CRANFORD-BLAIM. 269 aged fifty-five years; when his remains were interred in St. Christopher's church. His WORKS. -1. The Tears ofIreland; wherein is represented a list of the unheard-of Cruelties of the blood-thirsty Jesuits and the Popish Faction, 1642. -2. An Exposition on the Prophesies of Daniel, 1644.-3. Hxresco-Machias or, the Mischief which Heresies do, and the Means to prevent them, 1646.-4. A Confutation of the Anahap. tists.-He wrote also numerous Prefaces to other men's works. THOMAS BLAKE, A. 1V1.-This pious servant of Christ was born in the county of Stafford, in the year 1597, and educated in Christ's Church, Oxford. Having finished his studies at the university, he entered upon the ministerial work, and obtained some preferment in the church. He became a faithful steward of the manifold mysteries of God. He was zealous in the work of the Lord, and his labours were made eminently useful. He was the faithful and laborious pastor of St. A lkmond's church, Shrewsbury, but it is doubtful whether this was the first place of his set- tlement. When the parliament prevailed, and episcopacy was abolished, Mr. Blake took the covenant; but was after- wards turned out for refusing the engagement.. In the year 1647, he accepted an invitation to Tamworth in his native county, where he continued in the ministerial work all the rest of his days. Here he was appointed one of the assistantcommissionersof Staffordshire, for ejecting ignorant and scandalous ministers and schoolmasters. He died at Tamworth, aged sixty years, and his remains were interred in his own church, June 11, 1657.t He was a man of great piety, good learning, and a constant and excellent preacher. Mr. Anthony Burgess, afterwards ejected in 16624 who preached Mr. Blake's fUneral sermon, gives the following commendations of his character :-He was a man of many excellent qualifications. He possessed good natural talents, much improved by diligent application and sancti- fied by the grace of God. The most eminent feature in his character was his great piety, for which he was highly esteemed. And as he was a man of considerable learning, Calamy's Account, vol. ii. p. 124. + Wood's Athentu Oxon. vol. t Pala-fees Noncon. Mem. vol. iii. p. 350.
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