176 The L I F E of the Part III. through his Employments and gone off the Stage with moreomiverfal love and .honour, for his SkiH, Wifdom, Piety, and refolved Justice, than ever I heard or read, that any Engle Man ever did before him, or any Magistrate in theWorld of his rank, fine the days of the Kings of Ifrael. He refolved, in his weaknefs, that the place Ihould not be a burden to him, nor he to it. And after all, his great praaice and places, he tells me, Thatwith his own Inheritance and all, he isnot now worth above 'Five hundred Pounds per Annum : fo litte fought he af- ter gain i le may moft trulybe called [ The Pillar and Basis, or Ground of Yu- fice] as Paul called (not the Church,) bat Timothy (in the Church) thePillarand Bafs of Truth. ] His digested knowledge in Law above all Men, and next in Philofophy, end much in Theology, was very great : His fincere honeffy and humility admirable : His Garb and House,and Attendancefo very n'ean and low, and hefo refolutely avoided all the Diversions and Vanities of the World, that he was herein the Marvel of his Age. Some made it a Scandal, but his Wifdom chofe it for his Convenience, that in his Age he Married aWoman of noEibate, suitable to his Difpofition, to be to him asa Nurfe : He fucceeded me in one of the meanelt Houfes that ever I had lived in, and there hath ever fine continual with fill content ; till now that he is going to his Native Countrey, in likely- hood to die there : It is not the least of my'pleafnrethat I have lived fontsyears in his more than ordinary Love and Friendlhip, and that we are nowwaitingwhich shall be first in Heaven : Whither, he faith, he is going with full content andac- quiefcence in the Will of a gracious God and doubts not but we fhall shortly live together. O what a bleffed World were this, were the Generality of Ma- giftrates fuch as he. s. 326. Part of a M. 5. was put into my hand to perufe by a Bookseller as Written by one that greatly valued my Judgment and would refer his Wri- tings to my Cenfure, but not confent to have them Printed:. Whereupon I -va- -Ming them, did judge them worthy to be published, but made force Alterations in force phrafes liable to Milinterpretation, in the Piece called, Tbe Right Knowledge of drift Crucified I con3cftared not who the Author was,,and not long after the Book was Printed, and proved to be the forefaid Lord Chief Justice Hale's, called, Contemplations Moral and Divine, publilhed by a Friend of his: by which he will Preach when he is dead : the Books prefently allbought up for his Name,. and beingufeful for their Spiritual, Rational, Serious, and Plain Mannerof Wri- ting, as well as Acceptable forhis fake. §. 327. When I had been kept a whole Year from Preaching in the Chappel which I Built, on the 16th of fpril, 0676. Í began in another, in a Tempeftuous time ; for the necellity of the Parish of St. Martins, where, about 60000 Souls have no Church to go to, norany Publick Worlhip of God ! How long,Lord---! §. 328. Abort Feb. and March it pleafed the King importunately to Command and Urge the Judges, andLondon-Justices, to put the Laws againft Nonconfor- mists in Execution ; But the Nation grew backward to it : In London they have beenoft and long commanded to it ; and Sir yofeph Sheldon, the Arch-bilhop of Canterbury's near Kinsman being Lord Mayor; on April 3oth the Execution be- gan : They required efpecially to fend all the Minifters to the Common Gaols, for Six Months, on theOxford-Aft, for not taking the Oath,and dwelling within Five Miles. This day Mr. `fofeph Read was fent to the Gaol, taken out of the Pul- pit, Preaching in a Chapel in Bloomsbury, in the Parish of St. Giles, where it is thought, that z0000, or 30000 Souls at leaft, more than can come within the Church, have no Publick Worlhip of God, or Teaching: He is a Laborious Man, ( whom I Educated, and fent to the Univerlty,) and did fomuch good to the Poor Ignorant People that had no other Teacher, that Satan did owe bim a Malicious Difturbance. He built the Chappel in his own Houfe ( with the help of Friends,) incompaffion to chore People, who, as they Crowded to hear him, fo did they follow him to the Justices, and to the Gaol to fhew their Affedtions: It being the place where I had ufed oft to Preach, I fuppofe was fomewhat the more Maliced. The very day before, I had new fecret hints of Men's Defiresof Reconciliation and Peace, and Motions to offer foine Propofals towards it, as ifthe Bithops were at lait grown Peaceable To which ( as ever before) I yielded, and-did r:v- part, though long Experience made me fufpe& that fume Mifchief was neo o, and form, Suffering prefently tobe expelled from them. The forward- eft of the two Justices that fent him to the Gaol, was one Pariyea-Souldier , one of
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