"In return for Charles's indulgence towards the Church,"-mark Hume's words!"Laud, and his followers, took care to magnify, on every occasion, the Regal Authority, and to treat with the utmost disdain and detestation, all Puritanical pretensions to a free and independent Constitution. But while these Prelates were so liberal in raising the Crown, at the expense of Public Liberty, they made no scruple of encroaching, themselves, on Royal rights the most incontestable ; in order to exalt the Hierarchy, and procure to their own Order dominion and independence! All the doctrines which the Romish Church had borrowed from some of the Fathers, and which freed the Spiritual from subordination to the Civil power, were now adopted by the Church of England, and interwoven with her political and religious tenets. A divine and apostolical character was insisted on, preferably to a legal and parliamentary one. The sacerdotal character was magnified as sacred and indefeasible: all right to spiritual authority, or even to private judgment on spiritual subjects, was refused to profane Laymen: ecclesiastical courts were held, by the Bishops, in their own name, without any notice taken of the King's authority." Charles himself, remarks Hume, did not foresee "that the ecclesiastical power which he exalted, not admitting of any precise boundary, might, in time, become more dangerous to public peace, and no less fatal to royal prerogative," than the independent spirit of Parliament.a

The tide of fortune ran, for the present, with so strong a current, that, the Chancellor of Oxford having died unexpectedly, on Saturday the tenth day of April, Laud's friends used such expedition "to make sure work of it," that 'they procured a Convocation for the Monday following, and "before any competitor should appear," the election passed "clear for the Bishop of London."

Among the incidents of this year, 1630, occurred the birth of the Prince, afterward Charles II., on which, as the event has justified the foresight, we greatly rejoice that the Constitutional loyalty of those whom Heylyn designed to stigmatise, is confirmed by his own pen: "The birth of this young prince, as it gave cause of great rejoicings to all good Subjects, so it gave no small matter of discouragement to the Puritan faction, who laid their line another way, and desired not that this King should have any children; insomuch that at a feast in Friday-street, when some of the company showed great joy at the news of the Queen's first being with child, a leading man of that faction-whom I could name were it worth the while-did not stick to say, 'That he could see no such cause of joy as the others did.' Which said, he gave this reason for it, 'That God had, already, better provided for us than we had deserved, in giving such a hopeful progeny by the Queen of Bohemia, brought up in the Reformed religion; whereas it was uncertain what religion the King's children would follow, being to be brought up under a mother so devoted to the Court of Rome !"d

a Hume, an. 1630.

Heylyn, p. 208.

We do not "stick" at claiming this distinction, “of a leading man,” here, for Henry Burton.

66

d P. 209.-Even Echard says, They foretold, by a distant foresight, the succession of this family to the crown; and it must be owned, that they were

This opportunity is embraced, to introduce one of those rare pieces whose entire absence would impair the perfect fidelity of our representation of the rigorous aspect of that age, and of the actual deportment of those who stood up, in the Name of the Lord, by warnings and supplications, to leave their testimonies against prevalent corruptions; and who proceeded to spend themselves in cultivating untried portions of their Master's vineyard: "the field is the world." This is exemplified in "The Danger of Desertion: Or, A Farewell Sermon of Mr. Thomas Hooker, sometime Minister of God's Word at Chainsford [Chelmsford] in Essex; but now of New England. Preached immediately before his departure out of Old England 1641." 4to. pp. 20.

The Editor's name does not appear. The author of the Lives of the Puritans remarks, that this Sermon is published in the Works of William Fenner, B. D. Rector of Rochford, Essex; who died about 1640. It is printed, however, the last in a posthumous volume of "Practical Divinity: Or, Gospel Light shining forth in Seven Choice Sermons; &c. 1650." 12mo. pp. 295.c With Fenner's name upon that title; but the Sermon itself is headed "The Signs of God's Forsaking a People. Being the last Sermon that he preached." That it was pirated from Hooker appears from its having been printed in Hooker's lifetime, and from the numerous various readings: but we have adhered as closely as could be to Hooker's copy, which has the disadvantage of having come out of the press with more numerous instances of carelessness than almost any other publication that has passed under our review. The Epistle before our copy of the Sermon contains an earlier announcement than Fuller's in his History of Cambridge, 1655, that Hooker "was trained up in Immanuel College:" the editor, whoever he were, states that "the author" did not desert his place "in any envy, hatred, or other like disrespect against the Church of England;" and he is pleased to add, “like many rigid Separatists, who account herself to be no Church, and her ministers to be no ministers, but," he continues, "partly to enjoy a greater liberty,.. partly to propagate the Gospel, and make it known to such as had not heard it before." It may be gathered hence, to what class the editor belonged; and as for Hooker, this Sermon, and what else will come in due course, will declare his principles and actions.

"'d

THOMAS HOOKER was silenced in or about the year 1630, by Laud, who resisted the testimony of forty-seven "conforming" ministers, that they "esteem and know the said Thomas Hooker to be for doctrine, orthodox; for life and conversation, honest; for disposition, peaceable, and in no wise turbulent or factious." He withdrew into Holland, and settled at Delft, which appears to supply an interval in the list of ministers there, between Forbes and Parker. From Delft he went to always the delight of the Puritans, who prayed heartily for them, and upon all occasions exerted themselves for the support of the family in their lowest circumstances." Neal, vol. ii. p. 86. Ed. 1822. a Matt. xiii. 38.

b Vol. iii. p. 70; and see Vol. ii. p. 452.

The imprimatur is dated in 1649, and signed “ Joseph Caryl.”

d Mather's Hist. New. Eng. bk. iii.

e Morse and Parish, Hist. New Eng. Edit. Lond. 1808. 8vo. p. Hist. Scottish Church, Rotterdam, &c. 1833. 8vo. p. 297.

75. Steven's

Rotterdama for about one year, and assisted Dr. Ames.b He returned into England in 1633, but was so quickly sought after, that he could not possibly have preached publicly under the circumstances; this Sermon must, therefore, have been delivered to the flock at Chelmsford.

The text is from Jeremiah, chap. xiv. ver. 9, " We are called by thy Name; leave us not." Having considered the context, Hooker raises the doctrine "That God may justly leave off a people, and unchurch a nation." Israel, he says, suspected it, and feared it: it is that they prayed against, that God would not "leave" them. I do not say that God will cast off his elect eternally; but those that are only in outward covenant with him, he may. Hear, O ye heavens... I have nursed up children; that is, the Jews: there is an outward vocation; and for such, God may cast them off. Brethren, cast your thoughts afar off; what is become of those famous churches, Pergamos and Thyatira, and the rest? Who would have thought that Jerusalem should have been made a heap of stones and a vagabond people ! * Plead with your mother,' and call her Lo-ammi; ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.'s Thus, as I may say, he sues out a bill of divorcement; as it was in the old law, those that had any thing against their wives sued out a bill of divorcement; and so doth God, She is not my people, nor my beloved: let her cast away her fornications and idolatry, lest I make her as at first; that is, in Egypt, poor and miserable. As if he should say to England, 'Plead' with England, my ministers, in the way of my truth, and say unto them, Let them cast away their rebellions, lest I make her as I found her in captivity, in the days of bondage.

6

"But how doth God depart from a people? When he takes away his love from a people; and as his respect, so his means too. When he takes away his protection, by taking down the walls; that is, these two great means of safety-magistrates and ministers. When instead of counselling comes in bribing; and instead of teaching, daubing: when God either takes away the hedges, or the stakes are rotten, then God is going. When God takes away the benefit of these helps, they are signs of God's departing.

'May God cast off a people, and unchurch a nation? then let it teach us to cast off all security; for miseries are nigh by all proba

a Steven is equally at a loss here as above

The joint authorship with Dr. Ames, who died before its publication in 1633, is attributed to Hooker, of " A Fresh Suit against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship :" consequently Hooker was its sole editor, and, what now becomes of the correctness of te remark above, about "many rigid Separatists," since in an Addition, at the end of the "Fresh Suit," are these words: "The dislike of Ceremonies is not the chief cause for which Separation is made. But the intolerable abuses which are in Ecclesiastical Courts; by which it cometh to pass that many poor men being troubled at the first for a small thing, afterward are driven to fly the country; and flying with a hatred of such courses, are ready to receive that impression-which is most opposite unto them. The thing itself is plain enough to all indifferent men, that Ecclesiastical corruptions, urged and obtruded, are the proper occasion of Separation?" p. 26. e Morton says he arrived in New England, in 1633. p.91. d Isai. i. 2. g Hos. i. 9.

• 2 Kings xxv.

f Hos. ii. 2.

Hos. ii. 2.

bilities. When we observe what God hath done for us, all things are ripe for ruin, and yet we fear it not: we promise safety to ourselves, and consider not that England is like to be harrowed: we cannot entertain a thought that England shall be destroyed; when there are so many professors in it, we cannot be persuaded of it; according to the convictions of our judgments, either it must not be, or not yet; as if God were a cockering father over lewd and stubborn children! God may leave a nation that is but in outward covenant with him; and why not England?

"England's sins have been great, yea and her mercies great. England hath been a mirror of mercy, yet God may leave us and make us a mirror of his justice. Look how he spake to the people that bragged of The temple of the Lord;' sacrifices and offerings;' and, what? may not God which destroyed 'Shiloh,'a destroy thee, O England? Go to Bohemia; from thence to the Palatinate; and so to Denmark: imagine you were there, what shall you see? nothing else but, as travellers say, churches made heaps of stones, and those Bethels wherein God's name was called upon are made defiled temples for Satan and superstition to reign in! You cannot go two or three steps but you shall see the heads of dead men; go a little further, and you shall see their hearts picked out by the fowls of the air; whereupon you are ready to conclude that Tilly has been there!b Those churches are become desolate, and why not England? Go into the cities and towns, and there you shall see many compassed about with the chains of captivity, and every man bemoaning himself. Do but cast your eyes abroad, and there you shall see poor fatherless children sending forth their breaths with fear, crying to their poor helpless mothers. Step but a little further, and you shall see the sad wife bemoaning her husband; and that is her misery, that she cannot die soon enough! And, withal, she makes funeral sermons for her children, within herself, for that the Spaniard may get her little ones, and bring them up in popery and superstition. And then she weeps and considers with herself, If my husband be dead, it is well: haply he is upon the rack, or put to some cruel torments:' and then she makes funeral sermons, and dies a hundred times before she can die! Cast your eyes afar off, set your souls in their souls' stead, and imagine it were your own condition; why may not England be thus ?' who knows but it may be my wife?' when he hears of some in torments. Ah,

a Jer. vii.

b"The progress of the Austrian arms was attended with rigours and severities exercised against the professors of the Reformed religion.” Hume, Hist. Eng. chap. xlviii-ix. an. 1621-25.-Tilly signalized himself in Hungary against the Turks. He expelled, afterward, the Duke of Brunswick from the Palatinate; and when the king of Denmark headed the Protestant confederates, in 1625, Tilly defeated him in the year following, but he dictated such severe terms of peace, that the war was protracted till the year 1629. It broke out again when Gustavus Adolphus was at the head of the Protestant league, and in 1631 Tilly besieged Madgeburg, which he stormed with cruelties so excessive as to leave "a foul stain on his name Gustavus succeeded, however, in defeating Tilly, who was carried off the field wounded; he recovered, and in another conflict with the Swedish king was mortally wounded, in 1632. See Aikin's Gen. Biog. 1814. 4to. vol. ix. sub voce.

'b

6

brethren, be not high-minded, but fear;'a as we have this bounty on the one side, so may we have this severity on the other: therefore, prank not up yourselves with foolish imaginations, as, 'Who dare come to England? The Spaniards have enough; the French are too weak!' Be not deceived; who thought Jerusalem, the lady of kingdoms, whither the tribes went to worship, should become a heap of stones, a vagabond people; and, why not England? Learn, therefore, to hear and fear.d God can be a God, without England. Do not say There are many Christians in it;' can God be beholding to you for your religion? No, surely! for rather than he will maintain such as profess his Name and hate him, he will raise up of these stones' children unto Abraham. He will rather go to the Turks and say, 'You are my people, and I will be your God! But will you let God go, England? Why are you so content to let him go? Oh lay hold on him; yea, hang on him, and say, Thou shalt not go! Do you think that Rome will part with her religion and forsake her gods? Nay, a hundred would rather lose their lives. Will you let God go? Oh, England, 'plead' with your God; and let him not depart. Should you only part with your rebellions; he will not part with you. Leave us not:' we see the Church is very importunate to keep God with them still; they lay hold on God with words of argument: Thou 'hope of Israel,' do not leave us!' They beset God with their prayers, and watch him at the town's end, that he might not go away: No! Thou shalt not go away; thou shalt abide with us still! They are importunate with God not to 'leave' them.

"Hence, note this doctrine, That it is the importunate desire of saints to keep God with them. 'This people,' you see, cared not so much for the famine' and 'sword,' so that God leaves' them not.

Good

Lord, 'leave us not'! this was their prayer; and we cannot blame them, all things being considered: for it was their grief that God stood by and would not help, Why standest thou as a man astonished?' but Good Lord, leave us not! They cannot abide to hear of that; much less to bear it. Thus they did, and thus the saints of God should do. For the proof, see Exod. xxxiii; there Moses might have gone up upon fair terms, Thou shalt possess the land, and peace and prosperity shall be with thee: but what says Moses? If I might have Canaan and all the delights, yet carry us not up hence,' except Thy presence' be with us! This is the stay and string that he sticks on, Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine' upon us :5 as if he should say, Here is prosperity!

"But what is the presence' of God? In one word, it is the particular favour of God expressed in his Ordinances, and all the good and sweet that followeth there. The purity of God's Word and Worship, is that which God reveals himself in: it is not gold, wealth, and prosperity, that makes God be our God. There is more gold in the West Indies than in all Christendom besides. But it is God's Ordinances in the virtue of them, that brings God's 'presence.' God 'forsook' Shiloh, where he dwelt, because his Ordinances were not

a Rom. xi. 20.

d Deut. xxxi. 12.

Psal. lxxx. 7, 19.

b Isai. xlvii. 5.

e Matt. iii. 9.

e Psal. cxxii. 4. f Jer. xiv. 8, 9.