110 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. " However his lordship may have been informed against me," observes Mr. Smith, " I never used a speech in any of my sermons, against the Book of Common Prayer ; whereof the parish doth bear me witness in this my suppli- cation toyour lordship." 3. " That he bath not yielded his subscription to certain articles which his lordship required at his hands." " Concerning the third," says he, " I refuse not to subscribe to any articles, which the law of the realm doth require of men in my calling; acknowledging, with all humbleness and loyalty, her majesty's sovereignty in all causes, and over all persons, within her highness's dominions ; and yielding my full consent to all articles of faith and doctrine, taught and ratified in this church, according to a statute in that behalf provided, the 13th year of her majesty's reign. And therefore I beseech his lordship, not to urge upon me any other subscription than the law of God and the laws positive of this realm do require.". The above charges, with the answers subjoined, Mr. Smith presented to the treasurer, accompanied with a supplication to his lordship, humbly requesting his favour and influenceatthis painful juncture. This great statesman had the highest respect for him ; and, as Mr. Smith was not long deprived of his lecture, lie most probably espoused his cause, appliedto thebishop, andprocured his restoration. It is, indeed, observed, " that the lord treasurer looked very favourably upon Mr. Smith ; and that he was often the screen to save him from scorching, by interposing his greatness betwixt him and the anger of certain episcopal officers."+ In the year 1589, upon the death of Mr. Harewood, the incumbent of Clement Danes, the churchwardens and parishioners petitioned the treasurer to bestow the living upon our pious divine. In, their petition, they observe, " that by his excellent preaching his exemplary life, and his sound doctrine, more good had been done among them, than by any other who had gone before, or, as they feared, would follow But Mr. Smith, for the reasonsalready mentioned, was most probably unwilling to accept the be- nefit, if it was offered him. He does not appear ever to have enjoyed any greater preferment than that ofhis lectureship. Strype's Aylmer, p. 155, 156. S Fuller's Life of Mr. Smith prefixed to his sermons. Strype's Aylmer, p. 157.
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