LIFE OF RICHARD BAXTER. 59 The war, which hadbeen opened a fewweeks, wasnow actively carried on in Baxter's immediate vicinity. The army of the king, commanded by his nephew, Prince Rupert, and that of theparlia- ment, commanded by the earl of Essex, met in the county of Worcester ; and the first considerable battle in that long contest, the battle of Edghill, was fought on a Lord's day, (October 23d,) within Baxter's hearing, while he was preaching in thepulpit of a friend at Alcester, a few miles distant from the scene ofconflict. In suchcircumstances, he felt that the peaceful prosecution of his work at Kidderminster was not to be thought of. " For my- self," he says, "I knewnot what courseto take. To live at home, I was uneasy ; but especially now, when soldiers on one side or other would be frequently among us, and we must still be at the mercy of every 'furious beast that would make a prey of us. I had neither money nor friends : I knew not who would receive me in any place of safety; nor had I any thing to satisfy them for my diet and entertainment. Hereupon I was persuaded, by one that was with me, togo toCoventry, where one ofmy old acquaintance, Mr. Simon King, was minister; so thither I went, with a purpose to stay there till one side or other had got the victory, and the war was ended, and then to return home again ; for so wise in matters ofwar was I, and all the countrybeside, that we commonly sup- posed that a very few days or weeks, by one other battle, would end the wars ; and I believe that no small number ofthe parlia- ment men had no more wit than to think so too. There I stayed at Mr. King's a month ; but the war was then as far from being likely to end as before. "While I was thinking what course to take in this necessity, the committee and governor of the city desired me to stay with them, and lodge in the governor's house, and preach to the soldiers. The offer suited well with my necessities ; but I resolved that I would not be chaplain to a regiment, nor take a commission ; yet, if the mere preaching,of a sermon once or twice a week to the garrison would satisfy them, Iwould accept ofthe offer, till I could go home again. Here I lived in the governor's house, and followed my studies as quietly as in a time of peace, for about a year; preach- ing once a week to the soldiers, and once, on the Lord's day, to the people ; not taking of any of them a penny foreither, save my diet only. " Meanwhile the war, insteadofbeing brought to a conclusion, was spreading its horrors over the whole land. A few counties were so decidedly for the parliament, and a few others so decidedly for the king, that they enjoyed comparative rest ; elsewhere every Narrative, Part I. pp. 43, 44.
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