MR. GOODWIN'S MEETING, COLEMAN-STREET. sion was dated March 20, 1653-4. The Tryers were most of them persons of considerable reputation for learning and religion; but as they all thought nearly in one way upon doctrinal points, their constitution was still considered as very imperfect. It is no wonder, therefore, that loud complaints were made against them. Mr. Goodwin did not continue silent. He observes, "The Tryers made their own narrow calvinian sentiments in divinity, the door of admission to all church preferments; and that their power was greater than that of the bishops, because the laws had provided a remedy against their arbitrary proceedings, by a quare impedit; or if the bishop might determine absolutely of the qualifications of the candidate, or clerk, to be admitted into a living, yet these qualifications were particularly specified, and particularized in the ecclesiastical laws or canons, and the bishop might be obliged by due course of law, to assign the reasons of his refusal; whereas the determinations of these commissioners for approbation were final; nor were they obliged so much as to specify any reason for their rejecting any person, but only their vote, not approved."* Mr. Goodwin openly attacked the Tryers in a piece entitled, "The Triers, or Tormentors, tried and cast, &c." 1657. This was replied to by that incessant writer and pamphleteer, Marchamont Nedham, who entitled his piece, "The great Accuser cast down, &c." The same writer had published but a little before, another piece against our author, entitled, "The Tryal of Mr. John Goodwin at, the Bar of Religion and right Reason, &c." Lond. 1657. Though Mr. Goodwin did not think fit to reply to this writer in a distinct treatise, he nevertheless animadverted upon him and his publications in the preface to a book which he published in the following year, entitled, "Triumviri: or, the Genius, Spirit, and Deportment of three Men, Neal's Puritans, vol. ii. p. 449, 450. MR. GOODWIN'S MEETING, COLEMAN-STREET. Mr. Richard Resbury, John Pawson, and George Kendall, in their late Writings, &c." Lond. 1658.* After the death of Charles the First, there suddenly arose in various parts of the kingdom, a set of enthusiasts who expected the immediate appearance of Christ to establish on earth a new monarchy, or kingdom. As there were four great empires mentioned in ancient history, which successively gained the dominion of the world, so these men believing that this new spiritual kingdom of Christ was to be the fifth, received the appellation of Fifth Monarchy Men. In consequence of this allusion, some of them aimed at the subversion of all human government. At the head of these enthusiasts, Bishop Burnet has placed Mr. John Goodwin, "who (he observes) first brought in Arminianism among the sectaries, and was for liberty of all sorts." He, also, speaks of him as entirely devoted to Cromwell's interest. "None of the preachers (says he) were so thorough-paced for him as to temporal matters, as Goodwin was; for he not only justified the putting the King to death, but magnified it as the gloriousest action men were capable of. He filled all people with such expectation of a glorious thousand years speedily to begin, that it looked like a madness possessing them." The same writer observes, that "Goodwin had long represented kingship as the great antichrist that hindered Christ's being set on his throne." It was therefore, no easy matter for Cromwell to satisfy these persons when he assumed the sovereign power. "To these he said, as some have told me, (says Bishop Burnet) with many tears, that he would rather have taken a shepherd's staff than the Protectorship, since nothing was more contrary to his genius than a show of greatness. But he saw it was necessary at that time to keep the nation from falling into extreme disorder, and from becoming open to the common enemy. He, therefore, only stept in between the living and the dead, as Wood's Athenæ, vol. ii. p. 505. MR. GOODWIN'S MEETING, COLEMAN-STREET. he phrased it, till God should direct them on what bottom they ought to settle. And he assured them, that then he would surrender the heavy load lying upon him, with a joy equal to the sorrow with which he was affected while under that shew of dignity. To men of this stamp he would enter into the terms of their old equality, shutting the door, and making them sit down covered by him, to let them see how little he valued those distances that, for forms sake, he was obliged to keep up with others. These discourses commonly ended in a long prayer. Thus with much ado (adds Bishop Burnet) he managed the republican enthusiasts."* Though upon the testimony of so respectable a writer as Bishop Burnet, we should be warranted to believe that Mr. Goodwin held the millenary notions, yet we do not recollect to have met with this circumstance in any other writer. The late Mr. Toplady, indeed, who has heaped together whatever he could find to vilify the character of Mr. Goodwin, and stated them with all the acrimony of a party bigot, mentions this, among other things, with an air of triumph; but his account rests upon the authority of the right reverend historian above-mentioned. It is not a little surprising that Mr. Edwards, author of the " Gangræna," who has been at no small pains to load Mr. Goodwin's character with almost all the heresies of the times, should have passed over so remarkable a circumstance in silence. But above all, it is most extraordinary that in none of his writings which we have had an opportunity of examining, can we find any trace of the opinions here attributed to him. Be the fact, however, as it may, Mr. Goodwin possessed too much learning and good sense, to countenance the visionary schemes, or mad conduct which distinguished many of the Fifth Monarcy men. For, we shall always find that, in proportion to the increase of knowledge, the powers of the mind became expanded, the pillars of VOL. II. Burnet's Own Time, vol. i. p. 67, 68. 3 H MR. GOODWIN'S MEETING, COLEMAN-STREET. ་ superstition are weakened, and the understanding receives a bias that is at once sober and rational, and suited to the dignity of its nature. But as ignorance is the prolific soil of enthusiasm, it is no wonder that many weak people have been led by the impulse of their passions to commit those excesses which are a disgrace to all religion. The attachment discovered by Mr. Goodwin to the person of Cromwell, and which has been charged upon him as a crime, may be resolved into the republican principles professed by that general; and though he renounced them upon his advancement to the protectorate, yet the liberty he granted to the different sectaries could not fail to secure their respect, how much soever they might disapprove his conduct. If persecution will sometimes make a wise man mad, a release from it will inspire sentiments of gratitude, come from what quarter it will. No sooner was the nation delivered from the tyranny of the bishops, than it passed under the yoke of the Presbyterians a yoke equally burthensome, till it was broken by Cromwell, who declared himself THE FRIEND AND PA TRON OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. Charles the Second being restored to the throne of his fathers, in the month of May, 1660, the principal actors in the late times had little favour to expect from the government. Mr. Goodwin, on account of the open and unqualified manner in which he had defended the death of the late King, had rendered himself particularly obnoxious; it is therefore not a little surprising that, he should escape. On the 16th of June, the Commons resolved, that his Majesty be humbly moved to call in Mr. Goodwin's book, entitled, "The Obstructors of Justice;" together with Milton's celebrated book, "Defensio pro populo Anglicano contra Salmasium," and his Answer to "The Portraiture of his sacred Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings," and order them to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman: and that the Attorney General do proceed against them.* The • Kennet's Chronicle, p. 180, 189, 239. MR. GOODWIN'S MEETING, COLEMAN-STREET, books were burnt accordingly, on the 27th of August; but the authors absconded for a time, and no further proceedings were taken against them. Mr. Goodwin's escape is attributed to his Arminian principles, which procured him many friends. Bishop Burnet giyes the following account of this matter: "John Goodwin, and Milton, did escape all censure, to the surprise of all people. Goodwin had so often not only justified, but magnified the putting the King to death, both in his sermons and books, that few thought he could either have been forgot or excused; for Peters and he were the only preachers that spoke of it in that strain. But Goodwin had been so zealous an Arminian, and had sown such division among all the sectaries upon these heads, that it was said this procured him friends. Upon what account soever it was, he was not censured."* The proceedings of the tryers being annulled by King Charles the Second, the living of Coleman-street fell legally, at the Restoration, to Mr. Goodwin; but it does not appear that be asserted his claim, and it is probable that his conduct in the late times for ever excluded him from any preferment in the church. It appears from Newcourt that he was formally deprived of this living, and that another presentation took place in 1661. (H) Mr. Goodwin being dissatisfied with the terms of the Uniformity Act, lived and died a nonconformist. He continued to preach at his private meeting in Coleman-street parish till his death, in 1665, when he was 72 years of age.+ The character of Mr. Goodwin has been placed in such opposite lights, by different writers, that we feel considerable difficulty in attempting to reconcile them. While his enemies have placed him in hell, his friends have exalted him • Burnet's own Times, vol. i. p. 163. + Calamy's Contin. p. 78. (H) "Die 29 Maii, 1661. Theophilus Alford, A. M. admiss. ad Vic. S. Stephani, Coleman street, Lond. vac. per Deprivat. Johannis Goodwin." Newcourt's Repert. vol. i. p. 537. |