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Surely such language is sufficient to clear the abbot of Clugni from the charge brought against him; is it not (to say the least) going as far as any honest friend of expediency would venture to go? But though, from finding that other matter, which I did not like to pass over, has taken up more room than I expected, I have hitherto said nothing of the more agreeable part of his correspondence with Bernard and others, yet I hope to shew, not merely for his sake, but for the illustration of his age, that he truly deserved his title of " venerable,” by the promotion of religion and learning.

ANTIQUITIES, ETC.

DISPOSAL OF HIGHER CHURCH PREFERMENT.

(Continued from vol. xi., p. 632.)

JAMES I. continued. (ARCHBISHOP ABBOTT.)-1610. Bishop Neile "being translated to the see of Lichfield in the end of September...... before going off from the Deanery of Westminster, which he held in commendam with his bishoprick of Rochester, obtained for him (his chaplain, Laud) of King James (to whom not otherwise known but by his recommendation), the reversion of a prebend in that church: which though it fell not to him until ten years after, yet it fell at last, and thereby neighboured him to the court.* And on the other side, his good friend and tutor, Dr. Buckeridge,† being nominated successor unto Neile in the see of Rochester, laid a good ground for his succession in the presidentship of St. John's College, thereby to render him considerable in the university. But this was both suspected and feared by Abbot, who being consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield on the 3rd of Dec. 1609, and thence removed to London in the end of Jan. next ensuing, resolved to hinder the design with all care and diligence. . . . . To which end he made great complaints against him to Thomas Lord Elsmer, Lord Chancellor of England many years

Vid. sup. cit. p. 508.

↑ "It proved no ordinary happiness to the scholar to be principled under such a tutor, who knew as well as any other of his time, how to employ the two-edged sword of holy scripture, of which he made good proof in the times succeeding, brandishing it on one side against the papists, and on the other against the puritans or nonconformists. But before the publishing of these books, or either of them, his eminent abilities in the pulpit had brought him into just credit with King James, insomuch that he was chosen to be one of the four (Dr. Andrews, Bishop of Chichester, Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Rochester, and Dr. King, then Dean of Christ Church, and not long after Bishop of London, were the other three) who were appointed to preach before his majesty at Hampton Court in the month of September, 1606, for the reduction of the two Melvins and other presbyterian Scots to a right understanding of the church of England. And though the other three, with the like abilities and elocution, had discharged their parts, yet gained they nothing on the Scots, who were resolved, like the deaf adder in the Psalmist, not to give ear unto the charmers, charmed they never so wisely. But whatsoever they lost in the opinion of that proud and refractory generation, they gained exceedingly on the King, and great preferments for themselves, Bishop Andrews being not long after removed to the see of Ely, Bishop Barlow unto that of Lincoln, Dr. King preferred to the see of London, and Dr. Buckridge to that of Rochester...... Of this man I have spoken the more at large, that, finding the temper of the tutor, we may the better judge of those ingredients which went to the making up of the scholar.”—(Héylyn's Life of Laud, pp. 44, 45.)

VOL. XII-July, 1837.

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before, and newly then made Chancellor of the University, on the death of the Lord Archbishop Bancroft, insinuating to him, That he was, at the least, a papist in heart, and cordially addicted unto popery,' &c. . . . The chancellor hereupon makes his address unto the king, informing him of all which had been told him concerning Laud, which was like to have destroyed his hopes to that design, (notwithstanding his petition to the king to believe otherwise of him,) if Bishop Neile, his constant and unmoveable friend, had not acquainted his majesty with the abilities of the man, and the old grudge which Abbot had conceived against him."

1611. "But to go forward where we left. . . . His good friend and patron, Bishop Neile, then being of Rochester, had procured him a turn before the king at Theobald's, on the 17th of Sept. 1609, and by the power and favour of the same man, being then translated unto Lichfield, he was sworn one of his majesty's chaplains in ordinary, on the 3rd of November, anno 1611, yet so that he continued his dependencies on his former lord, to whom he was as dear and necessary as before he was. . . . Having thus set foot within the court, he promised himself great hopes of some present preferment; but those hopes deceived him.... For whensoever any opportunity was offered for his advancement, Archbishop Abbot (who had before defamed him to the Lord Chancellor Egerton, and by his mouth unto the king,) would be sure to cast somewhat in his dish.... These artifices so estranged the king's countenance from him, that having waited four years, and seeing his hopes more desperate than at the first, he was upon the point of leaving the court, and retiring wholly into his college but first he thought it not amiss to acquaint his dear friend and patron, Bishop Neile, both with his resolution and the reasons of it. But Neile was not to be told what he knew before; and therefore answered, that he was very sensible of those many neglects which were put upon him, and saw too clearly that he had been too long under a cloud; but howsoever advised him to stay one year longer, and that if he had no better encouragement within that year, he would consent to his retirement. . . . It had pleased God so to dispose of his affairs, that before the year of expectation was fully ended, his Majesty began to take him into his better thoughts, and for a testimony thereof bestowed upon him the deanery of Gloucester, void by the death of the reverend right learned Dr. Field, whose excellent works will keep his name alive to succeeding ages: a deanery of no very great value, but such as kept him up in reputation, and made men see he was not so contemptible in the eyes of the King as it was generally imagined.

"But before we follow him to Gloucester, we must take Oxon in our way, in which happened no small alteration since we left it last. Dr. Henry Holland, rector of Exeter College, and his Majesty's Professor for Divinity, having left this life in the end of the year 1611, it seemed good to Archbishop Abbot to make use of his power and favour with King James, for preferring to that place his elder brother, Dr. Robert Abbot, being then Master of Balliol College... Abbot was nominated, not long after, to the bishopric of Salisbury, in the place of Dr. Henry Cotton, who died on the 7th of May next following; and yet this bishopric was not carried so clearly for him, notwithstanding his brother's great power and credit in the court, but that a very strong opposition was made against him, which being overcome at last, he received episcopal consecration on the 3rd of December, leaving the chair to Dr. John Prideaux, rector of Exeter Colledge, who proved a vehement asserter of all the Calvinian rigours in the matter of predestination, and the points depending thereupon."

It appears from the life of Dr. Field (written by his son), that King James "was verie willing to have bestowed upon him the Byshopricke of Salisburie, but the sollicitation of some great ones prevailed with him for another, for Doctor Abbotts, brother to the then Archbyshop of Canterbury. Yet notwithstand

Heylyn's Life of Laud, pp. 55, 56.

+ Ibid. pp. 59-63.

ing he was desirous to preferre him also, and being told that the Byshop of Oxford was at that time verie like to die, he resolved to bestow that Byshopricke upon him, and engaged himself by his promise so to do. He caused Sir George Villiers, who was afterwards Duke of Buckingham, to write unto him to that effect; his letter was as followeth :

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'SIR,-I desire to know whether you will be contented to have a promise of the Byshopricke of Oxford, when it shall fall, and thereupon to come and kiss his majestie's hands, and to keepe withall those benefices you have, and if occasion be, to have a commendam of something else. Hereunto I do expect your answere with all the speed you may. And in the meenetime rest Your very assured Friend, GEORGE VILLIERS.'

'From the Court at Wansted, this 11th of July, 1616.

"But it pleased God to preferre him unto a better place. He never ambitiously sought after preferment; all that he had was in a manner cast upon him. I doubt not but God hath bestowed on him that which was the chief of his desires, and that he is now in rest and happiness. When King James heard of his death, he was very sorrie, and blamed himselfe that he had don no more for him; his words were, I should have done more for that man.'

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"Bishop Hall tells us that, not long before his death, he was like to have bin made Deane of Worcester. In his owne life, written by himselfe, he saith, 'When I was in France, in the attendance of the right honourable the Earle of Carlisle (then Viscount Doncaster), who was sent upon a noble Embassie thither in my absence it pleased his Majestie graciously to conferre upon me the Deanerie of Worcester, which being promised unto me before my departure, was deeply hazarded whiles I was out of sight, by the importunitie and underhand working of some great ones. Doctor Field, the learned and worthy Deane of Gloucester, was by his potent friends put into such assurance of it, that I heard where he tooke care for the furnishing of that ample house; But God fetcht it about for me in that absence and nescience of mine; and that reverend and better-deserving Divine was well satisfied with greater hopes; and soone after exchanged this mortall estate for an immortall and glorious.'

"I have been told," says his son, "by a person of credit, that there was a great friendship between him and Mr. Hooker, which might very well be, they agreeing so well in their judgments, and being both of so suitable a temper, of deep and profound learning, and of remarkable humility."+

"He did not like so much disputing about those high points of predestination and reprobation, which have so much troubled the church of late years, and in ancient times. . . . . . He did not like that men should be so busy in determining what God decrees in heaven, whose counsels are unsearchable, and whose ways are past finding out.

"Being at Oxford, at the Act, when Doctor Abbots, who was then regius professor, and doctor of the chair, first began to read upon those points which are commonly called Arminian points; after he had heard him, being returned unto his lodging, he was very much offended at it, and said unto Doctor Bostock, who was then present with him, You are a young man, and may live to see great troubles in the church of England, occasioned by these disputes. Oxford hath hitherto been free from these disputes, though Cambridge hath been much disquieted with them. They are disputes which have troubled the peace of the church above nine hundred years already, and will not now be ended. In points of such extreme difficulty, he did not think fit to be too positive in defining anything, to turn matters of opinion into matters of faith.' He was one who laboured to heal the breaches of Christendom, and was ready to embrace truth wheresoever he found it. He did not like those which are so much afraid of Romish errors that they run into contrary

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+ Ibid. pp. 19, 20.

Le Neve's Memorials of Field, pp. 15–18. The same, it would appear, who is mentioned in Izaak Walton's Life of Herbert, learned and virtuous man, an old friend of Mr. Herbert's, and then his curate.`

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extremes. His desires, his prayers, his endeavours, were for peace, to make up the breaches of the church, not to widen differences, but to compose them. Not long before his death, he had a purpose to have stated all the questions between the papists and us, which, without doubt, he would have done with a great deal of moderation." *

'In those high points of predestination, the difficulties are so great, that we may well give them over as insuperable. Certainly, Bishop Andrews, one of the greatest divines that our English church hath bred, seems to be of that opinion, in his sermon upon Mary Magdalen, where she is forbidden to touch Christ, he saith, . . . Secrets of state David calls points too high, too wonderful for us to deal with.' (Psalm 131.) If of kings' secrets this may truly be said, may it not as truly of God, of his secret decrees? May not they, for their height and depth, claim not to be meddled with? Yes, sure; and I pray God he be well pleased with the licentious touching, nay, tossing, his decrees of late; this sounding the depths of his judgments with our line and lead, too much presumed upon by some in these days of ours. 'Judicia ejus abyssus multa,' saith the psalmist; His judgments are the great deep. . . . Yet are there in the world, that make but a shallow of this great deep; they have sounded it to bottom. God's secret decrees, they have them at their fingers' ends, and can tell the number and the order of them just. Men that sure must have been in God's cabinet, above the third heaven, where St. Paul never came. Mary Magdalen's touch was nothing to these.'

"I suppose," says Nathaniel Field, "my father and this great divine concurred in their judgments in this particular, as they did in most points. What his thoughts were in matters of religion, he hath in a great measure expressed in his writings, which are the best monuments of his worth, of his piety, his peaceable inclinations and dispositions. Though he be dead, in them he yet liveth; and may he long live to the benefit of succeeding generations.

"He died in the year 1616, November 15th, in the beginning of the 56th year of his age."

Laud was installed in his deanery December 20th. "At the bestowing of which deanery his Majesty told him that he had been informed that there was scarce ever a church in England so ill governed, and so much out of order, as that was, requiring him, in the general, to reform and set in order what he found amiss."§.

"Whilst these things were thus agitated in the reformation of the church of Gloucester, there were other actings in the court, touching the reformation of some things in the university of Oxford. Laud had before informed the Bishop of Lincoln (Neile) concerning the coarse usage which he had from Dr. Abbot, as before was said, which being represented to his Majesty, it was withal insinuated to him what dangers would proceed by the training up of young students in the grounds of Calvinism, if some directions were not issued by his Majesty for the course of their studies. . . . which matter his Majesty having taken into consideration, by the advice of such bishops and others of the clergy as were then about him, upon the 18th of January he despatched those directions following.

"This was the first step towards the suppressing of that reputation which Calvin and his writings had attained unto in that university; and a good step it might have been, if Dr. Goodwin, dean of Christ Church, who was then vice-chancellor, had not been father-in-law to Prideaux, or rather, if Prideaux himself had approved the articles. ... But, howsoever, being published, though it went no further, it gave such a general alarm to the puritan faction, that the terror of it could not be forgotten in twenty years after..... But,

Memorials, pp. 22, 23.

This passage supplies an appropriate commentary on the King's letter to Dr. Abbot. (Vid. sup. p. 511, note.)

Memorials, pp. 54-56. § Heylyn's Laud, p. 64.

Appointed in 1611.

leaving them to the folly of their own affrightments, let us look back unto the King, who, being confident that he had left the university in a ready way for coming to an unity in matters of doctrine, prepared for his journey into Scotland, with a like confidence of effecting an uniformity in forms of worship,-a matter of consequence and weight, and therefore to be managed by able ministers . . . . The known abilities of Laud marked him out for one, which, though it were like to bring a great charge upon him, yet he preferred the reputation before the charge, and cheerfully embraced the service. Nor was it more welcome unto him than grateful to the bishop of Lincoln, assured thereby not only of a trusty friend, but of a sociable companion for that tedious journey.

"But whatsoever the King lost by this journey, I am sure the bishop of Lincoln got well by it. For James, the bishop of Durham, dying during the King's abode in Scotland, his Majesty bestowed upon him that wealthy bishopric. Into this bishopric being canonically confirmed on the 9th of October, he presently set himself on work to repair the palaces and houses belonging to it, which he had found in great decay; but he so adorned and beautified them in a very short space, that they that saw them could not think that they were the same. .... But that which gave him most content was his palace of Durham House, in the Strand, not only because it afforded him convenient room for his own retinue, but because it was large enough to allow sufficient quarters for Buckridge, bishop of Rochester, and Laud, dean of Gloucester, which he enjoyed when he was bishop of St. David's also. Some other quarters were allowed for his old servant, Doctor Linsell; and others for such learned men of his acquaintance as came from time to time to attend upon him,-insomuch as it passed commonly by the name of Durham College. A man of such a strange composition, that whether he were of a larger and more public soul, or of a more uncourtly conversation, it were hard to say.”*

DEVOTIONAL.

FROM THE PARISIAN BREVIARY.

ON THE FEAST OF DEDICATION.

THIS festival is one of the most striking in the Breviary. Beside the office here given, it has an octave, and appointed lectios from the fathers for that and each of the intervening days, which are from Augustine, from Chrysostom, from Cesarius, and the venerable Bede. The hymn for the first vespers, "Urbs Jerusalem beata," is also omitted, as it has already appeared in the "Lyra Apostolica." It may be observed how much we are in this service carried back to the sacred system of the ancient fathers, with whom a fervent piety served as a key to unlock a spiritual meaning in all things, after the example of apostles and our Lord himself, who not only indicated to us that depth of type which is contained in the Old Testament, but also made the door, the well, the flowing water, and every visible object, the vehicles of heavenly instruction. Much is obliged to be omitted for the sake of brevity; but the successive antiphones will serve to shew the gradual rise, throughout the service, into the higher and ulterior sense. The importance given to this festival is probably on account of our Lord's having been present at the Feast of Dedication. But every

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