1663 Barking, E.C. (the parish in which Bishop Andrewes was born). There he lay for eighteen years, confusion and gloom above him in all the land. England-in the grip of a military despotism—had killed her king and lost her "merrie" face; the player's occupation was gone; no amusement in town or hamlet, countryside or village green; no morris dance, no maypole for children's laughter, and no Christmas gatherings. Cromwell had passed away, overwhelmed with a deep consciousness of utter failure, amid a storm which tore roofs from houses, and levelled large trees in every forest. The Restoration, with its wild reaction and rebound, had come. And then, Laud, shortly before London's raging Plague and Fire, was raised out of his grave and translated, in 1833, to St. John's College, Oxford, where he had distinguished himself as its Scholar, Fellow, and President, and where, as he tells us in his Diary, he was "bred up," and of which he was a most generous benefactor. He It is not contended that Laud was immaculate. made many mistakes, to which, indeed, his own Diary bears willing and ample witness; but all of them combined count as dust in the balance when weighed against the work which he achieved, and which lasts. Less masterfulness and more of the art of persuasion; more inclination sometimes to bow the head, and let the storm blow over, than face its crushing force; less obtrusion of personal tastes in ritual, and less fondness of fanciful innovations in matters ceremonial, might have produced less irritation and suspicion, made the path smoother and safer for himself and others, and rendered more successful and secure the cause for which he nobly shed his blood. But it is easy to be very wise long after the event, and give advice to dead men. Let us listen to the words of the most scholarly, most judicial and impartial of writers. 'Laud's immediate acts 66 and aims were most practical, and a great practical rise in the English Church was the effect of his career. He stopped her just in time, as she was rapidly going downhill, and he saved all the Catholicism which the reign of Geneva influence had left her. There is no mistaking the tendencies of that period. That we have our Prayer Book, our Altar, even our Episcopacy itself, we may, humanly speaking, thank Laud. Laud saved the English Church. Let us be historically just. Let the dead have their due. Let us acknowledge facts, and allow their true stamp and authorship to remain upon them. The English Church in her Catholic aspect is a memorial of Laud.” And one of the leading historians of our time, the late Bishop of London, Dr. Creighton, expressed himself as of the same opinion: "William Laud has an unfailing claim upon the homage of English Churchmen, because he did much to fix the character of the system of the English Church."t Laud and Rome. It will be news to those who only read one side of a question to be informed that Laud was the stoutest champion of the day against Rome. "The evidence which he gave against Popery is manifested by as learned and as judicious a book (and so acknowledged, even by his adversaries) as ever was written on the subject by any man since the Reformation, and is so esteemed by all abroad as well as at home." (Warwick's Memoirs, p. 82.) A copy of the first edition of the book referred to was in possession of our late great and good Queen Victoria, and is entitled, A Relation of the Conference between William Lawd . . . and Mr. Fisher, the Jesuite, by the Command of King James. "His own book against the Jesuit will be his lasting epitaph" (Sir Edward Dering). This was one of the books which Charles I. gave to the Princess Elizabeth as his * Prof. J. B. Mozley, .D.D, Essays. parting gift, "which book, the King said, would ground her against Popery" (Herbert's Memoirs, p. 130). Laud and Strafford. They were fellow-prisoners in the Tower, waiting in their respective cells to meet the same fate. "Travellers on the same road, they had come to the same journey's end; the fast friends, the sympathising statesmen, fellow-champions of the Church, reformers, enthusiasts, master spirits, holy man and hero, ghostly father and obedient son-they had held firm to one another in life, and in death they were not divided."* On the day before his execution, Strafford sent a message to Laud asking for his prayers that night, and to be at his window to give him his blessing in the morning on his way to the scaffold. "As he passed under Laud's window he stopped; no Laud appeared; he turned to the Lieutenant-might he be allowed to make his reverence at any rate to the dead wall which hid the Archbishop from his eyes? Meanwhile Laud, apprised of his approach, showed himself at the window. Strafford bowed to the earth-My Lord, your prayers and your blessing.' The outstretched arms of the aged prelate bestowed both, but, overcome by grief, his utterance failed, and he fell backward in a swoon." † A view of our Church appears on medals that were struck in honour of Laud. One of these is in the possession of St. John's College, Oxford. Obverse. Portrait of Laud, profile, square cap, with inscription GVIL: LAVD. ARCHIEPISC. CANTVAR. X. IAN. 1644. Reverse. An Angel holding a mitre; two angels beneath holding a crown; at the base, view of London and the Thames, with old St. Paul's and St. Saviour's, Southwark, with inscription SANCTI CAROLI. PRECURSOR. * Prof. J. B. Mozley, D.D., Essays, † Ibid. Charles J. He was known as the "White King" (Rex Candidatus) from the white robes worn by him at his Coronation, on the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. Whatever his faults may have been, he ought to have received that fair play of which Englishmen boast. Instead of that he was arraigned before a packed jury. A large majority of both Houses voted for the acceptance of the terms which he had offered. Next morning saw Col. Pride at the door of the House of Commons with a list of forty members of the majority in his hands. These he arrested, and placed in confinement. The day following forty more were excluded at the point of the bayonet, and the rest gave way. was the remnant before whom he proudly refused to plead --and no wonder. This He may have been head-strong and weak, but he was a sincerely religious man, and his private life was pure. When the Scots sold him for £400,000, he remarked, "If I am sold by them, I am only sorry they should do it, and that my price should be so much above my Saviour's .. God sees fit to deprive me of Wife, Children, Army, Friends, and Freedom, that I may be wholly His, Who alone is All." He consented to the death of the Earl of Strafford, at the Earl's own request, but he never forgave himself for the act. In his speech on the scaffold he said, "An unjust sentence that I suffered to take effect is punished now by an unjust sentence upon me." Andrew Marvell, a republican poet, describes the deathscene in lines that are well known: "He nothing common did or mean Upon that memorable scene, But with his keener eye The axe's edge did try; Nor called the Gods, with vulgar spite, To vindicate his helpless right; But bowed his comely head Down as upon a bed." His head fell at the first blow, and, as the executioner lifted it to the sight of all, a groan of pity and horror burst from the silent crowd. The shock of the terrible shame and infamy of it was felt throughout Europe. The Czar of Russia chased the English envoy from his court. France recalled her ambassador from England. The Protestants of the Continent were disgusted with a Protestant people who had brought their King to the block. In England at large the repudiation of the army's work was universal. Half the judges retired from the bench. Thousands of beneficed clergymen refused to accept the new order of things. Lord Clarendon (History of the Rebellion) sums up his character thus: "To conclude, He was the worthiest Gentleman, the best Master, the best Friend, the best Husband, the best Father, and the best Christian, that the age in which he lived produced." He was the "White King" to the last. As the coffin was borne by his gentlemen, from the carriage to the porch of Windsor Chapel, the beautiful snow fell softly on the pall, and turned it white. He was buried at midnight, the torches throwing their lurid gleam on statues mutilated, tombs defaced, and desecrated shrines. No bell was tolled, no hymn was sung, no prayers said,—the Prayer Book Service was forbidden! "And persecuted e'en in death, The Martyr is denied The last sad Office of his Church, The Church for which he died. "Move forth, move forth, O faithful few, In silence and in gloom, On to the desecrated Church, On to the lonely tomb. "Yes, bear him white unto his grave, Whom God has purified; In sorrow's furnace cleansed from dross, By sharpest suffering tried.” * * Ballads from English History, edited by Bishop Christopher Wordsworth. |