that he was invited to preach again on a similar occasion in the following year, when he brought to a conclusion what he wished to say further on the subject of the Trinity. All the three sermons may be found in his published works, and every competent person must admit that they are not only a most orthodox, but also a most valuable contribution to the literature of this mysterious subject. In 1702 Bingham married Dorothy, daughter of the Rev. R. Pocock, rector of Elmore, and by her became the father of ten children. In 1708 the first volume of the 'Antiquities' was published, the tenth and last in 1722, the year before his death, and a large proportion of these fourteen years was occupied in the composition of this great work. In 1712 he was collated by the Bishop of Winchester to the living of Havant, near Portsmouth. As Havant was a better living than Worthy, and his writings began to bring him in a little money, he was for a time less straitened by poverty than he had hitherto been. But he foolishly embarked his money in the South Sea Bubble, and in 1720 the bubble burst. His constitution, which was naturally weak, was still further enfeebled by his sedentary habits, and after a long struggle with delicate health, anxiety, and poverty, he died 17 Aug. 1723, and was buried in his old parish of Headbourn-Worthy.
In one respect, at any rate, Bingham was fortunate, viz. in hitting upon a subject which wanted dealing with, and for dealing with which he was admirably adapted. 'He was the first,' says a German writer, 'that published a complete archæology [of the christian church] and one worthy of the name.' And, we may add, he will probably be the last. What he did he did so thoroughly and exhaustively, that he would be a bold man who should attempt again to go over ground so completely traversed. His object is thus stated by himself: 'The design which I have formed to myself is to give such a methodical account of the antiquities of the christian church as others have done of the Greek and Roman and Jewish antiquities, by reducing the ancient customs, usages, and practices of the church under certain proper heads, whereby the reader may take a view at once of any particular usage or custom of christians for four or five centuries.' Not a name, not an office, not a usage, not a law is omitted, or, indeed, left without the very fullest explanation. In ten substantial volumes, in which not a word is wasted, he completely exhausts his great subject, treating it with consummate learning and admirable impartiality. He is too full of matter to trouble himself much about style, but he writes naturally, and with a quiet, scholarly simplicity which is very attractive. The work was one not only for the church of England, but for every christian community; it was very fitting, therefore, that it should be translated into Latin; the universal language is the most suitable vehicle for a work which is of universal interest.
The 'Antiquities' is, of course, the one imperishable monument which Bingham has raised for himself; but his lesser works, though now forgotten, are written in the same exhaustive fashion. The largest of these is entitled 'The French Church's Apology for the Church of England,' which 'contains a modest vindication of the doctrine, worship, government, and discipline of our church from the chief objections of dissenters, and returns answer to them upon the principles of the reformed church of France.' The work was a very seasonable one, being written at a time when this country was flooded with French refugees, who were thought likely to swell the ranks of nonconformists. Bingham appeals to the refugees as well as to the English dissenters, urging them that, 'as they regarded the venerable authority of their own national synods, and of the avowed principles of that church, into which they were baptised, they should vigorously maintain and assert the cause of the church of England against all that set up distinct communions, &c.' He takes point by point, and works out each with extraordinary ingenuity and accuracy; but the subject is now quite out of date. Another of his lesser works is a 'Scholastical History of the Practice of the Church in reference to Administration of Baptism by Laymen.' This was at first intended to by only a single chapter in the 'Antiquities['], but the subject grew upon his hands (partly through the fact of a Mr. Lawrence taking up an opposite view, which Bingham felt bound to controvert), and he published it as a separate treatise. He contends that in extraordinary cases baptism by a layman in full communion with the church is valid, and he brings his inexhaustible store of learning to bear upon the case. Two long letters on 'Absolution,' addressed to the Bishop of Winchester, which are a sort of appendix to the treatise on lay baptism, and which finally dispose of Mr. Lawrence, and an excellent discourse 'On the Mercy of God,' intended for the use of persons troubled in mind, complete the list of this great writer's works. Though the list is not a long one, Bingham's literary industry must have been enormous; the 'Antiquities' alone is sufficient to prove this. The work bears on the face of it traces of many years' reading, before the writing began at all, and the labour
