Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 1 EDMUND CALAMY AN CONTINUATION OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE Ministers, Lecturers, Masters and Fellows of Colleges and Schoolmasters, who were Ejected or Silenced after the Restoration in 1660. By, or before, the ACT for UNIFORMITY. Volume 1 1727 Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 2 Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 1 A CONTINUATION OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE Ministers, Lecturers, Masters and Fellows of Colleges, and Schoolmasters, who were Ejected and Silenced after the Restoration in 1660, by or before the Act of Uniformity Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 2 Quinta Press, Meadow View, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, Shropshire, England, SY10 7RN The format of this book is copyright © 2008 Quinta Press This is a proof-reading draft of this volume. When all five volumes have an accurate text we will import the biographical material of the jected ministers into a database for collation and sorting and will then output the information in a variety of ways, some for electronic publication and some for print publication. Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 3 1727 edition volume 1 3 A CONTINUATION OF THE ACCOUNT OF THE Ministers, Lecturers, Masters and Fellows of Colleges, and Schoolmasters, who were Ejected and Silenced after the Restoration in 1660, by or before the Act of Uniformity To which is added, The Church and Dissenters compar’d as to Persecution, in some Remarks on Dr. Walker’s Attempt to recover the Names and Sufferings of the Clergy that were sequestred, &c. between 1640 and 1660. And also Some Free Remarks on the Twenty-eighth Chapter of Dr. Bonnet’s Essay on the 39 Articles of Religion. In Two Volumes. By EDMUND CALAMY, D.D. LONDON: Printed for R. FORD at the Angel, R. HETT at the Bible and Crown, and J. CHANDLER at the Cross-Keys, an in the Poultry. MDCCXXVII. ii iii To all those who have enter’d into the Work and Office of the MINISTRY, amongst the PROTESTANT DISSENTERS, since we have been favour’d with a LEGAL TOLERATION. My Dear Brethren, I MUST own it a great Pleasure to me, (and I am apt to persaude myself it will be so also to you) that under so many Disadvantages, I have been able to make such a Collection towards the preserving the Memory of those Worthy persons that were Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 4 4 edmund calamy ejected or silenc’d by the Act of Uniformity, who deserv’d so well at our Hands. And I am very thankful for that Assistance which so many of you have kindly given me, both in rectifying a Number of Mistakes formerly committed, and gathering up the additional Characters here publish’d. A 2 As iv As I have heartily cast in my Lot with you that adhere to that despised interest, which they thought it their Duty to support, not out of mere inclination, but upon Principle, and after the maturest Consideration; and been at some Pains to serve you; I cannot but hope that not only the Present which I here make you will be kindly taken, but that also if I embrace the Opportunity with which I am this Way furnish’d, of offering some Things to your Consideration, that appear to be of Consequence, you will forgive my Freedom, and candidly ascribe it to the sincere Good Will of one that is unfeignedly desirous of Your true Prosperity, and growing Usefulness. Allow me then Brethren, to remind you of the Spirit and Temper that generally prevail’d among our Deceased Fathers, who after having acted their Part with Faithfulness and Honour, have quitted this earthly Stage, and rest from their Labours. Remember their Faith and Holiness; their Zeal for GOD, and Love to the Souls of Men: Their Diligence and Activity in their painful Labours, and their signal Patience under great Hardships and Sufferings. Consider their Care to adorn their Character, and their watchfulness against any Thing that they could foresee might be apt to cause the Ways of GOD to he evil spoken of. The Account of them that is here given, joined with what went before, may help in this Respect to put you in Remembrance. And if it does but at the same Time provoke to a careful Imitation, it will be the readiest way I know of, to our reaching such Success in our Labours, such Tokens of a special Divine Presence, and such Appearances of the Almighty in our Favour, as they had, as we may have Occasion for them. The most eminent Prophets live not for ever. Our Fathers are gone; and we are come into their Rooms and Places, serving the same Master, and carrying v carrying on the same Design, for the Furtherance of the common Salvation. And if we have but the same Spirit prevailing among us, and the same Assistances and Encouragements from above afforded us, as were to them so great a Matter of Rejoicing, we also may hope at length to finish well, and obtain a good Report as they have done; and meet them again with great Comfort and Joy at the last, in a better World. That we may be the more effectually quicken’d, excited, and animated, to and in the Service that is before us, let us consider, Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 5 1727 edition volume 1 5 I. The Times that have been, and the Times that now are: and compare them together. Considering the Treatment which they who went before us met with, we cannot pretend to say, that the former Times were better than these: For they were evidently much worse. To those of our Sentiments, the former Times were very perilous; whereas to us that come after them, the present Times are very safe, which is a comfortable Difference. They whom we succeed, had many Hindrances, and Discouragements, while we may be as good and religious as ever we will, and as devout in worshipping the Great GOD and our Blessed SAVIOUR as our own Hearts can desire. Our Fathers were much in the complaining Strain, and considering how they were used we have not the least Occasion of being surpriz’d at it. They (among other Things) had a most horrid Law against them (call’ d the Act against Conventicles, that passed in 1663, and was renewed, and made yet more severe, in 1670) by which Magna Charta was torn in Pieces, and the worst and most infamous amongst Mankind, were as it were hir’d to accuse them: Multitudes of Perjuries were committed; Convictions made without a Ju A 3 ry, vi ry, and without any Hearing of the Persons accused; Penalties inflicted; Goods rifled; Estates seized and embezzled; Houses broken up; Families disturbed, often at most unseasonable Hours of the Night, without any Cause, or Shadow of Cause, if only, a malicious Villain would pretend to suspect a Meeting there: Whereas we now for eight and thirty Years together have had great Tranquility and peaceable Liberty, and it would be hard to find better Times in this Land and Nation, in any Period, than we have liv’d in. Had we been so traduced, and exposed, and insulted, and pillag’d as they were that went before us, we should have thought ourselves very hardly dealt with, and that we might well enough make sorrowful Complaints. And were they to have lived in such Times as ours, I doubt not but they would have thought themselves exceeding happy. What they did secretly, in private Corners, and with great Hazard, may we now do freely and openly, and without Fear. The Government under which we live instead of straitning is so good as to shelter us, and it is Openly insulted, by any that offer to give us Molestation. Had our Pious Fathers had such Halcyon Days as these, what Pains would they have taken in Preaching the Gospel! And what can be mentioned that came within their Reach, that they would have stuck at in order to greater Usefulness! How earnest and fervent would they have been in all the Parts of their Service! How diligent and unwearied in their Endeavours to do good to the Souls of Men! And how watchful against Jealousies and Animosities amongst themselves! And how careful to be unanimous, and to strengthen one another’s Calamy_1727_Volume_1_Text.qxp:Calamy 1713 Volume 2 15 12 2008 11:54 Page 6 6 edmund calamy Hands, and jointly to promote Truth and Love, and hearten, animate and encourage, and so a good Example to, such as were to rise up after them in the same Service! And why then should vii should not we use like Diligence, Application, and Care! The Times are most evidently in some Respects better than they have been, and the present Age is improv’d beyond the foregoing. We are much more generally, Enemies to all Force and Violence in Matters of Conscience, than heretofore: And tho’ as Bishop Burnet observes, there is no Principle that is more hated by bad ill-natured Clergymen than that;† yet I think it cannot be contested, that many more of the Clergy of the Established Church do stand up for that Principle now than formerly; and the Body of the Gentry fall in with it too.