>> * ing with them "fuch apparel of war as they could rout out from the Colleges; helmets, back and breast pieces, pykes, muskets, and other appurtenances.' The Cloisters and towers of Wykeham, defigned by their founder for the abode of peace, were converted into magazines of war. But all in vain :-the battle of Nafeby was fought and loft. Oxford yielded with her garrison; then followed all the after-violence. New College was not spared in the general tumult : the members were cited to appear before Cheynell, Prynne, and other Vifitors. Only one of the Fellows confented to the oaths; the others fcorned to fubmit to their ufurped authority. George Marshall, who had ferved as Chaplain to the rebel army, was obtruded into the Warden's chair. By the 22nd of April, 1650, eight Chaplains, and fifty-four Fellows, were thrust out to make room for needy adherents to the new order of things. This reign of terror in Oxford had in great measure fubfided by the time Ken bent his footsteps to Hart Hall. There was a falfe calm, faddened by the prefence and rule of fchifmatics. Great was his forrow, when in the retired chamber of Francis Turner he first heard of the tauntings and scoffs by which holy ordinances were dishonoured in the highest seats of authority. It was a gloomy profpect for one of his inoffenfive and peaceable temper, when the governors of focieties, founded for the teaching of a pure faith, were banded together to opprefs its adherents. But not even these adverse influences could root out * Life of Ant. à Wood, p. 13. + Ibid. p. 17. the deep principles of religion which had for fo many centuries ennobled Oxford. And where, if not within her precincts, could peace be found, when the defpotism of a fanatical military had carried confufion into every corner of the land? The violence of man may seem for a while to withstand God's providential government. They who love Him have their trial, -perhaps their chastisement, in wrongs to be endured. But all things work out His irreversible law; the ends of His wisdom are served even by the hands of the wicked. He had permitted the fuccefs of tyrants; but had not left Himself without witneffes in Oxford, even under their misrule. - Of these we must content ourselves with one example in the great and good Robert Boyle, whose rare wisdom and varied acquirements have perhaps remained unequalled by any fince his time. In his own day these gained for him fo great a fame, even in foreign countries, that no learned ftranger came to England but fought his acquaintance.* He had attained a knowledge of the Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and other languages. He was familiar with all the mathematical fciences; yet fo lowly in fpirit, so innocent, candid, and obliging, that he demeaned himself humbly to all men who approached him. This is not to be wondered at, fince his genius was fanctified by a Chriftian fpirit. "He had fo great a reverence for the Deity, that the very Name of GOD was never mentioned by him without a pause, and a visible stop in his discourse, in which Sir Peter Pett, *Birch's Life of the Hon. Robert Boyle, p. 144. who knew him for almost 40 years, affirms that he was fo exact, that he did not remember to have observed him once fail in it." * Such were his humble thoughts of himself, and his refpect for God's fervice, that " when he was folicited by the Earl of Clarendon to enter into Holy Orders, he did not think himself worthy; for he had fo high a fense of the obligations, importance, and difficulty of the pastoral care, that he durft not undertake it: fo folemnly and seriously did he judge of facred matters."† He stood alone, however, in this modeft opinion of his unfitness for the Priesthood. Many of his writings prove that he would have been an excellent divine, had he been fo confecrated. One in particular raises the author far above the praise of that exalted philosophy, by which he unfolded the mysteries of the natural world. In his treatise of " Seraphic Love, or Some motives to the love of God," he fhows how God is the fittest Object of our love, and how He hath prepared for them that love Him " an ocean of felicity, fo fhoreless and fo bottomlefs, that all the faints and angels cannot exhaust it." Nor did he fatisfy himself with these written teftimonies of having dedicated his heart to God. His whole life was a practical example how a layman of noble birth may cultivate the graces of a faint in the midst of a profane and restless world; how the highest reach of intellect can bow itself down in fimple faith before the unfearchable mysteries of Revelation. He showed alfo his great zeal for religion by printing at # Ibid. p. 138. † Ibid. P. 60. his own expense the Holy Scriptures in the Malayan, Irish, and Welsh tongues; by founding the Incorporated Society for propagating the Gofpel in New England, and other parts of America; and by his endowment of eight fermons annually for ever, to establish the truth of the Chriftian Religion. It would be too long to enumerate his unbounded charities we may leave the praise of his beneficence to Bishop Sanderson, who dedicated to him his Cafes of Conscience, and fpeaks of him as his patron, illuftrious not only for his rank, but still more for all christian virtues. This was the well merited tribute of a grateful heart: for when Robert Sanderson, himself so meek and merciful, and so great a lover of his King, (after being oppreffed, plundered, wounded, and imprisoned by the Parliament troops) was reduced, with his wife and children, to great need and suffering, Mr. Boyle came to his relief, and without any folicitation bestowed upon him an annuity of £50; a generous and chriftian act, honourable alike to both. It is no wonder, if Mr. Boyle fhould form the centre of a little circle of wife and good men, whereever he might be; and it was a great happiness for the University that he took up his abode in Oxford. His eminent qualities gained him a great respect from those in authority; and he was able in fome degree to affuage the confufion and tyranny of the Covenanters, and "rebellious rout" who held fway in every college. But the heat of perfecution had now fomewhat abated. The republicans, having poffeffed themselves of all the good things they could lay hands upon, left the scholars very much to their own ways, fo long as they were peaceable and quiet. This fuited Ken's difpofition; and he purfued his ftudies amid the confufion that surrounded him, not thinking it any part of his duty to enter into conflicts. He could be filent in his own thoughts, and enjoy the ferenity of a wellordered spirit. In 1657, within one year of his arrival in Oxford, he was admitted at New College. Befides Francis Turner and others, there were two youths at Oxford, of temper and habits congenial to his own, ftudents of Christ Church, with whom he now formed a lasting friendship. One was Mr. Thomas Thynne, afterwards " in confideration of his great merits created Viscount Weymouth; a perfon of strict piety, honour, and integrity,"*-virtues which conferred upon him a higher claim to respect than his ancient descent. The other was George Hooper, of whom the celebrated Dr. Busby declared he was "the best scholar, the finest gentleman, and would make the best bishop, that ever was educated at Westminster school."† It does not appear what degree of intimacy subfifted between Lord Weymouth and Ken for some years after they left college; the frequency of their intercourfe was probably interrupted by the different fpheres of life they were called to fill: but "in the reverses of Ken's lot, and the evening of his days, when he had no home upon earth," Weymouth teftified *Collin's Peerage, vol. vi. P. 266. + Athenæ Oxonienfes, vol. ii. p. 989. |