UC-NRLF 1 1 Mill I {II! II I II III I III ^B 15D flDl - / J^ ^. *^ ' '*T ..V lERKELEY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA w Q Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/bishpphallhislifOOjonerich V SMofcr. Sau/p. JOSEPH HALL SUCCESS IIVELY BISHOP OF EXETER AND HOKWICH, Zondcrb.I'uJi.by L.£.Sed^%c Son,,169.rieec So-f^t.Jan'l.WZS. BISHOP HALL. HIS LIFE AND TIMES; MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE, WRITINGS, AND SUFFERINGS, OF THE RIGHT REV. JOSEPH HALL, D. D. SUCCESSIVELY BISHOP OF EXETER AND NORWICH ; WITH A VIEW OF THE TIMES IN WHICH HE LIVED; AND AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING SOME OF HIS UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS, HIS FUNERAL SERMON, &C. BY THE REV. JOHN JONES, PBRPETUAL CURATE OF CRADLEY, WORCESTERSHIRE. PRINTED FOR L, B. SEELEY AND SON, FLEET-STREET, LONDON. MDCCCXXVI. J. SEELEY, Printer, Buckingham. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. Importance of the biography of excellent characters. " Obser- vations of some Speciabties of Divine Providence in the Life of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, written with his own hand." His father. Character of his mother. Dedi- cated from his infancy to the sacred ministry. Some of the most eminent Divines indebted to the early instructions of their mothers. Fraternal afifection of Mr. Jos. Hall's brother. Mr. Jos. Hall's admission at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His election into a scholarship, into a fellow- ship, and into the Rhetoric-Professorship. His intense study at the university. His piety. His relinquishing the Rhetoric-Professorship. His theological studies. His ordi- nation. His frequent preaching, , . . . Page 1-14. CHAP. If. Mr. Jos. Hall's whole residence at College. His presentation to the rectory of Halstead. His previous appointment to the mastership of Tiverton school. His rebuilding of Hal- stead rectory. His marriage. His children. Anecdote respecting his family. A person of the name of Lilly opposes him. His journey abroad with Sir E. Bacon. Motive of this journey. Account of his Travels, in a letter. His return. His dissatisfaction with Halstead. His preaching before Prince Henry — is made one of his Chap- lains. His intention of removing from Halstead. His accep- tance of the Living of Walthara Holy Cross. His unwilling- ness to leave Halstead. His taking his Doctor's degree : — he was a principal instrument in promoting the establish- ment of the Charter House. His Apology against the 787 IV CONTENTS. Brownfsts — Account of that sect. His modest refusal of P. Henry's offers. His frequent preaching. His sermons. Death of P. Henry. His character. Dr. Hall made Preben- dary of Wolverhampton— recovers some emoluments belong- ing to that church — resigns his prebend. His attendance on the embassy to France. Is made Dean of Worcester. His return from France. Accompanies the King to Scot- land. Prejudices against him. Five articles proposed towards promoting uniformity in the kirk. Correspondence of Mr. Struthers with Dr. Hall. The five articles published in Scotland. His Majesty's journey unsuccessful. The kiny's return. The Book of Sports. Remarks upon it. Religious debates in Holland. Dr. Hall deputed as one of the English Divines to go to the Synod of Dort. His Majesty's instructions to the English divines. Some account of the Synod. The oath taken in it. Godwin's charges against the con/r«-remonstrants refuted. Dr Hall's Letter to Dr. Fuller. Dr. Hall's return from the S^nod. His ill health. His latin speech on taking his leave of the Synod. Public thanks given him. A gold medal presented to him. His Latin Sermon before the Synod. Quotation from. Results of the Synod. Opinions of the British divines. The church of England troubled with disputes. The king encourages Arminianism. Immo- derate disputes between Arminians and Calvinists. His Majesty restrains them. Doctrines of the church. Popery increasing. Montague's writings. Death of James I. Dr. Hall's remarks upon the growth of sects. Flattering great personages fashionable in Dr. Hall's time. He is guilty of this. Funeral sermon on James I. Dr. Hall's sermon, entitled, " Noah's Dove, &c." in latin, translated by Robert Hall, his son. His preaching at the re-opening of St. John's Chapel, Clerkenwell. Parliament consider Montague's books. The church disturbed by the Belgic - disputes. Dr. Hall's reflections on them. His sentiments moderate. His Fia Media. The object of this treatise. The doctrines of the church contained in it. Dr. Hall's . attempt of reconciling the points in dispute, . . p. 15-1 11. CONTENTS. CHAP. III. Dr. Hall's refusal of the See of Gloucester. His promotion to that of Exeter. Misunderstood in iiis writings against the church of Rome. Vindication of himself. His episcopal function attacked. His advice to his clergy. Recommends catechizing. Spent much of his life in that exercise. K.James's opinion of catechizing. Bishop Hall suspected of favouring Popery and Puritanism. Lectures set up in market-towns suppressed. Breach between the King and Puritans widening. Factious clergy in the diocese of Exeter. Most of them restored to order. Bishop Hall accused of encouraging lectures. His troubles on this account. He, and others of his brethren, charged with giving advantage to the disaffected. Laud promoting the second edition of the Book of Sports. A copy of it. The ill effects of it. The hardship of imposing its publication on the clergy. Many refused publishing it. Sufferings of the clergy on this account. Remarks on the character of Charles I. Persons in authority should promote the obser- vance of the sabbath. The object of publishing the book of sports. Bishop Hall did not encourage its publica- tion. No mention of it in his works. Controversy about the morality of the sabbath revived. The long parliament insisted on the strict observance of the sabbath. The Book of Sports burnt. Archbishop Laud leaning to Popery. Communion tables ordered to be placed alfarwise. The consequent disputes and troubles. Prynne's sentence for writing his Histriomastix. Bastwick and Burton sen- tenced for their writings. Dr. Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, imprisoned. Osbaldeston severely treated, . . p. 112* 151. CHAP. IV. Scottish Bishops nominal. Attempts of establishing episco- pacy ill Scotland unsuccessful. Bishop Hail undertaking to write in defence of ** the Divine Right of Episcopacy." Sketch of the work sent to Archbishop Laud. His Grace's Vi CONTENTS. remarks and alterations. Bishop Hall did not insist on the reading of the Book of Sports. Testimony of Heylin. Bishop Hall dedicated his Treatise on Episcopacy, to Charles I. Was one of the most celebrated writers in defence of the church. His exhortation for adhering to Episcopacy, The peace of the church disturbed. Bag- shaw's attack on Episcopacy. Parliament meeting. Com- mittees for religion and grievances. Subsidies to the King not granted. Parliament dissolved. Lambeth palace attacked by a mob. Convocation. Subsidies to his Majesty. Canons made. Fury of the mob. Irregularity of the convocation. Substance of the new canons. Ex Officio oath. Bishop Hall's opinion of it. War with the Scots. Cessation of arms, p. 152-185. CHAP. V. Long parliament. Committees appointed. Petitions for redress of grievances. Complaints against the canons and their compilers. Resolutions of the house. More auger and prejudice than law and reason. Charges against Archbishop Laud, — he is impeached of high treason, and committed to the Tower. Convocation dwindled away. Mr. Warmistre's motion against the late canons. Bishop Williams released-resumes his seat in parliament — is trans- lated to York. Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton remanded. Evil designs against the church. Leigh ton and Osbaldeston set at liberty. Dr. Cosins's sufferings. Petition against Dr. Matt. Wren — he is voted unfit to iiold ecclesiastical preferments — is imprisoned. His sufferings. Complaints against the bishops. Clamours against the clergy. Lit- urgy railed at. Petitions against the clergy. Unfair ways of getting up these petitions. Outrageous spirit of the populace. Communion rails pulled down. Surplice torn. Liturgy abused. Sentence of parliament against these riots. Factious preachers and lecturers. Commissioners to demolish all ornaments, &c. in churches. St. Paul's cross, and that in Cheapside, pulled down. Arbitrary power of the CONTENTS. w\k Commons. Some Puritans tools of parliament. Destruc- tion of the church intended. Seditious pamphlets. Bishop Hairs remarks upon them. He laments the outrages against the church. His speech in parliament, ... p. 186-204. CHAP. VI. Bishop Hall, a champion in defence of the church. Publishes his " Humble Remonstrance/' Vindicates the antiquity of Liturgies. His controversy with Smectymnuus. ** Defence of the Remonstrance." His moderation and christian temper. Terminates the controversy by publishing ** A Short Answer to the Tedious Vindication of Smectymnuus." His sentiments respecting forms of prayers. Demolition of the church resolved. The Puritans assist its ruin. A warn- ing to future ages. Disingenuous ways of getting signa- tures to petitions. Clarendon's account of them. Mar- shall's deception. Petitions against the church. Root and Branch petition. Minister's petition. Petitions in favour of the church. Apprentices' petition. Speeches of Lords Digby and Falklaud. Bishop Hall's character described. Substance of a petition in favor of the church. Minister's petition presented to the house. Resolutions of the Com- mons. A bill to exclude ecclesiastics from civil employ- ments, and Bishops from parliament. Sentiments of the King upon it. The bill passed the Commons — thrown out of the house of Lords. Principal speakers on behalf of the Bishops. Bishop Hall's speech on this occasion. Reso- lute conduct of the Bishops. The bill for extirpating Episcopacy. Sir E. Deering's speech. Much opposition to it. Lord Clarendon's dexterity. The bill dropped. Debates about abolishing deans and chapters. Dr. Hack- ett's able defence of the cathedral clergy. Petitions of the Universities. Resolutions of the Commons. Committee of accommodation. Fuller's account of it. Many Puritans desirous of retaining Episcopacy. Error of Rapin. Scott's commissioners voting Episcopacy contrary to the word of God. Rumour of the Army advancing to dissolve the ▼Ill CONTENTS. parliam^t. Proeeedings against Papists. Protestation of the Commons — refused by two Peers. Explanation of it. Rejected by the Peers. Votes against the bishops and the church. Neal's remarks upon the protestation. The changes since the commencement of this parliament. Earl of Strafford's imprisonment and execution. The bill for not dissolving parliament passed. The King's weakness. The bills for abolishing the High Commission and the Star Chamber passed. Account of the High Commission Court, and that of the Star Chamber. Schemes to divide the bishops. Thirteen bishops impeached. Their plea and demurrer. Bishop Hall's speech, .... p. 205-253. CHAP. VII. Debates about the church — more involved and intricate. Par- liament sitting on Sunday. Declaration of parliament. His Majesty's journey into Scotland. Debate about the book of Common Prayer. Resolutions of the Commons. Opposed by the Peers. Unsettled state of religion. Dis- affected lecturers. Dr. Walker's account of them. Neal's opinion of them. Recess of Parliament. Bishop Hall retires to Exeter — preaches in the Cathedral. Quotations from his sermon. He pathetically laments the dissentions in church and state. Scandalous means to render people disaffected. False report of the King's intention to intro- duce presbyterianism into England. The King's letter. Vacant dioceses filled. Tlie commons much offended. The most eminent men collated to the vacant sees. Bishop Hall translated to Norwich. Invidious remarks of Neal. The King inclined to promote the welfare of church and state. Irish insurrection. Meeting of parliament after recess. General remonstrance. His Majesty's answer. Commons dissatisfied. Kinj^'s declaration. Commons disappointed at the impeached bishops' {/twMrrer— in despair of getting their ends. Petitions against Episcopacy encou- raged. Public prayers for the success of the Apprentices' petition. Riots and tumults about the Parliament-house. CONTENTS. IX The Bishops' houses threatened to be pulled down. Arch- bishop of York assaulted. The Bishops abused. Protes- tation of the Bishops. Twelve of iheni accused of high treason, and committed to the Tower. A mistake of Fuller and Neal. Injustice of the Bishops' imprisonment. The bill for taking away the Bishops' Votes before rejected---is presented under another title — and passed. Bishop of Rochester's defence of the Bishops. Earl of Bedford's opposition to the bill. Petitions in favor of the Bishops. Rejoicings in London at the passing of the bill. His Majesty hesitating to sign it, is prevailed upon to do it. Influence of the Queen. Sad consequences of passing this bill. The King's party weakened. The nine reasons of the commons against the Bishops' votes. Answered by Bishop Hall. Harris's remarks. His Majesty's impeachment of five members of the commons. Imprudent step. No hopes of accommodation left. The royal standard hoisted at Nottingham. The twelve imprisoned Bishops petition for council —denied bail. Their trial postponed. Deprived of their spiritual promotions. Their estates forfeited. Annual allowance to the Bishops for life. They again petition to be admitted to bail. They are released, but re-committed. — at last set at liberty upon their bond. The protesting Bishops alternately preached during their confinement in the Tower. Bishop Hall's tranquillity of mind in the Tower. The Treatise ** Free Prisoner," written in the Tower. Quotation from it. Bishop Hall's Letter from the Tower. A sermon of his preached in the Tower. When released, he withdraws to Norwich. His reception there. He preaches in the Cathedral. Hjs frequent preaching, p. 254-338. CHAP. VIII. Open rupture between the King and Parliament. Parliament's declaration for further reformation. Nineteen propositions. His Majesty's reply. Civil war begun. Reflections on the state of things. The bill for extirpating Episcopacy. Church government interrupted. Ordinance for calling the assembly of divines. The royal prohibition of tt. Meeting X CONTENTS. of the assembly. Episcopal divines forsaking it. Assist- ance of the Scots solicited. The solemn league and cove- nant. Royal proclamation against it. Sufferings of the Clergy. Church concernis managed by the assembly. Solemn league and covenant imposed on the University of Cambridge. A number of Graduates banished. Sufferings of the Clergy. Average number of sufferers. The fifths. Sufferings of the Bishops. Cathedrals and churches defaced and devastated. Norwich Cathedral devastated. Presby- terianism introduced. Sects and parties arise. Licentious- ness and Antinomianism brought in. Political principles of the Puritans absurd. Presbyterianism advanced into a divine institution. Erastians. Independents. Interreg- num in the church. Sects, parties, and heresies spring up. Oversight in the reformers. Religious confusion and disor- ders. Fanaticism. Bishop Hall's account of the fanatics. Their absurd and blasphemous opinions. Assembly of divines provide a succession of ministers. Directory for public worship. Common prayer books called in — prohi- bited in private families. Severities of Presbyterian Unifor- mity. Royal proclamation for the Common Prayer Book to 'be continued to be used. Catastrophe of Archbishop Laud. His character. His munificent actions. Treaty of Uxbridge. Bishop Hall's " Modest Offer" to the assembly of divines. Presbyterians and Independents differ. His Majesty's affairs decline. His Majesty's attachment to the church. Delivers himself up to the Scots. Debates between his Majesty and Mr. Henderson. Scots give up his Majesty to the Parliament. England partitioned into Presbyterian provinces. Military men preach. Enthusiasm in the army. Neal's account of the enthusiasts. Confu- sion and disorder of church and state. Quotations from Bishop Hall. He laments the deplorable state of things. His Majesty confined in Holmby-house, . . p. 305-338. CHAP. IX. The Army, not disposed to submit to Presbyterianism, insist on a toleration. Persecuting spirit of the Presbyterians. CONTENTS. m Intention to secure the person of Cromwell. His escape. The Army seize the person of his Majesty. Army and Parliament differ. Escape of the King. He is secured in Carisbrook Castle. PubUc tranquillity precarious. Peti- tion of the sutferiiig clergy to his Majesty. The King's reply. Their petition to the General. Their expectations cut off. Petition to the Presbyterian ministers. University of Oxford visited. Cruel ordinance of the Presbyterians. Insnrrection in fevor of the King. Second civil war. Treaty of Newport. His Majesty's concessions. His Majesty's mind much distressed. The remonstrance of the Army. Consternation of the Parhament. His Majesty secured in Hurst Castle. Presbyterian members excluded from the Parliament-house. Impeachment of his Majesty. His murder, p. 839-351. CHAP. X. House of Lords voted useless. Office of a king dangerous. Oatiis of supremacy and allegiance abolished. The engage' ment. The commonwealth. Independent interest prevails. Sufferings of the Presbyterian ministers. Laxity of religious principles. Bishop Hall's remarks upon divisions in reli- gion. One hundred and eighty dangerous and blasphemous opinions now held. General confusion in religion. State of religion described. Quotation from Wilks' *• Christian Essays." Engagement taken. Milton employed as a writer on the side of the commonwealth. Dean and Chapters' laud ordered to be sold. Salaries of incumbents to be augmented. Public press under the direction of Parliament. Sufferings of the Clergy of remote parts of the kingdom. Propagation of the gospel in Wales. Origin of the Quakers. George Fox. Charles IL crowned in Scotland — defeated at Worcester. Cromwell turning the Parliament out of doors. Barebone's parliament. Their ludicrous proceedings. They dissolve themselves. Supreme power vested in Cromwell. He is made Protector. Instru- ment of Government. Toleration of alf sects and heresies. Some of the episcopal clergy connived at. Two of Bishop XII CONTENTS. Hall's sons, and others. Some of the Bishops allowed to preach. Bishop Rennet's testimony in favor of Cromwell; Parliament called. Debates of the Commons offensive to Cromwell. A recognition forced on them. Declension of Presbyterianism, Approbation of public ministers. Pre- vention of the sequestered clergy to get into livings. Par- tiality of the commissioners. Ordinance to humble the clergy. Deplorable state of tlie church. Measures to crush the loyal clergy. Extreme severities against them. Com- pelled to remonstrate to Cromwell. Archbishop Usher's intercession on behalf of the sufFeringv clergy. Interview between Cromwell and Archbishop Usher. The Primate's grief at not succeeding. Corporation for the sons of the clergy. Origin of. Rev. George Hall, the bishop's son, preached the first sermon before the Corporation. Quota- tion from the sermon, . , p. 352-385. CHAP. XI. Bishop Hall's " Hard Measure,"~en joyed but a short respite as Bishop of Norwich. Ordinance for sequestering the estates of notorious delinquents — among whom, Bishop Hall is enumerated. Cruelty of this ordinance. Sufferings of Bishop Hall. Lenient measures towards him and others. Negative oath. Bishop Hall ejected out of his palace. Mrs. Hall offering to pay the rent out of the fifths. He retires to Heigham. The Bishop's house still existing. He spent his retirement in doing good. His readiness to preach in the churches of Norwich. He was a diligent hearer as well as a preacher. Extract from a sermon preached by him in his eightieth year. His last years spent in devotion and meditation. His charitable acts. His patience during his last illness. His submission to the divine will. He was afHicted with the stone and strangury — foretold the night of his death. His legacies. Remarkable monition in his will. Mistake of his being buried in Heigham church- yard. His dislike of burials in churches. His sermon at Exeter. Buried in the chancel of Heigham church. His Tombstone. Inscription. Removal of his Tombstone. CONTENTS. xili His mural monument. Inscription. Mrs. Hall's death. Mr. J. Hall, the Bishop's son, buried. Tombstones of Mrs. Hall and son. Bishop Hall's " Songs in the Night," occa- sioned b^ Mrs. Hall's death. Quotations from them, p. 386-424. CHAP. XII. A VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF BiSHOP HaLL, AND OF HIS WRITINGS. His character described. His character by Richardson. Quotation from Godwin's De Presulibus. Bishop Hall, a child of Providence. Owed his pieicrmfnts to merit. Letters dedicatory. His grateful sense of kind- nesses. His piety. Fondness of study. Manner of study. His letter to Lord Denny. Mode of spending the sabbath. Mildness uf disposition. His usual signature. His activity and vigilance. His constancy and fortitude. A saying of Fuller. He wrote valuable Treatises in his old age. His time well employed. He was a wit and a poet. His satires. Gray's and Warton's character of them. His intended version of the Psalms. His prose works. He was called the English Seneca. The English Chrysostom. His character as a writer. Fuller's character of him. His practical works. His contemplations. Substance of ser- mons. Testimonies of Hervey and Dr. Doddridge. Cha- racter of his Paraphrase on Scripture, by Dr. Doddridge. Mant's and D'Oyly's Commentary, much indebted to Bishop Hall's writings— also Scott's Conmientary. Bishop Hall's character as a preacher. His sentiments evangelical. His meditations. His son Robert's account of them. His own account of them. His devotional writings. His Epistles. His Polemical writings. Treatises in Latin. His works first collected. Pratt's Edition. Sterne's plagiarisms, p. 426-448. CHAP. Xlll. On Puritanism. Sketch of the history of Puritanism. Reformers. First Separatists. Fuller's account of the origin of the Puritans. Puritans not necessarily non-con- Xif CONTENTS. formists. A term of reproach. Puritans not all dissenters. Prominent trait in their character. Many of them gi-eat sufferers. Many of bad principles. Eminent Puritans with the Parliament. Many not less eminent with the King. All Puritans not really pious. Their failings. Their rigid behaviour. Their piety and devotion. Characteristics of a Puritan. Many of them faithful friends to the church. Puritanism productive of much good. Reformation of manners. Games and plays suppressed. Sabbath day strictly observed. State of religion during the long parlia- ment. The grand rebellion and usurpation. Bishop Hall and others of his brethren reckoned Puritans. Evangelical and Methodist now terms of reproach, .... p. 449-468. APPENDIX. Unpublished Letters to Archbishop Usher and others, p. 461-474. Latin Sermon, preached by Bishop Hall, before the Synod of Dort, p. 475. Dr. Alibone's Satirical Latin Verses on the Visitation of Oxford by the Antiloyalists, p. 493, Death's Alarm, a Funeral Sermon on the Right Reverend Joseph Hall, d.d. Bishop of Norwich, by J. Whitefoot, m.a. p. 501. Epitaph on the Monument of Mr. H. Bright, in Worcester Cathedral, composed by Bishop Hall, . . . . p. 566. Angelus e Coelo ad Angelum Ecclesiae N. ad Ccelum transeuntem, p. 567. Upon the much-lamented Death of the Rev. Father Joseph, late Lord Bishop of Norwich, p. 569. In Obitum araplissimi Patris J. H. Episcopi Norvicensis, p. 572. Recommendatory Verses composed by Bishop Hall, and pre- fixed to Silvester's translation of Du Bartas, . . p. 574. PREFACE. The Author o£ this rolume has endeavoured, as well as he could, to acquaint himself, with much labour and research, with the histoiy of those eventful times in which the celebrated Bishop Hall lived, with the view of giving a full account of the life and sufferings of one of the most worthy of the sons of the Church of England, and a narrative of the principal events and transactions of that period. The aim of the author has been to give an impartial account of those times ; but he found it often a very difficult matter to discriminate the ti*uth among a mass of confused and contradictory account of writers biassed and influenced by prejudice, faction, or party spirit. The author is far from vindicating the arbitrary power and the violent measures employed and adopted by the rulers of church and state, to promote their religious or secular ends in those times ; and he is bold also to affirm, that the persecuting, violent, and unchristian conduct, and evil practices of some of those called Puritans, of the Presbyterians and Independents, when they got the power in their own hands, have left upon them such an indelible stigma, as will never be forgotten. Bishop Hall has left us a brief account of his own life and sufferings; but because of his great modesty, he has touched but slightly on some most interesting inci- dents ; the author has tiierefore endeavoured, from other authentic sources, to give, in the following Memoirs, a more copious detail ; leaving, however, the good old Bishop, as much as possible, to be his own biographer. His life, which was long and useful, is replete with impor- Xvi PREFACE. tant incidents, which will always prove interesting and instructive to all future generations. In every period of the Christian Church, there have been some eminent characters endued with primitive sim- plicity and genuine excellence ; among these we may most justly class the good, the pious, and the learned subject of the following Memoirs. His devotedness to the service of his divine Master, his great humility and patience under all his sufferings, were distinguishing traits in his character. The character given us of St. Augustin, may, with the greatest propriety, be applied to Bishop Hall : Insignis erat sanc- tissimi priesulis mansuetudo, ac miranda animi leuitas, et quaedam invincibilis dementia. In the Appendix to this volume there will be found some unpublished pieces of Bishop Hall, particularly his Letters to Archbishop Usher and others, and his Latin Sermon before the Sjniod of Dort; which, it is hoped, will prove very acceptable to all who possess the last edition of his Works. Whitefoot's Funeral Sermon, inserted in the Appendix, is also not only of rare occurrence, but is highly valuable and interesting, as containing some striking particulars in the life of the Bishop. The author earnestly hopes that this volume may prove a profitable addition to the large mass of biography of good and excellent personages already before the public, as well as instructive and edifying to every Christian reader ; and it is his sincere prayer that all the sons of the Church may imitate the example of Bishop Hall, — follow htm as he followed Christ, — live above this vain and troublesome world, — bear with patience all the trials and sufferings of this mortal life, — and continually " mind eternity." * Cradley^ Worcestershire, Oct. 4, 1825. • See Inscriptions on Bishop Hall's Monument, and of Mrs. Hall^ pp. 419, 430. BISHOP HALL, HIS LIFE AND TIMES. CHAPTER I. J.F the memory of the wise, the pious, and the good is blessed, and should be preserved and illustrated for the advantage and improve- ment of future ages ; the name of Joseph Hall, successively Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, ought undoubtedly to be held in perpetual remembrance. Few, if any, of the fathers of the Church of England, have left behind them more lasting or exemplary proofs of learning, piety, and unwearied labours in the cause of truth. The purity of his life, the fervor of his charity, and the variety and importance of his theological writings, have ranked him among the brightest ornaments of the church. He was indeed a star of the first magnitude, alike admirable and eminent as an author, as an advocate of the church, and as a christian pastor and bishop of primitive simplicity and piety. 2 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. As Bishop Hall has left a brief account of his life, under the title of " Observations of some Specialities of Divine Providence in the Life of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, written with his owti hand," it appears advisable to adopt the whole of this narrative into the present Memoir, only pausing occasionally to introduce such other incidents and details as other and equally authen- tic accounts may furnish. The Bishop thus commences the Memoirs of himself. '' NOT out of a vain affectation of my own glory, which I know how little it can avail me when I am gone hence ; but out of a sincere desire to give glory to my God, whose wonderful provi- dence I have noted in all my ways, have I recorded some remarkable passage of my fore- past life. What I have done is worthy of nothing but silence and forgetfulness ; but what God hath done for me, is worthy of everlasting and thank- ful memory. " I was born July 1, 1574, at five of the clock in the morning, in Bristow-Park, within the parish of Ashby de la Zouch, a town in Leicestershire, of honest and well-allowed parentage. ** My father was an officer uader that truly honorable and religious Henry Earl of Hunting- don, President of the North; and, under him. HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 3 had the government of that market-town, wherein the chief seat of that earldom is placed. ** My mother Winifride, of the house of the Bam- bridges, was a woman of that rare sanctity, that, were it not for my interest in nature, I durst say, that neither Aleth the mother of that just Honor of Clareval, nor Monica, nor any other of those pious matrons anciently famous for devotion, need to disdain her admittance to comparison. She was continually exercised with the afflictions of a weak body, and oft of a wounded spirit: the agonies whereof, as she would oft recount with much passion, professing that the greatest bodily sicknesses were but flea-bites to those scorpions ; so, from them all, at last she found a happy and comfortable deliverance. And that, not without a more than ordinary hand of God : for, on a time, being in great distress of conscience, she thought in her dream, there stood by her a grave personage, in the gown and other habits of a physician ; who, inquiring of her estate, and receiving a sad and querulous answer from her, took her by the hand, and bade her be of good comfort, for this should be the last fit that ever she should feel of this kind; whereto she seemed to answer, that, on that condition, she could well be content for the time, with that or any other torment ; reply was made to her, as she thought, with a redoubled assurance of that happy issue of this her last trial ; B 2 4 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. whereat she began to conceive an unspeakable joy ; which yet, on her awaking, left her more disconsolate, as then conceiting her happiness imaginary, her misery real ; when, the very same day, she was visited by the reverend and (in his time) famous divine, Mr. Anthony Gilby,* under whose ministry she lived ; who, upon the relation of this her pleasing vision and the contrary effects it had in her, began to persuade her, that dream was no other than divine, and that she had good reason to think that gracious premonition was sent her from God himself: who, though ordinarily he keeps the common road of his proceedings, yet, sometimes, in the distresses of his servants, he goes unusual ways to their relief: hereupon she began to take heart; and, by good counsel and her fervent prayers, found that happy prediction verified to her; and, upon all occasions in the remainder of her life, was ready to magnify the mercy of her God in so sensible a deliverance. What with the trial of both these hands of God, so had she profited in the school of Christ, that it was hard for any friend to come from her discourse no whit holier. How often have I blessed the memory of those divine passages of experimental * He was a pious and zealous Non-conformist; and was pro- foundly learned in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. He was patronized by the Earl of Huntingdon, and was pre- sented to the Vicarage of Ashby de la Zouch. HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 5 divinity, which I have heard from her mouth ! What day did she pass, without a large task of private devotion? whence she would still come forth, with a countenance of undisserabled mor- tification. Never any lips have read to me such feeling lectures of piety : neither have I known any soul that more accurately practised them than her own. Temptations, desertions, and spiri- tual comforts, were her usual theme. Shortly, for I can hardly take off my pen from so exemplary a subject, her life and death were saint-like.* ** My parents had, from mine infancy, devoted me to this sacred calling, whereto, by the blessing of God, I have seasonably attained. For this cause, I was trained up in the public school of the place. ** After I had spent some years, not altogether * It is singular and remarkable that many of those divines, who have proved most eminent for their piety and usefulness, have, in a particular manner, experienced the benefit of parental instruction ; and especially have imbibed religious principles from the piety and example of I heir mothers. Dr. Doddridge, before he was able to read, was instructed by his mother, in the histories of the Old and New Testament, by the assistance of some dutch tiles in the chimney of the room, where they usually sat. The names of Augustin, Hooker, Newton, Cecil, Buchanan, and Dwight, are here enumerated as instances of the happy and blessed effects of parental instruction in religion. This shoidd encourage parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Though the instructions and pious examples of parents may not always seem to have immediate effect upon their children ; yet the means should be used, and the most untoward may, through the divine blessing, be brought to the knowledge of the truth : for this is a course which has been so often crowned with success, and which is seldom or 6 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. indiligently, under the ferule of such masters as the place afforded, and had near attained to some competent ripeness for the university, my school- master being a great admirer of one Mr. Pelset, •who was then lately come from Cambridge to be the public preacher of Leicester (a man very emi- nent in those times, for the fame of his learning, but especially for his sacred oratory), persuaded my father, that if I might have my education under so excellent and complete a divine, it might be both a nearer and easier way to his purposed end, than by an academical institution. The motion sounded well in my father's ears, and carried fair probabilities: neither was it other than fore-compacted betwixt my schoolmaster and Mr. Pelset; so as, on both sides, it was entertained with great forwardness. '* The gentleman, upon essay taken of my fitness for the use of his studies, undertakes within one seven years to send me forth, no less furnished with arts, languages, and grounds of theoretical never perhaps altogether in vain. " It is evident, that the pious endeavours of Lois and Eunice, in bringing young Timothy acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, laid the foundation of all his subsequent eminence and usefulness, in which he was infe- rior to none but the Apostles. It is probable, that, while they were teaching the child to read, and treasure up in his memory the oracles of God^ they little thought what a harvest, in future life, would spring from the seed thus sown. But the Scripture warrants high expectations in this respect." See Memoir of Rev. Jeremiah Newell, annexed to his Funeral Sermon, by the late Rev. Thomas Scott. HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 7 divinity, than the carefullest tutor in the strictest college of either university. Which that he might assuredly perform, to prevent the danger of any mutable thoughts in my parents or myself, he desired mutual bonds to be drawn betwixt us. The great charge of my father, whom it pleased God to bless with twelve children, made him the more apt to yield to so likely a project for a younger sou. " There and now were all the hopes of my future life on blasting. The indentures were preparing: the time was set: my suits were addressed for the journey. " What was the issue ? O God, thy providence made and found it. Thou knowest how sincerely and heartily, m those my young years,* I did cast myself on thy hands : with what faithful resolu- tion I did, in this particular occasion, resign myself over to thy disposition ; earnestly begging of thee in my fervent prayers to order all things to the best, and confidently waiting upon thy will for the event. Certainly, never did I, in all my life, more clearly roll myself upon the Divine Providence, than I did in this business. And it succeeded accordingly. '' It fell out in this time that my elder brother, having some occasions to journey unto Cambridge, * Anno 8Btatis 15. 8 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. was kindly entertained there by Mr. Nath. Gilby, fellow of Emanuel college : who, for that he was born in the same town with me, and had conceived some good opinion of my aptness to learning, in- quired diligently concerning me ; and hearing of the diversion of my father's purposes from the university, importunately dissuaded from that new course, professing to pity the loss of so good hopes. My brother, partly moved with his words, and partly won by his own eyes, to a great love and reverence of an academical life, returning home, fell on his knees to my father ; and, after the report of Mr. Gilby's words and his own admiration of the place, earnestly besought him, that he would be pleased to alter that so prejudicial a resolution, that he would not suffer my hopes to be drowned in a shallow country channel ; but that he would revive his first purposes for Cambridge ; adding, in the zeal of his love, that if the chargeableness of that course were the hinderance, he did there humbly beseech him rather to sell some part of that land, which himself should in course of nature inherit, than to abridge me of that happy means to perfect my education. No sooner had he spoken those words, than my father no less pas- sionately condescended ; not without a vehement protestation, that, whatsoever it might cost him, I should, God willing, be sent to the university. Neither were those words sooner out of his lips. HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 9 than there was a messenger from Mr. Pelset knocking at the door, to call me to that fairer bondage ; signifying, that the next day he expected me, with a full dispatch of all that business : to whom my father replied, that he came some minutes too late, that he had now otherwise determined of me; and, with a respective mes- sage of thanks to the master, sent the man home empty, leaving me full of the tears of joy for so happy a change. ** Indeed I had been but lost, if that project had succeeded ; as it well appeared in the experi- ence of him who succeeded in that room, which was by me thus unexpectedly forsaken. ** O God, how was I then taken up with a thankful acknowledgment and joyful admiration of thy gracious providence over me I " And now I lived in the expectation of Cam- bridge ; whither, ere long, I happily came, under Mr. Gilby's tuition, together with my worthy friend Mr. Hugh Cholmley, who, as we had been partners of one lesson from our cradles, so were we now for many years partners of one bed.* ^' My two first years were necessarily charge- able above the proportion of my father's power; whose not very large cistern was to feed many pipes besides mine. His weariness of expense * See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, p 333. 10 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. was wrought upon by the counsel of some unwise friends, who persuaded him to fasten me upon that school as master, whereof I was lately a scholar. " Now was I fetched home with a heavy heart : and now, this second time, had mine hopes been nipped in the blossom, had not God raised me up an unhoped benefactor, Mr. Edmund Sleigh of Derby, (whose pious memory I have cause ever to love and reverence), out of no other relation to me, save that he married my aunt. Pitying my too apparent dejectedness, he volun- tarily urged and solicited my father for my return to the university ; and offered freely to contribute the onehalf of my maintenance there, till I should attain to the degree of master of arts ; which he no less really and lovingly performed. The con- dition was gladly accepted. " Thither was I sent back, with joy enough ; and, ere long, chosen scholar of that strict and well-ordered college. ** By that time I had spent six years there, now the third year of my bachelorship should at once both make an end of my maintenance, and in respect of standing give me a capacity of further preferment in that house, were it not that my country excluded me: for our statute allowed but one of a shire to be fellow there; and, my tutor being of the same town with me, must there- fore necessarily hold me out. HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 11 ** But, O my God, how strangely did thy gra- cious providence fetch this business about ! I was now entertaining motions of remove. ** A place was offered me in the island of Guern- sey, which I had in speech and chase. It fell out, that the father of my loving chamberfellow, Mr. Cholmley, a gentleman that had likewise dependence upon the most noble Henry Earl of Huntingdon, having occasion to go to York, unto that his honorable lord, fell into some mention of me. That good Earl, who well esteemed my father's service, having belikely heard some better words of me than I could deserve, made earnest inquiry after me, what were my courses, what my hopes: and, hearing of the likelihood of my removal, professed much dislike of it; not with- out some vehemence, demanding why 1 was not chosen fellow of that college, wherein by report I received such approbation. Answer was returned, that my country debarred me ; which, being filled with my tutor, whom his Lordship well knew, could not by the statute admit a second. The Earl presently replied, that, if that were the hinderance, he would soon take order to remove it. Whereupon his Lordship presently sends for my tutor Mr. Gilby unto York ; and, with profer of large conditions of the chaplainship in his house, and assured promises of better provisions, drew him to relinquish his place in the college to a free election. No sooner was his assent signified, 12 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. than the days were set for the pubhc (and indeed exquisite) examination of the competitors. By that time two days of the three allotted to this, trial were past, certain news came to us of the inexpected death of that incomparably rehgious and noble Earl of Huntingdon ; by whose loss my then disappointed tutor must necessarily be left to the wide world unprovided for. Upon notice thereof, I presently repaired to the master of the college, Mr. Dr. Chaderton ;* and besought him to tender that hard condition to which my good tutor must needs be driven, if the election proceeded ; to stay any further progress in that business ; and to leave me to my own good hopes wheresoever, whose youth exposed me both to less needs, and more opportunities of provision. Answer was made me, that the place was pro- nounced void however ; and, therefore, that my tutor was divested of all possibility of remedy, and must wait upon the providence of God for his disposing elsewhere, and the election must neces- sarily proceed the day following. Then was I, with a cheerful unanimity, chosen into that society ; which if it had any equals, I dare say had none beyond it, for good order, studious carriage, strict government, austere piety: in * He was the first Master of Emanuel College; was for many years Lecturer at St. Clement's in Cambridge, with great profit to his auditors ; and was one of the translators of the Bible. HIS YOUTH AND EDUCATION. 13 which I spent six or seven years more, with such contentment, as the rest of my life hath in vain striven to yield. ** Now was I called to public disputations often, ivith no ill success : for never durst I appear in any of those exercises of scholarship, till I had from my knees looked up to heaven for a bles- sing, and renewed my actual dependence upon that divine hand. "In this while, two years together was I chosen to the rhetoric lecture in the public schools ; where 1 was encouraged with a sufficient frequence of auditors: but, finding that well -applauded work somewhat out of my way, not without a secret blame of myself for so much excursion, I fairly gave up that task, in the midst of those poor acclamations, to a worthy successor, Mr. Dr. Dod ; and betook myself to those serious studies, which might fit me for that high calling whereunto I was destined.* " During his residence in the University, he stu- died so intensely, that it appears from a letter of * Fuller says in his " Worthies of England," that " he passed all his degrees with great applause. First, noted in the Univer- sity, for his ingenious maintaining (be it Tf-uth, or Paradox^) that Mundus senesnt, ** The world groweth old." Yet, in some sort, his position confuteth his position, the wit and assage." The following account of his travels, in an epistle to Sir Thomas Challoner, tutor to Henry Prince of Wales, in addition to the above, is well worthy to be recorded here : VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 31 " Beside my hopes, not my desires, I travelled of late: for knowledge, partly; and, partly, for health. There was nothing, that made not my journey pleasant, save the labour of the way: which yet was so sweetly deceived, by the society of Sir Edmund Bacon, a gentleman truly honour- able beyond all titles, that I found small cause to complain. *' The sea brooked not me, nor I it ; an unquiet element, made only for wonder and use, not for pleasure. Alighted once from that wooden con- veyance and uneven way, I bethought myself how fondly our life is committed to an unsteady and reeling piece of wood, fickle winds, restless waters ; while we may set foot, on steadfast and constant earth. " Lo, then every thing taught me, every thing delighted me: so ready are we to be affected with those foreign pleasures, which, at home, we should overlook. I saw much, as one might in such a span of earth, in so few months. The time favoured me : for, now newly had the key of peace opened those parts, which war had before closed ; closed, I say, to all EngHsh, save either fugitives or captives. All civil occurrences ; as what fair cities, what strange fashions, entertain- ment, dangers, delights we found ; are fit for other ears, and winter evenings : what 1 noted, as a divine, within the sphere of my profession, my 32 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. paper shall not spare, in some part, to report ; and that to yourself, which have passed a longer way, with more happy fruit of observation. Even little streams empty themselves into great rivers ; and they, again, into the sea. Neither do I desire to tell you, what you know not : it shall be suffi- cient, that I relate ought, which others shall think memorable. " Along our way, how many churches saw we demolished! Nothing left, but rude heaps, to tell the passenger, there had been both devotion and hostility. Oh, the miserable footsteps of war, besides bloodshed, ruin and desolation! Fury hath done that there, which Covetousness would do with us; would do, but shall not: the truth within, shall save the walls without. And, to speak truly, whatever the vulgar exclaim, idolatry pulled down those walls ; not rage. If there had been no Hollander to raze them, they should have fallen alone; rather than hide so much impiety, under their guilty roof These are spectacles, not so much of cruelty, as justice: cruelty of jnan, justice of God. *' But, which I wondered at. Churches fall, and Jesuits' Colleges rise, every where : there is no city, where those are not either rearing or built. "Whence cometh this ? Is it, for that devotion is not so necessary, as policy ? Those men, as we say of the fox, fare best, when thev are most VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 33 cursed: none, so much spited of their own; none, so hated of all; none, so opposed by -ours: and yet these ill weeds grow. Whosoever lives long, shall see them feared of their own, which now hate them ; shall see these seven lean kine devour all the fat beasts, that feed on the meadows ot Tiber, I prophesy, as Pharaoh dreamed: the event shall justify my confidence. ** At Bruxilles, I saw some Englishwomen pro- fess themselves Vestals ; with a thousand rites ; I know not whether more ridiculous, or magical. Poor souls ! they could not be fools enough at home. It would have made you to pity, laugh, disdain, I know not which more, to see, by what cunning slights and fair pretences, that weak sex was fetched into a wilful bondage : and, if those two can agree, willingly constrained to serve a master, whom they must and cannot obey : whom they neither may forsake for their vow, nor can please for their frailty. What follows hence? Late sorrow, secret mischief, misery irremediable. Their forwardness for will-worship, shall condemn our coldness for truth. ** I talked there, in more boldness perhaps than wisdom, with Costerus, a famous Jesuit; an old man, more testy than subtle, and more able to wrangle than satisfy. Our discourse was long and roving; and, on his part, full both of words and vehemency. He spake, as at home ; I, as a 34 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. stranger : yet so, as he saw me modestly peremp- tory. The particulars would swell my letter too much : it is enough, that the truth lost less than I gained. '* At Gant, a city that commands reverence for age and wonder for the greatness, we fell upon a Capuchin Novice, which wept bitterly, because he was not allowed to be miserable. His head had now felt the razor; his back, the rod : all that Laconical discipline pleased him well; which another, being condemned to, would justly ac- count a torment. What hindered then ? Piety, to his mother, would not permit this, which he thought piety to God. He could not be a willing beggar, unless his mother must beg unwillingly. He was the only heir of his father, the only stay of his mother: the comfort of her widowhood depended on this her orphan ; who now, naked, must enter into the world of the Capuchins, as he came first into this ; leaving his goods to the divi- sion of the fraternity : the least part whereof should have been her's, whose he wished all. Hence those tears, that repulse. I pitied his ill- bestowed zeal; and rather wished, than durst, teach him more wisdom. These men for devout, the Jesuits for learned and pragmatical, have engrossed all opinions, from other Orders. O hypocrisy! No Capuchin may take or touch silver : for these are, you know% the quintessence VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 35 of Franciscan spirits. This metal is as very an anathema to these, as the wedge of gold to Achan : at the offer whereof he starts back, as Moses from the Serpent: yet he carries a boy' with him, that takes and carries it; and never complains, of either metal or measure. I saw, and laughed at it; and, by this open trick of hypocrisy, suspected more, more close. How could I choose? while, commonly, the least appears of that which is ; especially of that which is loathsome in appearance, much more in nature. At Namur, on a pleasant and steep hill -top, we found one, that was termed a married hermit; approving his wisdom above his fellows, that could make choice of so cheerful and sociable a soHtariness. " Whence, after a delightful passage up the sweet river Mosa, * we visited the populous and rich clergy of Leodium.f The great city might well be dichotomized into cloisters and hospitals. If I might adventure, I could here play the critic ; after all the ruins of my neglected philology. Old monuments, and after them our Lipsius, call this people Eburones. I doubt whether it should not rather be written Ebriones; yet, without search of any other records, save my own eyes : ♦ The Maes. t Liege. D 2 56 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. while yet I would those streets were most moist with wine, than with blood ; wherein no day, no night is not dismal to some. No law, no magis- trate lays hold on the known murderer, if himself list : for, three days after his fact, the gates are open, and justice shut : private violence may pursue him ; public justice cannot : whence, some of more hot temper carve themselves of revenge ; others take up with a small pecuniary satisfaction, O England, thought I, happy for justice, happy for security! There, you shall find, m every corner, a maumet ; at every door, a beggar ; in every dish, a priest. " From thence we passed to the Spa, a village famous for her medicinal and mineral waters, compounded of iron and copperas; the virtue whereof yet the simple inhabitant ascribes to their beneficial Saint, whose heavy foot hath made an ill-shaped impression, in a stone of his Savenir,*^ a water more wholesome than plea- sant, and yet more famous than wholesome. '* The wide deserts on which it borders, are haunted with three kinds of ill cattle ; freebooters, wolves, witches: although these two last are ofttimes one. For, that savage Ardenna is reputed to yield many of those monsters, whom the Greeks call AuKuv^p-jiTnii ; they, Lougarous ; we * The name of the upper well of the Spa. VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 37 if you will, Witch-wolves : witches, that have put on the shape of those cruel beasts. We saw a boy there, whose half-face was devoured by one of them, near the village : yet so, as that the ear was rather cut, than bitten off. Not many days before our coming, at Limburgh,was executed one of those miscreants, who confessed, on the wheel, to have devoured two and forty children in that form. It would ask a large volume, to scan this problem of lycanthropy. The reasons, wherewith their relation furnished me, on both parts, would make an epistle tedious. This, in short, I resolved : a substantial change is above the reach of all infernal powers ; proper to the same hand that created the substance of both : herein the Devil plays the double sophister: yea, the sor. cerer with sorcerers : he both deludes the witch s conceit, and the beholders' eyes. " One thing I may not omit, without sinful over- sight; a short, but memorable story, which the Greffier of that town, though of different religion, reported to more ears than ours. When the last Inquisition tyrannized in those parts, and helped to spend the faggots of Ardenna ; one of the rest, a confident confessor, being led far to his stake, sung psalms along the way, in a heavenly courage and victorious triumph. The cruel officer, envy- ing his last mirth, and grieving to see him merrier than his tormentors, commanded him silence : he 38 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. sings still, as desirous to improve his last breath to the best : the view of his approaching glory, bred his joy ; his joy breaks forth into a cheerful confession. The enraged Sheriff causes his tongue, drawn forth to the length, to be cut off near the roots. Bloody wretch ! It had been good music, to have heard his shrieks ; but, to hear his music, was torment. The poor Martyr dies in silence, rests in peace. Not many months after, our butcherly officer had a son born with his tongue hanging down upon his chin, like a deer after long chase ; w^hich never could be gathered up, within the bounds of his lips. O the divine hand, full of justice, full of revenge ! Go now, Lipsius, and write the new miracles of thy goddess ; and confirm superstition, by strange events. Judge, you that have seen, if ever the chapel of Halle or Ziehen have yielded ought more notable. *' We met, every where, '^ pilgrims to those his Ladies : two Ladies, shall I call them ; or one Lady, in two shrines ? If two, why do they wor- ship but one ? If but one, why doth she that cure at Zichem, which at Halle she could not ? Oh, what pity it is, that so high a wit should, in the last act, be subject to dotage ! All the masculine * Hisloire et Miracles, &c. " Que le 8. jour du moisde Sep- terabre au diet an. 1603, elant Feste de la Nativity de notre Dame, le nombre de pelerins a ete environ 20000." Page 35. VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. 39 brood of that braia we cherished, and, if need were, admired: but these his silly virgins, the feeble issue of distempered age, who can abide? One of his darlings, at Louau, * told me, from his own mouth, that the elderf of these two daugh- ters, was by him, in ten days, got, conceived, born, christened. I believed ; and wondered not. These acts of superstition have an invisible father and midwife: besides, that it is not for an ele- phant to go three years with a mouse. It was told me, in the shop of his Moretus, not without some indignation, that our king, when he had well viewed the book, and read some passages, threw it to the ground, with this censure : " Damnation to him, that made it ; and to him, that believer it:'' whether a true story, or one of their legends, 1 enquire not : I am sure, that sentence did not so much discontent them, as it joyed me. ** Let me tell you yet, ere I take off my pen, two wonders more, which I saw in that wonder of cities, Antwerp. " One, a solemn mass in a shambles, and that on God's day : while the house was full of meat, of butchers, of buyers, some kneeling, others bar- gaining, most talking, all busy. It was strange, to see one house sacred to God and the belly ; and how those two services agreed. The priest did * Louvaine. t f^irgo Halleru^t, 40 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. eat flesh, the butchers sold flesh ; in one roof, at one instant. The butcher killed, and sold it by pieces; the priest did sacrifice, and orally devour it whole : whether was the more butcher ? The like we might have seen at Malines " The other, an Englishman,* so madly devout, that he had wilfully mured up himself as an anchorite ; the worst of all prisoners : there sat he, pent up, for his further merit ; half hunger- starved, for the charity of the citizens. It was worth seeing, how manly he could bite in his secret want; and dissemble his over-late repent- ance. 1 cannot commend his mortification, if he wish to be in heaven, yea, in purgatory, to be delivered from thence. I durst not pity him; because his durance was willing, and, as he hoped, meritorious : but, such encouragement as he had from me, such thank shall he have from God ; who, instead of an '* Euge," which he looks for, shall angrily challenge him, with '* Who required this?'' I leave him now, in his own fetters ; you, to your worthy and honourable employments. " Pardon me this length. Loquacity is the natural fault of Travellers : while I profit any, I may well be forgiven." * One Goodwin, a Kentish-man. HIS REMOVAL FROM HALSTEAD. 41 The Bishop continues the ** Account of him- self."— " After some year and half, it pleased God inex- pectedly to contrive the change of my station. ** My means were but short at Halsted ; yet, such as I oft professed, if my then patron would have added but one ten pounds by year, which I held to be the value of my detained due, I should never have removed. One morning, as I lay in my bed, a strong motion was suddenly glanced into my thoughts of going to London. I arose, and betook me to the way. The ground, that appeared of that purpose, was to speak with my patron Sir Robert Drury ; if, by occasion of the pubhc preachership of St. Edmund's-Bury then offered me on good conditions, 1 might draw him to a willing yieldance of that parcel of my due maintenance, which was kept back from my not over- deserving predecessor : who, hearing my errand, dissuaded me from so ungainful a change, which, had it been to my sensible advantage, he should have readily given way unto ; but not offering me the expected encouragement of my continuance. ** With him I staid, and preached on the Sunday following. That day Sir Robert Drury, meeting with the Lord Denny, fell belike into the com- mendation of my sermon. That religious and 4t LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. noble Lord had long harboured good thoughts concerning me, on the reading of those poor pamphlets which I had formerly published ; and long wished the opportunity to know me. To please him in this desire, Sir Robert willed me to go and tender my service to his Lordship ; which I modestly and seriously deprecated : yet, on his earnest charge, went to his Lordship's gate; where I was not sorry to hear of his absence. " Being now full of cold and distemper in Drury-lane, I was found out by a friend, in whom I had formerly no great interest, one Mr. Gurrey, tutor to the Earl of Essex. He told me how well my Meditations were accepted at the Prince's court, ^ and earnestly advised me to step over to Richmond, and preach to his Highness. I strongly pleaded my indisposition of body, and my inpreparation for any such work; together with my bashful fears, and utter unfitness for such a presence. My averseness doubled his impor- tunity: in fine, he left me not, till he had my engagement to preach the Sunday following at Richmond. He made way for me to that awful pulpit ; and encouraged me by the favour of his noble lord, the Earl of Essex. I preached. Through the favour of my God, that sermon was Prince Henry. HIS BEMOVAL FROM HALSTEAD. 45 not SO well given as takea ; insomuch as that sweet prince signified his desire to hear rae again the Tuesday following. Which done, that labor gave more contentment than the former: so as that gracious prince both gave me his hand and commanded me to his service. ** My patron, seeing me, on my return to Lon- don, looked after by some great persons, began to wish me at home; and told me, that some or other would be snatching me up. I answered, that it was in his power to prevent : would he be pleased to make my maintenance but so competent as in right it should be, I would never stir from him. Instead of condescending, it pleased him to fall into an expostulation of the rate of competen- cies ; affirming the variableness thereof, according to our own estimation, and our either raising or moderating the causes of our expenses. I shewed him the insufficiency of my means : that I was forced to write books to buy books. Shortly, some harsh and unpleasing answer so disheartened me, that I resolved to embrace the first oppor- tunity of my remove. " Now, while I was taken up with these anxious thoughts, a messenger (it was Sir Robert Wing- field of Northampton's son) came to me from the Lord Denny, now Earl of Norwich, my after most honorable patron, entreating me from his Lordship to speak with him. No sooner came I 44 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. thither, than, after a glad and noble welcome, I was entertained with the earnest offer of Waltham. The conditions were, like the mover of them, free and bonntifal. I received them, as from the munificent hand of God : and returned , full of the cheerful acknowledgments of a gracious provi- dence over me." The church of Waltham is neither rectory nor vicarage, but a curacy or donative, cum curd animariim, and, anciently had only a poor stipend of £8. a year pertaining to it, till by the pious bounty of Edward Earl of Norwich, £100. per annum, with other considerable accommodations, were settled upon the incumbent, and good lands tied for the true payment thereof.* How unwilling Mr. Hall was to be obliged to remove from Halstead ; and his feelings on the occasion, are particularly described in the follow- ing letter to Sir Robert Drury, and his lady, con- cerning his removal from them : * See Magna Britannia, vol. i, p. 655. Ed. 1720. 4to. Dr. Thomas Fuller, the Author of the Church History, History of Waltham Abbey, " Worthies," &c. &c. was collated to this donative by the Rt. Hon. John Haye, Earl of Carlisle. Fuller, speaking of his predecessor Hall, says, ** Here I must pay the tribute of my gratitude to his memory, as building upon his foundation, beholding myself as his great-grand-child in that place, three degrees from him in succession : but, Oh I how many from him in ability !" Worthies, vol, i, p. 566. 4to, Ed. 1811. HIS REMOVAL FROM HALSTEAD. 45 ** With how unwilHng a heart I leave you, He knows, that searches the heart: neither durst I go, but that I sensibly see his hand pulHng me from you. Indeed, desire of competency betrayed me, at first ; and drew mine eyes to look aside : but, when I bent them upon the place, and saw the number and the need of the people, together with their hunger and applause, meeting with the circumstances of God's strange conveyance of this offer to me; I saw, that was but as the fowler's feather, to make me stoop: and, con- temning that respect of myself, I sincerely acknowledged higher motives of my yielding ; and resolved I might not resist. " You are dear to me, as a Charge to a Pastor : if my pains to you have not proved it, suspect me. Yet I leave you. God calls me to a greater work : I must follow him. It were more ease to me, to live secretly hidden in that quiet obscurity, as Saul amongst the stuff", than to be drawn out to the eye of the world ; to act so high a part, before a thousand witnesses. In this point, if I seem to neglect you, blame me not : I must neglect and forget myself. " I can but labour, wheresoever I am. God knows how willingly I do that ; whether there or here. I shall dig, and delve, and plant, in what ground soever ray Master sets me. If he take 46 LIFE OP BISHOP HALL. me to a larger field, complain you not of loss, while the Church may gain. *' But, you are my own charge : no wise father neglects his own, in compassion of the greater need of others : yet consider, that even careful parents, when the prince commands, leave their families, and go to warfare. '* What if God had called me to heaven ? would you have grudged my departure? Imagine that I am there, where 1 shall be; although the case be not to you altogether hopeless : for, now I may hear of you, visit you, renew my holy coun- sels, and be mutually comforted from you; there, none of these. He, that will once transpose me from earth to heaven, hath now chosen to trans- pose me from one piece of earth to another : what is here worthy of your sorrow ; worthy of com- plaint? That should be for my own good: this shall be for the good of many. If your experi- eace have taught you, that my labours do promise profit; obtain of yourself to deny yourself so much, as to rejoice that the loss of a few should be the advantage of many souls. Though, why do I speak of loss ? I speak that, as your fear, not my own : and your affection causes that fear, rather than the occasion. " The God of the Harvest shall send you a labourer, more able ; as careful. That is my prayer, and hope, and shall be my joy. I dare COLLATED TO WALTHAM. 47 not leave, but in this expectation, this assurance. Whatever become of me, it shall be my greatest comfort to hear you commend your change ; and to see your happy progress in those ways, I have both shewed you, and beaten. So shall we meet in the end, and never part."* About the time he was collated to Waltham Holy Cross, that is about the year 1612, he took his degree of Doctor in Divinity. He was also at this time a principal instrument in determining Thomas Sutton, Esq. the founder of the Charter- house, to purchase and erect that famous hospital. See his letter to Mr. Sutton in the 7th volume of his Works, p. 243, wherein he excites " him, and in him, all others, to early and cheerful benefi- cence, shewing the necessity and benefit of good works."! He continues his own account. — ** Too late now did my former noble patron relent; and offer me those terms, which had, before, fastened me for ever. ♦ Bp. Hall's Works, vol. vii, p. 143. t Hern, in vit. SuUon 59. Thomas Sutton, Esq. purchased the dissolved Charter House, in 1611, for £ 13,000, and founded the hospital as it now stands, with an intention of being the tifst master, but died before its completion, Dec. 12, the same year. At his death, he was the richest commoner in the kingdom. 48 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. ** I returned home, happy in a new master, and in a new patron : betwixt whom I divided myself and my labors, with much comfort and no less acceptation." About the year 1610, Mr. Hall appeared a very able apologist for the Church of England against the JBroivnists, a sect then newly sprung up, and so denominated from one Robert Brown, a fiery, hot-headed person, who, about the year 1580, and before, went about the country, inveigh- ing against the discipline and ceremonies of the church, and exhorting the people by no means to comply with them. He boasted that for his preaching against Bishops, ceremonies, &c. he had been committed to thirty-two prisons, in some of which he could not see his hand at noon- day. He and several of his followers left the kingdom, and settled at Middleburg in Zealand. There he formed a church according to his own model ; but his people began to quarrel so vio- lently, and divide into parties, that he returned to England in 1585. His father would not admit him into his house, saying, " that he would not own him for a son who would not own the Church of England for his mother. After rambhng and preaching against the church up and down the country, he settled at Northampton. But here WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNISTS. 49 his preaching was so offensive that he was cited before Dr. Linsdale, Bishop of Peterborough, who, upon refusing to appear, publicly excommu- nicated him for contempt. This made such an impression upon the mind of Brown, that he renounced his principles of separation, and having obtained absolution, he was about the year 1592, preferred to the rectory of a church near Oundle in Northamptonshire. According to Fuller, that far from the Sabbatarian strictness espoused by his followers, he was rather dissolute and a liber- tine; '* in a word," continues our historian, ** he had a wife with whom he never lived, a church in which he never preached, and as all the other scenes of his life were stormy and turbulent, so was his end."* For being poor, and proud and very passionate, he struck the constable of his parish for demanding the payment of a rate; and being beloved by no body, he was summoned before a magistrate Sir Rowland St. John, who committed him to Northampton goal. The decrepid old man not being able to walk, was carried thither upon a feather bed in a cart, where not long after he died, in 1630, in the 81st year of his age. The Brownists, though they pre- tended that they did not differ from the Church of England in any article of faith, yet so far • Fuller's Ch. Hist, ch.ix, p. 167. E 50 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. dissented from it, as not to allow it to be a true church, nor its ministers to be rightly ordained. They maintained the discipline of the Church to be popish and anti-christian, and all her ordi- nances and sacraments invalid. Hence they renounced all communion with it in prayer, in hearing the word, or in any part of pubhc worship. And they not only renounced com- munion with the Church of England, but with all others, except such as should be of their own model. So rigid and narrow they were in points of discipline. Mr. Hall, about the year 1608, wrote a Let- ter to Mr. John Smith and Mr. John Robinson, who separated from the Church, turned Brown- ists, and settled at Amsterdam as ringleaders * of the party there; in which letter he states the injury done by them to the church, the injustice of their cause, and fearfulness of their offence, censuring and advising them thus : — " We hear of your separation, and mourn ; yet not so much for you, as for your wrong." * Robinson, in his pamphlet, called, " an Answer to a Cen- sorious Epistle," seemed displeased at being called ** a ringleader of the late separation ;" Hall wittily retorts, '* Perhaps I should have put him in the tail of this train. Perhaps I should have endorsed my letter to Mr. Smith and his Shadow." Apology against the Brownists, Works, vol. ix, p. 401. ( WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNIST3. 51' " You could not do a greater injury to your mother, than to flee from her. Say, she were poor, ragged, weak ; say, she were deformed ; yet she is not infectious : or, if she were, yet she is yours. This were cause enough for you to lament her, to pray for her, to labour for her redress ; not to avoid her. This unnaturalness is shameful ; and more heinous in you, who are reported not parties in this evil, bat authors. Your flight is not so much, as your misguidance. " Plead not: this fault is past excuse : if we all should follow you, this were the way of a Church, as you plead, imperfect, to make no Church ; and of a remedy, to make a disease. Still the fruit of our charity to you, is, besides our grief, pity. Your zeal of truth hath misled you, and you others: a zeal, if honest, yet bhndfolded, and led by self-will. Oh, that you loved peace, but half so well as truth : then, this breach had never been : and you, that are yet brethren, had been still companions. " * Go out of Babylon,' you say, * the voice, not of schism, but of holiness.' Know you where you are ? Look about you, I beseech you : look behind you ; and see if we have not left it upon our backs. She herself feels, and sees, that she is abandoned : and complains to all the world, that we have not only forsaken, but spoiled her ; and yet you say, ' Come out of E 2 52 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL, Babylon.' And except you will be willingly blind; you may see the heaps of her altars, the ashes of her idols, the ruins of her monuments, the condemnation of her errors, the revenge of her abominations. ** And are we yet in Babylon? Is Babylon yet amongst us ? Where are the main buildings of that accursed city: those high and proud towers, of their universal hierarchy; infallible judgment ; dispensation with laws of God, and sins of men ; disposition of kingdoms ; deposition of princes; parting stakes with God in our conversion, through freedom of will; in our salvation, through the merit of our works? Where are those rotten heaps (rotten, not through age, but corruption) of transubstantiating of bread, adoring of images, multitude of sacra- ments, power of indulgences, necessity of con- fessions, profit of pilgrimages, constrained and approved ignorance, unknown devotions? Where are those deep vaults, if not mines, of penances and purgatories, and whatsoever hath been devised by those popelings, whether profitable or glorious, against the Lord and his Christ? Are they not all razed, and buried in the dust? Hath not the majesty of her gods, like as was done to Mythra and Serapis, been long ago offered to the pubUc laughter of the vulgar? WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNISTS. 53 What is this, but to go, yea to run, if not to fly, out of Babylon? " But, as every man is a hearty patron of his own actions, and it is a desperate cause that hath no plea, you allege our consorting in Ceremonies; and say, still we tarry in the suburbs. Grant that these were as ill, as an enemy can make them, or can pretend them : you are deceived, if you think the walls of Babylon stand upon Ceremonies. Substantial errors are both her foundation and frame. These ritual observations are not so much as tile and reed : rather like to some fane upon the roof; for ornament, more than use : not parts of the building ; but not necessary appendances. If you take them other- wise, you wrong the Church : if thus, and yet depart, you wrong it and yourself: as if you would have persuaded righteous Lot, not to stay in Zoar, because it was so near Sodom. I fear, if you had seen the money-changers in the Temple, however you would have prayed, or taught there: Christ did it; not forsaking the place, but scourging the offenders. And this is the valour of Christian Teachers, to oppose abuses, not to run away from them. Where shall you not thus find Babylon? Would you have run from Geneva, because of her wafers ? or, from Corinth, for her disordered love-feasts r 54 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. " Either run out of the world, or your flight is in vain. If experience of change teach you not, that you shall find your Babylon every where, return not. Compare the place you have left, with that you have chosen: let not fear of seeming to repent over-soon, make you partial. Lo there a common harbour of all opinions, of all heresies; if not a mixture: here, you drew in the free and clear air of the Gospel, without that odious composition of Judaism, Arianism, Anabaptism : there, you live in the stench of these, and more. You are unworthy of pity, if you will approve your misery. Say, if you can, that the Church of England, (if she were not yours) is not a heaven, to Amsterdam. How is it then, that our gnats are harder to swallow, than their camels ? and that, while all Christen- dom magnifies our happiness and applauds it, your handful alone so detests our enormities, that you despise our graces? " See, whether in this, you make not God a loser. The thank of all his favours is lost, because you want more : and in the mean time, who gains by this sequestration, but Rome and Hell? How do they insult in this advantage, that our mother's own children condemn her for unclean, that we are daily weakened by our divisions, that the rude multitude hath so palpa- ble a motive to distrust us ? Sure, you intended it WRITINGS AGAINST THE BROWNISTS. 55 not: but, if you had been their hired agent, you could not have done our enemies greater service. The God of Heaven open your eyes, that you may see the injustice of that zeal, which hath transported you ; and turn your heart to an endeavour of all Christian satisfaction : otherwise, your souls shall find too late, that it had been a thousand times better to swallow a Ceremony, than to rend a Church; yea, that even whore- doms and murders shall abide an easier answer, than separation. " I have done, if only I have advised you of that fearful threatening of the Wise Man : The eye, that mocketh his father, and despises the government of his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles eat it'' Smith was a person of unsettled principles, and was for refining the Brownists' scheme. He advanced and maintained the doctrines of free- will and universal redemption, and similar tenets, afterwards espoused by Arminius. — We are also told that he entertained some extravagant notions, as the unlawfulness of reading the Scriptures in public worship — that no translation of the Bible was the word of God — that singing the praises of God in verses, or in set words, was without authority— that flight in time of persecution was unlawful — that the new creature needed not the 5^ LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. support of Scripture and ordinances, but was above them — and that perfection was attainable in this life. * The consequence of such opinions caused a serious division among the Brownists. Smith declared for the principles of the Baptists, and gave a proof of the absurdity of his conduct, in performing the ceremony of baptism upon himself, on which account he was stigmatized by the name of se-baptist. Hall alludes to this when he speaks in his dedication before his " Apology against the Brownists," of one ivho had washed off the font water, as unclean; and in Sec. 2, of the same Treatise, " he ^hath renounced our Christendom with our Church, and hath washed off his former water, with new." t Robinson was a beneficed clergyman near Yar- mouth, but seceded from the Church, embraced Broivnism, and settled in Holland. In reply to Hall's epistle, addressed to him and Smith, he wrote a pamphlet, called '' An Answer to a censorious Epistle," in which the *' blasphe- mous imputations of apostacy, antichristianism, whoredom, rebellion, &c." are cast upon the Church of England. This scurrilous pamphlet * Life of A ins worth, p. 38. t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, p. 384. PRINCE HENRY. 57 was the cause of Hall's writing his ** Coramon Apology of the Church of England against the unjust Challenges of the over-just Sect, com- monly called Brownists." The Narrative continues. ** In the second year of mine attendance on his Highness, when I came for my dismission from that monthly service, it pleased the Prince to command me a longer stay ; and, at last, upon mine allowed departure, by the mouth of Sir Thomas Challoner, his governor, to tender unto me a motion of more honor and favour than 1 was worthy of: which was, that it was his Highness' pleasure and purpose, to have me continually resident at the court as a constant attendant, while the rest held on their wonted vicissitudes : for which purpose, his Highness would obtain for me such preferments as should yield me full con- tentment. I returned my humblest thanks, and my readiness to sacrifice myself to the service of so gracious a master; but, being conscious to myself of my unanswerableness to so great expec- tation, and loath to forsake so dear and noble a patron, who had placed much of his heart on me, I did modestly put it off, and held close to my Waltham : where, in a constant course, I preached a long time, as 1 had done also at Halstead before, thrice in the week ; yet never durst I 58 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. climb into the pulpit to preach any sermon whereof I had not before, in my poor and plain fashion, penned every word in the same order wherein I hoped to deliver it; although, in the expression, I listed not to be a slave to syllables." Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I. died Nov. 6, 1612, aged eighteen years and eight months. It has been rumoured that his death was caused by poison, but his physicians declared to the contrary. Welwood says, that " it was the general rumour at that time, that this prince was poisoned. Whatever was in it, there is yet in print a sermon preached at St. James' upon the dissolution of his family, that boldly insinuated some such thing." * Now Hall preached a fare- well sermon to the household of Prince Henry, on the day of their dissolution at St. James', March 25, 1613, when the loss of such an excel- lent prince is pathetically lamented ;f but the writer of this work can find not the least insinua- tion alleged in this sermon that his death was occasioned by poison. Prince Henry was of a most amiable disposition, and excellent genius, exceedingly beloved whilst living, and greatly lamented after his death. He was one of the * Memoirs, p. 20. t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. v, p. 65. PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 59 most accomplished persons of his age, sober, chaste, temperate, full of honor and probity, and was never heard to swear. He was an ardent lover of piety and religion, and accordingly the lover of all good men.* Hall dedicated several of his works to this prince, and touches with grati- tude upon his kindness and virtues. Mr. (after- wards Sir) Adam Newton was the tutor of this prince, by whose instructions he is Said to have greatly profited. In a letter of Dr. Joseph Hall to Mr. Newton, upon the prince being put under his tuition, there are some excellent rules and valuable maxims highly worthy of the attention of those who may have the charge of educating any of the branches of the royal family, f We return to the Bishop's Account. ** In this while, my w^orthy kinsman, Mr. Samuel Barton, archdeacon of Gloucester, knowing in how good terms I stood at court, and pitying the miserable condition of his native church of Wolverhampton, was very desirous to engage me in so difficult and noble a service as the redemp- tion of that captivated church. For which cause he importuned me to move some of my friends to * See Harris's Life of James I. pp. 294-302. Neale's His- tory of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 94, 95. Ed. 1794. t Bishop Hall's Works, vol. vii, p. 126. 60 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. solicit the Dean of Windsor, who by an ancient annexation is patron thereof, for the grant of a particular prebend, when it should fall vacant in that church. Answer was returned me, that it was fore-promised to one of my fellow-chaplains. I sat down, without further expectation. Some year or two after, hearing that it was become void, and meeting with that fellow-chaplain of mine, I wished him much joy of the prebend. He asked me if it were void : I assured him so ; and, telling him of the former answer, delivered to me in my ignorance of his engagement, wished him to hasten his possession of it. He delayed not'. When he came to the Dean of Windsor for his promised dispatch, the Dean brought him forth a letter from the Prince, wherein he was desired and charged to reverse his former engagement, since that other chaplain was otherwise provided for: and to cast that favor on me. I was sent for, who least thought of it; and received the free collation of that poor dignity. It was not the value of the place, which was but nineteen nobles per annum, that we aimed at; but the freedom of a goodly church, consisting of a dean and eight prebendaries competently endowed, and many thousand souls lamentably swallowed up by wilful recusants, in a pretended fee-farm for ever. ** O God, what a hand hadst thou in the car- riage of this work ! PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 61 ** When we set foot in this suit (for another of the prebendaries joined with me) we knew not wherein to insist, nor where to ground a com- plaint : only we knew that a goodly patrimony was, by sacrilegious conveyance, detained from the church. But, in the pursuit of it, such mar- vellous light opened itself inexpectedly to us, in revealing of a counterfeit seal, found in the ashes of that burned house, of a false register; in the manifestation of rasures and interpolations, and misdates of unjustifiable evidences ; that, after many years' suit, the wise and honorable Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, upon a full hearing, adjudged these two sued-for prebends, clearly to be returned to the church, until, by common law, they could, if possibly, be revicted. Our great adversary, Sir Walter Leveson, finding it but loss and trouble to struggle for litigious sheaves, came oflf to a peaceable composition with me of forty pounds per annum for my part, whereof ten should be to the discharge of my stall in that church, till the suit should by course of common law be deter- mined : we agreed on fair wars. The cause was heard at the King's Bench bar, where a special verdict was given for us. On the death of my partner in the suit, in whose name it had now been brought, it was renewed; a jury empan- nelled in the county : the foreman, who had vowed he would carry it for Sir Walter Leveson (52 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. howsoever, was, before the day, stricken mad, and so continued. We proceeded with the same success we formerly had. While we were thus striving, a word fell from my adversary, that gave me intimation, that a third dog would perhaps come in, and take the bone from us both : which I finding to drive at a supposed concealment, happily prevented ; for I presently addressed niyself to his Majesty, with a petition for the renewing the charter of that church ; and the full establishment of the lands, rights, liberties, thereto belonging; which I easily obtained from those gracious hands. Now Sir Walter Leveson, seeing the patrimony of the church so fast and safely settled, and misdoubting what issue those his crazy evidences would find at the common law, began to incline to offers of peace ; and at last drew him so far, as that he yielded to those two main conditions, not particularly for myself, but for the whole body of all those prebends which pertained to the church : first, that he would be content to cast up that fee-farm, which he had of all the patrimony of that church ; and, disclaiming it, receive that which he held of the said church by lease, from us the several prebendaries, for term, whether of years, or, which he rather desired, of lives ; secondly, that he would raise the maintenance of every prebend (whereof some were but forty shillings, others three pounds, PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 63 others four, &c.) to the yearly value of thirty pounds to each man, during the said term of his lease: only, for a monument of my labor and success herein, I required that my prebend might have the addition of ten pounds per annum above the fellows. We were busily treating of this happy match for that poor church : Sir Walter Leveson was not only willing, but forward: the then Dean, Mr. Antonius de Dominis, archbishop of Spalato,* gave both way and furtherance to the dispatch : all had been most happily ended, had not the scrupulousness of one or two of the number deferred so advantageous a conclusion. In the meanwhile, Sir Walter Leveson dies ; leaves his young orphan ward to the King: all our hopes were now blown up; an office was found of all those lands ; the very wonted pay- ments were denied, and I called into the Court of Wards, in fair likelihood, to forego my former hold, and yielded possession. Bat the^e it w^s * See an excellent leUer of Bishop Hall, in Latin, to this Archbishop, in vol. ix. of his Works, p. 214, upon the Arch- bishop's leaving the Church of England, to reconcile himself to that of Rome, This letter is remarkably expressive of Bishop Hall's piety, zeal, and integrity. The Archbishop left England with permission from King James, went to Rome, and was kindly entertained by Pope Gregory XV. After his death hs was thrown into the inquisition, and died soon after, not without suspicion of poison. The day following, his body was tied to a stake, and burnt by the sentence of the inquisition. See Dr. Cosins' Hist, of Transubs. ed. 1676. 64 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. justly awarded by the Lord Treasurer, then Master of the Wards, that the orphan could have no more, no other right than the father : I was, therefore, left in my former state : only upon public complaint of the hard condition wherein the orphan was left, I suffered myself to be over- entreated, to abate somewhat of that evicted composition. Which work having once firmly settled, in a just pity of the mean provision, if not the destitution of so many thousand souls, and a desire and care to have them comfortably pro- vided for in the future, I resigned up the said prebend to a worthy preacher, Mr. Lee, who should constantly reside there, and painfully instruct that great and long neglected people : which he hath hitherto performed with great mutual contentment and happy success. *' Now during this twenty-two years which I spent at Waltham, thrice was I commanded and employed abroad by his Majesty in public service. '* First, in the attendance of the Rt. Honorable Earl of Carlisle, then Lord Viscount Doncaster, who was sent on a noble embassy with a gallant retinue into France: whose entertainment there, the annals of that nation will tell to posterity. In the midst of that service was 1 surprised with a miserable distemper of body ; which ended in a diarrhcea biliosa, not without some beginning PREBENDARY OF WOLVERHAMPTON. 65 and further threats of a dysentery : wherewith I was brought so low, that there seemed small hope of my recovery. Mr. Peter Moulin, to whom I was beholden for his frequent visitations, being sent by my Lord Ambassador to inform him of my estate, brought him so sad news thereof, as that he was much afflicted therewith ; well suppos- ing his welcome to Waltham could not but want much of the heart without me. Now the time of his return drew on, Dr. Moulin kindly offered to remove me, on his Lordship's departure, to his own house ; promising me all careful tendance. I thanked him ; but resolved, if I could but creep homewards, to put myself on the journey. A litter was provided ; but of so little ease, that Simeon's penitential lodging, or a malefactor's stocks, had been less penal. I crawled down from my close chamber into that carriage: In qua videharis mihi efferri, tanquam in sandapild, as Mr. Moulin wrote to me afterward. That misery had I endured in all the long passage from Paris to Dieppe, being left alone to the surly muleteers, had not the providence of my good God brought me to St. Germains, upon the very minute of the setting out of those coaches which had staid there upon that morning's entertainment * " In whicli you seemed tome to be cnrrieH, ns if in a coffin." F I 0^ LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of my Lord Ambassador. How glad was I, that I might change my seat and my company ! In the way, beyond all expectation, I began to gather some strength. Whether the fresh air or the desires of my home revived me, so much and so sudden reparation ensued, as was sensible to myself, and seemed strange to others. Being shipped at Dieppe, the sea used us hardly : and, after a night and a great part of the day following, sent us back well wind-beaten to that bleak haven whence we set forth, forcing us to a more pleasing land-passage, through the coasts of Normandy and Picardy : towards the end whereof my former complaint returned on me : and, landing with nae, accompanied me to and at my long-desired home. In this my absence it pleased his Majesty graciously to confer on me the deanery of Worcester ; which, being promised to me before my departure, was deeply hazarded while I was out of sight, by the importunity and underhand-working of some great ones. Dr. Field, the learned and worthy Dean of Gloucester, was by his potent friends put into such assur- ances of it, that I heard where he took care for the furnishing that ample house. But God fetched it about for me, in that absence and nescience of mine : and that reverend and better deserving divine was well satisfied with greater JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND. 67 hopes, and soon after exchanged, tiiis mortal estate for an immortal and glorious. ** Before I could go down, through my continu- ing weakness, to take possession, of that dignity, his Majesty pleased to design me to his attendance into Scotland; where the great love and respect; that I found, botli from the ministers and people,, wrought me no small envy from some of our own.* Upon a commonly received supposition, that his Majesty would have no further use of his chapr. lains after his remove from Edinburgh (forasmuch as the divines of the counti'y, whereof tbpre is. great store and worthy choice, were allotted to every station,) I easily obtained, through the solicitation of my ever honoured Lord of Carlisle, to return with him before my fellows. No sooner was I gone, than suggestions were made to his Majesty of my over-plausible demeanor and doc- trine to that already prejudicate people : for which his Majesty, after a gracious acknowledgment of my good service there done, called me, upon his return, to a favourable and mild account; not more freely professing what informations had been given against me, than his own full satisfac- tion with my sincere and just answer ; as whose excellent wisdom well saw, that such winning carriage of mine could be no hinderance to those * See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. y, p. 102. F 2 68 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. his great designs. At the same time his Majesty, having secret notice that a letter was coming to me from Mr. W. Struther, a reverend and learned divine of Edinburgh, concerning the Five Points then proposed and urged to the church of Scot- land, * was pleased to impose on me an earnest charge, to give him a full answer in satisfaction to those his modest doubts, and at large to declare my judgment concerning those required observations : which I speedily performed, with so great approbation of his Majesty, that it pleased him to command a transcript thereof, f as I was informed, publicly read in their most famous * The Scots Ministers understanding that the king designed to bring about an uniformity between the churches of England and Scotland, appointed one Mr. William Struthers, a divine of Edinburgh, to preach against such a proceeding ; who, in his sermon in the principal Church of Edinburgh, not only con- demned the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, but prayed God to save Scotland from the same.* The fol- lowing five points or articles were then proposed and urged to the kirk, as a step towards producing uniformity. 1. That the holy sacraments should be received kneeling. 2. That ministers were to administer the sacrament in private houses to the sick, if desired. 3. That ministers were to baptize children privately at home, in cases of necessity. 4. That ministers should bring such cliildren of their parishes, as could say the Catechism, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, to the Bishop to be confirmed. 5. That the festivals of Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and the Ascen- sion, were to be commemorated in the Kirk of Scotland. t This famous Letter to Mr. Struthers is in vol.ix. of Bishop Hall's Works, p. 481-489. • Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 73. Ed. 1668. THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 69 university : the effect whereof his Majesty vouch- safed to signify afterwards unto some of my best friends, with allowance beyond my hopes/' The following year at an assembly convened at Perth, Aug. 25, 1618, an Act was passed to admit those five Articles, which his Majesty had been courting the Scots for two years together to receive. The king, therefore ordered these articles to be read in all parish churches, and required the ministers to preach upon the lawfulness of them, and to exhort their people to submission. And in order to give them a greater authority, they were ordered to be published at the market cross of the principal boroughs ; but this proved not sufficient to enforce conformity as was expected, so in the year 1621, it was enacted by an Act of Parliament that those articles should be observed ; which was certainly contrary to the sense of the kirk and the Scots nation. * The king's journey into Scotland was far from answering the end he had in view ; " the king,'* says Heylin, " gained nothing by that chargeable journey, but the neglect of his commands, and a contempt of his authority." * Crawford's Lives, p. 174. Harris's Life of James L p. 280. Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 110. Heylins's Life of Laud, p. 74." 70 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. His majesty, in his return from Scotland, in 1617, passing through Lancashire, imagined that the strict observance of the Sabbath-day enjoined by the magistrates and clergy, tended to preju- dice the minds of papists against the strictness of the Church of England. Complaints being made to the king that the people were prohibited from all sorts of diversions and sports on the sabbath- day; wherefore in order to discourage Puritan- ism and to silence the objections of Papists, his Majesty published a declaration called " The Book of Sports,^' to encourage recreations and sports on the Lord's day ! It is said that this book of sports was drawn up by Bishop Morton ; it was dated, "Greenwich, May 24, 1618." The substance of it is the fol- lowing: " That for his good people's recreation, his Majesty's pleasure was, that after the end of divine service, they should not be disturbed, letted, or discouraged from any lawful recrea- tions ; such as dancing, either of men or women, archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any such harmless recreations; nor having oi may-games, whitsun ales, or morris dances, or setting up of may poles, or other sports therewith used, so as the same may be had in due and convenient time, without impediment or let of divine service; and that women should have leave to carry rushes to the church for the decorating of it. THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 71 according to their old custpms ; withal prohibit- ing all unlawful games to be used on Sundays only, as bear-baiting, bull-baiting, interludes, and at all times (in the meaner sort of people pro- hibited) bowling'' A restraint was annexed to this indulgence, that no papist or recusant was to have the benefit of this declaration ; nor such as were not present at the whole of divine ser- vice, nor such as did not keep to their own parish churches, i. e. puritans who probably frequented other churches, instead of that of their own parish, on account of the character of the several ministers. Now this royal declaration was not only an inlet for the gross violation of the divine command, " Remember to keep holy the sabbath day ;" but it tended to demoralize the people. It was con- trary to the king's proclamation in the first year of his reign, and to the articles of the Irish Church, ratified under the great seal, 1615,, in which the morality of the Lord's day is affirmed. * But the Puritans, being the objects of his Majesty's aver- sion and hatred, by their preaching and practice. * Article 56. The first day of the week, which is the Lord's day, is wholly to be dedicated to the service of God, and therefore we are bound tiierein to rest from our common and daily business, and to bestow that leisure upon holy exercises, both public and private." See tlie Articles at large in Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. 5. Appendix iii. 72 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. were inculcating the strict observance of the sabbath ; and* therefore the fasts and festivals of the church vrere rather neglected, and in order to counteract this, his Majesty thought proper to command those idle and vain sports on the Lord's day; in order to prevent the growth of Puritanism and Popery ! or, in other words, to prevent the blessed effects of true religion in the minds of his subjects, and to encourage all vice and immo- rality ! This royal declaration was ordered to be read in all the parish churches of Lancashire, and was intended to be read in all the churches of England, but that Archbishop Abbot, being at Croydon, the day on which it was ordered to be read in the churches, expressly forbad it to be read there. Several of the bishops also and clergy declared their opinion against this hook of sports. Most probably Dr. Hall disapproved of it highly, as he afterwards did when Bishop of Exeter; when he and several of the bishops would not urge the reading of it, when a second edition of it, revised and enlarged was set forth by royal authority in the ninth year of Charles the first. * The publishing of such a declaration, as it may * That Bishop Hall was an advocate for the morality of the sabbath, we raay see in an account of the manner of his spend- ing it, in the 7th vol. of his Works, p. 256. THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 73 be well imagined, made a great noise : for it was certainly an imprudent project as well as a source of grief to all sincere protestants, and friends of religion. And had the k ng persisted in ordering it to be read publicly in all the churches, under the penalty of suffering from the high commission, it would probably have produced much greater convulsions than it did in the following reign, about fifteen years afterwards.* It is difficult to account for the distinction between lawful and unlawful sports on the Lord's day ; if any sports are lawful, why not all ? No reason can possibly be given why dancing, revels, wakes, may games, and such like, should be more lawful than hear or bull hailing, interludes, and howls. The nature of both is immoral, for they have equal tendency to promote vice and immo- rality. The exceptions in his Majesty's declara- tion are truly extraordinary ; could the king believe that those who vf ere puritanically inclined, or who went to other parish churches for their better edification, would now make use of the liberty of his declaration, when he must know that they conscientiously beHeved in the morality of the fourth commandment, and that no ordinance * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 500. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 115. 74 LIFE OF BISHOP HA.LL. of man could make void the law of God ? His majesty also debars recusants, i.e. papists, from this liberty, which popery always had indulged them with ; but the Papist is now to turn Puritan^ with regard to the sabbath, being forbidden the use of sports and recreations on the Lord s day, in which he always indulged ; and protestants are to dance and revel on that sacred day to preserve them from Puritanism and Popery ; how absurd, unreasonable, ungodly and profane was this book of sports of King James I. * When a second edition of it was set forth in the next reign, some further particulars and remarks concerning it will be given. In the year 1618, the troubles and disputes about rehgious matters began in Holland, between the Calvinists and Arminians, or, as they were ?\^oiev\nedi, remonstrants and contra-remonstrants. Their controversies were reduced to the following five points; — election — redemption — original sin — effectual grace — and perseverance. In order to decide these difficulties, the States -General resolved to convene a national Synod at Dort. * Dr. Warner in his Eccles. Hist, of England, gives the follow- ing account of King James I, and his court — '* It was said that the court gave a very ill example to the rest of the nation ; nothing was to be heard there but oaths and language bordering upon blasphemy, from which the king himself was not free." Vol. ii, p. 500, SYJfOD (XF DORT. 75 And in order to give the greater lustre and weight to their determination, they requested some foreign princes to send to them the assist- ance of their divines. King James I. was applied to for some English divines to be sent over, who was pleased to appoint George Carleton, D. D. Bishop of Landaff, Joseph Hall, D. D. then Dean of Worcester, John Davenant, D. D. Mar- garet Professor, and Master of Queen's College, Cambridge, Samuel Ward, D. D. Master of Sydney College, Cambridge, and Archdeacon of Taunton.* These divines, according to their summons, repaired to the King then at New Market, and received from him the following instructions relative to their conduct in the synod. 1. ** Our will and pleasure is, that from this time forward upon all occasions, you inure your- selves to the practice of the Latin tongue, that -when there is cause, you may deliver your minds with more readiness and facility. 2. " You shall, in all points to be debated and disputed, resolve amongst yourselves beforehand. * These four divines were distinguislied ** in their respective eminences:" •* In Carletono praelucebat Episcopalis gravitas, in Davenatitio subactum judicium ; in Wardo multa lectio ; io Hallo e\pedita concionatio." Fuller's Worthies, vol. ii, p. 190, ed. 1811, 4to. 76 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL, what is the true state of the question, and jointly and uniformly agree thereupon. 3. "If in debating of the cause by the learned men there, any thing be emergent, whereof you thought not before, you shall meet and consult thereupon again, and so resolve among yourselves jointly what is fit to be maintained. And this to be done agreeable to the Scriptures, and the doctrine of the Church of England. 4. " Your advice shall be to those churches, that their ministers do not deliver in the pulpit to the people these things for ordinary doctrines, which are the highest points of the schools, and not fit for vulgar capacity, but disputable on both sides. 5. " That they use no innovation in doctrine, but teach the same things which were taught twenty or thirty years past in their own churches, and especially that which contradicteth not their own confessions so long since published and known unto the world. 6. ** That they conform themselves to the public confessions of the neighbour reformed churches, with whom to hold good correspond- ency, shall be no dishonour to them. 7. " That if there be main opposition between any who are over-much addicted to their own opinions, your endeavours shall be, that certain SYNOD OF DORT. 77 positions be moderately laid down, which may tend to the mitigation of heat on both sides. 8. *' That, as you principally look to God's glory, and the peace of those distracted churches, so you have an eye to our honour, who send and employ you thither ; and consequently at all times consult with our Ambassador there residing, who is best acquainted with the form of those countries, understandeth well the questions and differences among them, and shall from time receive our princely directions, as occasion shall require. 9. *' Finally, in all other things, which we cannot foresee, you shall carry yourselves with that advice, moderation, and discretion as to persons of your quahty and gravity shall apper- tain." These divines, after having received his Majes- ty's instructions, prepared for the voyage; and the United States sent over a man of war to Gravesend, to convey them to Holland:* but accidentally they missed the man of war, and so were obliged to take their passage over in a small * " I have even now letters from the Admiralty at Rotterdam, that the ship, wherein I passed last into England, shall go pre- sently over to fetch those reverend persons his Majesty doth send to the Synod: and I do by this bearer appoint it to attend their commodity at Gravesend." Letters from and to Sir Dudley Carleton, 4to, p, 306. 78 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. vessel, and safely landed Oct. 20, 1618, at Mid- dleburgh. * This famous Synod consisted of thirty-six ministers of the United States, and five professors, together with twenty elders : to these were added twenty-eight foreign divines. Mr. Balcanqi^J,, a Scots divine, w^as deputed by hi& Majesty to represent the Kirk in the Synod. The ever- memorable John Hales also attended the Synod, not as a member, but was sent by Sir Dudley Carleton, the English Ambassador in Holland, to give him an account of what passed in the Synod, f The English divines being arrived at the Hague, were introduced to the Assembly of the States on the 5th of November, by the English Ambas- sador. They were received with every mark of distinction : and were allowed by the states, ten pounds sterling a day: '* an entertainment," says Fuller, far larger than what was appointed to any other foreign Theologues; and politickly pro- portioned in grateful consideration of the great- ness of his Majesty who employed them. And these English divines, knowing themselves sent over not to gain wealth to themselves, but glory * Fuller's Ch. Hist. c. 10, p. 78. t Hale's Golden Remains, p. 454, 8vo, London, 1687. He was Chaplain to the Ambassador. SYNOD OF DORT. 79 to God, and reputation to their Sovereign, freely gave what they had freely received, keeping a table general, where any fashionable foreigner was courteously and plentifully entertained."* It has been said that this Synod was not con- ducted with impartiality ; and that its end and design was to condemn the Remonstrants. Tlie majority certainly were Calvinists, or Anti-remon- strants, and on that account, it may be that the Remonstrants had no fair play to defend them- selves, and were also not admitted to a free debate. When all the members of the Synod were assembled, the following Oath was taken by them in the 23d Session, each person standing up in his place, and laying his hand upon his heart : " I promise before God, whom I believe and worship, as here present, and as the searcher of the reins and heart, that during the whole course of the transactions of this Synod, in which there will be made an enquiry into, and judgment and decision of, not only the w^ell-known Jive points, and all the difficulties resulting from thence, but likewise of all other sorts of doctrine, 1 will not make use of any kind of human writings, but only ♦ Faller's Cb. Hist. c. x, p. 79. 80 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of the word of God, as a sure and infallible rule of faith. Neither will I have any other thing in view throughout this whole discussion, but the honour of God, the peace of the church, and above all, the preservation of the purity of doc- trine. So keep me my Saviour Jesus Christ, whom I ardently beseech to assist me in this my design, by his Holy Spirit." John Goodwin, in his book termed Redemption Redeemed, p. 395, charges the contra-remonstrants with taking a previous oath to condemn the opposite party on what terms soever. This must have been an unjust insinuation. Fuller, the writer of the Church History, about the time such false reports were spread concerning the Synod, wrote to Dr. Hall, Bishop of Norwich, who was then alive, 1651, to ask the truth. The aged and venerable Bishop returned the following full and satisfactory reply : " Whereas you desire from me a just relation of the carriage of the business at the Synod of Dort, and the conditions required of our Divines there, at or before their admission to that grave and learned Assembly : I, whom God was pleased to employ, as an unworthy agent in that great work, and to reserve still upon earth, after all my reverend and worthy associates, do, as in the presence of that God, to whom I am now daily expecting to yield up my account, testify to you. SYNOD OF DORT. 81 and (if you will) to the world, that I cannot, without just indignation, read that slanderous imputation, which Mr, Goodwill, in his Redemp- tion Redeemed, reports to have been raised, and cast upon those Divines, eminent both for learn- ing and piety, " That they suffered themselves to be bound with an Oath, at, or before their admission into that Synod, to vote down the Remonstrants howsoever," so as they came deeply pregnated to the decision of those unhappy differences. *' Truly, Sir, as I hope to be saved, all the Oath that was required was this : after that the Mode- rator, Assistants, and Scribes were chosen, and the Synod formed, and the several members allowed, there was a solemn Oath required to be taken by every one of that Assembly, which was publicly done in a grave manner, by every person in their order, standing up, and laying his hand upon his heart, calling the great God of heaven to witness, that he would impartially proceed in the judgment of these controversies, which should be laid before him, only out of, and according to the written word of God, and no otherwise, so determining of them, as he should find in his conscience most agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, which Oath was punctually agreed to be thus taken by the Articles of the States, concerning 82 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. the indiction, and ordering of the Synod, as appears plainly in their tenth Article; and this was all the Oath that was either taken, or required. And far was it from those holy souls, which are now glorious in heaven, or mine (who still for some short time survive, to give this just witness of our sincere integrity) to entertain the least thought of any so foul corruption, as by any over-ruling power to be swayed to a prejudg- ment in the points controverted. " It grieves my soul therefore to see, that any learned Divine should raise imaginary conjectures to himself, of an interest and obligation of a fancied Oath (working upon them, and drawing them contrary to the dictation of their own con- science, as it did Herod's in the case of John Baptist's beheading) merely out of his own com- parative construction of the different forms of expressing themselves in managing those contro- versies. Wherein if at any time they seemed to speak nearer to the Tenet of the Remonstrants, it must be imputed to their holy ingenuity, and gracious disposition to peace, and to no other sinister respect. " Sir, since I have lived to see so foul an asper- sion cast upon the memory of those worthy and eminent Divines, I bless God that I yet live to vindicate them, by this ray knowing, clear, and SYNOD OF DORT. 83 assured attestation ; which I am ready to second with the solemnest Oath, if I shall be thereto required. Your much devoted friend, precessor, and fellow labourer, August »o, 1651. JOSEPH HALL, B.N. Fuller makes the following pertinent remarks upon the above epistle : " Let the reader weigh in the balance of his judgment, how this purgation of the Synod of Dort is positive, and punctual, from one, an ear and eye witnes^ thereof, being such an one as Dr. Hall, the aged ; so that his testimonium herein, may seem testametituni : his ivitness his willy and the truth therein delivered, a legacy by him bequeathed to posterity. * After being at the Synod for about two months. Dr. Hall found that the air of Dort did not agree with him : the noise and unquietness of the place did also so disturb his rest, that he was reduced to great debility. The other English divines therefore wrote t© the English Ambas- sador, Sir Dudley Carleton, that he desired leave to return to England, and they recommended in his room Dr. Goad, Chaplain to the Archbishop • Ch. Hist. b. X, p. 86. G 2 84 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of Canterbury ; they also requested his excellency to write to the Archbishop, to procure that favor from the King. But the Prince of Orange was not willing that Dr. Hall should return, he there- fore wished him to come to the Hague, to try whether change of air would do him good ; and in the mean time, if it would please the king to send Dr. Goad, and if Dr. Hall would recover his health, they might enjoy the benefit of the assistance of both. The assistance of the English divines in the transactions of the Synod was considerable and duly estimated. Upon several occasions they gave satisfactojy proof of their abilities, suffi- ciency, and discretion. The other Foreign and Dutch divines were in a great measure guided by* the English, so that they rather wished their number augmented than diminished : particularly they were very unwilling to spare Dr. Hall, who was highly respected and esteemed by them.* *' By that time," continues the narrative, " I had staid some two months there, the unquietness of the nights in those garrison towns working on the tender disposition of my body, brought me to such weakness through want of rest, that * See Letters from and to Sir Dudley Carleton, 4to. 1775. Second Edition. SYNOD OF DORT. 85 it began to disable me from attendiag the Synod: which yet, as I might, 1 forced myself unto; as wishing that my zeal could have dis- countenanced my infirmity. Where, in the mean time, it is well worthy of my thankful remem- brance, that, being in an afflicted and languishing condition for a fortnight together, with that sleep- less distemper, yet it pleased God, the very night before I was to preach the Latin sermon to the Synod, to bestow on me such a comfortable refreshing of sufficient sleep, as whereby my spirits were revived, and I was enabled with much vigor and vivacity to perform that service : which was no sooner done, than my former complaint renewed on me, and prevailed against all the remedies that the counsel of physicians could advise me unto ; so as, after long strife, I was compelled to yield unto a retirement, for the time, to the Hague; to see if change of place and more careful attendance, which I had in the house of our Right Honorable Ambassador, the Lord Carletou, now Viscount Dorchester, might recover me. But when, notwithstanding all means, my weakness increased so far, as that there was small likelihood left of so much strength remaining as might bring me back into England, it pleased his gracious Majesty, by our noble Ambassador's solicitation, to call me off; and to substitute a worthy divine, Dr. Goade, in my unwilUng for- 86 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. saken room. Returning by Dort, I sent in my sad farewell to that grave assembly; who, by common vote, sent to me the president of the Synod and the assistants with a respective and gracious valediction. Neither did the deputies of my lords the States neglect, after a very respectful compliment sent from them to me by Daniel Heinsius, to visit me : and, after a noble acknowledgment of more good service from me than I durst own, dismissed me with a honour- able retribution ; and sent after me a rich medal of gold* the portraiture of the Synod, for a pre- cious monument of their respects to my poor endeavours : who failed not, while I was at the Hague, to impart unto them my poor advice con- cerning the proceeding of that synodical meeting. The difficulties of my return, in such weakness, were many and great; wherein, if ever, God manifested his special providence to me, in over- ruling the cross accidents of that passage : and, after many dangers and despairs, contriving my safe arrival.'^ * This medal, which the Bishop used to wear suspended on his breast, as appears by some of his portraitures, came into the possession of the family of Jermy, of Baylield Hall, near Holt, in the County of Norfolk; and was bequeathed by William Jermy, Esq. at his death, which happened in January 1750, (Gent. Magazine) to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. See Master's History of Bene't College, Cambridge, p. 367. SYNOD OF DORT. 87 It was on Nov. 29, 1618, being the sixteenth session of the Synod, that Dr. Hall preached his Latin Sermon before this famous assembly. But his disorder again recurred, which eventually obliged him to return to his native air. He preached from Eccles. vii, 10. Be not righteous overmuch^ neither make thyself overwise. He observed, among many excellent things, that *' there were two sorts of theology, scholastic and popular, the one respects the foundation, the other the form and ornaments of the building: the one relates to the things, which ought to be known, the other to things which may be known: the knowledge of the one makes a christian ; of the other, a disputer. Or, the one makes a divine, the other polishes him. That if St. Paul should come into the world again, he would not understand the subtle disputes between the Jesuits and the Dominicans. That the Catechism of the Apostles consisted only of six articles : that the modern theology was like the quantity of Mathematicians, which is divisible in infinitum" He concluded with an earnest exhor- tation to peace and unanimity among christians : ** study to be quiet," said he, ^(XoTt/*£j myxoKsiv, ** we are brethren, let us be fellow servants, what have we to do with the infamous title of remonstrants^ and contra-remonstrantiy of Calvin- ists and Armimans, We are christians, let us be 88 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. like-minded, lao^uxot. We are one body, let us be of one mind. I beseech you, brethren, by the tre- mendous name of God, by the pious and cher- ishing bosom of our common mother, (the church;) by your own souls, by the most holy bowels of our Saviour Jesus Christ, promote peace." For this excellent discourse, thanks were publicly given him ; and it was printed in the transactions of the Synod ;^ and it is for the first time printed apart in the Appendix to this volume. After being kindly taken care of, in the house of the English Ambassador for some weeks. Dr. Hall still continued very weak ; the king therefore granted him leave to return as soon as his strength would permit. When he so far recovered as to be able to be removed, he returned by Dort, and* " with a becoming gravity, publicly took his solemn farewell of the Synod" with the following Latin speech : " Non facile vero mecum in gratiam redierit cadaverosa haec moles, quam aegr^ usque cir- cumgesto, quae mihi hujus Conventus celebritatem toties inviderit, jamque prorsus invitissimum k vobis importune avocat, et divellit. Neque enim ullus est profect6 sub cceIo locus aequ^ cceli * See Acta Sj'nodi Nationalis Dordrcchtonae, p. 38. ed. 1620. fol. SYNOD OF DORT. 89 aemulus, et in qao tentorium mihi figi maluerim, cuj usque adeo gestiet mihi aniams meminisse. Beatos ver6 vos, quibus hoc frui datum ! non dignus eram ego (ut fidelissimi Romani querimo- niara imitari liceat) qui et Christi, et Ecclesiae suae nomine, sanctam hane provinciam diutius susti- nerem. Illud vero Qen £v yava^j. Nempe audito, quod res erat, non a\iX me qui\m adversissima hie usum valetudine, Serenissimus Rex mens misertus miselli famuli sui, revocat me domum, quippe qu6d cineres meos, aut sandapilum vobis nihil quicquam prodesse posse n6rit, succenturiavitque mihi virum h suis selectissimum, quantum Theo- logum. De me profecto (mero jam siHcernio) quicquid fiat, viderit ille Deus mens, cujus ego totus sum. Vobis quidem ita feliciter prospectum est, ut sit cur infirmitati meae baud parum gratu- lemini, quam hujusmodi instructissimo succedaneo ccEtum hunc vestrum beaverit. Neque tamen committam (si Deus mihi vitam, et vires indul- seritj ut et corpdre siraul, et animo abesse videar. Intere^ santi huic Synodo, ubicunque terrarum sum, et vobis, consiliis conatibusque meis quibus- cunque, res vestras me, pro virili, sedulo, ac seri6 promoturum, sanct^ voveo. Interim vobis omni- bus, ac singuHs, Honoratissimi Domini Delegati, Reverendissime Praeses, Gravissimi Assessores, Scribae doctissimi, Symmystae colendissimi, Tibi- que, Vencrandissima Synodus universa, aegro 90 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. animo ac corpore aeternum valedico. Rogo vos omnes obnixius, ut precibus vestris imbecillem reducem facere, comitari, prosequi velitis." The Synod continued from Nov. 13, 1618, to May 29, 1619. The English divines agreed in approving the Belgic confession of faith, and the Heidelberg Catechism. The five points of differ- ence between the Calvinists and Arminians were decided in favor of the former. Afterwards the remonstrant divines were dismissed the assembly, and banished the country within a limited time. The deprivations and banishments, which fol- lowed the decision of the Synod, of such eminent men, as Episcopius, Uytenbogart, Corvenus, &c. and the persecution, which ensued throughout the united states against the Arminians, greatly diminish the good opinion we might otherwise form of the Synod, and of its transactions. Many of the divines undoubtedly meant well ; but the mischief was, there were worldly views and state policy interwoven with its religious acts. ^ When the opinions of the British divines upon the extent of Christ's redemption were read, it was observed that they omitted the distinction between the sufficiency and efficacy of it ; nor did they touch upon the limitation of those passages * See Harris's Life of James I, p. 152. SYNOD OF DORT. 91 of Scripture, which, speaking of Christ's dying, for the whole world, are frequently interpreted of the world of the elect. Dr. Davenant and some of his brethren inchned to the doctrine of universal redemption : he and Dr. Ward were for a middle way between the two extremes ; they maintained the certaiiity of the salvation of the elect, and that offers of pardon were sent not only to all who should believe and repent, but to all who hear the gospel ; and that grace sufficient to convince and persuade the impenitent (so as to lay the blame of their condemnation upon themselves) went along with these offers : diat the redemption of Christ and his merits were applicable to these, and consequently there was a possibility of their salvation. They however complied with the Synod, and agreed to their confession, as in general agreeable to the word of God. But some years after, a report arose that they had deserted the doctrine of the Church of England, upon which Dr. Hall expressed his concern to Dr. Davenant in these words — '* I will live and die in the suffrage of that Synod of Dort ; and I do confidently avow, that those other opinions (of Arminius) cannot stand with the doctrine of the Church of England." To which Dr. Davenant replied, " I know that no man can embrace Arminianism in the doctrines oi predestiiiation and giwice, but he must desert the articles agreed upon 92 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. by the Church of England; nor in the point of perseverance, but he must vary from the received opinions of our best approved doctors in the English Church." The narrative continues : — " After not many years' settling at home, it grieved my soul to see our own church begin to sicken of the same disease which we had endea- voured to cure in our neighbors. Mr. Montague's tart and vehement assertions of some positions, near of kin to the remonstrants of Netherland, gave occasion of raising no small broil in the church. Sides were taken : pulpits every where rang of these opinions: but parliaments took notice of the division, and questioned the occa- sioned Now, as one that desired to do all good offices to our dear and common mother, I set my thoughts on work how so dangerous a quarrel might be happily composed : and, finding that mistaking was more guilty of this dissention than misbelieving (since it plainly appeared to me, that Mr. Montague meant to express, not Arminius^ but B. Overall, a more moderate and safe author^ however he sped in delivery of him,) I wrote a little project of pacification, wherein I desired to rectify the judgment of men concerning this mis-apprehended controversy ; showing them the true party in this unseasonable plea : and, because HIS VIA MEDIA. 95 B. Overall ^ went a midway betwixt the two opinions which he held extreme, and must needs therefore somewhat differ from the commonly- received tenet in these points, I gathered out of B. Overall on the one side, and out of our English divines at Dort on the other, such common pro- positions concerning these five busy articles as wherein both of them are fully agreed. All which being put together, seemed unto me to make up so sufficient a body of accorded truth, that all other questions moved hereabouts appeared merely superfluous ; and every moderate Chris- tian might find where to rest himself, without hazard of contradiction. These I made bold, by the hands of Dr. Young the worthy Dean of Winchester, to present to his excellent Majesty, together with an humble motion of a peaceable silence to be enjoined to both parts, in those other collateral and needless disquisitions : which, if they might benefit the schools of academical disputants, could not certainly sound well from the pulpits of popular auditories. Those recon- ciliatory papers fell under the eyes of some grave divines on both parts. Mr. Montague professed that he had seen them, and would subscribe to * He was one of the most profound school divines of the English natioB. He was employed in the translation of the Bible ; and wrote the sacramental part of the Church Catechism. JMr LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. them very willingly : others, that were contrarily minded, both English, Scottish, and French divines, proferred their hands to a no less ready subscription. So as much peace promised to result, out of that weak and poor enterprise, had not the confused noise of the misconstructions of those who never saw the work, crying it down for the very name's sake, meeting with the royal edict of a general inhibition, buried it in a secure silence." J " 1 was scorched a little with this flame, which I desired to quench : yet this could not stay my hand from thrusting itself into a hotter fire." " Some insolent Romanists, Jesuits especially, in their bold disputations (which, in the time of the treaty of the Spanish match and the calm of that relaxation, were very frequent,) pressed nothing so much as a catalogue of the professors of our religion to be deduced from the primitive times; and, with the peremptory challenge of the impos- sibility of this pedigree, dazzled the eyes of the simple : while some of our learned men, under- taking to satisfy so needless and unjust a demand, gave, as I conceived, great advantage to the adversary. In a just indignation to see us thus wronged by misstating the question betwixt us, as if we, yielding ourselves of another church, origi- nally and fundamentally different, should make good our own erection on the ruins, yea, the AGAINST THE PAPISTS. 96 nullity of theirs ; and well considering the inlBnite and great inconveniences, that must needs follow on this defence ; I adventured to set my pen on work ; desiring to rectify the opinions of those men, whom an ignorant zeal had transported, to the prejudice of our holy cause: laying forth the damnable corruptions of the Roman church, yet making our game of the outward visibility thereof; and, by this means, putting them to the probation of those newly-obtruded corruptions, which are truly guilty of the breach betwixt us. The drift whereof being not well conceived by some spirits that were not so wise as fervent, I was suddenly exposed to the rash censures of many well-affected and zealous Protestants ; as if I had, in a remission to my wonted zeal to the truth, attributed too much to the Roman church, and strengthened the adversaries' hands, and weakened our own. This envy I was fain to take off, by my speedy Apologetical Advertisement; and, after that, by my Reconciler, seconded with the unanimous letters of such reverend, learned, sound divines, * both bishops and doctors, as whose undoubtable authority was able to bear down calumny itself : which done, I did, by a seasonable moderation, provide for the peace * B. MoTtou, B. Daveaant, Dr. Prideaux, Dr. Priinrose. 96 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of the church, in silencing both my defendants and challengers, in this unkind and ill-raised quarrel." To this hasty sketch of the Bishop's, some further particulars may be added. Popery at this time was gaining ground in many places ; a book was published by a papist, enti- tled, A New Gag for the Old Gospel^ which Mr. Richard Montague, Rector of Stamford- Rivers in Essex, undertook to answer in the year 162t3, by a book, called, A New Gag for an Old Goose. This reply gave a great offence to many of the clergy. It was written in a satyrical manner, for Mr. Montague's ink was generally mingled with much gall : and its tendency was, in a great measure, to promote Popery and Arminianism. This book occasioned much noise, and " no small broil in the church." Two divines of the diocese of Norwich, Mr. Ward and Mr. Gates, undertook to extract the Popish and Arminian tenets out of it, in order to lay them before Parliament; and the charge of propagating Popish and Arminian errors, and of deserting instead of defending the cause of the church, was made to Parliament against Mr. Montague. He was therefore examined at the bar of the house, and referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who expressly prohibited him to write any more Montague's writings. 97 on such subjects. But the king openly protected him, and approved of his sentiments. Being thus encouraged by his Majesty, Mr. Montague wrote a vindication of himself in a work, intitled, Appello CiPsarem ; or Appeal to Ccesar, and designed it for King James ; but he died before the book was published, it was therefore dedicated to Charles I. This appeal was calculated to attempt a reconciliation with Rome, to promote Arminian- isni, and to advance the king s prerogative above law. The house appointed a committee to examine into its errors ; — afterwards they voted it contrary to the articles of the Church of England, and bound the author in a recognizance of £2000 for his appearance.* Dr. Laud, then Bishop of St. David's, and the Bishops of Rochester and Oxford, joined in a letter! to the Duke of Buckingham, to prevail on his Majesty to take the cause of Mr. Montague into his own hands. This letter had its desired effect, and procured quietness to him. His Majesty declared he would bring the cause before the council, it being a branch of his supremacy to determine matters of religion. He expressed his • Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 161. t See the Letter in Heylin's Life of Archbishop Laud, pp, 136, 137. H 98 LIFE OP BISHOP HALL. displeasure against the commons for calling his chaplain to their bar. King James I. died March 27> 1625, in the 59th year of his age. " The Church of England/' says Harris, " under James, was in a happy state, being highly praised, protected, and favoured by him."* Dr. Hall, in a sermon preached to his Majesty, at the court of Whitehall, Aug. 8, 1624, says, " England was once, yea, lately was, per- haps is still, the most flourishing church under heaven; that I may take up the prophet's words; the glory of churches, the beauty of excellency, Isa. xiii, 19. But sectaries were then increasing, and threatening to disturb the peace and unity of the church ; that he farther says, " what it may be, what it will be, if we fall still into distractions and various sects, God knows, and it is not hard for men to foresee. Surely, if we grow into that anarchical fashion of independent congregations, which I see, and lament to see, affected by too many, not without woeful success ; we are gone, we are lost, in a most miserable confusion : we shall be, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ; and it shall be with us, as the prophet speaks of proud and glorious Babylon, the shep- herds shall not make their fold there : wild beasts * Life of James I. pp.267, pp. 257, 268. BOOK OF SPORTS. 145 further than to the few hours of public service : and that, in the intervals, all kinds of revels and diversions were lawful and expedient. It must be acknowledged that the long Parlia- ment paid a particular regard to the strict and due observation of the Lord's day, and so passed several ordinances or acts to that purpose. All kinds of sports, either before pr after divine ser- vice, were discountenanced ; the preaching of God's word was promoted in the afternoon on Sundays, in the several churches and chapels, and ministers were encouraged thereunto. And it does the long Parliament credit so far as to shew their abhorrence of the infamous hook of sports, which was ordered. May 5, 1643, to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman in Cheapside, and other places; and all persons having any copies in their hands, were required to deliver them to one of the Sheriffs of London to be burnt. Archbishop Laud was so far from undeceiving those who were disposed to imagine that the church was leaning to popery, that he seemed at this time to have taken care to confirm them in their suspicion, by conforming to the Romish church in matters of little moment. There was scarce a church then in England, except the cathedrals, and the king's chapel, where the communion table was placed altarwise at the upper end of the chan- 146 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. eel. The communion-table was usually placed in the middle of the chancel, and the people received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper round it, or in their places thereabouts.* The dean and chapter of St. Paul's ordered the communion table in St. Gregory's church near St. Paul's to be removed from the middle of the chancel to the upper end of it, and to be placed there in form of an altar. This was complained of by the parishion- ers in the Court of Arches. The king some- time after commanded this cause to be heard before the council ; where his Majesty himself directed the Dean of the Arches to confirm what had been done. In consequence of this sentence, pronounced by the king's authority, without the judgment of the court, to which the cognizance of this affair belonged, all communion- tables were ordered to be fixed under the east- wall of the chancel, with the ends north and south in form of an altar; and to be raised two or three steps above the floor, and encompassed with rails. This proved a source of oppression to many minis- ters and parishes who were unwilling to comply with such an order. It is almost incredible what a great ferment this trifling alteration occasioned over the kingdom. Books were written for and * The cornmunioD-table of the cliurch of Great Gransden, Hunts, remains still (1824) in the raiddle of the Chancel. PRYNNE. 147 against it, with the same earnestness and conten- tion for victory, as if the very existence of rehgion had been in danger. This occasioned a sort of schism or division among the bishops, " and a great deal of uncharitableness in the learned and mode- rate clergy towards one another."* Those who opposed the alterations were called doctrmal puritans, and the promoters of them doctriiial papists. As the Archbishop and his party >vere thus indiscreet on the one side, so the zeal of the puritans, on the other, betrayed them into very intemperate and indecent practices towards the established government of the church. But they were not the only people who were dissatisfied with the innovations which were introduced, and who were jealous that something more was in- tended than was as yet proposed, f About the beginning of the year 1634, the severe sentence of the Star-chamber was pro- nounced against William Prynne, barrister and member of Lincoln's-inn, for writing a book inti- tled Histriomastix, J against plays, masquerades. * Clarendon. t Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 526. X This book is a thick quarto of 1006 pages. It abounds with learning, and has some curious quotations ; but it is a very tedious and heavy performance ; had he been let alone, few people would have read his book. He was a person of austere principles, and, perhaps, was one of the hardest students that ever existed. He was called one of the greatest paper-worms that L 2 148 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. dancing, &c. He was sentenced to have his book burnt, to be disabled from the practice of the law, be degraded from his degree in the university, be set in the pillory, have both his ears cut off, to pay a fine of £ 5000. and to be imprisoned during life." A short time after, Dr. Bastwick a physician, and Mr. Burton a clergy- man, were imprisoned ; the former for writing a book entitled Elenchus Religionis Papisticce, with Appendix, called Flagellum Pontijicis et Episcopo- rum JLatialium, which gave a great offence to Laud and others ; the latter, for having published two exceptionable sermons, from Pro v. xxiv, 21, 22, entitled. For God and the King, against the late innovations. *' The punishment of these men, who were of the three great professions," observes ever crept into a library. Wood supposes that he wrote a sheet for every day of his life, computing from the time of his arrival to man's estate to the day of his death. He says, **his custom was, when he studied, to put on a long quilted cap, which came an inch over his eyes, serving as an umbrella to defend them from too much light; and seldom eating a dinner, would every three hours, or more, be mounching a roll of bread, and now and then refresh his exhausted spirits with ale." He wrote about two hundred books, which he gave in 40 vols, fol. and 4to. to the public Library of Lincoln's Inn. On the restoration of Charles II. some asked the king what mnst be done with Prynne to make him quiet. " Why," said his Majesty, " let him amuse himself with writing against the Catholics, and in poring over the records of the Tower." To enable him to do the latter, he was appointed Keeper of the Records of the Tower, with a salary of £500. a year. He died Oct. 24, 1669. Wood's Athen. Oxon, vol. ii, pp. 311-327. BURTON, PRYNNE, AND BASTWICK. 149 Mr. Granger, " was ignominious and severe: though they were never objects of esteem, they soon became objects of pity. The indignity and severity of their punishment gave general offence ; and they were no longer regarded as criminals, but confessors."* During imprisonment, the above three persons were charged with writing several libellous pam- phlets, and in the year 1637| were sentenced to suffer perpetual imprisonment; Burton to be deprived of his living, and to be degraded from his ministry, as Prynne and Bastwick had been from their profession of law and physic — each of them to pay a fine of £ 5000 — to stand in the pillory at Westminster, and have their ears cut off: and because Prynne had already lost his ears, it was ordered that the stumps should be cut off; and that he should be stigmatized on both cheeks with the letters S. L. viz. Seditious Libeller, Prynne was imprisoned in Carnarvon castle, but afterwards removed to Montorguiel Castle in Jersey: Bastwick in Launceston Castle, but removed to the castle in the isle of Scilly ; and Burton in the castle of Lancaster, but was removed to Castle-cornet in the island of Guernsey ; where they were kept without the use of pen, ink and ♦ Biog. Hbt. of Eng. vol. ii, p. 192. 150 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. t paper, or the access of their friends, till they were released by the long parliament.* Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, and the Rev. Mr. Osbaldeston, head-master of Westminster school, met with severe hardships by means of Archbishop Laud. Bishop Williams had been so good a friend to Laud as to persuade King James to advance him to a bishopric. But upon the accession of King Charles, Laud turned upon his benefactor, and supplanted him from favour and preferments at court. Upon which Bishop Williams retired to his diocese, and spent his time in reading and in the good government of his diocese. He said once in conversation, " that the puritans were the kings best subjects, and he was sure would carry all at last ; and that the king had told him, " that he w^ould treat the puritans more mildly for the future." Laud being informed of this expression, caused an information to be lodged against him in the Star-Chamber, for revealing the king's secrets ; but the charge not being well supported, a new bill was exhibited against him, for tampering with the king's witnesses. Consequently the bishop was suspended from all his offices and benefices,was fined eleven thousand * Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 280. See a full accouat of these sufferers in Brook's Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii. OSBALDESTON. 151 pounds, and to be imprisoned in the Tower during the king's pleasure. He was kept a close prisoner about four years, till the meeting of the long parlia- ment. The Rev.Mr.Osbaldeston was charged ivith plotting with the bishop of Lincoln to divulge false neivSy and to breed a difference beliveen the JLord TreasurerWestonand the Archbishop of Canterbury as long ago as the year 1633. The information was grounded upon two letters of Mr. Osbaldeston to BishopWilliams, found among the papers of the latter, in which were some expressions, which the jealous Archbishop interpreted as concerning himself. Though there was no foundation for conviction, yet the court fined him £ 5000 to the Kingy and £5000. to the Archbishop : to be de- prived of all his spiritual dignities and promotions, to be imprisojied during the King's pleasure, and to stand in the pillory in the Dean's yard before his oivn school, and have his ears nailed to it. How- ever, Mr. Osbaldeston so effectually concealed himself till the beginning of the long parliament, that he fortunately escaped this very severe sentence. CHAPTER IV. Though there had been bishops in Scotland for some years, they were, in a great measure, but nominal, being subject to a presbyterian assembly. The attempt of establishing episcopacy in that country in the time of king James, and king Charles, was carried on in a rather arbitrary, and so unsuccessful a manner. A man of archbishop Laud's temper was very unfit to introduce that primitive mode of church government among a people remarkable for their love of liberty, and for sobriety and moral conduct. To impose upon that nation a set of canons, a liturgy of Laud's revision, and a declaration for sports on the sab- bath, were such measures as " proved the fatal torch that put the two kingdoms into a flame." * When, in the year 1637, the liturgy, revised and altered by Laud, was sent into Scotland, and accompanied with a royal proclamation, com- * Welwood's Memoirs, p. 46. EPISCOPACY IN SCOTLAND. 153 inanding all his majesty's subjects to receive it; the Scots tumultuously refused it, and afterwards assumed to themselves the liberty and power of holding a general assembly of their church, in which they passed an act for abjuring and abolish- ing episcopacy. They also passed sentence of deposition against the bishops; eight of them were excommunicated, four excluded from the ministerial function, and two only allowed to officiate as pastors or presbyters. Upon this, most of the bishops withdrew from Scotland, only four remained in the country, three of whom renounced their episcopal orders, viz. Alexander Ramsey, bishop of Dunkeld, George Graham, bishop of Orkney, and James Fairby, bishop of Argyle; but the fourth, George Guthrey, bishop of Murray, kept his ground, and weathered the storm. In consequence of the Scots' assembly abolish- ing episcopacy as unlawful, Bishop Hall, at the recommendation of Archbishop Laud, undertook to write a book in defence of the divine right OF EPISCOPACY, as a counterbalance to the pro- ceedings of the Scots. Bishop Hall sent a rude draught or skeleton of his intended work to Arch- bishop Laud for his inspection and approbation. The following, according to Heylin,* were the original points and propositions submitted to the * Heylin't Life of Laud, pp. 398, 399. 154 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. Archbishop, together with his Grace's remarks, and alterations : —" That episcopacy is a lawful, most ancient, holy, and divine institution, (as it is joined with imparity, and superiority of jurisdic- tion) and therefore where it hath through God's providence obtained, cannot, by any human power, be abdicated without a manifest violation of God's ordinance. " That the presbyterian government, however vindicated under the glorious names of Christ's kingdom, and ordinance, hath no true footing either in Scripture, or the practice of the church in all ages from Christ's till the present ; and that howsoever it may be of use, in some cities or territories, wherein episcopal government through iniquity of times cannot be had ; yet to obtrude it upon a church otherwise settled under an acknow- ledged monarchy, is utterly incongruous and unjustifiable." In order to prove these two points, he was to lay down some propositions or postulata, as the ground work of his proceedings ; which were the following, before they were altered and revised: — (1) " That government, which was of apostolical institution, cannot be denied to be of divine right. (2.) Not only that government which was directly commanded and enacted, but also that which was practised and recommended by the apostles to the church, must justly pass for an apostolic DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 155 institution. (3.) That which the apostles by Divine inspiration instituted, was not for the pre- sent time, but for continuance. (4.) The univer- sal practice of the church, immediately succeed- ing the apostles, is the best and surest commen- tary upon the practice of the apostles, or upon their expressions. (5.) We nyay not entertain so irreverent an opinion of the saints and fathers of the primitive church, that they who were the immediate successors of the apostles would, or durst set up a government, either faulty, or of their own heads. (6.) If they would have been so presumptuous, yet they could not have diffused an uniform form of government through the world in so short a space. (7.) The ancient histories of the church, and writings of the eldest fathers, are rather to be believed in the report of the primi- tive form of the church government, than those of this last age. (8.) Those whom the ancient church of God, and the holy and orthodox fathers condemned for heretics, are not fit to be followed as authors of our opinion or practice for church government. (9.) The accession of honourable titles or privileges, makes no difference in the substance of the calling. (10.) Those scriptures wherein a new form of government is grounded, have need to be very clear and unquestionable, and more evident than those whereon the former rejected polity is raised. (11.) If that order 156 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. which, they say, Christ set for the government of the church (which they call the kingdom and ordinance of Christ) be but one, and undoubted, then it would, and shall have been ere this, agreed upon against them, what, and which it is. (12.) If this (which they pretend) be the kingdom, and ordinance of Christ, then if any essential part of it be wanting, Christ's kingdom is not erected in the church. (13.) Christian polity requires no impos- sible or absurd thing. (14.) Those tenets which are new and unheard of in all ages of the church, (in many and essential points) are well worthy to be suspected. (15.) To depart from the practice of the universal church of Christ, (even from the apostles' times) and to betake ourselves volunta- tarily to a new form, lately taken up, cannot but be odious and highly scandalous." ** These first delineations of the portraiture," says Heylin, '' being sent to Lambeth in the end of October, 1639, were generally well approved of by the Metropolitan, Some lines there were which he thought too much shadoiv and umbrage might be taken at them, if not otherwise qualified with a more perfect ray of light. And thereupon he takes the pencil in his hand, 'and with some alterations, accompanied with many kind expres- sions of a fair acceptance, he sent them back again to be completely limned and coloured by that able hand." DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 157 The following were the remarks and alterations made by Laud, in a letter to Bishop Hall. " Since you are pleased so worthily and bro- ther-like to acquaint me with the whole plot of your intended work, and to yield it up to my censure and better advise, (so you are pleased to write) I do not only thank you heartily for it, but shall in the same brotherly way, and with equal freedom, put some few animadversions, such as occur on the sudden, to your further considera- tion, aiming at nothing but what you do, the perfection of the work in which so much is concerned. And first, for Mr. George Graham, (whom Bishop Hall had signified to have re- nounced his episcopal function) I leave you free to work upon his business and his ignorance as you please, assuring myself that you will not depart from the gravity of yourself, or the cause therein. Next you say in the first head. That episcopacy is an ancient, holy, and divine institu* lion. It must needs be ancient and holy if divine. Would it not be more full went it thus ?— So ancient, as that it is of divine institution. Next you define episcopacy by being joined with imparity and superiority of jurisdiction, but this seems short; for every archpresbyter's or arch- deacon's place is so ; yea, and so was Mr. Hen- derson in his chair at Glasgow, unless you will define it by a distinction of order. I draw the 158 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. superiority, not from the jurisdiction which is attributed to bishops jure positivo, in their audi- ence of ecclesiastical matters ; but from that which is intrinsical and original in the power of excommunication. Again, you say in the first point. That where episcopacy hath obtained, it cannot be abdicated without violation of God's ordinance. This proposition I conceive is inter minus habenies; for never w^as there any church yet, where it hath not obtained. The christian faith was never yet planted any where, but the very first feature of a church was by, or with episcopacy. And wheresoever now episcopacy is not suffered to be, it is by such an abdication, for certainly there it was a principio. In your second head, you grant that the presbyterian government may be of use, where episcopacy may not be had. First, I pray you consider whether this conversion be not needless here, and in itself of a dangerous consequence. Next I conceive there is no place where episcopacy may not be had, if there be a church more than in title only. Thirdly, since they challenge their presbyterian fiction to be Christ's kingdom and ordinance, (as yourself expresseth) and cast out episcopocy as opposite to it, we must not use any mincing terms, but unmask them plainly; nor shall I ever give way to hamper ourselves for fear of speaking plain truth, though it be against DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 159 Amsterdam or Geneva: and this luust be sadly thought on. Concerning your postulata, 1 shall pray you to allow me the like freedom ; amongst which the two iirst are true, but, as exprest, too restrictive. For episcopacy is not so to be asserted unto apostolical institution, as to bar it from looking higher, and from fetching it materially and origi- nally in the ground and intention of it, from Christ himself; though perhaps the apostles formalized it. And here give me leave a little to enlarge. The adversaries of episcopacy are not only the furious Arian heretics, (out of which are now raised Prynne, Bastwicky and our Scottish masters) but some also of a milder and subtiler alloy, both in the Genevaii and Roman fact,ion. And it will become the Church of England so to vindicate it against the furious Puritans, as that we may not lay it open to be wounded by either of the other two, more cunning, and more learned adver- saries. Not to the Roman faction, for that will be content, it shall be Juris divini mediati, by, far from, and under the pope, that so the govern- ment of the church may be monarchical in him ; but not immediati, which makes the church aris- locratical in the bishops. This is the Italian rock, not the Genevan; for that will not deny episcopacy to be Juris divini, so you will take it, ut suadentis vel approbantis, so you will not take 160 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. it as iiniversaliter imperantis ; for then Geneva might escape ; et citra considerationem durantis ; for then, though they had it before, yet now upon wiser thoughts they may be without it, which Scotland, says now, and who will may say it after, if this be good divinity: and then all in that time shall be democratical. I am bold to add, because in your second posttdatum, I find that episcopacy is directly commanded ; but you go not so far as to meet with this subtilty of Beza, which is the great rock in the lake of Geneva, In your nine poslidatum, that the accession of honourable titles, or privileges, makes no difference in the substance of the calling, you mean the titles of Archbishops, Primates, Metropolitans, Patriarchs, &c. 'Tiswell; and I presume you do so; but then in any case take heed you assert it so, as that the faction lay not hold of it, as if the bishops were but the title of honour, and the same calling with a priest ; for that they all aim at, &c. The eleventh postulatum is larger, and I shall not repeat it, because 1 am sure you retain a copy of what you write to me, being the ribs of the work; nor shall I say more to it, than that it must be warily handled for fear of a saucy answer, which is more ready with them a great deal than a learned one. I presume I am pardoned already for this freedom by your submission of all to me. And now I heartily pray you to send me up, DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 16J (keeping a copy to yourself against the accidents of carriage) not the whole work together, but each particular head or postulatum, as you finish it ; that so we here may be the better able to consider of it, and the work come on faster. So to God's blessed protection," &c. &c. Such was the freedom Archbishop Laud took with Bishop Hall, and the judgment he passed upon the outhnes of the work ; and Heylin tells us ** that the bishop of Exon found good cause to correct the obliquity of his opinion,'" according to the above animadversions. When Bishop Hall finished his treatise, he submitted it, before it went to press, to the final perusal of the archbishop, who read it over with care and diligence. The treatise was, in some places, altered by the arch- bishop, contrary to Bishop Hall's inclinations. Notice was taken that Bishop Hall had spoken too favourably of the morality of the sabbath ; and that the superstition of the Sabbatarians was but slightly touched upon; whereas the archbishop ** thought that some smarter plaister to that sore might have done no harm.*' His Grace disap- proved of Bishop Hall's waving the question, Whether episcopacy was a distinct order, or only an higher degree of the same order ; and of his advancing the divine right of episcopacy no higher than the apostles ; whereas he would have it derived M 162 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. from Christ himself. Upon this the archbishop observed, that *' in the judgment of such learned men as he had consulted, it was the main ground of the whole cause ; and therefore he desired him to weigh it well, and to alter it with his own pen as soon as might be." His Grace also was not pleased with the sentiment, that presbytery tvas of use, where episcopacy could not he obtained. But that which gave him the greatest offence was, that Bishop Hall had positively and determi- nately bestowed the title of Antichrist upon the pope : this His Grace would by no means allow, as being so contrary to the judgment of many learned protestants, as well as his own. The arch- bishop thought fit to acquaint the king with this,and so to submit it to the royal will and pleasure: and respecting which, he wrote thus to Bishop Hall : " The last (with which I durst not but acquaint His Majesty) is about Antichrist, which title in three or four places you bestow upon the pope positively and determinately; whereas king James of blessed memory, having brought strong proof in a work of his, as you well know, to prove the pope to be Antichrist ; yet being afterwards chal- lenged about it, he made this answer, when the king, that now is, went into Spain, and acquainted him with it. That he writ that not concludingly, hut by way of argument only, that the pope and his adherents might see, there was as good and DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 163 better arguments to prove him Antichrist, than for the pope to challenge temporal jurisdiction over kings. The whole passage being known to me, I could not but speak with the king about it, who commanded me to write unto you, that you might qualify your expression in these particulars, and so not differ from the known judgment of his pious and learned father. This is easily done with your own pen, and the rather, because all protestants join not in this opinion oi Antichrist'^ According to this advice, Bishop Hall complied, though contrary to his own sentiments, to qualify some of his expressions, and to expunge others, ** to the contentment of his sovereign, the satis- faction of his metropolitan, and his own great honour."* So, in some few things, the celebrated treatise upon the Divine Right of Episcopacy, was modelled according to the views and sentiments of Laud. It is evident from the above remarks of the archbishop, that Bishop Hall was one of those bishops, who did not insist upon reading the book of sports, but duly regarded the morality of the sabbath. Heylin informs us, that all the bishops did not join their hearts and hands together in carrying on the work of unijormity according to Archbishop Laud's plan, but threw ♦ Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 400, 405, 406. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 322. M % 164 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. obstacles in the way, and exposed the measures of Laud to the public hatred. " For such was their desire," says he, ** to ingratiate themselves amongst the people, that some of them being required to return the names of such ministers as refused the reading of the book, (of sports) made answer, that they would not turn injorrners against their brethren, there being enough besides them- selves to perform that office. Others conceived, that they had very well performed their duty, and consulted their own peace and safety also, by waving all proceedings against them in their own consistories, wherein they must appear as the principal agents, and turning them over to be censured by the High Commission, where their names might never come in question."* Bishop Hall himself tells us, that he had been charged with being too favourable to those who were denominated puritans, merely because they were conscientious and diligent in the discharge of their duties : and on that account that he had been misrepresented and complained of to his metropolitan. We may probably conclude, that one reason why Laud recommended Bishop Hall to write on the Divine Right of Episcopacy was to try him whether his view of episcopacy was Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 313. DIVINE RIGHT OF EPISCOPACY. 165 what it should be; for he was suspected, on account of his moderation and piety, to entertain some " obliquity of opinion,^' * Bishop Hall dedicated his Treatise on the Divine Right of Episcopacy to Charles I. in which he states that he undertook the work on account that episcopacy had suffered in the north, mean- ing Scotland, " to the height of patience ;" that it was ** reported that one George Grahame, bishop of Orkney, had openly, before the whole body of the assembly, renounced his episcopal function, and craved pardon for having accepted it, as if thereby he had committed some heinous offence." The Bishop also intimates that he had **met with some affronts'' within his own diocese of Exeter and jurisdiction. Bishop Hall was the most celebrated writer of his times in defence of the Church of England; and his Treatise on the Divine Right of Episco- pacy is a proof of his deep research, erudition, and piety; he brings forward such proofs and arguments for episcopacy as cannot be shaken, and in the conclusion of the Treatise he recapitu- lates the several heads of the subject, and, with zeal and pious earnestness, addresses his readers and brethren, saying, " for Christ's sake, for the * See Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 402. 166 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. church's sake, for your souls' sake, be exhorted to hold fast to this holy institution of your blessed Saviour and his unerring Apostles ; and bless God for episcopacy. Do but cast your eyes a little back, and see what noble instruments of God's glory he hath been pleased to raise up in this very church of ours, out of this sacred vocation : what famous servants of God ; what strong champions of truth, and renowned antagonists of Rome and her superstitions; what admirable preachers; what incomparable writers ; yea, what constant and undaunted martyrs and confessors; men, that gave their blood for the Gospel; and embraced their faggots flaming, which many gre- gary (ordinary, or common) professors held enough to carry cold and painless, to the wonder and gratulation of all foreign churches, and to the unparallelled glory of his church and nation? " What christian church under heaven hath, in so short a time, yielded so many glorious lights of the gospel, so many able and prevalent adver- saries of schism and antichristianism, so many eminent authors of learned works, which shall out- bid time itself. Let envy grind her teeth: the memory of these worthy Prelates shall be ever sweet and blessed. " Neither doubt I, but that it will please God, out of the same rod of Aaron still to raise such blossoms and fruit, as shall win him glory to all BAGSHAW. 167 eternity. Go you on to honour these your reve- rend pastors; to hate all factious withdrawings from that government, which comes the nearest of any church upon earth to the apostolical."* Through the overbearing conduct of Laud, both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs on the one hand, and the factious and turbulent spirit of the separa- tists on the other, the tranquillity of the church was much disturbed. Bagshaiv, a lawyer of some standing in the Middle Temple, being elected a Reader or Lecturer in that house for the Lent vacation, boldly laid the axe to' the root of episco- pacy, by calling into question the right of bishops to have place and vote in Parliament, and their power and authority altogether. In his Lectures on the 25th Edw. III. c. 7, he maintained that Acts of Parliament were valid without the assent of the lords spiritual. That no beneficed clerk was capable of temporal jurisdiction at the mak- ing that law ; and, that no bishop, without calling a synod, had power as a diocesan, to convict a heretic. — Laud, when informed of this, told the king that Bagshaw had justified the Scots Cove nanters in decrying the temporal jurisdiction of churchmen, and the undoubted right of the bishops to their seats in parliament : upon which * See Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 623, 624. 168 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. Bagshaw was immediately interdicted all further reading on those points; and though he humbly petitioned the Lord Keeper and the Archbishop for liberty to proceed, he could get no other answer, than **it had been better for him not to have meddled with that argument, which should stick closer to him than he was aware of."'^ Whereupon he retired into the country. The year 1 640 began with a Parliament and Convocation. Such was now the state of affairs, that the king was under the necessity of calling a parliament, after an intermission of nearly twelve years, in order to renew the war with Scotland. The two houses assembled according to their summons, in the month of April, with the usual formalities. The king condescended to open the parliament with only the following short speech from the throne : — " My Lords and Gentlemen, ** There never was a king that had a more great and weighty cause to call his people together than myself. I will not trouble you with the particulars : I have informed my Lord Keeper and commanded him to speak, and to desire your attention." * Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 406, 407. Neal's Hist, of the Puritaos, vol. ii, p, 323. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. 169 This short speech appears a kind of preface to Sir John Finch, the Lord Keeper's long speech, in which he commented on the proceedings of the Scots against the king, and his Majesty's urgent want of supply towards vindicating his honour, and intimated to them also at the same time that his Majesty was far from intending to preclude them from their right of enquiring into the state of the kingdom, and of offering him petitions for redress of grievances. But the Commons, instead of beginning with the supply according to his Majesty's wish, appointed committees for reli- gion and grievances^ which disobliged the king so much, that after several fruitless attempts to per- suade them to grant him a subsidy, he dissolved the parliament in displeasure, without passing a single act, after they had sat about three weeks. But other means of obtaining a subsidy were employed, which were highly offensive and griev- ous to. the people. The odium of these proceed- ings fell on Laud and Strafford, who were libelled and threatened with the fury of the populace. In the month of May, 1640, the archbishop's palace at Lambeth was attacked by the mob ; one of the ringleaders was apprehended and suffered death. During this month, and the whole summer, there * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 528. 170 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. was much disturbance both in London and in the country. The convocation which sat with this parha- was opened April 14, next day after opening of parhainent, with much more splendour and mag- nificence than the situation of affairs required. The convocation sermon was preached by Dr. Turner, Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, from Matt, xvi, 16. " Behold, I send you forth as sheep among wolves :" after which they adjourned to the Chapter House, where the king's writ of summons being read, the archbishop, in a Latin speech, recommended to the lower house the electing of a prolocutor, to be presented to him- self or his commissary in the chapel of Henry VII. on Friday following, to which time and place the convocation was adjourned. On April 17, after divine service, Dr. Steward, Dean of Chichester and Clerk of the Closet, was presented to the archbishop as prolocutor, whom his Grace approved of, and then produced his Majesty's commission under the great seal, autho- rizing him to *' consult and agree upon the expla- nation or amendment of any canons then in force, or for making . such new ones, as should be thought convenient for the government of the church." The commission was to remain in force during the present session of parliament, and no longer ; and by a singular clause, nothing was to CONVOCATION. 171 be concluded without the archbishop being a party in the consultation. The latitude of this commisssion was very acceptable to the majority of the convocation ; and in return for this testi- mony of his Majesty's confidence, they voted him six subsidies, to be paid him in six years, at the rate of four shillings in the pound. The arch- bishop brought in some other canons against papists, against the spread of Socinian heresy ; and it was also then decreed that the proceedings and penalties against popish recusants should, as far as they are applicable, stand in full force against all separatists and sects, who refuse repairing to their parish churches, for hearing divine service, and receiving the holy commu- nion. Thus far the convocation proceeded, when the parliament was suddenly dissolved. The convo- cation, according to ancient custom, should have broke up at the same time ; but that one of the lower house having acquainted Laud with a pre- cedent in the 27th year of Queen Elizabeth, of the convocation's granting a subsidy to be raised upon all the clergy, after the breaking up of parliament, and levying it by their own synodical act only, under the penalty of ecclesiastical cen- sures. Hence it was concluded that the convo- cation might sit independent of the parliament, 172 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL, and therefore, instead of dissolving, they only adjourned for a few days to take further advice.* Laud relying upon this single precedent, ap- plied to the king for a commission to continue the convocation during his Majesty's pleasure, in order to finish the canons and constitutions, and to grant the subsidies already voted. The case being referred to the judges, the majority of whom gave it as their opinion, *' that the convo- cation, being called by the king's writ under the great seal, doth continue till it be dissolved by writ or commission under the great seal, notwith- standing the parliament be dissolved." Signed May 14, 1640, by John Finch, C.M.S. H.MANCHESTER, [ ROB. HEATH, J. BRAMSTON, EDW. LITTLETON, RALPH WHITFIELD, > J. BANKS. Upon this a commission under the great seal was granted, and the' convocation was re-assembled, though the opinion of several gentlemen of the long robe, and of many others, was against it.f But the convocation was further encouraged to proceed by his Majesty's message sent by Sir H. Vane, Secretary of State, who acquainted * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 528, 529. t See Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix, p. 168. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 327, &c. Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 42«-429. CONVOCATION. 173 them, " that it was his royal pleasure that none of the prelates or clergy should withdraw from the synod or convocation till the affairs they had in command from the king were perfected and finished." Upon this dubious foundation the convocation was continued, and a committee of twenty-six appointed to prepare matters for the debate of the house ; but the mob being so furious as to threaten to pull down the convocation house, the king ordered a guard of the Middlesex militia, commanded by Endymion Porter, groom of the bed-chamber, a papist, to protect the Synod. It was dissolved on the 29th of May by a special mandate or wnt from his Majesty, after it had continued twenty-five sessions. The Canons, after being approved by the privy coun- cil, were subscribed by as many of both houses of convocation as were present, and then trans- mitted to the provincial Synod of York, by which they were subscribed at once, without so much as debating either matter or form. Neal says in his History of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 328-329, that ** Dr. John Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was in the Tower, and had no concern with the Canons. Dr. Goodman, bishop of Gloucester, a concealed papist, was the only prelate who declined the subscription; till the Archbishop threatened him with deprivation, and the rest of 174 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. his brethren pressing him to comply, he was persuaded to put his name to the book: but several of the members of the lower house avoided the test by withdrawing before the day of subscription ; for, of above one hundred and sixty, of which both houses of convocation con- sisted, there were not many more than one hundred names to the book." Heylin, in his Life of Archbishop Laud, contradicts the above account of Neal, and says that the Canons were approved by all the Clergy, " who were called up to the house of bishops to be present at the subscribing of them, which was accordingly per- formed May 29th, by the bishops, deans, and archdeacons in their seniority, and promiscuously by the rest of the clergy, till all the members had subscribed; every man's heart going together with his hand, as it is to be presumed from all men of that holy profession. Recusant there was none, but the bishop of Gloucester.* The irregularity however of continuing the synod after the dissolution of parHament has been concluded hence, that the convocation consisting of bishops, deans, archdeacons, and clerks, the three former act in their personal capacities only, and may give for themselves what subsidies they Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 446, 446. CANONS. 175 please. But the clerks being chosen for their respective cathedrals or dioceses, to sit as long as the parliament continues, desist from being publiC' persons, as soon as it is dissolved, and lose the character of representatives ; they are then no more than private clergymen, who, though they may give the king what sums of money they please for themselves, cannot vote away the estates of their brethren, unless they are re-elected. It wa* also contrary to all law and customy both before and since the act ot> submission of the clergy to Henry VIII, except -in the single instance of Queen Elizabeth.* The canons of this synod consisted of seventeen articles, and were published June 30, 1640. The following is an abstract of those canons, which were made the subject of so much contention and debate in the next parliament. The reader may judge for himself about the offence given on ona side, and the revenge taken on the other. <^ ,- < 1. The first Canon is concerning regal power, where it is decreed that the order of kings is of divine right, being the ordinance of God himself, founded on the Laws of nature and revelation, by which the supreme power over all persons, eccle- siastical and civil, is given to them; that they * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 530. Neal's Hi»t. of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 329. 176 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. have the care of God's church, and the power of dissolving both national and provincial councils : that for any persons to set up in the king's realms any independent coercive power, either papal or popular, is treasonable against God, and the king; and for subjects to bear arms against the king, either offensive or defensive, upon any pretence whatever, is at least to resist the powers ordained of God ; and though they do not invade but only resist, St. Paul says, " They shall receive damna- tion." Though tribute, custom, aid, and subsidy be due to the king by the law of God, nature and nations, yet subjects have a right and property in their goods and estates, &c. That if any clergy- man should neglect to publish these explications, upon one Sunday in every quarter of the year, he shall be suspended ; or if in any sermon, or public lecture, he shall maintain any position contrary to it, he shall be excommunicated and suspended for two years ; and offending a second time, shall be deprived. 2. Here it is decreed that the day of the king's inauguration should be observed with morning prayers and a sermon, at which all persons shall be present. 3. In this, the suppressing of the growth of Popery is intended, &c. 4. This decrees that no person shall import, CANONS. 177 disperse, or print any Socinian books, on pain of excommunication, &c. 5. This ordains that the canon against Papists, shall be in force against sectaries, as far as it is applicable; and the clause against the books of Socinians, should be in force against all the books that are written against the doctrine and government of the church. 6. This decreed the following oath to be taken by all archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, before a public notary within six months: — I, A.B. do swear, that I do approve the doctrine, and discipline, or government established in the Church of England, as containing all things necessary to salvation ; and that I will not endea- vor, by myself or any other, directly or indirectly, to bring in Popish doctrine, contrary to that which is established ; nor will 1 ever give my consent to alter the government of this church by archbishops, bishops, deans, and archdeacons, &c. as it stands now established, and as by right it ought to stand, nor yet ever to subject it to the ursurpations and superstitions of the see of Rome. And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words, without any equivocation, or mental evasions, or secret reservation whatever; and this I do heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the N 178 LIFE OF BISHOP MALL. faith of a Christian. So help me God in Jesus Christ." If any beneficed person in the church refused this oath, he was, after a month, suspended from his office ; after a second month, from his bene- fice ; and after a third, deprived. All the members of the universities, or those who have taken a degree, as lawyers, physicians, &c. were required to take this oath : and all governors of halls and colleges, all schoolmasters, candidates for holy orders, and those who have licence to preach. 7. This canon declares that the placing the communion table at the east end of the church is in its own nature indifferent ; nor does it imply that it is, or ought to be esteemed a proper altar, though it may be called so in the sense of the primitive church: but as Queen Elizabeth's in- junctions have ordered it to be placed where the altar was, it was judged proper that all churches and chapels should conform to that order. And it is recommended to all people, that they do reverence at their entries in and going out of the church ; and that all communicants come to the rails to receive the communion, which has been heretofore carried up and down. 8. This canon enjoins all public preachers to declare positively and plainly, twice a year, that CANONS. 179 the rites and ceremonies of the church are lawful, to which it is the duty of all people to conform. 9. By this it was decreed that no other articles of enquiry should be used at visitations, than what were contained in a book to be drawn up by this synod. 10. The subject of this is the regular and moral conversation of the clergy. 11. The bishops were to grant no patent to chancellors, or officials, for any term longer than their lives, and to reserve in their own hands the power of instituting to benefices, and of licensing to preach. 12. No lay chancellor, or commissary, shall inflict any censure upon the clergy, for any crimi- nal causes, except neglect of appearing: all others are to be heard by the bishop, or with the assistance of his chancellor, and if the bishop cannot attend, by the chancellor assisted with two grave divines of the diocese, appointed by the bishop. 13. No sentence of excommunication, or abso- lution, is allowed to be pronounced by any but a priest, either in open consistory or in the church, having first received it under the seal of an eccle- siastical judge. 14. This admits of no commutation of penance, without consent of the bishop ; and the money to be disposed of to charitable uses. 180 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. 15. No executor shall be cited into any court or office, within ten days after the death of the testator, though he may prove the will within such a time. 16. No other licence to marry, but the arch- bishop's, is allowed by this canon to any party ; unless the man or woman shall have lived in the jurisdiction of the ordinary to whom they apply, a month before the licence is desired. 17. The last canon forbids a citation from spiritual courts, except under the hand and seal of one of the judges within thirty days after the crime is committed ; and until the party is con- victed by two witnesses, he may purge himself by oath, without paying any fee, provided the canon does not extend to schism, incontinence, misbehaviour at divine service, obstinate incon- formity, or the like."* When these canons were published, they were generally disliked ; and several pamphlets were written against them. Some objected to the first as subversive of the English constitution, because it declares in favour of the absolute power of kings, and that it is unlawful to use defensive arms on any pretence whatever against the king. The * Warner's Ecclcs. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 630-533. Heylin's Life of Laud, fol. ed. pp. 422-440. Neai's liist. of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 329-336. CANONS. 181 puritans disapproved of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth canons : but all the clergy were nearly concerned in the sixth, being required by the 2d of November to take the oath mentioned therein. The London clergy and others drevir up a petition against the oath to the privy council. Petitions from most counties in England were made against it : some complaining of it as contrary to the oath of supremacy, and others of the et cetera in the middle. Others objected to the authority of the synod to impose an oath ; and many confessed that they wished some things in the discipline of the church might be altered, and therefore could not swear never to attempt it in a proper way. Some of the bishops endeavoured to satisfy the scruples of their clergy by giving the most favour- able interpretation of the oath. Bishop Hall told them that it only meant as follows : " That I do so far approve of the discipline and doctrine of this church, as that I do believe there is nothing in any other pretended discipline or doctrine necessary to salvation, besides that which is con- tained in the doctrine and discipline of the church of England. And as I do allow the government by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, so I will not, upon the suggestion of any factious persons, go about to alter the same as it now stands, and as by due right (being so established) 182 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. it ought to stand in the church of England."* — But many of the bishops compelled their clergy to take the oath ; and Fuller, in his Church His- tory, tells uSj-f- that to his certain knowledge some of the bishops obliged them to take it kneel- ing, a ceremony never required in taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. Such severe and unbecoming degree of power some of the bishops then assumed ! Dr. Sanderson, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, acquainted the archbishop, by letter, with the difficulties of enforcing the oath; he observed, " that multitudes of churchmen, not only of the preciser sort, but of such as were regular and conformable, would utterly refuse to take the oath, or be brought to it with much diffi- culty and reluctance; so that, unless by his Majesty's special direction, the pressing the oath may be forborn for a time ; or that, a short expla- nation of some passages in it, most liable to exception, be sent to the several persons who are to administer the same, to be publicly read before the tender of the said oath, the peace of this church is apparently in danger to be more dis- quieted by this one occasion, than by any thing that has happened within our memories." * Nahon's Collection, p. 496, &c. t Book xi, p. 171. CANONS. 183 It is certain that this oath was much disHked by almost all the clergy, who, with others, joined in petition against it to the king, who was pleased to send the following letter to the archbishop of Canterbury, under the hand of the secretary of state. " May it please your Grace : I am by his Majesty's command to let you know, that upon many petitions presented by divers churchmen, as well in the diocese of Can- terbury as York, to which many hands are sub- scribed, as the mode of petitions now are, against the oath in the canons made in the last synod, his Majesty's pleasure is, that as he took order before his coming into these parts, that the execution of neither should be pressed on those that were already beneficed in the church, which was ordered at the council board in your Grace's presence, but that it should be administered to those who were to receive orders and to be admitted ; it is his Majesty's pleasure, that those should be dispensed with also, and that there be no prosecution thereof till the meeting of the convocation. York, Sept. 30, 1640. " H. VANE."* * Nalson's Collection, p. 600. Ncal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. d37. 184 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. We have seen above* the opinion of Bishop Hall with regard to this troublesome oath, and he tells us also in the tract called, " Some Specialities in his Life," written by himself, that in consequence of this oath, and some other opposition, his peace was much disturbed : ** What messages of caution I had from some of my wary brethren, and what expostulatory letters I had from above, ffrom Archbishop Laud) I need not relate. Sure I am, I had peace and comfort at home, in the happy sense of that general unanimity and loving cor- respondence of my clergy, till, in the last year of my presiding there, (as bishop of Exeter) after the synodical oath was set on foot, (ividch yet 1 did never tender to any one minister of my diocese) by the incitation of some busy interlopers of the neighbour country." With regard to this unpopular oath, we dis- cover in Bishop Hall such moderation and temper highly becoming a christian bishop. Amidst much factious and discontented spirit of many of the English, the king was obliged to prepare to go to war with the Scots, who had now a second time marched an army to the bor- ders, and were ready to invade the English side. An army was raised, and the king in person commanded it: the Earls of Northumberland * Page 181. WAR WITH THE SCOTS. 185 and Strafford were appointed generals, and Lord Conway general of the cavalry. It soon appeared that some of the English nobility were not for conquering the Scots, and the soldiers manifested no zeal for his Majesty's cause ; so that after a small skirmish, the Scots ?irmy passed the Tweed, Aug. 21, and on the 30th took possession of New- castle, the king's army retreating as far as York, leaving them masters of Northumberland, Cum- berland, and Durham, where they subsisted their army, and raised what contributions they pleased. In this situation of affairs, a petition, signed by twelve English peers, was sent to his Majesty, to discontinue the war, complaining of many griev- ances, as the inconveniences of carrying on the war with the Scots, the increase of popery, &c. and of the canons made in the last convocation. The city of London also petitioned, and the Scots themselves tendered to his Majesty certain terms of accommodation. The king, finding it impossi- ble to carry on the war, appointed commissioners to treat with the Scots at Rippon, who agreed to a cessation of arms for two months from the 26th of October, the Scots to have £850. a day towards the subsistence of their army ;* and the treaty to be adjourned to London, where a par- liament was immediately to be convened. * Sc€ Harrii't Lif« of CharUi I. p. 364, Ed. 1814. CHAPTER V. On the 3d of November, 1640, this famous parliament met, which has beea called the long parliament, because it continued sitting with some little intermission for above eighteen years : it occasioned such extraordinary revolutions in church and state, as were the scandal of their own country, and the surprise of other countries* On the day of opening the parliament, his Majesty declined the usual way of riding in state from Whitehall to Westminster, but went by water, accompanied with several peers of the realm. The king, in his speech from the throne, declared his readiness to redress all just grievances ; but some offence was taken, by his Majesty calling the Scots, REBELS, whcu there was a pacification subsisting. * Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 454-458. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 338. Dugdale's Short View, pp. 63, 64, 66. Harris' Life of Charles I, p. 360, &c. Ed. 1«14. Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 533. M££TING OF PARLIAMENT. 187 Before the session of parliament " the principal members consulted measures for securing the frequency of parliaments ; for redressing of griev- ances in church and state : and for bringing the king's arbitrary ministers to justice," in order to accomplish which, it was thought expedient to set some bounds to the prerogative, and to diminish the power of the bishops : probably they did not at first intend to overturn the civil and ecclesiasti- cal constitutions, and that they would have been satisfied with a certain degree of reform in church and state ; but in their proceedings, they went to such extremes as involved both in ruin. At their first entrance^upon business, four com- mittees were appointed : the first to receive peti- tions about religious grievances ; the second, for the affairs of Scotland and Ireland ; the third, for civil grievances; and the fourth, concerning popery, plots, &c.* About the 9th of November, * Both houses petitioned his Majesty to appoint a fast for a divine blessing upon their councels, which was observed Nov. 17. Rev. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Burgess, two eminent puritan divines, preached before the Connuons, the former on 2Chron. XV, 2, " The Lord is with you, while you are with him ; if you seek him he will be found of you, but if you forsake him he will forsake you.'* The latter on Jer. 1, 6, *' They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." The sermons were long, but delivered, 3ays Neal, witha great deal of caution: the house gave them thanks, and a piece of plate for their labors. The bishops of Durham and Carlisle preached before the House of Lords in the Abbey 188 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. ** a great number of petitions was presented both from particular persons, and some from multi- tudes, and brought by troops of horsemen from several counties, craving redress of grievances in church and state."* Among the grievances of religion, one of the first things that came before the house was the acts and canons of the late convocation. Several virulent speeches were made against the compi- lers. Neal says that no one stood up in the behalf of the canons but Mr. llolbourn, who is said to have made a speech of two hours in their vindi- cation ; t but his arguments made no impression on the house, so that at the close of the debate it was unanimously resolved, — " That the clergy of England, convened in any convocation or synod, or otherwise, have no power to make any constitutions, canons, or acts Church of Westminster, On the following Sunday all the members received the sacrament from the hands of Bishop Williams, Dean of Westminster. See Neal's Hist, of the Puri- tans, vol. ii, p. 348. * Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 3. " The first step they made was the entertaining petitions of grievances from all parts of the realm, which made such a noise, as if the subjects of England had suffered under the greatest slavery and oppression that had ever been heard of; and, (being devised and framed by themselves,) were received with such great acceptance, as that the people began to shew no small expres- sions of joy in their new reformers." Dugdale's Short View of the Troubles in England, p. 66. t History of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 360. GRIEVANCES OF RELIGION. 189 whatsoever, in matters of doctrine, discipline, or otherwise, to bind the clergy or laity of the land, without consent of parliament. " That the several constitutions and canons ecclesiastical, treated and agreed upon with the king's licence, by the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of the provinces of Canterbury and York in their several synods in the year 1640, do not bind the clergy or laity of the land, or either of them. " That the several constitutions or canons, made and agreed to in the convocations or synods above mentioned, do contain in them many mat- ters contrary to the king's prerogative, to the fundamental laws and statutes of this realm, to the rights of parliament, to the prosperity and liberty of the subject, and matters tending to sedition, and of dangerous consequence. ** That the several grants of benevolences or contributions, granted to his most excellent Majesty by the clergy, in the several convoca- tions or synods above mentioned, are contrary to the laws, and ought not to bind the clergy." Upon the same day that the house of commons passed the above resolutions, of which it may be said, that they manifested more of anger and prejudice, than of law or reason, several warm speeches were made against the archbishop of Canterbury, as the chief author of them ; and a 190 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. committee was appointed to enquire more parti- cularly, how far His Grace had been concerned in the proceedings of the late convocation, and in the treasonable design of subverting the religion and laws of his country, in order to draw up articles or charge against him. At the same time a charge was laid against him in the house of peers by the Scots commissioners, which being read by Lord Paget, was then reported to the commons at a conference between the two houses. This charge consisted of divers griev- ances, which occasioned much disturbance in Scotland. When this charge was reported to the commons, the resentment of the house against the archbishop immediately broke out into aflame, and many severe speeches were made against his late conduct. Sir Harbottle Grimstone, speaker of that parliament which restored Charles II. moved that the charge of the Scots commissioners might be supported by an impeachment of their own ; and that the question might now be put, whether the archbishop had been guilty of high treason? Which being voted, Mr. HoUis was immediately sent up to the bar of the house of Lords to impeach him in the name of all the commons of England. Afterwards the arch- bishop was delivered to the custody of the Usher of the Black Rod, till the house of commons should deliver in their articles of impeachment. IMPEACHMENT OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 191 Mr. Pyni, Mr. Hampden, and Mr. Maynard, by order of the commons, presented at the bar of the house of Lords, fourteen articles in support of their former charge of high treason against the archbishop, which being read, the archbishop made a short reply, and the lords voted him to the tower, where he continued three or four years before his trial came on. As to the convocation which attended this par- liament, it was, as usual, summoned and opened Nov. 4th, 1640. Dr. Bargrave, dean of Canterbury preached, and Dr, Steward, dean of Chichester, was chosen prolocutor, and was presented to the archbishop's acceptance in King Henry VHth's chapel, when His Grace made a pathetic speech^ lamenting the danger of the church, and exhort- ing every one present to perform the duty of their places with resolution, and not to be wanting to themselves, or to the cause of religion. Nothing of importance was transacted in this convocation, the times being so turbulent, and there being no commission from the king. The bishops discon- tinued their meeting, and the lower house gra- dually dwindled away. A Mr. Warminstre, a clergyman of the diocese of Worcester, convinced of the invalidity of the late canons, moved in this convocation, that " they might cover the pit which they had opened," and so prevent a par- liamentary inquisition, by petitioning the King 192 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. for leave to review them;— his motion was rejected, for they would not appear so mean as to condemn themselves before they were accused. Mr. Warminstre published a defence of his motion, wherein he bitterly speaks against the canons and proceedings of the late convocation : but in the sufferings of the clergy he was not spared from being sequestered.* Before archbishop Laud was confined in the tower, the parliament released most of the church and state prisoners. Nov. 16th, Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was discharged from his impri- sonment in the tower, and his fine remitted. The following day being a public fast, he officiated as dean in the abbey church of Westminster. When Dr. Williams, after his release, resumed his seat in the house of Lords, he conducted him- self with more temper than could be expected; whereupon his Majesty sent for him, aud endea- voured to gain him over, by promising to make him full satisfaction for his past sufferings: in order to which, his Majesty commanded all the judgments that were entered against him to be discharged, and within a twelvemonth translated him to the archbishoprick of York, with leave to ♦ Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 460. Warner's Eccles. Hist, b. XV, p 557, &c. Neai's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 354, Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 7 ; and part ii, p. 408. RELEASE OF PRYNNE. 193 hold his deanery of Westminster in commendani for three years. Mr. Prynne, Mr. Burton and Dr. Bast wick, being remanded from the several islands to which they had been confined, upon their petition to the house of commons, were met some miles out of London by a great number of people on horseback, with rosemary and bays in their hats, and escorted into the city in a kind of a triumph. Though these persons were severely punished, and perhaps in a great measure unjustly, yet the factious and hostile disposition of their deliverers manifests such a rancour as nothing could allay but the total destruction of church and state. In a few weeks after, the house of commons, in order to shew that they were in earnest about overthrowing the church, came to the follo^ving resolutions : " That the several judgments against them were illegal, unjust, and against the liberty of the sub- ject: that their several fines be remitted: that they be restored to their several possessions : and that for reparation of their losses, Mr. Burton ought to have £6000, and Mr. Prynne and Dr. Bastwick £5000. each, out of the estates of the archbishop of Canterbury, the high commis- sioners, and those lords, who have voted against them in the star-chamber; but the confusion of the times prevented the payment of the money. o 194 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. About the same time, Dr. Alexander Leighton, Dr. Osbaldeston, and others were set at liberty. As the house of commons declared the impri- sonment of these persons illegal, consequently they made enquiry after their persecutors. In the month of January, 1640--1, Dr. Cosins, pre- bendary of Durham, afterwards bishop of Dur- ham, was one of the first persons, who suffered in the cause of the church of England in those troublesome times: he was taken into custody by order of the house, and was voted unfit to hold any ecclesiastical promotion, on account of some pretended innovations which he had introduced into the cathedral of Durham. He, foreseeing the impending storm, withdrew into France, where he remained till the restoration of Charles II, by whom he was made bishop of Durham. Dr. Matthew Wren, late bishop of Norwich, and now of Ely, having used much severity against the puritan clergy in his diocese, the inha- bitants of Ipswich drew up a petition against him, and presented it to the house, Dec. 22, 1640.^ Upon which a charge was exhibited against him, consisting of twenty-five articles. It stated, that ♦ Nalson's Collections, p. 692. Neal's Hist, of the PuritaHS, vol. ii, p. 370. See Brook's Lives of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 410. DR. WREN, BISHOP OF ELY. 195 during the time of his being the bishop of Norwich, which was about two years, fifty ministers Had been excommunicated, suspended, and deprived, for not reading the second service at the commu- nion table, for not reading the hook of sports, for using conceived prayers before the afternoon sermon, &c : and that by his rigorous severities, many of his Majesty's subjects, to the number of three thousand, had removed themselves and families into Holland, and set up their manufacto- ries there, to the great injury of the trade of this kingdom. The bill was carried to the house of lords, and the bishop gave bond for his appear- ance. Some time after, the commons voted him unfit to hold any ecclesiastical preferment. Both lords and commons petitioned the king to remove him from his person and service ; after which he was imprisoned with the other protesting bishops. When released, he retired to his house at Down- ham in the isle of Ely, where he was apprehended by a party of soldiers, and conveyed to the Tower, where he continued till the end of the year 1659, without being brought to his trial, or any charge or accusation formed against him. He was the first bishop that was deprived by the parliament : however, he survived all his troubles and suffer- ings, and was restored by Charles H. to his bishoprick. He bore his troubles with much o 2 196 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. patience and magnanimity, and died in the eighty- first year of his age.'* Complaints were made against several other bishops and clergymen, as Dr. Pierce, bishop of Bath and Wells ; Dr. Montague, bishop of Nor- wich; Dr. Owen, bishop of LlandafF; and Dr. Manwaring, bishop of St. David's : but the house was now too much occupied with other affairs, to have time to prosecute them, and vote them unfit for ecclesiastical promotions. The clamour against the clergy was now become so violent, that they could hardly officiate in the established form, or walk the streets without being insulted. The Liturgy was called a lifeless form of worship, and a, quenching of the Holy Spirit. Immense numbers of petitions were sent up to '' the committee of religion" from all parts of the country against the clergy, complaining of superstitious impositions, the immoral conduct of the clergy, and neglect of their cures. Lord Clarendon observes, that many of these petitions were got up in very unfair ways, in those times of iniquity and confusion : and Dr. Warner says, that, " encouraged by the appearances of a favour- rable disposition in the commons to redress the grievances of religion, the petulant humour of * Neal's Hist, of llie Puritans, vol. ii, p. 370. Walker's SuiFerings of the Clergy, part ii, p. 31. RIOTS IN CHURCHES. 197 every enthusiast was indulged in subscribing petitions against the church; and the greatest unfeirness was made use of to swell the list."* The spirit of the populace was now such, that it was difficult to prevent their outrunning autho- rity, and tearing down in a tumultuous manner what they were told had been set up illegally. At St. Saviour's, Southwark, the mob pulled down the rails about the communion table. At Halsted, in Essex, they tore the surplice, and abused the liturgy: and when the commons were assembled in St. Margaret's, Westminster, as the clergyman was commencing the commu- nion service at the communion table, some of the rabble at the lower end of the church began to sing a psalm, in which the congregation joined, so that the minister was obliged to desist. But in order to prevent any such disorders in future, the lords and commons passed a severe sentence on the rioters, and published the follow- ing order, dated Jan. 16, 1C)40--1, appointing it to be read in all the churches of London, Westmin- ster, and Southwark — " That divine service shall be performed as it is appointed by the acts of parliament of this realm; and that all such as * Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i, p. 203. Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol, ii, p. 537. See also Walker'i Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 8. 198 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. disturb that wholesome order shall be severely punished by law."* And it was also added, " That the parsons, vicars, and curates of the several parishes shall forbear to introduce any rites or ceremonies that may give offence, other- wise than those which are estabhshed by the laws of the land." About this time the house of commons arbitra- rily settled puritanical preachers and lecturers in most of the considerable churches, so that the pulpits now sounded with abundance of faction- and fanaticism. Commissioners were also ordered to be sent into every county, to " deface, demo- lish, and remove out of churches and chapels, all images, altars, or tables turned altarivise, cruci- fixes, pictures, and other monuments and relics of idolatry.'" In consequence of this commission, the Cross in Cheapside, Charing Cross, was taken down; and also the famous St. Paul's Cross w^as demolished.* * Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, pp. 24, 26, Nalson's Collections, vol. ii, p. 271. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 372. t St. Paul's Cross " was a pulpit of wood, covered with lead in the form of a cross, and mounted on several flights of stone steps, and placed about the middle of St. Paul's churchyard, in which more learned men appeared, and out of which more sound and good divinity had been delivered, than perhaps any one pulpit since the first preaching of the Gospel could ever glory in ; and particularly under that (now idolatrous) banner ARBITRARY POWER OF THE COMMONS. 199 It is easy to perceive that the commons, who were so forward to complain on all occasions of the arbitrary power of the king, exceeded, in this instance, their own authority, and placed arbitrary power in the hands of those commissioners. In order to maintain this arbitrary power, the house of commons judged it requisite to encourage their friends particularly to countenance the puritans, to whose assistance and influence they were already so much obliged, and thus to contrive to overawe their enemies. To every one who im- partially views the political factions of those times, it is evident that many of the puritans, though pious, good, and conscientious men, were made tools to promote the designs of this parlia- ment. Every meeting of the commons was now productive of some vehement harangue against the usurpation of the bishops, the high commis- sion, the late convocation, and the new canons. Such invectives were received without any con- troul. And no distinction at first appeared between those who desired only to reform the abuses which had crept into the church, and those who wished totally to annihilate episcopal jurisdiction.* of the cross, more learning against popery and all real idolatry had been shewn, than those new reformers were ever masters of." — Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 24. * Warner's £x;cles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 636, 537. 200 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. It was manifest that the destruction of the church was intended, since its ministers and Hturgy were so virulently attacked. The debates in parliament concerning the liturgy and episco- pacy, now engaged the attention of the whole nation. A great number of seditious pamphlets issued from the press against the church, written in the most scurrilous and indecent language. Bishop Hall, in his ** Defence of the Humble Remon- strance against the frivolous and false Exceptions oi Smectymnuus,'' says, *' Fain would you excuse that which the world cries shame on : the multi- tude of the late seditious pamphlets; whereat you might well blush in silence, when an honour- able person, in open parliament, could reckon up no less than seven score that had passed the press since the beginning of this session." ^ Bishop Hall, lamenting the iniquitous attacks on the church, made, on this occasion, the following earnest appeal to the house of lords in behalf of the church. " My Lords : I have long held my peace, and meant to have done so still: but now, like to Craesus's mute son, I must break silence. I humbly beseech your Lordships to give me leave, to take this too just * Bishop Hall's Worki, toI. ix, p. 644. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 201 occasion to move your Lordships to take into your deep and serious consideration the woeful and lamentable condition of the poor Church of England, your dear Mother. My Lords, this was not wont to be her stile. We have, heretofore, talked of the famous and flourishing Church of England : but now, your Lordships must give me leave to say, that the poor Church of England humbly prostrates her- self, next after his Sacred Majesty, at your Lord- ships' feet; and humbly craves your compassion and present aid. My Lords, it is a foul and dangerous insolence, this, which is now complained of to you ; but it is but one of a hundred of those, which have been of late done to this Church and Government. The Church of England, as your Lordships cannot choose but know, hath been and is miser- ably infested on both sides: with Papists, on the one side; and Schismatics, on the other. The Psalmist hath, of old, distinguished the enemies of it, into wild boars out of the wood, and little foxes out of the burrows: the one whereof goes about to root up the very founda- tion of religion ; the other to crop the branches, and blossoms, and clusters thereof: both of them conspire the utter ruin and devastation of it. As for the former of them, I do perceive a great deal(of good zeal, for the remedy and sup- 202 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. pression of them : and I do heartily congratulate it; and bless God for it; and beseech hiin to prosper it, in those hands, that shall undertake and prosecute it. But, for the other, give me leave to say, I do not find many, that are sensible of the danger of it ; w^hich yet, in my apprehension, is very great and apparent. Alas ! my Lords, I beseech you to consider what it is: That there should be in London and the Suburbs and Liberties, no fewer than fourscore congregations of several sectaries, as I have been too credibly informed ; instructed by guides fit for them, Coblers, Tailors, Feltmakers, and such like trash : which are all taught to spit in the face of their Mother, the Church of England ; and to defy and revile her government. From hence have issued those dangerous assaults of our Church-Governors : from hence, that inundation of base and scurrilous libels and pamphlets, wherewith we have been of late overborne; in which Papists and Prelates, like oxen in a yoke, are still matched together. O my Lords, I beseech you, that you will be sensible of this great indignity. Do but look upon these reverend persons. Do not your Lordships see here, sitting upon these benches, those, that have spent their time, their strength, their bodies and lives, in preaching down, in writing down Popery ? and which would be ready SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 203 if occasion where offered, to sacrifice all their old blood that remains to the maintenance of that truth of God, which they have taught and writ- ten ? And shall we be thus despitefully ranged with them, whom we do thus professedly oppose? But, alas ! this is but one of those many scan- dalous aspersions and intolerable affronts, that are daily cast upon us. Now whither should we, in this case, have recourse for a needful and seasonable redress ? The arm of the Church is, alas! now short and sinewless: it is the inter- posing of your authority that must rescue us. You are the eldest sons of your dear Mother, the Church ; and, therefore, most fit and most able to vindicate her wrongs. You are Amici Sponsce; give me leave, therefore, in the bowels of Christ humbly to beseech your Lordships, to be tenderly sensible of these woeful and dangerous conditions of the times. And, if the Government of the Church of England be unlawful and unfit, aban- don and disclaim it; but if otherwise, uphold and maintain it. Otherwise, if these lawless outrages be yet suffered to gather head, who knows where they will end ? My Lords, if these men may, with impunity and freedom, thus bear down Ecclesi- astical Authority, it is to be feared they will not rest there; but will be ready to affront Civil Power too. Your Lordships know, that the Jack Straws, and Cades, and Wat Tylers of former 204 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. times, did not more cry down learning than nobility : and those of your Lordships, that have read the history of the Anabaptistical tumults at Munster, will need no other item: let it be enough to say, that many of these Sectaries are of the same profession. Shortly, therefore, let me humbly move your Lordships to take these dangers and miseries of this poor Church deeply to heart : and, upon this occasion, to give order for the speedy redressing of these horrible inso- lencies; and for the stopping of that deluge of libellous invectives, wherewith we are thus impet- uously overflown. Which, in all due submission, I humbly present to your Lordships' wise and religious consideration." ^ * Bishop Hall's Works, vol. x, pp. 65, 66. CHAPTER VI. Upon the gathering of the present storm, Bishop Hall came forward a second time as a strenuous champion in defence of the church of England. He published "An Humble Remon- strance to the High Court of Parliament," in which treatise he vindicated the antiquity of litur- gies and episcopacy with admirable skill, meek- ness, and simplicity ; yet with such strength of argument, that five presbyterian divines " clubbed their wits together to frame an answer." These dissenting ministers were Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew New- comen, and William Spurstow. Their perform- ance bore the strange title of " Smectymnuus, or An Answer to an Humble Remonstrance, &c." This fictitious word is made up of the initial letters of the names of the above authors. Bishop Hall, in his reply entitled " A Defence of that Remonstrance," alluding to his antagonists, mer- rily says," My single Remonstrance is encountered with a plural adversary^ that talks in the style of^ 206 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. " We" and " Us." Their names, persons, qualities, numbers, I care not to know: but could they say, '* my name is Legion, for we are many ,•" or, were they as many legions as men; my cause, yea God's, would bid me to meet them undis- mayed, and to say with holy David, '' Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." Ps. xxvii, 3. Bishop Hall proceeds with much composure to point out the bulk of his adversaries' performance, their trifling cavils, and their inveterate malice against episcopacy : and, with his usual ability and learning, demonstrates the antiquity of forms of prayers, and the Aposto- lical institution of episcopacy. In a word, this reply is a complete refutation of the arguments of the bishop's adversaries. It is said of the treatise of Smectymnuus that it is " certainly written with great fierceness of spirit and much asperity in language, containing eighteen sections, in the last of which the differences between the prelatists and puritans are aggravated with great bitterness."^ Bishop Hall, at the end of his " Defence of the Humble Remonstrance," speaks of the last section of Smectymnuus thus: *' The rest that remains, is but mere declamation, not worthy of any answer, but contempt and silence," • Brook's Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii, p. 246. ANSWER TO SMECTYMNUUS. 207 In this controversy, no one can say that Bishop Hall has used " asperity of language," or mani- fested bitterness of spirit: on the contrary, he has written with the simplicity of a primitive christian bishop ; with confidence of the goodness of the cause; with brotherly respect to his opponents: his language is energetic, yet tem- perate, courteous, and chaste. The bishop terminates this controversy by a tract called " A Short Answer to the Tedious Vindication of Smecti/mnuus/' in which he vindi- cates, with great strength of argument, what he had already advanced in defence of liturgies and episcopacy: refutes his opponents' cavils and subterfuges, and challenges them to produce any settled national church in the whole christian world that has been otherwise governed than by bishops, in a meet and moderate parity, ever since the time of Christ and his apostles, until this pre- sent age." * It is proper here to observe, that, though Bishop Hall proves that there always had been a /orm of prayer used in the public worship of God, both in the Jewish and christian church ; yet he does not disapprove of the use of extemporary prayer on certain occasions, but confesses that he made use of both ways. ** Far be it from me," * Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 591, 768. 208 LIFE OP BISHOP HALL, says he, " to dishearten any good christian from the use of conceived prayer, in his private devo- tions, and upon occasion also in public. I would hate to be guilty of pouring so much water upon the Spirit; to which I shall gladly add oil rather. No; let the full soul freely pour out itself in gracious expressions of its holy thoughts, into the bosom of the Almighty. Let both the sudden flashes of our quick ejaculations, and the constant flames of our more fixed conceptions, mount up from the altar of a zealous heart unto the throne of grace : and if there be some stops or solecisms in the fervent utterance of our private wants, these are so far from being offensive, that they are the most pleasing music to the ears of that God unto whom our prayers come. Let them be broken off with sobs, and sighs, and incongruities of our delivery, our good God is no otherwise affected to this imperfect elocution, than an indulgent parent is to the clipped and broken language of his dear child, which is more delightful to him than any other's smooth oratory. This is not to be opposed in another, by any man, that hath found the true operation of this grace in himself"* " What have I professed," says he again, con- cerning conceived prayer, **but that which I ever allowed, ever practised, both in private and * Bishop Hall's Works, vol, ix, p. 629, &c. ON EXTEMPORE PRAYER. 209 public ? God is a free Spirit, and so should ours be, in pouring out our voluntary devotions upon all occasions. Nothing hinders, but that this liberty and a public liturgy should be good friends, and may go hand in hand together. And whoso- ever would forcibly sever them, let them bear their own blame.'* And again, in his ** Answer to Smectymnuus' Vindication," he says, " you tell me of thousands, who desire to worship God with devout hearts, that cannot be easily persuaded that these set forms, though never so free from just exceptions, will prove so great a help to their devotion : I tell you of many more thousands than they, and no less devoutly affected, that bless God to have found this happy and comfortable effect in the fore-set prayers of the church. Neither doth this plead at all against the use of present conception, whether in praying or preach- ing ; or derogate any thing from that reverent and pious esteem of conceived prayer, which I have formerly professed. Surely I do from my soul honour both : I gladly make use of both ; and praise God for them, as the gracious exercises of christian piety, and the effectual furtherances of salvation. There is place enough for them both : they need not justle each other." * * Bishop Hall's Works, vol. ix, pp. 651, 760. While this controversy was debating at home, letters were P 210 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. Perhaps the controversy between Bishop Hall and these dissenting divines might have been compromised, if there had not been a determined resolution in several persons then in power to demoHsh the estabhshed church : in which resolu- tion they were greatly assisted by many of those called puritans, who were of turbulent spirits, and inveterate against church and state. And at the same time it must be allowed, that if the rest of the bishops and clergy had been of the same spirit and temper as Bishop Hall, probably things would not have been carried to such extremes. But divine providence so ordered it. sent from both sides to obtain the judgment of foreign divines ; but most of them gave no reply. Dr. Piume, in the life of Bishop Racket, writes, that Blondei, Vossius, Horn beck, and Sahiiasius, were sent to by his Majesty's friends in vain. Blondei published a treatise on the dissenters' side; but Deodote of Geneva, Amyraldus of France, wished an accom- modation, and were for episcopal government. The papists triumphed, and their expectations were raised on account of these differences, as appears by a letter of T. White, a papist, to the Lord Viscount Gage, of Dublm, Feb. 12, 1639: "We are in a fair way to assuage heresy and her episcopacy ; for Exeter's book has done njore for the catholics than they could have done for themselves, he having written that episcopacy in office and jurisdiction is absolutely Jwre divino^ (which was the old quarrel between our bishops and King Henry Vlil, during his heresy ;) which book does not a little trouble our adver- saries, who declare this tenet of Exeter's to be contrary to the laws of this land. All is like to prosper here, so 1 hope with you there." These were the wishes, and the sentiment of the papists then respecting Bishop Hall's writings on episcopacy. —See ** Foxes and Firebrands," part ii, p. 81 ; and Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 389. PETI^pNS. 211 that the arbitrary power then in church and state sjiould be punished, and that the unrestrained outrages of civil a|id religious faction should be at the same time exemplified, that all future ages might take warning ^gainist fostering a seditious, factious, and party spirit. As this parliament increased in power, the puritan divines took advantage of it, and stiffened in their demands, till methods of accommodation were utterly impracticable.* And, as the utter subversion of the church was contemplated, the industry of the several parties to get signatures to petitions, is almost incredible : and, as it was then the fashion to judge of the sense of the nation this way, messengers were sent all over England to promote petitions and procure signatures. Lord Clarendon, Dr. Nalson, and others, complain of great disingenuity on the side of those who were ill-affected to the church. The noble historian says, " That the paper which contained the minister's petition was filled with a very few hands, but that many other sheets were annexed for the reception of numbers, that gave credit to the undertal^ing : but that when their names were subscribed, the petition itself was cut off, and a new one of a very different nature annexed to the • Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 388. P 2 212 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. long list of names : and when some of the minis- ters complained to the Rev. Mr. Marshall, with whom the petition was lodged, that they never saw the petition to which their hands were annexed, but had signed another against the oath enjoined in the new canons. When they found their names set to a petition for an alteration in the government of the church, they remonstrated for this disingenuity. Mr. Marshall, it is said, replied, that it was thought fit by those who understood business better than they, that the latter petition should rather be preferred than the former."^ It must be allowed that very unfair means were employed to get signatures to petitions at this time: and many subscribed their names who were not at all capable of judging the merits of the cause. There were two kinds of petitions against the church. Some petitioned the destruc- tion of the whole fabric : a petition, therefore, was got up, and subscribed by above fifteen thousand inhabitants of London ; this complained of the government of the church by archbishops, bishops, deans, &c. and prayed that the said government, with all its dependencies, Root and Branch, might be abohshed. This extraordinary * Clarendon, vol. i, p. 204. Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 8. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 390. ** ROOT AND branch" PETITION. 213 bill was therefore cantingly termed the Root and Branch petition. There were also others who only aimed at the reformatiom of some things in the government of the church : a petition, there- fore, called the miidsters* petition, was drawn up, and signed by seven hundred beneficed clergy- men ; this was followed by others, signed by a vast nun»ber of hands, from Kent, Gloucester- shire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, and other counties. Though the enemies of episcopacy were extremely busy, yet there were great efforts made in favor of the constitution; for, in 1641 and the following year, there were no less than nineteen petitions presented to the king, and the house of lords, from the two universities, from Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Somersetshire, Rut- landshire, Staffordshire, Kent, North Wales, Lan- cashire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Corn- wall, Oxfordshire, &c. There was also a petition from the diocese of Exeter, signed by about eight thousand names ; which, of course, was promoted by Bishop Hall and his clergy. The petitions in favor of the church were subscribed by above one hundred thousand hands ! six thousand were nobility, gentry, and dignified clergy.* These petitions in favor of the church, signed * Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 10. 214 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. by SO vast a liurnber, carried no weight with them ; they were not at all countenanced, but were, in fact, rejected. The house was displeased with those who made them, discouraged any more attempts of the kind, and was presumptuous enough to complain to, and remonstrate with the king for his receiving them. * It would be too tedious to give an account of all the petitions against episcopacy : let it suffice, however, to add, that even the apprentices of London made a petition to the king, desiring among other things, *' that prelacy might be rooted up."" The very porters also petitioned against episcopacy as a burthen too heavy for their shoulders, f The root and branch petition, mentioned above, was presented to the committee of religion, Dec. 11, 1640, by Alderman Pennington, in the name of his Majesty's subjects in and about the city of London, and adjacent counties. It inclosed a schedule of eight and twenty grievances: the chief of which were, the suspension and depriva- tion of ministers by the bishops, for not conforming to the rites and ceremonies of the church — the discouragement of preaching — the bishops' claim of divine right —the Oath ex officio — and the • Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part ii, p. 10. t Fuller's Church Hist. cent. 17, p. 185. SPEECH OF LORD DIGBY. 215 exorbitant power of the high commission court. In order to obtain redress of these grievances, the petitioners were so very modest as only to desire that episcopacy with all its dependances, root and branchy might be abolished. At this time, however, the house was not of that malignant spirit against the church, which it afterwards manifested, for the utmost which could be obtained, after a long debate upon the petition, was, that it should not he rejected — that it should remain in the hands of tJie clerk of the Jiouse, and that no copy of it should be given,''* The following extracts from the speeches of Lords Digby and Falkland on this occasion, shew us the malignity and presumption of this petition. Lord Digby says, '* I know not whether it be more preposterous to infer the extirpation of bishops from such weak ai^uments, or to attri- bute, as they do, to church government all the civil grievances; not a patent, not a monopoly, not the price of a commodity raised, but these men make the bishops the cause of it. For the bold part of this petition, Sir, what can be of greater presumption than for the petitioners not only to prescribe to the parhament what and how it shall do, but for a multitude to teach a parlia- * Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 8. Warmer's Eocles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 537. 216 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. ment what is, and what is not, the government according to God's word. Besides, what is the petition against? Is it not against the government of the church of England estabhshed by acts of parhament, against the liturgy, and against the several forms of divine service, ratified by the same authority? Episcopacy is a function, deduced through all ages of Christ's church from the apostles' times, and continued the most vene- rable and sacred order ecclesiastical ; a function dignified by the learning and piety of many fathers of the church, glorified by so many martyrdoms in the primitive times, and some since our own blessed reformation ; a government admired, I speak it knowingly, by the learnedest of the reformed churches abroad ; and lastly, a govern- ment under which, till these late years, this church hath so flourished and fructified." Lord Falkland, who, according to Clarendon's opinion, was the most extraordinary man of his age, after speaking with severity against some of the bishops, adds, " And now, even in this great defect of the order, there have been some that have been neither proud nor ambitious ; some that have been learned opposers of popery, and zealous suppressors of Arminianism ; between whom and their inferior clergy, there have been no distinc- tions in frequent preaching; whose lives are untouched, not only by guilt, but by malice, LORD FALKLAND'S SPEECH. 217 scarce to be equalled by those of any condition, or excelled by those in any calendar."* This part of Lord Falkland's speech is truly descrip- tive of Bishop Hall's character, and in every point agrees with what the bishop says of himself in his '* Letter sent from the Tower to a private friend:" it is highly probable that Lord Falkland had Bishop Hall particularly in view. Both Lord Digby and Lord Falkland were at this time very zealous for redress of grievances in the church ; Bishop Hall also, and some others of the bishops, were disposed to remove every offensive innova- tion out of the church, and to comply with every requisite reform ; but unhappily on the one hand nothing would satisfy but the demohtion of the church root and branch, and on the other, many • Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 638. During this debate the following repartees passed between Mr. Grim- stone and Mr. Seldon: — Mr. G. argued ** that bishops are jure divino is a question; that archbishops are not jure divino is out of question ; now that bishops which are questioned whether jure divino, or archbishops which out of question are notjur^ divinOf should suspend ministers which &Te jure divino, I leave to >'ou to be' considered." Mr. Seldon replied, *' that the convocation is jure divino is a question; that parliaments are hot Jure divino is out of the question ; that religion is jure divino is no question ; now that the convocation which is questionable whether Jure divino, and parliaments which out of the question are not jure divino^ should meddle with religion which questionless is Jure divino, I leave to your consideration." Seldou's argument is considered by Bishop Warburton, as a thorough confutation of Grimstone's. Vide Neal, vol. ii, p. 406. 21B LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of the bishops were not at all disposed to comply with any reforni; In the petition in favour of the church, signed by a great number of the nobility, gentry, and dignified clergy, in opposition to the root and branch petition, it was stated, "That episcopacy is as ancient as Christianity itself in this kingdom — that bishops were the chief instruments in the reformation of the church against popery, and afterwards the most eminent martyrs for the pro- testant religion, and since, the best and ablest champions for the defence of it. That since the reformation the times have been very peaceable, happy, and glorious, notwithstanding the episco- pal government in the church, and therefore that this government can be no cause of our unhappi- ness. That not only many learned, but divers other godly persons, would be much scandalized and troubled in conscience, if the government of episcopacy, conceived by them to be an apostolical institution, were altered; and since there is so much care taken, that no man should be offended in the least ceremony, we hope there will be some, that such men's consciences may not be pressed upon in a matter of an higher nature and consequence, especially considering that this government by episcopacy is not only lawful and convenient for edification, but likewise suitable to, and agreeable with the civil policy and govern- PETITIONS FOR EPISCOPACY. 219 ment of this state. That this government is lawful, it appears by the immediate, universal, and constant practice of all the christian world, grounded upon scripture, from the apostles' time, to this last age, for above fifteen hundred years together, it being utterly incredible, if not impos- sible, that the whole church, for so long a time, should not discover, by God's word, this g'overtt- nient to be unlawful, if it had been so ; to which may be added, that the most learned protestants, even in those very churches which now are not governed by bishops, do not only hold the government by episcopacy to be lawful, but wish that they themselves might enjoy it. That the government by episcopacy is not only lawful but convenient for edification, and as much or more conducing to piety and devotion than any other, because no modest man denies that the primitive times were most famous for piety, constancy and perseverance in the faith, notwithstanding more frequent, and more cruel persecutions than ever have been since, and yet it is confessed that the church in those times was governed by bishops. That the government of the church by episcopacy is most suitable to the form and frame of the civil government here in this kingdom, it appears by the happy and flourishing union of them both for so long a time together; whereas no man can give us an assurance how any church government 220 LIFE OF BISftOP HALL. besides this (whereof we have had so long^ expe- rience) will suit and agree with the civil policy of the state." The humble request of the petitioners was, " that they may still enjoy that government which most probably holds its institution from the apos- tles, and most certainly its plantation with our christian faith itself in this kingdom, where it hath ever since flourished and continued for many ages without any interruption or alteration ; whereby it plainly appears, that as it is the most excellent government in itself, so it is the most suitable, most agreeable, and every way most proportion- able to the civil constitution and temper of this state." The petition called the ministers' petition was presented to the house Jan. 23, 1640-1, by ten or twelve clergymen: it was pretended to be signed by about seven hundred ministers of London and of the adjacent counties. It prayed for a reformation of certain grievances in the establishment, and was referred to the committee of religion. The three following articles were reported as proper to the consideration of the house: — " 1. The secular employments of the clergy. 2. The sole power of the bishops in ecclesiastical affairs, and particularly in ordina- tions and church censures. 3. The large reve- nues of deans and chapters, with the incon- ATTACKS ON THE CHURCH. 221 veniences that attend the application of them."* The house having debated upon the first article, agreed " That the legislative and judicial power of bishops in the house of peers, is a great hinderance to the discharge of their spiritual function, prejudicial to the commonwealth, and fit to be taken away : that for bishops or any other clergyman to be in the commission of the peace, or to have any judicial power in the star-chamber, or in any civil court, is a great hinderance to the discharge of their spiritual function, and preju- dicial to the commonwealth, and fit to be taken away; and that a bill be brought in to that purpose. According to these resolutions, a bill was brought into the house of commons, to exclude all ecclesiastics from civil employments, and the bishops in particular from a right of sitting in the house of lords. The noble historian informs us, that this bill ** was contrived with great deliberation and preparation, to dispose men to consent to it," and that the reception of it was " the first design that was entertained against the church." The leaders among the puritan- nical party took great pains to dispose the minds * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eug. vol. ii, p. 638. Walker's Sufferings of the Cler<>y, part i, p. 15. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 395. 222 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of members well affected to the church, to con- cur with them in this bill. Indeed many persons of integrity and judgment then believed that the passing this bill was the only ej^pedient (o pre- serve the church. Mr. Hampden assured Lord Falkland, "that if this ,hW iflight pass, there would be nothing more attempted to the preju- dice of the church, which he thought, as the world then went, would be no ill composition." The same insidious artifice was probably em- ployed with other members ; to which it was added, *^ how advantageous it would be for the king to have at his pleasure so great a number of voices among the Lords, and consequently how improbable it would be to succeed in the reformation of abuses, while the bishops had votes in the house of peers." As the rigid puritans dared not as yet openly to discover their destructive vows against the church, and seemed to have no other view in the expulsion of the bishops than to facilitate the redress of grievances, so there were churchmen who were of opinion it would do no harm, if ecclesiastical persons had fewer avocations from tfieir .profes- sion, and that the passing of this bill would be an expedient to prevent any further attempts against the church. The king, being informed of these proceedings, declared in a speech his readiness to concur BILL AGAINST THE BiaHOPS. 2^3 with the parliament in a redress of grievances in church and state ; but, though he was for a reform, he would not consent to a change of government. He was not unwilling that tbp exorbitant power and encroachments of the bishops, if there had been any such, should be redressed like all other abuses ; but he should not consent that their voices in parliament should be taken away, which they had eiyoyed ever since the conquest. However, the royal speech being looked upon as unparliamentary, did the cause no service ; it was premature, as the house as yet was not disposed to bring in a bill for the subversion of the church. It seemed also, that, in case this bill should be rejected, the puritanical party would be exceed- ingly displeased, who, as being supported by the Scots, were now^ very powerful : it was indeed by their means in a great measure that the parlia- ment was enabled to proceed m the work of redressing grievances. Wherefore the bill for suppressing the temporal jurisdiction of the bishops and clergy, and excluding the former from the house of lords, passed the commons by a great majority : but when it was sent up to the house of lords, May 1, 1641, it met with vigorous opposition.* Many of the greatest men in that * Fuller says, (Ch. Hist. b. ix, p. 185.) that Lord Kinibohon 224 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. house grew weary of the malignant presumption of the commons, and observed that they had ** worse designs than they owned :" so those peers, who had hitherto concurred with them, deserted them on this occasion, and severely inveighed against their projects. The bill, therefore, after a second reading, was thrown out, without so much as being committed, even by a majority of temporal lords, without the votes of the bishops being reckoned. If the lords temporal were so far disposed as to comply to exclude the bishops and clergy from all secular offices and employ- ments in the state, they would not at all comply to deprive them of their votes in parliament. The principal speakers in the house of lords in behalf of the bishops, were Lord Viscount Newark, afterwards the Earl of Kingston, the Marquis of Hereford, the Earls of Southampton, Bath and Bristol, Dr. Williams bishop of Lincoln, afterwards archbishop of York, and Bishop Hall, who on this occasion, made the following excel- lent speech concerning the power of bishops in secular things : would have persuaded the bishops to resign their votes, adding, that then the temporal lords would be obliged in honor to preserve their jurisdiction and revenues. But they would hearken to no such thing, resolving to keep possession of their seats till a superior force should dispossess them. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 225 " My Lords : This is the strangest bill, that ever I heard, since I was admitted to sit under this roof: for it strikes at the very fabric and composition of this house; at the style of all laws: and, therefore, were it not that it comes from such a recommen- dation, it would not, I suppose, undergo any long consideration; but, coming to us from such hands, it cannot but be worthy of your best thoughts. And, truly, for the main scope of the bill, I shall yield it most willingly, that ecclesiastical and sacred persons should not ordinarily be taken up with secular affairs. The minister is called Vir Dei, ** a man of God :" he may not be Fir Seculi. He may lend himself to them, upon occasion : he may not give himself over purposely to them. Shortly, he may not so attend worldly things, as that he do neglect divine things. This we gladly yield. Matters of justice, therefore, are not proper, as in an ordinary trade, for our func- tion ; and, by my consent, shall be, as in a gen- erality, waved and deserted: which, for my part, I never have meddled with, but in a charitable way ; with no profit, but some charge to myself, whereof I shall be glad to be eased. Tractent fabriliafahri; as the old word is. But, if any man shall hence think to infer, that some spiritual person may not occasionally be in a 226 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. special service of his king or country ; and, when he is so required by his prince, give his advice in the urgent affairs of the kingdom, which I sup- pose is the main point driven at ; it is such an inconsequence, as I dare boldly say cannot be made good, either by divinity or reason ; by the laws either of God or man ; whereas the contrary may be proved and enforced by both. As for the grounds of this bill, that the minis- ter s duty is so great, that it is able to take up the whole man, and the Apostle saith, rtj neavog, Who is sufficient for these things? and that, he, who warfares, to God, should not entangle himself with this world ; it is a sufficient and just conviction of those, who would divide themselves betwixt God and the world, and bestow any main part of their time upon secular affairs : but it hath no operation at all upon this tenet, which we have in hand ; that a man, dedicate to God, may not so much as, when he is required, cast a glance of his eye, or some minutes of time, or some motions of his tongue, upon the public business of his king and country. Those, that expect this from us, may as well, and upon the same reason, hold that a minister must have no family at all ; or, if he have one, must not care for it : yea, that he must have no body to tend ; but be all spirit. My lords, we are men of the same composition with others ; and our breeding hath been accor- SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 227 dingly. We cannot have lived in the world, but we have seen it, and observed it too ; and our long experience and conversation, both in men and in books, cannot but have put something into us for the good of others : and now, having a double capacity, qua Cives, qua Ecclesiastici ; as members of the commonwealth, as ministers and governors of the church; we are ready to do our best service in both. One of them is no way incompatible with the other : yea, the subjects of them both are so united with the church and commonwealth, that they cannot be severed : yea so, as that, not the one is in the other, but the one is the other, is both : so as the services, which we do, upon these occasions, to the commonwealth, are inseparable from our good offices to the church: so as, upon this ground, there is no reason of our exclusion. If ye say that our sitting in parliament takes up much time, which we might have employed in our studies or pulpits; consider, I beseech you, that, while you have a parhament, we must have a convocation ; and that our attendance upon that will call for the same expence of time, which we afford to this service: so as, herein, we have neither got nor lost. But, I fear it is not, on some hands, the tender regard of the full scope to our caUing, that is so much here stood upon ; as the conceit of too Q 2 228 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. much honour, that is done us, in taking up the roona of peers, and voting in this high court ; for, surely, those that are averse from our votes, yet could be content we should have place upon the w^oolsacks ; and could allow us ears, but not tongues. If this be the matter, I beseech your lordships to consider, that this honour is not done to us, but our profession; which, whatever we be in our several persons, cannot easily be capable of too much respect from your lordships. JSon tibi sed Isidi; as he said of old. Neither is this any new grace, that is put upon our calling ; which if it were now to begin might perhaps be justly grudged to our unworthiness ^ but it is an ancient ri^ht and inheritance, inherent in our station : no less ancient than these walls, wherein we sit: yea, more: before ever there were parliaments, in the Magna Concilia of the kingdom we had our places. And as for my pre- decessors, ever since the conqueror's time, I can shew your Lordships a just catalogue of them, that have sat before me here : and, truly, though I have just cause to be mean in mine own eyes, yet why or wherein there should be more unworthiness in me than the rest, that I should be stripped of that privilege which they so long enjoyed, though there were no law to hold me here, I cannot see or confess. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 229 What respects of honour have been put upon the prime clergy of old, both by Pagans, and Jews, and Christians, and what are still both within Christendom and without, I shall not need to urge: it is enough to say, this of ours is not merely arbitrary ; but stands so firmly established by law and custom, that I hope it neither will nor can be removed, except you will shake those foundations, which I believe you desire to hold firm and inviolable. Shortly, then, my lords, the church craves no new honour from you; and justly hopes you will not be guilty of pulling down the old. As you are the eldest sons, and, next under his majesty the honourable patrons of the church : so she expects and beseeches you to receive her into your tenderest care ; so to order her affairs, that ye leave her to posterity in no worse case than you found her. It is a true word of Damasus, Uti vilescit nomen JEpiscopi, omnis statua perturbatur Eccle- sicB, If this be suffered, the misery will be the church's : the dishonour and blur of the act in future ages will be yours. To shut up, therefore, let us be taken off from all ordinary trade of secular employments ; and, if you please, abridge us of intermeddling with matters of common justice : but leave us pos- sessed of those places and privileges in parliament, 230 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. which our predecessors have so long and peace- ably enjoyed." * The rejection of this bill was the first check the commons met with in this parliament : and they were not a little disconcerted at it. The reso- lute conduct of the bishops at this time in defend- ing their rights and privileges, so inflamed the enemies of the church, that they came to a conclusion that there was no hope of obtaining their end as long as a root and branch of episco- pacy remained. Some of their leading members therefore brought in a bill for *' the utter extirpa- tion of all bishops, deans, chapters, archdeacons, prebendaries, chaunters, with all chancellors, officials, and officers belonging to them ; and for the disposing of their lands, manors, &c. as the parliament should appoint."! This extraordinary bill was drawn up by Mr. St. John, and was delivered to the speaker by Sir Edward Bering from the gallery, with a short speech, in which he quoted two verses from Ovid, the application of which, it is said, was his greatest motive : *' Cuncta prius tentanda : sed iminedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur." Sir Edward observed, that the moderation and * Bishop Hall's Works, vol. x, pp. 70-72. t Nalson*s Collections, vol. ii, pp. 248-300. BILL FOR DESTROYING EPISCOPACY. 231 candour of the house were great in applying so gentle a remedy by the late bill ; as pruning and taking off a few unnecessary branches from the bishops was likely to make the tree prosper the better: but since this soft method proved inef- fectual by reason of their (the bishops') incorrigi- ble obstinacy, it was now necessary to put the ** axe to the root of the tree.'' " I never was for ruin," said he, " as long as there was any hopes of reforming; and I now profess that if these hopes revive and prosper, I will divide my sense upon this bill, and yield my shoulders to to underprop the primitive, lawful, and just episcopacy." There was a great opposition to the reading of this bill, because it was not introduced in a par- liamentary way, viz. without first asking leave; and because its tendency was to overthrow and disannul so many acts, and to change the consti- tution in church and state. But, as there were many very desirous of hearing it merely out of curiosity, and others from worse motives, it was read once, and then adjourned for nearly two months. A little before the king went into Scotland in the I eginning of Aug. 1641, it was carried by a majority of thirty-one voices to read it a second time, and deliver it to a committee of the whole house, of which Mr. Hyde, afterwards Lord 232 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. Clarendon, was chairman, who so dexterously managed the matter, that in about twenty days the bill was dropt, and was not resumed till the civil war commenced.^ When it was debated in the house of commons to abolish deans and chapters, and to apply their revenues to better purposes, the cathedral clergy exerted themselves to the utmost to ward off the impending danger: they drew up a petition to both houses of parHament ; and for this end, one divine was deputed from each cathedral to solicit their friends on behalf of their respective founda- tions. They intended to retain council to plead for them, but being informed that the parliament would not allow them that benefit, but that they must appear and plead their own cause. Upon this, Dr. John Hacket, prebendary of St. Paul's and archdeacon of Bedford, was selected as their advocate, who, being admitted to the bar of the bouse, May 12, 1641, " Spoke with so much strength of reason and argument, with so much learning and courage, that it was not without its effect on the house, and seemed to put the busi- ness to a stand for the present. It was then thought by some, that had the question been then * Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 11. Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, p. 540. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 426. Harris's Life of Charles I. pp. 379- 881. Ed. 1814. VOTE OF THE COMMONS. 233 put, it would have been carried in favour of the cathedrals by a great majority.* Petitions were also presented by the two universities; " but," says Heylin, " neither of them could prevail so far as take off the edge of the axe, which had been thus laid at the root of the tree, though it did blunt it at the present. For they, who managed the design, tiii(i::jg that the cathedral churches were too strongly cemented to be demo- lished in an instant, considered that the farthest way about, did many times prove the nearest way to the journey's end/'t A bill was therefore pre- pared, by which it was to be enacted that the bishops should have no votes in parliament, &c. of which we shall have occasion to speak more at large hereafter. After a long debate upon the bill for abolishing deans and chapters, the commons passed the fol- lowing resolutions or votes, which did not pass into a law, as the house of lords would not con- cur in an act so detrimental to the interest of the church: — **That all deans and chapters, arch- deacons, prebendaries, chanters, canons, and * See Dr. Hacket's incomparable speech in his Life by Dr. Plume, prefixed to his Sermons ia fol. and in Nalson's Collec- tion, vol. ii, p. 240. See also Fuller's Church Hist. cent. 17, b. xi, pp. 176, 177. Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 9. Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 475. t Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 476. 234 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. their officers, shall be utterly abolished out of the church, and the lands taken from them, put in the hands of trustees, in order to support a fit number of ministers for the service of the church, and the reparation of the cathedrals." As long as the bishops were in the house of lords, they stood like a strong bulwark or wall against every attempt of the commons to subvert the church; but when they were forced out of the house, the commons carried all before them, and accomplished all their iniquitous designs against the church. In the month of March, 1640—1, the lords ordered that a committee of ten earls,ten bishops, and ten barons should be nominated to settle the affairs of the church : this was denominated the Committee of Accommodation, At their first meeting they appointed a sub-committee of bishops and divines of diffierent persuasions, to consider such innovations in religion as were proper to be taken away. Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was chairman to both, and was ordered to summon the committee, which he did by the following circular :— - " I am commanded by the lords of the com- mittee for innovation in matters of i eligion, to let you know, thai iheir said lordships have assigned and appointed you to attend them, as assistants in that committee; and to let you know in COMMITTEE OF ACCOMMODATION. 235 general, that their lordships intend to examine all innovations in doctrine and discipline introduced into the church, without law, since the reforma- tion ; and (if their lordships shall find it behove- ful for the good of the church and state) to examine after that, the degrees and perfection of the reformation itself, which I am directed to intimate to you, that you may prepare your thoughts, studies, and meditations accordingly, expecting their lordships' pleasure for the parti- cular points as they shall arise." Dated March 12, 1640-1.* The names of those bishops and divines, who attended, were these — Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln. Dr. Holdsworth. Dr. Ustier, archbishop of Armagh. Dr. Hackett. Dr. Hall, bishop of Exeter. Dr. Twisse. Dr. Morton, bishop of Durham. Dr. Borgess. Dr. Samuel Ward. Mr. White. Dr. John Prideaux. Mr. Marshall. Dr. Sanderson. Mr. Calaniy. Dr. Featley. Mr. Hi.l. Dr. Brownrigge. They consulted together in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster, and were entertained all the while at the dean s table. The result of ♦ The date in Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 472, is March 21, and Dr. Walker, in his Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 29, has March 16. See his authorities in the margin, i*. 236 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. their conference was drawn up for the debate of the committee, in a number of propositions and queries ; but before they could bring their consul- tations to any issue, the meeting was dispersed about the middle of May by the bringing in of the bill for abolishing deans and chapters. This caused such a division in this committee, even in their persons and affections, that they never after met together.^ Fuller, speaking of the prelates and divines which formed the committee of accommodation, says, " that the moderation and mutual compli- ance of these divines might have saved the body of episcopacy, and prevented the civil war ; but the court bishops expected no good from them, suspecting the doctrinal puritans (as they nick- named those bishops and episcopal divines) joined with the disciplinary puritans, would betray the church between them. Some hot spirits would abate nothing of episcopal power or profit, but maintained, that the yielding any thing was granting the day to the opposite party." There may be much truth in the above remarks : yet, though the bishops and divines of this com- mittee were persons of great moderation and * Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 475. Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 29. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 432. COMMITTEE OF ACCOMMODATION. 237 piety, and perhaps their scheme of accommoda- tion would have done much good, there were not only " hot spirits'* in favor of episcopacy, who would " abate nothing of episcopal power or profit," but others of the opposite party, who would be satisfied with nothing less than the extirpation of episcopacy, root and branch. — I think, that though many of the puritan divines would have wished to retain episcopacy, it is evident that there existed a party, since the beginning of this parliament, who conspired the subversion of the church. — Rapin repre- sents the whole body of the puritans, which he calls preshyterians, as having formed a con- spiracy against the church.* This is how- ever not correct. The most respectable puri- tans were only for reducing episcopacy into its primitive state, and for removing innovations in ihe church. But it must be acknowledged, that many were then hostile to the constitution of th^ church, being supported by the Scots commissioners, who had conceived a strong antipathy against episcopacy, and had actually voted it contrary to the word of God ! This was not the case with many of the best of the puritans, who only desired to get rid of the exorbitant power exercised by some of the bishops. As the ♦ HisUofEng. vol.ii, pp.369,447» fol. ed. 238 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. influence of the Scots increased, presbyterian discipline prevailed ; and when the parHament were at their mercy, and forced to submit to what conditions they would impose upon them for their assistance, the Kirk discipline gained the ascendant, and at last it was advanced into a divine right in the assembly of divines !* It is said that about this time a plot was dis- covered to bring up from the north the army to dissolve the parliament: this rumour caused much ferment among the people ; whether there was any truth in it or not, it was made a handle to alienate the affection of the people from the king. Thus every kind of fuel was accumulated to kindle the fire of civil war and rebellion. While the commons were thus making prepara- tions for the subversion of the establishment, they were also active in proceeding against papists. It is said that they had a considerable share in the present calamities. They were numerous, and were become insolent and proud. The queen being a papist, protected and countenanced them. And the king, though he was undoubtedly attached firmly to the protestant religion, yet partly from the mildness and humanity of his temper, and chiefly from respect to the queen, * Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 443. MEASURES AGAINST PAPISTS. 239 was rather remiss in executing the laws against them ; so his enemies made it a pretence that he himself countenanced and protected them : that there existed a secret design of introducing popery, and that several bishops and clergymen were in the plot. There was no truth in this. But it was evident that the face of things was very much changed since the commencement of this parliament, and that it was not in the king's power even to protect the catholics. All the officers of that persuasion were therefore removed from the army ; the judges and magistrates were ordered to put the laws in execution against popish priests and Jesuits : and catholics throughout the kingdom were commanded to be disarmed. In order more effectually to increase the popular fear of popery, Mr. Pym gravely alleged the discovery of a conspiracy against the parliament, and moved " that a protestation might be entered into by the members of both houses." A protestation was therefore made to this effect, that they did in the presence of Almighty God, promise, vow, and protest to maintain and defend, with their lives, power and estates, the true reformed protestant religion expressed in the doctrine of the church of England, against all popery, and popish innova- tions within this realm, contrary to the same 240 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. doctrine ; and also his Majesty's . person, the power and privilege of parliament, the rights and liberties of the subjects, &c. &c. After being subscribed by all the conimons, it was sent up to the house of lords, and was readily assented to by all the lords spiritual and temporal, except the Earl of Southampton and Lord Roberts, who positively refused it, since there was no law that enjoined it, and since the consequence of such engagements might produce effects which were not then intended. Within two days after, with- out acquainting the peers, and contrary to the intention of most who took the protestation, the house of commons voted an explanation of it, as it was now in their power to put what sense they pleased upon it ; their explication of it, therefore, was, that it did not extend to the maintaining of any form of worship or government in the church of England. And lest it should not be sub- scribed voluntarily by the whole nation, as they desired, a bill was prepared and passed to coin- pel all his Majesty's subjects to subscribe it. The lords however rejected such a bill. And the commons in anger, imputed it to the bishops and popish lords, immediately resolved, that who- soever should not take the protestation, was unfit to bear office in the church or commonwealth. At the same time they passed several severe IMPEACHMENT OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 241 votes against the bishops and the church.* — ^ * This was," says Neal, " carrying matters to a ^' very extraordinary length ; there had been a \ parliamentary association in the reign of Queen ^//'^ Elizabeth, which her Majesty confirmed ; and a t solemn league and covenant in Scotland, which the king had complied with ; but the enforcing a protestation or vow upon his Majesty's subjects without his consent, was assuming a power, which even this dangerous crisis of affairs, and the uncommon authority with which this parlia- ment was invested by the Act of Continuance^ can by no means support or justify."! The changes, which took place since the com- mencement of this parliament, and during its continuance, were truly astonishing and prodi- gious. It will be proper here to take a brief view of some civil occurrences, which paved the way for them. The parliament, designing to bring corrupt ministers to justice, began with Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, an able statesman, but hostile to the laws and liberties of his country, and impeached himof high treason, Nov. 11, 1640. Upon this he was taken into custody, committed to the tower, and brought to trial the 22d of * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Erig. vol. ii, p. 642. Walker's SufFerings of the Clergy, part i, p. 22. t Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 410. R 242^ LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. March following. Harris says, that the king and queen attended his trial incog,^ The king made some attempts to save his life, but through fear or irresolution, he was at last prevailed upon to sign the bill of attainder. And on the 12th of May, 1641, the unhappy Thomas Wentworth was beheaded upon Tower-hill, and submitted to the axe with a Roman bravery and courage : — the writer would have been glad to add rather that he died with Christian fortitude, and in a hope full of immortality ; but he cannot find any such account in the historians of the day. During the trial, as being a case of blood, the bishops did not attend ; consequently the bill of attainder passed with the dissent of only eleven peers. About this time, that most extraordinary bill, in which it was stated, " that this present parlia- ment shall not he adjourned, or dissolved, without their own consent,'' passed both houses with very little opposition, and obtained the royal assent ! ! All men stood amazed at the king's weakness on this occasion: for by this hasty and unadvised measure he concurred in a change of the whole constitution, giving to parliament a legislative power as long as they pleased ! If the king had Life of Charles I, p. 370, ed. 1814. STAU CHAMBER, &C. ABOLISHED. 243 fixed the continuance of this parliament to a limited time, it might probably have been satis- factory, and the prerogative be saved ; bat by making them perpetual, he parted with the sceptre out of his own hands, and put it into the hands of this parliament, which had already shewn such hostile disposition to the constitution in church and state. Two other bills were now ready for the royal assent— one to abolish the court of high com- mission, and regulate the privy council; the other to take away the star-chamber. These bills passed and obtained the royal assent about the latter end of July, 1641. The high commission court was erected by Queen Elizabeth: its juris- diction extended over the whole kingdom ; it suspended and deprived men of their livings. Instead of producing witnesses in open court to prove a charge against a person, the commis- sioners assumed a power of administering an oath ex officio, by which a person was bound to answer all questions, and might thereby be obliged to accuse himself or his most intimate friend. If he refused this oath, he was imprisoned for con- tempt ; and if he took it, he was convicted upon his own confession. Though this court was intended to reform ecclesiastical errors, and to check heresies and schisms, yet it was often abused to vex and harass persons upon trivial R 2 244 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. occasions ; so that it was become a kind of inqui- sition; as Granger says, " it was armed with an inquisitorial power to force any one to confess what he knew, and to punish him at discretion:'* The star chamber was also a court consisting: of certani noblemen, bishops, judges and coun- sellors, nominated by the sovereign who was the sole judge when present; the other members were only to give their opinion by way of advice. But in the absence of the sovereign, the deter mination was by a majority, the lord chancellor or keeper having a casting vote. This court was grown so unmerciful in its censures and punish- ments, that it was a great oppression to the nation, t * Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. i, p. 206. See also Hume's Hist, of England, vol. v, p. 189. t See Clarendon, vol. i, pp. 74, 68, &c. — In the ancient year books, it is called Camera Stdlata, not because the cham- ber where the court was kept was adorned with stars, but because it was the seat of the great court, and the name was given according to the nature of its judges. '* It was a glorious sight upon a star-day when the Knights of the Garter appear with the stars on their garments, and the judges in their scarlet; and in that posture they have sat sometimes from nine in the morning till live in the afternoon. And it was usual for those that came to be auditors, to be there by tliree in the morning to get convenient places and standing. The Warden of the Fleet, or his deputy, constantly attended in court to receive their Lordships' commands, as there was occasion." " This court often inflicted fines and punishments ; but it was only in the days of Charles I. thdii cropping of earsy slitting of noses ^ brand- ing of faces y whippings and gagging, were heard of in it." Rushworth, vol. ii, p. 473. t Harris's Life of Charles I, p. 308, ed. 1814. IMPEACHMENT OF THE BISHOPS. 245 By the passing of the act for abolishing these courts, the whole authority and power of spiritual courts were effectually destroyed. When the king hesitated to give his royal assent to this bill, some of the bishops persuaded him to sign it, in order to take off the odium from that bench, that they were averse to reformation. When these two courts were abolished, which were the principal cause of the grievances com- plained of, and the chief engines of arbitrary proceedings in church and state, one might have supposed that surely now the church should have rest and quietness : — but no : it must be destroyed root and branch. Reformation could not be per- fected till episcopacy was abolished, and " the sroodlv lands and revenues" of the church be enjoyed by the reformers. The commons were not able to devise any effectual method to accomplish their intended change, while the bench of bishops remain- ed united in the house of peers. Several schemes were contrived to divide them, but proved unsuccessful. It was first proposed to impose large fines upon both houses of convoca- tion for compiling the late canons, and a bill for that purpose was introduced, but laid aside. For it was thought more effectual for the present to make examples of those bishops only who were the principal actors in these matters. Accord- 24t) LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. ingly a committee was appointed July 31, 1641, to draw up an impeachment against thirteen of the bishops, viz. Dr. Curie, bishop of Winchester; Dr. Wright, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield ; Dr. Goodman, bishop of Gloucester ; Dr. Jos. Hall, bishop of Exeter; Dr. Owen, bishop of St. Asaph ; Dr. Pierse, bishop of Bath and Wells : Dr. Coke, bishop of Hereford ; Dr.Wren, bishop of Ely; Dr. Roberts, bishop of Bangor; Dr. Skinner, bishop of Bristol ; Dr.W^arner, bishop of Rochester ; Dr. Towers, bishop of Peter- borough; Dr. Owen, bishop of Landaff.''^ The impeachment was of high crimes and misde- meanours ; — " For making and publishing the late canons, contrary to the king's prerogative, to the fundamental laws of the realm, to the rights of parliament, and to the property and liberty oj the subject; and containing matters tending to sedition, and of dangerous consequence ; and for granting a benevolence or contribution to his Majesty, to be paid by the clergy of that province, contrary to law'' It was carried up to the house of Lords about the beginning of August, by serjeant Wild, who demanded in the name of all the commons of England, that the bishops might be forthwith .* Neal includes Dr. Laud archbishop of Canterbury in this list, and leaves out the bishop of Hereford ; but Dr. Laud at this time was in the Tower. — See Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, parti, p. 7; part ii, p. 34. bishops' defence. 247 put to answer the crimes and misdemeanours above mentioned, in tlie presence of the house of commons; and that such further proceedings might be had against them as to law and justice appertained. The commons were in hopes that the bishops would now have quitted their votes in parliament in order to be discharged of the priB' munire: but they determined and resolved to abide by their right, and therefore only desired time to prepare their answer and council. They were allowed accordingly three months' time to put in their answer, and to prepare council : for this purpose they nominated Serjeant Jermyn, Mr. Chute, Mr. Heme, and Mr. Hales, as their council. Nov. 12, 1641, the bishops deHvered in their answers in writing, except the bishop of Glouces- ter, who pleaded not guilty by word of mouth. Their answers, consisting of a plea and demurrer y were drawn up for them by their council Mr. Chute, with such strength of argument and learn- ing, that their impeachment sunk away in silence.* The bishops' defence was made by a demurrer, with a view to prove that what they had done in the late convocation, could not amount to a • Fuller's Church Hist. b. xi, p. 183.— Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 449.- Walker's Sufferings of th« Clergy, part i, p. 7. 248 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. prtsmunire. Bishop Hall, on this occasion, made the following impressive speech in defence of the canons made in convocation : "My Lords: ** I cannot choose but know, that whosoever rises up in this cause must speak with the disad- vantage of much prejudice ; and, therefore, 1 do humbly crave your lordships' best construction. Were it, my lords, that some few doubting per- sons were to be satisfied in some scruples about matter of the canons, there might be some life in the hope of prevailing; but, now that we are borne down with such a torrent of general and resolute contradiction, we yield : but yet, give us leave, I beseech you, so to yield, that posterity may not say we have wilHngly betrayed our own innocence. " First, therefore, let us plead to your lordships and the world, that, to abate the edge of that illegality, which is objected to us, it was our obedience, that both assembled and kept us together, for the making of synodical acts. We had the great seal of England for it ; seconded by the judgments of the oracles of law and justice : and, upon these, the command of our superior, to whom we have sworn and owe canonical obe- dience. Now in this case, what should we do? Was it for ns to judge of the great seal of SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 249 England? or to judge of our judges? alas! we are not for the law, but for the gospel ; or to dis- obey that authority, which was to be ever sacred to us? I beseech your lordships, put yourselves a while into our condition. Had the case been yours, what would you have done? If we obey not, we are rebels to authority: if we obey, we are censured for illegal procedures. Where are we now, my lords? It is an old rule of cas- uists, Nemo tenetur esse perplexus. Free us, one way or other: and shew us, whether we must rather hazard censure, or incur disobedience. ** In the next place, give us leave to plead our good intentions. Since we must make new^ canons, I persuade myself we all came, I am sure I can speak for one, with honest and zealous desires to do God and his church good service; and expected to have received great thanks, both of church and commonwealth : for your lordships see, that the main drift of those canons was to repress and confine the indiscreet and lawless discourses of some either ignorant or parasitical, I am sure offensive preachers ; to suppress the growth of Socinianism, Popery, Separatism; to redress some abuses of ecclesiastical courts and officers : in all which, I dare say your lordships do heartily concur with them. And if, in the manner of expression, there have been any failings, I shall humbly beseech your lordships, that those 250 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. may not be too much stood upon, where the main substance is well meant, and in itself profitable. .: " In the third place, give me leave to put your Jordships in mind of the continual practice of the Christian church, since the first synod of the Apostles, Acts xv. to this present day : wherein I suppose it can never be showed, that ever any ecclesiastical canons made by the bishops and clergy in synods, general, national, provincial, were either off*ered or required to be confirmed by parliaments. Emperors and princes, by whose authority those synods were called, have still given their power to the ratification and execu- tion of them ; and none others: and, if you please to look into the times within the ken of memory or somewhat beyond it, Linwood's constitutions, what parliaments confirmed? The injunctions of Queen EHzabeth, the canons of King James, were never tendered to the parliament for confirmation ; and yet have so far obtained hitherto, that the government of the church was by them still regu- lated. Compare, I beseech you, those of King James with the present : your lordships shall find them many, peremptory, resolute; standing upon their own grounds, in points much harder of digestion than these, which are but few and only seconds to former constitution. If, therefore, in this we have erred, surely the whole christian church of all places and times hath erred with SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 251 us: either, therefore, we shall have too good company in the censure; or else we shall be excused. " Fourthly, give me leave to urge the authority of these canons. In which regard, if I might without offence speak it, I might say that the complainants have not, under correction, laid a right ground of their accusation. They say we have made canons and constitutions: alas! my lords, we have made none. We neither did nor could make canons, more than they can make laws. The canons are so to the church, as laws are for the commonwealth. Now they do but rogare legem: they do not ferre or sancire legem: that is only for the king to do : it is le roi le veut, that of bills makes laws. So was it for us to do in matter of canons ; we might propound some such constitutions, as we should think might be useful : but, when we have done, we send them to his Majesty; who perusing them cum avisa- meiito Consilii sui, and approving them, puts life into them, and of dead propositions makes them canons. As, therefore, the laws are the king's laws, and not ours ; so are the canons the king's canons, and not the qlergy's. Think thus of them; and then draw what conclusions you please. " As for that pecuniary business of our contribu- tion, wherein we are said to have trenched upon 252 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. the liberty of subjects and propriety of goods ; I beseech your lordships, do but see the difference of times. We had a precedent for it. The same thing was done in Queen Elizabeth's time, in a mulct of three shillings the pound, and that after the end of the parliament, with the same clauses of suspension, sequestration, deprivation, without noise of any exception ; which now is cried down for an unheard-of encroachment. How legal it may be, I dispute not; and did then make bold to move : but, let the guide of that example, and the zeal that we had to the supply of his Majesty's necessities, excuse us a tanto at least; if, having given these as subsidies fitting the parliament, and the bill being drawn up for the confirmation of the parliament, we now, upon the unhappy disso- lution of it, as loth to retract so necessary a grant, were willing to have it continued to his Majesty's use. " But, my lords, if I may have leave to speak my own thoughts, I shall freely say, that, whereas there are three general concernments, both of persons and causes, merely ecclesiastical, merely temporal, or mixt of both ecclesiastical and tem- poral: as it is fit, the church by her synod should take cognizance of and order for the first, which is merely ecclesiastical ; so, next under his Majesty, the parliament should have the power of ordering the other. SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 253 " But, in the mean time, my lords, where are we? The canons of the church, both late and former, are pronounced to be void and forceless. The church is a garden or vineyard enclosed: the laws and constitutions of it are as the wall or hedge: if these be cast open, in what state are we? Shall the enemies of this church hare such an advantage of us, as to say, we are a lawless church? or shall all men be left loose to their licentious fredom ? God in heaven forbid ! " Hitherto, we have been quietly and happily governed by those former canons : the extent whereof we have not, I hope, and for some of us, I am confident we have not, exceeded. Why should we not be so still? Let these late canons sleep, since you will have it so, till we awake them, which shall not be till doomsday ; and let us be where we were, and regulate ourselves by those constitutions which were quietly submitted to on all hands: and, for this, which is past, since that which we did was out of our true obedience, and with honest and godly intentions and accor- ding to the universal practice of all Christian Churches, and with the full power of his Majesty's authority, let it not be imputed to us as any way worthy of your Lordships' censure."* • Bishop Hall's Works, vol. x, pp. 67-69. CHAPTER VII. The time was now come, within two or three days, for the king's intended journey into Scot- land : the commons therefore thought proper to lay aside their debates about the church, which were becoming daily more involved and intri- cate, and to attend to other affairs more necessary for the public good. The business of both houses being very urgent and the time short, they voted, that, in this case of necessity, they would sit the next day, being Sunday, by six o'clock in the morning. After having first heard a sermon, they returned to the house about nine, and sat all day. (Sunday, Aug. 8, 1641.) The house of lords were also prevailed upon to do the same. There never was any other such instance known before, since the first institution of parliament. How- ever, lest this might be misconstrued as a profa- nation, or be drawn into example, they published the following declaration : " Whereas both houses of parliament found it fit to sit in parliament upon the 8th of August, 255 being Lord's day, for many urgent occasionsii being straitened in time, by his Majesty's resolu- tion to go within a day or two to Scotland, they think it fit to declare that they would not have done this but upon inevitable necessity; the peace and safety of both church and state being so deeply concerned, which they do hereby declare to this end, that neither any other inferior court or council, or any other person, may draw this into example, or make use of it for their encouragement, in neglecting the due observance of the Lord'g day." The king set out for Scotland, Aug. 11, 1641, and arrived in Edinburgh in three or four days. During the king's absence, both houses of parlia- ment continued their sittings. But, as the sum- mer was drawing to a close, and the plague increasing in London, many members of both houses went down to the country. And those who remained in town, were not very solicitous to attend parliament. This was an opportunity, which the enemies of the church did not fail to improve. When therefore there were only about one hundred and twenty members present, they entered on a debate about the book of Common Prayer. They pretended that, as many things in it gave great offence, or at least, umbrage to tender consciences, they proposed that there might be a liberty to disuse it. But such a motion, at this 256 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. time, was of so unacceptable a nature, that though the house was so thmly attended, and it was much urged by persons of the greatest autho- rity and power, yet it was so far from being assented to, that it was resolved by a great majo- rity, that the book of Common Prayer should be duly observed. However, the next day, contrary to all rules and order of parliament, many being absent, who had a share in the debate the day before, the house suspended the above order, and resolved, " that the standing of the communion table in all churches should be altered, the rails should be pulled down, the chancels should be levelled, and that no man should presume to bow at the name of Jesus."* Having digested these godl^ resolutions into an order, they carried it to the house of lords, presuming that, on account of the paucity of number in the house of peers, there would be no dissent. But the lords were much offended at such presumption relating to an affair, which had so plain a tendency to disturb the peace of the church, and interrupt its settled and legal government ; and they not only refused to concur with them, but directed an order made about seven months before to be printed and dis- persed ; requiring " divine service to be per- formed as it is appointed by acts of parliament, * Clarendon, vol. i, b.iv, p. 292. LECTURERS. 257 and all such as shall disturb that wholesome order to be punished severely according to law." The commons, enraged at this refusal, pursued their former order, and declared that this of the lords should not be obeyed. In the midst of this ferment and opposite councels, the sword having been taken out of the hands of the spiritual courts, it is no wonder that the state of religion was so unsettled, and that the proper forms of worship in the church were but negligently observed. Under pretence of encouraging preaching, the commons licensed lecturers in every parish; and recom- mended such lecturers in all populous places, as were not well affected to the government in church and state. Dr. Walker, in his " Sufferings of the Clergy,' gives a curious account of these factious lecturers, with some no less curious and strange specimens of their lectures. These lec- turers were designed as a kind of tools in the hands of the commons, to undermine the fabric of the church.* Neal, speaking of these lecturers, says, " far be it from me to apologize for the furious preachers of these times : though the complaints of the royalists are very much exag- gerated." f Both houses now consented to a recess, and so * Part i, pp. 16-20. + Hist, of the Puritans, vol.ii, p. 463. S 258 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. adjourned for about six weeks. Bishop Hall, during his Majesty's absence in Scotland, and this recess, went down to Exeter ; and upon the day of thanksgiving for the pacification between the Scots and the Enghsh, Sep. 7, 1641, preached in the cathedral of Exeter, from Ps. xlvi, 8, 9. " Come, behold the works of the Lord, ivhat desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth'' The good bishop, in this excellent discourse, after taking a general survey of God's wonderful works, and then a special view of the divine justice, took occasion to consider the mercy of God in appeasing all broils and tumults, and pathetically adverted to the troubles of the church and state: "Are we troubled with the fears or rumours of war? Are we grieved with the quarrels and dissensions, that we find within the bosom of our own nation or church? Would we earnestly desire to find all differences composed, and a constant peace settled amonirstus? We see whither to make our ADDRESS, evien to that Omnipotent God, ** ivho maketh tvars to cease unto the ends of the earth ; who breaketh the bow, and snappeth the spear in sunder'' And, surely, if ever any nation had cause to complain in the midst of a public peace, of the danger of private distractions and factious divisions, ours is it; wherein 1 know not how many uncouth sects are lately risen out of hell, SERMON AT EXETER. to the disturbance of our wonted peace ; all of them eagerly pursuing: their own various fancies, and opposing our formerly received truth. What should we do then, but betake ourselves in our earnest supplications to the God of peace, with a * help, Lord^' Never ceasing to solicit him with our prayers, that he would be pleased so to order the hearts of men, that they might incline to a happy agreement ; at least to a meek cessation of those unkind quarrels, wherewith the church is thus miserably afflicted." Hence it appears how grieved Bishop Hall 'vas at the present sad state of the church, and how much he lamented the deplorable discords, which were threatening destruction to the consti- tution in church and state. He again feelingly observed, " Woe is me, with what words should I bewail the deplorable estate of these late times in this behalf! Let me appeal to your own eyes and ears. I know I speak to judicious christians. Tell me whether ever you lived to sere such an inundation of hbellous, scandalous, mahcious pamphlets, as ha\e lately broke in upon us; not only against some particular persons which may have been faulty enough ; but against the lawful and established government itself; against the ancient, allowed, legal forms of divine worship. Cer- tainly, if we love the peace of this church and king- dom, we cannot but lament, and, to our power, s 2 260 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. oppose these insolencies. If reformation be the thing desired and aimed at, let not that man prosper, which doth not affect it, pray for it, bend his utmost endeavours to accomplish it : but is this the way to a christian reformation, to raise slanders, to broach lying accusations against the innocent, to calumniate lawful and estabHshed authority? God forbid! These are the acts of him, that is the manslayer from the beginning. The Holy God hates to raise his kingdom by the aid of the devil. Be as zealous as you will : but be, withal, just: be charitable; and endeavour to advance good causes, by only lawful means. And then, let him come within the compass of the curse of Meroz, that is not ready to assist and second you.^" These extracts from the bishop's sermon cast a considerable light upon the iniquitous proceed- ings then carried on for the subversion of the church. The means employed at this time to render people disaffected towards the rulers in church and state were certainly very scandalous, and so very reverse to that meek and peaceable disposition, the characteristic of genuine Chris- tianity: " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,'' says the Psalmist, '* they shall prosper thai love thee.'' " Certainly, thus it should be," says Bishop Hall, * Bishop- Hall's Works, vol. v, pp. 479-481. THE VACANT DIOCESES FILLED. 261 ** but, alas, we are fallen upon times, wherein it is cause enough for a quarrel, to plead for peace!" Whilst the king was in Scotland, a report was circulated, that, as he had conceded so much to the Scots in abolishing episcopacy, he would be persuaded to introduce presbytery into England at his return ; upon which, the king sent a letter to the clerk of the council, "commanding him to assure all his servants, that he would be constant to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England, and that he resolved by the grace of God to die in the maintenance of it." This was dated Edinburgh, Oct. 18, 1641. His Majesty, during his stay in Scotland, resolved to fill up those sees which were become vacant by death or translation; he therefore ordered several Conge delires to be drawn up for that purpose. But when the commons heard of this designa- tion, they were much disturbed and troubled, that, at a time when they were intent upon taking away the old bishops, the king should presume to make new ones. They therefore voted a committee to draw up reasons to be presented to the house of lords, for joining with them in a petition to his Majesty, that he would suspend his commands till he returned home. The king, however, in a short time after, collated to the vacant sees, and 262 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. translated to others, men of great eminence in the church, frequent preachers, and not one to whom the faults of the governing clergy were then im- puted, or against whom the least objection could be made. The promotions and translations, which accordingly tben took place, were the following, viz. Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was made archbishop of York in the room of Dr. Neile deceased. Dr. Winniffe, dean of St. Paul's, a grave and moderate divine, was made bishop of Lincoln. Dr. Duppa, bishop of Chi- chester was translated to Salisbury, vacant by the death of Dr. Davenant : and Dr. King, dean of Rochester was promoted to Chichester. Dr. Jos. Hall was now translated from Exeter to Norwich, in the room of Dr. Montague deceased. Dr. Brownrigge, master of Catherine Hall, Cam- bridge, an eminent and learned divine, was advanced to Exeter. Dr. Skinner was translated from Bristol to Oxford, vacant by the death of Dr. Bancroft. And Dr. Westfield, archdeacon of St. Albans, a very popular preacher, was pro- moted to Bristol. Dr. Prideaux, king's professor of divinity in Oxford, was made bishop of Wor- cestor, in the room of Dr. Thornborough decea- sed. The see of Carlisle being also vacant by the death of Dr. Barnabas Potter, who was called the penitential preacher, was given in commendam to the most reverend Dr. Usher, archbishop of INSURRECTION IN IRELAND. 263 Armagh and primate of Ireland. All these were very eminent and excellent divines, and were ornaments of their profession. It was a proof of the king's consulting the welfare of the church in this very critical time, to promote such characters. Neal invidiously remarks that ** most of these divines stood well in the opinion of the people, but their accepting bishoprics in this crisis did neither the king nor themselves any service."* But was not their accepting of bishoprics at such a time a proof of their determination to stand up in defence of the church to the last extremity ? Was it not a proof of their sincerity, of their undiminished attachment and affection to the Church ? And was there not here a demonstra- tion of his Majesty's disposition of'promoting the prosperity of the church and the welfare of his subjects to the utmost ? Before the king left Scotland, news arrived in London, Nov. 1, 1641, that the papists of Ireland had made a general insurrection, and committed a most cruel and bloody massacre of the pro- testants of that kingdom. Neal and other histo- rians insinuate that the king was not unacquainted with these barbarities : but there is no sufficient proof that his Majesty was at all a promoter of * Hist, of the Puritans, vol. ii, p. 480. 264 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. such enormities. However, through the dis- sentions between the king and parliament, effec- tual means of suppressing it were delayed too long: so that, because a timely relief was not afforded to Ireland, it proved ultimately very disadvantageous to the king. The two houses of parliament were no sooner assembled after the recess, than a motion was made in the house of commons to revive the com- mittee appointed at the beginning of this parlia- ment, in order to draw up a general remonstrance of the state of the nation, and the particular grievances it had sustained. This extraordinary bill was presented to the king at Hampton Court, Dec. 1, 1641, about a week after his return from Scotland. Some such remonstrance was probably season- able and proper, when the parliament first met after a scene of arbitrary power and oppression for so many years : but at this time it was unne- cessary and unseasonable, when the grievances complained of had been redressed, and since the king had already made so many concessions. The remonstrance was read in the house of com- mons, Nov. 22, when it met with so strong an opposition, that it was carried only by nine voices. Clarendon says : but Harris, in his life of Crom- well, p. 73, says, that " the numbers for passing the remonstrance were one hundred and fifty nine. REMONSTRANCE OF THE COMMONS. 265 against it one hundred and forty eight, so it was carried by eleven voices,"* after a long debate of twelve hours, from three in the afternoon till three in the morning, which made one of the members to say, " It looked like the verdict of a starved jury.'t This remonstrance contained a long and bitter representation of all the illegal acts of admini- stration from his Majesty s accession to that time. It was accompanied with a petition for redress of the grievances therein contained. As far as it concerned the church, it was stated in the peti- tion, " that his Majesty would concur with his people in a parliamentary way, for depriving the bishops of their votes in parliament, and abridging their immoderate power usurped over the clergy, and other his good subjects, to the hazard of reli- gion, and the prejudice of the just liberties of his people: — for the taking away such oppressions in religion, church governiiient and discipline, as ♦ Journal, 22 Nov. 1641. t Harris, in his Life of Cromwell, p. 70, suj)poses the per- son who made this remark was Sir Benj. Rudyard, who, accord- ing to Willis, was in threriod ; pro- vided that neither himself, nor his adherents, should be obliged to conform to it — that during that period, a consultation should be had with the assembly, and with twenty divines of his own nomination, to determine upon a form of govern- ment to be established afterwards in the church, with a provision for the ease of tender consciences — that his Majesty would consent that legal estates for lives, or for a term of years, not exceeding ninety-nine, might be made from the lands and revenues of bishops, for the satisfaction of those who have purchased them; provided that the inheritance may still remain in the church, and the residue be reserved for their maintenance. These, with some other concessions of less impor- tance, his Majesty delivered to the commissioners as his final answer. In conclusion, his Majesty challenged the parliament divines, who were assistants to the commissioners, to shew, that either there is no form of church government prescribed in scripture ; or, if there be, that the civil power may alter it as they see cause ; or, if it was unchangeable, that it was not episcopal ; and till this was done, he should think himself excusable for not consenting to the abolition of that church government, which he found settled at his coronation, which is so ancient, has been so 348 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. universally received in the christian world, con- firmed by so many acts of parliament, and been subscribed by all the clergy of the church of England. But the presbyterian divines did not think fit to enter on this debate. The parliament spent several days in deliberat- ing on the above concessions of his Majesty, and at last voted them unsatisfactory with regard to episcopacy. The king made some further concessions, which were not approved of. The time of the treaty was prolonged, and some new propositions' made to the king. At last, there being but one day left to determine the fale of the whole kingdom, the commissioners pressed his Majesty to satisfy the demands of the parlia- ment. His own council, and his divines, besought him to consider the safety of his person for the sake of the church and people ; because they had some hope still left, whilst his Majesty was preserved, that they should enjoy many blessings; whereas if he was destroyed, there was scarce a possibility to preserve them : — that, upon the best judgment they could make, the order, which his Majesty endeavoured to preserve with so much zeal and piety, was much more likely to be ruined by his not complying, than by his sus- pending it till a future government could be settled. The mind of the unhappy king was much distressed on account of these considera- tions, so that he told the commissioners, " that REMONSTRANCE OF THE ARMY. 349 after the condescensions he had already made in the business of the church, he had expected not to be further pressed : it being his judgment and his conscience. He could not consent to abolish episcopacy out of the church." * This treaty, in the end, proved unsuccessful in promoting the peace of the country ; and a short time before its conclusion, the army had sent a remonstrance to the parliament to express their high dissatisfaction with the treaty, because no provision was made for liberty of conscience and toleration. This remonstrance of the army plainly discovered the intentions of the independents, to blow up the constitution, and to bury the king, episcopacy, and presbytery in its ruins. In a kind of despair, and under the influence of a religious phrenzy, the army entered upon the most desperate measures, resolving to take the SOVEREIGN POWER into their own hands — to bring the king io justice -io set aside the covenant — and to change the government into a common- wealth. In order to accomplish these horrible resolutions, the remonstrance was presented to the parliament, Nov. 20, 1648. It was accom- panied with many petitions from different parts of the kingdom, tending to the same purpose. The parliament, upon this, was struck with the * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 572, &c. 350 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. utmost consternation, and, though a few days before voted the king's concessions unsatisfactory, again took his answer into consideration; and after a violent debate for three days, it was carried by a majority of forty-two, that his Majesty's concessions were a sufficient founda- tion for the houses to proceed upon an the settle- ment of the kingdom: but it was then too late. The army had now secured the person of the king, and he was conveyed by a party of horse to Hurst Castle, where he continued till he was conducted to Windsor in order to his trial. The general had marched the army to London ; and the next day the presbyterian members were excluded from the house by a mihtary force; and the independent members, who wereadmitted, voted the king's answer to the propositions not satisfactory. The question now was, what was next to be done? It was high time to settle some form of government, under which the nation was to live. So in order to gain popularity, they declared that parliament should be dissolved on the last day of April following : and that in the mean time they would bring those delinquents to justice, who had disturbed the peace of the kingdom, and put it to such an expence of blood and treasure. But the height of all iniquity and fanatical extravagance yet remained to be acted : it was determined to impeach the king of high treason, as having been the cause of all the blood DEATH OF THE KING. 351 spilt during the rebellion. The sovereign was tried and executed by a set of desperate officers of the army, and their dependents.* There was nothing in the common or statute law which could direct or warrant this iniquitous proceed- ing, they therefore made a new form never before heard of — ''A71 high court of justice to try his Majesty for high treason in levying war against his parliament^ '\ He fell a sacrifice to the rage and enthusiasm of the fanatic leaders of the army, who, proceeding from one licentiousness to another, had arrived at an implacable, repub- lican, virulent spirit, regardless of all laws, divine and human. The particulars of the murder of King Charles I. on the 30th of Jan. 1648'"9, and his character, need not here be related ; they are so fully narrated by Lord Clarendon, Dugdale, and other historians.:}; * They have been described as a " swarm ot' armed enthu- siasts, who outwitted the patriots, out-prayed the puritans, and out-fought the cavaliers." Bishop Warburton's Sermon before the House of Lords, Jan. 30, 1760. t Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. Hi; b. xi, p. 244. X See a very interesting character of Kin«» Charles I. in War- ner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, pp. 574-577: but the excellent and pious Bishop Home, in his sermon intitled the CHRISTIAN KING, has given us a very striking and interesting view of the character of Charles I. as a king, a christian, and a martyr. See Bishop Home's Works, vol. iii, p. CHAPTER X, The constitution, having been so much muti- lated and reduced in the progress of the rebel- lion, at the execution of the king was totally dis- solved. The small remains of an house of commons prohibited the proclaiming of the Prince of Wales, or any other person whatsoever, under the pain of high treason, and voted the house of lords to be useless, and the office of a king dangerous to the state. The oaths of allegiance and supre- macy were abolished, and a new one, called the engagement, was appointed, by which all persons who held any place or office in church or state, were required to swear, " that they would be true and faithful to the government estabhshed, without king, or house of peers." The form of government for the future, was declared to be a free commonwealth, of which the executive power was to be lodged in the hands of a council of state of about forty persons, any nine of whom were to take care of the administration for one RUMP PARLIAMENT. 353 year. Such was the foundation of this new government, which neither had the consent of the nation, nor their representatives in parliament. The parHament, as it was, consisted only of about eighty members, all of them 'independents. And these few members voted the exclusion of all the other members, unless they took the engagement A licentious, republican, and fanatic army, which had spread an universal terror, had got this extra- ordinary and excessive power to this parliament, which, consisting of so inconsiderable a number of members, obtained in derision the appellation of the rump parliament. * The Independent interest, by means of the army, now prevailed in and over the parliament : not only the loyal clergy began to suffer afresh *' under a new set of tyrants," but even the pres- byterians ** became fellow-stifferers, and were involved in one common calamity, with those many thousands of ruined loyahsts, over whom they had themselves for such a long course of years, lorded it with so much rigour and cruelty." f * Walker, the author of the History of Independency, first gav« them this name, in allusion to a fowlf all devoured but the rump. They were also compared to a man who would never cease to whet and whet his knife, till there was no steel left to make it useful. Dr. Grey and Rapih. t Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part i, p. 146. Aa 354 LIFK OF BISHOP HALL. It is not necessary in this work to enter fully into the measures which were taken for settling this usurped government. In such a time of universal confusion, the transactions which con- cerned then the church and state ought rather to be razed out of the page of history, than particu- larly related, lest the success of so much villany, dissimulation, and enthusiasm, should in after ages encourage the same horrible and iniquitous factions against the established constitution of church and state. Now every man was at liberty to profess any principles of religion, and to teach what he pro- fessed. Bishop Hall in these distracted times, speaking of those who cause divisions, says, " they have much to answer for to the God of peace and unity, who are so much addicted to their own conceits, and so indulgent to their own interest, as to raise and maintain new doctrines, and to set up new sects in the church of Christ, varying from the common and received truths; labouring to draw disciples after them, to the great distraction of souls, and scandal of Christianity: with which sort of disturbers I must needs say this age, into which we are fallen, hath been and is, above all that have gone before us, most miserably pestered : what good soul can be other than confounded, to hear of and see more than a hundred and four score new, and some of them dangerous and bias- DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH. 355 phemous opinions, broached and defended in one, once famous and unanimous church of Christ? Who can say other, upon the view of these wild thoughts, than Gerson said long since, that the world, now grown old, is full of doting fancies; if not rather, that the world, now near his end, raves and talks nothing but fancies and frenzies? How arbitrary soever these self-willed fanatics may think it, to take to themselves this liberty of thinking what they list, and venting what they think, the blessed Apostle hath long since branded them with a heavy sentence : Now I beseech you, brethren, maik tJiem which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them : for they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts oj the simple, Rom. xvi, 17, 18." Again, our author justly lamenting the manifold and grievous distractions of the church of Christ then both in judgment and affection, says, " Woe is me, into how many thousand pieces is the seamless coat of our Saviour rent! Yea, into what numberless atoms, is the precious body of Christ torn and minced ! There are more reli- gions than nations upon earth ; and in each reli- gion, as many different conceits, as men. If St. Paul, when his Corinthians did but say, / am oj Paul, I am of Apollos, lam ofCeplias, could ask, Aa2 356 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. Is Christ divided? (1 Cor. i, 12, 13.) when there was only an emulatory magnifying of their own teachers, though agreeing and orthodox; what, think we, would he now say, if he saw a hundred of sect-masters and heresiarchs, some of them opposite to other, all to the truth, applauded by their credulous and divided followers, all of them claiming Christ for theirs, and denying him to their gainsayers? Would he not ask, " Is Christ multiplied? Is Christ subdivided? Is Christ shred into infinites ?" O God ! what is become of Christianity? How do evil spirits and men labour to destroy that creed, which we have always constantly professed! For if we set up more Christs, where is that one ? And if we give way to these infinite distractions, where is the commu- nion of saints ? " ^ The churches and pulpits were now open to all sorts of people, who would wish to display their gifts of praying and preaching there. A general distraction and confusion in reHgion overspread the whole kingdom. An ingenious, elegant, and pious living author thus describes the state of religion then in England ; " During the time of the interregnum, the prevailing sentiments in reli- gion had been of a very singular, not to say of a * Bishop Hall's Works, vol. viii, pp. 241, 244. RELIGIOUS EXTRAVAGANCE. 357 very extravagant nature. The doctrines of reve- lation w^ere disjoined from its precepts, so that one half of the bible became useless, except, per- haps, in the hands of an unusually skilful allego- rizer, who had the art of extracting a speculative theorem from the most practical command. The language even of secular intercourse was modelled upon that of the received translation of the sacred volume. The most unchristian acts were described in the most christian terms. Men thought them- selves religious, if they used the language of the Bible, how flagrantly soever they might oppose its spirit. He who could give to a text the most fanciful twist, the most recondite allusion, was esteemed the ablest divine. The union of a sound creed with an irreligious life, of a clear insight into revelation with a neglect of all its duties, became alarmingly common; so that hypocrisy and the most vulgar affectation were every where apparent."* There is nothing which can give a better idea of the total dissolution of all principles of order and moral rectitude at that time, than the act which was then passed against blasphemous, atheistical, and execrable opinions. In the pre- amble of this act, it appears that there were then * Wilks' Christian Essays, vol. i, p. 21. 358 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. persons, who professed, that all sorts of iniquity were " in their own nature as holy and righteous as the duties of prayer, preaching, or giving thanks to God ; that happiness consisted in the commis- sion of such crimes ; and that there was really no such thing as heaven or hell, nor any unrighteous- ness or sin independent of conscience and opinion." Miserable and distracted indeed was the state of religion at this time in England ; " when the church was defaced and overspread wdth errors and blasphemies, defiled with abominations, rent in pieces with divisions, and so swallowed up in confusion and disorder." ^ The enffagement, which might be properly called the Independent covenant, as it was intended to supersede the solemn league and covenant of the presbyterians, was appointed to be taken by all civil, ecclesiastical, and military officers whatso- ever, on pain of forfeiting their several offices, and was now referred to a committee, in order that the whole kingdom should take it. A bill was therefore passed in the beginning of the year 1650, to exclude from the benefit of the law, and to disable from sueing in any court of law or equity, every person of the age of eighteen and upwards, Warner's Eccles. Hist, of England, vol. ii, p. 579. THE ENGAGEMENT. 359 who should refuse to take and subscribe the engagement. The presbyteriau ministers, though they enforced the covenant in as arbitrary a manner, yet when it came now to their turn to suffer, could perceive the iniquity of such a violence done to law and conscience. They inveighed bitterly in their sermons against the engagement^ and refused to observe the days of humiliation appointed by the parliament for a blessing on their arms. The body of the conmion people being now weary of a civil war, and willing to live quiet under any government, submitted to the engagement. Many of the presbyterian ministers, however, chose rather to relinquish their prefer- ments in the church and universities, than comply. The parliament tried several methods to recon- cile them to the present administration; but when they found it was all in vain, an order was pub- lished, that ministers in the pulpits should not meddle with state affairs. The famous Milton was then appointed to write for the common- wealth, who severely and satirically lashed every party adverse to the measures of the new admi- nistration. An act was also passed to sequester from ecclesiastical preferments all, who vilified and aspersed in the pulpit the authority of par- liament. A declaration was also published complaining 360 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. of the revolt of English and Scots presbyterians to the enemy, because the discipline of the parlia- ment was not the exact standard of reformation. The parliament did all they could to satisfy them : they determined that all the ordinances for the promoting a reformation of religion, in doctrine, discipline and worship, should continue in full force; and that the government in the church should be the presbyterian. They ordered the lands belonging to deans and chapters to be sold : and the bishop's lands, which had been seques- tered, were vested by an ordinance in the hands of new trustees, and appropriated to the augmen- tation of small livings. The first-fruits and tenths of all ecclesiastical promotions, formerly payable to the crown, were vested in the same hands, free from all incumbrances, on trust, that they should pay yearly all such salaries and stipends as had been settled and confirmed in parliament; pro- vided the assignment to any one did not exceed an hundred pounds. The commissioners of the great seal were empowered to enquire into the yearly value of all ecclesiastical livings to which any cure of souls was annexed, that some course might be taken for providing a better maintenance where it was wanting, and that the salary of no incumbent should be less than one hundred pounds a year. A part also of the money arising from the sale of the bishops' lands, and those of DISCONTENTS. 361 the deans and chapters,* was appropriated for the support and maintenance of the bishops, and members of the cathedrals, who were deprived of their promotions and dignities. Such regulations were laudable, if they were effectually put in practice : but still the pulpit and the press sounded high the discontents both of the royalists and presbyterians. An ordinance was therefore pub- lished, to put the press entirely under the direc- tion of the parliament; and the monthly fast, which had subsisted above seven years,, and had been, in a great measure, a fast for strife and debate, was abrogated by another ordinance, that there might be no censures published on the pre- sent government. Remote parts of the kingdom, as North and • The money raised by the sale of those lands amounted to a large sum. The return of the value of the lands, contracted for to Aug. 29, 1650, made to ihe committee for the sale of them, fixed it at the sum of £948,409, 18*. 2JET. SUiE 82. On the plinth of black marble is engraved, josephus hallus glim huilis ecclesi^ servus. Mrs. Hall died Aug. 27, 1652, and was buried in Heigham church: her tombstone is now DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 421 covered by pews against the south wall, and on it is the following inscription — M.S. ELIZ4BETH THE DEARE AND VERTUOUS CONSORT OF JOSEPH HALL B: N: WITH WHOM SHE COMFORTABLY LIVED FOURTY EIGHT YEARS CHANGED THIS MORTALL LIFE FOR AN ETERNALL, AUGUST 27. 1662. IN THE YEAR OF HER AGE 69 FAREWELL READER AND MIND ETERNITIE. Mr. John Hall, a son of Bishop Hall, was buried on the 12th of Feb. 1650.* Blomefield, in his history of Norfolk, under Heigham, not only mentions the inscribed tombstone of the bishop's wife, but also of his son : but the latter does not now remain ; some years ago it was the stepping stone of a stile into the church yard. Bishop Hall had been the husband of one wife, " a grave, virtuous matron, with whom he lived forty-nine years." On occasion of her death he wrote his Tractate, entitled Songs in the Nighty or Cheerfulness under Affliction. In the letter addressed to ** a dear and worthy friend," prefixed to this Treatise, the bishop observes, " indeed, it pleased my God lately to exercise me with a double affliction at once ; pain of body, and * In Norwich cathedral there is a monument for £dward Hall, son of the bishop, who died young in 1642. — Vide Magna Britannia, vol. iti, p. 316. 422 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. grief of mind for the sickness and death of my dear consort. I struggled with them both, as I might; and by God's mercy, attained to a meek and humble submission to that just and gracious hand, and a quiet composedness of thoughts: but yet, methought, 1 found myself wanting in that comfortable disposition of heart and lively elevation of spirit, which some holy souls have professed to feel in their lowest depression, fetching that inward consolation from heaven, which can more than counterpoise their heaviest crosses. Upon this occasion, you see here how I held fit to busy my thoughts, labour- ing by their holy agitation, to work myself, through the blessing of the Almighty, to such a cheerful temper, as might give an obedient welcome to so smarting an affliction ; and, that even while I weep, I might yet smile upon the face of my heavenly Father, whose stripes I do so tenderly suffer. If in some other discourses I have endeavoured to instruct others, in this I mean to teach myself, and to win my heart to a willing and contented acquiescence in the good pleasure of my God, how harsh soever it seems to rebellious nature." In the seventh section of this excellent treatise, speaking of his heavy afflictions and losses, the pious and aged bishop says, " Come then, all ye earthly crosses : and muster up all your forces against me. Here is DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 423 that, which is able to make me more than conqueror over you all.*' (He had spoken before of that blessed eternity which he wished to keep in view.) " Have I lost my goods, and fore- gone a fair estate ? Had all the earth been mine, what is it to heaven r Had I been the lord of all the world, what were this to a kingdom of glory ? Have I parted with a dear consort ; the sweet companion of my youth ; the tender nurse of my age : the partner of my sorrows, for these forty-eight years ? she is but stept a little before me to that happy rest, which I am panting towards ; and wherein I shall speedily overtake her. In the mean time, and ever, my soul is espoused to that glorious and immortal husband, from whom it shall never be parted. Am I bereaved of some of my dear children, the sweet pledges of our matrimonial love; whose parts and hopes promised me comfort in my declined age? Why am I not rather thankful it hath pleased my God, out of my loins to furnish heaven with some happy guests ? Why do I not, instead of mourning for their loss, sing praises to God, for preferring them to that eternal blessedness? Am 1 afflicted with bodily pain and sickness, which banisheth all sleep from my eyes, and exercises me with a lingering torture? Ere long, this momentary distemper shall end in an everlasting rest. Am I threatened by the 424 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. sword of an enemy? Suppose that man to be one of the guardians of paradise, and that sword as flaming as it is sharp, that one stroke shall let me into that place of unconceivable pleasure, and admit me to feed on the tree of life for ever. " Cheer up, then, O my soul ; and upon the fixed apprehension of the glory to be revealed, while thy weak partner, my body, droops and languishes under the sad load of years and infirmities, sing thou to thy God, even in the midnight of thy sorrows, and in the deepest darkness of death itself, songs of confidence, songs of spiritual joy, songs of praise and thanks- giving: saying, with all the glorified ones, — JBkssing, honor, glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamby for ever and ever. Amen.'' Rev. v, 13.* Bishop Hall's Works, vol. viii, ad fin. CHAPTER XII. A VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF BISHOP HALL, AND OF HIS WRITINGS. The character and mind of Bishop Hall are prominently delineated and pourtrayed in his admirable and numerous writings. Every atten- tive reader of his works will easily discover the humility of the christian, united with great talents, and extensive literary attainments. ** He is universally allowed to have been a person of incomparable piety, meekness and modesty, a thorough knowledge of the world, and of great wit and learning." Richardson, in his edition of Godwin's De Presulibus, p. 444, gives the fol- lowing character of Bishop Hall: — " Fir rerum usu peiitus, ingenio sublili el exercitato, eruditione muliiplici ijistructus, nee interim minor erat modes- li€e et indolis mansuetissimcB latis.'- He was from his birth, in a peculiar manner, a child of providence; and he tells us in the beginning of his " Account of Himself/* that he 426 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. noted the wonderful providence of God in all his ways: — " What I have done is worthy of nothing but silence and forgetfulness ; but what God hath done for me, is worthy of everlasting and thankful memory." For his preferments and promotions in the church he was indebted to no patronage what- ever, but such as his own abilities, and eminent qualities, under Providence, procured him: by these he was introduced to the notice and pro- tection of Prince Henry; and, after the lamented death of that excellent prince, of his brother Charles I. In the several dedications prefixed to detached portions of his works, according to the custom of that age, he dwells with sincere and unaffected gratitude on the favors he received from his royal patrons, and he always mentions most gratefully the kindnesses of bis other friends and patrons towards him. He was pious from his youth ; and being devoted by his parents to serve God in the sacred ministry, he particularly directed his studies to that end. He was so great a lover of study, that he earnestly wished his health would have allowed him a more unceasing application. The following extracts from a letter to his patron Lord Denny, exhibit to us his usual manner of study and of spendhig each day. " Every day is a little life ; and our whole life CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 427 is but a day repeated : whence it is, that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic, to number not his years but his days. Those therefore that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal ; those that dare mispend it, desperate. We can teach others by ourselves : let me tell your Lordship how I would pass my days, whether common or sacred; and that you, or whosoever others over-hearing me, may either approve my thriftiness, or correct my errors. — When sleep is rather driven away than leaves me, I would ever awake with God. My first thoughts are for him: if my heart be early seasoned with his presence, it will savour of him all day after. While my body is dressing, not with an effeminate curiosity, nor yet with rude neglect; my mind addresses itself to her ensuing task, bethinking what is to be done, and in what order, and marshalling, as it may, my hours with my work. That done, after some meditation, I walk up to my masters and companions— my books; and sitting down amongst them, with the best contentment, I dare not reach forth my hand to salute any of them, till I have first looked up to heaven, and craved favor of him, to whom all my studies are duly referred: without whom, I can neither profit nor labor. After this, out of no over great variety, I call 428 , LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. forth those, which may best fit my occasions; wherein I am not too scrupulous of age : some- times 1 put myself to school to one of those ancients, whom the church hath honoured with the name of Fathers ; whose volumes, I confess not to open, without a secret reverence of their holiness and gravity : sometimes, to those latter doctors, which want nothing but age to make them classical:— ALWAYS to god's book. That day is lost, whereof some hours are not improved in those divine monuments : others I turn over, out of choice ; these out of duty. Ere I can have sat unto weariness, my family, having now over- come all household distractions, invites me to our common devotions ; not without some short pre- paration. These heartily performed, send me up with a more strong and cheerful appetite to my former work, which I find made easy to me by intermission and variety. One while mine eyes are busied ; another while my hand ; and some- times my mind takes the burden from them both. One hour is spent in textual divinity; another in controversy: histories relieve them both. When the mind is weary of other labours, it begins to undertake her own ; sometimes it meditates and winds up for future use : sometimes it lays forth her conceits into present discourse ; sometimes for itself, often for others. Neither know I whether it works or plays in these thoughts. I am sure CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 429 no sport hath more pleasure ; no work more use : only the decay of a weak body, makes me think these delights insensibly laborious. Before my meals and after, I let myself loose from all thoughts, and would forget that I ever studied. Company, discourse, recreations, are now season- able and welcome. I rise not immediately from my trencher to my book, but after some inter- mission. After my latter meal, my thoughts are slight; only my memory may be charged with the task of recalling what was committed to her custody in the day ; and my heart is busy in examining my hands and mouth, and all other senses, of that day's behaviour. The evening is come : no tradesman doth more carefully take in his wares, clear his shopboard, and shut his win- dows, than I would shut up my thoughts and clear my mind. That student shall live miserably, which, Hke a camel, lies down under his burden. All this done, calling together my family, we end the day with God. Such are my common days." This may be considered as a specimen of the habitual mode of Bishop llaU's employing his time. He proceeds to describe his way of spend- ing the sabbath day. " But God's day calls for another respect. The same sun arises on this day, and enlightens it : yet, because that Sun of Righteousness arose upon it, and gave a new life unto the world in it, and drew the strength of God's 430 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. moral precept unto it; therefore, justly do we sing with the Psalmist, This is the day which the JLordhath made. Now, I forget the world , and, in sort, myself : and deal with my wonted thoughts, as great men use, who, at some times of their privacy, forbid the access of all suitors. Prayer, meditation, reading, hearing, preaching, singing, good conference, are the businesses of this day ; which I dare not bestow on any work or plea- sure, but heavenly. 1 hate superstition on the one side, and looseness on the other ; but I find it hard to offend in too much devotion ; easy in profaneness. The whole week is sanctified by this day ; and according to my care of this, is my blessing on the rest." * For mildness and peaceable disposition, joined with candour, moderation, and charity, he was singular and exemplary : " in the distracted and distempered times" he lived, he laboured hard for peace among christians. " It was ever the desire of my soul," says he, " even from my first entrance upon the public service of the church, according to my known signature, with Noah's dove, to have brought an olive-branch to the tossed ark ; and God knows how sincerely I have endeavoured it : but, if my wings have been too short, and the wind too high for me, to carry it * Works, vol, vii, pp 254-256. CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 431 home, I must content myself with the conscience of my feithful devotions." * During the time of his presiding over the see of Exeter, for the space of about fourteen years, he was active and vigilant in reforming his numerous clergy, in correcting vi^hat was amiss, in promot- ing piety in general, and in suppressing and dis- countenancing all violent measures. He never molested any of his clergy for not complying with certain innovations then crept into the church; but, by his mild temper and active influence, succeeded in promoting the " general unanimity and loving correspondence" of his clergy. The superior manner in which he conducted himself against a host of the most violent assail- ants of the church, and of episcopal government, entitles him to the gratitude of posterity. Though he survived to see his sacred function proscribed, and his property and means of subsistence taken from him, he stood firm to the last extremity in defence of the church, contending for the best interests of his country. He was " one of the most worthy, able, and learned of the sons" of the Church of England, (as an eminent prelate observes) " who sealed his attachment by httle less than martyrdom in her cause. " t ♦ Works, vol. viii, p. 43. t Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry's Primary Charge, p. 11 432 LIFE OF BISHOP pALL. Well might Fuller say that " he may be said to have died with his pen in his hand ;" for after he was sequestered and silenced, he wrote and pub- lished several useful treatises even in his old age. In order to prepare men for the last change, his last books and his last sermons, as we have before observed, were all upon the last things ; — death and judgment, heaven and hell. His long and useful life furnishes a variety of important incidents, highly interesting, instructive and edifying to the christian world. In his case we find that preferment to the highest dignities in the church had no influence to make him abate of his wonted industry and active zeal in the cause of truth. He has given to the world a good account of his time in his numerous and admirable Works, which have long praised him in the gate, and which will be held in due esteem, as long as genuine piety and true devotion command respect among mankind. He distinguished himself as a wit and a poet at an early period of his life ; for when he was about twenty- three years old, in the years 1597, 1598, he published his Satires, under the title of Virgi- demiarum,'^ in sixe Bookes. First three Bookes of * This uncooth and uncommon word signifies a Gathering, or Harvest of Rods, in reference to the nature of the subject. See Warton. CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 433 Tooth-lesse Satyrs; 1. Poetical; 2. Academicall; 3. Morall; printed by T. Creede, for R. Dexter, 1597. The three last Bookes, of By ting Satyrs, by R. Bradock, for Dexter, 1598. Both parts were reprinted together in 1599, and first part in 1602. Ritson, in his *' Bibliographia Poetica," says that " HalTs Satires were stay'd at the press, by order of the archbishop of Canterbury and bishop of London ; and such copys as could be found were to ' bee presentlye broughte to the bishop of London to bee burnte.' " These Satires were republished at Oxford in 1753, by the Rev. William Dodd, afterward D.D. or rather by the Rev. William Thompson, M.A. of Queen's college, Oxon,* as Read appears to have suggested to Dr. Farmer. His Satires have certainly conferred upon him a just claim to the appellation of one of the earliest and best satiric poets in England : they have been a model for succeeding English satirists ; and though he was not the first who attempted this species of poetry in England, it must be granted that he certainly was the first legitimate satirist of our country. It appears, however, from his Postscript, that he * This Oxford reprint of Bishop Hall's Satires, in 12mo. is a neat and excellent editioB : but the last edition, 1824,12ino. by Sir W. Singer, with Warton's Illustrations and additional Notes, is the best. Ff 454 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. had seen no English satires ; and only those of Ariosto and " one base French Satire," of modern writers ; therefore, in the opening of his Prologue, he tells us, — " I first adventure, with fool-hardy might, To tread the steps of perilous despigbt : I first adventure, follow me who list. And bee the second English Satyrist." Hemight justly pride himself in having given us the first example of genuine and legitimate satire. Upon the republication of the Virgidemiarum at Oxford in 1753, Gray, speaking of Hall's Satires in a Letter to Dr.Warton, says, ** They are full of spirit and poetry; as much of the first as Dr. Donne, and far more of the latter.'* * Dr.Warton also, at the commencement of an elaborate and masterly analysis of, and criticism upon Hall's Satires and poetic genius, which it is to be lamented is only a fragment, in his fourth volume of The History of English Poetry, gives the following character of these satires : '* They are marked," he observes, " with a classical precision, to which English poetry had yet rarely attained. They are replete with animation of style and sentiment. The indignation of the Satirist is always the result of good sense. Nor are the * Mason's Gray, p. 224. CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. 435 thorns of severe invective unmixed with the flowers of pure poetry. The characters are delineated in strong and lively colouring, and their discriminations are touched with the mas- terly traces of genuine humour. The versifica- tion is equally energetic and elegant, and the fabric of the couplets approaches to the modern standard. It is no inconsiderable proof of a genius predominating over the general taste of an age, when every preacher was a punster, to have written verses, where laughter was to be raised, and the reader to be entertained with sallies of pleasantry, without quibbles and conceits. His chief fault is obscurity, arising from a remote phraseology, constrained combinations, unfamiliar allusions, elliptical apostrophes, and abruptness of expression. Perhaps some will think that his manner betrays too much of the laborious exact- ness and pedantic anxiety of the scholar and the student. Ariosto in Italian, and Regnier in French, were now almost the only modern writers of satire; and I believe there had been an English translation of Ariosto's Satires. But Hall's acknowledged patterns are Juvenal and Persius, not without some touches of the urbanity of Horace.* His parodies of these poets, or The First Satire of the Third Book strikingly resembles the Ff 2 436 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. rather his adaptations of ancient to modem manners, a mode of imitation not unhappily practised by Oldham, Rochester, and Pope, discover great facility and dexterity of invention. The moral gravity and the censorial declamation of Juvenal, he frequently enlivens with a train of more refined reflection, or adorns with a novelty and variety of images." * Mr. Campbell is not deficient in a just estima- tion of the talents of this eminent divine and satirist: "in many instances," says he, "Hall redeems the antiquity of his allusions, by their ingenious adaptation to modern manners: and this is but a small part of his praise ; for in the point, and volubility, and vigour of Hall's num- bers, we might frequently imagine ourselves perusing Dryden." See Specimens, &c. vol. ii, pp. 256-261. In the third Satire of his fifth Book, Hall ^exhibits the true design of this kind of poetry ; and, as his editor, Mr. Pratt, justly remarks, ** laments at the same time, the untempered genius of his age ; which, while it encouraged the graces and subdued imagination of classic Sixth Satire of Juvenal. It exhibits a forcible contrast of the temperance and sinnplicity of former ages, with the luxury and and classical style. Of these, the Sermon intitled ** Columba Noae," and ** Inurbanitati Pontificiae Responsio,"were translated by the Rev. Rob. Hall, the bishop's son. But his admirable treatise enti- tled " Henochismus," carelessly and inaccurately translated by the Rev. Henry Brown, vicar of Nether Sevell, has been revised throughout, and brought nearer to the original by the Rev. Josiah Pratt But the curious treatise entitled ** Mun- dus alter et idem," i.e. The world different^ yet the same, has never yet been given in a suitable English dress. There has never been but one translation of it by John Healey, a copy of which is now of very rare occurrence. The Rev. Josiah Pratt did intend to give a translation of it, taking the singular and humorous version of Healey as the ground work : " but he found the translator so often degenerating into ribaldry, and the origi- nal to require so much delicacy and elucidation, that he abandoned the design; not without hopes that some person of leisure and ability may be * Middleton's Biog. Evangel, vol, iii, p. 356. 44a LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. induced to give this fine piece of irony a suitable English dress." In this singular treatise, Hall, under an agreeable fiction, satirises and ridicules the vicious manners of several nations. It is to be regretted that so excellent a piece of satire and irony should be nearly inaccessible to the English reader. The Works of Bishop Hall were first collected by the Rev. Josiah Pratt, B.D. and published in ten volumes 8vo, in 1808. This edition is very correctly printed, is arranged and revised with much judgment and accuracy, and is also illus- trated with occasional notes, table of contents, glossary, and a copious index to the whole. The ingenious and acute Dr. Ferriar has excited a degree of attention to the Contemplations of Bishop Hall, among critics, by detecting the plagiarisms of Sterne, who has stolen hints and remarks from Hall, Burton, and Rabelais, without any acknowledgment. See Dr. Ferriar s Illustra- tions of Sterne, Bvo. CHAPTER XIII. ON PURITANISM. It is thought proper here to give a short sketch of the history of Puritanism, and to shew that all who were denominated Puritans from the time of Queen Elizabeth to the usurpation, were not sepa- ratists or dissenters from the church of England; but in many instances, true and attached friends of the church. From the account of some histo- rians, it may appear as if all the puritans were dissenters. This was far from being the case: many of the puritans kept in the church to the last ; indeed the most eminent of them for learning, piety, and usefulness, did not separate. Though the reformers were of one faith, yet they were far from agreeing about discipline ; while one party was disposed only to withdraw from the church of Rome no further than was necessary to recover the purity of the faith, and the independency of the church, looking upon rites and ceremonies as indiflerent, and non- 450 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. essential ; others were for relinquishing all kinds of rites and ceremonies, and for adopting as a model, the plan of the Genevan church. This latter party separated when the act of Uniformity was rigorously executed in Queen EHzabeth's time. Many of those, who did separate then, were neither peaceable nor judicious; when they found thev could not reduce the church to their own t/ narrow model, they conferred with their friends about a separation from the church, and agreed, " That it was their duty in their present circum- stances to break off from the public churches, and to assemble as they had opportunity in private houses, or elsewhere, to worship God in a manner that might not offend against their consciences." This was the first separation from the church of England ; and it was as much owing to the weakness and want of judgment in the separatists, who could believe those things to be sinful, upon which the scriptures were silent, and expected the majority to give way to the humour of a few; as to the rigour and intemperate zeal of the ruling powers in imposing and pressing indifferent rites and ceremonies with too much severity. * Those, who refused to subscribe the Hturgy, * Warner's Eccles. Hist, of Eng. vol. ii, pp. 436, 437. ON PURITANISM. 451 ceremonies, and discipline of the church, in the year 1563, and the fifth of Queen Elizabeth, were branded with the name of Puritans; because they aimed at a purer form of discipline and worship, as they imagined, than that which was yet established. *• But profene mouths," says Fuller, '* quickly improved this nic-name therewith on every occa- sion to abuse pious people, some of them so far from opposing the liturgy, that they endeavoured, according to the instructions thereof in the pre- parative to the confession, " to accompany the minister with a pure heart," and laboured, as it is in the absolution, for a life pure and holy.* A puritan, therefore, was not necessarily a non- conformist, but one who endeavoured in his devo- tions to accompany the minister with a pure heart, and was remarkable and singular for holiness of heart and life. In the reigns of James I. and Charles I. if a man, though a conscientious churchman, kept the sabbath, and frequented sermons, if he maintained family religion, and would neither swear nor get drunk, nor comply with the fashionable vices of the times, he was immediately stigmatized with the name of a Puritan, * Church Hist, b. ix, p. 76. G g 2 452 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. When the infamous declaration for sports on the Lord's day was published, the clergy and people, who were averse to such profanation of the sabbath, and discountenanced vice and immo- rality, were branded with the name of Puritans ; thus it is evident that the term Puritans, was a general term of reproach cast on all who lived soberly, righteously, and godly ; and did not more belong to pious dissenters than to pious church- men. Every reader of the civil and ecclesiastical history of the period from Queen Elizabeth, to the restoration of Charles II. should keep this in view ; for some writers have so represented the puritans as being all dissenters from the church of England. This is a great error, and should be guarded against. One prominent trait in the character of the puritans, whether churchmen or dissenters, was an adherence to the doctrinal Articles of the church of England, in the sense of the compilers ; and also a strong aversion to popery. Many of them became great sufferers for their not complying with some rites and ceremonies urged upon them by the rulers of the church. Though there were men eminent for their piety among the puritans, and were upright, sincere, and genuine christians, yet during the long parliament and the usurpation, many men of bad principles sheltered themselves under the name of puritans, with the view of ON PURITANISM. 453 accomplishing more effectually the ruin of the constitution in church and state. It must be acknowledged that numbers of the puritan divines sided with the parliament, among whom were some superlatively eminent for litera- ture, as Selden, Lightfoot, Cudworth, Pocock, Witchcots, Arrowsmith ; but among all the bishops and clergy who espoused the cause of the king, were also men of the first rank for learning, politeness, piety, and probity of manners, as Usher, Hall, Moreton, Westfield, Brownrigge, Prideaux, Hammond, Saunderson, &c. We must not presume that all who were called puritans were really pious and good men; for undoubtedly there were among them hypocrites and infamous characters : the best of them were not without their failings, for they were men of like passions and infirmities with others; and while many of them endeavoured to avoid one extreme, they fell into another. The behaviour of many of them was severe and rigid, far removed from the fashionable liberties and vices of the age. But in general they were the most pious and devout people in the land : they were men of prayer, both in secret and public, as well as in their families: their manner of devotion was fervent and solemn, depending on the assistance of the Divine Spirit not only to teach them how to pray, but what to pray for as they ought. 454 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. They had a profound reverence for the holy name of God, and were utterly averse not only to profane swearing, but to " foolish talking and jesting which are not convenient." They were strict observers of the Lord's day, spending the wh61e of it in acts of pubhc and private devotion. It was the distinguished characteristic of a puritan in those times, to see him going to church twice a day with his bible under his arm. While others were at plays, interludes, revels, sports, and diversions, on the Sunday evenings, the puritans with their families were employed in reading the Scriptures, singing psalms, catechizing their children, repeating sermons, and in prayer. Thus the puritans, many of whom were faithful friends of the church, were accustomed to spend the Lord's day. They had also their hours of family devotion on the week days, and considered it their duty to take care of the souls as well as the bodies of their domestics. They were cir- cumspect as to all excesses in food and raiment ; abstemious in lawful diversions; industrious in their respective avocations ; honest and exact in their dealings ; and solicitous to give every one his own.* During the troubles of the times on account * Vide Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, voi. i, p. 612. ON PURITANISM. 455 of the differences between Charles I. and the parliament, puritanism, in one sense, was pro- ductive of much good ; the reformation of man- ners was then very remarkable. The Jaws against vice and profaneness were so strict, and so vigorously put in execution, that vice was forced to hide itself in corners. The magistrates did their duty in suppressing all kind of games, stage plays, and abuses in public-houses. There was not a play acted on any theatre in England for almost twenty years. Profane swearing, drunkenness, or any kind of debauchery, were not to be heard or seen in the streets. The Lord's day was observed with unusual reverence : the churches were crowded with numerous and attentive hearers, three or four times in the day. The peace officers patroled the streets of Lon- don; and all the public-houses were shut up: there was no travelling on the road, or vi^alking in the fields, except in cases of absolute necessity, Religious exercises were set up in private families, as reading the Scriptures, family prayer, repeat- ing sermons, and singing of psalms. This was so general a custom, that, we are told, a person might walk through the city of London on the evening of the Lord's day, without seeing an idle person, or hearing any thing but the voice of prayer or praise from churches and private houses. It is also said, that there was hardly a single 456 LIFE OF BISHOP HALL. bankruptcy to be heard of in a year ; and that even in such a case, the bankrupt had a mark of infamy set upon him that he could never vv^ipe off. Some historians have described and represented the religion of those times to be no otherwise than hypocrisy and dissimulation; and that a vast portion of people made the form of godliness a cloak to iniquity and dishonesty : undoubtedly there was then too much hypocrisy, as there is at all times, and many covered their abominable practices with the cloak of an outward profes- sion of religion.— Most probably hypocrisy and hidden immorality were the prevailing sins of those times. It was the fashion of the day to appear religious ; and so, under the mask of religion, the most infamous crimes were com- mitted. But it cannot be denied, that there was a large portion of people, both churchmen and dissenters, who were sincerely religious and devoutly pious.* Bishop Hall, and others of his order, for their eminent piety, were reproached as being puri- tanically inclined : so it has always been that the scandal of the cross is perpetually attached to all, whether they hold eminent or humble * Vide Rushwortb, vol. ii, part 3, p.l. Neal, vol. ii, p. ;553. Ibid. 555. vol. iv, pp. 268, 269. ON PURITANISM. 457 Stations in the church of Christ. Real Christians, in the days of Bishop Hall, were denominated Puritans, a name derived from purity, as it has been before observed: in the present day EVANGELICAL is the term of reproach, a name derived from the christian ministers being desirous to do the work of evangelists; see 2 Tim. iv, 5. Though worldly men may give the term evan- gelical to religious persons as a name of reproach, it is certainly an honourable appellation. Another usual name of religious reproach in these days is Methodist; a term used at Oxford, and derived from the method which some pious stu- dents observed in employing their time. The term is now applied to every person of real and sincere piety, and may almost be considered as another term for a christian.* Many christian ministers of the present day are distinguished and stigmatized by the name of evangelical, or methodistical, because they adhere closely to the standard of Scripture, of the Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies of our church; and because they make a full proof of their ministry. Had Bishop Hall lived in these days, he would have been held *' in great jealousy for too much favour of" evangelism^ as he was " of * See Dr. C. Buchaoao's Sermons, pp. 58, 59. Note, 458 LIFE OF BI«HOP HALL. puritanism:'' but Bishop Hall may, with the greatest propriety, be considered as exhibiting in ihis whole life and writings a fair specimen of what B. bishop and a minister of the church of England should be : — he was strictly canonical and con- sistent — a strenuous maintainer of christian god- liness and christian order — a genuine son of the church, who lived and preached the doctrines of our Liturgy, Articles, and Homihes. ¥ 1 W I S. APPENDIX. BISHOP HALL'S LETTERS TO ARCHBISHOP USHER. No. I. TO THE MOST REVEREND JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH. Gratulor vero ex animo, te Antistitum decus, Sancto Ignatio tuo : Gratulor tibi im6, imiverso orbi Christiano, Igaatium, iiieritissim6 tuum; sed quidem et tuo beneficio nostrum? Gratioreni profecto operam navare Dei Ecclesiae nullus unquam potuisset quam tantum, tani antiquum sanctumque Apostolicae Tr^oaTatnag patronum, ac tam egregium primaevaB pietatis exemplar ab injuria temporis vindicando. Inciderat nempe bonus iste viator Hierosolymitanus in Latrones quosdam Hierochuntinos, qui ilium non spolia- rant modo, sed miser^ etiam pen^que ad mortem vulnerarant; praeterierant saucium ac fer^ mori- bundum, nescio quot Parkeri, Coci, Salmasii, aliique nuperae sectae coryphaei; vestra vero 462 APPENDIX. (molliora uti sunt) viscera tam dur^ hominis a^iokou sorte misericorditer commota sunt; vestra unius pietatis (optimi instar Samaritae) vinum oleumque infudit tam patentibus vulneribus, abstersit saniem, foed^que hiulca plagarum ora, manu tener^ fasciavit ; fer^que exauimem vestro typorum jumento imposuit; ac communi denique Ecclesiae hospitio, non sine maximis impensis, commendavit. Profecto hoc uno nomine assur- gent Amplitudini tuee boni (quotquot sunt) omnes ; manusque tam salutares piis labiis exos- culabuntur. Intelligent jam novitiae paritatis assertores quid illud sit quod tanto molimine usque machinantur, sentientque quam probe illis cum sanctissimo Martyre, ac celeberrimo Apostolorum Discipulo conveniat. Illud vero, inter Doctissimas Annotationes vestras saliente et corde et occulo legisse me fateor, quo egre- gium illud o-^aA^ Salmasianum de tempore sup^ positicii Ignatii, leni ilia quidem, sed castigatrice manu corripueris : Fieri ne potuit ut tantus author in re tanti momenti Chronologica, tam foede laberetur, aut num forte, hoc pacto, (quan- doquidem hsec causae disciplinariae Arx merito habeatur) dominis suis palpum obtrudere maluit ? Quicquid sit, bis Martyrium passus Ignatius noster ; tua demum opera Praesul honoratissime, j-eviviscit; causamque iniquissime jam abdicatae APPENDIX. 463 tmcrno'Tnfi in Ecclesiae totius foro tam cat^ agit, ut non pudere non possit hestemae Disciplinae astipulatores, tam male-suscepti, litis injustae patrocinii. Quod si nullum aliud foret nostrae senteutiae propugnaculum, nobis quidem abund^ suflficeret habuisse {^TifiEia'k vcrvxa^siv Fratres sumus, simus et collegae. Quid nobis cum illo iufami Remonstrantium, contra- Remon- strautium, Calvinianorum, Arminianorum titulo? Christiani sumus, simus et la-o^vxoi. Unum corpus sumus, simus et unanimes. Per tremendum illud omnipotentis Dei nomen, per pium blan- dumque communis matris nostrae gremium, per vestras ipsorum animas, perque sanctissima Jesu Christi Servatoris nostri viscera, pacem ambite, fratres, pacem inite; et ita nos componite, ut seposito omni praejudicio, partiumque studio ac malo affectu, in eadem omnes veritate feliciter 492 APPENDIX. conspiremiis. Apage vero vesanam illam pro- phetandi libertatem, imp licentiam blasphemandi ; lit liceat male feriato cuique Tyroni, prodigiosis- sima cerebri sui phantasmata in apricum produ- cere, et populo commendare et praelo. Ridente Mauro, nee dolente JudcBo ! Quid vis licet, modo hoc liceat: in Scholis quidem philosophicis iudultum hoc semper fuit luxuriantibus adoles- centum ingeniis, ut liceret se thesibus, paradoxis, doctisque argutationibus exercere ; sed ut in SS. Theologiae veritatis negotio istud obtineat, moliri, audaciae est plane diabolicae ; et quod merito nobis extorqueat illud prophetae, " Ohstu- pescite ccsli, confundere O terra. Popidus mens deseruit me, font em viviim, et effodit sibi cisternas, imo puteos immundos, lutulentos.'' INobiliss. viri, vosque Sancta Synodus, si quis pudor, si qua pietas, reprimite banc petulantissimam insaniendi libidinem, modum imperate hominum et linguis et calamis. Et facite, ut qui vera sentire nolunt, falsa divulgare non ausint. Ut error haeresisve, si denasci non potest, discat tamen latere, et invisum caelo caput tenebris occultare. Ita ut sola Veritas lucem adspiciat, regnet sola; vobis salutem, gloriam Ecclesia^, Reipub. pacem alla- tura. Quod utique efficiat ille pacis autor, veritatis Deus, Rex gloriae, cui triuni Deo, Patri, Filio, Spiritui S. sit omnis laus, honor, gloria, in saecula sa^culorum. Amen. No. VIII. Rustica Academiae Oxoniensis nuper reformataB descriptio, ia visitatione fanatica Octobris sexto, &c. A. D. 1648, cum Comitiis ibidem Anno sequente : et aliis notatu non indignis. Doctore Alibo7ie nuper Lincolnice Oxon, Authore. 1. RuMORE nuper est delatum Dum agebamus run, Oxoniam iri reformat am Ab iis qui dicti^wri. 2. Decrevi itaque, confestim, (Obstaculis sublatis) Me Oculatum dare testem Hujusce novitatis. 3. Ingressus urhem juxta morem, Scrutaodi desiderio : Nil praeter maciem, et squalorem, Foedissimum comperio. 4. A Decio in specum jacti. Qui tantum dormierunt, , Post seculum expergefacti. Tot mira non viderunt. 6. Erectas illi crebras cruces, Et templa conspexere, Quae prisci pietatis duces Tunc primum coustruxere. 494 APPENDIX. 6. Nos autem sanctiora uuper Incidimus in seciila. Qui tolluDt ista tanquam Super- Stitionis symbola. 7c Ad Scholas primum me trahebat Comitiorum Norma, Queis olim quisq. peragebat Solenniter pro forma. 8. Expecto Regios prefessores, Coraparuere nulli : Nee illic adsunt Inceptores, Nee TogcBy nee cucullL 9. Calcavi Atrium Quadratum, Quo juvenum examen Confluxit olim ; video pratum Quod densum tegit gramen. 10. Adiban^ lubens Scholam Musices, Quam Fcemince et Joci Ornassent pridem, sed Tibicines Jam nusquam erant loci. 11. Conscendo Orbis illud deeus Bodleio fundatore : Sed intus erat nullum pecus, Exeepto Janitore. 12. Neglectos vidi Libros multos, Quod minime mirandum: Nam inter Bardos tot et Stultos 13. Dominico sequente die, Ad sacra celebranda. Ad sedes propero Marice Nam divce vox nefanda. 14. Tenebar mox intrandi metu, Solicitus ut ante : Sed frustra prorsus, nuUo caetu Introitum negante. APPENDIX. 495 15. Ingressus sedes seuioribus Togatis destinatas : Videbam Cocis et Sartorihus Et Lixis, usurpatas. 16. Procancelarius * recens prodit. Qui satis literarum, Quod vero quisque probus odit, Est ConscientiiB parum. 17. Procurartoes sine clavibus, Quserentibus ostendas : Bedellos dovos sine Stavihus ; Res protinus ridendas. 18. Suggestum conscendebat fungus f lusulsa quaeq. fundens: So dull a fool was ne'er among us, Pulvinar sic contundens, 19. Quicquid in buccam evenivit, Minaci utens dextra, Boatu magno effutivit Et nuuquam fuit EXTRA. 20. Defessus hac Dulmanitatef Decrevi venerandos Non adhuc pulsos civitate Amicos visitandos. 21. Collegium petii Animarum Nunc proprie sic dictum : Nam rerum hie coiporearum Vix quicquam est relictum. 22. Hie quaero virum % suavitate Omuimodo politum : Responsum alibi ingrate, CUSTODEM custoditum. ♦ Dr. Reynolds. t Dr. Stanton. I Dr. Sheldon postea Cant. Arch. Episc. 496 APPENDIX. 23. Ad Corpus Christi flecto gressum Qua brevitate possum : Jiirares novis probris pressum Et furihus confossum. 24. Ecclesiam Christi susque deque Jactatam mox et versam, . Et sobolem, heu ! louge lateque Percipimus dispersam. 25. Etogavi ubi sit Orator * Divinas plane mentis : Pro facinus ! incarceratur Facundoe decus gentis. 26. Hinc domum peto prcBcur sorts, Quern triste passum fatum, Recenti n arrant vi tortoris Secundo decollatum. 27. Tarn Sancto preside f cadente Discipuli recedunt : Et Ccecodemone J regente, Nee bibuut jam, nee edunt. 28. Heu ! pulehra domus, nuper laeta Dulcissunis fluentis, Nunc ceeno penitus oppleta Canalis putrescentis. 29. Adire nolui Trinitatem, Quam nostis prope stare : Haereticam soeietatem Ne videar damnare. 30. Nam tanta desolatione, Quam quis nefaridam dicet, Oeeurrunt nusquam tres personae Scruteris usque licet. * Dr. Hammond. t Dr. Bayly. X Mr. Channel. APPENDIX. 497 31. Reverso, tristis fertur casus, Et miserandum omen CoUegii cui Rubens Nasus Prae foribus dat uomen. 32. Dederunt illi Principalem * Rectores hi severi, Distortis oculis, et qualem Natura vult caveri. 33. Mox ^des ingredi conatus Noil unquam seuesceotes, Stupescens audio ejulatus Horrenda sustinentisf 34. Quod dulce nuper domicilium Ingenuis alendis ; Nunc merum est ergastulum Innocuis toiqueudis. 35. Ad flentem me recipio tandem Flens ipse Magdelenam : Et gemens video eandem Vacuitate pleuam. 36. Quae faelix dudum ornabatur Frequentibus Alumnis, Quae suaviter innitebatur^ Doctissimis columnis. 37. Num lapsis fulcris queis vigebat Videres humi stratam : Et prole densa qua gaudebat, En miser^ orbatam. 38. Haft sedes comptiores mus% Quas habuere sibi Nunc densis tenebris offusas Et Zim et Ozim ibi.J • Dr. Greenwood Lippus, t Mr.Coliier postca Bedellus qui tortus fuerat perCliiliarcb; Kellei/, I Vide Isa. xiii, 21. Kk 498 APPENDIX. 39. Pro * prseside (cui quemquam parem Vix aetas nostra dedit) En vobis stultum Capularem f Ad clavum jam qui sedet. 40. Quam vereor ne diro omine Septem regrediantur Daemonia, divino numine Quae quondam pellebantur. 41. Quocunque breviter flectebam, Aut dirigebam Visum : Id totum induit quod videbam Aut lachrimas aut risum. 42. Ingemui, dum viros video Doctissimos ejectos : Et contra, alternatim rideo, Stolidulos suffectos, 43. O probam reformandi Artem ? Quae medicina datur? Quae curat, ut curamus partem Cum totum exscindatur. 44. Quadrat OS homines quae jubet Et doctos extirpandos ; Et nebulones prout lubet Rotundos surrogandos. 45. Collegia petis ? Leges duras Habes, nil fas videri, Praf^ter aedes et structuras ; Scholares abiere. 46. Culinas illic frigescentes, Capellas sine precibus, In Cellis cernas sitientes, Et Aulas sive Messihus. * Dr. Oliver. t Dr. Goodwin, mlgo vocatus Dr. iViwe Caps. APPENDIX. 499 47. In templis quoevis Conciones, Aut quicquid est decorum ? Habebis hx^sitationes Extemporaneorum. 48. Interea quid oppidaui With all their quaint devices Qui novas hasce (male sani) Exoptavere vices? 49. Erecta cornua gerebant, Dum montes hi parturiunt : Et nunc fastidiunt, quae voiebant Et fortitur esuriunt. 50. Heu ! ingens rerum ornamentum Et aevi decus pridem ; Quo tandem pacto hoc perventum, Ut idem non sit idem ? 51. Nam vix a quoquam quod narratur Obventum olim Somnio, Compertum erit si quseratur Oxonium in Oxonio, KkS No. IX. DEATH'S ALARUM: ▲ ON THE RIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP OF NORWICH. BY J. WHITEFOOT. TO THE REVEREND HIS MUCH-HONORED FRIEND ROBERT HALL, D.D. ELDEST SON TO THE RIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH, LATE L. B. OF NORWICH. SIR, It is an undoubted Canon of the Apostles, That the Elder that rules well, and especially that labours too in the word and doctrine, should be counted worthy of double honour ; such an one was your reverend father, by the good report of all men, and of the truth itself And the double honour that the Apostle allowed him, he was once, by the bounty of his Christian Prince, worthily possessed of; though of late, as we all know, he was muzzled from the enjoyment thereof But envy itself (and if there be any thing worse) cannot deprive him of his double honour : one part whereof he hath already enjoyed in his life-time, in the hearts, tongues, and pens of those that lived with him, in this and other nations. The second part remains still due to him, after his death ; which he cannot want, whiles there are any living whose tongues are capable of giving a true praise. This poor piece was designed to that just end; that is, next to the glory of God, to the due honour of his faithful servant. That it is no more worthy of his name, is a 504 APPENDIX. second part of my sorrow, for his death. It contains a short representation of him taken in haste, as all pictures are which are done after the party's death ; yet might it have been done nearer to the life, had it not fallen into a very unskilful hand: hut besides that, if hath the common disadvantage of all writings, which are but the dead shadows of the living voice ; and therefore no marvel, if this wants much of that little grace and vivacity, which it might seem to have in the delivery. Such as it is, Sir, it was, without consulting my voice, voted to the Press, by them that heard it, and as much desired by them that heard it not, because they heard not of it, till it was past the reach of the ear. A nd they were neither few, nor slight persons that were much discontented at their absence from the too private Com- memoration of so worthy a person, caused by the sudden determination of the time. To give them some satis- faction, I was enforced to yield to the publication of these notes. Whereto I was also encouraged, because promised, by the hind judgements of them that heard them, that they could not but find some good entertain- ment from most men, for his sake, of whom they repre- sent so willing, though weak, a remembrance. I hope also they may afford some present satisfaction to the many, that justly expect a better account of his Life ; which in your name, by whom it is best able to be done, I here presume to promise, in convenient time ; and that the rather, because I am not ignorant of your being furnished of some modest and yet remarkable collections thereof, left by his own Pen. I doubt not but that you esteem it a special part of your owne duty, as well as your honour, to follow the straight steps of his industrious and holy life. And to afford the president thereof to the imitation of others, will be a kindness very seasonable in APPENDIX. 505 these evil days. And very useful it may be after many others of the ancient Bishop's lives, now forgotteti, than which it is certain there never were any more saint-like, since those of their predecessors the Apostles, towards a demonstration that prelacy, and piety, are not such inconsistent things, as some would make them ; and that the men which are of or for, that order, should not he excluded (as by the monopolizers of that name they now are) from the number of saints ; and consequently not debarred from that which is now asserted to be the common interest, and indefesible right of all saints of whatever persuasion; that is the ]iherty'(if not of discipline, yet) q/* worshiping God, according to their con- science, and the best light of their own understanding. To conclude: your nearest relation, claims the prime interest in whatsoever shall pretend to your Father*s name ; and therefore, this, Sir, which is to be reckoned inter parentalia, is with the Author, Your*s at command. To serve you in the Lord, From my Study in St. Peter, Norwich, A'oc. 10, 1656. J. W. Genesis xlvii, 29. And the time drew nish that Israel must die. <5 In the funeral sermons of the ancients, the person deceased was the only text; and the sermon nothing but an anatomy lecture upon the dead man's life. Should I have imitated that custom upon this occasion, by taking no other text, than that of this saint's life ; that which the psalmist saith of the life of man, would, very like, have been the censure of my sermon : namely, that it was but as a tale that was told. Ps. xc, 9. But methinks I might have had a sufficient apology for that, not from the custom of the fathers only, but from Scripture itself; a good part whereof is altogether taken up with a narrative of the lives of saints ; and those too, not altogether canonical in every line. And we have a saint to speak of, (1 think I may presume to say) as eminent an one as some of them. But yet I hold myself by modern custom obliged to chuse another text, first, or last ; and I thought it would do best to give it the prece- 508 APPENDIX. dence ; you have heard already what it is, short and plain, agreeable to the design of my discourse upon it, which must be short, because I have another text to take up, when I have done with this ; and plain, because that suits best with my own abilities, and the sadness of the occasion. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. So it is in the English paraphrase; for a verbal translation according to the Hebrew text, would run thus : And the days of Israel drew near to die. And so our translator renders the same words, 1 Kings ii,l ; Deut. xxxi,14. But I shall not take upon me to correct the present transla- tion, because it agrees well enough with the sense, and better with the words too, than that of the vulgar latin, as I shall have occasion to shew by and by. Four things I have to consider in this text : 1. The necessity of Israel's death, Israel must die, 2. The time of his death, there was a certain time when Israel must die. 3. The appropin- quation of that time, the time drew nigh, 4. Israel's foresight, and consideration of the ap- proach of that time. This the vulgar Latin hath distinctly expressed, Cumque appropinquare ceme- ret diem mortis suce. When he saw the day of his death drew nigh. That Cerneret, 1 confess, is an addition to the words, but not to the sense of the text. For that Israel did foresee and con- APPENDIX. 509 sider the approach of his death, is plainly imphed, as the reasoo why he took such a careftil order with his son Joseph, about the place of his burial, as you may read in the words following my text. The like order did Joseph himself give to his sons, about his burial, when he saw his time to die drew nigh. Gen. 1, 25, 26 Both of them were very solicitous to be buried in the land of Canaan. Lyra thinks it was, because they foresaw, by a spirit of prophecy, that in that country there would be a resurrection of many saints with Christ, when he should rise again, and they hoped to be of the number, and therefore would be buried there. This conceit is scarce so much as probable. But that reason which the Rabbins give, is a ridiculous absurdity; namely, because there shall be no resurrection at all of any but Jews, and of them only in the land of Canaan ; whither all bodies that are not buried there must be rolled through some secret burrows of the earth, from their most distant places of burial, before they can be raised to life:* this fancy is near akin to a multitude more of those men's. But the author to the Hebrews hath told us the true reason of their desires in this point : By faith Joseph wlien * Buxtoriii Synagoga Jud. c. 1. ^5l0 APPENDIX. he died made mention of the departing of the chil- dren of Israel out oj Egypt, and gave command- ment concerning his bones ; (Heb. xi, 22.) namely, that they should be carried with them into Canaan : thereby declaring his own, and con- firming their faith, concerning their deliverance out of the Egyptian thraldom, which for some time they were yet to indure, and their certain possession of the land of promise. I am now to begin with the first particular fore-mentioned ; the death of Israel, and the necessity thereof, Israel must die. I told you before the vulgar translator had taken the bold- ness to put in a word into the text, and that I excused, for its agreement with, and explication of the sense. But I must tell you also, he hath left out another word, instead of that, which cannot so well be excused. For he reads, Cumq; appropinquare cerneret diem mortis, leaving out the name of Israel, which is found in the original. I am not so great a friend to that translation, as to excuse that presumption, if such it were, and not rather an oversight, left yet uncorrected, in all the copies that I have seen. The name of Israel is too considerable a word to be left out in the text, whether we respect the person signified by that name, or the signification of the name. First, consider the person signified by that APPENDIX. 511 name, and you shall find he was as eminent an one, as any that is named in Scripture. And for the signification of the name, you shall hear also, that is very considerable, and so declared by God himself, who both gave the name, and the true interpretation thereof. First, let us a little inquire after the person signified by this name, Israel : who was he ? The man was a Binomius, one that had two names : his original name was Jacob, and there was a mystery in that name, as you may find. Gen. xxv, 26; Hos. xii, 3. This name of Israel was an agfiomen, an alias to the name of Jacob ; a new name given him by his godfather the angel, at his confirmation: you may read the story of it, (Gen. xxxii, 28.) T/i^ name shall be no more called Jacob, but Israel, fAiya juu jifiiov ovofjLa otBxov mi eua-E^siag. rsaz, A great and honorable name given him for a reward of his piety. So the Lord changed the name of Abram his grandfather, into Abraham. Gen. xvii, 5. And he was the first man in the world, whose name was ever given, or changed by God. And it is well noted, there never was any man received a name immediately from God, but was either an eminent person, or a type of some great and notable matter in the church. There is no name in Scripture more famous, than tliat of Israel. Pererius puts the question, why the story of Israel's hfe, is more fully set 512 APPENDIX, forth than any of the Patriarchs : and gives this reason for it ; because he was, totius et solius populi Dei Parens, the Father of all, and the onely people of God, having no other children besides the twelve patriarchs, the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel: which cannot be said either of Abraham or Isaac : for Abraham we know had Ishmael as well as Isaac : and so was not the father of the faithful only, but of the Ishmaelites too. And Isaac had Esau as well as Jacob, and so was father of the Edomites, as well as Israelites ; but Jacob was father of the Israelites only : and that ye know in the Old Testament is the common name of the people of God ; who are sometimes called the Children of Israel, sometimes Israel, and sometimes Israelites. As we are now called Christians from Christ, ^o were the people of God of old called Israelites from this Israel. And it is observed, when speech is of the infirmities of the church, she is called Jacob ; but when her glory and valour is signified, she is called Israel. Israel had the honour first to receive his name from God him- self, and then to give a name to all the people of God ; yea, and to God himself too, for he is fre- quently called The God of Israel, The Hope of Israel, The Strength of Israel, The Rock of Israel, The King of Israel, The Saviour of Israel, &c. And Christ is called. The Holy One APPENDIX. 513 of Israel, The Glory of Israel. Many and glorious things are spoken of this name, too many to be here recounted. The sum of all is comprehended in the words that were put into Moses' mouth, to speak unto Pharaoh, (Exod. iv, 22.) Thou shall say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my Jirst-born : or in that of the prophet, quoted by the apostle, Tlie Lord said, I have loved Jacob, (that is Israel,) and I hated Esau. Mai. i, 2; Rom. ix, 13. He was the famous instance of God's free and eternal election. One that was sanctified from the womb, and in it, as is thought. The blessings oj Israel prevailed above the blessings of his fathers. Gen. xlix, 26. Such was tlie honour of the person signified by this name. Now for the signification of the name, I find some variety in the opinion of the ancients : some will have it to signify, Homo videns Deum, a man seeing God, as Philo, and most of the fathers after him. Some translate it. Rectus Dei, a right (or upright) man of God. This signification is oft mentioned, and sometimes approved by S. Hierom. And very true it is, that both these significations of the name will agree very well to the person of Israel ; and well enough with the name itself, as it may be written and pointed in Hebrew. Israel was indeed ^k nxn ^^ a man that saw God, and that oftener than any of the L I 514 APPENDIX. patriarchs : we have seven or eight of his visions recorded in Scripture, and one of them was then when he received this name, whereupon he called the place Peniel, (Gen. xxxii, 30.) giving the interpretation, For I have seen God face to face, 2. Israel was Rectus Dei, a right upright man, bR nu' & cDn ir-K, Vir simplex, aTry^a^r^, in the Sept. aTTT^Hg, saith Aquila, (Gen. xxv, 27.) a plain down- right man: our Saviour alludes to this place, (John i, 47.) where he saith of Nathanael, that he was a true Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. But the truth is, these are but human conceits of the Etymology of his name. The special and proper signification and reason of this name is given by the angel himself, that gave him that name, (Gen. xxxii, 28.) Thi/ name shall be no more called Jacob, (that is, Jacob only,) but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast prevailed. This is the true interpretation of his name, Princeps cum Deo, a prince with God. He prevailed with God, first for the blessing, and by that blessing he prevailed with men, with Laban, and with Esau, when the one followed, and the other met him with their threatening troops; and prevail he did like a mighty prince with other men too; for with his sword and his bow, he conquered from the Amorite, (Gen. xlviii, 22.) that country which he gave to his son Joseph for a possession : APPENDIX. 515 Israel and Jacob too, had both names from striving and from prevailing. The first name Jacob, he received in token that he should prevail over his brother Esau : the second name, Israel, he had in testimony that he had prevailed with God, and he that prevails with God cannot be overcome by men. But this victorious prince, this famous victor that prevailed both with God and men, was supplanted, was overcome at last by death, as is signified in my text : Israel must die, as well as Esau, he whom God loved, as well as he that ,was hated. Death is no argument of God's hatred, Neither death nor life can separate Israel from the love of God, He that was loved of God before he was born, was no less beloved when he was dead. If any man might have prevailed against death, or been excused from it, one should have thought Israel should : but there is no such privilege belongs to Israel ; no privilege from death, that death which the text speaks of, the death of the body. But in another sense it is true, Israel did prevail over death: death itself, with his sting, was and shall be swallowed up in victory by him — the gates of hell did not prevail over him. For the living God is the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel, (Matt, xxii, 32.) And God is noit the God of the dead, 516 APPENDIX. but of the living. Israel therefore is not quite dead, but still lives, and shall do for ever. But for all that, it was true, Israel must die. Though the word must is not in the original letter, yet it is in the sense : and if there had not been a necessity for Israel to die, we had not been here now to mourn over our Father Israel, that is dead. But why must? What necessity was there that Israel must die? The original cause of death we may read in the first mention that is made of death, (Gen. ii, 17.) The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Thou, and all thine, (non uni, sed universitati dicitur moriendo morierisj in dying thou shalt die : that is, certainly without remedy. The blasphemous Jews say, Adam and his posterity were therefore condemned to die, because out of his posterity there was a man to come that would make him- self a God : many such there were, but they meant it of Christ. Whereas the Scriptures, as well theirs as ours, tell us it was because they would have made themselves gods, listening too ambitiously to the serpent that promised them the preferment, in his eritis sicut dii, ye shall be as Gods. But you will say, hath not Christ then redeemed Israel ? We trust he hath, nay we are sure of it : as sure as we are that him- self the Holy One of Israel, is risen from the dead ; so sure we are that Israel is, and APPENDIX. 517 shall be redeemed from death. The soul is redeemed from the gates of hell, aud the body shall be redeemed from the ffrave in due time by a blessed resurrection, which is called the redemption of the body; (Rom. viii, 23.) but for that redemption we must wait till the appointed time come. But is that any privilege of Israel's? Shall not Esau be partaker of that redemption as well as Israel ? I answer, no ; and yet it is true, (and an heresie in the Socinians to deny it) his body shall be raised again from the grave; but that will be no redemption from prison, but a bringing forth to execution. We never read of a wicked man raised from the dead in Scripture, though there be many examples of resurrection in both testaments. But why might not Israel be excused from dying at all, and so this miraculous redemption of the body be spared? I answer, because the Holy One of Israel, (that was as well the exam- ple, as the author of our redemption) was not excused : and we are predestinate to be made conformable to the image of Christ, that he might he the first-born among many brethren^ (Rom. viii, 29.) conformable to his sufferings, and to his death, cry/xftop^oy/xEVO? tw 6avaru aurtt. Phil, lii, 10. Obedient, as he was, so must we be, u7ito the death. Our bodies are not to be made like unto his glorious body, till they be made vile by death as his was. 518 APPENDIX. Irsael must die in Egypt, before he can be carried into Canaan, (ver 30.) Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. That the Apostle saith of Israel, is true in another sense than he meant: All is not Israel, that is qf Israel. Rom. ix, 6. There is an Esau struggling with Jacob whiles we are in the flesh, a body of flesh striving with the spirit, and though it be supplanted by Jacob in the new birth, yet it will not be quite extirpate, till by death we shall be delivered from this body of death. Ciim hac controversia nati sumus (saith Augustine,) these two twins make a perpetual war in us, and no peace is to be expected till they be parted by death. The nerve of the flesh is shrunk and lamed in the combat with the spirit, but not quite cut asunder; and Israel halts all his life- time in the flesh : H^on enim est rectipes virtus in corpore mortali, saith Philo. Divines are of opinion, that in all those that Christ cured of any bodily disease he made a perfect cure, not of that disease only, but of all others, and did integrant corporis sariitatem conferre; left no relics of infirmity behind him. How true that is, 1 know not ; but sure we are, it is not so in the spiritual cure ; the spirits of the just are not made perfect till death. There is a sin that cleaves close to us, that will not be put off tifl we be uncloathed by death. Israel tkerefore APPENDIX. 519 must die, that he may be free from sin. Death came in by sin, and sin goes out by death. So do the sorrows of life by those of death : We must die once^ that we may die unto sin. It is the only panacea or all- /teal: nothing but the winding- sheet can wipe away all tears from our eyes. A barbarous kind of mercy it was of Tamberlainj to cause all the lepers of the country to be put to death, to rid them of their misery : but in God it is a real mercy, as well as justice, to soul and body too, to let men die, to free them from the leprosy of the soul, and the miseries of the body. Israel must die that he may rest from his labours, and reap the fruits of them. There is no enter- ing into God s rest, but by this sleep. Job calls man an hireling, (chap, xiv, 6.) so doth our Saviour in the parable : (Matt, xx, 1 .) and the hireling servant may not betake him to his rest, nor receive his wages till night. When Moses was to die, the Lord bid him first come up, and then die, (Deut. xxxii,48,49.) Ascende et morere;* but we must first die before we can ascend to tlie mount of the Lord. There can be no perfect visions of God, but in the night of death : so darkness was before light, and the evening is before the morning. * Na2. in land. Basilii. 520 APPENDIX. We can never be perfectly possessed of the glorious liberty of the sons God, till we get out of the prison of the body, and so be as the Psalmist speaks, jree among the dead. Ps. Ixxxviii, 5. fji^ccxapnr^s, was a common Euphe- 7msmus among the Greeks for a dead man ; but it is indeed the proper title of a saint. Ante ohitum nemo, Sfc. The spirit, in truth, is never perfectly alive till the body be dead. It is but as it were buried alive in the body. A kind of mortification it is to the soul to live in the body : TO (Tuixa (rr\[A,a, Ptato. It doth neither know nor see itself, whiles it is the flesh. Death indeed is called sleep usually ; but as Tertullian excellently shews in his book De Anima, it is rather an awaking of the soul, which in the body is asleep, and doth but dream of things, and therefore is grossly mistaken in all its notions. De oppanso corporis erumpit in apertum ad meram, et pur am, et suam lucem — ut de somno emergens ab imaginihus ad veritates.^ To conclude this point: the bird in the breast can never be perfectly taught to sing its heavenly note of Hallelujah till it gets out of its cage, and be set upon the tree of life, which is in Paradise. * "^rtullian, cap. 63. APPENDIX. 521 We have heard of the necessity of Israel's death, and some reasons of it : but what is that to us ? What use may we make of this point ? why this : it will afford us a double argument to reconcile us to the thoughts of death. The first is that which Elijah used in his petition for death, ( 1 Kings xix, 4.) It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. It is enough to make us content to die, though perhaps not ground enough to warrant us to pray for it, as Elijah did, not without some spice of impatience, as is judged : but to make us content to die, this is enough, that we are not better than our Fathers. It is a forlorn error to think, that company will abate the misery of the second death ; but of the first it may, especially when it is so good. Israel is dead, and so is Isaac, and Abraham, and all the Fathers: and are we better than they? We shall fare no worse than they in dying, if we be their children ; and to desire to fare better than any of them, were worse than a vanity. It were too much pride to think ourselves so good as they. And as we are not so good in our lives, so neither is our condition so good as their's whilst we live, but when we die it may, for then we shall be gathered to our fathers. And that is another good argument to reconcile us to death; because thereby we shall be 522 APPENDIX. gathered to our fathers; as is said of Abraham and many others of the holy fathers ; so it is said of Israel when he died, he was gathered to his people. Gen. xlix, 33. That phrase is primarily meant of the body, which goeth to the grave, the house appointed for all living, as Job calls it, chap. XXX, 23. Yet may it be understood of the soul too, which by death is gathered to aJ^n^, the congregation-house of* souls, or the World of Souls: nws3n xzb^]}y as the Hebrews call it. And the souls of God's saints are gathered Travyv^Et jtui sKHXy^cnix wpcoToloKcav ev Hpocvoig ocTToyEy^afxiJLEvaVy J. O the general assembly and church of the first-horny which are written (in albo coelesti) in heaven, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb. xii, 13, There we shall meet with Abraham, and Isaac, and all the Fathers ; with the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, and the noble army of martyrs. Israel rejoiced much for the hopes he had to see his son Joseph, though it were in Egypt: (Gen, xliv, 27, 28.) how much more cause have we to rejoice for the hopes we have to see Israel himself, his, and our Joseph, and all the rest of our fathers and brethren in the heavenly Canaan, and to see the Holy One of Israel, the glory of Israel, the Lord Jesus. When the disciples saw but two of the fathers with Christ on Mount Tabor, covered with a APPENDIX. 523 slight veil of glory, such as their bodily eyes were capable of, they were so ravished with the sight, that they said, it was good being there, (Matt, xvii, 4.) and would therefore have been building tabernacles there to dwell, and yet them- selves were but mere spectators of that glory; they were not transfigured: how much better will that Being be, where we shall not only be with Christ where he is, and behold his glory, as he prayed for us: (John xvii, 14.) and that with open face too, as St. Paul speaks, but shall be changed into the same image, from glory to glory. 2 Cor. iii, 18. Christ is said to be with us here, (Matt, xxviii, 29.) but we are never said to be with him in this world : he is with us by his Spirit here, but we shall be with him by our spirits when we die. Esse Christum cum Paulo magna securitas ; esse Paulum cum Christo summa feliciias. Ber- nard. Christ's presence with us by his Spirit is a great comfort to ours, but the heighth of glory is for us to be with him. When Israel had seen the face of Joseph, he was content to die. Gen. xlvi, 30. Now let me die, since I have seen thy face. And old Simeon, when he had seen Christ in the temple, sings his own requiem, JSuiic dimittis, — Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have see7i thy salvation. Luke ii, 29. And have not we 524 APPENDIX. as good reason to be willing, at least with our dismission, that so we may come to see him, and his (that is, our own) salvation? Israel must die, that he may fully make good the first- mentioned signification of his name, that he may see God; for the beatifical vision can never be, till death hath closed the bodily eyes. It was a speech of the heathen orator, in his Book De Senectute, that he was much taken with a desire to see the Roman patriots, that were dead, vihom he loved and honoured ; and not them only whom he had seen and known before, but those that he had read and heard of.^ How much more reason have we to desire to see our fathers, and holy friends, with all the eminent saints of God, that we have read, and heard of; to see them, I say, in such a state of glory as he never dreamed of? PrcBstolatur nos Ecclesia Primitivorum, desi- derant nos Sancti, expectant nos Justi, &c. They expect us, saith the devout Abbot of Claraval, It is part of their hopeful desires to see us, and bid us welcome ; and shall we then be unwilling to go to them, that so kindly long and wait for us? We find in the Old Testament many of the saints singing Loth to depart^ and deprecating * Equidem efFeror studio patres vestros, quos colui' et dilexi videndi. Neque vero eos solum convenire aveo quos ipse cognovi, sed ilios etiani de quibus audivi et legi. Cic de Sen. APPENDIX. 525 their threatened dissolutions ; which some think was, because the promise of eternal hfe was but obscurely known to them : the sight of heaven clouded from them, as the type of it in the temple was hidden from the people by the veil : but this cloud is cleared up by the gospel, and Moses' veil is taken away, Christ hath brouglU life and immortality to light, 2Tim. i, 10. It becomes not Christians therefore to retain the Old Testament spirit still to shrink at the sight of death, but to be ready to say as St. Paul did, / desire to be dissolved^ and to be with Christ, which is, TToT^u ixa>o^ov x^eia-a-ovy Jar better. The phrase looks like a Solecism in the Greek, but we should not have gone about to mend it in English, by abating the sense, in giving but one adverb for two ; very far or very much better, the words signify. What long and tedious journeys have many a devout Pilgrim taken, to see nothing but the old land of Canaan, now turned into jEgypt; the place where sometimes the Fathers lived and died, but so long since, that their very graves are buried, and not to be found. To conclude this point : Brethren, let us but be sure we are true Israel- ites indeed, in faith and holiness, and then never let us fear death. 526 APPENDIX. 11. 1 have done with the first point, Israels death, with the necessity, reason, and use of it. The second follows ; and that is, the time of Israel's death. The royal preacher, (Eccles. iii,l.) saith, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven ; and then by way of induction sets down a large catalogue of things that have their time here below. I may call it his Fasciculus temporum, as an old author calls his book : all his instances are no other than the ordinary changes of an earthly life. And it is well noted by St. Ambrose upon the first verse, where he saith, that there is a time for every thing under the heaven : that all things under heaven are temporal, and by consequence, mutable. But the Psalmist saith, The heavens themselves shall he changed. Ps. cii, 26. He means those visible heavens: the sun itself, and the stars that are above it, as well as all things under it, shall be changed. But in the heaven of heavens there will be no change, because no such thing as time will be there : all is eternal in heaven : but under heaven all things have their time. The lowest story of the heavens, by the philosophers' account, is that of the moon, which is the com- mon emblem of mutabihty : and if you eount the particulars of Solomon's changes in that chapter, you shall find just as many as are the days in a APPENDIX. 527 common lunary month, twenty-eig-ht, and all of them like the changes of the moon, nothing but increasing and decreasing. The whole set of his changes is drawn chequerwise, by a just division of white and black, good and evil things, after the pattern that God gave when he first set the division of times, by dividing of light from dark- ness, and making each day to divide itself into an evening and a morning : and the first instance that Solomon gives of his temporalities, is that of the morning and evening of man's life : a time to be do7'n, and a time to die. The primitive Christians confounded the distinction of these two times, by calling the days of their martyr's deaths their Natalitia, or birth-days. And the holy preacher, (chap, vii, 1.) prefers the time of death before that of birth : the coffin before the cradle. And though that be a paradox, as some other things are, which he there adds, yet it is no Paralogy in reason; but so evidently true, as some mere naturalists have found reason to grant it ; else would not the Thracians have wept at their births, and rejoiced at their funerals. I have no leisure now to unriddle that paradox: but in the mean time it is certain there is a time to die^ as sure as a tiine to he born ; nay, more sure indeed ; never man was born, but either is dead, or must die; except some one or two, Enoch and £lias, that were privileged by miracle; 528 APPENDIX. and that privilege, said Tertullian, was but a reprieve or a suspension for a time, till Antichrist comes, and then they must be slain for the two witnesses, spoken of by St. John, Rev. xi, 7. But St. Paul hath given us another exce[)tion ; namely, of all those which shall be found alive at the resurrection, when the Lord Jesus shall com^ again to judge both the quick and the dead : that is, not the righteous that lived by faith, and the wicked that died in their sins, as Augustine and Chrysos- tome allegorize the words; nor yet the immor- tal soul, and the mortal body, as Theophylact glosseth the text: but as St. Paul interprets, those that are alive at his coming, and those that shall be dead before. 1 Thess. iv, 15, 17. For we shall not all sleep, hut we all shall be changed, 1 Cor. XV, 52, The vulgar latin denies that change, and therefore hath strangely changed the text, as may be seen. The Pontificians will not admit their exemption from death : and we shall not now dispute the point. But with these exceptions, and possibly some few others not recorded in Scripture, it is certain never man was born, nor shall be, but had, or must have, a time to die. But many an one hath found a time to die that never was born : their time to die having prevented their time to be born. Many have been seen dead, that never were seen alive ; and many are dead that never were seen at all. It is APPENDIX. 529 too plain a point to spend time upon : if Israel must die, he must have a time for it. But whether that time were certain and fixed, or not, is a solemn question ;* large and learned debates are made about it, and strong contests between the physician and the divine. The question is not to be resolved from this text, and 1 have now no leisure to look into many others : but seeing the hairs of our head are numbered , it is more than probable so are the days, yea the hours, and minutes of- our lives. A sparrow falls not to the ground without God's Providence, much less doth a man. The great world hath its last day set and certain to him that made it : so sure hath every little world ; but of that day and hour knoweth no man. But certain it is, to God nothing is uncertain : the doctrine of his prescience (except with the Socinians, we will deny the universal extent of it) will demonstrate the truth in this question, in the affirmative : for that which is not certain, cannot be certainly foreseen. Yet will it not follow that this event, and all things else, are absolutely necessary, by a fatal connexion, or necessary operation and efficacy of their particular causes, according to the opinion of the new Stoic, to whom 1 can * Beverovitius de termiuo vitae. Mm 530 APPENDIX. allow the name of a philosopher,* but not of a Christian, till he hath recanted his Leviathan of heresies : wherein he allows men the liberty of an express denial of Christ, if the infidel magis- trate commands it if so making all martyrs rebels to their princes, and murtherers of themselves. The man is no professed Turk, (thank a christian magistrate) but hath told us in effect he would be so, as well in other points as that of his fatality, if his prince would have him : for the Alcoran with the civil sanction, is by his doctrine as canonical as the Gospel. Whether it be certain which Cajetan and Alvarez have resolved, namely, that to comprehend how the decrees and con- course of God's will, doth agree with the liberty of man's will; (whereupon the time of death seems much to depend) is above the understand- ing of any man in this life, I well know not : but I am willing to confess it is above mine. Above my understanding I say it is, so are divers other mysteries of our religion, but I thank God not above my faith. For this I believe, that neither God's prescience, nor his decrees, do infer, much less cause any necessity in the manner of the production of their objects: because God hath decreed, and therefore foreseen that many things * Mr. T. H. t Pag. 271, APPENDIX. 531 shall not l>e necessarily but contingently, and yet certainly produced. But to turn to the prefixed parts of my dis- course. We have dispatched two of them, — The necessity of Isi^eVs death, and the time of it : two more are remaining, wherein I must be brief. The next is the appropinquation of the time; 7^he time drew nigh, or the days drew nigh, that Israel must die. When Pharaoh asked him how old he was, (ven 9.) he told him, his days were few, and spake it not in reference only to the time past of his life, but, as he is commonly understood with respect to the whole expected term thereof; and that being so, the time of his death could never be far off. Indeed nothing can be far off, that is within the bounds of time : much less can the day of death be so, in a life that is short; and such is the longest mortal life. Israel's days were few ni comparison of the days of his fathers, as he interprets himself, yet were they as many again as the ordinary num- ber of man's days, by Moses's reckoning: for Israel lived one hundred and forty-seven years, as you may read in the verse before my text: and the days of our years, saith Moses, (Ps. xc, 10.) are but seventy years, and scarce the seventieth person lives so long; and yet Moses himself lived almost twice as long, and so did his brother Aaron, but they were extraordinaiies. Mm 2 532 APPENDIX. The life of man in Scripture is usually reckoned by days, which are the shortest natural divisions of time ; and sometimes it is called but one day: and the longest mortal life that ever was, came short of one day, by God's account, to whom a thousand years are hut as one day. And now he that lives longest, seldom attains to one hour, or the twelfth part of such a day. The known shortness of life, set forth in Scripture by a multi- tude of similitudes, is demonstration enough to any man, that his time to die draws nigh. But that is a comparative word admitting of many degrees : in a short way the end is always near, but grows nearer the more steps a man hath set in it. So was it with Israel, he had multiplied his steps till he was come to the stage that David spake of, (iSam. xx, 3.) There is but a step betiveen me and death. The time drew nigh that Israel must die ; now when he spake to Joseph about his burial, as followeth in the verse : but how nigh we know not precisely, no more perhaps did he. All the Astrologers in ^gypt could not precisely tell him the day and hour of his death : yet have we a company of gypsies of that profession, that will pretend to do it. But they are well con- futed by S. Augustine,* from the example of * De Civit. Dei. I. 5. APPENDIX. 333 these twins, Jacob and Esau, whose birthtime was as near, as in nature it was possible: for Esau was not quite born before Jacob ; Jacob*s hand was born before Esau's foot : and yet we know the disposition of their bodies, and of their minds, with the manner of their lives, was as contrary, as if they had been born under the most opposite horoscopes that are in the whole sphere of heaven. Moses was brought up in all the wisdom and learning of jEgypt, (as St. Stephen saith, Acts vii, 22.) that is, in the sciences of Physic and Astrology, the most famous learning of ^gypt ; and yet could he not number his own days, but prays to God in his Psalm to teach him that art. Ps. xc, 12. Nor did he desire to know the precise number of his days, but only the wisdom to consider the paucity of them, so as to improve them to the honor of God, and the good of himself and his church. To know the just time of our death, is not pos- sible without a revelation ; and therefore not to be desired without presumption. It is a thing that depends much upon the arbitrary acts of the will of both a man's self, and of others (as constant experience teacheth) the knowledge whereof is the peculiar property of Omniscience : and therefore for men to pretend to this know- ledge from the stars is an impiety, not much less than that of worshipping them, being a bold 534 APPENDIX. intrusion into the most peculiar and essential privilege of divine knowledge. It is enough for us to know as much as Israel did, that our time to die draws nigh, and so much every man doth know, that knows any thing at all. Lyra thinks Israel did know the precise time of his death by a spirit of prophecy: and such a spirit we know he had, about that time especially when his time to die drew nigh ; as appeared by the prophetical blessings which he then gave to his sons. But to know that his time to die was nigh, he needed no prophetic spirit now, when he was an old man, and bed-rid, as you may find in the end of the chapter, ver. 31. Well might he tell that his few days were almost spent, when his evil days (as Solomon calls them, Eccles. xii, 1.) were come, and the years did not draw near, but were upon him, wherein he might say, / have no pleasure in them. The sun arid the light, the moon and the stars, were darkened. All the faculties of his soul and body were weakened. The keepers of the house trembled, and the strong men bowed themselves. His arms were so weak that he could scarce strengthen them to lay them upon the heads of his nephews, to bless them ; and his legs could no longer bear his body, so that he was fain to lie by it. 27iei/ that looked out of the windows (which some understand of glass windows or APPENDIX. 535 spectacles) were darkened. His eyes were dim with age ; and when a man comes to that once, that he is almost bUnd with age, he cannot but see that his time to die draws nigh. A man needs not to be told his lamp is nigh out, when he sees and feels that the oil is spent, and knows there is no more to be bought; to 3^ 9ra^aj«/x£V0v mm yn^euniov, sfyuf o^avifffMHf Heb. viii, 13. There are many warnings of death, in diseases of the body, perils and troubles of life, such as David met withal, when he said, Mi/ soul is full of troubles, and my life draws 7iear to the grave. Ps. Ixxxviii, 3. And some extraordinary warn- ings we read of, which some have had from God himself. Such as Moses, Aaron, and Hezekiah had ; and the rich fool in the Gospel, S tulle, hac node; Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. In human story there are multitudes of examples of them, that have had warnings, predictions, presages, and omens of approaching death, especially great persons : the Historian* hath some of them almost in everyone of his Twelve Caesars. But few men were ever the wiser or the better for such uncertain, and for the most part unregarded warnings. There is no warning so infallible as that of old age ; all Suetonius. 536 APPENDIX. others may prove but false alarums, useful to awaken men out of security, and move them to make ready: but when the old man comes once, especially that same rufA^oyn^aVf Silicernium, when he comes upon crutches, when he is blind and led, be brings certain tidings that death is at hand. There are many affirmative signs of the near- ness of death, that are certain, and old age is one of them : but negative signs there are none, that is, to shew that it is not near. A young man doth not, cannot know, but that his time to die may be nigh, but an old man knows it is so. Life in Scripture is sometimes compared to a shadow, so is death too ; and the heathen poet made it less, but the dream of a shadow, and that but of smoak.^ Now shadows we know are not all of a length, some are longer and some are shorter, as life also is. But the longer the shadow is, the more like, and the more near, to night. Jer. vi, 4. Longiores factce sunt umhrce vesperi. Life is a vanishing shadow at all times, but the longer it is, the nearer is the night of death. Indeed our present life in the flesh is but the shadow of life to the soul, darkened as now it is oppanso corporis,'f (^Tertullian's word) with the ^ l^Kiag ovap av^pcoTTog. Pindar. Kai wirov ahv fjtaXXov n xaTniia-Hia, Msebylus, t Ti^^ ot^Ev u TO Kw Efi ualhavEiVt TO Kal^aa/Eiv SV (nv, ^uripid. APPENDIX. 537 opacity of the body. The Greek tragedian could not tell whether it should be called life or no. The ghosts or spirits of men when they are out of the body are usually called umbrce, shadows, and that most like because of their incorporiety ; bat so termed they are too, from the imaginary configuration with the body, which in visions they have appeared to have, and which TertuUian and Irenceus {uj^ovi the parable of Lazarus and Dives,) thought they really have. In which respect they are also called u'^coxa xa/xovluvy in Homery as images of the body ; and that they are not altogether incorporeal themselves, but have a kind of avyosi^si aco/jui, a splendid or lucid body,, hath been the opinion of some divines, as well as philosophers. We use to compare old thin bodies to ghosts and shadows in com- mon speech ; and so not the old man himself, but every body that meets him, knows that his time to die draws nigh. Other men may see it, but himself must needs feel the cold-numbed hands of death coming upon him, before they give the fatal gripe. Thus Israel knew that his time drew nigh that he must die. So doth every old man, and every young one too ; but every one doth not consider it as Israel did. That is the last point in my method ; Israel's foresight or consideration of the appropinquation of death. This I told you I 538 APPENDIX. would note from the word cerneret in the vulgar latin, because it agrees well with the sense, though it be not in the original text. To see death in Scripture phrase is to die: but in strict- ness of sense death cannot be seen, because it is nothing but darkness; and when it comes, it doth not only close, but put out the eyes. The Angel of Death, as the Jews call it, is invisible : but though it be so to bodily sense, yet is there a reasonable theory to be had of death, and nothing more unreasonable than not to foresee it. That old prayer in the Litany is without excep- tion in the Latin phrase, A morte improvisa libera nos Domine. He that doth not foresee death, cannot be provided for it ; and he that is not, must needs be eternally undone by it. We complain all, of shortness of Hfe, and need not hear so often of the physician's aphorism, or the rabbin's sentence, to persuade the truth of it: and yet so little do we consider it, that we spend it as prodigally, as if it were too long, as indeed it is, for them that abuse it. And who almost doth not ? ^ The time we have is not so little, as that we lose is much : we commonly use it as if we knew not what to do with it> and therefore we throw away the best part of it. Non parum temporis habemus^ sed raultum perdiraus. Sen, APPENDIX. 539 What large shares of it do we squander away upon vain and idle company, and trifle away upon foolish mirth, miscalled recreations, vain and worse pastimes, balls and revels, drolleries, and amorous courtships? What a great deal of it do we let the world steal from us, besides all that is necessarily due to it? How great a part of it do we suffer the devil to run away with? How many of our few days do we utterly waste in doing nothing, or worse than nothing? And is it not justice then in God to afford but a short allowance of that, which he sees, is and will be so much abused to his own dishonour, and the hurt of the unhappy possessors ? Nay, is it not mercy indeed, rather than justice, to shorten their days, that will make no other use of them than to their eternal ruin r And how few are they that make any better improvement of their time ? Such Abaddons and Apollyons men are of their time, and therein of their own souls. No time is long enough to bewail, nor words enough, or sharp enough, to reprove the wretched waste that is made of this invaluable treasure, which so many men spend only to treasure up wratii against the day of ivrath. It is a dreadful thing to say, but more dreadful to see, that the main business that many men spend their lives in, is scarce any other, or better, than such as tends to the assuring of their everlasting death, and 540 APPENDIX. the certain prevention of that life, which only is long. Oh that men should be so caitively disposed, so malicious to their own souls, and so kind to the devil ! Who knows not that it is as impossible to secure his life for one day, while he enjoys it, as it is to recover it for another, when it is once lost ? And who will not grant that his end may be nearer than the end of the present day ? and yet where is the man that will be persuaded to consider how near his time to die is, or may be ? Every man puts it far off, few are willing to hear of the approach of it, at any hand. When the physician tells men that death is near, many are not willing to believe him. But for the Divine's warning, who hath regarded it? Did men regard the admonition of the divine, concerning the approach of death, they should not be so much troubled at the physician's warning. Did the old man consider, as well as know, that his time to die draws nigh, one would think he could not, in despite of his own reason, be such a sot, as still to dote so much upon the world, to carp and care to load himself with a viaticum of thick clay, when his journey is at an end : to fraught his old leaking vessel, when he is either in sight of his port, or splitting upon the sands? Nay, did the young man consider how near his time to die may be, he would think APPENDIX. 541 it no such unseasonable counsel that Solomon gives him, To remember his Creator in the days of his youth, before the evil days (of old age) come, which perhaps shall never come : perhaps, did I say? nay, it is very great odds they shall not! Say thou wantest yet forty years or more of the seventy, it is more than forty to one thou never comest at that number. What is the reason that men generally do so wilfully and obstinately neglect the great business of working out their own salvation? That they do so slight and vilify their spiritual and eternal interest, as if it were a matter of no valuable concernment : a sin which no pagan can parallel, nay, which the devil himself cannot be guilty of, and perhaps would not, if he might be so happy as to be but once more tried. What is the reason men do so little regard that word of God, which is able to make them wise unto salvatiojiy as either not to hear it at all, or with so little affection, as if it were no more than a good fashionable piece of rehgious invention? What is the reason we can prevail no more with men, by all our pressed exhorta- tions, admonitions, public and private, to for- sake their sins, by a sincere repentance, and thorough reformation, to make good that solemn vow which they made in baptism, to be christians indeed, and not to deceive their own souls with a mistaken notion of a mere fruitless, ineffectual 542 APPENDIX. pretence or presumption of faith ? What is the reason men are so inexorable to the practice of an holy life, without which (we tell them from Scripture, and they do not, cannot deny it,) it is as impossible for them to be saved, as it is for God to lie? Heb. xii, 14. Is not this the com- mon reason of all this damnable obstinacy, and worse than diabolical wretchedness? Namely, because men will not believe or consider that their time to die draws nigh. As much as Atheism is now increased in this nation, by the Antiperistasis of a pretended reformation, I am yet confident the absolute infidels are much the fewest in number. Most men do yet retain an opinion at least of the verity of the Scriptures, and of the common doctrines of a judgment to come, after this life, of the happiness of heaven, and of the contrary miseries of hell : and there- fore are presumable to intend some better care of their own souls, than they seem yet to have. But a pernicious presumption of the duration of life is that which invincibly hardens them against aM exhortations to a present repentance. Such is the lamentable dotage, stupid, and stupendous irrationahty of men in this point, as no tongue can express. I will yet close with a few words of exhor- tation : though I have already expressed my little experience, or hopes of success therein. Since APPENDIX. 543 Israel (the best men) must die, let us make much of them whilst they live, and labour to get as much of their blessings as we can before they be gone. And since we all must find a time to die, Oh! let us be careful to find a time to live: and let us not make our lives short, by not living till we be ready to die. Seeing we know our time to die is nigh, let us not be so mad as to put it far off. Take heed of setting death at a far distance, lest we be fatally deceived, as millions have been to their eternal perdition. Oh! let the time past of our lives suffice us to have wrought the will of the flesh, and let us no longer live the rest of our time after the lust of men, but after the will of God. Oh! let us be so wise as to redeem the time, seeing our days have been so many and evil, and are now so few. What a desperate wretched thing it is to put off the time of repentance still, when our time to die is so near ! To trust upon to-morrow, when we cannot call this whole day our own without a revelation. To leave the great work to do till night, when our Saviour hath told us, 7io man can work. Never man repented him of repenting too soon ; but every true penitent, as well as St. Augustine, will heartily bewail, and confess with shame his 644 APPENDIX. deferring of it too long, though it hath been but for a few years in his youth. It may be in some sense true, which some divines will scarce acknowledge, that it can never be too late to repent : but it is much more evident, and more safe to consider, that it can never be too soon. It is a very great folly (and fault too) in them that have estates to defer the making of their wills, till the time to die draws so nigh, that either they can make none, or no other than such as may be questioned whether it was their's or no : so hath many a man undone the greatest part of his posterity, by leaving them tinder a violent temptation of hazarding their souls to provide for their bodies. But infinitely more desperate is their adventure, that defer the disposing of their souls till the same straits of time : hereby many a forlorn soul have been utterly prevented of any possibility of repentance, by the sudden loss either of life or understand- ing ; and many more infinitely hazarded by being able at last to act that one thing necessary, after no better fashion than such as is extremely doubtful, whether it be to any purpose. Yet is this the epidemical madness of men, to be as unwilling to dispose of their souls, as of their estates, till they see or fear they can keep neither any longer: and then in their wills (but scarce APPENDIX. 545 with them) they make a formal bequest of both together. And if God had no more right to the one, than men have to tlie other, this practice were tolerable: but considering God's interest in the soul, which ought ever to have been devoted to his service, for men to give it or sell it to the world, or the devil all their life-time; and then at last (in an hypocritical imitation of our blessed Lord, and his first martyr's last words, to bequeath it to God, is no other than a wicked sacrilege, under such a possibility only of pardon, as remains for the sin unto death, that St. John speaks of. Two or three serious and sad considerations I have to propound by way of query to him that defers his repentance till his time to die draws nigh : — 1. Whether it be not a direct mocking of God, and of a man's own reason, to resolve to continue in a course of sin, with a purpose to repent of it at last? Would riot we think ourselves impudently mocked by him that should tell us, he would first do us an injury, or an affront, and afterward repent him of it and cry us mercy? And is not this the plain sense of every wicked heart, that pretends to any resolu- tion of a future repentance ? Besides, what can be more grossly absurd in reason, than for a man to resolve at the present upon the doing of that Nn 546 APPENDIX. which he knows he must, and therefore resolves he will afterward repent of? 2. If true repentance in Scripture sense sig- nifies an amendment or reformation of life, as certainly it doth, what difference is there between resolving never to repent at all, and resolving not to do it till his life is at an end ? 3. Whether he that puts off his repentance till his death bed, doth not run the evident hazard of at least an hundred to one never to repent at all ? Upon this common and notorious experiment, that not one of an hundred of the sick-bed penitents do prove true penitents, if ever they recover out of their sickness. But as I desire upon these (I think) very weighty considerations, that every soul should hasten his repentance." so will I the end of my present admonition to it : let us therefore labour so to live, as the nearer our time is to die, the better it may be for us. A good man never dies too soon : for others he may, but not for himself. Immature death is but improperly applied to a virtuous life : if we get to heaven when we die, we shall never complain of the shortness of the time of our exile from thence; nay, sure we shall rejoice it was no longer. But if we should be so woefully unhappy as to miss of heaven, we shall have much reason to lament that our life here was so APPENDIX. 547 long: for though the reprobate's punishment cannot be prolonged, because it is eternal, yet it will be much augmented by the many days of his ill-spent life. Let us be studious to provide with Israel for our transportation into Canaan when we are dead : and to this end, let us wrestle stoutly with our spiritual adversaries, to avoid the curseof sin and death; and tvresfle tvith God, as he did, for the blessing of the grace of life, and that in time : so doing we shall be sure to be Israels to prevail with God, who is ever more than willing to yield us the victory, if he could see us strive for it. We read of many ingenious devices the hea- thens had to put them in mind of death, as their feasts^ and other opportunities of greatest joy; but all was for an heathenish end : namely, to excite them to seize greedily upon the present, and not to lose anything of the present enjoy- ments of this life, than which they knew no better. St. Paul hath given us their true meanings, in those evil words, as he calls them, corrupting good manners ; let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. 1 Cor. xv, 32. We cannot here want expedients to mind us of death, to a better purpose; since if we go abroad, in every street we meet with a church-yard full of graves, and within doors we cannot sit or lie many hours without hearing ^owAbells, as we call them. Nn2 548 APPENDIX. We generally dread the thought of dying extempore, as one of the greatest infelicities that can befall us : Oh ! let us seek to prevent it, by preparing daily for that hour, upon a just and prudent consideration that it draws nigh. J can- not say that we are precisely bound (according to the ordinary advice, as well of heathens as divines, to account every day our last, or in all things so to spend it, as we would think it necessary or fit to do, if we knew, or did posi- tively believe it were so. All purposes, promises, and provisions for to-morrow were then unlawful, because unreasonable ; and by this rule, no man should take a journey further than the house of God : but the meaning is, we should so spend every day, as considering it may be the last; and therefore be sure so to act, as if it should prove so, we might neither be afraid nor ashamed to be found so doing. I know not whether I be strictly bound to all those thoughts, and that mind, whilst I am writing this sermon, which Seneca saith he had, whilst he was writing one of his epistles ; Hoc animo tibi hanc Epistolam scribo tanquam cum maximh scribentem mors evocatura sit : ^ namely, that death should call me away whilst I am * Sen. Ep. 62. APPENDIX. 549 writing. But so I write, as if I were now writing my last will, in a perfect state of health ; that is (though not without hopes of time and opportunity, to express myself better in some other copies hereafter, yet) with present seriousness, and sincerity of intention and desire, so to bequeath my talent, as God may be glorified, and my reader edified ; remembering that my own time to die draws nigh, and desiring he may do so too. Oh ! that men tvere wise, that they would under- stand this, that they would consider their latter end ! The Lord teach me and thee to number our days, and to apply our hearts ufito wisdom. Amen. I have now done with my text : but, as I told you, I have another to take in hand, and ye all know it. But something I must tell you, which perhaps you know not, by way of preface to what is to be spoken concerning that reverend person whose memory we are now to solemnize ; namely, that it was a strict charge of his own, given to his son, whom he made his executor, and inserted into his last will, that he should be buried privately, without any solemnity: which order was agreeable to his known singular modesty and humility. And lest we should seem to transgress that command which we have thus made public, 1 must also tell you, that upon entreaty, his con- 550 APPENDIX. sent was obtained for a sermon to be preached for him after his funeral. Having then obeyed his first order in the day of his funeral, which was as private as could be, we think we are nevertheless obliged, juslafacere, to do him some right in the interest of his name : and I heartily wish there had been one appointed that had been better able to do it. But seeing the task is fallen upon me, who must acknow- ledge my extreme insufficiency for such an office, I think I may, without ambition, take up for a wish the petition that Elisha made to his master Elijah, when he was to be taken away from him ; namely, that a double portion of the Spirit of my Lord might he upon me : that is, not that I might have double his gifts, that were too ambitious a wish ; but as I think the prophet meant, and as the same phrase is elsewhere used, that two parts of his spirit, the portion of a first-born son, might be upon me. The Hebrew word for portion in that text signifies properly a mouth, *33. And to be able to give this holy man his due, no mouth or tongue were so much to be wished as his own.* The world well knows he had a double portion of the gifts of the tongue above his brethren : and it is as well known he made a ^ Mov>}5 >j/ot{v i^u T»if EX£(v« ^wvnj £x«vov erKUfMa^aa-iv. Naz. de Basil, APPENDIX. 551 proportionable improvement thereof, for the ser- vice of the Lord and his Church. Two years together he was chosen rhetorick professor in the University of Cambridge, and per- formed the office with extraordinary applause. He was noted for a singular wit from his youth; a most acute rhetorician, and an elegant poet. He understood many tongues ; and in the rheto- ric of his own, he was second to none that lived in his time. But, That which I shall further say of this holy man, shall be with reflection upon my text, in a short parallel of him with the patriarch Israel, of whom you have heard. And many things there are wherein they may be specially compared : First, the significations of the name Israel, which I mentioned, are notably agreeable to this eminent person. Israel, I told you, signifies either a man seeing God, or a right (upright) man of God, or one that had power ivith God like a Prince, Each of these things were emi- nently agreeable to this person : first, Israel was a priest, and so was every Pater-familias in those times, as is said. We read of his offering sacri- fice several times: and a prophet he was too, one of those which the Psalmist speaks of in that known place, (Ps. cv, 15.) Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm. You may find him named there in the context: (ver. 10.) 552 APPENDIX. And here in the next chapter but one, you may read his prophetical blessings that he gave to his sons, when the time drew nigh that he was to die. So was our father a priest, and that of the higher order ; a seer, a prophet, and a father of the prophets. One that always made it his business to see and search into the things of God, with a zealous diligence, rather than a bold curiosity. He was one that conversed as much with God, and drew as nigh to him in divine meditation, which is the only ordinary way of seeing God in the flesh, as any man of his time. You all know he was a master in Israel, and another manner of one than Nicodemus, Op^oMiai walvi^ Hai Ai^ao-Ha?.©-, as Gregory said of his father; a father and a master of the orthodox faith, A great master he was, and one of the first that taught this church the art of divine meditation. Few men of his age have ascended so high upon Jacob's ladder as he did : he was one that with Israel lived and died. in a Goshen of light in the midst of Egyptian darkness. Secondly, he was a right upright man too before God, a true Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile ; ^k itr, Rectus Dei, tan u^k, as was said of Israel, Vir antiqua probitate simplicitateq ; prceditus, Et eruditis pietate, et piis eruditionis laude antecellens, ita secundas doctrine ferens, ut pietatis primas obtineret, as Nazianzen saith of APPENDIX. 553 Basil. Those that were most eminent for learn- ing, he excelled in piety ; and those that were most famous for piety, he excelled in learning. This high priest's breast was richly adorned with the glorious Clrini, and with the more precious jewel of the Thummim, Thirdly, he was one that wrestled with God much, and often in prayer, and prevailed much: and if we be yet capable of the blessing, I hope we shall one day enjoy the fruit of those prayers wherein he wrestled with God for this poor church. We read of Jacob's vows as well as of his visions, (Gen. xxviii, 20.) and it is the first vow that we read of in Scripture: and who hath not read, or heard at least, of this holy man's vows ? Thus the name agrees punctually in each sig- nification. We will now go on with the parallel of the persons. Israel was a smooth man of body, as himself saith, (Gen. xxxii, 11.) and a man of a plain, even, and modest spirit, as appeared by his scruples that he made about the way that his mother directed him to get his father's blessing. Such an one was our father, a man of a smooth; terse wit, and tongue, and of a calm, gentle, meek, and moderate spirit, as they all know that know anything of him: ;rpa^, aopyr^l®-, yaMvo;, to «3bj, ^BfiMi TO 'jnitviJM, as Nazianzen saith oiCcesarius; 554 APPENDIX. a man of a mild, serene, and calm aspect, (who ever saw it ruffled into any appearance of dis- orderly passion?) and of a quick and lively spirit. He was not twice a child, though he Hved long- enough to have been so,) but always one in our Saviours sense, namely, in humility and inno- cence: one that much excelled in those dove- like fruits of the Spirit, which St. Paul mentions, (Gal. V, 22.) love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- tleness, goodness, meekness, &c. As loving, and as much beloved, as any man of his order in the three nations. One that got the birthright from heaven, and the blessing from men too, without dissembling for it ; whilst other rough Esaus were hunting abroad for wild venison, thinking to please their father, he stayed quietly at home, and observing the directions of his mother the Church, went away smooth with the venison. Some strugglings he had with his rougher brethren, whom he did not strive so much to supplant, as to supple with his smooth moderation and humility: and so far he prevailed in this design, as that instead of ill words or knocks, he met with a kiss and respectful embracement from many of them that had been his adversaries, because they envied him the birthright of his order and dignity; and all men honoured the Doctor, though some loved not the Bishop. APPENDIX. 555 Israel travelled into several countries, and wsls kindly entertained and respected wherever he came; so did, and so was cJur father. He travelled with persons of honour into France, Germany, Holland, and Scotland ; and God was ever with him, wherever he went, as he was with Israel. Some troubles and perils he met with in his journeys, as Jacob did, when Laban pursued him with one troop, and Esau met him with another. But a kind Providence was ever ready to redeem him ; and God hath always holpen his servant Israel. Israel was a shepherd, and a faithful one, that took special care of his dock, (Gen. xxxi, 40.) and great pains night and day in watching over them for twenty years together : and our Israel was a faithful shepherd, that diligently watched over the flocks that his master committed to his charge, and took extraordinary pains in feeding them for above twenty years together. Whilst he was the private pastor first of Halstead in Suffolk, and after of Waltham in Essex, he preached thrice a week in a constant course: yet, as himself witnessed, ** never durst climb up into the pulpit to preach any sermon, whereof he had not before penned evei^y word in the same order wherein he hoped to deliver it ; although in his expresssions he was no slave to syllables, neither made use of his notes'' d56 appendix. Nor did his industry either cease, or so much as abate at his preferments. He hath given the world as good an account of his time as any man in it ; as one that knew the value of time, and esteemed the loss of it more than a temporal loss, because it hath a necessary influence upon eter- nity. It is well known in this city how forward he was to preach in any of our churches, till he was first forbidden by men, and at last disabled by God. And when he could not preach himself as oft and as long as he was able, this learned Gamaliel was not content only, but very diligent to sit at the feet of the youngest of his disciples ; as dili- gent an hearer as he had been a preacher. How oft have we seen him walking alone, like old Jacob, with his stafl', to Bethel, the house of God? Israel was fruitful in children, and so was our father, and that without the polygamy of Israel ; being the husband but of one wife, a grave, virtu- ous matron, with whom he lived forty-nine years. But Israel at last wanted bread for himself and his family : I cannot say this man did so, but how near he came to it, and by what means we all know; but must not complain because he never did. He had not the kindness that Israel had in Egypt, to have any allowance for his maintenance from the lord of the country, yet he APPENDIX. 557 never wanted. He was indeed a rare mirror of patience under all his crosses, which toward his latter end were multiplied upon him. The loss of his estate he seemed insensible of, as if he had parted with all with as good content as Jacob did with a good part of his to pacify his angry brother, having well learned as well to want as to abound. I have heard him oft bewail the spoils of the church, but very rarely did he so much as mention his own losses, hut took joy fully the spoiling of his goods. When he was laid among the pots J that is, saith the Septuagint and the vulgar latin, inter cleros, yet was he as the wings of a dove coveted with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. Ps. Ixviii, 13. Of late years, and especially the last, he was sorely afflicted with bodily diseases, and bore them all with as much patience, as hath been seen in any flesh, except that of our Saviour's. We have heard of the patience of Job, but never saw a fairer copy of it, than was in this man. Israel lived to be very old, as you may read in the verse before my text, and at last grew so weak, that he was scarce able to rise up upon his bed to bless his children ; (Gen. xlviii, 2.) so was it with our father. Methinks 1 see him yet, as he was upon his bed, how he strengthened himself to confirm others that sought it, with his fatherly blessing, as Israel did the sons of Joseph ; 558 APPENDIX. and that too with the same good old ceremony which Jacob first used, namely, the laying on of his hands. His days were few and evil, in Jacob's comparative sense ; and yet many and good, for he died in a good old age, full of days, and full of good works : canus virtutibus, white with vir- tues. He came to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season. Job v, 26. He was crowned with the silver crown of age in his grey hairs, (Prov. xvi, 31.) and now is crowned with the golden crown of immortality. When his time drew nigh that he must die, he much longed for death, and was ready to bid it welcome, and spake always very kindly of it. It was an odd word of St. Francis when the physicians told him the time of death drew nigh, JBene veniat, inquit, soror Mors, welcome, my sister death. The expression of Job is not much unlike, (Job xvii, 14.) 1 have said to corruption, thou art my father; to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister : so did this good man welcome death, as if he had been toembrace a mother or a sister He took good notice of the approach of death, and set his house in order as Israel did, by dis- tributing the blessings that God had left him to his children. He endeavoured also to prepare others for that change by his last books, and last sermons that he preached, which were all upon APPENDIX. 559 the last things, Death and Judgment, Heaven and HelL Israel left his children in Egypt when he died, but with a prophetical promise of their return into Canaan : our Israel hath left us, I may not say in bondage, but in a sad condition, and left us without a prophecy, though not without his prayers for our happy return into Canaan. Well, he is gone : Non nobis ereptus sed penculis, as Ambrose said of his brother (in that most elegant oration which he made, J)e obitu fratns,) taken atvay not so much from w*, cw from the perils of i/ie times. It was some comfort to him that he lived not to see the funeral of the church, though he saw it drawing home, almost at last gasp. And if there could be as much sorrow in heaven for the perverseness of sinners, as there is joi/ at their conversion, doubtless this holy man could not yet be at rest. But Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knows us not. Isa. Ixiii, 16. And the more happy is he if he doth not, and I hope we are never the more unhappy, for whether he knows of our state or not, it is piously to be believed, he prays for us, wj oifxou, as Nazianzen said of Basil. When Israel died, the Egyptians mourned for him : (Gen. 1, 3.) and I am persuaded so do some of the worst of men for our father. 560 APPENDIX. The streights of time both for preparing and dehvering this testimony of his hfe, hath enforced me to pass over the particulars of his preferments, dignities, and honourable employments by his prince; amongst which, that to the Synod of Dort would not else have been forgotten ; especially for the great respect he had there from the foreign divines and states. And his excellent moderation shewed in those unhappy disputes, concerning which he afterward drew up such a collection of accorded truths, as was offered to be subscribed by some of the most eminent parties on both sides : which reconciliatory papers then unhappily buried, are very much to be desired, and may be hoped for in time, together with a completer account of his life written by himself. But whatever becomes of them, he was one whose moderation ivas known to all men; and his zeal for an holy peace in the church, is abundantly manifested by those writings of his, which are already extant. I cannot so much as mention all his virtues, but must not forget so great an one as that of his charity: which above and before all things, as the two great Apostles exhort,'^ he was careful to put on : besides his spiritual alms of prayers, godly * E^n TTooi, Col. iii, 14. iro^ Travlm^ 1 Pet. iv, 8. APPENDIX. 561 admonitions, comforts, and holy counsels, whereof he was very liberal. His bodily alms were constant and bountiful. In the parish where he last lived, he gave a weekly voluntary contribution of money to certain poor widows to his dyin*:^ day, over and above his imposed rates, wherein he was never spared. And as the Widow's handful of meal, and her cruise of oil did not waste by feeding the old prophet; so did this prophet's barrel that was low, and his cruise that was little, not hold out only, but seemed to increase by feeding* the widows, as appeared by that liberal addition of alms which he gave by his will to the town where he was born, and to this city where he died. If ever there were a man that could speak with the tongues of men ajid angels, he was one. But such there are who are, as Justin Martyr calls them, ou fjLEv (pi>^a-o(poiy aWia ^l^o4/o^oi, or, as the apostle saith, no better than a sounding bra^s, or a tink- ling cymbal, being without charity. But our father was one that had learned of St. Paul that same xa& vTrsf^oxr^v o^ov, (1 Cor. xii, 31.) the more excellent way of charity, which he also shewed mito others. He was one, that, as St. John exhorts, loved not in word, or in tongue only, but in deed and in truth, (iJohn iii, 18.) and shewed it plentifully upon all occasions One that had Oo 562 APPENDIX. Jacob's voice, but could never endure so much as the disguise of Esaus churlish hands. Four things are yet remaining with us below, of this heavenly saint : his children, his works, his body, and his name. First, his children. T may say of him, as St. Ambrose said of Theodo- sius the Emperor, Non totus recessit, 7'eUqtnt nobis liheros in quihus eum debemus agnoscere, et in quibus eum cernimus et tenemus, he is not all gone, he hath left us a good portion of himself behind in his sons, in whom we may yet see him, and hold him. I shall not wish any one of them the double portion of their father's spirit, but rather that they may be, as indeed they are, all co-heirs thereof, For his works, I hope with reverence I may lawfully say of them, as the Psalmist doth of God's, that the^ all praise him, because all men praise them. At least I may say, as the Spirit doth in the Apocalypse, Blessed is the dead that died in the Lord, for he resteth from his labours, and his works jollow him. Blessed is he, because his works, that is, the reward of them, follow him; and we are blessed because they are left behind him. That which Nazianzen said of Basil's works, may truly be said of this man s, etiei km TO. TrapEpya, t8 av^poq rav TTOvHfAsvuv Erepoig ttoXu ri/xiore^a xai Tre^i^acvErepa, His by-businesses, his occasional meditations, APPENDIX. 663 are more precious than the elaborate works of other men. For his body, that is already laid up in his dormitory, without the honourable ceremony of embalming, which Israel had. Gen. 1, 2. But though he wanted that, and other ceremonies of deserved honour, which his own humility and the envy of the times denied him, yet doth he not want that which the wise man saith is better than a precious oil or ointment, (Eccles. vii, 1.) namely, a good name. For I may say of this man's name, as the spouse speaks of the name of her beloved, that it is an ointment poured forth. Cant, i, 3. An ointment that carrieth with it all the excellencies of a precious oil ; that is, besides the rich ingredients wherewith it is substantially compounded; these three accidental qualities too, of a fragrant and far-spreading odor or scent, the gentle and pleasing Icevor or smoothness, the bright shining nitor or lustre. My task at this time hath been to break a small box of ointment to pour upon his feet; and I hope there is no body will accuse me of any waste, either of my time or my oil ; especially considering both were little. If there should be any murmurers, I hope to find them that will excuse me with this apology, saying, / have done a good work upon him, I have done what I could, and done it for his burial, Mark xiv, 8 ; Matt. () o 2 664 APPENDIX. xxvi, 10, 12. And sure we do all well to help to embalm his name, especially since we may do it at his own cost, for he hath provided the spices in his life. When he lived, his lips dropped myrrh, and his pen the oil of calamus and cinna- mon; the smell whereof hath filled the house of God with such perfume, as I hope this age, as ill-scented as it is, will never wear out. His life was so well acted, as, had not his modesty forbidden it, he might have taken his leave of the world, as Augustus did, with Valete et plaudite, farewell, and speak well of me. He is now silent, and so must I be, for the time will not allow me to protract my speech. An angel from heaven hath translated the soul of this angel of the church, and placed it among the twenty -four elders, which St. John saw about the throne of God, (Rev. iv, 4.) which good inter- preters have taken to be a type of the twenty- four chief priests under the law, and of their analogical successors, the bishops of the christian church, attired with a tvhite robe of glory, instead of his earthly rochet ; and instead of his crosier, he hath a branch of the peaceful and victorious palm put into his hands ; and for his mitre, which fell with the royal crown, (when the time was come that his old master's prophecy was to be fulfilled, No Bishop, no King,) he hath a crown of glory set upon his head. A Pisgah sight he APPENDIX. 565 often had of this heavenly Canaan, when he was upon his mount of contemplation ; but now he is gotten up to the top of the ladder, and seeth the face of God indeed in the true Peniel, Methinks now I l^ear some of you say with Balaam, O that I might die the death of the righteous J and that my latter end might be like his! I shall tell you, in a few words, how that may, and I have done. Follow the steps of his holy life, and the instructions of his godly books ; learn of Israel and of this parallel father, to prize the spiritual birthright, above any present fleshly enjoyments, and to wrestle with God for it in prayer : medi« tate much and often of heaven and heavenly things, as he did ; imitate him in his holy vows, and be careful to pay them: follow, J say, the steps of his faith and charity, and you cannot miss of such an end : For as many as walk according to this rule, peace shall be upon them, and upon th0 Israel of God. Amen. 566 APPENDIX. EPITAPH ON THE MONUMENT OF MR. HENRY BRIGHT, IN WORCESTER CATHEDRAL, Composed by Doctor Jos. Hall, then Dean of Worcester. * Mane, Hospes, & lege. Magister Henricus Bright, celeberrimus Gymnasiarcha, qui Scholae Regiae istic fundatae per totos Qudraginta Aonos summ^ cum laude prsefuit : Quo non alter magis sedulus fuit scitusve aut dexter in Latinis, Graecis, Hebraicis, Literis feliciter edocendis : Teste utraque Academia, quam instruxit affatim numerosa pube literarid : Sed et totidem annis eoque amplius Theologiam professus, et hujus Ecclesiae per septemnium Canonicus major, Ssepissime bic & alibi sacrum Dei Praeconem magno cum zelo & fructu egit : Vir pius, doctus, integer, frugi, de Republic^ deque Ecclesi^ optim^ meritus, k laboribas perdiu pernoctuque ab anno 1562 ad 1626, strenu^ usque extant latis, 4to Martii suaviter requievit in Domino. * See Fuller's Worthies of England in Worcestershire. ANGELUS E CGELO AD ANGELUM ECCLESI^E N. AD CCELUM TRANSEUNTEM. Ave Pater Sancte, Pro«>-inetric». Gratis dilecte, gratis jam plene, Dorainns tecum, tiiq ; cum Domino, Semper fuit, semper es futurus. Benedictus tu inter viros, inter angelos. En age, ociils banc uostram ascendas alam, Simulq; ascendamus banc scalam H^avoKXi/xaKa : Quin et properare jussit expectans Dominus, Idemq; cupiunt conservi omnes, Gestieutes videre, aventes exosculari. Uterq; te manet gratulabundus Adamus Et qui perdidit, et qui servavit* Jamjam aperuit sinum, Fidus Fidorum Pater Abraham : Bracbiisq ; extensis adstat Parallelus Israel, Cum cbarissimo filio cognomine Josepho. Fratresq; omnes in amplexum ruituri. lu A»cen«o. Quid moraris, quid miraris Lumina baec pervia ? Quid Lunam argenteam uoctis reginamf Quid aureum solem diei regem? In sidera enrantia quid errant oculi ? In fixa quid iigis Lumina? Quorsum (post solem) duodena signa pervagaris? Non est boc veri nominis, nee numinis Ceelum Non baec aula Jovis * A^irofAsyirH : Sed ejusdem camerata cella. 568 APPENDIX. Nec sunt haec lumina ver^ coelestia Sed umbra luminum super-ccelestium. Attolle oculos, aspice justitiee solem, Suo jam culminantem Fixo aeternoq. meridie. Hujusq; radiis g\onk plenam, Formosam lunam ver^ lucinam, Scilicet quae peperit lucem parentem. Ecce Patriarcharum bis sena signa Totidemq; Apostolorum antitypum Senatum. Ecce Saturnum grandaevum Adamum : Jovemq ,- iegiferum Mosen : Martemj bellicosum Josuam : , Eliam, Mercurium, post ccelica peracta jussa Ad coeltjm impigre revolantem. Ecce Hesperum solis praecursorem Johannem Baptistam. Ecce Pleiades Empyreos, Septem Fratres, stellas Asiaticas : Ecce agmina minorum syderum, Variantis magnitudinis. Omnia libi lucem praebent Venture Adjunge latus debito choro, Auge destinatam constellationem, Sed primum, coeli amicus, induas amictum coelestem. Hanc scilicet gloriae albam, Pro terre^ direpta pall^ ; lUam victricem palmam. Pro extorto pastorali pedo : Istam coronam sideream. Pro tenui decussa cydari. Vide Arborem vitae de qu^ toties legisti, Hujus nunc fructum legas, Et aeteruum vivas. J.W. M.A. UPON THE MUCHLAMENTED DEATH OF THE REV. FATHER JOSEPH, LATE LORD BISHOP OF NORWICH. Our Father dead? can any dumb-born sou Forbear to cry, Die, and we are undone ? Ah ! could our cries his flying ghost recall, 'T had soon returned to its wonted stall : But since From hence It must ; blow high our deep-fetch'd sighs, and land This high-priz'd treasure on the heav'nly strand. That's all we can, for without his own skill Of tongue and /ancy, can*t the briskest quill His worth Set forth. Yet cry we must, and though in uncouth tones. And dreary accents of confused groans. Tell the mis-deeming world — What rich embroidery of wit and grace, like sparkling diamonds set in golden case. Like the pure white and red, in beauty's cheek, "With sweet contention that precedence seek, Possest That breast. How sweet a dresse of smiling gravity Sate on that reverend brow ; now solidly Fraughted with Gospel treasure at its home, That soul's arriv'd like ship from Indies come. See in that mind a land-skip of all graces Pourtray'd to life, rank'd in their proper places. 570 APPENDIX. Here love and peace imbrace, there meekness, sanctity Below at distance sits humility; See yonder charity, with arms expanded, With tender bowels open-handed ; There patience stoops, and bends her shoulders low To bear that load the unworthy world will throw On wronged innocence. Then tap'ring to the sky You'l see pure zeal, devotion, piety. All these unfucus'd, candid, and serene ; Not like the modern garb, to serve the scene Of ends and interests ; mere pageantry, To gull such souls as see with half an eye. Such stales of vertue's, but a saint-like cheat, Glasse to his chrystal, glowworms to his heat. Was ever soul ravish'd in meditation. Wound up on high in contemplation Divine, Like thine? Such know the beating of thy pulse whose traffick Was wholly so cherubick and seraphick, That it evince, 'tis not hceretical To say, angels may he corporeal. His holy life, a silent check to all The rout of vices, was : his pen the maul Of sects And smects. His name did more perfume the church, than gum Of Stacte, Onycha, and Galhanum Did Moses'' sacred tent ; and certainly Whilst Hall's remembered, Bishop cannot die* And that will be, till books shall be calcin'd. With the elements above ; and all refin'd. At the last conflagration Learned Armagh * to honour this his day. His Usher was, and heaven-ward led the way. When aged Durham f shall remove his station. How great, how glorious a Constellation • Abp. Usher. t Bp, Morton. APPENDIX. 571 In th' orh empyreal will they make, those three That will outshiue the radiant Cassiopee, But stay: these blundering lines do wrong the blest. Let Yare and Isca murmur out the rest : Only our dropping tears shall never stint. Till on his marble they these words imprint : Maxigre the peevish world's complaint. Here lies a Bishop and a saint. Whom Ashby *hredy and Granta nurs'd Whom Halsted, and old Waltham first To rouz the stupid world from sloth, Heard thund'ring with a golden mouth, Whom Wor'ster next did dignifiey And honoured with her Deanry : Whom Exon lent a mitred wreath^ And Norwish, where he ceas'd to breath. These all with one joint voice do cry. Death's vain attempt, what doth it mean? My Son, my Pupil, Pastor, Dean, My rev'rend Father, cannot die. Deflevit H.N. b.d. • de-la-zouch. IN OBITUM AMPLISSIMI PATRIS J. H. EPISCOPI NORVICENSIS, lAMBX RECTI. Indulte coeli tarn benigno munere, Quantis tuorum luctibus refers pedem, Facunde Praesul ! quo domante multiceps Pecu, profanas ordini intentans sacro Lat^ ruinas, coDcidit; quo vindice, Census secundi Flamen anctus inful^ Nondum superbit ; siquibus distinguere Humana brutis arma jam cordi fiet ; Mentisq ; doctae si tropsea viribus Nequam protervis praeferant. Olim tuos Sensit lacertos factio Brownistica: Antistes ille septicolli culmine, Superbus olim sensit. Ut tan turn cluat Sagata virtus, neutiquam toga minor Tncedis, hinc te duplicis serti decus, Oliva, laurus, glorid pari beat. Tricisque praepedita conscientia Qu^m dexter adsis perpetim fatebitur, Qu^m luculentd nubilam ducas fide, Cujusq; scripti quse venusta luminal Qualesque nervi! cuncta quam normaliter Concinna, queis sunt attributa partibus ! Pi^q ; suavitate quem non detinent ! Sed quae Camaena, dulcibus fastigiis Dignanda coeli, pergat exiles domos Rectoris alti, spiritus et accolas Referre tecum ? quando pene libera Mens jam senilis corticem perrumpere. APPENDIX. 573 Coepit catastae, et limpido vesci aRthere, O quanta pomis indidem mysteria! At vita qualis sanctitatis ! qu^m pii Foecunda amoris! qu4mq; nuUis seculi Exulcerata cladibus, quas ordine ♦ LoDgo furentes, miles infractus pati! Loetisque possis impiger cervicibus. Partes in omnes qui volet te prosequi Laudum canenti quanta cresceret seges! Sed nos Gaienus. Instantibus amicis extempore profudit, J.W. M.D.C.L. To MASTER JOSUAH SYLVESTER, OF HIS BARTAS N METAPHRASED. I DARE confess, of muses more than nine. Nor list, nor can I envy none but thine. She, drencht alone in Sion's sacred spring Her Maker's praise hath sweetly chose to sing. And reacheth nearest th' angel's notes above ; Nor lists to sing or tales or wars or love. One while I find her, in her nimble flight. Cutting the brazen spheres of heaven bright : Thence, straight she glides, before I be aware Through the three regions of the liquid air : Thence rushing downe, through Nature's closet door, She ransacks all her grandame's secret store ; And diving to the darkness of the deep, Sees there what wealth the waves in prison keep ; And, what she sees above, below, between. She shows and sings to others ears and eyne. 'Tis true, thy muse another's steps doth press The more's her pain, nor is her praise the less. Freedom gives scope unto the roving thought ; Which, by restraint, is curb'd. Who wonders aught. That feet unfettered, walken far, or fast? Which, pent with chains, mote want their wonted haste. Thou followest Bartasses diviner streine ; And singst his numbers in his native vein. Bartas was some french angel, girt with bayes And thou, a Bartas art, in English lays. Whether is more ! me seems (the sooth to sayn) One Bartas speaks in tongues, — in nations twain. JOS. HALL. INDEX. ACT for th« propagation of religion in Wales, 302. Apprentices, ot London, their petition against the church, 214, 271, 272. Armtff insisting on toleration, 339 taking the sovereign power into their own hands, 349. Remonstrance of, ibid. Secure the person of the king in Huist castle, 350. Shut out tlie presbyterian members from parliament, determine to impeach the king, t6. Asaemhly ef DinneSj 309. prohibited by the king. ib. forsaken by the episcopal divines, 310. manage church matters, 313. BagshaWy 167. Burebone's parliament, 3G6. their intended reformation, 367. described by Clarendon, ib. dissolve themselves, 369. Barton, 148, 149, 193. Bastwickj ib. Billy to exclude ecclesiastics from civil employments, 221. Clarendon's remarks upon it, ib. His majesty's opinion of it, 223. passed the commons, ib. opposed and thrown out in the house of lords, 224. Bishop Hall's speech on the occa^^ion, 224-230. Bill, for abolishing deans and chapters, 233. for the extirpation of epis- copacy, 230. opposed, 231. read a second time, ib. Clarendon's manoeuvre respecting it, 232. — For taking away the bishops' votes, passed, 282. opposed by the Bishop of Rochester and the Earl of Bedford, ib. obtained the royal assent, 285. —To continue parliament, 242. to abolish the high commission, and the star chamber, 243. for the abolition of episcopacy. 308, 309, 329. Bishops, many of them disposed to remove offensive innovations, 217. Their cares and anxieties, 121, note. Their protestation, 275—277. Their pZ^a and t/ewurrcr, 247, 270. Their houses threatened to be pulled down, 274. determine not to quit the parliament, t^. Twelve protest- ing impeached, 279. entreated to relinquish their right of voting, 282. Twelve protesting petition for council, 291. Their trial, ib. 292. are released, 293. when prisoners in the lower, preach every Sunday, 294. Blundel, Peter, 15. Book of Sports, 72. repubUshed, 131. Copy of, 131-138. bad effects of it, 138-142. refused to be read by many of the clergy, 139. the cause of much trouble to them, 139, 140. not mentioned in the Works of Bishop Hall, 143. Broicn, Robert, some account of, 48,49. Brownufts, 48, 49, 50. Burnet, Bishop, quoted, 333. 568 INDEX. Cambridge^ university of, purified by the parliament, 314. Canonsy subscribed, 174. published, 175. Abstract of them, 175--180. generally disliked, 180, 181. Re&olutions of the commons against them, 188, 189. Speech of Bishop Hall in their defence, 248-253. against papists and socinians, 171. Catechizing^ recommended, 123, 124. Cathedrals and Churches^ devastated, 316. Commissioners for defacing the ornaments, «&c. of churches, 198. Committee of Accommodation, 234, 235. Fuller's opinion of, 236. Committees for religion and grievances, 169, 187, 188. Communion tables^ disputes about, 146, 147. CommonSf their reasons against the bishops' votes, 287—289. Commonwealth established, 352. Complaints against the bishops, 196. Corporation of the sons of the clergy, 383. CosinSf Dr. the first sufferer, 194. Convocation, continued after dissolution of parliament, 172. Disturbance in consequence, 173. Charles I, a blemish in his character, 140, 141. Charles II, crowned in Scotland, 363. Chaderton, Dr. 12. Chomley, Mr. H. 9. Church ales, what, 129, note. Church, destruction of, intended, 200, 210, 211, 237, 245, 270, 817. troubled by controver.sie«, 107. managed by the assembly of divines, 313. Clamour against the clergy, 196. Cullum, Sir John's, History of Hawsted and Hardwick, 17, note. Clergy, their sufferings, 314. their number no less than two thousand, ib. 315. Connived at in the exercise of their ministry, 371. Clarendon, Lord, his observations on the mode of getting up petitions, 196, 211, 212. Clerk ales, what, 129, note. Cromwell, Oliver, near being seized by the presbyterians, 339. saying of his, 340. his cruel oppression of the loyal clergy, 380, wo^f?. Anec- dote ef, 382. turning the parliament out of doors, 365. dissolving another, 374. Cross, St. Paul's, description of, by Dr. Walker; and Cross in Cheapside, demolished, 198. Denhatn, Baron, 129, 130. Deering, Sir Edward, his speech on the delivery of the bill for extirpating episcopacy, 230, 231. Differences, arising between the presbyterians and independents, 321. Directory, for public worship, 323. Disorder of church and state, 337. pathetically deplored by Bishop Hall, ib. Disputes, religious, in Holland, 74. ' Disturbances, in London and in the country, 170. on presenting petitions, 272. Divine Service, disturbed by the rabble, 197. Divisions in religion, evil of, 354, 355, 358. Drury, account of the family of the, 17, note. DuGDALE, quoted, 271. Doddridge, Dr. 5, note, 442. Dort, Synod of, 74-92. INDEX. 577 J^ngagementj appointed, 352, 368. English Divines, deputed to the Synod of Dort. receive instructions from the king, 75. 76. Their opinions, 90, 92. Enthusiasts J springing up, 320, 321. Episcopacy, divine right of, 153—107. Attempt uf establishing in Scot* land, 152, 153. abolished by the Scots' assembly, ib. abolished in England, 371. Erasiians, described, 318. Falkland, Lord, his character by Clarendon, 216. Featley, Dr. imprisoned for his attachment to e|;iscopacy, 311. Form of prayer in use in the Jewish and Christian church, 207. fox, George, 363. Fifths, 314, 316. Fuller, his remarks on Bishop Hall's Letter respecting the Synod of Dort, 83. his mention of Bishop Hall's Catechism, 123, note. A mistake of his, 280. Flattery, instance of, 99, 100. GangTtfTw, of Edwards, 337, «o/e. Gt76y, Mr. Anthony, 4. Government of the church interrupted for eighteen years, S09, 317, 820. Godwin, de Pre.suiibus, 425. Goodwin, John, his Redemption Redeemed, 80. his ui]UU8t inBinuatioos respecting the Synod of Dort, refuted, 80, 81, 82. Greenham, anecdote of, 22, 23. Great Gransden, 1 46, note. Granger, quoted, 149. GrimstonCj Sir Harbottle, moves the impeachment of Land, 190. Hacket, Dr. defends the clergy, 232, 233. Hall, Bishop, specialities of divine providence in his life, 2. Time and place of his birth, ib. His parents, ih. 3. placed at school, 6. enters at Cambridge, 6. elected scholar of Emmanuel college, 10. elected fellow, 12. appointed professor of rhetoiic, 13. His intense study, ib. 426—430. Anecdote of, by Fuller, ib. note, enters into holy orders, 14. Appointed to the rectory of Halstead. 16. Opposed by Lilly, 18. Marries, 20. his children, account of, 20, 21. Anecdote of his family, 21,22. Accompanies Sir Edm. Bacon to the Spa, 23. disputes with Costerus, 25, 26, 33. Writes his second century of meditations, 28. disputes with a Carmelite prior, ib. returns to England, 30. his travels, account of, in an epistle, 31-40. declines the preachership of St. Edm. Bury, 41. preaches at Richmond, 42. resolves to leave Halstead, 43. presented to the living of Wallham by Lord Derry, 44. His reluctance to leave Halstead, 44-17. was an instrument in influencing Tho. Sutton, to establish the charter house, ib. Writes against the Brownists, 48. His letter to Smith and Robinson, 50-55. Decline.H constant residence at court, 67. His sermon on the death of Prince Henry, 58. is appointed to a prebend of Wolverhampton, 60. recovers the patrimony of that collegiatg church, 61-64. relinquishes his Wolverhampton prebend, i6. Ac companies Lord Doncastei abroad, ib. is collated to the deanery o^ Worcester, 66. Attends the king to Scotland. 67. Writes to Mr^ Struthers, 68. nrges not the reading of the Book of Sports, 72. goes* P p 578 INDEX. to the Synod of Dort, 75. His letter to Fuller respecting the Synod* 80, 83. returns from the Synod, ih. is presented by the S\nod with a gold medal, 86. preaches before the Synod, 87. quotations from his sermon, i^. His latin speech before the Synod, 88-90. draws up his Via Media, 92, 93, 108, 109. asserts the outward visibility of the church of Rome, 95,117,118,121. His sermon before the king, quoted, 98,99. preaches in latin at the convocation, 104. His sermon translated by his son Robert, 105. prearhes at the reo[)eninaj of the re-edified chapel of St. John's, Clerkenwell, ib. His moderation with respect to the five points, 108. is raised to the See of Exeter, 112. is charged with Puritanism, 113, 125, 165. —Reclaims his factious clergy, 1 13. is charged with too much indulgence ofleclures, 114, 125,127. —is opposed in his nomination of the clerks of the convocation, 115. is translated to Norwich, ib. His mind pourtrayed, 121. His Cate- chism, 123, note, recommends catechizing, 123, 124. was a diligent preacher, 127. His ctreat moderation, 128, 148, 184 His Divine Right of Episcopacy, 153. revised by Laud, 154. altered con- trary to his own mind, 161, 163. Quotations from, 165,167. was the most celebrated writer in defencr of the church, 165. His speech in parliament in behalf of the church, 200--204, His '* Humble Remonstrance," 205. His controversy with Smectymnuus, 205—209. His sentiments upon extemporary prayer, 207—209. His speech in parliament upon the bill to exclude all ecclesiastics from civil employ- ments, 224--230. retires to Exeter, preaches in the cathedral, remarks on his sermon, 258—261. Extract from his sermon, ib. His sermon in the tower, 294. His letter from the tower, 296. His state of mind described when a prisoner, 295-303. retires to Norwich, 304. preaches in the cathedral, ib. His curious account of the enthusiasts of his time. 321, 322. His *' Modest offer of some considerations to the Prolocutor of the Assembly of Divines," 320. His Hard Measure, 386—409. His persecution in his old age, 409. His patience, 414, 418. driven out of his palace, 415. retires to Heigham, iA. His house now a public house, ib. spent the remainder of his days in doing good, and in devotion, 416, 417. preaches in his 80th year, ib. a striking passage from his sermon, ib. His charity, 417, 418. His weekly fast, ib. foretels the night of his death, ib. His death, ib. dislike of burials in churches, ib. buried in the chancel of Heighara church, 419. His will, extract from, 418, note. Inscription on his tomb-stone, 419. His mural monument described, 420, His character, 425—432. his writings, i6. His mode of spending each day, 426-430. His Satires, character of, 433-438. His intention of making a metri- cal version of the Psalms, 438, 439. His prose works, character of, by Sir H.Wotton, Fuller, Hervey, and Dr. Doddridge, 439-443. His Sermons, 443. His Contemplations and Meditations, 442-444. His other pieces, 446-448. Hall, Mrs. 20. Her death, 420. buried in Heigham church, ib. Inscription on her tomb stone, 421. Hall, Dr. Robert, 21, 371. Hall, Dr. George, 21, 371. preaches before the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, 383. Extract from his sermon, 384, 385. Harris, his character of Archbishop Usher, 383. Henry, Prince, his death and character, 68. Heylin, Dr. quoted, 233. High Commission Court, account of, 243. INDEX. 579 House of LordSy voted useless, 851. Hervey, Rev. James, 441. Hornef Bishop, his sermon on King Charles I. 351, noie. Impeachment of thirteen b'lshopSy 246. their names, il>. Independejtts, account of, 319. Instruine)U of govenitnenty 369. Inttructions ol the king to the divines sent to the Synod of Dort. 75-77. Inmtrection in Ireland, 203. Interregnum in the church, 320. Jambs I. his death, 98. his funeral sermon, 100-104. John, St. ehapel> Clerkenwell, account of, 105, note. Kennet, Bishop, his testimony to the liberality of Cromwell, 372. King, (Charles I.) his speech, 168. his journey to Scotland, 255. His attachment to the church, 261, 363, 268, 269. collates bishops to the vacant Sees, and translates others, 261, 262. impeaclies five members of the commons, 289. a wrong step, 290. sets up his standard at Nottingham, 291. retires to York, 305. is persuaded to give his assent to the bill for taking away the bishops' votes, 285. sad enects of it, ib. 286, 287. delivers himself up to the Scots, 332. disputes with Hen- derson, 333. is given up to the parliament, 334. is conveyed to Holmby house, 338. is taken by force to the army at Newmarket, 340. escapes, 341. secured in Carisbrook castle, ib. conveyed to Hurst castle, 350. is murdered, 351. Kirk discipline advanced into a divine right, 238. Lambeth palace attacked by the mob, 169. Lands of bishops, deans, and chapters, sold, 360. amount of the money, 361, note. Latin sei'mon of Bishop Hall before ttie Synod of Dort, in Appendix, 476. Laud, Archbishop, patronises Monta^^ue, 97. disapproves of lectures, 126. His intolerancy, 126. Chief promoter of the Book of Sports, 131, 139. Voted to the Tower, 191. His catastrophe, 326, S62. His character, 326, 327. His munificence, 328. Lecturers, disaffected, appointed, 257. Leighton, Dr. Alex. 194. Letter of Bishop Hall to Fuller about the Synod of Dort, 80-83. Letters of Bisliop Hall to Archbishop Usher, in Appendix, 461. Lilly, opponent of Bishop Hall, account of, 18, note. Liturgy, abased, 196. Debates about in parUament, 256. disused, 323. king's proclamation for its continuance, 324. Long parliament, 186. ManVs, Dr. Bible, 413. Maternal instmction, benefit of, 5, note. Milton, employed to write in defence of commonwealth, 359. Minister's petition, 213, 220. Montague's New Gap, 6cc. 96. his appeal, 97. his writings examined before parUament, 106. Neal, an invidious remark of his, 263. a probable mistake of his, 272. another, 280. 580 INDEX. Negative Oath^ 414, note. Newport, treaty'of, 345, 349. Oath at the Synod of Dort, 79, 81. in 6th Canon, explained by Bishop Hall, 181. Difficulties of enforcing it, 182. Petitions against it, 183. Synodical, Bishop Hall's moderation respecting it, 184. Officers of the Army, preach, 336. Opinions, false, multiplied, 354, 355. Bishop Hall's remarks upon, ib. Ordinance, most cruel, of parliament, against sects and heretics, 344, 345. Osbaldestori, 151. Oxford, visitation of, by the disloyalists, 344. Pamphlets, seditious and scurrilous against the church, 200. Papists, their opinions and wfshes respectiag Bishop Hall's writings in defence of episcopacy, 210, note, proceeded against, 238, 239. Parliament, long, strictly urged the due observance of the sabbath, 145. sitting on a Sunday, 254. Their declaration for the reformation of government and liturgy, 305, 306. Parties, in religion and politics, a warning to future ages, 308. Pearson, bishop, 372. Petitions, 188. described by Dugdale, ih. note. Of " the city dames" against the bishops' votes, 271. Of the porters of London, against episcopacy, 214. Of the apprentices, 214, 271, 272. Root and Branch, 213. in favour of the church, 213. rejected, 214. Their substance, 218, 220, 283. Of the snifering clergy to the king, 342. His Majesty's reply, ib to Sir Thomas Fairfax, ib. Of the presbyterian, ministers against the loyal clergy, 343. Petitionary remonstrance of the loyal clergy to Cromwell, 381. Popery, gaining ground, 96. Porters, of London, petition against episcopacy, as too heavy a load, 214. Pratt's, Rev. Josiah, edition of Bishop Hall's Works, 448. Prayer, extemporary, 207-209. Press, placed under the direction of parliament, 361. Presbyterianism, its oppression, 324. the established religion, 375. Presbyterian model, adopted, 318. advanced into jus divinum, ib. ministers refuse the engagement, 359. Presbyterians, suffering of the, from the independents, 353. Protestation, entered upon, 239. disapproved by Earl of Southampton and Lord Roberts, 240. Bill to compel all to subscribe it, ib. re- jected by the peers, ib. Of the bishops, 276. presented to the king, 278. its irregularity, ib. 280. Prynne, Wm. his Histriomastix, 147, 148, 149, 193. Piilpits, sounding with faction, and fanaticism, 198. Puritans, their intemperate practices, 147. many of them tools of par- liament, 199. Puritanism, described, 449—458. Pym, Mr. 239, 273. Quakers, their origin, 362, 363. Rapin, an error of his, 237. Religion, unsettled state of, 257, 354, 356. Bishop Hall's remarks, ib. Remonstrance, of the stale of the nation, 264,265. His Majesty's reply, 266-268. Repartee, of Grimstone and Selden, 217, note. Richardson, Lord Ciii«f Justice, 129, 130. INDEX. 581 Root and Branch petition, 212. 214. Rump Parliament, 353, itote. Sabbath, morality of, controverted, 144. Sandeison, Ur. rciuaiks upon the oath in 6th canon, 182. Sects, springing up, 37. increasing, 98. Scott'sj Rev. Tliomas, Bible, 413. Scots y aid of, called in, 317. SmectymnuuSf reply to " Humble Remonstrance/' 205. Smithy the Brownisl, extravagant notions of, 55. Solemn league and covenant, 311. mode of taking it, described by Dr. Walker, 312. King's proclamation against it, 313. tendered to the University of Cambridge, 314. to the kins;, 333. to Oxford, 344. Songs in the Night, occasioned by the death of Mrs. Hall, extract from, 421-424. Spalato, Archbishop of, 63. Speeches, of Lords Digby and Falkland, 216. Steward, Dr. 170. Suffciings, extreme, of the clergy, 353, 377, 378. Dr. Walker's remarks upon, 379, 380. Neal and Harris' remarks, ib. Sunday, profaned by revels and royal masquerade, 141. Spoj-ts, see under Book of, remarks upon, 71, 73. Strafford, Earl of, impeached, 241. beheaded, 242. Star chamber, description of, 244, note. Sterne, his plagiarisms, 448. Sutton, Thomas, Esq. 47. Struihers, Mr. 68. Synod of Dort, 78-90. Titer ton, school, 15. Toleration, to all heresies, errors, &c. 370. denied to popery and prelacy, ib. Travels of Bishop Hall, account of, 31, 40. Triers, 375. Turner, Dr. his sermon before convocation, 170. ITsA^, Archbishop, expelled from the Assembly of Divines for his loyalty, 311. endeavours to prevail on Cromwell to relent his cruel oppression of the clergy, 381. succeeds not. very much hurt at Cromwell's con- duct, 382. Uxbridge, treaty of, 329. Via Media, 92, 93, 108, 109, 111. IValtham, church of, account of, 44. War, with Scotland, 168, 184, 185. civil begin, .307. Warminstre, his motion against the canons, 191. Warner, Dr. quoted, 196. Williams, Dr. Archbishop of York, ill treated by Laud, 150. his funeral sermon on James I. 100-114. Attacking one of the rabble, 274. Wren, Dr. Matthew, 194, 195. Wilks' Christian Essays, quoted, 367. Winniffe, Miss, afterwards Mrs. Hall, 20. Mr. George, ib. WhitefooVs funeral sermon on Bishop Hall, in Appendix. Woi'cester, battle of, 364. Walton, Sir H. 439. ERRATA. Page 193, line 11 from the top, for " manifests," read manifested. 217, note, for '< Seldon/' read Selden. i^rinted by J. SEELEY, Buckingbam. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. NOV 2 1965 8 2 i¥J CTACKS , DCT 1 9 a9D' ) REC'D LD JAN23'66-6PII ! ^^isiS^m^'m Uni^,^£oJigrnia yct4 40(4 "x ^\ V" J J^ ^O"' ., ^%^^ t\. V ^