IIILDLRSHAM.. 385 of his own mind. " If we dissent from one another in these things," says Mr. Hildersham, " it must be without bitterness, and in brotherly love. The odious names of puritans, formalists, schismatics, or time-servers, ought not to be heard amongbrethren.". Mr. Hildersham, having heard of the above cruel sen- tence, wisely, and for a long time, concealed himself. At length, however, he wrote to Lady Fielding, desiring her to use her influence to get his fine taken off; or, if that could not be done, to obtain a mitigation of it so far as to be allowed to pay a certain sum annually, being all that he was able to spare. He sent a petition to the same effect to the Earl of Suffolk, and another to the high commission.t Several processes were in the mean time issued from the exchequer, to inquire into his estates, but none could be found. He therefore compounded the matter with his prosecutors, by paying a great sum of money, and was released from the heavy fine. This, indeed, was not the end of his troubles. For in the. year 1618, a pursuivant from the Bishop of London violently broke into his study, and carried away many of his valuable books. The good man petitioned his lordship for them to be restored ; but whether they ever were, my author adds, "I have not been able to learn. 't By a license, dated June 20, 1625, from the archbishop, he obtained liberty to preach within the dioceses of London, Lincoln, and. Coventry and Lichfield ; and soon after entered once more upon his public charge at Ashby. In the month of September this year, he commenced his course of lectures on Psalm li., afterwards published with this title, " CLII. Lectures upon Psalm I.I. preached atAshby-de-la- Zouch in Leicestershire," 1635. This work " is a rich mine of experimental and practical divinity ;" but not quite so concise and finished as those on John iv.4 Notwithstanding the above numerous interruptions and oppressions, Mr. Hildersha,m had once more to pass through the fire of persecution. March 25, 1630, for refusing to read the public service in the hood and surplice, he was again silenced by the tyrannizing ecclesiastics. This sus pension, however, did not continue very long ; for, August 2, 1631, he was restored to his beloved ministry, and so Hildersham's Lectures on John, p. 301. Edit. 1632. + MS. Chronology, vol. iii. A.D. 1631. p. 16. Ibid.-Clark's Lives, p. 120. Williams's Christian Preacher, p. 431, 435. von. II. 2c
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