yours to the antipodes." Determined not to be outdone, his lordship blasphemously added, "Doctor, I am yours to the lowest pit of hell;" on which Barrow turned on his heel and said, " And there, my lord, I leave you." In speaking of the intellectual powers of Barrow, and commenting upon his works, it is difficult to do anything like justice to the subject, without seeming to run into the extravagances of inflated and unmeaning panegyric. Yet he may be safely pronounced one of the most remarkable men of any age or nation. As a mathematician, he is, unquestionably,

"If not first, in the very first line;"

deserving honourable mention even in the age of Newton and Leibnitz, of Pascal and the two Bernoullis. After all the improvements in the exact sciences to which later times have given birth, his mathematical lectures may still be read, even by accomplished geometers, with instruction and delight. In particular they display extraordinary insight into what may be called the metaphysics of mathematical science. The theological writings of Barrow-which were most of them published after his death-consist principally of sermons; containing, however, two longer treatises of great value, on the Pope's supremacy, and the Unity of the Church. His sermons are truly extraordinary performances; and, intellectually considered, are, in our judgment, beyond comparison superior to those of even his greatest contemporaries. We can willingly spare the ever-blazing imagination of Taylor, the wit and elegance of Louth, the rough originality of Hall and Donne, and the nervous rhetoric of Chillingworth, in one who every where displays a gigantic grasp of intellect, an exuberant fecundity of thought and illustration, a closeness of logic, and a sustained majesty of style, for which, in their combination, we know not where else to look. He possessed beyond all men, since the days of Aristotle, the power of exhausting a subject. Hence Le Clerc says of his sermons, that they are treatises or exact dissertations, rather than harangues to please the multitude. The discourses on the duty of thanksgiving, on bounty to the poor, on the folly and danger of delaying repentance, on faith, and on the Trinity, may be instanced as among his finest. His description of facetiousness, (in the sermon against foolish talking and jesting,) which Dr Johnson considered the finest thing in the language, is both too long and too well-known to be quoted here. We shall give one or two quotations, however, which may exhibit, not indeed the reach and force of his intellect, for a due idea of which it would be necessary to read through a whole discourse, but the rich exuberance of thought, the beauty of imagery, and felicity of diction, by which he is eminently distinguished. Yea, 'tis our duty not to be contented only, but to be delighted, to be transported, to be ravished with the emanations of God's love: to entertain them with such a disposition of mind as the dry and parched ground imbibes the soft dew and gentle showers; as the chill and darksome air admits the benign influences of heavenly light; as the thirsty soul takes in the sweet and cooling stream. He that with a sullen look, a dead heart, a faint sense, a cold hand, embraces the gifts of heaven, is really unthankful, though with deluges of wine and oil he makes the altars to o'erflow, and clouds the sky with the steam of his sacrifices."3 'First Sermon on Thanksgiving 2 Y

II.

"As to the commands of God, we may lift up ourselves against them,' we may fight stoutly, we may in a sort prove conquerors; but it will be a miserable victory, the trophies whereof shall be erected in hell, and stand upon the ruins of our happiness."

""4

"We may consider and meditate upon the total incomprehensibility of God, in all things belonging to him; in his nature, his attributes, his decrees, his works and ways; which are all full of depth, mystery, and wonder. God inhabiteth a light inaccessible to the dim and weak sight of mortal eyes; which 'no man hath seen, or can see.' Even those spiritual eagles, the quick and strong-sighted seraphim, are obliged to cover their faces, as not daring to look upon nor able to sustain the fulger of his immediate presence, the flashes of glory and majesty issuing from his throne." 5

"Let us consider the Spirit of God as vouchsafing to attend over us, to converse with us, to dwell in us; rendering our souls holy temples of his divinity, royal thrones of his majesty, bright orbs of his heavenly light, pleasant paradises of his blissful presence, our souls which naturally are profane receptacles of wicked and impure affections, dark cells of false and fond imaginations, close prisons of black and sad thoughts."

"6

With all the excellencies of which we have spoken, the sermons of this illustrious divine are by no means recommended as models of pulpit eloquence. Their very depth and comprehensiveness of thought, their laboured majesty of style, would place them far beyond the understanding of any congregation that ever was or ever will be assembled in this world. They are also chargeable with a more serious fault; a defective exhibition of the great principles of the gospel. In saying this, we do not allude to his Arminianism; nor do we charge him with denying any one of the essential doctrines of the gospel. But the fault we find is this; that the great evangelical principles which we know him to have held, were not exhibited with sufficient prominence or in due proportion. They are recognised, they are defended by him; nay, they sometimes kindle him into a rapturous eloquence worthy of his theme. But they are not made the life and soul of his theology, the centre of the system, the source of influence, vitality, and attraction. The Opuscula of Barrow consist in the main of college-exercises, both verse and prose, in the learned languages; and of lectures delivered in his professorial capacity. They possess a high degree of merit; displaying, indeed, all the excellencies of thought and style by which his English compositions are distinguished. If the Oratio Sarcasmica in Schold Græcá, is not to be considered a mere jeu d'esprit, we fear that the study of Greek was but lightly esteemed by the young Cantabrigians of that day. "Levasti me," says the doctor, "levasti me (humanissimi quotquot estis academici) gravissimo onere; a maximo periculo liberastis; labori, solicitudini, pudori meo abunde pepercistis; jugi scilicet illa et pertinaci absentià, qua has scholas refugistis.— Enimvero ex quo in anni decedentis auspiciis longum mihi vale peroranti dixistis, desedi continuo solus huic cathedræ (nemo vestrum sat scio vel mentienti a testis fidem derogabit) tanquam rupi suæ Prometheus affixus: vel ut arbiter quidam supremus in illa (quam non nemo nuper excogitavit) republica Solipsorum; non montibus dico

• On Submission to the Divine Will.

Sermon on the Trinity.

• Ibid.

aut sylvis, sed parietibus istis atque subselliis sententias Græcas, figuras, phrases, etymologias undique conquisitas admurmurans; plane ut Attica noctua ab omni aliarum avium commercio segregata.-Quod si forti vagabundus quispiam recens, vel naufragus sophista (unus aut alter) temerario cestu abreptus, vel infelicis auræ cujuslibet impulsu deportatus in has aliquando (quod perraro tamen memini accidisse) oras appulerit, vix obiter is inspecta provincia, aut tribus verbis acceptis, tragici quippe nescio quid sonantibus, quasi a barbato Græculo, si perstaret, propœdiem devorandus, e meo repente Polyphemi antro in pedes se conjicit." He pursues the same vein of pleasantry through several pages. Dr Barrow's theological works first appeared in three vols. folio, in 1685. They were published under the superintendence of Dr Tillotson and Abraham Hill. The Opuscula were first published in 1687. His mathematical works appeared in the following order. Euclidis Elementa, 8vo. Cantab. 1655. Euclidis Data, 8vo. Cantab. 1657. Lectiones Opticæ, 4to. Lond. 1669. Lectiones Geometricæ, 4to. Lond. 1670. Archimedis Opera; Apollonii Conicorum Libri IV.; Theodosii Sphærica, 4to. Lond. 1675. After his death appeared his Lectio de Sphæra et Cylindro, 12mo. Lond. 1678; and his Lectiones Mathematicæ, 8vo. Lond. 1783.7

John Tombes, B.D.

BORN A. D. 1603.-DIED A.D. 1676.

THIS pious and learned non-conformist was born at Bewdley in Worcestershire, in 1603. His early proficiency in grammar-learning enabled those who had the charge of his education to send him to Magdalene hall, Oxford, before completing his fifteenth year. His tutor at the university was William Pemble, upon whose decease he was chosen to succeed him in the catechetical lecture given in the hall, though but twenty-one years of age at the time. He held this lectureship about seven years, and then removed, first to Worcester, and afterwards to Leominster, in both which places he was very popular as a preacher. He ultimately was presented with the living of Leominster; but, in 1641, he was compelled to relinquish his charge in that place, and retire to Bristol, in consequence of the virulence of the high church party, who disliked the zeal and tolerant spirit of their brother of Leominster, and felt particularly aggrieved by the disposition which he evinced to purge the service of the church from human in ventions.

At Bristol he was warmly received by General Fiennes, then in command there, who gave him the living of All Saints; but on that city falling into the hands of the royalists, a special warrant was issued for his apprehension, and he made his escape with difficulty to London. Here he was some time minister of Fenchurch; but beginning to entertain scruples respecting infant baptism, he was ultimately obliged to resign his charge. So early as the year 1627, he had been led in the

Hill's Life of Barrow.-Pope's Life of Ward, Bishop of Salisbury.-Ward's Lives of the Professors of Gresham College.-Biog. Brit.

course of his lectures to discuss the subject of baptism, and had conceived doubts concerning the scriptural authority for that of infants. A committee of his London brethren now waited upon him to discuss the grounds of his hesitancy, but they failed to remove his scruples. He then drew up, in Latin, a statement of his views on the subject, which he sent to the chairman of the Westminster assembly; but this document does not appear to have been treated with the attention it merited. He printed an apologetical statement of his views on the subject of baptism in 1646, after which he undertook the charge of a church at Bewdley. Here he held several public disputations on the subject of infant baptism with Baxter and others, and formed a separate church of persons holding his own sentiments, though he retained, at the same time, the parochial charge of Bewdley.

On the restoration, he appears to have readily fallen in with the new order of things, and wrote in support of the oath of supremacy, but he soon found the yoke of bondage' which the new government imposed upon all its clerical adherents, too heavy to be endured; and despairing of further usefulness in his clerical character, he laid down the ministry and retired into private life. He died at Salisbury in 1676. Mr Baxter bears honourable testimony to his worth, talents, and learning. He wrote and published a number of theological tracts, mostly on the subject of baptism.

Archbishop Sheldon.

BORN A.D. 1598.-DIED A. D. 1677.

GILBERT SHELDON, archbishop of Canterbury, was the youngest son of Roger Sheldon, a servant in the earl of Shrewsbury's household. He was born at Stanton in Staffordshire in 1598. In 1613, he was admitted a commoner of Trinity college, Oxford. In 1622, he was elected fellow of All Saints college, and about the same time entered into holy orders. He afterwards became domestic chaplain to the lord-keeper Coventry, who gave him a prebend in Gloucester cathedral.

The lord-keever appears to have entertained considerable respect for Sheldon. He employed him in many affairs of importance, so that the young chaplain was soon marked out as a rising man. Laud presented him with the rectory of Newington, with which he held that of Ickford. in Bucks. In 1632, the king presented him to the vicarage of Hackney, in Middlesex; and in 1635 he was elected warden of All Souls college. Chillingworth had, about this time, begun to give offence to his dignified brethren by the sentiments which he held on the subject of toleration, and his views on some points of theology. The opportunity was a favourable one for Sheldon to display his orthodoxy, and, accordingly, he addressed several letters of remonstrance to his friend, which advanced him not a little in the esteem of those whom it was his interest to conciliate. The king now appointed him clerk of the closet, and one of his chaplains in ordinary. It was also contemplated to confer on him the office of master of the Savoy, but the political events of the day hindered the latter arrangement.

During the civil war, Sheldon adhered steadily to the royal cause

and was sent by Charles to attend his commissioners at the treaty of Uxbridge, where he argued very earnestly in favour of the church. In 1647-8, he was ejected from his wardenship by the parliamentary visitors, and placed under restraint at Oxford, in company with Di Hammond and some others. Upon his release, he retired to Snelston, in Derbyshire, from whence he frequently remitted sums of money to the exiled prince.

On the restoration, Sheldon was made dean of the chapel royal; and upon Bishop Juxon's translation to the see of Canterbury, the bishopric of London was bestowed upon him. He held the mastership of the Savoy in conjunction with his bishopric; and the famous conference between the episcopal and presbyterian clergy, concerning alterations to be made in the liturgy, was held at his house in the Savoy. On the death of Juxon, he was elevated to the archiepiscopal see in 1663. He died at Lambeth in 1677.

Sheldon was a prelate more distinguished for learning and munificence than for piety. He mingled too much in the politics of the day to preserve his moral integrity unimpeached; though Neale goes too far when he affirms that he was a mere "tool of the prerogative," and one "who made a jest of religion any further than it was a political engine of state."

Archbishop Bramhall.

RORN A. D. 1593.-died a. D. 1663.

THIS prelate was of the family of the Bramhalls of Cheshire. He was born at Pontefract, in Yorkshire, about the year 1593. He received his school-education at the place of his birth, and was removed from thence to Sidney college, Cambridge, in 1608. After taking his university degrees, he had a living given him in the city of York. A public disputation which he held in 1623, with a secular priest and a Jesuit, at North Allerton, introduced him to the favourable regards of Matthews, archbishop of York, who made him his chaplain, and presented him with a prebend of York. He afterwards received a prebend of Rippon, and removed to that place, where he discharged the duties of sub-dean. In the year 1633, he obtained the archdeaconry of Meath, in Ireland. Next year, he was promoted to the bishopric of Londonderry, and made himself very instrumental in persuading the Irish episcopal church to adopt the thirty-nine articles of the English church. The active part which he took in supporting the royal cause, and the keenness with which he applied himself to the recovery of church lands, and the enlargement of the revenues of his church, soon brought our prelate into bad odour with the people. At last, he found it necessary to quit Londonderry and retire to the continent.

He went first to Hamburgh, and thence to Brussels. In 1648, he ventured to return to Ireland, but found the country too hot for him, and narrowly escaped with his life. On the restoration, his services were rewarded with the archbishopric of Armagh. He died in 1663. His works were published in one volume, folio, in 1677 The