THE LIFE OF

Rush worth,Part 11 .

Vol. I.p. 463

Rufhworth,Part II.

Vol. I. p. 381

September,

1660.

tnasttx hud disgraced the Nation, defamed the Church, Discipline, and Mem-bers thereof, diflionour’d the King and Queen, reproach'd the Court, withsome Things that were thought to be tending to the Destruction of his Ma-jesty's Person ; and thereupon had been justly sentenced to Fine, Pillory, andImprisonment ; was, in the Year 1641, by an Order of the Blessed House ofCommons , (as it was call'd by the godly Party) releas’d from his Prison, andon his Journey back to ‘Town met and carrefs’d by Multitudes in several Partsof England , and brought triumphantly into London ; to the great Defiance andContempt of Authority and Justice. At length, this snarling Zealot, whenit was too late, and that he had seen fully to what great Woe, Misery, andConfusion, the godly Party had brought the King and the Nation, did heartilyrepent, and wished that when they had cut off his Ears, they had cut off' hisHead ; in the End, to make some Attonement for his former Crimes, he be-came in some Manner, instrumental in the most happy Res oration.

John Lilburne, and John Warton , the two Printers and Publishers of Mr,Prynne’s seditious libel above cited, call’d, News from Ipswich ; were deserved-ly punisti’d by Censure in the Star-Chamber , upon Information preferr’d inthat high Court by the King’s Attorney-General.

The barbarous Invectives of the two other great Incendiaries of the Time,Dr. Bajlwick, and Mr. Burton , were all of a Piece with the Malice andVenom of Prynne , against the Hierarchy of the Church, wherein the Arch-bishops and Bishop of Ely, were principally pointed at. Dr. Bajlwick, in hisAnswer to the Charge against him in the Star-Chamber , has these abominablePassages. " That the Prelates were Invaders of the King’s Prerogative-Royal," Contemners and Despisers of the whole Scriptures, Advancers of Popery," Superstition, Idolatry, and Prophaneness ; also, that they abus’d the King’s" Authority to the Oppression of his loyal Subjects, and therein express’d" great Cruelty, Tyranny, and Injustice; and in the Execution of this im-" pious Performance, they sliew’d neither Wit, Honesty, nor Temperature;" nor were they either Servants of God, or of the King, (as they ought to" be indeed) but of the Devil, being Enemies of God and the King, and of" every living Thing that was good ; all which he declar’d he was ready to" maintain.” For these, and the like horrid Defamations and Slanders, thethree Delinquents, Prynne, Bajlwick, and Burton , were sentenced by the Court,consistent with Law and Justice, though some misguided People thought withtoo much Rigour ; and, as an additional Mark on Prynne , more than theothers, it was decreed, that he should be stigmatised on both Cheeks withS. L. signifying a Jeditious Libeller. It was very happy for this Man, thathe liv’d to repent publickly, (and it is to be hop’d sincerely) his seditious andrebellious Practices, and to fee an End of the most abject Slavery and Distressof his Country, in a miraculous Deliverance, by the blessed Restoration.

Upon the glorious Scene and Alteration of Affairs in Church and State bythe long wisli’d for Return of the King , the Bishop of Ely, with the * Eightother surviving prelates (who had out-liv’d the Persecution and Confusion ofthe Times) were restor’d ; but no Man’s Restitution feem’d of so great Im-portance as his; for, into his Breast the Church of England betook herself, asto the only Man that had Skill and Courage to repair and reinforce her

* PP on a Resolution of silling up the vacant Sees, there was deliver’J to his Majesty this List ofthe nine surviving Prelates who had outliv’d the Persecution and Confusion of the Times. Dr.fdliarn Juxon , Bishop of London ; Dr. William Piers, Bishop of Bath and Wells ; Dr. AlatthewWren, Bishop os' Ely ; Dr. Robert Skinner. Bishop of Oxford ; Dr. William Roberts , Bishop ofBangor ; Dr. John Warner , Bishop of Rochester ; Dr. Brian Duppa, Bishop of Sarum ; Dr.Henry King, Bishop of Chic best er ; Dr. Accepted Frewen, Bishop of Litchfald and Coventry. BishopKennel's Register, p, 252.

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