636 7be HIS T 0 R Y oj the PuRITANS. Vat. H. eh Ki~tg II Dr. Bates fays, " they [the minifl:ers] fell a facrifice to the wrath and ~·~~e~. ' " revenge ~f the old clergy, and to the fervile compliance of the young ~" gentry With the court, and their dillafie of ferious religion, That this Dr. Bates's "is no ra01 imputation upon the ruling clergy is evident (fays the doetor), account. " t 1 f h . . . n: h r. 1 (c . Fun. Serm, no on y rom t etr concm rence In pau1ng t e1e aws, 10r aetJOns have for Mr. Bax-" a language as convincing as thofe of words), but from Dr. She/don their .ter. " great lea~er, who expreffed his fears to the earl of Manchejter, lcll the " prefbytenans fhould comply. The aet was paifed after the king had " engaged his faith and honour in his declaration from Breda, to preferve " liberty of confcience inviolable ; which promife opened the way for his " relloration; and after the royalills had given public aifurance, that all " former animofities ihould be laid afide as rubbiib, under the foundation " of univerfal concord." Sujferings of Sad were the calamities of far the greater part of thefe unhappy fuffer– th; cjelled ers, who with their families mull have periibed, if private colleetions in K.nt;;,\. London, and d~vers places of the country, had not been made for their s 3 s. fubfillence. Btibop Bunzet fays, they call themfelves on the providence p.·192. of God, and the charity of friends. The reverend and pious Mr. Tbomas Gouge, late of St. Sepulchres, was thei r advocate, who with two or three of his brethren, made frequent application to feveral worthy citi zens, of whom they received confiderable fums of money for fome year~, till that Mr. BJxcharity was diverted into another channel ; but neverthelefs, " many ter's amNnt. " hundreds of them (according to Mr. Baxter) with their wives and " children lnd neither houfe nor bread ; the people they left were not " able to relieve them, nor durll: they if they had been able, bec,mfe it " would have been called a maintenance of fchifm or faetion. Many of the '' minill:ers being afraid to lay down their minill:ry after they had been or– " dained to it, preached to fuch as would hear them, in fields and private " houfes, till they were apprehended and call into gaols, where many of " them periibed -- The people were no lefs divided, fome conformed, " and others were driven to a greater dillance from the church, and re– " folved to abide by their f<lithful pallors at all events: They murmured " at the government, and called the bi010ps and conforming clergy cruel " perfecutors ; for which, and for their _freq~nting th~ private aife~~lies o! " their miniil:ers, they were fined and tmpnfoned, ttll many famthes left " their native country, and fettled in the plantations." Other· acThe presbyterian miniflers, though men of gravity, and far advanced counts. in years, were rallied in the pulpits under the opprobrious names offchifmatics and fanatics; they were expofed in the play-houfe, and infulted by P IV the mob infomuch that they were obliged to lay afide their habits, and art • P• ' · fl • 'ffi 40 , . walk in difgnife. " Such. mag1ar~tes were put mto commt Jon as exe- " cuted the penal laws With feventy. Informers were encouraged and reward,.
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