distant from the king's
head-quarters, he received a visit from some of the troops, who, as he
affirms, plundered his house, and drove him from it. His living, which
was, I suppose, considered as forfeited by his absence, though he was
not suffered to continue upon it, was given to a clergyman, of whom he
says, that he would become a stage better than a pulpit; a censure
which I can neither confute nor admit, because I have not discovered
who was his successour. He then retired into Sussex, to exercise his
ministry among his friends, in a place where, as he observes, there
had been little of the power of religion either known or practised. As
no reason can be given why the inhabitants of Sussex should have less
knowledge or virtue than those of other places, it may be suspected
that he means nothing more than a place where the presbyterian
discipline or principles had never been received. We now observe, that
the methodists, where they scatter their opinions, represent
themselves, as preaching the gospel to unconverted nations; and
enthusiasts of all kinds have been inclined to disguise their
particular tenets with pompous appellations, and to imagine themselves
the great instruments of salvation; yet it must be confessed, that all
places are not equally enlightened; that in the most civilized nations
there are many corners which may be called barbarous, where neither
politeness, nor religion, nor the common arts of life, have yet been
cultivated; and it is likewise certain, that the inhabitants of Sussex
huve been sometimes mentioned as remarkable for brutality.

From Sussex he went often to London, where, in 1643, he preached three
times before the parliament; and, returning in November to Colchester,
to keep the monthly fast there, as was his custom, he obtained a
convoy of sixteen soldiers, whose bravery or good fortune was such,
that they faced, and put to flight, more than two hundred of the
king's forces.

In this journey he found Mr. Chillingworth in the hands of the
parliament's troops, of whose sickness and death he gave the account,
which has been sufficiently made known to the learned world by Mr.
Maizeaux, in his Life of Chillingworth.

With regard to this relation, it may be observed, that it is written
with an air of fearless veracity, and with the spirit of a man who
thinks his cause just, and his behaviour without reproach; nor does
there appear any reason for doubting that Cheynel spoke and acted a