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Of thirty-eight persons taken and committed at the same time, nine died of the plague in Newgate, and nine or ten more after their discharge. In the same year, while the king and parliament were at Oxford, many of the old officers were clapped up, and several Nonconformists with them,. (of whom old Mr. Flavel was one) upon pretended suspicion of a plot. It was suggested to the court, that while the city was forsaken by reason of the sickness, and the parliament on that account sitting elsewhere, the malecontents might take that as an opportunity to give some disturbance to the government; and that therefore it was adviseable to be beforehand with them. But neither in Mr. Flavel's case, nor the case of others, who suffered at that time, and on that occasion, was there any thing like a proof of guilt.

He was an affectionate preacher; [and a man of such extraordinary piety, that those who conversed with him said, they never heard a vain word drop from his lips.] He had another son besides him of Dartmouth, viz. Mr. Phineas Flavel, who was chaplain in the family of the right honourable Edward Lord Russell. It doth not appear that he ever had any settled congregation. He preached occasionally about London, and died in Westminster. He printed, The deceitful Heart tried and cast.

WINCHCOMB. Mr. CAMSHAW HELMES. After his ejectment he came to London, and died pastor of the church which was formerly Mr. Freak's. Dr. Walker relates something to his disadvantage, which may be as true as some other of his stories, which, upon enquiry, are found not to have the least shadow of a foundation.

WITCOMB. Mr. GRETORIX. There are two Rectories in this town.

WOOTON under Edge [V.] Mr. BODIN. After his ejectment he for some time preached privately at Bath. YANWORTH (A Chapelry to Hasleton) Mr. FISHER.

Mr. JOSHUA HEAD. The place of his ejectment is uncertain. He afterwards preached at Bourton on the Water. He was a worthy man, of the Baptist denomination. § Crosby has nothing to add to this short account, which he quotes from Calamy, nor any reflection to make upon it.

The

The following persons afterwards conformed : Mr. WILLIAM MEw, of Easington. He preached his farewell sermon, as the rest of the ejected ministers did; but on the Lord's-day following, he read, "I A. B. do declare '' my unfeigned assent and consent, &c." without mentioning his own name. A minister (from whom the author had it) discoursing afterwards with him, told him that he must also go to the bishop, and subscribe as well as read; to which he replied, That by his subscription he should only declare that he did read, "I A. B. &c." This [shameful equivocation] brought in him, who had been one of the Assembly at Westminster. Mr. BRITON, of Biesley, and several others of this county, to their great reproach, followed upon like grounds.

Mr. ALWAY, of Upper-Grayling.-Mr. FIDO, of ColdAston. Mr. HALL, of Beverston. Mr. NATH. Hall, of Avening.-Mr. SHENE or SHEVE, of Old-Sodbury.-Mr. C. SUMNER, of Alveston.—Mr. Barnsdale, of Frampton. Mr. JOHN LEE, of Barnsley, all conformed.

VOL. II.NO. XVI.

MINISTERS

SIL

MINISTERS EJECTED OR SILENCED

IN

HAMPSHIRE.

ALRESFORD [R.] Mr. TAYLOR. Whose character

and history are now irrecoverably lost.

BADDESLEY. Mr. LANCASTER. All that is now known concerning him is, that he was a person of eminent skill in the Oriental languages. N. B. There are in this county two places of the name of Baddesley.

WORKS, Vindicia Evangelicæ; or a Vindication of the Gospel, yet with the Establishment of the Law, &c.

BEADLEY. Mr. SAMUEL JEFFERSON.

BINSTED [Chap. to, Alton.] Mr. JOHN YATES.

BISHOP'S STOKE [R. 2007.] Mr. HENRY Coxe. Of Pemb. Col. Oxford. He was cast out to make way for Mr. T. Gawen, who is owned by Dr. Walker, to have been a Papist: Attempt, part ii. p. 77.) Whether it was in 1660 or 1662, the Dr. and Mr. Anthony Wood are not agreed. Mr. Coxe, after his ejectment, retired to a farm-house called Boyett Farm, in the parish of South Stoneham, where his old friends and hearers resorted to him, and there he preached to them some years. Upon the Five-mile-act, he removed to Botly, and afterwards to Southampton. While he lived in this latter place, he preached about a mile out of town, towards Stoke, and there also many of his old people attended him, among whom he continued his labours to his death. He was buried at Stoke church. From the inscription on his grave-stone, it appears that he died June 13, 1679, aged 56. He was an agreeable preacher, a courteous man, good address, and congregational in his judgment.

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BRAMSHOT

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BRAMSHOT [R. 2001.] Mr. JOHN CORBET. Of Magd. Hall, Oxf. Born and brought up in the city of Gloucester. He was a great man every way. He began his ministry in his native place (where he lived some years) under Dr. Godfrey Goodman, a Popish bishop of the Protestant church.† Here he continued in the time of the civil wars, of which he was a mournful spectator. His account of the Siege of Gloucester, is reckoned to give as good an insight into the rise and springs of the war, as any thing extant in a narrow compass. He afterwards removed to Chichester, and thence to Bramshot, were he was ejected in 1662. He then lived privately in and about London, till K. Charles's Indulgence, in 1672, at which time a part of his old flock invited him to Chichester, where he continued his labours with great assiduity and success: During his residence there, Bp. Gunning, out of his abundant zeal, gave a public challenge to the Presbyterians and Independents, the Baptists and the Quakers, and appointed three days for the disputation: the first for the two former, and the other two for the two latter.

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On the first day, a considerable congregation being present in the church, and Mr. Corbet and others being ready to make their defence, the Bishop came and took the pulpit, having a heap of books about him, and from his fort fired very fiercely, his whole harrangue being full of sharp invectives. Schism and rebellion were the ball he shot, poisoned with the strongest venom; forgetting that A bishop should ⚫ be no brawler.' Mr. Corbet, who was known to have a great command of himself, earnestly but modestly offered to interpose by way of defence; but the Bishop would hear very little, and told him. He should answer by writing, and take another time and place. Mr. Corbet desired, as was most reasonable, that their defence should be at the same time and place with the crimination. When his Lordship would hear nothing, Mr. Corbet, turning to the mayor and his brethren present, desired that they would be pleased to assign some convenient time and place for the hearing of his vindication; but they declined it.

When the Baptist's day came, the Bishop treated them with greater civility. It may be he was the cooler now, for

This the bishop himself owned in his last testament, which is in print. Wood in his account of him quotes his very words; and yet gives a more favourable character of Him than he does either of Wilkins or Tillotson.

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the heat he had let out the day before. The Quaker's day being the last of the three, they had time to summon in their friends from all quarters, and several came from Hampshire and Surrey, as well as the remote parts of Sussex. When the Bishop fell to railing, they paid him in his own coin, and with interest too. And when, in some surprize, he left the pulpit and the church, some of them followed him home, and one of them, as he passed along, plucking him by the sleeve, said, "The hireling fleeth, the hireling fleeth."

After this, Mr. Corbet drew up his defence in writing, and taking with him some substantial citizens, went to the Bishop's palace, to make a tender of it to his lordship, but he refused to receive it. Mr. Corbet intreated him to read it; and when he refused, began to read it himself; but the bishop would not suffer him to proceed, and urged him to write now, offering him pen, ink, and paper. Mr. Corbet replied, That was needless, for he had written already, what he now tendered, at home, where he could be more composed. The Bishop persisting in the refusal, Mr. Corbet finally told him, Since nothing else would do, he must take some other method for his vindication; intimating that he would use the press. When Mr. Corbet went away, the Bishop followed him to his palace-gate with bitter railing; but He, under all, expressed the greatest temper and meekness, returning good words and good wishes for very evil ones.

Mr. Corbet was for many years afflicted with the stone, which at last proved the cause of his death. While the pain was tolerable, he endured it, and did not desist from preaching, till within a fortnight of his being brought up to London in order to be cut. But before that operation could be performed, death put an end to his sufferings, Dec. 26, 1680. His funeral sermon was preached by Mr. Baxter, who gives him this character:+" He was a man of great clearness and soundness in religion, and blameless in conversation. He was of so great moderation and love of peace, that he hated all that was against it, and would have done any thing for concord in the church, except sinning against God, and hazarding his salvation. He was for catholic union, and communion of saints, and for going no further from any churches or christians than they force us, or than they go from Christ. He was for loving and doing good to all, and

↑ See Baxter's Works, vol. iv. p. 911. or Toms's Biographical Collections.

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