Life and Works of Henry King. 259 



Anniversary sermon, delivered March 27 1640 ; this is the sermon 

 which Hannah was unable ^ to find a cop}^ of, and his regret was very 

 proper, for had he been able to examine this sermon he must have 

 arrived at the conclusion here asserted, that it definitely overthrows 

 and nullifies Wood's often-quoted charge. It may be briefly summar- 

 ized as follows : pp. i— 10, an extreme, almost violent, vindication 

 of the Divine Right of Kings — with incidental thrusts at Papists 

 and Nonconformists ; 11— 19, a vigorous justification of absolute 

 Monarchy ; 20—29, ^^ energetic assertion of a King's superiority 

 to both Papacy and Presbytery, with praise of an Established National 

 Church whose head is the King ; 29—38, a glorification of a King's 

 duties and powers, as against the people's rights — with some harsh 

 words for Knox, Puritanism, and Jesuitism ;2 38—41, a vivid picture 

 of the evils of rebellion and anarchy, "whiles they goe about to whelme 

 the Kingdome over the King" and "Everyman did what was good 

 in his own eyes" (these pages, like many others in this sermon, were 

 singularly prophetic) ; 42—59, a eulogy of Charles I as the wise head 

 of the Church, dispenser of Justice, rebuilder of St. Paul's, founder 

 of the Royal Navy, and noble example of piety — with excursus, 

 44—47, on the purity and true Apostolic succession of the English 

 Church. To tax the author of this sermon with Puritanical leanings 

 is a mere meaningless absurdity ; for if he was so consummate a hypo- 

 crite and Har as to cherish Presbyterian behefs in spite of his language 

 here, how could he ever have betrayed those beliefs in such a w^ay 

 as to make them "generally" known ? 



To sum up, then, an examination of all the evidence produces so 

 overwhelming a sense of probability as to amount to absolute certitude 

 that Henry King was perfectly and literally orthodox. His sermons, 

 his religious verse, and his life unite in proving him a staunch up- 

 holder of Anglican doctrine. His instinct was all for system, estab- 

 lishment, orthodoxy. He was a sound adherent of organization — 

 exalting the Letter above the Spirit, assent above conviction — one 

 whose rehgion was ecclesiasticism ; the Church qua Institution, the 

 Bible qua Clerical Code of Law. In short, so far was he from any 

 taint of nonconformity that it is almost just to say of him that he 

 was more a Churchman than a Christian. 



This sketch of Henry King's biograph}^ clearly shows that no 

 extravagant claims can be made on his behalf. He was not one 



^ pp. xlix, cxxv. 



2 On p. 34 occurs this pithy declaration : "The Schismatick is a Thorne 

 in the sides of the Church, the factious a Thistle in the State." 



