Mr. Pepys Goes to Church

MR. PEPYS GOES TO CHURCH NEIL G. SMITH S AMUEL PEPYS attended church fairly regula:ly between 1660 and 1669, and the DIary contams numerous comments on the. churches' where he worshipped, and the sermons which he heard. His remarkS are not only interesting, and often amusing, in themselves, but they serve to reveal how the Church and its clergy at that period impressed an astute man of the world, who was a shrewd and appreciative, and occasionally a harsh, cri tic. Relying upon his secret cypher, Pepys was free ,to write what he pleased, and we have no reason to doubt the honesty and sincerity of the opinions which he expressed. If he wrote in the Diary that he had been pleased with a sermon whichhe had just heard, we may be sure that it really had appealed to him. The very fact that he took the trouble to record his judgments, favourable or unfavourable, is convincing evidence of his interest in the Church and its teaching. Occasionally he has to record that he slept during the sermon, and occasionally he seems to have paid more attention to his own appearance, or to the costumes of his fellow-worshippers, than to the discourse. At Westminster parish church, for instance, he amused himself one Sunday with his "perspective glass," and blandly wrote that he had had "great pleasure of seeing and gazing at a great many very fine women.'" As a rule, however, he was able to note something more edifying, and his comments reveal that for the most part he paid attention to what was said, and formed his own opinion of its merits. IMay 26,1667. 547 ' . THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY His most favourable criticism of any of the clergy is that given to the famous Edward Stillingfleet, one of the chaplains of the king, who had acquired an enviable reputati'on as a preacher and divine. According to Pepys he was considered by some of the Anglican clergy to be "the ablest young man to preach the gospel of any since the Apostles." Pepys went purposely to hear him in April, 1665, and noted that he had delivered "a most plain, honest, good, grave sermon, in the most uncon" cerned and easy, yet substantial' manner that ever I heard in my life.'" The adjectives are significant. The Restoration reform of letters, with its ideals of simplicity and ease, its value set upon plain and solid thinking, and its reaction against pedantry and affectation, was commencing to influence the pulpit-evidently with the full approval of the Diarist. Another of his favourites was Robert Frampton, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester. ' Pepys went to hear him first on October 10, 1666, and remarked that he was "a young man, and of a mighty ready tongue." ' The crowd ~as so great that he did not stay to hear the sermon out, but returned to he'ar him on January '20, 1667. This time he was greatly impressed , and judged the sermon to have been the best "for goodness and oratory without affectation or study" that he had ever heard. "The truth is," he continues, "he preached the most like an apostle that ever I heard man, and it was much the best time that ever I spent in church." , No other clergymen receive quite the extravagant praise that is accorded to Stillingfleet and Frampton, but several are mentioned with real approbation. Pepys was delighted with a sermon which he heard from a Scotsman, who "railed bitterly ever and anon against 'April 23, 1665. 548 MR. PEPYS GOES TO CHURCH John Calvin and his brood, the Presbyterians," and who also "ripped up" Mr. Hugh Peters, to whom he referred as "an execrable skellum.'" Pepys says of this fiery oration that it was "a most admirable, good, learned, and most severe sermon-yet comical." He was surprIsed one Sunday to find an old school-fellow, Elborough, whom he labels as a "simple rogue," preaching a good sermon "in as right a parson-like manner" as he had ever heard.' His adverse criticisms are possibly more interesting for us as revealing in greater detail the taste of their author. He noted that he...