fulness, and watchings often,-through afflictions, necessities, and tumults,-through evil report and good report. He could say in every dispensation, as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. In everything he prepared himself to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and was a follower of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. CHAPTER IV. HIS LATTER DAYS. (Zech. xiv. 7.) At even-tide there will be light,' Beams from the brow of pious age; : 'At even-tide there will be light,' THE singleness of archbishop Usher's purpose of following the word of God whithersoever it might lead him, both as to life and doctrine, and the candour and firmness with which he acknowledged and maintained what he believed to be right, were likely to expose him to some inconveniences. He was not a partisan, for while his views on some points coincided with those for which the puritans were distinguished, on others he decidedly opposed that powerful party*. This freedom to judge for himself, and the conclusions to which it led him, left him but very little cause for expecting any great cordiality or warmth of support from either party, and gave him reason to value the consoling truth, that there remaineth a rest for the people of God. With reflections naturally arising out of this topic, and probably with some anxious thoughts upon the precarious nature of their means of support, we may suppose that the little household of archbishop Usher undertook their journey from the quiet retreat of St. Donat's castle towards the noisy and excited metropolis. And as they went on their way, he must often have bidden them to be of good courage, and to strengthen their armour by prayer and the word of God, so that they might resist evil, and maintain the right cause, whatever emergency might arise, unmoved by the frowns of friends or the wrath of enemies. And he must have resolved to express himself with honesty, decision, and boldness, whenever it should be demanded of him to explain or defend his opinions and principles. But, however discouraging the prospects might be, God had designed that his servant should pass the remainder of his days in comparative ease and freedom from privation. He was indeed to continue stripped of his honours and emoluments, to experience many personal vexations, and grief for the evils of the times; but he escaped the sufferings of destitution, possessed the affection of his family, the friendship of his chaplain and many * Philip Henry remembered that when he was a schoolboy, some wise men used to say that "if all the presbyterians had been like Mr. Stephen Marshall, and all the independents like Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs, and all the episcopal men like archbishop Usher, the breaches of the church would soon have been healed." Life in Wordsw. Ec. B. It is more than doubtful whether this opinion is correct, but this testimony to archbishop Usher's amiable disposition and spiritual excellence is not the less valuable on that account. VOL. I. F 3 other estimable persons, and the respect and kind attentions of the generous lady who afforded him an asylum under her roof. Thus he had reason to view the crosses which lay in his path as nothing more than necessary memorials that the christian must not set his affections on the things of the earth, and, as he passed through them, God gave him strength and cheerfulness: the wilderness and solitary place were made glad for him by the light of God's countenance, and the desert could rejoice and blossom as a rose. To the lights and shadows of the latter days of this good man's pilgrimage we shall now call the reader's attention. On his arrival in London, he was most kindly received by the countess of Peterborough. This was in June, 1646; from which time he commonly resided with her in one of her houses till his death. Some little annoyances awaited him on his arrival in the neighbourhood of the parliament. That imperious body had issued an order, that whosoever should come from any of the king's garrisons to London must signify their names to a committee which sat at Goldsmith's Hall, and there give notice of their being in town, and where they lodged. "Accordingly," says Dr. Parr, "June 18th, he sent me to Goldsmith's Hall, to acquaint them that the archbishop of Armagh was in town, and at the countess of Peterborough's house, but they refused to take notice of his being in town, without his personal appearance. Upon a summons from the committee of examination,' at Westminster, he afterwards appeared before them, and underwent strict questioning, both as to where he had been and what he had been doing since he left London; and whether he had used any influence with the king in behalf of the catholics. After this the committee proposed to him an oath which had been framed for those who had favoured the king's cause, but he desired time to consider of that, and so was dismissed, and appeared no more; for the learned Selden and others of his friends in the House made use of their interest to put a stop to that trouble." Soon after, he retired with the countess of Peterborough to her house at Reigate in Surrey, where he often preached in her chapel and in the parish church; and the report of his piety and learning induced the most estimable persons in that neighbourhood to cultivate his acquaintance. Early in the year 1647, with much difficulty, and through the interest of great friends (of whom Selden was one), he obtained leave to preach publicly in London; and the honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn immediately chose him to be their preacher, and appropriated to him some handsome apartments, ready furnished, in which he afterwards placed that library which had escaped the fury of the rebels in Ireland. Mr. Hale*, afterwards lord chief justice, was at that time one of the benchers of Lincoln's Inn, and he and the other members of the Society are said to have been fully alive to the value of their spiritual instructor, who continued to exhort them with all long-suffering and doctrine, during term, for eight years, that is till within two years of his death, when the failure of sight and loss of teeth compelled him to resign that charge, to their mutual regret. Thus placed in a condition of tranquillity and independence, he was able to resume the correspondence with learned men, which had always afforded him so much pleasure. That it had been greatly interrupted by the unsettled state of his affairs appears from a letter which he wrote in Latin to the [celebrated Gerard Voss; in which, after expressing regret that he should have delayed to acknowledge the receipt of a recent work sent to him * "He (Sir M. Hale) had, during the late wars, lived in a long and entire friendship with the apostolical primate of Ireland; bishop Usher's then curious searches into antiquity, and the sympathy of both their tempers, led them to a great agreement almost in everything."-BURNET's Life of Sir Matthew Hale. 66 by that learned professor, he goes on to say that he has some little excuse which he is sure so kind a person as his friend will accept. Ireland, he says, was at that time seized by a flame which has not yet burned out, but creeps on daily, and rather increases."-"Thereby," he proceeds, "in addition to the public losses, and the most barbarous and savage massacre of protestants that was ever perpetrated, I am myself despoiled of all those external possessions which we commonly denominate goods. My library alone was snatched from the flames; but even that is not yet in my possession, for I again met with tumults and excesses in England, which drove me from Oxford into Wales, where I suffered under a distressing disease for full eighteen weeks, and was at length saved, as it were, from the very jaws of the tomb, by the great mercy of God. I am unwilling to say anything about my reception on my return to London; nor would I have recalled to memory those other sad occurrences, were it not with a view to show you how I have been withheld from literary pursuits and communications with men of letters. Now, however, immediately upon my recovery, I have dedicated to you the accompanying short treatise upon the Creeds, a subject familiar to you." Early in the next year we meet with a letter from the excellent and devout bishop Hall, dated from his "little cottage at Higham," near Norwich. The bishop wonders that Englishmen are not ashamed to neglect so great a man as the friend he is addressing. "With gratitude," he says, "did I receive yesterday, most reverend primate, your letters and your books, which I accept as gifts of the highest value. O how will foreigners stand amazed at those elaborate works, so stored with learned research, and pronounce the author happy in the command of so much leisure and learning! And how shall not our own countrymen blush to think of their neglecting a man so distinguished! But what is hatred or tyranny to you?" he asks;-"you, whom piety has raised so far above earthly things as to make you regardless alike of the |