, one of the most learned and eminent nonconformists of the seventeenth
, one of the most learned and eminent nonconformists of the seventeenth century, was born
at Lawrence Lydiard, in Somersetshire, in 1620. His
father and grandfather were both clergymen, but of them
we have no account, except that his father was settled at
Whimpole in Devonshire, and sent his son to the freeschool at Tiverton. Here his progress was such that he
was thought qualified to begin his academical studies at
the age of fourteen, and about a year after, in 1635, he
was entered of Wadham college, Oxford. From thence,
in 1639, he removed to Hart-hall, where he took his
bachelor’s degree in arts. Wood says, he was accounted
in his college, “a hot-headed person,
” a character very
remote from that which he sustained throughout life, and
when all eyes were upon him. After studying divinity, he
was admitted to deacon’s orders by the celebrated Dr. Hall,
bishop of Exeter, and although this was sooner than Mr.
Man ton approved upon maturer thought, bishop Hall appears to have thought him duly qualified, and predicted
that “he would prove an extraordinary person.
” As he
came into public life when principles of disaffection to the
church were generally prevalent, it appears that he entered so far into the spirit of the times, as to be content
with deacon’s orders, and to deny the necessity of those
of the priest