for I consider'd that my Father's Exercise of Reading the Scripture was better than theirs and would surely be better thought on by all men at the last and I considered what it was for that he and others were thus derided When I heard them speak scornfully of others as Puritans whom I never knew I was at first apt to believe all the Lies and Slanders wherewith they loaded them But when I heard my own Father so reproached and perceived the Drunkards were the forwardest in the reproach I perceived that it was mere Malice For my Father never scrupled Common-Prayer or Ceremonies nor spake against Bishops nor ever so much as prayed but by a Book or Form being not ever acquainted then with any that did otherwise But only for reading Scripture when the rest were Dancing on the Lord's Day and for praying by a Form out of the end of the Common-Prayer Book in his House and for reproving Drunkards and Swearers and for talking sometimes a few words of Scripture and the Life to come he was reviled commonly by the Name of Puritan Precision and Hypocrite and so were the Godly Conformable Ministers that lived any where in the Country near us not only by our Neighbours but by the common talk of the Vulgar Rabble of all about us By this Experience I was fully convinc'd that Godly People were the best and those that despised them and lived in Sin and Pleasure were a malignant unhappy sort of People and this kept me out of their Company except now and then when the Love of Sports and Play enticed me § 2. The chiefest help that I had for all my Learning in the Country Schools was with Mr. Iohn Owen School-master at the Free-School at Wroxeter to whom I went next who lived in Sir Richard Newport's House afterward Lord Newport at Eyton and taught School at that ancient Uriconium where the Ruins and old Coin confirm those Histories which make it an ancient City in the Romans Times The present Lord Newport and his Brother were then my School-fellows in a lower Form and Dr. Richard Allestree now Dr. of the Chair in Oxford Canon of Christ's Church and Provost of Eaton-Colledge of whom I remember that when my Master set him up into the lower end of the highest Form where I had long been Chief I took it so ill that I talkt of leaving the School whereupon my Master gravely but very tenderly rebuked my pride and gave me for my Theme Ne sutor ultra crepidam § 3. About that time it pleased God of his wonderful Mercy to open my Eyes with a clearer insight into the Concerns and Case of my own Soul and to touch my heart with a livelier feeling of things◠Spiritual than ever I had sound before And it was by the means and in the order following stirring up my Conscience more against me by robbing an Orchard or two with rude Boys than it was before And being under some more Conviction for my Sin a poor Day-Labourer in the Town he that I before-mentioned that was wont to read in the Church for the old Parson had an old torn Book which he lent my Father which was called Bunny's Resolution being written by Parson's the Jesuit and corrected by Edm. Bunny I had before heard some Sermons and read a good Book or two which made me more love and honour Godliness in the General but I had never felt any other change by them on my heart Whether it were that till now I came not to that maturity of Nature which made me capable of discerning or whether it were that this was God's appointed time or both together I had no lively sight and sense of what I read till now And in the reading of this Book when I was about Fifteen years of Age it pleased God to awaken my Soul and shew me the folly of Sinning and the misery of the Wicked and the unexpressible weight of things Eternal and the necessity of resolving on a Holy Life more than I was ever acquainted with before The same things which I knew before came now in another manner with Light and Sense and Seriousness to my Heart This cast me first into fears of my Condition and those drove me to Sorrow and Confession and Prayer and so to some resolution for another kind of Life And many a-day I went with a throbbing Conscience and saw that I had other Matters to mind and another Work to do in the World than ever I had minded well before Yet whether sincere Conversion began now or before or after I was never able to this day to know for I had before had some Love to the Things and People which were good and a restraint from other Sins except those forementioned and so much from those that I seldom committed most of them and when I did it was with great reluctancy And both now and formerly I knew that Christ was the only Mediator by whom we must have Pardon Justification and Life But even at that time I had little lively sense of the Love of God in Christ to the World or me nor of my special need of him for Parsons and all Papists almost are too short upon this Subject And about that time it pleased God that a poor Pedlar came to the Door that had Ballads and some good Books And my Father bought of him Dr. Sibb's bruised Reed This also I read and found it suited to my state and seasonably sent me which opened more the Love of God to me and gave me a livelier apprehension of the Mystery of Redemption and how much I was beholden to Jesus Christ. All this while neither my Father nor I had any Acquaintance or Familiarity with any that had any Understanding in Matters of Religion nor ever heard any pray ex tempore But my Prayers were the Confession in the Common-Prayer Book and sometime one of Mr. Bradford's Prayers in a Book called his Prayers and Meditations and sometime a Prayer out of another Prayer-Book which we had After this we had a Servant that had a little Piece of Mr. Perkins's Works of Repentance and the right Art of Living and Dying well and the Government of the Tongue And the reading of that did further inform me and confirm me And thus without any means but Books was God pleased to resolve me for himself § 4. When I was ready for the University my Master drew me into another way which kept me thence where were my vehement desires He had a Friend at Ludlow Chaplain to the Council there called Mr. Richard Wickstead whose Place having allowance from the King who maintaineth the House for one to attend him he told my Master that he was purposed to have a Scholar fit for the University and having but one would be better to him than any Tutor in the University could be whereupon my Master perswaded me to accept the offer and told me it would be better than the University to me I believed
accuse me for one word that ever I Preached nor one Action else that I have done While the greatest of the Bishops Preach not thrice a year as their Neighbours say themselves § 305. The dangerous Crack over the Market-house at St. Iames's put many upon desiring that I had a larger safer place for Meeting And though my own dulnss and great backwardness to troublesome business made me very averse to so great an undertaking judging that it being in the face of the Court it would never be endured yet the great and uncessant importunity of many out of a fervent desire of the good of Souls did constrain me to undertake it And when it was almost finished in Oxenden-strtet Mr. Henry Coventry one of his Majesties principal Secretaries who had a house joyning to it and was a Member of Parliament spake twice against it in the Parliament But no one seconded him § 306. I think meet to recite the names and liberality of some of those pious and Charitable persons who contributed towards the building of this place The money was all put into the hands of Mr. Tho Stanley a worthy sufficient Citizen in Bread-street who undertook the care and Disbursement for I never toucht one penny of it my self nor any one for me Nor did I think meet to make a publick Collection for it in the place where I Preached The Lady Armine 60 l. on her death-bed Sir Iohn Maynerd 40 l. Mr. Brooke Bridgdes 20 l. Sir Iames Langham 20 l. at first time The Countess of Clare 10 l The Countess of Trecolonel 6 l. The Lady Clinton 5 l. The Lady Eleanor Hollis 5 l. The Countess of Warwick 20 l. Mr. French and Mr. Brandon Non-conformable Ministers 20 l. The Lady Richards 5 l. Mr. Henly a Parliament man 5 l. Sir Edward Herley 10 l. Mr. Richard Hambdon and Mr. Iohn his Son 8 l. The Lady Fitz-Iames and her three Daughters 6 l. Sir Richard Chiverton 1 l. Mrs Reighnolds 1 l. Alderman Henry Ashurst and his Son-in-law Mr. Booth the first Undertakers 100 l. Collected among all their City Friends and Ours whom they thought meet to move in it And that we might do the more good my Wife urged the Building of another Meeting-place in Bloomsbury for Mr. Read to be furthered by my sometime helping him the Neighbourhood being very full of People Rich and Poor that could not come into the Parish-Church through the greatness of the Parish and Dr. Bourman the Parish-Parson having not Preached Prayed Read or Administred Sacraments these Three or Four Years § 307. This Week Iun. 14. many Bishops were with the King who they say granted them his Commands to put the Laws against us in Execution And on Tuesday about Twelve or Thirteen of them went to Dine with the Sheriff of London Sir Nathanael Herne where the business being mentioned he told them that they could not Trade with their Neighbours one Day and send them to Goal the next § 308. Dr. Tully by his book called Iustificatio Paulina constrained me to Publish Two Books in Vindication of the Truth and my self viz. Two Disputations of Original Sin and a Treatise of Justifying Righteousness in which I â—oblished my Old Papers to Mr. Christopher Cartwright Dr. Tully presently fell sick and to our common Loss shortly died § 309. I was so long wearied with keeping my Doors shut against them that came to distrein on my Goods for Preaching that I was fain to go from my House and to sell all my Goods and to hide my Library first and afterwards to sell it So that if Books had been my Treasure and I valued little more on Earth I had been now without a treasure About Twelve Years I was driven an Hundred Miles from them and when I had paid dear for the Carriage after Two or Three Years I was forced to sell them And the Prelates to hinder me from Preaching deprived me also of these private Comforts But God saw that they were my Snare We brought nothing into the World and we must carry nothing out The Loss in very tolerable § 310. I was the willinger to part with Goods Books and all that I might have nothing to be distreined and so go on to Preach And accordingly removing my Dwelling to the New Chappel which I had built I purposed to venture there to Preach there beiug Forty Thousand Persons in the Parish as is supposed more than can hear in the Parish-Church who have no Place to go to for God's Publick Worship So that I set not up Church against Church but Preached to those that must else have none being loth that London should turn Atheists or live worse than Infidels But when I had Preached there but Once a Resolution was taken to surprize me the next Day and send me for Six Months to the Common Goal upon the Act for the Oxford Oath Not knowing of this it being the hottest part of the Year I agreed to go for a few Weeks into the Countrey Twenty Miles off But the Night before I should go I fell so ill that I was fain to send to disappoint both the Coach and my intended Companion Mr. Sylvester And when I was thus fully resolved to stay it pleased God after the Ordinary Coach-Hour that Three Men from Three parts of the City met at my House accidentally just at the same time almost to a minute of whom if any One had not been there I had not gone viz. the Coachman again to urge me Mr. Sylvester whom I had put off and Dr. Coxe who compelled me and told me else he would carry me into the Coach It proved a special merciful Providence of God for after One Week of Languishing and Pain I had Nine Weeks greater Ease than ever I expected in this World and greater Comfort in my Work For my good Friend Richard Berisford Esq Clerk of the Exchequer whose importunity drew me to his House spared for no Cost Labour oâ— Kindness for my Health or Service For understanding of which and much more in these Papers seeing I record such things for the Notice of Students and Physicians that other mens Health may have some advantage by my Experiences and Sorrows I must here digress to mention the State of my vile Body not otherwise worthy the notice of the World § 311. What is before written hath notified that I have lain in above Forty Years constant Weaknesses and almost constant Pains My chief Troubles were incredible Inflamations of Stomach Bowels Back Sides Head Thighs as if I had been daily fill'd with Wind So that I never knew heard or read of any man that had near so much Thirty Physicians at least all called it nothing but Hypochondriack Flatulency and somewhat of a Scorbutical Malady Great bleeding at the Nose also did emaciate me and keep me in a Chachectical Atropie The particular Symptoms were more than I can number I thought my self that my Disease was almost all from Debility of the
with him into Scotland Mr. Baxter's Letter to him upon that occasion p. 75. Another Letter of his to the Earl of Lauderdail p. 77. falsly pag'd 93. a Letter of his to Sir Robert Murrey about a Body of Church Discipline for Scotland which was sent to him for his Iudgment about it p. 78. the Affair of the Marquis of Antrim with reference to his Commission from K. Charles 1. p. 83. of Du Moulin's Jugulum Causae and two Books of Dr. Fowler 's p. 85. of Serjeant Fountain's kindness to him p. 86. of Major Blood and his stealing the Crown p. 88. of the shutting up the Exchequer by which Mr. Baxter lost a thousand pounds which he had devoted to charitable uses p. 89. of Fowlis's History of Romish Treasons p. 90. Characters of many of the silenc'd Ministers of Worcestershire Warwickshire in and about London c. from p. 90 to p. 98. the second Dutch War and the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience thereupon p. 99. the different Sentiments of People about the desirableness either of an establisht Toleration or a Comprehension p. 100. Mr. Baxter gets a License p. 102. the Merchants Lecture set up at Pinners-Hall and Mr. Baxter's Accusations for his Sermons there p. 103. Malitious Writings and Accusations of Parker and others ibid. a private Conference between Mr. Baxter and Bp. Gunning p. 104 the Parliament jealous of the growth of Popery p. 106. a private Conference of Mr. Baxter's with Edward Wray Esq. about the Popish Controversies p. 107. Mr. Falkener writes for Conformity p. 108. a Letter of Mr. Baxter's to the Earl of Orery about a general Union of all Protestants against Popery with Proposals for that purpose p. 109 c. the Strictures return'd upon these Proposals with the Answers to them from p. 113. to 140. More bitter and malignant Writings against the Nonconformists p. 141. a Paper of Mr. John Humphreys for Comprehension with Indulgence that was distributed among the Parliament men p. 143 c. a great change of Affairs in Scotland p. 147. a Character of Mr. Thomas Gouge the silenc'd Minister of St. Sepulchres p. 147. a Letter of Mr. Baxter's to Dr. Good Master of Baliol Colledge in Oxford about some passages in a Book he had lately publish'd p. 148. fresh Accusations whereby Mr. Baxter was assaulted p. 151. a Deliverance when he was preaching over St. James's Market-house p. 152. his success while he preach't there and his opposition p. 153. a Proclamation publish'd to call in the Licenses and require the Execution of the Laws against the Nonconformists ib. false Reports about his preaching at Pinners-Hall p. 154. Mr. Baxter apprehended as a Conventicler p. 155. a difference at Court on occasion of Mr. Baxter's Sufferings p. 156. a private Treaty between Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Tillotson Dr. Bates Dr. Manton Mr. Baxter and Mr. Pool about an Act for Union and Comprehension p. 157. An Act for the Healing and Concord of his Majesty's Subjects in matters of Religion then agreed upon amongst thâ—m p. 158. Petitions Mr. Baxter was then put upon drawing up which were never presented 160. the Case of the City as to the Prosecution of Dissenters p. 165. falsly pag'd 565. an account of his trouble with Sir Thomas Davis ibid. great Debates about the Test in Parliament p. 167. a Censure of it p. 168. a penitent Confession of one of the Informers who had given Mr. Baxter much trouble p. 171. further troubles that he met with and weakness p. 172. a further Account of Sir Matthew Hale p. 175. of Mr. Read's imprisonment p. 176. Of the Additions of the years 1675 1676 1677 1678 c. OF Monsieur Le Blank 's Theses p. 177. of Dr. Jane's Sermon before my Lord Mayor and his Charge against Mr. Baxter ibid. further troubles he met with p. 178. a passage between the Bp. of Exeter and Mr. Sangar ibid. an horrid Lie reported of Mr. Baxter in a Coffee-house about his killing a Tinker the Reporter whereof was brought openly to confess his fault p. 179. Mr. Hollingworth's Sermon against the Nonconformists p. 180. a further passage of Sir Matth. Hale p. 181. Dr. Manton's death p. 182. about the Controversie of Predetermination started amongst the Nonconformists by a Book of Mr. How 's ib. of the Popish Plot and Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's murder c. p. 183. of several of Mr. Baxter's Writings p. 185. of the Writings of Dr. Stillingfleet Mr. Hinkley Mr. Dodwell and others against the Nonconformists p. 187 188. of the deaths of many of his dear Friends p. 189. some further account of Mr. Thomas Gouge p. 190. of his new apprehension and sickness p. 191. an Account of his Case at that time p. 192. the Iudgment of Saunders and Pollixtin about it p. 195. of some other of his Writings p. 196. of a Legacy of 600 l. left by Mr. Robert Mayot of Oxon to be distributed by Mr. Baxter among Sixty ejected Ministers p. 198. a further Account of his sufferings and weakness ibid. p. 199. The Appendix contains these several Pieces following Numb I. A Reply to some Exceptions against the Worcestershire Agreement a large Account whereof is given at the beginning of the second Part of this Narrative and Mr. Baxter's Christian Concord written by a nameless Author supposed to be Dr. Gunning and sent by Dr. Warmestry p. 1. Numb II. Several Letters that pass'd between Mr. Baxter and Mr. Martin Johnson about the Point of Ordination and particularly the necessity of a constant uninterrupted Succession in order to the validity of Ministerial Functions p. 18. Numb III. Several Letters between Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lamb p. 51. Numb IV. Letters and Papers between Mr. Baxter and Mr. Allen p. 67. Numb V. A Letter of Mr. Baxter's to Mr. Long of Exeter p. 108. Numb VI. A Resolution of this Case What 's to be done when the Law of the Land commands persons to go to their Parish Church and Parents require to go to private Meetings p. III Numb VII A Letter of Mr. Baxter's about the Case of Nevil Symmons Bookseller p. 117. Numb VIII Mr. Baxter's general Defence of his accused Writings call'd Seditious and Schismatical p. 119. Numb IX An Act for Concord by Reforming Parish Churches and Regulating the Toleration of Dissenters p. 127. A Letter to the Right Worshipful Sir E. H. about that matter p. 130. Be pleased Candid Reader to correct these Errours in the beginning thus PAge 1. line 29. for and read one and after rest r. and. p. 2. l. 10. after clock r. in the. and l27 dele and. p. 3. l. 35. for being r. bringing me p. 4. l. 28. dele of and l. 40. after knowledge r. was l. 42. for wonder r. wondred p. 6. l. 17. r. that part of Physick p. 8. l. 29. r. usually p. 199. l. 14. for he r. it l. 46. for rejections r. objections The rest as they occur inter legendum for I could not attend the Press and prevent the Errata THE
by the Sword if they pleased not the Court So that they presently voted it a Breach of their Priviledges and an Effect of the King 's evil Counsellors and published their Votes to awaken the People to rescue them as if they were in apparent Danger The King being disappointed publisheth a Paper in which he chargeth the Members with Treason as stirring up the Apprentices to tumultuous Petitioning c. But confesseth his Error in violating their Priviledges § 46. 4. And another thing which hastened the War was that the Lord Digby and some other Cavaliers attempted at Kingston upon Thames to have suddenly got together a Body of Horse which the Parliament took as the beginning of a War or an Insurrection and Rebellion But the Party was dissipated before they could grow to any great Strength and the Parliament voted him a Delinquent and sent to apprehend him and bring him to Justice with his partakers But he sled into France and when he was there the Parliament intercepted some of his Letters to the King advising him to get away from London to some place of Strength where his Friends might come to him which they took as an Advise to him to begin a War Thus one thing after another blew the Coals § 47. 5. But of all the rest there was nothing that with the People wrought so much as the Irish Massacree and Rebellion The Irish Papists did by an unexpected Insurrection rise all over Ireland at once and seized upon almost all the Strengths of the whole Land and Dublin wonderfully escaped a Servant of Sir Iohn Clotworthy's discovering the Plot which was to have been surprised with the rest Octob. 23. 1641. Two hundred thousand Persons they murdered as you may see in the Earl of Orary's Answer to a Petition and in Dr. Iones's Narrative of the Examinations and Sir Iohn Temple's History who was one of the resident Justices Men Women and Children were most cruelly used the Women ript up and filthily used when they killed them and the Infants used like Toads or Vermin Thousands of those that escaped came stript and almost famished to Dublin and afterwards into England to beg their Bread Multitudes of them were driven together into Rivers and cast over Bridges and drowned Many Witnesses swore before the Lords Justices that at Portdown-bridge a Vision every Day appeared to the Passengers of naked Persons standing up to the middle in the River and crying out Revenge Revenge In a word scarce any History mentioneth the like barbarous Cruelty as this was The French Massacree murdered but Thirty or Forty Thousand but Two Hundred Thousand was a Number which astonished those that heard it This filled all England with a Fear both of the Irish and of the Papists at home for they supposed that the Priests and the Interest of their Religion were the Cause In so much that when the Rumour of a Plot was occasioned at London the poor People all the Countries over were ready either to run to Arms or hide themselves thinking that the Papists were ready to rise and cut their Throats And when they saw the English Papists join with the King against the Parliament it was the greatest thing that ever alienated them from the King Hereupon the Parliament was solicitous to send help to Dublin lest that also should be lost The King was so forward to that Service that he prest the Parliament that he might go over himself The Parliament liked that worst of all as if they had been confident that ill Counsellors advised him to it that he might get at the Head of two Armies and unite them both against the Parliament and by his Absence make a Breach and hinder the Proceedings of the Houses Those that came out of Ireland represent the woful Case of it and the direful Usage of the Protestants so as provoked the People to think that it was impossible that any Danger to them could be greater than their Participation of the like The few that were left at Dublin got into Armes but complained of their Necessities and the multitude of their Enemies So that an Hundred were used to fight against a Thousand And to increase the Flame some Irish Rebels told them that they had the King's Commission for what they did which though the soberer part could not believe yet the credulous timerous vulgar were many of them ready to believe it And the English Souldiers under Sir Charles Cootes the Lord Incheguin c. send over word that it was the common Feast of the Irish that when they had done with the handful that was left in Ireland they would come over into England and deal with the Parliament and Protestants here These Threatnings with the Name of Two hundred thousand murdered and the Recital of their monstrous Cruelties made many thousands in England think that nothing could be more necessary than for the Parliament to put the Countrey into an armed Posture for their own Defence And that side which the Papists of England took they could hardly think would be their Security § 48. Things being thus ripened for a War in England the King forsaketh London and goeth into the North in Yorkshire he calleth the Militia of the Country which would join with him and goeth to Hull and demandeth entrance Sir Iohn Hotham is put in trust with it by the Parliament and denieth him entrance with his Forces The Parliament nameth Lord Lieutenants for the Militia of the Several Countries and the King nameth other Lord Lieutenants by a Commission of Aray and each of them command the said Lord Lieutenants to settle the Militia The Parliament publisheth their Votes to the People That the King misled by evil Counsel was raising a War against his Parliament The Lord Willouhby of Parham in Lincolnshire the Lord Brook in Warwickshire and others in other Counties call in the Country to appear in Arms for the Parliament The King's Lords call them in to appear for the King both King and Parliament published their Declarations justifying their Cause The Parliament chooseth the Earl of Essex for their General and resolveth the raising of an Army as For the Defence of the King and Parliament and the Liberties of the Subjects against evil Counsellors and Delinquents They publish a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom first and a Declaration of the Causes of their taking up Arms afterward which two contain most of the Reasons of their Cause The King answereth them and goeth to Nottingham and there setteth up his Standard to Summon his Subjects to his Aid The Lord Brook and the Earl of Northampton had some skuffling in Warwickshire The Earl of N. with some Forces assaulted Warwick Castle kept by Major Iohn Bridges and Coventry City kept by Col. Iohn Barker and was repulst from both A Party assaulted Mr. Puresoyes House and burnt the Barns where Mr. George Abbot with a few of his Servants repulst them At Nottingham there were but about Two thousand came
and that they were allowed to make odious any thing that was amiss and because it was faulty if any Man had rebuked them for belying it and making it far more faulty than it was instead of confessing their Sin they called their Reprover a Pleader for Antichrist or Baal every Error in the Mode of the Common Worship they had no fitter Name for than Idolatry Popery Antichristianism Superstition Will-worship c. when in the mean time many of their own Prayers were full of Carnal Passion Selfishness Faction Disorder vain Repitions unfound and loathsom Expressions and their Doctrine full of Errors and Confussion and these Beams in their own Eyes were matter of no Offence to them They would not communicate with that Church where ignorant Persons or Swearers were tollerated though they themselves never did their Part to have them cast out but look'd the Ministers should do all without them but without any scruple they would communicate with them that had broke their Vow and Covenant with God and Man and rebelled against both King Parliament and all kind of Government that was set up even by themselves and did all the fore-recited Evils I know these same Accusations are laid by some in Ignorance or Malice against many that are guilty of no such things and therefore some will be offended at me and say I imitate such Reproachers But shall none be reproved because some are slandered Shall Rebells be justified because some innocent Men are called Rebels Shall Hypocrites be free from Conviction and Condemnation because wicked Men call the Godly Hypocrites Woe to the Man that hath not a faithful Reprover but a Thousand Woes will be to him that hateth reproof And woe to them that had rather Sin were credited and kept in Honour than their Party dishonoured and Woe to the Land where the Reputation of Men doth keep Sin in Reputation Scripture it self will not spare a Noah a Lot a David a Hezekiab a Iosiah a Peter but will open and shame their Sin to all Generations And yet alas the Hearts of many who I hope are truly Religious in other Points will rise against him that shall yet tell them of the Misdoings of those of their Opinion and call them to Repentance The poor Church of Christ the sober sound religious Part are like Christ that was crucified between two Malefactors the prophane and formal Persecutors on one hand and the Fanatick dividing Sectary on the other hand have in all Ages been grinding the spiritual Seed as the Corn is ground between the Milstones And though their Sins have ruined themselves and us and silenced so many hundred Ministers and scattered the Flocks and made us the Hatred and the Scorn of the ungodly World and a by Word and Desolation in the Earth yet there are few of them that lament their Sin but justify themselves and their Misdoings and the penitent Malefactor is yet unknown to us And seeing Posterity must know what they have done to the Shame of our Land and of our sacred Profession let them know this much more also to their own Shame that all the Calamities which have befallen us by our Divisions were long foreseen by seeing Men and they were told and warned of it year after year They were told that a House divided against it self could not stand and told that it would bring them to the Halter and to Shame and turn a hopeful Reformation into a Scorn and make the Land of their Nativity a Place of Calamity and Woe and all this Warning signified nothing to them but these Ductile Professors bldinly followed a few selfconceited Teachers to this Misery and no warning or means could ever stop them Five dissenting Ministers in the Synod begun all this and carried it far on Mr. Philip Nye Mr. Tho. Goodwin Mr. Sydrach Sympson and Mr. William Bridge to whom that good Man Mr. Ieremiah Burroughs joined himself in Name but as he never practised their Church-gathering way so at last he was contented to have united on the Terms which were offered them and wrote his excellent Book of Heart Divisions After this they encreased and Mr. Burroughs being dead Dr. Iohn Owen arose not of the same Spirit to fill up his place by whom and Mr. Phillip Nye's Policie the Flames were encreased our Wounds kept open and carried on all as if there had been none but they considerable in the World and having an Army and City Agents fit to second them effectually hindred all remedy till they had dash'd all into pieces as a broken Glass O! what may not Pride do and what Miscarriages will not false Principles and Faction hide One would think that if their Opinions had been certainly true and their Church-Orders good yet the Interest of Christ and the Souls of Men and of greater Truths should have been so regarded by the Dividers in England as that the Safety of all these should have been preferred and not all ruined rather than their way should want its carnal Arm and Liberty and that they should not tear the Garment of Christ all to pieces rather than it should want their Lace § 148. And it must be acknowledged also impartially that some of the Presbyterian Ministers frightned the Sectaries into this Fury by the unpeaceableness and impatiency of their Minds They ran from Libertinism into the other Extream and were so little sensible of their own Infirmity that they would not have those tollerated who were not only tollerable but worthy Instruments and Members in the Churches The Reconcilers that were ruled by prudent Charity always called out to both the Parties that the Churches must be united upon the Terms of primitive Simplicity and that we must have Unity in things necessary and Liberty in things unnecessary and Charity in all But they could never be heard but were taken for Adversaries to the Government of the Church as they are by the Prelates at this Day Nay when in Worcestershire we did but agree to practice so much as all Parties were agreed in they said we did but thereby set up another Party We told them of Archbishop Usher's Terms in his Sermon before the King on Eph. 4. 3. but they would not hear The Lord Bacon in his Third Essay and his Considerations Mr. Hales in his Treatise of Schism and all men of sound Experience and Wisdom have long told the World that we must be united in things Necessary which all Christians agree in or which the Primitive Churches did unite in or not at all But nothing shorter than the Assemblies Confession of Faith and Catechisms and and Presbytery would serve turn with some Their Principles were that no others should be tolerated which set the Independants on contriving how to grasp the Sword They were still crying out on the Magistrate that he was irreligious for suffering Sects and because he did not bring Men to Conformity And now they cannot be tollerated themselves to preach nor scarce to dwell in the Land
The Uniting of the Churches upon the Primitive Terms and the tollerating not of all but of tollerable Differences is the way to Peace which almost all Men approve of except those who are uppermost and think they have the Reins in their own hands And because the side which is uppermost are they that have their Wills therefore the Churches had never a settled Peace this Thousand years at least the true way of Settlement and Peace being usually displeasing to them that must give Peace to others But this way hath the mark of being the best in that it is the only way which every Sect acknowledge for the second and next the best and is it which all except the predominant Party liketh But Wisdom is justified of her Children § 149. To consummate the Confusion by confirming and increasing the Division the Independants at last when they had refused with sufficient pervicacy to associate with the Presbyterians and the Reconcilers too did resolve to shew their proper strength and to call a General Assembly of all their Churches The Savoy was their Meeting-place There they drew up a Confession of their Faith and the Orders of their Church Government In the former they thought it not enough expresly to contradict St. Iames and to say unlimitedly That we are justified by the Righteousness of Christ only and not by any Works but they contradicted St. Paul also who faith That Faith is imputed for Righteousness And not only so but they expresly asserted that we have no other righteousness but that of Christ. A Doctrine abhorred by all the Reformed and Christian Churches and which would be an utter shame to the Protestant Name if what such Men held and did were indeed imputable to the sober Protestants I asked some honest Men that joyned with them Whether they subscribed this Confession and they said No. I asked them why they did not contradict it and they said that the meaning of it was no more than that we have no other Righteousness but Christ's to be justified by So that the Independant's Confessions are like such Oaths and Declarations as speak one thing and mean another Also in their Propositions of Church Order they widened the breach and made things much worse and more unreconcileable than ever they were before So much could two Men do with many honest tractable young Men and had more Zeal for separating Strictness than Iudgment to understand the Word of God or the Interest of the Churches of the Land and of themselves § 150. But it hath pleased God by others that were sometime of their way to do more to heal this Breach than they did to make it wider I mean the Synod of New-England who have published such healing Propositions about stated Synods and Infants Church Membership as hath much prepared for a Union between them and all other moderate Men And some One hath strenuously defended those Propositions against the opposition of Mr. Davenport a dissenting Brother I take this to be more for healing than the Savoy Propositions can be effectual to divide because the New-England men have not blemished their Reputation nor lost the Authority and Honour of their Judgments by any such Actions as the leading Savoyers have done § 151. When the Army had brought themselves and the Nation into utter Confusion and had set up and pull'd down Richard Cromwell and then had set up the Rump again and pull'd them down again and set up a Council of State of themselves and their Faction and made Lambert their Head next under Fleetwood whom they could use almost as they would at last the Nation would endure them no longer nor sit still while the world stood laughing them to scorn as acting over the Minster Tragedy Sir George Booth and Sir Thomas Middleton raised Forces in Cheshire and North-Wales but the Cavaliers that should have joyned with them failed them almost all over the Land a few rose in some places but were quickly ruined and came to nothing Lambert quickly routed those in Cheshire Sir Arthur Haselrigge with Col. Morley get into Portsmouth which is possessed as for the Rump Monk declareth against them in Scotland purgeth his Army of the Anabaptists and marcheth into England The Rump Party with Haselrigge divided the Army at home and so disabled them to oppose Monk who marcheth on and all are afraid of him and while he declareth himself against Monarchy for a Commonwealth he tieth the hands of his Enemies by a lie and uniteth with the City of London and bringeth on again the old ejected Members of the Parliament and so bringeth in the King Sir William Morrice his Kinsman and Mr. Clarges were his great Advisers The Earl of Manchester Mr. Calamy and other Presbyterians encouraged and perswaded him to bring in the King At first he joyned with the Rump against the Citizens and pull'd down the City Gates to master them but at last Sir Thomas Allen then Lord Mayor by the perswasion of Dr. Iacomb and some other Presbyterian Ministers and Citizens as he hath oft told me himself invited Monk into the City and drew him to agree and joyn with them against the Rump as they then called the Relicts of the Parliament And this in truth was the Act that turned the Scales and brought in the King whether the same men expected to be used as they have since been themselves I know not If they did their Self-denial was very great who were content to be silenced and laid in Gaols so they might but bring in the King After this the old Excluded Members of the Parliament meet with Monk He calleth them to sit and that the King might come in both by him and by them He agreeth with them to sit but a few days and then dissolve themselves and call another Parliament They consented and prepared for the King's Restoration and appointed a Council of State and Dissolved themselves Another Parliament is chosen which calleth in the King the Council of State having made further preparations for it For when the Question was Whether they should call in the King upon Treaty and Covenant which some thought best for him and the Nation the Council resolved absolutely to trust him Mr. A. especially perswading them so to do And when the King came in Col. Birch and Mr. Prin were appointed to Disband the Army the several Regiments receiving their Pay in several places and none of them daring to disobey No not Monk's own Regiments who brought in the King Thus did God do a more wonderful Work in the Dissolving of this Army than any of their greatest Victories was which set them up That an Army that had conquered three such Kingdoms and brought so many Armies to destruction cut off the King pull'd down the Parliament and set up and pull'd down others at their pleasure that had conquered so many Cities and Castles that were so united by Principles and Interest and Guilt and so deeply engaged as much
but in Words c. So that I was constrained to publish the truth of the Case in a sheet of Paper called An Appeal to the Light Which though it evinced the falshood of their Reports and no one Man did ever after justifie them that ever I could hear of yet did they persevere in their General Accusation and I had Letters from several Countries that the London Accusers had Written to them that I had both in the Sermon and in that Paper called An Appeal to the Light done more to strengthen Popery than ever was done by any Papists This was the reward of all my Labours from the Separating Independents § 280. So sinfully ready are Men to receive false Reports that many of sober Principles and some of my most intimate Friends believed them and were ready to second the Defamation But when-ever they came to me and debated the Case and heard me speak every Man of them confessed their Error and Misunderstanding The secret fomenters of the Accusing Reports and Quarrels did it with such Privacy and Caution as beseemed Wise Men But the open Backbiters were especially some very few more Ministers accounted earnest judicious Men But the Women and Independent Men were the chief § 281. This greatly rejoyced the Persecuting Prelatists and 1. They hence inferred That the Nonconformists were as bad a People as they had reported them and that whatever was thought Judicious or Moderate in any of my Writings Preaching or Conversation the Nonconformists had no right to any Imputation of it or Reputation by it because I was one that they disowned 2. They would hence have drawn me off from the Nonconformists telling me That I was worse spoken of and used by such than by the Prelatists To both which I answered 1. That they knew not the Nonconformists so well as I◠and that tho' the London-Separatists and a few other weak and passionate persons made all this noise yet the generality of the Ministers and sober People especially in the Countrey were of my mind 2. That all this Censure and Clamour was a very small thing in comparison of what I suffered by the Bishops who had these 13 years if not more deprived me of all Ministerial Maintenance and also forbidden me to Preach Christ's Gospel though I did it without pay and had sent me among Rogues to the Common Gaol and had deprived me much of the end of Life which is more to me than Life it self § 282. While I was thus murmured at by Backbiters Sectaries and Prelatists when the King 's Licenses were recalled as aforesaid I was the first that was apprehended by Warrant and brought before the Justices as a Conventicler One Keting an ignorant fellow had got a Warrant as Bayliff and Informer to search after Conventicles Papists and Protestants which he prosecuted with great animosity and Violence Having then left St. Iames's the Lease of the House being out I Preached only on Thursdays at Mr. Turner's and by the Act I am to be Judged by a Justice of the City or Division where I Preach but to be distreined on by Warrant from a Justice of the Division or County where I live So that the Preaching-place being in the City only a City-Justice might Judge me Keting went to many of the City-Justices and none of them would grant him a Warrant against me Therefore he went to the Justices of the County who lived near me and one Sir Iohn Medlicot and Mr. Bennet Brother to the Lord Arlington ignorant of the Law herein gave their Warrant to apprehend me and bring me before them or some other of His Majesty's Justices The Constable and Informer gave me leave to choose what Justices I would go to I went with them to seck divers of the best Justices and could find none of them at home and so spent that day in a case of pain and great Weakness in being carryed up and down in vain But I used the Informer kindly and spake that to him which his Conscience tho' a very ignorant fellow did not well digest The next day I went with the Constable and him to Sir William Poultney who made him shew his Warrant which was signed by Henry Mountague Son to the late worthy Earl of Manchester as Bayliff of Westminster Enabling him to Search after Mass-Priests and Conventiclers but I hear of no Mass-Priests save one that was ever medled with to this Day and that one delivered as we all desired Sir William shewed him and all the Company in the Act that none but a City-Justice had Power to Judge me for a Sermon Preached in the City and so the Informer was defeated As I went out of the House I met the Countess of Warwick and the Lady Lucy Mountague Sister to the said Mr. Henry Mountague and told them of the Case and Warrant who assured me That he whose Hand was at it knew nothing of it and some of them sent to him and Keting's Warrant was called in within two or three days But it proved that one Mr. Barwell Sub-Bayliff of Westminster was he that set Keting on work and gave him his Warrant and told him How good a Service it was to the Church and what he might gain by it And Barwell sharply Chid Keting for doing his work with me no more skilfully And the Lord of Arlington most sharply Chid his Brother for granting his Warrant And within a few days Mr. Barwell riding the Circuit was cast by his Horse and died in the very Fall And Sir Iohn Medlicot and his Brother a few weeks after lay both dead in his House together Shortly after Keting came several times to have spoken with Me to ask me Forgiveness and not meeting with me went to my Friends in the City with the same Words when a little before he had boasted how many Hundred pounds he would have of the City-Justices for refusing him Justice At last he found me within and would have fal'n down on his knees to me and askt me earnestly to forgive him I askt him what had changed his mind He told me that his Conscience had no peace from the hour that he troubled me And that it increased his Disquiet that no Justice would hear nor oue Constable of forty execute the warrant and all the people cryed out against him But that which set home was Mr. Barwel's Death for Sir Iohn Medlicot's he knew not of I exhorted the Man to an Universal Repentance and Reformation of Life and he told me he would never meddle in such Businesses nor trouble any Man and promised to live better himself than he had done § 283. A little before Dr. Manton's Meeting also was surprized and he having notice of it before was absent and got Mr. Bedford to preach for him For it was resolved to have sent him to the Common Goal upon the Oxford Act as a refuser of the Oath besides the penalty of a Conventicle The justices were Mr. Ball Brother to Dr. Ball Preacher
world's Experience lowdly telleth us that Clergymen are fitter to be kept by the Sword in Peace and Quietness than to be trusted with the Sword and we would not have Kings be made their Executioners For we are past doubt that the Controversies and Contentions of the Worldly Tyrannical and the self-conceited Clergy have been many hundred years more Calamitous to the Christian World than the most bloody Wars We are our selves so far from desiring Grandeur and Dominion that we would not be so much as the Pastors of any but Consenters and wish that the Clergie's State were such as neither starved or straitened the diligent Labourers nor so tempted and invited Ambitious Worldly minds as that such being the seekers must usually be the Masters of the Church who are likest to be Enemies to the holy Doctrine which condemneth them We long we pray we groan for the Concord of the Christian World And we are sure that whoever shall be the blessed and honoured Instruments of that work must do it by breaking dividing Engines and making the primitive simplicity the terms of Vnion even a few plain certain necessary things while the Sword of the Magistrate constraineth the turbulent to peace and mutual forbearance in the rest We are not for cruelty to any We greatly approve of your Majesties Aversness to persecution But we believe that it is the Learning Godliness and Concord of the Ministry which shall be publickly settled by your Laws which must be the chief means of preserving Religion Loyalty and Peace and therefore must deeply resent it that we are rendered so unserviceable in that kind and that well meaning men should so long misunderstand our cause and judge defame and use us as if we were the hinderers of that sweet agreement which our Souls most earnestly desire and would purchase by any Lawful price In summ the belief of the Heavenly Glory through Christ kindling the Love of God and Man and teaching us to live Soberly Righteously and Godly and the Government of Magistrates keeping all in peace upon these terms is the Religion and State that we desire And the grief of our Souls for the present Divisions doth call up our thankful remembrance that once by your Majesty's favour we were Commissioned to speak for our selves about the old Conformity and to treat with your Bishops for such Alterations as were necessary to our Concord And that your Majesty published so Gracious a Declaration of Ecclesiastical Affairs as had it lived had prevented our present fractions yea that your House of Commons gave your Majesty the publick Thanks for your healing means Tho now some take all our Divisions and Distractions to be a smaller evil than the Terms of that your Majesty's Declaration would be And if ever your favour allow us to speak for our selves also as to the New Conformity and to open to the world the matter and reasons of our Nonconformity we cannot doubt but it would much abate the Censures and Injuries of Multitudes that understand us not and consequently abate their guilt and all unbrotherly Distances and Schisms and Men's unthankful dislike of your Majesty's Clemency And so far as God by your Majesty's favour shall open our Lips that our mouths may shew forth his praise we shall be obliged to greater thankfulness to your Majesty and to pray for your pious and prosperous Reign and that we may all live a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty as becometh your Majesty's Loyal Subjects § 289. While the said two Bishops were fraudulently seeming to set us on this Treaty their cause required them outwardly to pretend that they would not have me troubled but understand I was still the first that was haunted after and persecuted And even while I was in this Treaty the informers of the City set on work by the Bishops were watching my preaching and contriving to load me with divers convictions and fines at once And they found an Alderman Justice even in the Ward where I preached sit for their Design one Sir Thomas Davis who understood not the Law but was ready to serve the Prelates in their own way To him Oath was made against me and the place where I preached as for two Sermons which came to threescore pounds fine to me and fourscore to the owner of the place where we assembled But I only was sought after and prosecuted § 290. The Reader must here understand the present case of the City as to such things The Execution of these Laws that were to ruine us for preaching was so much against the hearts of the Citizens that scarce any could be found to execute them Tho the Corporation Oath and Declaration had new moulded the City and all the Corporations of the Land except some few as Taunton c. which were utterly dissolved by it yet were the Aldermen for the most part utterly averse to such Imployment so that whenever an Informer came to them tho they forfeited an 100l every time that they refused to execute their Office yet some shifted out of the way and some plainly denyed and repulsed the Accusers and one was sued for it And Alderman Forth got an Informer bound to the behaviour for breaking in upon him in his Chamber against his will Two fellows called Strowd and Marishal became the General Informers in the City and some others under them In all London notwithstanding that the third parts of those great Fines might be given the Informers very few would be found to do it And those two were presently fallen upon by their Creditors on purpose and Marishal laid in the Compter for Debt where he remained for a considerable time but Strowd keeping a Coffee-House was not so deep in debt but was bailed Had a Stranger of another Land come into London and seen five or six poor ignorant sorry Fellows unworthy to have been inferiour Servants to an Ordinary Gentleman hunting and insulting over the ancient Aldermen and the Lord Mayor himself and all the Reverend faithful Ministers that were ejected and eighty nine Churches were destroyed by the Fire and in many Parishes the Churches yet standing could not hold a sixth or tenth part of the People yet those that Preached for nothing were prosecuted to utter ruin with such unwearied eagerness sure he would have wondered what these Prelates and Prosecutors are and it may convince us that the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given in Scripture to some Men translated false Accusers is not unmeet When Men pretending to be the Fathers of the Church dare turn loose half a dosen paltry silly Fellows that know not what they do to be to so many Thousand Sober Men as Wolves among the Sheep to the distraction of such a City and the disturbance of so many thousand for worshipping God How lively doth this tell us that Satan the Prince of the Aereal Powers worketh in the Children of Disobedience and that his Kingdom on Earth is kin to Hell as Christ's
Mother the old Lady 〈◊〉 died at my Father's House between Eighty and One Hundred years old And my Mother-in-Law died at Ninety six of a Cancer in 〈…〉 having lived from her youth in the greatest Mortification 〈◊〉 to her Body and 〈…〉 of Prayer and all Devotion of any one that ever I knew In the hatred of all sin strictness of Universal obedience and for Thirty years longing to be with Christ In constant daily acquired infirmity of body got by avoiding all Exercise and long secret prayer in the coldest Seasons and such like but of a constitution naturally strong afraid of recovering when ever she was ill For some days before her death she was so taken with the Ninty first Psalm that she would get those that came near her to read it to her over and over which Psalm also was a great means of Comfort to Old Beza even against his Death § 68. Soon after dyed Iane Matthews aged Seventy six My House-keeper fourteen years though mean of quality very eminent in Kiderminster and the parts about for Wisdom Piety and a holy Sober Righteous Exemplary Life And many of my Old Hearers and Flock at Kiderminster dyed not long before Among whom a mean Freeholder Iames Butcher of Wanmerton hath left few equal to him for all that seemeth to approach perfection in a plain Man O how many holy Souls are gone to Christ out of that one Parish of Kiderminster in a few years and yet the Number seemeth to increase § 69. The Book which I published called The Poor Man's Family Book was so well accepted that I found it a useful work of Charity to give many of them with the Call to the Vnconverted abroad in many Countries where neither I nor such others had leave to Preach and many Hundreds since with good success § 70. The times were so bad for selling Books that I was fain to be my self at the charge of Printing my Methodus Theologiae some friends contributed about Eighty pounds towards it It cost me one way or other about Five hundred pounds About Two hundred and fifty pounds I received from those Non-conformists that bought them The Contrary party set themselves to hinder the sale of it because it was mine tho' else the Doctrine of it being half Philosophical and half Conciliatory would have pleased the Learned part of them But most lay it by as too hard for them as over Scholastical and exact I wrote it and my English Christian Directory to make up one Compleat Body of Theology The Latin one the Theory and the English one the Practical part And the latter is commonly accepted because less difficult § 71. My short piece against Popery called The Certainty of Christianity without Popery proved of use against Infidels as well as Papists But most deceived men will not be at the labour to study any thing that is distinct and exact but take up with the first appearances of things § 72. The Miserable State of Youngmen in London was a great trouble to my mind Especially Rich men's Sons and Servants Merchants and Lawyers Apprentices and Clarks carried away by the flesh to drinking Gluttony Plays Gaming Whoring Robbing their Masters c. I wrote therefore a smal Tractate for such called Compassionate Counsel to Young men Sir Robert Atkins contributed towards the charge of Printing it and I gave of them in City and Country One thousand five hundred besides what the Bookseller sold But few will read it that most need § 73. About this time dyed my dear friend Mr. Thomas Gouge of whose Life you may see a little in Mr. Clark's last book of Lives A wonder of sincere industrie in works of Charity It would make a Volume to recite at large the Charity he used to his poor Parishioners at Sepulchres before he was Ejected and Silenced for Non-conformity His Conjunction with Alderman Ashurst and some such others in a weekly Meeting to take account of the honest poor samilles in the City that were in great want he being the Treasures and Visiter his voluntary Catechizing the Christ's Church boyes when he might not preach The many thousand Bibles Printed in Welsh that he dispersed in Wales The Practice of Piety The Whole Duty of Man My Call and many thousands of his own Writing given freely all over Wales his setting up about Three hundred or Four hundred Schools in Wales to teach Children only to read and the Catechise his industry to beg money for all this besides most of his own Estate laid out on it His Travels over Wales once or twice a year to visite his Schools and see to the Execution This was true Episcopacy of a silenced Minister who yet went constantly to the Parish Churches and was authorized by an old University License to Preach occasionally and yet for so doing was Excommunicate even in Wales while he was doing all this good He served God thus to a healthful age Seventy four or seventy six I never saw him sad but always chearful About a fort-night before he dyed he told me that sometime in the night some small trouble came to his heart he knew not what And without sickness or pain or fear of death they heard him in his sleep give a groan and he was dead O how holy and blessed a Life and how easie a Death § 74. Finding the Success of my Family Dialogue I wrote a second part 1681 and 1682 called The Catechising of Housholds teaching Housholders how to instruct their Families Expounding First the Law of Nature Secondly The Evidence of the Gospel Thirdly the Creed Fourthly the Lord's Prayer Fifthly the Commandments Sixthly the Ministry Seventhly Baptism Eighthly the Lord's Supper It is suited to those that are Past the common little Catechism And I think these two Family-books to be of the greatest Common use of any that I have published If Houshoulders would but do their parts in reading good books to their Houshoulds it might be a great Supply where the Ministry is defective and no Ministry will serve sufficiently without Men's own Endeavours for themselves and families § 75. Having been for retirement in the Countrey from Iuly till August 14. 1682 returning in great weakness I was able only to Preach twice of which the last was in my usual Lecture in New-street and it fell out to be August 24. just that day twenty year that I and near Two thousand more had been by Law forbidden to Preach any more I was sensible of God's wonderful mercy that had kept so many of us Twenty years in so much Liberty and Peace while so many severe Laws were in force against us and so great a number were round about us who wanted neither malice nor power to afflict us And so I took that day my leave of the Pulpit and publick Work in a thankful Congregation And it is like indeed to be my last § 76. But after this when I had ceased Preaching I was being newly risen from Extremity of