College. The ten ejected, at this visitation, were, Dr. John Cosins from Peter House, succeeded by Dr. Lazarus Seaman; Dr. Thomas Pask from Clare Hall, succeeded by Dr. R. Cudworth; Dr. Benjamin Laney, from Pembroke Hall, succeeded by Mr. Richard Vines; Dr. Samuel Collins from King's College, succeeded by Dr. Benjamin Whichcote; Dr. E. Martin from Queen's College, succeeded by Mr. H. Palmer; Dr. R. Stern from Jesus' College, succeeded by Dr. T. Young; Dr. W. Beale from St. John's College, succeeded by Dr. J. Arrowsmith; Dr. Thomas Comber from Trinity Hall, succeeded by Dr. Thomas Hill; Dr. R. Holdsworth from Emanuel College, succeeded by Dr. Anthony Tuckney; Dr. Samuel Ward, Sidney Collegeby Dr. R. Minshull; and in 1645, Dr. R. Brownrigge from Kath. Hall, succeeded by Dr. Spurstow, and afterwards by Dr. Lightfoot.

Some of those heads of colleges, who were ejected on this occasion, were undoubtedly men of great worth and great learning; and perhaps, in the mere learning of the schools, were superior to their successors; but it would be difficult to find a brighter constellation of distinguished scholars and theologians, than those now placed at the heads of the colleges of the University. And if they were in any respect inferior to their predecessors, in diligence and fidelity, in the execution of their functions they were greatly before them; and exerted a religious influence on the youth, greatly to the benefit of the nation.

The oath now prescribed to the masters of colleges, was very strict and solemn. It was in the following words, viz. "I do solemnly and seriously promise, in the presence of Almighty God, the searcher of all hearts, that during the time of my continuance in this charge, I shall faithfully labour to promote learning and piety in myself, the fellows, scholars, and students that do, or shall belong to the said college, agreeably to the late SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT, by me sworn and subscribed," &c.

1 Neal, Vol. ii. p. 82.

The only thing which bears an unfavourable aspect in these appointments, was, that almost all the masters were selected from the Assembly: but it may be said in apology for this, that the most learned divines in the country, who adhered to the Parliament, were in the Assembly; and again, that by being there, their talents came to be more fully and generally known.

The filling up the fellowships now vacated, was a more serious business. All candidates were examined by the Assembly, and in about six months the requisite number was made up. The University now enjoyed a delightful tranquillity and harmony; and learning and religion flourished in the several halls and colleges. Yet some of the writers of the King's party, have represented the change now made, as though the Goths and Vandals had invaded the University, and had reduced all things to confusion and anarchy; and had not left a vestige of true learning and discipline in the place.

The earl of Manchester also extended his visitation to the ministers of the seven associated counties, by giving a warrant to commissioners to proceed in examining into the several cases requiring their attention. To these he gave special instructions how to proceed in all the parts of the trial. And when any minister was, upon trial, convicted, report was made to the earl, who directed a warrant to the churchwardens of the parish, to eject him out of his parsonage, and all the profits thereof. At the same time he directed the parishioners to choose a proper minister for the vacant place, and upon their presentation he was sent to the Assembly of divines, with an account of his character, for their trial and examination. And upon a certificate from the Assembly, that they approved of him as an orthodox divine, and qualified to officiate in the pastoral function, his lordship issued his last warrant, authorizing and appointing him to teach, preach, and catechise; and to take possession of the church, parsonage, &c.

It is difficult to ascertain the number of ministers that were cast out of their livings during the war.

Dr. Nalson says, that in five of the associated counties, one hundred and fifty-six clergymen were ejected in the course of a year; and allowing a proportionable number for the remaining counties of this district, the whole will amount to two hundred and eighteen. And if we suppose the same proportion in the fiftytwo counties of England, the whole number would be sixteen hundred and upwards. Dr. Walker, however, has by a fallacious computation, increased the number to eight thousand. Upon the fairest calculation, the number will fall considerably short of two thousand, in all the counties of England. Mr. Baxter says, "They cast out the grosser sort of insufficient and scandalous clergy, and some few civil men, that had acted in the wars for the king; but left in near one half of those that were but barely tolerable." He further states, "That in the counties where he was acquainted, six to one of the sequestered ministers, were by the oaths of witnesses, proved insufficient, or scandalous, or both."

This ejectment does not admit of a comparison with that which took place at the restoration, for non-conformity. In this case, the principal ground was either political, because they were considered enemies to the existing government; or, because they were totally unfit for the sacred office of the ministry; whereas, the ejected ministers of 1662, were loyal subjects of the king; had had a considerable share in his restoration, and were certainly among the most pious and best qualified ministers in the kingdom. There was another striking difference in the two cases: in the ejectment by Parliament, one-fifth of the income. of all ejected ministers was appropriated to the support of their wives and children; whereas in the case of those ministers cast out after the restoration, no provision whatever was made for the suffering families of the ejected ministers; but on the contrary, by severe penalties, they were prohibited from coming within five miles of any incorporated town; so that their opportunities of making a living by teaching, or in any other way, were exceedingly circumscribed.

Still we are not disposed to deny, that it was a hard case to be thus cast out on the world, without the means of comfortable subsistence; and no doubt there were many cases of suffering which demand our sympathy. Civil dissensions are attended always with deplorable effects; and often deserving and innocent persons are as deeply involved in the disasters of such wars, as the most guilty.

CHAPTER XVII.

Prevalent Errors and Sectaries during the period of the Assembly.

THE civil war in England having been undertaken, partly on a religious account; that is, to resist ecclesiastical tyranny, and to secure liberty from the domination of a proud hierarchy; many persons went into the Parliament's army who were truly religious men; and many more who were actuated by an enthusiastic spirit, and entertained views of civil and ecclesiastical society which were exceedingly visionary. Perhaps there never was an army in which religious feeling, of one kind or another, so predominated. Frequently their commanding officers preached and prayed in public, and the soldiers were deeply imbued with the same spirit, and spent much of their time, when in quarters, in disputing, or praying. In consequence of this state of things, the army became a hot bed, in which were generated and nourished the wildest fanaticism, and the most extravagant opinions on religion. But this religious spirit animated them with an invincible courage, when they thought they were contending against tyranny, and fighting for religion, as well as liberty. A full view of the state of the Parliament's army may be found in Baxter's "Life and History of his own Times." The number of sects which now sprung up, cannot easily be enumerated, as many of them had only an ephemeral

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existence, and are only mentioned incidentally by the writers of the times. The general tendency was to discard all regular authority in the church, and to set at nought all religious ordinances, as a hinderance to the impulses of the Spirit, by which they professed to be favoured. The only sects, however, which now arose in England, and which having assumed a regular form, have come down to our times, are the Quakers and Baptists, which have long since divested themselves of those extravagances which characterized their founders. Indeed, the present society of Baptists, grown to be a numerous and respectable denomination of Christians, differ from Independents in scarcely any thing else, but the denial of infant baptism, and insisting on total immersion as the only proper mode of administering this ordinance. From the admonitions and precautions against Antinomianism, in the proceedings of the Westminster Assembly, we may infer that, in that period, there existed a strong tendency to this extreme. One of the first objects which occupied the attention of this venerable body, was the censure of certain Antinomian writings, which had recently been published. We find in Neal's History of the Puritans, the following paragraph, viz:

"As the Assembly were for strengthening the doctrines of the church against Arminianism, they were equally solicitous to guard against the opposite extreme of Antinomianism; for which purpose, they appointed a committee to peruse the writings of Dr. Crisp, Mr. Eaton, and Mr. Saltmarsh, and others, who, having drawn out some of their most dangerous positions, reported them to the Assembly, where theywere not only condemned, but confuted, in their public sermons and writings."

It also appears from Dr. Lightfoot's journal, that of the candidates examined for sequestered livings, more were found tainted with this error, than with Arminianism. The sectaries, in general, entertained a great abhorrence of the Westminster Assembly, and many pamphlets were written against them. And