Addresses Biographical and Historical

ALEXANDER GORDON, M.A. tc_' Sometime Lecturer in Ecclesiastical History in the University of fifanclzester

VETUS PROPTER NO VUM DEPROMETIS

THE LINDSEY PRESS 5 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.2 1922 www.unitarian.org.uWdocs PREFATORY NOTE

With three exceptions the following Addresses were delivered at the openings of Sessions of the Unitarian Home Missionary College, in Manchester, where the author was Principal from 1890 to 1911. The fifth Address (Salters' Hall) was delivered at the Opening Meeting of the High Pavement Historical Society, in Nottingham; the seventh (Doddridge) at Manchester College, in Oxford, in connection with the Summer Meeting of University Extension students ; The portrait prefixed is a facsimile, f~llsize, of the first issue of the original engraving by Christopher Sichem, from the eighth (Lindsey) at the Unitarian Institute, in the British Museum copy (698. a. 45(2)) of Grouwele.~,der Liverpool. vooruzaeutzster Hooft-Kettereuz, Leyden, 1607. In this volume the Addresses are arranged according to the chronology of their subjects; the actual date of delivery is added at the close of each. Except the first and the fifth, the Addresses were printed, shortly after delivery, in the Ch~istianLife newspaper ; these two (also the third) were printed separately; all have been revised, with a view as far as possible to reduce overlapping and to mitigate the use of the personal pronoun. Further, in the first Address it has been necessary to make an important correction in reference to the parentage of Servetus. Misled by the erroneous ascription to him of a letter from Louvain in 1538 signed Miguel Villaneuva (see the author's article Printed it1 Great Britain by on Servetus in the Encyclopwdia Britannica, also ELSOM& Co. LTD.,HULL. PREFACE vitiated by this error) the author furnished in the original Address a wrong account of the family of Servetus. The real parentage of Servetus was first disclosed in I903 with documentary proofs by Dr. Benet Roure Barrios, in Jozlentztt, a magazine in the Catalan language published at Barcelona; of this the present author had no knowledge prior to 1911, when he visited the locality for the second time A. G.

Beljast, October, 1922. THE PERSONALITY OF MICHAEL SERVETUS. ;$ , . L - MICHAEL SERVETUS .. - N a lively passage of his most popular work, I lichael Servetus inveighs against the folly of alleging two causes when one suffices to account for the effect, and is especially insistent in his of a laborious investigator who must MIGUEL SERVETO.-Born, 1511 ; Toulouse, furnish forth a triad of causal activities, as 1528 ; Bologna, 1530 ; Lyons, 1530-36; Paris, if even with two he could not rest satisfied. It 1536-38 ; Charlieu, 1540-41; Vienne, 1541-53; seems, then, only too likely that, were he here, I Died, 1553. might fall under the lash of my present study when I put forward three reasons for my choice of this topic. Yet each of these reasons has had some weight .vith me. Through the generosity of our Pre- sident our store of books has been enriched, this year, with copies of the earliest publications of Servetus, in their rare and costly first editions. It is natural to take this as a call for some en- deavour to renew an interest in their author. Again; next year (I~II),if our calculations are correct, will bring round the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Servetus; and the occasion is to be celebrated in that city in which he spent his happiest years, till influences from MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS 5

without brought on him the premonition of the ---- mark, and while partisans approved or catastrophe of his fate. So it may be well to acquiesced, nobler spirits shuddered and con- ask, What was there in him to make him deemed demned. Putting all this away from sight, I worthy, after all these years, that such celebra- want to rouse your curiosity and-enlist, if I may, tion should be accorded to his memory ? Further, your appreciation, while I make an effort to and as a third reason : it is to be feared that many recover the vivid impression of a gifted, almost a of us are apt to think far more of the fate of unique, personality, full of life and force, strenu- Servetus than of him on whom it fell. The fire ous in purpose, and with a heart as warm as his that consumed his body kindles imagination intellect was keen. much more readily than the flame that burned It is not easy to accomplish a task for which the in his soul, the radiance that illumined his spirit. ordinary means of information fail us. Con- Nay, there are those who even value his story for temporary notices are valuable, but extremely the most part, as a damaging episode in the giant rare; and in a life of surprises many points career of Calvin. remain dark and mysterious. While there is I am not anxious to treat my topic from that much of romance in this life, there are no love- point of view; into the circumstances which cut passages. When I sit down to biographize a man, short the days of Servetus, though elsewhere I I always want to know what kind of woman was have not shrunk from that enquiry, for the pur- his wife. Servetus did once contemplate matri- poses of this sketch I shall not go. With the mony, only to stifle the thought for an imperative verdict of history on that matter I am well con- reason. Of his correspondence, if we except the tent. This only will I now say. His modern few missives of miserable appeal penned in the apologists are ill-advised when they essay, Geneva dungeon, no vestige survives. Of his abandoning their defences, to make excuse for person as it appeared to his contemporaries we Calvin's share in the tragedy of Servetus. For have but a single glimpse, and this at second the excuse is shabby. It was the error of the hand. Ce'rtain spectators not named, who had age, say they-a sorry shift. Even in matters seen him at his trial and witnessed his execution, of tolerance, as in many other matters, Calvin, described him long after to Faustus Socinus as greatest of the Reformers, could on occasion rise quite an old man. His years were only f orty-two ; above the level reached by most of his contem- the impression made by his appearance tells how poraries. In the affair of Servetus he fell below effectually ten weeks' incarceration under the MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS foulest conditions had wasted his health and some pages--is a figure inspired by a right taste strength. and a true reverence, qualities in which some of A small Dutch copperplate of 1607, the only the tributes to Servetus seem to be lacking. This possible portrait of him, presents us with no is true even of the memorial figure erected at ignoble visage; but it occurs in a series of effigies Vienne in 1911, though certainly this is more of heretics, some of which have no claim to pleasing than the Paris atrocity. These harrowing authenticity, and we are without means of spectacles of the victim give little satisfaction assuring ourselves that a genuine likeness was in either to the eye or the mind; on the Spaniard's the hands of Christopher Sichem, the engraver- monumental tribute to the Spaniard one may not a very scrupulous person, for he manufactured dwell with admiration, for at any rate it embodies an effigy of Arius by the simple expedient of a worthy conception of the man. scraping out the mitre from the portrait of a The birthplace of Servetus was probably at Swabian bishop, thus leaving a bald patch on the TudBa, in Navarre, now a gloomy and not too imaginary head of the Alexandrian arch-heretic. clean city, reminding one of Galway by its From this Dutch engraving, however, numerous melancholy ancient mansions, testifying in sculp- copies, more or less close, have been derived; and tured shields of arms to a long-past splendour, the sculptor's art has transferred the features, replaced to-day by squalor and decadence. This, more or less varied, to several statues. Of these, apparently at Paris and certainly at Vienne, he by far the most impressive is the earliest, erected avowed as his birthplace, and there seems no in 1876 at Madrid by the pious care of a leading good reason to challenge the statement, though anthropologist, the late Dr. Pedro Gonzales de it is true that in a solitary passage of his Geneva Velasco. Inferior to this, judging from a photo- testimony-if the minutes of the trial, which graph, is the statue at Annemasse in Haute often blunder about names, are here correct- Savoie, which was refused erection at Champel. he described himself not simply as de Villelzeufve The statue in the Place Beaumont at Paris is a but as de Villeneufve natifz. We may account for figure of horror, representing its subject near the the birth at Tudkla, if we suppose this to have last stage of his destitution and agony. The been his mother's old home, and the birth to have Paris statue, in the Place Maubert, of Etienne taken place while she was there on a visit. Dolet, martyr of the Renaissance-immortalized Richard Baxter's birth under his grandfather's in the late Chancellor Christie's learned and light- - roof came about in this way. MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS

The father of Servetus was Antonio Serveto rollin threw out the suggestion that Servetus was alias Revb, a notary at Villanueva de Sigena, Michael, because born on Michaelmas Day. whose signatures to legal documents in the There seems no usage to this effect. Miguel archives of the convent of Sigena extend from Cervantes was not born on Michaelmas Day; or, 19 November I511 to 3 April 1553-the years, if so, his baptism was long deferred. Miguel de curiously enough, being those of the birth and Molinos, the great Spanish mystic, was born on death of his most famous son. The mother of Christmas Day. If, by any chance, zg September Servetus was Catalina Conesa ; both parents were were a lucky guess, then 1511 would have to be of good family (vivants noblement). There was amended to 1510, since the date 1511 involves the another son, Ju&n Serveto de Rev& a beneficed supposition that, when Servetus under examina- priest, rector of Poliiiino. tion in 1553 stated his age, he had passed his As to the date of birth of Servetus, it is true birthday. In short, we know the exact date of again that an isolated passage of his Geneva his death, 27 October 1553, but not that of his testimony may (as reported) be cited in favour of birth. the year 1509; and the date is tempting as a Whenever and wherever Servetus was born, coincidence, being that of Calvinysbirth at Noyon. Villanueva was undoubtedly the seat of his All his other and oft-repeated testimony, during family and the place of his early upbringing. Its both judicial examinations (at Vienne as well as situation was unknown to Dr. Tollin; I believe I at Geneva) and in his writings, points to 1511 as was the first (beyond the immediate locality) to the true date; and this was the date ultimately identify it among the Villanuevas and Vilanovas accepted by Calvin. The "expiatory" stone in that part of Spain. It is not a place of mark. placed at Champel (1903) by thrifty Calvinists- Servetus rightly locates it "in the diocese of after getting amused Unitarians to lighten the Lerida." His biographefs have vainly sought for burden of their inexpensive penance-particu- it in the province of Lerida. Actually it is in the larizes the birth date as 29 September, 1511. province of Huesca, though in the diocese of This perpetuates a mere fancy of the patient and Lerida. Its origin is due to the great and famous erudite scholar to whom students of Servetus owe convent of Sigena, founded in 1188 by Queen more than to any other, my late most valued and Sancha of Aragon, and renowned in after ages as lamented friend Dr. Henri W. N. Tollin (1833- containing the stately burial place of the royal ~goz), Huguenot 'pastor of Magdeburg, Dr. house of Aragon. When Sigena, on the bank of MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS the river Alcanadre, was chosen as site for the ta; dedicated to Santa Lucia-one of the saints ample buildings of the royal convent, a new town, still commemorated in the Anglican calendar Villanueva de Sigena, to give its distinctive under date 13 December-and this was the family designation, was placed on higher ground above. altar of the house of Serveto. An inscription This new town, now no longer new, is a tiny states that its retablo, having paintings in ten stone-built place, little more than a compact compartments, was completed on 27 August 1558 village, though it would be highly incensed if so by the care of the widowed Catalina Conesa called; not boasting when I first visited it (1888)) and her son, Rector Jukn. It had in 1888 an an inn, even of the humblest description, and as. outer frame of later workmanship, not older than regards its civic being, centering in the post office. the seventeenth century; this bore, in three The postmaster, the physician (both freethinkers) places, namely, at top and sides, a shield of arms and the courteous Cura, who took no interest in emblazoned in colours, with the name SERVETO heresies, were then the magnates of the place. A conspicuous to the right and left of each shield. large and gloomy structure, shorn then of its top- In 1911, the outer frame was new and less most story was pointed out as the traditional elaborate ; not reproducing the Serveto name, mansion of the Serveto race. This building, it bore, in two places, the Serveto arms more known also as Casa Rev& on my second visit handsomely blazoned than before. (1911) was much brightened up, and converted Just as the name Colombo appears also as into a comfortable inn, whose hostess was proud C0l6n, so may the name Serveto drop the final of the connection of the house with Miguel Serveto. vowel and appear as Servet; but neither does The parish church, dedicated to San Salvador, Servetus, nor his father, nor his brother, use this is ancient, but has no good points of architecture curtailed form-those who employ it do so in saving a respectable Gothic porch. As in the defiance of the usage of the family. On his majority of Spanish churches, no ancient earliest title pages Servetus owns his authorship baptismal register is preserved. The retablo to, in these words : Per Michaelem Seraeto, aliis the high altar was (1888) comparatively modern, Reues ab A ragolzia Hispanurn. Later, he Latin- bearing date 1774; by 1911 it had been sold, ised Serveto into Servetus, and this (never apparently to defray the expense of a renovation Servet) is the form he employs even when he is of the interior of the church. To the right of the writing French'. In years past I followed Dr. high altar, attached to the south wall, is a side Tollin not only in treating the double surname . MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS I3

as equivalent to Serveto-y-Rev&-where Rev&, d, contributing to his notable skill as a dis- in accordance with Spanish custom, would be the . Deftness of delicate manipulation was mother's name, but also in thinking the name Iihiracteristic also of Priestley, who resembled looked as if the mother were French. The truth Servetus in his combination of the man of science is that the combination was not unique, and pro- with the pioneer in theology. Priestley indeed bably appertained to a considerable branch of the was an explorer in the field of science at an earlier Serveto race. Among natives of Villanueva de age than Servetus in all probability; for Priestley Sigena I find one Marco Antonio Serveto de Reves, as a youngster of eleven began his experiments on born about the date of Michael's death, and dying gases by bottling-up spiders to see how long they in 1598. He was Abbot of Montaragon, near would live without air. Apparently Servetus was Huesca (an abbacy once held by hlichael's patron, not, as a boy, alive to the scientific value of the- Quintana) and a kinsman of Pedro Antonio dying agonies of spiders; any more than Calvin de Rev&, Bishop of Albarracin. Rev& is cer- was, as a man, alive to the polemic value of the tainly not French ; Dr. Pompeyo Gener, tracing dying agonies of Servetus. it to the Catalan rebec, in the sense of stubborn, gi~henotary Antonio Serveto, apparently a man treats it as denoting one who sticks to his con- of means, had planned his own profession as the victions against everything and everybody ; yet destined career of his son Michael. For legal it seems a place-name, not a personal one. training the lad was sent to the University of Of the early training of Servetus no record Toulouse in his seventeenth year. He never saw remains. To fill the blank, Dr. Tollin has again Spain again. To the law he did not take, though offered a conjecture which lesser writers, the evidently he acquired some knowledge of it, present penman included, have accepted even as Fausto Paulo Sozzini (Socinus) was in like manner solid fact. He thinks Servetus, when grounded put to the law, the hereditary profession in which in the elements, may have gone first to the his ancestors had acquired both fame and wealth, University of Zaragoza for his higher education. Socinus hated the law, and in his young days read Were I now to hazard a guess, I should place my Dante, wrote sonnets (still in print, though not guess nearer hand, at the College of Huesca, which reprinted in his works) and sighed forth his soul' Marco Antonio, his namesake aforesaid, entered in amorous verses instead of giving his mind to. in 1575. Somehow he acquired, in addition to a jurists and canonists. There is no evidence that competent stock of learning, a certain deftness of Servetus forsook legal study out of any special) MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS LA love for the poets, and it is doubtful if he ever to the sound doctrine of good works. Perhaps wrote a line of verse in his life. From that dis- the teaching of Toulouse might have definitely temper he seems clear. A crabbed Greek couplet sonfirmed him in his father's faith, but for an ddorns the title-page of his chief medical treatise ; incident which suddenly turned his thoughts from to him it is addressed, not by him composed. He law to the Gospel. Up to the year 1528, it would does in his final publication quote (without appear that he had never seen a Bible. He says naming them) Vergil twice and Ennius once ; but he had never read any of the Bible, and we may be the brief passages, incorporated in his text, are so sure that, had one fallen in his way, he would familiar and so loosely recollected that they certainly have had the curiosity to examine it. might have come to him by mere hearsay. No At Toulouse, he, with certain other scholars, other poetical citations will be found in his pages began to read "the Holy Scriptures and the except, for controversial purposes, a few lines Evangel." Here indeed we have a coincidence from the Sibylline verses and a phrase from an th the life of Calvin; for it was in this same Orphic hymn. A totally different class of study year, 1528, that the future Reformer, at Orleans proved irresistible in its attraction for him. ~ndas a law student, began his study of the In choosing Toulouse as the place of his son's Bible in the Vulgate version. Usually it is professional education, Antonio Serveto doubtless issumed that the Bible on which Servetus lighted had in mind, as Dr. Tollin well conjectures, not gas also simply the Vulgate. This there is merely the prominent repute of its University as a -eason for doubting. Hc is never in the habit of school of learned jurists, but also its fame in luoting -the Vulgate ; his acquaintance with the divinity as a hot-bed of Roman Catholic ortho- original texts must have been made very early. doxy, intolerant of any of those newer ideas It is in the highest degree probable that a copy of which, in various parts of Spain and France, had the Complutensian Polyglot (published 1522) in been fermenting for years, provoked by Luther's which the Vulgate version is flanked by the - outburst in 1517, wherewith not Germany alone Hebrew and the Greek, was Za saincte escriptu~eet but all Europe rang. The German or Lutheran evangile of which Servetus speaks. This finest type of reformed doctrine, it may be said, never fruit of the Alcal5 press, a splendid contribution enlisted the sympathies of Servetus. It was not to sacred letters under the auspices of a ~panish radical enough on the sacraments; while its Cardinal devoted to the interests of the Holy See, exaltation of mere faith appeared to him inimical could 9-hardly have missed its way to the University MICHAEL SERVETUS M~CHAELSERVETUS 17 I of Toulouse, and would be sure to attract the lions' gaping throats. Every nation from Britain curiosity of its Spanish students. I in thewwestto the isles of the Levant sent high Not long after his initial acquaintance with the dignitaries of Church and State, princes and peers, Bible, Servetus left Toulouse to enter the service and canons, in robes and badges of of an influential patron, Ju5n de Quintana, an every imagined description, to swell the pomp Aragonese by birth, a Franciscan by religio~s and multiply the paraphernalia. training, a theologian who in the bitter con- In all this blaze of magnificent splendour the troversies of that age endeavoured a line of con- eyes of Servetus, to whom pomp was always ciliation; and on this account had been selected repulsi~e-th~~ghhe had a nice taste in jewelry; by Charles V-for the moment desirous of an unprinted catalogue of his personal effects left accommodating policy-as his confessor, replacing behind on his escape from Vienne proves this- an uncompromising Dominican. rested mainly on one figure; and the vision of this Thus it happened that Servetus, in attend- ever after haunted and burdened his memory. ance upon Father Quintana, was present at The Pope who was to do the crowning was borne Bologna in February 1530; there witnessing the aloft, says Agrippa, upon men's shoulders in his twofold event of Charles V's coronation, first as chair of state, and as they carried him through King of Lombardy, then as Emperor of Rome and the gilded throng that lined the streets, bearing of the world. Of these ceremonies we have a full him in grand procession to the high altar of San contemporary account from the pen of Cornelius Petronio, the people knelt in the ways. Those Agrippa, the Emperor's historiographer, whose fortunate enough to be near, pressed forward to, graphic sentences enable us to realise the scene, , kiss the slippers of Giulio de' Medici, known now almost as if we had been present. From every ' as the seventh Clement, Vicar of God; and they window in proud Bologna costly tapestries were received his benediction as if it were the visible hung forth. On every wall golden and silver assurance of the favour of the Most High. Three gewgaws reflected the cheery radiance of the and twenty years after this, in the latest of his Italian sun. The very streets and arcades-the works, Servetus printed his reminiscence of a mighty arcades of Bologna which lift our imagina- ctacle which had made on his young mind an tion till those of Chester shrink to a decrepit in- elible impression. " With these very eyes,'' significance-were carpeted with fresh flowers. e exclaims in accents of quivering indignation, Wine ran in the fountains from eagles' beaks and with these very eyes did I behold him, carried in C MICHAEL SERVETUS HAEL SERVETUS =!l pomp upon the necks of princes, adored in the ong Catholic dignitaries, close open squares by the whole populace on bended - knee. Those who could kiss his shoes deemed intimates among the priesthood-one of these themselves possessors of indulgence for their sins, intimates, Jacques Charmier, got into trouble on and dreaded no more the pains of infernal fire. this score, and suffered iniprisonment at Vienne after his friend's trial-yet the rank and file of the 0 beast of all beasts most execrable ! Well hath sacerdotal class constituted in his judgment an Isaiah painted thee-." Then follows a terrible unclean, unwholesome crew. In the scornful passage, adapted rather than translated from the prophet. section of his latest work, quoted above, he does not measure terms in his fierce reprobation of An unsparing vehemence of denunciation is a feature of Servetus' latest language when he their morals and their hypocrisy, though he lays the ultimate blame of this unworthiness upon the touches on the Papacy, language which one can- Pope, their evil master, their unscrupulous not but wish that he had been able to keep in tyrant. We must recollect what too many Popes restraint. What makes it the more startling and, were, in his day. At the time when he printed in a sense, the more impressive is that there was his denunciation, the Papal throne was occupied nothing of it in any of his earlier works. It is the Julius 111-of fame so unsavoury that discharge of a long pent up fury, to which he particulars are not desirable. We may hasten from must needs at length give vent. It should be said, them - with the Catholic Encyclo$edia as " very however, that he never assails the Catholic disagreeable rumours." He it was who kindly Church as such. In his first publication, while absolved this country from heresy and schism frankly submitting his own views, he affirms: when Mary Tudor drew it back to the Roman " the Church shall judge." In a later one, he obedience. His end is thus sketched by a mild claims to write pro ecclesia, ut pro matre filius. It writer: " He died from the consequences of his was not merely from fear of consequences that he own folly, and no tomb was erected to his habitually conformed. In many respects the memory. " Catholic ideal was consonant with the breadth of The Bible made Servetus a theological student, his religious mind. For that very reason it came compelling him as it did to investigate the about that with the Roman travesty of Catholic- fagrounds of his ancestral religion, and especially ism he entirely lost patience. The Pope to him [@convincing him that to-day, as at first, Christian was essentially a usurping Antichrist. Valued p, doctrine must start from a7realizingknowledge of - I MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS the Man Christ Jesus. Ab homine exordiendum is his pregnant phrase. The spectacle of Bologna -g with Quintana in 1530. Perhaps he hoped turned the theological student into the would-be that in this prelate he might find a friend. Stadion missionary of a better theology. In the year fol- was not an irreconcilable. As Lord Acton notes, lowing the Bologna pageant, Servetus, having he thought his own people blind, not to coalesce quitted the service of Quintana, issued his first with Protestants on the basis of the Augsburg little theological work. One would like to know Confession. how he managed to obtain the services of his. A contemporary letter (in Italian) from Ratis- printer, Johann Setzer of Hagenau in Alsace. ban to Rome by the Italian Nuncio, Jerome Setzer was a Protestant of discrimination, who Aleander, soon to be made a Cardinal, begins seems to have chosen the books he printed as with the exclamation : " I do really believe we are carefully as he printed them. In neat little very near the end of the world ! " Having volumes nicely got up he brought out numerous delivered himself of this terrified forecast, he pro- reprints of reforming tracts, favouring especially ceeds to say that a young Spaniard, one " Mihel those by Melanchthon. Uniform with these and Serveto, alias Dereves " has written a boo,k against in the same type he produced in 1531 the seven- the Trinity, cram-full of-misused Scripture, inter- fold tract by Servetus on Trinity Errors (De spersed with shreds of Greek and Hebrew, a very Trinitatis E~roribus),withholding however, his. distastkful piece, but clearly by a very shrewd name as printer. The second work of Servetus fellow. Quintana, he goes on to say, knows the (Dialogorum de Trinitate libri duo) consisting of writer, says he is a young man of very great talent six short chapters, the first two being in dialogue- and a great sophist, but cannot imagine that a form, was brought out in 1532 by the same book so replete with Scripture knowledge and so printing firm, though meanwhile Setzer had died.. polished in style, can really be the production of That first little book, on Trinity Errors, found one of his years; and this, though he over- its way to the Diet at Ratisbon (17 April, 1532)~. estimated those years by five. Aleander means where Quintana was in attendance on Charles V. to get together some of the theologians attending It seems that Servetus had secured its coming the Diet, especially those connected with Spain, under the notice of the Diet by sending a copy to. to have the book condemned, and instructions one of its members, Christopher von Stadion, sent which would procure the burning of the book Bishop of Augsburg. Servetus had gone to Augs- with the effigy of its author, al modo di Sfiagna. This laudable project was not carried out, so far m: MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS as we know, though Aleander assures his Roman ~~ris,Cyprian, the Decretals, Dionysius of correspondent that the most reverend Legate, in Alexandria, Erasmus, Glossa Ordinaria, Gregory the belief that Serveto belonged to his diocese of Nazianzum, Henricus de Gaudano, Hilary, (Huesca) will write instructing his Vicar-general Robert Holcot, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Joachim of to see about it. The Vicar-general was the Flares, John of Damascus, Lactantius, Maxentius bishop's brother, who administered the diocese ~onstantinopolitanus, Mahomet in his Alcoran for him, since this bishop had graver occupations (not printed till a dozen years later), Rab Moyses, on hand, being no less a personage than the Occam, Paulus Burgensis, Peter de Aliaco, Peter Bolognese Cardinal Legate, Lorenzo Campeggio, Lombard, Ricardus de Media Villa, Tertullian. who already had appeared in our own history as Of these, Irenaeus and Tertullian were through- Papal Commissioner in the first of Henry VIII's out his life, especial favourites with him. His conscience-stricken suits of nullity. reference to the Qoriin of Muhammad is ushered The polish of style here signalized as pertaining in with the wholesome reminder : " Hearken to to the first work of Servetus is an imaginary what saith Mahomet, and remember that one quantity. The Latin, though clear, is crude; truth confessed by an enemy is better worth cred- yet very likely it impressed Quintana by its ence than a hundred lies though authorised by superiority to the ordinary dog-Latin of the our own men." He must have ransacked the friars with whom he was most familiar. On the libraries at Tonlouse and elsewhere to come upon other hand, every reader must share Quintana's all these writers. Even if he found some of them amazement at the proofs of learning and reading in extracts (as is evident in the case of Joachim (not in Scripture alone) which the little book of Flores) the industry and research are obvious. presents, especially in the first of its seven sub- Nor had he, as Andrew Kippis is said to have divisions. How, we want to know, did a lad not done, crammed so many books into his head that yet fully of age acquire this breadth of attain- his brains refused to move. Who taught him ment ? Where did he find all the books he Hebrew ? Not the ordinary Hebrew only, for he quotes, and quotes moreover with point and fair- introduces a cryptic Hebrew abbreviation when ness ? Let us make a list of them in alphabetical he wishes to administer a sly slap at the theo- order: Aristotle, Augustine, Basil, the Chaldee logians of his day. It puzzled Dr. Tollin, till I Paraphrase, Rab Chimhi, Clement of Rome, suggested to him, Try Buxtorf De Abbreviatu~is, Clement of Alexandria, the Clementines, Corpus and you shall see what you shall see. This little MICNAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS trick on our Michael's part is prize-worthy, for it having his say about it, and usually his fling at it. is one of the very few instances in him of a sub- The Swiss Reformers-Oecolampadius in par- rident humour. Where he got his Hebrew to ticular, who to the disgust of Aleander received begin with, he does not say; only that he never .Servetus into his house-entered into friendly dis- had any communication with the Jews. This ptation with him as with no mean adversary. question, however, we can perhaps answer. His It was to meet their objections that he wrote master in Hebrew, at a later date, was certainly his supplementary booklet, with a modest fore- the venerable Sanctes Pagnino, whose translation word admitting the imperfections of his boyish of the Bible he subsequently (1542)re-edited and essay, tanquam a fiaruuZo fiaruulis scrifita. This annotated. Now Servetus tells us that when he description is something more than a humble left Quintana he went to Lyons, and Pagnino was apology for acknowledged defects. It throws a 1525 1541. settled in Lyons from till his death in clear light on the nature of his early work, and the If this is the answer, it necessarily follows that method of its composition. He had begun the his command of Hebrew was gained in much less study of Scripture, so he declared at Geneva, in than a year. Throughout life his rapidity of company with certain of his fellow students. The attainment was truly marvellous. curious and sometimes puzzling personal appeals His little book made a great stir. Luther, as characteristic of his first publication are unintel- we might expect, would none of it. Luther in his ligible till we realize that we have before us again big-hearted way (reminding us of Dr. Johnson) and again what amounts to a record of actual dis- liked what he liked and scoffed at what he dis- putation carried on at the University of Toulouse liked. He scoffed at Servetus in his Table Talk, between the young enthusiast and his youthful just as he scoffed at the Epistle of St. James in compeers, who for their parts were not slow to print. The cautious Erasmus wrote that the put forward objections which they deemed fatal Spaniard had tried in vain to gain his ear, so to his novel views, while for his part these were Aleander tells us. Melanchthon read the little met by his eager and skilful defences. Lad as he volume and read it again. It frightened him ; and was, debating with lads, he evidently felt himself it was some time before he tried to rebut its to be a man with a mission. In the original pre- positions. The Roman Catholics held aloof from face to his Christianismi Restiiutio, which exists the controversy over the book, but scarcely any only in a manuscript copy, he speaks of himself as Protestant theologian of repute abstained from moved by a divine impulse in his twentieth year to E MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS

treat of matters pertaining to the salvation of hymns: " To Thee, 0 God, we homage pay," as Christ's people, matters respecting which he had the gentle Doddridge has it. To our Lord also, learned nothing from any human source. This- in Emlyn's view, like though not equal homage is purpose he had ever kept before him, though con- due; he would have been ready to use the words scious of the many dangers to which it exposed of one of Dr. Martineau's own rather stiff and him. At times, like Jonah, he felt impelled stilted hymns, in which our Lord is apostrophized to flee from duty, and betake himself to some with the address : " 0 King of earth." distant and solitary isle. The voice of Christ Turning to Socinus, we find him, in his critical came to him as an irresistible mandate bidding manner, distinguishing between adoration of him be true to the Master's cause. Christ-and by this he means that feeling of the Nothing is more characteristic in the religious heart which constit~~testhe Christian attitude- development of Servetus than the growth of a and invocation of Christ, direct verbal address and vivid sense of the personal relation in which he petition, and this by no means necessarily accom- stood to his Divine Master. From his earlier panies the Christian emotion. It is lawful but works this is absent; in these he is bent on the not imperative. We have evidence of its em- recovery of the historical Christ. In his latest ployment by his English disciples, but it has not work, so full is his mind of the presence and been possible to detect Socinus himself in the stimulus of the ever living Lord and Leader, that actual use of it, though he will make no terms to Christ his heart leaps forth in the spontaneous with those who deny its legitimacy. To the approach of personal address. temperament of Servetus the distinction thus In regard to such address, we may mark some critically drawn between emotion and utterance notable contrasts of thought and feeling, dis- would have been a practical impossibility. Just tinguishing Servetus from Faustus Socinus on the as, in his denunciations, the flow of feeling and one hand, and from Thomas Emlyn on the other. the rush of language constitute one act, and he Emlyn who in 1704 wrote his " Vindication of the- could no more be reticent in word than quiet in Worship of the Lord Jesus Christ on Unitarian mind before any evil which pressed upon him as Principles," rests the claim to worship on the fact a dire reality to be repelled with the whole force of dominion-his own word. Worship, in short,. of his being, so in his religion the cry of the heart is with him purely an act of homage; an idea and the appeal of the lips come surging up in which we find reflected in many of our older unison from the same sense of a gracious presence MICHAEL SERVETUS 29 MICHAEL SERVETUS not worked up into any systematic arrangement. very near to his spirit. Break forth then in supplication he needs must: " 0 Christ Jesu, Son Taking as basis the first edition of the Geography, of God, liberator most clement, who hast so often the omissions in the second are here indicated by delivered thy people from their straits, pity and italics, while the additions are enclosed in square deliver us now ! " brackets Among Scots," he says, there are few differ- The introduction of Servetus to a scientific " " career took place at Lyons, where he was earn- ences of customs, language or manners. Their temper is hasty, prone to revenge, and fierce. ing his bread as editor-for the press. Dropping rhey are brave in war, very patient under fasting, his patronymic, he borrowed a place-name from ~atchingand cold, shapely in mien, careless in Villanueva, appearing in Latin as Villanovanus, in French as de Villeneufve. This dissociated dress. Unfriendly in disposition, they look down him from his theological speculations, which on all other mortals. They are vain of their noble blood; even in the depth of poverty tracing their would hardly have ingratiated him with the Lyons booksellers. The excellence of his literary work pedigree to a line of kings. They flatter them- selves orc their argzcmentative skill ; lying they was conspicuous in his edition of Ptolemy's irc Geography, published in 1535, and reissued, , delight, and do not study +eace, like the English. further improved, in 1541. His additions to [The northern parts of Scotland are tenanted by Ptolemy are copious and curious, showing a good wild men, bearing the name of foresters; their speech and dress are as in Ireland; they wear a deal of enquiry, an original grasp of the future rug over a tunic of saffron dye, and go with bare science of comparative geography, and a keen study of the manners and characteristics of various shanks and a shaggy kind of footwear; they live peoples. It may be of some interest to extract, on game and fish, though with plenty of cattle, from the folio page of his observations on the milk and cheese; their weapons are bows and British Isles, the main things which struck him in arrows, and broadswords; hunting is their chief they have a provincial code, different regard to our country and people. There is the, pursuit; from the civil law. The rest of the Scots are more reason for doing this, inasmuch as Dr. similar to the English in language and civilization, Willis has given an attempt at a version, with Almost throughout the island] the use.of coal for extraordinary blunders. It will be observed firing is so common that beggars meeting charit- that he sets down his points, just as they occur to him, like jottings transcribed from a note-book, .b-,able persons ask for coal." MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS 31

Speaking of England, he says cc the climate is King of England; it is situated to the West, more temperate than in France, with less extremes and is half the size of Britain. So rich is it in of cold and heat. The land is well wooded, rich fodder that unless in summer the cattle are kept in produce, suitable for feeding cattle and horses, off the pastures, they are in danger of overeating. of which there are great numbers, especially of This island produces no noxious animal, no sheep, for there are no wolves. Formerly the spider or frog, nor will it maintain them if im- country produced no wine, but now there are ported; it kills all noxious animals brought from vineyards in some localities ; it yields gold, silver, another soil, smothering them in dust. Bees are iron, lead, tin, and coal in abundance [and exports not found here. The climate is marvellously hides and excellent hounds for the chase]. It temperate, the fertility remarkable. Yet the has large fisheries in tidal rivers, salt springs and is inhospitable, uncultivated and cruel, hot springs, precious stones, pearls, and the finest given to hunting and sports more than to agri- jet in large quantities. The population is enor- cultural labour. They are called Hybernians mous, and, according to Plutarch, long-lived. The from one Hybernus, a Spaniard, who reached the English language, a composite speech arising from island in a three days' sail." Finally, with a two- diversity of races, is very dificult both to understand edged compliment he remarks in the second and to pronounce. In war they are intrepid, and edition ["Whence it happens that in most the best of archers. They are a wealthy people, respects they resemble in characteristics those and for the most part given to commercial pur- Spaniards who are their nearest neighbours, suits; they are celebrated for the finest cloth, namely, the Basques "l. Elsewhere in this Geo- owing to the abundance of good wool. On their graphy Servetus speaks some home truths about music and their banquets they especially pride the characteristics of his own nation, a people themselves. They are of blue eyes and tall " restless in mind, vast in endeavour, quick of stature." Here he tells the story of Beatus genius, impatient of discipline." Here, with an Gregorius and the fair young Angles, inserting in unsparing candour, he drew his own portrait. his second edition [" Recently, however, they B. More important than his geographical work in have separated from the Roman Church, like a its influence on his future career was his employ- good part of Germany "l. ment as corrector of the press for sundry publica- "Another island," he says, "near to this, tions of Dr. Symphorien Champier (1472-1539), called Hyrland, is [for the most part] subject to herbalist, physician, Platonist, and astrologer li MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS at Lyons. Champier is embalmed for ever in the vindicated Champier in print (1536) against the great work of a brother physician; for a book attack of a German critic, Leonhard Fuchs; "per C.," with an odd title, finds a place in the lectured on geography, and on astronomy or immortal library of St. Victor. Francis Rabelais, who rendered his neighbour this service, was not astrology (the terms were then used indis- merely a physician, but one of the first anatomists criminately) with an archbishop as one of his to conduct a dissection in public at the Lyons hearers ; published his rationale of digestion in hospital. Servetus may have been present. A the shape of six lectures on Syrups (1537) which was singular poem by Etienne Dolet, published in ran through five editions in eleven years; 1538, introduces the corpse of a malefactor, prosecuted by the medical faculty for alleged priding itself on having been the honoured subject libels in his astronomical lectures (1538) and of this dissection. This poem Servetus had cer- inhibited from meddling with that branch of the science of the stars which we now set aside as tainly seen or heard, ' for he owes to it a turn of expression which he subsequently reproduced on astrology. This is pretty well for two years' the wonderful "artifice " of the human body. work, and largely original work. His penetra- He must either have personally known Rabelais, tion was equally remarkable for its quickness and or, what is perhaps less likely have been a reader its depth. Well does his contemporary, Sebastian of Pantagruel ; for he follows Rabelais in locating Miinster, a rival editor of Ptolemy, characterise oculatissimus. His eyes were the faculty of memory in what was then known him by the epithet as the posterior ventricle of the brain. Ieyes of mind, his observation was instant and sure. Servetus reckons Champier as his second As for the connection between medicine and patron, and owns his considerable debt to him as tronomy in some of its practical applications, teacher. It was with Champier's backing that we shall not forget that Chaucer tells us, of his Doctour of Phisik, that he repaired in 1536 to Paris, there to study medicine. Again we stand amazed at the rapid- In all this world ne was ther noon him lik, To speke of phisik and of surgerye; ity of his advance. He was little more than a For he was grounded in astronomye. couple of years in Paris. During that time he astronomy of Servetus, like that of Ptolemy, graduated in arts; was licensed in medicine ; as was strictly geocentric. He held, indeed, that assistant to the anatomy professor, in succession the earth was created first, before the heavens, to Andr6 Vesale, gained repute as a dissector; Ito serve as the centre about which the whole MICHAEL SERVETUS FJ MICHAEL SERVETUS 35 organic system of the universe was in succession bf paramount authority. Unpoliteness in rebuke arranged. In his capacity of astrologer, Servetus and in retort were perhaps natural in the circum- was inter aZia a meteorologist and a weather stances. In the Syrups treatise Servetus is care- prophet. His weather forecasts, not being ran- ful to attack no living person directly or indirectly dom guesses, but founded on observations really and even apologizes for his references to John scientific in their character and in the principle-.of ~anardus,then recently dead, the inventor while their interpretation,, had a perverse habit of living of three digestions in the same human coming true. Hence some of that jealousy which frame. It gives me pleasure to note his com- led to his prosecution. Furthermore,'he was in mendation of my namesake, Bernard Gordonius advance of his age in his detection of the influence (who died, I believe, in 1305, at any rate he is not of climatic conditions on certain forms of disease. living now) for frankly owning that physicians, It is noticeable, too, that in his treatise on Syrups of whom he was one, sometimes do make mis- he deprecates the use of drugs as aids to digestion takes. The dominant anxiety of Servetus is that in ordinary cases, prescribing rest, sleep, massage the science of medicine, of which he speaks (frictiones), baths, attention to diet, and use of enthusiastically, as coming to a new birth, should warm drinks. be as free from error as possible. This treatise (Syru@ommUniversa Ratio) is the F.. Soon he took to medical practice as his means only one of all his publications into which he intro- of livelihood, exercising his profession at Avignon duces no theology. It is also the best written, so and for a longer period at Charlieu. Two ro- far as classic Latin goes, of all his works; and in mantic episodes mark his sojourn, of a couple of controversy the most temperate. One could years or so, at the quaint old town of Charlieu, wish that all his medical pamphlets had been in with its ancient castle, and its venerable inn, equally good taste; but no doubt he had his pro- which yielded once upon a time, to a traveller in vocations. No doubt also it was sufficiently search of traces of Servetus, a welcome supper of galling to grave and learned members of the milk and grapes. Here it was that Servetus faculty, addicted to the Arab school of physic would, had he been competent to do so, have with its multifold theory of digestion, to be married une fille dudict lieu. Here too, one night, taught the elements of true science by a young on his way to visit a patient, he was set upon by Eeginner in his twenty-sixth year, who knew his friends of a rival physician. Swords were drawn, Galen, and made skilful use of that great name as wounds given, and Servetus was put under arrest MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS for two or three days. He says he never got into ate publication of his great physiological dis- such a scrape before; nor did he again, till thc covery, reserving for incidental exposition in his Inquisition was hounded on to him by hints from Christianismi Restitutio, " a truth which Galen Geneva. himself had not perceived." This exposition is Finally, after some further study in the medicpl but a stage in the process by which he endeavours school at Montpellier, he found a permanent settle- to pass from physiology to psychology, and to ment (1541-53) at Vienne, on the invitation of its determine how and where the Spirit of God Archbishop, Pierre Paulmier, the same who had operates upon the soul of man. As we are not been his hearer in Paris; who now attached him now dealing with his scheme of doctrine, but to his person as confidential physician. In touching only on points which illustrate the man addition to this he had a considerable practice, and his characteristics, it will suffice to say that and made money. He still continued to do some of the contents of the Chrllstianismi Restitutio work for the Lyons publishers, bringing out the (1553) the portion which will best repay the revised edition of his Ptolemy, and his noble. general student is its final piece, the Aflologia. annotated edition of Pagnino's Bible (1542). This is the only piece which has been separately This contains his remarkable theory of prophecy, reprinted (1896) and is easily accessible, though perhaps the only theory which preserves the marred by errata, some of which belong to the element of Christ-predicting vision, while admit- original text, others to the reprint of 1790. It ting the immediacy of the prophet's historic out-- takes its title from the circumstance that its look. He certainly also pursued his anatomical primary raison d72tre was the writer's desire to researches, for his discovery of the pulmonary defend himself in the face of criticism by Melanch- circulation of the blood, not made in Paris, had thon, to whom the Apologia is addressed, as he had been reached by him before 1546. attacked Servetus by name in his Loci Communes Being now in easy circumstances, and the. (1536). From a mere reply, the Apologia pro- master of some leisure, his main business from his. ceeds to a general and lucid outline of the writer's own point of view was the revision and completion scheme, both of Christian doctrine and of Church of his theological work. For this task he had pre- polity, at once temperate in tone and glowing pared himself by larger learning and more with anticipation of its ultimate acceptance. searching study. So subsidiary did he reckon The earlier sections of the volume give many everything else to this, that he made no immedi- more evidences of the writer's scientific curiosity MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS

than that presented by his account of the pul- fetid, so in the future life the conditions which monary circulation. Whether he had definitely make the bliss of the good, will be torture to the grasped the larger truth of the general circulation depraved. His glimpses of universal restoration of the blood may be left in doubt, for while there are suggested by the thought that as Nature has are indications which fit in with this, they need remedies for all her diseases, could we only dis- not be pressed too far. This wider truth was not cover and apply them, so there may be ultimate of service to the psychological argument; and modes of treatment for the depravities of the this alone determined the introduction and proof moral and spiritual being. of the discovery which he signalized. Hints for The Biblicism of Servetus, it must be owned, is many of his scientific positions-we can hardly of the most thoroughgoing order. He does not call them discoveries, some of them being merely indeed with the Hutchinsonians (now, presum- unverified convictions-he finds in the letter of ably, extinct or nearly so) find all science in the the Bible. Thus, for example, he has an inkling books of Moses, designedly there taught, though of the fact that water is composite-a truth which veiled in symbols ; but the discoveries of science, Priestley, strange to say, repudiated with vigour so far as he had made them, tally with the to his dying day-and he is guided to it by the language of Scripture, as he understands it. The circumstance that the Hebrew terms for water and absolute inerrancy of the Bible was evidently for sky are in the dual number. His mind is with him an axiom so patent that it never occurs moving away from the older theory of four fixed to him even to state it. Here he differs from the elements. Air is a gas (as we should say) which earlier Reformers, for Luther was a Biblical critic escapes from water ; flame is enkindled air or gas. in his slap-dash way, and the commentaries of On the other hand his experience as a physician Calvin on both Testaments are pervaded by a prompted some of his interpretations of Biblical scientific acumen. Milton escapes the pressure phenomena and Biblical data. " Contraction of of his Biblicism, at least as regards the New Testa- the nerves," he says, " is called by Christ the ment, by pleading the presence of irreducible chain of Satan, just as St. Paul calls his own variations in the existing text, providentially infirmity a messenger of Satan." In regard to the designed to compel a resort to the guidance of the retributive facts of the hereafter, he observes Spirit. Servetus knows nothing of textual uncer- that, just as to those whose senses are diseased, tainties. In his earliest and again in his latest sweet things seem bitter and fragrant things work, he cites and expounds the Three Heavenly MICHAEL SERVETUS MICHAEL SERVETUS

Witnesses verse, without a suspicion that it has because it was and is the Gospel. " The law ot no place in the true text. His one selective Christ is the law of the heart. This law of Christ criticism-and this does not call in question the needs no outward writing. Yea, even had the text but is founded upon it-is in his strong Apostles and Evangelists written' nothing, still, assertion of the superiority of St. Paul to St. providing that the knowledge and the faith of Peter as an exponent of Christianity. St. Peter, Christ endured in us, this new law of Christ would he maintains, could never have transmitted to the stand, written with inward ink by the efficacy of Papacy a supremacy in the Apostolate which he the Divine Spirit, which imprints that law on did not himself possess. The more excellent tablets of the heart." organ of apostolicity was St. Paul " who from the Here Servetus reaches the highest mark of his beginning of his vocation knew perfectly the mystic faith, and here we leave him. Cut off at mysteries of Christ, namely, that the Gentiles forty-two, his ever-growing mind had not yet were to be called, and that all Judaisms were to shown the full extent of its insight and its powers. be done away; things which none other of the His last and ripest work is after all but a bundle Apostles knew." of tracts theological, sewn up together, some In spite of all this, while holding that the Bible rewritten (not, it may perhaps be thought, in- is absolutely true, he claims, and on Biblical variably mended) and some new, many of them authority, that the true Christian is, for the bristling with speculations strange to the modern essentials of his religion, independent of the mind, all of them instinct with the writer's Bible. " Christ," he exclaims, " is my only genius. They show us what he was; they point Evangelist." He means that for the knowledge further on to what he might have become. For, of Christ he need not go to the records of the -of all human achievement, of all human aspira- historic past, and must not be content with these. tion, of all human progress in religion, thank God, Firm faith in a living Leader is the primary " the end is not yet." requisite of discipleship, the very quality which 4 October, 1910. constitutes the Christian, for nemo Clzristianus nisi discipulas. Hence it is not enough to tell a man that the Evangelists wrote so and so. The Gospel was in being before they wrote. It is not the Gospel because they wrote it, they wrote it THE TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME THE TERCENTENNIAL OF rl NAME HE nineteenth century of the Christian Era T did not reach its proper termination before 24 March, 1901. The reason is, that this. Era begins its years on 25 March, the date of our Lord's conception by his Virgin Mother, as cal- culated in A.D. 527 by the Scytho-Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus (Denis the Insignificant) by himself thus designated. To his modest labours in the chronological field we owe the introduction of the Annus Domini. The inconvenience of beginning the Christian year at Lady Day, while the historical year began on the first of January, was recognized at length by the English Parlia- ment to whose legislation we owe the Era now in use, according to which the year, and consequently the century of years, terminates on 31 December. It follows as a matter of course that somewhere or other there has been a shortened year; the century in which this has occurred, though it consist of the full number of years, will neverthe- less be of necessity a shortened century. Amateur chronologists seem inclined to play tricks on their own account with the first of all the- TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME

Christian centuries. Some of them go so far as quite true that there is no real pause or break or to reckon a year A.D. o, which yet is to count as change when a century closes, yet the process by one before one; thus they make up a centur:~ which we engraft upon our imagination this idea closing with the year A.D. 99. Others would of parallels of longitude, as intersecting the un- reckon as the first Christian year a period of nine broken flow of years, is by no means artificial. calendar months and six days, so as to begin the It may be called instinctive or perhaps con- second Christian year with the first of January. stitutional. Our habit of marking off a decade of The really short year in our English chronology decades arises from our physical stkcture. We is the year A.D. 1752. This began, like all its count by tens because we have that number of Christian predecessors on 25 March, but came to fingers, and the step to tens of tens is not arbitrary. an end by law on 31 December, having been The space of time thus measured is naturally im- meanwhile, in the previous September, compelled pressive from its relation to the utmost span of to make restitution of borrowed moments, the human life. When, further, we contemplate the overdraft of previous years from the days of centuries past, we cannot fail to see that each, to Julius Czsar. This reform of the calendar, in- the eye of posterity appears with an individual troduced by Pope Gregory XI11 in 1582, had character, and bears a distinctive repute of been adopted in Scotland in 1600; in Ireland it its own. was not legalised till 1782. Thus the English What special stamp the judgment of the coming year 1752 consisted of eight calendar months and time may fix upon the century now [in Oct. ~goo] twenty-five days. The eighteenth therefore is near its close, we cannot safely anticipate. It is our short century; and it is in virtue of its short- not likely to be a flattering one; for the next age ness that the following century, the one imme- will have, and rightly have, a keen eye for faults diately behind us, whose first year began by law and defects, supposed or real, in its predecessor, on I January 1801 accomplished its full tale of and means of course to remedy them. The years on 31 December 1900. century last completed is always severely judged It is impossible to bring to mind this passage by its successor. It gains neither the indulgence from one century to another without some nor the admiration bestowed upon earlier ages, salutary and even solemn thoughts on the flight which compete less closely with the present time of. time, the procession of the ages, and the and are seen in an historic perspective, invisible to turning-points of human story. Though it be those who stand too near, Witness the blind and TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME persistent disparagement, on the religious side, treat the nineteenth century as the eighteenth which our nineteenth century flung upon the has been treated, dwell complacently on our weak- eighteenth, the century of Christian hymns, the nesses, and rank even some of our virtues as the century of the rise of Christian missions, the freaks or faults or foibles of our age, nevertheless century which shone with the catholicity of time will do us justice; and at any rate the Doddridge, which thrilled with the fervour of twenty-first century will avenge us, scourging our Whitefield and, unable to resist the appeal of the detractors, and perhaps transfiguring our poor consecrated philanthropy of Wesley, opened its endeavours in a fashion which our modesty for- heart to the truth of God's free grace, its mind to bids us to anticipate. the fact of a human world improvable. Little While then this address is retrospective in its Laud, little Wesley-do we doubt which of these design, the retrospect of the immediate past is a irrepressible spirits made religion more real in task left free to the Principal of this College a his own time and for all time ? Does religion, hundred years hence. Let us look further back, again, owe no debt to the men who put Christian- and extend our gaze beyond our vaunted bi-cen- ity avowedly on its trial, brought its assumptions tennials, all of them, strictly speaking, bi-centen- to the bar of reason, searched out its facts by the nials of the old Calvinistic Dissent. The history methods of history, checked its preachers into a of the Unitarian religion-not indeed under that wise caution and, unsatisfied with the appeal of name-has lasted long enough to permit of its mere sentiment, demanded of them the qualities Tercentennials, even in this country, did we of solidity and sense ? That surely was no stag- choose to celebrate them. The year of grace nant century in which Butler with new reverence 1900 happens to be the Tercentennial of the first traced the springs of virtue in human nature, and known appearance of the Unitarian name, and Hume probing the metaphysics of Deity set the the very month coincides. It were inexcusable to witness of the firmament and the tides above the pass this anniversary in silence. t9 hearsay tales of men; in which Lardner awoke a How the term Unitarian originated, we may living interest in the literature of the first Christian perhaps conjecture, but we cannot say that we ages, and Priestley compelled the fruitful study of certainly know. People are apt to rub their eyes the mind of Christ and the process of doctrinal when they read that, in the sixteenth century, development. We may console ourselves with those who now are called Unitarians were deno- the consideration that, if those who come after us minated Trinitarians, and that in the Papal bull TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME

Ce~aDomini, as issued on Maundy Thursday by readily or rapidly adopt it. There are grounds successive Popes, from Gregory XIII. in 1583 to for supposing that it was deliberately intended by Clement XIII. in 1768, Trinitarians are associated this name to associate the would-be reformers of with Anabaptists and Apostates as outcasts from Christendom with the followers of Muhammad the Faith. The explanation is this : the heretics under a common term of reproach. Certainly at so designated, holding the threeness of Father, a later date we find it in customary use as the Son and Holy Spirit as distinct persons, denied received translation of the Arabic Muahid; and their unity of being and nature. It was Servetus as such it crops up in our own literature as who first in 1531 and again in 1553 employed the synonym for Moslem, e.g., in Gibbon's pages, in term Trinitarian in its present theological sense. Wesley's well-known intercessory hymn, and So novel and so repulsive was his use of it, that more recently in one of Pusey's treatises. Be all his judges at Geneva were more than scandalized this as it may, there came a time when the at his temerity. It was even included among the Unitarian name was first tentatively, then capital charges against him that to ceux qzli formally adopted by the Antitrinitarians of m croyent en la Trinitd he had given the name Hungary-not by those of Poland-as their Trinitaires. His nomenclature has endured, and official style and title. It is first to be found upon the term has now the force of a compliment. the official records of their mother-church at As its theological correlative we might have Kolozsv&r, in August 1637 Next year (1638) it expected to find the term Unitarian earlier in use took the public and authorized position among than in point of fact we do. In vain do we search them which it has ever since retained. for it till we come upon a decree of the Transyl- Several reasons combine to stamp upon our vanian Diet at Lecsfalva in October, 1600, when memories this date of 1638. In our own insular Unitaria Religio, the Unitarian Religion, was history it is memorable as being the date of the first recognized as such. In old statutes of the ,Scottish National Covenant-not the Solemn same country such titles as Antitrinitarian and League and Covenant in which the Puritans of Arian had been frequently used; the one a com- the three kingdoms joined, that was in 1643, and bative, the other an antiquarian term, and both was the religious sanction of a political alliance. bestowed upon the new movement by its enemies. The Covenant of 1638 was the religious sanction of Nor does it appear that the Unitarian name was an ecclesiastical reform, it meant that Presby- devised by its friends; they certainly did not terianism was in earnest. There is perhaps no 1 52 TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME

L picture in the religious history of Scotland more The key to the rise as well as to the fall of the profoundly moving than the vision of that day in - Church in Poland is to be found in the fact that 1638 when the broad parchment scroll was spread its history is the record of one long-continued out upon a tombstone in the Old Greyfriars' ; struggle with the emissaries of the Society of churchyard, the Westminster Abbey of Edin- : Jesus. But for intrigues which began with the burgh, and nobles and magnates followed by the incursion of Jesuit Fathers into Poland in 1558, whole population swore to their Covenant with the Antitrinitarian section of Protestants might uplifted hand and affixed their signatures, filling F never have been forced into separation as the the blank space, crowding the margin, covering t hlinor Church in 1565. To reaction against Jesuit the back, and, when meaner ink failed, dipping influence must be ascribed the remarkable series their quills in their blood. of converts to the Minor Church from the Roman Take this date with you, and travel to the far Catholic aristocracy of Poland. The Minor East of Europe, for it is a memorable date in the Church was undogmatic in spirit, and fond of the history of two Churches of the freer faith-the undefined use of such terms as Catholic and Church in Poland and the Church in Hungary. Christian. This avoidance of limiting appella- It carries very different associations in the two . tions was, as is well known, the policy of Socinus, cases. In Poland 1638 was virtually the year of but it was not original to him. He did not bring doom; in Hungary 1638 was practically the year it to Poland, he found it there. .The Polish of establishment. This contrast, fully realized, Church, even when most Socinian, in fact never may aid the English mind to surmount the adopted a party term as its designation. Along difficulty of drawing a clear distinction between with a firm adhesion to the Supremacy of the the two Churches. It is true that they had many Father, it cherished the adoration of our Lord, on points of contact, yet they never were in close grounds not very dissimilar to those on which touch with each other. Like the contiguous Roman Catholics defend the adoration. of our Churches of England and Scotland they differed Lady. The recoil of its members from any in spirit and in constitution ; the Antitrinitarians magisterial office or patriotic service involving of Hungary retained a modified Episcopacy, those. them in complicity with the taking of human life, of Poland were purely Presbyterian; and the while fatal to the social and political influence of Churches were further kept apart by the barrier their community, constituted it a refuge for of language. religious minds, weary of bloodshed as an engine TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME of reformation and anxious for a haven of rest of Anabaptists, fleeing for their lives from whence moral regeneration might proceed. Bohemia and Moravia, held a community of In 1569 a Polish noble, John Siennynski, for the property, and every member had to contribute by improvement of his estate and the encourage- his labour to the common stock. How long this ment of trade, laid out the plan of a new town experiment lasted is not clear, but in its early seated on a sandy reach beside a pleasant river, stages it contributed materially to the rise of with mountain views to delight the eye and con- Rakbw, where Pauli ministered as the first in the tiguous forest to furnish building material. In succession of its liberal pastors. Pauli died in honour of his wife, whose maiden name was 1591 after ten years' enfeeblement by failing Rak [i.e. Crab] he called the projected settle- eyesight, and leaving a name of past greatness. ment Rak6w [pronounced Rackuff]. Siennynski The oldest monument in Rakbw stands in an had become a Calvinist, but (not availing himself ancient walled graveyard on a sand-bank outside of the decree of 1566 by which every Polish noble the town. It is a lofty pedestal, surmounted by might prescribe the worship within his domain) a rudely carved but very touching figure of our he invited settlers of every sect to the free exer- Saviour crowned with thorns, seated and bending cise of their own religion. We may take this as forward, with pensive eyes surveying the town due to the fact that his wife was already in strong below. It is dated 1591 and inscribed " Erexit sympathy with the attitude of the Minor Church. L.E." Local tradition makes this the resting Among the first to seize the proffered opportunity place of Pauli, and interprets L.E.-rather fanci- was a little band of Non-trinitarians, led by one fully-as Lugens Ecclesia, the Church in Mourning. of the most remarkable men of that day. Gregory Eight years later, a strong effort was made in Pauli, originally a Calvinist, had been ejected public conference to win the heretics of Rakbw from the pastorate of Trinity Church, Cracow, for from the error of their ways. The discussion had advancing opinions in that building utterly in- an unexpected result. James Siennynski, son of compatible with the doctrine to which its dedica- the founder, was convinced that the heretics had tion pointed. His ideas of reform were social and the best of the argument. In 1600 he openly economic as well as theological. He believed in joined the Minor Church, whose synods from 1601 an approaching millennia1 reign of Christ, and in met annually in Rak6w. To the zeal of a convert the duty of Christians to prepare themselves for the younger Siennynski added the schemes of a it. His followers, increased by small contingents patron animated by broad and wise educational TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME

views. - In 1602 he made Rak6w-already famous be the last. The youths in question had flung for a printing-press which issued works of science pebbles at a wayside crucifix of wood, doing as well as of theology-more famous still as the it some damage. Their parents had soundly seat of a College for the promotion of learning chastised them. The authorities of Rak6w, in every department. Teachers of eminence and ? thinking the culprits sufficiently punished, had of liberality were brought together from various taken- no further action. The matter then was parts of Europe, scholars rapidly poured in, and brought before the Diet at Warsaw, and urged for thirty-six years it was no uncommon thing as involving the whole community of Rak6w in a for the College roll to include a thousand names, heinous crime. On the roof of the great hall at three hundred of them representing the flower of Kielce in what is-or was in pre-War days-the the Polish aristocracy. Catholics and Calvinists official residence of the Governor, a contemporary readily sent their sons to share its advantages, painting by Dolabella, the court painter, repre- and Rak6w gained abroad the proud title of the sents the sitting of this Diet. King Wladyslaw Sarmatian Athens. Its own authorities, still more IV., himself a man of easy and tolerant dis- proudly, delighted to call it Verona, the Home position, but overborne by strenuous bigots, of Truth. occupies the throne. On the dais beneath his Needless to say, the Jesuit gaze was fixed upon feet appears the inscription: Arian,ismus Pro- it with sleepless enmity, and with lynx-eyed scriptus. At his right sits Wezyk, the Bible- longing for some means of compassing its down- burning Primate, while on his left rises Zadzik, fall. The Primate of Poland condemned to the Bishop of Cracow and diocesan of Rakbw, flames a reprint of the Polish Bible translated by pleading for summary dealing with that hotbed members of the Minor Church. There was in it of heresy. The leaders of the Minor Church stand a terrible misprint, do for od, which made our at the bar ; their best friends, the third order of Saviour tempted to the Devil instead of tempted nobility, have been excluded from the sitting. by him. This reprint hawever was not executed On May Day 1638 the decree was passed pro- at Rak6w, which could not therefore be made to scribing the teachers of Rak6w, confiscating their suffer. At length, in 1638, two thoughtless lads, church and their printingpress, and dooming Falibowski and Babinecki by name, furnished the their College buildings to demolition. first occasion of complaint against Rak6w, and This was the first act of a tragedy destined to the Jesuit wire-pullers determined that it should be developed and completed in the course of some TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME score of years. When at length the throne of encloses a smaller square. Neither in street or Poland was filled by John Casimir, who had beell square is there (1900) any sign of freedom or of a Cardinal ; and when the Jesuit Severin Karwath literature to remind the traveller that this was. held the office of Court preacher, it is no wonder once the Sarmatian Athens. The decree of 1638 that a decree was issued for the extermination of did not work by halves. the Minor Church. Accordingly in 1660 (a date Look now, by way of contrast, to what was memorable in our own ecclesiastical annals for effected by the kindred Church in Hungary in its tale of blighted hopes) our Polish co-religionists- that same year. It cannot be doubted that the were compelled either to renounce their religion course which things were taking in Poland had or to become exiles from their homes. Their ex- made a strong impression on those of the like pulsion was the natural sequel to the suppression faith across the Carpathians, warning them of a of Rak6w. Pope Alexander VII (whose portrait common danger. The Hungarian Church had might be mistaken for that of Richard Baxter) de- wavered more than once between the alternatives corated John Casimir with the title Rex Ortho- of framing a policy of its own, or following in the doxzts, and the churches of the Arians (so called) wake of its Polish sister, which certainly took the were devoted henceforth to Roman Catholic lead in learning and culture, perhaps also in worship. wealth. It had received teachers and pastors Obscure enough is Rak6w to-day; yet those from the College and Church of Rak6w, and had who, with Count Krasinski speak of it as a miser-- even elected one of them, Valentine Radecki, as able village, can never have heard the sound of its bishop. Radecki, as was natural enough, its bells, or filled their shoes with the sand of its proved a warm adherent to Polish ideas. The ill suburbs, or bowed the head within its synagogue, success of his advocacy of them was in part due or, guided by the parish priest, stepped over to the circumstance that, confining himself to prostrate worshippers on the pavement of its Latin, he never learned the Magyar tongue, thus graceful church, to view the mural portrait of never getting into accurate touch with the com- Zadzik. Like all old Polish towns, its main munity over which he presided. So strongly was feature is a vast open square, eastward of which this felt that, on his death in 1632, a law of the is a desecrated church of the proscribed corn-- Hungarian Church was enacted, excluding from munity, or what remains of it patched up into a the episcopal office all but native-born Hun- dwelling-house. A network of narrow streets garians. TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME

Radecki's death was followed by internal did- situation, the skill with which he treated it. sensions in the Church; questions of policy As the symbol of this Complanatio appears for became questions of party and of personal rivalry. the first time in history a document with the After the election of Daniel Beke as bishop, at the heading Confessio Fidei secundum Unitarios-a end of 1636, the divisive action of a disappointed Confession of the Faith according to Unitarians, candidate very seriously endangered the position If we say that the statesmanship of Beke is no- of the Antitrinitarians as one of the Four where more conspicuous than in the official Religions of the country recognized and pro- adoption of the term which first emerged in 1600, tected by the State-a position never attained by it is not meant that the choice of this distinctive their CO-religionists in Poland. Name did the work of preserving the Unitarian The fall of the thunderbolt on Rakiiw was Church of Hungary. The adoption of a common convincing proof that the need of internal unity name was a symptom rather than a cause. It was imperative and that the work of consolida- was the symptom and outcome of a spirit which tion could not safely be delayed. Beke, a strong had become alive to the necessity of standing man, convened a Synod synchronously with the closely together, not merely for self-preservation, Transylvanian Diet, which was meeting at D&. but for the health and strength of a cause greater Gaining the co-operation of both Synod and Diet, than any self-interest, greater than any private- Beke on 7 July, 1638, effected the famous preierence. Comfllanatio Deesiana, at which the Unitarians- Yet it was not from Hungary that the bequest jointly taking that name for the first time- of the year 1600 came to Western Europe and achieved a united front, presented a common reached our own shores. By a strange irony of Confession, and obtained from the Diet, assembled fate the Unitarian name has been derived from under a Calvinistic Prince, the ratification of their the exiled Poles, who never, even in exile, adopted place among the Received Religions of their it as their own. Next to Gregory Pauli the most country. Never .since has this position been remarkable champion of the liberal faith that. questioned, even in the bitterest times of perse- Poland ever produced was Andrew Wiszowaty, cution. That it should have been established at grandson of Socinus. He it was who rallied the, such a moment was no small attainment, and com- fugitives from Rak6w in 1638, and again who, pels us to admiration of the statesmanship of later on, piloted to Holland the main body of the. Beke, the sagacity with which he grasped the exiles of 1660. Obtaining the willing services of a. TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME learned printer at Amsterdam, he projected in " A Brief History of the Unitarians, called also 1665 the series of Latin folios designed to secure Socinians "-the work of Stephen Nye, with a for his faith through the press a hearing denied short addition by Hedworth. It was to furnish to it from the pulpit. On the general title-page a rallying point for existing adherents and present the series is described as the Library of the Polish a standard for anticipated accessions that the Brethren. Then come the words, added in con- Name was adopted in England, which in Hungary cert with Stanislaus Lubieniecki, quos Unitarios had stood since 1600 for a Religion, since 1638 for vocant, called by others Unitarians. a Church. As their writings show, Wiszowaty and In the march of the world three centuries cover Lubieniecki would have preferred phrases such as no great stretch of time, yet in the history of a " simple Christians," " mere Christians," " Catho- movement they mean much, and may not un- lic Christians." In this they were in accord with reasonably be interpreted as an augury of endur- the tenacious sentiment of the body to which ance. It was indeed a great thing to go into exile they belonged. Within the limits of that body, for conscience and for truth. It was something these phrases were perfectly intelligible; they greater to stand so firm in the tenacity of purpose meant not many things, but one thing. Whereas and the comradeship of faith as to impress even in Holland the exiles had taken in hand the task unfriendly powers with the conviction that here of introducing the views of their representative was a people whose mind was clearly made up to men to an outside public. From that public stay, to speak, to live and grow. they sought the justice of which at home they had Gregory Pauli may have been justified in his been ruthlessly deprived. They must therefore millennia1 vision, though overhasty in his chrono- make their position plain and intelligible to those logical surmise and fanciful in his colouring of the to whom they appealed. Hence they yielded so spiritual prospect. The millennium may in truth far to the schooling of events as, for literary pur- be on its way, and in its advent be expected to poses at any rate, to pay some heed to the lesson eclipse, and by eclipsing sweep into oblivion, our of Hungary. Precisely similar in its motive was tentative endeavours for the establishment of the the adoption of the term in England; first, so far true kingdom of the One True God. Meanwhile as is known, by Henry Hedworth in obscure Pauli was certainly right in holding that this pamphlets of 1672, and further (1687) in a expectation should not damp but should rather publication which speedily became widely known, stimulate the determination to be found, when TERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME the triumph of our ideal brightens the sky, robustly active in its behoof, ready to welcome it with girded loins and with the responsive glow of our lighted.lamps. 3 October, 1900.

EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION

RANCIS Hutcheson, the future philosopher, F when on the threshold of his career as an ethical writer and teacher, had a friendly dis- cussion in 1726 with his neighbour-and almost namesake-Francis Hutchinson, Bishop of Down and Connor, the subject being the question of conformity. The Bishop thus laconically stated this question from his own point of view :-" We would not sweep the house clean, and you stumbled at straws." While the candour of the former half of this pronouncement has not always been imitated by episcopal advocates of Anglican claims, its latter half very well expresses the estimate of the Nonconformist conscience enter- tained by bishops, and by other persons, in the most modern times. Indeed something may be said for it; if we remember that, by Noncon- formists themselves, the obstacles in the way of their conformity are often and characteristically described as " scruples." A scruple, when we go back to its original and literal meaning, is indeed a tiny matter, less bulky even than a straw. EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION

Now it is the privilege and almost the pre- formity would have been strangled in its cradle. rogative of minuti~,that to them belongs much By hurried moves from place to place, Teachers and momentous significance. The analogy of the sometimes managed to evade arrest, at least for a grain of sand that blinds the eye, the spark that time. The prosecutions continued, even after the fires the mine, the pinprick that entails death and passing of the Toleration Act; and were not destruction, forbids us-in spite of Alexander finally abandoned till (in 1734) proceedings against Pope-to think of any causes which breed real Doddridge were stopped by the personal order of events as trifling. To dismiss niceties as petty, George 11. is to fail to understand life. Only by securing In the earliest days of Ejected Nonconformity, exactitude in minimis can the stern persistent the scope of its Teachers went no higher in secular resolve, nay, the uncompromising inappeasable learning than the curriculum of the grammar strife, with which wise men toil after truth, reach school. Of set purpose they abstained from and attain any kind of permanent satisfaction. trespass upon those branches in which the If, then, the starting-point of Nonconformity be Universities then held a close monopoly. This scruple, it must be added that the aim of Non- self-restriction was due to conscientious scruples, conformity is the complete adjustment of thoughts raised in the minds of ejected graduates, by the to things, of words to thoughts, of deeds to words. terms of their graduation oath. As far back as Are we not saying the same thing when we affirm, the reign of Edward 111, disputes in the older with emphasis, that the very life-blood of Non- Universities had led to migrations of tutors and conformity is Education ? students, till at Stamford the attempt was made This was well understood by the authorities in to establish a rival University. Hence the oath; Church and State, when from the passing of the which bound graduates not to lecture r$amquam ilz Uniformity Act in 1662, they employed every universitate elsewhere than in Oxford or Cam- effort in their power to debar Nonconformists bridge. Many of the Ejected felt this oath as a from the exercise of the teaching profession, and. conscientious bar to the exercise of their gifts in to break up their schools. A bishop's licence was the higher learning. Calamy has preserved for required in the case of every Teacher ; the Teacher us the elaborate arguments by which, after a time, not so licensed was prosecuted, and subjected on Charles Morton, of Wadham College, Oxford, and conviction to fine and imprisonment. Had these Samuel Cradock, ex-fellow of Emmanuel, con- prosecutions succeeded in their object, Noncon- vinced themselves that the oath prohibited, and EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION was designed to prohibit, merely prelections in European university not fortified by powers order to a degree ; and that, since Nonconformists conveyed under a Papal Bull. For this reason, did not pretend to give degrees, or to qualify for in all probability, the name Universitas was not them, the oath did not close their lips as teachers adopted as its official description. Calvin gave it of university learning. They cited examples of the style and title of Academia. Universitas and conformists, including even a bishop, who had Collegiunz, though we distinguish between them lectured in philosophy and divinity at their own in modern usage, are, in Latin, practically abodes. These precedents, however, did not synonymous terms ; they simply mean a corpora- satisfy the consciences of all their brethren. tion. Accademia was, and is, in use in Italy, as In the North of England the need for some the designation of a literary club, perhaps because further provision for the higher learning was Cicero had employed it in a somewhat similar acutely pressing. To supply a long-felt want sense. There can, however, be no doubt that Cromwell had founded a college at Durham in Calvin went back to the original associations of 1657; but at the Restoration Cromwell's patent the term, recalling the scene where Plato taught was reckoned void, the endowments went back in the suburbs of Athens, at " the olive grove of to the Church, the college collapsed. Among its Academe " the Attic hero. There may be some- tutors had been William Pell, eminent as an thing in the suggestion that, in thus invoking orientalist. His friends, after his ejection, re- Plato, as the ruling spirit of his new foundation, peatedly urged him to take up, as a volunteer, the Calvin as a humanist intended to emphasize his tutorial work from which he had been excluded. breach with the Schoolmen and with Aristotle, Pell was one of those whose scruples could not be their idol, though not, it must be confessed, overcome. ' At length the work was begun in their model. Yorkshire by Richard Frankland, of Christ's Four years later the town council of the Scot- College, Cambridge, who, it seems, had been tish capital projected a seat of the higher learning designed for some post at Durham College, had on Calvin's lines. I am somewhat proud to think it continued. Him we must ever revere as the that my Alma Mater was the earliest University Founder in this country of the Nonconformist within the British Isles in whose establishment no Academy. Pope ever had a finger. Naturally, the Scottish Why Academy ? Tlle answer is interesting. hierarchy of that day put obstacles in the way, In 1559 Calvin established at Geneva the first and the University did not obtain a royal charter EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION

till 1582. Its official title still runs Academia roused him to action, drew him from the com- Jacobi VI Scotorum Regis Edinensis. fortable quiet of his private estate, and made him Thus for our Nonconformist predecessors the join for the first time the persecuted ranks of the name of Academy (or as they called it, and as " conventicle " preachers. He journeyed to Lon- John James Tayler always continued to call it, don, gained audience of Charles 11, and, with a a'c2de'nzy) was suggestive of reminiscences con- faithfulness as severe as its utterance was dignified genial with their object and their spirit. They and impressive, went straight to the mark, calling desired to keep alive in their land the solid sub- upon the pleasure-loving king, in the name of the stance of the best university learning. They did King of kings, to reform his life, his family, his not profess to grant degrees; though, had they kingdom, and the Church. Charles was well done so, one may suspect that a degree at Rath- aware that he was listening to no Court-preacher ; me11 in the seventeenth century, or one at not only did the transparent earnestness and Daventry in the eighteenth, would have meant a sincerity of the appeal succeed for the moment in good deal more than a contemporary degree touching him; he recognized in his reprover the either at Oxford or at Cambridge, if measured, man of culture and the gentleman, and his not by its value for merely social purposes, but response was more marked than usual: " ' I by its worth as an index of the intellectual thank you, sir,' and twice looking back befcre he stimulus promoted by careful and enlightened went into the Council Chamber, said, ' I thank study. you, sir; I thank you."' Then Frankland re- Frankland set about his work at a time and turned to Rathmell, and the Northern Academy in a spirit which may entitle him to be viewed as was opened. Partly in remembrance of its the rescuer of Nonconformity from destruction at Tutor's ancient place of learning, it was also the hands of the oppressor. He chose the mo- known as Christ's College, Rathmell. It was no ment when, by the provisions of the second Con- !clerical seminary, either in design or in fact. Its venticle Act (the Act of 1670), the persistent first student was a baronet's son, a young lay- Nonconformist preacher was laid under penalties man, bred an Episcopalian, though of the Puritan meant to be ruinous-unless, indeed, he were a type, who went to Rathmell just as he would have peer of the realm, as the Act set forth, with subtle gone to Oxford, to receive a learned education. and cruel irony. This Act it was which, so far For observe, while the Academy was Noncon- from inclining Frankland to feel himself crushed, formist, its alumni were not asked to commit EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION themselves, either actually or implicitly, to the cutions and excommunications (which then were Nonconformist position. Its raisovt d'etre lay in no mere bruturn fulmen) dogged him all his re- the fact that the older Universities were not maining days, and it was only by constant re- open to Conformists and to Nonconformists alike. movals from corner to corner of Yorkshire and It would have been contradictory to its very Lancashire that he was able to keep his Academy principle of existence had it been closed to either going during the whole of the eight-and-twenty party. " This securing of the key of knowledge," years which intervened between its origination wrote Charles Morton in words which seem to and his death. One hardly knows which most to have a very modern significance, " and tying it admire-the unflinching tenacity of the middle- fast to some men's girdles, or making it too hot aged Teacher, or the brave young courage of the and heavy for others to touch on any terms, might Students who followed him in his wanderings. In well enough comport with popish designs, to every year but one, the bitter year of 1685 (the keep people in the dark, that they may lead them year when Jeffreys tormented Baxter from the the more quietly by the nose." To maintain an bench), new pupils came eagerly forward to open door was vital to the very being of the old freshen and increase the list of Frankland's Nonconformist Academy. Some of Frankland's scholars. students were intended for the legal, others for It was much against the grain with Frank- the medical profession. Though Frankland him- land's diocesan, Sharp, Archbishop of Yo~k,that self was a Presbyterian, his early divinity students he felt driven to countenance proceedings against belonged to the Independent denomination. Not Frankland; for Sharp had close family con- till the Academy had been conducted for two nections with Nonconformists. His clergy be- years did it receive any divinity students from sieged him with petitions to suppress the Presbyterian families. For, until the Indulgence Academy. He resorted to Archbishop Tillotson of 1672, the Presbyterians (with only a rare for advice; and, with Tillotson, severity toward exception here and there) were not satisfied to fall Nonconformists was still more against the grain, in with the separating ways of the Independents. for he had been a Nonconformist himself. Tell It is from 1672 (not from 1662) that Stillingfleet him, he wrote, that it is not as a Nonconformist quite correctly dates cc the Presbyterian Separa- you proceed against him; that a bishop is bound tion." by his oath not to license anybody to give public Frankland was never imprisoned ; but prose- instruction in university learning; that will be EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION

"'the fairest and softest way of ridding your of Findern Academy-who died in 1720-ex- hands of this business." Sharp, however, found pected his students to sing their Psalms, not what he thought a fairer and softer way. He' merely as rendered into Latin, but in Greek verse invited Frankland to Bishopthorpe, and in the too. A Tutor of a yet severer stamp made his library there they talked matters over, not pupils sing them in the original Hebrew. The without the soothing aid of a pipe of tobacco, and day for such heroic exercise is long gone. the gentle stimulus of a glass of good wine. Whether or no it was entirely for good, Dod- Henceforth Sharp and Frankland understood one dridge changed all that; lecturing in English, as another. But prosecutions from other quarters the appropriate vesture of a more modern Science, did not cease. a more modern Philosophy, a more modern Quickly was Frankland's example followed; Theology. The three branches just enumerated and in a very few years Academies sprang up in were the main items of the curriculum, and all parts of the country. It is far from my formed the staple of the old Academy courses of intention to go into the history of these Non- instruction. Prominence was given to Philo- conformist Academies; but I desire to direct your sophy; which constituted, indeed, the chief attention to some features of the earlier ones, intellectual interest of an age when the older those before Doddridge. I draw the line here forms of thought were being supplanted by the for a very good reason. Doddridge initiated an influence of Descartes, and again of Locke. In important change in the Nonconformist Academy, none of these old Academies was Science neg- amounting to a revolution. Before his time, lected; and though it was the nascent Science of following the practice of the older Universities, that age, it was pursued with a keen curiosity, all lectures were in Latin, prayers were in Latin, and often with an apparatus as efficient as was and Latin was the customary speech during then procurable. The weak point was the treat- business hours within the Academy walls. Eng- ment-or non-treatment-of History, which rare- lish was only permitted on stated occasions, ly appears in the schemes of lectures, except under e.g., always on Sunday evenings, when sermons the denomination of Chronology, and this was were repeated. Indeed, the amount of linguistic largely Biblical. Sacred history was to some facility which was exacted from ingenuous extent dealt with incidentally under the head of youth in those days may well surprise, if not Jewish Antiquities, but ecclesiastical history was- shame, our modern backwardness. Thomas Hill, not touched, nor history of doctrine. EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION

Another department, much cultivated in some witnessed the rise of new knowledges. What real of the later Academies, under the name of Belles- grasp of history, or of ecclesiastical history for Lettres, was unrepresented in the earlier ones. that matter, had men's minds before Gibbon ? At Oxford, it is true, the professor of Poetry used As for not teaching history of doctrine, we might within living memory to lecture on English poets as well blame the old Academies for not teaching in the Latin tongue; but we can quite under- Geology. stand that, with Latin as the sole medium of This further we must remember, lest we sup- class instruction, English literature would come pose that the alumni were necessarily subjected off badly. At Rathmell, however, as we are told to the disadvantages of a one-man system in all by one of the students-James Clegge, in his departments. As the Academies multiplied, it excellent gossiping Diary-" Mr. Frankland's soon became apparent to students of quick parts, daughters " supplied to some extent their father's eager for the best instruction, that each had its deficiencies in this respect. They "led me," he specialty or specialties. One Tutor had a reputa- says, " to read poetry and novels; a~dsuch like tion for philosophy; another for science, and trash," he somewhat ungratefully adds. so on. The student bent on reaping in all It may perhaps be thought that, when the the most profitable fields would migrate from burden of the Academy work fell upon an indi- Academy to Academy, to his own advantage, and vidual, with the assistance of one (rarely two) also to that of his new associates. For he would of his senior pupils, the multitude of subjects was bring with him something, as well as learn some- felt to be quite as much as could be reasonably thing that to him was fresh. To finish their accomplished, without taking in the additional studies abroad, or at a Scottish University, was departments above specified as not represented. no uncommon thing with Nonconformist students, This criticism would hardly be appropriate. For whet her lay or clerical. the topics treated in the Academy actually covered There was another ground of choice, deciding the whole range of needful knowledge as then the reputation of Academy and Academy, apart realized. From the course, which extended over from the special qualifications and accomplish- five years, nothing deemed desirable was deliber- ments of Tutors. That was the question of ately omitted. The defects were partly the books. There were no Academy libraries in those defects of the educational ideas of the time ; but days. Doddridge, I- think, was the first to largely also due to the fact that a later time has establish one. The pupils, however, had the free AND EDUCATION EARLY NONCONFORMITY of a sound Calvinistic theology. In the after- run of their Tutor's often scanty shelves. A new noons they helped themselves to the quartos of arrival would tell of a better store under the roof Episcopius, and the folios of Socinus and Crellius, of some other Tutor, and so tempt to a migration with the result of broadening their outlook. on this ground alone. Clegge, who was always what is called " moder- Thus, Thomas Emlyn left John Shuttlewood's ately orthodox," very significantly remarks: Academy at Sulby, simply because Shuttlewood " The writings of Socinus and his followers made " had very few books, and them chiefly of one little impression on me; only I could never after sort." It was, indeed, hardly likely that he be entirely reconciled to the common doctrine of should have many, or rejoice in a rich variety; the Trinity." He became a Clarkean in this for he was one of the hunted Tutors. He had respect. Then he goes on: " I admired the clear seen the inside of a gaol at least four times; and and strong reasoning of Episcopius; and, after Sulby was an obscure hamlet, in Northampton- that, could never well relish the doctrines of rigid shire, extra-parochial, where he kept his Academy Calvinism." It is safe to say, that among the in hiding, and held himself ready for a further liberalising influences which have acted upon Lan- flitting at a moment's notice. Eventually, Em- cashire Nonconformity, the Chetham's Library, lyn went back to Shuttlewood; for though he during the thirteen years of the life of the first found more books at the Bodleian, he did not find Manchester Academy (1699-I~IZ),is entitled to what he felt he could gain from Shuttlewood no mean place. himself. It is not to be supposed that the teaching of the John Chorlton, of the first Manchester Academy, old Academies was in all cases consciously one- had many books, yet, as Emlyn puts it, " chiefly sided. This is true of some of them, but (if we of one sort." On the other hand in Manchester except Attercliffe, where Mathematics was ta- there was-and is, though few people seem to be booed as " tending to scepticism ") it was not fully aware of the fact-Chetham's Library. true of the best. Choice of systems was freely James Clegge, who became Chorlton's pupil after allowed, perhaps more freely in Philosophy than Frankland's death, tells us that he placed himself in Theology. In Frankland's Academy, we read in Manchester for the benefit of this "library, " one Tutor was a Ramist," but Aristotle and and the conversation of other young scholars," Ramus were permitted to rival each other in their who had previously benefited by it. Chorlton's attractions for the studious mind. At Taunton, students listened in the mornings to the exposition G EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION

Frankland's contemporary, Matthew Warren (as It may be said, and has been said, that this one of his students, who was afterwards a Tutor, large liberty of discussing topics, forming opinions, tells us), " though bred himself in the old philo- and speaking them out, led to a sort of un- sophy, and little acquainted with the improve- restraint, injurious to the Nonconformist temper ments of the new, yet encouraged his pupils in a and training. This was the burden of the freedom of inquiry, and in reading those books frequent attacks upon the Academies in the early which would better gratify a love of truth and part of the eighteenth century. They were repre- knowledge, even when they differed widely from sented as hotbeds of faction and revolution, those writers on whom he had formed his own political and religious. Especially was this sentiments." When we recollect how deeply the charge brought against the London Academies, theology of that age was rooted in its philosophy, and made an argument, even in Parliament, for we can appreciate the necessarily liberalising their suppression. So far as it is based on any effect of this procedure. Of Warren, too, we truth, it applies to London only. I think I have read (and this is true of all the best of the earlier studied all the evidence on the subject; and it is Tutors) that he " encouraged the free and critical true.that behind their Tutors' backs the alunzni of study of the Scriptures, as the best system of rival Academies lampooned each other; that theology." Perhaps to-day we should be in- those of Independent Academies held calves' clined to add : best, because least systematic. head feasts under the rose on January pth, and One other and kindred feature of the old were not too respectful to the memory of the Academies must not be passed over; that is to Royal Martyr and his anointed offspring; and say, the fostering of freedom of discussion among that religious opponents, whose weapon had been the students themselves. Of course, the most persecution, were made the subject of disparaging conspicuous example of this is to be found at remarks, more pointed than polished, after the Daventry, at a later date, but, in truth, the rough humour of those days. It is equally true freedom of the students' discussions began with that, had these dangerous youths not been Non- Frankland. Every evening, after supper, their .conformists, no charge of really serious import English tongues were loosed; the day's work was would or could have been founded on such un- passed in review; they were invited tb canvass it authorized eff ervescences of boyish spleen and freely among themselves, not hampered by any displays of rude juvenile wit. The discipline Tutor's presence. within the Academies was surprisingly good; the EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION charges here mentioned would not be worth referring to, save as an indication of the atmos- that infusion of new blood into the older institu- phere of the time, and of the eagerness with which tion of religion, for which the Anglican Church the enemies of Nonconformity sought an excuse stands indebted to able and conspicuous men, for ignoring and suppressing its invaluable made what they were, in the obscurity of the services. Nonconformist Academy. It was not Oxford, it The immediate work of the Nonconformist was Tewkesbury, that nurtured the mind of Academies was to fit and equip men for public Butler. duty, not in the ministry alone, but in all the In addition to its immediate work, the Non- professions; it was to make them thinkers-not conformist Academy rendered a service of the closing their minds with fixed opinions, but open- first importance to the education of England. ing their intelligences, and giving them an im- The founders of the old Academies were (to quote petus towards the acquirement of further know- Charles Morton again) " willing to have know- ledge; it was to make them workers for the good ledge increased, and not confined to the clergy or of their kind, to train them for the application of learned professions, but extended or diffused, as knowledge in all the departments of life. Far much as might be, to the people in general." more was this their aim than to make Noncon- They taught the teachers. The ministers of the formists. They had to deal primarily with a old Nonconformity, not merely in some cases, but class of people, Nonconformist already, expelled as a general rule-almost as a part bf their from the unity of the nation into Nonconformity ;, recognized duty-were the educators in their and they made it their task to develop in that several neighbourhoods. To their schools, simply class the powers of thought and powers of life because they were good schools, where real which would qualify them to fill their places in the teaching was done, came pupils from outside their work of their country; to do their part in forming own flocks., They did not increase their con- its future, to take their share in building up on gregations by their school-keeping, it is said. sound principles its prosperity, to advance its Quite so; but that is not the point. The point culture, and to ensure its progress. Small wonder is that, up and down the country, they were the that many who were not Nonconforn~istswere great spreaders of an education, serviceable to ready to avail themselves of an education thus the people, and not otherwise supplied. Up to conceived and thus pursued. Nor need we grudge a time which many of us can remember, this function of the liberal Nonconformist minister, EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION the cultured atumnus of the Nonconformist question had been left unnoticed. It has been Academy, was not merely a tradition, but a treated simply at the upper end; and for a good reality. Your own recollection will furnish many reason. Later developments of the zeal of Non- an instance of men, never in any sense associatecl conformists for the instruction of the people- with Nonconformity by religious connection, but their activity, for example, in their Sunday owing to Nonconformist scholarship an initial schools, indispensable nurseries of all useful education, conducted for education's sake, and knowledge, freely opened to the uninstructed not for a sect's sake. masses during the major part of the century past We cannot easily over-estimate either the -these and the like are familiar in most men's actual good thus done, or the force and value of minds. The memory of man is short and fitful; its example. The conditions of our public and it is desirable to have refreshed in our im- education are now entirely changed, and changed, aginations the clear and patent fact that, in the on the whole, doubtless, for the better. Let not art of Education and the love of Education, Non- the pioneers be forgotten. With an admirable conformists are no novices. From the very be- modesty, Morton expressed the hope that the ginning of their history they have striven man- work done by him, and his like, might move " a. fully in the sacred cause of the educational wel- noble emulation. A poor hackney," says he, fare of all classes in the land. For on their " may put a racehorse upon his brisker career." hearts was inscribed indelibly the motto which of The good work of the despised and shackled Non- old the Franklands bore: Libera terra, liberqus conformist " may stir up to greater diligence and animus ; and thus they understood it : " 'Tis no industry in the Universities." With the advent free country till the mind be free." On their of greater diligence and industry, he thought that work might fittingly be written that which was Nonconformists might be readmitted, at least to Cradock's chosen motto: Nec ingratus nec " some of the meaner Colleges and Halls." Then inutilis videar vixisse. By rendering services to the goal of his desires would be in sight. their own generation, they have sought to approve All this does but touch the fringe of a great themselves grateful to their teachers in the past. subject : What Nonconformity has done for In concluding, it may be allowable to quote Education. Had that been the theme of this Morton once more. I suppose this eminent Cor- Address, its readers would reasonably have com- nishman is better known in America than in plained that whole sections of the answer to this England, though here he educated Defoe and the EARLY NONCONFORMITY AND EDUCATION father of the Wesleys. He became the first Vice- high and true sense of their spiritual calling. President of Harvard, and is honoured as one of In the legal phraseology of ancient Rome, duo its benefactors. Among his writings is an .f aciunt collegium. The sentiment is expanded in " Advice to Candidates for the Ministry," from the wise saying of the old Book: " Two are which it may be worth while to cull a couple of better than one, because they have a good reward brief sentences. His advice is often quaint for their labour ; for, if they fall, the one will lift enough, and even a little sarcastic, especially up his fellow. But woe unto him that is alone when it is of a negative character, setting forth when he falleth, for he hath not another to help what not to do. Thus, in giving some sermon him up." By earnest and conscientious co- hints, he deprecates what he is pleased to call " an ,operation, Teachers and their Pupils, alike learners impertinent filling up some interstitial time with together, may expect from the Divine Hand a good an ill-favoured heap of superfluous words "-a reward for their labour, granted to their efforts practice which we must presume that Morton and their prayers. If the Tutor droop or tremble, had encountered in America. may the brighter hearts of those among whom and This, however, is the quotation from his with whom he conducts the common studies, com- " Advice," and it is both a wise and a kindly word bine to help him up ; it being the joint resolve of " of counsel from a Tutor of an older time. I 'each and all, not merely to " prove his own work," would not," says he, "have young men so per- but, in comradeship, in the spirit of united sonate Fathers, as to put on an affected gravity, .endeavour, to learn that great lesson of human or conceit to themselves greater authority than :service and sympathy, which teaches how, in indeed they have; this would render them and every relation of life, to bear one another's their discourse more ridiculous than reverend. burdens, "and so fulfil the law of Christ." But yet they should, with a modest and humble seriousness and boldness, so address themselves 8 October, 1902. to the consciences of men, that there may be perceived in them a hearty desire to do real ser- vice to God, and real good to men's souls." So speaks to-day, out of the past, one who made it his aim, both in the Old World and in the New, to imbue those whom he was training with a THOMAS FIRMIN UNITARIAN PHILANTHROPIST THOMAS FIRMIN UNITARIAN PHILANTHROPIST

T is five o'clock on a Sunday evening in the 1 latter half of King Charles the Second's reign, and the boys of Christ's Hospital, arrayed in THOMASFIRMIN.-BO~~ (Ipswich) June, 1632 ; their picturesque costume of long blue coat and Befriended Bidle, 1655 ; First provision of em- bands, are filing in for their evening service and ployment for the destitute, 1665; Governor of evening meal. They say their prayers, recite Christ's Hospital, 1673 ; Started factories for the poor, 1676; Issued the first Unitarian tract, their catechism, sing an anthem, and then comes. supper. Conspicuous in the scene is a little man, 1687; Died (London) 20th December, 1697. nimble and dapper, of complexion fair and bright,. bustling about with an eager face, easily moved to smile or to frown. His pocket is filled with Scripture catechisms, in case any lad has lost his book, or any new boy needs one; in the corner of his fob lurks a silver sixpence, for the urchin who, knows his lesson well. When the pudding-pies,. one for each young man, are set upon the long tables, he scans them with a critical eye. Woe. be to the cook if these appetising delicacies are not up to the mark in size and quality. He has been known to rush off to the kitchen with a diminutive specimen, expostulating on its defects,. THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN

and hardly to have been appeased when the contemplation of the spirit which was character- scales proved that the viand, though small, was istic of the pioneers in the seventeenth century heavy. of the movement known as English Unitarianism, This indomitable little personage, quick-witted with the specific purpose of exhibiting the in- and indefatigable, a boy among boys, a leader timate connection of two closely associated lines .among men, friend everywhere of the friendless, of their activity. These men of the past, of is Thomas Firmin, known in one aspect of him as whose worth we are content to form, perhaps, a " almoner-general for the poor " ; in another, as rather vague estimate, were interested in theology, " curator of the Unitarian religion "; and, more- and were equally interested in philanthropy. over, if I may quote the character given him by Their work lay in both directions. They were the biographer of a nonjuring saint, " a gentleman interested in clearing and improving the ideas of of universal goodwill." Pepys the diarist, in a men on two great subjects, and I believe that remarkable letter to the Lord Mayor, declares they were in no small degree successful in purify- that Firmin's " good works have been too many ing and enlightening public opinion on these and too conspicuous not to have covered errors of topics. They themselves would have reckoned a much greater magnitude than any I hear him lightly of any success won simply in the world of charged with." " I am satisfied," writes a con- thought and the realm of speculation. They temporary, " that he might, perhaps, have been a were practical men. Their aim was, while better believer; but he could not have been a rendering all homage to theology as a science, to better man." Till he had become an old man go further than this : to find in it elements of (eighty-three) John Wesley does not appear to life, as well as materials for thought ; in short, to have read any account of Firmin7slife. When he apply its data to the suggestion and the mainten- had done so, " I was exceedingly struck," says ance of a better kind of religion. Not less, but he, " having long settled it in my mind that the more religious were they than others around entertaining wrong notions of the Trinity was them; and this, on the confession of their con- inconsistent with true piety. But I cannot argue temporaries, who marvelled at the paradox. .against matter of fact ; I dare not deny that Mr. While recognizing, and endeavouring to dis- Firmin was a pious man, although his notions of charge, the universally admitted duty of minis- the Trinity were quite erroneous." tering to human needs, it was their further aim It is the object of this Address to induce some to discover right methods of helpful service* THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN methods tending to improve the conditions of home to his wife Prudence, and his little son human life, and lift society on to a higher level. Thomas, then but three years old. Above all, they sought to introduce into the Henry and Prudence reared their boy in a sphere of religion, as into the sphere of common good stiff type of Calvinism, the Calvinism of life, a broadened and a softened spirit; being Dort, with its five bristling points of Dutch convinced that the word and the example of the orthodoxy, directed against the inroads of Founder of Christianity were not meant to be Arminian novelty. In due time they sent him buried in the Bible, but were really worth trying to London to get his living, apprenticing him to a in the England of the seventeenth century, and mercer, who in religion was a member of the Inde- would reward the trial. So much by way of pendent Church, organized by John Goodwin, at preamble. Now to disinter some of the facts. St. Stephen's, Coleman Street. Young Firmin's In the year 1635 a Puritan divine of Ipswich, education was slight ; but, like nearly every good Samuel Ward, was in the clutches of the High Puritan, he could write shorthand; and perhaps Commission Court for reviling the Book of this influenced his ordinary spelling, which, to the Sports, and for affirming (with a suspected refer- end of his days, was as original as Sir Isaac ence to the designs of Archbishop Laud) that Pitman's, though not so uniform. In his auto- "the Church of England was ready to bring graph will he adopts the spelling " leagesies," an changes in religion." It was possibly in a hope original orthography which suggests an original of mending his own position with the authorities pronunciation. Pen in hand, inkhorn at his that, in the same year, Ward placed two of his breast, our prentice took down John Goodwin's parishioners within the tender mercies of the same sermons. court, for certain " erroneous tenetts by them Now Goodwin, a republican in politics, was in held and divulged." Though not specified, I con- religion one of the broadest-minded men of his ceive there can be little doubt that the incrimin- time. Anticipating George Fox, he maintains ated tenets were those of " the queasie stomacked that the Word of God " was extant in the world, Brownists" (as Ward styles them), the pre- nay, in the hearts and consciences of men, before cursors of Independency. One of these erring there was any copy of the Word extant in writ- Ipswich parishioners was Henry Firmin, who, ing." Without the letter of the Gospel, he after suffering imprisonment, making renuncia- argues, heathens may be saved. Discarding the tion, and paying costs, was set free to return distinction of Jeremy Taylor, who pleaded for the THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN

toleration only of those whose errors were not theory. Goodwin's width of heart, and breadth f~zndamental,he affirms that error even on funda- of spirit, took full possession of him ; his attitude mental points may be innocent. Toleration he towards the whole question of religion was bases on the difficulty of arriving at truth ; and formed by Goodwin. bids men "call more for light, and less for fire, Meanwhile, in his master's shop he was learning

from heaven." Even a denial of the Trinity he his business. Customers called him " the sprite." will not treat as a " damnable heresy," for He showed tact as well as quickness. His orthodoxy is a doctrine of inference. One who apprenticeship over, he set up for himself as a is fond of Goodwin will often open one of his mercer, having a patrimony of £100 as capital. dusky brown quartos, simply for the pleasure oZ The date was apparently 1655 : the place, Three gazing upon his luminous old sagacious face; his Kings Court, Lombard Street. Of his purely clear-cut features, delicate and manly; his high business life it may suffice to say that, after forehead, and higher skullcap; and the fingers twenty years' trade, he was worth ~g,oooodd. of his right hand, seizing a fine point and pinching Twenty years later he died worth about £3,300. it firmly. A wrathful contemporary (George According to the calculation of his nephew and VC7alker) does not hesitate to call him " Socinian partner, Jonathan James, his philanthropies had John "; which simply means that he could not cost him upwards of L16,ooo. answer him. Goodwin himself- claimed to be a Soon after setting up in business, Firmin made Calvinist; but his Calvinism was of the immature the acquaintance of a real " Socinian John," type, before Holland had improved upon Geneva. namely, John Bidle, who in 1652 had started in Unhandsome critics have been known to put the London an Independent Church, closed in 1654 difference thus. Calvin, they say, devised a way in consequence of his antitrinitarian opinions. by which no more than ten in a hundred would It is assumed that Firmin had attended this be saved; the Dutch divines, by patient industry, church; of this there is no evidence, and the idea discovered a method of damning nine of these ten. seems improbable. It is stated also, on the Most people thought that between Goodwin and authority of a relative, John Mapletoft, M.D. Arminianism there was only very thin ice. (1631-I~ZI),but not at first hand, that, while yet Firmin, on the strength of the shorthand sermons, .anapprentice, he had interceded with Cromwellfor dropped into Arminianism directly. He adopted Bidle's release from Newgate (prior to 1652), and Goodwin's republicanism ; simply, however, in had been met with this answer: " You curl-pate THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN boy, you, do you think I'll show favour to a man fessed that, whenever he came close to individual that denies his Saviour-and disturbs the Govern- cases, his heart insisted on having its own way, ment ? " Very neat; but this vein of humour in triumphant rebellion against the dry logic of is obviously not in the Cromwell strain. " Curl- the situation. His critics sometimes found his pate boy " may be a true fragment of Crom- charity as heretical as his theology. They wellian speech, and doubtless the description counselled him to leave to their own punishment would fit Firmin's looks even in his twenty- the undeserving poor, and the improvident fourth year (1655). It was then, as his bio- debtors, who had rightly earned the straits and grapher distinctly tells us, that Firmin " hap- miseries of their conditions. " It would be a pened on " Bidle, gave him hospitality, and on miserable world, indeed," replied Firmin, "if his banishment to Scilly, obtained from Cromwell, Divine Providence should act by that rule . . . with the help of a friend, a yearly allowance for should grant no help . . . to us, in those calamities the banished man. For a short time, during that that are the effects of our sins. . . . Do we dare to year, Bidle lived under Firmin's roof. It was argue against the example set by Him, and . . . long enough for his influence to tell decisively without which no man living may ask anything upon Firmin in two paramount directions. of God ? " It is not every philanthropist that First, then, Bidle taught Firmin " that the has a heart; and one would hardly have expected unity of God is a unity of Person as well as of that a London tradesman, twice married, and Nature." This remained with Firmin a central with two families to provide for, would have point of conviction, through all the subsequent spoken and acted thus directly as a knight- developments of his belief. errant imbued with the compassions of the Secondly, from Bidle he learned to distrust the Most High. efficacy of mere almsgiving for the relief of the Firmin7sreligious home was the parish church necessitous; but rather to make it his business to. of St. Mary Woolnoth. The parish minister fathom the condition of the poor by personal (1655-9) was Samuel Jacombe ; and with Jacombe investigation, and to reduce the causes of social began that succession of intimacies with London distress by economic effort. Of this guiding clergy which formed so remarkable an element, principle, also, he laid firm hold, and shaped the both in his private life and his public influence. main lines of his philanthropic course with full From the very beginning of his housekeeping, he intelligence of its truth ; though it must be con-- rarely dined without ministers at his table. The THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN conversation of the dinner-hour was Firmin's laity; neither at the font nor in the sick-room was opportunity for informing his mind on the current the parishioner asked to pledge himself to any- topics of the theological world of his time, for he thing beyond the Apostles' Creed, which Firmin was no reader. The learned divines, whom he always endorsed. That Fowler, after refusing welcomed to his board, attacked his theological conformity, ultimately conformed, was probably opinions without mercy. They found him im- due to Firmin. That Tillotson, originally a movable, but always willing to listen, always Nonconformist, took the same course, was not ready with a reply; and the battle of argument improbably a result of the same influence. These did but make them better friends, for Firmin was, surmises may be drawn from the exceedingly con- as the redoubtable Daniel Burgess observes, fidential relations which Firmin maintained with " complaisant and sweet even to such as detest Tillotson, and scarcely less with Fowler, in spite and oppose his heresy." Queen Mary at one of their differences of opinion. When Tillotson time took an interest in his conversion, and bade became Dean of Canterbury (1672),he frequently Tillotson"SetMr.Firminright." "Ihaveoften needed substitutes to take his place as Tuesday endeavoured it," was all the Archbishop could say. Lecturer at St. Lawrence Jewry. He " gener- There was scarcely a divine of note whom he did ally left it to Mr. Firmin to provide them," not know. His closer intimacies, as we should knowing that he would send acceptable preachers expect, were with the men of latitude, the broad and that his freedom of opinion did not bias his churchmen of the day, men of the Cambridge judgment of men. As his friends rose to positions school, such as Whichcote, Worthington, Wilkins, of dignity in the Establishment, it was a re- Fowler. cognised thing that, by their means, he helped When the Restoration came, Firmin was on the young clergymen to preferment. It was not side of conformity, perhaps naturally. I do not their theology that recommended them to his doubt that he would have wished the terms of good offices, but their religion and their personal conformity to have been made easier. Noncon- worth. formity, broadly speaking (there were, of course, There was, indeed, a species of Nonconformity exceptions among the Baptists, and a few among in which Arminianism found a home, while much the Independents), was not prepared to tolerate of the technical language of Trinitarianism was Arminianism, much less Socinianism. In the discarded. For a mcnient it seemed as though Establishment no questions were asked of the Firmin might have been drawn toward the Society THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRNIN of Friends. This was in 1668, the year of the of his ejection, a local industry of flax and hemp publication of William Penn's " Sandy Founda- spinning. This had furnished employment, tion Shaken." With this book Firmin, it seems though it had involved him in loss. The scheme was " wonderfully taken," and " fell into great supplied to Firmin a model for the larger indus- intimacy " with its author. In the following trial enterprises to which he ultimately devoted year he " broke all bonds of friendship " with him. the largest share of his energies and his resources. He thought Penn had not stood to his colours; Thus Gouge completed for Firmin the education his " apology " of 1669 was indistinguishable from in philanthropy which Bidle had begun; giving a retractation. Such, at least, was Firmin's him a clue to the working method by which he opinion; nor did he hesitate to express it; a fact was to attempt to realize the ideal which Bidle which accounts for the disparaging terms in which had raised before his mind. Firmin did some- Penn (in 1672) alludes to Firmin as a "little thing to discharge the debt. When Gouge, great " mans and a " pragmatical " person, " all silenced in England, turned his thoughts to the tongue and no ear." evangelization of 'Wales, and to the circulation of Among the ejected of 1662 was one who found Bibles and religious books in the Welsh tongue, his way to Firmin's hospitable board, with good Firmin found money for the project ; interested results both to host and guest. To look at the Tillotson and Whichcote in the plan (which was, portrait of Thomas Gouge, the ejected vicar of we may say, the first public platform of united St. Sepulchre's, is to be always reminded of John religious and educational work in which Anglicans Hamilton Thom. Not that there is much facial and Nonconformists found it possible to co- resemblance, but there is the same unmistakable operate); acted as treasurer for the book fund J stamp of serene benignity, joined with a majesty and, after Gouge's death, continued zealously to of bearing, which marks a nature that seems to discharge the trust bequeathed to him. Nor' have come among men from a loftier height. must the point be omitted that from Gouge, a Gouge was shy of Firmin at first, till he found lover of children, Firmin derived his warm interest that, in matters of practical Christianity, the in Christ's Hospital, which, indeed, he remodelled, heretical mercer was willing both to learn from and did much to rebuild. him and to aid him. Having a large and poor Gouge was Firmin's senior by twenty-three parish, and alive to the evils of indiscriminate years. It was to a younger clergyman that almsgiving, Gouge had maintained, up to the date Firmin owed the development of his theological THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN ideas and the materials for his theological pro- pathy as regards the central doctrine of the Uni- paganda. Stephen Nye was Firmin7s junior by personality of God. He found, however, that sixteen years. By his father's side he was Firmin held with Bidle (and with John Milton) a grandson of Philip Nye, the well-known Inde- doctrine of the Divine Personality curiously rigid pendent leader, Philip of the "thanksgiving in its adherence to the letter of that picture speech beard," the same who, dispatched into Scotland which is familiar to us in the older Scripture. as a commissioner for framing a Covenant for According to this reading of symbol, the Almighty the three kingdoms, astounded the elect of Auld exists in an organized body corresponding to the Reekie by preaching in the Tron Kirk "from a human frame. Hence there is no literal omnipres- paper book " and, taking for his topic " a spiritual ence of the Divine Being, who views the world life," based it on " a knowledge of God as God, from afar, and rules the universe by delegated without the Scripture, without grace, without agencies, carrying out his will. This theory the Christ." By his mother's side Stephen Nye was two friends discussed, both by discourse and by grandson of Stephen Marshall, the greatest pulpit letter. Firmin had an able coadjutor (Henry orator of the Commonwealth Presbyterianism ; Hedworth) a Bidellian like himself. Nye con- whose rolling eyes and " shackling " gait made vinced both of them that the spirituality of the him but an uncouth figure in private, but whose Divine Being is absolute, bringing them to confess fervid eloquence constituted him a political force the actual omnipresence of the all-pervading of the first magnitude from the opening of the Spirit. There followed a total change in Firmin's Long Parliament to the close of the Civil War. adjustment of the theological problem of Christ's Thus mixed in blood, Stephen Nye found his relation to God. Hitherto he had held a Trinity vocation in a heretical conformity. He was which was a triad of unequals; there was the rector of a Hertfordshire parish (Little Hormead) Father, the Most High God, the only true God, having fewer than a hundred inhabitants, and God by inherent right; there were our Lord and possessing one of the tiniest churches in England. the Holy Ghost, minor Gods by delegation. Now In what year he became acquainted with Firmin he embraced under Nye's tuition the doctrine of has not been disclosed, but it was some time after indwelling. The Father and the Holy Spirit our friend had been fairly launched on his career became to him synonymous expressions. He of public philanthropy. still thought it right, because Scriptural, to apply Nye approached Firmin with thorough sym- to Christ the title of God, as the Man in whom THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN pre-eminently the Godhead dwells, and in whom gave all sorts of bonuses, in coal or in coin, to good the divinity, discoverable throughout the uni- workers ; and sometimes to indifferent ones. His verse by those who have eyes to see, is exhibited arrangements for the comfort and cleanliness of in an unmistakable manifest ation. his hands, and for the industrial training of Moulded in his ideas, as we have seen, by the children rescued from the streets, were admirable, impress communicated to him by a few influential The scheme never paid its way, and the annual minds (Goodwin, Bidle, Gouge, Nye), Firmin was loss tended to increase. He invoked the aid of drawn into action by the salient events of his the Press, in the vain hope of getting the Corpora.- time. His philanthropy first took large shape in tion of London to take up the matter as a civic 1665, on occasion of the trade disorganization enterprise. In 1690 the patentees of the Linen induced by the Great Plague. He provided em- Company took over the scheme; Firmin was to be ployment in making up clothing, for hands managing director at EIOO a year, but he was thrown out of work. It was the only one of his never paid, and soon the whole burden was again enterprises by which he suffered no pecuniary transferred to his shoulders. Sooner than dismiss loss. Next year his premises were burned in the any of his hands, he put down his coach, the Great Fire. He at once got temporary accom- coach which conveyed him to his beloved garden modation; drove a great trade while others were out at Hoxton. So the work went on till he died, bemoaning their losses, and soon rebuilt. Similarly he started a woollen factory in Ten years later (1676) he gave the sole manage- Artillery Lane ; but this description of handicraft ment of his private business into the hands of his proved too difficult for his waifs and strays. nephew and partner, Jonathan James, and opened Meanwhile he was visiting prisons, on the track, premises in Little Britain for the employment of not unfrequently, of his missing hands. The the poor in the linen manufacture. He had 1,700 release of debtors, the amelioration of the bar- spinners, with flax dressers, weavers, etc., in pro- barous conditions of prison life, the prosecution portion. In the matter of actual wage, he would of inhuman officials, occupied much of his time. never go above the current rate; but at normal No call of distress from any quarter reached him wage it took sixteen hours' work to earn sixpence. unheeded. He did not employ exclusively his Philip 11, had long before established in Catholic own money. He was a most admirable and per- Spain the eight hours day, but it had not yet tinacious beggar. Likely people he would assess reached Protestant England. Firmin, therefore. at so much, say, £100 at a time. It was not his THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN plan to tease them, but to watch the right Poland. When, in 1681, the Polish Calvinists moment, when his victim was in fit humour, and met the same fate which they had rejoiced to see then strike home. Many thousands of pounds, inflicted on their heretical countrymen, Firmin to be reckoned in hundreds rather than tens, was foremost in efforts for their relief. He was a passed through his hands. Scarcely was there a good patriot, as regards English manufactures, public work of charity whose projectors did not strenuously opposing the importation of French look to Firmin as collector, treasurer, distributor silks. Yet when, in 1680, the Protestant refugees of the funds. According to his methodical plan, came over from France, he was the first to assist to every donor he sent a minute account, copied them to set up their trade in Spitalfields, and in out of his books, detailing the application of each his native Ipswich. man's bounty, with names, addresses, and When the conservative Anglicans refused the particulars. His contributors, tired of the details, oaths to William of Orange, Firmin remon- said they could trust him absolutely, and wanted strated with one of them, Robert Frampton, no vouchers. It is characteristic of the society of Bishop of Gloucester. " My lord," said he, " I his time that he raised little sums for relieving the hope you will not be a Nonconformist now in poor by insisting on the statutable fines for pro- your old age." Frampton was nettled by the fane swearing. An ordinary person he charged term Nonconformist. It made him wince, as five shillings, according to the Act; but if a noble- modern Anglicans winced when Leo XIII, in his man swore, or if a clergyman swore, he charged prayer to the Virgin, called them his " dissenting a double and a treble penalty. They sometimes brethren." He gruffly replied that he was getting kicked. " Very well," quoth Firmin, " I shall old, no doubt, but not old enough "to be up- put your name in my list of Incorrigible Swear- braided with Nonconformity by you, that are a ers,' and I shall not speak to you again." That Nonconformist to all Christendom, besides a few bled them. lousy sectaries in Poland. " Firmin administered A glance must suffice at a few of his more con- the retort Christian by starting a fund for the spicuous beneficences, leaving untold the multi- relief of the deprived Nonjurors. It was the tude of details, and the touching narratives of only one of his plans which the Government his personal kindness to individuals. In 1662 interfered with and stopped. he had raised money, partly by collections His exertions for the relief of the Irish Pro- in churches, for the exiled antit~initarians of testants, rendered destitute by the miseries of THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN

the civil war of 1688-91, were acknowledged in a the measures of the court, and was deprived for a manner which is probably without parallel. In time of his governorship of Christ's Hospital in October, 1692, John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam, consequence. Liberty is liberty, however fleeting and seven other Irish bishops (one of them, its foundation ; and when James's Declaration for Wetenhall, a liberal in theology), sent him a letter unrestricted liberty of conscience came out in of thanks under their hands. They just allude 1687, Firmin saw his chance, and availed himself to his opinions, with some episcopal unction: of the immediate opportunity. For the first time " We doubt not that you and they [the other con- in English history, heretics of all kinds were pro- tributors] have the earnest of your reward in the mised free play. Up to this date, no anti- peace of your minds, which we pray God to fill trinitarian book had ever been published with with His comforts and illuminate with His truths ; impunity; now, for the moment, the Press lay making His grace to abound in them who have open. Again, I think, Firmin took a hint from abounded in their charity to others." An Irish Gouge. Might not the Gospel be recommended dean addressed to " this God-like man " a long through the Press, as well in a Unitarian garb as string of grateful verses, of which the sentiment in a Welsh one ? At any rate it seemed worth is much more melodious than the refrain. He while to make the experiment. Firmin resolved exclaims : upon the circulation of Unitarian literature. It was part of his philanthropy to do so. He Who'll then call that faith bad, that does so well ? thought it would be good for men. He got Nye Without* works *to believe,* belongs* to hell.* to write " A Brief History of the Unitarians, called Goodness attempers all, in man and Maker, And may, for aught I know, e'en save a Quaker. also Socinians," which, in fact, is little of a history, but clear and powerful as an argument. He The occasion of Firmin's first resort to the printed it in 1687, in a tiny octavo. Press in behalf of his theological convictions, was The name Unitarian, which Bidle had pro- furnished by the arbitrary dispensations of bably never heard, certainly had never used, and James 11. Our friend was far too good a lover which first appears in an obscure pamphlet of of his country to fall in with the pretensions of a 1672, was introduced by this little book as a Stuart to dispense with the constitutional safe- generous term, of a very broad and most un- guard of English freedom. Indeed, for the first grudging hospitality; a term of union and of time in his life, he came out as a politician, against comprehension. It was recommended as a roomy THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN name. There was room in it for the votaries of hawker to disperse their newfangled divinity." Bidle, room in it for the disciples of Nye, room in Between 1691 and 1697 were issued, chiefly at it for the Arians, room for the Sabellians. All his expense, a uniform series of Unitarian tracts, these, and others (who with whatever differences, already filling by 1695 three squat quarto and with whatever peculiarities, concurred in the volumes, printed closely in rather small type, one great central conviction that Almighty God with double columns, not particularly comfort- is in Person, as in Nature, one and undivided) able to read, but worth reading, well worth were invited to make common cause for this para- reading, to this day. Subsequent volumes in- mount truth, and to take the Unitarian name as clude tracts, some collected, others issued, after the symbol of their religious fellowship. Firmin Firmin's death. did not expect to reconcile Christians with non- These " double columned tracts," as the wits Christians by the magic of a name. What he did styled them, were by no means all of them ex- anticipate was, that by relieving Christianity of pressive of Firmin's own opinions. He reprinted the encroachments of Trinitarian dogma, a way in them the works of Bidle, and did not refuse would be opened which would facilitate the place to an Arian tract, if it were well done, and entrance of the Jew, the Muhammadan, and the seemed to be a valuable contribution to the " wise heathen," into the pure faith of Christ. theological discussions of the time. " I don't In 1689 came the Toleration Act, excluding a remember ever to have met with any person," Nonconformist from toleration if he preached or writes John Toland, the Irish Deist, " who spoke wrote against the Trinity. Neither Firmin nor with such disinterestedness and impartiality of Nye was a Nonconformist, and though, doubtless, our various sects in religion, except Thomas there was the common law as well as the canon Firmin, whose charity was as much extended to law, yet till 1698 there was no statute, enabling men of different opinions as it was to the poor of you to deal with an Anglican utterance against all sorts in good works." the Trinity. So Nye went on writing, anony- The immunity enjoyed by these anonymous mously, I grant ; and Firmin went on printing, prints was certainly remarkable, and perhaps and made no secret of it. A graceless antagonist, (though, of course, they were not licensed) there Luke Milbourne, one of the only two men who is something in the suggestion of William Penn, vented calumnies about Firmin (Daniel Burgess that Firmin's dinner-table helped him to stand being the other), speaks of him as " the Socinians' well with " the licensary chaplains." While THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN 117 Firmin's tracts were "openly sold by the book- intention of the Church, any other interpretation sellers," there were two prosecutions for issuing being a merely vulgar misconception. Hence he pamphlets of similar matter and appearance. pblished (1697) a clever tract of Nye's com- That of William Freke (1693) was provoked by position, called " The Agreement of the Unit- the temerity of the pamphleteer. Freke had arians with the Catholick Church." There is no posted one of his pieces to every member of both reason to doubt the perfect sincerity of the plea Houses of the Legislature. Parliament voted the made in this tract; and its argument is certainly tract an " infamous libel," burned it by the ingenious, if short of convincing. Moreover, it was hangman, and brought its author to trial and incumbent on those who reprobated Firmin's plea punishment. That of John Smith (1695) was a for a Unitarian sense of the formularies, to tell prosecution in the Spiritual Court, due appar- him what their true sense was; here his critics ently to the "unusual confidence" with which were hopelessly at issue among themselves. This the worthy clockmaker had put his name upon struck shrewd men like Pepys, who hinted pretty one of his tracts. When Freke and Sniith wrote plainly that the real scandal was not Firmin's for Firmin, as they both did (anonymously), heterodoxy, but the inability of " our own nobody touched them. doctors " to arrive at any accord in their pro- Towards the end of his life, Firmin began to nouncements of the Church's doctrine. have qualms about the practical effect of con- Clear as he was that his own reading of the formity on the part of Unitarians. He did not formularies was the just one, Firmin had come to doubt that it was right in principle, but it was not perceive that the continual use of phrases in working well. His working rule had been to take worship which, in their ordinary acceptat ion, the Scriptural parts of the prayers and formularies, were taken to imply a plurality in the Godhead, and interpret them as they are meant in Scripture, was, to say the least, a dangerous habit. The however they may have been understood by ritual language of Christendom, being every- liturgical compilers. As for the non-ScripturaI where associated with corrupt ideas, was but too parts, the worshipper must put a good construc- likely to " paganize " the minds of men. He pro- tion upon them, and read them in a Unitarian or posed, therefore, to form what he termed " Unit- Sabellian sense. Nye confirmed Firmin in the arian congregations " ; in a different sense, how- persuasion that this Unitarian sense was the true ever, from that which we now understand by the original meaning, and expressed the real mind and expression. They were to be societies of Unitar- THOMAS FIRMIN THOMAS FIRMIN faithfulness for our own race. It may be that, ian believers, whose business it should be to when our course is ended, those whose images maintain the faith, and hold meetings for a wor- have encouraged us, may prove the angels to wel- ship couched in unambiguous forms; yet not as come us. So may we echo the last words of separatists from the Church, but as " Fraternities Firmin, when he took affectionate leave of his 016 in the Church." The plan was never tried. friend Fowler, then Bishop of Gloucester, who Firmin's death intervened. Nor was any en- " did not doubt but his works would follow him." deavour to establish a distinctively .Unitarian " I trust," said the dying man, cc that God will worship permanently successful, till the secession not condemn me to worse company in the other of Lindsey from the Establishment in 1773 world than I have loved, and delighted in, induced a fresh conviction at once of Unitarian in this." duty and of Unitarian possibilities. The question may arise, To what purpose this 6 October, 1896. rattling of the bones of dead men ? A valid answer may be found in the suggestion that they are not entirely dead. Among real and living forces may be counted the impulse and the vitality of their example. They shine as a glori- ous group of men; even to those who are by no means blind to their limitations, or unaware of their defects. Some things, indeed, they have done, and well done; others they have made more possible to be done by their successors. They have left plenty of work behind them, labour of thought, and toil of life. It may be that, in some moments of slack resolve and self-distrust and weakening purpose and flagging endeavour, their memories may confront us with the steady, if silent, plea: cc Quit you like men, be strong." It may be that the thought of forerunners may make us glad to gird our loins wit11 a closer THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL ET us go back to the year 1719,four years L after the first of the rebellions which were intended to replace the Stuarts in the stead of the Hanoverians upon the throne of this couiltry. In the year 1719 two things happened which have had results. One was the publication of " Robin- son Crusoe," by Daniel Defoe. If you have read " Robinson Crusoe," in full, you will perhaps remember that the book contains one of the most remarkable endeavours to present Christianity to the heathen, with a full perception of the difficulties which Christianity would offer to the heathen and untaught mind; and, also, that it contains-wonderful to say, in that age, and from such a writer as Defoe, himself a strong Calvinist in his religious views-one of the most sym- pathetic presentations of the possibility of a modus vivendi in matters of religion between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant. It is presented in the person of a Roman Catholic clergyman of the Order of St. Benedict, who explains his own views as regards the relation of his own Church and the Protestant Church, to the T24 THE STORY OF SALTERS) HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 125,

cconversionof the heathen. Observe that Defoe's belonged to the same section of the Protestant writings were always didactic ; he did not write Dissenting body ; they were all Independents in " Robinson Crusoe " as a mere story of adventure ; the first instance. James Peirce and Thomas he meant it to point a moral, to have an ethical Bradbury were both of them members, in Lon- value, and intended it also to have a religious don, of Stepney Meeting. Still to be seen are the meaning. entries of their admissions. James Peirce was a Now while Defoe was thus preaching the value ward of Matthew Mead, the Minister of Stepney- -of Christianity in itself, whatever its special form, Meeting; Bradbury was admitted somewhat in contradistinction to a wild, untrained, un- later. Peirce was a Londoner, and Bradbury was taught, savage state of mind outside the christian a Yorkshireman. pale ; at this very time Dissenters, alike in London James Peirce was, at that time, perhaps the and in the West of England, were accentuating most learned of the Dissenters, on several lines. their differences, bringing these to the front rather He had gained for himself the position of being the than their points of agreement, and leading the champion of the Nonconformist cause against way to a rift in their body. So far they had been Conformity, by his " Vindication of the Dis- included together in the body of Protestant Dis- senters " in reply to William Nicholls, the cham- senters. That was their legal name, and that pion of the Anglican position. He had been was their common standing. At Salters' Hall minister at Cambridge, then at Newbury, and was. they came to a split. Our subject is the story of now minister at Exeter. that split, with a view to estimate, if possible, its Thomas Bradbury came to London from the .causes-its consequences may be left to speak for North, and had filled some positions there; but themselves. It is a somewhat complicated story, in the North he had never met that recognition and some points of it may lead, perhaps, to which he considered, and rightly considered, to" tedium in narration. be due to his remarkable talents. He was not a To begin with, let us try to set clearly before man of learning; he was, however, a man of ,our minds, and before our imaginations, if possible, humour, and of great popular ability. It had three prominent figures. There is James Peirce, been his ambition to become the minister of the. there is Thomas Bradbury, and there is John old Dissenting congregation in Newcastle-on-- Shute, afterwards John Barrington Shute, and Tyne. He had been proposed as minister of the finally Viscount Barrington. All these three had old congregation at Cross Street, Manchester. But- 126 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERSJ HALL

it was not until he came to London that he really in their orthodoxy, as we shall see later on. The found a sphere which was consonant with his own second edition of his " Vindication "-the original very just estimate of his striking abilities. was in Latin-was published in English in 1717; John Shute, of Hertfordshire birth, came of a and in the second edition he omitted this chapter. family which had connexions with Exeter, and Why did he do so ? What had happened in the represented the political side of " the Dissenting meantime ? interest." He was, of course, a Whig politician ; A very important development had taken and I am not sure that he was quite free from place in the meantime. In the year 1712 Dr. some of the peculiarities which attached to the Samuel Clarke, who was the rector of St. James's, Whig politician, both in his century, and in the Piccadilly, otherwise St. James's, Westminster, century through part of which we all have passed. published a work to which he gave the title, " The He was looked upon as the leading Parliamentary Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity." Many of representative of Dissent; and, in such part as those who read it said : Well, it may be Scripture, he took in the Salters' Hall matter, you must or it may not ; it certainly is not the doctrine of 'observe that he was actuated by political con- the Trinity. That book exercised an extremely siderations. He desired to keep Dissenters at important influence. It created in the Church of one, as a political force, as a force on behalf of the England what we might call a school of theo-

Hanoverian r6gime. logians, who were known as " Clarkeans." They Now, in Peirce's " Vindication of the Dis- did not admit that they were unorthodox. senters" there is a chapter-in the original Clarke himself was sometimes described as a edition, 1710-in which he vindicates the absolute semi-Arian; but at any rate he endeavoured, on orthodoxy of Protestant Dissenters ; and says Scripture ground and in Scripture terms, so to that, whereas in the Established Church it was state the doctrine of the Trinity that, though it well known that there were Socinians, in the might not agree with the ancient creeds, it should Protestant Dissenting body there were none. He nevertheless be seen to agree with the Word of pledges himself to the fact; and no doubt he is God. His work, while thus it created an AngIican right, unless we except possibly some obscure school, which lasted on until quite the end of the Independent and some few Baptist Congregations. eighteenth century, was even more operative Certainly some of the latter could not even at upon and among Dissenters. It was eagerly read that date, 1710, be regarded as strictly Trinitarian by them. It was read by the young men in the 128 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 129

Disseilting Academies, who were going to form name-who, as early as 1716 was let into the ministry on easier terms than had hitherto been the ministry of the future. It made them pause and think. It turned their attention away from possible. He was not so much questiolied about the Shorter C.atechism---then an invariable stand- the old scholastic definitions of the Trinity, to the ard of Protestant Dissenting orthodoxy-as about Biblical data on which the doctrine of the Trinity the Bible itself; and he managed, by confining was founded. So it was that, in the intervening himself to Scripture terms, to satisfy his licensers, period between the publication of this book in and so got his licence. By the year 1718 things 1712, and the publication of Peirce's second had come almost to a crisis in Exeter. The Judge edition in 1717, it had become no longer possible of Assize, whose name was Sir Robert Price, in for him to say that there were, among the Pro- charging the Jury, had referred to the spread of testant Dissenters, no symptoms of unorthodoxy. crime in the city. He had said that there was He might perhaps have repeated Ziteratim what also a spirit of Arianism, and he thought there was he had actually said; because the tendency was some connexiorl between the two. Moreover, in not to Socinianism at all. It was not to what we Peirce's own pulpit a neighbouring divine, who call, restricting the term to its most modern thought the Atonement was in danger, had acceptation, Unitarianism. It was rather to- created impressions unfavourable to the ortho- wards that which is usually referred to under the doxy of Peirce himself. denomination of Arianism. That tendency had Before going further., we must try to lay before exhibited itself in 1717 in London, and it had our minds the condition of things as regards earlier exhibited itself in Exeter. It had exhibited Church government among Dissenters in Exeter. itself at Exeter in an Academy there; and I The situation was very peculiar, and very com- grieve to say (as there is a Baptist minister plicated. The first Dissenting congregation in present) that the students found that, while they Exeter was a French Huguenot Church, and one were not allowed to talk their heresies in the cannot help thinking that some French manners Academy, they were welcomed at the house of the and customs had influenced the special state of Baptist minister in Exeter, and they might talk affairs which prevailed in Exeter at that date. It there as much heresy as they pleased. This was is well known that, in France, Presbyterianism is a safety valve for these young spirits. so organized that, in any given city, however Things in Exeter were becoming uneasy. There many congregations there may be, there is but was one of the students-Hubert Stogdon by THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 130 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 131

one Church Session (consistoire). That is to say, trustees; they are always spoken of as Pro- each congregation has not its own separate and prietors; and it may be true that the buildings independent eldership, but there is a joint were, as used not infrequently to be the case in eldership for the whole city. Recent discussions the older history of Dissent, proprietary chapels, between persons of different views of theology in not put in trust at all (partly for fear of the inse- Paris, have shown how this arrangement gives curity of Toleration) but belonging to certain to the general majority an absolute power over persons who might devote them to such purposes every single congregation. .as they pleased. Well now, in Exeter there were three meeting- Further, the four ministers were members of houses, called Presbyterian-due stress is in- what was known as the Exeter Assembly. It was tended upon the word " called." Two of these in point of fact a Devon and Cornwall Assembly, had congregations duly organized, with two but the Cornish element at this time was no more pastors apiece. In each of these two meeting- than a minimum. This Assembly was not a houses the two pastors preached alternately; one Presbyterian body, it was a council of ministers in the morning, the other in the evening. The which contained Presbyterians and Independents ; four took in rotation the preaching in the third the only section of the Three Denominations meeting-house, which had no pastor of its own. which was absolutely non-represented, and practi- Then there was a self-elected body of thirteen. cally excluded, was the Baptist section. Baptist They are always called " the Thirteen," though principles were not in high favour in that part in the lists of them I have never seen more than of the world at that time; indeed, they were not twelve names. The Thirteen acted very much as in high favour in Dissenting circles generally at a finance committee. They had control of the that time. This clerical body had no jurisdiction; financial administration; they collected stipends but this it could do. If any member were dis- from all three meeting-houses, and apportioned pleasing to the majority of the members, on any them amongst the four ministers. They assumed, matter, it could say, " You had better not come too, some of the powers which ordinarily belonged here any more." It certainly did administer cer- to the Eldership or Church Session. Then there tain funds ; but at that date this was a very minor were three smaller bodies, known as Proprietors, matter. There were larger funds then adminis- who owned the buildings; four Proprietors for tered by the Thirteen, than were administered by each. They seem to have been more than ithe Assembly. THE STORY OF SALTERSJ HALL THE STORY OF SALTERSJ HALL 133

In 1718, early in the year, a deputation of the re-excited the suspicion of the Thirteen. Lav- Thirteen called upon Peirce and his colleagues, and ington, they knew, was all right; so they did not asked them to preach on the Eternity of the Son go to him. They went to the other three minis- of God. They did so; and the result was satis- ters, and said, " We are not satisfied with a factory. Later on in the same year, though 'general sense,' we want to know what your Peirce's preaching was satisfactory at the time to sense is." Not getting what they wanted, the his own people, the Assembly of Ministers wanted Thirteen wrote up to London, addressing them- -I do not know whether it was satisfaction from selves to five ministers, including the four lecturers Peirce-but at any rate they did want a more at Salters' Hall. To be a lecturer in London was, general satisfaction on this subject of the Trinity. among Dissenters, something like being an Arch- Therefore, in the Assembly, in the month of deacon, or a Dean, or it might almost be a Bishop, September, it was proposed by one of the Exeter in the Anglican communion. There were two of ministers, the youngest of them, John Lavington these lectureships. The Merchants' Lecture had by name, who was supposed to be the most been started as far back as 1672, and there was a orthodox of the four, that each member of this split from it at Salters' Hall. The feeling was Assembly should then and there make a declara- that the general tone of the Merchants' Lecture tion in regard to his views respecting the Trinity. was in favour of Independency, whereas the They all did this except three : and Peirce was not general tone of the Salters' Hall lecture was in one of the three, nor was any other Exeter min- favour of the Presbyterian form of government. ister. All the declarations but one-that of John So the Thirteen sent to the Salters' Hall lecturers, Parr-were accepted; then Lavington moved among whom was Calamy, who had visited Exeter, that it be recorded, as " the general sense " of the and was probably then the most distinguished Assembly, " that there is but one living and true Nonconformist in London. These five London God, and that Father, Son and Holy Ghost are ministers, thus appealed to, put their heads the one God." This was accepted, as "the together and decided not to touch the Exeter general sense " of the Assembly. bother. They said, " You had better apply to The fact that the matter had been canvassed ministers in your own neighbourhood, who know in the Assembly, a11d that the declarations had your own particular circumstances better than we very considerably varied-Parr had merely can be expected to do." The Thirteen took the quoted a Scripture text without comment- advice. They picked out seven West of England I34 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 135 divines, and sent to ask them what was the proper that was not in Scripture. " If you ask me whet- thing to do in the situation above described. They her three and two make five," said he, " I will got an answer from these seven divines on the give you no answer, because it is not in the 4th of March, and the answer deserves to be Bible "--a rather foolish utterance, but that was remembered. It u7as to the effect that denial of the ground on which he took his stand. Next day the " true and proper divinity " of Christ is a the four Proprietors of James's Meeting stepped disqualifying error, and therefore warrants con- in and shut him out of his pulpit, and Hallett gregations in withdrawing from their ministers. with him. They were allowed on the following That was their position; they did not go further. Sunday to preach at the third, the Little Meeting, This was on the 4th of March. On the next by the Proprietors thereof; but on the 10th of day the Thirteen, armed with this opinion, March the three groups of Proprietors had a approached the four ministers. Lavington satis- meeting together, and, " without consulting the fied them at once. John Withers, the senior people," refused to allow either of the recalcitrant minister, after some hesitation, said he would divines to preach again in any of the three s~tbscribethe Nicene Creed. John Hallett, the meeting-houses. Accordingly on the 15th of next in seniority, declined to give an answer. March they started a new (Mint) meeting-house of Peirce parried the question. The matter of the their own; and that was the Exeter split. elements and conditions of Dissenting orthodoxy, Meanwhile many things had been going on in he told them, was now under co~isiderationin London, as Peirce was very well aware. The London; and therefore he did not wish to give real man who, as early as January, had appealed any answer in this individual case until it was to a general conference in London, was undoubt- known what the general body, nieeting at Salters' edly Peirce himself. He was in close relations Hall, had to say about the matter at large. The with Barrington ~hite.Peirce had been in the Thirteen were not satisfied. " Salters' Hall ! " habit of going up to London periodically for said they, "why, we understand that into tha,t literary purposes. Barrington Shute and he were conference Baptists are admitted. We are not friends, and worked together both in politics and going to listen to the advice or decision of any religion ; though, in religion, Shute ultimately body of ministers including Baptists." Peirce by went a good deal further than Peirce ever did. this time had got his back up, and he said he As regards Peirce, I should say that he was- would not subscribe or make answer to anything one of those men who, orthodox to a fault, or 136 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL obstinate to a fault, as you like to put it, are so repeal, like the good Independent that he then determined to be punctiliously exact that, in was; whereas there was a party among the Pres- point of fact, they satisfy nobody. He was well byterian members of the House of Commons, able to draw extremely fine distinctions; but in against repealing it without a test in regard to the his own mind he was from first to last unquestion- Trinity. Shute defeated their amendment, and ably a man who kept tight and firm to the rigid in order to facilitate the repeal, he was extremely limits of nicely formulated and precisely definite anxious that there should be no appearance of any doctrine. He was not an emotional man; al- rift, doctrinal or otherwise, among the forces of though they say that, in his prayers, he exhibited Dissent. He therefore called together a body of a fervour which rarely came out in his preaching. laymen, who were in the habit of meeting as a Shute was a member of Bradbury's congre- committee to protect the civil rights of Dis- gation. It is unfortunately true, and not of senters. He put the matter before them. It was Dissent alone, that the big man and the minister essential, in his view, that ministers whose do not always get on as they should do. It turned opinions would carry weight, should be got to out that, in the Salters' Hall dispute, Bradbury issue a joint manifesto, calculated to compose the was the visible head of one side, and Barrington Exeter difference. Shute the invisible head of the other. Shute was The draft of such a manifesto, under the name anxious to secure the repeal of the Schism Act, of Advices for Peace, was drawn up by him. and passed under Queen Anne, and designed to pro- passed by the select committee of laymen. These duce the collapse of Dissent by shutting up all the laymen were in fact the cream of the Dissenting Dissenting Schools and Academies. The inten- magnates in London, including several members tion, presumably, had been to follow it by an Act of Parliament. The Advices, if we strip them of which should also shut their meeting-houses ; and their setting-the opening, exhortations, details in some places the prospective legislation was ,of procedure, and so forth-really consisted in the actively anticipated. In Ireland, particularly, statement of two points of principle. The First persons full of faith and-no, not the other was this: There are doctrinal errors which qualification-had gone about nailing up Dis- warrant congregations in withdrawing from their senting meeting-houses. ministers. Of course, we know what that Shute was anxious about the repeal of this meant. It meant stopping the supplies; and unworthy Act. He wanted its u~iconditional therefore, the ministers must go. The position 138 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 139

of the minister was saved, by putting it the other say that the total number of those who attended way and allowing the congregation to go. The was one hundred and ten. Second was this: The people are to determine Reference was made above to " Presbyterians what these errors are. These were the two so called "--and why ? As soon as the Toleration points of principle. Act was passed, when the year 1689/90 was young, How would it have been if these two principles there was raised in London a common Fund for had been adopted and applied at Exeter ? The Protestant Dissenters, who with the exclusion of people there had no opportunity of expressing Baptists, and of course Quakers, at that time their voice in the matter, in any constitutional formed a common body. Their ministers called way. It was the Thirteen first, and the Pro- themselves United Brethren. They formally prietors next, who had acted on their own respons- agreed to drop the dividing names, Presbyterian ibility. The congregations, as such, had never and Congregational, and, if they called themselves been consulted. No one can say that the main anything, simply to call themselves United result would have been entirely different. Yet it Brethren. This was a ministerial compact, and is certain that Hallett and Peirce carried away nothing more; and ministerial compacts are not with them, from the three meeting-houses, enough always carried out or backed up by congre- people to fill a fourth. Had therefore the Advices gations. The Union in London was followed else- been tendered in time to be put into action at where. In London it soon came to a rupture; Exeter, it is quite possible that there might have elsewhere it was taker1 up when London dropped been a different issue. The people when called it, and it managed to endure for a very long period. upon, might have said : " No, we are not prepared In London it came to a rupture owing to the to withdraw either from Hallett or from Peirce." suspicions of the section formerly known as Pres- The next step in Shute's programme was to get byterians, in regard to Independent doctrine. the Advices accepted by the most representative The Independents were more free in doctrinal and influential body of ministers that could be matters than the Presbyterians, or, to put it in got together. For this purpose the Baptists were another way, they went to further extremes. You convened to Salters' Hall, as well as the Presby- could find at that time, among the Independents, terians, so called, and the Independents; both men whose orthodoxy was suspected. You those in London and those in the neighbourhood. could find also men whose Calvinistic orthodoxy of London, were convened; and we may fairly was so high that it was spoken of as Antinomian. 140 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL

It was this last manifestation which had excited have a third party in, at the subsequent meeting.. . the suspicions of those who had formerly been So it happened, at any rate, that the Baptists counted as Presbyterians. They were very found themselves in what was to them the un- anxious to sharpen their controversial swords usual position of being recognized as part and against the rise of what they deemed to be parcel of London Protestant Dissent. The Dis- Antinomianism. Daniel Williams was put out of senters would even take their addresses to their his lectureship by the Merchants because he Sovereign with a Baptist at their head, perhaps had attacked Independents, on the ground of as a compromise. " Better have a Baptist than

their alleged leaning to Antinomianism. Richard a Presbyterian," some might say. " Anything Baxter was living at the time when the fray is better than an Independent," some might began, and he had been eager to do what Williams rej oi11. did; but John Howe kept him from publishing. The inclusion of the Baptists in the Salters' Hall3 Williams was a younger man, and a Welshman conference was important. In the year 1700, at that; and Williams was not to be kept down. an event occurred which is very often forgotten. The end was that Williams was put out of the It is sometimes forgotten by Baptists, as well as by lectureship. The common Fund ceased to be the those who are not Baptists. The General Baptist common Fund. The Congregationalists raised Assembly passed, in that year, the very first (Dec. 1695) a separate Fund of their own; and formal resolution of tolerance for heterodox from that time the old Fund, originally a Fund opinions on the subject of the Trinity, that was for both forms of Protestant Dissent, came to be ever passed by any Nonconformist union of con- called the Presbyterian Fund, though it was not gregations, in other words, by any co-operating fully recognized officially as such till 1784. This religious body in this country. That was in the rupture in London exhibited itself mainly in case of Matthew Caffyn. The General Baptist ecclesiastical matters. When it was a question Assembly did not endorse Caffyn's views, but of pleading before Kings, in the general interests they tolerated them. They tolerated the man, of Dissent, the two sections came together. Pro- opinions and all (and some of his opinions were bably that was why the Baptists were at length queer enough) because he was a good, sound brought in, to go with them on deputations to the and Christian man, who was doing good, sound throne. For sometimes, when you quarrel with Christian work. Consequently, there was among an old friend, you find it eases your feelings to the Baptists a habit of tolerance, of some standing,,.* __ .- L- THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL meeting, which was on the 24th February, he 1 which would incline them to go for conciliation, looking, perhaps, rather more at character and proposed that to them should be prefixed a pre- conduct, than at peculiarities of opinion, when amble. This preamble was to set forth the giving advice as to what congregations had better doctrine of the Trinity, and Bradbury drew up a formulary with this view. Now it is rather do when ministers were suspected of heresy. singular that, when Bradbury was ordained, he This threefold body came together, then, at made his confession, which was strongly Cal- Salters' Hall, and first met the very day following vinistic, and strongly Trinitarian, in words of that on which the royal assent had ratified the repeal of the Schism Act. It was thus repealed Scripture only. The confession is in print, and is on the 18th February, 1719, and they met on the a very remarkable effort. He managed-and for the most part legitimately, from his point of view 19th. Bradbury was at once to the front. He -by the aid of Scripture terms alone, to construct knew about the Advices, and he did not quite like the look of them. He therefore proposed that, a very strongly Trinitarian and very strongly Calvinistic confession of faith. Now in drafting instead of sending any Advices to Exeter, the the preamble he departed from this former usage ministers should pause, and fast, and pray, and then go to Exeter by deputation, and try to settle of his; the defining terms were taken from the matters on the spot. This proposition was not Shorter Catechism; and why ? Clearly because well received. Whether the suggestion of fasting now the question was how best to satisfy out- siders ; and outsiders would say, " Oh ! Bible, was not satisfactory, we cannot say; whether it was thought the selecting of a deputation would yes; but everybody takes the Bible in his own be an invidious procedure, we are not told At sense. We want something which is pat and any rate Bradbury was defeated, and the Advices plain, the language of which is indisputable." were discussed. Though, as above said, there On the production of this preamble came the were but two fundamental propositions embodied first, and in point of fact the most memorable in these Advices, there was of course a good deal division ; the division which has been described, of subsidiary matter, tending to smooth their and indeed satirized, by Sir Joseph Jekyll, who way, and the document was discussed clause by was present as a spectator on the occasion, when clause. he said, " The Bible has it by four." Those who Bradbury saw clearly that the Advices were were against the preamble were asked to go up going to be carried. Consequently at the next into the gallery, while the others remained on the THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 145 floor of the house-the old way of making a behalf of the liberty of private expression. Both division. Fifty-seven went up into the gallery parties took the line of saving the Dissenting to divide against Thomas Bradbury. Fifty-three interest from division. The underlying interest, remained on the floor with him. Consequently with the leaders, was politics on one side and his preamble was lost by four votes. A good orthodoxy, or presumed orthodoxy, on the other. many stories are told about the amenities of the When they met again, Bradbury proposed that occasion. When some of the (let us hope, the preamble be put once more; the Moderator younger) divines, as they went up to the gallery, ruled this out of order. The11 he proposed that hissed Thomas Bradbury while he sat in his seat, they should do as the Exeter ministers had done he replied, " The seed of the serpent ! " Very -call upon each minister present to make his own apt at retort was Tom Bradbury. When the declaration. The Moderator, Joshua Oldfield, Dissenting clergy went to their German King in ruled this out of order also. Then Bradbury said their black cloaks, " Pray, gentlemen," sneered he would call upon all those who were of his mind a courtier, " is this a funeral ? " " Ay, my lord," to follow him up into the gallery, and then and replied brave Tom, " 'tis the funeral of the there subscribe the Anglican article in reference Schism Act, and soon you will see the resurrection to the Trinity, and two answers of the Shorter of Liberty." However on this occasion, in re- Catechism. Sixty are said to have gone up with gard to the preamble, he was beaten; and then him, while fifty remained below. Among the they adjourned. sixty, there were no General Baptists, but of the. In the meantime both parties sent out whips. Particular Baptists more favoured Rradbury than These do not seem to have had much effect; for went against him. the numbers were pretty much the same in the While Bradbury, you observe, thus got a next division as in the first, though both sides majority to subscribe the recognized formularies,. tried to increase their strength. Nothing would this majority, you also observe, was quite out of induce Calamy to attend the conference. Watts order. Going up into the gallery was, in the cir- also stayed away, and so did some other men of cumstances, much the same as going out of the mark. On Bradbury's side, four Presbyterian house. The Moderator had ruled that no business divines whipped up their men in defence of the could be taken except what we may call the com- doctrine of the Trinity, which was thought to be mittee stage of the Advices, which were now under at stake; and others whipped up their men on discussion. Out of the house, when the sub- THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 146 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 147 scription was accomplished, Rradbury went with it is important to notice, put themselves before his sixty ; they betook themselves to another hall, the world as genuine Trinitarians; and both par- elected a Presbyterian as their moderator, con- ties absolutely agreed on the cardinal principles of tinued their meetings, and adopted the two the Advices which they sent to Exeter. principles governing the Advices. just as the Obviously, the Advices came to Exeter too late others had passed them; varying, it is true, the to be of any effect whatever. They first reached mode in which t.hese principles were to be carried Exeter as forwarded by the non-subscribers on into effect, and taking care to prefix Bradbury's the 17th of March ; the rneeting-houses having preamble. been closed on the 10th of Ma.rch against Hallett So far, we may say that those who remained and Peirce, who set up their separate tabernacle behind, and had refused to subscribe in the gallery, on the 15th. The Advices were not dispatched were taking a consistent position. When it came by the subscribers until the 7th of April. The to the finish, and they were to send their Advices subscribers were, however, the only Advisers to to Exeter, what did they do ? They had declined whom any attention was paid in Exeter. The individually to make their declaration of belief ill Thirteen wrote (11th April) stating that, having the Trinity. They had declined to approve the got nothing from London in reply to their own preamble setting forth their belief in the Trinity. application but a put-off, they had hardly ex- They had not gone up to subscribe. Yet now pected to hear further; and having already taken they drew up a letter to be signed and sent by their own action, there was no more to be said. their Moderator, in the name of all present, in Now there is one thing which it is well to under- which they declared their adhesion to the doctrine stand as clearly as possible. It must be pretty of the Trinity. More than that, in this letter they obvious to anyone following the course of things, departed further from Scriptural terms than the that this Salters' Hall split was not a split between rejected preamble had done. In addition, they Independents and Presbyterians. The most pro- expressly denounced Arianism . Finally, they minent men on both sides were, or had been, added that nevertheless they were not prepared Independents. The political mover was an Inde- to quarrel with anyone, supposing that he held pendent, the orthodox mover was an Independ- the true doctrine, if he were not prepared to adopt ent. If Peirce himself had ceased to be a genuine their terms, or even if he preferred to limit him- Independent, he certainly had never become a self to Scripture terms only. Thus both parties, Presbyterian in any sense of the word known THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 148 THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 149 before his time. Personally, he declined the more in number who went with Bradbury than name, and called himself merely a Christian. He went against him; but, if you pass from number had got out of Independency and on towards to quality, among the Independents who went Presbyterianism to a certain extent. It is a against Rradbury, there were Hunt, arid Lowman, curious point which he had reached. He pub- and Jennings ; and Lardner, the best acquainted lished a couple of sermons on Ordination. In the with early Christian history of any man in his one published later of the two, he gave his own century; to say nothing of Watts, and Daniel idea as to what a regular Ordination was. He Neal, the Nonconformist historian, who kept aloof claimed it as the privilege of ministers to make from both parties. On the other hand, among the ministers; the people cannot make them. How Presbyterians, the old stagers were mostly with they were originally made he does not say, for he Bradbury, and actively with him, as we have seen. does not expressly claim Apostolic continuity for Seven out of the twelve Presbyterian trustees of the Dissenting clergy. Ministers, and they only, Dr. Williams' foundations who voted at Salters' have the power of licensing a man to preach. Ilall, were subscribers with Bradbury. The When the ministers have done this, the congre- younger Presbyterians, no doubt, did make up gations may take their choice among those whom the majorities against Bradbury ; though even the ministers present to them. If they select one,. here there were exceptions. Daniel Wilcox, again it is the ministers, and they only, who are Bradbury's henchman at the conference, was a to say whether they will or will not ordain him Presbyterian. as pastor. That is as far as he got in a Presby- What became of the younger non-subscribing terian direction; but anyone who knows any- Presbyterians ? A considerable number of them thing about Presbyterianism, knows that this is did not remain in the Dissenting interest at all, not Presbyterianism at all. The Presbyteriatl but shortly after conformed. One sees instances polity is not a clerical aristocracy of this kind, but of the same proclivity, or something like it, at the an organized democracy, in which laymen sit side present day. A man may say in effect: " I am by side with clergy in every court. not going to pledge myself to this opinion or that The split, then, was not one in which the Pres- -but I will sign the Anglican articles ; because byterians, as such, took one side, and the Inde- that does not pledge anybody to anything, beyond pendents the other. Both bodies were divided. keeping the peace of the Church." That seems Doubtless among the Independents there were to have been something like the position which 150- THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL THE STORY OF SALTERS' HALL 151 some of these younger Presbyterian divines took. byterian name attached itself to that position They were pressed into conformity by Hoadly, which, in theory at any rate, was of broader scope. the great Whig Bishop, who let men in on easy Yet the important thing to remember is that, terms of examination, satisfied with their mo- whatever distinguishing name they then bore or mentary use of the goose-quill. afterwards acquired, both parties registered them- Again, it is clear that the split was by no means selves at Salters' Hall as Independents, pure and a decisive rupture between Trinitarianism and simple. The Advices, to which a,ll agreed, em- Unitarianism. Both parties stoutly and staunch- body a charter of Independency in its most un- ly affirmed that, to the best of their knowledge restricted form. Of doctrinal truth and error, and belief, they held as clearly as they could the the people are to be judges. Each congregation doctrine of the Trinity. What then was it on is to say whether in their judgment the doctrine which the division really turned ? It was a con- preached from the pulpit is, or is not, right and flict precipitating a cleavage between the spirit good. This judgment is to be subject to no of uniformity, and the spirit of liberty. We may exterior jurisdiction whatever. There is to be no fairly claim that the Salters' Hall rift worked out constitutional appeal to any deliberative body -perhaps not altogether well-but worked out outside. Each congregation is to be responsible so as to sever two tendencies, and let each do its to itself, under its Divine Head, for its own ortho- best in making English history. Pass a few doxy, or non-orthodoxy, as other men may choose decades, reach the middle of the eighteenth to deem it. century, and from that point, no doubt, those who For the moment, as it proved, these Advices were for doctrinal uniformity got the name of made strongly for the Trinitarian cause. Con- Independents, and those who were not for uni- gregations in the West of England followed the formity, but for tolerance and liberty, got the example of the Thirteen at Exeter, stranding all name of Presbyterians. If you ask why this ministers whose orthodoxy was questioned. This distinctive nomenclature, the answer must be was the effect at first; but of course when the that in this, as in sundry other cases, there was time came for Unitarian notions, be they true or a close conizexion between ecclesiasticism and be they false, to gain ground in congregations, finance. The old Fund, the Fund instituted for these congregations were authorized to take pre- Dissenters in common, came, as we have seen, to cisely the same action that had been taken by be called the Presbyterian Fund. Thus the Pres- Trinitarians before them. They found their 152 THE STORY OF SALTERSJ HALL THE STORY OF SALTERSJ HALL warrant in the Salters' Hall Advices, and made Hunt, and Hunt for parish Church; still, as appeal to them as the charter of their liberties. "'Papinian," corresponding with Lardner on the So that, in a very real sense, the Salters' Hall rift latest developments of theological criticism. issued in what proved to be an all-round charter Many others saw that, as a religious force, Dissent of the liberties of congregations, whhether Unitar- was no longer what it once was, and what it had ian or Trinitarian. been hoped it might continue to be, in increasing It must, in estimating the full result of the measure-a spiritual power, battling with united break at Salters' Hall, be added that the general strength against the common enemies of all prosperity of Dissent from that time began very morals and all religion. This, its true mission, considerably to decline. Its unanimity was lost. was for a time impeded; this, its best work, was People became suspicious of each other. In in- for a time delayed. Not for naught. The re- dividual congregations a critical spirit was en- tarding check was the condition of the assimilation gendered. In the clerical unions-the only ,of a permrnent boon. The rift at Salters' Hall pledged tokens of the corporate unity of Dissent will be for ever memorable; for then and these -the old bonds of common association were the future of the liberties of English Dissent was relaxed. Old men looked anxiously at the at high cost secured. future, as did Calamy. Young men, unless they had the enthusiasm of a Doddridge, began by 31 Octobev, 1902. writing tracts lamenting the decay of Dissent, and ended by slipping into the Establishment. We know what caused the revival of Dissent; bui: that is neither here nor there. We must remem- ber that every gain in this world iizvolves a loss, and in the order of Providence gain is compensa- tion for loss. Barrington Shute saw clearly that, as a political force, Dissent was no longer what it had been, The Viscount Barrington, of 1720, soon slackened in his hopes of the political future of the Dissent- ing interest; and in -religion left Bradbury for PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY YETElC BAYLE OF THE 1)ICTIONAKY

T is too probable that for centennials, bi- I centennials, tercentennials, and quatercen- PIERREBAYLE.--Born, 1647; Professor of tennials we have by this time not much appetite Philosophy at Sedan, 1675-81, and at Rotterdam, left. The present offer to attempt another resur- 1682-93 ; Author of Dictionnuire Historique c-.t rection of this kind may be received with a yawn, Critique, 1696-7; Died, 1706. or even with the ejaculatory interruption ascribed to the Scottish bailie, who, at a public ceremony, when the length of the dedicatory prayer had proved visibly trying to the patience and to the nerves of her late Majesty, twitched the official robe of the Moderator of the General Assembly, and muttered the hoarse whisper, " Dash it, man !' Can ye not haud your gab ? " Still, an impulse of gratitude is upon me, urging me to call forth before your imaginations, if I can, the figure, remarkable and even picturesque, of one who first saw this world's daylight in 1647, anapassed into the light beyond in 1706. It has not, I think, been observed in any of our public prints or literary organs that the bi-- 158 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 159 centennial of the death of Peter Bayle falls in the to agricultural pursuits in a remote locality, last month of this year (1906). Alexander Chal- reduced his library to little other than a collection mers, in his General Biographical Dzctio"vza~y,which, of dictionaries. He more than once asserted in published as long ago as 1812-17, is still the only my hearing that experience had amply vindicated English work of the kind on the same generous and the wisdom of his preference. Accordingly, when inclusive scale, opens his account of Bayle with the my Hibbert Fellowship was followed at an inter- description of him as " a French writer who once val by a grant of books, I went in largely for made a great figure in the literary world." The dictionaries, and Bayle headed the list. Nor have Abb6 Glaire, whose Dictionnaiue Uni.Llerselle des I repented of my choice, for though one of them Sciences Ecclisiastiques (1868) is as terse, compre- has lost value, and one been quite superseded, hensive, and impartial as any I know, begins his Bayle in his way is perennial. We shall see that article on Bayle by affirming that " he made him- Bayle the book was the alter ego of Bayle the man. self celebrated particularly by the deplorable Peter, the second of three sons of John Bayle, scepticism which led him into incredulity." With a stiff and stern Huguenot divine, was born on more appreciation of the true basis of his renown, November 18th, 1647, at Carlat, a little place in the tenth edition of the Encyclopadia Britannica the South of France, within the domain of the introduces him as " author of the famous Histori- Counts of Foix, and in the diocese of Rieux. Till cal and Critical Dictionary." his nineteenth year he was educated by his father, Certainly it is as the greatest, and perhaps the who then sent him to a Protestant Academy at wickedest, of dictionary makers that Bayle is Puylaurens. His studies there were seriously remembered and known, where he is remembered interrupted by successive illnesses, due to over- and known at all. In fact, when you speak of application. Dissatisfied with his opportunities Bayle, it is the book you mean, not the man. at this academy-where, however, he acquired This was in the mind of the law student, after- his lifelong predilection for Plutarch and for wards a distinguished judge, who, lamenting his Montaigne-he betook himself, when just twenty- lack of books, exclaimed " I wish some damned two, to the University of Toulo~~se,going for his fool would give me a Bayle." philosophy to the Jesuits' College. In this, says My possession of a Bayle is due to the munific- his biographer (Des Maizeaux), there was nothing ence of the Trustees of the Hibbert Fund. A remarkable. Not infrequently did the Protest- worthy divine, on withdrawing from the ministry ants of France send their sons to receive the 160 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY IGI benefit of the excellent instruction provided by melted away after no more than seventeen the Jesuits, though to do so was prohibited by months' trial. He specifies the cultus of Saints their Synodical regulations. and the dogma of Transubstantiation as the deter- Now, it seems that at Puylaurens young Bayle mining factors of his return. had dipped into books of Catholic controversy, Slipping quietly out of Toulouse, Bayle made had held talks with the Catholic cur6, and been his formal recantation, before his brother and shaken in his hereditary faith. At Toulouse a three other Huguenot divines, at a country house priest was his fellow lodger. Bayle became his on the way from Toulouse to Carlat. He was at convert within a month. This shows him to have once packed off to Geneva. Introduced at its been of an easily sympathetic nature. The exact University to the system of Des Cartes, he line of his divergence from Calvinistic orthodoxy abandoned in its favour the Aristotelian philo- is not clear. It may be inferred from a letter in sophy which he had learned from the Jesuits. For which he endeavoured to convert his elder br ~ther, several years he acted as tutor in families of dis- now his father's colleague, that the modernity and tinction, thus gaining some few of the advantages schism of Protestantism, with its innovations of of travel. . In particular he was able to make a doctrine, had made a strong impression upon him. stay in Paris, where the fine libraries, and the Being a young man of parts and promise, his facilities for learned intercourse, made him some conversion was regarded as a catch. The Bishop amends for the ill paid drudgery of the despised of Rieux, who belonged to one of the great position of a tutor. families of Toulouse, became his patron, under- It was now that, through the good offices of taking the cost and direction of his studies. His his friend Basnage, he was invited to compete family intervened. A cousin, yepairing to Tou- for a chair of philosophy in the Protestant louse, took rooms in the same lodging, and the Academy at Sedan, at the head of which was cousin's influence proved stronger than that of the Peter Jurieu (1637-1713), a famous theologian in priest. The advantage was followed up by an his day. For a time he held back, alleging that able friend of his father; and, when the elder his philosophy had got rusty; he had been obliged brother arrived on the scene, the convert was to forsake Des Cartes for Homer and Virgil ; he ready to avow, with tears, that reason and had even forgotten his logic. The secret of his Scripture were adverse to the claims of Rome, the reluctance was this. At present, no one in that innovator. Rayle's Catholicism, in short, had part of the world suspected that he had flirted 162 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 163

\ with Catholicism; should he take a public posi- pupil, young Van Zoelen, a near relative of the tion, the decree against the Relapsed might be b~zrgomasterof Rotterdam of that name. Van put in force to his injury and that of Sedan. Zoelen had interest enough with his friends to Jurieu, who was anxious to have him, and knew procure for Bayle an invitation to Rotterdam. nothing of the relapse, wormed this secret out of Simultaneously, efforts were being made to bring Basnage, and decided that, as nobody else knew him over to the Catholic Church, in utter ignor- about it, there would be no risk. Hastening then ance of his previous conversion and lapse. to Sedan, Bayle triumphed in disputation over Naturally Bayle preferred Rotterdam, though three local competitors, and was appointed pro- unseen, to Rome whose acquaintance through its fessor in 1675, being then just under twenty-nine emissaries he had already made. He stipulated, years of age. however, that a post should be made for Jurieu as The striking ability with which he fulfilled the well; and managed to smooth over some diffi- duties of his chair, the charm of his personal culties created by the demeanour of Jurieu, whose qualities, and the blameless excellence of his temper had not been improved by the mortifica- private life won him favour with all. We can tion consequent on the suppression of his hardly recognize in the Bayle of Sedan, noted for Academy. The civic authorities of Rotterdam his sweetness, his modesty, and his straight- established them, in December, 1681, as pro- forwardness, the impious sceptic of his later f essors of philosophy and theology respectively ; reputation. Jurieu himself, who had fine capa- but the popularity of Bayle as philosopher was cities, though adding an irritable temperament greater than that of Jurieu as theologian. Hence and a turb~~lentdisposition to a dogged and con- the beginning of a rankling jealousy, which tentious orthodoxy, wrote of Bayle, even after ripened into a persistent antagonism. their bitter estrangement, that the beauty of his To Rotterdam, Bayle had brought with him a genius and the nobility of his principles had manuscript of which he had vainly sought to attached him to the young professor with a procure the printing in Paris. In December of warmer regard than he had felt for anyone else. 1680 the superstitious fears of men had been In July of 1681 the Sedan Academy was sud- aroused by the apparition of a gieat comet. denly suppressed by Louis XIV. Bayle, how- Halley viewed it in Paris; but it was not what is ever, was not long without similar employment. known as Halley's Comet, made familiar to many At Sedan he had entertained, as boarder and of us who are not astronomers by Dr. Martineau's 164 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 165 noble sermon, " Views of the World from Halley's his readers that the pagans of old had been visited Comet "-this was the comet of 1682, and the by comets, had likewise taken them as announcing sermon is reprinted in a volume of Martineau's celestial displeasure, and had actually been driven " Essays." by them to renewed and increased practice of Bayle was beset by anxious inquirers, who their own religion, namely, idolatry. Is it likely, insisted on regarding the 1680 comet as a super- he asked, that the Divine Being would work a natural phenomenon, a presage of coming woe, miracle, knowing that it would reinstate idolatry; a warning to return to religion. Early in 1681 and with that result as the very object of the he embodied his own views on the matter in a miracle ? This seems at first sight a harmless query ; Letter, which grew to a treatise. No Paris but there was more in it than at once appeared. printer would touch it. At Rotterdam he found,. For it may be shrewdly suspected that Bayle, to. in 1682, a printer who was willing to print but whose mind the Catholic religion,by allowing crea- not to own it. It was still eatitled " A Letter," ture-worship, promoted idolatry, meant to insinu- addressed to a doctor of the Sorbonne; it was ate that God would never work a miracle in sup- anonymous; it was written as from a Catholic; port of the Catholic Faith. Even so, the treatise, it professed on the title-page to be printed at when this point had been perceived, would not Cologne. Very soon it became known that Bayle thereby offend Protestants. Bayle had still was the author, and the treatise was loudly another question to ask. It was this: Which appla-uded. Ultimately-but not till after the would the Divine Being prefer, that men should quarrel with Jurieu, who at first joined the be in entire ignorance of the existence of God, or applause-it led to charges of pernicious teaching, that they should practise the vile worship of false amounting even to secret Atheism. It became gods ? The question is a searching one. Not all the cause, at any rate the nominal cause, of Bayle7s serious minds would give the same answer to it. . subsequent dismissal from his chair. Bayle7s answer was readily surmised. The term Let us see what ground there was for the, Agnostic was not then coined; so Bayle was con- accusation. Bayle maintained that a comet was strued as implying that blank Atheism was better a purely natural phenomenon, and urged that no. than idol-worship; better, that is to say, than merely natural effect could possibly be the Catholicism, which included idol-worship. On presage of a contingent event. Assuming it, reflection, the charitable inference was drawn- however, to be supernatural, then he reminded Bayle is an Atheist at heart. 166 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 167

His critical pen once allowed free exercise, time he came into personal contact with exiled Bayle engaged in many of the religious and Socinians from Poland. Their position, it is philosophical controversies of his day, measur- evident, he had studied with close and appreci- ing himself against such men as Leibnitz and ative attention. Le Clerc, and gaining no small renown in this A word must be added about that mysterious country, to which, at a later period, Shaftesbury publication which brought about his estrange- and others vainly tried to induce him to remove. ment from Jurieu. It was issued anonymously He wrote always anonymously, and his publica- in April, 1690, and bore the title " Important tions appeared with false imprints. The disguise Advice to the Refugees on their Approaching was easily penetrated; it was adopted, partly as a Return to France." Written in the person of a protection to the printer, partly, too, because Catholic, it criticized severely the general attitude anonymity whets curiosity, and curiosity aids a and temper of the French Protestants in exile ; sale. In the same year (1682) in which his dis- dwelling on the virulence of their pens, the de- sertation on comets appeared, he brought out a famatory spirit of their polemics and lampoons; trenchant critique of Maimbourg's " History of accusing them of seditious tendencies ; contrast- Calvinism," in which, with great effect, he exposed ing the violence of their intemperate pamphlets the blunders and the bad faith of that able and with the moderation of English Catholic refugees even brilliant, but most unfair writer; whose in France, and with the general tone of French " History of Arianism " exhibits the same type of writers on religion; and somewhat peremptorily shining but slipshod unscrupulousness. Bayle's counselling an amendment of their courses. work won the admiration even of Catholic writers. Jurieu took this advice as meant for himself (as M6nage speaks of it as a fine book, the work of an probably it was, among others), accused Bayle of honourable man, contrasting it with another and its authorship, and attacked him furiously. The very inferior effort against Maimbourg, by Jurieu. question of authorship is still a problem. Bayle We cannot, in this slight sketch, follow Bayle into expressed great indignation at the charge, and his controversies, interesting as they are. This disclaimed many of the views put forth by the may be said. The air of Holland seems to have alleged Catholic, as well he might. Yet it would had a decisive influence on the spirit of Bayle. be hard to say that he ever directly and cate- For the first time he lived in a land of Tolerance- gorically denied the authorship. It is true that Nor is it without significance that for the first he wrote a critique of the pamphlet; but he had 168 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 169 already displayed his powers in this respect, by epitomizing and criticizing, with a fine mixture of writing a ludicrous Defence, in the name of a shrewdness and tact, a wide range of current French marshal accused of witchcraft, and then literature. A keen remark in the number for an equally ludicrous demolition of the Defence. April, 1686, led to his famous correspondence with It is certain, in any case, that Bayle was equally ,Queen Christina of Sweden. In response to an sensible of the dangers of intolerance, whether appeal by a zealous Catholic, this royal lady (who practised by Protestants or by Catholics, whether had renounced Protestantism to embrace the exercised in word or in deed. Entering the lists Catholic Faith) had published her sentiments in against Jurieu, he did not spare his adversary, regard to the extirpation of heresy in France. though he employed keener and more polished In a strain at once vigorous and wise she declared weapons than those he had to encounter. The that she would have nothing to do wiih a mission quarrels of literary men are not altogether plea- of persecution. " Dragoons are strange Apostles," sant reading. They are too common, and they she affirmed. " Our Lord made no use of that tend to detraction. Dr. Johnson once said: method of converting the world." " Do you really " The Irish are a fair people, they never speak well 'believe in the good faith of such converts ? " of one another." Something of this exaggeration B.ayle reprinted the piece in his magazine, and, might be applied to literary men, when they form briefly commenting on it, made this observation : parties and fall out. --" This is a remnant (un reste) of Protestantism ." It was during his occupancy of the Rotterdam Deeply hurt by the phrase, the good Christina chair that Bayle, dissatisfied with a kindred remonstrated with Bayle through an agent. venture in which he had taken some part, founded After a little correspondence Bayle, who assured- and conducted a literary journal, the first con- ly, as he explained, had never meant to throw siderable effort of the sort, and, indeed, unique suspicion on her Catholic allegiance, wrote t.o the in its kind. Its aim was, under the title of Queen herself, offering an apology at once com- News of the Republic of Letters, to furnish a plete and dignified. She replied in handsome monthly guide to the European Press. It lasted terms, imposing on Bayle, as penance, that he from March, 1684, to February, 1687, its discon- should henceforth make it his business to supply tinuance being due to Bayle's ill health. In this her with any books of note that might be pub- magazine he first developed his remarkable power lished, whether in Latin, French, Spanish, or of interesting and entertaining his readers, while -Italian, and on any subject, provided they were 170 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 171 worth reading. She made room in her order Dictionary; to its compilation and perfection he even for romances, satires, "and, above all, devoted the thirteen years which remained to chemistry." " And don't forget to send me your him of life. He would have issued this great magazine, and the bill for all expenses. God work anonymously, but could not obtain a licence prosper you." Truly a royal lady of catholic for the printing, without his name. Its first tastes. One thinks that, perhaps, there may edition appeared in two volumes, 1696-7. The really have been a little "remnant of Protest- second edition, in which, out of deference to pre- antism." judice, the article "David " was modified by In November, 1693, Bayle was summarily evisceration, was issued in 1702. The author dismissed from his chair by the magistrates of left improvements, incorporated in subsequent Rotterdam, and even prohibited from private editions, the best being that of 1740, four volumes. teaching. Nominally, as already said, this was All these were in folio. There is a modern edition, on the ground of the pernicious tendency of his in octavo, 1820-4, sixteen volumes, with additions Comet publication eleven years before ; in not by Bayle, and some serviceable criticisms. reality, as he maintained, the injury and affront There is also an anonynlous English version, 1710, were due to local faction. Bayle's personal four volumes folio; and an expanded edition, friends belonged to the party which was'losing 1734-41, ten volumes folio, by Birch and several ground in general politics, consequently in coadjutors, including Sale, the Orientalist. I municipal management. Every effort was being have seen the 1710 translation ascribed to Birch. made by their opponents to humiliate them in This would be a somewhat remarkable feat for a gaining the upper hand. It was to show their little Quaker boy in his fifth year, so perhaps the power, and to spite the other side, that they translator was some one else. found a shabby excuse for striking at Bayle. This work is called an "Historical and Critical Such things, of course, never occur in our own Dictionary." Yet there is nothing in it of municipalities. Hence, perhaps, we may find it history, in the modern understanding of that difficult to credit the true explanation of the case. science; no grasp, or even vision, of the chain of Advantageous offers were made to Bayle from events. On the other hand, there is none of that our own country and from France; but he had magnificent waste of power which makes Sir work in hand which induced him to stay where he Walter Raleigh's "History of the World " (1614), was. Already had he conceived the idea of his an eloquent and monumental torso of sage and 172 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 173 learned nescience. Bayle guessed, if he did not (1867) a useful book, though apparently little know, that the view which took primeval history known. For when you refer to Jal, people look as simply controlled by the Bible must yield to as if they had never heard of him. Bayle found the view which places the very Bible itself in the his first project did not take. He says people control of historical science. His work is don't mind about errors; one thing will do as biographical, sometimes geographical, always well as another if they " like the spirit of it," .critical, yet never free from learned gossip. as John James Tayler used to say. He quotes Voltaire has said of BayleysDictionary that it ludicrous examples from sermons. Here is one :- is the first work of the kind in which a man may " How now, Christians, you are not touched by learn to think. He had even better have said, the spectacle of our Saviour Christ nailed to the which compels a man to think. For Bayle does wood of the cross ! Why, the Emperor Pompey not help a man through the problems that he was moved to pity, when he beheld the elephants starts. He forces you perpetually to say: What of Pyrrhus pierced with arrows ! " The effect of .does he mean ? What does this lead to ? What this, says Bayle, was just as good as if it had been does he not mean ? He leaves you no option. In true. The resources of present day students are Bayle's pliant and pleasant hands you find your- quite equal to efforts of this kind-especially in self, without a word of warning, flung easily and Examination papers-but the effect is sometimes suddenly into deep and sometimes dirty water; disappointing. you don't know where you are, or where he is; What put Bayle on the correction of errors ? but there is no mistake about it, you must begin It was the appearance in 1688 of the posthumous to learn to swim or, faith, you'll sink. Such is fifth edition of the " Great Historical Dictionary," the mystery and the magic of Bayle. originally published in 1674 by Louis Morkri, D,.D. How his Dictionary began to be, and achieved (1643-1680). It must not be supposed that its growth, he tells us in his inimitable preface. MorQi's was an exceptionally bad book. On the He had originally intended a "Dictionary of contrary, it was, as Bayle fully allows, an ex- Errors," and had issued the prospectus of one, ceptionally good one, and that was just why he after compiling it to the first three letters of the thought it worth while to show how it could be alphabet. There is such a dictionary, bearing the bettered. In many respects MorQi's is a much too proud sub-title " Errata and Supplement to more generally useful compendium than Bayle's. iill Historical Dictionaries," by August in Jal Under successive editors (greatest among them -* 174 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 175 Le Clerc) it has swelled from a single folio to the - matter in abundance on which to fall back. ten huge folios which have an honoured place Yet here it is well to interpose a caveat. Bayle, among my books, as a really indispensable work a rnan of extraordinary erudition, was not (as Jal, of reference. for example, was) a man of research, as we under- Perceiving that Mor6ri was especially weak in stand that term. He probably knew by heart mythological and classic articles, Bayle had de- more books, of all sorts, than any man before or voted himself to the correction of these. He since his day. He did not, as we try to do, go found that people did not care for exact informa- beyond books in quest of things knowable. Par- tion, either about heathen gods or Raman heroes. don the egotism of a small illustration of the So he discarded all the gods, and most of the difference. Some time ago I was in company heroes, from his plan. It then occurred to him to with certain scholarly friends, who know much compile a Dictionary, which, as far as possible, more about books than I can pretend to do. One should contain nothing that was to be found in day they benevolently informed me that I had other dictionaries. Popes, emperors, kings, car- given in the Dictionary of National Biography a dinals, Fathers of the Church, and so on, were wrong year-date for the birth of John Cotton, who common property; he resolved to let most of came from Boston No. I, and was the means of them severely alone. Hardly had he begun, when giving its name to Boston No. 2. " It is very he heard of an English version (1694) of Moreri, likely," said I, " for the Pope of Rome is the only with national additions; this stopped him from infallible person, and he wisely avoids the exer- including the illustrious men of Great Britain. A cise of his prerogative in regard to dates." They similar publication cut off from him the illustrious brought me five books, all placing Cotton's birth rnen of the United Provinces. A new Biblical a year later than I had ventured to put it. I Dictionary checked his design of including most of demurred. " These are few and modern, and all

the persons mentioned in the Bible. D'Herbe- American." Well, by dint of their labour and my ' lot's Bibliotlt Eque Orieq~talecame out, and inter- insistence, they found above eighty printed fered with him in that department. Church authorities for their date, and wondered what I History, too, was otherwise provided for. Think had to say. " Only this, gentlemen: I took the of the erudition of the man who would willingly trouble personally to visit St. Alkmund's, Derby, have undertaken any or all of these special where Cotton was baptized, and here is the record branches, and robbed of them all, still had of that event, copied by me on the spot, and 177 176 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY certified by the custodian. As a child is not the most complete, the most delightful leisure usually born a year after his baptism, I think you that a literary man could possibly long for." will admit that research sometimes beats eru- There was a time when Madame Basnage had dition." Let me add that the whole honour of the tried hard to yoke him to a wife she had picked discovery is due to Mr. B. Tacchella, who in a out for him. The lady, whose name is not given, small and unnoticed publication had put me on the had, we are assured, youth, beauty, sense, sweet- right line of search. So, to all students I would ness, modesty, self-command-and fifteen thou- say: Never feel quite sure, before you have got sand crowns. Bayle persistently shook his head, at the original sources for yourself. Till then, disinclined to be drawn from solitary study by his married friend's encouraging example. don't say, " It is so," but, with Bayle, be content to say, " So-and-so says it is so." For Bayle It must be owned that the arrangement of his knew the limits of his erudition, and was careful Dictionary is of the most inconvenient kind. always to distinguish between things his authori- Opening just now a volume at random one finds, divided between three successive folio pages, only ties personally vouched for, and what they merely cited from others. Indeed, one express purpose four lines of text, all the rest being notes. Un- 'luckily, he has had imitators in this, who have of his toil was to induce rising scholars, and youth followed him as following a fashion, without his generally, to form an idea of, and taste for " the most scrupulous exactitude." reason or excuse. Kippis, in his Biographia Britannica, is a tiresome sinner in this respect. How had he gained this vast range of reading, He tells you half a thing, and must needs put the amid the frequent interruptions of failing health ? "Little use do I make," says he, "of Cato's other half into a note or notes. He reminds one motto: Interpone tuis interdam gaudia curis. of George IVYssaying about Sir Robert P,eel: Diversions, parties of pleasure, games, treats, " Peel is not a gentleman; he always parts his. excursions to the country, visits and such-like coat tails before he sits down." Bayle, however, has a purpose in his system. recreations, necessary (so they say) to many As he truly says, studious persons, are not in my line. I waste no his text is complete in itself. Read it, and you time in them. Nor waste I any in domestic cares, get a plain story. No one need trouble himself with the notes, unless he has a mind to do so. in seeking favours, courting patrons, or anything Yet of that sort. Happily freed from many dis- the notes are Bayle : Bayle at his best and Bayle at his worst. He pours into them without stint tractions not much to my taste, I have enjoyed -+--

178 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 3- PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 179 1 - the many-coloured, recondite, and appetizing con- . especially when it concerned grave persons, with tents of his commonplace books and memoranda, an impish malice-perhaps more often found, in with chapter and verse for every statement. combination with a native sweetness of temper, There is one element in them which stains his in the ladies of creation than in the lords thereof. workmanship. Lord Acton said, oddly enough, Yet Bayle, who knew more than most men, of Charles Dickens: " His great merit is that in actually makes a point of his reticence. " Of all his books there is no indecency." From the the two inviolable laws of history," says he, cc I negative eulogy of this faint praise Bayle is have religiously observed the one which enjoins undesirably exempt. His elaborate excursus in upon us to say nothing that is false. As for the defence of his fault is rather an aggravation of other, which enjoins on us to dare to say all that it, being little more than an impudent tu quoque. is true, I cannot boast of having invariably fol- Plenty of other writers, some of them general lowed it. I think it sometimes opposed, not favourites, he says, deal in improprieties-" as I merely to prudence, but to reason as well." One will proceed to show you." His offence is delib- would wish that oftener he had thus thought, and erate, and its motive is frankly propounded. In when dealing with the seamy side of human his preface he affirms that the booksellers and nature, bestowed a little drapery upon his nada their friends had assured him that a dull folio, aeritas. Without question Bayle is a cure for appealing only to the learned, scarcely ever pays optimism, if such be needed; though optimism, the printer, and that he must brighten up his it may be observed, commonly cures itself. book. Lord Acton, to quote him again, alleges This last remark about our author gives that the future Cardinal Newman, anxious about occasion to say, in drawing to a close, all that I the Rambler (the liberal Catholic organ), wishing have either ability or inclination to say respecting it to be clever and amusing as well as instructive, Bayle's philosophy, so called. I know not whkth- " wants us to have rather more levity and pro- ,er I have read or dreamed that some one once faneness, less theology and learning." In the averred, " The real philosopher is the man who course of his reading, Bayle had dived into all has no philosophy." Bayle is ranked as a sceptic ; sorts of holes and corners, whence he brought out and if we take the literal sense of the word, Bayle scandalous anecdote, in unheard-of variety. was that, and something more. or the sceptic Something of this seasoning had already spiced is the man who stops to look at a thing; and Bayle his literary magazine. He sprinkled it about, was prone not only to look things in the face, but 180 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY 181 to see them all round, if he could. Vulgarly, that every genuine and honest thinker must needs however, a sceptic is taken to mean a person of hold with him. superficial views, who doubts if there is anything Evidently we have, as a rule, advanced beyond beyond surfaces. Montaigne, in a well-known the view-point of Bayle's century. Occasionally, essay by Emerson, is taken as the type of a it is true, we may encouilter people ready to sceptic ; yet Montaigne's motto was not, "What is repeat, in all seriousness, the old jibe that every there to know ? " but "What do I know ? " which Cardinal is necessarily an Atheist. There still is a very different thing, I opine. We have seen may be those who think the same of every that Ba.yle was early a disciple of Montaigne, as Unitarian, though too polite to tell us so. Yet, also oj the anecdotical and sententious Plutarch, on the whole, we have come very near to per- both of them men of insatiable curiosity. Now, ceiving that it is possible, on the one hand, to hold it would appear that Bayle had discovered, both strong views of one's own ; on the other hand, to by the experience of his personal history and by feel not condescension, nor compassion, nor his study of all the literature accessible to him, tolerance, but deep and true respect for the this staring and disturbing fact, that there is opposite views of others. That we have got so much to be said on both sides of many more far, or nearly so far, is largely owing to the courage questions than is either convenient or agreeable of those men who braved obloquy and misunder- to our complacency. This is what is meant by standing in the determination that, in defiance of saying that Bayle is a cure for optimism. Per- every prejudice to the contrary, the most un- sons fundamentally in the wrong may have some- popular opinions should be pressed, in their thing to say which we should do well to hear. The integrity, upon the reluctant attention of the system of the Manichreans, said Bayle, is to me public. Great, in this respect, were the services absurd; yet Christians cannot answer the of Bayle. Manichrean objections to their own theology, For this rrason it has seemed not unbefitting to committed as that is to the doctrine of eternaL conjure up the memory of the man who passed torments. There seems no reason to doubt that suddenly away on the morning of 28th December, Bayle's affirmations of his own beliefs are genuine 1706, with the questioning words on his lips: and honest. He claimed to hold, on the authority " Is my fire lighted ? " Sundry among the bigots of revelation, what he could not maintain by the might then have been inclined to answer " Yes," force of reason; but Bayle was not the man to say with a stolid accent of gloomy exultation. Some 182 PETER BAYLE OF THE DICTIONARY among us may now feel satisfied to echo the affirmative, in another spirit and sense. For, if the heart must be purified by the cleansing fires of love, no less does the mind demand for its. clarification the searching, sometimes the scorch- ing, it may even be the blasting, flame enkindled by the critic's art, that it may pass " ex umbris et imaginibas in veritatem," from the spectres and shadows of its own thought, into the reception of the realities of the Most High. 4 October, 1906. PHILIP DODDRIDGE AND THE CATHOLICITY OF THE OLD DISSENT PHILIP DODDRIDGE AND THE CATHOLICITY OF THE OLD DISSENT

eighteenth century was in its eighteenth THEyear when Philip Doddridge, desiring to enter the Dissenting ministry, sought to open the PHILIPDODI>RIDGE.-BO~~~ in London, June way by addressing himself to Edmund Calamy, ~6th~1702 ; Minister at Kibworth, 1723-29 ; D.D. (1671-1732). The interview is known only Began Academy at Market Harborough, 1729; by its unpromising result, yet the historic imagina- Minister and Tutor at Northampton, 1729-5 I ; tion may be forgiven if it pause to picture the Ordained, March 19th~1730; Married, December momentary contact between these two great zznd, 1730; D.D., Aberdeen, 1736; Died at liberal unionists in English Nonconformist polity. Lisbon, October 26th, 1751. Calamy was now in the prime of his life, and at the height of his public influence. He had added lustre to the eminent inheritance of his name, by his services as biographer of the Ejected, and as custodian of the fame of Baxter. A genial, full bodied divine, he walked before God in the healthy enjoyment of human life and human liberty. When his Scottish friends made him a doctor in divinity, he rallied them on the pertina- city of their church courts, which reminded him of the thumbscrews of the Inquisition; but he found no fault with the theology of their claret or the orthodoxy of their salmon. An absolute PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE stranger to enthusiasms, he rode past Winder- too tall for his sixteen years, too near-sighted to mere, and recollected that this was the lake " so bear his height erect, the hectic flush of a con- famous for the fish called charrs, which come sumptive habit showing through his olive cheek potted to London, and are reckoned so very and seeming to explain the feverish and pre- delicious." Seated in full view of one of the rnature anxiety to encounter, with sanguine lack finest of Lancashire landscapes, he charmed a of prescience, the hardships of a calling full of Tory lady by suggesting that the spot seemed trials for the robust. He learned that the specially adapted by boon Nature for the pleasant resolve, vaguely formed at the ripe age of four- use of " a pipe of tobacco and a glass of October." teen, had started into definite shape on the sudden Perhaps in Oxford, where he spent some studious disclosure of a reverse of fortune, which had months, and preached his first sermon, these finer stripped the schoolboy of his means and left him tastes may have been cultivated. His devotion penniless. To overstock the ministerial market to Nonconformity was genuine and virile. He by training up a superfluous host of poor lads on had espoused its principles with the full strength small bursaries, Calamy had condemned as a cruel of reasoned conviction, and believed them policy in the Presbyterians of Scotland. What essential to the maintenance of English liberties wonder that he gave Doddridge " no encourage- and English religion. He served his cause with ment, but advised " him " to turn )'his " thoughts a diplomatic prudence; no rash ventures were to something else." The counsel, though a bitter his, and few mistakes; his strong mundane disappointment, seemed beneficently wise ; and sagacity told him what was timely, what was for the moment Philip felt that to gainsay it practicable, and then with courtly ease he man- would be a forcing of Providence. aged men and made obstacles melt. If any Doddridge was a year older than John Wesley, ambition to go too far menaced a breach of accord and, like Wesley, he came of Nonconformist in the forces of Nonconformity, he made his bow ancestry on both sides of the house. His grand- and stood aside, a mere cool-headed spectator of father, on the one side, was an Ejected minister, parties; he never mixed up in a quarrel, and nephew of a famous judge. His other grand- woul d touch nothing quixotic. father was a Bohemian exile, who, after sojourning Such was the man who turned his eyes upon in Germany as a Lutheran divine, settled in Eng- young Doddridge, with keen yet kindly glance. land as a schoolmaster. The twentieth child of Hc saw before him a slight and sickly orphan bov,. his parents, Philip at his birth showed no sign of PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE country; the choice of an Independent Academy life. In point of fact, he and a sister were the only ones reared out of this abnormal family. The will be accounted for later on. I simply note here that Doddridge's student life began in October, story is well known of his learning Bible history from his mother with the aid of " blue Dutch tiles 1719. In March of that year the ghost of the parliamentary Presbyterianism had been finally in the chimney-place." Losing both parents before he had well entered his fourteenth year, he laid at Salters' Hall. There and then the so- called Presbyterians, whether subscribing or non- fell into the hands of a well-meaning but incom- subscribing, joined with the other denominations petent guardian, who sacrificed his property in foolish speculations. In Sanluel Clark (or Clarke) in issuing a formal ratification of the absolute in- dependency of all Dissenting congregations. Such of St. Albans, compiler of the " Scripture Pro- vestiges of Presbyterianism as they retained were mises," he found a second father. retained as peculiarities of individual congre- His uncle Philip had been steward in the gations. Even Calamy had admitted, as early as Bedford family, and the dowager duchess offered 1704, that his Presbyterianism might be fairly to provide handsomely for his education, with a view to the Anglican ministry. It was on his described as " a meer Independent scheme." The picture of Doddridge as a student is conscientious rejection of this tempting provision drawn by his own hand in his most engaging that the boy had carried his young hopes to correspondence. We see him robed in his dark Calamy. Following the sage advice he got, he blue gown of cheap calimanco, carefully saved and now thought of the law; but before he had closed often turned, seated at Kibworth in a study so- with an advantageous prospect of study for the spacious that, if the lower shelves were but re- bar, a letter from Clark, offering him facilities for moved, the greater part of a hoop-petticoat might a ministerial training, decided his vocation. With Clark he made his first communion; through the at a crush be accommodated within it. We find him describing himself as " an animal that locks influence of Clark he got a little bursary from the himself up in his closet for ten hours in the day, Presbyterian Fund. and romps away the rest of his time in blind- He did not resort to a Presbyterian tutor, man's buff, or such-like elegant entertainments." though Clark ranked with that denomination; There is some truth veiled in the poetry of this nor to a London Academy, though there were overdrawn delineation. several close at hand. Reasons of health mav He pursued the studies of his vocation with high purpose and a willing- explain the preference for an Academy in the PHILIP DODDRJDGE PHILIP D~DDRIDGE heart. Most young men of devout intent have At-some of his overtures we may smile, but his formed some guiding rules for the apportionment gentlemanly feeling was perfect, and his purpose of their time and the discipline of their conduct. sincere. " If a lady could have called me a faith- Those of young Doddridge, written on the fly- less lover," he declares, " I should be ashamed leaf of his New Testament, are simple and to call myself a Christian or a man." When at straightforward, the self-reminders of a frank and length he wedded Mercy Maris, his marriage proved genuine nature. Promising himself to prove a continued romance. He never lost the feelings " agreeable and useful to all about " him " by a of a lover, still writing in middle life with all the tender, compassionate, and friendly behaviour," intensity and fluctuating anxieties of a courtship. he struck the keynote of his life. His wife was not only .fair to see, but, if we view It is characteristic that a chief recreation of his her with her husband's eyes, was "the dearest student days was found in playful and quasi- of all dears, the wisest of all my earthly coun- confidential correspondence with ladies : with his sellors, and of all my governors the most potent, c mamma," his "aunt," and other and younger yet the most gentle and moderate." The im - recipients of imaginative titles. Of Doddridge's pression, however, conveyed by her own few part in this correspondence, one may say (bor- letters is that of a well-bred, well-mannered, com- rowing his own description of the letters of his monplace personage, to whom transports were " dear, sedate, methodical Clio ") that he writes foreign, indeed without very acute feelings, who " with such unaffected wit, pleasantry, and good better knew the meaning of " honour and obey " nature, that it must be a gloomy animal indeed than that of the preceding vocable. that can lay them down with a grave face, and Perhaps the depth and tenderness of Dod- ask for something more inspiring." The ease and dridge's affectionate heart were nowhere more polish of his address, and his knowledge of apparent than in the upheaval of his whole human nature, are amazing in a lad under age. nature on the death of his first child, a tiny girl. His sister's "kind advice " he meets with the Some foolish fellow preached at the funeral on expostulation: " Did you ever know me marry " Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd ? " foolishly in my life ? " A little later, his first " I hope God knows," wrote Doddridge in his serious passion produces a series oi letters to diary, " that I am not angry; but sorrowful He Catherine Freeman, anticipating in the analysis surely allows me to be." The preface to his own .of female motive the best efforts of Richardson. sermon on this occasion, while calm and free from PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE solicitude, is a singularly honest avowal of pain puritanical about his tone of mind, or his ideal of still smarting, grief unappeased, the plain dealing life ; nor any abrupt severance of his professional of a man who could not but be true to his own character from his wholesome and genial human- feelings. " Formed in such a correspondence to ity. The cleric and the man were, in him, not my own relish and temper as to be able to give two but one. Why should we not speak of me a degree of delight, and consequently of dis- clerical men (I mean, if we can find any) as we tress, which I did not before think it possible I speak of medical men ? Doddridge allowed him- could have received from a little creature who self in relaxations proper to his age, and could had not quite completed her fifth year. . . . . write gaily of his social amusements, even in It is comparatively easy . . . to speak in the out- cluding among these, in his early days, a hand of ward language of resignation. But it is not so cards (" a chapter or two in the History of the easy to get rid of every repining thought, and to Four Kings ") after a dish of afternoon tea. But forbear taking it, in some degree at least, un- his diaries and his letters prove that he wasted no kindly, that the God whom we love and serve, in time, that his calling was ever in his thoughts, whose friendship we have long trusted and that his religion was no conventional department rejoiced, should act what, to sense, seems so un- of his life. His piety was a devotion of the whole friendly a part; that He should take away a human being to an ideal of consecrated service, child ; and if a child, that child ; and if that child, perpetually renewed in filial communing with the at that age; and if at that age, with this or that Lord whom he truly loved, and served with a particular circumstance ; which seems the very continually deepening attachment. contrivance of providence to add double anguish His religious genius is seen at its height in the to the wound. In these circumstances . . . powerful addresses which make up his volume on cheerfully to subscribe to His will, cordially to the " Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," approve it as merciful and gracious. . . . This, published (1745)in his forty-third year, and since this is a difficult lesson indeed; a triumph of translated into almost as many languages as the Christian faith and love, which I fear many of us " Pilgrim's Progress." Watts had suggested this are yet to learn." work, had framed its plan, and had revised its It is this strength of human emotion that gives earlier sections. But Watts could not have health and animation to the religious genius of written it. The verve of its language; the Doddridge. There was never anything very pressure and piquancy of its appeal; the power ,- PHILIP' DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE , I95 8 3 5 but one remark. The hymns of Doddridge, of making conscience speak, in piercing tones, t the secrets of the heart; the naturalness, the which never rise so high nor fall so low as those appositeness, the fervour, the pathos with which of Watts, have sometimes, what Watts never exhortation soars constantly into the domain of achieves, a rare quality of sustained joyousness, ! prayer ; the prophetic faculty that betimes can as in " Hark the glad sound," which sings itself 1' even chant the plea of the awakening voice of through every verse, through every line, in every God; these make the work unique. It is not a tone. It is worth noting, in this connection, that treatise to be calmly read; those whom it does Orton speaks of Doddridge as " a man who had l not find will quickly drop it from their hands; no ear for music." i those whom it captivates will follow it upon their In theology Doddridge classed himself at the .i'? knees. Its aim is to rouse religious feeling into outset of his career (1724) as " in all the most I a regenerative force. The practical pith of Dod- important points, a moderate Calvinist "; and 3 dridge's faithful appeal is summed up in these such he remained to the last. He attentively ,l words:-"This must be the language of your read John Taylor on " Original Sin " (1740)~and very heart before the Lord. But then remember' was by 110 means shaken by it. He speaks of 51 that in consequence thereof it must be the langu- it as " a vain attempt to prove that impossible, i age of your life too . . . the most affectionate which, in fact, evidently is." i transport of the passions, should it be transient Calvinism is compatible with various views of 1

K ? and ineffectual, would be but like a blaze of the doctrine of the Trinity; Calvin himself has T straw, presented instead of incense at His altar." not escaped the censure of purists; and it is on In an earlier publication (1736) he had asked, this doctrine that Doddridge's theological sound- " What is true religion ? Is it to repeat a creed, ness has been chiefly called in question. The or subscribe a confession, or perform a ceremony ? period of his student life was one of keen dis- If it be, I am sure religion is much changed from cussion of this topic, following the rupture of what it was, when the Scriptures were writ; and Salters' Hall. Many adopted the semi-Arian the nature of God must be entirely changed too, position of Samuel Clarke, the metaphysician; a before such a religion can be acceptable .to Him, few went beyond it. Doddridge admits that he or before it can have the least value in His sight." was " wavering." Some of the proof-texts against While speaking of his religious genius one .Arianism never seemed to hi,m in point. The thinks of Doddridge's hymns. On these I make recollection of his hesitancy always disposed him PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE to respect the difficulties, and deal dispassionately doctrine as a " graft of Arianism "; but its an- with the conclusions, of other minds. His own cestry is not referable to the Arian school, being doctrine tended towards heresy in a direction the of older date and of different complexion. Watts opposite of the Arian. It was essentially Sabel- got it from Henry More, the Platonist. In the lian, a Trinity of divine aspects; " persons " estimation of Doddridge, this scheme guarded, on (prosopa, vizors) as they were called by Sabellius, the one hand, against the error of reducing Christ who introduced this term into Christian theology. to a mere creature, and on the other, against that A cruder, pre-Sabellian form of the doctrine, of conceiving him as another God, either inferior identified historically with the name of Praxeas, to or co-ordinate with the Father. Except in his and polemically disparaged as Patripassianism, theological lectures, this rationale of his Trini- was, according to Peirce, the common creed of tarian confession makes no show. In his practical the unlearned among Dissenters. There is plenty writing, as in his hymns, the mediatorial work of of footing for it in the hymns of Watts. Dod- Christ occupies the field. To all who are one with dridge held the Sabellian doctrine in its later or him in embracing this central and cardinal idea, post-Sabellian form. This mode of thought, his religious teaching will be acceptable, and will while admitting eternal distinctions in the God- fall into harmony with theological systems head, denies that they amount to co-ordinate diverging from his own on either hand. personalities. Its advocates claim to be in good In truth, the details of a technical theology accord with the teaching of St. Hilary and St. were brought home to Doddridge by no necessity Augustine. Wallis's exposition of the Trinity on of his own mind; and, perhaps, had it not these lines was left unchallenged by the Oxford become part of his duty to act as an exponent of decree (5 Nov., 1695) which condemned as " im- systematic theology to others, he would have pious " the alleged Tritheism of Bingham and himself lost interest in this department of study. Sherlock. Practically the theological text-book which was A Sabellianism of this kind is often accom- always in his hands, which formed his habitual panied by a Socinian view of the nature of the phraseology and inspired his living thought, was Mediator. Doddridge escaped this by borrowing the Bible. The Bible to him was the New Testa- from Watts a doctrine of the pre-existence of ment. I do not mean that he discarded the Old Christ's human soul, which has ever been insepar- Testament, but that he read it as a part of the ably united to the Godhead. Barling treats this New. To him its theme from end to end was the PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

Christian salvation. There is no evidence that missioned to preach in this diocese." Anglicans he anywhere detected in it a failure of the were not alone in failing to comprehend Wesley, evangelical spirit, though, of course, there were or to estimate the value of those religious forces degrees in the completeness with which that spirit of which Methodism was the instrument in the was apprehended by those whom the Biblical hand of God. Doddridge was an exception, but writers from time to time addressed. Watts, in his goodwill to the Methodists brought down upon his paraphrases of the Psalms, thought it neces- him the indignant remonstrances of his London sary, as he says, to make David " speak like a friends. These good people honestly held that Christian." I do not know. where there is in to encourage Whitefield was to play into the Doddridge any similar confession of the discovery hands of infidelity, that the enthusiasts were of a jarring note, a felt discord between successive simply making fresh ground for the deists. They strata of revelation. He brought the harmonizing pointed triumphantly to the fact that Henry element with him in the evangelical fullness of his Dodwell's anonymous brochure, " Christianity own spirit. not founded on Argument " (1742) was so well We are using the language of very thoughtless calculated to serve the interests either of enthusi- ingratitude when we permit ourselves to speak of asm or of deism indifferently, that men did not the eighteenth century as a period of religious know to which school it should be assigned, and stagnation. It was not an age which readily remained in doubt as to the quarter from which responded to an enthusiasm, or suffered itself to it had been launched. be led by a sentiment ; it was an age of strong and An age of religious stagnation is an age when resolute thinking. It was not an age of fluent religion ceases to provide matter for the exercise preachers ; but why ? Because the preachers were of independent thought, when tradition and not allowed to take anything for granted. superstition send the mind to sleep. In the Christianity was put upon its trial; everything eighteenth century, all who thought at all, was brought to the test of fact; everything was applied a keen and alert intelligence to religious examined with full use of all the resources of matters, with the robust intention of distinguish- reason. Bishop Butler told Wesley (1739)it was ing realities from shams. Certainly it was an " a horrid thing, a very horrid thing " to pretend age of controversy within Christianity, rather than of conquests by Christianity, though these to " gifts of the Holy Ghost " ; and advised him, also were not wanting. Yet we must not forget " You have no business here, you are not com- PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

that we owe to it, through Watts, the modern and a flying in the face of Providence. So he Christian hymn, and through Doddridge, as we bided his time and guarded his course; but his shall see, the forecast of the modern Christian mind was wakeful and his thought progressive. mission. The stream of learning and the currents of Near the close of the seventeenth century (1689) thinking were kept in movement within his the Nonconformists had accepted the Anglican borders by the action of the Dissenting Academies ; articles as their authorized doctrinal standard of institutions, to the history and scope of which a public toleration. Hence upon Dissent there very insufficient attent ion has been directed, lay, till 1779, the dead-weight of a Toleration Act considering their national and permanent im- which was practically another Act of Uniformity. portance. The Dissenting Academy was the This was a serious bar to the bolder enterprises of Nonconformist University, the university of religious thinking within the recognised bounds private enterprise. Richard Frankland has the of Nonconformity. To mark the progress of honour of being the first to set on foot (1670) in ideas by the proclamation of new results was the North an institution for " university learn- penal. It is said that the example of the early ing." The succession of Academies descending Quakers might have been followed, in defying the from Frankland has its lineal heir in Manchester law, and extorting privilege by persistent and College. Frankland's, however, was not a school invincible effort S of self-assertion. I have of ten for theology alone, nor were his first pupils either thought that it might; I have sometimes wonder- designed for the ministry, or drawn only from the ed that it was not. The truth is, that this course ranks of Dissent. He represented the Crom- would have been impossible to the ordinary wellian tradition of a Durham University, and he Dissenter. He looked to Parliamentary law as pursued in his northern refuges the methods of to a divine institution. It was the very founda- his Cambridge training. Frankland's institution tion of the State, the only basis of the throne. set the model for all the older Academies whose He believed in its omnipotence. Already it had Tutors ranged themselves under the Presbyterian done much for him, and could do more. A name. Philosophy and theology formed the martyrdom of restriction and repression, mean- solid nucleus of study; philology, science, while, he was prepared to endure; but to come Biblical apparatus were added in varying pro- into open and avowed conflict with the safeguard portions, according to the aptitudes and particular of society would have appeared to him suicidal, tastes of individual Tutors. It was not uncom- PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE mon for a studious youth to keep terms in tans " (1732-38), by Daniel Neal. Again, there succession at two or three of these Academies, was no denominational difference in the matter selecting those whose departmental advantages of an entrance subscription to the Academies, so promised to reward his curiosity on specific topics. long as these institutions were regulated by pri- Secker, for example, was at three Academies, one vate enterprise. Subscription on entrance was in the North, one in the West, and one in London. later introduced into some Academies founded He was also at Paris, and at Leiden to boot, and managed by societies. The Presbyterian before he went to Oxford. Perhaps all this was Academies had their origin in private enterprise overdoing it a little. For Tom Secker in his young till 1754, when Warrington Academy was pro- days had a merry wit. He was not born to be the jected (opened 1757). The London Independents block for a bishop's wig, and to crown a Lord's had founded the King's Head Society, for anointed such as George the Third-rate. establishing an Academy, in 1730. When sub- The first of Secker's many almw matyes was the scription began in it I do not know, perhaps in Academy of Timothy Jollie at Attercliffe. Now 1730, certainly not later than 1744. This was the J ollie's Academy, though an offshoot from Frank- Academy which Priestley would not enter because land's, was an example of the Independent of its subscription. Its Divinity tutor, Zephaniah Academy, as contrasted with those of the Pres- Marryatt, was a Presbyterian, while the Academy byterian type. How did these types differ ? To to which Priestley repaired on account of its non- fancy that the Independents cared less for learn- subscription had an Independent divinity tutor, ing than the Presbyterians did, or were excelled Caleb Ashworth, and was managed by Inde- by them in point of attainment, is to fall into a pendent trustees. ludicrous mistake. The pursuit of learning was. Not less learned than the Presbyterians, the equal in these bodies; but the Independents, Independents were, however, less conventional ; numerically the smaller of the two, can claim a hence, perhaps, sometimes more free. They were larger proportion of scholars distinguished by readier for extremes on either hand than was con- great achievements. In illustration of this point, sonant with the steadfast Presbyterian middle it may suffice to recall the " Vindiciz Fratrum way. They showed this in their Church admin- Dissidentium" (1710)~ by James Peirce; the istration, and they showed it in their Academies. " Credibility of the Gospel History " (1727-57), by Thus, among teachers of philosophy, Thomas Nathaniel Lardner; the " History of the Pnri- Rowe, the London Independent, was the first PHILIP DODDRIDGE to desert the traditional text-books, introducing Again, Jeremiah Jones, of Nailsworth, was an his pupils, about 1680, to what was known as Independent tutor; and Jones' posthumous ." free philosophy." Rowe was a Cartesian at a " Method of settling the Canonical Authority of time when the Aristotelic philosophy was domin- the New Testament " (1726), a work of original ant in the older schools of learning; and while in plan, and, for its day, exhaustive research, was physics he adhered to Descartes against the rising certainly the most valuable outcome of the tutorial influence of Newton, in mental science he became work of the old Academies, or, indeed, of English .one of the earliest exponents of Locke. Watts, contemporary scholarship. It was several times Neal, Hunt, Grove were among his pupils. None reprinted at the Clarendon Press. Next to it in were sent to him from the Presbyterian Fund. permanent importance among the fruits of the On the other hand, at Attercliffe, Jollie, in erudition of the old Dissenting lecture-room may 1689, put under a ban "the mathematics," a be ranked the posthumous " Jewish Antiquities " term of wide significance then, on the supposition (1766) of David Jennings, a London Independ- that this class of acquirement tended to make ent tutor. sceptics. The prohibition acted as usual : " Don't Moreover, it was a London Independent read this." There was much private study of the Academy which furnished the solitary instance of mathematics among Jollie's young men, one of a theological chair filled by a layman, John whom ultimately held a mathematical chair at Eames, F.R.S., whom Watts considered the most Cambridge. Whether from this spur of revolt, learned man he knew, and whose reputation was or from whatever reason, I believe it may be ad- made in natural science, Sir Isaac Newton being mitted that Jollie turned out men mare prominent his patron and friend. The appointment (made in the gifts of leadership than Frankland, his by the Congregational Fund in 1734) was as master, had done. Among Frankland's pupils, I successful as it was unprecedented; but the suppose the best known name is that of William Presbyterian Fund sent no bursars to this Acad- Tong, the biographer of Matthew Henry. Jollie's emy while Eames filled the Divinity chair. much shorter list includes such types as Thomas I mention these facts, in order to bring out, Bradbury, the zealot of orthodoxy, leader of the what I think some have missed, the character of subscribers at Salters' Hall, and Benjamin variety, fresh force and unconventionality, which Grosvenor, equally a zealot, though a Calvinist, distinguished the Independent Academies from for freedom in religious opinion. their more staid competitors in the Presbyterian. PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

Dissent. Doddridge, you remember, entered as They learned anatomy, a subject which Eames, I a pupil in the Independent Academy at Kibworth. think, had been the first to add to his curriculum. His tutor was John Jennings (d. 1723)~son of an They learned architecture ; probably that they Ejected minister, elder brother of David Jennings might be able to plan additions to their meeting- above mentioned, and grandfather of Mrs. Bar- houses. For some occult reason they also learned bauld. In theology Jennings was an eclectic. heraldry, an accomplishment cultivated in other " He encourages," writes Doddridge, while at his Independent Academies. These were some of the Academy, " the greatest freedom of inquiry, and ornaments of a solid course of philology, philo- always inculcates it, as a law, that the Scriptures sophy, physical science and divinity. There is a are the only genuine standard of faith." How very curious little manual, published (1721) by did this work out ? Doddridge writes again: " I Jennings as a conspectus of lectures in certain have almost finished Mr. Jennings' system of departments. It begins with vocal music, and divinity, and the better I am acquainted with it, winds up with a philosophical alphabet. Jen- the more I admire it. He does not entirely accord nings compiled his own logic, which, though with the system of any particular body of men, written in Latin, is founded on Locke. His meta- but is sometimes a Calvinist, sometimes a Re- physical compend is scholastic to a fault. It monstrant , sometimes a Baxterian, sometimes a still contains (it is true, in a recreative appendix) Socinian, as truth and evidence determine him. such refreshing problems as the following: " Si He furnishes us with all kinds of authors upon bucephaleitas separaretur ab equinitate, utri every subject, without advising us to skip over istorum adhaerebit hinnibilitas ? " One exceed- the heretical passages for fear of infection. It is ingly important branch of study came off badly in evidently his main care to inspire us with senti- all the old Academies. While general history, and ments of catholicism." especially chronology, received some attent ion, it The four years' plan of studies under Jeiinings is not a little surprising that both collstitutional was very comprehensive. Mathematics suffered history and ecclesiastical history were ignored. no exclusion; Jennings was himself an elegant Priestley was the first to call attention to these mathematician. His pupils learned French, this serious defects, and to introduce the study of being somewhat of a rarity; and they learned it constitutional history, on his own motion, at " ' without regarding the pronunciation, with Warrington in 1761. His lectures when published which Mr. Jennings " was " not acquainted." (1788) were recommended at Cambridge by John PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

Symonds, professor of modern history. It does since the Kibworth Independents were unable to not appear that the curriculum included any reach the modest figure of £30. His Academy had special provision for the teaching of ecclesiastical hardly been begun (July, 1729)~when he removed history till the appointment of John James Tayler (December, 1729) to the more important congre- at Manchester in 1840; nor was there any gation at Northampton, where for twenty-one attention paid to the history of doctrine. years he discharged the duties of Pastor and It had been felt for some time that the sudden Tutor. and early death (1723) of Jennings had created a To Doddridge's Academy some ,reference has serious void in the list of Dissenting institutions already been made above, in the section on Early for theological training. The need existed for an Nonconformity and Education. Here it may be Academy in the Midlands, at once liberal in tone well to pursue the topic in more detail. His first and evangelical in spirit. There was a Presby- idea was to take only divinity students into his terian Academy in the Midlands, that of Ebenezer Academy. It was David Jennings, younger Latham, at Findern, and this at first was left to brother of John, who strongly advised him to supply the vacancy; but in the opinion of admit lay pupils also. This he did in the fourth Doddridge's London correspondents Latham, who year of his enterprise. Almost immediately he practised also as doctor of medicine, was not an was called upon by the ecclesiastical authorities efficient tutor. Doddridge's detailed account of to take out a licence in the bishop's court. He Jennings' plan of studies brought him overtures refused to do this, and carried the case to West- which led to his becoming Jennings' successor minster Hall. It went in his favour, but an after an interval of six years. Isaac Watts de- appeal would probably have been decided against clared that the reopening of the Academy might him on a technicality, had not George I1 in- well be undertaken by one who had " so admir- timated his displeasure at the revival of such ably described " it. The suggestion was followed prosecutions. up by the unanimous approval of a meeting of Perhaps it may be interesting to learn the cost ministers at 1,utterworth. At this time Dod- of an education at Doddridge's Academy. The dridge, whose residence was at Market Har- figures cannot be compared with modern estimates borough, had been for six years minister at Kib- without an appreciable allowance for subsequent worth, on a stipend of L36, piled up to that decrease in the value of money. Doddridge's enormous sum by help from eleemosynary funds, charges were somewhat above the average. Every PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE student had to pay, on entrance, a guinea for his threw the work of tuition somewhat out of gear as room, another towards the maintenance of the regards times. It now and then occurred (though library, a third for the wear and tear of scientific the Tutor rose at five) that what should have been apparatus. His tuition cost him four pounds a the Academy work of the morning did not come on year, his board sixteen. He had to find his own till late in the day. It is right to specify these candles, settle his laundry bill, and provide a pair drawbacks; on the other hand, the atmosphere of sheets. What he did while this pair was in of the house must have been thoroughly good and washing, is not stated. The fixed charges, then, wholesome. Its tone was high. Doddridge's were : entry money, three guineas ; annual dues, personal influence with his pupils was individually twenty pounds for four years. If he were felt. They all loved him. Few tutors had so a bursar on any of the denominational Funds, little occasion to lament the failure of moral pro- Presbyterian or Congregational, his board was mise in their students. He kept them closely reduced to fourteen pounds, and the library and under his eye, and never allowed them to forget laboratory charges were halved, bringing his en- their vocation. David Jennings was, though a trance money to two guineas, and his annual non-subscriber, a stickler for certain points of doc- dues to eighteen pounds. We may then gather trine, and expelled from his London Academy this that Doddridge expected to make a profit of students of whose theological turn he did not six pounds a year on ordinary students, four pounds approve. It is not recorded that Doddridge ever on bursars. His actual gains were less, for he did this; but if, as happened once or twice, he kept a generous table, being a hospitable enter- found reason to think the religious spirit was tainer of frequent visitors, often of high station. wanting, then he did not hesitate to tell such The prudent Orton was of opinion that his student that the Academy was no place for him. st~zdentslived too well. In regard to methods of teaching, Doddridge, A copy exists of the unpublished rules and as might be expected, took John Jennings as his regulations of Doddridge's Academy, with the model. He avowedly made Jennings' lectures signatures appended of students, who promised in philosophy and theology the basis of his own. faithfully to obey them. They are very minute; For the choice of topics, the structural arrange- and again citing Orton's candid criticism, the ment, the geometrical plan (axioms, problems, testimony is that they were largely a dead letter theorems, corollaries, and so forth), the style of in practice. Doddridge's numerous engagements treatment, he was indebted in the first instance PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE to Jennings. In using and adapting Jennings' Latin language as much as any man can. For outlines he introduced several new features. many important purposes I prefer it to any other, Up to the time of Doddridge, the lectures on and deeply regret its disuse as the common divinity, philosophy, science, in all Dissenting tongue of European learning. I fully recognize Academies had been delivered in Latin. In that in certain departments it is, as it has been many cases Latin, except during certain privi- called, the sacred speech of Christendom. These leged hours, was the current language of all are departments in which it has been sponta- academical business. Such customs, retained neously used by men to whom it was the fit dis- from the older universities, had outlived their covery of their thoughts, the natural utterance of usefulness. Doddridge began by abolishing what their hearts. In theological terminology it does remained of them. He was the first of theological not shine at its best. To make it the vehicle of Tutors to lecture in English. It was a great a native English theology is a strangely artificial innovation. It meant much more than a wel- process; it is to subject the thinking mind to an come relief from a tiresome linguistic strain- unnatural restraint. Richard Baxter produced a Perhaps we can hardly estimate how much it system of theology in a Latin quarto (1681); signified, both in the way of renouncing ancient whatever else this tour de force may be, it is not prejudice and in opening new views of theological Baxter. study, under the guidance of fresh text-books. Therefore, I greatly honour Doddridge as the Consequent on the dropping of Latin as the teach- author of that salutary revolution, which for the ing medium would follow the comparative neglect first time invited the learners in theology to think of the older books of reference, venerable treatises out its problems during their student years, in of foreign divinity, framed in the ancient tongue- their own tongue. Looking at his theological Lectures in English would naturally be illustrated lectures, I am struck with the vast wealth of from English sources, at once more easily and illustration, poured upon all topics, from the rapidly consulted, and more modern in their living literature of his own time, True that his range of thought, in their reach of sentiment. .authorities are ancient now; cramped, crusted, Theology, released from the trammels of unvary- and mouldy, we may deem some of them to be. ing technical terms, could take on new forms of They were fresh then; a new modern world of expression; a living language is the only right varied and animated thinking, presented for the vehicle for living thoughts. I think I love the; scrutiny and the stimulus of young and eager ' '# PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE souls. It was from a stray reference to Hartley, of the systems thus brought into competitive in Doddridge's published lectures, that Priestley examination. What the master attempted, the gained his introduction to the writer who formed pupils were urged in like manner to endeavour his mind in principles of philosophic analysis. for themselves; the Tutor's business being to This is not all. Doddridge was the founder of see that they were in possession, as far as might what may be called, though not in quite the be, of the materials for a judgment ; among the modern sense, a science of comparative theology. most important of those materials being an What was the old method of teaching any given intelligent knowledge and appreciation of the doctrine of divinity ? The lecturer began by thoughts of others. defining the view of his church, or his school, mak- Another new feature of Doddridge's lecture- ing it his own. This, he would say, is the right room was the insistence upon the employment doctrine. Then came some account of other of shorthand. Every student had to learn opinions on the topic. These, he would say, are shorthand, and had to copy out every lecture the heresies and aberrations that prevail in out- in shorthand. The point was not that he was to side circles. He would arrange them according try to take a lecture down while listening to it, an to the degree of their approach to, or divergence impossible feat. He listened to it, and thus took from, the doctrine already propounded as the it in. He then transcribed it from the Tutor's truth. His arguments would all be directed to manuscript (itself in shorthand), and so had it by prove this, to disprove those. Such is the manner him for reference and for preservation. Not only of the vast majority of text-books. Doddridge did he carry away a complete set of manuals of took another plan. He began by laying before his studies, vastly superior in fullness of treat- his pupils, with all the fairness of which he was ment to Jennings' breviate, but he possessed, to master, the various views which had been enter- boot, a rich magazine of references to books, as a tained upon the point, and the arguments ad- guide for his future reading. Should any un- duced in their favour. These he proceeded to lucky layman, intent upon penetrating to his compare, measuring them one against another, minister's sources, chance to pick up a volume of weighing their merits, trying them by Scripture, the serie.s of note-books, his inquisitiveness would by reason, by each other, with the object, if be stopped by the hieroglyphics. possible, of eliciting the truth; which might at Doddridge was one of the first to perceive the last be thought to coincide exactly with no one full advantages of shorthand to the student in the 5 PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE saving of time and economy of writing material. trict ; thus the productive value of the Academy The old Puritans had made a plentiful use of it was locally felt. By no means did he thus for taking abstracts of sermons; they had few render service to the Independent denomination other applications for it, and though, of course, it 'only. A letter (1750) from John Barker, of found its way into earlier Academies, there was Hackney, thus expresses the obligation under no systematic employment of it. Doddridge, as which Doddridge laid the Dissenting cause his basis, took Jeremy Rich's shorthand, invented generally: " Had not you supplied our Presby- or rather adapted in 1659. It may have been terian churches for many years, what would have the best available to him in his schoolboy days, become of us ? Nay, it is certain that what is but it was a cumbrous and arbitrary system, called the Presbyterian interest in England has much inferior to Byrom's (1720), which Wesley been supported by Independent Tutors." This and Hartley adopted. Priestley, by the way, statement is fully confirmed by inspection of the used Annet's. Doddridge made improvements list of ministers in congregations of Presbyterian on Rich, not so much in the direction of speed as name, especially in the Midlands and the North. in saving of space and increase of legibility. His Many of the most trusted leaders of the old shorthand found its way into other Academies Liberal Dissent were men whose minds were as his pupils advanced to the dignity of Tutors. moulded by Doddridge. Their character was It is not yet obsolete. The days are not forgotten not that of controversial preachers; their tone when it was recommended and taught by Dr. was evangelical, their influence suasive ; their Martineau, who used it for all his lectures and Liberalism was undemonstrative, but steady and sermons. sure. They did much to build a bridge of practical Doddridge made a practice of exercising his Christianity over which the transit from an older students in village preaching. As a system this to a newer type of doctrinal ideas was effected was somewhat new. It was so pursued as to with a minimum of agitation. For their symA constitute Northampton a centre of missionary pathies were broad enough to keep them in touch and evangelizing effort, quietly but effectively with the generation that was passing away, and pursued, under the Tutor's inspection and with at the same time to give them the confidence of his active aid and co-operation. the younger generation. A considerable proportion of his students Of such men, Job Orton (1717-1783) was a pro- found their first settlements in the Midland dis- minent example. Orton retired from pulpit PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE work with the ailments of a valetudinarian, at an influence on theological progress. This was age which (but for an early addiction to an opium Hugh Farmer (1714-1787), the Independent. habit) should have been his prime. Yet in his Farmer's preaching is curiously described by seclusion at Kidderminster he held an advisory Kippis as having a kind of " swell " in it, which correspondence with Dissenters of every class seemed the prelude to the enunciation of very except, perhaps, the irregulars of Methodism, for high doctrine, but it never reached that point. whom he had no love. His favourite reading lay Farmer's " Dissertation on Miracles " (1771)~ to in the works of the elder Puritans, his tastes were which those on the Temptation (1761) and the tame, his ideas of ministerial deportment were, Demoniacs (1775) are subsidiary, is an epoch- perhaps, timid and strait-laced. In religion he making book. Its aim is to vindicate the un- was for the old-fashioned Gospel, and all novelties shared sovranty of God. He disallows the were unpleasing to him. Yet his own orthodoxy agency in the physical universe of any invisible was of a carefully attenuated sort. It is charac- power save One, dismissing as superstition the teristic of his generous welcome for the consci- alleged physical operations either of evil spirits entious convictions of others, that (as we shall at war with God, or of angelic beings his dele- see) he could write with unstinted admiration of gates. Those of his readers who were convinced Lindsey's sacrifices on behalf of principle, ex- by his premises were not slow to advance beyond pressing nothing but good wishes for the success his conclusions ; soon denying the very existence of a chapel opened to promote doctrines in many of invisible beings who had no work to do in the respects alien to his most cherished positions in visible world. In the long run his jealous rever- philosophy and theology. ence for the unbroken course of nature was more Among Doddridge's pupils some few were from effective than his arguments for the production of the first intended for the Anglican ministry, and 6 new ph~nomena,"designed to reduce the para- one, Thomas Gillespie, became the founder of a lysing impression of the conception of fixed law. secession from the Scottish kirk in the interests. Farmer's treatise at once became a text-book of ecclesiastical freedom . An unusual number with the Rational Dissenters ; its leading prin- of his students became Tutors themselves; one ciples had an enduring effect in clearing up, to was promoted to an Edinburgh chair. One of those who accepted them, the full meaning of the his pupils, never a tutor (yet a maker of tutors, Unity of God, and the far-reaching significance of being a Coward trustee), exercised a decisive the undivided nature of his sway. PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

The successor to Doddridge's Academy was liberal management and progressive teaching. So that at Daventry, of which, in its early days, indeed it proved. The history of Daventry Priestley has given us a most graphic and in- Academy culminated in the divinity tutorship of structive account, drawn from the memories of Thomas Belsham, who, by following Doddridge's his own experience. At Northampton Doddridge comparative method of studying the problems of always kept an absolutely free hand. At Dav- theology, was brought to the point of identifying entry the appointments were made and the man- himself (1789) with the rising movement of Unit- agement was regulated under the supervision of arianism under Lindsey. Removing to Hackney the Coward Trustees, a small body of Independent College he had a pupil there in Charles Well- ministers and laymen. Still, the spirit of Dod- beloved, the first divinity Tutor at Manchester dridge remained the real regulating influence. College who advanced beyond Arian lines. It is The tutors were two, of whom Caleb Ashworth, worth remembering that as at Warrington the head, took on all questions a conservative Academy, in the person of Aikin, so at Man- position, while Samuel Clark, the junior, held the chester College, York, in the person of Well- opposite side. And these two worked quite beloved, the lineage of Frankland and the lineage harmoniously together. Nay, they did what is, of Doddridge blend. perhaps, a difficult thing for Tutors to do. They The principles on which Doddridge based his encouraged, in free intercourse with their pupils, academic work were those which guided his whole the canvassing of the very points on which the interpretation of the function of English Dissent. Tutors differed ; " a discipline," says Huxley, To him, the establishment and maintenance of " which, admirable as it may be from a purely an Academy was not an end in itself; it was part scientific point of view, would seem to be calcu- of his larger purpose as a religious leader. Very lated to make acute rather than sound divines." early in his career as a tutor, Doddridge felt called Now it is instructive to note that both these upon to vindicate the cause of Dissent, and to men were pupils of Doddridge, by him selected define his own position towards it. The occasion for tutorial office. Clark was his assistant. was an " Enquiry into the Causes of the Decay of Ashworth was nominated, in Doddridge's will, as the Dissenting Interest," issued anonymously his own successor. These, then, were the chosen (1730)in the character of a candid friend among trustees of Doddridge's academic methods. It is the Dissenting laity by Strickland Gough the clear that he made provision for a future ot younger. This son of a Presbyterian minister,. PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

had himself been educated for the Presbyterian senters were a mainstay of the Hanoverian inter- ministry, but had not got beyond a licence to est, a bulwark against the encroachments of preach. Gough's pamphlet was well written and popery and the pretensions of absolutism. To able. His quarrel is chiefly with the ministers of detract from "the considerableness of their body," Dissent. He brings against them the not very by representing them as declining in numbers, consistent charges that they humour the pre- was, to say the least, " grossly imprudent." He judices of their people, and that they "worship questioned whether there were any such decline God for twenty minutes " and " dictate to men on the whole, for if decrease was noticeable in for sixty." In ignorance of their own true some quarters, advance was manifest in others. principles, they set their faces against free in- This was Doddridge's opinion too. In his neigh- quiry, which the Established clergy, in defiance bourhood the number of Dissenters had been of the terms of their subscription, do much to greatly augmented within twenty years. The encourage. The pamphlet was the prelude to its interest of Doddridge in the Dissenting cause was author's conformity, Hoadly admitting him to not political. He refers, indeed, to the political holy orders. Doddridge published anonymously influence of Dissent as that which gained con- " (1730)his " Free Thoughts " in reply. He agreed sideration for it from those who had no regard with many of Gough's observations, but called at all " for its true principles. His main point is attention to a much more important class of that " there is generally more practical religion causes, and m7as quite at issue with Gough as to be found" among Dissenters than in the regards the remedy. Establishment. He makes the remarkable sug- Calamy read both pamphlets, in ignorance gestion that " if the Established clergy and the apparently of their authorship. He deprecates Dissenting ministers . . . were mutually to ex- the whole controversy. " If there were any real change their strain of preaching and their manner decays, this way of proceeding was rather likely of living but for one year, it would be the ruin of to increase than abate them." Nevertheless, he our cause." With Calamy, he is for maintaining does admit that " a real decay of serious religion, a united phalanx of Nonconformity, not, how- both in the Church and out of it, was very ever, as a political engine, but for the welfare of visible." Calamy's anxiety for the maintenance " practical religion." of the Dissenting cause was predominantly that Gough had noticed the lapse from Dissent of of the politician. As a political force the Dis- men of social position, polite culture, and lati- PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE tudinarian views; and had advised the attempt sent should not be viewed or treated as'schismati- to cater for this class, and neglect the vulgar. cal; and he urged upon Archbishop Herring, that Here Doddridge joins issue with him. He is Dissent ought to be relieved of this stigma, by an firm in the conviction that the ministry of Dis- authorised interchange of pulpits between the sent, while liberal in its temper, must be evan- Established and the Tolerated clergy. gelical in aim ; and must speak with an effective In contending, as he does, for the exercise of voice to the common people, who form the solid all possible forbearance and respect in relations strength of Dissenting congregations. He main- with men of dogmatic temper, Doddridge gives tains that a man of good taste may be a plain and the best proof of the essential catholicity of his moving preacher, and will then satisfy all those own mind; for he had no sympathy with their whose interest in his ministraticns is a religious attitude. He was the first, at any rate among one. On the difficult question of a contrariety of divines, to use the terms " orthodox " and sentiment, he holds that division into congre- " orthodoxy " (" a certain equivocal word be- ") gations of opposite principles is suicidal. " Bi- ginning with an 0 as labels for a theological gotry," he observes, "may be attacked by sap spirit which he was far from sharing. On enter- more successfully than by storm " ; and, again, ing the ministry he had qualified under the there is such a thing as being "a bigot in de- Toleration Act. To the phrases of the West- fence of catholicism," or, as we say, catholicity. minster standards he " was resolved never to Religion and prudence must go hand in hand. subscribe." either actually or virtually; and he Warburton complimented Doddridge's pam- sacrificed many tempting opportunities of pro- phlet as " a masterpiece, both for the matter and motion by adhering tenaciously to this resolve. composition." It may certainly be said to ex- Yet of those whom he styles " the rigidly ortho- hibit high qualities of ecclesiastical statesmanship. dox," while he unfeignedly laments their " un- To the ideal it sets forth, Doddridge, throughout happy attachment to human phrases, and nicety an influential career, was consistently true. It in controversial points," he nevertheless admires should be added that, while he was a Dissenter on their good qualities, and pardons an " excess of principle, it was not on a principle of objection zeal," " artificially . . . infused," yet " innocently to an Establishment. He was a Dissenter simply . . . retained," and " from a real principle of con- for the sake of freedom to serve the cause of science to God." If he could " put a tolerably evangelical religion. Hence he claimed that Dis- good sense on any of their favourite phrases," it 5 PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

would surely, he reasons, argue a " perverseness proclivities, he acknowledged him as " a real of temper " to avoid such " merely because they Christian " notwithstanding; and declared that admire " them. It is at least possible to lay he would lose " his place and even his life " rather aside phrases " offensive to them." " Our hu- than exclude such a man from communion. He man forms are no more necessary than theirs." wrote of Deists without severity, except as their Thus Doddridge made friends with Bradbury, principles or their conduct appeared to him the redoubtable champion of Dissenting sub- tending to laxness of morals. " Every bene- scription, and admitted Whitefield to his pulpit, volent and useful man in society," he says, cc I to the disgust (as we have seen) of London sup- love and honour as such, whether he be or be not porters of his Academy. Thus, too, especially as a Christian." a young man, and while he was forming his His daughter said of him, " The orthodoxy my opinions, he used a playful caution in declining father taught his children was charity." He says to be drawn out prematurely, and committed to of himself, " I have lately . . . the character of a a side. In an early letter (1724)to John Mason, very orthodox divine ; but to my great mortifica- he remarks: " You very expressly tell me that tion, I hear from another quarter that my ser- orthodoxy requires you to deny the salvability of mons are all Do ! Do ! Do ! To speak my senti- the heathen; and then you desire me to send you ments without reserve, I think the one too favour- an abstract of the best arguments I can meet with able and the other too severe." This was when he for the defence of the contrary opinion. What had got the decalogue painted on the wall of his if such a dissertation should fall into the hands of chapel at Kibworth. His position was not very some durzjs eater or durior frater ? Then am I intelligible to Rational Dissenters, as the Arians caught in the very act of Baxterianism; and by then styled themselves. They thought he trim- consequence am an Arminian, and therefore an med. Samuel Bourn, of Birmingham, did not Arian, and therefore, perhaps, a Deist. . . . My hesitate to tell him so. They mistook his courage- good sir, haereticus esse nolo." On the other hand, ous liberality for a crypto-heterodoxy. They he recognized the evangelical character of Peirce, considered that his true place was with them. whose alleged heresies had given to Bradbury his To his breadth of view, his perception of a opportunity of standing forth as the leader of common evangelical aim underlying differences Trinitarian orthodoxy. In the case of a member of doctrinal expression and divergences of doc- of his own congregation, admittedly of Arian trinal vision, they were strangers. They very PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE but as holding ministerial status in the general much overrated his accord with their distinctive denomination, and as far as its communion ex- opinions. In ecclesiastical polity Doddridge expresses tends. Hence the authentication of ministers is a matter for a wider consensus than that of a himself (1723) as " moderately inclined " to the Congregational form. Four elders were appointed particular congregation. (1740) in his Northampton church. They were Peirce of Exeter, who was a Congregational, not elders in the Presbyterian sense, having no nevertheless came over to what he termed Presby- conduct of affairs. They relieved him of some of terian ordination ; a mistaken term, for he did not his pastoral work, and were, in short, a species of propose that ordination should be committed to a curates, two of them being, indeed, young presbytery, a mixed body of clergy and lay de- ministers. So far as Church government went, he puties. He developed into a definite theory was a Congregational pure and simple, locating the practice pursued by the Baxterian clerical all ecclesiastical authority in the assembly of the associations, and recognized in the terms of the individual Church. He felt, however, the diffi- Happy Union of 1691. He reserved it as the culty of the purely Congregational position, in right and privilege of ministers to authenticate face of the obvious need of securing some good the standing of ministers; a right and privilege provision for filling the ranks of the ministry. which any company of ministers might exercise In the view of every evangelical Christian a by mutual agreement. He left to congregations minister is made a minister by Jesus Christ whose the right and privilege of making their own minister he is, and by him only. The differences selection out of the number of ministers thus of Church order arise with the question of vouch- approved. Such, in Peirce's view, was the only ing for a man's ministerial character and fixing regular course, though he admitted that any his sphere. Theoretically, in Congregat ionalism a ministry of proved usefulness was thereby shown man is authenticated and declared to be a to be valid, however irregular. minister by the sole act of a congregation, choosing This theory was advanced by Peirce in 1715. him as such. Theoretically, he is in consequence The way for its acceptance had been opened by authorised as minister in and for that congre- Calamy7streatise of 1704. It replaced the pro- gation alone. Practically, a congregation expects per Presbyterian view among many so-called its minister to be regarded not merely as its own Presbyterians of the last century. In the judg- particular officer, like its secretary or its treasurer, ment alike of Presbyterians and of Congregationals PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

proper, it placed in the hands of the ministerial notifies neighbouring pastors, asking their con- class an irresponsible and somewhat dangerous currence in his ordination. power. There came a time when it was at any Prior to ordination, he exhibits, if required, his rate imagined that the exercise of this power licence and credentials; and gives the ordainers placed arbitrary restrictions on doctrinal expan- " satisfaction as to his principles," the ordinary sion; when it was thought that the line was way being a written confession of his faith, drawn at Arianism by the " Presbyterian hier- drawn up by himself. This, in the opinion of archy " ; a contradiction in terms, yet a common Doddridge, avoids " the indolence of acquiescing phrase, the meaning of " Presbyterian " being in a general declaration of believing the Christian lost. The consequence was that ordination, if religion," and "the severity of demanding a retained at all, was reduced to a purely congre- subscription to any set of articles." gational arrangement. At the ordination, he recites this confession, as Doddridge, without adopting Peirce's high view approved by his ordainers ; and answers questions of the rights of the ministry, nevertheless relating to his sense of the obligations of the approved the practice to which it pointed. Dis- past oral office. claiming any notion of making this practice The actual ordination is by prayer and irn- imperative, he outlined, in 1745, his idea of the position of hands, and is followed by charge to wisest course to be pursued. minister and congregation. Persons intended for the ministry, should, When his pastoral relation has been thus before they begin to preach, be examined as to ratified, it is understood that he has permanently character and qualification, by three or four dedicated himself to the ministerial character. ministers. If fit, they are then licensed to act In the practice of that age, he is now for the first as candidates. time distinguished by the appellation of " Rever- On being chosen as preacher to a congregation, end Mr." though of this Doddridge says nothing. a minister is not at once ordained; during the Such is his plan for the institution of a minister. interim he fulfils all ministerial duties, short of The removal of a minister rests with the congre- administration of the sacraments. Arrangement gation alone, in terms of the Salters7 Hall for these is made with neighbouring pastors. agreement. A minister is not ordained till he has been There is nothing new in the plan. It is avow- formally called to be pastor; of this call he edly a selection fro& existing usages, and Dod- PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE

dridge presents it as a sort of harmony of general possible, the happy dream of the Union of 1691. practice. So long as it prevailed, the old dis- In some respects Doddridge's public position of tinctions of a denominational style, Presbyterian influence was unique. It has been said that he and Congregational, were little more than #occupieda more distinguished place in the eyes of nugatory. Where they had any real meaning his countrymen than has been attained by any they referred, as already hinted, to differences of other Nonconformist divine. He did not seek internal management ; the Independents main- .any such prominence, and never came forward as taining among themselves the cohesion of auto- a representative man. All the same, he re- nomous church association, while the Presbyter- sponded to every call upon his time. His corres- ians were rather in the position of subscribers to a pondence was enormous; he employed no lectureship, leaving matters of business in the amanuensis; and he made shorthand copies of all hands of a self-elected body of trustees, or a lay the letters he wrote. He speaks of answering committee of management. The denominational letters incessantly for a fortnight, and still having names were revived at a later date, and without 106 to deal with. He met on equal terms the much reference to the history of congregations, in leaders of English religion and many of the leaders the interest of that redistribution into doctrinal of English society. On all hands his services to parties which Doddridge, we have seen, depre- religion were acknowledged with genuine admira- cated as a suicidal policy. Walter Wilson, the tion and gratitude. His diploma in divinity historian of London Dissent, expresses himself in (1736) came from the two universities at Aber- 1808 as if the division had already issued in deen. The English universities did not thus destruction. He writes like the shade of Dod- honour themselves, but he was welcomed as a dridge, seeking in vain to find the old Liberal Dis- visitor, and consulted as a correspondent, by the sent. " The Presbyterians have either deserted highest representatives of learning, both at Oxford to the world, or sunk under the influence of a luke- and Cambridge. The extent to which he was in warm ministry; and the Independents have gone confidential communication with Anglican clergy- a over in a body to the Methodists." These, doubt- men of various schools is very remarkable. less, were the very dangers against which the Wesley sought his advice in the formation of a mind of Doddridge was forewarned. Hence it library for the use of young preachers. Probably was that he dedicated the continuous aim of his no man was re widely read in every depart- faithful zeal to the work of realizing, as far as ment of religio% literature. He furnished Wesley PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE with a very detailed list, a sort of catalogue Jesuit, when he took up the cause of an Irish raisonnk, drawn up in a very catholic spirit. Catholic. He clothed it in projects, successful in " YOU will not," he adds, " by any means imagine themselves, and influential as leading the way to that I intend to recommend the particular notions kindred efforts. From his foster-father, Clark, of of all the writers I here mention; which may, St. Albans, he took the idea of a charity school, indeed, sufficiently appear from their absolute for teaching and clothing poor boys and girls; his contrariety to each other in a multitude of foundation of this kind at Northampton was the instances. But I think that, in order to defend model for others elsewhere. At Northampton, the truth, it is very proper that a young minister too, he had a main hand in the establishment of a should know the chief strength of error." He county infirmary. Bishop Maddox at Worcester specially includes works bearing on the critical followed suit, writing to Doddridge for plans and study of the Scriptures. Evidently he thought advice. Bishop Secker wrote from Cuddesdon that such would be useful reading for Methodists. to Doddridge, congratulating him on the success c 6 For, perhaps," says he, " when young people of the infirmary, expressing his sense of the are accustomed to that attention of thought which advantage it would be to have one at Oxford, and sacred criticism requires . . . it may prevent those the hope he entertained that the Radcliffe trustees extravagant reveries which have filled the minds when they had finished their library, might em- of so many, and brought so great dishonour on the ploy some part of the residuary funds in this work of God." excellent work. Long after Doddridge's death His instinct of philanthropy was as strongly this was done. marked as his spirit of evangelization. It will Doddridge's philanthropy engaged itself also not be said of him as has been said, not very in the formation of the first project of foreign justly, of the Quakers that in the eighteenth missions originated by Dissenters. It ranks as century they turned from religious to phil- the first, for though it would be wrong to forget anthropic labours. He' developed, as they also that the high theme of missions to the heathen did, the philanthropic side of religion, and ex- had enlisted the thoughts and stirred the hearts hibited Christianity as a beneficent spring of of individual Nonconformists from the time of endeavours for social amelioration, and for the Baxter, yet there had been no suggestion of con- relief of suffering. He showed this temper in certed actionan the part of Dissenters until Dod- individual cases; at the risk of being called a. dridge's preface (February rst, 1742) to a sermon 236 PHILIP DODDRIDGE PHILIP DODDRIDGE 237 on the general revival of religious effort. In this shortness of his life (he died at forty-nine) con- he informed his brethren that at Northampton a spired with the multiplicity of his engagements to regular society had been formed, both for holding fracture his efforts. True, that in part his was a religious exercises with a view to excite. the career of achievements reached and registered. missionary spirit, and for collecting contributions Still more, however, was it a record of great ideas in aid of the work. arrested in their course. His family motto suited It must be owned that this whole project was him well, Dum vivimus, vivamus. He illustrated in advance of the ideas of Doddridge's day. Mis- it in an epigram, pronounced by Dr. Johnson to be sions to the heathen were regarded as quixotic, one of the finest in the language:- chimerical, almost out of place. The missionary Live, while you live, the epicure would say, spirit was as yet practically unfelt in dissenting And seize the pleasures of the passing day: Live, while you live, the sacred preacher cries, circles. Doddridge, whose enthusiasm had been And give to God each moment as it flies. kindled by Zinzendorf, was here a pioneer, de- Lord, in my views let both united be, serving all praise for his true perception of the I live in pleasure while I live to Thee. need, and his prompt and wise endeavour. The 7 and 8 August, 1895. distinctive thing about his presentation of the missionary idea was that he connected it with the healthy activity of church life. He did not leave it to take its chance as an extraneous luxury of superfluous enthusiasm, but put it in its place as an integral part of that enterprise which is at once the outcome and the stay of Christian zeal. His measure of immediate success amounted, on his own confession, to " a feeble essay." The interest slumbered after his time, to be awakened by louder appeals at a later date. Then his pro- ject was recollected, then his example fired the hearts and strengthened the hands of subsequent workers. We must not forget that the comparative THEOPHI1,US LINDSEY AND HIS CHAPEL THEOPHILUS LINDSEY AND HIS CHAPEL N the latter part of the last century there was I living, in retirement at Kidderrnin>ter, a sage divine of the Doddridge school, in sentiment evangelical, in cast of thought puritanically dis- THEOPHILUSLINDSEY.-Born, 1723 ; Curate at creet rather than severely orthodox, with none Spital Square Chapel, 1746-51 ; Rector of Kirby of Doddridge's buoyancy of heart or breadth of Wiske, 1753-56 ; Vicar of Piddletown, 1756-63 ; endeavour, but gifted by nature with a cautious Vicar of Catterick, 1763-73; Minister of Essex' sagacity, rendering him the oracle of the more Street Chapel, 1774-93 ; Died, I 808. steady-going section of Liberal Dissent. To prudent Job Orton, the opinions put forward by Priestley and his friends were daring novelties, alike distasteful and distressful for one whose spirit clung to the demure Nonconformity of a staid generation, moderate in all things. Yet when Lindsey, with whom he had corresponded, quitted th Establishment, to give effect to con- victions wi h which Orton had no sympathy, the pious recluse hailed the new confessor as a " glori- ous character," was delighted to hear that his " chapel was so well filled," and declared to the editor of Calamy that, were he to publish an account of Ejected Ministers, he should be R THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

" strongly tempted to insert Mr. Lindsey in the extract. His mother, a gentlewoman of no list," though he "brought him in by head and fortune, had been brought up in the household of shoulders." Such was the imp,ression, made by a a dowager Countess of Huntingdon ; the Earl, supreme act of conscience, upon a man not easily her son, whose name was Theophilus, stood god- moved to an enthusiasm. Our task is to trace the father to Robert Lindsey's youngest child. This steps by which Lindsey was led to the surrender peer is best known in history as the husband of of his preferment, and to define the aims which Lady Huntingdon, foundress of the religious con- actuated him in his subsequent career. nexion which perpetuates her name. It is inter- Let it not be imagined that the story of this esting to note, in passing, that not only was " most excellent Theophilus " of the modern age Lindsey on intimate terms with that remarkable will present anything in the nature of what is woman while he remained in the Establishment, called " an intellectual treat." When Lord Cran- but much later, in her old age and his, she wel- worth went to receive the Great Seal, in succession comed him at Trevecca, gave him her blessing, to Lord Westbury, her Majesty is said to have and expressed her hope of a meeting with this welcomed him with the words, " You see, my heretic in a better world. Her son Francis, Lord, how much better it is to be very good than successor to the earldom, was a libertine and an to be very clever." A glance at the portrait of unbeliever ; yet he too (as we shall see) showed his Lindsey, whether we take the front face with the regard for Lindsey. clustering wig, or the profile silhouette, with the By other members of this family he was pro- protruding underlip and the silk night-cap, is vided with an education, and with preferment in sufficient to moderate our expectations either of the church4 His first school was at Rostherne, a genius or of vivacity in the original. It is the name dear to Nonconformists as being the parish visage of a mild man, of rather wooden exterior, of Adam Martindale; his next at Leeds ; his who looks as if he had never been in a hurry. college was St. John's, Cambridge, where he " Not stout but calm," so his plain-speaking wife came out wrangler, and ultimately obtained a described him, " contented with all things, and fellowship. fit either to live or die." As a surface estimate As his university was Cambridge, he was not of him this is admirable, and there lay beneath the called upon to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles surface a vein of true gold. untilhis ordination. He then didso, as a matter Lindsey was a Cheshire man, of Scottish .of course, though some things in them he dis- THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

approved, and the requirement of so compre- at Eton. Yet he certainly did not neglect his hensive a subscription from young men, as the own studies, for it was while rector at Kirby condition of ordination, he deemed " a strange Wiske that he became a subscriber to Taylor's unnecessary entanglement ." His theological Hebrew Concordance. It is in the .subscription position was orthodox, if a moderate Calvinism list to this monumental work that the names of deserve that name. In the theology of the Priestley and Lindsey are first brought into con- Articles he had been brought up, and he did not junction, the one a pinched Dissenting scholar, question that it was substantially the true struggling on his way to an incorrupt theology in Christian doctrine, " just as Christ left it at the an obscure village of Suffolk, the other a comfort- first, and Calvin found it about I500 years after- able Yorkshire clergyman, undisturbed by doubts, wards," according to the tart remark of Benjamin and devoting all his powers to the service of a Hoadly . Gospel ministry. Unquestionably his heart was thoroughly set It was now that he became an intimate friend on the work of the ministry. He took orders at of Francis Blackburne, rector of Richmond, the earliest possible dates, becoming curate-in- archdeacon of Cleveland, and prebendary of charge of the Wheler Chapel (now St. Mary's Bilton. His connection with Blackburne is an parish church) in Spital Square. Then for a time important fact in his life, but his first Yorkshire he mixed among great people. The Duke of incumbencq had a duration of only three years; Somerset made him his chaplain, and died in his and while contact with Blackburne must have arms. He gained the acquaintance of Butler, been fruitful in stimulus to his mind, it is plain then bishop of Bristol, and furnished him with that he did not become imbued with Blackburne7s lives of Romish saints, probably from the characteristic ideas. It may be as well to say Somerset library. The Duke's grandson, the here, as the matter has been misconceived, that little Lord Warkworth (afterwards Duke of he had nothing whatever to do with Blackburne's Northumberland), was his pupil for two years in attack (1752) upon the supposed non-Protestant France, and on his return to England the North- tone of Butler's primary charge at Durham (1751). umberland family gave him a Yorkshire living. This occurred while Lindsey was abroad, and be- He at once betook himself to parochial duty, fore he knew Blackburne. A year after the though his patrons had intended him to go on voiding of his fellowship, he resigned the rectory with Warkworth's education as his private tutor- of Kirby Wiske to take the vicarage of Piddletown, THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

Dorsetshire, a valuable living in the patronage of seen. We may find a clue to a proximate agency the Earl of Huntingdon, who was anxious to of his conversion. When accounting for his con- provide for him. tinuance in the Church, he quotes an argument of Now it was in the first years of his Dorsetshire John Wallis, the Oxford mathematician and settlement that his mind underwent a theological divine. With characteristic honesty he tells us revolution, the history of which is as obscure as whence he got the quotation ; not directly from its development was speedy and decisive. He Wallis, but from an anonymous tract of which he has left us entirely in the dark as to any process gives the title. The tract was written by of growth in his opinions. Apparently he passed Stephen Nye, and is included in the second very rapidly, and without intermediate stages, volume of the collection of Unitarian Tracts, from the belief in the Trinity, which he brought belonging to the period 1687-97. We may fairly with him out of Yorkshire in 1756, to the tenet draw the inference that this volume at any rate of the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, which he was in Lindsey7s possession at Piddletown, and had reached by 1758, and from which thereafter materially contributed to the process of his change. he never swerved. He speaks, indeed, of " many His main conclusion was one which, as he doubts " concerning the Trinity having sprung shaped ' , ceased to be a mere point of speculative theologg and bore directly upon the very life of up in his mind " at different times and from various causes " ; but he regarded these doubts the devotional sentiment. He reached the un- neither with friendliness nor with apprehension. compromising position that religious worship He felt sure the doctrine must be all right; and must be rendered to the Father alone. Here is till he found himself thrown upon his own his originality. Almost without an effort he resources in the solitude of the Dorsetshire vicar- took a step that landed him in a position which age, he had not examined his ground. His others had approached by slow degrees and had examination was directed primarily, and almost hesitated to occupy. The liberal theology of his exclusively, to the Scriptures. He enumerates day drew its suggestion from Samuel Clarke's no books of divinity, orthodox or heterodox, as " Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity " (1712). Its having biased his judgment, though he tells us main character was a latent Arianism, only in that he found confirmation of his results in state- comparatively rare instances achieving the dis- ments of some of the early Fathers. The writings tinctness of positive teaching. Two successive of Socinus, he distinctly tells us that he had not archbishops of York, Herring and Hutton, each of THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

them raised in turn to the see of Canterbury, held the posthumous tract (1750) of Hopton Haynes. this type of opinion. The Countess of North- It is further to be observed that in his controver- umberland writes to Lindsey in 1758 that York- sial writing Lindsey originated among Unitarian shire is " in an uproar, as they say their former thinkers the denial that in Scripture the term archbishop, the late metropolitan, Hutton, died God is in any sense applied to Christ. This an Arian. They own they do not know what that exegesis, in which at first he stood alone, and in is, but are sure it is something that is not the right which Belsham, for example, never saw his way religion." To Arianism Lindsey was never to follow him, marks a distinct cleavage of drawn; hence he anticipated the movements of opinion, removing the last bridge between his contemporary thought in a way which for a man position and that of the older theologies. of his uneager temperament is surprising. If we The primary effect of this complete recasting may trust his autobiographical retrospect, and of his religious attitude was to lead him to con- it seems trustworthy, he was a confirmed believer template withdrawal from the active ministry. in the pure humanity of our Lord a year before He rnadk some overtures for another situation, the publication of Lardner on the Logos; three and received some assurance in accord with his years before the delivery of the famous sermons wishes, probably from the Earl of Huntingdon. by John Seddon of Manchester; nine years before He found he could not bring himself to the sur- the publication of Paul Cardale's "True render of the vocation of his life. He excuses ~octrine" ; and ten years before Priestley himself in a touching picture of his lonely and reached his "Socinian" stage. He was ten isolated condition " having no intimate friend to years older than Priestley; thus they arrived at consult or converse with." The " strangeness the same point at the same age, thirty-five. It and singularity " of his proposed course staggered is true that Lardner had preached the same his imagination. He saw no precedent to guide doctrine in 1747 ; and Caleb Fleming as early as him, and felt what Blackburne had expressed in a 1740. Their utterances, addressed to tiny con- letter about this time, an obligation to his calling . gregations in obscure London meeting-houses, " prior to all engagements to church modes, and could hardly have reached the ears of Lindsey, church nonsense in support of them." In an who had hitherto come into no close relations after review of his procedure he reproaches him- with any class of Nonconformists. There is every self with having yielded to these second thoughts. reason to believe that he had not then met with " The first dictates of conscience, which are THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY generally the rightest, are to be attended to man to do as he pleased, and the bishop was . . . the plain road of duty and uprightness will willing to shut his eyes to innovations. always be found," he says, " to lead to the truest Neither course commended itself to Lindsey. good in the end." His main difficulty was not about subscription. How was he then to make an attempt to square Nor did he see how a mere refusal to subscribe his convictions with his practice ? Two modes of again could satisfy the conscience, since each act quieting conscience were in vogue with clergymen of officiating was to him a virtual reaffirming of who felt the increasing pressure of liberal ideas. the subscription Aich gave the right to officiate. A considerable section found it impossible to Hence he was ready to renew the subscription in repeat their subscriptions ; thus they debarred form, when circumstances called for it. His themselves from future preferment. Warbur- great difficulty was with the Prayer Book. In ton's " Case of Arian Subscription " (1721) had this respect nothing could have put him completely made a deep impression on Clarke and his dis- at his ease, short of an entire recasting. Yet at ciples, who resolved never to subscribe again. institution to each of his livings he had taken the This was Blackburne's position; he had long solemn engagement : " I do declare that I will determined that he would not renew his sub- conform to the liturgy of the Church of England scription " to gain the wealth of the Indies, or the as it is now by law established." This personal honour and power of a Popedom." A smaller pledge he felt himself bound to keep. number boldly laid hands on the Prayer Book; A third course was possible to him, and to this omitting passages of which they disapproved, or he was guided by Nye's tract. The Unitarian altering the phraseology. Clarke had led the Tracts, as already mentioned, were promoted but way by introducing a modified doxology at the not written by Thomas Firmin. In part they are close of the metrical psalms ; but Clarke, though reprints of the pamphlets of Bidle, who taught he would have liked to have gone much further, Firmin his philanthropy as well as his faith. and actually did revise the Prayer Book in Now Bidle was a Socinian and an Independent, manuscript, yet never ventured to tamper in desirous of gathering his fellow belieeers into practice with the text of the services, save by Separatist congregations under the title of " meer neglecting the Athanasian Creed. Such mani- Christians." Some time after Bidle's death, pulation was only possible in some country Firmin came under the influence of Stephen Nye, churches, where the parishioners left their clergy- a beneficed clergyman of Sabellian views, who THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

wrote the most important of the later tracts. essential to her husband's work, qualities com- Nye (as we have seen) weaned Firmin from the plementary to his, qualities of toughness and .crude anthropomorphism which marred the bluntness, which sometimes pushed and some- theology of Bidle ; suggested to him the use of the times pulled him through. " She regarded very Unitarian name ; and taught him not only to little what others might say or think." Hence, interpret the forms of the Prayer Book in a while Lindsey was by all beloved, his wife's Sabellian sense, but to believe that this is the capacity and virtues made her a very appreciable sense "intended by the Church." The invoca- force, but failed to render her generally attractive. tions in the litany, for example, were to be taken It is certain that she became an enthusiast for her as a threefold address to the Father, viewed husband's creed; and at every turn of their under different aspects of His providence and married life her shrewd intelligence and prompt, grace. Lindsey adopted this esoteric construc- decisive energy were in readiness to second his tion of the liturgy from Nye's criticism of Wallis, aims and to guard his interests. To her really and remained fairly satisfied with it for about ten sterling character the best testimony is that of years of quiescence. The subsequent return of Priestley; though I am bound to admit that, his self-reproaches cost him five anxious years of when Priestley wrote of the assurance of his painful conflict, issuing at length, after vain efforts friend's eternal reunion with his wife in another for legislative relief, in the heroic initiative of a world, a malignant critic remarked : " A very in- new departure. different prospect for poor Lindsey." Alas, good About the time of his settling down to read lady, in whom the miracle of motherhood had not Sabellianism into the formularies of the Estab- been wrought, what wonder if life's wine of duty lishment, he became engaged to Blackburne's carried for her some spice of gall. stepdaughter, young Hannah Elsworth, whom he They had been married a couple of years when married after a betrothal of more than two the Duke of Northumberland, father of his years. " How often," says her old friend Mrs. pupil, was appointed to the Irish viceroyalty, Cappe, "have I heard it regretted that Mr. and at once proposed to take 1,indsey with him as Lindsey had not married a person whose dis- chaplain. This meant a bishopric; but Lindsey position and temper would have assimilated more declined the post. Given to the clergyman who ccompletelywith his own." She however goes on had taken his place as tutor at Eton, it secured his. to say that Mrs. Lindsey had the very qualities promotion, first to Ossory, then to Elphin. THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

Why did he put away from himself a prospect (1764) what may properly be*called a Sunday- school, as distinct from the conventional practice of this kind ? Clarke, we know, would have accepted a mitre, for the orthodoxy of bishops is of Sunday afternoon catechizing, which he pur- not protected by subscription; they are the only sued on alternate Sundays. Every other Sunday non-subscribers among the clergy of the Establish- afternoon he had a class of a hundred boys from the village school for Bible lessons, and every ment. Belsham sets it down to humility and Sunday evening a class for young men and young lack of ambition. Yet surely bishops have been humble, and very unworldly men have felt a women alternately; .while his wife had Sunday personal vocation for the episcopal office. The evening classes for boys and girls. This was six- secret is that to Lindsey the cure of souls in a teen years before Raikes, who began in November 1780; country parish was simply the ideal life, the life and it was more modern in its conception than Raikes' plan, based as that was on the most rich in openings of usefulness and goodness ; .and it was the life he loved best. Blackburne had impart ation of elementary instruction by paid written to him five years before, contrasting their teachers. What did his parishioners think of him ? It is very curious, but he was so different situations, and saying how gladly he, too, would from the country clergyman of the mill-wheel exchange his public province (the archdeaconry) type, so much alive, so assiduous, and so human, for mere parochial work, " if I had talents such that they could find but one appellation that as yours." seemed to fit him; accordingly they called him In the year following his rejection of the Irish a Methodist. chaplaincy, Lindsey exchanged his Dorsetshire vicarage for a Yorkshire one. It was said that Now occurred two events which, taken to- this was Mrs. Lindsey's doing. The object, in gether, produced a crisis in Lindsey's life. The first was the resignation of William Robertson ; any case, was to be nearer to Blackburne, her stepfather. Catterick was a much larger parish the second was Priestley's removal to Yorkshire, and consequent introduction to Lindsey. than Piddletown, though a living of smaller value. With Priestley we do not here deal, but of William As there were three subordinate chapels in the Robertson it seems proper to furnish a brief parish, there was a good deal more work as well as less pay. A field was open for parochial sketch. Lindsey has constantly referred to him as " the Father of Unitarian nonconformity "; organization, and of this Lindsey availed himself with vigour and zeal. In particular he began and if this is, perhaps, a somewhat misleading THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY estimate of his position and claims, none the less the Comnlons; the graziers applauded it and does the powerful character of this brave and able stopped payment. Robertson, after vainly pro- man deserve a reverent study. posing a plan of tithe commutation, put a curate William Robertson, the Irish son of a Scottish in charge of his country livings, and himself took father and a Yorkshire mother, was educated at a Dublin curacy. While there, he founded in Glasgow for the Presbyterian Church. Expelled conjunction with another curate a clerical widows' from Glasgow University in his twentieth year and orphans' fund for the Dublin diocese. as a ringleader of revolt against the Principal, He had returned to the country and was he hurried up to London, and there succeeded in fifty-four years of age, when chance threw in his obtaining the appointment of a Royal Com- way a book called " Free and Candid Con- mission, which visited the University, rescinded siderations " (1749) compiled anonymously by the act of expulsion, established the right of the John Jones of Alconbury. Jones was a strong students to choose their own Rector, and restored advocate for Prayer Book revision, especially to the exhibitions admitting Glasgow men to Balliol meet the case of Arians. Robertson read Jones' College, Oxford. book, and at once decided that it was impossible His London errand introduced him to the Lord for him to subscribe the Articles again. Nu Chancellor, Sir Peter King (a renegade Dissenter), sooner had he come to this resolution, than fresh and to sundry Whig bishops. One of these, and valuable preferment was offered to him. He John Hoadly, brother of a famous man, took him declined it in a very frank letter to his bishop off to Ireland, ordained him deacon and priest (15 Jan. 1760). From this time he omitted the (not a sacrificing priest, according to Papal Athanasian Creed, and some other parts of the decree, though a sacrificing priest in another church service ; finding that his ecclesiastical sense he proved himself to be), and provided him patrons were dissatisfied he resigned his livings. with half a dozen livings, yielding a total annual He had twenty-one children; yet he threw up stipend of £200 a year. To double this income all his preferments, save and except only an it was only necessary to compel graziers to pay honorary private chaplaincy of merely casual tithe. The Irish House of Commons, sym- value. This was in 1764. pathizing with the owners of black cattle, passed In 1766 Robertson printed anonymously a a strong resolution on the subject of clerical singularly able little book, bearing the modest extortion. Dean Swift satirized the action of title of an "Attempt," which must have been THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY What their particular speculative opinions may written two or three years previously. He be, as long as they remain quiet in the State, describes himself as "a presbyter of the Church concerns not thee or me to know; no more than of England," says nothing of his resignation, but it does at present to know the private sentiments only of his refusal of further preferment, and of every clergyman of the Established Church, expressly denies that he belongs either to the who have, I believe, as different notions of religion Arian or the Socinian party. as they have faces; and yet all is peace among He propounds the plan of a comprehensive them, by agreeing in the great practical duties, Church. Subscription is to be strictly limited and by joining in the worship that is established to the Bible. The Prayer Book is to be so revised by law." This is a fair specimen of Robertson's as to reduce it to an impartial echo of Scripture. trenchant style. He quotes (from Voltaire) the This, he thinks, will be sufficient to reunite all caustic epigram: " The difference between the Protestant Christians, and heresy will cease; for Church of Rome and the Church of England is heresy is an artificial crime, it simply means that this: that the former cannot err, and the latter a man does not belong to the Establishment. is always in the right." A copy of the third issue Let us listen to his own plea : " Methinks I hear a of his book was presented by its author to his voice come out of the crowd : Heyday, what an alma mater, the University of Glasgow. The Utopian scheme is here. Shall we set the gates Senate immediately made him D.D. of the Church wide open to let in all sorts of When the news of Robertson's resignation heretics, Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, Sabel- reached Lindsey (probably in 1768), it struck home lians, Nestorians, Eutychians, Socinians, and all to his conscience, as a mandate for his own exodus. the motley crew which have been condemned Here was the precedent for which he had vainly by so many Councils, Popes, Fathers, and Acts sought ten years before. On the other hand, he of Convocation and Parliament ? . . . Shall we now had friends to consult; and his main friend, open the gates to these people? I say, Yes. And Blackburne, was strongly averse to secession from for this reason; that as soon as we let them in, the Church. Blackburne had lately brought out they lose their names, and become one with us by his contra-subscription treatise, bearing the quaint joining in the public worship, to which they can title of " The Confessional " (1766). His hope no longer have any objection ; and, moreover, was to create a body of public opinion favourable employ all their power in defending the Establish- to a parliamentary measure for clerical relief. ment which would so generously support them. THEOPHILUS LINDSEU THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

Blackburne unhesitatingly refused an invitation formulary of religious faith or doctrine whatso- to settle with a congregation of Dissenters in ever, beside Holy Scripture itself ." Well might London, though it would have doubled his Burke satirise the idea of making legislative use income. All this would influence Lindsey and of so intangible a commonplace of Protestant hold him back. piety, taking as its formulary " the multifarious He was impelled forward by his associations strange compound . . . called the Scriptures," and with Priestley. The advice of Priestley coincided defining neither the principle of its interpretation, with Blackburne's : " Stay where you are ; rather nor the scope of its authority. This language of take liberties with your Prayer Book than give the great orator was resented by Lindsey as the up your church, unless they drive you out." The speech of a Jesuit, full of popish ideas; but it position of Priestley, with its happy immunity rudely expressed the politician's appreciation of from pledges, spoke to him in another sense, with an illusory settlement, which would settle nothing. the voice of an irresistible appeal. Returning one The petitioners, according to the printed list of day from Wakefield, where he had met Priestley their names, numbered only 197, drawn from and Turner, he thus expressed the contrast which twenty-six counties, by far the larger number " They he felt between his situation and theirs: from the eastern counties, Essex alone contribut- are at ease." His resolve was taken during ing thirty-one names. None came from Cheshire, recovery from a dangerous attack of rheumatic Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire ; fever, brought on (as I conjecture) by his exertions only two from Lancashire. There was one pre- in behalf of the clerical Petition for Relief (1772). sident of a Cambridge college; but of church Should the petition fail, he would resign his living. dignitaries, .Blackburne himself was the single To this he definitely, though silently, made up specimen. It is not too much to say, after a close his mind. scrutiny of the list, that, in theology most, if not The petition, known as the Feathers Petition,. all, were heterodox. Among them were a couple from the tavern in the Strand where its promoters of quondam Arian Dissenters, who had con- met, was indeed a forlorn hope. It proved a formed, and found their new shoes pinch worse failure in every respect. As drafted by Black- than their old ones. burne, it proposed to free the clergy of the Estab- The House of Commons debated the petition lishment from any requirement " to acknowledge from three o'clock till eleven on 6th February, by subscription or declaration the truth of any 1772, and rejected it by 217 votes to 71. The . THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY his Sunday scholars. He had persuaded some of petitioners were satisfied with the debate, which them to endure inoculation for the smallpox, and they thought gave them a moral victory. The he wanted to persuade the rest. So he trotted speech they especially admired was by Sir George down to the Tower, and there he got at the Savile, whose theme was that "the Church of Mint a bag of new halfpence, prizes for the God can protect itself " ; an admirable truth, but little folk, that none might flinch from the pre- one which seems even more at variance with the ventive measure. This childless man had a principle of an Establishment than with that of a heart, whereby he understood something of the subscription. One important issue of the debate great God. demands remembrance. In the course of it, Lord For yet another year he postponed his resigna- North " with his usual good humour observed tion, since the Feathers petitioners had agreed to that he saw no ground to complain of intelerance, apply again to Parliament; a purpose which was in times when every one was permitted to go to at length abandoned as hopeless. Meantime heaven in his own way "; and added that if the Lindsey devoted himself to a study of Calamy's Dissenters had made a similar application, for lives of the Ejected Divines of 1662, and prepared relief from their subscription to the Articles, he his own afiologia. In reading Calamy, he was could see no reasonable objection to it. The particularly touched by a striking passage from hint was taken by two Dissenting divines, who the soliloquy of John Oldfield, of Carsington, a listened to the debate from the gallery. A Bill passage which has since been quoted with great for a modification of the Toleration Act was intro- effect by Mrs. Gaskell, in her novel of " North duced that same year, and at once passed the and South." Commons. After having been twice rejected by The first person to whom he definitely an- the Lords, it finally became law in 1779. nounced his intention of resigning was Mason, the Baffled in his hopes of relief, with now no poet ; who thought it " visionary and absurd " course left for him but to resign his living, Lindsey to make a fuss about "the usage of forms, by took his place in the Yorkshire coach, feeling that which no one was injured." Blackburne, when he was returning to Catterick only to sing his he heard what was coming, grew vehement in his Nunc dinzittis as a minister in the Church of Eng- remonstrances. In losing Lindsey he felt, and land. There was a most winsome incident of said, that he was losing his right hand. His this return. In the morning, before he started own theological liberalism did not run in the on his homeward journey, he bethought him of THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

Socinian direction ; and though he dissevered resignation, he at once wrote to him, saying that himself, as far as he could, from the taint of while he cared nothing for theology, he neverthe- Socinianism, by immediately publishing against less honoured integrity, and wished Lindsey to it, yet he foresaw that the defection of Lindsey, accept an appointment as his librarian ; the salary avowedly on these lines, must be fatal to all would be handsome, and his time would be his own. chance of reviving the petition for relief. Not a Again, there was just now a vacancy at the Liver- single one of Lindsey's friends backed him up in pool Octagon (by the resignation of Hezekiah his resolve, or seemed to credit its reality. Even Kirkpatrick), and Turner hoped that Lindsey Hollis was silent. might be induced to fill it. There was a vacancy, When he had actually taken the step, almost too, at the Norwich Octagon; Lindsey was the first word of genuine appreciation came from pressed to settle there. By this time he had Grey Cooper, the Whig politician, who thus wrote : made up his mind to strike out a path for him- " I have read your letter, which filled my heart self, to set the example of a new churchmanship. with grief, and made my eyes glisten with tears. His only doubt was in regard to the proper I have not a word to say, or an argument to offer, locality for the experiment. He thought of Lon- against your resolution to quit your prefer- don and he thought of Bristol, but decided for ment ." His farewell sermon (Nov. 28, 1773) was London. As he wrote to Turner : " My design delivered to a crowded congregation, and was . . . is to try to gather a church of Unitarian broken by their sobs. Christians out of the Established Church." What now was to be his course ? Mention has Stress is due to this definite and important been made of the character of Francis, the Earl of statement, because the graphic pen of Mrs. Cappe, Huntingdon. He was fond of posing his clerical writing after Lindsey's death, chooses other terms guests with the awkward problem: " What be- to describe his project. She represents him as came of the universe, when its great Creator hung founding a chapel " on such a basis as should lifeless upon a tree in Judea ? " Lindsey had admit of the communion of Christians of what- replied that the question did not concern him, #everdenomination." This language is rather apt as the doctrine ridiculed formed no part of his to mislead. Lindsey held, it is true, that the creed. " But," said Huntingdon, " it is part of forms of public worship he approved, being the creed of the Church in which you officiate Scriptural, must be satisfactory to all true Chris- every week as a minister." Hearing of Lindsey's tians. He believed that a purely Scriptural THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY liturgy might form a common bond between become, in his opinion, the only practical course. different churches; and hoped that in time men Thus, while Firmin's idea had been to keep would see this, and come so far into agreement. Unitarians in the Church, where they were to He went no further than this in his ideas of act as a leaven, Lindsey's idea was to draw them Christian communion. In his first sermon at out of the Church, and his chapel was to be a Essex Street he maintains that God never meant magnet for that purpose. He wanted, as he says, all Christians to be of one sentiment, but that to " awaken others to come out of Babylon," out there should be different sects of Christians and of " her witchcraft and idolatries." different churches. He wished to increase largely When he got to London, Lindsey was fifty years the number of Unitarians; but he certainly did of age, and very poor. His father's property had not expect to convert everybody. Nor did he been equally divided between himself and a reckon his mission to be to the outside sects, from spendthrift brother, but Lindsey had given the the Catholic to the Quaker. He left Priestley to whole of his own share to his married sister. He deal with Dissenters. Of any mission to the un- had laid out his income on his parish. His wife's churched, not a syllable does he let fall. His fortune yielded little more than £20 a year. To mission was to members of the Church of Eng- provide for immediate necessities he had sold land, to whom he hoped to show a better way. most of his books; he now sold his plate. He " The peculiar reason," he says, " for forming a took a lodging in Holborn, having a little closet separate congregation, distinct from the National off the bedroom, which did as coal-cellar, store- Church, is that we may be at liberty to worship room, and study. Sitting on one pile of books, God alone, after the command and example of our he made another pile serve him as writing table.. Saviour Christ." In Scottish phraseology his The man was happy; he had put himself in the was essentially a Relief Church. right. When Joseph Johnson, his bookseller (son With this understanding, we may accept Mrs. of an Everton Baptist) had found him an auction Cappe's further description of his plan, as " a room in Essex Street, he was ready for the start specimen of a reformed Church of England." of his Unitarian Chapel, opened 17th April, 1774. He had renounced the phantom-project of an Priestley ran up for the opening, Benjamin Establishment with an open door, which had Franklin was there, with a lord, and a posse of been the ideal of Robertson, and the object of the beneficed clergy. Lindsey wore no surplice, but Feathers Petition. A Unitarian secession had in other respects the model of the Established THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY of the thirty years' ministry of Thomas Warren, worship was adhered to. On his way to London ending in 1864, and memory retains the im- he had fallen in with a transcript of Clarke's pro- pression of the hearty way in which it was recited posed revision of the Prayer Book, in the posses- by the congregation. sion of Disney, Blackburne's son-in-law. His Three years in the auction room secured the friends suggested that he should adopt this as his prospects of Lindsey's experiment. The pre-

Reverting to Belsham's remark about " avowed of the Unitarian name. Thus the function of the Unitarians " it is to be noted that he means Uni- name was to define a common point of theological tarians in the Lindsey definition of the term. speculation. Those to whom it was applied were Lindsey was the first to impress upon the Unit- viewed as in accord on a matter of divine know- arian name a special stamp of meaning, to him of ledge. God is a Being who may be known. It is prime importance. It was Lindsey who taught a conclusion of reason, based on the data of His Priestley to use the name Unitarian in place of self-revelation, that in person, as well as in essence, Socinian. Do not suppose that Lindsey was one God is strictly and simply One. Of the existence, of those sensitive spirits to whom the name or non-existence, of subordinate powers; of our Socinian is a species of torture. On the contrary, respective duties to Him and to them: the he affirms for himself and his friends, that "though doctrine primarily expressed by the Unitarian they would not willingly be called by the name of name is silent. This is the sense in which Unit- Socinus, or of anyone but of Christ himself, yet arian is defined by the consensus of a catena of our they refuse not the appellation, but think it accredited theologians ; e.g., by Lant Carpenter, honourable." Still, it would not have lent itself by Aspland, by Yates, by Tayler, and by Mar- to the special purpose for which he wanted a tineau. Again, it is the sense in which the term denominational name. is used by those who speak broadly of the He got the term Unitarian, no doubt, from the Unitarian Church, an expression employed by writers at the end of the seventeenth century, who William Taylor as early as 1810. It was a introduced it into the English language. It was favourite expression with Henry Arthur Bright introduced at that time, as a term of catholic (" Lay of the Unitarian Church "). It was taken spirit and wide comprehensiveness, covering all up in America by Sylvester Judd (1813-1853), those who, with whatever other differences, main- and familiarized among us, by Dr. J. R. Beard tain the Unipersonality of the Divine Being. (about 1857) and employed as a collective Sabellians, Arians, Socinians, all were equally designation, to cover retrospectively the whole entitled to a name which linked them in allegiance succession of antitrinitarian movements in the to a common tenet. Its hospitality was not history of Christendom. limited to its Christian adherents; Israel and Lindsey, who adopted the term with little Islam (WesIey's " Unitarian fiend ") were ex- reference to its historical origin, gave it a new pressly recognized as belonging to the brotherhood turn in accordance with his idea of worship, THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY inference that Christ-worship was an impiety. "The Unitarian doctrine," already adverted to. Lindsey not only admitted the inference, but laid says Lindsey, " is this : that religious worship is the greatest possible stress upon it. to be addressed only to the One True God, the Hence Lindsey but seldom speaks of the Divine Father." His common point is not one of Unipersonality . His constant phrase is the theological speculation, but of religious practice. Divine Unity; and by this he always means, God is a Being who is to be worshipped; and there somewhat in disregard of the usual force of the is but One Being who is to be worshipped. The term, that the Father is the solitary object of unqualified condemnation of all worship of Christ, Christian worship. Thus he refuses to admit no better in Lindsey's view than a species of real that Trinitarians hold the Divine Unity, that is, .even if unconscious idolatry, was a novel feature in his sense; for he does not mean either to deny of the antitrinitarian protest in this country. them to be Christians, or to strike Christianity Neither our Arians nor our Socinians had hitherto from the list of monotheistic religions. taken this ground. Bartholomew Legate fur- Similarly he refuses to Arians the use of the Unitarian nishes an exception, and one may be found in name, in spite of their historic title to it, unless Hopton Haynes ; these, however, were not in- they join him in his restriction of worship to the fluential cases. Doubtless the earlier English Father only. How he contrived to include the Unitarians had set themselves to reduce the wor- Muhammadans, who deny that to God belongs the ship of Christ to what they deemed its proper attribute of Fatherhood, I cannot say; Lindsey proportions. Some of them had thought it best certainly classes them as Unitarians; but other reserved for special phases of devotion ; none had writers of this type were very touchy on this reckoned it wrong, when kept in its due place. topic, and disputed the evidence of the earlier Most had defended it as subordinate worship, recognition of the Unitarianism of the Moslem. rendered to the Son of God, to the glory of God This restriction led to another, imposed upon the Father ; some had rested it on express divine the Unitarian book societies (with one exception). command. Emlyn's treatise in cc Vindication of Their rules were prefaced by a preamble, intended the Worship of Jesus Christ on Unitarian Prin- formally to warn off Arians, and inviting the co- ciples " (1706), is a specimen of endeavours to operation of those only who believed in the mere rectify rather than to abolish a universal practice .humanity of our Lord. of Christendom. It was their adversaries who The justification, or the excuse, for this policy had deduced from antitrinitarian premises the THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY homage is incompatible with a right attitude of was the purpose of consolidating the movement. the heart towards God. So far Lindsey's position Against this advantage must be set the alienation was impregnable; his principle was sound and of friends of an inclusive spirit, and the grievance salutary. In applying this principle he allowed experienced by Unitarians of an older type ; who nothing for the different experiences of men in felt very much as some later Unitarians felt, when regard to what impedes, and what assists, a whole- the founders of the Milton Club excluded anti- hearted devotion to God. Belsham seems to have trinitarians from membership. discovered that a good Unitarian of the Lindsey Lindsey's construction of the name marks the type, and of Lindsey's own making, might yet beginning of the modern Unitarian religious body turn to Christ quite naturally, as a man turns to (" the Unitarian connexion," as some style it) in his friend. The Duke of Grafton, agreeing with contradistinction to the older efforts of Unitarian Belsham that Jesus would himself resent the speculation. In that body it is still the popular tribute of " that divine worship " which is " due sense ; and popular on account of its practical: only to the Almighty Father, " nevertheless held bearing. It is capable of being made mandatory, that " Jesus Christ, in his present state, can hear at least on its negative side; the jussives of and help us." This Lindsey had categorically religion, as distinct from its advices, being, indeed, denied. Belsham, however, makes the remark chiefly negative. None but an unreflecting person - able admission that he " would be far from pre- would dream, for example, of attempting to suming to limit the extent of " Christ's " know- utilise the formulary, " Thou shalt love the Lord ledge or his power, in his present exalted state." thy God." That this is in the Law, and is, in He thus allows that there may be supplication, fact, the highest thought the Law contains, simply shows that the Law bears witness to things beyond without worship, in the theological sense. What its sphere; since religious emotion is not elicited tvould he have made of an address of this kind ? at the call of an imperative injunction. Whereas, "'Come, Friend and Saviour of the race, who " Thou shalt not say in my hearing any prayer to didst shed thy blood on the cross, to reconcile the Virgin Mary " is quite within the scope and man to man, and earth to Heaven. . . . Com- competence of practical religious regulation. passionate Saviour ! We welcome thee to our Reduction of worship to a strict Patrolatry was world. We welcome thee to our hearts. We then with Lindsey made central and distinguish- bless thee for the Divine Goodness thou hast brought from Heaven; for the Souls thou hast ing. Few of any creed will dispute that a divided. THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY points of theology in his sermons from the Essex warmed with love to man, and lifted up in love to Street pulpit. It is true that he broke this pledge,. God; for the efforts of Divine Philanthropy which at least on one occasion, in order to expound his thou hast inspired; and for that hope of a pure foundation principle. As a rule he observed it Celestial Life, through which thy disciples triumph very closely, and, I think, without an effort. He over death. Benevolent Saviour! Inspirer of claims in his farewell sermon (1793) to have goodness ! We offer thee this tribute of affection- " never knowingly deviated " from the principle ate and reverential gratitude on earth; and we 6 never to arraign or condemn other churches or hope to know, to love, to resemble, and to Christian societies for their different worship or approach thee, more nearly and more worthily in opinions, who have a right to judge for themselves Heaven. " as much as you have." Didactic exposition Now, I do not know whether these sentences of was always more to his taste than polemical Channing, the first drawn from the last of his debate. People who went to hear him out of pamphlets, the rest from one of his posthumous curiosity were sometimes astonished to find sermons, would gain from Belsham the indul- nothing in the sermon except pure religious gence extended without difficulty to a coroneted teaching and high morale. This was his idea of convert. There is little doubt that Lindsey would the function of the pulpit; for polemics the fit deem them wholly inadmissible, being unintel- agency was the press. Even in his publications ligible save as apostrophe, and a dangerous abuse for the good of his cause, he took, where possible, of that figure. In this estimate he would be the line of history; and when, because no one else followed by all who take Unitarian to mean what would, he set himself to reply to Robert Robin- he made it to mean ; and who, consequently, by a son's polemic, he wrote anonymously, in order ta Unitarian Chapel understand a chapel in whose reduce the personal element in the controversy to, services there is no legitimate room for personal its lowest terms. His reply had the rare merit of address to Christ, or for sympathy with the converting his adversary. attitude of mind which prompts it. His " Historical View " (1783) of Unitarian- In full accord with the special emphasis which ism since the Reformation, though swelled by he laid upon his chapel for Unitarian worship, tedious argumentative digressions, is not only a Lindsey did not propose to make it a chapel book of good research for its time, but has the for Unitarian preaching. On the contrary, he honour of being the first in its kind. Later writers pledged himself never to treat on controverted THEOPHILUS LINDSEY THEOPHILUS LINDSEY would have done well had they taken the trouble (1787) of the narratives of the birth of our Lord to follow up its method of investigation, in place as unhistoric, staggered, and even shocked him at of satisfying themselves with merely quoting first ; yet before long he found himself in harmony from its pages. with Priestley. In his last publication (1802)he His apologetic and other writings have that treats the question of the supernatural in a way command which earnestness, pains, singleness of which, in Belsham's opinion, " destroys the very purpose, and genuine conviction will always give ; existence of miracles, and subverts the argument but they are not striking. His style lacks vital founded upon them." He had adopted the view force, for his mind lacks imagination and humour. of his favourite author, Abraham Tucker, and was His matter, often excellent, is never rich. His prepared to admit that " those operations called doctrines are diligently culled from Scripture, miraculous are as much the result of general laws interpreted as though Scripture were a product of as the most ordinary events." Lindsey, in short, the eighteenth century. He speaks of Isaiah as was concerned with the historical facts, and valued them as such. Belsham was intent on making an " illustrious prophet," and thinks of him as the Rev. Dr. Isaiah, in a bob-wig, with a bland good use of them as theological credentials. manner, and a curious habit of being merely I mention these indications, not that I think " figurative," whenever he might otherwise seem Lindsey's intellectual calibre was such as to give to dissent from Mr. Lindsey. Substitute apostle special weight to his conclusions on particular for prophet, and the same account will equally points, but because, among those unversed in the serve to delineate his vision of the author of the writings of our Unitarian fathers, there- is an Pauline epistles. Lindsey's conspicuous piety is impression that their minds were somewhat rigidly serene, but unimpassioned. With good reason he fixed in a uniform system of ideas; and that they insists on telling you that his Christ is indeed a had paid no attention to problems which have human being; and that he still lives. Never did since been much under debate. On the contrary, a heresiarch show less fertility in religious con- the more I study them, the fuller do I find the ception, or keep himself at a safer distance from evidence of the extent to which they carried their enthusiasm. independent researches, and of the fearlessness On the other hand, his mind was open, to the which informed their judgments. Whether we last, for the reception of further suggestions in take the trouble to know them or not, the men his own line of thought. Priestley's rejection who made the Unitarian movement are worth THEOPHILUS LINDSEY

knowing. Whether we endorse their creed or not, their opinions will reward scrutiny. Whether we. wish well to their cause or not, there is much to be, learned from the story of their aims, their achievements, their failures. Among all those who assisted in the Unitarian rebirth of the last century, we may set Lindsey first, as in time, so likewise in prestige. This is. not to claim for him the penetrating genius of. Priestley, or to match him with the robust power of Belsham. There is none whose life, from first to last, conveys a finer lesson. Lindsey, as a. writer, was a model of sober diligence in and for. THOMAS BELSHAM his generation. He will be neglected to-day by HIS PLACE IN THE all but the few who have leisure and curiosity, and. UNITARIAN MOVEMENT are led into sympathy with the past by a desire to, understand the present. Lindsey, as an example, is for all time ; a fresh, nervous protest against the supineness of conformity, the peril of tamper- ing with conscience, the unworthiness of half. measures in religious conviction ; a protest all the^ more signal and decisive from its deliberation, its. unobtrusiveness, its self-denial, its characteristic. union of high resolve with modest service, and. with patient strength. 7 March, 1895. THOMAS BELSHAM, HIS PLACE IN THE. UNITARIAN MOVEMENT

as the year 1779 was begun, a country- JUSTminister, but lately ordained, paid a brief THOMABELSHANI.--Born, 1750 ; Assistants visit to London. Ministers on their travels have Tutor at Daventry, 1771-78; Minister at Wor- nearly as much curiosity as other people. The. cester, 1778-81; Minister and Divinity Tutor at visitor, accepting the invitation of a friend, went Daventry, 1781-89 ; Divinity Tutor at Hackney, to evening service at a chapel erected in the 1789-96; Minister at Hackney, 1794-1805 ; Minis- previous year, and rather in the fashion, having ter at Essex Street Chapel, 1805-29 ; Retired from the combined attractions of heresy and novelty. active duty, 1825; Died 1829. One of its strongest supporters had been drawn to the place by the eager report of a lady's maid, that " a gentleman was going to open a room to preach a new religion." " A gentleman told his friend at Tunbridge Wells it was the only genteel' place in town." Now the Worcester divine, in the course of his studies, had read something of Dr. Priestley, and had gone so far as to entertain the idea of the bare possibility of a Socinian being a good man. In this opinion he felt himself con-- firmed, as he listened to the quiet strain of the evening preacher's grave and earnest discourse. There was no theology to vex him, for the topic, 4; a good conscience," is common to most theo--- THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM logies. So the listener reasoned, it is just because way enable us to conjecture back the fresh image these men neglect theology that they remain con- of his vigorous prime. An irreverent jester once tent with views " so grossly erroneous " as theirs. proposed to relabel it " Cardinal Hippopotamus." He left the building, with heightened respect it is A mischievous sceptic put the question, " Is it true, yet touched all the more deeply with " a very possible that man really believed in the resur- sincere concern " for the pioneers of the new rection of that body ? " There are men who are movement. Recording these impressions, after not much to look at; and there are men who are the lapse of a generation, he adds this striking too much to look at. Oliver Heywood is one of confession, " Little did he then suspect, that these (his latest biographer calls him " the Great further and more diligent and impartial inquiry Oliver "); so is Matthew Henry. The picture of would induce him to embrace a system from Belsham afflicts one with the spectacle of an which his mind, at that time, shrank with exaggerated bulk. Let us pass from the effigy, horror. And, had it been foretold to him that, and try to discover the man. in the course of years and the revolution of events, The father of Thomas Belsham, an Independent he should himself become the disciple, the friend, minister and the author of some Latin poems, the successor, and the biographer of the person was, it is believed, the original hero of a story who was then speaking . . . he would have which has been retailed of later and less poetical regarded it as an event almost without the wide divines. Preaching as a candidate for a Scottish circle of possibilities, and as incredible as the charge, where the leading elders were a laird and incidents of an Arabian tale." a physician, James Belsham, who professed him- It can hardly be needful to explain that, on that self a moderate Calvinist, dined with the physi- memorable January night, the preacher was cian and supped with the laird. " Sir," said the Theophilus Lindsey and the hearer was Thomas physician at dinner, " I like your moderation, but Belsham. I wish we could see them, as they then God f orgie your Calvinism. " c ' Man, " exclaimed faced each other. Lindsey we can indeed see, per- the laird, after a hearty supper, "your Cal- fectly well. His picture exhibits him to us to-day, vinism's vera weel, but de'il tak your moderation." exactly as he looked to Belsham. The only Belsham's mother was the daughter of a brewer, portrait of Belsham we have, thirty years later the granddaughter of a knight, the great-grand- in date, by no means suggests a man whose chief daughter of an earl'; we will go no further. This recreation was horsemanship; nor does it in any earl, we may observe, was not merely a statesman THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM

which he describes as a " mean and dirty place." of distinction, but is said to have been the first Could he have had his way, the Academy would peer of the realm who collected a great library- have been transferred to Worcester, to North- collected and paid for it; there have been peers ampton, or to Warwick. To the Daventry ideal who have collected libraries by a simpler process. of theological education he remained constant From his mother, Belsham received, at the outset through life. The genius of Daventry, inherited of life, a characteristic injunction, neither to take from Jennings and Doddridge, was inherently his politics from Junius, nor his theology from eclectic. Truth was sought by a method of Priestley. One of Belsham's sisters was married comparative theology. The teacher placed com- to an Irish dean; hence his visits to Ireland; peting systems before his class ; the learners were hence, too, perhaps, the easy tone he took in his to be not mere pupils but students. The aids of relations with ecclesiastical dignitaries. friendly debate between teachers and learners Till he went to Daventry Academy in his seven- were not disdained ; we have seen that, in teenth year, his theology was purely that of Priestley's time, the teachers themselves took the Assembly's catechism. He soon became a different sides on fundamental questions. Clarkean, and remained unshaken in this persua- In the last year of his studentship, Belsham had sion until he was seven-and-thirty. That is to supplied the place of a classical tutor. On the say, he ascribed to our Lord every divine attribute, completion of his course, he was appointed Tutor, saving only self-existence. Whether this is not in classics as he desired, but in mathematics, orthodox or not has been disputed. Clarke main- logic, and metaphysics ; and in this post he re- tained that it was. Belsham never did. He mained for seven years. Meanwhile - he had thought it Biblical, and therefore true. He was a plenty of overtures from congregations. He had Trinitarian on these terms. Nevertheless, he had made up his mind on two points : not to be a com- the distinct conviction that he was beginning life, peting candidate; nor to listen to any but a strongly evangelical in religion, but in theology unanimous call. Only the precarious nature of a Nonconformist. an assistant tutorship drew him at length from Not reckoning the episode of a three years" Daventry; he returned to it in his thirty-second ministry at Worcester, of the usual Independent. year, as to the work of his life. For eight years. type, Belsham was connected with Daventry he combined the headship of the Academy with Academy as student and tutor, for a period of the pastorate of the congregation. On his settle- twenty years. He never liked the locality, THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM ment, his friend Radcliffe Scholefield sent him a their minds, he had nothing better to offer than a recipe for polishing tables, accompanying it with reconsideration of the Biblical data. With each a lament over the fatal fact that there was no annual revision of his lectures, the anti-Socinian formula by which he could, " with the same ease proof passages kept diminishing in number; yet and certainty," polish the minds of his pupils. he could appeal with justified confidence to the As Divinity Tutor, Belsham innovated, in an residuary texts, which had stood the test of important respect, upon established methods. scrutiny. Before the close of 1788 the residuum Doddridge's lectures had hitherto been the text- had been reduced to zero in this purifying process. book; lectures which built up a system by con- Belsharn's eyes were almost suddenly opened. fronting, comparing and Biblically testing rival He had taken what he thought the only sound and views. Belsham took Doddridge's order of certain course for staying the Unitarian move- topics, but in regard to some of those most con- ment ; he found himself cornered by the Unitarian troverted, he made his treatment directly Biblical. argument. Nay more, the very doctrine from A strong reason with him for adopting this treat- which, up to the last moment, he had recoiled, ment was the failure of the text-book method to now dropped into his mind like the keystone of an counteract the current of Unitarianism. Under arch, giving permanent stability and consistence each head he collected the passages of Scripture alike to his theology and his religion. bearing, or supposed to bear, upon it. On every He did not hesitate to resign his post (25th passage he furnished a catena of interpretations January, 1789)~and the resignation was accepted and comments, so selected as fairly to exhibit the by the four Trustees, three of whom, it may be various schools of thought, in direct contact with interesting to know, were also Trustees of Dr. that which all assumed as their foundation. His Williams' foundations. It has been said that own critique concluded the survey. Four years' the terms of the Trust left no option. On the pursuit of this method had consequences which contrary, it was admitted that a Unitarian might disturbed him. Though still a Clarkean, he could fulfil every condition of the Trust with literal no longer, with Clarke, consider himself to be a fidelity, but then the Founder's purpose would Trinitarian. He wrote frankly to the Academy be ignored. There were some who blamed Bel- Trustees, and they were satisfied with his position. sham for not doing this. One of the Trustees Two years later he was alarmed by the progress of writes thus for the rest, in words which Belsham Socinian views among his best pupils. To settle endorses :-" Rigid interpretations are the acts of THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM weak minds, but a regard to general intention ringt on cold morality, and theological ignorance marks the mind that wishes to act right." The and indifference." This, doubtless, refers to strangest part of the whole business was the action Warrington's declining days, for he speaks with of his Daventry flock, showing that congregations veneration of Aikin (who had been his first school- are not always as unsympathetic as ministers. master), and to Dr. John Taylor he pays (1809) a sometimes think them. At the outset, while noble tribute : " He thought much himself, and avowing that he had " not the least fault to find he taught others to think; and though he did not with " them personally, he had affirmed that their advance so far as others have since done, yet the " temper and spirit " were " enough to strike any most enlightened of modern divines would pro- minister with terror." Later, he described them bably not have known so much, or understood the as " chiefly of the lower classes of people," and for Scriptures so well, if Dr. Taylor had not gone the most part " steady Trinitarians," adding that before them to clear the road." they were nevertheless " very affectionate. "' No sooner was his resignation made known than They proved the truth of this last remark, when, he received an invitation, through Dr. Price, to knowing that their minister had resigned the- become resident Tutor in the New College at Academy as a Unitarian, they still wished him ta Hackney. At first he declined; pressure from remain their pastor. Lindsey and Priestley produced his acceptance. Twice, while he was at Daventry, had an effort Here he had a hard task in hand. Hackney Col- been made (1785 and 1786) to transfer Belsham to- lege was a Liberty Hall. Its aIumni met the dis- Warrington. The Academy there had been ciplinary regulations of the committee with closed (1783)~but not dissolved, and its friends. " resolutions to resist their tyranny, couched in were sanguine of Belsham's power to revive it. terms as energetic as if all liberty, civil and He had fancied for a moment (1785) that this religious, were endangered." One Sunday a might lead to an amalgamation of the two. leading spirit suggested that it would be a good institutions; but, though he wavered a little, it thing " to have a republican supper, and invite is clear that the Warrington overtures were not to Paine." This was before the " Age of Reason " his mind; nor did he estimate the Warrington (1794)~and was a tribute to the " Rights of Man " tradition at the rate to which its admirers are (1791). Paine " was much pleased," and there accustomed. As late as 1814 he contrasts " the was " the most glorious republican party that the theological discussions of Daventry " with " War- walls of the College ever contained." Paine told THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM them of " a club at Sheffield of 1,500 republicans, mind of one who was long at its head; Charles chiefly manufacturers " ; they thought it " the Wellbeloved was for two years his pupil at bud of a revolution." One of these promising Hackney. politicians, in the gaiety of his heart, inflicted a Disappointed in the hope of a colleagueship cruel mischief on his country. The Birmingham with Priestley at Hackney, in 1792, he was elected riots of 1791 found their excuse, and perhaps Priestley's successor two years later. Of his eleven years' ministry at the Gravel Pit, he says, their proximate cause, in an inflammatory hand- ' bill, circulated a few days before the outbreak. " It is not in imagination to conceive a con- This spark upon powder was the work of a student nection . . . more happy. What freedom of from Hackney College. speech, what encouragement . . . what kind Belsham's appointment was welcomed by the . affection ! " Strong motives were needed to students, and his influence was not without a draw him away to Essex Street. His settlement sedative effect; but still he was no head of the there in 1805 marks the close of an era in the College, until he received fresh powers, four years Unitarian movement. His twenty years of after his appointment; and then it was too late. active service at Essex Street, closing syn- Further, the admirers of Paine's republicanism chronously with the foundation of the British and followed Paine into Deism. Belsham found that Foreign Unitarian Association, constitute a period his " studious " and " virtuous " pupils had lost of transition. faith in Christianity ; and " this," he writes, cc is It will be remembered that when Lindsey an evil to which no remedy can be applied ;actions resigned Catterick (1773)~ he put aside oppor- may be restrained, but thoughts must be left tunities of Nonconformist service in favour of a free." Owing to the double difficulty, the in- project of his own, namely, " to try to gather a stitution was closed in 1796. Next year Belsham Church of Unitarian Christians out of the Estab- was again invited to a divinity chair, as the lished Church." He hoped for a considerable successor of Barnes in Manchester College. He Unitarian secession from this quarter, and for a declined, doubting the permanence of Manchester sufficient number of seceding clergy to minister College, and feeling sure that he could not give to the movement. The motive for the secession satisfaction to the Lancashire Arians. Though was to maintain a purified worship, with a he entered into no direct connection with Man- revised Prayer Book, containing a version of the chester College, he had some share in forming the Apostles' Creed. He did not wish " ever to v i-$96 THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BEI-SHAM 297 2' ,

I' *treat of controversial matters " from the pulpit. We are so accustomed to think of Belsham as The worship must be Unitarian; the preaching ;above all things a Unitarian, that we ignore the might well be-limited to the common ground of limits within which alone he thought it right to Christian religion. Lindsey from the first had .describe himself as such. In 17~1he had drawn wa-nted a colleague at Essex Street, and was in the preamble of the Unitarian Society, in terms despair of a coadjutor, when at length, after nine meant, as he explained, to have the effect of years' solitary labour, the timely secession of :shutting out Arians. Ignoring this intention, Disney gave him a colleague, and ultimately a Richard Price, not being formally excluded, successor. Even Disney can hardly be said to joined the society. To Price, as to Lindsey have kept firmly on Lindsey's lines. During the .originally, Unitarianism was a term of religion; last three years of his ministry the Prayer Book in it meant the worship of the Father only. Belsham use was of his own composition, and bore no argued that there was no security for this worship, relation to the Anglican service. On his resigna- apart from the acknowledgment of the simple tion " every possible inquiry was made after humanity of Christ. A consistent Arian, he some seceding clergyman " as his successor, " but maintained, ought to worship Christ. Hence, if to no purpose." he could have done so, he would have restricted Some modification of Lindsey's scheme was the application of the term Unitarian to the therefore imperative. That Lindsey worked hard holders of a purely humanitarian Christology. . to secure the appointment of Belsham, as Disney's Accordingly he proposed to attach it simply to successor, is proof that he himself saw this, more individuals; and to propagandist societies, not to . . '?

clearly than some others did. The Prayer Book + ecclesiastical bodies. This policy he pursued of Anglican pattern, minus the creed, was brought with great tenacity in both directions; drawing a back (Belsham says, " at the express desire of the sharp line of distinction between temporary Duke of Grafton "), but there was no endeavour -associations to advocate a defined theology, and to avoid doctrinal preaching, always a feature, -permanent religious institutions to be kept open though not a predominant feature, of Belsham's for progress. ministrations. Far more significant was the " Some months ago," writes a correspondent tacit surrender of the aim to lead an Anglican c(February, 1814) of the Molzthly Refiository .exodus, and the frank acceptance of the call to a '"happening to be in London, and passing along progressive work within the confines of Dissent. Essex Street, it delighted me to see ' Unitarian THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM

Chapel' inscribed on the new portico of that took to themselves the name of ' Rational house, dear to the mind of every friend of truth Christians ' or ' Rational Dissenters,' as a counter- from having been consecrated to the worship of balance to that of ' orthodox,' ' evangelical,' &C., One God by Theophilus Lindsey. But, Sir,. assumed by their opponents. Indeed, I never proportioned to my gratification on this occasion,, quarrel with any party for giving themselves a was my concern and surprise the other day, in good name, as they are sure to be sufficiently passing the same spot, to perceive that the plied by their adversaries with epithets of evil original, honourable, and characteristic inscription repute." had been erased, and the words ' Essex Street Long before the passing of the Trinity Act, he Chapel ' substituted in its stead." had objected to the establishing (1806) of the Though no answer is recorded, we can easily ' Unitarian Fund, a society for missionary pur- supply the true one. In the interim had occurred poses. This has been ascribed to his " almost the passing of the Trinity Act (July mnd, 1813) ; constitutional distaste to popular movements." of which the point was this, that while in title it To the last "his feelings were against them," seemed a mere Relief Act for Unitarians, both. in though his judgment came to be "for them." form and in effect it was a Relief Act for Dis- The truth is, he was afraid that a great cause senters generally. Every Anglican was still would get into the hands of shallow men, and so bound by law to be a Trinitarian, but the whole lose its influence. On this point he was converted. of Dissent was now freed from this statutory By 1812 he admits that the Unitarian Fund obligation. It was now possible and proper, so society " holds the foremost rank," that it has thought Belsham, for Unitarians to act as an " demonstrated the fallacy of the commonly integral part of Protestant Dissent. It was their received opinion, that Unitarianism is not a business and duty to prove themselves an in- religion for the common people," and that " after fluential ingredient in that larger whole. the success which has attended the efforts of this Four months after the passing of the Act, he Society, no person who is a real friend to the had written thus (28th November, 1813) to. cause can consistently be hostile to its principle." Robert Aspland:-" I think you have borne a Through this " hearty sanction of popular plans," little hard upon Dr. Enfield, Dr. Priestley, and. while himself identified with " the aristocracy of others of that standing, who, labouring under all Unitarianism," he exercised, as has been well said, manner of abuse from their orthodox opponents,. a "harmonizing influence," which brought the THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM advocates of opposite methods to a mutual under- of the Dissenters' Chapels Act in 1844, drew standing and respect. Unitarians closer together; on the other hand, it He was not converted to Aspland's plan of a broke them off from the main body of Dissent. Unitarian Academy (1812) with a two years' Hence it seems to me that Belsham's policy, course of instruction to cover all branches, yet he equally with that of Lindsey, was frustrated by did not withhold a generous pecuniary aid. events. Both schemes were Utopian. The first Needless to say that Belsham was blind to the failed, because Anglicans declined to follow suit, The second was wrecked by active hostility of advantages of denominational organization. c ' I was brought up an Independent," he says, " and Dissenters, roused against the internal disorder, I am unwilling to bow to any authority beyond by whatever name designated, which threatened the limit of my own congregation." Writing to to benefit them. Aspland (14th November, 1818) he thus expresses It was in accord with this policy that Bel- himself, " If I wished the Unitarians to become a sham consistently refused to countenance the powerful political sect, I should be a warm friend formation (1819) of the Unitarian Association, for to that grand scheme of federal union, of which I protecting the civil rights of Unitarians. He heard so much in Lancashire. But as a friend to wrote strongly against it, on the ground that the truth and liberty, which I think much impeded civil rights of Unitarians were simply those of all by such associations, I must dissent from them. Dissenters, and anything which should seem to Nor can I approve of any plans for separating detach them from the main body was suicidal. Unitarians from their fellow Christians, more than " I demur," he writes (29th January, 1819) to is absolutely necessary. We are the salt of the Lsnt Carpenter, " to the prudence and propriety earth. But a lump of salt, lying by itself, will of the Unitarians separating themselves from the never fertilize the ground. It must be mixed and rest of the Nonconformists, and establishing. blended with the earth, in order to manure the themselves as a distinct sect. This sectarian soil and produce a copious harvest." The simile spirit, however it may tend to strengthen a party, is shrewd. Unhappily, there were already signs, appears to me to be unfriendly to the spirit of unmarked by Belsham, that the soil, mistaking religion and the investigation of truth. Every its place, was on the eve of invading the salt- sect must have its shibboleth. You must be boxes. The protracted struggle, which began in tender to the errors of those who belong to your 1817, and never took breath till the achievement party, however gross or important, lest you THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM weaken your interest. Whereas, re1igion.i~wholly which closed his account with Horsley, long a personal thing; and the investigation of truth rankled in episcopal breasts. Referring to the requires unlimited freedom from restraint. . . . controversy with Priestley, he remarked that I sometimes suspect that the cause was advancing " both the contending parties retired from the more steadily when it advanced more silently, and field equally well satisfied with the result of the that many are bawlers for a speculative system. conflict ; Dr. Priestley with his victory, and Dr. who are strangers to the religion of the heart ." Horsley fwith his mitre." Yet it is perhaps not surprising that Belsham's In theological system, Relsham made no ad- posthumous fame should be mainly that of a vance on the position he reached at Daventry. controversialist. His powers and his prowess : His " Calm Inquiry " (1811) is substantially a were great, and the motive for their exercise was ' a digest and recast of his lectures of 1789. His no personal impulse, but the feeling that he stood items of doctrine were few, and strongly held; for the vigilant defence of a sacred charge. He they formed the basis of his practical religion. took up the cause of Priestley in exile, with none Yet while he felt this ground to be always firm of Priestley's genius, but with far more caution, beneath his feet, he was nevertheless an inquirer far more deliberateness, far more pungency, far and a critic to the last. It has been said of him more present effect. More successful than Priest- that " he had no conception of dangerous truths ley in drawing Arians into the arena, he perhaps and useful errors." In Biblical criticism his bore himself towards them as too keen an strides were alarming to conservative Unitarians. antagonist, at least they thought so. His In 1807 he called attention to the composite grandiose style possessed the kind of dignity character of the Pentateuch. Four years pre- which suited the taste of the age, and admirably viously, Priestley had opened his " Notes on the fitted his purpose. He controverted bishops with Bible " with the words: "I see no reason to a weight and point which could not be ignored, entertain a doubt of Moses being the writer of the addressing them as from a secure elevation, and first five books of the Old Testament." Priestley with exasperating blandness. In a biography proceeds to treat the account of creation as of otherwise excellent, he has clothed Lindsey in divine authority, though he thinks there were purple, when perhaps fine linen would have been other creations subsequent to the deluge, which more appropriate to the man; but the sentiment will account, among other things, for the special of veneration was rightly directed. The epigram fauna and flora of America. In fact, the Unit- -THOMAS, BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM "*I ' 305 , . 1, arians stuck fast in Genesis till 1821; it was -like German theology. . . . I think the origin of Belsham who pulled them out. In a famous the four evangelists is a very great difficulty. If sermon at Warrington that year (19th August) he. the four histories existed in their present form in declared and proved that the Hebrew cosmogony the time of Justin Martyr, it is most unaccount- is irreconcilable with the teachings of modern. able that he should never quote them by name. science. The Monthly Repository teemed with the . . . I suspect that the number was never fixed to indignant reproaches of writers, who deemed it an four till Irenaeus made the notable discovery that impiety to imagine that, after the lucid narrations. there must be four Gospels, and no more, because of Moses, there was anything to be learned there are four winds. . . . Still, however, the main respecting the original constitution of the globe. part of - the respective Gospels must have been To Belsham, as responsible editor, we owe a written by the authors to whom they are attri- revised, or, as he entitled it, an improved version buted, otherwise, how could the whole Christian (1808) of the New Testament. The admirable world be so unanimous in ascribing them to those introduction, and most of the notes, are his. The authors ? But before they were universally known text is not his, being mainly the translation by and acknowledged, I am inclined to believe that Archbishop Newcome. Belsham would have left those who were in possession of early copies made Newcome's version to speak for itself, but was additions of narratives, which they believed to be overruled by a committee, which insisted on authentic." revising Newcome. With this version it used to Belsham himself appeared as a translator and be common to reproach Unitarians; it has its expositor in his edition (1822), of the Pauline weak points, and is avowedly tentative; but Epistles. In the main he follows Dr. John even after the work of the revisers of 1881 it has Taylor, but with an important development of its value. Its endeavour to exhibit typographic- principle. " An expositor," he says, "will not ally distinct strata in the Gospels, if a crude feel himself bound to warp and strain a text from initial effort, was nevertheless a suggestive its plain and obvious meaning because that mean- beginning. ing is erroneous, and to adopt some unusual and In a letter of 1819, addressed to John Kenrick, far-fetched interpretation in order to reconcile it he shows that he did not let his mind sleep in to the truth, because, at all events, the proposition regard to Kew Testament problems. " I love must be justified; but he will endeavour to find German criticism," he says, " as much as I dis- out the true meaning of the author, according to THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM

the established and approved rules of interpreta- tenth part of the mischief, of which it is now said tion, leaving the whole responsibility, whether to have been productive." for the sense, the truth, or the reasoning of the I have not dealt with Belsham's philosophy; passage, upon the author himself, without any and perhaps he was not a philosopher. For he pain for the result." That is to say, in his view, never could see the validity of the distinction inspiration related only to the essentials of between the views of Priestley and those of Price. Christianity ; the Apostle's mode of advocating " The simple question between Dr. Priestley and them was his own. Dr. Price, was," says Belsham, " whether the Thinking thus freely himself, Belsham was not principle of perception was separable or insepar- the man to advocate restraints on thinking, even able from certain modifications of attraction and when the conclusions reached were most abhor- repulsion. Dr. Priestley maintained that they rent to his own mind. He lived in an age when were inseparable, and Dr. Price that they were Richard Carlile was fined £1,500, and imprisoned never separated. Just as in the case of the two for three years, for publishing the works of Paine. C.hurches of Rome and England, one claims to be Even Unitarians wrote in their magazine approv- infallible, and the other maintains that it never ing the sentence. In the course of a noble reply, errs. But, for this difference, Dr. Price is Belsham observes that in dealing with those who applauded as an immaterialist, and Dr. Priestley bring charges against Christianity, " the proper, is vilified as a materialist. I certainly go as far though not altogether the easiest method would as Dr. Price, and I do not go quite so far as Dr. be, to inquire how far the charges are just; to Priestley. Because my philosophic friend re- separate the gold from the dross, Christianity from garded attraction and repulsion as divine energies, its corruptions, what is defensible from what is which appeared to me to verge upon pantheism. indefensible, and thus to show that true Christian- . . . So that in truth I cannot say to which of the ity is a gem of unspeakable value ; that it con- two appellations I am entitled; whether I am a tains nothing unreasonable, nothing mean, no- poor, despised, degraded materialist, who believe thing contemptible; but that it is a doctrine of that perception, attraction, and repulsion are great moral importance, which every good man inseparable, or a sublime and exalted immaterial- must at least wish to be true. Had Paine's ' Age ist, who believe that, though not inseparable, of Reason ' been treated in this manner, I am they are, in fact, never separated." On the fully convinced that it would not have done a question of the determination of the will, Belsham THOMAS BELSHAM THOMAS BELSHAM

had no doubt whatever that he was with Priestley contents; with nothing to guide you but the and against Price. There are few expositions of year-dates heading the pages, and the years are determinism more forcible and lucid than will be not always consecutive. It is ill-arranged, de- found in his " Elements " (1801) of philosophy, fective, inaccurate, diffuse. Yet it has its place mental and moral. among my favourite books. Its value lies in this, Strong elements of pathos are to be found in his that it permits a very close approach to the inner story; on these I will not dwell. A year after his life of a man of deep religious experience. The settlement at Essex Street, he was already in his redeeming element of the book is to be found in feelings an old man, though not yet fifty-seven. the passages from Belsham7sprivate diary, at all The abiding impression that his days were few, stages of his career; and this diary is his con- simply made him more intent on tasks which he fessional. Here are his prayers, his sighs, his hoped to finish, and did, in fact, accomplish. As doubts, his hopes, his despbndences, his frank the ablest of his critics has said: " He had little addresses to God in sunshine and in gloom. The originality; he had less imagination ; but he had phases of his theology have their connecting-link unfailing diligence." In his last years, spent as in the unbroken constancy of his faith in God. " an invalid and a cripple," he was still at work. Superficially he was not an emotional man, but The key to his life may be found in these words his preaching and his work were the outcome of a which he wrote on New Year's Day, 1799, "While sensitive soul, living continually in the divine I live, I am desirous of being useful. . . . If I presence. When the end came (he died unmarried can do little myself, I will endeavour to rejoice if on 11 November, 1829) they laid him beside others are more active, more able, and more Lindsey, with this inscription, expressing at once successful. I am not serving a party; I am not his most cherished feeling and his paramount aim : seeking mine own honour and emolument; my " The friend, associate, and successor of Priestley object, my sole ambition, is to promote the know- and Lindsey; with them he devoted his life and ledge of Christ, and his genuine Gospel." talents to revive and diffuse the knowledge of the One word about Belsham in the most important true religion of Jesus." light of all. Williams' life of him has never had a We look back, that we may look forward. We voice raised in its favour. It is a volume, or scan the past that we may gain lessons for use in rather a morass, of seven hundred and ninety-one the present, as we strive to build up the future. pages, without chapters, or index, or table of Relsham thought that in the eighteenth century THOMAS BELSHAM

the prospects of liberal religion looked brighter than in the early part of the nineteenth. We have to try to understand how it was that great ideals were disappointed; for then we may conse- crate ourselves to the cause of truth with more intelligent aim. Bettcrness is not in times, but in men. Other times will come; but merely to place hopes in better times is to be blind to the patent and pressing opportunities of our own living age. The world of to-day needs our work and needs our presentation of the Gospel. Our prayer must be that God may so clear our eyes that we may see our way; and so strengthen our RICHARD WRIGHT hearts that we pursue it with the simplicity of AND devotion, the force of purpose, the breadth of MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. spirit, which we venerate in the best of our forerunners. 5 October, 1898. RICHARD WRIGHT AND MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE HEN the apprentice was discovered picking W dead flies out of the currants, his master assured him that he was not born to be a shop- keeper, and that he had better study for the RICHARDWRIGHT.-Born, 1764; Minister at ministry. Richard Wright , whose memory seems Wisbech, 1794-1810 ; Travelling Missionary, 1806- worthy to be revived, though early initiated in 22 ; Minister at Trowbridge, 1822-27 ; Minister at the mysteries of shopkeeping, was evidently not Kirkstead, 1827-36 ; Died 1836. to the manner born ; and if we take " study " in a broad, general, and very practical sense, and not with any technical limitation of the term, we may truly say that he studied, and studied hard, for the ministry which he fulfilled and refreshed. Richard, son of Richard, first saw the light in a labourer's cottage at Blakeney, a seafaring place, once, indeed, a seaport of some moment for commerce with Germany, lying on the north coast of Norfolk, between Wells and Cromer, but nearer to the former. His natal day was 7th February, 1764; and though it has little or no bearing on his story, it may be said in passing that 1764 was a year of mark in the literary annals both of this country and of France and RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT

Italy. In 1764 Voltaire produced his Dictionnaive Richard's parents were originally of the Philoso~hique,an epitome of his glittering genius ; Anglican persuasion, and his mother, Anne Rousseau his Ema'le--with all its eccentricities, Wright (1732-1810) was a woman of superior the foundation of modern ideas of education ; class, strong mind, and fair education, claiming Reid his " Inquiry into the Human Mind on the- n cousinship with Sir John Fenn (well known as . Principles of Common Sense," thereby founding the first editor of the Paston Letters), and that system of natural realism long known as the devoting herself to the training and teaching of Scottish philosophy, though directed against her six children, of whom Richard was the eldest Hume ; Goldsmith his " History of England," son. The reader may determine whether it was the book in which the story of our country was proof of continued activity of mind, or of senile first made interesting to the young ; Walpole his decay, that she became a Unitarian at the age of " Castle of Otranto," pioneer of the romantic seventy. Richard, however, was sent to school school; while Beccaria, author of the pregnant by a relative, a prosperous farmer, whose name phrase, " the greatest happiness of the greatest does not appear; neither does the place of number, " put forth his epoch-making treatise on Richa.rdYsschooling. Blakeney had certainly lost " Crimes and Punishments." In ecclesiastical the educational advantages which it possessed annals, 1764 was the year in which William in the thirteenth century, when John Bacon- Robertson, the " Father of Unitarian noncon- thorpe, Doctor Resolutus and Princeps Aver- formity," as Lindsey called him, resigned his Irish roistarum, began his studies in the Carmelite preferments, and Lindsey himself set on foot his monastery, whose ruined arches yet remain. Nor Sunday-school at Catterick. could his schooling have been long, for this When Richard was five years old, an enter- relative, from whom the family had expectations, prising speculator, known as " the ingenious Mr. died when Richard was twelve-the age up to Cobb," projected a company to revive the which, according to Emile, the child should be Blakeney fisheries, and so restore to the little taught nothing-and by this time the family was place something of its ancient importance. Had out of favour ; for they had dropped into Dissent, this succeeded, Richard might have found an forsaking the ancient parish church whose lofty opening for business life in his native place; but tower forms a mariner's landmark on the Norfolk the scheme came to nothing, and Blakeney's good coast-line. Having toiled as a farmer's boy, and harbour sees little trade. done duty as a page, Richard went on trial to an RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT be not unworthily described as a love of souls. Anglican shopkeeper at Holt, who did business Without any outward suggestion or authorisation, on Sundays; and was thereafter apprenticed to the young church member, when the labour at the a Dissenting blacksmith-presumably at * the anvil was over for the day, began week evening inland village of Guestwick, for it was there that, preaching in the neighbouring villages. Now, to on attaining the age of sixtekn, he was admitted a hold Calvinism is one thing; to make it the basis member of the Independent Church. This was a of evangelical appeal is quite another. No doubt, society dating from 1652. It had enjoyed, with- the proffer of salvation is easy, even should a out undue hilarity, the services of some dis- conceivable non-electicn stand in the way of its. tinguished ministers, including one of the Ejected acceptance. If the present of gold spectacles to Nonconformists. Its last pastor had been the the blind inmates of a workhouse should seem the father of William Godwin, succeeding whom indication of a world-wide generosity, there might John Sykes had lately begun his pastorate of still be some little inconsistency in accompanying forty-eight years' duration. The ministry was the gift with the assurance that it could be of no- Calvinistic, of the genuine unadulterated type, use to those most in need of vision. It may per- " not what is now called moderate Calvinism," as haps have been noticed that predestination is Richard remarks. Sykes had no moderation. usually preached to persons whose calling and. " Still," says Richard, " I thank God that I was election is, by themselves at any rate, regarded as once a Calvinist, that I have known by experience already pretty secure. However that may be, it what Calvinism is. was one important step It seems that the youthful missioner's village appeals- in my progress. However erroneous, its peculiar insensibly acquired a slight Arminian taint. The doctrines are perverted truths, and some precious church-meeting had him up, heard him preach, metal may be extracted from the baser materials." bade him abide their sanction; and, as he per- Richard's defection from Calviaism had an severed, cast him off. They had not ratified the interesting origin. exercise of his gifts; and while the symptoms of " Panting The lad was not without ambition. heresy were but slender, the defiance of church to emerge from the lowly vale where I was authority was sufficient ground for excommuni-- placed " (as he afterwards expressed it), he be- cating him on both counts. By this sentence thought him of what he could do which would Richard, like his pastor's predecessor, was ejected render him " of some value in society." With into freedom, in more respects than one. The this longing for distinction he conjoined what may RICHARD WRIGHT RICHAKD WRIGHT

Wesleyan Methodists got wind of his zeal and his managed to confound the persons; hence the leanings, and gave him preaching opportunities, Johnsonians were known also as the Sabellian though he never joined their Society. His Baptists. It was not, indeed, quite unusual to master, "judging that he would make a better find Sabellians among Baptists, but Johnson preacher than a smith," handed him back his insisted on making a distinctive feature of this indentures in all kindness. His first call to a view, and so took his place as a heresiarch For regular ministry was from Norwich, where an Fisher, on these lines, a chapel was erected. Its eccentric gentleman-surgeon, ornithologist, and minister in my Norwich days was Henry Trevor, gospeller-named John Hunt, had recently built an upholsterer, for in Norfolk it was not then a General Baptist chapel. This conjunction did unknown for a Baptist pastor to be in business; not last long; neither did the congregation. one working village pastor was a butcher-like Hunt, it may be suspected, was not an easy person the priests of the old Law. to get on with. Wright became a coadjutor to Fisher. In An opening came to Wright in connection with Norwich he found books, and without other aid another Baptist flock. There were Baptists in he gained enough of Greek and Hebrew to enable Norwich of every variant type. From the leading him to enter with intelligence into the Biblical Particular Baptist church in 1778, the minister, criticism of that day, which was mainly of a Samuel Fisher, had been dismissed for unsound- textual character. Johnson, who was now over ness in a non-doctrinal matter. He took with seventy, had charge of congregations as far apart him a following, and attached himself to the cause as Liverpool and Wisbech ; Wright gave occasional ,of his friend, John Johnson, a native of Eccles, assistance at both these places. His intercourse who had developed peculiar views, and had with Johnson, whom he found " to a high degree founded a distinct Baptist body. From the bigoted and dogmatic," led him to study " first perusal of certain of Johnson's pamphlets one principles." Eventually a curious arrangement rises in some perplexity as to what precisely the was made, by which Fisher and Wright were ,good man was driving at. His Calvinism was associated, each to take six months at Norwich modified, but not exactly mellowed. Adam's and six at Wisbech alternately. The Wisbech guilt was not a heritable property, yet Adam's flock soon exhibited a preference for Wright. brood needed as strong remedies as if it were. In Fisher, with reluctance, confined himself to Nor- handling the doctrine of the Trinity Johnson wich, leaving Wright at Wisbech in sole charge. RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT

Here, then, at the age of thirty, began Wright's With the arrival of Wright, the Minute-book career as a missionary of Unitarianism. He had becomes much less graphic. The course he took first to complete his own conversion. From the for the religious instruction of his people is worth Sabellian position, with some hazy remains of noting. They had been in the habit, he says, " of Calvinism, he advanced to Humanitarian doctrine, laying an undue stress on their own opinions, and without passing through the Arian stage. His of thinking that those who differed from them views becoming known, the Johnsonian Baptists were not Christians, and could not be saved." did as the Guestwick Independents had done So he began by teaching them "the value of before-they excommunicated him. His own piety, integrity, virtue, and goodness, with what- congregation, " most of them," he says, " very ever opinions associated." He was in no hurry illiberal and bigoted," nevertheless felt they were to bring forwa~d" doctrines new to them," till in the hands of an honest man, retained his ser- he could make clear their practical value. Ex- vices, and were accordingly cut off from the body. pository preaching, and weekly meetings for the Acquaintance with their old Minute-book study of the Scriptures, with free conference assures us that, in the days before Wright they thereon, proved of eminent utility. " It was had not been in all respects a happy family. absolutely necessary," he observes, " to be blind Extracts in full would be undesirable. Un- and deaf to many uncharitable and censorious fortunately, the ladies had voices in the church- remarks." " By forbearance and kindness those meeting, and their remarks to one another were who opposed me were sometimes softened, and both critical and caustic. It is recorded of two continued friends." Yet were there " many married ladies, that one took upon herself to severe conflicts of opinion, many hard struggles reproach the other for an apparel too gaudy to be against what was called innovation " ; and there consonant either with Baptist principles or with were those who affirmed that Wright's self-con- her own advancing years; the aggrieved one trol simply made him the more dangerous ; for, retorted by pictorially and pointedly designating aided by the Devil, that wily serpent, " Unitarians her censor a " goggle-eyed "-puppy's mother, had the art of commanding their temper, and in a word. Standing in a mouldy graveyard in using soft words, that they might the better rear of the little edifice in Deadman's Lane, it has deceive." While some left, and " though there been possible to gaze on the contiguous tomb- was a time when the congregation would have stones of these outspoken heroines. been glad had I voluntarily left them, their attach- Y RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT merit to me afterwards became stronger than it old tobacco-pipes white ! " Vidler had started in had ever been." 1797 the Univevsalists' Miscellany. To this His preaching was not confined to Wisbech, and monthly publication Wright contributed a series he had several calls to other charges, with better of letters and these, when collected, formed the pay. He had made up his mind not to leave first of his many publications. Wisbech "till I thought the Unitarian cause Next year Wright visited Vidler in London. firmly established there.'' For ten years he eked Their meeting must have been a sight for saints. out a very narrow income by school-keeping-a Wright was a very little man and nobody could resource then more open than now to the Dis- call him handsome. Vidler, his senior by nearly senting ministry. One of his scholars became six years, had a fine physiognomy surmounting a famous. This was William Ellis, whose name corporal bulk of wellnigh elephantine propor- will ever be associated with the Christian civiliza- tions. -There is a pulpit of straitened dimensions tion of Madagascar. In his early boyhood the into which, according to the legend, he had con- future agent of the London Missionary Society trived to squeeze himself when cool. Swelled by was under Wright's influence both in school and the fervour of preaching, he found it impossible chapel; all the schooling he got, and indeed that to get out, and thought it safer to remain for the was but little, he received from Wright; his afternoon service; so they brought him his mid- father, also William Ellis, was a strong Unitarian day repast as he sat in cathedra. There were and always remained so. contrasts of opinion as well as of girth, stature and It was during this period of pastoral assiduity, comeliness between the two enthusiasts. Hence tempered by school-keeping, that Wright made they met with some shyness, attempting as the acquaintance of William Vidler (1758-1816) Wright says. " in as delicate a way as possible to who, like Wright had been successively Anglican, feel out each other's views." Ultimately, but not Independent and Baptist, and was now the till 1802, Vidler's repugnance to so-called So- successor of Elhanaa Winchester in the Universal- cinianism was replaced, under Wright's influence ist (but not Unitarian) ministry in London. by a hearty embrace of the Unitarian position. Winchester's Universalism meant a remedial Hell. In the absence of an exact chronology at this Hence the familiar tale that Robert Robinson met point, the date is uncertain at which Wright was him with the exclamation " So you're the man enabled to free himself from the labour of keeping to preach that God Almighty will burn all the school, but by 1804 he was in the full-swing of RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT missionary enterprise. Already had he cultivated (entered on his forty years' ministry at Hackney. relations with General Baptists of Lutton, Lincoln- The plan was not much welcomed at the outset. shire, resulting in the accession of this congre- It was met by a loudly expressed dread of gation, avowedly Universalist, to the Unitarian " uneducated preachers." Only nine persons cause, and further to the incorporation of his own attended the meeting establishing the Fund flock at Wisbech with the General Baptist (11 February, 1806). Among them was Daniel Assembly. Next he co-operated with John Whittle Harvey (1786-1863) then a lad of twenty, Platts (1777-1837) in the establishment of a afterwards projector of the Szdnday Times, and Unitarian congregation at Boston. Thereafter he the first (1840) Commissioner of the London City visited most parts of Lincolnshire; at Lincoln Police; he was the last survivor of the band. on his initiative a Unitarian congregation was The year of grace 1806 is memorable also for formed. Invited by Vidler, he visited Battle, the establishment by Aspland of the Monthly where Vidler had gathered a Universalist flock. Repository , that invaluable storehouse of Unitar- Thence he extended his travels to most parts of ian history and biography. He had bought up Sussex and Kent. An appeal from Thorne took Vidler's magazine and enlarged its plan. Further- him to Yorkshire on a similar err&nd. more, it was in 1806 that the expulsion of Joseph His efforts had now begull to attract some Cooke from the Wesleyan body led to the forma- attention in London. The project of a Missionary tion of a new group of congregations in Lan- Fund was started by David Eaton (1771-1829) a cashire. In 1806 Wright composed and published native of Brechin, who had been the leader of a " An Apology for Dr. Michael Servetus," based little knot of General Baptists at York, and was on a work of 1724, and distinguished chiefly by now settled as a theological bookseller in Holborn warm reflections, in which Calvin was not ex- (he is not to be confused with Daniel Isaac Eaton, hibited in a flattering light. also a London bookseller, and publisher of Torn The Unitarian Fund was started with Aspland Paine's works, who died in 1814). It is to be as secretary and Wright as travelling missionary. noted that the five persons who met in August, By the end of the year nearly a couple of hundred 1805, to frame the plan of a Unitarian Fund, all subscribers had been enlisted on its roll. The were or had been in the Baptist connexion. Of first annual sermon in its behalf was preached by these the most distinguished was Robert Aspland a doctor of divinity of Harvard, Joshua Toulmin (1782-1845) who in the previous month had (1740-1815) another Baptist by the way. Bel- RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT sham, at that time by far the most influential of a long hymn and enjoy the refreshment of a pipe English Unitarians, held aloof from popular pro- before sermon, admitted that his friend's de- paganda, though six years later he handsomely votion to the weed surpassed his own. This owned that the Unitarian Fund was " the Society habit he turned to good account in many an inn- which at present holds the foremost rank," adding parlour and by many a cottage fire, enlivening a that " after the success which has attended the serene good-fellowship with an apt theological efforts of this Society, no person who is a real discussion. friend to the cause can consistently be hostile to Equipped with an equal knowledge of Holy its principle." Scripture and of human nature, he was master of Thus was Richard Wright encouraged in the a native force of logical argument, pressed closely career which, with unwearied industry, he enough, but always applied with level good pursued for nearly two decades till, in the course humour. His pulpit style was clear and unpre- of his journeyings he had traversed the whole tending. In personal intercourse-for which he land, from Aberdeen to Marazion, from Milford utilized the most casual occasions, never obtrud- Haven to Yarmouth. His reports of his journeys ing himself, yet never missing an opportunity- form a sort of itinerary of Great Britain, and are his strongest powers of influence came out. His crowded with interesting details. In 1804 Wright writing was plain and strong, full of cool, clear- was forty years of age, well seasoned for his work cut reasoning, with ardent purpose behind it, but by a preparation of experience which he had no superficial display of emotion. This made turned to the best account. Being of great his polemical publications telling and efficient. muscular strength he could sustain the fatigue of Handy in size, direct in statement, they just hit his long tramps-trudging as he did on foot the needs of his time and his public. They bred twenty, thirty or even forty miles in a day-and in his readers the habit of thinking. Never was still be fit for preaching in the evening. Frugal there a man with less of the mystic about him, and temperate, he was spare in diet, simple in his while few had more of the determination of the requirements, content at night with a rough educator than Richard Wright. Here is his table shakedown, and allowing himself this one luxury, of fourteen hints for the missionary; texts on an abundant use of the good old " churchwarden." which he dilates in his memoirs. They will be In the use of this sedative he certainly excelled. found to be valuable points, capable of further Even Aspland who, like Dr. Parr, would give out expansion. RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT

I. He should count the cost before he engages ceased with the death of Thomas Barnes (1747- .in the work. 1810). The introduction of a positive type of z. His mind should be furnished and prepared Unitarianism by his successor, John Grundy for the work. (1782-1843) was hailed, or deplored, in many 3. Should be always ready to preach. ,quarters as marking a new departure. After 4. Be careful to use proper subjects. 1810, the Lancashire Arianism either melted away 5. The style should be suited to the hearers. very rapidly, or drifted off to other denominational 6. Preaching in the open air and other places. conditions. 7. A missionary must avoid having anything It was in 1810 that George Harris (1794-1859) to do with differences in congregations. -then a London apprentice of sixteen, destined 8. Modes of making the preaching known. .afterwards to devote himself to the spread of g. Much to be done besides preaching. Unitarianism in Scotland with an eloquence 10. Tracts should be distributed. which has never beell excelled, first 'set eyes upon 11. A missionary must endure much hard- Richard Wright. The occasion was the Unitarian ship. Fund annual dinner, a few months after Wright's 12. He must be punctual to his engagements. first visit to Scotland. Thus writes George to his 13. He must devote himself entirely to the father, Abraham Harris, minister at Maidstone :- work. " Mr. Wright, you know, is a short man. When 14. He should cultivate an habitual sense of he rose, there was a universal cry of ' On the the presence of God. .chair, on the chair! ' He got on the chair. For five years, during which he had travelled Another cry of ' Mr. Wright on the table ! ' So on an average some two thousand miles each year, he mounted the table, when we gave him three Wright still retained as missionary the charge -rounds of applause. I think he made the best of Wisbech. At the end of 1810 he was prevailed speech. He is quite an enthusiast. He said upon to devote himself wholly to the larger field, that, in his opinion, if there was not an Unitarian on the modest salary of a hundred guineas in- south of the Tweed, there would be enough, north cluding expenses, which was more than he had of it, to Unitarianise the world." asked for. Manchester had something to do We are dealing with the character and example withthismovein 1810. Inthat year thepreach- of an individual, not that he had no coadjutors, ing of an evangelical Arianism at Cross Street .or that his zeal did not prove contagious. Others RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT gave their help, good men too, though scarcely to Committee. They did subsequently extend it, be reckoned his equals in blend of pith and tact. by providing for two classes of students, those of Their names we have not space to mention, but four years and those of two. Subsequently also the brief history of an institution in aid must be a few lay students were admitted, at LIOO a year. touched upon. The condition of his denomina- It was expected that within two years the stud- tion in 1811 had suggested to Robert Aspland the ents might, in addition to acquiring " a fair desirability of creating an agency cc for the portion of general knowledge," learn to read the training up of popular rather than learned Scriptures in their original tongues," and be ministers." On 6 June of that year the plan of exercised in " the best methods of communicating such an institution was agreed upon, the following religious instruction." Belsham, who had at being its main features. It was to bear the name heart the revival of the old Hackney College, of " The Unitarian Academy," and this " not for broken up in 1796, was opposed to the scheme. the purpose of pledging either its students or He suggested a reverse plan, a normal course of supporters to any particular system of faith, but c g four, five, or even six years," with power to the because it expressed the leading opinion of those Committee to reduce in particular cases. For a who interested themselves in its formation, and two years' Academy he thought Wright would be their expectation of its results. They used the a competent head. From the first, however, the term Unitarian in its broadest sense, including projectors of the institution had relied upon under it all Christians that agreed in the sole Aspland as its Principal and Theological Tutor; worship of One God, the Father, whatever might and Aspland, now in his thirtieth year, removing be their views on minor topics." Hereupon the to Durham House, opened the Unitarian Academy critics divided themselves into two groups, at Hackney on 20th October, 1812. There was ' whereof one objected to c' a sectarian brand," to have been also a Classical Tutor, but John .while the other looked askance at cc the broad Bickerton Dewhurst, designed for that post, died definition." before the opening day. Thomas Biggin Broad- Students were to be eligible between the ages bent was Classical Tutor from 1814 to 1816. of eighteen and twenty-five, and to be under the Jeremiah Joyce, of the "Scientific Dialogues," care of a Principal Tutor, who should board and was Mathematical Tutor in 1814 and 1815; he lodge them. The period of study was to, be two was succeeded by Dr. John Morell, who conducted years: with power of extension vested in the both these departments from 1817, and was him- RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT self succeeded for a short time by William John- Benjamin Goodier, the young evangelist to whom son Fox. the Oldham congregation owes its existence. He It is well to know that Belsham, having an died in 1818. The last survivor was Thomas anonymous donation of £100 to dispose of at his Cooper, employed by the founder of the Hibbert own discretion, kept it a couple of years, while he Trust in the difficult task of Christianising his looked about him, and then sent it to the Unitar- slaves; he lived till 1880, a cheery little man, and ian Academy, with two years' interest, as the still a good speaker, at the age of eighty-eight. best use he could make of the money. The During the same' period, Carmarthen enrolled students seem to have worked hard. From the seven Unitarian students, while Manchest er Col- Daybook of the Academy for 1813 I find that lege, York, enrolled twenty divinity students, of they invariably began the duties of the day at whom thirteen entered the ministry-the greatest half-past six, grinding at Latin till breakfast name among them being that of John James time. I find such entries as " studied Hebrew " ; Tayler. The last survivor of these was Richard " composed a little of our themes." Occasionally Shawcross, who had conformed; he died in 1886, I find the entry, " worked one hour in the gar- at the age of eighty-four. den " ; and, in spite of the early start next day, I The missionary movement in Manchester find "went to bed about 12." One of them College, York, was somewhat later than this writes that Aspland was fertile in expedients for period. It began in 1823 on the initiative of John filling up their leisure time, of which, he adds, Relly Beard, and enlisted the zealous co-operation of James Martineau; who, long afterwards, bore " he seemed to think we had far more than was really the case." The Tutor's point of view is signal testimony to the value of these early c not always that of the student. missionary excursions," adding that " those This Academy lasted for five sessions only, who were most deeply engaged in them were since, in 1818, Aspland's state of health made it certainly the most assiduous and thorough impossible for him to continue it with his other students in their College work." Wright's memoirs engagements, and there was no one found to take were published in 1824, and in the preliminary his place, In those five sessions, twelve theo- list of subscribers, will be found the names just logical students were enrolled ; three soon gave mentioned, along with those of eleven other up ; the nine who entered the ministry all rendered students of the same College. good service. The first to pass away was Of the dozen entrants at the Unitarian Academy RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT

the one who made most history, though hardly In this excursus we are not really deserting the kind of history he had intended to make, was Richard Wright, for the students of the Unitarian John Smethurst (1793-1859). of Moretonhamp- Academy were, almost to a man, brought into stead. In the autumn of 1821 Smethurst went on missionary and then into ministerial work by his a Unitarian mission to the North of Ireland. At personal influence or that of his reputation. Killeleagh, Co. Down, the Presbyterian minister Several had been his companions in travel and was the redoubtable Henry Cooke. In his flock comrades in toil. Now, however, we must advert the most prominent member was the United to an event, if I may so call it, which, like Smet- Irishman, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, who had hurst's mission, also bore, consequences little spent some time (not entirely in study) at the expected. Warrington Academy, and was a Unitarian. Wright had two brothers settled in Liverpool, On Rowan's invitation Sniethurst lectured in the both of them ardent propagators of their brother's school-house at Killeleagh . This invasion of his faith, though not with their brother's power. parish had the consequence of arousing Cooke to John Wright, the younger of the two, had opened begin the fierce campaign which, after eight years' a room in Marble Street, and advertised a course hard struggle with Henry Montgomery, issued in of lectures. It so happened that the Mayor of the elimination of the liberal element from the Liverpool was also named John Wright. He cast older Presbyterianism, and the formation of the an indignant eye upon his namesake's advertise- Remonstrant Synod. Doubtless, had this occa- ment, and dispatched an informer to Marble sion not presented itself, Cooke would have found Street. On Tuesday, 1st April, 1817, John some other; yet to those who knew Smethurst in Wright opened his course of lectures by reading later years as the gentlest of men, the model of a (though this was not known at the time) one of his quiet country pastor beloved by all around, the brother Richard's " Evangelical Discourses "- blameless authority on Anglo-Saxon and on trout such was the title of the book--published six fishing, " the Walton of the moor," as they called years previously. To his amazement he found him, it seemed a strange irony of fate that he himself brought up on a double charge. The should have been the one to pit against each other magistrates summarily convicted him of the the giant powers of the two great orators of offence of preaching in an unlicensed place, Ulster, and so to fasten on Irish Presbyterianism though the room had, in fact, been licensed the bondage of the Westminster Confession. twenty years before, but not in favour of Wright. RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT

They further, on the advice of Statham, the Town been further inflamed by a speech by George Clerk, committed him for trial at Lancaster on Harris in 1824, the more important Hewley suit the charge of blasphemy, in denying the Trinity was begun in 1830. The final and adverse and the Atonement. This raised the question decision in both suits was not reached till 1842. whether Unitarians, who in 1813 had been relieved Then followed the remedial legislation effected by of the statutory penalties attaching to these the Dissenters' Chapels Act of 1844. Again we denials, could still, as the Town Clerk believed, Inay say that, had the actual occasion not pre- be proceeded against at common law. The Com- sented itself, in all probability another would mittee of the Unitarian Fund was appealed to for have been found; but it is curious to trace the aid in the defence. When they met, Aspland, long history which ended in the Dissenters' their Secretary, was absent, and on the advice of Chapels Act to the reading of one of Richard their solicitor, John Wilks, they decided against Wright's old sermons by a namesake of Liver- interference. The prosecution, as a matter of pool's Mayor. fact, was soon dropped, for Aspland called the There can be no disputing the fact that this attention of Lord Holland to it, and Holland made long history exercised a detrimental influence on some strong remarks in the House of Lords. the progress of the Unitarian cause in this country. Not merely was there, in some quarters, Wilks, who was Secretary to the " Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Freedom," a temptation to make as little show as possible of Unitarian opinion, and to raise as much legal had been consulted as solicitor by local worthies, anxious to find means of wresting from Unitarians capital as might be accumulated out of a real or the chapel in which they worshipped at Wol- fancied Presbyterian ancestry. There was the verhampton. Accordingly, the Wolverhampton hard fact, everywhere present, that the efforts of Unitarians had to be very sedulously directed Chapel case was first brought before the Superior Courts in the following July (1817). The common toward purely defensive measures. There was, further the peril of creating, the futility of im- law doctrine, started by Statham, was without proving, properties which might at any moment hesitation taken up by Wilks, and played a con- be snatched away at the bidding of legal doctrine, siderable part in the early stages of the case. however opposed to common sense or to public During many years the Wolverhampton case pro- interest. That, notwithstanding all this, much ceeded from court to court, and as it seemed likely was actually done, is a tribute to the high spirit to go against the Unitarians, and orthodoxy had Z RICHARD WRIGHT RICHARD WRIGHT and the steadfast loyalty of the men of that pulpit of 1620, where Taylor preached, did generation. Still, looking back to the middle Wright minister. This had been filched from of last century, it must be admitted that Unit- Nonconformists near the close of the previous arians emerged from a great struggle, with a sense century, and since disused. A plain building, of of triuinph at last, due to energies well spent, but then very recent date, had risen in its vicinity. already somewhat exhausted. It appears to have been without a minister for After the closure of the Unitarian Academy five years until Wright's appointn~ent. In this Richard Wright had been called to London by retired spot the nine remaining years of his busy the Unitarian Fund to superintend the organiza- life were employed. Tranquilly he passed the tion of local preachers. This he did without re- allotted span. On 16th September, 1836, in his mitting his missionary travels, continued until seventy-third year, the summons came. Friday he was well on in his fifty-ninth year. Then, in afternoon he spent at his writing-desk. Scarcely September, 1822, he re-entered the regular had Saturday morning arrived and he was gone. ministry, as pastor of a Baptist congregation at The history of missions all over the world, look Trowbridge. He brought this congregation into where we may, assures us tha.t it is the individual union with the General Baptist body. He did that tells; first by achievement, then by sugges- more. Before leaving, he provided a successor tion. No apology then is needed for a revival of in the person of Samuel Martin (1801- IS?^), his the ancient story which forms the topic of this pupil, whom he had met at Nantwich, who, after address, a story which may well strike home with a time of similar work in Cheshire, had succeeded the potent force of a stimulating example. Ex- Wright as travelling missionary in Cornwall, and cellent are the words of Robert Brook Asplarid, whose fifty years' ministry in Trowbridge was a to be found in his Memoir of Robert Aspland his shining example of the effective power of the father : " How invaluable would the labours of siniplicity of godliness. such a man as Richard Wright now prove ! But Finally in 1827 Wright returned to Lincoln- not of every day's growth is his ardour of feeling, shire, ministering to a little congregation at combined with sobriety of judgment; his con- Kirkstead, a spot made famous as the scene of troversial skill, combined with piety ; his freedom the initial labours of John Taylor, the Hebraist. of speech and thought, combined with modera- Not in the ancient shrine, that jewel of Early tion and wisdom." English architecture, with its canopied Puritan 8 October, 1908. INDEX

Barling, John.. .I g6 Butler, Joseph ...q 8, 85, 198, Barnes, Thomas.. .2g4, 329 244, 245 ~ Barrington, Viscount. .. I 24, Buxtorf, Johann .. .2 3 135-1379 152 Byrom; John.. .2 I 6 INDEX Basil the Great, St.. ..22 Basnage, Jacques(?).. I 61, I 62 Caffyn, Matthew.. .I 41 Basnage, Madame.. .I 77 Calamy, Edmund ...69, 133, [Every proper name is indexed, with a selection of other Basques, the.. .31 144, 152, 155-188, 189, matters; the figures refer to the pages of the text.] Baxter, Richard.. .7, 75, 140, 222, 229, 241, 263 185, 2131 235 Calendar, Gregorian.. .46 Academies : Antinomianisrn.. .I 39-140 Baxterians.. ,206, 226 Calves' head feasts.. .83 Attercliffe ...81, 202, 204 Antitrinitarians.. .so, 5 I, 5 2, Bayle, Jean.. .I 5g Calvin, John.. .4, 8, I 3, I g, 70, Daventry.. .7a, 82, 220, 110, 273 Bayle, Pierre.. .I 57-1 82 71, 244, 325 288-289 Apostates.. .So Beard, John Relly ...273, 333 Calvinism.. .8 I, 97-95, 166, Exeter ... 128 Arianism.. .128-129, 146, 166, Beccaria, Cesare.. .Q I 4 195, 244, 316-317 Findern.. .76, 208 195, 221, 230, 247, 248, Bedford, Duchess of.. .I 88 Calvinist.. .206, 287 Hackney ...293-294, 33 I 128 Beke, Daniel. ..Go, 61 Campeggio, Lorenzo .. .22 Independent-8 3, 202-203 Arians ...So, 58, 114, 115, 226, Belsham, James.. .28 7 Cappe, Catherine. ..252, 265- Kibworth.. .I 89, 206, 209 227, 257, 258, 261, 272, Belsham, Thomas.. ,221, 249, 266 London ...83, 211 274, 275, 294, 297, 302 254, 270, 271, 272, 277, Cardale, Paul.. .248 Manchester.. .go, 8 I Aristotle ...22, XI, 161 281, 282, 285-310, 326, Carlile, Richard.. .306 Northampton.. .2og, 220 Arius ...6 3317 332 Carpenter, Lant.. .273, 301 Northern.. .73 Arminianism ...g7, 98, 102 Benedictine.. .I 23 Catechism : Presbyterian.. .202-203 103, 226, 317 Biblical Criticism.. .303-306 Scripture.. .g3 Puylaurens.. .I 59, I 60 Articles, Thirty-nine.. .I~s, Bibliotheca Frntrum Polon- Shorter ... 129, 143, 145, 288 Rathmell ...7 2, 73, 78, 8 1,82 200 orztm.. .62 Catholic Christians.. .62 Sedan ... 161-162 Ashworth, Caleb. ..203, 220 Bidle, John.. .gg-100, 105, Catholic Church.. .I S Sulby.. .80 Aspland, Robert.. .273, 298, 107, 108, 113-115, 251 Cato ... 176 Taunton ...81 300, 324, 325, 326, 330- Bingham, Joseph.. .196 Cervantes, Miguel.. .g Tewkesbury.. .8 5 33% 336, 339 Birch, Thomas.. .I 7 I ChaIdee, Paraphrase.. .22 Unitarian.. .300, 330-3 35 Aspland, Robert Brook.. .3 39 Blackburne, Francis.. .245, Chalmers. Alexander.. .I 58 Warrington.. .203, 207,292, Atheism ... 164-165, 181 249, 250, 252, 254, 259- Champier, Symphorien, 3 r -33 334 Augustine, St. ...22, 196 261, 263 Channing, William Ellery, 278 Acton, baron...^^, 178 Blasphemy. .. 336 Charles I.. ..83 Advices for Peace.. .I 37, I 5 I- Babinecki.. .56 Book of Sports.. .g6 Charles I1....73, 83: 93 152 Baconthorpe, John.. .g I 5 Bourn, Samuel.. .227 Charles V.. .. I 6 Agrippa, Cornelius.. .16 Ba'ptists : Bradbury, Thomas.. .I 24-1 2 5, Charmier, Jacques.. .I g Aibin, John ...221, 293 G.eneral... 102, 126, 128, 136, 142-146, 149, ,152, Chaucer, Geoffrey.. .g 3 Aleander, Jerome.. .2 I, 24, 25 131, 134, 138, 139, '41, 204, 226 Chimhi, Rab. . .22 Almsgilrinm...Ioo ' 145, 318, 321, 338 Bright, Henry Arthur ...273. Chorlton, John.. .8o Anabaptists.. .so, 5 5 Johnsonian .. .3 I 8 Broadbent, Thomas Biggin Christian Era.. .q5 Anne, Queen.. .I 36 Pa.rticular.. .I 38, 139, 145, ...33 I Christina, Queen.. .I 69 Annet, Peter. ..;?I6 318 Brownists.. .g6 Christ's Hospital.. .g3 Anthropomorphism ... 107,252 Barbauld, Anna Letitia.. .206 Burgess, Daniel... 102, I 14 Christie, Richard Copley .. .6 Antichrist.. .I 8 Barker, John.. .2 I 7 Burke, Edmund. ..a61 Cicero.. .7 I X INDEX INDEX Eaton, David ...3 24 Freke, William .. . I I 6 Clark, Samuel.. I 88, 23 5 Cotton, John.. I 75 - . . Edward 111.. ..69 Freenian, Catherine.. .I go Clark, Samuel (2).. .220 Covenants, the.. .g I',-106 Eighteenth Century.. .48, 198 Friends, Society of .log-4, Clarke, Samuel 127,- 195, Craclock, Samuel.. .69,87 .. ... Ejected Ministers.. -69, 185.~ 112, 139, 200, 234 Cranworth, Baron.. ,242 247, 250, 254, 268 241 Fuchs, Leonard .. .g 3 Clarkeans.. .8 I, 127, 288, zgo Creeds : Ellis, William ,322 Funds : Clegge, James ...7 8, 80, 81 Apostles'.. .103, 268, 295 .. Ellis, William (2). .3 22 Common.. I 40, I 50 Clement, St., of Alexandria.., Athanasian ,250, 7 . . .. 25 Elsworth, Hannah.. (see Coogregational.. .I 40, 205, 2 2 . Nicene.. .l34 Lindsey) 210 Clement, St., of Rorne...z2 Crellius, John.. .8 I ' Ernerson, Ralph Waldo.. .I 80 Hibbert .. . I 5 8 Clementines, the.. .22 Cromwell, Oliver.. .70, oa- Inu Ernlyn, Thomas.. -26, 80, 274 Presbyterian.. .I 40, I 50, Cobb, Mr ....3 14 Cyprian, St.. ..23 Enfield, William.. 298 188, 205, 210 Colleges : England, characterized.. .30 Unitarian.. ,299, 324-326, Balliol 2 56 Dante 13 ...... Ennius.. .14 329, 336 Carmarthen.. -333 Decretals, the.. .23 Episcopius, Simon.. .8 I Christ's.. .7o, 73 D&, Complanatio.. .Go Erasmus, Desiderius.. .zg, 24 Galen, Claudius .. .34, 37 - Durham.. .7o, 20 I Defoe, Daniel. ..87, I 23 Eternity of the Son.. .I 32 Gaskell, Mrs. 263 Emmanuel .69 I .. DJHerbelot, BarthClemy.. 74 Eunomians.. .25 8 Gaudano, EIenricus de ., . 2 g Eton 245, 253 c ..II 5, ... Deists. 226-227, 294 Eutychians.. ,258 Gener, Pompeyo.. .I z hackney...^^^ Denominational names.. 2 3 2 . Evanson, Edward ...269 George I.. .. I 44 Huesca...~~ Descartes, Renk. ..77, 161. I Exeter : George 11. 69, 209 man chest er...^^^, 221, 271, 204 Assembly.. .I 3I George 111.. ..202 Des Maiseaus, Pierre.. I gg 294, 333 . Meeting-houses.. .I 30, I 35 George IV. I 77 Rakow.,.56, 58, 59 ' Determinism.. ,308 Proprietors.. .I 30, I 35, I 38 Gibbon, Edmund ,. . 5 I, 7y St. John's ...243 Dewhurst, John Bickerton.. . I Thirteen... 130-134 I 38, Gillespie, Thomas.. .2 I 8 Summerville.. .49 ' 331 147, 151 Glaire, Jean Baptiste.. .I 5 E; Wadham.. .69 Dickens, Charles,. .178 Glossa Ordinaria.. .2 g York ...271, 333 Dionysius Alexandrinus.. .2 g Falibowski.. .56 Godwin, William.. .3 I 6 . Columbus, Christopher.. I I , Dionysius Exiguus.. .45 Farmer, Hugh.. 219 Goldsmith, Oliver .. .3 I 4 Gomets.. .164 Disney,'John.. .268, 270 Feathers Petition., .26o, 266 Goodier, Ben jamin.. .33 3 Complutensian Polyglot. ;. I 5 Dissenters : Fenn, Sir John ...g 15 Goodwin, John.. -97-99, 108. Conesa, Catalina.. .8, I I Liberal ...217, 232, 241, 271 Firmin, Henry.. .g6 Gordonius, Bernard .. .3 5 Confessions : = Rational ...219, 227, 299 Firmin, Prudence.. .g7 Gouge, Thomas.. .1o4, 105, Augsburg.,.21 Dissenters' Chapels Act.. . Firmin, Thomas ...gg- 119, 108, 113 Dort ...g7 L 3q1, 337 251, 267 Gough, Strickland.. ,221-224 Personal 231 , Dod dridge, Mercy.. .I g I . Fisher, Samuel.. .3 I 8-3 19 Grafton, Duke of .. .277,296 Scriptural.. .I 43 + I Doddridge, Philip.. .27, 48, Fleming, Caleb.. ,248 Gregory Nazianzen .. . z 3 Unitarian.. .Go-61 69,-76, 77, 79, 152, 185, Fowler, Edward... 102, 103, Grosvenor, Ben jamin.. .zo& Westminster.. .225 Q37, 241, 289-290 119 Grove, Henry.. ,204 Congregationalism, .,228 , Doddridge, Philip (2). .. I 88 Fox, George .. . g7 Grundy, Jo h...329 Conventicle Act.. .72 Dodwell, Henry.. .rgg Fox, William Johnson .382 - Cooke, Henry.. .334 Dolabella, Thomas...... 5 7 Frampton, Robert.. .I 1.1 Hallett, John.. .I 34, 147 Cooke, Joseph.. ,325 L Dolet, Etienne.. .6, 32 Frankland, Richard .. -70, 72- Halley, Edmund. .. I 63 Cooper, Grey.. .264 c I 76: 78, 87, 201, 204, 221 Happy Union... 229, 233 . Cooper, Thomas,, .333 . - , Eames, John 205, 207 , ... :: Franklin, Benjamin.. .267 Harris, Abraham .. .3 29 . Corpus Juris ...22 --, Eaton, Daniel Isaac.. .g24 INDEX INDEX

Hkrris, George.. ,329, 337 Huxley, Thomas.. .22o Joyce, Jeremiah.. .g 3 I Lowman, Moses.. ..I 4g Hartley, David .. .2 I 4, 2 I 6 Judd, Sylvester.. .273 Lubieniecki, Stanislaus .. . h2 Harvey, Daniel Whittle.. .325 Idolatry.. .I 65 Julius Caesar.. .46 Luther, Martin.. .14, 24, 39 Haynes, Hopton.. .24g, 274 Ignatius, St.. ..23 Jurieu, Pierre.. .I 6 T - I 67 Hedworth, Henry.. .62-63, Improved Version.. .go4 Justin Martyr, St.. ..305 Macedonians.. .2 5 8 107 Independents. .. 102, 125, I 26, Maddox, Isaac .. .2 3 5 Henry VIII.. .22 . 139, 147, 151, 189, 251, Karwath, Severin.. .5 8 Maimbourg, Louis.. .I 66 Henry, Matthew.. .204, 287 270, 300 Kenrick, John.. .go4 Manardus, John.. .3 5 Herring, Thomas ...225, 247 Indulgence.. .74 King, Sir Peter. ..256 Mapletoft,Manichaeans.. John .I 80.. .g9 Hewley suit.. .3 37 Industrial enterprises.. .108- King's Head Society.. .203 Heywood, Oliver.. .287 109 Kippis, Andrew ...23, 177,219 Maris, Mercy (see Doddridge) IEibbert, Robert.. .333 Indwelling scheme, I 08 Kirkpatrick, Hezekiah.. .265 Marryatt, Zephania h.. .203 High Commission Court.. .g6 Inspiration.. .go6 .Krasinski, Count W. S.. ..5 8 Marshall, Stephen.. .106 Hilary, St. of Poitiers.. .23, Ireland, characterized.. .3o, Martin, Samuel.. .338 196 I 68 1,actantius.. .a3 Martindale, Adam.. .243 Hill, Thomas.. .76 Irenaeus, St. 23, 305 Lambert, James.. .27o Martineau, James. ..27, 163, Hoadly, Ben jamin.. I 50, 2 2 2, Irish Meeting-houses.. I 36 . . Lardner, Nathaniel.. .48, I 49, 2169 273, 333 244 Irish Protestants.. .I I I 202, 248 Mary I....I~ Hoadly, John.. .25 G Isaiah 18, 280 ... Latham, Ebenezer.. .208 Mary 11.. ..l02 Holcot, Robert.. .23 Jacombe, Samuel.. .10 I Latin ...7 6, 78, 212-213 Mason, John ...226, 263 Holland, Lord.. .3 36 Jal, Augustin.. .I 72, 175 Laud, William.. .48, 96 Maxentius, Johannes.. .23 Hollis, Thomas.. .264 James I1.... 112-113 Lavington, John.. .I 32, I 34 Mead, Matthew.. .1.25 Homer ... 161 James VI. .. .p Le Clerc, Jean 166, 174 Melanchthon, Philip.. .2o, 24, Horsley, Samuel.. .303 ... James, Jonathan.. .gg, 108 Lectures : 37 Howe, John.. I 40 . Jebb, John.. .26g, 270 Merchants'. .. I 3 3, I 40 Mbnage, Gilles.. .I 66 Huguenot Refugees.. I I I, . Jeff reys, George .. .7 5 Salters' Hall.. .I g 3 Mere Christians.. .62, 251 129, 167 Jekyl, Sir Joseph ... 143 Legate, Bartholomew.. .274 Methodism ...199, 218, 232, Humanity of Christ.. .248-249 Jennings, David.. ,149, 205, Leibnitz, Gottfried W ., von Hume, David.. .48, 314 .. . 234, 255, 318 206, 209, 21 I I 66 Milbourne, Luke.. .I 14 Hungary ...g 1-52, 59, 62 Jennings, John. ..206, 203, Libraries : Milton, John ...3g, 107, 276 Hunt, Jeremiah ... 149, I 53, 209, 211-212, 215, 289 Bishopthorpe. ..76 Minor Church ...53-5 8 204 Jesuits ...53, 56, 160-161 Bodleian .. .80 Missions, foreign.. .235-236 Hunt, John IS Jews 24, 114, 272 ... Chetham's .. .go, 8 I Missionary hints.. .328 Huntingdon, ~ounkssof (I) Joachim of Flores.. .P 3 Northampton.. .79 Wolinos, Miguel de ...g 243 John Casimir 8 ...... S St. Victor ...3 2 Montaigne, M,ichel, de.. .I 59, Huntingdon, Countess of (2) John Damascen, St.. ..2g Summerville.. g I 80 243 . ... Johnson, John.. .3 I 8-3 I g Lindsey, Hannah.. .P j2, 2 54 Montgomery, Henry.. .334 Huntingdon, Earl of (I)... Johnson, Joseph., .267 Lindsey, Robert.. .243 More, Henry ...197 243, 246, 249 Johnson, Samuel. ..q, 168, Lindsey, Theophilus.. I I 8, Morell, John.. g g I Huntingdon, Earl of (2) . . ... 237 218, 221, 241-282, 286, Morkri, Louis.. .I 73-1 74 243, 264 Johnsonians.. .3 I g 293, 295, 297, 301, 302) Morton, Charles.. .6g, 74, 8 5, Hutcheson, Francis.. .67 Jollie, Timothy.. ,202, 204 309, 314 86, 87-88 Hutchinson, Francis.. .67 Jonah.. .26 Linen Company.. .~og Moses.. .jg, 302 Hutchinsonians.. .3g Jones, Jeremiah.. .a05 Eocke, John.. .77,204, 207 Moyses, Rab.. .23 Hutton, Matthew.. ,247-248 Jones, John 257 ... Louis XTV., .. I 62 Muhammad ...23 INDEX INDEX

Muhammadans ...g I, 114, Pauli, Gregory. ..54-5, 61, 63 Sabellius.. .I g6 272, 275 Paulmier, Pierre. ..36 Sabellians... 114, 116, 251, Miinster, Sebastian.. .33 Paulus Burgensis.. -23 2.52, 258, 272, 319 Peel, Sir Robert.. .I 77 Saints, cultus of.. .16 I Neal, Daniel.. .14g, 203, 204 Peirce, James .. . I 24- I 48, I 96, Sale, Georqe.. .I 7I Nestonans.. .258 202, 226, 229 SaltersJ Hall ... 123-153, 189, Newcome, William.. .go4 Pell, William.. .TO 309 195, 204, 231 Newman, Cardinal.. .I 78 Penn, William.. .1o4, I I g Prison reform.. .~og Sancha, Queen.. .g Newton, Isaac.. .zoq, 205 Pepys, Samuel...g3, 117 Protestant IXssenters.. .I 24 Savile, Sir George.. .262 126, 298 Nicholls, William.. .I 25 Persecution.. .I 69 Schism Act ... 136, 142 i . .". Ptolemy, Claudius.. .28, 33 Non jurors.. .I I I Peter, St.. ..40 Scholefield, Radcliffe.. ,290 Non-trinitarians.. .54 Peter de Aliaco ...23 .* 1 Pulmonary circulation.. .g6 Schools, Nonconformist.. .8 g North, Baron.. .262 Peter, Lombard ...23 Puritans.. .5 I, 96 Scotland, characterized.. .2g Northumberland, Countess of Philip 11.. ..1o8 Pusey, Edward Bouverie.. .5 I Secker, Thomas.. .eoz, 23 5 ...248 Pitman, Isaac.. .g7 Pyrrhus ...173 Seddon, John.. .248 Northumberland, Duke of Plato ...7 I Serveto, Antonio... 8, I 3 ... 253 Platts, John.. .324 Quaker.. .I I 2 Serveto, JuAn.. -8, I I Northumberlanu, Duke of Plutarch'...~59, 180 Quintana, JuBn de .. . I 6, 20, Serveto, Marco Antonio.. .I 2 21, 22, 24 (2) -244 Poland.. .g I sqq. Servetus, Michael.. .3-41, 50, Nye, Philip.. ,106 Polish Bible.. .56 Qor&n,the ...23 325 Nye, Stephen.. .63, IOG-108, Polish exiles ...61, 110-1 I I Setzer, Johann ...20 Pompey. .. 173 Rabelais, Fran~ois...32 Shaftesbury, Earl of .. . I 66 113, 114, 115, 247, 251, Radecki, Valentine.. gg 252 Pope, Alexander.. .68 b...$j : . Sharp, John ...75, 76 Popes : Raikes, Robert .. .2 5 5 Shawcross, Richard.. .3 33 Alexander VII.. .5 8 Rak6w ...54-59 Sherlock, William.. .196 Occam, William.. 23 . . Clcment VII.. I 7 Raleigh, Sir Walter.. I 7I Shortland.. .g7, 215-216 .3ecolampadius, Johannes, 25 .. . Clement XIII.. .so Ramus, Peter.. .8 I Shutc, John (see Barrington) Oldfield, John.. .263 . Gregory I.. ..30 .-i Reid, Thomas.. .g I 4 Shuttlewood, John., .89 Old field, Joshua.. .I 45 Gregory XIII.. .46, 50 Relapsed, the.. .I 6 I Sibylline verses.. .I 4 Ordination. 148, 230-23 I . .. Julius 111.. .. I g Remonstrant .. .206 Sichem, Christopher.. .6 Orphic hymn.. .I 4 Remonstrant Synod.. .3 34 Siennynski, James.. .S 5 Orthodoxy.. ,225, 299 Leo XIII.. .. I I I Prayer Book.. ,250-252, 296- Republicans.. .2g3-294 Siennynski, John.. .~q Orton, Job 195, 210, 217, ... Praxeas .. . I g6 RevBs, Casa...ro Smethurst, John.. ,334 241 Pre-existence of Christ.. .Igr5 RevCs, Pedro Antonio de.. .I 2 Smith, John ... 116 Presbyterian Separation., .7q I Ricardus de Media Villa.. .23 Socinians...~g, 114, 126, 167, Pagnino, Sanctes. ..24, 36 Presbyterianism : Rich, Jeremy ...216 251~~258,272, 274 Paine, Thomas.. .zg3-294, Exeter.. .I 30 Richardson, Samuel.. .I go Socinianlsm.. .roe, I 28, I 96, 306, 324 French.. .I zg Robertson, William.. .2 5 5- 206, 264, 290 Palmer, Thomas Fyshe .. ,270 Irish ...334 259, 266, 270 Somerset, Duke of.. ,244 Papinian .. . I 5 3 Scottish ...g I, 185, 187 Robinson, Robert.. .27g, 322 Sozzini, Fausto ~aulo,.:5, I 3, Parr, John ... 132 Presbyterians, so-called.. . Rousseau, Jean Jacques ... 314 26, 27, 81,-246, 272 . ; Parr, Samuel.. .326 130, 139, 148, 217, 229, Rowan, Archibald Hamilton Spaniards, characterised.. .3 I Patripassianism .. . I g6 337 .*.334 Stadion, Christopher von.. .2o Patrolatry. ..274, 277 Price, Richard ...293, 297, 307 Rowe, Thomas.. .2o g Statham, Wjlliam.. ,336 .. Paul, St. ...q o, 280 Price, Sir Robert.. .s ag Russell, James .. .26g Stillingfleet, Edward.. .74 INDEX INDEX Vergil ...14, 161 Whichcote, Benjamin.. .~oz, Stogdon, Hubert.. .I 28 Tucker, Abraham.. .28 I Subscription 231, 2.t3, 251, Turner,William 260,263 Vesa le, -4ndt-6...3 2 105 ...... Vesey, John.. I I 2 Whitefield, George.. 48, I 99, 257, 258 Tyrwhitt, Robert.. ,269 . Victoria, Queen.. I 5 7, 242 226 Sunday Schools. ..as;, 263 I . Vidler, VSTilliam...3 22-323 Wilcox, Daniel.. .I qg Swift, Janathan.. .256 Uniformity Act.. .68 Villanovanus.. .28 Wilkins, John.. .102 Sykes, John.. .3 I 6 Unipersonality of God.. .I on, Wilks, John.. .3 36 Symonds, John.. .208 Villanueva de Sigena.. .7- I I 107, 114, 272, 275 Voltaire ... 172, 259, 314 William 111... . I I I Unitarian Associations.. .2gc;, Williams, Daniel.. .I 40 Tachella, Ben jamin.. .I 76 301 Williams, John.. go8 Tayler, John James.. .p, I 73, Unitarian Book Societies.. Wakefield, Gilbert.. .269 . . Walker, George., .g8 Willis, Robert ...28 207, 2732 333 275, 297 Wallis, John.. .196, 247 T%7ilson,Walter.. .232 Taylor, Jeremy . ..g7 Unitarian Chapel.. .267, 268, Walpole, Horace.. .3 I 4 Winchester, Elbanan.. .322 Taylor, John ... 195, 245, 293, 278, 297 Wiszowaty, Andrew.. .61 ,6z Unitarian Church.. .63, 273 Warburton, William.. .224, 305) 338 Witchcraft.. .I 68 Iaylor, William.. ,273 Unitarian congreg?tions.. I I 7 250 . Ward, Samuel.. .g6 Withers, John.. .I g4 Tertullian .2 z I I .. Unitarian name.. .qg sqq, 3 Warren, Matthew.. .82 Wladyslaw IV.. ..57 Thom, John ~amilton..I 04 . 272, 275 Warren, Thomas.. .26g Wolverhampton suit.. .3 36 Three Denominations.. .13 I, Unitarian religion.. .so, 63 Watts, Isaac ...144, 193, 195, Worthington, John.. .102 Unitarian Tracts.. I I g, 247, 141 . 196-198, 200, 204, 20 5, TVright, Anne.. .3 I 5 Tillotson, John.. .75, 102, 10 7. 20 8 Wright, John ...335-33 6 10s Wellbeloved, Charles.. .22 I, Wright, John (2) .. .3 3 5. 'Toland, John.. .I I 5 221, 271, 290, 295 271, 295 Wright, Richard.. .3 I g Toleration.. .g8, 141 United Brethren.. .I gg Toleration Act (1689). .69, Welsh Biblc ...10s . Unity of God ...219, 275 Wesley, John...@, 5 I, 94, Yates, James ...273 114, 200, 225 Universalists.. .l22 187, 199, 216, 233, 272 Toleration Act (1779).. ,200, Universities : Zadrik, Jacob.. .57,58 262 Wesley, Samuel ...87 Aberdeen.. .2 33 Westbury, Baron.. .242 Zinzendorf, Nicolaus Ludwig Tollin, Henri Wilhelm Nath- Cambridge.. .6g, 72, 204, von 236 anael 8, g, 11, 12, 14,23 Wetenhall, Edward.. .I I 2 ...... 2072 233, 243 Wezyk, Jan.. .57 Zoelen, Van.. .I 63 Tong, MTilliam...204 Durham.. .7o, 20 I Toulmin, Joshua.. ,325 Edinburgh. ..71, 72 Transubstantiation.. .I 6 I Geneva ...7 o, 161 Transylvania.. .so, 60 Glasgow ...256, 259 Trevor, Henry.. .g I g Harvard ...88, 325 Trinitarian.. .qg- 50, 292 Leiden .. .202 Trinitarianism.. .I 03, I 50 Nonconf ~i~~ist...2o I Trinity, the ...g 8, 107, I 14, Oxford ...69, 72, 73, 7S, 127, I371 143, 146, 19.5, 85, 202, 233 246 Paris.. .3 2, 202 Trinity Act.. .27r, 298 Rotterdam.. .163 Tritheism.. .I 96 Stamford.. .6g Trustees : Toulouse.. .I 3, 16, 25, I 59, Coward.. .2 I 8, 220, 290 I 60 Hibbert ... 158 Zaragoza ...12 Radcliffe ...235 'CVilliams'. .. I 49, 290 Velasco,Pedro Gonzales dc... 6 f BY THE SAME AUTHOR. I Heresy : its Ancient Wrongs and Modern / Rights in these Kingdoms. BY ALEXANDERI GORDON,M.A. 88 pp. Cloth, IS. 6d. net. (Lilzdsey CONTENTS PAGE Press.) " Though Mr. 'Cordon's pages are packed almost to overflowing with I. THE PERSONALITYOF MICHAEL facts which he has rescued from obscurity, his narrative is by no means SERVETUS lacking in personal colour. The appendix of notes, extending to thirty pages, reveals the range of scholarship in. almost forgotten fields which has 11. THETERCENTENNIAL OF A NAME gone to the making of the sparkling narrative of his lecture."-Manchester 111. EARLYNONFORMITY AND EDUCATION. Guardian. IV. THOMASFIRMIN, THE PHILANTHROPIST V. THE STORYOF SALTERS"HALL / Freedom after Ejection. A review (1690-1692) of / VI. PETERBAYLE AND HISDICTIONARY . . 1 Presbyterian and Congregational Nonconformity in l VII. PHILIPDODDRIDGE AND THE CATHO- I England and Wales. Edited by ALEXANDERGORDON, I LICITY OF THE OLD DISSENT . M.A. Fcp. 4to. pp. viii + 400. Cloth, 15s. net. VIII. THEOPHILUSLINDSEY AND HIS CHAPEL (Man~hesterUfiiversity P~ess.)

IX. THOMASBELSHAM, HIS PLACEIN THE The manuscript upon which the present publication is founded is in the UNITARIANMOVEMENT . nature of a review or survey begun in 1690, of the state of the several counties in England and Wales during the years 1690 to 1692. It enumerates the Dissenting Ministers, whether settled or itinerant, notes their particular personal circumstances, states the places at which their meetings were held, or might reasonably be begun, with the amount of financial support in each case. It also gives the names of the students who were being educated m 66 University learning." I In addition to writing a commentary on the manuscript, Mr. Gordon ( has added a copious index to the place-names and the persons mentioned, supplementing the latter with biographical details of a most elaborate nature.

LINDSEY PRESS, 5 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 2 i ( The Cheshire Classis. Minutes 1691-1745. Edited i for the Provincial Assembly of Lancashire and Cheshire l by ALEXANDERGORDON, M.A., 8$ X 62, vii. + 220 pp. l (Chiswick Press.) Orders to Messrs. Rawson & Co., 1 IG New Brown Street, Manchester. 10s. 6d. post free. 1l This volume forms a valuable sequel to Mr. Cordon's " Freedom after Ejection." The earlier volume presented a vivid commentary on the condition and the activities of the old dissenters in the last decade of the seventeenth century. In the record of the Cheshire Classics the story is carried on to well nigh half way through the eighteenth century; it is a welcome contribution to sound historical knowledge and indispensable to those who would understand aright the traditions and the ideals which have been handed on from those days down to our own. The value of the record I is very considerably enhanced by the sympathetic imagination and wide / knowledge which characterizes Mr. Cordon's interpretation of events and / commentary upon them.

Heads of English Unitarian History. BY I ALEXANDERGORDON, M.A. 138 pp. IS. net. (Lindsey Press.)

This book contains an outline history of the Unitarian movement, and i includes also essays on " Baxter, as a founder of Liberal Nonconformity," / and Priestley, as a Pioneer in Theological Science." I i " This very important little book has a value quite beyond its modest pretensions. Principal Gordon's name has long been known as that of an , authority on all matters of Nonconformist history, and his erudition on the subject of this volume is unique."-Inquirer.

LINDSEY PRESS, 5 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 2 Y