Only compare his
conduct to James Wadsworth (probably some ancestral relative of my
honoured friend, William Wordsworth: for the same name in Yorkshire,
from whence his father came, is pronounced Wadsworth) with that of the
far, far too highly rated, Bishop Hall; his letter to Hall tenderly
blaming his (Hall's) bitterness to an old friend mistaken, and then his
letter to that friend defending Hall! What a picture of goodness! I
confess, in all Ecclesiastical History I have read of no man so
spotless, though of hundreds in which the biographers have painted them
as masters of perfection: but the moral tact soon feels the truth.
[Footnote 1: In one of the volumes of this work used by the Editor for
ascertaining the references, the following note is written by a former
owner.
"October 12, 1788. Begged of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to take my
salvation on herself, and obtain it for Saint Hyacinthe's sake; to
whom she has promised to grant any thing, or never to refuse any thing
begged for his sake."
It would be very interesting to know how far the feeling expressed in
this artless effusion coexisted with a faith in the atonement and
mediation of the one Lord Jesus Christ.--Ed.]
* * * * *
NOTES ON BAXTER'S LIFE OF HIMSELF.
1820. [1]
Among the grounds for recommending the perusal of our elder writers,
Hooker--Taylor--Baxter--in short almost any of the folios composed from
Edward VI.
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