Brooks - BX9338 .B7 1813 v1

, 116 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. doctrine, to be regulated by the word of God alone. These things made so deep an impr&sion upon his mind, as brought 'a complaint upon his body, of which he died in the month of July, 1565, aged forty-eight years. He was a truly pious .man, a constant preacher, a learned divine, a thorough puritan, and an admired English and Latin poet. He published " A Tract against the Arians," and several translations of the works of other learned men. JOHN HARDYMAN, D. D.-Ile was educated at Cam- bridge, where he took his degrees ; and was made preacher at St. Martin's church, Ironmonger-lane, London, in the reign of Henry VIII., when he came forwards openly and boldly in the cause of the reformation. He preached publicly, " That confession to priests, was confusion ; that the ceremonies ofthe church being the superstitious inven- tions of men, ought to be abhorred ; that to esteem any internal virtue in the sacrament, was mischievous and rob- bing God of his glory; and that faith in Christ, without any other sacrament, was sufficient for justification ;" for which, in the year 1541, he was presented . and most pro- bably deprived.t- The Oxford historian, with his usual bitterness against the puritans, says, that 'he ran with the mutable times of Henry. VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. However, the above account of his suffering persecution for the avowal ofhis principles, shews that this account is not altogether correct. Though it does not appear whether he ever changed his sentiments, it is certain that upon the accession of Elizabeth, lie was still a zealous protestant, and still desirous to carry forwards the reformation. In the year 1560, the queen appointed him one of the twelve prebendaries of Westminster ; and about the same time, he became famous for his puritanical princi- ples, and distinguishedhimself in the cause of the reforma- tion. He was not, indeed, like too many ofthe clergy, who rested in the reformation of King Edward, or even in that which fell short of it ; but laboured to carry on the work to perfection. He wished, with the rest of the puritanical reformers, .to,have the church thoroughlypurged'of all the remnants of antichrist. But his zeal for nonconformity presently exposed him to the resentment and persecution of the ruling prelates; and in the year 1567, he was summoned MS. Chronology, vol. i. p. 125. (6.) f Fox's Martyrs, vol. ii. p. 450.

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