Chap. IX. 'l'he HIS T 0 R Y of tbe PuRITANs: 707 or in taverns and ale-houfes, in gaming or fome kind of debauchery. . King An itiformer was but one degree above a beggar; there Was a remarkable CharJ:~ If. blafr of providence upon their perfons and fubfiance: Mofl: of thtm died ~1 in poverty and extreme mifery; and as they lived in difgrace, t?ey feeme_d to die by a remarkable hand of God. Stroud and Marjhal, With all thw plunder, could not keep out of prifon; and when Keting, another informer, was confined for debt, he writ to Mr. Baxter to endeavour his deliverance, confeffing he believed God had fent that calamity upon him, for giving him fo much trouble. Another died in the Compter for debt; and great numbers by their vices came to miferable and untimely ends. But as fome died off, others fucceeded, who by the infrigacion of the 'J7Jey are m· ·COUrt difl:urbed all the meetings they could find. The king command- couroged bJ ed the judges and jufiices of London to put the penal laws in firiCl: exe- tbe court. cution; and Sir Jif. She/don lord mayor, and kinfman to the archbi!hop, did not fail to do his part. Sir Thomas Davis ilfued a warrant, to diftrain on Mr. Ba":ter for fifty pounds, on account of his leCture in New-Jlreet; and when he had built a little chapel in Oxenden-flreet, the doors were £hut up after he had preached in it once. In April this year, he was difl:urbed by a company of confl:ables and officers, as he was preaching in Swal/o7v-Jlreet, who beat drums under the windows, to interrupt the fervice, becaufe they had not a warrant to break open the houfe. The court bi!110ps, as has been obferved more than once, pu!hed on AndtheNthe iriformers to do all the mifchief they could to the non-conformifrs Jbops. " c h J '11 1i rr h b · · h · f: . 1. (r StateTrac.s, ' t e pre ates WI not urrer t em to e qmet 111 t e1r amiies 1ays a Vol.JJ. p. ~' confiderable writer of thefe times), though they have given large and 54, 55· :" ample teftimonies, that they are willing to live quietly by their church Vol. ~H. P~ " neighbours--" The dilfenting protefiants have been reputed the on- 42 • &c. ly enemies of the nation, and therefore only perfeeuted· (fays a noble writer), while the papi!ts remain undifturbed, being by the court thought loyal, and by our great bit:l1ops not dangerous. Mr. Locke, bi!hop Burnet, and others, have fet a mark upon the names of archbi!hop She/don, bi!hop Morley, Gunning, Henchman, Ward, &c. which will not be eafily erafed; but I mention no more, becaufe there were others of a better fpirit who Jie.fided in their d·iocefes and had no concern with the court. . ' .Among t_hefe we may ·reckon Dr. Edward. Reynolds bi!hop of Nor- Deatf of hi· wrch, born 111 Southampton ll599, and ed1:1cated mMerton College Oxford;fhop Rey– he was preacher to the fociety o£ Lincoln's-Imt, and r-cck{)ried one of the nolds. moft eloquent preachers of his. age, though he had fome hoarfenefs in his v.oice. In the time of·the d\'il wars, he- took part with the· parliament, 4 X 2 and
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