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 Voyageand 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 onme. 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 Marriagewas fcarce more talk- ed of than mine. § 276. All this while Mr. Colony and fomeother Miniufers had been endeavour- ingwith thofe that they had Interelt in, and to try ifthe 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 impofedwas made ten times more burdenfome than it ever was before. For betides that,the Convocationhad made the Common Prayer Book more grievous than before, the Parliament made a new A&ofUniformity , with a new Form of Subfcription, and a newDeclaration robe made againithe 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 thana Thoulànd Cerenío- nies was added to the oldConformity, 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 ofEngland, 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 Pejury; 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 madehis 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 theone thing neceffary, which no Reafon mutt be heard againft, that the Presbyterians mutt be forced to do that which they accounted Publick Perjury, or tobe call out of Truttand 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 Uniformitywas puffed, it gave all the Miniffers that could not Conform, no longer time than till Barrbolamewday , 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 ReligiousRoman Zeal and Charity). I had no place,butonly that I preached twice Pet.moulin a Weekby 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- fewweeks. Y g y pret a doubtful Glaulè in the A&, as ending the LibertyofLe&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
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