mortalize their infamy, and to render them and their vices the objects of lafting deteftation to future times. This is indeed a lefs pleafing, but it is a neceffary tafk. And amongst these, in the foremost rank of fhame, fhould ftand all thofe who have heen the enemies of the juft and natural liberties of mankind; the favourers of tyrants and tyranny; and the advocates for perfecution and violence. These have been ever the greatest enemies of the human fpecies; they are the deftroyers of men, not merely of the lives and fortunes, but of the freedom, the dignity, and the fpirit of men; and fhould, in every hiftory that is intended to perpetuate the memory of mankind and their tranfactions, be mentioned with every juft and manly expreffion of indignation. The faithful Biographer, whofe pen ought ever to be confecrated to Liberty and Virtue, fhould be in an efpecial manner careful ftrongly to mark fuch characters, and to give them the full proportion of infamy they deferve. Were this univerfally the cafe, it might be fome reftraint upon a baughty Ecclefiaftic, or ambitious Minifter, in the fullness of their power, to remember, that a time would come, when men might dare, without offence, or the fear of punishment, to delineate their true characters, and to tranfimit them to pofterity, as the enemies of God, and goodness; and odious in the eyes of all wife and good men.

Having thus ventured to throw out a few strictures upon this occafion, we fhall now prefent our Readers with the life of Dr. Whichcote, from the eleventh volume of this work, as a fpecimen of the manner in which the whole is executed.

"WHICHCOTE (BENJAMIN) an English divine of great name, was descended of an antient and good family in the county of Salop; and was the fixth fon of Chriftopher Whichcote, Efq; at Whichcote Hall in the parish of Stoke, where he was born the 11th of March 1609. He was admitted of Emmanuel college, Cambridge, in 1626, and took the degrees in arts; a batchelor's in 1629, mafter's in 1633. The fame year, 1633, he was elected fellow of the college, and became a most excellent tutor; many of his pupils, as Wallis, Smith, Worthington, Cradock, &c. becoming afterwards men of great figure themfelves. In 1636, he was ordained both deacon and prieft at Buckden by Williams bishop of Lincoln; and foon after fet up an afternoon-lecture on Sundays in Trinity church at Cambridge, which, archbishop Tillotson fays, he served near twenty years. He was alfo appointed one of the univerfity preachers; and, in 1643, was prefented by the mafter and fellows of his college to the living of North-Cadbury in Somerfetthire, This vacated his fellowship; and upon this, it is prefumed, he married, and

D 3

went

went to his living: but was foon called back to Cambridge, being pitched upon to fucceed the ejected provost of King's college, Dr. Samuel Collins; who had been in that poft thirty years, and wa alfo regius profeffor of divinity. This choice was perfectly agreeable to Dr. Collins himself, though not so to Dr. Whichcote; who had fcruples about accepting, what was thus irregularly offered him: however, after fome demurring, he complied, and was admitted provoft, March the 16th, 1644. He had taken his batchelor of divinity's degree in 1640; and he took his doctor's in 1649. He now refigned his Somersetshire living, and was prefented by his college to the rectory of Milton in Cambridgeshire, which was void by the death of Dr. Collins. It must be remembered,, to Dr. Whichcot's honour, that during the life of Dr. Collins, one of the two fhares out of the common dividend alloted to the provoft was, not only with Dr. Whichcote's confent, but at his motion, paid punctually to him, as if he had ftill been provost. Dr. Whichcete held Milton, as long as he lived; though after the restoration he thought proper to refign, and refumed it by a fresh presentation from the college. He ftill continued to attend his lecture at Trinity church, with the fame view that he had at first set it up; which was, to preferve and propagate a fpirit of fober piety and rational religion in the univerfity of Cambridge, in oppofition to the fanatic enthufiafm and fenfelefs canting then in vogue: and the happy effects of his pains in this way appeared in the great talents and excellent performances of fo many eminent divines after -the restoration; of whom most of thofe, and Tillotson among them, who had received their education at Cambridge, were formed at leaft, if not actually brought up, by him. In 1658, he wrote a copy of verfes upon the death of Oliver Cromwell, which we are to fuppofe done entirely out of form, and not out of any regard to the perfon of the protector. Nor had Dr. Whichcote ever concurred with the violent measures of those times, by figning the covenant, or by any injurious fayings or actions to the prejudice of any man. At the restoration, however, he was removed from his provostship, by especial order from the king; but yet he was not difgraced or frowned upon. On the contrary, he went to London, and in 1662 was chosen minifter of St. Anne's Black-Friars, where he continued till his -church was burned down in the dreadful fire of 1666. Then he retired to Milton for a while; but was again called up, and prefented by the crown to the vicarage of St. Lawrence Jewry, vacant by the promotion of Dr. Wilkins to the fee of Chefter: where he continued in high reputation and esteem till his death. In 1683, he went down to Cambridge; where, upon taking a great cold, he fell into a diftemper, which in a few days put an end

end to his life. He died at the houfe of his ancient and learned friend Dr. Cudworth, master of Chrift's college, in May 1683; and was interred in the church of St. Lawrence Jewry, Dr. Tillotfon then lecturer there preaching his funeral fermon, where his character is drawn to great advantage. Bishop Burnet (peaks of him in the following terms: "He was a man of a rare temper; very mild and obliging. He had great credit with fome, that had been eminent in the late times; but made all the use he could of it to protect good men of all perfuafions. He was much for liberty of confcience; and being difgufted with the dry fyftematical way of thofe times, he ftudied to raife thofe who converfed with him to a nobler fet of thoughts, and to confider religion as a feed of a deiform nature (to ufe one of his own phrafes). In order to this, he fet young ftudents much on reading the ancient philofophers, chiefly Plato, Tully, and Plotin; and on confidering the Chriftian religion as a doctrine fent from God, both to elevate and fweeten human nature, in which he was a great example, as well as a wife and kind inftructor. Cudworth carried this on with great ftrength of genius, as well as a vast compass of learning."

He is reckoned by Fuller, who printed his hiftory of Cambridge in 1655, among the writers of Emmanuel college; but it does not appear, that he published any thing before the reftoration, or in any part of his life. Select fermons of his were printed 1698, in one volume 8vo, with a preface by the earl of Shaftesbury, author of the Characteristics three volumes more were published by Dr. Jeffery, archdeacon of Norwich, in the years 1701, 1702, and 1703: and a fourth volume was printed by Dr. Samuel Clarke in 1707. "Moral and religious apho"rifms," collected from his manufcript papers, were also publifhed by Dr. Jeffery in 1703; and republished in 1753 by Dr. Samuel Salter, with large additions, and eight letters, which paffed between Dr. Whichcote and fome of his acquaintance upon interefting fubjects. As the preface of lord Shaftesbury is a curiofity in its kind, yet not printed among his works; and as it is a fine illuftration of our author's character, we have thought it not amifs to fubjoin it to this fhort account of him. They, who are well read in the noble author's Characteristics, will want no proof beyond its own internal evidence, to be convinced that it is his; which however, though not known for certain, has never been much doubted.

THE PREFACE.

"Amongst those many things which are made public, it may be thought perhaps of fermons, that they are of any other the Jeaft wanted; and for the future least likely to be found want

ing fince to that rich and inexhauftible ftore, with which the learned and orthodox divines.of England have already furnished us, there is daily fresh addition from worthy and able hands. Neither have we caufe to fear a ceflation in this kind, or that fo great a bleffing is likely to fail us for the future; having such fecurity, not only from the unwearied zeal of prefent divines, (of whom we may always hope a worthy fucceffion) but from the juft efteem which the public never fails to fhew for fuch pious difcourfes; upon which account we find, that many of thefe are every day made public, and, as it were forced into the world; notwithstanding the great modefty of their authors, whofe humble thoughts and devoutly refigned affections lead them not towards eminence, and advancement in the world. It may feem ftrange therefore, that in fuch an age as this, any. one fhould be fo officious, as to fearch after, and publish the fermons of a man long fince dead; who himself never meant to publish any, or thought fo highly of himself, as that he could benefit the world by fuch a publication. It is certain, that we muft not ever imagine, nor can it enter into a mind truly chriftian, that because we fee not an apparent change for the better in the lives of chriftian profeffors, that therefore all preaching is ineffectual; or, that here in England the labours of the most eminent divines, that perhaps the world ever afforded, have been of no ufe at all: it might be faid with the fame reason, though very prophanely and wickedly, that becaufe the Chriftians are not reported to exceed the other nations of the world in probity and good living, but are faid to be rather inferior in this refpect to the civilized people, whether Pagan or Mahometan lying round them, therefore the Christian religion is of no effect at all, nor any ways operative upon the lives of its profeffors. But if we confider this as becomes us, and not perverfely as many do, it will be found that we are even in this fenfe the most highly indebted to Chriftianity, and fhould look upon it as the greatest bleffing imaginable, not only for its fpiritual advantages, which are unspeakable, but for its temporal benefits and fecurities; inafmuch as that mankind being fo inclinable to ill, we should have a religion fo full of all good precepts, and fo inforcing with refpect to all the duties of morality and juftice. So that our amazement ought rather to be, how men with such a religion fhould lead fuch lives! and how malice, hatred, or divifion, fhould have place in fuch focieties as thefe; which we might' expect to fee diftinguished from all others, rather by a perfect harmony and agreement, than by the fierceft quarrels, contentions, and animofities. And indeed, when we confider the nature of preaching, how excellent an order and establishment it is, how highly raised and magnified in the chriftian world;' when

when we confider numbers of holy men fet apart for this great work, having all advantages given them the better to fet forth thofe glorious truths of revelation, and to create a reverence of religion in the minds of men; when we confider the folemnity of a church-affembly, and the awful prefence and authority of the Chriftian orator; we may be apt to wonder, perhaps, why we fee not greater and more happy effects hereof in the world.. However, we must of neceffity conclude, That this inftitution being undoubtedly fo powerful a fupport of our religion, if such affemblies as thefe were not upheld, if fuch authority as this did not fubfift, the confequence would be, that as in a little time there would be no more Chriftianity left in the world, fo neither any morality; fince, notwithstanding all the helps of preaching, and the affiftance and fupport which virtue receives from hence, the lives of men are ftill fo far from being reformed, and the world fo little improved, in thefe latter ages. But, how reven rently foever we have caufe to think concerning this institution, and the undoubted good effects of it upon mankind; and whatever high opinion and efteem we may justly have of their per formance, in whofe hands this power is placed, it feems not wholly impoffible, but that there may be fome defect in this great affair; and that the caufes of ill fuccefs may not lye altogether in the depravity, perverfenefs, or ftupidity of mankind, who are the hearers and readers of thefe doctrines. In fome countries, and amongst some sorts of Christians, we have seen, that the whole of this inftitution has not been appropriated to fpirituals; but, that a great part of thofe divine exhortations have had fomething in common with the policies of the world, and the affairs of government. And, of whatsoever benefit this may have been to mankind, or to the peace of the Christian world, it must be owned that preaching itself will be fo much the lefs apt to make any happy revolution in manners, as it has at any time been serviceable to revolutions in state, or to the fupport of any other intereft, than that of Chrift's kingdom. Nor do we find, fince the arts of government and myfteries of religion have been thus fuited together, that either has been much advantaged by the union; it having never yet appeared, that divinity has been greatly better'd by policy, or that policy has been any where mended by divinity.

Amongst thofe writers, who have been forward in making this unprofperous alliance, and building a political Chriftianity, there has been one of our nation, in the time wherein our author lived, who, whether he may have been ferviceable any way to the civil government, or Chriftian church, it may be concluded at leaft, that he has done but very ill fervice in the moral world and however other parts of philofophy may be obliged to