library, which consisted of over ten thousand volumes, was eagerly sought after, the King of Denmark and Cardinal Mazarin offering large sums for it. Cromwell interfered, however, and it was soon after purchased by the army in Ireland, and stored in Dublin Castle, from whence on the Restoration it was moved to Trinity College.

The works of Usher are well known to all scholars for their breadth of view, deep learning, and wide research. His chronology of the Bible is still the chronology adopted in the authorized version; his work on the Solar Calculations of the Syrians, a work On the Apostles' Creed and other Ancient Confessions of Faith, and his work De Græca Septuaginta, are remarkable as displaying his wide range of reading. Of his Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the British Churches Gibbon says, “All that learning can extract from the rub. bish of the dark ages is copiously stated by Archbishop Usher." Bishop Jebb says he was "the most profoundly learned offspring of the Reformation ;" and Dr. Johnson says, "Usher is the great luminary of the Irish Church; and a greater no church can boast of." The Body of Divinity, from which we quote, we are told, was published without his approbation, and of it Bickersteth says, "Usher's Body of Divinity, though never revised by him, is full of valuable theology."

Such was the universal esteem of his character and literary reputation that he was offered a professorship at Leyden, and Cardinal Richelieu invited him to settle in France, promising him perfect freedom as to the exercise of his religion, although his notions of church government had a considerable leaning towards Presbyterianism. He was wont to hold learned conferences with Dr. John Preston, "the most celebrated of the Puritans;" and at the conclusion of these interviews it was very common with the good archbishop to say, "Come, doctor, let us say something about Christ before we part." "He hath a great name deservedly," says Edward Leigh, "among the Reformed Churches for his skill in ecclesiastical antiquities, his stout defence of the orthodox religion, frequent and powerful preaching, and unblamable life."

It is remarkable, as has been pointed out in Irish Writers of the Seventeenth Century, "that though living in an age when even Waller was lured from his flute, and Milton from his high dreams of Paradise to fight on affairs of church and state, Usher only once used his pen in defence of the king and his cavaliers."]

OF MEDITATION.1

"Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom" (Prov. xviii. 1).

In the words above recited, if you compare them with the words that follow after, you have Solomon's wise man, a man of understanding, and Solomon's fool, who is destitute of wisdom. Solomon's wise man is not a worldly wise man, but he that takes care for the great things, for spiritual understanding; and as for these worldly things takes that which is needful, and seeks earnestly for the main things, desirous to understand all things which may save his soul. But the fool sees nothing that is far off; he's purblind, as the apostle Peter calls him. These transitory things are all the fool looks for, and this is the difference which Solomon makes. A wise man seeks after saving wisdom, intermeddles with all wisdom, spends a great deal of labour to obtain his desire: he knoweth the preacher doth his part, but he doth not look it should fall into his mouth, he must put his hand to some labour of his, because he knoweth it cannot be obtained without a great deal of diligence, and therefore, for the great desire he hath to attain this knowledge, he separates himself, works on his own heart in private. On the other side, a fool seeks only to have the things of this life; such a fool was he to whom our Saviour said, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. All the knowledge he hath is to talk and prate of religion, and never stores his heart with wisdom, but that little knowledge he hath many times discovers his folly rather than his wisdom. But the wise man separates himself and intermeddleth with all wisdom. So that the point is,

That man that would attain to saving wisdom must not have an ear only to the preacher, but there is something required of him in particular, he must take pains, separate himself, enter into his chamber, examine himself touching his life past. Put his hand to the plough; if he never work himself he will never be a wise man.

Let a man desire to hear the most powerful preacher, it will do him no good except to be an actor and worker himself, and therefore let no man deceive himself. Look to things of this life, food, apparel, wealth; do not men labour for it? And therefore they

1 From A Method for Meditation, London, 12mo, 1656.

offence is not to be measured by the thing that is done, but by the worthiness of the person against whom it is committed. And how much more the commandment our first parents broke 'was easy to be kept (as to abstain from one only fruit in so great variety and pleasure), so much more grievous was their sin by breaking it.

Secondly, though God tried their obedience in that fruit especially, yet were there many other most grievous sins, which in desiring and doing of this they did commit. In so much that we may observe therein the grounds of the breach in a manner of every one of the ten commandments. For the transgression was terrible, and the breach of the whole law of God; yea, an apostacie whereby they withdrew themselves from under the power of God, nay, rejected and denied him; and not so little an offence as most men think it to be.

What breaches of the first commandment may be observed in this transgression?

First, infidelity, whereby they doubted of God's love toward them, and of the truth of his word.

Secondly, contempt of God, in disregarding his threatenings, and crediting the words of Satan, God's enemy and theirs.

Thirdly, heinous ingratitude and unthankfulness against God for all his benefits, in that they would not be beholden unto him for that excellent condition of their creation (in respect whereof they owed unto him all fealty), but would needs be his equal.

Fourthly, curiosity in affecting greater wisdom than God had endued them withal by virtue of their creation, and a greater measure of knowledge than he thought fit to reveal unto them.

Fifthly, intolerable pride and ambition, not only desiring to be better than God made them, but also to be equal in knowledge to God himself, and aspiring to the highest estate due to their Creator.

Secondly, reproachful blasphemy, by subscribing to the sayings of the devil, in which he charged God with lying and envying his good estate.

Thirdly, superstitious conceit of the fruit of the tree, imagining it to have that virtue which God never put into it, as if by the eating thereof such knowledge might be gotten as Satan persuaded.

Fourthly, want of that zeal in Adam for the glory of God which he ought to have showed against his wife, when he understood she had transgressed God's commandments.

How was the fourth commandment broken? In that the Sabbath was made a time to confer with Satan in matters tending to the high dishonour of God. If it be true that on that day man fell into this transgression, as some not improbably have conjectured, for at the conclusion of the sixth day all things remained yet very good, and God blessed the seventh day. Now it is very likely Satan would take the first advantage that possibly he could to entrap them before they were strengthened by longer experience, and by partaking of the sacrament of the tree of life (whereof it appeareth that they had not yet eaten), and so from the very beginning of man become a manslayer.

Show briefly the grounds of the breach of the commandments of the second table in the transgressions of our first parents.

The fifth was broken, Eve giving too little to her husband in attempting a matter of so great weight without his privity, and Adam giving too much to his wife in obeying her voice rather than the commandment of God, and for pleasing of her, not caring to displease God.

The sixth: by this act they threw themselves and all their posterity into condemnation and death, both of body and soul.

Eve, by embracing the word of the devil, and preferring it before the word of God; Adam, by hearkening to the voice of his wife rather than to the voice of the Almighty.

What were the breaches of the third? First, presumption in venturing to dispute God's truth, and to enter in communication with God's enemy, or a beast who appeared unto them, touching the word of God, with whom no such conference ought to have been entertained.

demned, as not bridling the lust and wandering desire of the eyes, as also the inordinate appetite of the taste, in lusting for and eating that only fruit which God forbade, not being satisfied with all the other fruits in the garden.

The eighth first, laying hands upon that which was none of their own, but by special reservation kept from them. Secondly, discontent with their present estate, and covetous desire of that which they had not.

The ninth: judging otherwise than the truth

The tenth by entertaining in their minds Satan's suggestions, and evil concupiscence appearing in the first motions leading to the forenamed sins.

ON THE OATH OF SUPREMACY.1

What the danger of the law is for refusing this oath, has been sufficiently opened by my lords the judges, and the quality and quantity of that offence has been aggravated to the full by those that have spoken after them. The part which is most proper for me to deal in is the information of the conscience touching the truth and equity of the matters contained in the oath; which I also have made choice the rather to insist upon, because both the form of the oath itself requireth herein a full resolution of the conscience (as appeareth by those words in the very beginning thereof, "I do utterly testify and declare in my conscience," &c.), and the persons that stand here to be censured for refusing the same have alleged nothing in their own defence, but only the simple plea of ignorance.

That this point, therefore, may be cleared, and all needless scruples removed out of men's

minds, two main branches there be of this

oath which require special consideration. The one positive, acknowledging the supremacy of the government of these realms, in all causes whatsoever, to rest in the king's highness only The other negative, renouncing all jurisdictions and authorities of any foreign prince or prelate within his majesty's dominions.

For the better understanding of the former we are, in the first place, to call unto our remembrance that exhortation of St. Peter: "Submit yourselves unto every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be unto the king, as having the pre-eminence, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well." By this we are taught to respect the king, not as the only governor of his dominions simply (for we see there be other governors placed under him),

1 From a very rare work entitled "Clavi Trabales, or Nailes fastened by some great Masters of Assemblyes, with a preface by the Lord-bishop of Lincoln. 1661. Α

eminence over the rest; that is to say (according to the tenure of the oath), as him that is the only supreme governor of his realms. Upon which ground we may safely build this conclusion, that whatsoever power is incident unto the king by virtue of his place must be acknowledged to be in him supreme; there being nothing so contrary to the nature of sovereignty as to have another superior power to overrule it. "Let him who is a king not have a king."

God, for the better settling of piety and honIn the second place, we are to consider that esty among men, and the repression of profaneness and other vices, hath established two distinct powers upon earth: the one of the the sword, committed to the civil magistrate. keys, committed to the church; the other of That of the keys is ordained to work upon the inner man, having immediate relation to the remitting or retaining of sins. That of the sword is appointed to work upon the outward man, yielding protection to the obedient, and inflicting external punishment upon the rebellious and disobedient. By the former the spiritual officers of the church of Christ are and rebuke, with all authority, to loose such enabled to govern well, to speak, and exhort, Lord's prison until their amendment, or to as are penitent, to commit others unto the bind them over unto the judgment of the great day, if they shall persist in their wilfulness and obstinacy. By the other princes have an imperious power assigned by God unto them for the defence of such as do well,

and executing revenge and wrath on such as do evil; whether by death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods, or imprisonment, according to the quality of the offence.

mitted unto him, made bold to draw the When St. Peter, that had the keys comsword, he was commanded to put it up, as a withal. And on the other side, when Uzziah weapon that he had no authority to meddle the king would venture upon the execution of the priest's office, it was said unto him, "It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn in

cense unto the Lord, but unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense." Let this, therefore, be our second conclusion-that the power of the sword and of the keys are two distinct ordinances of God; and that the prince hath no more authority to enter upon the execution of any part of the

ember, 1622, at the censuring of some officers who refused to take the oath of supremacy. By the late Primate Usher, then Bishop of Meath."

trude upon any part of the office of the prince. In the third place we are to observe that the