Reverend Father, sometimes to recreate himself; whose manner it hath been, when any of these meditations have unsought offered themselves unto him, presently to set them down."*

"The intent of this labour," says the bishop himself, "is to put some good thoughts, Reader, into thy mind; such as I hope may not a little further thee on thy journey to heaven. And if, in my labouring thitherward, I shall, through God's mercy, bee a means of forwarding any soul, but some steps up that steep way, how happy am I! To which purpose, I know no means more effectual, than those Meditations, which conduce to the animation and vigour of Christian practice: it must be true contrition, pure consciences, holy affections, heavenly dispositions, hearty devotions, sound regeneration, faith working by love, an humble walking with God, that shall help us into heaven; and whatsoever may tend to the advancing of any of these gracious works in us, is worthy to be dear and precious."†

It may be farther said respecting his Meditations, that the remarks and observations contained in them are generally very striking; and throughout they exhibit fervent piety, and much

originality of thought. It has been said that Bishop Hall seems to have imitated Augustine and Seneca in their style; if that be true, he has done so more particularly in his Meditations.

His other devotional writings are equally valuable, spiritual, and edifying: they discover throughout the Christian experience and heavenlymindedness of the author.

His EPISTLES exhibit a pleasing specimen of his spirit and manner: they unfold his mind and heart and they are particularly interesting for the remarks upon men and things, cases of conscience, and the occurrences of his times.

In his CONTROVERSIAL writings he has invariably manifested the charity and moderation of the real Christian: innumerable traces of the benignity and gentleness of his disposition are apparent. He was very zealous against popery, and no less so against those who separated from the church without extreme necessity. He feelingly lamented the divisions of protestants, and wrote some tractates with a view of putting an end to them. The several controversial pieces against those dissenting ministers, quaintly styled Smectymnuus, "are written in a very handsome, lively, and witty manner: but his adversaries too much distinguished themselves by a peculiar fierceness of spirit, and asperity of language: they wrote with confidence, like persons supported by

the secular arm, and who could depend upon stronger and more irresistible arguments than those upon paper."

He has composed some treatises and pieces in Latin, which are written in a very elegant, pure, and classical style. Of these, the Sermon intitled "Columba Noæ," and "Inurbanitati Pontificiæ Responsio, "were translated by the Rev. Rob. Hall, the bishop's son. But his admirable treatise entitled "Henochismus," carelessly and inaccurately translated by the Rev. Henry Brown, vicar of Nether Sevell, has been revised throughout, and brought nearer to the original by the Rev. Josiah Pratt. But the curious treatise entitled "Mundus alter et idem," i. e. The world different, yet the same, has never yet been given in a suitable English dress. There has never been but one translation of it by John Healey, a copy of which is now of very rare occurrence. The Rev. Josiah

Pratt did intend to give a translation of it, taking the singular and humorous version of Healey as the ground work: "but he found the translator so often degenerating into ribaldry, and the original to require so much delicacy and elucidation, that he abandoned the design; not without hopes that some person of leisure and ability may be

* Middleton's Biog. Evangel. vol. iii, p. 356.

induced to give this fine piece of irony a suitable English dress." In this singular treatise, Hall, under an agreeable fiction, satirises and ridicules the vicious manners of several nations. It is to be regretted that so excellent a piece of satire and irony should be nearly inaccessible to the English reader.

The Works of Bishop Hall were first collected by the Rev. Josiah Pratt, B.D. and published in ten volumes 8vo, in 1808. This edition is very correctly printed, is arranged and revised with much judgment and accuracy, and is also illustrated with occasional notes, table of contents, glossary, and a copious index to the whole.

The ingenious and acute Dr. Ferriar has excited a degree of attention to the Contemplations of Bishop Hall, among critics, by detecting the plagiarisms of Sterne, who has stolen hints and remarks from Hall, Burton, and Rabelais, without any acknowledgment. See Dr. Ferriar's Illustrations of Sterne, 8vo.

CHAPTER XIII.

ON PURITANISM.

It is thought proper here to give a short sketch of the history of Puritanism, and to shew that all who were denominated Puritans from the time of Queen Elizabeth to the usurpation, were not separatists or dissenters from the church of England; but in many instances, true and attached friends. of the church. From the account of some historians, it may appear as if all the puritans were dissenters. This was far from being the case: many of the puritans kept in the church to the last; indeed the most eminent of them for learning, piety, and usefulness, did not separate.

Though the reformers were of one faith, yet they were far from agreeing about discipline; while one party was disposed only to withdraw from the church of Rome no further than was necessary to recover the purity of the faith, and the independency of the church, looking upon rites and ceremonies as indifferent, and non

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