49 / 846
PART l.
Reverend
Mr. Richard
Baxrer;
á
the placedefcribed,
I
perceived
it
was
the
fin-eft
for me
;
for there was
jiff
filch
Employment
as
I
deified,
and
could fubmit to,
withoutthat which I templed, and
with
time
probability
of
peace and quietnefs.
The
Mintfter of the place
was
Mr.
William
Madflard,
a
grave and fevere
Anci-
ent Divine, very honeft and confcionable, and an excellent Preacher, but tome-
what
of iEted
with want
of
Maintenance, and much more with
a
dead- hearted
unprofitable People.
The Town
Maintenance
being
inconfderable,
he took
the
Parfonage
of
Oldbury
near the
Town,
a
Village
of
fcarce twenty Routes, and fo
defired me to
be
one
half
day in
the Town,
and the other at the
Village ;
but
my Lot
after
fell
out to be moftly in the
Town. The
place
is
priviledged
from
all Epifcopal Jurifdi
&ion,
except-
the Archbifhop's
Triennial
Vifitation.
There
are
fix
Parishes
together, two in the
Town,
and four
in the Country, that
have
all
this Priviledge.
At
Bridgnortb
they
have
an
Ordinary
of
their own, who,
as
an
Of-
ficial,
keepeth
a
confant
Ecclefiaftical
Court,
having
the Jurifdi
&ión
of
chore fix
Parilhes.
This reverend
and good
man, Mr.
Madfìard, was
both
Pallor
and
Offi-
cial,
the Place
ufually
going along with
that
of
the
Preacher
of
that Town (though
feparable
)
:
By
which
means
I
had
a
very
full
Congregation to preach to
,
and
rÉ
freedom from
all thofe
thingswhich
I
fcrupled
or thought
unlawful;
I
ofteri
read
the
Common Prayer
before
I
preached, both on
the Lord's
-days
and 'Holy
-days
;
but
Inver
adminiftred the Lord'sSupper,
nor
ever Baptized
any Child with
the
Sign
of
the Crofs, nor ever wore the Surplice, nor
was ever
put to
appear at any
Bilhop's
Court.
But the People
proved
a
very
ignorant, dead
-
hearted People,
(
the
Town
con-
lifting too much
of
Inns and
Alehoufes,
and having no general
Trade to
imploy
the Inhabitantsin, which
is
the undoing of great
Towns):
fo
that though through
the
great
Mercy
of
God, my firlt
Labours were
not
without
Succefs,
to the Con
-
verfion
of
Tome
ignorant
carelefs Sinners
unto God, and were
over
-
valued by thofe
that
were already regardful
of
the Concernments
of
their
Souls,
yet were
theynot
to
fuccefsful
as
they proved afterwards in other
places.
Though
I
was
in the
fer
your
of
my Affections, and
never
any
where preached with more vehement
de-
fires
of
Mens Converfion
(
and I account my Liberty with-
that,
meafure
of
Suc-
eels
which
I
there had,
to
be a
Mercy which
I
can never
be
fufficiently
thankful
for)
yet with the
generality anApplaufe
of
the
Preacher was muff
of
the fucceft
of
the Sermon which
I
could
hear
of;
and their tipling and
ill
company and dead
-
heartednefs quickly
drowned
all.
§
zz. Whilft
I
hereexercifed the
first
Labours
of
my Miniftry, two
feveral.
Af-
faults
did
threaten my Expulfion:
The
one was a new
Oath,
which
was
made by
Ae.0
4ei
the Convocation,
commonly
called
The
Er cetera
Oath
:
For it
was
to
fwear
us
all,
That
we would never
Confent
to the Alteration
of
-the prefent
Government
of
the
Church,
by
ArcbbJhopo, Bifhopa,
Deans, Arch-deacons,
&c. This raft the Minifters through-
out
England
into
a
Divifron,and new
Difputes. Some woúld take
the
Oath,
and.
Tome
would not.
Thofe that were for it,
laid,
That
Epifcopacy
was
yure Divino, and
alto
fettled
by
a
Law, and therefore
if
the
Sovereign
Power
required it, we
might
well fwear
that
we would nevercontent
to
alter
it;
and the King's Approbation
of
thefe Ca-
nons made them fuffrcientlyobligatory
unto
us.
Thofe that were
againft ir,
laid,
s.
That
Epifcopacy
was
either
contra
jai
Divi-
seam,
or at
beft
not
jure
Divino,
and therefore mutable when the
King and
Par-
liament
pleated.
z.
Or
at
lean that it
was
undeniable,
That
Archbifhops, and Deans,
and Chap
-;
ters,
and
Arch
-
deacons
&.
were not
all
jure
Divino:
nay,that
the
Englifh
frame
of
Diocefans having
many hundred Parilh Churches tinder one
Bithop
in fini graduss,
was not
only againft the
Word
of
God, but
deftruetive
of
all
the
Epifcopacy
which
was known
in the Church at
leafs
for
zoo
years.
;.
They
raid
that it
was
intolerable
to
fwear
to
a
blind Et cetera
;
for litterally
it
included
all
the
Officers
of
the
Ecelefiafiieal
Courts
that
are
now in
Exer=
cite
of
the Government
;
Lay
-
Chancellors
(
that ate the
Keys for
Excommunica-
tion and Abfolution)
Surrogates, Commiffaries,
Officials
, and the reit. And
was
it
ever
known that all the Clergy
was
fworn
to
fuch an Anomalous Rab-
ble?
4.
They
laid
that
for ought they knew this Goverment
in
whole,
or
in tome
part,
might
be
altered by
the King and Parliament
by
a Law
:
And
to
tie
up our
(elves
by
an
Oath that
we would neverobey filch
a
Law, nor confent to that which
the
King
night
command
us,
this they thought
was
a Bond
of
Difobedience,
next
to
a
Rebellion.
y. They