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ELIAS ASHMOLE, 1617-1693, was an antiquarian of great celebrity. Ashmole's principal works, besides some Latin treatises on Chemistry and Natural philosophy, were History of Berkshire in 3 vols. folio, and History of the Order of the Garter. The last-named work was one of immense research, and won for him great applause. "It was his greatest undertaking, and had he published nothing else, would have preserved his memory, as it certainly is, in its kind, one of the most valuable books in our language.". -Chalmers. He made a famous collection of coins, medals, and other curiosities, which with his books and MSS. were bequeathed to the University of Oxford, where they constitute the nucleus of the Ashmolean Museum.

ANTHONY A WOOD, 1632-1695, has great celebrity as the historian of Oxford University.

Wood was born and educated there, receiving his degree of M. A. in 1655; and he spent the remaining forty years of his life in recording the history of the institution and of those who had been connected with it. As a writer, he lacked taste and skill; he was thoroughly prejudiced, never losing an opportunity to laud a high churchman or a Catholic, or to snub a Roundhead or a Presbyterian, or a poet; yet withal so industrious and painstaking a collector of facts that his works are invaluable, constituting the main storehouse for the materials of the early history of English literature. His works were two; The History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford, 4to; and Athenæ Oxonienses, an exact history of all the writers and bishops who have had their education at Oxford, giving their birth, fortune, preferments, and the fate and character of their writings, 2 vols., fol.

III. THEOLOGICAL WRITERS.

Tillotson.

John Tillotson, D. D., 1630-1694, was greatly distinguished as a pulpit orator. His Sermons were considered the highest models of pulpit eloquence; and though not now held in so great estimation as they once were, they still have an honored place in English literature.

Tillotson was born of Puritan stock, but early left the Presbyterians and conformed to the Church of England. He was educated at Cambridge, and rose through a long series of promotions until he became Archbishop of Canterbury. He is universally esteemed as one of the great lights of the English Church. His special distinctions were his moderation and good sense as an ecclesiast, and his eloquence as a preacher. His reputation in the latter point was prodigious during his life, and for one or two generations after his decease. His collected works, chiefly Sermons, have been frequently printed, formerly in 3 vols., folio, latterly in 12 vols., 8vo.

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"Tillotson's highest flights were indeed far below those of Taylor, of Barrow, and of South; but his oratory was more correct and equable than theirs. His style is not brilliant; but it is pure, transparently clear, and equally free from the laxity and from the stiffness which disfigure the sermons of some eminent divines of the seventeenth century. The greatest charm of his compositions, however, is derived from the benignity and candor which appear in every line, and which show forth not less conspicuously in his life than in his writings." - Macaulay.

South.

Robert South, D. D., 1633-1716, is generally regarded as the most eloquent preacher of his day.

South was educated, first at the Westminster School, under the famous Dr. Busby, then at Oxford. He was University Orator in 1660, and afterwards obtained some valuable preferments in the Church. He was a zealous Royalist and Episcopalian, and waged unsparing war upon the Puritans with his tongue and with his pen. South's chief distinction was as a preacher. His sermons are masterpieces of vigorous sense and sound English, though not altogether as decorous as modern taste requires in pulpit discourses. His works, chiefly sermons, have been published in 5 vols., 8vo.

"South had great qualifications for that popularity which attends the pulpit, and his manner was at that time original. Not diffuse, not learned, not formal in argument like Barrow, with a more natural structure of sentences, a more pointed, though by no means a more fair and satisfactory turn of reasoning, with a style clear and English, free from all pedantry, but abounding with those colloquial novelties of idiom which, though now become vulgar and offensive, the age of Charles II. affected; sparing no personal or temporary sarcasm; but if he seems for a moment to tread on the verge of buffoonery, recovering himself by some stroke of vigorous sense and language; such was the witty Dr. South, whom the courtiers delighted to hear." Hallam's Lit. History of Europe.

EDWARD STILLINGFLEET, 1635–1699, was a learned Bishop of the Church of England.

Stillingfleet was the author of numerous treatises on theological subjects, and after his death his Works were published in 6 vols., fol. The most elaborate and important were the following: Origines Sacræ, or A Rational Account of the Grounds of Natural and Revealed Religion; Origines Britannica, or The Antiquities of the British Churches; A Rational Account of the Grounds of the Protestant Religion; Irenicum, A WeaponSalve for the Church's Wounds, or The Divine Right of Particular Forms of Church Government, etc.

WILLIAM BEVERIDGE, D. D., 1637-1708, a Bishop of the English Church, was the author of several theological treatises in Latin, and of numerous works in English, the latter being chiefly on the practical

duties of religion. He was exceedingly zealous in his work as a Christian minister, and has received the title of "the great reviver and restorer of primitive piety." The most esteemed of his devotional treatises is his Private Thoughts upon Religion. His English works have been printed in 9 vols., 8vo.

Bishop Ken.

Thomas Ken, D. D., 1637-1710, a learned and amiable Bishop of the Church of England, is especially noted for his devotional works.

The familiar long-metre doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow," is the composition of this good prelate, being the concluding verse of his three hymns for Morning, Evening, and Midnight. It is, of itself, sufficient to give him a lasting place in the memory of all God's people.

The following are Bishop Ken's principal works: Poems, Devotional and Didactic; Manual of Prayers; Prayers for the Use of all Persons who come to the Baths of Bath for Cure; Practice of Divine Love; Approach to the Holy Altar, etc. Some of Bishop Ken's Hymns are exceedingly beautiful, and are so catholic in character, that they have been included in the hymnals of nearly all churches.

THEOPHILUS GALE, 1628-1678, a learned Non-conformist divine, educated at Oxford, wrote several works, showing great erudition and industry. The most important was The Court of the Gentiles, 5 vols., 4to.

"This learned and elaborate work, after falling for a time into obscurity, is now in great repute. The leading object of it is to turn all human learning, philosophy, and religion, to the ancient Scriptures and the Jewish Church."— Orme.

JOHN FLAVEL, 1627-1691, an eminent Calvinistic divine, ejected for Non-conformity, was a man of very fervent piety and zeal. After being ejected from his church, he preached in private houses. His works are on topics of practical religion, and have been much in demand. They have been published in 6 vols., 8vo. Among those which have been published as separate treatises are the following: Husbandry Spiritualized; A Saint Indeed; The Touchstone of Sincerity; Personal Reformation; The Method of Grace; The Divine Conduct, etc.

SYMON PATRICK, 1626-1707, was a learned Bishop of the English Church, educated at Cambridge. His main work was a Commentary on the Old Testament, from Genesis to the Song of Solomon, inclusive, in 10 vols., 4to. This Commentary is usually supplemented by Lowth, Arnold, Whitby, and others, who have written upon the later portions of the sacred volume. Bishop Patrick wrote a large number of other works, mostly on practical religion.

HUMPHREY PRIDEAUX, D. D., 1648-1724, a celebrated theological historian, is known chiefly by his Connection of the Old and New Testaments. This is a voluminous work,

published originally in 2 vols., folio, taking up the Jewish history where the Old Testament ceases, and continuing the story from other sources down to the point where the Evangelists take it up in the New Testament. It is a work of great learning, and is considered a standard authority on that subject. Some of the other works of Dean Prideaux are A Life of Mahomet; Validity of the Orders of the Church of England, etc.

SAMUEL SHUCKFORD, - 1754, a learned scholar, and a clergyman of the English Church, is chiefly known by his Sacred and Profane History of the World Connected, 4 vols., 8vo. The work begins with the Creation, and comes down to the dissolution of the Assyrian empire and the declension of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, that is, to the point where the work of Prideaux begins. It has been received as a standard work of its class, though not equal in merit to Prideaux, to which it is intended to be a complement.

DANIEL WHITBY, D. D., 1€38-1726, a learned commentator and theologian of the English Church, was born in Northamptonshire, and educated at Oxford. He was bred a Calvinist, but at the age of sixty four was converted to Arminianism by reading a work of Dr. Clarke's, and thenceforward wrote zealously on that side of the controversy. He lived to be nearly ninety. The works in the earlier part of his life are mainly against the Catholics. His most elaborate work is a Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament, 2 vols. folio.

GILBERT BURNET, 1643-1709, was a Bishop of the English Church in the reign of William and Mary. Bishop Burnet entered actively into affairs of State, and he bore a prominent part in bringing about the Revolution, in 1688. He took the Whig side in politics and religion, and was much opposed and criticised by the clergy and writers of the Tory and Anglican party. He wrote very voluminously, and his works are in high repute among historians and theologians. The following are his principal publications: The History of the Reformation of the Church of England, 7 vols., 8vo; History of His Own Time, 6 vols., 8vo; An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles; Lives of James and William, Dukes of Hamilton, of Sir Matthew Hale, the Earl of Rochester, and Queen Mary; and a great variety of other works, both of a practical and a controversial character.

GEORGE BULL, D. D., 1634-1710, was a learned Bishop of the English Church. His most important works are in Latin, and are such as to give him rank among the great theologians of all time. In addition to these learned works, he wrote many things which give him a place in English literature, though not commensurate with that which he holds as a theologian and a general scholar. His works, Latin and English, have been printed in 7 vols., 8vo.

Matthew Henry.

Matthew Henry, 1662-1714, one of the leading Non-conformist divines of the seventeenth century, is chiefly known as a commentator on the Scriptures.

Henry showed quickness of intellect from his earliest childhood, and was equally remarkable for a devout spirit and for the purity of his life. He wrote many works, chiefly in the form of Sermons; but that by

which he is most known is his Commentary. This was first published in 5 vols., folio.

Henry's Commentary has passed through almost innumerable editions, both in England and America. The London Religious Tract Society, 1831-1835, published a Commentary made up of selections from Henry and Scott, which had a prodigious sale. As a work replete with devout thoughts, often expressed with a peculiar verbal antithesis which adds to their piquancy and force, Henry's Commentary is unrivalled. But the lack of that philological and linguistic knowledge which must be the basis of all true biblical comment, and the rise since his time of a different and better style of exegesis, have caused his work, with all its merits, to be gradually superseded.

THOMAS COMBER, D. D., 1644–1699, was a learned divine. Besides numerous controversial works, he wrote one of a devotional character, A Companion of the Temple and the Closet, which has been a general favorite. He held various ecclesiastical positions, and is generally known as Dean Comber, from his having been Dean of Durham.

HERBERT CROFT, D.D., 1603–1691, was educated abroad, at St. Omer's, his father being a Catholic. Herbert renounced Catholicism, and took orders in the English Church, and finally became Bishop. He published a work which led to considerable controversy: The Naked Truth, or The True State of the Primitive Church.

JOHN EDWARDS, D. D., 1637-1716, was a Calvinistic theologian of the English Church. His works were numerous, and were mostly controversial: Theologia Reformata, or The Substance and Body of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., fol.; Authority, Style, and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testaments, 3 vols., 8vo; The Preacher, 8vo; Evangelical Truths Restored, 8vo.

"Edwards was a voluminous writer, of a controversial spirit, who pointed out and endeavored to check the departure from reformation principles in his time, but not in the spirit that would commend his sentiments."- Bickersteth.

EZEKIEL HOPKINS, 1633-1690, was a learned dignitary of the English Church in Ireland, being Bishop of Londonderry. He published a large number of religious and theological treatises, which are in high repute: Treatise of the Vanity of the World; Exposition on the Lord's Prayer; Exposition on the Ten Commandments; Doctrine of the Two Covenants; Doctrine of the Two Sacraments, etc., etc.-CHARLES HOPKINS, 1664-1699, a son of Bishop Ezekiel Hopkins, wrote several works of a literary character: Epistolary Poems and Translations; Pyrrhus, King of Egypt, a Tragedy; Boadicea, Queen of Britain, a Tragedy; Friendship Improved, a Tragedy; The Art of Love, etc.-JOHN HOPKINS, b. 1675, another son of Bishop Ezekiel Hopkins, also gave evidence of literary tastes and abilities. The Triumphs of Peace, a Pindaric poem; The Victory of Death, a Pindaric poem; Amasia, or The Works of the Muses, etc.

SAMUEL CRADOCK, 1620-1706, was one of the ejected Non-conformist divines. His works are in good repute: Knowledge and Practice; Harmony of the Four Gospels; The Apostolical History; The Old Testament History Methodized; Exposition of the Revelation; Gospel Liberty.

WILLIAM ASSHETON, 1641-1711, was the author of several works, mostly of a theological character. The following are the principal: Toleration Disapproved; A Seasonable Vindication of the Blessed Trinity; The Cases of Scandal and Persecution; The Country Parson's Admonition to his Parishioners against Popery; Directions for the Conversation of the Clergy; The Royal Apology.

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