It is probable that he loft his father when he was very young; for it appears, that before 1629 his mother had married Dr. Abbot, bishop of Salisbury, whom she had likewife buried. From this marriage he received great advantage; for his mother being now allied to Dr. Brent, then warden of Merton college, exerted her interest so vigorously, that he was admitted there a probationer, and afterwards obtained a fellowship *.

Having taken the degree of master of arts, he was admitted to orders according to the rites of the church of England, and held a curacy near Oxford, together with his fellowship. He continued in his college till he was qualified by his years of refidence for the degree of batchelor of divinity, which he attempted to take in 1641, but was denied his grace, for difputing concerning predeftination, contrary to the king's injunctions.

This refufal of his degree he mentions in his dedication to his account of Mr. Chillingworth: "Do "not conceive that I fnatch up my pen in an angry "mood, that I might vent my dangerous wit, and ease my overburdened fpleen; no, no, I have almost for

got the vifitation of Merton college, and the denial "of my grace, the plundering of my house, and little 66 library: I know when, and where, and of whom, to "demand fatisfaction for all these injuries and indig"nities. I have learnt centum plagas Spartana nobi"litate concoquere. I have not learnt how to plunder "others of goods, or living, and make myself amends

by force of arms. I will not take a living which "belonged to any civil, ftudious, learned delinquent;

Vide Wood's Ath. Ox. Orig. Edit. + Vide Wood's Hift. Univ. Ox. Orig. Edit.

"unless

"unless it be the much neglected commendam of fome "lordly prelate, condemned by the known laws of the "land, and the highest court of the kingdom, for fome "offence of the firft magnitude."

It is obfervable, that he declares himself to have almoft forgot his injuries and indignities, though he recounts them with an appearance of acrimony, which is no proof that the impreffion is much weakened; and infinuates his defign of demanding, at a proper time, fatisfaction for them.

These vexations were the confequence, rather, of the abuse of learning, than the want of it; no one that reads his works can doubt that he was turbulent, obstinate, and petulant, and ready to inftruct his fuperiors, when he most needed inftruction from them. Whatever he believed (and the warmth of his imagination naturally made him precipitate in forming his opinions) he thought himself obliged to profefs; and what he profeffed he was ready to defend, without that modefty which is always prudent, and generally neceffary, and which, though it was not agreeable to Mr. Cheynel's temper, and therefore readily condemned by him, is a very useful affociate to truth, and often introduces her by degrees, where the never could have forced her way by argument or declamation.

A temper of this kind is generally inconvenient and offenfive in any fociety, but in a place of education is leaft to be tolerated; for, as authority is neceffary to inftruction, whoever endeavours to deftroy fubordination, by weakening that reverence which is claimed by those to whom the guardianship of youth is committed by their country, defeats at once the inftitution; and may be justly driven from a fociety, by which he thinks himself

Kk 4

himself too wife to be governed, and in which he is young to teach, and too opinionative to learn.

too

This may be readily fuppofed to have been the cafe of Cheynel; and I know not how thofe can be blamed for cenfuring his conduct, or punishing his disobedience, who had a right to govern him, and who might certainly act with equal fincerity, and with greater knowledge.

With regard to the vifitation of Merton college, the account is equally obfcure. Vifitors are well known to be generally called to regulate the affairs of colleges, when the members difagree with their head, or with one another; and the temper that Dr. Cheynel difcovers will eafily incline his readers to fufpect that he could not long live in any place without finding fome occafion for debate; nor debate any question without carrying his oppofition to fuch a length as might make a moderator neceffary. Whether this was his conduct at Merton, or whether an appeal to the viitor's authority was made by him, or his adverfaries, or any other member of the college, is not to be known; it appears only, that there was a vifitation, that he suffered by it, and refented his punishment.

He was afterwards, prefented to a living of great value, near Banbury, where he had fome difpute with archbishop Laud. Of this difpute I have found no particular account. Calamy only fays he had a ruffle with bifhop Laud, while at his height.

Had Cheynel been equal to his adversary in greatnefs and learning, it had not been eafy to have found either a more proper oppofite; for they were both, to the laft degree, zealous, active, and pertinacious, and would have afforded mankind a fpectacle of refolution

and

and boldness not often to be fçen. But the amufement of beholding the ftruggle would hardly have been without danger, as they were too fiery not to have communicated their heat, though it fhould have produced a conflagration of their country.

About the year 1641, when the whole nation was engaged in the controverfy about the rights of the church, and neceffity of epifcopacy, he declared himfelf a prefbyterian, and an enemy to bishops, liturgies, ceremonies, and was confidered as one of the most learned and acute of his party; for, having spent much of his life in a college, it cannot be doubted that he had a confiderable knowledge of books, which the vehemence of his temper enabled him often to display, when a more timorous man would have been filent, though in learning not his inferior.

When the war broke out, Mr. Cheynel, in confequence of his principles, declared himself for the parliament; and as he appears to have held it as a first principle, that all great and noble fpirits abhor neutrality, there is no doubt but that he exerted himself to gain profelytes, and to promote the intereft of that party which he had thought it his duty to efpoufe. These endeavours were fo much regarded by the parliament, that, having taken the covenant, he was nominated one of the affembly of divines, who were to meet at Westminster for the fettlement of the new difcipline.

This distinction drew neceffarily upon him the hatred of the cavaliers; and his living being not far diftant from the king's head-quarters, he received a vifit from fome of the troops, who, as he affirms, plundered his houfe, and drove him from it. His living, which was, I fuppofe, confidered as forfeited by his abfence

(though

f

(though he was not fuffered to continue upon it), was given to a clergyman, of whom he fays, that he would become a stage better than a pulpit; a cenfure which I can neither confute nor admit, because I have not difcovered who was his fucceffor. He then retired into Suffex, to exercise his ministry among his friends, in a place where, as he obferves, there had been little of the power of religion either known or practifed. As no reason can be given why the inhabitants of Suffex fhould have lefs knowledge or virtue than those of other places, it may be fufpected that he means nothing more than a place where the prefbyterian difcipline or principles had never been received. We now observe, that the Methodists, where they scatter their opinions, represent themselves as preaching the gofpel to unconverted nations; and enthusiasts of all kinds have been inclined to disguise their particular tenets with pompous appellations, and to imagine themselves the great inftruments of falvation: yet it must be confeffed that all places are not equally enlightened; that in the most civilized nations there are many corners which may be called barbarous, where neither politenefs, nor religion, nor the common arts of life, have yet been cultivated; and it is likewise certain, that the inhabitants of Suffex have been fometimes mentioned as remarkable for brutality.

From Suffex he went often to London, where, in 1643, he preached three times before the parliament; and, returning in November to Colchester, to keep the monthly fast there, as was his cuftom, he obtained a convoy of fixteen foldiers, whose bravery or good fortune was such, that they faced and put to flight more than two hundred of the king's forces.