130 LIVES OF TEE Pt RITANS. to obey all their disorderly proceedings; and offered, if the magistrate would be pleased to give them the hearing, to dispute the matter against all the contrary party, and prove, that the order which they sought to establish, ought not to take place in any reformed church. In this they were expressly prohibited, and even forbidden meddling any more in the business. They ventured, however, to offer, as their last refuge, to refer the whole matter to four arbitrators, two on each side ; that it might appear who was faulty, and they might vindicate themselves from the charge of schism : but the proposal was rejected ; and after this unkind and unchristian treatment, they left the place.. Mr. Whittingham being, in effect, driven fromFrankfort, went to Geneva, where he was invited to become _pastor to the English church. He refused, at first, to accept the charge; but, by the earnest persuasion of John Calvin, he complied with their invitation, and was ordained by the layingon of the hands of the presbytery. During his abode at Geneva, he was employed with several other learned divines, in pub- lishing a new translation of the Bible. This was after- wards called the Geneva Translation, a particular account of which is given in another place.+ Soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Mr. Whittingham returned home; and presently after his arrival, was nominated to accompany the Earl of Bedford on his mission to the court' of France. Upon his return from France, he accompanied the Earl of Warwick, in his defence of Newhaven against the French. There he was a preacher for some time ; and, as Wood observes, though he was ready in his ministerial function, he dissuaded his hearers against conformity, and the observance of the rites and ceremonies of the English church. Yet, such was the high esteem which this excellent earl had for him, that, about 1563, he was the means of procuring from the queen, his preferment to the deanery of Durhain.t He was a very learned and popular preacher ; and in September 1563, he preached before the queen.§ During this year, the ruling prelates proceeded to a more rigorous imposition of the clerical habits ; therefore, Mr. Whittinghamwrote a most pressing letter to the Earl of Leicester, intreating him to use his interest to prevent it. In this letter, he expressed him- . Troubles at Franiteford, p. 38-51. + See Art. Coverdale. Wood's Athena Oxon. vol. 1. p. 153.-St ype'sAnnals, vol. 1. p. Strype's Parker, p. 135.
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