Besides, all the wit and philosophy in the world can never demonstrate that the killing and slaughtering of a beast is any more than the striking of a bush where a bird's nest is, where you fray away the bird, and then seize upon the empty nest. that if we could pierce to the utmost catastrophe of things, all might prove but a tragic-comedy.

So

But as for those rebels that have fled into the mountains and deserts, they are to us a very pleasant subject of natural history; besides, we serve ourselves of them as is to our purpose; and they are not only for ornament of the universe, but a continual exercise of man's wit and valour when he pleases to encounter. But to expect and wish that there were nothing but such dull tame things in the world that will neither bite nor scratch is as groundless and childish as to wish there were no choler in the body, nor fire in the universal compass of nature.

I cannot insist upon the whole result of this war, nor must forget how that generous animal the horse had at last the wit to yield himself up, to his own great advantage and ours. And verily he is so fitly made for us, that we might justly claim a peculiar right in him above all other creatures. When we observe his patient service he does us at the plough, cart, or under the pack-saddle, his speed upon the highway in matters of importance, his docibleness and desire of glory and praise, and consequently his notable achievements in war, where he will snap the spears apieces with his teeth, and pull his rider's enemy out of the saddle; and then, that he might be able to perform all this labour with more ease, that his hoofs are made so fit for the art of the smith, and that round armature of iron he puts upon them; it is a very hard thing not to acknowledge that this so congruous contrivance of things was really from a principle of wisdom and counsel.

There is also another consideration of animals and their usefulness, in removing those evils we are pestered with by reason of the abundance of some other hurtful animals, such as are mice and rats, and the like; to this end the cat is very serviceable. And there is in the West Indies a beast in the form of a bear, which Cardan calls Ursus Formicarius, whose very business it is to eat up all the ants, which some parts of that quarter of the world are sometimes excessively plagued withal.

We might add also sundry examples of living creatures that

not only bear a singular good affection to mankind, but are also fierce enemies to those that are very hurtful and cruel to man: and such are the lizard, an enemy to the serpent; the dolphin, to the crocodile; the horse, to the bear; the elephant, to the dragon, etc. But I list not to insist upon these things.

(From An Antidote against Atheism.)

RICHARD BAXTER

[Richard Baxter (1615-1691), was born at Rowton, in Shropshire, in November 1615. The Baxters were a family of ancient descent, but had somewhat degenerated. He received a desultory education from various tutors, until at the age of fifteen he was sent to the Endowed School at Worcester, where he remained for three years; but he frequently complains that he never received any competent training. In 1633 he was sent to Court with an introduction to Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, but a month at Whitehall gave him a distaste for a courtier's life. He returned to his original desire of receiving holy orders, and devoted himself to theological studies. In 1638 he accepted the offer of the head-mastership of a school at Dudley, and in the same year was ordained at Worcester by Bishop Thornborough, from whom also he received a license to teach the school. In 1640 we find him settled at Bridgnorth as "assistant minister" to the Rev. W. Madstard. In the same year was imposed the "Et cetera" oath, to which Baxter resolved he would never subscribe. In the following March he was appointed lecturer at Kidderminster, where by his piety and zeal he wrought a moral revolution. On the breaking out of the civil war, he was in a strait; for he desired to be loyal to the king, and yet his opinions on most points agreed with those of the parliamentary party. He had to leave Kidderminster, and retired to Coventry with thirty other ministers. But he was completely out of sympathy with the sectaries with whom he was brought into contact ; and, with characteristic boldness, he constantly withstood them. After the battle of Naseby he became chaplain to Colonel Whalley's regiment, but he was never really a partisan of either side, and in 1647 he went into retirement for a short time. He then returned to Kidderminster, where he continued his ministry, and also took a leading part in politics, contending for the rights of the people, but opposing the Solemn League and Covenant, the Engagement, the Extirpation of Episcopacy, and the setting aside of Charles II., and holding in horror the execution of Charles I. On the Restoration, which he took part in effecting, he became chaplain to Charles II., and the Bishopric of Hereford was offered to him. But this he could not conscientiously accept; for he thought the Episcopate of the Church of England was not in accordance with primitive Episcopacy. He took a leading part in the Savoy Conference, being earnestly desirous to remain within the Church, but equally anxious to procure many alterations in its constitution and its liturgy. He could not carry his points, and reluctantly submitted to be evicted by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. He suffered persecution and imprisonment in the reign of Charles II., and still more severely in that of James II., when he was grossly insulted by the notorious Judge Jeffreys. He lost his wife in 1681,

and was deeply affected by the bereavement. But he survived her for ten years, exercising his ministry when he had the opportunity, joining with the clergy in resisting the encroachments of James II. in 1688, and joyfully welcoming the Toleration Act of William and Mary. He died on 8th December 1691, and was buried beside his wife, in Christ's Church, London, William Bates, who held in the main the same views, as a "moderate Nonconformist " and unwilling separatist," preaching his funeral sermon.]

RICHARD BAXTER was one of the most voluminous and popular writers of English prose in the 17th century. His Practical Works alone fill no less than twenty-two 8vo. volumes; and besides these he wrote a vast amount on a variety of other subjects. Considering the defects of his education, and the incessant whirl in which his life was passed, his literary fecundity is perfectly marvellous. He is said to have taken no pains with his style, and to have written straight from the heart; "he never recast a sentence or bestowed a thought on its rhythm, and the balance of its several parts"; but in spite or shall we say, in consequence?—of this, his style is in its way remarkably good; there is a freedom and naturalness about it which perhaps would have been lost if he had elaborated his compositions more carefully. Earnestness and robust eloquence breathe through every page. He is seen at his best in his purely practical works; notably in the Saints' Everlasting Rest, and A Call to the Unconverted. Speaking of the former work, Archbishop Trench has called attention to a remarkable but undoubted fact: "In regard of the choice of words, the book might have been written yesterday. There is hardly one which has become obselete, hardly one which has drifted away from the meaning which it has in his writings" (Companions for the Devout Life, p. 89). In this respect Baxter differs widely from the great writers of his time, such as Jeremy Taylor and Isaac Barrow, who require to be translated, more or less, into popular language. Baxter is essentially a popular writer; he who runs may read almost everything that he has written. A good summary of most of his controversial writings will be found in the Rev. John Hunt's Religious Thought in England; but to his practical and devotional works no summary can do justice. Baxter's popularity as a writer in his own day is all the more remarkable, because his views were calculated to please no party entirely. He leaned too much to the Church to please the Nonconformists, and too much to the Nonconformists to please Churchmen; he was too