NEGUS-STROUD. 297 bout the year 1567. Having had in his possession the 3ook of Ecclesiastical Discipline, he was cited before the hancellor to the Bishop of Rochester ; and confessing the Set, that such a book had been in his hands, the chancellor aid, " it contains treason, rebellion, and heresy," and im- nediately committedhim to prison. Mr. Stroud observing hat he hoped be was not deserving of such hard usage, vished to give sufficient security, but his offer was utterly. lisregarded. Upon his release from prison, he was for- ridden to preach, and even to teach children, within the sarish of Yalding or elsewhere, and commanded to depart sat of the diocese in forty days. This unfeeling and nhuman sentence was sent to the churchwardens of Yalding, with a strict command to see it fully executed. But an impartial statement of his case being laid before the Arch.. bishopof Canterbury, the cruel sentencewas inpart reversed. By the license, and under the seal, of the archbishop, he obtained liberty to continue a twelvemonth ; when he re- turned to Yalding, hoping to proceed in his ministry without further molestation. His liberty, however, was of very short continuance. For in a few months, he was cited, with several others, to appear at Rochester; and the citationwas ordered to be read pub- licly in the .church at Yalding. Upon his appearance in the court, the churchwardens were first called and examined. The chief article of their examination was, " whether any child or children had been baptized in their parish, when the order prescribedand appointed in the Book of Common Prayer was not in all points observed ; and whose children they were, who were godfathers and godmothers, and whether they answered according to the form required in. the saidbook ?" But the churchwardens were too wise to accuse their own minister, and they were all dismissed.. Afterwards, both minister and churchwardens were again brought into the bishop's court, at Rochester. The church- wardens were first examined as before ; and in addition to the former interrogatory, their examination was extended to the following articles :--" Whether any one preached at Yalding without a license ?-Whether any preached who were forbidden, and commanded to leave the diocese ?- Whether any such preachers have any unlawful or suspected books, leading to the contempt or derogation of the Book of Common Prayer, or of any orders, rites, or ceremonies of the church, as by law established ? or who hath in any public meeting or private conventicle set forth any such
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