61 INTRODUCTION. to be a sufficient punishment for the sin ofnonconformity. The puritans received the terrible sentence of excommuni- cation, being turned out of the congregation, rendered incapable of sueing for their lawful debts, imprisoned for life, denied christian burial, and,as far as possible, excluded from the kingdom of heaven. Archbishop Bancroft, nowat the head ofall ecclesiastical affairs, enforced the observance of all the festivals ofthe church, theuse of copes, surplices, caps, hoods, &c. and obliged the clergy to subscribe afresh to Whitgift's three articles, which, by canon xxxvi. they were to declare they did willingly and from their hearts. By these oppressive measures, four hundred ministers were suspended and cast out of their livings ;* some of whom were excommunicated and cast into prison, while others, to preserve their consciences, were driven into a state of banishment. Among the painful sufferers at this time, were Mr. Maunsel, minister of Yarmouth, and Mr. Lad, a merchant of the same place. For holding a supposed conventicle, they were cited before the high commission at Lambeth, and, refusing the oath ex officio, were cast into prison. When they were brought to the bar, Nicholas Fuller, esq. a beiicher of Gray's-inn, and a learned man in his profes- sion, was their counsel ; who, for pleading their cause, was cast into prison, where he continued to the day ofhis death. Mr. Wotton and Mr. Cleaver, two learned and useful divines, were suspended for nonconformity. Mr. Rush, fellow of Christ's college, Cambridge, .vas convened and required tomake a public recantation. Mr. Randall Bates, a pious and excellent preacher, was committed to the Gate- house, where, after a long and miserable confinement, he died under the hardships of the prison. These severities drovemany learned ministers and their followers out of the kingdom, when they retired to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leyden and other places. Among these were Dr.William Ames and Mr. Robert Parker, both divines of distinguished eminence. Indeed, Archbishop Bancroft incessantly harassed and plagued the puritans, to bring them to an exact conformity. On account of his rigorous proceedings, great numbers Sion's Plea, p. 75.-MS, Remarks, p.585.-Some of our high-church historians, it is acknowledged, have diminished the number to forty-live, others to forty-nine, evidently with a design to remove the odiuM from the persecuting prelates.--Hey/in's Hist. of Pres. p. 376.--spotisivood's Hist. of Scotland, p. 479. Edit. 1677.
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