BIOGRAPHY;

OR,

AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

OF THE

LIVES & DEATHS

OF

THE MOST EMINENT AND EVANGELICAL

AUTHORS OR PREACHERS,
BOTH BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

IN THE SEVERAL

DENOMINATIONS OF PROTESTANTS,

FROM THE

BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

WHEREIN

Are collected from authentic Historians, their most remarkable Actions, Suf-
ferings, and Writings; exhibiting the Unity of their Faith and Experience
in their several Ages, Countries, and Professions; and illustrating the
Power of Divine Grace in their holy Living and Dying.

BY THE

REV. ERASMUS MIDDLETON,

Of King's College, Cambridge, Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Countess of Cranford
and Lindsay; and Rector of Tarvey, Bedfordshire.

The FAITHFUL are chosen in Christ, EPH. i. 4.-called by grace, GAL. i. 15.
-justified freely by grace, Roм. iii. 24.-holy and beloved, Col. iii. 12.—
they live by faith, GAL. iii. 11.-obtain a good report through faith, HEB.
xi. 39.-die blessed in the Lord, Rev. xiv. 13.-shall appear with him in
glory, Col. iii. 4.

A NEW EDITION,

ILLUSTRATED WITH FIFTY-ONE PORTRAITS.
IN FOUR VOLUMES-VOL. III.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR W. BAYNES, 54, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1816.

BIOGRAPHIA EVANGELICA.

GEORGE ABBOT,

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

EMINENT as this Prelate was by his station, he was more so by his parts and learning, and by his zeal for the Protestant Religion. He had great influence in the public affairs of his time. We shall leave, however, as much as possible, the detail of his transactions, as a great member of the State, to the civil historian, and confine ourselves, principally, to those circumstances of his life, which mark him as a public Governor in the Church, or represent him in his function as a Man of GOD.

He was born October 29, 1562, at Guildford, in Surry, of very worthy parents; remarkably distinguished by their steady zeal for the protestant religion; for their living long and happily together, and for their singular felicity in their children. While his mother was pregnant with this son, she is said to have had a dream which proved at once an omen and an instrument of his future fortunes. Her dream was this: She fancied she was told in her sleep, that if she could eat a jack, or pike, the child she went with would prove a son, and rise to great preferment. Not long after this, in taking a pail of water out of the river Wey, which ran by their house, she accidentally caught a jack, and had thus an odd opportunity of fulfilling her dream. This story being much talked of, and coming to the ears of some persons of distinction, they offered to become sponsors for the child, which was kindly accepted; and they had the goodness to afford many testimonies of their affection to their godson, while VOL. III.

B

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