"The Bible only is the religion of Protestants." The author of this oft-quoted and often misinterpreted saying was William Chillingworth, who died on January 30th, 1644. The sentence comes from his chief work, "The Religion of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation." Chillingworth, who was born in 1602, and educated at Oxford, fell under the influence of Fisher, Laud's great opponent in the controversy with Rome, and was received into the Roman Church. But his mind was soon unsettled again, and Laud, his godfather, brought him back once more to the Church of England. He returned to Oxford, and gave himself to the defence of Protestantism. Chillingworth was a devoted Royalist, and saw service on the King's side in the Civil War. He died at Chichester, and was buried in the cathedral.
A contemporary of Chillingworth, born on January 25th, 1627, deserves also to be remembered in this place. Robert Boyle was the son of the great Earl of Cork, a conspicuous figure in the Stuart times. Educated at Eton, he settled down at Stalbridge in Dorsetshire to the study of natural philosophy. He found a place amongst the chief men of science of his day, and became one of the originators of the Royal Society. His foundation of the Boyle Lectures "for proving the Christian religion against Atheists, Deists, Pagans, Jews, and Mohammedans," was a witness, no doubt, to the mental struggles through which he himself had passed. He was, however, an active layman, full of good works, and one of the early friends of foreign missions. Boyle died in 1691, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
SIR SIDNEY WATERLOW.
(Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W.)
On the thirteenth of the month, in the year 1838, died Lord Chancellor Eldon. He was one of a family of sixteen, the son of a Newcastle coal-fitter. He also might have been a coal-fitter, but his elder brother was at Oxford, on the way to becoming Lord Stowell. To him John Scott was sent, and the younger son, like the elder, used his Oxford chances well. He made a runaway marriage, and at one time seemed likely to take holy orders; but, helped by their parents, the young couple came to London. John Scott, after some waiting, made his mark in the Court of Chancery, and then went steadily on to the Woolsack. In politics, an unbending Tory, he distrusted all reform. But he was a good lawyer, though harassed by a capacity for doubting and the love of an "if."
DR. JAMES WAKLEY.
(Photo: Barraud, Oxford Street, W.)