  his  name,  en- 
 titled, Christmas  Cheer,  or  Profitable  Notes  of  two  Sermons, 
 preached  on  the  25th  December,  being  commonly  (how  rightly 
 let  others  judge)  called  christmas  day,  and  on  the  day  follow- 
 ing, commonly  called  St.  Stephen's  day. 
 
 RICHARD  BLACKERBY. 
 
 This  eminently  pious  and  learned  divine  was  born  at  Wel- 
 lington in  Suffolk,  in  1574.  He  had  his  education  at  Trinity 
 college,  Cambridge,  where  he  remained  nine  years,  and  made 
 amazing  proficiency  in  all  branches  of  useful  learning.  Here 
 he  sat  under  the  ministry  of  that  eminent  servant  of  Christ,  Mr 
 Perkins,  whose  sermons  were  the  means  of  effectually  convert- 
 ing him  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  For  several  years  he  labour- 
 ed under  the  most  painful  apprehensions  as  to  the  state  of  his 
 soul:  and  while  groaning  under  these  convictions,  in  a  state  ap- 
 proaching to  melancholy,  his  father,  unconscious  of  the  cause  of 
 his  dejection,  called  him  home,  in  hopes  that  a  change  of  air 
 might  restore  his  health;  but  the  change  had  no  effect.  Some 
 time  after  this  he  found  peace  with  God,  and  comfort  in  his 
 own  soul,  which  never  after  forsook  him  till  his  last  hour. 
 Upon  leaving  the  university,  he  became  domestic  chaplain  to 
 Sir  Thomas  Jermin  of  Rushbrook  in  Suffolk,  and  afterwards  to 
 Sir  Edward  Lnkenor  of  Denham,  in  the  same  county.  In  this 
 situation  he  remained  till  he  married  the  daughter  of  Mr  Timo- 
 thy Oldham,  minister  of  Denham.  Mr  Blackerby,  after  hav- 
 ing remained  with  his  father-in-law  the  matter  of  two  years, 
 had  a  call  to  preach  at  Feltwell  in  Norfolk,  where  he  remained 
 but  a  short  time,  being  obliged,  on  account  of  his  non-conformi- 
 ty, to  remove  to  Ashdon  in  Essex,  where,  for  twenty-three 
 years,  he  was  employed  in  the  education  of  youth.  Some  of 
 Mr  Blackerby's  scholars  became  men  of  considerable  celebrity. 
 Dr.  Bernard,  whom  he  recommended  to  archbishop  Usher,  and 
 afterwards  became  his  chaplain,  was  one  of  them.  Ou  account 
 of  his  non-conformity,  though  he  could  not,  with  a  good  con- 
 science, accept  of  any  pastoral  charge,  he  always  continued  to 
 preach  and  exhort  wherever  he  could  find  an  opportunity;  and 
 during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  above  period,  he  preached  re- 
 gularly at  Henningham  in  Essex,  or  Stoke,  or  Hundon  in  Suf- 
 folk. Thus  Mr  Blackerbv.  when  persecuted  in  one  place,  re- 
 15  3  e 
 
402  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 tired  to  another;  by  which  means,  though  living  in  hard  and 
 troublesome  times,  he  was  seldom  kept  silent  for  any  consider- 
 able time.  His  method  of  preaching  consisted  chiefly  in  open- 
 ing the  scriptures,  from  which  he  made  appropriate  observa- 
 tions, concluding  with  a  close  and  impressive  application.  He 
 had  an  uncommon  understanding  of  the  original  languages; 
 studied  hard  to  discover  their  true  meaning  and  import,  and 
 had  much  holy  converse  with  God  in  prayer;  and  his  preaching 
 was  attended  with  such  a  copious  outpouring  of  the  Spirit, 
 that  it  is  said  he  became  the  spiritual  father  of  more  than  two 
 thousand  persons.  The  word  of  God,  dropping  from  his  lips, 
 became  the  savour  of  life  unto  life  to  them  who  heard  it;  or  it 
 had  the  effect  of  hardening  and  enraging  them,  both  against  the 
 preaching  and  the  preacher.  At  Hundon  he  met  with  power- 
 ful opposition  from  many  of  the  principal  inhabitants,  who, 
 uniting  together  against  him,  procured  his  suspension;  but  it  is 
 said  that  the  judgments  of  God  pursued  them,  so  that  they 
 were  blasted  in  their  estates,  some  reduced  to  paupers,  and  all 
 of  them,  with  one  exception,  died  miserable  deaths.  The  Sab- 
 bath after  his  suspension,  one  of  these  men,  boasting  in  the 
 church-yard,  that  now  they  had  got  Blaekerby  out  of  the  pul- 
 pit, a  woman,  standing  by,  replied,  "  Blaekerby  will  preach  in 
 Hundon  pulpit  when  you  will  be  roaring  in  hell;"  and  it  was 
 observed,  that  the  very  Sabbath  after  this  man  was  buried,  Mr 
 Blaekerby,  having  obtained  his  liberty,  preached  on  that  day  in 
 Hundon  pulpit. 
 
 After  the  persecuting  prelates  were  stript  of  their  oppressive 
 and  tyrannical  power,  and  conformity  was  no  longer  required 
 to  their  superstitious  ceremonies,  Mr  Blaekerby  was  chosen 
 pastor  of  Great  Thurlow  in  Suffolk,  where  he  continued  the 
 remainder  of  his  days,  labouring,  with  zeal  and  faithfulness,  to 
 promote  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  best  interests  of  men.  He 
 was  taken  ill  in  the  pulpit,  and  continued  in  a  weak  state  for 
 six  weeks,  though  he  kept  his  bed  only  for  two  days,  when  he 
 died,  in  1648,  aged  seventy-four  years. 
 
 Mr  Blaekerby  was  a  man  of  exemplary  character,  as  appears 
 from  the  account  given  us  by  Mr  Clark.  "During  his  long 
 life  (says  this  author)  he  never  seemed  to  lose  a  moment  in  idle- 
 ness; but,  like  a  wise  man,  occupied  his  leisure  hours  in  pre- 
 paring and  providing  for  a  state  of  immortality.  He  rose  early 
 both  in  winter  and  summer,  and  spent  the  whole  day  in  read- 
 ing, meditation,  and  prayer,  or  in  the  instruction  of  others. 
 He  was  ever  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  fa- 
 mily religion.  He  instructed  his  pupils  daily  in  the  knowledge 
 of  religion  and  the  practice  of  piety,  as  well  as  in  useful  learn- 
 ing, and  walked  before  them  in  love,  holiness,  and  propriety  of 
 
RICHARD  BLACKERBY.  403 
 
 conduct  and  conversation.  Young  students  from  the  university- 
 put  themselves  under  his  tuition,  that  they  might  be  farther 
 prepared  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  to  whom  lie  taught  He- 
 brew, explained  the  scriptures,  read  lectures  on  divinity,  and 
 gave  instructions  relative  to  learning,  doctrine,  moral  conduct, 
 and  ministerial  duty." 
 
 He  was  a  strict  observer  of  the  Sabbath,  and  particularly 
 careful  to  recommend  the  observance  of  that  holy  day  to  others. 
 Being  once  invited  to  preach  at  Linton  in  Cambridgeshire, 
 where  a  fair  was  kept  on  the  Lord's  day,  he  so  effectually  con- 
 vinced the  inhabitants  of  the  sin  and  shamefulness  of  the  prac- 
 tice, that,  it  is  said,  the  fair  was  ever  after  kept  on  another  day 
 of  the  week.  This  holy  man  was  crucified  to  the  world,  and 
 the  world  was  crucified  to  him;  and  though  no  man  had  a  more 
 tender  regard  for  his  relations  and  friends,  the  loss  of  them 
 never  discomposed  his  mind,  nor  interrupted  his  communion 
 with  God.  The  love  of  the  creature  could  never  draw  his  heart 
 and  affections  away  from  the  Creator.  He  had  often,  before 
 his  death,  declared,  that  for  more  than  forty  years  he  never  had 
 a  single  doubt  of  his  salvation.  He  was  accounted  the  best  He- 
 brew scholar  in  Cambridge;  and  Granger  accounts  him  perfectly 
 skilled  in  the  learned  languages. 
 
 JOHN  JANEWAY. 
 
 This  very  extraordinary  individual  was  born  at  Lilley  in 
 Hertford,  October  27th,  1633.  He  had  the  early  part  of  his 
 education  at  Paul's  school,  London,  under  the  care  of  Mr 
 Langley,  where  he  made  great  progress  in  Latin,  Greek,  He- 
 brew, mathematics,  and  astronomy.  He  was  afterwards  sent 
 to  Eton  college,  where  he  was  accounted  the  glory  of  the 
 school,  and  the  wonder  of  the  age.  At  seventeen  he  entered 
 King's  college,  Cambridge,  where  the  electors  contended  for  the 
 patronage  of  so  promising  a  youth.  Here  he  afterwards  be- 
 came fellow. 
 
 In  addition  to  his  astonishing  proficiency  in  literature,  he 
 possessed  many  other  endearing  qualifications.  He  was  candid 
 and  agreeable,  courteous  and  ever  obliging,  without  the  least 
 appearance  of  vanity.  His  great  learning  was  attended  with 
 great  modesty  and  prudence,  and  such  a  command  of  his  pas- 
 sions, as  preserved  him  from  the  follies  and  the  vices  of  youth;  but 
 still  he  had  no  relish  for  religion.  The  concerns  of  an  eternal 
 world,  as  yet,  gave  him  no  uneasiness.  But  God,  who  had 
 chosen  him  to  shine  like  the  morning  star  in  his  church,  in  the 
 good  pleasure  of  his  goodness,  wrought  in  his  *oul  the  work  of 
 
404  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 faith  with  power,  and  Mr  Baxter's  Saints'  Everlasting  Rest  was 
 the  principal  mean  of  his  conversion  to  God.  This  important 
 change  in  his  life  and  character  was  soon  made  manifest  to  all. 
 His  time  and  talents  were  now  less  employed  in  the  contempla- 
 tion of  the  stars,  the  rectitude  and  rapidity  of  their  motions, 
 and  all  the  glory  of  their  arrangement,  seeing  the  day  star  from 
 on  high  had  visited  his  benighted  soul,  and  the  Sun  of 
 Righteousness  had  arisen  upon  him  with  healing  under  his 
 wings.  His  great  concern  now  was  to  learn  the  will  of  God,  in 
 his  word,  and  to  please  and  enjoy  him  for  ever.  For  this  he 
 laboured,  with  indefatigable  pains  and  industry,  in  studying  the 
 scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation. 
 He  began  to  pity  those  who  were  curious  in  their  inquiries 
 after  almost  every  thing  but  Christ;  and  though  he  accounted 
 human  learning  exceedingly  profitable,  and  even  praise-worthy, 
 when  wisely  conducted,  yet,  when  fixed  on  any  thing  short  of 
 Christ  and  him  crucified,  he  accounted  it  all  but  loss;  and 
 when  not  employed  for  his  glory,  a  sword  put  into  the  hand  of 
 a  madman,  wherewith  to  destroy  himself  and  all  that  came  in 
 his  way. 
 
 In  this  state  of  mind,  he  was  exceedingly  concerned  how  he 
 might  express  his  gratitude  to  God,  who  had  called  him  from 
 darkness  into  his  marvellous  light;  and  for  this  purpose,  opened 
 a  correspondence  with  his  relations,  his  friends,  and  many  of 
 his  acquaintances,  to  whom  he  addressed  many  letters  on  divine 
 subjects,  so  judiciously  written,  that  they  seemed  more  like  the 
 productions  of  age  and  long  christian  experience,  than  that  of  a 
 youth.  He  could  not  help  announcing  to  others  what  he  him- 
 self had  seen  and  heard,  felt  and  experienced,  of  the  grace  and 
 condescending  goodness  of  God.  To  exalt  the  glory  of  his  dear 
 Redeemer,  and  persuade  perishing  sinners  to  shelter  themselves 
 from  the  wrath  to  come,  under  the  immaculate  covering  of  his 
 righteousness  and  atoning  sacrifice,  was  the  great  object  of  his 
 solicitude.  But  the  gravity  of  his  manner,  the  striking  majesty 
 and  pathos  of  his  expressions,  the  vehemence  of  his  expostula- 
 tions, and  the  pressing  power  of  his  applications,  can  only  be 
 seen  in  his  own  language. 
 
 Before  he  had  reached  the  age  of  nineteen,  in  writing  to  his 
 father,  who  was  in  great  distress  of  mind,  he  thus  addressed 
 him  :  "  The  causes  of  your  despondency,  and  the  dejection  and 
 melancholy  that  overshadows  your  soul,  give  me  leave  to 
 guess.  The  first,  I  think,  arises  from  your  reflecting  on  your 
 entering  on  the  work  of  the  ministry,  without  that  reverence  of 
 God,  love  to  Christ,  and  compassion  for  the  souls  of  perishing 
 men,  which  are  requisite  in  all  who  undertake  this  holy  office. 
 It  may  be  there  was  also  a  greater  regard  to  your  living  in  tho 
 
JOHN  JANEWAY.  405 
 
 world,  than  your  living  to  God  and  the  spiritual  interest  of  his 
 people.  Be  it  thus,  be  it  better  or  worse,  the  remedy  is  still  the 
 same.  These  reflections  have  in  them  a  heart-corroding  power 
 when  felt  unaccompanied  by  the  light  of  pardoning  grace.  But 
 bad  thoughts  and  continual  sorrow  keep  the  wound  open  too 
 long,  and  are  not  therefore  available  in  removing  the  disease. 
 Wounds  indeed  must  be  opened  in  order  to  be  cleansed,  they 
 must  be  opened,  that  their  filth  may  be  discovered;  but  no 
 sooner  has  the  balm  of  Gilead  been  applied,  than  they  ought  to 
 be  bound  up,  that  the  balsam  may  have  its  undisturbed  efficacy 
 and  operation  in  removing  the  symptoms,  and  closing  up  the 
 wound. 
 
 "  A  second  cause  of  your  heaviness  may  arise  from  a  sense  of 
 the  untoward  disposition,  and  unimproving  state  of  the  people 
 committed  to  your  care;  and,  indeed,  who  can  help  mourning 
 over  a  people  who  have  no  pity,  no  charity  or  compassion  for 
 themselves?  I  have  often  wrestled  with  God  that  he  might 
 guide  your  steps  in  the  way  of  duty  concerning  them,  which  I 
 am  persuaded  is  also  your  humble  request  at  the  throne  of  mer- 
 cy. Now,  after  seriously  examining  your  own  heart  as  to  the 
 necessary  steps  to  be  taken,  whatever  your  conscience  points 
 out  as  the  present  duty,  that  do;  and  having  done  so,  leave  the 
 result  to  God,  who  worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  also  to  per- 
 form. 
 
 "  You  may  perhaps  have,  besides  these,  some  uneasy  thoughts 
 respecting  your  family  when  you  are  gone;  but  let  faith  and 
 former  experience  teach  you  to  drive  away  all  such  thoughts. 
 Our  good  God  is  the  father  of  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow's 
 strength  and  support.  Your  constitution  and  solitary  habits 
 may  likewise  contribute  to  your  present  melancholy;  but  there 
 is  a  duty,  which,  if  properly  performed,  will  remove  them  all, 
 and  that  is,  heavenly  meditation,  and  the  contemplation  of  the 
 glory  yet  to  be  revealed.  Would  we  walk  with  God  in  this 
 duty  but  one  hour  in  the  day,  what  a  powerful  influence  it 
 would  have  on  the  whole  day  !  and  were  it  duly  performed  dur- 
 ing the  whole  life,  the  happy  and  comfortable  consequences  are 
 not  to  be  calculated.  I  knew  the  nature  and  utility  of  this  duty 
 in  some  measure  before;  but  Mr  Baxter's  Saints1  Everlasting 
 Rest  has  given  it  a  more  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  my 
 heart,  for  which  I  have  great  cause  ever  to  bless  God.  It  is  a 
 bitter  sweet;  bitter  to  corrupt  nature,  but  sweet  and  ravishing 
 to  the  regenerated  part.  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  yea,  charge 
 you,  with  all  humility  and  tender  affection,  that  you  spare  at 
 least  half-an-hour  for  God  every  day,  in  the  delightful  exercise 
 of  heavenly  contemplation,  in  this  most  precious  soul-reviving, 
 soul-ravishing,  soul-perfecting  duly.     Take  this  from  your  dear 
 
406  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 friend,  as  spoken  in  reverence,  faithfulness,  and  filial  affec- 
 tion." 
 
 Having  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  became  fellow 
 of  his  college,  and  wrote  many  letters  to  his  brothers,  accom- 
 panied with  his  earnest  prayers  and  tears  for  their  spiritual 
 benefit,  who,  together  with  many  of  his  acquaintances,  will 
 have  cause  to  bless  God  for  ever  that  they  received  his  pious 
 instructions.  He  spoke  to  them  all  in  the  language  of  the 
 apostle,  "  Brethren,  My  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for 
 you  is,  that  ye  may  be  saved.  Distance  of  place,  says  he,  can- 
 not dissolve  the  natural  bond  by  which  we  are  one  blood; 
 neither  can  it  cool  our  affections  for  one  another,  where  true 
 love  exists  in  the  heart.  I  can  only  say  for  myself,  that  I  feel 
 the  power  of  this  amiable  affection  better  than  I  can  express  it. 
 But  love  felt,  and  not  expressed,  loses  much  of  its  use  and  in- 
 fluence in  our  own  lives  and  the  lives  of  others.  I  am  there- 
 fore anxious  to  make  my  love  and  regard  for  you  all  manifest 
 in  the  best  way  I  can.  Let  us  look  on  one  another,  not  only  as 
 brethren  by  blood,  but  also  as  being  members  of  the  same  body, 
 whereof  Christ  is  the  head;  and  happy,  thrice  happy,  will  that 
 day  be,  when  Christ  shall  discover  this  union.  Let  this  there- 
 fore be  the  object  of  our  greatest  regard,  of  our  strongest  de- 
 sires, of  our  unceasing  endeavours,  to  meet  together  in  Christ; 
 for  if  we  be  in  Christ,  and  Christ  in  us,  then  shall  we  be  one 
 in  each  other. 
 
 "You  cannot  complain  of  the  want  of  instruction.  God 
 hath  not  been  to  us  as  the  dry  and  barren  wilderness;  he  has 
 given  us  line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept;  he  hath 
 planted  us  by  the  rivers  of  water;  and  though  the  Lord  alone 
 giveth  the  increase,  we  are  not  to  stand  by  and  do  nothing. 
 The  ground  must  be  cultivated  if  we  look  for  an  abundant  har- 
 vest; our  corruptions  must  be  overcome,  and  all  our  spiritual 
 enemies  discomfited,  before  we  receive  the  crown.  These  are 
 objects  worthy  of  our  best  efforts,  and  our  most  exalted  ambi- 
 tion. Seek  them  by  earnest  prayer  and  daily  meditation. 
 Keep  your  hearts  always  in  a  praying  frame.  These  are  not 
 only  necessary  duties,  but  privileges,  unspeakable  privileges. 
 If  you  can  say  nothing,  oh  !  lay  yourselves  in  the  dust  before 
 the  Lord.  You  will  find  more  sweetness,  more  internal  plea- 
 sure and  satisfaction,  in  one  glimpse  of  the  love  of  God,  than 
 all  the  empty  glories  and  grandeur  of  the  world  could  ever  com- 
 municate. O  try  the  experiment !  O  taste,  taste  and 
 be  satisfied  how  good  our  God  is  !  Say  unto  God,  let  me  be 
 any  thing  in  this  world,  but  let  me  have  Christ  in  me  the  hope 
 of  eternal  glory;  and  wrestle  with  him  in  prayer  till  he  has  in 
 some  measure  satisfied  your  longing  soul  with  his  goodness. 
 
JOHN  JANEWAY.  407 
 
 Oh  !  my  brothers,  how  my  heart  works,  how  my  bowels  yearn 
 towards  you  !  O  that  ye  but  knew  with  what  affection  I  now 
 write  you,  and  with  what  prayers  and  tears  these  lines  have 
 been  mingled.  The  Lord  send  these  things  home  to  your 
 hearts,  and  give  you  grace  to  consider  and  apply  them  to  your- 
 selves. 
 
 "  Give  me  leave,  my  dear  brothers,  to  deal  plainly  with  you; 
 I  love  you  so  well,  that  I  cannot  endure  the  thought  of  your 
 souls  being  lost.  Know,  then,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the 
 new  birth;  and  that  except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  en- 
 ter into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  This  new  birth  begins  in  a 
 sense  of  sin,  and  proceeds  with  a  sorrowing  for  sin,  and  with  a 
 resolution  to  strive  against  it;  and  at  last  with  a  hatred,  an  ir- 
 reconcilable hatred  of  sin,  and  a  love  of  holiness,  without  which 
 no  man  can  see  the  Lord.  Without  this  there  can  be  no  salva- 
 tion. May  the  Lord  deliver  us  from  a  secure  heart,  crying, 
 peace,  peace,  while  there  is  no  peace:  for  unless  we  are  brought 
 to  relinquish  our  own  righteousness,  as  well  as  our  sins,  there 
 is  no  hope  of  our  salvation.  We  must  see  our  absolute  need  of 
 Christ,  and  give  ourselves  up  to  him,  to  be  covered  by  his 
 righteousness,  atoned  by  his  blood,  and  governed  by  his  law. 
 Upon  our  faith  and  repentance  we  are  justified,  and  the  spirit 
 of  Christ,  dwelling  in  us,  subdues  our  corruptions,  and  invigo- 
 rates the  new  man;  so  that  we  are  enabled  to  make  progress  in 
 a  life  of  true  holiness. 
 
 "It  is  unworthy  of  a  christian  not  to  act  for  Christ  in  the 
 face  of  every  opposition.  Be  not  ashamed  of  Christ,  nor  the 
 doctrines  of  his  word,  nor  afraid  of  the  frowns  of  a  wicked 
 world;  but  be  careful  always  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of  of- 
 fence, and  by  no  means  yield  to  any  known  sin.  Read  the 
 scriptures  daily;  these  are  they  that  testify  of  Christ  and  his 
 salvation;  and,  O  pray,  pray  without  ceasing;  and  my  greatest 
 desire  on  earth  is,  that  you  may  be  all  found  in  Christ,  not  hav- 
 ing your  own  righteousness." 
 
 Mr  Janeway  was  a  man  of  prayer,  and  some  times  so  tran- 
 sported in  that  devout  exercise,  that  he  scarcely  knew  whether 
 he  was  in  or  out  of  the  body.  His  conversation  was  in  heaven, 
 and  the  consolations  of  his  soul,  when  engaged  in  this  duty, 
 were  such,  that  he  frequently  found  it  difficult  to  leave  off;  and, 
 by  a  happy  experience,  he  could  subscribe  to  the  declaration  of 
 the  wise  man,  "  That  wisdom's  ways  are  pleasantness,  and  all 
 her  paths  are  peace."  Like  Jacob,  when  engaged  in  this  holy 
 exercise,  he  wrestled  with  God  for  the  blessing,  and  was  ever 
 unwilling  to  rise  from  his  knees  without  some  gracious  mani- 
 festation of  his  love  and  favour.  And  his  requests  were  heard, 
 and  often  remarkably  ansWered,  as  appears  in  the  following 
 
408  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 instance :  His  father,  when  on  his  death-bed,  was  deeply  ex- 
 ercised with  doubts  and  apprehensions  as  to  the  state  of  his 
 soul ;  and  in  this  perplexity  of  mind,  disclosed  his  heart  to  his 
 son,  saying,  "  O  son,  the  passing  of  an  immortal  spirit  into 
 eternity  is  a  momentous  concern.  Dying  is  a  most  solemn 
 business,  oh  !  a  fearful  business,  for  one  who  has  not  his  pardon 
 sealed,  and  his  evidence  clear  for  heaven.  I  am  under  no  small 
 apprehension  respecting  my  own  state  for  another  world.  O 
 that  God  would  clear  up  his  love,  that  I  might  be  enabled,  with 
 cheerful  composure  of  spirit,  to  say,  I  can  die,  I  can  look  death, 
 with  all  his  terrors,  in  the  face,  and  venture  on  an  invisible 
 eternity  with  well-grounded  peace  and  comfort  of  soul."  Mr 
 Janeway,  observing  the  desponding  spirit  of  his  dear  father,  re- 
 tired to  wrestle  with  God  in  prayer,  that  he  would  lift  upon 
 him  the  light  of  his  countenance,  restore  him  the  joy  of  his  sal- 
 vation, and  the  comfortable  assurance  of  the  love  and  pardon- 
 ing mercy  of  his  God  and  Saviour.  On  returning  to  the  bed- 
 side of  his  dying  father,  he  asked  how  he  did;  but  for  some 
 time  received  no  answer,  his  father  being  unable  to  speak, 
 though  he  wept  exceedingly.  Recovering  himself  at  last,  he 
 burst  out  in  these  expressions  :  "  O  son,  now  he  is  come,  now 
 he  is  come,  blessed  be  God  he  is  come,  and  now  I  can  die.  The 
 Spirit  of  God  hath  witnessed  with  my  spirit  that  I  am  one  of  his 
 children;  and  now  I  can  look  up  to  God  as  my  Father,  and 
 Christ  as  my  Redeemer.  My  heart  is  full  of  consolation,  it  is 
 brim  full,  I  can  hold  no  more.  Now  !  now  I  know  what  is 
 meant  by  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding.  Bless 
 the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within  me  magnify  his 
 holy  name,  who  hath  forgiven  all  mine  iniquities,  and  sealed  my 
 pardon.  Blessed  be  God,  I  can  now  die,  and  my  desire  is  to 
 depart  and  be  with  Christ.  Now,  O  Lord,  let  thy  servant  de- 
 part in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation.  When  I 
 walk  through  the  vale  and  shadow  of  death  I  will  fear  no  evil, 
 for  thou  art  with  me.  When  one  is  dying,  O  how  pleasant  and 
 transporting  it  is  to  behold  the  smiling  countenance  of  his  Re- 
 deemer. How  refreshing  the  consideration,  that  when  heart 
 and  flesh,  and  all  sublunary  things  fail,  to  have  God  for  the 
 strength  of  our  heart,  and  our  portion  for  ever."  In  this  hap- 
 py frame  of  spirit  the  old  man  departed  this  shifting  scene  of 
 showers  and  sunshine. 
 
 Upon  the  death  of  his  father,  Mr  Janeway  endeavoured  to 
 fill  his  place  in  the  family,  by  the  tender  and  affectionate  care 
 he  took  of  his  mother,  his  sisters  and  brothers;  and  his  pious 
 example,  his  wise  instructions,  and  prudent  conduct,  had  a 
 powerful  and  pleasing  effect  on  the  whole  family.  The  elder, 
 as  well  as  the  younger  branches,  loved,  reverenced,  and  obeyed 
 
JOHN  JANEWAY.  409 
 
 him;  so  that  he  was  the  comfort  of  his  widowed  mother,  and 
 the  guardian,  instructor,  and  pattern  of  imitation  to  his 
 brethren.  But  some  time  after  this,  returning  to  King's  col- 
 lege, he  was  invited  to  become  domestic  chaplain  in  the  family 
 of  Dr.  Cox,  where  he  fully  realized  the  expectations  of  his  em- 
 ployer. His  deportment  was  so  courteous  and  obliging,  and 
 his  conversation  so  pleasing  and  instructive,  that  he  gained  the 
 affection,  and  even  the  admiration,  of  all.  But  ill  health  obliged 
 him  to  relinquish  this  agreeable  situation,  and  retire  to  his 
 mother's  house,  in  hopes  that  the  change  of  air  would  remove 
 his  complaint.  While  residing  at  his  mother's,  he  fell  into  a 
 weak  and  languishing  state;  and  finding  the  malady  daily  gain- 
 ing ground,  "My  days  are  numbered  (said  he),  and  here  let 
 me  wait  with  patience  for  the  welcome  summons  that  shall  call 
 me  home  to  my  Father's  house,  and  the  possession  of  the  hea- 
 venly inheritance,  to  Christ  the  Mediator,  to  the  glorious  com- 
 pany of  angels  and  the  redeemed  from  amongst  men.  Can  any 
 thing  on  earth  come  in  competition  with  objects  so  transcendent- 
 ly  glorious.  O  that  crown  that  shall  encircle  the  temples  of  all 
 those  who  have  fought  under  the  banner  of  Christ,  when  the 
 God  of  peace  shall  have  bruised  satan  under  their  feet !  O 
 that  rest  which  remains  for  the  people  of  God,  when  their  war- 
 fare is  ended,  their  iniquities  forgiven  them,  and  when,  from 
 this  region  of  watching  and  fighting,  of  sorrow  and  suffering, 
 they  shall  return  and  come  to  Zion,  with  songs  of  triumph  over 
 sin,  death,  and  the  grave.  And,  blessed  be  God,  I  can  say,  with 
 all  the  confidence  of  faith,  they  are  mine;  mine  is  that  crown  of 
 righteousness;  mine  is  that  Sabbath  of  eternal  rest,  and  that 
 song  of  endless  triumph.  For  I  know,  that  when  this  earthly 
 tabernacle  is  dissolved,  I  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not 
 made  with  hands,  durable  as  the  pillars  of  heaven,  and  more 
 immoveable  than  the  foundation  of  the  everlasting  mountains  \ 
 With  prospects  so  glorious,  who  would  wish  to  linger  and  lan- 
 guish in  this  vale  of  tears  ?  My  desire,  therefore,  is  to  be  dis- 
 solved and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better." 
 
 Writing  to  a  friend  under  perplexing  thoughts  concerning 
 the  state  of  his  soul,  he  thus  addressed  him  :  "  Stand  still  and 
 wonder,  behold  and  admire  the  love  of  Christ.  Here  is  an 
 ocean  of  love,  cast  thyself  therein,  and  thou  shalt  be  encom- 
 passed with  the  height,  the  depth,  the  breadth,  and  length,  of 
 his  love,  and  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God.  What  would 
 you  have  more?  God  is  an  all-sufficient  portion,  and  the  only 
 satisfying  portion  of  an  immortal  soul.  Hast  thou  not  known, 
 hast  thou  not  tasted,  that  he  is  not  only  altogether  lovely,  hut 
 altogether  love?  While  I  write  this,  my  heart  burns  within  me, 
 my  soul  is  all  on  fire,  I  am  sick  of  love.     But  now,  nethinksj  I 
 
 15  3  r 
 
-1-iO  HOIK  OF 
 
 see  you  drowned  m  tears,  because  you  do  not  feel  such  power- 
 ful workings  of  love  in  your  sonl.  Weep  on — love,  as  well  as 
 grief,  lias  its  tears;  and  tears  of  sorrow,  as  well  as  tears  of  love, 
 are  kept  in  God's  bottle,  and  marked  in  bis  book.  Know, 
 therefore,  that  these  tears  are  just  the  streams  of  Christ's  love 
 flawing  into  thy  soul,  and  of  thy  love  flowing  out  towards 
 :»im." 
 
 Mr  Jane  way,  however,  did  not  always  bask  in  the  cheering 
 beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  Like  other  saints,  he  had 
 bis  cloudy  as  well  as  his  clear  and  cloudless  days.  Like  the 
 apostle,  lest  he  should  be  exalted  above  measure,  the  adversary 
 was  suffered  to  buffet  him;  but  armed  with  the  shield  of  faith, 
 the  breastplate  of  righteousness,  and  his  head  covered  with  the 
 helmet  of  salvation,  with  the  strength  of  Christ  made  perfect 
 in  his  weakness,  he  left  the  field  more  than  a  conqueror.  He 
 was  always  afraid  of  spiritual  tleclension,  both  in  himself  and 
 others,  carefully  noticing  the  smallest  departure  of  his  heart 
 from  God,  as  well  as  God's  withdrawing  the  light  of  his  coun- 
 tenance from  him,  watching  also,  witli  a  godly  jealousy,  over  his 
 intimate  friends  and  relatives.  To  one  of  his  brothers  he  wrote 
 thus  :  "  You  live  in  a  place  where  strict  and  close  walking  with 
 God  hath  few  examples,  and  God's  children  are  apt  to  forget 
 their  first  love.  Our  hearts  are  prone  to  carelessness  and  ne- 
 gligence on  our  watch.  When  conscience  is  put  off  with  some 
 poor  excuse,  religion  withers,  and  the  seeming  zealot  becomes 
 a  Laodicean;  and  he  who  once  appeared  to  march  with  unhalt- 
 ing  pace  in  the  high  way  of  holiness,  becomes  weary  of  his 
 journey,  lags  behind,  or  steps  out  of  the  way,  and  comes  to 
 nothing.  Alas !  it  is  too  common  to  have  a  name  to  live,  and 
 yet  be  dead.  Read  this,  and  tremble  lest  it  be  your  own  case. 
 When  we  are  most  asleep,  remember  our  enemy  will  be  most 
 awake — Wratch  therefore.  I  consider  your  age,  I  know  where 
 you  dwell,  neither  am  I  ignorant  of  the  temptations  to  which 
 you  are  exposed,  I  cannot  therefore  help  being  jealous  over 
 you." 
 
 At  the  age  of  twenty-two  years,  he  entered  on  the  sacred 
 work  of  the  ministry,  under  a  deep  impression  of  the  worth  of 
 immortal  souls,  and  the  awful  responsibility  of  his  office;  but, 
 alas !  he  never  preached  more  than  two  sermons,  from  Job  xx. 
 21.  "Acquaint  now  thyself  with  him,  and  be  at  peace,  thereby 
 good  shall  come  unto  thee;"  which  he  is  said  to  have  delivered 
 with  so  much  clearness,  compassion,  power,  and  majesty,  as 
 greatly  amazed  those  who  heard  him. 
 
 During  the  closing  scene  of  his  life,  Mr  Janeway  seemed 
 wholly  absorpt  in  the  contemplation  of  Christ,  heaven,  and 
 eternity.     He  lived  as  a  stranger  in  the  world,  as  a  pilgrim  ap- 
 
JOHN  JANLWAY.  411 
 
 proaching  the  end  of  his  journey,  and  now  within  sight  of  the 
 land  of  promise.  His  meditations,  his  discourse,  his  whole  de- 
 portment, indicated  that  he  was  fast  ripening  for  glory.  He 
 was  never  satisfied  but  when  employed  in  those  exercises  which 
 brought  him  nearer  to  God  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  and 
 from  his  own  happy  experience,  he  could  say  to  others,  "  Come 
 hither,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  God  hath  done  for  my  soul." 
 In  the  full  possession  of  all  necessary  comforts,  he  longed  to  be 
 dissolved;  and  the  thoughts  of  the  last  judgment  sweetened  all 
 his  enjoyments.  "Were  the  day  of  judgment  to  come  this 
 hour  (said  he),  I  should  be  glad  with  all  my  heart.  Then 
 should  I  hear  such  thundering,  and  behold  such  lightnings,  and 
 such  dreadful  convulsions  attending  the  dissolution  of  nature, 
 m  no  eye  hath  seen,  no  heart  hath  conceived,  and  which  no 
 ear  of  man  hath  ever  heard.  Our  God,  arrayed  in  all  the 
 splendour  of  his  divine  attributes,  appearing  in  the  clouds  of 
 heaven,  and  seated  on  a  great  white  throne,  of  which  justice, 
 judgment,  and  mercy,  are  the  immoveable  foundation.  The 
 graves  opening,  the  dead  arising,  the  world  in  flames,  and  the 
 elements  of  nature  melting  with  the  intensity  of  heat.  All  or- 
 der annihilated,  the  stars  of  heaven  bewildered  in  their  courses, 
 and  suns  and  systems  blended  in  one  universal  mass  of  ruin 
 and  disorder.  Ah  !  who  can  live  when  God  doth  this  ?  Who 
 can  hold  up  his  head  amid  the  innumerable  company  there  as- 
 sembled before  the  universal,  the  impartial  Judge,  attended  by 
 ten  thousands  of  his  saints,  and  surrounded  by  all  the  splendour 
 of  heaven  ?  Nature  shrinks  back  from  the  all-important  trans- 
 actions, the  august  and  tremendous  ceremonial  of  this  de- 
 cisive day.  Those,  and  only  those,  who  have  fought  under  the 
 banner  of  Christ,  the  Captain  of  salvation,  who  have  built  their 
 confidence  on  the  Rock  of  ages,  who  have  endured  as  seeing 
 him  who  is  invisible;  while  the  children  of  iniquity  are  afraid, 
 and  fearfulness  hath  surprised  the  hypocrite,  they  shall  look 
 up  with  confidence  to  their  Judge,  their  Father,  and  their 
 friend.  Let  the  sons  of  God,  therefore,  no  longer  hang  down 
 their  heads.  Let  them  lift  up  their  hearts  and  rejoice,  for  the 
 day  of  their  redemption  draweth  nigh.  Meditating  on  the  glory 
 and  grandeur  of  this  final  scene,  said  he,  has  often  ravished  my 
 soul,  and  at  this  moment  affords  me  more  sublime  pleasure  and 
 satisfaction,  than  all  that  this  passing  world  can  possibly 
 afford." 
 
 Mr  Jancway  at  length  found  he  was  far  gone  in  a  consump- 
 tion, with  a  copious  spitting  of  blood,  which  indicated  the  ra- 
 pidity of  the  disease;  but  these  circumstances  gave  him  no 
 alarm,  heaven  was  the  port  to  which  he  was  steering,  the  har- 
 bour where  he  longed  to  drop  his  anchor.     To  him  the  world 
 
412  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 had  lost  all  its  attractions,  his  treasures  were  deposited  in  hea- 
 ven, and  there  his  heart  and  his  affections  were  unalterably  fix- 
 ed. In  the  progress  of  his  complaint  he  was  seized  with" dim- 
 ness in  his  eyes,  and  at  last  with  a  total  want  of  sight;  and  be- 
 ing in  the  daily  expectation  of  his  departure,  he  called  on  his 
 mother,  to  whom  he  said,  "Dear  mother,  I  am  dying;  but,  I 
 beseech  you,  be  not  grieved.  Through  the  tender  mercies  of 
 God  I  am  quite  above  the  fear  of  death;  and  I  have  nothing 
 that  troubles  me  but  the  apprehension  of  your  immoderate 
 grief.  I  go  to  him  whose  love  is  better  than  life;  moderate 
 your  sorrow,  nor  afflict  yourself  as  one  that  has  no  hope." 
 
 From  this  fainting  fit,  however,  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  re- 
 lieve him;  and  for  several  weeks  after,  his  soul  was  so  devoutly 
 engaged  in  the  contemplation  of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  the 
 adoring  exercises  of  heaven,  that  he  forgot,  in  a  great  measure, 
 his  pains  and  indisposition.  His  faith,  love,  and  joy,  exceeding- 
 ly abounding,  he  frequently  exclaimed,  "  O  that  I  could  but 
 express  the  joy  and  sweet  satisfaction  I  find  in  Christ,  you 
 would  then  be  constrained,  all  of  you,  to  make  religion  the  chief 
 business  of  your  whole  lives.  O  my  dear  friends,  you  little 
 know,  you  little  imagine,  what  Christ  is  worth  to  a  poor  un- 
 worthy and  guilty  sinner  on  his  death-bed." 
 
 A  friend  who  visited  Mr  Jane  way,  observed  that  the  Lord 
 might  yet  restore  him  to  health  and  usefulness  in  his  church  for  a 
 long  time  to  come.  "  And  do  you  think  to  please  me  with  this  ? 
 (said  he) — No,  my  friend,  you  are  quite  mistaken;  the  world 
 has  no  pleasure  in  reserve  for  me.  How  poor  and  contemptible 
 is  it  in  all  its  glory  ?  How  unsatisfying  are  all  its  enjoyments  ? 
 How  precarious  are  its  blessings,  and  how  fallacious  are  all  its 
 promises  and  prospects,  when  contrasted  with  that  world  to 
 which  I  am  travelling,  and  already  in  sight  of,  and  with  the  in- 
 habitants of  which  I  long  to  associate  ?  Dear  mother,  said  he, 
 I  as  earnestly  request  you,  as  ever  I  requested  the  throne  of 
 mercy  in  your  behalf,  that  you  will  freely  and  cheerfully  give 
 me  over  to  Christ.  Why  that  desponding  countenance,  these 
 untimely  tears  of  sorrow  ?  I  only  go  before  you  to  that  haven  of 
 rest  to  which  you  are  directing  your  course;  and  can  you  think 
 of  detaining  me,  now  that  I  am  going  to  the  complete  and  eter- 
 nal possession  of  a  kingdom  that  cannot  be  moved  ?  Would  you 
 keep  me  back  from  my  crown  ?  The  arms  of  my  Saviour  are 
 ready  to  embrace  me,  the  angels  are  in  waiting  to  transport  my 
 soul  to  the  New  Jerusalem  and  the  tree  of  life.  Come,  Lord 
 Jesus,  come  quickly.  O  why  are  his  chariots  so  long  in  com- 
 ing ?  Wherefore  tarry  the  wheels  of  his  chariots  ?"  As  he  ex- 
 perienced the  intermissions  of  these  triumphant  exultations,  he 
 cried  out,    "  What  !    wilt   thou,   canst   thou,   thus  unworthily 
 
JOHN  JANEWAY.  413 
 
 si  I 
 
 ight  this  astonishing  condescension  of  thy  God  ?  Hold  out, 
 faith  and  patience,  yet  a  little  longer,  and  your  work  is  finish- 
 ed.'* One  of  his  brothers  having  prayed  with  him,  his  joy  be- 
 came unutterable,  he  broke  out  in  unbounded  strains  of  heaven- 
 ly rapture,  "  Stand  still,  and  wonder,  O  my  friends  (said  he). 
 Was  there  ever  a  more  sensible  manifestation  of  rich  and  sov- 
 reign  grace  ?  Come,  look  on  a  dying  man,  and  wonder.  Why 
 me,  Lord  ?  Why  me  ?  Surely  this  is  a-kin  to  heaven  !  Is 
 this  dying  ?  If  so,  it  is  sweet,  O  it  is  sweet !  Christ's  arms,  his 
 love,  and  the  gracious  smiles  of  his  countenance,  would  change 
 hell  into  heaven !  O  that  you  could  but  see  and  feel  what  I 
 now  do  !  Behold  a  dying  man  more  cheerful  than  ever  you 
 have  seen  a  man  in  the  greatest  health  and  worldly  enjoyment. 
 O,  sirs,  worldly  pleasures  arc  poor,  pitiful,  sorry  things." 
 
 Mr  Janeway  took  his  leave  of  his  friends  every  night,  ex- 
 pecting to  see  them  no  more  till  the  morning  of  the  resurrec- 
 tion, exhorting  them  always  to  make  sure  of  a  comfortable 
 meeting  in  a  better  world.  "  O  (said  he)  help  me  to  praise 
 God.  Henceforth  to  eternity  I  shall  have  nothing  to  do  but 
 love,  praise,  and  adore  my  God  and  Redeemer.  I  have  had  my 
 soul's  desire  on  earth.  I  know  not  what  I  could  pray  for, 
 which  I  have  not  already  received.  The  wants  capable  of  be- 
 ing supplied  in  this  world  have  all  been  furnished  me.  I  want 
 only  one  thing  more,  and  that  is,  a  speedy  lift  to  heaven.  I  ex- 
 pect no  more  here,  I  desire  no  more,  I  can  hold  no  more.  He 
 hath  pardoned  all  my  sins,  he  hath  filled  me  with  the  joy  of  his 
 salvation,  he  hath  given  me  grace  and  glory,  and  no  good  thing 
 has  he  withheld  from  me.  All  ye  mighty  angels,  help,  O  help 
 me  to  praise  God.  Let  every  thing  that  hath  being  assist  me 
 in  this  delightful  exercise.  Praise  is  my  work  now,  and  will 
 be  for  ever.     Hallelujah  !    Hallelujah  !    Hallelujah  !" 
 
 During  his  sickness,  he  found  the  word  of  God  sweet  and 
 pleasant  to  his  soul,  more  particularly  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth, 
 sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  chapters  of  John's  Gospel,  and  the 
 fifty-fourth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  often  repeating  these  words, 
 With  great  mercy  will  I  gather  thee.  A  short  time  before  his 
 death,  he  said,  "  I  have  almost  done  with  conversing  among 
 men ;  I  shall  presently  behold  Christ  himself,  who  loved  me, 
 and  washed  me  from  my  sins  in  his  own  blood.  In  a  few  hours 
 I  shall  join  the  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  the  spirits 
 of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  take  part  in  their  triumphant 
 song — And  who  can  help  rejoicing  in  all  this  ?"  The  day  be- 
 fore his  death,  his  brother  James  having  prayed  with  him,  he 
 said,  "Dear  brother,  I  thank  thee  for  thy  love;  I  know  thou 
 lovest  me;  but  Christ  loves  me  infinitely  more.  Come,  brother, 
 kiss  me  before  I  die."     Having  kissed  the  clay-cold  lips  of  the 
 
414  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 dying  man,  he  'fcaid,  "  I  go  before  thee  to  glory,  and  I  hope  thou 
 wilt  follow  me,  in  due  time,  to  that  land  of  quietness  and  as- 
 surance for  ever."  A  few  hours  before  his  departure,  he  called 
 together  his  mother,  sisters,  and  brethren,  to  give  them  his  last 
 admonitions,  and  pray  with  them  before  he  departed.  His  af- 
 fectionate mother  being  first  called,  he  thanked  her  for  her  love 
 and  tender  concern  for  him,  and  desired  her  to  labour  to  have 
 Christ  formed  in  the  hearts  of  her  children,  that  they  might 
 all  meet  together  with  joy  at  last  in  heaven.  He  prayed  that 
 his  elder  brother  might  be  wholly  taken  up  with  Christ  and  the 
 salvation  of  men;  that  he  might  be  holy  in  his  life,  and  success- 
 ful in  his  ministry,  and  hold  fast,  that  no  man  take  from  him 
 his  crown.  For  his  brother  Andrew,  living  in  London,  he 
 prayed,  "  That  God  would  deliver  him  from  the  sins  of  the 
 city,  and  make  him  a  fellow-citizen  of  the  saints,  and  of  the 
 household  of  faith;  and,  oh  !  said  he,  that  he  may  be,  as  his  name 
 imports,  a  strong  man,  and  that  I  may  one  day  meet  him  in 
 heaven.  Brother  James,  said  he,  I  hope  God  hath  given  thee 
 a  goodly  heritage,  the  lines  have  fallen  to  thee  in  pleasant 
 places.  The  Lord  is  thy  portion,  hold  on,  dear  brother,  Christ 
 and  heaven  are  worth  the  contending  for;  and  may  the  Lord 
 give  thee  abundance  of  his  grace."  To  his  brother  Abraham, 
 he  said,  "  May  the  blessing  of  the  God  of  Abraham  rest  upon 
 thee,  and  make  thee  the  father  of  many  spiritual  children." 
 To  his  brother  Joseph,  he  said,  "  Let  him  bless  thee,  O  Joseph, 
 who  blessed  him  that  was  separated  from  his  brethren.  My 
 heart  hath  been  long  working  towards  thee,  poor  Joseph;  and 
 I  am  not  without  hopes  that  the  everlasting  arm  will  support 
 thee.  The  God  of  thy  Father  bless  thee."  To  his  sister  Mary, 
 he  said,  "  Poor  Mary,  thy  body  is  weak,  and  thy  life  will  be 
 filled  with  bitterness.  The  Lord  sweeten  all  with  his  grace 
 and  peace,  and  give  thee  health  of  soul.  Be  patient,  secure  an 
 interest  in  the  favour  of  God,  and  all  shall  yet  be  well.  Sister 
 Sarah,  said  he,  thy  body  is  healthful  and  vigorous,  may  thy 
 soul  also  be  healthful  and  active  in  the  work  and  ways  of  the 
 Lord;  and  O  may  he  make  thee  a  pattern  of  modesty  and  hu- 
 mility, of  holiness,  charity,  and  all  christian  virtues."  To  his 
 brother  Jacob,  he  said,  "  The  Lord  make  thee  an  Israelite  in- 
 deed, in  whom  is  no  guile.  Mayest  thou  wrestle  with  God  for 
 a  blessing,  and  prevail."  And  of  his  younger  brother  Benja- 
 min, an  infant,  he  said,  "  Poor  little  Benjamin,  O  that  the  Fa- 
 ther of  the  fatherless  would  take  care  of  thee;  and  as  thou  hast 
 never  seen  thy  father  on  earth,  may  you  see  him  with  joy  in 
 heaven.  The  Lord  be  thy  father  and  portion."  He  then  said 
 to  them  all,  "  O  that  none  of  us  may  be  found  on  the  left  hand 
 of  Christ,   when  he  comcth  the  second  time,  without  sin,  unto 
 
JOHN  JANEWAY.  415 
 
 salvation.  O  that  we  may,  all  of  us,  appear  with  our  honoured 
 father  and  dear  mother  amongst  the  ransomed  from  the  pewer 
 of  death,  that  they  may  be  enabled  to  say,  Lo,  here  are  we,  and 
 the  children  thou  hast  graciously  given  us.  And  now,  my  dear 
 mother,  brethren,  and  sisters,  farewell,  I  leave  you  a  short 
 time,  and  commend  you  to  God  and  the  word  of  his  grace, 
 which  is  able  to  build  you  up  in  holiness  and  comfort,  and  give 
 you  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  undented,  and  unfading. 
 And  now,  Lord,  my  work  on  earth  is  finished;  I  have  fought 
 the  good  fight;  I  have  run  the  race  that  was  set  before  me;  I 
 have  pressed  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize;  and,  O  Lord,  what 
 wait  I  for,  but  thy  call  to  take  possession  of  the  crown  of  right- 
 eousness thou  hast  awarded  to  all  who  love  thy  second  appear- 
 ance. Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly."  Having  thus  ex- 
 hausted what  little  strength  remained,  he  spoke  no  more,  but 
 almost  instantly  expired,  June  1657,  and  in  the  twenty-fourth 
 year  of  his  age.  When  the  Memoir  of  this  extraordinary  young 
 man  was  originally  published,  the  authenticity  of  the  narrative 
 was  attested  by  four  eminent  presbyterian  divines.  Wood  de- 
 nominates Mr  Janeway  a  zealous  presbyterian.  His  three  bro- 
 thers, William,  James,  and  Abraham,  were  all  non-conformists, 
 and  ejected  in  1662. 
 
 JOHN  LANGLEY,  A.  M. 
 
 This  famous  scholar  was  born  near  Banbury,  Oxfordshire, 
 and  educated  in  Magdalen-hall,  Oxford;  afterwards  a  preben- 
 dary of  Gloucester,  where  he  was  about  twenty  years  master  of 
 the  college  school.  In  1640  he  succeeded  Dr.  Gill  as  chief  mas- 
 ter of  St.  Paul's  school,  London.  In  both  these  situations  se- 
 veral of  his  pupils  became  very  distinguished  characters,  both 
 in  church  and  state.  Mr  Richard  Cumberland,  afterwards 
 bishop  of  Peterburgh,  was  one  of  that  number. 
 
 Mr  Langley  was  a  judicious  divine,  and  an  universal  scholar, 
 greatly  celebrated  for  his  antiquarian  researches,  in  which  he 
 was  indefatigable,  and  eminently  successful.  He  was  held  in 
 great  estimation  amongst  men  celebrated  for  literature;  but 
 overlooked  by  the  clergy  on  account  of  his  puritanical  princi- 
 ples, and  especially  because  he  was  a  witness  against  archbishop 
 Laud,  and  in  his  deposition  stated,  that  in  the  year  1616,  his 
 lordship,  then  dean  of  Gloucester,  came  down  to  the  cathedral 
 of  that  place,  with  the  intention  of  turning  the  communion  ta- 
 ble into  an  altar,  and  to  place  it  altar-way?-  at  the  east  end  of 
 the  choir,  by  removing  it  from  its  place  in  the  middle  of  the 
 church  :    That  Dr.  Smyth,  bishop  of  Gloucester,   opposed  thi^ 
 
4lG  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  L ANGLE Y. 
 
 innovation,  and  warmly  expostulated  with  the  dean  and  the 
 prebends,  and  protested,  that  if  the  communion  table  should  be 
 removed,  or  any  such  innovations  introduced  into  the  cathedral, 
 as  dean  Laud  then  intended,  he,  for  his  part,  should  never  again 
 enter  within  its  walls.  But  that,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  or- 
 ders of  the  bishop,  the  dean  was  so  violent,  that  he  caused  the 
 Lord's  table  to  be  removed,  and  placed  altar-ways,  from  north 
 to  south,  at  the  cast  end  of  the  choir,  with  popish  furniture  up- 
 on it,  bowing  towards  it  himself,  and  commanding  the  various 
 officers  of  the  church  to  do  the  same.  And  farther  deposed, 
 that  the  bishop  was  so  much  offended  at  these  innovations, 
 that,  till  the  day  of  his  death,  he  came  no  more  into  the  cathe- 
 dral. This  is  the  substance  of  Mr  Langley's  evidence,  all  whicli 
 was  corroborated  and  confirmed  by  other  witnesses.  Being  a 
 most  excellent  scholar,  Mr  Langley  was  chosen  one  of  the  li- 
 censers of  the  press  for  the  philosophical  and  historical  depart- 
 ments. A  minister  of  the  same  name  was  chosen  for  one  of 
 the  assembly  of  divines;  but,  according  to  Wood,  not  the  same 
 person.  Mr  Langley  died  at  his  house,  adjoining  Paul's 
 school,  September  13th,  1657.  Dr.  Reynolds,  afterwards 
 bishop  of  Norwich,  preached  his  funeral  sermon;  which  was 
 published. 
 
 Fuller  calls  Mr  Langley  the  religious  schoolmaster.  Arch- 
 deacon Echard  calls  him  an  excellent  theologist  of  the  puritan 
 stamp,  a  great  liuguist  and  historian,  a  nice  and  correct  anti- 
 quarian; for  which  he  was  held  in  great  estimation  by  the  fa- 
 mous Selden,  and  other  learned  men.  Mr  Strype  says,  "  He 
 was  a  general  scholar,  and  a  celebrated  antiquarian,  especially 
 in  matters  relating  to  his  own  country :  That  during  his  tra- 
 vels, he  was  at  much  pains  gathering  up  her  traditions,  explor- 
 ing her  curiosities,  and  examining  her  monuments  of  antiquity, 
 of  which  he  formed  a  considerable  collection.  His  awful  pre- 
 sence, and  commanding  voice,  produced  uncommon  fear  and 
 respect  amongst  his  scholars;  but  he  so  managed  matters,  that 
 they  loved  as  well  as  feared  him."  His  remains  were  interred 
 in  Mercers'  chapel,  Cheapside,  with  uncommon  solemnity,  when 
 all  his  scholars  attended;  and  as  he  died  a  single  man,  they 
 walked  before  the  corps  from  the  school,  through  Cheapside, 
 to  Mercers'  chapel,  with  white  gloves,  and  hung  with  verses 
 instead  of  escutcheons.  Mr  Langley  was  so  much  in  favour 
 with  the  worshipful  company  of  Mercers,  that  they  allowed  him 
 to  recommend  his  successor.  He  was  author  of  Totius  Rhe- 
 torical Adumbratio  in  usum  Scholar  Paulinas — An  introduction 
 to  Grammar,  and  some  other  works. 
 
41' 
 
 THOMAS   CAWTON. 
 
 This  excellent  divine  was  born  at  Rainliara  in  Norfolk,  in 
 1605,  and  educated  in  Queen's  college,  Cambridge.  From  a 
 child  he  was  thoughtful  and  serious,  and  anxious  to  learn,  that 
 he  might  become  a  minister ;  and  being  a  boy  of  great  promise, 
 Sir  Roger  Townsend  patronised  and  supported  him  at  college, 
 where  he  made  uncommon  progress  in  the  arts,  the  languages, 
 and  also  in  divinity.  In  the  meantime,  his  piety  was  such,  that 
 it  became  a  proverb  amongst  the  students,  the  less  serious  of 
 whom  stigmatized  those  who  were  religiously  inclined  as  being 
 Cawtonists.  Having  continued  seven  years  at  the  university, 
 he  removed  to  Ashwell,  about  twelve  miles  from  Cambridge, 
 to  live  in  the  house  of  Mr  Herbert  Palmer,  another  puritan  di- 
 vine, for  the  purpose  of  studying  divinity;  in  which  he  made  great 
 proficiency,  and  occasionally  assisted  Mr  Palmer  in  his  pulpit 
 exercises.  On  leaving  Mr  Palmer's,  he  became  domestic  chap- 
 lain to  Sir  William  Armin  of  Orton  in  Northamptonshire; 
 where  his  piety  and  holy  life,  together  with  his  great  abilities 
 and  faithful  labours,  gained  general  love  and  respect.  Hav- 
 ing continued  in  this  situation  four  years,  he  became  rector  of 
 Wivenhoe  in  Essex,  having  been  presented  to  the  living  by  Sir 
 Roger  Townsend.  Wivenhoe,  at  this  time,  was  notorious  for 
 drunkenness,  swearing,  sabbath -profanation,  and  almost  everv 
 vice;  but  his  faithful  labours,  and  exemplary  life,  accompanied 
 by  the  divine  blessing,  were  the  means  of  working  an  astonish- 
 ing reformation.  The  people  were  in  the  habit  of  bringing  their 
 fish  to  market,  and  selling  them  on  the  Lord's  day,  hard  by 
 the  church  doors,  which  sorely  grieved  his  righteous  soul;  but 
 by  his  faithful  and  unwearied  endeavours,  this  abominable  prac- 
 tice was  abolished,  and  a  happy  reformation  of  manners  took 
 place  in  the  town  and  neighbourhood;  and,  it  is  added,  that  he 
 was  made  instrumental  in  bringing  great  numbers  to  the  saving 
 knowledge  of  the  gospel.  He  was  married  to  the  daughter  of 
 Mr  William  Jenkin,  an  ejected  minister  for  non-conformitv. 
 
 Mr  Cawton  having  prosecuted  his  ministerial  labours  in  this 
 place  about  seven  years,  his  health  began  to  fall  off;  so  that  it 
 was  considered  necessary  for  him  to  remove  to  some  other  si- 
 tuation for  the  benefit  of  a  change  of  air;  and  receiving,  about 
 the  same  time,  an  invitation  to  Bartholomew's  church,  behind 
 the  exchange,  London,  he  removed  thither;  and  this  change  was 
 the  means  of  restoring  his  health,  and  preventing  the  return  of 
 the  ague,  with  which  he  had  been  long  and  seriously  afflicted. 
 In  1G48  lie  united  with  the  London  ministers  in  their  declara- 
 tion against  the  king's  death:  and,  the  same  vear,  was  brought 
 
 15  3  <; 
 
418  memoir  of 
 
 to  trouble  for  his  zeal  in  tho  royal  cause.     Being  invited  by  tin? 
 lord   mayor  and  aldermen   to   preach  at  Mercer's  chapel,    he 
 prayed  for  the  royal  family,  especially  for  Charles  the  II.  whom 
 be  considered  as  the  legal  sovereign;  but  delivered  nothing  of- 
 fensive in  his  sermon.     His  prayer,  however,  was  offensive  to 
 the  ruling  party.     Accordingly,  the  day  following,  the  council 
 of  state  issued  a  warrant  to  apprehend  him.     When  Mr  Caw- 
 ton  appeared  before  his  judges,  he  was  charged  with  having 
 proclaimed  the  young  king;  by  which,  according  to  the  existing 
 laws,  he  was  guilty  of  high  treason.     He  was  therefore  requir- 
 ed to  retract  what  he  had  said  on  this  point,  as  the  indispensa- 
 ble condition  of  his  pardon.     This  Mr  Cawton  refused  to  do. 
 "  If  (said  he)  I  can  be  made  sensible  of  having  done  or  said  any 
 thing  unbecoming  a  minister  of  the  gospel,   I  am  ready  to  re- 
 cant; but  I  have  heard  no  satisfactory  reason  assigned."     He 
 was  therefore  sent  prisoner  to  the  Gatehouse,  where  he  remain- 
 ed in  confinement  about  six  months;  when  the  parliament's  ar- 
 my in  Ireland  having  gained  a  signal  victory,  the  House  came  to 
 the  resolution,  that  a  certain  number  of  prisoners,  and  Mr  Caw- 
 ton amongst  that  number,   should  be  set  at  liberty,  as  a  testi- 
 mony of  their  gratitude  to  God;  by  which  means  he  obtained 
 his  liberty,  and  returned  to  his  family  and  flock,  where  he  con- 
 tinued, for  some  time,  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministerial  office. 
 But  being  deeply  concerned  in  Love's  plot,  he  fled  to  Holland, 
 together  with  Mr  James  Nalton,  in  1651.     On  their  arrival  at 
 Amsterdam,   the  English  church,  at  that  place,  being  destitute 
 of  a  minister,   they  were  both  chosen  collegiate  pastors  to  the 
 society.     Mr  Nalton  afterwards  was  permitted  to  return  to  his 
 native  country;   which  he  did:  but  Mr  Cawton,  not  being  fa- 
 voured with  this  privilege,  remained  at  Amsterdam  till  the  day 
 of  his  death.     His  fame,  as  a  preacher  and  scholar,   was  soon 
 spread  through  the  United  Provinces,  where  he  shone  as  a  star 
 of  the  first  magnitude,  and  he  was  held  in  high  estimation  by 
 the  Dutch,  French,  and  English  ministers  in  those  parts.     He 
 became  intimately  acquainted  with  tho  most  distinguished  lite- 
 rary characters,  Va?tius,  Lcusden,  Uchtman,  Hulsius,  and  ma- 
 ny others.     The  publication  of  Walton's  Polyglot  Bible,  and 
 Castell's  Lexicon  Heptagloton,  was  much  forwarded  both  by 
 his  exertions  and  recommendation  *.     In  1658  he  received  a 
 letter  from  Charles  II.,  then  at  Brussels,  in  which  his  majesty 
 attempts  to  acquit  himself  of  the  charge  of  being  at  all  inclined 
 
 *  The  former  of  thfcse  learned  works  was  printed  in  six  folio  volumes,  and  was  the 
 first  book  published  by  subscription  in  England.  The  latter  cost  the  author  the  la- 
 bour of  seventeen  years;  by  which  his  health  was  impaired,  his  constitution  greatly 
 shattered,  and  his  fortune  entirely  ruined.  It  cost  him  upwards  of  twelve  thousand 
 pounds  ;  for  which,  and  his  herculean  labours,  he  had  a  poor  remuneration. — See  Life 
 of  Cawton,  page  42 — CG". 
 
THOMAS  CAWTOX.  419 
 
 to  popery,  and  urges  Mr  Cawton,  by  all  possible  means,  to  re- 
 move such  false  and  unworthy  aspersions. 
 
 Thus  having  served  the  Lord  seven  years  at  Cambridge,  seven 
 years  at  Wivenhoe,  seven  years  at  London,  and  seven  more  in 
 Holland.  Mr  Cawton  died  at  Rotterdam,  of  a  fit  of  the  palsy, 
 August  7th,  1659,  and  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a 
 laborious  student,  an  excellent  logician,  and  an  incomparable 
 linguist.  He  possessed  a  most  accurate  knowledge  of  the  He- 
 brew, Greek,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  and  Arabic  languages,  and  was 
 familiar  with  the  Dutch,  Saxon,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  French. 
 But  that  which  set  forth  his  talents  and  literary  acquisitions  to 
 the  greatest  advantage,  was  his  eminent  piety  and  holy  life,  his 
 faith,  patience,  and  sincerity,  his  self-denial,  and  charitable  hos- 
 pitality. As  a  minister,  a  master,  a  husband,  a  father,  he  was 
 highly  exemplary;  an  honour  to  his  profession,  and  a  pattern  of 
 virtue  in  every  social  relation.  Wood,  even  Wood  allows  him 
 to  have  been  a  learned  and  religious  puritan.  Mr  Thomas 
 Cawton,  one  of  the  ejected  non-conformists  of  1662,  was  his 
 son,  who  trod  in  his  father's  footsteps,  and  published  his  life  in 
 1662,  together  with  the  sermon  preached  by  his  father  at  Mer- 
 cer's chapel,  February  25th,  1648,  entitled,  God's  rule  for  a 
 Godlv  life,  or  a  Gospel  Conversation,  opened  and  applied  from 
 Phil/i.  27. 
 
 WILLIAM  AMES. 
 
 This  learned  divine  was  born  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  in 
 the  year  1576,  and  educated  in  Christ  college,  Cambridge,  un- 
 der the  famous  Mr  William  Perkins.  Having  received  the 
 truth  of  the  gospel,  he  became  zealous  in  its  defence,  avowing 
 his  decided  opposition  to  every  kind  of  error  and  iniquity,  but 
 most  especially  against  the  delusive  doctrines,  the  idolatrous 
 ceremonies,  and  wide-spread  corruptions  of  the  church  of  Rome. 
 About  the  year  1610,  having  been  for  some  time  fellow  of  his 
 college,  he  preached  a  sermon  at  St.  Mary's  church,  in  which 
 he  severely  reprehended  the  idle  practice  of  playing  at  cards 
 and  dice.  This  gave  great  offence  to  many  of  his  hearers,  and 
 the  more  especially,  because  he  was  well  known  to  be  inimical 
 to  the  ceremonies  of  the  church.  Mr  Ames,  observing  that 
 the  storm  wa6  gathering  around  him,  found  it  necessary  to  quit 
 the  university,  in  order  to  prevent  his  expulsion.  Previous  to 
 his  departure,  he  was  called  before  Dr  Carey,  master  of  the 
 college,  who  urged  him  to  wear  the  surplice;  and  that  he  might 
 convince  his  understanding,  and  bring  him  to  a  compliance,  he 
 (\  noted  the  words  of  the  Apostle — "Put  on  the  armour  of  light;" 
 
4(20  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 that  is,   said   the   doctor,   the  ivhite  surplice  I      But   this   very 
 learned  argument  carried  no  conviction  to  the  mind  of  the  young 
 man,  who  had  resolved  that  no  earthly  consideration  whatever 
 should  induce  him  to  defile  his  conscience  by  such  sinful  com- 
 pliance.    He  therefore  resigned  his  fellowship,  forsook  the  uni- 
 versity, and  soon  after  this,  to  escape  the  indignation  of  arch- 
 bishop Boncraft,  found  it  requisite  to  leave  the  kingdom.     He 
 sailed  for  Holland,  and,  on  his  arrival,  was  chosen  minister  of 
 the  English  church  at  the  Hague.     But  there,  in  a  foreign 
 country,  under  the  wings  of  the  Dutch  government,  even  there 
 the  inveterate  resentment  of  the  prelates  pursued  him.     He 
 was  but  a  short  time  comfortably  settled  at  the  Hague,  when 
 Abbot  Boncraft's  successor,  that  he  might  not  be  outdone  by 
 the  severity  of  his  predecessor,   wrote  to  Sir  Ralph  Winwood, 
 the  English  ambassador  at  the  court  of  the  Stadtholder,  urging 
 him,   by  all  means,  to  procure  his  removal.     Abbot's  letter, 
 dated  March  12th,  1612,  concludes  by  saying,  "I  wish  the  re- 
 moval of  him  to  be  as  privately  and  as  cleanly  carried  as  the 
 matter   will  permit.      We  are  also  acquainted   what   English 
 preachers  are  entertained  in  Zealand;  and  whereunto,  in  conveni- 
 ent time,  we  hope  to  give  a  redress."     Hard  indeed  was  the  lot 
 of  the  non-conformists  under  these  intolerant  churchmen,  and 
 Mr  Ames  had  his  share  shaken  down,  and  running  over;  nor 
 did  Abbot's  resentment  end  here.     When  he  was  on  the  point 
 of  being  chosen  divinity  professor  at  Leyden,  his  election  was 
 prevented  by  means  of  the  archbishop,  and  by  the  interference 
 of  the  ambassador;  and  so  long  as  Mr  Ames  had  any  prospect 
 in  view,  he  was  never  satisfied  till  his  purposes  were  defeated, 
 and  his  hopes  destroyed.     Accordingly,    the  same  unworthy 
 manceuvers  were  attempted,  when  he  was  chosen,  by  the  states 
 of  Friesland,  to  the  above  office  in  the  university  at  Franeker; 
 but  happily  without  success;  for  in  spite  of  the  malice,  and  even 
 the  madness  of  his  persecutors,   Dr.  Ames  filled  the  divinity 
 chair,  with  universal  approbation,  for  the  space  of  twelve  years. 
 He  attended  at  the  synod  of  Dort,  and,  from  time  to  time,  re- 
 ported the  debates  of  that  venerable  assembly  to  king  James' 
 ambassador  at  the  Hague.     Dr.  Ames  was  famous  for  his  con- 
 troversial writings,  especially  against  the  Arminians,  Bellar- 
 mine,  and  the  English  ceremonies;  which,  in  point  of  concise- 
 ness and  perspicuity,  were  unequalled  by  any  of  his  time.    But 
 his  health  was  on  the  decline;  he  had  great  difficulty  in  breath- 
 ing, so  that  he  expected  every  winter  would  be  his  last.     The 
 air  of  Franeker  he  began  to  consider  too  sharp  for  his  constitu- 
 tion; and  being,  at  the  same  time,  desirous  to  preach  the  gos- 
 pel to  his  countrymen,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  the  English 
 church  at  Rotterdam,  and  resigned  his  professorship. 
 
WILLIAM  AMES.  A&\ 
 
 I  poH  this  change  of  situation,  Dr.  Ames  wrote  his  Fresh 
 Suit  against  Ceremonies;  a  work  of  distinguished  merit,  which 
 greatly  enhanced  the  reputation  of  its  author  for  talents  and 
 erudition.  In  the  preface  of  this  work,  he  states  the  contro- 
 versy thus :  "  We  hold  the  institutions  of  Christ  to  be,  in 
 every  respect,  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  divine  worship; 
 and  that  the  word  of  God  is  the  alone  standard  in  matters  of 
 religion.  The  prelates,  on  the  other  hand,  would  have  us  allow 
 and  practise  certain  human  contrivances,  rites,  and  ceremonies 
 in  christian  worship.  We  therefore  desire  to  be  excused,  hold- 
 ing them  unlawful.  Christ  we  know,  and  are  ready  to  em- 
 brace every  thing  that  cometh  from  him.  But  these  ceremo- 
 nies in  divine  worship  we  know  not,  and  cannot  receive;  and, 
 says  he,  I  am  now  more  than  ever  persuaded,  that  such  relics 
 of  popery,  and  monuments  of  superstition,  never  did  any  good, 
 but  incalculable  evil."  He  did  not  live,  however,  to  publish  it 
 himself;  but  his  editor  says  concerning  him,  that  in  this  valu- 
 able work  Dr.  Ames  pleads  the  cause  of  truth,  both  succinctly 
 and  perspicuously,  as  indeed  he  does  most  admirably  in  all  his 
 writings.  His  works  manifest  him  to  have  been  a  lamp  of 
 learning  and  arts,  a  pattern  of  holiness,  and  a  champion  for  the 
 truth. 
 
 Dr.  Ames  did  not  long  survive  his  removal  to  Rotterdam. 
 His  constitution  had  already  been  greatly  undermined.  He 
 found  the  air  of  that  place  of  no  real  advantage,  and  determin- 
 ed to  remove  to  New  England;  but  his  asthma  returning,  put 
 an  end  to  his  life  at  Rotterdam,  where  he  was  buried,  Novem- 
 ber 14th,  1633,  aged  fifty-seven  years.  In  the  following  spring 
 his  wife  and  children  embarked  for  New  England,  carrying  along 
 with  them  his  valuable  library,  which,  at  that  period,  was  a  no- 
 ble acquisition  to  the  colony.  His  son  William,  returning  to 
 England  afterwards,  was  one  of  the  ejected  ministers  of  1662. 
 M  Dr  Ames  (says  Granger)  filled  the  divinity  chair  with  admir- 
 able ability;  so  great  was  his  fame,  that  numbers,  from  remote 
 nations,  put  themselves  under  his  tuition;  but  he  was  much  bet- 
 ter known  abroad  than  even  in  his  native  country.  He  was  a 
 solid,  learned,  and  judicious  divine.  In  doctrine  a  strict  Cal- 
 vinist.  In  matters  of  discipline  and  church-government,  an  In- 
 dependent." Mr  Mather  styles  him  the  profound,  sublime,  ir- 
 refragable, and  angelical  doctor,  and  doubts  whether  he  left  his 
 equal  on  earth.  Fuller  has  classed  him  amongst  the  learned 
 writers  and  fellows  of  Christ-college,  Cambridge.  He  seldom 
 preached  without  shedding  tears;  and,  on  his  death-bed,  had 
 wonderful  foretastes  of  heaven. 
 
 Speaking  of  Dr.  Ames  as  a  writer,  particularly  on  the  moral 
 nrr.   the  learned  Mosheim  says,   *•  That   by  a   worthy  and 
 
i<(2L2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 pious  spirit  of  emulation,  lie  was  excited  to  compose  a  complete 
 body  of  christian  morality.  He  says  lie  was  a  native  of  Scot- 
 land, and  that  he  was  the  first  among  the  reformers  that  began 
 to  treat  morality  as  a  distinct  science,  to  consider  it  abstract- 
 edly from  its  connection  with  any  particular  system  of  doctrine, 
 and  to  introduce  new  light,  and  a  new  degree  of  accuracy,  into 
 this  master-science  of  life  and  manners.  The  attempt,  says  he, 
 was  laudable,  had  it  been  well  executed;  but  the  system  of  this 
 learned  writer  was  dry,  theoretical,  and  subtile,  much  more 
 adapted  to  the  instruction  of  students,  than  the  practical  direc- 
 tion of  private  christians. 
 
 RICHARD  SIBBS. 
 
 This  most  worthy  divine  was  born  at  Sudbury  in  Suffolk, 
 in  1577,  and  educated  in  St.  John's  college,  Cambridge,  where 
 his  learning  and  amiable  deportment  soon  procured  him  pro- 
 motion.    He  took  his  several  degrees  with  great  applause,  and 
 was  first  chosen  scholar,  then  fellow  of  his  college.     While  his 
 literary  fame  was  thus  rapidly  progressing,  it  pleased  God  to 
 awaken  him  to  a  sense  of  his  sins,  and  bring  him  to  the  know- 
 ledge of  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  by  the  preaching  of  Mr 
 Paul  Baynes,  then  lecturer  at  St.  Andrew's  church.     Having 
 discovered  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,  and  obtained  mercy, 
 he  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  Christ  in  the  work  of  the  gos- 
 pel,  and  was   soon   after   chosen   lecturer  at  Trinity  church. 
 Here  his  preaching  was  numerously  attended,  both  by  scholars 
 and  townsmen,  and  became  instrumental  in  the  conversion,  edi- 
 fication, and  establishment  of  many.     He  appears  to  have  been 
 vicar  of  said  church  during  the  two  last  years  of  his  life  only, 
 Mr  (afterwards  Dr.)   Goodman  having  resigned  in  his  favour. 
 His  fame  having  gone  abroad,  and  reached  the  metropolis,  he 
 was  chosen  preacher  at  Gray's  Inn,  London,  in  1618,  where  he 
 became  remarkably  popular  and  useful.     Besides  the  learned 
 lawyers,  many  of  the  nobility,  as  well  as  the  gentry  and  citi- 
 zens,  flocked  to   hear  him,   and   many  had   abundant  cause  to 
 bless  God  for  the  benefit  they  derived  from  his  ministry.     He 
 continued  in  this  situation  to  the  end  of  his  days.     Dr.  William 
 Gouge,   who  some  times  heard  him,    says    "  He  had  a  little 
 stammering  in  his  speech  in  the  time  of  his  preaching;  but  his 
 judicious  hearers  always  expected  some  rare  notions  from  him." 
 About  the   year  1652   he   was  chosen   master  of  Katherine- 
 hall,   Cambridge;   which   place,   though  a  puritan,  he  was  ena- 
 bled to  keep  till    !iis  death.      He   was   charged,   however,   with 
 the  sin  of  non-conformity  before  the  high  commission,   and  de- 
 
RICHARD  SIBBS.  423 
 
 prived  of  his  fellowship  and  lecture.  His  matchless  erudition, 
 his  piety  and  usefulness,  were  no  security  against  the  intoler- 
 ant rage  of  the  times.  On  his  entrance  as  master  of  Katherine- 
 hall,  he  found  the  society  in  a  very  declining  state.  Through 
 his  great  influence,  and  strenuous  exertions,  however,  it  was 
 soon  restored,  and  even  greatly  enlarged,  filled  with  learned 
 and  religious  fellows,  and  became  famous  for  genuine  piety  and 
 solid  learning.  Some  short  time  after  this,  Dr.  Sibbs  was  cho- 
 sen one  of  the  feoffees  for  buying  impropriations;  for  which, 
 at  the  instigation  of  Laud,  he  was  prosecuted  in  the  star-cham- 
 ber, together  wit.h  all  those  concerned  with  him  in  this  gener- 
 ous undertaking.  But  the  prosecution  was  so  notoriously  in- 
 vidious, that  it  was  afterwards  relinquished,  to  the  no  small 
 disgrace  of  the  bishop,  who  was  the  sole  instigator  and  promot- 
 er of  this  persecution.  He  was  again  convened  before  the  high 
 commission  as  a  notorious  delinquent,  only  for  promoting  a 
 private  subscription  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  suffering  mi- 
 nisters of  the  Palatinate;  the  result  of  which  we  have  not  been 
 able  to  learn. 
 
 Dr.  Sibbs  was  a  dutiful  pastor  of  the  flock  committed  to  his 
 .care.  His  great  concern  was,  during  the  whole  course  of  his 
 ministry,  to  lay  a  good  foundation,  both  in  the  heads  and  hearts 
 of  his  hearers.  Among  people  of  understanding  and  piety,  be 
 chiefly  preached  on  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
 and  particularly  on  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God.  He  la- 
 boured so  much  on  this  divine  subject,  that  there  can  scarcely 
 be  one  benefit  arising  therefrom,  or  one  holy  affection  it  is  cal- 
 culated to  excite,  which  he  has  not  sweetly  unfolded  in  these 
 sermons,  and  applied  to  the  various  cases  of  his  hearers.  His 
 thoughts  and  his  discourses  were  so  much  directed  to,  and  con- 
 versant about,  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  his  state  of  humili- 
 ation, that  it  seemed  to  produce,  in  his  own  soul,  the  deepest 
 reverence  and  humility,  both  before  God  and  men.  He  great- 
 ly excelled  in  his  knowledge  of  the  holy  scriptures,  was  a  faith- 
 ful steward  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God,  and  accounted  one 
 of  the  best  preachers  of  his  time;  and  though  a  staunch  non- 
 conformist, he  was  of  so  meek  and  peaceable  a  spirit,  that  he 
 was  ever  careful  not  to  give  offence,  where  it  could,  consistent 
 with  a  good  conscience,  by  any  means  be  avoided.  A  burning 
 and  a  shining  light,  who  cheerfully  spent  himself  for  the  edifi- 
 cation and  spiritual  advantage  of  others;  nor  were  the  temporal 
 necessities  of  the  poor  of  the  flock  of  Christ  overlooked.  His 
 purse,  on  all  occasions,  was  open  to  their  bodily  wants;  and  his 
 very  soul  commiserated  their  spiritual  indigence.  During  the 
 summer  season  he  used  to  visit  many  of  the  wealthy  families  in 
 his  neighbourhood,  with  whom  he  was  always  projecting  plans 
 
424  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  other  useful  purposes.  He  was 
 beloved  and  highly  respected  by  men  of  real  worth,  and  inti- 
 mate with  many  persons  of  distinguished  eminence,  among 
 whom  was  the  celebrated  archbishop  Usher,  whom  lie  frequent- 
 ly visited  in  London.  He  died  on  the  5th  July  1635,  aged 
 fifty-seven  years.  He  was  a  grare  and  solid  divine,  famous  for 
 learning,  piety,  and  politeness. 
 
 His  last  will  and  testament  breathes  the  spirit  of  genuine 
 piety  and  generosity.  Therein  he  first  bequeathes  his  soul  to 
 his  gracious  Saviour,  who  redeemed  it  witb  his  precious  blood, 
 and  now  appears  in  heaven  to  receive  it  to  himself.  Then  he 
 gives  grateful  and  hearty  thanks  to  God  for  having  vouchsafed 
 him  to  live  in  the  blessed  times  of  the  gospel,  and  granted  him 
 an  interest  in,  and  a  participation  of,  its  manifold  comforts,  and 
 honoured  him  to  publisb  it  with  some  degree  of  faithfulness. 
 He  ordered  his  body  to  be  buried  according  to  the  pleasure  of 
 his  executors,  and  bequeathed  his  real  and  personal  estates  to 
 his  only  brother,  and  other  near  relations,  with  numerous  lega- 
 cies to  his  friends  and  connections.  The  peaceable  disposition 
 of  this  holy  man  will  partly  appear  from  the  following  anecdote  : 
 A  fellowship  being  vacant  at  Magdalen  college,  archbishop 
 Laud  recommended  his  bell-ringer  at  Lambeth  for  the  place, 
 with  the  obvious  design  of  quarrelling  with  the  fellows  if  they 
 refused,  or  placing  a  spy  over  them  if  they  accepted.  Dr. 
 Sibbs,  who  was  ever  unwilling  to  provoke  his  superiors,  told 
 the  fellows  that  Lambeth-house  would  be  obeyed;  and  as  the 
 person  was  young,  he  might  in  time  prove  hopeful.  To  which 
 view  the  fellows  assenting,  he  was,  without  further  objection, 
 admitted. 
 
 Dr.  Sibbs  has  also  rendered  his  name  famous,  among  the 
 friends  of  evangelical  religion,  by  his  numerous  and  excellent 
 publications.  His  works  breathe  the  warmest  strains  of  piety 
 and  devotion,  and  will  transmit  his  honoured  memorial  to  the 
 latest  posterity.  In  his  Bruised  Reed,  he  says,  "  When  strug- 
 gling against  the  corruptions  of  our  own  hearts,  buffeted  by 
 temptations,  and  mourning  over  the  weakness  of  our  faith,  and 
 the  coldness  of  our  love,  let  us  still  remember,  that  Christ  will 
 not  break  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax.  As 
 Captain  of  our  salvation,  he  combats  and  conquers  our  rebelli- 
 ous inclinations,  as  well  as  our  outward  and  spiritual  adver- 
 saries, and  hath  furnished  us  with  the  shield  of  faith,  where- 
 withal to  defend  ourselves,  and  enable  us  to  repel  the  fiery 
 darts  of  the  devil.  Satan,  however,  will  sometimes  endeavour 
 to  persuade  us,  that  we  have  no  faith,  that  we  are  destitute  of 
 love  to  Christ,  that  we  are  great  sinners,  and  that  the  mercy  of 
 God,   and  the  love  and  compassion  of  Chris!,   are  blessings  we 
 
RICHARD  SIBBS.  42.0 
 
 have  for  ever  forfeited.  To  all  these  suggestions  of  the  enemy 
 of  mankind,  we  are  warranted  and  encouraged  to  reply :  That 
 albeit  we  are  great  sinners,  Christ  is  an  almighty  Saviour; 
 and  though  our  faith  be  weak,  and  our  love  cold,  Christ  will 
 not  quench  the  smoking  flax,  but  fan  it  into  a  flame  that  shall 
 never  be  extinguished.  Abimelech  could  not  endure  the 
 thought,  that  it  should  be  said  concerning  him,  after  his  death, 
 that  he  died  by  the  hands  of  a  woman;  and  how  mortifying  must 
 it  be  to  satan,  to  find  that  all  his  arts  have  been  unavailing,  his 
 threatenings  vain,  and  his  power  inadequate  to  the  task  of  ex- 
 tinguishing an  almost  imperceptible  spark.  To  find  that  the 
 soul,  influenced  by  the  grace  of  God,  stands  secure  as  an  im- 
 pregnable fortress:  that  the  wiles  of  satan  cannot  sap  the 
 foundation,  nor  all  the  artillery  of  hell  batter  down  the  walls  of 
 her  defence;  and  that  a  weak  child,  a  silly  woman,  or  a  decrepit 
 old  man,  should,  by  the  exercise  of  faith,  force  all  his  vete- 
 ran legions  to  a  shameful  and  precipitant  retreat.  Let  us  there- 
 fore rejoice  in  the  promise — '  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  you ;' 
 and  let  the  assurance,  of  an  ultimate  triumph,  invigorate  our  re- 
 solution to  fight  the  good  fight,  and  lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 
 For  though  the  warfare  be  arduous,  if  we  strive,  Christ  will 
 help  us.  If  we  faint,  he  will  cherish,  animate,  and  support  us. 
 If  we  follow  the  directions  of  our  Leader,  we  shall  assuredly 
 overcome;  and,  overcoming,  the  crown  of  unfading  glory  awaits 
 our  reception. 
 
 "  It  is  with  the  true  church  of  Christ,  as  with  its  individual 
 members,  dangers  are  without,  and  fears  within.  We  see  her 
 present  forlorn  condition.  She  is  like  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den ; 
 like  a  lily  amongst  thorns;  or  as  a  ship  tossed  on  the  tempes- 
 tuous ocean,  the  waves  passing  over  her.  A  strong  conspiracy 
 has  been  raised  against  her,  the  spirit  of  antichrist  is  now 
 lifted  up,  and  though  we  cannot  see  what  is  a-doing,  and  what 
 will  be  the  end  of  these  dark  dispensations,  let  us  comfort  our- 
 selves with  the  consideration,  that  Christ  lives,  that  our  Re- 
 deemer reigns,  that  he  is  the  shield  of  her  salvation,  and  though 
 states  and  kingdoms  should  dash  one  another  to  pieces,  he  will 
 take  care  of  his  own  church,  and  all  her  members.  When 
 Christ  and  his  church  are  apparently  at  the  lowest,  then  are 
 they  nearest  the  rising.  The  wicked  are  not  so;  but  when  at 
 the  height  of  their  power  and  presumption,  they  stand  on  the 
 brink  of  a  fearful  precipice,  whence  they  shall  experience  a  ter- 
 rible downfall. 
 
 "  The  course  of  the  gospel,  like  that  of  the  suil,  has  hereto- 
 fore been  from  east  to  west.  The  occurrences  of  our  time  in- 
 dicate, that  its  progress  still  continues  in  the  same  direction, 
 and  the  enemies  of  Christ  and  his  church   might   as  well  at- 
 
 16  3  h 
 
496  MEMOIR  Of 
 
 tempt  to  arrest  tin?  sun,  repel  the  rising  tides,  or  hind  up  the 
 winds  of  heaven,  as  overcome  the  power,  and  prevent  the  pro- 
 gress of  divine  truth;  which,  in  despite  of  every  opposition,  will 
 yet  force  its  way  into  the  remotest  corners  of  the  world,  till  all 
 the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our  God;  till 
 Christ  shall  have  brought  his  whole  church  under  one  shep- 
 herd, and  into  one  sheepfold,  when  he  will  present  them  to 
 his  Father,  without  spot  or  blemish,  saying,  { Lo,  these  are  the 
 children  thou  hast  given  me,  they  have  taken  me  for  their  lead- 
 er, they  fought  under  my  banner,  they  have  suffered  in  my 
 cause — I  will  therefore  that  they  likewise  reign  with  me,  and 
 that  where  I  am,  there  they  may  be  also/  " 
 
 Mr  John  Dod,  having  perused  the  manuscript  of  his  ser- 
 mons on  Canticles,  chap,  v.,  says,  "  I  judge  it  altogether  im- 
 proper to  conceal,  from  the  public  eye,  the  precious  matter 
 comprised  in  these  sermons.  I  consider  them  excellent  helps 
 to  the  understanding  of  that  dark  and  divine  scripture,  as  well 
 as  to  warm  the  heart  with  all  heavenly  affections  toward  Jesus 
 Christ.  The  whole  is  composed  with  so  much  wisdom,  piety, 
 judgment,  and  experience,  that  the  work  commends  itself  to  all 
 who  are  wise  for  their  own  souls;  and  I  doubt  not  but  they  will 
 find  their  understanding  enlightened,  their  temptations  answer- 
 ed, their  fainting  spirits  revived,  their  graces  confirmed,  and 
 will  have  cause  to  bless  God  for  the  author's  godly  and  painful 
 labours." 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Bruised  Reed. — 2.  The  Saint's  Safety 
 in  Evil  Times. — 3.  The  Church's  Visitation. — 4.  The  Fountain 
 Sealed. — 5.  Divine  Meditations. — 6.  Emanuel,  God  with  us. — 
 7.  Light  from  Heaven. — 8.  Spiritual  Jubilee. — 9.  Yea  and 
 Amen. — 10.  The  Spiritual  Man's  Aim,  and  the  Christian's 
 Portion  and  Charter. — 11.  The  Returning  Backslider. — 12. 
 The  Hidden  Life.— 13.  Beams  of  Divine  Light.— 14.  The  Ex- 
 cellence of  the  Gospel  above  the  Law. — 15.  Christ  Exalted. — 
 16.  Evangelical  Sacrifices. — 17.  Union  betwixt  Christ  and  his 
 Church. — 18.  Commentary  on  Phil.  chap.  iii. — 19.  The  Glo- 
 rious Feast  of  the  Gospel. — 20.  A  Commentary  on  2  Cor. 
 chap.  i. — 21.  An  Exposition  of  2  Cor.  chap.  iv. — 22.  The 
 Soul's  Conflict.— 23.  The  Saint's  Cordial.— 24.  Christ's*  Con- 
 ference with  Mary. — 25.  The  Key  of  Heaven,  or  the  Lord's 
 Prayer  Opened. — 26.  Sermons  on  Canticles,  chap.  v. 
 
 ALEXANDER  LEIGHTON,  D.  D. 
 
 This  unparalleled  sufferer  in  the  cause  of  non-conformity 
 was  born  in  Scotland,  about  1568,  and  most  probably  had  his 
 
ALEXANDER  LEIGHTON.  4#7 
 
 education  at  some  of  the  Scotch  universities.  He  took  his  de- 
 gree of  doctor  of  divinity  both  at  the  university  of  St.  Andrew's 
 and  Leyden.  Granger  says,  incorrectly,  "  That  he  was  not 
 doctor  of  divinity,  but  of  physic,  though  exercising  the  minis- 
 try." Sir  Ellis  Leighton,  and  the  eminently  pious  archbishop 
 Leighton,  of  whom  bishop  Burnet  gives  an  excellent  character, 
 and  whose  works  are  still  held  in  great  reputation,  were  his 
 sons. 
 
 This  reverend  divine  was  reputed  for  his  ability,  learning, 
 and  piety:   but  his  zeal  against  episcopacy  exposed  him  to  the 
 rigour  of  prelatical  vengeance.     He  published  a  book,  entitled, 
 An  Appeal  to  Parliament;  or  Zion's  Plea  against  Prelacy;  for 
 which  he  met  with  unprecedented  cruelty  from  the  star-cham- 
 ber.    In  this  work  he  expressed  his  sentiments  against  the  hie- 
 rarchy, and  the  proceedings  of  the  ruling  prelates,  with  too 
 much  warmth  for  the  period  in  which  it  was  wrote.     In  which 
 book,  some  of  our  historians  say,   "  He  excited  the  parliament 
 to  kill  all  the  bishops,  by  smiting  them  under  the  fifth  rib;  and 
 that  he  bitterly  inveighed  against  the  queen,  calling  her  the 
 daughter  of  Heth,  a  Canaanite,  and  an  idolatress."     "  The  truth 
 (says  Mr  Peirce)  is  this:    That  after  having  enumerated  many 
 grievances,  cruel  inflictions,  and  fearful  forebodings,  occasioned 
 by  the  episcopal  establishment,  and  her  prelatical  procedure,  he 
 admonished  the  parliament  utterly  to  root  out  the  hierarchy, 
 that  the  nation  might  be  freed  from  the  apprehension  of  any 
 further  danger."     But  that  he  excited  them  to  kill  the  bishops, 
 whether  guilty  or  not  of  death-deserving  crimes,  I  can  nowhere 
 find  in  his  book;  but,  on  the  contrary,  find,  towards  the  end  of 
 the  work,  the  following  explication  of  his  own  words :    "  To 
 make  an  end   (says  he)   of  our  present  subject,   we  wish  your 
 honours  could  prevail  with  the  bishops,  by  fair  means,  to  throw 
 off  their  overcharging  calling.     If  they  will   not  be  thus  per- 
 suaded, we  fear  they  are  like  pluretic  patients,  who  cannot  spit, 
 and  whom  nothing  but  incision  can  cure.     We  mean  of  their 
 callings,  not  their  persons,  with  whom  we  have  no  quarrel,  but 
 wish  them  better  than  they  wish  either  us  or  themselves.    One 
 of  their  desperado  mountebanks  declared,  from  the  pulpit,  that 
 they  could  find  no  cure  for  us,  their  supposed  enemies,  but 
 pricking  in  the  bladder;  but  we  have  not  so  learned  Christ." 
 Moreover,  in  the  charges  brought  against  him  in  the  star-cham- 
 ber,  there  was  no  such  thing  mentioned;  which,  had  it  been 
 found  in  his  book,  would  assuredly  have  been  brought  forward. 
 What  degree  of  credit  is  due  to  men  who  thus  represent  the 
 sense  of  an  author  contrary  to  his  own  express  words,    and 
 what  is  their  design  by  such  misrepresentations,  needs  no  com- 
 ment.    His  railing  the  queen  the  daughter  of  Heth.  a  Canaan- 
 
428  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 itc,  and  an  idolatress,  though  unpleasant,  and  even  unbecoming 
 epithets  as  applied  to  the  queen,  had  no  other  meaning  but 
 that  she  was  a  papist;  while,  in  fact,  she  really  was  not  only  a 
 notorious,  but  a  bitter  one.  Archbishop  Tillotson,  long  after 
 this,  used  language,  with  respect  to  the  marriage  of  foreign 
 popish  princes  with  our  own,  but  very  little  more  refined  than 
 those  of  Dr.  Leighton,  without  giving  the  least  offence.  The 
 worthy  prelate  styles  them  the  people  of  these  abominations; 
 and  that  it  was  owing  to  these  marriages,  that,  for  two  or  three 
 generations,  popery  had  been  so  much  countenanced  in  the 
 country. 
 
 Though  Leighton's  book  was  written  in  spirit  and  expression 
 too  warm  for  the  time,  Dr.  Harris,  who  had  particularly  exam- 
 ined the  work,  says,  "  It  was  written  with  spirit,  and  also  with 
 more  sense  and  learning  than  writers  of  that  stamp  were  in  the 
 habit  of  using  at  the  time."  But  the  reader  will  be  better  ena- 
 bled to  judge  from  the  following  circumstantial  account,  col- 
 lected from  the  most  authentic  records. 
 
 On  February  29th,  1629,  Dr.  Leighton,  coming  out  of  Black- 
 friars,  was  seized  by  a  warrant  from  the  high  commission  court, 
 and  dragged  by  a  multitude  of  armed  men  to  bishop  Laud's 
 house;  from  which,  without  being  examined,  he  was  carried  to 
 Newgate,  where,  after  being  loaded  with  irons,  he  was  clapped 
 into  a  loathsome  dog-hole,  swarming  with  rats  and  mice;  where 
 the  roof,  being  uncovered,  the  rain  and  snow  beat  in  upon  him. 
 He  had  no  bedding,  nor  place  to  make  a  fire,  save  the  ruins  of 
 an  old  smoky  chimney;  nor  had  he  any  thing  either  to  eat  or 
 drink  from  the  Tuesday  night  till  Thursday  at  noon.  In  this 
 loathsome  abode  he  continued  fifteen  weeks,  while  none  of  his 
 friends,  nor  even  his  wife,  were  permitted  to  see  him,  nor  a 
 copy  of  the  warrant  for  commitment  allowed  him.  On  the 
 fourth  day  after  his  apprehension,  the  pursuivants,  belonging 
 to  the  high  commission,  went  to  his  house,  and  laid  violent 
 hands  on  his  distressed  wife,  and  treated  her  with  the  most  dis- 
 graceful and  shameless  barbarity.  To  a  child  of  five  years  of 
 age  they  presented  a  pistol,  threatening  to  kill  him  if  he  would 
 not  inform  them  where  the  books  lay;  which  so  terrified  the 
 child,  that  he  never  recovered;  and  notwithstanding  that  Mrs 
 Leighton  was  willing  to  open  every  thing  before  them,  they 
 broke  up  chests,  presses,  boxes,  and  whatever  came  in  their  way, 
 and  carried  away  every  thing  they  wished  to  possess,  books, 
 manuscripts,  apparel,  household  stuff,  &c. 
 
 During  his  confinement  in  Newgate,  it  was  the  opinion  of 
 four  physicians,  that  poison  had  been  administered  lo  him,  as 
 his  hair  and  skin  came  off;  and  while  in  this  deplorable  condi- 
 tion, his  sentence  was  pronounced  in  the  star-chamber,  without 
 
ALEXANDER  LEIGHTON.  429 
 
 hearing  one  word  in  his  defence,  notwithstanding  that  a  certifi- 
 cate, signed  by  four  physicians  and  an  attorney,  stated  the 
 dreadful  nature  of  his  complaint,  and  the  impossibility  of  his 
 attendance. 
 
 But  it  will  be  necessary  here  to  state  the  charges  brought 
 against  this  unhappy  man.     June  4th,    1630,  an  information 
 was  exhibited  against  Dr.  Leighton,  in  the  star-chamber,  by 
 Attorney  General  Heath,  wherein  he  was  charged  with  having- 
 published  and  dispersed  a  scandalous  book  against  the  king, 
 peers,  and  prelates,  entitled,   Sion's  Plea  against  Prelacy;  in 
 which,  amongst  other  things,  he  sets  forth  these  false  and  sedi- 
 tious assertions  and  positions:      1.   That  we  do  not  read  of 
 greater  persecution,  or  higher  indignity  being  done  to  God's 
 people,  in  any  nation  professing  the  gospel,  than  has  been  exer- 
 cised against  them  in  this  our  own  island,  especially  since  the 
 death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.     2.  That  he  terms  the  prelates  of 
 this  realm  men  of  blood,  and  enemies  to  God  and  the  state : 
 That  the  maintaining  and  establishing  of  bishops  in  this  realm, 
 is  a  main  and  master  sin  established  by  law :    That  ministers 
 ought  to  have  no  voice  in  council,  deliberative  and  decisive. 
 3.  That  he  avows  the  prelacy  of  our  church  to  be  antichristian 
 and  satanical,  and  terms  the  bishops  ravens  and  mag-pies  that 
 prey  upon  the  state;  and  terms  the  canons,  made  in  1603,  non- 
 sense canons.     4.  He  disallows  and  contemns  kneeling  in  re- 
 ceiving the  sacrament;  and  alleges,  that  this  spawn  of  the  beast 
 was  brought  forth  by  the  prelates,  to  promote  and  perpetuate 
 their  own  unlawful  standing.     5.  He  affirms  that  the  prelates 
 have  corrupted  the  king,  forestalling  his  judgment  against  God 
 and  goodness,  and  most  audaciously  calleth  his  majesty's  royal 
 consort,   our  gracious  queen,   the  daughter  of  Heth.      7.    He 
 most  impiously  seems  to  commend  him  who  committed  the  bar- 
 barous and  bloody  act  of  murder  on  the  late  duke  of  Buckingham, 
 and  to  encourage  others  to  second  him  in  like  atrocious,  wick- 
 ed, and  desperate  attempts  to  destroy  others.     8.    He  lays  a 
 most  seditious  scandal  upon  the  king,  state,  and  kingdom,  wick- 
 edly affirming,  that  all  who  pass  by  us  spoil  us,  and  that   we, 
 in  our  turn,  spoil  all  who  rely  upon  us;  instancing,  amongst 
 other  things,  the  black  pining  death  of  the  famished  Rochcllers, 
 who  died  to  the  amount  of  fifteen  hundred  in  the  space  of  four 
 months.     By  which  passages,  and  wicked  assertions,  he  doe-* 
 every  thing  in  his  power  to  scandalize  his  majesty's  sacred  per- 
 son, his  religious,  wise,  and  just  government,   the  person  of  his 
 royal  consort  the  queen,   the  persons  of  the  lords  and  peers  of 
 the  realm,  and  especially  the  reverend  bishops.     9.  That  he  not 
 only   endeavours  to  slander   his   majesty's   sacred    person    and 
 government,  hut  even  to  detract  from  his  royal  power,  in  mak- 
 
4-30  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ing  laws  and  canons  for  ecclesiastical  government,  by  affirming, 
 that  the  church  hath  all  her  laws  from  the  scripture,  and  that 
 no  king  has  power  to  legislate  for  the  church;  for,  if  they  had, 
 the  scriptures  must  be  imperfect.  And,  lastly,  thinking  to 
 salve  all  with  the  expression  of  his  sacred  majesty,  he  says, 
 what  a  pity  it  is,  and  what  indelible  dishonour  it  will  be  to  you, 
 the  representatives  of  the  people,  that  so  ingenious  and  tracta- 
 ble a  king  should"  be  so  monstrously  abused,  to  the  undoing  of 
 himself  and  his  subjects. 
 
 These  ten  charges  contain  all  that  was  brought  against  Dr. 
 Leighton;  and  we  have  no  reason  to  think  they  were  not  the 
 worst  that  could  be  found  in  his  book.  The  reader  will  here 
 perceive  the  worst  part  of  his  character,  and  will  easily  appre- 
 ciate what  degree  of  criminality  is  attached  to  his  publication. 
 Though  some  of  these  assertions  are  certainly  imprudent,  they 
 are,  nevertheless,  true,  and  too  glaringly  manifest,  in  the  his- 
 tory of  the  country,  to  be  refuted,  even  at  this  distance  of  time. 
 Dr.  Leighton,  in  his  answer  to  the  above  charges,  acknowledged, 
 that  while  the  parliament  was  sitting,  in  1628,  he  drew  up  the 
 heads  of  his  book,  and  with  the  approbation  of  five  hundred 
 persons,  under  their  own  hands,  some  of  whom  were  members 
 of  parliament,  he  went  over  to  Holland  to  get  it  printed.  That 
 he  printed  five  or  six  hundred  copies  only,  for  the  use  of  the 
 parliament,  but  they  being  dissolved  before  the  work  was  finish- 
 ed, he  returned  home  without  bringing  any  of  them  into  the 
 country.  He  acknowledged  writing  the  book,  but  with  no  such 
 intentions  as  suggested  in  the  information.  His  only  design 
 was  to  remonstrate  against  certain  grievances  in  church  and 
 state,  under  which  the  people  were  suffering,  in  order  to  induce 
 the  parliament  to  take  them  into  their  serious  consideration, 
 and  give  such  redress  as  seemed  most  for  the  honour  of  the 
 king,  the  advantage  of  the  people,  and  the  good  of  the  church. 
 When  the  cause  came  to  be  heard,  the  charges  against  him 
 were  read  from  his  own  book,  and  his  answers  were  also  read 
 at  length.  In  answer  to  the  first  charge,  viz.  That  we  do  not 
 read  of  greater  persecution,  or  higher  indignity  done  to  God's 
 people,  in  any  nation  professing  the  gospel,  than  in  this  our  own 
 island,  especially  since  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  ac- 
 knowledged the  words  in  his  answer,  but  asserted  that  the 
 thing  was  so  notoriously  true,  that  he  was  astonished  how  it 
 could  be  brought  up  against  him  as  a  crime;  a  fact  so  glaringly 
 obvious,  that  no  sophistry  could  palliate  or  conceal;  a  stain  on 
 the  country  so  deep,  that  all  the  waters  of  the  ocean  could  not 
 wash  it  off.  Where,  my  lords,  will  you  find  a  nation,  profess- 
 ing the  christian  religion,  where  the  people  have  suffered  so 
 much  cruelty,  oppression,  and  indipnity,   from  the  ministers  of 
 
ALEXANDER  LE1GHT0N.  431 
 
 religion,  as  the  non-conforming  ministers  and  people  of  Eng- 
 land have  suffered  from  prelatical  power  and  intolerance  ?  If 
 you  turn  your  eyes  to  the  nations  of  the  continent,  in  hopes  of 
 finding  a  parallel  of  English  folly  and  bigotry,  you  will  look  in 
 vain.  There,  indeed,  you  may  find  thousands  of  our  most  vir- 
 tuous, loyal,  and  industrious  countrymen,  who  have  been  re- 
 ceived with  generous  hospitality,  pitied,  protected,  and  their 
 virtues  appreciated,  by  strangers,  whom  the  rigour  of  prelatical 
 oppression  had  driven  from  their  occupations,  their  friends,  and 
 the  land  that  gave  them  birth.  If  you  cast  your  eyes  across 
 the  Atlantic,  there  also  you  may  behold  additional  demonstra- 
 tions of  prelatical  cruelty.  Thousands  who,  to  save  themselves 
 from  their  unendurable  oppression,  have  braved  the  dangers  of 
 the  ocean  in  search  of  a  place  of  rest  and  security,  even  amongst 
 savages  and  wild  beasts,  in  the  waste  and  howling  wilderness. 
 On  finding  themselves  beyond  the  vindictive  arm  of  prelatical 
 intolerance,  hear  them,  like  the  Israelites  when  they  found 
 themselves  rescued  from  the  fury  of  their  Egyptian  task-masters 
 and  pursuers,  hear  them  hymning  the  God  of  their  salvation  in 
 acclamations  of  joy  and  praise,  and  sending  their  prayers  up  to 
 the  throne  of  mercy  for  the  weeping  friends  and  suffering  coun- 
 trymen they  had  left  behind  them.  But  why  travel  so  far  in 
 search  of  proof  to  support  a  fact  so  incontrovertible  ?  Look 
 at  home.  Have  not  the  prelates  shed  the  blood  of  a  number  of 
 faithful  ministers  of  the  gospel?  Have  not  the  jails  of  the 
 country  been  filled,  and  the  dungeons  inhabited  by  the  very 
 men  who  laboured  the  most  to  promote  the  best  interest  of  the 
 country,  and  who  have  set  examples  of  piety  and  morality  be- 
 fore its  inhabitants  ?  How  many  of  these  meritorious  individu- 
 als have  been  silenced,  deprived  of  their  livings,  and  themselves 
 and  families  left  desolate  and  destitute;  while  their  flocks,  starv- 
 ing for  want  of  the  bread  of  life,  had  none  to  break  it  ?  In  this 
 critical  situation,  when  met  together  to  worship  God  in  secret 
 places,  that  they  might  avoid  giving  offence  to  their  superiors, 
 how  often  have  whole  congregations  been  dragged  to  prisons 
 and  dungeons?  And  for  what  mighty  purpose  was  all  this 
 waste  of  blood,  this  exercise  of  relentless  cruelty  and  power, 
 unknown  to  the  constitutional  laws  of  the  country  ?  Not  sure- 
 ly to  quell  a  rebellion,  for  the  people  are  loyal  ?  No — but  to 
 promote  and  perpetuate  prelatical  power,  at  the  expence  of  all 
 the  other  orders  in  the  state.  My  lords,  the  strength  and  glory 
 of  a  nation  must  ever  consist  in  the  number  and  virtue  of  its  in- 
 habitants; and  its  wealth  and  prosperity  most  assuredly  depend 
 on  their  industry :  But  the  prelates,  by  scattering  her  popula- 
 tion, have  diminished  the  strength  of  their  country.  By  silenc- 
 ing her  preachers,  they  have  demoralized  her  population,  and 
 
432  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 tarnished  her  glory;  and  hy  persecuting  her  people,  they  have 
 driven  her  arts  and  industry  into  the  hands  of  strangers,  who 
 laugh  at  our  insanity.  What  patriot  ean  avoid  shedding  tears 
 when  he  contemplates  the  misery  that  must  be  the  unavoidable 
 consequence  of  such  a  preposterous  course  of  procedure  ?  One 
 consolation,  however,  remains  to  cheer  our  dejected  spirits.  As 
 it  was  with  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  so  it  has  ever  been  and  will 
 be.  The  more  religion  and  virtue  are  persecuted,  the  more 
 their  votaries  will  increase.  Inasmuch,  therefore,  as  public 
 opinion  has  erected  the  greatest  empires,  and  again  destroyed 
 them;  it  will  follow  as  a  natural  consequence,  that  so  soon  as 
 oppression  has  alienated  the  mass  of  a  people  from  that  system 
 under  which  they  suffer,  the  fabric  itself  must  give  way.  At 
 present  it  may  be  fairly  estimated,  that  every  cruel  act  of  in- 
 tolerance, exercised  against  men  of  pious,  moral,  and  useful 
 lives,  besides  the  sufferers  themselves,  alienates  the  affections  of 
 a  thousand  individuals  from  the  national  church,  and  without 
 reverting  to  a  more  mild  and  conciliating  mode  of  ecclesiastical 
 policy,  it  may  be  safely  averred,  without  pretending  to  the  spi- 
 rit of  prophecy,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  breath 
 of  public  opinion  shall  curtail  the  power  of  the  prelates,  and 
 scatter  the  fragments  of  their  tinsel  fabric  of  superstition  to  the 
 winds  of  heaven.  I  loved  my  country,  and  trembled  at  the  pre- 
 cipice over  which  the  measures  of  the  ecclesiastics  were  likely 
 to  plunge  us,  both  as  men  and  christians.  And  with  a  view  to 
 prevent,  if  possible,  a  catastrophe  so  dreadful,  prayed  the  repre- 
 sentatives of  the  nation  to  interfere  before  it  was  too  late. 
 Must  I  therefore  be  accounted  an  enemy,  either  to  the  church 
 or  state,  for  thus  telling  a  truth  of  such  importance  ?" 
 
 At  these  cutting  remarks,  Laud  was  so  exceedingly  enraged, 
 that  he  desired  the  court  to  inflict  the  heaviest  sentence  that 
 could  be  inflicted  upon  him;  which  was  done  to  his  lordship's 
 great  satisfaction.  The  sentence  runs  thus:  "That  Leighton 
 shall  be  degraded  from  his  orders  in  the  ministry,  have  his  ears 
 cut  off,  his  nose  slit,  and  be  branded  in  the  face  :  That  he  shall 
 stand  in  the  pillory,  be  whipped  at  a  post,  pay  a  fine  of  ten 
 thousand  pounds,  and  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment."  This 
 dreadful  sentence  having  passed  on  the  unhappy  Leighton, 
 Laud  pulled  off  his  hat,  and,  holding  up  both  his  hands  towards 
 heaven,  gave  thanks  to  God,  who  had  given  him  the  victory  over 
 his  enerni.es ! ! ! 
 
 A  certain  knight  having  intimated  to  a  lord,  high  in  oftice, 
 his  apprehensions  that  such  dreadful  sentences  would  open  a 
 door  for  the  prelates  to  inflict  the  most  disgraceful  punishments 
 and  tortures,  even  upon  men  of  quality.  His  lordship  replied, 
 "That  it  was  designed  merely  for  the  terror  of  others,  and  that 
 
ALEXANDER  LEIGHTON.  433 
 
 there  was  no  reason  to  believe  it  would  ever  be  put  in  execu- 
 tion." This  worthy  lord  was,  nevertheless,  much  mistaken; 
 for  Laud  and  his  adherents  had  it  executed  in  all  its  shocking 
 severity.  Accordingly,  on  November  the  4th,  he  was  degraded 
 in  the  high  commission,  and  on  the  10th  of  the  same  month, 
 being  a  star-chamber  day,  the  sentence  was  intended  to  be  put 
 in  execution;  but  Leigh  ton,  the  preceding  evening,  had  made 
 his  escape  out  of  the  Fleet,  where  he  was  kept  a  close  prisoner. 
 Information  of  this  having  reached  the  lords  of  council,  they 
 immediately  ordered  the  following  Hue  and  Cry  to  be  printed 
 and  published  throughout  the  kingdom. 
 
 A  Hue  and  Cry  against  Dr.  Leighton. 
 
 "  Whereas  Alexander  Leighton,  a  Scotchman  born,  who 
 was  lately  sentenced,  by  the  honourable  court  of  star-chamber, 
 to  pay  a  great  fine  to  his  majesty,  and  to  undergo  corporeal 
 punishment,  for  writing,  printing,  and  publishing  a  very  libel- 
 lous and  seditious  book  against  the  king  and  his  government, 
 hath,  this  eleventh  day  of  November,  escaped  out  of  the  prison 
 of  the  Fleet,  where  he  was  prisoner.  These  are,  in  his  majes- 
 ty's name,  to  require  and  command  all  justices  of  the  peace, 
 mayors,  sheriffs,  bailiffs,  customers,  searchers,  and  officers  of 
 the  ports,  and  all  others,  his  majesty's  loving  subjects,  to  use 
 all  diligence  for  the  apprehending  of  the  said  Alexander  Leigh- 
 ton; and  being  apprehended,  safely  to  keep  him  in  custody  un- 
 til his  majesty  shall  receive  notice  thereof,  and  shall  give  fur- 
 ther directions  concerning  him.  He  is  a  man  of  low  stature, 
 fair  complexion;  he  hath  a  yellowish  beard,  a  high  forehead, 
 and  between  forty  and  fifty  years  of  age." 
 
 In  consequence  of  the  Hue  and  Cry  following  him  into  Bed- 
 fordshire, he  was  apprehended,  and  brought  back  to  the  Fleet 
 prison;  and  bishop  Laud  could  not  help  transmitting  to  posteri- 
 ty how  anxious  he  was  to  have  this  barbarous  sentence  put  in 
 execution,  and  his  mortification  at  Leighton's  escape  from  pri- 
 son, as  appears  from  the  following  memorial,  found  written  in 
 his  diary  :  "  November  4th,  Leighton  was  degraded  in  the  high 
 commission.  November  9th,  he  broke  out  of  the  Fleet.  The 
 warden  says,  he  got,  or  was  helped,  over  the  wall,  and  professes 
 he  knew  not  this  from  Tuesday  till  Wednesday  noon.  He  told 
 it  not  me  till  Thursday  night.  Leighton  was  taken  again  in 
 Bedfordshire,  and,  within  a  fortnight,  brought  back  to  the  Fleet. 
 November  26th,  part  of  his  sentence  was  executed  upon  him  at 
 Westminster."  This  sentence,  so  gratifying  to  the  tender  feel- 
 ings of  the  pious  bishop,  was  inflicted  in  the  manner  following : 
 He  was  taken  to  Westminster,  where,  having  cut  off  one  of  his 
 ears,  they  slit  up  one  side  of  his  nose,  and  with  a  red-hot  iron 
 
 16  3  i 
 
J   U  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 branded  one  of  )iis  cheeks  with  the  letters  S.  8.  for  a  Sower  of 
 Sedition.  This  done,  he  was  put  in  the  pillory,  where  he  was 
 held  almost  two  hours  under  an  intense  frost;  after  which  he 
 was  tied  to  a  post,  and  whipped  with  a  triple  cord,  with  that 
 severity,  that  every  lash  brought  away  the  flesh;  and  though  his 
 friends  had  a  coach  in  readiness  to  carry  him  back  to  the  Fleet, 
 he  was  not  allowed  that  small  indulgence;  but  compelled,  not- 
 withstanding his  mangled  state,  and  the  severity  of  the  season, 
 to  return  by  water.  On  the  3d  of  December,  none  of  his 
 wounds  as  yet  closed,  he  was  taken  to  Cheapside,  where  his 
 other  ear  was  cut  off,  the  other  side  of  his  nose  slit,  and  brand- 
 ed on  the  other  cheek;  after  which  he  was  set  in  the  pillory, 
 and  being  whipped  a  second  time,  carried  back  to  the  Fleet, 
 where  he  was  kept  ten  weeks  amid  dirt  and  mire,  not  being 
 sheltered  from  even  the  rain  or  the  snow,  and  then  shut  up  in 
 close  prison,  where,  for  ten  or  eleven  years,  he  was  not  permit- 
 ted to  breathe  the  open  air.  When  this  victim  of  prelatical  ani- 
 mosity came  forth  from  his  wretched  abode,  which  was  not  till 
 after  the  meeting  of  the  long  parliament,  his  limbs  were  so  be- 
 numbed that  he  could  not  walk,  neither  could  he  see  or  hear. 
 The  detail  of  his  unparalleled  sufferings,  as  set  forth  in  his  pe- 
 tition to  parliament,  greatly  moved  the  compassion  of  the 
 people;  and  humanity  will  revolt  at  the  cruel  narrative,  so  long 
 as  it  continues  to  be  read. 
 
 The  long  parliament  having  met,  Dr.  Leigh  ton  presented  a 
 petition,  November  7th,  1640,  to  the  commons,  complaining  of 
 the  cruelties  that  had  been  heaped  upon  him ;  which  the  House 
 could  not  hear  without  being  several  times  interrupted  with 
 bursts  of  indignation  and  tears.  The  petition  being  read,  an 
 order  passed  the  House,  "  That  Dr.  Leighton  shall  have  liberty 
 to  go  abroad,  in  safe  custody,  to  prosecute  his  petition  here  ex- 
 hibited; and  that  he  be  forthwith  removed  from  the  common 
 prison,  where  he  now  is,  into  some  more  convenient  place,  and 
 have  the  liberty  of  the  Fleet."  At  the  same  time,  the  House 
 appointed  a  committee  to  take  his  petition  into  serious  consider- 
 ation. 
 
 Owing  to  the  innumerable  complaints  poured  into  the  House 
 from  every  quarter  of  the  kingdom,  together  with  a  multitude 
 of  other  matters  that  came  before  the  committee,  it  was  the 
 21st  of  April  before  the  report  on  Leighton's  case  could  be  pre- 
 sented to  the  House;  on  which  report,  the  following  resolutions 
 were  passed : 
 
 1.  "That  the  attaching,  imprisoning,  and  detaining  Dr. 
 Leighton  in  prison,  by  the  warrant  of  the  high  commission,  is 
 illegal.  2.  That  the  breaking  up  of  Dr.  Leighton's  house,  and 
 taking  away  his  papers,  by  Edward  Wright,  then  sheriff,  and 
 
ALEXANDER  LEIGHTON.  435 
 
 now  lord  mayor  of  London,  is  illegal.    3.  That  the  said  Edward 
 Wright  ought  to  give  reparation  to  Dr.  Leigliton  for  his  dama- 
 ges sustained,  by  breaking  open  his  house,  and  taking  away  his 
 papers  and  other  goods.    4.  That  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
 then  bishop  of  London,  ought  to  give  satisfaction  to  Dr.  Leigh- 
 ton  for  his  damages  sustained,  by  fifteen  weeks  imprisonment 
 in  Newgate  upon  the  said  bishop's  warrant.     5.  That  the  great 
 fine  of  ten  thousand  pounds,  laid  upon  Dr.  Leigliton  by  sen- 
 tence of  the  star-chamber,  is  illegal.     6.  That  the  sentence  of 
 the   corporeal   punishment,    imposed   upon  Dr.  Leigliton,  the 
 whipping,  branding,  sliting  the  nose,  cutting  off  his  ears,  setting 
 in  the  pillory,  and  the  execution  thereof,  and  the  imprisonment 
 thereupon,  is  illegal.     7.  That  Dr.  Leighton  ought  to  be  freed 
 from  the  great  fine  of  ten  thousand  pounds,  and  from  the  sen- 
 tence of  perpetual  imprisonment,  and  to  have  his  bonds  deliver- 
 ed to  him  which  he  gave  for  his  true  imprisonment.     8.  That 
 Dr.  Leighton  ought  to  have  good  satisfaction  and  reparation  for 
 his  great  damages  and  sufferings  sustained,  by  the  illegal  sen- 
 tence of  the  star-chamber." — Such  were  the  resolutions  of  the 
 House  of  commons,  after  a  mature  examination  of  this  affecting 
 case,  when  it  was  voted,   that  he  should  receive  six  thousand 
 pounds  for  damages;  though,  on  account  of  the  confusion  of  the 
 times,  it  is  believed  he  never  received  the  money.     About  two 
 years  after  this,  he  was  appointed,  by  the  House  of  Commons, 
 keeper  of  Lambeth  house,  which  had  been  turned  into  a  prison. 
 While  in  this  situation,  he  is  said  by  some  to  have  made  repris- 
 als on  the  purses  of  the  loyal  clergy  and  gentry  for  the  damages 
 he  had  sustained  by  their  party.     How  far  this  is  correct  we 
 have  no  means  of  ascertaining.       If  false,  it  was  what  he  had 
 reason  to  expect  from  the  party.     If  true,  it  only  amounts  to 
 this,  that  intolerance,   persecution,  and  injustice,  are  crimes, 
 whatever  party  or  individual  be   the  criminal.     In  1643  Dr. 
 Leighton  was  still  keeper  of  Lambeth  prison;  but  the  time  of 
 his  death  we  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 
 
 WILLIAM  TWISSE,  D.  D. 
 
 On  the  accession  of  James  I.  to  the  crown  of  England,  the 
 puritans  anticipated,  at  the  very  least,  a  full  toleration  for  their 
 mode  of  worship  under  this  presbyterian  monarch,  but  were 
 exceedingly  mortified  to  find,  that,  in  place  of  a  toleration, 
 Queen  Elizabeth's  act  of  conformity  was  pressed  with  more 
 rigour  by  James,  than  had  been  done  by  his  predecessor.  En- 
 chanted with  the  splendour  of  the  English  hierarchy,  James 
 bo  far  deviated  from  his  first  principles,  that  he  attempted,  botft 
 
436  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 by  deceit  and  violence,  to  impose  a  prelatical  government  on 
 the  church  of  his  ancient  kingdom  of  Scotland.  In  this  attempt, 
 however,  he  failed,  through  the  zeal  and  determined  opposition 
 of  the  Scottish  nation ;  hut  recommended  it  to  his  son  and  succes- 
 sor, to  embrace  the  first  favourable  opportunity  to  consummate 
 the  darling  enterprise.  Accordingly,  Charles  I.  having  mount- 
 ed the  throne,  and,  like  his  father,  yielding  to  the  flattery  and 
 influence  of  the  ruling  ecclesiastics,  pushed  religious  uniformity 
 in  England  to  that  degree,  that  by  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the 
 court  of  high  commission,  together  with  his  own  encroachments 
 on  the  rights  of  the  nation,  the  hearts  of  his  English  subjects 
 were  much  alienated  from  the  government  both  of  church  and 
 state;  while  his  imprudent  attempt  to  force  a  religion  on  Scot- 
 land, contrary  to  the  general  opinion,  drove  that  nation  into 
 open  and  successful  rebellion. 
 
 Under  these  threatening  circumstances,  the  non-conforming 
 party  in  England,  and  the  Scottish  nation  in  general,  in  order 
 to  protect  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  found  it  necessary  to 
 unite  their  endeavours  in  fixing  limits  to  the  royal  authority. 
 Charles,  who  had  now  reigned  about  fifteen  years,  during  the 
 last  eleven  of  which  he  had  engrossed  the  whole  power  of  par- 
 liament, nor  deigned  to  call  them  to  the  exercise  of  their  privi- 
 leges in  the  state,  was  at  last  constrained,  by  the  necessity  of  his 
 affairs,  to  summon  his  parliament,  with  the  view  of  settling  the 
 alarming  disorders  of  the  nation.  The  long  parliament  accord- 
 ingly met  in  1640,  and  finding  every  thing  in  the  greatest  con- 
 fusion, both  in  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  departments,  they  re- 
 quested the  king  to  call  an  assembly  of  learned  divines,  to  de- 
 liberate on  the  measures  necessary  to  regulate  the  disorders, 
 and  quiet  the  animosities  that  existed  in  the  church.  His  ma- 
 jesty having  repeatedly  refused  to  grant  their  request,  and  the 
 matter  being  considered  urgent,  they  changed  their  request  in- 
 to an  ordinance  of  parliament,  and  called  an  assembly  of  di- 
 vines by  their  own  authority. 
 
 This  famous  assembly  met  in  Henry  VII.'s  chapel  in  West- 
 minster Abbey,  on  the  1st  of  July  1613,  when  the  ordinance  of 
 parliament  was  read,  which  declares  the  design  of  their  conven- 
 tion to  be  for  the  settlement  of  religion  and  church  government. 
 The  number  appointed  by  parliamont  were  about  one  hundred 
 and  twenty.  They  were  chosen  from  the  three  principal  reli- 
 gious denominations,  the  bishops,  presbyterians,  and  indepen- 
 dents. None  of  the  bishops  attended,  however,  because  the 
 king  had  denounced  the  assembly  as  an  unlawful  and  irregular 
 meeting.  The  members  did  not  appear  in  canonical  habits, 
 but  generally  in  black  clothes,  with  bands,  in  imitation  of  the 
 foreign   protestant  divines.     Numbers  of  the  ablest  divines  of 
 
WILLIAM  TWISSE.  43? 
 
 the  age  are  enrolled  in  the  list  of  this  venerable  body,  and  Dr. 
 Twisse,  the  subject  of  our  present  memoir,  was  appointed,  by 
 both  houses  of  parliament,  to  preside  as  their  prolocutor  *. 
 
 This  illustrious  divine  was  born  at  Spenham-land,  near  New- 
 bury in  Berkshire,  about  the  year  1575.  His  father  was  a  re- 
 spectable clothier,  and  had  him  educated  first  at  Winchester 
 school;  from  which,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  was  sent  to  New 
 college,  Oxford,  where  he  was  chosen  fellow.  Here  he  spent 
 sixteen  years,  and  by  the  most  assiduous  attention  to  his  studies, 
 acquired  an  extraordinary  proficiency  in  logic,  philosophy,  and 
 divinity.  His  profound  erudition  was  manifested  in  his  public 
 lectures  and  learned  disputations,  but  more  especially  by  his 
 correcting  the  works  of  the  celebrated  Bradwardine,  then  pub- 
 lishing by  Sir  Henry  Savile.  He  took  his  degree  of  arts  in 
 1604,  and,  much  about  this  time,  entered  into  holy  orders.  He 
 was  an  admired  and  popular  preacher;  and  though  some  con- 
 sidered his  sermons  too  scholastic,  he  was  greatly  followed  both 
 by  the  students  and  townsmen. 
 
 His  uncommon  fame  having  at  last  reached  the  court,  be  was 
 chosen  by  king  James  to  be  chaplain  to  lady  Elizabeth,  then 
 about  to  depart  to  the  Palatine.     With  this  appointment  he 
 cheerfully  complied,  and  accompanied  the  young  princess  to  that 
 foreign  court;  and  to  moderate  her  grief  at  leaving  her  native 
 land,  her  friends  and  her  acquaintances,  and  render  the  journey 
 both  profitable  and  pleasant,    he  expounded   some  portion  of 
 scripture  to  her  every  day.     He  dwelt  on  the  precarious  nature 
 of  all  sublunary  things,  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and  the  vast  im- 
 portance of  a  suitable  preparation  for  death;  and  had  so  fortify  - 
 ed  the  mind  of  this  pious  young  lady,  that  she  afterwards  met 
 the  greatest  adversities  with  courage  and  resolution.     For  this 
 amiable  princess  was  no  sooner  crowned  queen  of  Bohemia, 
 than  she  was  forced  to  flee  from  that  country,   though  the  pa- 
 trimony of  her  husband,  while  in  a  state  of  pregnancy,  and  re- 
 main an  exile  all  the  remainder  of  her  days.     Dr.  Twisse  did  not 
 remain,  however,  more  than  two  months  at  the  court  of  the  Pa- 
 latine, when  he  was  called  home  to  England,  to  the  great  grief 
 of  the  queen  and  prince,  her  husband,  who  expressed  his  great 
 concern  in  a  Latin  speech  at  his  departure.     On  his  arrival  in 
 England,  he  took  his  final  leave  of  the  court,  and  retired  to  a 
 country  village,  and  mean  house,   where  he  devoted  himself  to 
 those  profound  studies,  by  which  he  laid  the  foundation  of  thtse 
 rare  and  elaborate  works,    which  will  be  admired  by  pious  and 
 learned   men   to   the  latest   posterity.     Dr.  Tw  is>e.    about   this 
 time,  became  curate  of  Newbury,   near   the  place  of  his  birth] 
 
 '  It  was  thought  most  convenient  to  place  the  memoiri  of  the  distinguished  mem- 
 ben  oi'tlm  a-isrmblv  after  that  of  Dr.   1  vvis^e. 
 
438  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 where,  by  his  exemplary  life,  and  a  conscientious  discharge  of 
 his  ministerial  duties,  he  acquired  a  most  distinguished  reputa- 
 tion. In  this  retired  situation,  which  was  peculiarly  suited  to 
 his  taste,  he  lived  in  great  peace  and  comfort.  Secluded  from 
 the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  world,  here  his  whole  time  was  em- 
 ployed in  his  favourite  studies,  and  for  the  spiritual  advantage 
 of  his  flock.  He  had  no  taste  for  worldly  riches,  nor  ambition 
 for  ecclesiastical  preferment,  but  modestly  refused  them  when 
 offered  him.  Few  ecclesiastics  have  ever  been  more  anxious  to 
 obtain  church  preferment  than  Dr.  Twisse  was  to  avoid  it.  He 
 was  offered  the  provostship  of  Winchester  college,  and  pressed 
 to  accept  it.  He  was  also  entreated,  by  the  bishop  of  Winches- 
 ter, to  accept  of  a  prebend;  both  places  he  modestly  refused. 
 The  earl  of  Warwick  offered  him  a  more  valuable  living  than 
 that  of  Newbury;  which  at  first  he  agreed  to  accept,  providing 
 the  people  of  his  charge  could  be  furnished  with  a  suitable  pas- 
 tor. He  accordingly  waited  on  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
 requesting  his  favourable  approbation,  and  was  kindly  received. 
 His  lordship  granted  all  he  requested,  and  promised  to  make 
 mention  of  him  to  the  king,  as  a  pious  and  learned  divine,  and 
 no  puritan.  The  doctor,  however,  saw  through  the  snares  that 
 were  laid  for  him,  and  returned  to  his  charge  at  Newbury,  re- 
 solved to  remain  satisfied  where  he  was.  The  states  of  Frees- 
 land  invited  him  to  the  professor's  chair  in  the  university  of 
 Franeker,  and  he  was  pressed  to  accept  of  a  professor's  place 
 at  Oxford;  but  he  refused  them  both. 
 
 With  a  view  to  arrest  the  progress  of  puritanism  and  serious 
 religion,  which  were  making  alarming  encroachments  on  the 
 church,  king  James  introduced  a  Book  of  Sports,  for  the  amuse- 
 ment of  his  loving  subjects  on  the  Sabbath-day,  either  before  or 
 after  divine  service.  These  sports  consisted  in  dancing,  drink- 
 ing, leaping,  vaulting,  erecting  May-poles,  with  all  the  frolics 
 in  use  on  such  occasions,  with  a  variety  of  similar  amusements; 
 among  which  archery  held  a  conspicuous  place.  His  son, 
 Charles  I.,  pursuing  similar  views,  again  proclaimed  an  enlarg- 
 ed copy  of  said  book,  which  he  ordered  to  be  read  from  the  pul- 
 pits of  every  parish  in  the  kingdom,  under  the  pain  of  suspen- 
 sion and  deprivation.  Regardless  of  the  penalty,  Dr.  Twisse 
 refused  to  read  it,  and  even  ventured  to  declare  himself  de- 
 cidedly against  all  such  Sabbath  profanation.  Other  faith- 
 ful ministers  did  the  same;  for  which  they  suffered  the 
 penalty.  The  doctor,  however,  came  off  better  than  many 
 of  his  brethren,  who  were  suspended  from  their  ministry, 
 driven  out  of  the  kingdom,  or  committed  to  prison.  Ilis 
 refusal  to  read  the  proclamation  did  not  escape  the  notice  of 
 the  court;  but   the  king  ordered  the  bishops  to  take  no  notice 
 
WILLIAM  TWISSE.  439 
 
 of  the  circumstance,  but  pass  over  his  transgression.  His  ma- 
 jesty knew,  that  although  Dr.  Twisse  was  poor,  and  lived  in 
 an  obscure  situation,  his  fame  was  great  in  all  the  reformed 
 churches,  and  that  therefore  nothing  severe  could  he  done 
 against  him  without  becoming  a  public  reproach  to  themselves. 
 Dr.  Twisse  continued  to  exhibit  his  public  testimony  against 
 the  Book  of  Sports,  till  it  was  finally  ordered  to  be  burnt  by 
 the  hands  of  the  hangman,  on  the  5th  of  May  1643.  He  spar- 
 ed neither  king  nor  parliament,  but,  with  great  ingenuity,  turn- 
 ed this  their  own  act  against  themselves.  It  was  perhaps  on 
 account  of  his  spirited  opposition  to  the  measures  of  the  court 
 and  clergy,  that  Dr.  Prideaux  once  said,  "  That  the  bishops  of 
 England  little  consulted  their  own  credit,  in  not  appointing  Dr. 
 Twisse,  though  against  his  inclination,  to  some  splendid  eccle- 
 siastical dignity,  by  which,  though  they  should  not  succeed  in 
 drawing  him  over  to  their  party,  they  might  at  least  mitigate  or 
 mollify  the  popular  envy,  and  not  hear  themselves  exposed  to 
 scorn  by  the  curate  of  Newbury."  During  the  civil  wars, 
 prince  Rupert,  being  at  Newbury,  entertained  our  divine  very 
 courteously,  and  made  him  many  honourable  promises  if  he 
 would  forsake  the  puritans,  write  in  defence  of  the  royal 
 cause,  and  live  amongst  the  king's  party.  But  the  doctor  very 
 wisely,  and  very  politely,  declined  the  royal  invitation. 
 
 From  the  books  he  had  published,  particularly  his  controver- 
 sial works,  he  obtained  an  amazing  celebrity.  Here  his  talents 
 and  erudition  were  employed  on  his  favourite  subjects,  without 
 the  least  control,  and  with  unrivaled  success.  Amongst  his 
 numerous  antagonists  were  Dr.  Thomas  Jackson,  Mr  Henry 
 Mason,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Godwin,  a  man  of  great  learning,  and 
 celebrated  for  his  knowledge  in  antiquities.  He  next  encoun- 
 tered Mr  John  Goodwin,  the  celebrated  advocate  for  armini- 
 anism,  whom  he  is  said  to  have  refuted  with  great  learning  and 
 judgment.  His  next  contest  was  with  Dr  Cotton,  a  divine 
 whom  he  highly  esteemed,  and  whom  he  treated  with  great 
 gentleness.  He  published  a  very  learned  refutation  of  Dr  Pot- 
 ter's Survey  of  the  New  Platform  of  Predestination,  and  treat- 
 ed Dr.  Heylin  according  to  his  deserts,  in  his  Defence  of  the 
 Morality  of  the  Sabbath.  He  also  successfully  combated  the 
 famous  Arminius,  and  others,  in  defence  of  the  doctrines  of 
 grace.  His  answers  to  Dr.  Jackson  and  Arminius,  and  his 
 Riches  of  God's  Love,  when  first  published,  were  all  suppressed 
 by  the  arbitrary  appointment  of  bishop  Laud. 
 
 In  the  year  1640,  Dr.  Twisse  was  chosen  one  of  the  sub-com- 
 mittee, to  assist  the  committee  of  accommodation,  appointed  by 
 the  lords  for  considering  the  innovations  that  had  been  intro- 
 duced into  the  church,  and  to  promote  a  farther  reformation. 
 
440  MEMOIR  01 
 
 In  1643  he  was  nominated,  by  an  order  of  parliament,  prolocu- 
 tor to  the  assembly  of  divines,  who  met  at  Westminster,  by  an 
 ordinance  of  parliament,  to  settle  religion  and  the  government 
 of  the  church.  This  learned  assembly  was  opened  on  the  1st 
 of  July  1643,  in  Henry  the  VII's  chapel,  Westminster  Abbey? 
 where  both  Houses  of  parliament  attended.  On  this  rare  occa- 
 sion, Dr.  Twisse,  the  prolocutor,  preached  a  sermon,  wherein  he 
 warmly  exhorted  his  learned  auditory  to  a  faithful  discharge  of 
 their  duty,  in  promoting  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  honour  and 
 interest  of  his  church  and  people;  expressing  his  regret  that  these 
 proceedings  wanted  the  royal  assent,  but  was  in  hopes  it  might 
 yet  be  attained  in  due  time,  and  a  happy  union  re-established  be- 
 tween the  king,  his  parliament,  and  his  people.  Along  with 
 the  presbyterians  and  independents,  many  of  the  most  learned 
 of  the  episcopal  divines  were  also  nominated.  Archbishop 
 Usher,  bishops  Wastford,  Prideaux,  and  Brownrigg;  Drs. 
 Howldsworth,  Hammond,  Sanderson,  and  others,  had  been  ap- 
 pointed, but  refused  to  attend;  because  the  king,  by  his  pro- 
 clamation of  June  22d,  had  prohibited  the  assembly,  declaring 
 that  no  act  done  by  them  ought  to  be  received  by  his  subjects; 
 threatening,  moreover,  to  proceed  against  them  with  the  utmost 
 rigour  of  law. 
 
 None  were  permitted  to  enter  the  assembly  without  a  written 
 order  from  both  Houses  of  parliament.  They  met  every  law- 
 ful day,  with  the  exception  of  Saturday,  which  was  allowed  the 
 divines  to  prepare  for  preaching  on  the  Sabbath.  They  gene- 
 rally sat  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  two,  or  sometimes  three 
 in  the  afternoon;  which  sederunts  the  prolocutor  began  and 
 ended  with  prayer.  About  sixty  of  the  members  were  gene- 
 rally present.  They  were  formed  into  three  committees,  each 
 of  which  took  a  portion  of  the  work,  and  prepared  it  for  public 
 discussion  in  the  assembly.  The  committees  had  their  senti- 
 ments drawn  up  in  distinct  propositions,  supported  by  texts  of 
 scripture;  which  propositions,  as  they  came  in  order,  were  read 
 to  the  assembly  by  one  of  the  scribes,  together  with  the  texts 
 by  which  they  were  supported;  whereupon  the  assembly  de- 
 bated with  much  gravity,  learning,  and  readiness.  "  I  am  sur- 
 prised (says  Mr  Baillie,  one  of  the  Scotch  commissioners  to  this 
 assembly)  at  the  very  accurate  extemporanious  replies  made  by 
 many  of  the  members.  Their  speeches  are  often  long,  and  al- 
 ways very  learned.  They  study  the  subject  well,  and  prepare 
 their  speeches;  but  withal  they  are  exceeding  prompt  and  well 
 spoken."  None  were  called  up  to  deliver  their  sentiments; 
 they  rose  of  their  own  accord,  and  were  heard,  without  inter- 
 ruption, as  long  as  they  pleased  to  go  on:  and  when  the  propo- 
 sition was  supposed  to  have  been  sufficiently  discussed,  there 
 was  a  general  cry  for  the  question." 
 
WILLIAM  TWISSE.  441 
 
 When  the  winter  came  on,   the  assemhly  removed  to  the 
 Jerusalem  chamber,  a  large  and  elegant  room  in  Westminster 
 Abbey,  which  had  been  fitted  up  for  their  reception.     At  the 
 upper  end  of  the  room  there  was  a  chair,  set  on  a  frame,  about 
 a  foot  higher  than  the  rest,  for  Dr.  Twisse,  before  which  stood 
 two  chairs  on  the  floor  for   the  assessors,  in  front  of  whom  sat 
 the  clerks.     The  Scotch  commissioners  were  seated  on  the  pro- 
 locutor's right  hand,  who,  on  their  entering  the  assembly,  wel- 
 comed  them   in   a   long   and   very  appropriate   speech.     Dr. 
 Twisse,  on  account  of  his  age  and  manifold  infirmities,  was  not 
 long  able  to  attend  upon  the  weighty  concerns  of  this  assembly. 
 He  had  been  long  grieved  to  behold  the  contentions  between 
 the  king  and  parliament,  which  he  declared  would  at  last  ruin 
 both;  and  often  expressed  a  wish  that  the  fire  of  contention 
 might  be  extinguished,   if  it  were  even  with  his  blood.     The 
 great  contentions  in  the  assembly,  between  the  presbyterians 
 and  independents,  greatly  disturbed  the  serenity  of  his  mind, 
 and  impaired  his  bodily  health.     For  though  his  constitution 
 was  good,   and  his  disposition  cheerful,  through  age  his  body 
 had  become  heavy  and  rather  burdensome;  so  that,  while  warm- 
 ly impressing  the  importance  of  divine  truth  on  the  minds  of 
 his  hearers,  he  fell  down  in  the  pulpit,  and  was  carried  home 
 to  his  bed,  where  he  languished  for  about  twelve  months.     Dur- 
 ing his  long  illness,   he  was  visited  by  people  of  all  ranks,  who 
 were  lovers  either  of  religion  or  learning,  to  whom  he  gave  re- 
 markable evidence  of  his  faith,  patience,  and  christian  resigna- 
 tion under  affliction.      By  the  civil  war  he  had  been  driven 
 from  his  curacy  and  the  people  of  his  charge  at  Newbury,  and 
 deprived  of  all  his  property  by  the  royal  army;  insomuch  that, 
 when  a  deputation  from  the  assembly  visited  him,  they  report- 
 ed that  he  laboured  under  great  affliction  and  extreme  poverty. 
 Upon  this  report  the  parliament  took  his  case  into  considera- 
 tion, and  passed  an  order,  December  4th,  1645,  that  one  hun- 
 dred pounds  should  be  given  him  out  of  the  public  treasury. 
 Almost  the  last  words  Dr.  Twisse  uttered  were,  "  I  shall  now,  at 
 last,  have  leisure  enough  to  prosecute  my  studies  to  all  eternity." 
 He  died  the  20th  July  1646,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his 
 age.     The  whole  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Assembly  of  Di- 
 vines, paid  their  respects  to  his  memory,  by  following  his  re- 
 mains to  the  grave  in  one  sorrowful  procession.      Dr.  Robert 
 Harris  preached  his  funeral  sermon  from  Joshua  i.  2.  "  Moses, 
 my  servant,  is  dead."     He  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
 where  his  body  was  only  permitted  to  rest  till  the  restoration, 
 when,  by  orders  of  Charles  II.,  his  bones  were  disinterred,  and, 
 together  with  the  bodies  of  many  others,  eminent  both  in  church 
 and  state,  thrown  into  a  pit,   dug  for  the  purpose,  in  St.  Mar- 
 
 10  3  k 
 
442  MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  TVVISSE. 
 
 garet's  church-yard.  A  wretched  specimen  of  the  fine  feelings, 
 and  delicate  sensibility,  with  which  the  panegyrists  of  this  royal 
 violator  of  the  tombs  lias  attempted  to  laud  his  memory  !  The 
 savages  of  New  Zealand  would  scorn  such  contemptible  and 
 unworthy  proceedings;  not  even  the  daring  and  celebrated 
 Admiral  Blake,  who  raised  the  naval  reputation  of  his  country 
 above  all  former  example,  and  whose  services  to  the  English 
 nation  will  stand  as  a  monument  of  his  renown  to  the  latest 
 posterity,  could  escape  this  brutal  and  malevolent  indignity. 
 A  considerable  number  shared  the  same  fate;  and  had  not  an  ex- 
 pression of  the  public  indignation  induced  the  king  to  more 
 prudential  measures,  there  is  no  saying  how  far  these  barba- 
 rities might  have  been  carried  on. 
 
 Dr.  Twisse  having  thus  left  his  family  in  indigent  circum- 
 stances, the  parliament  voted  one  thousand  pounds  to  be  given 
 to  his  children.  Whether  they  ever  received  the  money,  the 
 confusions  of  that  period  leave  rather  doubtful.  Mr  Clark 
 says,  "  He  was  greatly  admired  for  his  learning,  subtile  wit, 
 and  correct  judgment,  integrity,  modesty,  and  self-denial." 
 Fuller  calls  him  a  divine  of  great  abilities,  piety,  learning,  and 
 moderation;  and  Wood  says  his  plan  of  preaching  was  good, 
 his  disputations  were  accounted  better;  but  his  pious  life  was 
 esteemed  the  best  of  all.  All  writers  against  arminianism  have 
 made  honourable  mention  of  his  works,  and  acknowledged  him 
 to  have  been  the  mightiest  man  that  age  produced  on  these  con- 
 troversies; and  the  most  learned  of  his  adversaries  have  acknow- 
 ledged, that  there  was  nothing  extant,  on  the  arminian  contro- 
 versy, more  full  and  accurate  than  what  is  to  be  found  in  his 
 works. 
 
 His  works  are,  1 .  A  Discovery  of  Dr.  Jackson's  Vanities. — 
 2.  Vindicioe  Gratiae,  Potestatis  et  Providential  Die. — 3.  Dis- 
 sertatia  Scientia  Media  Tribus  Libris  Absoluta. — 4.  Disser- 
 tkmes. — 5.  Of  the  Morality  of  the  Fourth  Command. — 6.  A 
 Treatise  of  Reprobation,  in  Answer  to  Mr  John  Cotton. — 7. 
 Animadvertiones  ad  Jacobi  Arminii  Collat  cum  Frank  Junio 
 et  Job  Arnold  Corvin. — 8.  Predestinatione  et  Gratia. — 9.  The 
 Doubting  Conscience  Resolved. — 10.  The  Riches  of  God's 
 Love  to  the  Vessels  of  Mercy,  consistent  with  his  Absolute 
 Hatred  or  Reprobation  of  the  Vessels  of  Wrath. — 11.  Two 
 Tracts,  in  Answer  to  Dr.  H.  Hammond. — 12.  The  Synod  of 
 Dort  and  Ares  Reduced  to  Practice,  with  an  Answer. — 13.  The 
 Sufficiency  of  the  Scriptures  to  Determine  all  Matters  of  Faith. 
 — 14.  The  Christian  Sabbath  Defended  against  the  crying  evil 
 of  the  Anti-sabbatarians  of  our  age. — 15.  Fifteen  Letters,  pub- 
 lished in  Mede's  Works,  with  numerous  Manuscripts  beside. 
 
443 
 
 JEREMIAH  BURROUGHS,  A.  ML 
 
 This  amiable  divine  was  born  1599,  and  educated  at  Cam- 
 bridge, from  which  university,  as  well  as  from  the  kingdom,  he 
 was  forced  to  retire  on  account  of  his  non-conformity.     Having 
 finished  his  studies  in  the  university,  he  entered  on  the  minis- 
 terial work,  and  was  chosen  colleague  to  Mr  Edmund  Calamy, 
 at  Bury  St.  Edmund's.     In  the  year  1631  he  became  rector  of 
 Titshall  in  Norfolk  county;  but  upon  the  publication  of  bishop 
 Wren's  Visitation  Articles,  in  1 633,  he  was  suspended,  and  de- 
 prived of  his  living.     From  the  intolerable  oppression  of  the 
 ruling  ecclesiastics,  Mr  Burroughs  sheltered  himself  for  some 
 time  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  the  patriotic  earl  of  Warwick ; 
 but  the  noble  earl,  unable  to  afford  him  any  longer  protection, 
 he  soon  found  it  necessary  to  retire  into  Holland,   from  the 
 persecution     that    raged    in    England    against     the    puritans. 
 After  his  arrival  in  Holland  he  settled  at  Rotterdam,  where  he 
 became  teacher  to  the  congregational  church,  of  which  Mr  Wil- 
 liam Bridge  was  the  pastor.     He  is  charged  with  having  at- 
 tempted to  bribe  the  bishop's  chancellor  with  an  offer  of  forty 
 pounds,  after  being  suspended,  and  of  sailing  into  Holland,  and 
 returning,  disguised  in  the  habit  of  a  soldier,  with  a  great  quan- 
 tity of  libellous  pamphlets  for  circulation  in  England;  on  which 
 account  he  is  said  to  have  been  deprived  for  his  non-residence. 
 Mr  Edwards,  however,  has  given  a  very  different  account  of 
 this  affair;  and  says,  that  for  speaking  against  the  Scotch  war,  in  a 
 company  which  he  could  not  trust,   he  fled  to  Rotterdam  for 
 fear  of  the  consequences,  at  which  he  (Mr  Edwards)  greatly 
 stumbled.     Animadverting  on  this  misrepresentation,  Mr  Bur- 
 roughs observes,   "  That  had  Mr  Edwards  conferred  with  him 
 on  that  matter,  before  he  put  his  bo©k  to  the  press,  as  he  had  re- 
 quested him  to  do,  he  would  have  given  him  such  complete  satis- 
 faction respecting  his  leaving  the  kingdom,  that  he  neither  could 
 have  stumbled  himself,  nor  caused  others  to  stumble.  I  am  so  fully 
 clear  in  that  business,  says  he,  that  I  wiped  oft',  before  my  lord 
 of  Warwick,  every  thing  that  might  have  the  appearance  of  in- 
 discretion, not  by  my  own  testimony,  but  by  that  of  two  gen- 
 tlemen,  which,  beside  the  accuser,  were  all  that  were  in  com- 
 pany while  that  affair  was  spoken  of.     The  truth  is,  no  such 
 speeches  were  made.     That  I  fled  to  Rotterdam,  in  all  haste,  is 
 equally  uncandid  and  untrue.     It  was  four  or  five  months  after 
 this  accusation  before  I  went  to  Rotterdam.     Had  not  the  prc- 
 latical    faction   been    incensed    against   me,    for    standing   out 
 against  their  superstitions,   I  could  have  stood  to  what   I  had 
 vpoken,  as  I  only  put  some  queries,  hut  affirmed  nothing.     But 
 
444  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 I  knew  how  dangerous  the  times  were,  and  what  the  power  of 
 the  prelatical  party  at  that  time  was :    That  they  were  extreme- 
 ly incensed  against  me,  and  that,  in  my  case,  innocence  itself 
 could  afford  me  no  security.     I  had  been  deprived  of  my  living 
 by  bishop  Wren,  where,  I  believe,  I  suffered  as  great  a  brunt  as 
 most  of  those  who  remained  in  England ;  though  Mr  Edwards 
 has  been  pleased  to  say  we  fled  that  we  might  be  safe  ashore, 
 while  our  brethren  were  enduring  the  tempest  at  sea.     Four  or 
 five  months  having  thus  elapsed  since  my  accusation,  I  began 
 to  think  all  would  blow  over,  when  my  lord  of  Warwick,  fall- 
 ing sick  in  London,  sent  for  me,  with  whom  I  remained  three 
 weeks,  going  freely  up  and  down  the  city.    My  lord,  who  knew 
 the  whole  affair,  was  also  of  opinion  that  the  storm  was  over; 
 and  when  I  was  thus  in  hopes  that  I  had  been  set  free  from  my 
 accuser,  a  messenger  from  Rotterdam  arrived,  with  a  call  to  me 
 in  writing,  signed  by  the  elders,  and  many  other  hands,  in 
 the  name  of  the  church;  upon  which  we  agreed  upon  the  time 
 when,  and  the  place  where,  we  should  meet  in  Norfolk,  to  make 
 a  full  conclusion,  and  prepare  for  our  voyage." 
 
 Upon  Mr  Burroughs'  arrival  at  Rotterdam,  he  was  cordially 
 received  by  the  church,  where  he  continued  a  zealous  and  faith- 
 ful labourer  for  several  years,  and  gained  a  very  high  reputa- 
 tion among  the  people.  After  the  commencement  of  the  civil 
 war,  when  the  power  of  the  bishops  was  no  longer  dangerous, 
 he  returned  to  England,  says  Granger,  not  to  preach  sedition, 
 but  peace;  for  which  he  earnestly  prayed  and  contended.  As 
 a  divine,  Mr  Burroughs  was  greatly  honoured  and  esteemed, 
 and  became  a  most  popular  and  admired  preacher.  He  was 
 chosen  by  the  congregations  of  Stepney  and  Cripplegate,  Lon- 
 don, at  that  time  accounted  two  of  the  largest  congregations  in 
 England.  Mr  Burroughs  preached  at  Stepney  at  seven  o'clock 
 in  the  morning,  and  Mr  William  Greenhill  at  three  in  the 
 afternoon.  These  two  men,  whom  Wood  stigmatizes  with  the 
 name  of  notorious  schismatics  and  independents,  were  denomi- 
 nated, by  Hugh  Peters,  the  morning  and  evening  stars  of 
 Stepney. 
 
 Mr  Burroughs  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines, 
 and  wag  one  of  the  dissenting  brethren,  but  a  divine  of  great 
 wisdom  and  moderation.  He  united,  with  Mr  Thomas  Good- 
 win, Philip  Nye,  and  Sydrach  Sympson,  in  publishing  their 
 Apologetical  Narration,  in  defence  of  their  own  peculiar  senti- 
 ments. The  authors  of  this  work,  who  had  all  been  exiles  for 
 their  religion,  to  speak  in  their  own  language,  consulted  the 
 scriptures  without  prejudice.  They  considered  the  word  of 
 God  as  impartially  as  men  of  flesh  and  blood  are  likely  to  do, 
 in  any  juncture  of  time;  the  jJacc  they  went  to,  the  condition 
 
JEREMIAH  BURROUGHS.  445 
 
 they  were  in,  and  the  company  they  were  with,  affording  no 
 temptation  to  any  bias  whatever.  They  assert,  that  every  con- 
 gregation has  power  within  itself  sufficient  to  regulate  and  go- 
 vern all  religious  concerns,  and  is  subject  to  no  external  spirit- 
 ual authority  whatever.  The  principles  upon  which  they 
 founded  their  church  government,  were  to  confine  themselves, 
 in  every  particular,  to  what  the  scriptures  prescribe,  without 
 the  least  regard  to  either  the  opinions  or  practice  of  men,  leav- 
 ing themselves  room  for  alterations  upon  receiving  additional 
 light  from  the  word  of  God. 
 
 In  conformity  with  these  principles,  Mr  Burroughs  united 
 with  his  brethren  in  writing  and  publishing  their  reasons 
 against  certain  propositions  concerning  presbyterial  government. 
 In  1645  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  committee  of  accommoda- 
 tion, and  was  especially  serviceable  in  their  important  delibera- 
 tions. He  possessed  uncommon  candour  and  moderation;  and 
 during  their  debates,  he  made  a  declaration  in  the  name  of  the 
 independents,  "  That  unless  their  congregations  could  be  exempt- 
 ed from  the  coercive  power  of  the  classes,  and  left  to  govern 
 themselves  in  their  own  way,  so  long  as  they  conducted  them- 
 selves with  propriety  toward  the  civil  magistrate,  they  were  re- 
 solved to  suffer,  or  retire  to  some  other  place  of  the  world, 
 where  they  could  enjoy  the  liberty  of  conscience.  For,  said  he, 
 so  long  as  men  continue  to  think  there  can  be  no  religious 
 peace  without  forcing  all  into  one  opinion;  so  long  as  they 
 consider  the  sword  an  ordinance  of  God  to  determine  all  reli- 
 gious controversy;  that  fines,  imprisonment,  and  persecution, 
 are  the  only  means  for  reclaiming  the  disobedient;  and  that 
 there  is  no  middle  course  between  an  exact  conformity  and  a 
 general  confusion — there  must,  of  necessity,  be  abase  subjection 
 of  men's  consciences  to  the  most  unsufferable  slavery,  a  sup- 
 pression of  much  truth,  and  the  whole  christian  world  remain 
 a  scene  of  animosity  and  universal  discord." 
 
 After  his  return  from  exile,  Mr  Burroughs  never  gathered  a 
 separate  congregation,  nor  accepted  of  any  parochial  benefice, 
 but  continued  to  exhaust  his  strength  by  constant  preaching, 
 and  other  ministerial  services,  for  the  advantage  of  the  church 
 of  Christ.  He  was  of  a  meek  and  amiable  spirit,  yet  had  he 
 some  bitter  enemies,  who,  to  their  own  disgrace,  poured  upon 
 him  the  bitterest  falsehoods.  Mr  Edwards,  whose  pen  was  often 
 dipt  in  gall,  heaps  upon  him  many  reproachful  and  unfounded 
 reflections.  This  peevish  and  bigoted  writer  warmly  censures 
 Mr  Burroughs  for  propagating  his  own  sentiments  on  church 
 government,  and  even  for  pleading  for  a  general  toleration 
 but  our  divine,  with  his  usual  candour,  repelled  the  foulM. 
 charges,  proved  his  own  innocence,,  and  exposed  the  malevolence 
 oi'  his  enemy. 
 
446  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 The  last  subject  on  which  Mr  Burroughs  preached,  and 
 which  lie  also  published,  was  his  Irenicum,  or  an  Attempt  to 
 Heal  the  Divisions  among  Christian  Professors.  His  incessant 
 labours,  and  the  grief  occasioned  by  the  distractions  of  the 
 times,  greatly  contributed  to  hasten  his  end.  He  died  of  a  con- 
 sumption, November  14th,  1646,  in  the  forty-seventh  year  of 
 his  age.  Granger  says,  "  He  was  a  man  of  learning,  candour, 
 and  modesty;  in  his  life  irreproachable,  and  highly  exemplary."' 
 Fuller  has  classed  him  with  the  learned  writers  of  Emanuel 
 college,  Cambridge.  Dr.  Williams  says,  "  That  his  exposition 
 of  Hosea  is  a  pleasing  specimen  of  the  popular  mode  of  preach- 
 ing, and  serves  to  show  with  what  facility  the  preachers  of  his 
 time  applied  the  scriptures  to  the  various  cases  of  their  hearers 
 in  their  expository  discourses.  He  published  several  of  his 
 writings  while  he  lived,  and  his  friends  sent  forth  many  others 
 after  his  death,  most  of  them  were  highly  esteemed  by  all  pious 
 christians." 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Moses*  Choice. — 2.  Sion's  Joy,  a  Sermon, 
 preached  to  the  Honourable  House  of  Commons  at  their  Pub- 
 lic Thanksgiving,  September  7th,  1641. — 3.  An  Exposition  of 
 the  Prophecy  of  Hosea. — 4.  The  Lord's  Heart  Opened. — 5. 
 A  Vindication  of  Mr  Burroughs  against  Mr  Edward's  Foul  As- 
 persions, in  his  spreading  Gangarena,  and  his  angry  Antapolo- 
 gia,  concluding  with  a  brief  Declaration  of  what  the  Indepen- 
 dents would  have. — 6.  Irenicum,  to  the  Lovers  of  Truth  and 
 Peace. — 7.  Two  Treatises,  the  first  of  Earthly-mindedness,  the 
 second  of  Conversing  in  Heaven,  and  Walking  with  God. — 8. 
 An  Exposition  of  the  4th,  5th,  6th,  and  7th  chapters  of  Hosea. 
 
 9.  An  Exposition  upon  the  8th  and  9th  chapters  of  Hosea. — 
 
 10.  The  rare  Jewel  of  Christian  Contentment. — 11.  Gospel 
 Worship. — 12.  Gospel  Conversation. — 13.  The  Evil  of  Evils, 
 or  the  exceeding  Sinfulness  of  Sin. — 14.  The  Saint's  Treasury. 
 15.  Of  Hope  and  Faith,  and  the  Saint's  Walk  by  Faith.— 16. 
 Reconciliation,  or  Christ's  Trumpet  of  Peace. — 17.  The  Saint's 
 Happiness. — 18.  A  Treatise  of  Holy  Carriage  in  Evil  Times. — 
 
 19.  True  Blessedness,  which  consists  in  the  Pardon  of  Sin. — 
 
 20.  Four  useful  Discourses. 
 
 CORNELIUS  BURGESS,  D.D. 
 
 This  active  and  zealous  puritan  divine  was  descended  from 
 the  Burgesses  of  Batcom  in  Somersetshire,     lie  had  his  educa- 
 tion at  Oxford.      In  what  college  he  first  entered  is  uncertain, 
 however,  on  the  erection  of  Wadham  college  he  translated  him- 
 elf  thither,  and  there  took  hie  degree  of  arts.     Afterwards  he 
 
CORNELIUS  BURGESS.  447 
 
 removed  to  Lincoln  college,  where  he  received  holy  orders, 
 and  had  some  cure  bestowed  upon  him;  which,  according  to 
 Wood,  seems  to  have  been  the  rectory  of  Magnus  church,  Lon- 
 don, or  the  vicarage  of  Watford  in  Hertfordshire,  or  probably 
 both  these  places.  In  the  beginning  of  Charles'  Ps.  reign,  he 
 became  one  of  his  chaplains  in  ordinary,  and  in  1627  he  took 
 his  degrees  in  divinity.  In  consequence  of  his  opposition  to  the 
 ceremonies,  and  other  innovations  daily  introducing  into  the 
 church  by  bishop  Laud  and  his  intolerant  faction,  he  was 
 greatly  harassed  by  the  court  of  high  commission,  where  he 
 was  charged,  in  1622,  with  having  administered  the  sacrament 
 to  some  of  the  people  sitting,  and  afterwards  for  having  refused 
 to  read  the  common  prayer  in  his  surplice  and  hood.  In  1635 
 he  preached  a  Latin  sermon  to  the  London  ministers  in  Alph- 
 age  church,  by  the  appointment  of  the  governors  of  Zion  col- 
 lege. In  this  sermon  he  warmly  urged  all  possible  diligence  in 
 preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  asserting,  that  it  was  the 
 bounden  duty,  even  of  the  bishops  themselves,  to  put  their  hand 
 to  this  important  branch  of  the  public  service  of  God,  in  imita- 
 tion of  the  primitive  bishops;  of  whom  it  is  recorded,  to  their 
 honour,  that  they  were  to  be  found  more  frequently  in  the  pul- 
 pit than  in  the  palaces  of  princes,  more  occupied  as  ambassadors 
 of  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  than  in  the  embassies  of 
 earthly  potentates ;  quoting,  at  the  same  time,  an  old  canon  of 
 the  sixth  general  council,  in  which  bishops  are  enjoined  to 
 preach  often,  at  least  every  Lord's  day,  or  to  be  canonically  ad- 
 monished for  such  neglect;  whereupon,  if  they  reform  not,  it 
 was  farther  ordained,  that  they  be  excommunicated  or  deposed. 
 The  import  of  this  sermon  having  been  reported  to  the  arch- 
 bishop of  Canterbury,  he  complained  to  the  king;  upon  which 
 the  doctor  was  summoned  before  the  court  of  high  commission, 
 where  articles  were  exhibited  against  him,  to  the  effect  that 
 lie  was  disaffected  to  the  book  of  common  prayer,  the  ceremo- 
 nies, and  also  to  the  government  of  the  church  by  bishops,  &c. 
 besides,  having  charged  the  prelates  with  conniving  at,  and  en- 
 couraging the  propagation  of,  arminianism,  and  the  restoration 
 of  popery;  but,  above  all,  with  having  insinuated  an  accusation 
 against  the  bishops  for  their  neglecting  to  preach  often,  as  the 
 primitive  bishops  are  said  to  have  done : — For  these,  and  his 
 non-conforming  sentiments,  the  ecclesiastical  rulers  were  mad 
 against  him,  and  their  party  everywhere  cried  out,  that  his  con- 
 duct merited  the  highest  censures  of  the  church.  His  answers 
 to  the  charges  brought  against  him  were  so  powerful,  however, 
 aud  his  protestation  annexed  to  his  sermon,  wherein  he  declares 
 his  conviction,  that  he  had  done  or  said  nothing  but  what  he 
 was  in  duty  bound  to  perform;  and  that,  under  that  conviction, 
 
448  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 he  was  determined  to  stand  by  every  sentence  he  had  uttered 
 in  the  sermon  alluded  to,  and  defend  the  same  against  all  oppo- 
 sers,  even  unto  death.  He  delivered  a  copy  of  this  sermon  and 
 protestation  to  archbishop  Laud,  who,  with  more  than  his  usual 
 moderation,  let  the  affair  drop.  Dr.  Burgess  possessed  the  spi- 
 rited and  manly  character  with  which  our  reforming  forefathers 
 were  so  eminently  endowed;  and  his  zeal,  activity,  and  un- 
 daunted resolution  in  the  service  of  the  church,  had  been  mani- 
 fested on  many  important  occasions. 
 
 The  bishops,  at  this  time,  were  extremely  indifferent  about 
 preaching,  if  not  strongly  set  against  it;  and  the  conforming 
 clergy,  in  general,  were  most  remiss  in  this  part  of  their  cleri- 
 eal  duty;  nor  could  it  well  be  otherwise,  when  the  prelates  were 
 so  averse  to  this  mode  of  instruction,  that  one  of  them,  in  deri- 
 sion, compared  the  minister  that  preached  twice  on  a  Sabbath, 
 to  Virgil's  cow,  that  came  twice  a-day  to  the  milking  pail. 
 Those  ministers,  however,  who  considered  the  importance  of 
 their  office,  and  were  zealous  for  the  truths  of  the  gospel  and 
 the  salvation  of  men,  continued  fearlessly  to  do  their  duty  at 
 every  hazard,  and  were  much  encouraged,  about  this  time,  by 
 many  of  the  leading  men  in  the  kingdom,  particularly  in  both 
 Houses  of  Parliament;  by  which  means  the  majority  of  the  na- 
 tion were  become  cold  to  the  episcopal  government,  and  warm- 
 ly attached  to  the  presbyterian  or  congregational  mode  of  disci- 
 pline. 
 
 When  the  long  parliament  met  on  November  3d,  1640,  both 
 Houses  petitioned  the  king  to  appoint  a  fast,  that  they  might 
 solemnly  implore  the  Divine  Majesty  for  a  blessing  on  their 
 counsels;  which  fast  was  observed  on  the  17th  of  the  same 
 month,  and  Dr.  Burgess  and  Mr  Marshall  were  appointed  to 
 preach  before  the  House  of  Commons;  on  which  occasion,  we 
 are  informed,  that  the  service  of  the  day  continued  for  seven 
 hours.  Wood  says,  that  "Dr.  Burgess,  Stephen  Marshall,  Ed- 
 mund Calamy,  and  others,  on  the  approach  of  the  troubles  of 
 those  times,  first  whispered  in  their  conventicles,  and  after- 
 wards publicly  preached,  that  it  was  lawful,  in  defence  of  reli- 
 gion, for  subjects  to  take  up  arms  against  their  sovereign;  which 
 doctrine  being  also  admitted  by  the  elders,  the  people  of  Lon- 
 don rushed  violently  into  rebellion,  and  became  pliable  tools  in 
 the  hand  of  the  faction  in  parliament,  to  raise  tumults,  make 
 outcries  for  justice,  call  for  innocent  blood,  subscribe  and  pre- 
 fer petitions  against  the  holy  liturgy  and  the  hierarchy;  and  es- 
 pecially, if  Dr.  Burgess  but  held  up  his  finger  to  his  myrmidons, 
 to  strike  both  at  root  and  branch  of  the  church  of  England." 
 The  earl  of  Clarendon  also  says,  "  That  the  archbishop  of  Can- 
 terbury never  had  so  powerful  an  influence  over  the  counsels 
 
CORNELIUS  BURGESS.  449 
 
 at  court,  as  Dr.  Burgess  and  Mr  Marshall  had  over  the  houses 
 of  parliament."  That  Dr.  Burgess  and  Mr  Marshall  were  very 
 active  in  the  cause  of  parliament  during  the  civil  war,  is  un- 
 doubtedly true.  They  encouraged  taking  up  arms  in  defence 
 of  the  civil  rights  of  the  subject,  and  that  religious  freedom, 
 without  which  no.  conscientious  christian  could  enjoy  even 
 his  civil  privileges;  and  this  at  a  period,  when  the  arbitrary 
 decrees  of  the  star-chamber,  and  the  cruel  and  bigoted  man- 
 dates of  the  court  of  high  commission,  were  become  insupport- 
 able, while  the  will  of  the  sovereign  was  substituted  in  place  of 
 the  constitutional  laws  of  the  realm,  and  no  alternative  left  but 
 opposition  or  slavery.  That  ever  they  concurred  in  those  after 
 measures,  that  led  to  the  death  of  the  king  and  the  dissolution 
 of  the  constitution,  even  their  enemies  have  never  been  able  to 
 make  good.  Mr  Marshall  has  published  a  defence  of  the  part  he 
 took  in  the  civil  war,  and  Dr.  Burgess  has  also  published  an  ac- 
 count of  his  principles  and  conduct  during  that  distressing  pe- 
 riod, which  Mr  Calamy  considers  highly  worthy  of  being  preserv- 
 ed for  the  benefit  of  posterity. 
 
 In  1641  Dr  Burgess  delivered  an  animated  speech  in  the 
 House  of  Commons  against  deans  and  chapters.  Their  aboli- 
 tion was  warmly  disputed  in  the  House,  and  that  their  revenues 
 ought  to  be  applied  to  more  necessary  purposes.  This  greatly 
 alarmed  the  cathedral  men,  who,  in  consulting  their  own  safety, 
 agreed  to  send  a  divine  from  every  cathedral  in  England  to 
 solicit  their  friends  in  parliament  in  behalf  of  their  several  foun- 
 dations. Petitions  were  also  forwarded  from  the  universities 
 of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The  deputies  from  the  cathedrals 
 drew  up  a  petition,  praying  to  be  heard  by  counsel ;  but  were 
 informed,  that  if  they  had  any  thing  to  offer  on  the  subject, 
 they  should  appear  and  plead  their  cause  themselves.  They 
 therefore  selected  Dr.  John  Hackett,  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's, 
 for  their  counsel,  who,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  House, 
 made  an  elaborate  speech  in  their  behalf;  wherein  he  chiefly 
 insisted  on  the  topics  of  the  Oxford  address,  urging,  that  cathe- 
 drals were  well  calculated  to  supply  the  defects  of  private  prayer: 
 That  they  were  highly  serviceable  for  the  advancement  of 
 learning,  and  the  training  of  young  men  for  the  defence  of  the 
 church:  That  their  loss  would  be  severely  felt,  and  singularly 
 prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  religion,  but  highly  gratifying  to 
 its  enemies.  In  conclusion,  he  put  them  in  mind  that,  at  the 
 reformation,  preaching  first  began  in  the  cathedrals;  drew 
 their  attention  to  the  antiquity  of  these  structures,  and  the 
 many  thousands  maintained  by  them;  their  endowments,  as 
 greatly  encouraging  industry  and  virtue:  That  they  were  very 
 beneficial  to  the  crown,  paying  into  the  exchequer,  in  fir^t  fruits 
 
 17  '      3i 
 
460  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  tenths,  in  a  larger  proportion  tlian  other  corporations:  And, 
 finally,  reminding  the  House,  that  these  sacred  edifices  and  es- 
 tates were  consecrated  to  God,  and  barred  alienation  with 
 the  most  dreadful  of  all  imprecations.  Dr.  Burgess  replied, 
 and  pointed  out  their  unprofitableness,  and  the  egregious  folly 
 of  spending  such  immense  revenues,  for  that  which,  in  many 
 cases,  was  worse  than  useless.  He  complained,  that  the  lives  of 
 their  singing  men  were  debauched;  that  their  conversation  was 
 a  disgrace  to  religion  and  christian  morality;  and  that  their  ex- 
 ample was  like  a  contaminating  pestilence,  or  a  mildew  that  blast- 
 ed the  opening  buds  of  virtue  and  religion.  Having,  at  great 
 length,  replied  to  every  particular  of  Dr.  Hackett's  speech,  he  said, 
 in  conclusion,  that  though,  he  apprehended,  it  was  obviously  ne- 
 cessary to  apply  the  revenues  of  the  cathedrals  to  better  purposes, 
 yet  he  held  it  by  no  means  lawful  to  alienate  them  from  public 
 and  pious  uses,  or  convert  them  to  the  profit  of  individuals.  He 
 was  a  strenuous  advocate  for  reformation,  at  this  critical  junc- 
 ture, both  in  church  and  state.  The  arbitrary  measures  of  the 
 government,  and  the  cruel  intolerance  of  the  bishops,  had,  dur- 
 ing tlic  last  ten  years,  wonderfully  altered  the  sentiments  of  the 
 people  with  regard  to  both.  This  parliament,  therefore,  had 
 been  elected  with  a  view  to  the  redress  of  the  public  complaints, 
 which  were  pouring  into  the  Commons  from  every  quarter; 
 and  the  majority  being  of  reforming  sentiments,  these  com- 
 plaints were  readily  attended  to,  and  the  victims  of  politics  and 
 religion  were,  in  great  numbers,  relieved  from  prison  and  per- 
 secution. 
 
 Dr.  Burgess  was  chosen  one  of  those  pacificators,  who  met 
 in  the  Jerusalem  chamber  at  Westminster,  1641,  on  purpose  to 
 accommodate  the  differences  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  They 
 consulted  together  for  six  several  days,  but  failed  in  compromis- 
 ing their  differences.  He  was  frequently  appointed  to  preach 
 before  parliament,  particularly  the  House  of  Commons;  and 
 being  much  approved  for  his  zeal,  fortitude,  and  fidelity,  and 
 admirably  adapted  to  the  nature  of  the  military  service,  he  was 
 selected  by  Essex,  commander  of  the  parliamentary  forces,  as 
 chaplain  to  his  regiment  of  horsemen.  He  was  also  nominated 
 a  member  of  the  Westminster  assembly  of  divines,  and,  together 
 with  Mr  John  White,  chosen  assessor,  to  supply  the  place  of 
 the  prolocutor  in  case  of  his  absence  or  indisposition.  On  the 
 first  of  September,  when  the  solemn  league  and  covenant  was 
 submitted  to  the  assembly,  and  generally  approved,  Dr.  Burgess 
 argued  against  imposing  it  on  the  people;  but  afterwards  took 
 it  himself,  and  was  grieved  that  he  could  not  prevail  on  others 
 to  be  of  the  same  mind  and  accommodating  disposition. 
 
 When  the  bishops  came  to  the  resolution  of  refusing  ordination 
 
CORNELIUS  BURGESS.  451 
 
 to  all  who  were  not  in  the  interest  of  the  crown,  application 
 having  been  made  to  the  assembly  for  advice  in  this  matter, 
 they  advised,  that  an  association  of  godly  ministers,  from 
 London,  and  other  places,  be  appointed,  by  public  authority,  to 
 ordain  ministers  for  the  vacant  congregations  in  London,  and 
 throughout  the  kingdom.  Agreeable  to  this  advice,  the  parlia- 
 ment passed  an  ordinance,  October  the  2d,  1644,  appointing  ten 
 divines,  being  presbyters  and  members  of  the  assembly,  to  exa- 
 mine and  ordain,  by  imposition  of  hands,  those  only  whom  they 
 judged  admissible  into  the  sacred  office  of  the  ministry;  and 
 Dr.  Burgess  was  one  of  that  number,  whose  name  stands  at  the 
 head  of  the  list.  To  these  ten,  others  were  appointed  who 
 were  not  members  of  the  assembly;  so  that  the  prelatical  rulers 
 were  taken  in  their  own  craftiness,  and  the  vacancies  of  the 
 church  filled  with  able  ministers.  Dr.  Burgess  was  appointed, 
 by  parliament,  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  London,  as  lec- 
 turer at  St.  PauFs  on  the  Sabbath  evening,  and  also  on  a  work- 
 ing day,  weekly,  with  an  allowance  of  four  hundred  pounds 
 a-year,  to  be  paid  from  the  revenues  of  the  cathedral. 
 
 When  the  king  had  deserted  the  parliament,  and  levied  an 
 army  against  them,  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  request- 
 ing a  voluntary  loan  of  money,  horses,  plate,  and  whatever  was 
 convertible  to  the  use  of  an  army,  which  they  were  forced  to 
 raise  in  the  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  country,  or,  in  their 
 own  language,  "  for  the  defence  of  both  king  and  parliament." 
 Dr.  Burgess  lent  them  several  sums  of  money;  and,  in  the  year 
 1646,  the  parliament,  by  their  ordinance,  appointed  and  ordain- 
 ed all  the  lands  and  revenues  of  the  bishops  to  be  sold,  and  the 
 money  applied  to  the  exigencies  of  the  state.  In  this  ordinance, 
 all  those  who  had  lent  money,  horses,  plate,  &c,  for  the  public 
 service,  were  requested  to  double  their  account,  and  draw  the 
 whole  either  in  money  or  lands  from  that  of  the  bishops;  inti- 
 mating, that  they  who  did  not  double,  would  have  nothing  far- 
 ther to  secure  their  loans  than  the  despised  public  faith,  nor  even 
 that  security,  till  all  doublers  were  first  satisfied.  The  doctor 
 had  a  wife  and  ten  children  to  provide  for,  who  must  be  ruined 
 if  this  money  miscarried;  and,  to  prevent  the  hazard  of  all, 
 he  doubled,  which  raised  the  nominal  account  to  three  thousand 
 four  hundred  pounds,  beside  his  loan  for  Ireland.  He  did  all 
 in  his  power  to  recover  his  loans  in  money,  but  could  not;  and 
 finding  the  divisions,  and  several  interests  pursued  by  the  par- 
 ties who  now  directed  public  affairs,  daily  increasing,  and  him- 
 self but  poorly  rcquitted  for  all  his  faithful  services,  he  was 
 obliged  to  take  up  his  money  in  bishops'  lands;  for  which  he  has 
 suffered  the  reproach  of  the  royal  and  prelatic  party,  besides, 
 on  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  losiuc  the  whole  amount,  for 
 
45 c2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 which,  about  one  year  before,  according  to  Wood,  he  was  offer- 
 ed twelve  thousand  pounds. 
 
 Dr.  Burgess  preached  a  sermon,  at  Mercer's  Chapel,  on  the 
 14th  January  1648,  wherein  he  inveighed,  with  great  freedom, 
 in  the  face  of  imminent  danger,  against  the  design  of  taking  off 
 the  king;  and,  about  the  same  time,  appeared  at  the  head  of  a 
 number  of  the  London  ministers,  in  vindication  of  themselves 
 from  the  unjust  aspersions  laid  to  their  charge,  of  being  acces- 
 sory to  the  king's  death.  This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Dr. 
 Burgess,  and  Mr  Calamy  has  given  it  at  length,  with  fifty-seven 
 signatures.  His  name  is  also  to  be  found,  amongst  many  other 
 highly  respectable  characters,  in  Mr  Calamy's  index  of  those 
 who  were  ejected  or  silenced  by  the  act  of  uniformity,  at  which 
 time  he  was  ejected  from  St.  Andrews,  in  the  city  of  Wells,  in 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 After  the  restoration,  the  royalists  and  zealous  churchmen 
 became  the  ruling  party  in  the  land,  and  aided  by  the  interest 
 and  intrigues  of  the  court,  prevailed  in  most  of  the  elections. 
 Only  about  fifty-six  members  were  of  the  presbyterian  party, 
 a  number  too  small  either  to  retard  or  defeat  the  measures  of  so 
 large  a  majority.  Monarchy,  therefore,  and  episcopacy,  were 
 again  exalted  to  their  former  splendour;  and  in  place  of  learn- 
 ing wisdom  in  the  school  of  adversity,  in  which  they  had  been 
 instructed  about  twelve  years,  they  were  now  become  still  more 
 malicious  and  intolerant.  The  solemn  league  and  covenant,  the 
 act  for  erecting  the  high  court  of  justice,  with  that  for  subscrib- 
 ing the  engagement,  and  for  declaring  England  a  common- 
 wealth, were  all  ordered  to  be  burnt  by  the  hands  of  the  hang- 
 man ;  on  which  occasion  the  mobility  assisted  with  great  alacri- 
 ty. Bishops  were  again  restored  to  their  seats  in  parliament; 
 and  after  an  adjournment  of  a  few  months,  the  parliament  were 
 again  assembled,  November  20th,  1661,  when  they  proceeded 
 to  business  with  a  more  intolerant  spirit  than  had  ever  been  exhi- 
 bited in  tli-e  former  reign.  "  The  act  of  uniformity  (says  Mr 
 Neal)  stood  on  higher  terms  now  than  before  the  civil  war:  be- 
 sides, that  the  book  of  common  prayer  was  also  rendered  more  ex- 
 ceptionable, by  an  addition  of  apocryphal  lessons  from  the  Idol 
 Bell  and  the  Dragon,  with  the  addition  of  some  new  holidays; 
 as  St.  Barnabas  and  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul,  and  a  iew  new 
 collects  and  alterations  made  by  the  bishops  themselves."  This 
 bill  passed  into  a  law  on  the  84th  of  August  1662.  Bishop 
 Burnet  says,  "  It  passed  with  but  a  small  majority."  St.  Bar- 
 tholomew-day was  the  time  appointed  for  the  commencement 
 of  its  operation,  and  seems  to  have  been  pitched  upon  for  the 
 crudest  purpose,  as  the  tythes  are  due  at  michaelmas;  and  those 
 who  could  not,  with  a  good  conscience,  conform,  were  thereby 
 
CORNELIUS  BURGESS.  453 
 
 cut  short  of  the  whole  year's  support,  and  left  to  all  the  hor- 
 rors of  want  and  wretchedness.  The  clauses  of  this  infamous 
 act  are  studiously  cruel  and  vindictive.  In  order  to  render  a 
 clergyman  eligible  to  any  ecclesiastical  benefice,  he  must  be  or- 
 dained by  the  episcopal  order;  and  if  otherwise  ordained  before, 
 he  must  be  subjected  to  a  second  ordination  in  that  form. 
 He  must  declare  his  assent  and  consent  to  every  thing  contain- 
 ed in  the  book  of  common  prayer,  administration  of  the  sacra- 
 ments, and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
 land, with  the  psalter,  and  the  form  of  making,  ordaining,  and 
 consecrating  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons.  He  must  also  take 
 the  oath  of  canonical  obedience,  abjure  the  solemn  league  and 
 covenant,  and  renounce  the  principle  of  taking  up  arms  against 
 the  king  on  any  pretence  whatsoever. 
 
 This  bill  reinstated  the  church  of  England  in  the  same  con- 
 dition it  held  under  Charles  I.,  with  these  additional  clauses  of 
 severity;  and  the  persecuting  laws  of  Elizabeth  still  remaining 
 in  force,  all  the  promises  of  toleration,  made  by  the  present 
 king,  went  for  nothing;  and  lest  this  act  had  not  been  of  itself 
 sufficiently  severe,  another,  entitled,  The  Five  Mile  Act,  ba- 
 nished the  non-conformists  five  miles  from  any  city,  borough, 
 or  church,  in  which  they  had  officiated;  which  placed  these  un- 
 fortunate men  away  from  their  friends,  who  might  have  aided 
 them  in  their  great  distress.  The  penalty  was  fifty  pounds, 
 and  six  months  imprisonment;  to  which  another  grievous  act 
 was  added,  prohibiting  them  to  meet,  for  the  worship  of  God, 
 at  any  place  except  in  the  episcopal  churches,  and  according  to 
 the  liturgy  and  practice  of  the  church  of  England.  Notwith- 
 standing of  all  the  evils  threatened  in  this  cruel,  impolitic,  and 
 intolerant  act,  Dr.  Burgess,  and  a  great  cloud  of  worthy,  learn- 
 ed, pious,  and  orthodox  divines,  as  Mr  Locke  calls  them, 
 amounting  to  about  two  thousand,  according  to  Hume,  in  one  dav 
 relinquished  their  cures,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  court, 
 sacrificed  their  interest  to  their  religious  tenets.  Rapin  says, 
 "  St.  Bartholomew-day  being  come,  on  which  the  act  of  uni- 
 formity was  to  take  place,  two  thousand  presbyterian  ministers 
 chose  rather  to  quit  their  livings  than  submit  to  the  conditions 
 of  this  act.  It  was  expected  that  a  division  would  have  taken 
 place  amongst  them,  and  that  a  great  number  would  have  chose 
 rather  to  conform  to  the  church  of  England,  than  see  them- 
 selves reduced  to  beggary.  It  was  not,  therefore,  without  ex- 
 treme surprise  that  they  were  all  seen  to  stand  out,  not  so  much 
 as  one  suffering  himself  to  be  tempted  into  conformity." 
 
 Upon  his  ejection,  Dr.  Burgess  retired  to  his  house  at  Wat- 
 lord,  where  he  lived  privately,  and  was  reduced  to  great  straits, 
 and   had  his  latter   days  much  embittered  with  affliction.      lie 
 
454  MEMOIR  OF  CORNELIUS  BURGESS. 
 
 had  a  curious  collection  of  the  different  editions  of  the  book  of 
 common  prayer,  which  he  presented  to  the  public  library  at 
 Oxford  a  few  weeks  before  his  death.  He  died  at  Watford  in 
 1665,  and  was  buried  in  the  middle  of  the  church  of  Watford, 
 on  the  9th  of  June  that  year. 
 
 Mr  Calamy  says,  "  Dr.  Burgess  was  a  complete  master  of 
 the  liturgical  controversy,  and  that  of  church  government." 
 Neal  says,  "  He  was  esteemed  a  very  learned  and  judicious  di- 
 vine, and  we  have  abundant  evidence  in  his  writings,  that  he 
 had  learned  to  comfort  himself  under  his  afflictions,  with  the 
 solacing  consideration,  that  neither  poverty  or  peril,  life  or 
 death,  could  separate  him  from  the  love  of  Christ,  for  whom  he 
 bad  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things." 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  A  Chain  of  Graces,  drawn  out  at  length, 
 for  a  Reformation  of  Manners;  or  a  brief  Treatise  of  Virtue, 
 Knowledge,  Temperance,  Patience,  Godliness,  Brotherly-kind- 
 ness, and  Charity. — 2.  New  Discovery  of  Personal  Tythes,  or 
 the  tenth  part  of  a  Man's  clear  gain  proved  due,  both  in  con- 
 science and  also  by  the  laws  of  the  kingdom. — 3.  The  Fire  of 
 the  Sanctuary  newly  uncovered,  or  a  complete  Tract  of  Zeal. 
 — 4.  Baptismal  Regeneration  of  Elect  Infants  professed  by  the 
 Church  of  England. — 5.  A  Sermon  preached  from  Jeremiah  i. 
 5.  before  the  House  of  Commons,  at  their  Public  Fast,  Novem- 
 ber 17th,  1640. — 6.  A  Sermon,  preached  before  the  House  of 
 Commons,  November  10th,  1641,  from  Psalm  Ixxvi.  10. — 7. 
 An  Humble  Examination  of  a  printed  abstract  of  the  Answers 
 to  Nine  Reasons  of  the  House  of  Commons  against  the  Votes 
 of  Bishops  in  Parliament. — 8.  The  Broken  Title  of  Episcopal 
 Inheritance,  or  a  Discovery  of  the  Weak  Reply  to  the  Humble 
 Examination  of  the  Answer  to  the  Nine  Reasons  of  the  House 
 of  Commons  against  the  Votes  of  Bishops  in  Parliament,  their 
 Lordly  Dignity  and  Civil  Authority. — 9.  Two  Sermons,  preach- 
 ed to  the  House  of  Commons,  from  Jcr.  iv.  14.  at  two  Public 
 Fasts,  on  March  30th,  1642,  and  April  30th,  1645.— 10.  The 
 Necessity  of  Agreement  with  God,  a  Sermon,  preached  to  the 
 House  of  Peers,  from  Amos  iii.  3.  at  their  Fast,  October  29th, 
 1645. — 11.  Prudent  Silence,  a  Sermon,  preached  in  Mercer's 
 chapel,  before  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Citizens  of  London,  January 
 14th,  1648. — 12.  No  Sacrilege  or  Sin  to  Alien,  or  purchase 
 the  Lauds  of  Bishops  or  others,  when  their  offices  arc  abolished. 
 — 13.  A  Case  concerning  the  Buying  of  Bishops'  Lauds,  with 
 the  lawfulness  thereof. — Beside  these,  according  to  Wood,  he 
 lias  other  Sermons  extant. 
 
455 
 
 JOHN  WHITE,  M.  A. 
 
 This  faithful  servant  of  Christ  was  born  at  Stanton  St. 
 John  in  Oxfordshire,  December  1575,  where  his  father  held  a 
 lease  from  New  college,  Oxford.  He  was  descended  from  the 
 Whites  of  Hantshire,  and  received  his  grammatical  learning  at 
 William  of  Wickham's  school,  where,  after  a  certain  time,  the 
 scholars  have  exhibitions  for  prosecuting  their  studies  in  New 
 college,  whither  he  was  sent,  and  became  fellow.  Mr  White 
 having  served  a  probation  of  two  years,  took  his  degrees  in  arts, 
 and  entering  into  holy  orders,  became  a  frequent  preacher  in 
 and  about  Oxford.  In  1606  he  left  his  college,  and,  probably 
 about  the  same  time,  became  rector  of  Trinity  parish  in  Dor- 
 chester, in  the  county  of  Dorset.  Deeply  impressed  with  the 
 importance  of  the  charge  laid  upon  him,  he  now  entered  upon 
 the  arduous  duties  of  his  office  with  resolution  and  alacrity,  and 
 discharged  them  with  much  care  and  fidelity.  His  great  dili- 
 gence as  a  pastor,  in  rebuking,  admonishing,  instructing,  and 
 comforting  his  people,  left  but  few  vacant  hours  for  his  own  re- 
 creation. In  the  course  of  his  ministry  he  expounded  the 
 scriptures  all  over,  and  had  proceeded  in  a  second  exposition 
 halfway  before  his  death;  and  for  solidity  and  perspicuity,  was 
 accounted  an  excellent  commentator.  Dr.  Manton  says,  "  He 
 excelled  in  giving  a  solid  exposition  of  the  text,  and  in  deduc- 
 ing pertinent  and  practical  remarks;"  in  confirmation  of  which, 
 he  refers  his  readers  to  his  commentary  on  the  first  three  chap- 
 ters of  Genesis.  Mr  White's  settlement  at  Dorchester  afforded 
 him  an  opportunity  of  doing  much  good,  not  merely  to  the  souls, 
 but  also  to  the  bodies  of  his  parishioners.  His  exertions  for 
 the  interests  of  mankind,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  were 
 great  and  incessant,  highly  becoming  the  character  of  a  genuine 
 christian.  With  this  view,  he  studied,  planned,  and,  with  a 
 degree  of  activity  seldom  equalled,  exerted  all  his  power  and 
 influence  in  carrying  them  into  execution;  so  that,  with  the  bless- 
 ing of  God  on  his  laudable  endeavours,  the  inhabitants  of  Dor- 
 chester came  in  for  an  ample  share  of  the  fruit  of  his  humane 
 and  beneficent  exertions.  Dr.  Fuller  says,  "  That  by  his  wis- 
 dom the  town  of  Dorchester  was  much  enriched.  He  instructed 
 them  in  knowledge;  and  knowledge  produced  piety;  piety  sti- 
 mulated industry;  and  industry  soon  procured  them  plenty.  A 
 beggar  could  not  then  be  seen  in  the  town,  all  the  able  poor 
 were  put  to  work,  and  the  impotent  supported  from  the  profits 
 of  a  public  brewery  and  other  collections.  Industrv,  sobriety, 
 and  religion,  flourished  in  Dorchester  under  his  pastoral  and 
 economical  care,  and  derived  a  powerful  influence  from  his  ac- 
 
45  (>  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 tive  life  and  pious  example.  He  considered  economy  and  in- 
 dustry the  well-springs  of  wealth;  and  from  these  a  plentiful 
 supply  for  the  public  necessities  was  soon  obtained.  Indolence 
 and  idleness  are  no  less  troublesome  to  their  possessors,  than 
 burdensome  and  disgusting  to  society.  Mr  White  therefore 
 suggested  plans  for  improving  the  circumstances  of  the  poor, 
 and  heartily  concurred  with  others  in  their  execution.  To  pro- 
 vide for  the  impotent  poor,  and  compel  those  who  are  able  to 
 labour  for  their  own  sustenance,  has  been  the  general  object  of 
 all  poor  laws.  In  the  intricate  science  of  political  economy, 
 however,  there  appears  to  be  nothing  more  difficult  than  to  re- 
 lieve poverty  without  encouraging  idleness.  Dr.  Fuller  farther 
 observes  concerning  this  illustrious  individual,  "  That  he  had  a 
 powerful  command  of  his  passions,  and  that  he  could  also  com- 
 mand the  purses  of  his  parishioners,  and  wind  them  up  to  what- 
 ever pitch  he  pleased  upon  important  occasions :  That  he  was 
 free  from  covetousness,  and  charitable  almost  to  a  fault :  That 
 he  had  a  patriarchal  influence  both  in  Old  and  New  England." 
 
 At  the  beginning  of  the  long  parliament,  when  many  patrio- 
 tic subjects  appeared  for  the  rights  of  the  nation,  Mr  White  as- 
 sociated with  them,  and  his  influence  and  distinguished  abilities 
 greatly  contributed  to  promote  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious 
 liberty;  which  enraged  the  royalists  against  him  to  that  degree, 
 that  prince  Rupert  sent  a  party  of  his  horse  to  Dorchester,  who 
 plundered  his  house,  and  carried  off  his  whole  library;  on  which 
 he  retired  to  London,  and  was  for  some  time  appointed  minister 
 of  Savoy  parish.  In  1643  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly 
 of  divines,  and  one  of  the  assessors  to  that  assembly,  where  he 
 was  highly  esteemed.  Wood  says,  "He  took  the  covenant, 
 and  sitting  often  with  the  assembly,  shewed  himself  one  of  the 
 most  moderate  and  learned  amongst  them;  and  soon  after  did, 
 by  order,  not  only  succeed  Dr.  Featley  in  the  rectory  of  Lam- 
 beth, thence  ejected,  but  had  his  library  to  keep,  and  use,  till 
 such  time  as  Dr.  Featley  could  recover  Mr  White's  from  prince 
 Rupert's  soldiers." 
 
 When  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  with  the  Scottish  commis- 
 sioners, and  the  assembly  of  divines,  were  convened  in  Marga- 
 ret's church,  Westminster,  on  the  25th  of  September  1643,  to 
 subscribe  the  solemn  league  and  covenant,  Mr  White  opened 
 that  great  solemnity  by  prayer.  After  him,  Mr  Henderson  and 
 Mr  Nye  spoke  in  justification  of  the  measure  they  were  met  to 
 consummate,  shewing,  from  scripture  precedents,  the  advantage 
 the  church  had,  on  former  occasions,  received  from  such  sacred 
 associations.  Mr  Henderson,  in  name  of  the  Scotch  commission, 
 declaring,  "That  the  estates  of  Scotland  had  resolved  to  assist  the 
 English  parliament  in  carrying  on  the  designs  of  the  covenant," 
 
JOHN  WHITE.  457 
 
 Upon  which  Mr  Nye  read  it  from  the  pulpit,  with  an  atidible 
 voice,  article  by  article,  each  person  standing  uncovered,  with 
 his  right  hand  bare,  and  lifted  up  towards  heaven.  Dr.  Gouge 
 concluded  the  solemn  business  with  prayer;  after  which  the 
 House  of  Commons  went  up  into  the  chancel,  and  subscribed 
 their  names  in  one  roll  of  parchment,  and  the  assembly  in  ano- 
 ther— in  both  of  which  the  covenant  was  fairly  transcribed. 
 One  proposition  discussed  by  the  assembly  was,  "  That  Jesus 
 Christ,  as  King  of  his  church,  hath  himself  appointed  a  church 
 government  distinct  from  the  civil  magistrate."  This  proposi- 
 tion was  strongly  opposed  by  the  erastian  party.  Our  divine 
 subscribed  it,  when  the  learned  Lightfoot  entered  his  dissent. 
 
 Mr  White  married  the  sister  of  Dr.  Burgess,  by  whom  he 
 had  four  sons,  which  survived  their  father.  When  the  commo- 
 tions of  the  nation  ceased,  and  his  work  at  London  was  finish- 
 ed, he  returned  to  Dorchester;  after  which,  in  1647,  he  was  de- 
 signed warden  of  New  College  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Pink;  but 
 Mr  Wood  supposes  he  had  refused  the  office;  which  is  highly 
 probable,  being  by  this  time  far  advanced  in  years.  Having 
 thus  served  his  generation  with  incessant  labour,  ardent  zeal, 
 and  distinguished  ability,  he  slept  with  his  fathers,  July  21st, 
 1648.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the  porch  of  St.  Peter's 
 church,  Dorchester,  a  chapel  belonging  to  Trinity  church. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Troubles  of  Jerusalem's  Restoration, 
 or  the  Church's  Reformation;  a  Sermon  preached  before  the 
 House  of  Lords,  26th  Nov.  1645.— 2.  The  Way  to  the  Tree  of 
 Life,  or  Directions  for  the  Profitable  Reading  of  the  Scriptures. 
 — 3.  A  Sermon,  preached  at  the  General  Assizes  at  Dorches- 
 ter, the  7th  March  1632. — 4.  A  Commentary  on  the  three  first 
 chapters  of  the  Book  of  Genesis. 
 
 JOHN  ARROWSMITH,  D.  D. 
 
 This  learned  divine  was  born  at  Gatehead,  near  Newcas- 
 tle-upon-Tyne, March  29th,  1602,  had  his  education  at  St. 
 John's  college,  Cambridge,  and  was  afterwards  chosen  fellow 
 of  Katherine-hall,  in  the  same  university.  He  was  chosen  one 
 of  the  university  preachers,  and  preached  for  some  time  at  Lynn, 
 an  ancient  sea-port  in  the  county  of  Norfolk;  from  which  he 
 was  called  to  sit  in  the  assembly  of  divines,  which  he  constantly 
 attended.  He  was  one  of  several  members  who  drew  up  the 
 assembly's  catechism,  and  was  greatly  distinguished  for  his 
 learning,  piety,  and  talents.  He  afterwards  preached  at  St. 
 Margaret's,  Iron-monger-lane,  London.  April  11th,  1644,  he 
 was  elected  master  of  St.  John's  college,  when  Dr.  Beale  was 
 17  3  m 
 
458  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ejected  by  the  earl  of  Manchester,  in  pursuance  of  an  ordinance 
 of  parliament  for  regulating  and  reforming  the  university  of 
 Cambridge.  During  the  same  year  he  was  one  of  the  commit- 
 tee of  learned  divines,  which  united  with  a  committee  of  the 
 lords  and  commons,  to  treat  with  the  commissioners  of  the 
 church  of  Scotland  concerning  an  agreement  in  matters  of  re- 
 ligion. He  took  his  doctor's  degree  in  1647,  and  was  chosen 
 vice-chancellor  of  the  university  the  same  year.  In  1651  he 
 was  elected  regius  professor  of  divinity  on  the  death  of  Dr. 
 Collins,  and  was,  at  the  same  time,  presented  to  the  rectory  of 
 Somersham.  In  1653  he  was  chosen  master  of  Trinity  college, 
 Cambridge,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Hill;  and,  in  1665,  he  resigned 
 his  professorship,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  triers,  also  one 
 of  the  preachers  before  the  parliament.  He  was  a  man  of  un- 
 spotted reputation,  of  great  learning  and  piety,  an  acute  dispu- 
 tant, a  judicious  divine,  and  an  excellent  author;  as  appears 
 from  the  learned  productions  of  his  pen.  He  died  in  Feb.  1659, 
 aged  fifty-seven  years,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  Trinity 
 college  chapel. 
 
 "Mr  Neal  observes  (says  Dr.  Gray),  that  the  learning  and 
 piety  of  Dr.  Arrowsmith  were  unexceptional;  but  had  he  added, 
 that  he  was  an  eminent  preacher,  and  famed  for  his  flowers  of 
 rhetoric,  I  could  have  helped  him  to  some  passages  in  support 
 of  such  an  assertion;  for  example,  you  have  endeavoured,  says 
 he,  to  fence  this  vineyard  (meaning  the  church)  with  a  settled 
 militia,  to  gather  out  the  malignants  as  stones,  to  plant  it  with 
 choice  vines,  men  of  piety  and  truth,  to  build  the  towers  of  a 
 powerful  ministry  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  to  make  a  wine-press 
 for  the  squeezing  of  malignants.     Again,  it  is  the  main  work  of 
 the  spirit  of  grace  to  negociate  a  match  betwixt  the  Lord  Jesus 
 and  the  coy  souls  of  sinful  men.     It  is  a  spiritual  affection,  that 
 hath  the  Holy  Ghost  for  its  father,  faith  for  its  mother,  prayer 
 for  its  midwife,  and  the  word  of  God  for  its  nurse.    After  some 
 overtures  of  a  match  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,   says  he,  the 
 reformed   church   in   this  kingdom   was   solemnly  married  to 
 Christ,  when  the  sceptre  was  swayed  by  his  son  Edward  the 
 VI.     That  godly  young  prince,   as  became  the  friend  of  the 
 bridegroom,  greatly  rejoiced  because  of  the  bridegroom's  voice^ 
 The  famous  nine-and-thirty  articles   of  her  confession,    then 
 framed,  were  evident  signs  of  her  being  with  child,  and  that  a 
 thorough  reformation  was  then  conceived;  though  but  conceiv- 
 ed; many  and  sore  were  the  breeding  fits  she  conflicted  with 
 during  the  reign  of  Mary,  even  such  as  gave  great  cause  to  fear 
 she  would  have  miscarried."  Mr  Arrowsmith  was  firm  and  zealous 
 in  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  truth,  from  which  no  worldly 
 allurements  could  shake  his  faith,  or  move  his  confidence;  a  man 
 
JOHN  ARROWSMITH.  459 
 
 of  a  thousand;  those  who  best  knew  him  gave  testimony  to  his  dili- 
 gence, his  zeal,  and  integrity.  His  public  ministry  discovered 
 his  great  dexterity,  sound  judgment,  admirable  learning,  and 
 indefatigable  labours.  His  soul  aspired  to  more  than  his  weak 
 and  sickly  body  could  possibly  perform. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Covenant  Avenging  Sword  Brandish- 
 ed, in  a  Sermon  before  the  House  of  Commons,  at  their  late 
 Solemn  Fast,  January  25th,  1643. — 2.  England's  Ebenezer,  or 
 Stone  of  Help;  a  Sermon  preached  before  both  Houses  of  Par- 
 liament, at  Christ's  church,  London,  March  12th,  1645. — 3. 
 A  Chain  of  Principles. — 4.  God-man. — 5.  A  Great  Wonder  in 
 Heaven. — 6.  Tracta  Sacra. 
 
 SIMON  ASHE. 
 
 This  staunch  puritan  divine  was  educated  in  Emanuel 
 college,  Cambridge,  with  a  view  to  the  church,  and  began  his 
 ministry,  by  preaching  the  gospel  in  Staffordshire,  in  the  vici- 
 nity of  those  famous  ministers  of  Christ,  Mr  John  Ball,  Mr 
 Langley,  and  Mr  Robert  Nicolls,  with  whom  he  cultivated  a 
 particular  acquaintance.  Mr  Ashe  was  pleasantly  situated 
 amongst  his  brethren,  with  whom  he  enjoyed  a  most  agreeable 
 intercourse;  but  not  conforming  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  church, 
 and  particularly  for  refusing  to  read  from  the  pulpit  the  Book 
 of  Sports,  he  was  deprived  of  his  living,  and  removed  from  his 
 flock.  This  Book  of  Sports  was  first  published  by  king  James, 
 May  24th,  1618,  setting  forth,  "  That  for  his  good  people's  law- 
 ful recreation,  his  majesty's  pleasure  was,  that  after  the  end  of 
 divine  service  they  should  not  be  disturbed,  letted,  or  discou- 
 raged, from  any  lawful  recreations;  such  as  dancing  either  of 
 men  or  women,  archery  for  men,  leaping,  vaulting,  or  any  such 
 harmless  recreations;  nor  from  having  May-games,  Whitsun- 
 ales,  or  morris-dances,  or  setting  up  of  May-poles,  or  other 
 sports  therewith  used;  so  as  the  same  may  be  had  in  due  and 
 convenient  time,  without  impediment  of  divine  service;  and 
 that  women  should  have  leave  to  carry  rushes  for  decorating 
 the  churches,  according  to  their  old  custom.  Withal,  prohibit- 
 ing all  unlawful  games  to  be  used  on  Sunday  only,  as  bear- 
 baiting,  bull-baiting,  interludes,  and  at  all  times  bowling,  in  the 
 meaner  sort  of  people,  by  law  prohibited."  Charles  I.  having 
 imbibed  his  father's  principles,  and  following  his  destructive 
 policy,  revived,  enlarged,  and  keenly  urged  this  his  father's  de- 
 claration. It  was  ordered  to  be  published  in  all  parish  churches; 
 but  whether  by  the  minister,  or  some  other  person,  was  left  to 
 the  discretion  of  the  bishop;  and  Laud,  the  inveterate  enemy 
 
460  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  all  puritans  and  non-conformists,  well  aware  that  the 
 most  strict  and  conscientious  amongst  them  would  stand  out 
 against  such  a  disgraceful  order,  considered  this  the  most  likely 
 method  of  getting  clear  of  men  whom  he  so  heartily  ahhorred, 
 and  of  whom  he  was  not  without  his  fears.  In  order,  therefore, 
 that  he  might  find  a  plausible  pretext  against  these  men,  the 
 clergy  were  ordered  to  read  this  unparalleled  piece  of  prelatical 
 effrontery  from  their  respective  pulpits.  Some  poor  clergymen 
 strained  their  consciences,  and  obayed  the  bishops;  others  read 
 it  with  this  observation,  that  in  obedience  to  the  ecclesiastic 
 order,  they  had  read  the  declaration  of  the  king;  but  on  purpose 
 to  perform  their  duty  to  the  King  of  kings,  and  to  the  flock 
 committed  to  their  pastoral  care,  they  must  also  read  his  decla- 
 ration on  this  grave  subject;  so  turning  up  the  fourth  command- 
 ment, read  it  aloud,  saying,  "  The  former  is  the  declared  or- 
 ders of  the  chief  magistrate  of  this  realm,  whom  his  subjects  are 
 in  duty  bound  to  love  and  obey;  but  the  latter  is  the  command, 
 the  imperative  command,  of  him  by  whom  kings  reign;  and 
 seeing  the  two  orders  are  diametrically  opposed  the  one  to  the 
 other,  whether  it  be  right,  in  this  case,  to  obey  God  or  man, 
 judge  ye."  Others  of  the  clergy  put  this  disagreeable  task  into 
 the  hands  of  their  curates;  but  a  great  many  refused  to  read 
 it  on  any  terms  whatever — of  this  number  was  Mr  Ashe.  By 
 this  base  stratagem  Laud  deprived  the  nation  of  the  services  of 
 her  most  zealous,  pious,  and  laborious  ministers,  who  were 
 forthwith  driven  from  their  flocks,  excommunicated,  persecut- 
 ed by  the  court  of  high  commission,  and  not  a  few  of  them 
 forced  to  leave  their  native  land,  for  the  deadly  sin  of  not  pub- 
 lishing, from  their  pulpits,  the  permission  of  the  king  to  break 
 through  the  command  of  God.  "  It  is  questionable  (says  Ful- 
 ler) whether  the  sufferings  of  these  men  procured  them  more 
 of  the  public  commiseration,  or  the  conduct  of  their  persecutors, 
 that  of  their  hatred  and  animosity." 
 
 After  some  time,  Mr  Ashe  obtained  liberty,  or  was  connived 
 at  preaching  in  an  empty  church  at  Wroxhall,  under  the  pro- 
 tection of  Sir  John  Burgoyne;  and  in  Warwickshire,  under  the 
 lord  Brook,  to  whom  he  was  chaplain.  Upon  commencement 
 of  the  civil  war  he  became  chaplain  to  the  earl  of  Manchester, 
 and  had  a  considerable  share  in  the  Cambridge  visitation,  for- 
 merly noticed.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  which  first 
 effectually  broke  the  peace  between  the  king  and  parliament. 
 This  battle  was  fought  on  the  23d  of  October  1642,  being  Sab-> 
 bath.  The  army  of  parliament,  with  which  Mr  Ashe  was  con- 
 nected, commanded  by  the  earl  of  Essex,  intended  to  rest,  and 
 observe  the  Sabbath  at  Kineton,  a  small  market  town  about 
 three  miles  from  Edgehi)).     But  while  the  soldiers  were  going 
 
SIMON  ASHE.  461 
 
 to  church,  information  arrived  of  the  approach  of  the  royal  ar- 
 my; on  which  they  advanced  to  meet  them.  Mr  Ashe  was 
 chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and  Mr  Neal  has 
 marked  him  as  a  constant  attendant  at  that  assembly.  He  was 
 minister  of  Michael  Basing-shaw,  London,  and  afterward  of  St. 
 Austin's,  London,  where  he  died.  He  was  one  of  the  Corn- 
 hill  lecturers,  and  one  who  subscribed  the  vindication  of  the 
 London  ministers  from  the  charge  of  being  promoters  of  the 
 king's  death.  He  was  a  strong  opposer  of  the  new  common- 
 wealth under  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  had  a  considerable  hand 
 in  the  restoring  of  Charles  II. 
 
 Dr.  "Walker,  among  other  charges,  severely  censures  him  for 
 a  sermon,  preached  before  the  House  of  Commons,  from  Psalm 
 ix.  9.  for  his  invectives  against  the  governors  and  government 
 of  the  church.  But  Dr.  Calamy,  after  perusing  said  sermon, 
 says,  "  He  found  it  to  be  a  very  grave  and  serious  discourse,  in 
 no  respect  unbecoming  either  the  preacher  or  the  audience." 
 Among  many  serious  grievances,  Mr  Ashe  takes  notice,  in  this 
 sermon,  of  the  subscription  urged  upon  all  graduates  in  both 
 universities,  and  upon  all  men  entering  the  ministry?  which  he 
 considers  a  heavy  oppression,  calculated  to  drive  many  promis- 
 ing scholars  from  theological  studies,  and  to  ensnare  the  con- 
 sciences of  others.  He  reprobates  the  pressing  of  useless  cere- 
 monies in  the  worship  of  God,  upon  pain  of  suspension,  depri- 
 vation, and  excommunication,  whereby  ministers  and  their  fa- 
 milies were  exposed  to  great  hardships,  and  congregations  de- 
 prived of  their  pastors.  The  conniving  at  a  scandalous  minis- 
 try, the  great  abuse  of  oaths,  particularly  that  of  matriculation, 
 the  abuse  of  church  censures,  and  the  opposition  made  by  the 
 ruling  ecclesiastics  to  piety  and  the  power  of  godliness,  by  their 
 derision  and  persecution  of  such  as  give  evidence  of  seriousness 
 and  a  holy  conversation.  The  charges  are  no  doubt  heavy;  but, 
 at  the  same  time,  they  were  lamentably  true.  Mr  Ashe  must 
 therefore  be  acquitted  as  blameless.  Other  charges  were 
 brought  against  him  by  Dr.  Walker;  which  Dr.  Calamy  has 
 largely  and  most  judiciously  refuted. 
 
 Mr  Ashe  had  a  good  estate,  and  a  liberal  heart.  He  was 
 hospitable  without  ostentation.  His  house  was  much  frequent- 
 ed, and  himself  greatly  esteemed.  He  was  a  christian  of  pri- 
 mitive simplicity,  a  puritan  of  the  original  stamp,  distinguish- 
 ed by  a  holy  life  and  a  cheerful  spirit;  and  it  is  well  known, 
 how  desirable  an  acquisition  it  is  to  have  a  religious  friend, 
 whose  cheerfulness  contributes  to  enliven  the  exercises  of  social 
 piety. 
 
 Dr.  Calamy,  who  visited  him  in  his  last  illness,  says,  "Th.nt 
 he  complained  much,  that  ministers,  when  met  together,  dis- 
 
462  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 course  so  little  about  Christ  and  the  concerns  of  another  world, 
 resolving,  that  if  it  pleased  God  to  restore  him,  he  would  en- 
 deavour, on  such  occasions,  to  be  more  fruitful  than  he  had  ever 
 yet  been,  exhorting  me,  and  other  ministers,  to  preach  Christ 
 on  all  occasions;  Christ  crucified,  our  Advocate,  and  the  propi- 
 tiation for  our  sins.  It  is  one  thing,  said  he,  to  preach,  or  speak 
 about  Christ  and  heaven,  and  quite  another  thing  to  feel  the 
 consolations  of  Christ  and  of  heaven  as  /  now  do."  At  ano- 
 ther time  he  said,  "  The  comforts  of  a  holy  life  are  real  and 
 soul-supporting.  I  feel  their  reality;  and  you  may  learn,  by  my 
 case,  that  it  is  not  in  vain  to  serve  our  God."  His  lively  and 
 edifying  conversation,  with  those  who  visited  him  in  his  sick- 
 ness, was  useful  and  very  encouraging,  and  he  closed  a  life  of 
 labour  and  activity,  in  the  cause  of  God  and  his  church,  with 
 a  pious,  edifying,  and  comfortable  death,  on  the  23d  of  August 
 1662,  a  short  time  before  the  fatal  Bartholomew-day,  when  the 
 puritans  were  ejected  from  their  churches. 
 
 Dr.  Calamy,  who  had  the  happiness  of  being  intimately  ac- 
 quainted with  Mr  Ashe  during  the  space  of  about  twenty  years, 
 in  London,  said,  at  his  funeral,  "  I  can  freely  and  clearly  pro- 
 fess, and  that  with  a  sorrowful  heart,  that  I,  and  many  others, 
 have  lost  a  real  wise  and  godly  friend,  brother,  and  fellow-la- 
 bourer in  the  Lord.  The  church  has  lost  an  eminent  member 
 and  a  choice  pillar;  and  this  city  has  lost  an  ancient,  faithful, 
 and  painful  minister;  and  the  less  sensible  the  city  is  of  this 
 loss,  the  greater  it  is.  The  ministerial  excellencies  of  many 
 ministers  were  collected  together,  and  concentrated  in  the  per- 
 son of  Simon  Ashe.  He  was  a  Bezaleel  in  God's  tabernacle,  a 
 master-builder,  an  old  disciple,  whom  many  ministers,  and 
 other  good  christians,  called  Father;  and  I  believe  many  lament 
 over  him  as  the  king  did  over  Elisha;  for  he  lived  desired,  and 
 died  lamented."  Samuel  Rutherford,  one  of  the  Scotch  com- 
 missioners, calls  him  the  gracious  and  pious  Mr  Ashe. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  best  Refuge  for  the  most  Oppressed; 
 a  Sermon  preached  before  the  House  of  Commons,  March  30th, 
 1642.  In  this  celebrated  sermon,  speaking  of  the  oppression 
 which  the  church  and  people  of  God  have  to  meet  with  in  the 
 world,  mentions  the  English  prelates  as  great  oppressors,  both 
 in  the  church  and  commonwealth.  "  What  country  (says  he), 
 what  city,  what  town,  what  village,  yea,  what  family,  I  had  al- 
 most said,  what  individual,  has  not,  in  one  kind  or  other,  in  one 
 degree  or  other,  at  one  time  or  other,  been  the  object  of  their  op- 
 pression ?  They  and  their  officers,  by  citations,  censures,  exac- 
 tions, and  other  unjust  proceedings,  have  been  universal  oppres- 
 sors. How  many  wealthy  men  have  they  crushed  by  their  cru- 
 rlty  !    How  many  poor  families  have  they  ruined  by  their  ty- 
 
SIMON  ASHE.  4()3 
 
 ranny  !  and  I  beseech  you  to  consider,  whether  the  most  pious 
 among  preachers  and  people  have  not  met  with  the   hardest 
 measures  from  their  heavy  hands.      Alas  !    alas !    how  many 
 faithful  ministers  have  they  silenced  !  how  many  gracious  chris- 
 tians have  they  excommunicated  !  and  how  many  congregations 
 have  they  starved  or  dissolved  in  this  kingdom  !     For  the  proof 
 of  all  this,  and  of  more  than  all  this,  I  appeal  to  the  unparallel- 
 ed number  of  petitions  presented  to  this  present  parliament." — 
 2.  Good  Courage  Discovered  and  Encouraged;  a  Sermon  preach- 
 ed before  the  commanders  of  the  military  forces  of  London, 
 17th  May,  1642.— 3.  The  Church  Sinking,  saved  by  Christ; 
 a  Sermon  preached  before  the  House  of  Lords,  February  26th, 
 1644,  at  their  Public  Fast. — 4.  Religious  Covenanting  Direct- 
 ed, and  Covenant-keeping  Persuaded;  a  Sermon  preached  be- 
 fore the  Lord  Mayor,  Sheriffs,  Aldermen,  and  the  rest  of  the 
 Common  Council  of  London,  on  the   14th  January   1645. — 
 5.  God's  Incomparable  Goodness  to  Israel  Unfolded  and  Ap- 
 plied; a  Sermon  preached  before  the  Commons,  April  28th, 
 1647,  at  their  Fast. — 6.  Christ  the  Riches  of  the  Gospel,  and 
 the  hope  of  the  Christian. — 7.  Living  Loves  between  Christ 
 and  the  Dying  Christian;  a  Sermon  preached  at  the  funeral  of 
 Jeremiah  Whitaker.     He  is  also  said  to  have  preached  and  pub- 
 lished funeral  Sermons  for  Mr  Ralph  Robinson,  Mr  Robert 
 Strange,    Mr   Thomas  Gataker,  Mr  Richard  Vines,   and  the 
 countess  of  Manchester.     He  wrote  also  several   Prefaces  for 
 the  works  of  others,  and  published  the  Power  of  Godliness,  a 
 Treatise  on  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  by  the  famous  John  Ball, 
 who  entrusted  bun  with  his  manuscripts. 
 
 THOMAS  BAYLIE,  B.  D. 
 
 Mr  Baylie  was  born  in  Wiltshire.  He  was  entered  of 
 St.  Alban's  Hall,  Oxford,  1600,  being  then  eighteen  years  of 
 age.  In  1602  he  was  elected  Demy  of  Magdalen  college,  and 
 perpetual  fellow  of  that  house  in  1611,  being  then  master  of 
 arts.  Some  time  after  this  he  became  rector  of  Maningford 
 Crucis,  near  Marlborough,  in  his  own  county.  In  the  year 
 1621  he  was  admitted  to  the  reading  of  the  sentences;  from 
 which  time  forward  he  warmly  attached  himself  to  the  puritan 
 party,  and  was  ready  to  sacrifice  every  other  consideration  to 
 what  he  conceived  to  be  the  truths  of  God;  and  accordingly 
 avowed  his  sentiments  by  an  open  declaration.  He  was  chosen 
 one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  became  a  zealous  covenantor, 
 and  an  indefatigable  preacher.  He  succeeded  Dr.  George 
 Morel y,  a  royalist,  in  the  rich  rectory  of  Mildenhall,  Wiltshire, 
 
464  MEMOIR  OF  THOMAS  BAYLIE. 
 
 which  he  held  till  the  restoration,  when  he  was  ejected  by  the 
 act  of  uniformity.  Upon  his  expulsion  he  retired  to  Marlbo- 
 rough, and  had  a  private  congregation,  where  he  died  in  166S, 
 aged  eighty-one  years,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St. 
 Peter  in  that  place.  Upon  his  death,  his  conventicle,  accord- 
 ing to  Wood,  was  carried  on  by  another  as  zealous  as  himself. 
 Botli  Walker  and  Wood  say  he  was  a  fifth  monarchy  man;  but 
 Dr.  Calamy  assures  us  that  this  was  not  the  cause  of  his  ejec- 
 tion, but  his  non-conforming  sentiments. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  De  Merito  Mortis  Christi,  et  Modo  Con- 
 versionis  Diatribae  dure. — 2.  Concio  ad  Clerum  Habita  in  Tem- 
 plo  B.;  and,  according  to  Wood,  some  other  Sermons. 
 
 JOHN  BOND. 
 
 Mr  Bond  was  the  son  of  Dennis  Bond  of  Dorchester  in 
 the  county  of  Dorset,  a  woollen  draper  in  that  place.     While 
 in  this  situation,  he  was  a  constant  hearer,  and  a  great  admirer, 
 of  John  White,  minister,  and  frequently  called  the  patriarch,  of 
 Dorchester.     He  was  elected  burgess,  along  with  Daniel  Hollis, 
 for  the  borough  of  Dorchester,  of  which  he  was  then  alderman, 
 to  serve  in  the  long  parliament,  and  accounted  a  very  active  man. 
 His  son  John,  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  was  educated 
 under  the  Rev.  Mr  John  White  above-mentioned,  and  seems  to 
 have  been  much  benefited  in  his  youth  by  the  faithful  ministry 
 of  this  distinguished  servant  of  God.     Having  received  a  suita- 
 ble and  well-directed  education  at  home,  he  was  sent  to  Cam- 
 bridge, and  placed,  Wood  says,  he  thinks,  in  St.  John's  college, 
 where  he  took  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  civil  law.     Afterwards 
 he  became  lecturer  in  the  city  of  Exeter,  the  capital  of  Devon- 
 shire.    He  was  a  zealous  puritan,  who  freely  declared  his  sen- 
 timents, and  suffered,  accordingly,  with  cheerfulness,  enduring 
 all  things  for  the  gospel's  sake.     He  was  a  zealous  covenanter; 
 and  in  his  writings  shews  a  strong  attachment  to  the  work  of 
 reformation.     "  The  Lord  (says  he,  in  one  of  his  sermons  be- 
 fore the  House),  at  this  time,  requires  a  reformation  of  religion 
 in  almost  all  its  departments,  in  doctrine,  worship,  and  govern- 
 ment; and  expects  you  will  promote  the  late  solemn  league  and 
 covenant,  that  triple  cable  of  the  three  kingdoms,  by  which  the 
 anchor  of  our  hope  is  fastened,  that  three-fold  cord  that  binds 
 the  three  kingdoms  to  one  another  and  to  God."     He  was  after- 
 wards minister  of  the  Savoy,  London,  and   became  one  of  the 
 superadded  members  of  the  assembly  of  divines.     He  was  some- 
 times called  to  preach  before  the  long  parliament;  and  some  of 
 his  sermons  were  published,  and  are  still  extant.     On  the  11th 
 
MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  BOND.  465 
 
 December  1645,  he  was  made  master  of  the  hospital  called  the 
 Savoy.  He  was  appointed  also  master  of  Trinity-hall,  Cam- 
 bridge, which  Mr  John  Selden  had  refused.  In  1654  he  was 
 appointed  an  assistant  to  the  commissioners  of  Middlesex  and 
 Westminster,  for  the  ejection  of  ignorant  and  scandalous  mini- 
 sters and  school-masters.  Wood  says,  "  He  lived  at  Savoy,  he 
 believes,  till  the  restoration,  when  he  retired  to  Sutton  in  Dor- 
 setshire, and  died  there,  about  1680." 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  A  Door  of  Hope;  also,  Holy  and  Loyal 
 Activity;  being  twoTreatises,  delivered  in  several  Sermons  preach- 
 ed at  Exeter. — 2.  Salvation  in  a  Mystery;  or,  a  Perspective  Glass 
 for  England's  Case,  a  Sermon,  preached  before  the  Commons, 
 March  27th  1644. — 3.  A  Dawning  in  the  West,  a  Thanksgiv- 
 ing Sermon,  delivered  to  the  Commons,  22d  August  1645. — 
 4.  Job  in  the  West,  two  Sermons,  for  two  Public  Fasts,  for  the 
 five  associated  western  counties. — 5.  A  Thanksgiving  Sermon, 
 preached  before  the  House  of  Commons,  19th  July  1648. — 6. 
 A  Sermon,  entitled  Grapes  among  Thorns,  preached  to  the 
 Commons. 
 
 OLIVER  BOWLES,  B.  D. 
 
 This  venerable  divine  was  fellow  of  Queen's  college,  Cam- 
 bridge, where  it  is  probable  he  had  received  his  education.  He 
 was  an  excellent  scholar,  a  celebrated  tutor,  and  a  man  of  exem- 
 plary piety.  The  famous  Dr.  Preston  was  one  of  his  pupils. 
 On  leaving  the  university,  he  became  rector  of  Luton  in  Bed- 
 fordshire, about  the  beginning  of  1607,  where  he  continued  up- 
 wards of  fifty  years.  He  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of 
 divines,  which*  he  constantly  attended,  and  was  eminently  ser- 
 viceable in  that  theological  convention.  The  assembly  having 
 petitioned  the  parliament  for  a  fast,  previous  to  their  proceed- 
 ing to  business,  Mr  Bowles  and  Mr  Matthew  Newcomen  were 
 appointed  to  preach  before  both  houses  and  the  assembly,  and 
 both  their  sermons  were  ordered  to  be  published.  Mr  Bowies' 
 sermon  is  entitled,  Zeal  for  the  House  of  God  Quickened;  or, 
 a  Sermon,  preached  before  the  assembly  of  lords,  commons,  and 
 divines,  at  their  solemn  Fast,  July  7th,  1643,  in  Abbey  church, 
 Westminster,  expressing  the  eminency  of  zeal  required  in  church 
 reformers.  He  was  likewise  author  of  a  work,  entitled  De 
 Pastore  Evangelico.  Dr.  Calamy  says  it  is  an  excellent  work; 
 it  was  published  by  his  son,  and  dedicated  to  the  earl  of  Man- 
 chester. He  says,  moreover,  "that  during  the  time  of  ram- 
 pant episcopacy,  it  was  not  suffered  to  creep  out,  not  for  any 
 evil  in  it,  but  because  some  men  do  not  care  for  being  put  upon 
 17  3  n 
 
4f)t>  MEMOIR  OF  OLIVER  BOWLES. 
 
 too  much  work."  Though  Mr  Bowles  survived  the  restoration 
 many  years,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  either  conformed  or  was 
 ejected.  On  account  of  his  great  age,  and  for  some  other  causes, 
 it  is  believed  he  left  off  preaching  about  1659.  He  died  on  the 
 5th  of  September  1674,  supposed  to  have  been  above  ninety 
 years  of  age. 
 
 Mr  Bowles  had  twelve  sons.  Edward,  one  of  them,  a  dis- 
 tinguished puritan  divine,  was  ejected  at  the  restoration. 
 
 Mr  Timothy  Cruso  was  favoured  with  the  friendship  and 
 counsel  of  this  aged  divine,  and  attended  him  in  his  last  illness. 
 On  the  day  prior  to  his  death,  Mr  Bowles  said  to  him,  "  have  a 
 care  of  yourself,  Timothy,  in  this  evil  world,  and  be  not  so 
 taken  up  with  its  vanities  as  to  lose  the  substance  for  the  sha- 
 dow. Seeing  you  have  resolved  on  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
 I  would  advise  you  never  to  trouble  your  hearers  with  useless 
 or  contending  notions,  but  rather  to  preach  upon  practicals, 
 that  you  may  set  them  on  performing  the  duties  of  a  holy  life. 
 I  would  not  any  longer  live  that  idle  and  unserviceable  life  that 
 I  have  lately  done."  "  When  I  took  my  last  leave  of  him  (says 
 Mr  Cruso),  he  said,  'Farewell,  Timothy;  if  I  see  thee  no  more 
 in  this  world,  I  hope  we  shall  meet  in  heaven,  which  is  far  bet- 
 ter :  Only  remember  to  keep  a  good  conscience,  and  walk  close- 
 ly with  God.'  This  he  twice  repeated,  with  a  strong  and  im- 
 pressive emphasis." 
 
 WILLIAM  BRIDGE,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Bridge  was  a  student  in  Cambridge  thirteen  years, 
 and  some  time  fellow  of  Emanuel  college  in  that  university. 
 He  was  first  appointed  minister  in  Essex,  where  he  continued 
 about  five  years,  after  which  he  was  called  to  the  city  of  Nor- 
 wich and  parish  of  St.  George,  Tomland.  In  which  situation 
 he  continued  till  silenced  by  bishop  Wren  for  his  non-conform- 
 ity, in  1637;  after  which  he  was  excommunicated,  and  retired 
 to  Holland,  where  he  became  pastor  to  the  English  church  at 
 Rotterdam,  of  which  Jeremiah  Borroughs  was  preacher. 
 
 About  this  period  the  puritans,  especially  in  the  diocese  of 
 Norfolk,  were  grievously  maltreated  and  persecuted  by  bishop 
 Wren,  for  not  complying  with  his  visitation  articles,  a  string  of 
 the  most  foolish  and  oppressive  regulations  that  any  part  of  the 
 christian  world  had  ever  been  pestered  with.  This  book  con- 
 tained one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  articles,  comprehending 
 eight  hundred  and  ninety-seven  questions,  some  of  them  most 
 insignificant,  the  greater  part  highly  superstitious,  and  num- 
 bers of  them  such  as  could  never  be  answered.  For  the 
 gratification  of  the  curious,  we  here  insert  a  specimen  of  this 
 
MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  BRIDGE.  467 
 
 strange  book.  Is  your  communion-table  so  placed  within  the 
 chancel  as  the  canon  directs?  Doth  your  minister  pray  for  the 
 king  with  his  whole  title  ?  Doth  he  pray  for  the  archbishops 
 and  bishops  ?  Doth  he  observe  all  the  orders,  rites,  and  cere- 
 monies prescribed  in  the  book  of  common  prayer  in  admini- 
 stering the  sacrament?  Doth  he  receive  the  sacrament  kneel- 
 ing himself,  and  administer  it  to  none  but  such  as  kneel  ?  Doth 
 your  minister  baptize  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  ?  Doth  he 
 wear  the  surplice  while  he  is  reading  prayers  and  administer- 
 ing the  sacraments?  Doth  he,  on  rogation-days,  use  the  pream- 
 bulation  round  the  parish  ?  Hath  your  minister  read  the  book 
 of  sports  in  his  church  or  chapel  ?  Doth  he  use  conceived 
 prayers  before  or  after  sermon  ?  Are  the  church-yards  conse- 
 crated ?  Are  the  graves  dug  east  and  west  ?  Do  your  parish- 
 ioners, at  going  in  and  out  of  the  church,  do  reverence  toward 
 the  chancel?  Do  they  kneel  at  confession,  stand  up  at  the 
 creed,  and  bow  at  the  glorious  name  of  Jesus  ?  &c.  These  ques- 
 tions were,  intended  as  so  many  traps  to  catch  the  puritans,  and 
 answered  the  purpose  so  well,  that  in  less  than  two  years  and 
 four  months  fifty  worthy  ministers  of  the  gospel  were  suspend- 
 ed, silenced,  or  otherwise  censured,  for  not  obeying  one  or 
 other  of  these  articles;  among  whom  were  Mr  Ashe,  Mr  Wil- 
 liam Bridge,  Jeremiah  Borroughs,  Mr  Greenhill,  and  Edmund 
 Calamy.  A  complaint  was  afterwards  brought  before  parliament 
 against  Wren,  stating,  that  while  bishop  of  Norwich,  by  his  op- 
 pressions, innovations,  and  the  requisition  of  certain  oaths,  he 
 had  compelled  above  fifty  families  of  that  city  to  leave  the  king- 
 dom; and  that,  by  his  rigorous  severities,  many  of  his  majesty's 
 subjects,  to  the  number  of  three  thousand,  had  removed  them- 
 selves, their  families,  and  estates,  to  Holland,  where  they  had 
 set  up  their  manufactories,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  trade 
 of  the  kingdom. 
 
 Bishop  Laud,  in  giving  the  annual  account  of  his  diocese  to 
 the  king  for  1636,  says,  "Mr  Bridge,  of  Norwich,  rather  than 
 conform,  hath  left  his  lecture  and  two  cures,  and  retired  to  Hol- 
 land." Let  him  go,  we  are  well  rid  of  him,  said  the  king  in  his 
 note  on  this  article.  But  receiving  encouragement  from  the 
 long  parliament,  as  many  others,  in  like  circumstances,  did 
 about  this  time,  he  returned  to  England,  in  1642,  and  was  fre- 
 quently called  to  preach  before  the  parliament.  He  was  soon 
 after  chosen  minister  of  Great  Yarmouth  in  the  county  of 
 Norfolk,  where  he  continued  his  useful  labours  till  Bartholo- 
 mew's day,  when  he  was  ejected,  with  the  rest  of  his  brethren, 
 in  1662.  Mr  Bridge,  after  returning  from  Holland,  was  ap- 
 pointed a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines.  He  was  of  the 
 independent   persuasion,  and,  of  course,  one  of  the  dissenting 
 
468  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 brethren  in  that  assembly,  who  opposed  the  presbyterians  on 
 the  three  following  propositions :    1.  That  many  congregations 
 may  be  under  the  government  of  one  presbytery.  2.  That  there 
 is  a  subordination  of  assemblies  or  courts :  And,  3.  That  one  con- 
 gregation ought  not  to  assume  the  sole  power  of  ordination,  if 
 it  can  at  all  associate  with  other  congregations.     On  these  pro- 
 positions there  was  an  arduous,  long,  and  well-contested  de- 
 bate.    Speaking  on  this  subject,  Mr  Baillie,  who  was  present, 
 says,  "  the  independents  urged  that  they  might  be  heard  in  the 
 negative.     Here  (says  he)  they  spent  us  many  of  twenty  long 
 sessions.     Goodwin  took  most  of  the  speech  upon  himself;  yet 
 they  divided  their  arguments  amongst  them,  and  gave  the  man- 
 agement of  them  by  turns  to  Bridge,  Borroughs,  Nye,  Simpson, 
 and  Caryl.     Truly,  if  the  cause  was  good,  the  men  have  abun- 
 dance of  learning,  wit,  eloquence,  and,  above  all,  boldness  and 
 stiffness  to  make  it  out;  but  when  they  had  wearied  themselves, 
 and  over  wearied  us  all,  we  found  the  most  they  had  to  say 
 against  presbytery  was  but  curious  idle  niceties,  and  that  they 
 could  bring  forward  nothing .  conclusive.      They  entered  their 
 dissent  to  these  propositions,  and  only  these,  on  the  assembly.11 
 Mr  Bridge  continued  minister  of  Yarmouth  till  cast  out  by 
 the  act  of  uniformity;  when  he  and  his  brethren  gave  the  world 
 an  honourable  specimen  of  their  candour  and  sincerity  in  the 
 cause  of  genuine  Christianity,   by  the  sacrifice  they  made  for 
 what  they  were  firmly  persuaded  were  the  truths  of  Christ. 
 Mr  Bridge  says,  in  a  sermon  he  preached  at  Westminster,  1641, 
 "  Of  all  the  reformed  churches  in  the  world,  England  has  borne 
 the  name,  and  worn  the  crown,  for  the  life  and  power  of  godli- 
 ness; yet  give  me  leave,  with  grief  of  heart  and  sadness  of  spi- 
 rit, to  make  a  challenge,  What  reformed  church  is  there  in 
 the  world,  that  ever  knew  so  many  suspended  ministers  as  Eng- 
 land?   Speak,  O  Sun,  whether,  in  all  thy  travels,  from  the  one 
 end  of  heaven  to  the  other,  thou  didst  ever  see  so  many  silenced 
 ministers  as  thou  hast  done  here?"     After  his  ejection,    Mi- 
 Bridge  had  an  opportunity  of  preaching  sometimes  at  Clapham 
 in  Surrey.      Wood  says,  that  being  silenced  on  his  majesty's 
 return,  he  carried  on  his  cause  in  conventicles  till  about  the 
 time  of  his  death.     He  died  at  Yarmouth,  12th  of  March,  1670, 
 aged  seventy  years.     According  to  Neal,  he  was  a  good  scholar, 
 and  had  a  well  stocked  library;  a  hard  student,  who  rose  every 
 morning,  winter  and  summer,  at  four  o'clock;  he  was  an  excel- 
 lent preacher,  a  candid  and  very  charitable  man,  who  did  much 
 good  by  his  ministry. 
 
 His  works  arc,  1.  Babylon's  Downfall. — 2.  The  Saints'  Hid- 
 ing Place  in  the  time  of  God's  anger. — 3.  The  Great  Gospel 
 Mystery. — 4.  Satan's  Power  to  Tempt,  and  Christ's  Love  and 
 
WILLIAM  BRIDGE.  469 
 
 Care  of  his  People  under  Temptation. — 5.  On  Thankfulness. — 
 6.  Grace  for  Grace. — 7.  The  Actings  of  Faith  through  natural 
 impossibilities. — 8.  Evangelical  Repentance. — 9.  The  inbeing 
 of  Christ  in  all  Believers. — 10.  The  Woman  of  Canaan. — 11. 
 Christ's  coming  is  at  our  Midnight. — 12.  A  Vindication  of 
 Gospel  Ordinances. — 13.  Grace  and  Love  beyond  Gifts. — 14. 
 Scripture  Light  the  surest  Light. — 15.  Christ  in  Travail,  and 
 his  assurance  of  Issue. — 16.  Lifting  up  for  the  Downcast. — 
 17.  Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. — 18.  The  false  Apostle  tried 
 and  discovered. — 19.  Sins  of  Infirmity. — 20.  The  Good  and 
 the  Means  of  Establishment. — 21.  The  great  things  Faith  can 
 do. — 22.  The  great  things  Faith  can  suffer.  He  has,  beside 
 these,  ten  Sermons  on  God's  return  to  the  deserted  Soul,  ten 
 Sermons  respecting  Christ  and  the  Covenant,  eight  Sermons  on 
 good  and  bad  Company. 
 
 ANTHONY  BURGESS,  A.M. 
 
 This  laborious  and  much  distinguished  puritan  divine, 
 was  the  son  of  a  learned  schoolmaster  at  Watford  in  Hartford- 
 shire,  and  received  his  education  in  St.  John's  college,  Cam- 
 bridge, from  which  he  was  chosen  to  a  fellowship  in  Emanuel 
 college,  merely  for  his  merit  as  a  scholar.  He  was  much  es- 
 teemed in  the  university  for  his  piety  and  learning,  and  like- 
 wise for  his  superior  tutorship  and  powers  of  disputation.  Mr 
 Burgess  afterwards  became  pastor  of  the  church  of  Sutton  Cold- 
 field  in  Warwickshire;  where  his  exemplary  life,  and  conscien- 
 tious labours,  soon  procured  him  an  excellent  reputation;  and 
 here  he  continued,  diligently  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office, 
 till  the  civil  war  had  commenced,  that  the  royal  army,  by  plun- 
 dering, insulting,  and  otherwise  maltreating  and  threatening 
 him  and  his  family,  forced  them  to  retire  to  Coventry  for 
 safety.  The  officers  of  the  king's  army  were  chiefly  men  of 
 dissolute  lives,  who  made  a  jest  of  religion;  and  the  privates, 
 having  no  regular  pay,  lived  for  the  most  part  by  plundering 
 the  people.  When  they  took  possession  of  a  town,  they  rifled 
 the  houses  of  all  who  were  accounted  puritans;  nor  were  they 
 nice  in  their  discriminations  when  occasions  were  pressing.  Mi- 
 Baxter  says,  "  That  after  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  more  than  thirty 
 worthy  divines  had  retired  to  Coventry  for  safety  from  tit- 
 soldiers  and  the  fury  of  the  rabble.  The  popular  preachers,  and 
 persons  of  pious  and  godly  lives,  were  the  greatest  sufferers ; 
 while  such  as  prayed  in  their  families,  were  heard  singing  psalms 
 or  repeating  sermons,  were  accounted  rebels,  and  most  severely 
 handled."  At  the  time  that  Mr  Burgess  fled  to  the  garrison  A 
 Coventry,  it  was  full  of  men  of  this  description,  who  had  a  lecture 
 
470  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 every  morning,  in  which  service  he  took  his  regular  course. 
 About  this  time  lie  was  called  to  sit  in  the  assembly  of  divines 
 at  Westminster,  where  he  was  generally  and  greatly  esteemed 
 for  his  solid  learning  and  judicious  deportment.  He  was  re- 
 peatedly called  to  preach  before  the  parliament,  at  their  fasts 
 and  other  public  occasions.  He  was  for  some  time  preacher  at 
 Lawrence-jury,  and  earnestly  solicited,  by  the  London  ministers, 
 to  give  a  course  of  lectures  against  the  antinomian  errors  of  these 
 times;  which  sermons  were  afterwards  published  at  the  request 
 of  the  learned  body  at  whose  solicitation  they  had  been  given. 
 "  We,  the  president  and  fellows  of  Sion  college,  London,  ear- 
 nestly desire  Mr  Anthony  Burgess  to  publish  in  print  his  ela- 
 borate and  judicious  lectures  upon  the  law  and  the  covenants, 
 against  the  antinomian  errors  of  these  times,  which,  at  our  en- 
 treaty, he  hath  preached,  and  for  which  we  give  him  hearty 
 thanks,  so  that  the  kingdom  at  large,  as  well  as  this  city,  may 
 reap  the  benefits  of  those  his  learned  labours.  Dated  at  Sion 
 college,  June  11th  1646,  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  ministers 
 of  London  there  assembled.  Arthur  Jackson,  President,  in 
 name  and  by  appointment  of  the  rest." 
 
 In  1538,  one  John  Agricola,  a  native  of  Eisleben,  made  a  de- 
 claration of  his  sentiments,  wherein  he  maintained,  that  the  law 
 was  neither  fit  to  be  proposed  to  the  people  as  a  rule  of  life,  nor 
 to  be  used  in  the  church  as  a  mean  of  instruction;  and  that  the 
 gospel  alone  ought  to  be  inculcated  and  explained,  both  in  the 
 churches  and  in  the  schools.  The  followers  of  this  man  were 
 called  antinomians,  from  their  opposition  to  the  law.  They 
 hold,  that  the  law  has  neither  use  nor  obligation  under  the 
 economy  of  grace;  and  the  tenor  of  their  doctrines  evidently  su- 
 percede the  necessity  of  good  works  and  a  holy  life.  These  an- 
 tinomian tenets  were  greatly  prevalent  in  England  during  a 
 part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Dr.  Crisp,  who  was  born  at 
 London  in  1600,  was  an  enthusiastic  asserter  of  these  opinions; 
 and  the  publication  of  his  Posthumous  Works  occasioned  much 
 disputation  in  the  country.  But  Mr  Burgess  unmasked  and 
 refuted  them,  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner,  by  his  lectures 
 at  Laurence-jury.  Having  finished  his  labours  at  London,  he 
 returned  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  pastoral  office  at  Sutton 
 Coldfield,  where  he  remained  till  1662,  that  he  was  ejected  by 
 the  act  of  conformity;  after  which  he  spent  the  remainder 
 of  his  days  in  great  comfort,  piety,  and  respect.  Before  he  left 
 his  place,  the  new  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Litchfield  sent  for 
 him,  as  he  also  did  for  several  other  worthy  divines  of  his  dio- 
 cese, hoping  to  gain  them  over  to  the  prelatical  order;  and 
 though  he  failed  in  his  design,  he  was  so  candid  as  to  express 
 )»|n  good  opinion   concerning  them      Of  Mr  Burgess  he  said, 
 
ANTHONY  BURGESS.  471 
 
 "  Tliat  he  was  fit  to  fill  a  professor's  chair  in  an  university." 
 Fuller  says,  in  his  account  of  Emanuel  college,  "Among  the 
 learned  writers  of  this  college  I  have  omitted  many  who  are 
 still  alive,  as  Mr  Anthony  Burgess,  the  profitable  expounder  of 
 the  much  mistaken  nature  of  the  two  covenants."  Dr.  Wilkins 
 enrolls  him  among  the  most  eminent  of  the  English  divines  for 
 sermons  and  practical  divinity.  Dr.  Cotton  Mather  says,  in 
 his  Student  and  Preacher,  "  Of  A.  Burgess,  I  may  say,  he  has 
 wrote  for  thee  excellent  things." 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Difficulties  of,  and  Encouragements 
 to,  Reformation. — 2.  Judgments  Removed  where  Judgment  is 
 Executed. — 3.  The  Magistrate's  Commission  from  Heaven. — 
 4.  Rome's  Cruelty  and  Apostacy. — 5.  The  Reformation  of  the 
 Church  more  to  be  endeavoured  than  that  of  the  Common- 
 wealth.— 6.  Public  Affections  Pressed. — 7.  Vindicae  Legis,  or 
 a  Vindication  of  the  Moral  Law  and  the  Covenants,  from  the 
 errors  of  Papists,  Arminians,  Socinians,  and  more  especially 
 Antinomians. — 8.  The  True  Doctrine  of  Justification  Asserted 
 and  Vindicated. — 9.  A  Treatise  on  Justification. — 10.  Spiri- 
 tual Refining. — 11.  One  hundred  and  forty-five  Expository 
 Sermons. — 12.  The  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin. — 13.  The  Scrip- 
 ture Directory  for  Church  Officers  and  People. — 14.  Com- 
 mentary  on  the  whole  first  chapter  of  2  Cor. 
 
 RICHARD  BYFIELD,  M.  A. 
 
 Mr  Byfield  was  born  in  Worcestershire  about  1599.  He 
 was  educated  at  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where,  having  taken 
 his  degree  in  arts,  he  left  the  college,  and  was  for  some  time 
 curate  or  lecturer  of  Isleworth.  After  this  he  became  rector  of 
 Long-dittou,  in  the  county  of  Surrey;  where  he  laboured,  with 
 unremitting  assiduity,  in  teaching  his  people  the  truths  of  the 
 gospel,  and  enforcing  the  duties  thence  arising.  He  was  a 
 zealous  reformer,  a  strenuous  opposer  of  all  superstition  in  the 
 worship  of  God,  and  an  able  and  courageous  defender  of  the 
 morality  of  the  Sabbath.  He  refused  to  read  the  Book  of 
 Sports,  and  seems  to  have  been  suspended  and  sequestered  for 
 his  disobedience,  for  four  years  and  four  weeks.  When  the 
 authority  of  the  king,  and  the  power  of  the  bishops,  were  great- 
 ly on  the  decline,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines, 
 of  which  he  was  a  very  respectable  member,  and  a  zealous  co- 
 venanter. In  1654  he  was  appointed  an  assistant  to  the  com- 
 missioners of  Surrey?  for  ejecting  scandalous  ministers  and 
 school-masters.  A  difference  once  took  place  between  him  and 
 his  patron,   Sir  John  Evalyn,   concerning  the  reparation  of  the 
 
47^  MEMOIR  OF  RICHARD  BYFIELD. 
 
 church.  Mr  Byfield  complained  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  pro- 
 tector, who  brought  them  together,  with  the  view  of  endeavour- 
 ing to  effect  a  reconciliation.  Sir  John  charged  Mr  Byfield 
 with  reflecting  upon  him  in  his  sermons.  Mr  Byfield  solemnly 
 declared,  that  he  had  never  intended  the  least  reflection  against 
 him.  On  which  Oliver,  turning  round  to  Sir  John,  said,  "  I  am 
 afraid,  sir,  there  is  something  indeed  amiss.  The  word  of  God 
 is  powerful  and  penetrating,  and  has  found  you  out — search 
 your  ways."  He  spoke  these  words  so  pathetically,  and  with 
 tears,  that  all  present  also  wept.  The  protector  succeeded  in 
 restoring  them  to  their  former  friendship;  and  to  bind  it  the 
 more  securely,  he  ordered  his  secretary  to  pay  Sir  John  one 
 hundred  pounds  towards  the  repairs  of  the  church. 
 
 Mr  Byfield  was  the  oldest  minister  in  the  county  in  1662, 
 when  he  was  ejected  by  the  act  of  uniformity.  After  this  he 
 retired  to  Mortlake,  a  pleasant  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
 Thames,  a  few  miles  from  London,  where  he  spent  the  residue 
 of  his  days,  with  a  view  to  his  approaching  dissolution.  In  the 
 meantime,  he  preached,  for  the  most  part,  twice  every  Sabbath 
 in  his  own  house,  and  did  so  the  last  Sabbath  of  his  life.  The 
 next  day  he  intimated  to  his  friends,  that  he  considered  his  de- 
 parture was  at  hand,  and  gave  many  pious  exhortations  to  his 
 wife  and  children,  relative  to  their  conduct  in  life,  and  their 
 preparations  for  death;  particularly  he  admonished  his  children 
 to  live  in  love  one  with  another,  that  the  God  of  love  and  of 
 peace  might  dwell  among  them.  On  the  Thursday  following, 
 a  friend  desiring  his  opinion  on  Rev.  viii.  1.,  he  spoke  on  the 
 verse  for  a  considerable  time,  when,  rising  from  his  seat,  he 
 was  taken  with  an  apoplectic  fit,  in  which  he  expired  in  1664, 
 aged  sixty-seven  years. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Light  of  Faith,  and  the  Way  of  Holi- 
 ness.— 2.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Sabbath  Vindicated. — 3.  The 
 Power  of  the  Christ  of  God. — 4.  Zion's  Answer  to  the  Ambas- 
 sadors of  the  Nation. — 5.  Temple  Defilers  Defiled. — 6.  The 
 Glory  of  the  Gospel  without  prejudice  to  the  Law. — 7.  The 
 real  Way  to  Good  Works. — 8.  A  Treatise  on  Charity. 
 
 EDMUND  CALAMY,  B.  D. 
 
 Mr  Calamy  was  born  in  London  in  1600,  and  educated 
 at  Pembroke -h all,  in  the  university  of  Cambridge,  where  he 
 took  his  degree  of  arts  in  1619,  and  that  of  divinity  in  1632. 
 By  an  early  discovery  of  his  opposition  to  arminianism,  his  fel- 
 lowship was  prevented,  even  when  he  was  justly  entitled,  both 
 by  his  standing,  his  learning,  and  his  unblameable  conversation. 
 
MEMOIR  OF  EDMUND  CALAMY.  473 
 
 The  prelatical  rulers  in  the  church  of  England  were  strongly 
 inclined  to  the  doctrines  of  Arminius  at  this  time,  and  nothing 
 could  stand  more  in  the  way  of  preferment,  to  a  person 
 of  Mr  Calamy's  sentiments,  than  his  publicly  asserting  and 
 defending  them;  so  that,  considering  his  warm  attachment  to 
 the  Calvinistic  doctrines,  and  his  hostilities  to  those  of  the  ar- 
 minian  party,  now  basking  in  the  beams  of  royal  favour,  Mr 
 Calamy  had  but  little  to  expect.  At  last,  however,  he  was 
 elected  tanquam  socius,  a  title  peculiar  to  Pembroke-hall;  which, 
 though  attended  with  less  emolument,  was  at  least  as  honour- 
 able as  that  of  fellow.  Some  time  after  this  Mr  Calamy's  stu- 
 dious and  religious  character  recommended  him  to  Dr.  Felton, 
 the  pious  and  learned  bishop  of  Ely,  who  made  him  his  domes- 
 tic chaplain;  and  while  residing  in  the  family,  paid  him  singu- 
 lar marks  of  affectionate  regard,  and  at  last  presented  him  to 
 the  vicarage  of  Mary's  in  S  waff  ham-prior,  in  his  own  neigh- 
 bourhood, where  he  became  singularly  useful  to  his  flock.  Still, 
 however,  he  continued  in  the  family  till  the  bishop's  death, 
 when  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  lecturers  of  Edmund's  Bury, 
 in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  where  Jeremiah  Burroughs  was  his 
 fellow-labourer.  In  this  place  he  continued  about  ten  years. 
 Some  writers  have  said,  that  during  his  residence  in  this  place 
 he  was  a  strict  conformist;  but  his  own  declaration,  and  that  of 
 others,  affirm  the  contrary.  It  is  a  certain  fact,  that  Mr  Cala- 
 my, with  about  thirty  other  worthy  ministers,  were  driven  out 
 of  bishop  Wren's  diocese,  for  not  conforming  to  the  Visitation 
 Articles  and  the  unhallowed  Book  of  Sports.  With  these  abo- 
 minations he  could  not  comply;  and  being  in  favour  with  the 
 earl  of  Essex,  he  preferred  him  to  the  living  of  Richford,  a  mar- 
 ket-town in  the  Marches  of  Essex,  a  rectory  of  considerable 
 value;  but  it  proved  ruinous  to  his  health,  and  brought  on  a  diz- 
 ziness of  the  head,  that  never  wholly  forsook  him. 
 
 Upon  the  death  of  Dr.  Stoughton  he  was  chosen  minister  of 
 Mary  Aldermanbury,  London,  in  1639.  Here  he  soon  acquir- 
 ed a  very  distinguished  reputation,  and  made  a  conspicuous  ap- 
 pearance, by  the  active  part  he  took  in  the  important  controver- 
 sy respecting  church  government,  then  greatly  agitated. 
 
 In  1640,  he  was  employed,  with  several  other  puritan  divines, 
 in  composing  that  famous  book,  entitled,  Smectymnws;  which 
 is  said  to  have  given  the  first  fatal  blow  to  episcopacy  in  Eng- 
 land. This  strange  title  is  made  out  of  the  first  letters  of  the 
 names  of  its  various  authors,  viz.  Stephen  Marshall,  Edmund 
 Calamy,  Thomas  Young,  Matthew  Newcomen,  and  William 
 Spurston.  This  treatise  is  allowed,  on  all  hands,  to  have  been 
 well  written.  It  was  done  in  answer  to  a  book,  entitled,  An 
 Humble  Remonstrance,  written  bv  the  bishop  of  Exeter.     This 
 
 IT  So 
 
474  :\iKMom  of 
 
 learned  prelate  attempted  a  confutation  of  Smectymnws;  to 
 which  the  presbyterians  replied.  After  this,  the  far-famed 
 Usher,  bishop  of  Armagh,  attacked  it;  but  was  repulsed  by 
 John  Milton,  the  celebrated  author  of  Paradise  Lost.  The  ac- 
 tivity, the  profound  knowledge,  integrity,  and  intrepidity, 
 evinced  by  Mr  Calamy,  had  raised  his  reputation,  particularly 
 among  the  presbyterians,  to  the  first  rank  of  literary  fame.  He 
 was  appointed,  by  the  House  of  Lords,  a  member  of  the  sub- 
 committee for  accommodating  ecclesiastical  affairs;  and  shortly 
 after  this  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines. 
 He  was  an  active  and  zealous  man  in  all  their  proceedings,  and 
 much  distinguished,  both  for  his  learning  and  moderation,  in 
 the  assembly. 
 
 Mr  Calamy  was  one  of  the  most  popular  preachers  in  Lon- 
 don, and  frequently  appointed  to  preach  before  the  long  parlia- 
 ment; for  which  the  prelatical  party  have  treated  him  with  un- 
 merited abuse.  He  was  the  first,  however,  who,  before  the 
 committee  of  parliament,  defended  the  proposition,  that  a 
 bishop  and  presbyter,  according  to  the  scriptures,  are  one  office 
 under  different  appellations.  His  interest  and  influence  in  the 
 city  of  London  was  very  extensive,  and  he  preached  to  a  nu- 
 merous and  highly  respectable  audience,  composed  of  the  most 
 eminent  citizens,  and  many  persons  of  quality.  He  was  one  of 
 the  London  ministers  who  declared  against  the  proceedings  of 
 the  army,  and  the  violent  measures  that  brought  on  the  king's 
 death;  an  event  which  he  strongly  deprecated. 
 
 In  Crom well's  time  Calamy  lived  as  quietly  as  possible;  but 
 sometimes  opposed  the  protector's  measures.  It  is  said  of 
 Cromwell,  that  having  a  wish  to  put  the  crown  on  his  own 
 head,  he  sent  for  some  of  the  principal  divines  of  the  city,  as  if 
 he  made  it  a  matter  of  conscience,  and  that  he  wanted  their  ad- 
 vice. Mr  Calamy  was  one  of  the  party,  and  boldly  opposed 
 the  project  of  Cromwell's  single  government,  offering  to  prove 
 that  the  thing  was  not  only  unlawful,  but  that  it  was  also  imprac- 
 ticable. To  the  first  of  these  Cromwell  readily  replied,  "  That 
 the  safety  of  the  people  was  the  supreme  law;  but,  pray,  Mr 
 Calamy,  said  he,  how  is  it  impracticable ?"  "Because  (says 
 Mr  Calamy)  the  nation  will  be  against  you,  nine  out  of  ten  at 
 least."  "But  (says  Cromwell)  what  if  I  wrest  the  sword  from 
 the  nine,  and  put  it  in  the  hands  of  the  tenth — Will  not  that  do 
 the  business?"  In  1659,  Mr  Calamy  concurred  with  the  earl  of 
 Mansfield,  and  other  great  men,  in  persuading  general  Monk  to 
 bring  in  the  king,  that  an  end  might  be  put  to  the  public  con- 
 fusions. He  preached  before  the  parliament  the  day  before 
 they  voted  the  king's  restoration  to  the  throne,  and  was  one  of 
 those  divines  that  were  sent  over  to  Holland  on  that  business; 
 
EDMUND  CALAMY.  475 
 
 but  he  had,  soon  after,  cause  to  regret  the  hand  he  had  in  that 
 unhappy  transaction,  particularly  that  he  was  received  without 
 a  previous  treaty. 
 
 On  the  restoration  of  Charles,  Mr  Calamy  was  encouraged 
 to  hope,  that  considerable  favour  and  indulgence,  both  to  him- 
 self and  his  brethren,  would  still  be  granted.  In  June,  the 
 same  year,  he  was  sworn  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  his  majesty, 
 with  several  other  presbyterian  ministers;  but  none  of  them 
 preached  more  than  once  before  the  king  in  that  capacity. 
 About  this  time  Mr  Calamy  was  often  with  his  majesty  at  carl 
 Mansfield,  the  chamberlain's  lodgings,  and  other  places,  and 
 had  the  royal  countenance  on  all  occasions.  He  had  a  princi- 
 pal hand  in  drawing  up  the  proposals,  at  that  time  presented  to 
 the  king,  respecting  church  government;  which  led  the  way  to 
 the  Savoy  conference.  He  was  also  concerned  in  the  concessions 
 made  by  the  declaration  of  October  25th,  the  same  year;  and 
 being  one  of  the  commissioners,  he  was  employed,  with  others, 
 in  drawing  up  the  exceptions  against  the  liturgy,  as  also  the  re- 
 ply to  the  reasons  of  the  episcopal  divines  against  these  excep- 
 tions of  the  presbyterians.  In  1661  he  was  one  of  those  chosen 
 by  the  London  ministers  to  represent  them  in  the  convocation; 
 but  was  not  permitted  to  sit  in  that  assembly.  He  attended 
 the  several  meetings  at  the  Savoy,  where  he  did  every  thing  in 
 his  power  to  effect  an  accommodation;  but  without  the  least 
 effect. 
 
 Mr  Calamy  preached  his  farewell  sermon  on  the  17th  of 
 August  1662,  a  week  before  the  act  of  uniformity  took  effect. 
 Having  consulted  with  his  great  friends  at  court,  the  following 
 petition  was  drawn  up,  and  presented  to  the  king,  signed  by  a 
 considerable  number  of  the  London  ministers : 
 
 "May  it  please  your  excellent  majesty. — Upon  former  ex- 
 perience of  your  majesty's  tenderness  and  indulgence  to  your 
 obedient  and  loyal  subjects,  in  which  number  we  can  clearly 
 reckon  ourselves,  we,  some  of  the  ministers  within  your  city 
 of  London,  who,  by  the  late  act  of  uniformity,  are  likely  to  be 
 cast  out  of  all  public  service  in  the  ministry,  because  we  can- 
 not, in  conscience,  conform  in  all  things  required  in  said  act, 
 have  taken  the  boldness  humbly  to  cast  ourselves  and  our  con- 
 cernments at  your  majesty's  feet,  desiring  that,  of  your  princely 
 wisdom  and  compassion,  you  would  take  some  effectual  course, 
 whereby  we  may  be  continued  in  the  exercise  of  our  ministry, 
 to  teach  your  people  their  duty  to  God  and  your  majesty;  and 
 we  doubt  not,  but  by  our  dutiful  and  peaceable  carriage  therein, 
 we  shall  render  ourselves  not  altogether  unworthy  of  so  great  a 
 favour."  This  petition  was  presented  by  Mr  Calamy,  Dr. 
 Manton,  Dr.  Bates,  and  others,  on  the  third  day  after  the  act 
 
MSMOIV  01 
 
 Mi   (  .il.miv    in. u I. •    ;i  i-asion, 
 
 ttatin       that  tho  ,  persuasion  were  read  test  the 
 
 •  of  fidelity  to  bi  with  any  description  of  Data.  ■ 
 
 I  hat    thc>    little   .  to    be   dealt    with    in 
 
 manner  they  had  been;  and  tkit  they  w  rrc  now  MM  l>eforo  his 
 
 majesty*  imploring  fail   interference  in  their  behalf,  as  the  last 
 ili.\   slh.ulil  make.      The  kiiiLT    promised  to  NmUv 
 request,    ami   tin-  lowing   the  mattn  fully 
 
 id   in    i  m    present*    of  fail   majesty,   who    was 
 
 pleased  to  say.  hi  intended  an  indulgence  if  it  was  at  all  possi- 
 ble. The  friends  «,f  t he  ,•,..!  ministers  in  tin-  council, 
 whose  hopes  had  '»«•'»'  Haltered  with  a  variety  of  specious  pro- 
 BfJtn*.  wi'iv  now  |M»rmitt«*d  freely  to  Mate  their  reasons  for  m.t 
 putting  the  act  in  execution:  and  they  reasoned  most  strcni. 
 I\   on  the  impolicy  and   al  -I  the  measure,   and  the  fatal 
 
 ctfecN.    feQ  the  nation  at  I  alga,    that    must  necessarily  attend    its 
 execution.      Hut  Dr.  Sheldcn,  1 » i ^ h « » p  of  London,  in  an  an  in 
 ed  speech,  declared,  "That  it  was  now  too  late  to  think  ofsus- 
 |M'tiding  a  law  which  had  occupied  so  much  of  the  time  and  the 
 
 wisdom  of  the  legislature  in  enacting — A  law,  in  obedient  • 
 
 which  he  had  already  ejected  such  of  his  clergy  ;is  would  not 
 comply    with    it;   and   were  they  now  to  be  restored,  after  thus 
 
 d,  he  moat,  in  that  east 
 aretght    of  th<  itment;    and    in    place   of  maintaining  his 
 
 episcopal  authority  amongst  them,  he  subjected  to  their  scorn 
 and  animosity,  being  thus  countenanced  hy  the  i 
 should  the  sacred  authority  of  this  law  be  now  suspended,  it 
 would  render  the  legislature  both  ridiculous  and  contemptible; 
 and  should  the  pressing  importunity  of  such  disaffected  people 
 he  considered  a  sufficient  reason  why  they  should  be  humoured 
 on  this  occasion,  it  would  establish  a  precedent  upon  which  all 
 future  malcontents  would  build  their  hopes,  and  maintain  their 
 claims  to  similar  indulgence  :  —  the  ohvioun  consequence  of  which 
 would  be,  convulsions,  and  ne\ -er-eeasiiig   < 
 
 church  and  k!  It   was,   on   these  grounds,  carried  that  no 
 
 indulgence  whatever  should  In- granted.      M;  (      amy  was  «.f- 
 1  .1  hishoprick;   which  he  refused,  because  he  could  not  ob- 
 tain it  on  the  terms  of  the  king's  declaration      He  preserved  his 
 ner  and  moderation  ejection,  and  lived  mad 
 
 :    I  to    Mdermaubury  church   one  day  as  a  bearer, 
 
 and  the  clergyman  appointed  to  prcac1  rard; 
 
 la  gratify  the   wishes  led.   and 
 
 prevent  a  disappointment,  lie  condescended  to  give  them  a  dis- 
 course, though  unpremeditated  I  or  this  he  was  shut  up  in 
 Newgate  prison,  by  warrant  I  Major,  as  a  violator 
 
 of  the  art  of  uniform:'  \ .  the  great  Diana  of  thai  t\  rannieal  pa 
 
EDMUND  CALAMY.  477 
 
 A  popish  lady,  passing  through  the  city,  found  it  almost  impos- 
 sible to  proceed  through  Newgate  Street  for  the  number  of 
 coaches  in  wailing.  Surprised  at  this  incident,  curiosity  led 
 her  to  inquire  into  the  occasion.  Some  of  the  by-standers  in- 
 formed her,  that  an  ejected  minister,  greatly  beloved  in  the  city, 
 had  been  imprisoned  for  preaching  a  single  sermon,  and  his 
 friends  were  calling  to  pay  him  a  visit  in  prison.  This  infor- 
 mation so  struck  the  lady,  that  she  waited  on  the  king  at  White- 
 hall, and  told  him  the  whole  affair,  expressing  her  apprehension, 
 that  such  steps  might  alienate  the  affection  of  the  city  from  his 
 majesty.  It  was  partly  owing  to  this,  that  Mr  Calamy  was 
 soon  released  by  an  express  order  from  the  king.  This  cir- 
 cumstance being  afterwards  complained  of  in  the  House  of 
 Commons,  it  was  signified  that  his  release  was  occasioned  by 
 a  deficiency  of  the  act  itself,  and  not  by  the  sole  orders  of  his 
 majesty.  The  following  entry  was  therefore  made  on  the  jour- 
 nal of  the  House  :  "  Die  Jovis,  1662 — 63.  Upon  complaint 
 made  to  this  House,  that  Mr  Calamy,  being  committed  to  pri- 
 son upon  breach  of  the  act  of  uniformity,  was  discharged  upon 
 pretence  of  some  defect  in  the  act — Resolved,  That  it  be  referred 
 to  a  committee  to  look  into  the  act  of  uniformity  as  to  the  mat- 
 ter in  question,  and  see  whether  the  same  be  defective,  and 
 wherein."  And  shortly  after  this,  a  committee  was  appointed 
 to  bring  in  the  reasons  of  the  House  for  advising  the  king  to 
 grant  no  toleration,  with  an  address  to  his  majesty;  which  pav- 
 ed the  way  for  all  that  unqualified  severity,  and  tyrannical  pro- 
 cedure, that  followed  during  this  and  the  succeeding  reign. 
 
 Mr  Calamy  lived  to  see  the  dreadful  fire  of  London  in  1666. 
 This  awful  conflagration  is  said  to  have  over-run  373  acres  of 
 ground  within  the  walls,  and  to  have  burned  down  13,200 
 houses,  and  89  parish  churches,  beside  chapels,  and  that  only 
 1 1  parishes  within  the  walls  were  left  standing.  This  dreadful 
 spectacle  is  said  to  have  broken  Mr  Calamy's  heart.  He  was 
 driven  through  the  ruins  of  the  city  in  a  coach,  and  viewing  the 
 dreadful  solitude,  and  far-spread  desolation,  he  went  home  with 
 a  heavy  heart,  and  never  after  left  his  chamber;  but  died  in  less 
 than  a  month,  October  1666,  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his 
 age. 
 
 His  works  are  not  numerous.  He  was  one  of  the  authors  of 
 Smectymnws,  formerly  mentioned.  He  was  also  concerned  in 
 drawing  up  the  Vindication  of  the  Presbyterial  Church  Govern- 
 ment and  Ministry,  and  Jus  Divinum  Ministerii  Evangelici  et 
 Anglicani.  He  has  also  several  sermons  extant — I.  England's 
 Looking-glass. — 2.  The  Nobleman's  pattern  of  true  and  real 
 Thankfulness. — 3.  God's  free  mercy  to  England. — 4.  England's 
 Antidote  against  the  Plague  of  Civil  War. — 5.  An  Indictment 
 
478  MEMOIR  OF  WJLLIAM  CARTER. 
 
 against  England  because  of  her  Self-murdering  Divisions. — 6. 
 The  great  danger  of  Covenant  refusing  and  Covenant  breaking. 
 —7.  The  Door  of  Truth  Opened.— 8.  The  Saint's  Rest.— 9. 
 The  Fragility  of  the  Body.— 10.  The  Monster  of  sinful  self- 
 seeking  Anatomized. — 11.  A  Sermon  at  the  Funeral  of  the 
 Earl  of  Warwick. — 12.  A  Sermon  at  the  Funeral  of  Mr  Ashe. 
 — 13.  The  Godly  Man's  City  of  Refuge  in  the  day  of  his  dis- 
 tress, containing  five  Sermons. — Mr  Calamy's  oldest  son  was 
 ejected  at  the  same  time  with  his  father;  and  his  grand-son,  a 
 dissenting  divine  of  great  eminence,  is  well  known  by  his 
 learned  works. 
 
 WILLIAM  CARTER. 
 
 This  laborious  divine  was  born  in  1605,  and  educated  in 
 the  university  of  Cambridge;  after  leaving  which,  he  became 
 preacher  in  London,  where  he  was  exceeding  popular.  In  1643 
 he  was  appointed  licenser  of  the  press,  and,  during  the  same 
 year,  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  where  he  was  a 
 constant  attendant.  After  some  time  he  joined  with  the  inde- 
 pendents, and  was  one  of  the  dissenting  brethren  in  the  assem- 
 bly, where  he  discovered  much  learning  and  moderation  in  sup- 
 porting their  particular  opinions.  In  1654  he  was  appointed 
 one  of  the  triers  of  public  preachers;  in  which  capacity  Dr. 
 Walker  has  attempted  to  lessen  his  reputation,  as  well  as  that 
 of  other  very  learned  and  otherwise  worthy  divines.  He  had 
 frequent  offers  of  preferment,  but,  dissatisfied  with  the  parochial 
 discipline  of  these  times,  he  declined  accepting  any  of  them. 
 He  was,  nevertheless,  indefatigable  in  his  ministerial  labours,, 
 preaching  twice  every  Sabbath  to  two  large  congregations  in 
 the  city,  beside  weekly  lectures,  and  other  occasional  services. 
 He  was  one  of  the  preachers  before  the  parliament;  and  his  in- 
 cessant and  arduous  exertions  wasted  his  strength,  and  hasten- 
 ed his  death.  He  died  about  the  month  of  June  1658,  aged 
 fifty-three  years.  He  was  a  good  scholar,  an  admired  preacher, 
 and  a  man  of  most  exemplary  piety.  His  pious  and  compas- 
 sionate soul  mourned  over  the  vast  numbers  of  those  thought- 
 less persons  who  had  no  concern  for  themselves,  and  he  longed 
 and  laboured  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  God  and  religion 
 amongst  them  till  the  end  of  his  life.  His  relations,  by  pur- 
 chasing bishops'  lands,  became  great  sufferers  after  the  restora- 
 tion, when  prelacy  came  to  be  re-established;  but  lie  himself 
 did  not  live  to  see  the  evil  that  came  upon  either  his  relatives 
 or  the  nation  at  large.  He  was  author  of  a  Sermon,  entitled 
 Israel's  Peace  with  God  Benjamin's  Overthrow,  preached  be- 
 
MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  CARYL.  479 
 
 tore  the  Commons,  July  27th,  1642;  and  another,  entitled  Light 
 in  Darkness,  preached  also  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
 November  24th,  1647. 
 
 JOSEPH  CARYL. 
 
 This  eminent  divine  was  born  in  London,  1602,  and  edu- 
 cated in  Exeter  college,  Oxford.  Here,  by  means  of  an  excellent 
 tutor,  and  ardent  application,  he  soon  became  famous  for  his 
 disputations.  In  1627  he  took  his  degree  in  arts;  and  enter- 
 ing into  holy  orders,  he  exercised  his  function,  for  some  time, 
 in  and  about  Oxford.  After  this  he  became  preacher  to  the 
 honourable  society  of  Lincoln's-inn,  where  he  continued  for 
 several  years,  and  acquired  a  good  reputation.  In  1642,  and 
 afterwards,  Mr  Caryl  was  frequently  called  to  preach  before 
 the  long  parliament;  and  being  now  become  conspicuous  and 
 eminently  distinguished  for  his  abilities  and  puritanical  princi- 
 ples, he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  in 
 which,  as  in  every  other  station,  he  evinced  much  learning, 
 piety,  and  moderation.  He  was  also,  about  this  time,  appoint- 
 ed licenser  to  the  theological  department  of  the  press.  In  1645 
 he  became  pastor  to  the  church  of  Magnus,  near  London  bridge; 
 in  which  situation  he  laboured  several  years  with  great  dili- 
 gence and  remarkable  success.  He  was  considered  one  of  the 
 best  expositors  of  scripture  in  that  period,  and  an  excellent  and 
 very  pathetic  preacher  of  the  gospel.  He  was  appointed,  along 
 with  Mr  Stephen  Marshall,  as  chaplain  to  the  commissioners 
 who  were  sent  by  parliament  to  the  king  at  Newcastle,  to  ne- 
 gociate  an  accommodation  of  their  differences.  They  accom- 
 panied the  king  and  the  commissioners  from  Newcastle  to 
 Holmby  House  in  Northamptonshire,  where  his  majesty  con- 
 tinued some  time  without  any  of  his  chaplains.  Caryl  and 
 Marshall,  at  the  desire  of  the  commissioners,  according  to 
 Wood,  offered  their  services  to  preach  before  his  majesty  in  the 
 absence  of  his  chaplains;  but  their  services  were  not  accepted, 
 not  even  to  say  grace;  which  his  majesty  himself  said  with  an 
 audible  voice.  In  September  1648,  Mr  Caryl  was  one  of  those 
 divines  who  accompanied  the  commissioners  of  parliament  to 
 the  Isle  of  Wight  to  negociate  a  treaty  of  peace.  This  com- 
 mission consisted  of  five  noblemen,  ten  commoners,  and  four 
 divines,  to  assist  them  in  their  religious  debates,  Mr  Caryl, 
 Marshall,  Vines,  and  Dr.  Seaman.  In  September  1650,  Mr 
 Caryl  and  Dr.  John  Owen  were  appointed  by  parliament  to 
 travel  into  Scotland  to  attend  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  desired 
 their  company  and  service.     In  1653  he  was  appointed  one  of 
 
480  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 the  triers  tor  the  approbation  of  ministers  to  fill  the  vacant 
 churches;  and  the  following  year  he  was  constituted  an  assist- 
 ant to  the  commissioners  tor  ejecting  scandalous,  ignorant, 
 and  otherwise  insufficient  ministers  and  school-masters.  In 
 1659  he  was  sent  into  Scotland,  to  give  general  Monk  an  ac- 
 count of  the  state  of  affairs  in  England,  with  a  letter  from  Dr. 
 Owen,  expressing  their  apprehensions  of  danger  to  their  religi- 
 ous liberties  on  the  event  of  a  revolution  of  the  government. 
 On  the  1 1th  of  March  following,  according  to  Wood,  he  was 
 appointed,  by  act  of  parliament,  together  with  Edward  Rey- 
 nolds and  others,  to  approve  of,  and  admit,  ministers  in  the 
 presbytcrian  way;  but  that  the  order  of  the  House  being  nulled 
 by  the  restoration  of  king  Charles,  he  retired  to  his  flock  at 
 Magnus,  where  he  continued  till  ejected  by  the  act  of  unifor- 
 mity, 1662;  on  which  mournful  occasion  he  preached  his  fare- 
 well sermon  from  Rev.  iii.  4.  "  They  shall  walk  with  me  in 
 white,  for  they  are  worthy."  "  The  design  of  this  discourse 
 (says  Mr  Caryl)  is  to  delineate  the  character,  and  set  forth  the 
 honour  and  happiness,  of  those  he  had  described  in  a  former  dis- 
 course, who,  like  the  few  names  in  Sardis,  had  not  defiled  their 
 garments  by  conforming  to  a  sinful  and  degenerate  world. 
 They  shall  walk  with  Christ.  They  shall  walk  with  him  in 
 white  garments;  denoting  their  state  of  justification,  but  parti- 
 cularly the  purity,  integrity,  and  persevering  intrepidity  of  their 
 character,  honourable  in  the  sight  both  of  God  and  man.  Their 
 white  robes  likewise  denote  the  inward  peace,  and  self-approv- 
 ing satisfaction,  that  springs  from  the  testimony  of  their  own 
 consciences  from  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  well-ground- 
 ed hope  of  eternal  glory;  in  consequence  of  which  they  may 
 rejoice,  nay,  glory  in  tribulation,  and  smile  at  the  impotent  ma- 
 lignity of  their  persecutors  and  oppressors.  What  Christ  said 
 concerning  the  lily,  may,  with  great  propriety,  be  applied  to 
 those  who  keep  themselves  pure  and  unspotted  from  the  sins 
 and  superstitions  of  a  degenerate  age :  "  Solomon,  in  all  his 
 glory,  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  those."  To  such  may  the 
 words  of  the  preacher  be  addressed,  f  Go  thy  way,  eat  thy 
 bread  with  joy,  and  drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart,  for 
 God  now  accepteth  thy  sacrifice.'  What  though  the  world 
 give  thee  the  bread  of  adversity  and  the  water  of  affliction,  clothe 
 thee  in  mourning,  and  cause  thee  to  prophesy  in  sackcloth;  yet 
 be  of  good  comfort,  and  rejoice  in  this,  that  they  cannot  bereave 
 thee  of  the  fruits  of  thy  labour,  of  that  massy  crown  that  awaits 
 all  those  who  fiirlit,  and  overcome  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb 
 and  the  word  of  their  testimony.  The  blessed  martyrs,  though 
 they  were  cast  into  black  and  dreary  dungeons,  still  preserved 
 their  white  garments  from  spot  or  stain:  and  though  they  have 
 
JOSEPH  CARYL.  481 
 
 been  dressed,   many  of  them,   so  as  to  make  them  look  like 
 devils,   they  have  heen  filled  with  peace  and  joy  unspeakable. 
 But  this  walking  with  Christ  in  white  has  also  an  ultimate  re- 
 spect to  the  heavenly  glory,  of  which  Christ's  transfiguration 
 was  a  type,  when  all  those,  who  have  washed  their  robes,  and 
 made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  shall  stand  before 
 the  throne,  arrayed  in  white,   with  palms  in  their  hands;  and 
 the  Lamb,   who  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  shall  feed  them, 
 and  lead  them  to  living  fountains  of  water,  where  the  voice  of 
 the  oppressor,  nor  the  wailings  of  the  oppressed,  shall  no  more 
 be  heard,   but  God  shall   wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes. 
 Let  it  therefore  be  your  greatest  care  to  avoid  whatever  tends 
 to  sully  your  garments,  to  stain  the  purity  of  your  consciences 
 and  character  as  friends  and  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ;    and 
 know  for  a  truth,    that   whoever  amongst  you  neglects   this 
 watchful  anxiety  over  their  own  hearts  and  lives,  shall  walk  in 
 black,  and  be  attired  in  robes  of  mourning.     I  have  endeavour- 
 ed, while  amongst  you,  to  press  these  important  considerations 
 on  your  minds;  and  should  I  have  no  more  opportunities  of  this 
 kind,  it  is  the  desire  of  my  heart,  and  shall  be  my  prayer  to 
 God,  that  we  may  all  meet  at  the  right  hand  of  our  Judge  and 
 our  Redeemer,  where  all  our  prayers  will  be  answered,  and  all 
 our  unworthy  services  graciously  rewarded,  with  glory,  honour, 
 and  immortality."     After  his  ejection,  Mr  Caryl  continued  to 
 live  in  London,  and  soon  gathered  a  congregation  in  the  vicini- 
 ty of  London  bridge,  to  whom  he  preached  as  the  times  would 
 permit;  and  his  congregation  so  much  increased,   that  at  the 
 time  of  his  death,  eleven  years  after  his  expulsion,  he  left  one 
 hundred  and  thirty-six  communicants.     He  died  at  his  house  in 
 Bury  Street,  London,  universally  lamented,  in  February  1673, 
 and  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age. 
 
 The  following  account  of  Mr  Caryl's  death,  given  in  a  letter 
 written  by  Mr  Henry  Dorney,  and  addressed  to  his  brother, 
 will  probably  be  acceptable  to  the  pious  reader  :  "  That  famous 
 and  laborious  minister  of  Christ,  Mr  Joseph  Caryl,  your  ancient 
 friend  and  companion,  has  departed  this  life,  aged  seventy-one 
 years.  His  death  is  greatly  lamented  by  the  people  of  God 
 throughout  this  city.  About  the  beginning  of  his  sickness  I 
 was  with  him,  and  he  inquired  concerning  you  as  he  was  wont 
 to  do.  Perceiving  him  to  be  weakly,  though  he  did  not  then 
 keep  his  chamber,  I  desired,  while  he  was  yet  alive,  to  remem- 
 ber you  in  his  prayers;  which  motion  he  cheerfully  embraced. 
 I  visited  him  again  about  three  days  before  his  death.  He  told 
 me,  as  I  understood  him,  for  being  extremely  weak,  and  past  all 
 hopes  of  life,  his  voice  was  low;  that  he  had  not  forgotten  his 
 promise  to  me  in  your  behalf.      I  think  it  good  to  mention  this 
 
 la  3p 
 
AII.MOIK   Oh" 
 
 circiinistaiu le,  in  order  to  provoke  you  to  all  seriousness  with 
 regard  to  your  own  soul,  the  eternal  welfare  of  which  lay  so 
 much  at  the  heart  of  this  eminent  servant  of  Christ.  His  la- 
 hours  were  great,  lii*  studies  incessant,  and  his  whole  conversa- 
 tion without  spot  or  hlemish.  His  charity,  faith,  wisdom,  and 
 zeal,  had  a  fragrant  smell  among  the  churches  and  servants  of 
 Christ,  hy  whom  his  loss  will  be  long  lamented.  His  sickness, 
 though  painful,  was  borne  with  patience,  joy,  and  peace  in  be- 
 lieving; so  that  he  parted  with  time,  and  entered  the  harbour  of 
 eternity  under  the  full  sail  of  desire,  and  was  wafted  into  port 
 by  a  gentle  breeze  of  divine  consolation.  When  drawing  near 
 the  close  of  life,  he  desired  his  friends  to  forbear  speaking  to 
 him,  that  he  might  retire  within  himself;  which  time,  they  per- 
 ceived, he  spent  in  prayer,  often  lifting  up  Lis  hands  a  little. 
 His  friends,  observing  that  his  hands  had  ceased  moving,  drew 
 near,  and  found  he  had  silently  departed  from  them,  leaving 
 many  a  sorrowful  heart  behind."  Wood  calls  him  a  learned 
 and  zealous  non -conformist.  Dr.  Calamy  says,  "  He  had  uni- 
 versally the  character  of  a  learned  man."  Neal  and  Palmer 
 say,  "  That  he  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  piety,  and  modera- 
 tion, a  character  which  his  writings  abundantly  manifest." 
 The  Oxford  historian  informs  us,  "That  several  elegies  were 
 written  on  him  after  his  death,  two  or  three  of  which  he  had 
 seen."  The  summer  after  Mr  Caryl's  death,  his  congregation 
 made  choice  of  Dr.  John  Owen  for  their  pastor,  and  united 
 with  those  formerly  under  his  charge  and  superintendance, 
 among  whom  were  several  persons  of  rank  in  the  army.  In 
 this  united  society,  Dr.  Owen  was  succeeded  by  the  very  learn- 
 ed Mr  David  Clarkson,  whose  successor  was  Dr.  Chauncey; 
 after  whom  they  made  choice  of  the  late  celebrated  Dr.  Isaac 
 Watts,  for  whom  they  built  a  new  meeting-house  in  Berry 
 Street,  near  St.  Mary  Axe. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Works  of  Ephesus. — 2.  David's  Prayer 
 for  Solomon. — 3.  The  Nature  of  a  Sacred  Covenant,  and 
 the  duty  of  such  as  engage  therein. — 4*.  The  Saint's  Thankful 
 Acclamation  at  Christ's  Resumption  of  his  great  Power,  and 
 the  Initials  of  his  Kingdom. — 5.  The  arraignment  of  Unbelief 
 as  the  grand  cause  of  our  National  Non-establishment. — 6.  The 
 present  Duty  and  endeavour  of  the  Saints. — 7.  Heaven  and 
 Earth  embracing,  or  God  and  Man  approximating. — 8.  Joy 
 out-joyed. — 9.  England's  Plus  Ultra,  both  of  Duties  required 
 and  Mercies  hoped  for. — 10.  An  Exposition,  with  Practical 
 Observations,  upon  the  Book  of  Job,  with  several  other  Ser- 
 mons.— 11.  The  Nature  and  Principle  of  Love  as  the  end  of 
 the  Commandment;  being  some  of  his  last  Sermons  published 
 after  his  death.     He  had  also  a  hand  in  a  book,  entitled,  An 
 
THOMAS  CASE.  48S 
 
 English  Greek  Lexicon,  containing  the  derivation  of  all  the 
 words  used  in  the  New  Testament. 
 
 THOMAS  CASE,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Case  was  born  in  the  county  of  Kent.  His  father  was 
 minister  of  Boxley  in  that  county,  and  distinguished  both  for 
 his  parts  and  piety.  His  son  Thomas  was  the  object  of  his  pe- 
 culiar care,  on  whom  he  bestowed  an  excellent  education  in 
 early  life.  He  gave  signal  proofs  of  a  pious  disposition,  and 
 very  considerable  ingenuity,  even  in  his  childhood.  We  are  in- 
 formed, that  he  was  an  early  convert,  and  that  his  conversion 
 began  with  prayer  when  he  was  only  six  years  of  age.  He  was 
 put  to  school  first  at  Canterbury,  and  afterwards  at  Merchant 
 Taylor's  in  London;  where  he  continued,  till  his  father,  meeting 
 with  troubles,  was  obliged  to  take  him  home,  where  he  gave 
 him  all  the  instruction  in  the  arts  and  languages  which  his  cir- 
 cumstances would  permit,  and  in  due  time  had  him  entered 
 student  at  Christ  church  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  in  the 
 year  1616,  being  then  seventeen  years  of  age.  Here  his  appli- 
 cation and  improvement  were  such,  that  he  was  elected  unani- 
 mously, by  the  dean  and  canons,  a  student  of  that  House,  where 
 he  remained  till  about  1625,  having,  prior  to  this,  taken  his  de- 
 gree in  arts.  Being  now  in  some  measure  fitted  for  the  work 
 of  the  ministry,  he  commenced  preacher  for  some  time  in  these 
 parts,  according  to  Wood,  and  afterward  in  Kent,  at  or  near 
 the  place  of  his  birth.  By  the  pressing  importunity  of  an  inti- 
 mate and  very  affectionate  friend  in  Norfolk,  he  was  prevailed 
 upon  to  reside  some  time  with  him  in  that  county.  Soon  after 
 this  he  was  called  to  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  at  Erphing- 
 ham,  a  town  also  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  where  he  remained 
 eight  or  ten  years.  Here  he  preached  twice  every  Sabbath, 
 and  was  indefatigable  in  catechising  the  young  people,  and  re- 
 peating in  private  what  he  had  delivered  in  public,  as  numbers 
 of  the  English  divines  were  accustomed  to  do  about  that  time. 
 Thus,  by  his  diligence  in  performing  the  respective  duties  of  his 
 office,  and  exhibiting  before  his  flock  a  pious,  peaceable,  and 
 exemplary  walk  and  conversation,  he  obtained  an  excellent  re- 
 putation, and  was  highly  gratified  to  find  that  his  labours  had 
 been  blessed  with  singular  success.  But  the  unqualified  seve- 
 rity exercised  towards  the  puritans,  by  the  rigid  and  whimsical 
 measure  of  bishop  Wren,  drove  him  away  from  his  charge. 
 He  was  summoned  before  the  court  of  high  commission,  and 
 admitted  to  bail;  but  before  he  had  time  to  make  answer  to  the 
 charges  exhibited  against  him,  that  inquisitorial  and  tyrannical 
 
484  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 court  was  dissolved,  by  act  of  parliament,  to  the  great  joy  of  a 
 large  majority  of  the  English  nation. 
 
 Mr  Case's  Norfolk  friend,  above  mentioned,  having  been  ap- 
 pointed warden  of  Manchester,  invited  him  into  Lancashire, 
 where,  in  a  short  time,  he  was  presented  to  a  place  in  the 
 neighbouring  county;  but  great  changes  and  confusions  soon 
 after  prevailing  in  the  kingdom,  some  persons  of  quality  per- 
 suaded him  to  accompany  them  to  London,  where  he  was  com- 
 fortably settled.  Here  he  was  first  chosen  lecturer,  and  after- 
 wards pastor  of  Magdalen  church  in  Milk  Street,  London, 
 where,  beside  his  labours  in  the  congregation,  and  on  the  Lord's 
 day,  he  carried  on  a  weekly  lecture  every  Saturday;  and  here 
 he  first  set  up  the  morning  exercise,  which  has  been  long  con- 
 tinued in  the  city.  The  occasion  of  its  introduction  was  this : 
 Many  of  the  citizens  of  London  had  friends  and  near  relations 
 along  with  the  army  of  the  earl  of  Essex,  and  so  many  bills 
 were  sent  up  to  the  pulpit  every  Lord's  day  by  their  friends, 
 requesting  the  prayers  of  the  church  for  their  protection,  that 
 the  minister  had  neither  time  to  read  out  their  names,  nor  re- 
 commend them  to  the  protection  of  heaven.  Some  divines 
 therefore  moved,  that  it  might  be  adviseable,  under  these  cir- 
 cumstances, to  set  apart  an  hour  for  this  purpose  every  morn- 
 ing, one  half  of  which  to  be  spent  in  prayer,  the  other  devoted 
 to  exhortation.  Mr  Case  began  it  in  his  church  at  seven  o'clock 
 in  the  morning,  and  when  it  had  continued  there  a  month,  it 
 was  removed,  by  rotation,  to  other  churches,  for  the  conveni- 
 ency  of  the  citizens.  The  service  was  performed  by  different 
 ministers.  When  the  heat  of  the  war  was  over,  it  became  a 
 casuistical  lecture,  and  was  carried  on  by  the  most  learned  di- 
 vines of  the  time,  and  continued  till  the  restoration.  Their  lec- 
 tures were  afterwards  published,  each  of  which  contained  the 
 resolving  of  some  case  of  conscience.  But  Mr  Case's  labours 
 were  not  confined  to  his  parish  of  Milk  Street.  He  likewise 
 carried  on  a  lecture  at  Martin's  in  the  Fields  every  Thursday  for 
 more  than  twenty  years. 
 
 Being  a  zealous  advocate  lor  reformation,  Mr  Case  was  no- 
 minated a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  where  he  display- 
 ed his  talents  with  success  in  the  service  of  the  church.  He 
 was  also  appointed  to  preach  before  parliament,  and  on  other 
 public  occasions.  In  his  sermon,  preached  before  the  commis- 
 sioners, for  holding  the  court-martial  in  1664,  Mr  Granger  con- 
 demns the  following  sentence  as  sanguinary  and  reprehensible : 
 "  Noble  sirs,  imitate  God,  and  be  merciful  to  none  who  have 
 sinned  out  of  malicious  wickedness"  (meaning  the  royalists).  "  It 
 is  painful  to  think,  says  he,  that  so  venerable  and  amiable  a  man 
 should  suffer  himself  to  be  so  far  transported  by  the  fury  of  the 
 
THOMAS  CASE.  485 
 
 times,  as  to  have  uttered,  but  especially  to  have  printed,  such 
 an  unchristian  sentence."  In  order  that  Mr  Case  may  have  a 
 hearing  before  he  be  condemned,  I  shall  give  the  reader  the 
 whole  sentence  from  the  sermon  unmutilated,  that  he  may  judge 
 for  himself.  It  was  preached  from  2  Chron.  xix.  6.  *  And  he 
 (Jehoshaphat)  said  to  the  judges,  take  heed  what  ye  do,  for  ye 
 judge  not  for  man,  but  for  the  Lord,  who  is  with  you  in  the 
 judgment.'  In  the  eighteenth  page  of  this  sermon,  Mr  Case 
 says,  "Noble  sirs,  in  your  execution  of  judgment  upon  delinquents, 
 imitate  God,  and  be  merciful  to  none  who  have  sinned  out  of  ma- 
 licious wickedness,  Psalm  lix.  5.  Let  not  any  find  mercy,  who, 
 in  this  bloody  quarrel,  have  laid  the  foundation  of  their  rebellion 
 and  massacres  in  irreconcilable  hatred  of  religion  and  the  go- 
 vernment of  Christ.  Those  his  enemies,  who  would  not  have 
 him  reign  over  them,  slay  them  before  his  face — Let  not  them 
 find  mercy  in  your  eyes,  in  whose  eyes  a  whole  nation,  and  our 
 posterity,  could  find  no  pity — Spare  not,  but  where  you  think 
 in  your  conscience  God  would  spare  if  he  himself  were  on  the 
 bench  in  person — Imitate  God  in  your  justice,  and  imitate  him 
 also  in  your  mercy — Be  merciful  as  your  heavenly  Father  is 
 merciful."  Granger  makes  the  unqualified  assertion,  that  he 
 meant  the  royalists.  Mr  Case  says,  that  he  meant  delinquents, 
 whether  belonging  to  king  or  parliament;  and  notwithstanding 
 that  his  expressions  have  a  very  unchristian  aspect,  they  exhibit 
 the  precise  sense  of  the  psalmist  in  the  passage  quoted.  He 
 exhorts  the  judges  to  imitate  God,  both  in  the  exercise  of  his 
 justice  and  his  mercy.  It  were  surely  difficult  to  conceive 
 where  he  could  have  found  a  better  pattern  of  imitation.  His 
 mode  of  expressing  himself,  however,  I  have  no  mind  to  vindi- 
 cate; it  is  coarse  and  indelicate,  however  correct,  and  ad- 
 dressed to  the  passions  of  his  auditory,  upon  an  occasion  when 
 he  ought  more  especially  to  have  addressed  their  understanding 
 and  judgment;  but  the  best  of  men  have  their  peculiarities, 
 their  passions,  and  propensities.  He,  together  with  his  breth- 
 ren, had  suffered  great  and  manifold  severities  under  bishop 
 Wren.  He  had  seen  the  cruel  treatment  of  the  most  zealous 
 and  useful,  while  those  who  were  the  most  loose  and  careless 
 in  discharging  their  pastoral  obligations,  were  caressed  and  en- 
 courged  in  their  indolence;  all  which  were  calculated  to  excite 
 the  burning  indignation  of  men  possessed  of  a  colder  tempera- 
 ment than  that  of  Mr  Case. 
 
 He  was  a  zealous  covenanter,  as  appears  from  his  sermons 
 preached  at  taking  the  covenant.  In  his  preface  to  these  ser- 
 mons, he  says,  "To  every  soul  who  shall  enter  into  this  holy 
 league  and  eovenant,  my  request  is,  that  they  would  look  around 
 them,  life  and  death  is  before  them.     If  we  break  with   God 
 
486  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 now,  we  have  just  cause  to  tear  that  God  will  stand  to  covenant 
 no  more  with  us,  but  will  avenge  the  quarrel  with  us  to  our  utter 
 destruction.  If  we  be  sincere  and  faithful,  this  covenant  will 
 be  a  foundation  of  much  peace,  joy,  glory,  and  security,  to  us 
 and  our  seed,  till  the  coming  of  Christ.  He  was  one  of  those 
 ministers  who  subscribed  the  two  papers  against  the  proceed- 
 ings of  parliament  in  1648,  and  the  bringing  the  king  to  his 
 trial.  He  was  turned  out  of  his  place  in  Milk  Street,  for  re- 
 fusing the  engagement,  vehemently  urged,  at  this  time,  by 
 Oliver  Cromwell  in  name  of  the  commonwealth.  After  the  king's 
 death,  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  were  changed, 
 and  a  new  oath  substituted  in  their  place.  In  which  oath,  the 
 swearers  engaged  themselves  to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the 
 government  without  a  king  or  House  of  Lords.  Such  as 
 refused  were  declared  incapable  of  holding  any  place  or  office 
 of  trust  in  the  commonwealth;  but  as  many  of  the  excluded 
 members  of  the  House  of  Commons  as  received  it,  were  re-ad- 
 mitted to  their  seats.  With  the  view  of  bringing  the  presby- 
 terian  ministers  to  the  test,  this  oath,  the  engagement,  was 
 strongly  urged  upon  all  ministers,  heads  of  colleges  and  halls, 
 fellows  of  houses,  graduates,  and  officers  in  the  universities.  No 
 minister  could  be  admitted  to  any  ecclesiastical  living,  or  capa- 
 ble of  enjoying  any  preferment  in  the  church,  unless  he  qualified 
 himself  by  taking  the  engagement  in  less  than  six  months,  and 
 that  publicly  in  the  face  of  his  congregation. 
 
 Mr  Baxter  says,  "  That  most  of  the  sectarian  party  swallowed 
 the  engagement,  and  so  did  the  king's  old  cavaliers — very  few  of 
 them  being  troubled  with  the  disease  of  a  scrupulous  conscience: 
 but  the  moderate  episcopals  and  presbyterians  generally  refused 
 it,  as  did  Mr  Case.  It  was  not  long,  however,  till  providence 
 opened  another  door,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  prosecute  his 
 ministerial  labours.  He  was  chosen  lecturer  at  Aldermanbury 
 and  Cripplegate,  where  lie  remained  till  he  was  sent  prisoner 
 to  the  tower;  where  he  was  confined  for  about  six  months  for 
 being  concerned  in  the  affair  for  which  Christopher  Love  suf- 
 fered on  Tower-hill.  The  matter  stands  thus  :  Upon  the  death 
 of  Charles  I.,  the  prince  of  Wales  was  proclaimed  king  of  Scot- 
 land by  authority  of  that  nation,  who  sent  commissioners  to 
 the  Hague  to  invite  him  into  the  kingdom,  upon  the  terms  of 
 his  renouncing  popery  and  prelacy,  and  swearing  the  solemn 
 league  and  covenant.  The  body  of  the  English  presbyterians 
 acted  in  concert  with  Scotland  in  this  important  business;  in 
 which  several  of  their  leading  divines  carried  on  a  private  cor- 
 respondence with  the  Scottish  chiefs;  and  in  place  of  taking  the 
 engagement  to  the  present  powers,  called  them  usurpers.  But 
 i  discovery  of  this  confederacy  caused  the  death  of  Mr  Love, 
 and  the  imprisonment  of  Mr  Case,  as  above  stated. 
 
THOMAS  CASE.  487 
 
 While  confined  in  the  tower,  Mr  Case  made  the  best  use  of 
 his    time    and    sufferings    that   circumstances    would    permit. 
 Here  he  meditated  the  substance  of  what  he  afterwards  preach- 
 ed, and  published  under  the  title,  Correction,  Instruction.    After 
 his  release,  he  was  invited  to  be  lecturer  at  Giles  in  the  Fields, 
 near  London,  where  he  continued  till  the  restoration,  when  the 
 former  incumbent  was  re-admitted.       On   the   14th  of  March 
 1659,  he  was  appointed,  by  parliament,  one  of  the  ministers  for 
 approving  and  admitting  clergymen  in  the  presbyterian  way; 
 and  in  the  following  year,  he  was  deputed,  by  his  brethren  in 
 London,  with  others,  to  wait  on  the  king,  and  congratulate  him 
 on  his  restoration  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.     Mr  Baxter, 
 one  of  the  number,  tells  us,  that  Charles  gave  them  very  en- 
 couraging promises  of  peace,  and  raised  some  of  them  to  high 
 expectation.     He  never  refused  them  a  private  audience  when 
 they  desired  it;  and  the  better  to  amuse  and  deceive  them, 
 while  they  were  once  waiting  in  the  anti-chamber,  he  said  his 
 prayers   with   such  an  audible  voice,    in  the  adjoining   apart- 
 ment, that  the  ministers  might  hear  what  he  said.     He  thank- 
 ed God  that  he  was  a  covenanted  king;  and  besought  the  Lord 
 to  give  him  an  humble,  meek,   and  forgiving  spirit,   that  he 
 might  have  forbearance  with  his  offending  subjects,  as  he  ex- 
 pected forbearance  from  offended  heaven.     On  hearing  which, 
 old  Mr  Case  lifted  up  his  hands  to  heaven,  and  blessed  God 
 who  had  given  them  a  praying  king.     In  1661  he  was  one  of 
 the  commissioners  at  the  Savoy  conference,  and  in  1662,  eject- 
 ed, with  the  rest  of  his  brethren,  by  the  act  of  uniformity;  but 
 Wood  says,   <;  That  ever  after,  so  long  as  he  lived,  he  was  not 
 wanting,  on  his  part,  to  carry  on  the  beloved  cause  in  conventi- 
 cles, for  which  he  sometimes  suffered." 
 
 St.  Bartholomew's  day  having  arrived,  he  preached  his 
 farewell  sermon  from  Rev.  ii.  5.  "Remember,  therefore,  from 
 whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent,  and  do  the  first  works." 
 "  Here  (says  he)  Christ  prescribes  precious  physic  for  the  heal- 
 ing of  this  languishing  church,  compounded  of  three  ingredients, 
 self-reflection,  holy  contrition,  and  thorough  reformation.  Re- 
 member what  you  once  were,  repent  of  what  you  presently  are, 
 and  return,  by  a  course  of  thorough  reformation,  to  that  height 
 of  piety,  purity,  and  zeal,  from  which  you  have  fallen."  These 
 topics  he  urged  on  his  audience  with  uncommon  pathos;  and, 
 in  concluding  his  remarks  on  the  requisite  reformation  he  had 
 been  inculcating,  he  says,  "  we  should  also  do  something,  bv 
 way  of  extraordinary  bounty  and  charity,  to  the  relief  of  God's 
 indigent  servants,  in  this  period  of  extraordinary  distress:  and 
 what  I  would  exhort  you  all  to  do  is,  that  you  set  apart  some 
 considerable  proportion  of  your  estates,   and  account  it  a  hal- 
 
488  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 lowed  thing  dedicated  to  God;  a  thing,  which  to  touch,  or  ap- 
 ply to  any  other  purpose,  were  sacrilege,  that  you  may  be  ready, 
 on  all  necessary  occasions,  to  contribute  to  the  relief  of  the 
 poor,  whom  you  will  find  suffering  in  every  corner  of  town  and 
 country." 
 
 Notwithstanding  the  many  trials  and  changes  to  which  he 
 was  subjected  in  the  course  of  his  public  ministry,  Mr  Case  en- 
 joyed an  uncommon  share  of  domestic  happiness,  and  died,  in 
 a  good  old  age,  on  the  30th  May,  1682,  having  been  a  so- 
 journer through  this  region  of  tears,  turmoil,  and  unceasing 
 vicissitude,  fourscore  and  four  years. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Two  Sermons,  preached  at  Westminster 
 before  sundry  of  the  House  of  Commons. — 2.  God's  waiting  to 
 be  gracious,  preached  at  Milk  Street. — 3.  The  Root  of  Apostacy 
 and  Fountain  of  true  Fortitude;  a  Sermon  preached  to  the 
 Commons. — 4.  Jehoshaphat's  Caveat  to  the  Judges. — 5.  The 
 Set-backs  of  Reformation;  a  Sermon  preached  before  the  Lords. 
 — 6.  A  Model  of  true  Spiritual  Thankfulness,  preached  to  the 
 Commons. — 7.  Spiritual  Whoredom,  preached  also  to  the  Com- 
 mons.— 8.  Vanity  of  Vain-glory ;  a  funeral  Sermon  for  Kinsmet 
 Lucy,  Esq. — 9.  Sensuality  Dissected,  a  Sermon  to  divers  citizens 
 of  London  who  were  born  in  Kent. — 10.  Elijah's  Abatement, 
 or  Corruption  in  the  Saints. — 11.  A  Funeral  Sermon  for  Mrs 
 Elizabeth  Scott. — 12.  A  Funeral  Sermon  for  Darcy  Wivil, 
 Esq. — 13.  The  First  and  Last  Sermon  in  the  morning  exercise 
 .at  St.  Giles. — 14.  The  Sanctification  of  the  Sabbath. — 15.  His 
 Farewell  Sermon. — 16.  A  Treatise  of  Affliction,  or  Correction, 
 Instruction. — 17.  Mount  Pisgah,  or  a  View  of  Heaven. 
 
 DANIEL  CAWDREY,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Cawdrey  was  the  son  of  Robert  Cawdrey,  a  non-con- 
 forming minister,  who,  being  deprived,  had  a  hard  struggle  with 
 the  bishops,  and  suffered  great  injustice  from  these  domineering 
 ecclesiastics.  His  whole  case  was  published  to  the  world,  much 
 to  the  discredit  of  those  concerned  in  these  intolerant  acts  of 
 spiritual  tyranny.  Daniel  was  the  youngest  of  many  sons. 
 He  was  educated  at  Peter's  House,  in  the  university  of  Cam- 
 bridge. We  have  to  regret  the  want  of  information  respecting 
 the  particulars  of  this  divine's  life.  It  is  known,  however,  he 
 was  a  distinguished  minister  of  Christ  in  his  time.  From  the 
 title  page  of  his  sermons,  which  arc  entitled,  Humility  the 
 Saint's  Livery,  it  appears  that,  in  1621,  he  was  minister  of  Little 
 111  ford,  in  the  county  of  Essex.  He  was  afterward  settled  at  Great 
 Billing  in  Northamptonshire.     Dr.  Calamy  says,  "  He  was  a 
 
DANIEL  CAWDREY.  489 
 
 man  of  great  consideration,  eminently  learned,  and  a  noted 
 member  of  the  assembly  of  divines.  He  preached  sometimes 
 to  the  members  of  parliament;  and,  on  one  occasion,  attacked 
 these  seminaries  of  irreligion,  stage  plays,  with  uncommon  se- 
 verity. Amongst  many  other  things  on  this  subject,  he  said, 
 "  Among  open  scorners  and  revilers  of  religion,  you  may  reckon 
 your  stage  players,  who  have  already  scoffed  religion  out  of 
 countenance  with  thousands;  you  have  done  well  to  put  them 
 down,  and  shall  do  better  if  you  keep  them  so." 
 
 Mr  Cawdrey  was  ejected  from  his  living  at  Great  Billing, 
 and  separated  from  his  friends  and  his  flock,  by  the  act  of  uni- 
 formity, after  having  laboured,  for  the  edification  of  his  people 
 in  that  place,  for  thirty-six  or  thirty-seven  years.  From  this 
 place  he  removed  into  Welling-borough,  where  he  had  a 
 daughter  married,  with  whom  he  abode  till  his  death;  receiving 
 all  who  came  to  him,  and  encouraging  them  to  prosecute  their 
 journey  heaven- ward,  and  not  to  deviate  from  the  narrow  path 
 of  purity  and  holiness  of  life;  assuring  them  that  their  pilgrimage 
 would  then  be  pleasant,  and  the  end  of  their  journey  incon- 
 ceivably glorious.  He  died  in  1664,  aged  almost  seventy-six 
 years. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Humility  the  Saints'  Livery. — 2.  An  As- 
 size Sermon  at  Northampton. — 3.  Superstitio  Superstes. — 4. 
 The  Good  Man  a  Public  Good. — 5.  Vindicae  Clavium,  or  a 
 Vindication  of  the  Keys  in  the  hands  of  the  right  Owners. — 
 6.  Sabbatum  Redivivum. — 7.  A  Diatribe,  against  Dr.  Hammond 
 on  Superstition  and  Festivals. — 8.  A  Vindication  of  the  same. 
 — 9:  A  sober  Answer  to  a  serious  Question  against  Mr  Freman. 
 — 10.  A  Sermon  at  St.  Paul's. — 11.  Self-examination. — 12.  Fa- 
 mily Reformation  Promoted. — 13.  Church  Reformation  Pro- 
 moted.— 14.  Bowing  to,  or  towards,  the  Communion  Table, 
 superstitious. — 15.  An  Essay  against  Usury. — 16.  The  grand 
 Case,  with  Reference  to  the  New  Conformity. 
 
 HUMPHREY  CHAMBERS,  D.  D. 
 
 Mr  Chambers  was  born  in  Somersetshire,  and  received 
 his  education  in  University  college  Oxford,  where  he  became  a 
 commoner  in  1614,  aged  fifteen  years.  After  taking  his  de- 
 gree of  arts,  he  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  in  June  1623  be- 
 came rector  of  Claverton,  in  his  own  county.  Some  time  after 
 this  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor  in  divinity,  and  was  es- 
 teemed an  orthodox  divine,  but  soon  silenced  by  bishop  Pierce 
 for  preaching  up  the  morality  of  the  Sabbath;  which,  Mr  Ca- 
 lamv  says,  cost  him  two  vears  trouble,  imprisonment,  and  se- 
 18  3o 
 
490)  memoir  or 
 
 quest  ration.     This  took  place  in  consequence  of  archbishop  Laud 
 having  taken  the  cause  into  his  own  hand;  a  man  who,  in  cases 
 of  this  nature,   seldom  shewed   either    mercy    or    moderation. 
 Mr  Chambers,  at  this  trying  period,  gave  evidence  of  much  pa- 
 tience, exemplary  fortitude,  and  resignation  to  the  divine  will. 
 When  the  civil  war  began,  he  took  part  with  the  parliament, 
 and  maintained  a  man  and  a  horse,  at  his  own  expence,  in  the 
 defence  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.     He  took  the  covenant, 
 and  was  constituted  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and 
 sometimes  preached  before  the  parliament.     Wood  says  he  was 
 minister  of  Stretchley  in  Shropshire   in   1648.     Soon  after  this 
 he  had  the  rectory  of  Pewsey,  near  Marlborough,  in  the  county 
 of  Wilts,  conferred  on  him  by  the  earl  of  Pembroke.     He  com- 
 menced doctor  of  divinity  on   the   12th  April   1648,  and  was 
 married  to  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Richard  Brett,  one  of  the  trans- 
 lators of  the  bible  under  king  James  in  1604.      Dr.  Chambers 
 was  appointed  an  assistant  to  the  commissioners  for  ejecting 
 scandalous,  ignorant,  and  insufficient  ministers  and  schoolmas- 
 ters.    Oliver  Cromwell,  with  the  advice  of  his  council,  publish- 
 ed an  ordinance  under  the  date  of  August  28th,  1 654,  in  which 
 he  appoints  and  nominates  certain  lay  commissioners  for  every 
 county,  and  joins  with  them  ten  or  more  of  the  gravest  and 
 most  notable  ministers  as  their  assistants;  and  appoints  any  five, 
 or  more  of  them,  to  call  before  them  any  public  preacher,  lec- 
 turer, parson,  vicar,  curate,  or  schoolmaster,  who  is,  or  shall 
 be,  reputed  ignorant,  scandalous,  insufficient,  or  negligent,  and 
 to  receive  all  articles  or  charges  which  may  be  exhibited  against 
 them,  and  to  proceed  in  the  examination  and  determination  of 
 such  offences,  according  to  certain  rules  laid  down  for  that  pur- 
 pose.    The  Wiltshire  commissioners  accordingly  summoned  be- 
 fore them  Mr  Walter  Bushnell,  vicar  of  Box,  near  Malmsburys 
 to  answer  to  a  charge  of  drunkenness,  profanation  of  the  Sab- 
 bath,  gaming,  and  disaffection  to  the  then  government.     The 
 vicar  drew  up  a  narrative  of  the  proceedings  of  the  commis- 
 sioners, but  did  not  publish  it  till  the  restoration,  and  even  then 
 the  commissioners  did  themselves  justice  in  a  spirited  reply; 
 and  Dr.  Chambers,  who  was  particularly  reproached  by  Bush- 
 nell, justified  himself  in  a  distinct  vindication.       He  kept  his 
 place  till  the  very  day  when  the  act  of  uniformity  came  in  force; 
 and  having  preached  his  farewell  sermon  from  Psalm  exxvi.  6. 
 went  home,  was  presently  taken  ill,  and  died  September  1662. 
 He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  Pewsey,  without  the  service, 
 which    had  just  at   that   time  been  restored.     His  wife    died 
 about  the  same  time;  and  through  the  favour  of  the  earl  of 
 Pembroke,  his  noble  friend,  the  family    obtained    permission 
 to  remove  the  household  goods. 
 
HUMPHREY  CHAMBERS.  4-91 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  A  Divine  Balance  in  which  to  weigh 
 Religious  Fasts. — 2.  Paul's  sad  farewell  to  the  Ephesians. — 3. 
 Motives  to  Peace  and  Love. — 4.  Animadversions  on  Mr  W. 
 Dell's  book,  entitled  the  Crucified  and  Quickened  Christian. — 
 5.  An  Apology  for  the  Ministers  of  the  county  of  Wilts. — 6. 
 His  Answer  to  Mr  Bushnell  about  the  proceedings  of  the  Com- 
 missioners. 
 
 FRANCIS  CHEYNELL,  D.  D. 
 
 This  zealous  and  enterprising  divine  was  born  at  Oxford 
 in  1608,  the  place  where  he  was  educated,  and  became  a 
 fellow  of  Merton  college  in  1629.  Here  he  resided  for  several 
 years,  and  after  taking  his  degree  in  arts,  entered  into  holy 
 orders,  and  was  curate  in  or  near  Oxford  for  some  time. 
 He  took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity,  and  accepted  a 
 living  from  Mr  Holman  near  Banbury,  where  he  resided, 
 and  had  a  serious  contest  with  Laud,  then  in  the  height 
 of  his  elevation.  Having  spent  much  of  his  time  in  the  col- 
 lege, he  had  acquired  a  very  correct  and  extensive  knowledge 
 of  books,  and  of  every  thing  relating  to  the  profession  of  a 
 clergyman  of  those  times.  His  disposition  was  studious,  and 
 his  spirit  active  and  enterprising,  which  rendered  him  ex- 
 tremely useful  to  the  church  in  that  turbulent  period,  and 
 his  personal  character  was  fully  developed  by  the  circumstances 
 with  which  he  was  surrounded.  Whatever  he  believed,  he  con- 
 sidered himself  bound  to  profess,  and  what  he  professed,  he  was 
 ready  at  all  hazards  to  defend.  In  a  sermon,  preached  before 
 the  House  of  Commons,  he  says,  "  whatever,  upon  prayer  and 
 meditation,  the  Lord  has  revealed  by  the  clear  texts  of  his  word, 
 I  will  this  day  deliver  unto  you,  though  I  were  assured  of  dying 
 St.  John's  death,  or  of  being  banished  to  St.  John's  Island  for 
 the  same."  When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  he  took  part  with 
 the  parliament,  and,  in  the  beginning  of  that  war,  was  for  the 
 most  part  along  with  the  earl  of  Essex.  He  had  a  noble  exte- 
 rior, possessed  great  bodily  strength  and  fearless  intrepidity, 
 and  was  truly  a  man  of  sterling  valour  and  solid  learning.  An 
 eminent  writer  says,  concerning  him,  that  "  he  seemed,  indeed, 
 to  have  been  born  a  soldier,  for  he  had  an  intrepidity  which  no 
 dangers  could  shake,  and  a  spirit  of  enterprize  which  no  diffi- 
 culty could  discourage."  Dr.  Calamy  says,  that  "  his  com- 
 mands were  as  readily  obeyed  by  the  colonels  in  the  army,  as 
 were  those  of  the  general  himself." 
 
 Mr  Cheynell  was  a  real  patriot.  It  was  his  earnest  and 
 daily  prayer  that  God  would  unite  the  king  and  parliament  in 
 the  cause  of  Christ.     «  Lord  (said  he)  be  pleased  to  decide  this 
 
492  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 calami toua  controversy,  and  let  that  side  prevail  which  most 
 sincerely  desires  thy  glory,   the  king's  good,  and  the  nation's 
 welfare,  by  a  happy  reformation  and  a  christian  peace."    Being 
 now  greatly  distinguished  by  his  learning,  piety,  and  public 
 services,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines  in  1643. 
 He  preached  frequently  before  the  members  of  parliament,  took 
 the  covenant,  and  zealously  endeavoured  to  promote  that  har- 
 mony it  was  expected  to  produce  in  the  three  kingdoms.     He 
 was  chosen  parson  of  Petworth,  a  town  in  the  county  of  Sussex. 
 He  was  also  one  of  the  select  committee  appointed  to  examine 
 and  decide  on  the  petitions  of  such  ministers  as  requested  se- 
 questrated livings.     Mr  Cheynell  has  been  greatly  blamed  for 
 his  behaviour  at  the  funeral  of  Dr.  Chilling  worth.     The  matter 
 stands  as  follows  :    This  Dr.  Chillingworth  was  born  and  edu- 
 cated at  Oxford,  but  afterwards  turning  Roman  catholic,  he  went 
 to  the  Jesuits  college  at  St.  Omer's;  where,  not  being  thoroughly 
 satisfied  with  some  of  their  principles,  he  returned  in   1631, 
 embraced  the  religion  of  the  church  of  England,  and  published 
 a  treatise,  entitled  The  Religion  of  Protestants  a  safe  way  to 
 Salvation.     It  was  generally  thought  he  was  a  Socinian,   but 
 in  his  last  letter,  at  the  end  of  his  treatise,  he  appeared  to  be 
 an  Arian,  according  to  Mr  Neal.       He  served  as  engineer  in 
 Arundel  castle,  in  the  king's  army,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner, 
 and  falling  sick,  had  the  favour  of  being  lodged  in  the  bishop's 
 house  at  Chichester,  where  he  died.      By  the  interest  of  Mr 
 Cheynell,  who  attended  him  in  his  sickness,  he  was  kindly  used. 
 Cheynell  was  desirous  that  he  would  renounce  some  of  his  dan- 
 gerous tenets,  and  reasoned  with  him  for  that  end,  but  could 
 not  prevail.       He  prayed  with  and  for  him  while  he  was  alive, 
 but  was  much  grieved  and  provoked  at  his  obstinacy  and  the 
 errors  of  his  book;  and  at  Dr.  Chillingworth 's  interment,  he 
 threw  a  copy  of  his  book  into  the  grave  along  with  its  author, 
 saying,  "  Get  thee  gone,  thou  cursed  book,  that  hast  seduced  so 
 many  precious  souls  :   Get  thee  gone,  thou  corrupt  rotten  book, 
 earth  to  earth,  dust  to  dust :    Get  thee  gone  into  the  place  of 
 rottenness,  that  thou  mayest  rot  with  thy  author,  and  see  cor- 
 ruption." 
 
 Mr  Cheynell's  behaviour,  on  this  occasion,  was  certainly  very 
 unbecoming  and  highly  offensive.  His  temper,  however,  was 
 hot,  his  zeal  ardent,  and  the  temptation  strong;  besides,  he  was 
 at  times  disordered  in  his  brain.  Under  such  circumstances, 
 it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  should  men's  words  or  actions  some- 
 times appear  unaccountable.  He  was  one  of  those  divines  sent 
 down  by  parliament  to  the  treaty  of  Uxbridge.  The  university 
 of  Oxford,  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  parliament,  was  in  a 
 most  deplorable  condition,  on  account  of  the  opposite  opinions 
 
FRANCIS  CHEYNELL.  493 
 
 that  prevailed  regarding  the  contending  parties  in  the  state; 
 and  parliament  appointed  seven  of  their   most  judicious  and 
 popular  divines  to  repair  thither,  with  authority  to  preach  in 
 any  pulpit  in  the  university  for  six  months,  in  order  to  soften 
 the  spirits  of  the  people,  and  give  them  a  better  opinion  of  the 
 new  order  of  things.       Mr  Cheynell  was  one    of  the    seven. 
 They  were  very  diligent  in  discharging  their  appointed  duties. 
 They  preached  twice  every  Sunday,  and  held  a  weekly  confer- 
 ence every  Thursday.     On  which  occasions  they  proposed  to 
 solve  such  objections  as  might  be  started  against  the  new  con- 
 fession of  faith  and  discipline,  and  to  answer  any  other  important 
 cases  in  divinity.     The  objection  or  case  was  to  be  propounded 
 the  week  before,   to  afford  time  to  consider  it  maturely.     A 
 moderator  was  appointed  to  keep  order,  who  began  and  ended 
 with  a  short  prayer,  and  the  business  was  conducted  with  much 
 order  and  gravity.     Their  services  were,  nevertheless,  general- 
 ly unacceptable;   some  ridiculed  them,   others  slighted,  and  a 
 few  acquiesced.     But  finding  there  was  no  prospect  of  preach- 
 ing Oxford  into  filial  obedience,  parliament  passed  an  ordinance 
 for  a  visitation,  May  1st,  1647.     Mr  Cheynell  was  also  appoint- 
 ed one  of  the  visiters,  and  afterwards  made  president  of  St.  John's 
 college,  and  Margaret  professor  of  the  university,  in  the  room 
 of  Dr.  Laurence.     He  lost  both  places  soon  after  for  refusing 
 the  new  oath  of  allegiance.     Having  now  taken  the  degree  of 
 doctor  of  divinity,  he  retired  to  Pet  worth,  where,  Wood  says,  he 
 continued  an  useful  member  for  the  covenanting  cause  till  the 
 restoration.     He  was  ever  diligent  and  conscientious  in  the  dis- 
 charge of  his  pastoral  duties,  and  a  man  of  unbounded  liberality, 
 who  never  increased  his  estate  by  any  of  his  preferments.    He  was 
 sometimes  deranged  in  the  head,  as  formerly  noticed;  but  some 
 years  before  his  death  he  was  perfectly  restored  to  a  sound  mind. 
 He  was  ejected  from  the  rich  living  of  Petworth  by  the  act  of 
 uniformity,   and  afterwards  lived  privately  in  a  small  village 
 near  Preston,  where  he  had  an  estate,  and  died  at  his  own  house 
 in  September  1665. 
 
 Dr.  Cheynell  was  strictly  orthodox,  and  accounted  a  pious 
 and  learned  divine,  a  man  of  eminent  abilities,  an  excellent 
 preacher,  and  a  good  disputant. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Zion's  Memento,  and  God's  Alarm. — 2. 
 The  rise,  growth,  and  danger  of  Socinianism. — 3.  Chilliug- 
 worthi  Novissima. — 4.  The  Man  of  Honour  described. — 5.  A 
 Plot  for  the  good  of  Posterity. — 6.  Divers  Letters  to  Dr.  Jasp. 
 Mayne,  concerning  false  Prophets. — 7.  A  copy  of  some  Letters 
 which  passed  at  Oxford  between  him  and  Dr.  Hammond. — S. 
 Relation  of  a  Disputation  at  Oxford  between  Mr  Cheynell  and 
 Mr  Erbury,  a  Socinian. — 9.  The  Divine  Trinity  of  the  Father, 
 
494-  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Son,  and  Holy  Spirit. — 10.  A  Discussion  of  Mr  Fry's  Tenets 
 lately  condemned  in  Parliament,  and  Socinianism  proved  to  be 
 an  Unchristian  Doctrine. 
 
 THOMAS  COLEMAN,  M.  A. 
 
 The  celebrated  subject  of  this  memoir  was  born  in  Ox- 
 fordshire, and  it  would  seem  in  the  city  of  Oxford.  He  en- 
 tered Magdalen-hall  in  1615,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his 
 age,  where  he  took  his  degree  in  arts;  and  in  due  time  receiving 
 holy  orders,  entered  on  the  ministerial  work.  Mr  Coleman 
 possessed  singular  talents,  which  a  favourable  combination  of 
 circumstances  unfolded,  and  stimulated  to  a  most  successful  ex- 
 ertion, particularly  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  language; 
 in  which  his  proficiency  was  such,  that  he  was  commonly  de- 
 signated Rabbi  Coleman.  His  vigorous  mind,  thus  cultivated  by 
 an  excellent  education,  his  learning  shed  a  peculiar  lustre  round 
 his  name,  and  he  was  soon  preferred  to  the  rectory  of  Blyton 
 in  Lincolnshire,  where  he  continued  till  1642,  that  he  was  forc- 
 ed to  withdraw  to  London  from  the  persecution  of  the  cavaliers, 
 or  king's  party.  On  his  arrival  at  London,  he  was  preferred 
 to  the  rectory  of  St.  Peter's  church  in  Cornhill;  and  the  follow- 
 ing year  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines.  Mr 
 Wood  says,  "  He  was  called  to  sit  in  the  assembly  chiefly  on 
 account  of  his  great  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and 
 that  he  behaved  modestly  and  learnedly  in  that  assembly,  hold- 
 ing the  tenets  of  Erastus,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  supporters 
 of  that  opinion."  That  the  reader  may  form  a  correct  notion 
 of  the  doctrine  of  Erastus  concerning  church  government,  it 
 may  be  necessary  here  to  state  his  opinion.  He  maintained 
 that  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  had  prescribed  no  particular 
 form  of  government  and  discipline  for  the  christian  church,  but 
 had  left  the  keys  in  the  hands  of  the  civil  magistrate,  who  had 
 the  sole  power  of  punishing  transgressors,  and  of  appointing 
 such  particular  forms  of  church  government  as  from  time  to  time 
 were  considered  most  conducive  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
 commonwealth.  In  his  view  the  pastoral  office  was  merely 
 persuasive  :  That  the  Lord's  supper,  and  other  ordinances  of  the 
 gospel,  were  free  to  all :  That  the  minister  might  dissuade  the 
 vicious  and  unqualified  from  the  communion,  but  might  not  re- 
 fuse it,  nor  inflict  any  kind  of  censure  whatever,  all  punishment 
 being  reserved  for  the  civil  magistrate.  The  learned  Dr.  Light- 
 loot  was  also  a  strenuous  contender  for  tins  mode  of  discipline 
 in  the  assembly,  and  some  of  the  greatest  names  in  the  house 
 of  commons  appeared  on  the  same  side.     The  several  parties  in 
 
THOMAS  COLEMAN.  495 
 
 this  assembly,  presbyterians,  independents,  and  erastians,  agreed 
 that  the  constitution  of  the  primitive  church  was  the  only  model 
 for  their  imitation,  and  that  therefore  it  was  necessary  to  make 
 a  strict  inquiry  into  the  usages  of  that  early  period.  The  pri- 
 mitive church  being  considered  as  founded  upon  the  model  of 
 the  Jewish  synagogues,  this  investigation  gave  Lightfoot,  Cole- 
 man, Shelden,  and  other  eminent  masters  of  Jewish  learning, 
 a  fine  opportunity  to  display  their  superior  learning,  and  pro- 
 duced uncommon  interpretations  of  some  parts  of  scripture. 
 
 When  committees  were  chosen  to  prepare  materials  for  a  new 
 form  of  church  government,  the  independents  agreed  with  the 
 presbyterians,  against  the  erastians,  that  there  was  a  certain 
 form  of  church  government  laid  down  in  the  New  Testament 
 which  was  of  divine  institution.  But  when  they  came  to  the 
 question,  What  is  that  form  of  government,  and  is  it  binding 
 on  all  ages  of  the  church?  Then  the  independents,  as  well  as 
 the  erastians,  opposed  the  presbyterians — The  first  holding  that 
 it  was  congregational,  the  latter  that  it  was  not  of  perpetual 
 obligation.  The  proposition  was  stated  thus  :  "  That  the  scrip- 
 ture holds  forth,  that  many  particular  congregations  may,  and, 
 by  divine  institution,  ought  to  be  under  one  presbyterial  go- 
 vernment." Mr  Neal  says,  "  The  debate  lasted  thirty  days : 
 That  the  erastians  did  not  object  to  presbyterial  govern- 
 ment as  a  political  institution,  were  it  established  by  the  civil 
 magistrate;  but  they  denied  the  divine  right."  This  Mr  Cole- 
 man declaimed  against  in  the  pulpit,  as  well  as  in  the  assembly; 
 apprehending,  that  if  admitted  with  a  divine  claim,  presbytery 
 would  soon  become  as  tyrannical  as  prelacy  had  been.  He 
 therefore  proposed,  that  the  civil  magistrate  should  have  the 
 sole  power  of  the  keys  in  the  meantime,  till  the  nation  was  in 
 a  more  settled  state.  The  independents  opposed  the  proposi- 
 tion, by  advancing  the  divine  right  of  independent  and  congre- 
 gational churches.  For  fifteen  days  they  stated  themselves  as 
 opponents,  and  fifteen  days  they  stood  on  the  defensive.  At 
 last  the  main  points  of  the  presbyterian  proposition  were  car- 
 ried by  a  large  majority.  The  independents  gave  in  a  written 
 dissent,  and  complained  of  unkindly  usage  in  the  assembly. 
 Their  antagonists  replied,  that  they  were  not  conscious  of  hav- 
 ing done  them  any  injustice. 
 
 When  the  erastians  saw  how  matters  went,  they  reserved 
 themselves  for  the  House  of  Commons,  where  they  were  certain 
 of  being  joined,  both  by  their  own  party  in  the  House,  and  also 
 by  the  disappointed  patrons  of  independency.  Accordingly, 
 the  clause  of  divine  right  was  lost  in  the  commons,  much  to 
 the  grief  and  disappointment  of  the  Scottish  commissioners  and 
 their  English  adherents.      The  assembly's    proposition,    in   ita 
 
490  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 amended  form,  stood  thus :  "  That  it  is  lawful,  and  agreeable 
 to  the  word  of  God,  that  the  church  be  governed  by  congrega- 
 tional, classical,  and  synodical  assemblies."  The  erastians  had 
 endeavoured  to  maintain  their  point,  by  contending  that  the 
 Jewish  church  and  state  were  all  one :  That  a  distinction  of 
 civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws  or  causes  were  unknown  amongst 
 that  people  :  That  the  Jewish  church  was  their  commonwealth, 
 and  that  their  commonwealth  was  their  church;  and  that  con- 
 sequently the  church  and  state  were  the  same  thing  under  dif- 
 ferent appellations.  "I  am  sure  (said  Mr  Coleman)  that  the 
 best  reformed  church  that  ever  was  went  this  way — I  mean  the 
 church  of  Israel,  which  had  no  distinction  of  church  govern- 
 ment and  civil  government."  In  opposition  to  this  opinion  of 
 Mr  Coleman's,  Mr  Gillespie,  one  of  the  Scotch  commissioners, 
 and  other  divines,  replied,  and  maintained  that  the  Jewish 
 church  was  formally  distinct  from  the  Jewish  state  :  That  there 
 was  an  ecclesiastical  sanhedrim  and  government  distinct  from 
 the  civil :  That  there  was  an  ecclesiastical  excommunication 
 distinct  from  civil  punishment :  That  there  was  also  in  the 
 Jewish  church  a  public  confession,  or  declaration  of  repentance, 
 and  thereupon  a  re-admission  of  the  penitent  offender  to  fel- 
 lowship with  the  church  in  holy  things;  and  that  there  was  a 
 suspension  of  the  profane  from  the  temple  and  passover. 
 
 Mr  Coleman  having  attacked  the  intolerant  and  tyrannical 
 spirit  of  prelacy,  has  been  roughly  handled  by  a  very  zea- 
 lous historian  of  that  party,  who,  speaking  of  those  divines  who 
 preached  before  parliament,  says,  "  Another  of  these  brawlers, 
 who  seldom  thinks  of  a  bishop,  or  of  the  king's  party,  without 
 indignation,  is  Mr  Thomas  Coleman.  In  one  of  his  sermons, 
 he  thus  rants  against  the  church  of  England,  and  violently  per- 
 suades the  parliament  to  execute  severe  justice  upon  her  chil- 
 dren. Our  cathedrals,  says  he,  are  in  a  great  measure,  of  late, 
 become  the  nests  of  idle  drones,  and  the  roosting  places  of  su- 
 perstitious formalists.  Our  formalists  and  government,  in  the 
 whole  hierarchy,  are  become  a  fretting  gangrene,  a  spreading 
 leprosy,  an  insupportable  tyranny.  Up  with  it,  up  with  it  to 
 the  bottom,  root  and  branch,  hip  and  thigh  !  Destroy  these* 
 Amalakites,  and  let  their  place  be  no  more  found  !  Throw 
 away  the  rubs,  out  with  the  Lord's  enemies,  and  the  land's  ! 
 Vex  the  Midianites,  abolish  the  Amalakites,  else  they  will  vex 
 you  with  their  wiles,  as  they  have  done  heretofore  !  Let  po- 
 pery find  no  favour,  for  it  is  treason;  nor  prelacy,  because  it  is 
 tyranny  !  This,  adds  the  historian,  was  rare  stuff  for  the  blades 
 at  Westminster,  and  pleased  them  admirably.  They  therefore 
 give  strait  orders,  to  Sir  Edward  Aiscough  and  Sir  John  Wray, 
 to  give  the  zealot  hearty  thanks  for  his  seasonable  directions, 
 
THOMAS  COLEMAN'.  497 
 
 and  to  desire  him,  by  all  means,  to  have  his  sermon  printed; 
 which  he  did  accordingly,  and  in  return  for  his  thanks,  de- 
 dicates his  fury  to  their  worships,  where  he  falls  to  his  old  trade 
 again,  calling  the  king's  army  partakers  with  atheists,  infidels, 
 and  papists — saying  they  have  popish  priests  and  masses, 
 with  cold,  lifeless,  and  unedifying  forms  of  superstitious  wor- 
 ship; that  it  swarms  with  drunken  and  debauched  clergymen, 
 and  harbours  all  idle,  dumb,  and  unpreaching  ministers,  tyran- 
 nical church  dignitaries,  and  spiritual  courtsmen,  oppressors  of 
 God's  people,  and  persecutors  of  his  faithful  ministers;  and  that 
 it  is  the  common  sewer,  the  sink  and  recipient  of  all  the  filth 
 of  the  present  and  past  generations.  This  man's  railing,  he 
 adds,  pleased  the  Commons  so  well,  that  they  could  think  of 
 no  man  fitter  to  prate  when  their  wicked  league  and  covenant 
 was  taken;  which  he  did  to  excellent  purpose,  tickling  their  fil- 
 thy ears;  and  for  this  stuff  colonel  Long  must  be  ordered  to 
 give  him  the  thanks  of  the  House."  Admitting  the  quotations 
 to  be  true,  had  the  historian  suffered  as  much  from  the  same 
 quarter  as  thousands  of  the  puritans  had  done,  he  had  been 
 less  scurrilous  with  his  remarks;  for  though  the  expressions 
 are  severe,  they  were  not  given  without  abundant  provocation; 
 and  the  history  of  the  times  authenticate  much  of  their  veracity. 
 
 Mr  Coleman  fell  sick  while  the  great  debate  was  pending  in 
 the  assembly;  and  some  of  the  members  visiting  him,  he  re- 
 quested they  would  suspend  the  matter  in  controAersy,  and  not 
 bring  it  to  a  conclusion  till  they  heard  what  he  had  farther  to 
 say.  To  which  the  assembly  agreed.  But  his  complaint  increas- 
 ing, he  died  in  a  few  days;  and  the  whole  assembly  paid  their 
 last  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory,  by  following  him  to  the 
 grave,  March  30th,  1647. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Christian's  Course  and  Complaint, 
 both  in  the  pursuit  of  Happiness  desired,  and  for  Advantages 
 slipped  in  the  course  of  that  pursuit. — 2.  The  Heart's  Engage- 
 ment; a  Sermon  preached  at  the  public  entering  into  covenant 
 at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster. — 3.  God's  Answer  to  a  Solemn 
 Fast,  preached  to  both  houses  of  parliament. — 4-.  A  Brotherly 
 Examination  Examined;  or,  a  clear  Justification  of  those  Pas- 
 sages in  a  Sermon  against  which  Mr  Gillespie  did  preach  and 
 write. — 5.  A  Short  Discovery  of  some  Tenets  which  entrench 
 upon  the  Honour  and  Power  of  Parliament. — 6.  A  Model,  &c. 
 
 EDWARD   CORBET. 
 
 This  puritan  divine  was  born  at  Pontesbury  in  Shrop- 
 shire, 1602,  and  educated  in  Merton  college  Oxford,  where  he 
 18  3  r 
 
498  MEMOIR  OF  EDWARD  CORBET. 
 
 took  the  degree  of  arts,  and  was  afterwards  chosen  fellow.  He 
 was  made  proctor  of  the  university;  but  refusing  to  conform  to 
 certain  points,  lie  was  called  before  the  vice-chancellor,  who 
 laid  his  case  before  Laud,  chancellor  of  the  university,  whom 
 he  petitioned  for  relief;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  received 
 any  redress.  Upon  the  commencement  of  hostilities  between 
 the  king  and  parliament,  Oxford  being  garrisoned  by  the  royal 
 forces,  he  was  deprived  of  his  fellowship,  and  expelled  from  the 
 college  for  refusing  to  espouse  the  royal  cause.  Archbishop 
 Laud,  being  afterwards  a  prisoner  in  the  tower,  refused  him  the 
 rectory  of  Chatham  in  Kent,  on  account  of  his  puritan  princi- 
 ples; and  when  appointed  rector  of  that  place  by  an  ordinance 
 of  parliament,  1643,  his  lordship  still  refused  his  allowance, 
 though  the  refusal  was  now  of  no  avail.  Mr  Corbet  was  an 
 evidence  against  the  archbishop  on  his  trial,  and  deposed, 
 "  That  in  the  year  1638,  his  grace  visiting  Merton  college  by 
 his  deputy  Sir  John  Lamb,  one  article  propounded  to  the  wardens 
 and  fellows  was,  Whether  they  made  due  reverence  by  bowing 
 toward  the  altar  when  they  came  into  the  chapel  ?  That  he  and 
 Mr  Cheynell  were  enjoined,  by  the  visitors  and  commissioners,  to 
 use  this  ceremony;  and  refusing,  though  he  had  assigned  his 
 reasons  for  so  doing,  he  was  particularly  threatened.  That 
 after  this,  Dr.  Frewin,  the  vice-chancellor,  told  him  that  he 
 had  been  sent  by  the  archbishop  to  require  of  him  that  he  must 
 use  this  ceremony.  That  the  archbishop  after  this  sent  injunc- 
 tions to  Merton  college,  requiring  them  to  bow  towards  the  al- 
 tar, and  that  the  visitors  questioned  such  as  refused;  and  that 
 there  was  a  crucifix  placed  above  the  communion-table  in  Mag- 
 dalen college,  with  pictures  in  the  windows;  that  a  crucifix  was 
 also  set  up  in  Christ  church — none  of  which  innovations  were 
 ever  heard  of  before  the  time  of  the  archbishop." 
 
 Mr  Corbet  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  where, 
 according  to  NeaFs  list,  he  was  a  constant  attender.  He  is  also 
 said  to  have  been  one  of  the  committee  for  the  examination  and 
 ordination  of  ministers,  and  one  of  the  preachers  to  the  parlia- 
 ment. He  was  likewise  one  of  the  seven  preachers  appointed 
 by  parliament  for  the  purpose  of  reconciling  the  scholars  at  Ox- 
 ford to  the  parliamentary  order  of  things  in  1646.  But  Wood 
 informs  us,  that  he  soon  left  that  employment,  and  threw  his 
 part  of  the  duty  on  the  shoulders  of  the  remaining  six.  Mr 
 Corbet  was  also  appointed  one  of  the  visitors  of  that  university, 
 and  orator  and  canon  of  Christ  church  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Henry 
 Hammond.  He  did  not  remain  long  in  this  situation,  but  be- 
 ing made  rector  of  Great  Hasely,  he  removed  thither  to  take 
 the  charge  of  his  flock.  He  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divi- 
 nity in  1648,  and  continued  at  Hasely  till  his  death,  which  took 
 
MEMOIR  OF  CALIBUTE  DOWWING.  499 
 
 place  at  London  in  1657,  and  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  His 
 remains  were  conveyed  to  Great  Hasely,  and  interred  in  the 
 chancel  of  his  own  church. 
 
 He  has  been  accounted  an  excellent  divine,  a  valuable  preach- 
 er, and  a  man  of  inflexible  integrity. 
 
 Dr.  Corbet  is  supposed  to  be  the  author  of  the  Worldling's 
 Looking  Glass;  and  he  has  published  one  of  his  Sermons  on 
 God's  Providence,  from  1  Cor.  i.  27,  preached  before  the  Com- 
 mons at  their  Fast,  December  28th,  1642 ;  and  probably  some 
 other  works. 
 
 CALIBUTE  DOWNING,  D.  D. 
 
 This  zealous  reformer  was  born  at  Shenington,  in  Glou- 
 cestershire, in  1604.  He  belonged  to  an  ancient  and  respect- 
 able family,  and  took  his  education  in  Ariel  college  Oxford. 
 After  having  finished  his  studies,  and  entered  on  the  ministerial 
 work,  he  was  successively  rector  of  Ickford  in  Buckingham- 
 shire, of  West  Ilsley  in  Berkshire,  and  vicar  of  Hackney,  near 
 London.  In  1640,  Mr  Downing  maintained,  in  a  sermon  preach- 
 ed before  the  artillery  company,  "  That  in  defence  of  religion, 
 and  for  the  reformation  of  the  church,  it  was  lawful  to  take  arms 
 against  the  king,  providing  it  could  not  be  otherwise  obtained." 
 In  consequence  of  his  having  thus  expressed  his  sentiments,  he 
 was  forced  to  abscond  from  the  danger  with  which  he  was 
 threatened.  He  retired  to  the  house  of  the  earl  of  Warwick, 
 in  Essex,  where  he  remained  till  the  meeting  of  the  long  parlia- 
 ment. In  1643  he  resigned  his  vicarage  of  Hackney,  and  was 
 succeeded  by  Dr.  Spurstowe,  who  was  afterwards  ejected  by  the 
 act  of  uniformity. 
 
 The  civil  war  having  commenced,  Dr.  Downing  became 
 chaplain  to  lord  Roberts,  in  the  army  of  the  earl  of  Essex.  In 
 which  office  his  conduct  has  been  severely  handled  by  the  high 
 church  historians.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the  licensers  of 
 the  press.  In  1643,  according  to  Wood,  he  shewed  himself  a 
 zealous  covenanter;  and  thereupon  was  chosen  one  of  the  as- 
 sembly of  divines.  He  died  in  1644,  and  has  left  behind  him 
 the  reputation  of  a  pious  man,  a  pathetic  preacher,  and  a  warm 
 promoter  of  religion,  church  reformation,  and  the  good  of  his 
 native  land. 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  A  Discourse  of  the  State  Ecclesiastical  of 
 this  Kingdom  in  relation  to  the  Civil. — 2.  A  Digression,  dis- 
 cussing some  Exceptions  against  Ecclesiastical  Officers. — 3.  A 
 Discovery  of  the  false  grounds  the  Bavarian  party  have  laid  to 
 settle  their  own  faction,  and  shake  the  peace  of  Europe. — 4.  A 
 Discourse  on  the  Interest  of  England. — 5.  A  Discoursive  Con- 
 
500  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 jecture  upon  the  Reasons  which  produce  the  present  troubles 
 of  Great  Britain  different  from  those  of  Lower  Germany. — 6. 
 Several  Sermons,  &c. 
 
 JOHN    DURY. 
 
 This  persevering  christian  pacificator,  according  to  Wood, 
 was  born  in  Scotland.  He  became  a  sojourner  in  the  university 
 of  Oxford  in  1624,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  library.  After 
 this  he  travelled  into  various  countries,  particularly  through 
 most  parts  of  Germany,  where  he  visited  the  recesses  of  the 
 muses.  Here  he  continued  so  long,  and  spake  their  language 
 so  fluently,  that  after  his  return  to  England,  he  was  often  taken 
 for  a  native  German. 
 
 Mr  Dury  was,  for  many  years,  engaged  in  a  design  of  uniting 
 the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists;  or,  as  he  himself  expresses  it, 
 "  For  making  and  settling  a  protestant  union,  and  peace  in  the 
 churches  beyond  seas."  The  following  account  of  Mr  Dury's 
 exertions,  in  prosecuting  this  bold  undertaking,  comes  from  one 
 who  censured  both  the  man  and  his  whole  project :  "  He  made 
 a  remarkable  figure  (says  he)  in  his  time,  running  up  and  down, 
 with  enthusiastic  zeal,  for  uniting  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists. 
 He  was  so  strongly  prepossessed  with  the  hopes  of  ultimate  suc- 
 cess, that  no  difficulties  could  discourage  him,  nor  apparent  im- 
 possibilities induce  him  to  relinquish  the  object  of  his  pursuit. 
 That  he  might  be  at  full  liberty  to  range  the  christian  world  to 
 promote  the  desired  object,  he  applied  for,  and  obtained,  a  dis- 
 pensation of  non-residence  on  his  living:  he  not  only  procured 
 a  license  for  the  purpose,  but  even  the  approbation  and  recom- 
 mendation of  archbishop  Laud,  and  had  encouragement  and 
 pecuniary  assistance  from  bishop  Hall  and  the  bishop  of  Kil- 
 more.  He  began  by  publishing  his  plan  of  union  in  1634;  and 
 during  the  same  year  he  appeared  in  a  famous  assembly  of 
 Lutherans  at  Frankfort,  in  Germany.  The  churches  of  Tran- 
 sylvania likewise  sent  him  their  advice  and  counsel  the  same 
 year;  after  which  he  negotiated  with  the  divines  of  Sweden 
 and  Denmark.  He  consulted  the  universities;  communicated 
 their  answers;  he  directed  his  attention  to  every  quarter,  and 
 conferred  with  the  learned  in  most  places  of  the  continent,  and 
 obtained  their  approbation  of  his  design.  His  project,  however, 
 was  much  ridiculed,  which  only  served  to  inflame  his  zeal,  and 
 give  renovating  vigour  to  his  exertions.  He  seems  to  have 
 been  an  honest  man,  but  enthusiastical.  His  notions  were 
 but  idle  fancies,  and  his  whole  scheme  equally  wild  and  im- 
 practicable." * 
 
 1  Biog.  Britan.  vol.  viii.  p.  4383,  Edit.  1747. 
 
JOHN  DURY.  501 
 
 Notwithstanding  the  censorious  remarks  of  this  writer,  it  is 
 evident  that  Mr  Dury's  undertaking  was  patronized  and  encou- 
 raged by  many  celebrated  divines.  In  1635  he  corresponded 
 on  this  subject  with  the  learned  Mr  Joseph  Mede,  requesting 
 his  thoughts  on  the  best  method  of  prosecuting  and  promoting 
 the  design;  stating  also  the  manner  in  which  he  had  addressed 
 the  Batavian  churches  on  that  subject.  Mr  Mede  most  cordially 
 approved  of  his  pacific  endeavours,  commended  his  method  of 
 addressing  the  foreign  churches,  and  spoke  of  his  abilities  in 
 terms  of  the  highest  approbation;  but  expressed  his  doubts  as 
 to  the  success  of  his  labours.  "  From  his  wisdom  and  abilities 
 therein  (says  he),  I  am  fitter  to  receive  instruction  than  to  cen- 
 sure or  give  direction."  Mr  Dury  communicated  his  design  to 
 the  most  celebrated  of  the  New  England  divines,  who  signified 
 their  hearty  concurrence  in  his  generous  undertaking.  Mr 
 Baxter  also  informs  us,  that  "  Mr  Dury,  having  spent  thirty 
 years  in  his  endeavours  to  reconcile  the  Lutherans  and  Calvin- 
 ists,  was  again  going  abroad  on  the  same  business.  He  desired 
 the  judgment  of  our  association  (says  he),  how  it  might  be 
 most  advantageously  accomplished;  upon  which,  at  their  desire, 
 I  drew  up  a  letter  more  largely,  in  Latin,  and  more  briefly  in 
 English." 
 
 On  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war,  Mr  Dury  espoused 
 the  cause  of  parliament,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  superadded 
 members  of  the  Westminster  assembly.  He  took  the  covenant 
 with  the  rest  of  his  brethren,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the 
 committee  of  accommodation.  It  is  said  that  he  afterwards 
 joined  the  independents,  took  the  engagement,  and  all  other 
 oaths  that  were  imposed  under  the  commonwealth.  He  was  a 
 man  of  the  most  disinterested  and  worthy  character,  much  re- 
 vered and  beloved  by  many  individuals  greatly  distinguished 
 for  learning  and  piety;  among  whom  we  cannot  omit  the  fa- 
 mous Mr  Robert  Boyle,  his  kind  friend.  The  very  design  of 
 promoting  concord  among  christians,  discovered  a  most  excel- 
 lent spirit;  and  the  unyielding  perseverance,  and  indefatigable 
 efforts  made  to  realize  an  object  so  desirable,  manifest  a  gene- 
 rosity of  soul  that  has  seldom  been  equalled,  and  probably 
 never  outdone. 
 
 In  July  1660,  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  lord 
 chancellor  Hyde : 
 "  My  Lord, 
 
 "  In  the  application  which  I  made  to  your  honour,  when  you 
 were  at  the  Hague,  I  offered  the  fruit  of  my  thirty  years'  labours 
 towards  healing  the  breaches  among  protestants;  and  this  I  did 
 as  one  who  had  never  served  the  turn  of  any  party,  or  had  boon 
 biassed  by  particular  interests  for  any  advantage  to   myself. 
 
502  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  DURY. 
 
 But  by  walking  in  the  light  by  rule  and  principle,  have  stood 
 free  from  all  in  matters  of  strife,  that  I  might  be  able  to  serve 
 them  in  love.  My  way  hath  been,  and  is,  to  solicit  the  means 
 of  peace  and  truth  amongst  the  dissenting  parties,  to  do  good 
 offices,  and  to  quiet  their  discontents,  and  I  must  still  continue 
 in  the  same  way  if  I  can  be  useful.  But  not  being  rightly  un- 
 derstood in  my  aims  and  principles,  I  have  been  constrained  to 
 give  this  brief  account  thereof,  as  well  to  rectify  the  miscon- 
 struction of  former  actions,  as  to  prevent  farther  mistakes  con- 
 cerning my  intention  and  manner,  that  such  as  love  not  to  fo- 
 ment prejudices,  may  be  clear  in  their  thoughts  concerning  me, 
 and  may  know  where  to  find  me,  if  they  would  discern  me,  or  any 
 of  the  talents  which  God  hath  bestowed  upon  me,  for  the  pub- 
 lic welfare  of  his  churches;  which  is  my  sole  aim,  and  wherein 
 I  hope  to  persevere  unto  the  end,  as  the  Lord  shall  enable  me, 
 to  be  without  offence  unto  all,  with  a  sincere  purpose  to  ap- 
 prove myself  to  his  majesty  in  all  faithfulness. 
 
 "  Your  lordship's  most  humble  servant  in  Christ, 
 
 "John  Dury." 
 
 In  the  same  month  he  wrote  to  the  earl  of  Manchester,  lord 
 chamberlain  of  his  majesty's  household,  giving  an  account  of 
 certain  proceedings  relative  to  the  universal  pacification  of 
 christians.  In  1660,  through  favour  of  the  same  earl  he  was 
 presented  with  so  much  of  the  Lithuanian  bible  as  was  then 
 printed,  which  was  down  to  the  Chronicles.  Thus  Mr  Dury 
 lived  till  after  the  restoration;  but  does  not  appear  to  have 
 either  conformed  or  been  ejected.  Every  thing  seems  to  have 
 given  way  to  his  favourite  object.  It  is  probable,  therefore, 
 that  he  had  discontinued  his  stated  ministerial  labours  some 
 time  prior  to  this  period. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Consultatio  Theologica  Super  Negotio 
 Pacis  Ecclesiast. — 2.  Epistolary  Discourse  to  Thomas  Good- 
 man, Ph.  Nye,  and  Sam.  Hartlip. — 3.  On  Presbytery  and 
 Independency. — 4.  Model  of  Church  Government. — 5.  Peace- 
 maker, the  Gospel  way. — 6.  Seasonable  Discourse  for  Refor- 
 mation.— 7.  The  Reformed  School. — 8.  The  Reformed  Library- 
 keeper. — 9.  Bibliotheca  Augusta  Sereniss  Princ.  D.  Augusti 
 Ducis  Brunovicensis,  etc. — 10.  The  unchanged,  constant,  and 
 single-hearted  Peace-maker  drawn  forth  into  the  world. — 11. 
 Supplement  to  the  Reformed  School. — 12.  Earnest  Plea  for 
 Gospel  Communion. — 13.  Summary  Platform  of  Divinity. — 
 14.  A  Declaration  of  John  Dury,  to  make  known  the  truth  of 
 his  way  and  deportment  in  all  these  times  of  trouble. — 15. 
 Irenicorum  Tractatuum  Prodromus,  and  some  others. 
 
503 
 
 THOMAS  FOORD,  M.  A. 
 
 This  persecuted  puritan  divine  was  born  at  Brixton  in 
 Devonshire,  1598.  His  family  was  respectable  and  wealthy. 
 His  father  died  when  he  was  young;  so  that  the  care  of  his  edu- 
 cation devolved  on  his  mother.  He  had  a  strong  bias  to  learn- 
 ing, and  was,  while  yet  a  child,  susceptible  of  very  serious  im- 
 pressions. His  school-master  reckoned  that  he  was  fit  for  the 
 university  at  the  age  of  fifteen;  but  sundry  causes  prevented 
 him  from  entering  till  1619,  when  he  entered  as  student  in 
 Magdalen-hall,  Oxford.  He  was  a  diligent  student,  and  made 
 great  proficiency  in  the  learned  languages,  and  the  various 
 branches  of  literature  which  were  more  immediately  connect- 
 ed with  theology.  In  1624  he  proceeded  bachelor  of  arts,  and 
 took  his  degree  of  master  of  arts  in  1627.  According  to  Wood, 
 he  entered  into  orders,  and  became  a  diligent,  faithful,  and 
 successful  tutor  in  his  own  college  for  several  years,  of  equal  cele- 
 brity, according  to  Mr  Calamy,  with  any  in  the  university. 
 Warmly  attached  to  the  principles  of  the  puritans,  and  zealous 
 in  defending  and  promoting  the  great  object  for  which  they 
 contended,  he  sometimes  expressed  himself,  as  did  several 
 others,  so  freely  in  his  public  ministrations  in  the  university, 
 that  a  considerable  noise  was  raised  amongst  the  directors  of 
 that  great  seat  of  learning.  The  occasion  was  this,  Dr.  Frewin, 
 president  of  Magdalen  college,  had  changed  the  communion 
 table  of  the  chapel  into  an  altar,  the  first  that  had  been  set  up 
 in  the  university  since  the  reformation.  Several  preachers  at 
 St.  Mary's  exclaimed  against  this  glaring  innovation,  particu- 
 larly Mr  Thorn  of  Baliol  college,  in  a  sermon  from  1  Kings 
 xiii.  2.  respecting  the  altar  erected  at  Bethel;  and  Mr  Hodge  of 
 Exeter  college,  preaching  from  that  passage  of  scripture,  "  Let 
 us  make  a  captain,  and  let  us  return  into  Egypt,"  attacked  the 
 system  of  innovations  going  forward  with  considerable  freedom 
 and  keenness  of  animadversion.  Mr  Foord  also,  in  his  turn, 
 preaching  from  2  Thess.  ii.  10,  11.  "And  with  all  deceivable- 
 ness  of  unrighteousness  in  them  that  perish,"  &c.  This  sermon 
 was  delivered  on  the  12th  of  June  1631.  He  made  some  se- 
 vere remarks  on  the  innovations  that  were  creeping  into  the 
 church,  on  magnifying  the  importance  of  tradition,  making  the 
 communion  into  a  sacrifice  with  altars;  to  which  men  were 
 commanded,  idolatrously,  to  bow,  and  a  variety  of  similar  and 
 equally  useless  and  abominable  ceremonies. 
 
 Laud  and  his  coadjutors  were  exasperated  almost  to  madness 
 at  these  sermons,  declaring  that  they  were  intended  as  reflec- 
 tions on  the  conduct  and  character  of  some  very  eminent  ec- 
 
504.  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 clesiastics;  besides,  that  they  were  an  open  violation  of  the 
 king's  declaration  for  silencing  the  arminian  controversy.  Ac- 
 cordingly, next  morning  the  vice-chancellor  had  Mr  Foord 
 summoned  before  him,  and  demanded  a  copy  of  his  sermon; 
 which  Mr  Foord  offered  to  give  him,  if  he  demanded  it  accord- 
 ing to  the  statute.  He  then  ordered  him  to  surrender  his  per- 
 son a  prisoner  at  the  castle.  Mr  Foord  offered  to  go,  providing 
 he  would  send  a  beadle,  or  even  a  servant  with  him;  which  not 
 being  done,  he  did  not  surrender  himself.  The  Saturday  fol- 
 lowing, the  vice-chancellor,  highly  enraged,  sealed  up  Mr 
 Foord's  study,  after  having  examined  all  his  books  and  papers 
 in  search  of  matter  to  condemn  him.  Herein,  however,  he  to- 
 tally failed,  inasmucli  as  Mr  Foord  had  previously  removed 
 every  thing  of  which  his  enemies  could  take  the  least  advantage. 
 In  the  meantime,  archbishop  Laud,  who  was  himself  chancellor 
 of  the  university,  having  been  apprised  of  the  whole  affair,  sent 
 orders  to  punish  the  preachers.  Upon  this,  a  citation,  in  Laud's 
 name,  dated  July  2d,  was  fixed  on  St.  Mary's  church,  command- 
 ing Mr  Foord  to  appear  before  the  vice-chancellor  on  the  5th. 
 Foord  appeared  on  the  day  appointed,  and  was  urged  to  take 
 an  oath  ex  officio;  which  he  refused  to  do,  because  there  were  no 
 questions  in  writing.  Again  he  offered  a  copy  of  his  sermon  if 
 the  chancellor  would  demand  it  by  virtue  of  the  statute.  Next 
 day,  however,  he  delivered  a  copy  of  the  sermon;  which  was 
 accepted.  But  on  pretence  of  his  former  contumacy,  he  was 
 again  commanded  to  surrender  himself  a  prisoner.  Here  Mr 
 Foord  appealed  from  his  jurisdiction  to  that  of  the  convocation, 
 and  delivered  his  appeal  in  writing  to  the  new  proctors,  Messrs 
 Atherton  Bruch  and  John  Doughty,  both  men  of  ability  and 
 integrity.  They  brought  the  appeal  before  the  convocation, 
 where  the  case  was  referred  to  sixteen  delegates,  when  ten  out 
 of  fifteen,  upon  a  full  hearing,  acquitted  Mr  Foord  from  all 
 breach  of  peace.  At  last  Laud  brought  the  whole  affair  before 
 the  king  and  council  at  Woodstock;  where  Mr  Foord  appear- 
 ing, the  king  examined  him  on  three  questions  :  1.  Why  he  re- 
 fused a  copy  of  his  sermon  ?  Mr  Foord  said,  "  He  had  not  re- 
 fused it,  but  freely  offered  it  according  to  the  statute."  2. 
 Whether  Dr.  Prideaux  had  dissuaded  him  from  giving  it?  He 
 assured  his  majesty  that  he  had  not  consulted  the  doctor  on  the 
 subject :  And,  3.  Why  he  did  not  go  to  prison  when  the  vice- 
 chancellor  commanded  him  thither  on  his  faith  ?  "  He  hoped 
 (he  said)  that  his  majesty's  poor  scholars  in  the  university 
 should  not  be  in  a  worse  condition  than  the  worst  of  felons,  who 
 are  imprisoned  by  a  mittimus,  and  with  legal  officers  to  conduct 
 them  thither."  The  king  said  no  more;  and  the  archbishop, 
 though  present,  had  not  opened  his  mouth.      The   following 
 
THOMAS  FOORD.  505 
 
 sentence  was  nevertheless  passed :  That  Messrs  Foord,  Thorn, 
 and  Hoges,  be  expelled  the  university :  That  both  proctors  be 
 deprived  of  their  places  for  receiving  their  appeals,  although 
 they  could  not  legally  refuse  them;  and  that  Dr.  Prideaux,  rec- 
 tor of  Exeter  college,  and  Dr.  Wilkinson,  principal  of  Magda- 
 len-hall, receive  a  sharp  admonition  for  meddling  in  this  affair 
 on  their  behalf. 
 
 Messrs  Hoges  and  Thorn,  upon  their  recantation,  and  sub- 
 mitting to  a  year's  suspension,  were  fully  restored,  and  after- 
 wards promoted  to  be  archdeacons.     But  Mr  Foord,  by  the 
 final  sentence,  was  obliged  to  remove  from  the  university  on 
 four  days  notice;  but  was  honourably  conducted  out  of  town  by 
 a  great  multitude  of  scholars  in  their  habits.     After  this  he  was 
 almost  instantaneously  invited  by  the  magistrates  of  Plymouth 
 to  be  their  minister;  but  the  malicious  Laud,  who  had  the  king's 
 car,  obtained  a  letter  from  him  to  these  magistrates,  which  he 
 accompanied  with  one  of  his  own,   forbidding  them,   as  they 
 dreaded  the  royal  displeasure,   to  choose  him;  and  in  case  he 
 should  be  chosen,  the  bishop  of  Exeter  was  commanded  not  to 
 admit  him.    The  inhabitants  of  Plymouth  were  therefore  oblig- 
 ed to  relinquish  the  object  of  their  choice.     Finding  that  Laud 
 was  determined  to  exclude  him  from  all  preferment  in  England, 
 Mr  Foord  embraced  the  opportunity  of  going  abroad,  in  the  ca- 
 pacity of  chaplain  to  an  English  regiment,  commanded  by  co- 
 lonel George  Fleetwood,  in  the  service  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
 He  travelled  with  the  colonel  into  Germany,  and  lay  some  time 
 in  garrison  at  Stode  and  Elbing.     His  eminent  talents  and  eru- 
 dition  recommended   him   to   the   learned   of  all   professions 
 wherever  he  travelled.     The  English  merchants  at  Hamburgh 
 invited  him  to  become  their  minister,  at  a  salary  of  two  hun- 
 dred pounds;   but  not  relishing  a  foreign  country,  he  returned 
 to  England.     On  his  arrival,  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of 
 Aldwinkle  in  Northamptonshire;  and  what  is  rather  surprising, 
 Laud  and  his  party  offered  no  objection.     Here  he  continued  a 
 diligent  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ  for  some  years,  and  mar- 
 ried the  daughter  of Fleetwood  of  Gray's  Inn,  Esq.  by 
 
 whom  he  had  several  children.  He  was  chosen  proctor  for  the 
 clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Peterborough  to  the  famous  convoca- 
 tion of  1640. 
 
 When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  he  retired  to  London,  where 
 he  became  minister  of  St.  Faiths,  London,  and  afterwards  a 
 member  of  the  assembly  of  divines.  When  the  wars  were  over, 
 Mr  Foord  settled  at  Exeter  in  Devonshire.  Here  he  found  the 
 city  and  adjacent  country  under  the  influence  of  a  sect  of  en- 
 thusiasts, who  pretended  they  stood  in  no  need  of  ordinances; 
 but  that  they  were  raised,  by  the  divine  illumination,  quite 
 19  3  s 
 
506  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 above  them.      Here  lie  distinguished  himself  in  preaching  down 
 the  mad  errors  of  this  visionary  tribe.     His  labours,  in  this 
 place,  were  crowned  with    remarkable  success;   the  city  was 
 greatly  reformed,  and  a  relish  /or  the  doctrines  of  truth  gra- 
 dually restored.     Mr  Foord  preached  in  the  cathedral,  though, 
 upon  one  occasion,    lie   was  put  out   by  major  general  Des- 
 borough,  for  refusing  the  engagement.     He  was  greatly  esteem- 
 ed, both  by  the  people,  the  magistrates,  and  neighbouring  gen- 
 tlemen, and  held  a  very  friendly  correspondence  with  the  other 
 ministers  of  the  city.     He  induced  them  to  set  up  a  Tuesday's 
 lecture;  in   which  they  all  took  their  turns,  and  were  uncom- 
 monly well  attended.     He  also  prevailed,  with  his  brethren,  to 
 have  the  sacrament  administered  every  fortnight,  taking  the 
 churches    in    rotation,    at   which    the    members   of  the  other 
 churches  might  have  an  opportunity  of  communicating.    These 
 measures  had  a  strong  tendency  to  prevent  all  jealousies  among 
 the  ministers,  and  to  unite  the  people  in  brotherly-affection 
 amongst  themselves.     The  ministers  of  Exeter  lived  together  in 
 much  harmony  and  happiness,  and  the  work  of  the  gospel  was 
 greatly  promoted  by  their  faithful  labours,  till  the  act  of  uni- 
 formity ejected  them  from  their  several  charges;  though  still  re- 
 maining among  their  people.     Upon  the  coming  out  of  the  Ox- 
 ford act,  he,  and  twelve  other  ministers,  who  resided  in  the  ci- 
 ty, not  satisfied  with  all  the  particulars  of  the  oath  therein  im- 
 posed, and  aware  that  their  refusal  would  be   misconstrued, 
 thought  it  prudent  to  present  a  petition  to  the  magistrates.    This 
 petition  stated,  that  they  were  so  free  from  all  thoughts  of  raising 
 a  new  war,  or  resisting  the  powers  that  by  divine  providence  were 
 over  them,  that  they  were  firmly  resolved  never  to  take  arms 
 against  the  king's  person  or  government,  nor  aid,  abet,  counte- 
 nance, or  encourage  others  in  any  tumultuous  or  unpeaceable 
 endeavours  to  disturb  his  majesty's  kingdoms;  but  to  behave 
 themselves  peaceably  in  all  things,  and  at  all  time^  under  his 
 majesty's  government,  in   church  and  state.     That  this  they 
 humbly  offered,  not  expecting  thereby  to  be  freed  from  the  ope- 
 ration of  the  act,  but  that  they  might  not  be  represented  to  his 
 majesty  as  disaffected  and  disloyal  persons.     The  magistrates, 
 however,  having  no  favour  for  men  of  their  sentiments,  refused 
 the  petition ;  and  the  petitioners  were  obliged  to  leave  the  city 
 for  some  time.     Mr  Foord  retired  to  Exmouth,  nine  miles  from 
 Exeter,  where  he  lived  privately,  and,  under  the  direction  of  an 
 indulgent  providence,  had  a  competent  support. 
 
 When  the  indulgence  came  out,  though  Mr  Foord  neither 
 approved  the  men  that  procured  it,  nor  the  object  it  was  in- 
 tended to  effect,  it  was,  nevertheless,  his  opinion,  thai  mini- 
 sters should  embrace  the  opportunity  it  afforded  for  preaching 
 
THOMAS  FOORD.  507 
 
 the  gospel.  On  this  occasion,  though  his  health  was  much  im- 
 paired, lie  returned  to  Exeter;  where  he  was  not  able  to  preach 
 more  than  two  sermons  in  public,  though  he  was  greatly  service- 
 able by  his  private  advice  and  conversation.  At  this  juncture, 
 while  many  were  flattering  themselves  with  the  approach  of 
 flourishing  time6,  Mr  Foord  was  daily  warning  them,  that  there 
 was  yet  in  reserve  a  far  more  dreadful  storm  that  would  una- 
 voidably fall  on  the  churches.  This  was  awfully  verified,  in 
 the  terrible  persecution  which  took  place  in  various  countries 
 during  some  following  years. 
 
 Mr  Foord's  health  was  daily  on  the  decline;  so  that  he  was 
 soon  confined  to  his  bed,  and  could  speak  but  little  to  those  per- 
 sons who  visited  him.  When  visited  by  some  ministers  of  the 
 city,  he  spoke  much  of  his  own  unworthiness,  and  the  all-suffi- 
 ciency of  Christ.  "  On  this  rock  (said  he)  I  have  reposed  my 
 confidence,  where  I  hope  to  remain  safe  amid  all  the  storms  of 
 dissolution.  The  sting  of  death  is  sin;  but  thanks  be  to  God, 
 who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
 These  were  the  last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter.  Dr.  Calamy 
 says,  "He  died  in  December  1674,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of 
 his  age,  and  that  he  was  buried  in  St.  Laurence  church,  Exe- 
 ter. He  was  esteemed  a  man  of  excellent  parts,  and  of  unbi- 
 assed principles,  the  same  man  at  all  times,  and  in  the  midst  of 
 all  changes." 
 
 His  printed  works  are,  1.  Two  Sermons,  one  preached  before 
 the  Lords,  the  other  before  the  Commons. — 2.  Singing  of 
 Psalms,  a  Christian  duty  under  the  New  Testament. — 3.  The 
 Sinner  Condemned  of  himself,  being  a  plea  for  God  against  all 
 the  ungodly. — 4.  Self-evidence  of  Scripture,  proving  it  to  be  the 
 only  rule  of  Faith. 
 
 JOHN  FOXCROFT,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Fox-croft  received  his  education  in  Magdalen-hall, 
 Oxford,  and  took  his  degree  of  arts  in  1617;  and  having  finish- 
 ed his  studies,  he  entered  on  the  work  of  the  ministry.  He 
 was  some  time  after  this  minister  of  Gotham  in  Nottingham- 
 shire; where  he  continued  several  years,  according  to  Wood,  a 
 puritanical  preacher.  On  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war 
 he  joined  the  parliament;  and  while  exercising  his  pastoral 
 office  at  Gotham,  was  much  molested  by  the  royal  party.  In 
 1640  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and  was  a 
 constant  attending  member  of  that  assembly.  Removing  to 
 London,  he  became  a  frequent  preacher  in  that  city,  and  some- 
 times before  parliament. 
 
508  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Mr  Foxcroft  still  retained  a  powerful  affection  for  his  flock 
 at  Gotham,  as  appears  by  his  epistle  dedicatory  to  the  House 
 of  Commons  before  his  sermon;  in  which  he  says,  "  Give  me 
 leave  only  to  shed  a  few  tears  on  the  neck  of  the  bleeding  county 
 of  Nottingham,  now  as  much  beloved  as  that  which  gave  me 
 breath;  having  been  the  place  of  my  ministry  for  the  longer 
 half  of  my  life." 
 
 Mr  Foxcroft  published  one  Sermon,  preached  before  the  Com- 
 mons, entitled  The  Good  of  a  Good  Government,  and  most  pro- 
 bably several  other  works. 
 
 THOMAS  GATAKER. 
 
 This  eminent  and  learned  divine  was  born  in  London,  on 
 the  4th  September  1574,  and  received  the  first  principles  of 
 education  in  his  father's  house.  He  gave  early  indications  of 
 genius  and  application,  and  entirely  devoted  himself  to  liter- 
 ature while  but  a  boy.  His  conversation  was  grave,  and  his 
 manners  pleasing,  exhibiting  literature  above  his  age,  and  wis- 
 dom above  his  learning.  Having  passed  the  classes  in  the 
 grammar  school,  his  father  sent  him,  in  1590,  to  St.  John's 
 college,  Cambridge,  where  he  prosecuted  his  studies  with  unre- 
 mitting ardour.  He  was  one  of  those  diligent  students  who 
 constantly  attended  the  Greek  lectures  of  the  famous  Mr  John 
 Bois,  one  of  king  James'  translators  of  the  bible.  This  cele- 
 brated Grecian  read  a  Greek  lecture,  in  his  bed,  to  such  scholars 
 as  preferred  their  nightly  studies  to  their  rest.  Under  his  in- 
 structions Mr  Gataker  made  amazing  improvement  in  that  lan- 
 guage; and  carefully  preserving  the  notes  of  these  lectures,  when 
 visited  by  Mr  Bois  several  years  after,  he  produced  them,  to  the 
 great  joy  of  the  good  old  man,  who  was  so  much  pleased,  that 
 he  said  he  thought  himself  several  years  younger  from  the  un- 
 expected entertainment  they  had  afforded  him.  Mr  Gataker 
 continued  to  prosecute  his  studies  with  unrelaxed  application, 
 and  attained  an  honourable  proficiency  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
 Hebrew  language,  having  been  carefully  instructed  by  Mi- 
 Lively,  professor  of  Hebrew  in  Cambridge,  and  eminently  qua- 
 lified for  that  difficult  office.  Mr  Gataker  -had  not  been  long 
 settled  at  Cambridge  till  he  sustained  a  heavy  loss  by  the  death 
 of  his  father,  who  had  it  not  in  his  power  to  leave  what  was 
 sufficient  to  maintain  him  through  the  course  of  his  academical 
 studies.  The  hopes,  however,  with  which  his  promising  genius, 
 and  steady  application,  had  inspired  his  friends,  induced  them 
 to  contribute  to  his  assistance;  and  conscious  of  the  tenor  by 
 which  he  held  their  bounty,  he  applied  himself  seriously  and 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  509 
 
 successfully  to  the  acquisition  of  intellectual  treasure;  and  his 
 attainments,  together  with  his  good  and  agreeable  disposition, 
 so  recommended  him,  that  he  was  soon  chosen  a  scholar  upon 
 the  foundation  of  his  college.  He  took  his  degree  in  arts  with 
 uncommon  applause,  and  his  sentiments  were  much  improved 
 by  associating  with  learned  and  pious  christians  and  divines, 
 particularly  with  that  eminent  servant  of  Christ,  Mr  Richard 
 Stock,  to  whom  he  was  united  in  the  closest  ties  of  friendship 
 and  affection. 
 
 Mr  Gataker  was  now  held  in  such  estimation  for  his  learning 
 and  candour,  that  the  trustees  of  Sidney  college  appointed  him 
 one  of  the  fellows  of  that  institution  even  before  the  building 
 was  erected;  with  an  offer,  that,  till  such  time  as  the  college 
 was  completed,  he  should  live  in  the  house  of  William  Ayloffe, 
 Esq.  as  tutor  to  that  gentleman's  eldest  son,  and  assistant  to 
 himself  in  studying  the  Hebrew  language.  While  residing  in 
 this  family,  he  read  them  a  portion  of  scripture  every  morning, 
 giving  the  sense  from  the  original  languages,  and  then  making 
 practical  observations.  In  this  manner  he  went  over  the  whole  of 
 the  epistles,  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the 
 book  of  Job.  At  one  of  these  exercises,  Dr.  Sterne,  suffragan 
 of  Colchester,  who  was  nearly  related  to  lady  Ayloffe,  was  pre- 
 sent. The  doctor  was  so  pleased  with  Mr  Gataker's  perform- 
 ance, that  he  pressed  him  to  enter  into  orders,  that  his  talents 
 might  be  authoritatively  exercised  for  the  good  of  the  church, 
 at  the  same  time  offering  him  what  pecuniary  or  other  assist- 
 ance he  stood  in  need  of.  After  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of 
 Mr  Gataker,  and  a  renewed  solicitation  from  the  doctor,  he  ac- 
 quiesced, and  was  accordingly  ordained  a  preacher. 
 
 When  Sidney  college  was  finished,  and  ready  for  the  recep- 
 tion of  its  society,  Air  Gataker  repaired  thither  to  his  station, 
 and  commenced  tutor  with  great  reputation,  and  had  his  ser- 
 vices rewarded  with  singular  success.  While  thus  employed  in 
 Sidney  college,  he  also  united  with  Mr  Abdias  Ashton,  and  Mr 
 William  Bedell,  afterwards  bishop  of  Kilmore  in  Ireland,  for 
 the  laudable  purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel  in  the  places  lving 
 near  to  Cambridge,  where,  owing  to  different  causes,  the  people 
 were  in  great  want  of  faithful  ministers.  In  the  prosecution  of 
 this  plan,  Mr  Gataker  preached  every  Sabbath,  for  six  months, 
 at  Everton,  a  village  on  the  borders  of  the  counties  of  Cam- 
 bridge, Bedford,  and  Huntingdon. 
 
 But  some  reasons,  which  have  not  been  given  us,  induced  Mr 
 Gataker  to  leave  the  university,  and  settle  in  London,  where  he 
 became  chaplain  to  Sir  William  Cooke,  near  Charing-cross.  In 
 this  situation  he  had  frequent  opportunities  of  being  introduced 
 to  many  persons  of  eminence,   particularly  in  the  profession  of 
 
510  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 the  law,  many  of  whom  were  members  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and 
 had  occasion  to  know  his  ministerial  abilities.  Accordingly, 
 tliis  honourable  society  chose  him  for  their  preacher;  which 
 having  accepted,  he  discharged  the  duty  of  this  office  for  ten 
 years,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  learned  audience,  by  whom 
 he  was  caressed  and  much  admired.  Here  he  was  particularly 
 active  in  promoting  the  reformation  of  the  Sabbath,  and  suc- 
 ceeded in  his  pious  endeavours  beyond  all  expectation.  By  ac- 
 cepting this  office  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  Mr  Gataker  did  not  dissolve 
 his  connection  with  the  family  of  Sir  William  Cooke;  but  dur- 
 ing the  vacations,  he  always  went  down  to  Sir  William's  seat 
 in  Northamptonshire,  where,  during  his  stay,  he  preached  every 
 Sabbath,  either  in  the  domestic  chapel,  or  the  parish  church. 
 In  1603  he  took  his  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity  at  Cambridge. 
 The  great  reputation  he  had  at  Lincoln's  Inn  occasioned  some 
 valuable  preferments  to  be  offered  him,  which  he  might  have 
 held  without  resigning  his  present  charge.  But  he  stood  op- 
 posed to  all  pluralities.  He  could  never  be  persuaded  that  one 
 man  could,  at  the  same  time,  discharge  his  duty  to  two  separate 
 congregations,  either  to  his  own  or  their  satisfaction.  Mr  Ga- 
 taker had  another  reason  for  holding  his  place  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
 though  the  salary  was  much  less  than  that  of  several  places  he 
 had  in  his  choice,  namely,  that  it  afforded  him  leisure  to  prose- 
 cute his  studies,  particularly  in  the  original  languages,  the  an- 
 cient fathers,  and  the  best  Greek  and  Roman  writers. 
 
 In  1611,  having  entered  into  the  matrimonial  state,  he  ac- 
 cepted the  rectory  of  Rotherhithe,  in  the  county  of  Surrey,  near 
 London  bridge,  a  living  of  considerable  value,  together  with 
 which  he  was  much  importuned  to  hold  his  office  at  Lincoln's 
 Inn.  But  this  being  opposed  to  his  fixed  principles  with  re- 
 gard to  pluralites,  he  refused.  In  this  new  situation,  notwith- 
 standing an  almost  perpetual  headach,  which  had  attended 
 him  from  his  youth,  he  discharged  his  numerous  pastoral  duties 
 with  unremitting  industry,  carefully  feeding  the  flock  over 
 which  he  had  been  appointed  pastor.  Although  he  had  not  as 
 yet  committed  any  of  his  learned  productions  to  the  press,  his 
 celebrity  was  such,  that  he  held  a  literary  correspondence 
 with  some  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  age.  Some  of  his  letters 
 to  Dr.  Usher,  afterwards  the  celebrated  primate  of  Ireland, 
 evince  the  nature  and  extent  of  his  studies,  as  well  as  his  anxiety 
 and  care  to  preserve  the  unpublished  works  of  some  ancient  di- 
 vines. These  letters  likewise  evidence  a  spirit  of  modesty  and 
 deference,  not  always  observable  in  men  of  profound  literary 
 acquirements.  In  a  letter,  dated  from  Rotherhithe,  18th  March 
 l()l(),  he  informs  Usher,  that  he  had,  in  his  possession,  a  manu- 
 script, containing  certain  treatises,   which  he  could  not  learn 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  511 
 
 had  ever  been  printed,  among  which  was  Guielmus  de  Sancto 
 Amore  de  Periculis  Novissimorum  Temporum,  and  an  Oration, 
 in  writing,  delivered  to  the  pope  at  Lyons,  by  Robert  Grost- 
 head,  formerly  bishop  of  Lincoln.  "  Some  of  these  (said  he),  if 
 they  are  not  already  abroad,  may  not  be  unworthy  of  being 
 brought  into  the  light;  nor  should  I  be  unwilling,  if  they  be  so 
 esteemed,  to  bend  my  weak  endeavours  that  way.  But  of  that 
 Oration  to  the  pope,  certain  lines  in  my  copy  are  paired  away; 
 but  not  so  much  but  the  sense  may  still  be  guessed  and  gather- 
 ed from  the  context.  In  the  other  treatises  there  are  many  de- 
 ficiencies which  cannot  easily  be  amended,  and  some  of  them 
 not  without  the  help  of  other  copies.  My  desire  is  to  under- 
 stand from  you,  Whether,  when  you  were  in  England,  you 
 lighted  on  any  of  these;  and  if  so,  where,  or  in  whose  hands 
 they  were  ?"  In  answer  to  the  above,  Usher  informed  Mr  Ga- 
 taker,  that  one  of  the  treatises  was  published,  and  that  the  other 
 was  ready  for  the  press  by  another  hand. 
 
 Dr.  Usher  and  Mr  Gataker  had  both  a  great  predilection  for 
 ancient  manuscripts,  and  for  publishing  the  remains  of  ancient 
 divines;  which  first  introduced  them  to  the  acquaintance  of  one 
 another,  and  occasioned  their  friendly  correspondence.  As  Mr 
 Gataker  never  wrote  upon  any  subject  which  he  had  not  tho- 
 roughly considered,  and  examined  what  had  been  said  upon  it  by 
 men  of  all  ages  and  parties,  so  his  penetration  in  distinguishing 
 truth,  and  his  honest  zeal  in  supporting  it,  laid  him  continuallv 
 open  to  the  clamours  of  those  men,  who  had  nothing  in  view  but 
 the  support  of  those  systems  to  which  their  interest  or  educa- 
 tion had  attached  them,  or  the  magnifying  of  such  notions  as 
 were  popular  at  the  time;  the  defence  of  which  procured  them 
 numerous  admirers,  though  their  arguments  were  ever  so  weak 
 and  inconclusive. 
 
 In  such  disputes,  however,  these  furious  opponents  were  sure 
 to  have  the  worst  with  Mr  Gataker;  and  however  considerable 
 they  might  be,  either  in  figure  or  number,  they  only  served  the 
 more  effectually  to  enhance  his  triumph.  For  his  modesty  and 
 natural  diffidence  prevented  him  from  publishing  any  thing  till 
 he  was  forty-five  years  of  age;  by  which  time  his  judgment  was 
 so  confirmed  by  extensive  reading  and  hard  study,  and  so  sup- 
 ported by  an  extraordinary  and  almost  incredible  memory,  that 
 he  always  carried  his  point,  and  effectually  baffled  every  attempt 
 again  to  spread  darkness  and  obscurity  over  any  subject  he 
 had  once  proposed  to  enlighten. 
 
 The  regularity  of  Mr  Gataker's  life,  his  unsullied  character, 
 together  with  the  general  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the 
 greatest  and  best  men  in  the  nation,  fortified  him  against  the 
 low  and  little  artifices,  from  which  a  writer,  deficient  of  such 
 
5V2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 guarantees,  must  unavoidably  have  suffered.  He  had  not  the 
 smallest  tincture  of  spleen  or  arrogance  in  his  composition;  and 
 though  it  be  true  that  he  gave  no  quarter  to  the  arguments  of 
 his  adversaries,  no  scurrility  on  their  part  could  provoke  him  to 
 strike  at  their  persons  or  character.  He  knew  the  prize  for 
 which  he  contended  was  truth,  and  that  the  world  was  consti- 
 tuted the  decisive  judges.  He  was  always  cautious  to  say  no- 
 thing unbecoming,  indecent,  or  that  might  prove  ungrateful  to 
 the  intelligent  reader,  whose  object  was  the  discovery  of  truth. 
 He  was  not  so  scrupulous,  however,  as  forbear  to  dismantle  vul- 
 gar errors  for  fear  of  offending  the  multitude.  His  modesty, 
 though  it  might  hinder  his  promotion,  never  obstructed  his  pro- 
 gress in  the  path  of  duty.  He  understood  perfectly,  how  easy  it 
 was  either  to  lead  the  people  into  profanity,  or  work  them  into 
 superstition;  and  none  could  be  more  sensible  than  himself,  that 
 true  religion  was  alike  opposed  to  both.  Aware  that  hypocrisy 
 was  calculated  to  ensnare,  as  well  as  libertinism  is  to  seduce, 
 he  was  jealous  lest  canting  words,  and  a  solemn  show  of  sanc- 
 tity, might  enable  presumptuous,  or  self-interested  men,  to 
 put  a  yoke  on  the  necks  of  christians  very  different  from  that 
 of  Jesus  Christ  *. 
 
 Mr  Gataker  was  always  careful,  in  his  pulpit  exercises,  that 
 his  doctrine  might  be  not  only  sound,  but  also  suitable  to  the 
 circumstances  of  his  congregation.    A  desire  to  unfold  the  whole 
 counsel  of  God,  induced  him,  among  other  subjects,  to  discourse 
 on  one,  both  curious  and  critical,  namely,  the  nature  and  abuse 
 of  lots;  a  subject,  in  his  opinion,  but  ill  understood,  and  one 
 from  which  much  mistake  and  inconveniency  had  arisen.    Con- 
 ceiving that  a  minute  investigation  of  this  ill-defined  subject, 
 by  affording  his  congregation  more  correct  views  of  the  matter, 
 might  prove  beneficial,  Mr  Gataker  was  induced  to  handle  it,  as 
 he  did  all  other  subjects,  freely,  fully,  and  fairly,  without  ever 
 suspecting  it  would  involve  him  in  a  long  and  troublesome  con- 
 troversy.    Some  ignorant,  or  ill-disposed  persons,  however,  had 
 noised  abroad,  that  he  was  become  the  defender  of  gamesters, 
 and  the  patronizer  of  cards  and  dice,  with  other  groundless 
 stories;  which  obliged  him  to  publish  his  opinions  on  that  sub- 
 ject, in  a  small  treatise;  in  which,  says  the  above  author,  "It 
 is  hard  to  say,  whether  the  accuracy  of  the  method,  the  conclu- 
 siveness of  his  reasoning,  or  the  prodigious  display  of  learning, 
 deserve  most  to  be  admired  ?"     He  dedicated  this  little  work 
 to  Sir  Henry  Hobart,  Bart,  chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas, 
 with  all  the  benchers,  barristers,  and  students  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
 as  a  mark  of  his  gratitude  and  respect  for  their  former  favours. 
 The  publication  of  this  piece  made  a  great  noise  in  the  world, 
 Biog.  Briton!  vol.  iv.  p.  2100. 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  513 
 
 and  gained  its  author  great  reputation.  This  learned  performance 
 is  entitled,  Of  the  Nature  and  Use  of  Lots,  a  treatise  historical  and 
 theological.  In  the  preface  to  the  judicious  and  ingenuous  read- 
 er, he  observes,  that  though  he  had  often  been  solicited  to  ap- 
 pear in  public,  through  the  medium  of  the  press,  he  had  hither- 
 to declined.  "  But  (says  he)  a  two-fold  necessity  is  now  impos- 
 ed upon  me  to  do  some  thing  in  this  way,  partly  by  the  impor- 
 tunity of  divers  christian  friends,  religious  and  judicious,  who, 
 being  partakers  of  my  public  ministry,  have  heard,  or,  upon  re- 
 quest, have  seen  some  part  of  this  weak  work,  or,  from  the  re- 
 port of  others  concerning  it,  have  not  ceased  to  solicit  the  pub- 
 lication thereof;  but  partly  also,  and  more  especially,  by  the  ini- 
 quity of  some,  who,  being  of  a  different  opinion  with  regard  to 
 certain  points  therein  disputed,  have  been  more  forward  than 
 was  meet,  to  tax  and  traduce,  with  unchristian  slanders  and  un- 
 charitable censures,  both  the  writer  and  the  work. 
 
 "  Should  any,  says  he,  surmise  that  this  kind  of  writing  may 
 occasion  too  much  liberty  in  this  licentious  age,  I  answer,  1st, 
 That  it  is  neither  equal  nor  fair,  that,  for  the  looseness  of  some, 
 the  consciences  of  the  godly  and  circumspect  should  be  en- 
 tangled and  ensnared;  and,  2dly,  That  whosoever  shall  take  no 
 more  liberty  to  themselves  than  this  treatise  allows  them,  shall 
 be  sure  to  keep  within  the  bounds  of  piety  and  charity,  equity 
 and  sobriety;  than  which  I  know  not  what  more  can  be  reason- 
 ably required.  I  protest  before  God's  face,  and  in  his  fear,  that 
 for  no  sinister  ends  undertook  I  this  task;  nor  have  I  averred 
 or  defended  any  thing  therein,  but  what,  I  am  verily  persuad- 
 ed, is  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God." 
 
 In  the  first  chapter  he  describes  what  a  lot  is,  and  treats  of 
 lottery  in  general.  In  the  2d,  Of  chance  or  casualty,  and 
 casual  events.  3d,  Of  the  several  kinds  of  lots.  4th,  Ordinary 
 lots.  5th,  Of  the  lawfulness  of  such  lots,  with  the  cautions  ne- 
 cessary in  using  them.  6th,  Of  ordinary  lusorious  lots,  and 
 their  lawfulness.  "7th,  An  answer  to  the  principal  objections  to 
 lusorious  lots.  8th,  An  answer  to  the  lesser  arguments  against 
 them.  9th,  Cautions  to  be  observed  in  the  use  of  them.  10th, 
 Extraordinary  or  divinitary  lots.  11th,  Of  their  unlawfulness. 
 12th,  An  admonition  to  avoid  them,  with  an  answer  to  some 
 arguments  used  in  their  defence;  with  the  conclusion.  A  se- 
 cond edition  of  this  treatise,  revised,  corrected,  and  enlarged  by 
 the  author,  was  published  in  1627. 
 
 The  publication  of  the  first  edition  drew  the  author  into  a 
 controversy,  which  lasted  many  years.  A  very  warm  writer, 
 who  had  been  misled  by  the  common  report,  attacked  our  author 
 in  a  publication,  which  he  calls  a  Refutation  of  Mr  Gataker's 
 Doctrine;   but  his  production  having  had  more  the  appearance 
 
 1!)  3t 
 
514  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  anger  than  argument,  the  licensers  of  the  press  would  not 
 sanction  its  publication.  The  enraged  author  considered  this 
 an  additional  injury;  of  which  he  so  loudly  complained,  that 
 Mr  Gataker,  whose  sole  object  was  the  investigation  of  truth, 
 generously  interposed  with  the  licensers,  and  opened  the  way 
 for  both  his  antagonist  and  himself.  He  was  conscious  that  he 
 could  not  better  defend  his  own  character  and  sentiments 
 against  evil  reports,  than  by  affording  his  virulent  adversary 
 the  fairest  opportunity.  This  angry  piece  was  accordingly 
 ushered  into  the  world,  and  Mr  Gataker  soon  after  refuted  his 
 conclusions,  by  exhibiting  the  absurdity  of  some  of  them,  and  the 
 imbecility  of  others,  clearing,  at  the  same  time,  the  points  in 
 controversy.  About  twelve  years  after  this,  Mr  Gataker  had  to 
 contend  with  Amesius  and  Vcetius,  both  celebrated  for  their 
 great  learning,  who  had  also  written  on  the  same  subject; 
 against  whom  he  defended  his  sentiments,  in  a  Latin  perform- 
 ance, conducted  with  great  modesty,  and  fraught  with  uncom- 
 mon erudition. 
 
 In  1620  he  made  a  tour  into  the  Low  Countries,  which  gave 
 him  a  very  favourable  impression  of  the  Dutch  protestant 
 churches,  and  most  probably  inclined  him  to  that  religious  mo- 
 deration by  which  he  was  so  much  distinguished.  At  Middle- 
 burg,  in  Zealand,  he  preached  to  the  English  protestants  greatly 
 to  their  satisfaction;  but  excited  the  high  displeasure  of  the 
 English  catholics,  by  disputing  with  their  ablest  and  most 
 learned  priests;  and  though  he  could  not  convert,  he  certainly 
 confounded  them;  which  drew  down  their  keenest  resentment. 
 His  mother  knowing  his  zeal,  and  the  provocation  that  his 
 works  had  already  given,  was  apprehensive  of  danger  to  his 
 person  on  this  occasion,  and  not  altogether  without  cause,  from 
 a  party  never  famous  for  their  moderation.  On  his  return,  he 
 applied  himself,  with  his  former  assiduity,  to  his  beloved  studies 
 and  the  charge  of  his  flock.  About  this  time  he  addressed  a 
 letter  to  his  learned  friend  Usher,  now  preferred  to  a  bishopric, 
 wherein  lie  gives  a  very  affecting  description  of  the  state  of  the 
 protestant  churches  abroad.  In  this  letter,  dated  from  Rother- 
 hithe,  September  29th,  1621,  he  thus  expresses  himself: 
 
 "  My  duty  to  your  lordship  remembered.  This  messenger  so 
 opportunely  offering  himself,  I  could  not  avoid  saluting  your 
 lordship  in  a  line  or  two,  thereby  to  signify  my  continued  and 
 deserved  remembrance  and  hearty  desire  for  your  welfare.  By 
 this  time,  I  presume,  your  lordship  has  got  settled  in  your 
 weighty  charge  of  oversight,  wherein  I  beseech  the  Lord  in 
 mercy  to  bless  your  endeavours,  to  the  glory  of  his  own  name, 
 and  the  good  of  his  church,  never  at  any  time  more  opposed  and 
 oppressed   by  mighty  and  malicious  adversaries,   both   at   home 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  515 
 
 ;ind  abroad — Never  in  foreign  parts  more  gen  oral  ly  distressed 
 and  distracted  than  at  present.  From  France  there  are  daily 
 news  of  murder  and  massacres.  Towns  and  cities  taken  by 
 storm,  and,  without  distinction  of  age,  sex,  or  situation,  all  put 
 to  the  sword.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  those  few,  who  still  stand 
 out,  having  no  succours,  can  long  maintain  their  ground  against 
 the  power  of  so  great  a  prince.  In  the  Palatinate  all  is  report- 
 ed to  be  likewise  going  to  ruin.  Neither,  for  aught  I  can  see, 
 do  the  Hollanders  sit  on  surer  ground;  for  the  fire  that  has  been 
 heretofore  kindled  against  them,  about  the  transportation  of 
 coin,  and  the  fine  imposed  thereupon,  the  East  India  quarrel, 
 the  command  of  the  narrow  seas,  and  the  interrupting  of  the 
 trade  into  Flanders,  are  daily  more  and  more  fanned;  so  that 
 the  fire  already  begins  to  break  out,  which  I  pray  God  may  not 
 consume  both  them  and  ourselves. 
 
 "  I  doubt  not,  worthy  sir,  but  you  see  as  well,  nay,  much 
 better  than  myself  and  many  others,  what  need  the  forlorn  church 
 of  Christ  has  of  hearts  and  hands  to  help  to  repair  her  ruins, 
 and  to  fence  that  part  of  the  fold  that  has  not  hitherto  been  so 
 openly  broken  down  by  the  incursion  of  such  ravening  wolves 
 as  have  so  lamentably  prevailed  against  the  other  parts,  and 
 will  not,  therefore,  in  all  likelihood,  leave  the  rest  unassailed; 
 and  how  much  she  stands  in  need  of  prayers  and  tears  (of  old 
 time  her  principal  armour)  unto  him  who  hath  the  hearts  and 
 hands  of  all  men  at  his  direction  and  disposal,  and  whose  help 
 (our  only  hope  as  matters  now  stand)  is  often  nearest  when  all 
 human  aid  is  unavailing.  But  these  lamentable  occurrences 
 carry  me  farther  than  I  had  intended. 
 
 "  I  shall  be  right  glad  to  hear  of  your  lordship's  health  and 
 welfare;  which  the  Lord  vouchsafe  to  continue,  gladder  to  see 
 the  remainder  of  your  former  learned  and  laborious  work 
 abroad.  The  Lord  bless  and  protect  you.  And  thus  ready  to 
 do  your  lordship  any  service  I  may  in  these  parts.     I  rest,"  &c. 
 
 Mr  Gataker,  who  had  not  yet  finished  his  writings  on  the 
 points  of  controversy,  observing  that  the  papists  laboured  to  prove 
 the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  agreeable  to  the  holy  scrip- 
 tures, he  resolved  to  shew  the  absurdity  of  the  attempt,  and  the 
 utter  impossibility  of  effecting  their  purpose;  and  having  driven 
 them  from  this  their  principal  strong  hold,  by  prosecuting  his 
 attack,  he  forced  them  to  quit  every  other  refuge.  This  work 
 was  entitled,  Transubstantiation  declared  by  the  popish  writers 
 to  have  no  necessary  foundation  in  the  word  of  God.  He  also 
 published  a  defence  of  this  work;  and  his  learned  labours,  in 
 the  whole  of  this  controversy,  proved  a  seasonable  and  essential 
 service  to  the  protestant  cause,  and  rendered  their  author  de- 
 servedly famous  in  the  estimation  of  the  most  worthy  charac- 
 
516  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ters  of  the  age,  who  admired  his  erudition  and  fortitude,  as  they 
 also  did  his  humility  and  readiness  to  serve  the  church  of  Christ. 
 
 In  1640  he  was  engaged  in  a  controversy  about  justification, 
 which  added  additional  lustre  to  his  name.  In  1643  he  was 
 chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  where  his  endeavours  to 
 promote  truth,  and  suppress  error,  were  strenuous  and  sincere; 
 yet  his  anxiety,  for  maintaining  peace  and  cordiality  among  the 
 different  parties,  was  such,  that  when  his  sentiments,  respecting 
 Christ's  obedience  in  order  to  our  justification,  was  negatived, 
 and  the  question  carried  contrary  to  his  opinion,  his  pacific  dis- 
 position induced  him  to  keep  silence,  and  prevented  him  from 
 publishing  his  discourses  on  that  subject  which  he  had  prepar- 
 ed for  the  press.  In  1 644  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  committee 
 for  the  examination  of  ministers.  He  was  frequently  urged  to 
 take  the  degree  of  doctor;  but  always  refused;  and  when  he  was 
 offered  the  mastership  of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  by  the 
 earl  of  Manchester,  he  declined  the  honourable  preferment. 
 Content  with  his  pastoral  charge,  he  was  more  ambitious  to  do 
 good  services  to  others,  than  exalt  himself.  Accordingly,  he 
 applied  himself,  during  those  turbulent  times,  to  his  favourite 
 studies;  which  could  give  offence  to  no  party,  and  might  entitle 
 him  to  the  gratitude  and  approbation  of  all  the  friends  of  good 
 literature.  With  this  object  in  view,  he  published,  in  the  year 
 1645,  his  laborious  discourse  on  the  name  by  which  God  made 
 himself  known  to  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel.  In  this 
 profound,  curious,  and  instructive  performance,  he  discovered 
 uncommon  proficiency  in  the  Hebrew  tongue;  and  the  work 
 was  so  well  received  in  the  learned  world,  that  it  has  passed 
 through  many  editions.  It  is  entitled,  De  Nomine  Tetragram- 
 mato  Dissertatio,  qua  vocis  Jehovah  apud  nostros  receptee  usus 
 defenditur,  et  a  quorundam  cavillationibus  iniquis  pariter  atque 
 inanibus  vindicator.  It  was  reprinted  in  1652.  It  is  also  in- 
 serted in  his  Opera  Critica,  and  makes  one  of  the  ten  dis- 
 courses on  the  same  subject,  collected  and  published  by  Hadri- 
 an Ryland.  The  first  five  of  these  were  written  by  John  Dru- 
 sius,  Sextinus  Amama,  Lewis  Capel,  John  Buxtorff,  and  James 
 Alting,  who  opposed  the  received  usage  which  is  strenuously 
 defended  in  the  other  five;  the  first  of  which  was  written  by 
 Nicholas  Fuller,  the  second  by  our  author,  and  the  other  three 
 by  John  Leusden. 
 
 Mr  Gataker  was  aware,  that  though  the  singularities  of  his 
 opinion  neither  arose  from  a  luxurious  imagination,  nor  an  af- 
 fectation to  oppose  commonly  received  opinions,  but  were,  in 
 reality,  the  convictions  arising  from  much  reading  and  reflec- 
 tion, yet  unless  they  were  clearly  and  fully  demonstrated,  they 
 might  lessen  his  reputation.     On  purpose  to  prevent  this,  and 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  517 
 
 show  how  much  a  thorough  knowledge  of  grammatical  learning 
 contributes  to  the  improvement  of  science,  he  commenced  an 
 undertaking,  which  some  may  consider  heneath  the  notice  of  so 
 great  a  man,  namely,  to  examine  the  elementary  principles  of 
 the  Greek  language,  that  he  might  be  enabled  the  better  to  vin- 
 dicate the  results  of  his  laborious  inquiries. 
 
 Notwithstanding  Mr  Gataker's  close  application  to  these 
 learned  and  critical  studies,  he  paid  the  strictest  attention  to  his 
 pastoral  duties,  and  the  business  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  by 
 whom  he  was  appointed  to  write  the  Annotations  upon  Isaiah, 
 Jeremiah,  and  Lamentations,  published  in  their  Annotations  on 
 the  Bible  *.  Mr  Gataker,  though  greatly  distinguished  for  his 
 moderation,  disapproved  of  many  things  in  the  national  church. 
 He  was  always  opposed  to  the  inordinate  power  of  the  bishops, 
 and  conceived  it  was  requisite  to  divest  them  of  their  pompous 
 titles  and  seats  in  parliament.  He  was  of  opinion,  that  a 
 bishop  and  presbyter  were  one  and  the  same  office;  but  confin- 
 ed his  ideas  of  reformation  to  a  moderate  episcopacy. 
 
 As  he  advanced  in  years,  his  incessant  labours,  both  of  body 
 and  mind,  brought  upon  him  infirmities,  which,  though  they 
 did  not  wholly  put  a  stop  to  his  studies,  considerably  retarded 
 their  progress.  But  the  strength  of  his  constitution,  a  temper- 
 ate mode  of  living,  and  medical  assistance,  having  restored  him 
 to  a  moderate  share  of  health,  he  resumed  his  pulpit  exercises; 
 but  was  soon  obliged  to  relinquish  them,  though  he  continued 
 to  administer  the  sacraments,  and  deliver  short  discourses  at 
 funerals.  The  chief  part  of  his  time  was  now  devoted  to  study 
 and  the  composition  of  several  learned  works.  About  this  time 
 he  employed  his  pen  in  refuting  the  antinomian  tenets  which 
 were  making  a  considerable  noise  in  the  country.  Soon  after 
 Mr  Gataker  published  his  discourse  on  the  style  of  the  New 
 Testament;  in  which  he  opposed  the  sentiments  of  Pfochenius, 
 who  maintained  that  there  were  no  Hebraisms  in  those  sacred 
 writings:  which  he  endeavoured  to  prove  by  authorities,  as  well 
 as  argument.  All  this  our  author  undertook  to  overthrow, 
 and,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  best  critics,  effectually  ac- 
 complished; and  so  clearly  and  concisely  explained  the  true 
 meaning  of  many  texts,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
 corrected  such  a  number  of  passages  in  ancient  authors,  and 
 discovered  such  a  consummate  skill  in  both  the  living  and  dead 
 languages,  as  justly  procured  him  the  reputation  of  one  of  the 
 ablest  philologists  of  the  age.  He  tells  us,  in  the  first  chapter 
 of  this  work,   "  That  meeting  with  the  treatise  of  Sebastian 
 
 *  This  useful  work  has  been  improperly  ascribed  to  the  assembly.  The  divines 
 concerned  in  the  performance  were  appointed  by  parliament,  by  whom  each  had 
 his  portion  allotted  him.  Several  of  them,  however,  were  members  of  that  aa- 
 semblv. 
 
518  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Pfochenius,  a  German  divine,  published  in  1629,  he  read  it 
 with  particular  attention,  and  found  it  very  weighty  in  matter, 
 and  abundantly  stored  with  good  literature;  but  finding  many 
 of  the  author's  sentiments  opposed  to  his  own,  and,  in  his  opi- 
 nion, at  variance  with  the  truth;  observing  also  that  many 
 learned  and  great  men  were  censured  without  cause,  and  some- 
 times represented  as  speaking  a  language  very  different  from 
 what  he  took  to  be  their  real  sentiments,  these  observations  in- 
 duced him  to  examine  a  multitude  of  questions  started  in  that 
 treatise."  In  this  examination,  he  shews  that  his  candour  was 
 in  every  respect  equal  to  his  critical  skill  and  penetration.  He 
 uses  no  hard  names  or  harsh  expressions,  but  contents  himself 
 with  pointing  out  mistakes,  and  the  grounds  on  which  they  are 
 founded.  In  pursuing  this  method,  he  opens  a  field  of  equally 
 curious  and  instructive  learning,  and  exhibits  such  penetration, 
 judgment,  and  research,  as  are  truly  astonishing.  He  begins 
 by  refuting  a  principle  that  Pfochenius  had  assumed,  namely, 
 that  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  German,  &c.  were  original  languages. 
 On  this  point,  his  opinion  is,  that  it  cannot  be  easily  ascertain- 
 ed which  are  original;  but  with  respect  to  the  Latin,  he  main- 
 tains that  it  is  not.  He  shews,  from  the  authority  of  both  an- 
 cient and  modern  authors,  that  it  was  a  compound  of  several 
 languages  spoken  by  the  Sabines,  Oscans,  and  other  old'inha- 
 bitants  of  Italy,  but  more  especially  by  the  Greeks;  and  to  de- 
 monstrate this  more  effectually,  he  takes  the  first  five  lines  of 
 Virgil,  one  of  the  purest  and  most  elegant  of  the  Latin  poets, 
 and  proves  that  there  is  scarcely  a  single  word  in  them  that  has 
 not  been  derived  from  the  Greek.  In  this  way  he  saps  the 
 foundation  of  Pfochenius'  system,  by  making  it  evident,  that 
 there  can  be  no  certain  knowledge  of  the  originality  of  any  lan- 
 guage in  the  sense  in  which  that  author  understands  it. 
 
 In  the  fifth  chapter  he  considers  Pfochenius'  three  principal 
 questions,  1st,  Whether  the  text  of  the  New  Testament  be  truly 
 Greek,  and  not  different  from  that  used  by  profane  authors  ? 
 2d,  Whether  if  Homer,  Pindar,  Plato,  Demosthenes,  &c.  were 
 to  rise  from  the  dead,  they  would  be  able  to  understand  the 
 New  Testament  ?  And,  lastly -,  by  what  name  the  language  of 
 that  book  is  or  ought  to  be  called,  whether  Graecanic,  Hellenis- 
 tic, or  Grecian?  Mr  Gataker  replies,  "That  with  regard  to 
 the  last  question,  being  merely  a  dispute  about  words,  he  will 
 have  nothing  to  do  with  it;  the  other  two  he  discusses  without 
 reserve,  showing,  that  notwithstanding  the  words,  and  even  the 
 phrases,  in  which  Cicero,  Sallust,  Livy,  Terence,  and  others 
 wrote,  are  here  and  there  to  be  found  in  scholastic  writings,  he 
 must  not  only  sec  very  indifferently  and  obscurely,  but  wilfully 
 shut  his  eyes,   who  does  not  perceive  the  amazing  deficiency 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  519 
 
 of  these  writings,  when  compared  with  the  purity  of  the  Latin 
 tongue,  as  exhibited  in  the  works  of  these  celebrated  individuals. 
 That  the  New  Testament,  originally  written  in  Greek,  is  sub- 
 ject to  the  same  observations  when  compared  with  the  writings 
 of  Homer,  Pindar,  Plato,  Demosthenes,  and  other  Greek  writ- 
 ers. For  notwithstanding  that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
 scriptures  use  many  words,  and  even  phrases,  used  by  the  above 
 writers,  and  equally  pure;  yet,  inasmuch  as  a  larger  proportion 
 of  the  words  and  phrases  used  in  the  New  Testament  are  adul- 
 terated, and  greatly  deficient  in  respect  of  purity,  it  follows,  of 
 course,  that  the  New  Testament  Greek  differs  widely  from  the 
 Greek  used  by  the  above  writers."  In  confirmation  of  all  this, 
 Mr  Gataker  goes  on  to  show,  that  many  Latin  words  are  used 
 by  the  sacred  writers,  though  written  in  Greek  characters,  or 
 disguised  by  Greek  terminations.  He  also  produces  abundance 
 of  Hebrew  and  Syriac  words  introduced  in  the  same  manner. 
 From  which  he  concludes,  that  though  Pfochenius  could 
 reallv  show  (which,  however,  he  has  not  done)  that  the  sacred 
 writers  make  use  of  a  multitude  of  phrases  to  be  met  with  in 
 profane  authors;  yet  this  would  not  amount  to  what  he  has  as- 
 serted, seeing  that  the  former  have  also  used  many  words  and 
 phrases  employed  by  authors  who  are  not  allowed  to  have  writ- 
 ten pure  Greek. 
 
 With  regard  to  Pfochenius'  second  question,  Whether  Homer, 
 &c.  were  he  to  rise  from  the  dead,  could  understand  the  New 
 Testament  Greek  ?  He  tells  him,  "  It  can  be  granted  or  deni- 
 ed only  in  part;  for  though  some  places  might  be  in  a  measure 
 understood  by  these  great  men,  were  it  possible  for  them  to  re- 
 turn from  their  graves,  yet  this  would  go  but  a  short  way  in 
 proving  what  he  had  asserted;  because,  though  they  might,  and 
 no  doubt  would,  understand  some  passages,  others  they  could 
 not  understand.  For  example,  says  he,  supposing  Cicero  were 
 to  rise  from  the  dead,  he  would  most  probably  understand  the 
 greater  part  of  the  writings  of  Apuleius;  but  would  any  compe- 
 tent judge  conclude  from  this,  that  the  Latin  of  Apuleius  can 
 be  compared  in  point  of  purity  with  that  of  Tully,  or  of  the  age 
 in  which  Tully  wrote?"  "But  (says  Pfochenius)  Paul  con- 
 versed with  the  Greeks  of  his  time:  and  if  understood  by  them, 
 why  not  by  the  ancients?"  "This  I  can  readily  grant  (says 
 Mr  Gataker),  and  at  the  same  time  deny  the  consequence  you 
 intend  to  draw  from  it.  For  owing  to  the  admission  of  many 
 exotic  words  and  phrases  borrowed  from  the  Italians;  Cecil ians, 
 Cyrenians,  and  Carthagenians,  in  consequence  of  their  being 
 under  one  government,  and  partly  also  by  their  commercial  in- 
 tercourse with  those  nations,  it  so  happened,  that  the  Greek 
 language  itself,  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  had  suffered  a  con- 
 
5°2Q  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 siderable  decline.  Upon  the  whole,  says  he,  were  Demosthenes 
 to  live  again,  he  would  find,  in  all  probability,  considerable  ob- 
 stacles in  reading  and  comprehending  the  sense  of  Paul's  writ- 
 ings, and  would,  no  doubt,  criticise  many  of  his  words  and 
 phrases."  Mr  Gataker  then  proceeds  to  show,  on  the  authori- 
 ty of  Beza,  the  reasons  why  the  apostles  were  less  careful 
 about  the  elegance  than  the  perspicuity  of  their  writings. 
 
 He  proceeds  through  the  rest  of  Pfochenius'  treatise  in  the 
 same  way,  explaining,  as  they  occur,  a  multitude  of  passages  in 
 sacred  and  profane  authors,  correcting  some  critics,  and  com- 
 mending others  who  had  gone  before  him;  but  with  so  much  ap- 
 parent candour,  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  reader  not  to  ad- 
 mire his  temper.  In  the  forty-fourth  chapter  Mr  Gataker  re- 
 capitulates the  whole  dispute,  and  shows  that  the  question  re- 
 solves itself  into  this — Whether  the  style  of  the  New  Testament 
 Greek  be  everywhere  the  same  as  that  which  was  used  by  the 
 ancient  writers  at  the  time  when  that  language  was  in  its  great- 
 est purity?  or  whether  it  is  not  such  as  admits  of  Hebraisms 
 and  Syriasms  ?  Pfochenius  affirms  the  former,  and  denies  the 
 latter;  while  Mr  Gataker  maintains  the  opposite  opinion,  and 
 concludes,  by  observing,  that  after  all  that  Pfochenius  has  ad- 
 vanced on  the  subject,  he  (Mr  Gataker)  has  not  a  doubt  but 
 five  or  six  hundred  phrases  can  be  produced  from  the  New  Tes- 
 tament, and  a  much  greater  number  from  the  Greek  version 
 of  the  Old,  in  which  there  are  obvious  marks  of  the  Hebrew 
 and  Syriac  tongues,  without  the  smallest  resemblance  to  the 
 ancient  Greek,  so  far  as  men  of  the  greatest  erudition  and  re- 
 search have  hitherto  been  able  to  discover. 
 
 The  venerable  primate  of  Ireland,  than  whom  there  could 
 scarcely  be  a  better  judge  of  these  matters,  has  manifested  his 
 respect  both  for  our  author  and  his  performance,  by  sending  it, 
 along  with  his  own  annals,  as  a  present  to  Dr.  Arnold  Boate, 
 then  residing  at  Paris. 
 
 Although  this  was  a  very  considerable  work,  and  procured 
 for  its  author  the  reputation  of  an  excellent  critic,  it  was  mere- 
 ly a  specimen  of  a  much  larger  production,  on  which  he  had  la- 
 boured for  many  years,  and  to  which,  at  one  time,  he  had  a 
 mind  to  have  it  attached  by  way  of  an  appendix.  But  being 
 first  ready  for  the  press,  and  doubtful  whether  he  might  live  to 
 finish  the  other,  he  thought  it  expedient  to  publish  it  by  itself, 
 the  more  especially,  as  it  would  enable  him,  in  some  measure,  to 
 judge  what  kind  of  reception  his  larger  work  was  likely  to  meet 
 with  from  the  republic  of  letters.  Finding  this  specimen  of  his 
 miscellanies  universally  applauded,  he  prepared  and  published  the 
 two  first  books  of  his  larger  work,  the  whole  being  divided  into 
 six.     The  remaining  four,  after  his  death,  were  published  by  his 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  <521 
 
 son  Charles.  This  work  differs  in  nothing  from  the  nature  of 
 the  former,  only  that  it  has  no  specific  object,  but  exhibits 
 the  author's  opinion  on  difficult  passages  both  of  the  Old  and 
 New  Testaments,  on  the  works  of  the  primitive  fathers  and  mo- 
 dern critics;  illustrating,  as  they  fall  in  his  way,  a  great  variety 
 of  obscure  and  perplexed  passages  both  in  Greek  and  Latin 
 authors.  He  likewise  makes  some  observations  on  words  and 
 phrases  in  our  own  language.  This  work  was  received  with 
 general  approbation,  and  the  author  highly  applauded,  particu- 
 larly by  Morhoff,  for  his  singular  happiness  in  distinguishing 
 the  true  sense  of  the  most  difficult  passages,  and  of  making  it 
 evident,  that  the  sense  he  defends  is  the  genuine  import  of  the 
 place;  and  all  this,  in  a  few  words,  without  the  least  appear- 
 ance of  ostentation  or  severity  towards  those  he  corrects,  but 
 rather  searching  after  excuses  for  the  mistakes  they  have  made. 
 
 The  natural  modesty,  as  well  as  the  christian  moderation, 
 that  distinguished  Mr  Gataker,  prevented  him  from  that  publi- 
 city of  character  which  his  talents,  his  labours,  and  the  multi- 
 tude of  his  friends,  must  have  otherwise  procured  him;  yet,  on 
 important  occasions,  he  was  not  to  be  deterred  from  what  he 
 considered  his  duty.  Accordingly,  on  finding  that  the  army 
 were  determined  to  bring  the  king  to  a  trial,  and  were  taking 
 their  measures  for  that  purpose,  he  was  the  first  man  to  oppose 
 them,  in  a  declaration  of  his  sentiments,  addressed  to  the  gene- 
 ral and  his  council,  and  subscribed  by  forty-seven  of  the  Lon- 
 don ministers.  In  this  address,  they  remind  the  council  of 
 their  duty  to  the  parliament,  and  the  obligation  they  were  un- 
 der, as  well  as  the  parliament,  to  defend  his  majesty's  person, 
 and  all  his  just  rights.  That  the  one  could  not  be  injured,  or 
 the  other  invaded,  without  the  manifest  breach  of  many  oaths. 
 They  taught  them  to  distinguish  between  God's  permission  and 
 his  approbation,  and  exposed  the  folly  of  pretending  to  secret 
 impulses  to  actions  at  variance  with  the  written  laws  of  God. 
 They  demonstrated,  that  the  plea  of  necessity  was  false,  having 
 no  foundation  in  fact;  and  concluded  their  address,  by  recom- 
 mending the  rule  of  John  the  Baptist — "  Do  violence  to  no 
 man,  neither  accuse  any  falsely." 
 
 Mr  Gataker  was  deeply  versed  in  the  controversy  about  in- 
 fant baptism;  on  which  he  published  a  small  treatise,  and  after- 
 wards added  several  other  discourses,  wherein  the  main  ques- 
 tion is  treated  with  much  serious  and  solid  argument.  Some 
 time  after  this  he  likewise  published  two  Latin  discourses  on 
 the  same  subject.  In  1652  he  favoured  the  world  with  his  ad- 
 mirable edition  of  the  Emperor  Marcus  Antonius'  Meditations; 
 to  which  he  prefixed  a  Preliminary  Discourse  on  the  Stoic 
 Philosophy.     This    was   allowed,   by   the  best   critics,   both   at 
 
 19  3  u 
 
381 
 
 ME  MO  I  It  OF 
 
 home  and  abroad,  to  be  a  most  complete  arid  correct  treatise,  as 
 well  as  an  excellent  and  useful  compendium  of  morality.  In 
 some  of  his  former  works  he  had  occasionally  given  specimens 
 of  his  acquaintance  with  the  works  of  this  imperial  philosopher, 
 whose  celebrity  has  always  been  high  in  the  learned  world.  By 
 the  publication  of  Mr  Gataker's  edition  of  this  famous  produc- 
 tion, men's  expectations  were  considerably  raised,  and  highly 
 gratified.  It  had  been  published  in  Greek  by  Conrad  Ges- 
 ner,  and  with  a  Latin  translation  by  William  Hylander; 
 which  had  passed  through  several  editions.  Mr  Gataker  found 
 both  the  text  and  the  translation  exceedingly  faulty,  and  spent 
 nearly  forty  years  in  considering  how  the  first  could  be  amend- 
 ed, and  a  translation  given  that  might  do  justice  to  this  exqui- 
 site performance.  He  sent  a  list  of  his  principal  difficulties  to 
 the  celebrated  Salmasius,  who,  in  his  answer,  greatly  com- 
 mended his  undertaking;  but  gave  him  a  dismal  prospect  of  the 
 obstacles  that  stood  in  his  way-^-innumerable  corruptions,  fre- 
 quent chasms,  still  more  frequent  transpositions,  and  many 
 other  misfortunes;  for  the  removal  of  which  he  promised  him 
 his  assistance.  His  frequent  journies,  however,  and  other 
 circumstances,  prevented  him  from  performing  his  promise. 
 Mr  Gataker,  nevertheless,  persevered  in  his  design,  and  by 
 the  few  helps  he  could  procure,  and  his  own  skill  and  pene- 
 tration, comparing  copies  and  extracts  with  incredible  labour, 
 at  last  completed  his  design,  and,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of 
 the  learned  world,  published  his  admirable  edition  of  this  valu- 
 able work  about  two  years  before  his  death. 
 
 Mr  Gataker,  in  the  evening  of  life,  when  he  earnestly  de- 
 sired that  repose  which  his  unceasing  labours  so  well  merit- 
 ed, and  the  state  of  his  health  so  greatly  required,  was  again 
 most  furiously  attacked  by  the  whole  host  of  astrologers. 
 In  commenting  on  Jeremiah  x.  2.  where  the  Jews  are  Warned 
 against  listening  to  the  predictions  of  astrologers,  and  com- 
 plying with  the  practice  of  idolaters,  the  two  great  sins  to  which 
 they  were  likely  to  be  tempted  in  their  captivity  at  Baby- 
 lon, Mr  Gataker  considered  it  his  duty  to  warn  the  chris- 
 tian world  against  listening  to  the  presumptuous  and  foolish 
 predictions  of  this  juggling  tribe.  His  exposition  is  full  of 
 good  sense  and  sound  learning,  and  effectually  destroys  the 
 credit  of  that  delusive  art,  by  which,  in  all  ages  and  coun- 
 tries, weak  and  wandering  minds  have  been  plundered  and  mis- 
 led. These  Annotations  roused  the  whole  fraternity,  from  the 
 highest  to  the  lowest,  who,  finding  their  craft  in  danger,  and 
 the  means  by  which  they  procured  their  wealth  rendered  doubt- 
 ful and  unproductive,  united  their  endeavours  to  write  him 
 down.     William  Lilly,  John  Swan,  and  Sir  Christopher  Hey- 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  5%0 
 
 den,  enraged  at  our  author,  wrote  against  both  himself  and  his 
 Annotations  without  either  mercy  or  good  manners;  but  found 
 they  had  overvalued  their  own  abilities  when  they  commenced 
 a  warfare  with  that  eminent  philosopher  and  divine.  In  vindi- 
 cation of  his  Annotations,  Mr  Gataker  was  induced  to  publish 
 a  discourse,  in  which  he  also  defended  his  own  character,  which 
 they  had  most  maliciously  attacked,  and  also  what  he  had  for- 
 merly advanced  against  these  illuminated  star-gazers.  In  this 
 treatise,  our  venerable  author,  in  repelling  the  scandalous  mis- 
 representations of  his  enemies,  runs  over  the  most  consider- 
 able transactions  of  his  life,  relates  at  large  the  manner  in 
 which  he  arrived  at  his  several  preferments,  and  completely  re- 
 futes the  idle  and  malicious  charges  and  insinuations  of  Lilly 
 and  his  associates.  Amongst  other  particulars,  he  mentions  his 
 sentiments  upon  church  government,  and  declares  that  he  never 
 was  an  advocate  for  the  power  and  splendour  of  prelacy,  but 
 that,  on  the  contrary,  he  had  always  been  inclined  to  a  mode- 
 rate episcopacy.  For  the  sake  of  being  serviceable  in  his  gene- 
 ration, he  had  submitted  to  the  bishops;  and  when  they  were 
 put  down,  by  what  he  supposed  a  superior  power,  he,  for  the 
 same  reason,  and  with  the  same  intention,  also  submitted;  yet 
 never  sought,  but  even  refused,  offered  preferment  from  both 
 parties.  This  treatise,  it  appears,  was  written  a  very  short  time 
 prior  to  his  death. 
 
 Notwithstanding  that  Mr  Gataker  had  convinced  all  judicious 
 and  impartial  inquirers,  that  the  science  of  astrology  was  false 
 and  delusive,  he  could  never  silence  his  conceited  and  obstinate 
 antagonist;  whose  bread  being  at  stake,  defended  the  system 
 with  unaccountable  pertinacity,  and  by  his  frequent  publica- 
 tions, persecuted,  and  endeavoured  to  vilify  our  author  to  the 
 end  of  his  life;  and  then,  in  defiance  of  the  dictates  of  religion 
 or  humanity,  insulted  him  even  in  his  grave.  As  for  Mr  Ga- 
 taker, he  pursued  the  same  pious  and  peaceable  course,  till  his 
 age,  his  infirmities,  and  incessant  labours,  had  worn  out  his  con- 
 stitution. 
 
 In  his  last  sickness  his  faith  and  patience  were  strikingly 
 manifest.  The  day  before  his  departure,  when  exercised  with 
 extreme  pain,  he  cried  out,  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long? 
 Come,  oh  !  come  speedily."  A  little  before  he  breathed  his  last, 
 he  called  his  son,  his  sister,  and  bis  daughter,  to  each  of  whom 
 he  delivered  the  charge  of  a  dying  christian.  "My  heart  (said 
 he)  fails  me,  and  my  strength  is  gone;  but  God  is  the  strength 
 of  my  heart,  the  rock  and  fortress  of  my  salvation,  and  my  sure 
 portion.  Into  thy  hands  I  therefore  commit  my  soul,  for  thou 
 hast  redeemed  me,  O  thou  God  of  truth.  My  son,  said  he,  you 
 have  a  great  charge,  be  sure  to  look  after  it, "and  discharge  the 
 
5^4  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 duties  thereof  with  a  conscientious  regard  to  that  important  day, 
 when  you  must  render  an  account  of  your  stewardship.  In- 
 struct your  wife  and  children  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  watch 
 for  the  welfare  of  the  flock  over  which  you  have  been  appointed 
 pastor.  Sister,  said  he,  I  thought  you  might  have  gone  before 
 me;  but  God  wills  it  otherwise,  and  I  am  called  to  make  my 
 appearance  first.  I  hope  we  shall  meet  together  in  heaven ;  and 
 I  pray  God  to  bless  you,  and  be  your  comfort  in  your  declining 
 years.  Daughter,  he  said,  mind  the  world,  and  the  things  of 
 the  world,  less,  and  God,  and  the  things  that  concern  your  eter- 
 nal peace,  more,  than  you  have  hitherto  done;  and  never  let  it 
 drop  out  of  your  memory,  that  the  earth,  and  all  it  contains, 
 without  the  fear  of  God,  and  the  hopes  of  eternal  life,  are  of  no 
 value,  less  than  nothing,  and  vanity."  Having  thus  delivered 
 his  dying  charge,  he  desired  them  to  withdraw,  and  leave  him 
 to  rest;  but  the  hour  of  his  departure  was  at  hand.  He  died 
 July  27th,  1654,  and  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age,  hav- 
 ing been  forty-three  years  pastor  of  Rotherhithe.  His  funeral 
 sermon  was  preached  by  Mr  Simon  Ashe,  his  much-esteemed 
 friend,  and  afterwards  published,  with  the  title,  Gray  Hairs 
 Crowned  with  Grace;  a  sermon  preached  at  the  funeral  of  that 
 reverend  and  eminently  learned  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ, 
 Mr  Thomas  Gataker. 
 
 This  venerable  divine  was  married  four  times.  His  third 
 wife  was  the  sister  of  Sir  George  Farwell.  He  would  never 
 condescend  to  have  his  picture  taken.  He  is  described,  how- 
 ever, as  a  man  of  middle  stature,  with  a  thin  and  slender 
 body,  a  lively  countenance,  and  a  fresh  complexion.  He  was 
 a  temperate  liver,  free  and  cheerful  in  conversation,  strongly 
 addicted  to  study,  but  by  no  means  averse  to  mingle  in  useful 
 company.  He  possessed  a  quick  apprehension,  a  solid  judg- 
 ment, and  a  memory  so  uncommonly  retentive,  that  though  he 
 used  no  common  place-book,  he  could  readily  make  use  of  any 
 thing  he  had  read.  His  house  was  a  private  seminary,  where 
 both  Englishmen  and  foreigners  resorted,  and  lodged  for  the 
 benefit  of  his  instructions.  His  extensive  learning  and  talents 
 were  admired  by  the  great  men  of  his  time,  both  at  home  and 
 abroad,  with  many  of  whom  he  held  a  regular  correspondence. 
 It  is  said  concerning  him,  "  That  of  all  the  critics  of  the  age, 
 who  have  employed  their  pens  in  illustrating  polite  learning, 
 there  are  few,  if  indeed  any,  who  deserved  to  be  preferred  to 
 Thomas  Gataker,  for  diligence  and  accuracy  in  explaining  those 
 authors  whose  writings  he  has  examined."  He  is,  moreover, 
 styled,  "A  writer  of  infinite  learning,  and  accurate  judgment, 
 and  Ins  name,  as  a  scholar,  is  paralleled  with  Usher  and  Sel- 
 den.     He  was  an  ornament  to  the  university,  a  light  to  the 
 
THOMAS  GATAKER.  525 
 
 church,  a  loving  husband,  a  discreet  parent,  a  faithful  friend, 
 and  a  modest  and  kind  benefactor,  a  candid  encourager  ol 
 learning,  and  an  intrepid  champion  for  the  truth."  According 
 to  Echard,  "  He  was  an  able  master  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew 
 languages,  and  the  most  celebrated  among  the  assembly  of  di- 
 vines. It  is  hard,  says  he,  to  tell  which  was  the  most  remark- 
 able in  this  great  man — his  exemplary  piety  and  charity,  his 
 polite  literature,  or  bis  humility  and  modesty  in  refusing  pre- 
 ferment." 
 
 His  works,  in  addition  to  those  which  have  their  titles  given 
 in  the  course  of  this  memoir,  are,  1.  A  Just  Defence  of  certain 
 Passages  in  a  former  Treatise  concerning  the  Nature  and  Use 
 of  Lots. — 2.  Thomae  Gatakeri  Londinatis  Antithesis  partim 
 Gulielmi  Amesii  partim  Gisberti  Vcetii  de  Sorte  Thesibus  Re- 
 posita. — 3.  Tran substantiation  declared,  by  the  Popish  writers, 
 to  have  no  necessary  foundation  in  God's  word. — 4.  De  Diph- 
 thongis  sive  Bivocalibus  Dissertatio  Philclogica,  in  qua  Litera- 
 rum  quarundam  Sonus  German  us,  Natura  genuina,  Figura  no- 
 va, et  Scriptura  vetus  veraque  investigatur. — 5.  A  mistake,  or 
 misconstruction,  removed  with  respect  to  the  Antinomians. — 6. 
 Shadows  without  Substance. — 7.  Mysterious  Clouds  and  Mists. 
 — 8.  Thomae  Gatakeri  Londinatis  de  Novi  Testamenti  Stylo 
 Dissertatio,  &c. — 9.  Thomae  Gatakeri  Londinatis  Cinnus;  sive 
 adversaria  miscellanea  animadversionum  verarum  libris  sex 
 comprehensa:  quorum  primores  duo  nunc  primitiis  prodeunt 
 reliquis  deinceps  (Deo  favente)  seorsum  insecutaris. — 10.  Ad- 
 versaria Miscellanea  posthuma  in  quibus  Saerae  Scripturae  pri- 
 ma deinde  aliorum  Scriptorum  locis  multis  Lux  affunditur. — 
 11.  De  Baptismatis  Infantilis  vi  et  efficacia  Disputatio  privatim 
 habita  inter  V.  C.  Dom.  Samuelem  Wardum  thcologiae  sacra1 
 doctorem,  et  in  Academia  Cantabrigiensi  Professorem,  et  Tho- 
 mam  Gatakerum. — 12.  Stricturae  ad  Epistolam  Joannis  Daven- 
 autii  de  Baptismo  Infantum. — 13.  Marci  Antonini  Imperatoris 
 de  rebus  suis,  sive  de  iis  quae  ad  se  pertinere  censebat,  Libri  XII. 
 cum  Versione  Latina,  et  Commentariis  Gatakeri. — 14.  A  Vin- 
 dication of  the  Annotations  on  Jeremiah,  chap  x.  ver.  2.  against 
 the  scurrilous  Aspersions  of  that  grand  Impostor,  William 
 Lilly;  also  against  the  various  expositions  of  two  of  his  advo- 
 cates, Mr  John  Swan,  and  another  by  him  cited,  but  not  nam- 
 ed.— 15.  David's  Instructor. — 16.  The  Christian  Man's  Care.— 
 17.  The  Spiritual  Watch.— 18.  The  Gain  of  Godliness.— 19. 
 The  Just  Man's  Joy,  with  signs  of  sincerity. — 20.  Jacob's 
 Thankfulness. — 21.  David's  Remembrances. — 22.  Noah's  Obe- 
 dience.— 23.  A  Memorial  of  England's  Deliverance  from  the 
 Spanish  Armada. — 21.  Sorrow  for  Zion. — 25.  God's  Parley 
 with  Princes,  and  an  appeal  from  them  to  him. — 26.   Elca 
 
526  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Prayer,  a  Marriage  Sermon. — 27.  A  good  Wife  God's  Gift.— ^ 
 28.  A  Wife  indeed. — 29.  Marriage  Duties. — 30.  Death's  Advan- 
 tage.— 31.  The  benefit  of  a  good  name  and  a  good  end. 32. 
 
 Abraham's  Decease,  a  Funeral  Sermon. — 33.  Jeroboam's  Son's 
 Decease. — 34.  Christian  Constancy  Crowned  by  Christ.  The 
 above  6crmons,  of  which  bishop  Wilkins  gives  a  high  character, 
 were  first  published  separately;  but  collected  and  published,  in 
 one  volume  folio,  in  1637. — 35.  Francisci  Gomari  Disputationis 
 Elencticne  de  Justificationibus,  &c. — 36.  Mr  Anthony  Wotton's 
 Defence. — 37.  A  true  relation  of  Passages  between  Mr  Wotton 
 and  Mr  Walker. — 38.  An  Answer  to  Mr  Walker's  Vindication. 
 — 39.  Stricturae  in  Barth.  Wigclini  Sangallensis  de  Obedientia 
 Christi  Disputationem  Theologicam. — 40.  Animadversiones  in 
 J.  Piscatoris  et  L.  Lucii  Scripta  Adversaria  de  causa  meritoria 
 Justificationis. — 41.  Ejusdam  Vindicatio  adversus  Capellum.- — 
 42.  The  Decease  of  Lazarus. — 43.  St.  Stephen's  Last  Will  and 
 Testament. — 44.  God's  Eye  on  his  Israel. — 45.  A  Defence,  of 
 Mr  Bradshaw  against  Mr  J.  Canne. — The  celebrated  Herma- 
 nus  Witsius  collected  and  published,  in  one  volume,  the  whole 
 of  Mr  Gataker's  critical  works  in  the  year  1698,  since  entitled, 
 Opera  Critica;  which  will  serve  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
 his  learning,  talents,  and  industry,  when  monuments  of  brass 
 and  marble  shall  have  resigned  their  charge,  and  are  themselves 
 forgot. 
 
 THOMAS  GOODWIN,  D.  D. 
 
 Mr  Thomas  Goodwin  was  born  at  Rolesby,  a  small  vil-? 
 lage  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  on  the  5th  October  1600.  His 
 parents  watched  over  his  early  years  with  anxious  solicitude, 
 and  bestowed  on  him  a  truly  religious  education.  Observing  a 
 pious  disposition,  and  marks  of  uncommon  genius  in  their 
 young  scholar,  they  resolved  to  train  him  up  for  the  ministry; 
 and  having  got  the  ordinary  routine  of  grammatical  learning, 
 he  was  sent  to  Christ  church  college,  in  the  university  of  Cam- 
 bridge, on  the  25th  August  1613.  In  this  college,  which  was 
 then  in  a  very  flourishing  condition,  having  about  two  hundred 
 scholars,  young  Goodwin  remained  about  six  years,  where,  by 
 a  close  application  to  his  studies,  he  soon  became  a  very  pro^ 
 mising  scholar,  secured  the  good  opinion  of  his  tutors,  and  ob- 
 tained an  excellent  reputation  in  the  university.  In  1619  he 
 removed  to  Katherine-hall,  in  the  same  university,  of  which  he 
 afterwards  became  fellow;  and  was,  moreover,  chosen  lecturer 
 for  the  year  1620. 
 
 For  some  time  he  was  a  great  admirer  of  Dr.  Senhouse, 
 whose  sermons  were  ornamented  with  flowers  of  oratorv,  col* 
 
THOMAS  GOODWIN.  5TJ 
 
 lected  from  the  fathers,  the  poets,  and  historians,  a  mode  of 
 preaching  at  that  time  greatly  applauded  in  the  university.  Mr 
 Goodwin  was,  at  this  time,  but  little  acquainted  with  his  own 
 heart,  the  corruption  of  his  nature,  and  the  necessity  of  regene- 
 rating grace.  His  ardent  pursuit  was  after  the  wisdom  of  the 
 world,  and  that  fame  and  emolument  which  sometimes  rewards 
 the  industry  of  learned  men.  But  God  was  pleased  to  change 
 his  heart,  and  direct  the  course  of  his  life  and  labours  to  the 
 service  of  Christ  and  his  church.  Mr  Goodwin  kept  a  diary, 
 which,  we  are  told  by  his  son,  consisted  of  more  than  an  hun- 
 dred sheets,  written  by  his  own  hand,  wherein  he  most  minutely 
 notices  the  various  feelings,  hopes,  and  apprehensions  with  which 
 his  heart  was  exercised  prior  to  his  conversion  to  God,  the  man- 
 ner in  which  the  great  change  was  effected  in  his  soul,  and  the 
 joy  and  peace  he  had  in  believing,  after  Christ  had  manifested 
 himself  to  his  soul  as  the  all  and  only  sufficient  Saviour.  Mr 
 Goodwin  was  a  great  admirer  of  Dr.  Preston  and  of  Dr.  Hill, 
 both  thorough  Calvinists.  He  set  them  before  him  as  models 
 in  his  preparations  for  the  ministerial  work,  and  adopted  their 
 sentiments  and  views  of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  grace, 
 and  the  necessity  of  good  works.  Mr  Goodwin,  after  exami- 
 nation, was  admitted  a  preacher  of  the  everlasting  gospel,  and 
 soon  became  greatly  celebrated  at  Cambridge.  He  was  now 
 become  acquainted  with  personal  religion,  which  has  been  ever 
 considered  a  necessary  pre-requisite  in  those  who  presume  to 
 preach  the  gospel  to  others;  for  though  God  has  not  propor- 
 tioned the  efficacy  of  his  gospel  to  the  characters  of  its  dispen- 
 sers; yet  the  word  of  God  authorises  us  to  say,  that  ungodly  and 
 wicked  ministers  run  unsent.  When  souls  are  entrusted  to  Sa- 
 tan's slaves,  we  cannot  but  fear  they  will,  in  one  way  or  other, 
 be  directed  in  an  unprofitable  path.  Ministers  of  the  word  are 
 sometimes  denominated  men  of  God;  an  expression  which,  at 
 least,  ought  to  imply,  that  they  are  men  devoted  to  his  service, 
 conformed  to  his  image,  animated  by  his  spirit,  and  zealous  for 
 his  honour.  But  a  man  of  God,  living  without  God  in  the 
 world;  a  master  of  Israel  ignorant  of  the  new  birth;  a  spiritual 
 guide  walking  in  the  paths  of  destruction;  a  soldier  of  Christ 
 in  league  with  the  arch-enemy  of  God  and  man — must  be  a 
 monstrous  absurdity.  With  respect  to  Mr  Goodwin,  his  ardent 
 love  to  Christ,  the  head,  induced  him  to  watch  over,  and  care- 
 fully instruct  even  the  meanest  of  the  flock  entrusted  to  his 
 charge.  He  now  began  to  lose  all  relish  for  the  showy  flourishes 
 which  Dr.  Senhouse  had  introduced  into  the  Universitv,  and 
 which  had  procured  him  such  unbounded  applause,  and  came 
 to  the  fixed  resolution,  as  he  expresses  himself  in  his  diary,  of 
 preaching  wholly  and  altogether  sound  words,   without  the 
 
528  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 fectation  of  wit,  and  the  vanity  of  eloquence;  all  which  he  left 
 off,  and  continued  in  the  same  purpose  and  practice  for  three- 
 score yearsj  without  somuch  as  having  ever  been  tempted  to 
 put  in  any  of  his  own  withered  flowers,  which  he  had  carefully 
 gathered,  and,  at  one  time,  valued  more  than  diamonds.  His 
 inquiry  now  was,  not  how  he  might  raise  his  own  reputation, 
 but  how  he  might  be  most  instrumental  in  converting  sinners 
 from  the  error  of  their  ways,  instructing  the  ignorant,  encou- 
 raging the  serious,  and  comforting  those  who  were  cast  down. 
 
 Mr  Goodwin  was  chosen  lecturer  of  Trinity  church,  Cam- 
 bridge, in  1628,  though  not  without  considerable  opposition 
 from  Dr.  Buckridge,  bishop  of  Ely.  The  bishop  refused  to  ad- 
 mit him,  unless  he  would  solemnly  promise,  pursuant  to  the 
 king's  proclamation,  not  to  preach  upon  any  controverted  points 
 of  divinity.  To  this  objection  Mr  Goodwin  very  ingeniously 
 replied,  "  That  all  the  most  essential  points  of  the  christian 
 faith  being  controverted,  either  by  one  person  or  another,  such 
 a  promise  would  scarcely  leave  him  a  subject  to  preach  upon  : 
 That  it  was  not  his  majesty's  intention  to  prohibit  him,  or  any 
 other  person,  from  preaching  against  the  gross  errors  of  popery." 
 After  some  farther  opposition,  he  was  admitted.  In  1632  he 
 was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of  the  same  church  by  the  king. 
 In  this  situation  he  was  much  admired,  and  followed  by  the  pu- 
 ritans, who  were  rapidly  increasing  in  the  university,  as  well  as 
 throughout  the  kingdom. 
 
 Upon  Mr  Goodman's  commencing  preacher,  his  sermons 
 were,  for  the  most  part,  if  not  wholly,  calculated  to  produce 
 conviction  and  terror,  to  alarm  the  conscience,  and  wound  the 
 heart;  but  he  seems  to  have  improved  a  hint  from  Dr.  Sibbs, 
 given  in  a  familiar  manner — "Young  man  (said  the  doctor),  if 
 ever  you  would  do  good,  you  must  preach  the  gospel,  and  the 
 free  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  the  consolations  that 
 flow  from  these  important  doctrines."  Our  author  readily  com- 
 plied with  his  friend's  advice,  and,  on  publishing  his  sermons  on 
 the  glory  of  the  gospel,  he  entitled  them,  his  Evangelical  Jirst- 
 fruits.  The  only  copy  of  these  sermons  was  remarkably  pre- 
 served and  recovered.  The  portmanteau  in  which  it  was 
 deposited  was  cut  off  from  his  horse's  saddle  by  a  thief,  in 
 the  dark  of  the  evening,  opposite  to  St.  Andrew's  church, 
 Holborn.  The  sexton,  next  morning,  being  Sabbath,  on  com- 
 ing to  ring  the  bell,  found  a  parcel  of  papers  at  the  root  of  a 
 large  tree;  and  opening  them,  found  some  papers  belonging  to 
 a  bookseller  in  Cambridge,  who  had  accompanied  Mr  Goodwin, 
 by  which  alone  he  could  know  to  whom  the  parcel  belonged. 
 In  this  way  our  author  recovered  his  manuscripts,  lo  his  no 
 small  satisfaction. 
 
THOMAS  GOODWIN.  529 
 
 Mr  Goodwin  became  mucli  dissatisfied  with  the  terms  of 
 conformity,  whereupon  he  relinquished  all  his  preferments,  and 
 left  the  university.  In  this  step  he  acted  upon  the  light  he  had 
 derived  from  the  word  of  God,  and  though  thereby  subjected 
 to  much  trouble  and  worldly  inconvenience,  he  enjoyed  the  sa- 
 tisfaction arising  from  a  clear  conscience.  He  left  all  for  the 
 sake  of  Christ  and  his  gospel,  and  was  content  to  live  in  mean- 
 ness and  obscurity,  if  so  he  might  serve  his  Lord  in  godly  sin- 
 cerity. "I  cheerfully  parted  with  all  for  Christ  (says  he),  and 
 he  has  made  me  abundant  compensation,  not  merely  in  the  con- 
 solations of  his  Spirit,  which  are  incomparably  better  than  all 
 things  beside,  but  also  in  the  enjoyment  of  what  is  desirable  in 
 this  world.  What  love  and  esteem  I  have  had  among  men  are 
 from  him.  It  is  he  alone  who  has  made  my  ministry  accept- 
 able, and  his  blessing  alone  has  made  it  successful  to  the  con- 
 version and  spiritual  consolation  of  many  souls." 
 
 In  1638  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  alderman  Prescot, 
 London;  a  woman  of  a  very  sweet  temper,  a  lively  wit,  and  sin- 
 cere piety,  which  rendered  her  highly  agreeable  to  her  hus- 
 band and  to  all  her  acquaintances.  When  the  terms  of  confor- 
 mity became  still  more  rigidly  urged,  and  the  puritans  more  se- 
 verely persecuted  by  the  prelatic  consistories,  Mr  Goodwin  retir- 
 ed into  Holland,  in  search  of  that  religious  freedom  denied  him  in 
 his  native  land.  In  that  asylum  for  persecuted  christians,  he 
 became  pastor  of  an  independent  congregation  at  Arnheim. 
 During  his  residence  with  that  congregation,  some  misunder- 
 standing having  taken  place  in  the  English  church  at  Rotter- 
 dam, Mr  Goodwin,  and  the  elders  of  the  church  of  Arnheim, 
 went  thither;  and  God  was  pleased  to  bless  their  counsel  and 
 advice  to  the  restoring  of  peace  to  that  distracted  church. 
 
 About  the  beginning  of  the  long  parliament  he  returned  to 
 London,  where  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  a  church  in  the  city, 
 and  elected  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  which  he  re- 
 gularly attended,  and  took  a  brief  account  of  the  transactions  of 
 that  venerable  body,  in  fourteen  or  fifteen  volumes  octavo,  which, 
 his  son  informs  us,  he  had  in  his  possession  written  in  his  fa- 
 ther's own  hand.  Being  of  independent  principles,  Mr  Good- 
 win was,  of  course,  one  of  the  dissenting  brethren.  Wood 
 says,  "  He  was  one  of  the  Atlases  and  patriarchs  of  indepen- 
 dency in  that  assembly."  In  1647  he  had  invitations  from  the 
 reverend  and  learned  John  Cotton,  and  other  worthy  ministers 
 in  New  England,  to  join  them.  He  was  much  inclined  to  em- 
 brace their  kind  invitation,  and  had  even  some  part  of  his 
 library  put  on  board  for  that  purpose;  but  the  advice  of  a  friend, 
 to  which  he  paid  great  respect,  induced  him  to  alter  his  ve 
 solution. 
 
 19  3  N 
 
530  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 In  16*9,  lie  took,  lor  his  second  wife,  Mrs  Mary  Hammond, 
 who  bore  him  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  was  a  great  fa- 
 vourite with  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  considered  him  an  eminent 
 instrument  in  propagating  the  gospel,  and  a  great  luminary  in  the 
 church.  Through  Cromwell's  influence  he  was  appointed  pre- 
 sident in  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  in  the  year  1649.  Here  he 
 formed  a  church  on  the  independent  plan,  and  was  very  diligent 
 in  promoting  the  interest  of  religion  and  literature.  He  was 
 also  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  approbation  of 
 preachers.  Having  been  bachelor  of  divinity  of  several  years 
 standing,  he  took  his  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  in  1653.  He 
 was  one  of  those  ministers  who  attended  Cromwell  on  his 
 death-bed.  In  1660  he  was  ejected  by  the  new  act  of  unifor- 
 mity, and  retired  to  London,  where  he  continued  the  exercise 
 of  his  ministry  till  his  death.  He  now  spent  much  of  his  time 
 in  religious  retirement,  reading,  and  meditation.  He  read 
 much,  and  studied  more,  but  chiefly  the  scriptures;  and  having 
 furnished  his  library  with  an  excellent  collection  of  commenta- 
 tors, he  made  good  use  of  them.  The  love  and  unmerited  grace 
 of  God,  the  all-sufficiency  of  Christ  as  a  Saviour  and  Redeemer, 
 were  the  truths  on  which  he  most  delighted  to  ponder.  These 
 were  the  food  of  his  soul,  and  he  wrote  and  preached  them  with 
 a  spiritual  warmth  which  can  be  better  felt  than  expressed. 
 
 Mr  Goodwin  was  seized  with  a  malignant  fever,  which  in  a 
 few  days  terminated  in  his  death.  As  his  life  had  been  highly 
 exemplary,  so  his  end  was  peculiarly  edifying.  Even  under  the 
 violence  of  his  fever,  he  discoursed,  with  such  confidont  assur- 
 ance of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  his  interest  in  that  salvation  he 
 had  purchased,  with  such  holy  admiration  at  the  free  and  un- 
 merited grace  manifested  in  the  glorious  plan  of  redemption, 
 and  with  such  heavenly  expressions  of  gratitude  and  praise,  as 
 deeply  affected  all  present.  He  rejoiced  to  think  he  was  dying, 
 that  he  was  about  to  leave  a  shattered  tabernacle  of  clay,  for  an 
 house  not  made  with  hands.  "  There  (said  he)  I  shall  hold  un- 
 interrupted fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus 
 Christ.  I  shall  be  changed  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of 
 an  eye.  My  corruptions,  under  which  I  have  long  groaned, 
 and  against  which  I  have  so  long  contended,  these  croaking 
 toads,  that  continually  harassed  me  while  here,  shall  mar  my 
 felicity  no  more  for  ever."  Running  over  the  illustrious  names 
 mentioned  in  Heb.  xi.,  he  said,  "  All  these  died  in  the  faith. 
 As  for  me,  I  could  never  have  imagined  that  I  should  possess 
 such  a  measure  of  faith  at  this  trying  hour.  No,  I  could  never 
 have  imagined  it.  My  bow  abides  in  full  strength.  Is  Christ 
 divided  ?  No — I  have  the  whole  of  his  righteousness.  I  am 
 found  in  him,   not  in  mine  own  righteousness  which   is  of  the 
 
THOMAS  GOODWIN.  .531 
 
 law,  but  in  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ 
 Jesos,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  also  for  me.  Christ 
 cannot  love  me  more  than  he  does ;  and  I  think  I  cannot  love  Christ 
 better  than  I  do.  I  am  swallowed  up  in  the  vast  ocean  of  his 
 redeeming  love."  Addressing  himself  to  his  two  sons,  he  ex- 
 horted them  to  watch  over  their  own  hearts,  and  beware  of 
 provoking  God's  holy  Spirit  to  depart  from,  and  reject  them — 
 To  value  the  privileges  the  gospel  offered,  and  to  remember, 
 that  noiv  is  the  accepted  time,  and  the  day  of  grace.  That 
 Christ  is  still  seated  on  his  throne  of  mercy,  and  that  the  door 
 of  hope  still  stands  open.  Another  day  he  will  be  seated  on  a 
 throne  of  justice,  administering  impartial  judgment.  "  Mv  days 
 are  numbered  (said  he) ;  my  work  on  earth  is  accomplished — I 
 have  finished  my  course;  I  have  kept  the  faith;  I  have  conquer- 
 ed through  the  strength  of  the  Captain  of  my  salvation;  I  am 
 about  to  enter  on  my  triumph,  and  shall  shortly  receive  my 
 crown,  so  shall  I  be  ever  with  the  Lord." 
 
 He  died  February  23d,  1680,  and  was  interred  in  a  little 
 vault  towards  the  east  end  of  the  new  burial  place  for  dissen- 
 ters, joining  on  the  north  side  of  the  New  Artillery  yard,  bv 
 Bunhill-fields.  In  doctrine  Mr  Goodwin  was  a  supralapsarian 
 Calvinist.  He  was  ever  zealous  in  supporting  what  he  consid- 
 ered to  be  the  genuine  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  neglected 
 not  to  remind  his  hearers,  or  his  reader,  of  the  powerful  ex- 
 citement these  sublime  doctrines  presented  to  induce  christians 
 to  purity  both  of  heart  and  life.  Dr.  Calamy  says,  "  He  was  a 
 very  considerable  scholar,  and  an  eminent  divine.  That  he  had 
 a  very  happy  faculty  in  descanting  on  scripture,  so  as  to  pro- 
 duce surprising  remarks."  He  was  also  a  writer  of  consider- 
 able eminence.  Dr.  Wilkins  places  him  amongst  some  of  the 
 most  eminent  English  divines  for  sermons  and  practical  divini- 
 ty; and  Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  in  his  Student  and  Preacher,  says, 
 "  You  have  a  Goodwin,  who  will  place  you  among  the  children 
 of  light,  and  give  you  the  marrow  of  the  doctrine  according  to 
 godliness.  His  style  is  plain  and  familiar,  but  diffuse  and  tedi- 
 ous, though  by  no  means  disagreeable  to  a  sober  mind.  He  han- 
 dles his  subject  with  much  gravity,  and  at  great  length.  Fiery 
 declamations,  or  appeals  to  the  passions,  discover  more  enthusi- 
 asm than  judgment;  but  Dr.  Goodwin's  discourses  are  well  di- 
 gested, temperate,  and  attended  with  conclusive  reasoning,  hav- 
 ing a  tendency  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  sensible  reader  with 
 the  importance  of  the  subject;  which  reflection  confirms,  and 
 the  memory  retains."  It  is  said  that  his  writings  continue  to 
 be  much  esteemed  by  the  Calvinistic  independent^. 
 
 They  are,  1.  A  Child  of  Light  walking  in  Darkness. — 2.  Se- 
 lect Cases  Resolved. — 3.  Retnrn  of  Praver. —  1.  The  Vanitv  of 
 
5SCZ  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Vain  Thoughts  Discovered. — 5.  Christ  set  forth  in  his  Death, 
 Resurrection,  Ascension,  and  Intercession,  as  the  cause  of  Jus- 
 tification, and  the  object  of  Justifying  Faith. — 6.  The  Trial  of 
 a  Christian's  growth  in  Mortification  and  Vivification. — 7.  The 
 Aggravation  of  Sin,  and  Sinning  against  Knowledge. — 8.  Christ 
 the  Universal  Peace- maker. — 9.  Zerubbabers  encouragement  to 
 finish  the  Temple. — 10.  The  great  Interest  of  Nations. — 11.  The 
 World  to  Come. — 12.  Patience,  and  its  perfect  Work,  in  the  time 
 of  sudden  and  sore  Trials. — 13.  ThePunishment  of  Sin  in  an  after 
 State;  a  posthumous  work,  published  by  Mr  Thankfull  Owen 
 and  Mr  Barron,  followed  some  time  after  by  five  volumes  folio. 
 According  to  Wood,  some  part  of  his  works  were  translated 
 into  Latin,  and  printed  at  Heidelberg  in  1658. 
 
 WILLIAM  GOUGE,  D.  D. 
 
 This  pious  and  laborious  preacher  was  born  at  Stratford- 
 bow,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  on  the  1st  November  1575. 
 His  father,  Mr  Thomas  Gouge,  was  a  devout  gentleman,  and 
 his  mother,  a  very  pious  woman,  the  daughter  of  Mr  Nicholas 
 Culverwell,  a  merchant  in  London.    He  received  his  grammati- 
 cal education  partly  at  St.  Paul's  school,  London,  Felsted  in 
 Essex,  and  partly  also  at  Eton.     He  was  three  years  at  Felsted, 
 where  he  was  trained  up  under  the  care  of  his  uncle,  the  Rev. 
 Ezekiel  Culverwell,  whose  ministry  proved  highly  beneficial  to 
 the  young  man ;  who  often  observed  afterwards,  that  if  he  was 
 not  thereby  begotten  again  to  a  lively  hope,  he  was  much  con- 
 firmed and  built  up  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel.    At  Eton  he.  con- 
 tinued six  years,  where  the  blossoms  of  early  piety  were  much 
 unfolded.     He  lived  in  the  fear  of  God,  was  attentive  to  secret 
 prayer,  and  remarkable  for  his  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day, 
 at  a  period  perhaps  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  our  national 
 history  for  Sabbath  profanation.     Having  acquired  the  neces- 
 sary proficiency  in  grammatical  learning,  he  was  elected  to 
 King's  college,  Cambridge,  in  1595,   where  he  prosecuted  his 
 academical  studies  with  uncommon  assiduity  and  success.     He 
 began  early  in  the  morning,  and  continued  them  till  a  late  hour 
 at  night;  and  during  his  first  three  years  did  not  sleep  one  night 
 without  the  college-gate;  at  the  expiration  of  which  he  was  cho- 
 sen fellow.     He  was  an  acute  disputant,  and  took  his  degrees, 
 at  the  regular  period,  with  much  applause.    Mr  Gouge  remain- 
 ed in  the  college  nine  years;  and  unless  when  visiting  his  friends 
 in  the  country,  he  was  never  absent  one  day  from  morning 
 prayers;  which  were  usually  made  in  the  chapel  about  half-an- 
 hour  after  five  o'clock.     Besides  his  morning  devotions,  he  had 
 
WILLIAM  GOUGE.  5SS 
 
 charged  himself  with  reading  fifteen  chapters  of  God's  word 
 daily,  five  of  them  before  public  prayers,  five  after  dinner,  and 
 five  before  he  went  to  rest;  on  which  he  used  to  meditate  till 
 he  fell  asleep.     He  had,  moreover,  stated  times  set  apart  for 
 investigating  and  searching  out  the  meaning  of  difficult  passa- 
 ges; by  which  he  made  himself  well  acquainted  with  the  oracles 
 of  God,   the  only  pure  foundation  of  all  christian  theology. 
 About  this  time  a   Jewish   Rabbi   came    to   Cambridge    uni- 
 versity, and  was  admitted  into  several  colleges  to  teach  the  He- 
 brew language.    Mr  Gouge,  and  many  of  the  students,  embrac- 
 ed this  favourable  opportunity  of  improving  themselves  in  this 
 sacred  tongue.     A  number  of  them,  however,  soon  became  tir- 
 ed of  their  attendance,  and  left  their  Jewish  instructor.    As  for 
 Mr  Gouge,  he  continued  so  long  as  the  Jew  remained  in  the 
 university.     Those  who  neglected  the  opportunity  of  receiving 
 instructions  while  the  teacher  remained  among  them,  had  abun- 
 dant reason  to  regret  their  supineness  when  he  was  gone,  and 
 were  glad  to  solicit  Mr  Gouge,  who  generously  condescended  to 
 instruct  them;  by  which  means  he  considerably  improved  him- 
 self, and  became  a  celebrated  Hebrew  scholar.     He  was  chosen 
 lecturer  in  the  college  both  in  logic  and  philosophy,  and  acquir- 
 ed an  ample  share  of  esteem,  from  the  able  manner  in  which  he 
 discharged  the  duties  of  these  important  offices. 
 
 In  the  first  year  of  his  fellowship  he  began  his  theological 
 common  place-book,  in  which  he  referred  to  whatever  authors 
 he  read.  He  had  blank  paper  bound  between  the  leaves  of  his 
 bible,  on  which  he  wrote  such  short  and  uncommon  remarks,  or 
 interpretations,  as  might  occasionally  suggest  themselves  on  the 
 text,  and  might  not  be  referable  to  any  particular  head  in  his 
 common  place-book.  Having  thus  prosecuted  his  studies  with 
 uncommon  ardour  for  nine  years,  and  thereby  procured  an  in- 
 timate acquaintance  with  the  various  branches  of  literature, 
 particularly  those  of  divinity  and  the  Hebrew  tongue,  he  was 
 called  home  by  his  father,  and  shortly  after  formed  a  matrimo- 
 nial alliance.  In  this  new  state,  that  he  might  be  left  at  liberty 
 to  prosecute  his  studies  without  interruption,  he  conceded  the 
 secular  concerns  of  his  family  to  his  wife.  Having  completed 
 his  regular  courses,  he  was  admitted  into  holy  orders  in  1607; 
 and  in  June,  the  following  year,  he  was  called  to  the  particular 
 exercise  of  his  ministry  in  the  parish  of  Blackfriars,  London. 
 In  this  settlement  he  remained  till  his  death,  notwithstanding 
 that  he  had  the  offer  of  several  more  lucrative  situations.  "  The 
 height  of  his  ambition  (he  frequently  said)  was  to  remove  from 
 Blackfriars  to  heaven."  The  able  and  impressive  manner  in 
 which  he  conducted  the  pulpit  services  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the 
 amiable  and  condescending  spirit  manifested  in  his  visiting  and 
 
534*  ME  MO  111  OF 
 
 catechising  labours  round  the  parish,  drew  the  affections  of  his 
 people  towards  him  with  cords  of  love.  He  was  eminently  la- 
 borious in  dispensing  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  distributing 
 the  bread  of  life  amongst  his  flock — not  his  own  fancies,  or  the 
 inventions  of  men,  but  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  that  he 
 might  thereby  promote  their  growth  in  grace,  and  in  the  saving 
 knowledge  of  Christ,  always  endeavouring  to  comfort  the  de- 
 jected, strengthen  the  weak,  and  bind  up  the  broken-hearted. 
 Mr  Gouge  was  so  eminently  exemplary,  during  the  whole  course 
 of  his  life,  that  scoffers  of  the  prelatical  party  used  to  call  him 
 the  arch-puritan. 
 
 He  was  admitted  bachelor  of  divinity  in  1611,  and  doctor  in 
 1628;  about  which  time  he  became  one  of  the  trustees  of  a  so- 
 ciety, which  had  united  with  the  design  of  buying  up  impropri- 
 ations, to  bestow  on  clergymen  distinguished  for  their  piety  and 
 ministerial  qualifications.  This  occasioned  his  being  prosecut- 
 ed in  the  star-chamber.  The  society  intended,  by  these  means, 
 to  plant  a  learned  and  powerful  ministry,  especially  in  the  cities 
 and  market-towns,  where  the  people  were  most  destitute;  but 
 the  court  adjudged  their  proceedings  illegal,  and  dissolved  the 
 society. 
 
 In  1643  Dr.  Gouge  was  nominated  a  member  of  the  assem- 
 bly of  divines;  and  was  so  much  esteemed  by  that  learned  body, 
 that,  in  absence  of  their  prolocutor,  they  frequently  called  him 
 to  the  chair.  He  was  a  constant  attendant,  and  so  parsimoni- 
 ous of  his  time,  that  he  always  carried  the  bible  and  other  books 
 along  with  him,  with  which  he  might  employ  himself  when  any 
 intermission  of  the  assembly's  business  took  place*  On  Sep- 
 tember 25th  of  the  same  year,  when  the  House  of  Commons, 
 the  Scotch  commissioners,  and  the  assembly  of  divines,  met  in 
 St.  Margaret's  church,  Westminster,  to  subscribe  the  covenant, 
 Dr.  Gouge  concluded  the  solemn  service  of  the  day  with  prayer. 
 In  1647  he  was  chosen  prolocutor  of  the  first  session  of  the  pro- 
 vincial assembly  held  at  Blackfriars;  which  he  opened  with  a 
 sermon.  During  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  com- 
 mittee appointed  to  compile  the  Confession  of  Faith;  and  the 
 year  following  he  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  draw 
 up  annotations  on  the  bible.  His  share  of  this  useful  work 
 consisted  of  first  Kings,  and  the  subsequent  books  down  to 
 Esther,  inclusive.  In  the  same  year  he  also  united  with  his 
 brethren,  in  London  and  its  vicinity,  in  their  declaration  against 
 the  king's  death.  When  the  Book  of  Sports  came  out,  Dr. 
 Gouge  absolutely  refused  to  read  it.  He  was  determined  ra- 
 ther to  suffer  than  to  sin,  by  encouraging  profane  sports  on  the 
 Lord's  holy  day.  He  was  always  particularly  careful  that  the 
 public  exercises  of  the  house  of  God  should  be  conducted  with 
 
WILLIAM  GOUGE.  535 
 
 regularity  and  decorous  propriety,  and  likewiM  that  secret  de- 
 votion and  family-worship  should  be  conscientiously  kept  up  in 
 his  parish.  He  never  allowed  his  servants  to  absent  themselves 
 from  church  for  the  purpose  of  cooking,  whatever  company  he 
 might  expect.  He  had  an  excellent  talent  for  solving  cases  of 
 conscience,  and  was  eminently  successful  in  restoring  joy  and 
 comfort  to  disconsolate  souls.  Many  of  the  ministers  consulted 
 him  in  difficult  cases;  on  which  account  he  was  considered  the 
 father  of  the  London  divines,  and  the  oracle  of  his  own  time. 
 He  was  compared  to  Moses  for  his  meekness  and  quietness  of 
 spirit,  and,  not  easily  provoked  himself,  few  men  were  ever 
 so  careful  to  give  no  cause  of  provocation  to  others.  For  in- 
 juries received,  his  enemies  had  always  prayers  in  return.  He 
 used  to  say,  "That  revilers  and  evil-doers  hurt  themselves 
 much  more  than  those  they  intended  to  injure."  Dr.  Gouge 
 abounded  in  charity  and  good  works,  and  laid  out  his  substance 
 to  the  most  useful  purposes.  The  poor  of  Christ's  flock,  and 
 persons  in  affliction,  obtained  a  liberal  share  both  of  his  means 
 and  his  kind  attention.  He  generously  assisted  several  poor 
 scholars  at  the  university;  and,  like  a  faithful  steward,  laid  out 
 the  means  and  the  talents,  with  which  he  had  been  entrusted, 
 for  the  honour  of  the  Giver,  and  the  advantage  of  his  people. 
 Being  an  extraordinary  preacher,  multitudes  from  all  quarters 
 flocked  to  hear  him;  yet  was  he  never  lifted  up  on  that  account, 
 but  used  to  say,  "  I  know  in  myself  more  cause  of  humility  and 
 self-abasement  than  others  do  to  praise  or  exalt  me." 
 
 Dr.  Gouge  was  an  excellent  scholar,  familiarly  acquainted 
 with  the  original  languages,  and  every  department  of  useful 
 learning.  He  was  a  laborious  student,  rose  early  both  summer 
 and  winter,  and  was  sorry  when  be  heard  others  at  work  before 
 he  got  to  his  study.  He  had  a  great  concern  for  the  welfare  of 
 the  foreign  churches.  When  he  heard  of  their  prosperity,  he 
 greatly  rejoiced,  and  praised  God;  but  when  he  was  informed 
 of  their  afflictions,  he  sat  down  and  wept,  and  mourned,  fasted, 
 and  prayed  to  the  God  of  heaven.  In  the  decline  of  life  he 
 was  sorely  afflicted  with  an  asthma  and  the  stone.  While  un- 
 der the  pressure  of  these  painful  maladies,  he  often  groaned, 
 but  never  murmured.  "Be  silent,  my  soul  (he  would  sav),  be 
 patient,  it  is  thy  God  who  has  thus  ordered  thy  state.  Thou 
 hast  deserved  much  more  than  this.  It  is  enough  thou  art  kept 
 out  of  hell.  Though  thy  pain  be  grievous,  it  is  tolerable.  Thv 
 God  affords  thee  some  intermissions.  He  will  at  last  turn  all 
 to  thy  good,  remove  every  complaint,  and  crown  thee  with  ever- 
 lasting consolation.  Shall  we  receive  good  at  the  hand  of  God  ? 
 and  shall  we  not  also  receive  his  paternal  chastisements  for  our 
 manifold  transgressions?"     His  friends  would  sometimes  en- 
 
536  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 deavour  to  comfort  liim,  by  noticing  his  labours,  integrity,  and 
 usefulness  in  the  church.  "  Alas !  (said  he)  I  dare  think  of 
 none  of  these  things  as  a  ground  of  comfort.  Christ  himself, 
 and  what  he  hath  done  and  suffered,  is  my  alone  ground  of  hope 
 and  consolation.  I,  who  am  a  great  sinner,  disclaim  all  merit 
 for  my  best  services,  which  are  stained  with  every  kind  of  pol- 
 lution. But  I  comfort  myself  in  an  all-sufficient  Saviour. 
 When  I  look  into  myself,  all  is  emptiness,  weakness,  poverty, 
 and  pollution;  but  when  I  turn  mine  eyes  towards  Christ,  there 
 I  behold  matchless  love,  mercy,  and  almighty  power,  engaged 
 in  effecting  my  eternal  welfare.  This,  this  is  my  crown  of  rejoicing, 
 and  the  foundation  on  which  I  have  erected  my  hopes  for  eter- 
 nity." Amid  all  his  afflictions,  Dr.  Gouge  was  still  intent  on 
 his  studies.  He  was  writing  a  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to 
 the  Hebrews,  which  he  was  very  anxious  to  have  finished  before 
 his  departure,  and  which  he  effected  till  within  half  of  the  last 
 chapter.  When  he  became  so  weak  that  he  could  no  longer 
 rise  out  of  his  bed,  he  said,  "  Now  my  days  on  earth  are  nearly 
 run.  The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  am  going  to  my 
 desired  haven,  where  the  winds  of  adversity  shall  no  longer  op- 
 pose my  course,  nor  the  surges  of  affliction  lash  my  weak  and 
 crazy  bark;  but  where  the  inhabitants,  rescued  from  the  snares 
 and  temptations,  the  sufferings,  and  all  the  sorrows  of  mortali- 
 ty, dwell  in  peace  and  assurance  for  ever.  I  go  with  cheerful- 
 ness, having,  blessed  be  God,  nothing  more  to  do  but  only  to 
 die;  and,  next  to  Christ  Jesus,  I  consider  death  as  my  best  and 
 most  useful  friend,  who  will  break  the  fetters  by  which  the 
 aspiring  soul  is  imprisoned  in  this  crumbling  tabernacle  of  clay, 
 and  detained  from  joining  the  church  of  the  first-born."  As  the 
 hour  of  his  depavture  drew  nigh,  his  spirit  became  more  cheer- 
 ful and  animated  than  it  had  been  for  several  days  before,  and 
 his  discourses  frfge  now  as  if  he  had  already  joined  the  society 
 of  heaven.  "  Mark  the  perfect,  and  behold  the  man  of  upright- 
 ness; verily  the  latter  end  of  this  man  is  peace."  He  died  in 
 great  comfort,  December  12th,  1653,  and  in  the  ■  ii  ty-ninth 
 year  of  his  age. 
 
 Mr  Neal  says,  "  He  was  a  modest,  humble,  and  affable  per- 
 son, of  strict  and  exemplary  piety,  an  universal  scholar,  and  a 
 most  constant  preacher,  so  long  as  he  was  able  to  get  up  into  the 
 pulpit."  Dr.  Calamy  observes,  "  That  he  was  a  man  of  as  emi- 
 nent a  reputation,  for  ministerial  abilities,  strict  piety,  and  in- 
 defatigable labours  for  the  good  of  souls,  as  most  ministers  that 
 ever  were  in  the  city."  Granger  says,  "He  was  offered  the 
 provostship  of  King's  college,  Cambridge;  but  declined  accept- 
 ing it;  and  that  be  was  laborious,  exemplary,  and  so  much  be- 
 loved,  that  none  ever  thought  or  spoke  ill  of  him,   excepting 
 
WILLIAM   GOUGE.  .537 
 
 such  as  were  disposed  to  think  or  speak  ill  of  religion  itself. 
 He  i-  classed  among  the  learned  writers  and  distinguished 
 worthies  of  this  college."  Wood  styles  him  a  pious  and  learn- 
 ed divine,  and  says  he  is  often  honourably  mentioned  by  Voeti- 
 us  and  Stresso,  and  other  learned  and  foreign  divines.  Mr 
 William  Jenkins  was  about  twelve  years  helper  to  Dr.  Gouge, 
 succeeded  him  in  the  pastoral  office  at  Blackfriars,  and  preach- 
 ed his  funeral  sermon. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Eight  Treatises  on  Domestic  Duties. — 2. 
 The  whole  Armour  of  God. — 3.  On  the  Sin  against  the  Holy 
 Ghost. — I.  Two  Catechisms. — 5.  A  Guide  to  go  to  God. — 6. 
 God's  three  Arrows,  Famine,  Pestilence,  and  the  Sword. — 7. 
 The  Extent  of  Divine  Providence. — 8.  The  Dignity  of  Chivalry. 
 — 9.  The  Saint's  Sacrifice. — 10.  Two  Treatises,  one  on  the  Sab- 
 bath, the  other  on  Apostacy. — 11.  The  Saint's  Support,  a  Ser- 
 mon preached  to  the  Commons. — 12.  Mary's  Memorial. — 13. 
 The  Progress  of  Divine  Providence,  a  Sermon  before  iae  Lords. 
 — 14.  A  Funeral  Sermon  for  Mrs  Duck. — 15.  The  Right  Way, 
 a  Sermon  before  the  House  of  Lords. — 16.  A  Commentary  on 
 the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Wood  styles  this  Commentary  a 
 learned  and  useful  work:  and  the  pious  bishop  Wilkins  classes 
 Dr.  Gouge's  sermons  among  those  which  he  denominates  the 
 best  of  his  time. 
 
 STANLEY  GOWER. 
 
 This  puritan  divine  was  a  man  of  considerable  eminence 
 in  the  church  of  Christ.  He  was  some  time  minister  of 
 Brompton-bryan,  in  the  county  of  Hereford.  In  1643  he  was 
 chosen  one  of  th?  members  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and 
 stands  marked  in  Neal's  list  as  giving  regular  attendance.  On 
 his  removal  to  London,  he  preached  at  M  ^n's  in  Ludgate 
 Street,  and  was  also  one  of  the  preachers  before  the  parliament. 
 In  a  se~  n  n  which  he  preached  before  the  Commons,  he  en- 
 treats the.-,  to  receive  it  as  a  divine  maxim,  that  piety  is  the 
 best  policy,  and  that,  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  Holy 
 Ghost,  godliness  is  not  only  the  greatest  wisdom,  but  also  the 
 greatest  gain.  He  was  nominated,  by  the  assembly,  one  of  the 
 committee  for  the  examination  and  approbation  of  ministers 
 who  petitioned  for  sequestrated  livings;  and,  in  1644,  he  was 
 also  chosen  one  of  the  committee  for  ordination  by  imposition 
 of  hands.  He  was,  moreover,  one  of  the  London  ministers  who 
 made  a  public  declaration  against  the  trial  and  death  of  the 
 king.  According  to  Kennet's  chronicle,  he  was  minister  at 
 Dorchester  in  1660,  and  is  there  denominated  a  zealous  and 
 •20  3  v 
 
538  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 eminent  preshyterian  divine.  Mr  Goiver  wrote  the  Life  of  Mr 
 Richard  Roth  well,  published  in  Clarke's  Lives,  annexed  to  his 
 martyrology.  He  also  published  a  sermon,  entitled,  Things 
 now  a-doing,  or  the  Church's  Travail  of  the  Child  of  Reforma- 
 tion now  a-bearing.  In  applying  tin's  sermon,  he  warmly  ex- 
 horted his  audience  to  display  their  zeal  in  reforming  the  house 
 of  God  according  to  the  divine  pattern;  to  deny  themselves,  and 
 be  ready  cheerfully  to  sacrifice  whatever  habits,  prejudices, 
 opinions,  or  interests  stood  in  the  way,  or  were  necessary  to 
 render  it  like  Mount  /ion,  the  glory  of  the  whole  earth.  "  For 
 your  encouragement  (says  he),  in  this  important  business, 
 should  any  of  you  sleep  with  your  fathers,  before  your  eyes 
 see  this  great  salvation  of  the  Lord,  know,  for  certain,  that 
 your  posterity  will  inherit  the  blessing,  and  reap  the  happy 
 fruits  of  your  zeal  and  liberality;  and  as  for  yourselves,  it  will 
 be  honour  sufficient  that  you  expire  while  zealous  and  active 
 promoters  of  a  en  use  so  transcendently  glorious. 
 
 JOHN  GREENE,  M.  A. 
 
 This  learned  and  pious  puritan  divine  was  for  some  time 
 pastor  of  Pencombe,  in  the  county  of  Hereford;  where  he  care- 
 fully watched  over  his  flock,  warned  them  of  the/langers  with 
 which  they  were  threatened,  and  fed  them  with  knowledge  and 
 understanding.  He  was  a  bold  opposer  of  the  Book  of  Sports, 
 the  royal  declaration  concerning  which  grieved  him  so  much, 
 that,  at  the  risk  of  both  his  living  and  his  liberty,  he  denounced 
 it  as  blasphemy  against  the  God  of  heaven,  who  has  said,  "  Six  days 
 shalt  thou  labour  and  do  all  thy  work;  but  the  seventh  is  the  rest  of 
 the  Lord  thy  God."  "  Nor  is  it  merely  blasphemy  (says  he),  it 
 is  also,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  sacrilegious  robbery.  Can 
 a  man  rob  God  ?  Yet  the  authors  and  abetters  of  this  cursed 
 Book  of  Sports,  not  satisfied  with  six  days  graciously  allowed 
 them  for  their  own  concerns,  while  lie  claims  but  one  for  him- 
 self, with  heaven-daring  arrogance,  have  seized  upon,  and  ap- 
 propriated this  one  day  in  seven  also  to  their  own  purposes  and 
 pleasures."  In  a  sermon,  preached  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
 he  says,  "  These  were  my  meditations  on  the  forth-coming  of 
 that  abominable  book;  nor  did  1  suppress  my  sentiments. 
 When  hearing,  in  the  neighbouring  parishes,  drums  beating  for 
 a  morris-dance  or  a  May-pole  on  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  our 
 God,  I  could  not  suppress  my  fear  that  such  conduct  would 
 provoke  him  to  pour  out  the  vials  of  his  wrath  on  a  nation  so 
 audaciously  wicked,  and  that  we  should  yet  hear  drums  beating 
 on  the  Lord's  day  for  very  different  purposes;  and  the  Lord  has 
 
JOHN  GREENE.  539 
 
 brought  our  fears  upon  us.  Alas  !  how  many  marches  have 
 we  seen  on  that  day  since  the  commencement  of  these  bloody 
 and  unnatural  wars?  But  let  us  hope,  says  he,  that  the  many 
 ordinances,  passed  for  the  suppression  of  such  daring  profanity, 
 will,  through  the  mercy  of  God,  prove  the  effectual  means  of 
 quenching  our  unnatural  flames — if  to  good  laws,  which  are 
 the  life-blood  of  a  state,  be  added  a  conscientious  execution, 
 which  is  the  life  of  the  laws."  According  to  Dr.  Calamy,  he 
 died  in  the  very  week  that  he  was  preparing  to  quit  his  living 
 upon  the  Bartholomew  Act,  in  1660. 
 
 WILLIAM  GREENHILL,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Greenhill  was  born  in  Oxfordshire  in  159J,  and  en- 
 tered a  student  of  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  in  1604,  being 
 thirteen  years  of  age.  In  1612  he  took  his  degrees  in  arts;  but 
 when  he  entered  into  the  ministry  we  have  not  been  able  to  as- 
 certain. In  1643  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of 
 divines.  At  this  time  he  was  at  Stepney  near  London,  where, 
 according  to  Wood,  "by  expressing  himself  as  a  rank  covenan- 
 ter, he  was  made  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines  by  the 
 long  parliament;  and,  about  the  same  time,  an  afternoon  lectu- 
 rer at  Stepney."  Mr  Greenhill  was  an  attending  member  of 
 that  assembly,  and  one  of  the  dissenting  brethren.  He  was  a 
 zealous  puritan,  and  a  determined  opposer  of  the  prelatical  go- 
 vernment, and  the  superstitious  rites  and  manifold  corruptions 
 of  the  church  of  England;  for  which  he  suffered  much  from  the 
 intolerant  decisions  of  the  court  of  high  commission.  He  was 
 one  of  those  divines  in  the  assembly  who  subscribed  the  propo- 
 sition— "  That  Jesus  Christ,  as  King  of  the  church,  has  him- 
 self appointed  a  church  government  distinct  from  the  civil 
 magistrate. "  According  to  Dr.  Calamy,  Mr  Greenhill  was 
 the  person  pitched  upon  for  chaplain  to  the  king's  children,  the 
 dukes  of  York  and  Gloucester,  and  the  lady  Henrietta.  He  is 
 said  to  have  been  in  favour  with  Oliver  Cromwell  in  his  time, 
 and  appointed  one  of  the  thirty-eight  commissioners  for  the 
 examination  and  approbation  of  preachers.  Bishop  Kennet, 
 in  speaking  of  these  commissioners,  says,  "By  the  questions 
 they  were  wont  to  ask,  no  man  could  tell,  or  even  guess,  what 
 they  aimed  at,  unless  it  was  to  advance  quakerism,  or  make 
 way  for  the  mahometan  faith." 
 
 Mr  Greenhill  continued  preacher  at  Stepney  till  the  year 
 1660,  when  he  was  ejected,  with  the  rest  of  his  brethren,  by  the 
 act  of  uniformity.  At  what  period  this  zealous  reformer  slept 
 with  his  fathers  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn:  but  his  library 
 
540  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 having  been  sold  in  1677,  makes  it  probable  that  his  death  had 
 taken  place  some  short  time  before.  In  Dr.  Calamy's  account 
 of  the  ejected  ministers,  he  says,  "  That  Mr  Greenhill  was  a 
 worthy  man,  and  much  valued  for  his  great  learning  and  un- 
 wearied labours."  Mr  Howe,  in  his  funeral  sermon  for  Mr 
 Mead,  speaking  of  his  connection  with  Mr  Greenhill,  styles  him, 
 "  That  eminent  servant  of  God,  whose  praise  is  still  in  the 
 churches." 
 
 We  shall  conclude  this  memoir  with  a  quotation  from  his  ex- 
 position of  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel. 
 
 "  In  this  verse  the  prophet  is  forewarned  of  the  difficulties 
 that  were  opposed  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  commission : 
 Told  that  lie  would  find  briers,  thorns,  nay,  even  scorpions,  in 
 his  way :  That  he  had  need  therefore  to  look  about  him,  to  be- 
 ware of  getting  entangled  in  the  thickets,  to  be  cautious  not  to 
 tread  on  the  scorpions  that  might  conceal  themselves  amongst 
 the  grass — interested  men,  who  have,  in  all  ages,  hated  re- 
 formation, and  opposed  the  purposes  of  all  such  as  have  been 
 engaged  therein.  They  have  endeavoured  to  entangle  them, 
 and  retard  their  progress;  and,  with  all  the  cunning  of  the  old 
 serpent,  attempted  to  deceive,  mislead,  and  destroy  both  them 
 and  the  cause  in  which  they  have  been  embarked.  When 
 Christ  sent  forth  his  disciples,  he  apprized  them  of  their  danger 
 from  this  malicious  brood,  and  therefore  admonishes  them, 
 while  they  imitated  the  dove  in  harmlessness,  to  imitate  the 
 serpent  also  in  wisdom  and  prudential  regard  to  their  own  safe- 
 ty— to  be  cautious  not  to  give  unnecessary  occasion  of  irrita- 
 tion to  wicked  men,  most  of  whom  are  more  dangerous  than 
 tigers,  wolves,  and  fiery-flying  serpents,  especially  to  those  en- 
 gaged in  the  important  work  of  reforming  the  abuses  of  either 
 church  or  state. 
 
 "  In  Joshua's  army  we  find  there  was  an  Achan  in  the  camp. 
 Nehemiah,  while  he  was  busily  engaged  in  rebuilding  the  deso- 
 late house  of  God,  had  to  contend  with  Tobiah  and  Sanballat, 
 who  scoffed  and  jeered  him  for  his  apparently  hopeless  under- 
 taking; while  even  the  nobles  of  Judah  basely  attempted  to  be- 
 tray him. 
 
 "  The  reformation  amongst  our  slaves  is  a  great,  a  glorious 
 undertaking;  but  are  we  free  from  those  thorns  and  scorpions, 
 which  in  all  ages  have  stood  in  the  way  of  reforming  the 
 church  of  the  living  God?  Alas  !  have  we  not  reason  to  com- 
 plain, that  while  our  enemies  are  many,  even  amongst  our- 
 selves, some  arc  luke-warm,  some  unfaithful,  some  unqualified, 
 and  others  so  sullied  by  their  crimes,  that  the  work  is  retard- 
 ed, and  sometimes  put  back  more  in  one  day  than  all  their 
 Ijeads,   hands,    purses,    and  prayers,    can   forward  it  in  many. 
 
WILLIAM   GREENHILL.  .541 
 
 There  are  men  employed  in  this  great  work  who  are  Achans, 
 Sanballats,  and  Judases.  I  will  not  say  that  this  is  the  only 
 cause,  but  assuredly  it  is  a  principal  one,  why  the  work  of  re- 
 formation so  sadly  languishes  amongst  our  hands.  But  seeing 
 matters  of  the  first  importance,  of  the  greatest  weight  and  con- 
 sideration, either  in  church  or  state,  have  ever  had  their  lets  and 
 impediments,  their  rubs  and  their  mountains  of  opposition,  by 
 which  they  disappoint  mens  wishes  and  eager  anticipations,  in 
 not  coming  to  the  birth  at  the  hour  of  expectation,  let  us  not 
 relax  in  our  endeavours,  but  prosecute  our  purpose  with  in- 
 creasing vigour  and  perseverance;  and  let  us  pity  and  pray  for 
 the  parliament,  the  army,  the  magistracy,  and  the  ministry,  now 
 engaged  in  this  difficult  and  dangerous  work." 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  The  Axe  at  the  Root;  a  Sermon  preach- 
 ed before  the  House  of  Commons. — 2.  An  Exposition  of  the 
 Prophecy  of  Ezekiel,  in  5  vols.  4to. — 3.  Christ's  last  Discovery 
 of  himself. — 4.  A  Sermon,  from  Ezek.  xliii.  2.  to  the  Com- 
 mons.— 5.  Sermon  from  Ezek.  xviii.  32.  in  the  morning  exer- 
 cises at  Cripplegate. — 6.  The  Sound-hearted  Christian — with 
 several  other  sermons. 
 
 HUMPHREY  HARDWICK. 
 
 This  persecuted  puritan  was  minister  at  Hadam-magna, 
 in  the  county  of  Hertford,  and  chosen  one  of  the  superadded 
 members  of  the  assembly  of  divines.  He  had  suffered  much 
 under  the  prelatical  tyranny;  and,  during  the  war,  his  house 
 was  ransacked,  and  his  whole  library  carried  away  by  the  king's 
 army,  and  himself  so  reduced  to  poverty,  that  lie  had  it  not  in 
 his  power  to  purchase  a  single  book  of  any  importance.  He 
 had  been  silenced  by  the  bishops;  and,  on  the  commencement 
 of  the  war,  took  part  with  the  parliament,  and  joined  the  army, 
 with  which  he  remained  during  the  greater  part  of  that  sangui- 
 nary period.  In  a  sermon,  preached  before  the  House  of  Com- 
 mons, he  ranks  himself  among  the  silenced  puritans;  and,  in 
 the  epistle  dedicatory  to  that  House,  prefixed  to  the  same  ser- 
 mon, he  says,  «  No  man,  I  presume,  has  more  reason  to  apolo- 
 gise than  myself,  having  been,  for  a  long  time,  deprived  of  mv 
 library,  which  was  wholly  plundered;  besides  being,  from  tbe 
 commencement  of  this  war,  till  the  last  month,  entirely  con- 
 versant with  arms,  where  study  is  almost  wholly  interrupted. 
 But  this,  says  he,  I  account  part  of  my  greatest  happiness,  to 
 have  suffered  much  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  to  have  render- 
 id  some  little  service  to  my  weeping  country."  Mr  I  lard  wick 
 was  an   active   promoter  of  the   reformation;   and  to  warm  the 
 
5kcl  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 zeal  of  his  auditors,  in  this  important  work,  he  says,  in  the  same 
 sermon,  "  Search  the  book  of  God,  and  tell  me,  Whether  any  de- 
 scription of  men  are  so  precious  in  the  estimation  of  heaven,  as 
 those  who  have  been  courageous  in  defending  the  cause  of  God, 
 and  promoting  the  reformation  of  his  church  ?  Mark  the  forti- 
 tude displayed  by  Caleb  and  Joshua,  while  the  rest  of  their  as- 
 sociates, whose  timidity  had  magnified  the  size  and  prowess  of 
 their  enemies,  and  the  strength  of  their  bulwarks,  meanly 
 shrunk  from  the  noble  enterprise,  and  lost  their  part  and 
 portion  in  the  land  of  promise."  He  was  a  strenuous  advo- 
 cate for  the  solemn  league  and  covenant,  and  the  suppression 
 of  the  prelatical  government  of  the  church.  One  of  his  ser- 
 mons has  been  published,  entitled,  The  Difficulty  of  Zion's  De- 
 liverance, together  with  the  activity  which  her  friends  should 
 manifest  while  her  cause  is  in  agitation — delivered  at  Marga- 
 ret's church,  Westminster,  before  the  House  of  Commons,  on 
 Wednesday  morning,  the  26th  June  1644. 
 
 ROBERT  HARRIS. 
 
 This  pious  and  learned  puritan  divine  was  born  at  Broad 
 Campden  in  Gloucestershire,  1578.  His  father  was  a  prudent  and 
 intelligent  man,  and  his  mother  a  religious  and  charitable  wo- 
 man. Under  their  tuition  he  passed  his  childhood;  but  disco- 
 vered, in  this  early  period  of  his  life,  an  uncommon  propensity 
 for  play?  and  little  affection  for  his  book.  His  parents  having 
 designed  him  either  for  the  law  or  the  church,  according  as  his 
 parts  and  inclination  might  point  the  way,  sent  him  to  the  free 
 school  of  Chipping-campden.  Here  his  school-masters  were 
 often  changed,  owing  to  a  deficiency  of  salary,  and  some  of 
 them  beat  their  scholars  without  mercy.  Mr  Harris,  so  far 
 as  he  remembered,  had  never  felt  the  smart  of  the  rod  in  any 
 school;  yet  the  daily  floggings  which  others  received,  brought 
 such  a  trembling  and  sadness  over  his  spirit,  as  never  wholly 
 forsook  him  so  long  as  he  lived.  He  often  said,  "  That  such 
 treatment  was  the  ruin  of  many  promising  boys."  From  this 
 he  was  removed  to  the  school  at  Worcester,  under  the  super- 
 intendance  of  Mr  Bright;  and  on  Sabbath  attended  the  mini- 
 strations of  Dr.  Robert  Abbots.  In  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
 1595  he  removed  to  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  where  he  disco- 
 vered an  uncommon  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  soon  began  to 
 last (;  the  sweetness  of  useful  learning.  He  became  an  excellent 
 scholar,  a  famous  logician,  and  an  acute  disputant.  Here,  by 
 the  blessing  of  God  on  his  studies,  and  the  pious  instructions  of 
 his  tutor,  lie  was  brought  to  a  saving  acquaintance  with  the 
 gospel,  and  soon  after  became  a  celebrated  puritan. 
 
ROBERT  HARRIS.  .Ho 
 
 He  preached  his  first  sermon  at  Chipping-campden,  in  his 
 native  county;  but  such  was  the  ignorance  of  the  times,  that 
 when  he  came  to  the  church  there  was  no  bible  to  be  found. 
 The  vicar  of  the  parish  had  a  bible;  but  as  it  had  not  been  seen 
 for  many  months,  it  required  no  small  search  before  it  could  be 
 found.  Having  procured  the  sacred  oracles,  he  went  to  church, 
 and  preached  an  admirable  sermon  from  Rom.  x.  1.  This  ser- 
 mon met  with  much  applause;  but  the  preacher  often  said, 
 iJ  That  he  lost  by  the  bargain."  He  found  himself  in  danger  of 
 being  exalted  above  measure  by  the  abundance  of  his  success  in 
 this  his  first  attempt:  besides,  that  his  friends  began  to  advise 
 him  to  leave  the  university,  and  come  amongst  them,  saving, 
 "  He  had  a  sufficiency  of  academical  learning  already."  His 
 father,  who  had  a  large  family,  was  likewise  anxious  to  have 
 him  settled  in  the  church.  This,  however,  he  declined,  and  re- 
 quested whatever  more  patrimony  he  was  pleased  to  allow  him, 
 that  he  might  still  prosecute  his  studies  in  the  university;  which, 
 with  considerable  difficulty,  he  obtained.  But  soon  after  this 
 the  university  was  visited  with  a  dreadful  pestilence,  and  the 
 students  were  all  dispersed.  He  was  unwilling  to  return  home, 
 and  where  to  go  he  knew  not.  In  the  midst  of  this  perplexity, 
 one  Mr  Doyly,  a  gentleman  0f  a  very  ancient  family,  and 
 friendly  to  the  gospel  of  Christ,  who  lived  a  short  wav  from 
 Oxford,  invited  him  to  his  house.  Mrs  Doyly  was  a  pious  and 
 intelligent  woman,  and  here  Mr  Harris  had  a  very  comfortable 
 situation.  Mr  Prior,  the  minister  of  the  place,  was,  at  this 
 time,  in  a  weakly  state,  and  overburdened  with  preaching  both 
 on  the  Lord's  days,  and  also  at  extraordinary  fasts,  which  were 
 then  appointed  on  account  of  the  plague;  and  Mr  Harris  having 
 preached  some  times  out  of  compassion  for  Mr  Prior,  was  so 
 well  received,  that  he  was  requested  to  continue  some  time ; 
 which  he  did,  till  providence  opened  the  door  for  a  more  per- 
 manent settlement. 
 
 Mr  Dod  having  been  silenced,  and  afterwards  ejected  from 
 Hanwell,  for  his  non-conformity,  Sir  Anthony  Cope  invited 
 Mr  Harris  to  become  his  successor.  He  accordingly  removed 
 thither  with  much  grief  and  fear.  The  people  of  Hanwell  were 
 so  firmly  attached  to  their  former  pastor,  that  they  would  ac- 
 knowledge no  man  in  his  place.  At  last,  however,  it  was 
 agreed  that  Mr  Harris  might  preach  so  long  as  hopes  could  be 
 entertained  of  recovering  Mr  Dod.  During  this  unsettled  state 
 of  things  at  Hanwell,  archbishop  Bancroft  presented  the  living 
 to  one  of  his  chaplains,  on  pretence  of  a  lapse.  But  Sir  An- 
 thony Cope,  then  sitting  in  parliament,  together  with  several 
 other  members,  waited  upon  the  archbishop,  and  presented  Mi- 
 Harris;  whom  his  grace,  alter  a  long  contest,  reluctantly  ad- 
 mitted to  the  living. 
 
544  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 But  Sir  Anthony  having,  on  a  former  occasion,  thrown  out 
 some  hints  against  the  intolerant  procedure  of  the  prelates,  Ban- 
 croft embraced  this  occasion  of  shewing  him  his  resentment;  and 
 with  the  design  of  thwarting  his  request,  had  Mr  Harris  ex- 
 amined by  one  of  his  most  learned  chaplains,  who  reported  Mr 
 Harris  to  be  moderately  learned.  This  proving  unsatisfactory 
 to  the  archbishop,  he  was  again  examined  by  bishop  Barlow,  a 
 man  well  suited  to  Bancroft's  wishes.  Barlow  was  a  man  of 
 great  wit  and  learning,  and  esteemed  an  excellent  critic  in  the 
 Greek  language,  as  the  story  is  reported.  They  Greeked  it  till 
 they  ran  a-ground  for  lack  of  words,  when  both  burst  into  a  fit 
 of  laughter.  Barlow  returned  to  the  archbishop;  and  on  deli- 
 vering a  most  favourable  report  of  Mr  Harris'  learning  and  ta- 
 lents, his  grace  suffered  himself  to  be  satisfied. 
 
 Mr  Harris  being  now  settled  at  Hanwell,  Mr  Scudder  at 
 Drayton,  and  Mr  Whately  at  Banbury,  they  became  particu- 
 larly intimate,  and  united  both  in  judgment  and  affection.  Mr 
 Harris  married  Mr  Whately's  sister;  and  Mr  Scudder  the  sister 
 of  his  wife.  They  commonly  met  together  once  a-week  to 
 translate  and  analyze  a  chapter  of  the  bible.  This  practice 
 served  to  stir  them  up  to  greater  diligence,  and,  at  the  same 
 time,  promoted  their  mutual  edification.  Though  thus  com- 
 fortably settled,  Mr  Harris  was  not  without  his  trials.  His 
 faith  and  patience  was  severely  tried  by  the  long  and  painful 
 illness  of  his  wife.  "  This  affliction  (said  Mr  Dod)  was  design- 
 ed to  season  him  for  his  work;"  and  he  says  himself,  "  I  should 
 have  been  spoiled  had  I  not  been  thus  brought  down.  Young 
 ministers  know  not  on  what  ground  they  tread,  till  God  makes 
 them  humble."  He,  nevertheless,  found  much  encouragement 
 in  his  work — the  people  began  to  relish  his  ministry,  and  the 
 Lord  abundantly  blessed  his  labours.  He  did  not  feed  them 
 with  airy  notions,  and  empty  speculations,  but  with  the  sincere 
 milk  of  the  word,  and  in  a  method  adapted  to  the  meanest  ca- 
 pacity; and  God,  it  is  said,  so  wonderfully  blessed  his  endea- 
 vours, that  there  was  not  one  prayerless  family  in  Hanwell,  nor 
 one  who  refused  his  examination  and  instructions  previous  to 
 receiving  the  sacrament. 
 
 In  this  situation  Mr  Harris  continued  forty  years,  blessed  in 
 himself,  and  a  blessing  to  all  around  him,  until  the  commence- 
 ment of  the  civil  wars.  The  battle  of  Edgehill,  only  a  few  miles 
 distant,  was  fought  on  Sabbath,  October  23d,  1642;  but  the 
 wind  being  contrary,  he  did  not  hear  the  smallest  noise  of  it 
 till  the  public  exercises  of  the  day  were  over;  nor  would  he  be- 
 lieve the  report,  till  he  saw  the  wounded  soldiers  besmeared 
 with  blood.  From  this  time  his  troubles  increased,  rude  sol- 
 diers were  quartered  upon  him;  some  of  them  called  him  round- 
 
ROBERT  HARRIS.  545 
 
 Jiead,  others  ■malignant — still,  however,  he  continued  to  dis- 
 charge his  numerous  duties  as  at  other  times.  One  company, 
 quartered  upon  him,  was  so  outrageous  for  swearing,  that  he 
 could  not  avoid  preaching  upon  James  v.  12.  "Above  all 
 things,  my  brethren,  swear  not  at  all."  This  so  offended  them, 
 that  they  swore  they  would  shoot  him  if  he  preached  again 
 from  the  same  text.  Undismayed  by  their  threatenings,  he, 
 nevertheless,  ventured  next  Sabbath  to  preach  from  the  same 
 words,  when,  as  he  was  preaching,  he  observed  one  of  the  sol- 
 diers preparing  his  firelock  as  if  he  intended  to  shoot.  But  Mr 
 Harris  went  on  without  fear,  and  finished  his  discourse  without 
 interruption.  Here  he  endured  the  storm  till  he  had  suffered 
 material  injury,  and  was  at  last  driven  from  his  place,  after  be- 
 holding his  tenements,  wood,  and  nurseries  on  fire,  and  him- 
 self threatened. 
 
 Being  driven  from  his  flock,  Mr  Harris  fled  to  London,  and 
 was  there  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and  preacher 
 at  Botolph's  church,  Bishopgate.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
 preachers  before  the  parliament;  and,  in  1646,  he  was  one  of 
 the  six  preachers  sent  to  Oxford  to  soften  down  the  people  to 
 the  presbyterian  rule;  and,  the  year  following,  one  of  the  visi- 
 tors to  that  university.  Dr.  Walker,  in  whose  eyes  no  puritan 
 could  ever  find  grace,  among  other  slanders,  says,  "  That  these 
 visitors  began  their  visitation,  as  they  did  all  their  other  distin- 
 guished works  of  wickedness,  with  prayers  and  a  sermon."  The 
 sermon  alluded  to  was  preached  by  Mr  Harris,  who,  at  the 
 same  time,  took  his  doctor's  degree,  became  president  of  Trinity 
 college,  and  was  made  rector  of  Garlington,  near  Oxford.  He 
 governed  the  college  with  great  prudence,  and  soon  gained  the 
 affections  of  the  fellows  and  students,  who  reverenced  him  as  a 
 father. 
 
 In  his  last  sickness,  having  been  desired  to  admit  company, 
 he  said,  "  It  is  all  one  to  me  whether  I  be  left  alone  or  in  the 
 company  of  my  friends.  My  principal  work  now  is  to  arm  my- 
 self against  the  encounter  of  the  last  enemy."  Accordingly,  he 
 gave  himself  up  to  prayer,  meditation,  and  reading  the  scrip- 
 tures, especially  the  book  of  Psalms,  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah, 
 and  the  gospel  by  John,  the  tenth,  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  six- 
 teenth, and  seventeenth  chapters  of  which  afforded  him  inex- 
 pressible delight.  When  he  became  unable  to  read,  and  his 
 friends  performed  that  friendly  office  for  him,  he  would  gather 
 up  the  principal  things  contained  in  the  chapter,  explain  the 
 difficult  parts,  and  feast  deliciously  on  the  spiritual  provision 
 therein  presented.  H^  warmly  recommended  it  to  all  those 
 who  visited  him,  to  put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,  to  ad- 
 vance against  their  spiritual  foes  in  the  strength  of  the  Captaii 
 
 20  3  z 
 
546  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  their  salvation,  to  hold  out  against  all  temptations,  and  be- 
 ware of  all  the  wiles  and  stratagems  of  satan.     "  Endure  to  the 
 end   (said  he),  and  the  issue  shall  be  a  never-fading  crown, 
 and  a  kingdom  which  cannot  be  moved."     Being  asked  whence 
 he  derived  so  much  comfort  under  such  heavy  affliction,  and  in 
 the  prospect  of  approaching  death,  he  replied,   "  I  have  it  all 
 from  Christ,  and  the  free  and  unmerited  grace  of  God,  who 
 hath    reconciled  me  to  himself."      Some  mentioned  his  great 
 labours,  and  the  service  he  had  done  to  the  cause  of  pure  and 
 undented  religion.     "  Alas  !   (said  he)  I  have  done  nothing  as 
 I  ought.     Without  Christ  my  best  works  would  condemn  me. 
 I  am  ashamed   of  them,   they  are  so  much  polluted  with  sin. 
 The  loss  of  precious  time  sits  heavily  on  my  spirit.     I  beseech 
 you  all,  said  he,  work  while  it  is  day,  the  night  cometh  in  which 
 no  man  can  work;  and,  be  assured,  that  nothing  will  give  you 
 greater  trouble  when  you  come  to  die,  than  the  gloomy  reflec- 
 tion, that  you  have  done  so  little  for  God,  who  has  done  so 
 much  for  you."     When  his  friends  asked  him  what  they  could 
 do  for  him,  he  replied,   "  You  must  not  only  pray  for  me,  but 
 you  must  likewise  praise  God  for  his  unspeakable  mercy  and 
 loving-kindness  towards  me.     Oh  !  how  good  is   our   God — 
 entertain  good  thoughts  of  him — we  can  never  think  too  well 
 of  him,  nor  too  ill  of  ourselves.     I  am  now  going  home,  even 
 quite  spent — I  have  reached  the  shore,  and  am  about  to  leave 
 you  still  tossed  by  the  tempest,  and  out  at  sea."    Being  asked  by 
 a  friend  how  he  did,  he  answered,   "  In  no  great  pain,  I  praise 
 God,  only  weary  of  my  useless  life.     If  God  has  no  more  work 
 for  me,   I  would  be  glad  to  be  in  heaven,  where  I  shall  serve 
 him  without  distraction.    If  he  has  any  more  work  for  me  here, 
 I  am  willing  to  do  it,  though  my  infirm  body  be  very  weary. 
 I  am  not  afraid  of  death,  I  praise  God — I  can  live,  and  I  dare 
 die.     I  have  lived,  and  I  shall  die,  in  the  faith  Avhich  I  have 
 preached;  and  now,  in  the  immediate  prospect  of  death,  it  affords 
 my  soul  unspeakable  comfort."     He  resigned  his  soul  to  God, 
 and  closed  his  eyes  in  peace,  December  1 1th,  1658,  aged  eighty 
 years. 
 
 Mr  Clark  gives  the  following  account  of  Dr.  Harris'  endow- 
 ments: "  That  he  was  a  laborious  student,  endowed  with  ex- 
 cellent parts,  and  furnished  with  all  manner  of  learning  neces- 
 sary for  a  divine — a  pure  and  elegant  Latinist,  very  exact  in 
 the  Hebrew,  and  admired  as  a  subtile,  clear,  and  ready  dispu- 
 tant. He  excelled  in  chronology,  church  history,  and  in  the 
 knowledge  of  the  fathers ;  but  his  talents  were  most  observable 
 in  the  pulpit.  In  prayer  his  affections  w,>re  warm,  his  language 
 pertinent,  unaffected,  serious,  and  without  tautology.  He 
 preached  with  learned  plainness,  unfolding  the  great  mysteries 
 
ROBERT  HARRIS.  547 
 
 of  the  gospel  to  the  weakest  capacity.  He  valued  no  man  for 
 his  gifts,  but  for  his  humility;  nor  did  he  expect  much  from 
 men  of  parts,  whatever  these  might  be,  till  they  were  broken 
 down  by  temptations  and  afflictions.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
 moderation  with  respect  to  church  discipline,  and  ruled  his  own 
 house  with  all  christian  prudence  and  propriety.  In  a  word, 
 he  was  richly  furnished  with  every  necessary  qualification  for 
 rendering  him  a  wise  governor,  a  profitable  preacher,  and  an 
 excellent  christian." 
 
 This  account,  from  the  impartial  pen  of  Mr  Clark,  who  must 
 have  been  well  acquainted  with  Dr.  Harris,  has,  nevertheless, 
 been  opposed  by  Dr.  Walker,  who  stigmatizes  him  for  a  notori- 
 ous pluralist,  and  rests  the  evidence  of  his  calumny  on  the  au- 
 thority of  a  scurrilous  and  abusive  letter,  put  forth  for  the  pur- 
 pose of  pouring  contempt  on  the  puritans.  The  doctor,  wish- 
 ing farther  to  render  his  story  feasible,  says,  "  He  had  some- 
 where read,  that  in  those  days  Dr.  Harris'  picture  was  drawn 
 with  a  steeple  on  his  head,  and  others  coming  out  of  his  pockets. 
 Pluralities  are  so  evidently  contrary  to  scripture,  and  opposed 
 to  common  sense,  reason,  and  fair-dealing,  that  they  are  utterly 
 indefensible."  The  doctor's  satire  here,  however,  had  been 
 much  more  seasonable,  had  it  so  happened  that  pluralities  had 
 nowhere  existed  amongst  rigid  churchmen. 
 
 Dr.  Harris  himself  has  given  the  following  open  and  candid 
 declaration  on  this  subject.  "  I  stood  clear  (says  he)  in  mine 
 own  conscience,  and  also  in  theirs  who  best  knew  me.  I  was 
 far  from  allowing  either  non-residence  or  a  plurality  of  livings; 
 yet,  to  such  as  were  ignorant  of  all  the  circumstances,  there 
 was  at  least  some  appearance  of  evil." 
 
 It  is  evident  he  possessed  several  benefices;  but  whether  he 
 received  the  profits  of  them  all,  or  enjoyed  them  all  at  the  same 
 time,  appears  extremely  doubtful.  Though  Dr.  Gray  denomi- 
 nates him  a  fanatical  hero,  and  a  professed  enemy  to  the  con- 
 stitution, both  in  church  and  state,  yet  he,  in  part,  acquits  him 
 of  this  vile  charge,  and  in  a  great  measure  invalidates  the  au- 
 thority of  the  above  scurrilous  letter. 
 
 The  Oxford  historian  brings  another  accusation  against  Dr. 
 Harris,  which,  if  true,  would  prove  him  one  of  the  basest  of  men. 
 He  charges  him  with  having  taken,  for  his  own  use,  two  bags  of 
 gold,  containing  one  hundred  pounds  each,  which  he  found 
 amongst  some  old  rubbish  in  Trinity  college  soon  after  becom- 
 ing president;  and,  moreover,  that  he  told  several  most  glaring 
 falsehoods  with  a  view  to  secure  the  money  to  himself.  Though 
 our  documents  do  not  afford  materials  to  refute  the  whole  of 
 these  charges,  yet  all  that  has  been  asserted  to  his  prejudice, 
 and  especially  the  worst  part  el'  it.  h  so  diametrically  opposed  to 
 
,548  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 the  uniform  spirit  and  deportment  of  this  learned  and  pious  di- 
 vine, that  the  account  appears  extremely  suspicious,  and  only 
 designed  to  reproach  the  memory  of  the  puritans. — Dr.  Harris* 
 last  will  and  testament  contains  much  excellent  advice  to  his 
 wife  and  numerous  children;  but  is  too  long  for  insertion. 
 
 His  works  came  forth  at  different  times,  and  were  afterwards 
 collected  and  published  in  one  volume  folio  in  1654.  The 
 pious  bishop  Wilkins  passes  a  very  high  encomium  upon  his 
 sermons. 
 
 CHARLES  HERLE,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Herle  was  born  at  Prideaux  Herle,  in  the  county  of 
 Cornwall,  and  educated  in  Exeter  college,  Oxford.     In  1618 
 he  took  his  degrees  in  arts;  and  having  finished  his  studies  at 
 the  university,  entered  on  the  work  of  the  ministry.     His  first 
 settlement  was  at  some  place  in  Devonshire;  but  having  been 
 accounted  a   puritan,    he  was  subjected    to  considerable  per- 
 secution  on   account  of  his  non-conformity.      After  this  he 
 was  made  rector  of  Winwick  in  Lancashire,  said  to  be  one  of 
 the  richest  livings  in  England.     Upon  the  commencement  of 
 the  civil  war,   Mr  Herle  attached  himself  to  parliament,  was 
 elected  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and,  upon  the  de- 
 mise of  Dr.  Twisse,  chosen  prolocutor  to  that  assembly.     He 
 was,  moreover,  chosen  one  of  the  morning  lecturers  at  the  Ab- 
 bey church,  Westminster,  one  of  the  licensers  for  the  theologi- 
 cal department  of  the  press,  one  of  the  committee  for  the  exa- 
 mination and  ordination  of  ministers,  one  of  the  committee  of 
 accommodation,  and  one  of  those  appointed  to  prepare  materials 
 for  the  Confession  of  Faith.     He  was  accounted  a  moderate 
 presbyterian.     In  licensing  the  apology  of  the  independents,  he 
 calls  it  a  performance  full  of  peaceableness,  modesty,  and  can- 
 dour; and  in  speaking  elsewhere  on  the  same  subject,  he  says, 
 "  The  difference  between  us  and  our  brethren  who  are  for  in- 
 dependency, is  by  no  means  so  great  as  you  seem  to  conceive. 
 At  most,  it  only,  in  a  small  degree,  ruffles  the  fringe,  but  in  no 
 way  rends  the  seamless  garment  of  Christ.     It  is  so  far  from 
 being  a  fundamental,  that  it  can  scarcely  be  called  a  material 
 difference."     In  his  speech  at  the  dissolution  of  the  assembly, 
 Mr  Herle,  in  name  of  his  brethren,  thanked  the  honourable  and 
 reverend  commissioners  from  Scotland  for  their  seasonable  and 
 important  assistance  in  the  laborious  work  in  which  the  assem- 
 bly had  so  long  been  engaged,  at  the  same  time  apologizing,  in 
 the  best  manner  he  could,  that  the  directory  for  worship  was 
 not  so  strictly  adhered  to  as  it  ought.     He  confessed  that  their 
 affairs  were  still  greatly  embarrassed,  and  in  much  confusion, 
 while  the  enemy  was  high  and  powerful.     Mr  Herle  and  Mr 
 
CHARLES  HEKLE.  54- [) 
 
 Stephen  Marshall  were  appointed  to  attend  the  commissioners 
 of  parliament  into  Scotland,  with  the  view  of  giving  the  Scotch 
 a  just  idea  of  the  affairs  of  England,  particularly  those  of  the 
 church. — After  the  king's  death  Mr  Herle  retired  to  his  flock 
 and  ministerial  duties  at  Winwick,  where  he  continued  the  rest 
 of  his  days. 
 
 In  the" year  1651,  the  earl  of  Derby  having  raised  a  regiment 
 of  soldiers  for  Charles  II.,  then  on  his  march  from  Scotland,  he 
 sent  lieutenant  Arundel,  with  about  forty  horse,  to  Mr  Herle's 
 house  at  Winwick ;  which  filled  the  whole  family  with  terror 
 and  consternation.  Calling  for  Mr  Herle,  Arundel  said,  "  My 
 business  is  to  tell  you,  that  the  earl  of  Derby  wishes  to  see  you 
 with  all  speed;  and  if  you  will  go,  you  have  nothing  to  fear 
 either  for  yourself  or  family."  Mr  Herle  replied,  "  I  shall  go 
 with  you  immediately,  and  speak  with  the  earl  my  patron ;"  and 
 accordingly  ordered  out  his  horse.  After  kindly  entertaining 
 the  lieutenant  and  his  men,  Mr  Herle  attended  them  to  the 
 earl's  quarters,  who  received  and  treated  him  with  the  greatest 
 civility;  and  after  some  friendly  conversation,  sent  him  back 
 with  a  guard  for  his  protection.  The  battle  of  Warrington- 
 bridge  was  fought  in  this  year;  and  Arundel's  forces  being 
 routed,  and  himself  wounded,  he  retired  to  Mr  Herle's  house, 
 where  he  was  treated  with  the  utmost  kindness. 
 
 During  the  same  year,  Mr  Herle,  together  with  Mr  Isaac 
 Ambrose,  Mr  Edward  Gee,  and  some  others,  was  appointed  as- 
 sistant to  the  commissioners  for  ejecting  ignorant  and  scanda- 
 lous ministers  and  school-masters  in  Lancashire.  Dr.  Gray 
 says,  "  That  he  acted  with  great  severity  in  this  office;  and  that 
 his  public  sermons  sufficiently  testified  how  well  he  was  quali- 
 fied for  such  dirty  work."  To  make  good  his  assertions,  the 
 doctor  has  transcribed  from  those  sermons  the  following  sen- 
 tences :  "  Do  justice  to  the  greatest.  Saul's  sons  are  not  spar- 
 ed, no,  nor  Agag,  nor  Benhadad,  though  themselves  kings. 
 Zimri  and  Cozbi,  though  princes  of  the  people,  must  be  pursu- 
 ed to  their  tents.  What  an  army  of  martyrs  has  God  given  to 
 the  fire  for  our  reformation  at  first?  and  what  a  calendar  of 
 traitors  has  he  given  to  the  gallows  for  our  preservation  since  ?" 
 Every  reader,  at  all  acquainted  with  the  cruel  mandates  of  the 
 episcopalian  courts,  can  easily  discover  the  import  of  the  doc- 
 tor's animadversions — the  tables  were  now  turned,  and  the 
 sting  taken  out  of  the  prelatic  anathemas;  and  losers,  we  all 
 know,  claim  a  right  to  complain :  besides,  the  character  of  Mr 
 Herle  is  too  firmly  established  to  be  shaken  by  any  such  ill-na- 
 tured sarcasms,  especially  considering  that  the  assertions  charg- 
 ed are  incontrovertible  facts. 
 
 Mr  Herle,   with  the  assistance  of  several  other  ministers,  or- 
 
550  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 dained  Mr  Howe  in  his  own  church  at  Winwick.  On  which  ac- 
 count the  latter  would  sometimes  say,  "  That  few  in  modern 
 times  had  such  a  primitive  ordination;  for  he  considered  Mr 
 Herle  a  primitive  bishop."  He  was  a  moderate  presbyterian, 
 greatly  beloved  by  his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  and  author  of 
 several  practical  and  controversial  writings.  Fuller  denomi- 
 nates him  a  good  scholar,  and  a  deep  divine,  and  so  much  the 
 christian,  the  scholar,  and  the  gentleman,  that  a  difference  of 
 opinion  never  had  the  power  to  alter  his  affections  towards  his 
 friends.  He  died  at  Winwick,  September  1659,  aged  sixty-one 
 years,  and  was  interred  in  his  own  church. 
 
 Among  many  choice  sayings  scattered  through  his  works, 
 take  the  following  for  a  specimen :  "  Gratitude  is  the  best 
 tenure  for  holding  old  mercies,  and  gives  us  the  surest  title  to 
 new  ones.  Religious  families  are  the  surest  nurseries  of  reli- 
 gion. The  highest  office  of  government  is  to  be  the  nurse  and 
 guardian  of  religion.  Peace,  without  contentment,  is  but  a 
 lethargy;  safety,  without  it,  is  merely  a  prison;  while  content- 
 ment, without  both,  is  a  kingdom,  and  a  continual  feast.  The 
 proud  man  has  no  God;  the  turbulent  man  has  no  neighbour; 
 the  distrustful  man  has  no  friend — but  the  discontented  man 
 has  not  himself.  Long  discourses  are  feathered  arrows  that 
 overshoot  the  mark,  and  lose  both  game  and  labour,  by  exhaust- 
 ing the  patience,  and  relaxing  the  attention  of  the  hearer. 
 Affectation  in  any  thing,  but  especially  in  words,  manifests 
 more  ambition  than  ability,  discovers  a  contracted  soul,  that 
 takes  up  with  forms  and  examples,  and  dares  not  venture  to 
 write  but  by  a  copy," 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Microcosmography  in  Essays  and  Charac- 
 ters.— 2.  Contemplations  and  Devotions  on  the  several  Passa- 
 ges of  our  blessed  Saviour's  Death  and  Passion. — 3.  An  An- 
 swer to  misled  Dr.  Hen.  Fearne,  according  to  the  method  of  his 
 own  book. — 4.  Several  Sermons,  among  which  are  the  follow- 
 ing :  A  pair  of  Compasses  for  Church  and  State. — 5.  David's 
 Song  of  three  parts. — 6.  David's  Reserve  and  Rescue. — 7. 
 Worldly  Policy,  Moral  Prudence,  and  Christian  Wisdom;  the 
 vanity  of  the  first,  the  usefulness  of  the  second,  and  the  excel- 
 lency of  the  third — with  other  works. 
 
 RICHARD  HEYRICK. 
 
 This  learned  divine  was  born  in  London,  and  educated  in 
 Merchant  Taylor's  school.  He  was  a  younger  son  of  Sir  Wil- 
 liam Heyrick  of  Beaumannour  in  Leicestershire,  and  became  a 
 commoner  of  St.  John's  college,  Oxford,  in  1617,  then  aged 
 seventeen  years.  In  due  time  he  took  his  degree  in  arts,  and 
 was  elected  a  fellow  of  All-soul's  college,  in  the  same  univer- 
 
,  RICHARD  HEYRICK.  551 
 
 sity,  in  1624.  About  this  time  he  entered  also  into  holy  orders; 
 afterwards  lie  became  pastor  of  a  church  in  Norfolk,  and  was 
 elected  warden  of  Christ's  college  in  Manchester,  by  the  means 
 of  archbishop  Laud.  On  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war 
 he  joined  the  parliament,  and  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  as- 
 sembly of  divines;  which  he  attended  with  punctuality.  He 
 took  the  covenant,  and  zealously  laboured  to  promote  the  refor- 
 mation. In  1644,  Mr  Heyrick,  and  other  ministers,  in  all 
 twenty-one,  were  appointed  by  parliament  to  ordain  ministers, 
 for  the  time  being,  in  the  vacant  parishes  of  the  county  of  Lan- 
 caster. He  was  deeply  concerned  in  the  affair  called  Love's 
 plot,  the  object  of  which  was  to  raise,  by  private  subscription, 
 money  to  forward  the  expedition  of  Charles  II.  into  England; 
 but  the  plot  being  discovered  by  the  watchful  vigilance  of  the 
 commonwealth,  it  was  easily  defeated.  Of  those  who  were 
 engaged  in  this  affair,  with  the  exception  of  Love  and  Gibbons, 
 who  suffered  death  as  a  terror  to  others,  some  fled  the  country, 
 and  others,  through  the  mediation  of  their  friends,  and  a  pro- 
 mise of  submission  to  the  commonwealth  in  all  time  coming, 
 were  released,  and  escaped  the  severity  of  the  storm.  In 
 what  manner  Mr  Heyrick  came  off  we  have  no  information  ; 
 but  in  whatever  way  this  took  place,  we  find  him  afterwards 
 appointed  an  assistant  to  the  commissioners  for  ejecting  igno- 
 rant and  scandalous  ministers  and  school-masters  in  Lancashire. 
 Wood  says,  "  That,  upon  the  approach  of  the  restoration,  he 
 seemed  zealous  for  promoting  the  design,  in  consideration 
 whereof  he  was  suffered  to  retain  his  wardenship  till  his  death, 
 which  happened  on  the  6th  of  August  1667,  and  in  the  sixty- 
 seventh  year  of  his  age."  Anna  Maria,  his  widow,  some  short 
 time  after,  caused  a  comely  monument  to  be  put  over  his  grave, 
 with  a  large  inscription,  composed  by  his  old  acquaintance,  and 
 real  friend,  Mr  Thomas  Case,  minister  of  the  gospel  in  Lon- 
 don, who  had  been  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr  Heyrick 
 while  a  student  at  Oxford.  This  inscription  gives  him  an  ex- 
 cellent character  as  a  person  of  genteel  extraction,  a  most  dili- 
 gent and  laborious  student,  a  faithful  pastor,  a  watchful  guar- 
 dian of  his  college,  a  man  of  solid  judgment  and  acute  pene- 
 tration, of  singular  zeal,  associated  with  remarkable  prudence, 
 of  gravity,  accompanied  with  the  most  agreeable  manners  and 
 true  humility.  He  is  allowed,  moreover,  to  have  been  a  man 
 of  great  learning. 
 
 He  has  published  several  sermons,  amongst  which  are,  1. 
 Three  Sermons  delivered  in  the  Collegiate  Church  of  Manches- 
 ter.— 2.  Queen  Esther's  Resolves,  or  a  princely  pattern  of  Hea- 
 venly resolution  for  all  the  lovers  of  God  and  their  country;  a 
 sermon  preached  to  the  Commons  at  their  monthly  fast.  May 
 1646 — with  several  other  sermons. 
 
552  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 GASPER  HICKES. 
 
 Mr  Hickes  was  born  in  Berkshire,  an  inland  county. 
 His  father  was  a  minister,  who,  in  the  year  1621,  when  his  son 
 was  sixteen  years  of  age,  had  him  placed  in  Trinity  college, 
 Oxford,  where,  having  taken  his  degree  in  arts,  and  entered 
 into  holy  orders,  he  at  length  became  pastor  of  Laudrake,  or 
 Lawrick,  in  the  county  of  Cornwall.  Here  he  continued  a  con- 
 stant and  faithful  preacher  of  the  gospel  for  several  years,  un- 
 der the  appellation  of  a  puritan.  On  the  commencement  of 
 the  war,  Mr  Hickes  took  part  with  the  parliament,  and  openly 
 expressed  his  sentiments  on  that  subject.  But  the  royal  army 
 having  entered  that  county,  and  for  some  time  continued  vic- 
 torious, he  found  his  situation  so  uneasy,  that  he  retired  to  Lon- 
 don. Here  he  was  chosen  a  member,  and  took  his  seat  accord- 
 ingly, in  the  assembly  of  divines.  He  preached  frequently  in 
 the  city,  and  some  times  before  parliament.  But  afterwards, 
 upon  the  declining  of  the  king's  interest,  when  the  royal  forces 
 were  driven  from  Cornwall,  he  returned  to  his  pastoral  charge. 
 In  1654  he  was  appointed  an  assistant  to  the  commissioners  for 
 ejecting  improper  ministers  and  school-masters  in  the  county  of 
 Cornwall;  and,  according  to  Wood,  he  was  ever  after,  till  the 
 act  of  uniformity  came  forth,  esteemed  the  chief  of  the  presbyte- 
 rian  ministers  of  that  district. 
 
 When  ejected  from  Laudrake  by  the  Bartholomew  act,  Mr 
 Hickes  continued  to  live  at  or  near  the  same  place  for  several 
 years,  always  preaching  as  opportunity  offered;  but  in  the  pro- 
 secution of  this  honourable  and  useful  work  he  met  with  great 
 opposition,  and  was  subjected  to  much  trouble  and  distress. 
 Continuing  to  preach  after  the  30th  of  May  1670,  in  his  own 
 family,  to  the  number  which  the  act  against  conventicles  allow- 
 ed, with  some  other  persons  under  sixteen  years  of  age — Mr 
 Wmnel,  the  young  parson  of  Laudrake,  was  so  enraged,  that 
 he  informed  against  him  as  a  holder  of  conventicles,  and  had 
 his  house  searched  by  the  parish  officers,  who  found  but  four 
 persons  present  above  the  age  of  sixteen,  beside  those  of  his  own 
 family.  This  furious  zealot,  nevertheless,  rode  from  one  jus- 
 tice to  another  to  have  him  convicted;  but  the  gentlemen  of  the 
 neighbourhood,  sensible  that  the  law  had  not  been  violated, 
 gave  him  no  encouragement.  Enraged  at  this  disappointment, 
 Winnel  posted  into  Devonshire,  where  he  found  some  justices, 
 whose  intolerant  sentiments  accorded  with  his  own.  These 
 justices,  taking  it  for  granted  that  Mr  Hickes  had  preached, 
 though  they  had  no  proof  to  substantiate  the  allegation,  con- 
 victed him,  and  amerced  him  in  the  sum  of  forty  pounds. 
 Conscious  of  the  unfair  treatment  he  had  met  with,  Mr  Hickes. 
 
GASPER  HICKES.  55S 
 
 appealed  to  the  next  general  sessions,  where,  contrary  to  law, 
 he  was  denied  the  benefit  of  a  jury,  while  the  justices  decided 
 his  case  by  their  own  votes;  and  having  in  this  way  rendered 
 his  appeal  unjust  in  the  eye  of  law,  they  added,  to  the  forty 
 pounds  formerly  awarded  against  him,  triple  costs  for  the  pre- 
 sent action,  with  a  superabundance  of  unmanly  abuse.  Mr 
 Hickes'  case  was  indeed  hard,  but  by  no  means  novel.  In 
 much  the  same  way  have  wicked  men  persecuted  the  prophets, 
 apostles,  and  a  whole  army  of  martyrs,  who  have  now  rested 
 from  their  labours;  and,  through  a  series  of  similar  tribulations, 
 shall  saints,  in  every  age,  enter  the  heavenly  kingdom.  Mr 
 Calamy  says,  "  That  Mr  Hickes  was  a  good  scholar,  and  a  ce- 
 lebrated preacher. 
 
 He  has  published  several  sermons,  amongst  which  are,  1. 
 The  glory  and  beauty  of  God's  portion,  from  Isaiah  xxviii.  5, 
 6.  preached  before  the  Commons. — 2.  The  Life  and  Death  of 
 David,  a  funeral  Sermon. — 3.  The  advantage  of  Afflictions,  a 
 Sermon  preached  before  the  Peers. 
 
 THOMAS  HILL. 
 
 This  very  learned  and  pious  divine  was  born  at  Kington 
 in  Worcestershire,  of  religious  parents,  who  solemnly  devoted 
 him  to  God  in  his  childhood,  and  resolved  to  educate  him  for 
 the  holy  ministry.  Accordingly,  having  received  the  necessary 
 preparations  for  the  university,  he  was  sent  to  Emanuel  col- 
 lege, Cambridge,  where  he  afterwards  became  fellow.  Here  he 
 made  great  progress  in  learning,  was  distinguished  for  his  piety, 
 and  greatly  beloved  for  the  frankness,  ease,  and  affability  of 
 his  manners.  Having  finished  his  studies  at  Cambridge,  with 
 a  view  to  his  farther  improvement  in  useful  knowledge,  he 
 went  to  Boston,  and  spent  some  time  with  the  learned  Mr  John 
 Cotton,  whose  instructions  and  example  had  such  an  effect  on 
 this  pious  and  otherwise  well-disposed  scholar,  that  he  reaped 
 the  precious  fruits  during  the  whole  course  of  his  life.  After 
 leaving  Boston  he  returned  to  Cambridge,  became  an  excellent 
 tutor,  and  a  very  popular  preacher  in  St.  Andrew's  church. 
 When  the  plague  was  raging  in  the  university,  and  multitudes 
 fled  from  the  seat  of  that  deadly  infection,  he  could  not  think 
 of  relinquishing  his  labours  at  a  period  when  they  were  so  pe- 
 culiarly necessary;  and  fearless  of  danger,  like  a  faithful 
 shepherd  of  Christ's  flock,  continued  in  the  work  whereunto 
 he  had  been  called. 
 
 On  leaving  the  university  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  Tichmarch 
 in  Northamptonshire,  where  he  continued  about  nine  years, 
 discharging  the  various  duties  of  his  pastoral  office  with  dili- 
 gence, fidelitv,  and  success.      Here  he  was  greatly  esteemed  bv 
 
 20  4  a 
 
f)54>  MEMOIR  01 
 
 the  earl  of  Warwick,  in  whose  family  he  became  acquainted 
 with  Mrs  Willford,  governess  to  the  earl's  daughter,  whom  he 
 afterwards  married.  In  1G40,  when  the  committee  of  accom- 
 modation was  appointed  by  the  House  of  Lords  to  consider  the 
 innovations  in  religion,  Dr.  Hill,  with  several  bishops,  and 
 other  learned  divines,  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  sub-commit- 
 tee to  prepare  materials  for  their  discussion.  In  1643  he  was 
 chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  which  he  punctu- 
 ally attended;  and  by  his  great  learning,  candour,  and  modera- 
 tion, was  signally  serviceable  in  all  their  deliberations.  In  the 
 following  year  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  for  the 
 ordination  of  public  preachers.  He  was  chosen  morning  lec- 
 turer at  the  Abbey  church,  Westminster,  and  preached  every 
 Lord's  day  at  St.  Martin's  in  the  fields.  He  was  universally 
 celebrated  for  learning  and  talents,  on  which  account  he  was 
 appointed  master  of  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge,  and  after- 
 wards of  Trinity  college,  in  the  same  university.  Here  he  em- 
 ployed all  his  zeal,  influence,  and  abilities,  in  promoting  sound 
 learning,  in  encouraging  genuine  piety,  and  in  enforcing  the 
 performance  of  all  college  exercises.  He  was  twice  chosen 
 vice-chancellor,  and  was  ever  attentive  to  the  honour  and  pri- 
 vileges of  the  university. 
 
 Dr.  Hill  was  firmly  attached  to  the  thirty-nine  articles  of 
 the  church  of  England.  He  considered  unconditional  election, 
 salvation  by  grace,  justification  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of 
 Christ,  and  the  final  perseverance  of  believers,  not  as  points  of 
 dry  speculation,  but  as  doctrines  obviously  held  forth  in  the 
 word  of  God,  and  the  very  life  of  true  christian  faith.  During 
 his  last  sickness  he  derived  singular  comfort  from  the  consider- 
 ation of  these  sublime  doctrines.  The  distinguishing  love  of 
 God  in  Christ  was  the  foundation  of  his  confidence,  and  the 
 matter  of  his  joy  and  rejoicing  amid  the  afflictions  and  pains 
 of  a  quartan  ague,  of  which  he  died.  Being  asked,  a  little  before 
 his  death,  Whether  he  enjoyed  peace  with  God?  he  replied, 
 in  a  very  cheerful  manner,  "  That  through  the  mercy  of  God 
 in  Christ  his  peace  was  made,  and  that  he  quietly  rested  in  it." 
 He  died,  much  lamented,  on  the  18th  of  December  1653,  and 
 in  an  advanced  age. 
 
 Dr.  Hill  was  a  divine  much  distinguished  for  his  humility 
 and  purity  of  life,  an  excellent  and  useful  preacher,  of  great 
 learning  and  moderation ;  but  strongly  opposed  to  the  doctrines 
 of  Arminius.  He  used  to  lay  his  hand  on  his  heart,  and  say, 
 "  Every  true  christian  hath  something  here  that  will  frame  an 
 argument  against  arminianism.  He  lias,  notwithstanding  all 
 his  talents,  learning,  moderation,  and  meekness,  been  subjected 
 to  the  reproachful  insinuations  of  that  anti-puritan  Dr.  Gray, 
 
THOMAS  HILL.  555 
 
 who  has  perpetuated  the  memorials  of  his  own  caustic  and  cau- 
 terizing humour,  his  disingenuity  and  incurable  hatred  of  all 
 who  differ  from,  or  oppose  his  opinions,  by  associating  them 
 with  names  which  shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance. 
 
 Mr  Neal  having  specified  his  preferments  in  the  church,  the 
 doctor  says,  "  How  deserving  this  gentleman  was  of  such  pre- 
 ferment, his  works  sufficiently  testify;"  and  proceeds  to  esta- 
 blish his  insinuations  by  citing  the  following  expressions  deli- 
 vered by  Dr.  Hill  on  public  occasions : 
 
 "  That  we  may  have  an  incorrupt  religion,  without  sinful, 
 without  guileful  mixtures,  not  a  linsey  woolsey  religion  :  All 
 new-born  babes  will  desire  word-milk,  sermon-milk,  without 
 guile  or  adulterating  sophistication.  What  pity  it  is  that  ca- 
 thedral societies,  which  might  have  been  colleges  of  learned 
 presbyters  for  feeding  and  ruling  the  city  churches,  and  petty 
 academies  to  prepare  pastors  for  neighbouring  places,  should  be 
 often  the  sanctuaries  of  non-residents,  and  nurseries  of  drones, 
 who  can  neither  preach  nor  pray,  otherwise  than  read,  say,  or 
 sing  their  prayers,  while  truth  itself  is  exhibited  in  the  non-edi- 
 fying pomp  of  ceremonious  services.  Behold,  with  weeping 
 eyes,  the  many  hundred  congregations  in  the  kingdom  where 
 millions  of  souls  are  ready  to  perish  for  want  of  vision.  Truth 
 is  sold  from  amongst  them,  either  by  soul-betraying  non-resi- 
 dents, soul-poisoning  innovators,  or  soul-pining  dry  nurses.  In 
 many  places  the  very  image  of  jealousy,  the  mass  is  set  up,  yea, 
 the  comedy  of  the  mass  is  acted.  I  wish  every  parliament  man 
 had  a  map  of  the  soul-misery  existing  in  most  of  the  ten  thou- 
 sand churches  and  chapels  in  England. 
 
 "  Instead  of  the  high  commission,  says  he,  which  was  a 
 scourge  to  many  godly  and  faithful  ministers,  we  have  now  an 
 honourable  committee,  that  turns  the  wheel  upon  such  as  are 
 scandalous,  ignorant,  and  unworthy.  In  the  room  of  Jeroboam's 
 priests,  burning  and  shining  lights  are  multiplied  in  many  dark 
 places  of  the  land,  which  were  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty. 
 In  place  of  a  long  and  drawling  liturgy,  we  are  in  hopes  of  a 
 pithy  directory.  Instead  of  prelatical  rails  about  the  table  of 
 the  Lofd,  we  have  the  scripture  rails  of  church  discipline  in 
 great  forwardness.  Where  popish  altars  abounded,  we  begin  to 
 see  more  of  Christ  crucified  in  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  his 
 own  ordinances.  Instead  of  the  prelate's  oath  to  establish  their 
 own  exorbitant  pewer  and  appurtenances,  we  have  a  solemn 
 league  and  covenant  with  God,  engaging  us  to  endeavour  the 
 reformation  of  his  church,  and  the  extirpation  of  popery,  and 
 even  prelacy  itself,  according  to  his  word." — The  pious  and  im- 
 partial reader  will  be  at  no  loss  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  Dti 
 generous  insinuations  of  this  zealous  churchman. 
 
556  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Dr.  Hill's  works  are,  1.  The  Trade  of  Truth  Advanced,  in  a 
 Sermon  to  the  Commons  at  their  solemn  Fast,  July  27th,  1642. 
 — 2.  The  Militant  Church  Triumphant  over  the  Dragon  and  his 
 Angels,  preached  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  July  21st,  1643. 
 — 3.  The  Season  for  England's  Self-reflection,  and  advancing 
 Temple- work ;  a  Sermon  before  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
 August  13th,  1644,  being  an  extraordinary  day  of  humiliation. 
 — 4.  The  Right  Separation  Encouraged,  a  Sermon  to  the  Lords, 
 November  27th,  1644,  being  their  monthly  public  Fast. 
 
 JOSHUA  HOYLE,  D.  D. 
 
 This  very  learned  puritan  was  born  at  Sawerby,  near 
 Halifax  in  Yorkshire,  and  educated  in  Magdalen  college,  Ox- 
 ford. Being  afterwards  invited  into  Ireland,  he  became  fellow 
 of  Trinity  college,  Dublin ;  and  having  taken  his  degrees  in  di- 
 vinity, he  was  chosen  theological  professor  in  that  university. 
 In  the  course  of  his  daily  lectures,  he  expounded  all  the  books 
 both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  seldom  taking  more  than 
 one  verse  for  a  lecture.  In  this  tedious  work  he  was  engaged 
 for  fifteen  years;  and,  during  the  ten  years  following,  he  went 
 through  the  greater  part  of  the  sacred  writings  a  second  time. 
 He  preached  and  expounded  thrice  every  Sabbath  for  the  greater 
 part  of  the  year,  besides  his  public  services  on  many  extraordi- 
 nary occasions;  to  all  which  may  be  added,  his  elaborate 
 answers  to  Bellarmine,  the  redoubted  champion  of  the  Romish 
 church.  This  man  was  extolled  above  measure  by  the  catholics 
 and  the  court  of  Rome,  and  reputed  the  most  formidable  anta- 
 gonist the  reformers  had  to  contend  with.  Most  of  the  protes- 
 tant  divines,  eminent  for  their  critical  and  controversial  talents, 
 were  therefore  induced  to  make  his  arguments  a  particular  ob- 
 ject of  refutation.  Bellarmine's  controversial  works  are  written 
 in  Latin,  and  have  gone  through  several  editions,  in  four  folio 
 volumes.  Dr.  Hoyle  fearlessly  and  successfully  attacked  the 
 system  of  error  and  absurdity  therein  defended,  and  dragged 
 into  public  view,  and  general  execration,  the  mock  miracles, 
 catch-penny  and  juggling  tricks  of  a  system  calculated  for 
 blinding  the  mind,  and  substituting  superstition  in  the  room  of 
 reason,  for  enslaving  both  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men,  and 
 thereby  securing  an  interested  priesthood  in  the  possession  of 
 power,  which  they  exercised  with  tyranny,  and  wealth,  which 
 they  consumed  in  the  most  licentious  and  disgusting  luxury. 
 Dr.  Hoyle  began  with  Bellarmine's  work  of  the  seven  sacra- 
 ments, which  engaged  him  for  eight  years,  and  afterwards  pro- 
 ceeded to  animadvert  on  the  rest  of  the  cardinal's  gigantic  work. 
 He  cut  his  way  into  the  dark  recesses  of  the  temple  of  supersti- 
 tion, and  tore  aside  the  veil  that  concealed  the  mystery  of  ini- 
 
JOSHUA  HOYLE.  55J 
 
 quity,  the  great  idol  which  the  world  had  so  long  and  so  igno- 
 rantly  worshipped,  and,  by  dissolving  the  magical  illusion,  li- 
 berated the  spell-bound  devotee. 
 
 In  1634  he' sat  in  the  convocation  held  at  Dublin;  but  when 
 the  Irish  rebellion  *  broke  out  in  1641,  he  fled  from  the  terri- 
 ble effusion  of  blood,  made  his  way  to  England,  and  became 
 vicar  of  Stepney,  near  London,  where,  according  to  Wood,  he 
 was  considered  too  scholastic,  and  on  that  account  not  accepta- 
 ble to  the  parishioners.  In  1643  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  as- 
 sembly of  divines;  which  he  constantly  attended,  and  took  an 
 important  part  in  their  deliberations.  He  was  afterwards  a  wit- 
 ness against  archbishop  Laud  on  his  trial,  and  testified  that  the 
 archbishop  had  corrupted  the  university  of  Dublin  by  the  arbi- 
 trary introduction  of  the  errors  of  popery  and  arminianism.  In 
 1645  he  was  elected  one  of  the  committee  of  accommodation; 
 and  in  1648  he  was  appointed  master  of  University  college, 
 Oxford,  and  king's  professor  of  divinity  in  the  same  university. 
 In  this  office  he  has  not  escaped  the  animadversions  of  that  cap- 
 tious writer  Dr.  Walker,  who  says,  "  That  he  commenced  his 
 lectures  with  a  speech  destitute  of  all  spirit  and  learning,  and 
 that  they  had  neither  method  nor  argument;  which  manifest- 
 ed his  ignorance  of  even  the  most  common  rules  of  logic." 
 Wood,  however,  styles  him  a  person  of  great  reading  and  me- 
 mory, much  devoted  to  study,  profound  in  the  faculty  of  divi- 
 nity, a  constant  preacher,  and  a  noted  puritan,  and  that  he  was 
 highly  respected  by  archbishop  Usher,  in  whose  vindication  he 
 wrote  a  rejoinder  to  a  Reply  in  Defence  of  the  Real  Presence, 
 by  William  Malone,  a  Jesuit;  which  has  ever  been  account- 
 ed a  very  learned  and  elaborate  work.  In  the  assembly  of 
 divines  he  was  held  in  great  esteem  as  master  of  all  the  an- 
 cient learning,  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Greek  and 
 Latin  fathers,  aud  as  one  abundantly  qualified  either  for  the 
 pulpit  or  to  fill  his  professional  chair.  He  died  on  the  6th  of 
 December  1654,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  the  old 
 chapel  belonging  to  University  college,  Oxford.  His  succes- 
 sors, in  the  offices  of  master  and  professor,  were  Mr  Francis 
 Johnson  and  Dr.  John  Conant,  both  ejected  in  1662. 
 
 JOHN  LEY,  A.  M. 
 
 This    indefatigable    preacher    was   born    at    Warwick    in 
 February  1583.     His  predecessors  were  of  the  county  of  Che- 
 
 *  The  popish  priests,  who  were  themselves  engaged  iti  this  rebellion,  admit  that 
 upwards  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  protectants  were  massacred  in  Ire- 
 land in  the  space  of  a  few  months;  and  Sir  J.  Temple  says,  "  That  there  were  above 
 three  hundred  thousand  murdered  in  cold  blood,  or  destroyed  in  some  other  way. 
 during  the  continuance  of  that  unparalleled  period  of  furious  zeal  and  inhuman 
 butchery."  Cardinal  Richelieu  was  deeply  concerned  in  this  hellish  massacre;  and. 
 according  to  Rapin,  Charles  I,  spread  abroad  the  report  that  the  catholics  had  hit 
 authority  for  what  they  did. 
 
558  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 shire.     He  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  the  free 
 grammar  school  of  Warwick;  from  which  he  removed  to  Christ's 
 college,  Oxford,  in  1601,  and  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age. 
 Here,  in  due  time,  he  took  his  degrees  of  arts;  and  having  finish- 
 ed his  studies  in  the  university,  he  was  presented  to  the  vicar- 
 age of  Great  Budworth  in  Cheshire,  where,  for  a  number  of 
 years,  he  continued  a  laborious  preacher.     He  was  made  pre- 
 bendary of  the  Cathedral  church  at  Chester;  also  sub-dean  of 
 the  same  cathedral,  where  he  kept  up  a  weekly  lecture  at  St. 
 Paul's  church,  and  was  once  or  twice  elected  a  member  of  the 
 convocation.     But  having  always  held  and  maintained  opinions 
 at  variance  with  prelacy,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  parliament, 
 took  the  covenant,  and  became  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  di- 
 vines, to  which  he  was  appointed  Latin  examiner.     Mr  Ley  be- 
 came rector  of  Ashfield  in  Cheshire,  and  for  a  short  time  that 
 of  Astbury,  in  the  same  county.     He  was  also  one  of  the  com- 
 mittee for  the  ordination  of  ministers  by  imposition  of  hands, 
 one  of  the  committee  for  superintending  the  press,  and  chair- 
 man of  that  for  the  examination  and  approbation  of  ministers. 
 About  1645  he  was  chosen  president  of  Sion  college;  and  about 
 the  same  time  inducted  into  the  rich  living  of  Brightwell  in 
 Berkshire.     In  1653  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  triers,  and,  in 
 the  year  following,  an  assistant  to  the  commissioners  of  Berk- 
 shire for  ejecting  improper  ministers  and  school-masters.     Some 
 short  time  after  this  Mr  Ley  resigned  his  living  at  Brightwell, 
 and  was  presented  to  that  of  Solihull  in  Warwickshire.     Here 
 he  continued  but  a  short  time;  for  having,  by  constant  preach- 
 ing, and  excessive  exertion,  burst  a  blood-vessel,  he  was  there- 
 by so  much  disabled,  that  he  could  no  longer  perform  his  pulpit 
 services.     On  this  account  he  resigned  his  charge,  and  retired 
 to  Sutton  Coldfields,  in  the  same  county,  where  he  spent  the 
 residue  of  his  days  in  private.    A  certain  writer,  of  considerable 
 reputation,  has  placed  our  divine  at  the  head  of  those  puritans, 
 who,  as  he  says,  encouraged  tumults,  whom  he  ironically  styles, 
 "  Holy,  faithful,  able,  and  truly  peaceable  preachers  of  the  gos- 
 pel."    In  support  of  his  insinuations,  he  quotes  the  following 
 passages  from  Mr  Ley's  works,  namely,   "  It  is  not  unknown, 
 nor  has  it  escaped  the  observation  of  the  wise,  that  the  ministers 
 have  been  very  serviceable  to  the  civil  state,  and  also  to  the 
 military,  not  merely  by  their  supplications  to  God  for  the  suc- 
 cess of  their  undertakings,  for  the  happy  result  of  their  warlike 
 marches  and  motions,  as  at  the  removal  of  the  ark,  Num.  x.  31. 
 4  Arise,  O  Lord,  and  let  their  enemies  be  scattered :    Let  them 
 that  hate  thee  flee  before  thee,' — but  also  by  their  informations 
 and  solicitations  of  the  people  to  engage  both  their  persons  and 
 estates  in  the  cause  of  God  and  their  country."     Having  pro- 
 
JOHN  LEY.  5.59 
 
 duced  these,  and  other  somewhat  similar  quotations,  this  author 
 says,  with  an  air  of  triumph,  "  After  these  proofs  and  declara- 
 tions of  the  minister's  zeal  and  industry,  in  promoting,  support- 
 ing, and  carrying  on  the  late  hloody,  impious,  and  unnatural 
 war,  let  any  man  take  upon  him  any  longer  to  acquit  the  non- 
 conformist divines  of  the  guilt  and  consequences  of  that  execra- 
 ble rebellion."  These  very  partial  remarks  of  this  strange 
 author  show  the  blindness  of  party-spirit.  They  seem  to  set 
 forth,  that  their  author  considered  deprivations,  banishments, 
 imprisonments,  fines,  and  confiscations,  the  cropping  of  ears, 
 and  the  splitting  of  noses,  with  a  thousand  other  uusufferable 
 indignities  exercised  towards  the  non-conforming  clergy  of  that 
 period,  as  trifles  of  no  consideration — But  that  the  star-chamber 
 was  the  seat  of  impartial  justice  and  merciful  moderation;  the 
 court  of  high  commission  a  constellation  composed  of  all  that 
 was  meek  and  lowly,  holy  and  harmless;  and  that  Bancroft, 
 Laud,  and  other  prelatical  dons  of  the  same  intolerant  kidney, 
 were  very  babes  of  grace  !  Every  impartial  mind,  at  all  ac- 
 quainted with  the  tyrannical  measures  adopted  both  by  church 
 and  state  at  and  before  the  commencement  of  that  sanguinary 
 war,  will,  at  one  glance,  discover  the  real  authors,  promoters, 
 and  supporters  of  what  he  calls  an  execrable  rebellion;  which 
 it  certainly  was,  not  however  of  the  people  against  the  king, 
 but  of  the  king  and  prelates  against  the  people,  and  the  consti- 
 tution that  guaranteed  their  rights. 
 
 Mr  Ley  was  accounted  an  excellent  preacher,  a  very  learned 
 and  pious  divine,  deeply  read  in  the  fathers  and  councils,  and  a 
 principal  pillar  of  presbyterianism.  He  died,  May  16th,  1662, 
 aged  about  seventy-nine  years,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  at 
 Sutton  Coldfield. 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  An  Apology  in  Defence  of  the  Geneva 
 Notes  on  the  Bible. — 2.  A  Pattern  of  Piety. — 3.  A  Monitor  of 
 Mortality. — 4.  The  fury  of  War,  and  the  folly  of  Sin. — 5.  Sun- 
 day, a  Sabbath. — 6.  Defensive  doubts,  hopes,  and  reasons,  for 
 refusal  of  the  oath  imposed  by  the  6th  canon  of  the  synod. — 7. 
 A  Letter  addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  June  16th,  1635, 
 against  erecting  an  Altar. — 8.  Case  of  Conscience  concerning 
 the  Sacrament. — 9.  A  Comparison  of  the  Parliamentary  Pro- 
 testation with  the  late  canonical  oath;  also  the  opposition  be- 
 tween the  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England  and  that  of  Rome. 
 — 10.  A  Discourse  concerning  Puritans. — 11.  Examination  of 
 Saltmarch's  New  Query. — 12.  Light  for  Smoke. — 13.  An  after 
 reckoning  with  Mr  Saltmarch. — 11.  Annotations  on  the  Penta- 
 teuch and  on  the  four  Evangelists. — 15.  A  learned  Defence  of 
 Tithes. — 16.  A  Debate  concerning  the  English  Liturgy  between 
 E.  Hide,  D.  D.  and  J.  Ley. — 17.  A  Disputation,  chiefly  con- 
 
.5(50  MEMOIR  OK 
 
 eerning  matters  of  religion. — 18.  Animadversions  on  two  print- 
 ed Books  of  J.  Onely,  a  Lay  preacher. — 19.  A  Consolatory 
 Letter  to  Dr.  Bryan,  upon  the  death  of  his  dear  son. — 20. 
 Equitable  and  necessary  considerations  for  the  Association  of 
 Arras  in  England  and  Wales. — 21.  A  Petition  to  the  Protector, 
 by  Divers,  for  the  establishment,  as  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
 without  induction  by  Bishops. — 22.  Attestation  against  Errors. 
 — 23.  Comparison  of  the  6th  canon  of  the  last  synod  of  Bishops. 
 — 21.  Exceptions  many  and  just. 
 
 JOHN  LIGHTFOOT,  D.  D. 
 
 This  divine,  greatly  celebrated  for  his  oriental  learning, 
 was  born  at  Stoke-upon-Trent,  in  the  county  of  Stafford,  March 
 29th,  1602.     His  father,  Mr  Thomas  Lightfoot,  was  vicar  of 
 Uttoxiter  in  Staffordshire  for  the  space  of  thirty-six  years.    His 
 mother,  Elizabeth  Bagnall,  was  of  a  very  respectable  family,  of 
 which  three  males  were  made  knights,  by  queen  Elizabeth,  for 
 the  martial  skill  and  courage  they  displayed  in  the  wars  against 
 the  Irish  rebels.     The  subject  of  the  present  memoir  was  the 
 second  of  five  sons.     He  was  early  committed  to  the  care  of  Mr 
 Whitehead,  school-master  at  Morton-green,  near  Congerton,  in 
 the  county  Palatine  of  Chester,  where  he  continued  till  June 
 1617,  when  he  was  sent  to  Christ's  college,  Cambridge,  and 
 placed  under  the  tuition  of  Mr  William  Chappel,  at  that  time 
 fellow  of  the  house,  afterwards  doctor  and  professor  of  divi- 
 nity in  Trinity  college,  Dublin;  and,  in  process  of  time,  bishop 
 of  Cork.     Mr  Lightfoot  exhibited  early  specimens  of  a  promis- 
 ing genius  and  lively  wit;  and  having  had  the  instructions  of 
 men  highly  qualified  for  their  situations,  with  close  application 
 on  his  part,  he  made  an  astonishing  proficiency  in  his  studies, 
 particularly  in  Latin  and  Greek.     His  tutor,  when  he  had  been 
 but  a  short  time  in  the  college,  held  him  forth  as  the  best  ora- 
 tor of  all  the  under  graduates  in  Cambridge.     He  continued  in 
 the  college  till  he  obtained  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  when 
 he  became  assistant  to  Mr  Whitehead,  his  first  master,  who  had 
 now  a  famous  school  at  Repton  in  Derbyshire;  in  which  situa- 
 tion he  remained  about  two  years,  equally  agreeable  both  to  the 
 master  and  scholars.      Soon  after  leaving  Mr  Whitehead  he 
 entered  into  holy  orders,  and  was  settled  at  Norton  in  Shrop- 
 shire.    While  in  this  place  Sir  Rowland  Cotton  took  him  into 
 his  family  as  chaplain,  being  highly  pleased  with  his  hopeful 
 parts,  after  having  heard  him  preach.     It  was  here  he  laid  the 
 foundation  of  that  rabbinical  learning,  for  which  he  was  after- 
 wards so  justly  and  so  highly  distinguished  both  at  home  and 
 abroad.      Sir  Rowland  used  to  question  him  in  the  Hebrew 
 language;  of  which,  at  that  period,  he  was  so  much  a  novice, 
 
JOHN  L1GHTFOOT.  56l 
 
 that  his  patron  could  baffle  him  almost  on  every  point.  He 
 was  greatly  ashamed  that  a  country  gentleman  should  be  so 
 much  his  superior  in  a  branch  of  learning  so  essentially  neces- 
 sary to  his  profession.  This  consideration  gave  him  a  new  and 
 powerful  stimulus  to  the  study  of  that  sacred  tongue,  and  his 
 singular  talent  for  oriental  learning  began  to  unfold  itself  apace. 
 Possessing  a  vigorous  mind,  and  a  sound  constitution,  and  blest 
 with  the  friendship,  example,  and  the  occasional  instructions  of 
 his  learned  patron,  he  soon  acquired  such  a  store  of  oriental 
 learning,  as  has  in  no  small  degree  contributed  to  the  right  un- 
 derstanding of  the  holy  scriptures.  When  Sir  Rowland  remov- 
 ed to  London  with  his  family,  Mr  Lightfoot  followed  soon  after, 
 and  remained  with  him  for  some  time;  then  returning  to  the  coun- 
 try, he  visited  his  friends  at  Stoke.  He  had  formed  the  design 
 of  travelling  for  his  improvement;  but  having  been  chosen  and 
 solicited  by  the  inhabitants  of  Stone  in  Staffordshire  to  become 
 their  pastor,  he  was  persuaded  to  relinquish  his  purpose;  which 
 gave  great  joy  to  his  parents  and  the  rest  of  his  friends.  In 
 this  situation  he  remained  about  two  years,  during  which  he 
 married  the  daughter  of  William  Crompton,  Esq.  of  Stone-park, 
 and  widow  of  George  Copwood  of  Dilverne,  in  the  county  of 
 Stafford.  From  this  place  he  removed  to  Hornsey,  in  the 
 neighbourhood  of  London,  that  he  might  have  the  advantage  of 
 Sion  college  library  in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies.  In  the 
 spring  of  1630  Mr  Lightfoot  and  his  family  went  to  Stoke, 
 where  they  continued  till  the  following  autumn,  that  Sir  Row- 
 land Cotton  preferred  him  to  the  rectory  of  Ashley,  in  the 
 county  of  Stafford,  where  he  soon  procured  an  excellent  repu- 
 tation, and  continued  twelve  years  faithfully  discharging  the 
 duties  of  his  pastoral  office,  and  prosecuting  his  favourite  studies 
 with  unremitting  application.  In  June  1642  he  went  up  to 
 London,  and  was  chosen  minister  of  St.  Bartholomew's  behind 
 the  exchange. 
 
 In  1643  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  di- 
 vines, of  which  he  was  a  constant  attendant,  and  acted  a  very 
 conspicuous  part  in  their  public  discussions,  having  an  excel- 
 lent field  for  displaying  his  rare  talents  and  rabbinical  erudition, 
 of  which  he  gave  surprising  specimens.  At  this  time,  though 
 Mr  Lightfoot  was  little  above  forty  years  of  age,  he  displayed 
 an  extraordinary  knowledge  in  divinity?  oriental  learning,  and 
 church  government.  When  the  primitive  constitution  of  the 
 church  came  under  the  consideration  of  the  assembly,  or  when 
 texts  of  scripture  were  brought  forward  in  support  of  such  doc- 
 trines and  modes  of  discipline  as  were  under  discussion,  he  ge- 
 nerally spoke,  and  often  gave  very  uncommon  interpretations 
 of  controverted  places.     When  some  divines  in  the  assembly 
 
 21  t  B 
 
562  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 were  tor  churches  consisting  merely  of  saints,  which  mode  they 
 endeavoured  to  support  by  Rev.  xv.  3.  where  Christ  is  denomi- 
 nated the  King  of  saints;  Dr.  Seaman  objected  to  this,  because 
 the  reading  was  doubtful,  some  copies  reading,  thou  King  of 
 ages,  or  eternity.  Dr.  Lightfoot  supported  his  objection,  show- 
 ing that  the  Syriac  and  Arabic  read  to  the  same  import,  thou 
 King  of  the  world,  or  thou  King  of  ages.  When  a  debate  took 
 place  in  the  assembly  respecting  the  persons  who  ought  to  read 
 the  scriptures  in  public,  and  Gouge  and  Marshall  were  of  opi- 
 nion, that  some  expert  and  sober  persons  of  the  laity  ought  to 
 do  this  part  of  the  public  service,  Lightfoot  shewed  at  large, 
 that  in  the  Jewish  synagogue  none  but  public  officers  were  al- 
 lowed to  read  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  these  of  the  Leviti- 
 cal  order — asserting,  that  the  Levites  in  the  temple  were  ser- 
 vants to  the  priests;  but  in  the  synagogues  their  office  was  simi- 
 lar to  that  of  a  christian  pastor.  When  the  dispute  took  place  be- 
 tween the  independents  and  the  other  parties  in  the  assembly  re- 
 specting congregations,  Whether  there  were  more  than  one  in  a 
 city,  especially  in  Jerusalem  ?  and  Dr.  Temple  doubted  whether 
 there  were  a  plurality  of  fixed  congregations  in  that  city  in  the 
 days  of  the  apostles — Lightfoot  answered  in  several  particulars, 
 1st,  "  That  the  multitude  of  pastors,  resident  at  Jerusalem,  could 
 by  no  means  correspond  with  the  opinion  of  only  one  congrega- 
 tion. 2d,  There  were  a  variety  of  languages  spoken  in  that 
 city,  which  rendered  different  preachers  and  different  congrega- 
 tions unavoidable.  3d,  That  one  part  of  the  church  had  dea- 
 cons, while  others  had  none;  we  must  therefore  consider  them 
 as  distinguished  from  one  another.  4th,  We  are  informed,  in 
 Acts  xii.  12.  that  many  were  gathered  together  praying,  and 
 yet  James,  and  others  of  the  brethren,  were  not  amongst  the 
 number;  all  which  point  out  a  plurality  of  christian  congrega- 
 tions at  Jerusalem,  and  similar  causes  would  render  the  same 
 unavoidable  in  almost  every  populous  city." 
 
 Being  eminently  distinguished  in  the  assembly,  Mr  Light- 
 foot was  promoted  to  the  church  of  Much-Munden  in  Hertford- 
 shire about  the  close  of  1643.  In  one  of  his  sermons,  before 
 the  Commons,  he  bitterly  animadverts  on  the  folly  and  super- 
 stition of  placing  the  apocrypha  between  the  Old  and  New 
 Testaments.  "  It  is  not  a  little  surprising  (says  he)  how  this 
 wretched  apocrypha,  this  patchery  of  human  invention,  could 
 ever  gain  such  a  place  in  the  hearts  and  bibles  of  the  primitive 
 christians,  as  to  occupy  a  place  in  the  centre  of  the  oracles  of  God. 
 This,  however,  may  be  in  part  accounted  for,  says  he,  by  the  fact, 
 that  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  were  intro- 
 duced amongst  the  Gentile  converts  by  the  Jews,  who,  for  a 
 long  time,  had  almost  exclusively  enjoyed  the  knowledge  of  re- 
 
JOHN  LIGHTFOOT.  o63 
 
 ligion;  on  which  account  all  their  writings  behoved  to  be  highly 
 esteemed  among  the  Gentile  converts.  In  this  way,  it  is  proba- 
 ble, the  apocrypha  first  gained  esteem  in  the  Gentile  world,  and 
 the  superstition,  afterwards  introduced  into  the  christian  church, 
 contributed  much  to  retain  it  in  their  bibles;  as  superstition  na- 
 turally inclines  men  to  admit  whatever  their  fathers  have  admit- 
 ted before  them.  But  the  wonder  increases,  how  the  reformed 
 churches,  after  having  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  superstition,  and 
 ventured  to  examine,  think,  and  decide  for  themselves,  should 
 still  retain,  in  the  centre  of  their  bibles,  such  a  jumble  of  con- 
 tradiction and  ridiculous  absurdity.  It  is  true,  continues  he, 
 they  have  thrown  them  out  of  the  canon,  but  still  allow  them  a 
 place  in  the  bible;  the  same  as  if  God,  when  he  cast  Adam  out 
 of  paradise,  had  still  permitted  him  to  remain."  In  another 
 sermon  to  the  Commons,  he  warmly  recommends  a  review  of 
 the  translation  of  the  bible.  "  I  hope  (says  he)  you  may  find, 
 amongst  your  other  serious  employments,  some  time  to  consider 
 this  subject,  certainly  it  would  be  a  work  well  becoming  a  pe- 
 riod of  reformation,  and  which  would  greatly  redound  to  your 
 honour.  Nehemiah,  when  engaged  in  reformation  work,  took 
 care  that  the  law  should  not  only  be  read,  but  that  the  people 
 should  be  caused  to  understand  it;  and  certainly  it  would  not 
 be  the  least  advantage  the  three  nations  would  derive  from  your 
 labours,  if,  by  your  care  and  means,  they  might  come  to  the 
 proper  understanding  of  the  scriptures,  by  an  exact,  vigorous, 
 and  lively  translation.  I  say  it  again,  I  hope  you  will  find 
 some  time  for  commencing  so  needful  a  work." 
 
 Dr.  Lightfoot  became  master  of  Katherine-hall  on  the  ejec- 
 tion of  Dr.  Spurstow,  who  refused  the  engagement.  This  place, 
 together  with  the  sequestrated  living  of  Much-Munden,  he 
 enjoyed  till  the  restoration,  when  he  offered  to  restore  it  to 
 Dr.  Spurstow;  which  the  latter  declining  to  receive,  Lightfoot, 
 having  conformed,  made  application  to  the  king,  and  was  con- 
 firmed in  both  his  preferments;  which  he  held  till  his  death.  In 
 1652  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity.  When  in  the 
 university  he  preached  frequently,  warmly  recommending  to  the 
 students  the  necessity  of  a  conversation  becoming  the  gospel  of 
 Christ,  and  warning  them  against  enthusiasm,  which,  at  that 
 time,  greatly  prevailed  in  England.  In  1655  he  was  chosen 
 vice-chancellor  of  the  university  of  Cambridge,  the  duties  of 
 which  office  he  discharged  with  becoming  carefulness  and  pro- 
 priety. Notwithstanding  his  labours  in  the  university  and  in 
 the  church,  and  the  time  spent  in  composing  his  numerous  and 
 learned  works,  he  still  found  some  leisure  hours  to  promote  the 
 elaborate  works  of  other  learned  men.  When  Dr.  Walton  was 
 engaged    with   his  Polyglot  Bible,    which  was  printed  in  six 
 
564  :wemoir  OF 
 
 volumes  folio,  in  1657,  Dr.  Lightfoot  gave  him  considerable  as- 
 sistance. This  very  elaborate  work  had  the  sacred  text  most 
 carefully  printed  in  vulgar  Latin,  also  in  the  Hebrew,  Syriac, 
 Chaldee,  Samaritan,  Arabic,  Ethiopian,  Persian,  and  Greek  lan- 
 guages, to  each  of  which  a  particular  Latin  translation  was  an- 
 nexed. He  appears  to  have  likewise  assisted  Dr.  Castell,  pro- 
 fessor of  Arabic  in  the  university  of  Cambridge,  in  his  Lexicon 
 Heptaglotton ;  and  the  learned  Poole  in  his  Synopsis  Criti- 
 corum. 
 
 Dr.  Lightfoot  held  some  peculiar  sentiments.  He  maintain- 
 ed, that  the  calling  of  the  Jews  is  a  matter  we  have  no  reason 
 ever  to  expect :  That  the  only  call  they  ever  had,  or  will  have, 
 was  in  the  days  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  when  a  remnant  of 
 them  were  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel :  But  that  no 
 universal  calling  of  that  nation  ever  has  been,  or  shall  be;  and 
 that  the  5th  verse  of  the  xii.  of  Romans  is  no  proof  that  such 
 a  circumstance  shall  ever  take  place,  either  generally,  or  after 
 many  ages,  as  has  been  suggested  by  many.  He  also  asserted, 
 that  the  Greek  translation  of  the  bible  by  the  seventy  was  ham- 
 mered out  by  the  Jews  with  more  caution  than  conscience, 
 with  more  craft  than  sincerity,  and  that  it  was  done  to  answer 
 their  political  views  and  purposes.  He  maintained,  moreover, 
 that  the  keys  were  given  to  Peter  alone;  not,  however,  the  keys 
 of  government  and  discipline,  but  the  keys  that  were  to  open  the 
 gates  of  the  gospel  church  to  the  Gentile  nations,  which  was 
 designated  by  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  and  that  it  was  to  this  pur- 
 pose that  Peter  spoke,  Acts  xv.  7.  This  opinion  he  openly 
 maintained  in  the  assembly  of  divines.  In  like  manner  he 
 asserted,  that  binding  and  loosing,  as  expressed  by  our  Lord 
 to  his  disciples,  when  sending  them  forth,  did  not  relate  to  their 
 discipline,  but  to  their  doctrine;  for  this  reason,  that  the  phrases 
 were  Jewish,  and  most  frequently  found  in  their  writers. 
 When  the  Jews  set  apart  any  person  for  a  preacher,  but  especially 
 with  respect  to  teachers,  they  used  the  following  words :  H  Take 
 thou  liberty  to  teach  what  is  bound  and  what  is  loose."  Of  the 
 words  spoken  to  Cain,  after  the  murder  of  his  brother,  he  also 
 gives  a  very  different  interpretation  from  the  generality  of  com- 
 mentators: "If  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door;" 
 that  is,  a  sin-offering  for  atoning  thy  transgressions  is  at  hand, 
 not  the  punishment  of  thy  sins  as  generally  understood;  for, 
 according  to  him,  these  words  were  not  spoken  to  terrify  the 
 murderer,  and  drive  him  to  despair,  but  to  encourage  him  to 
 hope;  and  this,  says  he,  is  the  common  acceptation  of  the  word 
 sin,  as  it  occurs  in  the  books  of  Moses. 
 
 On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  by  the  good  offices  of  arch- 
 bishop Shelden   and  others,  he  was  not  only  confirmed  in  his 
 
JOHN  LIGHTFOOT.  565 
 
 preferments,  but  also  presented  to  a  prebendary  by  the  lord- 
 keeper  Bridgeman,  in  the  cathedral  of  Ely;  at  which  place  he 
 died  of  a  fever,  December  6th,  1675,  and  his  remains  were  in- 
 terred at  Munden. 
 
 His  works  were  translated  into  English,  and  first  published 
 separately  in  small  pieces;  but  afterwards  collected  and  publish- 
 ed by  Mr  Strype,  in  two  volumes  folio,  with  above  forty  ser- 
 mons, preached  on  several  subjects  and  occasions,  and  a  short 
 tract  upon  the  4th  article  of  the  creed,  never  before  printed. 
 The  first  volume  contains,  The  Harmony  of  the  Old  and  New 
 Testaments. — Observations  on  the  Book  of  Genesis. — An  hand- 
 ful of  Gleanings  out  of  the  Book  of  Exodus. — A  Commentary 
 on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. — The  Temple-service. — Miscel- 
 lanies, and  a  description  of  the  Temple,  with  a  map  of  it 
 drawn  by  himself.  The  second  volume  contains  Hebrew  and 
 Talmudical  Exercitations  on  the  four  Evangelists,  the  Acts  of 
 the  Apostles,  some  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and 
 on  1  Corinthians.  They  were  also  printed  in  Latin  at  Rotter- 
 dam, in  two  vols,  folio,  1668;  and  Mr  Strype  tells  us,  "That 
 his  writings  have  been  so  well  known  and  admired  abroad,  that 
 two  or  three  impressions  have  been  thrown  off  in  Holland  since 
 that  time,  and  that  Remfertus,  the  professor,  and  several  other 
 learned  men,  had  expressed  a  desire  to  obtain  every  production 
 of  his  pen  for  publication,  that  none  of  the  notions  of  that  great 
 man  might  be  lost." 
 
 STEPHEN  MARSHALL,  B.  D. 
 
 This  active  and  zealous  puritan  divine  was  born  at  Godman- 
 chester  in  Huntingdonshire,  and  had  his  education  at  Emanuel 
 college,  Cambridge;  from  which,  according  to  Dr.  Fuller,  he  be- 
 came an  early  reaper  in  God's  harvest;  but  not  before  he  had 
 well  sharpened  his  sickle  for  that  laborious  service.  He  was 
 for  some  time  minister  at  Wethersfield  in  Essex,  and  afterwards 
 at  Finchingfield  in  the  same  county,  where  he  acquired  a  very 
 higb  reputation.  In  this  last  place  he  was  silenced  for  non- 
 conformity; and  after  several  years'  silence,  he  came  up  to  Cam- 
 bridge to  take  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity,  and  perform- 
 ed his  exercise  with  general  applause.  On  his  restoration  to 
 his  ministry,  in  1640,  he  did  not  return  to  Finchingfield,  but 
 was  appointed  lecturer  at  St.  Margaret's  church,  Westminster; 
 and  though  despised,  hated,  and  calumniated  by  the  opposite 
 party,  he  was  a  man  of  high  reputation,  often  called  to  preach 
 before  parliament,  who  consulted  him  on  all  important  matters 
 relating  to  religion.  Mr  Echard,  with  his  usual  animosity,  de- 
 nominates him  a  famous  incendiary,  and  assistant  to  the  parlia- 
 
366  MEMOIR  01 
 
 mentarians;  their  trumpeter  in  their  fasts;  their  confessor  in 
 sickness;  their  counsellor  in  their  assemblies;  their  chaplain  in 
 their  treaties;  and  their  redoubted  champion  in  all  their  dispu- 
 tations. "  This  great  Shimei  (says  he)  being  taken  with  a  des- 
 perate sickness,  departed  the  world  mad  and  raving;"  than 
 which  there  never  was  a  more  unjust  aspersion;  for  Mr  Mar- 
 shall retained  the  full  possession  of  his  understanding  to  the 
 last  moment.  Lord  Clarendon  also  admits  his  great  popularity 
 and  public  influence  in  parliament.  "  Without  doubt  (says  he) 
 the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  never  had  so  great  an  influence 
 upon  the  councils  at  court,  as  Mr  Marshall  and  Dr.  Burgess 
 had  upon  the  Houses  of  Parliament."  His  lordship,  moreover, 
 charges  him  with  a  transaction,  which,  were  it  true,  would  ren- 
 der him  unworthy  of  the  character  of  an  honest  man.  This  re- 
 lates to  the  ministers'  petition  presented  to  parliament;  which 
 paper,  says  he,  contained  but  few  signatures,  but  many  other 
 sheets  were  annexed  for  the  reception  of  such  names  as  favour- 
 ed the  undertaking;  but  after  their  names  had  been  subscribed, 
 the  petition  itself  was  cut  off,  and  another  petition  of  a  different 
 nature  substituted  in  its  place;  and  when  some  of  the  ministers 
 complained  that  they  had  never  seen  the  petition  to  which  their 
 names  were  attached,  Mr  Marshall,  who  is  said  to  have  had  the 
 charge  of  the  petition,  told  them,  that  it  was  thought  fit,  by  men 
 who  understood  the  business  better  than  they,  to  have  the  lat- 
 ter preferred  to  the  former.  Dr.  Walker,  an  archbigot  for 
 things  as  they  are,  is,  however,  afraid  to  establish  this  as  a  mat- 
 ter of  fact,  and  contents  himself  with  saying,  "  It  is  probable 
 Mr  Marshall  was  deeply  enough  concerned  in  the  affair." 
 There  was  a  committee  of  parliament  appointed  to  take  cogniz- 
 ance of  all  such  petitions;  but  the  learned  historian  relieves 
 himself  from  all  further  investigation,  by  saying,  "  That  they 
 were  prevailed  upon  to  pass  it  over;"  for  the  truth  of  which  we  have 
 only  his  lordship's  word;  while  neither  Rush  worth,  Whitelock, 
 nor  any  of  the  impartial  writers  of  those  times,  have  so  much 
 as  hinted  at  the  circumstance.  Such  an  improbable  assertion, 
 therefore,  without  any  proof  or  reference,  deserves  no  credit 
 whatever,  but  has  every  appearance  of  being  a  forgery,  intend- 
 ed to  vilify  the  character  of  one  of  their  most  active  anta- 
 gonists. 
 
 Scarcely  have  any  of  the  puritan  divines  been  set  up  as  a  butt 
 for  the  shafts  of  calumny  and  inveterate  invective  so  conspicu- 
 ously as  the  subject  of  this  memoir;  nor  has  any  of  his  enemies 
 attacked  him  with  so  much  scurrility  as  the  anonymous  author 
 of  a  Letter  of  Spiritual  Advice,  written  to  Mr  Stephen  Marshall 
 in  his  sickness.  "  When  I  heard  of  your  sickness  (says  this 
 writer),  I  assure  you  I  felt  in  my  mind  such  a  different  appre- 
 
STEPHEN  MARSHALL.  567 
 
 hension  of  your  state  from  that  of  ordinary  sickness,  that  I  can- 
 not impute  your  present  visitation  to  any  thing  but  the  just  se- 
 verity of  almighty  God,  for  the  exertions  you  have  made,  and 
 the  influence  you  have  used,  to  ruin  this  church  and  kingdom. 
 For,  sir,  is  it  not  apparent,  that  your  eminent  gifts  of  preaching 
 have  been  used  with  the  design  of  kindling  those  flames  of  re- 
 bellion, and  producing  that  effusion  of  christian  blood,  that  now 
 desolates  the  country  where  you   were  born  ?     Have  not  you, 
 with  all  the  earnest  solicitations  in  your  power,  endeavoured  to 
 raise  liberal  contributions  from  your  hearers  to  maintain  this 
 unnatural  war?     Have  you  not  forsaken  your  own  charge  to 
 accompany  and  strengthen  the  resolutions  of  the  general  of  your 
 army  in  his  attempts  against  the  just  power  and  sacred  life  of 
 his  and  your  anointed  Sovereign  f     Does  not  the  whole  king- 
 dom impute  the  distractions  and  combustions  therein,  as  much 
 to  the  seditious  sermons  of  the  preachers  of  your  faction,  as  to 
 the  contrivances  and  policy  of  those  persons  who  direct  the  un- 
 hallowed machinery?     Let  your  own  conscience  be  your  own 
 judge  in  this  matter,  and  it  will  tell  you,  that  should  your  de- 
 signs succeed  to  your  wish,  and  a  change  of  government,  such 
 as  you  contemplate,  take  place,  you  would  think  yourselves  much 
 wronged  and  neglected  if  you  were  not  acknowledged  and  re- 
 warded as  very  effectual  instruments  in  bringing  about  the  de- 
 sired change.    This  being  the  incontrovertible  state  of  the  case, 
 you  cannot  account  it  uncharitable,  in  those  who  believe  as  I 
 sincerely  do,  that  your  purposes  are  not  merely  unjust,  but 
 that  they  are  fraught  with  the  ruin  both  of  justice  and  religion, 
 should  they  attribute  it  to  the  mercy  and  favour  of  God  to  this 
 ruined  country,  and  his  vengeance  against  you,  were  he  to  rid 
 the  world  of  such  a  destructive  firebrand  !"     This  anonymous 
 letter  stands  in  need  of  no  refutation — its  inveterate  ill -nature 
 and  ill-manners  are  of  themselves  a  sufficient  refutation. 
 
 In  1643  Mr  Marshall  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  di- 
 vines, and  was  a  most  active  and  valuable  member.  In  this 
 public  situation,  actively  employed  in  preparing  and  maturing 
 such  measures  as  were  calculated  to  supersede  the  episcopalian 
 hierarchy,  and  circumscribe  the  inordinate  power  and  intoler- 
 ant rule  of  her  dignitaries,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  the 
 bitterest  censures  of  his  antagonists  should  be  poured  upon  him. 
 Speaking  of  him  as  a  member  of  the  assembly,  says  one  of 
 them,  "  They  sit  not  to  consult  how  religion  may  be  reformed, 
 wherein  it  is  amiss,  but  to  receive  the  orders  of  parliament  to 
 innovate  and  undo  religion;  in  which  work  and  drudgery  of  the 
 devil  our  active  Stephen  needs  neither  whip  nor  spur,  but  tooth 
 and  nail  exerts  himself  to  overthrow  and  destroy  the  hierarchy, 
 root  and  branch."     Dr.  Heylin  calls  him  the  great  bell-wether 
 
568  M  KM OIU  OF 
 
 of  the  presbyterians;  and  Newcourt,  that  he  also  may  have  the 
 honour  of  being  accounted  one  of  his  calumniators,  calls  him 
 the  Geneva-bull,  and  a  factious  and  rebellious  divine. 
 
 "As  to  Mr  Marshall  (says  Dr.  Calamy),  he  was  an  active 
 man,  and  encouraged  taking  up  arms  against  a  party  of  men 
 who  were  driving  every  thing  into  confusion,  at  a  period,  when 
 not  only  he  and  his  friends,  but  a  great  number  of  as  worthy 
 men  as  ever  sat  in  St.  Stephen's  chapel,  considered  the  consti- 
 tution, that  guaranteed  the  liberties  of  England,  in  a  very  ha- 
 zardous situation.  Yet  I  am  not  aware  that  he  can  be  justly 
 charged  with  the  least  concurrence  in  those  after-measures 
 which  tended  to  confusion."  In  the  great  controversy  con- 
 cerning church  government,  Mr  Marshall  also  took  a  decided 
 part.  The  celebrated  bishop  Hall  having  published  his  work 
 in  defence  of  episcopacy  and  the  English  liturgy,  in  1640,  en- 
 titled, An  Humble  Remonstrance  to  the  High  Court  of  Parlia- 
 ment, Mr  Marshall  united,  with  several  of  his  brethren,  in  writ- 
 ing the  famous  book,  entitled,  An  Answer  to  a  Book,  entitled, 
 An  Humble  Remonstrance;  in  which  answer  the  origin  of  litur- 
 gy and  episcopacy  is  discussed,  and  queries  propounded  con- 
 cerning both;  the  parity  of  bishops  and  presbyters  in  the  scrip- 
 ture demonstrated;  the  disparity  of  the  ancient  and  our  modern 
 bishops  manifested;  the  antiquity  of  ruling  elders  in  the  church 
 vindicated;  and  the  prelatical  church  bounded — written  by 
 Smectymnuus,  1641.  This  work  is  said  to  be  very  well  writ- 
 ten, and  that  in  all  the  controversies  about  non-conformity,  it 
 was  much  referred  to;  but  done  with  great  fierceness  of  spirit 
 and  asperity  of  language.  Mr  Calamy  affirms,  "  That  it  gave 
 the  first  deadly  blow  to  episcopacy."  The  learned  Dr.  Kempis 
 says,  "  It  was  a  production  of  no  small  importance  in  its  day, 
 and  drawn  up  in  a  style  of  composition  superior  to  that  of  the 
 puritans  in  general,  and  indeed  of  many  other  writers  of  that 
 period."  The  learned  bishop  Wilkins  represents  it  as  a  capital 
 performance  against  episcopacy.  It  concludes  with  a  postscript, 
 containing  an  historical  narrative  of  the  pride,  luxury,  bribery, 
 extortion,  rebellion,  treason,  and  other  bitter  effects  of  episco- 
 pacy, and  closes  to  the  following  effect : 
 
 "The  inhuman  butcheries,  blood  shedding,  and  other  un- 
 paralleled barbarities  committed  by  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  the 
 rest  of  the  bishops  in  queen  Mary's  time,  are  so  fresh  in  every 
 man's  memory,  that  we  conceive  it  unnecessary  to  mention 
 them,  only  that  we  are  afraid  that  blood,  then  so  wantonly  shed, 
 may  yet  be  required  of  the  nation,  because  it  hath  not  endea- 
 voured to  appease  the  wrath  of  heaven  by  a  general  repentance 
 and  reformation.  The  practice  of  the  prelates  ever  since,  even 
 from  the  commencement  of  Elizabeth's  reign  to  the  present  day, 
 
STEPHEN  MARSHALL.  569 
 
 would  fill  a  volume,  like  EzekieFs  roll,  full  of  lamentation, 
 mourning,  and  woe;  for  it  hath  been  their  main  design,  and 
 unwearied  endeavour,  to  arrest  and  prevent  all  further  refor- 
 mation, to  introduce  the  doctrines  of  popery,  arminianism,  and 
 libertinism;  to  maintain,  propagate,  and  increase  the  burden  of 
 human  ceremonies;  to  keep  out  and  beat  down  the  preaching  of 
 the  word;  to  silence  faithful  ministers;  to  ridicule,  and  other- 
 wise oppose  and  persecute,  the  most  zealous  professors;  to  turn 
 all  religion  into  a  pompous  parade  of  unmeaning  ceremonies, 
 and  tread  down  the  power  of  godliness,  insomuch  that  it  has 
 become  a  common  proverb  amongst  the  people,  when  any  thing 
 is  spoiled,  that  the  bishop's  foot  has  been  there.  In  all  this,  and 
 much  more  which  might  be  said,  fulfilling  bishop  Bonner's 
 prophecy,  who,  finding  that  in  king  Edward's  reformation  a  re- 
 servation was  introduced  for  admitting  ceremonies  and  im- 
 proving the  hierarchy,  is  confidently  and  credibly  reported  to 
 have  said,  since  they  have  begun  to  taste  our  broth^  it  will  not  be 
 long  till  they  eat  our  beef."  To  this  work  the  bishop  replied  in 
 defence  of  his  humble  remonstrance.  Smectymnuus  supported 
 what  he  had  formerly  said,  and  farther  discussed  the  errors  of 
 episcopacy,  and  the  conduct  of  her  prelatical  rulers.  The 
 bishop  concluded  the  controversy  by  a  piece,  entitled,  A  Short 
 Answer  to  a  tedious  Vindication  of  Smectymnuus,  1641. 
 
 During  this  year  Mr  Marshall  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the 
 earl  of  Essex's  regiment  in  the  parliament  army;  in  which  situ- 
 ation, Dr.  Gray  denominates  him  and  Dr.  Downing  the  two 
 famed  casuistical  divines,  and  most  eminent  camp  chaplains, 
 and  charges  them,  on  the  authority  of  lord  Clarendon  and 
 Echard,  with  publicly  avowing,  "That  the  soldiers,  taken  prison- 
 ers at  Brentford,  and  liberated  by  the  king  upon  their  oaths  never 
 again  to  take  up  arms  against  him,  were  not  obliged  by  that 
 oath,  having  by  their  power  absolved  them  from  its  obligation, 
 and  thereby  engaged  those  miserable  men  in  the  guilt  of  a  se- 
 cond rebellion."  This,  like  the  former,  has  all  the  appearance 
 of  a  forgery,  for  the  purpose  of  ruining  the  reputation  of  two  men, 
 of  whom  they  seem  to  have  been  much  afraid.  Nothing,  every 
 body  knows,  could  be  more  remote,  from  either  the  opinion  or 
 practice  of  puritans,  than  priestly  absolution,  to  the  power  of 
 which  they  renounced  all  claims,  and  abhorred  the  very  idea; 
 besides,  the  parliament's  army  at  this  time  stood  in  no  need  of 
 such  a  mean  subterfuge.  It  must  therefore  have  been  forged 
 for  the  purpose  of  calumny. 
 
 In  1644  he  attended  the  commissioners  at  the  treaty  of  Ux- 
 bridge.  In  1645  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  committee  of  ac- 
 commodation, to  secure  the  peace  of  the  church,  and  promote, 
 as  far  as  possible,   the  satisfaction  of  all  parties.      In  the  vear 
 
 21  4  c 
 
570  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 following,  he  was  appointed,  along  with  Mr  Joseph  Caryl, 
 chaplain  to  the  commissioners  who  were  sent  to  the  king  at 
 Newcastle,  with  the  view  of  accommodating  the  matters  in  dis- 
 pute. Removing  thence,  by  easy  journies,  to  Holmby-house, 
 the  two  chaplains  performed  divine  service  there;  but  his  ma- 
 jesty never  attended.  He  spent  his  Lord's  day  in  private;  and 
 though  they  waited  at  table,  he  would  not  so  much  as  allow 
 them  to  ask  a  blessing.  The  Oxford  historian,  who  mentions 
 this  circumstance,  relates  the  following  anecdote :  "  It  is  said 
 that  Marshall,  on  one  occasion,  put  himself  more  forward  than 
 was  meet  to  say  grace;  but  while  he  was  long  in  forming  his 
 chops,  as  the  manner  was  among  the  saints,  and  making  ugly 
 faces,  the  king  said  grace  to  himself,  and  had  some  part  of  his 
 dinner  eaten  before  Marshall  had  ended  his  blessing;  but  that 
 Caryl  was  not  so  im prudent."  In  1647,  Mr  Marshall  was  ap- 
 pointed, together  with  Mr  Vines,  Mr  Caryl,  and  Dr.  Seaman, 
 to  attend  the  treaty  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  he  conducted 
 himself  with  great  ability  and  moderation.  In  1654,  when  the 
 parliament  voted  a  toleration  of  all  who  professed  to  hold  by 
 the  fundamentals  of  Christianity,  Mr  Marshall  was  appointed 
 one  of  the  committee  to  draw  up,  and  present  to  the  House,  a 
 catalogue  of  these  essential  articles;  and,  about  the  same  time, 
 he  was  chosen  one  of  the  triers. 
 
 A  writer,  already  quoted,  who  employs  thirty  quarto  pages, 
 the  principal  part  of  which  is  filled  up  with  scurrilous  abuse, 
 says,  among  other  things,  "  Because  the  church  could  not  be 
 destroyed  without  also  destroying  the  king,  who  was  more  firm- 
 ly wedded  to  her  than  Mr  Marshall  to  his  wife,  or  his  first  liv- 
 ing, the  king,  his  adherents,  the  church  and  her  ministers, 
 must  therefore  be  all  destroyed  together:  That  Mr  Marshall, 
 by  his  thundering  in  every  pulpit,  and  cursing  every  person 
 who  hesitated  to  rebel,  by  encouraging  all  whose  villany 
 prompted  them  to  undertake  that  accursed  work,  assuring 
 them  of  no  small  preferment  in  heaven  who  would  hazard  or 
 •  lose  their  lives  in  this  glorious  cause,  by  his  menaces  and  pri- 
 vate incitements,  his  becoming  drum-major  or  captain-general 
 of  the  army,  by  his  praying,  from  regiment  to  regiment,  at  the 
 battle  of  Edgehill,  and  in  many  other  ways,  had  greatly  contri- 
 buted to  the  ruin  of  the  church,  and  the  death  of  the  king.  His 
 religion,  continues  this  malicious  and  worthless  biographer, 
 consisted  wholly  in  externals,  in  a  Jewish  observation  of  the 
 Sabbath,  in  praying,  preaching,  fasting,  and  thanksgiving,  un- 
 der which  specious  appearances  the  mystery  of  iniquity  lay  hid." 
 But  notwithstanding  the  abuse  he  has  received  from  these 
 high  church  bigots,  he  has  an  excellent  character  from  many 
 public  and  highly  creditable  individuals.     Mr  Baxter,  who  knew 
 
STEPHEN  MARSHALL.  ffj\ 
 
 him  well,  calls  him  a  sober  and  worthy  man,  and  often  observ- 
 ed, with  regard  to  his  moderation,   "  That  if  all  the  bishops 
 were  like  Usher,  the  independents  like  Jeremiah  Burroughs, 
 and  all  the  presbyterians  like  Stephen  Marshall,  the  melancholy 
 divisions  of  the  church  would  have  been  easily  accommodated." 
 Mr  Marshall  fell  into  a  bad  state  of  health,  and  was  obliged 
 to  retire  to  the  country  for  the  benefit  of  the  air;  upon  which 
 the  Oxford  Mercury  published  to  the  world  that  he  had  gone 
 distracted,  and,  in  his  rage,  continually  cried  out,  "  That  he  was 
 damned  for  his  adhering  to  the  parliament  in  their  war  against 
 the  king."     Much  in  the  same  manner  was  Luther  served  by 
 the  bigoted  devotees  of  Rome;  and  such  has  generally  been  the 
 treatment  of  all  active  and  leading  reformers,  ancient  and  mo- 
 dern.    Cromwell  was  said  to  have  made  a  literal  compact  with 
 the  devil,  and  to  have  signed  the  satanical  compact  with  his 
 own  blood.     Christ  himself  was  denominated  a  drunkard,  and 
 in  compact  with  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  devils;  and  thousands 
 beside  have  been  charged  by  their  enemies  with  a  death-bed  re- 
 pentance, for  transactions  in  which  they  gloried  with  their  ex- 
 piring breath.     Mr  Marshall  lived,  however,  to  refute  this  un- 
 generous calumny,  and  to  publish  a  treatise,  wherein  he  main- 
 tains the  lawfulness  of  defensive  war  against  the  government 
 of  a  country  in  extreme  cases.    Upon  his  retiring  from  the  city, 
 he  spent  the  two  last  years  of  his  life  at  Ipswich;  and  his  last 
 words,  according  to  Mr  Petyt,   were,   "  King  Charles  !  King 
 Charles  !"  testifying  his  horror  and  regret  for  the  bloody  con- 
 fusion he  had  promoted.     In  opposition  to  this,  Mr  Firman, 
 who  knew  him  in  life,  and  attended  him  in  death,  says,  in  a 
 preface  to  one  of  Mr  Marshall's  Posthumous  Sermons,   "  That 
 he  left  behind  him  few  preachers  like  himself:    That  he  was  a 
 christian  in  practice  as  well  as  profession :    That  he  lived  by 
 faith,  and  died  in  faith,   and  was  to  believers  an  example,  in 
 word,  in  conversation,   in  charity,   faith,  and  purity."     That 
 when  he,  and  several  others,  conversed  with  him  about  his  death, 
 he  said,   "  I  cannot  say,   with  one,  I  have  not  so  lived  that  I 
 should  now  be  afraid  to  die;  but  this  I  can  say,   I  have  so 
 learned  Christ,  that  I  am  not  afraid  to  die."     He  enjoyed  the 
 full  exercise  of  his  understanding  to  the  last;  but  for  some 
 months  previous  to  his  dissolution  his  appetite  was  sadly  im- 
 paired, and  he  had  lost  the  use  of  both  his  hands. 
 
 He  was  justly  accounted  an  admirable  preacher;  but  in  order 
 to  rob  him  of  this  part  of  his  character,  Dr.  Gray  quotes  seve- 
 ral passages  from  his  sermons  preached  upon  public  occasions; 
 among  which  are  the  following:  "  Beloved,  our  days  are  better 
 than  they  were  seven  years  ago,  because  it  is  better  to  see  the 
 Lord  executing  judgment,  than  to  sec  men  working  wickedness, 
 
572  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 to  behold  people  wallowing  in  their  blood,  rather  than  aposta- 
 tizing from  God,  embracing  idolatry,  and  banishing  the  Lord 
 Christ  from  amongst  men.  Carry  on  the  work  still;  leave  not 
 a  rag  belonging  to  popery;  lay  not  a  bit  of  the  Lord's  building 
 with  any  thing  belonging  to  antichrist;  away  with  all  of  it,  root 
 and  branch,  head  and  tail — throw  it  out  of  the  kingdom. 
 Again,  I  could  easily  set  before  you  a  catalogue  of  mercies. 
 You  have  all  of  you  received  many  peculiar  to  your  own  per- 
 sons, to  your  souls,  your  bodies,  your  estates,  and  families, 
 privative  mercies,  positive  mercies,  you  eat  mercies,  drink  mer- 
 cies, wear  mercies,  clothes,  and  are  compassed  about  and  cover- 
 ed with  mercies,  as  the  earth  was  by  the  waters  of  Noah." 
 These  sermons,  of  which  this  is  a  specimen,  selected  for  the 
 purpose  of  ridiculing  the  preacher,  are  so  full  of  striking  com- 
 parisons, and  make  so  pointed  an  appeal  to  the  hearers,  that 
 though  they  are  not  suited  to  the  taste  of  modern  eloquence, 
 still  it  is  easy  to  conceive  how  they  might  command  the  ad- 
 miration of  those  times.  The  impartial  and  intelligent  reader, 
 it  is  presumed,  will  therefore  be  apt  to  consider  the  doctor  ra- 
 ther unhappy  in  his  quotations. 
 
 L'Estrange  also  endeavours  to  expose  Mr  Marshall  to  public 
 contempt,  on  account  of  his  sentiments  delivered  in  his  sermons 
 before  parliament.  We  give  them  in  his  own  words,  as  tran- 
 scribed from  the  printed  copies.  "  Christ  (says  he)  breaks  and 
 moulds  commonwealths  at  his  pleasure.  He  has  not  spoke 
 much  in  his  word  how  long  they  shall  last,  or  what  he  intends 
 to  do  with  them;  only  this,  that  all  kings  and  kingdoms  that 
 make  war  against  the  church  shall  be  broken  in  pieces,  and 
 that  in  the  end  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  s*hall  be  the  king- 
 doms of  our  Lord  and  his  saints,  and  they  shall  reign  over 
 them.  Did  any  parliament  in  England  ever  lay  the  cause  of 
 Christ  and  religion  to  heart  as  this  hath  done  ?  Did  ever  the 
 city  of  London,  the  rest  of  the  tribes,  and  godly  throughout  the 
 land,  so  willingly  exhaust  themselves  that  Christ  might  be  ex- 
 alted ?  Let  all  England  cry,  our  blood,  our  poverty,  the  sacri- 
 fices we  have  made,  and  all  the  sufferings  we  have  endured,  are 
 abundantly  repaid  in  this,  that  there  is  such  a  general  concur- 
 rence in  the  nation  for  setting  the  Lord  Christ  upon  his  throne, 
 to  be  Lord  and  Christ  over  this  our  Israel,"  &c.  Wood  styles 
 him  a  notorious  independent,  and  the  archflamen  of  the  rebel- 
 lious rout.  The  truth  is,  Mr  Marshall  never  was  an  indepen- 
 dent, but  lived  and  died  a  presbyterian ;  and  with  regard  to  his 
 rebellion,  few,  it  is  presumed,  but  such  as  hold  the  absurd  and 
 happily  exploded  doctrines  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resist- 
 ance, will  deny  him  the  honour  of  being  a  zealous  patriot,  and 
 a  courageous  defender  of  both  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of 
 
STEPHEN  MARSHALL.  573 
 
 his  countrymen.  Fuller  has  him  classed  among  the  learned 
 writers  of  Emanuel  college,  and  says,  "  He  was  a  minister  well 
 qualified  for  his  work."  Although  some  suspected  lie  had  de- 
 serted his  presbyterian  principles,  he  gave  full  satisfaction  on 
 his  death-bed  that  it  was  not  the  case.  He  died  in  the  month 
 of  November  1655,  and  was  interred  in  Westminster  Abbey 
 with  great  funeral  solemnity;  but  dug  up,  together  with  many 
 others,  at  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 
 
 Mr  Marshall  wrote  with  considerable  ability  against  the  bap- 
 tists, and  had  many  sermons  published  which  were  preached 
 before  parliament.     The  following  are  the  titles  of  such  as  we 
 have  been  able  to  collect:    1.  A  Sermon  preached  to  the  Com- 
 mons at  their  public  Fast,  Nov.  17th,  1640. — 2.  A  Peace-offer- 
 ing to  God,  preached  to  the  Commons  at  their  public  Thanks- 
 giving, Sept.  7th,  1641. — 3.  Meroz  Cursed;  a  Sermon  preach- 
 ed to  the  Commons  at  their  solemn  Fast,  Feb.  23d,  1641. — 4. 
 Reformation  and  Desolation;  a  Sermon  preached  to  the  Com- 
 mons at  their  Fast,  Dec.  22d,  1642. — 5.  The  Song  of  Moses, 
 the  servant  of  God,  and  of  the  Lamb,  opened,  in  a  Sermon  be- 
 fore the  Commons  at  their  solemn  Thanksgiving,  June  15th, 
 1643. — 6.  A  Copy  of  a  Letter  written  by  Mr  Stephen  Marshall 
 to  a  friend  in  the  city,  for  the  necessary  vindication  of  himself 
 and  his  ministry,  from  the  altogether  groundless,  most  unjust, 
 and  ungodly  aspersions  cast  upon  him  by  certain  malignants  in 
 the  city,  dated  1643. — 7.  A  Sermon  on  the  Baptism  of  Infants, 
 preached  in  the  Abbey  church,  Westminster,  at  the  morning 
 Lecture  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons. — 8.  The  Church's 
 Lamentation  for  the  Good  Man's  loss;  a  Sermon  preached  be- 
 fore both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the  Assembly  of  Divines, 
 at  the  Funeral  of  John  Pym,  Esq.  a  late  member  of  the  House 
 of  Commons. — 9.  God's  Master-piece;  a  Sermon  tending  to  set 
 forth  God's  glorious  appearance  in  building  up  Zion,  preached 
 before  the  Peers. — 10.  The  Strong  Helper,  or  the  interest  and 
 power  of  the  prayers  of  the  destitute  for  the  building  up  of  Zion  ; 
 a  Sermon  preached  before  the  Commons  at  their  monthly  Fast, 
 April  30th,  1645.— 11.  A  Sacred  Record  to  be  made  of  God's 
 mercies  to  Zion;  a  thanksgiving  Sermon,  preached  before  both 
 Houses  of  Parliament,  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  common  council  of 
 the  city  of  London,  at  Christ's  church,  June  19th,  1645. — 12. 
 A  Defence  of  Infant  Baptism,  in  answer  to  two  Treatises,  with 
 an  Appendix. — 13.  A  Divine  Project  to  save  a  Kingdom. — 14. 
 A  two-edged  Sword  to  execute  vengeance  on  the  enemy  and 
 the    avenger. — 15.    The    right   understanding   of  the    Times, 
 preached    before    the    Commons,     Dec.    30th,    1646. — 16.    A 
 thanksgiving  Sermon,   preached  in   the  Abbey  church  to  both 
 Houses,   August  12th,  1647. — 17.  A  Sermon  preached  to  the 
 
57 4  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  MAYNARD. 
 
 Lord  Mayor,  and  Court  of  Aldermen  of  the  city  of  London,  at 
 their  anniversary  Meeting,  April  1652. — 18.  The  Power  of  the 
 Magistrate  in  matters  of  Religion  vindicated,  and  the  extent  of 
 his  power  determined,  in  a  Sermon  preached  before  the  Parlia- 
 ment on  a  monthly  Fast. 
 
 JOHN  MAYNARD,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Maynard  was  born  at  Riverfield  in  Sussex.  In  1616 
 he  became  a  commoner  of  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  compound- 
 ed for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  as  a  member  of  that  House, 
 and  afterwards  translated  himself  to  Magdalen-hall,  in  the  same 
 university.  In  1622  he  took  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  en- 
 tered into  the  holy  ministry,  and  was  settled  at  Mayfield,  in  his 
 own  county.  On  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war  he  es- 
 poused the  cause  of  the  parliament,  and  openly  avowed  his  sen- 
 timents. In  1643  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of 
 divines,  took  the  covenant,  and  preached  occasionally  before  the 
 members  of  parliament.  In  1645  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
 assistants  to  the  commissioners  of  the  county  of  Sussex,  for  re- 
 moving improper  ministers  and  school-masters.  Mr  Elias 
 Paul  d'Aranda  was  for  some  time  his  assistant,  when  Mr 
 Maynard  allowed  him  all  the  tythes,  reserving  to  himself  only 
 the  parson-house  and  glebe.  He  was  ejected  from  Mayfield  by 
 the  act  of  uniformity;  after  which  he  lived  in  the  same  town, 
 and  was  highly  respected.  He  was  a  considerable  benefactor 
 to  Magdalen-hall,  where  he  received  part  of  his  education.  He 
 recommended  Mr  Peck,  his  successor,  to  the  patron,  who  pre- 
 ferred him  to  the  living  of  Mayfield.  He  died  June  7th,  1665, 
 and,  according  to  his  own  request,  was  interred  in  the  church-yard 
 of  Mayfield,  where  a  stone,  with  a  long  and  honourable  inscrip- 
 tion, was  placed  over  his  grave,  setting  forth,  that  he  was  a  di- 
 vine of  irreproachable  manners,  pious,  learned,  and  of  venerable 
 gravity,  well  skilled  in  history,  and  an  excellent  public  speaker : 
 That  he  shone,  during  the  space  of  forty  years,  the  light  and 
 glory  of  his  flock  at  Mayfield,  till,  weary  of  the  world,  and  ripe 
 for  glory,  he  departed  from  this  sickly  scene  of  pain,  sorrow, 
 discord,  and  animosity,  that  he  might  join  the  church  of  the 
 first-born,  and  Jesus  the  Mediator. 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  A  Sermon  to  the  Commons,  from  Prov. 
 xxiii.  23. — 2.  A  Shadow  of  the  Victory  of  Christ. — 3.  The 
 Young  Man's  Remembrancer,  and  Old  Man's  Monitor. — 4. 
 The  Law  of  God  ratified  by  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  in  several 
 Sermons. — 5.  The  Beauty  and  Order  of  Creation  displayed  in 
 six  davs  work. 
 
375 
 
 MATTHEW  NEWCOMEN,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Newcomen  had  his  education  at  St.  John's  college, 
 Cambridge.  Here  he  was  greatly  esteemed  by  the  students  for 
 his  wit  and  other  curious  parts:  which  being  afterwards  sancti- 
 fied by  the  Spirit  of  truth,  he  became  eminently  serviceable  to 
 the  cause  of  reformation.  He  succeeded  the  famous  Mr  John 
 Rogers  at  Dedham.  Their  gifts  were  of  a  very  different  com- 
 plexion. Mr  Rogers  was  solid,  grave,  and  severe,  and  deliver- 
 ed his  discourses  with  such  a  peculiarity  of  gesture  and  elocu- 
 tion, that  few  heard  him  without  trembling.  He  was  truly  one 
 of  the  most  awakening  preachers  of  the  age.  Mr  Newcomen's 
 gifts  were  so  diversified,  that  they  lay  almost  every  way.  Dr. 
 Collins,  in  his  preface  to  Mr  Fairfax's  sermon,  preached  at  his 
 funeral,  says,  "  That  he  had  thirty  years  acquaintance  of  him, 
 and  in  that  time  had  been  well  acquainted  with  many  learned 
 and  pious  men;  but  never  knew  any  that  excelled  Mr  New- 
 comen as  a  minister  in  the  pulpit,  a  disputant  in  the  schools, 
 or  as  a  desirable  companion.  His  gift  in  prayer  was  incom- 
 parable. He  was  a  painful,  pathetic,  and  persuasive  preacher." 
 In  1643  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and  gave 
 regular  attendance  during  the  session.  He  was  employed,  to- 
 gether with  Dr.  Tuekney  and  Dr.  Arrowsmith,  in  drawing  up 
 the  assembly's  catechism.  He  was  engaged  at  this  time  also  in 
 preaching  at  Aldermanbury  along  with  Mr  Calamy.  He  -was 
 one  of  the  commissioners  sent  to  the  Saw>y  conference,  and  had 
 many  offers  of  great  preferment  after  his  settlement  at  Ded- 
 ham; all  of  which  he  declined  accepting,  and  remained  with  his 
 flock  till  ejected  by  the  act  of  uniformity.  Soon  after  this  he 
 was  invited  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  English  congre- 
 gation at  Leyden  in  Holland.  He  the  more  readily  accepted  of 
 this  invitation,  knowing  that  there  he  would  have  full  liberty 
 for  exercising  his  ministry  without  any  restraint;  which  privi- 
 lege he  prized  above  any  thing  on  earth.  He  was  greatlv  re- 
 spected by  Dr.  Hornbeck,  and  other  professors  and  learned 
 men  in  those  parts,  with  whom  he  associated  with  much  friend- 
 ship and  familiarity.  He  died  of  an  epidemic  fever,  that  greatly 
 prevailed  in  that  city,  in  1668  or  1669.  He  was  an  accom- 
 plished scholar,  distinguished  for  universal  learning,  christian 
 piety,  humility,  and  pleasant  conversation.  Mr  Baxter,  in  his 
 own  life,  frequently  mentions  him,  with  much  respect,  as  one 
 of  the  ministers  principally  concerned  in  the  transactions  of 
 those  times. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Irenicura. — 2.  A  Serinr  d   to  the 
 
 Commons,   Nov.   5th,  1612. — 3.   A  Sermon  preached  to  both 
 Houses,  and  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  July  7th,  1643. — i.  A 
 
576  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Sermon  tending  to  set  forth  the  right  improvement  of  the  disas- 
 ters of  the  army,  preached  before  both  Houses  of  Parliament  at 
 their  extraordinary  Fast,  Sept.  12th,  1644. — 5.  The  all-seeing 
 unseen  Eye  of  God;  a  Sermon  to  the  Commons,  Dec.  30th, 
 1646. — 6.  The  duty  of  such  as  would  walk  worthy  of  the  gospel. — 
 7.  A  Sermon  at  the  Funeral  of  Mr  Samuel  Collins,  pastor  of 
 Braintree  in  Essex. — 8.  A  farewell  Sermon  in  the  London  Col- 
 lection.— 9.  Another  Sermon  in  the  Country  Collection,  en- 
 titled, Ultimum  Vale,  or  the  last  farewell  of  a  minister  of  the 
 gospel  to  his  beloved  people. — 10.  The  best  acquaintance,  and 
 highest  honour  of  christians,  acquaint  now  thyself  with  him, 
 and  be  at  peace,  &c. 
 
 PHILIP  NYE,  A.  M. 
 
 Mr  Nye  was  born  in  Sussex  in  the  year  1596.  He  en- 
 tered a  commoner  of  Brazen-nose  college,  Oxford,  in  July 
 1615;  but  soon  after  removed  to  Magdalen- hall,  in  the  same 
 university,  where,  having  been  put  under  the  care  of  a  puritani- 
 cal tutor,  he  applied  himself  to  his  studies  with  uncommon  dili- 
 gence. Having  taken  his  degrees  in  the  arts,  he  entered  into 
 holy  orders,  and  preached  some  time  at  Michael's  church  in 
 Cornhill,  London.  Upon  the  death  of  Abbot,  Laud  became 
 archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  commenced  a  still  more  intoler- 
 able persecution  against  the  puritan  divines;  many  of  whom 
 were  silenced,  some  o£  them  had  their  lectures  put  down,  the 
 most  eminent  for  abilities,  learning,  and  faithfulness,  were  dri- 
 ven from  one  place  to  another,  and  many  of  them  forced  to 
 leave  the  kingdom.  Mr  Nye,  and  several  others,  about  this 
 time,  that  they  might  escape  the  fury  of  the  storm  that  raged 
 around  them,  fled  into  Holland;  where  they  were  free  from  the 
 inquisitorial  power  of  the  episcopalian  courts,  and  the  innova- 
 tions which  they  were  rigidly  imposing  on  the  English  clergy, 
 things  with  which  Mr  Nye  was  peculiarly  ill  pleased.  Wood 
 says,  "  That  during  his  residence  in  Holland,  he  chiefly  dwelt  at 
 Arnheim  in  Guelderland." 
 
 About  the  beginning  of  the  long  parliament  he  returned  to 
 England,  and,  through  the  favour  of  the  earl  of  Manchester, 
 became  minister  of  Kimbolton  in  Huntingdonshire.  In  1643 
 he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and  had  the  rec- 
 tory of  Acton,  near  London,  conferred  upon  him.  He  was  an 
 active  leader  of  the  independents,  and,  accordingly,  one  of  the 
 dissenting  brethren  in  that  assembly.  "  When  it  came  to  his 
 turn  to  oppose  presbyterian  government  (says  Mr  Baillie),  he 
 had  drawn  up  an  argument  from  the  xviii.  of  Matthew;  but 
 could  never  bring  it  into  a  syllogism  to  prove  the  inconsistency 
 
PHILIP  NYE.  577 
 
 of  presbytery  with  a  civil  government."  In  this  he  was  cried 
 down  by  the  members  as  impertinent.  On  the  day  following, 
 however,  when  he  saw  the  assembly  full  of  the  prime  nobles, 
 and  the  chief  members  of  both  Houses,  he  again  introduced  the 
 same  argument,  and  boldly  offered  to  demonstrate,  "  That  to 
 draw  a  whole  kingdom  under  one  national  assembly,  such  as 
 had  been  done  in  Scotland,  would  be  formidable,  yea,  thrice 
 pernicious  to  any  state  or  kingdom."  Here  he  was  cried  down 
 by  all,  and  some  members  were  for  having  him  expelled  the  as- 
 sembly as  seditious.  Mr  Henderson,  in  particular,  asserted, 
 "  That  his  speech  was  not  merely  opposed  to  the  presbyterian 
 mode  of  government,  as  established  in  Scotland  and  elsewhere, 
 but  that  it  also  went  to  calumniate  the  government  of  all  the 
 reformed  churches;  and  that  it  was  with  the  same,  or  with  si- 
 milar arguments,  that  Lucian  and  the  pagan  orators  were  wont 
 to  alarm  and  stir  up  princes  and  statesmen  against  the  christian 
 religion  in  the  early  ages  of  the  christian  church."  The  assem- 
 bly voted  him  out  of  order,  which  was  their  highest  censure. 
 The  Scotch  commissioners  had  several  consultations  how  to  act 
 on  the  occasion,  and  at  last  came  to  the  resolution  not  to  meet 
 with  Mr  Nye  unless  he  acknowledged  his  fault.  The  indepen- 
 dents, on  the  other  hand,  would  not  meet  without  him,  and  he 
 tenaciously  adhered  to  what  he  had  advanced;  at  last  the  Scotch 
 commissioners  were  entreated  by  their  friends  to  pass  it  over  in 
 the  best  way  they  could,  that  the  business  of  the  assembly 
 might  not  be  interrupted.  This  affair,  however,  produced  a 
 happy  result,  inasmuch  as  Mr  Nye  was  ever  after  one  of  the 
 most  accommodating  individuals  in  the  assembly  *." 
 
 Mr  Nye  and  Mr  Stephen  Marshall  were  sent  with  the  com- 
 missioners from  the  English  parliament  to  Scotland,  to  settle 
 an  agreement  with  the  Scotch  nation,  and  solicit  their  aid  in 
 the  common  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Mr  Hume,  in 
 his  History  of  England,  says,  "  That  Marshall  and  Nye  were 
 two  clergymen  of  signal  authority."  Nye  was  extremely  zea- 
 lous and  active  in  recommending  the  solemn  league  and  cove- 
 nant. He  delivered  an  excellent  speech  to  the  House  of  Com- 
 mons, and  the  assembly  of  divines,  at  St.  Margaret's  church, 
 Westminster,  immediately  before  their  subscribing  said  cove- 
 nant, on  the  25th  Sept.  1643.  This  speech  was  published  by 
 special  order  of  the  House,  and  has  been  often  printed  since 
 that  time.  He  was  also  one  of  the  chaplains  appointed  by  par- 
 liament to  attend  their  commissioners  to  treat  with  the  king  in 
 the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  164T.  In  1053  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
 triers;  and  in  1654,  when  parliament  voted  a  toleration  to  all 
 who  professed  to  hold  the  fundamentals  of  christianitv,   he  was 
 
 *.  Baillie's  Letter^. 
 
 21  4  d 
 
5JS  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 appointed  one  of  a  committee  to  draw  up  said  fundamental  arti- 
 cles for  the  consideration  of  the  House.  He  was  likewise  con- 
 stituted an  assistant  to  the  London  commissioners  for  ejecting 
 improper  clergymen  and  school-masters.  He  was,  moreover,  a 
 leading  man  in  the  Savoy  meeting  of  independents,  held  by 
 order  of  Oliver  Cromwell  the  protector,  where  the  declaration 
 of  the  faith,  order,  and  practice,  of  the  congregational  churches 
 in  England,  were  agreed  upon  by  their  elders  and  commission- 
 ers, October  12th,  1658.  This  declaration  was  published  in 
 1659,  and  translated  in  1660,  by  professor  Hornbeck,  and  pub- 
 lished at  the  end  of  his  Epistola  ad  aurem  Independentissimi. 
 
 Mr  Nye  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  disciplinarian 
 controversy,  as  appears  from  a  small  publication  of  his,  entitled 
 Beams  of  former  Light;  wherein  he  makes  it  evident,  that  he 
 had  read  almost  all  that  had  been  published  on  that  subject. 
 Some  short  time  after  the  restoration,  an  order  of  parliament 
 passed  for  Mr  Nye  to  lodge  all  his  papers  with  the  archbishop 
 of  Canterbury  at  Lambeth,  where  it  is  said  they  remained  a 
 considerable  time.     Mr  Nye  was  a  deep  politician.     He  had 
 been  peculiarly  active  in  forwarding  the  reformation,  and  had 
 proceeded  with  a  high  hand  against  the  interest  of  the  king.    It 
 was  therefore  debated  in  council,  for  several  hours,  whether  the 
 royal  clemency  ought  to  be  extended  to  such  a  formidable  anta- 
 gonist.    The  result  of  the  debate  was,   "  That  if  Philip  Nye, 
 after  the  1st  of  September  next  to  come,  should  accept  of,  or 
 exercise  any  office,  ecclesiastic,  civil,  or  military,  he  should,  to 
 all  intents  and  purposes  in  law,  stand  as  if  he  had  been  totally 
 excepted  from  his  majesty's  mercy."      He  was  ejected  from 
 Bartholomew's,  behind  the  Exchange,  London,  and  lived  pri- 
 vately afterwards,  preaching  to  a  congregation  of  independents 
 as  opportunity  offered.    He  died  in  the  parish  of  Michael  Corn- 
 hill,  or  near  it,  in  September  1672,   when  about  seventy-six 
 years  of  age,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  Michael's  church. 
 Mr  Nye  left  behind  him  the  character  of  a  man  of  uncommon 
 depth  of  penetration,  and  of  one  who  had  seldom,  if  ever,  been 
 out-reached.     Mr  Calamy  says,  "  He  had  a  manuscript  history 
 of  all  the  old  puritans  fit  for  the  press,  which  was  unfortunate- 
 ly burnt  at  Alderman  Clarkson's  by  the  great  fire  of  London. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  A  Letter  from  Scotland  to  his  brethren  in 
 England,  concerning  the  success  of  affairs  in  that  Nation. — 2. 
 An  Exhortation  to  the  taking  of  the  solemn  League  and  Cove- 
 nant for  the  Reformation  and  Defence  of  Religion. — 3.  The 
 Excellency  and  lawfulness  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant, 
 in  a  speech  to  the  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  of 
 tjie  Assembly  of  Divines,  on  the  25th  of  September  1643,  pub- 
 lished with  a  collection  of  Sermons  and  Speeches  delivered  at 
 
PHILIP  NYE.  579 
 
 taking  the  Covenant. — 4.  An  Apologetical  Narration,  submitted 
 to  the  Honourable  Houses  of  Parliament.  Mr  Nye  was  assist- 
 ed in  this  by  Thomas  Goodwin  and  others. — 5.  An  Epistolary 
 Discourse  upon  Toleration.  Thomas  Goodwin  and  Samuel 
 Hartlip  are  joined  with  him  in  this  Discourse. — 6.  The  Keys  of 
 the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  the  power  thereof  according  to  the 
 word  of  God.  Mr  Wood  says,  "  That  Thomas  Goodwin  had 
 also  a  hand  in  this  work." — 7.  Mr  Anthony  Sadler  Examined. 
 — 8.  The  Principles  of  Faith,  presented  by  Thomas  Goodwin 
 and  Philip  Nye  to  the  Committee  of  Parliament  for  Religion, 
 by  way  of  explanation  to  the  proposals  for  propagating  the  gos- 
 pel.— 9.  Beams  of  former  light. — 10.  Case  of  great  and  present 
 use. — 11.  The  Lawfulness  of  the  Oath  of  Supremacy,  and 
 power  of  the  King  in  matters  Ecclesiastic,  with  Queen  Eliza- 
 beth's Admonition. — 12.  A  Vindication  of  Dissenters,  proving 
 that  their  particular  congregations  are  not  inconsistent  with  the 
 king's  supremacy  in  ecclesiastic  affairs. — 13.  Some  Account  of 
 the  nature,  constitution,  and  power  of  Ecclesiastic  Courts. — 
 14u  The  lawfulness  of  hearing  the  ministers  of  the  church  of 
 England;  also  a  Sermon  preached  to  the  Citizens  of  London  on 
 the  election  of  their  Lord  Mayor,  Sept  29th,  1659. 
 
 WILLIAM  REYNER,  B.  D. 
 
 This  pious  puritan  divine  had  his  education  at  Cambridge. 
 In  his  younger  days  he  was  very  successful  in  his  ministry 
 amongst  the  gentry.  He  was  offered  the  presidentship  of  Mag- 
 dalen college,  Oxford;  but  declined  accepting  the  generous  of- 
 fer, though  his  living  was  not  worth  more  than  sixty  pounds 
 yearly,  because  he  had  always  preached  against  pluralities,  and 
 was  determined  to  act  according  to  his  judgment.  He  was  ac- 
 counted learned  and  pious,  and  accordingly  chosen  one  of  the 
 assembly  of  divines,  where  he  gave  a  constant  attendance.  He 
 was  minister  of  Egham,  in  the  county  of  Surrey,  near  Lon» 
 don,  about  forty-six  years,  and  ejected  from  that  place  by  the 
 act  of  uniformity.  Thus,  though  deprived  of  his  benefice,  and 
 destitute  of  any  apparent  means  of  support,  Mr  Reyner  was  ne- 
 ver in  want:  but  lived  cheerfully  among  his  parishioners,  who 
 revered  him  as  a  father,  and  greatly  lamented  his  death,  which 
 took  place  in  1666,  and  left  the  world  with  the  reputation  of  a 
 good  man  and  a  faithful  minister,  possessed  of  general  learning, 
 and  eminently  acquainted  with  church  history.  He  was  intimate 
 with,  and  much  respected  by,  archbishop  Usher.  Mr  Richard 
 Wavel  was  sent  to  live  with  Mr  Reyner,  and  study  theology 
 under  him,  after  having  left  the  university  of  Oxford,  and  was 
 in  somo  manner  his  helper  ever  after,  till  ejected  as  above. 
 
.580  MF.MOIR  OF 
 
 Mr  Reyner  wrote  Babylon's  ruining  Earthquake,  and  the 
 Restoration  of  Zion;  a  Sermon  from  Hag.  ii.  7.  preached  before 
 the  House  of  Commons;  which,  according  to  Calamy,  is  all  that 
 he  ever  published. 
 
 HERBERT  PALMER,  B.  D. 
 
 This  laborious  minister  of  Christ  was  born  at  Wingham, 
 in  the  county  of  Kent,  the  29th  March  1601.  He  was  descend- 
 ed from  an  ancient  and  respectable  family,  related  to  several 
 other  notable  families  both  of  the  gentry  and  nobility.  His  fa- 
 ther was  Sir  Thomas  Palmer  of  Wingham,  and  his  mother  the 
 eldest  daughter  of  Herbert  Pelham  of  Sussex,  Esq.  Young 
 Palmer,  the  subject  of  our  present  memoir,  had  a  polite  and  re- 
 ligious education  in  his  younger  years  at  his  father's  house, 
 where  he  exhibited  early  symptoms  of  no  ordinary  genius.  His 
 mind  was  early  impressed  with  religious  feelings,  and  when 
 about  four  years  of  age,  he  used  to  put  remarkable  questions  to 
 his  mother  about  God  and  the  world  to  come.  His  parents 
 were  careful  to  give  him  an  early  view  of  the  christian  system, 
 and  at  the  same  time  to  improve  his  mind,  by  instructing  him  in 
 the  rudiments  of  literature.  In  these  laudable  endeavours  they 
 were  remarkably  successful,  for  their  young  pupil  had  learned 
 the  French  language  as  soon  as  he  could  well  speak;  and  from 
 a  child  he  was  acquainted  with  the  holy  scriptures,  which  he 
 daily  read;  and  by  committing  portions  of  them  to  memory,  he 
 soon  acquired  such  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  sacred  writ- 
 ings, as  proved  of  excellent  service  when  he  became  a  preacher 
 of  the  gospel.  When  his  parents  asked  what  course  he  was  in- 
 clined to  pursue  in  the  world,  Whether  he  would  choose  to  be 
 a  lawyer,  a  courtier,  or  a  country  gentleman  ?  his  answer  was, 
 "  That  he  wished,  above  all  things,  to  be  a  minister."  Some 
 of  his  friends,  in  order  to  sound  him  effectually,  seemed  to  dis- 
 suade him,  by  telling  him  that  preaching  was  too  mean  an  em- 
 ployment for  a  gentleman,  and  that  the  ministers  of  Christ 
 were  generally  despised,  hated,  and  often  persecuted.  "  It  is 
 no  matter  for  that  (said  he),  if  the  world  hate  me,  God  will 
 Jove  me." 
 
 After  being  well  instructed  in  the  elementary  parts  of  learn- 
 ing, he  was  admitted  fellow-commoner  in  St.  John's  college, 
 Cambridge,  in  the  year  1615,  when  about  fourteen  years  of  age. 
 Here  he  prosecuted  his  studies  with  all  diligence,  and  continu- 
 ed to  serve  the  Lord  with  undiminished  fervour  of  spirit.  In 
 J  622  he  took  his  degree  of  arts,  and,  in  the  following  year,  was 
 chosen  fellow  of  Queen's  college,  in  the  same  university.  Be- 
 ing a  gentleman  by  birth,  and  having,  beside  his  fellowship,  an 
 
HERBERT  PALMER.  581 
 
 estate  of  bis  own,  be  had  very  probably  more  than  sufficient  for 
 his  maintenance;  yet  he  cheerfully  undertook  the  charge  of 
 many  scholars,  as  this  charge  was  considered  a  part  of  his  of- 
 fice. While  thus  employed  in  Queen's  college,  Mr  Palmer  was 
 called,  and  solemnly  ordained,  a  minister  of  the  gospel;  a  work 
 to  which,  from  his  childhood,  he  had  been  entirely  devoted. 
 Blessed  with  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  the  power  of  divine 
 grace  in  his  own  soul,  he  possessed  a  liberal  portion  of  mini- 
 sterial qualifications,  and  an  ardent  desire  to  be  serviceable  to 
 the  souls  of  men. 
 
 On  visiting  his  brother,  Sir  Thomas  Palmer,  at  Wingham, 
 he  was  solicited  by  some  friends  to  preach  a  sermon  at  the  ca- 
 thedral church  of  Canterbury;  which  proved  highly  acceptable 
 to  the  audience,  particularly  those  who  were  seriously  religious. 
 The  report  of  this  induced  the  French  minister  at  Canterbury 
 to  court  his  acquaintance,  who  accordingly  paid  him  a  visit; 
 which  was  highly  pleasing  to  both,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
 profitable  and  lasting  friendship.  This  French  minister,  Mr 
 Deline,  requested  him  to  give  them  another  sermon  at  Canter- 
 bury; which  he  did,  greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people, 
 who  now  began  to  express  an  earnest  desire  that  Mr  Pal- 
 mer's ministry  might  be  continued  amongst  them.  At  length 
 having  obtained  the  object  of  their  desire,  they  received 
 him  with  every  demonstration  of  joy  and  gratitude.  At  a  lec- 
 ture kept  up  here,  Mr  Palmer  preached  on  the  afternoon  of 
 every  Sabbath  to  crowded  assemblies.  His  discourses  were 
 heavenly,  plain,  and  practical.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
 office  with  all  diligence  and  godly  sincerity,  and  his  zeal  for  the 
 purity  of  divine  institutions  was  manifested  by  his  opposition  to 
 the  corrupt  innovations  that  were  now  coming  in  like  a  flood. 
 At  this  time,  however,  he  had  not  that  clear  view  which  he  af- 
 terwards obtained  concerning  some  of  the  ceremonies,  or  the  in- 
 ordinate and  unscriptural  power  of  the  bishops;  but  he  was  zea- 
 lous according  to  knowledge,  and  fortified  his  hearers  against 
 the  pernicious  influence  of  the  increasing  abominations  daily 
 imposing  on  the  church.  He  visited  his  flock,  even  of  the  low- 
 est rank,  as  often  as  possible;  and  by  his  instructions  and  pious 
 admonitions,  greatly  contributed  to  a  reformation  of  manners  in 
 that  city.  At  the  request  of  the  elders  of  the  French  congre- 
 gation in  this  place,  he  preached  twice  at  some  of  their  solemn 
 occasions  in  their  own  language,  which  he  could  speak  with 
 great  fluency.  An  aged  French  lady,  on  one  of  these  occasions, 
 observing  his  small  stature,  and  child-like  appearance  on  en- 
 tering the  pulpit,  said,  u  Alas  !  what  can  this  child  say  to  us?" 
 But  on  hearing  him  pray,  and  proceed  with  his  sermon,  she 
 held  up  her  hands  in  amazement,  and  blessed  God  for  what  shf- 
 had  heard. 
 
.582  MKMOIR  OF 
 
 Mr  Palmer's  success  iu  this  place  was  great;  but  not  without 
 great  opposition.  His  piety,  zeal,  and  faithfulness,  raised  him 
 enemies,  particularly  among  the  cathedralists.  His  high  birth 
 and  powerful  friends  partly  intimidated  them;  but  some  of  their 
 leaders  ventured  to  exhibit  articles  against  him,  and  though  the 
 goodness  of  his  cause,  and  the  solidity  of  his  defence,  brought 
 him  off  for  this  time,  his  lecture  was  afterwards  put  down,  with 
 the  rest  of  the  afternoon  sermons.  By  the  interference  of  some 
 persons  of  powerful  influence  he  was  restored  for  some  time; 
 but  removed  from  Canterbury  at  last.  In  the  meantime,  his 
 friends  at  court  employed  all  their  influence  to  have  him  made 
 a  prebendary  at  Canterbury ;  but  were  not  successful,  for  which 
 he  afterwards  blessed  God.  He  saw  that  by  this  disappoint- 
 ment he  had  been  mercifully  delivered  from  many  temptations; 
 as  Laud,  the  succeeding  archbishop,  made  use  of  that  company 
 as  his  tools  for  introducing  and  promoting  superstition. 
 
 Mr  Palmer  removed  to  Ashwell,  in  Hertfordshire,  in  the  year 
 1632.  He  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of  that  place  by  Laud 
 himself,  who,  in  his  defence  before  the  House  of  Peers,  insisted 
 on  this  as  a  proof  of  his  impartiality.  Here,  as  formerly,  he 
 was  indefatigably  laborious.  He  had  a  just  view  of  the  impor- 
 tance and  responsibility  of  the  pastoral  office,  and  his  great  con- 
 cern was  to  feed  the  church  of  God  which  he  had  purchased 
 with  his  own  blood.  He  preached  twice  every  Lord's  day,  and 
 frequently  on  other  occasions,  as  he  had  opportunity.  In  visit- 
 ing the  sick,  or  those  under  other  heavy  afflictions,  he  availed 
 himself  of  their  situation,  when  the  Lord  had  thus  softened 
 their  hearts,  and  opened  their  cars  to  receive  instruction,  to  lay 
 before  them  the  sources  of  comfort,  consolation,  and  good  hope 
 through  grace.  From  the  same  principle  he  was  favourable  to 
 funeral  sermons,  conceiving  that  the  minds  of  men,  especially 
 those  nearly  concerned,  might  be  advantageously  impressed  on 
 such  occasions,  by  exhibiting  suitable  views  of  death  and  the 
 world  to  come. 
 
 He  catechised  the  people  of  his  charge  both  publicly  and  in 
 private,  and  for  their  help  composed  and  published  a  catechism, 
 which  was  highly  approved.  In  order  the  more  effectually  to 
 suppress  the  evils  which  prevailed  amongst  his  parishioners,  he 
 engaged  some  of  their  most  respectable  characters  to  unite  their 
 influence  and  endeavours  with  his  own.  Hence  profane  swear- 
 ing, Sabbath  profanation,  drunkenness,  whoredom,  quarrelling, 
 and  other  vices,  were  rendered  odious,  and  in  process  of  time 
 greatly  diminished. 
 
 Mr  Palmer  was  remarkable  for  his  charity  on  all  proper  oc- 
 casions, but  more  especially  in  furnishing  the  poor,  who  could 
 read,  with  bibles,  and  in   supplying  those   who  could  not   with 
 
HERBERT  PALMER.  583 
 
 money  to  enable  and  encourage  them  to  learn.  The  order  of 
 his  family  was  highly  worthy  of  imitation  by  all  real  christians 
 and  christian  ministers.  His  house  was,  in  reality,  a  school  of 
 religion,  where  the  best  instruction,  and  the  best  example,  were 
 always  enjoyed.  He  was  careful  that  none  should  be  admitted 
 into  his  family  who  were  not  at  least  willing  to  be  instructed 
 in  the  ways  of  God.  He  maintained  family- worship  twice 
 every  day,  and  all  the  inmates  were  obliged  to  attend,  and  ca- 
 techised his  family  twice  every  week. 
 
 In  1632  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  preachers  to  the  universi- 
 ty of  Cambridge;  and  having  proceeded  bachelor  of  divinity 
 about  two  years  before,  he  was  thus  authorized  to  preach,  as  he 
 should  have  occasion,  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom  of  England. 
 In  1640,  Mr  Palmer,  and  the  celebrated  Dr.  Tuckney,  were 
 chosen  clerks  for  the  convocation  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln ; 
 and  being  eminently  distinguished  for  his  learning  and  piety, 
 he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines  in  1643,  and 
 afterwards  one  of  their  assessors;  in  both  of  which  capacities  he 
 conducted  himself  with  the  utmost  prudence  and  propriety. 
 His  talents  were  truly  excellent.  He  had  a  quick  apprehension,  a 
 steady  judgment,  a  tenacious  memory,  and  a  ready  elocution.  In 
 their  debates,  either  on  doctrine  or  discipline,  or  when  an  accu- 
 rate statement  of  the  question  was  wanted,  Mr  Palmer  was  one 
 of  the  first  to  find  the  genuine  sense  of  scripture  respecting 
 either.  He  was  for  a  presbyterian  form  of  church  government; 
 the  principles  of  which  he  well  understood,  and  knew  how  to 
 defend.  He  was  a  powerful  instrument  in  promoting  that  form 
 of  church  government,  opposed  as  it  then  was  by  so  many  very 
 learned  and  able  independent  divines.  It  was  some  time,  how- 
 ever, before  he  could  be  brought  to  acquiesce  in  the  divine  right 
 of  ruling  elders;  but  by  the  learned  debates  on  that  subject,  and 
 especially  by  the  authority  of  1  Cor.  xii.  28.  where  government 
 is  attributed  to  a  distinct  rank  of  officers  who  are  set  forth  as 
 inferior  to  teachers;  and  of  1  Tim.  v.  17.  which  implies,  that 
 there  are  other  elders  who  rule  well,  besides  those  who  labour 
 in  word  and  doctrine,  he  was  induced  to  acquiesce. 
 
 On  being  called  up  to  the  assembly  of  divines,  Mr  Palmer 
 was  obliged  to  leave  his  ordinary  residence  at  Ashwell,  and 
 could  only  make  some  occasional  visits  to  that  place;  but  re- 
 solved to  employ  all  his  time  and  talents  in  the  work  of  the 
 gospel.  He  preached  wherever  desired  in  the  London  churches, 
 but  determined,  in  his  own  mind,  to  accept  of  the  first  invitation 
 to  a  place,  where  he  might  have  the  constant  exercise  of  his  mi- 
 nistry; and  being  soon  after  invited  to  Duke's-place,  London, 
 he  readily  accepted,  although  the  support  was  small.  But 
 afterwards  having  received  a  very  pressing  invitation  to  become 
 
584  MEMpiR  o\ 
 
 pastor  at   Newchurch,    Westminster,   he  removed  thither,  and 
 was  the  first  pastor  of  that  church.      In  each  of  these  situations 
 he  was  greatly  esteemed,   and  his  preaching,  expounding,   ca- 
 techising, and  other  ministerial  labours,  as  formerly,  were  most 
 abundant.      He  was  one  of  those  divines,  who,  by  appointment 
 of  parliament,   carried  on  the  morning   lecture  at  the  Abbey 
 church,  Westminster.    It  was  always  considered  wonderful,  how 
 a  man,  of  such  a  weakly  constitution,  could  perform  so  much 
 work.     He  frequently  spoke  in  public  for  the  space  of  six  or 
 eight   hours  on   the  Sabbath-day,   besides  his   weekly  duties, 
 which  were  also  numerous.     When  his  friends  advised  him  to 
 spare  himself,  hinting  that  his  labours  were  above  the  strength 
 of  his  constitution,  he  replied,  "  That  his  strength  would  spend 
 of  itself  though  he  did  nothing,  and  that  it  could  not  be  better 
 spent  than  in  the  service  of  him  in  whom  he  lived,  moved,  act- 
 ed, and  existed."     In  1644  he  was  constituted  master  of  Queen's 
 college,  Cambridge,  by  the  earl  of  Manchester,  who,  by  an  or- 
 dinance of  parliament,  was  appointed  to  reform  that  university. 
 He  succeeded  Dr.   Edward  Martin,  who  was  one  of  Laud's 
 chaplains,  and  a  man  of  high  church  principles.     Under  the 
 guidance  of  this  new  master,   the  Queen's  college  flourished 
 to  the  astonishment  of  all.     He  was  careful  that  none  should 
 be  admitted  to  a  scholarship  or  a  fellowship  who  were  not  both 
 learned  and  religious;  and  that  the  whole  society  should  attend 
 the  public  worship  of  God,  and  strictly  observe  the  Lord's  day. 
 The  young  scholars  and  college  servants  he  also  instructed  in 
 the  principles  of  religion.     The  sermons  in  the  chapel,  which 
 were  formerly  used  only  in  term-time,  he  caused  to  be  continu- 
 ed weekly  throughout  the  year;  and  when  present  in  the  college, 
 he  frequently  preached  himself,  or  expounded  some  part  of  the 
 holy  scriptures.     He  endeavoured,  by  all  means,  to  have   the 
 college  library  furnished  with  good  authors;  for  which  he  readi- 
 ly gave  himself,  and  excited  others  to  give  considerable  sums. 
 Moreover,  certain  dues,  payable  to  the  college,  which  had  been 
 formerly  expended  in  feasting,   he  converted  to  the  purchase 
 of  valuable  books  for  the  library.     While  in  this  place,  he  be- 
 stowed a  large  proportion  of  his  income  upon  the  yearly  main- 
 tenance of  poor  scholars.     He  bestowed  favours  on  merit  only; 
 and  what  he  promised,  he  never  failed  to  perform.     His  exer- 
 tions, in  reforming  and  improving  his  college,  were  so  successful, 
 and  met  with  such  unqualified  approbation,  that  it  is  doubtful 
 if  ever  the  head  of  any  society  was  taken  from  them  with  more 
 general  sorrow  and  regret.      In  Kit.")  he  was  appointed  one  of 
 the  committee  of  accommodation. 
 
 Mr  Palmer  was  a  most  consistent  and  conscientious  non-con- 
 formist.    In  matters  where  his  own  interest  was  merely  at  stake, 
 
HERBERT  PALMER.  5S5 
 
 few  men  were  more  ready  to  deny  themselves;  but  wherever 
 the  interest  of  religion,  the  honour  of  God,  and  the  salvation  of 
 men,  were  concerned,  he  was  constant  and  immoveable;  and 
 when  called  to  preach  at  the  bishop  of  Lincoln's  visitation,  he 
 spoke  against  the  existing  corruptions  of  the  church  with  the 
 greatest  freedom,  though  well  aware  of  the  hazardous  conse- 
 quences. When  the  Book  of  Sports,  bowing  to  the  altar,  read- 
 ing part  of  the  service  in  the  chancel,  and  other  superstitious 
 innovations  were  imposed,  he  resolved  to  lose  all  rather  than 
 offend  God  by  encouraging  such  profanity  and  superstition. 
 He  was  a  constant  and  vigorous  opposer  of  the  unhallowed  oath 
 of  canonical  obedience;  yet  the  prelates  seem  to  have  been  less 
 severe  to  him  than  to  many  others.  Being  highly  reputed  for 
 learning  and  piety,  Mr  Palmer  was  often  called  to  preach  be- 
 fore parliament;  for  which  he  has  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
 some  high-principled  historians.  One  of  these  bitter  enemies 
 of  all  religious  freedom,  with  the  design  of  ridiculing  our  author, 
 has  transcribed  the  following  passage  from  one  of  his  dedica- 
 tions, addressed  to  the  earl  of  Essex,  then  general  of  the  parlia- 
 ment's army :  "  God  hath  put  you  in  his  own  place.  God  has 
 graced  you  with  his  own  name.  Lord  of  hosts,  general  of  ar- 
 mies. God  hath  committed  to  your  care  what  is  most  precious 
 to  himself,  his  precious  gospel,  his  precious  ordinances,  a  preci- 
 ous parliament,  and  a  precious  people.  God  hath  called  forth 
 your  excellency  as  a  choice  worthy  to  be  a  general,  and  the 
 champion  of  Jesus  Christ  to  fight  his  great  and  last  battle  with 
 antichrist  in  this  your  native  kingdom  *."  The  candid  and  in- 
 telligent reader,  who  chooses  to  contrast  the  above  quotation 
 with  the  pompous  epithets  applied  to  royalty;  such  as  the  sa- 
 cred Majesty  of  the  Sovereign  vicegerent  of  God,  with  abun- 
 dance of  other  appellations  equally  ridiculous,  will  easily  per- 
 ceive where  the  jest  lies. 
 
 Mr  Palmer  was  a  man  of  great  temperance.  He  drank  no 
 strong  drink,  and  wine  only  when  his  health  rendered  it  neces- 
 sary. He  would  eat  only  of  one  dish,  nor  that  of  the  most  de- 
 licate; and  so  parsimonious  was  he  of  time,  that  he  scarcely  us- 
 ed any  other  recreation  than  to  refresh  himself  with  the  chris- 
 tian conversation  of  his  friends.  His  last  sickness  was  but 
 short.  His  constitution  was  delicate  from  the  beginning,  and 
 now  his  strength  was  nearly  spent.  When  his  friends  recom- 
 mended him  to  cast  the  burden  of  his  pains  and  sickness  on  the 
 Lord,  he  said,  "  I  should  act  very  unworthily  indeed  were  I  to 
 reject  the  remedy  I  have  so  often  and  so  earnestly  recommend- 
 ed to  others."  He  was  much  engaged  in  prayer  for  the  nation, 
 the  church  of  God,   and  all  with  whom  connected,  either  as 
 
 L' Estranges  Dissenters*  Saving",  part  xi.  p.  5(3. 
 
 21  4  e 
 
.586  MEMOIR  Ol 
 
 men  or  christian*;  and  having  lived  a  devoted  servant  of  God 
 in  the  gospel  of  his  Son,  so  he  died  full  of  inward  peace  and 
 comfort,  in  the  lively  exercise  of  faith,  patience,  and  submission 
 to  the  will  of  his  heavenly  Father,  in  the  year  1647,  aged  forty- 
 six  years.  His  remains  were  interred  in  New  church,  West- 
 minster. 
 
 Mr  Clark  says,  "  He  was  remarkable  for  humility,  meekness, 
 faith,  and  patience;  that  he  possessed  a  quick  apprehension,  a 
 sound  judgment,  a  strong  memory,  and  a  happy  elocution,  and 
 that  he  was  almost  unbounded  in  acts  of  liberality,  a  strict  ob- 
 server of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  religious  order  of  his  family." 
 Granger  styles  hiin  a  man  of  uncommon  learning,  generosity, 
 and  politeness,  and  says,  "  That  he  had  a  most  excellent  cha- 
 racter, was  a  lover  of  peace,  and  could  speak  the  French  language 
 as  fluently  as  his  mother  tongue." 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  Principles  of  Religion  made  plain  and 
 easy. — 2.  Of  making  Religion  one's  business.  This  last  was 
 afterwards  published  with  several  other  pieces,  and  entitled, 
 Memorials  of  Godliness  and  Christianity;  the  13th  edition  of 
 which  was  published  in  1708. — 3.  The  necessity  and  encou- 
 ragement for  utmost  venturing  for  the  Church's  help;  a  Ser- 
 mon preached  to  the  Commons,  28th  June  1643. — 4.  The  Glass 
 of  God's  Providence  towards  his  faithful  ones;  a  Sermon 
 preached  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  at  Margaret's,  Westmin- 
 ster, August  13th,  1644. — 5.  Vindicise  Sabbathae,  assisted  by  Mr 
 Daniel  Cawdrey. — 6.  Scripture  and  Reason  pleaded  for  Defen- 
 sive arms — assisted  by  others. 
 
 ANDREW  PERNE,  A.  M. 
 
 This  worthy  man  was  born  in  1596;  and  having  been  fel- 
 low of  Katherine-hall,  Cambridge,  it  is  probable  he  had  his  edu- 
 cation in  that  university.  Having  finished  his  studies,  he  be- 
 came rector  of  Wilby  in  Northamptonshire,  where  he  continued 
 a  faithful  and  successful  preacher  for  twenty-seven  years.  In 
 1643  Mr  Perne  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and 
 constantly  attended  during  the  whole  session.  He  preached 
 often  before  parliament,  and  several  of  his  sermons  were  pub- 
 lished, one  of  which  is  entitled,  Gospel  Courage.  Being  called 
 up  to  London,  he  soon  obtained  great  celebrity,  and  had  the  of- 
 fer of  considerable  preferments;  which  he  declined  accepting, 
 having  resolved  to  return  to  his  beloved  people  at  Wilby  so  soon 
 as  the  business  of  the  assembly  was  finished.  He  returned  ac- 
 cordingly, and  by  his  awakening  sermons,  and  exemplary  life, 
 was  instrumental  in  effecting  a  most  desirable  reformation 
 amongst  his  people,  who  revered  and  loved  him  as  a  father. 
 "  He  was  full  of  spiritual  warmth   (says  Mr  Ainsworth),  filled 
 
ANDREW  PERNE.  ,587 
 
 with  an  holy  indignation  against  sin,  active  in  his  work,  and 
 never  more  in  his  element  than  when  in  the  pulpit.  His  life 
 was  a  transcript  of  the  doctrine  he  taught  to  others,  and  his  lat- 
 ter end  was  peace.  He  blessed  God  that  he  was  not  afraid  to 
 die;  nay,  he  even  desired  to  depart,  and  often  cried  out,  during 
 his  last  sickness,  4  When  will  that  desirable  hour  arrive  ?  One 
 assault  more,  said  he,  and  this  shattered  earthen  vessel  goes  to 
 pieces,  and  then  shall  I  be  with  God.' "  He  died,  December 
 13th,  1654,  aged  about  sixty  years.  Mr  Ainsworth  preached 
 his  funeral  sermon,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  the  chan- 
 cel of  Wilby  church,  where,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  the  follow- 
 ing monumental  inscription  was  erected  to  his  memory : 
 
 "  Here  lies  interred  Mr  Andrew  Perne,  a  faithful  servant  of 
 Jesus  Christ,  a  zealous  owner  of  God's  cause  in  perilous  times, 
 a  powerful  and  successful  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  a  great 
 blessing  to  this  town  and  country,  where  he  lived  twenty-seven 
 years." — He  has  a  place  in  Burnham's  Pious  Memorials,  and 
 also  in  the  Lives  of  the  Puritans. 
 
 BENJAMIN  PICKERING. 
 
 Mr  Pickering,  when  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly 
 of  divines,  as  appears  by  the  ordinance  of  parliament  for  calling 
 that  assembly,  was  minister  of  East-Hoathley.  The  year  fol- 
 lowing, however,  it  appears,  from  the  title-page  of  one  of  his 
 sermons,  which  he  preached  at  that  time  before  the  House  of 
 Commons,  that  he  was  then  minister  of  God's  word  at  Buck- 
 stead  in  Sussex.  The  sermon  alluded  to  was  preached  from 
 Zech.  iii.  2.  and  entitled,  A  Fire-brand  pluckt  out  of  the  Burn- 
 ing. In  the  dedicatory  epistle  addressed  to  the  House  of  Com- 
 mons, and  prefixed  to  this  sermon,  he  exhorts  the  honourable 
 senators  to  fan  the  fire  of  their  zeal  for  the  house  of  our  God,  to 
 establish  his  ordinances  and  worship  in  purity,  without  the  un- 
 hallowed mixture  of  heresy  and  superstition :  Not  to  delay  to 
 set  up  a  faithful  ministry  in  the  church,  and  establish  justice 
 and  judgment  in  the  gates;  and  so  to  conduct  the  great  work 
 of  reformation  committed  to  their  management,  that  glory  may 
 yet  dwell  in  our  land,  and  that  mercy  and  truth,  righteousness 
 and  peace,  may  meet  and  mutually  embrace  each  other.  "  The 
 Jewish  builders  (says  he)  were  surrounded  with  as  many  and 
 great  difficulties,  and  as  many  discouraging  circumstances  in 
 the  prosecution  of  their  reformation,  and  the  rebuilding  of  their 
 desolate  temple,  as  ourselves.  They  were  engaged  in  a  great 
 undertaking.  Their  enemies,  like  ours,  were  numerous  and 
 powerful,  they  were  also  crafty  and  near  at  hand;  while  the 
 Icing's   power  and  authority,   in  place  of  affording  them  protcc- 
 
*>88  MEMOIR  OF  BENJAMIN  PICKERING. 
 
 tion  and  eucouragement,  were  exercised  in  prohibiting  the  whole 
 course  of  their  procedure,  and  that  under  the  pains  of  trea- 
 son and  rebellion;  yet  this  did  not  damp  their  courage,  they 
 went  on  and  prospered.  God,  in  a  strange  and  unexpected  course 
 of  providence,  removed  the  impediments  that  stood  in  their  way, 
 and  led  them,  step  by  step,  to  a  triumph,  not  by  their  own 
 might,  power,  or  policy,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
 Consider,  ye  worthies,  that  you  are  now  engaged  in  a  work,  than 
 which  the  sun  never  shone  on  one  of  greater  magnitude  and 
 importance — a  work  which  will  require  all  your  energy,  and 
 the  exercise  of  all  your  wisdom.  Were  you  now  to  grow  cool, 
 and  careless,  and  lukewarm,  in  this  interesting  concern,  ye 
 would  thereby  undo  all  that  has  hitherto  been  effected.  You 
 have  done  much  towards  pulling  down  the  tyrannical  hierarchy 
 of  Rome;  you  have  begun,  and  prosecuted,  with  surprising  suc- 
 cess, a  glorious  reformation;  you  have  suffered  much  as  a  par- 
 liament; you  have  hazarded  your  persons,  your  estates,  and 
 your  families;  you  have  suffered  much  contradiction,  and  many 
 reproaches,  from  your  enemies;  but  you  have  also  had  many 
 grateful  acknowledgments  from  yours,  and  the  friends  of  reli- 
 gion, both  in  city  and  country.  Lose  not,  then,  such  enviable 
 acquisitions,  by  relaxing  your  zeal  in  so  worthy  and  so  glorious 
 an  enterprize.  Up  and  be  doing,  otherwise  you  may  yet  be  ex- 
 posed to  the  cruel  mockings  of  men,  who  look,  and  long,  and 
 sigh  for  the  flattening  of  your  spirits  in  this  momentous  un- 
 dertaking. Oh  !  how  would  those  of  Gath  and  Askelon,  the 
 blind  devotees  of  Rome,  laugh,  jeer,  and  rejoice  over  us,  were 
 this  the  unhappy  result  of  so  many  sacrifices,  and  so  many  tri- 
 umphs. We  have  made  our  boast  in  God,  let  not  therefore  our 
 confident  boasting  make  us  ashamed:  but  labour  to  secure  the 
 purity  of  the  faith,  with  freedom,  peace,  and  prosperity  to  our 
 rising  offspring,  who  must  otherwise  sink  into  a  debasing  sla- 
 very, and  lose  themselves  in  the  intricate  mazes  of  a  bewilder- 
 ing superstition.  Consider,  for  your  encouragement,  that  an- 
 tichrist's day  is  approaching,  her  end  is  near.  Babylon  must 
 be  destroyed,  therefore  faint  not,  nor  grow  weary  in  well-do- 
 ing; for  in  due  time  the  cheering  voice  shall  ring  from  island  to 
 continent,  Babylon  the  great  is  fallen — is  fallen,  and  shall  rise 
 no  more.  You  have  given  her  a  deadly  blow  already;  follow 
 Up  your  advantage;  give  her  wounds  no  time  to  heal.  The 
 beast  roars,  struggles,  and  bestirs  herself,  gapes  for  breath, 
 seems  to  collect  her  spirits,  and  resume  her  courage;  but  it  is 
 only  the  expiring  flash,  the  naturae  ultimus  conatus,  which  we 
 call  a  lightning  before  death.  Now,  therefore,  is  the  time  for 
 animated  and  united  exertion,  in  order  to  make  a  full  end  of 
 the  whore  who  has  so  long  corrupted  the  world  by  the  filthiness 
 of  her  fornication." 
 
.589 
 
 EDWARD  REYNOLDS,  D.  D. 
 
 This  eminent  divine  was  born  at  Southampton,  a  sea-port 
 in  Hampshire,  November  1593.  He  was  educated  at  the  free 
 school  of  the  same  town;  and  in  1615  became  postmaster  of 
 Merton  college,  Oxford,  and  probationer  fellow  in  1620;  which 
 place  he  obtained  by  his  superior  knowledge  of  the  Greek 
 language.  Here  he  was  greatly  distinguished  as  a  disputant, 
 and  his  oratorical  powers  were  considered  of  the  first  order.  Af- 
 ter taking  his  degrees  in  arts,  he  entered  into  the  ministry,  and 
 became  one  of  the  first  pulpit-men  of  the  age.  He  was  for 
 some  time  preacher  to  the  honourable  society  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
 and  rector  of  Branton  in  Northamptonshire.  In  1642,  when 
 the  civil  war  broke  out,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  parliament, 
 having  been  a  puritan  in  opinion  long  before  this  period.  He 
 was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines  in  1643,  and  after- 
 wards appointed  one  of  the  committee  for  examining  and  ap- 
 proving of  such  ministers  as  petitioned  for  sequestrated  livings. 
 In  1645  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  committee  of  accom- 
 modation. He  took  the  covenant,  was  frequently  employed  in 
 preaching  in  London,  and  some  times  before  parliament,  by 
 whom  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  six  ministers  for  preaching 
 the  scholars  at  Oxford  into  obedience.  Some  time  after  this  he 
 was  chosen  one  of  the  visitors  to  that  university,  where,  in  1648, 
 he  was  made  dean  of  Christ  church,  and  vice-chancellor  of  the 
 university;  about  which  time  he  took  his  degrees  in  divinity. 
 He  held  both  his  places  till  the  latter  end  of  1650,  when  he  was 
 ejected  from  his  deanery  for  refusing  the  engagement.  After 
 this  he  lived  for  the  most  part  in  London,  and  was  for  some 
 time  minister  of  Laurence-jewry.  He  was  greatly  esteemed  by 
 the  people,  especially  the  Calvinists,  who  considered  him,  as 
 Wood  informs  us,  the  oracle  and  glory  of  the  presbyterian  par- 
 ty; but  having  been  long  dissatisfied  with  Cromwell's  govern- 
 ment, he  used  his  powerful  interest  among  the  citizens  for  the 
 purpose  of  promoting  general  Monk's  plan  for  restoring  the  king. 
 When  the  secluded  members  of  parliament  were  restored, 
 the  doctor  was  reinstated  in  his  deanery  of  Christ  church,  on  the 
 11th  of  March  1659;  and  on  the  26th  of  May  1660,  he  and  Mi- 
 Edward  Calamy  were  appointed  chaplains  to  his  majesty,  who 
 at  this  time  was  waiting  at  Canterbury  for  his  restoration. 
 After  this  he  preached  several  times  before  the  king  and  both 
 Houses  of  Parliament;  and,  in  the  end  of  June,  being  desired 
 to  give  up  his  deanery,  he  was  elected,  by  virtue  of  the  king's 
 letter,  warden  of  Merton  college,  Oxford.  The  doctor,  about 
 this  time,  conformed  to  the  established  ritual,  and  was  accord- 
 ingly consecrated  bishop  of  Norwich,  on  the  6th  of  Januarv  fol- 
 
590  MEMOIR  Of 
 
 lowing.  Thus,  after  having  taken  the  covenant,  and  preached 
 down  episcopacy  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  church  of  England, 
 Dr.  Reynolds  was  consecrated,  with  all  these  ceremonies,  in 
 Peters  church,  Westminster.  "  But  (says  Wood)  it  was 
 thought  by  his  contemporaries,  that  he  would  never  have  conde- 
 scended to  a  conformity,  but  for  the  importunity  of  a  covetous 
 and  politic  consort.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  darling  of  the  pres- 
 byterians  became  the  bishop  of  Norwich.  The  times  were 
 changed,  all  hopes  of  preferment  on  the  other  side  had  vanish- 
 ed, and  though  several  divines  also  changed,  the  only  wonder 
 is,  that  their  number  was  so  small." 
 
 According  to  Wood,  Dr.  Reynolds  was  a  man  of  considerable 
 wit,  excellent  fancy,  and  sound  judgment,  a  great  divine,  and 
 highly  esteemed  by  all  parties  for  his  preaching  and  flowery 
 style.  Another  respectable  individual,  who  must  have  been 
 well  acquainted  with  him,  says,  "  He  was  a  man  of  singular  af- 
 fability and  meekness,  of  great  learning,  a  frequent  and  much 
 admired  preacher,  and  a  constant  resident."  Mr  Neal,  more- 
 over, tells  us,  "  That  he  was  reckoned  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
 pulpit-men  in  his  time,  and  a  good  old  puritan,  who  never 
 troubled  himself  about  the  politics  of  the  court." 
 
 His  writings  are,  1.  The  Vanity  of  the  Creature. — 2.  The 
 Sinfulness  of  Sin. — 3.  The  fellowship  of  the  Saints  with  Christ, 
 in  his  life,  sufferings,  resurrection,  and  glory. — 4.  Meditations 
 on  the  Holy  Sacrament. — 5.  Israel's  Prayer  in  the  time  of  trou- 
 ble, with  God's  gracious  answer;  in  seven  Sermons  on  as  many 
 days  of  fasting  and  humiliation. — 6.  A  Treatise  on  the  Passions 
 and  the  Faculties  of  the  Soul  of  Man.  Thirty  of  his  Sermons, 
 preached  from  1644  till  his  death,  were  published  together  in 
 the  second  impression  of  his  works. — 7.  The  English  Annota- 
 tions on  Ecclesiastes,  which  have  been  much  admired,  are  from 
 his  pen. — He  is  also  said  to  have  been  the  author  of  the  Hum- 
 ble Proposal  respecting  the  engagement,  and  probably  of  many 
 things  beside.  His  works  were,  and  are  still,  much  admired  by 
 many.     He  is  extremely  happy  in  his  similitudes. 
 
 HENRY  SCUDDER,  B.  D. 
 
 This  pious  and  practical  puritan  divine  received  his  edu- 
 cation in  Christ  college,  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  became 
 minister  at  Drayton  in  Oxfordshire;  where  his  exemplary  life, 
 his  ministerial  labours,  prudence,  and  pastoral  care,  procured 
 him  an  excellent  reputation.  He  was  afterwards  removed  to 
 Collingburn  Dukes  in  Wiltshire;  and,  in  1643,  he  was  chosen 
 a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines.  He  was  most  eminently 
 distinguished  as  author  of  an  excellent  work,  entitled,  The 
 Christian's  Dailv  Walk.     This  book  contains  familiar  directions 
 
HENRY  SCUDDER.  591 
 
 how  we  ought  to  walk  with  God  through  the  whole  course  of 
 our  lives.  It  has  passed  through  many  impressions,  and  is  in 
 great  estimation  amongst  pious  christians  in  the  present  day. 
 Dr.  Owen  and  Mr  Richard  Baxter  have  both  prefixed  their 
 warmest  recommendations  to  the  work.  Dr.  Owen  says,  "  It 
 is  now  more  than  thirty  years  since  I  first  perused  the  ensuing 
 treatise;  and  though,  till  the  present  occasion,  I  have  neither 
 read,  nor,  to  my  knowledge,  have  I  seen  it  since,  yet  the  im- 
 pression it  left  upon  me,  in  the  days  of  my  youth,  has,  to  say  no 
 more,  hitherto  continued  to  keep  up  the  grateful  remembrance 
 of  it  on  my  heart.  Being  desired  to  give  some  testimony  of  its 
 worth  and  utility  to  this  new  edition,  I  consider  myself  under 
 an  obligation  to  do  so,  from  the  benefit  I  myself  have  received 
 from  a  perusal ;  and  having  again  read  it  over  with  a  more  close 
 and  critical  consideration,  I  shall  only  acquaint  the  reader,  that 
 I  am  so  far  from  making  any  abatement  in  my  former  estima- 
 tion of  the  work,  that  my  respect  for,  and  valuation  of  its  worth, 
 is  greatly  increased.  There  is  generally  that  soundness  and 
 gravity  in  the  whole  doctrine,  that  weight  of  wisdom  in  the  di- 
 rections given  for  practice,  that  judgment  in  the  resolving  of 
 doubts  and  objections,  that  breathing  of  a  spirit  of  holiness, 
 zeal,  humility,  and  the  fear  of  God,  in  the  whole  work,  that  I 
 judge,  and  I  am  satisfied,  that  it  will  be  found  of  singular  use 
 to  all  such  as  desire  sincerely  to  comply  with  the  author's 
 design." 
 
 Mr  Baxter  says,  "  I  have  no  recollection  of  any  book,  writ- 
 ten for  the  daily  companion  of  christians,  to  guide  them  in  the 
 practice  of  a  holy  life,  which  I  would  prefer  to  this.  I  am  sure 
 none  of  my  own.  For  so  sound  is  the  doctrine  of  this  book,  so 
 prudent,  spiritual,  apt,  and  savoury,  and  all  so  well  suited  to 
 our  ordinary  cases  and  conditions,  that  I  heartily  wish  no  fami- 
 ly were  without  a  copy.  Many  a  good  and  useful  volume  is 
 now  in  the  hands  of  religious  people,  which  I  would  much  ra- 
 ther were  unknown  than  this;  and  I  think  it  more  serviceable 
 to  the  souls  of  men  to  call  them  to  the  notice  and  use  of  this, 
 and  bring  such  old  and  excellent  writings  out  of  obscurity  and 
 oblivion,  than  to  encourage  very  many  who  over-value  their 
 own,  and  promote  the  multiplication  of  things  common  and  un- 
 digested." This  work  was  so  much  esteemed,  that  it  has  been 
 translated  into  high  Dutch  by  Theodore  Haak,  who  translated 
 the  Dutch  Annotations  into  English,  and  is  said  to  have  first 
 projected  the  plan  of  the  Royal  Society  in  London.  Mr  Scud- 
 der  likewise  wrote  the  Life  of  Mr  William  Whately,  and  God's 
 Waruing  to  England  by  the  Voice  of  his  Rod;  a  Sermon 
 preached  from  Micah  vi.  9.  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
 October  30th,  1644. 
 
592  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 lazaris  seaman; 
 
 Mr  Seaman  was  born  in  Leicester,  and  educated  in  Ema- 
 nuel college,  Cambridge:  but  coming  to  the  college  in  mean  cir- 
 cumstances, be  was  soon  obliged  to  leave  it,  and  teach  in  a 
 school  for  his  subsistence.  Dr.  Calamy  says,  "  His  learning 
 sprung  from  himself.  Ho  applied  so  closely  to  his  studies,  that 
 he  made  great  proficiency  in  different  branches  of  learning." 
 He  was  for  some  time  chaplain  to  the  earl  of  Northumberland. 
 He  procured  the  lecture  at  St.  Martin's,  Ludgate,  by  a  sermon 
 he  preached  at  that  place;  and  by  his  remarkable  talents  and  in- 
 dustry, he  soon  gained  a  splendid  reputation,  both  in  the  religi- 
 ous and  learned  world.  In  1642  he  was  presented  to  Bread 
 Street  parish  by  bishop  Laud,  in  consequence  of  an  order  of 
 parliament  for  that  purpose. 
 
 In  1643  Mr  Seaman  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  di- 
 vines. He  was  a  very  active  member,  and  eminently  skilful 
 in  the  management  of  theological  disputes.  Few,  or  none, 
 could  so  readily  decide  a  dark  and  doubtful  controversy.  In 
 1644  he  was  constituted  master  of  Peter-house,  in  the  universi- 
 ty of  Cambridge,  by  the  earl  of  Manchester,  after  having  been 
 examined  and  approved  by  the  assembly  of  divines.  In  this 
 public  situation  he  discovered  his  great  abilities,  learning,  and 
 usefulness,  acquitted  himself  with  honour  and  propriety,  and 
 acquired  uncommon  celebrity.  He  took  his  degree  of  doctor 
 in  divinity,  by  performing  the  exercises  appointed  in  the  sta- 
 tutes of  the  university,  and  did  not  obtain  it  by  the  favour  of 
 majesty,  nor  procure  it  by  money,  as  many  have  done.  He  was 
 an  excellent  casuist,  a  clear  and  judicious  expositor  of  the  holy 
 scriptures,  and  a  powerfully  moving  preacher.  In  his  latter 
 days  he  studied  chiefly  the  prophetical  writings,  and  wrote  notes 
 on  the  Revelations,  which  he  presented  to  lord  Warton ;  but  it 
 does  not  appear  that  they  were  ever  printed.  He  lost  all  his 
 places  at  the  restoration,  being  ejected  by  the  act  of  uniformity; 
 after  which  he  lived  chiefly  in  Warwick-court,  London,  and 
 died  a  non-conformist,  about  the  9th  of  September  1675, 
 "  much  lamented  (Wood  says)  by  the  brethren,  in  regard  he  was 
 a  learned  man."  The  patience  he  exercised  under  the  most 
 acute  pains,  during  his  last  sickness,  was  truly  admirable.  In 
 the  midst  of  his  tortures  he  admired  the  free  grace,  mercy,  and 
 loving-kindness  of  God,  and  extolled  his  glorious  sovereignty, 
 who  is  just  in  all  his  ways,  and  holy  in  all  his  works.  Mr  Wil- 
 liam Jenkyn,  who  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him,  and 
 who,  at  his  request,  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  says,  "  He 
 was  a  man  of  the  most  deep  and  piercing  judgment  in  all  points 
 of  controversial  divinity — I  had  almost  said,  an  invincible  dis- 
 
LAZARUS  SEAMAN.  593 
 
 putant;  for  his  conquests  were  as  numerous  as  the  controversies 
 in  which  he  had  been  engaged  with  the  enemies  of  the  truth. 
 So  conspicuous,  indeed,  were  his  abilities  in  this  respect,  that 
 he  sometimes  disheartened  his  antagonists  on  their  very  en- 
 trance into  the  lists  of  disputation.  At  the  request  of  an  ho- 
 nourable lady,  the  head  of  a  noble  family,  who  had  been  often 
 solicited  by  the  popish  clergy  to  change  her  religion,  and  be- 
 come a  Roman  catholic,  Mr  Seaman  engaged  two  of  the  ablest 
 priests  they  could  select,  in  a  dispute  on  transubstantiation,  in  the 
 presence,  and  for  the  satisfaction,  of  both  heads  of  the  family.  But 
 the  crafty  priests,  finding  they  had  to  deal  with  a  man  of  abi- 
 lity, shamefully  deserted  the  field,  without  daring  either  to  give 
 or  take  the  stroke  of  a  formed  syllogism;  while  those  persons, 
 who  were  popishly  inclined,  stood  amazed  and  ashamed  of  their 
 champions.  I  may  truly  say  of  Dr.  Seaman,  continues  he,  that  he 
 was  an  ocean  of  theology,  and  that  he  had  so  thoroughly  digest- 
 ed the  whole  body  of  divinity,  that  he  could,  on  any  occasion, 
 discourse  upon  any  point  of  Christianity  without  labour.  He 
 was  strongly  attached  to  the  truth,  and  ready,  on  all  proper 
 occasions,  to  appear  in  its  defence.  He  was  deeply  and  ten- 
 derly affected  with  the  state  of  the  church  of  Christ,  ever  anxi- 
 ous to  learn  how  it  fared  with  the  people  of  God  in  foreign 
 parts,  not  from  an  Athenian  curiosity,  but  from  a  public  spirit 
 of  Christianity.  He  rejoiced  with  them  who  did  rejoice,  and 
 wept  with  them  that  wept.  He  was  laboriously  industrious  in 
 his  calling,  prudent  both  in  speech  and  behaviour,  an  example 
 of  fortitude,  faith,  and  patience,  a  man  of  universal  benevolence, 
 and  ready  for  every  good  work.  His  library,  which  was  valu- 
 able for  the  time,  was  the  first  that  had  ever  been  sold  in  Eng- 
 land by  auction,  and  brought  seven  hundred  pounds. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  A  Precedent  for  Kings  and  Princes,  and 
 all  who  are  in  authority;  a  Sermon  before  the  House  of  Com- 
 mons.— 2.  The  Head  of  the  Church  the  Judge  of  the  World;  a 
 Sermon  preached  before  the  House  of  Peers. — 3.  A  Vindication 
 of  the  Judgment  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  Protestant  Di- 
 vines, from  misrepresentations  concerning  ordination  and  the 
 laying  on  of  hands. — 4.  A  Sermon  before  the  Lord  Mayor 
 against  Divisions,  April  7th,  1650. — 5.  A  farewell  Sermon  at 
 his  ejectment,  from  Heb.  xiii.  20,  21. 
 
 OBADIAH  SEDGWICK,  B.  D. 
 
 This  distinguished  individual  was  born  at  Marlborough  in 
 Wiltshire  in  1600,  and  received  the  elementary  part  of  his  edu- 
 cation at  or  near  the  place  of  his  birth.  In  1616  he  was  re- 
 moved to  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where,  after  continuing  for 
 
 22  f  4  F 
 
594  MKM01R  OF 
 
 some  time,  he  removed  to  Magdalen-hall.     Having  finished  his 
 academical  studies,  he  entered  the  ministry,  and  became  chap- 
 lain to  lord  Horatio  Vire,   whom  he  accompanied  into  the  Low 
 Countries.     On  his  return  to  England  he  again  went  to  Ox- 
 ford, and  in  the  year  1629  was  admitted  to  the  reading  of  the 
 sentences.     He  was  tutor  to  Matthew  Hale,  afterwards  lord 
 chief  justice  of  England.    Leaving  the  university  a  second  time, 
 he  became  preacher  at  St.  Mildred's,  Bread  Street,  London; 
 from    which    he    was  soon  driven  by  the  intolerance  of  the 
 bishops.     In   the  year  1639  he  became  vicar  of  Coggeshal  in 
 Essex,  where  he  remained  two  or  three  years.     Upon  the  com- 
 mencement of  the  war  he  returned  to  his  ministry  at  St.  Mil- 
 dred's, and  was  often  appointed  to  preach  before  parliament. 
 In  1642  he  accompanied  colonel  Holies'  regiment,  in  the  parlia- 
 ment's army,  as  chaplain.     In  the  following  year  he  was  ap- 
 pointed one  of  the  licensers  for  the  theological  department  of 
 the  press,  and  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  which  he 
 constantly  attended.     Wood  tells  us,  "  That  while  he  preached 
 at  Mildred,  it  was  usual  with  him,  the  better  to  exasperate  the 
 people,  and  confound  episcopacy,  especially  when  the  weather 
 was  hot,  to  unbutton  his  doublet  in  the  pulpit,  that  his  breath 
 might  be  longer,  and  his  voice  more  audible,  to  rail  against  the 
 king's  party,  and  those  about  his  person,  whom  he  called  popish 
 counsellors :    That  this  was  particularly  his  manner  in  Septem- 
 ber 1641,  when  he  repeatedly  told  the  people,  with  every  ap- 
 parent mark  of  deep  concern,  that  God  was  angry  with  the  ar- 
 mv  for  not  cutting  off  the  delinquents."     Dr.  Gray,  with  the 
 same  malicious  design,  denominates  him  a  preacher  of  treason, 
 rebellion,  and  nonsense;  in  proof  whereof  he  quotes  the  follow- 
 ing passages  from  Mr  Sedgwick's  sermons,  preached  before  the 
 parliament :    "  The  field,  which  at  this  time  I  am  to  work  upon, 
 you  see  is  large — there  is  much  more  ground  in  it  than  I  can 
 conveniently  break  up  and  sow.     I  shall,  therefore,  with  God's 
 assistance,  who  is  the  only  breaker  up  of  hearts,  proceed  with 
 the  work;  and  may  he,  in  tender  mercy,  so  accompany,  water, 
 and  prosper  his  truths  at  this  day,  that  all  our  fallow  ground 
 may  be  broken  up,  and  then  so  graciously  sown  in  righteous- 
 ness, that  we  and  all  the  land  may  soon  reap  in  mercy.     Sirs, 
 you  must  break  up  this  ground,  otherwise  it  will  break  up  our 
 land.     There  is  nowhere  to  be  found  such  a  God-provoking,  a 
 God-removing,  a  church-dissolving,  and  a  kingdom-breaking 
 sin    as   idolatry.     Down  with  it — down   with  it   even  to  the 
 ground.     Superstition  is  the  baud  to  gross  idolatry.      Be  as 
 earnest  and  active,  as  you  possibly  can,  to  send  labourers  into 
 the  field — I  mean,   to   furnish  the  kingdom  with  a  heart-break- 
 ing ministry.     God   bath  been  the  salvation  of  the  parliament, 
 
OBADIAH  SEDGWICK.  595 
 
 in  the  parliament,  and  for  the  parliament;  our  salvation  at 
 Edgehill,  Reading,  and  CaUvSon;  our  salvation  at  Gloucester, 
 at  Newbury,  Cheshire,  and  at  Pembrokeshire;  our  salvation  in  the 
 North ;  our  salvation  both  from  secret  treason,  and  open  hostility." 
 Sueh  are  the  proofs  this  learned  doctor  has  brought  forward  to 
 establish  his  scurrilous  calumny,  that  Mr  Sedgwick  was  a 
 preacher  of  treason,  rebellion,  and  nonsense;  of  their  validity 
 the  impartial  reader  will  judge  for  himself.  In  1646  he  became 
 preacher  at  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden;  where  he  was  exceed- 
 ingly followed,  and  his  ministerial  labours  crowned  with  sin- 
 gular success.  In  1653  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  triers;  and 
 the  year  following,  constituted  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
 ejecting  improper  ministers  and  school-masters  in  London.  He 
 was  very  zealous  in  carrying  forward  the  good  work  of  reform- 
 ation,  as  it  was  jeeringly  called.  He  preached  frequently  be- 
 fore parliament ;  hence  Sir  John  Birkenhead  takes  occasion  to 
 asperse  him  and  Stephen  Marshall,  saying,  "  It  is  pleasant  to 
 observe  how  finely  they  play  into  one  another's  hands.  Mar- 
 shall procures  the  thanks  of  the  House  for  Sedgwick;  and  to  re- 
 pay his  pains,  Sedgwick  procures  as  much  for  Marshall — and 
 thus  they  pimp  for  one  another :  But,  to  their  great  comfort 
 be  it  spoken,  their  seven  years'  sermons  at  Westminster  are  to 
 be  sold  in  Fetter-lane  and  Pye-corner."  Had  this  facetious 
 wit  known  how  many  of  the  puritans'  sermons  were  bought  np 
 by  the  episcopal  clergy,  to  enable  them  to  perform  their  pulpit 
 services  with  some  respectability,  and  had  he  been  willing  to 
 make  use  of  such  knowledge,  he  might,  with  much  more  pro- 
 priety, have  laughed  at  the  simplicity  of  the  puritans,  who  la- 
 boured, that  their  enemies  might  indulge  themselves  in  their 
 proverbial  indolence;  and  sowed,  that  they  might  reap  the  ma- 
 tured harvest  of  their  laudable  industry  ! 
 
 Mr  Sedgwick,  finding  at  length  that  his  health  was  greatly 
 on  the  decline,  resigned  all  his  preferments,  and  retired  to 
 Marlborough,  his  native  place,  where  he  died  in  the  month  of 
 January  1658,  aged  fifty-seven  years,  and  his  remains  were  in- 
 terred in  the  chancel  of  Ogborn,  St.  Andrew's,  near  to  Marl- 
 borough. He  left  behind  him  the  character  of  a  learned  di- 
 vine, and  an  orthodox  and  admired  preacher. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Several  Sermons  on  public  occasions. — 2. 
 Parliamentary  Sermons,  amongst  which  are  England's  Preser- 
 vation, an  Ark  for  a  Deluge,  Haman's  Vanity. — 3.  Military 
 Discipline  for  a  Christian  Soldier. — 4.  Christ's  Counsel  to  the 
 languishing  Church  of  Sardis. — 5.  A  Speech  delivered  in  Guild- 
 hall.— 6.  The  best  and  worst  Malignants. — 7.  The  doubting 
 Christian  resolved. — 8.  The  humble  Sinner  resolved;  or,  Faith 
 in   Christ   the  only  way  for  sensible  sinners  to  discover  the 
 
596  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 quality,  objects,  and  acts  of  justifying  Faith. — 9.  The  Fountain 
 opened,  and  the  Waters  of  Life  flowing. — 10.  The  Shepherd  of 
 Israel,  or  an  Exposition  of  the  xxiii.  Psalm. — 11.  Anatomy  of 
 secret  Sins. — 12.  The  bowels  of  tender  mercy  sealed  in* the 
 everlasting  Covenant. — 13.  The  parable  of  the  Prodigal. — 14. 
 Synopsis  of  Christianity. — 15.  A  Catechism. 
 
 SIDRACH  SIMPSON,  B.  D. 
 
 This  very  peaceable  puritan  had  his  education  at  the  uni- 
 versity of  Cambridge;  after  which  he  became  curate  and  lectu- 
 rer of  St.  Margaret's  church,  Fish  Street,  London;  but  his  man- 
 ner of  preaching  was  by  no  means  satisfactory  to  archbishop 
 Laud,  who,  in  1635,  had  him,  and  several  other  divines,  con- 
 vened before  him,  at  his  metropolitical  visitation,  for  breach  of 
 canons.  Most  of  them,  however,  were  dismissed  upon  their 
 promise  of  submission.  The  intolerant  bigotry  and  superstition 
 of  Laud,  and  his  rigid  exaction  of  conformity,  obliged  many  an 
 eminent  divine  to  leave  the  kingdom,  among  whom  were  Mr 
 (afterwards  Dr.)  Thomas  Goodman,  Philip  Nye,  Jeremiah 
 Burroughs,  Wflliam  Bridge,  and  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 
 They  retired  into  Holland,  where  Mr  Simpson,  on  his  arrival 
 in  that  country,  went  to  Amsterdam,  and  observing  the  good 
 order  of  the  English  congregation  of  that  place,  under  the  pas- 
 toral charge  of  Mr  Bridge,  he  desired  to  become  a  member;  and 
 having  delivered  a  satisfactory  confession  of  his  faith,  he  was 
 admitted  into  their  communion. 
 
 After  some  time,  Mr  Simpson  observing  some  things  in  the 
 church  which  he  did  not  well  approve,  and  having  urged,  that, 
 after  sermon  on  the  Lord's  day,  the  people  might  be  permitted 
 to  express  their  doubts,  and  propose  questions  to  the  ministers 
 for  their  better  instruction  and  edification;  this,  with  some 
 other  things,  created  a  misunderstanding  between  Mr  Bridge 
 and  him;  which  caused  the  latter  to  separate  himself  from  the 
 church,  and  set  up  another  christian  society;  which,  from  a 
 small  beginning,  became  at  last  very  considerable. 
 
 About  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war  Mr  Simpson  re- 
 turned to  England,  and  in  the  year  1643  was  chosen  one  of 
 the  assembly  of  divines;  which  he  regularly  attended  during 
 their  sittings.  In  all  their  theological  debates  he  carried  him- 
 self with  great  candour  and  moderation.  He  was  one  of  the 
 five,  who,  in  1643,  published  and  presented  to  the  House  of 
 Commons  an  Apologetical  Narration  in  favour  of  the  indepen- 
 dents. In  1645  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  of  ac- 
 commodation. In  1647,  he  united,  with  bis  dissenting  brethren, 
 in  presenting  to  parliament  their  objections  to  certain  parts  <>! 
 
SIDRACH  SIMPSON.  ,597 
 
 the  presbyterian  mode  of  church  government.  In  1650  lie  was 
 appointed,  by  the  parliamentary  visitors  of  the  university  of 
 Cambridge,  master  of  Pembroke-hall,  in  said  university,  in 
 place  of  Mr  Vines,  who  was  ejected  for  having  refused  the  en- 
 gagement. In  1654  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  committee 
 for  drawing  up  a  list  of  the  fundamental  articles  of  the  christian 
 religion  for  the  consideration  of  the  Commons.  During  the 
 same  year  he  was  commissioned  an  assistant  in  examining  and 
 approving  of  public  preachers;  and  in  1655  he  had  a  commis- 
 sion from  Cromwell,  constituting  him  one  of  the  new  visitors  of 
 the  Cambridge  university.  During  the  long  parliament  he  ga- 
 thered a  church  and  congregation  upon  the  independent  plan; 
 which  assembled  in  Abchurch,  Canon  Street,  London. 
 
 Mr  Simpson  was  a  divine  of  considerable  learning,  of  great 
 piety,  and  a  celebrated  preacher.  Mr  Gray  calls  him  a  cele- 
 brated preacher  of  rebellion;  which  is  plain,  says  he,  from  the 
 following  passage  in  one  of  his  sermons :  "  Reformation  is  lia- 
 ble to  inhuman  treacheries.  Pharaoh's  dealings  with  the 
 Israelites  was  full  of  treachery.  He  gave  the  people  liberty  by 
 proclamation,  bade  them  go,  and  when  he  found  them  in  a  situ- 
 ation of  danger  and  difficulty,  he  brought  up  his  army  on  pur- 
 pose to  cut  them  off;  and  the  reforming  of  our  church  will,  no 
 doubt,  meet  with  some  such  enemies.  Rebellion,  we  should  think, 
 or  the  principles  of  rebellion,  is  certainly  more  than  all  the 
 learning  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  can  discover  in  this  pas- 
 sage." Mr  Edwards  also  censures  him  for  publishing  his  own 
 sentiments  relative  to  church  government,  liberty  of  conscience, 
 and  universal  toleration.  What  would  these  two  rigid  intoler- 
 ants  think,  were  they  now  to  make  the  tour  of  Great  Britain, 
 where  they  would  observe,  that  liberty  of  conscience,  and  uni- 
 versal toleration,  are  become  not  only  the  general  opinion 
 amongst  the  people,  but  sanctioned  by  the  legislature,  and  ac- 
 quiesced in,  though  reluctantly,  by  the  churches  established  bv 
 law. 
 
 During  his  last  illness  he  laboured  under  some  melancholy 
 apprehensions;  on  account  of  which  certain  of  his  friends  and 
 brethren  met  at  his  house  in  order  to  assist  him  with  their  prav- 
 ers.  When  they  took  their  leave  of  him,  he  thanked  them  for 
 their  christian  affection,  and  said,  "  He  was  now  satisfied  in  his 
 own  mind,  and  that  the  gloom  which  had  hung  over  his  soul 
 was  wholly  removed."  He  died,  the  same  evening,  in  the  year 
 1658.  Mr  Simpson  published  several  sermons,  preached  be- 
 fore parliament,  one  of  which  is  entitled,  Reformation's  Preser- 
 vation.    He  was  also  author  of  some  other  Pieces. 
 
598  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 WILLIAM  SPURSTOWE,  D.  D. 
 
 This  excellent  divine  was  son  and  heir  to  William  Spur- 
 stowe, merchant  in  London.  He  received  his  education  in 
 Katherine-hall,  Cambridge,  of  which  he  was  some  time  fellow. 
 Having  finished  his  studies  at  the  university,  he  entered  into  the 
 ministry,  and  was  settled  at  Hampden  in  Buckinghamshire. 
 When  the  civil  war  commenced,  Mr  Spurstowe  held  by  the 
 parliament,  and  was  made  chaplain  to  the  regiment  of  the  cele- 
 brated John  Hampden,  in  the  army  of  general  Essex.  In  1643 
 he  was  chosen  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  which  he  punc- 
 tually attended;  and  much  about  this  time  he  became  pastor  of 
 Hackney,  in  the  vicinity  of  London.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
 assembly  one  of  the  committee  for  settling  sequestrated  livings. 
 He  was  some  time  master  of  Katherine-hall  in  Cambridge;  but 
 ejected  for  refusing  the  engagement.  Wood  says,  "  He  was  a 
 grand  presbyterian."  He  preached  some  times  before  parlia- 
 ment, by  whom  he  was  appointed  to  accompany  their  commis- 
 sioners to  Newport,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  to  treat  with  king 
 Charles.  He  was  likewise  one  of  the  commissioners  who  at- 
 tended at  the  Savoy  conference,  and  was  ejected  from  Hackney 
 by  the  act  of  uniformity,  1662;  but  lived  about  the  same  place, 
 exercising  his  talents  in  private  as  opportunity  allowed  him,  till 
 an  advanced  age.  He  died  early  in  1666,  and  was  buried  at 
 Hackney. 
 
 Dr.  Spurstowe  was  eminently  distinguished  for  his  great 
 learning,  humility,  charity,  a  cheerful  temper,  and  a  pleasant 
 conversation.  Mr  Baxter,  in  his  own  life,  speaks  of  him  with 
 great  respect.  There  were  some  alms'  houses  near  the  church 
 of  Hackney  which  were  his  gift;  before  which  there  was  a  stone 
 placed,  with  the  following  inscription  :  "  William  Spurstowe, 
 D.  D.  vicar  of  the  parish  of  Hackney,  out  of  his  pious  intention, 
 ordered,  by  his  will,  these  six  alms'  houses  for  the  habitation 
 and  dwelling  of  six  poor  widows  of  the  said  parish,  of  good  life 
 and  conversation;  which  Henry  Spurstowe,  Esq.  merchant,  and 
 brother  to  the  said  Dr.  William  Spurstowe,  in  fulfilment  of  his 
 will,  erected  and  built  in  the  year  1666." 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  England's  Pattern  and  Duty  in  her  monthly 
 Fasts;  a  Sermon  from  1  Sam.  vii.  6.  preached  before  both 
 Houses  of  Parliament. — 2.  England's  eminent  Judgments  for 
 abusing  God's  eminent  Mercies;  a  Sermon  preached  before  the 
 Peers. — 3.  The  Magistrate's  Dignity  and  Duty;  a  Sermon 
 preached  before  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  city  of 
 London,  October  30th,  1653. — 4.  Death  and  the  Grave  no  bar 
 to  the  Believer's  happiness;  a  funeral  Sermon. — 5.  The  Wells  of 
 Salvation  opened;  a  small  Treatise,  wherein  the  preciousness  of 
 
WILLIAM   SPURSTOWE.  599 
 
 the  Gospel  Promises,  and  rules  tor  their  right  application,  are 
 clearly  pointed  out. — 6.  The  Spiritual  Chemist,  or  six  decades 
 of  Divine  Meditations  on  several  subjects. — 7.  The  Wiles  of 
 Satan;  and  some  other  Pieces.  He  was  also  one  of  the  authors 
 of  Smectvmnuus. 
 
 EDMUND  STAUNTON,  D.  D. 
 
 This  pious  and  learned  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Christ 
 was  born  at  Woburn  in  Bedfordshire  in  the  year  1600.  His 
 father,  Sir  Richard  Staunton,  had  several  sous,  of  whose  edu- 
 cation he  was  particularly  careful.  Edmund  was  one  of  the 
 youngest,  who,  when  sufficiently  instructed  in  the  elementary 
 parts  of  learning,  was  removed  to  Corpus  Christi  college,  in  the 
 university  of  Oxford.  Here  his  application  was  close,  and  his 
 proficiency  remarkable.  Such  was  the  applause  his  talents  and 
 industry  had  procured  him,  that  while  yet  an  under-graduate 
 he  was  chosen  a  probationer-fellow  in  that  college,  before  eigh- 
 teen of  his  seniors.  When  about  eighteen  years  of  age  he  fell 
 sick,  and  was  near  the  point  of  death  before  the  nature  of  his 
 trouble  was  discovered;  but  a  skilful  physician  found  he  labour- 
 ed under  a  pleuritick  disorder,  and  accordingly  prescribed  a  copi- 
 ous bleeding.  A  surgeon  was  immediately  sent  for;  but  could 
 not  be  found.  At  last,  however,  the  messenger  learned  that  he 
 was  regaling  himself  in  a  tavern:  from  whence  he  brought  him 
 in  such  a  state  of  inebriety,  that  he  could  not  perform  his  work. 
 He  struck  Mr  Staunton's  arm  twice;  but  no  blood  came.  In 
 this  mournfnl  posture  the  surgeon  left  his  patient,  and  stagger- 
 ed home  to  bed.  When  he  had  slept  himself  sober  he  came  ear- 
 ly next  morning,  and  knocked  at  the  college-gate.  On  gaining 
 admittance,  he  ran  to  Staunton's  chamber,  where  finding  him 
 still  alive,  he  opened  a  vein,  which  bled  freely;  and  the  patient, 
 though  half  dead,  soon  recovered,  and  became  quite  healthy. 
 This  part  of  our  narrative  adds  to  the  countless  catalogue  of 
 dangers,  untimely  deaths,  and  other  disasters  occasioned  by  in- 
 temperate drinking.  While  we  find,  by  experience,  that  all  the 
 reason  possessed  by  men  is  barely  sufficient  to  direct  their  way 
 through  life,  what  a  pity  it  is  that  any,  especially  public  cha- 
 racters, should  voluntarily  transform  themselves  into  idiots  or 
 madmen  by  intoxicating  draughts  of  strong  liquors.  Mr  Staun- 
 ton was,  on  another  occasion,  mercifully  prevented  from  drown- 
 ing. Having  gone  into  the  water  alone  to  bathe,  he  inadver- 
 tently went  beyond  his  depth;  and  having  no  knowledge  of 
 swimming,  he  escaped  almost  by  a  miracle.  A  small  tuft  of 
 grass,  which  he  accidently  laid  hold  of,  was  the  means  of  sav- 
 ing his  life.     These  dangers,  and  the  remarkable  deliverance  he 
 
GOO  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 experienced,  led  him  to  a  serious  consideration  of  his  state  of 
 preparation  for  an  invisible  world,  insomuch  that  he  continued 
 about  two  months  under  a  spirit  of  bondage,  full  of  fear  and  in- 
 ward trouble;  after  which  he  obtained  a  strong  persuasion  of 
 the  love  of  God  to  his  soul,  and  was  filled  with  joy  and  inward 
 peace.  From  this  period  the  study  of  the  holy  scriptures  was 
 his  delight;  and  having  determined  to  devote  himself  to  the 
 preaching  of  the  gospel,  he  entered  on  the  study  of  divinity. 
 
 When  he  became  master  of  arts,  his  father  gave  him  the 
 choice  of  the  three  learned  professions,  law,  physic,  or  divinity. 
 He  made  choice  of  the  last,  telling  his  father  that  he  had  bent 
 his  studies  a  little  that  way  already,  as  he  considered  an  oppor- 
 tunity of  turning  many  to  righteousness,  the  most  enviable  si- 
 tuation on  earth;  and  though  the  other  callings  were  likely  to 
 bring  more  wealth  and  honour  here,  this  had  the  promise  of  the 
 greater  reward  hereafter.  His  indulgent  father  offered  no  op- 
 position to  his  pious  design,  but  rather  encouraged  it.  He  first 
 preached  for  about  six  months  on  the  Sabbath  afternoon  at  Wit- 
 ney in  Oxfordshire.  His  labours  in  this  place  were  so  accepta- 
 ble to  the  people,  that  they  flocked  from  all  parts  to  hear  him ; 
 which  in  no  small  degree  offended  the  incumbent,  who  used  to 
 lengthen  the  time  of  reading  prayers,  that  Mr  Staunton  might 
 have  the  shorter  time  for  delivering  his  sermon,  and  then  left 
 the  church;  but  none  followed  him  except  the  clerk,  whom  he 
 forbade  to  read  the  psalms  for  the  congregation.  His  continu- 
 ance at  Witney  being  very  uncertain,  and  still  experiencing 
 great  opposition  from  the  minister  of  the  place,  he  removed, 
 and  became  minister  of  Bushey  in  Hertfordshire.  He  met  with 
 a  very  welcome  reception  in  this  place  from  all  who  had  any 
 savour  for  religion.  He  preached  and  catechised  on  the  Lord's 
 day,  and  at  other  times,  with  great  diligence  and  success.  Ma- 
 ny, who  were  not  inhabitants  of  Bushey,  also  attended  his 
 ministry  from  a  considerable  distance.  A  very  respectable  di- 
 vine says,  "  The  short  time  that  Edmund  Staunton  spent  in 
 Bushey  was  not  without  success;  many  persons  in  my  own 
 hearing  have  acknowledged  his  ministry  to  have  been  the  means 
 of  their  conversion. 
 
 About  this  time  he  married  the  daughter  of  one  Mr  Scuda- 
 more  of  Watford,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter.  After  la- 
 bouring about  two  years  at  Bushey,  Dr.  Seaton,  of  Kingston- 
 upon-Thames,  wishing  to  have  his  living,  either  made  a  flaw,  or 
 finding  one  in  his  title,  soon  dispossessed  him.  Seaton's  attor- 
 ney, liking  the  candour  of  Mr  Staunton,  proposed  an  exchange; 
 to  which  both  agreed.  Mr  Staunton,  who  always  preferred 
 work  to  wages,  the  more  readily  acquiesced  in  this  exchange, 
 that  he  was  likely  to  be  more  extensively  useful  at  Kingston, 
 
EDMUND  STAUNTON.  601 
 
 and  to  have  his  opportunities  of  service  increased.  Neverthe- 
 less, when  Dr.  Seaton  had  got  possession  of  Busbey,  he  would 
 not  give  up  Kingston  without  Mr  Staunton's  condescending  to 
 become  his  curate.  Here  the  doctor's  attorney,  despising  such 
 baseness,  threatened  to  find  a  flaw  in  his  title  to  Bushey,  unless 
 he  finished  the  transaction  in  an  honourable  way;  so  that  the 
 doctor  began  to  see  that  honesty,  in  this  affair,  was  likely  to  prove 
 the  best  policy.  Accordingly,  Mr  Staunton  entered  on  the 
 quiet  possession  of  Kingston,  where  he  continued,  faithfully 
 discharging  the  duties  of  his  calling,  about  twenty  years.  He 
 preached  twice  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  carefully  examined  the 
 young,  and  such  as  were  ignorant,  both  in  public,  and  from 
 house  to  house,  though  the  town  was  large  and  populous.  He 
 also  set  up  a  public  lecture,  in  which  a  number  of  eminent  di- 
 vines officiated  in  their  turn. 
 
 Thus,  by  his  conscientious  labours,  and  exemplary  life,  ac- 
 companied by  the  divine  blessing,  a  great  reformation  was  ef- 
 fected in  Kingston,  both  of  the  magistrates  and  people.  He  was 
 beloved  by  all  the  devout,  and  feared  by  the  wicked  and  per- 
 verse, and  the  good  seed  then  sown  sprung  up  in  the  place  long 
 after  he  was  gone.  As  a  preacher,  Mr  Staunton  was  very 
 plain,  warm,  and  practical.  He  found,  by  long  experience, 
 that  a  plain  method  of  preaching  was  the  most  suitable,  and 
 most  conducive  to  the  end  for  which  preaching  had  been  ap- 
 pointed. Even  in  the  college  and  university  he  used  the  same 
 plain  and  simple  method  of  expressing  himself.  He  could  have 
 very  easily  appeared  in  a  more  flowery  and  learned  strain;  but 
 he  preferred  his  Master's  work,  and  the  advantage  of  his  people, 
 to  every  other  consideration.  In  the  application  of  his  ser- 
 mons, he  pressed  the  matter  home  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers 
 with  such  energy  and  vivacity,  that  he  was  called  the  searching 
 preacher.  Ever  careful  to  distinguish  between  the  precious  and 
 the  vile,  he  would,  in  every  sermon,  say  something  by  way  of 
 trial  and  examination,  and  point  out  marks  by  which  the  true 
 christian  might  be  distinguished  from  the  hypocrite  and  forma- 
 list. He  often  said,  "  He  was  afraid  of  hearing  that  rebuke 
 from  Christ  another  day,  Thou  wicked  and  slothful  servant," 
 and  applied  himself  with  all  diligence  to  confirm  his  people  in 
 the  truth,  and  arm  them  against  all  false  doctrine.  When  he 
 visited  his  friends,  if  they  did  not  ask  him  to  preach,  he  used 
 to  say,  "  Have  you  no  work  here  for  a  preacher." 
 
 After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  he  married  a  second,  by 
 whom  he  had  many  children.  Ten  of  them  were  buried  in 
 one  grave  in  the  parish  church  of  Kingston;  over  which  he 
 laid  a  beautiful  stone,  whereupon  the  following  inscription  was 
 engraved : 
 
 22  4  g 
 
iiO#  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Here  He  the  bodies  of 
 Francis,  Richard,  Mary,  Matthew,  Mary,  Richard, 
 Edmund,  Edmund,  Sarah,  Richard — 
 Children 
 Whom  the  Lord  graciously  gave  to 
 EDMUND  STAUNTON,  D.  D. 
 Late  Minister  of  Kingston-upon-Thames, 
 Now  President  of  C.  C.  C.  in  Oxford, 
 By  MARY,  his  Wife, 
 Daughter  of  Richard  Balthrope,  Esq. 
 Servant  to  the  late  Queen  Elizabeth. 
 Mr  Staunton  left  only  one  son  behind  him  at  his  death. — 
 In  1635,  when  the  Book  of  Sports  came  out,  lie  was  suspended, 
 like  many  others,   for  refusing  to  read  it.     He  chose  rather  to 
 lose  his  place  than  countenance  such  glaring  profanity.     Dur- 
 ing his  suspension,  he  took  his  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  at 
 Oxford,  with  the  design,  as  he  says  himself,  of  honouring  his 
 sufferings.     His  exercise  on  this  occasion  was  greatly  applaud- 
 ed; but  there  were  several  doctors  in  the  university  whose  fin- 
 gers itched  to  beat  him  down  by  disputation,  because  he  was  a 
 puritan;  and  being  a  country  minister,  they  conceived  he  would 
 be  an  easy  conquest.     One  of  these  had  the  hardihood  to  chal- 
 lenge him  to  the  combat;  but  was  so  miserably  nonplussed  by 
 Dr.  Staunton,  that  the  people  hissed  him,  and  called  out  for  a 
 candle  that  the  doctor  might  see  his  arguments.     When  the  as- 
 sembly of  divines  was  called,  Dr.  Staunton  was  appointed  a 
 member,  and  highly  esteemed  by  that  learned  body.     He  was 
 several  times  called  upon  to  preach  before  the  parliament,  and 
 his  sermons  were  printed  by  order  of  the  House.    He  was  like- 
 wise appointed  by  parliament  one  of  the  six  morning  lecturers 
 in  Westminster  Abbey.     In  1648,  when  the  visitors  of  the  uni- 
 versity of  Oxford  discharged  Mr  Newlin  from  the  headship  of 
 Corpus  Christi  college,   Dr.  Staunton  succeeded  him  as  presi- 
 dent.    He  continued  in  this  office  for  twelve  years,  and  was 
 ejected  by  king  Charles'  commissioners  in  1660.     While  occu- 
 pying this  place  in  the  university,  he  was  indefatigably  employ- 
 ed in  promoting  sound  learning,  and  pure  and  unadulterated 
 religion.     He  encouraged  the  studious,  and  reproved  the  negli- 
 gent.    He  set  up  a  divinity  lecture  every  Lord's  day  morning 
 in  the  college  chapel,  for  exercising  the  senior  students,  and 
 initiating  them  into  the  ministry.     He  catechised  the  juniors 
 every  Saturday  in  public,  and  preached  twice  every  Sabbath, 
 beside  his  constant  course  in  the  university  church  and  college 
 chapel.     One  of  the  impropriations  belonging  to  the  college, 
 about  seven  miles  distant,  having  but  a  small  stipend,  unfit  to 
 support  a  minister,  he  first  went  over  and  preached  himself. 
 
EDMUND  STAUNTON.  603 
 
 and  afterwards  desired  the  senior  fellows  to  take  it  in  course; 
 to  which  they  readily  consented.  He  had  a  weekly  meeting  for 
 prayer  and  conference  in  his  own  lodgings,  consisting  of  college 
 memhers  and  others,  wherein  he  bore  a  principal  part;  and  he 
 constantly  attended  the  public  worship  in  the  chapel,  morning 
 and  evening,  to  observe  and  reprove  such  as  were  remiss,  u 
 was  customary  at  that  time  to  read  a  portion  of  scripture  every 
 day  at  dinner  in  the  college-hall;  and  when  any  difficult  passage 
 occurred,  he  put  it  upon  some  one  of  the  fellows,  that  sat  at 
 meat  with  him,  to  explain  it,  or  did  so  himself.  He  was  care- 
 ful always  to  introduce  such  discourse  as  tended  to  the  instruc- 
 tion of  those  who  were  present  on  these  occasions.  His  watch- 
 ful care,  prudent  government,  and  pious  example,  were  the 
 means  of  greatly  promoting  religion  and  learning  in  his  college; 
 and  many,  who  were  tutored  under  him,  became  learned,  pious, 
 and  useful  men  in  their  generation.  Amongst  these,  Mr  Jo- 
 seph Alleine,  afterwards  minister  of  the  gospel  at  Taunton,  was 
 a  great  comfort  to  him  while  he  remained  in  the  college,  and 
 it  greatly  revived  the  heart  of  this  good  man  to  hear  that  he 
 proved  so  eminently  pious  and  useful  in  the  church  of  God. 
 
 On  his  ejection  from  his  office  of  president  in  1660,  he  left- 
 Oxford,  where  the  precious  seed  he  had  sown,  and  so  carefully 
 watered,  was  rising  to  a  hopeful  harvest.  His  departure  was 
 like  that  of  Paul  from  Ephesus,  or  like  the  parting  of  the  pro- 
 phet Elijah  from  his  pupil  Elisha,  a  parting  scene  of  singular 
 sensibility,  filled  up  with  prayers,  lamentations,  and  tears. 
 Parting  with  his  friends,  he  removed  first  to  Rickmansworth  in 
 Hertfordshire,  where  he  was  well  received,  by  people  of  all 
 ranks,  as  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  preached  round  about 
 that  county,  and  places  adjacent,  though  an  old  man,  and 
 somewhat  infirm,  willing  to  spend  his  strength  in  the  service  of 
 his  adorable  Master,  till  the  act  of  uniformity  imposed  a  gene- 
 ral silence  on  all  non-conforming  ministers,  in  August  1692. 
 After  this,  his  wife  becoming  infirm,  he  took  apartments  in  a 
 family  at  some  distance,  where  he  was  very  useful  so  long  as 
 he  remained  with  them,  as  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  the 
 power  of  the  world  to  come,  were  deeply  impressed  on  the 
 minds  of  the  inmates.  From  this  place  he  again  removed  to 
 another  family  near  St.  Alban's,  in  which  town  he  was  instru- 
 mental in  correcting  some  extravagances.  He  seems  to  have 
 moved  about  from  one  place  to  another,  with  the  view  of  being 
 more  extensively  useful  to  the  church  of  Christ.  His  last  re- 
 moval of  this  kind  was  to  a  little  village  in  Hertfordshire,  called 
 Bovingden,  rendered  famous  from  his  living  some  time,  and 
 dying,  in  it.  Here  he  was  offered  all  accommodations  gratis: 
 which  he  accepted:  but  whatever  he  saved  this  way,  was  ex- 
 
604>  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 pended  in  charity,  particularly  in  the  distribution  of  religious 
 books  to  the  poor  of  that  village  and  neighbourhood.  He  at- 
 tended carefully  to  the  instruction  of  the  family,  and  here  he 
 found  much  comfort  in  his  retirement;  which,  had  he  been  born 
 for  himself  alone,  would  have  been  his  choice  in  passing  the 
 time  of  his  sojourning  through  life.  But  considering  himself  as  a 
 member  of  society,  and  a  member  of  the  church  of  Christ,  he 
 reckoned  his  talents,  whatever  they  were,  a  part  of  the  public 
 property,  and  was  often  heard  to  say,  "  Woe  unto  me  if  I  preach 
 not  the  gospel."  He  accordingly  preached  to,  or  instructed, 
 the  people  wherever  he  could  find  an  opportunity,  unwilling 
 that  his  Master,  when  he  came,  should  find  him  idle  or  asleep. 
 He  often  rode  to  St.  Albans,  and  once  or  twice  in  the  year  to 
 London  and  Kingston ;  and  when  denied  a  church,  he  preached 
 in  a  chamber.  When  he  had  no  opportunity  of  addressing  the 
 many,  he  instructed  a  few,  redeeming  the  time,  because  the 
 days  were  evil.  From  the  goodness  of  his  natural  temper,  he 
 was  gentle  and  courteous  to  all,  and  his  natural  disposition, 
 embellished  by  the  grace  and  gentleness  of  Christ  Jesus,  made 
 him  very  amiable,  and  exceedingly  edifying  in  his  conversation. 
 His  government  of  the  college  partook  more  of  mildness  and 
 lenity,  than  of  sharpness  and  severity;  yet  none,  even  of  the  most 
 rigid  disciplinarians  amongst  his  predecessors  in  that  office,  ever 
 kept  the  college  in  better  order. 
 
 As  a  christian,  he  was  much  given  to  self-examination, 
 anxious  to  ascertain  his  evidences  for  heaven;  which,  by  the 
 gracious  operations  of  the  Spirit  of  truth  on  his  soul,  he  says, 
 he  found,  if  his  heart  did  not  deceive  him.  As  a  divine,  he 
 was  intimately  acquainted  with  his  bible,  could  readily  re- 
 fer to  almost  any  passage  of  scripture,  and  manifested,  by  his 
 explanations,  how  well  he  understood  the  sense  of  that  sacred 
 book.  Like  Wickliff,  his  principal  study  was  the  oracles  of 
 God.  He  carried  the  New  Testament,  or  the  Book  of  Psalms, 
 always  about  him;  and  so  greatly  delighted  was  he  with  the 
 word  of  God,  that  he  made  it  his  meditation  both  by  day  and 
 night. 
 
 His  generosity  knew  no  bounds  but  the  bottom  of  his  purse. 
 He  drew  out  his  soul  to  the  hungry,  and  lived  in  charity  with 
 all  men.  While  others  were  racking  their  judgments  how  they 
 should  gather  together  heaps  of  gold,  Dr.  Staunton  scattered  his 
 abroad  amongst  the  poor  and  needy.  When  he  rode  out,  he 
 used  to  put  what  money  he  could  spare  in  his  pocket,  that  he 
 might  have  wherewith  to  relieve  the  necessitous.  God  had 
 <riven  him  a  competent  estate,  and  he  laid  it  out,  in  the  service 
 of  the  bountiful  Giver,  with  a  cheerful  heart  and  a  liberal  hand. 
 As  then4  are  the  gifts  of  prayer  and  of  preaching,  so  doubtless 
 
EDxMUND  STAUNTON.  605 
 
 there  is  also  the  gift  of  conversation ;  which  Dr.  Staunton  seems 
 to  have  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree.  He  always  endeavour- 
 ed to  make  his  discourse  profitable  to  the  people,  and  could, 
 with  the  greatest  facility,  and  without  giving  the  least  offence, 
 turn  their  merry  and  idle  talk  into  what  was  useful,  and  their 
 worldly  discourse  to  a  heavenly  conversation.  He  embraced 
 every  opportunity  of  warning  the  unruly,  and  instructing  the 
 ignorant,  even  those  whom  others  slighted  as  unworthy  of  their 
 notice  on  account  of  their  meanness  and  ignorance.  He  used 
 to  say,  "  That  their  souls  were  as  precious  as  the  souls  of  noble- 
 men or  princes." 
 
 His  patience  and  cheerfulness  under  affliction  were  truly  re- 
 markable. He  was  never  seen  out  of  humour,  or  heard  repin- 
 ing, though  his  trouble  was  considerable.  He  was  always 
 cheerful  in  company,  and  on  ordinary  occasions  frequently 
 somewhat  merry  and  jocose,  especially  amongst  young  people, 
 with  the  view  of  removing  the  mistaken  idea,  that  the  religion 
 of  Jesus  is  a  system  of  gloom  and  despondency;  whereas  none 
 have  so  good  reason  to  rejoice,  and  drink  their  wine  with  a 
 merry  heart,  as  they  whose  sacrifices  are  accepted  of  God.  It 
 is  said  of  Macarius,  that  by  his  pleasant  discourses,  on  all  oc- 
 casions, he  drew  many  into  the  paths  of  wisdom  and  godliness. 
 
 Upon  the  whole,  the  life  of  this  eminent  servant  of  Christ 
 exhibits  such  a  cluster  of  heavenly  graces  and  manly  virtues, 
 as  court  our  closest  imitation  both  as  men  and  christians. 
 Such  were  the  lives  of  the  primitive  christians,  and  of  many 
 reformers  of  latter  times;  and  such  examples,  in  every  age  of 
 the  church,  have  largely  contributed  to  promote  piety  and 
 practical  religion,  with  all  their  happy  consequences,  amongst 
 men. 
 
 Dr.  Staunton  was  at  last  seized,  on  the  whole  of  one  side  of 
 his  body,  with  the  dead  palsy.  This  happened  on  the  8th  of 
 July  1671;  after  which  his  speech  failed  him,  so  that  he  spoke 
 but  little,  and  very  seldom.  A  friend,  who  paid  him  a  visit 
 about  this  time,  asking  him  how  he  did  ?  he  replied  in  the  words 
 of  the  prophet,  "In  some  measure  God  is  debating  with  me; 
 yet  he  stayeth  his  rough  wind  in  the  day  of  his  east  wind." 
 Some  time  after  this  he  said  to  a  friend,  tc  I  neither  fear  death, 
 nor  desire  to  live;  but  I  am  willing  to  be  at  God's  disposal." 
 On  another  occasion  he  expressed  that  remarkable  saying  of 
 holy  Job,  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,"  and  then  re- 
 peated the  following  lines  of  the  xxxi.  Psalm  in  verse : 
 
 "  Into  thine  hands  I  do  commit 
 My  sp'rit;  for  thou  art  he, 
 O  thou  Jehovah,  God  of  truth, 
 Who  hast  redeemed  me." 
 
606  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 So  long  as  lie  had  ability  he  exhorted  all  about  him  to  make 
 sure  of  heaven  in  the  time  of  health;  to  keep  their  evidences  un- 
 blotted;  to  remember  the  Sabbath,  and  keep  it  holy.  He  spoke 
 with  all  the  solemnity  of  a  dying  man,  and  seemed  anxious  to 
 do  good  with  his  expiring  breath.  He  died  on  the  14th  of  July 
 1671,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age.  His  remains  were 
 interred  in  the  parish  church  of  Bovingden,  under  a  fair  stone, 
 on  which  was  engraved  a  Latin  epitaph,  composed  by  the  Rev. 
 Dr.  Simon  Ford. 
 
 "  His  modesty  was  such  (says  Mr  Mayo,  his  biographer), 
 that  he  never  judged  any  thing  he  wrote  worthy  of  the  press. 
 He  consented,  however,  to  let  his  Christian  Conference  be  pub- 
 lished; and  having  also  by  me  a  manuscript  of  his,  entitled,  A 
 Dialogue  between  a  Minister  and  a  Stranger,  I  thought  good 
 to  print  it  along  with  the  foresaid  treatise.  These,  with  two 
 Sermons,  published  by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  a 
 funeral  Sermon  for  Mrs  Wilkinson,  late  wife  of  Dr.  Henry 
 Wilkinson,  principal  of  Magdalen-hall,  with  a  Latin  Poem  in 
 Britannia  Ridiviva,  1660,  upon  the  restoration  of  Charles  II., 
 and  probably  some  other  Sermons,  seem  to  include  all  that 
 have  been  published  of  his  writings." 
 
 PETER  STERRY,  B.  D. 
 Mr  Sterry  was  born  in  the  county  of  Surrey,  and  edu- 
 cated in  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  was  chosen 
 fellow  in  1636.  Having  finished  his  academical  studies  at  the 
 university,  he  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  in  1643  was  cho- 
 sen one  of  the  assembly  of  divines  for  the  city  of  London.  He 
 was  afterwards  one  of  Cromwell's  chaplains,  and  procured  the 
 character  of  a  high-flying  mystical  divine.  He  lived  till  after 
 the  restoration,  and  is  said  to  have  preached  to  a  conventicle  in 
 London.  It  is  said,  that  he  and  one  Sadler  were  the  first  who 
 had  been  observed  to  make  a  public  profession  of  Platonism  in 
 the  university  of  Cambridge. 
 
 Mr  Sterry  seems  to  have  embraced  the  cause  of  the  parlia- 
 ment with  enthusiasm,  and  continued  to  advocate  the  same  with 
 uncommon  zeal  and  firmness.  He  frequently  preached  at 
 Whitehall,  and  before  the  parliament;  on  which  occasions  he 
 declared  his  sentiments  without  the  least  reserve;  but  as  these 
 sentiments  seem  to  have  been  selected  and  transcribed  for  the 
 obvious  purpose  of  reproach,  we  shall  give  them  in  the  words 
 of  our  author.  In  his  sermon,  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
 in  November  26th,  1645,  speaking  of  the  discomfiture  of  the 
 king's  army,  he  adds,  "  What  ailed  you,  ye  mighty  armies  at 
 Keinton,  Newbury,  York,  and  Naseby,  that  ye  fled,  and  were 
 
PETER  STERRV.  607 
 
 driven  back  ?  What  ailed  you,  ye  strong  traitors,  ye  close  con- 
 spirators, that  ye  trembled  and  fell,  till  your  foundations  were 
 discovered,  before  your  villanies  could  take  the  anticipated  ef- 
 fect ?  They  saw  thee,  O  Jesus,  they  saw  thee  opening  in  the 
 midst  of  us,  so  they  fled  before  us. — Worthies,  you  sit  at  the 
 right  hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  this  commonwealth,  as  the 
 Lord  Jesus  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  his  Father  in  that  kingdom 
 which  ruleth  over  all."  We  leave  the  consideration  of  these 
 quotations  to  the  impartial  reader  without  comment. 
 
 Mr  Sterry  was  author  of  a  number  of  treatises,  the  titles  of 
 which  have  not  come  in  our  way.  He  appears  to  have  been 
 deeply  tinctured  with  mysticism.  According  to  Richard  Bax- 
 ter, he  was  an  intimate  of  Sir  Henry  Vane's  *,  and  thought  to 
 have  been  of  his  sentiments  in  religion.  He  was  so  famous  for 
 obscurity  in  preaching,  that  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard  said,  "He 
 was  too  high  for  this  world,  and  too  low  for  the  world  to  come." 
 In  1654  Mr  Sterry  was  appointed  one  of  the  triers.  It  had 
 hitherto  been  reserved  for  the  several  presbyteries  to  examine  and 
 approve  of  public  preachers,  both  in  town  and  country;  but  the 
 Protector  observing  some  inconveniences  attending  that  method, 
 to  prevent  all  complaints  of  partiality,  thought  it  advisable  not 
 to  trust  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  the  vacancies  in  the 
 church,  all  over  England,  to  the  presbyterians  alone.  He  there- 
 fore contrived  a  middle  path,  by  joining  the  several  parties  to- 
 gether, and  entrusting  the  work  to  certain  commissioners  of 
 each  denomination,  men  of  known  ability  and  integrity.  This 
 was  settled  by  an  ordinance  of  council,  March  20th,  1654. 
 The  commission  consisted  of  thirty-eight  individuals,  eight  or 
 nine  were  laymen,  the  rest  ministers,  some  of  whom  were  pres- 
 byterians, others  independents,  with  two  or  three  baptists. 
 Any  five  were  empowered  to  approve;  but  no  number,   under 
 
 *  Sir  Henry  Vane  was  a  principal  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  one  of 
 those  singular  characters  that  make  their  appearance  but  once  in  a  thousand  years. 
 It  is  hard  to  determine  whether  he  was  more  the  phautastic  visionary,  or  the  pro- 
 found politician.  He  did  not,  like  the  generality  of  enthusiasts,  supinely  repose  his 
 confidence  on  heaven,  as  if  he  expected  every  thing  from  that  quarter,  hut  exerted 
 himself  as  if  he  depended  wholly  on  his  own  activity.  His  enthusiasm,  in  place  of 
 precipitating  him  into  rash  and  injudicious  measures,  only  served  to  add  renovated 
 vigour  to  his  natural  capacity.  He  mistook  his  deep  penetration,  however,  for  the 
 spirit  of  prophecy,  and  the  light  of  his  genius  for  divine  irradiation.  The  solemn 
 league  and  covenant  was  the  offspring  of  his  prolific  brain;  which  teemed  with  new 
 systems  both  of  politics  and  religion.  His  genius  stood  far  above  the  level  of  man- 
 kind, and  he  spoke  like  a  philosopher  on  every  subject  but  religion;  with  regard  to 
 which  he  certainly  merits  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  mystics.  He  preserved  a  uni- 
 formity of  character  through  life,  and  died  In  the  expectation  of  receiving  the  mar- 
 tyr's crown.  He  was  beheaded,  .Tune  11th,  1662.—  Si/vester's  Life  of  Barter,  part  i. 
 p.  75. 
 
608  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 nine,  had  authority  to  reject  a  candidate  as  unqualified.  In 
 case  of  the  death  or  removal  of  any  commissioner,  the  vacancy 
 was  filled  up  by  the  Protector  and  his  council,  or  by  the  parlia- 
 ment, if  sitting.  Some  of  the  presbyterians,  however,  declined 
 to  act  for  want  of  better  authority,  and  because  they  were  not 
 satisfied  with  some  of  the  company. 
 
 We  are  informed  by  Ludlow,  "  That  when  the  news  of 
 Cromwell's  death  arrived,  Mr  Sterry  stood  up,  and  exhorted 
 those  about  him  not  to  be  troubled;  for  this,  said  he,  is  good 
 news;  because,  if  Cromwell  was  of  great  use  to  the  people  of 
 God  while  here  amongst  us,  he  will  be  much  more  useful  now, 
 that  he  is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  Jesus  Christ,  there  to  in- 
 tercede for  us  on  all  occasions  !  !"  If  Ludlow's  story  be  true, 
 Mr  Sterry  must  either  have  been  a  frenzied  fool,  or  a  consum- 
 mate flatterer. 
 
 Two  Sermons  of  his,  preached  before  the  Commons,  have 
 been  printed,  1.  The  Spirit's  Conviction  of  Sin  opened. — 2.  The 
 Clouds  in  which  Christ  comes. 
 
 RICHARD  VINES,  A.  M. 
 
 This  learned  and  excellent  divine  was  born  at  Blason  in 
 Leicestershire,  about  the  year  1600,  and  had  his  education  at 
 Magdalen  college,  Cambridge,  where,  having  continued  for 
 some  years,  and  taken  his  degrees  in  arts,  he  displayed  great 
 quickness  of  apprehensiou,  and  pregnancy  of  parts.  He  was 
 lively  and  acute;  but  never,  like  many  young  men  of  vivacity, 
 given  to  any  youthful  extravagances.  He  studied  hard,  and  ac- 
 quired a  great  proficiency  in  learning;  and  having  run  through 
 his  courses  in  the  university,  he  was  chosen  school-master  at 
 Hinckley,  in  his  own  county.  On  the  death  of  Mr  James 
 Cranford,  which  took  place  some  time  after  this,  he  was  pre- 
 sented to  the  rectory  of  Weddington  in  Warwickshire.  Here 
 his  ministrations  were  attended  by  many  from  the  neighbour- 
 ing parishes,  and  became  a  great  blessing  to  that  part  of  the 
 country.  He  also  preached  to  a  small  parish  in  the  neighbour- 
 hood, and  upon  the  death  of  the  incumbent,  was  presented  to 
 the  living.  Mr  Vines  served  both  parishes  with  the  utmost 
 care  and  diligence,  their  profits  only  amounting  to  eighty  pounds 
 per  annum.  At  the  earnest  request  of  several  friends,  he  like- 
 wise set  up  a  lecture  at  Nuneaton;  to  which  the  people  resorted 
 in  multitudes.  Mr  Evans,  ejected  in  1662,  who  succeeded  him 
 in  his  two  livings,  is  said  to  have  found  that  country-side  well 
 stocked  with  religious  knowledge  and  solid  christians,  the  fruit 
 arising  from  the  labours  of  many  excellent  men,  but  especially 
 his  worthy  predecessor  Mr  Vines. 
 
RICHARD  VINES.  609 
 
 On  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  Mr  Vines  was  driven 
 from  his  charge,  and  forced  to  take  shelter  in  Coventry,  a  city 
 in  Warwickshire,  about  ninety  miles  north-west  from  London, 
 where  he  found  about  thirty  other  ministers,  who,  to  save 
 themselves  from  the  plundering  depredations  of  the  royal  army, 
 and  the  fury  of  a  misguided  populace,  had  fled  to  this  city  of 
 refuge.  Thus  driven  from  their  flocks,  and  the  exercise  of  their 
 ministry,  these  divines  set  up  a  morning  lecture;  in  which  Mr 
 Vines  was  frequently  engaged,  as  well  as  on  the  Lord's  day. 
 In  1643  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and 
 noted  for  his  regular  attendance.  Here  his  abilities  and  mode- 
 ration were  called  into  daily  exercise,  and  the  good  he  did  in 
 the  matter  of  church  government  may  be  safely  concealed,  but 
 cannot  be  expressed  without  giving  offence.  In  1644  he  was 
 appointed  one  of  the  assistant  divines  at  the  negotiations  of 
 Uxbridge.  The  Oxford  historian,  speaking  of  Dr.  Hammond, 
 one  of  the  king's  party,  says,  and  that  with  an  uncommon  air 
 of  triumph,  "  It  being  his  lot  to  dispute  with  Richard  Vines,  a 
 presbyterian  minister,  who  attended  the  commissioners  of  par- 
 liament, he,  with  the  greatest  ease  and  clearness,  dispersed  all 
 the  sophisms  he  could  bring  up  against  him."  How  far  this 
 statement  is  correct  we  are  unable  to  determine,  only  that 
 Whitlocke,  a  more  correct,  and  far  more  impartial  writer, 
 speaking  of  this  treaty,  says,  "  That  while  Dr.  Stewart  and  Dr. 
 Shelden  argued  very  'positively r,  that  the  government  by  bishops 
 was  jure  divi?io,  Mr  Vines  and  Mr  Henderson  argued  as  posi- 
 tively, but  more  moderately r,  that  the  government  of  the  church 
 by  presbyteries  was  jure  divino." 
 
 Mr  Vines  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  committee  of  accom- 
 modation, and  chairman  at  their  meetings.  On  the  subject  of 
 a  general  accommodation  of  all  the  religious  parties,  he  wrote 
 an  excellent  letter  to  Mr  Baxter ;  which  discovered  his  mild  and 
 accommodating  spirit.  He  was  appointed  master  of  Pembroke- 
 hall,  Cambridge,  by  the  earl  of  Manchester;  and  it  has  been 
 generally  allowed,  that  few  persons  were  better  qualified  for  that 
 situation.  Here,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  he  promoted  true 
 religion  and  sound  literature,  and  had  restored  the  college  to  a 
 very  flourishing  condition  by  the  time  he  was  ejected  for  re- 
 fusing the  engagement  in  1649.  He  was  one  of  the  committee 
 of  learned  divines  appointed  by  parliament  to  prepare  the  Con- 
 fession of  Faith,  also  one  of  the  assistant  divines  appointed  to 
 treat  with  the  king  at  the  Isle  of  Wight;  on  which  occasion  he 
 was  much  applauded  by  his  own  party,  particularly  for  proving 
 the  sufficiency  of  presbyterian  ordination — shewing  that  mini- 
 sters, ordained  by  the  presbyterian  churches  in  France  and  the 
 Low  Countries,  were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  acknowledged 
 
 22  1   ii 
 
610  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 by  our  bishops  as  lawfully  ordained  both  to  preach  and  adirii- 
 nistcr  the  sacraments.  During  the  treaty  he  had  much  conver- 
 sation, and  some  disputation,  with  the  king,  who  highly  valued 
 him  for  his  learning  and  ingenuity. 
 
 When  sentence  of  death  had  been  pronounced  against  the 
 king,  Mr  Vines,  and  several  of  his  brethren,  presented  their 
 duty  to  his  majesty,  with  their  humble  desires  to  pray  with 
 him,  and  perform  other  serviceable  offices  if  he  would  be  pleas- 
 ed to  accept  of  their  service.  The  king  thanked  them  for  their 
 kind  offers;  but  declined  accepting  them.  About  1653  Mr 
 Vines  was  chosen  one  of  a  committee  to  draw  up  the  funda- 
 mentals to  be  presented  to  the  House.  When  he  went  first  up 
 to  London,  he  was  chosen  minister  of  St.  Clement  Danes, 
 where  many  persons  of  quality  were  his  hearers.  After  some 
 time  he  resigned  his  place  at  the  solicitation  of  the  earl  of  Es- 
 sex, and  removed  to  Walton  in  Hertfordshire;  but  afterwards 
 accepted  an  invitation  to  Laurence-jewry,  London,  where  his 
 excellent  talents  were  still  employed  in  promoting  the  interest 
 of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  Here  multitudes  flocked  to  his 
 ministry;  by  means  of  which  many  a  wanderer  was  gathered 
 into  Christ's  sheep-fold.  While  pastor  at  Laurence-jewry,  he 
 was  chosen  one  of  the  weekly  lecturers  at  St.  Michael's,  Corn- 
 hill,  and  often  called  to  preach  before  the  parliament.  It  has 
 been,  nevertheless,  considered  by  many,  that  Mr  Vines,  and 
 several  of  his  brethren,  preached  with  too  much  warmth  and 
 acrimony  against  the  baptists.  On  the  death  of  the  earl  of 
 Essex,  the  parliament  appointed  a  public  funeral  for  that  dis- 
 tinguished general,  who  was  buried,  with  great  solemnity,  in 
 St.  Peter's  church,  Westminster,  and  Mr  Vines  preached  his 
 funeral  sermon  to  a  very  great  audience  of  persons  in  the 
 higher  ranks  of  society  *. 
 
 Mr  Vines  had  formerly  a  strong  constitution;  but  the  inces- 
 sant labours  of  a  very  useful  life  had  so  worn  it  down,  that  at 
 length  he  became  the  subject  of  severe  bodily  distress.  After 
 his  settlement  at  Laurence-jewry,  his  infirmities  came  on  apace. 
 
 *  Robert,  earl  of  Essex,  the  only  son  of  the  unfortunate  favourite  of  queen  Eliza- 
 beth, possessed  a  liberal  portion  of  his  father's  popularity.  He  was  a  nobleman  of 
 inflexible  honour  and  upright  intentions;  and  from  his  humanity,  compassionate  dis- 
 position, and  a  zealous  regard  for  the  essentials  of  Christianity,  he  sympathized  with, 
 and  shewed  great  kindness  to,  the  persecuted  puritans.  He  was  one  of  those  few 
 noblemen,  who,  in  parliament,  dared  to  attack  the  encroaching  prerogative  of  the 
 crown.  It  was  at  the  head  of  an  army,  however,  that  the.  earl  appeared  to  the  great- 
 est advantage.  When  he  took  the  command  of  the  parliament's  forces,  he  was  consi- 
 dered the  fittest  person  in  the  kingdom  for  filling  that  most  important  office.  He  was 
 a  man  of  invincible  fortitude,  remarkably  foresighted  and  cautious.  Owing,  perhaps, 
 to  the  nature  of  the  war,  and  the  raw  and  undisciplined  state  of  the  army,  he  rather 
 waited  for,  than  sought  after,  opportunities  of  fighting,  and  knew  better  how  to  gain 
 than  improve  his  victory.  He  acquired  a  great  reputation  as  a  soldier;  but  his  glory 
 was  soon  eclipsed  by  B  race  of  young  men,  who,  if  not  his  superiors  in  military  skill, 
 greatly  exceeded  him  in  daring  enterprise.  He  died,  September  14th,  1646. —  Bitg* 
 Britaii.  vol.  v.  p.  101— 1(58. 
 
RICHARD  VINES.  6ll 
 
 He  was  greatly  afflicted  with  a  pain  in  his  head,  which  nearly 
 deprived  him  of  sight;  so  that  he  could  not  see  the  largest 
 print,  nor  could  any  glasses  help  him;  yet  would  he  not  desist 
 from  his  public  labours.  The  day  before  his  death  he  preached 
 and  administered  the  sacrament.  At  ten  o'clock,  the  same 
 evening,  he  was  taken  with  a  bleeding  at  the  nose,  and  died 
 betwixt  two  and  three  the  next  morning,  aged  fifty-five  years. 
 His  remains  were  interred,  with  great  lamentation,  in  the 
 church  of  Laurence-jewry,  February  7th,  1655,  when  Dr. 
 Thomas  Jacombe  preached  his  funeral  sermon ;  wherein  he  gives 
 him  the  following  high  character:  "He  possessed  very  excel- 
 lent parts.  He  was  even  taller  by  the  head  than  most  of  his 
 brethren.  He  was  mighty  in  the  scriptures,  and  an  interpreter 
 one  amongst  a  thousand.  He  was  an  accomplished  scholar,  a 
 perfect  master  of  the  Greek,  an  excellent  philologist,  and  an 
 admirable  orator.  He  was  a  ready  and  close  disputant,  and  ap- 
 proved himself  to  the  admiration  of  many  at  the  treaties  of  Ux- 
 bridge  and  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  was  a  solid,  judicious,  and 
 orthodox  divine,  mighty  in  points  of  controversy.  In  his  spiri- 
 tual and  powerful  ministry  he  dwelt  more  especially  upon  the 
 doctrine  of  justification,  debasing  man,  and  exalting  the  Re- 
 deemer. He  wished  to  die  praying  or  preaching.  What  would 
 have  made  most  men  keep  their  beds,  did  not  keep  Mr  Vines 
 out  of  the  pulpit.  Possessing  an  undaunted  and  heroical  spirit, 
 like  Luther,  nothing  could  deter  him  from  a  conscientious  dis- 
 charge of  his  duty.  He  was  accounted  the  very  prince  of 
 preachers,  a  thorough  Calvin ist,  and  a  bold  honest  man,  void 
 of  pride  and  flattery;  and  as  he  preached,  so  he  lived  and  died." 
 Fuller  styles  him  an  excellent  preacher,  and  the  very  champion 
 of  the  assembly;  steady  to  his  principles,  yet  moderate  and  cha- 
 ritable to  those  who  differed  from  his  opinions.  Wood  says  no- 
 thing concerning  him,  only  that  he  was  a  zealous  puritan. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  A  Treatise  on  the  Sacrament. — 2.  Christ, 
 the  Christian's  only  gain. — 3.  God's  drawing,  and  Man's  com- 
 ing to  Christ. — 4.  The  Saint's  nearness  to  God. — 5.  A  Funeral 
 Sermon  for  the  Earl  of  Essex. — 6.  A  Funeral  Sermon  for  Mr 
 William  StroDg. — 7.  Caleb's  Integrity,  preached  before  the 
 Commons,  November  30th,  1642. — 8.  The  posture  of  David's 
 Spirit  when  he  was  in  a  doubtful  condition;  a  Sermon  before 
 the  Commons,  1644. — 9.  The  Happiness  of  Israel;  a  Sermon 
 before  both  Houses,  1645 — and  several  other  Sermons. 
 
 GEORGE  WALKER,  B.  D. 
 
 This  very  learned  and  pious  puritan  divine  was  born  at 
 llawkshead,  a  market-town  of  Lancashire,  in   1581.     Being 
 
6 12  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 blessed  with  religious  parents,  they  attended  to  his  instruction, 
 and  favoured  him  with  a  religious  education;  of  which  he  en- 
 joyed the  benefit  in  his  future  life.     He  was  educated  at  St. 
 John's  college,  Cambridge,  where,  having  finished  his  studies, 
 he  went  to  London,  and  in  the  year  1614  became  rector  of  St. 
 John  the  Evangelist  in  Watling  Street.     Here  he  continued  to 
 discharge  the  duties  of  his  office  with  great  faithfulness,  for 
 the  space  of  forty  years,  refusing  all  other  preferments,  though 
 offered  him  on  several  occasions.      The  gaining  of  souls  to 
 Christ  was  so  much  the  object  of  his  ambition,  that  church  pre- 
 ferment gave  him  little  concern.     He  was  a  bold  opposer  of 
 popery,  and  several  times  engaged  in  public  disputations  against 
 its  errors  and  superstitions.     In  the  year  1623  he  had  a  public 
 dispute  with  one  Smith,  an  account  of  which  was  afterwards 
 published  by  the  consent  of  both  parties.     He  had  many  en- 
 counters with  Fisher  the  famous  Jesuit,  and  several  others  who 
 were  accounted  the  ablest  disputants  of  the  Romish  persuasion. 
 Mr  Walker  was  a  divine  of  sterling  piety  and  strict  Sabbata- 
 rian principles,  and  frequently  pressed  on  his  hearers  the  neces- 
 sity of  an  exact  observance  of  the  Lord's  day.     Having,  in 
 1635,  openly  avowed  his  sentiments  on  this  point,  and  warmly 
 recommended  the  sanctification  of  that  holy  day,  in  opposition 
 to  a  book  published  by  the  bishop  of  Ely,  and  set  forth  by  pub- 
 lic authority,  he  was  convened  before  archbishop  Laud,  and  re- 
 ceived canonical  admonition.     In  1638  he  was  prosecuted,  and 
 severely  censured  in  the  star-chamber.    Having  preached  a  ser- 
 mon in  his  own  church,  to  prove,  "  That  it  is  a  sin  to  obey  the 
 greatest  monarch  on  earth  in  those  things  that  are  opposed  to 
 the  commandments  of  God,"  he  was  committed  twelve  weeks 
 to  the  custody  of  a  pursuivant,  to  whom  he  paid  in  fees  the  sum 
 of  twenty  pounds.     Upon  his  prosecution,  he  was  shut  up  a 
 close  prisoner  in  the  Gatehouse  for  ten  weeks,  and  at  last  com- 
 pelled to  enter  into  a  bond  of  a  thousand  pounds  to  confine  him- 
 self in  his  brother's  house  at  Chiswick,  and  have  his  living  se- 
 questrated.   He  continued  a  prisoner  for  the  space  of  two  years, 
 and  was  liberated  by  the  long  parliament.     In  1641  his  case  was 
 laid  before  parliament,  where  it  was  resolved,   "  That  his  com- 
 mitment from  the  council  table  for  preaching  a  sermon,  Octo- 
 ber 14th,  1638,  and  his  detainment  twelve  weeks  for  the  same, 
 is  against  the  law  and  the  constitutional  liberty  of  the  subject : 
 That  the  prosecution  of  the  said  Walker  in  the  star-chamber, 
 for  preaching  said  sermon,  and  his  close  imprisonment  thereup- 
 on for  ten  weeks  in  the  Gatehouse,  and  the  payment  of  twenty 
 pounds  fees,  is  against  law  and  the  liberty  of  the  subject :    That 
 the  five  passages,  marked  by  the  Attorney-general  and  Sir  John 
 Banks,  contain  no  crime,  nor  deserve  any  censure,  nor  he  any  pun- 
 
GEORGE  WALKER.  ()I3 
 
 ishment  for  them  :  That  the  enforcing  the  said  Walker  to  enter 
 into  the  bond  for  one  thousand  pounds  Tor  confinement  in  his 
 brother's  house  in  Chiswick,  and  his  imprisonment  there,  is 
 against  law :  That  the  sequestration  of  the  parsonage  of  the 
 said  Walker  was  done  without  any  warrant,  and  against  the 
 laws  of  the  land  :  That  Walker  ought  to  be  restored  to  his  par- 
 sonage, and  the  whole  profits  thereof,  from  the  time  of  the  said 
 sequestration,  and  to  have  reparation  for  all  damages  he  has 
 sustained  by  these  several  imprisonments,  and  his  case  trans- 
 mitted to  the  lords."  Whether  Mr  Walker  received  any  re- 
 paration for  damages  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover;  but 
 after  his  liberation  he  returned  to  his  benefice  and  ministrations 
 at  Watling  Street,  where  he  remained  unmolested  the  rest  of 
 his  days.  In  1643  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of 
 divines,  where,  by  his  munificent  and  generous  conduct,  he 
 procured  a  distinguished  reputation.  In  the  year  following  he 
 was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  for  examining  and  approv- 
 ing public  preachers;  and,  during  the  same  year,  he  was  one  of 
 the  witnesses  against  Laud  at  his  trial;  where  he  deposed,  that 
 the  archbishop  had  endeavoured  to  introduce  arminianism  and 
 popish  superstition  into  the  church  of  England.  Though  Wood 
 reproaches  him  for  having  preached  against  the  king,  he  hearti- 
 ly joined  with  the  rest  of  his  brethren  in  London  in  protesting 
 against  the  king's  death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  pro- 
 vincial assembly  in  London,  and  some  times  chosen  moderator. 
 He  died  in  1651,  aged  seventy  years,  and  was  buried  in  his 
 own  church  in  Watling  Street.  Fuller  says,  "  He  was  well 
 skilled  in  the  oriental  languages,  and  an  excellent  logician  and 
 divine.  He  was  a  man  of  a  holy  life,  and  a  liberal  hand,  who 
 deserved  well  of  Sion  college  library,  and  who,  by  his  example 
 and  persuasion,  raised  a  thousand  pounds  for  the  maintenance 
 of  preaching  ministers  in  his  native  county."  W^ood  calls  him 
 a  learned  man,  but  a  severe  puritan. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  The  sum  of  a  Disputation  between  Mr 
 Walker,  pastor  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  and  the  Popish  Priest 
 calling  himself  Mr  Smith,  but  really  Norris. — 2.  Fisher's  folly 
 unfolded,  or  the  Vaunting  Jesuit's  Challenge  answered. — 3. 
 Socinianism,  in  the  fundamental  point  of  Justification,  disco- 
 vered and  confuted. — 4.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Weekly 
 Sabbath. — 5.  God  made  visible  in  all  his  Works. — 6.  Sermons 
 preached  before  Parliament,  &c. 
 
 JOHN  WALLIS,  D.  D. 
 
 This  celebrated  mathematician  and  divine  was   born  at 
 Ashf'ord,  a  large  market -town   in  the  county  of  Kent,  on  the 
 
014?  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 22d  November  1616.  His  father  died  when  he  was  only  four 
 years  of  age;  after  which  he  was  wholly  under  the  care  of  his 
 mother,  who  carefully  instructed  him  in  his  younger  years,  both 
 by  precept  and  example.  In  1 625  there  was  a  great  plague  in 
 London,  and  many  other  places  in  the  kingdom,  particularly  at 
 Ashford;  on  account  of  which  many  of  the  inhabitants  deserted 
 their  habitations.  On  this  trying  occasion,  young  Wallis  was 
 sent  to  Leygreen,  near  Tenterden,  a  market-town  in  Kent, 
 where,  for  several  years,  he  was  under  the  tuition  of  Mr  James 
 Moffat,  a  Scotchman,  from  whom  he  received  the  common 
 course  of  grammatical  learning,  and  might  have  gone  to  the 
 university,  only  that  he  was  thought  too  young.  Mr  Moffat's 
 school  being  broken  up,  he  was  sent  to  Felsted  school  in  Essex, 
 where  he  continued  two  years,  by  which  time  he  was  well 
 grounded  in  Latin  and  Greek;  and  having  been  accustomed  in 
 both  schools  to  speak  Latin,  that  language  was  become  familiar 
 to  him;  which  proved  of  great  utility  afterwards.  He  had  also 
 learned  so  much  Hebrew,  that  by  the  help  of  his  grammar  and 
 dictionary  he  could  make  progress  without  a  teacher.  He  al- 
 ways pursued  his  studies  with  vigour  and  perseverance,  and 
 had,  by  this  time,  got  a  little  acquaintance  with  logic,  music, 
 and  the  rudiments  of  the  French  language;  and  during  the  va- 
 cation, when  he  was  about  a  fortnight  at  home  with  his  mother 
 at  Ashford,  he  learned  the  practical  part  of  common  arithmetic 
 from  a  younger  brother;  which  was  his  first  step  towards  ma- 
 thematics, a  science  in  which  he  greatly  delighted,  and  in  which 
 he  afterwards  became  eminent. 
 
 In  1632  he  was  admitted  into  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge, 
 under  the  tuition  of  Mr  Anthony  Burgess,  an  excellent  tutor, 
 where  he  made  great  proficiency,  and  proceeded  bachelor  of 
 arts  in  1637,  and  master  1640.  He  was  always  reputed  one  of 
 the  best  scholars  of  his  rank.  About  this  time  he  entered  into 
 the  ministry,  and  was  ordained  by  the  bishop  of  Winchester, 
 and  became  chaplain  to  Sir  Richard  Darby  at  Buttercrum,  in 
 Yorkshire;  from  which  he  removed,  in  about  a  year,  to  the 
 family  of  lady  Vere,  the  widow  of  lord  Horatio  Vere;  with 
 whom  he  remained  about  two  years,  sometimes  with  the  family 
 in  London,  and  at  other  times  at  her  house  at  Castle  Hedingham 
 in  Essex.  After  this  he  was  about  one  year  fellow  of  Queen's 
 college,  Cambridge;  but  forming  a  matrimonial  alliance  about 
 this  time,  he  gave  up  his  fellowship. 
 
 About  the  year  1644  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  scribes  to  the 
 assembly  of  divines.  During  his  attendance  on  the  assembly, 
 he  was  pastor  first  in  Fenchurch  Street,  and  after  in  Ironmong- 
 er-lane, where  he  continued  till  his  removal  to  Oxford;  where 
 he  prosecuted  his  studies,  till  he  became  such  a  proficient,  that 
 
JOHN   WALL1S.  615 
 
 he  was  accounted  one  of  the  first  mathematicians  of  the  age  in 
 which  he  lived.  He  had  a  most  accurate  judgment  in  all  ma- 
 thematical studies,  and  succeeded  to  admiration  in  the  art  of 
 deciphering  intricate  writings;  a  proof  of  a  subtile  wit  and  scru- 
 tinizing judgment.  He  could  discover  the  mind  of  the  writer 
 in  spite  of  every  method  that  art  could  devise  to  prevent  it. 
 His  own  account  of  the  first  attempts  he  made  in  this  business 
 is  as  follows :  "  About  the  beginning  of  our  civil  war  (says  he), 
 the  chaplain  of  Sir  William  Waller  shewed  me,  as  a  curiosity, 
 just  as  we  were  sitting  down  to  supper  at  lady  Vere's,  an  inter- 
 cepted letter  written  in  cipher,  and  it  was  indeed  the  first  thing 
 I  had  ever  seen  of  the  kind.  He  asked  me,  between  jest  and 
 earnest,  if  I  could  make  any  thing  of  it,  and  was  surprised 
 when  I  told  him  perhaps  I  might.  It  was  about  ten  o'clock 
 when  we  rose  from  supper.  I  immediately  retired  to  my  cham- 
 ber, and  having  examined  it,  found  that  the  number  of  cha- 
 racters were  twenty-two  or  twenty-three;  which  gave  me  some 
 reason  to  think  it  was  a  new  alphabet.  On  this  supposition  I 
 went  to  work,  and  had  it  deciphered  before  I  went  to  bed." 
 He  was  often  employed  after  wards  in  this  difficult  work,  and 
 complained  that  he  was  but  poorly  rewarded.  When  academi- 
 cal studies  were  greatly  interrupted  by  the  war  in  both  the  uni- 
 versities, the  men  of  eminent  learning  retired  to  the  metropolis, 
 and  formed  themselves  into  clubs  and  assemblies.  Mr  Wallis 
 belonged  to  one  of  those  which  met  once  a-week  to  discourse 
 on  philosophical  subjects;  and  this  society  was  the  beginning  of 
 what  was  afterwards  incorporated  under  the  denomination  of 
 the  Royal  Society.  In  1649  he  became  Savilian  professor  of 
 geometry  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  where  he  passed  the  rest 
 of  his  days  in  cultivating  those  sciences,  which,  to  the  honour 
 both  of  himself  and  his  country,  he  greatly  improved.  He 
 opened  his  lectures,  on  the  31st  of  October,  with  an  inaugural 
 speech  in  Latin;  which  was  printed.  On  May  31st,  1654,  he 
 took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity.  In  1658  he  was  chosen 
 keeper  of  the  archives  of  the  university.  Upon  the  restora- 
 tion of  the  king,  he  met  with  great  respect.  His  majesty  en- 
 tertained a  favourable  opinion  of  him;  on  which  account  he  was 
 not  only  made  one  of  the  chaplains  to  the  king,  but  had  also  his 
 places  in  the  university  confirmed.  In  1661  he  was  appointed 
 one  of  the  divines  for  reviewing  the  book  of  Common  Prayer. 
 He  afterwards  conformed,  and  remained  a  conformist  till  his 
 death.  He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Royal  Society. 
 Lord  Brownker,  viscount  of  Castle-Lyons,  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
 Dr.  Barrow,  Dr.  Wallis,  Mr  Gregory,  and  Dr.  Halley,  with 
 other  learned  men  of  that  day,  formed  the  Royal  Society  of 
 London  in  the  year  1668.     Lord  Brownker,  the  first  president 
 
616  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  this  society  after  its  incorporation,  carried  on  a  philosophical 
 correspondence  with  Dr.  Wallis.  He  also  addressed  his  hypo- 
 thesis, on  the  flux  and  reflux  of  the  sea,  to  the  celebrated  Mr 
 Boyle;  which  was  printed  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 
 It  is  said  to  have  been  well  known  in  England  at  the  time,  that 
 Dr.  Wallis  could  extract  the  cube  root,  by  a  mental  process,  to 
 an  hundred  places  of  figures;  but  that  these  operations  required 
 a  seclusion  of  himself  from  the  external  impressions  of  light, 
 sound,  and  muscular  motion.  Dr.  Wallis  has  attempted  to 
 prove,  that  Gezbertus,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  afterwards  pope 
 Silvester  II.,  had  learned  the  art  of  arithmetic,  as  now  practis- 
 ed in  Europe,  from  the  Saracens  in  Spain,  before  the  year 
 1000. 
 
 Such  was  his  acuteness  of  intellect,  and  acquaintance  with 
 science,  that  he  ventured  to  pronounce  the  practicability  of 
 teaching  the  deaf  to  speak;  which  theory  he  afterwards  verified 
 in  the  case  of  Mr  Whalley,  a  young  gentleman  of  Northamp- 
 ton, deaf  and  dumb  from  his  birth.  Having  fully  succeeded  in 
 this  his  first  attempt,  he  made  a  second  essay,  equally  successful, 
 with  the  son  of  admiral  Popham.  He  was,  moreover,  an  emi- 
 nent divine,  and  much  engaged  in  defence  of  the  Trinity  and 
 the  christian  Sabbath.  He  possessed  a  very  quick  apprehen- 
 sion, and  a  clear  judgment,  in  all  matters  of  religious  contro- 
 versy, and  could  readily  discriminate  between  truth  and  error, 
 however  disguised  in  sophistical  ambiguities.  He  departed  this 
 life,  October  28th,  1703,  in  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age, 
 leaving  behind  him  one  son  and  two  daughters.  His  remains 
 were  interred  in  the  choir  of  Mary's  church,  Oxford,  where  a 
 handsome  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory.  With  re- 
 spect to  Dr.  Wallis'  sermons,  which  were  published,  for  the 
 first  time,  in  1791,  the  Monthly  Reviewers  say,  "That  he  was 
 a  man  of  great  ability,  worth,  and  celebrity  in  his  day;  but  that, 
 like  numbers  of  highly-deserving  individuals,  his  memory  has 
 been  shamefully  neglected.  Though  Dr.  Wallis  did  not  apply 
 himself  to  mathematics  as  a  business  till  more  than  forty  years 
 of  age,  he  had  a  genius  particularly  fitted  for  such  studies,  and 
 soon  became  pre-eminent  in  this  profession.  Next  to  Sir  Isaac 
 Newton,  he  was  allowed  to  be  the  first  mathematician  of  his 
 time.  One  unequivocal  testimony  of  this  is  his  Commercium 
 Epistolicum,  occasioned  by  a  challenge  given  by  Mr  Fermate, 
 a  Frenchman,  to  all  the  English,  Dutch,  and  French  mathema- 
 ticians, with  the  exception  of  those  in  Paris,  to  answer  a  nu- 
 merical question.  This  Dr.  Wallis  accomplished  with  great 
 applause,  and  received,  among  other  commendations,  in  a  letter 
 addressed  to  Sir  Ken  elm  Digby,  'That  Holland  must  now 
 yield  to  England,  and  Paris  to  Oxford.' " 
 
JOHN  WALLIS.  617 
 
 Upon  the  whole,  Dr.  Wallis  must  be  regarded  as  a  mail  who 
 ranks  high  in  the  records  of  science  and  literature.  He  was 
 not  only  an  adept  in  the  theology  called  orthodox,  but,  what  is 
 of  much  more  importance,  he  also  appears  to  have  been  earnest- 
 ly solicitous  to  advance  the  best  interest  of  his  hearers.  We  are 
 told,  more  particularly,  that  he  possessed  a  vigorous  constitu- 
 tion, a  soul,  calm,  serene,  and  not  easily  ruffled  or  discomposed; 
 that  he  was  considered  the  ornament  of  Oxford,  and  an  honour 
 to  his  country. 
 
 His  writings  are  numerous,  1.  Truth  tried,  or  Animadver- 
 sions on  Lord  Brook's  Treatise,  called  the  Nature  of  Truth. — 
 2.  Animadversions  on  Mr  Baxter's  Book,  entitled,  Aphorisms 
 of  Justification,  and  of  the  Covenant. — 3.  Tractus  de  Loquela 
 Grammatical. — 4.  Grammar  of  the  English  tongue,  for  the  use 
 of  Foreigners. — 5.  Elenchus  Geometrise  Hobbinae. — 6.  Due  Cor- 
 rection to  Mr  Hobbes,  or  School  Discipline  for  not  saying  his 
 lessons  a-right. — 7.  Hobbiani  Puncti  Dispunctio. — 8.  Hobbious 
 Heautontimorumenos,  addressed  to  Mr  Boyle. — 9.  Mathesis 
 Universalis. — 10.  Commercium  Epistolicum  de  Questionibus 
 Mathematices. — 11.  He  gave  an  edition  of  Archimedes'  Avena- 
 rius  and  Dimensio  Circuli.  He  published,  from  the  manuscript, 
 Claudii  Ptolemaei  Opus  Harmonicum,  in  Greek,  with  a  Latin 
 Version  and  Notes;  to  which  he  afterwards  added  an  Appendix. 
 — 12.  Theological  Discourses,  consisting  of  eight  Letters  and 
 three  Sermons,  viz.  The  Life  of  Faith,  God's  Sovereignty  and 
 Justice,  The  True  Treasure. — 13.  On  Repentance,  with  Dis- 
 courses concerning  Melchizedek,  Job,  and  titles  of  the  Psalms. 
 — 14.  Two  Sermons,  the  Necessity  of  Regeneration,  and  the 
 Resurrection  asserted. — 15.  A  Defence  of  the  Sabbath. — 16.  A 
 brief  and  easy  Explanation  of  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Cate- 
 chism; with  other  Pamphlets,  Letters,  &c. 
 
 In  1697,  the  curators  of  the  press  at  Oxford  thought  it  for 
 the  honour  of  the  university  to  collect  all  his  works,  which  had 
 been  separately  printed,  either  in  English  or  Latin,  and  to  pub- 
 lish them  all  together  in  Latin.  They  were  accordingly  pub- 
 lished at  Oxford,  in  three  volumes  folio,  and  dedicated  to  king 
 William.  A  posthumous  volume  of  thirteen  sermons  were  also 
 published  by  his  great-grand-son,  in  1791,  who  had  in  his  pos- 
 session some  valuable  manuscripts,  and  till  lately  a  rich  gold 
 medal,  which  had  been  presented  to  Dr.  Wallis  by  the  elector 
 of  Brandenburg,  with  an  honourable  inscription,  and  a  chain  of 
 gold,  that  produced  from  the  refiner  the  sum  of  sixty-two  pounds 
 five  shillings. 
 
 23  4i 
 
iilS  KEMOIP  ot 
 
 JEREMIAH  WHITAKER,  A.  M. 
 
 This  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel  was  born  at  Wake-* 
 field  in  Yorkshire,  1599.     He  studied  at  Sidney  college,  Cam- 
 bridge, where  he  was  much  esteemed  for  his  modesty  and  lite- 
 rary talents.     From  a  child  he  was  grave  and  thoughtful;  even 
 when  a  boy,  he  would  travel,  in  company  with  others,  eight  or 
 ten  miles  on  a  Sabbath  morning  to  hear  a  puritan  sermon,  and 
 join  with  them  in  their  public  devotions.     While  but  a  youth, 
 he  was  so  impressed  with  the  importance  and  value  of  an  im- 
 mortal soul,  and  so  charmed  with  the  idea  of  salvation  by  the 
 grace  of  God  and  the  merits  of  Christ,  that  he  considered  a 
 preacher  of  the  gospel  the  most  honourable  and  pleasant  em- 
 ployment on  earth,  and  often  expressed  how  much  rather  he 
 would  choose  to  be  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  than  the  greatest 
 emperor  in  the  universe.     Having  finished  his  studies  at  the 
 university,  he  was  settled  at  Oakham  in  Rutlandshire,  in  the  ca- 
 pacity of  school-master;  where  he  continued,  some  say  four,  others 
 seven,  years,  during  which  he  became  intimate  with  Mr  Wil- 
 liam Peachey,  an  eminent  scholar  and  preacher,  whose  daughter 
 he  afterwards  married.     Having  been  invited  to  the  pastoral 
 charge  of  Stretton,  in  the  same  county,  he  left  Oakham,  and 
 commenced  his  favourite  work.     While  at  Stretton  he  was  in- 
 vited to  become  the  master  of  one  of  the  colleges;  but  his  heart 
 was  so  bound  up  in  the  work  of  the  gospel,   that  he  return- 
 ed the  following  answer :    "  My  heart  doth  more  desire  to  be 
 a  constant  preacher,  than  to  be  master  of  any  college  in  the 
 world." 
 
 Upon  the  publication  of  the  Book  of  Sports,  Mr  Whitaker 
 refused  to  read  it;  which  exposed  him,  as  well  as  multitudes  of 
 his  brethren,  to  the  persecution  of  the  prelates.  In  this  instance, 
 however,  he  escaped  the  malice  of  his  enemies  much  better  than 
 he  had  reason  to  expect.  But  being  afterwards  required  to  con- 
 tribute towards  the  expense  of  the  war  against  the  Scots,  he  re- 
 fused, telling  the  bishop,  or  his  chancellor,  "  That  he  could  not, 
 with  a  good  conscience,  contribute  towards  the  persecution  of 
 the  church  of  Christ,  in  whatever  nation  it  might  happen  to  be 
 situated."  For  this  honest  declaration  he  would  have  suffered 
 suspension  and  deprivation,  if  one  of  his  friends  had  not  paid 
 the  money. 
 
 Having  preached  at  Stretton  thirteen  years,  he  was  chosen 
 one  of  the  assembly  of  divines;  and  being  thus  necessarily  called 
 up  to  London,  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen 
 Bermondsey  in  Southwark,  and  one  of  the  morning  lecturers 
 at  Abbey  church,  Westminster.  In  164-7  he  was  appointed  a 
 member  of  the  first  provincial  assembly,  held  at  London,  of 
 
JEREMIAH  WHITAKER.  619 
 
 which  he  was  once  the  moderator.  In  the  course  of  the  same 
 year,  by  an  order  of  the  House  of  Lords,  he  and  Dr.  Thomas 
 Goodwin  were  appointed  to  the  oversight  and  examination  of 
 the  assembly's  papers,  before  putting  them  to  the  press.  In 
 1648  he  was  in  danger  of  being  deprived  of  his  lecture  at  West- 
 minster for  refusing  the  engagement;  but  on  account  of  his 
 moderation,  and  chiefly  owing  to  the  universal  esteem  in  which 
 he  was  held  by  the  people,  he  was  suffered  to  remain  unmolest- 
 ed. He  preached  three  or  four  sermons  generally  every  week, 
 two  at  Southwark,  his  own  charge,  one  at  Westminster,  one  at 
 Christ  Church;  and  when  he  gave  up  his  lecture  at  Christ 
 Church,  he  undertook  another  at  Stepney.  He  was  engaged  in 
 two  quarterly  lectures  at  Michael's,  Cornhill.  He  preached 
 monthly  at  the  morning  exercise,  besides  funeral  sermons,  and 
 at  sacramental  occasions;  add  to  all  this,  his  other  pastoral  du- 
 ties, and  his  attending  the  assembly  of  divines.  In  short,  he 
 never  shrunk  from  any  part  of  the  church's  service  which  he 
 liad  it  in  his  power  to  perform,  nor  did  he  serve  his  Master 
 with  that  which  cost  him  nothing.  His  sermons,  though  so  nu- 
 merous, were  neither  mean  nor  empty,  but  solid  and  judicious, 
 and  his  delivery  commanding,  ardent,  and  impressive. 
 
 Mr  Whitaker  was  of  the  presbyterian  persuasion,  and  had  a 
 principal  hand  in  composing  the  Defence  of  a  Gospel  Ministry, 
 published  by  the  provincial  synod  of  London  in  1654.  When 
 the  storm  seemed  to  increase,  and  the  faithful  were  in  danger 
 of  suffering  much  for  their  fidelity,  he  was  riding  one  day  in  com- 
 pany with  an  intimate  friend,  and,  as  they  passed  Tyburn,  he  stop- 
 ped his  horse,  and  contemplating  for  a  moment  that  scene  of  mi- 
 sery, he  exclaimed,  "  Why,  here  is  indeed  a  marvellous  thing  ! 
 The  multitudes  of  wicked  men,  who  have  perished  in  this  miser- 
 able place,  sufficiently  demonstrate,  that  the  children  of  dark- 
 ness are  more  valorous  in  the  service  of  their  master  than  the 
 children  of  light.  These  men  could  brave  the  laws  of  eternal 
 justice,  and,  in  defiance  of  all  the  allurements  of  heaven,  and 
 the  terrors  of  hell,  knowingly  sacrifice  their  lives,  their  honour, 
 the  happiness  of  their  neighbours,  and  hazard  the  salvation  of 
 their  own  souls,  all  for  the  paltry  gratification  of  some  sordid 
 propensity;  and  shall  the  servants  of  Christ  be  less  courageous 
 in  the  cause  of  their  adorable  Master,  who  has  pledged  his  ve- 
 racity to  reward  their  fidelity  with  an  immoveable  kingdom, 
 and  an  unfading  crown.  With  such  delightful  prospects  before 
 us,  should  not  the  children  of  God  be  ready,  on  all  occasions, 
 having  a  good  cause,  and  a  good  call,  to  follow  their  divine 
 Leader  wherever  he  points  the  way,  were  it  even  to  mount  Cal- 
 vary ?  But,  alas  !  how  few  have  the  fortitude  to  appear  for 
 him  in  the  face  of  this  adulterated  generation." 
 
C)20  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 During  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  this  amiable  divine  was  sore 
 afflicted  with  the  gout  and  stone;  the  agonizing  torments  occa- 
 sioned by  which,  though  they  often  made  him  groan,  and  often 
 roar  out,  never  drew  from  him  one  murmuring  expression.  He 
 manifested  such  a  spirit  of  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
 patience  under  the  inconceivable  severity  of  his  trouble,  that 
 some  considered  him  designed  by  God  as  an  example  of  patience 
 to  posterity.  When  his  friends  asked  how  he  did  ?  he  general- 
 ly replied,  "The  bush  is  still  burning,  but  not  yet  consumed; 
 and  though  my  pains  are  above  the  strength  of  nature,  they  are 
 not  beyond  the  supports  of  grace."  About  two  months  before 
 his  death,  his  pains  became  exceedingly  severe;  so  that  he 
 cried  unto  the  Lord,  in  the  anguish  of  his  affliction,  "  O  thou 
 Father  of  mercy,  pity  me — consider  my  frame;  thou  knowest  I 
 am  but  dust,  do  not  contend  with  me  for  ever.  O  my  God, 
 Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  help  me !  help  me  !  Consider, 
 Lord,  that  I  am  thy  servant.  Pour,  Lord,  some  drops  of  com- 
 fort into  these  bitter  waters.  O  that  the  blood  of  sprinkling 
 might  mollify  these  excruciating  pains.  I  am  in  a  fiery  furnace, 
 Lord,  be  with  me,  and  bring  me  out,  refined  from  my  corrup- 
 tions. O  God,  I  fly  to  thee,  cover  me  with  thy  wings  till  this 
 terrible  storm  pass  over  me.  O  my  God,  break  open  the  prison 
 door,  and  set  my  poor  captive  soul  at  liberty;  but  enable  me  to 
 wait  thy  good  time — surely  no  man  ever  desired  more  earnest- 
 ly to  live  than  I  do  to  die.  When,  oh  !  when  shall  that  blessed 
 hour  arrive,  when  I  shall  neither  sin,  suffer,  nor  sorrow  any 
 more.  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  they  rest 
 from  their  labours."  As  he  felt  the  fits  coming  upon  him,  he 
 requested  his  friends  to  withdraw,  that  they  might  not  be 
 grieved  by  hearing  his  groanings.  As  the  time  of  his  departure 
 drew  near,  the  paroxysms  became  more  frequent,  and  more  in- 
 supportably  severe;  but  the  Lord  delivered  him  from  them  all. 
 He  died,  June  1st,  1654,  aged  fifty-five  years,  and  was  buried 
 in  Bermondsey  church,  where  vast  numbers  of  people  honoured 
 his  interment  with  their  presence.  His  funeral  sermon  was 
 preached  by  Mr  Simeon  Ashe,  and  afterwards  published,  en- 
 titled, Living  Loves  between  Christ  and  Dying  Saints. 
 
 After  Mr  Whitaker's  death,  his  body  was  opened  in  the  pre- 
 sence of  several  physicians,  when  both  kidneys  were  found  full 
 of  ulcers,  one  of  them  was  swoln  to  an  enormous  size,  and  full 
 of  purulent  matter.  In  the  neck  of  the  bladder  they  found  a 
 stone  about  an  inch  and  half  long,  and  an  inch  broad,  which 
 weighed  about  two  ounces,  and  was  supposed  the  occasion  of  his 
 racking  pains.  He  was  an  excellent  preacher,  an  universal 
 scholar,  an  able  disputant,  an  eminent  theologian,  and  a  man  of 
 unbounded  liberality.      Mr  Leigh   says,   "  He  was  a  pious  and 
 
JEREMIAH  WHITAKER.  621 
 
 learned  divine,  mighty  in  the  scriptures,  laborious  in  his  mini- 
 try,  zealous  for  the  glory  of  God,  of  a  meek  and  humble  spirit, 
 and  a  surprising  instance  of  patience  under  a  long  period  of 
 extreme  pain."  Fuller  includes  him  amongst  the  learned 
 writers  of  Sidney  college,  Cambridge. 
 
 His  works  are,  1.  Christ,  the  Settlement  of  unsettled  Times; 
 a  Sermon  delivered  before  the  Commons. — 2.  The  Christian's 
 Hope  Triumphing;  a  Sermon  preached  to  the  Peers. — 3.  The 
 Danger  of  Greatness;  a  Sermon  preached  before  the  Lords, 
 Commons,  and  the  Assembly  of  Divines. 
 
 THOMAS  WILSON,  A.  M. 
 
 This  heavenly-minded  person  was  bora  at  Catterly  in 
 Cumberland,  in  the  year  1601,  and  studied  in  Christ  college, 
 Cambridge,  where,  by  his  genius  and  industry,  he  made  great 
 proficiency  in  useful  learning.  On  leaving  the  university,  he 
 taught  school  for  some  time,  and  then  entered  on  the  work  of 
 the  ministry  at  Capel,  in  the  county  of  Surrey.  Here,  though 
 bis  reward  was  extremely  small,  he  was  not  the  less  careful  of 
 the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  flock.  He  sought  not  theirs,  but 
 them,  and  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  people.  From  this  place 
 he  soon  removed  to  Teddington,  near  Kingston-upon-Thames, 
 where  he  continued  several  years,  and  was  instrumental  in  do- 
 ing much  good.  He  next  accepted  a  presentation  to  the  living 
 of  Otham,  near  Maidstone  in  Kent.  In  this  place  multitudes 
 flocked  to  hear  him  from  Maidstone  and  its  vicinity;  so  that 
 the  church  was  soon  found  too  small  to  contain  his  audience. 
 His  great  popularity  and  usefulness,  however,  soon  awakened 
 the  envy  of  some  neighbouring  ministers,  and  certain  profane 
 men;  but  still  holding  on  his  way,  the  Lord  was  pleased  great- 
 ly to  bless  and  prosper  his  labours.  At  length  he  was  silenced 
 for  refusing  to  read  the  Book  of  Sports,  and  inhibited,  by  arch- 
 bishop Laud's  vicar-general,  from  part  of  his  ministerial  exer- 
 cises. Soon  after  this  Laud  sent  for  him,  and  in  April  1635  he 
 had  no  less  than  fourteen  charges  exhibited  against  him;  to  each 
 of  which  he  gave  his  answer,  on  the  28th  of  May  following — 
 wherein  he  demonstrated,  "  That  the  Book  of  Sports  was  con- 
 trary to  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  the  canons  even  of  the 
 church  of  England;  that  it  was  contrary  to  scripture;  that  it 
 was  contrary  to  the  councils:  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  senti- 
 ments of  all  christian  divines,  ancient  or  modem;  and  that  it 
 was  also  contrary  to  common  sense  and  reason."  On  each  of 
 these  topics  he  enlarged  with  great  judgment.  That  the  arch- 
 bishop had  been  watching  an  opportunity  to  entrap  Mr  Wilson, 
 seems  highly  probable,   from   the  circumstance,   that  no  soonei 
 
622  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 had  the  latter  acknowledged  his  refusal  to  read  the  Book  of 
 Sports,  than  the  archbishop  replied,  "  I  suspend  you  for  ever, 
 till  you  read  it,  from  both  office  and  benefice."  Accordingly, 
 he  continued  suspended  for  four  years;  at  the  expiration  of 
 which  period  he  was  brought  into  the  high  commission  court, 
 by  means  of  the  archbishop,  and  there  prosecuted  for  the  same 
 crime.  In  1639  the  Scots  having  entered  England,  Laud  took 
 off  Mr  Wilson's  suspension;  but  his  troubles  were  not  ended 
 here.  On  the  30th  of  September  1640  he  was  cited  before  the 
 archbishop's  visitors  at  Feversham,  together  with  other  mini- 
 sters of  Kent,  to  answer  for  not  reading  the  prayer  against  the 
 Scots.  On  their  appearance,  Mr  Edward  Bright  was  first 
 called,  who  had  no  sooner  acknowledged  his  not  having  read 
 the  prayer,  than  the  archdeacon  instantly  suspended  him  both 
 from  office  and  benefice,  without  affording  him  time  to  mention 
 his  reasons,  or  giving  him  any  admonition.  Mr  Wilson,  ob- 
 serving his  rash  method  of  procedure,  and  being  next  called, 
 acknowledged  that  he  had  not  read  the  prayer  against  the  Scots; 
 "  because  (said  he),  in  the  rubric  of  the  Common  Prayer,  we  are 
 strictly  enjoined  to  read  no  prayers  in  public  excepting  such  as 
 are  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer;  and  the  prayer  in 
 question  is  not  so  contained."  This  unexpected  answer  so  con- 
 founded the  archdeacon,  that  he  knew  not  how  to  proceed.  In  the 
 meantime,  he  allowed  Mr  Wilson  fourteen  days  to  consider  the 
 matter,  and  then  to  lodge  his  answer  at  Canterbury.  The  result 
 of  this  affair,  however,  we  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 
 
 About  the  same  time  a  warrant  was  granted  by  the  lords  of 
 council,  among  whom  was  Laud  and  the  bishop  of  London,  to 
 apprehend  Mr  Wilson.  With  this  warrant  the  pursuivant  has- 
 tened to  Otham,  where,  though  he  heard  Mr  Wilson  preach, 
 and  was  afterwards  in  the  room  with  him — Wilson,  suspecting 
 his  appearance,  retired,  and  hid  himself,  and  so  escaped  the 
 snare;  to  the  no  small  mortification  of  the  pursuivant,  who  de- 
 clared he  had  been  thirty-six  years  in  that  service,  and  never 
 was  so  served  before.  Mr  Wilson  having  thus  happily  escaped, 
 withdrew  from  the  storm  till  the  meeting  of  the  long  parlia- 
 ment, who  restored  him  to  his  living,  and  ordered  him  to  be  in- 
 demnified for  his  loss,  and  the  trouble  attending  the  whole  of 
 these  illegal  proceedings. 
 
 In  1643  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines, 
 where  he  was  much  esteemed  for  his  meek  and  peaceable  de- 
 portment, and  his  grave  and  judicious  counsels.  Having  con- 
 tinued some  time  at  Otham,  he  removed  to  Maidstone,  where 
 he  remained  till  the  day  of  his  death.  Here  his  first  care  was 
 to  promote  the  reformation  of  the  church,  and  administer  the 
 sacraments  according  to  his  view  of  the  sacred  oracles.     For 
 
THOMAS  WILSON.  6<23 
 
 this  purpose  lie  preached  up  the  necessity  of  observing  a  scrip- 
 tural mode  of  discipline,  and  the  necessary  qualifications  of 
 church  members.  At  first  he  was  considerably  opposed  in  his 
 new  system;  but  by  his  prudence  and  perseverance,  things  were 
 brought  to  a  favourable  issue. 
 
 Mr  Wilson  was  indefatigably  laborious.  He  did  the  work  of 
 his  divine  Master  with  faithfulness  and  alacrity,  and  found  his 
 reward  even  in  his  labours.  He  was  of  opinion,  that  Christ 
 makes  no  difference  between  an  idle  and  an  evil  servant,  and 
 was  always  careful,  that  when  his  Master  came,  he  should  not 
 find  him  unemployed. 
 
 Mr  Wilson's  singular  piety  was  most  conspicuous  during  the 
 time  of  his  last  illness,  and  at  his  death.  He  endured  his  ex- 
 treme pain  with  exemplary  patience  and  resignation.  He  of- 
 ten moaned,  but  never  mourned;  but  cheerfully  drank  the  bit- 
 ter cup  which  his  heavenly  Father  had  put  into  his  hand. 
 When  he  found  he  was  drawing  near  the  end  of  his  journey,  he 
 called  his  family  around  him,  and  desired  his  wife  not  to  be 
 cast  down  in  sorrow  like  them  that  have  no  hope,  but  place  her 
 confidence  in  God;  "  for  (said  he)  though  we  must  now  part  for 
 a  short  time,  we  shall  assuredly  meet  again,  never  to  be 
 separated."  He  exhorted  his  children  to  fear  the  Lord  always, 
 to  press  in  at  the  strait  gate,  and  walk  in  the  narrow  way  which 
 leads  to  life  everlasting.  In  this  way  alone  you  can  find  plea- 
 sure on  your  march,  and  songs  of  triumph  at  the  end  of  your 
 journey.  "  Beware,  I  beseech  you,  that  you  do  not  meet  me  at 
 last  in  an  unconverted  state."  To  a  pious  lady  of  his  acquaint- 
 ance, on  leaving  Maidstone,  he  pleasantly  said,  "  What  will 
 you  think,  Mrs  Crisp,  if  I  get  the  start  of  you,  and  be  in  hea- 
 ven before  you  get  to  Dover."  To  those  who  were  mourning 
 over  him,  he  said,  "  I  bless  God,  who  has  suffered  me  to  live  so 
 long,  and  now  having  finished  the  work  he  has  allotted  me, 
 that  he  is  pleased  to  call  me  off  the  field  so  soon."  Thus,  hav- 
 ing fought  the  good  fight,  and  finished  his  course,  he  died  in 
 peace,  about  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1653,  aged  fifty-three 
 years.  He  possessed  a  clear  understanding,  a  ready  invention, 
 a  tenacious  memory,  and  was  a  hard  student,  a  good  scholar,  a 
 bold  reprover,  an  excellent  preacher,  and  an  humble  christian. 
 He  was  author  of  a  Sermon  preached  before  the  House  of  Com- 
 mons, entitled,  Jericho's  Downfall;  and  most  probably  of  some 
 others. 
 
 ROBERT  BAILLIE,  D.  D. 
 
 The  English  parliament  having  called  together  an  assem- 
 bly of  divines,  on  purpose  to  rectify  the  disorders,  and  settle  the 
 
ti24<  M  KM  OIK  OF 
 
 discipline  and  government  of  the  church,  it  was  thought  expe- 
 dient to  solicit  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  Scottish  divines  in 
 that  important  undertaking.  Their  request  was  granted,  and 
 Messrs  Alexander  Henderson,  Robert  Douglas,  Samuel  Ruther- 
 ford, George  Gillespie,  and  Robert  Baillie,  were  appointed,  by 
 the  general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  as  their  com- 
 missioners to  the  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster,  in  the 
 year  1643,  who,  with  the  exception  of  Mr  Robert  Douglas, 
 proceeded  to  Westminster,  and  took  their  places  in  that  famous 
 assembly. 
 
 Robert  Baillie,  one  of  the  above  commissioners,  was  born 
 at  Glasgow  in  the  year  1599.  He  was  descended  from  the 
 Baliols,  lords  of  Galloway.  According  to  Nisbet's  Heraldry, 
 Baillie  of  Hoprig  was  a  branch  of  the  Baliol  family,  who,  by 
 marrying  the  daughter  of  the  patriotic  Sir  William  Wallace, 
 regent  of  Scotland,  obtained  the  estate  of  Lamington.  Their 
 second  son  was  the  first  of  the  House  of  Carfin;  of  which  Baillie 
 of  Jerviston  was  a  branch;  and  Mr  Thomas  Baillie,  a  citizen  of 
 Glasgow,  and  father  of  the  subject  of  our  present  memoir,  was 
 son  of  Baillie  of  Jerviston,  and  related  to  the  Gibsons  of  Durie, 
 some  of  whom  have  made  a  distinguished  figure  in  law.  Ro- 
 bert had  his  education  at  the  university  of  Glasgow,  where,  by 
 his  uncommon  assiduity,  and  the  efforts  of  a  lively  genius,  he 
 made  great  proficiency  in  useful  learning.  Such  was  his  facility 
 in  acquiring  the  languages,  that  he  left  his  fellows  far  behind 
 him,  and  could  speak  at  least  in  twelve  or  thirteen  different 
 tongues,  and  write  in  Latin  with  a  purity  and  elegance  of 
 style  worthy  of  the  most  improved  period  of  Roman  elocution. 
 After  taking  his  degrees  in  arts,  he  turned  his  thoughts  to  the 
 study  of  divinity;  which  he  prosecuted  with  great  resolution 
 and  success.  About  1622  he  took  orders  from  archbishop  Law, 
 and  became  regent  of  philosophy  in  the  university  of  Glasgow. 
 While  in  this  situation  he  had  charge  of  the  education  of  lord 
 Montgomery,  who  carried  him  along  with  him  to  Kilwinning; 
 to  which  church  Mr  Baillie  was  soon  after  presented  by  the  earl 
 of  Eglinton;  where  he  was  beloved  by  his  people,  lived  in  cordial 
 friendship,  and  held  a  literary  correspondence  with  his  ordinary, 
 the  archbishop  of  Glasgow.  In  1633  he  had  the  offer  of  one  of 
 the  churches  of  Edinburgh;  which  he  declined  from  a  principle 
 of  modesty.  In  the  year  1637,  when  the  reformation  from  pre- 
 lacy began,  he  had  many  doubts  and  difficulties  to  overcome, 
 chiefly  arising  from  his  tenderness  to  the  king's  authority;  but 
 after  much  reading,  reasoning,  and  prayer,  as  he  himself  in- 
 forms us,  he  cordially  embraced  the  cause,  and  supported  the 
 interest  of  the  covenanters.  About  this  time,  being  requested, 
 by  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  to  preach  a  sermon  before  the 
 
ROBERT  BAILLIE.  6<25 
 
 general  assembly,  in  recommendation  of  the  Book  of  Common 
 Prayer,  and  the  canon  of  the  church,  then  lately  established  in 
 Scotland,  and  published  by  authority — Mr  Baillie  declined  the 
 service,  and,  in  a  handsome  letter  addressed  to  the  archbishop, 
 assigned  the  reasons  of  his  refusal.  The  letter  is  dated  at  Kil- 
 winning, August  19th,  1637,  and  runs  as  follows: 
 
 "  Your  lordship's  letter,  of  the  7th  instant,  I  received  on  the 
 13th  late,  wherein  I  am  desired  to  preach,  the  last  Wednesday 
 of  this  instant,  before  the  assembly,  and  to  frame  my  sermon 
 so  as  to  unite  my  hearers  in  the  obedience  and  practice  of  the 
 Canons  and  Service-book  of  our  church,  published  and  esta- 
 blished by  authority.  I  am  much  obliged  to  your  lordship's  es- 
 timation of  my  poor  gifts,  and  humbly  thank  your  lordship  for 
 intending  to  honour  me  with  so  great  a  service;  but,  withal,  I 
 am  sorry  that  my  present  disposition  necessitates  me  to  decline 
 the  charge.  The  truth  is,  I  have  not  as  yet  studied  the  matters 
 contained  in  our  Canons  and  Common  Prayer;  but  merely 
 taken  a  slight  view  of  them:  by  which,  for  the  present,  my 
 mind  is  in  no  way  satisfied.  Yea,  the  little  pleasure  I  have  in 
 these  books,  and  the  great  aversion  manifested  against  them, 
 both  by  pastors  and  people,  wherever  I  come,  has  so  grieved 
 my  heart,  that  I  am  scarcely  able  to  preach  to  my  own  flock: 
 but  to  preach  to  another  congregation  upon  these  matters,  and 
 before  so  famous  an  auditory,  I  am  utterly  unable." 
 
 This  spirited  refusal  served  strongly  to  establish  his  reputa- 
 tion amongst  the  opposers  of  prelacy;  and  being  greatly  dis- 
 tinguished for  prudence  and  solid  judgment,  with  a  very  peace- 
 able and  healing  disposition,  he  was  much  employed  afterwards 
 in  the  public  and  important  concerns  of  the  church.  In  1638 
 he  was  chosen,  and  appointed  by  his  own  presbytery,  to  repre- 
 sent them  in  the  memorable  assembly  held  at  Glasgow,  which 
 was  a  prelude  to  the  civil  war.  Here  he  conducted  himself 
 with  becoming  prudence,  and  advocated  the  presbyterian  cause 
 with  great  learning  and  zeal.  He  was  also  a  member  of  all  the 
 succeeding  general  assemblies,  till  the  year  1653,  excepting 
 when  commissioner  to  the  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster. 
 He  was  appointed  one  of  the  chaplains  to  the  Scotch  army  in 
 the  years  1639  and  1640,  and  present  during  the  whole  treaty, 
 begun  at  Rippon,  and  concluded  at  London.  Of  his  feelings  in 
 this  situation,  he  himself  says,  "I  never  found  my  mind  in  a 
 better  frame  than  it  was,  during  the  whole  time,  till  my  face 
 was  again  turned  homeward.  I  had  furnished  half  a  dozen  of 
 good  fellows  with  muskets  and  pikes,  and  my  boy  with  a  broad 
 sword;  and  to  be  in  the  fashion  myself,  I  carried  a  sword,  and 
 had  a  pair  of  Dutch  pistols  stuck  in  my  saddle;  but  for  the  of- 
 fence of  no  man,   unless  it  were  a  robber  in  the  wav.     It  was 
 
 23  4  k 
 
(k>6  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 our  part  alone  to  pray  and  to  preach  for  the  encouragement  of 
 our  countrymen ;  which  I  did  to  the  uttermost  of  my  power. 
 Every  company  had  a  brave  new  colour  waving  at  the  captain's 
 tent  door,  stamped  with  the  Scotch  arms,  and  this  motto,  in 
 gold  letters,  For  Christ1  s  Crown  and  Covenant.  For  my  part, 
 I  had  taken  leave  of  the  world,  resolved  to  die  in  the  service; 
 and  found  the  favour  of  God  shining  on  me,  and  a  meek  and 
 humble,  yet  strong  and  vehement,  spirit  leading  me  along." 
 During  the  same  year,  1640,  he  was  sent  to  London  by  the  co- 
 venanting lords,  to  draw  up  an  accusation  against  archbishop 
 Laud,  for  the  innovations  he  had  obtruded  upon  the  church  of 
 Scotland.  While  in  England,  on  this  occasion,  he  addressed, 
 to  the  presbytery  of  Irvine,  a  lengthy  and  regular  account  of 
 public  affairs,  together  with  a  journal  of  the  proceedings  in  the 
 trial  of  the  earl  of  Strafford. 
 
 In  1642,  soon  after  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  was  appointed 
 joint  professor  of  divinity  with  Mr  David  Dickson,  in  the  uni- 
 versity of  Glasgow.  Some  time  before  this  he  had  received 
 invitations  from  each  of  the  other  three  universities;  which  he 
 modestly  declined.  He  held  his  professorship  till  the  reforma- 
 tion, though  the  duties  of  it  were  interrupted  for  a  considerable 
 time  while  he  attended  the  assembly  at  Westminster;  to  which 
 he  was  chosen  one  of  the  commissioners,  for  his  great  learning 
 and  approved  orthodoxy,  in  the  year  1643.  Though  he  did  not 
 distinguish  himself  as  a  speaker  in  the  assembly,  he  appears  to 
 have  been  a  very  useful  member,  and  gained  great  reputation 
 by  his  writings;  and  when  the  assembly  rose,  the  English  par- 
 liament made  him  a  handsome  present  of  silver  plate,  with  an 
 inscription,  intimating,  that  it  was  a  token  of  their  respect  for 
 him,  and  to  be  considered  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  good 
 services.  It  was  long  carefully  preserved  in  the  house  of 
 Carnbrae,  in  the  county  of  Lanark,  an  ancient  seat  of  the 
 Baillies. 
 
 Mr  Baillie  was  a  confidant  of  the  marquis  of  Argyle,  of  the 
 earls  of  Cassils,  Lauderdale,  and  Loudon,  of  lord  Balmarino, 
 lord  Warriston,  sir  Archibald  Johnston,  and  others  of  the  chief 
 managers  among  the  covenanters.  He  had  thereby  an  oppor- 
 tunity of  being  correctly  informed  with  respect  to  the  papers, 
 and  all  the  important  transactions  of  that  troublesome  period, 
 which  he  collected  and  preserved  with  particular  care.  He 
 was  strongly  opposed  to  prelacy,  but  by  no  means  deficient  in 
 loyalty.  The  general  assembly  of  the  church  had  so  much  con- 
 fidence in  his  attachment  to  the  Stuart  family,  that  they  ap- 
 pointed him  one  of  their  embassy  to  Charles  II.  at  the  Hague, 
 after  he  was  proclaimed  in  Scotland.  On  that  occasion  Mr 
 Baillie  addressed  the  king  in  a  loyal  speech,  expressing  his  joyy 
 
ROBERT  BAILLIE.  6^7 
 
 and  that  of  his  brethren,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  his 
 ancestors,  and  their  abhorrence  of  the  murder  of  his  royal  fa- 
 ther.    It  would  appear,  that  the  presbyterian  divines,  both  at 
 home  and  abroad,  were  generally  agreed  on  this  point.     Under 
 the  government  of  Cromwell,   he  joined  with  the  party  called 
 resolutioners,  and  wrote  several  of  the  papers  on  that  side.     He 
 had  a  strong  aversion  to  toleration,  and  took  every  opportunity, 
 that  fell  in  his  way,  to  testify  against  it.     Mr  Gillespie,  who 
 had  been  patronized  by  Cromwell,  was  removed  from  the  uni- 
 versity of  Glasgow  at  the  restoration,  and  Mr  Baillie  made 
 principal    by    the    interest   of   the    earl    of    Landerdale,  with 
 whom    he    was    a   great    favourite.      About    this    time,    it    is 
 said,  he  had  the  offer  of  a  bishoprick;  which  he  refused,  be- 
 cause, as  he  says  himself,   "Jesus  Christ  had  no  lord  bishops 
 amongst  his  disciples."     Mr  Baillie  continued  firmly  attached 
 to  the  presbyterian  mode  of  church  government  to  the  last  day 
 of  his  life,  as  evidently  appears  from  his  own  letters,  particular- 
 ly one  to  Lauderdale  on  this  subject,  a  little  before  his  death; 
 wherein  he  thus  expresses  himself:    "  Having  the  opportunity  of 
 this  bearer,  I  tell  you  my  heart  is  broken  with  grief,  and  I  find 
 the  burden  of  the  public  so  weighty,  that  it  will  hasten  me  to 
 my  grave.     What   need  you  do  that  disservice  to  the  king, 
 which  all  of  you  cannot  recompense,  to  grieve  the  hearts  of  all 
 your  godly  friends  in  Scotland,  by  pulling  down  all  our  laws  at 
 once,  which  concerned  our  church  since  1633?    Was  this  good 
 advice,  or  will  it  thrive  ?     Is  it  wisdom  to  bring  back  upon  us 
 the  Canterburian  times,  the  same  designs,  the  same  practices  ? 
 Will  they  not  bring  on  the  same  effects,   whatever  fools  may 
 dream?"     And,  again,  in  the  same  letter,  he  says,   "  My  lord, 
 you  are  the  nobleman  in  all  the  world  I  love  best,  and  esteem 
 most.     I  think  I  may  say,  I  write  to  you  what  I  please,  if  you 
 have  gone  with  your  heart  and  free  will  to  forsake  your  cove- 
 nant,  to  countenance  the  re-introduction  of  bishops  and  books, 
 and  strengthen  the  king  by  your  advice  in  these  things.     I 
 think  you  a  prime  transgressor,  and  liable  among  the  first  to 
 answer  for  that  great  sin,  &c."     Mr  Baillie  was  much  opposed 
 to  the  practice  of  funeral  sermons,  as  appears  from  one  of  his 
 letters,  dated  from  London,  in  which,  speaking  of  the  death  and 
 funeral  of  Mr  Pym,  he  says,   "Marshall  had  a  most  eloquent 
 and  pertinent  funeral  sermon,  which  we  would  not  go  to  hear; 
 for  funeral  sermons  are  some  of  the  things  we  must  have  put 
 down."     He  was  twice  married,    first  to  Lillas  Fleming,   by 
 whom  he  had  several  children,  and  afterwards  to  the  daughter 
 of  principal  Strang,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter,  Margaret, 
 who  was  married  to  Mr  Walkinshaw  of  Barrowfield.     Mr  Bail- 
 lie  having  joined  the  public  resolutioners,  he  became  so  zealous 
 
(j'28  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 in  their  cause,  that  the  self  same  nobleman  and  ministers,  wham 
 he  had  formerly  praised  as  the  prime  instruments,  in  the  hand 
 of  God,  for  forwarding  the  reformation  from  1638  to  1649,  had 
 no  sooner  declared  themselves  inimical  to  the  admission  of  the 
 malignants  into  the  bosom  of  the  church,  and  to  places  of  power 
 and  trust  in  the  state,  than,  with  unsparing  severity,  he  misre- 
 presented their  characters,  and  attempted  to  diminish  the  im- 
 portance of  all  their  faithful  contendings.     From  a  mistaken 
 view  of  this  controversy,  he  charges  all  the  calamities  of  the 
 church,  the  state,  and  also  those  of  the  army,  during  Crom- 
 well's usurpation,  to  the  account  of  the  remonstrants,  because 
 they  refused  to  concur  with  his  party,  and  would  not  twist  their 
 consciences  into  a  compliance  with  measures,  which,  with  their 
 hands  lifted  up  to  the  most  high  God,  they  had  so  lately  sworn 
 to  oppose.     The  sequel,  however,  proved  the  absurdity  of  the 
 charge,  and  fully  demonstrated,  that  the  resolutioners,  who  for- 
 sook the  covenant  of  their  God,  and,  in  the  mania  of  their  ill- 
 directed   loyalty,    admitted   into    the    bosom    of    the    church 
 Charles  II.,  and  his  faction  of  irreligious  scoffers  and  malig- 
 nants, brought  tyranny  and  persecution,  with  all  their  concom- 
 itant evils,  oppression,  plunder,  racks,  gibbets,  and  cold-blood- 
 ed murders,  without  even  the  formalities  of  trial  by  law;  which, 
 till  the  extirpation  of  the  Stuart  family,  and  the  accession  of 
 king  William,  rendered  Great  Britain  a  scene  of  suffering,  la- 
 mentation, and  terror. 
 
 Principal  Baillie  lived,  however,  to  see  and  deplore  a  part, 
 and  only  a  small  part,  of  the  misery  the  mistaken  views  of  his 
 party  had  occasioned  to  the  church  and  civil  constitution  of  his 
 country.  This  appears  from  a  letter  to  his  cousin,  Mr  Strang, 
 dated  in  May  1st,  1662,  wherein,  after  giving  some  account  of 
 the  west  country  ministers  being  called  up  to  Edinburgh,  he 
 says,  "  The  guise  now  is,  that  the  bishops  will  trouble  no  man, 
 but  that  seditious  ministers  will  be  punished  by  the  states;  and 
 this  poor  church  is  now  more  grievously  beset  by  her  enemies 
 than  ever  we  have  seen  her  heretofore.  This  is  my  daily  grief; 
 this  has  occasioned  all  my  present  bodily  trouble,  and  will,  most 
 likely,  do  me  still  more  harm."  Wodrow,  in  his  history  of  this 
 period,  says,  t%  I  have  it  from  one  of  Mr  Baillie's  scholars,  who 
 was  afterwards  his  successor,  and  waited  on  him  a  few  weeks 
 before  his  death,  that  he  died  a  firm  presbyterian,  and  under  a 
 rooted  aversion  to  prelacy  in  this  church."  Having  requested 
 Mr  Baillie's  judgment  respecting  the  courses  this  church  was 
 running  into,  he  replied,  "  Prelacy  is  now  coming  in  like  a  land- 
 flood.  For  my  part,  I  have  examined  that  controversy  as  far 
 as  I  was  able,  and,  after  all  my  inquiry,  find  it  prelacy;  and  I 
 am  persuaded  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  scripture,  contrary  to 
 
ROBERT  BAILLIE.  629 
 
 pure  and  primitive  Christianity,  and  diametrically  opposed  to 
 the  true  interest  of  these  lands."  During  his  last  illness,  when 
 visited  by  the  newly  made  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  he  is  said  to 
 have  addressed  him  in  these  words — u  Mr  Andrew,  I  will  not 
 call  you  my  lord.  King  Charles  would  have  made  me  one  of 
 these  lords;  but  I  do  not  find  in  the  New  Testament  that  Christ 
 has  any  lords  in  his  house."  He  treated  the  archbishop,  how- 
 ever, with  great  courtesy.  His  health  forsook  him  in  the  spring 
 of  1662,  and  in  the  month  of  July,  the  same  year,  he  departed 
 this  life,  aged  sixty-three  years. 
 
 The  author  of  the  Appendix  to  Spotswood's  History,  says, 
 "  Robert  Baillie,  professor  of  divinity,  and  afterwards  princi- 
 pal, a  learned  and  modest  man,  who,  though  he  published  some 
 very  violent  writings,  yet  these  flowed  more  from  the  instiga- 
 tion of  others,  than  his  own  inclination.  He  has  left  behind 
 him  a  great  evidence  of  his  diligence  and  learning  in  his  Opus 
 Chronologicum."  And  the  celebrated  Mr  Wodrow,  in  his  His- 
 tory of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  says,  "  Mr 
 Robert  Baillie  may  be  most  justly  reckoned  among  the  great 
 men  of  these  times,  and  was  an  honour  to  his  country  for  his 
 profound  and  universal  learning,  his  exact  and  solid  judgment, 
 the  vast  variety  of  languages  he  understood,  and  his  Latin 
 style,  which  might  become  the  Augustine  age.  But  I  need  not 
 enlarge  on  his  character,  says  he,  his  own  works  sufficiently 
 praise  him." 
 
 His  writings  are,  1 .  A  Defence  of  the  Reformation  of  the 
 Church  of  Scotland,  against  Mr  Maxwell,  bishop  of  Ross. — 2. 
 A  Parallel  or  Comparison  of  the  Scottish  Service-book  to  the 
 Roman  Missal  Breviary,  &c. — 3.  Queries  anent  the  Service- 
 book. — 4.  The  Canterburian  Self-conviction. — 5.  Antidote  to 
 Arminianism. — 6.  A  Treatise  on  Scottish  Episcopacy. — 7.  Sa- 
 tan, the  leader  in  chief  of  all  who  resist  the  reparation  of  Zion; 
 a  Sermon  to  the  House  of  Commons,  February  28th,  1644. — 8. 
 A  Sermon  to  the  Lords,  July  30th,  1645. — 9.  A  Dissuasive 
 against  the  errors  of  the  times. — 10.  Second  part  of  the  Dis- 
 suasive.— 11.  A  reply  to  the  modest  Inquirer. — 12.  Opus  His- 
 toricum  et  Chronologicum,  folio,  with  a  frontispiece,  printed  at 
 Amsterdam,  1668. — 13.  Letters  and  Journals.  The  Journals 
 contain  the  History  of  the  General  Assembly  at  Glasgow  in 
 1638,  and  those  of  1641  and  1643;  also  an  account  of  the  earl 
 of  Strafford's  trial  at  London. 
 
 GEORGE  GILLESPIE. 
 
 Mr  Gillespie,  the  son  of  John  Gillespie,  for  some  time 
 minister  of  Kirkaldy,  in  the  county  of  Fife,  received  his  educa- 
 tion at  the  university  of  St.  Andrew's,  where,   by  his  genius 
 
630  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  industry,  lie  surpassed  most  of  his  fellow-students.  Some 
 years  prior  to  1638  lie  was  licensed  to  preach;  but  in  conse- 
 quence of  the  power  of  the  prelatical  party,  and  his  own  pres- 
 byterian  predilections,  could  find  no  admission  into  any  parish 
 church;  he  therefore  became  chaplain  in  the  family  of  the  earl 
 of  Cassils.  Before  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age  he  wrote 
 that  elaborate  work,  entitled,  A  Dispute  against  the  English 
 Popish  Ceremonies;  which  so  confounded  and  enraged  the 
 bishops,  that,  in  1637,  it  was  prohibited  by  proclamation.  He 
 was  also  for  some  time  chaplain  to  viscount  Kenmure.  In 
 1638  Mr  Gillespie  was  ordained  minister  of  Wemyss,  and  had 
 the  honour  of  being  the  first,  who,  at  that  period,  was  admitted 
 by  a  presbytery,  and  ordained  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  with- 
 out the  permission  or  acknowledgment  of  the  bishops,  whose 
 power  was  now  greatly  on  the  wane.  During  this  remarkable 
 year,  he  signed  the  national  covenant  as  minister  of  Wemyss; 
 and,  at  the  eleventh  session  of  the  general  assembly,  which  was 
 held  at  Glasgow  the  same  year,  he  preached  a  very  learned 
 and  judicious  sermon  from  these  words,  "The  king's  heart  is 
 in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,"  &c.  The  earl  of  Argyle,  who  was 
 present,  conceiving  that  Mr  Gillespie  had  pressed  too  close  to 
 the  king's  prerogative,  gravely  admonished  the  assembly  to  con- 
 sider the  delicacy  of  the  subject,  and  let  the  prerogative  alone. 
 Which  admonition  was  taken  in  good  part  by  all  the  members, 
 and  supported  in  a  beautiful  speech  by  the  moderator. 
 
 At  the  general  assembly,  held  at  Edinburgh  in  1641,  a  call 
 for  Mr  Gillespie  was  tabled  by  the  town  of  Aberdeen;  which, 
 from  his  regard  to  his  flock  at  Wemyss,  he  was  unwilling  to  ac- 
 cept; but,  in  this  instance,  the  king's  commissioner  and  himself 
 pled  his  cause  so  effectually,  that  no  translation  took  place,  till 
 the  general  assembly,  in  1642,  appointed  him  to  be  transported 
 to  the  city  of  Edinburgh,  where,  it  appears,  he  remained  till 
 his  death,  about  six  years  after.  He  was  one  of  the  four  com- 
 missioners sent  by  the  church  of  Scotland  to  the  Westminster 
 assembly  in  1643;  and  though  but  a  young  man,  he  reasoned 
 and  conducted  himself  with  all  the  prudence  of  age  and  long 
 experience.  Equally  acute  and  learned,  with  a  ready  and 
 charming  elocution,  no  speaker  in  that  assembly  expressed  him- 
 self to  better  purpose,  or  was  listened  to  with  more  attention 
 and  regard.  Nor  was  he  deficient  in  fortitude,  he  even  dared  to 
 contend  with  the  famous  Shelden  and  Lightfoot,  the  redoubted 
 champions  of  the  crastian  party  in  the  assembly,  men  truly 
 formidable  from  their  extraordinary  acquaintance  with  Jewish 
 antiquities  and  rabbinical  learning.  Those  men  having  asserted, 
 that  Jesus  Christ  had  appointed  no  specific  mode  of  govern- 
 ment in  his  church,  but  had  left  it  to  the  management  of  the  civil 
 
GEORGE  GILLESPIE.  631 
 
 magistrate,  who  is  empowered  to  make,  alter,  or  amend  the  re- 
 gulations of  the  church,  so  as  it  may  be  found  most  conducive 
 to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  community.  In  support  of 
 this  proposition,  they  urged  the  laws  and  regulations  of  the 
 Jewish  church,  and  asserted,  that  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
 laws  of  the  Jews  were  one  and  the  same  thing :  That  the  laws  of 
 the  state  were,  at  the  same  time,  the  laws  of  the  church;  and  that 
 the  laws  of  the  church  were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the 
 laws  of  the  state.  In  opposition  to  this  doctrine,  Mr  Gillespie 
 quoted  Deut.  xvii.  12.  "The  man  who  will  do  presumptuous- 
 ly, and  will  not  hearken  unto  the  priest  who  standeth  to  mini- 
 ster there  before  the  Lord,  or  unto  the  Judge,  even  that  man 
 shall  die."  "  Which  passage  (said  Mr  Gillespie)  evidently 
 points  out  two  different  courts,  the  one  superior  to  the  other,  for 
 the  obvious  purpose  of  appeal;  for  it  is  not  said,  the  man  who 
 will  not  hearken  to  the  priest  shall  suffer  death;  Xo — he  has  his 
 appeal  to  a  superior  court,  where  the  judge,  but  not  the  priest, 
 is  empowered  to  pronounce  the  final  sentence  of  the  law." 
 Mr  Baillie,  one  of  his  colleagues  in  that  assembly,  who  had 
 every  opportunity  of  being  fully  acquainted  with  his  learning 
 and  abilities,  when  speaking  of  the  transactions  of  this  assem- 
 bly>  says,  t;  The  many  learned  debates  we  have  had  in  twelve 
 or  thirteen  sessions,  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  half-past 
 one,  it  were  tedious  to  relate;  but  none  in  the  assembly  took  a 
 larger  share  of  the  discussion,  or  reasoned  more  pertinently, 
 than  Mr  Gillespie.  He  is  an  excellent  youth,  my  heart  blesses 
 God  in  his  behalf.  When  Acts  xiv.  23.  was  brought  forward 
 in  proof  of  the  power  of  ordination,  and  when,  after  much  de- 
 bating, the  question  was  on  the  point  of  being  brought  to  the 
 vote,  says  Mr  Baillie,  the  very  learned  and  acute  Mr  Gillespie, 
 a  singular  ornament  of  our  church,  than  whom  none  speaks  to 
 better  purpose,  or  with  better  acceptance,  opposed  the  episcopal 
 translation,  and  shewed  the  assembly,  that  the  Greek  word,  by 
 them  turned  into  ordination,  was,  in  reality,  choosing,  and  im- 
 ported the  suffrages  of  the  people  in  electing  their  own  office- 
 bearers. On  which  a  warm  debate  ensued,  which  occupied  two 
 whole  sessions,  and  was  terminated  at  last  by  an  overture  of 
 Mr  Henderson's."  On  another  occasion,  the  same  author  savs. 
 "  In  our  assembly  debates  we  are  well  assisted  by  my  lord  War- 
 riston,  an  occasional  commissioner;  but  by  none  more  than  that 
 noble  youth  Mr  Gillespie.  I  admire  his  gifts,  and  bless  God, 
 as  for  all  my  colleagues,  so  for  him  in  particular,  as  equal  in 
 these  to  the  first  men  in  the  assembly."  In  a  letter  to  Mr  Ro- 
 bert Blair,  dated  March  26th,  1644,  the  same  writer  savs, 
 "  Though  I  have  long  had  an  high  opinion  of  Mr  Gillespie's 
 gifts,  yet  I  confess  he  has  much  deceived  me.     Of  a  truth,  there 
 
632  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 is  no  man,  whose  parts,  in  a  public  dispute,  I  so  much  admire. 
 He  has  studied  so  accurately  all  the  points  that  ever  yet  came 
 before  the  assembly,  he  has  got  so  ready,  so  assured,  so  solid  a 
 method  of  public  debating,  that  though  there  are  in  the  assem- 
 bly divers  excellent  men,  yet,  in  my  poor  judgment,  there  is  not 
 one  who  speaks  more  to  the  point,  or  with  greater  propriety, 
 than  that  brave  youth  has  ever  done;  so  that  his  absence  would 
 be  prejudicial  to  our  whole  cause,  and  unpleasant  to  all  who 
 wish  it  well  in  this  place." 
 
 On  one  occasion,  when  both  the  parliament  and  assembly  were 
 met  together,  and  a  long,  elaborate,  and  erastian  speech,  deliver- 
 ed by  one  of  the  members,  to  which  none  seemed  ready  to  reply — 
 being  urged  by  the  Scottish  commissioners,  Mr  Gillespie  repeated 
 the  substance  of  the  whole  discourse,  refuting  it  as  he  went  along, 
 to  the  astonishment  of  all  present.  But  what  was  the  most  sur- 
 prising, though  it  was  customary  for  the  members  to  take  notes 
 of  the  speeches  delivered  in  the  assembly  for  the  help  of  their 
 memory,  and  Mr  Gillespie  seemed  to  be  so  employed  during 
 the  delivery  of  the  foresaid  discourse,  those  who  sat  next  him, 
 on  looking  into  his  note-book,  declared  they  found  nothing 
 written  but  these  pious  ejaculations,  "  Lord,  send  light;  Lord, 
 give  assistance;  Lord,  defend  thine  own  cause,"  &c. 
 
 After  returning  from  the  assembly  at  Westminster,  he  was 
 much  engaged  in  the  public  concerns  of  the  church;  and  having 
 been  greatly  distinguished  for  learning,  prudence,  and  a  strong 
 attachment  to  the  cause  of  truth,  he  was  chosen  moderator  of 
 the  general  assembly  that  met  at  Edinburgh  in  the  year  1648. 
 In  this  assembly  several  famous  acts  were  ratified  in  favour  of 
 the  reformation,  particularly  that  regarding  the  unlawful  en- 
 gagement against  England,  entered  into  by  the  duke  of  Hamil- 
 ton, and  those  of  the  malignant  faction.  He  was  also  one  of 
 those  divines  nominated  by  this  assembly  to  prosecute  the  pur- 
 poses of  the  solemn  league  and  covenant  with  the  Westminster 
 divines.  But  soon  after  this  he  was  seized  with  sickness,  from 
 which  he  never  recovered,  but  died  soon  after.  '  When  on  his 
 death-bed,  Mr  Samuel  Rutherford  wrote  him  a  letter,  dated  St. 
 Andrew's,  September  27th,  1648,  wherein  he  says,  "  I  can  say 
 nothing  against  this  divine  dispensation.  I  hope  to  follow 
 quickly.  The  heirs  of  the  kingdom,  who  are  not  there  before 
 you,  are  fast  posting  after,  and  none  shall  take  your  lodgings 
 over  your  head,  or  get  the  possession  of  your  crown.  Be  not 
 heavy,  the  work  of  faith  is  now  particularly  called  for — doing 
 was  never  reckoned  in  your  accounts.  Though  Christ  in  you, 
 and  by  you,  hath  done  more  than  by  twenty,  nay,  an  hundred 
 grey-haired  and  godly  pastors,  believing  is  now  your  proper 
 employment.     Look  to  that  word,  Gal.  ii.  20.  *  Nevertheless  I 
 
GEORGE  GILLESPIE.  633 
 
 live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  me.'  You  must  leave 
 your  wife  to  a  more  choice  Husband,  and  your  children  to  a 
 better  Father;  and  if  you  leave  any  testimony  to  the  Lord's 
 work  and  covenant,  against  both  malignants  and  sectarians, 
 which  I  suppose  may  be  needful  at  this  time,  let  it  be  under 
 your  own  hand,  and  subscribed  before  faithful  witnesses." 
 
 Mr  Gillespie  was  a  staunch  defender  of  presbyterian  church 
 government,  and  the  covenanted  reformation  of  the  kirk  of 
 Scotland;  in  behalf  of  which,  he  signalized  himself  on  every  oc- 
 casion wherein  he  was  called  to  exercise  his  talents  in  her  de- 
 fence, particularly  against  prelatical  usurpation  and  erastian  su- 
 premacy, which  he  combated  with  fearless  intrepidity  while 
 living,  and  left  a  faithful  warning  behind  him  of  the  sin  and 
 danger  of  backsliding,  which  he  perceived  to  be  springing  up 
 both  in  church  and  state. 
 
 In  a  letter,  addressed  to  the  commission  of  the  general  as- 
 sembly, dated  Kirkaldy,  September  8th,  1648,  and  only  three 
 months  before  his  death,  he  says,  "  Although  the  Lord's  hand 
 prevents  me  from  attending  your  meetings,  so  long  as  I  can 
 either  speak  or  write,  I  dare  not  conceal  my  thoughts  of  any 
 sinful  and  dangerous  course  in  the  public  proceedings;  and  hav- 
 ing heard  of  some  motions  towards  a  compliance  with  those  who 
 have  been  so  deeply  engaged  in  a  war,  at  once  destructive  to 
 religion  and  the  liberty  of  these  kingdoms,  I  must  discharge  my 
 conscience  in  testifying  against  all  such  compliances.  I  know, 
 and  am  persuaded,  that  all  the  faithful,  who  testified  against 
 the  late  engagement,  as  contrary  to,  and  destructive  of,  the  co- 
 venant, will  also  testify  against  all  compliance  with  those  who 
 have  been  active  in  that  most  sinful  and  unlawful  engagement. 
 I  am  not  able  to  enumerate  the  evils  of  such  a  compliance,  they 
 are  so  many;  sure  I  am,  it  would  harden  the  malignant  party, 
 wound  the  hearts  of  the  godly,  and  do  an  infinite  wrorig  to  those, 
 who,  from  their  affection  to  the  cause  and  covenant  of  God, 
 have  appeared  for,  and  befriended  them,  at  the  hazard  of  their 
 lives.  It  would  prove  a  scandal  to  our  brethren  in  England, 
 who,  having  been  strengthened  and  encouraged  by  hearing  of 
 our  zeal  and  integrity  in  opposing  the  engagement,  would  be 
 equally  scandalized  to  hear  of  our  compliance  with  these  fiery 
 serpents  who  have  stung  us  so  severely  heretofore.  God  justly 
 punished  us,  by  making  them  thorns  and  scourges,  whom  we 
 had,  by  a  sinful  and  disgraceful  compliance,  admitted  as  friends, 
 without  any  real  evidence  of  their  sincerity  and  repentance. 
 Alas  !  shall  we  split  twice  upon  the  same  reck;  yea,  run  upon 
 it,  when  God  has  set  up  a  beacon  to  point  out  the  danger  of  the 
 course  ?  Shall  we  be  so  demented,  as  to  fall  back  into  the  self- 
 same sin,  on  which  God  has  engraven  his  indignation,  in  large 
 
 23  4  l 
 
634  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 letters,  in  his  late  judgments?  Alas!  will  neither  judgments 
 nor  deliverances  make  us  wise  ?  And,  in  the  words  of  Ezra,  af- 
 ter all  this  has  come  upon  us  for  our  evil  deeds,  and  our  great 
 trespasses,  seeing  that  thou  our  God  hast  punished  us  less  than 
 our  iniquities  deserve,  and  hast  given  us  such  a  deliverance  as 
 this,  should  we  again  break  thy  commandments,  and  join  in 
 affinity  with  the  people  of  these  abominations?  Wouldst  thou 
 not  be  angry  with  us  till  thou  hadst  consumed  us;  so  that  there 
 should  be  no  remnant  nor  escaping?  O  happy  Scotland,  if 
 thou  canst  now  improve  aright  this  golden  opportunity  !  But 
 if  thou  wilt  confederate  with  the  ungodly,  and  join  hands  with 
 the  enemies  of  Christ  and  his  gospel,  wrath  upon  wrath,  and 
 woe  upon  woe,  shall  be  your  portion  from  God  in  the  day  of  his 
 just  indignation." 
 
 "This  testimony  of  a  dying  man,  who  expects  shortly  to 
 stand  before  the  tribunal  of  Christ,  I  leave  with  you,  my  re- 
 verend brethren,  being  confident,  through  the  Lord,  that  you 
 will  be  no  otherwise  minded;  but  as  men  of  God,  moved  by 
 godly  zeal,  you  will  freely  discharge  your  consciences  against 
 every  thing  you  see  lifting  up  itself  against  the  kingdom  of  the 
 Lord  Jesus. 
 
 In  his  latter  will,  he  thus  expresses  himself: 
 
 "  Being,  through  much  weakness  and  sickness,  in  expectation 
 of  my  last  change,  I  have  thought  good,  by  this  my  latter  will, 
 under  my  hand,  to  declare,  first  of  all,  that  the  prospect  of 
 death,  which  is  apparently  near,  does  not  shake  my  faith  in  the 
 truths  of  Christ  which  I  have  professed  and  preached;  neither 
 have  I  any  doubts,  but  this  so  much  opposed  covenant  and  re- 
 formation of  the  three  kingdoms,  is  of  God,  and  will  be  pro- 
 ductive of  happy  consequences.  It  hath  pleased  God,  who 
 chooseth  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise, 
 and  things  that  are  not,  to  confound  the  things  that  are,  to 
 choose  me,  the  unfittest  and  the  most  unworthy  amongst  many 
 thousands,  in  advancing  and  promoting  that  glorious  work; 
 and  now  that  my  labours  seem  to  be  terminated,  I  repent  not 
 of  any  forwardness  or  zeal  I  have  shewn,  or  exertions  I  have 
 made  therein;  and  dare  promise,  to  as  many  as  will  be  faithful 
 and  zealous  in  the  cause  of  God,  that  it  shall  be  no  grief  of 
 heart,  but  matter  of  consolation  and  peace  to  them  hereafter,  as 
 I  find  it  this  day.  But  if  there  be  a  compliance  with  malignant 
 and  ungodly  men,  then  I  expect  nothing  but  wrath  and  indig- 
 nation from  the  Lord,  till  there  be  no  remedy.  O  that  there 
 were  such  a  spirit,  at  least  in  our  nobility  who  stand  up  for  the 
 truth,  that  they  would  take  more  of  the  counsel  of  God,  and 
 lean  less  on  their  own  reason  and  understanding.  As  for  dan- 
 gers from  the  sectaries,   I  have  been,  and  am  still,  of  the  opi- 
 
GEORGE  GILLESPIE.  635 
 
 nion,  that  they  are  to  be  prevented  by  all  lawful  means;  but 
 that  the  danger  from  malignants  is  much  nearer,  and  exceed- 
 ingly more  formidable  in  this  kingdom,  and  at  this  time. 
 
 "  Sk.  sub.  George  Gillespie. 
 
 "Kirkaldy,  Sept.  Uh,  1648." 
 
 "  Seeing,  to  all  appearance,  the  time  of  my  dissolution  is 
 now  very  near,  notwithstanding  that  I  have  in  my  latter  will 
 declared  my  mind  upon  public  affairs,  I  have  thought  good  to 
 add  this  further  testimony :  That  I  consider  the  malignant  par- 
 ty, in  these  kingdoms,  the  seed  of  the  serpent,  whatever  they 
 may  pretend  to  the  contrary — a  generation  who  have  not  6et 
 God,  nor  the  laws  of  God,  before  them.  With  them  are  to  be 
 ranked,  the  profane,  the  scandalous,  and  heretical;  from  all 
 which  I  trust  the  Lord  is  about  to  purge  his  churches.  I  have 
 often,  and  still  do  comfort  myself,  with  the  hopes  that  the  Lord 
 will  yet  purge  this  polluted  land.  Surely,  as  he  hath  begun,  so 
 he  will  carry  on  that  great  work  of  mercy.  I  know  there  will 
 always  be  a  hypocritical  mixture  in  the  church — tares  will  grow 
 up  with  the  wheat;  but  this  cannot  excuse  the  conniving  at 
 gross  and  scandalous  sinners.  This  purging  work,  which  the 
 Lord  is  about,  has  been  greatly  opposed  by  many,  who  say,  by 
 their  deeds,  we  will  not  be  purged  nor  refined,  but  will  mix 
 ourselves  with  those  whom  the  ministers  preach  against  as  the 
 malignant  enemies  of  God  and  his  cause.  But  he  that  is  fil- 
 thy, let  him  be  filthy  still,  and  let  wisdom  be  justified  of  her 
 children.  I  recommend  it  to  all  them  that  fear  God,  seriously 
 to  consider,  that  the  holy  scriptures  clearly  shew,  1st,  That  to 
 aid  and  encourage  the  enemies  of  God,  or  join  hands  and  asso- 
 ciate with  wicked  men,  opposers  of  the  truth,  are  sins  highly 
 displeasing  in  his  sight.  2d,  That  this  sin  ordinarily  ensnares 
 the  people  of  God  into  the  commission  of  divers  other  sins.  3d, 
 That  it  hath  been  punished  by  God  with  grievous  judgments. 
 And,  4th,  That  utter  destruction  is  to  be  apprehended,  when  a 
 people,  after  having  received  signal  punishments,  and  merciful 
 deliverances,  relapse  into  the  same  sin.   Ezra  ix.  13,  14. 
 
 "  Upon  these,  and  the  like  grounds,  for  my  own  exoneration, 
 that  so  necessary  a  truth  may  not  want  the  testimony  of  a  dy- 
 ing witness  of  Christ,  though  the  unworthiest  among  thousands, 
 and  that  light  may  be  held  forth,  and  warning  given  in  this 
 critical  time,  I  cannot  be  silent,  but  must  speak  by  my  pen, 
 when  I  cannot  by  my  tongue,  yea,  even  by  the  pen  of  another, 
 when  I  cannot  now  by  mine  own,  seriously,  in  the  name  of 
 Jesus  Christ,  exhorting  and  obtesting  all  who  fear  God,  and 
 make  conscience  of  their  ways,  to  be  very  tender  and  circum- 
 spect, to  watch  and  pray,  that  they  be  not  ensnared  into  that 
 great  and  dangerous  sin  of  conjunction  or  compliance  with  ma- 
 
636  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 lignant  or  profane  enemies  of  the  truth,  under  whatever  pru- 
 dential considerations  it  may  be  varnished;  the  which,  if  men 
 will  conscientiously  do,  they  shall  not  only  have  no  cause  to 
 repent,  but,  to  the  unspeakable  joy  and  peace  of  God's  people, 
 they  shall  see  bis  work  go  on,  and  prosper  gloriously. 
 
 "George  Gillespie." 
 
 SAMUEL  RUTHERFORD. 
 
 This  greatly  experienced  christian,  and  celebrated  divine, 
 was  born  of  respectable  parents  in  the  parish  of  Tongueland, 
 near  Kirkcudbright.  He  was  much  admired,  in  his  early  life, 
 for  the  brilliancy  of  his  parts,  and  having  taken  the  course  of 
 grammatical  learning,  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh ; 
 where  his  proficiency  was  such,  that,  in  a  short  time,  and  while 
 he  was  yet  very  young,  he  was  elected  professor  of  philosophy 
 in  that  university  during  the  establishment  of  prelacy.  Some 
 time  after  this  he  was  settled  in  the  parish  of  Anworth,  in  the 
 stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright,  by  means  of  the  then  viscount  Ken- 
 mure,  and  without  any  acknowledgment  of,  or  engagement  to, 
 the  bishops.  Here  he  was,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  expression, 
 a  burning  and  a  shining  light.  He  laboured  with  great  dili- 
 gence and  success,  usually  rising  by  three  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
 ing, and  spending  his  whole  time  in  the  various  duties  of  the 
 ministerial  profession.  In  what  year  Mr  Rutherford  was  set- 
 tled at  Anworth  we  have  no  certain  account,  only  that  a  letter 
 of  his,  dated  at  Anworth,  June  6th,  1624,  seems  to  establish  the 
 fact,  that  he  was  inducted  before  that  period.  Having  publish- 
 ed his  Exercitationes  de  Gratia,  &c.  he  was  summoned  before 
 the  court  of  high  commission  at  Edinburgh,  in  the  year  1630, 
 to  answer  for  some  passages  which  were  understood  to  be  le- 
 velled at  the  bishops;  but  the  weather  was  so  tempestuous,  that 
 the  archbishop  durst  not  venture  the  passage  from  Kinghorn; 
 and  Mr  Colvill,  one  of  the  judges,  having  befriended  Mr  Ru- 
 therford, the  diet  was  deserted.  About  this  time  he  lost  his 
 first  wife,  after  thirteen  months  of  sore  sickness,  and  was  him- 
 self so  ill  of  a  tertian  ague,  that,  for  thirteen  weeks  together, 
 he  was  scarcely  able  to  preach.  In  April  1634,  he  was  again 
 summoned  before  the  same  court,  and  accused,  by  the  bishop  of 
 Galloway,  of  non-conformity;  but  particularly  for  preaching 
 against  the  articles  of  Perth,  and  writing  the  forementioned 
 book;  in  which  he  had  so  cut  up  arminianism,  that  the  bishops 
 found  it  convenient  to  have  him  silenced.  He  appeared  before 
 the  court;  but  declining  their  jurisdiction  as  unlawful,  and 
 themselves  as  incompetent,  and  refusing  to  give  the  bishops  their 
 titles,  lord  Lorn  and  others  befriended  him  to  the  utmost  of 
 
SAMUEL  RUTHERFORD.  637 
 
 their  power  on  this  occasion.  But  the  bishop  of  Galloway,  whose 
 inveterate  animosity  against  Mr  Rutherford,  and  the  doctrines 
 he  had  propagated,  neither  reason  nor  justice  could  modify,  de- 
 clared, that  unless  he  was  suffered  to  perform  his  duty  with  less 
 opposition,  he  would  immediately  write  to  the  king.  Accordingly, 
 Mr  Rutherford  was  silenced,  deprived  of  his  living,  and  charged 
 henceforth  to  exercise  no  part  of  his  ministerial  calling  in  Scot- 
 land, under  pain  of  rebellion;  and  commanded,  within  the  space 
 of  six  months,  to  confine  himself  to  Aberdeen,  and  its  immedi- 
 ate neighbourhood,  during  the  king's  pleasure.  To  this  injunc- 
 tion Mr  Rutherford  reluctantly  yielded,  and  removed  to  the 
 place  of  his  confinement,  where  he  remained  upwards  of  a  year 
 and  a-half.  Thus  prevented  from  being  publicly  useful  in  the 
 cause  of  Christ,  he  carried  on  an  extensive  correspondence  with 
 his  religious  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  many  of  his  admir- 
 able letters  were  dated  from  this  place  of  his  confinement, 
 strongly  expressive  of  the  consolations  of  the  spirit  reserved  for 
 those  who  suffer  for  the  sake  of  righteousness.  The  bishops 
 could  deprive  him  of  his  living,  and  remove  him  from  his  be- 
 loved flock,  and  his  beloved  employment;  but  all  their  malice 
 and  ingenuity  could  not  interrupt  that  soul-solacing  and  hea- 
 venly intercourse  he  enjoyed  with  his  God  and  Saviour.  He 
 delighted  in  preaching  and  declaring  the  grace  of  God,  and  the 
 way  of  salvation  to  sinful  and  perishing  men.  His  constrained 
 silence  on  the  Lord's  day  was  therefore  so  peculiarly  distress- 
 ing, that  as  soon  as  he  understood  that  the  privy  council  had 
 received  a  declinature  against  the  court  of  high  commission  in 
 1638,  he  adventured  to  return  to  his  flock;  where  he  was  re- 
 ceived with  inexpressible  joy,  and  attended,  in  his  public  exer- 
 cises, not  only  by  his  own  parishioners,  but  also  by  the  princi- 
 pal part  of  the  whole  district,  who  considered  themselves  as  a 
 part  of  his  pastoral  charge. 
 
 At  the  famous  assembly,  held  at  Glasgow  in  1638,  Mr  Ru- 
 therford appeared  as  one  of  the  commissioners  from  the  presby- 
 tery of  Kirkcudbright;  where,  having  given  a  satisfactory  account 
 of  all  the  proceedings  against  him,  with  respect  to  his  confine- 
 ment, he  was  appointed  one  of  the  select  committee  for  draw- 
 ing up  their  objections  to  the  Service-book,  the  Book  of  Ca- 
 nons and  Ordination,  and  the  court  of  high  commission.  This 
 was  thought  necessary,  that  the  world  might  see  that  the  peti- 
 tions and  remonstrances  against  these  things  had  not  been  with- 
 out just  cause,  and  that  some  monuments  of  the  wickedness 
 and  oppression  of  these  times  might  be  transmitted  to  posterity. 
 On  this  occasion,  he  was  also  appointed,  by  the  assembly,  pro- 
 fessor of  divinity  in  the  new  college  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  col- 
 league to  the  celebrated  Mr  Blair,  who,  about  this  time,  was 
 
638  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 transported  thither  from  the  town  of  Ayr.  In  this  new  situa- 
 tion, Mr  Rutherford,  by  his  indefatigable  labours,  both  in 
 teaching  the  class,  and  preaching  in  the  congregation,  was 
 made  instrumental  in  changing  this  seat  of  the  archbishop,  and 
 hot-bed  of  superstition,  error,  and  profanity,  into  a  nursery  of 
 sound  divinity  and  solid  learning;  from  which  the  vacancies  of 
 the  church  were  afterwards  occasionally  supplied  with  pastors, 
 eminent  for  their  piety,  learning,  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
 truth. 
 
 Mr  Rutherford  was  not  a  more  strenuous  advocate  for  the 
 public  order  and  exercises  of  religion,  than  for  its  private  du- 
 ties and  devotions.  In  1640  a  charge  was  brought  into  the  as- 
 sembly, by  Mr  Henry  Guthrie,  minister  at  Stirling,  and  after- 
 wards bishop  of  Dunkeld,  against  private  society  meetings 
 which  then  abounded  in  the  land.  This  was  the  occasion  of  a 
 warm  discussion.  Mr  Henderson  had  drawn  up  a  paper  con- 
 cerning the  order  to  be  observed  in  these  meetings;  which  one 
 side  of  the  House  were  anxious  to  have  sanctioned  by  the  as- 
 sembly. This  Mr  Guthrie,  and  his  party,  strongly  opposed, 
 and  endeavoured  to  obtain  an  act  for  dismissing  all  these  pri- 
 vate meetings.  But  Mr  Rutherford,  who  was  never  forward 
 to  speak  in  judicatorial  assemblies,  threw  in  the  following  syllo- 
 gism, and  challenged  the  whole  assembly  to  answer  it :  "  What 
 scripture  warrants,  no  assembly  can  discharge;  but  private 
 meetings,  for  the  exercise  of  religion,  scripture  does  warrant,  as 
 appears  from  Mai.  iii.  16.  *  They  that  feared  the  Lord,  spake 
 often  one  to  another;'  and  James  v.  16.  'Confess  your  faults 
 one  to  another,  and  pray  one  for  another;'  things  which,  he  ob- 
 served, could  not  be  done  in  the  public  meetings  of  the  church; 
 besides,  that  the  presence  and  blessing  of  Christ  is  promised 
 wherever  two  or  three  are  met  together  in  his  name."  The 
 earl  of  Seaforth,  and  others  of  Guthrie's  faction,  cast  some  sar- 
 casms on  Mr  Rutherford;  yet  his  syllogism  had  such  an  influ- 
 ence on  the  assembly,  that  all  they  could  procure  was  an  act 
 concerning  the  order  of  family- worship;  and  Mr  Rutherford 
 afterwards  defended  the  lawfulness,  propriety,  and  usefulness 
 of  these  private  religious  meetings,  in  a  treatise  written  for  the 
 express  purpose. 
 
 In  1643  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee,  for  manag- 
 ing the  negotiations  between  the  general  assembly  at  Edin- 
 burgh and  the  English  commissioners;  and  in  the  course  of 
 the  same  year,  he  was  also  appointed  one  of  the  four  commis- 
 sioners sent  to  the  Westminster  assembly;  where  he  and  his 
 brethren  displayed  their  talents  and  zeal,  especially  in  settling 
 a  presbyterian  church  government;  and  Mr  Rutherford  took  his 
 full  share  of  these  discussions,  and  exhibited  much  learning,  and 
 
SAMUEL  RUTHERFORD.  639 
 
 no  small  share  of  acquaintance  with  rabbinical  writings.  Dur- 
 ing his  residence  in  London,  he  published  his  Lex  Rex,  and 
 some  other  learned  works,  particularly  against  the  erastians  and 
 arminians.  Mr  Baillie,  in  a  letter  to  Mr  Robert  Blair,  when 
 speaking  of  Mr  Rutherford,  says,  "  For  the  great  parts  God 
 hath  given  him,  and  the  special  acquaintance  he  hath  with  the 
 question  in  hand,  Mr  Samuel  is  very  necessary  here  at  this 
 time,  especially  because  of  his  book,  which  will  not  come  off  the 
 press  for  some  time;  and  when  it  does,  will  most  likely  meet 
 with  some  short  affronting  reply.  Judge  ye,  therefore,  if  it  be 
 not  highly  necessary  that  he  be  here  to  answer  for  himself." 
 
 When  the  principal  business  of  the  assembly  was  over,  Mr 
 Rutherford,  on  the  24th  October  1647,  moved,  that  it  be 
 entered  in  the  records,  that  the  assembly  had  been  assisted  by 
 the  commissioners  of  the  church  of  Scotland  all  the  time  they 
 had  been  debating  and  perfecting  the  four  following  things 
 mentioned  in  the  solemn  league,  namely,  a  directory  for  wor- 
 ship, a  uniform  confession  of  faith,  a  form  of  church  govern- 
 ment and  discipline,  and  a  public  catechism;  which  having  been 
 agreed  to,  he  and  his  colleagues,  in  about  a  week  after,  returned 
 to  Edinburgh.  On  leaving  the  assembly,  Mr  Herle,  then  the 
 prolocutor,  rose,  and,  in  an  appropriate  speech,  thanked  the  ho- 
 nourable and  reverend  commissioners,  in  name  of  the  assembly, 
 for  the  assistance  they  had  so  liberally  contributed  to  the  very 
 important  labours  in  which  the  assembly  had  been  so  long  and 
 so  ardently  engaged. 
 
 In  the  general  assembly  of  1649,  it  was  moved  to  transport 
 Mr  Rutherford  from  the  university  of  St.  Andrew's  to  that  of 
 Edinburgh;  "but  this  (says  Mr  Baillie)  was  thought  absurd." 
 In  this  assembly  a  warm  debate  took  place  respecting  the  elec- 
 tion of  ministers.  Mr  David  Calderwood  peremptorily  urged, 
 that,  according  to  the  second  Book  of  Discipline,  the  election 
 belonged  to  the  presbytery,  with  power  to  the  major  part  of  the 
 people  to  dissent  upon  reasons  given;  which  reasons  were  to  be 
 judged  and  determined  by  the  presbytery.  Mr  Rutherford  and 
 Mr  Wood  were  equally  determined  in  supporting  popular  elec- 
 tion; while  the  majority  of  the  assembly  were  of  opinion  with 
 Mr  Gillespie,  in  his  Miscellanies,  that  the  direction  belonged  to 
 the  presbytery,  the  election  to  the  session,  and  the  consent  to 
 the  people. 
 
 Mr  Rutherford's  reputation  for  piety,  learning,  and  sound 
 theology,  was  so  highly  raised,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  by  his 
 writings  against  the  arminians  and  Jesuits,  which  were  compos- 
 ed in  Latin,  that,  upon  the  death  of  the  learned  Dematius  in 
 1651,  the  magistrates  of  Utrecht  in  Holland  invited  him  to  the 
 divinity  chair  in  that  university.     This  very  kind  and  honour- 
 
G40  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 able  invitation,  however,  he  declined,  from  considerations  of 
 pure  patriotism.  He  could  not  think  of  deserting  his  country 
 in  so  critical  a  period,  when,  as  he  elsewhere  expresses  it, 
 "  The  Lord  had  covered  the  whole  land  with  a  cloud  in  his 
 anger." 
 
 During  the  usurpation  of  Cromwell,  Mr  Rutherford  continu- 
 ed to  labour,  with  unabating  zeal  and  activity,  in  the  various 
 duties  of  his  pastoral  charge,  preaching,  catechising,  visiting 
 the  sick,  and  exhorting  from  house  to  house;  besides  teaching 
 in  the  schools,  and  spending  as  much  time  with  the  students,  and 
 in  fitting  young  men  for  the  ministry?  as  if  he  had  no  other  em- 
 ployment; and,  after  all,  writing  as  much  as  could  be  expected 
 from  one  constantly  shut  up  in  his  study.  When  the  unhappy 
 difference  took  place  between  those  denominated  resolution ers 
 and  protesters  in  1650  and  1651,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
 protesters,  and  faithfully  warned  the  people  against  the  sin  and 
 danger  of  countenancing  these  public  resolutions,  and  joined 
 with  a  number  of  the  ministers,  in  the  shires  of  Perth  and 
 Fife,  in  subscribing  a  testimony  for  the  whole  covenanted  re- 
 formation of  the  church  of  Scotland,  October  1658.  But  the 
 restoration  of  Charles  II.  sadly  altered  the  aspect  of  public  af- 
 fairs. The  conscientious  presbyterians,  who  stood  to  their 
 covenant  engagements,  in  opposition  to  the  public  resolutions, 
 became  the  objects  of  his  bitter  animosity,  and  were  the  first 
 sufferers  in  the  horrid  persecution  that  ensued;  and  in  a  short 
 time  all  the  honest  presbyterians  were  sent  to  the  furnace,  as 
 Wodrow  expresses  it,  on  purpose  to  unite  their  divisions;  and 
 Mr  Rutherford's  famous  book  Lex  Rex,  which  Charles  said, 
 on  seeing  it,  would  scarcely  ever  be  answered;  and  the  Causes 
 of  God's  Wrath,  said  to  have  been  written  by  Mr  James 
 Guthrie,  were  prohibited  by  proclamation,  and  the  copies  called 
 in;  with  certification,  that  whoever  was  found  in  possession  of 
 either,  after  the  15th  October  1660,  should  be  accounted  ene- 
 mies to  the  king,  and  punished  as  such,  both  in  their  persons 
 and  estates;  and  to  save  the  trouble  of  refuting  them,  they  were 
 both  publicly  burnt,  at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh,  by  the  hands  of 
 the  hangman,  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month.  Lex  Rex  was 
 also  burnt  at  the  gate  of  the  new  college  of  St.  Andrew's,  where 
 the  author  was  professor  of  divinity.  This  barbarous  policy  has 
 seldom  or  never  answered  the  purpose  for  which  it  has  been  prac- 
 tised; and  few,  but  tyrants  unacquainted  with  the  human  heart 
 and  the  true  principles  of  legislation,  will  hazard  an  experiment  so 
 fraught  with  danger  and  defeat.  Charles  II.  had  the  mortifica- 
 tion to  find,  that  this,  and  similar  acts  of  unnecessary  cruelty 
 and  injustice,  alienated  the  hearts  of  a  class  of  individuals,  to 
 whose  conscientious  loyalty  lie  was  most  of  all  indebted  for  his 
 
SAMUEL  RUTHERFORD.  641 
 
 restoration  to  a  crown,  which  he  degraded,  and  subjects  whom 
 he  deceived,  insulted,  and  persecuted,  till,  by  the  unsupportable 
 tyranny  of  his  family,  the  race  of  the  Stuart's  had  for  ever  for- 
 feited their  claim  to  the  government  of  these  lands. 
 
 The  parliament,  which  met  the  following  year,  before  whom 
 he  was  to  be  indicted  for  high  treason,  had  the  cruelty,  though 
 they  knew  he  was  dying,  to  cite  him  before  them  at  Edinburgh; 
 and  it  has  been  commonly  said,  that  when  the  summons  came, 
 he  spake  out  of  his  bed,  saying,  "  Tell  them  I  have  got  a  sum- 
 mons already  to  appear  before  a  superior  Judge  and  Jury, 
 which  I  behove  to  answer  first;  and  before  their  day  come,  I 
 shall  be  beyond  the  bounds  of  their  jurisdiction."  On  the  report 
 of  the  messenger,  it  was  put  to  the  vote  in  parliament,  Whether 
 he  should  be  suffered  to  die  in  the  college  ?  When  it  was  car- 
 ried, put  him  out,  with  but  a  few  dissenting  voices.  Lord  Bur- 
 leigh said,  "  You  have  voted  that  honest  man  out  of  his  college, 
 but  you  cannot  shut  the  gates  of  heaven  against  him."  One 
 said,  "  He  would  never  get  there,  that  hell  was  too  good  for 
 him."  * 
 
 When  on  his  dealh-bed,  Mr  Rutherford  lamented  that  he  had 
 been  withheld  from  bearing  witness  to  the  work  of  reformation 
 since  1638;  and  twelve  days  before  his  death,  he  subscribed  a 
 large  and  faithful  testimony  against  the  sinful  courses  then 
 greatly  prevailing  in  the  land.  During  his  last  sickness,  espe- 
 cially when  the  time  of  his  departure  drew  near,  he  uttered 
 many  savoury  expressions  in  commendation  of  Christ  and  his 
 honourable  service,  and  of  that  everlasting  salvation  and  un- 
 speakable glory  he  hath  purchased  and  prepared  for  all  those 
 who  love  his  appearance.  With  regard  to  his  own  feelings,  and 
 glorious  anticipations,  he  often  broke  out  in  a  kind  of  seraphic 
 rapture.  A  few  days  before  his  death,  he  said,  "  I  shall  sleep 
 in  Jesus,  and  be  abundantly  satisfied  with  his  likeness  when  I 
 awake.  My  Redeemer  liveth,  and  shall  stand  on  the  earth  in 
 the  latter  day,  and  I  shall  see  him  as  he  is — I  shall  see  him 
 reign,  and  all  his  fair  company  with  him — I  shall  shine.  Mine 
 eyes,  these  very  eyes  of  mine,  shall  yet  behold  him  in  all  his 
 unspeakable  glory,  and  I  shall  have  my  share;  I  know  I  shall 
 ever  be  with  him;  and  what  could  the  most  ambitious  soul 
 more  desire?  This  is  the  end."  And  stretching  forth  his 
 hands,  he  repeated,  t;  This  indeed  is  the  end  of  all  perfection." 
 A  little  after,  he  said,  "  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  be  a  christian; 
 but  thanks  be  to  God,  he  hath  given  me  the  victory,  and  Christ 
 is  holding  out  both  his  arms  to  receive  me.  At  the  beginning 
 of  my  sufferings,  I  had  mine  own  fears  lest  I  should  faint,  and 
 not  be  carried  honourably  through.     I  laid  this  before  the  Lord, 
 
 Walker's  Rem.  p.  171. 
 
 23  1  u 
 
64$  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  as  sure  as  ever  he  spoke  to  me  in  his  word,  his  Spirit  wit- 
 nessed with  my  spirit,  saying,  '  Fear  not,  my  grace  is  sufficient, 
 and  the  outgate  shall  not  be  matter  of  prayer,  but  of  praise/  " 
 A  person  who  visited  him,  speaking  concerning  his  faithfulness 
 in  the  ministry,  he  cried  out,  "  I  disclaim  all  that  ever  he  made 
 me,  either  will  or  do  in  his  service,  as  coming  from  myself. 
 The  port  I  would  be  in  at  is  redemption  through  his  blood,  even 
 the  forgiveness  of  sins."  In  the  afternoon  of  his  last  day,  he 
 said,  "  Oh !  that  all  my  brethren  in  the  public  knew  what  a 
 gracious  and  loving  Master  I  have  served,  and  what  peace  and 
 consolation  he  has  bestowed  upon  me  in  this  concluding  part  of 
 his  service.  O  for  arms  to  embrace  him  !  O  for  a  well- 
 tuned  harp  !  I  shall  live  and  adore  him  !  Glory,  glory  to  my 
 Creator  and  Redeemer !  Glory  dwells  in  Emanuel's  land !" 
 Thus  died  the  famous  Samuel  Rutherford,  in  March  1661,  the 
 day  before  the  act  rescissory  was  passed  in  parliament. 
 
 Wodrow  says  concerning  him,  "  That  clear  shining  light,  Mr 
 Samuel  Rutherford,  may  very  justly  come  in  amongst  the  suf- 
 ferers during  this  session  of  parliament.  He  was  evidently  a 
 martyr,  both  in  his  own  resolution,  and  also  in  the  determined 
 intention  of  the  public  functionaries.  He  is  so  well  known  to 
 the  learned  and  pious  world,  that  I  consider  it  unnecessary  to 
 enlarge  on  his  merits.  Those  who  knew  him  best,  were  at  a 
 loss  which  to  admire  the  most — his  sublime  genius  in  the 
 school,  and  peculiar  powers  of  controversial  disputation,  or  his 
 familiar  condescension  in  the  pulpit,  where  he  was  one  of  the 
 most  moving  and  affectionate  preachers  in  his  time,  or  perhaps 
 in  any  age  of  the  church.  He  seems  to  have  outdone  himself, 
 as  well  as  every  body  else,  in  his  admirable  and  every  way  sin- 
 gular letters,  which,  though  jested  upon  by  profane  wits,  be- 
 cause of  some  familiar  expressions,  will  be  admired  and  ac- 
 knowledged, by  all  who  have  any  relish  of  piety,  to  contain  such 
 sublime  flights  of  devotion,  and  to  be  fraught  with  such  massy 
 thoughts,  as  strongly  bespeak  a  soul  closely  united  to  Christ, 
 and  must  needs  at  once  ravish  and  edify  every  serious  reader. 
 In  a  word,  few  men  have  ever  run  so  long  in  an  undeviating 
 course  of  holiness,  and  unyielding  adherence  to  the  laws  of 
 Christ,  or  contended  more  heroically  for  the  faith  once  delivered 
 to  the  saints." 
 
 His  Testimony. — "  Though  the  Lord  stands  in  no  need  of  a 
 testimony  from  such  a  worm  as  I,  and  although,  should  the 
 whole  world  be  silent,  the  very  stones  would  cry  out;  yet  is  it 
 more  than  debt  that  I  should  confess  Christ  before  both  men 
 and  angels.  It  would  afford  me  unspeakable  satisfaction  were 
 the  throne  of  the  Lord  Jesus  exalted  above  the  clouds,  the  hea- 
 ven of  heavens,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  sun;  and  that  I,  by  his 
 
SAMUEL  RUTHERFORD.  643 
 
 grace,  might  put  my  seal,  poor  as  it  is,  to  the  song  of  those, 
 who,  with  a  loud  voice,  sing,  i  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the 
 book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof,  for  thou  wast  slain,  and 
 hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood {  and  blessed  were  I, 
 could  I  but  lay  to  my  ear  of  faith,  and  listen  to  the  psalm  sung 
 by  the  many  angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the  beasts, 
 and  the  elders,  and  the  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
 thousands  of  thousands,  who,  with  a  loud  voice,  sing,  \  Worthy 
 is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and 
 wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing ;' 
 and  if  I  heard  every  creature  in  heaven,  on  earth,  or  under  the 
 earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea  (as  John  heard  them),  saying, 
 i  Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  ascribed  to 
 him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb,  for  ever  and 
 ever.'  I  do  not,  however,  mean  any  such  visible  reign  as  the 
 millenarians  fancy.  I  believe  (Lord  help  my  unbelief)  the  doc- 
 trine of  the  holy  prophets,  and  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
 Christ,  contained  in  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
 to  be  the  undoubted  word  of  God,  a  perfect  rule  of  faith,  and 
 the  only  way  of  salvation;  and  I  do  acknowledge  the  sum  of 
 the  christian  religion,  exhibited  in  the  confessions  and  cate- 
 chisms of  the  reformed  protestant  churches,  and  in  the  national 
 covenant  of  Scotland,  divers  times  sworn  by  the  king's  majes- 
 ty, the  state,  and  the  church  of  Scotland,  and  sealed  by  the 
 testimony  and  subscriptions  of  the  nobles,  barons,  gentlemen, 
 burgesses,  ministers,  and  commons  of  all  ranks  in  the  land ;  like- 
 wise in  the  solemn  league  and  covenant  of  the  three  kingdoms 
 of  Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland;  from  all  which  I  do  judge, 
 and,  in  conscience,  believe,  that  no  power  on  earth  can  absolve 
 and  liberate  the  people  of  God. 
 
 "  With  respect  to  the  power  and  purity  of  doctrine,  worship, 
 discipline,  and  government,  the  church  of  Scotland  had  once  as 
 much  of  the  presence  of  Christ,  as  many  churches  we  read  of 
 since  the  Lord  took  his  ancient  people  to  be  his  covenanted 
 church.  The  Lord  stirred  up  our  nobles  to  make  an  attempt 
 at  reformation  of  the  church  during  the  last  century;  which 
 they  did  in  the  face  of  many  difficulties,  and  a  powerful  opposi- 
 tion from  those  in  supreme  authority.  He  made  bare  his  holy 
 arm,  and  his  right  hand  got  him  the  victory;  the  work  went  on 
 gloriously,  and  the  idolatry  of  Rome,  with  all  her  accursed 
 masses  and  ridiculous  mummery,  were  trodden  in  the  dust.  A 
 hopeful  reformation  was  in  some  measure  settled,  and  a  sound 
 confession  of  faith  agreed  upon  by  the  lords  of  the  congrega- 
 tion. The  people  of  God,  at  that  period,  according  to  the  laud- 
 able example  of  the  protestants  of  France  and  Holland,  the  re- 
 nowned princes  of  Germany,  and  other  ancient  churches,  car- 
 
G44<  aom  oi 
 
 ried  on  the  necessary  work  by  an  innocent  and  defensive  war- 
 fare; which  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  bless  with  abundant  suc- 
 cess. While  our  land  and  church  were  thus  contending  for  the 
 faith  of  the  gospel,  not  only  did  those  in  authority  continue 
 strenuously  to  oppose  the  work,  but  from  among  ourselves  also 
 did  enemies  arise,  men  of  prelatical  spirits,  who  endeavoured  to 
 sap  the  foundation,  while  the  court  threatened  violently  to  break 
 down  the  walls  of  God's  house;  and  we  ourselves,  doating  too 
 much  upon  sound  parliaments,  and  lawfully  constituted  general 
 assemblies,  fell  from  our  first  love  into  self-seeking  and  secret 
 banding,  lost  our  zeal,  and  became  cold  to  the  oath  of  God. 
 
 "  Our  work  in  public  afterwards  consisted  too  much  in  se- 
 questrating estates,  fining  and  imprisoning;  while  we  ought  to 
 have  compassionately  mourned  over  those  who  stood  in  opposi- 
 tion to  our  work,  and  won  them  with  christian  tenderness.  In 
 our  assemblies,  we  were  more  bent  upon  forms,  citations,  lead- 
 ing of  witnesses,  and  suspensions  from  benefices,  than  to  work 
 on  their  consciences,  and  persuade  them  in  the  meekness  and 
 gentleness  of  Christ.  The  glory  and  royalty  of  our  princely 
 Redeemer  and  King  was  obviously  trampled  down  in  our  as- 
 semblies. Whatever  way  the  army,  the  sword,  and  the  coun- 
 tenance of  nobles  and  officers  seemed  to  point,  in  that  way  was 
 the  censures  of  the  church  principally  directed.  It  had  been 
 much  better  had  there  been  more  days  of  humiliation,  and  that 
 our  adjourned  commissions,  new  peremptory  summonses,  and 
 new  drawn  up  processes,  had  been  much  less  numerous.  Had 
 the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  our  Master  got  so  much  place 
 in  our  hearts,  that  we  might  have  waited  on  gainsay ers  and 
 opposing  parties,  we  might  have  driven  gently,  like  Christ,  who 
 loves  not  to  overdrive  his  flock,  but  carries  the  lambs  in  his 
 bosom,  and  gently  leads  them  that  are  with  young.  If  the 
 scripture  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  be  a  sufficient  rule 
 to  ascertain  what  constitutes  a  christian  army,  whether  offen- 
 sive or  defensive,  whether  clean  or  foul,  sinfully  mixed  or  pure 
 — then  must  we  leave  the  question  between  our  public  brethren 
 and  us  to  be  determined  by  that  rule.  But  the  confederacies 
 and  associations  of  the  people  of  God,  with  the  idolatrous  apos- 
 tate Israelites,  with  the  Egyptians  and  Assyrians,  such  as  that 
 of  Jehoshaphat  with  Ahab,  and  those  of  Israel  and  Judah  with 
 Egypt  and  Assyria,  are  often  reproved  and  condemned  in  the 
 scripture.  We  are  not  contending  for  an  army  of  saints  free 
 of  every  mixture  of  ill-affected  men — in  this  world  tares  grow 
 up  with  the  wheat;  but  inasmuch  as  the  scriptures  of  truth 
 point  out  and  determine  what  is  a  right  constituted  court, 
 and  what  is  not,  Psal.  x.  <  What  is- a  right  constituted  house, 
 and  what  not,'  Josh.  xxiv.  15.   'What  is  a  true  church,  and 
 
3  WIUEL  RUTHERFORD.  64f5 
 
 what  is  a  synagogue  of  satan,'  Rev.  ii.  •  What  is  a  clean  camp, 
 and  what  is  an  unclean' — what  a  prevaricating  absurdity  must 
 it  be  for  churchmen  to  counsel  and  advise,  and  preach  up  the 
 propriety  of  confiding  the  management  of  the  most  important 
 concerns  of  Christ's  kingdom,  to  men  who  have  shown,  and 
 still  show  themselves  enemies  to  the  cause  of  the  reformation, 
 men  who  have  acted,  and  still  act,  contrary  to  the  word  of  God, 
 the  declarations,  remonstrances,  solemn  warnings,  and  serious 
 exhortations  of  his  church  !  whose  public  protestations  the  Lord 
 did  so  admirably  bless,  to  the  encouragement  of  the  godly,  and 
 the  terror  of  all  the  opposers  of  that  blessed  work. 
 
 "  Since  we  are  very  shortly  to  appear  before  our  dread 
 Master  and  Sovereign  Lord,  we  cannot  pass  from  our  protesta- 
 tion, trusting  we  are  therein  accepted  of  him,  although  we 
 should  be  considered  of  schismatical  spirits,  and  unpeaceable 
 mien.  To  the  king's  majesty  we  acknowledge  all  due  obedience 
 in  the  Lord;  but  that  ecclesiastical  supremacy,  in  and  over  the 
 church,  which  some  ascribe  to  him,  we  must  and  do  condemn  : 
 That  power  of  commanding  external  worship,  not  appointed 
 nor  tolerated  in  the  word,  and  that  binding  of  mens'  conscien- 
 ces, where  Christ  has  made  them  free,  we  most  solemnly  op- 
 pose, and  leave  our  testimony  against  all  infractions  made  or 
 meditated  against  the  prerogatives  of  the  King  of  kings,  and 
 head  of  his  spiritual  body  the  church.  We  disown  antichristian 
 prelacy,  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  saints'  days,  canonising 
 of  the  dead,  and  all  such  corrupt  inventions  of  men,  and  consi- 
 der them  as  opening  a  passage  back  to  that  idolatrous  worship, 
 from  the  thraldom  of  which  God  in  his  great  goodness  afore- 
 time had  delivered  these  lands.  Alas  !  there  is  no  need  of  the 
 spirit  of  prophecy  to  declare  what  shall  be  the  lamentable  con- 
 sequences of  breaking  our  covenant,  first  practically,  and  then 
 legally,  confirmed  with  the  Lord  our  God;  and  what  shall  be 
 the  day  of  scrutinizing  visitation  to  all  the  negligent  shepherds, 
 and  silent  and  un warning  watchmen,  placed  on  the  towers  of 
 Scotland?  W7here  shall  they  leave  their  glory?  And  what  if 
 Christ  should  depart  from  our  coast  ? 
 
 "  We  are  verily  persuaded,  that  they  are  the  most  loyal  to 
 the  king's  majesty,  who  sincerely  desire,  and  strenuouslv  en- 
 deavour, to  separate  the  dross  from  the  silver,  and  establish  the 
 throne  in  righteousness  and  judgment.  We  are  not  (our  wit- 
 ness is  in  heaven)  against  his  majesty's  title  by  birth  to  the 
 kingdom,  and  the  rights  of  the  royal  family,  but  that  the  con- 
 troversy of  wrath  against  the  royal  family  may  be  removed,  that 
 the  enormous  load  of  guilt  that  presses  down  the  throne  may 
 be  mourned  over  before  the  Lord,  and  that  his  majesty  mav 
 stand  stedfastly,  all  the  days  of  his  life,  to  the  covenant  of  God, 
 
646  MEiMOIR  OF 
 
 and  his  subjects,  by  oath,  seal,  and  subscription,  solemnly  ma- 
 nifested to  the  world;  so  that  peace,  and  the  blessings  of  ap- 
 proving heaven,  may  attend  his  government;  that  the  Lord  may 
 be  his  rock,  shield,  and  supporter;  that  the  just  may  flourish  in 
 bis  time;  that  men,  fearing  God,  and  hating  covetousness,  men 
 of  known  integrity  and  godliness,  may  be  judges  and  rulers  un- 
 der his  majesty;  and  we  believe,  and  are  equally  persuaded,  that 
 those  who  desire  not,  but  oppose  the  propriety  and  use  of  such 
 qualifications  in  the  supreme  magistrate,  are  neither  friends  to 
 their  country,  nor  loyal  and  faithful  subjects  to  their  prince. 
 We  are  not  in  this  particular  contending,  that  a  prince,  who  is 
 not  a  convert,  or  a  sound  believer  of  the  gospel,  forfeits  his  title 
 and  claim  to  his  kingly  dominion  on  that  account.  The  word 
 of  God  warrants  us  to  pray  for,  and  obey  princes  and  supreme 
 magistrates,  in  the  Lord,  who  are  otherwise,  and  render  them 
 all  due  obedience  in  the  Lord,  Rom.  xiii.  2,  5.  2  Tim.  ii.  12. 
 1  Pet.  ii.  18.  The  burning  of  ( The  causes  of  God's  wrath  too, 
 like  the  burning  of  the  roll  by  Jehudi,'  Jer.  xxxvi.  22.  was  a 
 lamentable  and  God-provoking  transaction,  for  which  our  souls 
 should  be  afflicted  before  the  Lord.  In  all  these  controversies 
 we  ought  particularly  to  consider,  that  Christ  is  a  free,  inde- 
 pendent, and  Sovereign  King  and  lawgiver.  The  Father  hath 
 appointed  him  his  own  King  in  mount  Zion;  and  he  will  not, 
 and  he  cannot  endure,  that  the  powers  of  the  world  should  en- 
 croach upon  his  royal  prerogatives,  and  prescribe  laws  for  the 
 government  of  his  own  house — a  presumption  of  equal  audacity 
 with  that  of  the  citizens  mentioned  in  Luke  xix.  14.  who  hated 
 him,  and  said,  '  This  man  shall  not  reign  over  us;'  and  of 
 those,  who,  in  Psalm  ii.  3.  are  for  <  breaking  asunder  his  bands, 
 and  casting  away  his  cords.'  But  this  audacious  presumption 
 of  the  rulers  of  this  world  is  aggravated  above  measure,  from 
 the  consideration,  that  the  man  Christ  has  left  the  power  of  the 
 civil  magistrate  free  from  all  encroachments  from  the  church, 
 and  not  only  refused  to  take  upon  himself  the  function  of  a 
 Judge,  Luke  xii.  14.  but  discharged  his  disciples  from  exercis- 
 ing a  civil  lordship  over  their  brethren.  True  it  is,  the  godly 
 magistrate  may  command  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  to  do  their 
 duty,  but  not  under  the  pain  of  ecclesiastical  censure,  as  if  he 
 had  the  power  of  calling  and  uncalling,  deposing  and  suspend- 
 ing, from  the  exercise  of  the  holy  ministry.  The  lordly  spirit- 
 ual government,  in  and  over  the  church,  is  given  to  Christ,  and 
 to  none  beside.  He,  and  he  alone,  is,  was,  and  shall  be  the 
 ecclesiastic  lawgiver.  It  only  belongs  to  him  to  smite  with  the 
 rod  of  his  mouth ;  nor  is  there  another  shoulder  in  earth  or  hea- 
 ven able  to  bear  up  the  weight  of  the  government.  As  this 
 hath  been  the  great  controversy  between  our  Lord  Jesus  and 
 
SAMUEL  RUTHERFORD.  647 
 
 the  powers  of  this  world  from  the  beginning,  so  it  lias  been  the 
 ruin  of  all  who  have  attempted  to  oppose  him.  They  have  been 
 greatly  offended  with  Christ;  but  he  has  proved  a  rock  of  of- 
 fence, against  which  they  have  dashed  themselves  to  pieces; 
 and  all  those,  who  may  yet  enter  the  lists  with  him,  will  assur- 
 edly find,  that  the  stone,  cut  from  the  mountain  without  hands, 
 will  grind  them  to  powder :  That  Christ  is  the  only  head  of  his 
 own  church,  is  as  sure  as  that  of  his  death,  burial,  and  resur- 
 rection. Not  only  was  this  great  truth  greatly  contended  for 
 by  the  ancient  prophets,  and  the  apostles  of  Christ,  against  the 
 powers  of  this  world,  but  the  victorious  and  prevailing  fact  has 
 been  preached  and  attested  by  his  ambassadors,  in  every  age  of 
 the  church,  and  attested  by  the  blood  and  sufferings  of  innum- 
 erable precious  saints,  who  accounted  if  an  honour  to  suffer 
 persecution,  indignity,  derision,  and  death,  for  the  name  of  Je- 
 sus; and  blessed  are  the  souls  who  love  not  their  lives  unto 
 death,  for  on  such  rests  the  spirit  of  glory  and  of  God. 
 
 "  The  present  is  a  sad  and  serious  time  to  our  church  and 
 land.  It  is  a  day  of  darkness,  and  rebuke,  and  blasphemy. 
 The  Lord  hath  covered  himself  with  a  cloud  in  his  anger.  We 
 looked  for  peace,  but  behold  evil.  When  his  majesty  had  sworn, 
 and  affixed  his  seal  and  subscription  to  the  covenant  of  God, 
 the  hearts  of  his  subjects  blessed  the  Lord,  and  rested  with  con- 
 fidence on  the  healing  word  of  a  prince;  but  now,  al?j» !  that 
 solemn  oath  has  been  broken,  and  the  violation  sanctioned  by  a 
 contrary  law.  The  carved  work  has  been  broken  clown,  ordi- 
 nances are  defaced,  and  we  are  again  brought  into  the  bondage 
 and  chaos  of  prelatical  power  and  superstition.  The  royal  pre- 
 rogative of  Christ,  his  mediatorial  crown,  is  pulled  from  his 
 head;  and  after  all  the  days  of  sorrow  we  have  seen,  we  have 
 every  reason  to  fear  that  we  shall  yet  be  made  to  read,  yea,  to 
 eat,  that  roll,  wherein  is  written,  mourning,  lamentation,  and 
 woe.  But  notwithstanding  all  the  evils  under  which  the 
 church  of  Christ  in  these  lands  is  now  pressed  down,  or  has 
 reason  to  apprehend,  we  are  not  called  to  mourn  like  them  that 
 have  no  hope.  We  believe  that  Christ  will  not  so  depart,  but 
 that  a  remnant  shall  be  saved,  and  that  he  shall  reign  for  ever, 
 and,  in  spite  of  all  the  powers  of  the  world,  and  the  malice  of 
 hell,  victoriously  conquer  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Oh  !  that  the 
 nations,  kindreds,  tongues,  and  all  the  people  of  Christ's  habi- 
 table world,  were  encompassing  his  throne,  with  cries  and  tears, 
 for  the  Spirit  of  supplication  to  this  effect. 
 
 "  Sic  sub.  Samuel  Rutherford. 
 "February  28th,  1661." 
 
648  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ALEXANDER  HENDERSON. 
 
 If  men  of  talent,  integrity,  and  fortitude,  who  have  sacri- 
 ficed their  ease  and  their  interest  in  defending  the  rights,  and 
 promoting  the  safety  and  happiness  of  society,  have  any  claim 
 to  the  gratitude  and  honourable  remembrance  of  their  country- 
 men, the  subject  of  the  following  memoir  must  come  in  for  an 
 uncommon  share.  Amongst  the  distinguished  characters, 
 whose  learning  and  abilities  the  religious  controversies  of  the 
 seventeenth  century  called  into  exercise,  Alexander  Henderson, 
 one  of  the  ministers  of  the  city  of  Edinburgh,  acted  a  most 
 conspicuous  part.  He  was  born  about  the  year  1583.  Of  his 
 parents,  and  other  circumstances  connected  with  the  early  part 
 of  his  life,  no  satisfactory  information  has  reached  us.  With 
 a  view  to  the  church,  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of  St.  An- 
 drew's, to  finish  his  education,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
 seventeenth  century;  where,  having  gone  through  his  courses  of 
 learning,  and  passed  his  degrees  with  applause,  he  was  chosen 
 teacher  of  a  class  of  philosophy  and  rhetoric  in  that  ancient  se- 
 minary, some  short  time  before  the  year  1611,  as  appears  from 
 his  name  being  affixed  to  a  letter  of  thanks  to  the  king  of  that 
 date. 
 
 The  church  of  Scotland,  about  this  time,  was  in  a  most  de- 
 plorable, condition.  The  liberty  of  her  assemblies  no  longer  ex- 
 isted. The  king  claimed  an  absolute  power  in  all  church  mat- 
 ters, and  changed,  by  his  proclamations,  both  the  time  and 
 place  of  their  meetings,  as  it  suited  his  caprice,  interest,  or  in- 
 clination. No  bishop,  no  king,  was  now  the  word;  for  his  ma- 
 jesty had  got  into  his  head,  that  the  presbyterian  equality 
 among  the  ministers  of  the  church,  could  by  no  means  corre- 
 spond with  a  monarchy  in  the  state,  and  that  nothing  but  a 
 batch  of  bishops  could  give  a  firm  establishment  to  the  three 
 estates  in  parliament.  Full  of  this  chimerical  notion,  he  at- 
 tempted, both  by  deceit  and  violence,  to  favour  his  beloved  sub- 
 jects in  Scotland  with  the  splendid  hierarchy  of  the  church  of 
 England;  and  the  crafty  prelates,  catching  at  preferment,  base- 
 ly flattered  him  therein.  So  that  prelacy,  with  all  its  numerous 
 train  of  ceremonies  and  superstitions,  was  audaciously  obtruded 
 on  the  church  of  Scotland,  notwithstanding  that  of  late  she  bad 
 most  deliberately  and  very  solemnly  relinquished,  and  for  ever 
 cast  off,  that  unsufferable  yoke.  The  better  to  support  these  ty- 
 rannical and  obtrusive  measures  directed  against  the  presbyte- 
 rian government  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  her  ablest  ministers, 
 and  most  faithful  watchmen,  were  shamefully  and  most  unjust- 
 ly silenced,  imprisoned,  and  either  banished  the  king's  domi- 
 nions, under  the  pain  of  death,  or  driven  into  remote  corners  of 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  (J49 
 
 the  land,  where  they  had  no  opportunity  of  opposing  these  ty- 
 rannical measures  of  the  king  and  his  corrupt  court.  Even  at 
 the  time  of  the  king's  departure  to  England,  that  courageous 
 opposer  of  prelacy,  Mr  Robert  Bruce,  was  suspended  from 
 preaching,  and  afterwards  shut  up  in  Inverness  for  four  years. 
 Mr  Andrew  Melvill  and  Mr  John  Davidson  were  also  detain- 
 ed in  confinement  at  the  king's  removal,  though  the  prison 
 doors  were  thrown  open,  as  he  proceeded  on  his  journey,  to  a 
 very  different  description  of  prisoners.  The  Scotch  universities, 
 and  other  seminaries,  were  greatly  corrupted,  at  this  time,  by 
 the  casting  out  of  sound  teachers,  and  filling  their  places  with 
 corrupt  and  time-serving  men,  who  encouraged  the  measures  of 
 the  court.  Hence  the  youth,  placed  under  the  tuition  of  these 
 court  parasites,  by  imbibing  the  heterodox  poison  which  they  had 
 industriously  cast  into  the  fountain,  rapidly  disseminated  it 
 through  the  whole  land. 
 
 In  this  state  of  confusion  and  dismal  anticipation,  Mr  Hen- 
 derson, being  then  a  young  man  of  surprising  abilities,  and  am- 
 bitious of  preferment,  adopted  the  principles,  and  advocated  the 
 measures  of  the  court  and  prelatical  party  in  the  church;  and 
 shortly  after,  through  the  patronage  of  archbishop  Gladstanes, 
 he  was  presented  to  the  parish  of  Leuchars  in  the  shire  of  Fife. 
 His  settlement,  in  this  place,  however,  was  peculiarly  unpopu- 
 lar. On  the  day  of  his  ordination,  the  opposition  of  the  people 
 was  such,  that  they  so  firmly  secured  the  churcb  doors,  that  the 
 ministers  who  attended,  together  with  the  presentee,  were 
 obliged  to  break  in  by  the  window.  Mr  Henderson  was  well 
 known  for  a  defender  of  those  corruptions  to  which  the  body 
 of  the  Scottish  nation  were  exceedingly  averse;  but  what  aug- 
 mented the  evil,  and  rendered  his  ministry?  if  possible,  more 
 exceedingly  unpopular,  was  the  little  or  no  regard  he  discover- 
 ed for  the  instruction  and  edification  of  the  flock  on  whom  he 
 had  been  so  wantonly  obtruded.  It  was  not  long,  however, 
 till  his  religious  sentiments  and  character  underwent  a  change, 
 which  happily  influenced  the  whole  of  his  future  life.  The  oc- 
 casion was  this,  Mr  Bruce,  who  had  been  banished  to  Inver- 
 ness, having  obtained  liberty  to  return  from  the  place  of  his 
 confinement,  improved  every  opportunity  that  offered  itself  in 
 preaching  the  gospel,  and  multitudes  flocked  to  his  ministry. 
 Mr  Henderson,  hearing  of  a  communion  in  the  neighbourhood 
 where  Mr  Bruce  was  expected  to  assist,  went  secretly,  and 
 took  his  seat  in  a  dark  corner  of  the  church  wh«re  he  might 
 not  be  readily  observed.  Mr  Bruce  entered  the  pulpit,  and, 
 after  a  solemn  pause,  in  his  usual  manner  read  his  text  with 
 his  accustomed  emphasis  and  deliberation,  "  Verily,  verily,  I 
 say  unto  you,  he  that  entereth  not  in  by  the  door,  but  climbeth 
 
 21  J  v 
 
650  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 up  some  other  way,  the  same  is  a  thief  and  a  robber;"  word* 
 highly  descriptive  of  an  intruder,  and  so  literally  analogous  to 
 the  mode  by  which  Mr  Henderson  entered  on  his  pastoral  of- 
 fice at  Leuchars,  that  it  went  like  a  dagger  to  his  conscience, 
 and  left  an  impression  on  his  heart,  which  issued  in  his  conver- 
 sion to  God;  and  ever  after  he  had  a  strong  affection  for  Mr 
 Bruce,  whom  he  considered  his  spiritual  father,  and  often  spoke 
 of  him  in  terms  of  the  highest  respect.     It  was  not  long  till  the 
 change,  which  had  been  wrought  on  his  mind,  discovered  itself 
 in  a  very  different  manner  of  ministerial  conduct.    He  now  be- 
 came zealous  in  the  cause  of  his  divine  Master,  and  peculiarly 
 active  in  promoting  the  spiritual  interest  and  welfare  of  his 
 flock,  by  all  means  endeavouring  to  remove  the  offence  that  his 
 irregular  settlement  had  occasioned  amongst  them.     Upon  this 
 interesting  subject,  let  us  take  his  own  words  when  addressing 
 his  brethren,  from  the  moderator's  chair,  at  the  famous  assem- 
 bly at  Glasgow  many  years  after.     "  There  are  divers  amongst 
 us  (says  he),  who  have  had  no  such  warrant  for  entering  on  the 
 work  of  the  ministry  as  the  laws  of  Christ  prescribe.     Alas ! 
 how  many  of  us  have  rather  sought  the  kirk,  than  been  sought  by 
 the  kirk  ?    How  many  have  rather  had  the  kirk  given  to  them, 
 than  been  given  to  the  kirk  for  her  edification?     And  yet  there 
 must  be  an  obvious  difference  between  those  who  have  lived 
 and  officiated  for  many  years  without  any  warrant  from  God, 
 and  those,  who,  in  some  respects,  have  entered  unlawfully  into 
 the  pastoral  charge,  and  having  afterwards  discovered  their  er- 
 ror,  done  what  in  them  lay  to  repair  the  injury.     The  one 
 is  like  a  marriage  altogether  unlawful,  and  consequently  null 
 in  itself;  the  other  is  like  a  marriage  in  some  respects  unlawful 
 and  inexpedient;  which,  nevertheless,  may  be  mended  and  im- 
 proved by  the  diligence  and  fidelity  of  the  parties,  in  afterwards 
 conscientiously  discharging  their  reciprocal   duties.      Just  so 
 should  it  be  with  us,  who  have  lately  entered  into  the  work  of 
 the  ministry.     If  there  were  any  faults  or  wrong  steps  in  our 
 entry,  as  who  amongst  us  are  altogether  free  in  this  respect, 
 let  us  consider,  that  the  Lord  has  called  us,  if  we  have  since 
 got  a  seal  from  heaven,  and  let  our  former  improprieties  induce 
 us  to  double  our  diligence,  zeal,  and  integrity,  in  the  work  of 
 the  gospel." 
 
 Mr  Henderson  began  to  see  the  object  of  the  prevailing  par- 
 ty, and  the  measures  by  them  adopted  for  obtaining  that  object, 
 in  a  very  different  light  than  he  had  formerly  done  through 
 the  false  medium  of  ambition  and  worldly  aggrandisement.  By 
 a  deliberate  and  minute  investigation  of  the  scriptures,  and  the 
 writings  of  the  ancients,  he  was  fully  satisfied,  that  prelacy, 
 such  as  it  is  in  the  church  of  England,  has  no  foundation  in  the 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  651 
 
 word  of  God :  That  presbytery  was  more  conformable  to  the 
 sacred  oracles  and  the  practice  of  the  primitive  church,  and 
 much  more  favourable  to  piety  and  christian  liberty,  than  that 
 prelatical  system  which  had  been  imposed  on  the  Scottish  people. 
 From  this  time  forward  Mr  Henderson  became  an  active  opposer 
 of  the  innovations  of  the  court,  and  of  those  despotic  measures  by 
 which  they  endeavoured  to  supercede  the  presbyterian  religion  in 
 Scotland.  His  rare  abilities  pointed  him  out  as  a  proper  person 
 for  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  public  concerns  of  the  church 
 during  that  critical  period;  which,  at  the  earnest  solicitations  of 
 the  party,  he  undertook,  and  by  his  undaunted  courage,  and 
 dexterity  in  argument,  his  peculiar  skill  and  activity  in  manag- 
 ing the  most  difficult  and  delicate  affairs,  procured  for  himself 
 a  distinguished  reputation,  and,  to  the  end  of  his  days,  retained 
 the  confidence,  and  merited  the  unqualified  approbation  of  his 
 own  party,  while  he  commanded  the  respect  even  of  his 
 enemies. 
 
 From  the  moment  that  prelacy  was  first  obtruded  on  the 
 church  of  Scotland,  a  plan  had  been  in  operation  for  changing 
 also  the  presbyterian  mode  of  worship,  and  bringing  all  to  the 
 standard  of  the  church  of  England.  In  the  prosecution  of  this 
 plan,  after  a  number  of  preparatory  steps  had  been  tried,  an 
 assembly  was  suddenly  convened  at  Perth,  with  the  view  of 
 taking  the  presbyterians  by  surprise.  Above  thirty  noblemen 
 and  gentlemen,  friendly  to  the  king's  measures,  were  invited, 
 by  letters  from  his  majesty,  to  attend  this  assembly,  where,  by 
 the  most  shameful  and  barefaced  partiality,  the  following  arti- 
 cles were  carried,  after  a  strenuous  opposition,  and  much  argu- 
 ment from  the  faithful  adherents  to  the  good  old  principles  of 
 the  Scotch  church,  amongst  whom  Mr  Henderson  held  a  con- 
 spicuous place.  These  Articles,  commonly  known  by  the  five 
 Articles  of  Perth,  are,  1st,  Kneeling  at  the  sacrament  of  the 
 Lord's  supper.  2d,  The  celebration  of  five  holidays,  namely, 
 the  nativity,  passion,  resurrection,  and  ascension  of  our  Lord, 
 and  the  descent  of  the  holy  Spirit.  3d,  Private  baptism.  4tb, 
 The  private  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper.  5tb,  Episco- 
 pal confirmation. 
 
 In  August  1619,  Mr  Henderson,  and  two  other  ministers, 
 were  called  before  the  court  of  high  commission  at  St.  An- 
 drew's, charged  with  composing  and  publishing  a  book,  entitled, 
 Perth  Assembly,  proving  the  nullity  of  all  their  decisions,  and 
 with  raising  a  subscription  to  defray  the  expenses  of  said  pub- 
 lication. They  accordingly  made  their  appearance,  and  are 
 said  to  have  answered  for  themselves  with  so  much  wisdom, 
 that  the  bishops  could  obtain  no  advantage  against  them,  but 
 very    reluctantly    dismissed    them    with   severe    threatenings. 
 
659  3IF,M0IK   01- 
 
 From  this  period,  (ill  the  yaw*  1637,  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
 suffered  much,  though  strictly  wjitched,  and  considerably 
 cramped  in  his  exertions  to  promote  the  cause  of  truth.  The 
 time  thus  spent  in  retirement,  however,  was  not  the  least  use- 
 ful or  happy  period  of  his  life.  Sequestered  in  a  great  measure 
 from  the  busy  world,  lie  improved  his  leisure  hours  in  pushing 
 his  researches  into  the  open  and  extensive  field  of  theological 
 controversy,  in  treasuring  up  those  stores  of  knowledge,  and 
 sharpening  those  weapons  of  controversial  warfare,  which  he 
 was  afterwards  called  upon  to  wield  in  defence  of  the  truth. 
 In  the  meantime,  the  conscientious  discharge  of  his  pastoral 
 duties  afforded  him  regular  employment,  and  his  success  therein 
 rewarded  him  with  the  purest  gratifications.  He  had,  besides, 
 frequent  opportunities  at  fasts,  and  sacramental  occasions,  of 
 meeting  with  his  brethren  of  the  same  sentiments,  where,  by 
 their  sermons  and  conferences,  they  stirred  up  and  encouraged 
 one  another  in  adhering  to  the  persecuted  cause  of  Christ,  and 
 united  in  their  prayers  to  God  for  deliverance  from  the  evils 
 under  which  they  were  pressed  down.  Mr  Livingston  informs 
 us,  "  That  in  attending  these  solemn  occasions,  he  had  become 
 acquainted  with  Mr  Henderson,  between  the  years  1626  and 
 1630,  and  that  his  memory  was  precious  and  refreshing.  Mr 
 Henderson  was  indefatigable  in  his  labours  for  the  promotion 
 of  truth  and  rectitude  of  conduct,  while  his  own  life  and  conver- 
 sation corresponded  with  the  doctrines  he  taught;  yet,  in  spite 
 of  his  superior  talents,  and  the  purity  of  his  motives,  he  was 
 often  calumniated,  and  most  maliciously  misrepresented. " 
 Bishop  Guthrie  affirms,  "  That  the  tumult  which  took  place  at 
 Edinburgh,  on  the  first  reading  of  the  Liturgy,  on  the  22d  July 
 1637,  was  the  result  of  a  previous  consultation,  held  in  the 
 month  of  April,  when  Mr  Henderson  came  from  the  brethren 
 in  Fife,  and  Mr  David  Dickson  from  those  in  the  west;  and,  in 
 concert  with  Lord  Balmerino  and  Sir  Thomas  Hope,  engaged 
 certain  matrons  to  put  the  first  affront  on  the  Service-book." 
 This  story,  however,  is  completely  contradicted  by  the  official 
 accounts  of  that  transaction,  not  only  by  those  of  the  town 
 council  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  privy  council,  but  also  by  that 
 of  his  majesty;  all  which  agree  in  the  declaration,  that,  upon 
 the  strictest  inquiry,  it  appeared,  that  the  tumult  was  raised  by 
 the  meaner  people,  without  any  influence,  concert,  or  interfer- 
 ence of  the  superior  classes.  The  truth  is,  Mr  Hendersou  had 
 no  other  hand  in  this  affair,  than  by  pointing  out  the  dangerous 
 tendency  of  the  measure,  and  the  fatal  consequences  to  be  ap- 
 prehended from  acquiescing  with  a  system  so  directly  opposed 
 to  the  oath  of  God,  which  the  presbyterkins  had  so  solemnly 
 Mvorn.     On  March  9th,  1637,  about  three  months  before  tbu 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  6.53 
 
 tumult  took  place,  we  find  a  letter  of  Mr  Samuel  Rutherford's, 
 addressed  to  Mr  Henderson,  in  which,  amongst  other  things, 
 he  says,  "  As  for  your  case,  my  reverend  and  dearest  brother, 
 you  are  the  talk  of  the  north  and  the  south,  and  so  looked  to 
 as  if  you  were  all  crystal  glass;  but  your  motes  and  your  dust  will 
 soon  be  proclaimed,  and  trumpets  blown  at  your  slips.  But  I 
 know  you  have  laid  your  help  upon  One  who  is  mighty.  Trust 
 not  your  comforts  to  men's  airy  and  frothy  applause,  neither 
 lay  your  downcastings  on  the  tongues  of  the  mockers  and  re- 
 proachers  of  godliness.  God  has  called  you  to  Christ's  side; 
 and  seeing  the  wind  is  now  in  Christ's  face,  and  you  are  with 
 him,  you  cannot  therefore  expect  the  lee  side  of  the  ship,  or  the 
 sunny  side  of  the  brae;  but  I  know  you  have  resolved  to  take 
 Christ  upon  any  terms." 
 
 The  archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  on  purpose  to  deter  others, 
 charged  Mr  Henderson,  and  other  two  ministers,  to  purchase, 
 each  of  them,  two  copies  of  the  Liturgy,  for  the  use  of  their 
 parishes,  and  that  within  fifteen  days,  on  pain  of  rebellion. 
 Mr  Henderson  went  to  Edinburgh  in  the  month  of  August,  the 
 same  year,  1637,  and  presented  a  petition  for  himself  and  his 
 brethren,  stating  their  objections,  and  praying  for  a  suspension 
 of  the  charge.  To  this  petition,  and  others  of  a  similar  nature, 
 presented  from  almost  every  quarter,  about  the  same  time,  a  fa- 
 vourable answer  was  obtained  from  the  council,  and  an  account 
 forthwith  transmitted  to  London,  stating  the  strong  and  gene- 
 ral aversion  of  the  people  to  a  conformity.  This  step  was  ©f 
 great  importance,  by  directing  those  who  were  aggrieved  to  the 
 proper  mode  of  obtaining  redress.  From  this  time  Mr  Hender- 
 son had  his  hands  full  of  employment,  and  greatly  distinguish- 
 ed himself  by  his  activity  in  promoting  the  measures  of  the  pe- 
 titioners, and  his  prudent  management  had  no  small  share  in 
 bringing  them  to  an  agreeable  termination. 
 
 The  time  to  favour  Zion  was  now  at  hand;  and  we  are  in- 
 formed, that  the  privy  council  having,  at  this  time  testified 
 their  aversion  to  the  violent  enforcement  of  the  prelatical  usa- 
 ges, did  afterwards,  on  many  interesting  occasions,  befriend  the 
 petitioners.  In  1636  a  book  of  Ecclesiastical  Canons  was  sent 
 down  from  London,  and,  during  the  same  year,  a  book  of  Or- 
 dination; and  after  a  short  pause,  and  some  serious  deliberation 
 and  delay,  the  Liturgy,  or  Service-book,  which  was  intended 
 to  complete  this  tyrannical  work,  made  its  unwelcome  appear- 
 ance in  Scotland.  This  Service-book  was  substantially  the 
 same  with  that  used  in  the  church  of  England,  only  it  had  been 
 considered  necessary,  on  this  critical  occasion,  to  make  some 
 trifling  alterations,  lest  the  national  pride  of  the  Scottish  people 
 might  spurn  at   a  literal   copy  being  imposed   on   the  church. 
 
654}  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Had  Scotland  tamely  submitted  to  this  bold  obtrusion,  and  suf- 
 fered them  to  rivet  the  chains  with  which  they  had  already  fet- 
 tered the  nation,  she  might  afterwards  have  sighed  and  strug- 
 gled for  her  liberty,  but  she  must  have  struggled  in  vain.  But 
 the  bold  and  arbitrary  measures,  by  which  these  innovations 
 were  obtruded  on  the  nation,  were  no  less  offensive  than  the  in- 
 novations themselves.  This,  added  to  the  chagrin  produced  by 
 former  tyrannical  measures  of  the  court  and  the  bishops,  excit- 
 ed universal  disgust,  and  aroused  an  indignant  spirit  of  opposi- 
 tion ;  which  never  subsided,  till  not  only  the  obnoxious  acts 
 were  swept  away,  but  the  whole  fabric  of  episcopacy,  which, 
 during  so  many  years,  they  had  been  so  anxiously  labouring  to 
 consummate,  was  levelled  with  the  ground.  In  the  meantime, 
 the  petitioners  were  active  in  preparing  themselves  for  meeting 
 the  doubtful  crisis  which  was  evidently  approaching.  They 
 held  their  meetings  for  deliberation,  and  stirred  up  one  another 
 to  an  inflexible  adherence  to  what  they  considered  the  cause  of 
 Christ  and  his  gospel.  Their  meetings,  in  the  meantime,  were 
 winked  at;  but  after  they  had  for  a  while  been  amused  with 
 fair  promises,  all  of  a  sudden  they  were  prohibited,  by  a  pro- 
 clamation from  his  majesty,  under  pain  of  rebellion.  This  un- 
 expected procedure,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  convinced 
 the  petitioners,  that  they  had  no  reason  to  confide  in  the  faith 
 and  promises  of  the  court;  but  that  it  behoved  them  to  provide 
 for  their  own  safety,  and  the  defence  of  their  cause,  by  some 
 other  means  than  they  had  yet  resorted  to.  Accordingly,  the 
 recollection,  that  the  nation  of  Scotland,  in  a  similar  situation 
 of  danger,  had  formerly  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant,  by 
 which  they  bound  themselves  to  God,  and  one  another,  to  con- 
 tinue in  the  true  protestant  religion,  and  support  and  defend 
 one  another  in  accordance  with  the  oath  they  had  sworn  against 
 all  their  opposers — made  them  resolve,  that  this,  the  co- 
 venant of  their  fathers,  should  be  renewed,  and  sworn  by  all 
 who  were  willing  so  to  support  the  independence  of  the  Scot- 
 tish church  and  nation.  A  draught  of  this  covenant  was  there- 
 fore taken.  It  was  substantially  the  same  with  the  national 
 covenant  of  Scotland,  which  had  been  sworn  by  all  ranks,  and 
 ratified  by  all  authorities  in  the  kingdom,  during  the  preceding 
 reign,  only  that  it  was  adapted  to  the  circumstances  in  which 
 they  found  themselves  then  placed,  and  also  to  the  corruptions 
 which  had  been  latterly  introduced.  This  covenant  was  sworn 
 with  uplifted  hands,  and  subscribed  in  the  Gray-friars  church, 
 Edinburgh,  on  the  1st  March  1638,  by  thousands,  consisting  of 
 noblemen,  gentlemen,  burgesses,  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and 
 commons  from  all  parts  of  Scotland.  "  This  memorable  deed 
 (says  Mr  Lang),  of  which  it  would  be  improper  to  forget  the 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  65.5 
 
 authors,  was  prepared  by  Alexander  Henderson,  the  leader  of 
 the  clergy,  and  Archibald  Johnston,  afterwards  of  Warriston, 
 advocate — men  in  whom  the  supplicants  chiefly  confided — and 
 revised  by  Lords  Balmerino,  Loudon,  and  Rothis.  The  cove- 
 nant being  thus  agreed  to,  and  sworn  throughout  the  nation  with 
 much  alacrity,  the  marquis  of  Hamilton  was  commissioned  by  the 
 king  to  suppress  it;  but  after  several  conferences  with  the  pres- 
 bvterian  deputation,  and  finding  them  inflexible,  he  proposed, 
 in  the  name  of  his  majesty,  to  withdraw  the  book  of  Ordination 
 and  the  Liturgy,  providing  they  would,  on  their  part,  relin- 
 quish their  covenant.  But  instead  of  yielding,  this  proposal  had 
 the  effect  of  making  them  more  intent  in  supporting  and  vindi- 
 cating this  solemn  transaction,  and  Mr  Henderson  soon  fur- 
 nished the  country  with  sufficient  reasons  why  they  should  not 
 relinquish  any  part  of  it.  At  this  time  the  inhabitants  of  Scot- 
 land were  divided  into  two  parties,  the  covenanters  and  non- 
 covenanters;  and  several  of  the  former  had  partly  submitted  to 
 the  bishops,  and  conformed  to  the  articles  of  Perth,  though  still 
 accounted  orthodox  preachers,  and  zealous  opposers  of  popery 
 and  arminianism;  such  as  Messrs  Robert  Baillie,  Henry  Rol- 
 lock,  John  Bell,  Andrew  and  Robert  Ramsay,  &c.  who,  upon 
 the  first  appearance  of  the  Service-book,  joined  with  their 
 brethren  in  opposing  the  innovations.  The  town  and  shire  of 
 Aberdeen,  influenced  by  their  doctors  in  the  university  and  the 
 marquis  of  Huntly,  had  hitherto  declined  to  join  with  the  rest 
 of  the  nation  in  carrying  on  the  reformation.  In  order  to  per- 
 suade them  to  make  common  cause  with  the  country,  in  this 
 important  national  concern,  the  tables^  as  they  were  then  called, 
 or  committees  for  managing  the  affairs  of  the  petitioners,  thought 
 it  advisable  to  send  lord  Couper,  and  the  earls  of  Montrose  and 
 Kinghorn,  together  with  Messrs  Henderson,  Dickson,  and  Cant, 
 to  persuade  them  to  embrace  the  covenant.  On  their  arrival  at 
 Aberdeen,  they  were  but  coldly  received  by  the  leading  charac- 
 ters in  the  town.  They  were  not  permitted  to  preach  in  any 
 of  their  churches,  and  their  doctors  presented  them  with  four- 
 teen captious  and  ensnaring  questions,  respecting  the  covenant, 
 which  they  had  drawn  up  with  singular  art  and  care.  Differ- 
 ent papers  passed  between  the  parties  on  this  occasion,  which 
 were  afterwards  published.  Those  of  the  covenanters  are  said 
 to  have  been  written  by  ]\Ir  Henderson.  Lender  these  unpro- 
 mising circumstances,  the  three  ministers  resolved  to  preach  in 
 earl  Marischal's  Closs  or  Hall,  as  the  weather  permitted,  and 
 accordingly  preached  by  turns:  Mr  Dickson  in  the  morning, 
 Mr  Cant  at  noon,  and  Mr  Henderson  in  the  evening,  to  great 
 multitudes.  They  used  every  possible  argument  to  persuade 
 them  to  subscribe  the  covenant,  and  stand  or  fall  with   their 
 
i')5()  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 christian  brethren;  which  bad  the  effect  of  bringing  over  about 
 live  hundred  men,  some  of  them  of  the  first  rank,  who  sub- 
 scribed with  cheerfulness. 
 
 The  covenanters,  alive  to  the  danger  that  threatened  them, 
 had  been  surprisingly  active  in   uniting  and  arranging  them- 
 selves; and  the  astonishing  success  that  attended  their  endea- 
 vours so  animated  them,  that  the  court  was  shut  up  to  the  ne- 
 cessity of  granting  the  prayer  of  their  petitions,  that  a  general 
 assembly  and  a  parliament  should  be  called,  that  the  national 
 grievances  might  be  deliberately  considered,  and  fairly  redress- 
 ed.    Accordingly,  a  general  assembly  was  called,  and  met  in 
 the  High  Church  of  Glasgow,  on  the  21st  of  November  1638, 
 where,  besides  an  amazing  concourse  of  the  people,  all  the  no- 
 bility and  gentry  of  any  family  or  interest  were  present,  either 
 as  members,  assessors,  or  spectators.     The  assembly  was  open- 
 ed by  Mr  John  Bell,  with  a  sermon  from  Rev.  i.  12,  13.    "  I 
 saw  seven  golden  candlesticks,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  candle- 
 sticks one  like  unto  the  son  of  man,  clothed  with  a  garment 
 down  to  the  foot,  and  girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden  gir- 
 dle."    Mr  Bell  also  constituted  the  assembly  in  the  name  of 
 Christ,  the  King  and  head  of  the  church,  and  held  the  modera- 
 tor's chair  till  another  was  chosen.     The  assembly  had  just 
 proceeded  to  the  election  of  the  moderator,  when  the  bishops 
 presented  a  declinature  or  protest  against  the  legality  of  the  as- 
 sembly; and  the  marquis  of  Hamilton,  the  king's  commissioner, 
 strongly  urged,  that  this  protest  should  be  read  before  a  mode- 
 rator was  chosen.     To  this  it  was  reasonably  objected,   that 
 without  a  moderator  there  could  be  no  assembly,  and  therefore 
 it  was  indispensably  necessary  first  to  make  choice  of  a  mode- 
 rator.    The  commissioner,  finding  he  could  not  prevail,  pro- 
 tested against  the  refusal,  and  ordered  it  to  be  recorded.     Be- 
 fore the  election,   the  commissioner  entered  another  protest, 
 "That  this  choice  should  neither  prejudice  the  king's  preroga- 
 tive, nor  any  law  of  the  kingdom,  nor  bar  the  king  from  taking 
 legal  exceptions,  either  against  the  person  elected,  or  the  elec- 
 tion itself."     Considering  the  critical  state  of  affairs,  the  length 
 of  time  that  had  elapsed  since  a  general  assembly  had  been  held 
 in  Scotland,  the  opposition  and  important  discussions  expected, 
 and  the  multitude  assembled  to  witness  this  momentous  crisis, 
 it  was  requisite,  that  a  person  of  uncommon  authority,  resolu- 
 tion, and  prudence,  possessed  of  a  profound  judgment,  and  a 
 ready  elocution,  should  occupy  that  important  place  on  so  me- 
 morable an  occasion.     The  eyes  of  the  assembly  were  fixed  on 
 Mr  Henderson,  who  had,  on  several  occasions,  given  signal 
 proofs  of  his  capability  for  such  a  difficult  situation.     He  was, 
 accordingly,   chosen   without  a   dissenting  voice;   and  having 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  6<57 
 
 taken  the  chair,  and  by  solemn  prayer  constituted  the  assembly 
 de  nova,  he  addressed  the  members  in  a  neat  and  appropriate 
 speech,  and  so  conducted  himself,  till  the  conclusion  of  their  im- 
 portant labours,  as  to  exceed  the  expectations  of  his  greatest 
 admirers.  To  the  king's  commissioner  he  behaved  with  the 
 greatest  respect,  and  at  the  same  time  with  an  independence 
 that  became  the  head  of  a  free  assembly.  To  the  nobility  and 
 gentry  present,  and  to  his  brethren,  he  was  equally  decorous; 
 but  his  prudence  and  ability  were  both  brought  to  the  test  by 
 the  excommunication  of  the  bishops,  and  the  premature  dissolu- 
 tion of  the  assembly  by. the  king's  commissioner. 
 
 Notwithstanding  that  his  majesty  found  it  expedient  to  call 
 together  this  assembly  in  the  then  distracted  state  of  the  church 
 and  nation,  in  order  to  prevent  them  from  meeting  without 
 his  concurrence,  it  would  appear,  from  his  after  conduct,  and  the 
 instructions  given  to  his  commissioner,  that  he  never  intended 
 they  should  be  allowed  freely  to  proceed  with  their  business. 
 The  nation  was  determined  to  abolish  prelacy;  the  king,  on 
 the  other  hand,  was  equally  determined  to  establish  it  in  the 
 country,  and  seemed  to  think  he  had  been  sufficiently  conde- 
 scending when  he  allowed  them  to  register  such  concessions  as 
 the  state  of  his  affairs  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  much 
 longer  to  withhold.  His  commissioner  was  instructed  to  give  no 
 formal  consent  to  any  part  of  the  assembly's  procedure.  But 
 the  members,  considering  themselves  met  in  a  free  assembly, 
 were  determined  to  exercise  that  freedom  which  the  laws  of 
 Christ  authorize  and  prescribe.  The  protest  of  the  bishops,  af- 
 ter considerable  altercation,  was  at  last  read  at  the  repeated  re- 
 quest of  the  commissioner;  in  which  they  endeavoured  to  prove 
 the  illegality  of  the  assembly;  which  allegation  was  triumphant- 
 ly rebutted  by  some  of  the  members.  The  assembly,  of  course, 
 proceeded  to  vote  themselves  competent  to  decide  on  the  merits 
 of  the  libels  presented  against  the  bishops  notwithstanding 
 their  declinature;  when  the  royal  commissioner  interposed,  by 
 declaring,  M  That  if  they  pretended  to  assume  the  right  to  try 
 the  bishops,  he  could  neither  give  his  consent,  nor  witness  the 
 transaction."  Here  he  made  a  speech,  the  substance  of  which 
 may  be  seen  in  Stevenson's  History;  and  delivering  the  king's 
 concessions  to  the  clerk  to  be  read,  he  ordered  them  to  be  re- 
 gistered. After  this  Mr  Henderson  addressed  the  commissioner 
 in  a  speech,  the  substance  of  which  is  as  follows :  "  It  well 
 becomes  us,  his  majesty's  true  and  loyal  subjects,  convened  in 
 this  honourable  and  reverend  assembly,  to  receive  so  liberal  a 
 token  of  his  majesty's  goodness  with  all  thankfulness,  and  grate- 
 fully acknowledge  the  smallest  crumbs  of  his  majesty's  liberali- 
 ty. With  our  hearts  we  acknowledge  before  God,  and  with  our 
 *  24  -1  o 
 
658 
 
 MEMOIR  OF 
 
 lips  we  declare  before  the  world,  how  far  we  consider  ourselves 
 obligated  to  yield  obedience  to  our  dread  sovereign,  wishing 
 that  the  thoughts  of  our  hearts,  and  the  manner  of  our  lives  in 
 time  past,  were  manifest  to  him.  It  hath  been  the  glory  of  the 
 reformed  churches,  and  we  account  it  our  glory,  to  give  to 
 kings  and  magistrates  whatever  belong  to  their  respective  places 
 of  power  and  authority.  We  know,  and  cheerfully  acknow- 
 ledge, that,  next  to  piety  towards  God,  we  are  bound  to  be  loyal 
 to  the  prince;  and  there  is  nothing  due  to  kings  and  princes,  in 
 matters  ecclesiastical,  which  I  trust  will  be  denied  by  this  as- 
 sembly to  our  king:  For  besides  his  authority  and  power  in 
 matters  civil,  to  a  christian  king  also  belong,  1st,  Inspection  of 
 church  affairs.  2d,  Its  vindication  and  protection  from  con- 
 tempt and  abuse.  3d,  To  sanction  the  constitutions  of  the  kirk, 
 and  give  them  the  authority  of  law.  4th,  The  power  to  com- 
 pel kirkmen  to  perform  the  duties  of  their  respective  places. 
 5th,  The  christian  magistrate  hath  also  power  to  convoke  ec- 
 clesiastical assemblies,  when  the  state  of  religion  renders  such  a 
 measure  necessary;  and  in  assemblies,  when  they  are  convened, 
 we  acknowledge  his  power  is  also  great.  Moreover,  we  hearti- 
 ly acknowledge,  that  your  grace,  as  high  commissioner,  and  re- 
 presenting the  royal  person  of  our  sovereign,  has  an  eminent 
 place  in  this  reverend  and  honourable  assembly.  1st,  We  hope 
 as  a  good  christian;  2d,  As  his  majesty's  high  commissioner; 
 and,  3d,  As  one  endued  with  singular  gifts,  and  abundantly 
 qualified  for  this  employment.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  deny  any 
 thing  that  is  due  either  to  the  supreme  ruler,  or  those  delegated 
 by  his  authority.  When  Alexander  the  Great  came  to  Jerusa- 
 lem, he  desired  them  to  set  up  his  image  in  the  temple.  This 
 the  Jews  modestly  refused  to  do,  because  it  was  against  their 
 law,  and  that  the  law  of  God;  but  they  liberally  offered  him 
 what  was  in  their  power  to  grant,  a  favour  much  more  honour- 
 able to  the  king,  namely,  to  commence  their  reckoning  of  time 
 from  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  and  also  to  call  their  first-born 
 sons  by  his  name.  What  is  our  own,  let  it  be  given  to  Caesar, 
 and  given  with  cheerfulness.  But  let  God,  by  whom  kings 
 reign,  have  his  own  place.  Let  Christ  Jesus,  the  King  of  kings, 
 have  his  own  prerogative,  by  whose  grace  our  king  reigns;  and, 
 we  pray,  long  may  he  reign  over  us  in  happiness  and  pro- 
 sperity." 
 
 The  high  commissioner  seemed  to  receive  this  address  with 
 satisfaction.  He  replied,  "  Sir,  you  have  spoken  like  a  good 
 christian  and  a  dutiful  subject,  and  I  am  hopeful  you  will  con- 
 duct yourself  with  that  deference  which  you  owe  to  our  royal 
 sovereign;  all  of  whose  commands,  I  trust,  will  be  found  con- 
 sistent with  the  commandments  of  God." 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  6.59 
 
 Tbe  moderator  then  asked  tbe  members,  if  he  should  now  put 
 the  question,  Whether  or  not  the  assembly  found  themselves 
 competent  to  decide  on  the  case  of  the  bishops?  But  the  com- 
 missioner urged  that  the  question  be  deferred.  "  Nay  (said  the 
 moderator),  with  your  grace's  permission,  that  cannot  be.  This 
 is  the  only  proper  time  after  the  consideration  of  the  declina- 
 ture." "  In  this  case  (said  the  commissioner)  I  behove  to  with- 
 draw." "  I  wish  the  contrary  (said  Mr  Henderson),  with  all 
 my  heart,  and  that  your  grace  would  favour  us  with  your  pre- 
 sence, without  obstructing  the  work  and  freedom  of  the  assem- 
 bly." Finding  the  assembly  were  determined  to  proceed,  the 
 commissioner  having  urged  Mr  Henderson,  but  without  effect, 
 to  conclude  by  prayer,  he,  in  his  majesty's  name,  dissolved  the 
 assembly,  forbade  their  further  procedure,  and  withdrew.  On 
 the  departure  of  the  commissioner,  Mr  Henderson  delivered  the 
 following  animating  speech  :  "  All  present  know  how  this  as- 
 sembly was  indicted,  and  what  power  we  allow  to  our  sovereign 
 in  matters  ecclesiastical;  but  though  we  have  acknowledged  the 
 power  of  christian  kings  for  convening  assemblies,  and  their 
 power  in  them,  that  must  not  derogate  from  Christ's  right,  who 
 has  given  warrant  to  convocate  assemblies  whether  magistrates 
 consent  or  not.  Therefore,  perceiving  that  his  grace,  my  lord 
 commissioner,  is  zealous  in  fulfilling  the  orders  of  his  royal 
 master,  have  not  we  an  equal,  if  not  a  more  powerful  induce- 
 ment, to  be  zealous  in  the  cause  of  our  divine  Master  Christ, 
 and  to  maintain  the  liberties  and  privileges  of  bis  spiritual  king- 
 dom ?  You  all  know,  that  the  work  now  on  hand  hath  been 
 attended  with  many  difficulties,  and  yet  hitherto  the  Lord  has 
 helped  us  to  surmount  them  all.  Let  us  not  therefore  be  dis- 
 couraged at  our  being  thus  deprived  of  human  authority,  a  cir- 
 cumstance which  ought  rather  to  animate  our  courage,  and  sti- 
 mulate our  exertions  in  finishing  the  important  work  before 
 us."  Having  thus  spoken,  he  desired  any  of  the  reverend  and 
 honourable  members,  who  pleased  to  speak  a  word  for  the  en- 
 couragement of  their  brethren,  as  God  should  put  it  into  their 
 hearts.  Upon  this  Messrs  David  Dickson,  Henry  Rollock, 
 Andrew  Cant,  and  Andrew  Ramsay  of  the  clergy;  Loudon  of 
 the  nobility;  Keir  of  the  gentry;  and  Mr  Robert  Cunningham 
 of  the  boroughs — delivered  beautiful  and  pathetic  speeches,  by 
 which  the  members,  and  many  of  the  spectators,  were  greatly 
 encouraged.  The  moderator  now  put  the  question,  Whether 
 the  assembly  would  adhere  to  the  protestation  against  the  royal 
 commissioner's  departure,  and  proceed  with  the  business  for 
 which  they  were  convened?  Which  was  carried  with  only 
 about  five  dissenting  voices.  The  competency  of  the  assembly* 
 to  decide  on  the  cases  of  the  bishops  of  Scotland,  was  next  car- 
 
660  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ried  with  only  four  dissenting  voices.  A  proclamation  was  is- 
 sued, with  great  solemnity,  at  the  Market-cross  of  Glasgow, 
 against  the  assembly;  but  opposition  rather  animated  than  dis- 
 couraged the  members  of  this  venerable  body. 
 
 At  the  opening  of  the  next  session,  Mr  Henderson  again  ad- 
 dressed the  assembly,  warmly  recommending  gravity,  quietness, 
 and  good  conduct;  "  the  propriety  of  which  (he  said)  was  obvious 
 on  every  occasion,  but  more  especially  so  under  the  circum- 
 stances in  which  the  assembly  were  convened,  when  the  eyes  of  the 
 nation  were  on  them,  and  their  enemies  watching  for  an  opportu- 
 nity of  scandalizing  their  proceedings;  not  that  he  assumed  any 
 thing  to  himself,  but  he  was  bold  to  direct  them  in  a  course  which 
 he  was  assured  their  own  prudence  and  discretion  must  have 
 chalked  out  on  the  present  occasion."  To  this  prudent  admoni- 
 tion the  members  of  the  assembly  paid  the  strictest  attention 
 through  all  their  sittings. 
 
 The  earl  of  Argyle  attended  this  second  session,  when  the 
 moderator  earnestly  entreated  him,  though  no  member,  yet,  for 
 the  common  interest  he  had  in  the  church,  that  he  would  be 
 pleased  to  countenance  them  with  his  presence,  and  bear  testi- 
 mony to  the  rectitude  of  their  proceedings;  which  he  readily 
 promised,  and  faithfully  performed.  Argyle  was  desirous  that 
 the  Confession  of  Faith  should  be  clearly  explained.  On  which 
 the  moderator  said,  "  Although  we  do  not  compare  the  Confes- 
 sion of  any  reformed  church  with  the  word  of  God,  nor  account 
 it  a  rule  of  life,  neither  indeed  that  of  our  own  church,  any 
 thing  more  than  a  form  of  confession,  yet  have  we  good  reason 
 to  consider  it  with  honourable  regard.  Other  churches  have 
 given  it  an  ample  testimon)^,  and  it  were  a  shame  for  us  to  do 
 less;  and  that  we  may  do  this  with  the  greater  propriety,  it  be- 
 comes necessary  that  we  clearly  understand  the  various  articles 
 it  contains,  especially  such  as  have  been  controverted.  But 
 that,  however  necessary  this  was,  it  would  require  much  time 
 to  hear  and  peruse  all  the  books  and  acts  necessary  for  effecting 
 this  desirable  work;  he  proposed  therefore  that  a  committee  be 
 appointed  for  that  particular  purpose."  To  this  the  assembly 
 readily  acceded.  This  assembly  condemned  the  proceedings 
 of  six  former  assemblies;  on  which  occasion  Mr  Henderson 
 said,  "  Having  unanimously  agreed  to  the  condemnation  of 
 these  corrupt  assemblies*  I  hope  henceforward  they  shall  be  con- 
 sidered as  so  many  beacons,  to  prevent  our  striking  on  such 
 dangerous  rocks. 
 
 Some  ministers,  who  had  been  tried  by  their  respective  pres- 
 byteries, and  suspended,  were  remitted  to  this  assembly  for  a 
 higher  punishment.  When  their  case  was  under  discussion, 
 the  moderator  delivered  a  grave  discourse  on  the  power  of  the 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  66l 
 
 churcb;  in  which  he  observed,  "That  they  ought  to  be  heard 
 with  a  feeling  of  compassion  for  themselves,  and  of  joy  and 
 gratitude  to  God,  who  was  now  putting  forth  his  hand  for  the 
 cleansing  of  his  own  house — hoping,  and  exhorting,  that  the 
 several  judicatories  would  now  faithfully  exercise  the  power 
 which  the  Lord  had  put  into  their  hands."  Before  sentence 
 was  given  against  the  bishop  of  Galloway,  Mr  Henderson  made 
 a  short  speech ;  in  which  he  said,  "  The  preaching  of  false  doc- 
 trine, to  seduce  the  people  from  their  profession  to  that  of  popery 
 and  idolatry,  is  a  crime  deserving  an  high  censure.  But  this  man's 
 breach  of  the  caveats,  his  bringing  into  this  church  the  Ser- 
 vice-book, which  you  have  already  condemned  for  the  many 
 gross  abominations  therein  contained,  and  his  declining  this 
 lawful  assembly,  independent  of  his  personal  faults,  deserve  the 
 highest  censures  of  the  church.  It  is  well  known,  that  the 
 church  of  Scotland  has  been  in  the  practice  of  excommunicating 
 papists,  and  persons  disobedient  to  the  discipline  of  the  church, 
 from  partaking  of  the  holy  communion;  and  seeing  the  bishops 
 are  guilty  in  both  these  respects,  why  should  not  that  high  cen- 
 sure be  inflicted  upon  them  ?  What  a  reverend  father  (Mr 
 Andrew  Melvill)  said,  with  respect  to  archbishop  Adamson,  is 
 equally  applicable  to  these  pretended  bishops :  '  The  old  ser- 
 pent has  stung  them  with  such  avarice,  and  swoln  them  with 
 such  exorbitant  pride,  domineering  and  tyrannical  power,  as 
 threatens  the  destruction  of  the  whole  body,  unless  they  be  cut 
 off.'  It  seems  indispensably  necessary  therefore,  that  this  last 
 mean  be  essayed;  and  let  us  pray  to  God  to  make  his  ordinance 
 effectual  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be 
 saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
 
 Having  finished  the  process  of  the  bishops,  the  assembly,  at 
 the  close  of  their  nineteenth  session,  resolved,  "  That  the  sen- 
 tences of  the  bishops  should  be  pronounced  next  day,  by  the 
 moderator,  in  presence  of  the  assembly,  after  preaching  a  ser- 
 mon suited  to  the  solemn  occasion."  This  part  of  the  work 
 Mr  Henderson  undertook  with  great  reluctance.  It  was  in  vain 
 that  be  pled  the  great  fatigue  he  had  undergone,  the  multipli- 
 city of  affairs  that  distracted  his  attention,  and  the  shortness  of 
 the  time  for  preparation.  No  excuse  would  be  admitted.  Ac- 
 cordingly, after  preaching  from  Psalm  ex.  1.  "The  Lord  said 
 unto  my  Lord,  sit  thou  at  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine 
 enemies  thy  footstool,"  he  caused  an  abstract  of  the  evidence  to 
 be  read  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  people,  narrated  the  various 
 steps  taken  by  the  assembly,  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  the 
 measure,  and  the  warrant  they  had  in  the  word  of  God  for  car- 
 rying it  into  execution.  He  called  over  the  names  of  the  eight 
 bishops  of  Scotland,  and  pronounced  the  sentences  of  excom- 
 
062  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 munication  and  suspension,  in  such  a  dread  and  solemn  manner, 
 says  one  who  was  present,  that  the  whole  assembly  felt  the 
 mingled  emotions  of  pity,  admiration,  and  awe. 
 
 On  the  following  day,  a  petition  from  St.  Andrew's  was  pre- 
 sented to  the  assembly,  praying  that  Mr  Henderson  might  be 
 removed  from  Leuchars  to  that  city.  This  was  strongly  oppos- 
 ed by  the  commissioners  from  Edinburgh,  who  insisted  that  he 
 was  their  elected  minister,  and  urged  their  privilege  of  tran- 
 sporting from  any  part  of  the  kingdom.  Mr  Henderson,  who 
 was  averse  to  any  removal,  insisted,  "  That  he  was  now  too  old 
 a  plant  to  take  root  in  any  other  soil."  He  had  been  at  this 
 time  eighteen  years  minister,  and  appears  to  have  been  about 
 fifty- three  years  of  age.  After  a  warm  contest,  which  lasted 
 two  days,  Edinburgh  carried  it  by  seventy-five  votes,  and  Mr 
 Henderson  submitted,  on  obtaining  a  promise,  that,  in  case  of 
 ill  health,  or  when  the  infirmities  of  old  age  should  overtake 
 him,  he  should  be  allowed  a  country  charge. 
 
 When  the  assembly  had  finished  their  business,  Mr  Hender- 
 son addressed  them  in  a  speech  of  considerable  length,  of  which 
 we  can  only  present  the  reader  with  an  outline,  the  substance 
 of  which  may  be  seen  in  Stevenson's  History.  He  modestly 
 apologized  for  his  deficiencies  in  discharging  the  duties  of  the 
 situation  in  which  they  had  placed  him,  and  thanked  the  as- 
 sembly for  rendering  his  task  so  easy,  by  the  praise-worthy 
 manner  in  which,  through  the  whole  of  their  arduous  labours, 
 they  had  all  conducted  themselves.  He  exhorted  them  to  con- 
 sider the  wonderful  goodness  of  God  to  the  church  and  king- 
 dom of  Scotland,  both  in  the  days  of  their  fathers,  and  in  latter 
 times,  when  their  adversaries  were  the  head,  and  they  only  the 
 tail,  and  especially  his  glorious  appearance  in  their  behalf  on 
 the  present  memorable  occasion,  when  he  has  delivered  us  from 
 the  galling  yoke,  which  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were  able  to 
 bear.  "  Now  (said  he),  in  his  abundant  mercy  and  loving- 
 kindness  he  has  delivered  us  from  the  Service-book,  which  was 
 a  book  of  slavery;  from  the  hook  of  Canons,  which  tied  us  down 
 in  chains  of  spiritual  bondage;  from  the  book  of  Ordination, 
 which  was  a  yoke  of  unsupportable  weight  on  the  necks  of  all 
 faithful  ministers;  from  the  high  commission,  which  was  the 
 watchful  guardian  that  kept  us  under  all  that  slavery;  and  the 
 civil  places  of  churchmen,  the  capital  that  ornamented  the  un- 
 hallowed structure,  adding  a  glare  of  splendour  to  all  these 
 abominations.  Seeing,  therefore,  that  our  God  has  thus  kindly 
 dealt  with  us,  turning  our  sorrow  into  rejoicing,  and  our  sack- 
 cloth into  the  garments  of  praise,  leading  captivity  captive,  and 
 making  our  lordly  oppressors  incapable  of  further  oppression,  it 
 behoves  us,  in  gratitude  to  God,  and  consciousness  of  that  li- 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  663 
 
 berty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  his  people  free,  to  hold  fast 
 that  whereunto  we  have  attained,  and  not  be  again  entangled 
 in  the  yoke  of  bondage.     A  courtier  once  degraded,  you  all 
 know,   but  rarely  regains  his  credit;  and  this  especially  holds 
 true  in  spiritual  concerns.     I  grant,  the  Lord  can  give  eyes  to 
 the  blind,  and  raise  the  dead,   of  which  we  are  witnesses  this 
 day,  having  ourselves  been  brought  back  to  the  Shepherd  of  our 
 souls,  after  running  far  on  in  a  course  of  backsliding.     But 
 take  heed  to  yourselves,  and  beware,  I  beseech  you,  of  a  second 
 defection.     I  grant  the  cross  is  hard  to  look  upon;  but  if  we 
 get  strength  from  our  Lord,  it  will  be  an  easy  yoke.     He  has 
 promised  sufficiency  of  grace,  let  us  therefore  endure  the  great- 
 est extremity,  rather  than  again  put  our  necks  under  this  yoke 
 of  debasing  slavery.     Remember  the  plague  of  Laodicea,  and 
 beware  of  her  sin.     Concerning  the  nobles,  barons,  and  bur- 
 gesses, who  have  attended  here,   I  must  say,  and  can  say  it  in 
 all  the  confidence  of  the  word  of  truth,  them  who  honour  God, 
 God   will   honour.     Those  nobles,   said  he,    whose  hearts  the 
 Lord  hath  moved  to   be  the   chief  instruments  in  this  great 
 work,  like  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  were  first  discovered  in 
 this  deluge;   which  encouraged  the  vallies  to  hope,  that  these 
 waters  of  affliction  would  also  be  removed  from  them;  which 
 hope  we  have  all  seen  realized  this  day.     A  few  years  ago,  he 
 would  have  been  thought  a  foolish  man  who  expected  such 
 things  from  our  nobles  as  we  now  see;  but  our  Lord  has  nobili- 
 tated  them,   so  that  they  have  taken  part  in  all  our  trials,  and 
 had  a  principal   hand  in  all  the  conclusions  which  we  have 
 brought  to  pass,  and  their  liberality  hath  abounded  to  many  on 
 this  occasion.     The  Sun  of  Righteousness  has  shined  on  these 
 mountains,   and  long,   long  may  he  continue  to   shine   upon 
 them,  for  the  comfort  of  the  hills,  and  refreshing  of  the  vallies. 
 May  the  blessing  of  God  rest  upon  them  and  their  families, 
 and  we  trust  it  will  be  so  seen  to  after  generations."     He  re- 
 commended a  favourable  construction  of  his  majesty's  opposi- 
 tion to  the  measures  they  had  been  engaged  in  forwarding,  ex- 
 pressed his  grateful  sense  of  the  harmony  that  had  so  conspicu- 
 ously distinguished  the  assembly  during  their  long  and  ardent 
 labours;  and  concluded,  with  gratefully  acknowledging  the  ge- 
 nerous and  hospitable  treatment  the  members  of  the  assembly 
 had  received  from  the  inhabitants  of  Glasgow,  and  the  particu- 
 lar countenance  and  aid  afforded  them  by  their  chief  magis- 
 trate.    Having  concluded  the  business  of  this  famous  assem- 
 bly by  prayer,  he  sung  the  cxxxiii.  Psalm,  and  pronounced  the 
 apostolic  benediction;  and  while  the  members  were  rising  to  de- 
 part, Mr  Henderson  stood  up,  and  said,  "  We  have  cast  down 
 the  walls  of  Jericho;  let  him  who  attempts  to  rebuild  them,  be- 
 ware of  the  curse  of  Hiel  (he  Bethelite." 
 
664  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 Thus  episcopacy,  which  was  held  an  abomination  in  Scot- 
 land, with  all  its  tyrannical  appendages,  was  abolished,  and 
 declared  unlawful,  and  the  whole  fabric,  which  James  and 
 Charles  had,  both  by  stratagem  and  strength,  been  so  many 
 years  in  rearing,  was  at  once  overthrown.  The  formidable  op- 
 position which  the  members  of  this  assembly  had  to  encounter, 
 was  sufficient,  one  would  imagine,  to  damp  the  spirits,  and  cool 
 the  ardour,  of  ordinary  men.  They  found  the  eight  lordly 
 bishops  of  Scotland,  with  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  all 
 their  numerous  adherents,  at  their  back;  while  the  earl  of  Ha- 
 milton the  king's  commissioner,  the  court,  and  the  king  him- 
 self appeared  at  their  head;  but  the  consideration,  that  the  civil 
 and  religious  freedom  of  their  country  were  objects  of  the  first 
 importance  to  themselves  and  their  posterity,  and  that  the  time 
 was  arrived,  when,  in  all  probability,  the  last  opportunity  for 
 exercising  their  patriotism  with  even  the  shadow  of  hope,  had 
 presented  itself,  they  braved  every  danger. 
 
 Mr  Henderson's  conspicuous  place  in  the  assembly,  and  his 
 singular  activity  in  discharging  the  duties  of  his  high  office,  so 
 exposed  him  to  the  resentment  both  of  the  court  and  the  bi- 
 shops, that  neither  the  strict  propriety,  nor  the  singular  modera- 
 tion of  his  conduct,  could  protect  him  from  their  malicious  rage. 
 When  the  members  of  the  assembly  returned  to  their  respective 
 homes,  they  carefully  published  the  conclusions  the  general  as- 
 sembly had  sanctioned;  which  spread  the  report  of  their  whole 
 proceedings  to  every  corner  of  the  land.  It  was  no  sooner 
 known  at  court,  that  they  had  dared  to  sit  after  being  dissolved 
 by  the  authority  of  the  commissioner,  and  after  his  departure 
 from  the  assembly,  and  that  the  people  greatly  applauded  their 
 conduct,  than  the  king  meditated  revenge,  and  resolved  to  raise 
 an  army  to  reduce  them  to  obedience.  Aware  of  what  was 
 going  forward  in  England,  the  covenanters,  during  the  winter 
 of  1639,  were  actively  employed  in  preparing  for  the  threaten- 
 ed invasion,  and  Mr  Henderson's  pen  was  employed  in  several 
 publications  to  vindicate  the  measures  that  had  been  taken,  as 
 well  as  the  duty  and  necessity  of  defending  the  liberties  and 
 constitutional  laws  of  the  kingdom.  At  the  request  of  the  de- 
 puties, he  drew  up  a  paper,  entitled,  The  Remonstrance  of  the 
 Nobility,  Barons,  Burgesses,  Ministers,  and  Commons,  within 
 the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  vindicating  their  proceedings  from  the 
 crimes  wherewith  they  are  charged  by  the  late  proclamation  in 
 England,  February  27th,  1639.  This  paper,  after  being  revis- 
 ed by  the  deputies,  was  industriously  circulated  in  England  by 
 their  friends,  and  proved  very  advantageous  to  their  cause  in 
 that  country.  He  also  drew  up  instructions  for  defensive  arms. 
 This  paper  he  composed,  it  is  said,  rather  against  his  inclination; 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  665 
 
 and  being  hastily  drawn  up,  he  did  not  allow  it  to  be  printed. 
 It  was,  nevertheless,  read  from  many  a  pulpit  as  the  work  of 
 one  of  their  best  penmen.  The  magnanimity  of  the  Scotch,  and 
 the  indifference  of  the  English  nation,  for  the  royal  cause,  forc- 
 ed his  majesty  to  listen  to  overtures  of  peace,  and  Mr  Hender- 
 son was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  Scotch 
 array,  to  carry  on  the  treaty  of  pacification,  in  June  1639.  The 
 king"  was  much  delighted  with  Mr  Henderson's  discourse,  who, 
 during  the  whole  of  that  long  protracted  business,  displayed  his 
 rare  abilities,  as  on  all  other  important  occasions. 
 
 Mr  Henderson  was  one  of  the  fourteen  chief  persons,  amongst 
 the  covenanters,  who  were  required,  by  an  order  from  the  king, 
 to  attend  his  court  at  Berwick,  after  the  Scotch  army  had  been 
 disbanded.  According  to  bishop  Guthrie,  the  king  wished  to 
 consult  them  as  to  the  manner  of  his  coming  into  Scotland  to 
 hold  the  assembly  and  parliament  in  person.  Bishop  Burnet 
 says,  "  He  meant  to  try  what  effect  fair  treatment  would  have 
 upon  his  refractory  subjects  in  Scotland."  But  Sir  James  Bal- 
 four, Lion  king  at  arms,  expressly  tells  us,  <;  That  it  was  a  trap 
 laid  to  ensnare  the  principal  men  of  the  covenanting  party,  re- 
 sorted to  by  the  advice  of  some  corrupt  courtier,  and  that  it 
 was  by  a  hint  of  their  danger  from  some  friend  at  court  that 
 they  escaped  from  the  snare."  Be  this  as  it  may,  in  conse- 
 quence of  an  alarm,  circulated  to  this  effect,  they  were  stopped 
 at  the  Water-gate  of  Edinburgh,  when  setting  out  for  Berwick, 
 their  horses  taken  from  them  by  the  populace,  and  they  were  pre- 
 vented from  proceeding;  nor  did  they?  after  due  deliberation, 
 judge  it  prudent  to  resume  their  journey.  This  disappoint- 
 ment greatly  offended  his  majesty,  who,  without  waiting  the 
 meeting  of  either  assembly  or  parliament,  set  out  for  London,  in 
 a  fit  of  chagrin,  on  the  29th  of  July. 
 
 At  the  opening  of  the  general  assembly,  which  met  at  Edin- 
 burgh on  the  12th  of  August  this  year,  1639,  Mr  Henderson, 
 the  former  moderator,  preached  from  Acts  v.  33.  Towards  the 
 conclusion  of  his  discourse,  he  addressed  the  earl  of  Traquhair, 
 the  king's  commissioner,  to  the  following  effect :  u  We  beseech 
 your  grace  (said  he)  to  see  that  Caesar  have  his  own;  but  let 
 him  have  nothing  that  belongs  to  God,  by  whom  king's  reign. 
 God  hath  exalted  your  grace  within  these  few  years,  and  he  is 
 still  continuing  to  exalt  you  more  and  more.  Be  thankful  for 
 these  special  marks  of  his  favour,  and  labour  to  exalt  Christ's 
 throne.  Some  men  have  been  exalted  like  Haman,  some  like 
 Mordecai,  and  I  pray  God  that  these  eminent  parts,  wherewith 
 he  has  endowed  your  grace,  may  be  exercised  for  the  glory  of 
 God,  the  honour  of  the  king,  and  the  real  advantage  of  this 
 ••hurch  and  nation."  To  the  members  uf  the  assemblv,  he  said, 
 24  4  v 
 
666  SI  MOIR  OF 
 
 "  Right  honourable,  worshipful,  and  reverend,  the  cause  in 
 which  you  arc  now  embarked,  and  for  the  promotion  of  which 
 you  are  now  assembled  together,  is  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  cause 
 of  common  justice  between  our  liege  lord  the  king,  and  his  du- 
 tiful subjects.  In  such  a  good  cause,  it  becomes  you  to  proceed 
 with  all  the  fervour  of  a  well-tempered  zeal,  so  mingled  with 
 moderation,  that  presbytery,  the  government  we  contend  for  in 
 the  church,  may  appear  to  the  world  in  every  respect  consistent 
 with  monarchy  in  the  state,  that  thereby  we  may  obtain  the 
 favour  of  our  king,  and  our  Redeemer  retain  the  untarnished  ho- 
 nour of  his  regal  crown."  The  royal  commissioner  was  anxious 
 that  Mr  Henderson  should  be  re-elected;  but  whether  from  a 
 sense  of  his  qualifications  for  filling  the  office,  or  to  answer  some 
 end  of  hiii  royal  master,  cannot  be  easily  ascertained;  only  the 
 assembly  were  suspicious  of  the  latter,  and  vigorously  opposed  the 
 motion  of  the  commissioner,  as  favouring  too  much  the  idea  of 
 a  constant  moderator,  which  had  always  been  the  first  step  to- 
 wards the  introduction  of  episcopacy;  and  none  discovered  a 
 greater  aversion  to  the  proposal  than  Mr  Henderson  himself. 
 
 Mr  David  Dickson,  minister  of  Irvine,  was  chosen  moderator 
 by  a  great  majority.  Bishop  Guthrie  says,  "  That  Mr  Dick- 
 son was  much  inferior  to  his  predecessor  in  that  office,  and  that 
 he  must  have  been  still  more  embarrassed,  had  not  Mr  Hender- 
 son been  placed  at  his  elbow  as  his  coadjutor."  Whether  the 
 bishop  has  fairly  represented  the  case  or  not,  it  shows  that  Mr 
 Henderson's  abilities  were  respected  even  by  the  episcopalians 
 themselves.  In  this  assembly  the  whole  frame-work  of  episco- 
 pacy was  condemned.  The  royal  commissioner  required  the 
 assembly  to  state  the  grounds  of  this  condemnation;  which  was 
 done  by  the  moderator,  Mr  Henderson  and  Mr  Andrew  Ram- 
 say, who  shewed,  from  the  history  of  the  primitive  churches, 
 as  well  as  from  the  holy  scriptures,  that  prelatical  superiority 
 amongst  the  ministers  of  Christ  was  utterly  unknown  in  the 
 first  ages  of  Christianity;  that  it  had  ever  been  destructive 
 of  that  simplicity  of  government  recommended  by  Christ,  and 
 adhered  to  by  his  followers  for  several  centuries;  and  that  it  was 
 merely  a  human  invention,  and  had  frequently  been  used  for 
 the  introduction  of  popery,  arminianism,  superstition,  and  ido- 
 latry. It  was  moved  by  Mr  Henderson,  that  the  assembly 
 should  take  into  their  consideration  the  propriety  of  drawing 
 up  a  confession,  positively  condemning  the  errors  and  immora- 
 lities charged  against  some  ministers,  and  clearing  the  doctrine 
 of  the  church  of  Scotland,  that  none  might  afterwards  pretend 
 ignorance.  The  synod  of  Dort  took  this  method  with  the  ar- 
 minians:  and  the  assembly,  on  this  occasion,  agreed  to  Mr 
 Henderson's  motion;  but  if  ever  the  object  was  carried  into 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  66j 
 
 effect,  the  report  has  not  reached  us.  Mr  Henderson  preached 
 the  sermon  at  opening  the  parliament,  August  31st,  1639,  from 
 1  Tim.  ii.  1,  2,  3.  wherein  he  principally  dwelt  on  the  utility, 
 importance,  and  necessity  of  magistracy. 
 
 The  town  council  of  Edinburgh,  who  were  the  patrons  and 
 governors  of  the  university  of  that  city,  having  but  annually 
 visited  that  seat  of  learning  during  the  preceding  twenty-five 
 years,  the  rector  had  become  remiss  in  discharging  the  duties 
 which  that  office  imposed  upon  him.     The  council  therefore, 
 taking  the  matter  under  their  consideration,  came  to  the  reso- 
 lution of  annually  choosing  a  rector,  whose  powers  of  office 
 should  be  pointed  out  by  articles  framed  for  the  purpose.     In 
 accordance  with  this  resolution,  they  made  choice  of  Mr  Hen- 
 derson, then  one  of  the  ministers  of  that  city,  for  rector  of  the 
 university,  and  ordained  that  a  silver  mace  should  be  borne  be- 
 fore him  on  all  solemnities,    appointing  certain   members  of 
 the  council,  ministers  of  the  city,  and  professors  in  the  college, 
 for  his  assessors.     When  the  war  was  again  renewed  against 
 the  Scots,  and  they  declared  rebels,  every  regiment  was  attend- 
 ed by  a  chaplain,  one  of  the  most  eminent  ministers  in  the 
 bounds  where  the  regiment  was  raised;  amongst  these  were 
 Messrs  Henderson,  Blair,  Baillie,  Cant,  Livingston,  Gillespie, 
 and  others,  who  were  vested  with  presbyterian  authority,  and 
 were  to  perform  every  part  of  their  ministerial  duties  proper  in 
 such   circumstances.      In  the  beginning  of  August   1640,  the 
 army  arrived  at  Dunse,  where  they  were  reviewed  by  the  gene- 
 ral,   and    marched    into   England   on  the    20th   of  the   same 
 month.  Notwithstanding  these  warlike  measures,  the  covenanters 
 still  used  the  most  loyal  and  submissive  language,  declaring 
 that  they  entered  England  with  no  other  view  than  to  obtain 
 access  to  the  king's  presence,  and  lay  their  grievances  at  his 
 majesty's  feet.     The  English,  however,  disbelieved  them,  and 
 disputed  the  passage  of  the  river,  some  miles  above  Newcastle, 
 by  a  detachment  of  4,500  men,  commanded  by  Conway.     The 
 Scots  first  civilly  entreated  them  not  to  prevent  them  from 
 approaching  their  gracious  sovereign;   but  could  not  prevail; 
 on    which   they   attacked    them    with    great    bravery,    killed 
 some,  and  drove  the  rest  from  their  ground,  on  the  28th  of 
 August  the  same  year.     On   the  rumour  of  this  defeat,   the 
 whole  English  army  left  Newcastle,  and  fled  to  Durham;  and 
 not  yet  thinking  themselves  sufficiently  safe,  retreated  to  York- 
 shire.    The   Scotch   army  took  possession  of  Newcastle;   and 
 though  sufficiently  elated,  they  preserved  strict  discipline,  and 
 persevered  in  their  resolution  to  pay  for  every  thing,  in  order 
 to  maintain  the  appearance  of  an  amicable  correspondence  with 
 England.     The  nation  was  now  universally  and  greatly  dis- 
 
668  tittfont  01 
 
 contented;  so  that  the  success  of  the  Scottish  army,  and  the  dis- 
 tressed condition  of  the  king,  induced  him  a  second  time  to  ac- 
 cede to  proposals  of  peace;  when  a  treaty  for  this  purpose  was 
 begun  at  Rippon,  and  afterwards  transferred  to  London.  Mr 
 Henderson  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for  this 
 treaty,  by  whose  means  the  foundation  was  laid  of  that  conjunc- 
 tion between  the  two  nations,  both  in  civil  and  religious  affairs, 
 which  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the  solemnity  of  an  oath. 
 
 The  Scottish  commissioners  urged  the  propriety  of  a  unity 
 in  religion,  and  a  uniformity  in  church  government,  as  an 
 especial  mean  of  preserving  and  perpetuating  peace  between 
 the  two  kingdoms;  and  at  the  same  time  delivered  to  the  Eng- 
 lish commissioners  a  paper,  said  to  be  drawn  up  by  Mr  Hender- 
 son, clearly  stating  the  reasons  for,  and  the  obvious  advantages 
 that  would  naturally  result  from  such  a  necessary  measure. 
 A  favourable  answer  was  given  to  this  document,  both  by  king 
 and  parliament,  intimating  in  general,  that  as  the  parliament 
 had  already  taken  into  consideration  the  reformation  of  the  go- 
 vernment of  the  church,  so  they  would,  in  due  time,  proceed 
 with  that  affair,  so  as  it  should  appear  most  conducive  to  the 
 glory  of  God,  the  peace  of  the  church,  and  to  both  kingdoms. 
 This  was  afterwards  ratified  as  one  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty. 
 
 The  Scottish  commissioners  had  every  advantage  in  conduct- 
 ing their  treaty.  They  were  lodged  in  the  city,  and  had  an 
 intimate  correspondence  with  the  magistrates,  the  citizens,  and 
 the  popular  leaders  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  While  at- 
 tending on  the  duties  of  his  commission,  respecting  the  treaty 
 of  peace,  Mr  Henderson  was  often  employed  in  preaching  for 
 one  or  other  of  the  London  ministers,  both  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
 other  days,  besides  preparing  some  very  important  tracts  for 
 the  press.  At  the  desire  of  the  English  ministers,  he  wrote 
 reasons  why  the  bishops  should  be  removed  from  the  church. 
 This  treatise  was  printed  in  1641.  The  polishing  of  many  im- 
 portant papers  was  confided  to  Mr  Henderson,  and  he  compos- 
 ed the  far  greater  part  of  those  concerned  with  the  church. 
 While  in  London,  he  had  a  private  conference  with  the  king, 
 the  particular  object  of  which  was  to  procure,  from  the  rents 
 formerly  appropriated  by  the  bishops,  some  assistance  to  the 
 much  neglected  universities  in  Scotland.  He  was  well  receiv- 
 ed, and  had  reason  to  expect  something  would  be  done  for  their 
 relief.  Towards  the  end  of  July  1641  he  returned  to  Scot- 
 land. The  general  assembly  met  at  St.  Andrew's  on  the  20th 
 of  the  same  month;  and  at  the  request  of  the  parliament,  who 
 were  then  sitting  in  Edinburgh,  they  removed  to  that  city, 
 where  Mr  Henderson  was  chosen  moderator. 
 
 From  the  observations  lie   was   enabled   to  make  while  in 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  669 
 
 England,  in  consequence  of  his  familiarity  with  both  ministers 
 and  people,  he  clearly  perceived  that  there  would  soon  be  an 
 important  change  in  the  structure  of  the  church,  and  that  there 
 was  a  considerable  prospect  of  their  approaching  to  a  nearer 
 conformity  to  the  order  of  the  church  of  Scotland;  and  in  his 
 capacity  of  commissioner  to  the  above  treaty,  he  laboured 
 strenuously  to  promote  that  conformity.  With  this  important 
 object  in  view,  he  very  seasonably  moved,  in  the  general  as- 
 sembly, that  a  confession  of  faith,  a  catechism,  a  directory  for 
 all  the  parts  of  public  worship,  and  a  platform  of  church  go- 
 vernment should  be  drawn  up;  to  which  the  church  of  England 
 might  probably  afterwards  agree.  The  motion  was  unanimous- 
 ly agreed  to,  and  the  burden  of  the  labour  laid  on  the  shoulders 
 of  the  mover.  Liberty  was  given  him,  however,  to  desist  from 
 preaching  while  engaged  in  this  important  business,  and  power 
 to  call  the  assistance  of  such  ministers  as  he  thought  proper  to 
 assist  him  in  forwarding  the  work.  The  king  revisited  Scot- 
 land in  this  year  1641,  that  he  might  be  present  at  the  parlia- 
 ment of  his  native  kingdom,  leaving  both  Houses  of  the  Eng- 
 lish parliament  sitting  at  Westminster.  He  was  shut  up  to  the 
 necessity  of  cultivating  a  closer  connection  with  the  Scottish 
 nation,  for  the  support  of  his  tottering  throne.  Mr  Henderson 
 waited  on  his  majesty  as  his  chaplain,  and  was  appointed  to  pro- 
 vide preachers  for  him  during  the  time  he  remained  in  the 
 country.  His  majesty,  on  this  occasion,  so  conducted  himself, 
 that  the  people  were  beginning  to  entertain  hopes  that  hence- 
 forth he  would  rather  encourage  than  oppose  the  reformation 
 then  in  forwardness;  but  they  were  little  acquainted  with 
 his  true  character.  The  last  day  of  the  meeting  of  this  parlia- 
 ment was  attended  with  great  solemnity.  The  king,  seated  on 
 his  throne,  and  the  estates  all  arranged  in  their  respective 
 places,  Mr  Henderson  began  with  prayer,  and  closed  the  meet- 
 ing with  a  sermon. 
 
 The  revenues  of  the  bishopricks  were  divided  at  this  time, 
 and  Mr  Henderson  exerted  himself  in  behalf  of  the  universities; 
 and  by  his  influence,  procured,  with  great  difficulty,  what  be- 
 longed to  the  bishoprick  of  Edinburgh,  and  priory  for  the  uni- 
 versity of  that  city.  The  emoluments  belonging  to  the  chapel 
 royal,  amounting  to  four  thousand  merks  yearly,  were,  at  this 
 time,  conferred  upon  him  as  a  recompence  for  his  painful  and 
 expensive  services  in  the  cause  of  the  public.  The  king  was, 
 in  general,  very  accommodating  and  favourable  to  the  nation 
 on  this  visit,  anxious  to  obtain  their  assistance  against  his  Eng- 
 lish parliament,  with  whom  he  was  at  great  variance.  Argyle 
 was  created  a  marquis,  the  lords  Loudon  and  Lindsay  were 
 raised  to  the  dignity  of  earls,  and  all  parties  were  so  well  pleas- 
 
670  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 ed,  tliat  on  the  king's  departure,  it  was  said,  he  departed  a  con- 
 tented king  from  a  contented  people.  But  duplicity  strongly 
 marked  bis  character;  so  that  those  who  knew  him  best,  put  no 
 faith  in  his  apparent  reformation,  and  therefore  joined  with  the 
 English  parliament  for  the  recovery  of  their  liberty,  and  secur- 
 ing their  religion.  Mr  Henderson  was  much  engaged  in  ma- 
 naging the  correspondence  with  England  during  1642,  particu- 
 larly that  relating  to  reformation  and  uniformity  in  religion. 
 
 Upon  the  resolution  of  the  English  parliament  to  abolish 
 episcopacy,  they  requested  that  some  of  the  Scottish  divines 
 should  be  sent  to  London  to  assist  in  a  synod  which  they  had 
 resolved  to  convene;  and  Mr  Henderson,  with  three  others, 
 were  appointed  commissioners  to  that  assembly,  and  ordered  to 
 hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  remove  to  England  as  soon  as 
 it  became  necessary.  This  journey,  owing  to  the  civil  war  in 
 England,  was  for  some  time  deferred.  Mr  Henderson  was 
 anxious  that  the  contending  parties  would  come  to  some  ho- 
 nourable accommodation  of  their  differences;  and  for  this  pur- 
 pose, joined  with  a  number  of  leading  men,  in  an  invitation  to 
 the  queen  to  come  into  Scotland,  with  the  view  of  promoting  a 
 mediation;  but  the  king  rejected  this  well  meant  proposal.  Mr 
 Henderson  afterwards  went  in  person  to  the  king,  and,  toge- 
 ther with  other  commissioners  from  the  state,  offered  the  medi- 
 ation of  the  Scottish  nation.  But  their  assistance  in  subjecting 
 the  English  parliament  was  the  object  that  lay  nearest  the  king's 
 heart  at  this  time;  so  that  their  mission  was  scouted,  and  their 
 reception  unfavourable.  Their  powers  of  interference  with  the 
 internal  dissensions  of  the  English  nation  were  called  in  ques- 
 tion, and  the  religious  uniformity,  which  they  proposed  as  the 
 only  specific  for  cementing  the  jarring  interests  of  both  king- 
 doms in  general,  and  of  the  contending  parties  of  England  in 
 particular,  his  majesty  did  not  relish,  and,  in  the  present  state 
 of  his  affairs,  could  by  no  means  condescend  to  admit.  The 
 commissioners  were  accordingly  reviled  and  threatened  by  the 
 royalists,  and  recalled  by  the  nation  in  disgust.  At  the  first 
 interview,  the  king  endeavoured  to  convince  Mr  Henderson  of 
 the  justice  and  necessity  of  his  appeal  to  arms;  but  finding  him 
 less  credulous  than  he  had  expected,  his  behaviour  was  at 
 once  transformed  from  that  of  the  complacent  monarch,  to  a 
 frowning  and  disappointed  despot.  While  remaining  at  Ox- 
 ford, some  of  the  doctors  wished  to  dispute  with  him  on  church 
 government;  but  judging  it  unbecoming  the  character  of  a  re- 
 presentative of  the  church  of  Scotland  to  dispute  with  a  pri- 
 vate individual,  and  viewing  them  rather  disposed  to  cavil  than 
 to  give  or  receive  information,  he  signified,  that  his  business  in 
 England  was  with  the  king.     Dr.  Taylor,  a  papist,  also  chaK 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  6?  1 
 
 lunged  him  to  a  public  dispute  at  Oxford;  so  insolent  were  the 
 papists  now  become  through  the  royal  favour.  Lord  Claren- 
 don is  greatly  offended  at  the  firmness,  or,  as  he  calls  it,  the 
 great  insolence  manifested  by  Mr  Henderson  on  this  occasion. 
 But  on  his  return  to  Edinburgh,  where  lie  gave  a  full  account 
 of  his  proceedings  with  the  king  to  the  commissioners  of  the 
 church,  they  expressed  their  entire  satisfaction  with  his  whole 
 conduct;  and  their  judgment  was  confirmed  by  the  next  gene- 
 ral assembly,  who  pronounced  his  carriage  to  have  been  faith- 
 ful and  wise. 
 
 The  Scottish  nation  were  highly  displeased  with  the  treat- 
 ment their  commissioners  had  met  with  at  Oxford;  and  fully 
 convinced,  that  the  king's  measures  were  directed  against  the 
 liberty  of  both  kingdoms,  civil  as  well  as  religious,  they  formed 
 an  alliance  with  the  English  parliament — upon  which  Mr  Hen- 
 derson was  sent  to  London,  where  he  remained  the  greater  part 
 of  his  remaining  days. 
 
 The  general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  which  met 
 at  Edinburgh  on  the  2d  of  August  1643,  was  distinguished  by 
 the  presence  of  commissioners  from  the  English  parliament,  the 
 formation  of  the  solemn  league  and  covenant,  and  other  trans- 
 actions of  memorable  importance.  Foreseeing  the  mass  of 
 business  to  be  brought  before  them,  and  discussed  in  the  pre- 
 sence of  so  many  learned  and  honourable  strangers,  the  first 
 care  of  the  assembly  was  the  choice  of  a  well  qualified  modera- 
 tor; and  Mr  Henderson  was  unanimously  called  to  the  chair  for 
 the  third  time,  and  every  thing  conducted  with  the  great- 
 est decency  and  propriety.  The  English  commission  consisted 
 of  Sir  William  Armyn,  Sir  Henry  Vane,  younger,  Mr  Hatcher, 
 and  Mr  Darley;  with  two  ministers  of  the  gospel,  Messrs  Philip 
 Nye  and  Stephen  Marshall.  After  an  introductory  speech, 
 said  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Mr  Nye  and  Sir  Henry  Vane, 
 the  delegation  presented  their  commission  from  both  Houses  of 
 the  English  parliament,  with  ample  powers  to  them,  or  any 
 four  of  them,  to  treat  with  the  covenanters.  They  likewise 
 presented  a  declaration  of  both  Houses  to  the  assembly,  show- 
 ing the  care  they  had  taken  in  reforming  the  church,  and  ex- 
 pressing their  desire  that  some  of  the  Scottish  divines  should 
 join  with  their  assembly  for  that  purpose.  The  royal  arms  be- 
 ing at  this  time  triumphant,  the  parliament  of  England  solicit- 
 ed the  fraternal  assistance  of  the  covenanters,  and  a  covenant 
 was  proposed.  The  English  at  first  were  for  a  civil  league, 
 and  the  Scotch  for  a  religious  covenant;  which  was  ultimately 
 agreed  to,  and  Mr  Henderson  was  appointed  to  set  off  for  Lon- 
 don immediately  to  ratify  this  solemn  deed.  He  sailed  from 
 Leith  on  the  30th  of  August,  in  company  witli  other  commis- 
 
67^  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 sioners,  and,  on  the  35th  of  September,  the  covenant  was  sworn 
 by  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  assembly  of 
 divines,  in  Margaret's  church  at  Westminster;  on  which  occa- 
 sion Mr  Henderson  delivered  an  excellent  speech,  to  the  fol- 
 lowing effect : 
 
 "  Honour able ',  reverend,  and  beloved  in  the  Lord, 
 
 "  Though  the  time  be  far  spent,  yet  am  I  bold  to  crave 
 your  patience  and  attention  for  a  little.  Were  we  altogether  to 
 hold  our  peace  on  such  an  important  occasion  as  this,  we  could 
 neither  be  answerable  to  our  God,  whose  work  and  cause  we 
 are  assembled  to  promote,  to  this  church  and  kingdom,  to  which 
 we  have  made  so  warm  professions  of  regard,  nor  to  our  native 
 kingdom,  so  abundant  in  her  affection  towards  you,  and  the 
 cause  you  have  so  laudably  undertaken  to  defend,  neither  in- 
 deed to  our  own  hearts,  which  exceedingly  rejoice  to  see  this 
 day.  We  have  greater  reason  than  the  lepers,  sitting  at  the 
 gate  of  Samaria,  to  say,  «  We  do  not  well,  this  is  a  day  of  good 
 tidings,  and  we  hold  our  peace/  It  is  true,  the  Assyrians  are 
 not  yet  fled;  but  our  hopes,  through  God,  are,  that  the  work  this 
 day  begun,  if  sincerely  engaged  in,  and  faithfully  maintained, 
 will  be  the  means  of  not  merely  putting  to  flight  these  Syrians 
 and  Babylonians,  but  all  others  inimical  to  the  cause  of  God, 
 the  honour  of  the  king,  and  the  liberty,  peace,  and  prosperity 
 of  these  distracted  kingdoms.  For  whatever  be  the  situation  in 
 which  the  people  of  God  are  placed,  whether  in  adversity  and 
 sorrow,  before  their  deliverance  come,  or  of  prosperity,  joy,  and 
 thanksgiving  after,  still  they  are  welcome  applicants  at  his  throne; 
 and  their  joining  together  in  covenant  with  God,  and  one  ano- 
 ther, on  such  extraordinary  occasions,  is  what  he  expects  at 
 their  hands — what  his  people  have  been  accustomed  to  perform 
 in  all  ages  of  the  church,  and  that  with  which  he  has  been  so 
 well  pleased,  that  he  has  blessed  it,  and  made  it  the  means  of 
 their  deliverance  from  the  power  of  their  enemies  on  many  a 
 pressing  occasion.  When  a  people  begin  to  forget  God,  and 
 go  a-whoring  after  strange  gods,  he  lifts  up  his  hand  to  punish 
 their  wanderings  from  the  rectitude  of  his  law,  from  the  sim- 
 plicity of  his  ordinances,  and  the  purity  of  his  worship;  but 
 when  they  lift  up  their  hands,  not  only  in  supplicating  the 
 throne  of  mercy,  but  also  in  covenanting  before  the  most  high 
 God,  he  is  pleased  (such  is  his  mercy  and  wonderful  condescen- 
 sion) to  lift  up  his  hand  unto  them,  saying,  '  I  am  the  Lord  your 
 God,'  as  we  have  it  three  times  expressed  in  two  verses  of  the 
 twentieth  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  and  then  stretcheth  he  out  his 
 omnipotent  arm  to  punish  his  and  their  enemies.  To  join  our- 
 selves to  God,  in  a  covenant  never  to  be  departed  from,  is  the 
 best  work  of  faith.     To  join  ourselves  in  covenant  to  God  and 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  67S 
 
 one  another,  is  the  best  work  of  love  and  christian  communion. 
 To  join  in  covenant  for  the  reformation  of  religion,  is  the  very 
 best  work  of  the  best  zeal.  The  best  proof  of  true  loyalty,  is  to 
 join  in  covenant  for  the  preservation  of  our  king  and  the  con- 
 stitutional liberty  and  laws  of  our  native  country;  and  such  as 
 withdraw  from  this  necessary  work,  and  refuse  to  enter  into  co- 
 venant for  such  important  purposes,  have  reason  to  enter  into 
 their  own  hearts,  and  examine  the  reality  of  their  faith,  and  the 
 sincerity  of  their  love,  loyalty,  and  natural  affection. 
 
 "  As  this  duty  is  acceptable  to  God,  so  has  it  been  the  prac- 
 tice of  his  church  and  people,  not  only  under  the  Old,  but  also 
 under  the  Hew  Testament;  nor  merely  in  the  primitive  ages  of 
 Christianity,  but  also  by  the  late  reformed  churches  of  Germany 
 and  the  Low  Countries,  and  likewise  by  our  own  noble  and 
 christian  progenitors,  when  their  religion  and  civil  liberties 
 were  endangered  by  the  power  and  influence  of  antichrist.  The 
 great  defect  attending  their  endeavours,  however,  was,  that 
 they  did  not  proceed  to  the  full  extent  warranted  by  the  word 
 of  truth;  which,  had  they  done,  the  corruptions  and  calamities 
 of  these  times  might  have  been  greatly  prevented.  To  fill  up 
 what  was  wanting  in  our  forefathers,  has,  however,  been  re- 
 served for  the  honour  and  happiness  of  us  their  children;  and 
 if  the  Lord  shall  be  pleased  to  move,  to  loose,  and  enlarge  the 
 hearts  of  his  people,  in  his  majesty's  dominions,  to  take  this  co- 
 venant, not  in  lukewarmness  or  dissimulation,  but  as  becometh 
 the  people  of  God,  it  will  prove  the  means  of  preventing  many 
 heart-rending  scenes  of  misery,  and  be  a  copious  source  of  rich 
 and  numerous  blessings,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  to  our- 
 selves, our  little  ones,  and  their  posterity,  to  many  generations. 
 "  The  near  and  neighbouring  example  of  the  church  and 
 kingdom  of  Scotland,  is,  in  this  case,  worthy  of  our  particular 
 observation.  'When  the  prelates  in  that  kingdom,  by  their 
 rents  and  lordly  dignities,  by  their  exorbitant  power  over  all 
 sorts  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  ministers,  and  even  magistrates; 
 by  their  places  in  parliament,  council,  college  of  justice,  ex- 
 chequer, and  high  commission,  had  grown  to  such  enormous 
 dominion  and  greatness,  that,  like  giants,  they  set  their  one  foot 
 on  the  neck  of  the  church,  and  the  other  on  the  neck  of  the 
 state,  and,  with  unparalleled  insolence  and  effrontery,  trampled 
 upon  the  rights  of  the  nation,  in  defiance  of  reason,  religion,  or 
 law,  till  the  people  groaned  beneath  the  unsupportable  weight 
 of  their  oppression;  so  that  they  chose  rather  to  die  than  live 
 in  a  state  of  such  inhuman  debasement,  or  to  live  in  any  part  of 
 the  world  rather  than  in  the  land  that  gave  them  birth .  Then 
 did  the  Lord  arise,  and  say,  '  I  have  seen,  I  have  seen  the  afflic- 
 tions of  my  people — I  have  heard  their  groanings,  and  I  am 
 2b  4  o 
 
674  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 come  down  to  deliver  them.'  The  beginnings  were  small  and 
 contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  their  proud  and  presumptuous  ene- 
 mies, such  indeed  as  used  to  be  the  beginnings  of  God's  great- 
 est works;  but  followed  up  by  indubitable  evidences  of  divine 
 direction,  they  were  led  from  one  step  to  another,  till  their 
 mountain  became  strong.  No  tongue  can  express  what  emo- 
 tions filled  the  hearts,  what  tears  of  joy  poured  from  the  eyes, 
 and  what  expressions  of  wonder  and  amazement  fell  from  the 
 lips  of  thousands  in  that  distressed  land,  when  they  found  an 
 unwonted  flame  warming  their  dejected  bosoms,  and  perceived 
 the  power  of  almighty  God  raising  them,  as  it  were,  from  the 
 dead,  and  creating  for  them  a  new  world,  wherein  should  dwell 
 truth,  religion,  and  righteousness. 
 
 "  When  destitute  both  of  money  and  munition,  which,  next 
 to  the  spirit  and  arms  of  men,  are  the  undoubted  sinews  of  war, 
 the  Lord  supplied  them  out  of  his  hid  treasures;  which  was 
 wonderful  in  their  own  eyes,  and  matter  of  astonishment  to  their 
 enemies.  When  they  were  many  times  at  a  pause  in  their  de- 
 liberations, and  so  perplexed  that  they  knew  not  what  to  choose 
 or  refuse,  only  that  their  eyes  were  towards  God,  not  only  the 
 fears  and  fury,  but  even  the  plots  and  policy  of  their  adversa- 
 ries pointed  their  way;  so  that  the  devices  of  their  enemies  re- 
 coiled on  their  own  heads,  and  served  to  accelerate  the  work 
 of  God.  The  purity  of  their  intentions,  elevated  above  all 
 earthly  considerations,  and  the  conscious  rectitude  and  peace  of 
 their  hearts,  supported  them  against  the  malicious  accusations, 
 aspersions,  and  misrepresentations  of  their  enraged  enemies;  all 
 which  were  sensible  manifestations  of  the  good  providence  of 
 God,  and  legible  characters  of  his  favourable  interference — 
 such  as  the  church  and  kingdom  of  England,  exercised  at  this 
 time  with  still  greater  difficulties,  have  already  found  in  part, 
 and  shall  undoubtedly  find  completed,  to  their  great  satisfaction 
 in  the  faithful  prosecution  of  the  work  now  before  us.  Neces- 
 sity, which  possesseth  a  kind  of  sovereignty,  that  raiseth  it  above 
 all  law,  and  is  therefore  said  to  have  no  law,  does  mightily 
 press  upon  the  church  and  kingdom  of  Scotland  at  the  present 
 time.  It  is  no  small  comfort,  however,  that  they  have  neither 
 been  idle  nor  unconcerned  at  the  dangers  that  threatened  their 
 own,  or  the  church  and  kingdom  of  England;  but  have  used  all 
 good  and  lawful  expedients  to  extinguish  the  flaming  combus- 
 tion that  rages  in  this  kingdom,  by  their  supplications,  remon- 
 strances, and  declarations  to  his  majesty;  and  after  all  these 
 means  were  found  ineffectual,  by  sending  commissioners  to  his 
 majesty,  humbly  offering  their  mediation  in  restoring  order  and 
 tranquillity.  But  their  humble  offer  of  service  has  been  rejected, 
 on  the  ground  that  they  had  no  warrant  or  capacity  for  such 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  C)J5 
 
 an  interference,  and  that  the  intermixture  of  the  government  of 
 the  church  of  England,  with  that  of  the  state,  was  a  mystery  of 
 which  they  could  be  no  competent  judges.     The  fact,  however, 
 that  the  eighth  demand  of  the  treaty,  and  the  answer  given  to 
 that  demand,   with  respect  to  the  uniformity  of  religion,   evi- 
 dently afforded  them  a  full  and  sufficient  ground  of  capacity; 
 while  the  proceedings  of  both  Houses  of  this  Parliament,  against 
 episcopal   government,   wherein  it    was    declared   a  stumbling 
 block,  lying  in  the  path  of  church  reformation,  and  equally  pre- 
 judicial to  the  best  interests  of  the  state,  sufficiently  furnished 
 them  with  all  the  necessary  means  of  information.     But  not- 
 withstanding that  these,  and  many  other  arguments,  were  stated 
 in  answer  to  their  pretended  reasons  of  objection,  our  commis- 
 sioners were  insulted,  and  recalled  by  a  disgusted  nation,  with- 
 out effecting  any  part  of  their  pacific  mission.     In  the  mean- 
 time, the  miseries  of  Ireland,  the  distresses  of  England,  and  the 
 dangers  and  pressure  upon  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  were  daily 
 accumulating,  while  his  majesty  had  refused  to  call  or  suffer  a 
 parliament  to  be  called.     In  this  state  of  fear  and  perplexity, 
 those  entrusted  with  the  public  concerns  of  the  kingdom,  found 
 themselves  under  the  necessity  of  reverting  to  the  practice  of 
 former  times,  by  calling  a  convention  of  the  estates,  for  consi- 
 dering the  disorders  of  the  country,  and  applying   the  most 
 ostensible  remedies. 
 
 "  This  convention  were  scarcely  met  together,  when,  by  the 
 good  providence  of  God,  several  plots  and  conspiracies  of  the 
 papists,  in  different  parts  of  the  three  kingdoms,  were  discover- 
 ed and  laid  before  them;  and  by  the  same  good  providence, 
 commissioners  were  sent  from  both  Houses  of  this  Parliament, 
 to  consider,  with  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  such 
 articles  and  propositions  as  might  render  the  conjunction  be- 
 tween the  two  nations  more  beneficial  and  effectual  in  securing 
 religion  and  liberty  against  the  attempts  of  papists  and  pre- 
 lates, with  their  numerous  train  of  adherents.  Their  consul- 
 tations with  the  general  assembly,  at  this  time,  brought  forth  a 
 covenant;  and  considering  this  the  only  remaining  remedy,  after 
 every  thing  else  had  been  essayed  in  vain,  they  yielded  to  the 
 manifold  necessity,  which  nature,  religion,  loyalty,  and  love, 
 had  imposed  upon  them. 
 
 "  Nor  is  it  unknown  in  this  honourable,  reverend,  and  wise 
 audience,  what  errors  in  doctrine,  what  superstition  in  worship, 
 what  usurpation  and  intolerable  tyranny  in  government,  and 
 what  cruelty  has  been  set  on  foot,  exercised,  and  executed 
 against  both  the  souls  and  bodies  of  the  saints,  for  many  ge- 
 nerations, and  now  again  stimulated  by  the  rising  expec- 
 tations of  the  church  of  Rome;  all  which,  we  sincerely  hope, 
 
676  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  are  persuaded,  by  the  blessing  of  God  on  the  solemn 
 work  of  this  day,  will  soon  be  arrested  in  its  mad  career  of  ma- 
 lignity, and  the  disciples  of  Jesus  permitted  to  lead  quiet  and 
 peaceable  lives,  in  all  godliness  and  honesty.  Had  the  pope  of 
 Rome  the  knowledge  of  what  is  going  forward  this  day  in  Eng- 
 land, and  were  this  covenant  written  on  the  plaster  of  the  wall 
 over  against  him  where  he  sits,  Belshazzar-like,  surrounded 
 with  his  minions,  in  sacrilegious  splendour — his  heart  would 
 tremble  within  him,  his  countenance  grow  pale,  the  mitre  would 
 shake  on  his  head,  and  his  knees  smite  one  against  another; 
 while  his  prelates  and  cardinals,  the  agents  of  his  heaven-dar- 
 ing arrogance,  would  stand  transfixed  in  dumb  amazement  and 
 motionless  astonishment. 
 
 11  The  reformed  churches,  who,  by  their  letters,  have  been 
 exciting  us  to  christian  communion,  sympathy,  and  the  united 
 defence  of  our  common  religion,  when  they  shall  hear  of  our 
 blessed  conjunction,  our  uniform  religion,  and  our  united  exer- 
 tions in  its  defence — it  will  revive  their  drooping  and  desponding 
 souls,  dispel  the  fears  and  gloomy  apprehensions  that  oppress 
 their  spirits,  and  be  to  them  the  happy  commencement  of  a 
 jubilee,  and  joyful  deliverance  from  the  power  and  accursed 
 yoke  of  antichristian  tyranny.  From  these,  and  similar  consi- 
 derations, we  are  very  confident  that  the  church  and  kingdom 
 of  Scotland  will  most  cheerfully  join  in  this  solemn  covenant, 
 at  the  first  motion  of  which  their  bowels  were  moved  within 
 them.  And  that  we  may  give  testimony  to  this  our  confidence, 
 we,  who  are  commissioners  from  the  general  assembly,  although 
 we  have  no  particular  and  express  commission  to  that  effect 
 (not,  however,  for  want  of  willingness,  but  for  want  of  fore- 
 sight), willingly  offer  to  join  it  with  our  whole  hearts  and 
 hands,  in  the  confident  assurance,  that  the  Lord,  in  his  own 
 time,  in  spite  of  all  opposition  from  earth  or  hell,  will  crown  it 
 with  a  blessing  from  heaven  :  That  it  is  agreeable  to  the  word 
 of  God,  and  sanctioned  by  the  church,  both  in  the  Old  and  the 
 New  Economy  of  Grace,  you  have  seen  resolved  by  the  consent 
 and  testimony  of  a  reverend  assembly  of  godly,  learned,  and 
 great  divines;  and  as  the  word  of  God,  so  the  prayers  of  the 
 people  of  God,  in  all  the  reformed  churches,  are  in  our  behalf.  It 
 were  more  terrible  than  an  host  of  armed  papists,  to  hear  that 
 there  were  many  fervent  supplications  poured  out  to  God 
 against  our  proceedings.  There  are,  indeed,  blasphemies, 
 curses,  and  horrid  imprecations,  in  great  abundance,  from  ano- 
 ther quarter,  levelled  against  our  proceedings;  but  if  God  be 
 with  us,  who  can  hope  to  succeed  in  opposing  the  promising 
 operation  of  this  solemn  transaction  :  That  divine  providence, 
 which  hath  hitherto  maintained  this  cause,  and  supported  his 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  677 
 
 servants  in  promoting  it,  and  hath  kept  matters  in  an  equal  bal- 
 ance and  alternate  success,  will,  we  trust,  from  this  day  forth, 
 cast  the  balance  through  the  weight  of  this  covenant;  so  that 
 religion  and  righteousness  shall  prevail,  to  the  glory  of  God, 
 the  honour  of  the  king,  the  confusion  of  the  enemies  of  the 
 truth,  and  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  people  of  God;  all 
 which  may  HE  grant,  who  is  able  to  do  exceedingly  above  and 
 beyond  what  we  can  either  ask  or  conceive." 
 
 Mr  Henderson  having  concluded  his  speech,  Mr  Nye,  who 
 had  been  appointed  by  the  assembly  to  read  the  oath  and  cove- 
 nant to  the  intending  covenanters,  began  with  an  impressive 
 exhortation — which,  as  it  has  been  greatly  admired,  and  being 
 so  intimately  connected  witb  the  solemnity  of  this  memorable 
 transaction,  we  present  it  to  the  reader  at  large. 
 
 "  A  great  and  solemn  work,  honourable  and  reverend,  has 
 this  day  been  put  into  our  hands.  It  becomes  us,  therefore, 
 to  stir  up  and  awaken  our  hearts  to  its  magnitude  and  import- 
 ance. Here  we  have  to  deal  with  God  as  well  as  with  men, 
 and  with  God  in  his  greatness  and  excellency;  for  by  him  we 
 swear.  We  have,  at  the  same  time,  to  deal  with  God  in  his 
 goodness  and  tender  compassion,  who  now  stretcheth  out  a 
 strong  and  seasonable  arm  for  our  assistance.  We  are  met  to- 
 gether  this  day,  to  exalt  and  acknowledge  him  who  is  fearful  in 
 praises;  to  swear  by  that  name  which  alone  is  holy  and  reve- 
 rend; to  enter  into  a  covenant  and  league  never  to  be  forgotten 
 by  us,  nor  by  our  posterity;  and  such  an  oath,  as,  for  the  mat- 
 ter of  it,  the  persons  concerned,  and  the  circumstances  attend- 
 ing it,  has  not  been  in  any  age  of  which  we  read,  either  in  sa- 
 cred or  human  story,  yet  sufficiently  warranted  in  both ;  and  I 
 trust  the  fruits  and  blessed  consequences  of  this  solemn  transac- 
 tion shall  be  so  abundant,  that  the  present  and  many  succeed- 
 ing generations  will  have  cause  to  remember  it  with  unspeak- 
 able joy. 
 
 "  The  persons  engaging  in  this  league  are  three  kingdoms,  fa- 
 mous for  the  knowledge  and  the  acknowledgment  of  Christ  above 
 all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world.  To  swear  before  such  a  pre- 
 sence, should  mould  the  spirit  of  a  man,  one  would  think,  into 
 a  great  deal  of  reverence;  but  how  much  more  to  be  engaged, 
 to  be  incorporated,  and  that  by  the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  with 
 such  an  high  and  honourable  fraternity.  An  oath  is  to  be 
 esteemed  so  much  the  more  solemn,  by  how  much  greater  the 
 persons  are  who  swear.  As  in  heaven,  when  God  swears  to  his 
 Son;  on  earth,  when  kings  swear  to  one  another;  so  in  the 
 business  before  us,  where  three  kingdoms,  in  the  presence  of 
 God,  angels,  and  men.  mutually  bind  themselves  to  God  and 
 one  another — how  great,  how  sacred  must  be  the  obligation  ? 
 
678  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 "  And  as  the  solemnity  of  an  oath  is  to  be  measured  by  the 
 character  of  the  persons  swearing,  so  also  by  the  matter  sworn 
 to.  God  would  not  swear  to  the  covenant  of  works.  It  was 
 not  to  continue,  and  he  would  not  honour  it  with  his  oath. 
 But  to  the  covenant  of  grace,  which  is  the  gospel,  he  swears, 
 and  repents  not.  He  swears  for  the  salvation  of  men  and  of 
 kingdoms.  And  if  kingdoms  swear  to  God,  and  one  another, 
 what  oath  can  better  become  them  than  one  for  their  respective 
 preservation  and  salvation,  by  establishing  amongst  them  the 
 kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  a  me- 
 diator for  kingdoms  as  well  as  for  individuals? 
 
 "  As  the  oath  itself,  and  the  matters  sworn  to,  are  both  great 
 and  honourable,  so  also  is  the  end  and  purpose  of  these  great, 
 these  honourable  transactions.  Two  are  better  than  one,  saith 
 he,  who  best  knoweth  what  is  best,  and  from  whom  every  thing 
 hath  its  goodness  and  utility.  Association  is  the  offspring  of 
 divine  wisdom,  not  only  the  formation  of  creatures,  but  their 
 classification  also;  the  cluster,  as  well  as  the  grape,  are  the  do- 
 ings of  him,  who  is  wonderful  in  counsel,  and  excellent  in  work- 
 ing. Concord  and  harmony  among  men,  and  especially  among 
 the  saints,  are  highly  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God;  and  if  the 
 united  resolves  of  two  or  three,  who  meet  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
 shall  be  confirmed  in  heaven,  how  much  more  when  two  or  three 
 kingdoms  meet  together,  and  consent  in  his  name,  that  God  may 
 be  one,  and  his  name  one  amongst  them,  and  that  his  pre- 
 sence may  be  in  the  midst  of  them.  That  churches  and  kingdoms 
 are  near  to  God,  and  dear  in  his  sight,  his  patience  towards 
 them,  and  his  compassion  over  them  more  than  individuals,  suf- 
 ficiently testify.  But  kingdoms,  voluntarily  engaging  them- 
 selves for  his  kingdom,  for  his  saints  and  subjects,  for  the  pu- 
 rity of  his  religion,  his  worship  and  government,  and  with  all 
 humility  sitting  at  his  feet  to  receive  the  law  from  his  mouth — 
 What  a  price  does  he  set  upon  such  kingdoms,  especially  when 
 sensible  of  their  weakness  and  infirmity,  of  their  unfaithful 
 hearts,  lest  they  should  be  unstedfast  with  their  God,  and  start 
 from  his  cause  whenever  they  feel  the  knife  or  the  fire  !  They 
 bind  themselves,  as  we  do  this  day,  a  willing  sacrifice,  with  cords, 
 to  the  horns  of  the  altar.  What  is  the  import  of  this  solemn  en- 
 gagement? What  is  it  we  vow?  Is  it  not,  that  we  endeavour, 
 so  far  as  the  Lord  shall  assist  us  by  his  grace,  to  preserve  reli- 
 gion where  it  is  reformed,  and  promote  reformation  where  it  is 
 necessary  ?  Is  it  not  the  reformation  of  three  kingdoms  ?  A  re- 
 formation universal  in  respect  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and  wor- 
 ship, in  whatsoever  the  word  of  God  shall  discover  unto  us — 
 and  an  endeavour,  in  our  several  capacities,  to  advance  the 
 Redeemer's  kingdom  here  upon  earth,   that  Jerusalem  may  yet 
 
 ,'"  V 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.     .  679 
 
 become,  notwithstanding  the  contradiction  of  men,  the  praise 
 of  the  whole  earth?  To  practise,  is  a  fruit  of  love;  to  reform, 
 a  fruit  of  zeal;  but  so  to  reform  will  require  great  prudence  and 
 circumspection  in  each  of  these  churches.  The  reformation  of 
 religion  must  be  conducted  according  to  Godls  word,  the  best 
 ru]e — and  according  to  the  best  reformed  churches,  the  best  in- 
 terpreters of  this  rule.  If  England  has  attained  to  any  greater 
 perfection  in  handling  the  word  of  righteousness,  and  the  doc- 
 trine that  is  according  to  godliness,  so  as  it  make  men  more 
 godly  and  more  righteous;  or  if,  in  the  churches  of  Scotland, 
 there  be  any  more  light  and  beauty  in  matters  of  order  and  dis- 
 cipline, whereby  their  assemblies  are  more  orderly;  or  if  to  any 
 other  church  or  individual  it  has  been  given,  better  to  have 
 learned  Christ,  in  any  of  his  ways,  than  any  or  all  of  us — we 
 shall  humbly  bow,  and  kiss  their  lips,  that  can  speak  right 
 words  to  us  in  this  matter,  and  help  us  to  the  nearest  conformi- 
 ty to  the  word  and  mind  of  Christ  in  this  great  work  of  reform- 
 ation. 
 
 "  Honourable  and  reverend  brethren,  There  cannot  be  a  more 
 direct  and  effectual  way  to  exhort  and  persuade  the  wise,  and 
 men  of  serious  spirits,  such  as  they  to  whom  I  am  commanded 
 to  speak  on  this  occasion,  than  to  let  into  their  understandings 
 the  weight,  the  worth,  and  great  importance  of  the  work  they 
 have  thus  undertaken  to  perform.  This  oath,  in  the  matter 
 and  consequences  of  it,  is  of  such  concernment,  that  I  can  truly 
 say,  it  is  worthy  of  us,  it  is  worthy  of  all  these  kingdoms,  yea, 
 of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world;  for  it  is  swearing  fealty  and 
 allegiance  to  the  King  of  kings,  and  a  giving  up  all  these  king- 
 doms, which  are  portions  of  his  large  inheritance,  to  be  subdued 
 more  to  his  throne,  and 'to  be  ruled  more  by  his  sceptre,  in  the 
 increase  of  whose  government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end. 
 This  we  find,  in  its  utmost  accomplishment,  to  have  been  the 
 oath  of  the  angel,  who,  setting  his  feet  on  two  of  God's  king- 
 doms, the  one  on  the  sea,  and  the  other  on  the  earth,  and  lift- 
 ing his  hand  towards  heaven,  as  you  are  to  do  this  day,  so 
 swearing,  that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the  king- 
 doms of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  and  that  he  shall  reign  for 
 ever.  His  oath  regards  the  full  accomplishment;  ours  the  means 
 and  measures  conducive  to  that  glorious  event. 
 
 "  That  which  the  apostles  and  primitive  saints  so  long  and 
 devoutly  prayed  for;  that  which  our  fathers,  in  latter  times, 
 have  fasted,  prayed,  and  mourned  after,  but  attained  not;  even 
 the  cause  which  many  dear  saints,  now  triumphing  with  their 
 Redeemer  in  heavenly  glory,  promoted  by  sufferings  the  most 
 extreme,  poverty,  imprisonment,  banishment,  and  death,  ever 
 since  the  dawn  of  the  reformation — that  is  the  identical  cause 
 
680  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  work  which,  through  the  mercy  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  are 
 now  assembled,  not  only  to  pray  for,  but  to  swear  to.  And  sure- 
 ly it  must  be  the  answer  and  happy  result  of  so  many  prayers 
 and  tears,  of  so  much  sincerity  and  suffering,  that  three  king- 
 doms should  be  thus  born  in  one  day,  and  brought  about  to  such 
 an  engagement,  that  nothing  on  earth  can  be  greater;  for  to 
 this  end  kings  reign,  kingdoms  exist,  and  states  and  empires  are 
 upheld. 
 
 "  It  is  a  special  grace  and  favour  of  God,  brethren,  reverend 
 and  honourable,  that  he  hath  vouchsafed  you  an  opportunity, 
 and  put  it  into  your  hearts,  as  this  day,  to  embark  your  lives 
 and  estates  in  a  cause  so  closely  connected  with  his  glory.  And 
 should  you  only  lay  the  foundation  stone  of  this  great  work, 
 and  thereby  engage  posterity  to  raise  the  superstructure,  it  were 
 honour  enough.  But  you  are  designed  as  master-builders,  and 
 choice  instruments  for  effecting  a  settled  peace  and  thorough 
 reformation  in  these  kingdoms;  which,  if  the  Lord  shall  please 
 to  finish  in  your  hands,  a  greater  happiness  on  earth,  or  a 
 greater  means  of  augmenting  your  glory  in  heaven,  you  are  not 
 capable  of;  and  let  me  add,  for  your  further  encouragement, 
 that  God  has  set  his  covenant  like  the  heavens,  not  merely  for 
 duration,  but  also  for  extension.  The  heavens  move,  and  roll 
 about,  and  so  communicate  their  light,  and  heat,  and  virtue,  to 
 all  places  and  departments  of  the  earth — such  is  this  covenant. 
 How  much  this  solemn  league  and  covenant  may  provoke  other 
 reformed  churches  to  a  farther  reformation,  and  what  light  and 
 heat  it  may  communicate  abroad  to  other  parts  of  the  world,  is 
 only  for  him  to  declare,  whose  inheritance  is  the  uttermost  ends 
 of  the  earth,  and  whose  almighty  power  can,  from  the  smallest, 
 and  apparently  the  most  inefficient  means,  produce  the  most 
 astonishing  results. 
 
 "  But  however  this  may  be,  one  thing  I  am  sure  of,  that  this 
 is  a  method  of  procedure,  which,  in  all  probability,  will  enable 
 us  to  preserve  and  defend  our  religion  and  liberties  against  our 
 common  enemies,  and  perhaps  a  better  foundation  for  over- 
 throwing popery  and  prelacy — the  chief  of  these  enemies — will  be 
 laid  this  day,  than  has  ever  been  resorted  to  by  our  fathers  in 
 any  age  of  the  church.  With  regard  to  popery,  it  has  been  a 
 religion  ever  dexterous  in  fencing  and  mounting  itself  by  joint 
 strength  and  association.  All  its  professors  are  cast  into  fra- 
 ternities and  broth erhoods;  and  these  orders,  carefully  united, 
 and  bound  together  by  vows  one  with  another;  even  the  states 
 and  kingdoms,  which  in  this  way  they  have  bound  to  the  papal 
 throne,  they  endeavour  to  improve,  and  secure  by  strict  com- 
 binations amongst  themselves.  Witness,  of  late  years,  their 
 La  sainte  ligue,  or  holy  league.     Nay,  the  very  rise  of  popery 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  681 
 
 seems  to  have  been  effected  in  this  way  by  kings;  that  is,  king- 
 doms assenting  and  agreeing  (perhaps  by  some  joint  covenant — 
 the  text  says,  with  one  mind — why  not  then  with  one  mouth  ?)  to 
 give  their  power  to  the  beast,  and  make  war  against  the  Lamb — 
 Where  you  also  read,  that  the  Lamb  shall  overcome  them;  and 
 it  may  not  be  unworthy  of  your  consideration,  whether  this 
 triumph  may  not  possibly  be  effected  by  the  same  weapons. 
 He  is  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords.  He  can  therefore 
 unite  kings  and  kingdoms,  and  by  giving  them  one  mind  and 
 one  mouth,  thus  destroy  the  whore,  and  be  her  utter  ruin.  And 
 may  not  this  day's  work  be  the  happy  beginning  of  such  a 
 blessed  termination. 
 
 "  Prelacy,  another  common  enemy  that  we  covenant  and 
 swear  against — What  is  it  ?  or  what  has  it  been  ?  but  a  subtle 
 combination  of  the  clergy,  formed  into  a  policy  or  body  of  their 
 own  invention,  framing  themselves  into  subordination  and  de- 
 pendence on  one  another;  so  that  the  interest  of  each  is  improv- 
 ed by  all,  and  a  great  power  by  these  means  acquired  to  them- 
 selves; of  which  we  have  lately  had  the  woeful  experience. 
 The  joints  and  members  of  this  body,  you  all  know,  are  knit 
 together  by  the  sacred  engagement  of  an  oath — the  oath  of  ca- 
 nonical obedience,  as  they  call  it.  You  remember  also  with, 
 what  cunning  industry  they  endeavoured  lately  to  make  this 
 oath  and  covenant  more  subservient  to  their  own  interest,  and 
 that  of  their  posterity,  by  rendering  it  a  more  public,  solemn, 
 and  universal  engagement,  than  this  cause  of  theirs  has  ever 
 been  supported  by  since  the  days  of  popery;  and  had  they  suc- 
 ceeded in  their  purpose,  Scotland  and  Ireland  must  unquestion- 
 ably have  been  brought  at  last  into  this  holy  league  with  Eng- 
 land. But  blessed  be  God,  and  blessed  be  his  good  hand,  the 
 parliament  that,  from  the  indignation  of  their  spirits  against 
 so  horrid  a  yoke,  have  dashed  out  the  very  brains  of  this  detest- 
 able project,  and  are  now  this  day  present  before  the  Lord  to 
 receive  this  blessed  ordinance,  even  an  oath  and  covenant  as 
 solemn  and  as  extensive  as  they  intended  theirs — uniting  these 
 three  kingdoms  in  such  a  league  and  happy  combination,  as 
 will  doubtless  preserve  us  and  our  reformation  from  their  power 
 and  malignity,  though  the  mystery  of  their  iniquity  should  still 
 continue  working  amongst  us.  Come,  therefore,  I  speak  in  the 
 words  of  the  prophet,  '  Let  us  join  ourselves  to  the  Lord,  and 
 one  to  another,  and  each  to  all,  in  a  perpetual  covenant  never 
 to  be  forgotten.' 
 
 "  We  are  now  entering  upon  a  work  of  the  first  importance 
 to  us,  and  our  posterity  after  us — a  work  in  which  the  present 
 and  following  generations  are  more  deeply  interested,  than  in 
 any  that  has  at  anv  time  been  undertaken  by  us,  or  any  of  our 
 
 25  4  r 
 
682  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 progenitors  before  us,   or  by  any  of  tbe  nations  around  us.     If 
 tbc  Lord  sball  be  pleased  to  bless  tbis  our  beginning,  it  will  be 
 a  bappy  day,  and  we  sball  be  a  bappy  people.     An  oath  is  a 
 duty  of  the  first  commandment,  and  therefore  one  of  the  noblest 
 order  and  rank  of  duties,  and  ought  to  come  forth  attended 
 with  the  choicest  graces,  especially  with  humility  and  reveren- 
 tial fear — fear,   not  merely  of  God,  which  we  ought  to  possess 
 in  an  eminent  degree,  but  also  the  fear  of  an  oath,  which  is  a 
 most  solemn  duty,  established  by  no  less  authority  than  the  oath 
 of  God  himself.     '  I  have  sworn  (saith  the  Lord),  that  unto  me 
 every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  shall  swear/     Jacob 
 swore  by  the  fear  of  his  father  Isaac,  as  if  he  had  coveted  his 
 father's  grace,  as  well  as  his  father's  God;  and  this  is  the  ge- 
 nuine character  of  a  saint  of  God,  he  fears  an  oath.     Humility 
 is  another  requisite  grace — Thou  shalt  fear  the  Lord  thy  God, 
 and  serve  him,  and  swear  by  his  name.     The  apostle  Paul  was 
 sensible  of  this  engagement,  even  in  the  very  act  of  his  duty. 
 4 1  call  God  to  witness  (says  he),  whom  I  serve  with  my  spirit 
 in  the  gospel  of  his  Son.'     Although  it  be  a  work  of  the  lips, 
 yet  must  the  heart  be  engaged,  and  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul 
 interested  in  the  performance,  if  we  expect  our  services  to  be 
 acceptable  to  God.    '  Accept  the  free-will  offerings  of  my  mouth, 
 (saith  the  Psalmist),  and  teach  me  thy  judgments.'     It  must 
 also  be  gone  about  in  all  the  plainness,  simplicity,  and  sincerity 
 of  our  souls.     In  this  solemn  work  we  call  God  to  witness,  be- 
 twixt us  and  our  brethren,  with  whom  we  covenant — God,  the 
 searcher  of  hearts,  whose  eye  penetrates  the  darkest  recesses  of 
 our  souls,  and  in  whose  sight  both  the  deceived  and  the  deceiver 
 stand  naked  and  exposed.     If  our  hearts  be  not  right  towards 
 our  brethren — with  God  is  wisdom  and  strength ;  wisdom  to  dis- 
 cover our  hypocrisy,  and  strength  to  punish  it.    There  ought  not 
 to  be  so  much  as  a  wish  or  desire  that  the  words  of  our  cove- 
 nant should  become   snares — no,   not  to  the   weakest  of  our 
 brethren  that  join  with  us;  they  are  to  be  considered  as  bonds 
 of  unity  in  prosecuting  and  defending  this  great  and  necessary 
 work  of  reformation,  as  cords  of  love  and  social  affection,  to 
 cheer  up  and  encourage  one  another  to  every  good  work.     On 
 the  whole,  let  the  same  fear  and  jealousy  impress  your  spirits 
 on  this  great  occasion,  which  influenced  Jacob  in  a  very  critical 
 and  important  concern.     *  My  Father  (says  he)  peradventure 
 will  feel  me,  and  I  shall  seem  to  him  as  a  deceiver,  and  I  shall 
 bring  a  curse  upon  me,  and  not  a  blessing.' 
 
 "  I  take  the  liberty  more  earnestly  to  press  this  caution  upon 
 your  minds,  because  oaths  and  covenants  have,  on  former  occa- 
 sions, been  entered  into,  the  fruit  whereof,  though  great,  yet 
 came  short  of  our  expectation.    The  Lord  hath  surely  been  dis- 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  683 
 
 pleased  with  the  slight  impression  these   solemn  transactions 
 made  upon  our  hearts.     Be  more  watchful,  I  heseech  you,  and 
 stir  up  your  whole  souls  this  day.     Consider,  that  as  this  is  the 
 last  oath  you  are  likely  ever  to  take  of  this  kind,  so  is  it  our 
 last  refuge,  Tabulae  post  Naufragiurn.     If  this  last  remedy  fail, 
 through  our  insincerity  and  unstedfastness,  we  are  likely  to  re- 
 main, to  our  dying  day,  an  unhappy  people;  but  if  you  will  in- 
 deed swear  with  all  your  hearts,  and  seek  the  Lord  with  your 
 whole  desire,   God  will  be  found,  and  give  you  rest  from  all 
 your  enemies  round  about.     But  having,  with  due  reverence, 
 humility,  plainness,  and  godly  sincerity,  sworn  and  entered  into 
 this  solemn  engagement  to  God  and  man,  your   work  is  by 
 no  means  finished — you  must  make  conscience  of  performing 
 the  various  duties  this  solemn  transaction  imposes  upon  you, 
 otherwise  it  had  been  better  not  to  have  vowed,  Eccl.  v.     As  it 
 is  said  of  fasting,  it  is  not  the  hanging  down  of  the  head  for  a 
 day;  so  of  this  solemn  swearing,  it  is  not  the  lifting  up  of  the 
 hand  for  a  day,  but  an  honest  endeavour  to  perform  the  requi- 
 sitions of  this  covenant  all  our  days.     A  truce  breaker,  you 
 know,  is  classed  among  the  vilest  of  christians,  Tim.  iii.  3.;  so  n 
 covenant  breaker  is  ranked  with  the  worst  of  heathens,  Rom.  i. 
 31 — while  he  that  sweareth,    and    changeth   not,    though  the 
 contents  of  his  oath  should  prove  even  hurtful  to  his  individual 
 interest,   such  an  one  shall  have  his  habitation  with  the  most 
 high,  and  dwell  in  his  tabernacle.    And  as  for  you,  my  reverend 
 brethren,  who  are  ministers  of  the  gospel,  there  is  yet  another 
 obligation  especially  imposed  upon  you.     Let  us  take  heed  to 
 ourselves,  that  our  walk  and  conversation  correspond  with  this 
 our    covenant   engagement.     What  a  dishonourable  reflection 
 it  must  throw  on  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  should  we  be  found 
 to  waver  and  prove  careless  and  lukewarm  in  any  word,  part, 
 or  purpose  of  this  our  oath,  were  it  even  in  matters  of  minor 
 importance,  you  can  easily  collect  from  that  apology  of  Paul, 
 2  Cor.  i.  17,  18.;  and  how  much  more  in  such  a  case  as  this, 
 should  we  be  found  to  purpose,  nay  more,  even  to  vow,  cove- 
 nant, and  swear,  and  notwithstanding  of  all  this,  to  start  aside, 
 fall  back,  or  go  on  unbecomingly  in  this  solemn  undertaking  ! 
 
 "  That  we  may,  all  of  us,  who  take  the  covenant  this  day,  be 
 constant  and  immoveable,  always  abounding  in  this  blessed 
 work  of  the  Lord,  there  is  a  twofold  grace  or  qualification 
 indispensable,  and  to  be  earnestly  sought  after.  1st,  We  must 
 get  courage,  and  pursue  the  ends  of  our  engagement  with  in- 
 flexible resolution.  It  is  said,  in  the  prophecy  of  Haggai,  that 
 the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  Zerubbabel,  governor  of  Judab, 
 and  the  spirit  of  Joshua  the  high-priest,  and  the  spirit  of  all  the 
 remnant  of  the  people,  and  they  came  and  did  work  in  the  house 
 
684>  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 of  the  Lord.  The  work  of  God's  house,  reformation  work  in 
 particular,  has  ever  been  a  stirring  work.  Read  the  history  of 
 the  church  of  God  from  the  beginning,  and  you  shall  not  find, 
 in  any  age  or  country,  that  any  significant  reformation  was  at 
 any  time  effected,  either  in  doctrine  or  discipline,  without  great 
 stir  and  opposition.  This  was  foretold  by  the  same  prophet, 
 chap.  ii.  ver.  7.  The  promise  is,  he  will  fill  his  house  with  glory : 
 But  mark  what  goes  before,  in  verse  6th,  i  Yet  a  little  while,  and 
 I  will  shake  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  sea  and  the  dry 
 land* — denoting  the  nations  of  the  earth,  with  all  their  diversified 
 degrees  of  classification.  The  same  place  is  applied,  Heb.  xii. 
 to  the  removing  of  the  Jewish  rites,  their  ceremonial  law,  the 
 moveables  of  God's  house.  In  the  apostles'  times,  you  will  also 
 find,  that  the  gospel  being  preached,  some  believed,  and  some 
 believed  not.  Hence  the  stir  commences,  verse  6th,  Those  who 
 believed  not,  took  unto  themselves  certain  lewd  fellows  of  the 
 baser  sort,  and  having  gathered  a  company,  set  all  the  city  in 
 an  uproar,  and  then  charged  the  brethren  with  the  disturbance 
 themselves  had  created.  These  are  the  men,  say  they,  who 
 turn  the  world  upside  down  !  In  such  a  work,  therefore,  we 
 have  need  of  courageous,  composed,  and  persevering  spirits, 
 that  we  may  not  be  struck  with  fear  and  amazement  at  the 
 noisy  proceedings  of  our  enemies;  but  by  shaking  off  all 
 drowsiness  and  timidity,  press  forward,  with  well-directed  ex- 
 ertions, unappalled  by  all  the  din,  bluster,  and  opposition  that 
 may  surround  us.  Nay,  it  is  not  impossible,  that  even  amongst 
 ourselves  there  may  be  outcries  in  abundance.  i  Sir,  you  will 
 undo  all  (says  one).'  '  You  will  put  every  thing  into  confusion 
 (says  another).'  '  If  you  proceed  in  this  course  (says  a  third), 
 we  can  expect  nothing  but  blood.'  But  a  wise  statesman,  like 
 an  experienced  mariner,  knows  the  compass  of  his  vessel;  and 
 though  it  heave  and  be  tossed  by  the  wind  and  the  waves, 
 while  the  affrighted  passengers  cry  out,  all  will  be  lost,  still  he 
 keeps  the  possession  of  himself,  attends  to  his  proper  work,  and 
 steers  his  course  onward  to  the  desired  haven. 
 
 "  If  you  are  determined  in  your  hearts  to  do  any  such  work 
 in  the  house  of  God  as  this,  if  you  mean  to  pluck  up  what  has 
 many  years  ago  been  planted,  to  build  up  what  was  then  cast 
 down,  and  go  through  this  difficult  service  with  fearless  intre- 
 pidity and  unrelinquishing  perseverance,  you  must  pray  the 
 Lord  of  the  house  to  furnish  you  with  this  excellent,  this  active 
 and  enterprising  spirit,  otherwise  you  will  be  outspirited  by 
 your  opposers,  and  both  yourselves,  and  the  cause  you  have  so 
 warmly  espoused,  slighted  and  dishonoured.  On  the  other 
 hand,  our  zeal  must  be  tempered  with  prudence,  and  our  reso- 
 lution and  activity  mingled  with  gentleness  and  humility.     A 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  685 
 
 man  may  be  very  zealous  in  prosecuting  a  good  cause,  and  at 
 the  same  time  both  meek  and  merciful.  Jesus  Christ  was  both 
 a  Lion  and  a  Lamb.  He  tells  us,  j  That  he  came  to  send  fire 
 on  the  earth;'  and  on  another  occasion,  he  rebukes  his  disciples 
 for  their  fiery  spirit,  saying,  '  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  de- 
 stroy men's  lives,  but  to  save.'  Such  also  were  the  tempers 
 and  compositions  of  Moses  and  Paul;  and  similar  dispositions 
 will  be  found  highly  profitable  to  us  in  this  work  of  reforma- 
 tion. I  have  never  observed  any  disputes  carried  on  with  more 
 bitterness  and  ill-natured  animosity  in  men's  writings,  nor  with 
 more  unsanctified  heat  of  spirit,  yea,  and  by  godly  men  too, 
 than  in  those  controversies  relating  to  discipline,  church  govern- 
 ment, and  ceremonies.  Surely  to  dispute  concerning  govern- 
 ment with  such  ungoverned  passions,  and  argue  for  reformation 
 with  a  spirit  so  unreformed,  is  of  all  uncomely  things  the  most 
 uncomely.  Let  us  be  zealous,  as  Christ  was,  to  cast  out  all,  to 
 extirpate  and  root  out  every  plant  that  his  heavenly  Father 
 hath  not  planted ;  and  yet  let  this  be  effected  in  an  orderly  man- 
 ner, and  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  whose  servants  we  are.  For 
 the  servant  of  Christ  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle  to  all  men, 
 apt  to  teach,  and  patient,  in  meekness  instructing  such  as  op- 
 pose, 2  Tim.  ii.  24,  25.  We  solemnly  engage  -this  day  to  use 
 our  utmost  endeavours  for  reformation;  but  let  us  remember, 
 that  too  much  heat,  as  well  as  too  much  coldness,  in  prosecut- 
 ing this  great  undertaking,  may  harden  men  in  their  ways,  and 
 retard  our  progress  in  rectifying  the  disorders  of  the  house  of 
 God. 
 
 "  Brethren,  let  us  proceed  to  this  blessed  work  with  such  a 
 frame  of  spirit,  with  such  a  mind  for  the  present,  and  with  sucli 
 resolutions  for  the  time  to  come.  Let  us  not  be  wanting  to  the 
 opportunity  God  has  this  day  put  into  our  hands,  and  then  I 
 can  say  with  the  prophet,  t  Consider  this  day  and  upwards, 
 even  from  this  day,  that  the  foundation  of  the  Lord's  work  is 
 laid — consider  it;  for  from  this  day  will  I  bless  you,  saith  the 
 Lord.'  Nay,  we  have  received  as  it  were  the  first-fruits  of  this 
 promise  already.  It  is  said  of  some  men's  good  works,  that 
 they  are  manifest  beforehand;  even  so  may  it  be  said  of  the 
 good  work  of  this  day.  God  hath  as  it  were  beforehand  testi- 
 fied his  acceptance.  While  we  were  thinking  and  proposing 
 this  freewill  offering,  he  was  protecting  and  defending  our 
 army,  causing  our  enemies,  the  enemies  of  this  good  work,  to 
 flee  before  us,  and  has  given  us  a  victory  by  no  means  to  be 
 despised.  Surely  this  oath  and  covenant  shall  be  Judah's  joy, 
 the  joy  and  comfort  of  this  whole  kingdom,  yea,  of  all  the 
 three  kingdoms,  and  matter  of  rejoicing  to  all  the  reformed 
 churches. 
 
686  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 "  Jesus  Christ,  King  of  the  saints,  govern  us  by  his  Spirit, 
 strengthen  us  by  his  power,  undertake  for  ns  according  as  he 
 hath  sworn,  even  the  oath  which  he  sware  to  our  fathers,  that 
 he  would  grant  unto  us,  that  we,  being  delivered  out  of  the 
 hands  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him  without  fear,  in  holiness 
 and  righteousness  before  him  all  the  days  of  our  lives.  Grant 
 unto  us  also,  that  when  we  are  gathered  to  our  fathers,  our 
 children  after  us  may  stand  up  in  the  defence  of  this  cause,  and 
 enjoy  its  manifold  blessings,  that  his  great  and  reverend  name 
 may  be  honoured  and  exalted,  till  he  himself  shall  come  and 
 perfect  all  by  his  own  wisdom  and  power.  Even  so,  come, 
 Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.     Amen." 
 
 Having  thus  concluded  his  exhortation,  Mr  Nye  read  the 
 form  of  the  oath  and  covenant;  which  having  done,  all  the 
 members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  those  of  the  Assembly 
 of  Divines,  stood  up,  with  their  right  hands  raised,  and  un- 
 covered, while  Mr  Nye,  with  great  solemnity,  again  read  over 
 the  form  of  the  obligation;  after  which  the  solemn  service  of  this 
 remarkable  day  was  concluded  with  prayer. 
 
 But  we  return  to  Mr  Henderson,  who,  as  a  member  of  the 
 assembly,  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  the  solidity  of  his 
 arguments  in  favour  of  a  thorough  reformation;  but  particularly 
 in  pressing  upon  the  members  the  beauty,  order,  and  utility  of 
 a  presbyterian  form  of  church  government,  to  the  establishment 
 of  which,  his  talents  and  exertions  contributed  to  no  small  de- 
 gree. His  deportment  was  grave,  and  well  becoming  the  dig- 
 nity of  a  representative  of  the  church.  He  discovered  a  con- 
 scientious uprightness  in  all  his  designs,  his  opinions  were 
 therefore  regarded  with  great  deference,  and  his  influence 
 was  very  considerable.  When  it  became  necessary  to  vin- 
 dicate the  principles  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  or  any  of 
 the  reformed  presbyterian  churches,  he  discovered,  by  his 
 speeches,  how  well  he  understood  their  doctrine  and  discipline, 
 and  how  able  he  was  to  defend  them;  but  his  rare  abilities  were 
 peculiarly  displayed  in  reconciling  contending  interests,  and 
 maintaining  harmony  amongst  the  members.  Being  a  thorough 
 presbyterian,  nothing  proposed  in  the  assembly,  at  variance 
 with  that  system,  could  pass  without  his  determined  opposition. 
 Hence  he  stood  equally  opposed  to  independency  and  erastian 
 supremacy,  which  were  pressed  on  the  assembly  by  men  of 
 the  first  talents  and  erudition,  and  greatly  befriended  by  their 
 respective  parties  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament. 
 
 In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1645,  Mr  Henderson  was  ap- 
 pointed, by  the  parliament,  to  assist  their  commissioners  in  the 
 treaty  between  them  and  the  king  at  Uxbridgc.  The  parlia- 
 mentary commissioners  were  instructed  to  demand  the  abolition 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  687 
 
 of  episcopacy,   and  the  ratification  of  the  presbyterian  church 
 government.     The  king's  commissioners  opposed  this  demand; 
 upon  which  it  was  agreed  to  hear  the  divines  on  both  sides. 
 Mr  Henderson  opened  the  proceedings  in  a  speech,  which  even 
 Lord  Clarendon  acknowledges  was  not  destitute  of  eloquence. 
 He  took  up  the  ground  which  he  conceived  was  best  calculated 
 for  bringing  the  dispute  to  an  early  conclusion,  and  waving 
 the  lawfulness  of  episcopacy,  he  said,    "  The  question   before 
 them  was,  not  whether  episcopal  government  was  lawful,  but 
 whether  it  was  so  necessary  that  Christianity  could  not  subsist 
 without  it?"     He  argued  that  it  was  not,  and  that  such  an 
 affirmation  could  not  be  made  without  condemning  all  other 
 reformed  churches:     That  the  English  parliament  had  found 
 episcopacy  a  very  inconvenient  and  corrupt  government :    That 
 the  hierarchy  had  been  a  public  grievance  from  the  reformation 
 downwards :    That  the  bishops  had  always  encouraged  popery, 
 and  had  retained  many  of  her  superstitious  rites  and  customs  in 
 their  worship  and  government;  and  that  they  had  lately  made 
 an  obvious  approximation  to  the  Romish  communion,  to  the  great 
 scandal  of  the  protestant  churches  of  Germany,  France,  Scot- 
 land, and  Holland :    That  the  prelates  had  embroiled  the  whole 
 of  the    British   islands,    and   kindled   the    flame    which    then 
 raged  throughout  the  three  kingdoms :    That  for  these  reasons, 
 the  parliament  had  resolved  to  change  this  inconvenient  and 
 mischief-making  government,  and  set  up  another,  more  natu- 
 rally formed  for  the  promotion  of  piety  and  christian  fellowship, 
 in  its  place;  and  that  this  proposed  alteration  was  the  best  ex- 
 pedient that  could  be  resorted  to,  for  extinguishing  the  remains 
 of  popery,  and  uniting  the  protestant  churches  and  states  in 
 christian  amity,  and  in  the  defence  of  their  religious  principles 
 and  civil  rights;  nor  could  he  conceive  how  his  majesty's  con- 
 science should  feel  opposed  to  such  a  salutary  measure,  after 
 having  already  agreed  to  the  suppression  of  prelacy  in  his  king- 
 dom of  Scotland. 
 
 But  the  advocates  for  episcopacy,  aware  that  this  plain  mode 
 of  reasoning,  adapted  to  the  understanding  of  every  person  pos- 
 sessed of  ordinary  good  sense,  would  be  too  easily  comprehend- 
 ed by  the  people,  they  would  not  therefore  hazard  their  cause 
 upon  such  doubtful  ground,  but  endeavoured  to  involve  the 
 question  in  a  maze  of  learned  obscurity,  by  introducing  a  ge- 
 neral dispute  respecting  episcopal  government.  Dr.  Stuart,  the 
 king's  commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  church  of  England,  en- 
 larged on  the  apostolical  institution  of  episcopacy,  and  endea- 
 voured to  prove,  that  without  bishops  the  sacerdotal  character 
 could  not  be  conveyed,  nor  the  sacraments  administered  to  any 
 significancy — desiring,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  controversy 
 
688  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 might  be  maintained  syllogistically,  as  became  scholars.  To 
 this  Mr  Henderson  readily  agreed.  The  dispute  was  long  and 
 close;  and  although  each  party,  as  usual,  claimed  the  victory,  it 
 was  allowed  by  some  of  the  auditors,  who  have  never  been  con- 
 sidered as  prejudiced  in  favour  of  presbyterianism,  that  while 
 Mr  Henderson  equalled  the  king's  commissioners  in  learning,  he 
 surpassed  them  in  modesty.  The  treaty  was,  however,  broken 
 off;  and  matters,  in  place  of  being  mended,  became  worse  and 
 worse.  The  king's  affairs,  after  being  a  considerable  time  on 
 the  decline,  were  totally  ruined  in  the  spring  of  1646;  and  he 
 finding  no  other  outgate,  threw  himself  into  the  Scottish  army, 
 which  retired  with  him  to  Newcastle.  When  he  arrived  there, 
 lie  sent  for  Mr  Henderson,  being  his  chaplain,  to  attend  him. 
 
 In  the  present  ruined  state  of  the  king's  affairs,  the  increas- 
 ing strength  of  the  parliamentary  forces,  and  the  popularity  of 
 their  claims,  the  only  measure  likely  to  settle  the  war,  and  re- 
 store the  king  to  the  exercise  of  his  authority,  seemed  to  be  his 
 acquiescence  in  the  measures  proposed  by  the  parliament, 
 namely,  to  take  the  covenant,  and  abolish  the  hierarchy,  and 
 ratify  a  presbyterian  government  in  the  churches  of  both  king- 
 doms. Mr  Henderson  was  considered  the  best  qualified  for 
 dealing  with  the  king  in  this  delicate  concern;  and  notwith- 
 standing his  ill  state  of  health,  he  complied  with  the  king's  re- 
 quest, and  the  entreaties  of  his  fellow-commissioners.  Accord- 
 ingly, arriving  at  Newcastle  about  the  middle  of  May,  he  re- 
 ceived a  kind  welcome  from  his  majesty;  but  soon  perceived 
 that  he  was  determined  not  to  comply  with  the  requisitions  of 
 his  parliament.  The  king  signified,  that  he  could  not,  in  con- 
 science, consent  to  the  abolition  of  episcopacy,  and  proposed 
 that  Mr  Henderson  should  carry  on  a  dispute  with  some  epis- 
 copal divines,  a  list  of  whose  names  he  gave  him.  This,  how- 
 ever, Mr  Henderson  declined,  as  a  business  he  had  no  authority 
 to  undertake,  and  as  little  reason  to  expect  when  he  complied 
 with  his  majesty's  request  of  coming  to  Newcastle.  "  Besides 
 (said  he),  such  disputations  have  seldom  had  any  good  effect  in 
 ending  controversies;  and  in  the  present  state  of  your  majesty's 
 affairs,  must  be  extremely  prejudicial  to  your  majesty's  interest. 
 All  that  I  intended,  says  Mr  Henderson  elsewhere,  was  a  free, 
 yet  modest  declaration  of  the  motives  that  induced  me  to  dis- 
 like and  abandon  episcopal  government,  in  which  I  was  bred 
 in  the  university."  It  was  therefore  agreed,  that  the  king's 
 scruples  should  be  discussed,  in  a  series  of  papers,  privately  be- 
 tween himself  and  Mr  Henderson.  These  papers  are  eight  in 
 number,  five  by  his  majesty,  and  three  by  Mr  Henderson,  from 
 some  time  in  May  till  the  16th  of  July. 
 
 Mr  Henderson  apprised  his  majesty,  on  this  occasion,  of  the 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  689 
 
 great  loss  his  cause  had  sustained,  and  was  likely  still  farther 
 to  sustain,  by  exciting  learned  men  to  dispute  on  the  power 
 and  prerogative  of  princes — subjects  that,  for  the  most  part, 
 were  incapable  of  standing  the  light  of  critical  investigation. 
 But  perceiving  that  he  tenaciously  adhered  to  opinions  discard- 
 ed by  all  the  moderate  episcopalians,  and  maintained  by  those 
 only  who  were  leading  him  to  the  brink  of  a  precipice,  he  de- 
 clined entering  farther  into  a  fruitless  contest.     Mr  Henderson, 
 whose  health  was  considerably  impaired  when  he  came  to  New- 
 castle, grew  much  worse  while  he  remained  with  the  king.    His 
 constitution,  worn  down  with  incessant  labour,  the  sorrow  and 
 anxiety  that  preyed  upon  his  spirits,   from  the  obvious  infatua- 
 tion and  incurable  obduracy  of  the  king,  increased  his  disorder; 
 and  considering  his  dissolution  fast  approaching,  he  resolved  to 
 return  to  Scotland.     Before  leaving  Newcastle,  he  had  an  audi- 
 ence of  the  king;  where  he  again  reminded  him  of  the  very 
 critical  situation  of  his  affairs,   and  his  full  conviction   that 
 nothing  but  his  concurring  with  the  claims  of  his  parliament 
 could  restore  his  authority,  and  tranquillize  the  general  ferment 
 that  pervaded  every  part  of  his  dominions.     Thus  having  dis- 
 charged the  duties  of  that  employment  which  placed  him  about 
 his  majesty's  person,  he  took  his  final  farewell.     He  returned 
 by  sea,  and  arrived  at  Leith  on  the  11th  of  August  1646,  very 
 sick,  and  much  exhausted.     He  continued  so  weak,  that  he  was 
 often  unable  to  speak;  but  when  able,  he  expressed  himself 
 much  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  brethren  and  christian  acquaint- 
 ances who  visited  him;  and  within  eight  days  from  his  arrival 
 in  Scotland,  he  rested  from  his  labours,  on  the  19th  day  of 
 August  1646. 
 
 In  the  course  of  examining  his  papers,  there  was  found  amongst 
 them  a  short  Confession  of  his  Faith,  written  with  his  own 
 hand,  wherein  he  expresses  his  dying  thoughts  at  this  trying 
 hour;  and,  amongst  other  things,  declares,  "That  most  of  all 
 he  was  indebted  to  the  free  grace  and  goodness  of  God,  who 
 had  called  him  to  the  faith  of  the  promises,  and  had  exalted  him 
 to  preach  them  to  his  fellow-sinners,  and  to  be  a  willing,  though 
 weak,  instrument  in  promoting  this  wonderful  work  of  reform- 
 ation; which  he  prayed  the  Lord  to  bring  to  a  happy  termina- 
 tion." Mr  Livingston,  in  his  Characteristics  at  the  end  of  his 
 life,  declares,  "  That  he  was  present  at  his  death,  and  saw  him 
 expire  in  great  peace  and  comfort."  And  Mr  Baillie  says, 
 "  He  died  as  he  lived,  in  great  modesty,  faith,  and  piety."  His 
 mortal  remains  were  interred  in  the  Gray-friar's  church-yard, 
 Edinburgh.  Having  no  family  of  his  own,  his  nephew,  Mr 
 George  Henderson,  performed  the  last  kind  offices  of  humanity 
 to  his  mortal  part,  and  erected  a  monument,  with  appropriate 
 25  4  s 
 
090  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 inscriptions,  which  testify  how  very  highly  he  was  esteemed  by 
 all  classes,  both  in  Scotland  and  England,  by  whom  his  death 
 was  greatly  lamented.  After  the  restoration  of  king  Charles, 
 when  every  species  of  indignity  was  done  to  the  reformation,  and 
 to  those  who  were  active  in  promoting  it,  the  earl  of  Middle- 
 ton,  the  king's  commissioner,  procured  an  order  of  parliament, 
 in  July  1662,  for  disfiguring  the  monument,  and  erasing  the 
 inscriptions;  but  at  the  revolution  the  monument  was  repaired, 
 and  the  inscriptions  replaced,  and  it  still  stands  entire  on  the 
 south-west  side  of  the  Gray-friars  church.  It  is  a  quadrangu- 
 lar pillar,  with  an  urn  at  the  top. 
 
 Mr  Henderson  having  died  soon  after  his  conferences  with 
 the  king,   the  episcopalians  industriously  circulated  a  report, 
 that  he  was  not  only  vanquished,  but  even  converted  by  his 
 royal  antagonist — a  report,  however,   that  had  not  the  least 
 shadow  of  truth  to  support  it,  and  which  was  keenly  contra- 
 dicted by  all  who  had  an  opportunity  of  being  well  acquainted 
 with   Mr  Henderson's  sentiments  at  that  time,  and  during  the 
 short  period  of  life  after  his  return  to  Edinburgh.     But  all  this 
 was  not  sufficient;  for  about  two  years  after  his  death,  a  de- 
 claration, in  his  own  name,  made  its  appearance;  in  which  he 
 was  represented  as  expressing  great  contrition  for  having  ac- 
 ceded to  the  proceedings  of  the  presbyterians.     This  base  for- 
 gery was  done  by  a  Scottish  episcopalian  divine ;  on  the  ap- 
 pearance of  which,  the  general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scot- 
 land called  and  examined  those  persons  who  were  present  along 
 with  Mr  Henderson  during  his  conferences  with  the  king,  and 
 also  several  of  those  who  were  most  conversant  with  him  dur- 
 ing the  short  period  that  elapsed  from  his  return  to  Edinburgh 
 till  his  death;  who  unanimously  declared,  that  he  continued  to 
 the  last  unaltered  in  his  sentiments.     Upon  this  the  assembly 
 passed  an  act,  declaring  the  said  pamphlet  forged,  scandalous, 
 and  false,  and  the  author  and  contriver  of  the  same  destitute  of 
 charity  and  a  good  conscience,  a  gross  liar  and  calumniator,  led 
 by  the  spirit  of  the  accuser  of  the  brethren.     Again,  about  the 
 middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,   this  convicted  forgery  was 
 credulously  revived  by  Mr  Ruddiman,   who,  notwithstanding 
 his  eminent  learning,  is  known  to  have  had  the  weakest  preju- 
 dices respecting  jacobinism  and  episcopacy.     His  attempt  was, 
 however,  triumphantly  exposed  by  Mr  Logan.    Bishop  Guthrie, 
 in  his  Memoirs,  page  24th,  says,  "  Upon  Mr  Henderson  all  the 
 ministers  of  the  presbyterian  persuasion  depended;  and  no  won- 
 der, for  iu  gravity,  learning,  wisdom,  and  state  policy,  he  was 
 by  far  their  superior."     Pinkerton  calls  him  "  The  Franklin  of 
 the  Scottish   commotions."     And  Granger,  a  minister  of  the 
 church  of  England,  says  concerning  him,  "Mr  Henderson,  the 
 
ALEXANDER  HENDERSON.  G91 
 
 chief  of  the  Scottish  clergy  in  this  reign,  was  learned,  eloquent, 
 polite,  and  perfectly  versed  in  the  knowledge  of  mankind.  He 
 was  at  the  helm  of  affairs  in  the  general  assemblies  of  Scotland, 
 and  sent  into  England  in  the  double  capacity  of  a  divine  and 
 plenipotentiary.  He  knew  how  to  rouse  the  people  to  war,  or 
 negotiate  a  peace.  Whenever  he  preached,  it  was  to  crowded 
 audiences;  and  when  he  pleaded  or  argued,  he  was  regarded 
 with  the  mutest  attention."  His  parts  and  acquirements  quali- 
 fied him  for  acting  in  the  most  difficult  situations  either  in 
 church  or  state,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  times  placed  him 
 in  both;  where  his  prudence,  activity,  and  incorruptible  inte- 
 grity, commanded  the  universal  approbation  and  gratitude  of  the 
 covenanters,  and  excited  even  the  admiration  of  his  enemies. 
 Called  from  his  beloved  retirement  by  the  sufferings  and  neces- 
 sity of  his  weeping  country,  pressed  down  by  the  power  of  am- 
 bitious prelates,  an  arbitrary  court,  and  corrupt  statesmen,  he 
 entered  upon  the  bustle  of  public  affairs  at  a  time  of  life  when 
 others  think  of  retiring.  Nor  could  the  fatigue  and  anxiety, 
 attending  his  difficult  services,  induce  him  to  relinquish  his  sta- 
 tion, till  his  shattered  frame  sunk  beneath  the  burden  of  his 
 labours,  and  he  died  a  martyr  to  the  cause  he  had  so  ably  sup- 
 ported. 
 
 His  unremitting  labours,  in  the  public  concerns  of  the  church 
 and  nation,  left  him  little  leisure  to  prepare  works  for  the  press. 
 The  public  papers  he  drew  up,  however,  point  him  out  as  one 
 of  the  best  writers  of  his  time;  and  even  his  few  sermons 
 which  have  been  published,  though  hastily  written,  amidst  a 
 multiplicity  of  diversified  avocations,  justify  the  reputation  he 
 had  gained  for  this  species  of  composition.  As  a  public 
 speaker,  he  was  eloquent,  judicious,  and  highly  popular.  His 
 eloquence  was  easy,  but  impressive,  grave,  but  fluent,  like  the 
 motion  of  a  deep  river,  that  carries  one  insensibly  along  with 
 it,  rather  than  the  rapidity  of  a  dashing  torrent;  and  few  preach- 
 ers have  ever  been  better  attended,  or  listened  to  with  more 
 watchful  anxiety. 
 
 RICHARD  BAXTER. 
 
 Amongst  the  countless  number  of  human  beings,  who 
 have  succeeded  one  another  on  the  bustling  theatre  of  this 
 world,  acted  their  various  parts  and  disappeared,  how  few  have 
 had  their  names  and  virtues  transmitted  to  posterity.  Even 
 amongst  those  who  have  made  the  greatest  figure  in  life,  or  had 
 the  greatest  applause  after  their  death,  the  far  greater  part  have 
 owed  their  distinction  to  the  root  from  whence  they  sprung,  to 
 the  fortunate  circumstances  of  their  lives,  the  influence  and  in- 
 terest of  their  friends,  and  other  external  causes  and  happy  co- 
 
692  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 incidents  not  to  be  accounted  for;  while  the  great  mass  of  man- 
 kind either  pass  off  in  unnoticed  silence,  or,  having  exercised 
 their  talents  to  the  hurt  of  society,  and  the  disgrace  of  humani- 
 ty, are  stigmatized,  and  hung  up  in  the  annals  of  human  trans- 
 actions for  a  terror  to  succeeding  generations.  There  have, 
 nevertheless,  been  in  every  age  some  few  individuals,  who,  by 
 their  remarkable  endowments,  have  broke  through  all  the  diffi- 
 culties that  stood  in  their  way,  and  without  the  aid  of  paren- 
 tage, patronage,  or  pecuniary  resources,  have,  by  their  merito- 
 rious exertions  for  the  good  of  mankind,  dissipated  every  cloud 
 that  envy  or  malice  could  raise  to  obscure  their  worth,  and  left 
 behind  them  memorials  to  emblazon  the  annals  of  time.  Such 
 blessings  have  some  men  been  to  the  world,  that  every  attempt 
 to  detract  from  their  merits  has  recoiled  on  their  detractors, 
 and  marked  them  with  indelible  disgrace. 
 
 In  this  distinguished  class  of  individuals,  Mr  Richard  Bax- 
 ter, the  subject  of  this  memoir,  holds  a  prominent  place.  His 
 soul  was  too  great  for  a  useless  or  inactive  life.  His  piety  and 
 integrity  were  too  conspicuous  to  justify  even  a  suspicion,  that 
 he  could  pervert  his  uncommon  abilities,  or  use  his  great  inter- 
 est in  promoting  principles  which  his  conscience  did  not  allow. 
 His  origin  was  low,  and  his  descent  obscure.  He  had  no  exter- 
 nal advantages  to  raise  and  distinguish  him;  but  found  his  pro- 
 gress opposed  by  a  host  of  difficulties,  some  of  them  apparently 
 insurmountable;  yet  his  personal  merit  has  procured  him  a 
 name,  which,  while  it  eclipses  the  fame  of  his  detractors,  will 
 outlive  all  their  calumnies. 
 
 He  was  born  at  Rowton,  near  high  Ercal  in  Shropshire,  on 
 the  12th  of  November  1615,  in  the  house  of  Richard  Adency, 
 his  grand-father  on  the  mother's  side,  where  he  spent  his  infan- 
 cy, which  was  remarkable  in  nothing  but  a  pious  inclination. 
 At  the  age  of  ten  years  he  was  taken  home  to  his  father's  house 
 at  Eaton  Constantine,  a  village  about  five  miles  from  Shrews- 
 bury, where  he  passed  away  his  childhood  and  youth;  which, 
 upon  after  reflection,  he  found  to  correspond  with  the  declara- 
 tion of  the  wise  man — "  Childhood  and  youth  are  vanity."  His 
 father  was  a  freeholder  of  Shropshire,  who  made  no  great  figure 
 in  the  world.  His  estate  was  small,  and  so  encumbered  with 
 debt,  that  in  order  to  clear  it,  he  was  shut  up  to  the  most  par- 
 simonious economy.  This  circumstance  prevented  his  son  from 
 receiving  a  regular  and  liberal  education.  For  want  of  better 
 instructors,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  readers  in  the  village 
 where  he  resided.  His  teachers  were  both  lewd  and  ignorant; 
 for  learning  was  in  a  very  low  and  languishing  state  in  that 
 remote  corner  of  the  land  at  the  period  we  arc  speaking  of;  nor 
 could  much  improvement  be  expected  from  such  ignorant  and 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  693 
 
 indifferent  instructors.  His  greatest  help,  in  grammatical 
 learning,  he  received  from  Mr  John  Owen,  master  of  the  free- 
 school  at  Wroxeter,  with  whom  he  continued  till  he  had  been 
 for  some  time  captain  of  his  school,  and  advanced  as  far  as  he 
 was  qualified  to  forward  him. 
 
 No  man  could  be  more  desirous  of  academical  instruction; 
 yet  of  this  he  was  wholly  deprived,  in  consequence  of  an  obser- 
 vation of  Mr  Owen's,  when  he  was  leaving  his  school,   "  That 
 it  might  perhaps  be  better  for  him  to  go  and  live  with    Mr 
 Wickstead,  chaplain  to  the  council  at  Ludlow,  who  had  autho- 
 rity from  the  king  to  keep  one  to  attend  him."     Mr  Baxter  was 
 exceeding  sorrowful   at  the  proposal;  but  his  parents  were  so 
 highly  pleased  to  have  their  son  so  near  at  home,  that  he  was 
 obliged,  though  with  great  reluctance,  to  acquiesce.     But  Mr 
 Wickstead  was  no  great  scholar  himself;  and  though  in  other 
 respects  he   used  Mr  Baxter  well,  he  took  no  pains  to  instruct 
 him;   so  that  the  only  advantage  he  had  in  this  place  was  the 
 free  use  of  an  excellent  library,  and  abundance  of  time  to  study; 
 which  he  improved  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.     Here,  how- 
 ever, he  spent  a  year  and  a-half;  and  having  returned  to  his 
 father's  house,  he  was  soon  after,  at  the  request  of  Lord  New- 
 port, engaged  to  supply  the  place  of  Mr  Owen,  who  had  fallen 
 into  a  consumption,   of  *  which  he  died.     Strongly  inclined  to 
 the  ministry,  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  the  necessary  qualifica- 
 tions for  that  sacred  office;  and  disappointed  in  his  hopes  of  a  uni- 
 versity education,  he  now  applied  himself  to  a  rigid  course  of 
 study,   under  the  direction  of  Mr  Francis  Garbett,  minister  of 
 Wroxeter;  and  with  his  assistance,  ran  through  a  course  of  phi- 
 losophy.    His  industry,  at  this  time,  was  constant  and  severe; 
 but  the  delicacy  of  his  frame  greatly  retarded  his  progress.     He 
 endeavoured  to  manage  his  studies  in  divinity  with  the  occa- 
 sional  advice   of  several  neighbouring  ministers,   with  whose 
 help  he  was  making  hopeful  progress,  till  a  new  motion  was 
 made,  which  had  well  nigh  turned  his  thoughts  to  a  very  dif- 
 ferent course  of  life. 
 
 When  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  INIr  Wickstead  persuaded 
 him  to  abandon  all  thoughts  of  the  church,  to  leave  the  country 
 for  the  court,  and  make  interest  for  some  office,  by  which  he 
 would  have  an  opportunity  of  rising  in  the  world.  The  thing 
 was  pleasing  to  his  parents;  and  by  their  instigation,  he  came 
 up  to  Whitehall,  with  a  recommendation  to  Sir  Henry  Herbert, 
 then  master  of  the  revels.  He  was  courteously  received,  and 
 kindly  entertained;  but  found  nothing  desirable  in  a  court  life, 
 but  much  that  made  him  very  uneasy;  and  in  a  month's  time 
 he  resolved  to  leave  those  scenes  of  dissipation  and  courtly  in- 
 sincerity for  the  country,  where  he  resumed  his  former  course  of 
 
694*  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 studies;  which  he  now  prosecuted  with  more  indefatigable  ardour 
 than  can  be  well  imagined,  till,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Mr 
 Richard  Foley  of  Stourbridge,  he  accepted  the  mastership  of  a 
 free-school,  which  that  gentleman  had  lately  erected  at  Dudley, 
 having  an  usher  under  him.  By  this  time  God  had  fitted  him 
 for  great  service  in  his  church,  by  bringing  him  to  more  than 
 ordinary  seriousness.  While  teaching  the  free-school  at  Dud- 
 ley, he  read  a  variety  of  practical  treatises;  which  were  the 
 means  of  impressing  his  mind  with  the  importance  of  religion, 
 to  which  he  was  not  a  little  quickened  by  the  weakness  of  his 
 body,  and  a  bad  state  of  health,  which  he  then  believed  would 
 carry  him  off  in  less  than  a  twelvemonth. 
 
 We  are  informed  by  Dr.  Calamy,  "  That  from  twenty-one  to 
 twenty-three  years  of  age  he  was  constantly  under  the  apprehen- 
 sion of  death,  and  greatly  exercised  about  the  concerns  of  his 
 soul;  which  created  in  him  an  earnest  desire  to  instruct  igno- 
 rant, presumptuous,  and  profane  persons  in  the  important  truths 
 that  concern  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  In  the  meantime,  the 
 ridicule  and  censure  he  was  likely  to  draw  down  upon  himself, 
 for  entering  into  the  ministry  without  an  academical  education, 
 with  all  its  attendant  honours,  but  especially  the  awful  respon- 
 sibility attached  to  the  pastoral  office,  greatly  discouraged  him; 
 yet  the  prospect  of  an  early  removal  to  another  world,  together 
 with  a  strong  desire  of  being  serviceable  to  the  souls  of  perish- 
 ing men,  by  turning  them  into  the  paths  of  righteousness,  over- 
 powered all  these  apprehensions.  Having  his  views  thus  fixed 
 upon  the  ministry,  he  applied  to  Dr.  Thornborough,  bishop  of 
 Winchester,  for  holy  orders;  which,  after  examination,  he  re- 
 ceived, having  as  yet  no  conscientious  scruples  with  regard  to 
 conformity  to  the  church  of  England. 
 
 With  regard  to  this  controversy,  he  had  consulted  the  neigh- 
 bouring ministers,  who  furnished  him  with  Downham,  Sprint, 
 and  Dr.  Burgess,  who  had  all  written  in  defence  of  conformity; 
 but  they  could  furnish  him  with  none  who  had  taken  up  the  other 
 side  of  the  controversy,  all  of  whom  they  represented  as  mean 
 scholars,  whose  arguments  were  weak  and  inconclusive;  where- 
 upon his  mind  was  satisfied,  that  church  conformity  was  both 
 lawful  and  expedient,  and  that  the  conformists  had  the  better 
 cause.  With  this  conviction  he  subscribed,  without  the  least 
 scruple,  as  is  usual  at  the  time  of  his  ordination. 
 
 Being  settled  at  Dudley,  he  preached  both  in  the  town  and 
 neighbouring  villages,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  seve- 
 ral non-conformists,  whom  he  considered  too  censorious  and 
 bitter  in  their  animadversions  against  the  conformists,  although 
 he  found  them  honest  and  godly  people.  From  them  he  had 
 the  perusal  of  several  writings  on  their  own  side  of  the  question; 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  695 
 
 and,  amongst  the  rest,  Ames'  fresh  Suit  against  the  Ceremonies; 
 which  he  carefully  read,  and  compared  with  Dr.  Burgess'  Re- 
 joinder; and,  upon  the  whole,  at  this  time  came  to  the  follow- 
 ing conclusions :    "  That  kneeling  was  lawful — of  the  surplice 
 he  had  some  doubts,  but  was  rather  inclined  to  consider  it  no 
 sufficient  objection;  for  although  he  was  determined  never  to 
 use  it,  till  under  a  necessity  of  so  doing,  he  could  not  perceive 
 how  he  could  justify  himself  in  forsaking  his  ministry  merely 
 on  that  account.     Of  the  ring  in  marriage  he  had  not  the  least 
 scruple.     The  cross  in  baptism,  he  conceived,  had  been  suffi- 
 ciently proven  by  Dr.  Ames  to  be  unlawful;  and  with  this  con- 
 viction, never  once  used  that  ceremony.     The  English  Liturgy, 
 in  particular,  he  thought  very  defective,  and  in  great  disorder, 
 though  not  to  a  degree  that  should  render  it  unwarrantable  to 
 such  as  could  not  be  better  furnished.     To  a  form  of  prayer, 
 and  a  liturgy  as  such,  providing  the  matter  therein  contained 
 were  sound,  he  had  no  great  objection."     He  looked  for  disci- 
 pline in  the  church,  and  lamented  the  neglect  of  it;  but  at  this 
 time  was  not  so  sensible  as  afterwards,  that  the  very  frame  of 
 diocesan  prelacy,  more  than  even  the  negligence  of  the  bishops, 
 either  excluded  or  prevented  it  from  being  exercised.     Sub- 
 scription he  began  to  consider  unlawful,  and  repented  his  rash- 
 ness in  submitting,  till  he  had  more  maturely  examined  the 
 contents  of  those  books  which  he  had  been  called  to  subscribe. 
 For  although  he  could  use  the  Common  Prayer,  and  had  not  as 
 yet  wholly  renounced  diocesan  prelacy,  still  to  subscribe  Ex 
 Animo,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  three  books  contrary  to  the 
 word  of  God,  was  what  he  would  by  no  means  have  done,  had 
 he  taken  the  same  view  of  the  matter  at  the  time  of  subscrip- 
 tion; so  that  subscription,  the  cross  in  baptism,  and  the  promis- 
 cuous admission  to  the  Lord's  supper  of  all  comers,  who  had  not 
 been  excommunicated  by  a  bishop  or  chancellor,   who  knew 
 nothing  of  their  life  and  qualifications,  were  all  to  which  he  was 
 yet  disinclined  to  conform. 
 
 While  he  continued  at  Dudley,  he  had  a  numerous  auditory, 
 and  a  very  tractable  people  to  deal  with;  but  within  nine 
 months,  he  was  induced  to  remove  to  Bridgenorth,  the  second 
 town  in  Shropshire,  as  assistant  to  Mr  William  Madstard, 
 where  he  was  indulged  in  all  his  scruples,  and  put  upon  no 
 work  to  which  he  had  any  conscientious  objection;  which,  with 
 the  prospect  of  peace  and  quietness,  were  the  only  inducements 
 he  had  for  leaving  his  former  charge. 
 
 He  was  scarcely  well  settled  in  this  place  till  he  was  disturb- 
 ed with  the  et  catera  oath,  which  was  framed  by  the  convocation 
 then  sitting.  But  the  act  of  swearing  to  a  blind  et  ccetera,  which 
 might  be  legally  altered  by  the  king,  and,  of  course,  might,  in 
 
696  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 process  of  time,  become  an  oath  of  rebellion,  he  could  by  no 
 means  agree  to.  It  was  an  oath,  besides,  that  must  have  pre- 
 vented every  swearer  from  making  any  attempts  at  church  re- 
 formation. It  was,  moreover,  an  encroachment  on  the  privi- 
 leges of  parliament  to  have  such  an  oath  imposed  without  their 
 consent.  The  neighbouring  ministers,  somewhat  alarmed,  met 
 together  to  consult  what  was  best  to  be  done  on  this  threaten- 
 ing occasion;  when  some  were  for  quietly  acquiescing,  but  a 
 much  greater  number  were  for  standing  up  against  it.  This 
 put  Mr  Baxter  on  a  more  close  and  critical  investigation  of  the 
 divine  right  of  episcopacy;  in  the  course  of  which,  having  read 
 Bucer,  Parker,  and  Baynes,  which  he  compared  with  the  rea- 
 sons of  bishop  Downam,  he  was  convinced,  that  though  all  kinds 
 of  episcopacy  was  not  flatly  condemned  by  the  scriptures,  the 
 English  diocesan  form  of  it  was  calculated  to  corrupt  both  the 
 churches  and  ministry,  and  to  exclude  all  true  church  disci- 
 pline, by  substituting  a  heterogenial  thing,  the  offspring  of  an 
 interested  clergy,  in  its  place;  so  that  this  very  oath,  which  had 
 been  imposed  for  the  express  purpose  of  subjugating  the  nation 
 for  ever  to  the  diocesans,  was  the  means  of  alienating  the  mind 
 of  Mr  Baxter,  and  thousands  beside  him,  from  their  oppressive 
 government. 
 
 Many,  who  before  this  went  quietly  on  with  their  own  busi- 
 ness, and  left  the  bishops  to  their  own  measures,  were,  by  the 
 terror  of  this  oath,  roused  from  their  indifference  to  look  about 
 them,  and  consider  what  they  were  doing.  New  animosities 
 were  engendered  amongst  the  contending  parties,  by  the  un- 
 ceasing debates  which  this  unreasonable  and  impolitic  oath  had 
 occasioned,  and  its  opposers  became  more  and  more  friendly  to 
 the  cause  of  nonconformity,  and  more  conciliated  to  its  defend- 
 ers, till  that  which  was  designed  for  their  ruin  ultimately  prov- 
 ed their  greatest  advantage. 
 
 While  the  church  of  England  was  thus  divided  on  the  ques- 
 tion of  conformity,  the  church  of  Scotland  was  also  in  a  flame. 
 That  nation,  which  had  been  accustomed  to  a  presbyterian  govern- 
 ment in  the  church,  had  first  a  more  moderate  system  of  epis- 
 copacy imposed  upon  them  than  that  exercised  in  England;  un- 
 der which,  though  they  felt  uneasy,  yet  they  had  continued 
 quiet,  and,  generally  speaking,  orderly,  till  the  English  Prayer 
 Book,  with  some  trifling  alterations,  together  with  the  English 
 Ceremonies,  were  very  unceremoniously  enforced  upon  the 
 nation. 
 
 The  first  public  reading  of  this  new  Service-book  occasioned 
 an  insurrection  in  Edinburgh,  and  roused  such  an  indignant 
 feeling  throughout  the  nation,  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  care  and 
 industry  of  the  earl  of  Traquhair,  the  king's  commissioner,  the 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  697 
 
 number  of  the  malcontents  still  increased,  till,  the  greater  part 
 of  the  nobility  falling  in  with  them,  they  got  the  whole  power 
 of  the  nation  into  their  own  hands.  At  the  same  time  the 
 king  imposed  a  tax  on  his  English  subjects,  called  shipmoney, 
 on  pretence  of  strengthening  the  navy;  which,  being  done  with- 
 out the  consent  of  parliament,  gave  general  dissatisfaction.  A 
 universal  murmuring  was  thus  created  through  the  whole  king- 
 dom, more  especially  amongst  the  country  nobility  and  gentry, 
 who  considered  this  arbitrary  transaction  as  trenching  upon  the 
 fundamental  laws  of  the  country,  the  privileges  of  parliament, 
 and  the  established  rights  of  individual  property. 
 
 The  universal  cry  raised  by  these  measures,  and  the  fears  of 
 the  people  at  this  period,  were,  "  That  if  parliaments  and  pro- 
 perty were  once  destroyed,  the  constitution  would,  from  that 
 moment,  be  dissolved;  so  that  no  man  could  have  the  least  secu- 
 rity, either  for  property,  liberty,  or  life,  save  the  precarious  and 
 capricious  pleasure  of  the  king,  whose  will  would  be  the  su- 
 preme law."  Numbers  refused  to  pay  this  shipmoney  tax,  and 
 were  thereupon  distrained.  Mr  Hampden  and  the  Lord  Sey 
 brought  it  to  a  trial  at  law;  in  which  Mr  Oliver,  St.  John,  and 
 others,  defended  the  cause  of  the  people.  The  twelve  judges 
 were  consulted,  and  all,  with  the  exception  of  judges  Hutton 
 and  Crook,  gave  their  opinion  in  favour  of  the  king;  which,  of 
 course,  occasioned  a  still  greater  noise. 
 
 The  Scots,  soon  after  this,  entered  England  with  an  army, 
 encouraged,  it  is  said,  by  many  of  the  English  nobility,  who 
 could  not  perceive  by  what  other  means  they  might  force  the 
 king  to  call  a  parliament  to  rectify  the  disorders  of  the  state. 
 The  earls  of  Essex,  Warwick,  Bedford,  Clare,  Bolingbroke, 
 Mulgrave,  and  Holland,  with  the  lords  Sey  and  Brook,  are  re- 
 puted by  some  to  have  been  concerned  in  forwarding  this  mea- 
 sure. But  Heylin  says,  "  That  the  Scots,  after  they  had  enter- 
 ed the  country,  not  the  first,  but  the  second  time,  persuaded 
 these  noblemen,  that  the  liberties  of  England  depended  upon 
 their  defending  the  powers  and  privileges  of  their  parliament; 
 which  moved  them  at  last  to  petition  the  king,  that  he  would 
 be  graciously  pleased  to  call  his  parliament  together  to  settle 
 the  increasing  disorders  both  of  the  church  and  state." 
 
 The  king  met  the  Scots  at  Newcastle;  a  pacification  was 
 concluded,  and  an  English  parliament  called;  on  which  the 
 Scotch  army  returned  home.  This  parliament,  however,  soon 
 displeased  the  king;  on  which  account  it  was  dissolved,  and  a 
 fresh  war  undertaken  against  the  Scotch;  to  the  expense  of  which, 
 besides  others,  the  papists  made  liberal  contributions.  The 
 Scottish  nation  loudly  complained  that  this  unnecessary  war 
 was  the  effect  of  popish  counsels;  and  calling  their  army  again 
 
 25  4t 
 
t)98  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 to  the  field,  they  marched  into  England.  The  English  on t'6 
 more  petition  for  a  parliament,  and  once  more  it  is  resolved 
 on,  and  put  into  execution;  but  neither  the  Scottish  nor 
 English  armies  were  disbanded.  Thus,  what  was  afterwards 
 called  the  long  parliament,  had  its  origin;  a  parliament  the 
 most  active,  successful,  and  celebrated  of  any  that  ever  sat  in 
 England. 
 
 This  parliament  being  met,  they  commenced  their  labours 
 with  the  reformation  both  of  church  and  state.  Long  and  en- 
 ergetic speeches  were  made  against  shipmoney,  against  the 
 judges  that  approved  of  the  measure,  the  et  ccetera  oath,  and  the 
 convocation  of  bishops  who  formed  it;  also  against  my  lord 
 Strafford,  archbishop  Laud,  and  other  evil  counsellors.  There 
 was  an  astonishing  harmony  amongst  the  members;  for,  at  this 
 time,  as  the  king  had  imposed  the  shipmoney  on  the  common- 
 wealth, and  at  the  same  time  permitted  the  bishops  to  impose  upon 
 the  church  their  intolerant  acts  of  conformity,  and  suspension  for 
 want  of  supercanonical  obedience;  so  the  parliament,  consist- 
 ing of  two  parties,  the  one  strongly  attached  to  civil,  and  the 
 other  to  ecclesiastical  liberty,  they,  by  uniting  their  endeavours, 
 their  influence,  and  their  votes,  carried  every  thing  before  them. 
 
 No  sooner  was  the  disposition  of  the  majority  of  this  parlia- 
 ment made  known  throughout  the  kingdom,  than  complaints 
 and  petitions,  respecting  grievances,  both  civil  and  ecclesiasti- 
 cal, were  poured  into  the  house  from  every  quarter  of  the* king- 
 dom, and  great  things,  such  as  heretofore  had  been  considered 
 impossible,  were  effected  in  a  very  short  time.  An  act  was  now 
 passed  against  the  high  court  of  commission  and  the  civil  power 
 of  churchmen;  another,  that  the  parliament  should  not  be  dis- 
 solved without  its  own  consent;  and  a  third,  for  triennial  parlia- 
 ments; and  at  length  the  king  was  even  forced  to  withdraw  his 
 protection  from  the  lord-deputy  Wentworth,  whom  the  parlia- 
 ment had  charged  with  treason,  and  almost  every  thing  assumed 
 a  new  appearance.  Amongst  a  mass  of  other  important  matters, 
 a  reformation  of  the  clergy  was  resolved  on,  and  a  committee 
 appointed  to  hear  petitions  and  complaints  against  them;  upon 
 which  multitudes  from  every  corner  of  the  country  came  up 
 with  complaints  against  their  ministers;  some  for  being  insuffi- 
 cient, some  erroneous,  some  for  imposing  illegal  innovations, 
 and  other  some  for  scandalous  lives.  Mr  John  White  was 
 chairman  of  this  committee,  and  published  the  evidence  and  de- 
 cisions against  two  hundred  scandalous  ministers,  which,  Mr 
 Calamy  tells  us,  were  filled  with  most  abominable  particulari- 
 ties, which  had  better  been  concealed  than  published,  to  become 
 the  sport  of  papists,  athiests,  and  other  profane  persons. 
 Among  the  numerous  complaints  laid  before  this  committee,  the 
 
JRICHARD  BAXTER.  699 
 
 town  of  Kidderminster  presented  a  petition,  charging  their  vicar, 
 and  his  two  curates,  with  insufficiency  for  their  offices;  and  the 
 vicar,  conscious  of  the  fact,  compounded  the  business,  by  al- 
 lowing £  60  per  annum,  out  of  something   less    than  £  200, 
 which  the  living  was  worth,  to  support  a  preacher,  who  was  to 
 be  chosen  by  fourteen  of  the  trustees.     The  preacher,  thus  to 
 be   chosen,  to  have  permission  to  preach  whenever  he  pleased; 
 while  the  vicar  was  to  read  the  common  prayer,  and  perform 
 such  parts  of  the  service  as  the  preacher  might  consider  matter 
 of  scruple;  for  all  which  he  gave  a  bond  of  £  500.     This  ar- 
 rangement being  completed,  the  trustees  invited  Mr  Baxter  to 
 give  them  a  sermon;  which  he  did  so  much  to  their  satisfaction, 
 that  he  was  unanimously  chosen   to   be  their  minister.     He 
 spent  two  years  at  Kidderminster  before  the  commencement  of 
 the  war,  and  fourteen  after.     He  found  the  place  like  a  piece 
 of  dry  and  barren   ground,   ignorance  and  profanity  greatly 
 abounding,  both  in  the  town  and  surrounding  country;  but  by 
 the  blessing  of  heaven  on  his  labours,  it  soon  assumed  the  ap- 
 pearance of  paradise,  flourishing  in  all  the  fruits  of  righteousness. 
 Rage  and  malice  at  first  gave  him  considerable  opposition;  but 
 it  soon  passed  over,  and,  by  the  divine  blessing,  his  unwearied 
 labours  amongst  the  people  had  an  unprecedented  success. 
 
 Before  his  coming  to  Kidderminster,  that  town  was  notable 
 for  the  vanity  of  its  inhabitants.  They  had  a  yearly  show, 
 wherein  they  were  wont  to  exhibit  the  forms  of  giants,  and  other 
 antic  devices,  in  their  gaudy  processions.  Mr  Baxter  gave  them 
 no  disturbance;  yet  the  more  vicious  had  still  some  scurvy  thing 
 to  vent  against  him  in  some  part  of  their  exhibitions.  Some  time 
 after  his  entering  on  this  charge,  the  parliament  sent  down  an 
 order  to  demolish  the  statues  or  images  of  any  of  the  three 
 persons  of  the  Trinity,  or  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which  might  be 
 found  in  churches,  or  crosses  in  church-yards.  The  church- 
 warden was  about  to  proceed  in  that  business,  when,  lo,  in  an 
 instant,  men  from  every  quarter  appeared,  with  such  weapons 
 as  came  first  to  hand,  in  order  to  protect  their  images;  and  Mr 
 Baxter  was  blamed  for  all;  but,  by  a  happy  providence,  he  was 
 gone  about  a  mile  into  the  country,  by  which  he  escaped  their 
 rage  and  deadly  resentment.  Next  Lord's  day  Mr  Baxter  dealt 
 plainly  with  them,  pointed  out  the  enormity  of  their  offence, 
 and  told  them,  since  they  seemed  determined  to  shed  his  blood, 
 he  would  leave  them,  and  so  prevent  them  from  the  commission 
 of  such  a  heinous  transgression.  The  poor  creatures  were  quite 
 ashamed  of  themselves;  for,  after  all,  they  were  sorry  to  think 
 of  parting  with  him. 
 
 Mr  Baxter  was  not  so  discouraged  by  this  riot,  but  that  he 
 set  about  his  labours  with  still  more  determined  resolution.    On 
 
700  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 two  days  of  every  week,  he  and  his  assistant  took  between  them 
 fourteen  families  for  private  conference  and  catechising.  He 
 spent  about  an  hour  with  each  family,  and  lest  their  bashfulness 
 might  make  it  disagreeable,  or  the  ignorance  observed  might  be 
 sent  abroad,  none  else  were  admitted.  In  his  pulpit  services 
 he  had  a  diligent  and  attentive  auditory.  Though  the  church 
 was  capacious,  and  very  commodious,  his  congregation  was 
 soon  augmented  to  that  degree,  that  five  additional  galleries  were 
 added  for  their  accommodation. 
 
 Before  the  civil  war,  the  riotous  rabble  had  boldness  enough 
 to  make  serious  godliness  a  common  scorn,  and  stigmatize  all 
 who  seemed  conscientious  in  the  performance  of  family  worship, 
 with   the  name  of  precisians,   puritans,  and  round-heads.     If 
 they  met  together  for  prayer,  or  left  an  ignorant  or  drunken 
 clergyman  to  hear  a  godly  minister  in  a  neighbouring  parish, 
 the  bishop's  spies  watched  over  them,  and  the  high  commission 
 court  grievously  afflicted  them.     After  the  war,  the  case,  in 
 this  respect,   was  considerably  altered.     Piety  was  not  only 
 at  full  liberty,  but  countenanced,  encouraged,  and  protected 
 from  insult.     On  the  whole,  Mr  Baxter  found  so  much  of  the 
 Spirit  of  God  accompanying  his  labours  at  Kidderminster,  and 
 had  such  an  affectionate  regard  to  the  loving  people  of  this 
 place,  that  no  preferment  in  the  kingdom  could  have  induced 
 him  to  make  an  exchange.     The  civil  war  now  began  to  rage, 
 and  the  blood  of  the  nation  was  pouring  out;  so  that  the  languish- 
 ing state  seemed  almost  incurable.     The  arbitrary  measures  of 
 the  king,  and  their  rigid  execution,  had  thrown  the  whole  into 
 commotion  and  universal  discontent.    The  common  cry,  at  this 
 time,   was  for  the  execution  of  justice  upon  delinquents.     The 
 favourites,  and  special  advisers  of  the  king,  were   of  course 
 alarmed  for  their  own  safety;  and  having  no  hope  of  forgive- 
 ness from  the  people,  they  urged  him  on  to  a  war,  that  proved 
 his  undoing.     The  lord-keeper  Finch,  and  secretary  Windbank, 
 fled  the  country.     The  judges,  who  advised   the   legality  of 
 shipmoney,  were  accused  in  parliament,  and  some  of  them  im^ 
 prisoned.     The  earl  of  Strafford  and  archbishop  Laud  were 
 committed  to  the  tower,  charged  with  high  treason.     The  trial 
 of  deputy  Wentworth  was  strongly  opposed  and  protracted  by 
 the  king,  who  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to  stop  the  prosecu- 
 tion; which  considerably  divided  the  parliament.     The  lords 
 Falkland,  Digby,  and  other  men  of  note,   were  for  gratifying 
 his  majesty  in  this  particular,  and  saving  his  deputy;  but  others 
 cried  aloud  for  justice — insisting,  that,  as  a  conspiracy  the  most 
 formidable  had  been  set  on  foot  for  subverting  the  fundamental 
 laws  of  the  kingdom  and  the  liberty  of  the  people,  and  deputy 
 Wentworth  being  at  the  head  of  that  conspiracy,  if,  said  they, 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  701 
 
 tins  greatest  of  crimes  pass  unpunished,   it  will  naturally  en- 
 courage other  enemies  of  the  state  to  perpetrate  similar  acts  of 
 treason,  and  thereby  hazard  the  repose  of  the  nation,  and  even 
 the  existence  of  the  constitution.     These  debates  were  attended 
 with  much  heat  and  party  feeling;  but  the  heat  soon  subsided, 
 and  the  parliament  became  more  unanimous,  and  at  last  resolved 
 to  defend  their  privileges,  and  those  of  the  people,  at  all  hazards. 
 The  king  had  a  considerable  party,  composed  of  state  politi- 
 cians and  friends  to  the  ecclesiastical   hierarchy,  who  jointly 
 exerted  themselves  against  the  parliament;  but  the  country  par- 
 ty, depending  on  the  assistance  of  all  true-hearted  Englishmen, 
 should  matters  come  to  an  extremity,  carried  every  thing  with  a 
 high  hand.     About  this  time  the  London  apprentices  carried 
 up  a  petition  to  Westminster  in  a  body;  and  falling  in  with 
 some  of  the  bishops  by  the  way,  who  were  passing  to  the  House 
 in  their  coaches,  these  apprentices,  forgetting  the  rules  of  com- 
 mon civility,  raised  the  shout  of  no  bishops^  and  rudely  laughed 
 them  to  scorn.     Whereupon  these,  with  other  ecclesiastics,  in 
 a  pretended  fright,  met  together,  and  declaring  themselves  de- 
 terred from  attending  their  duty  in  parliament,  by  clamour  and 
 tumults,  protested  against  any  law  that  might  be  enacted  in 
 their  absence.     This  protest,  however,  was  so  resented  by  par- 
 liament, that  those  who  subscribed  it  were  voted  delinquents, 
 and  sent  to  prison  for  thus  attempting  to  destroy  the  power  of 
 parliament.     The  London  petitions  were  carried  up  by  great 
 numbers  of  the  petitioners;  which  occasioned  such  scuffles  and 
 tumults,  that  the  king  began  to  consider  himself  unsafe,  either 
 in  the  city  or  its  vicinity.    The  two  armies  of  Scots  and  English 
 were  still  in  the  north,  undisbanded  for  want  of  money  to  pay 
 them  off.     The  English  army,  wanting  their  pay,  were  discon- 
 tented; and  becoming  mutinous,  a  scheme  was  laid  to  march 
 them  suddenly  to  London,  and  disperse  the  parliament.    But  this 
 being  discovered,  several  of  the  principal  officers  were  examin- 
 ed, who  confessed  that  some  near  the  king  had  treated  with  them 
 about  marching  the  army  to  London.    When  this  was  publish- 
 ed, it  convinced  the  greater  part  of  the  members,  that  the  king, 
 while  he  amused  them  with  promises,  only  waited  for  an  op- 
 portunity to  bear  them  down  by  force,  and  use  them  at  his 
 pleasure.     All  the  measures  of  the  king  were  laid  with  so  little 
 judgment,  and  managed  with  so  little  address,  that  they  made 
 the  parliament  more  and  more  popular,  while  they  rendered  his 
 intentions  extremely  suspicious.     Being  at  last  advised  no  longer 
 to  stand  by  and  see  himself  affronted  by  his  parliament,  the  king 
 took  an  unprecedented  step,  by  suddenly  entering  the  House, 
 with  a  company  of  armed  cavaliers,  and  demanding  five  of  the 
 members  whom  he  charged  with  high  treason ;  but  having  got 
 
702  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 previous  notice,  they  bad  retired  to  the  city.  The  House  was 
 hereupon  alarmed;  and  considering,  that  if  their  lives  and  li- 
 berties were  thus  to  be  menaced  by  the  sword,  unless  their  pro- 
 ceedings were  merely  the  echo  of  the  royal  will,  they  deserved 
 not  the  name  of  an  English  parliament,  but  a  junto  of  slaves. 
 This  rash  measure  of  the  court  was  accordingly  voted  a  breach 
 of  privilege,  and  the  effect  of  evil  counsel;  which  vote  they  pub- 
 lished, to  awaken  the  people  to  rescue  them,  as  if  they  were  in 
 imminent  danger. 
 
 But  there  was  nothing  that  wrought  upon  the  people  so  ef- 
 fectually as  the  Irish  massacre  and  rebellion.  The  Irish  papists 
 having  raised  an  unexpected  insurrection  throughout  the  whole 
 kingdom,  and  seized  upon  almost  all  the  places  of  strength,  on 
 the  23d  October  1641,  so  that  Dublin,  which  was  to  have 
 been  surprised  on  the  same  night,  was  saved  almost  by  a  mi- 
 racle. In  this  massacre  and  rebellion  they  murdered  200,000 
 persons,  in  the  most  wanton,  cruel,  and  barbarous  manner  ever 
 recorded  in  history;  besides  an  incredible  number  whom  they 
 had  stripped  naked,  chiefly  women  and  children,  and  setting 
 fire  to  their  dwellings,  left  them  to  perish  with  cold  and  hunger. 
 Some  thousands  of  whom,  however,  escaped  to  Dublin,  and  af- 
 terwards to  England,  where  they  begged  their  bread  through 
 the  country,  and  terrified  the  inhabitants  with  the  dreadful  de- 
 tail of  their  sufferings,  and  the  destruction  of  their  murdered 
 countrymen.  The  Irish  declared  that  they  had  the  king's 
 commission  for  what  they  did;  which  many,  by  taking  all  cir- 
 cumstances into  consideration,  were  ready  to  believe,  and  all 
 England  was  struck  with  terror,  lest,  having  destroyed  the 
 protestants  in  that  country,  they  should  come  over,  and,  united 
 with  the  English  catholics,  also  murder  the  protestant  inhabi- 
 tants. Such  was  the  alarm  at  this  time,  that  when  the  rumour 
 of  a  plot,  discovered  at  London,  was  circulated,  the  poor  peo- 
 ple, over  all  the  kingdom,  were  ready  to  run  to  arms,  or  hide 
 themselves,  from  the  terrible  apprehension  that  the  papists  were 
 coming  to  cut  their  throats. 
 
 The  parliament,  under  all  their  embarrassments,  were  never- 
 theless anxious  to  send  aid  to  Dublin  in  its  extreme  distress. 
 The  king  was  equally  anxious  to  go  thither  to  bead  the  army 
 himself;  but  the  parliament  were  too  well  acquainted  with  his 
 intention  to  suffer  him,  well  aware  that  he  would  join  his  own 
 army  with  that  of  the  Irish,  and  direct  his  vengeance  against 
 them  and  the  measures  they  were  carrying  on.  In  the  mean- 
 time, the  handful  that  was  still  remaining  in  Dublin  defended 
 themselves  with  desperate  courage  and  resolution ;  but  conscious 
 that,  without  help  from  England,  they  must  soon  be  overcome, 
 they  most  earnestly  entreated  the  parliament  to  consider  the 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  703 
 
 importance  of  the  place,  which,  as  matters  then  stood,  was,  in 
 reality,  the  bulwark  of  England,  as  well  as  that  of  Ireland. 
 For,  say  they,  the  Irish  papists  have  threatened,  that  so  soon  as 
 they  clear  their  hands  of  the  scattered  remnant  here,  they 
 will  pass  over  to  England,  and  deal  with  the  protestants  and 
 parliament  there.  These  threatenings,  with  the  dreadful  ac- 
 count of  200,000  murdered  protestants,  and  the  horrid  detail  of 
 their  unprecedented  barbarities,  inclined  a  very  large  propor- 
 tion of  the  English  nation  to  the  opinion,  that  the  parliament 
 ought,  on  such  a  dangerous  crisis,  to  put  the  nation  in  a  pos- 
 ture of  defence,  by  arming  the  inhabitants.  Accordingly,  they 
 forthwith  appointed  lord-lieutenants  for  the  militia.  The 
 king  did  the  same,  and  both  published  their  declarations,  justi- 
 fying their  cause.  The  parliament  appointed  the  earl  of  Essex 
 for  general.  The  king  went  to  Nottingham,  where  he  set  up  his 
 standard,  and  collected  about  him  2000  men,  and  the  city  of 
 London  and  vicinity  quickly  furnished  a  gallant  army  for  the 
 earl  of  Essex.  To  defray  the  expense  of  this  army,  the  citizens 
 poured  in  their  money  and  plate,  and  the  ladies  their  rings  and 
 jewels. 
 
 In  this  contest  between  the  king  and  parliament,  particularly 
 after  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  the  generality  of  the  nobility  took 
 part  with  the  king,  and  joined  the  royal  standard  at  Oxford. 
 A  great  part  of  the  lords,  and  many  of  the  commons,  also  join- 
 ed him;  and  unless  in  the  counties  of  Middlesex,  Essex,  Suf- 
 folk, Norfolk,  and  Cambridgeshire,  a  great  proportion  of  the 
 knights  and  country  gentlemen  also  adhered  to  the  royal  cause; 
 most  of  their  tenants  followed  their  example,  as  did  the  most 
 of  the  poorer  sort  throughout  the  nation.  A  few  of  the  nobles, 
 a  larger  share  of  the  gentry,  and  the  greatest  number  of 
 the  tradesmen  in  corporations,  especially  in  the  manufac- 
 turing towns,  the  freeholders  also,  and  men  of  middle  for- 
 tunes, for  the  most  part  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  the 
 parliament:  who,  moreover,  might  reckon  on  the  friendship  of 
 the  far  greater  part  of  those,  who,  throughout  the  nation,  were 
 inclined  to  sobriety  and  religious  strictness.  The  enemies  of 
 profanity  and  loose  living,  both  ministers  and  people,  adhered 
 to  the  parliament. — On  the  other  hand,  such  as  were  addicted  to 
 swearing,  gaming,  and  drinking,  to  dancing,  and  other  tolerated 
 recreations  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  fond  of  running  down 
 all  whom  they  considered  more  religious  and  circumspect  in 
 their  lives  than  themselves,  both  priests  and  people,  these,  all 
 along,  adhered  to  the  king;  and  in  so  doing,  determined  the 
 choice  of  almost  all  sober  and  honest  men  for  the  parliament- 
 ary cause.  The  silencing  of  vast  numbers  of  godly  and  labo- 
 rious preachers,  and  filling  their  places  by  ignorant,  scandalous, 
 
704  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 and  careless  men,  who  were  a  disgrace  to  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
 had  also  the  effect  of  alienating  the  minds  of  many  from  the 
 cause  of  the  king  and  his  bishops.  The  high  church  party  as 
 loudly  complained  of  the  nonconformists,  calling  them,  in  deri- 
 sion, puritans,  hypocrites,  rebels,  and  round-heads,  with  other  epi- 
 thets of  disgrace.  The  constitutional  government  of  the  king- 
 dom, by  kings,  lords,  and  commons,  being  a  mixt  government, 
 and,  of  course,  not  arbitrary,  the  friends  of  the  parliament  justified 
 their  opposition  to  the  king,  by  saying,  if  the  king's  commissions 
 be  more  powerful  than  the  laws,  which  have  been  enacted  with 
 the  consent  of  the  three  branches  of  the  legislature;  then  must 
 the  king  be  an  arbitrary  despot,  and  the  people  no  longer  his 
 subjects,  but  his  slaves.  In  support  of  this  reasoning,  they 
 quoted  Barclay,  Grotius  de  Jure  Belli  et  Pacts,  Hooker, 
 and  Bilson,  all  of  whom  admit  of  the  propriety,  nay,  the  neces- 
 sity of  resisting  unlawful  acts  of  power  in  cases  similar  to  those 
 in  which  they  were  unhappily  involved.  The  king  urged,  that 
 the  power  of  calling  forth  the  militia  belonged  to  him;  and  the 
 parliament  admitted  the  fact;  but  urged  the  necessity,  as  things 
 then  stood,  of  his  relinquishing  for  a  time  that  part  of  his  pre- 
 rogative, unless  the  kingdom  were  to  be  given  up  to  murdering 
 papists  and  delinquents;  for  although  he  had  the  right  to  com- 
 mand the  militia  of  the  country  by  his  kingly  prerogative,  yet 
 was  it  obvious,  he  had  only  a  right  to  use  them  against  the  ene- 
 mies of  the  commonwealth,  but  not  to  overawe  the  other 
 branches  of  the  legislature,  which  his  evil  counsellors  had 
 already  urged,  and  advised  him  to  attempt. 
 
 The  king  marched  from  Nottingham  to  Shrewsbury,  and  filled 
 up  his  army  from  Shropshire,  Worcestershire,  Herefordshire, 
 and  Wales;  and  the  earl  of  Essex  marched  with  a  gallant  army 
 to  Worcester,  the  several  regiments  of  which  were  accompanied 
 by  some  of  the  most  popular  divines  as  chaplains.  On  the  23d 
 October  1642,  the  parties  came  to  a  trial  of  strength  at  Edge- 
 hill,  where  the  king's  army  was  worsted,  and  retreated  to  Ox- 
 ford; and  Essex  towards  Coventry,  to  refresh  his  troops.  But 
 that  which  most  of  all  tended  to  strengthen  the  parliament,  and 
 ruin  the  king,  was  the  want  of  discipline  in  his  army,  the  en- 
 couragement given  to  the  debauched  rabble,  to  insult,  plunder, 
 and  threaten  the  puritans  wherever  they  came;  filled  the 
 parliamentary  army  with  men  of  piety  and  principle,  and  man- 
 ned their  garrisons  with  the  plundered  and  insulted  inhabitants, 
 who  had  no  mind  to  meddle  with  the  war,  till  driven  from  their 
 ruined  abodes  by  military  insolence  or  popular  outrage. 
 
 Mr  Baxter  had  all  along  endeavoured  to  heal  the  breach,  and 
 cement  the  jarring  interests  in  the  nation,  till  at  last  he  began 
 to  be  attacked  on  both  sides,  by  one  party  for  not  going  the  full 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  705 
 
 length  they  desired,  by  the  other  for  having  gone  any  length  at 
 all  in  the  cause  of  church  and  state  reformation;  which  they 
 considered  were  altogether  unnecessary,  under  so  pious  a  king, 
 and  such  primitive  and  apostolic  bishops.  In  his  politics,  Mr 
 Baxter,  while  endeavouring  to  steer  clear  of  all  the  slavish 
 principles  of  absolute  monarchy,  also  opposed  the  confound- 
 ing notions  of  democratical  projectors.  He  was  alike  inimical 
 to  the  arbitrary  encroachments  of  assuming  prelates,  and  the 
 uncharitable  and  dividing  principles  of  the  sectarians.  This  ex- 
 posed him  to  the  malignity  of  each  party,  and  created  him  much 
 trouble.  His  conscience,  in  the  meantime,  was  satisfied  with 
 the  measures  he  had  taken,  and  he  had  no  doubt  but  posterity, 
 after  the  heat  of  these  contentions  was  over,  would  form  a 
 more  favourable  opinion  of  his  conduct  than  many  of  his  con- 
 temporaries, who  were  actuated  by  malice,  fury,  and  blind  bi- 
 gotry, in  the  censures  they  passed  upon  him. 
 
 He  adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  long  parliament,  so  far  as  he 
 conceived  their  cause  and  procedure  were  justifiable;  but  nei- 
 ther hope  nor  fear  could  either  draw  or  drive  him  into  any 
 measure  that  his  conscience  did  not  recognise.  On  occasion 
 of  the  Irish  massacre,  parliament  passed  an  order,  that  all  the 
 people  should  take  a  protestation  to  defend  the  king's  person,  ho- 
 nour, and  authority,  the  power  and  privileges  of  parliaments,  the 
 liberties  of  the  subject,  and  the  protestant  religion,  against  the 
 common  enemy.  With  this  measure  Mr  Baxter  readily  agreed, 
 and  joined  with  the  magistrates  in  offering  the  protestation  to 
 the  people.  Soon  after  this  the  king's  declarations  were  also 
 read  in  the  market-place  at  Kidderminster,  and  the  commission 
 of  array  set  on  foot.  The  lord  Howard,  who  had  been  appointed, 
 by  parliament,  lieutenant  for  the  militia  of  the  county  of  Wor- 
 cester, not  appearing,  the  rabble  grew  so  riotously  outrageous, 
 that  a  sober  man,  of  acknowledged  piety,  could  no  longer  hope 
 to  remain  in  the  place  with  safety.  The  word  was,  Down  with 
 the  round-heads ;  so  that,  in  many  places,  a  stranger,  with  short 
 hair,  and  a  civil  habit,  could  no  sooner  make  his  appearance,  than 
 down  with  the  round-heads  was  vociferated,  and  he  was  knocked 
 down  on  the  street,  where  none  durst  appear  in  his  defence. 
 
 To  avoid  uproars  of  this  description,  Mr  Baxter  was  advised 
 to  withdraw  from  Kidderminster  for  some  time,  in  hopes  that 
 matters  would  become  more  orderly.  He  took  their  advice, 
 and  retired  to  Gloucester,  where  he  found  a  civil,  courteous, 
 and  religious  people,  differing  as  much  from  those  of  Worces- 
 ter, as  if  they  had  lived  under  another  government.  Here, 
 having  remained  about  a  month,  his  friends  at  Kiddermiuster 
 desired  his  return,  lest  the  people  might  interpret  his  absence 
 the  effect  of  £uilt  or  disloyalty.      He  returned,  and  found  the 
 
 20  4  u 
 
706  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 drunken  rabble  still  boisterously  threatening  all  sober  and  sin-' 
 eere  people,  and  crying  out,  We  will  do  the  puritans'  business 
 by  and  by.  They  were  like  mastiffs  newly  let  loose  from  the 
 chains,  flying  in  the  face  of  every  thing  sacred  or  civil;  which 
 obliged  him  again  to  withdraw.  He  spent  a  few  days  with  the 
 earl  of  Essex*  army,  then  about  Worcester,  till  the  approach 
 of  the  king's  army  caused  them  to  remove.  On  the  following 
 Lord's  day  he  preached  at  Alcester;  and  during  sermon,  the 
 report  of  the  cannon  informed  them  that  the  armies  were  engag- 
 ed; and  this,  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  began  the  war.  Towards 
 evening  the  fugitives  assured  them  that  all  was  lost  on  the  par- 
 liament's side;  but,  soon  after,  another  account  stated,  that 
 while  prince  Rupert's  men  were  plundering  the  waggons  of 
 Essex'  left  wing,  which  they  had  routed,  the  right  wing  and 
 centre  prevailed  against  the  rest  of  the  king's  army,  and  ulti- 
 mately carried  the  day.  Next  morning  Mr  Baxter  went  to  see 
 the  field,  and  found  Essex  in  possession  of  the  ground,  with  the 
 royal  army  facing  him  on  a  hill  about  a  mile  distant,  and  about 
 a  thousand  dead  bodies  in  the  field  between  them. 
 
 At  this  time  Mr  Baxter  was  at  a  loss  what  course  to  take — 
 to  live  at  Kidderminster  was  both  dangerous  and  uncomfortable, 
 owing  to  the  passing  and  repassing  of  the  soldiers,  who  were 
 ready  to  lay  their  hands  upon  whatever  came  in  their  way. 
 But  having  nothing  whereon  to  subsist  elsewhere,  in  a  place  of 
 safety,  the  choice  was  difficult.  At  length  he  resolved  to  go  to 
 Coventry,  where  Mr  Simon  King,  with  whom  he  was  acquaint- 
 ed at  Bridgenorth,  was  minister.  There  he  was  determined  to 
 remain  till  the  war  was  ended.  So  little  was  he  or  the  country 
 acquainted  with  war,  that  they  never  doubted  but  a  few  days, 
 or  at  least  a  few  weeks,  and  another  battle  would  bring  things 
 to  a  point.  But  having  remained  with  Mr  King  about  a  month, 
 and  peace  appearing  farther  distant  than  ever,  he  began  to  con- 
 sider how  he  could  make  some  provision  for  himself,  that  he 
 might  not  be  burdensome  to  his  friend.  In  the  meantime,  the 
 governor  and  committee  of  the  city  of  Coventry  desired  him  to 
 stay  with  them,  and  live  in  the  governor's  house,  and  preach  to 
 the  soldiers.  The  offer  was  so  well  suited  to  his  necessities, 
 that  he  accepted  it  till  he  could  find  it  safe  to  return  to  his 
 charge.  In  this  situation  he  preached  once  a-week  to  the  sol- 
 diers, and  once  to  the  citizens,  without  taking  any  remuneration 
 for  cither,  save  his  diet.  He  had  a  very  judicious  auditory. 
 Many  pious  and  worthy  gentlemen  were  his  constant  hearers. 
 There  were  at  this  time  also  about  thirty  worthy  ministers,  who, 
 like  himself,  had  retired  here  for  safety.  He  was  thankful  for 
 the  quietness,  safety,  and  sober,  wise,  and  religious  company  he 
 enjoyed  in  this  place;  where  he  pursued  his  studies,  for  a  whole 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  707 
 
 yeav,  as  quietly  as  in  the  time  of  peace.  By  this  time,  the  war, 
 in  place  of  drawing  towards  an  end,  had  spread  into  the  re- 
 motest corners  of  the  land.  But  some  Shropshire  gentlemen 
 having  resolved  to  settle  a  garrison  at  Wem,  about  eight  miles 
 from  Shrewsbury,  in  their  own  county,  and  Mr  M'Worth, 
 Mr  Hunt,  and  others,  pressing  him  to  go  with  them,  he  went; 
 and  having  remained  with  them  about  two  months,  and  re- 
 deemed his  father  from  prison,  he  returned  to  Coventry,  and 
 settled  in  his  former  place  and  employment,  following  his 
 studies  for  another  year. 
 
 But  the  earl  of  Newcastle  had  overpowered  lord  Fairfax  in  the 
 north;  and  the  queen  having  brought  over  from  the  continent  a 
 considerable  reinforcement  of  popish  soldiers,  which,  with 
 other  concurring  circumstances,  rendered  the  king's  party  for- 
 midable, the  parliament  were  glad  to  request  the  aid  of  the 
 Scotch  nation;  and  an  alliance  being  formed  by  the  solemn 
 league  and  covenant,  the  Scotch  raised  an  army,  and  marching 
 into  England,  cleared  the  north ;  but  afterwards  lay  still,  and 
 did  no  service,  but  became  burdensome.  This  was  occasioned 
 by  the  policy  of  Cromwell  and  his  party,  who  were  jealous  of 
 the  power  of  the  presbyterians,  and  purposely  kept  them  with- 
 out pay,  and  without  marching  orders.  After  the  great  battle 
 of  Naseby,  which  was  not  far  from  Coventry,  Mr  Baxter  went 
 to  the  army  to  visit  some  of  his  acquaintances.  He  staid  a 
 night  with  them,  and  got  such  intelligence  respecting  the  state  of 
 the  parties,  as  utterly  astonished  him.  He  found  plotting  heads 
 at  work  to  subvert  both  church  and  state.  Independency  and 
 anabaptistry  greatly  prevailed,  antinomianism  and  arminian- 
 ism  were  also  prevalent;  while  the  followers  of  Thomas  More 
 had  made  a  shift  to  unite  these  opposite  extremes.  Many  of 
 the  officers  and  soldiers  were  honest  and  orthodox  men.  But 
 a  i'ew  self-conceited,  proud,  and  hot-headed  sectaries,  had  got 
 into  the  highest  places,  and  were  Cromwell's  great  favourites; 
 and  by  their  ardour  and  activity,  bore  down  the  rest,  or  carried 
 them  along  with  them,  determined  not  only  to  put  down  the 
 bishops,  but  also  whoever  stood  in  their  way.  Cromwell  and 
 his  council,  however,  were  for  a  universal  toleration.  Mr 
 Baxter,  on  discovering  the  situation  of  the  army  with  respect 
 to  sentiments  of  religion,  could  not  help  regretting,  that  the  mi- 
 nisters, who  at  first  attended  the  different  regiments,  had  most- 
 ly left  them  after  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  and  betaken  themselves 
 to  an  easier  and  quieter  mode  of  life.  He  even  reflected  upon 
 himself  for  refusing  an  invitation  from  Cromwell  to  be  chaplain 
 to  his  troop,  which  was  to  be  a  gathered  church.  He  regretted 
 that  he  had  not  then  gone  with  them,  while  the  fire  was  con- 
 fined, as  it  were,  into  one  spark:  but  captnin  Evanson  assured 
 
70S  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 him  it  was  not  yet  too  late  to  do  essential  service  in  the  army: 
 That  the  regiment  to  which  lie  was  attached  was  one  of  the 
 most  religious,  valiant,  and  successful  in  the  army,  and  that 
 they  were  in  as  much  danger  of  being  carried  away  with  the 
 present  tide  of  sectarianism  as  any;  and  therefore  he  pressed 
 him  to  come  among  them.  Although  Mr  Baxter  was  loath  to 
 leave  his  studies  and  quiet  situation,  to  go  into  an  army  so  cir- 
 cumstanced; yet  considering  that  the  public  good  required  him, 
 he  gave  the  captain  some  encouragement;  which  he  told  to  co- 
 lonel Whalley,  an  orthodox  man,  who  invited  Mr  Baxter  to  be 
 chaplain  to  his  regiment.  This  invitation,  after  consulting 
 with  some  friendly  divines,  he  accepted. 
 
 He  marched  with  the  army  to  the  west,  against  lord  Goring, 
 and  was  at  the  taking  of  Bridge- water,  and  the  siege  of  Bristol 
 and  Sherbon  castle.  He  was  also  three  weeks  at  the  siege  of 
 Exeter;  but  colonel  Whalley  being  ordered,  with  a  party  of 
 horse,  to  keep  in  the  garrison  of  Oxford  till  the  army  could 
 come  to  besiege  it,  he  accompanied  him  thither.  He  was  with 
 him  also  six  weeks  before  Banbury  castle,  and  eleven  at  the 
 siege  of  Worcester.  Here  the  sectarians  at  head  quarters,  be- 
 coming jealous  of  colonel  Whalley,  he  lost  the  government  of 
 this  city,  which  he  had  so  bravely  reduced,  and  all  on  account 
 of  his  chaplain.  When  Worcester  siege  was  over,  he  went  to 
 Kidderminster  to  visit  his  flock;  who  thinking  now  that  the 
 country  was  cleared  of  the  royal  army,  he  should  remain  with 
 them;  but  being  advised  by  the  ministers,  who  still  remained  at 
 Coventry,  he  returned  to  the  army;  but  was  soon  after  obliged 
 to  leave  it,  owing  to  a  bleeding  at  the  nose,  whereby  he  lost 
 about  a  gallon  of  blood.  He  now  retired  to  Sir  Thomas 
 Rouse's,  where  he  languished  long,  expecting  that  a  dropsy,  with 
 which  he  was  threatened,  would  soon  end  his  days.  By  this 
 providence,  God  unavoidably  prevented  him  from  making  a  last 
 and  more  determined  endeavour  to  reclaim  the  army  to  moder- 
 ate principles,  and,  if  possible,  prevent  the  anarchy,  which 
 every  thinking  person,  at  all  acquainted  with  Avhat  was  going 
 forward  in  the  army,  might  have  clearly  anticipated — But  the 
 counsel  of  the  Lord,  that  shall  stand. 
 
 Mr  Baxter,  who  having  the  best  opportunities  of  being  well 
 informed  with  respect  to  the  sectaries  of  this  period,  says,  in 
 general,  concerning  them,  "  That  they  were  fond  of  division, 
 separation,  and  party- making;  though  many  of  them  were  raw 
 and  illiterate,  yet  were  they  apt  to  he  puffed  up  witli  their  own 
 little  degrees  of  knowledge  and  dexterity  of  management,  inso- 
 much that  they  refused  all  terms  of  concord  and  unity,  and 
 carried  it  so  loftily,  that  they  became  the  pity  of  understanding 
 men.       These   sectaries,    especially   anabaptists,   seekers,    and 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  ?09 
 
 quakers,  used  to  select  the  most  able,  laborious,  and  pious  mi- 
 nisters for  the  marks  of  their  obloquy  and  reproach,  and  that 
 because  they  were  the  most  powerful  opposers  of  their  designs, 
 and  counteracted  their  warmest  endeavours  to  propagate  their 
 opinions  amongst  the  people.  The  shafts  of  their  calumny  were 
 directed  against  the  same  men,  at  whom  the  libertines  of  the 
 royal  army  had  all  along  pointed  their  malicious  irony  and  un- 
 merited ridicule,  with  this  difference  only,  that  they  did  it  more 
 profanely,  and  more  hypocritically,  than  these,  in  that  they  said, 
 let  the  Lord  be  glorified,  let  the  gospel  be  propagated,  and  sin- 
 ners converted  to  God.  They  pretended  to  be  regulated  in 
 their  opinions  solely  by  the  word  of  God,  and  the  internal  light 
 of  the  Spirit;  yet  seldom  stuck  at  any  thing  that  promised  to 
 promote  their  cause,  and  most  implicitly  agreed  with,  and  ad- 
 vocated whatever  their  faction  in  the  army  had  resolved  on. 
 If  they  pulled  down  the  parliament,  imprisoned  its  faithful 
 members,  killed  the  king,  cast  out  the  rump,  set  up  Cromwell, 
 set  up  his  son,  and  again  pulled  him  down ;  in  all  these  things  the 
 anabaptists,  and  many  of  the  independents,  followed  them,  and 
 even  their  pastors  were  for  the  most  part  ready  to  lead  them  on 
 to  concur. 
 
 It  is  no  doubt  true,  that  similar  accusations  have  often  been 
 laid  against  many  that  have  been  guilty  of  no  such  things;  and 
 therefore,  says  Mr  Baxter,  "  some  will  be  offended  at  me,  and 
 charge  me  with  the  faults  I  reprehend.  But  shall  none  be  re- 
 proved because  some  are  slandered  ?  Shall  hypocrites  be  freed 
 from  conviction  and  censure  because  wicked  men  call  the  godly 
 hypocrites  and  bigots?  The  scriptures  have  not  spared  the 
 greatest  and  best  of  God's  children — witness  Noah,  Lot,  David, 
 Hezekiah,  Josiah,  and  Peter — but  has  marked  out  their  sin  and 
 shame  to  all  generations.  And  yet  we  find  (such  is  the  human 
 heart)  that  it  will  rise  into  indignation  against  him  who  has 
 honesty  enough  to  tell  them,  or  their  party,  of  their  errors  and 
 misdoings,  or  call  them  to  repentance  and  moderation.  And, 
 alas !  many,  who  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  are  children 
 of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  cannot  be  exempted  from  this 
 animadversion.  The  poor  church  of  Christ,  the  sober,  sound, 
 and  religious  part  in  particular,  are,  like  their  persecuted  Mas- 
 ter, crucified  between  two  thieves,  the  profane  and  formal  per- 
 secutors on  one  hand,  and  the  fanatic  division-courting  sectaries 
 on  the  other,  have,  in  all  ages,  been  grinding  the  seed  of  tho 
 church  as  corn  between  two  millstoues." 
 
 Many  new  sects  also  sprung  up  in  these  times.  Sir  Henry 
 Vane  had  a  sect  of  new  disciples,  which  originated  under  him 
 in  New  England  while  governor  in  tliat  province.  Their  no- 
 tions were  then  raw  and  undigested.     His  coming  over  to  Emj- 
 
710  MEMOIR  Or 
 
 land  proved  a  great  calamity  to  his  native  country.  Being 
 chosen  a  memher  of  parliament,  he  was  at  first  very  active  in 
 bringing  delinquents  to  punishment,  and  became  the  principal 
 man  who  drove  on  the  parliament  against  the  king.  Being  of 
 ready  parts,  great  subtlety,  and  unwearied  industry,  he  labour- 
 ed, with  considerable  success,  to  win  others,  in  parliament,  city, 
 and  country,  to  his  opinions.  To  most  of  the  changes  that  took 
 place,  he  was  that  in  parliament  which  Cromwell  was  in  the 
 army.  His  great  zeal  to  enflame  the  country,  and  encourage 
 the  sectaries,  especially  in  the  army,  rendered  him  highly  popu- 
 lar amongst  their  parties.  But  his  unhappiness  lay  in  his  want 
 cither  of  ability  or  inclination  clearly  to  express  his  sentiments. 
 Few  therefore  understood  them;  and  the  lord  Brook,  who  was 
 methodising  his  notions,  was  slain  before  he  had  brought  them 
 into  order  and  maturity.  Mr  Sterry  was  thought  to  be  of  his 
 mind;  but  he  also  was  so  famous  for  mystical  obscurity  in  his 
 sermons,  that  he  was  considered  too  high  for  this  world,  and 
 too  low  for  the  world  to  come.  Sir  Henry  spoke  sufficiently 
 plain  on  almost  every  other  subject.  The  two  works  in  which  he 
 was  most  successful,  were  bis  Earnest  Plea  for  Universal  Liber- 
 ty of  Conscience,  and  his  treatise  against  the  magistrates  having 
 any  power  or  authority  to  intermeddle  with  the  concerns  of  the 
 church.  He  went  hand  in  hand  with  Cromwell  while  the 
 protector  continued  a  republican;  but  changing  his  opinion  to- 
 wards monarchy,  when  he  supposed  the  ferment  of  the  nation 
 was  wearing  off,  and  there  were  some  hopes  that  he  might  be 
 acceptable  to  the  people  as  their  royal  master,  there  was  no  re- 
 medy but  Sir  Henry  and  he  must  part,  as  their  way  lay  no 
 longer  in  the  same  direction. 
 
 After  Cromwell's  death  he  got  Sir  Arthur  Hazlerigg  to  be 
 his  close  adherent  in  politics,  and  re-established  the  rump,  set 
 up  a  council  of  state,  and  had  the  power,  in  a  great  measure, 
 in  his  own  hands.  When  thus  in  the  height  of  his  power,  he 
 formed  the  scheme  of  a  popular  government,  and,  with  some  of 
 his  adherents,  drew  up  a  model  of  his  new  commonwealth. 
 
 It  grieved  Mr  Baxter  to  the  heart  to  see  a  kingdom  thus  toss- 
 ed about,  and  the  ministers  of  religion,  and  the  attained  re- 
 formation, which  had  been  the  labour  of  so  many  years,  troden 
 under  foot,  and  parliaments  and  piety  made  a  scorn;  while 
 few  had  any  doubt  but  he  was  the  moving  cause  of  all  these 
 changes.  Mr  Baxter,  therefore,  in  writing  against  the  papists, 
 took  occasion  to  vindicate  the  protestant  religion  and  the  re- 
 formation, by  showing,  that  the  protestants,  and  particularly 
 the  prcsbyterians,  abhorred  the  transaction  that  terminated  the 
 life  of  the  king,  and  charged  it  upon  Cromwell's  army  and  the 
 sectaries,  among  whom  he  named  the  Vanitcs,  as  having  their 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  711 
 
 full  share  of  guilt  and  responsibility.  Mr  Baxter's  writing 
 against  him  had  the  effect  of  lessening  his  reputation,  and  con- 
 vincing many,  that  Cromwell,  who  knew  Vane  best,  spoke  the 
 truth  when  he  called  him  a  juggler.  On  the  restoration,  he  was 
 called  to  account  for  the  part  he  had  acted  under  Cromwell, 
 when  he  spoke  so  boldly  in  justification  of  the  parliament,  and 
 the  part  he  himself  had  acted,  that  the  king,  who  had  no  inten- 
 tion against  his  life,  was  so  provoked,  that  he  changed  his  mind 
 — had  him  tried  and  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill.  When  brought  to 
 the  scaffold,  he  began  to  address  the  people  so  heroically,  that  the 
 drums  were  beat  to  prevent  them  from  hearing.  No  man  ever 
 died  with  more  apparent  fortitude  and  fearless  resolution,  though 
 he  had  always  been  considered  a  timorous  man;  so  that  his 
 death  procured  him  more  applause  than  all  the  actions  of  his  life. 
 Mr  Baxter  had  not  been  long  returned  to  Kidderminster, 
 when  he  was  drawn  into  a  dispute  with  Mr  Tombs,  anabaptist 
 minister  at  Bewdley,  where  they  disputed  the  right  of  infants 
 to  baptism,  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  five  in  the  afternoon, 
 before  a  crowded  congregation.  This  dispute  had  the  effect  of 
 reducing  Mr  Tombs'  congregation  to  twenty  members,  and  of 
 satisfying  the  people  of  Kidderminster,  and  the  adjacent  coun- 
 try, many  of  whom  were  in  doubt  which  side  to  choose.  When 
 the  army  was  about  to  march  against  the  Scotch,  Mr  Baxter 
 wrote  letters  to  several  of  the  soldiers,  pointing  out  the  sin  and 
 absurdity  of  imbruing  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  those  people, 
 of  whose  piety  they  had  no  reason  to  doubt,  especially  after  they 
 had  so  frequently  boasted  of  their  own  christian  benevolence 
 and  love  to  the  saints.  When  Cromwell  had  got  the  ascendant, 
 sober  people  were  much  divided  in  their  opinions  in  what  man- 
 ner they  ought  to  conduct  themselves;  some  were  for  opposing 
 his  usurped  power,  others  for  acquiescing  with,  and  submitting 
 to,  that  authority,  which,  at  the  time,  alone  could  save  the 
 country  from  anarchy;  others  took  a  middle  course,  and  quiet- 
 ly submited  to  the  power  they  could  not  control.  This  was 
 Mr  Baxter's  method,  who  seasonably  and  moderately  condemn- 
 ed the  usurpation,  and  the  deceit  and  hypocrisy  by  which  it  wa3 
 brought  about;  but  did  not  think  it  his  duty  to  rave  against  the 
 usurper,  the  rather  because  he  seemed  to  approve  of  a  holy  life, 
 and,  on  the  whole,  offered  to  do  good,  and  promote  the  gospel,  and 
 the  interest  of  godliness,  more  than  any  had  done  before  him. 
 In  the  instrument,  whereby  Oliver  was  announced  protector, 
 it  was  declared,  that  all  should  have  liberty  for  the  exercise  of 
 their  religion,  who  professed  their  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ. 
 These  words  appeared,  to  some  of  the  members  of  parliament, 
 to  import  the  fundamentals  of  the  christian  faith;  it  was  there- 
 fore agreed,  that  all  should  have  a  due  share  of  religious  liberty 
 
712  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 who  professed  the  fundamentals.  A  committee  was  according- 
 ly appointed  to  state  what  they  considered  essential  articles, 
 and  Mr  Baxter  was  appointed  a  member,  who  laboured  to  con- 
 fine their  scheme  into  as  narrow  a  compass  as  could  comprehend 
 what  was  indispensably  necessary  for  a  test  in  the  toleration 
 tli us  to  be  granted.  His  opinion  was,  that  no  more  was  ncces- 
 cessary  than  what  is  contained  in  the  baptismal  covenant,  "I 
 believe  in  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  give  up 
 myself  in  covenant  to  him,  and  renounce  the  devil,  the  world, 
 and  the  flesh."  This  committee,  after  long  debating,  conde- 
 scended upon,  and  printed  twenty  propositions  to  lay  before  the 
 parliament;  but  before  this  could  be  effected,  the  House  of  Com- 
 mons was  dissolved,  so  that  all  they  had  done  came  to  nothing. 
 
 Truth  and  peace  were  the  great  objects  of  Mr  Baxter's  con- 
 stant pursuit.  He  spared  no  pains  if  happily  he  might  con- 
 tribute to  either,  watching  for  the  fittest  opportunities  for 
 dealing  with  the  different  parties,  into  which  the  nation  was  so 
 unhappily  divided.  He  drew  up  overtures  of  peace  and  recon- 
 ciliation, hoping  he  might  thereby  help  to  pave  the  way  for  a 
 more  charitable  spirit,  when  the  happy  juncture  arrived,  al- 
 though his  labours  for  the  present  should  prove  abortive.  Besides 
 his  labours  amongst  the  protestants,  he  wrote  three  disputations 
 against  the  papists;  after  which,  the  Winding-sheet  of  Popery,  and 
 then  the  Key  to  the  Catholic  to  open  up  the  Jugglings  of  the 
 Jesuits.  He  also  managed  several  particular  debates  with  dif- 
 ferent romanists,  such  as,  W.  Johnson,  alias  Terret,  and  others, 
 which,  added  to  his  laborious  diligence  in  the  pastoral  office, 
 and  his  numerous  practical  writings,  it  will  be  difficult  for  any 
 person  to  conceive,  how  a  man,  of  such  bodily  weakness,  con- 
 stantly subjected  to  divers  infirmities,  should  be  capable  of  doing 
 so  much  service;  but  a  heart,  overflowing  with  love  to  God,  and 
 burning  with  zeal  for  his  glory,  and  the  best  interests  of  his 
 fellow  creatures,  carried  him  through,  and  made  him  the  won- 
 der of  the  age  he  lived  in. 
 
 On  the  restoration  of  Charles  the  II,  the  expectations  of  men 
 were  various.  The  moderate  episcopalians  thought  of  a  recon- 
 ciliation with  the  presbyterians;  the  more  politic  part  were 
 pretty  certain,  that  their  ancient  power,  honour,  ami  emolu- 
 ments, would  be  restored  to  them.  But  many  of  the  presby- 
 terians were  in  great  hopes  of  favour,  and  their  hopes  seemed 
 to  be  well  founded.  They  had  an  assurance  from  Charles  him- 
 self, in  his  declaration  from  Breda,  addressed  to  all  his  loving 
 subjects,  April  4th,  1660;  in  which  were  these  words — "  We 
 do  declare  a  liberty  to  tender  consciences;  and  that  no  man 
 shall  be  disquieted,  or  called  in  question  for  differences  of  opi- 
 nion  which   do  not  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom."     To 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  713 
 
 cherish  these  hopes  amoogst  the  people,   it  was  found  conveni- 
 ent at  first  to  appoint  ten  or  twelve  of  the  presbyterian  divines 
 as  chaplains  in  ordinary  to  his  majesty,   though  none  of  them 
 ever  preached  before  him  but  Mr  Calamy,  Dr.  Reynolds,  Mr 
 Baxter,   Dr.  Spurstow,  and  Mr  Woodbridge,  one  sermon  each. 
 The  king  at  first  offered  his  best  endeavour  to  reconcile  the  con- 
 tending parties,  advising  each  side  to  narrow  their  pretensions; 
 but  after  much  shuffling  on  the  part  of  the  episcopalians,   the 
 thing  came  to  no  termination;  and  in  place  of  liberty  to  tender 
 consciences,  the  year  following  upwards  of  two  thousand  of  the 
 nonconforming  divines  in  the  kingdom  of  England  were  in  one 
 day  expelled  from  their  flocks,  their  livings,   and  their  labours, 
 and  their  places  filled,  in  a  great  many  instances,  with  men  un- 
 qualified for    the    service  of  religion;    some  by  insufficiency, 
 others  by  scandalous  lives,  and  not  a  few  by  their  heretical  opi- 
 nions.    In    the   meantime,    Mr   Baxter   would  have   willingly 
 preached  at  Kidderminster  in  the  low  capacity  of  a  curate;  but 
 this  was  refused  him,  though  the  lord  Clarendon  had  promised 
 to  have  him  settled  there  as  he  desired.     He  had  also  been  of- 
 fered the  bishoprick  of  Hereford  by  his  lordship;  but  this  he 
 could  not  conscientiously  accept,  and  finding  himself  disap- 
 pointed,  he  preached  occasionally  about  the  city,  having  pro- 
 cured a  license  from  bishop  Shelden,  on  his  subscribing  a  pro- 
 mise not  to  preach  against  the  doctrines  or  the   ceremonies  of 
 the  church.     He  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  at  the 
 Savoy,  and  chosen  by  his  brethren  to  draw  up  the  reformed  li- 
 turgy, then  the  subject  of  discussion.    '  At  this  meeting  he  was 
 also  appointed,  by  the  nonconformist  divines,  to  answer  the  ob- 
 jections of  the  bishops;   but  all   was  to  no  purpose,   the  thing 
 ended  in  smoke.     Mr  Baxter  preached  his  farewell  sermon  on 
 the  15th  May  1662,  being  three  months  before  Bartholomew's 
 day,  when  the  nonconformists  were  all  silenced.     His  reason 
 for  this  was,  partly  because  the  lawyers  interpreted  one  clause 
 of  the  act  as  putting  an  end  to  the  lectures  at  that  time,  and 
 partly  also,   that  he  wished  all   his  brethren   in  the  nation  to 
 understand,   that  he,   for  one,   had  no  mind  to  conform  to  the 
 church  under   such  a  severe  test  as  had  been  imposed  upon 
 them. 
 
 These  ejected  ministers  continued  almost  ten  years  in  a  state 
 of  silence  and  obscurity,  and  Mr  Baxter  retired  to  Acton  in 
 Middlesex,  where  he  prosecuted  his  studies.  Every  Lord's  day 
 he  attended  the  parish  church,  and  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in 
 his  family,  with  a  few  poor  neighbours  who  attended  him. 
 During  the  time  that  the  plague  was  raging  in  the  country,  he 
 retired  to  Richard  Hampden's,  Esq.  in  Buckinghamshire;  and 
 after  it  had  ceased,  he  returned  to  Acton,  where  he  found  the 
 26  1  x 
 
714*  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 church-yard  like  a  ploughed  field  with  new  opened  graves;  but 
 his  own  house  uninfected,  and  part  of  his  family  that  he  had 
 left,  all  well. 
 
 September  2d,  1666,  began  that  dreadful  fire,  that,  in  the 
 space  of  three  days,  laid  one  of  the  fairest  cities  of  the  world  in 
 ashes.  Mr  Baxter  lived  quietly  at  Acton  so  long  as  the  act 
 against  conventicles  was  in  force;  after  which  his  auditors  in- 
 creased till  he  had  not  room  to  accommodate  them;  but  his 
 popularity  offended  the  present  incumbent,  who  stirred  up  the 
 king  against  him,  by  representing  him  as  a  preacher  of  treason; 
 in  consequence  of  which  he  was  imprisoned  for  six  months. 
 
 In  1671  Mr  Baxter  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune,  by 
 the  king  shutting  up  the  exchequer,  in  which  he  had  deposited 
 one  thousand  pounds.     After  the  indulgence  in  1672,  he  re- 
 turned to   London,   and  was  one  of  the  Tuesday  lecturers  at 
 Pinner's  Hall,  and  had  a  Friday's  lecture  at  Fetter-lane.     For 
 some  time  he  preached  only  occasionally  on  the  Lord's  day;  but 
 afterwards  more  regularly  at  St.  James'  Market-house.     He 
 was  apprehended  when  preaching  in  Mr  Turner's;  but  after- 
 wards released,  owing  to  a  deficiency  of  the  warrant.     On  the 
 times  becoming  apparently  less  severe,  he  built  a  meeting-house 
 in  Oxendon  Street;  where  he  had  only  preached  one  sermon, 
 till  a  scheme  was  laid  to  apprehend  him  by  surprise,  and  con- 
 fine him  in  the  county  jail  on  the  Oxford  act;  but  being  appris- 
 ed of  their  intention,   he  made  his  escape.     The  person,  how- 
 ever, who  preached  for  him  on  that  day,  was  committed  to  the 
 Gatehouse  prison,  where  he  had  to  remain  for  three  months. 
 It  was  twelve  months  after  this  before  he  durst  preach  in  his 
 own    meeting-house.       In    the    interim    he   hired    another    in 
 Swallow  Street;  but  here  again  he  was  disappointed,  by  a  guard 
 being  placed  around  the  premises,  for  many  Sabbaths,  to  pre- 
 vent him  from  entering.     But  on  the  death  of  Mr  Wadsworth, 
 he  found  an  opportunity  to  exercise  his  talent,  by  preaching  to 
 his  congregation  for  a  number  of  months.     In  the  year  1682  he 
 suffered  more  for  his  nonconformity  than  he  had  hitherto  done. 
 He  was  surprised  in  his  own  house  by  a  number  of  constables 
 and  officers,  with  a  warrant  to  seize  his  person  for  coming  with- 
 in five  miles  of  a  corporation,  with  five  additional  warrants  to 
 distrain  for  £  195,  the  penalty  for  five  sermons  he  had  preach- 
 ed, or  was  charged  with  preaching.     At  this  juncture  he  was 
 in  a  bad  state  of  health;  notwithstanding  which,  he  was  go- 
 ing along  with  them  with  the  greatest  resignation,  leaving  all 
 he  had  at  their  pleasure.     But  happily  Dr.  Cox  saw  them  pass- 
 ing, and  forced  him  back  to  his  bed;  while  he  went  before  five 
 justices,  and  made  oath,  that  if  Mr  Baxter  was  committed  to 
 prison,   it  would  be  at  the  hazard  of  his  life.     The  justices 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  715 
 
 thereupon  agreed  not  to  commit  him  till  the  king's  pleasure  was 
 further  known.  The  king  consented  not  to  imprison  him;  but 
 to  let  him  die  in  his  own  house.  The  officers,  however,  exe- 
 cuted their  warrants  on  his  property,  consisting  of  books  and 
 goods,  though  he  made  it  appear  that  they  were  none  of  his. 
 They  even  sold  the  bed  from  under  him,  were  he  lay  sick,  ap- 
 parently unto  death.  But  Mr  Baxter  had  friends  who  did  not 
 desert  him  in  the  day  of  his  distress;  but  came  forward,  and 
 generously  paid  down  the  money  at  which  the  goods  had  been 
 apprized;  which  he  afterwards  repaid  them.  Such  was,  at  this 
 time,  the  administration  of  justice,  that  all  this  was  done  with- 
 out his  having  the  least  knowledge  of  any  accusation  against 
 him,  without  being  summoned,  or  having  appeared  before  any 
 justice  to  answrer  for  himself,  or  being  confronted  with  his 
 accusers,  or  knowing  who  they  were. 
 
 During  1683  Mr  Baxter  was  obliged  to  keep  himself  in  great 
 obscurity;  yet,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  he  had  a  remarkable 
 testimony  of  sincere  esteem,  and  unbounded  confidence,  from 
 the  Rev.  Mr  Mayot,  a  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England, 
 who,  by  his  will,  devoted  his  estate  to  charitable  purposes,  and 
 gave  to  Mr  Baxter  £  600,  to  be  distributed  by  him  to  sixty 
 poor  ejected  ministers — adding,  he  did  it,  not  because  they  were 
 nonconformists,  but  because  many  such  were  poor  and  pious. 
 But  the  king's  attorney  hearing  of  the  legacy,  sued  for  it  in 
 chancery,  and  the  lord-keeper.  North,  passed  a  verdict,  forfeiting 
 the  amount  to  the  king.  It  was  accordingly  paid  into  chan- 
 cery, and,  as  providence  ordered,  kept  in  safety  till  the  acces- 
 sion of  king  William,  when  the  commissioners  of  the  great  seal 
 restored  it  to  Mr  Baxter,  who  distributed  it  according  to  the 
 intention  of  the  donor.  In  1684  he  was  carried  from  his  house, 
 when  he  was  scarcely  able  to  stand  on  his  legs,  and  bound  in 
 the  penalty  of  £  400  to  keep  the  peace,  and  brought  up  twice 
 afterwards,  though  he  had  been  confined  to  his  bed  the  greater 
 part  of  the  time. 
 
 In  the  beginning  of  1685,  Mr  Baxter  was  confined  in  the 
 king's  bench  prison,  by  a  warrant  from  the  lord  chief  justice 
 JefFeries,  for  his  Paraphrase  on  the  New  Testament,  and  tried 
 on  the  18th  of  May,  in  the  same  year,  in  the  court  of  king's 
 bench;  where  he  was  found  guilty,  and,  on  the  29th  of  June 
 following,  received  a  very  severe  sentence.  This  trial  was  by 
 far  the  most  remarkable  incident  of  his  life.  We  shall  there- 
 fore give  the  substance  of  it.  On  the  6th  of  May,  being  the 
 first  day  of  the  term,  Mr  Baxter  appeared  in  Westminster  Hall, 
 where  an  information  was  ordered  to  be  drawn  up  against  him. 
 On  the  14th  he  pleaded  not  guilty;  and  on  the  18th  of  the  same 
 month,  being  much  indisposed,  he  moved,  that  he  might  have 
 
7lG  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 longer  time  allowed  him;  but  it  was  denied.  He  moved  for  it 
 by  his  counsel;  but  Jefferies  cried  out  jn  a  passion,  "  I  will  not 
 give  him  another  minute  to  save  his  life.  We  have  had  to  do, 
 says  he,  with  another  description  of  persons,  but  now  we  have 
 a  saint  to  deal  with,  and  I  know  how  to  deal  with  saints  as  well 
 as  with  sinners.  Yonder,  says  he,  stands  Oates  in  the  pillory, 
 who,  says  he,  suffers  for  the  truth,  and  so  says  Baxter;  but 
 were  Baxter  placed  on  the  one  side  of  the  pillory,  while  he 
 stands  on  the  other,  I  would  say  that  two  of  the  greatest  rogues 
 and  rascals  in  the  kingdom  stood  there."  On  the  30th  of  Slay 
 he  was  brought  up  to  his  trial  before  the  lord  chief  justice  Jef- 
 feries at  Guild  Hall.  Sir  Henry  Ashurst,  who  could  not 
 think  of  abandoning  his  own  and  his  father's  friend  in  the  day 
 of  his  distress,  stood  by  him  all  the  while.  Mr  Baxter  entered 
 the  court  with  the  greatest  composure,  and  waited  for  the  lord 
 chief  justice,  who  soon  made  his  appearance,  with  indications  of 
 rage  in  his  countenance.  He  was  no  sooner  seated  on  the 
 bench,  than  a  short  cause  was  called  and  tried;  and  the  clerk 
 having  begun  to  read  the  title  of  another,  Jefferies  cried  out, 
 "  You  blockhead  you  !  the  next  cause  is  between  Richard  Bax- 
 ter and  the  king."  Mr  Baxter's  cause  was  accordingly  brought 
 forward.  The  passages  on  which  he  was  libelled  were,  his 
 Paraphrase  on  Mat.  v.  19.  Mark  ix.  39.  xi.  31.  and  xii.  38,  39, 
 40.  Luke  x.  2.  John  xi.  57.  and  Acts  xv.  2.  These  passages 
 had  been  selected  by  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange  and  some  of  his 
 companions.  The  most  important  charge,  or  that  on  which  his 
 lordship  chiefly  animadverted,  was,  that  in  these  several  pas- 
 sages he  reflected  on  the  bishops  of  the  church  of  England,  and 
 was  therefore  chargeable  with  sedition.  The  king's  counsel 
 opened  the  information  with  all  its  aggravating  circumstances. 
 Mr  Wallop,  Mr  Williams,  Mr  Rotherham,  Mr  Atwood,  and 
 Mr  Phipps,  had  been  retained  as  counsel  for  Mr  Baxter,  by  his 
 friend  Sir  Henry  Ashurst.  Mr  Wallop  said,  "  He  conceived 
 the  matter  depending,  being  a  point  of  doctrine,  ought  to  be  re- 
 ferred to  his  ordinary;  and  if  not,  he  humbly  conceived  the  doc- 
 trine was  innocent  and  justifiable,  setting  aside  the  innuendos, 
 for  which  there  Was  not  the  least  colour,  seeing  they  had  no 
 referible  antecedent,  no  bishop  or  clergyman  of  the  church  of 
 England  having  been  named.  That  the  book  in  question, 
 namely,  Mr  Baxter's  Paraphrase,  contained  many  precious  and 
 irrefragable  truths :  But  the  libellers,  by  applying  the  severe 
 things  to  the  bishops  of  the  church  of  England,  which  Mr  Bax- 
 ter intended  for  bishops  who  had  richly  deserved  the  characters 
 he  has  given  them,  as  your  lordship,  if  you  are  a  reader  of 
 church  history,  must  be  well  aware  of,  had  endeavoured  to  turn 
 an  indispensable  duty  into  a  crime  punishable  by  the  laws  of 
 the  land> 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  717 
 
 "  Mr  Wallop   (said  Jefferies),   I  observe  you  are  always  in 
 these  dirty  causes;  and  if  it  were  not  for  you  gentlemen  of  the 
 long  robe,   who  ought  to  have  more  wit  and  honesty  than  sup- 
 port aud  hold  up  these  factious  knaves  by  the  chin,  we  should 
 not  be  at  the  pass  we  are."     "  My  lord  (said  Mr  Wallop),   I 
 humbly  conceive  the  passages  accused  are  natural  deductions 
 from  the  text."     "  You  humbly  conceive,  and  I  humbly  con- 
 ceive.    Swear  him,  swear  him."     "  My  lord  (says  he),  under 
 favour,  I  stand  here  counsel  for  the  defendant;  and  if  I  under- 
 stand either  Latin   or  English,   the  information  now  brought 
 against  Mr  Baxter,  on  so  slender  ground,  is  a  much  greater  re- 
 flection on  the  bishops  and  church  of  England  than  all  that  the 
 book  contains,  for  which  my  client  is  accused."     "  Some  times 
 (says  Jefferies)  you  very  humbly  conceive,  at  other  times  you 
 are  very  positive.     You  talk  of  your  skill  in  church  history, 
 and  of  your  knowledge  in  Latin  and  English — I  think  I  should 
 know  something  of  them  as  well  as  you;  but,  in  short,  if  you 
 do  not  understand  your  duty  better,   I  shall  take  the  liberty  to 
 instruct  you."     Mr  Wallop  sat  down.     Mr  Rotherham  rose, 
 and  urged,  "  That  as  Mr  Baxter,  in  the  book  libelled  upon,  had 
 spoken  well  of  the  prelates  of  the  church  of  England,  and  made 
 some  sharp  reflections  on  the  bishops  of  Rome  by  name,  it  was 
 to  be  presumed  the  passages  accused  were  only  applicable  to  the 
 bishops  of  the  Romish,  and  not  of  the  English  church."     Mr 
 Baxter  said,  "  My  lord,  I  have  been  so  very  moderate  with  re- 
 spect to  the  church  of  England,   that  I  have  incurred  the  dis- 
 pleasure of  not  a  few  of  the  dissenters  on  that  very  account." 
 Mr  Rotherham  added,   "  That  Mr  Baxter  frequently  attended 
 divine  service  in  the  church,  went  to  the  sacrament,  and  per- 
 suaded others  to  do  so;  and  that  even  in  the  book  so  charged,  he 
 had  spoken  very  moderately  and  honourably  of  the  bishops  of 
 the  church  of  England."     "  Baxter  for  bishops !   (exclaimed 
 Jefferies)  that's  a  merry  conceit,  truly.     Turn  up,  turn  up  the 
 passage."     Rotherham   turned  up  a  place,   where    it   is  said, 
 "  That  great  respect  is  due  to  those  truly  called  to  be  bishops 
 among  us."     "Aye   (says  Jefferies),   this  is  your  presbyterian 
 cant.    Truli/  called  to  be  bishops,  that  is  himself,  and  such  ras- 
 cals, called  to  be  bishops  of  Kidderminster  and  other  places — 
 bishops  set  apart  by  such  factious  snivelling  presbyterians  as 
 himself.     'Tis  a  Kidderminster  bishop  he  means."     Mr  Baxter 
 again  attempting  to  speak — "  Richard,  Richard,  (said  Jefferies), 
 dost  thou  think  I  will  hear  thee  poison  the  court.     Richard, 
 thou  art  an  old  fellow,  and  an  old  knave — thou  hast  written 
 books  sufficient  to  load  a  cart,  every  one  of  them  as  full  of  se- 
 dition  (I  might  say  treason)   as  an  egg's  full  of  meat.     Hadst 
 thou  been  whipt  out  of  thy  writing  trade  forty  years  ago,  it  had 
 
718  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 been  happy  for  England.  Thou  pretendest  to  be  a  preacher  of 
 the  gospel  of  peace,  and  thou  hast  one  foot  in  the  grave,  it  is 
 time  to  begin  to  think  what  account  thou  intendest  to  give;  but 
 leave  thee  to  thyself,  and  I  see  thou'lt  go  on  as  thou  hast  be- 
 gun; but,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  shall  look  after  thee.  I  know 
 thou  hast  a  mighty  party,  and  I  can  see  a  great  many  of  the 
 brotherhood  in  corners,  and  no  less  than  a  doctor  of  the  party 
 (looking  at  Dr.  Bates)  at  thine  elbow,  to  see  what  will  become 
 of  their  mighty  don;  but,  by  the  grace  of  Almighty  God,  I  will 
 crush  you  all."  Mr  Rotherham  sitting  down,  Mr  Atwood  be- 
 gan to  show,  that  none  of  the  passages,  mentioned  in  the  in- 
 formation, ought  to  be  strained  to  the  sense  put  upon  them  by 
 the  innuendos,  nor  could  any  one  of  them  be  applied  to  the 
 bishops  of  the  church  of  England  without  an  obviously  forced 
 construction.  In  proof  of  which,  he  attempted  to  read  from  the 
 text  and  context,  when  Jefferies  cried  out,  "  You  sha'n't  draw  me 
 into  a  conventicle  with  your  annotations,  nor  your  snivelling 
 parson  neither."  "My  lord  (said  Atwood),  I  conceive  this  to 
 be  within  RosswelPs  case,  lately  tried  before  your  lordship." 
 "  You  conceive  (said  Jefferies),  but  you  conceive  amiss — It  is 
 not."  "  Then  (said  Atwood),  that  I  may  use  the  very  best 
 authority,  permit  me  to  quote  your  lordship's  own  words  on  that 
 case."  "  No  (says  Jefferies),  you  shall  not — Sit  down  !"  Mr 
 Williams  and  Mr  Phipps  said  nothing,  finding  it  to  no  purpose 
 to  attempt  speaking.  At  last  Mr  Baxter  said,  "  My  lord,  I 
 think  I  can  clearly  answer  all  that  has  been  brought  against 
 me,  and  I  shall  do  it  briefly.  The  sum  is  contained  in  these 
 papers;  to  which,  with  your  permission,  I  shall  add  a  little  by 
 way  of  testimony."  Jefferies  would  not  hear  a  word;  but  sum- 
 med up  the  matter  in  a  long  and  fulsome  harangue.  The  jury, 
 without  leaving  the  box,  laid  their  heads  together,  and  round 
 him  guilty.  On  July  the  29th  he  had  judgment  given  against 
 him;  which  was,  to  be  fined  in  five  hundred  marks,  and  lie  in 
 prison  till  it  was  paid,  besides  giving  security  of  good  behaviour 
 for  seven  years.  He  was  pardoned,  however,  by  the  king,  and 
 had  the  fine  remitted  when  the  toleration  came  forth;  which 
 the  king  afterwards  granted  on  purpose  to  unfetter  his  Roman 
 catholic  partizan3.  In  consequence  of  which,  he  was  liberated 
 in  November  the  24th,  16S6. 
 
 After  this  Mr  Baxter  contented  himself  with  the  situation  of 
 an  assistant  to  Mr  Silvester;  in  which  capacity  he  laboured  for 
 four  years  and  a-half,  when  he  became  so  weak,  that  he  was 
 chiefly  confined  to  his  room;  nor  even  then  did  he  cease  from 
 his  usefulness,  so  far  as  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  good  in  his 
 own  house.  He  opened  his  doors  morning  and  evening  to  all 
 who  chose  to  come  and  join  with  him  in  family  worship,  to 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  7*9 
 
 whom  he  expounded  the  scriptures  with  great  seriousness  and 
 freedom.  But  his  distemper  increasing,  he  was  first  confined 
 to  his  chamber,  and  soon  after  to  his  bed,  where  he  felt  the 
 approaches  of  death,  which  generally  reveals  the  secrets  of  the 
 heart.  But  Mr  Baxter  was  the  same  in  his  life  and  his  death. 
 His  last  hours  were  employed  in  preparing  others,  as  well  as 
 himself,  for  appearing  before  their  Judge. 
 
 To  his  friends,  who  visited  him,  he  said,  "  You  are  come,   I 
 see,  to  learn  to  die;  but,   be  assured,   I  am  not  the  only  person 
 that  must  travel  this  road;  and  let  me  tell  you,  that  whatever 
 may  be   the  length  of  your  lives,   you  will  find  them  short 
 enough  to  complete  your  preparations  for  this  important  jour- 
 ney.     Guard  yourselves  against  the   snares    and    bewitching 
 temptations  of  this  vain,   this  deceitful,   and  transitory  world. 
 Make  choice  of  God  for  your  portion,  his  glory  for  your  chief 
 end,  his  word  for  the  rule  of  your  lives  and  conversation,   and 
 heaven  for  your  everlasting  home;  and  fear  not  but  we  shall 
 meet  again  in  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory."     Being  ask- 
 ed how  it  was  with  his  inward  man,  he  said,   "  I  bless  God  I 
 have  a  well-grounded  assurance  of  eternal  happiness,  and  I 
 have  great  peace  and  comfort  within:  but  flesh,   said  he,  must 
 perish,  and  we  must  feel  the  anguish  of  its  dissolution;  and 
 though  my  judgment  submits  to  the  will  of  our  heavenly  Fa- 
 ther,   still   sense    compels   me  to   groan."     He  gave  excellent 
 counsel  to  some  young  ministers  who  visited  him,  and  prayed 
 to  God  to  bless  their  labours,  and  make  them  successful  in  con- 
 verting many  souls  to  Christ.    He  often  prayed  that  God  would 
 be  merciful  to  this  miserable  and  distracted  world,  and  preserve 
 his  church  from  the  power  and  malice  of  her  enemies.     And 
 having  thus  spent  a  long  and  laborious  life  in  the  service  of  his 
 adorable  Master,  and  followed  him  through  good  and  bad  re- 
 port, he  rested  from  his  labours  on  the  8th  of  December  1691, 
 in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.     His  mortal  remains  were 
 interred  in  Christ  Church,   whither  they  were  attended  by  a 
 most  numerous  company  of  all  ranks  and  qualities,  particularly 
 ministers,  some  of  whom  were  conformists,   who  thought  it  ne- 
 cessary to  pay  him  that  last  office  of  respect.     There  were  two 
 discourses  delivered  on  occasion  of  his  funeral,    one   by  Dr. 
 Bates,  and  the  other  by  Mr  Silvester,   which  were  afterwards 
 published. 
 
 Few  men  have  had  a  larger  share  of  bodily  weakness  and 
 infirmities  than  this  good  man;  which  circumstance,  as  hint- 
 ed before,  cherished  the  peculiar  seriousness  of  his  spirit,  and 
 seemed  for  ever  to  whisper  in  his  ear,  "  Whatsoever  thine 
 hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  all  thy  might."  It  induced  him 
 to  set  about  every  part  of  his  work  as  one  just  on  the  point  of 
 
720  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 entering  into  another  world.  Being  at  one  time  visited  with 
 an  unusual  bodily  distemper,  which  threatened  to  end  his  days, 
 and  ruminating  on  the  promises  of  the  gospel  for  comfort 
 under  his  affliction,  his  faith  was  powerfully  assailed  with 
 doubts  respecting  the  truth  of  the  scriptures,  and  the  immorta- 
 lity of  the  soul.  Some  such  thoughts  had  often,  before  this, 
 run  across  his  mind,  which  he  had  always  repelled  as  unworthy 
 of  consideration.  On  this  occasion,  however,  they  stuck  so 
 close,  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  get  rid  of  them  without  ex- 
 amining the  matter  to  the  very  foundation ;  and  that  he  might 
 satisfy  himself  with  regard  to  the  grounds  on  which  Christiani- 
 ty was  erected,  and  that  his  faith  might  be  indeed  his  own,  he 
 gave  a  candid  hearing  to  all  that  could  be  said  against  it. 
 
 In  this  important  inquiry  he  began  with  the  foundation  of 
 all  religion,   the  existence  of  a  God.     The  stupendous  works 
 of  nature  convinced  him  of  the  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of 
 the  all-powerful  Worker;  so  that  he  looked  upon  the  man  as 
 destitute  of  reason,  who  questioned  whether  there  was  a  God, 
 or  dreamed  that  the  worlds  were  formed  by  a  conflux  of  inert 
 atoms,  or  that  reason  could  spring  from  that  which  was  utterly 
 destitute  of  reason,  or  that  man,  or  any  inferior  creature,  was, 
 or  could  be,  independent;  or  yet  that  all  the  wisdom,  goodness, 
 and  power  observable,   wherever  we  turn  our  eyes,  could  have 
 found  their  way  thither  without  a  cause  transcendently  super- 
 excelling  all  that  it  had  caused  in  the  world.    Being  firmly  fix- 
 ed in  this  leading  point,  he  could  easily  perceive,  that  this  God, 
 being  our   Creator,  must  necessarily  be  related  to  us  as  our 
 owner,  governor,  and  benefactor,  and  that  we  therefore  stand 
 in   the  relation  of  his  subjects  and  beneficiaries.     Hence  the 
 duties  arising  out  of  these  relations  become  as  discernible  to 
 the  reason  of  man,  as  the  relations  on  which  they  are  founded; 
 so  that  godliness  is  a  duty  so  undeniably  required  in  the  law  of 
 nature,  and  so  discernible  by   reason  itself,  that  nothing  but 
 unreasonableness  can  contradict  it.     With  this  view  of  the  mat- 
 ter, Mr  Baxter  could  not  conceive  it  possible,  that  this  God 
 would  suffer  his  children  to  be  losers  by  their  love,  gratitude, 
 and  dutiful  regard  towards  him,  or  that  persons  should  be  the 
 more  miserable   by  how  much   the  more  faithful  they  were. 
 Observing  the  prosperity  of  wicked   men,  and  the  afflictions, 
 disgrace,  and  persecutions  attending  on  many,  whose  lives  are 
 patterns  of  virtue  and  benevolence,  he  perceived  the  possibility, 
 nay,  the  strong  probability,  of  a  life  to  come,   wherein  virtue 
 should  find  its  reward,  and  evil  its  demerit.     He  saw,  more- 
 over,  that' a  strange  and  universal  enmity  existed  between  the 
 earthly  and  the  heavenly  mind,  fulfilling  the  prediction  of  the 
 holy  scriptures,  Gen.  iii.  15.;  and  observing  that  no  other  reli- 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  721 
 
 gion  in  the  world  could  stand  in  competition  with  Christianity. 
 That  heathenism  and  mahometanism,  kept  up  by  tyranny  and 
 brutal  ignorance,  blush  to  stand  at  the  bar  of  reason;  while  Ju- 
 daism is  but  Christianity  in  embryo;  and  pure  deism,  its  more 
 plausible  competitor,  has  been  so  discarded  in  almost  every  na- 
 tion, that  nature  seems  to  have  made  her  own  confession,  that 
 without  a  mediator  there  is  no  access  to  God,  and  that  without 
 the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission.  Neither  could  he 
 conceive  that  God  would  make  use  of  a  deceiver  for  such  a 
 visible  reformation  of  the  nature  of  man.  He  observed  an  ad- 
 mirable suitableness,  in  the  office  of  Christ,  to  the  purposes  of 
 God,  and  the  felicity  of  men,  and  how  appropriately  superna- 
 tural revelations  take  their  place  in  subserviency  to  natural  re- 
 ligion. Satisfied,  at  last,  that  the  holy  scriptures  are  the  wis- 
 dom and  power  of  God  to  every  one  that  believeth,  he  remark- 
 ed, that  nothing  can  be  so  firmly  believed  as  that  concerning 
 which  men  have  been  some  time  in  doubt;  and  that  it  is  a  be- 
 lief of  the  truth  of  revelation,  and  the  life  to  come,  that  sets  all 
 the  graces  in  motion;  and  with,  or  without  which,  they  flourish 
 or  fade,  are  accelerated  or  stand  still. 
 
 Mr  Baxter  found,  that  the  temper  of  his  mind  altered  some- 
 thing similar  to  the  alterations  which  age  gradually  made  on 
 that  of  his  body.  When  he  was  young,  he  felt  himself  more 
 fervent,  vigorous,  and  affectionate,  in  preaching,  conversation, 
 prayer,  and  other  religious  exercises,  than  he  could  often  attain 
 to  in  his  advanced  age;  but  then  he  found  his  judgment  more 
 solid  and  unwavering.  In  youth  he  was  much  quicker  in 
 comprehending,  and  could,  with  greater  facility,  manage  things 
 suddenly  presented;  but  age  and  experience  enabled  him  better 
 to  discriminate  between  truth  and  error,  and  to  discover  a  mul- 
 titude of  common  mistakes  which  had  passed  unnoticed  in  the 
 early  part  of  his  life.  In  his  youth  he  was  fond  of  controversy, 
 and  ready  to  conclude,  that  conciliators  were  but  ignorant  men, 
 who,  wishing  to  please  all,  pretended  to  reconcile  the  world 
 upon  principles  which  they  did  not  understand.  By  long  ex- 
 perience, however,  he  could  perceive,  that,  the  amiableness  of 
 peace  and  christian  harmony  apart,  the  advocates  of  reconcilia- 
 tion generally  possessed  greater  light,  and  more  substantial  ar- 
 gument, than  either  of  the  contending  parties. 
 
 In  his  younger  years  Mr  Baxter  was  as  much  enamoured 
 with  the  style  of  an  author  as  with  his  arguments,  and  consider- 
 ed that  the  former  gave  no  small  degree  of  energy  to  the  latter. 
 But  at  length  he  became  indifferent  to  all  these  rhetorical  or- 
 naments in  the  investigation  of  truth,  convinced  that  it  stands 
 in  no  need  of  such  meretricious  embellishments,  but  is  best 
 discovered  in  its  naked  simplicity.      His  opinion  of  mankind 
 
 2G  4  y 
 
7^2  MEMOIR  OF 
 
 also  greatly  altered  with  his  increasing  knowledge  of  the  world. 
 He  found  few  men  so  good  when  he  came  near  them,  as  he  had 
 apprehended  they  were  while  at  a  distance,  and  but  few  so  bad 
 as  the  malicious  and  censorious  world  are  apt  to  represent 
 them;  and  though,  in  some  individuals,  he  found  human  nature 
 transformed  into  a  nearer  likeness  to  devils  than  he  at  one  pe- 
 riod thought  possible,  yet  even  in  the  wicked  he  found  there 
 was  generally  more  for  grace  to  take  advantage  of,  and  more 
 to  witness  for  God  and  godliness,  than  he  once  could  believe 
 there  had  been.  Finding,  by  experience,  what  cruelty,  injus- 
 tice, and  other  audacious  crimes,  have  often  lurked  under  the 
 cloak  of  a  zealous  profession  of  religion,  set  off  with  great 
 powers  of  utterance,  he  became  careless  of  these  tinsel  evidences 
 in  estimating  the  worth  of  an  individual,  conscious  that  great 
 piety,  and  true  devotion,  are  often  concealed  under  the  simple 
 garb  of  unassuming  modesty.  As  Mr  Baxter  advanced  in  years, 
 he  became  more  liberal  in  his  sentiments  concerning  christian 
 communion.  He  was  not  for  robbing  Christ  of  any  part  of  his 
 flock,  by  cutting  them  off  from  the  communion  of  the  church 
 for  matters  of  indifference;  but  still  the  necessity  of  church  dis- 
 cipline appeared  to  him  more  and  more  indispensable;  for  no- 
 thing, he  conceived,  could  be  more  derogative  to  the  cause  of 
 Christianity,  than  a  church  composed  of  members,  who,  for 
 want  of  proper  discipline,  must  ultimately  become  as  vicious  as 
 pagans  and  mahometans,  and  differ  from  their  assemblies  only 
 in  ceremony  and  name.  In  a  word,  his  soul  was  more  afflicted 
 with  the  thoughts  of  a  miserable  world,  and  more  desirous  of 
 propagating  the  gospel  among  the  savage  nations,  though  he 
 was  not  inclined  to  pass  sentence  of  damnation  on  all  those 
 who  had  never  heard  of  the  Saviour,  as  he  had  been  in  the 
 days  of  his  youth. 
 
 Mr  Baxter  was  fond  of  a  quiet  and  retired  life,  and  yet  it 
 was  not  in  his  power  to  conceal  his  worth  from  observation  and 
 respect.  My  lord  Broghill,  afterwards  earl  of  Orrery,  lord 
 president  of  Minister,  greatly  valued  him,  and  entertained  him 
 most  respectfully  at  his  house.  While  he  continued  there,  he 
 became  acquainted  with  the  learned  and  pious  frrchbishop  Usher, 
 and  their  mutual  visits  were  frequent.  He  had  occasion  to  be 
 often  with  the  lord  chancellor  Clarendon,  who  carried  it  with 
 a  great  show  of  respect  towards  him;  and  at  his  earnest  and  re- 
 peated solicitations,  did  an  essential  service  to  New  England. 
 The  matter  is  this : 
 
 Mr  Elliot  having  learned  the  American  language,  and  con- 
 verted many  of  the  barbarous  natives  to  Christianity,  was 
 anxious  to  settle  regular  churches  among  them.  In  order  to 
 this,   it  was  necessary  first   to   build  houses  to  draw   (hem  to- 
 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  7^3 
 
 gelher,  and  provide  a  niaintcnaiicc  for  ministers  to  preach 
 among  them,  and  school  masters  to  instruct  their  children. 
 For  this  purpose  Cromwell  set  on  foot  a  general  collection 
 throughout  the  whole  kingdom.  The  people  gave  liberally  to 
 so  good  a  work,  and  the  money  was  put  into  the  hands  of  a  cor- 
 poration, who  purchased  seven  or  eight  hundred  pounds  worth 
 of  land  yearly,  which  was  appropriated  to  the  service  of  the 
 gospel  in*  those  parts.  The  land  was  purchased  from  an  officer 
 of  the  king's  army,  a  papist,  who,  upon  the  restoration  of  the 
 king,  seized  on  the  land,  and  would  neither  restore  it  nor  the 
 purchase  money — pretending  that,  the  corporation  having  been 
 appointed  by  Cromwell,  the  transaction  was  illegal  and  void. 
 Mr  Baxter  urged  lord  Clarendon  on  the  subject,  who,  after  a 
 year's  delay,  got  the  matter  happily  adjusted;  and  Mr  Baxter 
 soon  after  received  letters  of  hearty  thanks  from  the  governor 
 and  court  of  New  England,  also  from  Mr  Elliot  and  Mr  Nor- 
 ton, acknowledging  the  signal  service  he  had  done  them. 
 
 After  Mr  Baxter  was  silenced  with  the  rest  of  his  brethren, 
 he  had  letters  from  foreign  divines  full  of  respect,  solicit- 
 ing his  correspondence;  which,  for  fear  it  might  be  misinter- 
 preted by  government,  he  was  obliged  to  decline.  In  even  the 
 worst  times  he  had  several  at  court,  and  about  the  king,  who 
 were  very  respectful  to  him.  While  living  at  Acton,  he  had 
 the  pleasure  of  free  conversation  with  that  mirror  of  justice, 
 and  ornament  of  his  country,  the  worthy  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
 lord  chief  baron  of  the  exchequer,  who  lived  in  his  neighbour- 
 hood. Their  conversation  turned  chiefly  upon  the  main  points 
 of  religion,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  certainty  of  a  fu- 
 ture state,  &c.  Sir  Matthew  greatly  lamented  the  extremities 
 of  the  times,  and  the  violence  of  some  of  the  clergy,  and  was 
 very  desirous  of  such  abatements  as  might  admit  all  useful  per- 
 sons. He  manifested  his  respect  to  Mr  Baxter,  during  the  time 
 he  was  in  prison  upon  the  Oxford  act,  by  passing  an  honourable 
 encomium  upon  his  character,  both  for  piety  and  learning,  be- 
 fore all  the  judges;  and,  as  a  mark  of  his  esteem,  left  him  a  small 
 legacy  in  his  will.  The  earl  of  Balcarras,  who  was  driven  from 
 Scotland  by  Cromwell,  and  afterwards  attended  at  court,  very 
 highly  respected  Mr  Baxter,  after  having  read  his  works, 
 which  he  was  induced  to  do  by  the  recommendation  of  the  earl 
 of  Lauderdale.  Balcarras  was  considered  the  head  of  the 
 presbyterians  at  this  time;  but  a  misunderstanding  having  taken 
 place  between  him  and  lord  Clarendon,  he  was  dismissed  the 
 court,  and  soon  after  died  of  a  consumption;  but  lady  Balcarras 
 was  nothing  behind  her  husband  in  her  respects  to  this  distin- 
 guished divine. 
 
 But  in    the    whole    course  of  his  life,    Mr  Baxter    had  no 
 
724«  MEMOIR  OF  RICHARD  BAXTER. 
 
 friend  whom  he  more  valued,  or  by  whom  he  was  more  belov- 
 ed, than  Henry  Ashurst,  commonly  called  alderman  Ashurst, 
 one  of  the  most  exemplary  persons  for  eminent  sobriety,  self- 
 denial,  piety,  and  christian  benevolence,  that  London  could  at 
 any  time  boast  of.  In  short,  few  men  have  ever  had  more  writ- 
 ten against  them,  by  the  different  denominations,  nor  more  false 
 reports  circulated  concerning  them,  than  Mr  Baxter;  for  being 
 of  no  party,  and  holding  some  peculiar  opinions,  living  and  dy- 
 ing he  was  respected  and  admired  by  men  of  moderate  princi- 
 ples, while  he  was  slighted  and  reproached  by  zealots  of  almost 
 every  denomination. 
 
 As  a  writer,  few  men  have  written  more,  or  to  better  purpose. 
 His  books,  for  number  and  variety  of  matter,  might  form  a  li- 
 brary. They  contain  a  treasure  of  controversial,  casuistical, 
 positive,  and  practical  divinity.  Such  at  least  was  the  opinion 
 of  the  judicious  Dr.  Bates;  nor  was  he  alone  of  this  sentiment. 
 The  excellent  bishop  Wilkins  did  not  hesitate  to  assert,  "  That 
 he  had  cultivated  every  subject  he  had  handled;"  and  the  learn- 
 ed and  ingenious  Dr.  Barrow  gives  this  as  his  judgment  con- 
 cerning them,  "  That  his  practical  works  were  never  mended, 
 and  his  controversial  ones  seldom  confuted."  Mr  Calamy  tells 
 us,  "  That  the  books  he  wrote  amounted  to  more  than  one  hun- 
 dred and  twenty;"  and  an  Editor,  who  published  a  Life  of  Mr 
 Baxter,  says,  "  He  has  seen  one  hundred  and  forty-five  distinct 
 Treatises,  whereof  four  were  folios,  seventy-three  quartos,  for- 
 ty-nine octavos,  and  nineteen  twelves  and  twenty-fours,  besides 
 single  sheets,  separate  Sermons,  and  at  least  twenty-five  Pre- 
 faces to  other  men's  works." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 MACKENZIE,  PRINTER. 
 
T 
 
 r 
 
 />