Dr. Seth Ward had been President of Trinity College, Oxford, and at the Restoration had succeeded Reynolds at St. Laurence Jewry, upon the promotion of the latter Divine to a Bishopric. He was nominated to the see of Exeter in 1662, as, Pope, his biographer says, upon the recommendation of his friend Monk, Duke of Albemarle; but a different story is told by Aubrey. After Gauden, the Bishop of Exeter, had been translated to Worcester in 1661, Ward, who was then Dean, "was very well known to the gentry, and his learning, prudence, and comity, had won them all to be his friends. The news of the death of the Bishop being brought to them, who were all very merry and rejoicing with good entertainment, with great alacrity, the gentlemen cried all, 'We will have Mr. Dean to be our Bishop.' This was at that critical time when the House of Commons were the King's darlings. The Dean told them that, for his part, he had no interest or acquaintance at Court, but intimated to them how much the King esteemed the members of Parliament (and a great many Parliament men were then there), and that His Majesty would deny them nothing. 'If 'tis so, gentlemen,' said the Dean, 'that you will needs have me to be your Bishop, if some of you make your address to His Majesty, 'twill be done.' With that they drank the other glass, a health to the King, and another to their wished-for Bishop; had their horses presently made ready, put foot in stirrup, and away they rode merrily to London; went to the King, and he immediately granted them their request. This," adds Aubrey, "is the first time that ever a Bishop was made by the House of Commons."[678]
BISHOPS.
Ward speedily became renowned for his diligent discharge of Episcopal duties. "He kept his constant triennial visitations," says Pope, "in the first whereof he confirmed many thousands of all ages and different sexes; he also settled the Ecclesiastical Courts, and, without any noise or clamour, reduced that active, subtle, and then factious people, to great conformity, not without the approbation even of the adversaries themselves." During his residence at Exeter, he gained the love of all the gentry, and had particularly the help and countenance of the Duke of Albemarle, who, in all things, showed himself most ready to assist him in the exercise of his jurisdiction.[679] He zealously advocated the Conventicle Act, and was very severe in his treatment of Nonconformists, not, it is curiously pleaded, out of enmity to the Dissenters' persons, as they unjustly suggested, but of love to the repose and welfare of the Government. We are further informed by this admiring friend, "that Ward was very much in favour with the King, and the Duke of York, before the latter declared himself of the Romish persuasion, whom he treated magnificently at Salisbury; and also with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who used to entertain him with the greatest kindness and familiarity imaginable; in his common discourse to him, he used to call him Old Sarum: and I have heard the Archbishop speak of him more than once as the person whom he wished might succeed him." The temper of the prelate in relation to the Church of England, and the kind of policy which he adopted for the promotion of its interests, may be inferred from the good opinion of him entertained by Sheldon, just quoted by Pope, with much satisfaction.[680]
1662–1677.
There is a want of material out of which to draw flesh and blood portraits of some of the Bishops: many are names and nothing more—others are but stiff and formal images without life—we can judge neither of their appearance, nor of their character, but the gossiping memoir of Ward by Pope affords us a pictorial idea of his mode of living, of his physical activity, of his fondness for horse exercise, and of his self-exposure to weather,—going out in wind, rain, and snow, until forced to seek shelter on the lee side of the nearest hayrick. He was something of a "muscular Christian,"—a bachelor also, but genial in his ways, exceedingly hospitable, and scrupulously punctilious in the discharge of his devotional duties.
This remarkable man distinguished himself as an astronomer, and was reputed to be the ablest orator of his time; after these proofs of his intellectual power, in addition to the evidences of his administrative ability, how affecting it is to turn to the record of his imbecility in his last days. "He did not," we are told, "know his house, or his servants; in a word, he knew nothing."[681]
BISHOPS.
1662–1677.
Dr. George Morley may be noticed next. Burnet says that he "was, in many respects, a very eminent man, very zealous against Popery," and also very zealous against Dissent; considerably learned, with great vivacity of thought; soon provoked, and with little mastery over his own temper.[682] His zeal against the doctrines of Popery is apparent in his writings, and not less so, his zeal against Dissent; in connection with his opposition to both, he avows the doctrine of passive obedience, declaring in terms the most unequivocal, "the best and safest way for Prince, State, and people, is to profess, protect, cherish, and allow of that religion, and that only, which allows of no rising up against, or resisting sovereign power—no, not in its own defence, nor upon any other account whatsoever."[683] Indeed, he maintains, again and again, the principle of intolerance in the government of the Church, and the principle of despotism in the government of the State; holding the King to be sole sovereign, whilst the Parliament is only a concurring power in making laws, and the Bishops the only legitimate ecclesiastical rulers. The maintenance of these doctrines by a man of "hot spirit" and "ready tongue"—infirmities which Baxter charges upon him, not without sufficient reason, and not without Burnet's corroboration—augured little for the comfort or the peace of the Nonconformists in the diocese of Winchester, over which he presided from 1662 to 1684. He had, it is true, provoked Baxter,[684] and signs of the provocation occasionally appear in the pages of the Reliquiæ; in fact, the Bishop's treatment of the Presbyter was most violent; but the latter,—after quoting the report that Morley, Ward, and Dolben, through fear of Popery, had expressed a desire to abate the severity of the laws against Dissenters, and after stating, that though there was long talk there was nothing done,—expresses a hope that they were not so bad as their censurers supposed. Yet, he adds, it was a strange thing, that persons who had power to make such breaches had no power to heal them.[685] It is a pleasure to be able to state that Morley, in his old age, gave signs of better feeling; for it is related that he stopped proceedings against Mr. Sprint, an ejected minister, and invited him to dinner, endeavouring to soften down the terms of Conformity; but, better still, it is said, that in Morley's last days, he drank to an intermeddling Country Mayor, in a cup of Canary, advising him to let Dissenters live in quiet, "in many of whom, he was satisfied, there was the fear of God,"—and he thought they were "not likely to be gained by rigour or severity."
BISHOPS.