BURNET,
GILBERT, bishop of Salisbury, and an historian of great eminence, was
born at Edinburgh on the 18th of September, 1643. His father was a
younger brother of a family possessing considerable interest in the
shire of Aberdeen, and was bred to the law, which he followed with great
success. He was eminent for his probity, and his generosity was such
that he never took a fee from the poor, nor from any clergyman; when he
sued in the right of his church. In his morals he was strict, and
his piety procured him the reproach of being a puritan; yet he was
episcopal in his judgment, and adhered to the bishops and the rights of
the crown with great constancy, and three several times he left the
kingdom to avoid taking the covenant. On one of these occasions, he was
an exile for several years, and though his return was latterly connived
at, he was not permitted to resume the practice of the law, but lived in
retirement upon his estate in the country till the Restoration, when he
was promoted to be a lord of session. The mother of our author was not
less conspicuous than his father, being a sister of Lord Warriston's,
and, like him, a great admirer of the presbyterian discipline.
In consequence of his
seclusion from business, Mr Burnet took the education of his son, in the
early part of it, wholly upon himself, and he conducted it so
successfully, that at the age of ten years, Gilbert was sufficiently
acquainted with the Latin tongue, as to be entered a student in the
college of Aberdeen, where he perfected himself in Greek, went through
the common methods of the Aristotelian logic and philosophy, and took
his degree of M. A. before he was fourteen. After this, much to the
regret of his father, who had all along intended him for the church, he
commenced the study of the law, both civil and feudal, in which he made
very considerable progress. In the course of a year, however, he altered
his resolution, and, agreeably to the will of his father, devoted
himself wholly to the study of divinity, in which, with indefatigable
diligence, studying commonly fourteen hours a day, he made a rapid
progress, having gone through the Old and New Testaments, with all the
commentaries then in repute, as well as some of the most approved
systems of school divinity, before he was eighteen years of age; when
having passed the usual routine of previous exercises, which at that
time were nearly the same in the presbyterian and episcopalian churches,
he was licensed as a probationer or preacher of the gospel. His father
was about this time appointed a lord of session, and his cousin-german,
Sir Alexander Burnet, gave him the presentation to an excellent
benefice, which lay in the very centre of all his relations. He refused
to accept of it, however, on account of his youth, notwithstanding the
importunities of all his friends, his father
excepted, who left him entirely to his own discretion. His father dying
shortly after this, and one of his brothers (Robert) having become
famous at the bar, his mother's relations eagerly desired him to
return to his former studies, the law, in which they assured him of the
most flattering encouragement; but he was immoveably fixed in his
purpose of devoting his life to the service of the church. In this
resolution he was greatly confirmed by the Rev. Mr Nairn, who at that
time filled the Abbey church of Edinburgh, and took a deep interest in
him. Mr Nairn was reckoned one of the most eloquent of the Scottish
preachers, and afterwards became well known in the west of Scotland, as
one of "Archbishop Leighton's Evangelists." He was remarkable
in his discourses for accuracy of style, strength of reasoning, and
lofty flights of imagination; yet he always preached extempore,
considering the task of writing his discourses as a loss of time. Young
Burnet was his great admirer, and learned from him to preach
extemporaneously, which he did all his life with great ease, by
allotting a part of every day to meditation on all sorts of subjects,
speaking all his thoughts aloud, and studying to render his expressions
fluent and correct. To Mr Nairn, also, he was indebted for his
acquaintance with various celebrated works, particularly Dr More's
works, the writings of Plato, and Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, by the
principles of which he professed to be guided through life. In 1662 he
became acquainted with bishop Leighton, who, conceiving a great
affection for him, took a particular delight in overlooking his studies.
Through this amiable divine, he became acquainted with the primitive
writers, going through all the apologies of the fathers of the three
first centuries, and Binnius' Collections of Councils, down to the
second council of Nice. He had the good fortune, about this same time,
to contract an intimacy with Mr Laurence Charteris, a man of great worth
and gravity, who was not only a solid divine, but an eminent master of
history, both ancient and modern, well acquainted with geography, and a
profound mathematician, and who also took a deep interest in finishing
the education of his young friend, which had been so happily begun, and
so successfully carried on.
In 1663 Burnet made an
excursion into England, taking Cambridge and Oxford in his way. At the
first of these, he had the pleasure of being introduced to Drs Cudworth,
Pearson, Burnet (author of the theory of the earth), and More. At the
latter he met with great attention, particularly from Drs Fell and
Pocock, on account of his ready knowledge of the fathers and ancient
councils. Here he improved his mathematics by the instructions of Dr
Wallis, who gave him a letter of introduction to that great philosopher
and Christian, Mr Robert Boyle, at London. In London he was introduced
to all the eminent divines of that period, Tillotson, Sti1lingfleet,
Patrick Lloyd, Whitchcot, and Wilkins, all of whose characters he lived
to draw in his history. Here also he had the advantage of the
conversation of Sir Robert Murray, who introduced him into the first
circles of society, acting at the same time the part of a faithful
monitor, in pointing out to him those errors and indiscretions into
which he was in danger of falling from his youth and inexperience.
After spending six months
in this agreeable manner, he returned to his native country, where he
again pressed to enter into orders, and to accept of a charge in the
west, which he could not be prevailed on to do. Hearing of his
great fame, Sir Robert Fletcher of Salton, who had been acquainted with,
and had received many obligations from his father at Paris, sent for him
at this time to his country seat, and after hearing him preach, offered
him that parish, the minister having just been nominated to one of the
bishoprics. Burnet would have excused himself, as he intended travelling
to the continent, and solicited the place for his friend Nairn; but Sir
Robert would take no denial, being resolved to keep the place vacant
till his return.
In 1664, the subject of
this memoir went over to Holland, and after seeing what was most
remarkable in the Seven Provinces, fixed his residence at Amsterdam,
where, under the care of a learned Rabbin, he perfected himself in the
Hebrew language. He also became acquainted here with the leading men of
many different sects, among all of whom he declared he found so much
real piety and virtue, that he became fixed in a strong principle of
universal charity, and conceived an invincible abhorrence of all
severities on account of differences in the profession or forms of
religion. From Holland, by the way of the Netherlands, he passed into
France, where, at Paris, he had the pleasure of conversing frequently
with Daille and Morus, the two protestant ministers of Charenton,
the former renowned for his learning and judgment, the latter for
shining abilities and unrivalled eloquence. His stay in France was
prolonged on account of the kindness with which he was treated by Lord
Hollis, then ambassador at the French court. Towards the end of the
year, however, he returned to Scotland by the way of London, where, by
the president, Sir Robert Murray, he was introduced as a member of the
Royal Society. On arriving at Edinburgh he was waited upon by Sir Robert
Fletcher, who carried him down to Salton, and presented him to the
parish, which he declined taking absolutely, till he should have the
joint request of all the parishioners. This he very soon obtained
without one single exception, and was ordained a priest by the bishop of
Edinburgh in the year 1665. At Salton he remained for five years, a
bright example of what parish ministers ought to be. He preached twice
every Sabbath, and once through the week. He catechized three times a
week, so as to examine every parishioner, old and young, three times in
the compass of the year. He went round his parish, from house to house,
instructing, reproving, or comforting the inmates, as occasion required.
The sick he visited often twice a day. The sacrament he dispensed four
times a year, and he personally instructed all such as gave notice that
they intended to receive it. Of his stipend,* all that remained above
his own necessary subsistence, he gave away in charity. On one occasion,
a parishioner who had been in execution for debt, asked him for a little
to help his present exigency; he inquired how much it would take to set
him up again in his business, and on being told, ordered his servant to
go and give him the money. "Sir," said his servant, probably
piqued at his generosity, "it is all the money we have in the
house." "It is well," was the reply, "go and pay it
to the poor man. You do not know the pleasure there is in making a man
glad." We need not wonder that such a man had the affections of his
whole parish, even of the presbyterians, though he was then the only
minister in Scotland who made use of the prayers in the liturgy of the
church of England. No worth and no diligence on the part of individuals,
however, can atone for or make up the defects of a wretched system; on
the contrary, they often render these defects more apparent, and their
consequences more pernicious. Few parishes in Scotland were filled in
the manner that Salton was. Ignorant and profane persons had almost
every where, through political interest, thrust themselves into the cure
of souls, which, of course, they totally neglected, to the great offence
of good men like Burnet, who drew up a memorial of the many abuses he
observed among his brethren, which was highly resented by his superiors.
In consequence, of this, lest his conduct might be attributed to
ambitious views, he sequestrated himself almost entirely from the
public, and by hard study and too abstemious living threw himself into a
fever, which had nearly proved fatal. He was soon after interrupted in
his pious labours, by being called upon, by the new administration that
was appointed in 1668, in which his friend Sir Robert Murray had a
principal share, to give his advice for remedying the public disorders,
which had been occasioned by the overthrow of the presbyterian
constitution, and, along with it, the civil rights of the people. At his
suggestion, the expedient of an indulgence to the presbyterians, under
certain limitations, was adopted in the year 1669, by which it was hoped
they would by degrees be brought to submit to the new order of things.
He was at the same time employed to assist Leighton, now made archbishop
of Glasgow, in bringing forward his scheme for an accommodation between
the conflicting churches. In the course of his journeyings to the
west, he was introduced to Anne, duchess of Hamilton, a very excellent
woman, with a strong bias towards the presbyterians, which enabled her
to influence in some degree the leaders of that body, and rendered her
somewhat of a public character. At her house, the managers of the
college of Glasgow had occasion to meet with the minister of Salton,
and, the divinity chair being there vacant, he was unanimously elected
to fill it. All this was unknown to Burnet till it was over, and he was
again thrown into much difficulty, his friends insisting upon him to
accept the invitation, and his parishioners that he should refuse it.
Leighton, however, laid his commands upon him, which he considered as
law, and he therefore removed to Glasgow in the year 1669.
Owing to the deplorable
state of the church and nation, he encountered much trouble and many
inconveniences in his new situation. His principal care, however, was to
improve his pupils, to whom he seems to have devoted almost his whole
time and attention. On the Mondays he made each of the students in his
turn explain a head of divinity in Latin - propound a thesis from it,
which he was to defend against his fellow-students, the professor
concluding the exercise by deciding the point in a Latin oration. On
Tuesdays, he prelected in Latin, purposing in eight years to embrace a
complete system of divinity. On Wednesdays, he gave a lecture of an hour
upon the gospel of Matthew. On Thursdays the exercise was alternate; one
Thursday he expounded a Hebrew psalm, comparing it with the Septuagint,
the Vulgate, and the English version; on the other, he explained some
portion of the ritual and constitution of the primitive church. On
Fridays he made each of his pupils, in course, preach a short sermon
upon a text assigned, upon which he gave his own remarks in conclusion.
This was the labour of the mornings. In the evenings, after
prayers, he every day read them a portion of the Scriptures, on which he
made a short discourse, after which he examined into the progress of
their several studies, exhorting, encouraging, and directing them, as he
found necessary. In order to keep up all these exercises, he was
under the necessity of rising every morning at four o'clock, and it was
ten before his preparations were completed for the labours of the day.
During his vacations, he made frequent visits to Hamilton, where he was
engaged by the duchess to examine and put in order the papers of her
father and uncle, which led him to compile the memoirs of the Dukes of
Hamilton. The duke of Lauderdale, hearing he was employed upon this
work, wrote for him to come up to London, promising him such information
concerning the transactions of these times as he could furnish. He went
to London, accordingly, and was received by Lauderdale with much
kindness. But the impious manners of this nobleman were not agreeable to
him, and he made no use of the confidence reposed in him, except to
reconcile his grace to the duke of Hamilton, who had assignations given
him on the revenues of the crown, in satisfaction of some old claims for
which vouchers had been found by Burnet among the papers intrusted to
his care, and in return the Duke of Hamilton engaged to concur with the
measures of the court in the ensuing parliament.
Four of the Scottish
bishoprics were at this time vacant, of which Burnet was offered his
choice; but he foresaw that they would entangle him in difficulties,
with little prospect of his being able to effect any thing good; so he
utterly refused to accept any of them. In 1672, he prevented a breach
between Lauderdale and the Duke of Hamilton, for which his country
certainly owed him little thanks. About this time he published his
Vindication of the authority, constitution, and laws of the church and
state of Scotland, wherein he strenuously maintained the cause of
Episcopacy, and the illegality of resistance merely on account of
religion. This was by the court reckoned a most acceptable service. He
was again courted to accept of a bishopric, with the promise of the
first archbishopric that should become vacant; but he still persisted in
refusing. In 1673, he went again to London, in order to obtain a license
for publishing his Memoirs of the duke of Hamilton. He also entertained
a resolution to have nothing further to do with the affairs of state,
being satisfied that popery was now the prevailing interest at court,
and that the sacramental test by which York, Clifford, and other papists
had been excluded, was a mere artifice of Charles to obtain money to
prosecute the Dutch war. On this occasion, he used much freedom both
with the duke and duchess of Lauderdale; pointing out to them in strong
terms, the errors they had fallen into, and the fatal effects that would
accrue to themselves and to the whole nation. This, with his known
intimacy with duke Hamilton, who was at the time a kind of feeble
oppositionist, brought him into high credit, as possessed of great
influence in Scotland, in consequence of which he was frequently
consulted both by the King and the duke of York, to the latter of whom
he introduced Dr Stillingfleet, and proposed a conference, in presence
of his Royal Highness, with some of the Catholic priests, on the chief
points of controversy between the Romanists and the Protestants, which
must have been highly offensive to that bigoted prince. With the king he
made no other use of the freedom allowed him than to attempt awakening
him out of that lethargy of indolence and vice, in which he seemed to be
wholly entranced, and to revive in him some sense of religion, an aim in
which his self-love must have been very strong if he had any hopes of
succeeding. The king made him a compliment, however, by naming him one
of his chaplains. Having obtained a license for his Memoirs of the dukes
of Hamilton, which was delayed that the king and some of his ministers
might have the pleasure of reading them in MS.; he returned to Scotland,
and finding the animosity between the dukes of Lauderdale and Hamilton
no longer repressible, he retired to his station at Glasgow. The favour
shown him at London awakened the jealousy and exposed him to the rage of
a numerous class of courtiers. The schemes of the court having been in
some instances thwarted by the parliament, Lauderdale threw the whole
blame upon Burnet, whom he represented as the underhand instrument of
all the opposition he had met with. This accusation drew him again to
court in 1674. The king received him coldly, and ordered his name to be
struck off the list of chaplains. Yet, at the entreaty of the duke of
York, his majesty admitted him to an audience, to say what he could in
his own defence, which having heard, he seemed satisfied, and ordered
him home to Glasgow. From this the duke of York dissuaded him till his
peace should be entirely made; otherwise, he assured him he could be
thrown into prison, where he might be detained as long as the present
party was in power. His Royal Highness at the same time exerted himself
to have him reconciled with Lauderdale, but without effect. Dr Burnet
had now no alternative but to resign his professorial chair, and seek a
settlement in Eng1and, or by going back to Scotland, put himself in the
power of his enemies. He did not long hesitate, and would have found at
once a quiet settlement in London, had not the electors of the church he
had in view been deterred from choosing him by a sharp message from the
king. This, though at the time it had the aspect of a misfortune, he
ever after spoke of as one of the happiest incidents of his life; as it
at once set him free from the entanglements of a corrupt court, whose
services he had been so far engaged in, that, without some such
accident, he might never have escaped from them.
He had now an offer of
the living of St Giles, Cripplegate, from the Dean and chapter of St
Pauls. As he, however, had learned, that it was originally their
intention to bestow the living upon Dr Fuller, afterwards bishop of
Gloucester, he thanked them for the offer, but declared himself not at
liberty to accept it. Through the recommendation of Lord Hollis, he was
next year appointed preacher to a Chapel by Sir Harbottle Grimston,
master of the rolls, though the court sent first a bishop and afterward
secretary Williamson to inform Harbottle that he was a preacher highly
unacceptable to the king. In this chapel he remained nine years, during
which time he was elected a lecturer at St Clements, and was one of the
most admired preachers in town. In 1676, he printed an account of a
conference which himself and Dr Stillingfleet held with Coleman and the
principal of the Romish priests; and in 1679, appeared the first volume
of his history of the Reformation, which procured him a vote of thanks
from both houses of parliament, with a request that he would prosecute
the work to its completion, without loss of time. Two years after this,
he published the second volume, which met with the same general
approbation as the first. Having at this time no parochial cure, Dr
Burnet was not in the practice of visiting the sick, as a part of his
regular calling; but he was always ready to attend those who requested
his visits. Among these happened to be a lady, who had been criminally
connected with John Wilmot earl of Rochester, and the manner in which
the Dr conducted himself towards her, excited a strong desire in his
lordship to see and converse with him. This led to a weekly meeting of
Dr Burnet and Lord Rochester for a whole winter, which ended first in
the conviction, and latterly it is to be hoped the conversion of that
singular libertine. An account of the whole affair was published by Dr
Burnet in 1681, which, Dr Johnson says, "the critic ought to read
for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and the saint for
its piety." During the time of the inquiry into the popish plot,
Charles seems to have been softened down considerably, and often sent
for Dr Burnet, and consulted with him on the state of the nation. His
Majesty made also another attempt to bring him over, by offering him the
bishopric of Chichester, at that time vacant, provided he would come
entirely into his interests; Burnet with an honesty, that we fear, is
but too seldom practised, told the king, he knew the oaths that in such
a case he must take: these he would observe religiously, but must be
excused from giving any other engagements. He of course was not
installed in the bishopric; but he embraced the opportunity of writing a
letter to the king, which does him more real honour than if he had held
in his single person, all the bishoprics in England. This letter, so
full, so free, so faithful, and so affectionate, we regret that our
limits forbid us to insert. We must also leave it to general history, to
detail the endeavours he made to save the lives of Staley and the Lord
Stafford, on occasion of the popish plot. By his conduct with regard to
the exclusion of the Duke of York, and the scheme of a Prince Regent in
lieu of that exclusion, he lost the favour of both parties, perhaps not
undeservedly. Yet, in 1682, when the administration was wholly in favour
of the Duke of York, a promise was obtained from the king to bestow upon
him the mastership of the Temple, which was likely to be immediately
vacant; upon which he was again sent for by the king, and treated with
extraordinary kindness. Burnet himself, however, waved the promise that
had been made him, when he found that he was expected in return for the
place, to break up correspondence with all those who had been his best
friends. He felt himself at this time upon such dangerous ground, that
he was afraid of all communication with either of the parties that at
this time were agitating the public mind; and as an excuse for privacy,
built a laboratory, and for a whole year amused himself with performing
experiments in chemistry. He was at this time offered a living of three
hundred pounds a year by the earl of Essex, upon condition that he would
continue to reside in London. In case of having the cure of souls,
however, Burnet thought residence an indispensable obligation, and the
benefice was given to another. In 1683, he narrowly escaped being
brought by his friends into trouble by the Ryehouse plot; and by his
conducting the trial and attending on Lord William Russel in prison and
on the scaffold, and particularly by defending his memory before the
council, he incurred the odium of the court, which, from a certain
knowledge of his integrity, could not fail at this time to be greatly
afraid of him. In the course of this year, probably to be out of the way
of his enemies, he went over to Paris, where he was treated with great
deference, by the express orders of Louis XIV. Here, his friends,
apprehensive of danger to him at home, wished him to remain; but as no
consideration could induce him to be long absent from his charge, he of
course returned in a short time. That same year, however, he was
discharged from his lecture at St Clements, by a mandate from the king,
and in March 1684, he was forbid preaching any more in the chapel at the
rolls. Being thus happily disengaged from all his employments, at the
death of Charles II. upon the accession of James VII. he requested, and
obtained leave to quit the kingdom, and went to Paris, where he lived in
great retirement, to avoid being involved in the conspiracies which the
duke of Monmouth and the earl of Argyle were then forming against the
government. When that business was at an end, he in company with an
officer, a protestant in the French service, made the tour of Italy, and
in 1684, came to Utrecht, where he found letters from some of the
principal ministers of state at the Hague, requesting him to wait upon
the prince and princess of Orange. As the Revolution in England was
already in contemplation, Dr Burnet met from these personages a most
gracious reception, and was soon admitted to an entire confidence. When
Dyckvelt was sent over ambassador to England, with a view particularly
to sound the inclinations of the people, his secret instructions were
drawn up by Dr Burnet, of which the rough draught in his own hand
writing is still preserved. James, in the meantime, was highly incensed
against him for the reflections he had made on the richness of the
catholic countries, through which he had passed, in an account of his
travels recently published, which it was supposed had had a sensible
effect upon the people of England. His majesty accordingly wrote two
severe letters against him to the princess of Orange, and forbade his
envoy at the Hague to transact any business with that court till Dr
Burnet was forbidden to appear there. This to humour James was done; but
Hallewyn Fogel and the rest of the Dutch ministers consulted with him
privately every day. A prosecution for treason was now commenced against
Dr Burnet in Scotland; but before this could be notified to the States,
he had been naturalized with a view to his marriage with a Dutch lady;
and in a letter in answer to the charges preferred against him, directed
to the earl of Middleton, he stated that being now naturalized in
Holland, his allegiance, during his stay there, was transferred from his
majesty to the States. This expression was at once laid hold of, and
dropping the former prosecution, they proceeded against him for these
words, as guilty of high treason, and passed against him a sentence of
outlawry. It was then demanded of the States to deliver him up, or to
banish him; but as he had been naturalized, the States refused to
proceed against him, unless he were legally convicted of some crime;
which, if his majesty found himself capable of doing, they would punish
him according to their law. To narrate the important part he performed
in the revolution, would be to write the history of that great event. By
the prince of Orange as well as by the friends of liberty in England, he
was treated with unreserved confidence. He had a principal hand in
drawing up the prince's declarations, as well as the other public papers
written at the time to justify the undertaking. But for a particular
account of these we must refer our readers to the history of England. At
the Revolution, Dr Crew, bishop of Durham, having been on the high
commission created by king James, offered to resign his bishopric to Dr
Burnet, trusting to his generosity for one thousand a year for life out
of the episcopal revenue; and sent the earl of Montague to the prince of
Orange with the proposal; but when mentioned to Burnet he refused
absolutely to have anything to do with it on these terms, as he
considered them highly criminal. He was shortly after promoted to the
see of Salisbury. At the close of the Session of parliament 1689, Dr
Burnet went down to his diocese, when he entered upon the duties of his
episcopal office with that conscientious ardour which distinguished his
character. His first pastoral letter, however, in which, to save
betraying the discrepancies of his political creed, he founded king
William's right to the throne upon conquest, gave so much offence to
both houses of parliament, that they ordered it to be burnt by the hands
of the hangman. He maintained, nevertheless, unshaken credit with king
William and queen Mary to the end of their days; and employed that
credit in the most praise-worthy manner. He was by the king, in
preference to all his ministers, appointed to name the princess Sophia,
Electress of Brunswick, next in succession to the princess of Denmark,
and her issue, in the famous bill for declaring the rights and liberties
of the subject, and settling the succession to the crown; and when that
succession was explicitly established in 1701, he had the honour of
being chairman of the committee to which the bill was referred. He had
also the pleasure in 1690, of being a successful advocate for Lord
Clarendon, who had engaged in a plot against the king, and been one of
the Dr's bitterest enemies, at the time when popery and arbitrary power
were in favour.
During the life of Mary,
Dr Burnet being generally one of her advisers, the affairs of the church
passed wholly through his hands. After her death, in 1694, a commission
was granted for that purpose to the two archbishops and four prelates,
of whom Dr Burnet was one. A commission of the same kind was granted in
1700, and the Doctor still continued a member. In 1698, he was appointed
preceptor to the Duke of Gloucester, and, on that occasion, insisted on
giving up his bishopric. King William, however, would not allow him to
do so; but, in order to soothe him, made arrangements that he might be
at hand, and still have it in his power to pay considerable attention to
his diocese. In this high trust the bishop conducted himself so as to
have the entire approbation of the princess of Denmark, who ever after
retained a peculiar affection for him, of which he had many sensible
tokens after she came to the throne; though in her last years he was in
direct and open opposition to her measures. In the year 1699, he
published his celebrated exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, and a
short time before his death, a third volume of his History of the
Reformation. In the month of March, 1715, he was attacked with a
pleuritic fever, which carried him off, being in the seventy-second year
of his age. He was married first to the Lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter
to the Earl of Cassillis, celebrated for her beauty and her wit.
Secondly, to Mrs Mary Scott, a Dutch lady of noble extraction and large
fortune, by whom he had three sons. Thirdly, to Mrs Berkeley, a widow
lady of singular talents and uncommon piety, by whom he had no issue.
From the brief sketch which we have given of the principal events of his
life, it is evident that Dr Burnet possessed a vigorous understanding,
and was a man of great piety, and unwearied perseverance. Early
prepossessions, however, which, vigorous as his understanding was, he
evidently could not overcome, made him the dupe of a system
antiscriptural and superstitious - a system which whatever it may seem
to promise in theory, has in practice been found cumbersome and
inefficient - a system which, while it provides for the pampering of a
few of the privileged orders of the clergy, leaves all the rest,
together with the great body of the people, to pine and perish in want,
contempt, and ignorance. What man as a bishop could do, Dr Burnet, while
bishop of Salisbury, appears to have done; but he was hampered on all
hands by insurmountable abuses originally inherent, or growing naturally
out of the legalised order of things. His consistorial court he found to
have become a grievance both to clergy and laity, and he attended for
years in person to connect it. But the true foundation of complaint he
found to be the dilatory course of proceedings, and the exorbitant fees,
which he had no authority to correct. He could not even discharge poor
suitors who were oppressed with vexatious prosecutions, otherwise than
by paying their fees out of his own pocket, which he frequently did, and
this was all the reform he was able to accomplish. In admitting to
orders, he met with so much ignorance and thoughtless levity, that for
the benefit of the church he formed a nursery at Salisbury, under his
own eye, for students of divinity, to the number of ten, to each of whom
he allowed a sum of money out of his own income for his subsistence, and
in this way he reared up several young men who became eminent in the
church; but this was soon discovered to be a designed affront put upon
the method of education followed at Oxford, and he was compelled to give
it up. Pluralities he exclaimed against as sacrilegious robbery, and in
his first visitation at Salisbury quoted St Bernard, who, being
consulted by a priest, whether he might not accept of two benefices,
replied, 'And how will you be able to serve them.' ‘I intend,' said
the priest, 'to officiate in one of them by deputy.' ‘Will your deputy
be damned for you too,' said the saint; ‘believe me, you may serve
your cure by proxy, but you must be damned in person.' This quotation so
affected one of his hearers, Mr Kilsey, that he resigned the rectory of
Bemerton, worth two hundred pounds a year, which he held along with one
of still greater value. The bishop was, at the same time, from the
poverty of the living, frequently under the necessity of joining two of
them together to have them served at all, and sometimes he found it
necessary to help the incumbent out of his own pocket into the bargain.
These, with other evils, it must be admitted, the Doctor lost no
opportunity to attempt having redressed, but alas! they were and are
inherent in the system, without a reform in which, they admit of no
cure. He travelled over his diocese which he found "ignorant to
scandal," catechising and confirming with the zeal of an apostle;
and when he attended his duty in parliament, he preached in some of the
London churches every Sabbath morning, and in the evening lectured in
his own house, where a number of persons of distinction attended. So
much conscientious diligence, confined to a legitimate locality, could
scarcely have failed to produce a rich harvest of gospel fruits.
Scattered as it was over such a wide surface, there is reason to fear
that it was in a great measure unprofitable. While Dr Burnet was a
diligent instructor from the pulpit, he was not less so from the press,
having published in his life-time fifty-eight single sermons, thirteen
treatises or tracts on divinity, seventeen upon popery, twenty-six
political and miscellaneous, and twenty-four historical and
biographical, to which we may add the History of his Own Time, published
since his death. Some of these, particularly the Exposition of the
Thirty-nine Articles, the History of the Reformation, and of his own
times, still are, and must long continue to be, especially the latter,
standard works. The History of his Own Time, it has been happily
observed, has received the best testimony to its worth from its having
given equal offence to the bigoted and interested of all parties. Take
him all in all, perhaps no juster eulogium has been passed upon him than
that of Wodrow, who, speaking of him as one of Leighton's preachers,
calls him "Mr Gilbert Burnet, well known to the world since, first
professor of Divinity at Glasgow, and after that persecuted, for his
appearing against popery, and for the cause of liberty, and since the
Revolution the learned and moderate bishop of Sarum, one of the great
eye-sores of the high-fliers and tories of England, and a very great
ornament to his native country."
* As minister of Salton,
Burnet received in stipend from the laird of Salton, in 1665, £397 10s.
Scots [equal to £33 2s. 6d. sterling,] together with 11 bolls, 2 pecks,
2 lippies, of wheat; 11 bolls, 2 pecks, 2 lippies of bear; and 22 bolls,
1 firlot, 1 peck, 3 lippies meal.- Receipt, MSS. Adv. Lib. Signed
" GILBERT BURNETT." |