Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/58

 chaplain ‘whether he would or no;’ and in 1672 Charles II gave him a prebend at Westminster. In 1679 he accepted the deanery of Peterborough, holding it with his living; but when later in the same year Lord-chancellor Finch offered him the rectory of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, then reputed to be the best living in England, he declined it on the plea that ‘his parish had been so extraordinary kind to him that he could not with decency remove from there to another; he recommended Dr. Tenison,’ who was appointed. In 1686 James II selected him and Dr. Jane to hold a conference with two Roman catholic priests, Fathers Gifford and Godwin, for the benefit of Lord-treasurer Rochester, whom the king desired to convert to his own faith. In 1687 he founded, in conjunction with his neighbour, Dr. Tenison, excellent schools in London, with the object of keeping the rising generation true to the English church. In the same year he was among the most prominent of those who resisted the king's efforts to procure the reading of the declaration of indulgence in church. On the revolution of 1688 he took the oath of allegiance to the new sovereigns, though he respected the conscientious scruples of those who declined to take it. Bishop Burnet recommended him to King William as ‘a man of an eminently shining life, who would be a great ornament to the episcopal order.’ On 13 Oct. 1689 he was consecrated bishop of Chichester, and was made at the same time a member of the ecclesiastical commission which was appointed to revise the prayer-book; but the recommendations of the commission were happily rejected by convocation. On 22 April 1691 he was translated to Ely. In both dioceses, but especially at Ely, where he remained for sixteen years, he made his mark. He was one of the chief instruments in that revival of church life which marked the late years of the seventeenth century. He took a warm interest in the two great societies for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the Propagation of the Gospel, both of which were founded during his episcopate. Of the former he was one of the five original founders, and of the latter he was so effective a supporter that it is supposed to have been in compliment to him that all bishops of Ely are ex-officio members. He died on 31 May 1707, and was buried on 7 June in Ely Cathedral.

Bishop Patrick was a voluminous writer in polemical theology, scriptural exegesis, and edificatory literature. One of his most interesting works was ‘The Parable of the Pilgrim,’ which was published in 1664. The insertion of the date 1663 in the original letter to the friend to whom it was written shows that it was completed by that year. It is constructed on similar lines to Bunyan's ‘Pilgrim's Progress,’ but the dates show that Patrick was no borrower from Bunyan. Although Patrick's work never attained the popularity of the ‘Pilgrim's Progress,’ it passed through several editions. Thomas Scott, in his edition of the ‘Pilgrim's Progress,’ commends Patrick's allegory. ‘The Parable of the Pilgrim,’ with an account of Patrick, by the Rev. T. Chamberlayne, was republished in ‘The Englishman's Library’ in 1839.

In polemical theology Patrick's chief efforts were produced in defence of the church of England against the Roman catholics. ‘Search the Scriptures, a Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books’ (1685, 1693), was his first work in this direction. ‘A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Eucharist’ and the ‘Texts examined which Papists cite out of the Bible to prove the Supremacy of St. Peter and the Pope over the whole Church’ both appeared in 1688. They are reprinted in Bishop Gibson's ‘Preservative against Popery,’ 1738. Patrick had already been engaged in controversy with adversaries from the opposite quarter. In 1669 he published ‘A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist,’ in which he defended the Five Mile Act. He followed this up by a ‘Continuation,’ a ‘Further Continuation,’ and an appendix to the third part, which contained replies to adverse criticism of the ‘Friendly Debate.’

An industrious and sensible commentator on the Old Testament, Patrick issued a long series of volumes of paraphrases. ‘The Book of Job paraphrased’ appeared in 1679; ‘The Books of Psalms paraphrased’ in 1680 (2nd edit. 1691); ‘The Proverbs of Solomon,’ 1683, 8vo; ‘The Book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon,’ London, 1685, 8vo. Subsequently Patrick's complete paraphrase and commentary on all the books of the Bible from Genesis to Solomon's Song (inclusive) were published, in 10 vols. 4to, between 1695 and 1710. They were included in the popular ‘Critical Commentary on the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha,’ which combined with Patrick's work that of Lowth, Whitby, Arnold, and Lowman, London, 1809, 4to; later editions appeared in 1822, 1841, 1849, 1850, 1853, 1857.

Patrick's chief works, besides those already described, were: 1. ‘A Funeral Sermon preached at the Burial of John Smith,’ 1652,