letter, which accompanied the confession, he states, that for a year he had neither officiated himself, nor permitted another to act as his substitute, on what he terms "the new discriminating days:" and that he communicated his refusal of the Prayer Book to the Archdeacon, on the ground, that it came from John Archbishop of Canterbury: and further, that he had not used the new petitions or thanksgivings in any of his ministrations. He then prays for his "consignation to the peace and unity and communion of the Church."[1]
Another case also may be mentioned, though it occurred some time after the preceding. Mr. Pinchbeck of Barton in Lincolnshire, after reading Kettlewell's books on the one side, and those of Sherlock and Burnet on the other, was led to make a public retractation. He took occasion to declare, in his Church, that he had grievously sinned by his compliance. He prayed publicly by name for King James, Queen Mary, and the Prince of Wales; and read also King James's Declaration of 1693. He was of course committed to prison, tried, and condemned to the pillory, with a fine of two hundred pounds. The violent conduct of this gentleman, however, was not approved by the Nonjurors.[2] Another instance is related in the diocese of Winchester, besides others among the laity. A singular recantation from Mr. Ralph Lowndes of Middlewich, in the county of Chester, is preserved in the Appendix to the Life of Kettlewell. This gentleman declares, that he was induced to take the Oath by the soft interpretation put upon it by the magistrates. He then
