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was more concerned for his beloved studies, and minis terial usefulness, than for all the splendour and emolument of a university.

Upon the publication of the Book of Sports, our learned divine refused to read it, and ventured to declare his opinion decidedly against it: he, nevertheless, escaped better than many of his brethren, who, for so doing, were suspended from their ministry, driven out of the kingdom, or cast into prison. He was a person of great moderation, yet as decidedly against the use of the superstitious ceremonies as the encouragement of profane sports. His refusal to read the book did not pass unnoticed at court; but when King James heard of it, he commanded the bishops not to molest him. His majesty, indeed, very well knew, that, though Dr. Twisse lived in low circumstances, and in an obscure situation, his fame was so great in all the reformed churches, that their lordships could do nothing against him which would not be a public reproach to themselves. It was, after all, no small disparagement to them, and to the church to which they belonged, that so eminently pious and learned a divine should live without preferment. The celebrated Dr. Prideaux said, "The bishops do very little consult their own credit, in not preferring Dr. Twisse, though against his wishes, to some splendid ecclesiastical dignity; by which, though they despair of drawing him to their party, they might take off, or mollify, the popular envy, and not hear themselves exposed to scorn by the curate of Newbury." During the civil wars, Prince Rupert, coming to Newbury, entertained our divine very courteously, and made him many honourable promises, if he would turn against the parliament, write in defence of the royal cause, and live among the king's party but Dr. Twisse very wisely and politely declined the royal invitation.+

He obtained uncommon celebrity from the books which he published, especially upon points of controversy. Here his talents and erudition were employed upon his favourite subjects without restraint, and with extraordinary success. Among his antagonists were Dr. Thomas Jackson, Mr. Henry Mason, and Dr. Thomas Godwin, who was a person of great learning, especially in antiquities; but is said to have been more fit to instruct grammarians than to contend with a logician like Dr. Twisse. He next encountered Mr. John Goodwin, the celebrated advocate for Arminianism, whom * Mede's Works, p. 845, 846.

+ Clark's Lives, last vol. part i. p. 14—17.

he is said to have refuted with great learning and judgment. His next contest was with Mr. John Cotton, a divine whom he highly esteemed, and whom he treated with great gentleness. He learnedly refuted Dr. Potter's "Survey of the New Platform of Predestination."* He treated Dr. Heylin according to his deserts, in defence of the morality of the sabbath. He also successfully contended with the famous Arminius and others, in defence of the doctrines of grace. His answers to Dr. Jackson and Arminius, and his "Riches of God's Love," when first published, were all suppressed by the arbitrary appointment of Bishop Laud.+

In the year 1640, Dr. Twisse was chosen one of the sub-committee, to assist the committee of accommodation appointed by the house of lords to consider the innovations introduced into the church, and to promote a more pure reformation. In the year 1643, he was nominated, by an order of the parliament, prolocutor to the assembly of divines. On account of his great modesty, he repeatedly declined the appointment, but was at length prevailed upon to accept the office. The learned assembly was opened July 1, 1643, when Dr. Twisse preached to both houses of parliament, in Henry the seventh's chapel. "In his sermon,' says Fuller," he exhorted his learned auditory to a faithful discharge of their duty, and to promote the glory of God. and the honour of his church; but he was sorry that they wanted the royal assent. He hoped, however, that in due time it might be obtained, and that a happy union would be procured between the king and parliament."

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Dr. Twisse, on account of his age and manifold infirmities, was not able to attend upon the concerns of the assembly; but, in a few months, was taken ill, falling down in the pulpit to rise no more. He had been long grieved to behold the disagreement between the king and the parliament, which, he said, would prove fatal to both; and he often wished that the fire of contention might be

Toplady's Historic Proof, vol. i. p. 68.

+ About the same time, Dr. George Downham, bishop of Derry in Ireland, published a book against the Arminians; upon which, Bishop Laud procured the suppression of all the copies sent to England; and, not satisfied with this, he caused a letter to be sent to Archbishop Usher, commanding the same proceeding against the book in Ireland. The pious and learned primate tamely yielded to the superior power of this arbitrary prelate; issued his warrant for the seizure of all the remaining copies of Downham's work; and signified that be should "take order that nothing should be hereafter published contrary to his majesty's sacred direction."— Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 171, 172.

Kingdom's MS. Collec. p. 200.

Fuller's Church Hist, b, xi. p. 199.

extinguished, though it were at the price of his own blood.* When he fell down in the pulpit, he was carried to his lodgings and laid upon his bed, where he languished about a twelvemonth. During his long illness, multitudes of persons resorted to him, who witnessed his exemplary faith and patience. In the civil wars, he had been driven from his curacy and the people of his charge, at Newbury, and deprived of all his property by the royal forces; so that, in the time of his sickness, when certain persons were deputed from the assembly to visit him, they reported," that he was very sick, and in great straits." The parliament,_having taken his case into consideration, passed an order, December 4, 1645, for one hundred pounds to be given him out of the public treasury.+ Nearly the last words that Dr. Twisse uttered, were, "I shall at length have leisure enough to follow my studies to all eternity;" and died July 20, 1646, aged seventy-one years. The whole house of commons, and the assembly of divines, paid their last respects to his memory by following, in one sorrowful procession, his mortal remains to the grave; when Dr. Robert Harris preached his funeral sermon from Joshua, i. 2., Moses my servant is dead. He was buried in Westminster abbey, where his body quietly rested till the restoration, when the humane, the liberal, and the enlightened Charles ordered his bones to be dug up, together with the bodies of many other persons, eminent in church and state, and thrown into a pit digged on purpose in St. Margaret's church-yard. The

* Clark's Lives, p. 17.

+ Whitlocke's Mem. p. 189.

One of those illustrious persons, whose body suffered this shameful indignity, was the valiant Admiral Blake, whose name was a terror to the enemies of Britain; who raised the naval reputation of his country to a higher pitch than any of his predecessors, and whose services to the English nation will be a monument of his renown as durable as time. The following is a list of some of the persons to whose bodies this malevolence was offered, on the 12th and 14th of September, 1661. Others would probably have shared the same fate; but the thing was so indecent, and drew so general an odium on the government, that a stop was put to any further proceedings:

Elizabeth Cromwell, mother of

Oliver, lord protector,
Elizabeth Claypole, her daughter,
Robert Blake, admiral,
John Pym, esq. M. P.

Dr. Isaac Dorislaus,

Sir William Constable, colonel,
Edward Popham, admiral,

Richard Dean, admiral,

William Stroud, esq. M. P.
Humphrey Mackworth, colonel,
Dennis Bond, esq.

Thomas May, esq. the historian,
John Mildrum, colonel,
Colonel Boscawen,

Doctor William Twisse, prolocutor,

Stephen Marshall, presby. divine,
William Strong, indepen. divine.

Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. iii. p. 80.-Wood's Athena Oxon. vol. is

p. 826,

refined barbarity and contemptible meanness of these proceedings, might have been expected amongst untutored savages, rather than from a monarch bred up in all the refinements of the English court.

66

Though Dr. Twisse died in necessitous circumstances, the parliament, after his death, voted a thousand pounds to be given to his children, out of the public treasury; but, on account of the national confusions, it is doubtful whether it was ever paid. Mr. Clark says, "he was much admired for his great learning, subtle wit, exact judgment, great integrity, pleasing behaviour, and his exemplary modesty, piety, humility and self-denial."+ Fuller denominates him, a divine of great abilities, learning, piety, and moderation.‡ Wood says,his plain preaching was esteemed good; his solid disputations were accounted better; but his pious life was reckoned best of all." The most learned of his adversaries confessed that there was nothing extant more accurate and full upon the Arminian controversy, than what is contained in his works. All writers against Arminianism have made honourable mention of his works, and have acknowledged him to have been the mightiest man in those controversies that the age produced. He was succeeded at Newbury by Mr. Benjamin Woodbridge, who was afterwards ejected in 1662.||

His WORKS.-1. A Discovery of Dr. Jackson's Vanities, 1631.— 2. Vindiciæ Gratiæ, Potestatis et Providentiæ Dei, 1632.-3. Dissertatio Scientiâ Mediâ tribus libris absolutâ, 1639.-4. Dissertiones, 1639.-5. Of the Morality of the Fourth Commandment, 1641.6. A Treatise of Reprobation, in Answer to Mr. John Cotton, 1646.7. Animadvertiones ad Jacobi Arminii Collat. cum Frank. Junio et Joh. Arnold Corvin, 1649.-8. De Predestinatione et Gratia, 1649.9. The Doubting Conscience Resolved, 1652.-10. The Riches of God's Love unto the Vessels of Mercy, consistent with his absolute hatred or reprobation of the Vessels of Wrath, 1653.-11. Two Tracts in Answer to Dr. H. (Hammond) 1653.-12. The Synod of Dort and Ares reduced to Practice, with an Answer.-13. The Scriptures Sufficiency to determine all matters of Faith.-14. The Christian Sabbath defended against the crying Evil of these Times of the Antisabbatarians of our Age.-15. Fifteen Letters, published in Mede's Works. He also left numerous manuscripts behind him.

*Whitlocke's Mem. p. 321.

Fuller's Worthies, part i. p. 96.
Wood's Athenæ Oxon, vol. ii. p. 40, 41.
Palmer's Noncon. Mem. vol. i. p. 290.

+ Clark's Lives, p. 13, 14, 18,

VOL. III

JEREMIAH BURROUGHS, A. M.-This very amiable divine was born in the year 1599, and educated at Cambridge, but was obliged to quit the university, and afterwards the kingdom, on account of nonconformity. After he had finished his studies at the university, he entered upon the ministerial work, and was chosen colleague to Mr. Edmund Calamy at Bury St. Edmunds. In the year 1631, he became rector of Titshall, in the county of Norfolk; but upon the publication of Bishop Wren's articles and injunctions, in 1636, he was suspended and deprived of his living. He sheltered himself for some time under the hospitable roof of the Earl of Warwick; but, on account of the intolerant and oppressive proceedings of the ecclesiastical rulers, the noble earl at length found it was impossible to protect him any longer; and shortly after, to escape the fire of persecution, he fled to Holland, and settled at Rotterdam, where he was chosen teacher to the congregational church, of which Mr. William Bridge was pastor. After his suspension, he is charged with attempting to bribe the bishop's chancellor, by an offer of forty pounds; and going beyond seas, and returning disguised in a soldier's habit, with many libellous pamphlets, when, it is said, the sentence of deprivation was pronounced against him for nonresidence. Of this circumstance, however, Mr. Edwards gives a very different account. He says, "that Mr Burroughs, for some speeches spoken against the Scotch war, in company not to be trusted, for fear fled in all haste to Rotterdam;" at which he very much stumbled. Mr. Burroughs, in his animadversion upon this misrepresentation, observes as follows: "Had Mr. Edwards been willing to have conferred with me about this, as I desired, before he printed, I should have so fully satisfied him about my going out of the kingdom, that he could never have stumbled, nor have caused others to stumble. How does he know there were speeches delivered, for fear of which I fled? It may be there was only an accusation. In his bold assertion there is held forth to the world, at least some indiscretion in me, that I should speak words of a high

Calamy's Account, vol. ii. p. 5.

+ Blomefield's Hist, of Norfolk, vol. i. p. 138.

This noble person was a great friend and patron of the persecuted puritans, and one of their constant hearers. He was not content with only hearing long sermons in the congregation, but would have them repeated in his own house.-Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. ii, p. 116.

Edwards's Antapologia, p. 18, 19.

Wren's Parentalia, p. 95.
Edwards's Antapologia, p. 16.

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