Part in `.Reverend Mr: Richard Banter. 7 ingenuous Falfhoods; as if they had been no matter of Scruple. So eafie is a finful Zeal, and fo hardly is trueChrifian Zeal maintained. § 15o. At the fame time therefell out a Cafewhich tended to promote the Ca- lumny. Theold Reading Vicar of Kiderminfter dyed, about the Dayof the Date of the Aft againi Conventictes) Sir Ral Clare, his chief Friend, and my Applauder, but Remover, being dead a little before ; the old Patron, Colonel Bohn Bridges, Sold the Patronage to Mr. Thomas Foley, with a condition,'that he Ihouldprefent use next,. if I were capable ; which he promifed, as alfo, that he would Prefent no other but by my confent. Becaufe I had done fo much before to have continued iq that place, and had defired to Preach there .but a Curate, under the Reading.Vi- car, when I refufed a Bilhoprick, and theVicaridge was now cometobeworth zoo 1. per Ann. and thisfalling voidat'the fame time, when the Independentshad filled the Landwith the Report that I was Writingagainft them for Conformity ; hereupon .the Whops themfelves believed it, that the love of Kiderrninffer would make me Conform ; and they concurred in vending the Report, infomuch that one certainly told me, that he camethen from a worthy Minu ter, towhom the Arch-bifhop of York ( Sterne ) fpake there Words, [lake it on my Word, Mr. Baxter cloth Conform, and is gone to his Beloved Kiderminiter.] And fo bothParties concurredin the faith Report, though one onlyrailed it. § I 51. Another Accident fell out alfo, which promoted it. For Mr. Crofton having a Tryal, ( as I hear upon the Oxford Aft of Confinement ) at the King's Bench; Judge Keeling faid, You need not be fo hafty, for I hear that Mr. Crofton in about to Confirm,] And Judge Morton faid, [ And I hear that Mr. Baxterbath a Bookin the Prefs againfl their private Meetings o Judge Rainsford faid fomewhat, that he was glad to hear it; and Judge Mortonagain, That it was but time, for the Quakers in Buckinghamfhire, hewaS confident were Afted by the Papas; for they fpake for Purgatory already.] ThisTalk being ufed in fohigh a Court ofJuftice, by the Grave and ReverendJudges, all Men thought then that they might lawfully believe it and report it. So Contagious may the Breathofone ReligiousMan be, as to infeft his Party ; and of that Religious Party, as to infeat the Land, andmore thaifib aae Land, with the belief and report of fach ungrounded Lies. § 152. At the fame time, in the end ofmy Life ofFait(, I Printed äRevócation of my Book called Political Aphorifms, or A HolyCommon-wealth; which exafperated thofe whó had been for the Parliament'sWar, as much as the former, but both to- gether did greatly provoke them. Ofwhich I muff give the Reader this Advertife- ment. I wrote that Book 16Sg. by the provocationof Mr. dames Harrington, the Author of Oceana ; andnext by theEndeavours of Sir, Hen. Vane for a Common- wealth : Not that I had any Enmity to a well ordered Democracy ; but 1. I knew that Cromwell and theArmy, were refolved againft it, and it would not be. z. And I perceived that Harrington's Common-wealth was fitted to Heathenifm, and Vane's to Fanaticifm ; and neither of them would take : Therefore I thought that the improvement of our Legal Formof Government was belt for us : And by Bar, rington's Scorn (Printed in a half Sheet ofGibberih) was then provokedto write that Book. But the madnefs of the feveral Parties, before it could be Printed, pull'd down Rieh. Cromwell,andchang'd the Government fo oft in a few Months, as brought. in the King, contraryto the hopes ofhis clofeft Adherents, and the expectations of almofany in the Land. And ever fine the King came in, that Bookof mine, was preached againft before the King, fpoken againft in the Parliament, andwroteagainft by Each as defired my Ruine: Morley, Bilhop ofWorcefter, and many after him, branded it with Treafon; and the Kingwas Stilltold that I would not tetrad it, butwas ftill of thefamemind, and ready to raife another War, and a Perfon not tobe indured. NewBooks every Year came out againft it ; end even Men that had beentaken for Sober andReligious, when they had a mindof Preferment, and to be taken noticeof at Court, and bÿ the Prelates, did fall on Preachingor Writingagainft me, and fpecially againft that Book, as the probablelt means toaccomplilh their Ends. When I had endured this ten Years, and found no ltop, but that Still they proceeded to make me odious to theKing and Kingdom, and reeking utter ruine thisway, Ithought it myDuty to remove this Rumbling Block out of their way, and without recanting any particular Doktrine
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