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which he continued till his decease, which happened Feb. 26, 1607. Sir John Harrington describes him as a man "to whom he never came, but he grew more religious ; from whom he never went, but he parted better instructed." Archbishop Parker had a high opinion of him, and not only gave him a prebend of Westminster, but recommended him very strongly to be appointed dean of Norwich, in which, however, he did not succeed. He had been one of his grace's chaplains. The bishopric of Bath and Wells having been in his time enriched by some lead mines in Mendip hills, he is said to have left a considerable fortune to his family, and endowed an alms-house in the city of Wells.

The historians of the drama are of opinion, that in his younger days he was the author of an old play called "Gammer Gurton's Needle," 1575, 4to. From the books of the stationers' company, it might seem as though it had been composed some years before publication. It was republished among Dodsley's Old Plays, and is frequently referred to by the commentators on Shakspeare. 1

STILLINGFLEET (EDWARD), one of the most learned prelates of the seventeenth century, was the seventh son of Samuel Stillingfleet, gent. descended from the ancient family of the Stillingfleets of Stillingfleet, about four miles from York. His mother was Susanna, the daughter of Edward Norris, of Petworth, in Sussex, gent. He was born at Cranbourne in Dorsetshire, April 17, 1635, and educated at the grammar-school of that place by Mr. Thomas Garden, a man of eminence in his profession. He continued at this school until, being intended for the university, he was removed to Ringwood in Hampshire, that he might have a chance for one of Lynne's exhibitions, who was the founder of that school.

Having succeeded in this, he was entered in Michaelmas 1648, of St. John's college, Cambridge, and in the beginning of November was admitted a scholar of the house, on the nomination of the earl of Salisbury. It may readily be believed that his application and progress in his studies were of no common kind, as he was so soon to give public proofs of both. He took his bachelor's degree in 1652, and was now so much esteemed by his society, that at the

'Ath. Ox. vol. L-Harrington's Brief View.-Fuller's Worthies.-Strype's Parker, p. 432 [451] 510.-Strype's Whitgift, p. 70, 76, 282, 399.-Peck's Desiderata.-Churton's Life of Nowell.

very next election he was chosen into a fellowship, and admitted March 31, 1653. While bachelor, he was ap. pointed tripos, and was much applauded for his speech on that occasion, which was "witty and inoffensive," a character not often given to those compositions.

About 1654 he left the university to accept the invitation of sir Roger Burgoyne, who wished him to reside with him at his seat at Wroxhall, in Warwickshire. He had been recommended by Dr. Paman, one of the fellows of his college, but in what capacity, whether as chaplain or com→ panion, does not appear. Sir Roger was a man of piety and learning, and became afterwards a very kind friend and patron to Mr. Stillingfleet, yet parted with him very readily next year, when he was invited to Nottingham to be tutor to the hon. Francis Pierrepoint, esq. brother to the marquis of Dorchester. In 1656 he completed his master's degree, and the following year left Nottingham, and went again to Wroxhall, where his patron, sir Roger Burgoyne, presented him to the living of Sutton, in Bedfordshire. Before institution he received orders at the hands of Dr. Brownrig, the ejected bishop of Exeter.

While at Nottingham, as tutor to Mr. Pierrepoint, he composed his first publication, and printed it in 1659, under the title of " Irenicum, a weapon-salve for the church's wounds, or the divine right of particular forms of churchgovernment discussed and examined according to the principles of the law of nature; the positive laws of God; the practice of the apostles; and the primitive church; and the judgment of reformed divines, whereby a foundation is laid for the church's peace, and the accommodation of our present differences." As this was an attempt to promote the return of the non-conformists to the church, and consequently implied some concessions which were irreconcilable with the divine right of episcopacy, for which the adherents of the church contended, and yet not enough to please either presbyterians or independents, the author had not the satisfaction of meeting with full credit even for his intentions; and upon more mature consideration, he himself thought his labour in vain, and did not scruple afterwards to say of his work, that "there are many things in it, which, if he were to write again, he would not say; some, which shew his youth, and want of due consideration; others, which he yielded too far, in hopes of gaining the dissenting parties to the church of England." In

1662 he reprinted this work; with the addition of a discourse "concerning the power of Excommunication in a Christian Church :" in which he attempts to prove, that "the church is a distinct society from the state, and has divers rights and privileges of its own, particularly that it has a power of censuring offenders, resulting from its constitution as a Christian society; and that these rights of the church cannot be alienated to the state, after their being united, in a Christian country."

Whatever difference of opinion there was respecting some of the positions laid down in this work, there was one point in which all agreed, that it exhibited a fund of learning, and an extent of reading and research far beyond what could have been expected in a young man of twentyfour years of age, and was, as we shall soon find, mistaken for the production of a man of full years and established fame.

At Sutton, while he performed all the duties of a diligent and faithful pastor, he adhered closely to his studies, and in 1662, produced his "Origines Sacræ; or a rational account of the Christian Faith, as to the truth and divine authority of the Scriptures, and the matters therein contained," 4to. The highest compliment paid him in consequence of this very learned work, was at a visitation, when bishop Sanderson, his diocesan, hearing his name called over, asked him if he was any relation to the great Stillingfleet, author of the Origines Sacræ? When modestly informed that he was the very man, the bishop welcomed him with great cordiality, and said, that "he expected rather to have seen one as considerable for his years as he had already shewn himself for his learning." This work has indeed been always justly esteemed one of the ablest defences of revealed religion that had then appeared in any language. It was republished by Dr. Bentley in 1709, with "Part of another book upon the same subject, written in 1697, from the author's own manuscript," folio. Bishop Sanderson, as a special mark of his respect, granted the author a licence to preach throughout his diocese; and Henchman, bishop of London, conceived so high an opinion of his talents, that he employed him to write a vindication of archbishop Laud's conference with Fisher, the Jesuit. Laud's conference had been attacked in a publication entitled "Labyrinthus Cantuariensis, or, Dr. Laud's Labyrinth, by T. C." said to have been printed at Paris, VOL. XXVIII. ЕБ

in 1658, but which did not appear till 1663. Stillingfleet's answer was entitled "A rational account of the grounds of the Protestant Religion; being a vindication of the lord archbishop of Canterbury's relation of a conference," &c. Lond. 1664, fol. Such was his readiness in composition, that he is reported to have sent to the press six or seven sheets a week of this volume, which Dr. Tillotson said he "found in every part answerable to its title, a rational account."

The country was now no longer thought a proper field for the exertions of one who had already shown himself so able a champion for his church and nation. His first advance to London was in consequence of his being appointed preacher to the Rolls chapel, by sir Harbottle Grimston; and in Jan. 1665 he was presented by Thomas, earl of Southampton, to the living of St. Andrew's, Holborn. With this he kept his preachership at the Rolls, and was at the same time afternoon lecturer at the Temple church, which procured him the esteem and friendship of many eminent men in the law, particularly sir Matthew Hale, and lord chief justice Vaughan. Nor were his discourses less adapted to the common understanding. The eminent non-conformist, Matthew Henry, was often his auditor and admirer.

In February 1667, he was collated by bishop Henchman to the prebend of Islington, in the church of St. Paul's. Having in 1663 taken his degree of B. D. he commenced D. D. in 1668, at which time he kept the public act with great applause. He was also king's chaplain *, and in 1670 his majesty bestowed on him the place of canon residentiary of St. Paul's. In Oct. 1672 he exchanged his prebend of Islington for that of Newington, in the same church. These preferments were succeeded, in 1677, by

*While chaplain to the king, Charles 11. his majesty asked him, "How it came about, that he always read his sermons before him, when, he was in formed, he always preached without book elsewhere?" He told the king, that "the awe of so noble an audience, where he saw nothing that was not greatly superior to him; but chiefly, the seeing before him so great and wise a prince, made him afraid to trust himself." With this answer, which, however, became the courtier rather than the divine, and we trust has been

heightened in the relation, the king was very well contented. "But pray," says Stillingfleet, "will your majesty give me leave to ask you a question too? Why you read your speeches, when you can have none of the same reasons?" "Why truly, doctor," says the king, "your question is a very pertinent one, and so will be my answer. I have asked them so often and for so much money, that I am ashamed to look them in the face," Richardsoniana, p. 89.

the archdeaconry of London, and in Jan. 1678, by the deanry of St. Paul's.

To all these he had recommended himself by the ability with which he carried on controversies with various enemies to the established religion. In 1669 he had published some sermons, one of which, "on the reason of Christ's suffering for us," involved him in a controversy with the Socinians, and he was engaged soon after in other controversies with the popish writers, with the deists, and with the separatists. It would be unnecessary to give the titles of the pamphlets he wrote against all these parties, as they are now to be found in the edition of his collected works. Successful as he was against these opponents, and few writers in his time were more so, he was not a lover of controversy, and seldom could be prevailed upon to engage in it, but in consequence of such provocation as he thought it would have been a desertion of his post, if he had neglected to notice.

About 1679 Dr. Stillingfleet turned his thoughts to a subject apparently foreign to his usual pursuits, but in which he displayed equal ability. This was the question as to the right of bishops to vote in capital cases, and was occasioned by the prosecution of Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby. Among others who contested that right, was Denzil lord Holles, who published "A Letter shewing that bishops are not to be judges in parliament in cases capital," 1679, 4to. In answer to this, Dr. Stillingfleet published "The grand question concerning the bishop's right to vote in parliament in cases capital, stated and argued from the parliament rolls and the history of former times, with an inquiry into their peerage, and the three estates in parliament." Bishop Burnet observes that in this Stillingfleet gave a proof of his being able to make himself master of any argument which he undertook, and discovered more skill and exactness in judging this matter than all who had gone before him. Burnet adds that in the opinion of all impartial men he put an end to the controversy.

In 1685, he published his "Origines Britannicæ," or the antiquities of British Churches, a work of great learning, and in which he displayed a knowledge of antiquities, both civil and ecclesiastical, which would almost induce the reader to think they had been the study of his whole life. Just before the revolution, he was summoned to ap

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