PA R T II. Revereiid Mr. Richard Baxter. '372 it wascharged upon them that I had perfwaded them to refute this Declaration; till it was manifeft that I had never once fpoke a word to them aboutit, nor writ- ten one Line to them about that or any thing elfe, of a long time : At flint a di- fiance were we forced to remain. § 25f. Aftera fhort time the Lord Windfor, who was Lord Lieutenant of the County (and Governour of Jamaica), bought a Houfe in the Town, and lived among them ; ( as molt thought,to watch over them as a dangerous People) which turned to their great Relief: For before his coming, they were many of them prifoned, and hardly ufed; but when he livedamong them, and faw theirhonelf:y and innocency, they have had Three years of as great quietnels and liberty, ra, any place I know in the Land: When he firft came thither I was there, and went to wait upon him, and told him (truly) that I was glad of his coming for my Neighbour's fakes : for an innocent People are never fo fafe as under their Gover hour's. Eye ; teeing Slanders have their power moft on ftrangers that are unac- quainted with the perfons or the things. § 256. Jut} at the time that the Bithop was Silencing me, it was famed at Lon - don that I was in the North, in the Head of a Rebellion ! And at Kidderwinfter I was accufed, becaufe there was a Meeting of many Mininers at my Houfe; which was no morethan they knew had been their confiant Cufiom many a year, to vi- fit me, or dine with me. And while we were at Dinner, it fell out that by pub- lick Order, the Covenant was to be burnt in the Market-place , and it was done under my Window : and the Attendancewas fo final], that we knew not of it till afterwards : Yet becaufe I had preached the Morning before ( which as I re- member was my laft Sermon there) upon Chrilt's words on the Crofs [Father for- give them ; for they know not what they do] I was accufed of it as a heinous Crime, as having preachedagainft the burning of the Covenant : which I never medled with, nor was it done till after the Sermon, nor did I know when it was done, nor mind it ; nor did I apply the Text to any Matters of thofe prefent Times ; but only in general to perfwade the Hearers to the forgiving of Injuries, and main- taining Charity, in the midst of the greaten Temptations to the contrary : and to remember that it seas the Tempter's Deign, by every wrong which they received, to get advantagefor the weakening of their Love to thofe that did it ; which therefore they Mould with double care maintain. This was the true !cope of that Sermon which deferved Death or Banifiunent, as all my Pacificatory Endeavours had done. § 257. When I came back to London, my Book called [The Mifchiefs of Self -igno- rame and Benefits of Self-acgaaintance] was coming out of the Pref.; : And my af- feetion to myPeople of Kidderminfler roofed me, by a fhort Epinle .. to diredt is to them, and becaufe I could never after tell them publickly (being Silenced) I told them here the occafion of my removal from them, and my filencing; for brevity fumming up the principal things in my Charge. And becaufe I Paid [TIM was the Caufe] the Bilhop tookadvantage, as if I had Paid, Thea was the whole Caaf ] when the Conference between him and mewas half an hour long, and not fit to be wholly inferred in a fhort Epiftle, where I intended nothing but the film. But the Bifhop took occafion hereupon togather upall that ever he could fay to make me odious, and efpec)ally out of my Holy Commonwealth, and our Conference at theSavoy; where he gathered up a fcrap of an Affertion which he did not duly underhand, andmade it little lets than Heretic ; and this hepublifhed in a Book called. A Letter ; which I truly profels, is the fullçn of palpableUntruths in Mat; ter of Faét, that ever I fawPaper, to my remembrance in all my Life. The words which he would render me foabhorred for, are our denial of Dr. Pierfon's and Dr: Gunning's &c. Propofitions, about the innocency of Laws which command Things evil by Accident only : where the Bithop never difcerned (unlefs he diffemble it) the Reafons of our Denial, nor the Proportion denied : The very words of the Difputebeing printed before, and I having fully opened the Bilhops .Mifakes, in an Anfwer to him, I(hall not here hop the Reader with it again. § 258. But this vehement InveStiveof the Bithop's prefantly taught all that de fired hisFavour, and the improvement of his very great Intereft for their Ends, to` talk in all Companies at the fame rates as he had done, and to fpeakof me as he had fpoken, and Bofe that thought more was neceffary ro their hopes, prefented the Service of their Pens. Dr. Bareman of Trinity Collage wrote a Book, without his Name, and had no other deign in it than to make me odious ; nor any better occafion for his writing. than this : There had many years before pan..divers Papers C c c - between
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