House of Commons, at their solemn Fast, Nov. 29, 1648, This Sermon is entitled, "The Robbing and Spoiling of Jacob and Israel." 4to. pp. 48. London, 1643. He has an epistle which is addressed to the House of Commons, and is prefixed to that sermon, dated Chancerylane, 19th Dec. 1643. I am not able to give any farther account of Mr Mewe.

THOMAS MICKLETHWAIT.

THOMAS MICKLETHWAIT was a member of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and is marked in Mr Neal's list as constantly attending. He was Minister at Cherryburton in Yorkshire. From that place he was called to sit in the Assembly of Divines at Westminster; and from thence he was cast out by the Act of Uniformity. He was father to Sir John Micklethwait, the celebrated physician. John Micklethwait, the son, had taken the degree of doctor of physic, at Padua in Italy, in 1638, was one of the college of physicians, and president there. of, physician in ordinary to King Charles II. from whom he received the honour of knighthood. And Dr Calamy "the father was no less famous in the country, for his piety, gravity, prudence, and learning, in his profes sion of divinity, than his son was at London for his skill in the art of medicine." I have neither seen any writings by Mr Micklethwait, nor found any more information respecting him, in all my researches.

says

a Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. ii. Calamy's Account, vol. ii. Cont. vol. ii.

MATTHEW NEWCOMEN, M. A.

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT DEDHAM IN ESSEX, AND A MEMBER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER.

MATTHEW NEWCOMEN received his education in St John's-college, in Cambridge. He was very highly esteemed there, and eminently distinguished by his wit and his curious parts; which, being afterward sanctified by the power of divine grace, rendered him peculiarly serviceable to the church of God. He succeeded the famous Mr John Rogers at Dedham. Their gifts were very different. Mr Rogers was a grave, severe, and solid, divine. His great gift lay in the delivery of the solid matter which he had prepared with a peculiar gesture and elocution, so that few persons heard him without trembling at the word of God. He was indeed one of the most awakening preachers of the age. But Mr Newcomen's gifts lay almost every way. And his. greatest enemies must allow, that he shewed as much art as piety in his sermons and prayers, and in all his religious services. Dr Collins, in his preface to Mr Fairfax's sermon which he preached upon the occasion of his death, gives the following account of him. He says, "That he had thirty years acquaintance with him, and in that time had been well acquainted with many learned and pious persons; but that he never knew any who excelled him, considering him as a minister in the pulpit, a disputant in the schools, and a desirable companion. In the first capacity, his gift in prayer was incomparable. He was a solid, painful, pathetick, and perswasive, preacher." He was a member of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and constantly attended during the session. And he then preached with Mr Calamy at Aldermanbury. He was employed together with Dr Arrowsmith and Dr Tuckney in drawing up that admirable piece, the Assembly's Catechism. He was also one of the commissioners at the VOL. II.

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Savoy. His management of the argument against the Toleration of the Jews, though never printed, made him to be admired by all persons who heard it. He had both many and great offers of preferment, after he was settled at Dedham; but he refused all these offers, and continued there until he was turned out by the Act of Uniformity, in the year 1662. Soon after he was ejected, he was invited to the pastoral charge of the English Church at Leyden in Holland. He accepted that charge more readily, because he knew that he should there have the full liberty of his public ministry, which he preferred to any thing in this world. He was there exceedingly acceptable to Dr Hoornbeck, and the other professors and learned men of those parts. And there he died of a fever, which prevailed much in that city, in the year 1668, or 1669. He was a most accomplished Scholar and Christian. He was eminently distinguished by his universal learning and piety, and by his extraordinary humility and pleasant conversation." Mr Baxter, in his own life, frequently mentions Mr Newcomen with great respect, as one of the principal ministers concerned in the transactions of those times.

Mr Newcomen's writings.-Irenicum, a work much commended; but I have not seen it.-A Sermon preached from Neh. iv. 11. before the honourable House of Commons, Nov. 5, 1642. 4to. pp. 48. Lond. 1643. -A Sermon preached from Isai. Ixii. 6, 7. before both Houses of Parliament, and the Assembly of Divines, at their solemn Fast, July 7th, 1643. 4to. pp. 34. London, 1643.-A Sermon tending to set forth the Right Use of the Disasters that befall our Armies, from Joshua vii. 10, 11. preached before both Houses of Parliament, at their extraordinary Fast, Sept. 12th, 1644. 4to. pp. 41. London, 1644.-The All-Seeing Unseen Eye of God; a Sermon from Heb. iv. 13. before the Commons, Fast, Dec. 30th, 1646. 4to. Lond. 1647.The Duty of Such as would Walk worthy of the Gos

a Calamy's Account, vol. ii.

pel, to endeavour Union, not Division, nor Toleration; opened in a Sermon from Phil. i. 27. at Paul's, upon the Lord's day, 8th Feb. 1646-47. 4to. Lond. 1646-47.A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr Samuel Collins, Pastor of Braintree in Essex, 1657.-A Farewell Sermon in the London Collection, from Rev. iii. 3.-Another Sermon in the Country Collection, which is the last in the volume, from Acts xx. 32. entitled, Ultimum Vale; or, The last Farewell of a Minister of the Gospel to a beloved people. It consists of 78 pages. Lond. 1663.— The Best Acquaintance, and Highest Honour of Christians. A Discourse on Job xxii. 21. A small book; but a great treasure. London, 1668 & 1679.

PHILIP NYE, M. A.

MINISTER OF KIMBOLTON, AND A MEMBER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER.

PHILIP NYE was born of a genteel family in Sussex in England, in the year 1596. He entered a commoner of Brazen-nose college, Oxford, 21st of July, 1615. He did not continue long there, but removed to Magdalenhall, in the same University, where, being put under the care of a Puritanical tutor, he remained until he had taken the degrees in arts. He was a very diligent student, while he continued at Oxford. In due time, he entered into the holy ministry, and officiated sometime at Michael's church, in Cornhill, London, where he was in the year 1630.

In the year 1633, upon the death of Archbishop Abbot, Laud was made Archbishop of Canterbury; when he and his brethren renewed their blind zeal in the violent persecution of the Puritans. Many lecturers were silenced, and their lectures put down. The most eminent divines were often silenced, driven from place to place, and some of them were driven out of the country. Mr Nye, and

others, to escape the fury of the storm, fled to Holland. He crossed the seas, that he might avoid the severe censures of the Episcopal inquisitions, and be free from impositions, with which he was much dissatisfied. Wood says, that there he continued for the most part at Arnheim in Guelderland. He returned to England about the beginning of the Long Parliament, and, by the favour of the Earl of Manchester, he became minister of Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire. In the year 1643, he was appointed one of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, sitting in which he had the rectory of Acton near London conferred upon him. He was one of the dissenting brethren in that Assembly. Mr Baillie says, speaking of Mr Nye, "When it came to his turn in the Assembly to oppose the presbytery, he had, from Mat. xviii. drawn in a crooked unformal way, which he never could get in a syllogism, the inconsistence of a presbytery with a civil state. In this he was cried down as impertinent. The day following, when he saw the Assembly full of the prime nobles and chief members of both Houses, he en tered on that argument again, and very boldly offered to demonstrate, that our way of drawing a whole kingdom under one national assembly, is formidable; yea, thrice pernicious to civil states and kingdoms. All cried him down, and some would have had him expelled the Assembly as seditious. Mr Henderson shewed, that he spake against the government of our's, and all the Reformed churches, as Lucian and the Pagans were wont to stir up princes and states against the Christian religion. We were all highly offended with him. The Assembly voted him to have spoken against the order; which was the highest of their censures. Maitland was absent; but enraged when he heard of it. We had many consultations what to do: at last, we were resolved to pursue it no farther, only we would not meet with him, except he acknowledged his fault. The Independents were resolute not to meet without him, and he was resolute to recal nothing of the substance of what he had said. At last, we were intreated by our friends, to shuffle it over the best way might be, and to go on in our business. God,