necessariis unitas; in non-necessariis, libertas; in omnibus, prudentia et charitas *. He foreboded the sad declension, in doctrine and experience, which was coming on the protestant churches of Holland; and blessed God, that he was too old to live long enough to see it. And, though he could not help (such was his zeal for truth) taking notice of such of his reverend brethren, as were desirous of striking out, and introducing into the church, unscriptural novelties, and forced constructions of scripture; yet, so far had he drank into the mind of Christ, that he did this with all tenderness, deference, and caution: and if any were angry at the freedom of his remarks, he received their resentment in a spirit of meekness, and either took no notice of those who reproached him; or repaid their slanders, by giving them those commendations, which were due to them on account of their commendable qualities in other respects.

Nor can it be wondered at, that a man so learned, holy, humble, and diligent, should, wherever he was, be attended with a vast concourse of pupils, from every part of the reformed world; from Holland, Great Britain, and even from America (among which last were some native Indians too); and that his acquaintance should be sought for, by the most eminent scholars and divines, throughout Europe. To mention his learned works, which are so well known, would be superfluous. I cannot, however, help observing, that, in the year 1660, he published, 1. his Judæus Christianizans circa principia fidei et S. S. Trinitatem: and, 2. A. D. 1665, at Wormeren, he published, in Dutch, The Practice of Christianity, with spiritual representations, first, of what was laudable in the unregenerate, and then, of what was

* Agreeable to which was the motto upon his seals, Candidé.

blameworthy in the regenerate: 3. At Leovarden, he set forth an Explanation of the Parable of God's Controversy with his Vineyard.-At Franeker, he published, besides several lesser treatises, 4. his Oeconomia Foederum; afterwards translated into Dutch, by the Rev. Mr. Harlingius; as also, 5. his Exercitationes in Symbolum, which were also translated into Dutch, by Mr. Costerus, at Delft. At Utrecht, he set out, 6. Exercitationes in Orationem Dominicam 7. his Egyptiaca, with several lesser pieces annexed: and, 8. his first volume of Miscellanea Sacra: and at Leyden, he, 9. published his second volume of Miscellanea Sacra, complete; and likewise, 10. his Meletemata Leidensia.

We now draw near to the last scene of this great man's life for as, from his childhood, his thin weak body had often struggled with many severe disorders; from whence most people were apprehensive he would die young; so now, being far in years, he advanced apace to the house appointed for all living. However, he constantly retained, under all his sickness, his senses and intellects in full vigour; insomuch that, until within a little before his death, he could with all readiness, read the Greek Testament of the smallest type, by moonlight. But, as he advanced farther in life, he suf fered the most dreadful tortures from the gout and stone; and, so far back as six years before he died, he was seized for the first time, with a temporary dizziness, accompanied with a suspension of memory, and absence of thought: and this too, as he was sitting in the professor's chair, and delivering an academical lecture. By the help of an able physician, these evils were a little mitigated; but, returning by degrees, they threatened future and more violent attacks. His last illness was ushered in by a reeling, and universal languor. On the 18th of October, 1708, he was seized with a fever, about

one o'clock in the morning: which suddenly subsiding, a total feebleness and relaxation diffused itself over his body, and a torpor over his mind. The holy man, considering these symptoms, told, with great serenity and composure, some friends who attended him, that "he knew they would issue in death." He slept much, and had very pleasing dreams and departed, in much peace and tranquillity, on the 22d day of October, 1708, about noon; and was interred at Leyden, on the 29th of the same month.

85

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

REVEREND MR. ALSOP.

VINCENT ALSOP, A. M. the admired author of Anti-Sozzo, was born in Northamptonshire; and received his academical education at St. John's college, Cambridge, where he took the two first degrees in arts. On quitting the university, he removed to Okeham, in Rutlandshire; and became, for a time, assistant to the master of the free school at that place.

His genius being very quick and brilliant, and his disposition remarkably cheerful, he was, before his conversion, what the world calls, a lively, entertaining companion. After effectual grace had formed him anew, his wit and humour were consecrated to the service of the sanctuary; and his acquired parts, which were not inferior to his natural talents, were also devoted, as an whole burnt-offering, to the glory of God and the salvation of men. His politeness and affability, his engaging sweetness and vivacity of temper, never deserted him to the last. They were not extinguished, but refined and sanctified, and rendered still more lovely and respectable than before, by his being born again of the Holy Ghost.

Mr. Benjamin King (an eminent puritan minister, at or near, Okeham) seems to have been in God's hand, the instrument of Mr. Alsop's conversion ; who, soon after, married Mr. King's daughter, and

removed to Wilbee, in his native county of Northampton, where he was fixed as parish minister, and where we hear little of him until 1662, when he was ejected from Wilbee by the act of uniformity. An act, which (through the cruel and unprotestant manner of its first enforcement) gave the true church of England so severe a bleeding, that she has never entirely recovered herself, from that time to this.

On being displaced from Wilbee, Mr. Alsop and his family settled at Wellingborough; where, and likewise at Okeham, he sometimes ventured to preach, notwithstanding the rigorous execution of the then persecuting laws. Justice compels me to own, that Charles the Second stood partly indebted for his restoration, to the zeal and activity which the protestant dissenters had exerted in his behalf. And he rewarded them well! Among other effects of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny in conjunction, Mr. Alsop suffered six months imprisonment, for having dared to pray by a sick person.

In 1674, Dr. William Sherlock (afterwards dean of St. Paul's, London) published a treatise, entitled, "A Discourse, concerning the Knowledge of Jesus Christ," The Dr. was an Arminian; and, as such, could not avoid Socinianising, on many important articles: Socinus and Arminius being the two necessary supporters of a free-willer's coat of arms. Good Mr. Alsop would not suffer a performance, so horrid and so shameless as that of Sherlock, to walk abroad, without chastisement. He therefore, in the year 1675, published a confutation of it; which he entitled, Anti-Sozzo (i. e. a book in opposition to Socinus the real, unlatinized name of Socinus, who was an Italian, being Sozzo).

The editor (such an editor as he was) of Mr. Hervey's letters, observes, very properly, on this

* Vol. ii. p. 270.