418 / 846
38¢
The
L
IFE
ofthe
I.III.Iö
ble me to preach to
them,
or converfe
with them, and being
fo
infirm
as
not
to
be
like
to bear the Voyage
and
change
of
Air
:
There, with other
Impediments
which God
laid
in
my
way,
kindred me from putting my Thoughts
in Execu-
tion.
5
275. About this
time
alfo
it
was famed
at the Court that I
was
married, which
went
as
the matter
of
a
moll
heinous
Crime, which I never
heard charged by them
on any Man but on
me. Bifhop
Morley
divulged
it with
all
the Odium
he could
poflibly
put upon it
:
telling them that one in Conference with biro,
I laid
that
Minifers
marriage
is
[lawful,
and
but
lawful]
as
if
I
were
now
contradiáing
my
-f
if.
And
it
every where rung about, partly
as
a
Wonder
,
and partly
as a
Crime,
whilíl
they
cried, [This ìt
the
Manof
Charity
]:
little knowing what they talkt
of.
Infomuch that at latt the Lord Chancellour
told me,
Hé
heard
I
was
married, and
wondered at
it,
when I told him it
was
not
true
:
For
they had affirmed it
near -a
year
before
it
came to
pats.
And
I
think the King's Marriage
was
fcarce more
talk-
ed
of
than mine.
§
276. All this
while Mr.
Colony
and
fome
other
Miniufers had been endeavour-
ing
with
thofe
that
they had Interelt in, and
to try if
the Parliament
would
pari
the
King's Declaration into
a
Law
;
and fometimesthey had
Tome
hope from the Lord
Chancellour and others: but when it came to the trial, their
hopes all failed
them;
and the Conformity impofed
was
made
ten
times more burdenfome than
it
ever
was before.
For
betides
that,the Convocation
had made the Common Prayer
Book
more grievous than
before,
the Parliament
made
a
new A&
of
Uniformity
,
with
a new Form
of
Subfcription, and
a
new
Declaration robe made
againi
the
Obli-
gation
of
the
Covenant
;
of
which more anon.
So
that the
King's Declaration did
not
only die before
it
came to Execution, and all Hopes and Treaties
and
Petitions
were
not
only disappointed, but
a
weight more
grievous than
a Thoulànd Cerenío-
nies was added to the old
Conformity, with
a
grievous Penalty.
277. By this means
there
was
a great Unanimity
in
the Minillers, and the
greater Number were call out
:
And
as
far
as
I
could perceive, it
was
by fome de-
igned
that it might
be
fo.
Many
a
timedid we befeech
them that they would have
fo
much regard
to
the
Souls
of
Men, and
to
the Honour
of
England,
and
of
the
Proteftant
Religion,
as
that without any neceflity
at all,
they would
not
impofe
feared Perjury upon them, nor that which Confcience, and Common Efteem, and
Pupils
Adverfaries would all
cal
Pe
jury;
that Papilla might not
have
this to call
in our Teeth,
and call the
Ptoteltanrs
a
Perjured People,
nor
England
or
Scotland
Perjured Lands. Oft
have we proved to
them that their
Carle
and
Interell requi-
red
no
Each
thing
:
But all was but
calling Oyl
upon
the
Flames,and forcing
us
to
think
of
that Monfier
of
Milian,
that
made
his
Enemy renounce God to
rave
his
Life, before
he
ttabb'd him, that
he
might murder
Soul
and Body
at a Broke. lc
Seemed
to
be
accounted the
one
thing neceffary, which no Reafon mutt
be
heard
againft, that the
Presbyterians
mutt
be
forced to do that which they accounted
Publick
Perjury, or
to
be call out
of Trutt
and
Office,
in Church and Common-
wealth. And
by this means
a far
greater Number
were laid by,
than
otherwife
would
have
been;
and
the
few
that
yielded to Conformity they
thought
would be
defpicable and
contemptible
as
long
as
they
lived.
A Noble
Revenge, and worthy
of
the A
&ors.
§
2.78.
When the A&
of Uniformity
was puffed,
it
gave all
the
Miniffers
that
could
not
Conform, no longer time
than
till Barrbolamew
day
,
Augufl
24. 1662.
and then they mutt
be all
call
out
:
(This
fatal
Day
called
to
remembrance
the
M
or
French
Maffacre, when on the
fame
Day
.
3000o
or
4ouoo Proteftants perilhed
by
r00000,
as
Religious
Roman
Zeal
and Charity).
I
had
no
place,butonly that I preached twice
Pet.moulin
a
Week
by Requeltin other Men's Congregations
(at
Milkftreer
and
Blackfriars
),
ithinsth,
and the
Tall
Sermon that ever
I preached
in Publick
was
on
May
2.F.
The
Rea
rthm a
fops
why I
gave over fooner
than molt
others
was,
r.
Becaufe
Lawyers did inter
-
few
weeks.
Y
g
y
pret
a
doubtful
Glaulè
in the A&,
as
ending the Liberty
of
Le
&users
at
that
time
z.
Becaufe
I
would let
Authority loon know, that I intended to obey
them
in
all
that
was
lawful.
3.
Becaufe
I
would let all Minifters
in
England
underftand in
time, whether
I
intended to Conform or
not
:
For
had
I
flayed to
the lalt day,
forte would
have
Conformed the
fooner,
upon
a
Suppolition
that
I
intended
it.
Thefe,. with other
Realons, moved me to
ceafe
three Months
before Bar-
tholomew-day,
which many
censured me
for
a
while, but after, better
faw
the Rea
-
fòns
of
it,
§
z79