"The principal alterations which were made in this version, were the following. Several lessons in the calendar were changed for others more proper for the days. The prayers upon particular occasions, were disjoined from the liturgy. The prayers for the parliament, that for all conditions of men, and the general thanksgiving, were added; several of the collects were altered; the epistles and gospels were taken out of the last translation of the Bible, they having been read before, according to the old. The office of baptism for those of riper years, the forms of prayer to be used at sea, the form for the martyrdom of King Charles, and that for the king's return, or, as it is now called, the restoration of the royal family, were added. The book did not go to press till some time after it was subscribed, the Act of Uniformity for enacting it into a law taking up a considerable time."-Nichol's Preface to the Book of Common Prayer, p. 10. In all these alterations, it is very clear the clergy took special care that no attention should be shown to the feelings or prejudices of the Nonconformists. This writer has forgotten to state that, among the other improvements made by this convocation on the Prayer Book,' the story of Bell and the Dragon' was added to the lessons taken from the Apocrypha!

CHAPTER VIII.

1661-1665.

Baxter endeavours to gain possession of Kidderminster-The King and Clarendon favourable to it-Defeated by Sir Ralph Clare and Bishop Morley-Conduct of Sir Ralph Clare to the People of Kidderminster-Baxter's spirited Remonstrance-Insurrection of the Fifth Monarchy MenBaxter's Preaching in London-Obtains a License from the Archbishop of Canterbury-Attempts to negociate with the Vicar of KidderminsterTreatment of the People by the Bishop and Clergy-Baxter entirely separated from Kidderminster-Takes leave of the Church-Act of Uniformity-Its Injustice, Impolicy, and Cruelty-Its injurious Effects-Baxter's MarriageDeclaration of Indulgence-Death and Character of Ash-Nelson-Hardships of the Nonconformists-Death of Archbishop Juxon-Succeeded by Sheldon-Act against Private Meetings-Sufferings of the People-Baxter retires to Acton-Works written or published by him during this periodCorrespondence-Occasional Communion-Consulted by Ashley-Concluding Memorials of the year 1665.

In the preceding chapter, an account has been given of all the public transactions in which Baxter was engaged from the period of the restoration to the termination of the Savoy conference. His more private or personal affairs now require our attention. In his letter to Lord Clarendon, declining the bishoprick of Hereford, the reader will have observed that he prefers a request of a very humble nature respecting Kidderminster; that if his lordship would bestow some prebendal place on Mr. Dance, the vicar, it would enable him to return to his old and favourite sphere of employment. The following narrative brings before us the failure of this application, and, in consequence, his entire separation from Kidderminster.

"When I had refused a bishoprick, I did it from such reasons as offended not the lord chancellor; and, therefore, instead of it, I presumed to crave his favour to restore me to preach to my people at Kidderminster again, from whence I had been cast out, when many hundreds of others were ejected, upon the re

storation of all those who had been sequestered. It was but a vicarage, and the vicar was a poor, unlearned, ignorant, silly reader, who little understood what Christianity, and the articles of his creed, did signify. Once a quarter he said something which he called a sermon, which made him the pity or the laughter of the people. This man, being unable to preach himself, kept always a curate under him for that purpose. Before the wars, I had preached there only as a lecturer, and he was bound to pay me sixty pounds per annum; my people were so dear to me, and I to them, that I would have been with them upon the lowest lawful terms. Some laughed at me for refusing a bishoprick, and petitioning to be a reading vicar's curate; but I had little hopes of so good a condition, at least for any considerable time.

"The ruler of the vicar and all the business, was Sir Ralph Clare; an old man, and an old courtier, who carried it towards me, all the time I was there, with great civility and respect, and sent me a purse of money when I went away, which I refused.' But his zeal against all who scrupled ceremonies, or who would not preach for prelacy and conformity, was so much greater than his respect for me, that he was the principal cause of my removal. I suppose he thought that when I was far enough off, he could so far rule the town, as to reduce the people to his way. But he and others of that temper little knew, how firm conscientious men are to the matters of their everlasting interest, and how little men's authority can do against the authority of God, with those that are unfeignedly subject to him. Openly, he seemed to be for my return at first, that he might not offend the people; and the lord chancellor seemed very forward in it, and all the difficulty was, how to provide some other place for the old vicar, Mr. Dance, that he might be no loser by the change. It was so contrived, that all must seem forward in it except the vicar. The king himself must be engaged in it; the lord chancellor earnestly presseth it; Sir Ralph is willing and very desirous of it; and the vicar is willing, if he may but be recompensed with

1 Sir Ralph Clare, of Caldwell, of whom Baxter gives this curious account, was an eminent royalist. He spent a great part of his fortune in the cause of Charles II. Being taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, he remained a long time in confinement, till released, probably, by Baxter's influence, by Major-General Berry coming into command in the county. It appears, from various parts of Baxter's narrative, that the old knight was a great thorn in his side. In Nash's History of Worcestershire,' portraits of Baxter and Sir Ralph are given in one page.—Vol. ii, p. 44,

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as good a place, from which I had received but ninety pounds per annum. Either all desire it, or none desire it. But the hinderance was, that among all the livings and prebendaries of England, there was none fit for the poor vicar. A prebend he must not have, because he was incompetent, and yet he is still thought competent to be the pastor of near 4,000 souls! The lord chancellor, to make the business certain, engages himself for a valuable stipend to the vicar, and his own steward shall be commanded to pay it for him. What could he desire more? But the poor vicar was to answer him that this was no security to him; his lordship might withhold that stipend at his pleasure, and then where was his maintenance?

Give him but

a legal title to any thing of equal value, and he would resign. The patron also was my sure and intimate friend. But no such thing was to be had, and so Mr. Dance must keep his place.

"Though I requested not any preferment but this, yet even for this I resolved I would never be importunate. I only nominated it as the favour which I desired, when their offers in general invited me to ask more; and then I told them, that if it were any way inconvenient to them, I would not request it. Even at the very first I desired, that if they thought it best for the vicar to keep his place, I was willing to take the lecture, which, by his bond, was secured to me, and was still my right; or if that were denied me, I would be his curate while the king's declaration stood in force. But none of these could be accepted with men that were so exceedingly willing. In the end, it appeared that two knights of the county, Sir Ralph Clare and Sir John Packington, who were very great with Dr. Morley, newlymade bishop of Worcester, had made him believe that my interest was so great, and I could do so much with ministers and people in that county, that unless I would bind myself to promote their cause and party, I was not fit to be there. And this bishop, being greatest of any man with the lord chancellor, must obstruct my return to my ancient flock. At last, Sir Ralph Clare did freely tell me, that if I would conform to the orders and ceremonies of the church, preach conformity to the people, and labour to set them right, there was no man in

J Sir John Packington, of Westwood, was another warm royalist baronet, in the county of Worcester. He was husband to Lady Packington, to whom that well-known work, The Whole Duty of Man,' has been ascribed. Sir John's house was the resort of many of the Episcopal clergy during the wars and the Commonwealth; and Dr. Hammond died in it.-Athen. Oxen. iii. 499. Granger, v. 377.

England so fit to be there, for no man could more effectually do it; but if I would not, there was no man so unfit for the place, for no man could more hinder it.

"I desired it as the greatest favour of them, that if they intended not my being there they would plainly tell me so, that I might trouble them and myself no more about it; but that was a favour too great to be expected. I had continual encouragement by promises till I was almost tired in waiting on them. At last, meeting Sir Ralph Clare in the bishop's chamber, I desired him, before the bishop, to tell me to my face, if he had any thing against me which might cause all this ado. He told me that I would give the sacrament to none kneeling, and that of eighteen hundred communicants, there were not past six hundred who were for me, and the rest were rather for the vicar. I answered, I was very glad that these words fell out to be spoken in the bishop's hearing. To the first accusation, I told him, that he himself knew I invited him to the sacrament, and offered it him kneeling, and that under my hand in writing; that openly in his hearing in the pulpit, I had promised and told both him and all the rest, I never had nor ever would put any man from the sacrament on the account of kneeling, but leave every one to the posture he should choose. I farther stated, that the reason why I never gave it to any kneeling, was because all who came would sit or stand, and those who were for kneeling only followed him, who would not come unless I would administer it to him and his party on a day by themselves, when the rest were not present; and I had no mind to be the author of such a schism, and make, as it were, two churches of one. But especially the consciousness of notorious scandal, which they knew they must be accountable for, did make many kneelers stay away; and all this he could not deny.

"As to the second charge, I stated, there was a witness ready to say as he did. I knew but one man in the town against me, which was a stranger newly come, one Ganderton, an attorney, steward to the Lord of Abergavenny, a Papist, who was lord of the manor. This one man was the prosecutor, and witnessed how many were against my return. I craved of the bishop that I might send by the next post to know their minds, and if that were so I would take it for a favour to be kept from thence. When the people heard this at Kidderminster, in a day's time they gathered the hands of sixteen hundred of the eighteen hundred communicants, and the rest were such as were from