children, not two of them were born in the same county. Messrs. Angel, Buckley, Saunders, Bridges, Roberts, Erbery, Cradock, Newport, and others, were suspended, and some of them driven out of the country.* Mr. John Carter was censured by Bishop Wren, but death soon after delivered him from all his troubles. Messrs. Peters, Davenport, Nye,+ and others, to escape the fury of the storm, fled to Holland. Mr. Peters, previous to his departure, was apprehended by Archbishop Laud, suspended, and committed for some time to New Prison. Many others were driven to New England, among whom were Messrs. Norton, Burr, Shepard, Sherman, and Nathaniel Ward, who was deprived and excommunicated by the archbishop.

During this year the king, by the recommendation of Laud, republished the "Book of Sports," for the encou ragement of recreations and pastimes on the Lord's day. This opened a flood-gate to all manner of licentiousness, and became the instrument of unspeakable oppression to great numbers of his majesty's best subjects. The ruling prelates, though unauthorized by law, required the clergy to read it before the public congregation. This the puritans refused; for which they felt the iron rod of their tyrannical oppressors. Dr. Staunton, Mr. Chauncey, and Mr. Thomas, for refusing to read the book, were suspended.‡ Mr. Fairclough was often cited into the ecclesiastical courts. Mr. Tookie was turned out of his living. Mr. Cooper was suspended, and continued under the ecclesiastical censure seven years. Mr. Sanger was imprisoned at Salisbury. Mr. Moreland, rector of Hamsted-Marshall in Berkshire, was suspended and deprived of his living. Mr. Snelling was suspended, deprived, excommunicated, and cast into prison, where he continued till the meeting of the long parliament. Dr. Chambers was silenced, sequestered, and cast into prison. Messrs. Culmer, Player, and Hieron being suspended, waited upon the archbishop, jointly requesting absolution from the unjust censure; when his grace said, "If you know not how to obey, I know not how to grant your favour," and dismissed them from his presence. Mr. Wilson was suspended from his office and benefice, and afterwards prosecuted in the high commission. Mr. Wroth and Mr. Erbery from Wales, Mr. Jones from

* Wharton's Troubles of Laud, vol. i. p. 532, 533.

Calamy's Account, vol. ii. p. 29.

Clark's Lives, last vol. part i. p. 162.
Calamy's Account and Contin.

MS. Remarks, p. 903.

Gloucestershire, Mr. Whitfield of Ockham, Mr. Garth of Woversh, Mr. Ward of Pepper-Harrow, Mr. Farrol of Purbright, Mr. Pegges of Weeford, and Mr. Thomas Valentine, minister of Chalfont St. Giles, with many others, were brought from various parts of the country, and prosecuted in the high commission.* Mr. Edmund Calamy, Mr. William Bridge, Mr. Thomas Allen, and about thirty other worthy ministers, for refusing to read the book and observe Bishop Wren's articles, were driven out of the diocese.+ And Laud, at the same time, caused upwards of twenty ministers to be fined and expelled from their livings, for not bowing at the name of Jesus.

Towards the close of this year, William Prynne, esq. a member of Lincoln's-inn, having published a book, entitled "Histrio-mastix; or, the Play's Scourge," exposing the evil of plays, masquerades, &c. was sentenced to have his book burnt by the common hangman, to be put from the bar, to be for ever incapable of his profession, to be turned out of the society of Lincoln's-inn, to be degraded at Oxford, to stand in the pillory at Westminster and Cheapside, to lose both his ears, one in each place, to pay a fine of five thousand pounds, and to suffer perpetual imprisonment. Dr. Bastwick, a physician of Colchester, having published a book, entitled Elenchus religionis, papisticæ, with an appendix, called Flagellum pontificis and episcoporum Latialium, so greatly offended the prelates, by denying the divine right of bishops above that of presbyters, that by the high commission, he was discarded from his profession, excommunicated, fined one thousand pounds, and imprisoned till he should recant. And Mr. Burton having published two sermons against the late innovations, entitled "For God and the King," had his house and study broken open by a serjeant at arms, and his books and papers carried away. He was then suspended, and committed close prisoner to the Fleet, where he remained a long time.

These terrible proceedings made many conscientious nonconformists retire, with their families, to Holland and New England. Mr. Thomas Goodwin, Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs, Mr. William Bridge, Mr. Sydrach Sympson, Mr. Julines Herring, Mr. Samuel Ward, and many others, having

* Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 149, 151, 382. +Calamy's Account, vol. ii. p. 5, 476. Huntley's Prelates' Usurpations, p. 165. Rushworth's Collec. vol. ii. p. 233.

endured the cruel oppressions of the prelates, went to Holland. Mr. Herring had been driven from his flock, and several times suspended. Mr. Ward had been suspended, required to recant, condemned in costs of suit, and cast into prison, where he had remained a long time. And Messrs. Mather, Bulkley, Hobert, Symes, Whitfield, Rogers, Partridge, Whiting, Knollys, and Chauncey, withdrew from the storm, and fled to New England. This was no rash adventure. They suffered many hardships by suspension and imprisonment, previous to their departure. Mr. Chauncey was twice prosecuted by the high commission, suspended from his ministry, cast into prison, condemned in costs of suit, and obliged to make a recantation.

While these fled from the storm, others continued to endure the painful conflict. Dr. Stoughton, rector of Aldermanbury, London; Mr. Andrew Moline, curate of St. Swithin's; Mr. John Goodwin, vicar of St. Stephen's, Colman-street; and Mr. Viner of St. Lawrence, Old Jewry, were prosecuted for breach of canons. Mr. Turner and Mr. Lindall, with some others, were censured in the high commission. Mr. John Wood, formerly censured in the high commission, and Mr. Sparrowhawke of St. Mary's, Woolnoth, were both suspended for preaching against bowing at the name of Jesus. Dr. Cornelius Burgess and Mr. Wharton suffered in the high commission. Mr. Matthews, rector of Penmayn, was suspended. by his diocesan, for preaching against the observance of popish holidays. Mr. Styles was prosecuted in the ecclesiastical court at York, for omitting the cross in baptism. Mr. Leigh, one of the prebendaries of Lichfield, was suspended for churching refractory women in private, for being averse to the good orders of the church, and for ordering the bell-man to give notice in open market of a sermon. Mr. Kendal of Tuddington, was suspended for preaching a sermon above an hour long, on a sabbath afternoon. Dr. Jenningson of Newcastle, was prosecuted in the high commission, and forced to quit the kingdom, to escape the fury of Laud. Mr. John Jemmet of Berwick, was apprehended by a pursuivant, suspended from the sacred function, and banished from the town, without any article or witness being brought against him; and above twenty other ministers were suspended for nonconformity.+ Mr. John Evans was sent to the Gatehouse; Mr. John

* Wharton's Troubles of Laud, vol. i. p. 535--544. ✦ Prynne's Cánt. Doome, p. 381, 382, 450.

Vicars was apprehended by a pursuivant, cast into prison, fined, and deprived of his living; and Mr. George Walker was prosecuted in the star-chamber, sequestered, and cast into prison, where he remained till the meeting of the long parliament.

Dr. Pierce, bishop of Bath and Wells, at the same time persecuted the nonconformists without mercy. He drove all the lecturers out of his diocese, and put down their lectures, as factions, and nurseries of puritanism. Upon a reflection on what he had done, he said, "I thank God, I have not one lecturer left in my diocese," hating the very name. He suspended Mr. Davenish of Bridgewater, for preaching a lecture in his own church on a market-day; and having absolved him upon his promise to preach no more, he said, Go thy way, and sin no more, lest a worse thing befal thee. He suspended Mr. Cornish for preaching a funeral sermon in the evening; and he questioned Mr. Thomas Erford for preaching on a revel-day, saying "his text was scandalous to the revel." He sharply reprimanded other ministers for explaining the questions and answers in the catechism, and said, "That was as bad as preaching." For this practice he enjoined Mr. Barret, rector of Barwick, to do public penance. Dr. Conant, rector of Limington, received much molestation from this prelate.+ Mr. Richard Allein, fifty years minister of Dichiat, endured great sufferings under him. And Dr. Chambers was silenced, sequestered, and cast into prison, being harassed several years.‡

Bishop Wren of Norwich, having ordered the communion tables in his diocese to be turned into altars, fencing them about with rails, many of the people, to avoid superstition and idolatry, refused to kneel before them. And though they presented themselves on their knees in the chancel, they were refused the communion; and afterwards, for not receiving it, they were excommunicated by this prelate. His lordship had no mercy on the puritans, suspended, deprived, excommunicated, or otherwise censured no less than fifty able and pious ministers, to the ruin of themselves, their wives, and their children. Among this

Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 377, 378.

+ Palmer's Noncon. Mem. vol. i. p. 229. Calamy's Account, vol. ii. p. 580, 754. Nalson's Collections, vol. ii. p. 399.

He

A minister's son was excommunicated for only repeating the sermon of his father, who had been excommunicated.-Rushworth's Collec, vol. iii. p. 181.

number were Messrs. William Leigh, Richard_Proud, Jonathan Burr, Matthew Browning, William Powell, Richard Raymund, John Carter, Robert Peck, William Bridge, William Green, Thomas Scott, Nicholas Beard, Robert Kent, Thomas Allen, John Allen, and John Ward. Some of them spent their days in silence; others retired into foreign countries; but none were restored without a promise of conformity. This furious prelate, by these severities, drove upwards of three thousand persons to seek their bread in a foreign land.+

About the year 1637, many of the persecuted puritans, to obtain a refuge from the storm, retired to New England; among whom were Messrs. Fisk, Moxon, Newman, Peck, Ezekel Rogers, and Thomas Larkham.‡ Mr. Larkham was so followed by continued vexatious prosecutions, that he was a sufferer in almost all the courts in England. He was in the star-chamber and high commission at the same time. And, he said, he was so constantly hunted by hungry pursuivants, that at last, by the tyranny of the bishops, and the tenderness of his own conscience, he was forced into exile.

While these ravages were made in the churches, numerous pious ministers and their flocks being torn asunder, if any attempted to separate from the national church, the jealous archbishop was sure to have his eye upon them. Mr. Lamb was accordingly prosecuted in the high commission, and cast into prison. He was confined in most of the jails about London. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Cornwall were committed to Maidstone jail. Many others were excommunicated and imprisoned by the archbishop.

This tyrannical arch-prelate suspended one Mr. Warren, a schoolmaster, for refusing conformity, and for reading only books on divinity among his scholars. Mr. Ephraim Hewet, minister of Wroxall in Warwickshire, was suspended by his diocesan, for keeping a fast in his parish, and not observing the ceremonies. Mr. Jeffryes was forced from his flock; and Mr. Wroth and Mr. Erbery were prosecuted, when the latter resigned his vicarage, and left the diocese in peace. Great numbers in Kent were excommunicated and cast into prison. About thirty of the London ministers

* Rushworth's Collec. vol. iii. p. 353.-Nalson's Collec. vol. il. p. 400,401, + Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 376.

The number of ministers driven to New England by the hard dealings of the bishops, from the year 1620 to 1640, amounted to about ninety.— MS. Remarks, p. 919-921.

Calamy's Contin. vol. i. p. 330.

VOL. I.