Little remains to be added to the account which we have now given of this part of the primate's life. He constantly and earnestly preached the gospel, and exemplified in his own character the instructions which he delivered. "The discourses," says his chaplain, Dr. Bernard, “which daily fell from him at his table, in the clearing of difficulties in the Scripture, and other subjects, especially when learned men came to visit him, were of great advantage to such as were capable of them. It often put me in mind of that speech of the queen of Sheba to Solomon,-Happy are these thy servants that not always,] acknowledge universal redemption, but that with a distinction of non ex æquo pro omnibus. Secondly. That a little before his leaving London, (I was told it by some that heard him about this time two years,) at St. Peter's, Paul's wharf, as also in several other places, he preached a sermon on Rom. viii. 30, part of the verse, whom He called them He justified, in which he earnestly pressed the sincerity of God's universal call to every one of all sinners to whom the Gospel was preached; pressing throughout all his sermon, the universal free invitation of all by God. Apocal. xxii. 17. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Isaiah Lv. 1-7. Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God for He will abundantly pardon: adding, that without this made good, all preaching to convert sinners as yet in their sins from the evil of their ways, would want a firm foundation. Thirdly. That a learned divine going after this to him, and taking rise from these words of his, that God intended truly that all whom He called by the word to repent and believe, might certainly, if they would, and God truly would they should, come and repent, &c., to ask, Can they all will? Doth God with his word, give internal grace to all that are called by it, that they may repent, &c., if they will, and that they certainly can will? He answered, Yes, they all can will. And that so many will not, 'tis because, as I then taught, they resist God's grace; alleging Acts vii. 51. Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did so do ye. This, and much more; he then declared; and in fine concluded in these words; Bishop Overal was in the right and I am of his mind. "Fourthly. A learned doctor that was frequently with the bishop wrote Mr. Pierce word, (as he wrote me on my asking him the continually stand about thee, and hear thy wisdom. And such was his humility, that he would, in practical subjects, apply himself to the information and satisfaction of the poorest and weakest person that should desire it; nay, sometimes rather incline towards such than to others more learned; which strangers wondered at, as the disciples marvelled at our Saviour's talking with the poor woman at Samaria, and answering her questions rather than heeding of them. (John iv. 27.) "The order observed in his family as to prayer, was four times a day; in the morning at six, in the evening at eight, and before dinner and supper in the chapel, at each of which he was always present. "On Friday in the afternoon constantly an hour in the chapel was spent in going through the principles of religion in the catechism, for the instruction of the family. And every Sunday in the evening, we had a repetition of his sermon in the chapel, which he had preached in the church in the forenoon. "In the winter evenings he constantly spent two hours in comparing of old manuscripts of the Bible, Greek, and Latin, where about five or six of us assisted him, and the various readings of each were taken down by himself with his own hand." About the beginning of the year 1640, the archbishop same question which you do now,) that that bishop told him lately before his death, that he wholly disliked the Genevan form of doctrine in this matter. This is all that hath come within my reach of your first question." Baxter, describing himself as laying smaller stress upon controversies and curiosities," the older he grew, and as finding "plentiful matter" in the Creed, the Lord's-prayer, and the Ten Commandments, adds, "Thus I observed it was with old bishop Usher, and with many other men." This, though no evidence of a change of doctrine, argues a moderation quite acocrdant with the views assigned above to the archbishop's latter years. The testimonies of Thorndike, &c., were published at length in Dr. Thomas Pierce's The Self-revenger, exemplified in Mr. William Bailee. London, 1658, 4to., Appendix, p. 155—157. was invited to England, with the hope that his character and influence might help to allay the storm which had been gathering so long, and which threatened to descend upon the kingdom in misery and sorrow. Willing to use such powers as he possessed in promoting public peace, he embarked with his wife and family, little thinking that he should never more return to his native land. CHAPTER III. HIS REVERSES. From darkness here and dreariness Our trial-hour of woes. Is not the pilgrim's toil o'erpaid By the clear rill and palmy shade? And see we not, up earth's dark glade, The gate of heaven unclose?—Christian Year. By a merciful providence, God so conducts the steps of his servants as to deliver them out of innumerable troubles; and a pious christian cannot look back upon his past journey through life without seeing reason to own that many combinations of circumstances have brought blessings into his hands, although they might easily have been so arranged as to terminate in misery. Archbishop Usher had cause to be thankful that he was led into England at this time, and that his stay was protracted during many months; for he thus escaped the most dreadful scene of ferocious slaughter which the pages of modern history describe. But we are a little anticipating the course of our narrative. Immediately on his landing, the primate set out with his family to London; where, finding himself in the midst of civil and religious discord, he soon proceeded: to Oxford, hoping that peace might yet linger within the precincts of the university. In this expectation, however, he was disappointed; so, after enjoying the learned society of the place for a short period, he returned to the metropolis, resolving to exhort the people fearlessly, as well by preaching as writing, to be "loyal and obedient to their prince," while he endeavoured "to the utmost of his power to heal those breaches, and reconcile those differences, which were ready to break out both in church and state." Soon after his return, the impeachment of lord Strafford came on; the archbishop frequently visited him in prison, and the earl consulted him about many parts of the defence which he intended to make at his trial. When the bill of attainder passed the House of Lords, in May, 1641, the king, perplexed between the peril of refusing his assent and the injustice of granting it, sent for archbishop Usher and some other prelates. It was on a Sunday morning that the king's messenger came to the primate, while he was preaching in the church in Covent Garden. Descending for a moment from the pulpit, to learn what urgent affairs so unseasonably demanded his attention, he told the messenger that "he was then employed about God's business, which as soon as he had done he would attend upon his majesty ;" and then, returning to his place, proceeded with his sermon. Afterwards, when he arrived at Whitehall, the king was engaged with other advisers; but in the evening he had. a conference with his royal master, and (as he solemnly assured Dr. Parr) declared his opinion, "that if his majesty was satisfied by what he had heard at the trial that the earl was not guilty of treason, he ought not in conscience to consent to his condemnation." And when the king yielded to the popular demand, and gave to the bill that sanction which weighed upon his spirits during the remainder of his days, the archbishop expressed his feel ings with tears in his eyes: "Oh, sire, what have you done? I fear that this act may prove a great trouble upon your conscience; and pray God that your majesty may never suffer for signing this bill!” It is related that lord Strafford, when viceroy of Ireland, had looked upon archbishop Usher with no very friendly feeling, and therefore it is the more delightful to observe, that he made choice of the primate for his spiritual adviser, now that his days were numbered. The good archbishop had many interviews with him, and on the last evening of his mortal existence assisted him in his prayers to that court where, as the earl remarked, "neither partiality can be expected nor error found.” Next morning he attended lord Strafford to the scaffold; kneeled down and prayed by his side; observed with comfort that the departing nobleman was engaged in silent devotion; was personally addressed in that courageous and eloquent speech which he delivered before disrobing for execution; and then, having received his last farewell, hastened from the touching scene, and bore to the king the tidings that all was over, adding the only consolation which the case admitted, that he had seen reason to believe that the earl was well prepared for that change, and that his last gloomy hours were brightened by the hope of eternal glory. In the same year, 1641, archbishop Usher and bishop Hall were engaged in writing in defence of the church; and if they had been calmly and dispassionately attended to, the church would have been saved the fiery trial which befell it. Usher's opponent was no less a person than Milton, and episcopacy was the subject of their controversy. The palm of victory has been assigned to each; but, as Dr. Symmons remarks, in his Life of Milton, "if argument and reason could have prevailed, the result [to the church] would probably have been different. The learning of Usher and the wit of Hall certainly preponderated in the contest, and they seem to have been |