54 / 846
20
The
L
I
F
E
of
the
L
t
B.
I,
laughter, and perfwaded them that he underftood not
the
very Subitantial
Articles,
of
Chriftianity
;
that he
frequented
Alehoufes,
and had
fometimes been
drunk;
that
he
tamed the
Table Alter
-wife, &c.
with more
filch
as
this.
The
Vicar had a
Curate
under him
in
the
Town
whom they
alto accufed ;
and
a
Curate at
a
Chap-
pel in the Parifh,
a
common
Tippler
and aDrunkard,
a
railing Quarreller;
an
ig-
norant
infufficient
Man, who
(as
I
found
by Examining him) underftood
not the
common Points
of
the Childrens Catechifm, but
laid
Come
good words
to them
fometimes
out
of
Mufcules's CommonPlaces
in
Englifh
, which
was
almoll the only
Book
he
had; and
his
Trade
in theWeek
-days was
unlawful Marriages.
The
Peo-
ple
put their Petition
into the
Hands
of
Sir
Henry Herbert
Burgefs
for
Bewdley,
a
Town
two
miles
dillant.
The
Vicar knowing
his
infufftciency
,
and hearing
how
two
others
in
his Cafe had fped, defired
tocompound the
Bufsnefs
with them
;
and
by the mediation
of
Sir
Henry Herbert,
and others,
it
was
broughtto
this,
That
he
fhould inflead
of
his
prefent
Curate in the Town,
allow 6o
I.
per
Annum
to
a
Prea-
t:her
whom fourteen
of
them nominated,
fhould
choofe
;
and
that
he fhould
net
hinder
this
Preacher from preaching whenever he pleafed,and
that
he himfelf fhould
read Common Prayer, and
do all
elfe
that
was
to
be
done
:
and
fo they preferred
not
their Petition againft him, nor againft
his Curates,
but
he
kept
his
Place, which
was
worth to
him near zoo
I. per
Ann.
allowingthat
6o
1.
out of
it
to
their Lecturer.
To
perform this he
gave a Bond
of
soo
1.
Thefe things being
thus finifhed, fòme
of
them
defired
old
Mr.
Lapthorn
(a
fa-
mous
Man,
tuned
from Nonconformity by
King
gamer
)
to
come and
preach
with them on
trial to be their Lecturer
:
Mr.
Laptborn's
roughnefs
and great imme-
thodicalnefs, and digrefltons, fo offended
the intelligentleading Parry, that
they
rejeóted
him fomewhatuncivilly,
to
his
great difpleafure.
Hereupon they invited
me
to
them from
Bridgnortb
:
The
Bailiff
of
the
Town,
and
all
the
Feoffees defired me
to
preach
with
them,
in order to a
full
determinati-
on.
My mind
was
much to the place
as
foon
as
it
was defcribed
to
me;
becaufe
it
was a full
Congregation, and molt convenient Temple
;
an ignorant, rude and
revelling People
for the greater part, who
had need
of
preaching
;
and yet had
a-
mong them
a
(Mall
Company
of
Converts,
who
were humble,
godly,
and
of good
Converfations,
and
not much
hated by the reft
,
and
therefore the fitter
to
aft
their
Teacher;
but above
all, becaufe
they had hardly ever
had any lively, ferious
preaching among them
:
For
Bridgnortb
had made me refolve
that
I
would never
more
go
among
a
People
that
had been hardened
in
unprofitablenefs
under an
a-
wakening
Mind-try
;
but
either to
filch
as
never had any convincing Preacher,
or
to
filch
as
had profited by him.
As
foon
as
I
came to
Kiderminfter,
and
had
preach-
ed there oneday, I
was
chofen
Nemine eentradicente,
(
for though fourteen
only
had the power
of
choofing, they defired
to
pleafe
the
refs).
And
thus
I
was
brought
by
the
gracions Providence
of God,
to that
place
which
had the chiefeft
of
my Labours,
and
yielded me the greateft Fruits
of Comfort. And
I
noted
the
mercy
of God in
this,
that
I
never
went to any
place
in
my
Life
,
among
all
my
Changes, which
I
had
beforedefired,
deigned
or thought of
(
much
lets
looght)
;
but
only to thole
that
I
never thought
of,
till the fudden
Invitation did furprize
me.
4
3o.
When
I
had been here a while, in the beginning
of
yary,
the two
Fami-
lies
which
I
had lati
lived
in,
at
Dudley
and
Bridgnortb,
were at once
vifited
with
Sicknefs,
and they both
fent
for
me
(
upon
a
conceit of my
skill
in
Phyfick
)
,
but
being
from home I
went to neither of
them
;
and
it
proved
a
molt
contagious ma-
lignantFever next the
Plague
;
Mrs.
Foley
and fome
of
her Family died: and
Mr.
Madéitard,
his
Wife, and a
Gentlewoman that
lived
with them,
died
within
a
day
or two
each
of
other. Being
with my
old
Friend Mr.
William Rowley,
the
fad
Meffage
came to
us
(Mr.
Maclellan'
being
his
Kinfman)
and
I
went with him
to
the Funeral, and preached
his
Funeral Sermon
in fo
deep
a fenfe
of the
mifery
of
that
unprofitable People, and the deep groans which
I
have
heard from their faith-
ful
Pallor,
for
their obduratenefs,
that I
could
not forbear to tell them my
fears
of
tome heavy
Judgment
to
come upon
that
place,
which
they
were more capa-
ble
of
laying to
heart than their Paftor's death.
I
had
never
before
(nor
ever
did
I
lince) pretume
upon
fuch kind
of
Predictions,
(nor
did
I'
fpeak
that
with
any
pretence
of Prophefe)
.
but the
expreffion
of
that
fear
I
could
not
then
fúpprefs :
My
Text
was Ezek.
33. 33.
And
when
thee cometb to
pa/
(loe
it
well
come)
then flask
they
bow
that a
Prophet
barb
been
among them.
And when the War
was
begun
, the
Town (being
againft
the Parliament)
was a
Garrifon
for
the King, kept
by
the
Neighbour Gentlemen
of
the Country
;
who
fortified
the Caille, and when
the
Par-