Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 50.djvu/233

 death. Similarly Fuller, who speaks generously of his opponent, but knew him only by repute, was misinformed about the date of Saltmarsh's death.

Saltmarsh appears to have resigned his Yorkshire preferment in the autumn of 1643, owing to scruples about taking tithe; ultimately he handed over to public uses all the tithe he had received. The league and covenant of 1643 he hailed in a prose pamphlet and in verses entitled ‘A Divine Rapture.’ At this time, according to Wood, he was preaching in and about Northampton. Before January 1645 he was put into the sequestered rectory of Brasted, Kent, in the room of Thomas Bayly, D.D. [q. v.] For two years he poured forth a constant stream of pamphlets with fanciful titles, pleading for a greater latitude in ecclesiastical arrangements. He found a sympathetic critic in John Durie (1596–1680) [q. v.]; a less appreciative antagonist in John Ley [q. v.] Having ‘no libraries’ at hand, his tracts exhibit little of the learning of which he was master; but he displays an unusual amount both of common-sense and of spiritual power. In his ‘Smoke in the Temple’ (1646) he argues boldly for unrestricted freedom of the press, charged only with the condition that all writers shall give their names (p. 3). The same treatise is remarkable for its assertion of the progressive element in divine knowledge. He anticipates, almost verbally, a memorable passage in the ‘Journal’ of George Fox, when he affirms in his ‘Divine Right of Presbyterie’ (1646), ‘Surely it is not a university, a Cambridge or Oxford, a pulpit and black gown or cloak, makes one a true minister.’ The presbyters, who had begun to assert the ‘divine right’ of their order, were themselves, he observes, made presbyters by bishops. His ‘Groanes for Liberty’ (1646) is a clever retort upon the presbyterians, being extracts from Smectymnuus (1641) applied to existing circumstances. On the other hand, he maintained, in his ‘End of one Controversy’ (1646), that the functions of bishops are antichristian. His controversial manner is gentle and dignified, though the full title-page of his ‘Perfume’ (1646) might give a contrary impression. His reply to Thomas Edwards (1599–1647) [q. v.] of the ‘Gangræna’ could hardly be mended: ‘You set your name to more than you know.’

In matter of religious doctrine, as distinct from church policy, Saltmarsh apparently had but a solitary antagonist, Thomas Gataker [q. v.], who attacked his ‘Free Grace’ (1645) as leading to Arminianism. His theology was Calvinistic in its base, but improved by practical knowledge of men. Barclay connects him with the ‘seekers,’ but he considered that he had gone beyond their position. Two of his books deservedly retain a high place among the productions of spiritual writers, viz.: his ‘Holy Discoveries’ (1640), and especially his ‘Sparkles of Glory’ (1647), fairly well known in Pickering's beautiful reprint. In giving his official imprimatur (26 May 1646) to ‘Reasons for Vnitie,’ John Bachiler writes, ‘I conceive thou hast a taste both of the sweetnesse and glory of the gospel.’

In 1646 Saltmarsh became an army chaplain, attached to the fortunes of Sir Thomas Fairfax (afterwards third Lord Fairfax) [q. v.] After the surrender of Oxford (20 June) he preached in St. Mary's. Baxter complains (Reliquiæ, 1696, i. 56) that Saltmarsh and William Dell [q. v.] had the ear of the army. Both of them were spiritual writers rather than eminent theologians. Saltmarsh never preached on church government while he was with the army. It was remarked that he ‘sometimes appeared as in a trance.’

The dissatisfaction which he had felt with the result of experiments in church government was increased by his personal knowledge of the temper of the army. On Saturday, 4 Dec. 1647, rousing himself from what he deemed a trance, he left his abode at Caystreet, near Great Ilford, Essex, and hastened to London. Thence, after twice missing his way, he rode on horseback (6 Dec.) to headquarters at Windsor. Retaining his hat in Fairfax's presence, he ‘prophesied’ that ‘the army had departed from God.’ Next day he returned to Ilford on 9 Dec. apparently in his usual health. He died two days later, and was buried on 15 Dec. at Wanstead, Essex. His age could not have been much more than thirty-five years. Fuller ascribes his death to ‘a burning feaver;’ nervous exhaustion is a truer account. ‘He was one,’ says Fuller, ‘of a fine and active fancy, no contemptible poet, and a good preacher,’ referring to his ‘profitable printed sermons.’

He published: 1. ‘Poemata Sacra, Latine et Anglice scripta,’ Cambridge, 1636, 8vo (three parts, each with distinct title-page; the Latin verses are chiefly sacred epigrams; the English poems ‘upon some of the holy raptures of David,’ and ‘The Picture of God in Man,’ are fair specimens of mystical verse). 2. ‘The Practice of Policie in a Christian Life,’ 1639, 12mo (contains 135 brief resolutions of questions of conduct). 3. ‘Holy Discoveries and Flames,’ 1640, 12mo; reprinted, 1811, 12mo. 4. ‘Ex-