loved that Religion best which came accompanied with decency. and external splendour; that they objected nothing more against us, than the novelty of our doctrine, the heterodoxies maintained in public by some of our preachers, the slovenly keeping of our churches, the irreverence of the people in them, the rude and careless slubbering over of our common prayers. And what encouragements had they for resorting to the congregation, when they should hear the Pope defamed,* whom they they cared not for any thing that was regular, exemplary, orderly, comely, or reverent, as to the outward celebration, in the judgment and appointment of the Church of England. Hence some men grew to such great applaudings of themselves, (as if this were the only simplicity of the Gospel,) that they thought every man went about to cut the throat of Reformed Religion, who applied any scissars or razor to pare off rudeness and rusticity, or to trim it to any decency in the outward ministrations, according to what seemed best to the Church of England. Many Bishops thought, that religion would grow strangely wild, hirsute, horrid and incult, like Nebuchadnezzar's hair and nails, if it were left to the boisterous clowneries and unmannerly liberties which every one would affect, contrary to the public appointment of the church. If some Bishops pleased themselves in using such outward and enjoined ceremonies, beyond what was ordinary to some men, yet certainly a thousand decent and innocent ceremonies, such as those enjoined by the Church of England were declared to be, do not amount to one Popish opinion; nor are they so heavy as one popular and erroneous principle, which tends to faction, licentiousness and profaneness."-GAUDEN's Tears, &c. *The following extract from HEYLIN'S Life of Laud, will prove, that the prohibition to call the Pope "Antichrist" was not peculiar to that Archbishop's regimen, but had been "the order of the day" in the reign of King James when the Spanish match was in agitation. It will likewise corroborate the opinion which I have given, in page 376, of the obedient conduct of King Charles, and of the hereditary attachment to Popery exhibited by nearly the whole of the Stuart family. (Page 557.)

"The Bishop of Exeter's [Hall's] book [Episcopacy by Divine Right] being finished, and recommended by the author to his [Laud's] last perusal before it went unto the press, he took the pains to read it over with care and diligence. In the perusal whereof he took notice, amongst other things, that the strict superstition of the Sabbatarians was but lightly touched at; whereas he thought, that some smarter plaster to that sore might have done no harm. He observed also, that he passed by this point, viz. Whether Episcopacy be an Order or Degree, as not much material; whereas, in the judgment of such learned men as he had consulted, it was the main ground of the whole cause: And therefore he desired him to weigh it well, and to alter it with his own pen as soon as might be. But that which gave him most offence was, that the title of Antichrist was positively and determinately bestowed upon the Pope; which being so contrary to the judgment of many learned Protestants, as well as his own, he allowed not of; but howsoever thought it fit to acquaint his majesty with the business, and, having so done, to submit it to his will and pleasure. Concerning which, he writes thus to the Bishop in his letter of Jan. 14. this present year, [1639]. The last (with 'which I durst not but acquaint his majesty,) is about Antichrist, which 'title in three or four places you bestow upon the Pope positively and determinately; whereas king James of blessed memory, having brought strong proof in a work of his, as you well know, to prove the Pope to be Antichrist, yet, being afterwards challenged about it, he made this answer, when the king that now is went into Spain, and acquainted with it: That he writ that, not concludingly, but by way of argument only that the Pope and 'his adherents might see there were as good and better arguments to prove him • Antichrist, than for the Pope to challenge temporal jurisdiction over kings. The whole passage being known to me, I could not but speak with the king about it, who commanded me to write unto you, that you might qualify

beheld with reverence as their common father; their ceremonies to be counted Antichristian, their mass Idolatrous, their whole religion worse than that of the Turks and Moors, conformity

your expression in these particulars, and so not differ from the known judgment of his pious and learned father. This is easily done with your own pen; and the rather, because all Protestants join not in this opinion of Antichrist. According to which good advice, the Bishop of Exon. qualified some of his expressions, and deleted others, to the contentment of his sovereign, the satisfaction of his metropolitan, and his own great honour."

No man can doubt that the Archbishop's prejudices against the Pope were as inveterate as those of Bishop Hall: But their royal master was connected with Papists, his Queen was a member of the Church of Rome, and it was therefore his majesty's pleasure that no undue stigma should attach to the Roman Pontiff. Bishop Hall's book was finished in 1639; yet the moderation which he then displayed, by a suitable deference to the suggestions of his civil and ecclesiastical superiors, was not a temporary piece of policy adopted solely on that occasion. It was the result of conviction; and he thus expressed his opinion concerning it, fourteen years afterwards, in a letter to Archbishop Usher: Having alluded (in 1654,) to "the disquisition of that Antichrist lately set on foot by Grotius and Dr. Hammond," he makes this frank acknowledgment:" I must confess, if the times may accord, there may seem to be some probability in casting Antichrist upon an age not so far remote from the Apostolic age as hath been commonly reputed; since the Apostle speaks of it as a thing so near at hand, that the ordinary christians of Thessalonica were well acquainted with the bar of his revelation."-Neither Grotius, Laud, Hammond, Hall, nor the British divines at the Synod of Dort, could perceive any utility in deciding" concludingly" respecting the Pope as the predicted Antichrist, whatever might be their opinions" hypothetically" concerning the Pontiff's close approximation to the scriptural characters of "the man of sin and the son of perdition.'

To those who have compared Bishop Hall's early works with those which he wrote towards the close of life, it is unnecessary to remark, that his views of General Redemption, and even of the severe measures adopted by Laud, were greatly altered when he perceived the tendency of the principles avowed by the Archbishop's Calvinistic opponents, of whom he had at first been a great patron. In his celebrated letter from the Tower, he employs this expostulation: "Can my enemies challenge me as a close and backstair friend to POPERY OF ARMINIANISM, who have, in so many pulpits and so many presses, cried down both? Surely the very paper which I have spent in the refutation of both these, is enough to stop more mouths than can be guilty of this calumny!" When he was by his Majesty in 1627 raised to the Bishopric of Exeter," he informs his readers: "I entered upon that place, not without much prejudice and suspicion on some hands; for some that sat at the stern of the Church had me in great jealousy for too much favour of Puritanism. I soon had intelligence who were set over me for espials; my ways were curiously observed and scanned. However, I took the resolution to follow those courses which might most conduce to the peace and happiness of my new and weighty charge; finding therefore some factious spirits very busy in that diocese, I used all fair and gentle means to win them to good order; and therein so happily prevailed, that they were all perfectly reclaimed, so as I had not one minister professedly opposite to the anciently received orders, (for I was never guilty of urging any new impositions,) of the Church in that large diocese. Thus we went on comfortably together, till some persons of note in the clergy, being guilty of their own negligence and disorderly courses, began to envy our success; and finding me ever ready to encourage those whom I found conscionably forward, and painful in their places, and willingly giving way to orthodox and peaceable lectures in several parts of my diocese, opened their mouths against me, both obliquely in the pulpit, and directly at the court; complaining of my too much indulgence to persons disaffected, and my too much liberty of frequent lecturing's within my charge. The billows went so high, that I was three several times upon my knee to his

to whom in rites and ceremonies, was held to be more tolerable, by the Puritan preachers, than to those of Rome! These rubs were first to be removed, before they could have any

6

Majesty, to answer these great criminations. And what contestation I had with some great lords concerning these particulars, it would be too long to report; only this,-under how dark a cloud I was hereupon, I was so sensible, that I plainly told the lord Archbishop of Canterbury, that, rather than I would be obnoxious to those slanderous tongues of his misinformers, 'I would cast up my rochet.' I knew I went right ways, and would not endure to live under undeserved suspicions. What messages of caution I had from some of my wary brethren, and what expostulatory letters I had from above, I need not relate. Sure I am I had peace, and comfort at home, in the happy sense of that general unanimity, and loving correspondence of my clergy; till, in the last year of my presiding there, after the synodical [or et-cetera] oath was set on foot, (which yet I did never tender to any one minister of my diocese,) by the incitation of some busy interlopers of the neighbour county, some of them began to enter into an unkind contestation with me, about the election of clerks of the convocation; whom they secretly, without ever acquainting me with their desire or purpose, (as driving to that end which we see now accomplished,) would needs nominate and set up in competition to those whom I had, after the usual form, recommended to

them.'

Thus, it is seen, the good Bishop discovered the perverse dispositions and sinister designs of "these conscionably forward and painful" Calvinistic ministers, before he left his first diocese; in the management of which, it has been justly said, "he miscarried only in some inadvertent expressions which yet he submitted to the censure of the church, and in an over-credulous charity whereby yet he designed the kingdom's peace." The vile treatment which he received from his Predestinarian brethren, after his removal to Norwich in 1641, has been narrated in his own expressive language in pages 318, 329, and 334. Neither his former undisguised hostility to Popery and Arminianism, nor the piety and moderation of his latter years, afforded any protection against the assaults of his enemies. The fine picture of the ejected Bishops, which was drawn by the hand of a master, in page 688, is as applicable to this venerable Prelate as to any of his right reverend brethren: In his retirement on his own farm, at Higham near Norwich, "he spoke and wrote only the words of soberness, truth, and charity," &c. Of those excellent christian treatises which he published at that period, I never met with one that a pious Arminian would desire to have suppressed,-with the exception, perhaps, of his famous letter respecting the oath tendered to the members of the Synod of Dort, of which the reader will find a curious history in the second volume of this work. I have now before me a copy of the first edition (1652) of one of his small pamphlets, entitled "The Christian laid forth in his whole Disposition and Carriage." It is known to all who love the lore of that age, that when republican liberty was introduced, the freedom of the press was not established, and no book could make its appearance without an authoritative Imprimatur: For the removal of this stigma from a reputed free country, who that glories in the name of Englishman has not read “AREOPAGITICA, a speech of Mr. John Milton, for the liberty of unlicensed Printing?" The Bishop's pamphlet is licensed by a Presbyterian minister, and, as he informs the reader in his Preface, that "he has gathered up this true character of a Christian out of infallible rules and long experience," I shall quote a few passages, illustrative of the preceding observations which I have made upon the change effected both in the Bishop's views and practice :

"Is the Christian a subject? He is awfully affected to Sovereignty, as knowing by whom the powers are ordained. He dares not curse the King, no, not in his thought; nor revile the Ruler of his people, though justly faulty: Much less dare he slander the footsteps of God's anointed. He submits, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake, to every Ordinance of God, yea to every Ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake; not daring to

thoughts of uniting to us: And, for the removing of those rubs, he fell upon the courses before-mentioned; which, being Renovations only of some ancient usages, were branded by the

disobey in regard of the oath of God. If he have reached forth his hand to cut off but the skirt of the royal robe, his heart smites him. He is a true paymaster, and willingly renders tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, honour to whom honour is due, and justly divides his duties betwixt God and Cæsar. He hath fully informed himself of all the necessary points of religion; and is so firmly grounded in those fundamental and saving truths, that he cannot be carried about with every wind of doctrine: As for collateral and unmaterial verities, he neither despiseth, nor yet doth too eagerly pursue them. Matters of speculation are not unwelcome to him; but his chief care is to reduce his knowledge to practice; and therefore he holds nothing HIS OWN but what his heart hath appropriated and his life acted. He dares not be too much wedded to his own conceit; and hath so much humility, as to think the whole Church of Christ upon earth wiser than himself. However he be A GREAT LOVER OF CONSTANCY, yet, upon better reason, he can change his mind in some litigious and unimporting truths, and can be silent where he must dissent. Every man shows fair in prosperity; but the main trial of the Christian is in suffering. Any man may steer in a good gale and clear sea, but the mariner's skill will be seen in a tempest. Herein the Christian goes beyond the Pagans, not in practice only, but in admiration. We rejoice in tribulation, saith the chosen vessel. Lo here a point transcending all the affectation of Heathenism! Perhaps some resolute spirit whether out of a natural fortitude or out of an ambition of fame or earthly glory, may set a face upon a patient enduring of loss or pain, but never any of those heroic Gentiles durst pretend to a joy in suff ering. Hither cau christian courage reach; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.-Is he bereaved of his goods and worldly estate? He comforts himself in the conscience of a better treasure that can never be lost. Is he afflicted with sickness? His comfort is, that the inward man is so much more renewed daily, as the outward perisheth.-Is he slandered and unjustly disgraced? His comfort is, that there is a blessing which will more than make him amends.-Is he banished? He knows he is on his way homewards.-Is he imprisoned? His spirit cannot be locked in; God and his angels cannot be locked out.-Is he dying? To him to live is Christ, and to die is gain.-Is he dead? He rests from his labours, and is crowned with glory.-Shortly, he is perfect gold, that comes more pure out of the fire than it went in; neither had he ever been so great a saint in heaven, if he had not passed through the flames of his trial here upon earth."

Those who know the last interesting passages of the good Bishop's life, will not require to be told, that this is an exact portrait of himself, the result of his own" long experience;" and that he derived the chief portion of these liberal sentiments, from the once-despised practical Arminian tenets of the Church to which he belonged.

Let the subjoined extract from his "Christ Mystical," which was licensed by the same hand, and published in 1653, be compared with the mutual railing of the contending Predestinarian sects, and it will soon appear that this diffusive liberality had a higher and purer source than the one from which their narrow opinions were deduced. Unless we had previously discerned some of the retaliative acts of Divine Providence, and had been apprized of the immense benefit which poor ignorant mortals derive from personal experience, we could scarcely have been induced to believe, that the man, who, as Dean of Worcester, assisted partially in expelling the pious Arminians out of the Dutch territories, did, in his ripe and mellow age, as the Ex-Bishop of Norwich, compose and publish the following sentences: "What would Saint Paul now say, if he saw hundreds of sectmasters and heresiarchs, (some of them opposite to other, all [opposite] to the truth,) applauded by their credulous and divided followers?" All of them claiming Christ for THEIRS, and denying him to their gainsayers! Would

odious name of Innovations, by some of those who out of cunning and design had long disused them. Some zealous Proteshe not ask, Is Christ multiplied? Is Christ subdivided? Is Christ shred into infinites? O God! what is become of Christianity?' &c. But be not too much dismayed, my son! Notwithstanding all these cold disheartenings, take courage to thyself. He that is TRUTH itself hath said, The gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church. In spite of all devils, there shall be saints; and those are and shall be as the scales of leviathan, &c. (Job xli, 16.) In all the main principles of religion, there is an universal and unanimous consent of all Christians, and these are they that constitute a church. Those that agree in these, Christ is pleased to admit, for matter of doctrine, as members of that body whereof he is the head. And if they admit not of each other as such [members], the fault is in the uncharitableness of the REFUSERS, no less than in the error of the REFUSED. If any vain and loose stragglers will needs sever themselves and wilfully choose to go ways of their own, let them know that the union of Christ's church shall consist entire without them: This great ocean will be one collection of waters, when these drops are lost."

In another passage he says: "It is not the variety of by-opinions that should or can exclude them from having their part in that one Catholic Church, and from their just claim to the communion of saints. While they hold the solid and precious foundation, it is not the hay or stubble (1 Cor. iii, 12.) which they lay upon it, that can set them off from God or his church. But, in the mean time, it must be granted, that they have much to answer for to the God of peace and unity, who are so much addicted to their own conceits and so indulgent to their own interest, as to raise and maintain new doctrines, and to set up new sects in the Church of Christ, varying from the common and received truths; labouring to draw disciples after them, to the great distraction of souls and scandal of Christianity. With which sort of disturbers, I must needs say, this age into which we are fallen, hath been and is above all that have gone before us, most miserably pestered. What good soul can be other than confounded to hear of and see more than an hundred and fourscore new (and some of them dangerous and blasphemous) opinions broached, and defended in one once famous and unanimous Church of Christ? Who can say other, upon the view of these wild thoughts, than Gerson said long since, that the world, now grown old, is full of doting fancies; if not, rather, that the world, now near his end, raves, and talks nothing but fancies and frenzies? How arbitrary soever these self-willed fanaticks may think it, to take to themselves this liberty of thinking what they list, and venting what they think, the blessed Apostle hath long since branded them with an heavy sentence, (Rom. xvi, 17.) Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them; For they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words, and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple.-But notwithstanding all this hideous variety of vain and heterodoxal conceptions, he who is the truth of God, and the bridegroom of his spouse the Church, hath said, (Cant. vi, 9.) My dove, my undefiled is one. One, in the main, essential, fundamental verities necessary to salvation; though differing in divers misraised corollaries, inconsequent inferences, unnecessary additions, feigned traditions, unwarrantable practices. The body is one, though the garments differ. Yea, rather, for most of these, the garment is one, but differs in the dressing; handsomely and comely set out by one, disguised by another. Neither is it nor ever shall be in the power of all the fiends of hell, the professed makebates of the world, to make God's Church other than one; which were indeed utterly to extinguish and reduce it to nothing: For the unity and entity of the church can no more be divided, than itself."

Stronger proofs will be hereafter adduced of the great alteration in the Bishop's sentiments. But, to the considerate reader, one part of this note will elucidate the other; especially on the loveliness and importance of a strict attention to conformity in the public worship of God, wherever it was practicable. See page 535.