livings, and one of these meetings directly opposite to the house of Dr. Owen, while he was vice-chancellor of Oxford, he would never suffer to be disturbed*.

The money raised by the sale of cathedral lands, was vested in the hands of trustees, and a part of it appropriated to the support of those bishops, deans, and other clergymen, who had been deprived of their means of support. A fifth of the income of livings was afterwards devoted to the relief of the ejected incumbents. For in answer to incessant complaints of scandalous ministers, the parliament appointed a cominittee, who were called the tryers, by whom many were ejected as unworthy to hold livings. That the political ferment of the times influenced the decisions of this committee, is more than probable†, but to what degree learned and pious men suffered for their attachment to the king and the episcopal establishment has been disputed. It is, however,

* Dr. Owen's Life.

+ Pierce p. 204-214.

Thomas Fuller, the author of the church history to which we have often referred, was known to be attached to the former order of things under the bishops, and thus feared that he should find the tryers more severe. He therefore applied to Mr. John Howe, who was an independent, and one of Cromwell's chaplains, saying to him, "you see, sir, I am a fat man, and I have to pass through a narrow passage, I wish you would give me a push." Mr. Howe, who was constantly doing kind offices to those who differed from him, pleaded his cause with the committee, so that when Fuller appeared, and was asked the usual question, whether he had ever experienced a work of grace upon his heart, he only replied, "I can appeal to the searcher of hearts that I make conscience of my very thoughts," and with this answer the committee was satisfied, While it was not a direct answer to the question, it places Fuller in an honourable light, and represents the committee as seeking not the shibboleth of a party, but the essence of religion. Howe's Life, page 7.

indisputable, that the episcopal party paid the highest compliment to the moderation and liberality, which reserved to the former incumbents a portion of their incomes, by showing, at the restoration, that the conduct of the puritans was too elevated and generous for them to imitate.

Though the dominant party, at this æra, are accused of vandalism, the parliament made a liberal donation to Trinity College Dublin, and patronized learning in the sister kingdom with so much zeal, that this unfortunate island began to assume a brighter appearance than it had ever worn before. Cromwell endowed a college at Durham, that young men from the north of the kingdom might not have to travel to Oxford and Cambridge. He gave a hundred pounds per annum to the support of a divinity professor at Oxford, presented some rare manuscripts to the Bodleian library, and permitted the paper for Dr. Walton's polyglot bible to be imported duty free. At the head of the university of Oxford was the celebrated Dr. Owen, a divine so eminent, that it may be justly questioned whether the kingdom has since produced his equal. Milton, the immortal bard, was the apologist of the commonwealth, and the Latin secretary of Cromwell.

The state of religion, during this period, who can fairly estimate? Those who are accurately acquainted with the productions of the men, who flourished under the commonwealth, will reject with contempt the current tales of universal fanaticism; though to us the picture of wonderful piety, which others have given of this æra, appears by far too highly coloured. The public fasts, which were numerous, were kept with singular strictness; but in our days it has been seen,

that times of threatening danger will awe men into a serious panic for the day, who are far enough from making religion the business and bliss of their lives. The Lord's-day was never so honoured as at this period. The sermons which are published under the title of the morning exercises, as well as some others delivered before the parliament, by presbyterian and independent divines, in point of solid learning, theological acumen, scriptural knowledge, practical utility, and popular eloquence, need not shrink from a comparison with those of any bishop under the house of Stuart. The universities were then the temples of religion, as well as the groves of the

muses.

But when it is said, as by Neale* and some others, that "the great body of the people were at that time sincerely religious," we discover both undue partiality for those days, and some inattention to the real nature of religion. Heavy, and surely not unfounded, complaints are raised of the gross ignorance, and heathenish profligacy of multitudes, during the former reign; and are we to suppose, that, in a period which was not long enough to furnish preachers for the whole kingdom, millions were converted? Was Britain transformed into a nation of Christians by the mere change of the governors, and of the leading fashion of the times? Such success would have been more miraculous than that which attended the preaching of the apostles, with all the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit which accompanied the first establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the world.

There is undoubtedly some truth in the representations of Clarendon and his admirers, that hypocrisy *History of the Puritans.

and fanaticism contributed to form the character of that period. As the rulers were bent on drilling the nation into the form of godliness; the open profaneness, in which human depravity usually appears, was stifled; and many were eager to conceal their real character under the cloak of that serious profession, which was the road to preferment, and the fashion of the times. For the same reason, many in our day adopt the contrary hypocrisy of appearing more completely debauched than they really feel. Dr. Owen frequently bewails in his sermons the restless impatience which many betrayed under the moral restraints which were then imposed on their depraved inclinations.

While the public attention was powerfully drawn towards the subject of religion, the calamities of a revolutionary period assisted to produce serious impressions on the minds of many whose radical character was yet unchanged. As the enthusiasm of liberty will, for the moment, inspire many a tame, servile spirit with the sincere conceit, that he is transformed to a patriot; so at this period, the purity of religion was the watch-word, and multitudes fancied themselves inspired to fight the battles of the Lord of Hosts, who were yet enemies to him in their own minds.

There was, however, among all ranks an unusual portion of religious knowledge. The long parliament was an assembly of divines; and though Hume ridicules them for dogmatising on abtruse points of theology, they had more reason for their conduct than he had sense to perceive, or honesty to avow. The preachers were labourers indeed, but unhappily cramped in their exertions by a narrow, sectarian spirit, which caused them bitterly to oppose those in

whose success they ought to have rejoiced. Not that it so much affected their preaching, as many have represented, for a conformist under Charles the second declares," In many hundreds of sermons I never heard their differences of sentiment; though one was considered a presbyterian, another an independent, and a third epicopalian: nor was Calvin deified or preached, any further than as Christ spake in him*." In a word, with all the disadvantages of these times, it must be owned, that many who abhorred the change of the ancient form of government, and contributed with the warmest zeal to the restoration, afterwards bitterly deplored the loss of those days, which, when compared with the profligate reign of Charles the second, may be called, in sacred language, the days of heaven upon earth.

At length Cromwell was called to appear before the Judge of all the earth. His character and religion bave been considered an insoluble enigma. That regard for liberty of conscience, for which the presbyterians hated him, now forms the surest basis of his famet. His occasional severities, towards the favourers of the church of England, have been excused as just retaliation on those who were constantly plotting against his person and government; but he ought to have known to distinguish between the worshippers of God, and the subjects of the state. Cromwell's personal religion commenced before he had any public part to act; and while he was yet a member of the church of England, he was, like many others, branded as a puritan, for his opposition to arminian doctrines and arbitrary power. That his public station had not improved his character, he seems to have been himself *Preface to Conformist's Plea. † Warner, 592. Ibid, 586.