CRADOCK. 385 the pay could not be had without the concurrence of the lords, and having made some leading men his friends, he came to be examined, and is passed. Besides that he 'bath gathered a church, and administered the Lord's supper in a house at evening, he hath preached many odd things in the city, strains tending to antinomianism and libertinism, speak- ing against men of an Old Testament spirit, and how poor drunkards and adulterers could not look into one of our churches but hell fire must be flashed in their faces. That, ifa saint should commit agross sin, and, upon the commission of it, should be startled at it, that would be a great sin in him." This heavy charge appears, however, to be without the least foundation, and stands 'directly opposed to Mr. Cradock's clear and consistent views of the gospel, and his uniform christian character. The bigoted historian also observes of our pious divine : " That lately he preached on that text in Thames-street, We are not of the night, but of the day ; when he 'delivered matter to this effect ; that since the apostles' times, or pre- sently after, there had been a great night, but now the day was breaking out after a long night, and light was coming every day more than other; and there -were many gospel privileges, and of the new Jerusalem that we should then enjoy. In that day there should be no ordinances to punish men for holding opinions ; there should be no confessions of faith ;. there every one should have the liberty of their con- sciences, as in Micah it is prophesied of those gospel times : All people will walk every one in the name ofhis god, andwe will walk in the name of the Lord our God, for ever andever; which Place was brought by him for liberty of conscience ; and in that day neither episcoPacy, nor presbytery, nor any others should intermeddle or invade the rights of the saints. Many such flings he had ; and'this sermon was preached just at the time when the ' ordinance against heresies was taken into debate, and the confession of faith to be brought into the house of commons : so that by these and many more par- ticulars, his frequent hints about dipping, and suffering such, shews what are the first fruits of theseitinerary preachers, and what a sad thing it is, that men so principled 'should go among such people as the Welsh, with so large apower of preaching as he and his fellows have.". Mr. Cradock was a zealous advocate for religious liberty and universal toleration, as the Ed wards's Gangrana, part iii. p. 163. VOL. ID. 2 C
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