Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/345

 His “Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Church of Piedmont” were licensed for the press on the 23rd September (1689). The dedication to King William contained the following sentences:—

“May it please your Majesty, — If your Majesty, following the example of your glorious ancestors, did not think it an honour to maintain the Reformed religion, I should never have undertaken to present your Majesty with a treatise of this nature. . . . . From your royal throne you were pleased to cast your eye on the miserable estate of that little flock of dispersed Christians, in affording them a happy retreat in your dominions, as the ancient professors of pure Christianity.”

Turning his thoughts to his own France, he published, in 1692, “Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses.” This work he dedicated to Queen Mary, beginning thus:— “May it please your Majesty, — This defence of the Albigenses, the ancient and illustrious confessors who some ages ago enlightened the southern parts of France, is laid down at your Majesty’s feet for your protection, as well as their successors do now fly into your dominions for relief.” The title-page of the latter volume reminds me that I should mention that since the summer of 1690, through the kindness of Bishop Burnet, he had been “Treasurer of the Church of Sarum,” i.e., of Salisbury Cathedral. He seems to have thoroughly identified himself with the Anglican clergy, and to have discontinued all stated ministrations among the refugees. The University of Cambridge at the commencement, in 1690, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and he was incorporated as a D.D. at Oxford in 1692. These volumes on the Waldenses and Albigenses are so well known through modern editions that I need hardly say that, in opposition to Bossuct, Dr. Allix vindicates those primitive Christians with great erudition and spirit. As a specimen of the latter characteristic, I quote a single sentence of his comments upon the Waldensian tractate, known as the “Noble Lesson:” — “Now I defie the impudence of the devil himself to find therein the least shadow of Manicheism” (p. 166). It is by these historical works that Dr. Allix is now remembered; although it is said that the book which obtained him the highest credit was, “The Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Unitarians, in the controversy upon the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour” (1699).

In 1701 he published “The Book of Psalms, with the argument of each psalm, and with a Preface giving some general rules for the interpretation of this sacred book.” The note “to the reader” is as follows:—

“We reproach justly the Papists for reading their prayers in the Latin tongue, which is unknown to the common people, and hindreth them from receiving any benefit from their public worship. And it were to be wished that our common people could understand well what they read in English, that they may not fall under the same reproach. As nothing is so ordinary amongst us as the reading of Psalms, I thought fit to help them to a better understanding of that divine book. I could have given abundance of notes to clear many places which are dark in the translation, but I think I have given light enough by a short preface, and by the arguments which are prefixed to every psalm, if the readers are willing to consult diligently the places which I have remitted them to, and to consider them attentively. I pray God give his blessing to those who read this book, and make them sensible of the several motions of the Holy Ghost, which are expressed with such nobleness that all human poetry is but straw in comparison of the Psalms.”

His Latin Dissertations, De Messiae duplici adventu, also published in 1701, drew forth Bayle’s sarcasm (Art. Braunbom), “notwithstanding Jurieu’s want of success, Dr. Allix has taken the field to assure us that Antichrist will be extinct in 1716, in 1720, or (at the latest) in 1736.” Such were favourite speculations of the French refugees. A correspondent of Ralph Thoresby wrote from Petty France, Westminster, August 17, 1715, (signed J. C.):—

“The setting aside of the French king’s Will as to the most essential parts of it, and that before he was quite cold, shews that the commands of the most imperious and domineering person in the world cannot extend his sic volo et jubeo one moment after the breath is out of his body; that a living dog is better than a dead lion. Great events seem now not so remote as even the year 1717, when the Bishop of Worcester expects them; restoration of the religious and civil rights of France; the downfall of Rome and Popery, &c., which God grant, Amen!”

I can do little more than name some of Dr. Allix’s works, such as “A Confutation of the Hope of the Jews concerning the Last Redemption.” London, 1707. The special object of this book was to reply to Dr. Worthington. It was intended to dedicate the book to Simon Patrick, Bishop of Ely; but that prelate having died, the dedication is to his successor, Bishop John Moore. “Diatriba de Anno et Mense