John Henry Overton

“ Nevertheless, no one can read his sermons without feeling that he is in the presence of a first-rate controversialist. He appeals, perhaps, too much to the reason and too little to the feelings. No one would ever think of applying the common epithet ‘beautiful’ to any of Barrow's sermons, and yet they are full of eloquence of the very highest order; and now and then he rises into a strain which can only be described as sublime. But what strikes one most in the sermons is their thorough manliness of tone: they are free from the slightest touch of affectation ”

“ Busby's name has become proverbial as a type of the severest of severe pedagogies; and though this character of him only rests upon general tradition, there appears to be little doubt that during his extraordinarily long reign at Westminster he ruled the school with a rod of iron, or rather of birch. But it is also clear that his rule was as successful as it was severe. He gained the veneration and even love of his pupils, among whom were numbered a vast majority of the most distinguished men in a distinguished era. ”

“ Finally, a great prelate, while firm as a rock in his own convictions, must be large-hearted and tolerant of those who differ from him. And this was Andrewes's character. Take, as an instance, his reply to Du Moulin on episcopacy, remembering that the writer was himself a very decidedly high churchman: ‘Though our government be by divine right, it follows not either that there is no salvation, or that a church cannot stand without it; he must needs be made of iron and hard-hearted that denies them salvation. We are not made of that metal,’ and so forth. ”

“ There is little doubt that if his life had been spared he would have been eminently successful; his buoyant temper, his attractiveness, his ardent piety, his definiteness of aim and conviction, his readiness to recognise good wherever he found it, these and other qualities found a larger sphere for development abroad than at home. No one can read Bishop Armstrong's letters home, or his 'Notes on Africa,' a journal published by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, without deep interest. ”

“ Though the nephew was only fifteen when he entered at Trinity, while the uncle was beyond eighty, the earl told Bathurst's biographer that ‘he well remembered being charmed with his uncle's conversation;’ and he adds, ‘although he maintained the most exact discipline in his college, his method of instruction chiefly consisted in turning the faults of the delinquent scholars into ridicule; all the young students admired and loved him.’ The fact is, he was fond of the society of young men, who generally respond to the affection of their elders. ”

“ Divest this of the word-play, and the idea is: ‘If God be not with us, hell will be with us; if God be with us, all will be with us,’ surely no mere ‘frigid conceit.’ Greek and Latin quotations are not nearly so numerous in Andrewes's sermons as in those of Jeremy Taylor and many other admired preachers of the seventeenth century. There is, indeed, a certain jerkiness of style in the sermons which renders them far less impressive to read than the flowing periods of Jeremy Taylor; but in their extraordinary wealth of matter they are unrivalled. ”

“ As a preacher Canon Ashwell was extremely acceptable, especially among the more thoughtful and educated congregations. His little volume of printed sermons, entitled 'God in Nature,' is full of striking and original ideas, expressed tersely and incisively, and evidently with a view to arrest or even force attention.
As a trainer, first of future schoolmasters, and then of future clergymen, Canon Ashwell made his influence deeply felt. His clear, epigrammatic style was the very style to command the attention of young men. ”

“ Lady Russell consults him on the appointment of a chaplain, the education of her children, the marriage of her daughter, and, above all, her own griefs upon the execution of Lord William Russell, whom Fitzwilliam had attended before his execution, and at whose trial he was one of the witnesses for the defence. She expresses the deepest reverence for his character, and the utmost value for his counsel. ”

“ And finally, there is a most admirable ‘notice of Barrow's life and academical times,’ written by one of his greatest successors at Trinity, Dr. Whewell, and prefixed to the ninth volume of Napier's edition of Barrow's theological works. With such a paucity of materials, it is no wonder that inaccuracies have crept into many of the biographical notices of Barrow. To take one instance out of many: he is absurdly said to have resigned his Gresham professorship in favour of Newton, instead of the Lucasian. ”

“ His entry into Montpellier was a sort of triumphal procession. In 1597 he began his ‘Ephemerides,’ a curious diary, in which he scrupulously records, not the events, but the studies of every day up to a few days before his death. The ‘Ephemerides’ are full of expressions of devotion, pious ejaculations, and earnest prayers, which remind one of the methodist diaries of the eighteenth century. They are the artless outpourings of an intensely religious soul. ”

“ Though he was eccentric to the verge of madness, no one could help respecting 'the mad parson.' His earnestness, his self-denial, his real humility, his entire absorption in one great object, and the thorough consistency of his life with his principles, were patent to all. ”

“ Cosin's writings acquire an adventitious importance from the writer's own forcible and interesting character. It is not the writings that have preserved the man, but the man who has preserved the writings from oblivion. Still, the writings themselves possess a great intrinsic value. With two exceptions, none of them were published during the bishop's lifetime. ”

“ In 1749 Lady Huntingdon made a vain effort to reconcile Whitefield to the Wesleys, siding with Whitefield, with whom she became more and more intimate. In 1750 he visited her at her country house at Ashby, when he said ‘she looks like a good archbishop with his chaplains around him.’ Lady Huntingdon exercised her right as a peeress to appoint as many chaplains as she pleased, and thus protected many clergymen suspected of methodism. The oldest and most influential of these chaplains was William Romaine, but she was the patroness of many others. ”

“ After Atterbury's rupture with James he left Paris for the south of France, in the hope of restoring his failing health, and settled at Montpelier. His daughter in England, whose health was also failing, felt a longing desire to see her father once more; and as he could not go to her she determined at all hazards to go to him. Unfortunately, the weather proved most unfavourable for a sea voyage; and when Bordeaux was at length reached, Mrs. Morice was all but a dying woman. ”

“ Knox contends that ‘the church of England is neither Calvinian nor Augustinian, but eminently and strictly catholic, and catholic only;’ that ‘our vitality as a church is in our identity of organisation with the church catholic;’ that the church of England is not protestant, but a reformed branch of the church catholic; that the English church is the only representative of the spirit of the Greek fathers, and that we ought to aim at union with the Greek church. He dislikes Calvinism in every form ”

“ Her husband died in 1696, leaving his widow, by whom he had no issue, in affluent circumstances. She continued to live at Kington ‘divers years after his death, in great esteem with her neighbours, among whom she did a great deal of good, both by her example and by her extensive charity.’ She rose at 4 A.M. every morning, and set apart five different times every day for religious worship. She was a constant observer of the fasts and festivals of the church, and was particularly kind to the clergy, especially those who were suffering from poverty. ”

“ As soon as he had set his foot upon this old Roman road, he took off his hat, and walking on, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, returned thanks to God, in a most fervent manner, for that light, those truths, and that influence of the Holy Spirit which were continued to the present day.’ In 1768 Selina, countess of Huntingdon, invited him to take the superintendence of her college at Trevecca in Wales, founded for the education of ‘pious young men of whatever denomination for the ministry.’ He was not to reside at Trevecca, but was to visit the college as frequently as he could. ”

“ Scaliger learned to appreciate Casaubon better, and called him ‘the most learned man in Europe,’ and owned that he was a better Greek scholar than himself.
Casaubon yearned to leave Geneva; his salary was miserable, the cost of living was high, he had little access to books, and his precious time was intruded upon by injudicious friends. He was French by descent, and always regarded himself as a Frenchman until he became a naturalised Englishman. ”

“ His father, who was at Oxford with the king when Barrow went to Cambridge, lost all in the royal cause. Barrow, therefore, would have been obliged to leave college for want of funds, had it not been for the kindness of the great Henry Hammond, who, either personally or by gatherings which he made from the faithful to support young men at the universities ‘as a seed-plot of the ministry,’ enabled him to pay the necessary expenses. Barrow showed his gratitude to Hammond by writing his epitaph. In 1647 Barrow was elected scholar of Trinity, though he refused to subscribe the covenant ”

“ Cosin was an enthusiastic book collector, and his library was ‘one of the choicest collections of any private person in England’ (Evelyn) . Happily he was spared this sacrifice by the occurrence of the Restoration. Upon this event he returned to England and resumed his preferments. It is thoroughly characteristic of the man that, as he had been the first to suffer for his principles in the rebellion, he was the first to avow them openly at the Restoration. ”

“ At an early age he became for a time a member of Wesley's society, but ‘a growing disposition to think for himself’ caused his ‘relish for their religious practises to abate before he was twenty.’ His weak health prevented him from passing through any regular course of education at all, though his writings prove that he managed to pick up a considerable knowledge of the classics and of general literature. He attributes his low spirits to his having been brought up to no regular employment ”

“ Though sometimes accused of 'leaning towards popery,' Gunning was always a thorough English churchman, as much opposed to Romanism on the one side as to puritanism on the other. He held a disputation with a Roman priest, and acquitted himself so well that Sir Robert Shirley settled on him an annuity of 100l. On the death of Shirley, Gunning undertook the services at the chapel of Exeter House in the Strand, and, in spite of some remonstrances from Oliver Cromwell, conducted them strictly in accordance with the rites of the church of England. ”

“ Barwick settled in Loudon, and threw himself heart and soul into the king's cause. He carried on a private correspondence between London and Oxford, which was then the king's head-quarters; he communicated to the king all the designs and attempts of the rebels, and conveyed his majesty's orders to the friends of the royal cause. In order that he might carry on these negotiations with greater safety, he became an inmate of Durham House, the London residence of his patron, the Bishop of Durham. ”

“ Manley, authoress of that vile work, the 'New Atalantis,' was to be the directress of the new institution. The whole story would be unworthy of mention, were it not that it appeared in so famous a paper as the 'Tatler,' and that the great names of Swift and Addison are supposed to be connected with the writing of it. 'Madonella' is called 'Platonne,' but the next point to be noticed in her literary career is her controversy with one of the most distinguished of English Platonists, John Norris, of Bemerton, about one of the pivot doctrines of Platonism, the pure love of God. ”

“ Busby took to prepare, for several weeks before, all king's scholars who stood candidates for election to the university, and who, according to the ancient custom of Westminster, were to receive the Lord's Supper the Easter before. He himself was most deeply impressed with Dr. Busby's preparation. In fact, he dates his own conversion from that preparation and 'he frequently referred with the deepest gratitude to the earnest solicitude and care of his old master for his instruction in the best of all knowledge.' Other old pupils were equally grateful. ”

“ After having lived to the age of forty-two as a pious and active lay churchman, many bright examples of which character were to be found in the early part of the eighteenth century, he formed a desire of entering holy orders, and was warmly encouraged to do so by the archbishop of Canterbury, William Wake, who had been bishop of Lincoln in Mr. Disney's early days, and had probably then learned to know his worth. ”

“ His personal influence was immense, and that influence was no doubt enhanced by his splendid munificence. Hence the diocese of Durham, from being exceptionally backward, soon became exceptionally forward under his rule, and mainly owing to his energy. He gathered around him men of a kindred spirit, who worked loyally under him, and upon whom, like most strong men, he left a permanent impression, which survived long after his death.
The bishop of Durham was prince of the palatinate as well as bishop of the diocese, and Cosin was as well fitted to sustain the former as the latter character. ”

“ His widow was at Calcutta at the time. Some of the most popular poets of the time—Robert Southey, Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Opie, and others—celebrated the event in mournful verse. An only child died before him.
Heber was a pious, amiable, and accomplished man, and his character is well displayed in his writings. His style is always elegant and perspicuous, and his matter sensible and in good taste. But his verse is wanting in the ‘divine afflatus,’ and his prose in strength and massiveness. His boyish poem on ‘Palestine,’ although the most popular work of its kind, is not a great poem. ”

“ As a mathematician he was considered by his contemporaries as second only to Newton, whose towering genius a little overshadowed that of his master; but on the other hand, his credit as a mathematician is enhanced by the fact that he was the first to recognise and develop the extraordinary talents of Newton, one of whose most famous discoveries he was on the verge of making. Dr. Whewell has well summed up his merits without exaggeration or detraction (to both of which Barrow's mathematical fame has been subject) . ”