Philip Nye, who has been repeatedly mentioned in these volumes, held, together with the living of Acton, the rectory of St. Bartholomew by the Exchange; and William Greenhill, who wrote a volume on the prophecy of Ezekiel, was incumbent of the village of Stepney. He had been chaplain to the King's children—the Dukes of York and Gloucester, and the Lady Henrietta Maria—and was, in this respect, like Philip Nye, one of the members of the Westminster Assembly. His faithfulness as a preacher, his rebukes of prevalent iniquity, and above all his intense appeals to the citizens of London respecting their immoralities, remind us of Chrysostom; not, however, as to his golden eloquence, but as it regards his faithful ministrations at Antioch and Constantinople. "Let our great city and citizens look to it," exclaims Greenhill, "there is scum in the city, and not a little. Is it gone out or boiled in? Was not the sword lately at your gates? Was there not yesterday great sickliness within your walls? Is not trading diminished? Have there not been strange murders amongst you? Have not many sad fires been kindled, broke out, and consumed your habitations? Was there not a plot, which hath cost some their lives, to fire your city? God hath been warning you by these judiciary dispensations, and are you bettered by them? Have all you have seen, feared, or felt, caused your scum to depart from you? If so, it is well; well will it be with you, well with your city, and well with your undertakings, and well with your posterity; but if it be boiled in, and you are the worse for all the boiling judgments and providences you have been in and under, know that some dreadful calamity, if not destruction itself, hastens, and will certainly take hold of you and your city, without speedy repentance."[209]
Matthew Mead, who, after the death of Jeremiah Burroughs, became associated with Greenhill in the parish of Stepney as morning Lecturer, may be numbered amongst the Independent clergymen in the neighbourhood of London. He was distinguished by a large-hearted catholicity, which induced him to reject any conditions of ecclesiastical fellowship beyond such as consist in the maintenance of a pure and holy life. "He took little pleasure," as we are informed by his congenial friend, John Howe, "in embroiling himself or his hearers in needless and fruitless controversies. The great, substantial doctrines of the Gospel were his principal study and delight; such as lay nearest the vitals and heart of religion and godliness." The subjects which he insisted upon in the course of his ministry indicated this to be his spirit and design. Being constantly moderate and unexceptionably sound he continued ever remote from rigorous and indefensible extremities, and drove at his mark without diversion; not so much aiming to proselyte souls to a party as to win his fellow-men to the service of Christ.[210]
In the provinces perhaps there might be a much larger proportion of Independent Rectors, Vicars, and Lecturers than there was in London, since nothing is clearer than the fact of a general increase of Independency during the Protectorate.
Mead—Bridge.
William Bridge filled the office of town lecturer at Yarmouth, and, whilst he was absent from home during the sittings of the Westminster Assembly, the Corporation allowed him fifty pounds a year. At the same time he continued pastor of the Congregational Church in the Norfolk sea-port; frequently returning to his charge, and constantly attending to their affairs. We also find him preaching in the Metropolis and its neighbourhood, and also before the House of Commons. So acceptable were his services, that the Council of State in November, 1649, unanimously elected him to be their chaplain, promising two hundred pounds per annum for his discharge of the duties of the office. The prospect of a doubled salary and of enlarged influence would have been a strong temptation to a man of mercenary or ambitious views; but Bridge's only question seems to have been how he could best accomplish his Divine Master's will. He consulted his congregation upon the subject, and they, with a disinterestedness akin to his own, recommended him to confer with the Council of State, and then to act as the finger of Providence might seem to direct. The conference ended in his declining the chaplainship; a decision which bound him still closer than ever to the hearts of his people.
John Flavel, the author of "Spiritual Husbandry," and Joseph Alleine, the author of "The Alarm to the Unconverted," were so moderately Presbyterian in their views, and were, from the circumstances in which they were placed, so unable to carry out a Presbyterian form of Church polity, that in point of fact they may be reckoned as Congregationalists. But we must pass by these to notice particularly another person, superior in intellect and learning to these excellent men, and one who, though he cannot be numbered with rigid Congregationalists any more than they, certainly adopted Congregational opinions.
John Howe.
John Howe was a man of such comprehensive mind, and of such all-embracing affection, that he instinctively shrank from every form of ecclesiastical division except such as is required by Christian conscientiousness. He held schism in the utmost abhorrence, and panted for the realization of the broadest possible union; and whilst parish minister of Torrington, in Devonshire, he promoted meetings with neighbouring pastors for mutual edification and fellowship, which formed a miniature of that more extensive scheme which Baxter was, throughout his life, toiling in vain to carry into execution. In the little town just mentioned "some of the happiest years of his life were spent; here his labours were rendered signally useful, and here he preached those discourses, the substance of which was afterwards embodied in two of his most useful and impressive treatises: his 'Delighting in God,' and his 'Blessedness of the Righteous.' Though when he first went to Great Torrington he could have been little more than twenty-four years of age, his persuasive style of preaching, and his still more persuasive example, soon secured him the esteem and affection of his people. A striking proof of his influence over them, is afforded in the fact (incidentally mentioned in one of the letters extracted from the Baxter MSS.) that though, at his first coming to Torrington, he found the Church divided into two parties, he succeeded, 'through God's blessing on his endeavours,' in restoring union.[211]
Howe came up from Torrington to London in the winter of 1656, and went to hear a certain preacher at Whitehall, on the Sunday before the day on which he intended to return home. His noble figure and expressive face struck the Protector, who already had Milton for a secretary, and Hale for a judge, and he wished to listen to the proclamation of the Gospel from a young man of such remarkable promise. After having heard a sermon from Howe, Cromwell would not allow of his returning to his country cure, but insisted upon his becoming a court chaplain, and undertook to provide a suitable minister for the Church which he had left in Devonshire. Howe unwillingly acceded to the request, and remained in office until after the Protector's death. It will throw light upon the relative position of Independents and Episcopalians at that time; upon the intimacies existing amongst them, and the friendly services sometimes performed by the one for the other; as well as serve to illustrate the liberality of Cromwell towards those who differed from him, if we may be allowed to mention the following circumstance:—Seth Ward, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, was candidate for the principalship of Jesus College, at Oxford. His opponent was Francis Howel, who had obtained from his Highness a promise of the appointment. Ward, through the help of his friend the chaplain, secured an audience with the Protector, being commended to him by the same friend as a man of extraordinary learning and worth. Cromwell, embarrassed by his promise to Howel, called Howe aside, and further consulted him respecting the merit of his University companion. The issue was, that he told Ward, on such a recommendation as he had received, he was disposed to shew him some token of regard, at the same time pleasantly asking what he thought the principalship of Jesus College might be worth. On being informed respecting the amount of the income, he promised he would allow him annually just that sum. As this incident illustrates the influence of the chaplain with the Protector, the regard of the Protector for the chaplain, and the liberality of both towards one of a different "denomination," another incident may also fittingly be introduced, to shew the faithful preaching which there was at Whitehall, and how it was regarded by the "magnanimous usurper," even when it crossed his own prejudices. Cromwell believed that spiritually-minded men in answer to prayer received Divine intimations, indicating their requests to be according to the Divine will, and also testifying how they were about to be fulfilled. This "particular faith in prayer," as it was termed, extensively prevailed amongst the people who formed Cromwell's Court, and received much encouragement from what was taught them in the Whitehall pulpit. John Howe, who saw plainly that such an idea opened the door to fanatical excesses, determined to expose the error, and therefore delivered a calm and thoughtful discourse upon its fallacy and mischief. Cromwell's brow darkened, and he looked uneasy. A person of distinction came up to the preacher on leaving the pulpit, and enquired whether he knew what he had done. "My duty," replied Howe, "and I can trust the issue with God." He informed Calamy that he observed Cromwell was cooler in his behaviour afterwards than he had been before, and that he sometimes seemed as if he wished to speak on the subject, but never did. The courage on the one side; with the annoyance felt, and yet the forbearance manifested on the other; the prevalence of enthusiasm at Whitehall; and the checks which it received from men commonly identified with its upholders, are conspicuously demonstrated in this incident, and they reveal in a very striking way the mingled good and evil of those eventful days.
John Howe.