and obtained so much skill in the science of
war, that his commands were obeyed by the colonels with as much
respect as those of the general. He seems, indeed, to have been born a
soldier; for he had an intrepidity which was never to be shaken by any
danger, and a spirit of enterprise not to be discouraged by
difficulty, which were supported by an unusual degree of bodily
strength. His services of all kinds were thought of so much importance
ty the parliament, that they bestowed upon him the living of Petworth,
in Sussex. This living was of the value of seven hundred pounds per
annum, from which they had ejected a man remarkable for his loyalty,
and, therefore, in their opinion, not worthy of such revenues. And it
may be inquired, whether, in accepting this preferment, Cheynel did
not violate the protestation which he makes in the passage already
recited, and whether he did not suffer his resolutions to be overborne
by the temptations of wealth.

In 1646, when Oxford was taken by the forces of the parliament, and
the reformation of the university was resolved, Mr. Cheynel was sent,
with six others, to prepare the way for a visitation; being authorized
by the parliament to preach in any of the churches, without regard to
the right of the members of the university, that their doctrine might
prepare their hearers for the changes which were intended.

When they arrived at Oxford, they began to execute their commission,
by possessing themselves of the pulpits; but, if the relation of Wood
[58] is to be regarded, were heard with very little veneration. Those
who had been accustomed to the preachers of Oxford, and the liturgy of
the church of England, were offended at the emptiness of their
discourses, which were noisy and unmeaning; at the unusual gestures,
the wild distortions, and the uncouth tone with which they were
delivered; at the coldness of their prayers for the king, and the
vehemence and exuberance of those which they did not fail to utter for
_the blessed councils_ and actions of the parliament and army;
and at, what was surely not to be remarked without indignation, their
omission of the Lord's prayer.

But power easily supplied the want of reverence, and they proceeded in
their plan of reformation; and thinking sermons not so efficacious to
conversion as private interrogatories and exhortations, they
established a weekly meeting for _freeing tender consciences from
scruple_, at a house that, from the busines