Among other hearers, there came in that Reverend and learned Prelate, Bishop Richardson, who was so well pleased with his sermon, but especially with his prayer after it, that he followed him home, to give him thanks; and earnestly desired a copy of his prayer. "Alas!" said Mr. Watson, "that is what I cannot give; for I do not pen my prayers; it was no studied thing, but uttered as God enabled me from the abundance of my heart and affections, pro re nata." Upon which the good Bish-op went away wondering that any man could pray in that manner, ex tempore.

Walbrook was to be his most memorable, even signature, place of service; in every sense, St. Stephen's was to Watson what the Metropolitan Tabernacle was to Spurgeon, what North-ampton was to Edwards, what Kid-derminster was to Baxter.3

In the midst of his thriving Walbrook ministry, in 1651, Watson was involved with several other ministers and Christopher Love in a plot to restore the Stuart monarchy. While the particulars of this intrigue are uncertain, it is known that the collaborators were corresponding with Charles II, then living in exile in Holland. For his complicity in this crime against the prevailing political hegemony, Watson was imprisoned at the Tower for an indeterminate period.

Upon his release, pastor and people were happily reunited at St. Stephen's. Though Watson's renown as a powerful homilist surged, the Restoration for which he had once conspired in time forced yet another departure from his pulpit. The Act of Uniformity (popularly known as the Great Ejection) in 1662 led Watson into the ranks of nonconformity. His farewell sermon to the Walbrook con-gregation is instructive about Watson the pastor. The final paragraph of that address reads as follows:

The hour is come wherein the sun is setting on not a few of the prophets: our work seems to be at an end; our pulpits and places must know us no more. You are not ignorant what things there are imposed on us as the condition of our continuing our ministration. I must pro-fess before God, angels, and men, that my non-submission is not from any disloyalty to authority or any factious disposition, but because I dare not do anything concerning which my heart tells me the Lord says, "Do it not." I feel I must part with my conscience or with my ministry. I choose, therefore, that my ministry be sealed up by my sufferings, rather than be lengthened out by a lie; but I shall, through the grace of God, endeavour patiently and peaceably to suffer as a Christian. And now welcome the cross of Christ; welcome reproach; welcome poverty, scorn, and contempt, or whatever may befall me. This morning I had a flock and you had a pastor, but now behold a pastor without a flock, and a flock without a shepherd! This morning, I had a house, now I have none. This morning, I had a living, now I have none: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." And thus, brethren, I bid you all farewell. "Finally, brethren, farewell."