The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-10

TOT ms tOod ana tultlOn, that ne re- mained until the head of the college de- clined to allow him further aid, when he left to engage in other work An other writer places him at St. Johns college, of which William (afterwards Archbishop Laud was president, and who was to prove his bitterest persecu- tor in after years. Whatever the reason, we find Davenport out of col lege at eighteen, with already a consid- erable reputation for writing and speak ing.
 A few months later we find him offici- ating as domestic chaplain at Hilton Castle. His engagement does not ap- pear to have lasted long, for at nine teen we find him preaching in London, first as an assistant, and afterward as vicar of St. Stephens in Coleman street. Here he seems to have drawn attention by his enthusiasm and devotion to his work, and for his general accomplish ments We here first discover what was one of the leading traits of his character, courage. There was a pesti- lence raging in London at the time, | which seriously involved his parish; and we find him constantly exposing l himself to the deadly contagion in his care of the sick, where his associates declined to venture. His studious habit also attracted notice.
 | There is good reason to believe that Davenport was a hard student through
 out his whole life. His writings at this early age are besprinkled with copious quotations from the classics. In 1925, at the age of twenty-eight, he returned | to 0y yfor6 opd r,,1rcIod bis ctr6ieS until he received the degree of Master of Arts and also that of Bachelor of Divinity. On leaving the university he became in- 4 terested in the purchase of Hay impro- priations" Without stopping to ex- plain the intricacies of the "impropria- tions," it will be sufficient to say that
 they grew out of the ancient tithe sys- l tenn, wherein one-tenth of the products of the soil were devoted to the support
 of the parish priest Some of these
 tithes became absorbed by neighboring monasteries, and when Henry the
 Eighth abolished the monasteries, and
 distributed their wealth among his fol- lowers, the tithes were collected by these laymen. The plan of Davenport and his friends was to purchase these lay holdings for small sum, and re- store them to the proper use of the churches. This was a very profitable l enterprise, for many of Henry's favor ties were so impecunious that they were
 ready to mortgage their immortal souls
 for a few farthings. Davenport was
 one of twelve trustees who had charge
 of the undertaking. This movement
 was regarded with so much favor by | l1~ aJ1 s.1 l,ot ha
 men engaged in it came into great
 prominence. This indirectly advanced
 the interests of the Puritans as opposed
 to the ecclesiastics. Then came the
 first clash with William Laud, who was
 now Bishop of London. Laud saw a
 dangerous rival to the interests of the
 church in this wholesome growth of Pu-
 ritanism He went to Charles the First
 (who had succeeded James), represent
 ed to him that Davenport was rank
 Puritan, and that he and his associates
 were in a conspiracy to destroy the
 church. Charles had them prosecuted
 their enterprise pronounced unlawful
 their fund confiscated and heavy fines
 imposed; but public indignation was SC
 great that the fines were never pressed
 Davenport's position in connection
 with the Hay Appropriations" caused
 him to be classed with the Non-Con.
 formists, or those who refused to con.
 form entirely to the ceremonials and
 other acts of the English church. Laud . was extremely bitter in his treatment ol
 Davenport. He summoned the young minister before him, made certain sug
 gestions about the Star Chamber inqui , sitions which he thought might be con
 vincing, and suggested that much the
 better way was to get in line and stan6 with the church. Davenport left tht
 impression with Laud that he was per suaded But soon after he publicly an nounced himself as against conformity with the Church of England, and Lau( immediately caused a warrant to be is sued for his arrest.
 Davenport now decided that his only , safety was in flight, and prepared t start for Holland, but declined to leav his church even under impending per ,, sonal danger until he had called hi , people together and obtained their full 2 consent to the step he was about t , take. His congregation allowing hin 2 to resign, Davenport lost no time in get a 1 IlnR beyond the TGdCH Ol I4duu War . rant, and having arrived at the coast
 sailed for the port of Amsterdam. Tn ? Presbyterians then living in the cit, s gave him a generous welcome, and in f vited him to become one of their preach s CTS; but a disagreement arose betwee i. him and his colleague, pr. Paget, owe e the question of infant baptism. It wa 2 the practice of that church to baptiz g all children that were presented Da h venport declined to perform the cere t mony until he knew whether the chil : was to be surrounded by pious influ = ences, claiming that the rite was nc j. intended to be indiscriminately admin r istered. This disagreement speedily de - veloped into a sharply fought battle n with printers ink for ammunition. Da n venport and the good Dr. Paget hurle e successive pamphlets at each other a head for a period covering two year!
 with no other apparent result than tn e heating of a good many PresbYteria t tempers In the meantime Davenpol :, had been following the very bad prac u tice of staying home Sundays; but the1 = were those who sympathized with hin . and these soon formed the habit of cu
 ting the morning service and assen :. bling at his lodgings This course ( e things being decidedly out of order, tf L1 |. %1A