XXVIU MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER
solid, preaching by tlie same person was little less than miraculous. He was a good and learned, a grave and judicious, person ; and his auditory never failed, though he laboured more than most preachers, to hear from him a pious, learned, and judicious discourse. He is one of those authors upon the credit of whose name not only private and less intelligent people, but even scholars, may venture to buy any book which was his.' The third volume was published in 1689, and contains sermons upon the 11th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews ; with a treatise of the Life of Faith, and another of Self-denial ; and some preparatory sermons for the Lord's Supper, and sermons before the Parliament. It was dedicated to King William, soon after the Revolution, by Mr Howe, in as noble and masterly a preface as is, perhaps, anywhere to be met with. The fourth volume was published in 1693, and contains sermons upon several texts of scripture. It is directed to the Lord Philip Wharton, by Mr William Taylor, who was many years my lord's chaplain, and transcribed a great part of the doc- tor's notes for the press, and was himself a person of great integrity and wisdom. He tells my lord, ' Though his preaching was so constant, yet in all his sermons may be observed a solidity of judgment, exact- ness of method, fulness of matter, strength of argument, persuasive elegance, together with a serious vein of piety running through the whole, as few have come near him, but none have exceeded him.' Mr Alsop says of this volume : — ' Acquired learning humbly waits upon divine revelation ; great ministerial gifts were managed by greater grace. A warm zeal, guided by solid judgment ; a fervent love to saints and sinners, kindled by a burning zeal for the interest of a Saviour ; and a plain elegance of style adapted to the meanest capacity, and yet far above the contempt of the highest pretender.' The fifth volume was published in 1701, and contains sermons on the 5th chapter to the Ephesians, on the 3d of the Philippians, on the 1st chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessaloniaus, and on the 3d chapter of the First Epistle of John, with one hundred and forty sermons on particular texts. This volume, though it appeared last, and after so many others, is so far from running dregs, that, in my opinion, it contains some of his ripest and most digested thoughts ; and is preferable, both for the subject and management, to any one of the former. This was directed to the excellent Sir Thomas Abney, then Lord Mayor of London, and to the Lady Abney, by Mr Howe ; in which he expresses his sense of Dr Manton in this remark- able paragraph : ' And that an eminent servant of Christ, who, through a tract of so many years, hath been so great and public a teacher and example of the ancient seriousness, piety, righteousness, sobriety, strictness of manners, with most diffusive charity (for which London has been renowned, for some ages, beyond most cities in the world), should have his memory revived by such a testimony from persons under your character, and who hold so public a station as you do in it, can never be thought unbecoming, as long as clearly ex- plained and exemplified religion, solid useful learning, and good sense, are in any credit in the world.'
There are some sermons of his in the several volumes of the 'Morning Exercises;' for Dr Manton was too considerable to be
OF THOMAS M ANTON, D.D. XXIX
missed in any design which was set on foot for the public good. There is one in that at St Giles's, on ' Man's Impotency to Help him- self out of the Misery he is in by Nature ;' another in that at Cripple- gate, about ' Strictness in Holy Duties;' a third in the Supplement, concerning 'The Improvement of our Baptism;' and a fourth in that against Popery, upon ' The Sufficiency of the Scripture,' There is also a funeral sermon for Mrs Jane Blackwel, upon ' The Blessed Estate of them who Die in the Lord,' in the year 1656. These ser- mons, with the two before the House of Commons,^ and one on the death of Mr Love, including the Exposition on James and Jude, were all he published himself ;2 and are written with a correct judgment and beautiful simplicity. His other works were all printed from his sermon-notes, prepared for the pulpit ; and whosoever shall consider the greatness of the number and variety of the subjects, the natural order in which they are disposed, and the skilful management ; the constant frequency of his preaching, and the affairs of business in which he was often engaged, will easily be able to make a judgment of his great abilities and vast application, and to make the requisite allowances for posthumous works ; especially when he tells us that he was ' humbled with the constant burden of four times a week preach- ing;'3 and to the last, three times; and that where 'the style seems too curt and abrupt, know that I sometimes reserved myself for sudden inculcations and enlargement.' And though, as they now appear, they have been well received, and very useful to younger ministers and Christian families, yet I believe I might safely venture to say, that if he had had the same leisure to compose and polish, he was capable of equalling any performances of that kind of the cele- brated writers of the age ; and that hardly any, under his disadvantage, and so constantly employed, would have exceeded his. As no man of the age had a greater number of his sermons published after his death, perhaps it will not displease the reader to see his own judgment of posthumous writings. 'Let it not stumble thee,' says he, 'that the piece is posthumous, and comes out so long after the author's death ; it were to be wished that they who excel in public gifts would during life publish their own works, to prevent spurious obtrusions upon the world, and to give them their last hand and polishing, as the apostle Peter was careful to write before his decease (2 Pet. i. 12). But usually the Church's treasure is most increased by legacies. As Elijah let fall his mantle when he was taken up into heaven, so God's eminent servants, when their persons could no longer remain in this world, have left behind them some worthy pieces, as monuments of their graces, and zeal for the public welfare. Whether it be out of a modest sense of their own endeavours, as being loth, upon choice and of their own accord, to venture abroad into the world ; or whether it be that being occupied and taken up with other labours ; or whether