Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 03.djvu/232

 Barlow employing his 'dear friend' Barlow to communicate to Sanderson, then living in extreme poverty with his wife and family on his plundered benefice, his request that he would review his lectures 'De Conscientia,' accompanied with the gift of 50l., professedly to pay an amanuensis, with the promise of the same sum yearly. Barlow was a frequent correspondent of Sanderson's, who 'resolved his doubts on casuistical points by his letters.' Two of these on 'original sin,' against Jeremy Taylor, are published in Jacobson's edition of Sanderson's Works (vi. 384, 389).

On the Restoration, Barlow at once adapted himself to the change of rulers. He was one of the commissioners for restoring the members of the university who had been ejected in 1648, and for the expulsion of the intruders. He repaid the kindness shown him by Owen under similar circumstances, by mediating with the lord chancellor on his behalf after his expulsion from the deanery of Christ Church, when he was molested for preaching in his own house.

Among those who were now called to suffer by the turn of the wheel was Dr. Wilkinson, Lady Margaret professor of divinity, into whose place Barlow stepped, together with the stall at Worcester annexed to the chair, on 25 Sept. 1660. A few days before, 1 Sept., he had taken his degree of D.D., one of a batch, Wood spitefully remarks, created by royal mandate 'as loyalists, though none of them save one had suffered for their loyalty in the times of rebellion and usurpation' (Fasti, ii. 238). The following year, 1661, on the death of Dr. Barton Holiday, Barlow was appointed archdeacon of Oxford; but through a dispute between him and Dr. Thomas Lamplugh, ultimately decided in Barlow's favour, he was not installed till 13 June 1664.

At this epoch Barlow, at the request of Robert Boyle, wrote an elaborate treatise on 'Toleration in Matters of Religion.' What he wrote was, however, not published till after his death (in his 'Cases of Conscience,' 1692), Boyle 'fearing on the one hand that it would not be strong enough to restrain the violent measures against the nonconformists, so, on the other, it might expose the writer to the resentment of his brethren.' Barlow's reasoning is based rather on expediency than on principle. He is careful to show that the toleration in religion he advocates does not extend to atheists, papists, or quakers. At an earlier period, on the Jews making application to Cromwell for readmission into England, Barlow, 'at the request of a person of quality,' had composed a tract on the 'Toleration of the Jews in a Christian State,' published in the same collection of 'Cases of Conscience.'

Barlow was a declared enemy of the 'new philosophy' propounded by the leading members of the Royal Society, which he absurdly stigmatised as 'impious if not plainly atheistical, set on foot and carried on by the arts of Rome,' designing thereby to ruin the protestant faith by disabling men to defend the truth (see 's Censure of a Lecture before the Royal Society, 1674, by Sir William Petty; and his second letter, Gen. Mem. pp. 151–159). His 'Directions to a young Divine for his Study of Divinity' belong to this period. They contain a carefully compiled catalogue of theological works classified according to subjects, with remarks on their value and character.

Barlow is accused by Wood of underhand meddling in the election of Dr. Clayton to the wardenship of Merton in 1661 (, Life, vii, xlii). When pro-vice-chancellor in 1673 he called in question one Richards, chaplain of All Souls, for Arminian doctrine in a sermon at St. Mary's (ibid. lxxi). On the publication of Bull's 'Harmonia Apostolica,' Barlow pronounced a severe censure on his doctrine, and applied very scurrilous epithets to the author. Bull, hearing of Barlow's opprobrious treatment of his work, came to Oxford and offered to clear himself by a public disputation. Barlow is said to have endeavoured at first to deny or extenuate the charge, and altogether declined Bull's challenge, showing that 'the person who had been so forward to defame him in his absence durst not make good the charge to his face' ('s Life of Bull, pp. 90, 181, 211). During this period Barlow wrote much, but published little. He added a preface to an edition of Ussher's 'Chronologia Sacra,' Oxon, 1660, and also to Holyoke's 'Latin Dictionary,' 1677. 'Mr. Cottington's Divorce Case,' on which Barlow's reputation as an ecclesiastical lawyer and casuistical divine mainly rests, was written in 1671. It displays a very extensive acquaintance with the writings of the chief authorities on canon law, and a complete command of their writings. The curious may read the whole in Barlow's 'Cases of Conscience' (No. iv.) In 1673, having as archdeacon of Oxford received from his bishop, the weak and courtly Crewe, the archbishop's orders concerning catechising, revived by royal authority, to communicate to the clergy of the diocese, Barlow, with covert malice, teazed the bishop, who was suspected of secretly favouring the Romish faith, by inquiries whether the 'sects' complained of in the archbishop's letter included ' papists,' and if their children were to be summoned to be