Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster, by Dr. Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, and Dean of that Church, Decem. 19, 1686. And July 9, 1687, he was collated to the Vicarage of Boughton under the Blean, by Archbishop Sancroft. And by the fame Archbishop he was allowed to hold the Vicarage of Hernhill adjoining to Boughton, by Sequeftration: Both which Churches he fupplied himself, preaching one Part of the Day at one Church, and the other at the other:

Although he entered fo young upon the Cute of Souls, yet by his firft Sermon he convinced his Parishioners, and all others that heard him preach it, which were not a few, that he was well qualified for that Charge. His Text was Heb. XIII. 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you, and Submit your felves: For they watch for your Souls as they that must give an Account : That they may do it with Joy, and not with Grief: Far that is unprofitable for you. From which Words he took Occafion to inform them what was his own Duty to them, and how he fed faithfully to discharge it, and also oht reasonably expect from them.

as he was, he very well understood his Office, and how he ought to execute it, and that he was not a Person whose Youth they might despise. And he proceeded answerable to this Beginning; fo that he was both beloved, and refpected, in both his Parishes And was foon taken Notice of by the neighbouring Clergy of Canterbury, and the adjacent Parts, as one no Ways inferior, except in Age, to any Parish-Priest in the Diocese.

In the Year 1689, October 24, he married Margaret the Daughter of Thomas Jenkin, Gent. of the Ifle of Thanet, and Sifter to the Reverend Dr. Robert Jenkin, late Master of St. John's College in Cambridge, and to the Reverend Mr. Henry Jenkin, Rector of Tilney in Norfolk.

About this Time there was one Sale, à vile Fellow, who had counterfeited Holy Orders, and forged Letters of Ordination for that Purpose, who came into this Diocese, and taking Advantage of the Confufion oc cafioned by the Revolution, and when Archbishop Sancroft was under Sufpenfion, and before Archbishop Tillotson was confecrated, he made it his Bufinefs to find out what Livings were held by Sequeftration only, and got the Broad Seal for one for himself, and another for his Father, for whom he had

fo forged Letters of Orders. Mr. Johnson hereupon thought it neceffary to take Inftitution to Hernhill, to prevent Sale, or any fuch Perfons, depriving him of that Benefice. And the Archbishop being then only fufpended ab Officio, not a Beneficio, prefented him to Hernhill, to which he was inftituted, October 16, 1689, by Dr. George Oxenden, Vicar-General to the Archbishop, but at that Time to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, Guardians of the Spiritualities, during the Archbishop's Sufpenfion. But as the Living had been held by Sequeftration so long as to be lapsed to the Crown, he found it neceffary to corroborate his Title with the Broad Seal, which was obtained April 12, 1690.

In the Year 1697 the Vicarage of St. John's, to which the Town of Margate in the Ifle of Thanet belongs, becoming void, Archbishop Tenifon the Patron, confidering the Largenefs of the Cure, was very defirous to fix upon some better than ordinary qualified Perfon to fupply it, and could think of no one fo proper for it as Mr. Johnson, and therefore entreated him to undertake the Care of that Place: And because the Benefice was very small, and the Cure very great, the Archbishop collated him to the Vicarage of Appledore,

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Appledore, on the Borders of Romney Marsh, on the first Day of May 1697, but Mr. Johnson chofe to hold Margate by Sequeftration only. At this Place he was no less beloved, and refpected, than he had been at Boughton. And having now two Sons ready to begin to be inftructed in Learning, he would not fend them abroad to School, but taught them himself, faying, that he thought it as much the Duty of a Father to teach his own Children, if he was capable to do it, as it was for the Mother to give them Suck in their Infancy. And because he believed they would learn better in Company than alone, he took two or three Boarders to teach with them, being the Sons of fome particular Friends. He was much importuned by several others of his Acquaintance to take their Sons, but he refused. For he was well known, and his Ability in all Parts of Learning fo much esteemed, that though he lived in a Corner of the County, yet he might have had a large Houfe full of Boarders, if he had pleafed. But finding that he could not attend his little School, and his great Cure, and his Studies in fuch Manner as he defired to do, he humbly entreated his Patron the Archbishop to give him Leave entirely to quit Margate, and retire to his

Cure

Cure at Appledore, which with fome Difficulty was at laft granted him: But not till his Grace had made Inquiry throughout his Diocese, and the University, for one that might be fit to fucceed him.

He fettled at Appledore in the Year 1703, and as foon as his eldest Son went to the Univerfity, which he did before the Age of fifteen, in the Year 1705, he dismissed all his Boarders, fending his other Son to School, till he was of Age to be put out an Apprentice. He seemed much pleased with Appledore, at his first Retirement thither, as a Place where he could follow his Studies without Interruption. But this Satisfaction was not of long Continuance.

For that marshy Air in a Year or two's Time brought a fevere Sicknefs both on himself and his whole Family, fo that they were all like to die in their Turn; but it pleafed God they all escaped at that Time. However his Conftitution, which till then had been very ftrong and vigorous, was fo broken by the Sickness he there fell into, that he never perfectly recovered it afterwards. This made him defirous to remove from thence as foon as he could. And the Vicarage of Cranbrook becoming void, he defired the Archbishop to bestow it on him, which his Grace readily granted,

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