CHAP. afterwards among those ministers of our Church, XV. who, in the troubles of Charles's reign, inclining, from the outset, to the school of Calvin in matters. of doctrine, assented at length to its teaching in matters of discipline also; and were found arrayed on the side of the Presbyterians, when that party arose to power. Reynolds took a prominent part with them, in the proceedings of the Assembly of Divines, of which he was a member; and, by their influence, was appointed, in 1648-9, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, upon the ejection of Dr. Fell. In 1651, having refused to take the Engagement, he was, in his turn, ejected by the Independents, when they gained the ascendancy, and succeeded by the yet more celebrated John Owen, formerly a Presbyterian, but now the leading champion of the Independents 10. Passing the next few years of his life in the city of London, of one of the Parishes of which (St. Lawrence Jewry) Reynolds was Incumbent,-a circumstance, which opened the way more readily to his preaching the Sermon which has led to this brief notice of him, he was, with the return of the Presbyterians to power, in 1659, reinstated in the Deanery of Christ Church; and, upon the Restoration of Charles the Second, in the following year, having been first appointed one which office he was succeeded by 130 Orme's Life of Owen, 55— 57. It is curious to observe the perplexity felt by Orme, when he relates Owen's appointment to the Deanery, and the efforts which he makes to escape from the charge of gross inconsistency in which it evidently involved Owen. Ib. 103. XV. of the King's Chaplains, he became, soon afterwards, CHAP. by his acceptance of the See of Norwich, a Bishop of that Church, whose authority he had disowned, and whose ordinances he had proscribed, at an earlier period of his life 11. Upon the merits of those censures which doubtless will be cast by many now, as they have been aforetime, upon Reynolds, for the opposite courses which he pursued at different periods of his life, it cannot be required of me that I should dwell in this place. All persons, however, may rejoice that his writings still remain as a storehouse, from which may be drawn some of the richest treasures of piety, learning, and eloquence, which are to be found in the whole compass of English literature; and, for my own part, it has been a satisfaction to find, in the course of my present enquiries, that one, who has expounded so well the great doctrines of the Gospel of Christ, should have spoken a word of counsel to those, his countrymen, who, in the face of many difficulties and perils, were striving to establish upon secure grounds our relations with the East. This feeling of satisfaction is increased, when I find, upon further examination, that this act of Reynolds was only one of many of a similar nature in which some of those, whom the Church of England holds in most grateful memory, were then engaged; and that this co-operation of Reynolds was acknowledged by them in terms of hearty and affectionate good-will. Thus, 131 Reynolds's Life, ut sup. xlviii. lxv. He was appointed Bishop, Nov. 28, 1660; and died, XV. Evelyn's CHAP. Evelyn, who states in his Diary, Nov. 27, 1657, that he had taken the oath at the East India House, notice of it. and subscribed £500, informs us also, in his entry of the preceding day, that Wednesday was fix'd on for a General Court for election of officers, after a sermon and prayers for good successe;' and then adds the following notice of the Sermon to which I have just referred: 2 Dec. Dr. Raynolds (since Bishop of Norwich) preach'd before ye company at St. Andrew Undershaft, on 13 Nehemiah v. 31, shewing by the example of Nehemiah all the perfections of a trusty person in publique affaires, with many good precepts apposite to y° occasion, ending with a prayer for God's blessing on the company and y undertaking 132? THE LEVANT In tracing thus the evidences of Christian symCOMPANY. pathy and zeal which England manifested, as she was extending the circle of her commerce, we find them no where exhibited more frequently or more distinctly than in those outskirts of the boundaries of Europe, through which she had obtained her chief 182 Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. 125, 126. It should be borne in mind, as a singular instance of the difficulties of that time, that, on the next Christmas Day, only three weeks after the delivery of Reynolds's Sermon, Evelyn and his wife, and others whom he names, whilst receiving the Holy Communion in Exeter Chapel, were surrounded by soldiers who had entered, and held their muskets against them, as if they would have Evelyn shot them in that act of blessed XV. information respecting the treasures of India,-I CHAP. mean the region assigned to the Levant, or Turkey, Company. I have already adverted to the circumstances which led to the formation of this Company in the reign of Elizabeth; and have shown, that, through its agency, the commencement of an overland trade with India had been attempted, towards the end of the sixteenth century, by merchants who had gone from Aleppo to Bagdad, and thence to Ormus, in the Persian Gulf; after which, they proceeded to Goa, and thence extended their visits as far as Agra, Patna, Pegu, Malacca, Ceylon, and the coast of Malabar 133. Upon their return, by reason of the information which they brought with them, a fresh impulse had been given to the exertions and enterprises of the Levant Company. But Aleppo, the centre of their trade, was soon to be associated, in the minds of Englishmen, with other scenes than those which the merchant only had witnessed, whilst he was piling up in its warehouses, his silks, and ivory, and gems, and gold, and silver; or those which had been present to the poet's mind, when he described The weird sisters, hand in hand, hastening to overwhelm the poor sailor, bound for that Syrian port, whose wife had angered them 134. The Christian minister was now to be seen mingling 133 Vol. i. c. vi. in loc. 134 Shakspeare's Macbeth, Act I. scene 3. XV. CHAP. amid the busy population of Aleppo, learning the languages and customs of its various tribes, that thence he might derive fresh light to illustrate the Scriptures of Eternal Truth; and also, in his turn, delivering unto them, in words, and yet more powerfully, in his blameless life and conversation, the testimony which those Scriptures revealed. brethren at home, too, were likewise to be seen strengthening his hands, by prayer, and kindly counsel, and by maintaining affectionate intercourse with the merchants and mariners who embarked from England for the harbours of the Levant. Pocock, the lain, 1629. His Instances of the latter class will be given in their Chap another chapter. At present, I shall direct the reader's attention chiefly to the services rendered by the ministers of our Church, who were sent out to Aleppo as Chaplains to the Levant Company. From the earliest period, indeed, of establishing their factories on the shores of the Mediterranean, the Company recognized and fulfilled the duty of securing to every one in their employment the benefit of the ordinances of the Church; and some of their chief merchants were very zealous in supplying our best theologians at home with those aids towards the elucidation of the Scriptures, which their residence in the East placed at their disposal. Among these, I may mention particularly Mr. Thomas Davis, Superintendent of the Factory at Aleppo, who appears to have been a constant correspondent of Archbishop Usher, upon subjects of sacred litera |