principles of these men exist in your souls, most assuredly you will not?" which he concludes with praying, "That you may learn the wisdom and imbibe the spirit of the Puritans: that you may take them as patterns, imitate them as exam. ples, follow them as guides, so far as they followed 'Christ;-that you may adhere to the cause of religion with the same firmness, adorn it with the same holiness, and propagate it with the same zeal."-We are not aware of any thing more exciting that could have been said, had it been necessary to rouse these youths to instant resistance against existing oppression, whether real or fancied, of the most outrageous kind. Nor can we well imagine any appeal better adapted to that which we sincerely hope not to be intended, the widening of the breach, and rendering all terms of accommodation perfectly hopeless, between the present Establishment and the rising generation of the various denominations of Protestants.

The work which, in our humble judgment, is most particularly called for at the present moment, and, let us add, particularly called for from those who acknowledge their unbounded obligation to the existing order of things, is a candid, judicious, and discriminating inquiry into the real merits of one of the most important, and yet most dubious contro. versies, that ever agitated this or any other country; a controversy that involved every thing that is held most dear and sacred to men; that searched the very foundations of religion and state government; that required the calmest and most dispassionate powers of deliberation, that at the same time blinded the understandings of the parties concerned, and inflamed their passions up to madness; and that necessarily, therefore, exposed both to the most peruicious and phrenetic excesses: one that, so far from leaving either side in quiet and undisputed posses

sion of the field of right reason, seemed to displace the field itself from existence, and perhaps has only discouraged the investigation we propose, by presenting to the eye of the sedate and discriminating philosopher, a mere chaotic mass of wild, disorderly, and uncontrollable elements; elements in which sense and reflection can discover no assignable shape or form of proportion; and where the wildest imagination will be the most successful, in tracing out its own indistinct and irrational conceptions.

It is in vain to imagine and desire what might have been done with such a controversy, in the hands of so well informed, so laborious and patient a biographer as Mr. Brook. We shall have enough to execute in the task of following him through what he has done. And were we to say that the principal fault which we shall endeavour to prove in the course of our consideration of this work, is its total want of impartiality, we should still say enough, we apprehend, to prove, if we make good our ground, its absolute incompetency to answer any of the true ends of such a history of those times as we propose, and also to warrant our own humble observations as we proceed, and may find ourselves able to furnish them, on the actual state of the case at issue.

Impartiality indeed we could not have conceived, but for a very slight claim to it in a single sentence in the preface, to have been at all within the purview of our memo. rialist. Nothing could be more surprising to us, did we not know the infinite deceivableness of human motives, than the declaration of the author in p. xvi. "Not writing to please any particular sect or party, he has endeavoured to observe the strictest impartiality." With the exception of this single sentence, we believe not one in the whole work which at all bears upon the subject will fail of proving to demonstration which side the author

takes in this controversy: and if here he be sincere in his profession, it is by a most singular felicity he has so written in every other place, that no seci or party but one, who desires to be called by the name of neither, can fail of being pleased with what he has so largely and zealously detailed. But for this very slender profession, we should have naturally considered the work as intended for one of those orationes objurgatoria, with which, in former times, orators were wont to bespeak the indignation of their au ditors prior to the full examination of the case: or at least as the accusa

tory libel of more impartial times, which, being couched in the most comprehensive of all possible terms, is given to the defendant in proper time and place to provide a suitable reply. The two passages quoted above from the dedication, we are sorry to say, afford a just specimen of the impartiality observed through. out the work. If the saving clause in the latter passage, which exhorts the rising generation to follow the Puritans as guides so far as they followed Christ, be quoted as any extenuation of our charge; we answer, that if that clause mean any thing at all, it makes the whole exhortation mean nothing; inasmuch as we might exhort to follow the Pope himself, so far as he followed Christ: but if on the contrary the clause itself mean nothing, we consider it only as on a par with the very few and tender exceptions which are scattered up and down the body of the work, at once to save his own credit, and to enhance by "faint blame" the merit of his heroes. It is very true he occasionally redeems his pledge, by "not suppressing even the accusations of their adversaries;" which, it must be acknowledged, set forth their pretensions in no agreeable light. But this he does so much in the spirit and teraper of the noble Roman, who exhibited the gored and breathless Christ. Observ. No. 162.

corpse of Cesar to make every wound a mouth of reproach to his murderers, that it is impossible to award him the slightest meed of impartiality on that account. He has not exposed his friends to the fire of their virulent opponents, till he has so completely case-hardened them, by preceding and subsequent observations of his own, as to render their characters perfectly invulnerable. modern slanderer," says he, "af. firms, that they maintained the horrid principle, that the end sanctifies the means; and that it is lawful to kill those who opposed their endeavours to introduce their model and discipline.' Surely so much calumny and falsehood are seldom found in so small a compass.” p. xiv.

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So introduced, it is very evident what advantage accrues from making the abuse bestowed on the Puritans proceed from the mouths of their adversaries, whilst the reproaches cast on their adversaries is made to proceed from his own :-the authority of the historian will always stand in the mind of the reader above that of the slanderer. And if, as we find too much to be the case, the imputations and invectives thrown out by the Pu ritans on their adversaries be wholly suppressed, or only distantly alluded to, or obscurely quoted, not only wil! it effectually be made appear, that calumny and reproach were chiefly on one side; but posterity will be made more willing to load with ignominy, the memory of persons who were, in comparison, treated so gently by their suffering contemporaries. It is in the preface, the front and forehead of the piece, we are told with indignation, that " Archbishop Parker stigmatizes the Puritans as schismatics, belly gods, deceivers, flatterers, fools, having been unlearn edly brought up in profane occupations, being puffed up with arrogancy." We have to look we know not how far into the body of the work, to 3 E

find huddled up amongst a variety of matter, an account of a humorous piece, written on the other side, so singular and curious, that for the satisfaction of the inquisitive reader it is there transcribed; in which the ecclesiastical genealogy is expressed as follows:-"The devil begat Darkness. Darkness begat Ignorance. Ignorance begat Error, and his brethren. Error begat Freewill and Self-love." Free-will was the parent of Lady Lucre, and many other abominations, which after long succession, produced "the pope and his brethen, the cardinals, with all their successors, abbots, priors, and all the brood of popelings, archbishops, lordbishops, archdeacons, deans, chancellors, commissaries, officials, spiritual doctors, and proc. tors, with the rest of that viperous brood, in the transmigration of abomination."

A slight variation indeed, to the advantage of Puritan humour and good temper, appears in the above quotation which we have taken else where, from the same as given by Mr. Brook, vol. I. p. 282. Which of the two is correct we know not; but it would be a very heavy charge, and one which we should unwillingly bring without the strictest proof, that Mr. Brook has in any degree garbled or placed quotations in a perverted light, under the influence of a prepossession, which it is evident he never knows how to control. We think it justice, however, so far to warrant our fears on this head, as to place the following quotation from Bishop Burnet, which is brought forward by our author, as an answer to various slanders, side by side, with the real passage as it stands in the History of his Own Times. "Bishop Burnet, a man less influenced," says Mr. Brook (p. xiv.) by a spirit of bigotry and intolerance, gives a very different account of them. The Puritans,' says he, 'gained credit as the bishops lost it. They put on the appearance

of great sanctity and gravity, and took more pains in their parishes than those who adhered to the bishops, often preaching against the vices of the court. Their labours and their sufferings raised their reputation, and rendered them very popular." Now turn we to Burnet himself, vol. I. pp. 17, 18. "The Puritans gained credit, as the king and the bishops lost it. They put on external appearances of great strictness and gravity: they took more pains in their parishes than those who adhered to the bishops, and were often preaching against the vices of the court: for which they were sometimes punished, though very gently, which raised their reputation, and drew presents to them that made up their sufferings abundantly. They begun some particular methods of getting their people to meet privately with them: and in these meetings they gave great vent to extemporary prayer, which was looked on as a sort of inspiration. And by these means they grew very popular. They were very factious and insolent, and both in their sermons and prayers, were always mixing severe reflections on their enemies." After which, alluding to certain pretended prophecies uttered by them, he concludes,

They were spiteful against all those who differed from them; and were wanting in no methods that could procure them either good usage or good presents. Of this my father had occasion to see many instances." The discerning reader will observe here, how very little the real passage in Bishop Burnet's work was calculated to afford an answer to the calumnies against the Puritans: and if that worthy prelate was indeed so little influenced by a spirit of bigotry and intolerance, as Mr. Brook represents him, and as we believe him to have been, who does not see that his words, rightly quoted and applied, serve the very opposite purpose to that for which they were

so imperfectly brought forward by our author?

To make one more observation in limine, where indeed we are sorry so long to detain our readers, we cannot help suggesting, that Mr. Brook's characteristic partiality ap. pears strongly in the very subject and digest of his whole work. We find inconsistency in the very titlepage itself. It promises us generally, "the Lives of the Puritans;" and when we raise our expectations accordingly to a catalogue raisonnè, at least of all the eminent men dis tinguished in the page of history, as the instruments of those great events, we are surprised to find in the next line a limitation of these "Puritans" to "those Divines who distinguished themselves in the cause of religious liberty, from the Reformation under Queen Elizabeth, to the Act of Uniformity in 1662." The exclusion of all the lay Puritans, necessarily indeed, precludes the relation of many a dark and bloody tale, which our first expectations might justly have anticipated and yet even the degree of impartiality we seemed to expect from our biographer, on his reduced scale, experienced a further curtailment when we read the motto taken from the Wise Man, and given equally to the whole race of his selection, "The memory of the just is blessed." Nor could we well restrain our exclamation of surprise when a second motto from "Hume," (whose name by the bye seems quaintly classed with "Solomon,") announces a sentiment which that historian doubtless applied to the entire mass, as well political as religious and of whom he declares, that "the precious spark of liberty," not religious liberty, but liberty" in general, had been. kindled, and was preserved by the Puritans alone; and it was to this sect, that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution." Did Mr. Brook then really

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mean the present volume to be an implied panegyric on the whole genus, of which he has only treated of a particular species? And if so, did he find it convenient to pass over in total silence, a large portion of those whom he meant, notwithstanding, to be included in his panegyric? In short, does he imagine, that the merits of Puritanical divinity afford a mantle sufficiently large and deep to spread over the defects of lay Puritanism? Or does he think that the commendations which, in spite of all their sins and defects, an infidel historian lavishes alike on the best and the worst of the sect, for their patriotism; are, in fairness of reason, applicable to that portion of them who are pointedly extolled as Christians, by a Christian historian, for "earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints?"

This peculiar selection only of the more distinguished Puritan divines under the general title of "Puritans," answers two ends very desirable to a writer whose first aim is not impartiality. It enables him to keep in the back ground all that is unfavourable to view in the cha." racter of his own party, and presents the opposite party by contrast under the most disadvantageous of all possible colours. Though the capital punishment of a few noted and stigmatized heretics in church and state may be permitted to figure in the general introduction, to deepen the shade of cruel persecutions, yet we own Mr. Brook was under no moral obligation, on his plan, to bring forward into more distinct view, amongst the lives of" distinguished divines," the equivocal race which nevertheless, in point of fact, served no little to fill and strengthen the ranks of those

who contended for religious liberty." The abettor of Arian and Socinian blasphemies, the notorious rebel, the infatuated Brownist, the popish emissary under the mask of Puritanism, the read-coated agitator of theological controversies, with

all the mixed multitude, that went up with them to the battle; how ever large an angle they may sub, tend to the eye in a general review of those portentous times, need fill but a very small one, and in fact are scarcely visible in the peculiar field of view, so happily selected by Mr. Brook. It were certainly more difficult to curse his Israel from a place which discovers but the utmost part of them, than from another which should disclose to view the whole camp. Whilst, on the other hand, not only are the best, the most learned, and most godly members of the conforming clergy, who might not happen to be engaged in immediate conflict with the Puritan divines, kept wholly out of sight; but also the piety of the most pious, the learning of the most learned, nay even the moderation of the most moderate persecuting conformists, will find little or no place in a work which has only to record the sufferings of the persecuted non-conformists. A plan which would have admitted the former to observation, would have promised much less to Mr. Brook than his own. It is impossible to say what effect the life of Hooker, or of George Herbert might produce if ranged by the side of that of Travers or Burton. The calm and sanctified effusions of some Right Reverend Father in God, even though he were proceeding on the same mistaken principles of eccle

* "No wonder that he (Legate) slight ed the power of earthly bishops, denying the Divinity of Him who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. The disputation against him was principally managed by John King, bishop of London, who gravell ed, and utterly confuted him with that place of Scripture, John xvii. 5. And now. O Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was? This text, I say, was so seasonably alleged, so plainly expounded, so pathetically enforced by the eloquence and gravity of that bishop (qualities wherein be excelled,) that it gave marvellous satisfaction to a number of people then present," &c. Fuller's Church History, B. 10. Conemnation of Legate.

siastical judicature which Mr. Brook owns were in some measure participated even by his Presbyterian aptagonist, if they could have found a place in such a work, might have acted as a marvellous counteraction to the general notions it instils of the episcopal character. Perhaps the very mention of Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity might have blunted the edge of some of those shafts levelled by our author at the champions of the church in Queen Elizabeth's reign. To what else but some such fear as this can we attribute the omission, by so diligent a reader as Mr. Brook, even where he had a place for it, of this last-named important work amongst others to which he has thought proper to allude? Surely the labours of Hooker in the cause of episcopacy were at least as noticeable as those of Bancroft, Bridges. Wilcox, Cosin, or Soam. Vol I. p. 58. Nor can the weight of these labours quite have escaped Mr. Brook's recollection, when hinting at a comparatively trifling controversy of admonitions to the council between Travers and Hooker in the Temple Church. Vol, II. p. 327.

We have dwelt the longer on these preliminary observations as intending them to serve for a clue at once to the principles on which the work before us is constructed,and to the remarks we shall find ourselves further called to make upon it as we proceed, If we necessarily appear in some measure in the attitude of defence, we hope it will be now considered as imposed upon us by the opposite position of attack assumed by Mr. Brook; whilst it is our earnest wish to exbibit, throughout, the spirit of arbitration; and our best hope we confess as well as our most strenuous endeavour, in the course of the few observations we may have to offer, will be to impose silence in future alike on the abettors and the abusers of the Puritanical struggle, and to turn the thoughts of the truly pious and devout of all parties, exclu