John Whitelocke

“ Qu. Surely every good Christian ought to distaste such men and such opinions.
They had much more discourse upon the same subject, wherein Whitelocke spake the more, because he found the Queen more inclined to it now than he had perceived her to be at other times.
Being come from the Queen, he spake with Grave Eric in another room, whose opinion was that it would be fit to sign the articles on the morrow, and said that his father would be returned time enough to do it. Whitelocke doubted that, by reason of his weariness after his journey, it might not be then convenient. ”

“ The Senator Vanderlin, Grave Tott, and the Baron Steinberg were the challengers to all the rest; and of the other part were Marshal Wrangel, Grave Jacob de la Gardie, and nine or ten others. All were well mounted; Wrangel upon an English horse, given him by Whitelocke. Their clothes, scarfs, feathers, and all accoutrements, both of men and horse, were very gallant. They ran for a prize which the Queen had ordained, and they comported themselves with much activeness and bravery; and it was the same exercise which Whitelocke had formerly seen in his own country. ”

“ On the trial Whitelocke concurred in the judgment. He died at Fawley Court on 22 June 1632. His remains were interred in Fawley churchyard, and honoured by filial piety with a splendid marble monument. His estates were exempted by the Long parliament from liability to contribute to the fund for making reparation to Eliot and his fellow-sufferers.
By his wife (married 9 Sept. 1602) Eliza beth, eldest daughter of Edward Bulstrod of Hedgerly Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire Whitelocke had, with female issue, a son Bulstrode, who is separately noticed. ”

“ Manningham the diarist attributes to Whitelocke's evil influence that nobleman's scandalous neglect of his wife. Whitelocke was on a visit to the Earl of Sussex at Newhall in Essex in the autumn of 1608 when he was taken ill and died. ”

“ He commended their care of Whitelocke and their good deportment, by which they had testified much courage and civility, and had done honour to religion and to their country; he gave them thanks for it, and assurance of his affection to them when any occasion should be offered for their good or preferment. They withdrew, full of hopes, every one of them, to be made great men; but few of them attained any favour, though Whitelocke solicited for divers of them who were very worthy of it. ”

“ Only Whitelocke, being ancient, will have cause to remember the decay of his strength and health by the hardships and difficulties of this service; but more cause hath he to remember the wonderful goodness of God to him and his company abroad and to his wife and family at home, in His blessing and preservation of them, and in the comfort and safety of their meeting after so long and perilous a separation, for which he is obliged to praise the name of God for ever. ”

“ Whitelocke’s address to his company. When all these gentlemen had ended their discourses proper for the occasion, Whitelocke himself spake to the company to this effect:—
“Gentlemen,
“You have heard from our worthy Christian friends many words of precious truth, with which I hope all our souls are refreshed, and do pray that our practice may be conformed. The duty of this day, and of every person, is gratiarum actio: I wish we may all act thankfulness to our God, whereunto we are all obliged who have received so great benefits from Him. ”

“ During the troubled summer of 1647 Whitelocke stayed away from the House of Commons as much as possible, and avoided committing himself to either party (Memorials, ii. 172) . His rapidly increasing legal business, carefully recorded in his ‘Memorials,’ supplied him with an excuse for his absence. On 15 March 1648 Whitelocke was appointed by parliament one of the four commissioners of the great seal for one year with a salary of 1,000l. ”

“ Whitelocke retained throughout life the tastes and accomplishments of the scholar His son records that on one occasion his Latin served him to expound from the bench with perspicuity and elegance the course of legal proceedings to some distinguished foreigners who happened to be present at the assizes (Whitelocke, Memorials, ed. 1732, p. 18) Several papers by him, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, are printed in Hearne's 'Collection of Curious Discourses' (ed. 1771) . ”

“ But his great power was in his thorough earnestness, and almost inspired enthusiasm. No one doubted his sincerity, and all were impressed with the spirituality and reality of the great truths which he presented. And wonderful results followed from his preaching, and from that of his brethren. A great religious revival spread over England, especially among the middle and lower classes, the effects of which last to this day.
Whitefield Whitefield. was not so learned, or intellectual as Wesley. He was not so great a genius. But he had more eloquence, and more warmth of disposition. ”

“ In consequence of the disfavour in which he stood at court Whitelocke was compelled to surrender (18 Nov. 1616) the reversion of the king's bench enrolments' office which he held jointly with Robert (afterwards Sir Robert) Heath [q. v.] , by whom he was also defeated in the contest for the recordership of London in November 1618. Meanwhile, however, his professional reputation and gains increased. In 1616 he purchased the fine estate of Fawley Court, Buckinghamshire, which gave him the rank of a county magnate. He was placed on the commission of the peace for Buckinghamshire on 27 Nov. ”

“ In this city Whitelocke observed the inhabitants very orderly to frequent their parish churches, and not so much profanation of this day in this place as he had seen at Upsal, and other places in the country.
May 29, 1654.
Sir G. Fleetwood returns to the King’s coronation at Upsal. Whitelocke with longing desires attended the coming 310 about of the wind for his voyage; but he must stay God’s time, which is always best. He could not persuade Sir George Fleetwood to stay longer with him. He thought it necessary for him to go to Upsal, to be present at the King’s coronation ”

“ Whitelocke characterises Berkeley as 'a very learned man in our laws, and a good orator and judge, moderate in his views except in his desire for court favour.' Lloyd, in much more eulogistic terms, as was to be expected refers to him as 'the greatest master of maxims in his time,' and 'a person whose worth was set in his pedigree as a rich diamond in a fair ring.' The founder of the hospital in Worcester, in Foregate Street, was not Judge Berkeley, as is frequently stated, but a grandson of the same name. ”

“ In which dissolved stars should shine,
To the couple! to the couple! th' are divine.
<51.1> Particulars of this celebrated man, afterward created Earl of Norwich, may be found in Eachard's HISTORY, Rushworth's COLLECTIONS, Whitelocke's MEMOIRS, Collins' PEERAGE by Brydges, Pepys' DIARY (i. 150, ed. 1858) , and Peck's DESIDERATA CURIOSA, (ed. 1779, ii. 479) . Whitelocke speaks very highly of his military character. ”

“ Like Wesley, he rose at four; his punctuality was rigid, his love of order extreme; ‘he did not think he should die easy, if he thought his gloves were out of their place’ (Winter, p. 82) . He was ‘irritable, but soon appeased’ (ib. p. 81) ; his beneficence was the outcome of the generous glow of his affections.
The National Portrait Gallery has a portrait, painted about 1737 by John Woolaston, in which Whitefield is depicted as preaching from a pulpit; a female figure in front of the congregation is supposed to represent his wife. ”

“ No man ever stood at the head of a great revolution whose temper was so anti-revolutionary. In his earlier days the bishops had been forced to rebuke him for the narrowness and intolerance of his churchmanship. When Whitefield began his sermons in the fields, Wesley "could not at first reconcile himself to that strange way." He condemned and fought against the admission of laymen as preachers till he found himself left with none but laymen to preach. To the last he clung passionately to the Church of England, and looked on the body he had formed as but a lay society in full communion with it. ”

“ But though his career as a soldier was long and honourable, it cannot—except for the three great days of Quatre Bras and Waterloo—be called very inspiring.
Mercer's first military service was in Ireland at the time of the rebellion. War is always hateful, but its blackest form is civil war. Mercer was next unfortunate enough to take part in the most ignoble expedition known to British arms—Whitelocke's shameful and unhappy performance at Buenos Ayres. ”

“ Whitelocke attends a wedding at Court. Lagerfeldt came to Whitelocke and acquainted him 210 that there was a special article to be agreed upon touching the business of Guinea, which the Queen and the Chancellor were willing might proceed for the despatch of Whitelocke, and that Grave Eric would have come to him about it, but that he was ill and had taken physic. He told Whitelocke that the Queen said he might have his last audience that day if he pleased ”

“ By Whitelocke sat Grave Gabriel Oxenstiern and Senator Vanderlin in lesser chairs, and by Woolfeldt sat Whitelocke’s sons and Potley. On the other side, in lesser chairs, by the Droitset, sat the Senators Beilke and Bundt the younger; by the Chancellor sat Senator Bundt the elder and Baron Douglas; at the upper end of the table sat Grave Eric, and at the lower end stood the carver. The dishes were all silver, not great, but 115 many, set one upon another, and filled with the best meat and most variety that the country did afford ”

“ No man was ever more ready to confess his faults, no man ever had a larger heart or was actuated by a truer spirit of Christian charity than George Whitefield. Never was there a man of a more forgiving temper than John Wesley. 'Ten thousand times would I rather have died than part with my old friends,' said Whitefield of the Wesleys. 'Bigotry flies before him and cannot stand,' said John Wesley of Whitefield. It was impossible that an alienation between two such men, both of whom were only anxious to do one great work, should be permanent. ”

“ He had some good luck as a soldier. He belonged to a famous regiment; he served under some famous commanders; he heard the first shots fired by British [Pg 142] muskets in the Peninsula. But he had also much ill-luck. He tramped, perspired, and probably swore, under South American suns in that most ignominious of all expeditions, under the most contemptible leader that ever wore a cocked hat—Whitelocke's fiasco at Buenos Ayres. ”

“ The elder Wilson was a wealthy merchant, elected sheriff in 1630, but excused on payment of a fine of 500l. (Remembrancia, p. 18) . The younger Wilson was lieutenant-colonel of the orange regiment of the London trained bands, and commanded it in October 1643, joining the army of the Earl of Essex after the first battle of Newbury, and taking part in the occupation of Newport Pagnell. ‘This gentleman,’ says Whitelocke, ‘was the only son of his wealthy father, heir to a large estate of 2,000l. per annum in land, and partner with his father in a great personal estate employed in merchandise ”

“ He sailed from Charleston to Newport, where venerable parson Clapp, tottering with age, welcomed him as though he had been an angel of God. Whitefield's power was comparable to the supernatural, and it was in this view John Foster, at a later day, found the only solution of his success. In the pulpit his appearance and manners exceeded the dreams of apostolic grace—a youth of elegant form, with voice of enchanting melody, clear blue eyes, an endurance which knew no exhaustion—a fancy which ranged both worlds—were all fused by a burning zeal for the salvation of souls. ”

“ The gentlemen and freeholders seemed well pleased with my charge, and the management of the business of the sessions; and said they perceived one might speak as good sense in a falling-band as in a ruff." At this time Whitelock had been about seven years at the bar; but at the Quarter-Sessions the young Templar was playing the part of country squire, and as his words show, he was dressed in a fashion that directly violated professional usage. ”

“ In preaching power he was not equal to Whitefield; in saintliness of character he was surpassed by Fletcher; in poetical talent he was inferior to his brother; in solid learning he was, perhaps, not equal to his friend and disciple Adam Clarke. But no one man combined all these characteristics in so remarkable a degree as John Wesley; and he possessed others besides these which were all his own. He was a born ruler of men; the powers which under different conditions would have made him 'a heaven-born statesman' he dedicated to still nobler and more useful purposes. ”

“ In his own country, Sweden, he said, "when a man professed sincerity, they understood it to be plain and clear dealing"; if a man meant Yea he said Yea, and if he meant No he said No; but in England it seemed to be different. The explanations and soft words of Whitlocke and the rest having calmed him down again, the Treaty proceeded.—One of the most important meetings at Dorset House, by Whitlocke's account, was on the 8th of April. ”

“ Christ is love; and religion is life, as it is the happiest, so it is the cheerfullest thing in the world."
It is written of Moses that his hands were held up by two friends, Aaron and Hur. Not otherwise John Wesley was supported on either side by two great comrades,—Whitefield, the evangelist, and his own brother, Charles Wesley. If any man ever had the gift of eloquence and oratory, it was George Whitefield. At twenty-one years of age Whitefield received orders, and within a single [Pg 148] year he was England's first preacher in point of hearers. ”