“ In his Jovian (an answer to S. Johnson’s Julian the Apostate, 1683) , he endeavoured to show that the Roman empire was not hereditary, and that the Christians under Julian had recognized the duty of passive obedience. ”

“ In 1676, as private chaplain, he accompanied the duke of Lauderdale, the royal commissioner, to Scotland, and shortly afterwards received the degree of D.D. from St Andrews. In 1680 he became vicar of All Hallows, Barking, London; and after having been made chaplain to the king in 1681, he was in 1683 promoted to the deanery of Worcester. He opposed both James II.’s declaration of indulgence and Monmouth’s rising, and he tried in vain to save from death his nonconformist brother John Hickes (1633–1685) , one of the Sedgemoor refugees harboured by Alice Lisle. ”