about a union between the national churches of Scotland and England. The object of this mission was so far accomplished that the bishops were appointed to be perpetual moderators in the diocesan synods, and invested with the power of presentation to benefices, and of deprivation or suspension; the skill and prudence which Abbot exhibited in the discharge of his delicate task, laid the foundation of his rapid preferment. In 1609, upon the death of Dr Overton, bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Dr Abbot was appointed bishop of these united sees: a month afterwards he was translated to London; and on the 2d November, 1610, he was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury.

It is not improbable that he owed his advancement as much to his adulation of his royal master-whose itch for flattery is well known as to the real merit which he unquestionably possessed, and his sincere attachment to the protestant cause, in which his parents nad suffered considerably. In the preface to one of his pamphlets, the following specimen of ridiculous flattery occurs :-Speaking of the king, he says, "whose life hath been so immaculate, and unspotted, &c., that even malice itself, which leaves nothing uusearched, could never find true blemish in it, nor cast probable aspersion on it. Zealous as a David; learned and wise, the Solomon of our age; religious as Josias ; careful of spreading Christ's faith as Constantine the Great; just as Moses; undefiled in all his ways as a Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah; full of clemency as another Theodosius." It would also appear from a letter of King James's to Abbot, first published by Dean Sherlock, that his ideas of regal power were little likely to give offence, even to such a prince as James; nevertheless, Abbot could sometimes oppose the will of his sovereign with great decision and firmness, and his moderation in the exercise of his high functions recommended him greatly to the puritanic and popular party. He strenuously promoted the projected match between the Elector Palatine and the Princess Elizabeth, and performed their nuptial ceremony on the 14th of February, 1612. "It was acceptable news," says Neal, "to the English puritans, to hear of a protestant prince in Bohemia; and they earnestly desired his majesty to support him, as appears by Archbishop Abbot's letter, who was known to speak the sense of that whole party. This prelate being asked his opinion as a privy-councillor, while he was confined to his bed with the gout, wrote the following letter to the secretary of state :-That it was his opinion that the elector should accept the crown; that England should support him openly; and that as soon as news of his coronation should arrive, the bells should be rung, guns fired, and bonfires made, to let all Europe see that the king was determined to countenance him.' The archbishop adds, "It is a great honour to our king, to have such a son made a king; methinks I foresee in this the work of God, that by degrees the kings of the earth shall leave the whore to desolation. Our striking in will comfort the Bohemians, and bring in the Dutch and the Dane, and Hungary will run the same fortune. As for money

and means, let us trust God and the parliament, as the old and honourable way of raising money. This from my bed (says the brave old prelate), September 12, 1619, and when I can stand I will do better service.'

The affair of the divorce of the Lady Essex, has been considered

one of the greatest blemishes of James's reign. The king referred the matter to a court of delegates, consisting of bishops and civilians, which he expected would decide in favour of the divorce; but the archbishop boldly resisted the measure, and sentence was given in the lady's favour. On another occasion, the archbishop set himself against the views and wishes of the king and court, when these ran counter to a higher allegiance which he owed. Happening to be at Croydon, in 1618, on the day when the king's proclamation permitting sports and pastimes on the Sabbath was ordered to be read in all churches, he forbade it to be published in the church of that place. A fatal accident, to which he was made an innocent party, greatly affected him. Whilst enjoying the recreation of hunting in Lord Zouch's park, at Bramzill, in Hampshire, he accidentally killed one of the keepers by a barbed arrow from a cross-bow. Advantage was eagerly taken of this misfortune to his prejudice. Four bishops were waiting for consecration at his hands at this very moment, but refused to receive it from a homicide, whilst his enemies eagerly alleging that he had thereby incurred an irregularity which incapacitated him for performing the of fices of primate, obtained the appointment of a commission of ten persons to inquire into this matter; but the result disappointed them, it being declared that, as the offence was involuntary, it could not affect his archiepiscopal character. His grace, during the remaining twelve years of his life, kept a monthly fast on Tuesday, the day on which the accident happened.

His increasing infirmities prevented him from regularly assisting at the deliberations of the council; but he attended the king in his last illness, and performed the ceremony of the coronation of Charles I. He was never greatly in the new king's favour, in consequence of his vigorously opposing his projected union with a Spanish princess; and upon his refusing to license an assize-sermon preached by Dr Sibthorpe, at Northampton, in 1617, in which that divine attempted to justify a loan which the king had demanded, and advanced many obnoxious principles, he was immediately suspended from all his functions as primate, which were devolved on a commission of five bishops, of whom Laud, the archbishop's enemy, and afterwards his successor, was one. He did not, however, remain long in this situation, for a parliament being absolutely necessary, he was sent for, and restored to his authority and jurisdiction; though he never fully recovered the royal favour, and, upon the birth of the prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II., his rival, Laud, had the honour to perform the ceremony of baptism, as dean of the chapel. Worn out with cares and infirmities, the good archbishop expired at Croydon, on the 5th of August, 1633, in the 71st year of his age. Agreeably to his own desire, he was buried in the church of the Holy Trinity at Guildford, where a stately monument was erected over the grave, bearing his effigy in his robes.

The public character of Archbishop Abbot has been variously estimated by different writers. Clarendon has treated him with considerable severity; but Welwood has done more justice to his merits and abilities. The former says of him :-" He had been head or master of one of the poorest colleges in Oxford, and had learning sufficient for that province. He was a man of very morose manners, and a very sour aspect, which at that time was called gravity; made

bishop before he had been a parson, vicar, or curate, of any parish church of England, or dean, or prebend of any cathedral church; and was, in truth, totally ignorant of the true constitution of the church of England, and the state and interest of the clergy, as sufficiently appears through the whole course of his life. He considered the Christian religion no otherwise than as it abhorred or reviled popery; and valued those men most who did that most furiously. For the strict observation of the discipline of the church, or the conformity to the articles or canons established, he made little inquiry, and took less care; and having himself made a very little progress in ancient and solid study of divinity; he adhered only to the doctrine of Calvin, and for his sake did not think so ill of the discipline as he ought to have done." Dr Welwood thus characterises the archbishop:-"He was a person of wonderful temper and moderation, and in all his conduct showed an unwillingness to stretch the act of uniformity beyond what was absolutely necessary for the peace of the church or the prerogative of the crown. Being not well turned for a court, though otherwise of considerable learning, he was either unwilling or incapable to submit to the humour of the times, and now and then, by an unseasonable stiffness, gave occasion to his enemies to represent him as not well inclined to the prerogative, or too much addicted to popular interest, and therefore not fit to be employed in matters of government." He appears to have been a learned and a conscientious man,-moderate, upon the whole, in his conduct to all parties, and sincerely desirous to promote purity of manners, and soundness of doctrine among the clergy. In his religious opinions he was a rigid Calvinist. The following is a list of his works, as given in Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary :—1st. Quæstiones sex, totidem prælectionibus in Schola Theologica Oxoniæ, pro forma habitis, discussæ et disceptatæ, anno 1597, in quibus e Sacra Scriptura et Patribus, quid statuendum sit definitur. Oxon, 1598, 4to.-reprinted in 1616 at Frankfort. 2d. Exposition on the Prophet Jonah, contained in certain sermons preached in St Marie's church, in Oxford, 1600.—4to. 3d. Answer to the Questions of the Citizens of London, in January, 1600, concerning Cheapside Cross; not printed until 1641. 4th. The Reasons which Dr Hill hath brought for the upholding of Papistry, unmasked, and showed to be very weak, &c. Oxon, 1604, 4to. 5th. A Preface to the examination of George Sprot, &c. 6th. Sermon preached at Westminster, May 26, 1608, at the funeral of Thomas, earl of Dorset, late lord-high-treasurer of England, on Isaiah xl. 6. 1608.-4to. 7th. Translation of a part of the New Testament, with the rest of the Oxford divines, 1611. 8th. Some Memorials touching the nullity between the earl of Essex and his lady, pronounced September 25, 1613, at Lambeth; and the dif

The learned translator of Mosheim censures Lord Clarendon's account of this eminent prelate as most unjust and partial; and in a long note, ably and judiciously appreciates the archbishop's merit and excellence. It was, he shows, by the zeal and dexterity of Abbot, that things were put into such a situation in Scotland as afterward produced the entire establishment of the episcopal order in that nation. It was by the mild and prudent counsels of Abbot, when he was chaplain to the lord-high-treasurer Dunbar, that there was passed a famous act of the general assembly of Scotland, which gave the king the authority of calling all general assemblies, and investing the bishops, or their deputies, with various powers of interference and influence over the Scotch ministers. These facts confute the charge of his disregarding the constitution of the church.

ficulties endured in the same. 9th. A Brief Description of the Whole World, wherein is particularly described all the monarchies, empires, and kingdoms of the same, with their academies, &c. 1617, 4to., frequently reprinted. 10th. A Short Apology for Archbishop Abbot, touching the death of Peter Hawkins, dated October 8, 1621. 11th. Treatise of perpetual visibility and succession of the true church in all ages. London, 1624, 4to.; published without his name; but his arms impaled with those of Canterbury, are put before it. 12th. A Narra tive, containing the true cause of his sequestration and disgrace at court, in two parts; written at Ford, in Kent, 1627-printed in Rushworth's Historical Collections, vol. 1. p. 438-461, and in Annals of King Charles, p. 213–224. 13th. History of the Massacre in the Valteline-printed in the third volume of Fox's Acts and Monuments. 14th. Judgment on bowing at the name of Jesus. Hamburgh, 1632, 8vo.

ROBERT ABBOT, bishop of Salisbury, and elder brother of the former, was born at Guilford, in Surrey, in 1560, and educated at the same school and college with George. He soon became a celebrated preacher, and was chosen lecturer at Worcester, and subsequently rector of All Saints in that city. In 1597, he took the degree of D.D., and in the beginning of James's reign was appointed one of his majesty's chaplains in ordinary. The pedantic monarch was so well pleased with the doctor's book, 'De Antichristo,' that he ordered it to be printed along with his own 'Paraphrase on the Apocalypse,' "by which," says Granger, "he paid himself a much greater compliment than he did the doctor." In 1609 he was elected master of Baliol college; in 1610 he was made prebendary of Normanton; and in 1612 he was appointed regius professor of divinity at Oxford. His vindication of the supreme power of kings, against Bellarmine and Suarez, gave his royal master great satisfaction, and obtained for him the see of Salisbury, in 1615, which, however, he did not long enjoy; his sedentary life and intensely studious habits having brought upon him the disease of gravel, of which he died on the 2d of March, 1618, in the 58th year of his age. His remains were interred in Salisbury cathedral. He wrote:-1st. The Mirror of Popish Subtleties. Lond. 1594, 4to. 2d. The Exaltation of the Kingdom and Priesthood of Christ—sermons on the first seven verses of the 110th Psalm.-Lond. 1601, 4to. 3d. Antichristi Demonstratio, contra Fabulas Pontificias, et ineptam Rob. Bellarmini de Antichristo Disputationem. Lond. 1603, 4to. 4th. Defence of the Reformed Catholic of Mr W. Perkins against the Bastard Counter Catholic of Dr William Bishop, seminary priest; in three parts, 1606, 4to. 5th. The Old Way; a sermon at St Mary's Oxon. Lond. 1610, 4to. 6th. The true ancient Roman Catholic; being an apology against Dr Bishop's Reproof of the Defence of the Reformed Catholic, 1611, 4to. 7th. Antilogia; adversus Apologiam Andreæ Eudæmon-Johannis, Jesuite, pro Henrico Garnetto, Jesuita Proditore. Lond. 1613, 4to. 8th. De Gratia et Perseverantia Sanctorum, Exercitationes habitæ in Academia Oxon. Lond. 1618, 4to. 9th. In Ricardi Thomsoni Angli-Belgici Diatribam, de Amissione et Intercessione Justificationis et gratiæ, Animadversio brevis. Lond. 1618, 4to. 10th. De Suprema Potestate Regia Exercitationes habitæ in Academia Oxoniensi contra Rob, Bellarminumet Franciscum Suarez. Lond. 1619, 4to. He

likewise wrote several commentaries on the Scriptures, which were never printed, among these is a Latin commentary on the epistle to the Romans, in four volumes folio, in which we are assured by the English editors of Bayle, "the learned prelate has shown his great skill in polemical divinity in every article which admits of controversy." Comparing the merits of the two brothers, Fuller remarks that "George was the more plausible preacher, Robert the greater scholar; George was the abler statesman, Robert the deeper divine.”

William Ames.

BORN A. D. 1576.-died A. D. 1633.

WILLIAM AMES, or AMESIUS, was a very learned and distinguished puritan divine, descended from an ancient and honourable family in Norfolk. He was born in 1576, and educated at Christ's college, Cambridge. Here he attached himself to the celebrated theologian of the Calvinistic school, Mr W. Perkins. But his tenets proved the bar to his advancement, and after suffering some troubles, he left that university, and went to Friesland, where his learning and polemical skill soon obtained for him the distinction of a professorship in the university of Franeker. He mingled in most of the theological controversies of the age, and was looked up to with much respect by all learned men of the protestant church. He continued his divinity professorship for twelve years, when, finding the locality of Franeker incongenial with his constitutional complaint, which was an asthma, he removed to Rotterdam, where he became pastor of the English congregation. Here he had a dispute with Grevinchovius, a minister of that place, which appeared in print about 1613. He attended at the synod of Dort, and communicated to the English ambassador from time to time a full report of the debates of that assembly. One of his most celebrated works was directed against the famous popish author, Cardinal Bellarmine. The work is entitled, Bellarminus Enervatus,' and is a specimen of the most condensed and comprehensive argumentation which was perhaps ever directed against the church of Rome. Though a single and very small volume, it contains every material point in the popish controversy. It was written in Latin, and published at Amsterdam, 1628. He These were all collected and rewrote many other works in Latin. printed in five vols. 8vo. in 1658, at Amsterdam. His English works were also numerous, but mostly controversial. Finding the religious affairs of his native country by no means inviting, nor likely to admit his return, he had formed the design of following many of his puritan brethren to New England, and probably would have done so the ensuing spring, but he was cut off in the winter of 1633, at the age of 57,