During no one part of the long century which we are now reviewing does it appear that this town had any great taste or desire for reformation. It was forced upon it at first, rather than sought for or desired; and it was submitted to out of pure loyalty, or profound deference to his majesty’s royal will and better judgment, as would, probably, have been the case had he appointed Mahomet, instead of the pope, or himself, to be the Head of the church. Be that as it might, it seems pretty evident that Lynn remained in a very dark and unimproved state from the era of the reformation till towards the middle of the seventeenth century, if not much longer. It bore indeed the name of a protestant town, but its faith, its morals, and its manners, appear not to have been at all superior, or more estimable than they were when it was a popish town, or remained under the papal jurisdiction. Thus it has often happened, that large communities as well as individuals have borne the honourable names of christians and protestants while they remained as far from the kingdom of heaven, or from the light and influence and spirit of the New Testament as the most superstitious romanists, or blindest heathens. In the early part and near the commencement of this period, _Baret_, a native of this town, as was before mentioned, renouncing popery, embraced protestantism, and became a very laborious and famous preacher. But it was Norwich, and not Lynn that reaped the benefit of his labours; a pretty plain indication of the very low estimation in which eminent protestant preachers were then held among our ancestors. Had they highly appreciated the labours of such instructors, there can be little doubt but they would have invited and encouraged him to settle here: nor is it less probable that he would in that case have preferred his native town to any other place. But as there is not the least appearance of its being thought of getting him to settle here, it is very natural to conclude that Lynn was then no way zealous in the cause of reformation, and felt no kind of anxiety for introducing and establishing an able protestant ministry: and the same we presume continued to be the case for a very long season afterwards.