Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/194

Laud eleven years, Laud, through his influence with Charles, became master of the ecclesiastical situation.

The difference between Laud and the House of Commons was one which had been inherent in the church of England since the days of Henry VIII. Laud was the intellectual successor of the men of the new learning, who had attempted, with the king at their back, to reform the church under the influence of constituted authorities and learned inquiry. The commons were the intellectual successors of the men who, under the influence of continental teachers, first of Zwingli and afterwards of Calvin, attempted to extract a definite system of doctrine from the scriptures. In Laud's time, however, this latter mode of thought characterised the greater part of the clergy and of the religious laity, so that Laud, in attempting to revive a system which seemed to have passed away, found himself at issue with the conservatism which clings to existing habits of thought, and which is as dissatisfied with an attempt to reproduce the ideas of a past generation as it would be with an attempt to introduce ideas altogether unknown. Ignoring the example of Andrewes, who, without irritating any one, had simply recommended the observance of the religious usages of which he approved, Laud held it incumbent on him to compel observance even by those who disapproved of them. In his mind the external obligation always took precedence of the spiritual conception. Uniformity to him was the surest propagator of unity of spirit. He was, as he himself acknowledged, an Aristotelian ('Hist. of the Troubles and Trial,' Works, iv. 59), a disciple of the teacher to whom the formation of habits was the main security of moral excellence. He sought, too, for the rule of ecclesiastical belief and conduct in the law of the church as it had been formed in the period of the Reformation, ignoring alike the practice of the mediæval church and the customs which had grown up without legal sanction in recent years.

In this way, quite irrespectively of the value of the practices which he inculcated, Laud, by his failure to take into account existing habits, brought himself into collision with the higher puritanism of his time as well as with the mere disorder and unruliness, of which there was enough and to spare. He did not himself expect success. He wrote to Vossius on 14 July 1629 (Works, vi. 265) that he had done his best to find a quiet way out of the difficulty, especially in what he regarded as non-essentials, but that his fears outweighed his hopes; that he dreaded a schism, though he would rather pray than prophesy, and left the future to God.

In the contest which he was now carrying on Laud showed himself absolutely fearless. An attempt has, indeed, been made to represent him as timid and superstitious, on the ground that he noted down some of his dreams in his private diary. Until it can be shown that in any single instance he allowed his conduct to be deflected by these, it may be taken that he noted them simply as curiosities. On 29 March 1629 a paper intimating that his life was sought was picked up, but it only drew from him the ejaculation: 'Lord, I am a grievous sinner; but I beseech Thee, deliver my soul from them that hate me without a cause' ('Diary,' Works, iii. 210).

On 12 April Laud was elected chancellor of the university of Oxford. On 30 Oct. 1628 he had had the satisfaction of hearing that the university had passed a statute drawn up by him, by which the election of proctors is still regulated, and in the following January he induced the Earl of Pembroke, his predecessor as chancellor, to buy the Baroccian collection of Greek manuscripts and to present them to the university (Works, iii. 209, v. 10 note o).

Laud's first act showed at least his intention of proceeding in his new position with fairness. He ordered notice to be taken of two sermons, one directed against devout gestures in churches and the other justifying 'the five articles commonly called Arminianism,' and laying 'an aspersion upon the synod of Dort.' During the remainder of 1630 Laud did his best to restore discipline, not only enforcing the wearing of caps and gowns, but also insisting on the due performance of such exercises as were then required for the attainment of degrees (ib. v. 3–34).

On 4 June 1630 Laud took part in passing a cruel sentence upon Leighton in the Star-chamber, and found an opportunity of defending episcopacy against the presbyterianism which Leighton held to be the divine constitution of the church. According to Leighton (Epitome, p. 83), as soon as the sentence was passed Laud took off his cap and 'gave thanks to God who had given him the victory over his enemies.' The story may have been exaggerated, if it was not untrue. It is also on Leighton's authority that we learn that the lifelong friendship between Laud and Wentworth dated from this occasion.

On 16 Jan. 1631 Laud consecrated the church of St. Catherine Cree in London, according to a form which had been drawn up by Andrewes (, Minor Works, p. 