SMART. 95 very cause of popery, may appear to be punished and sup- pressed; andMr. Smart,suffering for thecause of protestancy, may be so repaired, that in him pious constancy, and the cause of protestancy, may appear to berighted and repaired.". Mr. Rouse, in a speech before the house of commons, March 16, 1640, denominated Mr. Smart " the proto- martyr ;" and he was usually called, " the protomartyr in these latter days of persecution."t Mr. Smart, therefore, received some reparations for damages, but whether adequate to his losses and sufferings, is extremely doubtful. His case was several times before the lords, who passed various orders in favour of his repa- rations.; Ry an order which they passed in 1642, he was, restored to his prebend in Durham, and, presented to the vicarage of Acliff in that county.§ In 1644 he was witness against ArChbishop Laud at his trial, and was living October 31, 1648, being then seventy-nine years of aged! Mr. Smart was a tolerable poet, a pious andjudicious minister, a re'terend and grave divine, and a zealous enemy to superstition ;It but his enemies say, that he was of a most forward, fierce,and ungovernable spirit; and that he was justly imprisoned and duly rewarded for his excessive obstinacy... This, however, is the first time we have heard that excessive obstinacy was duly rewarded thus. It is said, " he had not preached in the cathedral church at Durham, though a prebendary of it, for seven years, till he preached that seditious sermon for which he was questioned. And while he held and enjoyed his pre- ferment, and his health too, he seldom preached more than once or twice a year." This account comes from one of his prosecutors, being his bitter enemy; and appears extremely suspicious. For if Mr. Smart had been so indolent and inattentive to his ministerial,functionas here represented, how was it that he gained so high a reputation amonghis brethren? The puritans, it is well known, invariably abhorred the con- duct of idle, worldly shepherds, over the flock of Chrisf.++ His WORKS.-1. The Vanity and Downfal of Superstition and Popish Ceremonies, in two sermons, in the cathedral church of Durham, preached in July 1628, printed 1628.-2. A brief but true Rushworth's Collec. vol. v. p. 211. + Grey's Examination, vol. t. p. 119.-Wood's Athena Oxon. vol. ii.p. 12., Illustration of Neal, p. 137-142. Nalson's Collec. vol. ii. p. 406.-Nears Puritans, vol. ii. p. 202. 11 Illustration of Neal, p. 161. 1 Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 93.-Wood's Athena Oxon. vol. ii, p. 12. w. Illustration of Neal, p. 5, 162. Biographia Britan. vol. iv. p. 283. Edit. 1778.
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