HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 377 



some other honest Christians, were often convented to Chester, and 

 much troubled there, for keeping a Fast on Ascension-day, their 

 fault being aggravated by the Bishop and his officers, because they 

 fasted upon that holy day.'* 



" He was incomparably abstemious and moderate in the use of 

 meat, drink, sleep, and apparel, and therefore had an admirable 

 command over his passions/' 



When he was judged fit for the Ministry, his friends encouraged 

 him to enter thereupon, and such was his disposition ; but he was 

 averse to the subscription to the articles, &c. required by law, 

 and had repeated " conflicts with the then Bishop of Chester about 

 non-conformity." By the intercession of his friends, an Irish 

 Bishop, who occasionally visited London, ordained him and another 

 without requiring their subscription; and "about the year 1610, 

 he was called to be minister at Whitmore, (a small village near 

 unto Newcastle in Staffordshire) where he was entertained into the 

 house of Edward Mainwaring, Esquire, a pious and much-esteemed 

 gentleman/' 



As a minister he was zealous and active, entertained high and 

 honourable thoughts of God at all times, and ever spoke of his 

 name with reverence. The Sabbath days he endeavoured to keep 

 strictly holy ; and the means which he adopted were as follows : 

 Every Saturday afternoon, by way of preparation for the Sabbath, 

 he spent about two hours in his house in praying and expounding 

 some Scripture. On the Sabbath morning he expounded a portion, 

 of Scripture in his family, then he preached twice in public, read 

 divers chapters, and catechised also in the afternoon, spending 

 much time therein, especially in the summer season. After the 

 evening sermon, he went unto Mr. Mainwaring's house, being near 

 at hand, where he repeated both his sermons and prayed ; likewise 

 after supper he had another exercise in his own family, equivalent 

 to a sermon. 



" He was exemplary careful to preserve God's ordinances from 

 pollution and contempt, and therefore did always take great pains 

 with his people to prepare them for the sacrament of the Lord's 

 supper. In his sermons he was wont to tell his auditors, that their 

 persecuting/impoverishing, imprisoning and thrusting daggers into 

 their ministers' bodies, would not be more grievous than their un- 

 worthy communicating at the Lord's table, and their unanswerable 

 walking unto the ordinances of grace dispensed amongst them ; and 

 when parents presented their children in the congregation to be 



