loa F U L 
■ed conventicle. His ('leading was however ineffeiSual for 
the releafe of his clients j and by thus honertly difcharg- 
ing his duty, he drew down the vengeance of the com- 
miflioners upon hinifelf. By a fcandalous ftretch of pow- 
er lie was (luit tip in clofe confinement, whence neitlier 
the interceffion of his friends nor his own petitions could 
obtain his releafe to the day of his death. His Argu¬ 
ment, in the cafe above-mentioned he gave to the public 
in 1607, in 4to. and it was afterwards reprinted in 1641. 
FULLER (Thomas), an eminent Engliflt divine and 
liiftorian in the feventeenth century, born at Aldvvincle 
in Northam(iton(liire, in 1608. He was inftrudted in 
grammar learning by his father, and made Inch a rapid 
progrefs, that at twelve years of age he was fent to 
Queen’s college, Cambridge, of which his mother’s bro- 
ther, Dr. Davcnant, afterwards bifliop of Salilbury, was 
then mafter. To his academic exercifes he applied with 
extraordinary diligence and I'uccefs, and took his degree 
of B. A. in iCzp ; and that of M. A. in 1628, with uni., 
verfal applaufe. Being prevented from obtaining a fel- 
lowfiiip in his college, by a prohibition in the (tatutes 
againfi the admiflion of two fellow's from the county of 
Northampton, he removed to Sidney college, and was 
cliofen miniflerof St. Bennet’s parifli in Cambridge, and 
attracted numerous audiences by his admirable pulpit ta¬ 
lents. In 1631, he obtained a fellowfiiip in Sidney col¬ 
lege, and was alfo collated to a prebend in the cathedral 
church of Salilbury. In the fame year he fent his firft 
publication into the world, which was of the poetical 
kind, entitled David’s h.einous Sin, heartie Repentance, 
and heavie Punifliment, 8vo. He wasaf erwards piefent- 
ed to the reftory of Broad-Wind for, in Dorfetthire, where 
he exercifed his miniflerial duties v\ith great diligence 
and acceptability for fevcral years. In 1635 he took his 
degree of bachelor of divinity ; and about three years af¬ 
terwards married a young gentlewoman, by w hom he had 
one foil, but loft his wife about the year 1641. Before 
her death he publiflied, in folio, his Hiftory of the Holy 
War, which met with a favourable reception, and has 
gone through feveral editions. He was now induced by 
the ferment in the nation, which indicated an appioach- 
ing civil war, to remove to London, where he expe6ted 
to enjoy greater fecurity than in his country refidence, at 
the fame time that he Ihould have more ready accefs to 
the works and converfation of the learned-^ In the metro¬ 
polis he foon acquired high fame as a preacher, and was 
chofen ledlurer of the Savoy, in the Strand. When the 
parliament met in 1640, a convocation was alfo affembled 
in king Henry Vllth’s chapel, of which Fuller was a 
member. When after the dilfolation of that parliament 
the convocation was commilfioned to continue its fitting, 
in order to draw up new canons for the better government 
of the church, he was one of the feledl committee ; but 
difapproved of fome of the fteps taken by the convoca¬ 
tion, which in the next parliament were voted to be con¬ 
trary to the king’s prerogative, to the eftabliftied laws 
and ftatutes of the realm, to the rights of parliament, to 
the property and liberty of the fubjedf, tending to fedi- 
tion, and of dangerous confequence. His difapprobation 
of them, however, did not arife from a want of zeal in his 
attachment to the king’s caufe. Of this he gave abun¬ 
dant evidence by his exertions, in public as well as 
private, to ferve the royal interefts. With, this view, af¬ 
ter the king had left Londoti with a determination to com¬ 
mence hoftilities againft tlie parliament, Mr. Fuller, on 
the anniverfary of his majefty’s inauguration in 1642, 
preached at Weltminfter-abbey from 2Sam. xix. 30. 
Yea, let them take all, fo that my lord the king re¬ 
turn in peace.” His fermon on this occafion, which was 
printed, gave great otl'ence to the parliament party, and 
brought the preacher into ibme danger. About this time 
he pub ilhed his Holy State, in folio. In 1643, after 
finding that to prevent being filenced and ejected as other 
royalifts had been, he muft take an oath againft which his 
confcience protefted, he withdrew to the king at Oxford, 
L E R. 
He obtained a letter of recommendation to fir Ralph Hop- 
ton, and was received by him in the capacity of cliaplain. 
The duties of that appointment he conftantly exercifed, 
as the army moved from place to place, omitting no op- 
piortunity, when favourable intervals offered, of purfuing 
his ftudies, of making hiftorical collections, and, parti¬ 
cularly, of gathering materials for his Worthies of Eng¬ 
land. The afliduity with which he carried on his re- 
fearches in this wandering kind of life, was aftoniffiing ; 
and he at the fame time maintained a very extenfive cor- 
refpondence on the fubjedts of his enquiries. After the 
battle on Cheriton-down, in 1644, lord Hopton drew the 
remains of his army to Bafing-houfe, where he left his 
chaplain j who animated the garrifon to fo vigorous a de¬ 
fence of that place, when it-was foon afterwards befieged 
by fir William Waller, tiiat the latter was obliged to 
abandon his enterprife, after his army had fuftained con- 
fiderable lofs. When afterwards the king’s army under 
lord Hopton was driven into Cornwall, Mr. Fuller had 
the leave of that nobleman to retire to Exeter, where he 
refumed his ftudies, and preached conftantly with great 
fatisfadtion to the citizens. During his relidence at Ex¬ 
eter he was appointed chaplain to the infant princefs Hen¬ 
rietta Maria, who was born in that city in 1643; and 
foon afterwards received from the king a patent for his 
prefentation to the living of Dorchefter, in Dorfet- 
ftiire. The offer of the living he declined^ as inconfiftent 
with his intention of fettling in London when the war 
fhould be terminated ; but he continued his attendance 
upon the princefs until Exeter was obliged to furrender 
to the parliament forces in 1646, when he was permitted 
by the general, fir Thomas Fairfax, to remove to Lon- 
don. Upon his arrival, he met with but a cold reception 
from his former pariftiioners at the Savoy, probably on ac¬ 
count of the part which he had taken in politics; and he 
found his ledhireftiip filled by another perfon. It was 
not long, however, before he was chofen ledlurer at St. 
Clement’s-lane, in Lombard-ftreet; whence he foon re¬ 
moved to St. Bride’s church, in Fleet-ftreet. Afterwards 
he appears to have been fubjedled to a temporary fufpen- 
fion from the office of public preaching by the parliament 
party; but in 1648 that fufpenfion feems to have been 
withdrawn, and he was prefented to the reflory of Wal- 
tham abbey, in Effex, by the earl of Carlifle. In that 
and the following year he employed fome engravers to 
embellifti with maps and other copper-plates his view of 
the Holy Land, entitled, A Pifgah Sight of Paleftine, 
and the Confines thereof; with the Hiftory of the Old and 
New Teftament acted thereon, in folio, publiflied in 1650. 
1 n the following year he publiflied a colleftion of lives, 
fome written by himfelf, and fome by others, of religious 
reformers, martyrs, confeffbrs, biffiops and other learned 
divines, foreign and dom.eftic, under the title of Abel 
Redivivus, in 4to. After Mr. Fuller had lived above 
twelve years a w idow'er, about -the year 1654 he married 
one of the fifters of lord vifeonnt Baltinglafs; by whom 
he had a foil, wlio furvived him, together w ith his fon by 
his former wife. In 1656 he publiflied his Church Hil- 
toryof Britain, from tlie Birth of Chrifttotlie year 1648; 
to which work are fubjoined The Hiftory of the Univer- 
fity of Cambridge fince the Conqueff, and The Hiftory 
of Waltliam-abbey, in Effex, founded by King Harold ; 
the whole forming a large folio volume. This Church 
Hiftory was attacked with much afperity by Dr. Peter 
Heylin, in his Examen Hijlorkum, piibliffied in 1659; 
to whofe ftridtures Mr. F'uller replied with much mild- 
nefs, ingenuity, and candour, in his Appeal of injured 
Innocence to the learned and impartial Reader, inAnfwer 
to fome Animadverfions of Dr. Heylin’s on his Church 
Hiftory, publiflied in the fame year, in folio. A fubfe- 
quent exchange of letters between thefe gentlemen, and 
fome perlonal conferences, led to the termination of their 
controverfy. About this time Mr. Fullerwas invited to 
another living in Fitfex, where he exercifed his minifterial 
labours till he was made chaplain to lord Berkeley, who 
I prefented 
