264 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. Mr. Peck had been sent to him by the justices of the peace, for keeping ,a conventicle at night, and in his own house; that his catechizing was only an excuse to draw the people together ; and that he had infected the parish with strange opinions : as, that the people are not to kneel as they enter the church ; that it is superstition to bow at the name of Jesus ; and that the church is no more sacred than any other building."' His grace further affirmed, that, Mr. Peck had been convicted of nonconformity, and of keeping conventicles, in 1615 and 1617 ; and that, in, 1622, he was taken in his own house, with twenty-two ofhis neighbours, at a conventicle.. How far thehouse ofcommons acq u in his lordship's defence, or whether they considered it a sufficient justification of his arbitrary proceedings, we have not been able to learn. Mr. Peck suffered much under the persecutions of Bishop Wren ; when he wasdriven from his flock, deprived of his benefice, and forced to seek his bread in a foreign land.+ He is indeed said to have beendeprived for non- residence, which was the case with many of 'his brethren. By the terrific threatenings of their persecutors, and having no better prospect than that of excommunication, imprison- ment, or other ecclesiastical censure, they were driven from their beloved flocks, or they retired for a time into some private situation, in hope that the stormmight soon be over; for which they were censured as nonresidents. This was no doubt the case with Mr. Peck. He and Mr. Thomas Allen are said to have had so much influence upon their parishioners, that, after the deprivation of the two ministers, none ofthem would pay any thing to those who served their cures. This shews how greatly they were beloved.t Hat- ing fled to NeivEngland, the church at Higham, in the new colony, rejoiced for a season in his light. He remained there several years ; till afterwards he received an invitation from his old friends at Higham, in his native country, when he returnedhome, laboured among them, and was of eminent service to the church of God.§ The following, account is given of Mr. Peck by one of our hiStorians, the design of which is too obvious : " He was a man of a very violent schismatical spirit, Hepulled MS. Remarks, p. 718-715. Nalson's Collec. vol. ii, p. 400, 401.-Rushworth's Collec. vol. iii. p. 353. t Wren's Parentalia, p. 95. § Mather's Hist. of New Eng. b. iii. p. 214.
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