the thanks of several in the established church, as well as of a great number out of it. Many also were displeased, and some went so far as to threaten my abridgment with the public censure of the convocation. A dignified clergyman discoursing to that purpose with one of my booksellers, that had a concern in the work, and telling him what he had heard from several, that there was a design of that nature on foot, the bookseller requested him to be so kind as to tell any members of the convocation, that if they would pursue that design, and bring it to bear, he would willingly present such as were active in it with a purse of guineas, and did not doubt but the consequence would turn to good account to him in the way of business. This being reported, there was no more talk heard of that nature.

"Among other censurers, Dr. William Nichols, some time after publishing a Latin defence of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, charges me in his historical Apparatus, with hard and severe reflections running through my work." "1

As a counterpart and counteraction to Baxter and Calamy, John Walker, a clergyman of Exeter, published in a folio volume, An Attempt towards recovering an Account of the Numbers and Sufferings of the Clergy of the Church of England, Heads of Colleges, Fellows, Scholars, &c., who were sequestered, harassed, &c., in the late time of the grand Rebellion; occasioned by the ninth chapter, now the second volume, of Dr. Calamy's Abridgment,' &c. 1714.

It is impossible to deny that many of the clergy suffered severely during the civil wars, which no doubt involved many worthy individuals and families in undeserved as well as severe

1 Dr. Nichols' work was replied to by Mr. Peirce of Exeter, in his 'Vindication of the Dissenters.' Both Nichols and Peirce published first in Latin ; but their works afterwards appeared in English. Those who are disinclined to read larger publications, will find in these two volumes the substance of the controversy between the Church and the Nonconformists.

distress. Walker, it is evident, bestowed great pains to represent their hardships. But his attempt falls far short of the book to which it was intended as a reply. It is exceedingly incorrect in the statement of numbers, in the representation of many occurrences, and in general is deficient in historic fidelity. It cannot be referred to as a book of authority.

"My work," says Calamy, "was also warmly reflected on in a pamphlet, entitled, 'A Case of present Concern in a Letter to a Member of the House of Commons;' in Mr. Wesley's defence of his letter concerning the education of Dissenters in their private academies; in a sermon of Mr. Stubbs, entitled, "For God or for Baal, or no Neutrality in Religion;' and in almost all the warm and angry pamphlets which at that time swarmed from the press in great plenty. Animadversions' were published upon me in a dialogue; my Abridgment was said to deserve to be condemned by public authority, and to undergo the fiery trial;' and there came out a rebuke to Mr. Edmund Calamy, author of the Abridgment of Mr. Baxter's Life, by Thomas Long, B. D. But he was a man of such a temper, and the spirit that ran through his writings was so bitter, and had such a mixture of weakness with fury, that it seemed to little purpose to offer at pursuing the argument, and therefore I forebore." m

In the tenth chapter of his Abridgment, Calamy reduces to distinct heads the reasons of the Nonconformists for separating from the church of England. This part of the work is written with great care and judgment, and was considered at the time one of the ablest defences of the Nonconformists which had appeared. It was therefore attacked by the Rev. Thomas Ollyffe, rector of Durton and Hedgerly, in his Defence of Ministerial Conformity, which came out in three parts in the years 1703, 1705, and 1706. The celebrated Dr. Hoadly, afterwards bishop of Bangor, also entered the lists with Calamy in 'The

VOL. II.

m Calamy's Own Life, vol. i. pp. 445–449.

DD

Reasonableness of Conformity to the Church of England;' which appeared in two parts, and went through several editions. In reply to both these antagonists, Calamy published in three successive parts, occupying as many volumes, his 'Defence of Moderate Nonconformity.' 1703-4-5. The controversy was managed with great ability on both sides, and affords by far the fullest view of the points in debate between the Church and the Nonconformists to be found in our language."

" It called forth the commendation of John Locke, who declared that while the author" stood to the principles there laid down, he had no occasion to be afraid of any antagonist.”—Calamy's Own Life, vol. ii. p. 31.

CHAPTER XII.

DEVOTIONAL WORKS.

Introductory Observations- The Saint's Everlasting Rest'-Written for his own use in the time of Sickness-Composed in Six Months-Notices of Brook, Pym, and Hampden, whose names are omitted in the latter Editions-Description, Character, and Usefulness of the Work-Attacked by Firmin-Baxter's Answer to his Exceptions'-' The Divine Life '—Occasioned by a request of the Countess of Balcarras-Its Object and Excellence-Funeral Sermons for various Persons-Treatise of Death '— ‹ Dying Thoughts'—' Reformed Liturgy '—' Paraphrase on the New Testament' Monthly Preparations for the Communion'-' Poetical Fragments' Additions' to the Fragments- - Paraphrase of the Psalms' -General Review of his Poetry-Conclusion.

THE talents of Baxter as a writer appear to great advantage in every department in which they were employed. As a controversialist, he had not only no superior, but no equal in his day. In the field of theological warfare he was a giant, and few individuals who attempted to grapple with him, had reason to be proud of their success. In the practical instruction of religion he was not less distinguished. His knowledge of the word of God, and of the corrupt workings of the human heart, was profound; while his power over the minds and the affections of others, has been evinced by the numbers who have derived the highest benefit from his preaching and his writings. It is an extraordinary circumstance that, amidst the multiplicity of his labours, and the variety of his controversial discussions, he was enabled to preserve uninjured, during a long period of years, a more elevated tone of devotional feeling than has usually been

enjoyed by Christians, even in the most favoured walks of life. This will appear in the following review, which commences with the first and most popular of his works, and closes with almost the last production of his pen.

'The Saint's Everlasting Rest,' though the second book which Baxter published, was the first he wrote; and had he never written another, it alone would have endeared his memory for ever, to all who cherish the sublime hopes of the Gospel. "It was written by the author for his own use during the time of his languishing, when God took him off from all public employment;" and furnishes an admirable illustration of the richness and vigour of his mind, as well as of the great sources of its consolation. "While I was in health," he says, "I had not the least thought of writing books, or of serving God in any more public way than preaching, but when I was weakened with great bleeding, and left solitary in my chamber at Sir John Cook's, in Derbyshire, without any acquaintance but my servant about me, and was sentenced to death by the physicians, I began to contemplate more seriously on the everlasting rest, which I apprehended myself to be just on the borders of. That iny thoughts might not too much scatter in my meditation, I began to write something on that subject, intending but the quantity of a sermon or two; but being continued long in weakness, where I had no books and no better employment, I followed it on, till it was enlarged to the bulk in which it is published. The first three weeks I spent on it was at Mr. Nowel's house, at Kirkby Mallory, in Leicestershire; a quarter of a year more, at the seasons which so great weakness would allow, I bestowed on it at Sir Thomas Rous's, in Worcestershire; and I finished it shortly after at Kidderminster."P

Thus, in less than six months, and those months of pain and sickness, he produced a quarto volume of more than eight hun

•Works, vols. xxii. xxiii,

P Life, p. 108.