662 91í HISTORY of the PuxtTAÑs. Chap. VII: K.Charics T. ca triay give offence, otherwife than thole which are eflablifhed by the laws of the land." The defign of this provifo was to guard again(} Lib the late innovations, and ill particular againft the clergy's refufing the facrament to Inch as would not receive it kneeling at the tails. the ch .Servihurcce There was Inch a violent clamour againft the .high clergy, that they could hardly officiate according to the late injunélions without being af- saegleaca. fronted, or walk the (trees in their habits (lays Nalfon) without being re- proached as popi/h priefts, Cceftr'sfriends, &c. The reputation of the li- turgy began to fink; reading prayers was called a l(clefform ifwsrfazb, and a quenching the holy fpirit, whole of iflances are promifed in the matter, as well as the manner of our prayers; befides the nation being in a crifis, it was thought impof ible that the old firms fhould be fuit- able to the exigence of the times, or to the circumftances ofparticular perfons who might delire a (hare in the devotions of the church. Thofe miniflers therefore, who prayed with fervency and devotion, in words of their own conception, fuitable either to the fermon that was preached, or to the prefent urgency of affairs, had crouded and attentive audito- ries, while the ordinary fèrvice of the church was deferted as cold, for- mal, and without fpirrit. Hßory of The difcipline of the church being relaxed, the brownifts or independ- zhe indep nu- ents who had of embled in private, and fhifted from houle to hoof-0 for ed twenty or thirty years, reaffirmed their courage, and (hewed themfelves OfMr. La- in public. We have given an account of their original from Mr. Ro- thorp, lLS. bin/ón and Mr. yaccb, in the year 1616. the lalt of whom was fuc- penesme' ceeded by Mr. yohn Lathorp, formerly a clergyman in Kent, but having renounced his orders he became pallor of this little fociety. In his time the congregation was difcovered by Tomlin/6n the bifhop's purfuevant, April 29. 1632. at the houle of Mr. Humphrey Barnet a brewer's clerk in Black-Fryars, where forty-two of them were apprehended and only eighteen efcaped : of thole that were taken, forne were confined in the Clink, others in New-Prifon and the Cate-Houle, where they continued about two years, and were then releafed upon bail, except Mr. Lathorp for whom no favour could be obtained ; he therefore pe- titioned the king for liberty to depart the kingdom, which being granted, he went in the year 1634.. to New- England, with about thirty of his fol- lowers. Mr. Lathorp was a man of learning, and of a meek and quiet fpirit, but met with forne uneafineffes upon occafron ofone of his peo- ple carrying his child to be re-baptized by the parifh minifler; forne of the congregation mulling that it fhould be baptized, becaufe the other adminiftration was not valid ; but when the queftion was put, it was carried
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