With respect to his general cast of thought, perhaps Farindon comes nearer to the three great Divines who were rising into notice when he ended his ministry and life,-Cudworth, Henry More, and John Smith: men who placed religion eminently and especially in a participation of “the divine nature," and a consequent actual conformity to the moral image of God. No man would they acknowledge as a Christian, in the strict and proper sense of that term, whatever might be the articles of his belief, his attendance upon religious ordinances, or his conformity to the purest model of ecclesiastical regimen, unless he also possessed the mind that was in Christ, and daily copied the example of his crucified Lord. These men, who prepared the way for Kidder, Tillotson, Patrick, Burnet, and Sharpe, strenuously insisted upon a mystical conformity to the death and resurrection of Christ; for, while they declared that he died upon the cross as the innocent substitute of the guilty, and rose again for the justification of transgressors, they urged upon every one, as matter of absolute duty, the necessity of dying to sin, and of rising to a new and a holy life, without which Christ may be said to have died in vain. In common with these men, no orthodoxy, no sacramental efficacy, no forms of divine worship, would Farindon recognise as a substitute for holy tempers and a holy life. Against every principle that would weaken the bonds of moral obligation, and against all attempts to dissociate religion and the practice of universal righteousness, he lifted up the warning voice, in the true spirit of a faithful watchman upon the walls of Jerusalem. In his estimation mere names are of no moment; so that whether the evil appeared in the garb of Popery with its blandishments of alleged antiquity and of ceremony, or in the garb of Puritanism with its innate hostility to forms, he met it with the most determined and unflinching resistance. At the same time, his intimacy with Hales and Chillingworth, and the complete cordiality of sentiment which subsisted between them, placed him a century in advance of his clerical compeers on all subjects connected with civil and religious liberty. His most appropriate classification is therefore considered to be with those who were called "Latitudinarian Divines," who at that time flourished principally in the University of Cambridge, and of whom Cudworth, More, and Smith may be regarded as the type. In his sermons may be found many passages of great power and severity against the ill-concealed vices of hypocrites and high pretenders; but they contain no vituperations against professing Christians of other denominations; no solemn invocations of the civil power against sectaries and recusants,-a common theme for all the theologues of that age who reckoned themselves deputed by Heaven to "teach their senators wisdom;" no wishes for the speedy return of the palmy days of persecution; no sentiment incompatible with the widest philanthropy; but every thought is in accordance with the spirit of Him who "went about doing good," and who has exhibited for our imitation, in his own person, the highest model of perfect charity. Though far from slighting the due observance of the two sacraments, yet he accounted a strict obedience to the commands of Christ in the right performance of all moral duties an object of far greater importance. His highly-cultivated mind was of a philosophic:1 cast, and in its grasp exceedingly comprehensive; but he avoided all metaphysical niceties, and evinced his dislike of them by enforcing all the obligations of Christianity from motives furnished by the sacred Scriptures.

The following extracts from three of his sermons containing his free thoughts on the church and sacraments, afford a good specimen of his style and manner :

4 E

VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES.

"I will not accuse the foregoing ages of the church, because as they were loud for the ceremonious part of God's worship, so were they as sincere in it, and did worship him in spirit and in truth,' and were equally zealous in them both; and though they raised the first to a great height, yet never suffered it so to over-top the other as to put out its light, but were what their outward expressions spake them, as full of piety as ceremony. And yet we see, that high esteem which they had of the sacraments of the church, led some of them upon those errors which they could not well quit themselves of but by falling into worse. It is on all hands agreed, that they are not absolutely necessary, not so necessary as the mortifying of our lusts, and denying of ourselves, not so necessary as actual holiness. It is not absolutely necessary to be baptized; for many have not passed that Jordan, yet have been saved: but it is necessary to have the laver of regeneration, and to cleanse ourselves from sin. It is not absolutely necessary to eat the bread and drink the wine in the sacrament of the Lord's supper; for some cross accident may intervene, and put me by: but it is necessary to feed on the bread of life; as necessary as my meat, to do God's will. True piety is absolutely necessary, because none can hinder me from that but myself; but it is not always in every man's power to bring himself to the font, or approach the Lord's table. All that can be said is, that when they may be had, they are absolutely necessary; but they are therefore not absolutely necessary because they cannot always be had. And they who stretched beyond this, stretched beyond their line, and lost themselves in an ungrounded and unwarranted admiration of these ordinances, which, whilst we look upon them in their proper orb and compass, can never have honour and esteem enough. Some put the communion into the mouths of infants, who had but now their being; and into the mouths of the dead, who had indeed a being, but not such a being as to be fit communicants. And St. Augustine thought baptism of infants so absolutely necessary, that not to be baptized was to be damned; and therefore was forced also to create a new hell that was never before heard of, and to find out mitem damnationem, a more mild and easy damnation,' more fit, as he thought, for the tenderness and innocency of infants.

"Now this was but an error in speculation, the error of devout and pious men, who, in honour to the Author of the sacraments, made them more binding and necessary than they were. And we may learn thus much by this over-great esteem the first and best Christians, and the most learned amongst them, had of them, that there is more certainly due than hath been given in these latter times by men who have learnt to despise all learning, whose great devotion it is to quarrel and cry down all devotion, who can find no way to gain the reputation of wisdom but by the fierce and loud impugning of that which hath been practised and commended to succeeding ages by the wisest in their generation; by men who first cry down the determinations of the church, and then, in a scornful and profane pride and animosity, deny there is any such collection or body as a church at all.

"But our errors in practice are more dangerous, more spreading, more universal. For, what is our esteem of the sacraments? More a great deal than theirs, and yet less, because it is such as we should not give them, even such as they whom we are so bold to censure would have anathematized. We think (or act as if we did) that the water of baptism doth cleanse us, though we make ourselves more leopards, fuller of spots than before; that the bread in the eucharist will nourish us up to eternal life, though we feed on husks all the remainder of our days. We baptize our

children, and promise and vow for them, and then instil those thriving and worldly principles into them which null and cancel the vow we made at the font: hither we bring them to renounce the world, and at home teach them to love it. And for the Lord's supper, what is commonly our preparation? A sermon, a few hours of meditation, a seeming farewell to our common affairs, a faint heaving at the heart that will not be lifted up, a sad and demure countenance at the time; and the next day, nay, before the next day, this mist is shaken off, and we are ready to give Mammon a salute and a cheerful countenance, the world our service, to drudge and toil as that shall lead us, to rail as loud, to revenge as maliciously, to wanton it as sportfully, to cheat as kindly, as ever we did long before, when we never so much as thought of a sacrament! And shall we now place all religion, nay, any religion, in this? or call that 'good,' that absolutely good and necessary, for which we are the worse, absolutely the worse, every day? Well may God ask the question, Will he be pleased with this?' Well may he by one Prophet ask, 'Who hath required it?' (Isai. i. 12;) and by another instruct us, and 'show us yet a more excellent way.' (1 Cor. xii. 31.)

"It was not the error of the Jew alone, to forget true and inward sanctity, and to trust upon outward worship and formality; but sad experience hath taught us, that the same error, which misled the Jew under his weak and beggarly elements,' hath in the fulness of time' found admittance and harbour in the breasts of Christians under that 'perfect law of liberty' in which the grace of God hath appeared unto all men.' (Gal. iv. 4, 9; James i. 25; Titus ii. 11.) I am unwilling to make the parallel: it carrieth with it some probability, that some of them had that gross conceit of God, that he fed on the flesh of bulls, and drank the blood of goats. For God himself standeth up and denieth it: Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? If I be hungry, I will not tell thee.' (Psalm 1. 12, 13.) If there were not such a conceit, why doth God thus expostulate? And is there no symptom, no indication, of this disease in us? Do we not believe that God delighteth in these pageants and formalities? that he better liketh the devotion of the ear than of the heart? Do we not measure out our devotion rather by the many sermons we have heard, than the many alms we have given, or, which is better, the many evil thoughts we have stifled, the many unruly desires we have suppressed, the many passions we have subdued, the many temptations we have conquered? Hath not this been our arithmetic, to cast up our accounts, not by the many good deeds we have done, which may stand for figures or numbers, but by the many reproaches we have given to the times, the many bitter censures we have passed upon men better than ourselves, the many sermons we have heard, which, many times, God knoweth, are no better than ciphers, and by themselves signify no more? Do we not please ourselves with these conceits, and lift ourselves up into the third heaven? Do we not think that God is well pleased with these thoughts? Do we not believe they are sacrifices of a sweet-smelling savour unto him? And what is this less, than to think that God will eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats?' Nay, may it not seem far worse, to think that God is fed and delighted with our formalities, which are but lies, and that he is in love with our hypocrisy? I may be bold to say, it is as gross an error, and as opposite to the wisdom of God, as the other. It is truly said, Multa non illicita vitiat animus ; 'that the mind and intention of man may draw an obliquity on those actions which in themselves are lawful.' Nay, multa mandata vitiat, ‘it may make that unlawful which is commanded.' O, 'it is a fearful thing

to fall into the hands of the living God!' (Heb. x. 31.) But how fearful is it to have his hand fall upon us when we stand at his altar! to see him frown and hear him thunder when we worship! in anger to question us when we are doing our duty! What a dart would it be to pierce our souls through and through, if God should now send a Prophet to us to tell us, that our frequenting the church and coming to his table are distasteful to him! that our fasts are not such as he hath chosen, and that he hateth them as much as he doth our oppression and cruelty, to which they may be the prologue that he will have none of the one, because he will have none of the other! And yet if we terminate religion in these outward formalities, make them wait upon our lusts, to bring them with more smoothness and with more state and pomp and applause to their end, to that which they look so earnestly upon; if we thus appear before God, he that shall tell us as much of our hearing and fasting and frequenting the church, shall be as true a Prophet as Micah the Morasthite was.

"If you ask me wherewith ye shall come before the Lord, and bow yourselves before the Most High;' look further into the text, and there you have a full and complete directory: Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.' With these you may approach his courts, and appear at his altar. Come, then, and appear before God, and offer up these. Nor need you fear that ridiculous and ungodly imputation, which presenteth you to the world under the name of mere moral men.' Bear it as your crown of rejoicing. It is stigma Jesu Christi, a mark of Christ Jesus' and none will lay it upon you as a defect but they who are not patient of any loss but of their honesty; who have learnt an art to join together in one the saint and the deceiver; who can draw down heaven to them with a thought, and yet supplant and overreach their brother as cunningly as the devil doth them. Bonus vir, Caius Seius;* Caius Seius is a good man; his only fault is, that he is a Christian,' would the Heathen say. He is a good moral man; but he is not of the elect, that is, one of our faction,' saith one Christian of another. I much wonder how long 'a good moral man' hath been such a monster. What is the Decalogue but an abridgment of morality? What is Christ's Sermon on the Mount but an improvement of that? And shall civil and honest conversation, then, be the mark of a reprobate? Shall nature bring forth a Regulus, a Cato, a Fabricius, just and honest men? And shall grace and the Gospel of Christ bring forth nothing but zanies, but players and actors of religion, but Pharisees and hypocrites? Or was the new creature, the Christian, raised up to thrust the moral man out of the world? Must all be election and regeneration? Must all religion be carried along in phrases and words and noise, and must justice and mercy be exposed as monsters, and flung out into the land of oblivion? Or how can they be elect and regenerate who are not just and merciful? No: the moral man that keepeth the commandments, 'is not far from the kingdom of God;' (Mark xii. 34 ;) and he that is a Christian, and buildeth up his morality and justice and mercy upon his faith in Christ, and keepeth a good conscience, and doeth to others what he would that others should do unto him,' (Matt. vii. 12,) shall enter in and have a mansion there, when speculative and seraphic hypocrites, who decree for God, and pre-ordain there a place for themselves, shall be shut out of doors." +

"Better it were that it should be said we were no Christians, than that

Tertulliani Apologeticus, cap. iii.

+ Sermon v., vol. i., pp. 146~150,

we were Christians ready to devour one another; Christians, but adulterers; Christians, but malicious; the children of God, with the teeth of a lion; delighting in those sins which we abjure, and every day committing that for which we beg pardon every day! This consideration was it, I suppose, that caused divers Christians to do what some of the Fathers have condemned,—defer their baptism. And when they were baptized, what a multitude of ceremonies did they use! what prayers! what geniculations! what fastings! what watchings! First, they breathed upon them thrice, and thrice bade Satan avoid, that Christ might enter. Secondly, they exorcised them, that the evil spirit might depart and give place. Then they gave them salt, that their putrid sins might be cleansed. Then they touched their nostrils and their ears; they anointed their breasts and their shoulders; they anointed their head, and covered it; they put upon them white apparel; they laid their hands upon them, that they might receive the grace of the Spirit. Of all which we may say as Hilary doth of types, Plus significant quàm agunt, They had more signification than virtue or power;' and were intimations, what piety is required of them who have given up their names unto Christ, how foul sin appears in him that is washed, and how dangerous it is after reconcilement."*

"And now if we look into the church, we shall find that most men stand in need of a 'Yea rather;' who will magnify Christ and his mother too, but not do his will; will do what they ought to do, but leave that undone for which that which they do was ordained. Lord! how many beatitudes have we found out, and seldom touch upon the right!-Felix sacramentum ! 'Blessed sacrament of baptism!' The Father begins his book so De Baptismo. It is true; but there is an Imò potius, 'Yea rather, Blessed are they that have put on Christ.'-Blessed sacrament of the Lord's supper!' It is true; but, Yea rather, Blessed are they that dwell in Christ.'- Blessed profession of Christianity!' Yea rather, blessed are they that are Christ's.' Blessed cross!' The Fathers call it so. Yea rather, Blessed are they that have crucified their flesh with the affections and lusts.'-Blessed church!' 'Yea rather, Blessed are they who are members of Christ.''Blessed Reformation!" Yea rather, Blessed are they that reform themselves. For we are baptized, that we might put on Christ.' (Gal. iii. 27.) We come to his table, that we may feed on him by faith.' The cross is magnified, that we may take it up.' (Matt. xvi. 24.) The church was reformed, that we should purge ourselves not only of superstition, but also of profaneness and sacrilege, and those sins for which the name of Christ is blasphemed amongst the Heathen.' (Rom. ii. 24.)" +

The following brief extracts exhibit the philanthropic views which he entertained concerning the welfare of the whole human family, and the paramount duties which one Christian man owes to another, and to the sinners with whom he is surrounded :

"As therefore every Bishop in the former ages called himself Episcopum catholicæ ecclesiæ, 'a Bishop of the catholic church,' although he had jurisdiction but over one diocess, so the care and piety of every particular Christian, in respect of its diffusive operation, is as catholic as the church. Every soul he meeteth with is under his charge, and he is the care of every soul. In saving a soul from death' every man is a Priest and a Bishop, although he may neither invade the pulpit nor ascend the chair. (James v. 20.) I may be eyes unto him,' as it was said of Hobab. (Num. x. 31.)

* Sermon cxxiii., vol. iv., p. 427.

+ Sermon lxvii. vol. iii., p. 171.