PA It T II. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. 403 242. And now our Calamities began to be much greater than before : We were called all by the Name of Presbyterians ( the odious Name ) : though we never put up one PetitionforPresbytery, butpleaded for Primitive Epifcopacy. We were reprefented in the common talk of thole who thought it their Inrerefttobeour Ad. verfaries, as the molt Seditious People, unworthy to be ufed like Men , or to enjoy our common Liberty among them. We could not go abroad but we met with daily Reproaches and falfe Stories of us : Either we were feigned to he Plotting, or to be Difaffeaing the People, &c. AndnoSermon that 'preached, fcarce efèaped the Cenfureof being Seditious, though I preached only for Repentance and Fait , and Morality and Common Vertue, yea, if it were-againft Difobedience and Se- dition, all was one as to my Eftimation with thofe Men. And the great Increa(er of all this was,. that there werea multitude of Students that ftudiedfor Preferment, and many Gentlemen that aimed at their Riling in the World, who found out quickly what was moft pleafing to thole whofe Favour they muff rifeby, and to let-themfelves induftriouffy to Reviling, Calumniating and Cruelty, againft all thole whom they perceived to be odious! And he that can but convince aworld- ly Generation of any thing that's the ready way to their Preferment, !hall be fore to have it clofely followed, and throughly done withall their might. § 243. Before and about this time many Books ( if fo they may be called ) were written againft me. One by Mr. Naafen (forementioned ) a Juftice of Peace in Worse;erfhire, who being a great Friend of the Papifts, had fpokenagainft me on the Bench atthe Seffions behindmy back, as the Author of a Petition againft Po- pery heretofore : and was angry with me forevincing to him his miftake, remeti- ty and injúftice : And when he rawhistime, he had nothing elfeto be the fewel of his Revenge, but thatvery Book which ¡wrote againft the Papilis:'and there- in againft the killing of the King, which I aggravated againft the Army and the Popifh Inftigators'and Aaors: But becaufe in Anfwerto the Papifts, I made their Doctrine and Praaife of, King killing to be work than thefe Sectaries were guilty -of, and thereupon recited what the Sectaries faid for themfelves, which the Jefuites ,have not to fay ; -. he tookup all thefe Reafons of the Seaaries, and anfwered them as if they had been my own, and I had, pleaded for that, which I Condemned by writing ín a time when it might have colt me my Life, when the Gendeman that thus would have proved me aTraytor, did hirnfèlf as under the Ufùrpers, and took their Impofitions, which we abhorred and refuted. 4 244. And here IIhallinfèrta Paffage:not contemptible concerning the Papifts, becautel am fall'n into the mentionof them. In Cromnells days, when I was writing that very Book, and my Holy Commonwealth, andwas chargingtheir Trea- fans and Rebellions on the Army, one Mr. yams, Stamfreld, a Reverend Minifter of Glocefterfbire, called on me, and tod me a Story i which afterwards he fene me under his Hand, andwarranted me to publifh it i which was this.: One Mr. Atkins of Glocefterflare, Brother. toJudge Atkins, being beyond Sea, with others that had ferved the late King, fell into intimate acquaintance with a Prieft, that had been (orthen was) Governour of one of their Colledges in Flanders:They agreed, not to meddle with each other about Religion, and fo continued their Friendlhip long. A little after the King was beheaded, Mr. Atkins met this Prieft in London, and going into a Tavern with him, faM to him in his familiar way, [What bufméeß haveyou bere? I warrantyou come aboutfome Rogueryorother I. Where- upon the Prieft told it him as a great fecret, [That there were Thirty of them bere in London, who by laftruitions fromCardinal'Mazarine,. didtake care of f ch Affàirsjand badfate inCouncil, anddebatedthe Queftion, Whether the. King (buildbe put to death or not ? and that it was carried in the Affirmative,and there were but two Voices far theNega- tive, which was his own and another, : And tbat for his part be could not concur: -wich them , asforefeeìng what mìféry this would bringupon his Country!. That Mr. Atkin, flood to the Truth of this, but thought it a Violation of the Laws of Friendlhip, to name the Man. I.would not print it without fuller Atteftation, leftit lhould be a wrong to the Papifts. But when the King-was ,rel'tored and felled inPeace, Itold -it occafionly toa Privy Councellor, who not advifing me to meddleany further in it, becaufe the King knew enough of Mazarine's Delignsalready, -: I let it alone. But about this time I met with Dr.ThomasGoad, and occafionally mentioning fuch a thing,he [told me that hewas familiarly-acquainted withMr. Atkins, and would know- the cer- tainty of him, whether it were true: Andnot long after meeting him again, he told me that he fpoke with Mr. Atkins, and that he affured him that it was true : but
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