within one year next before election, taken the sacrament of the supper according to the rites of the church of England. This state of things, for the present, was not felt to be any very great grievance by the protestant dissenters; for, in 1663, Baxter, at a meeting of ministers, advocated communion in the parish churches; and at another meeting, in 1666, it was agreed that communion with the church of England was in itself lawful and good. The first law, requiring the taking of the sacrament, was passed in the 3d James I., and imposed that ordinance as well as general conformity on converted recusants. But this measure was only considered as a test against Catholicism, and was objected to only by Catholics; there is no trace of the legislature conceiving that a protestant would object to such a conformity. Matters were indeed changed as soon as a protestant party in the kingdom felt themselves necessitated to declare their entire dissent from the episcopalian church, under the operation of the act of uniformity; but till then the Catholics alone were affected by the sacramental test. The second "bulwark of the constitution" against sectaries, viz. the test act, passed in 1672. At this time there was a general feeling of the necessity for as close a union as possible of all protestants; and, under this feeling, the protestant dissenters, "that an effectual security might be formed against popery," allowed an act to be passed, nay, assisted it through its various stages with a hearty and effectual co-operation, by which the taking of the sacrament, according to the usage of the church of England, was rendered a necessary qualification for any office, civil or military, under government. Different attempts were subsequently made to introduce a test which might distinguish between protestants and papists; but these were as often defeated by the court and high church party, who even scrupled not to resort to such a mean trick as that of stealing a bill for relieving the dissenters when waiting the king's signature. At the accession of William, the feeling against dissenters was still as strong, though that monarch, conscious of his obligations to his protestant dissenting subjects, struggled hard to relieve them. "I hope," he said to parliament, "you are all sensible that there is a necessity for some law to settle the oaths to be taken by all persons to be admitted to such places. I recommend it to your care to make a speedy provision for it; and as I doubt not but you will sufficiently provide against papists, so I hope you will leave room for the admission of all protestants that are able and willing to serve." The churchmen, however, succeeded in preserving their monopoly. Early in the reign of George I. some symptoms of relenting appeared amongst them in the repeal of the occasional conformity act; and it was in the debates and discussions attendant on this measure, that these controversies, in which Sherlock headed one party, and Hoadly the other, took their rise. Into a review of the arguments advanced on either side, our limits preclude us entering; nor will many of our readers think it at all necessary, now that these infamous statutes are repealed. Sherlock argued a bad case with great ability, and was supported by Snape, Trapp, Hare, and Stebbing; Hoadly maintained the opposite and better argument with equal ability, and confessedly better temper and numbered Sykes, Jackson, Pyle, and Balguy, amongst his coadjutors. Sherlock drew his pen in a far better cause when he took up Au thony Collins's 'Discourse on the Grounds, and Reasons of the Christian Religion,' wherein that celebrated freethinker having first endeavoured to fix the evidence of Christianity chiefly on the Old Testament prophecies, proceeds to explain these prophecies in such a manner, that they may seem to have no better foundation than the pagan oracles. The dean of Chichester answered Collins in six discourses On the Use and Intent of Prophecy,' which were most favourably received. In these discourses Sherlock shows that the prophetical portions of scripture form a regular and connected series, in opposition to Collins's assertion, that they were only so many isolated vaticinations; he proves that they were all subservient to one and the same administration of Providence, and that they could not be the effect of art or religious fraud. In the first year of George II. Sherlock was advanced to the episcopal see of Bangor. Soon after his elevation he again appeared as the acute and successful defender of revelation in a very ingenious treatise, entitled The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus,' which ran through fourteen editions in a very short time. In this treatise he applies himself to answer Woolston's allegorization of the miracles of our Lord; and he does so in a most acute and triumphant manner. The Very soon after he appeared in the house of lords, Sherlock vindicated his claims to the character of a first-rate debater, in an argument against the judgment of the court of king's bench in Dr Bentley's cause, respecting the visitorial jurisdiction of the bishop of Ely over Trinity college, which had been carried by a writ of error to the lords. judgment of the inferior court was reversed by a majority of 28 peers against 16, owing to the resistless reasonings of Sherlock. He had previously contended with equal though less worthy success against the famous pension bill, which had passed the commons unresisted by Walpole, who probably did not choose to incur the popular odium which would have attached to his resisting it. Sherlock spoke with great animation against the bill when brought up to the lords, and it was ultimately negatived after a very keen debate. His speeches on the following subjects are printed in the collection of parliamentary debates: Against Lord Bathurst's motion, in May, 1733, for an account of the produce of the South sea directors' forfeited estates;—for a clause in the Mortmain bill, in 1736, affecting the benefit of Queen Anne's bounty;-in the same year, against the bill for the more easy recovery of tithes from quakers;-in 1737, against the motion for declaring the sentence of the high court of justiciary against Captain Porteous. He also made a long speech in favour of the convention with Spain in 1738; and another, in 1740, against the bill for retailing spirituous liquors. In 1741 he strenuously exerted himself in defence of his patron, Sir Robert Walpole, when assailed by the whole weight of the opposition, and procured a prorogation of parliament for the purpose of screening the minister. Pope alludes to this in his Epilogue to the Satires,' when he says,— "Sherlock, if he lives, will love the prince. F In 1734 he succeeded his old antagonist Hoadly in the see of Salisbury; and on the death of Archbishop Potter, in 1747, he was offered the primacy, but declined it on account of the ill state of his health In 1749, however, he allowed himself to be translated to the see of London. In the same year he published that edition of his discourses on prophecy, which was attacked by Dr Middleton with so much fury, that Warburton, in a letter to Hurd, under date 11th July, 1750, says of Middleton's tract: "I think it the weakest as well as warmest pamphlet the Dr ever wrote. But I agree with you, there is no harm done. It may be of use to make people understand themselves.” 6 In 1750 the bishop of London published A Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Inhabitants of London and Westminster, on occasion of the late Earthquakes.' The cause and design of this letter will be better understood from the following extract from Smollett's history of that year:-"The month of January and the beginning of February were distinguished, the first day by a very remarkable Aurora Borealis appearing at night to the north-east, of a deep and dusky red colour, like the reflection of some great fire, for which it was by many people mistaken; and the coruscations, unlike those that are generally observed, did not meet in the zenith, but in a point some degrees to the southward. February was ushered in by terrible peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and such a tempest of wind, hail, and rain, as overwhelmed with fear and consternation the inhabitants of Bristol, where it chiefly raged. On the eighth day of the same month, between twelve and one in the afternoon, the people of London were still more dreadfully alarmed by the shock of an earthquake, which shook all the houses with such violence, that the furniture rocked on the floors, the pewter and porcelain rattled on the shelves, the chamber-bells rang, and the whole of this commotion was attended with a clap or noise resembling that produced by the fall of some heavy piece of furniture. The shock extended through the cities of London and Westminster, and was felt on both sides the river Thames, from Greenwich to the westward of London; but not perceptible at a considerable distance. On the very same day of the next month, between five and six o'clock in the morning, the inhabitants of the metropolis were again affrighted by a second shock, more violent than the first, and abundantly more alarming, as it waked the greater part of the people from their repose. It was preceded by a succession of thick low flashes of lightning, and a rumbling noise, like that of a heavy carriage rolling over a hollow pavement. The shock itself consisted of repeated vibrations, which lasted some seconds, and violently shook every house from top to bottom. Again the chairs rocked, the shelves clattered, the small bells rang, and in some places public clocks were heard to strike. Many persons, roused by this terrible visitation, started naked from their beds, and ran to their doors and windows in distraction; yet no life was lost, and no house overthrown by this concussion, though it was so dreadful as to threaten an immediate dissolution of the globe. The circumstance, however, did not fail to make a deep impression upon ignorant, weak, and superstitious minds, which were the more affected by the consideration that the two shocks were periodical; that the second, which happened exactly See our notice of Middleton. one month after the first, had been the more violent; and that the next, increasing in proportion, might be attended with the most dismal consequences. This general notion was confirmed, and indeed propagated, among all ranks of people, by the admonitions of a fanatic soldier, who publicly preached up repentance, and boldly prophesied that the next shock would happen on the same day of April, and totally destroy the cities of London and Westminster. Considering the infectious nature of fear and superstition, and the emphatic manner in which the imagination had been prepared and prepossessed, it was no wonder that the prediction of this illiterate enthusiast should have contributed, in a great measure, to augment the general terror. The churches were crowded with penitent sinners; the sons of riot and profligacy were overawed into sobriety and decorum. The streets no longer resounded with execrations, or the noise of brutal licentiousness; and the hand of charity was liberally opened. Those whom fortune had enabled to retire from the devoted city, fled to the country with hurry and precipitation, insomuch that the highways were encumbered with horses and carriages. Many who had, in the beginning, combated these groundless fears with the weapons of reason and ridicule, began insensibly to imbibe the contagion, and felt their hearts fail in proportion as the hour of probation approached; even science and philosophy were not proof against the unaccountable effects of this communication. In after ages it will hardly be believed, that on the evening of the eighth day of April, the open fields that skirt the metropolis were filled with an incredible number of people assembled in chairs, in chaises, and coaches, as well as on foot, who waited in the most fearful suspense until morning and the return of day disproved the truth of the dreaded prophecy. Then their fears vanished; they returned to their respective habitations in a transport of joy, and were soon reconciled to their abandoned vices, which they seemed to resume with redoubled affection, and once more bade defiance to the vengeance of heaven." In this excited state of public feeling, the bishop's pamphlet was bought up and read with such avidity, that more than 100,000 copies were sold within a month. In 1759 Sherlock published an excellent charge to his clergy, in which, greatly to his honour, he expatiates very forcibly on the evils of non-residence. This great man died at the advanced age of 84, on the 18th of July, 1761. He died worth £120,000, which Dr King asserts he had principally amassed out of the revenues of his metropolitan see, but which was certainly in great part the produce of his own private resources. William Law. BORN A. D. 1686.-DIED A. D. 1761. THIS popular divine was born at Kingscliffe, in Northamptonshire, in 1686. He was educated at Cambridge, where he took his degree of M. A. in 1712. He refused to take the oaths after the accession of George I., and, in consequence, lost his fellowship, and was considered ever afterwards as a non-juror; yet it appears that he for some time officiated as a curate in the metropolis. Soon after his resignation of his fellowship he went to reside at Putney, where he was tutor to Edward Gibbon, the father of the great historian. From Putney he removed to Kingscliffe, where he resided as chaplain to two widow-ladies of eminent piety, who, being of congenial sentiments, united their households, and placed them under the charge of this good man. He died in this situation in 1761. His works are rather numerous. They consist of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life;' A Practical Treatise on Christian Perfection Remarks on the Fable of the Bees; The absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Entertainments;' The Case of Reason, or Natural Religion fully and fairly stated;'An Answer to Dr Trapp's Discourse on the Folly of Sin, and being righteous over-much;' The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration; The Spirit of Prayer;' The Spirit of Love; The Way to Divine Knowledge;' An Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve the Truths of the Gospel;' An Answer to Hoadly on the Eucharist;' A Confutation of Warburton's Projected Defence;' with various other theological and controversial pieces, including some translations from Behmen, all of which have been collected and published in nine volumes octavo. 6 The historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' has borne a very ample and interesting testimony to the singular worth of his father's tutor. "In our family," says he, "he left the reputation of a worthy and pious man, who believed all that he professed, and practised all that he enjoined. The character of a non-juror, which he maintained to the last, is a sufficient evidence of his principles in church and state; and the sacrifice of interest to conscience will be always respectable. His theological writings-which our domestic connexion has tempted me to peruse-preserve an imperfect sort of life, and I can pronounce with more confidence and knowledge on the merits of the author. His last compositions are darkly tinctured by the incomprehensible visions of Jacob Behmen;1 and his discourse on the absolute unlawfulness of stage entertainments is sometimes quoted for a ridiculous intemperance of sentiment and language. But these sallies of religious phrenzy must not extinguish the praise which is due to Mr William Law as a wit and a scholar. His argument on topics of less absurdity is specious and acute; his manner is lively, his style forcible and clear,—and, had not his vigorous mind been clouded by enthusiasm, he might be ranked with the most agreeable and ingenious writers of the times. While the Bangorian controversy was a fashionable theme, he entered the lists on the subject of Christ's kingdom, and the authority of the priesthood; against the 'Plain Account of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper' he resumed the combat with Bishop Hoadly, the object of whig idolatry and tory abhorrence; and, at every weapon of attack and defence, the non-juror, on the ground which is common to both, approves himself at least equal to the prelate. On the appearance of 'The Fable of the Bees,' he drew his pen against the licentious doctrine that private vices are public benefits, and morality as well as religion must join in his applause. Law's master-work, the 'Serious Call,' is still read as a popular and powerful book of devotion. His precepts are rigid, but they are founded on the Gospel; his satire is sharp, but it is 1 Sce Bishop Horne's Cautions to the Readers of Mr Law.' |