'\ '\ >.. sv ^^ «^ 'I'^rchlball 1746-1816 ^''"^tkcal account of the A critical ^ life, charactei , ^' A CRITICAL ACCOUNT OF THE I. I F E, CHARACTER, AND DISCOURSES OF . '^ Mr, ALEXANDER MORUS, A CELEBRATED " PREACHER, AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, &C. IN GENF-- VA AND HOLLAND; AFTERWARDS MINISTER OF THE CHURCH OF PARIS. INWHICH The attack made upon him in the writings oF MiLTON, is particularly considered. «ONTAINING ALSO Incidental Notices of feveral Divinfs And Literary Characters, and of fome memorable transactions of that Age. TO WHICH ARE SUBJOINED, Specimens of his Discourses, original and Translated. BT ARCHIBALD BRUCE, MINISTER, WHITBURS. f^OLD by J. Ogle, W. Blackwood, Dickson &: Eastos', Eil'inbur^h ; M. Ogle, Brash & Reib, Glasg'.'iu ; D. Peat, Perth; W. Knight, AùaJeen ; J. Mc- Laren, Stirling; R. 0<^le, T. Hamilton, Gale ^ Co., Paternoller Row, London, 1813. C* N T E N T .s. SeBicn, Page. I. Introduftoigr obfervations II. MoRus's birth and education ; fettlcmcnt in Ge- ; tranfaftions there to the time of his call to neva Middleburgh - i *" III. Tellimoniala to the charader of Moru|^ remarks on Senebicr and Baylc ; manner of his departure from Geneva, and reception in Holland 37 IV. From his fettlement in Middleburg to the time of his departure to Amfterdam ; account of the Walloon Synod; his proccfs before the Synod, and the fupreme court of Holland oi V. The controverfy between Salmasiu» and Milton, occasioned by the execution of Charles I. The Cry of Royal Blood ; Milton's Second Defence of the People of England, in anfwer to it ; his at- tack upon Morus in it ; Morus's vindication in his Pubica Fides °^ VI. Morus's Journey to Italy ; the honour conferred on him at Venice ; Milton's virulent attack re- newed in his Defence of himself; fummary of its contents, and fpecimens of its fpirit, with re- marks; inftances of his vindidive difposition, and defamatory ufage of other worthy charaders ; animadversions on fome verfes ia his fonnets 142 y II. Morus called to Paris ; cited to the Walloon Sy- nod ; declines anfwering ; is cenfured by them ; proceedings at Charenton and in the Synods of France as to his admission ; his caufe by appeal before the National Synod of Loudun ; he is ac- quitted , 204 yill.Of the church of Charenton; Morus's situation there ; new troubles ; his journey to England ; is fufpended by the consistory of Paris ; violent diforders in confequence ; the interposition of the civil power; a petition in his favour to the Cham- ber of the Edid ; their determination uponjt ; his caufe before a Colloquy and Provincial Sy- nod ; and finally decided by the Synod of Bcny ; Merus re-eftabli(hed, and peace rcilored 253 Contents.' Seaion. Pagtl IX, Frona liis acquittal by the Synod to hîs death ; in- creasing liardfhips aud dangers of the Reformed ; Morus's fteadfallncfs in his rehgion ; hissickncfs, laft convcrfations and edifying death, taken from Z^et D.^niiers Ditrours, &c. 264 X. Conchiding remarks on the charaflcr of Morus ; catalogue of liis writings ; eftimatc of his fermons 301 APPENDIX. N** I. Letter of D'lociati . ." 334 2 . of Sartorls ' • 337 3. Teflimon'ial of the Curators of the H'ifïonc School in ylmfttnlam. . . . 339 4. Ijûtin verses on Genrva • . 340 5. 6. 7. 8. Original Extracts from Morus^s Sermons 343 Cj* Seled Sermons and ExtraBs translated, lulth an account of the Scalaile of Genevay separately print- edt pases 1 — 1-4 E R R ji T À. Page 7, line S, for de Lolme read Peter Loumeati du Pont. page 46, line 1 8, for orna read ormvmnt. page 59, line 4, lov was read auere. page 60, line 16, delete they, page 84, line 19, fur 164S read 1649. page 91, line i,for condem-iing the king, rcad//'f execution of the king, page 92, line 3 from the foot, for aud read u/ leafl page 93, line 1 3, read atrocity, page 94, line 6, read protefianl. line 6 from the foot, for tlie read ihty. page 106, line 5, ix^d Pnjlon. page 114, line 3 from the foot, for and fiich, read and of such, page 115, line 11 from tl'.e foot, for wiio, read /wo of tvhom. page 133, line 18, blot out he before that, page I ç I, line 11, read Ir/fuinum. page IÇ2, lafl line, for high or dignified, read mo/l exceifcnt. p;ige 188, lall line, after ufe add of. page 193, line 8, delete ihe mark of ((notation, page 2 14, line 15, after full, add of. page 232, line t, inllead of before reid by a public letter tir. page 237, line j from the foot, read refpeds. page 270, laft line, before the, read of page 290, kne 23, xe^id innocence : line 26, read contre, page 318, liwe 6, and line 4, from the foot, in fome copies, for 65, read 64, and for 1627, read 1629. page 330, line l, read consideratiooa. page 33U, line 7,^or auncfe, icad années. 'Tliere arc'fereral niillakes in letters, r for <•, s for f &c. wh'ich will not affcft the fcnfc.— The Treuch is priiited without aceenti. CRITICAL ACCOUNT, &c. SECTION FIRST. Itttroduâory Obfervatlons, I NT the extcnfive range of 'iioj;r ,)liy there m^y be fouiul fufficitnt iood for gratifying every tafte, .ind enough to f.itisfy the almoit insatiable thirll for nov hy. Perfons of every chara£ler and profelFiOii, and in every cor.dirion o Hfe, may in their •■urn be exhibited : and if, even the lives of thofe pcrfons who have moved in thf more ordinary fphert, and in the obfcurer walk of life, may be fo written at> to afford fome inihuclion and ainufcment, much more thofc of men eminent for abi- lities, who have been placed in cunfpicuous ftations, cn- ga^-^d in pu lie and a£live fceiies, whofc couife has been marked by fome uncommon incidc-nts and o^ cur- rences, which may fcrve at the fame time to «lifnlay their own charadler, and that of other men and pirti.'s, and the fpirit and hiftoiy of tlie times in which t'ley li- ved This may. in a fpccial manner, be faid of men w hofe vritinjj;., as well as examples, may (till afford ufcful lef- fons to thofe wiio fuccted them, A 2 For fome timr pafl, n tafle for what 15 antiquated and rare, in every kind, and of coiirfc a fpiric of refearch in- to certain portions of the hiftory, and the iii<^rarv re- mains, prinfd or mnnufcript, of fomt former eras, fias greatly prevailed in Britviin. This, likf every thing ,dj- pencïinc; on the caprice of fafln'on, is no doubt \nh\t to be carried to a ridiculous excefs: but though it oft leadt thofe who are influenced by it, to beHow much labour to little purpofe, and to die up niucli rubbifli, yet it alfo brings to light fome treafure, and tends to preferve valuable relics. It were to be wifhcd, that this propen- fity were more often dire6\ed to purpofes of ufefulnefs and inftruflion, rather than to gratify mere idle curiofi- ty : particularly, it nny appear an objccft to intereft dill move tli: attention of the literati, cfpecially of church- men, to hive the chara£Vero, ff.ntiments and aflions of "many worthy men brought into clearer view, which have been gradually obfcurf d by the A\\{\. and shades of inter- V'-iiing years, or have fuflercd injury trom the mifre- prtfention and partiality of enemies, or the prejudics and Varyinp: modes of thinking, in their own or fucceeding ages. The writer of this h.as long wiihed to fee the hif- tory and memorable tranf are now, in a grrat mevifure, almoll totally un- known, even to the learned, and in danj^cr of bcnig al- together loll, by being buried under the ovcrwlielming load and endlcfs. divcrfity of modern publications of x very different ilamp and tendency, — or iiyept away by the current of fordid mercenary traOac, or by the nior<; dtvouring mge of relentlefb war and revolutions ; more efpecially, fuch an event, once fo unlikely to happen, may be accelerated, on the continent of Euçppe, if tnc plan of which we hare (o recently heard, of fui-^jetSli:';^ all books to be printed, to the coniroul and imprimatur of an imperial defpot or his council, and of rellricting thenj to a certain number to be prefcribed according lo th.ir tafle or capricious views, fliall, be realiztd. Not a few materials of tlie kind referred to, may ytt be found ia Britain i and dill more difptrfed thruugiout the ditTcrcnt depaijlmcnts of Proteftant Europe. In the annals of tac French churches alone, whether in tneir advancing, fiourifiiing, or declining (lute, or. after their difperfion, thefc may be found in great- abundance to engage ihx fchoiar, the divine and the Chriilian. The reformed churches were engaged m one commoit eaufe and contcll, however diverfified in iheir cir.um- ftances, tlieir trials, and their fuccefs. In better times, their interells, their efforts, their proiperity and advcrfi- ty, were confidered as fo intimately connected, as in- deed they ought ûill to be, that nothing pertaining to the fame great body, was accounted foreign. The .illi- nlty arifing from religion, formed a bond of afllc.ioM and friendfliip, more ftrong, th;in that whieh ariies from n,\« A 2 4 rional t-Ticuape, cuftortTi. jr, v rtjmenta, arx^ politic 1 and f( ci. ir itiureU^. T r union nd lutet . ur-e. i u ti TifVcr cftiahlifticd oi luil a ftttltO ard ifgular pi : , ag Chrillianity and iheir com n on good require- d, was lorm- crly irorc carefully cultivât d, fo iar i> the jt iloufi-.s and rcOraints laid upon tiicni [>) civil rulers permitrtd, than hit. been thf calV in iar r timt-s. I he Gcnev.in church, though confined within narrow limits, lone oc- cumed a principal place, a. it prefented i prominent ob* yd among rholr denoniii ated Calviniftiv.i' ill the hiltory and rtvokuu-ns of tbe French Protf(ta;ii riiurchj fornud a'tcr tJ e tarn model, there is foi.iethii.t^ pt cu- liai tminently c.ilcui w d to afford warning and inilTuc» tion to all around her, nd fc r ag s after ; — som fhing dc'ply mtrr' fling and afF-éling not Icfs fo ni i relipi-m» vie« , than in thole iti^nge . nd alarming chiiige-- ot an- Otlici kiiid, that lately have filled the wor!d with al'onish» nitnt. and of wnich the former may be viewed s a remoter aoral caule and prelude, and a k'v to cp.ii u > a great part of the myftery ot them. 1 here was a . i ne Vhen thar church Ihom* '' loith as the morn, fair a the moon, «'kar as the fun, ami ttrnble as an army v ith banners i" and tven in l)t r fall ano ruins fhr exhibited a fpcttaclc worthy of conttiiiplation ; and the id Icfiaf» tical antiquary m?y yet, with a melancholy plcafure, iurv< y the rubbifh and Itones, itul mav find amoni/ them, remains more gr?nd and pieciuus than in Antichiiiliaii Ron L- with all her magnificence and fplendor ; ui.ofc turn is now conie to fall, and to fink into the abyfs of total and irrttricvablc ruii> i whiii the lovers of Zion may vonfidcntly wait ii r a tme of rcturniîig t ivour to" h' I, \vl . • |>. r wailcs ami dcfolaied palac»S llvati be glo* riuuliy rebuilt* Th-» compiler of ^his (Pcinoir, for Tiis part, reckons î^ the chief advanta;re and pleafuic derived from a little icqu.iintance with the irench lan^^uige, that it nai. ad- mitr^d hiin to tlie pcrufal of a v iritty of writing's, cfpc« cialiy thofe publi^lied by ProtrllaiiLs, in it; to nidi of wiucl» he would other wile have remained a Urangcr» Bcfide^ tiie attradive mann;^r, the cLar, eafv, lively» and ofttn elegant, llyle oi compodtion, Éer whicii th* writers of that naiiori luve ufu lly been diilinguilhtd) tht y afford a rich fund of inf>;rmation and entertainment, whether on luojcd^ hutorical, critical, coniroverfi il, or div'jtional. Our prejudice in favour ot lirit'lh produce, fliouul noi hinder Ub tVoni perceiv iig and acknowictlging, ■that m the poiiihingot inoii'rn languai^e, the cuhiv tion of the bcUe> Lettres, in natural peifpicuous method, and in il lluont animated liyleoi difeourle.s, particuiany from thr pulpit, tliey preceded, in tluir improvemtnts, the biitilh. Ev^n before the rehnemcnt and fixing the fljndaid of their language by a Royal Academy, not t few of tile Kcfornicd, (i. a ili anger may be allowed to .judge, dffbrded exampleb both of purity and elegance, not inteiior at lead to any or their co».vali> in the kifig- dum : thty ^oiunbuce their fliavc in promoting tne Hudy of phi'Ology and otiier branches o) literature, in the early part of L. wis XiV ; fome o< them were often confultcd as among the moft competent juif^cs. Of thfc i>rin' ;pal promoters of thcle iluaitt., fonv. tiad i>ccn edu- ■cated prott Hants, and other- were mixed with them in literary focictics, or maintained an intimate correfpon- denee witn them. Fht y had preachers who could at any time be compared with tiie moit celebrated among th. vatholic clergy m all t'l^ chi. t rqa. fîtes u. palpit Oratory, as ail of them dia exceed liiem m the i'criptural Viattrr and the evangelical and edifying drain of their fcrirons. I he fubjeô of the prefent memoir, was one among the many karned men and pteachcrs, that adorned the ftventet-nth century. He had acquaintance und ConnedVions with fome of the firft chav;ic\crs of tl:at tge, and was no Icfs efteemed in the fchool^ of learning-, than he was admired in the pulpii by both the higher «nd lower clafles of people ; though in Britain he was Jefb known than he was abroad. If we except fornc of the early reformers, there are few lives of mere literary wen or divines, that prefent fu^h viciflitudcs, fuch a variety of uncommon incidents, or have been fo thec- ■qucred with divtrfity. Having been fucccflivcly placed in different confpicuout. llations, neither his excellencies or faults could tfcape obfcrvation ; and both were cx- pofcd to frequent and free animadverfion. Few have experienced, in a more ftnfible manner, the extremes of praife and of cenfure, of fritndfliip and refentmenF, of rcfpcft and of obloquy. As hi;, talents were not of the ordinary fort, and js he himfelf did not keep within the line of cold mediocrity in his kind or irafcible affec- tions toward others, fo they, in their turn, obferved no medium toward him. He was puifued wherever he went by the virulcncr of party, or the clamour of envy i fo that his life and conduit were fubjeded to a fiery ordeal, at the bar of the public, and before both civii and ecclefiaftical courts. Hi nee fomc, who have not been at pains to obtain a juit itatc of facts ; who relied in vague reports, or have borrowed their informatioa from his enemies, have taken occafion to reprefcnt hiory account necefTary. Ai the death of Mr d,- Lolme, minifter of the French church, confifting of Proteflanr Refugees, chiefly from Pic^rdy, that had been fettled and fubfifted at Edinburgh, till their congregational ftate was diflolved at his death, and the buildings that had been appropriated to their ufe, were pulled down for carrying on the building of the New Town, among other books that had belonged to his library, the poflhumous volumes of Morus' Sermons^ which are very feldom to be met with, came into the pofleflion of the compiler of this account. He found in •them an original turn o* thinking, great livelinefs of fancy, and animation. Having employed fome leifur» iiours in rendfiring a few of them into Engliib, in which nothing of that author, fo far as he know;, had ever appeared, he was led to look a little more narrowly than he had done before, into the particulars of his life and chaTa£\er, to fatisfy at leaft his own mind upon the fub- j( 61, fo far as any remaining fources of information, to which he had ace -fs, could enable him. And while he found in the r-^fearch, a good deal to prompt curiofity, fo alfo not a little, in fome ftages of progrefs, to perplex and embarrafs the inquiry, and to render a decided opi« nion difficuU upon matters about which the public mind and voice had been, for a time, fo much divided, and may yet in fome degree continue divided. The refult, fuch as he reckoned due to truth, and to a public and ftluÀ dchmed Aaraiftrr. Co note A In the" reformed chiirtlirs, hi lir.s lirlv ^iven .ind fubmiriccl to t' r • ^d■.t» Bffules the intrt-fl^ arifin^r from the tcl-tion tha* lub- fift.s nmong the diff rmu d^partmcnis of tht txttr.nve connion- wealth of |ptti-rs, anttthc more (Iritt and f crcd ties, in this caiff, of a common religion t^e Coffifra- tion of thi-. aut^'or havin^j ori'jfinat 'd hi-.v this couii^ry, (his f.innlv fv4vint{ jjfone ovtr Trnm Scoil ind and ficled in the fouih of rT.vrcc- where hv wa"^ bom ) may ii\- h^d fome influence to draw hin attention more par'icu; rlf to his characler anil writinsis; and it m.iy. p^rhap , have the fume eiTeft upon feme others of his countrymen. The 8 01« haw been often noted tor a pei uliar fpirit of Bat'onahty ; and from this vrry cXi ufnble, if not laudable, propenfity, the conr.iil'-r will not pretend that h'- is nlto- gether free. He only wiflies th.t even this might excite fhcm yet more to j>aloufy for the honour of tluir i^oun- try, and of a number of tlieii formerly expatriated citi- zens, who wer;' lither unjuftly cxncllrd, or had willirgly abandoned their native land, in quifl cf aftive employ- ment, and a fcn^e of greater ufcfulncf^;, of whidi the number was not few ; feveral of whom found prr.iter en- couragement, wef ''eld in liivhcr r Qimation, and hive had tlifir memory more refpecflf-d, .nnong forcipncrs, than rvcr they h;ul at home. Bifides the inll^nc -^ of tin-: in other lc3Tntd or Iionorary prorrAîon-î, or in pre- ceding periods, were there not fomc in the age pnrtieu- Jarly referred to, who were not only eminent for piety, but accounted ornaments »'ithcr in the proreOant :ica- demies or pulpits on tl\e continem, whofir names arp « i. ther not yt't regtl^cred n any S.ottifti or I'ritdh Bioura- phv, cT .\t lealt not i'l f' c' a ri.TV' r .s th'v (\ ferved. The compilers, indeed, of ilie numerous and inilcellAHC» 9 ôiH ^rhc'es of wMch work'^ of thislcin^ ufually '^on^'ï, co.uciu themfelves for t'ie mod part ^vith firvilely copy» înç whit t'î^ir pr-dicefTir'! hi l prepared to their hand, without havini^ either inclinatio'i, l.nfure, or competrnt ^l^atl^, for ex iinining parti 'ul.ir chara^ers and lives a-ne\v for the-nfelvcs : and when, from thi nature of their defign, they are under the nec-ffiry of abrid-^in^, th-y more readily fall into error, or commit^njuflice, by mentioning certain facls, and giving only mutil.ited accounts, while others are conrealed which may be neceflTiry for giving a clear and correct ft^tement oa controverted fuSje£ls, or for vindicating accuf^d cha- racters : or, what is dill worfe, they will fo metimes prefent the reader with bare general charafters, or feme traits of charader, drawn or coloured accord- ing to the conceptions and prejudices of others, or their own, unaccompanied with fa£ls or evidencp on which to found a judgment : and thus they would fuf- tain themfelves the lordly arbiters of fame or infamy. Hence, it not feldom happens, that by a (ingle touch of their pen, by one or a few fummary ftnrences inf.rted through ignorance, inadvertence, or d^figni worthy characters have been publicly, fometimes irreparably wounded ; and innocent or praife worthy actions, or va-' luable literary produ(ftion-, hav been ro-ifigned to pof- tcrity under forae rafli and unmerited ftigma. SECTION SECTION II. Mo R US' S llrlh anil eiluaiilon -His fettJement in Geneva-^ Tranfadlons there to the time of his call to MiJJleburgh. J-N the age in which our Author lived, it M'as cuflomarf for the learned, who wrote ufually in lutin, to afTume latin names, fome of wlilch liad no relation to their pa- ternal name, or fo tranfmuted as to retain no appar-^nt refemblance. MoRUs is only the family name, with tlie latin termination: As it is that by which he was com- monly known wherever he refuled, that wliich has beeti allixed to all his writiii<;s, and by which he has fince even in Britain been ordinarily mentioned, we fhall, in compliance M-ith cuflom, generally retain it, though Moke would be more familiar to a Britifli ear, and more agreeable to the Englifli idiom. This divine was born at Caftres, in Languedoc, ia in 1616. In that city there was a college for the Re- formed, of which his father, at this time, was Principal, and alfo a paftor of the proteftant church there. This was one of the cities in wliich there was alfo one of the Mixed Chambers (Mi[>artie)y tftublinicd by the edict of Nantes, wlierfin the caufcs particularly relating to the Reformed were to be judged ; tlu- court being compofed of an C(|u.d number of catholics and proteflaiits. Some fav, the college was formed upon the fame plan with the INIixcd Chambers, part of the teachers b^ing of the one religion, anti part of the other (a). It does not appear, {a) Mofcri, Diilion. Hijlor. Art. PclifTon. eSu. I 740. at what time or from what motiv?, Mr More the father- had emigrated from Scotland" But it was no unufudL thing, as has been already obferved, to find a nini ben from that land,, about this period, olhciating either in- the academies or \:hurches in France, while they were yet enjoying the liberties fecured to them in the reign of Henry IV. at leaft, while they were not yet fo fignally viol ited and abridged, as they afterwards wefè. Several worthy Prcfbyterian minifters, it is well known, incur- iied the difpl.afure of K. James VI. for oppofing the. fooljfli and dcfpotic meafures adopted by him, for changing the ecclefiadical government and worfliip o£ the church of Scotland. Some of them, for no other crime, had been fentenced to death, but were after.vards Cent into exile ; among whom was the eminently pious Mr Welfli, Ion in-law to Mr J. Kiiox, who found an afylum and favourable reception in France ; where he, in a few months acquired fo much of the language,' as to adventure to preach in it, and even within a few. years to write in it a book (L'Armngeddon), dedicated to the pallors in the province of Xviiiitogne, among whom, for a considerable time, he excrciftd his mi- nidry with reputation : even * the very popifli priefts and foldiers,' fays Principal Baillie, ' yta, the profaned of the court, and K, Lewis himfelf, at the very hoitclt time of his perfecutlons, ditl much prize and reverence him.' H'tf.or. F'mclicai'ton, f f. Mr And. Mtlvil was alfo forced, in his old age, to become an exile in Sedan. Some others who fcrupled the ntw terms of conforniity when rigidly impofcd, might voluntarily \\ithilrnw thi- ther i as of all the reformed churches abroad, nonç approached nearer to the original confîïkttion of the Pr fbyterian church of Scotland t!:an that of Fraiitq* B z Ot^pr<;, from a profpefl of more rea^'y emrloymrnf, in tliat niorc .x.cnlivc fitld for l.ii Ou , troii toi <.c- ticiib rcoiding thcrci or from a varie, y of conllileraion;, may have bten induced to remove, a:ul to Icttlr ..ere for a time, or lor liic **. But that tioor w at. d laft • In the former half of that cciUiiry, besides the ahove, we ntiLCt with the following ijcotchincii. in the ro.ls (>f U i ir in -.lilters and proicfTors ; Gilbert and Dav d Primrolt ; J. Hniiiton and fon , Adamfon, in Poit cu; Duncan in to his lean.cd Commentary on the Ephesians, in atin to ; Cam on, vliom Bp. Kail lUled, " the mol*, learned man Scutln.div r pVL'd iCed, ' wiiofe hiftor is more general) known He was XJv.d.' profcffov of Theology, in llic Univevfity of Glaigow, \):X loon returned back to Franct but livtd not K.ng aittr Gilb Prinirole hid for fomc time been n:iniltcr in Edin- burgh, and was fettled firft in thc'eliiireh if Mirambeau, and afurwards minirtei anci profeflbr of Divin. ly in Bourdeaux, but relcrviiig a liberty to return. He was dvmai.di.d again by tl c cit^ of Edinb. and K James, but at tht eainell dti re of his church, and the Synod of Rochelle, in 1607 he was pre- vailed upon to Hay. But having oppoled Arnoux, a Jtluit, an edidl was obtained againll him, whereby both he and his colleague. Cameron, were interd éted, either from preaching or teaching in college,-, not onl} btcaufc thty were toiei^ntrs, but under the pretext of their meddling with affairs of ilate. 1 il. s lentence the Syiiods who mlerclUd thimfclvts in their behalf, never could prevail on the king to revoke, though it Uas relaxed a little in favour of Cameron. P. having return- ed 10 England, in lt)23, was made chaplain to K. James ;iiid Ciiarles his fon, and piiblirtied lome fermons in Eni^lilh which he had delivered at court : as he had Icfore pubhilud ^ vols, of Sermons in French, wi h fome other volumes againil the monks» He was admitted that year a paftor in the ancitnt French church in London, that hnd been ft.unded in the reign of Edward VI. by a patent obtained by the noble John a >.afco: In which flat ion he continued until! his death, in J 64 2. Six other iermous, in French, were pubuftud b) hinj »3 fhut upon any from tfnt quarreti or 'from anv othrt of the rctoriiicd cnurciu^, through the jealuuiy, and je- fuitical influence, prevaihng in that tyrannical court. Mr M's f\theï having been ffctiled there previous to his birth, the Tan, in confequence of being a native of that kingdom, vva:, not a{F<;é\ed by the edicls that wtn- afterwards eniitted, excluding ftrangtrj» from ec- clcfiaftical oiiives: he had farther the advantage above thofe who went over when come to age, in a quiring the langu;ige from hib infancy, fo as to enable him to fpeak it with greater puvitv, than can ufually be at- tained by foreigners, whatever their application ini^ht be. A deeift in this refpetl would not, indeed, be fo greatly felt in officiating in academics, when prac- Jttlions were eommonly given in latin, a^ in the puipst. But provincial dialers or ai cents, parti», ulariy in p!.;ee3 inore remote from the capital, fueh as t at in winch îtir M. was horn, often caufe a conlideiabltr différente even an\ong the natives, and as h<. iiaci for a great p;!rt of his life, refjded without the limits of that kingdoin, perhaps hi:, fpt-ecli did nottxactly accord with the ftandard of Paris, when he wa^ trantported thither. in London. Dav d P., his fon, as I fuppofe, was miniiler in Rouen, in 1637 His grandfon, Davi P., was ordained a pallor in the fame congregation, in London in 16 c where he Hill cont.niitd to v^lficTate in the reign ot Q^ Anne In fi i, he publdhcd three Si."rmons ; the full in comn-ven;oration ot the l.rll eila- blifl-iinent of the church 150 years before : tb.e iVeona in 1710, Wticn the Author had arr vcd at the 5Cth year oi h.s mr.iirtryr in it : Uie third preached in the following )car. at tli^ l;:ttle. mtnt of Meff. de S;.iiite Colonie and Ciaudc Uie ion o"^ t.ie celebrated Claude; tJ be his e. Ilea ues in it j.imcs Si'n.n had for fomc time been his affociate in th.u c4ur-e lo ttis year 1706, with nnan others, 9 ot whom h< had oui. '.1 vcd. Quick's Synodic, v. li. p. 102. '2io:j ùerm, &c. To tills Mr Chevreau fecms to allude, in on^ of lii* letters to Fabcr, after M. had preached before a fynod that met at Loudun, where he fays, that the people ill that province could not he proper judj^cs of his dif- courfe, " becaufe they do not fpcik Gafcon in Tou- raiiit." {j} The Principal, befides the fubje6l of this memoir, had another fon named Aaron, who was alfo educated for the miniRry, and became a paftor to the numerous congrcfrith Godefroy and Morus as with colleagues and friend?. Morub continued here for about three years to tench the Belles Lettres, though his f.uher, and liis compa- triots rather wiflied his return to PVance. H^ was foon embroiled with fome of his colleagues, and upon Lis propofing to enter into the miniitry, he had a new con- teft to undergo, with fome, who had raifed fufpicions of his orthodoxy on certain points of divinity, which had become matter of much controverfv in the churcli of France, and in that univerfity. It will be proper here to' be a little more particular, both as to the nature of the charges brought againfi; him, the procedure that took place upon them, and the manner in which it terminated, efpecially as thefe were aftt rwards revived to his difad- vaniage, and circulated by his detraftoro throughout all Europe, and as Bayle and others who have mentioned the accufation, have left the readers greatly in the dark, and to tlieir own conjedtures on the fuhjrcft. In this we fliall chiefly follow Senebier, who hid accefs to tlîe befl information, not only from ihe various jjiinud re- lations that appeared on the contiuciu, but alfo from the opportunity that he had, in tl>e flafion of the keeper of t Seneb. Hi/l. Liter, torn. ii. p. 157. C .i8 the public library In Geneva, to coiifult the Reconls of the Company of r.idors pveft-jrvcd tlnire. Mofes Air.yrault, the noted I'ninlller and profcflbr at Saumur, had ftudicd under Cameron, and from him was fuppofcd to have imbibed certain opinions upon predef- tination, grace, original fm, and other topics connciElcd U'lth ihem, which fccmeil to approach too near to the Ar- minian fcheme that had been fo publicly condemneil. Amyrault, in 1637, a little before our author came to Geneva, having publilhed his treatife upon praedeftina- tion and grace, excited great coniplaints againfl him on that account, by fome eminent divines both in France and elfewhere, which occaGoned a number of writings afterwards on both fides, and much contention in lome fynods. The celebrated Du Moulin, Frcdr. Spanhcim, 'and Rivet, became his principal antagonills : while he had colleagues in Saumur, which were on his fide, fcve- ral other minifters were difpofcd to put a favourable conftruclion on his opinions, and endeavoured to fup- prefs the difputes, and to conciliate the parties, though for a time not with the dcfircd fuccefs. An attempt was made in the National Synod of Alencon to compofe the diilerenccs, but they broke out again. It was objected to Morus, that he entertained the new opinions, thofe of the Salinuria:i divines : The council tliercfore ordered an examination : thirteen thefes were prcfentetl to liim -, he gave anfwers to them in writing, fubfcribed by him, whitii fatisfied the majori- ty of the minifters: but fome inlillcil for an explicit condemnation of tliefe opinions. He confented to de- clare that he rcjefled whatever was contrary to the re- ceived doilrine, and particularly the new opinions comlemned by ilic minifters of Geneva, in their letter to tliè Synod of Alencon. ** The miniOers however delayed the trials {ks ■exam€ns)i fays Senebicr, uiuiri the council 'obliged ihem f ." He was received miniller in Odobcr 1641 ; and in a few months after, in J.uinary 1642, paflor an4 profeflbr of theology, in the room of "i^edr. Spanhcim, wlio was that year called to Leyden. « Morus," fay our author, " had qualities which were fitted to make him admired , but he did p^nt conciliate his colleagues. His talents might excite envy ; but all men are not envious j and he was perfecuted wherevey lie went. ' The general alarm that had lately been raifed through- out the fynods and univerfities of France, in GenevL^ and the Netherlands, by the publication and progrefs of the new opinions, had produced ftritter rules as to the admiffion of candidates to the miniftry, and excited "reater watchfulnefs, in teachers in the univerfities, o- ver young men, as to their fentiments on thefe fubjedls, in confequence of reprefentations and requifitions from various quarters that had been prefented to the Na- tional Synod of Alencon, in 1637, and afterwards to the third National^Synod of Charenton, in 1645, and the injundions agreed to in them. The profcfTors of Geneva in particular, in name of their univerCity and churches, in a long letter to the former of thefe, above referred to, after expreffing their apprehenfions and grief at the rife and progrefs of the new doctrines, their commendation of the fynods for their former care in maintaining the truth» and their confidence in the wif- dom and zeal of that fynod for taking proper meafures, t Seneb. HiJ. Literaire de Geneve. Tom. ii. p. 196- -^■ Geoeve, 1786. 20 they tlius addreflfed them, ** We bcfecch you to exert youi lull .lUtLoriiy in ami about theft- m.itters, for fay- ing all that lieth in your power, rcgaininjj what was lofl, retaining truth and love, as much as pofTible, with- out violating your own intcgriix, without degenerating into any dangerous connivance i'o enjoin all the churches and univerfnics to be wholly filent, and that neither from the pulpit nor prefs any of thefe new doc- trines be broached nor vented \ — and when occafionally thefe matters fhal) c )mc to be debated, that all perfon8 fliould keep themfelves to the fimplicity of our conlef- fions, and to the canons comludcd and made in the re- nowned Synod of Dort, without mingling with them thefe new hypothefes, phrafes and diflititflions." ** And to prev; nt fuch dangers in time to cone, wc conceive it very needful, that you eflablifli, if you !;ave not done it already, an ordinary fuperintendant over your univerfities ; for ir is in thofe fchools of learning, where leifurc, and thf pleafurfs of fpeculaticn, variety of rc"ading, and curious inquiries into matters out of the common road, and the bait of fmgularity, do carry live- ly geniufes with too much promptnefs afttr thefe novel- ties, which however tolerable they may feem to be in difcourfe and conference with learned and we41 informed men, yet ought not at any time to be publilhed, nor thrown into the minds of young (tudents, who are to be dealt with after another way. Pclagianifm in the Low Countries," they add, " was the plant of the Spanifli meta- phyfics producing not pious, painful, and profitable, but fubtlL- paflors and preachings, an infinite brood oi dif- putancs, void of undcrllanding and corrupt in points of f^ith We exhort you to he jc.ilous and fufpicicus of rew methods, and imaginary hypothefes, and an affedcJ lingular way of teaching, and to avoid them. Arminiua took Iii-i walks firll in thefe by-paths, till fuc time as he had gotten a ilock of credit, and had formed for Jiiiafelt a party, then he puUetl off" his vizard," &c. Though the fynod ol Alcncon had taken pains to allay the contentions that had arifen, by examining particular- ly the offenfive tenets of i\niyr;;ult and Tcltard, and partly accepting the explanations and dedarations of thefe divines, and partly, condemning and prohibiting the ufe of certain dl{Unél;ions, terms and phrafes, they had employed, to which they fubmitted, promifing to abftain from t'lcm for the future, yet the complaints were foon renewed againft Amyrault and others, on ac- count of the viol.ition of the canons and teims of peace, that had been f(.ttled, particularly by the republication of the oil'enfive tratft on reprobation a.ul fome other works of that author: upon which tlie National Synod of Charenton, in compliance with the requtlls of all the provinces, demanding the confimation and punclual ob- I'ervation of the forefaid canons, did " n.ofl exprefbly forbid, on pain of all church cenlure, and being dcpofed from their offices, all papLors and profeflbrs to go beyond thofe bounds in writing, preaching or difputing upon thofe points \ — declaring, that the profeflbr^^ Hiould be refponfible for all their Icdtures, thefes and difputations -, and their provincial fynods Ihould be accountable for them unto the National :--And all ftudents of divinity were exprefsly enjoined, upon pain of being declared i-nworthy of ever fcrving in the facred miniftry, to raife any itirs or debates about unneceffiry que{lions, as about the order of God's decrees, of univerfal grace by the preachuig of nature, whicli may lead and bring men mnto falvation j — and that all examiners of propofants for the miniftrjr, (îiould proceed In that bufinefs witTi very much charity, exadling from them nothing but what was demanded by the canons of their difcipline ; and providing the fatisfacStion requifite were given, by fign- îng the confcfhon of faith, the Hturgy of thtir churches, and the canons of Alez, Charenton, and Alencon, and their prefent a£l, they fliould be approved and admitted." In this flate of things, it need not appear ftrange, that M. fliould be fubje^led to a ftrifter fcrutiny upon thefe heads, than would have been reckoned nccedary in other circumftances. It may be partly accounted for, witliout fuppofing that he had given any juft ground to fufpe£V, that his fentiments on thcfe points were diffe- rent from tliofe commonly received. Some through an fexcefs of zeal might be difpofed to carry their fufpicions too far ; or if pcrfonal antipathies fubfifted, they could be conveniently indulged, and covered under the fpeci- ous |ftetence of regard for orthodoxy. And as he has been defcribcd as of a difpofition rafli and impetuous, as well as of a fubtile wit, it is not improbable that he may have fomeiimes overleaped the cautious boundary, and broke through the reflraints which canonical ftri(^neft prefcribed, by touching upon fome of the thorny quef- tions. However it was, M. was again brought into trouble on the head of do£\rine. In 1646, the year im- mediately following that in which the National Synod of Charenton met, ** he was accufed of teaching, that there were only temporal promifes under the law, and that Adam's fm was not imputed to his poflerity. The coun- cil was always tolerant ; they brought the matter under their cognifancc ; examined the complaints againlt him, exhorted him to fimplicity ; and made him repeat hi» 23 adherence to the received do£lrlnef." In 1647, f-iy» Senebier, ** he added a Corollary to the Theological thefis againft the Supralapfarians, " Quod objedum prsedeiliuatioiiis non eft homo ante lapfum j" — that the obje£l of prxdcftination is man confidered not as before the fall, but as fallen ; " which was contrary to the opi- nion of Beza ; but he prevented the objedion, by pro- feflions of great refped for that divine. Tijf minift;er« wiftied him not to treat thefe thorny queftions %.'* But as thefe and fimilar queftions had formerly been treated, fo they continued to be difcufled in the prjelec- tions and fyftems of his fucceflbrs in that fchool, and in nioft other proteft.ant colleges, and controverfial writings on the fubjeft, down to the prefent times. The Sublap- farian fcheme in refped to the obje h, was arifing as a new light to Scotland, and to fum up all in one word, gave again the image of the father," was then profecuting his fludies in that excellent fchool, to fit him for a£ling his part in future life, which eventually might have been produdtive of more public benefit and happi- nefa, had his lot fallen in better times : but both fa- ther and fon, it is well known, were doomed to lofe their heads upon fcaffolds, through the iniquity of that Turco-popifh government with which the BritKh king- doms were foon after curfcd. The name of this noble^- man has recently been embalmed, arni his chiradleir drawn in glowing colours, by the hand, of PtIf Fox, fd that he has been called by fome, the hero of the hifiory of this celebrated ftatefman. Among the friends and correfpondents of our Gencr van profeflbr, was the learned Tanaquil Faber, or Lç Fevre, in Saumur, the father and preceptor of the cele- brated. M»d. Dacier. In the colledion of his critic^ii D 2 28 epîftles in latin, there are two addrefled to M. but with- out dates. In one of them, relating to fome propofed emendations of the Greek tragedian iEfchylus, he takes notice of fome things contained in a preceding letter from his correfpondent, in which he had complained much of the uncafy fituation in which he had found himftlf i probably referring to the vexations he felt be- fore he left Geneva, or elfe to the diflentions and troubles which afterwards arofe when he was in Middleburgh. Faber praifes him for his early proficiency in claflical literature ; afligns to him the pre-eminence in this kind of learning; extols his multifarious erudition, calling him " virum centum artium," — " a man of an hundred arts ;" and fcruples not to fay, though under the veil of Grecian phrafes, that what was the higheft attain- ment in others, and might be deemed by them his chief accomplifliment, was among the leafl of the things which recommended him, and to acquit himfeif well as a divine, was but the fmallefl; part of his excellence. The ufage of which his friend had complained, he imputes folely to envy ; calumnious reports and town- talk, he accounted mere trifles, and fays, if he allowed himfeif to be troubled and deje£led by what the lower clafs might fay, he would a£l a part unworthy of him- feif : he had other fort of judges who knew how to efti- mate his merit : he had the approbation of princes and of the learned I . J " Me vero felicem, More Prseftantiflime, cui de his Ktcru- lis tecum agere liceat : tecum, inquam, qui fmgulari illarum cognitione vix Ephebus inclarueras ; quique in iis hodie longç princeps es j^fed tu alia videlicet judicafti effe potiora. * * * Certiflimum eft illud Horatji tui raeique, Qomperlt invicHatn fupremo Jine domarî ? Kempe omnem virtutem, praeflantiaraque fingularem, cujug *9 The literati of thofe days could foraetimes be very liberal in their praifes of one another, as at other tim<;s they were of their abufe and fcurrilities, according as they flood afFected. Faber, in condoling with his friendi tells him, he was much in ihe fame predicament, being on bad terms with fome of his colleagues and divines in Saumur, and was charged with being a follower of the new opinions ; though he profefled himfelP"rather a la- litudinarian in refpedl to fome of thefe difputes, than a partifan on either fide, or one careful about maintaining a charadler for rigid orthodoxy. In fome of his letters he inveighed againfl; the cenforious fpirit, and pragma- tical meddling, as he accounted it, of the ecclefiaftics and confiftory in that place, with whom, at laft, ic is known, that he came to an open breach. He could not fpeak of them but in the language of acrimony, and of contemptuous learned pride : and animofity was afterwards carried, on his part, to fuch a pitch, that for years he would not exchange words with them, when they occafionally met. This made his fituation very uncomfortable, fo that he alfo, towards the end of his life, wiflîed and looked out for one more eligible -, ! ut though fome meafures were concerted for his removal and for obtaining for him a royal penfion, yet they were pever carried into effect. generis ifta tua eft, Invidia comes fequitur, quod te jam fsepe alias re ipfa cxpertum efle intelligo. * * * 13e calumniolis et rumufculis, nugas vero illas funt ; quels û moveare, tui obli- tus fueris. Id qusfo in te juris habeat popcllus ut animi tranquillitatem tibi excutiat ? Alios, O More, judices. alios aeftimatores tuee virtutis babes. Ncque vero te (etiamfi ita credi poftulas,) miferum et infelicem dicam ; fed virum fortem, fed virum egregie induftrium, viriim denique centum artiiim^ quique Principibus et Do£tis femper probatus fis," &c Fabri EpJ. 1. i. ep. 6ê. se ïnftanccs of this kind, that have fo frequently occur- red, do little credit to men of fcience ; they are fpot* in the focieties and feats of learning, as they too often «re alfo in the fcllowfliip of the church ; and clearly e otind to have done it m a very inaccurate man-ier, is any who has read a number of thsfe letters will î adily fee. Though v-iffer^nce? and rival/hip might have fubfifted, it does not appear that the demeks or hoftility between Spanheim or iNiorus, ot between Salmafiu'; and Spanhrim, had been carried to fo great excefs as to produce fuch ferions effe«Els. Span- htim and Morus had been alTociated together in publie ©flices at Geneva but for a fnort time. ~vVnat has been particularly fpecified as a matter of quarrel between them, namely, fome different manner of thinking or fpeakijig upon fome of the queftions publicly agitated at that time, and the refie£lions fuppofed to have been. covertly thrown ©ut againfl S., in the oration formerly mentioned, can hardly account for this. Freedom of fpeech, and difler- «ice of opinion, upon public conîrovertles, certainly arc not always productive of open perfonal enmity, muclv book he calls * an iiifolent libel on the nation ;' ' the grcaieH;-: * part of which confiUs of iil-grouiiclcd rcpicachcs, oi othtr- * things whereof It was impoflible he fliould receive an accoiuil»^ * and in it he exemplifies the i haraftcr he be/lows on mai.kuid^- * that they are niojl pleajed iv'ith trifes, and that lue are ail credu- * lous and liars.' AtranfiaSion oi the voyage, with Dr Sprat-'â- ebfervations on it fubjoincdj and memoirs of the iite of 6> h^r-' ©raverel, prefixed, was publiflicd in London, in 17CO. E 2 36 lefs of deadly feuds, or the republic of letters, academics^ and the church, though rarely enjoying profound peace, would be in a much worfc ftate than they are. Befides, the fpirit and language of Spanheim, with refpeiSl to M. was more moderate and lenient even to his dying day» than this account would imply ; as i? attefted by one who had good accefs to know them both. G. Cranrzius» profeflbr of divinity in Leyden, m a preface prefixed to the edition of Milton's fécond Apology for the people of England, printed at the Hague, in 1654, fays, ' that he never heard Spanheim fay a worfe thing of M. than that he was Altïer, haughty, or confident %.* Nor is it very credible, that a man fo venerable for his wifdom and piety as well as his years, one of fuch eftablilhed reputa- tion as Spanheim was, (hould, upon the mere apprehen- fion of another divine coming to his neighbourhood, or hearing that he was on the way, take it fo much to heart as to ficken and die of mere chagrin or jealoufy. "Who- ever but reads the account of the uncommon and unre- mitting labours he had to fuflain, and the gradual de- cline ot his health for fome time before, will find obvi- ous reafons fully fufficient to account for his deceafe at the time it happened, in a more natural as well as a more Chriftian way. Spanheim died in May 1649- at the age of 49 ; where-? as Morus did not fet out from Geneva till July that year. The author of the Critical DicSlionary, in his article, fays, * That his great labours flio'rtened his days :' and Sorbiere, who retails the above ftory, added in the fame letter, * I muft do this jullice to that Içarned German, % " Memini me audivifle D. Spanhemium pis merroriae, nihil in eo reprehendeiitem quam quod eflet jittkfi ut Galli even by Salmafius's confefiion, who was not prodigal of his praife, * that he had a llrong head, and full of learn- ing ; that he was fit for buunef?, iteady and dexterous, zealous and laborious/ He read public leflures of di- vinity, four times^in a week i^ and befides, made private ones upon different fubje£ts to his fcholars j he heard the probation. fermons of the ftudents of divinity; he preached in two languages, German and ^J^rench ; he vifitt-d the fick •, he wrote a vaft number of letters ; he compofed at the fame time, two or three books ypon quite different fubj'rfts i he affift d every Wed- îiefday at his highnefs the prince's council, who lent for him to the Hague,— was obliged alfo to make vifits to the queen of Bohemia/ (who as we have heard join- ed in the invitation to M.) * being very much efteemed in thofe two courts ; — he was redlor of the univerfity; and notwithftanding fo many occupations, be kept an account of the expences of his houfe, that was full of boarders." Was there any wonder, that fuch a man fliould die before old age, without the aid of a dagger, (ome hundreds of miles diftant ? SECTION THIRD, TeP'imonies fo the good charaEicr of M, — Remarh on SeneVtei' and Bayle — The manner of M,\ departure from Geneva^ and his reception in Holland, JMORUS, before he left Geneva, was furnifhed witk moft ample teftimonials of his orthodoxy and blamelefs life, figned by the profeffors and paftorb, the ftnate of the republic, and corroborated by letters, in his favour 5« Trom fome eminent individuals addreflcd (o Salmafiu?; Knowing that clandeftine arts had been ulccl to injure- his reputation in the Low Countries, when a propofal had been made for introducing him to a profcfibrlhip of divinity in Guelderland, he demanded them fonjc time before his departure, and readily obtained them * Nay, the public teftimonials both of the church and the ccuncîi were twice given, in order more fully to flop the moui.'. of detradlion : the former were dated in the end of January 1648, the latter in the end of March and beginning ©f April the fame year, ihe reafon was this: whta the firft form of them was fent, thou^ïh they bore the feals of the academy, church, and council, conin.only appended to their public a£ïs, yet it feems his advcrfariei attempted to difcr-dit them, alledging they had been furreplltioufly obtained, wit) out the approbation of 3| number, or that they had been given only upon the condition of M. promifing to continue at Genev? *, which (hows both the virulence of their fpirit againft him, and the little arts to which they had recourfe. In vindica- tion of their own lionour as well as of his, the cum* pany of paftors, and the fyndics, in the mofl. public and deliberate manner, confirmed what they had done, and declared thefe furmifes to be utterly falfe. The fécond aflembly of paftors was more full, and the fub- fcriptions to the renewed teftimonial more numerous than the former, which alfo had pafled without oppofi- tion as to the fubftance of it, though' fome had obje6led to tht too florid and encomiaftical ftyle in which it was drawn up, of which Diodati ttlls us, he was one. The firft was fubfcribed by fifteen of the profefiors and paftors, and the feccnd by no fewer than twenty- three, the whole number belonging to their church^t 39 îhree only excepted. Tnc certificates were printed iti Holland foon aftc-r, without M's knowledge v and were afterwards inft^rted in his vindication of himfelf, againft the envenomed attack of Milton ; though with an apo- logy for doing fo, asthe confidered fome of their contenti as exceeding in his praife -, for indeed, as Bayle has ob- fcrved, they " are fo full of encomiums, that they have more the air of a panegyric than a fentence 'of abfolu- tion. M. appeared in them purer than fnow in all re- fpe£ls, both in his do£lrIne and life. — They maintain that his mod violent enemies could not reproach him with any thing that deferved cenfure." Senebier fays on this fubjed, " He left Geneva with a •ertificate of his orthodoxy, qu tl eut autant de tort de deman- der qu* an eut tort de lui donner — • which was as injurious for him to afk, as it was for them to give :" — but for what intent or with what reafon this is faid, it is not eafy to fee. This ftep was not only proper but needful, confidered either on general grounds, or in the peculiar circum- ftances of the cafe. It is well known that the canons of ancient church difcipline injoined the ufe of recommen- datory letters, when minifters or church-members paf- fed from one church to another, in order to their being regularly admitted to communion. And did not the rules and pratflice of the bed regulated churches — thofe of France, Holjand, Scotland, &c. among the reformed, authorize and require this ? and the reafon and utility of the practice plead for it. Voetius, in his ecclefiafli- cal polity afilgns ihefe reafons, — that it may ferve in- ftead of a new examination and trial; — and that churches may not be impofed upon by the admiflion of the unfit 9Qd Ccandalous. 40 Eut in fucK cafes 3" ' '''rcumftanccs as thofe referred to, it may appear to i.avv- uten indifpenfably neceffary, both in juftice for the vindication of the party, when malignant reproaches were afloat directly tending to blaft. his name and ufefuhiefs, and for the honour of the churches with which he ehher had been or in future might be conncdled. Had he a£led a different part, as many have done in late times, when thé public union, order and good difcipline of churches are broken down by lawlefs fe£larianifin •,—■ had he atbitrarily relinquifhtd one public charge and afTdmed another at a diftance, as he and a few might have clandeftinely ragreed, depend- ing on tlie mere credit of his name, or fome more pri- vate recommendations, without having or feeking any authentic document to confront fuch ferious and impu- dent reproaches, he would have been juftly blamed : and in the event of the injurious charges being tranfmitted to diflant parts and future times, as in facl they have been, had nothing of this kind been found to which an appeal might be made, the mod dcfirable and efFecSlual mean of defence would have been wanting ; and how would his honour together with that of the refpe£lable men, and the learned and religious bodies, with whom he was fo intimately allociated, have permanently fuffèred ? But the particular reafons are affigned in the preambles ©f the ftveral teflimonials he received, fufRcient to juftify him in demanding, and thofe who gave them in grant- ing them. If the truth of the matter of them be doubt- ed or denied, let them be difproved on equal or fuperiot evidence, by thofe who wifli to invalidante them : which it does not appear was ever yet done eitlier in his life- time or fince. If it be alledgcd, that thofe who concur- red in granting them, lent their names to atteft either 41 'Wila^ thev Vnew not, or knew fo he. falfe, thi^ would be t • .v.co'v. rat a.ghtt^ blame r,\d infdmy unon t' r ve- rni a . i aov.>ur,\ble bodies, and to make good fuch a €•' ■ Zf would prove "i ftill more odious as well as ar- ^'i .■; r^flc. PubW ' faith v/ould hereby b': attacked, md t àrm. f î-nind from abutV- thrown upon himfelf : much more wfi .1 the united voices of venerable judges met in coun- cil, i-iS' -ior to none at that time in the world, concur in tnc noft unequivocal and folemn manner in teftify- ing the fame thing. The certificate of the ecclefiaflics, as being the competent and moft proper judges in cafes of this kind, maybe here inferted, tranflated from the original latin. *' Having underftood, not from report and hearfay, bur from a Variety of letters from men famous through- out the world for their learning, efpecially from the Rev. and excellent Conftantine L'Empereur ab Oppyk, the worthv profeffor of S. Theology in the academy of Leyden, that Alexander Morus, a moft faithful pafior in our church, and a moft worthy {/on^e dignhshnum) profcfTor of S Theology in the college, our moli uear colleague and brother, when he had been warmly recom- mended by that illullrious and incomparable man CI. Salmafius, on account of his rare and fingular endow- ments, his profound erudition, his great eloqucno'. luch as becomes a divine, his admirable and incredible fuavity r 42 of rnnnner? — to vnàcrt-û.e the profefTion of Theoloc^y îiî Guelilerland, was forthwicll purfued and wounded by ths envenomed aflaults of a vocrilh malic<; *, being charged not only wjtli new doclirines which cannot be approven, namely, that Jefus Chrift, in the divine in- tention, died equidly for all men, and that the fiift fin of Adam is not imputed unto us ; but alfo horrid -md atrocious blafphemies and herefics only to be exoiated by fire, fuch as, that the Floly Spirit is not God, that it cannot be proved from fciipture that he is God, or that i is not neceiTary to falvation to believe that he is ; with other monftrous and prodigious opinions, which they fay, he entertains, although he dared not to di- vulge them here in Geneva, on account of the ftrié^er difcipline ; therefore they profefs aiid folemnly fwear before God and men, that it is not from any pri- vate pretexts, but from duty and confcience, that they advif*^, that fuch a man fliould not be invited, who, oa account of bad morals and corrupt opinions in religion, might be capable of infe£ling and diflurbing not one only, but all the academies in the vvorld ; not to mention tlie more trifling and worthlefs dregs of contumely', by their charging him with infufiiciency and loquacity. *' Truly we are thiorougldy afic^ted with horror, bitter grief breaks forth from the bottom of our heart, and •we deplore, vehemently deplore, the temper of the age, in whicli party fpirit, animofity and hatred, have fuch unbounded licence f. Wherefore, not only that fuch a mm as Salmafius may no; ralhly be difcredited, but tJ.at we may be vindicated from the odium of knowingly Gherifliing fuch mondcrs in our bofom, and that fuch a brand of infamy may not, in all time coming, be unde- fervedly fixed upon a brother, and efpecially that the evidence of truth may be made manifell here and in all * ' Vcnenatis viperel llvoris morabus continuo appetitum cTe et fai'ciatum.' 'j- ' Sane cohorruimus, toti et corpore et animo cojiorrui- mus, acerbus ernpit intimis mcdullis gemitiis, doluiinus ac vditmcnter dol-umiis viccm f^eculi, in quo fludijs, affeCiibus et Qdio tantum licet.' 4 ■y otlier placer, we have reckoned it a juil, pious, and boundcn daty to bear tefliniotiy in this matter : *' We therefore tedify and make known to all wliom it may concern, and to all to whole ears fucli an atroci- ous calumny may have come, thit our mod dear and beloved brother, tjie Rev. and moil learned. A. Moru?, a faithful minifter of the divine word, and celebrated profeiTor of Theology, has always given us proofs ol liis integrity, fidelity, candour, modelly, and of fingular continence and innocence. The fingle virtues which are confpicuous in others, in him appear collected and combined together ; and in fuch an eminent degree, thac wherever we turn our eyes they all lliine diiHn6l as fo many bright gems. If you confider hi? integrity of life, here the fnowy vi'hitenefs of his manners, and there tlie admirable and uniform innocence will attradl you. 'llie Apollle requires that a bilhop fliould be blamelcfs : no- thing accordingly can be laid to his charge even by his molt malignant enemies, on account of which he can be juflly fubjedled to blame ; [quodjujis sit rcprehautonit oh- Tîoxium.) " in the threefold office wliiclihe has difcharged among us, there is no diligence wliich any could realonably re- quire, which he has not fliown to the utmoU, it any ever did. Induftry accompanies aui iuqus applications and incredible fuccefs (f:licUas) his indultry ; wliich the edification of the whole church, the public favour of the people, the eager inclination and infatlable defire of hear- ing his difcourfes, abundantly teflify- When he preaches there is fuch a croud of hearers (tanta au.ditorum freqentia fubfellia rumpit) as fcarce any could believe, unlels they had feen it. For by the gteateil and a divine dexte- rity of genius he ' righdy divides the laiutary word.' In the fchool, where he now prendes as Rector, what uncommon erudition has he difplayed, ai:d daily difplays ? One would fay, that nothing huai:i:i or divine lay concealed from him : wimefs the proieiuons he has made, both in Grecian liter >iture and theology :. in the former he has made it evident to ail iliat lie lias attained to tlie highefi; eminence iii languages, and belles, lettres, and in the latter that he has drawn from the fountains oi facred doclrines and myitcries, and wot, F2 44 from fhc breams only. Ki c.s ever ftiown h'wC if care- fu, - •' hold faft the Lir'iful word, b\ .ru\.~\. ;,^ ^. ,ijj be a. v both by found doclrinp to 'uit'n.i, no ai*.. to convince g-iiii(ayers, avoiding thofi 'ooluti and uni. ar- d quc'tion:. which cnly gen.'l.:r ftrife ' ihewing the grea- ft av. rdoii to al' htterodoxy, not co fuv. to Tuch prodis-:r«s of h-refies, as the fury ind rag. of thtmairv. : ;.r wouid fix upon hiin, not only undefc-rvedly, hut b.-youd ■ .d contrary to all truth. li any fufpicion o certain o- er heads, had formerly been ent-r-rta-ntd n. the mi., s of fonie, the mattrr was fo perfpiiioufly, plainly, ai H fho- roughly difcuflVd, that there could not br even thr fi \U ell i^round left for duu -«t in lime to come. Th. Gene- van church, that has been celebrated and cuntj i uous for ;i long courfe of time, for her incorrupted p . y, requires in their paftors, v/hat of old was r-^quifite in 'le thewife of Crefar, to be not only ^'>:r oi crime, bat ro be above even ihe fufpicion o^ i ; and cert.iinly !■ ,ri we given vvay to this in the Irait, uiin he rt.rt-iveci i^o-iour- abk caiis, at one cime to London, and at 'nothr.r to Ly'->ns, we had not detained him among us witn.iuch care and figns of tender and unchanging aff Ciion- ''he churrh and academy in that cafe, could eafily have loovnc the want of him But we valued him Tt a ^ar higher rare, aiid will ftill value him a? long as ht (h/.li honcur- abi'v pfvfevtre in virtue. We account the fanr o a moil upright, honeft, learned man, who is a fingular or- nr.' lent of our church and academy, to be our own : he that hurtr. the one, hurts the other We were thereiore un villing that he ihould have reafon to complain of usj in the Ihuggle between a good confcience and advvrfe fortune» that he had been left deftitute in Inch a juft caufe. ♦' Wherefore we have gr^^nted him thefe atteltations of liis entire orthodoxy, and teftimonies of his innoc rice ■^v.d biamelefs ititegrity, under the feal of our afltrmbly for iiill certification, and fubfcribed by us in name of all, the 25rh of January 1648 J. X "'"lie fiibfcribt-rs were David Clerc paftor a'nd profeffor pre. fjdeTit- for the time of the ecclefiaftical aflembly ; Of tlu paf- tors ind prorl-fTors, J Deodatus, Grosslus., Antor.ius L. get us, P. Mcitrezatius : Of paftors, Jac. Sartorius, Dan. Chabrœu^ 45 Thxit of the Syncb'cs and council wis much of the fame tenor with the above : it was equally ample and explicite, being m fubdance as foUovVS ; after taking notice in the preamble of the fcandalous reports which, had been Ipread t',i|"oughout the Belgic provinces, to the difadvantage of Morus, as if he itr;ld erroneous and here- ticai fentiments, which he would be ready to diffeminate where he could do it with more freedom,—.' of which, they fay, * he is, by the grace of God entirely free» even as alfo his probity and good convcifatiou are known to all i' and having heard the ceilimonial of the profcflbrs and pallors read in their pre.encc, they exprefled their approbation of the whole contents : and in confideratioa of the forefald faife reports which they conlidered as tending very much to wound the honour of their Rate and church s and being alfo tuUy aflured of the falfehood of thefe rumours and fpeeches to the difcredit of the refpedlable IM. for his great erudition fo higly efltemed, and ufcful amoiig them j on whom, on account of the eminent gifts bellowed on him, in regard to his fingulaïf learning, and in other refpe£lb, they had conferred, be- fides tlie charge of pallor and profellor in ordinary of divinity, that of re£lor of their academy, wi.i.h at that time he worthily executed, as he did alfo tlie others, with great approbation and fucccfs : And they cer- tify and attell to all whom ii may concern, ' that from P. Baccutiiip, A. Dupanus, Stcph Gerardiis, Gabv. B tinus, Penotus, D;in. Truiichinus ;- J. r'':pan, proiLlTor ol ph'lo- foph', Steph. Clericus, profeffbr of Greek and moral philo- fophy. To the fecoqd tell monial were tl^e following addtional fnbl'cribers : Pr'trus a Font , Paftcis S.m. Can erius G. Floar.icfius. P ChaN'aneus, G bartonus, C. a Furiio, E» Gautcrius, D. Molanus. AS the time of his arrival in that city, he had lived and con- verfed among them, as became a good and honed man, one of honour and fingular probity, giving evident marks of exemplary piety. Further, that he was entirely free of the herefies or erroneous fentiments above named, and from every kind of heterodoxy ; and that by his fermonç, writings, and leisures, he had preached and taught no- thing but what was conform to the found and pure doc- trine hitherto maintained in tliat church, to the gene- ral fatisfa6lion, edification, and confolation of every one, and the approbation of his hearers j manifefting very great zeal for the glory of God, and the edification of his church, making his eminent knowledge to appear in all the parts pertaining to his ofhce, to the great honour of their church and academy : and as his worthy labours,' they add, * have hitherto been followed vvith abundant fruits, fo we hope they will yet continue to be diftinguiflied as of a mofl worthy workman, and an orna- in this place, in the work of the Lord, whofe honour and reputation, fliall always be highy regarded by us. In teftimony of which, &c. Signed in name of the Lords Syndics and Council, COLLABON.' It would appear from the ccnclufion of this certificate, that Morus had not yet formed his final refolution, or come under any pofitive engagement to leave Geneva, at lead he had not made it known ; but that he had obtrdn- cd the letters in order to obviate the cffeiSt of fornieit afperfions, at the fame time with a view to prepare for the removal that foon followed. This might have given occafion to fome of his adverfarics to fay, that they were 47 granted to him on the condition of his remaining in Ge- neva. Bar as it is ufually the fate of falfe witnefles to contradict one another or themfdlves, this account was altogether Inconfiflent with what fome of them afterwards circulated, and which Milton had the temerity to propale, that they were given him only upon his promifing to leave Geneva, from which he was in a manner driven, or had fled in difgrace, as the only way to efcape from a procefs that had been raifed againft him, or with which he was threatened, for no lefs a crime than that of adul- tery * : in which, had there been the lead truth, their teftimonials would have little availed him, and they who. had granted them, upon fuch a fliameful compromife, would have been the mod criminal of the two ; nor could it be credible, that, in fuch a cafe, he could have had fuch an honourable difmilTion, or have found an equal honourable reception in the places where he went, as we fhall fee he had. It is of importance here to have the point of chara£lei: as it then flood, afcertained upon the bed evidence re- maining, not only for confronting the rumours then current, but alfo by way of anticipation, for obviating the attack made upon it, by the revival of fome of thefe afterwards together with others. In addition to the public teftimonials, deliberately and repeatedly given, we have letters of recommendation, written by feveral individuals of note ; fome of thefe were alfo publiflied both in French and latin, — particularly thofe of Diodati f — of Sertorius, * Milt. Dcf. pro se. 4- "^''he reputation of Diodati every ecclefiaflical fcholar iS acquainted with. He tranflàted into French F. Paul's Hif- tory of the council of Trent, ni;d pubiiflied the Italian bible mînifler of the French ano lulian church ;— of Gotho- fride, profeiTor of hw and one of the fenators of th ■ "^y. The letter of the Theological profeflbr D to Salmafius is mofl: full and particular ; in which he dates fome fafls, and delineates, in a candid manner, fome traits of cha- racler, which could not fo well have been inferted in a general atteftation. But as it is longj tlie reader is refer- red lo the Appendix, where he will find the greater parC of it. The following palfagcs may here only be noci-^ed, fome of which, with fimilar expreffions in a letter writ- ten by him about the fame time to L'Empereur, have fur- iiifhed the critical Bayle with matter for fome declan.ation and invective. In the former, Diodati, fpeaking of the at- tacks firft made upon M., on the head of drftrine, fays, * he fliut all their mouths by his declaration, viva voce^ by writings and fubfcriptions, by affirmations and nega- tions, affertions, and fermons ; fo that the adverfaries were the firft to give thanks to God, on that . ccount, and to teftify their entire fatisfaclion with our f'iend, and their full acquiefcence. From that time he has *n nothing contravened his proteftations, eitbTt in his pub- lic teaching, or in familiar converfe, efpeci.Mly with ne, in which, through the intimacy and conficu-nce fubfilting between us, I could perceive the very botfoni of his heart, that it was thoroughly imbued with and firmly perfuaded of the pure dodrine of our cliurches, thaf he had a high efteem of the late Mr C.Jvin (which is . n al- mofl infallible mark of found divine?) and a mofl flntl with annotations, by the tranflation of which into our language, he is not al ogether unknown to Englifh readers. Kc pi'b- h'flied alfo a French verfion of the b.ble, with other wcks. He was a deputy from Geneva to th.e f^nod of iJort, and had & particular fliare in the labours of that aflembly. 49 ©br^rvance of the fyno'l ot Oort * ' With regard to hi? -TijVâner;,' fays he. * I can fpe-ik from the moft inti- ma ce knowledge, and do it with the grcateft fincerity of heart. H' is of a good natural difpofition, without fraud or defign, (rank and noble, fo ao to fit nm for good agreement with all perfons of honour and vir- tu^ of whatever condition they may be : haRy and very fenfible of affronts, but eafily recovering h^mfclt ; one who never gives provocation, but at the fame time is furniflied with formidable weapons for defending him- felf *. I have never known any who had reafon to iioaft of having attacked him- * Confcia virtus,* and if you add, ' genus irritabile vatuni/ armed him fulBcieutly againft. his enemies.' The letter to L'Empereur was much in the fame (Irnin, giving a moft ample teftimony in favour of Mo- rns, a part of which only needs to be quoted. After juftifying him on the hea^^ of do£lrine, he fays, " As for his manners, as every one ha-, his own which are natural to him, and which may not fo well accord wii-h thofe of others, it was alfo his infelicity not to ac- quire the favourable opinion and judgment of every one. Being of a high and generous fpiiit, at the fnme time, lioni^ll and modci>, and cautious of giving offence, but (harply repelling thofe who attacked him, he let none of them carry av/ay a very honourable victory. Bcfides, he had acquired and enjoyed, without abufing it, the honour and friendfhip of the moft diftinguiflied perfons • " J^// ne provogue point, mais aussi qui a de terribles ergots pour se (hfen'ireS'' Hiis is rendered in the tranflation of Bay le in the General Diftionary. ' one who never gave the firll provocation, but at the fame time had a violent impulse to « defend himfelf ' But the terriH^s tracts denote the means cf di'fence, not the impulfe, alluding to the Hiarp shun of cocks or other animaU. G 50 among ns, ho^h of tlie one anc' die other order, and or all the peoi)is in general : his growing reputation ]ir\d alio procured the elteem and iavour of the great- en: men in différent mitions abroad, vvlio admired his great and divevfi[L:d learning, his jncomp.irabie elo- quence, and the fertility and promptnefs of his geni- us ; talents of which he himlelf could not be uncon- fcious, fo as to fuffer himfelf to be, trampled, upon by perfons who were far inferior to him. But in all this, nothing of malignity, or of a bafe mind, or of any re- prehenfible vice, could ever be obferved. " Give credit to this true teftimony, which may appear altogether un'iecell'.iry after the public ones granted by our Senate, and our whole ecclefiaftical body : but it will have its own weight with thofe who know me to be an enemy to flattery and prevarication. " To conclude, I requeft you co take this as an un- doubted evidence of the truth of the above, thac our riiagiliracy and church, always oppofe the designs of thofe who would wifh to draw him from us ; and ufe their influence to keep iiim among us as a rare ornament and moil ufeful inftruraent in the fervicc of God. I leave it to your prudence to make what ufe of this letter you think proper except it be for the purpofe of depriving us of him, which would be like the conducb reprehended by Nat!i;m in David, in taking away tlie poor man's lamb, notwithftauding the abundant wealth of your churches *," &c. * II a aussi ce malheui- de n'avoir peu eftre bien en l'efprït et jugement de tens; eftant un eipiit reltve et généreux, touttlois honncûe et modefte, s' abllenant d' ofFenfer ; mais relançant vivement ceux qui 1' aggrelîent, aufquels il na jam.ais iaiffc aucune viôoire fort honorable: au relit- ayant acquis' et pofiedant fans abus l'honneur et V amitié de plus fignalez d'- entre neus en l'nn tt en l'autre ordre et de tout le peuple ge- luralmcnt : Sa reputation croiflante lui a aussi acquis l'cllime , would be little to the honour either of the attcfior or atteilcd ; wliich however he fails not to bringforward in a molt ^i cious and impofijîg drefs> which his vaft reading; and fluent pen couid abundantly fuppîy him with. After quoiing fome p-ifiages in the above extraits, " I muft beg leave," he fays, ' to ma^e a fnort re- flexion upon trie partiaUty of hiendHi;!). fL re we fee Diod.iti, who, beca'jfc he had aii affeclion for Mr. Morus, reckons nothing upon a very capital fau!t, and one v/hich very ill became a minifter, I m'^an a temper >iiuiiclive to the lait degree, and an excels of pride and p Aîion. It is in effect to itrip a minifter of a quality efllntial to him, to deprive him of that gofpei fpirir,' (or, to divert iiim entirely of the fpirit of the gofpei,' as one Engliih verfion of Bayle has it,)' which ought to be infeparable from his ch.iracter, to confcfs what Mr Diodati has here faid of him ; and yet he had no notion, that while he mad- thofe acknowledgments he was de- tratting greatly from the praifcs which he profufely be- ftowed upon him. H; excuf-.'s iNiorus's vinmclive temper the hell way he could. ' The importunate attacks or his enemici,' f lys he, * feemed to require his peltir;g them from time to li re, to teach them to be quiet.' I meet every day with people wlio are fo bliud with refpecc to this metre d' tftrc foule par des efprits beaucoup inférieurs. Mais en tout cela l'on n'y a jamais remarq le ni malignité, ni lafcheie, ni aucune vice reproachable. Croyez a ce veritable témoignage, qui devroit fctnbler in tile après les publies de noilre fenat et de no'h-e cor})s Ecclefialfic ; mais ne laifTera d'- avoir fon poids envers ceux q'ji me connoiiT.-nt ennen\y de iiaterie et de prevarication. Pour eonelulion, Sec. Mori PuùL F\chs, p 137, 1 3 8.. G 2 52 or that minifter, in whofe iavour they are prcnofT T-cI/, un 1 1 pictence of the gT 'cit 'oiHties they ifcrib- u; im, th^it ihev ipeak of !ii Ismaelum aînoft with ptaiiv -{• • \\x. fuch a one/ they will lay, :s a daiigrrrius enc.^.y, he i-.as keen weapons and woe to him u'ho provokes inm,' as if they were fpeaking of a colonel of drigooi-s, or as if a miiùiler of the rofp'?! wtre a k-vp-'n of th. T^Miti-, arm- ed w'fh a ihreatnmg device, A^^mo njf impune lacessit. —Nul Ht s'y frotte \. Q^i me commorit, 'melius non tangere, clame) , Flcbit et iufignis tota cantabitur urbc Hor. Sat. I. 1. 2* Take warning, urge me not. or in lampoon Your name fliall fh ne, a jelt to all the town. One cannot eafily relieve, that fm h minifler? are at- tach d any other Jvay to religion than bv \hç rhaiu'^ of vanity-, or fro ii any other motive than that it furnilhes th' m Vi'iih nuaus of fetting up tor petty tyran's.' ' but further/ co'nrinueohe, ' run over a[\ the defe»Sls (or depra- vi!;e-) to which human nature iv. I'^ubjccft. and you wdl not iind one more oppofite to the fpirit of C hriUi;M;-ty than rhe violence v/hich appear? m fome of thefe ftrv M,t3 of Jtfus Chriil. It Ihews that in every fcuffle they want to ihew their power, to fuch a heigiit that r'O o?ie for the future may prcfume to oppofe them. Withouc ever having read Homer, they praftife the words of Aga- menvion more religioufly than any text ot fcripture.* Avid here he quotes Homer in Greek and latin ; ^^[iiad Î. 1. V 184) wliich mod of our readers, however, will hke better to fee in Pope's Englifli. But then pi-epare, imperious prince prepare. Fierce ^stl.ou art to eild the capjtive fair, ■\ Ea' le here refers to a letter which Milton produced In ■which it was faid of Ivlorus, what was told of liniacl, " that hi' liat'.d would be againft everv man, and every m?n s h- nd againil him.' Mut- ckf. pro scy p. 134 And ht nuit .hau once ui the fame note, calls in the aid of Milton, and employ» fome of his v/eupons :j: Which was tiic motto of a king of Navarre. S3 Hence iTialt tlxou prove; my ni'jlit, and curfe the hoUf> Tho'.i 'lorl ll 1 rival of ;m oeri^i oower ! And h ..oc .0 il' tni' :i.> t : ilii b? k lown, That kings are fubjecl to the gods alone. Bat here the critK: evi lently affames premisses, in order too du f his unfavourable conckifion&, winch neitlier tl\ word'- of Diodati, nor any other good authority yet produced, furnilhed him wir' . Tlic fupcrïtruflure he ra'-r 5 goes far «cyond fh' foundation upon wi-ùch he prôfeff:;s to build Diod;;ti favs not n w cvd of o vindic- tive tpirit, mucii lefs of on. vindïHive i9 the Lijl degree ; nei- thcrr does he fpeuk of an exceifive pnd:f and exsrcme un- controulcd padion ; why then (hould they be charged, in fuch an unqualified manner, to the account of te fri'^nd, fo as to divtd iii'n of ar.y ju'd cl.iim to the charac- ter of a gofprl miniller, or of a i^enuine Chriltian ? or, vi'hy fliould Diodati be reprt-fented as an advocate for fuch m unchriftian fpirit ; as o\ie who, from partial af- feclion, made no account of luch a c:ipiral f.iult ? what he vindicites is foniethmg very different, yea, qualitiei altogether inconfiftent with fueh a fpirit. Whar he excufcs, is a common human infirmity; a warn-th of temper, irritability, too great a fenfibiiity and impatience Xinocr injuries or ifFronts, an impuife -though perh^ips too eager to defend himfclf, a propeiifity natur.d to men in fuch circuni (tances, and when there is need for it, moil warrantable and chriltian ; elpteially w!;en the public ufefulnels of a pcrfon, and the cn^it of religion may require it At the fame tin.e, he afTures u^, he haJ a fund of good natur< , n^vcr gave the firft provo- cation, — was eafily reconciled ; never took up arms tor revenge, but nurtlv wi"-!! a vie- to make an ini-'oc nt defence, though the heat and impeiuofuy ot it {videur i» the original term) might fometimes Imrt the aggrefîôrs; as wild beads affaulting other animals will often be gorcd^ or as robbers and aflaffins falling upon peaceable p^f- fengers fometimes rufli upon (harp weapons, and come ofF with bloody or mort?! wound?. When a fvvarm of flies becomes troublcfome, who can be blamed for ufing a fly-flap to drive them away, wlich is the idea and word employed by the author ; * qu'ils fufîlnt ainfî efmouchetes pour leur enfeigntr le repofe.' Is n^^c -f- fary defence, even though accompanied with warmth and feverity, to be conhnnided with a vindidive fpirit ? If fo, then fome of the bed of men, the mod emin-rnt prophets and apodles, who were * men of like puilions with others j' and even fome fage philofophers and liter- ary critics, as well as poets, the author of the cenfure- not excepted, maybe found guilty. What more vehtmenê than fome exculpatory fpeeches, or more cutting and confounding than the retorts and recriminations, which falfe accufations and grofs injuries have drawn from perfons mod patient and holy ? Nay, He who was inno- cence and meeknefs itfelf, was provoked by impertinence and importunity, and repelled the cavils and calumnies of captious lawyers and do£lors, in fuch a manner as to fliut their mouths, and cover them with ccnfufion ; fo that « ihtj durd not ask him any more qutdions ;' and at other time?, fo as to inccnfe and irritate them more and more. It may again be»asked, what fliould make it unbe- coming in the Cliridian or the m.inider, to ufe the com- mon right of felf-defence, or repdl attacks that^duectly tend to dedroy his reputation and blad his influence in hh dation, more than in any other clafs of men ? Or is there any thing in tlic law or gofpel that forbids it - S5 Has not a mînîfter of the gofpal a warfare appoînted him, and weapons appropriated to it, though they be not of the fame kind with thofe of the colonel of dragoons, or a Icnighc of the rnittle ? Is honour, and often a fpu! rious kind of it, ^Howed to be every thing in a gentle- man and man of the world, and a good name and true honour in the Chriftian world, to be reputed as nothing > Is it courage to be applauded in a red-coat ^o bear no- thing, to take fire at every trivial or fuppofed affront by word or deed, and forthwith to give the deadly chal- lenge, and facrifice perhaps the undefigning inoffenfivc acqaintance or bofom- friend, to his idol of honour ; and muft another, becaufe he wears a black coat, bafely fub- lîiit to every fpecies of injury, and court new infults, without daring to open his mouth ? or, if he return a few forcible words, or a little poignant writing, muft he forfeit all pretenfions to chriftianity ? But here may we not fufpeft, or rather deteéï, a covert attack upon the dodrine and fpirit of the gofpel itfelf, under the pretence of pleading for it ? Many fuch infidi- OU6 pleas and eulogies may be met with, in the writings of open or difgulfed infidels in modern times: While after the example of tliis author, they may pretend to be giving a Icfture about meeknefs, patience, and felf-denial, as taught in the gofpel, they mean nothing Icfs than to praife It. They would clothe it in the garb of the Stoic, and would graft upon Its true dodrines the gofpel of anchoritei, of fanatical Anabaptifts or Quakers, to render it contemptible : as if it were an enemy to' courage, felf-defence private or public ; as if the meek- nefs and humility it taught were nothing cKç than » bafenefs of fpirit, difregard to honour, property, or life, totally inconfiaent with repelling injuries and in. 56 fults; antl as if not only tJu- oH Roman virtn**, and pp.triorifin, muft be deHroyecl by '.t, but ail the princi- pl. < and com mon maxim? by which civil focieties vire gov.frned and fubfift, be condepned by its fpirit and docTirines. Th i$ a Voiture, a M.mdeville, a Hume, have been accuflomed to declaim -, to whom Jennin-^s may be joined (though probably without the fame hoflile in- tent in hih Internal evicitnc>s of Chriftianitv. The foregoing teflimonialG, with fonie others, having been circulated through the Low Countries, obviated cverv reafonahle pretence of oppofition to Moms on the ground of ch.iraâ:er : the call from Middleburgh having been infilled upon, he thought proper to accept of it 9 and accordingly foon alter left Geneva, not wit'; ut fome ftriking marks of regret and unabattd regard on the part of the inhabitants. With what truth Milton could afterwards traduce him, as * a fugitive fro'm Gene- ya, — one expelled from it with difgrace,' — in addition to what has already been off,aed, the reader may learn from the following account, more cireumftantial than otherwife might have been needful, had it not been for that calumny. A:-- a very intimate and warm fricndfnip had all along fubfifted between Diodati and Morn , it appeared par- ticularly at tins crifis. When our divine, on the morn- ing of his departure, went to take farewell of him, the venerahk old m.an, with h'n bofont open 'it being then the '.varm feafon of the year) tenderly embracing and leaning upon Moius, poured forth over him a copi- ous fliower of tears -, and when the lat;ter begged of hrni a hlelUng, ' May God,* faid he, ' beftow upon you his blcITing uiifpe.ikably better than mine ! Go, my fou ! wherever God and your virtue call you :^wcrc my iimbs. 57 ts TÎgordUS as yours, you fhould not go alone. All that my feeble old age allows me, is to accompany you ftill with my good wi flies and affeclion. During your refidence here, you have been expofed to fome arrows on my account : now, alas ! I mul't fuftaln them alone. But there is one comfort, my remaining days will be but few. I earneftly recommend to you my youn^ Philip/ His parting friend coulç^only make anfwer in melting tears and fobs. But let the learned reader take the account in his own energetic language below f . While this fcene was tranfading, there were fome wha advertifed him that the post-equipage was in readinefs, and that he mull haften his departure, the manner o£ of which he' thus continues to defcribe — ' If I fled from Geneva, I at lead fled very flowly and openly, even at noon day ; furrounded by a great number of friends, through the midft of the city, and every where faluted by crowds in the way. I appeal even to my enemies, if there be ftill fome, whom neither time, nor the fear f * Hcerct animo meo, hoerebitque femper ilUus diei memoria, quo valediclurus ipfi adfui, cum oprimus fe- nex et meliori feculo dignus, aperto et nudo, ut anni ct diei tempus erat, petlore me incumbens, largum lachry- marum imbrem in caput mcum profudit, et roganti ut benediceret, coslestibus verbis refpondit : * Deus,' inquit. * benedictionem tibi fuam longe mea meliorem largiatur, Abi, mi fiîi, quo D^^us et virtus tua te vocat. Mca û t;mtum genua quantum tua valerent, felus non abires. Quod folum poflum in hac niifera feneclutc mea, te vo^ tis et afteclu femper eodem profequar. Tu quamdiu hie fuisti, tela pro me multa excepi^ti, objetlu corpo- ris tui defendens meum. Hei mihi ! jam omnia in me unum contorquebantur. Scd bene est, quod pauci lupsr- iunt dies/ &ç. Fides publ. p- i^S'^- 5«" of God, nor my patience, have yet appeafed ; — I call upon thofe to bear witnefs who were farthest from being favourabiydifpofed to me, whether at my departure frotn Geneva, tiie whole people did not follow me with their bell wiflies, and not a few with tears — wiiether my doors were not befet by a concourfe of people, flowinj^ to- gether in order to take farewell ? — Whether an incredible multitude did not attend me without the gates of the city, as far as the third mile (lone ; and whether among the numerous crowd, there were not, partly in chariots, partly on horfebacli, fome nobles, fome fenators, fome of the military, and of all other orders, officioufly con- clu6ling me to the fame diftance ? When taking a viev*' of them all, I could not behold them with dry eyes ; and havitig turned the reins to face them, when taking the Lift adieu, with fhaking of hands and ardent fucceffive embracesj I could not refrain from expreihng myfélf a- loud in thefc terms; ' God is my witnefs, that I never could have brought my mind to confent co be drawn a- \vay from this place, and to feek a fettlement in any- other, if I could have forefeen this grief, or could pof- iVuly have formed a conception of the refpe6ls I have experienced to-day from fo many honourable and emi- nent men, exceeding all belief, and of that favourable «lifpofition towards me, which all the citizens have ill own *.' 'i his was a cavalcade and proceflion of no commo» nature: while it did honour to the minifter, it reflected no lef; honour upon the republic. No city or (late, in- t.leed, ever owed fo much to the labours of their learned •ïncn, efpccially to the eminent charadlers of their eccle- * Fides Publ. p. 155. 156. 59 llaflical teachers, as Geneva did» From the tune of their declared Independence, and the fettlemeat of a free proteftant conftitution there, this was one prnicipai foiircc from which its fame, opulence and profperity was deriv- ed. Nor had it be^n wanting in due acknowledgments and jrrateful returns. Similar tokens of regard h,id. in the fame public manner, a little before, been (hewn to Spanhcim, when he left that city for Leydenj^, Morus, after this afiecling parting, profecuted his journey for the Netherlands by Switzerland, wliere he met with civilities, particularly from tlie minlilers and profefl(^rs of Bafle^ Proceeding thro' Upper Germanyj. he dcfcended by the Rhine into Belgium. And as there was a meeting of the fynod of the minlilers of the W.iU loon churches in the provinces, then convened at M.ief-» tricht on the Meufe, he prefented himfelf to it. lie had not applied for any new public. attcftatiojis when he left Geneva ; after thofe he had fo lately received, he, judged it not only unneceffary, but indifcreet to impor- tune them again fo foon on that head. Yet, he tell us, fuch recommendatory letters were not wanting to him.. The magiflrates and church of Geneva had, unfolicitcdi fent thefe by his hand, to the church of Middleburgh and the fynod ; which he delivered to-, ihcm fealed. His friend Diodati had alfo on this occafion renewed his re- commendations. Milcon termed the letters he h.ul re- ceived from Geneva, fri^'ululas ; but he himfelf confeiics, • tliey were written in fuch a llraln, îicivping upon hinr fuch praifes, that if he did not confider them as pro- ceeding entirely from a fort of overflow or excefs of ^iiiduefs, he would be even a prouder animal ihati H2 00 Milton himfelf. The efFeâ: fhewcd of what kind they were,, whether warm or cold -j-.* They were no fooner read in the fynod than he was call- ed and defired to take his feat, and in all matters that came under confideration in fynod, his mind was taken as a member of the court. All were forward to embrace him ; they condoled with him, and at the fame time congratu- lated him on his happy arrival. He was forthwith ap- pointed to preach before that learned affembly, and be- fore a very numerous and refpe£lable auditory ; which he did with general applaufe, in which thofe who were faid to have been prejudiced againft him, concurred |. About this time the hiftorical chair of Amfterdam had become vacant by the death of Ger. Js. Voflius ; the cura- tors thinking they could not find one more fit to fupply it than Morus, they defired Salmafius to invite him ; but not havi;ig received an anfwer, they appointed two, in their name, to wait upon him when he came to Leyden, to make an offer of it to him, as he came to fettle in Mlddlcburgh : but he declined the offer, on account of the engagements he had entered into with that city, from which he did not reckon himfclf at liberty to recede. D. Blondel was therefore called by them from France to fill that charge. But the magiftrates and regents of the city of Amfterdam, wrote Morus a refpeftful letter, dated the 31(1 of Dec. 1649, in which* they acknowledg- f * Hre profeâ;o fuerunt ejufmodi, ut ijs mc laudibus cumula» rent, quas ego si aliunde profeftus agnofcerem quam ex abun» , iofum.' Fides. &c, tj. ikz — 3, '^12 6S fentful female, ^^ho hag like took pleafure to direcH: and drive it to the ut.noll poflible fury. T>ms was no other than the noted Madarii Saumaife, the wife of his pdtron at Leyden, in whofe houfe he might for a fhort time liave lefided, after his arrival, or occafionally afterwards It was no fecret that Salmnfîus. great as he was accounted in the fchools, was unhappily fubjcfled to a dome file ty- ranny, and the fcourge of the tongue of a termagant. She was a woman of Gouda, of a noble family, and of fuch a fpirit as to vaunt of the rule Ihe bore over her husband. She would often boafl:, that * fhe had for a husband, but not for a mafter, the moil learned of all the noble?, and the m-oll noble of all the learned.' Huetius, who became intimate with Salmafms, having been an afTociate with him in the vifit they paid to the capricious Chriftina of Sweden, and refided fome time with him upon his return, could not but remark his mild and pacific difpo- fition in private life, whatever heat and violence appear- ed in his writings |. In the political conteft that broke out between Salmafius and Mikon, the latter feems to dwell upon this topic with malevolent pleafure, having the^^rudenefs often to reproach him with this domeftic infelicity, as well as with his want of children-, and for his tame fubmiflion to his fpoufe's imperious fway ; in- Head of putting in practice the new Miltonian do6lrinc and difcipline of divorce. :}: The author of the Eloge upon Huetius, fays, • Parmi kvS lavans qu' il connut en Hollande, Saumaife tient le primier rang D'.roit-on, a Ivmportment qni règne dans les écrits de Saumaife que c'etoit au fond un homme facile, communica- tif, et la douceur même ? JufqUe la qu' il fe laiffoit dominer par une femme hautaine et chag-rine. qui fe vantoit d'avoir pour mari, mai non pas pour maitre, le plus Savan de tous les nobles, et le plus noble de tous les Savans.' Huetlana p. xii. The charader of this lady, Moras fays, was very notorious, oT whom it was better to be filent, than to fpeak particularly. Slie hail for fome time before been incenfed againft him, for fome reafons which he clecUr.es to menàon, although, he fays, he would not have been afliamcd, had they been all particularly explained. Slie exerted herfelf to tlie utmofl to form a party againft him, and in carrying on this deOgn, flie j«'fpcufed the caufe of her waiting maid, the fame Pontia that figure» fo often in Milton's libellous pages ; though her name Was rot Pontia, but was probably deviled at the plea, fure of the fatirift, or perhaps, asMorus conjectures, in allufion to PontiusPilate,by a frigid and more than pueri'e jeft. They plotted together it fcems to have inveigled him into an uufuitable and inuufpicious marriage ; on what ground or pretext we are not told. AVhcn this defign became matter of talk, Mcrus openly and {lr(;n;:,!y declared his aveifion j upon which Madam vowed his deftru£lion, often exprefiing herfelf in thefe terms, * A- cheronta movebo, et perdam ipfam.' Accordingly, by the indigation of a certain perfon (F*.i:{Hr.o prsfcrtim in- ftigante) ftie began to acl in concert with a fa61ion, and by their emifiaries to fend abroad horrid and thundering accufatipns, which foon were refounded throughout all Belgium. She foon difcovcred — * furens quid fxniina pof- fit :' but flie led herfelf and her afroci:;tes into a trouble- fome labyrinth rather tJian the object of her refentment, out of which the parties could only be extricated by an acl of public jufiiice. Ic was not, however, he avers, till after (he had babbled up and down in the mofl. intempe- rate and ofFenfive manner concerning him |, and not till it * Anferina ingluvie ad rancedinem ufque ita garriret.* liîs reputation was in danger of fufférîng, în the opînîoa of thofe who were unacquainted with her Junotuan or rather Sinonian arts, as he cxprefles it, and who believed her to have that regard for him that flic itill pretended, that he proceeded firft to call the fervant to accooni In law, or more properly the miflrefs, who managed the plot under her name. He never could have taken fuch a ftep, he fays, if his mind had not been influenced by a confcious fenfe of reditude -, more efpccially a.> Salrna- fius was greatly oppofite to it ; and earneftly requefted that he (hould defift from fuch a procefs : and it was reprefented to him, that if he fhould perfift in it, Saî- mafius could not befriend him in it, at the hazard of affronting and offending his wife. Some months, therc"- fore, were fuffered to pafs, while friends on both fides attempted to bring about a reconciliation, and to provide fonie remedy for reftraining fuch violent outrages. The prince of Tarentum himfelf.fays our author,as if forgetful of his dignity, condefcended to take cognifance of thefe trifling matters f. How little favourable his judgment was to his adverfaries, with what diligence and fagacity he deteâed their ftratagems, how generoufly he applied his healing hand to the cruel wound, and how juftly, after he had found out their artifices, and infiduous dealing, he ordered them to drop their caufe in filcnce, he fays, f This prince was a fon of the duke and duchefs de la Trimouille, who bore the name of Prince de Tahnont, and afterwards known by that of the Prince de Tarcnte. The duchefs his mother, was the worthy daughter of Maréchal de Bouillon, zealous for her religion, who had the refolution to have her fon educated in it, after her huiiband had abandoned it i and he -vas married to a princefs of the illulhiouG houfc of Heffe. Benoit, Jtiift. torn. 3. p. 57. was well known to all : and what commendations kit iighnefs the prince drew from the ;aouth of îîalma- fius himfelf, it did not become him to mention p When the prince's attempts failed of defired fuccefs, thofe of others proved equally ineffedual. It became evident that his opponents wanted nothing more than to protra6l the time, and throw obftacles in the way o£ obtaining a judicial fentence. This deter-mined him, not without advice of fome of the higheft rank, and of the wifeft heads in Belgium, to profecutc his caufe before the fupreme court in Holland. * What remained for me * to do,* fays he, * after every other method had been * tried, and I continued to be abufed by every tongue ; * —what but to manifeft to thofe who wondered at * my patience, a confcioufnefs of innocence ? Time was * fpent in trifling formalities, in perpetual fhifting, ia * colledling falfe witneffes and teftimonies, leaving no- * thing unattempted to vex and defame me, tho' without * hope as they declared, of prevailing in judgment, * but * we gain our caufe/ they would fay, * if we can blaO: * his reputation :' — in fuch a general combination againft * me, in fome by open hoftility, in others by underhand * methods, I could not have been fupported, unlefs I * had committed all to the will and providence of him t * Quam vero minime fecundum adverfarios meos judicarit celsisfimus princeps, quam fagaci folertia tech- Tias eorum verfutiafquc detexerit, quam gencrofe tarn ef- ferato ulceri curando manum fublimium rerum tra£la- tione dignissimam commodarit, quam jufte poftquani fjicas olfecit, et dolos atque insidias deprehendit, eos fuas sibi res habere juiTerlt, norunt omues : quasvero mei Maudes, qanta encomia ex ipsius Salmasii ore hauferit, commemorar*: nun «ft pudoris mei.' Fidesj 3v'C. p. 192-3. 72 * who raifes up the opprellecl, and defends the tec- * ble.' Yet he ;Tratefully acknowledges that he was not Icl'c deftitute of friends even in the mod difficult crifio : but he earntflly requefted thofe of chief rsote and influ- ence, who intcrefted themfelves in his caufe, that, if they ^ould do hin a kindnefs, they fliould not employ their authority in the matter, fo as to prevent his innocence from fairly gaining the vi£lory : and in this he certainly gave an indioution of a clear and manly mind. As the opponents of Morus anticipated, an unfavour- ahle ilkie of the caufe before the civil court, tliey attempt- ed, while it was yet in dependence there, to overwhelni him in the ecclenadicai. For this they colletled all their ftrength ; and here they appeared as profecutors ■with fonle more hope of fuccefs : ' In the Synod,' faid the female conduftrefs, * he will have hh enemies for his judges; — there is not one of the mlnifters but would wifli to fee him cruihed.' Her predidion in this cafe turned out as ufually it had done. The Synod convened at Utrecht. Delegates from Leyden attended : they pro- duced a f;ick-full of foul accufitious and falfe teftimonies ; of which Mihon afterward appears to have availed him- felf in writing his fcurrilou3 libel. They were introduced by a virulent preface, • a true philippic, 7^/«.^«?«,' as our author calls it. They confuked tlie Synod, whether he iliould be defircd to preach in their city, if he fliould come there : for it vexed his adve.rfaries, that during this proccfs and his afRitlion he continued to preach wherever he went ; and he thanks God, that he had ne- ver done it more Ircqiiently, or witii greater fruit. * Lit him refrain from ))reaching ;' faid one among them; * let him only cxcrcife ih'* ptofcflbrfiiip, for which hs feenis to have been born and formed.' He who faid thia 73 w>« not a profeflbr. The delegates infifled, that the S ■ 1 i, ill ■)tdii to give a deliberate judgment in the çaufcihjnid proceed to read the papers they had brought UP. Tv^fe ;vho were mod inclined to favour Morus ODpor^-d this, alledging that they were notorious libels, an.l th It it was unbecoming that venerable affembly to allow their ears to be entertained with female fquabbles and fcoldings. Others again infifled, that --he juft re- quell of the delegates fhould be complied with ; that this would rather be an advantage to the party accufed ; and that the cognifance of this affair belonged to the Synod. The majority ho^vever were of opinion, that they (hould relieve themfelves from the trouble of hearing fuch trif- ling matters ; fo that one of thefe members meeting with Morus, began to congratulate him on the good refolu- tion they had adopted, to read nothing againft him. But Morus was much grieved when he heard this, and Iharply expoftulated with him about fuch a determina- tion, than which, he faid, nothing could be more in- jurious to him : he declared his refolution to go and fiffc liimfelf before the Synod, and demand that nothing o£ what his adverfaries had produced againft him, fhould be fupprefTed. Upon which that member immediately returned into court, while the affair was not yet fully over, fome complaining, particularly the delegates, of the refolution to which they had come ; and he having changed his mind, pled on the oppofite fide, and brought others over to the fame opinion. At lafl, by a plurality of votes, it was agreed, that all fhould be read. The papers were accordingly read, over and over ; liflened to with great avidity ; fl;ri£lly canvafTed, and narrowly fifted |. "^ * Leguntur, perleguntur ; audiuntur et quidem aure bi« 74 The reading was fcarcely finifhed, when one, who Was confidered as lead of all inclined to favour M.^rus» arofe, * And is this all ?' faid he ; — * nothing elfe ! Was this the momentuous affair that could raife fuch tu- mults ;— billows in a cup * !' He was followed by others in the fame drain— almoft all, with a kind of favourable munnur, broke out in fimilar terms. Wiien the meeting was clofed, they approached him, comforted, embraced him, expressing their forrow for the treatment he had met with, and their deteftation of the artifices of the adverfe party. The moderator of the Synod, the venerable Riverius, faluting him, and allud- ing to hi-5 name in the French idem, f ild, Nunquam Ethiops ita dealbatus est., quemadmodum hodte tu fuutu * Never was 3 Moor made fo white as you have been to-day.* It was therefore afterwards inferted in the records o£ the Synod, which were kept in all the churches, * That in the papers brought forward by the delegates from Leyden, relating to the litigated caufe which lay in de- pendence before the fupreme court of Holland, nothing was found of weight to hinder the churches from ufing their liberty of inviting Mr Morus to preach, when there was occafion, as they had formerly done.' Tho' this fentence was perhaps not very gratifying to the de- legates, yet they thought proper alfo to exprefs their fa- lisfa£tion with this ifTue of the matter ; protefting that the reafon why they had infilled fo much to have the papers read, was the fcnfe they had that they contained buta ; expcnduntur acri judicio et morofa .trutina.' Fid* ■Pti'i p. 197. * ' Fhiaus til 'hnpulo :' a proverbial expression, q. * muck *do about nothing.* is nothing relevant agakfl. ]un-., but that tlwy would be found oi i. fs conlequencc than they were fupporcr! to be, not dùubthig but that upon their being hearci, Moru& would be atquittfd : and they joined with others in con- gratulating him upQn the happy termination of tiiis Sy- nod, which would prove as confolatory to him as th© former one at Maeftricht. Whatever rcafon Morus had to be pleafi»d with the general refult ; yet when it was expeded that he iTiOuld hav. cxprefied his great thankfulnefs lor the favour.ible iflue, they were furprifed when he exclaimed, That they had done him the greatel^ injuftice : but he added, • I only complain that I have not been admitted to a heaiiug in the Synod. How eafy would it have been for me upon being heard to have entirely dis.-ipated all thele charges, QuK cundta aeiiierei difcerpunt irrita venti : * which even the winds of heaven have wholly blown away, without my pleading the caufe at all.' If you have abfolved me without any one having defended me, what would you have done had you heard me demon- ftrating all thefe allegations to have been either falfe or exaggerated, or drained and wrefted to a meaning oppo- (itc to my real fentiments ? What if I had. expofed tlie teftimonies of thcfe two young men, one of whom, with- out the lead occafion given on my part, profecutcs old quarrels, deeply imprefled on his mind ; the other, in- ftead of gratitude, fhev/s towards me the mod implacable hatred : both of them cherifli and even openly avow, fuch prejudice and inexorable hatred, that they would not fo much as give me an ordinary passing faiutation, nor even any of my friends with v.hom Ï was known to be mort familiar.' After dating farther his oje£tions againft the admiflion of the evidence of thefe prejudiced wit- 75 nèfles, he added, < many othcr things he could have offeree^, that might have plainly fhown tlie contents o£ thele abufive papers to be mt;re calumnies.' Common order ts well as juftice, no doubt, required, that Mr. Morus fliould have been heard in his own defence : bur his brethren replied, * "We reckoned it more refpefl- ful to you, that you fliould neither be called nor heard. We fuppofed thefe things might be true which urc pro- duced agaiuft you, and which you contend are falfe, yet we have not found any thing in them worthy of notice or blame J Our law. Friends, condemns no man un» heard ; but it may rightly absolve fotne perfons unheard/ "With this fmart facetious remark, this amicable conteil ended. The Synod faniHrioned their favourable judgment not by words only, but by deeds. They appointed him on the fpot to preach in the church of Utrecht on the mor- row, being Sabbath : which, on account of the indifpofi- tion of him who fhould have officiated in the afternoon, he had to do twice, in the prefence of all the members of the Synod, and the profeflbrs of that univerilty. Such was the conclufion of that Synod on which the adverfe party had fo much reliance for carrying their caufe. The decifion was not haftily and careleftly gone into, but after full cognifance of the affair : and, our author tells us, it had the good and memorable effeâ; to reftrain the barkings of an obftreporous female, tho' it could not fliut the mouth of Englifli Milton. This abfolution in the ecclefiaftical was foon follow- ed by another in the civil court. After various detours, fentence was at laft pronounced, whereby the faid Pon- X * Nee tamen in ijs quiçquam invenimus notadignum.' — • p. 200, tïa was non-fuited, her pretenfions found groundLfs, and Morus was declared free. Of this he was furniflied with an authentic extradl, in the Dutch language^ which he kept in his posgession. This judgment was given, without tlie interf^ofition of his oath, which Miiton would have his readers believe was taken, bnt which his adverfaries alone infilled for, that hereby they might a little hurt him. He was acquitted simj>/iciierf without any condition added. It does not appear, tliat in this procefs, there was ei- ther evidence or even a charge produced of illicit con- ne£lion between the paitie^.. If this had been the cafe, could a whole Synod, confifting of members differently afFeaed, have riprccd in confidering the matter as frivo- lous ? The licence wliicli the Engliih libeller allowed his pen to take on this head, unfupported by any {liadow of proof, deferves the feverelt repro'oation, and admits not of any extufe. To give a criminal appearance to the affair, it was faid, that Pcntia had been fccluded from the facramenral communion : but IMcrus (who certainly in this is intitled to crecUt, as he had full op- portunity of knowing, and wrote of facls that muff have been well know at the time and in the place where he publifhed) declares, that flie never was fubjedled to any church cenfure. Though flie loft her plea, it feems, fhc did not alfo lofe her moral char-.icler. Upon her rem-oval from the church of Leyden, flie was difn.iilld in the ufual form, as one free of any fcandal : and under that repute, was flill living when the author wrote, in 1655 *• * * Pontia quam di'is nunqiiam abfrcnta eft facra fynsxi, numquam notam illam aut cenf 'lam ecciesia; fubiit : qiiiii ab ecelesia Lugdinensi honeite dimiffo, ut cxtcrss folcut qnoe ni- hil in fe adraittunt, nihil feandali dederunt, apud nos juin vi» vit.' Fides Fub. p. 203, yi He might well add, * I nunc et ftupra, ct fpurios tibî fin^e : — minime nos tangunt, quae tam maniteito falfa funt.' For the exaél truth of his narration of thefe tranfac- tions, he defires any who chufe, to confult the public atls, or the judges in both courts, who were ftill alive. A procefs of this kind, no doubt, had a tendency to mar the intimacy, and fomewhat cool the affcdtion tha». fubfifted between Salmafiu^ and Morus But it does not appear that his former patron and friend ever loft his efteem for him to hi> dying day ; much lefs that he held him in deteftation. as his calumniator aflerts. In defence of the memory of his deceafed friend, rather than of himfelf, Moius fays, he could tell hira what 3 perfon of honour, who had refided for many y< ars at the Hague, had heard from the mouth of Salmafms, a few days before his death, but txcufes himleU from repeating the words, — but in general they were fucti as gave reafon for faying, that never was a man more im- moderately praifed by another j adding, that he only grieved, left his wife might be hurt by him, from whom he could not allow himfelf to be alienated on his account. And fo far was he from giving any credit to the flanclero\i& tale of criminal intercourfe, that he faid before refpeftable witneflcs, ' Si quid hie in ilia deliquit, ego fum leno, et uxor mta lena :'—* If he be guilty, I am the pimp, and my wife the procurefs,' In 165 1, Morus havmg intimated to the church he was conne£led with, that he was under the necessity to take a journey into France on account of fotne family af- fairs, he received from the confiftory another recommen- datory letter, dated in Auguft that year, to be uleù by him wherever he might have occafion for it, but writtea / 79 an cxpe£latîon of his fpeedy return to them, which haa alfo bv'en inferted zmong the reft. It certified, ' that during the time he had refided among them as their paf- tor, he had edified them by his excellent and truly ex- traordinary gifts, h^d (hewn an entire orthodoxy in doc- trine, with a moft holy converfation ; and had alfo dif- covered his great erudition in the courfe of his leftures in the illuftrious fchool of that city, in whifh he occu- pied the place of firft profeflbr ' But his propofed jour- ney was deferred, until he removed from Middleburgh altogether in about twelve months after. Mr. Morus* comfort in that city was alfo difturbed by the violence of a party- fpirit that broke out in it, ow- ing to differences among the inhabitants about city -poli- tics. A kind of fedition arofe among the lower order of people, in confequence of which, the chief magiflrates, who had been his principal friends, were thrown out of office, though they were afterwards reftored to their honour and dignity. This change, and his not being fo much in favour of the new rulers, might incline him to accept the renewed invitation he received from Am- fterdam. And this furnifhed his calumniators with a new topic, and they did not fail to traduce him as one driven from Middleburgh with difgrace, as they faid he had been from Geneva. But this allegation was as groundlefs as the other. For tho' he confefles, that he was not on fuch an amicable footing with the party who came into power, yet this did not hinder them from giving him an honourable teftimony at his departure. It bore, * That the council and magiftrates of Amfter- dam having reprefented to them, that they had judged it nccefîary to augment the number of their profcfTors, by appointing one who might teach facred hiftory there. 8o 'twnfruaa el sphndorct and hav'aig by the fureft tefllmonîeS been inïbrmed of the excellent endowments of Mr. A. Morus, formerly profefibr, &c., and exprefling their mod earned wifh that he (liould undertake that charge, and in the molt urgent manner (scfh et emxe) requeîting their confent that Mr. Morus iliould demit the profeflbr- ihip of theology ; they, after due deliber uion, and weigh- ing the reafons of the curators of their own illudrious fcliool, and perceiving the inclinafion of Mr. Morus to undertake the faid extraordinary profeflion, were unwill- ing to refufe the council and magillrates of Amflerdam their requeft, and accordingly confented to the difmif- ilon of Mr. Morus, ' though reluctantly,' they add, * oft account of the fmgular gifts God has beftowed upon him, and which endear him to us f ' Given on the i ith day of July, 1652 : under the feal ©f the city, and figned by the fecretary. Simon Van Beaumont, d d. This declaration from thofe that were reckoned lefs favourable to him, he thought, deferved to be confider- ed by him as equal to one from his greateft friends, be- caufe the latter are often influenced by affection ,but the former have regard to equity and integrity alone. Sut as the impudent Milton had faid, he had been ejecSted from his church, he faid, * Let us hear the church.* He then gives an extra6l of the deed of the confiftory of the W,al- loon congregation, of the following import : — * That Mr. Morus having fome time before, demand- od of them to be difcharged from the obligation he had come under to ferve that church in the qjjality of paRor, t * Confenlimus quamquam segre, I'dque ob egregias dotes «juibuB Dcus ipfum cohoaeilavit, ct quce nobis pcichar» funU* 8i llie company, after mature deliberation, and calling up- on the name of God, having alfo heard the reafons and iJifFerent motives, obliging him to comply with the call from Amfterdam to engage in the profession of church- hiflory, and the confequent difmission which the vener- able magiftrates had granted him, — from thefe and other similar considerations, they yeilded to his demand, difmis- sing him, under the condition of the confcnt c(f the Classis of the churches of their language to meet on the 1 2 th of the following month at Flulhing, from the paftoral charge "he had hitherto exercifed in their church, thanking him for the edification it had received from his excellent fer- mons, and all the other valuable gifts with which it had plcafed God to endow him, to whofe favour and protec- tion, they irecommended him.* Signed by Le Long, the Pâftor, and eleven Elders and Deacons. Besides this, the Overfeers of that church, gave I^m a certificate similar to that delivered the preceding year, teftifying that, during the time he had resided amotig them, he had edified the church by the purity of his do£lrine, and his Chriftian converfation : and requefting the brethren to whom he might apply to receive him as a mod excellent perfon, * et doue de graces tres-singuli- ere».' This a6l of courfe came under the review of the Wal- loon Synod, that met in the province of Zealand, in Auguft that year, and received its fanélion : * notwith- ftanding fome defefls which they obferved in the pro- cedure of that church,' they fay, * considering what had been done by it, as well as the magiftrates of Middle- burgh, and aiJtr hearing M» Movus himfelf, they ap- L proved of the forefald difmission of llielr very dear hï(*» tlier, and of the a6l which they had drawn up concern- ing it J and they add, that any time when the faid Sieuf Morus was prefent in the fynodical aflemblies, liis coiî- dudl was very agreeable to them, even as he had alfo rendered himfelf approver! to his flock, as appeared from, the teftimonial they had given him/ At Groede, the 23d of Aug. 1652. 1 (Signed) De l'Escherpierre, Moderatof. ChaRLÏîS DB RochfoRT, Scribe. The reader may think, we have had abundance, or ra- ther fuper-abundance of teftimonies of this tenor ; but he may perhaps be of opinion at lad, that they were all not more than necelTary to confront the pubHcity, the virulence, and the atrocity of the attack made upon him» foon after, to be circulated, not only in England, biit a* moiig all the learned throughout Europe. SECTION FIFTH. Of the c ont r ever sy letmeen Salmasius and Milton, occasioned hj^' the execution of Charles I.'^Mikon's Second Defence of the People of England, in answer to the Cry of Royal Blood — His personal attach upon Monts in it— Morus' s virS' dication ef himself in his Publica Fides. We have already, more than once in the courfe of the preceding narrative, had occasion to mention Mr J. Mil- ton, ab a chief partizan againft the charaiSler and caufe of the fabjecb of this memoir : but as a fair account of 83 fàtls, fo far r.s they can be authenticated, is the mdft effe£li.uil way to obviate calumnies, or to repell injurious charges, it was thought bed to continue the narrative down to the termination of the above proceiTes, without taking a dirc(ft and particular notice of the contents of his libels upon the character and condu6l of the accufed, as a matter of perfonal and public controverfy between them, as it afterwards did become : for Milton only told his tale at fécond hand, and in what he advanced in his re-iterated attacks upon our author, he had cliitlly a re- trofpe£l to events, or reports that had preceded tlie ifme of thefe procefles in Huijanj. Witliout any previous acquaintance with hirn, or opportunities of obtaining original or exaft information, and being incenfed againft him on anotlisr account, he appears to have leagued himfelf keenly wi,th the party that had excited the cla- mours, and furthered the profecutions. It is evident from his own account, that he carried on a clofe corre- fpondence with them, and depended, with a degree of credulity upon their informaîion, however vague : and whatever unfavourable report was communicated, he was difpofed to make the ulmoll of it, which his fati«- cal genius, joined, as it would Teem, to an obftia.ite in- vincible prejudice were capable of, for ruiniiig the man whom he had niajked out, though very unaccountably, as his public and perfonal antagonill in anotlier caufe of a political nature. He may therefore now be considered as his principal accufer, who placed himfelf before the public and pofterity, as the head and mouth of that faclion ; and it will be proper to look a little more nar- rowly into the origin, the contents, and grounds of his libellous writings, as it is chiefly in them that thefi; L 2 84 charges are found recorded, and known at leaft to the^ inhabitants of Britain ; after the foreign rumours of the day, and the papers and record» of courts in which they may have been mentioned, have in a great meafure, been consigned to oblivion. Without this, full juftice cannot be done to the fubjeâ, nor the reader enabled to forin a decided judgment : and it is more necefTary in regard of the immortal name that Milton as a writer has otherwife obtained ; and bccaufe his perfonal charges and inveûives are intermixed and infeparably connected with what he has written upon a mod important national controverfy, and fome political queftions, which not only intereited Britain, but all Europe, at that time> and ever since. The quarrel between Morus and Milton took iis rife from the writings that were publiflîed by Salmasius and Milton, and another on the fame side with Sa;masius> on the fubje£l of the trial and execution of Charles L-, who loft his head on the fcaiFold, on the 30th of January, 3648, in the manner> and on the alledged grounds, winch all the world knows. In this controverfy Morus was not originally or direûly interefted, nor had publicly appeared at the time he was attacked, as a party in it ; the event of the execution had happened a little before he came into Holland : But he was haled in as the fup- pofed acceflary of Salmasius, and as the author of the Clamor regij sanguinis, in which Milton and the Regicides were fo freely ufed. To enter into the merits of the caufe between thefe* difputants, is not necefTary to our prefent purpofe. Only in general, it may be obferved, that the opposition made to the abufe of the royal authority by the Long Parlia- ment, and the war which they reckoned themfelves obli» gecî to ehter into with the king and liis adhérents, as dated in their remonilrances, cleclarauons, and a<^?, at the commencement of the ftruggle, and fpr fomcf years after, proceeded upon fuch principles and grounds as recommended tnemfeh^es to the approbation of the enlightened friends of religion and liberty, in tlie tliree kingdoms, and fuch as received the approbation or the greateft number of the Proteliant churches, and t!ie free ftateâ on the continent. Thefe had long been canvaflcd at home, by writers, and the debate maintained, and at lafl: fettled by the fword. While the original ftate of the caufe, and the fivO. object of the wiir, were adhered to by the parliament, in conjunction with the Scotch na- tion, there was no juft ground to charge them, as they were, and often have been charged, withdifloyalty to the king, or with a dcfign to fabvert the ancient qonflitutlcn, to abolifa tlie limited monr.rchy, or to offer the lead in- jury to the king's pcrfua and his lawful authority, but their aim and wifli was only to retlify abufes, to .'ciuove grievances» to retrain arbitrary power, and to provide for the better exercife of royal authority in co!:sis\ency with liberty and religion. This they rçpe?itedly declared be- fore God and the world ; this they had. in tiie molt fo- lemn manner exprefled in the League and Covenant ra- tilF.ed between the thice kingdoms. But the cafe becariie widely different, and tiic caufe and views were greatly changed^ after a faction, consift- ing moftiy of men of unfettled minds and of a fanaiic.il fpirit, arcfe in the army, and crept gradu:i!!y into powc»-, fo as to engrofs it almoft wholly in their own hands. Then wild proje<5ls, plottings and intrigues, were form- ed J then licentioufnefs, civil and religious, under pre- 85 text of liberty, openly reared its head ; all fettled order of things, in church and common-wealth, was afTaulted or infultcd, and the dangerous designs falfely imputed ta the better part of the nation, were at lait avowed and put in execution by a turbulent and daring fadlion, who obtained afcendency by the fword in their hand. Such was the (late of things when the king was made prifoner, and brought to his trial, when aftually engaged in treaty with his parliament, and after fuch terms had been a- greed to, as that parliament while at liberty, had accept- ed as a basis for a temporary fettlement of the nation. Ic muft be owned, that the many enormities of the king and his adherents, his fyftematic and praâical defpotifma the deep hand he had in the late fcencs of blood and de- vaftation, his known insincerity and perfidy, his muliih and foolilh obftinacy in refusing any tolerable terms upon which peace might be fettled and the people's rights fe- cured, with the jufl; ground there was for apprehensions of the dangerous confequences that might follow upon his having the fovereign power committed to him again upon any terms, afforded that party very plausible pre- tences, and provocation, for proceeding to that extremi- ty. It was no difficult matter to prove that he had vio- lated the laws and conftitution, that he was an opprefTor, a tyrant, a delinquent, perhaps the greateft in the nation ; that he had waged unjuft. war with his fubjedls, anfon, and a mockery of right. Milton had dune fervice to the parliamentary caufe, at an early period of the conttft, by Ihewing, in different tra£ls, the necesi-iry for reformation, and attacking par- ticularly the domineering fpivit of prelacy, and other ecclesia<'ical abufes. But when he began to vent fomc of his peculiar notions ; as in his publications upon the 97 fubje£l of divorce, he loft in fonie meafure, the confi- dence and favour of the Presbyterians ; and he appears to have indulged fpleen, and vented his fatire, againft fome of the leading men among them, particularly the Scotch divines, of which there are fomc traces remaining in his lefler poems, publifhed about that time. He be- came gradually more attached to the fcilarian and re- publican innovators, till at length he ventured upon the avowed defence of fome of their moft defperate mea- fures. Even before this defence, he had publiftied in 1649, foon after the king's death, * The Tenure of kings * and magiftratcs ; proving that it is la\«'ful, and hath * been held fo through all ages, for any who have the * power to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and * after due convi£lion to depofe and put him to death, * if the ordinary magiftrate have neglected or denied to * do it j and that they, who of late fo much blamed de- * posing, are the men that did it themfelves/ For writ- ing his Defence, he was rewarded with L.i 000 j fo it was, with a very bad grace, that he upbraided Salmasius, as he did in the beginning of his anfwer, as a hired and mercenary writer, becaufe his work was printed at the royal expence, and he had received 100 Jacobufes for his labour. We have faid fo much on the original and general fuL>je£l of this controverfy, ckiefly on account of ics great importance ; though it was in confequence of the intem- perate fpirit, and the unfair manner, in which it was car- ried on, that Mr M. came to be fo deeply embroiled and perfonally afie6ted by it. This fpirit appeared from the beginning of it -, and it is hard to fay which of the parties CTceeded in fcurrility and infolent abufe. Salmasius in- N tSiilgeil in Ills wonted acrimony of Imguage, poured up-* on the regicides and all who took part with them, the mod reproachful names and epithets, reprefenting them as the niofl odious and nefarious men ihat ever exift- ed, againfl whom all princes, and the whole world, ought to have rifen, in order to exterminate them He designs them peniueJksi latronesy sicarios, parric'uIaSf fanat'icos ; as men who could fport with crowns and fceptres, and play as at foot-ball with the heads of kin-gs. But the Engllfii Apologiu, in this refpeâ:, fell nothing behind him ; and in perfonal difrefpe^l^ and abufe, and cutting farcafms, very inexcufable as diredled againft fuch a man, and on fuch a fubjccl:, he went far beyond him. It is unnecefl'ary to produce any particular pafTages from thefe tratfls for the evidence of this : the reader who looks into them will find inllances in almofl every page. "Who could have thought that a writer who had regard to charac- ter or good manners, could pronounce with open mouth the great Salmasius a mere novice, ignorant of grammar and common fenfe, — a babbler, — an afs, — a liar, — a jug- gler, — a blafphemer, one who deferved the gallows, — an spoftate from his religion, a Jefuit, a Judas, an atheift, &g. Yet tills is but a fmall part of the caricature. It may fuflice here, as a fpecimen of the fpirit of this writer^ and to iliew how much he was addicted to calumny, and what re^^srd v/as to be paid, in other inftances, to" his virulent ?.ccufar;o!i3, or malignant. fatire, to feledï a few of the vocables, and heads, inferted in the Index of his Defence, in the original ^to edition, under the article Salmasius : which the reader will fmd below *. * Salm-ts'iis homo vanus ct ventofus ; friîïidissimus liteVa- 99 Saîmaslus did nnt long furvl^e this publicaiion ; but he haJ |)iuceeded l'o fnr in a reply to it, though left un- finished at his dcaih, which happened at Spa, in i>'Î53 : This WM publilhed afterwai;;ds at London, about the time of the n.ftoration, in j66o. Ai> princes who die in cer- tain critical conjunftures, are often fufpecfiied to have been poifoncd, io it has fometimes happened to fierce literar/ combatanrs, when they have been c»«ried oft' in tiie midfl: of their hollilities i tliey have been reported to have fallen by die fliarp weapons of their antagonifls. tor; infulfus ct iiispldus orator; omiiium litoratorum rn;icula ct iitura ; fc folidioris doftrinse ne guttidam qiiidcm liausiiTe oftendit, literatus line doilrina ; Dcurn tyrannum maximum afferit ; impius ct fucrilcgus, ccritus ft lyuiphaticus ; nil nisi caenuin et lutum ore funditat ; fcriptoium sapicntia ne levitcr quidcm imbutus ; pessimus de gicgc Lojolitnium ; fmca di.5- nus ; novus hcereticns ; luipidissiinus, quia ralionc llolida niti- tur ; homiiium au lulaciiTmius; cane quovis rahido jcjunior ; ya- pa et îicbulo ; Pltudoj.Iutarchus, vetciiitcret lucilu^us ; liypo- crita ; prœpoiU-ra ratio ne vititur ; flcrcorariiis Galhis, Kuclio' uis fuite obtruiicari dignus ; Tyrannis diadeina Icgibus folutuni- imponere Itudet ; tyrannorum vcfpilo ; lioniiuuiu vani^blmus ct corruptissimus, fufpcndio digiuis ; ycekratus ; mancipium cquedre ; Trifurcifer ; eo inter homines nihil nequins, inter quadrupèdes nihil amentiua ; palibidans eques ; veilus in cucu- lum ; mus montanus ; Ardelio ; cqucs crgallularius ; Mango ;_ patriae fuas astcrnum opprobrium ; perpusilli homo animi ; inpi Dominus ; fend vfr ; latinilate plane cxpcrs ; homo ccntemptissimus ;'funrm3£ imptidcntia; honiuneio ; furioius ; Satanœ tradendus ; hypocrita ct atlicus ; hbertatis bbcs ac pellis ; perditissimus ; ba'aamus ; homo Itoicus ; Galiicanus £rro ; levissimus ; Elpenor ell ;. fub focmina fervire alTuctus ; grammaticallruo eqaei; ; praevarlcator ct sopiiilia ; vappa cv circulator ; crumenipeta ; perfricli oris balatro; licaivti Judii; amilis eft. Tin's curious Indsx, probably annexed to tliat td'.tic^i by I'.imfclf with tiie proper references, is not to b^- loniid in tliç i2mo. edition in Lond, 1652 ; nor in the folio edition of iiis k.tiii Vi'orks printed in Hol'ùud, near the end oltiiui century. Hz 100 As It had been fald before, that Salmasius had been the caufc of the death of Spanheim, fo now it was alledged> that Milton had proved the death of Salmasius ; though probably with as little reafon in the one cafe as in the other. Though doubtlefs a man of fuch a haughty fpi- rit as Salmasius, would feel himfelf hurt by the treat- ment he had received, he had fuftained and out-lived fcveral attacks of the fame kind before, and he had the favour of the great, and the applaufe of crowned htads to confole him under fuch a difafter. However, when it was alledged, that the writing of the defence had cod Milton his eye-sight, he boafted, by way of retaliationj that he had deprived his adverfary of life. Milton's book was burnt at Paris and Tholoufe by the hands of the hangman -, as it was afterwards at London by order of the council, at the reftoration. In the mean time, Salmasius and his caufe, were avenged in another manner, by the appearance of * The Cry of Royal blood to heaven againft the Englifh parricides y at the Hague» 1652. In this Milton was repaid to the full in his own coin. No author's name was prefixed : it was dedicated to Charles II., now a fécond time an exile, after his èfcape from the battle of Worcefter, when his forces were defeated, and his affairs at home appeared to be defperate. To the dedication was fubjoined the name of A. Ulac, who was alfo the printer. A fliort preface was prefixed, in the perfon and language of the r.uthci , from which it could be collefted, that he claimed a re- lation to the French reformed church, and was one that was intimately converfant with the Englifh/of better note, and had opportunity of being * more thoroughly acqaint- , ed with the ftate of England, than any perfon who did TOI not underftand the Eiiglim larigur.p,e, or had not feen the Britlfli coaft, could be exnedled to be.' Two 'poems were fubjolned at the end of the book, both alfo unony- itious, the one a Euchariftical ode, iq Sshna.iui, cele- brating him for Ins performance in ths highcil Urain -, the cher addrcficd to the excralle Villain J. î.îiUoi; ; ' In impurissium Nebulonern J. Mihor.um, pavriciilarii;n et parricidij advocatuiu ;' in which tlie utmoft^pprc Jiium and contempt is caft upon him, whicii tlie aioft fcuriilous words, and the keenest Jambics could exprcfs f- f The poem consifls of near 250 verfes, of wliicii the following fpecimen nuiy futhce : — Quid facial ingens te vacuus Salmasius Tencbrione, tam minuta, tarn niliii ? Qiiem prenfat ir.cafilim ultio, nufquam invei;it. Ten' {lerquilinium, ten' cucurbita; caput, Aufurn mouarchas rodei'e, ten' Salmasios ? Nunc mus elephantum, rana pardum vcrberet, Opicus leonis vellicet forex jubas, Infultet urfo simia, mufca milviOj Sacram fcarabxi concacent avem Jovi, Ipfurnque merdis inquinent albis Jovem. Forro ut profani cruce fui>lato canes Quicquid fupra fe eft. ;;clliunt conmiir'i'ere ; Si quid generofum, nobile vel pio!»runi iuper, Vioi.ne gaucient flercorci n\.\[\\^\.i^, &c. — Tamen repertu?, proh Deum ! in terris homo, Hominifve fpeciem prceferens fcptus ilygis, Çh\\ prodigiofum dedecus oblatum Deo QjuOil mundus horret, qaod bonos oiViucs coquit, Solemque rugis afpiciotem contrahir, Pudoiis cxpers auJ.cat det'endere : Tenebricoi'us raoula, pus et fel nieruni, Atroque ccenum mactratum languine : înnominandus balatro, qui quod non poteft Vircute apifci, cri.-nine nonien quœritat. Bayle juftly fays, * That book was a very violent invec- tive againfl: the parliament party -, Milton in particular is extremely abufed in it. He is no better ufed in the epiftle tledicatory then in the book itfelf : but he is flill more furiously laflied at the end of the book. Milton, who had let feveral violent pieces publiftied againft the parlia- ment party pafs without any reply, could not continue silent with regard to this, where he faw himfelf perfonally interefted, as well by the immoderate encomiums which it bellowed upon Salmasius, as the terrible reproaches with which he found himfelf attacked in it.' But amidil fuch perfonal inventives, and party recriminations, a general fubjeft, which is ftill of moft importance to disintereft- ed readers and pofterity, is ever ready to be forgotten, or injured. The obfervations already made, will apply in this refpedl, to this as well as ihe former trads. Some narration is given in it of the proceedings againfl the king, particularly of the more recent tranfadlions by which he was brought to the block, with a reference alfo to fomc pofterior incidents which took place in the war that — Bene eft quod hoftis publicus, et minis ferox. Slrione vafrior, faevior busiride, Quarente catuios tygride concitatlor. Idem es fugacl imbellior cuniculo. Populo execranti simla contemptior. Minor pedlclo, rurpior bufonibus, &c. — Pax ! fata notam mox sibi inveiiient viam., Nee feftinantes clauda fontes defetet Vindidla cjcli ; pxna poll cquitcs fedet. Et propria dirïc jura conllabunt cn.ici. Produxe jam vos ad crucem fatis siet'*, Iluic vos relinquo. Quod plum fauilumoue sit Regno populoque ; tibi resigno crux mala Hos candidates, et fidci mando tux. 103 Cromwell's army made upon the young king and his Presbyterian fubje£ls. In his comments and fentiments, he ufually follows the fteps of the champion whom he fo much extoUs ; and as he pralfes even his vehemence, and the acrimony of his language, alledging that no words could equal the atrocity of the deed, fo in this he falls nothing fhort of him. Nay, he fays, Salmasms * rather failed in defed than in excefs, and thofe whom he called bull- dogs, fliould be named Cerberufes t.' They ought to be reputed * demons rather than men. As for J. Milton, * It is doubtful who, or whence, he was, whether a man or a worm * heri e (lerquilinio edltus.' * There is no need to inquire after the hangman who cut off the king's facred head ;— we have here the executioner ; he who advifed, defends, praifes, the wicked deed, did it.' * That fueh a monfter of a man, and parricides like himfelf fliould live, even reign, is the greateft inftance of divine patience, and the exercife of ours.' — When he mentions the burning of his book, he wiflies the author had met tvith the fame fate. There is one topic, however, on which the author fof- tcns a little his tone, and fpeaks with fome more mo- deration than his predeceflbr in the difpute had done. It is on the part the Presbyterians aûed in the w^ar, and at the king's death. Salmaslus went fo far as to al- ledge that, though the conclusion of the wicked deed was :j: * Affirmo,— necillam vehementiam in exceffu pec- care, in defedu potius, et quos moloflbs appellavit, Cer- beros vocari debuifse Défunt verba, fubsidit plenissi- mus facundix torrens infra banc fceleris magnitudmem.' * Hkc ira, hœc vehementia zelo Die, flagrans eft Deo et hominibus accepta.' Clam. p. I4- iS. edit, 4to. 104 {o be charged upon the Independenrs, yet the Presby- terians might Idy claim to tlie honour of the beginning and progrefs of it. * You/ falil he, * went along with them more than haiF the w;iy : you accompanied therii to thé 4th a£l of the tragedy or beyond it ; the guilt of thé king's death may be imputed to you ; you, and not others, applied the execrable axe to his neck.' Upon which Mil- ton, in his reply, had, with reafon, alfo apoftrophifed the Presbyterians, reminding them of what was awaiting tliem, and wliat they might expect, if ever the race of Charles fhould again poflefs the throne, and the violent toyalifi-s come into power. * Upon you,' faid he, * the royal vengeance v/ill fall ; — the petitions, the remon- flrances, the declarations of the lords and commons, — îind the adls pafTcd by them, with fuch a general applaufe of tlie people-,— the abolition of prelacy, liturgy, &c« will be condemned and punlPned as fo many feditious and mad meafures of the Presbyterians, as well as the king's death avenged.' And iiis words were eventually prophetical, and afterwards verified to the full t. :]: * Audite presbyteriani, ccquid nunc juvnt, ecquid confert ad innocentise et fidelitatis opinionem veflrse, cjuod a rtge puniendo abhorrere tantoperc vidsremini ? — Vasvûbià iinprimls, si unquam flirps Caroli regnum poft- hac in Anglos recuperabit : in vos, milii crédite, cudetur hœc faba. Sed Deo vota perfolvite, fratres diligite libe- ritores veflros, qui illnm calamirafcm, atque certam pcrniGiem ab invltis etiam vobis haclenus prohibuere.'— * Intelligere hivjc possint, si rex reyeriatur, fe non folum rfgis mortem, fed etiam petitiones quondam fuas, et fre- qucntisslmi parliamenti a£la de licurgia et^epifcopis abo- lendia, dc tricnn,!!i pailianiento, et quaecunque fiimmo populi confcnfu ac plaufu fancita funt, tanquam feditiofas atque infanas I'lesbyteriorum positiones luituros. De/, fro. pop. Ân^l. p. J2. Ï05 The evidence of fa£ls, was too glaring for any ferioiis- \f to maintain the above rafh charges against the Presby- terians ; the public ftate of matters too was much altered at the time when the Cry was publifhed ; the young prince had previously entered into the clofcft alliance with the Scots, after all other refources had failed him. He had ac- cepted the crown on the terms they offered him, — had difmifled his former counfellors, confefled tht sine of his father's houfe, folemnly fubfcribed the League and Co»- venant of the three kingdoms, engaged to ratify all the a£ls of parliament of either kingdom, in behalf of it, and for eftablifliing the presbyterial uniformity ui all time coming ; though all this was done with the fame sincerity, and regard to the honour of a king, as his royal father had fliown in all his concessions of a similar nature. The author, therefore, though he does not acquit the Presby- terians of the charge of rebellion, yet he attempts fome fort of apology for the part they aâed in the Englifli par- liament, as having been drawn in and led by the counfels and ftratagems of the more violent party, before they were fully aware of their designs, and that they found them- felves afterwards unable to resift them, through the pre- valence of the faftion fupported by the army : and of the guilt of the king's murder he wholly exculpates tiiem, devolving all the blame upon the Independents. In this modified language he would conciliate the minds of thofe who were now the king's clofeft friends and allies. * Hsec Presbyterianis fratribus noftris libère et amanter di£ta funto f .* '\ Quamvis in hac rebellionis fabula partes fua? egerint Tresbyteriani, ad Independentcs tnmen tota facinoris pro- O to6 He aifo narrates fnrne inftances of {hocking cruelty committed by the feX'hen they fhook ofTthe yoke and feieed upon the isle of Barbadoes from the tyrants if. The prifoners alfo, that were taken at the battle of Diinbar, he fays, were (hut up in clofe prifon to under- go a lingering (ieath ; Cka morerentur ut mart ss srnlirefft ;) fo that few of the many thoufands efcaped with life. To tasis et epitisis pertinent, llli antequam quo tenderent manifeni effenti perniciofa consilia Presbyterianls infuf- 43arunt \ illi res omnes ex arbitrio gerebant, etiam cunî cbtlnebant et regnare videbantnr Presbyterian!,' &c.— • Seroquc mifere Presbyteviani didicerunt quam intutum sit hoininibus velle fapientioves eife Deo, qui nos vetat ** mala faceve, ut bona eveniaiit" — qua quidem fallacia nullum Satanas potentiusad bonos.viros in malam partem impellendos expertus eft. — Ka^c Presbyterinnis fratribus iioilris libère et amanter di£Va ftinto. Sciant nos nee cprum perperam fa£lis accedere, nee noftrum erga cos amorem inimutare. Cum Independentlbus nobis lis efto, quorum tunc regnum vere cxpit, quando regem e Pres- byterianorum cuftodia eremptum in fuam receperunt. Clam. p. 28— SC- + Ut Sapfa, p. 20. ïo-7 Vluch he adcfe, the carnage ai the battle of Worcefter, çuid ihe truehies that followed, wlien the town was de- livered up to fpeil and (laughter, by the foldiers, who f pared neither age nor fex. Lord Clarendon in his hif- tory, fays, there \?as but little cruelty committed on that occasion : we would hope therefore that the following account of the (hocking treatment of the prifoners, may be exaggerated ; we hope it, for the fake 61 humanity, and the credit of the Englifli name, for the fake of Chrif- tianityj and the credit of men, who but hitely had fworn to be for ever faithful to the fame caufe, and to tlieir brethren whom they treated as enemies. After noticing v/hat was done to feme Engliili prifoners who were exe- cuted, * The Scots,' it is faid, * were kept night and day in the open air, till tbey were carried off in great num- bers by hunger, cold, and the dyfentery. "When the li- berality of the London citizens fupplied them with clothes and money, thefe were indantly fnatched from them by their barbarous keepers. They intercepted alfo the meat that was fent to them : and when they had fed themfelves to the full, and fcattered the remainder on the ground, the prifoners were driven by blows from gathering it up, and the fwine preferred before them. Others were fold to American merchants as (laves: but few purchafers werefo^ndi and in a /hort time, few remained to be fold. And that they might not perifli by one kind of death, 60 of them were put on board an InfufHcient or ilUballafted (liip, which, foon after weighing anchor, was overfet and funk in the river t-' Butj perhap?, all this -;- « Scotis noau interdluque fab diocuftodiunt, donee ijiedia, frigore, dyfenteriaahlumpti agmiuaiim aticrantui. O z wafte of the lives of fuch men, would appear both to true royalills and regicides, a very confolatory lofs ; as Hume, though a Scotfman, tells us in cold blood, when defcribing the flaughter at Dunbar, that * The defeat of the Scots' (who were only losing their all for Chaile&) * was regarded by the king as a very fortunate event. The armies, which fought on both sides, were almoft equally his enemies :}:!!!' Since we are touching on thefe critical events, and a portion of the hiftory of the church and kingdom of Scotland that has not yet been let in its proper light, we may be allowed to make another obfervation by the bye, — on the abfurd account that is given of the fpirit and behaviour of the Scottilh clergy at the time of the battle of Dunbar, by the pen of the writer laft named, and which, indeed, has been taken into many of the.hif- tories of England and Scotland. It reprefents them as fanatical in the higheft degree ; and as pragmatically meddling and diflating in all the political and military affairs, though upon no fufhcient evidence. * They or- dered,* he fays, * the king immediately to leave the camp. They alfo carefully purged it of 4000 malignants ; and then concluded, that they had an army of faints, and could not be beaten. They murmured, extremely Veftes nudis, nummos egenis afFatim exhibuerat Londi- nensium pia liberalitas ; fed latronibus prœda fuit tanta benignitas : mox enim veftes et nummos mifcris eripue- runt barbari cuftodes. Soliti etiam cibum ad captives milium intercipere. 011?e carnlbus plense a faturis cufto- dibus everfse, cumque ofFas in lutum provolutas famelici captivi arriperent, fuftibus abadli funt, porcique ad eaa invitati,' &c. Clamor, p. 21. t Hift. of Eng. vol. vii. p. 199. ed. 1763. ■not only againfl: their prudent general, but atfo agaînft the Lord, on account of his delays to give them deli- verance : and they plainly told him, that if he would not fave them from the Engliih fef^aries, he fhould no longer be their God.' When the army of Cromwell was reduced to the laft extremities at Dunbar, ' the madnefs of the Scottifli ecclesiaftics,' fays Himie ; the foUy^of the Scot- tifti clergy,' as Rider terms it, (who often copies him, as he does Sir Edward Walker, Whitlocke, &c. in this mat- ter) • faved it.' * Revelations, they faid, were made to them, that the fe£tarian and heretical army, together with Agag, meaning Cromwell, was delivered into their hands. Upon the faith of thefe visions, they forced their general, in fpite of all his remonftrances, to defcend into the plain, and attack the Englifli.' ' Thefe men,' as Rider has it, * trulling fo much to providence, that they wholly neglecled every human mean, and conftant- ly importuned their unhappy general,' &c. This may make a good merry tale for an infidel club over a bottle ; but it might have appeared too grofs, bearing the marks of fabrication and malignity on its front, to be fo easily admitted by a clergyman of any church, who was not difpofed to laugh at the expence of others, with a foolifli credulity. The chara£ler of the Scottifii clergy at that time, in favour with the ruling party, was of a very dif- ferent defcription. Though devout, they neither pre- tended to visions and revelations as a rule of conduft, nor were accuftomed to teach men to rely on providence fo as to forget all human means : fuch doctrines or enthu- siaftic notions, which had fprung up in the adverfary's camp, they had been long aivare of, and warntd all to ûYoid. Nor were they accuftomed to intrude beyond their calling, into the management of political or military affairs. Some were appointed to attend the army in quality of chaplains, as was the laudable praûice of that age, and as they had done from the begintiing of thefe civil commotions, which contributed fo much to preferve fobriety and difcipline in the army of the Covenanters, both in Scotland and when they were in England : and they might fometimes meet as committees, or a delegated commission, to give advice in certain cafes, in tlie ma- nagement of the public caufe then at iffue, in which the church of Scotland had and claimed fuch a deep intereft, when religion, as well as civil liberty, and the king's title, was at flake. Thofe who know not the import- ance of a well-adjufted conne£lion and co-operation of the civil and ecclesiaftical authorities in a nation, are ig- norant of the main fprings of great good or evil ^o a kingdom, and of the welfare or mifery of the large mafs of the people : and with this connexion and influence the aâ:ive leaders in that period, were well acquainted, not only in theory, but by experience. But the church in. ber affemblies, committees, and deliberations, afled in a diflinftj capacity, and only interpofed their advice when requefled, or their petitions or remonflrances, when they thought duty, and public danger required it, to thofc who had the immediate mangement of the public affairs. Can this be blamed, efpecially by any \i'ho can applaud fuch a mixed conflitution as that of England, where the church is rcprefented, and the clergy claim a fliare in the legiflature ? But fcrioufly to afTert, or even for a mo- ment to fuppofe, that a few miniflers, on the above occa- sion, didated to the commander in chief,' and all tliç fubordinate oncers, the military movements of that dif- lïf afterous day, and even forced them to go down to the at- tack, in opposition to their own judgement and remon- trances, and on no other ground than a fure revelation they had got from heaven, is to fuppofc both the one and the other to have been bereft of common fenfe, and is no lefs difparaging to the general, whom, at the fame time, they praife as able and prudent^ and to the whole body of officers, than to the faid ecclesiaftics. Bur: who were the original vouchers of fuch fails, and from what fource did they derive their information ? Here we find none referred to, but the two named above, both of them ut- terly incompetent. Whitlocke's conne(Slions and pre- judices at that time are well known : and as for Sir Edw. Walker, who yet has not affirmed all that is faid above of the Scottifh clergy, he was a retainer and pensioned fecretary to the Jate king, bred up in all the unhappy principles and pre-poflessions, and habituated to the broad dialedt aijd reproachful cant terms of the old Ca- valiers ; — one who had been exprefsly fecluded from at- tendance upon ihe perfon and councils of the young, king, when he was in Scotland, and even by order of the parliament fent into banifliment, as a noted malig- nant. Having been thus ftigmatifed, and skulking in difgrace, he was neither a witnefs of the tranfaitions in court or camp; nor could he relate what he heard, with- out betraying lus difposition to traduce the meafures ot both church and (late at that time. Even Clarendon, who tells, how glad the king was when he heard of the slaughter of his army, has not ventured to give fuch a ridiculous account of the caufc and manner of it ; but fome late hillorians are fond to coliedl;, no matter from what kcHnels, whatever may furniih a profane fcofF at Ufofe they ck'signate ' the ele£l and faints ;' and by a diïe proporcion of this burlefque humour infufed into their narrative, they too readily obtain the charafler of free and lively writers from an unthinking and irreligious public. It is particularly dif^ijraceful to Scotland, and a flriking proof of the want of difcernment and true tafte, that, in a great literary work recently and repeatedly pub- liflied in its capital, with fuch uncommon encouragement, fuch abfurd and abusive ftorieo as the above^ and of fell- ing their king for a paltry fum, &c. &c. (hould have been inferred verbatim into the article of her national hiflory, accompanied with the mod injurious reflecflions upon the proceedings of that and fome other periods, and upon many of her refpe^lable (latefmen, patriots and divine*, which any of the mod virulent calumniators of her ho- nour, religion and liberties, ever have thrown out ; and this without any due animadversion, refentmcnt, or cor- redlion, from her numerous literati *. But to return to the moix private hiftory : — The au- thor of the Cry fucceeded in his design of concealing Limfelf for a time ; even the printer, two years after, in the preface he prefixed to Milton's Second defence, which * See the Endj'clop. Britan. 3d. edit. Art. Britain, No. 168. & No. 145., where it is faid, ' the reception that he (the king, when he delivered himfelf up to the Scots) ♦ met With was fuch as might he expedted from thcfe infatuated bigots % destitute of every prir.ciple of reason, honour, or humanity, Isfc. with many- other articles, passim, throughout that volumhious work Has Scotia then been fo unfortunate as to find none to sketch out her hillory but a tory ravuig in praife of tvrants I nor to delineate her refoimattou and ecclesiali-ical conititution, but one pofllfled of the fpirit and principles of decapitated Ijaiid ? Or to exhibit her faith, and the Theology of Protef- taiits, but a mongrel clergyman, iuilf papift, half-Socinian ? "3 "he alfo re-publlflied in Holland, fays, he was then ftlll ignorant of his name. It had been fent to Salmasius, with a view to its publication ; and was fuppofed to come from one who was a friend and former acquaintance of his. Having be^ folicited, Ulac confented to publifh it-, and at the fame time, having a correfpondence by letters with Sam. Hartlib, in London, he informed him of this, and at his desire fent over the (heets weekly as they came from the prefs -, and let him know, that if Milton chufe to make a reply, he wiftied to have the copy tranfmitted to him, if he could obtain it, to be publiflied; thinking that in controversies of that mo- ment, both sides fliould be heard, and the public left to judge. Notwithftanding this complaifance, and impar- tiality, on account of the hand he had in the former pub- lication, when the anfwer appeared, which was not till 1654, he efcaped not without his. full fhare of abufe. Tho' the work bore the title of a * Secojid Defence of the people of England, againft an infamous anonymous libel/ yet, deviating from the principal objedl, he took unbound- ed licence in it, to depreciate and tear the charafters both of the living and the dead, efpecially of his deceafed ad- verfary Salmasius, who had been fo laviftily praifed at hU cxpence ; and of Morus, as the fuppofed author of the Cry. The particular intimacy that had fubsifted between thefe twe eminent men, might give occasion to fufpecl the book to be the produQion of Morus, and written too 'in concert with, and under the eye of Salmasius, as he more than once insinuates : fome whifpers too that circu- lated might tend to mislead him, and tlie circumftance ©f Morus having been in fpme manner employed about the publication, as in correding it from the prefs, or P ÏI4 being aclire in circulating copies, might tend to Con* firm ?iîm in that oplniort. Kesic'es, the tract bcing'wri!:- ten with fire, and bearing marks of a good latin fcholarj might difpofe him to attribute it to one who had acquired fome name in that kind of Writing, and he might think it would gain more credit to himfelf to mark out a well Known characler for his antagoniil, than to contend a- gainll fome perfon namelefs and obfcure. In fuch cafes conjedufès are freely indulged ; and a miftake of this kind, it may be owned, might very readily have happen- ed without any bad intention, or incurring blame. Had he merely insinuated this as a matter of conjetlure or ru* mour, and without proceeding to raife upon fuch a flen- der ground, fuch a fabric of malevolence and calumny, wiihout afluniing it, and improving it for a purpofe the ir.oft unjuftifiablc and odious, and without pereifting viifully and obllinately in the error, in contempt of fuf- ficicnt evidence to the contrary, it might have been verf ^xcufable. But his condu£l was the very reverfe of this » and Ihewccl that he did not wilh, bbt was irefolved noè to be undeceived. To hold out any paiticular perfoû publicly as the;author of an anonymous work, not ac» knowledged by him, nor proven to be his> efpeeially when it is charged with criminal matter, is a flagrant breach of the laws of the litei-ary republic ; but when this is done with a view to tear the moral chara6lcr, and defame the general condu£l of the man, without any re«» lation to the book or its contents, this is a double and more aggravated offence, being a direct violation of tfic common rules of m.orality and charity. And fuch offen- ces the fecretary'of the 'Enguili common-wealth, and the Britifii Hcmer, may be found coni^ifled. »»5 The fecret,. however» as to the author of the * Cry of lloyd Blood,' was not fo well kept as that of the writer of < Junius' Letters,' in later times, nor fo as to give oc<. caslon afterwards for fuch a long differtation as Dupin l>as inferted in hie Bibliothèque, on the queflion, wUe- ther Gerfon or T. a Kempis was the author of the book cf * The Imitation.* It foon tranfpired, that Mr P. da îvloulin, the ddeft fon of the miiiifter and-profeiTor in Î5cdan, was the real author. Amongll other authorities for this, Mr DaiUie's teftimony may be referred to in hi»^ Kepiy to F. Adams f ; and Colomies, in his B'tliloth. ChoU, p. 29.— Du Moulin the father is well kown by his nu- merous v^-ritings. He had been invited over to England Uy king James Î., after cardinal Perron's book again ft ^bc king appeared, which he refuted in his * Defence of the catholic faith ; and the novelty of popery.' During his residence, he ofllciated in the French church in I^n- ^!on, but returned to France upon the death of the king, 'in 1625, where he, lived above 30 years after, and difd in 1658, at the age of 90 years. He left three fons who were miniaers, and all of theni writers, Peter, Lewis, and Cyrus ; though the two former were widely dilïsrent from each other in their fpirit and principle*. U'l.ey both took up their rijsidence in Enj^land, during the latter part of their lives, wh^re their father had W:\\ ô much re- fpeded. In the public confusions that arofc.and in the dif- ferences between the king and pailiament, they took dit- fcrent sides, and Oiared confcquently in the lot that befell the refpeaive parties that they adhered to « Peter being a zealous royalilH, and confoii-ift tc^ thf cpifcot^;. church. t Part ii. p. »27. *^ P 2 IID was often employed as a preacher at Oxford, but loft M» preferment, with others, when the king's power wask broken. He resided for a time in Ireland, and probably alfo abroad ; but at the reftoration his attachment and fervices were rewarded, being appointed to be one of the king's chaplains, and canon of Canterbury, where he died at the age of 84, in 1684. Lewis, after he came over from Leyden, where he had taken the degree of do£lor in medicine, efpoufed the puritan caufe, and up- on the change that took place, he was made profeflbr of church-hiftory in Oxford, but was turned out when Charles II. was reftored. He fufFered with the Non- conformifts, to whom he continued attached to the end of his days, and wrote warmly againft the hierarchy and ceremonies ; but on the head of church-government and excommunication he adopted the notions of the Eraftians, of which feveral of the rigid independents became advo-, cates during tfie interregnum. He wrote his Paranesis^ or * Admonition/ on this fubjeft, againft Amyrald, and dedicated it to Cromwell. They were both men of learn- ing, and both feem to have been friendly to the pro- teftant do6lrines, though fo much divided as to ecclesia^ tical and civil polity p % Peter continued a zealot for prelacy and ceremonies to the laft Being poflefTed of rich benefices, he had afforded feme pecuniary aid to his younger brother in the latter period of his life. In 1679, he withdrew fome part of his bounty, and fent Mr de l'Angle, who was alfo a canon of Canterbury, and minifter of the French church in the Savoy, to tell him that the reafon of this was, the heat and bitternefs he had Ihown againft the church of England ; and that he of alPmen had the great- eft account to give on that fcore ; and ferioufly to exhort him, in view of his diffolution, (as he was now above 74 years of age) to make his peace with Qod, and to repent of all his sinsj ti7 Peter has be^n already named as the writer of th'e Hif- tory of Presbytery, though the Englifli tranflation thae appeared in 1659, was anonymous. He wrote alfo in French, the treatife intitled, * The peace of the foul ;' which was translated into different languages ; of which a new edition in Englifh was publifhed, not many years ago, with alterations. He wrote in Englifli * A vindica» tion of the sincerity of the Proteftant religion,' againft a Jefuitical work in 1662 ; which made a noife, and was complained of by the CHieen-Dowager, as he had aflîrm- ed in it, that both the dod^ors of the Sorbonne and the pope, upon being confulted by the Jefuits, had allowed it to be lawful, for the good of the catholic caufe, to join efpecially of thofe commUted againft the church of England. This put the good old man upon a review of his coiniuct, efpe- cially to examine the grounds on which he had condemned the church of England, and which were fuch as Rill fatisfied his mind on that head ; and which being ftated; he hoped hi» brother would fee, that what he had done was not from a fpir rit of bitternefs but convlétion, and that he had the concur- rence of thebeft of men in it, and of the foreign churches." And this produced his ' Short and true Account of the fevc» tal ad%'ances the church of England hath made towards Rome •* printed the following year, a pamphlet that is well worthy of perufal, in which the author fhews his piety, moderation, and and acquaintance with fads ; aud expcfes the unreafonable fpirit, and hurtful ineafures of the Caiiterburian faftion, in im- posing the hierarchy and ccrempnies,in opposition to ;he great- er and better part of the people of England, and in Scotland, where not one in a hundrtd had a liking to them ; and the ab- furdity of blotting out from the lill of churches, all who want- ed epifcopal ordination, &c. 'Ihefe appear to have been his laft fentiments ; as he died at WLllinlnller foon after, I find CO reafon for faying, as fome hayc done, that he had retraclcd what he had thrown out againft the Englifli clergy. He wrote alfo, Patronus bona Jidei in causa Pur'tt'anorum y Renatu» Feri' tlaus, Iffc, ïiâ in cutting off the king. He was the author of feme (ttik mons in £ngli(h and latin. Milton began his fécond defence againft what he terms the * infamous anonymous libel,' in a high tone of felf- gratulation, vaunting of the part he had been called to aâ: on the public ft age, and of what he had already at- chieved ; but foon defcended to low ribaldry, and per- fonal abufe. He expreffes thankfulnefs for halving been born in the era of his country's liberty, and that he had been singled out for the vindication of fuch a caufe againft a redoubted adverfary, and had been fuccefsful in over- throwing him, fo that during the three years in which he had furvived, they had met with no difturbance from him, except by threats, and exciting fome obfcure per- fons to come forward as his auxiliaries. While others had been aâors in the public fcene in another capacity, and befriended the caufe by other weapons, he valued himfelf upon the fervice he had rendered it by his genius and pen ; and considers himfelf as the champion of li- berty, even in behalf of the whole human race, and in the sight of all the furrounding nations, who were intent upon the conflid, in all of which the fons of freedom were difpofed to give him their plaudits : and alTuming the religious air and language of the dominant party, he thinks, that all this could not have been done * without the fpecial favour of heaven.* * H?ec ego divinitus mihi accedifle bona et magna quidem ratus,' &c. And he prayed that God, with his wonted aid and benignity, might enable him to perform what he now undertook^, with the fame integrity, fidelity, 3cc. aslhe task he had already açcompliftied. When the manner în which he had acquitted himfelfj and the Ucentioufnefs in which he was juft. about to em- ploy his pen, are considered, there is fomething very in- congruous and offensive in thefe formal (trains of piety. Even the author of the Hiftorical and Critical Dictionary, though himfelf not a writer of the moft ferious turn, has paffed this juft cenfure upon him, * that his ijianner of * treating the important point, (in his firft Defence) * was very faulty for want of gravity. I do not fpeak of « his keen railleries againft Salmasius *, but we fee him * every moment playing the droll, and the buffoon. This * fault is yet more confpicuous in his two replies to Mr * Morus, they are full of points, and extravagant plea- * fantries. There the author's character appears quite un- * difguifed : he was one of thofe fatyrical geniufcs, who ' indeed take a great deal of pleafure in collecting all the * rqiorts which are fpread to people's difadvantage, and * in making a man's enemies write all the flanders they * have ever heard of him -, but who take ftill more plea- * furc in inferting thofe flanders in the /lift libel which * they publilh ngainft him.' After declaiming againft the defenders of kings, for affecting concealment, by witholding their names from the public, as if they were afraid to appear, for which he fuppofes they may have good reafons ; he fays, that this artifice would nothing avail the author of the Cry» but he would pull off the mask, and drag him from his co- vering of darknefs into open day : fo that, in this at Icaft, lie (hould find that he was clear-sighted. Then, as if he had been throughly acquainted with the man, and the whole hiftory of his life, he breaks forth upon Morus, in the moft opprobrious terms, defcribing his general ch^» ia^er, as * infamoos and wicked, in a high degree>— -a man perfidious, ungrateful, a liar, an evil-fpeaker, a per- petual flanderer of men and women, who never fpared either the chaftity of the latter, or their fame*. The particulars, however, in fupport of fuch an atro-» clous charge, which Milton produces, are only thofe which have been occasionally mentioned in the foregoing nar- rative. When at Geneva, he alledges, he could not long efcape the cenfure of the Presbytersj being accufed o£ various crimes, and condemned for many errors againft, the orthodox faith, which he profefled to abjure, yet impiously retained ; till at laft he was accufed of manifeft adultery with one who had been a maid in the houfe where he had lodged, and whofe company he frequented after {he was married, they having been often feen in a garden clandeRinely together ; on which account he was dcpofed from his miniderial office. * The heads of thefe and fuch-like charges,' he fays, * were ftill kept in the public library of that eity ;' harum et hujufmodi accufa- tlonum capita in bibliotheca illius urbis, publica etiam- num aflcrvantur.' This is all his proof. When he was called to Holland, he obtained teftimo- nial letters, though with difficulty, and on condition of his leaving Geneva. When he was hofpitably received * * Eft Morns quidam, partim Scotus, partim Callus ; ne tota hominis infainia gens una ant regie nimium laboraret : homo improbiis, et cum aliorum, t\im amicorum, quos ex intimls inimiclssimos sibi fecit, teftimonijs quam plurimis infi- dus, mendax, Ingratus, maledicus, et virorum perpetuus obtrec- tator et fœminarojn, quarum nee pudicitiae^lus unquam par- cere, quam fame confuevit.' Def. Sec. p. 15. ed Hag. lamo. 1654. Ï2I into the houfe of Salmaslus, while he assiduously paid his court to the matter, he did fo alfo to the chamber- maid, — the forefaid Pontia, and under promife of mar- riage vitiated her. * Hence,' he fcofiingly adds, * proceed- ed a double birth ; Pontia conceived Morillum, a little Morus ; — MorUs. this empty windy egg, from which proceeded the Clamour * ex quo tympanites iftc clamor regij fanquinis prorupic f .' He being greatly puffed up, by this his production, and reckoning, by the favour of the Orange fadion, he might make fure of any of the profeflbrial chairs, he cad off poor Pontia jam gravldam ; who thereupon implored juftice both from the Synod and Magiftrates, but implored it in vain : for the Cry of royal blood easily drowned the cry of whoredom, and Ihe plaints of an abufcd girl j * ftupratœ mulierculîe ploratum.* He tells that, upon this ftory taking air, all companies mad« themfelves merry upon the fubje£t, as he himfelf feems fo heartily difpofed to be i and he inferted tht punning epigram which fome wag had written upon the occasion, and which has been fo ofteil printed, to the injury of the author's memory %. Such are briefly the alledged fads upon which Milton has thought proper to fouild fuch a public and general charge. To produce particular evidence he will not give himfelf the trouble : the mere narration muft ftand for probation ; fo that on the faith of it, he thinks himfelf f Ut supra p. 17, 18. J Gain ex ionculUu gravldam te Pontia, Mori, ^h bene moratam, morlgeramque ncget ? 112 warranted to recur to it, and repeat it 20 times thrdagh- cut the remaining part of the treatife, ringing it perpe- tually in the ears of the reader, and of his fuppofed anta- gonift, as the chief weapon both of offence and defence. He fufFcrs his luxuriant fancy to dwell and riot on thefe topics, prefenting them in a hundred ftiapes, attended with defcriptioiis, comments, witticifms, and allusions^ of wliich ancient comic poets, or modern hovel writers would be afhamed ; many of them fo grofs and indelicate as to forbid all quotation, even in their original latin, and which no chafte eye, without difguft, can read. They arc no lefs incongruous to the fubje6l and purpofe of the author, than they are unbecoming any chriftran, or man of gravity or probity, not to fay, one professing to be a republican Cato, and fo zealous leaft the fanftity of re- ligion, and the facred miniftry ftiould be contariiinated by fuch manners as he would ftigmatize. The lofty advo- cate of the good people of England, and of the human race, feems to exert all his ftrength chiefly to overthrow the marked jndividtlal> and ftot by difpassionate argu- ment or manly eloquence, but by fccmful banter or downright railing. He faî-utes him with no better name* than * mocchus, adulter, ftuprator, epifcopus Lampface- * nus, aneillariole ; diaboli minifter, et reformatai cccle- * siîè infandum dedecus et lues ; impius et plane atheus * homo/ Referring to an expression, ufed in the Cry, of lifting up the hands to God, in deteflation of the ia- juries done againft his facred name,' he thus exclaims, ' Ahde, abde obfcaenas ill'as manus, quas libidine et; anribitione fupinatus atrokre non vcreris, né caelum ipfum qucque audias ijs maDibus inceflare, quibus facra reli- gionis myderia conrrc£lando polluifti. Quam enim di- vinain ukionem alijs ten^erarius et vecors imprecasis. Î.23 earn în ipsius tuum impurisaimum caput devocafTe te ollm iiltelliges.* Commenting on the cliaraaer of Braddiaw, who w:^s president qf the High court of Juftice, he thus breaks out, it « Te vero tot vitljs çt fceleribys obflriaum, immo me- ram Ipurcitiem, merum fcelus, ufqne adeo obduxifle men- ti et fensibus caiUim, nisi tna mens potiiis tota callus eft, ut in Deum atheus, et facrorum contaminaidî, in homi- nes inhumanus, cujufque optimi calumniator efie aus:s, 95- Ï24 |5rofeflbr of Greek letters ; and that foon only one of thefe would be left for him i' — meaning, gentle Reader, the letter T ; that is to fay, he would be hanged on a crofs f. In this manner does the infuriated poet go on, under the pretence of anfwering a book in the composition of which the minifter fo treated had no fliare, and whofe life and anions, at any rate, even had they been fuch aa reprefented, had not the moft diftant relation to its con- tents. Declamation fo confidently uttered and reiterated, as ready to make impression> and accufations of fuch a general nature become more injurious, efpecially among ftrangers, as they will naturally think, that there muft have been inftances both numerous and notorious, to juftify fuch a public produûion of them. The fame un- favourable idea is ready to arife upon reading the recapi- tulation which Bayle has made of the contents of Milton's libels againlll Morus, as when he fays, ' He treats him on the footing of a dog, or rather of a goat, for he ac- cufes him of a thoufand lewd trifks ; and particularly/ f * Id fatagit* inquis, * Miltonus, cujus ego piacularem vefaniam pro meritis excepifiem.' Tu excepiiTes, furcifer ?_ cujus nefaria flagitia si eoclesia ilia Middleburgensis, tc paf- tore infamis et infaelix, pfo loeritis excepiflVt jamd'.idum te fatanae mandaffet : si pro nieritis txcepiflet magiftratus, jam- dudum adulteria patibulo pendens luifTes : et luiturus pro- pediem fane videris ; evigelavit enina ut audio nuper, tua ilia ecclesia Middleburgensis, fuseque famae coiifuluit, teque caprimulgum paftorem, immo hircum potius olentissimum, a- blegavit ab fe in malam crucera ; hinc tt magiftratus Auiftero- damensis pulpitum quoque interdixit tibi, orcheftram tuani, tuumque illiid os impudicum eo ex loco ad fummam omnium bonornm offensionem confpici illam impiani vocem vetuit in facro publiée aiidiri : reftat jam tibi fola graecarum liteiarum professio,, et haec quoque brevi eripienda, praeter unam illam ^iteram cujus non profeflbr, fed difcipulus mox pe^sjlis merits futurus es. Page 99, 1 00. Ï25 $cc. — Such indefinite cîufges aïe more injmions tVmn a plain and full produclion of the patticulars ; ns they leave every one at liberty to conceive wliat they pleafe, and to n^ultiply them to any extent : and when pttrhaps a single inftance or"*two, and thofe not of an ;iggravatcd nature, may be the whole amount, fuch unlimited ex- pressions muft be inapplicable and unjuil, as they go far beyond the truth ; as a particular a£l does not conilitutc a habit, nor neccflarily infer an infamous or totally a- bandoned chara«Sler. So far as we have ften, tlie fpecific charge, even by Milton, is confintd to the two funniled inftai(ices, to which he perpetually refers ; and thefe muft Hand, it fecms, for a thousand. Besides the perfonalities agnlnft our author, and feme others, with which the traél: is interlarded^ there are feve- ral occasional topics, extended epifodes, and public cha- Ta6ters incidentally introduc'd, and elaborately drawn, ■which make up the better part of it : fuch are the lofty preamble ; the narrative of the author's life and (ludies, of ufe to the biographer ; the apologetical defcant on blindnefs, the eminent men that have been fubjcclcd to it, and the advantages that may be derived from it, and that it was not to be objciSled to him as a judgment on account of his crimes, as he fuppofed had been intended by ihs application of thefe words to him -, Monfirum, horrendum, Informe, i«geiis, Cui lumen ademptum : — and the diminitive reprefentation tliat was made of his perfon in the words that followed, in the cpiftle dedica- ^o'^y t> pul^s him upon a formal delineation of the pret- \ Quanquam nee ingens, quo nihil exilius^ cxfanguius, con- 120 tînefs and agîfity of his perfon, the beauties of his botJ|r, and mind : for however little regard he paid to the re- putation of others, he was ftill exceedingly jealous of his own. A high-wpought eulogium upon Chriftina, * the queen of the north,' occupies fome pages, whom he celcr brates for learning, virtue, and heavenly vigour of mind, whofe wifdom, even Solomon himfelf might have come from a diftance to hear*, and, as one at lead among crowed heads, who was worthy, not to fway the fceptre over one nation only, but over the whole world f : for this capricious virago, it was faid, had fpojce favourably of his book, and looked cold upon Salniasius. Another eulogy is pronounced upon president Bradfhaw ; and thp longeft and moft elaborate of all upon Cromwell, as the greateft of all heroes, and generals, the father of his counr try, the diredtor of her councils, who alone could fup- port the pillars of government, the tutelary god of liber- ty, to whom all looked, and on whom all depended, not forgetting to give a due portion of incenfe to his fatellites, the gentlemen of the fword, and a parting addrefs and advice to the citizens ; with all which the work is crown- ed. After all thefe dedudtions, little room was left for profecuting the argument beyond what had been advan- ced in the former treatife, and the caufe of the people at large, occupies but a fmall (hare. Nor could it have been consiftently pled ; when anarchy, according to the ufual courfe of things, had made way for arbitrary power ; and when the ftiadow of a republic, and the form of a parlia- ment had vanilhed to nothing ; and when a single defpot, traftius, de génère anîmalculoniiTi, quae qno pungunt acriwij eo iioccnt minus. Clara. Ep. ded. t Page 52—55.^ or ^t bed a military oligarchy, pofTefled the fupreme au- thority i and in fa£l, this pretended advocate for the people is now gone over to defend fuch a fyflem of go- vernment, and fawningly pays his court to powers that then were. And in managing this defence, he is obliged to concede and avow a principle, incompatible with pure democracy, and that fitly may apply in favour of any adlually feizing or exercising authority ; namely, that the wifer and better part have a right to govern, however few they be, and to them the majority ought to be fub- jedled. This was unavoidable if he attempted to juftify the violence and ufurpatios of the Independents and Mi- litary Officers. This notable paflage is inferted below %. As to the unprecedented outrage upon the charafter of our divine, the reader is already prepared to form a judgment. The fa£ls formerly ftated and authenticated, are fufficient to fhow what dependence can be had on the accuracy of his information, and to evince the futility or falfhood of his fcandalous imputations. The principal part of Morus's vindication has been already anticipated. Of the errors againft the faith wherewith he is charged, and how the affair terminated, we have heard enough from the mod competent judges. Of the exiftence of fuch lifama clamosay at leafl of fuch a proccfs and fentence in Geneva, is utterly irreconcilable to the teflimonials X Passim concedis * potiores fiiifTe Iiidependentium partes, non numéro, fed consilio, et virtute militari.' Unde ego et jure ct merito fupenores quoque fuilFe contendo : nihil enim ell natune convenientius, nihil juftius, nihil humano generi ntiliiis aut melius, qnam ut minor majori, non numerus numéro, fed virtus virtuti. consilium consilio cedat ; qui prudentia, qui re- rum ufu, induftria, atquc virtute poUent, hi, mca quidem fen- tentia, qtiantumvis pauci, quantove numéro, plures efunt, et fuflragîjs ubique potières. Ut lupra, p. 77, 138 granted, at the time of his departure, and his honour- able admission elfewliere. The appeal to the recordë kept in the public library of tlut city, which nobody has faid they h;id ever fcen, muft go for nothing. If re- cords of fuch fvufts exifled, it is llrange that none; of his adverfarie? beyond foas, was ever found to avail him- ftlf of them, and that the library-keeper, Senebier, in the end of the lalt century, when writing upon the fubje£l, , should not have faid a word of them ; but, on the con- trary» tho' not mod favourable to Mr Morus, he fliould, after all he had fcen and heard as to his delinquencies of that kind, declare, tliat probabihty was on the side of his innocence. What this loofe writer refers to may be no- thing more than the minutes of the do£lrinal difputes in the Presbyterial regifter. His reprefentation of the other cafe in Holland, and of the proceedings there, has been found falfe, in every material point. So little, indeed, was he acquainted with the real ftate of matters in Hol- hmd, that he makes Morus to have been confined to the profession of Greek, who never taught Greek there at all. That he had been interdifted the pulpit by the ma- gidrates of Amfterdam is no lefs a fiélion. As foon as this calumny was known in that city, it Nvas publicly con- tradi£led by the magiftrates, and curators of the fchool, and by the miniRt;rû of the French church there. Thefe exculpatory leflimonies, granted poflerior to hie fettling in Amfterdam, may tlierefore be-inferted here, in addi- tion to the former. The firft, after taking notice, in the preamble, of the above calumnies, and the like, con- tained in Milton's book lately publiflied, againll the re- verend and learned profeiTor Morus, fays, * We, the Magiftrates of the city, &c. from regard to 129 truth, teftlfy, that from the tthie of his being employed in his public office among us, he has not only been free from any thing that could afford any juft ground for fuch atrocious calumnies, or that would be unbecoming a Chriftian or a divine ; but alfo that he has difcharged his function with singtilar virtue, induftry, erudition, and eloquence ; fo as to have been without fault or blame ; and that he has acquitted himfelf in all the parts of his offices with fuch signal benefit and applaufe, as we have been informed, and ftill continues to do, as to be molt dear to us, and all good men. Wherefore fo far have we been from doing or intending any thing that might in any refpe£l be grievous to him ; or from judging him worthy of any blame, that, on the contrary, we from the heart regard his dignity and worth ; and we are ready to fliew him our protecSlion and kindnefs, whenever there may be occasion for it. Given and ratified under our feal, and signed by out fecretary, at Amfterdam, the i itli of July, 1654*. N. NicoLAi.* After tlic infertion of this, in his defence, Morus, thought he had reafon to add, * Thus fpeak they, of whom, if the gravity, the fidelity, and authority, be con- sidered, even tlie word of one of them might be acknow- ledged fufficient to repel 600,000 Miltonian libels : Thus thefe fenators appoint me to be fufpended, thus they are pleafcd to degrade and fpoil me of all my ornaments,— and thus they consign me to the gallows.' Tlie teflimony of the consiftory of the church of Am- flecdam, is no lefs explicit and honourable. They alfo declare, that he had difcharged the office to which he had been called by the magiftrates, with public applaufe : And they add, * • Non modo nihil admifle quod justum prsdiélis calumnijs locum dare potuerit, aut Christiano aut Theologo indignum sit; fed ctiam professione fua singular! cum virtute, industria, eruditione et facundia funftum cfTe ; Ita ut extra culpara notamve fiicrit,' &c. Fides PulL p. 207. R * We fartlïer teRify, that, with refpeft to Lis convert fatlon and life, fo far are we from knowing or acknow-* Icdging him to be guihy of thofe crimes of which he has been accufcid in a late pubHcation by one Milton, an Englifliman, that on the contrary* as often as we have asked him to preach in our church, his difcourfes have been excellent and very orthodox : and he would not Iiave been fo employed, if any tiling of this kind had ever been known to us. Besides other churches with which he has lived longer than amonjif us, bear testimony of him Csaii« superque) fuperabundantly, by their public docu- ments ; with which we agree, and to which we refer,' &c» * Nomine totius Synedrij Ecclesire reformats GaUo-Belgicse,' &c. * Subfcribed by Gothofredus Hotton, Henri- cus Blanche telle, Nicolaus dc la Baflecour, paftors/ The Curators of the fchool gave alfo their feparaie teflimoniJ, no lefs explicit and ample, in which they exprefs their wonder and grief at the public defamatiott of his chara£ler among ftrangers, declaring that since he was called to his office among them, he had in every re- fpedl given them fatisfadion, and that he had anfwered to the full to the abundant teftimonies given in his favour fyom Geneva and other places ; and that they were per- fuaded, * the calumnies wherewith he was fo undeferved- Iv leaded, arofe from nothing elfe than that envy which, is an infeparable attendant upon singular virtue.' The ori.uinal will be found in the Appendix. Thcfe public teftimonies, with a brief natratidn of faf^sj, conditute the principal matter of the vindication of him- feif which Morus publiflied, to which he therefore gave the title of ' Publica Fides contra calumnias Joan. Mil- toni ■.' and they are certainly the mod fatisfaftory vindi- cation that could hi produced or desired -, more fo tha» ï3 1 any perfonal denials on his part, or the mere recommen- dation of private friends, or the moft fevere retorts, (harp animadversions, or poignant futire againd his ad^ verfary, could otherwife have been. A proportion of thefe too are not wanting in his reply, the firfl. part of which was publiflied, along with Mtlron's libel, at the Hague, in 1654, by Ulac : and the author having taken his jour- ney into France that year, before it was finii'he^, the Sup- plement was publifhed the year following, from the copy tranfmitted from him before his return. To that edition of Milton's Second Defence, G. Grant- zius, profeflbr of divinity, formerly meniioncd, prefixed a ftiort preface to the reader ; in which the favourable tef- timony in behalf of our author, deferves alfo to be men- tioned. He fiiarply animadverts on the intemperate fpi- rit and bile of Milton, particularly, in the treatment he had given Salmasius and Morus, with both of whom he was intimately acquainted. He regrets the unhappinefa of the age, in which fuch licence was taken to caïiinuiiate. He warns the reader againfl giving credit to Milton oa thefe fabjefls ;' he is not to be regarded, he fays, as a hîf- torian j he is a fabulid and mere poet, though he writes in profe. Who, or what fort of a perfon Milton is, I know not ; but his publications evidently lliov/ him to be full of gall : — who, and how great a man Salmsius v/as, I well know : and who does not know him, unlcXs he be alfo ig- norant of letters ?' After declaring him to be wholly fre^ of avarice, * et nihil minus quam eunuchus' he proceeds, * if his poflhumous work be publifaed, ISlilton will find that even the dead can bite. — How black is Milton, if credit be due to Salmasius ! I am muc'n miHaken, if fame<» R2 132 body has not difcovered to Milton the reproaches which Salmasius has therein thrown upon him ; for they are almod the fame with thofe to be found in this hbel caft upon Morus, in order that they might lofe their force, when they may be printed, as being ufed by way of re- crimination. I have been acquainted with Morus both iq, Geneva and Holland. He had always great contefts with thofe who envied him or were his rivals, to whom he often gave occasion by the haftinefs of his temper {promp* iissima naiura)j or his too great freedom of fpeaking/ He allows him to have been haughty, as Spanheim had called him, and that he had a passion to overtop others : * But as to the crimes obje had got a learned education, and applied himfelf in the ear- lier part of his life to arithmetical and mathematical ftu- dies, which Milton, he alledges, did not know how to value, being better acquainted with the comic authors and fatirifts. For the more accurate publication of fome works of this kind, he had, employed a prefs of his own* and in order to difpofe of the copies he had printed, he was obliged alfo to cpmmence bookfeller, about twenty- six years before, but not to his profit. Having fettled in London for ten years, he engaged in feveral expensive works there, as he did afterwards in Lyons, fome of which he fpecifies. But combinations and profecutions were raifed againft him, arising from the reftridions at 137 that time lying upon the prefs, and the monoply of pri- vileges which fome had obtained. But though he wa» hereby greatly injured in his fortune, yet his chara£ler remained unimpcached, for which he appeals to thofe who bed knew him. Milton indeed, as his manner was, had produced no particular inftance or evidence to the contrary ; and he defied him to do it. For fome time he lived in London without any moleftation, keeping him- felf within the limits of the privileges of the London bookfellers. Some of them, who were accuftomed to consider the businefs as their monoply, were difpleafed, and continually attempted to bring him into trouble. But when they faw that the ftatutes did not warrant them, they bribed fome fcrvants of Archbilhop Laud, by whofe authority they thought to have feized all his books, and to have confifcated them ; but by the favour of Dr Jux- ton, biftiop of London, he got a licence to difpofe of thofc he had then on hand, but not to difperfe more. The civil war foon after breaking out, he left London for France, not by ftealth, but openly, without moleftation from any. He favoured the caufe of the parliament in the beginning, Until he faw the excefses of the republican fadlion. In Lyons he lived six years ; and publiflied a number of books, and ingratiated hi.mfclf with the au- thors, and with others with whom he had tranfadlions. The company of Parisian bookfellers from envy, entered a procefs, and obtained a fentence againft him, that all the books he had publiïhed Ihould be confifcated ; which made him appeal to the parliament againft the fentence as unjuft. But by the interposition of friends, an agree- ment was made, that he fliould be allowed the price of his books, on condition of his departing from Paris, and S ; 138 Ilôt to retiun again within the year : for the bookfellerS there had this privilege, that foreigners, in that trade> Ihould be allowed to come to the city^ to vend their books, only once in the year» Having returned to the Hague, he exercifed himfelf diligently in his calling, ftudying to pleafe learned and worthy men, living in good confcience, and patiently bearing the adverfe events that he had met wiih, difregarding the afpersions ef the malevolent. ' If Milton,' he adds, * be reputed an honeft man, (probro viro) in his own country, I will be glad ; but I hear that many of the Englifli who know him, entertain a differ- ent opinion of him. I chufe to determine nothing upon bare report : * imo si quid infâme de eo mihi pro certo compertum eflet, didici melius efle id silere, quam divul- garc i' yea, if 1 had even certainly difcovered fomething that tended to his infamy, I have learned that it would be better to conceal it than divulge it.* This is fpoken as a Chriftian, and might well have made his accufer aftiam- ed. But he knew no fliame» That fclence and the learned are under fome obli- gations to Adrian Ulack, will be readily allowed when it is known, that he was the fame who was the cor- refpondent and co-adjutor of the eminent mathema- tician Briggs, the fécond to Baron Napier in the improve- ment of Logarithms. His labour and fervices in that line at a more early period of his life were well known and generally acknowledged at that tinae, and are fo even to this day, by thofe who arc moft capable of ap- j)reciatlng them. When he received Briggs' Arithme- tica Logarlthmica, and found that the logarithms for the numbers from 20,000 to 90,000 were wanting in the tables, he, with great assiduity and expedition, filled '39 Up the vacuity, and republiflied the work thus enlarged. When Briggs had completed his Trigonometria Britan- nica containing ti tabte of the logarithmic sines, and tan- gents, to 15 places, for ihe looth part of every degree of the quadrant, and joined with it the natural sines, tangents and fecants before calculated, ITt his desire it was committed to the care of Ulac, and after Briggî>' death, was printed at Gouda, under his infpetlion, and at his expence. ' Thefe tables of Briggs*; fay the au- thors of a late life of Napier, * have not been equalled for their extensivenefs and accuracy together *.* Nor was this the only laborious production of Ulac -, he alfo pub- lilhed Trigonometria Artificialis containing Briggb's lo- garithms of the firft 2o,Goo natural numbers, and the logarithmic sines and tangents, with their diiFerences for every ten féconds of the quadrant. * In both thefe works of Ulac,* fay the fame authors, * the logarithms are car- ried to the eleventh place including the index, and are held in much eftimation for their torrettnefs f .*' Dr Maskelyne, the late Aftronomer Royal, in his preface to Taylor's Tablets, gives alfo due honour to this man, wl^n he fays, * AYe are indebted to K^apier, Briggs, and Ulac, for their ingenious inventions and induftrious labours, in providing us with our prefer.t logariihmic tables, as to the fubftance •, fome improvements in the form and difposition of them only, have been introduced by later authors. Gardiner's Tables, which are the mo(b complete tables publiilicd since Ulac*£, are confefledly * Life of Napier, by the Earl of Buchan and Dr Minto, p. 80. f- Ui juj>ra, p 8 1 . 140 taken from Ulac's» only abridged to fevcn places of de- cimals.' When Ulac mentions the above works, he fays, * What labour and expence they muft have occasioned, thofe who were acquainied with them could judge. This I can de- clare, that they brought me much more lofs than gain ; yet of this I do not repent, becaufe I know I performed a fervice moft agreeable to many learned mathematicians, and that ihefe books will years hence be in no fmall efti- mation, and that on this account I will meet with fomc regard from pofterity, even as feme learned men have already made favourable mention of me in their writ- ings J.' In this reafonable expectation, we fee, this indudrious man, whom Milton contcmptuoufly ftiled, < Idiota, — Vappa, — et Operarius,' was not miftaken. With regard to the book that had provoked Milton, Ulac farther fays, * that he would have iliown much more prudence, if he had made ferions and careful inquiry as to the author of it, infteady of afcribing it to Morus, upon sinifter fufpicion and erroneous information, and fulminating in fuch an atrocious manner againO. him : that Morus was not the author, was abfolutcly certain, terto cert'tus est. The fame fault he had committed in Re- fponsione Phil. Angli ad apologiam, $cc. of which Milton is believed to have been the author, at leafl to have had fome hand in it. This is the more inexcufable, that I had written to Hartlib two years ago, afluring him that Morus was not the author, at which he exprefled, in his % * Attamen ejus me non paenitet, nam scio me multis ma- thematicis doftis rem gratissimam fccifle, iftofquc libres abhinc aliquot anno» in magna aeftimatione futures, et me aliquam gratiam a pofteritate accepturum»' Ty^ogr.pro te* 14^ reply, great fatisfa^ion. Can that man then be in his Tight fcnfes, who writes directly contrary to his know- ledge, and by liltening alone to the perverfe information of malevolent atid lying perfons, endeavours to impofe upon all the world, and to defame his neighbour by the biackdl calumnies and fairehoods§? Or perhaps he ex- peels, by fps.iking evil of others, to procure a better opinion of himfeif : but this, on the contrary, muft make him and the caufe he profefles to defend, much fufped^ ed, and odious. Mr Morus, fo foon as he had read this defence, wrote me, that he fcdt more pity for him, than any uneasinefs or commotion on his own account, and prayed that God might alfo pity him i for which I like- wife pray from the heart.* Morus might have been entitled here to fome farther hearing for himfeif, in animadverting upon his adver- fary ; but after having been fo copious already upon this fubjea, this Ihall be poRponed for the prefent, to meet the laft attack of Milton, that afterwards appeared, un- der the title of *Defensloprose.'' And in the mean time, we proceed to notice fome intervening events that took place. § Eflne ergo ille homo furo mentis fatis compos qui aliter fçribit «juain novit,' &c. Ut supra. ï4« SECTION SIXTH. Morus^s jfourmy to France and Italy— *The honour conferred' upon him at J^en'tce — Milton* s Defence of himself — Rejledions upon the management and result of this contest— Milton* s dis» position to disparage divines and church'Courts, As Morus had purpofed a visit to his native country, before he removed to Amfterdam, fome time after his fettlement there, he asked leave of abfence for fome months, in order to accompljlh it ; which he obtained in the end of the year 1654. This could be more readi- ly granted him, as he was not in that place confine-d to the paftoral charge of a congregation. Whether he had fome farther objects in view in that journey, besides thofe of a more private nature, and a vifit to his learned acquaintances, we are not informed. He had but a lit- tle before been invited to the profession of divinity in one of the universities in France, but had accepted of the chair of hiflory ; but on account of the troubles he was meeting with in thefe parts, he might be desirous of a change of situation. He made rather a longer ftay ia the fouth, than he had expected, or than he had men- tioned, or probably propofed at firft. . He had not men- tioned his journey into Italy, when he left Amfterdam, which made fome, who were ever ready to blame him, to fay, that he had done this without the leave of his fuperiors. This made it neceiTary for him to make an apology for his having (laid fo long upon his return ; 143 which he did in a latin oration at Amfterdam ; in which he fet forth feveral dangers he had been cxpofed lo. He alfo prefented himfelf to the Synod of Leyden, in May 1656 ; and told that he had a great profpe£l of advahcing the glory of God in Italy, by preaching the gofpel : and he received the thanks of the Synod for his good inten- tions. The time in which he had been abffftt, however, did not much exceed a year, at fartheft, if it was fo much ; and for fach a diftant journey, it was no unteafonable time, efpecially as he had fallen sick at Florence. What accefs he had to preach the gofpel beyond the Alps, we are not told, but the proteftant minifter certain- ly obtained fome very uncommon marks of efteem from perfons in high rank there, who could entertain no pre- poflession in his favour on account of his religion. When he was at Florence he was introduced to the Grand Duke, who received him with refpeft. Some fay, that it was through the occasion of his sicknefs, and the very flattering report that the physician who attended him, made of him and his abilities, that produced this ac- quaintance : others fay, that he was known to the Grand Duke before he fell ill. By the former account we are told, that he faid fo many fine things to the pliysician, that he was filled with admiration, and by the account which he gave of him, to the Grand Duke, raifed his curiosity to fee this learned ftranger ; fo that as foon as Morus was recovered, he was introduced to an audience with his highnefs, and charmed him fo much by his con- verfation, that he afterwards received feveral marks of his efteem and afFedion. The author of the Critical Dic- tionary quotes the following paflage from a little book, entitled A panegyric upon Mr Morus, printed at Am- 144 fïcrdam, in 1695, which I have not feen : * The great duke of Tufcany,' fays he, * gave Mr Morus a kind recep- tion m liis dominions and in his capital, he favoured him with his friendlhip and efteem, he fent him his physician "to attend him in liis sicknefs, and made him a rich pre- fent, worthy both of the giver, and the perfon upon whom it was bedowed. — They fay, the physician whom the duke font to attend this patient, was fd much fur- prized, in the converfation he had with him, to hear him teafon with fo much flrength, depth, and penetration, upon the different fcienccs, and particularly upon phy- sic, that he owned, however able he was himfelf in his own profession, that his patient knew more of physic than he himfelf had learnt in that fcicncc to which he had applied his whole ftudy.' Nor was this the only place in Italy where refpefl was paid to him. The Venetians, at this time, having ob- tained a vi£lory over the Turkifh fleet, Morus during his ftay there, wrote a beautiful latin poem upon this event, for which the republic of Venice made him a prefent of a chain of gold. Some of his literary friends, on this occa- sion, who had no golden chains to beftow, prefented him with fome fiowery compliments. The author having fent a copy of this and another poem to his friend Tanaq. Faber, in the letter he wrote in return, Faber fays, he read them over and over with admiration j extols them in the higbeft drain of pane- gyric, for the great erudition, the ardour and force of genius, and varied thoughts in diversified drains, dif- played in them. It would be a wonder, he owns, if any thing proceeding from his pen, were not admirable. Let the Italians unite all their flrength, and coUedt their »45 Tongs în celebration of the Venetian vi£lory j it will be in vain. Their produftions (a few only excepted) may be once read, but yours always : They write for time» and that ufually qf no long duraUon, but you for eter- nity f .' To difcipline this fervant of Chrift to humility, * left he fliould be exalted above meafure,* and if possible to blaft his laurels, his adverfarics continued to buffet him. The firft part of his vindication of himfelf in his * Publica Fides,' which had been committed to the prefs before his journey, no fooner appeared, than Milton refumed the pen to write a fécond libel againft him, no lefs en- venomed than the firft, under the title of his Defence of himfelf I, pubHfhed at London, in 1655, ready to meet him at his return. The work of Morus, though written with as much temper and decorum, as could have been cxpc£l:ed, from ihe treatment he had met with, was yet cutting and fevere, tending to fet the charadler and con,- f Â. Morot inro prestanttss'tmo, Isfc. • Geminos illos mufarum tuarum foetus, queis me beafti, doftis- sime More, hcri in remssione tertianoe accepi. Mane, legi, re- Icgi : tarn denfa in illis feges eft eruditionis, tantus ingenij ar- dor, impetus, &c. Haec in ijs carrainibus admiratus fum, ieà ilia cum te a fcripta fuerint, minus fateor, mirabilia funt. Imo mihi plane mirabile effet, si quid a te, quod admirabile non effet, fcriberetur. Confluant itaque Itali homines, quantum eft et collatis carminibus. Venetorum vidoriam canant, fruf- tra crunt, fcio ; Illorum certe opera (paucos eximi velim) iemel legi poffunt, tua femper ; illi tempori fepe fcribunt, et Icre plerumque baud fane diuturno, at tu seternitati. Sed ohe, jam fatis eft, video, tibi pr£efertim, qui nunquam non oecupa- tissimus es. Tan. Fahri Epift. lib. 2. f/>. 61. /. 158. X The very title fhewed his pertinacity in this quarrel ; it was at full length ; ' J M. Angli Dcfensio pro fe contra Alex. Morum, Ecclesiaftem, libelli famosi, cui titulus, Rr^'ii Saii^u'inh cuiimr, t:fc. authorem reftc didum,* T 146 duct of Milton, irl reference 10 himfelf, in a very dîfaé- vantageous light ; not only by dating fa£ls, but by perti- nent con (Ir anions and reflections ; the force and cfFedl of which Milton feems to have felt, and made a fpeedy but inefTedlual effort to elude. Let us hear a little the accufed, fpeaking for himfelf, and let the accufer, now himfelf a pannel, be patiently heard in his turn. Mo- rus fays, if he could have acknowledged himfelf to have been guilty of the lead part of what he had been charged with by Milton, to his own eternal difgrace, he might liave vented his anger in another manner : but in the confcioufnefs of his entire innocence, though he might and perhaps ftiould have defpifed it, yet with a calmfpi- lit, he would expoftulate with him a little : He was af- fedled, he owned, but not with anger, but with pity and giief on his account, until he fhould repent. He refolved to employ again ft. him nothing but true and decent words, in opposition to his falfiiood and obfcenity. Milton had given bis publication, he obferved, a wrong title ; inftead of its being a Defence of the people of England, it was more properly a bitter fatire againft: him, and a moll vain panegyric upon himfelf. He makes him to be the ape of Lucian, who intitled a piece he wrote a * True hiftory,* in which he had no other aim than to deal in fiction, and avowedly to lie : but he had gone beyond his mafter, in attempting the fame design, under the poor but fpc- cious pretence of a defence : When he fhould re- print it, he advifed him to give it the title of Anti-mo- uus, or ' Milronus de vita propria,' either of which would fuit it better. In holding him to be the author of the book he anfvtered, he avers that Milton not only vented wh.at was falfe, but openly publillied a lie, or what he 147 did not himfclf believe, which is inconsiftentwith the çhara£ler of a good man. But had he really believed it, or had it even been true, that could not have warranted him to throw out^fo many bafe fcoiFs that had no relation to the caufe, and To many calumnies, either upon any other perfon, or hlnifelf. What offence, he asks, had he ever given him ? What injury had he evet, done him ? No other reafon is assigned for this outrage upon liim, except that groundlcfs fuppoGuion, that he was tlie au- thor. Had he written it, while he had not acknowlrdeed it, nor any evidences appeared by whlcii it could be known, he had no rigiit to proceed upon mere guefs ; for he was no diviner. * But I proteft before God,' he fayS) * that I neither wrote the book, nor contributed In the lead to the writing of it : nor was I silent when ^ny fufpicions to this purpofe were wliifpercd, but open- ly con'-radifted it. What if the author were flill un- certain and unknown, or were dead ? was that a reafon for leaving me under the imputation, and why my word (hould be dlfcredited .? ' At vivlt autor, et valeat, Ignctus ralhi de facie, complurlbus autem bonis notlsslmus j' — but the author yet lives and is well, though perfonally wnknown to me, yet well known to many good mcH, who fee with deteltaiion that lie running though the whole of your publk:ation. In every page, almofl every line, you call upon Morus. Refpondit Inquls, More :_ yet no Morus either wrote or thougiit of any fuch things. Let the author anfwer for himfelf; what may be faid for the royal caufe, let him fee to it. It is his businefs alone. I take no part in his quarrels ; nor thurd my sickle into his corn.' T2 148 He cxpreffeâ his wlfli, that the anonymous author tvould at laft ftep forward, avow his name, and exclaim^ Met tnej adsum qui/ec'ty in me convertite tela. * What then would Milton think ? He might have rea- fon to fume, and to detefl: the light of life, being mani- feftly convicled of lying before the world. He might fay, I had no thought of it ; — I have been in a millake.* A forty excufe in any matter of moment, in which life or reputation, * which I value more than life,' is con- cerned. But he had refolved to commit the miftake, he tad laid his plan and muft adhere to it, notwithftanding of the clearefl information, previous warning, and in- treaties to the contrary. * He might even have found out the truth if he had pleafed,' continues Morus, * from numerous friends ; he might have colle£ted it even from the ftyle of writing, differing fo greatly from mine ^ I had no caufe to conceal my name ; it was not fuitable to my profession of life, to intermeddle in ftrife foreiga to me, or to provoke when I was not attacked, when I have not, even when attacked, hitherto replied to any one by public writing ; fo far is my difposition abhorrent of this contentious and gladiatorial manner of fpeaking, that I never could approve even of the defender of the royal caufe in this that he fliould defend it by railing. But ■why (hould I fpend more words ? You had learned the truth in this matter, and for the fpace of two years could not be ignorant of it. — But you would not vent your bile and rage upon nobody, you mufl. single out your adverfary, —you could find none, it feems, fo fit fopyour purpofe as myfelf, either becaufe you had heard that I had many ene- mies, though without caufe, or knew that I was by Ju- nonian arts involved in a plea, attended with more t49 tfottWe than danger*, though you could rot hnve bctleved that I fliould prevail as I did before all the tribunals. Hence fprung the argument of your fable ; hence fwell- ed the matter of^ your fatire, * ct diri farrago libelli.' There were not wanting fome ready to furniHi you with what you wiftiedé For ' two years you have been col- Icâing the filth and jefls of the old and aew comedy, with which you have been adorning your drama ; and after taking fuch pains to drefs up thefe flo\vers, and anxioufly to fit them for my temples, in vain did any at- tempt to admonifll you of your blunder. Would the author lofe the fruits of fo many days and nights labour, fo many allusions to my name, fo many farcafms upon the facred office and order, and fo many trifling conceits ? Had you retrenched all the abufe and reproaches againft me from your little book, how very little would have remained for your people ? It might certainly have been contained in a few pages. What pretty things would have been loft f ,' &c. To prove that Milton did not offend in this matter ignorantly, but obllinately after due information, among others he could have produced, he mentions two ; the firft is a divine, the noted J. Dury, who having reported that Milton was about to publilh a libel againd him, re- ceived this anfwer from the Rev. President Otton, that Milton was miftaken if he took Morus for the author of The Cry,'&c. for he well knew that a very different per- fon was the author : Upon which Dury engaged ' to t Quam bclla perijfTent, quam florida et fere dixi Florah'a deleta? Quid fleret Alcinoi et Adonidls hortis et inde nata de Hortensio argutiola ? Qu'd fycomoro ? Quid pyramo et Thisbc? Quid iHoro arbore :' &c. "write unto Milton upon the fubje£l. And there was n» reafon to doubt but that he actually did fo. The other is the Dutch Ambaflador Nieuport, who was then at Lon- don, who wrote to our author the following letter, ia French, dated the 23d of June, 1654 : — Sir, The next day after yours was delivered to me, I had an opportunity of communicating it to Mr Thurlow, fecretary of llate and of the orders of his highnefs the Prote£lor, in prefence of Mr. de Beverning, my col- league, praying him mofl earneftly to fpeak of it without delay to his highnefs j and afterwards considering that the great multiplicity of businefs, might prevent him, I desired two gentlemen, my friends, who were parti- cularly acquainted with Mr Milton, to reprefent to him the reafon for which we would desire, in the prefent jundure of time and affairs, that he (hould forbear to publifh the book that he had written againfl another in- titled, &c. or at leaft, that he would not do you the wrong to attribute that book to you, and if he fliould persift in refuting that book, that he would infert nothing in it rc- fpe£ling you : they a few day after told me, that he had fo flrong an impression, that you and no other were the author, that they could by no means difTuade him ; only he requeued them to afliire us, that he would allow no- thing to efcape from his pen indecent, or in any w^v prejudicial to the States of the United Provinces. Upon which, thinking that the authority of liis higlmefs might have more influence than this private application, I did not fail to renew the application to Mr Timrlow, by fend- ing him a copy of your letter, which we moft earneftly recommended to him, waiting from day to day for fome refolution, or declaration on the part of his highnefs-on the fubjecfl : but on account of the great design, which was difcovered feme days after, they were prevented Irom attending to almofl any other affairs. In the mean time the faid Milton publiflied what he had prepared. I am very forry, that after the mcft violent I'pirits among thofe ^vho have been engaged in the naval wi>rfare are difpoicd to peace, that lie who miikes a profession of letters and tjie fcicjiccs vviiich raife men above the vulgar, hss '5* ïho^Vn, notwithftanding our requeft, fo little of modera- tion, etc. Signed, WiL. Nieuport. Morus alfo urges the unreafonablenefs of fuch a publica- tion, when there was nothing but rejoicings and illumi- nations on account of the peace : when arms were laid aside, Milton ftill retained his hoftile mind in armour ;' and at the time when the profeflbr was employed, by the command of the States, in tranflating the articles of peace from the latin into the vulgar language, in order to be publilhed, he had prepared that ferocious war (Mlum bel- liùnum) againft him, and employed not the arms but the drums of his eloquence. He likewife animadverts fharp- ly upon the declaration Milton had made, that he would write nothing indecent : * Tu nihil tamturpe dari putas, quin te deceat.' — He exprefles wonder that any man iliould be fo infatuated as to chufe to make himfelf ridi- culous, rather than desifl from accomplifliing a premedi- tated wickednefs. It is hurtian to err, but to persift in error againft a man's own confcience, the ancients would have called diabolical. He asks by what name he (hould call him, who could remain unmoved, as a rock, to all admonitions, and who had carried temerity, and auda- city, joined to obftinacy and impudence, to the highefl pitch ? And what could he have gained by fuch a public lie, except this, that he would not be believed, though he fhould fpeak the truth ? The people of England, he adds, have been greatly deceived, if they thought they had got a grave and trufty defender in their Milton. Henceforth none can have any more faith in the veracity of Milton than in a dream. Had he merely insinuated a fufpicion, it might have been borne, — but to affirm for certain, ijot once, nor again and again, but till he became »52 îibayfe, and to tl>e natifea of every reader> what he knew to be falfe, and what he could not fupport, by the slight- ed reafon, (licws the utmoft malignity, and a brazen face. He then goes on to fliew how many other lies, incon- gruities and mifapplications, that one lie had produced, throughout the traft, of whicli he gives inftances : And after adverting to what Milton had faid of the beauty of his perfon, * You may,' fays he, * be a NarcifTus for me, yea, you exceed him, by being fo defperately in love with your pretty perfon without feeing it ; but what a pity, that in fuch a well formed body, fo fat, nimble and found, a found mind fhould be wanting to it. In fuch a ftate of opulence and fplendid fortune, to which by thofe arts you have lately attained, the vulgar may think you happy, unlefs one thing were a wanting, a mind to bear all this with modefty. * Crede obfequenti parcius, Icvis eft dea.' He then ledures him for a little upon the danger and uncertainty of profperity, reminding him of what the wife have faid of it. But tells him that he was not fo much at leifure from better employment, as to follow him wherever he was pleafc;d to wander ; nor fo far deflitute of all fhame, as to emulate him in his tur- pitude. * In one word,' he adds, * that book is not mine. Other books I have publilhed, and others I am about to publifii, of which, if I live and fee it, you fliall not nib- ble at one letter with impunity.' He then mentions the names of thofe he had put forth ; and gives alfo a lift of thofe upon which he was employed, fomc of which are not to be found in the ufual catalogue of his writ- ings, that may afterwards be mentioned. When he fpeaks .of his Apologetical oration for Calvin, dedicated to Arch- bifliop Uiher, he caljs him his high or dignified friend, Ï53 artd had he the permission of that most worthy old man, he could have oppofed his favourable opinion of him to a thoufand Miltons:j:. By this time, ftvery reader probably will be anxious to hear, even as the writer of this was, what Milton had finally to offer for himfelf, efpecially on the two capital articles of the heavy charge brought againft Tiim. His cha- racter was deeply implicated, and every one might reafon- ably expe£l: that he had very ftrong reafon^, and fufficient authorities to warrant his perfuasion and conduft, which, though witheld in his former publication, were in referve, ready now to be produced, or otherwife that he would have done juftice to the injured by a frank recantation. With eagemefs, I confefs, I read his Defence, in this expedlation : and certainly would not have been grieved, to have found fomething to retrieve the wounded reputa- tion of fuch a man. But how greatly was I difappointed ? The Defence is prolix and elaborate : he follows his antagonift ftep by Hep, and fcarce allows himfelf to di- vert throughout to any other fubjedl, except to pay his refpecls again to Ulac, and by the bye, to Dr Crantzius. He labours hard to defend himfelf, and ftill more to bear down his opponent ; and when it cannot be done fatis-. factorily by fair means, he has recourfe to the old arts of lampoon and fcurrilities. However verbofe the apo- logy be, it is moft barren of matter ; efpecially there is throughout a miferable defe£l of evidence, the great thing wanted. The following abftra£l; of what he had adduced t * Amico fummo meo, cujus equidera libenter honeftissi- nuun de me judicium, si pateretur fenex aureus, mille Miltonis oppofueiim.* Fides Pubh p. ^—^S. pasihn. U Ï54 \Û ékcyilpatîbn ôF hlmfelf on the fird fubje£l of accùri- tibn, m;'iy ennble any one to judge for himfelf. After iniroducing himfelf with feme more rhodoitîah- tade and arrOgâht àlrs, telling, that when he utidertoofc to defend the caufe of his country, he laid his account with meeting with the Utmofl opjjofition and abufe, to- gether with thofe whom he defended, from the adverfe p:irty ; and after making ah apology for defceÀdiiig, aftef cfTeilailly ferving the pablic caufe, and amidft the high ahd intereding affairs in which he was engnged, to things obfcure, to fearch the lurking- place of anonymous writers» or trace the fleps of an infamous adverfary, excusing himfelf by fuch great classical examples, as the Scipios, the Hannibals, &c., for next beftowing attention on his perfortal vindication, — he enters the lifts in the mofl con- fident VnanneV, and addrefTes his antagonifl; in thefe terms» * Unlefs I make it evidently appear, that you are the au- thor of that notable libel againft us, or that you afforded fufficient caufe why yon fiiould be juftly held for the au- thor, I \ivill hold myfelf to be overcome by you in this caufe, and will not refufe, bafcly to come oft with (hame and difgrace, and there is no charge whether of im- prudence, or temerity, or calumny, that I Would feek exemption from j-,' When» at the desire of the council of flafe, îie under- took to anfvver the * Clamor,' &c- he was anxious to find out the author, no other was named, and no other was vet found out. Common fame afcribed it to him; — all •j- * Non recufo qiJ^n abs te victus in liac caufa cum dede- cove acque pudore tnrpitcr difcedam : nullam a me culpani neque impriulentiar, neque temeritatis, neqiic raalediccntiae deprecor. Mih. Opsr. lui'ina, FoL p. loS. ^55 I^e lieard fpeak of it,'n^tives or foreigners, mentioned him only. Morus's own wordo are forced in as an evidence of tiie probability of it, where he fays, he had always contradièlcd the report when it was mentioned to him : * No wonder,' fays this logician, * though your enemies beh.ey^d it, w^en youj: own familiar friends could hardjy be convinced of the contrary. You indeed denied it ; but fo can every criminal refufe to confefa.\>'hen it would be prejudicial to him, and even after conviclion, lyiU go to the gallows denying hjs crimes-* He fays, he had certainly found that INIorus publiflied the editioii, corrected the prcfs, and had compofed tlie epiftle to Charles II., * vel folum, vel cum uno atque al- tero,* and fome copies had his name fubfcribed to tlie preface. He had learned from the Hague, that Morus had offered it to fome printers, and that Ulac accepted of it, and difperfed the copies. In another letter froni Amilerdam, was this expression, * He faid himfelf to a certain friend of mrne, that he was tlie author of that cpiftje.' * By another,' the writer faid, * that an eminent perfon had told him, that he had jg^otten the Cry, with Morus's own epiflle %.' He acknowledges that he had received the informa- tion mentioned by Morus, previous to publication. Dury, in a letter from the Hague, April 14th, 1654, wrote, * that he had certainly learned from a niiniller of Middle- burgh, intimately acquainted with Morus, that he was not the autlior of tha: book, but a certain French minif- ier, whom Morus named to him under condition of con- cealment.' By another, written on the 19th, O. S., he |. Uf supra, p. 1.12, U2' 156 confirmed the above, telling him, that he had fpoken with Mr Otton, who was a keen royalifl, and very inti- mate with Morus, * who declared/ he fays, * what I formerly wrote unto you, that Morus was not the author of the book.' — Well, — what is the Defence ? Only this, this Otton (or Hotton, minifter of the French church, at Amfterdam, the fame who fubfcribed the teftimonial in behalf of Morus), was a royalifl;, and admitted to Mo- rus's fecrets : what he faid, therefore, refted only on the authority of Morus, and he could make no other account of it than of his own denial ; besides, this clearly im- plied, according to Milton, that he had been privy to the composing and publiftiing of the book (aut opera aut concilio), fo that from his own mouth, he may reckon it very probable that he was the author, at leafl. the af- fociate. He then produces an extract of a letter from a learned man, well known in Holland, to a friend of his, dated at Lcyden, fo far back as September 27, N. S., 1652, foon after, * the Cry' was publiflied in thefe words, ' The book of Morus, intitled. Clamor, &c., was well received, until the author's reputation was blemiflied by his vitiat- ing the maid of the wife of Salmasius.' — This fcrap of a letter curforily relating in a private manner the flying ru- mour of the day, credulous Milton had taken for a faf- ficient foundation to build his public libel upon, before any particular inquiry had been made into the truth of either of thefe reports, and to abide by, after the falfe- hood of both had been difcovered. He owns too, that the letter of Morus to the ambafl^ulor Nieuport, was Ihown by him to Thurlow, and that two refpe£\able friends of his, (nobiles viros) were fent to him, witi^ 157 that letter,' certifying and rcquefting as above. But (liii in vain : he had fixed his opinion ; he had written, and was> as Morus faid, inflexible. All this lie held for no^ thing more than his own perfonal denial. Grant it to have been nothing more, by the rules of juft reafoning, as well as of judicial trials, does not the burden of pro- bation ly upon him that alTnms, and not upon him who denies ? But, as if confcious of the infufliciency of his proof, and of his inability to produce better, he has recourfe to a legal quibble, on which he chiefly refts his defence, for which he quotes the Juftinian code ; ' If I fhall find that you have written one page, or but one line of the book, or if you have contributed to the writing, or pub?- lifliing ; if you have procured, or advifcd, or fuperintend- cd the publication, or in the lead furthered the work, while no other is to be found, tu mihi solus tciius opens reus, et author, et damator er'is §y you alone fliall be held by me to be guilty of the whole, the author and the crier ! ! !' Among the latin letters of Milton, that were after- wards publilhed, there is one addreflied to H. Oldenburg, of Bremen, relating to this anonymous book. It is dated July 6, 1654, the year before jNiilton's defence of him- felf appeared, and fliews us one of his informers and confidants as to this falfe report, and alfo Milton's hesi- tation of mind upon the fubje^t, and his anxiety to have the faifl afcertained. * You have thrown a fcruple into my mind,' fays he, * as to the author : formerly, as often as we converfed together about this matter, wiien you had lately come from Holland, you feemed to entertain § Oper. laf. -p. ill. »58 no doubt but that Morus was the author ; becaufe it was commonly reported in thofe places, and no other besides him named. If, however, you have now at iaft attained to any greater certainty on this fubjetl, I requeft you to inform me of it Ç He complains in it of the contefl: unexpe«Stedly irapofed upon him, to draw him from more agreeable ftudies j but he by no means accounted it a needlefs task. So much for the firfl part of the procefs : and let the Reader judge whether Milton has not incurred the heavy forfeit to which, in a bravado, he fubjeéled himfelf. The fécond part of the accufation, though ftill more foreign to the original conteft, in which Milton was en- gaged, was yet made by him the main one, to which the former was but fubfervient ; and as it was ftill more in- terefting to charafter, Morus had employed the greater part of his publication in obviating it. On fome accounts, indeed, and at firft view, it might have appeared, he fays> not only an ungrateful, but an unneceflary task, to re- ply to fuch an adverfary, on fuch a fubjedl. His unfair and falfe dealing, apparent in the former inftance, might have defeated the effedl of his fcandalous tales and lies in the other. They might have been fufFered to pafs in contemptuous silence, as proceeding from a known fcoffer, or a railing fatiriil, throwing out reproaches at. random. * Let the barking cur alone,' fome friends faid, * or he will continue longer to bark. Refpe£t yourfelf : why Ihould you rage with thofe who are infuriated. — Railings dcfpifed will foon be forgotten ; artd do no harm § * Si quid igitur hac de re, certius nunc demum habes, mc rogo certiorcm facias.* to thofe on whom they are poured. Remember the Ba- viufes, the Meviufes, the Zoilufcs, &c., and add Milton to the number, — Have patience : — the unhappy birth of Milcon will not live long. In what manner could yoU oppofe fuch an adverfary ? Would you enter the lifts in- to which he invites you, to fight him with his own wea- pons ; and return reviling for reviling ? You would un- dertake a hard task, and as an unskilful ftripling be ob- liged to yeild to fuch a champion. — To heap lies upon lies ; to fcek fame on the riiin of that of others ; to af- fault anyone who comes in the way; to boaft when there is no occasion ; falfely to detra£l ; to'abufe without "end, and without meafure ; to make a fmall thing great by fwelling words, — Candida de nigris et de candent'ilus airas. To make black white and wliite black ; * Hie Miaono funt artes : — In ijs sibi placet, fe circumfpicit, fe jaûat, cxlum digito sibi videtur attingere.' Convia: him of falfe- hood, and he will persift in ic, leaft it fhould appear that at firft he had been wrong.' From fuch considerations as thefe he might have been silent, had not others more forcibly determined him to the other side. He returns Milton's words, when he faid, ♦ that thefe things might rather have been treated with contempt, had they been only fpread among thofe who knew him well ;' but, in this cafe, they were widely diflufed amongft thofe who could not know whether they were true or falfe. His silence might have been interpreted do arife from a con- fcioufnefs of the crimes : — His adverfary too required fomething to abate his infolent pride ; and he fhould endeavour to cure him effe£lually of his difeafe and evil habit, if he Was not altogether incurable. Had it been f 6g m*"rely his own perfonal afFair, he might have beerf dumb, after the example of hid Lord ; but the whole facred order, were indiredly ftigmatized, and the church of God, to which he had confecrated all his labours, was wounded through his sides j and even by weapons taken from the ecclesiallical armoury to do greater execution. As reproaches caft upon men in facred office, have a keener edge, and furnifii matter for fcurrilous jefts to the profane, and invidious, * you feigned one in that order, to be the butt of your obloquy and hatred j and he too muft be a foreigner, one whom you never faw nor heard, one placed in a confpicuous dation, preaching and praying often in crowded aflemblies, and by word and writings contending for divine truth. "What is judging another man's fervant if this be not ? * Our Synods,' continues our author, * are little obliged to you ; the noble Lords, by whofe favour and munifi- cence, I difcharge a funQion, in a flourifhing city, in which fome of the mofl learned men of our age laboured before me ; the States of Holland, and of all the con- federated provinces^ under whofe protection, and under whofe eyes I a£l, and who often grant me a favourable hearing when fpeaking from a higher place, owe you but fmall thanks, all of whom you accufe of the greateft negligence, or higheft culpability, who know not or arc unwilling to purge out from their premifes» fuch a mon- der polluted with every herefy and crime. You do them great honour, truly, in fupposing that they need you for an informer, and that at lad they may become wife by your admonition- To thein certainly the infamy, you would call on me, muft redound, who drew me from my former feats, bad me forget my own countty, and i6i iKJt only fuffer me, but fondly embrace me a (Iranger as a native, and honour me with no flight kindnefs and pa- tronage. Why fhould I here mention foreigners ? fo many illuftrious mem, fo many nobles, fo many churches and academies, which either cherifli or (hew me refpe£l, or who desire or folicit me ? I fliould have fupprefled this, if, at the moment when I am writing,^! had not received letters, inviting me to the exercife of the minif- terial office, and the profession of Theology, in an illuf- trious city. Although, if I {hould take as due to me» "what the favourable fuffrages of fo many colleges would afcribe, I would entertain too arrogant and over-weening an opinion of myfelf,yetIought to refpe with a load of honourable certificates. Or perhaps it might be found, that all thofe honourables and reverends, and chief citi- zens of Geneva, in their repeated teftimonials of good 167 behaviour, and in their public cavalcade, were «nly ail- ing a folemn farce, and took this method to execute a a fentence of baniftiment againft an infamous man, of whofe villainies they were confcious, and whom they were glad to get rid of : for all this, Milton has the ef- frontery again to insinuate, or rather to aflert : throwing hereby a load of more atrocious calumny upon the whole icpublic, and the mod venerable names in it ; whatever compliments he pretends in one paffage, to pay to it |. That Milton applied to thofe that were known to be at variance with Morus, and endeavoured, by their means, to colle£l all the fcandal that was current, to aid him in making fome kind of defence, is proved from fome of his own letters, which were afterwards publiftied. In one of them, direfted to Ezek. Spanheim, at Geneva, dated March 24, 1654, he exprefles his acknowledge- ments for communications on this fubjeâ in letters lately received from him, three months after date. After ex- pressing his refpe6ls for him on his father's account, and as one efteemed by good men, and hated by the bad, with whom it had fallen to his lot to be at war, he adds. ;}: This encomium on Geneva, and another on the republic of Holland, are almoft the only beautiful! paflages in this de- fence. * Semper ego quidem de Generensi civitate, pro eo ac debeo, honefta omnia et fentire foleo et loqui : rcligionis cultum purioris, primutnque ftudium, in republica deinde pru- dentiam, aequalitatcm, modcrationem, conftantiam prope ad- mirer ; quo fe tarn arftis finibus, inter vicinios bins inde po- tentissimos et imminentes, fumma in pace ac libcrtate per tot jam annos confervat et tuetur ; reéliuique in re vix mediocii ct melius id agit quod civilis vitx omnis principium atque finis eft, idque populo fuo foelicius praeftat, quam fummis opibu* inftrufti, fummis opinionc hominum adjuti concilijs regis maximi fcrvientibus prseftant fuis.' Page 134. 1 68 * ^.e desired Calandrinu? to signify to him, that it would be very agreeable to him, if he v/ould contribute his aid tvith his again fl; the common adverfary : which accord- ingly,' fays he, * you have kindly done in thefe letters, part of which, v.'ithout naming the author, I have not fcrupled to infert in my defence for a teftimony, relying on your favour towards me §.* And he promifed» to fend a copy of his book to him, if he could find a proper op- portunity, as foon as it wns publifhsd. Whether the letter, of which he gives an extra«did not fail amply to narrate them, with many other of his notable atchievements f.' Thus the reader has now got the whole fund of Milton's opprobrious tales, which he had been at fuch pains to colledl and heap up, except the fcratch- ing match and furious onfet of Pontia upon the minifter, faid to have taken place in the houfe of Salmasius, and which excited fo much his risibility, of which Milton gives fuch a ludicrous defcription, and with which he drives to make himfelf and readers merry throughout fo many pages of his defence : the outlines of which, thofe ■who have a tafte for fuch a fcene, may find in his own language below ij;. t Page 132. if: In return to what Morus had fa!d about the poet's coun- tenance, and his impudent brow, perfricata frons, he fays, rementiber the time, • in quo frons tua tarn valde perfricata eft, ut tibi turn multo maluifles totam frontcm periifle. Me- ininifti fortafic illius diei, cum tu Pontiam in domo Salmasium iiltimum, ut opinor, convenifti tu Ulam, ut copulas renunci- ares ; ilia te, ut nuptijs diem diceres. Quae ubi e contrario pa6lum ftupro conjugium diflblvere in ammo tibi efle videt, turn rcro tua innuba, non enim dicam Tesiphone, impatiens tantse injurice, in faciem tibi atque oculos, non feétis unguibus, furens involavit. Tu qui (tefte Cranzio et Deodato) terr'ibiles vnguss aJtuam tiitelam haheres, pro virili tua parte ad faemineum hoc genus puguce te comparas. Ipfe Salmasius, in conclavi proximo dccumbens pedibus aeger, ut prcelium commifTum au- dijt, rifu pene moritur. At heu nefas ! imbellis nofter Alex- ander, et Amazoni congrefTus impar, fuccurabit. Ilia inferi- orera naéta, in frontcm ct fupercilia nafumque hominis turn priniiim fuperna peccat : miris caprcolis, et Phrygiano opere toti jacenti vultum percurrit : nunquam tibi More, lineamenta Pontia? minus pbcucre. Ipfe plana jam utraquc margine ge- narum fcriptum ct in mento nondum fuiitus aegre tandem fur- £76 Thefe doubtlefs made part of the fackful of papers that were prefented to the Synod of Utrecht, and read over and over again, and which were considered as con- taining fo many nsenia, and female fquabbles and fcold- ings ; on which we have heard the judgment of a vener- able court pronounced. The judgment, at leaft, the ab* folution of fuch judges, is nothing to Milton. Had the obje£l of his refentment been twenty times abfolved, it would have been the fame thing to him. He even made no account of the information of his clandeftine corre- fpondents in any thing that tended to exculpate Moras» but gave full credit to every fyllable to his difadvantage, of which he furnilhes an inftance in the letter he inferts, written by Dury from Basil, October 3, 1654, where he was then in his expedition on the design of uniting the churchss, in which he faid, * he had convcrfed with Ot- ton, who did not give credit to the reports as to the con- duce of Morus, though there were fome who fpoke evil of him, and his hand was again ft almoft every man and every man's againft him ; that the greater part of the Walloon Svnod were desirous of his demission from the gis: fed ne peiiiteat te, homo ad unguem fadus; non jam profefTor, fed tamen dodlor pontificus : jure enim poteras tanquam in picta tabula fcripsifle, Pontia fecit. Sensirti puto Ulaci tabulas 'rangentiiim et fecantium ad radium Cifra- rum nefcio qiiot liigiibrium in pelle tuo excudi : tu cum, More facie non intégra domura te proripiiilli - et quantum potes, abdis tc quoque,reconditîc ut pofTes die! homo literaturae. Eho notler Ecclesialles iibi es? quid lates? expeé'tant tc jam nunc qui tibi aures a fuperiorc loco dicenti accovimodare folcbant. Sed tibi mifero nunc Puntia e fuperiorc loco dixit tuilq auribus ungues accommodavit. Redde nunc tuum viiltum nobis, Ecclesiaf- tes, antiquum fane, et rugis venerandimi, cur apocryphus vis cfle cum ipfa Pontia Pontilice cauouicus jam maxime sis ct ru- bricatus.' Page 123. Ï77 j»aIloral office ; ^nd that the opinion at Basil was much the fa:ne with that of thofe who lead loved him in Hol- land.' la anfwer to the Supplement, Milton n*tkes captious remarks upon the exculpatory evidence produced in it, but chiefl/ eînploys his weapon of ridicule. Mr Long, the copaflor at Middleburgh, when he fubfcribed the recommendatory letters, was yet deceived by Morus keeping on the mask, but another hearfay mud be fet in opposition to them, that he had fpoken in a very diffe- rent drain since. He takes hold of the words in the deed of the Synod of Gouda, wliich mention fome de- fects in the proceeding of the church of Middleburgh, and he would wifli to know of what kind thefe defecls were : which evidently refer to fome informality in the manner, and not at all to the matter. As to the attempts to iutangle him in the matrimonial net, he insinuates that they would not have adventured to do it, if he had not been one whom they thought might have been easily caught. He reflects on the Synod that acquitted him, alledging, that they fhewed him too much favour, with- out a!iy refpe£l to his merits : * In the whole of this judgment, he could believe, that there was more regard had to liis perfon and order, than to his caufe.' Sucli, in his opinion, was their equity and prudence. The witticifm of the prefes, referring to his name, he takes to be a mocking of him inftead of abfolution. When he had lod his pains in wafiiing a blackamoor, he whitened him : and he exclaims, * Hail now, Ethiops, or if you will, Thou whited wall i' The fentence itfelf, he fays, fcayrely abfolves him. They do not recommend him to the ch.urches, they only do not deprive them of their Z ' I7S liberty. But was not cliis fiifHcient, as he was not, novi^ in Amderdam, bound to feive any particular congrega- tion ? Aiid they gave by their example, in employing him, a very ftrong recommendation. He fcruples not to insinuate, that in the fupreme court of Holland, the pa- tronage of fome whom he had courted and flattered, ra- ther than judice and his own innocence had befriended him X' For his former falfliood, that thé magiflrates of Am- flerdam had forbidden him the pulpit, Milton makes but an awkward apology. * I wrote it,' fays he, * not as certain, but a5 what I had lately heard, and that too upon letters worthy of credit : if it be not true, it is but a matter of fmall confequence, and about which I little care, and as to which you have no caufe to exult.' This is but a forry fpet linen of his other certain intelligence, by letters * fide dignas.* He nibbles alfo at the certificate of the ma- giltrates ; they fay, that nothing could be laid to his charge since he had come to officiate there, which he thinks of little force, if he had been chargeable before he came ; and it was falfe, that he was (sine nota) free of all blame. * Such a teftimony in behalf of Moruj's integrity, and hlamelefs character, even frorn thefe Confuls, we make fmall account of, but rejeO: as of no authority. The Confuls of Rome fupportcd Verres.' As to Hutton*s teflimony, that the French church in Amfterdam, re- quefted him to preach ; Hutton wiflied to fpare his own lungs : — And there are many v/ho may be very engaging in their fermons, who may be very ofFensivc otherwife in their conduit. Of the eulogium of the Curators of X Page 140. ^79 the fclxool, he makes as light. * What you declahiii what you recite, or how you employ yourfelf, we need not care, nor is it any thing to the purpofe. — You plume yourfelf upon thefe teftimonials. Did you think by them to heal the wounds in your reputation, — or procure them as paflports for oftentation ? You gave no dired anfwer s^s to meetings with Claudia, or Pontia/ But what anfwer did Milion require, or what other gnfwer would have fatisfied him ? Had he even fworn iji the moft folemn manner to the falfhood of every charge, would he have believed him ? he who fcruples pot to call the oaths, which he affirmed, though falftly, that Morus had already taken in the affair of Pontia, by which he efcaped, perjuries, and fets them down as ad- ditional crimes. Yet he has the impertinence, as if he had been conllituted commilfary-general for all Chriften- dom to cite the miijifter to his tribunal, to take a fo- lemn oath of purgation, of his dictating, that he had ever lived free from guilt with thefe or any other woman in the world *. There is one thing indeed in which Milton confefles that he liad greatly millaken, in calling Morus a profellbr of Greek, inftead of facred hiftory : but this is only to vent more fcurrility ; * for it appeared to him altogether incredible, and a kind of prodigy, that one fhould ever have been profefibr of facred, who liim- felf afforded fo m.uch fubjc£l and matter for profane hiftories.' He objects to Morus his passing from flock to flock j and for leaving the better piiice for the inferior. * * Die age in hs:c verba : Deum teHem invoco me ab om- nibus illis flagitijs quorum insimulor, integrum atque intaclum fem^er vixiile, me neque Claudiae, neque Poiitiae, neque ul. Jius omnino faeminac ilupratoreai eiTç aut adultcrum.' P. i 30, Z 2 i8o Taking occasion from Morus having mentioned (with rather too great an air of vanity, which his situation might excufe} the numerous invitations he had receiv- ed, his unrelenting adverfary compares him to empirics, recommending their nollrums ; and even allcdges, that he employed his friends to procure invitations for him to as many places as possible ; and that fometimes rhc matter was fo managed, that at any rate he fnould be in- vited, although on the exprefs condition fettled, that he Ihould not come. * In this manner, I underftand, you were invited to France, and if I miftake not, to Frane- ker, or Groningcn (Gronham) which of the two cities Ï know not, but that it was the one or the other, I fuffi- ciently know f .* Milton wrote a tra£l, * for removing hirelings out of the church,' and for abolifliing not only tithes, but legal ilipends. Morus had told him, that since his removal, he preached without falary or emolument ; that his fer- vice to the church might appear more w^illing as it was more gratuitous ; and that not only in Amftcrdam, but alfo in the other churches, as there was occasion, he had thus freely, and as frequently as at any time before , be- llowed his labour : fometimes thrice in one day, and not before a rude auditory, to the endangering his health, that the Chridian people might not be deprived of in- ftruûion. As he had no other induceme/it to this than the public utility, all would think it commendable except Milton, who, of all men, if he were coubiftcnt with himfelf, ought to account it fuch, as he tliought paftors ihould receive only the voluntary contributions of the t Page 128. ]8i people. ' Here,* ^ays he, ' I was afraid of your praifes, and that I fhould have lufFcred this new kind ot lepioach, unlcfs you fhould chufc to forf^ke your own principles, rather than for onct to Ipeak witli ingcnuitjj^ What at length will you find in me fît for your teeth, when even at thib you bite, which in prudence you ought to have pafTed, if you had not confultcd your aiTcction more than your purpofe % :* The proiciTor, indeed, had good reafon to dread the praife of fuch a man. In one place, he ;s reviled by him for * felling t/je worJ ;' and when he could not but know that it was difpenfed gratis, he owns it was a very rare cafe, but then it was this that made his fcrvices to be requefted. This too, gives occasion for introducing fome fine allusions and apt comparifons from ancient lore: * By thii noifc once a week, by this fortuitous teaching,* fays Mjiron, the ex-minifter thinks he fulfills tlie confiant oince of a paftor : like an itinerant singer, or fophifl oi old, he rehearfed when atked : — yea, he was like one of Cybele's priefls ' nondum exfedlus,' or ohe of the Cureti, freely employing his pipes.' — * But he is a pretty and and eloquent preacher ' * Jufl fuch a preacher, I believe, as he is an orator ;' and here he falls foul of Morus's composition §. In the like fccffing and puerile lunnour, he notices the titles of the books in the lift mentioned by Morus ; as that on the Gofpels, where he fays, he expccled a fifth X Fid. Pull, p 222, 223. § ' Ita credo ut efl orator, cui prcverbia si demas, et infuJ- to versiculor! m centcnes br;tior.is ipfo file atque contcxtu nihii inoratius, nihil incompositiuS; nihil vcibosius atque puti- dius nihil ubi venufintcm, numerum, atquc nerves paulo diser- iiQrc homine d'gnos magis requiras.' Opera, ^. 145. l82 gofpel from him, since he had long ago denied the (out former by his deeds ;— and that on the Sacred Scripture, * in which, it is faid, you afErm many things to have been humanly and imprudently written ;' — his Notes oi> the New Teflament, * I wifh you would alfo allow Notas Pontia to be publifhed : * Laft of all, remember, you have wholly omitted the other volume of your works that i^ ftill extant in the public library of Geneva.' From the above, the reader may fee in minaturc, the whole matter of this formidable libel, and a fufficient fpecimen of the manner and fpirit in which it was writ- ten. Whatever acquaintance Milton had with classical learning, and however fevere he was upon the writings of his antagonifts, it will be evident, that he often funl; into low buffoonery, falfe witcicims, and vulgarity of language. A little facetioufnefs, a portion of the attic fait, or acid, might have been allowed, if he had therein difcovercd the lead tincture of good nature and candour, or a due regard to decorum, which he has fo grofsly vio- lated. He fports himfelf with things that were no pro- per obje£ls of fport or ridicule ; and indulges levity in matters ferious and important, and mixes the ludicrous . with the religious in a very grotefquc manner, ^This was too much the tafte of the times, and of the court in whi.ch he lived, with which he was infeded. In this, he re- fembles his mafler, Cromwell, who one hour could aflume the moft fandlimonious airs, and the next 'a(X the buffoon; who even at the moment when he had the pen in his hand to sign the death-warrant of the king, could not re- frain from dabbing ink in the face of Sir Harry Martin. But the refentful and implacable fpirit that breathes throughout, is that which is chiefly condemnable and '."V îhexcufable. His^jefts and fportîve humour are but the vehicle and thin covering of the decpeft malignity^ which he could not warrantably have entertained and rented agtlnft any man vtrhatever, much Icfs^gainft one occupying a refpe(flablc place in the learned world, and an honourable dation in the church of God, efpe- cially upon fuch flender pretexts, and defe£live evidence, and even in the face of unufual and overwhelming evi- dence to the contrary. To have his opponent dragged forth and cxpofed to public infamy, degraded from of- fice, expelled from all honourable fociety, and even dri- tdn from among the living, had it been in his power, and to have had his name consigned to perpetual infamy, was avowed by him as the design of his writing, and what he expeures. Thefe pieces certainly add nothing to his character in a poetical, and Hill lefs in a political. or religious view. They are evidently the efi'uslons of fpleeii and fermenting fa6lion, without regard to truth, deco- rum, or the dignity of writing. Some &e. - 197 enough upon tha^ church, but this A S. mud fécond him and continue its fliame. That of the wifeman is fit for them,' A whip for the horfe, a bridle for the Afs, and a rod for the fools back ;' with more u> the fame purpof;^, where the equivoque is kept up, and the phra- fes of the wild afs in the wildernefs, the afs knowing his mailer's crib, Saul's feeking his father's alTes, and the burial of an afs, are hauled in. By the bye this fcems to account for the language employed by Mr Rutherford, who had a (harp tho* not very polifhed wit, in anfwering another of Billiop Maxwell's libels againft the Scotch Reformers, in Lex Rex, where he has repeatedly among other namesj called him an afs, retorting ilius his own language and low wit upon him. But if this may not be thought the dirctl key for open- ing the fatirical cypher, tli^; following is at tlie Itrvice of future annotators, taken from the public difputes of that time. After the • Apologetical Narration' of the five In- dependent minifters in the "Weltminfler allembly, ad- drefled to the parliament, was published in 1643, fevtral anfwers foon appeared : besides that by the Scotch com- inissioners, there was one by Edwards, who afterwards publiflied the Gangrena, the fame v/hom Milton calls ihallow Edwards, and another under the title * Obferva- tions and Annotations upon the Apol. Narration,' in 1644, to which the author, Andrew Stewart, only prefixed the initials of his nanie, A. S. In this, and in another tra£l, the fame year, intitkd, * An anfwtr to a libel,' &c. he defended classical presbytery in opposition to the Inde- pendent model, and flawed the danger cf the fchifm andjicence for which that party were pleading. To this he prefixed his name. A reply was made, intitledj 198 M. S. 10 A. S.> with a plea for liberty of confcience îii a church way, againft the cavils of A. S.' Throughout the pamphlet, Mr Stewart, is always addrefled and quot- ed by the initials of his name, which are fometimc ufed too in the equivocal fenfe ; and doubtlefs were fo by Milton, who had a wonderful refpedl to do