Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/272

 Instruction,’ 8vo, with a commendation from his friend Dr. Thomas Manton. This work reached a third edition the same year; there was another in 1671, and a reprint in 1802. Soon after his release he became lecturer at the large church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, beyond Holborn, and on the death of Mr. Abraham Molyne, the rector, Case obtained the rectory, retaining it until his ejection. In 1653 he was anxious to become one of Cromwell's body of ‘tryers,’ but his wish was not gratified. During the Commonwealth he published many sermons upon public and private occasions, the best list of which is given in Wood. A letter in Thurloe's ‘State Papers’ (vi. 20), dated Westminster, 27 Jan. 1656–7, about a supply of ministers to Ireland, refers to Case: ‘A worthy person, of great learning, and an excellent preacher, having received letters from a son-in-law of his [Robert Booth, esq., a puisne judge in Ireland in 1660, and afterwards lord chief justice of the common pleas in that island], who has relation to Ld. … Ch. [Lord-chancellor Steele?], to come thither: to which his wife presses him: he has advised with Mr. Calamy about it.’ The writer expresses hope of obtaining him. Case in 1659 was one of the committee for the appointment of ministers in the presbyterian way. In 1660 he contributed the introduction and first sermon to the ‘Morning Exercise methodized,’ being a volume of discourses preached at St. Giles's. About this time he was closely watching events with leanings towards the restoration of monarchy. In February 1660 he was corresponding with his Manchester friends about Monck, the secluded members, and other current events. He was one of the deputation of presbyterian clergy sent to the Hague in May 1660 to congratulate the king upon his restoration. Pepys describes an amusing incident about the landing of Case, 15 May, whose boat was upset and he ‘sadly dipped.’ A passage in the ‘Secret History of the Reign of Charles II,’ 1690 (cf. the note in, Dissenting Churches of London, iv. 524), shows how Case was taken in by the king's hypocrisy. In the following month he, with Baxter and other prominent presbyterians, was admitted royal chaplain, though (as Baxter comments) they were never asked to preach. He was one of the members of the Savoy conference, and attended the meetings (April–July 1661). In the autumn he was visiting his relatives at Manchester and preaching in the neighbourhood. Early in the following year he was writing letters from London to the Rev. Henry Newcome of Manchester, giving him ‘the sense of things,’ and he makes him the offer of the living of Bunbury, Cheshire. His farewell sermon at St. Giles's (17 Aug.) was from the text Rev. ii. 5, and is the fourth discourse in the London collection of 1662. After Case's ejection he remained in London, devoting his time to the ministry and to the writing of books. At dinner, 19 Jan. 1667–8, Pepys met Case, ‘who, Lord! do talk just as I remember he used to preach, and did tell a pretty story of a religious lady, queen of Navarre.’ He also met Case on 8 May following at Lord Crewe's dining-table, and calls him ‘a dull fellow in his talk, and all in the presbyterian manner.’ Of his numerous writings his ‘Mount Pisgah,’ 4to, 1670, dedicated to his ‘much honoured son-in-law, Sir Robert Booth,’ and to Dr. William Hawes, is perhaps the most pleasing. An abridged edition was published by the Religious Tract Society in 1836, 12mo. Case contributed several commendatory prefaces to the books of his friends. Upon the death of Warden Heyrick, in August 1677, Case wrote the epitaph to his memory, still preserved upon a brass in the Collegiate Church, Manchester, the closing portion of which commemorates in warm language and with some detail a friendship of fifty years.

With one exception Case outlived all the members of the assembly of divines. He died on 30 May 1682, aged 84, and was buried on 3 June at Christ Church, Newgate Street, London, which must have been then still in ruins. Wood indicates the spot, viz. at the upper end of the church just before the steps going to the altar; and he gives the inscription, which does not err on the side of eulogy. The funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Thomas Jacomb on 14 June, and it was dedicated on publication to Mrs. Anne Case, the widow. It contains matter which has been of service in compiling this memoir. Dr. Calamy, grandson of his friend, describes Case as ‘one of a quick and warm spirit, an open plain-hearted man, a hearty lover of God, goodness, and all good men. He was a Scripture preacher, a great man in prayer, and one that brought home many souls to God.’ Baxter, who was buried near him, called him ‘an old faithful servant of God.’ There is an offensive sketch of him, based on Wood's account, in ‘The King Killers,’ 1719, 8vo, terming him an ‘impenitent covenanting saint’ (pt. ii. p. 31). His head is on the plate prefixed to the volume of farewell sermons, 1662, 8vo. [Jacomb's Abraham's Death, 4to, 1682; Calamy's Account, p. 12, and Continuation, p. 13; Wood's Athenæ, iv. 45–8, and Fasti, i. 392, 411; Reliq. Baxterianæ, ii. 229 seq.; Wilson's