hands, the dignitaries of that church were dispossessed, and their lands and revenues seized into the hands of the committee of that county. The dignitaries of the cathedral churches of Winchester and Carlisle were served in the same manner the latter end of this year, when the whole frame of the hierarchy was dissolved.

The parliament, at the request of the assembly of divines, gave some marks of their favor to the university of Cambridge, which was reduced to such necessitous circumstances, by reason of the failure of their college rents, that they could not support their students; it was therefore ordained, April 11, 1645, "That nothing contained in any ordi'nance of parliament concerning levying or paying of tax ́es should extend to the university of Cambridge, or any 'of the colleges or halls within the said university, nor to 'any of the rents or revenues belonging to the said univer'sity or colleges, or any of them, nor to charge any master, 'fellow, or scholar of any of the said colleges, nor any 'reader, officer, or minister of the said university or colle'ges, for any stipend, wages, or profit arising, or growing due to them, in respect of their places and employments in the said university." They likewise confirmed all their ancient rights and privileges, and ordered the differences between the university and town to be determined according to law. On the same day the ordinance for regulating the university, and removing scandalous ministers in the associated counties by the earl of Manchester, mentioned in the beginning of the last year, was revived and continued.

On the 17th of April this year died Dr. Dan. Featly; he was born at Charlton in Oxfordshire, 1581, and educated at Corpus Christi college, of which he was fellow; upon his leaving the university he went chaplain to sir Thomas Symmonds, the king's ambassador to the French court, where he gained reputation by his sermons and disputations with the papists. When he returned home he became

SHusband's Collcetions, p. 636, 637.

There was also a celebrated piece from his pen, levelled against the baptists. It originated from a disputation which he held with four of that persuasion in Southwark, in the month of October 1641. About two years afterwards he published an account of this debate in a book,

domestic chaplain to archbishop Abbot, and was presented by him to the rectory of Lambeth, and in the year 1627, to that of Acton. In 1643, he was nominated of the assembly of divines, and sat among them till his correspondence with the court was discovered, by an intercepted letter to archbishop Usher relating to their proceedings; upon which he was committed to lord Peter's house for a spy, both his livings were sequestered, and himself expelled the assembly. The doctor was a thorough calvinist, but very zealous for the hierarchy of the church; so that when in prison he published the following challenge;

"WHEREAS I am certainly informed, that divers lecturers and preachers in London do in their pulpits, in a most insolent manner, demand where they are now, that ' dare stand up in defence of the church hierarchy, or book of common prayer, or any ways oppose or impugn the 'new-intended reformation both in doctrine and discipline of the church of England; I do, and will maintain, by entitled, "The Dippers Dipt; or, the Anabaptists duckt, and plunged over head and ears, at a disputation in Southwark.” This title savored of the taste and spirit of the times, and is no favorable omen of the strain of the work. In his dedication, he tells the reader, "that he could hardly dip his pen in any thing but gall." The doctor wrote indeed under an irritation of spirits from being deprived of two liv ings, which he enjoyed before the unhappy differences between the king and parliament. He had the character, however, of an acute as well as vehement disputant. He had for his fellow prisoner Mr. Henry Denne, educated at the university of Cambridge, and ordained in 1630, by the bishop of St. David, who signalized himself by his preaching, writing, disputing, and suffering for the baptistical opinion. As soon as he came into prison, Dr. Featly's book was laid before him in his apartment; when he had read it, he offered to dispute with the author on the arguments of it. The challenge was accepted, and they debated on the first ten arguments, when the doctor declined proceeding, urging that it was not safe for them to dispute on the subject without licence from government; but he bid Mr. Denne write, and said he would defend his own arguments. Mr. Denne, on this, drew up a learned and ingenious answer; but it does not appear that the doctor ever replied. He was esteemed one of the greatest ornaments of the Corpus Christi College: and acquitted himself with great applause in a funeral oration on the death of its celebrated master Dr. Rainolds; and in a public exercise with which he entertained the archbishop of SpalUnwholsome air, bad diet, and worse treatment, hastened his death. Crosby's history of the English Baptists, vol. i, p. 152, and 303, and Granger's History of England, vol. ii. p. 176, 7. 8vo. Ed. See before Chap. II.

ato.

'disputation or writing, against any of them, these three conclusions:

1. That the articles of religion agreed upon in the year 1562, by both houses of convocation, and ratified by Queen Elizabeth, need no alteration at all, but only an orthodox explication of some ambiguous phrases, and 'a vindication against false aspersions.

2. "That the discipline of the church of England, es'tablished by many laws, and acts of parliament, that is, 'the government by bishops (removing all innovations and 'abuses in the execution thereof) is agreeable to God's word, and a truly ancient and apostolical institution.

3. That there ought to be a set form of public prayer; and that the book of common prayer (the kalendar being reformed in point of apocryphal saints and chapters, some 'rubrics explained, and some expressions revised, and the whole correctly printed with the psalms, chapters, and allegations, out of the Old and New Testament, ac6 cording to the last translation) is the most complete, per'fect, and exact liturgy now extant in the christian world."

The doctor was a little man, of warm passions, and exceedingly inflamed against the parliament for his imprisonment, as appears by his last prayer a few hours before hisdeath, which happened at Chelsea, whither he had been removed for the benefit of the air, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His prayer had these words in it," Lord, 'strike through the reins of them that rise against the 'church and king, and let them be as chaff before the wind, and as stubble before the fire; let them be scattered as partridges on the mountains, and let the breath of the Lord consume them; but upon our gracious sovereign and his posterity let the crown flourish."-A prayer not formed after the model of St. Stephen's, or that of our blessed Saviour upon the cross.

The writer of the life of archbishop Usher says, the doctor was both orthodox and loyal; but lord Clarendon and Dr. Heylin cannot forgive his sitting in the assembly, and being a witness against archbishop Laud at his trial. Whether he sat in the assembly (says Heylin) to shew his parts, or to head a party, or out of his old love to cal'vinism, may best be gathered from some speeches which VOL. III. 41

he made and printed; but he was there in heart before,, and therefore might afford them his body now, though possibly he might be excused from taking the covenant as others did."*

Soon after died famous old Mr. John Dod, whose pious and remarkable sayings are remembered to this day; he was born at Shotlidge in Cheshire in the year 1550, and educated in Jesus college, Cambridge, of which he was fellow.+ At thirty years of age he removed to Hanwell in Oxfordshire, where he continued preaching twice on the Lord's-day, and once on the week days for above twenty years; at the end of which he was suspended for non-conformity by Dr. Bridges, bishop of the diocese. Being driven from Hanwell he removed to Canons-Ashby in Northamptonshire, and lived quietly several years, till upon complaint made by bishop Neal to King James, he commanded archbishop Abbot to silence him. After the death of King James, Mr. Dod was allowed to preach publicly again, and settled at Faustly in the same county, where he remained till his death. He was a most humble, pious, and devout man and universally beloved; an excellent Hebrician, a plain, practical, fervent preacher, a noted casuist, and charitable almost to a fault; his conversation was heavenly; but being a noted puritan, though he never meddled with state affairs, he was severely used by the king's cavaliers, who plundered his house, and would have taken away his very sheets, if the good old man, hardly able to rise out of his chair, had not put them under him for a cushion; all which he endured patiently, calling to mind one of his own maxims,‡ sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions. He died of the strangury in the 96th year of his age, and lies buried in his parish church at Faustly.

* Hist. Presb. p. 464.

+ Clark's Martyrol, p. 168, of the annexed lives.

His name has derived celebrity from his maxims. usually called Dodd's Sayings: they having been printed in various forms; many of them on two sheets of paper, are still to be seen pasted on the walls of cottages. An old woman in my neighborhood told me, says Mr. Granger, that she should have gone distracted for the loss of her husband, if she had been without Mr. Dodd's Sayings in the house." History of England, vol. i. p. 370, 8vo. Ed.

66

Fuller's Ch. Hist. p. 220.

CHAP. VII.

The Conclusion of the First Civil War, by the King's sur rendering his Royal Person to the Scots. Petitions of the Assembly and City Divines against toleration, and for the divine right of the Presbyterial Government, which is erected in London. Debates between the King, Mr. Henderson, and the Scots Commissioners. His Majesty is removed from Newcastle to Holmby-House. Farther account of the Sectaries.

THE king being returned to Oxford, Nov. 6, 1646, after an unfortunate campaign, in which all his armies were beaten out of the field, and dispersed, had no other remedy left but to make peace with his subjects, which his friends in London encouraged him to expect he might be able to accomplish, by the help of some advantage from the growing divisions among the members, the majority of whom were inclined to an accommodation, provided the king would consent to abolish episcopacy, and offer sufficient assurances to govern for the future according to law. But though his majesty was willing to yield a little to the times, with regard to the security of the civil government, nothing could prevail with him to give up the church. Besides, as the king's circumstances obliged him to recede, the parliament as conquerors advanced in their demands. In the month of December, his majesty sent several messages to the parliament, to obtain a personal treaty at London, upon the public faith for himself and a certain number of his friends, residing there with safety and honor forty days; but the parliament would by no means trust their enemies within their own bowels, and therefore insisted preremptorily upon his signing the bills they were preparing to send him, as a preliminary to a well-grounded settlement.

The king made some concessions on his part, relating to the militia and liberty of conscience, but very far short of Rapin, p. 320.