their strong attachment to the Church. The case of Mr. Hendley, to which I shall now refer, affords a striking illustration of the persecutions, to which even men, who took the Oaths, were subjected. Dissenters and others were ready to fasten the brand of disloyalty and Jacobinism on men, who refused to yield to the latitudinarian feelings of the age.
Mr. Hendley, a clergyman, who resided at Islington, obtained permission from the Rector of Chiselhurst, and also from the Diocesan, the Bishop of Rochester, to preach sermons in the parish Church, in aid of St. Ann's Charity Schools, Aldersgate Street. In order to render the appeal more effectual, the master and some of the children were sent down to Chiselhurst on Saturday, August 23rd, 1718. On Sunday, August 24th, he preached in the Church. After sermon Mr. Wilson, the Rector of the parish, commenced reading the Offertory, the collectors proceeding to receive the alms of the parishioners. A gentleman present seized one of the collectors, alleging, that the act was illegal. After much confusion, some persons declaring that they cared neither for the Bishop nor the Archbishop, the collection was relinquished. In the evening of the same day, the rector, the preacher, and the persons who took the children to Chiselhurst, were actually taken into custody, as though an offence against the laws had been committed. Bail was taken by the magistrates for their appearance at the Sessions: and afterwards, on a charge of being rioters and vagrants, Mr. Hendley and the other parties were bound over to make their appearance at the assizes for trial.[1]
- ↑ It is difficult to understand how any magistrates could be found to act in such a case. Two of the body were at the Church,
