WHATELY. 437 Mr. Whately afterwards married the daughter of Mr. George Hunt,o an eminent preacher, by whose urgent re- commendation he entered upon the work of the ministry. In the year 1605, having taken his degrees in arts, he was chosen lecturer of Banbury, his native place ; and in about four years, having gained uncommon applause, he was called to the pastoral office, and presented to the vicarage, which he enjoyed nearly thirty years, even to his death. This excellent servant of Christ was no sooner settled in the ministry than he met with great opposition from- the ruling ecclesiastics, on account of his nonconformity.+ He published a sermon, entitled " The Bride Bush ; or, the Duties of MarriedPersons, by performingofwhich marriage shall prove a great help to such as do now find it a little hell ;" for which he was prosecuted in the high commission court. The dangerous errors said to be contained in this sermon were the two, following s-1. The committingthe sin of adultery, by either of the married persons, cloth dis- solve and annihilate the bond of marriage.-2. The wilful and malicious desertion of either of the married persons, doth in like manner dissolve the bond of marriage. For publishing these opinions, especially as he was a puritan, he was complained of to the Archbishop of Canterbury, con- vened before the high commission, and required to make satisfaction for his grievous offence. Upon his appearance before the ecclesiastical judges, he declared that he could make no satisfaction; but, according to our author, he after- wards recanted, May 4, 1621, and was then dismissed.# If this account be correct, is it not extremely probable that he was prosecuted, not so much for the dangerous errors in his sermon, as because he was a nonconformist ? - Yet, sup- posing this was not the case, did not these ecclesiastical Judges professedly reject the infallibility of the pope? And did not their conduct, on the present occasion, savour too much of the same principle ? Mr. Whately and several of his brethren delivered a lec- ,ture alternately at Stratford-upon-Avon. On account of its great usefulness, it was continued many years, till it was put down by the severity of the prelates. They considered This Mr. George Hunt was son to Mr. John Hunt, an excellent con- fessor in the bloody days of Queen Mary, who was condemned to be burnt, but was saved by the unexpected death of the queen.-Scudder's Life of Mr. Whately.-Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. iii. p. 751-755. 1- Clark's Lives annexed to his Martyrologie, p. SI& Wood's Athena Oxon. vol. i. p. 529.
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