to exhibit no specimen of judgment, or of acquaintance with the controversy, which indeed he expressly declines to enter upon; while in seeking to evade the force of the argument produced on the other side, he shifts from Scripture to the consent of the Fathers, which he could not produce, and with which he did not pretend to be acquainted. While he was continually urging his request for a formal dispute between Mr Henderson and the Episcopal divines, pleading that the universal consent of the Fathers, and practice of the primitive Church, should be admitted as the judge of controversies, and the authentic interpreter of Scripture, and starting objections respecting the power of the people to limit their princes, or to effect a public reformation, Mr Henderson gave him a counsel, the neglect of which cost the infatuated monarch his crown and his life. "While Archimedes," said he, "was drawing his figures and circlings in the sand at Syracuse, Marcellus interrupted his demonstrations.-Sir, were I worthy to give advice to your Majesty, or to the kings and supreme powers on earth, my humble opinion would be, that they should draw the minds, tongues, and pens of the learned, to dispute about other matters than the power or prerogative of kings and princes; and, in this kind, your Majesty hath suffered and lost more than will easily be restored to yourself or your posterity for a long time." Perceiving that he pertinaciously adhered to opinions which were disowned by all moderate Episcopalians, and maintained by such only as had acted as incen diaries between the King and his Parliaments, Mr Henderson declined entering farther into a fruitless dispute. * While had formerly been questioned, were written in the King's own hand. Wellwood says, "I have seen several pieces of his own hand, and therefore may the better affirm, that, both for matter and form, they surpass those of his ablest ministers, and come nothing short of Strafford or Faulkland, the two most celebrated pens of that time.”—Memoirs, p. 71.—Ed.] *[Some Episcopalian writers boast of this as a confession of defeat. The Presbyterian was confessedly defeated," says Ellis; "he died of chagrin and disappointment within a short time after he left the King." -Origin. Let. iii. 345. This is wretched trifling. Henderson, it is true, gave up the dispute in despair of overcoming the King's prejudices; but thus engaged, his correspondence with his friends in London apprised him that matters were fast approaching a crisis. In April 1646, his friend, Mr Baillie, writes him :-" The prevalent party desires nothing so much as the King's refusing of any one of the propositions. It is the sense of all I meet with, that if the King should but delay to grant the propositions, this people will declare against him, and where is the evidence that he acknowledged himself defeated in argument ? The fact is, that he had prepared an answer to the King's last paper; but, with a constitution shattered by the fatigues he had undergone in the service of the Church, and with a heart grieved and broken by the dismal prospect of the confusions which he foresaw would result from the obstinacy of Charles, he abandoned a contest, where personal advantage in controversial argument was the very last thing which he contemplated. He prayed unto the King, He for him prayed, and to him, and when he "I have several original letters of Mr Henderson," says Wodrow to one of his correspondents, " and some papers formed by him 1638, &c. I have a copy of his Reply to the King's Last Paper, in their debate which you know is printed."—Letters, vol. iii. p. 33. It would be of importance if this Reply could be discovered and printed. It has been well observed, that "Mr Henderson's arguments were texts of Scripture, and the King's arguments were authorities from the Fathers; so that if the King's arguments were stronger than Mr Henderson's, the King must have triumphed over the Word of God."-Logan apud Stevenson, iii. 114. But, in truth, it is absurd to speak of any triumph in the matter; his Majesty evaded the question in dispute, and occupied himself with an entirely different subject, viz., the proper rule for determining controversies. "The King," says Collier, "for settling the sense of controverted places in Scripture, appealed to the practice of the primitive Church, and the general consent of the Fathers." Henderson, while he affirmed that there was no such primitive testimony, no such universal consent, in favour of modern Episcopacy, the Fathers very often contradicting one another, at the same time, showed that the rule proposed by his Majesty, however plausible at first sight, was, in reality, more uncertain and erroneous than that of the Papists; for the Papists bring tradition no farther than to an equality with the inspired writings, whereas the King's rule would place antiquity above the Scripture. "For the interpretation of the Fathers shall be the Aór, and accounted reject him for ever from being King. Though he should swear it, no man will believe it, that he sticks upon Episcopacy for any conscience." May 19.-There is much talk here of the King's obstinacy; the faction rejoices herein. If he would do his duty, in spite of all knaves, all would in a moment go right; but if God has hardened him, this people will strive to have him in their power, and make an example of him." In July he writes again :-" Your debates upon Episcopacy, I never took to be conscientious, but merely politick, and a pretence to gain time. I hear France has, or will loose that scruple of conscience very easily. Will such base hypocrisy be blessed? The passing of the proposition for Episcopacy will not do your turn now. You have that good property to do all out of time. Sir, if you have any power, let that man (the King) come off once very frankly in all things, and he shall have all he ought to desire. Will he do it by halfs and quarters, he is running to utter destruction; who can help it? Yet I must be one of the mourners for it. Sir, give over your disputations; they are but vain."* This information Mr Henderson communicated to his Majesty (for whose ear it seems to have been intended), but it had no effect upon him. By this time, Commissioners from the respective Parliaments had come to Newcastle, with propositions of peace to his Majesty, and also Commissioners from the General Assembly to join Mr Henderson. All of them, on their bended knees, begged him to grant the propositions, but he steadily refused. Afterwards Mr Henderson, with Mr Robert Blair (who had greater favour with the King than the rest), dealt with him most earnestly, and with tears, to satisfy the desires of his kingdom, but without success. the very cause and reason, for which we conceive and believe such a place of Scripture to have such a sense; and thus men shall have dominion over our faith' (against 2 Cor. i. 24,) and our faith shall stand in the wisdom of men and not in the power of God."-Henderson's Third Paper. This seems very plain; and yet the doctrine of Charles on this point is defended by his advocates as that of the Church of England !-Case of the Royal Martyr Considered, ii. 201.—ED.] • Baillie, ii., p. 205, 219, 220. PART V. FROM HIS LAST SICKNESS TO HIS DEATH, AUGUST 1646. worse. DURING his conference with the King, Mr Henderson's health, which was bad when he came to Newcastle, had grown much His colleagues at London, alarmed at the accounts of it which they received, wrote to him, entreating that he would take care of himself, and not allow vexation, on account of the obduracy of the King, to prey upon his spirits, and increase his disorder. "Let me entreat you for one thing," says Mr Baillie, in a letter to him, dated May 16, "when you have done your uttermost, if it be God's pleasure to deny the success, not to vex yourself more than is meet : Si mundus vult vadere, &c. When we hear of When we hear of your health and courage, it will refresh us." In another letter, dated August 4, that correspondent writes to him :-" Your sickness has much grieved my heart. It is a part of my prayers to God, to restore your health, and continue your service at this so necessary a time. We never had so much need you as now. The King's madness has confounded us all. We know well the weight that lies on your heart. I fear this be the fountain of your disease; yet I am sure, if you would take courage, and digest what cannot be got amended, and if, after the shaking off melancholious thoughts, the Lord might be pleased to strengthen you at this time, you would much more promote the honour of God, the welfare of Scotland and England, the comfort of many thousands, than you can do by weakening your body and mind with of And in the last letter such thoughts as are unprofitable."* he appears to have written to him, dated August 13, he says, "Your weakness is much regretted by many here. To me it is one of the sad presages of the evils coming. If it be the Lord's will, it is my hearty prayer oft-times, you might be lent to us yet for some time." + But all advice and caution were now in vain. His constitution, which appears never to have been vigorous, was worn out with the fatigues both of body and mind to which he had been subjected, with little intermission, during nine years. His late journey had much injured it, and the behaviour of the King, together with the evils which his foreboding mind saw as likely to be the consequences of this, must have contributed to aggravate his trouble. Judging that his distemper was mortal, he resolved to return to Scotland. But before he left Newcastle, he obtained an audience from the King, and having again reminded him of the critical situation of his affairs, he bade a final farewell to him, having discharged the duties of his commission, as well as of that employment which placed him about his Majesty's person, in the fulfilling of which he had enjoyed little satisfaction. He went to Scotland by sea, and arrived at Edinburgh, August 11, very sick and much exhausted. During eight days after this, he continued so weak, that he was able to discourse little. But he enjoyed great peace of mind, and expressed himself (in what he was able to say) much to the comfort of his brethren and Christian acquaintance who visited them. In a confession of faith afterwards found among his papers, written with his own hand, and expressed as his dying thoughts, among other mercies, he declares himself "most of all obliged to the grace and goodness of God, for calling him to believe the promises of the Gospel, and for exalting him to be a preacher of them to others, and to be a willing, though weak instrument in this great and * It is observable, that Mr Baillie himself was reduced to the same distress of mind and body about fourteen years after, by the melancholy turn of affairs at the Restoration.-Letters, vol. ii., p. 462. + Baillie, ii., 208, 220, 223. |