words. And this wisdom of the serpent is lauded to the skies in the Journal de Liege. The Roman-catholic archbishop of Cologne is extolled for having outwitted a protestant government, and broken the laws of his country. In the last number of this magazine, the law was given which forbids the exaction of a promise to educate the children resulting from a mixed marriage in any particular faith. The archbishop instructed his clergy to exact the forbidden promise. But this is too long a subject to enter upon now. The corollaries to be deduced are, that, according to the Roman Medulla Theologiæ Moralis of the nineteenth century, it is lawful, 1st, when the interest of the church requires it, to dispense with the laws of God, and to bear sin with a patient mind. 2ndly, when a protestant government proposes a question to a Roman-catholic bishop, it is lawful to deceive by an equivocal answer. ANTIQUITIES, ETC. DISPOSAL OF HIGHER CHURCH PREFERMENT. WE saw, in the last Number, a little of the state of parties at home, when the king, and those who had hitherto formed his council, returned from abroad. There was a strong presbyterian party, who had, politically, done good service in bringing about the king's restoration; and it was found necessary, or expedient, to reward and secure them, by taking their political leaders into the government, and offering their religious leaders seats on the episcopal bench. The appointment of Reynolds to the see of Norwich is explained by the extracts already given. Baxter having refused the see of Hereford, it was given, as will be seen in what follows, to a person whose chief recommendation seems to have been his political influence. The appointment of Nicholson, consecrated at the same time with him to the see of Gloucester, is a bright contrast; and Ironside's elevation to Bristol may also be taken as an instance of the care with which, when politics did not interfere, and the interests of the church were consulted, men were sought out with especial regard to the circumstances of the several sees.* The extracts given in the present Number carry down the appointments to the time when all the vacant sees were filled, and "filled," it might be truly said, speaking of them in a body, "That which I am to take notice of him further is," says Anthony à Wood, "that, though he was never chaplain to any spiritual or temporal lord, or to any king or prince, or enjoyed any dignity in the church, yet, being wealthy, he was looked upon as the fittest person to enter upon that mean bishopric."—Athenæ Oxonienses, vol. ii. p. 489. (ed. fol.) Kennett, as quoted in a former Number (vol. xiii. p. 514), omits the words "being wealthy." They are, however, no disparagement to Ironside, or to those who selected him for the particular post which he was called to fill. "with prelates of eminent piety and learning." "Dr. Sheldon, Bishop of London," was the person, according to Isaac Walton's account, already quoted,† who "was by his majesty made a chief trustee to commend to him fit men to supply the then vacant bishopricks;" for Sheldon, we are told, when he was made archbishop of Canterbury, had, by reason of his predecessor's age and infirmities, "managed the affairs of the whole province ever since the king's return."+ KING CHARLES II., ARCHBISHOP JUXON.-"William Juxon being nominated Archbishop of Canterbury, the congé d'élire was granted Sept. 3, 1660, and he was elected Sept. 13, and confirmed in King Henry the Seventh's Chapel the 20th of the same month. . . . "On Oct. 4 following, Accepted Frewen, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, was confirmed Archbishop of York; and Brian Duppa, Bishop of Salisbury, was confirmed Bishop of Winchester.. "On the 28th of the same month. ... were consecrated Gilbert Sheldon, D.D., Bishop of London, &c. . . § "Dec. 2 following, .... were consecrated John Cosin, D.D., Bishop of Durham, &c. . . || "Jan. 13 the same year,.... Gilbert Ironside, D.D., Bishop of Bristol; William Nicholson, D.D., Bishop of Gloucester; Nicholas Monck, D.D., Bishop of Hereford, and Edward Reynolds, D.D., Bishop of Norwich. . . . ... "Anno 1661.-Dec. 21. . . . John Hacket, D.D., Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry.... "Feb. 9 following . . . Herbert Croft, D.D., Bishop of Hereford." . . .¶ "William Nicolson. . . . . [during the troubles] by his writings defended and maintained the church of England (then exceedingly clouded) against its adversaries. After the king's restoration, he was, by the endeavours of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor of England, designed Bishop of Gloucester by his majesty, (by virtue of whose letters he was diplomated doctor of divinity in the beginning of December, 1660,) and on the sixth of January following he was consecrated thereunto in the abbey church of St. Peter, within the city of Westminster.... which bishopric he kept, without any translation to another see, to his dying day, keeping in commendam with it the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and the rectory of Bishop's Cleave, in Gloucestershire. He was a right learned divine, well seen and read in the fathers and schoolmen; but, above all, most excellent he was in the critical part of grammar, in which faculty none of his time, or perhaps before, went before him. His writings... shew him to be a person of great erudition, prudence, modesty, and of a moderate mind."** * Bp. Kennett's History, vol. iii. p. 230. Bp. Kennett's History, vol. iii. p. 248. Ibid. pp. 515, 516. Le Neve's Protestant Archbishops of Canterbury. + Brit. Mag. loc. sup. cit. Vid. sup. vol. xiii. p. 514. ** Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses (ed. fol.) vol. ii. p. 495. Compare Nelson's Life of Bishop Bull, pp. 205, 206. "He was always a singular admirer of the truly paternal care which he found in this good bishop, who by his learned writings had defended and maintained the church of England against her adversaries, when she was under a cloud; and after that she had rid out the storm, did not omit to do all that became an excellent prelate for supporting the catholic faith and discipline, professed in her communion, both by himself and by others. He died at Gloucester, having sat in that chair above eleven years, in the 82nd year of his age, upon the 5th of February, 167, with the reputation of a truly primitive bishop. His works shew him to have been a person of great learning, piety, and prudence......And as he was not only for his knowledge of the fathers and schoolmen consulted by Mr. "Nicholas Monke... suffered in the time of the rebellion, as other loyalists did; afterwards he was permitted to keep some little cure, by the endeavours of his brother George, while he was chief commander under Oliver Cromwell in Scotland; was persecuted, as 'tis said, by the triers appointed by Oliver, but at length had the rectory of Kilhampton, in Cornwall, worth 3001. per annum, bestowed on him by his kinsman, Sir John Greenvill, (afterwards Earl of Bath,) which he freely gave him without simony, purposely to oblige him to serve the public, whenever he had occasion to make use of him; he having then an eye upon his brother George in Scotland, whom his family had obliged likewise. I say that, this good benefice being bestowed on him, he was, by his brother's interest, fixed therein, and ready to perform what lay in his power to serve the interest of the royal family. In 1659, he agitated with his said brother by letters to, and soon after in person in, Scotland, in order to influence him for the restoration of King Charles II. to his kingdoms, being put upon it chiefly by the said Sir Jo. Greenvill, and some of the gentry in the west, who were of kin to Monke; so happy was it for his majesty to employ the said Sir John, and so lucky for him to send his clerk, Mr. Monke, thither, where he omitted nothing of his instructions, but prudently managed them, as may reasonably be inferred from the good effect they had. Thus did the sense of allegiance, and the love of his country, prevail with his brother against all hazards; and, if I should speak right, the revenge of slights was some part of grain in the scales.' In the year following, his endeavours and desires being effected, he was, by the interest of the said Sir John (minded thereunto by General Monk) made provost of Eton College in the month of June. In the beginning of August following he was actually created doctor of divinity, by virtue of the king's letters sent to the university for that purpose; and soon after being nominated by his majesty to the see of Hereford, which had lain void for fourteen years, by the death of George Cook, he was consecrated thereunto on the 6th day of January (Epiphany day), in the abbey church of St. Peter, at Westminster, by the Archbishop of York, bishops of Durham, Chichester, Lincoln, and Peterborough. But before he had enjoyed that see a full year, he concluded his last day in his lodgings in the Old Palace Yard, in Westminster, on the 17th of December, in 1661. In the see of Hereford succeeded Dr. Herbert Croft, of whom may future mention be made, and of his works, as to learning." + "Dr. John Hacket. was an eminent person in his time for learning and a public spirit. He took holy orders in 1618, from the hands of Dr. John King, Bishop of London, who had a great affection for him, and expressed the same on divers occasions. But above all others, Bull, but also for the great share of critical learning whereof he was master; so his singular affability, modesty, and candour, made his loss in an especial manner to be regretted by him." He is styled, in the inscription written by Bishop Bull for his monument, Theologus insignis, episcopus vere primitivus'-'ob fidem Regi et Ecclesiæ afflictæ præstitam ad sedem Glocestrensem merito promotus.' The inscription goes on 'In concionibus frequens, Legenda scribens, & faciens scribenda. in palatio suo, ut vixit, piè decessit Mystery and Method of his Majesty's happy Restoration. London, 1680, p. 20; written by John Price, D.D. + Word's Athenæ, vol. ii. pp. 1143, 1144. VOL. XIV.-Oct. 1838. 3 E Dr. John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, observing his great learning and knowledge in the tongues, chose him his chaplain . an. 1621. . . . Two years he spent in that bishop's service, before his time was come to commence bachelor of divinity, and then begged leave to go to Cambridge, to keep the Act 1623, which he performed according to expectation; and then returning to court to his master, he preferred him to be chaplain to King James I., before whom he preaching several times to that learned prince's good liking, he was the next year, by the recommendations of his master, presented to the church of St. Andrew, in Holborn, near London (then within his majesty's disposal, by reason of the minority of Thomas, Earl of Southampton); and suddenly after he was, by the same means, made parson of Cheam, in Surrey, fallen likewise in his majesty's gift, by the promotion of Dr. Richard Senhouse to the bishopric of Carlisle. In 1628, he commenced doctor of divinity at Cambridge, where he preached a sermon highly applauded by the learned auditory of that time; and returning to Holbourn and his duty there, he became very famous for excellent preaching and decent order in his charge. . . . . In the beginning of the civil war, he was named one of the committee, with divers eminent bishops and pastors, to consider of what was amiss in the English liturgy and church government, and to rectify the same, in hopes by that means to expel the cloud then appearing over the church; but the lords and commons dashed that good intent, by passing a bill for taking away the government of the church by bishops. Yet before the passing thereof, the clergy being allowed liberty to speak for themselves, they with one consent made the said Dr. Hacket their mouth, to speak their sense of the matter; which being the next day performed with general applause of all, except those that nothing could please, it did for the present put a stop to that bill; yet soon after, by a new question, it past, without a second hearing of the learned doctor. After his majesty's restoration, the bishopric of Gloucester was offered to him; but, he refusing it, the then lord chancellor made advantage of it, and caused it to be conferred on Dr. Nicholson. Afterwards, being made Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry .... he repaired to Lichfield in the spring time, anno 1662, and finding the cathedral there quite ruined in the time of the most wicked rebellion, he set himself to the rebuilding thereof, and finished the same in about eight years' time, making it far more beautiful than it was before, with the expense of 20,000l., a thousand of which he had of the chapter, and the rest was of his charge, and of his procuring from benefactors. He also laid out 10007. in repairing the house of his residence there, that of his predecessors having been destroyed in the time of the said rebellion, and did much endeavour to settle a pious and laborious clergy in his diocese, by his own example of constant preaching. This worthy bishop died on the 28th of October, 1670, and was buried in his own cathedral."* "Herbert Croft.... in the beginning of the year 1640, was admitted doctor of divinity, being about that time chaplain to his majesty King Charles I., who was so well satisfied with his integrity and loyalty that he afterwards entrusted him with his secret commands to several of the great officers in his army, to the hazard of his life, and in the same year he became the eighth prebend of the seventh stall in the church of Worcester.... In the year 1641, July 10, he was installed canon of Windsor.... and in the latter end of 1644 he became dean of Hereford.... In the time of the most barbarous and unnatural rebellion, he was divested of all his spiritualities, and was constrained to a very narrow fortune. In which remaining till his majesty's return to his kingdoms, anno 1660, he was then restored to his deanery, and other spiritualities which before he had left. On the 27th of Dec., 1661, he was nominated by his majesty bishop of Hereford, in the place of Dr. Nicolas Monke deceased; to which * Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 1147-1149. see being consecrated on the 9th of Feb. following.... he became afterwards much venerated by the gentry and commonalty of that diocese, for his learning, doctrine, conversation, and good hospitality; which rendered him a person in their esteem 'fitted and set apart by God for his honourable and sacred function.' Which preferment being in his time scarce worth 800l. per annum, yet it being the county of his ancestors, and of very many of his relations, he was so well satisfied with it, that he refused the offer of greater preferment by King Charles II., as it was well known by most of his contemporaries at court, while he served as dean of his majesty's chapel royal from the 8th of Feb., 1667, to the beginning of March, 1669; when, being then weary of a courtlike life, or (in truth) finding but little good effect of his pious endeavours there, he retired to his episcopal see, where, by his strict rules of admission to holy orders, especially that of priesthood, and in conferring the dignities of the church, he dissatisfied many more of the clergy than he obliged, for no solicitations could prevail with him to admit any to be prebendaries of that church, but such that lived within his diocese, that the duty of the church might not be neglected, and the small livings augmented. He would often please himself with the effecting this pious design of having all the dignitaries and prebendaries to live within his own diocese, (which he lived to accomplish,) hoping that this example would influence his successors to take the same course. He made but little public show of his charity, as many that are truly prudent and pious do not; but they that were privy to his concerns know it was very ample, in augmenting small livings, and in relieving many in distress, besides a weekly dole to sixty poor people at his palace gate in Hereford, whether resident there or not; for, his country house being situated in the centre of his diocese, he spent much time there, where he was no less charitable in relieving the poor, and visiting the sick in the neighbouring parishes, as 'tis very well known. He was very friendly and loving to his clergy, a tender father, and the best of husbands. And as for his learning, which was not common, the books that he wrote.... do shew that he was not altogether [exclusively] conversant in divinity, but other parts of learning.... At length, after this worthy and godly bishop had lived to a great age, partly in adversity, but mostly in prosperity, he surrendered his soul to the Almighty, in his palace at Hereford, on the 18th day of May, in 1691, whereupon his body was buried in the cathedral church there; and Dr. Gilbert Ironside, bishop of Bristol, was soon after translated to the see of Hereford."* WALDENSES IN DARENTH. "SOMETIME between the years 1182 and 1197, a company of Waldenses was allowed to settle in peace, as tenants of the manor of Darenth, in the county of Kent. Considering the severities against all who differed from the Romish communion, their entrance to this abode could not be well dated before 1182. Neither was the commencement of their habitation in Darenth later than 1197, because their rents were paid to the Archbishop of Canterbury: now, the manor, in 1197 was alienated from Canterbury by Hubert, and given to the priory of Rochester in exchange for the manor of Lambeth. These facts are attested by the original deeds still extant in the library of Lambeth House, and by the archives of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. "The rents which these foreign settlers agreed to pay are mentioned in the Custumale Roffense, written in the early part of the fourteenth century. It is in Latin, but some phrases are Latinized English. The following payments are marked as 'returns of rent:' 'The Waldenses, for certain waste land, four Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 864, 865, 868. |