Part 48 he L 1 FE of the ICI. juttice. He had been the Learned SeIden's intimate frie-nd, and one ofhis Executors: And becaiife theHobbians and other Infidels worldhave reifiiaded the World that el- den was of their mind ; I defired him to tell me truth therein :. And he altered me that Seldenwas an earneft profefforof the Chriftian Faith, and fo angry anAdverfa- ry to Hobbs that he hath rated hint out of the Room. 4 toS.This year 1669 theLord Mayorof Londonwas SirWiiiamTUrner,a Man Con- formable, and fuppofedtobe for Prelacy ; but in hisGovernment, he never difturbed the Nonconformable Preachers, nor troubled men for their Religion ; And he fo much denyed his own gain, and fought the Coleman good and punifhed,vice, and promoted the rebuildingof the City, that I never heard nor read of any Lord May- or who was fo much honoured and beloved of the City : Infomuch that at the End of his year, they chofe him again and would have heard of no other, but that he abfolutely refuted it, partly as being an nfiial thing, and partly (as was faid) be- caufe of a Melláge from his fuperionrs : For theBithops and Courtiers whotookhim for their own, weremolt difpleafedwithhim. § log. The liberty which was taken by the Nonconformifts inLandon; by reafon of the plague, the fire, the connivance of the King, and the refolved gnietnefs of the Lord Mayor, did fet fo many Preachers through the Land (as is faid) on the famework, that in Likelyhood many thonfand Souls are the better for it ; Andthe predominant Prelatesmurmured andfeared : For they had obferved that when feri- ono Godlinefs goeth np, they go down. So that they bettirredthemfelves diligently to fare themfelves and theChurch of England from this dreaded danger. § t i o. At this time our Parton Dean Rive got this following advantage againft me (As 1 had it from his own mouth). At Wolverhampton in Stafardfhire where he was Dean, were abundant of Papifts, and Violent Formalifts : Amongst whom was one Brafgirdle an Apothecary, who in Conference with Mr. Reignolds (an able Preacher there filenced and turned out) by his bitter words tempted him into fo much indifcretionas to fay that [the Nonconformifts were not fo contemptible for Number and Quality as he madethem, that molt of the peoplewere of their mind, that Cromwel tho an Ufarper had kept up England againft the Dutch, &c. And that he marvelled that he would be fo hot agalaft private Meetings, when at 'Afton the Dean faltered them at the next door.] With this advantage Brafgirdle writethall this greatly aggravated to the Dean. The Deanhaften away with it to the King as if it were the difcovery of a Treafon. Mr. Reiinolds is gneftioned, but the Ju- Rices of the Country to whom it was referred, upon hearing of the balinefs,found meer imprudence heightened to a Crime, and fo releafed him : But before this could be done, the King exafperatedby the naine of Cromwell and other unadvifed words, as the Dean told me, bid him goto the Bithop of London fromhim, and him fo to the fuppretfion of my Meeting (which was reprefented to him alfo as much . greater than it was) whereupon two Jultices were chafen for their turn to do it One Rofi, of Brainford, a Scot before- named, and one Phillips, a Steward of the A. Bilhop of Canterbury. § t t t Hereupon Rofs and Philips fend a Warrant to the Confiable to apprehend me mid bring me before them to Brainford. When I carne, they flout ut all perron from the Room. and would not give leave for any one perron, no not their own Clerk or Servant, or the Confiable to hear a Word that was faid be- tween us. Then toldme that I was convil of keeping Conventicles contrary to Law, and fo they would tender me the Oxford Oath. I defired my Accufers might come Face to Face, and that I might fee and fpeak with theWitnelfes that ref-tilled that I kept Conventiclescontrary to the Law ; which I denied, as far as I underftood Law ; but theywouldnot grant it. I preffed that I mifht fpeak in fhe hearing of TomeWitneffes, and not in ferret; for I fuppofed that they were my Judges, and that their pretence and bufinefs made the place a place of Judica- ture, where none fhould he excluded, or at lead tome Ihoeld be admitted. But I could not prevail : Had I refolved on filence, they were refolvedto proceed, and I thought a Chriftian Ihonld rather fubmit toviolence, and give place to Injuries, than Rand upon his right, when it will give others octagon to account him obRi nate. I asked them whether I might freely fpeak for my felf, and they faid yea, hit when I began to fpeak, frill interruptedme, and put me by : Only they told me, that private Meetings had brought us to all our Wars, and it tended to ran new Wars, andRofs told me what he had faltered by the War, (who, its laid was but a poor Boy, and after a Schoolmafter) and Phillips having but Lone
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