Note 578 — Chapter XXII

My rule has been to select characters who died before the Revolution, but it is necessary to notice Evelyn’s life in connection with Margaret Godolphin; and although he survived the Revolution so many years, he may fairly be taken as a type of religious life before that period. A MS. by him was published in the year 1850, in two volumes, entitled, A Rational Account of the True Religion. The first volume treats of natural theology. In the second, besides a description of Judaism, primitive Christianity, and the decadence and corruption of religion, Evelyn “professes to explain the true doctrines of Holy Scripture and of the Church of England.” The chief interest attaching to the work will be found to consist in its value “as an impartial interpretation of her Articles and her Liturgy; conveyed too in a manner which shows he was not propounding new views, but merely stating them as understood by her members in his time.”—p. xi. In other words, Evelyn explains the doctrines of the Church of England from an Anglo-Catholic point of view. The book indicates the intelligence and devoutness of the author.