LIFE OF WALTON. XXXH1 



hope to escape the calamities of the times ? in short, it was plundered 

 and desolated ! 



All that the Farrars had restored to the [parochial] church, all that 

 they had bestowed in sacred comeliness, was seized upon as lawful 

 prey taken from superstitious persons : and finally, the owners them- 

 selves were compelled to flee away and disperse : in all which perse- 

 cutions we are told that, applying to their wretched circumstances the 

 words of the apostle, " they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods." 



SANDERSON was a man of very acute parts, and famous for his 

 deep skill in casuistry : that sort of learning was formerly much cul- 

 tivated among the Romish divines, with a view to qualify the younger 

 clergy for the office of confession ; and it continued in fashion here, 

 longer after the Reformation than it was useful. In the year 1647 he 

 drew up the famous Oxford Reasons against the Covenant; which 

 discover amasing penetration and sagacity, and so distinguished him, 

 that at the restoration he was promoted to the bishopric of Lincoln. 

 In 1671 he, by virtue of a Commission from King Charles the Second, 

 assisted at a conference at the Savoy, between the episcopal clergy 

 and non-conforming divines, for settling a Liturgy; and, upon a re- 

 view of the book of Common Prayer that followed it, composed sun- 

 dry of the new collects and additional offices, it is said that the form 

 of general thanksgiving is in the number of the former ; and drew up 

 the Preface, " It hath been the wisdom of the church," Sfc. This 

 great man died in 1662. There are extant, of his works besides a 

 volume of Sermons, in folio a treatise, De Juramenti Promissorii 

 Obligatwne, which was translated into English by King Charles the 

 First, while a prisoner in the Isle of Wight; and several other pieces, 

 the titles whereof may be seen in the Catalogue of the Bodleian Li- 

 brary. Walton's acquaintance with him had a very early commence- 

 ment : and what degree of intimacy subsisted between them, will ap- 

 pear by the following account, which sufficiently characterizes the 

 humility of the good doctor, and the simplicity of honest Isaac. 

 " About the Ume of his printing this excellent Preface, [to his Sermons, 

 first | Tint fd in 1655,] I met him accidentally in London, in sad-co- 

 loured clothes, and, God knows, far from being costly. The place of 

 our meeting was near to Little Britain, where he had been to buy a 

 book, which he then had in his hand. We had no inclination to part 

 presently ; and therefore turned to stand in a corner, under a pent- 

 house; (for it began to rain;) and immediately the wind rose, and the 

 rain increased so much, that both became so inconvenient, as to force 

 us into a cleanly house; where we had bread, cheese, ale, and &fire, 

 for our money. This rain and wind were so obliging to me, as to 

 force our stay there, for at least an hour, to my great content and ad- 

 vantage; for in that time, he made to me many useful observations, 

 with much clearness and conscientious freedom." 9 



It was not till long after that period when the faculties of men begin 

 to decline, that Walton undertook to write the Life of Sanderson : 



(1) Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. x. verse 34. 

 (I) Life of Sanderson. 



