March 15.1059-60,

Whitlock’/Memoirs, p.700.

ViA. Regis,tp. Eli ens

Bijhop Ren-net’/ Rerijlcr,t- 88;.

Said to be MrRogers.

Rennet.

T H E L I F E O F

reverend Prelate is ib suddenly and unexpectedly snatch’d out of Prison,that of all those Changes which had been brought about, his own Free-dom was the only Thing that had escaped his Foresight; and that he mightthe rather hold himself obliged to own this as a divine Indulgence; ’tisvery observable, that he came out of the Power of London , that very Day

whereon before he had consecrated St. Peter's Chapel in Cambridge. --

The secluded Members of the Long-Parliament being restor’d to their Seatsin the House (Feb. 21, 1659-60.) that great Step towards the Settlement ofthe Peace of the Nation ; among the first Transactions of Moment, whichwere the apparent Dawnings of a glorious Change,—It was order’d Marchthe 15th following, that Dr. Wren, Bijhop of Ely, be discharged of his Im-prisonment ; and that the Lieutenant of the Tower of London be, and is herebyrcquir'd to discharge him accordingly. .

Yet was he not for all this admitted to his own Palace, but expos’d toan uncertain and hired Habitation, and seem’d rather to enjoy an Inlarge-ment than a Restoration, till King Charles the lid, whose Return was thegreat Desire, whose Appearance was the solid Joy of all loyal Hearts, camearmed with Majesty and Power, and fat down upon his Father’s Throne.

In the Beginning of the great Rebellion and Confusions , several Persons con-tinu’d to make a regular Presentation of their Clerks to the Bishop of the Dio-cese : and the Bishop gave them Institution, though without Power of givingthem Possession.

Instanced in the Diocese of Ely, even while the Bishop was a Prisoner in theTower of London.

From the Register of Bishop Wren, of Ely, for the first three Years follow-ing the Rejloration, we know several Matters of Fact relating to Patrons,Clerks, and Benefices, of singular Use and Application, in the Knowledgeof Things, and Times, and Men. And one Particular will appear, thatthere were but very few of the Parochial Clergy, depriv’d within this Dio-cese in 1662, for not submitting to the Act of Uniformity, though moreof the old legal Incumbents had been sequestred about the Year 1644, thanin Proportion within any other Diocese ; (this being one of the associatedCountries) under the early pretended Reformation made by the then pre-vailing Powers: and though the Zeal of this Bijhop was dillinguilh’d aboveall his Brethren in purging his Diocese from disaffected Ministers, a Zeal thatwas apt to carry him beyond the Bounds of the Law.

There is at least one Instance of it in the Cafe of the Rectory of LcvcringtonIn the Isle of Ely, which had been some Years possels’d by a worthy Person,Mr. Richard Reynolds, M. A. who having been epilcopally ordain’d, andhaving no surviving Predecessor, and conforming to the Adi, had a lawfulTitle to it; and yet the Bishop not liking the Man, because he had come inwithout his Patronage, gave a new Collation, Feb. 9, 1662. to Mr. JohnRandolph, M. A. who being denied Admittance, commenced a Suit againstMr. Reynolds, who in the Issue obtain’d an Eviction of his rightful Title: inthe mean time he got a Friend to complain to the King of the needless andchargeable Vexation given to him; and his Majesty was so gracious as to speakto the Bishop to give no farther Disturbance : but his Lordlhip was so un-yielding, as to insist upon defending the Rights of his See ; and when theKing leem’d to expect to be obey’d, the Bishop bluntly said, Sir, 1 know theWay to the Tower ; wherein his former long Confinement, and his now de-clining Years might be some Apology for his hasty Humour.

Little Credit can reasonably be given to the last Particular in this Relation,and less to the following Story tack’d to it and recited by the farhe Collector,

v i z> _-And this might make the Story more probable, that a Gentleman of

" good