required. He was employed on all occasions of a public nature where the interests of his brethren in the ministry, or the cause of religion among them, required the co-operation or counsel of others. As the agent of the ministers of Worcestershire, he addressed the Provincial Assembly of London in 1654, calling their attention to the state of the Psalmody, and requesting them to adopt measures for its improvement. On the other hand, he was requested by Calamy, Whitfield, Jenkyns, Ash, Cooper, Wickens, and Poole, to assist them in an answer which they were preparing to the Independents. What aid he afforded does not appear. We cannot doubt his disposition to assist his brethren, though it is not probable he and they would have agreed, either in their mode of defending Presbyterianism or of attacking Independency.

He was consulted by Manton, in 1658, about a scheme for calling a general assembly of the ministers of England, to determine certain matters, and arrange their ecclesiastical affairs. To this he returned an answer expressive of doubts of its practicability and expediency. He was friendly to such associations; but, from the state of the country at the time, he probably felt that nothing of importance could be effected. Indeed there is no reason to think that Cromwell would have permitted any such general assembly of the Presbyterian clergy to take place in England, when he would not allow them to hold such meetings in Scotland.

Both Lord Lauderdale and Major Robert Beake introduced to Baxter, in 1657, the Rev. James Sharpe, a minister of the church of Scotland, who came to London on the public business of that church, which he afterwards vilely betrayed. He was rewarded for his treachery at a future period, with the archbishoprick of St. Andrews, where at last he lost his life by the hands of a few individuals, who thus chose to avenge their

'country's wrongs. Of his piety, Lauderdale and Beake speak strongly; and he probably was at this time a very different man from what he had become when he fell before the wiles of a court, and the lure of an archbishop's mitre.d

Beside all this, Baxter was consulted by great numbers of his brethren in the ministry in various parts of the country, respecting matters in which they were concerned; and by a multitude of private individuals, on cases of conscience, which he was requested to solve. To all these he returned, often, long and minute letters, the manual labour of which must have been very considerable, especially as he kept copies of many of them.

In these active and multifarious labours, Baxter spent fourteen of the happiest and most useful years of his life. Unceasingly engaged in some useful pursuit, his mind found sufficient scope and employment for that energy by which it was eminently distinguished. There were many evils then, indeed, as well as at other times, which he greatly deplored; but there was so great a preponderance of good when compared with the period which preceded, and with that which followed

d Baxter MSS. Sharpe was sent to London again immediately before the Restoration, with a view to negociate the interests of the church of Scotland. He returned after the King was re-established, with a plausible letter signed by Lauderdale, in the name of the King. He was afterwards rewarded for his treachery and apostacy by the Primacy of Scotland. It is impossible to justify his murder; but the poor people of Scotland had been driven to desperation by long-continued oppression.

e There are some hundreds of these letters among the Redcross Street MSS.; many of them curious, though relating to individuals and subjects which would not now interest the public. Baxter had a long correspondence with Gataker, chiefly on the subjects of infant baptism and original sin. Gataker exceedingly bewails the differences that then subsisted among Christians, and says "they may well be lamented with an ocean of tears." He had a laborious correspondence with Dr. Hill, about predestination, a subject on which Baxter wrote a great deal. Besides what he published on it, there is enough remaining among his unpublished manuscripts to make a volume or two. Many letters also passed between him and Tombes, Poole, Dury, Wadsworth, Bates, and Howe. There are, also, many letters to and from correspondents, both male and female, of the names of Allan and Lambe, who seem to have enjoyed no small portion of his attention. Some of these are printed in his Life by Sylvester.

it, that often he lamented the prosperous days he had enjoyed during the usurpation, when they had passed away. Instead, therefore, of having to record his various plans of benevolence, and rejoicing over the success attending them, we must henceforth hear chiefly of his fruitless struggles for peace, and for liberty to preach the Gospel; of the disappointment which followed negociations; of the anguish experienced from the restriction of his ministry; of confiscations, imprisonment, and being unceasingly harassed for conscience' sake.

CHAPTER VII.

1660-1662.

The Restoration-Views of the Nonconformists-Conduct of the Court towards them-Baxter's desire of Agreement-Interview with the KingBaxter's Speech-The Ministers requested to draw up their ProposalsMeet at Sion College for this purpose-Present their paper to the KingMany Ministers ejected already-The King's Declaration-Baxter's objections to it-Presented to the Chancellor in the form of a Petition-Meeting with his Majesty to hear the Declaration-Declaration altered-Baxter, Calamy, and Reynolds, offered Bishopricks-Baxter declines-Private interview with the King-The Savoy Conference-Debates about the mode of proceeding-Baxter draws up the Reformed Liturgy-Petition to the Bishops -No disposition to agreement on their part-Answer to their former papers -Personal debate-Character of the leading parties on both sides—Issue of the Conference.

CHARLES II. was received with general acclamation; which can only be accounted for from that love of change which is characteristic of nations as well as of individuals; from the sickening influence of Cromwell's ambition, and the imbecility of his son; from the disgust felt by many at the fanaticism of the times; together with that love of monarchy-its pomp and circumstance-which constitutes a distinguishing feature in the character of Englishmen. That Charles deceived the people by his professions, is clear; but they might easily have obtained such a knowledge of his principles, habits, and sentiments, had they been disposed to make what inquiry the nature of the case seemed to demand, as might have prevented the deception from taking effect. They imagined that the sufferings endured

by the royal family would cure, or at least moderate, that hereditary love of arbitrary power, and attachment to Popery, which had caused most of those sufferings; that Charles was perhaps too much a man of the world, to make the costly sacrifices for a religious party which his father had made; and that they might easily form such an agreement with him as should effectually limit his power, and secure their rights. In all this they discovered their own weakness and simplicity. In fact, Charles returned on his own terms, and was left as unfettered as if he had come in by conquest; saving a few oaths, which he swallowed without scruple, and broke without remorse. The bitter effects of this misguided zeal and imprudence, none had greater reason to feel and to deplore than the Presbyterian portion of the Puritans, who were greatly instrumental in promoting the Restoration.

The views of the leading men of their party were, on some points, discordant; but they all agreed in welcoming the exiled monarch, and in anticipating, from the re-establishment of monarchy and the constitution, the enjoyment not only of protection and liberty (for these they had fully enjoyed under the usurpation), but of a system of church government modified to meet their views, and by which they should be comprehended in the ecclesiastical establishment of the country.

It was necessary, in the circumstances in which Charles found himself, not to offend these men; the episcopal party also being still weak, found it expedient to treat them with apparent respect.

Charles took the covenant three several times; once at the completion of the treaty abroad, again at his landing in Scotland, and a third time when he was crowned at Scone; while it is impossible to believe that he ever had the least serious intention to observe it. Though it is considered that Charles was a Papist, or an infidel, nothing can excuse his want of principle in taking this oath; and as the profligacy of his character could scarcely be unknown to the party which required the oath, it is difficult to excuse their conduct in imposing it, or in being satisfied to be deceived by Charles submitting himself to it.