tions of Man's Misery, in his Life, Death, Judgment and Execution: as also of God's Mercy in our Redemption and Salvation."

The Prima and Ultima were printed 1640. The Media is chiefly taken out of the most eminently pious and learned writings of our native practical divines, with additions of Ambrose's composition. It was first printed in 1650. The authors, whom he doth abridge in the said Media, are mostly Separatists, and it is licensed by Mr. Charles Herle, and recommended to the world by John Angier, † Thomas

made him appear at that time meaner than ordinary,) his Lordship was pleased to single out, no question, to triumph over his ignorance, and thereby expose all the rest. 'Can you read, Sirrah?' says he. 'Yes, my Lord,' answers Mr. Verner. Reach him the book,' says the Judge. The Clerk reaches him his Latin Testament. The young man begins to read Matt. vii. 1, 2, (it being the first place he cast his eye upon, without any design in him, as he affirmed afterwards,) Ne judicate, ne judicemini, &c. 'Construe it, Sirrah,' says the Judge; which he did: Judge not, lest ye be judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.' Upon which, it is said, his Lordship was a little struck, and sat in a pause for some while.

"The issue of the matter was this: That the young men, though never tried, were sent to jail, where they lay above a year, (i. e. from the assizes in 1684 till February, 1685,) when they were admitted to bail. And at the next assizes after (viz. 1686) were called upon and set at liberty."-Memorial of the Reformation, ed. 2, (1721,) pp. 362, 363.

"Rector," says Wood, "of one of the richest churches in England, which is at Winwick, in Lancashire-elected one of the Assembly of Divines in 1643, being then a frequent preacher before the Long Parliament," by whom, “in 1646, he was voted Prolocutor, after the death of Twisse. In 1647, he, with Stephen Marshall, went with certain Commissioners appointed by the Parliament into Scotland, to give them a right understanding of the affairs of England.-After the King was beheaded, he returned to his rectory of Winwick," where he died and was buried in 1659."-Athen. Oxon. II. 151, 152.

"Born at Dedham, in Essex," and "educated in Cambridge." He was ejected from Denton in 1662, but by the

Johnson, and John Waite, B.D., in their respective epistles before it.

Redeeming the Time; Sermon on Ephes. v. 16," 1658. "Looking unto Jesus: A View of the everlasting Gospel; or the Soul's Eyeing of Jesus, as carrying on the great Work of Man's Salvation," 1658. In the penning of which he took most delight, as being a subject, as he complains, almost wholly neglected by all others.

"Warre with Devils; Ministration of, and Communion with, Angells." At the end of this treatise are subjoined two letters; the first_written by Richard Baxter, dated at London, 29th November, 1661, and the other by William Cole, dated at Preston, 8th October, 1661. He hath also a ral of Lady Houghton. sermon extant, preached at the fune

He died suddenly of an apoplexy, as I have heard, but when, I know not. (Athen. Oxon.)

VIII.

No. 230. RICHARD BYFIELD, half

connivance of the bishop and the justices "continued preaching in his private chapel" till his death, in 1677, aged 72. See Calamy's Account, 395.

"Master Herl," "Master Anger," and "Master Thomas Johnson," are named with "Master Ambrose," and six others, as assistants to the Commissioners "for the county of Lancaster." See the Ordinance, 1654.

Calamy says "he was turned out of Preston, but afterwards conformed, and was lecturer of Dedham, in Essex."Account, p. 410.

"In 1664, aged 72. He lived in the latter part of his life at Preston, and when his end drew near, was very seusible of it. Having taken his leave of many of his friends abroad, with unusual solemnity, as if he foresaw that he should see them no more, he came home to Preston from Bolton, and set all things in order. In a little time some of his hearers came from Garstang to visit him. He discoursed freely with them, gave them good counsel, told them he was now ready whenever his Lord should call, and that he had finished all he designed to write; having the night before sent away his discourse concerning Angels to the press. He accompanied his friends to their horses, and when he came back, shut himself in his parlour, the place of his soliloquy, meditation and prayer ;

brother to Nicholas Byfield, was born in Worcestershire, and at 16 years of age, in 1615, became either a servitor or batler + of Queen's College. Taking the Degrees of Arts, he left the University, and through some petite employments, (of which the curacy or lectureship of Islesworth was one,) became rector of Long Ditton, in Surry, a leading man for carrying on the blessed cause, a reformer of his church, of superstition, (as he called it,) by plucking up the steps leading to the altar, and levelling it lower than the rest of the chancel; by denying his parishioners (particularly his patron that gave him Long Ditton) the

they thought he stayed long, and so opened the door, and found him just expiring.

"It was his usual custom, once in a year, for the space of a month, to retire into a little hut in a wood, and avoiding all human converse, to devote himself to contemplation. His works were printed altogether, in folio, in 1689."-Calamy's Account, p. 410.

"Of Exeter College. He left the University to go into Ireland; but at Chester he was, upon the delivery of a noted Sermon, invited to be pastor of St. Peter's Church there.-At length he had the benefice of Islesworth conferred on him, where he died in 1622, aged 44. His writings shew him to have been a person of great parts, industry and readiness.

"He left behind him a son named Adoniram Byfield, who became first known for the love he bore to the righteous cause, by being chaplain to Col. Cholmondeley's regiment in the army of Robert Earl of Essex in 1642, and soon after for his being one of the scribes to the Assembly of Divines, and a most zealous covenanter. He was afterwards minister of Collingborn in Wilts, and assistant to the Commissioners of that County, 1654. He died about the time of his Majesty's restoration."-Wood, L. 402, II. 230..

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sacrament, unless they would take it in any way, except kneeling, &c.

He was one of the Assembly of Divines, a great covenanter, an eager preacher against bishops, ceremonies, and being a frequent and constant holder forth, was followed by those of the vicinity, especially such who were of his persuasion. In 1654 he was appointed an assistant to the commissioners of Surry, and was not wanting in any thing whereby he might express his zeal for the aforesaid cause. His works are these:

"The Light of Faith and Way of Holiness, shewing how and what to believe in all Estates and Conditions," 1630.

with reflecting upon him in his sermons. Whereupon Oliver told Mr. Byfield it was very ill done; for that Sir John was a man of honour in his country; and if he had done any thing amiss, he ought to have told him of it privately, and with respect. Mr. Byfield took God to witness, that he had never designed any reflection upon him in his sermons, and he did it with that solemnity and seriousness that Oliver believed him. And thereupon turning to Sir John Evelyn, 'Sir,' said he, 'I doubt there is something indeed amiss the word of God is penetrating, and finds you out. Search your ways.' This he spake so pathetically, and with such plenty of tears, that both Sir John and Mr. Byfield, and the rest that were present fell to weeping also. He made them good friends before parting: He saw them shake hands, and embrace each other before he dismissed them. To bind the friendship the faster, Oliver asked Sir John what it would cost to repair the church? He told him the workmen reckoned it would cost 2001. He called for his secretary Malin, and gave him orders to pay Sir John Evelyn 1007. 'And towards the repair of the church. now, Sir,' said he, 'I hope you'll pay or raise the other hundred;' which he thankfully undertook to do. And they lived very amicably afterwards."-Account, pp. 664, 665.

Now principally known by his "Enquiries touching the Diversity of Languages and Religion through the chief Parts of the World," first published in 1614, the year after the author's decease, at Gre

"The Gospel's Glory, without Prejudice to the Law, shining forth in the Glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the Salvation of Sinners, who through Grace do believe, according to the Draught of the Apostle Paul in Rom. iii. 34," 1659.

Whether any other matters were by him published, I know not, nor any thing else of him, only that after he had been ejected from Long Ditton for Nonconformity, he retired to Mortlake in Surry, where, dying in 1664, he was buried in the church there, leaving this character behind him,

sham College, where he was Professor of Astronomy. See Ward's Lives, pp. 7476. It is remarkable that this learned person has no place in the Biog. Brit.

Edward Brerewood was a native of Chester, and sometimes an auditor of N. Byfield, against whose sabbatical notions he wrote "A Treatise of the Sabbath, which coming in MS. into the hands of N. Byfield, and by him answered, was replied upon by Brerewood, in ‘Á Second Treatise of the Sabbath.John Ley wrote partly against him in his Sunday a Sabbath. An old and zealous Puritan, named Theophilus Brabourne, an obscure schoolmaster, or, as some say, a minister of Suffolk, was very stiff for a Sabbath, in his books published 1628 and 1631.-Thomas Broad, who was esteemed an Anti-Sabbatarian, did write almost to the same effect that Brerewood did."

Brerewood " never published any thing while he enjoyed this earthly tabernacle, yet, to avoid the fruitless curiosity of that which some take upon them, to know only that they may know, he was ever most ready in private, either by conference or writing, to instruct others, repairing unto them, if they were desirous of his resolution, in any doubtful points of learning within the ample circuit of his deep apprehension."-Wood, I. 332, 333.

The day of "the Monthly Fast." Whitelocke, p. 147. (Lignarius.)

among the godly, and such that frequented his conventicles, that he was a pious, good and harmless man." (Athen. Oxon.)

SIR,

YOUR

LIGNARIUS.

Liverpool, April 6, 1822. YOUR correspondent Senior (p. 167) endeavoured to point out the advantages of Presbyterianism in Ireland. Circumstances may, perhaps, exist in that country, which render useful or even necessary some kind of church government, which elsewhere would be deemed decidedly hostile to that liberty "wherewith Christ has made us free;" but I have been misinformed if the Irish Synods are merely "tribunals for the preservation of temporal funds and property."

"No creed," says Senior," is imposed; no authority is assumed over conscience; no absolute power of decision, but simply the Christian right and duty of exhorting, of admonishing, of warning." In opposition to these assertions, I have been led to believe, from good authority, that these ecclesiastical bodies have the power of putting down religious discussion whenI am not mistaken, no book or tract ever they please, for by their laws, if involving theological opinion can be published, unless the MS. first undergoes the inspection of the Presbytery, who can withold certain pecuniary benefits from those who are hardy enough to resist their mandates. Here is "authority over conscience" with a vengeance, and a pretty effectual damper it has been to all reform beyond a certain defined limit, prescribed by the warrant of individuals. In short, religious information and inquiry is at as low an ebb in Ireland as can well be conceived; nor will it be otherwise till the unhallowed shackles of ecclesiastical domination be totally broken, and consigned to the darkness whence they sprung.

Were our brethren in the Sister Kingdom to resolve on thus emancipating themselves, I believe the energy of truth and right reason would do more for them, than calling in the unscriptural aid of constituted authorities to propagate Presbyterianism; nor would the assistance of the "Church of Scotland,” which is invoked in one of their recent reports,

April 4, 1822.

HE references in your last Num

in England, have reminded me of a design to offer you a MS., never printed, which has been long in my possession. It is a copy and, I believe, a very correct one, of a speech delivered 30 years ago, at a general meeting in London, consisting of Delegates from the Dissenters in the country, united with a committee from the deputies, to concert measures for renewing their application to Parliament for a repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts.

was,

The speaker was a delegate from a large county, abounding with Dissenters, who were, almost exclusively, Calvinistic. The question discussed the propriety of addressing Dr. Priestley and the Dissenters at Birmingham, on occasion of the Riots. The result of the discussion was "An Address of the Deputies and Delegates of the Dissenters in England to the Sufferers in the Riot at Birmingham." This address, dated Feb. 1, 1792, which is to be found in the Appendix to Dr. Priestley's Appeal, contains the following paragraph:

"While, however, as sustaining one common character, we are anxious to pay this sincere tribute of affectionate and fraternal sympathy to all our injured brethren, we are persuaded that we shall gratify alike your feelings and our own, when, waving our various speculative, and especially our theological differences, we desire to express our peculiar concern on the account of that distinguished individual whom the rancour of this cruel persecution selected as the first victim of its rage. Deeply convinced of the importance of truth, we unite in admiring the ardour which he has ever discovered in the pursuit of it; as freemen, we applaud his unremitted exertions in the great cause of civil and religious liberty; as friends to literature, we are proud of our alliance with a name so justly celebrated as that of Dr. Priestley; and we pray the Almighty Disposer of events long to continue to us and to the world, a life which science and virtue have contributed to render illustrious." [See Priestley's Works, XIX. 568.]

The society mentioned at the con

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clusion of the speech was that in Bartlett's Buildings, composed, exclusively, of members of the Church of England. These had very lately convened a special meeting for the purpose of resolving, that their church

lature be prevailed upon to grant the solicited repeal. SEXAGENARIUS.

Speech, in 1792, on a proposed Address to Dr Priestley.

MR. CHAIRMAN,

I believe I cannot serve the Dissenwho sent me to this

ters of committee, more acceptably than by supporting this motion; because, though they hold, in general, religious opinions very opposite to those of Dr. Priestley, yet they understand the difference between polemical distinctions and those principles upon which Dissenters are, or should be united.

It is, Sir, a master-piece of craft with our enemies, after uniting us all by penalties and civil disabilities, to endeavour to divide us upon theological questions; and I think one principal good effect of the addresses proposed, and especially of that to Dr. Priestley, will be to counteract such designs. For when the representatives of the Dissenters of England, persons holding such various opinions, has suffered for his adherence to their agree to shew respect to a man who general rights, they declare to the world, that though there are questions on which men who think for themselves must continue to disagree, there are also principles upon which they will be united, while the legislature shall join them together by oppressive statutes and unjust restrictions; and, at the same time, such a measure may tend to encourage some of our wellmeaning but more prejudiced brethren, to study the principles of civil and religious liberty, even in the writings of Dr. Priestley.

I esteem that gentleman as exemplary in his character as a Christian as he is distinguished in the walks of science, and I hope I shall never be ashamed to profess such an opinion of such a man; but were Dr. Priestley a deist in principle and a libertine in practice, we might with the greatest propriety send him an address, if he

had suffered for his attachment to our civil interests, and especially for his exertions respecting the Test Laws; and that this has been the case I be lieve no person can easily deny, who reads with any attention the history of our modern Vandals, the savages of Birmingham.

::

Sir, I always understood that Dr. Priestley had clearly defined and ably defended the principles of our dissent, but it has been said that his later writings have prejudiced the cause of the Dissenters in Parliament, and the objection to an address upon this ground was stated with all possible force on a former occasion, by a gentleman (Mr. Fuller) to whose years and experience I would pay every respect consistent with my own freedom of sentiments; but I think, upon re-consideration, justice and candour will incline that gentleman to admit, that the offence taken by the House of Commons to the writings of Dr. Priestley appeared but in two instances in one it arose from a misunderstanding, about which it is difficult to be serious; and in the other, from one of the most flagrant violations of honour and decorum which can disgrace the intercourse between man and man. Every gentleman will suppose that I refer to the alarms of an hon. Baronet upon finding a few grains of metaphorical gunpowder in a pamphlet of Dr. Priestley's, and to the fraud committed by a person or persons unknown, on one of his prefaces, which was dissected in the most injurious manner, and so gave occasion to a splendid philippic against those three monstrous evils-Innovation, Dr. Priestley and the Dissenters. But if instead of consulting the comments of prejudiced men, or the partial selections of his enemies, we examine the spirit and tendency of Dr. Priestley's writings, I believe we shall find that he has no idea of supporting his most favourite opinions by any force but the force of argument; and in proof of this I refer with confidence

to his Sermon on the Test Laws, his Letters to the Inhabitants of Birmingham and the Tracts published with them, and, indeed, to any of his works which shall be read in their connexion, and not selected for the purpose of a party.

Sir, it has long been esteemed the honour and happiness of our country, that while a man thinks what he pleases, he may say what he thinks, and I cannot allow myself to apologize for that manly freedom with which Dr. Priestley declares and discusses all his opinions; and, indeed, this is not a country fit for a freeman to live in, if he cannot deliver his opinion upon any question, political or religious, if he cannot say what he thinks about the doctrine, the discipline, or the establishment of any church in the world. And on this subject it ought to be remembered how we have been accustomed to admire the bold spirit of the Reformers who, in no very gentle language, impeached the opinions and practices which had been established for ages through all the nations of Europe; and at this day, that respectable body of men, the Quakers, are esteemed the most peaceable of citizens, though they profess to discover the features of the harlot of Babylon, even within the pale of the Church of England.

And pray, Sir, who are the persons that shall object to our addressing Dr. Priestley? Will the Dissenters blame us for shewing respect to one of their ablest advocates, or shall our enemies accuse us of inconsistency, and say that we go out of our province; they who called together a society formed expressly for the propagation of the Gospel, to decide upon a question of civil right?

I beg pardon, Sir, for having taken up any of your time, but without saying a few words on this subject I could not satisfy my own feelings, or do justice to my friends the Dissenters of

who have the warmest attachment to the cause of civil and religious liberty, and, though they differ from him in almost every thing else, esteem Dr. Priestley as one of its ablest defenders.