P R · E F A C E. may give light to the affairs of religion; ·and I could ha·ve wijhed, that t!x memory if both had been entirely blotted out qf the records if time, zf the animqjities if the flveral parties, and their unchri(tian principles, .had been buried with them; but as the remembring them may be a warning tfJ pofle– rity, it ought to give no qffence ·to ' any . denomination of chrijlians qf the prefent age, who are no ~vays anfwerable for the .conduE! if their anctjlors, nor can othtrwife jhare ·in a-.cenfore if it, than as they maintain the fame principles, and imitate the fame unchriflian behaviour. At th( end of each year I have added the cbaraE!ers of the principal non-con– formift minifl:ers as they died, partly from the hi;1orians of thqfe times, but chiefly from the writings if the late reverend doE!or Edmund Calamy, ~vhoje integrity, moderation, a;zd ilzdtijlry· de/erve a peculiar .commendation. My dt:Jign was to preferve the memory if the reverend a!fembly of divines at Wefl:minfl:er, as well as of the little"army of.confe!fors, 1vho afterwards .fiifj'ered fo deeply in the cau.fe if non-conformity. In pq!Jing a judgment on the fh,eral parties in church and flate, I have cart:Jully diflinguijhed between thofo who went into all the arbitrary meajures of the court, and fuch as flood .ftrin by the proteftant religion and the li– berties of their .country; for it mujl be allowed, that in the reign if king Charles ·II. there were e·ven among ·the cler._rry, Jome of the wor/l, ' as well ·as bifl if men, as will appear to a demonjlration in the cour.fe if this hif– tory; but I dejire no greater flrefS .may be lciid upon facts or charaC!ers, than the quality if the vouchers in tbe margilz. will jitpport. Where thefe have been differently related, I have relied on the. bejt authorities, andfome– . times reported from both fides, leaving the reader to choqje for himfi!J : for if facts are fairly reprifented, the h1jtorian is difcharged. I am not Jo vain as to imagine this hiftory free f'rom errors; but if any miftakes of confequence are made to appear, tbey jhall be acknowiedged with thanliful– nejs to thofe, who jhall point them out in a civil and friendly manner; and, as I aim at nothing but truth, IJI!e no recifon to engage in a warm dife1zce of' any parties if chrijtians who paji bt:Jore us in revie~v, but leave their conduC! to the ce'1fure qf the world. Some few remarks if my own are here and there interjperjed, 1vhich the reader will receive according as he apprehends them to fol/o~v from the pmmji:s ; but I flatter myfe!f, that when he has carefully perufed the fiveral volumes qf this hijtory., he will .agree with me in the following condujions. . FIRsT, that VNIFORMITY of fentiments in re)igion is not to be ·attained among chrL!l:ians; nor wili'a coMPREHENSION within an efl:a– blilhrnent, be of fervice to .the caufe of truth and liberty, without a TOLERATION of all other dutiful fubjects. .Wffo and good men, cifter their mofl diligent .fearches '!fter.truth, have Jem things in a different light, tWhich is not to be avoided, as long as tbey bave liberty to judge for,themJelves.
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