Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, died on the 9th of
November, 1677. Illustrations have been afforded of his influence and
activity at the time of the Restoration, of his conduct during the
plague year, of the course which he adopted in relation to the great
ecclesiastical questions of his day, and of the general spirit of his
clerical policy;--but some further notice is requisite of the character
of a man, who took so conspicuous a part in the re-establishment of the
Episcopal Church of England.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Sheldon, according to Burnet, was esteemed a learned man before
the Wars, but he was now engaged so deep in politics, that scarce
any prints of what he had been remained. He was a very dexterous
man in business, had a great quickness of apprehension, and a very
true judgment. He was a generous and charitable man. He had a great
pleasantness of conversation, perhaps too great. He had an art, which
was peculiar to him, of treating all who came to him in a most obliging
manner, but few depended much on his professions of friendship. He
seemed not to have a deep sense of religion, if any at all; and spoke
of it most commonly, as of an engine of Government and a matter of
policy. By this means, the King came to look on him as a wise and
honest clergyman.[671] An admission to the same effect is made
unconsciously by Samuel Parker, the Archbishop's chaplain and friend.
For, after affirming that Sheldon was a man of undoubted piety, he
observes, "that though he was very assiduous at prayers, yet he did
not set so high a value upon them as others did, nor regarded so much
worship, as the use of worship, placing the chief point of religion
in the practice of a good life." The ideas of a man's character
conveyed by language of this sort must be interpreted by our knowledge
of the writer; and, knowing what we do of Parker, we are justified
in regarding what he says as a confirmation of Burnet's opinion. To
use an expression which occurs in a letter from Henry VII. on the
transition of Wareham from London to Canterbury--Sheldon showed himself
to be largely endued with "cunning and worldly wisdom."[672] Genial
and social in his habits he maintained a splendid hospitality,[673]
and in all his intercourse it was apparent that he had seen much of
mankind, thoroughly understood human nature, and knew exactly how to
make himself agreeable to those whom he wished to please. Addicted to
a free-and-easy manner of living, inconsistent with the character of a
clergyman, he is reported as having on particular occasions sanctioned
some very vulgar buffoonery at the expense of the Puritans.[674] Keen,
clever, polite, and politic, knowing well how to compass his ends,
he manifested at the same time his utter destitution of those moral
impulses, noble motives, and spiritual aims, which, above all, ought
to guide men who profess to be the ministers of Jesus Christ. Sheldon
seems to have been fitted to grace a drawing-room, to sustain the
position of a country gentleman, and to take a part in State affairs,
but he was plainly unfit to preside over the Church of England. His
half-recumbent figure, as represented on his monument in the parish
church of Croydon--before the fire--his round face resting on his left
hand, his countenance not of severe expression, but rather genial,
easy, and good-humoured, and his gracefully-flowing robes, are all in
harmony with the idea of a man of luxurious habits, and of pleasant
manners: but the mitre on his head is out of place, and he has no
business with the crozier at his side.[675] His course of life as a
steady, persistent, heartless persecutor of Nonconformists eclipses his
courtesies and charities. He was not a persecutor of the same school
with Laud of Canterbury, or Cyril of Alexandria. No strong convictions
of doctrine, no zeal for discipline, influenced him in his proceedings
against Dissenters, and he must be reckoned as having belonged to that
most odious class of persecutors "who persecute without the excuse
of religious bigotry."[676] He hated Nonconformists mainly on three
grounds. As _a man of the world_, he was averse to their profession
of spiritual religion, being totally unable to understand it, looking
at it, as he did, through the medium of prejudices which caricatured
its noblest qualities; and he was also exasperated at what he deemed
a pharisaical assumption on the part of Christians who advocate what
are called "evangelical" views, and who insist upon what they style
purity of communion. As _a Royalist_, Sheldon identified his opponents
with the cause of Republicanism, and believed, or professed to
believe, that they were all bent upon doing to Charles II. what some
of them, or their predecessors, had done to Charles I. And, lastly,
as _an Episcopalian_, who had himself suffered from Presbyterians and
Independents, he determined to pay back in full what he owed--both
capital and interest.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
It is essential to our forming a correct estimate of the state of
the Church after the Restoration, that we should examine what we can
find respecting the character of others who occupied the Episcopal
Bench, inasmuch as they must have been largely responsible for the
administration of ecclesiastical affairs, and it is convenient for
us here to pause for that purpose. To whatever party an author may
belong, he finds it easy to idealize these dignitaries, and to give
general impressions of them, favourable or unfavourable, according
as his prejudices, working upon slight materials, may influence his
imagination. But I decidedly prefer in what I shall say of the Caroline
prelates, to confine myself to such reliable information as I can
discover, rather than to indulge in generalities; and I lament, that
after the best endeavours to acquaint myself with the subject, the
knowledge I possess with regard to some of these persons is so scanty,
that my accounts of them will afford the historical student but little
satisfaction.
The selection of a principle of arrangement in this portion of our
history is not without difficulties. Perhaps, on the whole, instead of
adopting an alphabetical list of names, or a chronological series of
characters, or a geographical distribution of sees, it will be better
to take the occupants of the Bench according to their importance, and
to select first the most prominent.[677]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Dr. Seth Ward had been President of Trinity College, Oxford, and at
the Restoration had succeeded Reynolds at St. Laurence Jewry, upon
the promotion of the latter Divine to a Bishopric. He was nominated
to the see of Exeter in 1662, as, Pope, his biographer says, upon the
recommendation of his friend Monk, Duke of Albemarle; but a different
story is told by Aubrey. After Gauden, the Bishop of Exeter, had been
translated to Worcester in 1661, Ward, who was then Dean, "was very
well known to the gentry, and his learning, prudence, and comity, had
won them all to be his friends. The news of the death of the Bishop
being brought to them, who were all very merry and rejoicing with good
entertainment, with great alacrity, the gentlemen cried all, '_We will
have Mr. Dean to be our Bishop_.' This was at that critical time when
the House of Commons were the King's darlings. The Dean told them
that, for his part, he had no interest or acquaintance at Court, but
intimated to them how much the King esteemed the members of Parliament
(and a great many Parliament men were then there), and that His Majesty
would deny them nothing. '_If 'tis so, gentlemen_,' said the Dean,
'_that you will needs have me to be your Bishop, if some of you make
your address to His Majesty, 'twill be done_.' With that they drank
the other glass, a health to the King, and another to their wished-for
Bishop; had their horses presently made ready, put foot in stirrup, and
away they rode merrily to London; went to the King, and he immediately
granted them their request. This," adds Aubrey, "is the first time that
ever a Bishop was made by the House of Commons."[678]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Ward speedily became renowned for his diligent discharge of Episcopal
duties. "He kept his constant triennial visitations," says Pope, "in
the first whereof he confirmed many thousands of all ages and different
sexes; he also settled the Ecclesiastical Courts, and, without any
noise or clamour, reduced that _active, subtle, and then factious
people_, to great conformity, not without the approbation even of the
adversaries themselves." During his residence at Exeter, he gained the
love of all the gentry, and had particularly the help and countenance
of the Duke of Albemarle, who, in all things, showed himself most ready
to assist him in the exercise of his jurisdiction.[679] He zealously
advocated the Conventicle Act, and was very severe in his treatment
of Nonconformists, not, it is curiously pleaded, out of enmity to the
Dissenters' persons, as they unjustly suggested, but of love to the
repose and welfare of the Government. We are further informed by this
admiring friend, "that Ward was very much in favour with the King, and
the Duke of York, before the latter declared himself of the Romish
persuasion, whom he treated magnificently at Salisbury; and also with
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who used to entertain him with the
greatest kindness and familiarity imaginable; in his common discourse
to him, he used to call him Old Sarum: and I have heard the Archbishop
speak of him more than once as the person whom he wished might succeed
him." The temper of the prelate in relation to the Church of England,
and the kind of policy which he adopted for the promotion of its
interests, may be inferred from the good opinion of him entertained by
Sheldon, just quoted by Pope, with much satisfaction.[680]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
There is a want of material out of which to draw flesh and blood
portraits of some of the Bishops: many are names and nothing
more--others are but stiff and formal images without life--we can judge
neither of their appearance, nor of their character, but the gossiping
memoir of Ward by Pope affords us a pictorial idea of his mode of
living, of his physical activity, of his fondness for horse exercise,
and of his self-exposure to weather,--going out in wind, rain, and
snow, until forced to seek shelter on the lee side of the nearest
hayrick. He was something of a "muscular Christian,"--a bachelor also,
but genial in his ways, exceedingly hospitable, and scrupulously
punctilious in the discharge of his devotional duties.
This remarkable man distinguished himself as an astronomer, and was
reputed to be the ablest orator of his time; after these proofs of his
intellectual power, in addition to the evidences of his administrative
ability, how affecting it is to turn to the record of his imbecility
in his last days. "He did not," we are told, "know his house, or his
servants; in a word, he knew nothing."[681]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Dr. George Morley may be noticed next. Burnet says that he "was, in
many respects, a very eminent man, very zealous against Popery," and
also very zealous against Dissent; considerably learned, with great
vivacity of thought; soon provoked, and with little mastery over
his own temper.[682] His zeal against the doctrines of Popery is
apparent in his writings, and not less so, his zeal against Dissent;
in connection with his opposition to both, he avows the doctrine of
passive obedience, declaring in terms the most unequivocal, "the
best and safest way for Prince, State, and people, is to profess,
protect, cherish, and allow of that religion, and that only, which
allows of no rising up against, or resisting sovereign power--no,
not in its own defence, nor upon any other account whatsoever."[683]
Indeed, he maintains, again and again, the principle of intolerance
in the government of the Church, and the principle of despotism in
the government of the State; holding the King to be sole sovereign,
whilst the Parliament is only a concurring power in making laws,
and the Bishops the only legitimate ecclesiastical rulers. The
maintenance of these doctrines by a man of "hot spirit" and "ready
tongue"--infirmities which Baxter charges upon him, not without
sufficient reason, and not without Burnet's corroboration--augured
little for the comfort or the peace of the Nonconformists in the
diocese of Winchester, over which he presided from 1662 to 1684. He
had, it is true, provoked Baxter,[684] and signs of the provocation
occasionally appear in the pages of the _Reliquiæ_; in fact, the
Bishop's treatment of the Presbyter was most violent; but the
latter,--after quoting the report that Morley, Ward, and Dolben,
through fear of Popery, had expressed a desire to abate the severity
of the laws against Dissenters, and after stating, that though there
was long talk there was nothing done,--expresses a hope that they
were not so bad as their censurers supposed. Yet, he adds, it was a
strange thing, that persons who had power to make such breaches had
no power to heal them.[685] It is a pleasure to be able to state that
Morley, in his old age, gave signs of better feeling; for it is related
that he stopped proceedings against Mr. Sprint, an ejected minister,
and invited him to dinner, endeavouring to soften down the terms of
Conformity; but, better still, it is said, that in Morley's last
days, he drank to an intermeddling Country Mayor, in a cup of Canary,
advising him to let Dissenters live in quiet, "in many of whom, he was
satisfied, there was the fear of God,"--and he thought they were "not
likely to be gained by rigour or severity."
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Dr. John Cosin had in his younger days been fond of Ritualism,
and had suffered for it under the Long Parliament. Though there
existed ground enough for charging him with the adoption of childish
ceremonies, it is plain, from a complete and fair examination of his
case, and of all which he urged in his own defence, that the charges
against him were considerably exaggerated.[686] As I shall show
hereafter, a considerable change took place in his sentiments during
the latter part of his life. He became more opposed to Romanism than
he had been before. He said once, in the hearing of Dr. Thomas Fuller,
when some one was praising the Pope for certain concessions--"We thank
him not at all for that which God hath always allowed us in His Word."
The Pope "would allow it us, so long as it stood with his policy, and
take it away, so soon as it stood with his power."[687]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Cosin, like Ward and other prelates, acquired renown for hospitality.
Whether at home or not, he took care that the gates of his Castle
should be always open for the entertainment of the Royal Commissioners,
and other Officers of State, as they travelled to and fro between
London and Edinburgh; nor did he forget to give shelter and cheer to
guests of humbler rank. He is described, also, as zealous in restoring
to its former state Divine worship at Durham Cathedral, in reforming
irregularities which had prevailed under the Usurpation, in filling
up the number of the Minor Canons, and of the members of the Choir,
and in restoring discipline throughout his diocese. Further, it is
recorded of him, that he was a man of great reading, and a lover of
books for their own sakes, expending large sums upon his library with
the enthusiasm of a true Bibliophilest. After the ejection of 1662,
he was willing to concede something to scrupulous consciences--and
offered to confer Episcopal orders in his chapel at Auckland upon
Presbyterian ministers disposed to conform, according to a formulary
much recommended at the time--"If thou hast not been ordained, I
ordain thee." Yet, in some cases, he could be very intolerant; for he
wrote, in the year 1663, to the Mayor of Newcastle, telling him to
look sharply after certain Nonconforming ministers of high character,
whom he stigmatized as _Caterpillars_.[688] But, with a fluctuation
of feeling common in impulsive natures, he would sometimes administer
rebuke to those who laughed at Puritans,--and he wrote in his will,
"I take it to be my duty, and that of all the Bishops, and ministers
of the Church, to do our utmost endeavour, that at last an end may be
put to the differences of religion, or, at least, that they may be
lessened."[689] He suffered much from the disease of the stone, yet he
persisted in performing his Episcopal visitations, even when obliged
to be carried over paved roads in a sedan chair. His chaplain, Isaac
Basire, records, that, being so near death, as to be unable to kneel,
he often devoutly repeated the words of King Manasses, "Lord I bow
the knee of my heart;" and having often prayed, "'Lord Jesus, come
quickly,' his last act was the elevation of his hand, with this, his
last ejaculation, 'Lord,'--wherewith he expired without pain, according
to his frequent prayer, that he might not die of a sudden, or painful
death."[690] He filled the see of Durham from 1660 to 1671.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Dr. John Hacket left behind him two well-known monuments of his
Churchmanship. The one is his _Scrinia Reserata_, or memorial of
Archbishop Williams: as strange a piece of biography as was ever
written--full of allusions and disquisitions of all kinds, so that
readers are puzzled to find out links of connection, and lose sight
altogether of the hero amidst the mazes into which they are led by the
biographer. "What it contains of Williams," as Lord Campbell has said,
"is like two grains of wheat in two bushels (not of chaff, but) of
various other grain;" yet the knowledge and the pedantry, the sagacity
and the prejudice, the zeal for the Church and the animosity towards
Dissenters, which mark the book throughout, accurately reflect the
character of its author during his busy episcopate of nine years. The
other monument of this famous Bishop of Lichfield is to be found in
the cathedral of his diocese, to the restoration of which he zealously
devoted himself. He reconsecrated it on Christmas Eve, in the year
1669, and ordered a peal of six bells to be hung in the tower, one of
which was finished during his last illness. "Then he went out of his
bed-chamber into the next room to hear it, seemed well pleased with
the sound, and blessed God, who had favoured him with life to hear it,
but at the same time observed that it would be his own passing bell;
and, retiring into his chamber, he never left it until he was carried
to his grave," an event which occurred in 1670.[691]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Of the two chief monuments of Hacket's fame, the cathedral is the more
honourable,[692] showing as it does his commendable desire for the
beauty of God's house, and the comeliness of its worship; and with it
we may associate the remembrance of his Episcopal activity in reducing
the clergy of his see to order, and what he esteemed efficiency. The
_Scrinia Reserata_ suggests the idea of what he must have been in his
intercourse with the ministers and people who dwelt in his diocese:
learned but verbose, clever but wearisome, equally fond of argument and
gossip, one-sided in opinion, and abounding both in favouritism and in
personal dislikes--not without genial temper and strong affections of
friendship for some who were within the Church, but violent and bitter
to all those who were without. His sermons suggest what he was as a
preacher--fond of ingenious but trifling disquisitions; and, although
a Calvinist, delighting in the Fathers and Schoolmen, and sometimes
talking about the Holy Virgin, after the manner of a believer in the
immaculate conception. From all this it may be inferred how he would
treat Nonconformists, but his biographer leaves no doubt upon that
point, for he distinctly states--"The Bishop was an enemy to all
separation from the Church of England; but their hypocrisy he thought
superlative, that allowed the doctrine and yet would separate for
mislike of the discipline, and therefore he wished that, as of old,
all kings and other Christians subscribed to the conciliary decrees,
so now a law might pass that all Justices of Peace should do so in
England, and then they would be more careful to punish the depravers of
Church orders."[693]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Dr. John Wilkins was a very different man from Hacket. His close
alliance by marriage with the Cromwell family, and his connection
with the Protector Richard, stood for a time in the way of his
preferment after the Restoration, but at length he obtained, through
the influence of his friend Seth Ward, the living of St. Lawrence
Jewry. Not only was he disliked at Whitehall, but there was a strong
prejudice against him at Lambeth, and, to add to his misfortunes, he
lost his library, his furniture, and his parsonage-house, in the fire
of London. But the Duke of Buckingham befriended the sufferer; and,
in spite of Sheldon's opposition, secured for him the Bishopric of
Chester. When this person of varied fortune had reached the Episcopal
bench, the Archbishop became reconciled to his elevation, and formed a
favourable estimate of his character--a circumstance which, like that
of Wilkins' first preferment after the Restoration, was owing to the
esteem in which he was held by Dr. Seth Ward, his old Oxford friend,
whose regard for him, notwithstanding their different opinions upon
ecclesiastical subjects, continued to the end of life.[694] Whilst
Ward was a High Churchman, and harshly treated the Nonconformists,
Wilkins was a very Low Churchman, and showed them great favour. For
this the latter was eulogized by one party,[695] and abused by another.
From the reproaches he incurred he was vindicated by Dr. William
Lloyd, at the time Dean of Bangor, who, in his funeral sermon for the
Bishop, ascribed his liberality to the goodness of his nature, and to
the education which he had received under his grandfather, Mr. Dod, a
truly learned and pious man, although a Dissenter in some things.[696]
Influenced by kindness of heart and catholicity of principle, Wilkins
pursued a course of moderation and charity; and it proved--as such a
course ever must--politic in the end, for Calamy acknowledges that many
ministers were brought within the pale of the Establishment by Wilkins'
soft interpretation of the terms of conformity. The ability and the
attainments of this prelate were only equalled by his moral excellence.
Burnet praises his greatness of mind, and sagacity of judgment, and
says he was the wisest clergyman he ever knew.[697] Sir Peter Pett
celebrated him as an ornament both of the University and the nation;
and the Royal Society eulogized his insight into all parts of learning,
as well as his charity, ingeniousness, and moderation.[698] As these
persons were his friends and associates, their opinion of him might be
charged with partiality; but there is a general concurrence in praise
of his virtues, on the part of persons who were decidedly opposed to
him in their ecclesiastical opinions. He enjoyed his dignity only four
years, and died in 1672.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
He was succeeded by that illustrious theological scholar Dr. John
Pearson--author of the _Exposition of the Creed_--who, from his
studious habits, became easy and remiss in his Episcopal functions, for
some years before the end of his episcopate, in 1686, when he died,
having some time before sunk into a state of second childhood. His
theological opinions will come under our review in the next volume.
The circumstances under which Dr. Edward Reynolds accepted a mitre
have been described already. He did so professedly upon condition that
the Worcester House Declaration should become law, which it never
did; and that the Church of England should be modified, so as to meet
Presbyterian scruples, which it never was. However, it does not appear
that his Presbyterianism had at any time been so extreme as to prevent
his adopting a modified form of Episcopacy; and Baxter does not charge
him with inconsistency in going so far as he actually went. Indeed,
Baxter persuaded him to accept a Bishopric, implying that he did not
discover in his friend that repugnance to the position which he felt
himself. Reynolds' inconsistency appears, not in his first qualified
acceptance, but in his subsequent retention of the office, after the
conditions on which avowedly he had entered upon it were completely
disregarded. But the truth is, he was a man of little firmness, and
the blame of his continued conformity has been ungallantly, but in
accordance with a very ancient precedent, cast on his wife. "It was
verily thought, by his contemporaries, that he would have never been
given to change, had it not been to please a covetous and politic
consort, who put him upon those things he did."[699] Throughout his
episcopate in the diocese of Norwich, which lasted until 1676, he
remained a Puritan, eschewing Court politics, leading a quiet life in
the discharge of the duties of his calling, and in the retirement of
his palace; to which, it may be observed, he added a new chapel on the
ruins of the old one, which had been destroyed by the rabble after
the fall of the Bishops in the year 1643. Affability and meekness
are virtues generally ascribed to Reynolds; his abilities as a
Divine, and his gifts as a preacher--with the drawback of a harsh and
unpleasant voice--were acknowledged by his contemporaries to have been
considerable.
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
An unpublished letter sheds light on the state of the diocese of
Norwich, and the character of the Bishop:--
"Having often complaints made unto me in general of the offensive lives
of some of the clergy, I held it my duty to signify so much unto you,
not thereby myself accusing any of my brethren, but conceiving it very
needful, by occasion of such reports, earnestly to entreat them that
they will be very tender of the credit of religion, of the dignity of
their function, and of the success of their ministry; and endeavour, by
their sober, pious, and prudent conversations, to stop the mouths of
any that watch for their halting, to bear witness to the truth of that
doctrine which they preach, to be guides and examples of holiness of
life to the people over whom they are set, and to lay up for themselves
a comfortable account against the time that we shall appear before the
Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls. So commending you to the guidance
of God's Holy Spirit, and his gracious protection, &c."[700]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Dr. Herbert Croft--descended from an old English family, distinguished
in the reigns of Edward IV. and Elizabeth--had in his youth been
decoyed into the Church of Rome, whilst a student at St. Omer; but, on
his return from the Continent, he had been reconciled to the Church
of England by Morton, Bishop of Durham. He had held a Canonry in St.
George's Chapel, Windsor, and had been made Dean of Hereford in the
year 1644. His appointment to such a dignity at such a time suggests
the fact that then he was a very Low Churchman, with Presbyterian
tendencies; of course he was afterwards obliged to relinquish both
the office and its revenues. When the King returned, to whose cause
Croft had been attached, he recovered his Deanery, and on the death of
Dr. Monk, in 1661, he succeeded to the Bishopric. His family had long
been settled in Herefordshire, and he cherished a strong attachment to
his native county; in consequence of which he preferred to remain in
this inferior see, with its small revenues, rather than accept richer
preferment at a distance. Weary of Court life he, in the year 1667,
retired from the office of Dean to the Chapel Royal, to live entirely
amongst his own clergy, like a primitive Bishop. Becoming a strict
disciplinarian, he admitted none to stalls in his cathedral who did
not dwell within the diocese, in the centre of which his own country
residence was situated; and there he regularly relieved at his gates
sixty poor people a week, besides assisting the indigent in other
ways. The moderate ecclesiastical views which he expressed in his
_Naked Truth_, he retained to the last, but he did himself no honour by
submitting to the order of James II. in 1688.[701]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Respecting the character of Dr. Matthew Wren, there appears to have
existed little difference of opinion amongst his contemporaries; for
not only did Burton the Puritan say that in all Queen Mary's reign
"there was not so great a havoc made in so short a time of the faithful
ministers of God," as by him, but Archbishop Williams spoke of him as
a "wren mounted on the wings of an eagle," and Lord Clarendon called
him a "man of a severe, sour nature."[702] He filled the see of Ely a
second time, from the fall of the Commonwealth until the year 1667,
when he departed this life; and it is recorded of him, that as an act
of thanksgiving for the King's return and his own restoration, he
built at Pembroke Hall--the College in which he had been educated at
Cambridge--a new chapel, where his remains were interred with unusual
pomp.[703]
Wren was succeeded by Dr. Benjamin Laney, previously Bishop of
Peterborough, who was translated from that place to Lincoln in 1663,
and who died in 1675. Laney seems to have been kind-hearted as well
as able, for in his primary visitation, before Bartholomew's day, he
said very significantly to the assembled clergy, "Not I, but the law;"
and although he had suffered considerably from the Presbyterians at
Cambridge, in the year 1644, he could, to use his own phrase, when
presiding over the see of Lincoln, "look through his fingers;" and he
suffered a worthy Nonconformist to preach publicly very near him, for
some years together.[704]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Laney was followed at Ely by Dr. Peter Gunning. The fondness of the
latter for controversy is attested by the epitaph in his cathedral,
where he was buried in 1684, and receives illustration from the
accounts recorded of theological discussions in which he publicly
engaged with Nonconformists. Blamelessness of private life, and the
Episcopal virtues of generosity to friends,[705] of benefactions to
charitable and religious objects, and of almsgiving to the poor, are
ascribed to him by Wood; Dr. Gower, in his funeral sermon for him,
extols his piety; but Burnet has painted his character in different
colours. "He was a man of great reading, and noted for a special
subtlety of arguing; all the arts of sophistry were made use of by him
on all occasions, in as confident a manner as if they had been sound
reasoning." "He was much set on the reconciling us with Popery in some
points; and because the charge of idolatry seemed a bar to all thoughts
of reconciliation with them, he set himself with very great zeal to
clear the Church of Rome of idolatry. This made many suspect him as
inclining to go over to them; but he was far from it, and was a very
honest, sincere man, but of no sound judgment, and of no prudence in
affairs. He was for our conforming in all things to the rules of the
primitive Church, particularly in praying for the dead, in the use of
oil, with many other rituals."[706]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Dr. William Paul, being possessed of large property, and being also
a man of business, had, through the influence of Sheldon, been
appointed to the see of Oxford, with the hope that he would rebuild the
dilapidated episcopal palace at Cuddesden. He applied himself to that
undertaking, and, that he might be assisted in it, received permission
to hold the valuable Rectory of Chinnor _in commendam_; but, after
he had purchased materials for his intended work, especially a large
quantity of timber, he died in 1665, having held the see for only two
years.
Dr. John Warner is noted chiefly for being well read in scholastic
divinity and patristic literature. It is recorded of him that, when
Prebendary of Canterbury, he built a new font in the cathedral, which,
"whether more curious or more costly," it was difficult to judge.
Made Bishop of Rochester, he, in the earlier sittings of the Long
Parliament, zealously asserted Episcopalian principles, "speaking for
them as long as he had any voice left him," and valiantly defending the
antiquity and justice of an order of spiritual peers.[707] He suffered,
not only like the rest of his brethren, by losing the temporalities of
his see, and by being driven away from the performance of its duties,
but he had to compound for his own estates, which were of considerable
value. During the Protectorate he resided at Bromley, in Kent, and on
the return of Charles II. regained the see of Rochester, which he held
to the time of his death, in 1666. Being a rich man, his benefactions
were large, he contributed liberally to the cathedral of his diocese,
and to the Colleges of Magdalen, and Baliol, at Oxford, the place of
his education; and he also founded a College at Bromley for clergymen's
widows.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Dr. John Earle, after being in exile with the King, first obtained
at the Restoration the Deanery of Westminster, then succeeded Gauden
in the Bishopric of Worcester, 1662, and finally rose to the see of
Salisbury in 1663, upon Henchman becoming Bishop of London. Earle is
described as having been "a very genteel man, a contemner of the world,
religious, and most worthy of the office of a Bishop;" also, he is
spoken of as having the sweetest and most obliging nature, and as being
one than whom, since Hooker's death, God had not blessed any with more
innocent wisdom, more sanctified learning, or a more pious, peaceable,
primitive temper.[708] He was, says another authority, favourable to
Nonconformists, a man that could do good against evil, forgive much,
and of a charitable heart, and died, to the no great sorrow of them who
reckoned his death was just, for labouring all his might against the
Oxford Five Mile Act.[709] Within two years after his death, in 1665,
his successor in the Bishopric, Dr. Alexander Hyde, followed him to the
grave, the latter having owed his promotion to the influence of his
kinsman, Lord Clarendon.
Dr. Robert Skinner, who had been Bishop of Bristol, and had been
translated thence to Oxford before the Civil Wars, regained that
diocese in 1660. Thence he proceeded to the far more desirable see of
Worcester, in 1663. He is reported to have been the sole Bishop who
conferred orders during the Commonwealth; and, after the Restoration,
he ordained no less than 103 persons at one time in Westminster Abbey;
so many others had been made by him deacons and priests, that at his
death, in 1670, it was computed that he had sent more labourers into
the vineyard of the Church than all his survivors had done, he being
the last of the prelates who had received consecration before the time
of the Commonwealth.
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
In pursuing the task of noticing the Bishops after the Restoration,
we now reach several names of less interest, but the few scanty hints
respecting them which I have been able to gather may suggest in some
cases an idea of such Episcopal qualifications as they possessed.
Dr. William Nicholson, Bishop of Gloucester, defended and maintained
the Church of England against its adversaries in the days of its
adversity. His works, it is said, proved him to be a person of
learning, piety, and prudence, particularly his _Apology for the
Discipline of the Ancient Church_, his _Exposition of the Apostles'
Creed_, and his _Exposition of the Church Catechism_, subjects which
indicate his Anglican orthodoxy, and his Episcopalian zeal. He is
spoken of as a great friend of Dr. George Bull, and as much admired by
that distinguished theologian for his knowledge of the Fathers and the
Schoolmen, and for his large stores of critical learning. He died in
1672.[710]
Dr. Humphrey Henchman, it may be remembered, had taken part in the
Savoy Conference, and is described by Baxter as "of the most grave,
comely, reverend aspect," and of "a good insight in the Fathers and
Councils."[711] Consecrated Bishop of Salisbury in 1660, he was
translated from Salisbury to London, upon the translation of Sheldon
to Canterbury, and manifested great alarm when the excitement against
Popery prevailed, earnestly enjoining upon his clergy the duty of
combating its errors and superstitions, although he knew perfectly well
that such a course would be offensive to the King. He edited a book
once of some celebrity, entitled _The Gentleman's Calling_, supposed
to be a production of the author who wrote _The Whole Duty of Man_.
Henchman died October, 1675.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Dr. Edward Rainbow had been a minister in the Establishment throughout
the Commonwealth. Although deprived of the Mastership of Magdalen
College, Cambridge, for refusing to sign a protestation against King
Charles I. he, in the year 1652, obtained the living of Chesterfield,
in Essex, and, in 1659, the Rectory of Benefield, in Northamptonshire.
Restored to his Mastership at Cambridge, and made Dean of Peterborough
soon after the Restoration, he rose to the Bishopric of Carlisle, upon
the translation of Dr. Sterne to the Archbishopric of York. Rainbow
died in 1684; he appears to have possessed an extraordinary talent for
extemporaneous speaking; of which he gave a singular example, when, in
the absence of the appointed orator, he delivered an unpremeditated
discourse before the University, to the great admiration of all who
listened to him. His style is described as florid and pedantic, but
he is represented as a man of learning, of politeness, of devotion,
and of charity. We do not know much respecting Nicholson, Henchman,
and Rainbow, but some things are said respecting them, pointing to
intellectual and moral qualities suitable to their position. That which
can be gathered respecting the following names, contains little or
nothing which is satisfactory.
Dr. Joseph Henshaw, consecrated Bishop of Peterborough in 1663, had
been chaplain to the first Duke of Buckingham, through whose influence
he had obtained a Prebend in the Cathedral of Peterborough. After
suffering for his loyalty during the Civil Wars, and the Commonwealth,
he lived for some time at Chiswick, in the house of Lady Paulet, being
described "as a brand snatched out of the fire."[712] He died in 1678.
[Sidenote: 1662-1678.]
Dr. Gilbert Ironside, who had been Rector of Winterbourn, in
Dorsetshire, was promoted to the see of Bristol immediately after the
Restoration. Wood's chief remark respecting him, and one by no means
satisfactory, is, that although he had not before "enjoyed any dignity
in the Church," or been chaplain to any one of distinction,[713]
he received this promotion to a poor Bishopric because he happened
to be a man of property. His death occurred in the year 1671. Dr.
Walter Blandford, under the Commonwealth, escaped ejectment from
Wadham College, Oxford, by submitting to the Government, and was
admitted Warden before the Restoration. After that event he became
Vice-Chancellor; in the year 1665 he became Bishop of Oxford, and, in
1671, Bishop of Worcester. The following notice of his death occurs in
a letter written at the time:--"It may be you have heard before this,
how upon Friday last, between 9 and 10 in the morning, it pleased God
to put a period to the pains and patience of the good Bishop, who
spent the day before in bemoaning himself unto his God, and sending up
pious ejaculations unto Him; and then, without any reluctancy, quietly
resigned up his soul and departed in peace; and, I doubt not, that
it was welcomed with an _Euge bone serve_! The next day after I came
hither, he called me to his bedside, and asked after the welfare of his
friends at Court, and made frequent mention of his gracious master and
King, prayed most heartily for him, and said nothing laid him so low as
the consideration that he had not been more serviceable to him."[714]
But it is only just,--when noticing the particular reference which is
made to the loyalty of this prelate on his death-bed,--to remember
that such reference occurs in a correspondence in which the writer
was anxious to commend himself to his Royal master, with the hope of
securing promotion.
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
The three Archbishops of York before the Revolution were not men who
exerted much influence. Dr. Accepted Frewen was enthroned on the 11th
of October, 1660, and afterwards enjoyed, for twelve months, the
revenues of the see of Lichfield, during which period it remained
without an occupant. Before his Archiepiscopal career, which proved
equally brief and uneventful--for he died on the 28th of March,
1664--he acquired the reputation of being a good scholar, and a great
orator; but none of his works were ever published, except a Latin
oration, and a few verses on the death of Prince Henry.[715] He was
succeeded by Dr. Sterne, who, though in other respects not a remarkable
person, furnishes, from the accounts given of him, material for a more
extended notice than his predecessor has received. Being educated at
Cambridge, and made Master of Jesus College, he, for his loyalty, and
for conveying the College plate to Charles I. at York, with other
Royalists, was imprisoned, and otherwise treated with great cruelty.
In a letter, which he wrote at the time, he gives an account of his
sufferings, and, as it indicates his temper, as well as expresses the
bitter recollections of Puritanism, which he carried with him into
his Episcopate, it will be well to give an extract from it:--"This
is now the fourteenth month of my imprisonment," he says,--"nineteen
weeks in the Tower, thirty weeks in the Lord Peter's House, ten days
in the ships, and seven weeks here in Ely House. The very dry fees and
rents of these several prisons have amounted to above £100, besides
diet and all other charges, which have been various and excessive, as
in prisons is usual. For the better enabling me to maintain myself
in prison, and my family at home, they have seized upon all my means
which they can lay their hands on. At my living near Cambridge, they
have not only taken the whole crop, that is in a manner the whole
benefit of the living (for the rest is very little), but plundered
and sold whatever goods of mine they found there, even to the poultry
in the yard, allowing me not so much as to pay for his dinner that
served the Cure. They have robbed also the child that is yet unborn,
of the clothes it should be wrapped in. But, upon my wife's address
to the Committee at Cambridge, they had so much humanity as to make
the sequestrators (though with much ado) restore them to her again.
They have also forbidden our College tenants (all within their verge)
to pay us any rents (for the better upholding of learning and the
nurseries thereof). If I have anything else that escapes their fingers,
it is in such fingers out of which I cannot get it; and that also I
owe to the same goodness of the times. So that if my friends' love
had not made my credit better than it deserves to be, and supplied my
occasions, I should have kept but an hungry and cold house both here
and at home. And all this while I have never been so much as spoken
withal, or called either to give or receive an account why I am here.
Nor is anything laid to my charge (not so much as the general crime
of being a malignant), no, not in the warrant for my commitment. What
hath been wanting in human justice, hath been (I praise God) supplied
by Divine mercy. Health of body, and patience and cheerfulness of
mind, I have not wanted, no, not on shipboard, where we lay (the first
night) without anything under, or over us, but the bare decks and the
clothes on our backs; and, after we had some of us got beds, were
not able (when it rained) to lie dry in them; and, when it was fair
weather, were sweltered with heat, and stifled with our own breaths:
there being of us in that one small Ipswich coal-ship (so low built,
too, that we could not walk, nor stand upright in it) within one or
two of threescore; whereof six Knights, and eight Doctors in Divinity,
and divers gentlemen of very good worth, that would have been sorry
to have seen their servants (nay, their dogs) no better accommodated.
Yet, among all that company, I do not remember that I saw one sad or
dejected countenance all the while, so strong is God, when we are
weakest."[716] Having been domestic chaplain to Archbishop Laud, Sterne
attended him to the scaffold, and afterwards lived in obscurity until
the Restoration, after which the King made him Bishop of Carlisle, in
the year 1660, and in 1664 transferred him to York, where he died in
1683.[717]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Burnet represents Sterne as "a sour, ill-tempered man," minding chiefly
the enriching of his family; as being suspected of Popery, "because he
was more than ordinarily compliant in all things to the Court;" and
as very zealous for the Duke of York.[718] Another authority affirms
that Sterne was greatly respected, and generally lamented; that all his
clergy commemorated his sweet condescensions, his free communications,
faithful counsels, exemplary temperance, cheerful hospitality, and
bountiful charity.[719] It may seem difficult to reconcile these
opposite statements; yet, when it is considered, that the first of
these authorities would describe Sterne as he appeared to people whom
he disliked, and the second as he appeared to people whom he loved,
it only follows that the Archbishop showed himself an exceedingly
disagreeable man to such as belonged to the opposite party, and quite
as pleasant a man to those who belonged to his own. I may notice, that
he wrote a Book on Logic, assisted in Walton's Polyglot Bible, and is
one amongst other persons to whom, without satisfactory evidence, has
been ascribed the authorship of the _Whole Duty of Man_.[720]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
Sterne was succeeded in the Northern primacy, by Dr. John Dolben,
Bishop of Rochester, who died at Bishopthorpe in 1686, and whose
consecration sermon was preached by South--scanty pieces of information
to put together; but really there is as little interest in his life,
as there is of importance in his administration. His biography, by
Le Neve, consists in a notice of his being an Ensign in the Royalist
Army at Marston Moor, in an enumeration of his preferments, and of the
Episcopal consecrations in which he took part,--and in the mention
of one or two sermons, which he preached on public occasions.[721]
Burnet describes him as "a man of more spirit than discretion, and an
excellent preacher; but of a free conversation, which laid him open to
much censure in a vicious Court."[722]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
None of the Welsh Bishops require notice, except that of St. Asaph.
This see, after being held by George Griffith, who died in 1668, was
bestowed upon Henry Glemham, who died in 1670, when Dr. Isaac Barrow,
a High Anglican Churchman, was translated to it from the Isle of
Man. Of that singular and inhospitable place he had been consecrated
prelate in 1663, and many works of charity and piety are ascribed to
him during his seven years' episcopate. The people had no chimnies, and
fixed bushes in the entrance to their huts, which they called making a
door; and, amidst all this misery, Barrow strove to introduce temporal
comforts together with spiritual blessings. At St. Asaph he pursued the
same, benevolent career as in the Isle of Man, improving his cathedral
and his palace, and also building almshouses.
Barrow was uncle to the celebrated Divine of the same name, but he
does not appear to have possessed any of the ability, or much of the
learning of his nephew; and it is a singular instance of contrast
between the two, that, whereas the Master of Trinity has obtained
an undying renown for Protestantism by his treatise on the Pope's
supremacy, the prelate has been brought into an equivocal position by
the inscription on his monument in St. Asaph Cathedral, where he was
buried in 1680: "_Orate pro conservo vestro, ut inveniat misericordiam
in die Domini_." He was succeeded by William Lloyd, a distinguished
man, who can be more advantageously described when we reach the story
of the Seven Bishops in 1688.[723]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
The most unworthy Bishop in this reign was Thomas Wood, who, on the
death of Hacket, in 1671, received the see of Lichfield and Coventry.
His elevation is attributed to the interest of the infamous Duchess
of Cleveland, whose favour he secured by contriving a match between
his niece and ward, a rich heiress, and the Duke of Southampton, the
Duchess' son. There appears to have been some hesitation respecting
this exercise of patronage even in the mind of Charles himself;[724]
and the result of it confirmed the worst apprehensions of Wood's
unfitness for the Episcopal office, for he entirely neglected his
duties, and constantly lived out of his diocese. The money which he
received from the heirs of his predecessor to help him in building a
palace, he appropriated to his own purposes; and, under the pretence
of preparing for the erection, cut down a quantity of timber, which
he sold, putting the proceeds of the sale into his own pocket. His
scandalous conduct incurred suspension--a rare circumstance indeed in
the history of the Episcopal bench: and the form of his suspension
is preserved in _Sancroft's Register_, amongst the Lambeth Archives.
From this suspension the delinquent was relieved in 1686, although no
improvement took place in his conduct.[725]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
The prelates whom I have noticed were consecrated a few of them before
the Civil Wars, some of them shortly after the Restoration, all of
them a considerable time before Sheldon's death in 1677. The study of
their characters, therefore, throws light upon the administration of
Church affairs up to the year just mentioned. There are, moreover,
two other Bishops, consecrated within three years before Sheldon's
death, who claim a passing notice. The Episcopal influence of the first
was brief, that of the second lengthened and somewhat peculiar. The
first is Dr. Ralph Brideoake, who had been chaplain in the Earl of
Derby's family, and had witnessed the heroism of the Countess during
the siege of Latham House; but made of different material from her
Ladyship, he submitted to the times, held the Vicarage of Witney in
Oxfordshire, and of St. Bartholomew by the Royal Exchange, under the
Commonwealth. Notwithstanding his having so far complied with the
existing powers as to accept the office of a Commissioner for trial and
approbation of ministers, he obtained at the Restoration, by another
form of subserviency, first, the Living of Standish in Lancashire;
next, the Deanery of Salisbury; and at last, in 1674, the Bishopric
of Chichester, holding with it _in commendam_ a Canonry at Windsor.
There, in 1678, he died and was buried.[726] The second of these two
Bishops was Dr. William Lloyd, who matriculated at Cambridge, and was
successively Vicar of Battersea in Surrey, Chaplain to the English
Merchants' Factory at Portugal, and Prebendary of St. Paul's. He
attained to the Episcopal Bench in 1675, first presiding over the see
of Llandaff; then being translated in 1679 to the see of Peterborough,
and in 1685 being translated to Norwich. All which I can say of his
character is that he is praised by Salmon, the admiring biographer of
the Bishops after the Restoration.[727]
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
[Sidenote: BISHOPS.]
Such is the substance of what I have been able to gather respecting
the lives and characters of the Caroline prelates. They were far from
being all alike. Charges are brought against them as a class, which
individuals amongst them do not deserve. They were not all of the
same disposition, although they all identified themselves with the
same system. The reader will have noticed that facts prove Sheldon,
Ward, Morley, and Cosin to have been more or less what Anglicans
would esteem strict disciplinarians--what Nonconformists, and others
beside them, will more justly pronounce religious persecutors; and
what we know of Hacket, Wren, and Gunning, will show that they
held principles adapted to make them like those of their brethren
who have just been named. It should be remembered, however, that
prelates had no longer the power they once possessed. They could not
do what their predecessors had done before the Restoration; for the
High Commission Court was abolished, the _ex officio_ oath could no
longer be administered, and certain penalties once inflicted could
be repeated no more. All the Bishops now mentioned suffered in the
Civil Wars: yet Hacket retained the living of Cheam throughout the
troubles; Ward took his degree at Oxford, and became president of
Trinity College before the Restoration; and Gunning's ministry as an
Episcopalian was winked at by Oliver Cromwell. Wilkins, Reynolds,
Pearson, Croft, Laney, and Earl were more or less indulgent to Puritan
clergymen within the Church, and not so unfriendly to those outside,
as some others were;--and it may be mentioned, that the first three
held academic or ecclesiastical preferment under the Commonwealth;
and the last three were compelled to sacrifice emolument and endure
hardship. Passing over the worst or the least known of the Bench, what
shall be said of the best and most renowned? They were men of ability,
of learning, of unimpeachable morals, hospitable and kind, orthodox
and devout; but is there one amongst them to whom posterity can point
as possessing, in an eminent degree, the true Episcopal faculty,--the
gift of spiritual overseership, of a deep insight into Christ's truth,
into God's providence, and into men's souls? Is there one who excelled
in folding the sheep which were lost?--one who struck the world's
conscience, making it feel how awful goodness is? Richard Baxter was
far from perfect, nor did he possess qualifications adapted to the
administration of a diocese; but had he accepted the mitre which he
refused, would he have found sitting by his side an equal in spiritual
power?
[Sidenote: 1662-1677.]
We have now reached a point where it is wise to inquire into the state
of the clergy after the Restoration. It is seen what sort of men the
diocesans were; we ought to inquire what sort of men ministered in
their dioceses. Publications of the day bear witness to the fact,
often overlooked, that there were clergy in the Establishment whose
sympathies leaned towards Puritanism.[728] The Bishop of Bristol had
much trouble with a person of this description, a Prebendary of the
cathedral, who describes the conduct of his diocesan in the following
manner:--"He citeth me afresh on pains of suspension; and tells me,
at my appearance, that I was a saucy, proud fellow; of a Presbyterian
hypocritical heart; upbraiding my preaching, praying, speech, face,
and whole ministry, very opprobriously, before all the people."[729]
Complaints occur of conforming Nonconformists, as wearing neither
girdle nor cassock, being _à la mode_ and _in querpo divinus_--as
setting up miserable readers to make the Liturgy contemptible, and
as engaging for an hour in extempore prayer. They preached over, it
is alleged, "the old one's notes," full of cant about "indwelling,
soul-saving, and heart-supporting;" they "affected a mortified
countenance," and "set the Sabbath above holidays," and "a pure heart
above the surplice," and were men "overflowing with the milk and honey
of doctrine, instead of the inculcation of honesty and obedience and
good works."[730]
[Sidenote: CLERGY.]
From these and other circumstances it appears that the Act of
Uniformity did by no means accomplish all its purposes. Some were
Conformists only in name. The fact is, that whilst the Act drove out
all the best and most eminent of the Puritan class, there still were
many, of a pliable nature, who having opposed Episcopacy, and sworn to
the Covenant, and adopted the Directory, were content to nestle under
the wings of the Anglican Church, as soon as she arose, like a Phœnix
out of its ashes.
The miserable condition of some of the clergy holding country
benefices or cures became the subject of satirical remark. In a style
of badinage, which aimed at being clever, one author speaks of a
clergyman as trying to "weather out his melancholy by retiring into
the little hole over the oven, called his study (contrived there, I
suppose, to save firing); a pretty little vatican, the whole furniture
whereof is a German system, a Geneva Bible, and concordance of the
same; a budget of old stitched sermons, some broken girths, with two
or three yards of whipcord behind the door, and a saw and hammer to
prevent dilapidations."[731] Of course no reliance can be placed on
such a trenchant description; but it shows the way in which clergymen
were talked of. With gravity, and apparent truthfulness, it is stated
elsewhere that clergymen sprung from the humbler ranks; and it is
mentioned, as a novelty, and a subject for congratulation, that a few
of aristocratic birth had entered holy orders. At the same time, it is
affirmed, that an attorney, a shopkeeper, and a common artizan would
hardly change their worldly condition with ordinary pastors.[732]
[Sidenote: 1662-1667.]
Many men, episcopally ordained, acted as chaplains. They conducted
family worship, morning and evening; in some cases read and expounded,
and prayed before dinner.[733] The satirist, already quoted, asks,
"Shall we trust them in some good gentlemen's houses, there to perform
holy things? With all my heart, so that they may not be called down
from their studies to say grace to every health; that they may have a
little better wages than the cook or butler; as also, that there be a
groom in the house, besides the chaplain: (for sometimes into the ten
pounds a year they crowd the looking after a couple of geldings); and
that he may not be sent from table picking his teeth, and sighing, with
his hat under his arm, whilst the knight and my lady eat up the tarts
and chickens. It might be also convenient if he were suffered to speak
now and then in the parlour, besides at grace and prayer-time; and that
my cousin Abigail and he sit not too near one another at meals."[734]
The spirit of the writer is apparent; it is not such as to inspire our
sympathy, or secure our confidence; but if some of the clergy at the
time had not been very ignominiously treated, surely no one would have
hazarded the caricature.
[Sidenote: CLERGY.]
The ignorance of the clergy was a topic for abundant abuse. Those, it
is said, who could spout a few Greek and Latin words for the benefit of
the squire, pitched their discourses so as to accommodate themselves
to the fine clothes, and abundance of ribbons, in the highest seats
of the Church, instead of seeking to instruct those who had to mind
the plough and mend the hedge. Cities and Corporations furnished "ten
or twelve-pound-men," whose parts and education were no more than
sufficient for reading the Lessons, after twice conning them over.
"An unlearned rout of contemptible people" rushed into holy orders,
just to read the prayers, although they understood "very little more
than a hollow pipe made of tin or wainscot."[735] Bad taste in the
composition of sermons is also attributed to the clergy, for which
they are unmercifully ridiculed. Many of the examples, however, are
taken from the preaching of the most fanatical amongst the Puritans.
[Sidenote: 1662-1667.]
Men cannot buy books without money; and of the scantiness of clerical
libraries at that time there can be no question. Much more trustworthy,
and deserving of attention than some of the particulars just supplied,
is the anecdote of Tenison,--that he had, in his parish of St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields, "thirty or forty young men in orders, either
governors to young gentlemen, or chaplains to noblemen," who, being
reproved by him "for frequenting taverns or coffee-houses, told him
they would study or employ their time better if they had books." Hence
originated the foundation of the Tenison Library.[736]
[Sidenote: CLERGY.]
Between the poor rural clergy, with equally indigent chaplains and
curates on the one hand, and the richly-beneficed and dignified members
of the order on the other, a broad distinction must be drawn in point
of attainments and eloquence, if not in point of original ability. In
London, in the Universities, and in the high places of the Church,
there were men, especially towards the close of the period under our
review, who for scholastic learning, and ministerial capacity, were
illustrious ornaments of their sacred profession. Many pages of this
history bear witness to that fact. Still, the contempt in which the
clergy were too generally held is admitted by those who, at the time,
sought to make the best of the subject. Writers who vilified the
Church were answered by writers who vindicated it. Paper wars, fierce
and prolonged, were waged in a spirit which leaves little to choose
between the combatants. Those who appeared as defenders of the accused,
denied the unqualified application of the charges which they could not
deny altogether. They triumphantly cited the admissions extorted from
adversaries, that the clergy of the land had considerably improved,
and that it was a "sign of nothing but perfect madness, ignorance,
and stupidity, not to acknowledge that the present Church of England
affords as considerable scholars, and as solid and eloquent preachers,
as are anywhere to be found in the whole Christian world."[737] They
contended that the illiteracy and bad taste complained of were by
no means so common as their assailants alleged; and that, as to the
latter accusation, it fell chiefly upon the Puritan remnant. They
complained, as bitterly as those on the other side, of the poverty
of clergymen, and their inability to purchase books; and then they
urged, as reasons for the contempt in which they were held, not only
straitened circumstances and a humble condition, but the calumnies
of their enemies; the origin of these calumnies being distributed
amongst Libertines, Jesuits, and Nonconformists,[738] and the want of
discipline in the Church being also loudly lamented.[739]
In connection with these illustrations I may observe that Articles of
Visitation in those days throw light on clerical costume, if a word or
two may be added on so trifling a matter. Amongst other things the
78th Canon is recognized as obligatory, and churchwardens are solemnly
asked, "Doth your parson, vicar, or curate usually wear such apparel
as is prescribed by the canon, that is to say, a gown with a standing
collar, and wide sleeves strait at the hands, and a square cap; or
doth he go at any time abroad in his doublet and hose without coat or
cassock, or doth he use to wear any light coloured stockings? doth he
wear any coife, and wrought night-caps, or only plain night-caps of
silk, satin, or velvet? and in his journeying, doth he usually wear a
cloak with sleeves, commonly called the priest's cloak without guards,
welts, long buttons or cuts?"[740]
That which has been said relates to the circumstances, the education,
the preaching, and the habits of clergymen. What estimate is to be
formed of their religious and moral character? It is a common vice
to pass sweeping censures on a whole party. Most people fall into it
when speaking of opponents, and protest against it when speaking of
friends. Wishing to avoid that fault I would first say, undoubtedly
many clergymen might be found at that time who were most exemplary
in their lives, and two distinguished instances of the High Anglican
type may be cited in proof. Ken was successively Incumbent of Little
Easton, Brightstone, and East Woodhay. The purity of his life, the
devoutness of his temper, the eloquence of his preaching, and his
assiduous discharge of ministerial duties, are amongst the cherished
memories of the English Church. With him his neighbour, Isaac Milles,
the simple-hearted Rector of Highclere, is worthy of being associated.
For nine-and-thirty years, on an income of £100 per annum, this worthy
minister of Christ laboured for the welfare of his rural flock. Filled
with the charity which thinketh no evil, "he would often rise up and
leave the company rather than hear even a bad man reproached behind
his back." So hospitable was he, "that he used to be much displeased,
if any poor person was sent from his house without tasting a cup of
his ale;" and "he turned a perfect beggar in order to get from others
something to supply their wants." He walked "every day in the week to
read the service in the parish church," and was "a constant visitant by
the bedside of the sick and dying."[741]
[Sidenote: CLERGY.]
But there is another side to the picture--pamphleteers accused
the clergy not only of ignorance, and of fanaticism, but also of
immorality. This charge is but faintly touched in the particular
controversy just reported; but a writer, at an earlier period, who
fiercely assails the ministers of the Establishment, declares how
the Church resents the scandalous profaneness of many of her sons;
and reproaches the reverend in function, who were shameful in life,
those who were disorderly in holy orders, and who, bound to walk
circumspectly, reel notwithstanding, having their conversation in the
ale-house as well as in heaven. He proceeds in the name of the Church
to complain of unconscionable simony, and of encroaching pluralities;
saying, "Lately you were thought incapable of one living, now three,
four, or five cannot suffice you;" and the whole is wound up by charges
of non-residence, whereupon the writer inveighs, in most violent
terms, against the employment of curates.[742]
[Sidenote: CLERGY.]
Such testimony must be taken only for what it is worth. But it seems
incredible that, without a substratum of facts, any one would make
these bold assertions. Other writers of the period speak of the clergy
in terms which give a mean opinion of their religious character. Philip
Henry states of many who conformed, that, since they did so, from
unblamable, orderly, pious men, they became exceedingly dissolute and
profane.[743] Burnet alludes to the luxury and sloth of dignitaries
"who generally took more care of themselves than of the Church."[744]
Pepys records, that there "was much discourse about the bad state of
the Church," and how the clergy were "come to be men of no worth in
the world."[745] The King himself laid at their door the blame of the
spread of Nonconformity; for "they thought of nothing but to get good
benefices, and to keep a good table."[746] It was deemed necessary
in Articles of Visitation to inquire whether the clergy resorted to
taverns, or gave themselves to drinking, or riot, or played at unlawful
games.[747] The rush of parish ministers out of London during the
plague testifies to a want of devotedness and self-sacrifice; and
the awful dissoluteness of public manners, looked at in connection
with all circumstances, indicates not merely the failure of a
faithful ministry in some cases, but the consequence of a careless and
inefficient one in many more. Poverty and dependence, or even want of
learning, will not account for all the clerical humiliation in the time
of Charles II. A half-starved curé with love for his parishioners, and
a ragged friar of true sanctity, had a far different social standing on
the Continent, from many Protestant curates and chaplains at that time
in England.
END OF THIRD VOLUME.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] For the state of Puritanism during the Civil Wars and the
Commonwealth I must refer the reader to my former Volumes. I take up
the thread of the History where I dropped it, at the death of Oliver
Cromwell.
[2] _Cromwellian Diary_, iii., _Int._ v. viii.
[3] Letter to Hyde, _Cosin's Works_, iv. 465.
[4] _Proclamation for the better Encouraging of Godly Ministers_,
Nov. 25. In the notes of the speech of the Protector to the Officers
of the Army (_Thurloe_, vii. 447), "Liberty of Conscience, as we are
Christians," is one of the heads.
[5] _Thurloe_, vii. 4:4.
[6] _Ludlow_, ii. 618.
[7] _Cromwellian Diary_, iii. 1.
[8] _Ibid._, 10.
[9] _Cromwellian Diary_, iii. 13, Jan. 28.
[10] _Ibid._, 83, 138, Feb. 5.
[11] _Cromwellian Diary_, iii. 403, Feb. 21.
[12] _Guizot's Richard Cromwell, &c._ i. 103.
[13] _Cromwellian Diary_, iv. 328, April 2.
[14] _Ibid._, iii. 177, Feb. 9.
[15] _Ibid._, 448, Feb. 22; 494, Feb. 26.
[16] _Cromwellian Diary_, iii. 87, _et seq._, Feb. 7th and 9th.
[17] _Guizot's Richard Cromwell and the Restoration_, i. 91, March
16. No other historian has so patiently traced the steps by which the
Stuarts were restored as this eminent Frenchman.
[18] _Clarendon's State Papers_, iii. 440, March 18.
[19] This petition to Richard followed the humble representation
presented on the 6th of April.
[20] Prynne got in for a few hours, and had an angry altercation with
Haselrig and Vane.
[21] _Parl. Hist._, iii. 1553.
[22] Of the popularity of Fleetwood amongst "Anabaptists and other
sectaries," and of the importance attributed to him by lookers
on, there are illustrations in the correspondence of the French
ambassador,--_Guizot_, i. 246.
[23] _Howe's Life_, by _Rogers_, 94.
[24] _Rogers_, 91. _Noble's Protectorate House_, i. 172, 180, 176.
[25] Noticed in an article on Keble in _Macmillan's Magazine_ for
March, 1869. Baxter speaks favourably of Richard Cromwell. His wife,
who died in 1676, whilst he was abroad, is spoken of as a prudent,
godly, practical Christian. It appears from one of her letters, that,
after the Protectorate, she "wanted some scholar or godly man to
reside at Hursley, to minister spiritual consolation under her present
sorrows."--_Noble_, i. 343.
[26] Neal (iv. 209) relates this, and thinks the story probable; but
Orme, in his _Life of Owen_, p. 213, disputes it. Respecting what
Baxter says about Owen (_Life and Times_, i. 101) see an _Historical
Account of my own Life_, by _Calamy_, i. 378.
[27] As I am not aware of these important entries having been published
by any one else I introduce them here:--
June 7th--"This day," so runs the record, "the Church received a letter
from the Church at Wallingford House, desiring advice from the Church
what they apprehended was needful for the Commonwealth; the Church
considering it, ordered the elders to write to them, thanking them for
their love and care of them; and also desiring to give the right-hand
of fellowship with them; but concerning civil business the Church, as a
Church, desire not to meddle with."
July 10th--"Ordered by the Church upon the receipt of a letter from the
Church at Wallingford House, that Wednesday, the 13th of July, should
be set apart to humble our souls before the Lord, both in regard of the
sins of the nation, and also for our own sins, as also to seek the Lord
for direction and assistance for the carrying on the Lord's work in the
nation."
[28] This confession will be noticed in the next volume in the account
given of the development of Congregationalism.
[29] _MS. Yarmouth Independent Church Records_, Dec. 28, 1659. As to
the opinions of Independents on these questions during the Commonwealth
see the former volumes of this Ecclesiastical History.
[30] _Owen's Works_, xix. 385-393.
[31] _Hist. of the Rebellion_ (Oxford Edit., 1843), 855-6. The
documents are without date. They are placed by Clarendon under the year
1658.
[32] _Ibid._, 857.
[33] _Neal_ (iv. 195) alludes to this affair, and regards it as an
artifice to get money "out of the poor King's purse." _Crosby_ (ii.
91) speaks of the Baptists as making "overtures to the King for his
restoration," but does not relate any particulars. The modern historian
of the Baptists, Dr. Evans, as far as I can find, says nothing upon the
subject.
[34] _Lingard_, xi. 156.
[35] _Newcome's Autobiography_, i. 117.
[36] Dated November 1st, 1659. _Thurloe_, vii. 771.
[37] December 14th, 1659. _Ibid._, 795.
[38] December 16th, 1659. _Ibid._, 797.
[39] _Thorndike's Works_, vol. ii. part i., preface.
[40] May 4. _Barwick's Life_, 401; _Thorndike_, vi. 219.
[41] _Barwick's Life_, 449.
[42] _Barwick_, 201, 218, 412. Various difficulties felt at the time
by the Bishops are mentioned in the letters printed in the appendix to
_Barwick's Life_.
[43] _Barwick_, 413, 424.
[44] _Ibid._, 517, 519, 525.
[45] 1659, Nov. 9 & 18, Dec. 9. 1660, Feb. 3.
[46] _Ludlow_, ii. 674.
[47] See pamphlets: _The Leveller_; _The Rota; or, Model of a Free
State_; and _Gallicantus seu præcursor Gallicinii Secundus_.
[48] _State Papers, Dom. Interreg._, No. 659.
[49] See prices in _Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations_, B. I. c. II.
[50] _Guizot_, ii. 62.
[51] Price says Christmas-day. _Hist. of the King's Restoration_, 72.
[52] Numerous illustrations of the state of feeling at the time might
be culled from these and other pamphlets of the period. Some of
them are printed in the _Harleian Miscellany_. Some are noticed and
described in _Kennet's Register_. A large collection of them may be
found in the British Museum.
[53] _Price's Mystery and Method of His Majesty's Happy Restoration_,
79, 80.
[54] _Neal_ (iv. 238-242) says that when Monk had joined the
Presbyterians, and the Independents saw that they were betrayed, they
offered to support their friends in Parliament, and to raise four
new regiments for the purpose of resisting the General's designs. He
further states that Owen and Nye consulted with Whitelocke and St.
John, and engaged to procure £100,000 to support the Army, if the Army
would again undertake the defence of religious liberty; but he gives no
authority for what he relates.
[55] _Coverdale's Version._
[56] _Price_, 86, 87.
[57] Quoted in _Guizot_, ii. 122.
[58] _Pepys' Diary_, i. 22, Saturday, Feb. 11.
[59] _Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, 362.
[60] _Milton's Ready and Easy Way, &c. Works_, i. 589.
[61] _Parl. Hist._, iii. 1580.
[62] _Baxter's Life and Times_, i. 105; ii. 214.
[63] 1660, April 8. _Thurloe_, vii. 892. The rest of the letter is
interesting, and shows how much personal feeling was mixed up in court
intrigues.
[64] _Life and Times_, ii. 207, 215. It is curious that as the
Presbyterians suspected the King, so the King suspected the
Presbyterians. See letter by Kingstoun, April 8, just referred to.
[65] See _Valley of Baca_, a pamphlet published about that time.
[66] See a "Declaration," which is worth reading, printed in _Kennet's
Register_, 121 (April 24), with a long list of noble signatures.
[67] All this Baxter describes with great simplicity in his _Life and
Times_, ii. 216.
[68] See correspondence between Sharp and Douglas, in the months of
March and April, _Kennet's Register_, 78-124.
[69] _Thurloe_, vii. 872, 873.
[70] April 8, _Thurloe_, vii. 889.
[71] April 6, _Ibid._, 887.
[72] _Price's Mystery and Method of His Majesty's Happy Restoration_,
136.
[73] See _Lives_ of him by _Gumble_ and by _Price_. Sir Anthony Ashley
Cooper was a confidant of Monk, and Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson tells us that
he assured her husband, even after Monk's designs became apparent, that
there was no intention besides a Commonwealth, and that if the violence
of the people should bring the King in, he would perish body and soul
rather than see a hair of any man's head touched, or a penny of any
man's estate forfeited through the quarrel. Hutchinson held Cooper "for
a more execrable traytor than Monke himselfe."--_Memoirs_, 360.
Aubrey, putting down his recollections of what he heard at the time
from Royalist agents in London, says, "I remember, in the main,
that they were satisfied he no more intended or designed the King's
restoration, when he came into England, or first came to London, than
his horse did." _Letters_ iii. 454. I have no doubt that, in February,
Monk thought of restoring the King; but before that date I am inclined
to believe he was waiting to see which way the wind blew. Whatever
hypothesis may be adopted as to his intentions, it must be admitted
that he acted the part of a thoroughly untruthful man. Guizot, in his
life of Monk, represents him as a Royalist at heart throughout the
whole of the business. Of course Monk, after he openly took the King's
side, would wish to be so regarded.
[74] _Ludlow's Memoirs_, ii. 865.
[75] _Guizot_, ii. 411.
[76] See in Appendix notice of a letter in the State Paper Office
referring to projected insurrections.
[77] See _Journals_ of both Houses, 1st of May. When examining, some
years ago, the papers in the House of Lords, belonging to that period,
I saw the original letter from Charles, but not the Declaration.
[78] _Clarendon's Hist_., 904.
[79] _Burnet's Hist. of his Own Time_, i. 88.
[80] _Kennet's Register_, 129. Sharp afterwards became Archbishop Sharp.
[81] _Worcester MS._
[82] _Public Intelligencer_, No. 20. _Newcome's Diary_, published by
the Cheetham Society, and _Life of Philip Henry_, 59.
[83] Hale's reflections on the crisis may be seen in his _Memoirs_ by
_Williams_, 63-65.
[84] _Pepys' Diary_ (May 15) i. 62.
[85] _Kennet's Register_, 146.
[86] In _The Secret History of the Reign of Charles II. and James
II._, 1690--a book not very trustworthy--we have the original of the
story, often repeated, respecting Mr. Case, "who, with the rest of the
brethren coming where the King lay, and desiring to be admitted into
the King's presence, were carried into the chamber next or very near
to the King's closet, but told withal that the King was busy at his
devotions, and that till he had done they must be contented to stay.
Being thus left alone, by contrivance no doubt, and hearing a sound of
groaning piety, such was the curiosity of Mr. Case, that he would needs
go and lay his ear to the closet door. By heavens, how was the good old
man ravished to hear the pious ejaculations that fell from the King's
lips: 'Lord, since Thou art pleased to restore me to the throne of my
ancestors, grant me a heart constant in the exercise and protection of
thy true Protestant religion. Never may I seek the oppression of those
who out of tenderness to their consciences, are not free to conform to
outward and indifferent ceremonies.'"
[87] _Kennet's Register_ under date May 20th.
[88] _Barwick's Life_, 270, 520.
[89] _Buckingham's Works_, ii. 55. See _Harris's Lives_, v. 52, _et
seq._, for evidence as to his being a Papist.
[90] See what Harris has collected on this subject, v. 13 _et seq._
[91] _Character of Charles II._, 56.
[92] "23rd. General Monk marched from London, with a gallant train
of attendants to meet the King. It is said that several fanatics
intermingled themselves with the troops, but were discovered, whereof
three killed, and some hurt, and three taken, who do confess the design
was to pistol the King. 24th. One to be put to the rack for discovery.
It is said the King escaped a plot of some Frenchmen at the Hague to
pistol the King in his coach, but discovered by one who was in presence
once hearing them, and they suspecting him, shot him as dead, but
recovering to speak, discovered their intentions. From all such or any
other, God ever preserve and protect his pious Majesty!"--_Worcester
MS._
[93] _Kennet_, 160-164.
[94] _Butler's Hist. Memorials of the Catholics_, iii. 23.
[95] From Godly ministers in Exeter and Devonshire.--_State Papers,
Dom. Charles II._, 1660, vol. i. 28.
[96]
(Signed) Philip Nye
Joseph Caryl
Samuel Slater
Richard Kentish
George Griffiths
Matt. Mede
John Hodges
William Hook
Thomas Brookes
George Cokayn
Jo. Loder
Thomas Malony
Tho. Walley
William Greenehill
Matthew Barker
Edward Pearce
John Rowe
Robert Bragg
Jo. Baker
Seth Wood
--_State Papers, Dom. Charles II._, vol i. _No. 36_.
[97] (Signed) John Angier, Nathaniel Heywood, Henry Newcome, Nathaniel
Baxter, and many others. Peter Aspinwall signs himself "minister of
Formby, where now more people go openly to Mass than to our Church."
_State Papers_ xxiv., 29.
[98] A new Act, touching the Royal Supremacy, was passed in the Scotch
Parliament, January, 1661 (See _Murray's Collection of the Acts_), but
that does not come within the limits of our history.
[99] Stat. 26 Henry VIII. c. i., repealed 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, c.
viii., ss. 12-20. That Act was repealed by 1 Elizabeth c. i., ss. 1, 2.
Except in certain particulars, provision is made for the ecclesiastical
Supremacy of the Crown by 1 Elizabeth c. i., ss. 16-23.--_Digest of
Statutes_ ii., 1387. The doctrine of the Royal Supremacy arose as a
counter-action of the doctrine of Papal Supremacy; and nothing in its
way can be more dignified and noble than the preface to the Statute 24
Henry VIII., c. 12. The conflict between Papal Supremacy and national
English Independence began long before the Reformation.
[100] _Charles I. in 1646_, 30.
[101] _Clarendon's State Papers_, ii. 237.
[102] _Hist. of his own Times_, i. 95.
[103] _Ibid._ Compared with Clarendon (1220), who gives a long
character of Southampton.
[104] _Clarendon_, 1005.
[105] _Burnet_, i. 97.
[106] _Ibid._, 96. Burnet, who knew Ashley, afterwards Lord
Shaftesbury, states the last particular upon the authority of
conversations with him.
[107] July 9, 16. _Parl. Hist._ iv. 79, 84.
[108] 12 Charles II. c. 17.--Upon the 26th of May Mr. Prynne made a
report touching the quiet possession of ministers, schoolmasters,
and other ecclesiastical persons, in sequestered livings, until
they, on order, should be legally convicted; and two days afterwards
allusion was made in a further report from the same member to several
riots which had "been committed, and forcible entries made upon the
possessions of divers persons, ecclesiastical and temporal;" when
an order to prevent such disturbances in future was recommitted, to
be put into the form of a proclamation "to be offered to the King's
Majesty."--_Commons' Journals_, May 26th & 28th, 1660; This was for the
benefit of the Presbyterians, but the current of feeling in the House
was setting in the other direction.
[109] There is an account in _Calamy_ of Abraham Wright, Incumbent
of Cheavely, Cambridgeshire, being turned out of his living, because
it did not appear to the Justices that he was in orders, and of his
commencing an action for the recovery of his tithes: and against Mr.
Deken, who had been substituted in his place, "for the making good his
title to the living."--_Cont. of the Account_, 158, _et seq._
[110] Hunter's _Life of Heywood_, 125.
[111] _Kennet_, 204.--I am indebted for the following note to the
Dean of Westminster, to whom it was communicated by the Rector of
Acton: "Mr. Philip Nye appears to have been made Rector of Acton soon
after the Battle of Brentford, in the room of Dr. Daniel Featley (or
Fairclough), who held Lambeth Rectory as well. There is a curious entry
in the Register, which I append;--'April, 165--, Richard Meredith,
esquire, eldest son of Sr. William Meredith...Baronet, was marryed
unto Mrs. Susanne Skippon, youngest daughter of right honourable Major
General Philip Skippon [_Traytor_] by Sr. John Thoroughgood [_Knave_]
in the publick congregation within the Parish Church at Acton...Mr.
Philip Nye at the same time praying and teaching upon that occasion.'
The interpolations, 'Traytor' and 'Knave,' are, of course, by a
different hand, and are always attributed by me to Dr. Bruno Ryves (one
of Charles the Second's Chaplains?) who was appointed Rector of Acton
at the Restoration. To the same Dr. Ryves is attributed the erasure of
all 'Lord' Francis Rous' titles on a tablet in Acton Church, the said
Lordship being of Cromwell's creation.
E. P."
[112] _Journals of the Lords_, Sept. 1.
[113] _Ibid._, June 4.--The Earl of Manchester was restored to the
Chancellorship, and he immediately issued warrants for the restoration
of ejected Heads and Fellows.
[114] Between the 25th of June, 1660, and the 2nd of March, 1661, no
less than 121 Doctors of Divinity were created by the King's mandate,
and 39 degrees were conferred on other faculties.--_Kennet's Reg._
_Cooper's Cambridge_, iii. 481.
[115] _Kennet's Register_, 293.
[116] _D'Oyley's Life of Sancroft_, i. 123.--A curious story about
Stephen Scanderet, of Trinity College, Cambridge, is related by
_Calamy_, _Account_, 655.
[117] _Journals_ under date.
[118] Read a second time 6th July. _Journals._ It came to nothing.
[119] _Kennet's Register_, 200.
[120] "Resolved, That it be referred to the Grand Committee, to whom
the Bill for Sales is committed, to receive proposals from any of the
purchasers of the estates of Bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons,
and from any the ecclesiastical persons themselves, or from any others;
touching satisfaction to be given to the purchasers of any public
lands; and, on consideration thereof, to report their opinion to the
House."--_Commons' Journals_, August 6th, 1660.
[121] _Kennet_, 312.
[122] _Harris_, iv. 345.--"Almost all the leases of the Church estates
over England were fallen in, there having been no renewal for twenty
years. The leases for years were determined. And the wars had carried
off so many men, that most of the leases for lives were fallen into
the incumbents' hands. So that the Church estates were in them: And
the fines raised by the renewing the leases rose to about a million
and a half. It was an unreasonable thing to let those who were now
promoted carry off so great a treasure. If the half had been applied to
the buying of tithes or glebes for small Vicarages, here a foundation
had been laid down for a great and effectual reformation."--_Burnet_,
i. 186. Burnet's statements on this subject are very general. So are
those made by Clarendon from his point of view. (1047.) No doubt the
ecclesiastical bodies on the one side, and the tenants on the other,
tried to make the best bargain they could. In the Library of Canterbury
Cathedral is a curious collection of letters respecting leases, which
throw light on this point. Persons plead their sufferings under the
Commonwealth, and pray for the renewal of their leases on the most
favourable terms. See in our next vol. (under the year 1677) notice of
an Act for augmenting small incomes.
[123] Amongst the _State Papers, Dom. Charles II._, vol. lxxv. 69,
there is an account by John Cosin, Bishop of Durham, of the true
state of the present revenues of his see. They diminished £1,000 a
year, through resumption of lands by Queen Elizabeth, who afterwards
regranted them on a rental of £880; he lost £2,000 by taking away
the Court of Ward and Liveries, the revenues of which in the County
Palatine belonged to the Bishops; he prays that as the King receives
£1,500 a year excise money, as given in lieu of the Court of Wards in
Durham, the rental of £880, paid by the Bishops, should be remitted.
[124] _Calendar Dom._, 1660-1661, 218-236.
[125] _Kennet_, 162. The other names given by Baxter (_Life and Times_,
ii. 229) are Wallis, Bates, Manton, Case, Ash, all of whom accepted;
and Newcomen, who declined the office. _Neal_ (iv. 263) gives the name
of Woodbridge.
[126] _Life and Times_, ii. 229. Amongst the Baxter MSS. in Dr.
Williams' library, I have seen a note, apparently relating to the
period now before us. Baxter said:--The late Archbishop Ussher and he
had in an hour's time agreed on the most easy terms. These words were
printed. Episcopal Divines called on him to know what the terms were,
_i.e._, Dr. Gauden, Dr. Gouldson, Dr. Helen, Dr. Bernard, &c. They
expressed great delight, and were willing to make abatements necessary
thereto. Some men of greater power stept in and frustrated all. Mr.
Calamy thought the best way was to interest and engage the King on
the matter. It was mentioned to him accordingly. Calamy consulted the
London ministers, and it was agreed that Ussher's reduction should be
offered as a ground of union. This was laid before the King with other
proposals, but the Lord Chancellor would not allow the matter to be
taken into consideration.
[127] _Life and Times_, ii. 230.
[128] _Life and Times_, ii. 232.
[129] _Baxter's Life and Times_, ii. 232, et seq. Also in _Cardwell's
Conferences_, 277, corrected from MS. copy amongst the _Tanner MSS.,
Bodleian_.
[130] _Life and Times_, ii. 278.
[131] _Life and Times_, ii. 241. The date of this interview is not
given by Baxter.
[132] This paper is printed in _Baxter's Life and Times_, ii. 242-247,
and in _Documents relating to the Settlement of the Church of England
by the Act of Uniformity of 1662_, p. 27, but not in _Cardwell's
Conferences_.
[133] _Life and Times_, ii. 258, 259.
[134] _Ibid._, 265, _et seq._
[135] This no doubt had to do with the importance they attached to
the ring and the sign of the cross. If any one would see the modern
expression of this feeling in an intensified form, let him read
_Keble's Tract for the Times_, No. 89, and Preface to _Hooker_, lxxxix.
[136] _Romans_ xiv.
[137] In the foregoing statement I have endeavoured to put myself in
the place of each party successively. My own views of the question in
dispute are very decided; but they do not exactly accord with those of
either party.
[138] Durham and Exeter were vacant sees at the Restoration. Cosin and
Gauden had been nominated to them respectively.
[139] _Baxter_ ii. 277. Clarendon (p. 1034) states that in the draft
of the Declaration a passage occurred professing the King's use of the
Prayer Book, and that "he would take it well from those who used it in
their Churches that the common people might be again acquainted with
the piety, gravity, and devotion of it, and which he thought would
facilitate their living in good neighbourhood together." This clause
Clarendon says was left out at the ministers' request, on the ground
that they were resolved to do what the King wished, and to reconcile
the people to the use of that form by degrees, which would have a
better effect if such a passage were omitted. Then he charges Calamy
with writing a letter which was intercepted and found to contain the
expression of a resolve to persist in the use of the Directory, and
not to admit the Common Prayer Book into their Churches. Upon turning
to _Baxter_ (ii. 263-275), and upon reading the Declaration, one
finds, that all which the ministers promised to do, and all that the
Declaration required of them, was not _totally to lay aside_ the book,
but to read _those parts against which there could be no exception_. It
is incredible, looking at the ground taken throughout by the Puritan
ministers, that they ever could have talked in the way Clarendon
represents. As to the contents of an intercepted letter, no one who
knows anything of the tricks then played will attach importance to what
is said by the same historian on that subject.
[140] _Baxter_, ii. 259-264; also printed in _Wilkins' Concilia_,
_Cardwell's Conferences_, and _Documents relating to the Act of
Uniformity_.
[141] It is curious to find Baxter when he refused a Bishopric,
proposing to Clarendon a number of names from which to choose some
one, instead of himself. Baxter at this time had the reputation of
being "intimate with the Lord Chancellor Hyde," and accordingly his
influence was solicited on behalf of ministers in trouble. Adam
Martindale tells us that when his own name was sent up to the Privy
Council, Baxter, at the solicitation of a friend, spoke on his behalf
to Clarendon, who "did so rattle one of the Deputy Lieutenants and so
expostulate with the Earl of Derby, that Martindale was released."
The account is very amusing, and shows Martindale's exultation at his
enemies being outwitted in their application to the Privy Council.
The story indicates, what may be gathered from several circumstances,
_i.e._, that Clarendon at that time wished to show favour to the
Presbyterians.--_The Life of Adam Martindale_, printed for the Cheetham
Society, p. 153.
[142] _Baxter_, ii. 281-283.
[143] Mr. Grosart has shown this in his interesting memoir prefixed to
Gilpin's _Dæmonologia Sacra_, p. xxxii. It is a curious fact that the
same Bishopric should, within a century or so, have been offered to two
Gilpins, and refused by both.
[144] _Kennet_, 308. There were no less than 121 Doctors of Divinity
made by mandate between 25th of June, 1660, and 2nd of March, 1661.
[145] Those of them, with whom Baxter acted, were not sufficiently
satisfied with the Declaration to offer formal thanks for it. Clarendon
(1035) brings this as a charge against them.
[146] _Baxter's Life and Times_, ii. 284.
[147] Nov. 9. _Kennet,_ 307.
[148] _Parl. Hist._, iv. 142.
[149] _Parl. Hist._, iv. 152-154, and _Commons' Journals_, Wednesday,
28th of November.
[150] "That is the best and most Christian memory," says he, "that, as
Cæsar's, forgets nothing but injuries. Let us all seriously and sadly
look back, consider and bemoan one another, for what we have mutually
done and suffered from each other."--_Harris's Lives_, iv. 385.
[151] Henchman's Sermon, entitled _A Peace Offering in the Temple_.
[152] _Clarendon_, 1034.
[153] _Calendar of State Papers. Dom. Charles II._ Nov. 1, 1660.
[154] _Clarendon_, 1035.
[155] _Lister's Life of Clarendon_, ii. 218.
[156] _State Papers. Dom. Charles II._ December 7, 1660. In a letter on
the previous day he alludes to the Bill as "quashed by the violence" of
its supporters.
[157] This had been Clarendon's policy from the beginning. He wrote
from Breda on the 22nd April, to Dr. Barwick, in these terms: "It would
be no ill expedient" "to assure them of present good preferments in the
Church." "In my own opinion you should rather endeavour to win over
those who being recovered will have both reputation and desire to merit
from the Church, than be over solicitous to comply with the pride and
passion of those who propose extravagant things." _Barwick's Life_, 525.
[158] _Cardwell_ (_Conferences_, 256) says "the King rejoiced when
he found his stratagem had succeeded." The stratagem was more the
Chancellor's than the King's.
[159] _Parl. Hist._, iv. 67, _et seq._ It may here be mentioned that
others besides those named in Parliament were exposed to danger. Lord
Wharton, for example. The circumstance is rather curious--his eldest
daughter, Elizabeth, then the wife of Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, as
she was crossing the Thames, by the ferry at Lambeth, overheard the
boatman mention her father's name as one of the excepted. Her husband
immediately used his influence with the King on his father-in-law's
behalf, and thus prevented the name from being retained in the list
of exceptions. I am indebted for this anecdote to notices of Lord
Wharton's Life, in _Lipscombe's Hist. and Antiq. of the County of
Buckingham_. Lord Wharton lived at Wooburn, near Wycombe; and in the
next volume I shall have to refer to this circumstance.
[160] See the _Commons' Journals_, May 14, June 5, 6, 7, 8, 30. The
_Lords' Journals_, July 20, 27. _Commons' Journals_, Aug. 13, 17, 23,
24. Hallam gives a synopsis of these proceedings, and I have ventured
to adopt one or two of his expressions.--_Constitutional History_, ii.
3. In the Conference on the 23rd of August, Clarendon told the Commons
that His Majesty, who was duly sensible of the great wound he received
on that fatal day (the day of his father's execution) when the news of
it came to the Hague, bore but one part of the tragedy, for the whole
world was sensible of it; and particularly instanced that a woman at
the Hague, hearing of it "fell down dead with astonishment."
[161] _Trial of the Regicides_, 17.
[162] _The Trials of Charles I., and of some of the Regicides_, 330.
[163] See _Brooks's Lives of the Puritans_, iii., 350 & 363.
[164] See _Ecclesiastical Hist._, ii. (_Church of the Commonwealth._)
[165] _Forster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth_, iii. 356.
[166] _Lords' Journals_, February 7th, 1661/2.
[167] For the story of the Regicides see _The Trial_, published at the
time, and of modern publications, _Noble's Regicides_; _Caulfield's
High Court of Justice_; and _The Trials of Charles I. and of some of
the Regicides_.
[168] _Commons' Journals_, December 4th and 8th, 1660.