Another of the ejected ministers—one who survived the two excellent persons just described, and who is much better known than either of them—ought to be noticed before concluding this selection from the roll of Puritan names. Dr. Thomas Jacomb has been mentioned already, as a man who took a prominent part in the ecclesiastical affairs of his age. His biographers speak of his zeal for the glory of his Master, of his love to the souls of men, and of his constancy and diligence in ministerial work. He suffered much from cancer in the mouth; but when pain became tolerable, preaching acted as an anodyne; and, at all times, reflection upon the Divine goodness afforded him relief. He manifested much compassion, charity, and beneficence, and was moderate in his Nonconformity—“rather desiring to have been comprehended in the National Church, than to have separated from it.” His last illness is described as very distressing, and he said to an intimate friend—“I am using the means, but I think my appointed time is come. If my life might be serviceable to convert or build up one soul I should be content to live; but if God hath no more work for me to do, here I am, let Him do with me as He pleaseth.” On another occasion, he observed: “It will not be long before we meet in Heaven, never to part more: and there we shall be perfectly happy; there neither your doubts and fears, nor my pains shall follow us; nor our sins, which is best of all.” He longed to be above, and said with some regret—“Death flies from me; I make no haste to my Father’s house.”[607] Dr. Jacomb expired under the roof of the Countess of Exeter, March 27, 1687.
Burnet affords a pleasant sketch of an eminent Puritan layman, Sir Harbottle Grimston, Speaker of the House of Commons in the Convention Parliament, and afterwards Master of the Rolls; and in connection with this sketch occurs an equally pleasant notice of his exemplary wife.
“He gave yearly great sums in charity, discharging many prisoners by paying their debts. He was a very pious and devout man, and spent every day at least an hour in the morning, and as much at night, in prayer and meditation. And even in winter, when he was obliged to be very early on the bench, he took care to rise so soon, that he had always the command of that time, which, he gave to those exercises. He was much sharpened against Popery; but had always a tenderness to the Dissenters, though he himself continued still in the communion of the Church. His second wife, whom I knew, was niece to the great Sir Francis Bacon: and was the last heir of that family. She had all the high notions for the Church and the Crown, in which she had been bred; but was the humblest, the devoutest, and best tempered person I ever knew of that sort. It was really a pleasure to hear her talk of religion; she did it with so much elevation and force. She was always very plain in her clothes; and went oft to jails, to consider the wants of the prisoners, and relieve, or discharge them; and by the meanness of her dress she passed but for a servant trusted with the charities of others. When she was travelling in the country, as she drew near a village, she often ordered her coach to stay behind till she had walked about it, giving orders for the instruction of the children, and leaving liberally for that end. With two such persons I spent several of my years very happily.”[608]
UNITY OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
Without repeating what I have said in a former volume, respecting the varieties of spiritual life, I would observe, that it is of very great importance to distinguish between religion and theology: between spiritual life in man, and the philosophy of its causes, its nature, and its modes of operation. The philosophy of that life is of a far higher description than any other branch of science in relation to either material things or the human mind. Christian personal religion, when complete and satisfactory, must rest upon the study of Divine Revelation—this is the supreme authority for the religious beliefs of all to whom it comes—without which those beliefs are as the shifting sands and as the changeful clouds. It is of immense moment to search out the truth amidst various theories, and theological theories are to some minds an intellectual necessity, which it is idle to deny and foolish to ignore. Nor should the fact be overlooked that creeds—the creeds of the early Church—may serve as guards and preservers of the Church’s faith; as lines which have been drawn, after sounding the channels of Christian thought, to guard us against shoals towards which we are apt to be driven, as buoys which may help to preserve us from shipwreck, and as landmarks which may continue to secure for us the precious inheritance of truth bequeathed by Christ.[609] But at the same time these theories and these creeds should be distinguished from religion itself; and beyond all doubt, the religion of the soul, in a multitude of cases, is much less influenced by definite theological opinions on certain points than many persons are disposed to admit. Theology is oftener determined by religion, than religion is determined by theology. Hence the trite maxim that some men are better than their creeds and some are worse.
Christianity teaches, that faith in Christ is essential to religion in the case of all those to whom the Gospel comes, by which faith is meant trust in Him as the Divine Redeemer of souls. It further teaches that love to God is essential to religion, which love is to be expressed in worship and obedience. Finally, it teaches that morality is essential to religion, which morality includes all the pure, exalted, comprehensive, and noble virtues inculcated in the Scriptures. This threefold kind of religion may be found in cases where, what many may deem, erroneous views on various points are entertained; and it may be absent in cases where no such erroneous views exist. Religion does not centre in intellectual opinions, but in the affections of the heart, and the volitions of the will. Consequently, we have been able to trace, with more or less distinctness, the presence and power of real piety in all the great schools of theological thought, which have come under our review. We recognize amongst men of different creeds, of different forms of worship, of different ecclesiastical polities, members of the one Holy Catholic Church, because we discover in them that faith, devotion, and morality, which are the constituent elements of true religion. It is remarkable how, in these respects, Christians of various communions, such as I have attempted to portray, resemble each other. They have not been able to repeat the same theological confession: but under a sense of sin, in the great exigencies of their existence, in the hour of death, and looking forward to the day of judgment, they have rested upon the only Name given under heaven whereby we can be saved. They could not unite in the same symbolic rites, but there are hymns of praise and supplication in which they have all been enabled to express the devoutness of their spiritual life. They could not co-operate in ecclesiastical action, but each in his own sphere could and did engage in deeds of Christian justice, zeal, and charity.
I am not writing the history of any sect, but of Christ’s Church in England during the latter half of the seventeenth century, and therefore I have endeavoured to make these pages reflect, as far as possible, the many coloured types of moral and spiritual beauty, with which the Spirit of truth and love adorned and blessed our land at that eventful period.
APPENDIX.
No. I.—See Vol. I., p. 60.
I find in the Record Office a very curious letter, dated Llanothyng,[610] the 8th of April, and addressed to Linwell Chapman. There is placed in the same bundle in which I discovered it a fairly transcribed copy. As the contents are remarkable, I shall give a full description of them, and supply a few extracts.