Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/323

Jenkyn [q. v.] exhibits him as a strong advocate of the presbyterian discipline. Jenkyn was one of the Presbyterian remonstrants against the trial of Charles I, and would not observe the parliamentary thanksgiving for the destruction of the monarchy. Hence his living was sequestrated (June 1650), and he was suspended from the ministry; his preferments were given to [q. v.] He retired for six months to Billericay, Essex. Returning to London he joined in the abortive plot of [q. v.] for the restoration of Charles II. [q. v.], who had married his sister Elizabeth, was another of the plotters. Jenkyn was committed to the Tower, and escaped execution only by help of a very submissive petition to the government, which he signed reluctantly. John Arthur, D.D., rector of Clapham, Surrey, drew it up for him, and parliament ordered it to be printed (15 Oct. 1651; on 21 July 1688 it was burned by order of the convocation of Oxford University). Jenkyn was released from prison, and his sequestration removed, He allowed Feake to retain the vicarage of Christ Church, but conducted a Sunday-morning lectureship there (at seven o'clock), and another at St. Anne's, Blackfriars. On Gouge's death he succeeded him (1654) as rector of St. Anne's, but resigned this preferment on being again presented, some time (probably 1655) after Feake's deprival, to the vicarage of Christ Church. His popularity was now at its height: he preached before parliament (24 Sept. 1656), and ceased to meddle with dangerous topics. Baxter calls him a 'sententious, elegant preacher.' He welcomed the Restoration, but was ejected by the Uniformity Act of 1662.

Jenkyn preached two farewell sermons at Christ Church on 17 Aug. 1662. He resolved to continue his ministry, and held conventicles. In 1663 he is reported as doing this 'at Mr. Clayton's, in Woode Street' (10 Feb.), 'at Mr. Angell's, in Newgate Markett' (5 March), 'at the Rose and Crown, in Blowe Bladder Street' (20 March). He was treasurer of 'a publicke stocke, for the benefit of those ministers turned out in the city and country.' On the passing of the Conventicle Act (1664) he retired to a house of his own at King's Langley, Hertfordshire, and continued to preach there every Sunday. The indulgence of 1672 brought him back to London; his license (2 April) for 'a howse or chamber in Home Alley, in Aldersgate Street,' was the first registered under the indulgence. In the same year he was chosen one of the first conductors of the 'merchants' lecture,' established conjointly by presbyterians and independents at Pinners' Hall. His congregation built a meeting-house for him in Jewin Street; he always prayed for the king and government, and his service were connived at from the withdrawal of the indulgence in 1673 until 1682. Calamy was present when his meeting was disturbed in the latter year by a 'fierce and noisy' band of soldiers. After this he still preached privately, but was at length arrested (2 Sept. 1684) while attending a prayer-meeting with three other ministers. His friends escaped; Jenkyn owed his arrest to his politeness in stopping for a lady whose train blocked the stair. Refusing the Oxford oath (binding him to endeavour to make no change in church or state), he was committed to Newgate without option of a fine. His health soon failed; an ineffectual petition for his release was backed by medical certificate confirming that his life was in danger. He was forbidden to pray with any visitors, even his own daughter. He died in Newgate on 19 Jan. 1685. At his funeral, 24 Jan., in Bunhill Fields (which was attended by 150 coaches) his daughter gave mourning-rings with the inscription, 'Mr. William Jenkyn, murdered in Newgate.' In 1715 his daughter, Elizabeth Juyce, erected a monument to his memory, with a Latin epitaph describing him as a martyr. He was twice married, first while at Colchester. Davids, evidently confusing the matter, makes his first wife a daughter of Thomas Cawton, his brother-in-law. His only son, William, was executed at Taunton, on 30 Sept. 1685, aged about 22, for complicity in Monmouth's rebellion. He left two daughters: Ann, married to Gurdon, and Elisabeth, whose first husband was George Scot, and who subsequently married a son of Thomas Juyce, vicar of King's Langley.

Jenkyn published a number of separate sermons, 1643-75, including a Latin 'concio ad theologos Londinensos' (1659), funeral sermons for William Gouge, D.D. (1654), and Lazarus Seaman, D.D.(1675). Also: 1. 'The Busie Bishop, or the Visitor Visited,' &c., 1648, 4to. 2. 'The Blind Guide, or Doling Doctor,' &c.. 1648, 4to (these two against John Goodwin). 3. 'Certain Conscientious Queries,' &c., 1651, fol. (a defence of his petition after Love's plot). 4. 'An Exposition of the Epistle of Jude.' &c,, 1652-4, 4to, 2 vols.; reprinted 1658, fol. 1 vol.; also Glasgow, 1783, 4to, and London, 1840, 8vo, edited by James Sherman ( [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Chichester, accused him of plagiarising from (fl. 1612-1653) [q. v.] 5. 'Celeuma; seu