Respecting the character of Dr. Matthew Wren, there appears to have existed little difference of opinion amongst his contemporaries; for not only did Burton the Puritan say that in all Queen Mary's reign "there was not so great a havoc made in so short a time of the faithful ministers of God," as by him, but Archbishop Williams spoke of him as a "wren mounted on the wings of an eagle," and Lord Clarendon called him a "man of a severe, sour nature."[702] He filled the see of Ely a second time, from the fall of the Commonwealth until the year 1667, when he departed this life; and it is recorded of him, that as an act of thanksgiving for the King's return and his own restoration, he built at Pembroke Hall—the College in which he had been educated at Cambridge—a new chapel, where his remains were interred with unusual pomp.[703]
Wren was succeeded by Dr. Benjamin Laney, previously Bishop of Peterborough, who was translated from that place to Lincoln in 1663, and who died in 1675. Laney seems to have been kind-hearted as well as able, for in his primary visitation, before Bartholomew's day, he said very significantly to the assembled clergy, "Not I, but the law;" and although he had suffered considerably from the Presbyterians at Cambridge, in the year 1644, he could, to use his own phrase, when presiding over the see of Lincoln, "look through his fingers;" and he suffered a worthy Nonconformist to preach publicly very near him, for some years together.[704]
BISHOPS.
Laney was followed at Ely by Dr. Peter Gunning. The fondness of the latter for controversy is attested by the epitaph in his cathedral, where he was buried in 1684, and receives illustration from the accounts recorded of theological discussions in which he publicly engaged with Nonconformists. Blamelessness of private life, and the Episcopal virtues of generosity to friends,[705] of benefactions to charitable and religious objects, and of almsgiving to the poor, are ascribed to him by Wood; Dr. Gower, in his funeral sermon for him, extols his piety; but Burnet has painted his character in different colours. "He was a man of great reading, and noted for a special subtlety of arguing; all the arts of sophistry were made use of by him on all occasions, in as confident a manner as if they had been sound reasoning." "He was much set on the reconciling us with Popery in some points; and because the charge of idolatry seemed a bar to all thoughts of reconciliation with them, he set himself with very great zeal to clear the Church of Rome of idolatry. This made many suspect him as inclining to go over to them; but he was far from it, and was a very honest, sincere man, but of no sound judgment, and of no prudence in affairs. He was for our conforming in all things to the rules of the primitive Church, particularly in praying for the dead, in the use of oil, with many other rituals."[706]
1662–1677.
Dr. William Paul, being possessed of large property, and being also a man of business, had, through the influence of Sheldon, been appointed to the see of Oxford, with the hope that he would rebuild the dilapidated episcopal palace at Cuddesden. He applied himself to that undertaking, and, that he might be assisted in it, received permission to hold the valuable Rectory of Chinnor in commendam; but, after he had purchased materials for his intended work, especially a large quantity of timber, he died in 1665, having held the see for only two years.
Dr. John Warner is noted chiefly for being well read in scholastic divinity and patristic literature. It is recorded of him that, when Prebendary of Canterbury, he built a new font in the cathedral, which, "whether more curious or more costly," it was difficult to judge. Made Bishop of Rochester, he, in the earlier sittings of the Long Parliament, zealously asserted Episcopalian principles, "speaking for them as long as he had any voice left him," and valiantly defending the antiquity and justice of an order of spiritual peers.[707] He suffered, not only like the rest of his brethren, by losing the temporalities of his see, and by being driven away from the performance of its duties, but he had to compound for his own estates, which were of considerable value. During the Protectorate he resided at Bromley, in Kent, and on the return of Charles II. regained the see of Rochester, which he held to the time of his death, in 1666. Being a rich man, his benefactions were large, he contributed liberally to the cathedral of his diocese, and to the Colleges of Magdalen, and Baliol, at Oxford, the place of his education; and he also founded a College at Bromley for clergymen's widows.
BISHOPS.
Dr. John Earle, after being in exile with the King, first obtained at the Restoration the Deanery of Westminster, then succeeded Gauden in the Bishopric of Worcester, 1662, and finally rose to the see of Salisbury in 1663, upon Henchman becoming Bishop of London. Earle is described as having been "a very genteel man, a contemner of the world, religious, and most worthy of the office of a Bishop;" also, he is spoken of as having the sweetest and most obliging nature, and as being one than whom, since Hooker's death, God had not blessed any with more innocent wisdom, more sanctified learning, or a more pious, peaceable, primitive temper.[708] He was, says another authority, favourable to Nonconformists, a man that could do good against evil, forgive much, and of a charitable heart, and died, to the no great sorrow of them who reckoned his death was just, for labouring all his might against the Oxford Five Mile Act.[709] Within two years after his death, in 1665, his successor in the Bishopric, Dr. Alexander Hyde, followed him to the grave, the latter having owed his promotion to the influence of his kinsman, Lord Clarendon.