The life of John Sharp, D.D., Lord Archbishop of York, to which are added, select original, and copies of original papers, in three appendixes, collected from his diary, letters, and several other authenic testimonies

Front matter

PRINCETON, N. J.

The life of John Sharp, D.D , Lord Archbishop of York

THE

Author's Preface

Memoirs of the Lives of great and good men have generally met with a favourable reception in the world, partly from the acknowledged usefulness of such kind of writings, and partly from a curiosity natural to many people, which invites them to examine the actions and characters of those, who, when alive, drew the notice of the public upon them.

And as our country is intitled to its share of honour, in having produced many persons eminent in all faculties, whose memorable virtues, learning, and public labours have deserved to be transmitted to posterity ; so it is some further credit to it, that justice has usually been done to their merits by the pens of their survivors, which, after the public have been deprived of their personal services, have kept their characters alive for the instruction and

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improvement, as well as entertainment of those that come after them.

Some of our divines, whose piety and learning- were conspicuous in the age in which they lived, have been thought in succession deserving of such posthumous respects, and have accordingly received them. Among these, Dr. John Sharp was considerable in his own time, and hath as good a claim as any of his contemporaries, to be redeemed from oblivion, to be remembered with honour, and to have his portion in that sort of life which Memoirs, faithfully collected and published, are wont to give and preserve in succeeding ages.

The undertaking took its rise from a little design, the only one at first conceived, of extracting out of the Archbishop's Diary so much only as related to his spiritual or interior life ; and from the belief, that a yjew of him in his daily and more secret acts of religion might be of use to as many as it was then designed should be intrusted with the perusal of it; and particularly that it might prove a most instinctive lesson to the Archbishop's grandchildren, who,

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it was natural to think, would receive a stronger and more effectual impression of an imitable pattern of piety, when the ideas of it were conveyed in perpetual association with those of the person and character of so near a relation. This, therefore, it was proposed, should be lodged in their hands, as a private memorial ; to be preserved as an Heir Loom in the family, without thoughts of making it public.

But in the prosecution of this as yet narrow design, so many things offered themselves for the enlarging it, and making the pattern more complete, viz._ the principles by which he conducted himself in all parts of life, the inviolable integrity that regulated and reigned in all he said or did, and the noble simplicity which shone in his whole conversation and deportment, in which respects also he seemed an example as fit to be propounded to his descendants, and with as promising an influence upon them, as in his private exercise of religion above mentioned, that these also, together with his other social virtues, found place in the scheme ; and being taken in, they either vi PREFACE.

involved in them, or naturally drew after them, several facts, some of which were the most remarkable actions or passages of his life. So that in short, by an unexpected increase of materials, by the perusal of several original papers, which at first were neglected, and by the additions of one sort or other, that were made by the assistance of those friends to whom some of the executed parts of the plan were communicated, the draught advanced, and grew by degrees to the size and shape in which it now appears. Insomuch that what was the first and sole design is now become the last and the least part of the whole work.

If the method into which it is thrown be thought not altogether so uniform and exact, as is sometimes found in books of this kind, it ought to be remembered that the disposition and arrangement of the several parts would be best directed by the materials themselves, in subservience to the main design of the compiler, which was to put them together in such a way as would best serve towards giving a clear and just idea of the man who is described

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or represented in all the parts of his life. This was the thing that was principally aimed at ; and this end, it is hoped, is in good measure attained.

As the diary is the foundation and chief support of the whole undertaking, it seems necessary to give the reader a particular account of it, and to acquaint him how far it is, and how far it is not made use of.

It was begun by the Archbishop in 1691, soon after his consecration. He first drew up a short account of the most material things which had ever happened to him, till that time, which was either done upon memory, or was a collection and transcript of several memorandums, occasionally taken by himself in the course of his life. And it is from hence that the most considerable things in the first part of the following work are taken.

This summary account of himself, till he became Archbishop, was from thenceforward carried on with some exactness and particularity, by additions made to it weekly, of such | things as he thought proper to keep notes of.

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And in this way he continued all King William's reign. But soon after the accession of Queen Anne, when he began to have constant access to her, and more business upon his hands, especially while he resided at London, his memorandums grew more frequent and particular, and he kept, instead of the weekly account, a proper diary or journal, which, from the year 1702 to 1713 (the eleven last years of his life), makes up five volumes 4to. in his own short hand. By which the variety of its contents may be in some measure guessed at.

That great use has been made of it in the following work (and especially in the third and fourth parts of it), will be observed in a great number of particulars, which could not possibly have been remembered, or known so many years after his death, had they not been found under his own hand. But how requisite it was to use the liberty of quoting from thence with caution, will appear from the design he had in keeping such a diary, and the use he himself proposed in doing so.

Nothing is more manifest from it, than that

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ix it was intended purely for his own private use, without the least view or thought, that any part of it should hereafter be made public. And had it not been for the two great advantages of his short-hand, viz. the secrecy and the swiftness of it, it can hardly be conceived he should have noted down such minute particulars, and so many of them as he has done.

The principal end that he seems to have proposed to himself in it was a religious one, and had respect only to the improvement of himself and the peace of his own conscience. For he is upon no one article so constantly exact and particular, as in setting down his public and private exercises of devotion ; where and in what manner he performed them ; and in what frame and temper of mind he was in towards God and another world. And the use that he made of his diary in this respect will appear in the fourth and last part, wherein his private religious life is considered.

Another end to which he made it serve was ecclesiastical. It was in this respect a kind of

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register of the business dispatched by him as Archbishop. And as such it takes in the state of affairs in his diocese and province ; the characters and talents of his clergy ; their admissions, promotions, proceedings, difficulties, &c. And under this head several things relate to the laity too, who lived within his jurisdiction.

It is owing to the mention of these particulars in the diary, that the second part (where he is considered in his episcopal capacity) is so complete as it is.

As to affairs of state, and the proceedings in the Court and Parliament, he was wont punctually to put down his own share in them, so far as he took any share upon himself, but seldom more. For he doth not seem to have had the least thought of making historical collections, or treasuring up any memorandums of public transactions, in which he had no personal concern.

So that as to court politics and councils, with the issues of them ; changes of administration, and practices of the ministry, with the reflections on them, and the intrigues of parties striving to supplant each other, with the success

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XI of them, and the like points of more general concernment, which almost engrossed the attention of the public then, and remain subjects of speculation to this day, he made no other mention of them than what was cursory and occasional ; that is, when they had some connexion or affinity with the special business in hand, of which he was making minutes. This branch of his diary, therefore, consists principally of these articles; his votes in the House of Peers upon all occasions ; sometimes with the reasons of them assigned ; the heads of his speeches there; his application to the Queen and her ministers, chiefly for Church preferments to be given to those of the clergy he judged the most worthy, and objections made against them whom he took to be less deserving ; private petitions to the Crown, passingthrough his hands, with her Majesty's respective answers to them. The whole course of business that he dispatched as her almoner; with relations, here and there interspersed, of private discourses with her Majesty, rarely political, more frequently religious. The entries xii

PREFACE, he made of these several particulars, furnish the chief materials for the third part of this work, wherein his conduct at court and in parliament, is considered.

Another end to which he made his diaryserve, was to preserve his fidelity in his promises; to which he was always very punctual. Wherever he engaged his word or his interest, though for the smallest favour, (and, considering his station, and particular office at court, it may be easily guessed how he was pressed with petitions and solicitations), he made his memorandum of it, and set a particular mark of remembrance upon it. And he generally put down the very words or manner, in which he had engaged himself by promise to any person, in which he always appears to have been extremely cautious that his words should not be interpreted to extend further than he himself really designed to perform them.

And, lastly, he would sometimes set down what he had said in conversation in mixt companies, especially when the discourse had turned upon public affairs ; and sometimes what was

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said to him by others on the like occasions. But these things seem rather to have slipped accidentally into his diary, than to have been designed for any particular use ; for, they occur but seldom, and when they do, it is hard to say for what reasons.

Thus it is compounded of as great a variety of materials as that of the different sorts of business or actions in which he was engaged ; and they lie intermixed and blended together in all that irregularity and seeming incoherence, which must be expected in an account of things, in dependent of each other, and yet immediately succeeding each other in order of time.

From this general description of it, it is obvious to collect what was his intention in beginning and continuing it. One thing, at least, is manifest, that it was solely calculated for his own private and particular use : and, therefore, in selecting passages from thence in subserviency to another design, and that of a public nature too, some care and discretion was to be used.

To readers no ways interested in the subject, and absolute strangers both to him and his affairs,

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far the greatest part consisting of common and daily occurrences, must have appeared trifling and insignificant ; and as to some other things, neither altogether unworthy of their notice, nor likely to prove unacceptable to them, there are yet good reasons why they should not be indiscriminately produced and divulged. Such passages, for instance, ought to be suppressed, as, if published, would bear hard upon the characters of other persons, whether now living or dead. For it was the furthest from his thoughts when he inserted any thing of this kind, either from his own observation or from the relation of others, that his authority should be vouched, or his notes made, in any wise, instrumental into conveying evil or suspicious reports. He abominated scandal, and giving of characters, as much as any man alive, and was always wont, notwithstanding his frank and undisguised temper, to speak very warily and tenderly of every thing that touched another's credit and reputation. This bane, therefore, and reproach, of all secret histories, it is hoped, is so far avoided here, that nobody shall have reason to be offended.

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The rule, then, which was laid down and pursued, with respect to the choice or suppression of what the diary afforded, was this : to extract from thence no more than was apparently conducive to one or other of these ends, viz. either to the connecting some parts of this life together, and adjusting the series of his actions and writings in proper order of time ; or to the clearing up and explaining the more remarkable matters of fact that occur in this account ; or to the proving and confirming what is said of his sentiments and principles in politics ; or to the giving him his just and true character in all parts of life, and disproving whatever hath been J falsely reported of him, either by those who knew him not, or those who would not judge the most favourably of him, through the prejudice of party.

Thus far, it is apprehended, no exceptions ought to be taken against the use made of his private comment. For, supposing it to be never so solemnly devoted to secrecy, it may be decently and unblameably appealed to, and quoted for the establishing truth, and detecting falsexvi

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hood and mistakes, and vindicating and doingjustice to him, who had the sole right and property in it. And, further than this, no man has a right to make use of the MS. Diary, whatever property he may claim in the possession of it.

It may seem, indeed, to be a question, how far it is honourable or respectful to his memory, not to suppress totally that part of the MS. which relates to his private devotions and communication with God, and his daily exercises and essays to improve in all piety and virtue, which he designed should be known to none but to God and his own conscience. But to this it may be said, that although to have done thus, purely to gratify the curiosity of men, or to enlarge the history, had not been so easily pardonable, yet, when it is done with a view to the real benefit of all who shall peruse it, as a probable means of making them better, the candid and serious reader will scarcely censure it as a fault. It does not imply the least diminution of those respects which are due to his character, to represent him as being, what every one would wish to be, a sincerely religious

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xvii and devout man. It is that part of his life and character which was most properly his own, as being the most independent of all the changes and ci rcumstances of human affairs : and if it is unusual to be met with in the lives which are published of private persons, it is for this reason only, because the writers of those lives could have no ground or handle of considering their subject in this particular view, for want of such materials as are afforded in this case. Something, indeed, of this nature, is to be met with in the Life of Dr. John Forbes, an eminent and celebrated Scotch Divine, published before his works at Amsterdam, 17G3. He had kept a kind of journal of his spiritual life, and of that only, for several years, which the editor of his works, Dr. John Garden, translated into Latin, and published under this title, Johannis Forbesii a Corse Vitce Interioris sive exercitiorum Spiritualium Commentaria. But his pains were better laid out, in extracting out of this Commentary so ■much, and so much only, as was necessary to give his reader a true notion of the devotional part of Dr. Forbes's life, which he entitled Vitce vol. i. b

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Foi'besiana? Interioris Idea Brevis. Now, it is in imitation of this tract of Dr. Garden's, that a sketch only, or general draught, of Dr. Sharp's spiritual life, is presented to the world, formed from his diary, and supported with no more express testimonies produced from thence, than what seemed necessary to prove it genuine and true. Hereby the reader is relieved from those repetitions which are unavoidable in a journal of spiritual exercises, and likewise gains both as much satisfaction and as much -benefit by a partial view, as he could have got by perusing the whole.

If it be considered into what times we are fallen, in which it is by many insinuated, that the Christian Religion is an imposture, and the teachers of it a tribe of hypocrites, who outwardly practise it, and labour to defend it, out of a principle of worldly interest, and not from a real sense and thorough conviction of its being what they would publicly teach it to be ; it cannot be judged an improper season to bring this secret part of the Archbishop's life upon the stage. Not as if he were a singular, or even

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rare instance, of the power of godliness, and of the influence and efficacy of the Christian Religion, upon the minds and hearts of those who truly believe the Gospel ; (for, there are as many instances of this as there are good Christians in the world, though it seldom happens that the same kind of evidence can be had for their being so, that is here produced in his case ;) but as a new and fresh instance of that private divine life, which is peculiar to the most exemplary men, and of the extraordinary comforts and pleasures they are wont to take, in their frequent, though secret correspondences, with Heaven. When the exterior and interior life are found to tally so exactly, they confirm and bear witness to each other, as well as to the truth and sufficiency of the religion, or institution, from whence they are derived ; and are an internal ■proof of the certainty \ as well as an external evidence of the excellency, of the Christian Revelation.

All that remains for the reader to be apprized of, is, that all the matters of fact which are reported in the following sheets, are either taken

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from the diary, or from other evidences of equal authority with it. And as to the reflections which he will find here and there interspersed, though very sparingly, he may judge of them as he pleases : they are the compilers, and do not belong to the Archbishop.

In material points, which depend wholly on the testimony of the diary, it is for the most part expressly quoted, as will be seen in the third and fourth parts. But it is not always referred to in other matters, for which there is other collateral proof.

The several original letters, and copies of originals, wrote by and to the Archbishop, which are inserted at length, in different parts of the book, and the original papers, of several sorts, which are either scattered up and down in the body of the work, or collected into the appendixes, must speak for themselves. If they be thought superfluous, they may be passed over. If proper, the reader is welcome to them. There are, indeed, more of this sort, than are usually to be met with in the lives of private men, already published ; but the authority and

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sanction they give to the narrative, would, it was thought, make a sufficient excuse for their number. And, indeed, the design of intermixing so many of his own letters, was not only to give light, but credit too, to the whole performance. They are generally brought in as testimonies to the truth of the account, either to support matters of fact, as they are here related, or to stand for specimens of his temper and spirit, as they are here described ; or to vouch for his principles in Church and State, as they are here laid down. And of those letters that were wrote to him, no more is made public than what was necessary to the making what is said of himself the more authentic.

The compiler, indeed, of this work, was, in justice to the Archbishop's correspondents, very scrupulous on that article, and very sparing in embellishing his work with original letters, when he might have done it, such was his opportunity, with a liberal hand, had it been consistent with the honour and respect due to them.

In short, there is nothing of moment, through-

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out the whole work, for which an authentic proof could be produced, but is backed with such testimony ; which, though it may make the relation appear something more tedious, yet it will help considerably to take off the prejudice that men commonly have against works of this kind, from the supposition, that the writers of them are too much biassed, either by affection or gratitude, or both, and thereby tempted to amplify things beyond their due measure and extent, in order to make the person they would describe, appear in the greatest form and figure, and most advantageous light that is possible. When an intimate friend or near relation takes such a work in hand, although he knows, (as Bishop Burnet observes, in his preface to his Life of Bishop Bedell), that lives must be written with the strictness of a severe historian, and not helped up with rhetoric and invention, which will incline men to suspect his partiality, and make them look upon him as an author, rather than a writer ; yet he may I find it a difficult matter to prevent his overstraining some points, or tincturing others with the colours in which they appear to his own eye ;

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xxiii that is, he will scarce forbear shewing his own great kindness for the memory of the man whom he recommends, and will not leave him wholly to the praise of things themselves, without bestowing some good words of his own upon him. But now this defect through private esteem and friendship, if it be really such, or if the reader shall fancy he discovers it in the present undertaking, it is hoped he will consider is in great measure, if not completely supplied, by the number of vouchers and testimonies *, that are faithfully brought to support what is advanced, (especially in the more significant and material passages that occur); and the more of these there be, the more the reader is secured : nor can he greatly err in distinguishing between that

* Mr. Skinner, in his preface to " Annals of Scottish Episcopacy," observes, in reference to himself, as the son and biographer of Bishop Skinner, that no son is competent to give a fair, just, and acceptable account of a father s life, character, and official conduct, if he do not confine himself to written documents, which serve not only to confirm the truth of his narrative, but for the reader's correction of the filial partiality of the author. — Editor.

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which is sufficiently supported, and that which is given him for granted.

The writer has this, however, to say, in behalf of himself, and of this attempt to draw the true character of Dr. John Sharp, that how imperfect and unfinished soever the piece may seem, the outlines and main strokes are just, being so taken from the original, as hardly to be capable of suffering by the unsteadiness of the hand that copies. And as to the disposal of the colours, and lights, and shades, in which something must be allowed to fancy, which naturally would act a kind part, there is yet this justice done throughout the whole, that nothing is either falsified or knowingly disguised.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The Editor of the following work has the happiness to number amongst his friends Mrs. Andrew Boult Sharp, wife of the Rev. Andrew Boult Sharp, of Bamborough, in Northumberland, and daughter to his excellent neighbour, Mrs. Sharp, of Clare Hall, Hertfordshire.

This lady is great grand-daughter to Dr. John Sharp, Archbishop of York, and sole heir of both the name and blood of Sharp, niece to Dr. John Sharp, Archdeacon of Northumberland, of William Sharp, of Fulham, the late eminent Surgeon, and of the far-known and well-known Granville Sharp, the late worthy sons of Dr. Thomas Sharp, author of " Charges on the Rubric of the Common Prayer," printed in

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1753, and of this Life of his Father, now first presented to the public. To the kind permission of these friends, is owing the present publication. Having traced his title to, and the authenticity of, the MS. Life, the Editor has only to declare, that he has faithfully executed his office. He expects, indeed, that, in the opinion of some persons, he will deserve censure for having too faithfully published the whole of the MS. history, just as the author intended to give it to the public many years ago, without suppressing any portion of those passages of the Archbishop's private life, which his own hand alone could have recorded. It is true that scoffers and enthusiasts may make a bad use of the passages alluded to ; but he has not deemed this liability to abuse a sufficient reason for withholding from the more candid and judicious reader, that ingenuous confession of private feeling and of human infirmity, which characterises the good and great of all ages, and gives to autobiography the highest charm and strongest test of truth. As to his motives for publishing the work, they are these, and none other. First

ADVERTISEMENT.

xxvii and principally, to aid the founding a Chapel of Ease at London Colney in Hertfordshire, by appropriating the profit, if any, to furthering that object of his aim and wishes ; and so, the good Archbishop and the Author, " being dead," shall yet work in their vocation and wonted course, — in deeds of piety, charity, and public spirit. — Secondly, to do justice to the name of an honest man, " the noblest work of God :" — for although " the righteous are had in everlasting remembrance," far preferable to any human and mortal memorial, yet as we inscribe tombs to the dead for the sake of the living, so a book is a monument more lasting than brass, " asre perennius;" as the brazen effigies, long since stolen or strayed from chancelled tombstone of abbot, knight, or squire, will oftimes testify to the men of this generation. — Thirdly, to gratify, and not alone to gratify, but to edify also the reader, by imparting to him the same pleasure and profit which the Editor has himself derived from the unreserved perusal of a work, which he believes few living persons have seen in MS. besides the present Bishop of London,

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the Lord Stowell, and Prince Hoare, Esq. the author of the Life of Granville Sharp.

Such were his motives for publishing the work at this time ; and such the Editor offers as his excuse also for keeping in his own hands the risk and responsibility of the editorial office, from which another and abler editor might have fairly proposed and acquired to himself some personal reputation. To this he makes no pretension, having, in truth, been so interrupted in the course of his voluntary task, by several events of no ordinary occurrence in the life of a country clergyman and magistrate, and by cares of too ordinary occurrence in the bosom of most large families, as to have had neither time to add much of note or comment in order to illustrate his author, nor yet inclination to attempt to illustrate himself. But in defect of these less valuable additions, in the third Appendix, the reader will find letters of the late Granville Sharp and other eminent persons, elucidatory of the attempt to introduce the English Liturgy into the kingdom of Prussia; which object this publication may tend to re-

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vive and to promote in these more favourable times ; and the English, Prussian, a*nd Hanoverian people, who have fought as allies at "La Belle Alliance," may yet worship in more holy alliance — in the "Beauty of Holiness," "and in the bond of peace."

To the same generous friends before referred to, the Editor owes the loan of many letters from which he has made this selection, and also the engraving, at their expense, of Dr. Thomas Sharp, the author, some brief notices of whom will be found among the addenda, extracted from " Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century." In Coles's Collections for an Athenae Cantabrigienses, he found many references to printed works ; but nothing, both new and material, such as the Editor deemed worthy of republishing, after the lapse of so long a time since this most worthy Archdeacon's decease. He has, however, given Coles's notes and references as to the Archbishop, and the Archdeacon, Dr. Thomas Sharp. — From a MS. left by the latter he has given to the public his sentiments on a