powerful part of the army--had taken the King from a close to a
more large imprisonment; and, by their own pretences to liberty of
conscience, were obliged to allow somewhat of that to the King,
who had, in the year 1646, sent for Dr. Sanderson, Dr. Hammond, Dr.
Sheldon,--the late Archbishop of Canterbury,--and Dr. Morley,--the now
Bishop of Winchester,--to attend him, in order to advise with them,
how far he might with a good conscience comply with the proposals of
the Parliament for a peace in Church and State: but these, having been
then denied him by the Presbyterian Parliament, were now allowed
him by those in present power. And as those other Divines, so Dr.
Sanderson gave his attendance on his Majesty also in the Isle of
Wight, preached there before him, and had in that attendance many,
both public and private, conferences with him, to his Majesty's great
satisfaction. At which time he desired Dr. Sanderson, that, being the
Parliament had proposed to him the abolishing of Episcopal Government
in the Church, as inconsistent with Monarchy, that he would consider
of it; and declare his judgment. He undertook to do so, and did it;
but it might not be printed till our King's happy Restoration, and
then it was. And at Dr. Sanderson's taking his leave of his Majesty in
his last attendance on him, the King requested him to betake himself
to the writing Cases of Conscience for the good of posterity. To which
his answer was, "That he was now grown old, and unfit to write Cases
of Conscience." But the King was so bold with him as to say, "It was
the simplest answer he ever heard from Dr. Sanderson; for no young man
was fit to be a judge, or write Cases of Conscience." And let me here
take occasion to tell the Reader this truth, not commonly known;
that in one of these conferences this conscientious King told Dr.
Sanderson, or one of them that then waited with him, "that the
remembrance of two errors did much afflict him; which were, his assent
to the Earl of Strafford's death, and the abolishing Episcopacy in
Scotland; and that if God ever restored him to be in a peaceable
possession of his Crown, he would demonstrate his repentance by a
public confession, and a voluntary penance,"--I think barefoot--from
the Tower of London, or Whitehall, to St. Paul's Church, and desire
the people to intercede with God for his pardon. I am sure one of them
that told it me lives still, and will witness it. And it ought to
be observed, that Dr. Sanderson's Lectures _de Juramento_ were so
approved and valued by the King, that in this time of his imprisonment
and solitude he translated them into exact English; desiring Dr.
Juxon,[18]--then Bishop of London,--Dr. Hammond, and Sir Thomas
Herbert,[19] who then attended him,--to compare them with the
original. The last still lives, and has declared it, with some other
of that King's excellencies, in a letter under his own hand, which was
lately shewed me by Sir William Dugdale, King at Arms. The book was
designed to be put into the King's Library at St. James's; but, I
doubt, not now to be found there. I thought the honour of the Author
and the Translator to be both so much concerned in this relation, that
it ought not to be concealed from the Reader, and 'tis therefore here
inserted.
[Sidenote: Expelled from Oxford]
I now return to Dr. Sanderson in the Chair in Oxford; where they that
complied not in taking the Covenant, Negative Oath, and Parliament
Ordinance for Church-discipline and worship, were under a sad and
daily apprehension of expulsion: for the Visitors were daily expected,
and both City and University full of soldiers, and a party of
Presbyterian Divines, that were as greedy and ready to possess, as the
ignorant and ill-natured Visitors were to eject the Dissenters out of
their Colleges and livelihoods: but, notwithstanding, Dr. Sanderson
did still continue to read his Lecture, and did, to the very faces of
those Presbyterian Divines and soldiers, read with so much reason, and
with a calm fortitude make such applications, as, if they were not,
they ought to have been ashamed, and begged pardon of God and him,
and forborne to do what followed. But these thriving sinners were
hardened; and, as the Visitors expelled the Orthodox, they, without
scruple or shame, possessed themselves of their Colleges; so that,
with the rest, Dr. Sanderson was in June, 1648, forced to pack up and
be gone, and thank God he was not imprisoned, as Dr. Sheldon, and Dr.
Hammond, and others then were.
[Sidenote: Dr. Morley]
[Sidenote: His fortitude]
I must now again look back to Oxford, and tell my Reader, that the
year before this expulsion, when the University had denied this
subscription, and apprehended the danger of that visitation which
followed, they sent Dr. Morley, then Canon of Christ Church,--now
Lord Bishop of Winchester,--and others, to petition the Parliament for
recalling the injunction, or a mitigation of it, or accept of their
reasons why they could not take the Oaths enjoined them; and the
petition was by Parliament referred to a committee to hear and report
the reasons to the House, and a day set for hearing them. This done,
Dr. Morley and the rest went to inform and fee Counsel, to plead their
cause on the day appointed; but there had been so many committed
for pleading, that none durst undertake it; for at this time the
privileges of that Parliament were become a _Noli me tangere_, as
sacred and useful to them, as traditions ever were, or are now, to the
Church of Rome; their number must never be known, and therefore not
without danger to be meddled with. For which reason Dr. Morley was
forced, for want of Counsel, to plead the University's Reasons for
non-compliance with the Parliament's injunctions: and though this was
done with great reason, and a boldness equal to the justice of his
cause; yet the effect of it was, but that he and the rest appearing
with him were so fortunate as to return to Oxford without commitment.
This was some few days before the Visitors and more soldiers were sent
down to drive the Dissenters out of the University. And one that
was, at this time of Dr. Morley's pleading, a powerful man in
the Parliament,[20] and of that committee, observing Dr. Morley's
behaviour and reason, and inquiring of him and hearing a good report
of his morals, was therefore willing to afford him a peculiar favour;
and, that he might express it, sent for me that relate this story, and
knew Dr. Morley well, and told me, "he had such a love for Dr. Morley,
that knowing he would not take the Oaths, and must therefore be
ejected his College, and leave Oxford; he desired I would therefore
write to him to ride out of Oxford, when the Visitors came into it,
and not return till they left it, and he should be sure then to
return in safety; and that he should, without taking any Oath or other
molestation, enjoy his Canon's place in his College." I did receive
this intended kindness with a sudden gladness, because I was sure
the party had a power, and as sure he meant to perform it, and did
therefore write the Doctor word: and his answer was, that I must
not fail to return my friend,--who still lives,--his humble and
undissembled thanks, though he could not accept of his intended
kindness; for when the Dean, Dr. Gardner, Dr. Paine, Dr. Hammond, Dr.
Sanderson and all the rest of the College were turned out, except Dr.
Wall,[21] he should take it to be, if not a sin, yet a shame, to be
left behind with him only. Dr. Wall I knew, and will speak nothing of
him, for he is dead.
[Sidenote: Matters in London]
It may easily be imagined, with what a joyful willingness these
self-loving reformers took possession of all vacant preferments, and
with what reluctance others parted with their beloved Colleges and
subsistence; but their consciences were dearer than their subsistence,
and out they went; the reformers possessing them without shame or
scruple: where I leave these scruple-mongers, and make an account of
the then present affairs of London, to be the next employment of my
Reader's patience.
And in London all the Bishops' houses were turned to be prisons, and
they filled with Divines, that would not take the Covenant, or forbear
reading Common Prayer, or that were accused for some faults like
these. For it may be noted, that about this time the Parliament set
out a proclamation, to encourage all laymen that had occasion to
complain of their Ministers for being troublesome or scandalous, or
that conformed not to Orders of Parliament, to make their complaint to
a committee for that purpose; and the Minister, though a hundred
miles from London, should appear there, and give satisfaction, or be
sequestered;--and you may be sure no Parish could want a covetous, or
malicious, or cross-grained complaint;--by which means all prisons
in London, and in some other places, became the sad habitations of
conforming Divines.
And about this time the Bishop of Canterbury having been by an unknown
law condemned to die, and the execution suspended for some days, many
of the malicious citizens, fearing his pardon, shut up their shops,
professing not to open them till justice was executed. This malice and
madness is scarce credible; but I saw it.
[Sidenote: Mr. Thomas Brightman]
The Bishops had been voted out of the House of Parliament, and some
upon that occasion sent to the Tower; which made many Covenanters
rejoice, and believe Mr. Brightman[22]--who probably was a good and
well-meaning man--to be inspired in his "Comment on the Apocalypse,"
an abridgment of which was now printed, and called Mr. Brightman's
"Revelation of the Revelation." And though he was grossly mistaken
in other things, yet, because he had made the Churches of Geneva and
Scotland, which had no Bishops, to be Philadelphia in the Apocalypse,
the Angel that God loved; Rev. iii. 7-13, and the power of Prelacy to
be Antichrist, the evil Angel, which the House of Commons had now
so spewed up, as never to recover their dignity; therefore did those
Covenanters approve and applaud Mr. Brightman for discovering and
foretelling the Bishops' downfall; so that they both railed at them,
and rejoiced to buy good pennyworths of their land, which their
friends of the House of Commons did afford them, as a reward of their
diligent assistance to pull them down.
[Sidenote: Contentions]
And the Bishops' power being now vacated, the common people were made
so happy, as every Parish might choose their own Minister, and tell
him when he did, and when he did not, preach true doctrine: and by
this and like means, several Churches had several teachers, that
prayed and preached for and against one another: and engaged their
hearers to contend furiously for truths which they understood not;
some of which I shall mention in the discourse that follows.
[Sidenote: and contradictions]
I have heard of two men, that in their discourse undertook to give a
character of a third person: and one concluded he was a very honest
man, "for he was beholden to him;" and the other, that he was not,
"for he was not beholden to him." And something like this was in the
designs both of the Covenanters and Independents, the last of which
were now grown both as numerous and as powerful as the former: for
though they differed much in many principles, and preached against
each other, one making it a sign of being in the state of grace, if we
were but zealous for the Covenant; and the other, that we ought to buy
and sell by a measure, and to allow the same liberty of conscience to
others, which we by Scripture claim to ourselves; and therefore not
to force any to swear the Covenant contrary to their consciences, and
lose both their livings and liberties too. Though these differed thus
in their conclusions, yet they both agreed in their practice to preach
down Common Prayer, and get into the best sequestered livings; and
whatever became of the true owners, their wives and children, yet to
continue in them without the least scruple of conscience.
They also made other strange observations of Election, Reprobation,
and Free Will, and the other points dependent upon these; such as the
wisest of the common people were not fit to judge of; I am sure I am
not: though I must mention some of them historically in a more proper
place, when I have brought my Reader with me to Dr. Sanderson at
Boothby Pannell.
And in the way thither I must tell him, that a very Covenanter, and a
Scot too, that came into England with this unhappy Covenant, was got
into a good sequestered living by the help of a Presbyterian Parish,
which had got the true owner out. And this Scotch Presbyterian, being
well settled in this good living, began to reform the Churchyard,
by cutting down a large yew-tree, and some other trees that were an
ornament to the place, and very often a shelter to the parishioners;
who, excepting against him for so doing, were answered, "That the
trees were his, and 'twas lawful for every man to use his own, as he,
and not as they thought fit." I have heard, but do not affirm it,
that no action lies against him that is so wicked as to steal the
winding-sheet of a dead body after it is buried; and have heard the
reason to be, because none were supposed to be so void of humanity;
and that such a law would vilify that nation that would but suppose so
vile a man to be born in it: nor would one suppose any man to do what
this Covenanter did. And whether there were any law against him, I
know not; but pity the Parish the less for turning out their legal
Minister.
[Sidenote: Boothby again]
We have now overtaken Dr. Sanderson at Boothby Parish, where he hoped
to enjoy himself though in a poor, yet in a quiet and desired privacy;
but it proved otherwise: for all corners of the nation were filled
with Covenanters, confusion, Committee-men, and soldiers, serving
each other to their several ends, of revenge, or power, or profit: and
these Committee-men and soldiers were most of them so possessed with
this Covenant, that they became like those that were infected with
that dreadful Plague of Athens; the plague of which Plague was, that
they by it became maliciously restless to get into company, and to
joy,--so the Historian saith,--when they had infected others, even
those of their most beloved or nearest friends or relations:[23] and
though there might be some of these Covenanters that were beguiled and
meant well; yet such were the generality of them, and temper of
the times, that you may be sure Dr. Sanderson, who though quiet
and harmless, yet an eminent dissenter from them, could not live
peaceably; nor did he: for the soldiers would appear, and visibly
disturb him in the Church when he read prayers, pretending to advise
him how God was to be served most acceptably: which he not approving,
but continuing to observe order and decent behaviour in reading the
Church-service, they forced his book from him, and tore it, expecting
extemporary prayers.
At this time he was advised by a Parliament man of power and note,
that valued and loved him much, not to be strict in reading all the
Common Prayer, but make some little variation, especially if the
soldiers came to watch him; for then it might not be in the power of
him and his other friends to secure him from taking the Covenant, or
Sequestration: for which reasons he did vary somewhat from the strict
rules of the Rubric. I will set down the very words of confession
which he used, as I have it under his own hand; and tell the Reader,
that all his other variations were as little, and much like to this.
[Sidenote: A Confession]
HIS CONFESSION.
"O Almighty God and merciful Father, we, thy unworthy servants, do
with shame and sorrow confess, that we have all our life long gone
astray out of thy ways like lost sheep; and that, by following
too much the vain devices and desires of our own hearts, we have
grievously offended against thy holy laws, both in thought, word, and
deed; we have many times left undone those good duties which we might
and ought to have done; and we have many times done those evils,
when we might have avoided them, which we ought not to have done.
We confess, O Lord! that there is no health at all, nor help in
any creature to relieve us; but all our hope is in thy mercy, whose
justice we have by our sins so far provoked. Have mercy therefore upon
us, O Lord! have mercy upon us miserable offenders: spare us, good
God, who confess our faults, that we perish not; but, according to
thy gracious promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord,
restore us upon our true repentance into thy grace and favour. And
grant, O most merciful Father! for his sake, that we henceforth study
to serve and please thee by leading a godly, righteous, and a sober
life, to the glory of thy holy name, and the eternal comfort of our
own souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Amen.
[Sidenote: Wise submission]
In these disturbances of tearing his servicebook, a neighbour came on
a Sunday, after the Evening service was ended, to visit and condole
with him for the affront offered by the soldiers. To whom he spake
with a composed patience, and said; "God hath restored me to my
desired privacy, with my wife and children; where I hoped to have met
with quietness, and it proves not so: but I will labour to be pleased,
because God, on whom I depend, sees it is not fit for me to be quiet.
I praise him, that he hath by his grace prevented me from making
shipwreck of a good conscience to maintain me in a place of great
reputation and profit: and though my condition be such, that I need
the last, yet I submit; for God did not send me into this world to do
my own, but suffer his will, and I will obey it." Thus by a sublime
depending on his wise, and powerful, and pitiful Creator, he did
cheerfully submit to what God had appointed, justifying the truth of
that doctrine which he had preached.
About this time that excellent book of "The King's Meditations in his
Solitude" was printed, and made public; and Dr. Sanderson was such a
lover of the Author, and so desirous that the whole world should see
the character of him in that book, and something of the cause for
which they suffered, that he designed to turn it into Latin: but
when he had done half of it most excellently, his friend Dr. Earle
prevented him, by appearing to have done the whole very well before
him.
[Sidenote: Preaching without book]
About this time his dear and most intimate friend, the learned Dr.
Hammond, came to enjoy a conversation and rest with him for some days;
and did so. And having formerly persuaded him to trust his excellent
memory, and not read, but try to speak a sermon as he had writ it, Dr.
Sanderson became so compliant, as to promise he would. And to that end
they two went early the Sunday following to a neighbour Minister,
and requested to exchange a sermon; and they did so. And at Dr.
Sanderson's going into the pulpit, he gave his sermon--which was a
very short one--into the hand of Dr. Hammond, intending to preach
it as it was writ: but before he had preached a third part, Dr.
Hammond,--looking on his sermon as written,--observed him to be out,
and so lost as to the matter, that he also became afraid for him: for
'twas discernible to many of the plain auditory. But when he had ended
this short sermon, as they two walked homeward, Dr. Sanderson said
with much earnestness, "Good Doctor, give me my sermon; and know, that
neither you nor any man living, shall ever persuade me to preach again
without my books." To which the reply was, "Good Doctor, be not angry:
for if I ever persuade you to preach again without book, I will give
you leave to burn all those that I am master of."
Part of the occasion of Dr. Hammond's visit, was at this time to
discourse with Dr. Sanderson about some opinions, in which, if they
did not then, they had doubtless differed formerly; it was about those
knotty points, which are by the learned called the Quinquarticular
Controversy; of which I shall proceed, not to give any judgment,--I
pretend not to that,--but some short historical account which shall
follow.
[Sidenote: Liberties of doctrine]
There had been, since the unhappy Covenant was brought and so
generally taken in England, a liberty given or taken by many
Preachers--those those of London especially--to preach and be too
positive in the points of Universal Redemption, Predestination, and
those other depending upon these. Some of which preached, "That
all men were, before they came into this world, so predestinated to
salvation or damnation, that it was not in their power to sin so, as
to lose the first, nor by their most diligent endeavour to avoid the
latter. Others, that it was not so: because then God could not be said
to grieve for the death of a sinner, when he himself had made him
so by an inevitable decree, before he had so much as a being in this
world;" affirming therefore, "that man had some power left him to do
the will of God, because he was advised to work out his salvation with
fear and trembling;" maintaining, "that it is most certain every man
can do what he can to be saved;" and that "he that does what he can
to be saved, shall never be damned." And yet many that affirmed this
would confess, "That that grace, which is but a persuasive offer, and
left to us to receive, or refuse, is not that grace which shall bring
men to Heaven." Which truths, or untruths, or both, be they which they
will, did upon these, or the like occasions, come to be searched into,
and charitably debated betwixt Dr. Sanderson, Dr. Hammond, and Dr.
Pierce,--the now Reverend Dean of Salisbury,--of which I shall proceed
to give some account, but briefly.
[Sidenote: A charitable disquisition]
In the year 1648, the fifty-two London Ministers--then a fraternity of
Sion College in that City--had in a printed Declaration aspersed Dr.
Hammond most heinously, for that he had in his Practical Catechism
affirmed, that our Saviour died for the sins of all mankind. To
justify which truth, he presently makes a charitable reply--as 'tis
now printed in his works.--After which there were many letters passed
betwixt the said Dr. Hammond, Dr. Sanderson and Dr. Pierce, concerning
God's grace and decrees. Dr. Sanderson was with much unwillingness
drawn into this debate; for he declared it would prove uneasy to him,
who in his judgment of God's decrees differed with Dr. Hammond,--whom
he reverenced and loved dearly,--and would not therefore engage him
into a controversy, of which he could never hope to see an end: but
they did all enter into a charitable disquisition of these said points
in several letters, to the full satisfaction of the learned; those
betwixt Dr. Sanderson and Dr. Hammond being printed in his works; and
for what passed betwixt him and the learned Dr. Pierce, I refer my
Reader to a Letter annexed to the end of this relation.
[Sidenote: Changes of judgment]
I think the judgment of Dr. Sanderson, was, by these debates, altered
from what it was at his entrance into them; for in the year 1632, when
his excellent Sermons were first printed in quarto, the Reader may on
the margin find some accusation of Arminius for false doctrine; and
find that, upon a review and reprinting those Sermons in folio, in the
year 1657, that accusation of Arminius is omitted. And the change
of his judgment seems more fully to appear in his said letter to Dr.
Pierce. And let me now tell the Reader, which may seem to be perplexed
with these several affirmations of God's decrees before mentioned,
that Dr. Hammond, in a postscript to the last letter of Dr.
Sanderson's, says, "God can reconcile his own contradictions,
and therefore advises all men, as the Apostle does, to study
mortification, and be wise to sobriety." And let me add farther, that
if these fifty-two Ministers of Sion College were the occasion of the
debates in these letters, they have, I think, been the occasion of
giving an end to the Quinquarticular Controversy: for none have since
undertaken to say more; but seem to be so wise, as to be content to be
ignorant of the rest, till they come to that place, where the secrets
of all hearts shall be laid open. And let me here tell the Reader
also, that if the rest of mankind would, as Dr. Sanderson, not conceal
their alteration of judgment, but confess it to the honour of God
and themselves, then our nation would become freer from pertinacious
disputes, and fuller of recantations.
[Sidenote: Dr. Laud]