entitled "Appello Cæsarem," declared himself in favour of Arminianism, and made dangerous advances towards popery. The doctor's book was no sooner published than it met with a host of opponents. Dr. Featly, Dr. Sutcliff, Mr. Rouse, Mr. Burton, Mr. Yates, Bishop Carlton, and Mr. Wotton, sent forth answers to it: but the last contained the strongest arguments, and the most solid refutation. "Dean Sutcliff is said to have chode heartily, Mr. Rouse meant honestly, Mr. Burton wrote plainly, Mr. Yates learnedly, Bishop Carlton very piously, but Mr. Wotton most solidly.' ."+ Mr. Wotton did not long survive this last performance; for he died in London, December 11, 1626. He was a great scholar, an excellent preacher, and a zealous advocate for a further reformation of the church. He wrote an elegant Latin style, and is very justly placed among the learned writers of King's college, Cambridge. Mr. Gataker denominates him, " a worthy servant of God, whom," says he, "I always revered while he lived, as a man deserving of singular respect for his piety, learning, and zeal in the cause of God, which his works do sufficiently manifest, and will testify to posterity.§ His WORKS.-1. An Answer to a popish Pamphlet of late newly furnished, and the second time printed, entitled,' Certain Articles or for Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 442. + Dr. Richard Montague was a divine who, in the reign of Charles I., zealously promoted arbitrary power; and, for publishing sentiments tending to the disturbance of church and state, he was accused to the commons in parliament, and convened and examined before the bar of the house. The proceedings of the commons displeased the king; for, as Montague was one of his chaplains, he pretended that this was an encroachment upon his prerogative. He expressed his displeasure at the commons, and took occasion, by the instigation of Bishop Laud, the king's most intimate counsellor, to bring the cause before the council, and, by this means, to stop the prosecution. Notwithstanding this, Montague was summoned a second time before the commons, and severely reprimanded. His cause was recommended to the Duke of Buckingham, by Bishops Laud, Buckridge, and Howson, who observed, “That learned men ought to be left to abound in their own sense, it being the great fault of the council of Trent to require subscription to school-opinions." Afterwards, a committee of the commons reported to the house, that Montague's "Appeal,' and several other of his pieces, contained erroneous papistical and Arminian opinions, repugnant to the articles of the church of England; among which were the following:-"That the church of Rome hath ever remained firm upon the same foundation of sacraments and doctrines instituted by God. That images may be used for the instruction of the ignorant, and excitation of devotion. That men justified may fall away, and depart from the state of grace." Notwithstanding these censures, he was promoted by the king to the bishopric of Winchester!-Fuller's Church Hist. b. xi. p. 121.-Rapin's Hist. of Eng. vol. ii. p. 240, 244, 276. Fuller's Hist. of Camb. p. 75. Ward's Gresham Professors, p. 40-42. cible Reasons,' &c., 1605.-2. A Defence of Mr. Perkins's Booke, called, A Reformed Catholicke,' against the cavils of a popish writer, one D. B. P. or, W. B. in his Deformed Reformation, 1606.-3. The Tryal of the Roman Clergy's title to the Church, 1608.-4. Sermons on part of Chap. i. of St. John's Gospel, 1609.-5. Runne from Rome; or, the Necessity of separating from that Church, 1624.-6. De Reconciliationi Peccatoris, 1624.-7. An Answer to a Book, entitled Appello Cæsarem, written by Mr. Richard Montaguc, 1626.-8. The Art of Logic, 1626. This last is a translation of Ramus's Logic. RICHARD ROTHWELL.-This learned and zealous puritan was born at Bolton in Lancashire, in the year 1563, and educated in the university of Cambridge. Having spent many years in academical pursuits, he entered upon the work of the ministry, and was ordained presbyter by Achbishop Whitgift. The archbishop, on this occasion, forbade him attempting any interpretation of the types of Moses, the book of Canticles, Daniel, and Revelation; and, at that time, he exactly agreed with his lordship. Though he possessed an amiable natural temper, great intellectual endowments, and other ornamental accomplishments, they were only as so many weapons in the hands of a madman. He continued several years a stranger to religion, when he preached learnedly, but lived in profaneness, addicting himself to hunting, bowling, shooting, and filthy and profane conversation. We are told, that in Lancashire there were two knights at variance with each other; one having a good park, with an excellent store of deer; the other good fish-ponds, with an excellent store of fish; and that he used to gratify himself by robbing the park of the one, and presenting his booty to the other, and the fish-ponds of the other, and presenting the fish to his adversary. On one of these occasions, it is added, the keeper caught him in the very act of killing a buck, when they fell from words to blows; but Mr. Rothwell, being tall and lusty, got the keeper down, and bound him by both his thumbs to a tree, with his toes only touching the ground, in which situation he was found next morning. Such were the base follies by which he was gratified in the days of his vanity. While in the midst of his career in sin, it pleased God, who separated him from his mother's womb, and called him by his grace, to reveal his Son in him. This change was produced in the following manner: As Mr. Rothwell was • Clark's Lives annexed to his Martyrologie, p. 67, 68. playing at bowls on a Saturday, among papists and profane gentlemen, at Rochdale in Lancashire, Mr. Midgley, the grave and pious vicar of the place, came upon the green; and, calling him on one side, expressed his great regret that he was the companion of papists, even on a Saturday, when he ought to have been preparing for the exercises of the sabbath but Mr. Rothwell slighted what he said, and checked him for intermeddling. The good old man, being exceedingly grieved, went home, retired into his study, and prayed earnestly to God for him. Mr. Rothwell had no sooner left the bowling-green than Mr. Midgley's words stuck fast in his conscience. He could find no rest. The day following he went to hear Mr. Midgley preach in Rochdale church, when it pleased God so to bless the word, that he was thoroughly awakened to a sense of his sins. Under his painful convictions he went to Mr. Midgley after sermon, thanked him for his seasonable reproof, and desired his further instruction, with an interest in his prayers. Having continued under spiritual bondage for some time, he at length, by the instrumentality of Mr. Midgley, was made partaker of the liberty of the sons of God; the assurance of which he retained to the end of his days. Though he was often exercised by the severe assaults of Satan, his heavenly Father, in whom he trusted, always made a way for his escape. This important change being effected, Mr. Rothwell gave his worldly estates among his friends, and devoted himself wholly to the ministry of the word, ever esteeming Mr. Midgley as his spiritual father.* Mr. Rothwell, having tasted that the Lord was gracious, began to preach the gospel by the assistance of the Holy Ghost. He so unfolded the depths of Satan's devices, and the treachery of the human heart, that he was soon denominated the rough hewer. His zealous and faithful ministry was accompanied by the power and blessing of God. When he preached the terrors of the law, sinners trembled, and sometimes cried aloud; and when he preached the glad tidings of the gospel, sweet consolation was applied to their afflicted consciences. He was chaplain to a regiment under the Earl of Essex, in his expedition against the rebels in Ireland. About the same time, he was induced to examine, with an unbiassed mind, the grounds of conformity to the established church. The result of his impartial investigation was, he became an • Clark's Lives annexed to his Martyrologie, p. 67, 68. avowed puritan, and a conscientious nonconformist. He is said to have soon become so deeply versed in this controversy, that he satisfied many, and silenced all who disputed with him. He was so thoroughly fixed in his principles, and in such constant expectation of troubles on account of his conscientious scruples, that he would never marry. His common observation was, persecution is the pledge of future happiness. On the same account he would never accept of any benefice, though many rich livings were offered him. He was many years a lecturer at a chapel in Lancashire, and afterwards domestic chaplain to the Earl of Devonshire. During the severe persecutions raised by the bishops, as he enjoyed no living, he had none to lose. He used pleasantly to say, my head is too big to get into the church. He was frequently called before the prelates, especially Bishop Neile, with whom he had several contests about nonconformity. By the recommendation of Lady Bowes, afterwards Lady Darcy, a person celebrated for piety and liberality,+ Mr. Rothwell removed to Barnard-Castle, in the county of Durham. When the good lady expressed her fears about his going among these rude and fierce people, he replied, "Madam, if I thought I should not meet the devil, I would not go: he and I have been at odds in other places, and I hope we shall not agree there." The worthy lady therefore consented, allowing him forty pounds a year; and the people, upon whom God wrought by his ministry, further contributed to his support; but he would not receive a farthing of any others. Being once on a journey, Sir Talbot Bowes made a collection for him among the people, amounting to thirty pounds; but when he came home, he caused it to be returned to the persons who had contributed, saying, “he sought not theirs but them.” Upon his first settlement among these rude people, he had many difficulties to encounter: he met with much opposition; and they even sought to take away his life. By faithful perseverance in the duties of his calling, his greatest enemies afterwards feared him; and the blessing of the Lord was so wonderfully poured forth upon his labours, that he seldom preached a sermon which did not bring some poor wandering sinner to God. Many vain gentlemen from a distance * Clark's Lives annexed to his Martyrologie, p. 69. This excellent lady expended one thousand pounds a year in support of destitute ministers. Her preachers were all silenced nonconformists. She obtained liberty for many of them when confined in prison; then sent them into the north, the Peak in Derbyshire, or those places where their labours were most wanted, allowing them a comfortable support.—Ibid. came to hear him, with a view to find fault, make sport, and accuse him; who returned home convinced of their sins, inquiring what they must do to be saved. His labours were so extensively useful, that the change wrought among the people, and the good order of his congregation, became the subject of universal admiration. He was commonly denominated THE APOSTLE OF THE NORTH. During Mr. Rothwell's abode at Barnard-Castle, he was deeply afflicted with a complaint in his head; and though he obtained considerable relief, he never perfectly recovered. Having laboured at this place many years, he removed to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, where he continued preaching to the end of his days. After his removal to this place, he is said to have been concerned in casting out a devil, a curious account of which is given by our author.❤ During his last sickness he was deprived of the exercise of his reason, when Mr. Britain, vicar of Mansfield, waited upon him, and inquired what he then thought of conformity. In their conversation, Mr. Rothwell sometimes said one thing, and sometimes another, evidently not knowing what he said. Mr. Britain, however, propagated a report that Mr. Rothwell recanted his nonconformity. This was a most notorious calumny. At certain intervals during his sickness, his conversation was free, cheerful, and spiritual. His friends inquiring how he did, he said, "I shall soon be well. I shall ere long be with Christ." A brother minister having prayed with him, he smiled and said, "Now I am well. Happy is he who hath not bowed his knee to Baal." He then requested those about him to sing a psalm; and while they were singing his immortal spirit took its flight to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb for ever. He died in 1627, aged sixty-four years. Mr. Rothwell possessed "a clear understanding, a sound judgment, a strong memory, and a ready utterance; and was accounted a good linguist, a subtle disputant, an excellent orator, and a learned divine."+ JOHN PRESTON, D. D.-This celebrated divine descended from the Prestons of Preston in Lancashire, was born at Heyford in Northamptonshire, in the year 1587, and educated first in King's college, and then in Queen's college, Cambridge. In the latter situation he was pupil to the pious and learned Mr. Oliver Bowles, when he made * Clark's Lives annexed to his Martyrologie, p: 72–74. + Ibid p. 67. |