The HlSTORY of the P~RITANs. VoL. II. X. Charles I. is repeated in the feveral places. By fuch a calculation 'tis eafy to deceive · ~ the reader and fwell the acc.ount ?~yond meafure. The reverend Mr. JVtthers, a late· non-conform1ft mu1Iil:er at Exeter, has taken pains to make an exaCl computation in the aJTociated counties of Sz1fo!k, Norfolk, and Cambridgejhire, in which are one thouhtnd tliree hundred and ninety eight pari~hes, and two hundred fifty-three fequell:rations; [o that if thefe may be reckoned as a Handard for the whole kingdom, the number will be reduced confiderably under two thoufand. He has alfo made another computation from the county of Devon, in which are three hundred ninety-four parifhes, and one hundred thirty-nine fequeHrations, out of which thirty-nine are deduCled for pluralities, &c. and then by compa– ring this county (in which both Dr. Walker and Mr. Withers lived) with the reil: of the kingdom, the amount of fufferers according to him, is one thoufand {even hundred twenty .fix; but admitting they fhould arife to the number of the doClor's names in his index, which are about two thoufand four hundred, yet when fuch were deduCled as were fairly convicted upon oath, of immoralities of life, &c. (which were a fourth in the affociated counties) and all fuch as took part with the king in the war, or difowned the authority of the parliament; preaching up doc– trines inconfifl:ent with the caufe for which they had taken arms, and ex– citing the people to an abfolute fubmiilion to the authority of the crown, the remainder that were difp!aced only for rifz!fing the co'uenant, mull: be very inconfiderable; Mr. Baxter Jays, they caft out the groffer fort of infufficient and fcandalous clergy, and fome few civil men that had acted in the wars for the king, and Jet up the late innovations, but left in near 'Rift. of I. one half of thofe that were but barely tolerable. He adds further, "that and times, P· " in all the counties in which he was acquainted fix to one at leqft, if ~tot -74, 75· " more, that were fequefiered by the committees, were by the oaths of " witnelfes proved infufficient, or fcandalous, or both." But admitting their numbers to be equal to thofe puritan minifiers ejected at the refioration, yet the caufe of their ejectment, and the circum– Comparcd fiances of the times, being very different, the fufferings of the former wilh the _e-. ought not to be compared to the latter; though Dr. Walker is pleafed to ;etled ml 6n6 if fay in his preface, that if the .fiiflerings if the df!Jcnters bear anv tolerable ters m 1 z. . , - "r h · a d ' l; 17 • b d '-' proportton to tocje 0 t e qec-;e •oya t 1 .s, tn num er, egl'ees, or circum~ fiances, he will be gladly deemed not only to have !qjl all his labour, but to bave re•Jived a great and unanfwerab!e ftandal on the caz!fe he has under• taken to dqfmd. 1 fi1all leave the reader to pafs his own judgment upon this declaration, after I have produced the tell:imony of one or two diC onfNm. vines of the church of England " who can anfwer (fays one) for the firft plea, P· ·" violence and inju!l:ice of actions in a civil war? Thofe fuffcrings were 12, 13. " in.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=