Yet to make use of such stories as Baxter tells for religious purposes is vain. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." His book no doubt proved to be labour lost, but he had plenty of people still to keep him in countenance. Samuel Wesley wrote in defence of the doctrine,1 and in Scotland witch finding went on with vigour. In 1697 no less than twenty-eight people were accused, and seven of them were executed.2 Nineteen were hanged within sixteen months (1692-3) in New England; eight more were condemned; one hundred and fifty were imprisoned; above two hundred were accused, of whom many fled the country to save their lives.3

One piece of superstition maintained by English Sovereigns received a vigorous check, but not a death-blow. I have described the ceremony of touching for the "king's evil," so ostentatiously revived by Charles II. His brother perpetuated the practice. The pecuniary benefit of submitting to the operation, no doubt, made it very popular, since it cost £10,000 a year for silver coins to be hung round the necks of patients. When, at the close of Lent, crowds besieged his doors, William exclaimed, "It is a silly superstition; give the poor

1 Athenian Oracle, i. 153.

66

2 Hutchinson, 62. Hume says, in his Commentaries on the Laws of Scotland, ii. 556, that among the many trials for witchcraft, he had not observed one which proceeds upon the notion of a vain, cheating art, falsely used by an impostor to deceive the weak and credulous." It is not until faith in witchcraft expires that such a notion obtains. The Scotch were more superstitious

than the English. English believers in witchcraft regarded the witch as the slave; the Scotch regarded her as the mistress, of the evil power. See Burton's Criminal Trials in Scotland, i. 240. Dugald Stuart, in his Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysical and Ethical Philosophy, notices Malbranche's scepticism as to sorcery, and gives an interesting extract on the subject, p. 75. • Hutchinson, 58, 108

creatures some money, and send them away." Once only could he be prevailed upon to touch a suppliant, when he added, "God give you better health, and more sense. There were not wanting some to reproach the King as cruel and impious, for refusing to exercise a Divine gift; but the Jacobites turned his conduct to account by saying, he did not dare to pretend to a power which only belonged to the Lord's anointed.

CHAPTER XV.

COURSES of lectures on doctrinal and devotional

themes had been fashionable with the Puritans. Robert Boyle, looking at the spread of infidelity, provided, by his will, for the appointment of a lecturer, to preach eight sermons in a year upon the Evidences of Christianity; and thus set an example which has been followed by Bampton, Hulse, and others. The trustees-Tenison, then Bishop of Lincoln, and John Evelyn being two of them-selected for the first performance of the duty a rising clergyman, already known in University circles by his vast attainments, and afterwards famous throughout the world of letters. Evelyn records the appointment in his Diary, by saying "he made choice of one Mr. Bentley, chaplain to the Bishop of Worcester;" and the comparatively obscure student, so described, regarded it in after-life as the greatest honour with which he was ever invested. He determined to follow Cudworth and Cumberland without imitating them, to go down to the basis of all theology, and to confute the opinions of Hobbes and Spinoza. Bentley's Lectures, entitled, A Confutation of Atheism, after exposing the folly of a godless belief, aimed at demonstrating the Divine existence from an inquiry into the faculties of the human soul, the structure of the body, and the frame of the world. It was a movement

along the line of rational thought. The Revolution had appealed to reason in matters of government. Without throwing aside traditions—even while appealing to constitutional forms-Englishmen were seeking after fundamental political principles; and reason came now to be earnestly invoked in the service of religion. Philosophy had been employed in attacking Christian beliefs; philosophy now came to the rescue. Faith in an infinite cause, shaken by the human intellect, was to be reinforced by a more vigorous exercise of the same faculty.

Boyle, the founder of the Lecture, had collected scientific facts available for the lecturer's purpose. Locke, by illustrating the essential difference between matter and mind, had become a pioneer in the path along which Bentley pushed parts of his argument; and Newton, by his Principia, had prepared for him methods by which to demonstrate the Creator's providence and goodness. Thus assisted, Bentley showed himself possessed of original genius; and having at command satire as well as logic, with a style adapted to give effect to his thoughts, he produced a deep impression by his discourses. The first he delivered at St. Martin's-the second at Bow Church; when Evelyn, ensconced in a tall-backed pew, listened with delight to the preacher, and immediately admitted him to his friendship. Before he published his work he wrote to the great philosopher, then resident in Trinity College, Cambridge. Newton corrected and modified Bentley's opinions upon some points, but he confirmed his views respecting most, and supplied him with additional arguments.1

Bentley soon afterwards obtained a stall in Worcester Cathedral, probably through the influence of Stillingfleet,

1 Monk's Life of Bentley, 34.

his patron. If we are to believe his words, he had what was a better reward, for he says: "The Atheists were silent since that time, and sheltered themselves under Deism." It is a pity that historical justice requires it to be said that this advocate of natural theology did not possess the primary virtue of religion, and the chief ornament of all learning. A nobleman happening one day to sit near Stillingfleet at dinner, observed to him, "My Lord, that chaplain of yours is certainly a very extraordinary man." "Yes," he replied; "had he but the gift of humility, he would be the most extraordinary man in Europe."1

According to the terms of Boyle's will, which authorized the appointment of the same lecturer for three years, Bentley might have delivered another course of sermons; but owing, as it is said, to the favouritism of one of the trustees, and in opposition to Evelyn's wishes, Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, delivered the second series, entitled, A Demonstration of the Messias. Williams, afterwards made a Bishop, exhibited in his lectures A General Idea of Revealed Religion. Gastrell, subsequently Bishop of Chester, a friend to Atterbury, and one who pleaded for him in Parliament, insisted upon The Certainty and Necessity of Divine Religion. Dr. Harris refuted the objections of Atheists to the existence and attributes of God; a superfluous task, it would seem, if we are to admit what has been said of the effect of Bentley's dissertations. Bradford, "the little ebony doctor," as he was called-an enemy of Atterbury's-discoursed upon the credibility of the Christian Religion. Blackall, afterwards a Bishop, established and illustrated the sufficiency and perfection of the Old and New Testaments;

1 Monk's Life of Bent'ey, 37.