for by a Latin printed book he hath loaded the church and state of England with a great deal of infamous contumely; so that if he were here amongst us, he would be so far from receiving preferment, that some exemplary punishment would be his reward! His majesty hath been advertised how this man is entertained and embraced at the Hague; and how he is a fit person to breed up the captains and soldiers there in mutiny and faction. I therefore hope, that Sir Horatio Vere, having entered into the consideration thereof, will speedily reform this error, and labour to give unto his highness the best satisfaction that he can; and unto this I pray you to yield the best assistance that you may. I wish the removing of him to be as privately and as cleanly carried as the matter will permit. We are also acquainted with what English preachers are entertained in Zealand, whereunto, in convenient time, we hope to give a remedy here. So commending me to you, "G. CANT."* This may appear a remarkable stretch of archiepiscopal power. But Archbishop Laud, who succeeded Abbot, far surpassed either of his predecessors in oppressing those whom he had deprived of the means of subsistence, and driven to seek their bread in a foreign land. Extraordinary as it may seem, this dominant arch-prelate, by his outstretched arm, attempted to force the church of England upon all Englishmen who had fled to Holland, and other places on the continent of Europe. He drew up a number of regulations, which he submitted to his majesty's privy council, declaring "That those who reside in the Low Countries, or in any other foreign dominions, shall admit no minister to preach to their company, but such as entirely conform to the church of England, and are recommended by the lords of the council, with the advice of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. That if any minister or preacher, being his majesty's born subject, shall print, preach, or converse, to the disparagement of the doctrine or discipline of the church of England, notice shall be given to the ambassador, and by him to his majesty, that the person offending may be sent home, and answer for his misdemeanours." The zealous primate did not stop here. He soon after procured an order in council, constraining all Englishmen who had retired to Holland and other places, to observe an exact conformity to the church of England; nor did he fail to make use of this order to the fullest extent. It will be proper to mention one instance, reminding the reader that similar instructions were sent to other places. The archbishop sent Mr. Beaumont, a minister conformable to the Established Church, with the following archiepiscopal charge, to the English residing at Delph, where a goodly number had settled :— "You are to receive him with all decent and courteous usage, fitting his person and calling, and to allow him the usual ancient stipend. We are further to let you know, that it is his majesty's express command, that both you, the deputy, and all and every other merchant, that is or shall be residing in those parts beyond the seas, do conform themselves to the doctrine and discipline settled in the church of England; and that they frequent the common-prayers with all religious duty and rever * Winwood, vol. iii. p. 346. That out of your company, ence at all times required, as well as they do sermons. you do yearly, about Easter, as the canons prescribe, name two churchwardens, and two sidesmen, who may look to the orders of the church, and give an account according to their office. Mr. Beaumont is here to take notice, that his majesty's express pleasure and command to him is, that he do punctually keep and observe all the orders of the church of England, as they are prescribed in the canons, and the rubrics of the Liturgy. That if any of your company shall show themselves refractory to this ordinance of his majesty, (which we hope will not be) he is to certify the name of any such offender, and his offences, to the lord bishop of London for the time being, who is to take order and give remedy accordingly. These letters are to be registered and kept by you, that they who come after may understand the care his majesty hath taken for the well-ordering of your company in church affairs. You are likewise to deliver a copy of these letters to Mr. Beaumont, and to every successor of his respectively, that he and they may know what his majesty expects from them, and be the more inexcusable if they disobey."* Archbishop Laud, not content with this vast assumption of power, stretched his potent crosier beyond the Atlantic ocean. He accordingly obtained a royal commission, addressed to himself and others, to carry English episcopacy, with her rigourous discipline, to the wilderness of New England, which had been lately planted, and was then planting, at immense toil and expense by the colonists. This commission, having graciously provided for the "ease and tranquillity" of the Puritans in America, authorized the archbishop and his colleagues "to make laws, ordinances, and constitutions for the said colonies;" after which he adds: : "And for the relief and support of the clergy, and the rule and cure of the souls of the people living in those parts, and for consigning of convenient maintenance unto them by tithes, oblations, and other profits accruing, according to their good discretion, with the advice of two or three bishops, whom they should see fit to call unto their consultations, touching the distribution of such maintenance unto the clergy, and all other matters ecclesiastical; and to inflict punishment upon all offenders or violaters of the constitutions and ordinances, either by imprisonment or other restrain, or by loss of life or members, according as the quality of the offence might require." The commissioners were also authorized to remove all governors of the colonies, and to appoint others in their stead, to punish those whom they considered delinquent, to appoint judges to determine civil causes, and to establish ecclesiastical courts, with such powers as by the advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury should seem meet. It ought to be recollected that the colonists, who planted themselves in New England, had sacrificed every thing that was dear to them in their native country, for the sake of enjoying liberty of conscience in the new settlements. But for their ease and tranquillity, the very church from which they had fled, with all its frightful terrors, was to be forced upon them, under the penalty of the loss of life or members, in every case of resistance !+ The archbishop and his colleagues had, how* Collier's Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 753, 761. † Christian Spectator, vol. ii. p. 678, 679. ever, more to do at home than they could accomplish, and the New Englanders not relishing this odious vassalage, the wild and despotic scheme proved an entire failure. Can you, Mr. Editor, by the most diligent research into the annals of popery, discover more notorious instances of the assumption of undue authority, exhibiting the arrogant spirit of antichrist, than those now enumerated? Are not these proceedings sufficient to rouse the indignation of every sound Protestant? The ecclesiastical jurisdiction. of the English prelacy had hitherto been confined within the shores of Britain; but Archbishop Laud would henceforth extend his potent arms to all the cities and towns of Holland, to every company of Englishmen on the continent of Europe, and even to all the Puritan colonies in America! Was not this a forcible indication that Protestant popery existed in the English church? Did not these extraordinary prelatical efforts clearly exhibit, from indubitable facts, that the worst part of popery still remained in the church of England? Shall we, then, conclude, Mr. Editor, that there was a fair prospect of having Protestant popes, and a pope at Lambeth as well as at Rome? ESSAYS ON THE BOOK OF JOB.-NO. IX. BY THE REV. RALPH WARDLAW, D.D., GLASGOW. (Resumed from page 705.) B. B. IN any further papers on this book, it is not my purpose to go on with a regular course of exposition; but rather to select such portions of it for illustration, as may serve to throw light upon the characters of Job's three friends, upon that of Elihu, by whom the human part of the controversy is wound up, upon the further progressive development of Job's own character, and upon that of the Divine Being himself, the principles of whose providence are the subject of difference and debate. Having noticed, therefore, the circumstances that had so wrought upon the spirit of the patriarch—the previously resigned and patient sufferer -as to wring from his bursting heart the bitter imprecations of the day of his birth contained in the third chapter, I pass from any parti cular or critical examination of the terms in which these imprecations are couched, satisfying myself with one general observation, suggested by the words of Job himself, chap, vi. 26. "Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?" He thus cautions against analysing, with minute and searching criticism, the expressions of an overpowering burst of passionate excitement; which, indeed, would be as gross a violation of common sense as of poetical taste. His grief had been suppressed-pent up in his bosom ; and, in the circumstances before described, it burst forth with sudden and appalling impetuosity :—and all is bold abruptness; not the language of calm and cool reflection, selected and arranged by weight and measure, but that of wild and distracted emotion, which, in the hurry of its utterance, seeks not fine words, but strong words-seizing instantly on whatever occurs as fitted to convey a vivid sympathy with itself to the hearts of others, without regard to correctness of figure or nicety of adjustment. Leaving the reader to apply this principle for himself to the contents of the third chapter, I go at once to the reply of Eliphaz. He appears to have been the senior, and perhaps might be, in some respects, the superior, of the other two: and he takes the lead. The patriarch having spoken in the bitterness of his soul, the opportunity, which we conceive to have been waited for, is immediately seized; and the spirit of the reply is in full harmony with our previous suppositions. It has been truly remarked, that in the address of this speaker there is an air of peculiar authority and majesty, by which he is distinguished from both Bildad and Zophar; each of whom, at the same time, as will hereafter appear, has his special characteristics. The influence, however, of the great general principle respecting providence, held by the three friends in common, which had kept them silent until they might discover the state of Job's mind, is manifest on the very face of Eliphaz's address. It is at once apparent, that it is not the previous speech of the patriarch merely-the impatience discovered in the intemperate expressions of his first burst of desperate anguish-that is the subject of its reproof and expostulation. This he might have rebuked in the spirit of sympathizing tenderness, and in a manner harmonizing with the full flow of friendly affection. But, although he does lay hold of this point, it evidently is not his aim. He only makes it introductory to his main subject; which is the statement and application of the principle referred to- of which we must never lose sight, if we would follow intelligently the course of the controversy. Suppose a person, in entire ignorance of the subsequent contents of the book, were to read the closing verses of the second chapter, from verse 11 to the end, containing the account of the mutual appointment, the journey, the arrival, the amazement and grief, and the seven days' and seven nights' silence, of Job's three friends, I admit it to be probable, that from that description he would anticipate with a kind of luxurious delight, an interview of genuine and even extraordinary friendship; a scene to awaken all the sacred sympathies of his bosom a sufferer greatly needing and ardently longing for consolation, and melting with affectionate gratitude to the kind friends who had come to impart it; and these friends prepared to pour it into his ear and into his heart-speaking the words, in the true spirit of condolence-vying with each other in finding out, illustrating, and impressing topics of soothing and sustaining influence to an agitated and afflicted soul-try ing who would succeed best in winning his mind away from brooding over his accumulated calamities, and settling his spirit in "the peace of God which passeth all understanding." Alas! how opposite to all this the scene which now actually opens, and which continues to the last, not only without softening, but with augmenting acrimony and violence: the hallowed presence of distress converted into an arena of angry and intemperate debate; the spirit of the unhappy sufferer lacerated by unkind insinuations, cruel and groundless suspicions, and cuttingly sarcastic reproaches, and, by such treatment, goaded on to the utterance of unadvised and unwarrantable expressions; and then these very expressions, although provoked and extorted by themselves, each in turn laid hold of as the ground of renewed attack, and fresh vituperation! : In this very spirit does Eliphaz open If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling; and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest ; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways:" -Chap. iv. verses 2-6. The speaker was well aware, that what he was about to say was not likely to be palatable. Had he been ready to address directly to Job the words of divine consolation, he would not have required any introductory apology. But the principle he was going to bring forward, and with which, indeed, he starts immediately, was one, he could not but be sensible, must be deeply wounding to his afflicted friend. The question--" Who can withhold himself from speaking?" -is the question, not of sympathy, anxious to know what cordial to administer to the distracted heart. It is not-"Who can refrain from speaking"-when distress so accumulated, so touching, so overwhelming, is before one's eyes? No: but a favourite principle, or theory, was to be defended: and this must be done, though at the expense of the character, the peace, the health, and it might be, the life, of their afflicted friend. And there is a consideration thus suggested, which, unquestionably, these friends are entitled to have stated and urged in their behalf. If Eliphaz, and Bildad, and Zophar, were really and deeply satisfied of the truth and importance of their principle, they might think themselves under an obligation of duty to maintain it, even at the risk and cost of a sacrifice of the claims of friendship. They might have said, Amicus Job; sed magis amica Veritas. Even granting them all the benefit of this ground, it could, at all events, be no excuse for the manner in which the defence of their principle was taken up and conducted. To me it appears, that, under a seeming compliment, there is all the harshness of sarcastic severity, in reference to Job's former character, and the pointed contrast between his counsels to others and his own |