382 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. larlyat the two famous associations at Repton in Derbyshire, and Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire.. These associations were designed for private conference among the ministers, and the public ministry of the word. They were the means of doing unspeakable good to both ministers and people ; and Mr. Hildersham was a chief promoter of them for many years. His fame, indeed, was so great in those parts, that for many years after, when any one became remarkable for true piety, he was sure to be stigmatized as one of Hildersham's old puritans.. Mr. Hildersham re- mained under the above ecclesiastical censure upwards of ;three years. Towards the close of the year 1608, by the favour of Dr. Barlow, the new bishop of Lincoln, he was again restored to his ministry, and allowed to preach among his beloved flock at Ashby. It was after his restoration at this time that he entered upon his " Lectures on John iv.," which he continued every Tuesday for upwards of two years. These lectures were afterwards published, in 1628, and dedicated to Henry earl of Huntingdon, who attended them, when preached in Ashby church, and whose uncleand grandfather hadbeen the author's worthy patrons. The cele- brated Mr. JohnCotton, in his epistle to the reader prefixed to the second edition of this work, says, " In reading most of the best books extant, the studious reader is wont to select and transcribe the pith of such notes as stand like lights, &c. in the body of the discourse, and in the spirit of the writer. But in this. book, I find such variety of choice matter, running throughout every vein of each dis- course, and carried along with such strength of sound and deep judgment, andwith such life and power of an heavenly spirit; and expressed in such pithy and pregnant words of wisdom, that I knew not what to select, and what to omit, unless I should have transcribed the whole book." Dr. Williams says, " that these lectures discover the author to be a sound divine, an admirable textuary, a profoundly experienced christian, and an excellent teacher."t He did not, however, enjoy his liberty quite three years. For in November, 1611, he was again silenced, by Neile, bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The occasion of his lordship's censure was his supposed connexion with Mr. Edward Whiteman of Burton-upon-Trent, denominated a isotorious heretic, for which he was afterwards burnt at MS. Chronology, vol. iii. A.D. 1631. p. 10. 1 Christian Preacher, p. 435.
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