COLE-J. HOLLAND. 107 of his great celebrity, preferred him, in 1568, to the presidentship of Corpus Christi college, Oxford,. in which office he continued at least thirty years. A divine of the same name, and very probably the same person, was cast into prison for nonconformity. Though it does' not appear how long he remained under confinement; yet, upon the earnest intercession of friends, a letter from the court at Greenwich, datedApril 4, 1574, was addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, signifying, that, in consider- ation ofhis great years, her majesty was willing for him to be released from his present confinement : butthat he should remain within twenty or thirty miles of London, in some honest person's house, as his lordship should think most convenient; and should obtain sureties, that he would not henceforth meddle, by teaching or otherwise, in matters of religion.± In the year 1599, he exchanged this preferment with Dr. JohnRainolds, for the deanery of Lincoln ; but died at an advanced age, in the year 16004 Mr. Strype denominates him a sober and religious nonconformist ; and observes, that being chosen chaplain to the Earl of Leicester or some other great courtier, he attended at court inhis hat and short cloak, and endeavoured to overthrow all attempts to enjoin the clerical habits.§ .TORN HOLLAND was a minister of great piety, and apparently one of the old puritans. But we have very little account of him till the time of his death, which being rather peculiar, we cannot withhold it from the reader's consideration. The day before he died, having called for the Bible, he said, " Come, 0 come ; death approaches. Let us gather some flowers to comfort this hour." And having turned to Rom. viii. he gave me the book, says Mr. Leigh, (who preached his funeral sermon,) and bade me read. At the end of every verse he required me to pause, when he gave the sense of the passage, to his own comfort and to the great wonder and joy of his friends. Having continued his meditations on the above chapter, above two hours, he suddenly cried out :-" 0, stay your reading. What brightness is this I see ? Have you lighted any candles ?" To which Mr. Leigh answered, " No; it is the sunshine;" Strype's Parker, p. 266. 4. Baker's MS. Collec. vol. xxi. 384. t Wood's Athena; Oxon, vol. i. p. 289: 736. § Strype'sParker, p. 213, 219, 266.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=